Football, Pumpkin Spice, Blogging

Well, it's fall. I know it because I got my first pumpkin spice latte (PSL) this weekend.

If it weren't for the PSL and and NFL, I don't know if I'd survive the darkening season. The weather is beautiful right now, but you know in two months we're going to be freezing our butts off. Thank God for football, which carries us all the way through to the end of January.

The one bad thing about blogging is that it has gotten in the way of my fantasy football career. The year before I started Stamford Talk, I dominated my yahoo league, thanks to my clever snapping up of rookie RB Joseph Addai.

Last season, just after I started the blog in August, I joined a league with friends. Disaster! I enjoyed the personalized trash talking, but blogging took priority over researching players and watching games. I spent a lot of time researching Stamford, learning about blogging, and planning and writing posts. I wasn't able to give my team the time it needed. I finished really low on the totem pole. It was demoralizing.

Although my blogging process is now more streamlined, I still think I spend too much time on the computer to justify spending even more time doing fantasy football. Know what the real problem is, though? Work. Work really gets in the way of my blogging. It's a damn shame. If I did not have to work, I could blog like a pro and play fantasy football and still have time to go to the gym and watch all my reality TV shows. (I just added a new one to TiVo, The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo. It's so trashy and great.)

PS- If you like football, you must read the book Blindside: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. He also wrote Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, about the Oakland A's. Anyway, Blindside goes into why the left tackle is the 2nd highest paid player other than the QBs. Not the running back or wide receiver who scores the points... it's the guy who protects the QB's blindside. The book opens with Lawrence Taylor breaking through the book and breaking Joe Theisman's leg, then follows the story of Michael Oher, a high school kid with great potential. The book goes back and forth between Michael's story and the history of the left tackle. I feel like reading that book again.

What other football books should I read? I haven't read Friday Night Lights yet, should I read that? I love that TV show.

Stamford Talk's Accidental Media Blitz

I'm having a good one-year Stamford Talk anniversary month. Last week, the Stamford Times featured area bloggers, including me and several of the people in my blogroll. Then, an Advocate reporter came to our blogger happy hour and wrote about how we have extended our online community to the real world. I was surprised and happy to see my photo on the front page. That doesn't happen too often, at least to non-criminals. Today, my very first column for the Stamford Times appeared, complete with a huge photo of me. I attribute all these articles simply to the fact that I really, really get around, both online and in the real live world. Here's a photo of one of the great roosters I wrote about, and you can't miss the big photo of me with my column!

See my flickr site for more photos of the roosters I observed for the article.

If you read this post after Aug 18, you can read an excerpt of the Advocate article here.

Stamford Bloggers in the Stamford Times

There is an article in the Stamford Times about the bloggers who write about Stamford. The reporter, A.J. O'Connell, featured me, Blog Stamford, Mr. Stamford, and Joey K's Place. It's kinda cool that I'm the only girl; I attribute that to my computer-oriented husband, who first encouraged me to blog 3.5 years ago after we bought my first laptop.

Also, I'm just too chatty and opinionated to keep my thoughts to myself.

You should go to Joey K's blog to read about how his bosses called him in after the Times article was published. I think they had the impression that blogs were only supposed to be about personal things rather than current city issues, which can often be controversial. In Joe's post today, he clarifies what he will and won't write about. I like that he told his bosses that he certainly will keep blogging about Long Island Sound, ticks, mosquitoes, and other issues of interest the general public. Joey K's blog is cool because he puts that info in more user-friendly terms.

The Stamford Times comes free every week to all local households, so make sure you casually bring up the article in conversations with all your neighbors.

Meet the Catalyst for Stamford Talk!

Something pretty spectacular happened in the Stamford Talk household last night: the person responsible for my starting this blog came over. It might not sound like a big deal to you, but I've only seen the guy- we'll call him N- one other time, and that was last August at happy hour with my husband and his co-workers. N mentioned he was playing in a cricket tournament in Stamford that weekend. I enthusiastically promised to go and daydreamed about it all week. I was so excited to see a new sport in person and get the scoop on an unknown scene in the city.

When the day of the match came, I learned that my husband had not found out the location or time. I frantically googled "Stamford CT cricket" and found nothing, leading me to say, "In a city of 120,000 people, there is a cricket tournament and no info online. That's pathetic. I am starting a website about Stamford so I can find the cool stuff and share it with other people." I've blogged almost every day since then. You can go back and read my August 2007 entries to see what this blog was like a year ago, or read my original post about the cricket debacle.

Yesterday afternoon my husband called to say his co-workers were coming over to play poker. This was just after I posted on Twitter "letting house get really messy before I clean it." I rushed home and had some fun with my Dyson vacuum. A few poker guys arrived, and one of them mentioned that N was coming. I perked up: super-cool N, the catalyst for my blog, was coming to my house? N is the original, and probably only, Stamford Talk celeb. He's got a great accent, an incredible new car, and dresses well. You know Carlos from Desperate Housewives? N looks like an Indian version of him. To me, N is the most glamorous person in Stamford. And, he's smart, fun and laughs a lot. (Sorry ladies, he's taken.)

N walked in.
"Hi N!" I beamed from the couch.
"You remember me!"
"Remember you? I talk about you all the time! You're the reason I started my website about Stamford."

It was a beautiful reunion. So, the guys are playing at Scalzi today- I am SO gonna stop by after work! They are also having a tournament soon that N says will be more fun to watch. I got his email, so I am now totally hooked into the Stamford cricket scene! Yes!

Speaking of Stamford Talk celebrities, tomorrow, I'll tell you about the Shi'a LeBouef look-alike I saw at the train station.

Saltwater Grille: Confession (and, Countdown to Summer)

In the early days of Stamford Talk, I wrote a review of Saltwater Grille down in Shippan. It was not a glowing review. I said that the service was spotty and that the setting sun made dining on the deck almost unbearable. A few weeks after I posted, I started to feel bad. I did not want a popular place to know I was trashing them. I also thought maybe they'd want to advertise with me in the future.

Recently, I read a discussion about whether it was ethical for a blogger to remove old posts that he/she no longer felt were high quality or reflected what they thought. I realized that I was firmly against removing posts. A blog is WEB LOG. It's a record of your thoughts on a certain day. It's not supposed to be a... book or something to be edited. Once it's up, it's up. I knew I needed to put the SWG post back up so I was not a hypocrite. Here it is, completely unedited. Summer's here, and it's time for expensive seafood. I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about SWG.

I now know:
a) it's OK to criticize things that are not great- that's a key function of a blog or any type of writing, and
b) advertising is so a non-issue for this blog. This blog is about opinions, not about pleasing people who want to use Stamford Talk's wild success for their own benefit.

I guess I have worked out my Stamford Talk ethic... Say what I think about Stamford. Try to make it relevant to readers. Keep including my personality even though that can be intimidating when it's not just friends and family reading. Don't trash people without giving balanced opinions. Find and rely on trusted readers and other bloggers. Don't see blogging as competing with other bloggers. It's about community.

Blogging about Stamford is awesome. Stamford Talk is approaching 9 months old this month. I'm gonna have a big bash at the end of August to celebrate the one year anniversary, and you all are invited.

Free Madrigal and Chorus Concert at SCA, and Possible Adrenaline Addiction in the FC

Let me repeat, this event is free. Tonight (Wed.) at 7:30 the choral groups from Stamford schools are singing at Stamford Center for the Arts.

With all the hoohah going on with Stamford Public Schools, it might be nice to get a look at the kids we are arguing over. A reader tells me that Madrigals from Stamford High and the Chamber Singers and Gospel Choir from Westhill are performing, but there are many other groups as well. I love any type of live music, especially ones that focus on the voice. I would have loved to go to this event, especially because the reader who contacted me is really cool, or at least, she seems so from her posts, but I leave in a couple of hours for lovely Tupelo, Mississippi.

That's right. Stamford Talk will be coming at you live, for the next ten days, from one of the poorest and unhealthiest states in the nation.

Isn't it nice to get away? When I go down to MS, it becomes clear how very demented this area has made me. When I wait in the line at the small grocery store in my sister's town, I can feel my mind racing and my heart palpitating. I'm used the the beeping and bustling energy of our Super Stop and Shop, so the quiet grocery store creates a lot of tension in me. I want to shout and scream to break the quiet. I always think of myself as a relaxed person, but obviously, after almost ten years up here, I am an adrenaline junkie.

Please tell me I am not the only one who feels this way.

Mystery, Power: Stamford and the Island of Lost

Stamford will give you what you want if you ask. It’s just like Lost. Locke has faith that the island will show him the right path, but he takes actionable steps like digging up the hatch and blowing up the submarine.

I took actionable steps in August when I started the blog. I said, “I am going to find the good stuff in Stamford and share it with people so they don’t go through the same devastating boredom I experienced when I first lived here.” I had faith that if I asked Stamford to show me something interesting, it would. I have pursued leads on events and places, creeping around Stamford like Locke creeps around the island.

I'm certain I'm on the right path. I ask for weird events and encounters, and I get them. For example, when I went to the Avon Oscar Film Fest on a Saturday morning, I saw a film crew with loads of equipment. I strolled up, got the scoop on the upcoming Kitchen Nightmares show and posted about it. Zobot responded with the info on how to get reservations. If I hadn’t gone to the movies and approached the camera crew guy, I wouldn’t have had any quality gossip to post. I wouldn’t have known how to reserve a spot, and I never would have met Chef Ramsay and made my reality TV debut. One actionable step leads to another.

Getting what you want requires sacrifice, both of yourself and others. Locke has no qualms about killing other people or letting them die if it means he can further his quest to follow the signs to an ultimate end that he doesn’t know but believes is there. I make my husband do all sorts of things like eat dinner with a camera in his face, sit in the Avon’s horrible chairs, and play trivia with complete strangers. I believe something very good will come of these actions.

All of Locke’s actions, no matter how maniacal they seem, are part of the series of events that have led at least some of the castaways off the island.

When I first moved here in 2001, I just sat on the beach complaining. I didn’t know how to get out there into the jungle and make things happen. I didn’t hunt boar or pursue mystical visions in a sweat lodge. I didn’t even get out to collect sticks to build a baby crib.

I took my first step last summer when I joined meetup.com, and that little step has led to a circle of talented friends who have added a lot to my life. Little actions matter, and if you keep at it, Stamford will give you what you are looking for, whether it’s adventure or food or friends.

Lost is a puzzle of people and places, just like Stamford. I don’t understand this town yet, but I’m trying.




I’m thinking about Lost today because it’s Tuesday, the day I let myself start thinking about the upcoming Thursday episode, just 2.5 days away. I’ve only watched the show since November. I roared through 3 seasons in less than 3 months on planes, my couch, and the bike at the gym. My love of Lost has corresponded with a surge of happiness in my life in general, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Sawyer is my favorite character. I hope he lives, but I'm pretty sure he's going to die.

Stamford Events Calendar

I'm very excited to start a calendar feature. Clicking on the CALENDAR link (not the actual calendar) will take you to my google calendar. Please let me know if there are any interesting events coming up!

Blog Evolution: Stamford Talk Dot Com!

Stamford Talk is just over four months old. To my delight, you can now get to this site by the much simpler address www.stamfordtalk.com. So, it should be much easier to tell your friends about Stamford Talk!