Author: Christine

Christine is an Avenger of Sexiness. Her Superpower is helping Hot Mamas grow their Confidence by rediscovering their Beauty. She lives in the Heights in Houston, Texas, works as a boudoir photographer, and writes about running a Business of Awesome. In her spare time, she loves to knit, especially when she travels. She & her husband Mike have a food blog at Spoon & Knife.

In the News

World AIDS Day, 2002…

I almost didn’t realize that today is December 1st (4 days off of work will do that to you) and it is World AIDS Day: Link and Think. There are a lot of great articles and stories linked at MetaFilter – give them some of your attention.

Of note to me is an opinion article on AIDS a century from now. “Without intervention, a billion could die amid many wrecked economies”. Did you realize that over half of the global population with AIDS lives in Africa?

What scares me is that the Average American kids (or adults for that matter) are becoming reckless again these days. I doubt that the average American teen is practicing safe sex – especially not when you hear in the news about kids having group sex parties, one girl having sex with 10 guys in a night, girls that want to get pregnant and have babies while they are in their teens. And I know adults that aren’t any better about making sure they use protection.

It’s sort of like the old Smokey the Bear commercials – remember them? “Only you can prevent forest fires”. Well, it’s true for this too – only YOU can prevent AIDS. Protect yourself. Protect your current partner. Protect any future partner you might have. Do it for all of us.

I wrote quite passionately about this last year, and my feelings haven’t changed. You can read my two posts here and here.

The first post goes in to my feelings on AIDS, the fears that I used to have, the things that I have personally been through. I wrote it on December 1st last year for Link & Think. I can’t even summarize it, the feelings are too strong.

The second post goes in to a turning point I experienced two years ago. “It was a turning point in my own life. It was when I stopped and looked around and realized that I didn’t want to be in her shoes. It was when the point hit home for me. It was when I realized that there is a reason we are taught all of our lives to “wait until you are married” … because every consequence of sex is one that will effect you for the rest of your life. Sure, you can have sex without consequences, you can get lucky … but it doesn’t always work that way.”

Before you go to bed with someone, have sex with someone … whatever it may be – THINK. Is the pricetag worth the pleasure? Are you willing to pay the price?

Amuse Me

Random Things…

Random things I’ve seen in my recent travels:

:: Technorati is a new service to allow you to watch websites. Wondering what it’s trying to tell you? Check out the Results Help page. I found a few sites that link to me that I didn’t know about before, but otherwise I’m not sold yet on how useful this will be. [via Jason]

:: If TiVo Thinks You’re Gay, Here’s How to Set it Straight – I saw the “King of Queens” episode where the TiVo thought he was gay – it was hysterical! I turned the “record stuff for me on your own” feature off a long time ago though. I record enough stuff as it is. The article also goes in to why Amazon recommends the strange things it offers up to us too.

:: Unspooled is a great article about how the cassette tape is fading away in to history. Remember making mix tapes for someone that you liked? I loved the fact that my dual cassette player even had a feature where it would put the little break inbetween each song. Ah, those were the days… [via Laura Holder; read her post from Nov. 18, 2002 about cleaning out her tapes too.]

:: Tellling All Online: It’s a Man’s World (Isn’t It?) – the poor author of this article thought that all there was to the blog world were men. While what I personally consider to be the “A List” of bloggers is mainly male (and it’s a really short list, but we’ll get in to that some other time), I read a mix of male and female blogs. Some are people just like me, others are people nothing like me. It’s an interesting mix when I stop to think about it – but I would never say that the blog world is dominated by men. At least not in my little corner of it. What do you think?

Picture Time

Snap Happy…

I just snapped 20 pictures for Rannie’s film exchange without ever leaving my living room or patio. I think I got some really good shots too – after using digital so much lately, it’s interesting to use film and not have the preview option. You have to trust your instincts, which is a great lesson for good photography. Learn to look around you – you never know what you might find. Don’t be afraid to lay on the ground or stand on a chair – whatever you need to do to get the shot.

Speaking of getting an interesting shot, check out what you get when you combine a pinhole camera with the inside of your mouth. Amazing! [via Chris]

Amuse Me

Sharing the Credit…

While I hooked Heather up with the Zip Zap that she really wanted for Hanukkah for Derek, some credit goes to Mike too, since he was the one that found the only Radio Shack in Houston with a steady supply of them. With that discovery, he was able to fill my need and the needs of others for cute remote control cars! Zoom Zoom! Is it Christmas yet? I want to play with mine!

Speaking of Christmas – the annual debate is here: when is the right time to put up the Christmas tree? Feel free to leave your feedback on this – I would love to know what you think!

Media Consumption

Gig ‘Em, Aggies!

Unlike some people I know, I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to college football – but Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be complete without a little Aggie football! (Does it count if I’m really watching the game because I want to see the Aggie Band?) Gig’em, Aggies! Beat The Hell Outta t.u.!