Hope Can Be Found in a Tiny Silver Bag

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and L'Oréal Paris

I have a huge sense of loyalty to corporations that share their profits and that use their platforms to increase public awareness of important causes. L'Oréal Paris has partnered for 12 years (with over 18 million dollars donated so far!) with an issue close to my heart: the necessary fight against ovarian cancer. September is Ovarian Cancer Month, and L'Oréal Paris is sponsoring a special offer right now to raise funds and awareness.

The fear of ovarian cancer has been one of the biggest influences in my life.

Sadly, my family has experienced great loss because of ovarian cancer and Lynch syndrome. Ovarian cancer, related endometrial cancer, colo-rectal cancer and their precursors have caused great suffering and early death not only in my grandparents and their generation, but also for my aunts and cousins in my own generation. Cancer in the reproductive area is an often fatal and very painful disease; additionally, a family history of ovarian and endometrium problems means that aggressive treatment is warranted, leading to early hysterectomies and other causes of infertility. The level of distress--funerals, hospitals, news of another cousin needing another procedure, miscarriages, infertility, so very much grief--meant that I grew up expecting for my reproductive organs to be removed at some point. The only questions seemed to be when, and how healthy would I be when they were gone.

Fortunately, grief can be a motivator for hope. The warnings and losses around me catalyzed a plan to mommytrack myself at a relatively young age. When the rest of my peer group were in graduate or law school, I did what few other early twenty-something, college-educated feminists did right after graduating college in their early twenties: I set out to have a baby.

I hoped I wouldn't lose the chance.

I had my baby. And then I had another! It often surprises people to learn that now in my early forties, I have a son in high school and another already launched. People inevitably say, "You must have started young!"

Because it was what I wanted in my life, I'm so glad I was able to.

Research about ovarian cancer is what helped me weigh my options and assess my personal risk. Fortunately, except for some endometriosis and fibroid issues, my health has been excellent. (Researchers think that bearing children early actually decreases the risk of ovarian cancer, so that's a wonderful perk to my decision.)

Knowing the devastation of this disease I felt immeasurably heartened when I learned that L'Oréal Paris supports ovarian cancer research and is partnering with the non-profit program CancerCare through the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund to launch a one-to-one toll-free support line for women or their loved ones who need to talk about this issue. How amazing is that? The toll-free call center is 1-877-OV-HOPE-1.

We can each help these endeavors in the simplest way by refreshing your fall makeup with a great collection of Color of Hope products sold together in a special silver pouch. I love L'Oréal, especially their Colour Riche lipsticks and glosses, and the Hope collection includes perfect fall shades. What a useful, loving gift for your friends and family members.

The L’Oréal Paris Color of Hope Cosmetic Bag will be available for purchase beginning in September 2009. Purchases can be made online via http://www.lorealcolorofhope.com/ while supplies last. L’Oreal Paris will donate $5 from each cosmetic bag purchased to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF). Visit the L'Oréal Color of Hope site for more information.

For me, hope came swaddled in a cotton blanket, and catching a ride on the early mommytrack train has been fantastic for me. Becoming a parent isn't everyone's goal, but living a healthy, painfree life with all options open most certainly is. Hope can be simple, the sound of the zipper on a tiny silver pouch closing as you run to start your day, the motion of your thumb wiping a lipstick kiss from your child's cheek as he leaves for the school bus, or your own lipstick kiss on a Kleenex on your way out to work. When our lives are busy and full of these little things, we are so very lucky, very lucky to be alive.

Other bloggers have written about the Color of Hope cosmetic bag, products and program, too. Check out BlogHer's special offer page for more reviews and program details.

The Acer Totally P0wns: A Review, and a Giveaway!

Note on August 31: sorry kids, the contest is CLOSED. The RANDOM WINNER will be announced as soon as all the entries are verified. Thank you so much for your interest!

this is a compensated review from BlogHer and Intel


***Complete with late night photos***

Now that my boys are teenagers and we are well past summer camp age, summer means a pretty topsy-turvy fun time in our home. Topsy-turvy in that they switch their nights and days and become nocturnal mammals. Like vampires, unless they have work obligations they start to get sleepy at 6 AM when the bright Florida light pushes in from the east. About when I'm getting up, starting some chai and assessing if we have any groceries left after their nighttime binges.

Their nights tend to be full of gaming and communication with other teenagers who are up late or live in other continents. They are digital natives, and like their cohorts they are also digital nomads. They think about their tech and digital content the way my generation framed our Cameros, our Frye Boots and our music: the definitions of freedom, self-expression and escape. Sometimes they log-on the Internet alone, sometimes in packs or pairs with kids congregating at a house or public spot to surf on separate or shared laptops, or by hooking up a Wii or X-box marathon. Carrying laptops and game systems, smart phones and music players, sharing content, updating statuses, meeting up: technology determines how they live.

This changes everything, including how families handle back-to-school prep in August.

During back-to-school time, we find ourselves checking to see if jeans still fit and what kind of shoes are needed, yes, but also if we are ready to meet the demands of our lives on our computers and phones. My oldest son is getting ready to start college classes. To him, a laptop represents independence, to successfully attending school and job responsibilities, entertainment and a way to express himself to boot. My youngest, in high school, thinks everything, including school, should be online, and expects to be able to do it all while on the go.

When BlogHer asked me to participate in the Intel program, I knew we could put it through the ringer at the Rox house.

The kids took to reviewing fairly well,though we had to schedule time that overlapped our disparate time zones. Meaning late evenings, which was like mid-day for them, my little vampires. But there is nothing like a few days of trying a new gadget to help them communicate again, so the review process was fun because I actually was able to hear their voices completing entire sentences this week. That's a feat!

Random Quotes during review:

* While downloading: Wow, that's fast (16 MB file in 1 sec). This is an awesome processor.
* The screen feels a little small but it has crisp colors and is fine, and I'm fast on the keyboard, nice.
* Touchpad is sweet. Has a solid click.
* Kinda looks like a Mac. Simple, cool design. Would hold a skin great.
* Log-in to the game on it and I'll PM you my stats from mine.
* Awesome, Energy Star.
* Let's hook it up to the X-box and stream videos from the Internet. (Which was flawless, by the way.)
* Sound is fine, but the obviously didn't build the speakers up. Not killer. I would add speakers if this were mine. Let's try them by playing Blackbird for Mom. (They know this is one of my favorite songs. They might be vampires, but they very sweet little vampires. This about made me cry.)

Here are the things that matter to them in a laptop, and what the guys and their friends thought about the Acer Aspire Timeline:

Portability

Have to be able to keep on the move with your laptop, from school, to a girlfriend's house, to the bookstore and beyond.

Acer totally passed. Look how thin it is. Acer Aspire Timeline only weighs from 3.5 to 5 pounds, so that makes it totally work for tossing in a pack and working with it throughout your day. They really weren't worried about the life of the battery, because they say that teenagers are very cool with sharing outlets and making sure everyone gets the juice they need to run at school or public places. That's encouraging about these digital nomads--that it's not like Mad Max out there. If battery life on a thin laptop is a concern, the Timeline gets 8-9 hours, which seems efficient to me.
Speed and Muscle to Avoid THE LAG

Laptops for teens have to have solid processors and enough memory to run the juicy, high-graphic applications that they love. The teens I know would not trade away size or weight just to have a smaller laptop that won't let them game freely or watch the newest movie or dowload music. All of the things they want to do: YouTube, Hulu or other clip watching, tracking Facebook 24/7, chat and lots of gaming require fast loading times and enough power to not lag.

Not lagging is one of the most important things to my youngest son. "Why is this lagging!?!?!?" is his mantra. When lagging happens in our home or in public, for whatever reason, he becomes seriously sad panda. Especially if lagging costs him a game level or battle or a convo is cut short. Then everyone one around him is required to be sad because he lagged. Lagging is bad. Lagging is v. v. bad.

It took A LOT to make the Acer lag, so that's good news. It ran Spybot Search and Destroy, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook and two games just fine all at the same time. That's not bad at all, especially for slim laptop. This is apparently thanks to the Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor, or in layman's terms: magic. I think that was the biggest surprise to the kids, that a smaller laptop could have a powerful Intel processor that would let them game and download with muscle.

Is it Hot?
The Acer passed. My eldest loved the sleek look, and said it reminded him of a Mac or a higher priced PC laptop and that he felt very cool using it. My younger son thought it might be too sleek looking for him, and that if he were selecting a laptop he preferred something more solid feeling even if it weights more.

Will My Mom Interrupt Me While I Use It?

The Timeline did not pass this test, because this Mom wanted it, which is not always true of the tools that appeal to them. There is nothing worse that that antsy feeling of wanting to drive a computer while watching someone else click all of the wrong links in all the wrong order, or completely waste their time with some lesser pursuit than you would like to be running. So we're fighting over who gets to use the Aspire Timeline next.

We liked the Acer Aspire Timeline very much. Ours was pre-loaded with Microsoft Works, but they really weren't worried about things as mundane as programs. Mostly, they work in the cloud, using Noodle Bib, Google Docs and other tools when in school. The speed on the Internet is the thing, and the Timeline rocked. My oldest son is in the front of the line for claiming it longterm. I'm thinking you might also want one of your very own.

####
Now, the giveaway. I know, isn't this awesome? A great, sleek laptop to help you get ready for heading back to school. Here are the deets:

CONTEST GIVEAWAY RULES

To enter, leave me a comment below and leave a comment about what back to school tools or rituals you had vs. what your children have today - or - you may leave a link to your post on your own blog in the comments below. The contest will begin at 9:00 a.m. (PST) July 21, 2009 and will end 5:00 p.m. (PST) August 31, 2009. Make sure that the e-mail address you leave is correct.

Rules:

* No duplicate comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by linking on twitter and leaving a link in the comments.
* You may receive an additional entry by blogging about this contest and leaving a link in the comments.
* This giveaway is open to US residents, aged 18 and over
* Winners will be selected via random draw, and will notified by e-mail.
* You have 48 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
* Please see the official rules here: Official Rules

Bring it! Other review bloggers are giving away this laptop, too, so visit the BlogHer special offer page for this offer and enter all of the 9 contests. Nothing wrong with that back to school plan. Or research more information on the Acer® Aspire® Timeline series. (Note, some lounge music inexplicably autoplays on that link.) Learn more about the Intel processor and related techy goodness that you need to make good laptop purchasing choices at Pc.com.

(Head on back to the mothership at Deb on the Rocks. Or read about how the iGoogle fish widget stresses me out, regardless of which laptop I'm using as the fishes' home.)

Why Lijit is Legit

Let me tell you why all of the cool blog publishers use Lijit for their site search vehicle. Lijit understands us. They know that we have content all over the web, and they group that together somewhere in the cloud. hook it in with your social network's content and then make the whole shebang searchable.

I'm not sure how this is done, really. I think elves are involved, but Lijit is a trustworthy company from Boulder, so you know they are smart and ethical and give the elves benefits and all.

The genius of Lijit search is the reach, and also the details. Lijit yields cool stats for wonky geeks to read to analyze for SEO, keywords, performance, yada yada, things I don't understand. Lazy non-geeks like me instead get a nifty summary by email with the basic facts summarized. Including a list of people who have listed your site on their blogroll. Otherwise known as the only true and awesome bloggers in the world. (The other list, those who DON'T blogroll you = enemies. Of course.)

Lijit folks are very brave, very brave indeed. Search work is dirty work. They expose themselves to the inner workings of the dark paths and shadows of the human mind, so we should often thank Lijit for their service. The thing about reading the search strings that bring readers to your site is that you have to read about the odd and sometimes questionable things that people seek. Like "my baby's hands look like asparagus" or "do I tell my wife I want chocolate chip and asparagus sex?" or "rachel maddow obama asparagus pr0n." It's true. And the Ligit staff/elves have to see this all day, every day. I've heard they have a real-time display board in their offices to watch some of this mess happening. Which seems a little excessive, but that's how far they will go to frontline your search for you.

And what's even more fist-bump about Lijit is they know all of these secrets about you--they know that deep inside you you must be hankering for asparagus pr0n or why else would it give that searcher a hit? But they don't tell anyone about your little asparagus problem. Confidentiality, baby. Your secrets are Lijit. That sort of friendship usually costs lots of hush money, but Lijit is free.

Wait a minute. It just occurred to me that I follow one of their awesome Twitter feeds where they broadcast the searches some blogs get. Like this one about pole dancing. So forget what I said about confidentiality. I don't really know, I don't actually read the privacy policies and setting and stuff when I sign up for things, though you should. Like I said, I'm pretty laissez faire about it all. By laissez faire I mean high. But you should check all those things out and opt in or out, or just be happy that they are doing the dirty work of search work for us even if it traumatizes their staff/elves, all to be able to give us relevant search and awesome stats at whatever level of difficulty you desire.

Including zero difficulty at all. Word.

(Got a Lijit story? Tell it here.)

Welcoming Our Sisters Home

There’s a new blog in the ‘hood—in the Sisterhood to be exact. The Sister Project (TSP) is a network of blogs about the many facets of the word sister, and the concept of sisterhood.

I don’t have any blood sisters. Sisterless, I remember being jealous of my friends with sisters to claim. I finally found my own sisters in friendships, and on a deeper level, with women in lesbian communities.

“Sister” is more than a term of endearment for lesbians. Gay folk call each other “Brother” and “Sister” because we are family—families of choice, very important to many of us who were rejected by our families for being gay. “Is she Family?” we’ll ask. Meaning, “Is she gay? If so, I embrace her like her own sisters may not have.”

“Sister” can be code for being in the gay family, and it is also reflective of the bond that comes with being different, an outsider who finds understanding.

That connection is the most welcome homecoming imaginable. Sisterhood saves your life, pulling the orphan of your heart into a warm and accepting hearth. In that warmth, both people bloom.

Sister.

TSP asks the beautiful question: You know you are a sister when _________. What I am saying is: you know you are a sister when you feel as though you’ve come home and it’s okay that your shoes are dusty from the long walk up the gravel driveway. You are home, and your sister is making you coffee and she wants to hear your stories.

TSP is partnering with the Type-A Mom community on a contest to attend the Type-A Mom conference. They are specifically interested in the digital sisterhood.

The importance of this sisterhood is the same—it’s a homecoming. The digital sisterhood is welcome connection for people who look at the boundaries between off- and on-line differently. Geeks, big cultural picture visionaries, those who want to share to connect. In the cloud, we recognize and welcome each other. In the online sisterhood, women from different political, social, demographic and creative/professional backgrounds, for the most part, feel a sense of kinship. Though the early adopters of parent and life bloggers were mostly straight white women, they amazingly have embraced diversity of all kinds.

I want to go to the Type-A Mom conference to touch base with that sisterhood. My friend Megan is speaking, and though our lives are different on the surface, we have become sisters in this digital land. She’s pregnant, and I would love to drive her. What if she needs a doula enroute? I’d like to be there for her!

I’d like to be there for me. We need all of the sisters we can get. I’m lucky to be a part of many communities that recognize the importance of sisterhood. We welcome each other home, and we also push each other out of the nest to fly, knowing we can find our way back to the comfort and knowing nod of each other.

Get Your Motor Running

I've been reading that a number of people are heading to the BlogHer summer conference even though they don't have one of the sold out passes. That's how strong the call is to hit the road to the biggest digital chick meet-up. Not a bad plan, because Chicago is an amazing town with tons to do if the extra BlogHerricula activities leave you any time. But of course it's better to have a psss because of the amazing content in the sessions, so you there are a few contests that are offering these limited edition golden tickets.

Ford is sponsoring one at the BlogHer site. They are sharing info about 3 of their vehicles: Fusion Hybrid, Flex and Escape Hybrid, along with the question: which car would you take on a road trip and why. Can't imagine that there would be a wrong answer to the call of the road. I posted my answer at the site--the Escape looks like a nice ride.

There are three chances to win. You can comment on the post at BlogHer, tweet it and blog it, just like I'm doing here. Someone's going to end up with a pass in their hand as they embark on a road trip to Chicago, might as well be you or me.

Aveda Calming Body Cleanser: Liquid Compost Doesn't Make Me Calm At All

Some reviewers don't post negative reviews to protect companies from bad PR, and to maintain a positive tone. But I want to tell you about the bad berries out there, because I like you and money's too tight to mention. Plus, the Internet is a village, and I am going to tell you if there is crap on the northbound path because soon enough I might be walking a mile in your Fluevogs. Exactly.

So, don't buy Aveda's Calming Body Cleanser unless you like smelling like a Hefty bag of last week's yard clippings.

Before I knew what it smelled like, I was jazzed to try it, because I worship the Aveda ritualurgy. Aveda salons are so aromapured, so world-responsible, so earth-friendly and naturally luxe, but populated with troupe's of black-clad hipsters who will bring you tea and rub minty stuff into your temples and make you feel fabulous for just a few big bills.

"It's always a great day at Aveda " That's what they say when they answer the phone, and they are telling the truth, swear to Gaia.

The products are some of my favorite things ever. Color Conserve shampoo and conditioner are the absolute best in their class. Rosemary Mint products and the minty Foot Relief--nothing is like it. The Caribbean line of skin care is perfect in feel, glide and scent.

But Calming was not calming at all, because I couldn't curb the nausea that I was being bathed in compost. The viscosity was right, but the earthy smell lacked spice (I guess that's how they THINK they ensure calmness) and made me worry that sewage was seeping into my shower water. That is not a relaxed effect.

Worse, I did the lick test. I licked my arm after my shower. My skin tasted like patchouli that had been sweat off and replaced with the start of funk. That is NOT a great day with Aveda.

Maybe it's a pheromone thing and this scent works for you, but I suggest you try in in a store before you buy online. Get them to rub a little into your temples. The Aveda staff are happy to take you on a "scent journey" to help you find what you like. At least you'll get a massage, or a trippy journey, out of it. Buy what you like, and get a lipstick too--they rock, and taste minty fresh too.

Getting My Ph.D. in Text Talk

(This is a compensated review from BlogHer and LG. BlogHer had a special offer posted where you can win one of 5 LG phones. I know you like to win, so check it out!)

My kids keep me humble. I have two teen-aged sons, 19 and 15, and I have always thought that by giving up the better part of my 20s to early motherhood I would receive a “cool young mom” pass from them during their teen years.

Because I AM still young, despite their best efforts to prematurely age me.

Unfortunately, to them I’m “Mom,” and moms are not entirely cool. This particular Mom has been sternly asked to stop car dancing, and to quit saying “sweet.” Apparently those things were making me look uncool, and I'm not getting any passes.

Using the phone to actually talk instead of sending text messages is also not cool in many of their environments. My elder son in particular doesn’t like talking on the phone. Texting is quicker, quieter, private and it’s just how they do it. My kids also use text language a lot on the chat boards on online games, because Jagex owns them.

RL and online life overlaps a lot. My younger son often signs his texts to me “HAK” which up until today I thought was one of his gaming haxor aliases. Because I'm cool like that, I know all about gaming and hacking. Sort of.

When Blogher and LG, the mobile phone company, invited me to take a look at LG’s new DTXTR website, I was intrigued. “DTXTR” means “de-texter,” and the site features a text translator, a glossary, quiz and tips for parents. The quiz really attracted me. I rock at standardized tests. I’ve paid attention to how the boys write online, so I figured if I aced the quiz, I might be able to earn back dancing in the car privileges.

I thought I would do okay, because I know the basic rules of texting. Skip most vowels. Use numbers like 4 instead of “for” and 8 to make the “ate” sound, like w8 for ”wait” and sound alikes like N for “and.” Mostly, phrases are typically the first letter of each word, like LOL for “Laughing Out Loud” or BFF for “Best Friend Forever.” It's kind of like license plates, with a few more characters allowed.

No such luck. The site is just like teenagers are: fun, but humbling. I did not ace the quiz, because text-speak is a little trickier than I thought. It’s a great quiz, giving you ten phrases to type in as teens would text them. Submit and get your grade. You can refresh to get new words to keep on trying. So when the DTXTR quiz asked for the text for the phrase “bye for now,” I was sure I nailed it with B4N. Doesn’t that look cool? B4N.

I was wrong. Bye for now = BFN. I would have thought BFN meant Best Friend Never. Mom TXT Fail.

The translator is cool, and using it and sifting through the glossary were my favorite parts. See a phrase you don’t understand in your kid’s text stream? Just type it in and get the English translation. Then you won’t have to hear your kids groan when you ask. Or avoid convos like this one I had last week:

Mom: Don’t forget to haul that stuff to Goodwill for me today.
Son #1: Not ATM, L8R.
Mom: You don’t need an ATM, money isn’t needed.

We went on our merry way. Today I learned that ATM means “at this minute,” not the more obvious “cash machine.” We weren’t understanding each other at all.

Now I’ve learned the text, but instead of ATM, why not just say “now?” Same three letters?! But do I say those things about ATM cash machines out loud? No. Because that would not be cool, and that won’t help me build my case that I am still relevant and therefore should not be criticized for car dancing.

Communicating with your teenagers is not about being right, or about being logical. You either learn their way, or you fall behind. If you want to keep an eye on your kids, you need to know how and where to look. I’m working on it. I’m going to experiment with some of the phrases I’ve learned on the LG DTXTR site when texting my kids. I’m going to go easy on the vowels, and not jump to conclusions about what their text means now that I have access to a decoder.

Because I might be missing out on wonderful things. Turns out the HAK that my son uses in texts to me is NOT one of his gaming names. It means “hugs and kisses.” I know, how kewl! Back in my day, you gave hugs and kisses with XOXO. I’ve been missing out.

IYKWIMAITYD (If you know what I mean and I think you do.) So, IOH (I’m outa here!)

HAK! And, XOXOX. A little old skool never hurt anyone.

(Visit the BlogHer offer here and the LG site here.)