I sympathize with Lachelle about when she is asked "where are you from?". She said she has a hard time answering that question. Me too.

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri. We moved to Puerto Rico when I was three, so I don't consider myself "from" Missouri. We lived in three separate places in Puerto Rico - the one I remember best was Beach Tower, an apartment building on the Isla Verde beach strip (high tourist area). It was quite literally on the beach; I recall during some really nasty tropical storms an occasional ambitious wave would touch the ground floor. As fond as I am of the Caribbean and as much as I miss it, I am not "from" Puerto Rico.

We moved to Metro Atlanta when I was thirteen. We lived in Stone Mountain while I was in High School; when I went to College in Statesboro, Georgia, my mother moved to Norcross. When I got out of college (after an abortive attempt to attend graduate school at LSU), I moved in with my mother and didn't leave until the mid-90's when she re-married. I bopped around a few different apartment buildings until I met my husband and we moved in together in Decatur, Alabama. Now we live in Hartselle.

So the best guess would be "the South". But I'm not a southerner. *Sigh*. It is a tricky question. I usually answer "I lived most of my life in Atlanta". If they want more detail, I add the bit about Missouri and Puerto Rico.

Like most people, I start my day with the internet. Unlike an old-fashioned newspaper, the internet allows you to pick and choose what you look at. Not that you can't skip the sports section in a newspaper, but I digress.

First I read the comics section: I am addicted to Sluggy Freelance, General Protection Fault, Bruno the Bandit, and Get Fuzzy.

Then I poke around in various blogs - my friends' (and their friends') stuff; then of course Lileks. I'm also fond of Infinite Monkeys. I do read some news - mainly whatever Yahoo has on its main page.

I also visit some message boards - predominantly movie-oriented. I like the people on Jabootu's Mad Movie Dimension. I also read Chud's messageboards, but there's a lot of noise on them. Still, it's a great site (Atlanta based!) for movie news.

Lastly, I read email. I have a Yahoo account where all my mail list mail goes to. I can usually blah blah through most of the posts but the occasional gold nugget shows up (Damian Lewis is going to be the lead in a love story! Yay!! It's a BBC TV production! Boo!!).

Then I visit this site and stare wistfully at the videocam picture of the Charlotte Amalie Harbor. I'll then go visit their USVI travel forum searching for some vicarious pleasure by reading someone's trip report. More often than not the posts consist of people asking the same things (do I have to rent a 4-wheel drive vehicle or can I walk everywhere on St. John? It's only 5 miles wide!) despite a FAQ and a search engine.

Then I try to think of something halfway interesting to write and I stick it here ---->X.