Total Hilarity Ensued (or: Blog Deletion v. 2.0)

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

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05/20/2010

Total Hilarity Ensued (or: Blog Deletion v. 2.0)

So I was doing basically nothing last night, minding my own business (I'm beginning to see a pattern here), when out of the blue a most wonderful and fabulous person reached out to me via a communications method (The Dinoia Family). I read the words:

"Are you okay? Is everything okay?"

And I was initially confused. I was fine; things were fine; life was fine.

But then, in the back of my mind, the soundtrack to Jaws began playing.

You see, last Thursday, I had pressed what I can only describe as The Total Deletion Button on my Typepad blog. I had actually pressed it over and over and over again. The process went something like this:

~ ~ ~

Hi, Typepad user! To delete your entire blog, all of its contents, and even your very account, click this button. (click)

Okay, you clicked that button, but did you really mean it? Because clicking that button means that you want to delete your entire blog, and everything in it, and your very own online Typepad self. (click)

We're just double checking, to make very sure that you've understood that you clicked the delete button. (click) (click!) (CLICK!!)

~ ~ ~

And then it FINALLY gave me a confirmation ("You clicked the button. We're in the process of deleting your blog. We'll email you when it's all over.") and I had gotten rid of my attached Yahoo email address, so I thought that was that.

Ha Ha!

Well, come to find out, it takes Typepad a WEEK to delete a blog. So last night, everything was Gone. Again. By this time, I was on the phone with the amazingly wonderful (incredibly kind and fabulously phenomenal) person I talked about, above, and once we both really understood what had happened, we just couldn't HELP ourselves. We laughed and LAUGHED AND LAUGHED.

Evidently, somewhere in Germany Shannon and Dave were laughing as well! Because, Dude, this stuff is FUNNY!! You can't make this stuff up!

As I scrambled to bring back even the barest bones of a blog ("Hi! It's fine! I'm here!"), my restored Yahoo email account blipped in a happy little Typepad email ("Just letting you know! We deleted your blog! Just like you asked us to! Please consider using us the next time you think about blogging!") and the hilarity began anew.

I won't lie; I was initially frustrated. I had just spent Monday and Tuesday restoring my previously deleted blog, and then it got re-deleted on Wednesday! And this time, the sidebar link list was even gone! And so was what I can only describe as the (intentionally vague - sorry, Muttering!) Tiger Treatise ("Tiger" having been previously stolen from Diplopundit, who is, quite honestly, one of the most brilliant people ever, and I mean that).

But... after Deletion 2.0 sank into my consciousness, I was strangely elated. A fresh start!

And the Tiger Treatise? I'm secretly thrilled that it's gone. I have all the darling comments you guys left safely tucked away in my email box, for Typepad emails all comments to me, and the post itself can lie in whatever digital grave there is for deleted posts. It had generated some funky attention, and had brought about some understandable (yet impossible to answer) emails ("Just to clarify, Ms. Daring Adventure, on line 4 of paragraph 3 you used the word "is." When you used the word "is"...) because of its (necessary) vagueness. Bye bye, Tiger Treatise! God deleted your rear end, so who am I to argue?

So here, life is good. A clean, fresh start. A blog with no mistakes. A sunny day in beautiful Northern Virginia. The Oakwood weekly maid service even comes today!

And, best of all, my total fox of a husband had to wear a suit to training class this morning (awesome suit + killer tie = wife eye candy)! As I watched him painstakingly lintroller every square inch of his recently-moved-to-DC-from-Houston suit (and then also his DRESS SOCKS) right before he walked out the door, I was struck again by just how conscientious and detailed he is. How he works so hard to Get it Right. And, ultimately, THAT is what his coworkers are seeing every day, rain or shine, day in and day out. THAT is what will define his Corridor Reputation. And I'm proud to be the lucky wife of such a man.

Posted on 05/20/2010 at 06:25 AM in Great Blog Deletion of 2010, James - State Department, Posts referencing fellow State bloggers | Permalink

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"I was struck again by just how conscientious and detailed he is. How he works so hard to Get it Right. And, ultimately, THAT is what his coworkers are seeing every day, rain or shine, day in and day out. THAT is what will define his Corridor Reputation. And I'm proud to be the lucky wife of such a man.

A-men!

And, best of all, my total fox of a husband had to wear a suit to training class this morning (awesome suit + killer tie = wife eye candy)!

So far, this is one of the amazingly under-reported perks of this job. Handsome hubbies in suits and ties and yowza!

Posted by: TG | 05/20/2010 at 06:35 AM

Dave rarely wears a suit but for some reason he wore his black wool slacks, may favorite blue dress shirt and a the funky tie I gave him for Christmas. He looked yummy!

I am glad you are not mad at me because at this point is was funny. And weekly maid service??? Insanely jealous!

Posted by: shannon | 05/20/2010 at 06:53 AM

How many times did you click the “delete” button? If I counted correctly, it was three time. So I guess this time next week we will be on “Blog Deletion V. 3.0”. I can talk with some certainty on this issue, since I do work in IT. This really is pretty funny. LOL

Posted by: David | 05/20/2010 at 09:14 AM

You are so sweet and thank you so much for the kind words! They say laughter is the best medicine...I think it definitely worked!

Posted by: Jen | 05/20/2010 at 09:17 AM

NOW, THAT'S JUST NOT FUNNY, DAVID!

I'm telling Shannon! I'm telling Shannon that you're trying to take away what little sanity I have left!!!

Posted by: A Daring Adventure | 05/20/2010 at 09:20 AM

I thought my husband was the only person who would lint-roll his socks. I'm glad I was mistaken.

Posted by: Zoe | 05/20/2010 at 10:28 AM

You crack me up! I can't wait to meet you in the real world (AFTER your family is finished with ebola or whatever the heck the creeping crud is that you have!).

Posted by: Digger | 05/20/2010 at 01:15 PM

Wish I was around to have laughed along with you and Jen, but glad that everything worked out in the end...

Posted by: Jill | 05/20/2010 at 11:39 PM

It's Friday, time for the weekly State Department Blog RoundUp - and you're on it!

Here is the link: http://bit.ly/amVBfj

(If I quoted your text or used your photo(s) and you would rather I had not, please let me know. Please also be sure to check the link(s) that I put up to you, in order to verify that they work properly. If you would rather that I had not referenced you, and/or do not want me to reference you in the future, please also contact me at stateroundup2.0 {at} gmail.com.)

Thanks!

Posted by: hannah | 05/21/2010 at 12:45 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!