I need some advice from my wonderful Buzzer pals, and along the way I hope I don't sound like a complete smuck,

Here's the deal ~ I've been getting what I think are spam comments on my home blog. I say 'think' because the first half of the comment sounds legitimate, goes to the subject of my post and seems fine. It's the second part that is a little 'sketchy.'

The second part, if taken alone, makes no sense ~ or at least is a huge stretch to be related to the topic.

Clicking through to the commentor's URL took me to a Website devoted to selling a particular product, and included text that is word for word from the comment made. So, it looks like the comments are just an attempt by this blogger to use my site to drive traffic to hers. I'm very uncomfortable with that.

To add to the 'sketchy-ness,' the first time I checked, the blog roll was almost site for site from my blog. Kinda creeped me out.

For now, I've just been marking the comments as spam, but feel bad about that. I don't want to shun someone simply because I jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I asked my college kid's opinion, being that she is fairly neutral here. She suggested I just send this commenter a private e-mail asking what the deal is. I thought about that, but the first draft sounded more than a little snobby.

Any advice would be welcome... am I overreacting, or does this sound odd to you all too?

I've been invited to Twitter and to Plurk. I know I haven't answered any of these, but I have a good reason ~ I'm an idiot.

For those of you who are already engage in this sort of activity, you're light-years ahead of me. To me, a complete technology neophyte, these new gadgets, among others, scare the bejeezus out of me. If you, gentle reader, were the inviter, please understand that I wasn't ignoring you, I was just trying to figure out this new level of surfing the etherworld.

These both sound like huge fun, but I have no idea how they work, or how to set it up. I also have my blog on Wordpress. If you're a WP neighbor, you know that any widget that is Flash or Java Script just doesn't work here. (Terrible that, being widget-ly disadvantaged) I'm not making fun, I really don't know what to do with these.

I could put these widgets on my cre8Buzz profile, but I can only occasionally check that page during the day, and I really don't want to neglect any more people. What if someone Twitters or Plurks me and I'm not there to answer? I'm totally lost here!

I'm a bad blogger.

If you have sent me an invitation and didn't receive any reply to your RSVP, I'm sorry. I need to close my eyes, hold my nose and jump in. I'm just afraid that I will only sink to the bottom.

It has finally happened... a day I have dreaded for a long time, but knew would eventually come. I heard on the news this morning that the national average for regular gasoline has reached $4 per gallon.

I know that in some regions of the country, they have already surpassed that mark. The station beside my office is advertisting gas for $3.99 a gallon. I am stunned.

I can remember gas only being 35¢ a gallon when I was a kid. Once I reached high school ~ late 70s ~ I can clearly remember pulling into a station paying 75¢ and being appalled. The last time I filled my tank it cost me $50. We have three cars in my family, this is insane. My monthly gasoline bill is more than my house payment. The scary thing is that there is no relief in sight. There is no telling how bad this will get.

I've definitely been cutting down on unnecessary driving ~ consolidating errands so I only take one trip into town, filling my tank when half full instead of waiting until the idiot lights go on, we're not going out to eat as often, and doing whatever else I can to cut down on gasoline usage.

One local school district is considering cutting classweeks to four days to save on gasoline, a move the community college in town is already doing. The managers in my office have also been trying to find a way to allow our staff to cut back on driving.

So here are my questions:

1) Where do you live and how high is gasoline there, and 2) what are you doing to conserve gas.

(Follow me to the Anthill - http://www.cre8buzz.com/anthill/)

The last few days have been a veritable crap-festival. Work, home, health, you name it, something has gone wrong. To top everything off with a rotten cherry, I haven't been able to visit my bloggy pals for days, DAYS I tell you!

So, what's a girl to do? Well, of course, I blogged about it. I told the world about my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.

The support and well wishes just came pouring in. I LOVE these people! People who I have never met face-to-face, people who I couldn't pick out of a line up, many who I don't even know their true names. They came to comfort me, and to send me love and sympathy. Wow!

I'm quickly coming up on my first full year of blogging and I can easily say this has been some of the most fun I have ever had. This commuity of men and women, from all backgrounds, from so many different countries and cultures is amazing.

A good portion of the other bloggers I have met, are other Buzzers. The sense of community and friendship here is real and I am grateful I am a part of this. Now, I'm just getting sappy.

I just wanted to let the Buzzing neighborhood know how much I appreciated all of you. Thanks for coming by and helping me get out of my blues. You are all the best!

(Follow me to the Anthill - http://www.cre8buzz.com/anthill/)

When Hubs and I were first married, we became friends with another young couple in our neighborhood. The husband, Tom, worked with Hubs and his wife, Hildie, worked at an insurance company in town. I was a young mom with a toddler, JM. We just clicked.

As our friendship grew, we were also fortunate enough to meet Hildie's extended family.

When she was about six, she and her family evacuated from Cuba. Her father was a political exile who left everything behind when Castro took power. Her parents settled in Little Havana in Miami, but would often visit her in Tennessee.

Hildie's Dad spoke English very well, but still held on to his thick Latin accent. Her mother never mastered the language, but if you were patient, she could communicate with you quite well.

During a few of these family visits, Hubs and I would be invited to dinner. On these occasions I thought I had died and gone to heaven... or Havana. The food this woman - who insisted we call her 'abuela' - would prepare was incredible.

Pork roasts, scored and primed with whole garlic cloves, that melted when you touch a fork to it, and black beans like you have never eaten in your life. Even though I was never much of a coffee drinker, when Abuela came for visits I could only hope she would make me a cup of her Cafe' con lache. I have never found anything to equal these tiny cups of golden sweetness.

When I was pregnant with WK, Hildie was expecting her first child, a girl.

It was amazing to me the preparation Hildie's family went to for this special event, the arrival of a grandchild. The traditions, rich in their Latin culture, that they continued here. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

There were many times I would say to Hubs how I wished for that kind of culture, that family dynamic that Hildie was a part of.

It wasn't just her family. It was other friends of ours that came from other ethnic backgrounds. I loved these traditions, these special ceremonies and rites of passage that as a multi-generational American I didn't have, wasn't a part of.

We have our own family traditions, but as a culture, I just didn't see that. We have lost something that was precious. Lost a part of who we are as a people. By trying so hard to become something else, all those many generations ago, we are no longer who we should have remained.

I know that when many of my ancestors arrived from Ireland and England in the late 1700s, their only choice for survival was to assimilate and to do it quickly. Names were changed, traditions were abandoned, cultures were lost. That makes me overwhelmingly sad.

This is not going to be a treatise on illegal immigration, or a plea for amnesty. This is not the place for that. What this is, is a personal longing for a part of my heritage that is gone, and a smile and nod to all the new American's who continue to hold on to their family traditions even in the face of great opposition.