Results of Recent Web Polls

If you're curious about our recent polls, here are the results of the last five of them:
What's your favorite Thanksgiving side dish
Stuffing: 54 percent; 71 votes
Mashed potatoes: 17 percent; 23 votes
Cranberry sauce: 17 percent; 22 votes
Green bean casserole: 12 percent; 16 votes
*132 total votes

How do you spend Thanksgiving
At home with family: 51 percent; 62 votes
Visiting family: 32 percent; 39 votes
Restaurants and hotel buffets: 13 percent; 16 votes
Serving people in need: 3 percent; 4 votes
*121 total votes

Where do you prefer to shop
Local merchants' shops downtown: 33 percent; 21 votes
Big-box retailers: 30 percent; 21 votes
Discount clubs: 19 percent; 12 votes
Online: 17 percent; 11 votes
*63 total votes

Which Web site do you use the most
Facebook: 82 percent; 71 votes
Twitter: 13 percent; 11 votes
MySpace: 5 percent; 4 votes
Blogger: 1 percent; 1 vote
*87 total votes

When do you start your holiday shopping
Before Thanksgiving: 37 percent; 28 votes
After Thanksgiving: 22 percent; 22 votes
December: 22 percent; 17 votes
Christmas Eve: 12 percent; 9 votes
*76 total votes

Do you have any ideas for poll questions? Let us know: editor@a2journal.com

On a more serious note...

I'm not always about gimmicky cult media frenzies. I have feelings and sometimes I do things that matter, or something.

I'm deep, deep in the National Novel writing November thing... (read posts below)... which means I'm almost to the halfway point of the month where I'm supposed to write 50K words in 30 days. Right now I'm about 2.5 days behind my daily goal (1,667 words/day). That puts me at about 14.5K. So this weekend I'm going to be making some serious moves to play catch-up, and hopefully give myself some added cushion as well. By Sunday I'm supposed to have 25K. That's a lot of words my friends and I have like 10K to get there... which is so much I could cry!

Or, I could simply turn off the Michigan football game and write instead. That's always an option and it worked out quite well for me last week. Being a hermit is best, and I think I've actually managed to do quite well for myself in this whole thing considering I'm still working and maintaining some sort of social calender. I'm not sure what that means, but it does involve giggles about vampires with girlfriends and the typical ooo's and aahh's over babies and birthday cakes.

I originally thought I'd post some of my contest piece on this blog... little snippets and what have you. But I've changed my mind. Michelle is absolutely 100% to blame for this. She's to blame because, no matter how good of a writer you are, reading the excerpts on the back cover of ANY book sound contrived and silly and will result in her making fun of me for the next 12 months. No really, imagine a friend of yours. Now what was the last book you read? Now imagine they were writing it and tried to explain the plot to you. They'd seem like a nerd right? Exactly, so I'm not going there. Plus I made the mistake one day to (on a very big, big, huge whim) post some poetry I had written as a college student. She's never let me live it down and now at work I'm like the tortured sexified love poet. It's mortifying.

Also, the Ann Arbor area crowd that's involved finally got up to like 850 people before it all started. There are a few Saline, Milan and Ypsilanti people thrown into that mix. I hope they're all doing well, and better than I am! Good luck, 2.5-ish weeks to go!

Vampire love fest?

This post will be short because it makes me look like an idiot.

Last night was spent viewing the newest episode of Vampire Diaries with my fellow friend and fan of blood-sucking chronicles. It was a good one.

BUT NOT AS GOOD AS WHAT'S COMING. There is going to be a vampire love fest on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 8 p.m. on the CW. The two main peeps are going to share I loves you's, and by way of modern CW television ideology that ultimately means they're probably going to do it too.

As if THAT wasn't enough (and I have to say, the trailer looks pretty sexified), the New Moon movie comes out the following day, Nov. 20. I will be in a mystical land watching it at midnight on the dot with my best friend Rachel. She moved and I was going to be darned if she had to watch Robert Pattinson pout all by herself.

If you have any ounce of interest in anything related to blood, sex, tears, teens, tweens, Brits, delayed gratification and MOAR then I suggest you buy your tickets ahead of time. Because the kids these days are nuts, and theatres are sold out already.

Shameless Twilight fan out!