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Nikki M. Mascali
I still have dial-up. Let’s just get that out there in the open.
It is slower than molasses. I usually curse — a lot — as I wait for pages to load, and God forbid I want to open another browser. I don’t know why I don’t just get high-speed already, and believe you me, it’s something I think about every single day as I sit at my cluttered desk at home. Especially since I am such a dinosaur that I still have a home phone number because of said dial-up.
In our office, I am surrounded by iPhones and Blackberrys, but even my cell phone is the base model. I can text. I can make calls. Isn’t that what a cell is for? But I admit I do long to be able to scour the Interweb from my phone, especially if I’m waiting at a doctor’s office or something, or don’t want to be chained to my laptop, what with the slow connection and all.
So if you haven’t guessed by now, I am not the most tech-savvy of persons. I don’t really need, nor want, any of the gadgetry most people can’t live without. iPod? Nah. iTunes? Nope.
I can assure you that I will never be on Facebook. I have MySpace, and that’s enough for me, much to the chagrin of most of my friends. I have my own personal blog. That’s about as wired as I need to be.
When the Weekender did a cover story on Twitter (read it here: www.theweekender.com/cover/Tracking_the_Twitter_trend_02-24-2009.html), I scoffed at the idea of another social networking site. Doesn’t it just sound like yet another distraction and yet another pain-in-the-ass-to-update site?
But soon after the article ran, there I was creating an account after watching the tutorial on the site. And here I am, nearly a month later, not sure how I lived without Twitter. I absolutely love it. I love having to be short-winded (you can only Twit in 140 characters or less). I’ve made some great contacts thus far, personally and professionally.
It’s inspired me in my other writings: My personal blog, which I updated less than weekly, has grown, and I love having this new creative outlet. I’m journaling and writing my haiku/tanka poetry more — my creativity has just snowballed, and I am so blown away by that.
Sure, Twitter falls under the category of TMI sometimes, but I think it’s a great outlet for someone like me, and it was the shot in the arm my inspiration needed. If you haven’t checked Twitter out, I highly recommend. See my page at twitter.com/nikkimm33. Follow me if you’d like, I’d love to have you on board.
If not, go Tweet yourself, in 140 characters or less.
If I minimize the Internet windows open on my computer, I am going to see something incredible: my background photo. It’s no ordinary photo, mind you. I had to scour Google images for quite some time to find the perfect image of one “Magnum, P.I.,” and I assure you, this one is scrumptious.
“Magnum,” which ran from 1980-1988, was played by the always tasty Tom Selleck, who was my first childhood crush. It had a great theme song (that I recorded on a cassette tape on a behemoth boom box), a great setting (Hawaii), a sexy car (red Ferrari 308 GTS) and most importantly, Selleck’s ’stache.
That mustache bewitched me and still does to this day.
I firmly believe that, these days, not enough men sport furry upper lips. If ever elected president, this will be among the laws I put into place. (Other important laws include outlawing any straws that aren’t the bendy kind and making more men wear hats. And tasering people who drive slow in the passing lane.)
Every time I see my background, I smile. And blush a little because I want to touch that ’stache. I want to give it a nickname and have been racking my brain for the perfect one since I found the picture last week.
Without further ado, I present the photo to you.
About the Author
Nikki M. Mascali interned at the Weekender in 2005 and is proud to have been the paper’s oldest intern. She became the staff writer/designer in 2006 while still obtaining her journalism degree from Luzerne County Community College, which she received in 2007.
Nikki has written about a variety of topics, from a local dominatrix to Larry the Cable to Soulja Boy, Slash and Shinedown — and everything in between. She represents the “she” view for the “He Said/She Said” with Eric Petersen of Froggy 101.3 in the paper and on air at 5 p.m. every other Wednesday. She also attends the monthly KRZ Spotlight Lounge for photographs and exclusive interviews with artists like Plain White T’s, Matt Nathanson and Hinder. See her every Monday on the Weekender homepage in the Weekly Dose video with Editor Michael Lello.
Nikki has a never-ending love for Twitter (follow her at www.twitter.com/nikkimm33), Steve McQueen and Gerard Butler movies, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and eating, hence the reason she’s our food writer. She thanks you for reading her blog because she’s that kind of girl.