Just finished going through a stack of Real Simple magazines (another subscription we have allowed to lapse), and at the back, they have a "Real Life" section where impossibly ideal women answer questions about their lives. They are funny, insightful, and surely not written by real people. But in the forever quest for stuff to write about, I am going to post some of the questions, and my answers, in an ongoing feature. Thanks Real Simple!

What's your favorite possession?

Just one? I expect stuff like, "My wedding ring," or "My cutting wit," or "The abiding love I have for my family," aren't in the spirit of the question... and those of you who know me might expect me to say it's our TiVo (starting to be more love-hate, actually, it is still awesome but I watch too much Tv) or the Prius (I do love it, but I could live without it)... so I'm going to split the difference.

My favorite possession might well be my sister's ring. We were in Stratford, Ontario, attending the Shakespeare Festival there. My sister lives in NYC, and she showed up wearing a cool little ring. It's small, silver, and squared off. Not square, but more the shape of an old cathode television. I commented on how cool it was. She said she'd bought it at Bloomingdale's, and then, right there, took it off and gave it to me.

I wear it every day, and love it. We used to share an apartment in New York, she and I. I miss her, and the ring reminds me of her. I think it looks good on my little finger next to my wedding band. Since then, I've often thought that I should commission my two other sisters to get me other jewelry, so I can wear something from each of them. But I'm so damn picky, I may need to send them a URL or something. Kind of detracts from the specialness, no?

So. Here's a picture of the ring.

What's your favorite possession?

The Intarwebs is a great tool for finding people. I used to work for the American Collectors Association (and no, they don't collect stamps), so I should know. There are a lot of people from way back when who I am curious about. Friends from 1st grade, elementary school, high school, even after college. with whom it would be fun to reconnect.

Sure, I could stalk them, but I'm lazy. So instead, I'm putting their names on a web page, for them to find when they do a little egosurfing. Because, come on, who hasn't indulged in a little egosurfing?

Here's the page.

So, a lot of the stuff I've been reading about child safety suggests that your kid should have some sort of ID on him or her. That is, a photo with some basic contact information on the back. That way, if they get lost, or (God forbid) hurt, someone can get hold of us. Target gave us some stickers and safety info with a recent photo order. They suggest the whole recent photo, CD, info, etc. route we've already taken. But they also suggest, in the case of evacuation or emergency, giving your kids an index card with their basic info on it. If you get separated, they say, that info will help bring you back together.

So, I thought, what about having them always carry that info around? Like a kid ID card.

Initially, I was a bit leery about it because of the stranger-anxiety thing. You know, you don't put your kid's first name on his jersey so strangers can't call it out and act all chummy. But really, if my kid's been (God forbid) abducted, an ID card isn't going to make much of a difference.

Then I thought, how paranoid do I have to be to make my five-year-old carry (what is essentially) photo ID? Not like I had any identifying anything with me when I was growing up. Not like my kids are ever anyplace without an adult. And where would he carry it? He would leave his shoes at home (and he has) if we didn't remind him to put them on (and we didn't, that one time). And then, the two year-old? What would we do, stick a FedEx return sticker on his back every time he leaves the house?

But the thought of them alone, with a (nice) stranger... scared... crying... just one paranoid parent away from having phone and address at hand... the five year-old can probably memorize our phone number, but the two year-old can't.

So, what do you think? Kid ID, or phone number tattoo?

You're watching your hour-long drama/mystery/police procedural show on television, and your heroes engage in conversation with a hitherto unknown guy or gal on the street, who just happens to be hanging around. Given that speaking parts pay much more than stand-around-and-nod-silently parts, you can bet your sweet plotline that the guy or gal had something to do with the drama/mystery/dead guy. It's a dead giveaway, but what are you going to do? Spend more to have a lot of red herrings jabbering away? I don't know. Do you have any suggestions?

I had forgotten all about SmartMedia, the flash storage format that predated Compact Flash and SD cards. Until I unearthed our first digital camera, the ancient Olympus D-490 ZOOM. Popped a few AA batteries in it, and it fired right up. So i gave it to our four-year-old, and he took a bunch of pictures, then in the process of not putting it on my desk like i asked him to, he dropped it.

Now I am left with a hunk of metal and plastic, four perfectly good AA batteries, and a SmartMedia card with priceless works of art (or twenty-four pictures of the floor, I don't know).

I am pretty sure i don't have a SmartMedia card reader anymore. The camera is too old to have a USB port. It came with a serial port cable. The computers in the house are too new to have serial ports. New card readers are too expensive to use just this once (since the camera is toast).

So anyone got a SmartMedia card reader they don't need? Or know where I can get borrow one? Thanks.

Never did get in on the beta, but FriendFeed has just launched. Essentially, it's a feed aggregator for all the services you use. You attach your FriendFeed account to your various services, and it lists all the updates you make. That way, your friends can subscribe to one place to follow all your doings on the Intarwebs. Be my friend, won't you? And here's the feed.