Rushtoitiveness

There should be an award for those instances when an otherwise capable and savvy individual is so busy getting something done and feeling good about it that they lose their common sense.

You know how it is when you are knitting a sweater and you finally arrive at the sleeve decreases? That point where you know you are on the home stretch? I'm willing to bet that on more than one occasion you have rushed through all 30 rows of decreases only to read the next line of the pattern that reads "At the same time....". Yeah. I know you know what I mean.

I wish to nominate myself for just such an award. I did something so smack-upside the head dumb that I'm sure I will win.

Last night I was reading my secret pal's blog and left a comment. Now, I've done this a number of times since the swap started. I've been really, really careful about using my secret e-mail account (via Hotmail) and only using my secret pal name: Charm. So last night, as I went to leave a comment, I noticed that my computer (I'm sure this is a Google feature) filled in the information for me. "How convenient" I thought to myself! Since I do most of my work on the laptop now, I wasn't used to this new feature.

This morning while at work, I had this sudden thought: what if the information filled in for me was my "real" identity. The one with a link to my blog??? I didn't remember actually reading the fields. "Relax" I told myself, "it will be fine", and forgot all about it.

A while later, my friend Aimee e-mailed me at work to tell me that she sent a message to my g-mail account because I wasn't sure if I was at home or working.

Here's where it gets good.

I had an e-mail on my g-mail from my secret pal! Did that seem strange to me at all? Nope. Not one bit. I had received many e-mail responses to my comments from her....via my Hotmail account. (Can you see where this is going?)

So, I responded to her e-mail as follows:

Hee hee. I had a little panic when I submitted that comment. My google
toolbar automatically filled in the commenter info and I was afraid that it
put in the link to my "real identity", because I didn't remember checking to
see if it was from "charm". Now I can rest easy :)

I'm sure that you are paying better attention than I was when I wrote that,because it wasn't until she e-mailed me back and asked if I were her secret pal with a link to my blog (giant "DOH" sound) that I realized what I had done. For a split second, I considered denying it, but "hello!" it was so obvious!

The funny thing is that I didn't sign my comment "Charm" as I usually do. If I hadn't sent that reply, she never would have known!

Well, at least it doesn't qualify for the Darwin Award, but I feel really stupid!

Without further ado, I present my Secret Pal, Abigail.

I've had a lot of fun spoiling her! She's a great gal and an unbelievable sock knitter (so fast!).

Now when do I get my award?