This morning, I rose and shone as usual at 5 a.m. Bundled up and set out on my daily predawn walk. But unlike the past month, the dark quickly gave way to light on the horizon. Thirty minutes in, I was treated to the following sight.
Our very own Autumn Ashbough commented on my corresponding Instagram post, YES! The annual DST curse has been lifted! She’s right about that. It might be a pain to drive home in the dark for a couple of months (while watching out for deer, as Wisconsin comic Charlie Berens is forever warning), but gorgeous mornings like this make up for that minor inconvenience. And I recognize that these mornings are fleeting, as the darkness will linger a little bit longer each day, eventually masking these first rays of light once again.
Yet another excuse to live in the moment.
A couple of you expressed interest in learning more about my run-in with the domain dictator who tried to rake me over the coals when I inquired about purchasing markmywords.com. I’ve shared the story before on my blog, but that was 12 years ago and not a single one of you were reading me then, so I’m happy to oblige.
It was November 2010, and I was really gettin’ into this whole blogging gig. I’d been writing on WordPress for a year by then, and figured it would be cool to have my own registered domain instead of the generic one you get with WP. Since the name of my blog was Mark My Words, obviously I wanted markmywords.com. No problem, right?
Oh, how naïve I was.
My first step was to hit up a domain name registrar. GoDaddy was the first one that popped into my head (probably because they used to run sexy Super Bowl ads every year, but that’s neither here nor there). When I typed in markmywords.com, I learned the domain name was already registered to some dude in Virginia named Carl. He’d purchased it 10 years earlier but there was no corresponding website, so I figured he might be willing to part ways with it if I asked really nicely.
Oh, how naïve I was.
I sent Carl a polite email, asking if he might be willing to sell me the domain. His reply was brief and to the point.
I live in America; everything is for sale, only question is how much. This is pricy, but give it a shot.
A real capitalist, ol’ Carl was. OK, fine. I figured $100 might be enough to persuade him to let it go.
Oh, how naïve I was.
Carl the Capitalist basically laughed his ass off and abruptly ended our conversation. Virginia is for lovers, my ass! C the C was a greedy bastard who probably snatched purses from old ladies and kicked dogs for sport. I might have upped my ante slightly, but I was unemployed at the time and putting food on the table was more important than owning a splashy domain.
I compromised and bought markmywordssite.com (and later, markmywords.blog). Neither is quite as catchy, but they were a hell of a lot cheaper.
By the way, markmywords.com is still registered…and still going unused. Somebody anonymous in Jacksonville, Florida owns it today. Could it still be in the greedy clutches of Carl the Capitalist? Maybe. People move all the time (says the guy who has moved twice since originally reaching out to C the C). If so, he’s an even bigger idiot than I first thought. He could have been $100 richer all those years ago and would have saved whatever he’s paying every year for it since.
Some capitalist you turned out to be, Carl. I hope you get run over by a golf cart down there in the Sunshine State.
By the way, if anyone’s looking for a Christmas gift for me this year, this post should give you a few great ideas!
Yesterday, we drove into Madison just for something to do. We had no solid plan other than lunch at Raising Cane’s, so we just parked the car and decided to wander.
We ended up wandering our asses right inside the state Capitol building, which was all kinds of cool. Eventually we ended up on the roof, which was cooler still.
All that and a Three Finger Combo? Couldn’t ask for a more perfect day if you tried!
Mark My Words 
Leave a comment