All About KelCandy1

Eric and I just busted out an awesome training run this afternoon. We didn't do the full three miles (I don't know, though we didn't really measure), but we did end our run with a ridiculously tough hill. We thought it would be good prep for our race next weekend since a long hill hits after about 2 miles.

Kids continued to be annoying today. And there was some crying, which is what I get for saying there was no crying. So from now on I make no more comments. Except kids = bad. Maybe that will make them good now? Wishful thinking...?

Let's talk about something way more fun than running or kindergarten kids. AOL and AIM. You know, America Online and AOL Instant Messager. Did Canada have these things...I mean it's still technically North America right? haha.

Let's discuss my history with AOL and AIM. This will surprise a total of no one, since I clearly spend a lot of time on the internet STILL to this day.

It all began in 8th grade when I got the internet at my house, you know dial up style. It was connected to our phone line which worked for about a month until my parents realized they would no longer receive phone calls because their daughter would be online 24/7. Yup, KelCandy1 was in action as often as possible. Somehow I still managed to do my homework and talk on the phone for excessive hours as well, but who knows how middle schoolers do it.

My greatest chat buddies were also my greatest friends (so no, I did not chat with random people online thankfully): Tiffypop9, Cricket113, SusaTort, TurboGrax, and Chockolat to name a few. There was also RLCDuke4, Mbair23. I even had a great friend Matskidive, that I almost never talked to except online because he was in classes for brilliant people and we had different friends. I maintain I did better on my SATs because he constantly used words I did not know the meaning of and he always explained them to me. Contrary to popular belief (AHEM Caroline and Jake), he was NEVER my boyfriend. On the plus side, despite having to convince Caroline and Jake every boy I spoke to was NOT my boyfriend, having siblings 5 and 7 years younger than you was a bonus when it came to AOL, no one to fight with over the computer!

There are several reasons I think AOL and AIM are way better than the phone (which I also had a lot of love for back in those days, as my parents will recall). The first reason is that you never have to worry about interrupting someone online. Clearly you wouldn't be online if you didn't have time to chat, so if you IM someone, you know they are available. The second reason is that you can talk to several people at once. This was particularly useful when it was time to go to college. I could talk to all my lovely high school friends who were anywhere and everywhere, while simultaneously bonding with my new buds (especially LilFlash24- that's Katie!) and even occasionally IMing my roommate Asho930, just for fun. I could even keep in touch with my sister, who's screen name I will not reveal because it reveals our last name (sorry her last name, and mine at work, for now haha) but I swear you used to have one that had to do with Sunapee, didn't you?

When I studied abroad in Australia it was even MORE key because I didn't have to worry about long distance charges OR a time change. My parents even took up IMing then to chat with me. Plus, it's fun to get Australian's doing AIM especially "Holler Ozzy" aka Kirsty.

I also talked to Eric (aka BigDogTE) a lot online back in our early dating days. I wish I could remember exactly who got who's screen name first, but I seem to recall some online stalking involved. Or maybe it was just normal back in those days to be like... so, what's your screen name? lol. Good times.

Sadly, my AIM days are over. I logged on today for the first time in literally years and I didn't even remember half of the screen names on my "Buddy List." Now it's all Gchat, Twitter and Text Messaging (all of which I support of course). But I kinda miss IMs. Remember away messages?

Did you use AOL or AIM? What was your screen name? The more ridiculous, the better!