Rocks In My Dryer

All About the Book (Links Fixed Now--Sorry!)

SO. The book is here. (Stay tuned to the end for a chance to win a free copy.)

If you're new here, here's the scoop: In early July I contracted with Wiley to write TypePad For Dummies. I have years of experience with TypePad (and, come to think of it, years of experience being a dummy), so it was a great fit. The absolute icing on the cake was getting to co-author the book with my dear friend (and mucho accomplished technical writer) Melanie.

Fast forward roughly seven months (and more nights of carryout than any family could possibly be expected to endure), and Melanie and I are standing in my kitchen, jaws on the floor, a real-live book with our real-live names in our real-live hands. It was a big day.

During the process, we didn't blog many particulars about the book (mostly because we were so tied up in the crazy demands of meeting deadlines). If particulars are the type of thing that float your boat, here (finally!) is a more detailed run-down of what you can expect to find in TypePad For Dummies:

• For true beginners, our first chapter explains some basic blogging concepts and technologies (including RSS feeds, SEO, and hosting), quickly getting you up to speed so you can follow along with the rest of the book.
• An in-depth look at what TypePad is and where it came from, with a comprehensive list of features (pros and cons) that set TypePad apart from other blogging platforms. We explain the different pricing levels and tell you how you can decide which one works for you, and we walk you through the sign-up process.
• We take you item-by-item through the TypePad dashboard (you TypePad users know that it's changed significantly over the last few months, and we document the very latest changes at the time of publication). We explain how to manage your account and tell you where to go for help (hint: you don't have to go far. TypePad is known for its stellar customer service, and we tell you how to get the most out of it.)
• We tell you how to set up your blog and write a post, explaining the ins and outs of every element of your Compose Editor. We show you how to format text, insert files (video, photos, etc.), maximize your use of categories, use trackbacks, and more. We even discuss how to handle writers' block--we've all been there.
• All of Chapter 7 is devoted to the topic of comments--how to format them, how to get more, and how to not let them stress you out.
• Two whole chapters in the book are devoted entirely to blog design, from the basics (how to use standard themes) to the much more advanced (how to tweak your own CSS for a custom look).

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! IT SLICES AND DICES!

(Not really.)

But the book does go on to address dozens of other TypePad-related issues, including TypeLists (one of my personal favorites of all of TypePad's features), photo albums, social media, blog monetization, importing/exporting, domain mapping, stat counters, and blog etiquette. In one of my favorite chapters of the book, we highlight ten highly-accomplished TypePad bloggers, hearing directly from them about their best blogging strategies (seriously, don't miss that chapter!)

This is all still just a sampling. Melanie and I worked so hard to give a thorough and detailed explanation of TypePad's service, going step-by-step, and keeping the technical jargon to a minimum. The book is chock-full of clear, step-by-step tutorials, the kind Melanie's famous for. We're really proud of how it turned out.

How about a giveaway? Courtesy of the kind of folks at TypePad, I'm giving away a FREE YEAR OF TYPEPAD (roughly a $145 value) and several copies of the book. To enter (I promise, it's easy) just click over here to my giveaway blog. 

For those of you who have already ordered copies, and for the countless readers who dropped notes of encouragement during the daunting writing process, thank you for your encouragement! A very special thanks to the bloggers we featured in the book--there's some good stuff there:

Allsorts
Career Hub
Eat Local Challenge
Economist's View
Finslippy
Hey There's a Dead Guy In the Living Room (how much do you love that title?)
Money Saving Mom
Raisin Toast
Smart Dog
HELLO My Name Is Heather
Pensieve
Build a Better Blog

To the folks at Six Apart (TypePad's parent company) who have offered support and encouragement--our hearty thanks to you as well.

Remember: comments left at this post cannot count as a contest entry--you must visit my giveaway blog to be counted (sorry for the extra click--advertising regulations, etc etc...)!

Lost Recap: Lighthouse

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode airing February 23, 2010, don't read this!

I really liked tonight's episode, even if it sometimes descended a little too far into melodrama (more on that in a minute). I like that lines are being drawn in the sand. It appears (I say "appears" because this is, after all, Lost) that we're finally getting a clearer picture of the good guy/bad guy setup. Fake Locke and Claire (and thus, it would seem, Christian Shepherd and maybe soon-to-be Sayid)=bad. Hurley, Jack, Jacob, all the other "candidates"=good. A few other characters remain up in the air: Aaron? Kate? Ben?

Tonight was my favorite of all the sideways-flash episodes, as we watch a Lost character finally overcome his bad-daddy issues. Jack bonds with his son (a dead ringer for Jack, but my word, those were some bright red lips on that boy), expressing the affirmation he never received from Christian. Nice. But who is David's mother? Sarah, Jack's ex-wife? This seems unlikely; I thought Jack and Sarah only met a few years before Flight 815, not long enough to produce a surly teenage son. The mother cannot be Kate, of course; Jack and Kate just got off the plane and clearly were strangers (or mostly strangers).

Now. I need to discuss Claire.

I know we all needed to understand what happened to her, but I'm having a hard time really buying Claire as Crazy Jungle Woman. She was always painted as so innocent and gentle; this character shift is giving me whiplash. The parallels the writers are drawing to Rousseau border on the absurd (or at least the overly obvious). We GET it. She shoots people and sets traps. She's supposed to remind us of Rousseau. Let's move along. She tells us that Fake Locke is not, in fact, John, but her "friend". Does Smokey manifest himself differently to different people? I thought we learned last week that Smokey had to stay in the form of John Locke?

I'm eager to hear what you thought of the lighthouse scene. Again, it seemed a little contrived. I like the idea of Jack coming face-to-face with the specific calling on his life. I like that Hurley was the tool Jacob used to accomplish this. But the images reflected in the mirror? These seemed awkward to me.

The biggest question of the night, in my opinion? Where is Sawyer? Has he set off to fulfill Fake Locke's evil plan? I doubt it--Sawyer is too savvy. Is he dead? This also seems unlikely. But Fake Locke appeared without him at the end, so we're left with the wondering.

Hurley knocked it out of the ballpark in this episode, delivering his best lines ever, including:

(To Miles) "I could eat." 

(To Dogen) "I'm a big fan of temples and history and Indiana Jones stuff."

(To Jacob) "I just lied to a Samurai."

(To Jack) "Very old school, man, you and me trekking through the jungle to do something we don't really understand. Good times."

If you're blogging Lost at your blog, feel free to leave a direct link to your post below. The list will close to new links in a few days, to keep away the spammers.

It's Nights Like These That the DVR Pays For Itself

Lost is on opposite women's Olympic figure skating?

I don't see how I can possibly be expected to work under these conditions.

As much as I love my Sayid and Kate and Sawyer, I believe I love women's figure skating even more. Only once every four years do I have the opportunity to squeeze the phrase "triple salchow" into my daily conversation. This year, for the first time, I'm watching the event with my daughter snuggled up next to me, hoping that perhaps I will be able to pass on to her my ambition of representing my country as an Olympic figure skater.

(An ambition, incidentally, which might have been easier to achieve if I actually knew how to ice skate.)

I'll be back with a Lost update once I've had a chance to watch it, hopefully sometime Wednesday. In the meantime, GO USA.

A.M.

5:07   The five-year-old climbs into my bed, wraps every one of her limbs around every one of my limbs, and kicks off all the covers.

5:08   I pull the covers back up.

5:11   She kicks them back down.

5:11   I pull them back up, and in a spirit of tenderness (or maybe it was grouchiness, I can't really remember) I suggest she stop it RIGHT NOW.

6:30   The alarm goes off--NPR, on my clock radio. Waking up to NPR basically causes me to move from nighttime sleep straight into a good nap. Probably not a good plan, now that I think of it.

6:41   I get out of bed, stepping on at least four chunks of dried plaster en route to the shower.

6:42   Shower time.

7:15   I head downstairs to find that my 12-year-old son is dressed, fed, clean, and cheerful, and he's sitting at the table reading.  I scratch my head.

7:16   I let out the dog and pour a Diet Coke (for me, not the dog).

7:25   The five-year-old sleepily wanders in. The 12-year-old immediately hops up and offers to fix breakfast for her. I walk over to him, embrace him with both arms, and I gently ask him if aliens invaded his body overnight.

7:32   In wet hair and a bathrobe, I drive my son to the bus stop, while remembering all the times I swore I'd never drive my kids to the bus stop in wet hair and a bathrobe. 

7:34   He makes me belly laugh, no small feat before 9 a.m. I love that boy.

7:40   Back home to find Hubs eating breakfast with our five-year-old daughter, the only member of this family who is chatty and energetic in the morning.  She is debating, aloud, the merits of pigtails versus ponytails.

7:45   Wake up the other boys and fix them breakfast. Think to myself that I don't know who invented Pancakes On a Stick, but I'd like to shake his hand.

7:51   Kiss Hubs goodbye.

7:56   The five-year-old shrieks in horror at a fly that is buzzing around our kitchen table, and she runs to get the water squirt bottle in self defense.

8:03   The eleven-year-old got a new haircut the night before, so I help him figure out the best way to fix it.

8:04   It evolves into a discussion about hair product and proper blow-drying technique.

8:07   It evolves further into a talk about some of the changes your body goes through during puberty.

8:08   I realize I might need some more caffeine.

8:11   The five-year-old has now coated every surface in my kitchen with water, while singing "I'm In the Lord's Army".

8:17   Attack the eight-year-old with a ferocious hug, because when his face is still sleep-puffy, he looks just like my baby, and a hug attack is the only logical response.

8:29   Out the door with the boys and a still-pajama'd girl.

8:38   Pull up to the school. "I-love-you-Be-good-Did-you-get-your-lunch-money?-Don't-forget-to-turn-in-that-yellow-permission-slip-Where's-your-coat?-I'll-see-you-after-school-May-the-Lord-bless-you-and-keep-you-may-He-make-His-face-to-shine-upon-you...."

8:39   Sit and breathe, and listen to my daughter sing a song she is making up about a fairy named Crystal Rainbow who wanted to be on American Idol but then a big fly came up and ate her.

8:40   Realize that I am profoundly blessed. Sleepy, but blessed.

Mark Your Calendars For February 27th!

One month following the 7.1 earthquake that struck Haiti, an all-star cast of musicians is gathering for Help Haiti Live, a two-city ticketed concert event taking place on February 27th, 2010 to benefit Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund.

Don't live in LA or Nashville? Watch the concerts for free (streaming live) on the 27th at Help Haiti Live website. Go ahead and bring your wallet, though--at the website you'll be given a chance to donate to Compassion's work in Haiti. If you've not already done so, this will be the perfect opportunity.

One hundred percent of on-line donations through HelpHaitiLive.com will go to Compassion International’s Haiti disaster relief fund. One hundred percent of net proceeds from ticket sales will go to the same place.

Some of the artists participating in this concert include Jars of Clay, Amy Grant, and two of my personal favorites: Dave Barnes (*squeal*), and Alison Krauss and Union Station (*double squeal*). This will be a spectacular night of music for a great cause--I'll be watching live. Join me!

Help Haiti February 27th - HelpHaitiLive.com from Compassion International on Vimeo.

Lost Recap: The Substitue

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode airing February 16, 2010, don't read this!

At the end of tonight's episode, the preview for next week included a voice over of an announcer dramatically telling us "THE TIME FOR QUESTIONS IS OVER."

To which I can only respond "I KIND OF DOUBT IT."

We don't have that much time left, and tonight's episode felt a little like treading water. I don't expect every single question to be wrapped up in a tidy bow (I fully expect the writers to force us to think a little more than that)--but it would be quite lovely if would could have the general sense of moving toward a conclusion. Tonight, I can't say I'm feelin' it.

The only thing we really learned in this episode is that the Man In Black is now, it appears, permanently trapped inside John Locke's body. We learned he has a gigantic chip on his undead shoulder regarding Jacob's propensity for choosing and touching people. I'm enjoying the theological wondering (this Presbyterian girl is heartily pulling for predestination), but I'm hoping there's some solid plot development on the other side of this highly philosophical episode.

There's some deep significance to the "candidates" Fake Locke mentioned. It seems that not all the Losties are "candidates", only a handful (Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, one of the Kwons, Sayid, and Locke). This is notable, because it sets aparts a few of our survivors, and it leaves others (i.e. Kate, Aaron, Desmond, etc) out.  When the strange boy in the wilderness told Fake Locke it was "against the rules" to kill Sawyer, is this because Sawyer is a candidate? Remember, Locke and Sawyer (both candidates) could see the boy--Richard Alpert (not a candidate, as far as we know) could not. What does this mean?

A few more random points:

1. I love the balanced and fulfilled Real John in the flash sideways, don't you? The tearing up of Jack's business card was a powerful moment.

2. I'm also loving the confident and self-assured Hurley, even though he blows my mind a little.

3. I can just about promise you I'm going to have nightmares tonight about going back to high school and having Ben Linus as my European Lit teacher.

4. This has nothing to do with Lost, but those Old Spice commercials with the guy on the horse are cracking me up.

There were several excellent quotes for the night, including these:

Ben Linus: "He was a much better man than I will ever be, and I'm sorry I murdered him."

Sawyer: "No offense, but you already died, so it's great that this isn't a big deal for you."

Fake Locke: "Jacob had a thing for numbers."

If you're blogging the show at your own blog, feel free to leave a link below. List will close for new links in a few days, to keep away the spammers.

Romance

It's Valentine's Day. This afternoon Hubs and I climbed the stairs, closed our bedroom door and...

...finished scraping the popcorn off our master bathroom ceiling.

Who needs roses when you can have soggy chunks of plaster in your hair?

We're generally not impulsive remodelers--when we've tackled projects in the past, we've usually thought them through very carefully, with a budget and a plan in place. Early last week we began to wonder how hard it would be to strip our old wallpaper, which led to a wondering about how much bathtub refinishing costs, which led to a wondering about whether we could remove a doorway. Ten days later, my bathroom looks like this:

So, it would appear we're remodeling the bathroom.

I am learning many things in this little adventure, chief among them that plumbers are expensive, sledgehammers are surprisingly therapeutic, and wallpaper glue is forever. And I am reminded, with much thankfulness, that I'd rather spend an afternoon inhaling sheetrock dust with him than sitting at a candlelit table with anybody else. Come to think of it, maybe we should've written that into our wedding vows.

Happy Valentine's Day, Hubs. Thanks for the drywall and the babies and the sanity and for looking so dang good in a tool belt.

Lost Recap: What Kate Does

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode airing February 9, 2010, don't read this!

Okay, Losties. Buckle up. (And my apologies in advance for what will be an excessive use of quotation marks; it's evidently "what I do" when I get "confused".)

Tonight's episode was not as answer-filled as last week's, but there were at least a couple of things that seem to be getting clearer.

First, "fate" has a way of correcting itself. If something is meant to happen, it appears that it's going to happen, with or without the help of the plane crash.  Think about it: in our "first" reality (the one in which the crash happened), Claire is circumstantially forced to parent her baby, Ethan Rohm is given medical access to Aaron in utero, and Kate ultimately swoops in as Claire's rescuer. In our "second" reality (the one without the crash), Claire is circumstantially forced to parent her baby, Ethan Rom is given medical access to Aaron in utero, and (you guessed it) Kate ultimately swoops in as Claire's rescuer.

If we follow this train of thought to its logical conclusion (a risky proposition with this show, but go with it), all these characters would've still interacted, even if the Island hadn't thrown them together. Will this continue to hold true?

The second thing we saw tonight was a return of the Sickness as a seemingly significant plot point. (And, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed--it was never one of my favorite plot elements. It seemed a little overly dramatic.)

(Then again, I'm the girl reading message boards and writing blog posts about a show with a smoke monster and tropical polar bears, so I can't exactly cast the first stone.)

Back to the Sickness.  Dagon attempts to "treat" Sayid for the "darkness" that has infected him. He also says the same thing has happened to Claire, and we have plenty of other instances of people being "infected" from some source outside themselves. It happened to Rousseau's partner Robert, the recently undead John Locke, and the not-so-recently undead Christian Shepherd. 

A few other questions/comments that have occurred to me as I've spent a ridiculous amount of time thinking over all this during the last week:

1. Sayid does seem different to me. Even his voice--perhaps it's his accent--seems different. Did anyone else notice this?

2. Why is it so important to the Temple People that Sawyer be brought back? For a bunch of people who see "fate" making things work out just as they should, they surely spend a lot of time fretting about the particulars.

3. How did the torture session on Sayid diagnose his "darkness"?

4. Kate became unusually emotional when Sawyer tossed Juliet's ring into the ocean. I interpreted that as her sudden realization that Sawyer did not (and will not) love her, and she should've chosen Jack all along. If she'd just listened to me shouting that at her through the TV screen for the last five seasons, I could've spared her that little emotional breakdown.

5. It's fantastic to see Claire back (looking, I might add, very reminiscent of Danielle--those two have always drawn a striking parallel, haven't they?) Is she sick? Is she even alive? Is it possible that she had a touch of the sickness (causing her to leave Aaron and look all creepy in the cabin) but her earlier inoculation kicked in, causing her to heal and turn back into Nice Claire?

6. Quote of the night: "We'll be in the food court if you need us." --Miles

Since we're getting closer to the end of the series, I want to take a minute to make a few  predictions (and I'd love to see yours too). I've thought about the series end a lot this week (which isn't quite as pathetic as it sounds--I've spent untold hours stripping three layers of wallpaper from my master bathroom walls, and that's MUCH time for listening to Lost podcasts). Though there's still much that mystifies me, I do have a few things I think will happen. Keep in mind I'm not basing this on any insider knowledge, just a hunch, a bunch of podcasts, a painfully limited understanding of time travel, and 25-year-old wallpaper glue fumes:

MY MOSTLY BASELESS PREDICTIONS

1. The double timeline will continue, with the characters simultaneously moving forward in parallel lives at the same time (and hopefully giving us lots of good explanations in the process). After a while, in the non-crash timeline, all the characters will fully "integrate" with one another as "fate" dictated. At that moment, they'll suddenly "recognize" each other, and the two parallel realities will somehow, miraculously squish into one, back on the Island.

2. The show will end with Jack and Kate (finally) together.

3. I predict the very last scene of the show is the revelation of the identities of the Adam and Eve skeletons. I think they will be Jack and Kate.

4. We will never get any more information about Walt. (I hope I'm wrong on this one.)

5. I think that John Locke may have been "possessed" for much longer than we originally thought--perhaps he's even been Possessed John for most of the series.

6. I think (or maybe I just really hope) the real John Locke will somehow get undead, and I think he's going to get a happy ending.

7. It irks me to say it, but so help me, I think Ben Linus is going to turn out to be...well, if not a good guy, at least a mostly misguided harmless one.

I could do this all night, but I'll stop now, before I embarrass myself any more. If you're writing about Lost at your place, leave a link below--share your predictions, if you're so inclined! (Links will close in a few days, to keep away the spammers.)

Good Linkage

New Life for an Old Door :: The Pleated Poppy

I Couldn't Care Less :: Incompetech
As I have word-related pet peeves on the brain, let's tackle another one.

Freely Educate
An amazing resource for free educational resources for parents and kids.

Don't Hurt Haiti. Stay Home. :: Shaun Groves

DIY Valentine's Day Goody Bag :: Twig &  Thistle

Something Special Card and Envelope Tutorial :: Sew, Mama, Sew!

Brambles :: Antique Mommy

These Are the Things That Keep Me Up At Night

I am bizarrely fascinated by pronunciation.

(Let us pause to absorb the geekiness of that previous sentence. Carry on.)

Sometimes the differences are endearing.  I love to hear my dear British friend Yvonne say "garage" to rhyme with "carriage". I think it's adorable that my dad puts another "L" in "alleluia" (he says "alleluLia"). It's great fun that Hubs and I have bickered for 15 years over the right way to say "thorough" (he says "THUR-oh", I say "THUR-uh") and "roof" (his rhymes with "aloof", mine rhymes with "hoof").

But I don't always find it entertaining; sometimes I climb up on my pronunciation high horse. I visibly wince when someone pronounces "realtor" as "REAL-it-or". (Side note: This weekend I spoke to a real estate agent, of all people, who didn't say it the right way. I bit my tongue and resisted the urge to shout, "RESPECT YOURSELF, MAN!")  My Republican heart cracked a little every time Dubya said "NOOK-yuh-lur". And back in my office days I had a boss who insisted on saying "fLustrated" instead of "fRustrated", and I may or may not have made faces behind his back.

Since I am entirely inconsistent in my pronunciation moral authority, I don't feel qualified to make a stand on the following issue: the "r" in February. I've always said "FEB-yoo-ary"; in fact, I have a vague memory of being taught in elementary school that the "r" is supposed to remain silent. More and more, though, I seem to be encountering people who say "FEB-roo-ary". (And it's not pretty.  I think "FEB-roo-ary" sounds a little like the speaker just had some painful dental work done, but she still has Novacaine and Valium in her system.)

This site says you should include the "r", this one says you can keep it silent. I hope those r-sayers are wrong, because I think I'm too forgetful and stubborn to make the switch.

How do you say it?

Lost Recap: LAX

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode airing February 2, 2010, don't read this!

In case anyone had any doubts that we were headed toward a  good vs. evil, Armaggedon-type showdown, tonight's episode left no doubt. There was so much religious imagery I feel like I've been to church camp.

The "resurrected" John Locke (or "Flocke", as he's called on the message boards, short for "Fake Locke") is the epitome of nastiness. We learn that he's trying to get "home" (Where's home? Does pure wickedness live in Tallahassee?) It turns out that Flocke is the Smoke Monster, or the Smoke Monster is him, however that works. In an interesting twist, the message boards are abuzz with the idea that the newly resurrected Sayid is not Sayid at all, but some sort of manifestation of good-guy Jacob.

I'm pulling for Jacob to make a strong comeback, but I surely would be sad if we had seen the last of the real Sayid. 

Tonight's episode gave us a stark look at what would've happened had the plane crash not happened. The life the survivors were racing back to is not much of a life at all. Even Flocke sees this, reporting that John Locke (the real one) was the only one who saw how pathetic all their old lives were. We're also left with the puzzling awareness that the survivors seem to be existing in two realities at once: the one on the Island where there is great suffering and great redemption, and the one at LAX that appears to be happy but is, in fact, false and empty.

(See? Church camp! I love it.)

Here are a few random questions and observations that won't fit anywhere else in my happy little redemption narrative:

1. If the temple water brings healing and even resurrection, why didn't they put Juliet in it?

2. Flocke talks to Richard about his chains. Chains? Did I miss something? Does this refer to the Black Rock slave ship?

3. Desmond appeared briefly on the plane and then seemed to disappear. At first I wondered how he got there--shouldn't he be pressing buttons on the Island? Then I remembered that no, the Island blew up in the '70's, so there were no buttons to push. Then I took an Advil.

4. It was generally satisfactory to see Benjamin Linus spending the whole evening with the bejeebers scared out of his nasty self.

5. Since when can a Volkswagen bus move a steel beam?

6. We can only assume that the absence of Christian Shepherd's body on the plane is highly significant, but WHY? (This show better not be one giant metaphor about the sad state of our nation's airline customer service.)

7. Juliet wanted to tell Sawyer something, and Miles later told us that she wanted Sawyer to know "It worked." But when she first awakened, she noted with despair that they were still on the Island. What changed? How did she figure out that the blast had altered reality?

8. Terry O'Quinn could win an Emmy on tonight's performance alone.

If you're writing about Lost at your own blog, leave a link below!

Oh You Supremely Convoluted Show, How We've Missed You

You know what's weird?

Late last night I wrote a really fantastic pre-game look at the Lost season premiere tonight. I saved it, and I went to bed. And this morning, the post was gone. Wiped clean.

I sat here at my computer and mentally retraced my steps. I know I saved it. Could it be that there was a wrinkle in the fabric of time? Or maybe a giant nuclear explosion happened to the "me" of 20 years ago, canceling out my future? Maybe I'm not a blogger at all! OR--and I'm just speculating here--maybe my laptop was sucked into a magic box overnight, teleporting it to, I don't know, Singapore or Antarctica or Ohio.  Thinking of all this forces me to draw one very important conclusion:

I need to get out more.

My own ineptitude aside, our beloved Lost returns tonight, and I plan to blog a recap late tonight or tomorrow morning, or whenever the smelling salts kick in. As we Losties prepare ourselves for the mental and emotional vigor awaiting us tonight, let me first pause for a small public service announcement. Every year, as Lost hype peaks, I get several emails from readers asking if they can just jump right in and start watching.

NO. Please don't.

Those of us who have been hanging with Lost from the beginning spend a good bit of time, um, lost. If you were to jump in at this point, you'd have no idea what's going on and you wouldn't enjoy it all. Worse, you'd likely ruin the joy of any future viewing of the series in its entirety. Even as a diehard Lostie, I have to say that I think the best way to watch this series is not live (as I've watched it), but after the fact, via DVD, taking in a season at a time in its back-to-back entirety. It's probably less confusing and more enjoyable. In other words, you non-Losties have an enormous existential treat in front of you if you watch it later, all at once. Don't spoil your fun by tuning in at the tail end now. 

Having said that, let me make a few Lost-related predictions, hypotheses, or general wondering-ments:

1. I read that the producers have warned that not all fans will be pleased with the series ending. Maybe they're just managing expectations. But they'd better not be setting us up for a conclusion in which none of this ever happened and the plane arrives, like nothing happened, in LAX. I will be inconsolable, I tell you.
2. Will we see more of Libby? I've heard the answer is yes. And I hope so, because I've always had some strange hunch that she's an important key in this mystery. 
3. What about Walt? Will we ever understand his strange powers (remember the dead birds?) 
4. Keep a sharp eye on the Complicated Fatherhood Issues. It's a recurring theme, and I predict it winds up central to the mystery. Entertainment Weekly expounds on this further.
5. If you don't subscribe to ABC's Lost podcast, you're missing a treat. It's not just spoilers and previews--some of this summer's episodes discussed the creative process behind the show. It's fascinating.
6. Hubs (a begrudging and eye-rolling Lost fan) has made his prediction for the end of the series. He thinks the last episode will air, completely unsatisfactorily, and there will be a giant head shot of the producers saying "GOTCHA! This was all a giant sociological experiment to see how badly we could confuse America!" Clearly, I didn't marry him for his optimism.

Need a refresher? Check out the episode guides at ABC, or browse through Lostpedia. If you have any favorite links to pregame commentary, please feel free to leave it in the comments section below.

Happy time traveling and nuclear exploding, my Lostie friends!