This is so very weird

During a discussion in gypsy_ritsa's LJ, ceebaby and I just realized that we both went to the same university at the time and lived in the same dorm, one floor apart, for two whole years. We never knew! And we didn't meet each other until years later.

Darn it, she's really hot. I could've asked her out in college and everything! *sigh*

(Of course, our epic teenaged romance would have ended in flames and tears, and then one or the other of us wouldn't have been able to integrate into the dance community since our very mutual presence would have caused such sturm and drang. So one or the other of us would never have become a dancer, and probably wallowed in danceless sorrow in some obscure, depressing, shadowy studio apartment living a dreary, danceless life. So perhaps it's for the better after all.)

Google Calendar -- this one's for you, Ammy!

For months and months, miss_emelia has been asking us "When is Google going to release something so I don't have to use eVite anymore?" And for months and months, I've had to bite my tongue.

But not anymore: introducing Google Calendar!

I've been quietly testing this for months now, and I love love love it. I'm using it constantly, and it's keeping me on schedule. I can set up one-time events (like dates with capricious_k that she can put on her Google Calendar) and regularly repeating events (like Friday Night Waltz or Gaskell's). Any event on the calendar can be set up as private (only I can see it), restricted to a small group (only my friends can see it) or public (everyone can see it). In fact, your whole calendar can be set up this way.

After setting up the event, I can have my Google Calendar to remind me as far in advance as I want. It'll even send an SMS reminder to my phone if I want it to.

Having a party? Invite as many people as you like, and Calendar will send out the invites, let your friends leave a comment on their response, and provide an event-specific message board where everyone can chat about the shindig. All of these services include the same privacy settings outlined above.

And since it's Google, our calendar includes search. You can search your friends' calendars (if they've set their privacy settings to allow it), and you can search for public calendar feeds, including the popular iCal format. My calendar, for instance, shows me a feed of common US holidays, so I can keep track of my vacation days. It even reminded me when the clocks changed for Dayling Savings Time.

Google Calendar may not be for everyone. If you have concerns about using a web-based email service like Gmail, you probably shouldn't use this service either. I've found Google Calendar to be incredibly useful, though, and I hope you do too.

You can check it out at http://calendar.google.com