Friday, April 25, 2008

A Blessed Virus

"Help! It's a virus!"

My first thought when I logged in to Google Reader yesterday and saw 15 unread posts, all with the strange title - Riddle-me-Ree, who can she be?

Without opening any of the posts, I went straight to my internet bible and googled 'riddle-me-ree blog virus'. I got plenty of results of course - you will always find an answer in the bible if you look hard enough - but nothing that suggested that this virus might be dangerous.

Still, as wife to a paranoid technogeek, who's only just managed to learn how to deal with all the firewalls and anti-spying technology he's installed on our PC, I didn't want to be the one who brought home a virus that would wipe out our hard drives with random riddles. So I hesitated and kept refreshing my reader and watched with increasing concern as more posts began to appear with the same title.

And then finally, something different showed up in my reader. Boo had come across the same strange phenomenon in her morning inspection of the momblogs, and had posted of her bafflement in her typical I-demand-to-know-what's-up-right-now style.

Obviously much smarter than I am, she had already partly figured it out, and begun what would end up being an almost 10 hour collaborative effort to solve the mystery. Addressed to the MTB's - Boo enlightened us that this meant Mothers-To-Be - this was an online treasure hunt that spanned blogs, continents, and time-zones and the prize was entry to a blog where an online baby shower was being thrown for us ( Boo, Poppins, Kodi’s Mom, Lavs, Desigirl, Planethalder, Random Vignettes, Rohini and me)

What fun! I headed right back to my reader and began the hunt. Fellow MTBs Poppins and Lavs had been doing some good work ahead of me, and they'd already figured out some tough ones. By the time Kodi's Mom joined in the action, I'd already put together an excel sheet and was getting enjoyably confused by it all.

I had had a long and tiring day and by 11 pm my time, I decided I had better get to bed. But my head was full of bits and pieces of rhymes and clues and I knew there was no point my trying to sleep. So I turned the PC back on and stayed up till we were almost done. At around 2 am, I finally decided the rest could wait till morning, especially since there were some missing clues that had still not been posted.

Rushed to the PC in the morning, teeth unbrushed, and crackeroo! Boo's done it! There were a few loose ends, which Kodi's Mom and I quickly tied up and WOW- we had found the most fabulous pot of gold at the end of our rainbow!

The fun of the hunt itself would have been worth it - but here was a most wonderful site, with love, good wishes, music, and counsel from so many of you. I was in tears when I saw how much time and effort you had all put in for a bunch of women most of you don't even know the real names of.

I am touched beyond words, and all I can say is thank you. Thank you for the thought, the love, the time, the effort, the fun, and the friendship. Much love and virtual hugs to you all.

44 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hugs right back..
We enjoyed it every bit as you lot did.. Formed some nice new friends, heard about blogs I did not know existed and best of all, found a way to vent :)

I loved your 'riddle-right-back-at-ya' approach to our riddles.. well done

By Deepa and Supriya said...

Hey mags....glad you are still in good spirits..despite the sleepless night and all. Virus, eh?? make that a global epidemic!...we had fun though and now it looks like it was worth it! enjoy the rest of your pregnancy!

Nat said...

hyuk hyuk njoi!!

Anonymous said...

Well even i did think it was a spam. I never did make the link till I read Boo's deductions! Great job and it was really sweet!

Tharini said...

The thought of you googling the blessed virus really crakced me up. I can imagine ur alarm when more and more riddles kept popping up. :D

What fun you have had and what fun we have had!!! And now finally, our fun aligns and we are all in it together.

God bless you guys for giving us the opportunity and occasion for it!

Just Like That said...

LOL! If a paranoid technogeek's wife thought it was a virus, another paranoid geek exclaimed on seeing my inundated mailbox yesterday: This many mails! You must be having some virus! LOL! And the man hasn't a clue to the true enormity of it all. :-D

Darling, you are most welcome, and it was such roller coaster ride for all of us too, 'cept there were no lows at all...only gleeful high after high after high.. ROFL!

except- so many more lovely bloggers! Where will I find the time to read them all? :-(

Hugs to you!

DotThoughts said...

Hugs right back!you all rock.

mnamma said...

Hugs to you Moppet's Mom! We were waiting for so long to see this priceless, incredulous, near-tears expression of the MTBs when they find the treasure. I so, so wish I could see your faces now :) We had so much fun being part of the doula gang!!!

rayshma said...

BIG hug!
lovely to know u... this was a LOT of fun! :)

By Deepa and Supriya said...

and hey.....that was awfully sweet of to leave riddle-reply-trail of ur own..u rock!!

Anonymous said...

We have a riddles template with all the riddles on.. We should probably send it to you to put your 'return-riddles' on that, so that we have a complete ready-reckoner riddle template...

Sujatha Bagal said...

Hugs and best wishes for a great pregnancy Maggie! Congratulations! What a fun ride this has been !

Sukhaloka said...

LOL, Maggie, your riddles totally rocked :D

This whole baby shower thing has been soooo worth it!

Choxbox said...

your return riddles are kewl!
this was super fun really!

Unknown said...

Boo's blog was like a chaotic marketplace and the confusion was just great . Kept bloghopping like crazy just to see what you guys were up to ! It was super fun though .Hugs :)

Unknown said...

BTW your reply was great . Talk about being paid in kind!

Anonymous said...

have you watched the movie Game - there's a line that says something like - "Sometimes I wish I could go back to the beginning. And rediscover it all over again" I feel that way today!

the joy of solving the puzzles was just too too good. and I had the most fun bouncing ideas off of you and scribbling in our spreadsheet!
-kodi's mom

Anonymous said...

Hugs right back! And what wonderful rhymes back at us ... ;) Great fun!

K 3
k3-rocks.blogspot.com/

B o o said...

Hey, where did my comment go? Virus??

Anyway, what did I say? Yes, we are truly a blessed lot and I mean that from the bottom of my heart!

Gauri said...

What fun this has been maggie :-) For you guys and for us.

And the virus scare had me laughing out loud for a long time. Only you only you can come up with something like that.

And the next time we need to pull this kind of a jig on someone, let's gang up Maggie :-) You're such an awesome rhymer and riddler.

Once again, here's wishing you a safe pregnancy and delivery.

God Bless

Daisy said...

ooye Mags, your riddles do give tough competition to the Doula riddlers..

We have so much fun dear Mags- thanks you MTBs..

May God bless you,your hubby, lil Munch and Moppet..

Collection Of Stars said...

Love and Hugs to you too :)

Glad you liked the baby shower blog.

And, must say, you guys are all smartos :) and your return riddles were amazing.

Thanks to you all MTBs too. I have had this much fun after a long time.

Neera said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Neera said...

Great to know you this wonderful way Maggie!! You did such a fab job with the the riddles ..I went bloghopping the second time over to read just those in the comment box :)
MAny good wishes once again for a wonderful rest of the pregnancy and a truly blessed motherhood.

Neera said...

and lovely 31 weeks pictures btw :)

Shobana said...

Hugs and hope we didn't tire you out too much. Glad to know that you will be enjoying the shower blog.

mayG said...

hope you're making up for all the sleep deprivation and brainy workout with solving riddles and churning out rhymes!!

so glad to see you guys thrilled!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the ryhme, MAggie. And I'm glad you had fun!

Parul said...

Glad you liked it :-)

Mystic Margarita said...

There was a young lady with curls
Who said - I can't wait to see what unfurls-
At the end of this riddle chain!
All this suspense is curdling my brain!
Methinks this is the handiwork of those doula girls!

It was a wonderful experience - loved every bit of it. Glad you girls liked it, too. And loved your return rhymes - went blog-hopping the second time round to catch up on your rhymes!

Something to Say said...

o god - and I read all those rhymes and thot 'there's something going on - but I've been away so long - I cant figure it out - ooops time to go to the loo'
and there are so many preggie women here - maggie, poppins mom, kodi's mom, boo - I knew...but rohini, lavs, random vignettes...ummm...stork sure's gonna be active over the next few months :)

SUR NOTES said...

and to another fav mtb mommy blogger of mine- sorry that i missed the boat! sorry for not adding my two bit to this mammoth brilliant production.

will have to compensate on my alonesome lonesome:(

and to the mommies out there- that was one hell of an awesome project.the most beautiful thing i have got a chance to see on the blogosphere!

Squiggles Mom said...

I tell you this Boo woman.... tch tch ... so curious :)). I log in to find out the search is over even before it started! Hilarious :). I think you needed that after the tough week you had.

Rohini said...

Hey! Loved that you took the effort to write those little riddles on our blogs. That was awesome...

dipali said...

We had a ball too, Maggie:)
Loved the excitement and your return riddles. Take care- Munch must have been wondering what was up!

Anonymous said...

Hi Maggie,

Bloghopped here following the treasure hunt trail from MadMomma's blog. I'm glad of the treasure hunt thing but for a different reason - I stumbled across some great blogs following the trail! :-)

Moppet's adventures are hilarious and I love the funny way in which you write about them. you can be sure I'll keep visiting to read more! Cya!

the mad momma said...

you MBA types are so suspicious! virus indeed. its got to be the hormones working overtime :p

Unknown said...

Hehehehe...can almost see you drawing up complex excel sheets, creating formulae and cracking it all :)

So glad we are a part of this..it feels wonderful!

Swati said...

You guys were smarter than all of us..i think the babies inside helped you all

Asha said...

You were thinking that it's a virus?! Good Lord!
The fun was all ours.. As UTBT said, thanks for being pregnant! :P

Anonymous said...

Blessed virus, Googling? I am in splits :)
Man, you MTBs were on a roll. And hats off to your riddling skills :), we know where to start if there is a next time :)

Mona said...

dude! good job with the riddles you left on the particpating blogs! we really enjoyed those.
and you guys really did a great job cracking the riddles as fast as y'all did. i am super-impressed (and intimidated).
*hugs*

Trishna said...

Hugs,right back at you!! You girls are super-smart!! ohh but wait.. doesn't the baby's brain add up to yours too?:P
BTW,love the rhymes that you left behind!

bird's eye view said...

Just got here - am swamped at work and am running away for a few mts. Hugs back - it was so much fun and what awesome rhymes you came up with - it took us a couple weeks and you gals did it overnight! LOL to think of you googling a riddle-me-ree virus!