Hi, I’m Genie Alisa. I live in Norfolk, Virginia with my husband Rich, our three cats (Isis, Emily and Tobias) and our dobermutt Mollie. Rich and I were married in 2007 and are still wildly in love. He is a pretty awesome dude, so it’s easy.

After 49 hours of labor, I delivered our first child on October 22, 2009. Our beautiful son Ian Jacob is absolutely perfect in every way. He has his own web site where I keep folks updated on his milestones and write monthly letters to him.

I live one block from my parents and only a few miles from one of my two brothers. For the most part, this is a fantastic arrangement. My parents call before coming over but still occasionally mow our lawn for us while watching our pets if we’re out of town. Really, I can’t complain.

I was born in Norfolk and moved to Blacksburg to go to Virginia Tech and get a degree in Communication Studies as opposed to a practical degree like Engineering (much to my father’s dismay). After a few years, I moved back to the Tidewater area and now have a better job than I probably would have were I an engineer.

I work for a relatively small company (22 employees) that designs and supports software for libraries. This means I do technical things for non-technical people and talk to librarians every day without actually having to be a librarian. This is what they call “the best of all possible worlds” in professional circles.

In May of 1985, I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, just before my 8th birthday. In January of 2000, I started using a Minimed 508 insulin pump and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I now use a Minimed 522 with all of its new-fangled features, including a continuous glucose monitor sensor.

I am an occasional participant in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) and some may know me as Baroness Isabel d’Avignon. We’re good people, so please don’t make fun of our toy swords.

I started writing online in 2001 shortly after my first husband and I moved back “home” and I missed all my friends. In April 2008, I moved to a self-hosted WordPress blog that allows me to do some more creative things with my site (although I’m still learning). You can also read more about this web site and how it was designed under About “in a Bottle”.

I named this space “in a bottle” because it’s how my mother always described my name. I was born in the age of Jennifers and was the lone Genie in a sea of Jennys. So my mother always told people my name was “Genie like a genie in a bottle.” Since bottles hold messages too, I thought it a fitting double entendre.

I’m a leftie, I’m six feet tall and I sing and hum constantly.