If you were to walk into the local internet cafe, you wouldn't notice Courtney. She'd be in a corner, with her headphones on, in her own little world. As she reaches for her cup of coffee, her eyes don't stray from her computer screen, she wouldn't notice you either. There'd most likely be a slight scowl on her face, a tell-tale sign that she's working on something. If she's deep in thought, her tongue would be poking out the right side of her mouth. She'd be sitting there with one of her thinking caps on her head, if it's spring/summer it's a ball cap. If it's fall/winter, it's a beanie. If there's something important happening, she's hatless and her hair is curled.

So, what's behind the scowl on her face and the tongue sticking out of her mouth? That can be answered with one word: blog. She's either hacking it, re-designing it, or writing on it.

Name: Courtney Benefiel
People call me: Courtney, Court, Cory, Corky, CorBen
You can call me: I'll answer to anything positive, hey good lookin', hey beautiful, sweetie, honey, babe...is that too much for you? Ok, you can call me Courtney.

Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging because I had a life worth writing about, and if I didn't, the other peeps in high school were worth writing about. It was back in 1997 when Geocities was the thing. I had a design that was the work of a newbie to html/javascript and Photoshop. I was so damn proud of my rollovers. Everytime I wanted to write something new, I was uploading a new page and manually updating my links. Goodtimes. In 2000 when I started working in the web development industry, I graduated to Blogger. A couple years after that I bought my first domain; when I got bored, I stopped blogging (yes, I got bored), eventually, I got another domain name, courtroversy.com, everything was a courtroversy up until it wasn't and then I had nothing courtroversial to write about and so I quite blogging again. There was a gap in my blogging reign until almost 2 years ago when I started TravelingThoughts.com and the rest is history. I'm now a professional blogger, if my ability to blog is taken away, I get cranky. I'll write about anything that crosses my path and sometimes it is my boring life, but most of the time, it's fun stuff. If you want in my head, you visit travelingthoughts.com, although, I must warn you, you may be misled because you just never know where my mind might lead me on any particular day.

How has being a part of the PPP Community enhanced you as a Blogger?
Being part of the PPP Community has helped me realize what I don't want my blog to become and as a result personal standards have been set that I'm striving to achieve everytime I write.

Fill in the blank: My favorite thing I own is ____.
My Fuji Finest 2.0 Road Bike

If you were a famous pop star, what would your "stage name" be?
Kolbe Slider

Pretend you started a hip phase that caught-on everywhere. Think "that's hot"! What would your phrase be?
"don't brake, just roll butthole"...ok, maybe it wouldn't catch on everywhere, but it will catch on among cyclists.

What's one thing you would change in the world, for better or for worse?
I'd like to see the end of disease. If disease is too broad, I'd like to the end of diabetes because it's the one that affects me the most.

What's your ultimate dream vacation?
My ultimate dream vacation, I'm a dreamer all right. Let me set the stage. Courtney and [currently non-existent] boyfriend have been dating for a while. He knows of her love for Italy, the sights, the food, the music, the history, and the culture. While there, he takes her to Florence, Rome, and Pisa. The last place they go is Venice where he's booked them a private ride on a gondola. While floating along being serenaded by the gondolier, he proposes. That's my ultimate dream vacation, but I'll settle for just the trip to Italy if someone wants to fund it or take me ;P

What's your favorite color?
Midnight blue

What's your favorite video-sharing site?
I'm in with the in crowd; I go where the in crowd goes.
I'm in with the in crowd; And I know what the in crowd knows
The in crowd tells me YouTube, if you're willing to offer up something better, I'm willing to try it out.

What's your favorite RockStartUp episode and why?
I'm thoroughly entertained by RockStartUp and having watched all 39 episodes and having several favorites, it would be difficult for me to choose just one. However, I do have a favorite RockStar Confessional Video. Ted, I'm inspired to write about an experience of my own just because you told the world about your chapped ass cheeks and your bleeding nipple ;P

Tell us one thing your blog friends might not know about you.
When I get bored, I have a tendency to go and have things pierced.

What's your favorite memory of junior high school?
I played the viola in orchestra while I was in junior high and we had one concert where the piece we played was a concerto for 3 kazoos. Our band teacher and two special guests played the kazoos and it was hard to pay attention to what I was supposed to be playing because they were so funny. It was beyond entertaining to watch and just being part of it was exciting.

If you're thinking I'm strange for this being my favorite memory of junior high that's ok, you kindof had to be there to understand, lucky for you, YouTube is there for us. Watch and listen ladies and gents, just watch and listen to Peninsula Youth Orchestra (PYO) as they play the concerto for 3 kazoos.

Who's your favorite blogger?
My favorite blogger, that's an easy question, there's one blog I read religiously, and that's the blog of Heather Armstrong (Dooce.com). She brought blogging back to life for me after I quit blogging. I had been a blogger for a while before I found her site, but when I quit it was because I was bored, because what I was writing was boring. I had to take some time to re-evaluate the point of blogging, and Heather showed me that even the normal everyday stuff can be turned into something worth reading about. She's my favorite blogger by far, and the blogger I aspire to be like.

Complete this thought: When I was little I wanted to ____ when I grew up.
I wanted to be a fighter jet pilot for the Airforce, and through no fault of my own, I'm not, thank you very much diabetes. I'm only slightly bitter about it. I might get over it some day.

Please list any and all of your blogs:
TravelingThoughts.com is my primary blog, it's where 99% of the thoughts I write about get placed.
RideToRemedy.com contains the other 1% of my thoughts that I'm willing to write about, and those revolve around my diabetes, my experiences with diabetes, and what I'm doing to try to help find a cure for diabetes.

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