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Last week we learned that adult children of divorce will almost always revert to childish behaviors. Case in point, Briana, the daughter previously known as The Most Reasonable Person in Orange County, dissolved into a impertinent, recalcitrant, petulant brat upon meeting her mother's boyfriend. This week Briana grows up and fights like a big girl … but we'll get there soon enough. Elsewhere in the O.C., there are tiaras to be worn and bling to be bought as Alexis goes all out for her little princesses, and Slade decides to declare Gretchen his queen.

All aboard! What are you doing this Thursday? It's nice to see an idea that percolated in the Baltimore Tech Facebook group months ago get birthed into reality this week. The "Geeks on a Train" event is about connecting Baltimore's tech community with other communities along the so-called Amtrak Corridor in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. [See my original blog post on it from back in November.] If you've got a day to ride the rails from DC to Boston, and meet entrepreneurs and techies in stops along the way, GOAT is for you. The Greater Baltimore Tech Council took the lead in organizing an itinerary for the trip, which you'll see here.

All aboard! What are you doing this Thursday? It's nice to see an idea that percolated in the Baltimore Tech Facebook group months ago get birthed into reality this week. The "Geeks on a Train" event is about connecting Baltimore's tech community with other communities along the so-called Amtrak Corridor in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. [See my original blog post on it from back in November.] If you've got a day to ride the rails from DC to Boston, and meet entrepreneurs and techies in stops along the way, GOAT is for you. The Greater Baltimore Tech Council took the lead in organizing an itinerary for the trip, which you'll see here.

It's somewhat strange to write an introduction on a blog you've been contributing to for the past 10 months, yet here I am, doing the Internet equivalent to the awkward honk and wave.   But hey, better late than never, right?   The old Midnight Sun scribe, Erik Maza, has headed north to Women's Wear Daily and we raise our glass to him. Now, loyal Midnight Sun readers, you have me, a 25-year-old features reporter who lives in Canton and considers bar-hopping with friends a good night out.   A little more about me so my parents don't think I have a problem: I grew up in South Jersey, 30 minutes away from Atlantic City, in a tiny town called Hammonton (look for it in the first episode of “Boardwalk Empire”)

Well, if you’re reading this, you must have found out where the blogs are now listed on the North County News website . This past month has been a turbulent technological one for me. All Patuxent newspapers converted to a new computer system and the North County News was the first to be published using the new way of doing things. Like any innovation, I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. But I hope those nice young techies who patiently explained things to me realized they’re dealing with someone who actually once used a rotary telephone and a typewriter.

During 37 years as a feature writer, sometime editor and longtime restaurant critic at the Sun, I had many proud moments and even a few awards. But I don't think anything pleased me as much as being named The Sun 's Best Blogger by the City Paper in the fall of 2007. A few months before, my editor had told me I would be joining the digital age. I would write a food and restaurant blog, to be called Dining@Large. I wasn't sure I knew what a blog was. Being a restaurant critic was a fabulous job, but I'd done it for a long time.

Did you miss Thursday night's flyover by the International Space Station ? Not to worry. There will be an almost identical pass over Central Maryland this evening. The ISS will appear like a bright, moving star, climbing from the southwest horizon at 8:27 p.m. EDT. Watch as it passes about midway between Venus, low in the west, and reddish Mars high in the southwestern sky. By 8:30 it will be high in the northwest, flying off toward the northeast and disappearing there at 8:33 p.m.

I'm not going to lie: Mother's Day has taken me by surprise this year. Maybe it's all the hoopla of returning to the office this week after maternity leave and getting this blog launched, but I'm definitely not ready. For the moms in my life, I'm sorry: Your presents have been ordered, but they won't be delivered in time for me to get them to you on Sunday. But you have my unending gratitude for all your love and support, especially through the challenges of the past year. And readers, thankfully, my colleagues have you covered.

During 37 years as a feature writer, sometime editor and longtime restaurant critic at the Sun, I had many proud moments and even a few awards. But I don't think anything pleased me as much as being named The Sun 's Best Blogger by the City Paper in the fall of 2007. A few months before, my editor had told me I would be joining the digital age. I would write a food and restaurant blog, to be called Dining@Large. I wasn't sure I knew what a blog was. Being a restaurant critic was a fabulous job, but I'd done it for a long time.

Having just spent a very busy weekend with adorable, 4-year-old twin girls who were visiting with my nephew, I was extremely interested in the sight-seeing tips from Jill Smokler, the Baltimore-based Scary Mommy blogger who recently released "Confessions of a Scary Mommy. " Smokler provided the Baltimore Sun with her Top Five best -- and worst -- places to take the kids . I missed all of them over the weekend, instead falling back on the National Aquarium , which I've found to be a very entertaining, if very expensive, spot for kids of all ages.

As is the case with many 20somethings looking to kill some "down time" at work, I've developed a pretty healthy relationship with the blogosphere. From daily reads to the love-to-hates, my routine involves a standing date with the half dozen or so on my Rolodex of favorites. These run the gamut from cooking adventures to vapid model types chronicling their daily "my life is a catwalk" shtick, to a few truly decent sites where I honestly care about what they have to say.  Prior to my betrothed status, I would occasionally sneak into the wedding blog world -- quickly exiting before someone yelled "Imposter!"

Welcome to Married in Maryland, the new bridal blog from The Baltimore Sun.

I keep recommending Stan Carey's Sentence First blog to you. He's a lovely man, curious, even-tempered, and fair-minded, with an enviably clear prose as he writes about language. He makes sensible judgments. He's also generous with other writers, recently applauding some discoveries in blogging about language .  One of his discoveries is Diane Nicholls, who has launched Lexico Loco  with a post, "You lost me at knickers!"  Ms. Nicholls is also a fair-minded and temperate writer, evidently not given to shouting and breaking things, even as she explores one of the cheapest cliches to which journalistic hacks are devoted, the false range.

Baltimore city schools CEO Andres Alonso has released his 2012 message to the district on testing integrity, as the school system gears up to begin administering the Maryland School Assessements to students in grades three through eight on March 12. A story on Monday outlined the district's efforts this year to continue its heightened scrutiny during the testing season, a measure Alonso began last year by hiring more than 200 external...

A recent study commissioned by New Leaders for New Schools and conducted by RAND Corp. , shows that first-year principals and becoming less likely to stay in their schools after one or two years, and that a churning principal pool can have a negative impact on schools. The report, titled "First-year principals in Urban School Districts: How Actions and Working Conditions Relate to Outcomes" takes a look at turnover rates in urban school systems like Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago, Oakland, Memphis, and New York City.