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February 27, 2006
Skills Of An Artist
So I pick my 6 year old up from school today and he immediately opens up his backpack and hands me this:
and this:
Are. You. Ready.
Check it out. It seems that he started off with the basic stuff on the first one and then he remembered a few more of the elements from Strong Bad's tutorial and worked those in as well. Ok, so the eyebrows aren't angry and the 'S' body is a little backwards in the second one, but please, you are not EVEN going to dis' this child. As. If.
Hmmm...I had no idea he was paying so much attention to my clothes ... or maybe it was the hours online at homestarrunner.com ... or maybe all of the Homestar videos and other stuff that I got. What?? I'm sorry, but these people bring many smiles and bouts of laughter to the Nova Lair and I've just got to support that.
Saving the best for last, I give you Peasant's Quest:
Well, g2g
Posted by Jamie at 11:34 PM | Comments (7)
February 22, 2006
Magic Bracelets
I've decided I want to purchase a wristband*. The earlier, the cheaper. An unofficial, but pretty reliable SxSW source said that they received a few reports that wristbands are going on sale tomorrow. In Austin. At Waterloo, I think. The bad news is that I have zero possibility of being in Austin tomorrow morning.
I think that some people with badges can buy wristbands (although I am not sure when), too.
I'm waiting to get official word via SMS text message, but so far I haven't heard a peep.
<not begging, really>If you are reading this and you think you might be able to help me or might have some helpful info for me, I'd appreciate it. And I will owe you.
...all of the Fluffy Puff Marshmallows you can handle (with your tall glass of melonade).</not begging, really> No really, I'll owe you.
Hey, that reminds me, I'll be sharing pics of my kick-awesome Homestar swag soon!
* SxSW sells wristbands so that the people that are not able to purchase badges are still able to catch most of the live music without having to pay cover every time. Although it must be said that a wristband does not really guarantee anything. Just think of it is a really expensive way to look kinda hip in Austin on those 5 special days ... and maybe also get into a few shows for free :P
Posted by Jamie at 07:20 PM | Comments (3)
February 19, 2006
Black Shirt Bliss
I've always wished to live on the Tropical Moon Of Thetis.
Well not really always, but ever since I found out it "existed". Seriously. I love this place.
...
Did you know that cafepress now has black t-shirts? I just found this out. I have only wished for this about 187 million times over the past 5 years and I somehow managed to miss the news when it was first announced (back in November I think).
This is huge. There are so many places online that I wanted to buy t-shirts from but wouldn't because of their lame white shirts, Digital Blasphemy being one of the main ones. I've always thought that Ryan Bliss (the guy that is DB) would do well to put some of his kick awesome prints on black shirts ... is it just me? I don't know, maybe that is not really what he wants for his artwork, or maybe he just never had time to look very seriously into it, OR maybe he *is* selling some and they've just somehow managed to elude me all this time - but no matter what's going on, I think they would be so cool!
In case you haven't noticed, I'm a pretty big fan of Mr. Bliss and DB. :)
I don't know. Maybe this really isn't a big deal. Maybe I am just way too into black t-shirts.
...naaaaah.
Posted by Jamie at 09:54 PM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2006
XOXOXO
So it's Valentine's Day. If I were able to go out tonight, I'd be going here or maybe here.
But since I can't, I'll just let everyone else know about this stuff (Trivia Tuesdays @ The Saucer) and maybe you can all go and have some fun for me.
A romantic date could be a nice thing to do tonight as well, but I'm fairly certain that is not in the cards for me. Although, truth be known, I'll go out with *anyone* that comes to pick me up for a date in one of these. Call me desperate if you must. :P
* Note: I realize that this is the second Valentine's Day in a row that I have used that photoshopped image of the Millennium Falcon in a blog entry. (here is the first) No, there really isn't any good explanation for it. Yes, I'm the one who photoshopped it.
Posted by Jamie at 11:54 AM | Comments (1)
February 12, 2006
Old News Is Good News
"...Ellen Spertus, winner of the 2001 contest, recently added as answer in Trivial Pursuit’s 20th Anniversary edition."
::long hyper-excited scream::
How awesome is that?!?!?! Ok, I know there are a few of you reading this that probably do not GET why I find this so exciting. Those of you that do, rock ... but you probably already knew that.
First of all, I know what you are thinking and yes, this is a 4 year old game and this is in fact a very old quote. However, I just found it so it is new and exciting to me - please work with me here.
Ellen was the winner of the Sexiest Geek Alive contest for which I was also a contestant in 2001. Gee, I wonder if I am one of the *wrong* choices on that question card?? Eh probaly not, I am envisioning the names of higher profile geeks that were not actually in the pageant but that could convincingly be considered for such a title. Hmm, well wait a minute, they don't actually say what the question was, maybe Ellen was a wrong answer for some other question. I guess I have to get it now and find out. Anyone already have it?? If so, please go through all 3,600 questions and let me know asap please. K? Thanks. :)
Either way, that is still some significant coolitude.
I would also like to mention that I ran across this information while visiting a website for a very interesting podcast that is done by the creator of the SGA contest, Steven Phenix. It is called the Armadillo Podcast and it is a "Weekly podcast of ostentatious interviews of Austinites famous and infamous, known and unknown, with the sole intent to convince my good friend Galia, an Israeli woman living way out in California, to move and live with us here in the land of the weird and the home of the armadillo."
I better not subscribe to this - I can't move to Austin!! At least not for 13 more years.
Posted by Jamie at 02:39 PM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2006
One of Many SxSW Related Blog Entries
Did you know that I am going to SxSW? I am. w00ty!
My list [of bands I want to see] is already getting pretty long and they haven't even officially announced all of the bands that will be included. Right now the ones that I am very excited about are The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Flaming Lips, and Helmet. But there are SO MANY bands to go through. I'm thinking I need to rethink the whole 'going-without-a-wristband' plan. I don't see getting into any of those shows without one (and possibly not even with one). =(
Going through this list is not an easy thing to do at this stage, before they've organized it into days and venues. See for yourself.
Every single time I go through the list I see tons I've new stuff I didn't see 5 minutes earlier when I looked at it. Funness!
If you know of some good shows that are going to be there, please tell me about them! I love recommendations and suggestions.
Umm...ok, that is all for now.
=)
Posted by Jamie at 09:03 AM | Comments (2)
February 06, 2006
3 5th Grade Drama Teachers
I have received many discomforting reports from my daughter about various members of the fifth grade teaching staff at her school. I'm trying to assess how concerned I should be and what action I should take, if any. I am often accused of over-reacting to things so maybe it is just me, but if you have the time I'd appreciate it if you could let me know what you think ...
Exhibit A. The short fused homeroom teacher ...
- She has been known to say things like "How can you NOT know that?!, I just stood here and explained it!" in response to my daughter asking for help when she was confused about a lesson. This has reportedly happened more than once. Granted, I can understand the teacher's frustration at my daughter for being confused due to the fact that she was most likely not paying attention or talking to her friends, but is this really the proper way for a teacher to respond in such a situation?
- Other things she's said - "If I have time, you have time. I'm busy! I have papers to grade, students to teach, and a baby I take care of at home! Don't tell me you don't have time!" - Appropriate? Am I just old? I don't remember my public school teachers talking like this.
Exhibit B. The sassy science teacher ...
- Much like the homeroom teacher but feistier and more smart-assed. It appears that she believes the only way to get across to the students is to be a big smart-ass about everything. Like they'll think she is cool or something if she calls them names (nothing majorly offensive, but still...) and acts like she is always annoyed with them. I've met her and she seems to have this going on to a flaw. It seems impossible to me that any of her students could actually take her seriously because she seems to always be speaking to them as if she is everyone's bullying older sister. C'mon! Are fifth graders really *this* intimidating?
- Upon grading a recent set of tests (this was some big to-do state mandated science test) she realized that all of her students scored very poorly, so what did she do? She began to cry in front of the whole class and kept muttering about how she just couldn't believe her students did so poorly. As if her life suddenly had no meaning. As if she were something *other* than a responsible adult charged with guiding and educating a roomful of young children. My daughter said that she and the other students began to feel sorry for her, but weren't quite sure what to do. Of course they weren't.
Hello? WTF? Again, is it just me?
Exhibit C. The grieving teacher ...
This is a bizarre situation, but it too seems to be yet another terribly mishandled fifth grade teacher scenario.This poor woman, the social studies teacher, lost her husband in a car accident over winter break. I can not fathom her devastation. However, after only three weeks of grieving somehow the decision was made for her to return to the classroom. I suppose there are situations where this could be just fine, but I do not think that this is one of them. She is having a LOT of difficulty staying focused and has broken into tears and fainted numerous times just since school started back up at the beginning of January. She apparently isn't eating (and shares that info freely with the kids) and so she'll faint and the children will have to catch her and help her to a chair and then leave the room for help. Or they will be left alone so that she can run to get some food when she suddenly has a last minute realization that she isn't feeling well. My daughter was one of children that helped carry her to a chair the first time she passed out. The thing that royally irks me about this is that this woman doesn't even have an assistant or an aide or anything. There is a teacher that shares the same portable as her - they are the only two in there, but the other teacher has an assistant...could she not borrow him for a while or something _at _least??? Please! What is going on here?
I don't really think a one-time, rare occurence of any one of these things would be any big deal, but these thing seem to be predominating the behavior of these three teachers. My daughter only has two other teachers. One of them is fantastic, the reading teacher. I really like her. The other one actually reminds me a lot of the science teacher, however my daughter doesn't ever have much to say about her, so we are going to assume that is a good sign.
No really, please tell me...am I that out of it, uptight and over-expectant? What do you think??
Posted by Jamie at 09:48 PM | Comments (2)
February 03, 2006
No more GG @ KK :(
Kaveh Kanes has closed down for good. :(
There has never been a Geek Gathering anywhere but Kaveh Kanes in the 4 (?) years they've been having them. However, that is all about to change....
Tonight! Same Geeks (with hopefully some new ones as well), new place. The new place is called Salento coffee and is in Rice village. Everyone should come and hang with us, we always have good fun.
I will be wearing my new Firefox shirt*. Weeeeeeeee!
* everyone is allowed to comment on this except for MMT.
I sure do have a lot of asterisked footnotes lately, don't I?
Posted by Jamie at 02:10 PM | Comments (3)
February 02, 2006
3 More Hardly Related Things
TECHNOLOGY, HELP ME!
I am expecting to become more organized today. Although the actual time this event takes place is at the mercy of UPS. The disorganization has gotten grossly out of hand around here pretty much since we moved to Nova Lair. I could elaborate on why and bore you with the struggles that exist in my life, but that really doesn't sound like much fun. So I won't. The bottom line is this: either I get my shit together STAT or everybody dies. Simple as that.
It is all up to you Z22 ... don't let me down!
I know my techie friends are going to be rolling their eyes at my sad little excuse for a PDA, but I don't care. Although I am a fan of technology and techie people, I myself have never really had the means to be much of a collector. I've never even owned a laptop. I've been boasting about the day I am going to buy my first Mac for like 5 years now. Will it ever happen? Who knows? Maybe the Z22 does. Oooo ... I think she needs a name ...
I WANT TO KNOW THIS GUY
This is cool. How can you NOT love a guy like that?!?!
Have you had your protein today??
Posted by Jamie at 11:51 PM | Comments (1)