This is a Wordle Tweet Cloud. I used my Twitter RSS feed and Wordle.
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This is a Wordle Tweet Cloud. I used my Twitter RSS feed and Wordle.
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What is this thing? No really, I don't know. But it looks really cool. Hayden and his friend dug this up on the playground at school one day. there are so many interesting things about it. It is maybe 2" long and appears to be some sort of creature. Assuming it IS a creature this would mean that 3 of its limbs and its head have been cut off. The one remaining limb only has two digits on it. Where the limbs have been cut off you can see what the inside is made of. This is perhaps the weirdest part. The inside appears to be solid lime green sandstone. I can't tell if it has just been buried for so long that some sandstone has just somehow bonded tightly with the object or if it is really made out of sandstone, but I washed it and scraped at it for a long time before I took that photo. Not much changed except it seems like if I could buy some really heavy duty cleaner that the entire thing might turn out to be that lime green color (a little brown rubbed off of the "shoulder" too). But another bizarre twist to the sandstone theory is that you can see that this was apparently a manufactured item - you can see the seams that run up the sides of the creature, as if it were formed from a mold or something. Okay, so the important questions are, what did it look like originally? Who made it? How old is it? What had this one been through? I want to see an original one.
Found Item #2: Keys To Bus Station Locker??
Friday night was the Geek Gathering at Tropioca. Met some cool new people, found out that Webkinz now has a snake, and saw a Millennium Falcon that this dude is planning to turn into a print server. After the GG I went to Joystix with the Millennium Falcon guy, a.k.a. Scott, and Russell, another gathering geek. They had never been there, so introducing them to it was fun! I played the original Tetris and did a million times better than I ever did in the 80s. ЩФФТ! No, it wasn't that cool table-top version pictured above, but I had to post *that* pic because it is entirely TOO sexy. Try to argue with me. Psh!
Saturday was the day of the big Caroline Collective grand opening party. Caroline Collective is something I've been following online for several months and I aspire to one day be able to cowork there. Click the link to learn more about it. Anyway, tons of Houston peeps I know or at least know OF were going to be there and I was excited to have a reason to get kinda dressed up. The most fun part about getting ready was the jewelry I decided to make. I should take pictures. I will, I will.
The party was fun and ginormous. I saw a lot of friends and met a lot of new people. Getting to hang with some of my grooviest online friends was even more fun than I imagined. It was also really great to get a first hand glimpse of what the CC people have accomplished and to learn more about the good things that will be taking place there.
After the CC party we went to The Corkscrew where Gary Vaynerchuk was going to be doing a wine tasting (he was also at the CC party). Although I didn't get to taste any wine (I *did* get to drink some Lambic though, yay!) we did more hanging out and acquainting and it was lovely. Gary Vee even came over to talk to us for a while. We all decided that we love him. He told me that he really liked the way my turquoise earrings match my hair (it's Enchanted Forest people!! Kidding ... I kid. I don't ever expect anyone to know that, I just like saying it). Actually many people commented on my hair and jewelry that night - definitely made everything even more fun.
Tonight I found a video of Martin Sargent interviewing Gary on his webcast - if you don't know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, this is a really great video to help paint the picture.
After Corkscrew a few of us went to IHOP for some late-night breakfast. Yes!! Few things in this world make me happier than eggs at 3:30 AM. It was a perfect end to a really great night.
]]>K. I truly had a blast and am so happy that I was lucky enough to be in attendance.
Mark, The Rad, got our tickets and my friend Dan and I met up with him and some of his friends at Baker Street Pub before the show. We also met up with our friends John and Steve while we were there, so we all got to have a nice little chat session before heading over to the pavilion.
It had been sprinkling all day and we were worried about getting rained on. I brought plastic bags and Dan was prepared with his super geeky rain suits which we were completely ready to don at a moment's notice. Fun!
So after we all visited for a while we decided it was time to walk over to the pavilion to find our spot on the hill. As we were departing Baker Street Pub I noticed a large rainbow on the horizon - there was only a piece of it but it was gorgeous! Then it occurred to me how amazing it was for us to be graced with the vision of a rainbow just as we were heading to see Radiohead perform their new album, In Rainbows. Clearly Radiohead controls the weather. Flying pigs?? Pshawww, take that Pink Floyd! You haven't amazed anyone until you've got Mother Nature pulling stunts for you.
Oh.
Right.
Rice Stadium, 1994. Thunder ... lightning ... perfect timing. ...nevermiiiind. :)
Although, I actually don't think many people noticed the rainbow, which is just too bad - it definitely got me all excited for the show.
We walked down a really beautiful section of the Waterway which took us straight to the entrance to the pavilion. Cool beans*! Everything was so lovely that night - the sky even cleared up to allow the bright, almost-full moon to shine down on us while we soaked up the tunes. When we got to the hill the only spots left were way at the top, which was fine. We picked our spot, put down the plastic bags and blanket and visited while the opening band very quietly played their set - I didn't even know they were on until they were almost done. Oh well. We also got to see my friend Josh before the show started.
Then it started. The stage set was so freaking awesome! These long glass-looking tubes dangled over the stage and they lit up with color and helped make really interesting patterns and designs during the show. We were so far back though that almost every time I tried to take a picture it just looked like the stage was on fire. Of course everything sounded great. They played the entire new album but also introduced me to some songs of theirs that I hadn't heard before but now love (mmmm, Street Spirit (Fade Out)).
* something Thom Yorke said between songs during the show.
Also, on an altogether not related note ... I've recently realized that I'm probably entirely too into the show iCarly. 
It's a kids show on Nickelodeon and I can't help it, I think it is completely hilarious and wonderful and I secretly wish for iCarly marathons to come on all the time. It's fine. Right? Fortunately the kiddos love it too so we have lots of good cathode ray enhanced family time because of this show.
You know what does NOT rule? Having to do your own somewhat involved plumbing repair. As in, cutting holes in sheetrock, evaluating and repairing water damage and also fixing the leaky shower system parts that started it all. I've enlisted my stepfather to help with the plumbing repair. He has lots of tools and some mad repair skillz so we will be fixing that this week. So many repairs ... maybe I should just give up the whole becoming a programmer dream and become a fix-it lady. In addition to the big entry I did about the dinette, some other repairs I've made around the house lately are: repaired broken cabinetry in the kitchen, replaced a bedroom doorknob (that I had to break off with a hammer because we didn't have the key nor did we have time to wait for a locksmith - that was awesome), and today I am going to try to figure out some light fixture issues I have in a few rooms. Hopefully I won't electrocute myself.
Also, we found this:
As time went by the rickety set was really starting to get on my nerves. It was severely craptastic. Suddenly it occurred to me that I should just fix the chair problem on the nice dinette, keep it, and 86 the annoying one. Brilliant, I know - too bad it took me a year to figure this out.
So today I fixed-up the chairs, it was a little more involved than just affixing gliders, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I decided that I would just put the craptastic set out on the corner for large trash pick-up tomorrow. I couldn't in good conscience sell it after all - I paid $99 for the whole set new. The screws keep falling out of the chairs and the cushions on the chairs are so thin that the chair screws poke up through them and stab you in the legs. It's seriously hideous. Pretty, but dangerous.
So I began taking the craptastic set to the curb. The first car that drove by stopped and asked me if I was getting rid of it. I hadn't even finished getting it all out there yet. I said yes and they said they'd be back in a bit. I kept my eye out for them as I wanted to be sure to tell them all about it so they'd know what to expect. I fully expected them to leave it there after I showed them all of the things that are wrong with it, and that would have been fine. But as it turns out she, a cool neighbor that recently moved in, wanted it anyway. She said she really appreciated me giving it to her and that she is a big believer of paying it forward - which she apparently decided I was doing with the dinette.
This made me think about the idea of paying something forward. I've always thought of that as kind of a random act of kindness that you do in hopes that the recipient of the act will commit another random act of kindness for someone else. I just really wanted to be rid of that nasty dinette set, I had no intentions of this being something good for anyone else. Actually I'm pretty sure she did me a bigger favor than I did her. Or maybe an equal favor at least, but it feels wrong in this case to be associated with the self-less giving that goes along with the pay it forward concept. Right??
Okay, enough pondering ... I need to get back to Planning. And reading. And to help with the reading, here is a lovely little reading aide ensuring I will never get any sleep for ... maybe for-ever. :::shudder:::
]]>No idea why.
Gotta go.
]]>The LP Questionnaire
Name: Jamie
Pro Wrestling Name: Mary Freak
1. Pretend you’re 15 (and tell us what year it is, if you don’t mind). Name three songs you’d put on a mix tape for your girlfriend/boyfriend.
It’s 1986 (or the last few days of 1985). Weird, it seems like everyone was making mix tapes for me back then. However, I can do this -
i. If You Were Here Tonight by Alexander O'Neal and can I just say that this YouTube is the first time I've ever actually seen Mr. O'Neal despite how much I wore out all of my cassette tapes with his music on them in the 80s. Total seduction music. At least it is to me.
ii. Gonna Get Close To You by Queensrÿche. This was the big year for boyfriend-with-all-the-hair. He introduced me to Queensrÿche (and metal in general) and I thought this song was so very awesome, especially when he'd sing it, but I digress.
iii. After The Love Has Gone by Earth Wind and Fire. I was obsessed with this song for many years back around that time (despite the fact that it had come out many years before then) so I'm sure it'd have to be in the top 3 to go on the mix tape.
2. Which evil villain would make the best president? Megatron. Because he's really, really big, from another planet, made out of metal, and he has lots of big metallic friends that can kick ass. Which is everything a president should be. So he isn't too fond of humans, I'm willing to overlook that.
3. What was your favorite cartoon as a child? The Shmoo. The Hanna-Barbera one, not the Al Capp one. I thought he was the most adorable thing ever and he always made me wonder what it would be like to be a shape-shifter.
4. What superpower do you wish you had? I wish I was a shape-shifter ... no, no, kidding, not anymore. These days I'm thinking it would be great to have Jedi mind control power. Not only could it increase my chances of getting a date some time in the 21st century, but just think how helpful that would be with kids!!!!
5. What would the title of your autobiography be? Square Peg
]]>So dude here takes Guitar Hero (which makes me insane with pleasure), and mods it (is there anything hotter than a guy that knows his way around the JRE?) ... by making an entirely ... Metallica. Version. Of Guitar Hero.
! ! ! ! !
As we used to say in the good old days, back in the 'Ville, back when Patrick Norton would flash us some Doc Martened leg on Kilt Friday
. . . ::THUD::
Despite my most recent blog entries I don't really spend all of my time thinking about Metallica. Really I don't, it's just that I, I, I ... I uh, well I don't know, but it's much like that barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com thing, sometimes you get the same thing two times in a row, or at least really close together, and although Barack did not really *mean* to spend the afternoon setting up my router only to immediately do it again, sometimes that is just what happens. :D
Actually the entire reason I posted that YouTube video below was because I had apparently stumbled upon this dude's YouTube video of his GH modded version of Breadfan and it reminded me how much I love that song - ever since then I've been asking all of my GH playing friends if they have seen Breadfan anywhere because I desperately want to play it. But nobody has. Then tonight I did some more searching and found a lot more of the story. Check this out!!
So awesome. Alex Leff ... YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!
]]>So much for being one of those hip, carefree, single-and-loving-it types. If only they'd bottle that stuff.
]]>I have not been to Starbucks in 11 days. If you do not know me very well that may not sound like anything noteworthy, but I assure you, it is.
Why?
I have been going to Starbucks every single day for as long as I can remember. Yes I am one of those people although I *do* like to make the distinction that I am not one of the Caramel-Macchiato-5-shot-half-caff-one-Splenda-no-whip types of those people. Mainly because there is no possible way for me to afford the fancier offerings on a daily basis - I get plain bold coffee, venti (yes I say "venti" when I order it), and usually some sort of pastry. But I also get the plain coffee because I really, really like it.
When I try to pinpoint the exact time I began this habit I can only come up with a vague approximation ... something like the last 4.5 - 5 years?? Yeah, something like that.
Recently I've decided to take up a new budgeting plan that did not allow for this daily expenditure. 11 days of no Starbucks comes out to an extra $45.21 in my pocket. It also comes out to ... ::gasp:: $1500 per year. And that doesn't even include the weekend trips with the kids that we take relatively often, which means the total I really spend there yearly is actually more than that.
So you're thinking to yourself, What about withdrawals? Not an issue. The really stupid part about my former Starbucks habit is that I make the world's most kick-awesome coffee at home. I've been making great coffee at home much longer than I've been a Starbucks clone. I even buy Starbucks brand coffee beans. I love grinding coffee beans and brewing a fresh pot! I guess the reason I never did it was because I am SO not a morning person and also apparently SO not a get-the-coffee-ready-the-night-before-and-set-it-to-brew-in-the-morning person. I've always owned coffee pots with that capability.
Despite the fact that I'm doing this at a time when my country is calling upon me to do my part help stimulate the economy, I still feel pretty good about it. But if we somehow still manage to slide into a recession, you can blame it entirely on me.
Oh. Right. And I can explain the not-really-a-video up there. It is one of my favorite songs performed by Metallica; their cover of Budgie's "Breadfan". See? Breadfan. Totally relevant. Plus now you have an excuse to get up out of your chair and headbang all over the place. I HIGHLY recommend that you listen to the entire song. Loudly if possible.
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