A Canon Digital Elph S330 for $399?Alright. I'm fixing to buy a new toy within a month or so. I need your opinions. Should I buy...
The yummy new 10GB iPod for $399?
A Canon Digital Elph S330 for $399?
A Pentax Optio 330 for $420?
or... any other suggestions? Should I just save the money for the next generation of Power Macs?
I'm just getting around to it now, but I posted some pictures from our Sunday visit to the Musee Mecanique. expressmedscanada.com
I had been pining to go since they will be closed down this September 10th... and opening at pier 45 (temporarily?) in October.
Go see this piece of Bay Area history in its home while you still can!
It is my duty to notify you that my birthday is in a month, and shipping from Amazon is free with orders over $25.
This has been a public service announcement.
Thank you.
hey, just a quick note to say sorry if the blog looks funky today. I'm messing with new styles and such. Should be new and improved by tonight or tomorrow morning. At least the content is still here for you to read! :)
UPDATE @ 18:36 PDT
Hey! I added a PDA Version of this site to the mix.
If you use AvantGo, click here to add my channel to your list!
Huzzah! Monday Mission time!
1. What do you do to make things better when you feel sad and/or lonely?
Do something for myself! Read a book, take a walk, take a nap!
2. Are you a "touchy-feely" person? That is, do you like to touch people you don't know that well? And on the flipside of that, do you like being touched by someone you aren't close with?
IMHO, there are different levels of touching. I'd often touch someone's arm while talking, in passing and unconsciously, because it makes the conversation seem more personal. I don't mind when someone does it in return. Of course, there *are* limits... not like I want someone I barely know jumping on my lap. Well, unless it was David Duchovny or Rivers Cuomo. ;)
Click MORE for the rest...
3. Do you like to have "me" time, time to yourself to be alone and relax? Or do you prefer to just do your own thing with someone else in the room? When was the last "me" time you got and what did you do?
I love "me" time. But of course, I enjoy the company of good friends. Kevin and I often have a lot of "me" time with each other in the room... be it reading, on the computers, gaming, etc. On a lot of my "me" time, I like to go out and walk... especially if it involves geocaching.
4. Generally speaking, how do you feel about the concept of marriage? Are you the marrying type? Do you think the act of getting married means something today or is it simply just "a piece of paper?"
I'm surely the marrying type... I guess I must be engaged for a reason. ;) As for if marriage means something, it really seems to depend on the couple. We've been engaged for almost 2 years, and in no big rush for the wedding. The commitment is already there. I would consider the marriage to be the binding agreement, the contract. I think it both means something significant to the couple, but a business transaction as well.
5. That said, as many as 25 states have passed legislation regulating who they believe should be the "marrying type." What are your thoughts on the banning of same-sex marriages?
No problemo. I don't see the issue here. Why should one's personal choices affect the masses? Why should it be anyone else's business?
6. If there was one law you had the ability to create or change, what would it be?
I'd change it in other states to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. It's worked out really well in California, IMHO.
7. What would you like someone visiting your Blog for the first time to know about you? Now is your chance!
I'm small, but pack a punch. I speak softly and carry a big stick. No, waitamin, that sounded wrong. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that there's more to me than meets the eye. And no, I am not a Transformer. Look closer.
BONUS: Can you hear them?
Just barely hear them. I can just barely hear them.
I just spent way too much time tonight at No Others Need Apply. One of the gracious keepers of the site had lovingly transcribed a GREAT article about TMBG from the August 12th issue of the New Yorker... which I totally missed since the bookstores put up the next issue WAY too fast!
What a wonderful archive of articles, photos, videos(!) and lotsa other happy goodies. If you're a TMBG fan, go NOW.
So the massive OS 10.2 Jaguar event that took place at 10:20pm tonight at the Apple Store was a bust. For us, at least. The crowd was too massive... I didn't think it would be this bad at all. We figured that it was 800+ people there. Crazy. Kevin figured out that we prolly wouldn't get even close to the store by midnight, so we took off and had apple pie instead. Hey, that's good enough, huh? I'm buying my copy of 10.2 online. So I had no need to really stick around.
Besides, I didn't want to wait all that time for just a Jaguar mousepad and temporary tattoo. Heh.
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the crowd was much bigger than anticipated. this is only part of it. |
see Kevin down there? |
 Mall security was out in full force. Heh. |
 We got apple pie instead. |
Got back from the DNA Lounge just a while ago, where there was an EFF benefit taking place. The benefit featured Wil Wheaton versus Barney the Dinosaur in a grudge boxing match. Good fun.
I drove up to SF with Ben, and we met up with Loren there. It was absolutely mad there... no one could hear a word anyone else was saying, and it was pretty hard to make out any faces in the dark. Made it doubly hard to locate Wil, but we did it. He was constantly surrounded by a gaggle of geeks, and constantly being pulled away for pictures. It must be weird being a celeb. But he handled it very well. Don't get me started on the giggling girls.
We had a quick bite to eat with Wil's wife, Anne, after toiling to find an open mexican joint... some random guy from the club wanted us to buy him a veggie burrito. No dice, so we just settled upon whatever was open. The waitress even forgot my order. Lovely. But we killed time by passing a napkin around the table and taking turns drawing on it. Kind of like an exquisite corpse... but different. Look for it on eBay soon.
The DJs back at the lounge were a bit mad. Some of the tunes they played were really way out there. Some experimental shit, I guess. Lots of screeees and scratches and... stuff. My ears hurt. Anne had fun being a complete goofball on the dance floor... shaking her thang at these guys that took themselves WAY too seriously. Ben was sure he was gonna get lucky with one of the guys dressed in black and toting a gin and tonic. Wil gave a pretty kickass speech and gave that damn dino a good fight. Me, I just took the pictures.
You can see the photos from the evening in my photo gallery. I need to sleep.
I guess this one is essential for me, as memes go.
| You are 54% geek | |
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You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other. |
Take the Polygeek Quiz at Thudfactor.com
So I went this afternoon to get my hair done.
Sounds awfully chick-like, doesn't it? I don't like to fuss with my hair, really. I like low-maintenance. But when I tried out highlights earlier this year, I was surprised how good it turned out.
My appointment today was to return to all-brown, but at the last minute, I decided to keep the highlights.
Just like a chick to change her mind, huh?
(click for a full sized image)
In related news, Rosie O'Donnell has a new haircut. This really isn't news, but it's funny. Since apparently, this new 'do is not being embraced by the lesbian community all to well. I say, to each their own. If worrying about celeb haircuts is the biggest news of the day, I say it's a very sad day.
I want everything on Kid Robot.
I see a new obsession forming... I'm already readying to buy a bunch of Medicom Kubrick figures soon.
I am so loving the amelie and gloomy bear figures.
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Shh... don't tell Kev. He doesn't want me to waste my money on silly hobbies. ;)
I like to do Monday Mission out of all the dailies, since I just like PromoGuy. :)
1. Many children have blankets, or a favorite nubby stuffed animal that they like to keep near them for security. Do you recall what you had for your "security blanket" as a child? When did you finally give it up? What brought that about?
I had a blanket. Yes, I know, very run-of-the-mill, but yes, I had a blanket. My blankie was more affectionately known as "Quee-Quee" ("kwee kwee"), and I slept with it all the way through junior high, I think... although I think I stopped dragging it around everywhere pretty early in childhood. It got to the point that Quee-Quee was just sitting on the side of my bed while I slept, and it eventually found its way on the floor, under the bed. It was a gradual thing.
Click MORE to read the rest!
2. Now that you are a big kid, what do you have to give you that same sense of security?
I have a nice warm Kevin to keep me company. And he hugs back!
3. With a little over four months left in 2002, have you accomplished everything you wanted to for the year? Is there anything that you would like to accomplish before the year is over?
Hmm. I don't remember making any firm goals at the beginning of the year, besides losing a little weight. I did lose 10 pounds, but gained 5 back after all the stress of moving from Hawaii to California. I would like to be completely settled by the end of the year... we still have a garage full of boxes, and the house seems a bit undone. I also want to be either back in school part time while working, or taking classes full time. I want to keep expanding my mind.
4. What modern convenience, if any, do you think it would be good for children today to do without? What would they gain?
I think kids could do without cell phones. They really don't need them, and it just seems just plain silly to see them walking around with phones, calling each other between classes. It's so absurd, I wouldn't have imagined this many years ago. I would also say that kids could probably do without game consoles so they would play outside, but I'm a product of the arcade generation and shouldn't really speak. ;)
5. Many of us have one thing in which we believe we excel. What do you do better than most?
I think I do a pretty good job of sustaining creativity while working in predominantly technical fields. I always try to feed my creative side... drawing, shooting pictures, cooking... as well as going to art museums and galleries. I think it's important to keep encouraging creativity in the face of the high-tech corporate world. This isn't really a talent, but I think I do it pretty well.
6. What High School "clique" did you find yourself in? Was it by choice or did it just happen? Did you look down on other groups?
Kind of a mix between the geeks and the asians. My high school was pretty white bread, in a very well-to-do suburb. I spent a lot of time talking comics, cartoons and video games with my geeky frieds, but also enjoyed hanging out with the minorities of filipinos, koreans, japanese and chinese... we didn't intend to be a group or clique, but we just ended up being able to relate to each other very well.
7. (it begins) I have great news! I won the contest and we now have plane tickets to anywhere in the world. The bad news is we have to pick a place now and leave in the morning. I can't decide where to go, so you get to pick. Where should we go, and what is the first thing we should do when we get there?
I think you asked me this before, and I think I said Spain. I speak well enough spanish to get by, and I would love to experience the culture, art and food there. I have no idea what I'd want to do when we get there, but I'd love to just soak in the sun.
BONUS: Must I beg you?
You ain't too proud to beg.
So one of the reasons why I picked up the most recent issue of MacAddict is because I had a silly interest in taking their "Geek Quiz" advertised on the front cover. It reads: "We dare you to take our GEEK QUIZ. Prove if you're a true Mac addict if you can..."
I was up for the challenge.
So I took the grueling 60 question quiz, using *gasp* pencil and paper (I remembered to fill in my circles completely, thank you), and I got 44 correct. This puts me right on the upper limits of being a "Colonel Panic". Getting 45 right would have made me a "Terminal Geek". So near, yet so far!
My geekiness has not fully lived up to its potential this day. Soon, my dear, soon...
I know, I've been sharing a lot of linkage lately. But they've been good ones, dammit.
You need to hear miserablemelodies dot com to believe it. Someone has actually taken the effort to compile the worst recordings of our time. Why, I have no idea.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, David Hasselhoff, Fabio and more display their vocal talents (or lack thereof)!
But the musical stylings of Portsmouth Sinfonia... I don't know whether to say genius or just plain painful. Oh. my. effin' gawd.
This is so great, I have to share it.
A few of Roger Avary's recent posts on his blog have been regarding his new film, Rules of Attraction.
(click for a full image of the poster)
This teaser (although not official) poster (which has caused quite a stir in the rumor sites) is available as a large JPG file for you to do what you please with it... print it and post it!
The Harry Potter Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans are now available for purchase at the Jelly Belly website. To ensure you get all flavors, you have to buy the boxes as opposed to the bags.
(click for larger image of bean flavor chart)
Who has been adventurous enough to try the vomit, earwax and booger flavors? This bloke has.
a snippet:
"Want some earwax?" she asked.
What the hell, I am too far gone. I try the earwax, then the sardine, the spinach, and the black pepper. Why am I doing this?
"Are you ready for a booger?"
Yes, she had a booger-flavored jelly bean. With trepidation I swallowed it. Not bad.
"Only one more," she says. "Vomit."
eeewwwww! my brother has apparently tried a bunch of them, but "not the nasty ones". hah!
ugh.
I didn't think that I'd have such a reaction, since I haven't before, but I'm all awake and feeling a tad nervous-like after taking a generic for sudafed about 2 hours ago.
Anyone else get this kind of reaction?
A quick search on the web led me to an interesting article about scuba divers and pseudoephedrine... apparently it's widely used, but can possibly cause complications for scuba divers. Check it out, there's some interesting stories within.
A cave diver "bolted" from his dive buddies during an air dive and was later found dead. He had exhibited this behavior before. On both occasions he had taken pseudoephedrine before the dive. (This incident seems to have features of excitability, a known side effect of pseudoephedrine and a symptom of oxygen toxicity.)
But it gave me the info I was looking for...
Starting with pharmacology, pseudoephedrine is a sympathomimetic (has effects similar to substances found in the sympathetic nervous system) whose major effect is to cause vasoconstriction in the lining of the nose and sinuses, thus reducing stuffiness and congestion. It is considered a mild central nervous stimulant, and its usual side effects are excitability, restlessness, dizziness, weakness and insomnia.
dammit.
I need to get outside. Damn these allergies.
Having the G4 Network on the TV isn't helping much either. As Kev has said, this network is downright dangerous!
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What do you know. I just got a call from Mish. We're going out for more geocaching adventures. Weeee! Just what I needed!
The PowerBook came back again this morning. It seems in perfect condition. Thank gawd.
This time around, they replaced...
P12, INVERTER
P12 DISPLAY CLAMSHELL SAMSUNG
I'm glad I got AppleCare... I'd be SOL without it. If you don't have it, GET IT.
Allergies suck. I just started having them a few years ago, and they suck.
Maybe I need one of these books. Or mebbe I'm just desperate.
I'm afraid to go outside. And I have no frickin' idea what the hell I'm allergic to.
So, I took my brother and cousin, both recently sixteen years old, to the Weezer concert last night. It was pretty good... for a large scale show. I forgot how much I don't like these large concerts. Too many people, too far from the stage, too short of a set. Not really worth the twenty-five bucks, if you ask me. But we had fun, nonetheless.
As for the opening acts, I missed the first few songs of Sparta's set, but what I heard was pretty good. Dashboard Confessional was worth seeing... they played a good sampling of music, and even *gasp* something that's on the radio, hee. I'm setting out to buy their CD soon.
Weezer's pretty cool. I've always dug their music, and never saw them perform before. Heck, I'm so outta the loop, I haven't even seen the majority of their videos... which, BTW, I found the audio & video archive at their site.
Again, this is where I profess my crush on another geek icon. Rivers Cuomo is pretty dang cute.
So I'm not the first chick to notice, heh.
I see a trend here. Courtney likes geeky guys. Not like that's a surprise.
So I'm here at my parents' house in the East Bay. Why the heck does this site look like such crap in Windows?
What kind of world is this, anyways?
This house needs a mac or two. or three.
I feel slow and sluggish this morning. Maybe I feel that way every day when I wake up, but maybe I'm just more aware of it right now since I'm writing about how I feel at this moment.
I just woke up.
Last night, I had a really good Barbeque Chicken Pizza with Andy and Mish in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose. With Kev out of town, I was feeling a bit lonely, so I solicited their company. I'm weak. Oh man, that pizza was good. Smoked provolone, red onions and all. Mmm.
Oh crap, I think I left the leftovers in my trunk. Ah well, it's prolly still okay.
Mish works at 5am and Andy has a day job, so I stopped bugging them at about quarter to ten. I started driving to Palo Alto to head in the general direction of Stanford.
Ben had left a few voice mails for me telling me that him and his crew were hanging out at shitty bars. Sounds entertaining. Besides, I was more intent on just meeting him... we still hadn't met in RL just yet.
So after getting completely LOST in Palo Alto (the trees everywhere make every single corner look the same in the dark, not to mention the shitty cell phone reception) and driving around for maybe 45 minutes, I found the dive that they had settled upon, and found Ben in the parking lot. Yay!
He was hanging out with the staff from the computer camp that he teaches at Stanford. These poor people hardly ever venture outta Palo Alto. Pretty sad... I need to get him outta that vicinity, since the mostly seem to be from outta town. Palo Alto is really um, weird. It's a college town, but it's full of yuppies and cafés and trendy high priced shops.
It was weird walking back to the car a couple hours later... Ben made a statement that it was like walking through Disneyland when it was closing. It frightened me to think how true that statement actually was... I was waiting to hear the Mickey Mouse Club song. After dropping him off, I headed straight outta that town... I really didn't want to spend any more time watching flamboyant men in tight polo shirts walk around.
Then home. Bed. Good.
Well, I just got my PowerBook back this morning. The speakers work beautifully, and the keyboard seems to be not so sticky anymore.
But the backlight seems to not work anymore. Ha! after a few minutes of use, the backlight goes out, and I can see the desktop images of the screen. I hafta restart to see the light again.
Ah well, I'm actually not angry... and it's not too big of a deal to send it back in. If all goes well, I'll have it back by Monday. Again.
Dude. AppleCare rocks.
I sent my PowerBook in for repair yesterday, and it's gonna arrive back tomorrow. They've fixed two issues that have been bothering me for months (though I was too lazy to send it in till now)... my internal speakers had no sound output, and I had a wiggy keyboard that input random characters when certain keys were pressed. They even asked me if I had any cosmetic imperfections that I wanted them to repair. Cool, cool, cool.
Everytime I deal with AppleCare support, they are so incredibly friendly, and I actually have conversations with the Customer Service reps.
I love being a Mac user.
Thought I'd do this one.
1. Ever considered just deleting your Blog and not doing it anymore? What prompted that and what stopped you?
Hmm. Not yet. I've had a hiatus or two, but usually for good reason. I think the only thing I would concerned about would be seeming too boring and mundane!
2. How about a quick review of the last movie you saw?
It's been a while since I've seen a movie. I think the last movie I saw was Minority Report. Despite its obvious plot holes and flaws, I thought it was a movie worth its entertainment value. The marketing ploys alone within the movie were entertaining, not to mention very very interesting to someone like me who's involved in new media and market... at the same time, very very scary. Oh, and BTW, Tom Cruise has never been able to act. He does the "confused" look very well.
3. What's your favorite gadget? Are you lusting for any new ones? Will you ever be satisified???
Two favorite gadgets... sorry, can't choose just one! My Handspring Treo 108g (gotta have that graffiti pad!) and my Garmin eTrex Summit GPS. The Treo is just glorious, I love having the PDA and cell phone integrated together... saves time as well as weight! My GPS has been essential for Geocaching as well as regular hiking and navigating.
4. What "table game" do you enjoy playing most with other people? Have you played it lately?
A close circle of friends has played poker almost every Saturday for many many years now. We still don't tire of it! Besides, isn't it fun to take your friends' money? ;)
5. Have you ever been obsessed with something so much that it was close to causing you physical or mental harm? If not, have you known anyone else who has?
See below entry. Krispy Kremes are the bane of my existence. I still need to lose some excess weight from the great food I splurged on in Hawaii.
6. Did you grow up in a family or community that displayed racist or prejudice attitudes? Did it influence you in any way, either toward or away from those views? How did you manage to avoid it, or did you?
I grew up in a predominantly caucasian town. I didn't think much of it growing up, until I was in high school. I started hanging out a lot with the "ricebowl gang", the asian kids in school, although I had a mixed group of friends. There was only one incident where one stupid kid made a off-color comment about my blonde boyfriend dating me, a petite asian girl. It really infuriated me that someone so immature could exist, but I've learned to shrug it off and chalk it up to stupidity on their part.
7. Good grief, I am starving! You got anything to eat around here?
Um, we just finished the last doughnut this morning.
BONUS: What did you tell them?
That is was late, and it was time to go to sleep.
Yeah, I know, you spell that "d-o-u-g-h-n-u-t-s".
Kevin had his first visit ever to Krispy Kreme. His reaction to a doughnut hot off the line? "Very impressive," he states with a full mouth of sugary dough. I wore my Krispy Kreme hat almost all the way home from San Bruno. It kept my noggin warm.
What was funny was the couple standing inside the door when we walked in. The wife was cradling the baby (who was obviously too young to chew a doughnut), while dad had his digital video camera, gleefully exclaming, "Your first Krispy Kreme!"
This entry dedicated to my compadres in Hawaii, where there *is* no Krispy Kreme.
Got this idea from fairvue and many other places.
According to Google, I am the following...
Courtney is clinging to propaganda.
Courtney is doll parts.
Courtney is leaving Ally McBeal.
Courtney is paralyzed from the waist down.
Courtney is a master craftsperson.
Courtney is a most glorious Heavenly Handbag!
Courtney is an attractive 12 year old with green eyes and light brown hair.
Courtney is Laura Palmer.
Courtney is a very intelligent, playful dog and understands a lot of words.
Courtney is a "supah hep cat" and she doesn't look like a rat!
Courtney is situated less than 70 metres from Lake Taupo.
Courtney is a proven winner in barrels and poles.
Courtney is running for class president against Shannon.
Courtney is becoming a player on the international scene.
Courtney is the best sidekick Diaz is ever going to find.
Courtney is an analyst who is preparing a high-profile report on countries and companies that may have shipped weapons to Iraq before 1991.
Courtney is obviously rich and thinks up in herself.
Courtney is now comparing a 2-digit and a 3-digit number.
Courtney is spewing a version of fundamentalist, basic, nobody-else-but-me-is-right religion.
Courtney is a ball-busting, high-powered divorce attorney.
Courtney is an amateur ornithologist.
Courtney is thinking about the exact same thing in this picture.
Courtney is a much better 3-point shooter than last year's numbers indicate.
Courtney is based on the fingerprint of any scanner, including SATAN.
Betcha didn't know that.
Heh. Ben just called... right when I was setting my Away message on AIM. He was going to hang out with Loren at a club in Palo Alto.
I guess I'm just too god awful tired tonight to go hang with them at a bar on a Thursday night. I'm a wimp, I know.
Today, I went to the East Bay to meet up with the family. You see, the brother's birthday was on Sunday, the sister's birthday is today, and the nephew's birthday is tomorrow. So I killed three birds with one stone and arrived bearing gifts and tiramisu.
I had found a coupon for Ghirardelli sundaes that Kev and I acquired last weekend in Monterey, so we took full advantage of it and raided the local Ghirardelli parlor for two-scoop Hot Fudge sundaes. Mmm.
The Walnut Creek Farmer's Market was goin' on this evening, so I raided the booths for many baskets of strawberries, fresh picked today, as well as some sweet onions. I'm glad to be back in California where this fresh produce is readily available. Another cool thing was that they're holding free jazz concerts right next to the farmer's market all summer, I think.
So, I was back home before the sun completely disappeared beneath the horizon... the clouds were a nice purply-pink in the cool blue sky. It was real purty. I was smelling the fresh strawberries all the way home, and it was starting to drive me nuts... I ran inside and put them in the fridge, stat.
I just now had found out that Ben was supposed to be nearby, in Palo Alto tonight. Dang, I think I missed him by a hair. I was reading his recent entry on Killoggs telling me to get in touch for tonight if I happened to read it. Ah well. I think I'll be seeing him sometime next week if his busy schedule permits.
That is all.
This is effin' KICKASS.
Behind the Typeface: Cooper Black
Absolutely genius... hilarious to anyone in graphic design and/or typography. Thanks to Todd for the link.
Bonus points to you if you can name Cooper's friend before the caption pops up. Oh, and the other typeface on the playground (easy!).