This is to keep nala happy for a little while.
enjoy, brother.
posted by Courtney @ 10:48 PM
Attention: Courtney has NOT finished her coffee yet. I repeat, has NOT finished her coffee yet.
...
I'm cranky, grumpy, tired and sluggish. Watch out, or I may snap your head off if you try to get between me and my coffee-stained mug. pharmaciesreview.com
What's that, little Treo? It's time to get ready for class? Argh, so that means we have no time for a blog entry of substance? Oh pity me, Treo, I didn't blog at all yesterday! OKAY, Stop beeping at me already! SHEESH!
Oh yeah, it *is* that time of the month, isn't it...?
Earlier today, I was rushing to get to my Photo History class, and had maybe two minutes to spare. I was still feeling laggy from staying up late playing TSO (oops) and getting some pretty poor sleep last night due to a certain someone with a knack for loud breathing passages.
I was desperate. I needed caffeine.
I hit the drive-through Starbucks. It's been about two months since I weakened under the same pressure.
It was unsettling, but I pressed on. I looked on the floor of the passenger side of the car, and saw a loose Peet's sleeve lying there, unused and lonely. I slipped it around the hot cup o' mocha and was off to class. There I was, trying to pass off a cup of Starbucks as a Peet's cup. How sad was I?
Forgive me, o Peet's of my heart.
I just bought a bottle of blue hair dye. I have dark hair with highlights, so it'll be subtle.
Should I do it?
My caller ID had a call from San Francisco (415 area code) on it, and the ID read "TechTV", with no message, just a hangup on my answering machine.
C'mon, Chris, I know you're stalking me.
Happy Monday! I gots a treat for ya!
Due to popular demand, I am providing you with Domokun desktop goodness that you currently see on the desktop of my Dual G4, "Deux".
I got the image from an upcoming site (not active yet, AFAIK) called "All the Cute Things".
Choose your poison:
800x600
1024x768
1200x1600 (this is what I'm using)
If you need/want another size, lemme know.
Wow, playing TSO has taken up a lot of my time, but I have managed to keep things in check... my school work is doing fine, my freelance work is alright, and my home life is not abandoned.
...Yet.
Just kidding.
Funny that for a while there, I was investing more time in my sim's virtual life than my own real one. Yes, the true sign of a geek.
Tomorrow is my first Sims Meetup (yes, something similar to Blog Meetup). Hoping to meet some more cool people and, as they say in the islands, "Talk Story". I really like the whole meetup thing, it's been really awesome so far. Highly recommended way to meet new people with similar interest!
Anyone else out there play TSO? If not, what game is currently eating your life away?
Found via Christine...
READ ME: a weblog disclaimer.
This is definitely a required read for Weblog newbies, or Webloggers that need a refresher on blogging netiquette. Do check it out.
Sorry about the lack of content I've been having these past couple of days. Blog farts, I guess. Anyways, I have a bit of a rant to share.
I was driving to class this morning, when I saw an early-nineties sedan driving a little bit ahead and to the right of me. Not just any run-of-the mill sedan, but one sporting an American Flag, hanging off of the left rear passenger window.
What is so bad about that, you ask?
The flag was damaged beyond repair. It was frayed, torn and in very sad shape. If the Flag is damaged in such a way, aren't you supposed to retire it in a dignified fashion? Isn't it more patriotic to retire your flag if it has served its duty, and give it proper respect?
The US Scouting Service Project says:
When the flag is in such condition, through wear or damage, that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, it shall be destroyed in a dignified manner befitting such a symbol. The traditional way is to cut the flag into pieces and burn it in a modest but blazing fire. As we perform this respected duty, let us reflect on the design and meaning of our flag.
I've seen way to many flags lately that are sadly threadbare and falling to pieces. That doesn't really show much respect, although I'm sure the intentions are to fly their flags as long as they can to show patriotism.
What *is* patriotism, these days, anyways?
The current issue of Lenswork magazine has a photo collection of American Flags across the country. It's a cliched photograph by now... but people continue to shoot numerous photos of the flag waving... of people declaring their patriotism and shouting never ending choruses of "United We Stand".
Honestly, I'm almost tiring of this imagery. I know the events over the past couple of years have shocked everyone and made them sad, angry, and most of all, loyal to their country. But there *is* a limit, isn't there? Can't we just let it go and move on? Can we concentrate on making our country better instead of trying to make it even with the people and countries that we have been damaged by?
I'm often not one to rant about politics and related issues, but this brief moment this morning made me think a bit.
I just received the next DVD in my Netflix queue this afternoon.
I came inside and put it next to another DVD I got last week to watch. Amusingly, these movies are Blow and Dick.
I swear, this was not intentional. Subliminal? Who knows.
There's now a dimple in the outer shell my Powerbook's display.
I'm clumsy. Either that, or the Apple gods are not shining on me this week.
I wonder if I can find another excuse to send this baby into AppleCare Service again, so they could maybe fix this...?
A surefire winter blues killer is to exercise.
I know, I just said a bad word, in terms of us pale computer geeks. Heaven forbid.
Kev and I have been really tired, really run down, really stressed and off and on depressed. You can't chalk that up to just the winter blues. We openly admit that we are out of shape and barely energetic. The ocassional hike is just not good enough to keep us going day to day.
I don't really like gyms, because they've always ended up becoming pick-up joints where everyone dresses to impress and people hit on you at the water fountain. I kinda like all-female gyms, but there aren't any close to us. So yeah, we're going to buy an in-home exercise machine. Weee.
We've been keeping our eyes out for a good price on an Elliptical exercise machine, because we both have knee problems. Man, those things can get pricey! We finally found one of these yesterday on Craigslist for $250, and we're gonna take the plunge. We need it.
Props to Nala for reminding me that exercise is a good mood-blaster!
yesterday, we finally went geocaching again. I wonder again, why did I take such a long hiatus from this activity?
We went to Sanborn-Skyline Park and took a lovely, low impact hike through the redwoods. It was pretty apparent that the recent storms had taken a big toll on the forests... lots of fallen trees, debris everywhere. But still, the majestic redwoods never cease to make me stare up in awe.
We went and found the appropriately named "Sanborn Cache"... there aren't too many other caches in this park because of the tree cover (bad GPS reception). The park is well deserving of more activity, I think it is a well-kept secret here in the south bay. I will definitely go back there.
My faith has been restored. I'm pretty darned happy to be in California again.
I have no idea what just happened, but I lost all of my bookmarks that I had in Chimera. They just... disappeared.
fdsalkjfgdl;'';;
I had some old bookmarks from a few months back from IE, before I made the switch to Chimera... so I'm salvaging. All my recent bookmarks are gone. Isn't it funny that when we lose something as simple as bookmarks, we feel so lost?
Oh well. This pushed me over the fine line to finally make Safari my default browser, and I have been slowly rebuilding my bookmarks. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise.
The Blogiverse has been bored with itself lately. I've seen a lot of people wondering why we're not blogging, not commenting, not really interested in online activity lately.
My theory is that we're all having a little bit of cabin fever. We have been spending all winter cooped up inside, and not making much effort to be outside. It is definitely that time of year for winter depression (or I guess, Seasonal Affective Disorder), and it is not exclusive to the blogiverse... I've noticed a lot or people are generally mopey.
I'm gonna try and make the effort to be outside today. We're planning on going on a hike or something this afternoon. Maybe that'll lift my spirits. I should at least be thankful that I'm in California, where it's nice enough out to do that.
What are you folks doing to combat these winter blahs?
A couple of months ago, I learned a new blogging term via Christine, who had learned it via Mike. I thought today might be an appropriate day to introduce (or re-introduce):
Blurker (BLUR-kur): n. 1. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs. 2. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.
My referrer logs tell me that a lot more people visit here than leave comments. Some people truly have nothing to say. Some people have a few thoughts to share, but are too shy! Some people think whatever they say may make them seem dumb/ignorant/mean/etc.! You need not worry about that here.
Unless you're a troll, of course. :P
I love it when my blog entries provoke discussion, like my "Is it Art" entry the other day... I am still enjoying that one! I love hearing from you folks out there in the Inter-web thingy. I'll let you know that I also visit the sites of people that comment here pretty faithfully. It's all about the communitiy. So if you just want a new reader at your blog/site/whatever, try me!
Even if you have nothing to say right now, let me know you're here. Chime in and let me know how long you've been reading and how you found me! I'm just curious!
P.S.: I realize a lot of people are here today because of the GnomeReport... Welcome! Say "Hi" if you may!
We had another record night at last nights meetup! Yay!
The usual suspects were there, Guy (who really needs to update his blog, heh), Ealasaid (with newly repaired car in tow, I mean, not literally), Twon (Fashionably Late, of course) and I... as well as first-timers Elke (everyone's favorite aunt) and Rich (backdating blog entries *is* alright!). Faisal ("Hi, I'm a Mac user!") sat with us for short spell as well. Good times, good coffee, great conversation!
Does anyone ever discuss the suggested theme at their meetups? We mentioned "Blogging in Wartime" maybe in passing, but I think the discussion of how to avoid meetings at work was more productive.
I forgot to take pictures. AGAIN.
We're hoping to get more and more peeps to the meetup... we're in the Silicon Valley, for jeebus' sake! And I need to get more contacts for SFBayBloggers.com (coming soon to a browser near you), dangit!
It's that time of the month again.
NO, not *that*, you silly person.
Tonight is International Blog Meetup Day!
I'm host tonight for the San Jose area meetup, so if you're in the area, come, drink coffee and share banter with the rest of us!
Today I got my Google shwag that I won last week at the Online Tonight party.
The rundown: coated mousepad, CD wallet, Google Gum ("the flavor you've been searching for"... wokka wokka), a long sleeved t-shirt (an adult Medium, but I still swim in it), pen, notebook, and 2 sheets of weather-proof stickers. w00t! Good stuff.
I never win anything. This was a pleasant surprise!
Today, in my photo history class, we were briefly discussing the long-debated subject of photography as an art.
In the early 20th century, more and more people were using cameras. The common man had access to cameras, like George Eastman's brownie. Photographs were mainly a document... to capture scenes, landscapes, objects. But now, people were starting to express themselves through photography. We were seeing found objects from new perspectives. Photo montages rose in popularity.
But was this art? Many debated (and some still do) that photography was just a form of documenting. If it resembled art, it was only in the eye of the beholder, because the photograph was only a form of expression from the person who created the image.
IMHO, I think that's enough justification for a photograph to be considered art.
What do you think? Is photography really an art? Is it mechanics or science or documentation? I think it's all of the above.
And I'm gonna continue shooting pictures as long as I can.
Today, 14 January 2003, is the first official Bloggin' Lovefest!
Robyn has come up with a wonderful idea... to share the bloggin' love. The concept is simple: choose a blog you love and tell the rest of the blogiverse about it in 1,500 words or less. We've had enough finger pointing, pouting, and trolling in our blogs as of late (or as Robyn puts it, "it seems like the whole world wide web is on the rag right now"). C'mon, feel the love!
I would like to introduce you all to Eric.
Eric's blog, Balance in Motion, contains a lot of content much like my own... Macs, photography, the outdoors, geek culture, and of course, daily random thoughts. Only he does it in a much more articulate way than me. Must be that Stanford education. ;) I often feel smarter after reading a typical Eric post. Either that, or just plain confused, heh.
Take, for example, this recent entry:
so ... if you say "the metaphor has broken down," you have created an implied metaphor, no? namely, comparing a metaphor to a machine. so it's a metaphor involving a metaphor, or meta-metaphor.it turns out, according to Webster, that the etymology of "metaphor" carries us to the Greek "metapherein," meaning to transfer. "pherein" itself means to bear. extrapolating forward, you might say that "phor" on its own should bear the same semantics if used in English.
hence, since the sentence "the metaphor has broken down" itself bears a meta-metaphor, the utterance could be called a meta-metaphor-phor.
hm. i need help.
See what I mean? I had to re-read that many times over to finally get it. Isn't it great?
Eric takes beautiful photographs. Check out his gallery, if you don't believe me. I tend to live vicariously through his pictures of the great outdoors.
A minor, but otherwise essential fact is that Eric also has great taste in music and film. Oh, and *terrific* taste in coffee. ;)
Whose blog do ya love, baby? Participate in the Bloggin' Lovefest, too!
My one year blogiversary came and went silently last week! I guess the first week of the year is a horrible week to have a blogiversary, because of the craziness that is usually going on at that time.
Anyways, it's been a great year. I don't think it woulda been the same without blogging. I had been keeping an online journal before 6 January 2002, but I really became a part of the blogosphere once I started using MT. I was a little late in jumping on the bandwagon, but I'm glad I did it anyways!
I got to know (and love) many great people through blogging, and made some new friends... and who doesn't like new friends?
I attended blog meetups, attended events and parties with bloggers, and made terrific memories in the process. I really am looking forward to meeting more bloggers this year, and soon!
It's been a hell of a year, and I ain't goin' away anytime soon. Blogaritas for everyone!
This is to keep nala happy for a little while.
enjoy, brother.
Wow, that last, super short entry brought in a lot of comments! Imagine that... I had no idea that chinese food was a hot topic.
To quote the Monty Python song:
I like Chinese
I like Chinese
Their food is guaranteed to please
A fourteen, a seven, a nine, and lychees...
So I've been gone all weekend. I went up with the poker crew (sans Ace) towards Tahoe on Saturday morning. We stayed in Truckee at my aunt's condo right at Tahoe Donner. What a GREAT time. We played in the snow, played our usual poker game, drank hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, and played many rounds of Yahtzee. Although the condo is located a short walk from a ski lift, we did not get a chance to hit the slopes... but a really fun time anyways!
This morning, we drove across the state line to visit Boomtown, solely to have the yummy breakfast buffet there. Wow... some really good stuff there! I recommend the heart-shaped belgian waffles. I couldn't partake in all the areas of the buffet, although I wish I could have, but I was incredibly stuffed.
We're home, and it's back to the grind. I have some homework to do, and some laundry. Blah.
Riddle me this... why do you feel so darned sleepy after a good dinner of Chinese food, and then feel ravenous only a few hours later?
Is it the tea? The starch? I am stumped on this one. Or maybe I'm just plain tired and delirious.
But I will say that this is one of the great mysteries of our time.
Yup, I'm late in the game in recapping the busy day that was Wednesday.
What can I say that wasn't already said by the others?
Wednesday was your humble correspondent's Big Day" at MacWorld. I arrived in The City around noon, hoping to grab some lunch with my boss from the Hawaii job, who was in town for MWSF. Hmm, no such luck, since he only had 45 minutes between conferences and was feeling rushed. No problem, since I grabbed a horrendously overpriced spinach salad at a nearby diner. Ever notice how inflated the food prices are in the direct vicinity of these conventions? Jeebus.
Anyways, I met up with Mike on the Expo floor, near the massive Apple booth. Within minutes, we were spontaneously joined by Eric... what were the chances of that happening at such a large gathering? I wandered the floor for quite a while, killed some time at a few booths. Later on, Eric and I decided on the nearby Chevy's for dinner, which we felt kinda guilty about. I feel like such a bad local... gotta reprahzent the local businesses and all (man, we really shoulda found Shalimar, huh, Nala?).
Afterwards, Mike and I were off to Gordon Biersch on the Embarcadero for the Online Tonight listener appreciation party. We were a tad early, but we showed up in the middle of the Firewire Plugfest (yes, we exhausted *every* joke possible about the name of that party). Three quarters of a beer later, we were off to tour the city in a motorized cable car, complete with blaring music, strobe lights and *ahem* "la-sers".
Ah, it was a pure out geekfest. Gotta love it! I finally got to meet up with Gretchen and Chris after missing out on this past weekend's Disco party... and fortunately, they had Lori and Jake in tow. Four gnomes for the price of two! Throw in the MacSlash crew and a handful of other techies, and we were set. A disco on wheels, cases of chilled beer, wine, and geeks... what more could you ask for?
I won some sort of prize in the drawing at the end of the night, but I wasn't paying enough attention to what it was. I guess I'll find out in a few days from the Google Guy.
Oh, and the Expo itself? I almost forgot. That was the least of my fun ;)
(Here's the link to the pictures again, for the incredibly lazy.)
I will expound more later, but here's the link to my pictures from yesterday's festivities.
If you need more details on what went on, check Mike's blog and Gretchen's blog.
More to come! Gotta run!
Tell me why I just waited in line to make a blog post from the internet café at MacWorld SF?
Pure geek factor, I suppose. I coulda been *really* geeky and brought my wireless-enabled laptop with, but I was being too practical. Hah.
So things here are pretty good. I checked out the new Powerbooks first thing, and almost burned my hand. Those things run pretty dang hot. I really like the mini-me version, and I'll be heavily considering it over the next few months.
It' pretty warm down here on the Expo floor. Weeee. I need a drink.
I have yet to find fellow bloggers or MacNN'ers...
More to come later... I'm gonna go to a c|net radio listener appreciation party later tonight in attempt to hook up with the lockergnome crew.
My first generation Titanium Powerbook has seen its days. It has served me well.
But I hold a deep, dark(?) secret. I have been wishing an iBook for a long time... only because it was compact and sturdy, but I was not willing to sacrifce my G4 for a G3. Woe was me. I have had to handle my Ti very carefully, be sure no one breathed heavily on it, and basically treated it like it was my first born child.
Ah, but with the announcement of the drool-worthy new PowerBooks, I am in a funk no longer. I'm really tempted by the 12" BTO with a SuperDrive.
Ah, Titanium. You have served me well. Now it's time for your younger, more powerful sibling to take the throne.
I *just* paid off my Apple Loan from the Ti, too. The loud sucking sound that is Apple taking my money away shall continue. I think I'm gonna sell the Ti (which, I will add, has a year of AppleCare left on it)... if you're interested, do let me know.
Am I such a geek to get all giddy at the sight of Steve digging that baby out earlier today?
Answer: Yes.
I'm bummed that I never got to The City yesterday... the only way I had of contacting peeps at the disco party was via Gnome-Girl's cell phone. I'm not sure what happened, but I called her voicemail in the late morning, but never heard back... either everyone slept in way late, or everyone was just plain gone.
Well, besides Lance... *now* I know that. Waaah. I missed out meeting some of mah blogging peeps.
And I missed some good sushi too. Damn.
I woke up pretty late. Sheee-at.
Was up late playing the weekly poker game with the usual crew... also with a returning Ace (from his trip to Guatemala... he had some *great* pics), his sis Sonja, and Andy's hockey bud Tal. A great time was had by all, and much cokes and vanilla rum were consumed. What *are* those drinks called, anyways? I've heard that they are called "Wedding Cakes", but hell if I know.
So I was thinking of stopping by The City today, cos I had missed day one of the West Coast Blogger Disco Party... but who knows if everyone will just be a hung over mess today, heh. ;) I'm pretty sure that there will be no more disco boogie going on, but I want to meet up with everyone.
Busy week ahead. Classes start again on Monday, MacWorld is all week, hoping to get together with Mike, attend a taping of TSS, gonna meet up with my old boss from Hawaii, and I have to do 2 days worth of work over in the East Bay later this week. Oy.
I guess you shouldn't wonder why certain music artists use pseudonyms... they have really dorky real names.
I have found that mug shots can be quite revealing of many things, including their real names.
Most of us know Eminem is Marshall Mathers, but what about Brian Hugh Warner, Robert James Ritchie, and of course, Robert Van Winkle?
I guess no one ever names their kid thinking they'd someday be famous and have their name plastered all over an exposé website... ;)
Hey kids! Just a head count to see if anyone will be attending MacWorld this upcoming week... 6-10 January, 2002. I know Mike is gonna be there, but anyone else?
Oh yeah, and we're planning to attend a taping of TSS as well on one of those afternoons.
C'mon, it'll be a week of Apple goodness. I think I'm only gonna make it to the expo for one day, two at the most, cos I have classes starting next week as well. Hmph.
Ah, a new year. Time for some change.
This is the new , for now (until I change moods or something). I started working on it many months ago, but basically forgot about it for a while. It's based on a from the CSS Colouring Book, which, coincidentally, was featured on ScriptyGoddess the other day.
A new surprise! I have successfully registered the domain sfbaybloggers.com, going back to my original thoughts from many months ago. So all you San Francisco Bay Area Bloggers out there, let your presence be known, and leave a comment! I would like a good base of people signing up to be listed on the site before I begin work on it.
Other area-specific blogger sites for you to peruse, if you have no idea what my intended results are:
so please, do leave a comment, or contact me directly, if you are a SF Bay Area blogger!
Once again, Happy New Year to all :)
to the wanna-be haxx0rs that are thinking they can wreak havoc on this page, remember this: your IP is logged, and I don't hesitate to report lamers like you to your ISP.
now go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script.
I'm currently munchin' on a vegemite sandwich.
How d'ya like me now?
I finally decided what I was going to do with that leftover icing.
I made some of The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies... something like five or six dozen(!), and have rid myself of most of my icing.
I also decided to have a little fun with it, and mixed some rose pink food coloring paste into the last batch, and made some big pink cookies for Christine...
I still have more cookies to decorate, but definitely not as painstakingly done as my christmas cookies. I actually never tire of baking... I find it fun and relaxing. Plus, I get to eat the dough as much as I want. ^_^