04.13.10
Posted in Family, Fun at 9:00 am by loretta
Yesterday was Tiny Tiara Day. It happens every April 12th. On this day, my sisters and I celebrate our Mother’s birthday by wearing the tiny tiaras we all wore for her last birthday. It’s a day to celebrate our our awesomeness.
I figured it was more of a personal day, so didn’t really mention it to anyone. I’m told this was a mistake. Friends tell me that everyone should be able to celebrate their awesomeness by wearing a tiny tiara on Tiny Tiara Day. So I’ve been charged with starting a Facebook group, and Maureen with getting the day on the calendar of national holidays.
So here is my invitation to you: Please celebrate Tiny Tiara Day with me next year. I neglected to tell you about it this year, but this is the perfect opportunity to put it on your calendar for next year. If you’re adding it to a computerized calendar, you can even give yourself a warning alarm, so that you can find a tiara in time.
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04.09.10
Posted in Family, Fun at 9:42 am by loretta
The major obstacle to completing the new catcam case was the lack of finding the glue gun. I use it to hold on the velcro closures. I had fun with duck tape, and scoring plastic, and drilling tape-covered plastic with power tools and scissors (used for the pilot hole), and bending wire for the holders. I even determined the size and placement of the velcro closures, and cut it accordingly.
But I couldn’t find the glue gun. Usually it lives around Keith’s workbench in the garage. Either on or on a shelf above. No such luck for me. I even shuffled piles of stuff around to see if it was buried, but no. The other usual haunt is the library closet. It wasn’t there either, so I also looked in the drawers, the computer room, computer room closet, our bedroom, Maureen’s bedroom (only superficially, after all, why would one hide a glue gun?), the living room, the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom, and the garage as a whole. No luck.
So instead I played with worms. I harvested one tray of compost. The worms confirmed its doneness, by their lack of presence. No food left for them means it’s done. The middle tray was a bit overly wet, so I mixed in some shredded paper. (Your identity is even safer, if after you shred your documents, you feed the shreds to the worms. Even The Penguin can’t tape that back together, bwa ha ha…) The top layer was dry, so I mixed it up, sprinkled it with water, and covered with damp shredded paper. I rescued worms that had fled to the catch bin, and started on setting up the new top tray, freshly emptied of compost. It’s dirty work, but it helps assuage my environmental guilt, and gets me fertilizer.
Maureen is the magic key, apparently to finding the glue gun. When she got home, she found it in the library closet almost right away. She had put it into a cloth bag to keep it tidier. But she was the only one who knew it was there. It didn’t take me long after that to finish up the camera case. I tested it on the cat to see if he’d be OK with the extra weight. It’s nearly six ounces. He is, although less so than before. Now I just need to etch the camera.
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04.08.10
Posted in Fun at 10:19 am by loretta
So the cat dunked his camera in the “auxiliary water source” aka the toilet and ruined it. Something is wrong with the photoblog template I have on the KP site, so that the slideshow won’t run because it thinks it wants a tag set instead of a category. And I’ve gotten frustrated with the terrible quality of a 1 megapixel picture. Bleh.
Keith (the Best Boyfriend Ever (I really ought to get that website up)) found an amazing, inexpensive camera to replace the catcam: waterproof to 1.5 meters, 10 megapixel, autofocus, rugged, etc, etc. He bought it a week ago, but it’s not on the cat yet, for two main reasons.
The camera is very nice, so I would really like to laser etch some form of ID on it, to encourage the camera’s return if lost. The enameled surface should take the etch well. I definitely wanted to include the logo, so art and placement presented some difficulty. I spent a good amount of time fussing with it last night. I think I figured it out.
The camera is also too big for the old carry case, so I need to make a new one. I’ve been fussing for overlong on what to use, but Keith persuaded me to try using the sheet of plastic that I’ve used for the lens cover on the old case. It’s thin and light. To assuage my fears that it’s too thin, I’ve decided to bind it with color duck tape. I picked a color that blends with Whisper’s fur. I’m hoping it will be strong enough to support the carry wire for attachment to the collar. Fingers crossed.
[Side note: Duck tape comes in colors now so that they can promote themselves as a trendy alternative fabric for people to make their clothes out of for special occasions, such as Halloween or (currently) Prom. They even run contests during those periods to encourage it. I have no idea why anyone would make a beige/camel colored suit or dress for prom. Perhaps that's just me...]
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03.21.10
Posted in Fun, Off the cuff at 12:33 pm by loretta
I get this every once in a while, when I’m stressed. I hyper-focus on one project. Usually it’s not the project I’m supposed to be working on.
I’ve been working on a fit-and-flare dress pattern for quite a while. Too long, I decided, so I finalized a test pattern, cut, basted, and fit it in recycled denim, and recut and sewed until finished. The denim “frankendress” is casually wearable, but not quite where I want the pattern. So I will try again with a print. And again, until I get it right, or Keith’s parents show up.
I want to have a finished project.
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03.15.10
Posted in Food, Fun, Off the cuff at 9:03 am by loretta
Google may be trying to conquer the world via information, but at least it reminded me it was Pi Day when I nearly forgot. ^_^;; Keith was kind enough to make Dutch Apple pie. He’s very good at pie. And breakfast. He made waffles from scratch! Which are also round, if not punny.
Daylight savings made the day seem a lot shorter. There was barely tine for Final Cut to forget who I am (since I changed computers,) and cut out half a dress before dinner. With other folks in the house, I’m more likely to listen to interrupt-friendly “Wait, Wait” podcasts rather than narrative “Lincoln’s Melancholy,” which is quite interesting.
With pie for dessert, we caught up on “Community” via Hulu. I didn’t realize Joel McHale was such a hottie. I’m sure he buffed up for the Phys Ed episode, but still, yum!
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03.14.10
Posted in Family, Fun, Off the cuff at 12:01 pm by loretta
At least for a lazy Saturday, anyway. Shortly after awakening on the early side, I got a call from a friend I haven’t heard from in awhile. But talking to her helped push me awake. Then I got to work setting up my new computer. I kept my old keyboard because I like to 10-key my numbers.
I pushed an iron around to smooth out my test fabric for a dress, but had a tasty interruption with dinner. Then we watched Inglourious Basterds. That was definitely a long haul, especially since the time changed last night. It went more beautifully with Fortaleza and microwave popcorn, though. Tip: pour Salt and Cracked Pepper flavor into a bowl – don’t leave it in the bag. It’s too peppery that way.
This may be naïve, but does Eli Roth resemble Zachary Quinto? Like his older brother that played football, maybe?
With help from Simple Diary.
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03.06.10
Posted in Fun, My TV Show at 1:49 pm by loretta
My “obsession” with testing DVDs before airing pays off when I find a really glaring mistake, like I did yesterday. I try to give back to the Alliance for Community Media by using PSAs from or about them on a semi-regular basis in “What’s Up Wit’ That?” The one I picked looked OK on the computer, but full screen, yee-owch, unwatchably pixelated. I swapped it out, and jazzed up the graphics a bit. As long as I had to wait for it to re-render, why not? However, I did miss the opportunity to turn in a show this week.
Because I went to the circus! The iPod group of Apple celebrated the impending release of the iPad by treating the group to a soirée at the Fairmont and an evening at Cirque du Soleil – Ovo. (Keith works on system software, so neither one of us is sure why that’s part of the iPod group, but, hey, party!) The soirée was lovely, although not enough chairs. My favorite thing was the free two drinks, but a close second was the baked brie with fruit. Mmm, figs. Catered sushi can be dicey, but the Fairmont made a good maki. I’m not sure what the fish was, but it was delicious.
Apple took good care of us at the Cirque, too. A gallon of popcorn, large beverage, and a bag of M&M’s, not a little bag, either. The only flaw was the location of the seats. In a Murphy twist of fate, we were nearly in the same seats as when we saw Ovo a month ago. I had hoped for a different angle. The acts were still amazing, though. The slackwire act is the heart stopping, but the trampoline act is explosive. It was still wonderful.
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08.03.08
Posted in Comics/Manga, Food, Fun at 2:43 pm by loretta
After years of experience, we’ve gotten a routine down for the procuring of food. Around lunch, we pass around a sheet of paper and everyone writes down what they want from the nearby Ralph’s supermarket. Often it’s sandwiches, but this year, Joe took us in a delicious alternative: chicken strips. Being deli food, though, it’s not very photo worthy.
Evenings vary. Thursday, we ended up at Masala, rated the best Indian restaurant by San Diego magazine. It’s tasty, but pricey. Primarily, it’s convenient. Located in the Gaslamp district, adjacent to the convention center, it’s close by. Fortunately for us, but regretfully for them, most Con attendees are more interested in American or Continental fare. When we eat with Peter, those are the restaurants we usually end up at. Those restaurants pack quickly, but we were able to sail into Masala with a party of 5 and no waiting. ^_^ Eventually, it filled up as the adventurous overflow “settled” for Indian food. Heh, they are “settling” for better food than most of those other places serve.
Indian bread is fabulous. Masala offers a bread basket, which comes with plain nan, garlic nan, onion kulcha, and spinach kulcha. We ordered two. Masala also paid attention to the amount of spice, or lack thereof, that we preferred for our dishes. Joe had a lovely chicken vindaloo, which normally I find too spicy to eat. Shiaw-Ling and David shared chicken tikka masala. Carl had a shrimp dish, which I think was Bangalore shrimp. I had a lamb dish from the Chef’s recommendations, which I can’t find on their online menu.
Yummy, yummy, yummy.
Read the rest of this entry »
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07.20.08
Posted in Fun at 12:47 am by loretta
It Opened a Couple of Weeks Ago Film Review: Hancock
I’ve been looking forward to seeing Hancock. This summer there are quite a few films I’d like to see, which isn’t always the case. The ads for Hancock put a very human, dysfunctional face on a super-being, so it seemed really interesting. The first half went, essentially, as expected. I’ve grown more interested in the journey of films because the ends have gotten predictable.
Suddenly, a curveball! I was not expecting that! That sort of thing out of left field makes the movie more fun. After the curveball happened, it followed a different, but still predictable path, with a satisfactorally expected ending.
Little things. Will Smith is an amazing actor. But he didn’t use as much nuanced emotional range in this film as I expected. He didn’t need to be super-expressive, but more than slightly moist eyes on occasion would be nice. Mary Embrey, while actually played by Charlize Theron, has a body type and hairstyle similar Niki Sanders in Heroes. Mary also had very similar mannerisms to Niki. So I kept expecting to see Ali Larter, but ending up with Charlize Theron. It was a bit jarring.
I did enjoy this movie, although I liked Iron Man better.
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06.25.08
Posted in Fun at 9:16 am by loretta
At the Monday Night Dinner Club, we wandered into the topic of spam. I mentioned my friend, Shiaw-Ling, receiving this rather meta spam and blogging about it. Everyone seemed interested, so here is the link to it.
Enjoy!
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