08.28.10
Fresh From Twitter
Winding down a marvelous party – celebrating Woz 6.0. Astonished to meet more than geeks: actual celebrities! Nice ones, even. 
#Woz
05.04.10
A Journey of Self-Discovery
Literally. Keith found a sale on DNA testing from 23 and Me, so he ordered two kits for us. After an amount of saliva that was both small seeming, but a long time to generate, we popped our samples into the mail. I am very impressed with their concern for confidentiality and privacy. I read their entire (yes, entire) user agreement and privacy statements, because I feel it’s crucial when dealing with something so personal. They have an effective screen that prevents the lab from learning whose sample is whose. I’m not sure “double blind” is the correct term, but it’s a strongly confidential system.
They are remarkably enlightened in their forthrightness and cautions. For instance, they caution that the information discovered may be upsetting, e.g. genetic markers for cancer don’t mean you have, or will even get, cancer – they’re merely an indicator that you might. The most enlightened part of the cautions recommends that we not share any of the information with anyone else, no matter how innocuous the information may seem. Because, they say, that as technology advances, seemingly innocuous information may become very telling, you never know.
So, while I will learn a lot about myself, I shan’t be sharing. ;^P
04.13.10
An accidental secret
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.
04.12.10
Treasure and trash
I need to clean up the sewing supplies in the library, so we can get it ready for Keith’s parents to arrive Tuesday. To this effect, I repacked the totes of fabric and began stacking them in the closet. To my dismay, I find that there are two too many for the usual tower of totes.
Excavating the other side of the closet led to some interesting and strange discoveries, including a plastic grocery bag with packing peanuts and markers in it, and several empty Valentine’s chocolate boxes. Two are rather nice, but the third, not so much.
The extra totes fit in there, but now I have to figure out what to do with all this other random stuff…
04.10.10
Tweaking to Do
Camera etched. Interval controls figured out eventually… Now there will be tweaking to see which setting or settings work best for the cat. While I like the picture of the other cat under the truck, I don’t really like the flash.
04.09.10
The Elusive Glue Gun
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.
04.08.10
The Slow Rebirthing of the Catcam
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...]
03.27.10
Writer blockage comes free
The day for shipping the Hometown entries was upon me. Of course, that’s when my writer’s block opens up to allow me to answer all the questions I was assigned, and Andrew’s, too. It was like a runaway train. Not without some bumps, though. For some reason, the Dymo printer has superseded the Epson as primary printer. Very aggravating for trying to print the DVDs.
We made a mad dash to the last local post office still open – Eastridge Mall. They wouldn’t guarantee overnight delivery for Express mail, which seems weird, but that’s the option I got. A long wait at Red Robin later rewarded me with a VERY tall glass of Blue Moon beer. It required an entire wedge of orange, it was so tall. And so tasty.
With help from Simple Diary.
03.21.10
Nervous Obsession
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.
03.16.10
Sound and fury, accomplishing a little
My day was making a fist, specifically around my gut. I have no idea what I ate that caused it, but my insides were unhappy intermittently throughout the day. Very distracting. I did finish my dress mock-up. It needs fine tuning: the decolletage is a little too low for the underpinnings, and my hips aren’t as wide as the degree I altered the pattern. Can you have a jodhpur dress? @_@ I’m pretty sure I’ll also want real sleeves.
I also have a weird relationship with writing, which is currently hobbling me. I have three questionnaires I need to finish up. Direct application knocks the words out of my head, so I have to take glancing runs at them. It’s taking too long to finish them. Tick, tock.
Dinner was at Mongolian BBQ, a place for which I’m not terribly enthusiastic. We used to go there quite often, too often, so I’m still burned out on the taste. But Janet inquired after me to Keith at lunch, and I wanted to witness a potentially awkward reunion between friends. So I clenched my resolve and went. It was worth it.
With help from Simple Diary.