Recent Podcasts
This is the she-wolf statue that Lynn brought back for me from Rome. Unbeknown to either of us, it changes color like a Generra t-shirt in the dryer. After some unscientific experimentation, I believe it gets pinker when the air is very humid. No matter what, it’s ridiculous and fantastic. Best… souvenir… ever!
As a professed animal lover, I hate to hate on anything, but the gd squirrels are back. I had a brief respite after the landlord put metal grills over the HOLES in the house exterior (seems to me a grander reparation would be appropriate). I had been re-reading Harry Potter waaaay to close to bedtime and was dreaming about Dementors clawing the flesh off my arms. I woke up to hear the rhythmic scraping and clawing wasn’t coming from from the skeletal hands in my dream, but from a pretty-tailed rat attempting to burrow into my room. * shudder *
And yes Lynn, I got out the Swiffer. Didn’t help.
I just received this terrifying piece of junk mail today. Little tip for the sender: using red underlining 30 times in a row doesn’t add emphasis. Rather, it make your envelope look like a blackmail letter written by a 4 year old. And call me skeptical, but somehow I don’t think a blessing from God is coming via a form letter addressed to “Resident”.
It’s been about a week since I flipped the switch and moved our site to the new server. Everything seems to be working (fingers crossed!), so I thought I’d post a little something about the redesign.
First off, I’d like to make it clear that I am lazy. Extremely lazy. There used to be a time when I thought nothing of spending days to hand-code a web site, but now I just don’t have the patience. So if someone else has a better idea, I’d rather use their code then pull my hair out trying to do the same thing by myself. Today’s open-source Internet is perfect for my lazy tendencies, but I still want to give credit where it’s due. So here’s a list of software, plugins, and resources that I used to redesign bdline.net.
The Basics
WordPress Plugins
Miscellaneous
I have quickly become addicted to Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Released on Halloween, basic access to the game is free and, surprisingly, the client is available for both Mac & PC.Most of the game involves killing things: undead pirates, giant scorpions, Navy guards, etc. You also get quests to complete which range from easy to nearly impossible. One involved me walking across the street in Tortuga to talk to someone, then returning to the pub to talk to the barkeep. Of course, since I am remarkably adept at following directions, this part of the quest took me over 30 minutes to figure out. After this performance, I decided that the Disney programmers probably had a younger audience in mind, and I was over-thinking these “quests” a bit. And that’s when I shut the damn thing off.
So far in the two days I have been playing, I’ve managed to get to Notoriety Level 7 and join a pirate guild. So, if you be in the Pirates world, me name be Ned Sharkmalley, and I’ll be sailing through rough waters near Davy Jones’ Locker.
I am wearing a new cute funky retro flower power pattern top and slinkly black sweater today. I am also wearing new jeans and heels, but I really doubt anyone will notice as I have been walking around all with my fly down. I don’t know how I keep missing it; suddenly my pants are much more comfortable. And breezy. A couple of times I caught people averting their eyes when you would typically give the silent: “Hi there, yes, yes, how are YOU?!?” smile. In retrospect I think they were polite enough not to check out my holy American Eagle fairy glitter underpants but not bold enough to tell me so.
Can carving a pumpkin be considered a team-building exercise? This is a question I would have never expected to answer on a Friday afternoon.
It all began when I innocently mentioned to a coworker that my family never carved Jack O’Lanterns for Halloween. Angela was very disturbed at hearing this. Apparently, every red-blooded American child is expected to wield a knife and gut a pumpkin each October, and my childhood was therefore depressing and bleak. Angela then insisted that we were going to carve a pumpkin during our afternoon break. Little did I know that when Angela says we are carving a pumpkin this afternoon, she means we are carving a pumpkin this afternoon. With the raw materials procured over lunch, we informed our boss of the plan and told our coworkers that, if needed, we could be reached in the break room between 3 and 3:15 p.m.
The actual carving wasn’t too difficult. Of course, working with an experienced carver helps. There was a brief moment when I stopped mid-cut while we considered what would happen to the discarded pumpkin flesh over the weekend. Would the cleaning crew take out the trash tonight, or would we return Monday morning to the sickly smell of rotting pumpkin? After some deliberation, we agreed that if they didn’t clean tonight, the pumpkin smell was preferable to the toxic fumes from the freshly-waxed lobby floor, and pressed on. As the curious wandered by the break room to gawk and give advice, we stated that this was a team-building exercise to build trust between the members of the marketing department. Angela had to trust that I wouldn’t cut her fingers off, and I had to trust Angela to hold Mr. Pumpkin steady during his delicate surgical procedure.
So, does pumpkin carving make for a stronger team? In my experience, yes. Today, my colleague and I completed our daily job duties and created a new objet d’art for the conference room. I also learned how to safely handle a deadly weapon in the workplace. And, Angela says that if I die this weekend, she’ll feel better knowing that at least I got to carve a pumpkin once in my life. You can’t build that type of camaraderie with a two-day business retreat.
If you’ve ever had the great pleasure of meeting my friend Patti (one of the finest cookies in the aisle) you might be aware that her boyfriend Rob (pictured on a visit home) has been serving in Iraq. We are expecting that sometime before October 13 Rob, who is making his way through Kuwait back to MI for a time, will be back in North Platte for the return home ceremonies.
I am going to drive up and be part of the welcome gang. I am putting together a Welcome Home kit. I had a bath-tub brainstorm and thought how wonderful it would be if we could throw in lots of Welcome Home cards. I have so many cool, fun, creative friends who could draw a funny picture or use the attached for inspiration, write a note, and maybe just include your first name and city. I will print them all off / burn messages / include this in my kit. if you want to contribute something physical I can shoot you mailing info. I know it’s short notice but I thought I would love to fill up his basket with lots of love!
Here’s Michael Emerson from LOST being interviewed on Vh1’s Best Week Ever. If you’re not watching this stuff on cable or via the vidcast feed, then you are seriously missing out.
