Things you can do with duct tape

Fun with duct tape. My house one of these days? Who wants in?

I'm not dead, just tired

Right, so, I went to Chicago this weekend for a college graduation. I got some really good sushi and also incredibly sunburned. Why didn't I use sunscreen? I've never been sunburned before and so never thought about it. SPF 15 tends to help me tan lightly and SPF 30 turns me white. I've been working on an orchid for Beth, not so much time for other beading though you'd better believe I've got ideas in my head, cleaning my house and doing some light re-org, and going nuts at work, so...the usual! I still haven't found much motivation for knitting though the Elann Esprit is helping to inspire me with a couple of ideas. I also just got my invite to ravelry.com so I'm loading some of my projects and stuff in there. It comes in at a good time when I'm trying to gather all of my yarn and it will allow me to inventory. Pictures to come at some point. I'm still too tired and lazy :)

graphics and templates and lack of sleep

I'm really quite tired but I'm up playing with websites. Another step in getting my computer up and running involved downloading ftp software and getting connected back to beadedflowersdb.com and Judy Yiu Designs. Something for you all to learn about me. You've seen the beautiful works that I can create and you'd think I'd have some artistic talent. Well, it works great in 3D but when I have to go 2D, I really suck. Don't believe me? Take a look at both of those websites. I think they can both use an overhaul, the Judy Yiu Designs site especially.

Okay, so by day, I am a software developer working in the likes of html and asp and sql. But you know what? I'm just arranging text and form fields on a page, though these days, it's more of a project management role and making sure people get their work done and done correctly. There's nothing involving graphics there. I don't do 2 dimensional graphics. I don't do layouts and designs.

These days, I've been thinking about either paying for and working with a web template or just hiring a graphics person to provide a general template design that I can then maintain. Of course, I can always take it one step at a time and do it slowly. But you've got to remember that staring at this stuff for 8 hours a day, I don't really want to do it any more when I get home!

So, I'm here, soliciting opinions for either how I should present either of the pages mentioned above, or your opinion on getting someone who specializes in graphics. I know the websites need to come up to snuff since I am trying to turn this all into a self supporting hobby. I can't deal with website editors. I am a software developer, therefore I deal in code. I would prefer to open the html page in Notepad and edit the straight text than to open it in a WYSIWYG editor and go nuts because I can't specify things to my preference. So...HELP!

kiva.org

My friend Josh reminded me of kiva.org today. They work with existing microfinance institutions in developing nations to make loans to small businesses. You are helping to fund that loan and sponsor the business. I don't remember how I had heard of this in the past but Josh reminded me of this today when he sent me the link. It gave me the warm and fuzzies. It's a way that we in the priviledged world can help someone less fortunate. So the warm and fuzzies got to me, and I signed up and gave some money. So, just something to think about.

Computer problems

I usually try not to blog from work, but since this is the only place where I have a usable computer...

I think I managed to wipe out my harddrive last night...as I was using my computer. One of the guys I work with is trying to help me extract the data out of it now. If the words "unmountable boot drive" means anything to you, yeah, I got that message on a blue screen. It was a "happy" moment when I realized what that message meant. Last backup of the harddrive...probably a year ago. So, blog posts will be few until I have that working again or get a new harddrive while I wait to see if I can find someone who can extract the data off of this one. I still have a flicker of hope I can still get to the contents. It's just a flicker, a very dim flicker. This flicker stems from the fact that I can get to the blue screen and I have the option to boot to safe mode or command prompt. Unfortunately, the computer does die before it is actually able to boot. To sum it up, the harddrive is in something like a persistent vegetative state.

This happened when I was trying to post and even include some pictures! So, I was very upset this morning. It's like loosing your best friend. Yes, I can vacation without a computer, but when I'm at home, it needs to be on and always accessible!

Make up

I was watching "What Not To Wear" tonight and watched this girl get a makeover lesson. What was scary was that her face looked fresh before the makeup went on. But after they added added the foundation, you could see the powder on her face, and that 'layer'. Then, after the eye shadow went on...you could see the lines on her face. Which made me think back to peoples' faces that I've noticed. The ones that I notice lines on do tend to wear makeup. The ones I don't tend to notice lines...not so much make up. I guess if you think about it, we all have our natural lines on the face. But the makeup as a layer that can crack and isn't smooth, would really only emphasis the lines. Eh?

From the weekend

First up, I was successful in my first steps towards turducken. The short explanation (for those who don't want to go to wikipedia) is that it's a chicken in a duck in a turkey, with layers of stuffing in between. I had wanted to make this a couple of years ago but didn't get far. Everytime my friend Josh sees me, he asks me about turducken. So, after St. Louis, I was reinspired and more so after I read this site about preparation. Finally! A site that shows me what the chicken is supposed to look like after I've pulled all the bones out. My plan was to first debone a chicken and stuff it. My next attempt would be to debone a duck and a chicken and make the "ducken". Finally, I'd go for the all out "turducken". The set is found here. Here's my dinner from Sunday:


In other bizarro weekend happenings, I saw that one of my African violets had some flowers


And even MORE bizarre, I saw that the sacrificial orchid grew more buds and a couple of them are starting to open! I know it grew more buds because Anne's orchid was a near exact replica of the orchid at the state when I bought it and there were only 3 or 4 buds per stem at the time. Who needs a refresher on this? Now, there are more buds?


Last night, I was doing the crochet border on Charlotte's Web when I ran out of yarn. Ya. That sucks. I went to Knit Happens in the hopes of finding the same color of yarn. I wasn't too concerned with the dye lot since Koigu is handpainted. Well, I got there, saw my yarn, and said, "Oh, yeah, this is the shade. I've been staring at it enough the last few days to know it!" I cam home, checked the tags and even more amazing is that it's even the same dye lot! Note that I had bought the Koigu a year or two ago. This was the first lace I had ever attempted!