You know what's nice?
Putting the lid securely back on the tower of CDs so that when I pick it up to put it back where it's supposed to be I don't drop it and have to spend 5 minutes picking them up and making sure they're all right.
previously in pet peeves.
Experts of the hollow Earth theory are certain that the planet has several magnetic fields. They also say that aurora polaris is gas that oozes out through the thin earth crust on the poles of the planet. What is more, followers of the idea emphasize that compasses get absolutely mad when approaching the poles. Many researchers also add that warm winds often blow from the north which proves that large hollows may exist there.
How on earth [ha!] can a serious article about the hollow Earth theory NOT mention the Hollow Earth expedition and/or Admiral Byrd. Maybe they had a word limit.
Hey, it's Friday...
Via Copyranter
Is Japanese-style cuteness and a joke supposed to make me feel better about not being able to continue my searches??????
Ugh.
Comforting... and strangely creepy...
"Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours."
From MSNBC
previously in cats: winged cats and cat's who ride the bus
No, it's not a panda. But see if you don't laugh watching this thing...
Via False Advertising
We have a month to build a website with a content management system. My programmer looked at me like I was crazy. Which she should have.
***
I think these kinds of launches always happen at inconvenient times. My aunt was doing fantastically 2 days ago. The kidney was awake and working phenomenally. Now, she's having psychotic episodes because of the extreme amount of steroids she had to have. My mother is driving to Richmond this morning and the rest of us are trying to get up there by the end of the week.
***
I'm glad the intern isn't here this week.
For those that are interested, the opening went well. It was a lot bigger than I expected - but that was cool.
I didn't win anything - BUT it's okay. :) It was just that one woman's opinion and someone else could've loved my photograph. So there.
I did get to talk to my boss's sister, who happens to be an artist around here. She works only on commission now, if that tells you anything. She said she liked my photograph and that I should keep it up. She apparently worked as a graphic designer for about 10 years and then started entering local juried and open call shows and the rest, as they say, is history.
So that was some nice encouragement.
Also the potato cakes were delicious... even if I did think they were crab cakes. O_o
There is good news. Good news which I am going to share:
MY AUNT IS GETTING A TRANSPLANT TODAY!!!!!
My mother got a call from my uncle that my aunt (who has kidney failure and is on hemo dialysis 3 times a week) got a phone call today from their doctor and there is a young, perfect-match kidney for her. She's in the hospital now and she'll probably go into surgery around 1 or 2 in the morning, then she'll be in intensive care for 4 days and then um... something else but I forgot what my mother called it.
I mainly watched it because I was curious and I'd accidentally caught a special on the making of the show last weekend.
As far as accuracy - the special said they paid extra attention to things like the towel bars and the kid's toys in a later episode (Etch-a-Sketches didn't come out till the summer of 1960 - so the little boy had to settle for a slinky for Christmas '59). Although, I'm sure we've all read on AdScam how everything else wasn't really accurate.
Maybe I'm sappy, but the only person I really liked as a human being was Draper's wife because I felt sorry for her. Who knows, that may change if she talks more...
Anyways - dumbest thing in my book? After the meeting where Draper figures out the younger guy (Campbell?) retrieved the research report on smoking and he's confronting him in the office about stealing it and he says something like, "it's not like we have machines that copy documents exactly." WTF? I get it, you don't have copy machines - although I did think you had secretaries. I'm sure there was a better way to imply that than coming up with such a dumb line.
Well, that and the whole electric typewriter scene. I have a hard time believing women were that dumb. Didn't she just come from one of the better secretary schools? Didn't they have electric typewriters? I haven't used a typewriter in years (electric or not) but those two things didn't seem all that different.
Extending their hype of the new Simpson's movie - they decided to mimic the Cerne Abbas Giant...
Wish for rain to wash away Homer
Intern: "I don't like the pen tool."
Me: "Too bad."
I wanted to say "tough shit," but he'd only been here 2 days. This kid is more of a burden on me because I have to figure out stuff for him to do so that he can learn programs he doesn't have a clue about.
I may take my friends up on the idea to send him out for a non-existent size/type of paper clip.
I have been informed that limes aren't really green - that they are painted. I'm not having luck with Google confirming this bit of trivia.
Anybody know?
Oh, but I did find out that in the late 19th century some industrious lime farmers set out to ruin the lemons reputation - apparently it worked. See here.
Guess what I just got?
I got a: "Great job in the meeting this morning. I mean it - I'm going to start bringing you to all the meetings so I can just sit back and let you run them."
Yeah, I'm good. I created an ass-load of work for myself... but I'm awesome.
How cute is this?!
Will You Love Me Fur Ever?
Via ReadySteadyGo.
Update: My friends are insisting this is fake.
I don't know if this is new or new to me, but I think this is awesome.
So last week, July 4th to be exact, we went to the Fair. It is apparently the largest free gate fair in Virginia.
We meant mainly to walk around because I don't like dying or getting near Carnies (no offense to Carnies, but you scare me). We saw the "World's Largest Horse," he was a Belgian and was 19 1/2 hands, about 6'6" tall... he was big but certainly not the world's largest I suspect.
We also paid a dollar to see the "World's Smallest Horse." He was just like the miniature horse in the petting zoo which we could see for free. When I showed my Mom the picture (which I wasn't supposed to take apparently) she told me that she'd seen miniature horses much smaller than that.
Anyways, after the "World's Largest Horse" we went passed the Fried Oreo vendor. Me, I've never heard of them. However, the girl we were with will get them when she's at "the shore." For those from the South like me - the shore is the general beach area... the sand is the beach, there's a difference. We decided to come back and try some and continued our loop around.
Many rednecks and would-be punks later we passed The Zipper. This was the ride we used to all come for when I was in middle school because, well, it was the most intriguing ride at the Fair. This ride is long with tiny rocking carts lining it (picture below). As the main part of the ride rotates the cars it also spins itself in a circle... thus making the carts spin violently while you're being spun backwards... if that makes sense. One not-so-fun time my sister got stuck mid-air because someone had thrown-up and they had to get him off. The ride was also a wonderful introduction to whiplash.
15 - 20 years later - it's the same machine. No thank you. Besides my dislike for whiplash, that thing can't be safe and I don't want a 12-year-old puking on me.
Next... pig racing. That's right, racing pigs. They've been there every single year the Fair has but this was the first year that I happened to pass by as they were racing. And I have video!
Winner got an Oreo.
So on that note - on to the Fried Oreos! Much intrigued by them we went back and we tried them. Normally I don't like Oreos at all... but these things were incredibly good... I actually felt guilty for liking them so much. I don't know if I could've eaten more than two but I decided not to try - I'm sure my arteries thanked me. ;)
After the Oreos was the petting zoo - the highlight was the baby giraffe as my sister LOVES giraffes and got to feed it. We meant to go back so she could feed it again, but never managed to.
So, slideshow:
This would be the very first product of this year's garden. The zucchini plants are doing much better this year. That's the first (taken and picked July 3) there have been 2 more since then and there are two which are almost ready to be picked. The peppers are doing much better this year and but the tomatoes are slow...
Not much to say about the Horse Show. It was a horse show. Lots of prancing and all that fun stuff.
However there was the Stadium Nazi as we walked in. She was serious about her job. She checked our tickets every time we came back in and watched so that we sat in the right seat. We finally started going to the entrance directly to our right where no one cared.
The Grand Prix was exciting which is what we come for really. My older sister used to jump and we used to live on a horse farm so we take my mother every year. Every year I ask the same questions as I was four when we moved and I remember nothing from year to year.
I won't bore you, but only 5 runs had 0 faults... and they had a jump off even though they really didn't need to. But jump offs make the evening much more exciting.
I did learn one new thing, and excuse me if I use any "wrong" terminology. Since our Grand Prix takes place inside, the course ends up being very much like European courses. American courses are usually quite spacious with lots of room for the horse and rider to make the turns and the jumps. European courses are completely different - they are smaller with sharp turns and close jumps. So it was the announcer's opinion that if every course was like ours, Americans would be more prepared for world championships.
So the guy to watch was an Argentinian named Palo Muente riding a horse named As Di Villagana. And he really was quite awesome - his horse sailed over the jumps and he smoked everyone elses time in the first round. In the jump off he went first, got 47.626 seconds in a 59 second course with no faults. Needless to say everyone tried to stay in line with his time - but with 4 - 8 faults each an higher times, they couldn't compete.
Jump off video below.
Sorry, I thought that headline was corny... but then I got the song in my head and decided if I had to suffer... I'd share.
Earth is smaller than previously thought...
I don't mind having meetings about this program. I don't even mind them being after 5 when I desperately want to go home.
But what does get a little tiresome is the fact that the meetings go on for 45+ minutes. Not because there's that much info to deal with, in fact we go over the same ideas and information each time. No, it's the fact that EVERYONE involved (except for me) went to this high school and wants to reminisce.
Which is fine for the most part - they're funny stories... but after the third time of hearing them and after we've been in the meeting for 45+ minutes and I want to go home, it gets old.
I can't wait until this is over. The intern comes tomorrow and I'm going to have to figure out stuff for him to do. My boss suggested I teach him how to scan. What? We have one scanner (mine) and it's sitting right beside me. If he's scanning I can't work. And I'm not moving my scanner downstairs, it's mine and I'll be difficult about it if I want to.
Odd dream last night. Remember most of it, but the oddest part was the four-headed pig thing.
I was actually in my childhood home and I heard something at the back/side door. The side door of this house opened up to several small steps and covered-walkway that adjoined the garage to the house. There on the steps was this four-headed pig thing, 2 conjoined heads at the front and 2 at the back. For some reason I thought it was cute and I wanted to keep it. That's when I called my mother and my sister outside to look at it. And miraculously, like in dreams, it was suddenly no longer a four-headed pig thing, but a very cute, small, round, hairless pig-like thing. I say pig-like because it didn't really have a pig nose. Anyways, this "animal" must have been somewhat human (?!) as it started crying when my mother said we couldn't keep it. But she then changed her mind, because it was very sad to watch it cry. It was happy again when we agreed to let it stay.
That was it, then I jettisoned off into another weird place.
How did these guys NOT make it? Maybe there's a new consensus that aliens did in fact help and that they should then not be considered in other man-made endeavors... kidding.
I mean how do you compete with measurements like this one?
The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. The position of the North Pole moves over time and the pyramid was probably exactly aligned at one time.
That's what you get when you let masses vote. :p
Anyways, here's the "new" list.
• The Great Wall of China• Petra in Jordan
• Brazil's statue of Christ the Redeemer
• Peru's Machu Picchu
• Mexico's Chichen Itza pyramid
• The Colosseum in Rome
• India's Taj Mahal
I agree with some of them, but Christ the Redeemer over the pyramids? Really?
Update:
UNESCO's statement:
Acknowledging the sentimental or emblematic value of sites and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. Scientific criteria must be defined, the quality of candidates evaluated, and legislative and management frameworks set up... The list of the “7 New Wonders of the World” will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the entire world.
See UNESCO's full statement here
I don't know where the video is from. A friend sent it to me and he didn't know where his friend got it.
Since my introduction last week to deep fried Oreos I was told that the creme filling was actually sweetened lard - which of course made me feel so much better for enjoying them as much as I did [/sarcasm].
While I was googling to find if this was true (it's not and now Oreos are kosher) I found out that you can make rocket fuel from the creme inside oreos.
Your boss just might almost destroy her computer.
And this is what I spent a good chunk of time fixing yesterday.
It seems last Thursday, she got a hitch in her giddy-up and wanted to rename her home folder on her laptop and this screwed up all her preferences. Not a big deal, right? Wrong because she didn't realize what she'd done so she thought her hard drive was crashing.
Now, our backup/resource IT guy was on vacation, I'm on vacation and she goes into my office and uses my computer to email him. That's all well and good but since she wanted my help as well, it was a bad idea because if she opens my email at work it will download all my emails and I can't check them from home... and she didn't call me (which I was very happy about). So I'm in blissful ignorance of all this until I come in on Monday.
Somewhere in this she finds an old version of Norton (it's why all our software was on my desk when I came back Monday morning) and loads that. Well, not only is Norton bad in general it hates Panther and Tiger so it screws up her machine more. This is when she starts getting error messages about system files. So what does she do? She finds them and deletes them.
So when she comes in Monday morning and starts up her computer, it can't find her hard drive. But she calls me asking for the keyboard shortcut to reconfigure her desktop. My boss isn't big on giving the exact error message, so after some pulling I get that her screen is gray with a message telling her to restart AND text telling her that the hard drive can't be found.
So I reinstalled Panther, her Adobe programs, and fought with Quark for a good hour or more but by then she wants her computer back... even though there's an error message when we restart and Safari won't work (which is of course my fault). Then it is requested that I come to her home and format the external hard drive I'd gotten for her about 2 months ago and backup her hard drive because she was getting error messages.
She was getting error messages because she was trying to reformat the wrong thing.
Anyways, her computer is fine now and all her files are backed up. I tried to hint very nicely that her hard drive had always been (relatively) fine, meaning it hadn't crashed that first time, and that she was the one who'd messed it up.
******
I have tons of random photographs from my little mini vacation. We went to the annual horse show, went to the regional fair (oh god), and went to a wine tasting festival for my birthday. But I'm at work and the photos are at home, so I'll either have to bring them to work or actually sit down and go through them at home. ;)
At least not here. The lyrics don't even rhyme. And they play this ALL the time...
WARNING: This could seriously get stuck in your head.
There's nothing like coming back after a week off and coming into your nice clean office and realizing that it's not nice and clean because everyone has been in there looking for things. Things they can't put back where they got them and instead are thrown all over my desk and every other flat surface.
And what, I'm the only one who can wash a dish?
Anyways, more later. :D
p.s. I think the squirrels are back... I hear them scurrying above me - nevermind it's a dog.
That's right, I've got a week off. And I'm extremely happy about it. And I'm very sunburned.
Due to missing The Joe's fireworks extravaganza due to unforseen happenings I have been demoted to the friend level of Aquaman.
In light of your digressions, I have no choice but to dub you with the title of Aquaman…
That’s right… you’re even lower on the popular poll than Robin.
Hell, the blue monkey scored higher.
I trust you will do what’s right to remedy this.
You were meant for better than talking to fish in orange and green tights.
So it seems we are designing a high school sports program insert for my boss's brother (see: a boss's pet project) as the school's brand new stadium will be named after his favorite coach.
So last Wednesday we (my boss and I) had to meet with the printer to see exactly how long we got, what kind of files they needed, etc. So we get there and they know about as much as we do about the actual program. So we're trying to ask about paper and what size and the girl who is in charge of the graphics department keeps saying she doesn't know where her boss gets the paper, but she thinks most anything will fit through her printer.
Since we have to go to her office to get a CD of logos we just ask to see the printer.
So we walk to the graphics department which is in a separate building. You walk through a door into a little room where a desk is crammed in at your left with an old iMac on it. To the right is a hallway and in front of you is another tiny room.
The hallway to the left leads you to the production area and the printer. So since they kept saying printer, my boss thinks they have an offset press, I had my suspicions to the contrary and they were confirmed when she pointed out a laser printer to us. This was her printer and the one we have at the office is better.
The second tiny room (the one to the front of us when we walked in) is crowded with 3 small dilapidated desks. Their desktops were crowded with not only a tiny monitor and a scanner but since the room was so small their G4s were on top of their desks too. Now add the keyboard and these people had absolutely no room to move.
This was where the high school sports programs get "designed." Then they are run off on 11x17 sheets of paper, folded and stapled together.
Now on top of that the poor girl in charge was just sort of winging it. I asked her if we could bleed colors on just the insert since there would only be 150. She said yes we could get about a 1/4" from the edge of the paper.
So we got the files we needed and left. I mainly felt sorry for the girl in charge. No doubt they were hired without any experience and sat in front of the computer and told to learn it.
When we got in the car my boss looked at me and started going on and on about how that must be what design hell looks like. This is when I felt obligated to do the whole, "yes, I'm so lucky, I love my job" speech.
So there, was it as interesting as I made it sound? I should've written more last week when I hadn't been trying to not think about anything work-related.
So when I get back, my time will be spent laying out an 8-page insert all about a football coach. I'm going to try to pawn it off on the intern. After I teach him how to use the programs.
