Thinking in vain...

We haven't had cute pics in a while. Here's some.


[Pittsburgh Zoo, August 5. Image via AP.]

This is GORGEOUS! And so not fair... is this place for real??

Via Inspire me, now!

Via Bad Designer Trends.

Via Frostfirezoo, via Flickr user Lemoox.

What? You didn't think I'd be all over this? :p

So much better than a half decayed raccoon.

I finally started to see it. It's sideways and like looking back at the camera. Took me awhile though, I first thought it was a duck. ;)

Via Cryptomundo.

I love 4x5 polaroids.

Day19 Photography Polaroid Portrait Project

My sister is having a time with a package at UPS. Last week, on the 29th at 10:29pm to be exact, our tracking number shows that her package arrived and was scanned.

She called on Saturday. No she could not pick it up, no they don't know why she didn't get it on Wednesday and that it was scheduled to be loaded onto the truck Sunday night and she would be getting it on Monday. And no, they didn't know why it was taking this long.

Monday came and went and she called customer service again. They don't know where the package is. My sister tells them it's in the warehouse here and it was supposed to be loaded on Sunday night. The customer service rep said they didn't know where the package was and she'd need to call the company so that they could trace it. Which of course frustrates my sister to no end because she was told and saw on their website where it arrived and has apparently been sitting there for a week.

Now she's called the company (Wilderness Family Naturals) that she ordered the coconut oil from. This place has what looks like only 3 customer service reps, I know this because they're extensions are all listed. You'd think a smaller company would be able to give better customer service. Not really, but we'll see. The rep just told her it was here and she'd *try* to see if there was somebody she could call who could call UPS.

I think we just need to go over there and make someone search their little warehouse until we have it. We'll see if the company she ordered it from tries to help at all as I doubt UPS will magically become competent and find the package.

****

I'm working on fixing my work email. It's all funky. And it's taking waaaay to long.

****

I haven't got much else to report. Happy Tuesday.) :

Look, two of my favorite things together. :p

I'm not posting a photograph - that thing is nasty. If you want to see the original one and a brand new one that came out today-ish - go to Cryptomundo.

I'm not saying the Montauk Monster is one - it may be just a really gross, bloated raccoon/dog/cat/badger with it's nose half gone. I know pleasant Friday image.

Anyways, Venom Energy drink is now offering a lifetime supply of the energy drink to someone who catches one of the monsters alive.

Dedicated to enabling the most thrill-seeking conquests known to man or beast, Venom energy drink is offering free product for life and a corporate monster-hunting sponsorship to the first person badass enough to capture a live Montauk Monster. Was it a de-shelled turtle? A chupacabra? A manticore? No one knows for sure, and the mystery of the grotesque sea-beast that washed ashore yesterday morning in Montauk, N.Y. remains a mystery. While vacationing Hamptonites recoiled with fright and the Internet exploded with speculation, the team behind Venom mobilized for action, realizing that this was the chance for true adventure that its thrill-seeking customers have been waiting for.

As a consultant to this quest, Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum and Cryptomundo blogger (http://cryptomundo.com) said, "I would advise Montauk Monster hunters to use great caution getting close to this cryptid, and to wear thick gloves."

Apparently Fernando Rizo of the PR firm behind the promotion is a Cryptomundo fan and reader. Kinda cool. I wonder what they'll do if the thing turns out to be a real animal and not a half-mutant-type thing.

Cryptomundo: Bounty for Montauk Monster
Reuters

Photo of the Day: On the way to the post office...(SX-70 Sonar Autofocus) shot by rodeo


I have a new favorite site: Polanoid. It's dedicated to all things Polaroid. I love Polaroids.

From their website:

We are building the biggest Polaroid-picture-collection of the planet to celebrate the magic of instant photography. So please seach your archives and attics and reactivate your Instant Cameras. This is the slamming comeback of Instant Photo Fun.

It's shaping up to be a busy one here this week. Which is great. I still have 6 VERY productive zucchini plants. Last night it was grilled zucchini (YUM!™) and more chocolate zucchini muffins - these were the best batch yet. Tonight, it's stuffed zucchini and fried zucchini.

Unfortunately for us, the birds get the tomatoes before we do. I've decided it's the fat cardinal. He takes my tomatoes AND wakes me up at 5:00am.

I also found another video by the same group/guy that did the wall animation. They've got several on Vimeo if you want to check them out.


Letter A from blu on Vimeo.


BluBlue.org. Also, their blog shows stills of how they do it.

Also, Joker has a series of great haikus - some of which make liquids go up my nose. :)

It's made from one sheet of metal and folded like actual origami. Company is ORIGAMI BIJOU (careful, that website resizes your browser window huge - which is VERY annoying).

Via Design You Trust.

Yep. Stepbrothers has a promotion. And again The JOE sent me one (because as he says "you love this stuff"). You too can have these guys fighting over who's your best friend. I honestly thought that he was sending it to me because my twin sister and I sometimes have that kind of fight.

Unfortunately, the video he sent me expired... and I answered the phone, so I don't have the message recorded like last time. But I'm getting ready to send it to my sister - so there may be some audio yet. ;)

Check out a cool post at the Color + Design Blog on what the web looks like to people with color blindness.

There's even a website that lets you see what websites look like to different varieties (??) of color blindness.

Yes. You read that right.


A farmer in Norfolk (England, I presume) found out his old, traditional scarecrow wasn't scary enough to keep the birds out of his crops. So he made one to look like Amy Winehouse. And it's working.

Hopefully, his field isn't next to a road, because I'd think you'd now have a problem with people in your sugar beets.

Full article here.

marriedtothesea.com

Via Thought Gadgets.

So bear with me or give me your opinion. :D

Fricking AWESOME movie. I'm going to go see it again. Maybe tonight.

Interestingly enough, I was almost attacked by bats on Friday night.

Via iSkew.

Yes, this is gorgeous packaging.

But is my heritage shining through when I think that I'd feel very redneck drinking wine out of a can?

Just me? And well, it reminds me of this.

It starts about the 3:50 mark and it's just audio, but the whole thing is funny...

Um, how does Facebook know that they should be selling Ouija Boards to me? Am I part of a Ouija Board demographic and I not know it?

Is there a large market for hand-crafted Ouija Boards?

Tears area welling up in my eyes as I try not to laugh...



more graph humor and song chart memes

My ModaDiMagno necklace is super awesome! Talk about the perfect way to cheer me up from a so-so day. It's like an old typewriter key... and there's a "quote" charm on it too!

Go buy stuff...

And yes, I'm a bit sunburned...

How To Avoid Trapped Arm Whilst Cuddling In Bed

I was a little skeptical when I saw the Discovery Channel update on Facebook about users re-creating their "Boom De Ya Da" commercial. I haven't looked through all of them, but you gotta admit this one's funny...




Although some, are just unfortunate:

OK, no I don't have a mockingbird that can mimic ambulance sirens - but I do have a loud, fat cardinal that wakes me up at 4:45am.

Alison Talbot, a sales assistant, says she has been woken up at 5am every day by the bird since it arrived in April.

She said: 'It's only a tiny bird but the sound is so incredibly loud, there is no drowning it out.

Full article.

Apologies for the lack of usual meaningless posts. I'm trying to be productive. :)

more graph humor and song chart memes


more graph humor and song chart memes

This may be old, but it's new to me: GraphJam.

Whole bunch of more images here. Image links to original artist's deviant art site.

Well, I wish I had my cat. He's been gone 2 years (we had to give him up when we moved). He was awesome. He would've been more awesome if he'd clicked.





Found via Jezebel, originally posted here.

So I bought this at Moda Di Magno's Etsy shop this morning. I'm excited because I've always wanted one of Moda's gorgeous pieces and I decided to just go ahead and do it.

Isn't it pretty? OK.

If you have girlfriends / wives / friends I suggest getting some of her jewelry for them. I think my sister would love the Partial Fare necklace. And I'm going through my list of people who have birthdays coming up.

I stayed up too late last night. Baking took A LOT longer than I thought. And that second largest zucchini, made 3 batches of zucchini bread. I ran out of time (and sugar) before I ran out of zucchini. Looks like I'll be making more tonight.

I had one of my zucchini muffins this morning for breakfast, it was delicious. I also made chocolate zucchini bread, which according to the crumbs I tasted is fantastic.

I'm also going to try my hand at some zucchini & spinach soup. And maybe some zucchini fritters. And I've got to pick more tonight. Perhaps 5 zucchini plants was too much to plant this year.

Also, there was a copperhead in the middle of the street. DOWNTOWN. The car in front of me ran over him, but just barely though and "he" kinda flew up in the air and some gook came out of him. Then I watched him in my side view mirror as I sat at the red light. Needless to say, I was a little freaked out walking the several blocks from my parking lot to my building.

This story isn't helping! It's giving me the willies here at my desk.

A teenager spoke of her shock today after finding a bat curled up in the bra she had been wearing for five hours.

Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, initially thought it was her mobile phone causing movement in her clothing.

But when she investigated, she found the stowaway creature, hidden in the padding pocket of her 34FF black bra.

Article via blather.net.

I kinda forgot to check the zucchini this week. Therefore, I have one over 2 feet long. Oops.

I love the summer Olympics. I'll be doing nothing now that NBC is showing the qualifying rounds.

And I just seriously cried at this commercial. These are my new favorite set of commercials, because I'm sappy and I love this stuff.

That redesign I was telling you about? Swear it's coming this weekend. Of course, many of you probably read this through an RSS reader, so it doesn't matter - but I'm still going to do it.

Via FFFFound >> Flickr. Yeah, that shirt irritates me too.

Via Frostfirezoo.com

Why do twin/twin-like people have to be so freaky? We're not scary.

I'm warning you now, if you've got a weak stomach, don't watch this. I watched it before I realized what was happening. Just.... OH MY GOD.




Via Hecklerspray.

This is apparently the most complex crop circle in Britain.

I'm not an aficionado on crop circles but do they even appear anywhere else but the UK? So isn't this the most complex crop circle period?

Best for me not to ponder such issues I think...

Article here.

Those aren't flowers and feathers manipulated in photoshop and illustrator, it's an x-ray.

So cool.

X-Ray Photography as Art: Hidden Faces of The Inner Space

Via Geekologie

Via ohnotheydidnt, via BWE.

Look a great image that is NOT porn.

Via WeHeartIt.

Dear WeHeartIt,

I never wanted to see Amputee porn*. Now I can't continue to make that life choice.


-Me


*I'm not trying to be discrimanitory towards amputees especially since it's not just the amputee porn, but that was especially shocking on my work monitor. The regular porn is getting old too. Don't you people have better things to do in the middle of the night than heart still shots of porn? And yes, I realize that I can mark things unsafe, but weird people mark things like this unsafe and then I don't see cool images.

Baby pandas, baby polar bears and kittens... that's what we like here.

Via FFFFound.

Via FFFFound.

Yeah, my last post made no sense. I dunno. I think my brain is over this week already.

Anyways - Fred, time to get out the tinfoil hat. ;) Cracked.com has the 5 Creepiest Advertising Techniques of the (Near) Future.

Personally, I like grilled cheese sandwiches, with pepper jack. We have a restauraunt around here that specialized in all manner of grilled cheese sandwiches - and sadly, I haven't gone yet. I may need to remedy that this weekend.

Anyways - scientists have partnered with a cheese company to create the Cheddarometer so that you can find your perfect cheese sandwich. However, grilling doesn't enter the equation. And I have no idea about the cheeses they're listing. Pity.

I need cheese slices 4.71mm thick though...

Tell me you don't love Tracy Morgan's face at the end of this. Makes me laugh.

The song is in my head. And Bear Grylls is in the Scottish Highlands and distracting me from working.

I have been overwhelmed with work. Then a company debited my bank account a week early and both the bank and the company are just like sorry.

Now I have a flat tire.

Go look at how this image was actually made. Would you believe I know how to do that... I just lost the patience... and the dark room.

Via My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog.

ETA: Which I just discovered I originally found from Brankflakes For Breakfast. That's what happens when you see something in your RSS reader and just keep the linked item up. Oops.

I'd like to be right... there.

Via FFFFound.

Cinders (the pig) is afraid of mud. So he wears boots.

All together: AW!

Found via Jezebel. Original article on the BBC (there's video).

Kinda.

This undated photo provided by the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, Italy, Wednesday, June 11, 2008, shows a deer with a single horn in the center of its head. The one-year-old Roe Deer - nicknamed “Unicorn'’ - was born in captivity in the research center’s park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences, said. He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns. (AP Photo/Center of Natural Sciences)

Via Cryptomundo.

My (identical twin) sister and I don't really dress alike. We never buy the same shirts in the same color. It keeps us from looking like identical twin freaks.

But a week ago I liked a shirt she bought so much that I bought it too... in the same color.

And it bit my ass today.

In my defense, she left this morning before I saw her. This is not allowed because when we don't check we will unconsciously pick out the same color combinations. But before, at least they weren't the same clothes.

Not today, I see her come walking up the street to meet me for lunch and we both stopped in disbelief. Thank G-d I can wear jeans to work so we weren't in the same damn pants too.

Of course, it's not some neutral color. It's bright magenta. It calls attention to the wearer with out needing duplication.

And really, do people NOT think that we can see them staring? One girl had the nerve to actually ask us if it was on purpose and then shouted "really?!" when we told her it wasn't. And then my sister's tries to explain that we're twins and it should be OK.

We totally walked two feet apart back to our respective offices.

It's ma blog as a graph. And it's pretty. :p


Found via Make The Logo Bigger.

I actually dreamed about working in Photoshop last night. Among other weird things but the only thing I can remember is trying to make buttons for this website and I kept messing up.

It already feels like Friday...

This was one of those images that you come upon when you're sitting quietly in your office and it causes you to let out one of those little "HA" before you even realize it.

I hope it makes you laugh out loud in your office by yourself too.

Via FFFFound.

Via We Heart It, which got it from FFFFound, who snatched it from Digg.

I hate that question. And it's going to be about 100˚ today. So, yes. Yes, it is hot enough for me. Too hot.

I want to be here:Via We Heart It. Originally here, there some more cool images there...

Today is going to be a good day.

As I was sleeping peacefully this morning at 6:40 - my phone went off. It was the senior AD. I didn't want to answer. Calls at almost quarter till 7 can't be good calls. She left a message. Then she called again.

I guess it's important. So this time I answer.

Not bad news AT ALL. Turns out they are giving away gas cards on the radio on Friday and they called my name and I had 9 minutes to call back and claim the card.

So I totally won free gas this morning. I think I'll use it on a trip to the beach. I'm going to take the stance that today will only keep getting better. :D

The man who designed the Pringles potato chip packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been buried in one of the iconic cans.

Yes. This a wonderful invention. But as I sit here eating way too many Barbecue flavored Pringles I realize that this wonderful invention is too small in diameter. I can not effeciently remove the Pringles from their packaging... of course maybe that's the point. You HAVE to pour them out and eat all of them.

Pringles guy is buried in can.

Ha ha. I'm slightly guilty of this - but I will not tell you why! :p

The word: “Nerdgassing”

Definition: The venting nerds emit when some (often minor) detail of a book/movie/TV show/comic book/etc either conflicts with canon and/or handwaves through some some suspect science.

Example One: “In the third show of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data clearly says that the Glorithian flagship was constructed in orbit around that planet Norgar, but then in the fifteenth show of the sixth season, it’s said it was constructed in the Buterian space docks! How do you explain that, hmmm?”*

Found via Whatever

That doesn't even look real... Sub-Studio Design Blog

Between this post about Double Chocolate Cookies and this story about why we eat them... I just want some cookies.

It's Friday. I can have cookies for lunch. That's totally fine.

I bet that'll make the afternoon go by great. Ha.



(Image found on the delicious site The Kitchen Sink. Not only good recipes but she takes awesome photos of what she cooks.)

I think I could stare at this photo ALL DAY. Makes me want a thunderstorm.

Found originally via We Heart It, but the original site with more is here.

I am looking for the new Scare Tactics commercials that are running on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Tracy Morgan is the new host and they are hysterical. If only for the Most Awesome™ look that Tracy Morgan makes at the end of the spot.

Will post when I find.

I am *ALMOST* finished editing photographs.

When I'm done they'll all be up on MySpace and Facebook. So if you're not my friend, what is wrong with you? ;) Come find me. :D

And I'll write everything up after that.

For the record. I smiled at the son-of-a-bitch before I could help myself. (Name the movie.) Really. We were walking down the street from the subway to the conference center Tuesday morning. The shoe-shine guy was sitting there (like he was the other mornings) and he was staring at me. So I looked at him and smiled. He then growled at me. This caught me and the co-worker I went with off-guard, she looked back and he then growled at her.

At lunch we passed him again as he walking down the street. He then started muttering at us that we were "chump broads." And walked off.

He was not a nice man.

Back to editing and watching The Andromeda Strain...

I am very, very, very tired.

And there is a lot of work piled up on my desk.

I am very sore. We stood and walked and carried a lot of paper samples.

But I had a wonderful time. I really didn't want to leave Boston.

I even got yelled at by a man that shined shoes.

And I have a battle-scar from a fight with one of those subway gate things.

More later. I promise.

I feel like this post should contain some sort of starburst, large type and lots of exclamations points. ;)

I think I'm over this look. I promise something new shortly. Perhaps today. Perhaps next week after I get back and catch up on my sleep.

Awwww, I just want to hug him! It's so sad.



Via AdRants

This so made me smile. :)

Via FFFFound, but it's by Christopher David Ryan, I just bought some of his prints and I love them!

How fantastically fun. There are more here. Originally found via We Heart It.

So for those that don't know – which is all of you – I'm flying to Boston Saturday for the HOW Design Conference. I'm hoping I can leave early Friday and go ahead and drive the 3 hours to the airport.

So I need places to go in my spare time. :)

It also means posting may be sporadic until I get up there (because I'm busy) and maybe while I'm up there as the laptop I own is like from 1999.


Update: Oh, I do need glasses. I get to pick them up on Wednesday or Thursday - they're only kind square. And I got a prescription for migraine medicine... :D

LONGVIEW (Wash.), April 10.—(INS)—Reports of three motorized birdmen soaring over Longview had the lower Columbia River area agog today.

Two laundry employes said they saw the human airplanes or animated comic strip characters fly over the city without the help of parachutes. In January a similar birdman, singular then, had been reported at Chehalis, Wash.

I was hoping it was a jetpack. ;) It wasn't....

Via Cryptomundo.

Via FFFFound.

to go with my glasses. ;) Click pic for site.

Via Jezebel.

We're having a thunderstorm, which I love... and a tornado watch. So in honor of that:

—Photograph by Carlos Gutierrez/UPI/Landov


Via OhGizmo and National Geographic.

But I have to show you this.



Is that not the most RIDICULOUS thing you've ever seen? The caption won't even tell you what museum - I'm guessing because they are embarrassed that they have this on display.

You can read the article I saw it with, but it's about Neanderthals being in a completely different species... once again I feel I already knew this, so I don't know why it's news.

You know what's awesome to hear? "We really can't make a bad decision."

YAY!

Another logo meeting at 1 about revisions to previous logos. And this time, I mainly on my own.

Here, laugh - well, I did: Gay Bigfoot & the 7 Weirdest Mythical Creatures in the World

I have so much to tell you and no time! Later. I promise. I thought I better write something before jetpacks removes me from his blogroll. ;)

But as of now, I'm trying to figure out all these logos - but I did plant a garden. And the meeting on Friday went well.

Also, per an IM conversation with Fred - I have tired, trashy eyes. Hopefully I will get them fixed on Friday. And if I need glasses, I think I'm required to get rectangular ones... but it's only because they'll fit my face shape the best. ;)

Oh, and so I'm not leaving people out - I gotta go take a quiz. :p


(See, I'm still reading, I'm just not posting!)

On my way to NOVA this morning for a client meeting. Hopefully the drive will clear my head.

Wish me luck!! :)

Via I Watch Stuff