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November 30, 2004
More mushrooms!
My neighbor asked me to mow around them in case they were edible. He'd given some to his neighbor, a supposed mushroom expert, but he wanted to see if she was still healthy before harvesting more. He hasn't been back.
Posted by mary at 02:25 PM | Comments (2)
Crazy lawn mushrooms!
I want a lawn entirely of mushrooms! one patch is not enough! It's been an amazingly mushroomy year. Everyone's lawn looks like this in Portland. Well, almost.
Posted by mary at 02:24 PM
November 22, 2004
Construction Counselor
My friend Dave is a smart, sensitive, charismatic guy who works as project manager for a construction company (maybe Melissa can chime in with his exact title). He was a carpenter before this, so he’s seen first hand the stress that remodeling projects put on relationships. I think he should get his MSW and become an official construction counselor. He’s got some competition with other people handing out free advice to couples going through remodeling, but I think that between workshops offered to contractors, consultations and services offered to select remodeling families, and maybe a book or two, he could do pretty well for himself.
Posted by mary at 09:11 AM | Comments (1)
November 18, 2004
Improved Vanity Googling for Academics!
My more published friends might enjoy google's new search engine, Google Scholar. Sadly (or maybe fortunately?) it doesn't include image searching as an option, but it's beta so maybe it will eventually ...
Posted by mary at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
Melissa's Ideas: U-Turn Signal and Inside/Outside Umbrella
Melissa submits these ideas, which she calls "semi-OK" but I think are just fine, although the flexible umbrella idea might take some engineering:
a u-turn signal. so for those of us whose cars aren't so tiny that we
can just whip around in the middle of the block, there's a signal to
show people behind us what's going on, instead of the usual problem of
putting on the left-turn signal and then pulling way over to the right.
an umbrella that you could open inside your car, and then it would just
bend when you got out, so you wouldn't have to stand there getting wet
while you opened your umbrella.
Posted by mary at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2004
New Category: Be Your Own Geek (CDs)
I just realized how to add categories again in movable type (it had something to do with allowing pop-ups), which is appropriate given the category I wanted to add, which is: "Be Your Own Geek." This is my idea for a self-help book for (not to be sexist or to diss my she-geek friends) ladies breaking up with their geeky boyfriends/husbands and wondering what to do with all the equipment and cords that are left behind. It would be like those guides for women to work on cars or fix their leaky faucets or whatever that I assume were put out in the 1970s.
"Be Your Own Geek" probably exists, but I couldn't find it in about 2 seconds of web/Amazon searching, so for my purposes it doesn't exists. Chris has agreed to collaborate with me on this if I share the profits and we're off to a great start! I think if we wrote a cute forward and got some cute cartoon illustrations it could definitely sell. As far as I can tell, the divorce market is under-exploited, although I'll bet I'm missing something there. I DO think we need more divorce/breakup showers and parties and stuff.
This book would be an extremely general guide to things that geek boyfriends/husbands generally take care of, like hooking up stereo cables, buying technological supplies (like CDs), doing software updates, knowing what cool gadgets to talk about at parties, etc. I agree that incredibly general guides are often pretty useless, but keep in mind that as usual I'm more arguing for the market than the utility.
My actual implementation of this idea, to the extent that I implement it, is to create a new blog category, "Be Your Own Geek" and as I encounter problems that I need Chris's help solving, I'll blog about them under this category. That's the plan, and I'm sticking to it!!!
So here it is, without further ado, entry #1 in "Be Your Own Geek":
What Kind of Blank CDs Should I Buy Since You Took Them All When You Moved Out and Now I Need to Make CDs for My Sister?
[It should be noted that Chris gave me a bunch of blank ones as soon as I posed this question, but then he also answered the question in detail.]
Answer: I want CD-Rs. I don't need the kind that say they are for music, even if I'm recording music, because data and music CDs are identical, but the ones that say for music cost a little more because the record companies managed to impose some sur-charge on blank CDs. I probably won't ever take the time to re-write the CDs that are re-writable, particularly since they are cheap. The ones that we use are very cute because they have a good dye layer on them and no logos. I can get them at the audio store in NW. Dye layer matters in part because the CDs that you record are vulnerable to scratches that matter on the top rather than the bottom because of the way they are recorded.
I want to buy them in a spindle or cake packaging because it's cheaper, and I can buy the cases separately. I should make sure there is no lint on my CDs before I put them in.
I can check dealmac for deals on CDs.
I don't care about speed rating because the fastest my laptop can record is 16x (16 times real time) and all CDs are now faster than my laptop.
I should not be fooled by older audiophiles and debates which will tell me to record at slower speeds, because the faster speed is what my thing is designed to work at and slower speeds will make it fuck up.
I might want to get Toast sometime if I don't already have it, and what do you know, I do.
CDs degrade over time, especially if they are not in cases or if they are of poor quality.
OK! That's everything I learned about CDs! Look for more exciting installments in this category!! You can be YOUR own geek and figure out how to find entries by category!
Posted by mary at 08:33 PM | Comments (5)
November 10, 2004
My Christmas Wish List
This is my christmas wish list:
Wool socks
A sewing basket
Settlers of Catan
A lounge line for Pica
Slippers
Posted by mary at 04:37 PM | Comments (6)
November 09, 2004
Bra Pockets
I need a word or phrase for something I think of as a great idea, but am pretty sure already exists, but I haven't actually seen it. Maybe all I really mean is a meme. Anyway, the example I have for today is bra pockets. What I personally would like is a little pocket in my bra so I could tuck some cash, ID, or car keys in there without having to worry about it getting sweaty or poking me or falling out when I disrobe. I tend to keep a lot of stuff in my bra since I usually don't have regular pockets because I wear skirts almost exclusively, and which isn't hard since I have so much bra in the first place (see Oct. 28th, 2004 entry). So I was pretty sure that bra pockets exist, and they do, but not in the way I thought. Instead of putting spare change in them, these ladies are putting boobs in them.
Now, there's nothing funny about breast cancer, but there is something about fake nipples -- not something funny necessarily, just something. Prosthetics in general can be funny.
But are more often just creepy.
Chris told me he had a very real terror of loosing a limb, and I remember Ian telling me the story of how he fainted in health class once when he had to feel a fake cancerous scrotum in health class once.
So prosthetics aren't funny. But bra pockets for those with both boobs and more are needed.
Posted by mary at 11:37 AM | Comments (5)
November 04, 2004
One Good Reason to Get Divorced
Maybe Chris and I can both marry a Canadian and move north (not the same Canadian). I'm just cribbing from memepool, but I am also very excited about the idea of being annexed by Canada. Please! Annex me, baby!!
Posted by mary at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)
Election
I don't have any great ideas to counteract the shock, disappointment and sadness that we're all feeling right now. I just can't believe it.
Posted by mary at 11:42 AM | Comments (0)