Sunday, June 03, 2007

Here's a photo of me and Carina that Gavin took last week when we went to visit her. She is moving out of the NICU (appears to have been a big false alarm) and might go home with Gavin and Jen tomorrow! Hooray!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Two questions for the masses:

First, I need an effective and simple and easy piece of software that will automate the process of backing up my hard drive onto an external drive. I've been doing it manually for more than a year, and I'm tired of it. I know there are a zillion different backup software packages, so I'm hoping someone can recommend a good, basic one.

Second, the pair of earrings that Jose gave me for Christmas broke. As in, the wire (10k white gold) that formed half of the clasp broke in half. I can't wear the earrings anymore, which sucks. Now, they weren't super expensive, but I also know that he spent enough money that they shouldn't break within two months. What do I do?

Thursday, February 01, 2007

I didn't like having to manually moderate all comments, so I've installed a new little plugin that should fix it for me. Below the comment text box, but above the 'post' button, you should all now see a text box. Above it, it says to enter the word 'hello' in the box below.

Voila -- all you have to do is type hello and your comment will go through and be published immediately.

Let me know if you have any issues...

Monday, January 22, 2007

I just enabled authentication for comments on this blog. Hopefully this means I'll be able to avoid most comment spam (the spammers seem to be re-finding this blog after a brief respite when I upgraded my installation). What this means as far as I can tell is that if you register (see link in the comments section), your comment will be published immediately. Otherwise, it'll be held until I approve it and/or put you on my list of trusted commenters.

If you have any difficulties commenting, let me know.

Friday, December 29, 2006

I finally did a long-overdue update to the latest version of Movable Type, so some things may appear funny on the ol' blog. Most notably, it has somehow entered the first few words of each entry as the title. Odd. Ah well, I'll fix it later.

I also finally incorporated all my old Diaryland entries from 2001-2003 (covering my final co-op tour in Houston, my M.S. grad school experience at Stanford, and my first year of working full-time in Houston). They're available under the monthly archives headings, though the entries do come with a warning: read them at your own risk. Let's just say I was much more angst-ridden as a grad student!! :)

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

If anyone out there is

If anyone out there is looking for a used sailboat, let me know. Becca and I have a 2-4 person sailboat that we're trying to sell. It's very used, but also very cheap. $500 or best offer for the boat and trailer.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Here it is: the magic

Here it is: the magic glow skull! Since obtaining it, the Astros are 3-0, and the Cardinals are 0-3.

Dang it Barbara, why doesn't my blog like you??

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

I need help from you

I need help from you computer people out there. The problem? Wireless internet.

I go home in the evening, turn on my laptop, it picks up my wireless signal and all is well. I start to putter around on the computer, eat dinner, watch TV, whatever. After a couple hours, BAM, my laptop loses the wireless signal! And nothing I do brings it back -- not clicking "repair connection", not restarting the computer, not deactivating the wireless card and then reactivating it.

My desktop is still connected, so it's not the internet connection itself. It's got to be either the router, or my laptop. Making matters more confusing is the fact that after dropping the connection, my laptop continues to see my network, even displaying it in the "available wireless networks" window. But when I click connect and put in the key, it thinks for a while and then just cuts off again. It never reconnects.

What do I do? This happens regularly, on an almost nightly basis.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Here I am sitting at

Here I am sitting at home totally minding my own business and waiting for my sweet potatoes to finish cooking so I can go to Becca's. I casually glance out the window, and then do a double take, and then gasp out loud and run for my camera, because:

OH MY GOD THERE IS TOTALLY A 10-FOOT ALLIGATOR SITTING ON THE EDGE OF THE BAYOU ACROSS FROM MY APARTMENT!!

I went out to take a picture and one of my neighbors was out on his balcony inspecting it through binoculars. I've lived along this bayou for three and a half years and never seen one. I suppose I knew they were there, but I think I liked it better when I hadn't seen one. There is an alligator that lives near me. That is slightly unsettling.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Randomly, the Chronicle had a

Randomly, the Chronicle had a story today about bats living under a bridge here in town, just after I presented my 4th project in graphic design class last night -- two pages of a children's book I made up about Bernard the Bat! Here are my two pages:

I'm not entirely satisfied with them -- just feel like something is missing -- but I guess they are decent.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

If all goes as planned,

If all goes as planned, I will be one of the fans participating in the Chronicle's FanBlog over the next 3 nights, so check it out. :)

Monday, October 24, 2005

Aha. Anyone who does not

Aha. Anyone who does not know what owl cookie dough is, see this blog entry from last year. They are peanut butter cookies shaped like owls in honor of Halloween. Yesterday I made the dough, which has to chill to harden up; now I have to cook them. In all my 27 years, I can't remember a Halloween without them. My mom made them for ages, but for the past few years I've done them on my own. They're tradition!

Sunday, September 25, 2005

the more things change / the more things stay the same

One of the things I threw into a giant tupperware and took with me to Conroe during the evacuation-that-was: my yearbook from my final year in high school. 1996. I hadn't glanced at it in years, but some of what's written in the back is cracking me up. Indulge me; here are some excerpts...

Becky: "I want to know when you design your first space shuttle."

Andrew: "It's been neat, it's been fun -- don't worry, plenty of people from IB have graduated and still done good things!"

Patrick: "I'm glad we're leaving old MP because I think too much change is taking place."

Darrell: "BTW -- it's usually better if you don't cut any tethers to your space shuttle, so be careful. If nothing else, audition for Voyager, your voice isn't as annoying."

Whit: "Sing 'Tunisia' every once in a while to keep my memory alive."

Laura M: "It is both a joy and a deep sadness to be here writing to you. I remember Annie dresses and playing with Barbie -- you're probably part of what made my childhood so bizarre!!!"

Leigh: "I'm so excited that I know you because when you become the first person to go to Neptune or Pluto or wherever, I can say that I knew you."

Jes: "Remember singing entire musicals on the bus during marching band season? And hysterical laughter."

Leslie: "I wish that I could capture your laugh in a box and carry it with me to Indiana next year. Your laugh is so special to me because it just sounds like the exemplary laugh which eminates happiness. (That doesn't sound right but I hope you know what I mean.) I hope that you always find both time and reason to laugh so that others will hear you too."

Amanda: "You are a Braves lovin', moon hugger, Javy freak, website creatin' person. Too bad you are leavin' the state. (Traitor.) Anyways, you just want to go to GT for the education, right? (Sure, I know you have other reasons that come from Puerto Rico.) ... We can get together and let our rich husbands speak Spanish to each other."

Karin: "You are the woman of space. Don't forget...I forgot. I am finishing this note 24 hours later and I didn't finish my sentence. Oh well, 'Asi es la vida!'"

Laura R: "I can't believe that we finally made it through the torture of public schooling. ... Thanks for doing all those double-dog dares in band."

Nancy: "I'll never forget all of the good times we had on the front row of band. You and I both know that Laura is the madness behind it all. She put you up to everything."

Josh: "After all, it was cool. College will be cooler."

Amanda: "And then -- SPEEDOS! The crowning moment of French was when the entire room was covered in hunky Speedo guys. Wow. I'm so impressed."

Kelly: "What ever will I do without being able to see Oscar on papers and work with you to destroy chemistry labs and create products about odd drinks in PHI? Hey do you think we should pursue some random acts of violence toward Dr. Weinbrect's car and room? I say this only because acts of violence against actual people are against my innocent/sweet nature."

Laina: "Life is a bowl full of chocolate milk, isn't it? I don't know what I'm saying."

Cayce: "The super Saturdays have been scarce this year but they live on in our minds (and on the odometer of my car). p.s. Tell the aliens on Mars Cayce sent ya."

My favorite, however, in all seriousness, is the one that I've never forgotten, despite going years between reading it. Funny that a yearbook sentence stuck in my mind so well.

"I have definitely been in more classes with you than any other person here at Myers Park... Despite it seems like it wasn't until this year that I really got to know you better... I feel like some sort of grandparent when I say how everyone is proud of what you've accomplished... I wanted to give you an ear full for all the times I've heard you whine but I wanted to remain civil this one last time. Good luck in your quest towards the final frontier and don't forget any of us IB dorks on the way. Sincerely (for once), Brian."

I wonder what Brian is doing now.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

I think I may have

I think I may have gotten rid of the popup that was plaguing my site last week. I haven't seen it in the past few days. If you are still getting it, leave a comment.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

I've taken out a couple

I've taken out a couple things on the sidebar, hopefully temporarily, as I try to track down the source of the popups. Let me know if you are still seeing it.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

I finally got around to

I finally got around to posting my photos from the Ballunar Festival, if you're interested.

Saturday, September 17, 2005

No luck on getting rid

No luck on getting rid of the popup yet. I have no clue why it's happening, and since most people's popup blocker seems to be catching it, I'm not ready to take the one step that I'm guessing would get rid of it -- wiping all content, reinstalling Movable Type, and re-importing all the data.

Sigh.

I have to say, though, that I'm very amused that the previous entry has garnered by far the most comments of any entry ever on my blog. Obviously people have strong feelings about popups!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Apologies to anyone who couldn't

Apologies to anyone who couldn't view my site yesterday afternoon and evening. My hosting company was hit by the power outages in Los Angeles; I wonder how long it took for that poor worker to get canned. Anyway, my host has a few UPSs and generators in their building (which is a data center for lots of things), but when the power went out, it turns out that the generators were overloaded by all the stuff in the building (belonging to my company and other companies) and so the generators went into safe mode and shut down. Thus, no website. It finally came back up for good around midnight last night.

While reading the status page and blog for my hosting company to figure out what was going on, I saw a lot of bitching and moaning from other people who host their sites with Dreamhost. A lot of complaints about lack of email, a lot of whining about why there was no backup power supply to the power supply, and even more complaints about the lack of status updates (which I totally forgive because, you know, if they're writing status updates that means they're not working on the problem). I have to say, I thought it was a lot of complaining about nothing. Sure, it was inconvenient to have everything go down, but good lord people -- Dreamhost gives us great hosting packages and great service for an even greater price. I've been with them for 2 years and this is the first time I've ever had extended downtime; my old company was down at least once a week. You get what you pay for, and with Dreamhost, you get far more than what you pay for.

I still love you, Dreamhost!

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

I'm catching up on blogs

I'm catching up on blogs and noticed Cassie tagged me with this one:

1) How many songs are on your iPod?
2200

2) What's your most played song?
Jimmy Eat World, "The World You Love." That's not what I would have guessed. Good song though.

3) List Your Three Favorite iPod songs:
Currently, "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)" by Bowling for Soup, "Wordplay" by Jason Mraz, and "Caught Up" by Usher. Must stress that that's just currently. :)

4) What's your least favorite song?
Something from a musical. I have a bunch of musicals on there but don't like to listen to them at work, which is where I usually listen to my iPod.

5) Tag three people:
I dunno. Becca has an iPod, I'll tag her. I don't know who else.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Ok. I am obviously too

Ok. I am obviously too stupid for networking.

I've got things halfway set up. My desktop and laptop can both connect to the internet, and my laptop can access my desktop. Not through the "standard" method of using the network places panel or anything, but manually: if I click Run -> \\xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (the x's being the IP address of my desktop on the local network), I can get to the desktop.

So. If I have to get it working in only one direction, laptop to desktop is preferred, so at least I'm on the right track. But I'd really like to get it working in the opposite direction as well.

Anybody out there have ideas as to what setting I might have wrong?

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Almost a month ago, I

Almost a month ago, I ordered a camera lens from Dell. They sell third-party merchandise sometimes, and had a pretty good deal going on this particular lens that saved me $100 over what I'd have to spend elsewhere, so I took advantage and ordered. Well, I guess Dell is not always so good with third party stuff, and about a week after I ordered it, I got an email saying it was backordered.

I figured I'd just wait. There was no rush, I didn't need the lens immediately, so I figured I'd just be patient. It was originally supposed to ship at the end of July, but had been pushed back to August 22.

In the meantime, I read on the photo forum I frequently visit about a guy who took advantage of the same offer, was backordered, then shipped the wrong lens, then told that since the one he wanted was out of stock they couldn't guarantee it, and so he had to send back the wrong lens and couldn't get the new one and wound up extremely unsatisfied with a $50 Dell credit to show for the ordeal.

After that, I reconsidered, and today on a whim I checked the order status of my lens, thinking that I might just cancel the order entirely.

Lo and behold, the order shipped yesterday, and had already been delivered today! Wow! So I expected to find the lens waiting for me when I got home tonight.

Just now, a guy walked into my office with my lens! It got delivered to me at work. The address on the package says:

[Address of my Apartment Complex]
NASA Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX 77058

My home and work zip codes are the same. Still, I find it bizarre that the package made its way to my office instead of my apartment!

Now, best I can figure is that when I ordered a desktop computer more than a year ago, I ordered through the government employee purchase program that Dell has, because at the time it must have been cheaper though that than simply through Dell Home. So they have associated my Dell account with JSC. Thus the package, despite listing the street address of my apartment, came to what was listed underneath it: Johnson Space Center.

Bizarre.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

I am surfing the web

I am surfing the web from the comfort of my couch, shamelessly using somebody else's wireless connection because my own isn't working. Guess I'll have to figure that out...

On Sunday I picked up a wireless router and managed to get it set up through my desktop, you know, in preparation for my new laptop, dum dum dummmmm. :) I'm almost amazed I managed to get it set up at all after the experience I had in the store.

For the first time I can remember, I felt completely baffled by technology. I stood in the aisle staring at row after row of wireless routers, without any true idea of what I needed. "Wireless!" "Wireless with SpeedBooster!" "Wireless with SRX!" Linksys. Netgear. A bunch of other brands.

So: what to get? I'm a fairly computer saavy person, I should know this, right?

I looked around for a 13-year-old. Someone who would understand all the wireless mumbo-jumbo. Instead, all I found the sales guy, who tried to sell me the most expensive router of the section I was perusing. Sigh.

I settled on the middle ground and left feeling like technology has truly started to pass me by. But...but...but...I was the girl who Leila accosted freshman year because I was the first one on the hall that had her email set up!

Wireless. I'm on the internet and there are no wires. Crazy.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

My laptop comes on Tuesday!

My laptop comes on Tuesday! I'm so excited, not to mention impressed with Dell. They totally have the system down -- tell the customer that they'll have to wait 2 weeks before it even ships, but then get it to them early. Give 'em low expectations, then beat them! That always looks better than having to delay. :)

Anyway, I ordered last Tuesday, and it shipped Friday. You can track your order through their website, and I'd been watching all week as it went through pre-production, kitting, building, and then remained stuck in testing for a day. George has been tracking with me (since he was the one who finally prodded me to click the "buy" button), and when he left work on Friday the website still said it was in testing. But Friday night -- shipping prep! And yesterday morning -- shipped, complete with tracking number! It left Nashville, TN on Friday evening...

What did we do before the Internet? Seriously. What did we do before we could track our orders and our packages? I guess we just waited patiently. Patience is so 1980s.

Update: Oooh! Now the UPS page says delivery is scheduled for Monday, not Tuesday! I ordered a laptop and it will have been built, tested, shipped, and in my hands within a week. Capitalism rocks.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Interesting article about the design

Interesting article about the design of a new Nike/Kobe Bryant ad.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

I had a seriously bad

I had a seriously bad day yesterday at work. Hoping today goes better.

10:39 a.m. update: Unfortunately, not getting any better. End update.

Kent is coming to visit tonight, and I've been so busy and stressed out that I forgot he was coming until yesterday morning. I'm glad he is visiting. I don't get many visitors, so I didn't believe that he was really coming until he actually bought the plane ticket. Anyway, I'm glad he is visiting and hope he isn't too upset that I have to abandon him on Saturday night to do the Urban Adventure Race with Gavin.

Yesterday was a great mail day -- I got two postcards. One from Nick from his trip to Las Vegas last weekend, and one from Daniel who is apparently in Greece! (Who knew?) Ah, Greece. I could go back to Greece.

I always knew that at least one of my many friends from my co-op days would go into space. If you'd told me someone would go with one of the space start-ups, I probably could have predicted that it would be Loretta. (Note to Mom: Loretta = girl who gave me the "My First NASA Christmas" ornament.)

From Astronotes:

Virgin Galactic Signs First Honeymoon Trip

At the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) AirVenture gathering being held in Oshkosh, Wisconsin yesterday, Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, announced that George Whitesides, the Executive Director of the National Space Society and his bride-to-be, Loretta Hidalgo, will be the first honeymoon couple to take a trip on the fledgling space tourism company’s sub-orbital craft when the company goes into operation.

Branson brought the couple on stage Tuesday night during an airshow gala event sponsored by Virgin Galactic, there he gave them a bottle of champagne and a pin to signify their future Virgin Galactic space trek.

“Loretta and I have tickets to be the first honeymoon couple on the Virgin Galactic service. It’s not going to happen for a few years, but it’s something we’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Whitesides told SPACE.com in a phone interview.

“We have put money down. We think the Virgin Galactic team is terrific. There’s a bunch of great groups out there…and I hope they’ll all succeed,” he added.

While Virgin Galactic suborbital operations are still several years away, Whitesides said he’s looking forward to his honeymoon trip into space.

And will they hold hands on liftoff? “You bet,” Whitesides said.

Monday, July 25, 2005

I got a new fish!

I got a new fish! Gavin, Becca and I stopped by Petsmart after lunch. There was one cool-looking purple betta, and another strange-looking white betta. I asked Gavin which I should get. "The purple one," he said. "The white one looks freaky."

I got the white one. His name is Voldemort, or the Fish-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Friday, July 22, 2005

My fish died. :(

My fish died. :(

Friday, July 15, 2005

The things I do for

The things I do for my sister... (She threw it right at me.)

Saturday, July 09, 2005

I was just checking the

I was just checking the account settings with the hosting company I use for all my websites, and wow -- I felt compelled to come write a little post to say that Dreamhost is awesome. $8 a month originally got me 1.2 GB of space, which has now grown, at no additional cost, to 4.1 GB. Bandwidth has similarly increased. And best of all, they are extremely reliable and have great customer service.

I guess it sounds like I'm advertising for them, and it's true that if you sign up for hosting with them using me as a reference, I get a kickback towards my own hosting costs.

But I really don't care if you use them or not. I just wanted to say that they're awesome.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Photos from Katie and Joel's

Photos from Katie and Joel's wedding are now online!

I took a lot of them, but the majority are pretty crappy. Chalk it up to dim lighting in the church and reception place, not wanting to use the harsh on-camera flash, and me being, well, slightly distracted by my maid of honor duties! :)

A lot of 'em are on the dark side, but look better after a little post-processing.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Big Brother is watching

My apartment building, via Keyhole, a software tool I'm evaluating for work.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

In the spirit of the

In the spirit of the day, enjoy this little animated gif:

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Hey Mom! Here are the

Hey Mom! Here are the photo galleries: Katie's graduation and Brian's graduation.

Katie (and Joel) and the family post-ceremony at the Georgia Dome:

Brian and the family post-ceremony at the UNC bell tower:

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

So that I don't have

So that I don't have to fret about my dog on this blog today (Leo is fine, I just have a tendency to fret), here are some of the search terms that have brought people to my blog. Thankfully, no one is finding it searching for porn.

• speedo water jog belt sugarland
  Makes sense. I did the Speedo Triathlon in Sugarland last year. But jog belt?
• Müller Market Drayton 10K Road Race
  Enh? I've never heard of this race.
• Quizno's sponge-monkey
  Yes!! The sponge monkeys!! It's a shame those commercials didn't last longer.
• toyota dash lights corolla explanation exclamation point
  Again, what exactly was this person looking for?
• what can you tell me about the organ in morelia
  Hmm. Not much.
• ziptrek can you just watch
  I don't know, but why would you want to?? I mean, why stand around and watch when you can actually ziptrek!!
• Making the Band 3 Laurie obsessing about weight, diet
  I have never watched the show in my life. Who is Laurie? I hope she's not a skinny girl who thinks she's fat.
• mya hee
  myo ho, mya who, mya HA HA!
• brandon backe address
  Heh. I know where he lives; it's a neighborhood in the same suburb as Becca, Jen, Gavin, Cari, et al. But I don't know him, nor have I given in to the temptation to drive by his house and gush on his doorstep for pitching for the home team in the best baseball game I have ever seen.
• find pictures from jen carter payton and eric
  Jen, Carter, Payton and Eric. Who are these people?
• "swollen knuckle" purple
  Probably from when I jammed my poor finger in my one attempt at playing goalie. That was in November. Sometimes it still hurts.
• muzak, cvs
  Did I actually write about CVS's muzak? Someone stop me.
• ryan langerhans catch photo
  I know I wrote about his home run that beat the Astros, but a catch?
• chris lamoreaux
  Someone is looking for you, Chris! :)
• workouts from the 50s
  Wasn't alive then. Maybe you should ask someone who was.
• Windows XP "no hard drive found"
  Now that sounds like a problem.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Every so often I get

Every so often I get a handwritten letter from my grandmother in Pennsylvania, my dad's mom. She lives in a big old house on a dairy farm now run by my two uncles and cousin. Her letters always entertain and amuse me to no end; I think it's because of the way she words things and what she thinks of to write about. She is one cool old lady. Excerpts from the most recent two-pager dated April 13:

"You must have had a wonderful weekend. Your card [postcard that I sent from Seattle] is beautiful. Vicki's [my aunt] brother goes to Seattle from time to time and has brought back lovely pictures. I think Joe [my uncle] was in that area on a farm tour once and he remarked about the rain in that area."

"Of course we have had lots of rain and the weather map looks like Charlotte is getting its share. Week before last we had at least 5" in all, and during the one storm it really poured. My sump pump ran for about 24 hrs. After that it was more just rain - no pouring. The creek was flowing bank high both times but didn't flood our roads. Above us and York County had lots of trouble and Lisa & Frank [my cousin and her husband] drove down to Conowingo so Frank could see the dam. There were 18 gates open and they were getting ready to open more. All that rain above us flooded into the Susquehanna and it rose and rose."

"Are you still working on a Mars project? I try to read all I can find but these papers up here are not the best. I did see the moving of the shuttle to the launching pad. I am watching closely. The overall record on the shuttles is not that bad and I think they will get this trip without any trouble."

"I was going to EMail some while Steven [my uncle] is away but there is a message on the screen I don't know how to deal with. I hope my writing is decipherable. It certainly isn't the best."

The funniest part is that every time I get a handwritten letter, it ends with a remark about how she really meant to email, but couldn't figure out the computer. My grandmother is cool. I haven't been up to the farm to see her in almost four years, but in theory one of my uncles or cousins is going to drive her down to Charlotte for Katie's wedding. I'm glad.

Saturday, April 23, 2005

OH! I should also mention

OH! I should also mention that I am headed to Corpus Christi tonight because I am shooting (photographing) the CC Triathlon there tomorrow morning for Karen Thibodeaux. I shot a race for her two weeks ago as well and as a result, received a check in the mail on Thursday. I have officially earned money for photography! I am officially a photographer. I am SO excited.

Monday, April 04, 2005

Jen caught me in action.

Jen caught me in action. See it on her photoblog.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Last night I finally put

Last night I finally put up one version of an "About Me" page. Click the link at top left if you're interested. The link's not dead anymore. :)

Monday, March 07, 2005

someday I'll fly away / leave all this to yesterday

Yesterday I took my recyclables to the closest city facility, which happens to be at Ellington Field. It was gray, overcast, and drizzling. The cloud ceiling was probably around 200 feet. As I started throwing the cans into the dumpster, I heard the typical airplane roar behind me as something took off from Ellington. It was loud enough that I figured it had to be one of the jets. I turned and looked up just in time to see an F-16 roar off the runway and quickly disappear into the clouds, shock diamonds visible in the exhaust of the afterburner. It was so cool that I actually exclaimed out loud in the drizzle in the empty recycling parking lot.

I ran to the car for my camera, because the F-16s (belonging to the Air National Guard) often take off in groups of four. But alas, not yesterday. There was only the one.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

I'm so popular

I'm guessing Cubs tickets went on sale yesterday. Why?

On an average day, this blog draws ~120 hits. Yesterday it drew more than 230. My lovely stat tracker shows that at least 50+ people got here from Google, searching for some combination of "Cubs virtual waiting room."

So: attention Cubs fans! I bought Cubs-Astros tickets online last year and got stuck in the virtual waiting room. It sucks. I feel sorry for you if you're stuck in it this year. I blogged about it, which is why my site shows up on the search page.

Oh yeah, and GO ASTROS!

Thursday, February 24, 2005

now people can't see how much time I spend surfing the web...

Gavin says he likes the new site design, but didn't comment on it because it's a lot like Becca's. Hmph. I designed this one before I did Becca's. I didn't think they looked too similar. Though with blogs, I do admit that I tend to fall into the "sidebar + blog entry" template mindset.

So I'm...halfway moved into my new desk, which is all of 5 feet from my old desk. People keep coming by, seeing me moving posters and books and such, and wonder why I'm bothering to move to another desk in the same office. My answer is that Becca's old desk has a better computer setup, space to put things next to the computer, and a bookshelf that I can actually access all the shelves of, as opposed the my old bookshelf where the bottom two shelves were blocked by a table.

But another big reason that I decided to shift desks has to do with the fact that I was always one of those kids who rearranged their bedroom at least once a year, if not more often. I just want a change of scenery. It's a slight change, but still a change.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

a new saroy.net

Well, here is the new site design I've been talking about. A bit different from what I designed for Becca over the weekend.

I still have a lot of little tweaking to do here and there, but I got tired of trying to manage my posts in two content systems -- the old, Blogger, and the new, Movable Type. So little things may change over the next week or two. I want to put the Flickr photo stream back on the main page. I may make the comments pop-up boxes. I may change the entry layout text and colors and fonts a bit. The word count feature is currently not working, so all you see is "Words". I need to add contact info. And oh yeah, at the top of the list is to make something to link to from the "About Saroy" link!!

As I have time, I'll also finally be piping in my old blog entries, dating back as far as 1998. I know. 1998.

Anyway, here it is. If you find bugs or have suggestions, let me know.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

all my bags are packed / I'm ready to go

Movers are supposed to come today and take Becca's things down the hall to her new desk, so she spent yesterday packing. When I left at 4:30, it didn't look like she was anywhere near being done, and I predicted she'd be there until 7 or 8 to get everything finished. Imagine my surprise, then, when we all met for dinner at 7:30 and she announced that she'd finished packing and left work at 5:00. I was all ready to take it back, and give her credit for finishing up so fast.

Silly me! I forgot that Becca's definition of "packed" is not the same as a normal person's.

I walked in this morning to see the top of her desk strewn with papers and binders, an open binder on my desk about stuff I don't know, a few post-its still stuck to her desk and monitor, four posters still on the walls, a globe beach ball still inflated and on top of her bookshelf, a bunch of rolled up posters still on her shelf, a couple Smarties wrappers between her keyboard and monitor, and dust everywhere.

Yeah. She was packed at 5:00 yesterday. Suuuuuuuure.

She's not even here this morning for me to tease her about this. It's really a shame.

Sunday, February 20, 2005

a new old piles of rock

I did a quick and easy redesign of Becca's website this afternoon. Check it out and let me (and her) know what you think!

Saturday, February 12, 2005

and so he doesn't feel left out...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

and of course...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

I say that I don't care / I just run my hands through her dark hair

I know it's time for a haircut when, first of all, I have split ends, but also because it's long enough that I can pull the aforementioned split ends around in front of my face, and inspect them without going cross-eyed, and pick at them when I'm distracted. Also -- when I can reach my arm up behind my back and grab the bottom of my hair. It hasn't been this long since sometime at Tech, four years ago.

Time for a cut.

Sunday, October 24, 2004

I came back from my

I came back from my soccer game tonight, opened the door, and walked into my apartment. The entire place smelled like...

...OWL COOKIES!

It's that time of year. Yum yum. :)

Thursday, August 14, 2003

home is where the knick knacks are

I was supposed to go to the dentist this morning at 8:20, and I totally, completely forgot. Oops. Fortunately, they have another opening at 10:50. Thus, this entry will be short, and I'll have to update sporadically over the next few days.

I was only gone for 6 days, but I was so busy that coming home yesterday felt incredibly good. As much as I love vacations, there is still something nice about coming home. As I just wrote elsewhere, my apartment misses me when I'm gone. When I come home, it needs me to air out the stuffiness from turning the a/c up, the quietness from having been empty, the darkness from the blinds having been closed, the neatness of the bed having been made. I know the saying "home is where the heart is," and it's a good saying, but for me it goes something more like "home is where my stuff is." Houston is not home. Neither is texas. But my apartment is like my sanctuary. It's my space; I do what I want, make a mess if I want, answer to no one, and feel guilty about nothing. And thus, it is home.

Last night I got in a good workout for the first time in a week--a 5k run on the treadmill, the last 20 minutes of which were spent talking to a random guy who walked in and wanted to ask me about the apartment complex. Turns out he's just moved down here from minnesota, and is taking an industrial engineering faculty position at the University of Houston (he's just graduated from University of Minnesota, he can't be more than 29 or 30). We talked for a while, and I did my best to sell him on the luxuries of Las Palmas. Anyway. It was random, but it made my run go by very quickly. That makes me want to find someone who runs the same pace as me, who would want to run regularly; this is something I always thought I didn't want. Weird.

I must be off to the dentist, so I'll update with details of the vacation later.