Use caution...on Google Maps

I love it when Google Maps puts little Easter eggs into search results:

via Nerd Approved

Han shot.

Saw this last night. Funny after yesterday's post:

 
see more Set Phasers To Lol

Mal vs. Hammer, Indy vs. Han...

By Gina Biggs

A friend shared this cartoon on Facebook, and I love it. I have to say, that IS what would happen should Captain Mal meet Captain Hammer. (Just in case you're not familiar with Firefly or Dr. Horrible, I'll let you in on the joke: Nathan Fillion played both characters).

So, that got me thinking, and reminded me of this picture I saw on Flickr awhile ago as part of JD Hancock's "Duel 365" series:

By JD Hancock

What would happen if Indiana Jones met Han Solo? I mean there is this scene:

but, as we all know, Han shot first:

So, how do you think it would go down?

Dreams vs. Excuses [Quote]

By nicole.pierce.photography ♥

"If you really want something you’ll find a way to do it. If you don’t want it that bad, you’ll come up with excuses for why it can’t be done." Brittany Castanos

 via Quit Your Day Job: Daughters of Simone | The Etsy Blog

This is clever:

see more Set Phasers To Lol

Downton Abbey Paper Dolls - Adorable & Funny!

I found these paper dolls by Kyle Hilton via Jane Austen's World. I just love the "assortment of emotions" for the Dowager Countess:

Jane Austen's World has gathered links to the paper dolls of other characters (Mary & Matthew, Lady Sybil, and Thomas & O'Brien) here: Downton Abbey Season 2 Finale: Tonight You’re Mine Completely. I think I'll be printing all of these out & having a good ol' time playing paper dolls (no, I have not outgrown that. I don't think I ever will.)

Just an hour and a bit until the season finale!

The Dog Outwits the Kidnapper

Here's an adorable film from 1908, courtesy of the British Film Institute. I wonder if I could teach my dog this trick...

Happy Valentine's Day...from Valentine!

I found a special treat in the mail yesterday: My parents sent us all valentines postmarked in Valentine, NE!

There's even a special image stamped on the back of the envelope:

This is so cool! Thanks, Mom & Dad!

(If you want to do this for your valentine next year, here's how.)

Life moves pretty fast...

Ferris Bueller's Day Off  is one of my favorite movies, so I was super excited to see this commercial. Part of me wishes it was a whole movie, but in a way, this is enough and having more might ruin it.

I would ABSOLUTELY watch this show

DORK TOWER, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 
(Click through to see the full-size cartoon)

True, I'm waaaay behind on Dr. Who and I haven't even started Sherlock yet (I hear it's great and I intend to start on season one soon)...but a show like this would be just mind-blowingly awesome (England, will you still let me in?)

Flickr Favorite: Paris

Just like birds on a wire, I'm a sucker for pictures of the Eiffel Tower against a sunset. This one is by Flickr user  [phil h].

No need to panic, the mystery's been solved:

see more Set Phasers To Lol

Some days the dragon wins

When I read this post last night just before bed, I immediately emailed myself the link with the note "OMG YES!"

The whole thing is short and worth reading in its entirety for the full message, but this is the part that really hit me:

"Your manuscript was not written. Your miles were not run. Your dream was not dreamed. But, and this is an awful big but, that was just today. Tomorrow is a new day."

I have a tendency to fall into the trap of "I didn't achieve my goal today, so I'm never going to." I'm slowly learning to climb out of that hole and keep moving forward, brushing off the dirt of self-doubt and negative self-talk that clings to me afterward.


The dragon definitely won most of the last week. And I think the last couple days, I barely stood up to fight it. I'm back to fighting today, sword and shield in hand, partially thanks to this post.

photo via Library of Congress

I think I'm going to create a prominent "Having a bad day?" bookmark on my computer which links to that post so I can read it whenever I need to.

There Be Dragons by Jon Acuff

Does the movie of your life need a new writer?

Photo By Hal Dick

An interesting read:

"If they made a movie about your life, would it be titled, It’s a Won­der­ful Life? Or would Speed, You've Got Mail, or Nightmare on Elm Street be more fitting? Unfor­tu­nately, too many peo­ple are liv­ing lives like those movies that come out every sum­mer. You know, the over­hyped ones with big bud­gets, lots of action — and tired sto­ries with thin plots. Just because a movie costs a lot of money and has a lot of things going on doesn’t mean it’s a very good story. The same is true of your life...If you’re less than thrilled with the direction of your story, it is time to hire a new writer: YOU."

Check out the whole post here: How To Live A Better Story | Jungle of Life

Making yourself miserable?

Here's an interesting list by Keri Smith. I've seen it floating around a bit lately and find it eye-opening every time I come across it. I do several things on this list on a regular basis. I won't say which I do, but I know all creative people probably do at least a couple at any given time - we're all human. We all fall into these traps. But being aware of them helps us climb out of the holes we dig for ourselves and hopefully avoid falling back into them in the future.

 via Rachelle Gardner

The chair of my dreams

I don't pay much attention to the TV show Revenge, which is probably why I never noticed this chair until last night (according to my husband, it shows up quite often), but now that I've seen it...WANT!!!

So, now I just need to come up with $1,859 so I can buy it....um, yeah....

Revenge Home Décor: Where to Find Victoria Grayson’s French Script Armchair - Revenge

Come to the bark side...we have biscuits.

After last year's Super Bowl commercial, Volkswagen apparently thought they'd keep going with the Star Wars theme. I'm not complaining.

(Best commercial that had nothing to do with the product ever)

The peril of naming characters [Cartoon]

Pearls Before Swine Comic Strip, October 02, 2011

I've definitely had that problem before...maybe not quite so bad as "Bean Dip"....

I do tend to end up with a lot of people with the name Something or Somethingelse.

How about you?

Lady Grantham's Greatest Hits + White Feathers

A friend posted this on Facebook earlier today. If you like Downton Abbey, you'll get a kick out of this. I just love the Dowager Countess of Grantham, and I don't think anyone but Maggie Smith could have played her.



I watched the first episode of Season Two last night and loved it! If you'd like to read more about the symbolism of the white feathers involved in one scene, check out this post at Jane Austen's World. I was kind of glad I'd read it ahead of time.

This made me giggle...

Potential: 

via XKCD

2012 - Week 1

I'm trying to check in and keep track of what I did over the last week, so I have something to look at when I start to beat myself up for not being Superwoman. So many times I get to the end of Sunday and I feel like I didn't accomplish anything through the week, when really I did. So, these are the things I DID ACCOMPLISH last week, to counter the hundreds of things the unhealthy voices keep telling me I didn't do:

• Did at least 30 minutes on the Wii Fit every day, including Saturday and Sunday (bonus points there - I usually slack off on the weekend). I did 1 hour one day, but I hurt A LOT afterward, so that's definitely something I need to work up to as I go.
• I did all my scheduled breaks for stairs at work (I noticed they were a bit easier this morning - I think doing the Wii over the weekend helped with that). 
• I went to church - I think I've figured out my key to getting there regularly: I prefer to go on Saturday evening and if I tell hubby on Saturday morning that I am going, it not only solidifies it in my head that I'm going, he'll give me a nudge out the door as well (even though he rarely goes along). Really, for me, the hardest part about getting to church is getting out the door; the rest is gravy.
• I finished reading one book: The Book of Ancient Bastards: 101 of the Worst Miscreants and Misdeeds from Ancient Sumer to the Enlightenment.
• LilGirl and I caught up on the dishes (you'd be shocked at how often this doesn't happen).
• I saw a movie and didn't get a soda (it helps that this theater had self-serve fountain drinks, which include water, so you're not paying $6 for a small bottle - definitely a reason to continue going there).
• No new pages written, but I did make a bunch of notes for my WIP.
• Took a load of stuff to Goodwill (and threw away several things not worth taking there).

I used to do this...

Unfortunately, "Staring out the window" seems to have been replaced by a circle marked "Staring at a screen" and the intersection does not often result in inspiration. I need to remember to start staring out the window (or just into space) again.

From Indexed

Happy New Year!

"It is reasonable that a man should be something worthier 

at the end of the year than he was at the beginning."

— Henry David Thoreau

May we all be successful as we strive towards "worthiness" this year, 

though that means something different for each of us.
Have a happy & prosperous 2012!

Fairy Tales and Dragons

I hadn't thought about this quote in a long time, but it's one of my favorites. I came across the quote again the other day on a Tumblr blog:

Not a dragon, but the closest thing I have in my Flickr account :)

“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” - G. K. Chesterton

via mbthecool

Merry Christmas!

We're having a nice quiet Christmas at home today. 

I hope your holiday is special and blessed.

 

 Missing a white Christmas this year? Google has a little present for you. 

Go to google.com, type in let it snow and wait a little...

Christmas Countdown: Am I a hundred years too late for this toy?

I was looking at some photos in the Library of Congress' Flickr photostream and noticed the Eiffel Tower in this window full of toys. Was this a model for a child to build, do you suppose? Some quick Googling didn't come up with anything, but I may take some time to search deeper later. Whatever it was, I think I would have wanted one!

Hobbit Countdown: 360-ish days and counting...

I've been waiting patiently for the first installment of The Hobbit to come out. Of course, the realization of the movie mostly seemed like vague reports and imagination to me, and I could handle that. And for some reason, I thought it was coming out this summer. No problem. I could wait perfectly well for that.

Then hubby sent me this trailer this morning, which both took away any patience I had and informed me that I have to wait until NEXT DECEMBER 14th to see it!


On the bright side, this gives me plenty of time to re-read the book, which I haven't read since high school.

And this just showed up in my RSS feed: Waiting for Bilbo: Comic: The Hobbit Trailer (just so you know, I wasn't one of those people. Really. I'm serious. Why don't you believe me?)

Christmas Countdown: If you don't have it, fake it...

No fireplace? 

Fake tree? 

No Christmas CD's? 

No problem!

A pine-scented candle, over on the left

(I'm always on the hunt for the most realistic Christmas tree scent since we can't have a real tree), 

+

Pandora Radio on the computer, 

+

a Fireplace video streaming through Netflix on the TV

(we do have a fireplace, but it's gas, so it doesn't have the nice pop & crackle of wood like the video), 

=

A nice holiday mood while I worked in my home office the other day.

Update 12/22/11: A Facebook friend posted a link to this fireplace video on YouTube, so you don't even have to have Netflix - although the YouTube video is shorter, so you have to press play more often ;)

Christmas Countdown: Packages, Packages, Everywhere!

The postal service says today is the biggest delivery day of the year, while tomorrow is the biggest mailing day of the year. I found this picture from World War II in The Smithsonian Institution's photostream on Flickr. Click through to see some humorous notes users have applied to parts of the photo (just mouse over the photo once you've clicked through). Unfortunately, more keep being added, so I think some of the funnier ones are getting buried - kind of like some of the boxes in the photo. :)

Click through!

 

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

I visited Jane Austen's house in Chawton in 1996. The pictures I took there have turned out to be some of the most-viewed in my Flickr stream despite being faded-looking scans. In honor of Jane's birthday, I thought I'd share a slideshow of those photos. Enjoy!

 

Here's a video of the house (including some improvements done a couple years ago). It all makes me want to go back again.

Christmas Countdown: Winter Wonderland [Photos]

Saturday morning everything was covered with frost, so I ventured out to take a few photos.


Berries on the burning bush. View on black.

 
I love how wooden fences seem to grow whiskers in the frost. View on black.


I played around with this one in Picnik and added their fake HDR effect, which turned out really interesting, I thought. View on black

Christmas Countdown: O Dragon Tree, O Dragon Tree...

My coworker Steve makes Study Dragons for students each year about this time.
It appears a few of the dragons took over the Christmas tree.

I really like this one :)

Christmas Countdown: Yum!

I baked! 

This doesn't happen often (though it's not as rare as me cooking dinner), but I found a recipe for Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread earlier this week and thought it looked like something I could tackle. Then today was one of those perfect snowy, lazy days when I didn't have to go anywhere and the house wasn't a complete disaster, so I was in the mood to bake. The result was yummy, even if I did eat enough of it to get a tummy ache.

And thankfully, it didn't turn out like Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (sung here by Mick Moloney, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting in person). 

Christmas Countdown: LEGO Christmas Tree

St. Pancras railway station in London features a Lego Christmas tree this year. According to the St. Pancras website, the tree is made from 600,000 Lego bricks.

These pictures are by Andrew Smith (McTumshie on Flickr)

What work must have gone into this tree! 

By McTumshie

By McTumshie

via In Pictures: The St Pancras LEGO Christmas Tree | Londonist

Christmas Countdown: Jim Gaffigan on holiday traditions

You know, it turns out we do some weird stuff for Christmas - trees inside, lights outside - but I still enjoy it all!

I love Jim Gaffigan's take on some of our traditions - the Christmas stuff is at the beginning, but he doesn't spare any of the holidays if you keep watching...

 
If you can't see the video above, you can find it here.

Countdown to Christmas: The Sith who Stole Christmas

via @DarthVader

The dogs' (and my) favorite chair

I had to move this chair into my office to make room for the Christmas tree in the living room. It has made my little office a bit overcrowded (notice the displaced items beside the chair), but the dogs seem to be enjoying it. Now they have an extra comfy spot while they hang out with me.

This is my "Martin Crane" chair - it's kind of ugly, doesn't go with any of the other furniture, it's kind of beat up and is even missing its two back feet; but the thing is so comfy I haven't been able to part with it. Maybe someday I'll re-cover it...or I might just keep it in the office where it doesn't really matter if it matches the living room, even though that will mean permanently eliminating some things from my office.

Do you have your own "Martin Crane" piece of furniture? Do you do any major rearranging to get ready for Christmas decorations? Let me know in the comments.

Update 12/28/2011: So, the chair didn't last long. I spent my evening taking the tree down EARLY (I usually leave it up until Jan 6) just so I could get the chair out of my office and back to the living room. The room is just too small for such a big chair - it was nice for a day or two, but then the whole room started to feel like a closet and I hated to spend any time in there. And now I'm not even sure I like the chair in the living room. As soon as the basement is cleaned out, I think it's going down there. It's a comfy chair, but it's just having a hard time finding a home in my home lately. :(  (I know, I know, first world problems...)

Black Friday got a little crazy

I looked out the back window of the house yesterday morrning and spotted this stray shopping cart across the street. My best guess is it came from WalMart...what its story is, I have no idea...

A thought for the day

Photo by denipet

"If the Christmas frenzy is wearing you out,
you've missed the point of Christmas."

from Dave Ramsey's December 2009 Newsletter

Happy Thanksgiving...Star Wars style

This was just so cool, I had to share!

From the Official Star Wars Blog via Flickr

I like pumpkin pie

View on Flickr

I spotted this sticker on the ground in my parking garage at work this morning. I have no idea who or what it's from, but I thought "Yes, yes, I do!" I think I look forward to the pie even more than the turkey.

So, what's your favorite pie to have after Thanksgiving dinner? Or, if you're not into pie, what's your favorite alternative dessert?

Martha Stewart isn't coming for Thanksgiving

I pulled this out of the depths of my email - it seems to have been making the rounds a couple years ago. I've searched, but can't seem to come up with the name of the original author of this (if you do, let me know - I'd like to give credit!)

Martha Stewart will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving.
I'm telling you in advance, so don't act surprised. 

Since Ms. Stewart won't be coming, I've made a few small changes: 

Our sidewalk will not be lined with homemade paper bag luminaries. 

After a trial run, it was decided that no matter how cleverly done, 

rows of flaming lunch sacks do not have the desired welcoming effect. 

Once inside, our guests will note that the entry hall is not decorated

with the swags of Indian corn and fall foliage I had planned to make. 

Instead, I've gotten the kids involved in the decorating by having them 

track in colorful autumn leaves from the front yard. 

The mud was their idea. 

The dining table will not be covered with expensive linens, fancy china,

or crystal goblets. If possible, we will use dishes that 

match and everyone will get a fork. Since this IS Thanksgiving,

we will refrain from using the plastic Peter Rabbit plates 

and the Santa napkins from last Christmas.

Our centerpiece will not be the tower of fresh fruit and flowers that I

promised. Instead we will be displaying a hedgehog-like decoration

hand-crafted from the finest construction paper.

The artist assures me it is a turkey. 

We will be dining fashionably late.
The children will entertain you while you wait. 

I'm sure they will be happy to share every choice comment I have made
regarding Thanksgiving, pilgrims and the turkey hotline.
 Please remember that most of these comments were made at 5:00 a.m. 

upon discovering that the turkey was still hard enough to cut diamonds. 

As accompaniment to the children's recital, I will play my recording of

tribal drumming. If the children should mention that I 

don't own a recording of tribal drumming, or that tribal drumming 

sounds suspiciously like a frozen turkey in a clothes dryer, ignore them. 

They are lying. 

We toyed with the idea of ringing a dainty silver bell to announce the

start of our feast. In the end, we chose to keep our traditional method. 

We've also decided against a formal seating arrangement. 

When the smoke alarm sounds, please gather around the table 

and sit where you like. In the spirit of harmony, we will ask the children 

to sit at a separate table. 

In a separate room. 

Next door. 

Now, I know you have all seen pictures of one person 

carving a turkey in front of a crowd of appreciative onlookers.

This will not be happening at our dinner. 

For safety reasons, the turkey will be carved in a private

ceremony. I stress "private" meaning: Do not, under any 

circumstances, enter the kitchen to laugh at me. Do not send small, 

unsuspecting children to check on my progress. 

I have an electric knife. The turkey is unarmed. 

It stands to reason that I will eventually win. When I do, we will eat. 

I would like to take this opportunity to remind my young diners that

"passing the rolls" is not a football play. Nor is it a request 

to bean your sister in the head with warm tasty bread. 

Oh, and one reminder for the adults: For the duration of the meal, and

especially while in the presence of young diners, we will refer to the

giblet gravy by its lesser-known name: Cheese Sauce. 

If a young diner questions you regarding the origins 

or type of Cheese Sauce, plead ignorance. 

Cheese Sauce stains. 

Before I forget, there is one last change. Instead of offering a choice

between 12 different scrumptious desserts, we will be serving the

traditional pumpkin pie, garnished with whipped cream and small fingerprints. 

You will still have a choice; 1. Take it or 2. Leave it.

I hope you aren't too disappointed that Martha Stewart 

will not be dining with us this Thanksgiving. 

She probably won't come next year either.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A little nod to Monty Python for the day

I think I need to watch Holy Grail again soon...


see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Birds on a wire

I'm a sucker for birds on a wire and sunsets, so I had to shoot this as I was leaving work yesterday. I love the little loopdey-loop in the middle. :)

How to Spot a Writer at a Party

This post over at Not Your Usual Suspects made me chuckle. From the looks of the comments, I'm not the only anti-social one out there. Phew!

How to Spot a Writer at a Party

Sigh...

http://www.gocomics.com/lio/2011/11/01

This is Halloween! [Video]

Halloween preparations are in full swing at our house. I spent last evening gluing labels on little vials of poison and some bigger jars of sundry witchy/mad scientist/wizard-y things. The night before was filled with debate of what, exactly, ogre snot looks like (and then reconciling that with what I had on hand to create said snot). Strangely, none of our costumes are ready yet - they're all in various stages of "not done yet."

Besides being just plain awesome, this video reminds me that I forgot to decorate much outside! I guess I'll have to work on that tonight...

How are you preparing for Halloween?

This is me :(

I keep telling LilGirl I'm an example of what NOT to do when it comes to math. Thankfully, Hubby is a math whiz, so there's some hope for her.

Math Homework

I love Savage Chickens. It's one of my favorite web comics. Check out the site.

Great class on creating conflict in your writing

I recently took this class and I learned a lot. Cheryl is offering the class again in November. She's a great teacher!

CONFLICT MAKES THE STORY

DATES:  NOVEMBER 1 – 30, 2011

INSTRUCTOR: CHERYL ST.JOHN

REDUCED ENROLLMENT FEE: $20.

(a savings of $10.)

REGISTRATION VIA PAYPAL: http://cheryl-stjohn-workshop.blogspot.com/

REGISTRATION OPEN NOW

 

Only a little over two months left of 2011! Did you accomplish everything you wanted to over the year? Writing improvement challenges? A new story proposal? A finished project? Here’s an opportunity to sharpen your skills and be prepared for those new goals, which are right around the corner.

 

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

No matter what writing topic Cheryl addresses, she hangs the most importance on characters. Conflict is drawn from characters. It’s based on their goals, their backstory and their motivation. It is opposing forces that come from within the characters themselves.

 

Webster’s Dictionary defines conflict as “the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction.” This definition is the essence of fiction, and we need to keep it in mind as we develop characters and plots. If there’s no conflict, there’s no story.

 

Conflict, of course, can be either light or heavy. In a humorous story, the problem may not be life threatening, but it still must be important to the characters. The characters’ motivations must be equally important to them. In suspense, the conflict is often life-threatening. All well-developed plots stem from creative use of conflict, and conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages.

 

In order to understand conflict and how to develop it, we must first understand what conflict is, what conflict is not, and what conflict can be. The elements that make up a story are so closely meshed that at times it becomes difficult to dissect and make a firm delineation between them. In a masterfully developed story, characterization, plotting, and conflict are all intricately entwined.

 

Cheryl will explain opposing goals and how to create conflict that will sustain a story. She’ll give practical advice on:

• Motivating characters
• Creating characters with built-in conflict
• Revealing emotion through conflict
• Internal and external conflict
• Simple and complex conflict

 

More info here.

One of my favorite Halloween books

Or, really, one of my favorite books, period.

I don't know what happened to my copy of Popcorn by Frank Asch (I hope one of my brothers has it) but while I was searching for a replacement copy recently, I came across Frank Asch's site, where he will read the book to you (and your little ones):

Popcorn by Frank Asch

Wait, I need to read this...

"Cultivating a regular daily practice of actually showing up and creating is the only way you will ever progress your talents, your ideas and you ambitions in creating."

From Theorist To Artist: Why You Need A Lot Less “How To” And More “Just Do” | A Big Creative Yes

Yes, this is me. Just one more article...one more grid to fill out...one more sticky note to put on the board...one more...Hey, where'd my time go???

via @thecreativepenn