This looks like a wonderful place to curl up with a book

*sigh*

traditional family room design by los angeles interior designer Susan Jay Design

Via houzz

Superbusyday

I had the day off today. What did I do? Let's see...

• We started off with LilGirl's graduation from 5th grade. I can't believe she'll be in middle school in the fall!
• We went out to lunch because, well, graduation!
• We went to Lowes and bought plants.
• Then to Menards for more plants and some blocks and dirt for the front flower bed.
• We swung through Scooters for a little energy boost (mmmm, blended iced coffee!)
• We built up the flower bed and planted the new plants (geraniums, daisies, a climby plant I can't remember the name of and a yellow rose bush)
• We loaded the two dead TVs (which have been in the garage forever) into hubby's truck and he took them to Best Buy for recycling.
• While he was gone, I cleaned the garage to make room for the dead refrigerator.
• I scrubbed every inch of the dead refrigerator.
• I called my dad with a stupid question on how to unhook the water supply from the dead refrigerator.
• I scrubbed all the shelves and drawers from the dead refrigerator.
• I had a burger from Runza for dinner.
• More scrubbing...
• I showered and now I'm going to bed.

It's a good thing I didn't expect my day off to be relaxing because it reaallly wasn't.

Tomorrow I'm going back to work so I can rest a little.

Twitter throwing a wrench in my workflow?

logo via TEIA MG

Mashable: Twitter Users Get New Email Notification Options

This might put a hitch in the way I use favorites on Twitter. I tend to favorite things in less of an "I like this" and more of a "I want to read this later" manner. I send an RSS feed of my favorites to Google Reader which lets me look at things later on so I don't "lose" them in my twitter stream. I may have to re-think that practice as I don't want to unnecessarily contribute to full inboxes...

Do you use favorites (or any other Twitter features) in an unusual manner? Please share!

logo via TEIA MG

Adam Savage. Faraday Cage. Tesla Coils. Doctor Who Theme. Need I say more?

via @thinkgeek

How good is your gadget history?

There's an extra joke here, though you may need to be of a certain age to catch it. Do you see it?

Update: Scroll down for the answer:






























The schools are both named for an early PDA, the Apple Newton.

Milestone

So, this happened on the way home yesterday:


Photo link


Would have posted earlier, but Blogger was down :(

It's A Book!

I picked up the mail Saturday and discovered my brother & his family had sent me a package. Inside was the most awesome. book. ever: It's A Book by Lane Smith.

Here's the book trailer (containing most of the text...hey, it is a children's book*)


Video link

I found a great post on Lane Smith's blog about the evolution of It's A Book.

*Just a note: Even though it is a children's book, it does have the work jackass in it. I notice they left that out of the video. (Maybe they thought that might hurt sales?) It does add to the hilarity of the last line, in my opinion. But then, the book isn't for my kid, it's for me. Your mileage may vary. :)

The other great tragedy of 1912

Photo by Great Beyond

Most people don't know that back in 1912 Hellman's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the "Titanic" was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after New York City.

Mexicans were crazy about the stuff.

The Mexican people were eagerly awaiting delivery and were disconsolate at the loss. So much so that they declared a national day of mourning which they still observe today.

It is known, of course, as...

Sinko de Mayo

(Yes, it's a groaner)

This joke is all over the internet, but I found this particular telling at Urban Dictionary.

As a woman, I can say I have absolutely no interest in this phone

via This is my next

"We don’t know much about what version of Android this will be running, but our source did tell us that the mockups had shopping comparison and calorie counting apps — you know, because every woman watches the pounds. We also heard that “calming” adjective used to describe the wallpaper. "

You know, because I couldn't add those myself (if I wanted them), or change the wallpaper.

And that's not all, wait until you read about the "charm indicator" (oh, if only that name was a joke): HTC Bliss: a Verizon Android phone for women? 

From the comments: "with any luck, this'll be the dumbest thing I read today"

I can only hope so.

I don't need a "women's phone" just a phone. KTHXBAI 

May the Fourth Be With You! #starwarsday [Video]

This one's apparently been around for awhile, but I just discovered it. Super cute!



Video link

I'm a little Thor

You may remember the Little Darth Vader commercial. Here's a parody from Marvel to promote their upcoming movie, Thor.



Twist ending for the win! :-)

Video link

via Hero Complex

And now, the cartwheeling verger...

I almost sure everybody has already seen this, but the video tickles me. My first impression was "How cool! But he's probably not really a verger." I suspected an actor or someone just dressed as a verger. However, The Daily Mail ran a story about the verger and the Abbey's reaction, so I guess he must be the real deal.

[Update: I've just been chastised by my mom: "Why do you think this isn't real? It is a 'thing' for clergy to do cartwheels. The pastor that married Jeff and Erin did cartwheels on Easter at Each service." So there you have it! ;-) ]

The funny thing is, I came across this picture on Flickr, and it's captioned "One day when the time is right, i will cartwheel in the abbey"

By tezzer57

I love the look on his face, and it certainly looks like the same guy :)

And here are the cakes! #royalwedding

Gorgeous!

While the one above looks too good to eat, this one basically just makes me me go "Yum!"
Oh, and it does look nice, too.

Priorities... #royalwedding

By katplum

Overdoing it? #royalwedding

TV, social media on one laptop, livestream on the other,
wedding programme on the ipad

Sick of the royal wedding? Perhaps you're looking for this:

By London Permaculture

3:00 AM! Anybody? Anybody? Bueller? #royalwedding #rw2011

Not quite Westminster Abbey, but the Houses of Parliament "next door"
(These seem to be the only pics I can find that I took in the vicinity)

Anybody else getting up in the wee hours to watch the royal wedding tomorrow? LilGirl claims she's getting up with me, but I'll believe it when I see it. Still, I have a tradition to uphold of staying/getting up to watch the wedding then falling asleep before the ceremony itself starts, and she wants to join in. We'll both be going to bed soon after dinner tonight. At least that's the plan.

When we (I) get up to watch, I'm leaving network TV as my last resort. I'm not fond of tons of inane commentary, so I've got a couple ways I'm going to try watching the wedding on our Roku box, either on YouTube Live or another livestreaming app - unfortunately, I can't be sure they'll work in the morning. At worst, I'll watch the networks on the TV and whatever I can on the computer. I'm trying to stay emotionally flexible on this and not have a meltdown like Frankie Heck did on The Middle last week (I tried to find a clip of that particular scene, but no luck).

via ABC

If you're interested in watching the wedding online and/or following all the social media chatter, Mashable has a good guide of some ways to do both.

Historic royal wedding dresses [Video]

So I'm not a big fan of weddings in general, but I am a HUGE history nerd and an even bigger British history nerd, so I just can't help myself when it comes to historic events like royal weddings (I am sooo going to annoy you all the rest of the week). I came across this video on my friend Cheri La Claire's blog and had to share. These dresses are just gorgeous. I'm very impressed that Princess Charlotte's dress from 1816 not only still exists, but seems to be in such good shape. Enjoy:



Video link

Ninja = a gazelle attacked by a lion?

A supposed ninja has been terrorizing Pitsburgh. I dunno, from the description I don't think this guy is really a ninja. Just sayin'...

"He was like a gazelle that just got attacked by a lion...He got up and fell, and got up and fell. Then he jumped off a cliff." [The witness] reported that he "did not move with the grace typically associated with a ninja" and that he therefore "will not live in fear of the ninja's return."

WTAE news, quoting neighbor Chelsey Cunningham, said the ninja also left behind "like, a fifth of liquor."

via Boing Boing

Hmmm....I just don't....aaargh, ninja attack!...oh, wait, no, nevermind.

When it comes to your writing time, "be ruthless"

photo by Lucia..

I came across this quote at AdviceToWriters over the weekend. When I'm down about having to fight for my writing time (which I don't do very well yet), it makes me feel a little better to know that J.K. Rowling still has to fight for her time, too:

"Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e., do not cave in to endless requests to have "essential" and "long overdue" meetings on those days. The funny thing is that, although writing has been my actual job for several years now, I still seem to have to fight for time in which to do it. Some people do not seem to grasp that I still have to sit down in peace and write the books, apparently believing that they pop up like mushrooms without my connivance. I must therefore guard the time allotted to writing as a Hungarian Horntail guards its firstborn egg." - J.K. ROWLING