Fun with Photoshop

I've had a wee bit of downtime, time when I was too tired to work, but too awake to sleep, and I've been playing with some effects in Photoshop. I can't decide if I love these effects, or if they look too silly, so please let me know your opinions. (Sample pics are our wedding photos by the wonderful Monique Sady)

Original:

Photoshopped:

Comments? Suggestions? Which do you like better?

Today's Random Thoughts

I had a blog post about me making an edible multi-course that included steak ALL WITHOUT A RECIPE, which was truly groundbreaking, but I hadn't saved it when Peter closed the browser window. Hazards of sharing a computer.

My classes are going well, but it is a bit of a transition to go back to undergrad classes. A girl in my ASL class flipped when she found out I was married and 25. I forget they are babies and in a very different stage of their lives. On the plus side, I have about 1/100th the reading of last semester (granted, I don't have my textbooks yet), so my brain is happier for the moment.

I am applying to the MA program in Speech Pathology here. Didn't I just do this? Two years is not a very long time to recover from grad school apps. It's not fair.

We watched GoodFellas and Sleepers from Netflix this week. Both were excellent. My brother is apparently big into the "illegal movie blogs" and we watched the first five minutes of a horrible tape of Happy Feet. None of us could stand the ridiculousness so we all agreed to turn it off. I've heard such good things, I can only hope it gets 1000% times better after the first 5 minutes ripped straight from a dumb version of March of the Penguins. Stheriously. Plus, I really realized that I would rather pay $18 a month for Netflix to get movies I can actually see *clearly* than free bootleg interwebs versions.

I spend too much time reading blogs. Google is wonderful (I just discovered Calendar), but their Google Reader RSS feed is getting to be too much. I need to unsubscribe from the really prolific blogs. I just can't keep up.

OK , I better finish this bad boy up before Peter comes along and closes my window. See you all soon!

Things just may work out

I've gotten my work schedule for this semester, classes are pretty set (one is still up in the air) and I think I may just survive this thing. I've only had one class so far, so a lot will depend on the workload of the unknown classes, but so far so good. If I don't have as much reading as I did last semester, things could go well. My ASL class (the one class I've had so far) looks like it will be a lot of fun and it will be great to sign almost every day again. Luckily, the emphasis of this class is on expression and production, and unlike many of the other students, I've already had some experience with that. Even though I already have a paper and a presentation due next week, compared to the assignments I've had for my MA classes, this one should be a lot more fun and less stressful.

Even the job I was afraid I might have to quit looks do-able now. We've worked out a schedule that should work really well, and having the extra money will be nice too. Of course, I haven't started working at the Writing Center yet, since they don't open until the second week of school, so I may seriously be changing my tune shortly. Stay tuned.

My brother's in town, so we're going to try to go to our favorite restaurant in town here for happy hour tapas. I'm very excited because we only go out to eat if we have company in town, even if The Med does have my favorite kind of pizza for only 3.50 per entire pizza. And it's so good too. But yeah, homecooked food is so much cheaper, why waste money on restaurants, even if they are really tasty? And we can control the healthy-factor of food we make ourselves better too.

Speaking of which, Peter and I are doing the Discovery Channel Health Challenge with his parents. It's pretty cool if you haven't heard about it. They have a great website (I'll update this blog with a link when I get home) that allows you to track your weight, exercise, provides meal plans and allows you to join "teams."So far, I've lost several pounds and have been working out a lot more than usual (though still not enough), which is my goal. I'm not all about New Year's resolutions, as such, but I do like trying to improve myself in various ways, and getting healthier has been a big one lately. Let me know if you decide to join the health challenge and here's to good health for all!

The end is near

Tomorrow we go back to school. D'oh! What happened to all the amazing free time of vacation? How did it just evaporate with me getting only a fraction of what I wanted to do done? For starters, I think I was sick all break, plus I traveled to CA, Reno and Vegas, and I was also amazingly lazy. Even today, I didn't get up until 8:30, which is better than 10, like the rest of the break. But all this will seriously bite me in the ass when I have to get up for my 8AM class this semester. Yuck! And of course, I cannot forget that I found out that Glider Pro is now freeware and available to play in OS X! I thought it wouldn't be as fun as when I was a kid, since computer games have gotten so much more sophisticated, but of course, I was tragically wrong.

In other news, we decided to wait to buy the new computer until June, or whenever they release Leopard and iLife '07 and all the other stuff that would make our computer quickly outdated. So now we are going to buy an extra RAM card for the iMac, hope that Peter's computer doesn't completely crash, and take whatever precautions we can to extend the lives of our machines. I'm a little sad, but I also know that it is probably a smart move, since there is no truly pressing need for a new computer right now (and if we get it over the summer, maybe that will give me more time to play?)

Hope everyone is warm!

Snow?

My brudda's coming tomorrow (yay!) and we're supposed to get snow tonight/tomorrow (boo). I keep looking out the window to see if it's started snowing yet, but all I've seen all day are the ominous low foggy clouds covering almost all of the mountains. Those clouds always mean snow. Since I've missed the past three snowfalls, ahem, blizzards, I'm excited to be here for one, even if it isn't supposed to be ginormous. I could have done without it, though, if only out of sympathy for all the people who have been stuck here for the past month in the snow. Oh well! The snowboarding should be good for my brother!

Cure for sore throats

I don't seem to get sick too often, maybe once or twice a year, if that, but when I do and when I have a sore throat, only one thing works to help it. Throat Coat. My miracle. When we were in Vegas and in the 2-3 days of our respective colds, Peter and I got some Throat Coat tea at Whole Foods and it saved us. I would wake up literally unable to talk, but after a cup, I was fine. Between the two of us, I think we went through at least half the box in just a few days! It also tastes really goo (IMHO). I've heard some famous singers swear by it too, but I feel like it's still my little secret, since I've been using this since I was in elementary school or at least junior high, and it's possible we could have gotten it before it hit the really big time, since the company that makes the tea was just a few towns away from us. Mmm, Throat Coat!

Where does the time go?

This week is my only time at home on vacation before school starts next week and I have so very much I want to get done. First and foremost, I have a huge research project I need to finish for the incomplete I had to take thanks to my injured arm at the end of last semester. So I'm working on that as much as I can stand it every day, staying up way too late and waking up much later than I will be able to with my 8 AM class (ick). I really want to do a major overhaul of my website, but I know that's going to take a lot of time and passion that I need to keep in reserve for my project.

Instead, I've been tearing through A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket. I'd read the first two in the children's library across from where I used to work in little chunks while I had breaks. They were amazing and I loved them, but unfortunately, Books the Third through Sixth or so were checked out, so I had to stop. This Christmas, Costco had the entire series (13 books) as a set for much less than normal (each book is usually $12.99), so we used some Christmas money to get them. I've literally read 1-2 books a day in the past few days, and I'm now on Book the Tenth. I just can't read them fast enough! I have the same problem with Harry Potter, but those I at least got them one at a time, so I could re- and re-read several times until the next came out. The Lemony Snicket books are (obviously) pretty quick reads, though the books are getting much longer. If you have a wicked sense of humor and/or were an English major, you should give them a try. Most of the references and hidden jokes I highly doubt any child would get, but they never distract from the story.

In other news, the new computer looms larger on the horizon. We went to buy it last night at our friendly local Apple Store, but learned that one or two of the upgrades we really wanted were only available online. So we're going to wait another day or two, just to see if any major software updates come out at Macworld (who needs an iPhone? Give me iLife 07!), but I don't think they are likely and we simply can't wait long enough for the new OS to come out (supposedly in June).

Since weather seems to be the hot topic in these parts these days, here ya go: today and yesterday were sunny and warm enough to melt a lot of the snow, but we are supposed to get another (smaller?) storm this weekend, just in time for my brother's flight here to likely be delayed. And it's supposed to be butt-ass cold. Highs in the teens. Yay. We'll see if we make it up to the mountains like we were planning.

OK, that's it for now, better get back to the project. A parting picture as a memory of Vegas:

From 65 degrees to two feet of snow

So we are back in Boulder. Happy to be home, but happy to have had a break and a nice time with our families. The snow here isn't that bad overall anymore, but there are definitely places where the piles are huge. We took this picture of Jessie at the airport in Ft. Collins, when she and Chris came to pick us up (such nice friends!). You definitely need a person for some perspective on things like this. Luckily, the drifts and piles aren't this bad in most places, but it seems like the roads are still fairly dangerous with ice and slush and compacted snow (though the big ones are mostly plowed). I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to school and back to the grind just yet, but I have a week to get accustomed to the idea.

We should be getting a new computer in the next week or so as well, so that's very exciting news. My little iMac is just too swamped with the 19.9 gigs of pictures and movies I've taken (and I took out all of 2003, when we went on our USA trip and took several thousand pictures). I do too much with pictures and video and DVD burning for this computer, with iPhoto taking at least 5 minutes to boot up and freezing everything else when I run it, and my DVD burner conking out, so an upgrade is in order. Also, Peter's trusty little laptop that got us through our USA trip is dying. The main battery no longer holds a charge, so having a laptop that always needs to be plugged in (and that crashes at critical points in writing final papers) is not exactly a good thing. Since the iMac still is a fine computer when it isn't trying to process 20,000 photos, we'll transfer all the pictures, wipe the slate clean and Peter will use this one for his stuff. I just want Macworld to come so we know if they are coming out with new and improved iMacs so we don't buy an insta-obsolete model! Must...wait...three...more...days!

Joyeux Noel

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday. I'm in Reno now, with my family, but away from the Hubband. I'll see him tomorrow, which is good because I miss him! Lots has happened in the past week, but I haven't had much time or desire to blog about much of it.

My cousin passed away earlier this month, but her memorial was planned for a little later, so I was able to fly out for it. It was truly lovely, but very sad because she was honestly an angel on earth. Because of that unexpected trip out to CA, our Christmas plans were changed. As it turns out, it really worked out for the best. Had we gone with our original plan, we would have been driving (or not) on the day the blizzard hit Denver. As it is, both of us were able to make it out of Colorado days before we would have otherwise, and with relatively little difficulty.

I've been busier than I expected, but I've been able to sneak in some "vacation" time. I had a bunch of papers I had to finish while we were in CA for the memorial, so I basically worked, cried, visited or was otherwise occupied for the first four days of my "break." It's gotten a little better now, but I still have a huge paper hanging over my head that I must finish before the end of winter break. That's the "mixed" part of the mixed blessing that is taking an incomplete. You don't have to finish it in time for the end of the semester, but you do have to finish it!

And the picture at the beginning of the post is from the night my brother PJ when expressed his need to give me the college experience I never had (because I was lame and never went to a party, but instead read the dictionary for fun. Seriously.). Beer pong at Sig Ep with a bunch of his old friends (many of whom are mine too), then we headed over to the Wal to close the bad boy down (where this pic was taken of one of PJ's brothers, I think), then a cold walk back to the Sig Ep house, which was enough to complete my sobering up. It was a lovely night and very fun. We managed to get over 20 people in PJ's room, which is so big that we still definitely could have fit at least 5-10 more if the stood in the closet and the bathroom. Fun times!

Best mail day ever

Last night was very nice. I was working when I normally don't, in order to make up some hours I'm going to have to miss next week (I'll write about that later), and Peter got out of class early, so we got to walk home together. We never get to do this because our schedules are so different, and it just felt really nice. He was also in a good mood because his semester ended yesterday and I think it went really well.

We got the mail on the way home, and O! what a mail day! I have been doing some fun online shopping lately (mostly for Christmas, with a few presents for us included), and have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my purchases (the downside to online shopping). First, my Moo cards came! I had gotten ten free ones a while ago and realized they would make a great thing to give to friends and family (ideally in an upcoming Christmas or New Year's card, coming soon to a mailbox near you!). I have my email, my Flickr
, and another (secret to strangers!) photo site, as well as this blog address, all on the back of a cute little card with one of my wonderful pictures. I even had some made that have me and the Hubband on them, since I know there are some family members who are infinitely more likely to keep a picture of us (taken by someone else, obv.) than a weird-o picture I took of someone's feet. But I have to say, I kind of love the card with the feet. Heck, I love them all! Leave me a comment if you want one!

Not only did I get my Moo cards, but I also got a Christmas present I ordered from Etsy. I had it gift wrapped, so I don't even know what it'll look like, but I'm excited! I kind of wanted to open it myself to see what it looked like, esp. since we are now flying to Christmas and TSA drones will likely open it anyway. Why should they get the fun? But Peter restrained me, thinking they wouldn't open such a tiny package (I think they will, but there's always a chance!).

I so love getting good mail!

Video to make you happy

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

If time is a finite resource, and things we "save" with the 3 R's (see post title) are also finite resources, why can't we reduce our use of time like we reduce use of plastic bags? Reuse our hours like we can reuse tin cans? Recycle crappy days into better ones, like plastic soda bottles into warm fuzzy fleece?

I just made out my schedule for this week. Holy nut. I honestly barely have time to breathe. I was working from 7 AM to 7 PM for three different jobs with only an hour between about 5 and 6 to eat a little dinner. At least I was making money! But still. And the rest of the week goes similarly. When, O when will I have time to write all of my papers? And I'm definitely bringin' back the solo "O!" It's hard core. I'm going to sleep now, even though I should write a few more pages of one of my papers, but I'm just too tired. I hope I'm awake and inspired enough to bang out at least two pages before I go to class at 11. Yeah, that'll be my goal. 2-3 pages. And then I'll only have... a lot more to go!

Nuh-nigh, everyone...

The Real Reason I Blog

I blog because I like to read other people's blogs. Huh? Yeah, I read through my subscription list on Google Reader, notice that there's no new updates for various blogs I love, get sad, wish they would post something, anything, then get inspired to write an entry. Because maybe there's someone out there wishing that I would post something too! Even if I have nothing to say. Which is exactly why you are getting this post right now!

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

So here are some pictures of my arm a week after The Fall. The big, purply bruise didn't show up until about Tuesday or Wednesday, while the one that's more yellow showed up earlier. The best part of these bruises is that the doctor couldn't really explain why they were there, since her diagnosis was that I strained the muscles in my forearm. Apparently, bruising can "track" to related areas, even if they weren't the affected part. An alternate explanation, offered by some of the football players I tutor who have been through the same thing, is that I had my arm hyperextended when I fell, which would explain the elbow bruising a bit more. Either way, I'm getting more mobility back, though my elbow is still pretty sore and there are still certain movements I can't make without a lot of pain. I can type better than before, though I still don't have the stamina to do it for very long. I hope you all think these bruises are as pretty as I do. Now that I can move my arm more, I like to check out Big Blue in the mirror (it's on the underside of my elbow). I hope you all are proud of me for taking such fine self portraits as well. It was pretty tricky, considering I had to take the pics with my left hand and hold the camera at an awkward angle. PS I think "awkward" is the most perfect word because it looks and sounds exactly like what it is, without being iconic (for any Lingies hanging around). OK, I'm past rambling now, so I need to harness this rambling energy for something productive, like one of my many, many papers.

Joy oh joy oh!

I went to the doc for my arm, I'm not broken, but I did strain it, so I just need to take it easy for the next few weeks. Of course, this is perfect timing, since I have all my papers due in the next few weeks, so I'm not really sure how much I'll be able to get done. I think I'll be able to complete my two 10 pagers, but I might have to take an incomplete in order to get my huge 20 page original research paper done over the break. Only crappy part about that is that I won't really have much of a break then, but If I am miraculously much better, maybe I can get it done really quick before I'm out of school mode again.

The best part is that since I now know it's not as serious as the first doc had feared, I don't need to be so overly careful. I'll still be careful, but man, I was being SUPER careful because if it had been fractured, I really didn't want to make it worse.

Other good news: last night, Peter and I did some Christmas/personal shopping online at Threadless and got some very cool stuff! They are having a sale now (and for 5 more days, I think) where all the shirts are only $10! Here are the ones we got:

For The Hubband:
"Nothing Rhymes with Orange"

For my Brudda (he'll like it, though I would never wear it in public):
"The Morning After"



















And for me:
"B.F.F. (Best Friends Forever)"




















"Get Some Fresh Air"














I am so excited! I think mine are the cutest, but there were so many others I wanted too. They have such fun, funny and cool designs! Eeek! I can't wait f0r them to come :-)

Typing is hard

Therefore, I've been doing more surfing than writing. In addition to Etsy, I found another fun new site: Threadless. They have awesome, reader-designed, limited quantity shirts, and they are having a sale! $10 each. Amazing. I think I'm going to get me one. Maybe this one:



Or maybe this one:

Posting Freeze

I may have fractured my arm over the weekend (stupid ice), so this will be a very abbreviated post. I likely will not post much for a while, though I may put up some pictures, since those are easier to do with one hand. It had to be the right arm, didn't it? Yeah, def. gonna have to get an extension on some papers. It'll take me eons to write even a page at this rate.

See ya later! Post some comments if you like to keep me entertained in my convalescence (words too long! Left hand... failing!)

New Obsession

So this is completely the wrong time of the semester to find a new website to explore for hours and hours, but I've found one. Etsy. I'd visited this site before, but I wasn't in Christmas shopping mode then or something because I glanced, thought it was cute and moved on. But now! Oh, but now I keep exploring, keep finding more new and adorable (and affordable) stuff that I simply must have! Or give!

For those who are completely lost right now, Etsy is like an online marketplace for people who make handmade crafts and items to sell to other people. It's super cool because it's like eBay in that you get a much wider audience than you could ever have on your own, but yet you still get to sell individual things. But WAY better than eBay because all the stuff is handmade, not Chanel knockoff stuff. So even though your cute little purse only cost $18, it's still a one-of-a-kind! Or at least, one-of-a-very-few! Plus, thought I haven't decided if I like all these features, Etsy has some very high-tech ways for you to "surf" other people's favorites, find products that are certain colors, "handpicked" things, and many others. Those search functions are fun, and yield some unexpected coolness, but probably won't help you if you are really looking for something specific. Luckily, they have regular search functions too, which aren't as fun, but find you pretty much what you want.

Enough talk, go over there now! (PS You'll probably like this better if you are a girl, though there are a few things for boys. Just not much.)

Daily Photo(s)

Taken November 29, 2006

Music, music, music!

I am utterly obsessed with Regina Spektor, whose music video I posted last. I've found as many of her songs as I could for legal free download (bless those amazing music blogs) and I've been listening to them constantly for the past week. I definitely need to buy "Begin to Hope." I'm thinking I might download it from iTunes, since it looks like you can get 6-7 more songs there than you get on the regular CD, but I think my dad might like her too. He likes "real" CDs with covers and artwork and everything, so if I wanted to give him her CD too, he would want the full package.

In other music news, the Hubband woke up at 5 AM to go wait in the snow and single digit temps to get the new KBCO Studio C CD. Studio C is a thing KBCO (a local radio station) does where they invite musicians in town for concerts to their studio and they do a live session of some of their music. Over the years, KBCO has gotten some amazing musicians in for this (Melissa Etheridge was the one who started it in the late '80s, I think), and each year, in late November or early December, they release a CD with some of the best of the best. Since there are limited quantites and it's become quite popular, people camp out overnight or get there extremely early to get one.

We are listening to it now, and I think some of my favorites are Seal's version of "Crazy," BNL's "One Week" (I think it's much better and way funnier than the original) and KT Tunstall's "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree." It's fun at least to be more of a part of the local culture now :-)