Just call me Locutus of Plurk July 1, 2008 ~ 4:03 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble, Urban Family , comments closedAnd if you get that reference, baby let your geek flag fly!
Is it possible to be too connected to the ether? I wonder about this lately. In the past, I’ve had a habit of being very passionately interested in something on the internet, and then move on after a few months. IRC, Victor Garber (there was a website at one point…it is gone now), MySpace…the list could go on, but it would embarrass us both, so I’ll leave it. This blog is the one thing that has stood the test of time - it has been…holy crap, has it really been four years now? My blog is in pre-K? But of late I have let the blog lapse a little bit, because work has been too chaotic to come up with a single coherent thought, let alone blog about it, and the evenings…well, there are distractions in the evenings as well. My mind these days moves in short phrases, more suited to Facebook status messages than even Ravelry forum messages. Twitter would be good, but Twitter is often a little bitch and tells me I’m refreshing too much when clearly I am *not*. That annoys me. But Plurk, Plurk is cool. Plurk has a lot of knitters on it, so it resembles a cross between the beloved Facebook status message and IM, where we talk about socks and spinning a lot. That does it for me, I dunno about you.
And so I think in short bursts of third person thoughts, like “Evil Julie wants a jelly donut” and “Evil Julie is going on a ten-minute spin break, anyone in?”. Those do not make good blog posts, by the way, so my pre-K blog is probably being abused by the people running its daycare. My verbal skills are probably suffering, and looking back on that last sentence, it becomes quite obvious that my ability to come up with a decent metaphor has been compromised as well. And my attention span is not long enough to update Twitter (little bitch), Facebook, Ravelry, Plurk, and the blog. Sometimes, being this connected to the internets reminds me of the hive mind of the Borg…I haven’t lost the ability for independent thought, but I am always, always wondering “Has anyone written anything cool? What are these people up to? Have I blogged this week? No? Damn. Oooh, has anyone written anything in the past five seconds?” It is something I am going to have to work through. But I’m still taking my laptop with me when I hang out with Aimee and Sloth this weekend. So there.
(That last sentence totally caught your attention, didn’t it? Blog post when I get back. Promise.)
Tip of the day June 19, 2008 ~ 3:31 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closed“Don’t look into the sun.” Or not.
Those of you who are on Twitter or are addicted to Facebook status messages? I give you Plurk. Plurk is like a cross between Twitter and IM and chatrooms. You type in something you would like your friends to know, in 140 characters or less, and then they can comment on it. I’ve been Plurking with a bunch of knitters from Ravelry for two days and have been having a blast. Check it out. And if you do, look me up. I’m EvilJulie.
Perspective June 12, 2008 ~ 9:56 am
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble, The Girls , comments closedWhen the girls were at my house last weekend, I introduced them to Wii Fit. Now, if you have Wii Fit you know that as soon as you start, it checks your BMI, your balance, your age, and from all that information comes up with your “Wii Fit Age.” Depending on the time of day and how much alcohol I’ve consumed, my Wii Fit Age has been anywhere from 24 to 45. Saturday night, my Wii Fit Age was a respectable 27, three years younger than I actually am.
The Youngest, who is almost 13 got on the Wii Fit next. She is always seen as “the athletic one” in the family because she’s always involved in several sports and is likely to get up and do something active in her spare time because she can’t stand to sit still. By contrast, The Oldest and I would rather sit and read or knit or whatever, not run. So The Youngest gets on the balance board and doesn’t complete one of the tests and doesn’t do great on the second one. The cheeky Wii Fit asks her if she trips a lot when she walks, and then presents her with a Wii Fit Age of 22, a full ten years older than she actually is. The Oldest and I howl, and The Youngest pouts.
The Oldest takes the balance board, completes the tests, and is announced to have a Wii Fit Age of 15, which is her actual age. She and I high-five, as we, the non-athletic ones, have finally beaten the Youngest at something, even if it was an exercise video game. “At least my Wii Fit Age isn’t ten years older than me” is going to go down in family history as a comeback to anything.
History in the making June 4, 2008 ~ 9:54 am
Posted by Julie in : Politically Incorrect, Technobabble , comments closedYesterday I upgraded the blog to WordPress 2.5.1 or whatever the hell it is. Suddenly, I have my editing tools back when I’m writing a post (yeah, I guess when you’re 3 versions behind the latest release, they start to take fun toys away from you as a means of spurring you into upgrading). I also have many other tools that I have no idea how to use. I will learn them, slowly but surely, but today I’m just going to ignore them. At least until later this afternoon when I’m bored - that was yesterday’s pattern: install something, become irritated with it, ignore it for a while, come back to it and figure it out. If anyone saw the seventy times I changed the blog template yesterday afternoon, you will understand what I’m talking about.
The cold is manageable now, the fever is gone, and I am back at work. Wearing an Obama ‘08 sticker. Because hey, how ’bout my boy Barack? There were times along the way where I had my doubts, but now he’s the presumptive nominee and I am a very happy girl, enjoying the day. Hillary’s speech pissed me off a little until Tim Russert’s commentary helped me understand it. My thought process last night went something like this: “Seriously, you’re not going to make a decision? Dude, you lost. Decision has been made. Start unifying the party by stepping down. Ohhh, wait. If she plays this very, very carefully, she might convince all of her supporters who were saying they were going to go over to McCain that Obama is okay, especially if she goes for the VP slot. We might have a united party the easy way. She is either Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius, or just someone who can’t admit that she’s lost. I am hoping for the Coyote route.”
And then I started to think about things from an historical perspective (there are a lot of ifs in this scenario, by the way). Let’s say Barack offers Hillary the VP slot, and the Dems take the White House in January. Let’s say Barack serves 8 years as President, and then Hillary is elected President in 2016 and she serves 8 years. If that happens, then Hillary Clinton will have been in the White House in one capacity or another for 24 years, if we count the Bill years. I am not sure whether this is very cool or very scary - we do have term limits for a reason, after all. But the idea of it is mind-blowing, isn’t it?
Summary of day February 23, 2008 ~ 12:54 pm
Posted by Julie in : Da Cats, Technobabble , comments closed
Only part of teh day. It hard to teach kittehs Guitar Hero!
Antici….pation February 15, 2008 ~ 1:41 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closedWhen I was little, I was the kid who couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve for the thought of all the loot to come. Actually, we were probably all like that, but I’ve never lost it. If I know I’m going to get something? HolyshitIwantitrightnowcan’twait! And thus is the saga with the MacBook.
After some emailing back and forth with Vince, I’ve decided to go the way of the MacBook Pro. The review Vince posted two days ago about the MacBook Air, along with this one, decided me against an Air. Yes, it’s pretty, yes, it’s light, but when a review tells me that this should not be your primary computer or maybe even your secondary, and that’s what I really want? Bye, Air. Also, the fact that I would have to buy an external CD-ROM/RW/DVD/whatever drive because it doesn’t come with an internal one (that’s why it’s so light, peeps), and that it’s slower than a MacBook? Game over.
So, a Pro. Which with my educational discount (thank you, SomeCollege!) is the same price as the Air with the USB drive. The screen is bigger, it runs fast, I am in! But then today I start looking around the Mac forums and see this. Looks like the Pros are going to get that trackpad that I loved so much on the Air. And will run faster. And this will be happening in the next couple of weeks, by the sound of it. Well, I was going to have to wait until March for my refund check anyway, so this is doable. And the last time I bought a Mac, my beloved little iBook which bricked, Apple came out with a new version with double the memory a week later. I talked them into giving me some cash back, but on the whole, I would rather have had that extra memory. Not going to make that mistake again, I will wait, ta very much.
But the waiting, it has never been my strong suit, and that is putting it mildly. Gah!
Dilemma February 13, 2008 ~ 12:55 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closedI met up with my accountant yesterday and my taxes were done in fifteen minutes, and I’ll be getting a pretty big refund. My guy charges $305 to do my taxes, but he is so worth it. I get a much larger refund now than I ever did when I filed my own taxes, and I don’t have to stress over it. Sometimes, you just have to look at an expense and decide “This is worth it for the time and anxiety I’m saving myself. Plus, he more than pays for himself.”
Because of the refund, I’m looking at getting a new laptop to (finally) replace the one that bricked about a year and a half ago. I’m looking at Macs, of course, because I heart Macs, and I’m trying to decide between a regular MacBook and a MacBook Air. MacBook Airs are the super slim ones you’ve probably seen commercials for. I played with one yesterday at the Apple Store, and it was a joy. It’s got the same technology in the trackpad as the iPod touch and iPhone have, so you can flick or pinch or scroll (that sounded really dirty, didn’t it?). It’s got a beautiful bright screen, the battery life is supposed to be much better, and oh my god, is it light. The reason it’s so light is that it doesn’t have an internal CD-ROM. You can buy a USB drive for an extra $100, or you can just import stuff wirelessly from other computers including PCs. (I would probably buy the USB Drive.) About the only thing that this computer doesn’t have is the same amount of memory as a regular MacBook. The MacBook Air has 80GB, the regular MacBook has double that.
So the question is…do I go for the light, pretty, cutting edge thing? Or do I go for the cheaper model and save myself some cash? What would you do?
Notes from the Couch January 4, 2008 ~ 11:20 am
Posted by Julie in : Politically Incorrect, Technobabble , comments closedI have learned how to shut off the commentary on the Tiger Woods golf game. Not coincidentally, my game has significantly improved. And yes, I am playing golf, because on the Wii, all games are fun! There is a game where my character rides a knitted cow and knocks over scarecrows, and believe it or not that is the most entertaining game I have ever played. Golf, while not involving knitting, cows, or scarecrows, actually becomes interesting on Wii.
Rick especially likes the Wii because it is his accomplice in his evil plan of getting me to go golfing with him. When he mentioned that maybe I could take a lesson or two when we’re in Florida, the word “okay” might accidentally have dropped from my lips. I blame the Wii and the beer I was drinking at the time. Beer goggles: responsible for making you believe that ugly people are shaggable and for making golf look like an acceptable pastime.
On a totally non-Wii related note (I know, go ahead and gasp, I’ll be here when you’re done) the Iowa caucuses? Turned out exactly as I would have liked on the Democratic front. Barack Obama in the lead, John Edwards in second. I have been saying for months that I’d like to see an Obama-Edwards ticket, maybe it might actually happen. I am noticing a huge division about it in my office. Everyone in their thirties and younger is for Barack, those above are for well…everyone else. Biden, Edwards, Hillary, you name it. If Barack can capitalize on the young voter demographic though, I think he might have it. In the meantime, I went over to his website and downloaded a ringtone so that every time my phone rings, I subliminally spread the Obama message. “Obama, Obama, O, O, O!” It’s downright catchy.
Guess what I found on Friday? December 31, 2007 ~ 1:15 pm
Posted by Julie in : Technobabble , comments closedA Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
The weekend has obviously been spent in front of the Wii, playing the sports pack that came with it. And also the Metroid and Mario games Rick got me for it. I am the champion of homerun derby. It feels good to say “Yeah, I got my exercise for the day. I played some baseball and boxed a little.” and by that mean, I stood in front of the Wii for a couple of hours and worked up a sweat. Nice.
Deeeep breath November 5, 2007 ~ 8:46 pm
Posted by Julie in : Craftiness Is Next To Godliness, Technobabble , comments closedThe Raven Series just dropped on the Blue Moon website. Based on all the activity over on the Socks that Rawk! forum on Ravelry, Tina and crew will be significantly wealthier (or at least less light in the pockets) and busier after this evening. I know people who ordered all thirteen colorways! I contained myself and only ordered Rook-y and Thraven. I also ordered Christmas presents for three friends (and two of them should have a pretty good idea of who they are!), three patterns, and well…a crapload of yarn for myself. I never did buy myself a birthday present, so there it was. I am on a sock yarn diet until I get some of my massive stash knit up.
And because of a 50% off coupon from Barnes & Noble, I also pre-ordered Series Three of Doctor Who. List price was $99, online discount brought it down to $79, member discount brought that down to $70, and the coupon brought it down to $35. With that and free shipping, I would have been kicking myself if I hadn’t bought it. Besides, I need to see all the scenes that the Sci-Fi Channel cut!
With that large bit of shopping behind me…it’s time to watch the Steelers.
