I got new glasses yesterday. I'm back to plastic frames and I think they are pretty damn cute. But the part you look through is way smaller than my old glasses, so I'm getting used to that. I've also felt like everything has been about 2 inches closer than it really is, and I'm hoping that is me getting used to new glasses and not some sort of rift in the space-time continuum. I'll attach a picture when I get non-lazy enough to actually take one.
The eye doctor said I should take my glasses off when I'm working at the computer or reading to prevent me from getting more nearsighted. Uh....problem is I can't really see my computer screen that well without my glasses on. And then I forget to put them back on and walk down the hallway and someone says hi to me and I don't know who they are. So I might have to settle for the inevitability of my eyes getting worse. Apparently the human eye wasn't designed to spend 90% of its time focusing on something 18 inches away.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Material Girl
I used to be a little obsessed with the attainment of material goods, but as I've gotten old and wise, that has faded quite a bit. I still have a few obsessions (yarn, bike stuff, yoga dvds I have no intention of ever doing) but overall I just don't buy that much stuff anymore.
That being said, I occasionally have serious thing-lust. For example, I lust after all varients of iPods even though I already have a perfecty functional iPod. One of my latest lusts is t-shirts. I really want these t-shirts from threadless.com:
Actually, Threadless sells out of designs all the time, so I just ordered "The Communist Party". I'm taking a wild guess on fit, but I think it will probably work. $17 for a t-shirt pretty much blows my clothing budget for the next two months, but I'll probably survive. Too bad though, I also really want the "Hugs Not Drugs" t-shirt I saw at Target. That's the next in my t-shirt collection, although it is of lower priority because I can't wear it to work. I'm still deciding on the work appropriateness of the commies.
Update: She who hesitates is without a cool t-shirt. I put the shirt into my shopping cart and then had a huge debate with myself over ordering a second shirt. As I was falling asleep last night, I remembered I'd never placed the order and thought about getting up to do it. Alas, when I got to work this morning, "The Communist Party" was completely sold out. I requested a reprint, although I'm sure I'll be waiting a while.
Update again: I guess Threadless made some sort of inventory error, because I just checked again and they had it in stock! Hooray!
That being said, I occasionally have serious thing-lust. For example, I lust after all varients of iPods even though I already have a perfecty functional iPod. One of my latest lusts is t-shirts. I really want these t-shirts from threadless.com:
 |  |
Update: She who hesitates is without a cool t-shirt. I put the shirt into my shopping cart and then had a huge debate with myself over ordering a second shirt. As I was falling asleep last night, I remembered I'd never placed the order and thought about getting up to do it. Alas, when I got to work this morning, "The Communist Party" was completely sold out. I requested a reprint, although I'm sure I'll be waiting a while.
Update again: I guess Threadless made some sort of inventory error, because I just checked again and they had it in stock! Hooray!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Hello, readers!
Well, the word is out. Hi peeps! I apparently have some readers now. I'm a fair-weather blogger, so don't be surprised if I don't update for months at a time. I mean I've only made 20 posts in a year. But I'm a little excited to have people reading. Cool!
Victor Garber
Victor Garber is the only celebrity who I have ever wanted to write a fan letter to. If I ever wrote that fan letter, it would read something like this:
Dear Victor Garber,
You make me happy to be alive.
Love, Heather
For those of you who don't know, he is best known currently for his role of Spy Daddy Jack Bristow on the television show Alias. The quotes are so mundane that I won't even bother to repeat them - his magic is all in the delivery. Rent the DVDs, especially the Pilot where Sydney's finacee calls Spy Daddy for his blessing. It's classic.
He also recieved an Emmy nomination this past year for his guest appearance on Will and Grace. Just picturing him saying "It's sinfully delicious" almost makes me die laughing.
James got me the best birthday gift ever this past year, which was an autographed Victor Garber Alias trading card. It's shiny and metallic, but more importantly, it has been touched by the One True Garber. I have it in a frame and briefly considered putting it on my desk at work (which is woefully underdecorated, with a Penny Arcade comic, a stolen social norms campaign poster, a poster of an Intel 386 processor with a real 386 processor stuck to it, and a birthday card from my coworkers) but then I decided that I would have a hard time expressing why a television show trading card was such a cherished posession. I mean without sounding creepy and obsessed. Because I am creepy and obsessed.
Dear Victor Garber,
You make me happy to be alive.
Love, Heather
For those of you who don't know, he is best known currently for his role of Spy Daddy Jack Bristow on the television show Alias. The quotes are so mundane that I won't even bother to repeat them - his magic is all in the delivery. Rent the DVDs, especially the Pilot where Sydney's finacee calls Spy Daddy for his blessing. It's classic.
He also recieved an Emmy nomination this past year for his guest appearance on Will and Grace. Just picturing him saying "It's sinfully delicious" almost makes me die laughing.
James got me the best birthday gift ever this past year, which was an autographed Victor Garber Alias trading card. It's shiny and metallic, but more importantly, it has been touched by the One True Garber. I have it in a frame and briefly considered putting it on my desk at work (which is woefully underdecorated, with a Penny Arcade comic, a stolen social norms campaign poster, a poster of an Intel 386 processor with a real 386 processor stuck to it, and a birthday card from my coworkers) but then I decided that I would have a hard time expressing why a television show trading card was such a cherished posession. I mean without sounding creepy and obsessed. Because I am creepy and obsessed.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Things I learned today
I learned and did some cool things today! I feel smart!
First, I learned how to pass command line parameters to an application in Windows XP from the GUI. You make a shortcut, then go view the shortcut's properties. On the target line, after the actual target to execute (like C:\Heather\whatever.exe) you put a space and then add the parameters. So it looks like this: C:\Heather\whatever.exe -do -this.
When you combine this with the ability to add a keyboard command to a shortcut (also under Properties), you can pretty much conquer the world. Or at the very least launch and minimize your calendar to the system tray with a keyboard command. I already have keyboard commands for all my frequently used folders, which is a huge click saver.
Other computer related stuff: I upgraded to Thunderbird 1.5, which broke all my extensions but seems to be a big step in the right direction, especially the inline spell check and the ability to delete attachments from IMAP messages. I also installed the minimize to tray extension for Firefox and an app that minimizes Sunbird to the tray as well. Sunbird is actually a lot better than the old Thunderbird calendar extension, although I'm looking forward to an actual release of Lightning, an extension that will integrate the two.
A final Mozilla note: a quick check at my webpage stats at work reveal that Firefox is now up to 12.5% of our users. Even my parents are using it. If that's not a bad sign for Internet Explorer, I don't know what is.
First, I learned how to pass command line parameters to an application in Windows XP from the GUI. You make a shortcut, then go view the shortcut's properties. On the target line, after the actual target to execute (like C:\Heather\whatever.exe) you put a space and then add the parameters. So it looks like this: C:\Heather\whatever.exe -do -this.
When you combine this with the ability to add a keyboard command to a shortcut (also under Properties), you can pretty much conquer the world. Or at the very least launch and minimize your calendar to the system tray with a keyboard command. I already have keyboard commands for all my frequently used folders, which is a huge click saver.
Other computer related stuff: I upgraded to Thunderbird 1.5, which broke all my extensions but seems to be a big step in the right direction, especially the inline spell check and the ability to delete attachments from IMAP messages. I also installed the minimize to tray extension for Firefox and an app that minimizes Sunbird to the tray as well. Sunbird is actually a lot better than the old Thunderbird calendar extension, although I'm looking forward to an actual release of Lightning, an extension that will integrate the two.
A final Mozilla note: a quick check at my webpage stats at work reveal that Firefox is now up to 12.5% of our users. Even my parents are using it. If that's not a bad sign for Internet Explorer, I don't know what is.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Oh God....
I installed World of Warcraft on my computer. I fired up James' guest account. I created two characters. I played with James and later with Ted. I'm pretty sure life as I used to know it is over. I'm seriously considering buying the full game. I'm seriously considering spending $15 of my money per month to engage in this timesuck of an activity.
The folks at WoW are pretty smart. I know nothing about other MMORPGs, but there is a very big social component to the game. You can group and play with friends. You can chat in game with just your group, or with just your friends. Lately James has been playing with two of MY friends. He talks to my friend Jackie WAY more than I do, and I was beginning to feel left out. To them, the solution was obvious: I needed my own account.
Uh, no. I hate video games, especially 3D ones, because I always run into walls. The utter pointlessness of games is never lost on me, even 12 hours into playing SimCity when I'm fretting over the gravity of my traffic control problems and cursing my Sims for not taking the damn bus. It's just not my cup of tea.
Except that it is. After a few hours of running into cacti, I began to get the hang of it. I begin to like it. I begin to run AROUND things instead of into them. I make plans to upgrade some of my computer components (thanks Ted!). It's all over. I'm hooked.
The folks at WoW are pretty smart. I know nothing about other MMORPGs, but there is a very big social component to the game. You can group and play with friends. You can chat in game with just your group, or with just your friends. Lately James has been playing with two of MY friends. He talks to my friend Jackie WAY more than I do, and I was beginning to feel left out. To them, the solution was obvious: I needed my own account.
Uh, no. I hate video games, especially 3D ones, because I always run into walls. The utter pointlessness of games is never lost on me, even 12 hours into playing SimCity when I'm fretting over the gravity of my traffic control problems and cursing my Sims for not taking the damn bus. It's just not my cup of tea.
Except that it is. After a few hours of running into cacti, I began to get the hang of it. I begin to like it. I begin to run AROUND things instead of into them. I make plans to upgrade some of my computer components (thanks Ted!). It's all over. I'm hooked.
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