two memes to do:
A. I got tagged by Owen for 8 random things about myself.
1. I just got reminded about how, in 6th grade, my friends and I used to have all of these businesses where we would sell crap to the other kids in our class. Like, we would doodle on pieces of notebook paper, fold them up and sell 'fans'? Or we raised guppies and sold them? (The other part of that is that we would take the dead guppies into school and this one group of boys in our class... and if you went to middle school with me, and I know some of you did, ask me and I'll tell you who...would EAT THE DEAD GUPPIES. I remember they put them on their lunchroom pizza or in their chocolate milk or whatever. Ew.
2. My first car was a 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix and it totally had an 8track player, but my parents replaced it with a cassette player for me because they love me.
3. I watched the Bachelor for more seasons than most people did. And yet, I haven't watched it for a couple of seasons. WHO IS WATCHING THIS?!?!
4. I am obsessed with celebrity gossip. But I don't get the time anymore to keep up on it! Crap!!
5. When I found out Studs was going to be a boy I was a little bit bummed because I had these visions of buying little pink dresses and having a cute pink nursery. And yet, now that he's Owen and not Studs? I cannot imagine having anything other than him :)
6. I stopped eating meat when I was in 6th or 7th grade.
7. I wanted to be a plastic surgeon for a looooong time. Until I realized that calculus was going to prevent my going to med school. And now I realize that this was all for the best, all around.
8. My dad is in the final stages of making me a dollhouse which I am so excited about, and YES I AM 32 YEARS OLD. Shut up.
OKAY WAIT. After I had already finished this my mom (who is here visiting) reminded me of another good, random story for this meme. Okay. In 8th grade I was in the Kiwanis Youth Symphony in Racine. We went to Florida to play a concert at Disneyworld and we were there for a couple of days. So imagine, you've got a bunch of middle and high school kids staying together in hotels. I think there were 4 people in a room. And.... I am not what you would call 'neat'. In fact, I am what you would call 'a total slob' (if left to my own devices). My other roomates, in typical teenage girl fashion, were also a bit on the slobby side. And anyway, one day our room was in such bad shape that the MAID LEFT US A NOTE that we needed to clean up our room. How bad is THAT??
B. Tiffany tagged everyone in the universe:
Jobs I've had
1. Music store clerk
2. 'Wrap Desk Coordinator' (aka lead register girl) at Express. Pre-cool headphones days.
3. College Pro home painter
4. medical records filer
Places I've lived
1. Alliance, OH.
2. Arlington Heights, IL
3. Racine, WI
4. Windham, NH
Foods I love
1. Indian food
2. Pizza
3. cheese curds
4. kringle
Websites I visit
1. Triangle Mommies
2. Go Fug Yourself
3. E! Online
4. Television Without Pity
Places I'd rather be
1. Sleeping
2. Shopping
3. Out at a nice dinner with friends (and husband, obviously)
4. Playing with my buggle!
Movies that I love
1. Amadeus
2. Zoolander
3. Rushmore
4. Star Wars
TV Shows I watch
1. Ugly Betty
2. Lost
3. The Amazing Race
4. Project Runway (although I have to buy this on iTunes, thanks so much Time Warner Cable for not getting Bravo in Durham!!)
People I tag:
Melissa (like you're going to get the time to do this, Ha!!)
Kendra
Brian
Roger
Annie
And you all can choose which of these memes you want to do. I am not a tyrant.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Morning at our house
This video made me laugh so hard I was crying.
Multiply this x 4 (even Beamish gets in on the action) and you will have the morning at our house. This morning while we were laying in bed, Brian said "The cats really get annoying in the morning!"
Multiply this x 4 (even Beamish gets in on the action) and you will have the morning at our house. This morning while we were laying in bed, Brian said "The cats really get annoying in the morning!"
Sunday, October 21, 2007
One day in daycare and the tough clothes tumble
You're going to have to trust me here, but Owen, despite all appearances, is not a homeless baby. He does have a Mommy and Daddy who love him, feed him, bathe him and clean his clothes. You would never know this if you saw him for the first time when we were on our way home from daycare.
When he was in the younger infants room, they would take the babies outside almost every day, but I think they would be playing on a blanket or in an exersaucer or something. He would come home looking almost exactly the same as he did when I dropped him off. Okay, maybe he'd have a clump of dried rice cereal in his hair, but nothing major.
Almost instantly upon being switched into the older infant room, Owen started coming home looking like a homeless baby. This is the anatomy of a homeless baby's outfit (I should also mention that when I picked him up this day, he had dirt all over his face because he had been trying to eat it).
This is a cute outfit we got as a gift. It was cute in the morning, anyhow. Here is what it looked like when I picked Owen up:
Exhibit 1. Some strange food stain. They do use bibs at daycare, but bibs are not foolproof.
Exhibit 2. Some other strange food stain plus a spot of barf. The barf actually happened on my watch. On the way home we needed to make a stop. When I was paying, I sat Owen up on the counter (I was holding him, obviously. I don't need no parenting classes!). He proceeded to barf all over himself, my arm, and the counter at the store.
Exhibit 3. The mysterious black knees and ankles. I really do not know what causes this, to be perfectly honest. I think it is the surface they have outside in their play area. It is like rubber gravel, if that makes any sense. I assume thats what these stains are from.
This mysterious black stain is the biggie. I can never get this out. Here's another pair of pants, part of a cute outfit:
These pants have been through the wash no less than FIVE TIMES. They have been treated with Shout, with OxyClean, with detergent, with a combination of these three, etc. This is the best I have been able to do.
@#%$!
When he was in the younger infants room, they would take the babies outside almost every day, but I think they would be playing on a blanket or in an exersaucer or something. He would come home looking almost exactly the same as he did when I dropped him off. Okay, maybe he'd have a clump of dried rice cereal in his hair, but nothing major.
Almost instantly upon being switched into the older infant room, Owen started coming home looking like a homeless baby. This is the anatomy of a homeless baby's outfit (I should also mention that when I picked him up this day, he had dirt all over his face because he had been trying to eat it).
This is a cute outfit we got as a gift. It was cute in the morning, anyhow. Here is what it looked like when I picked Owen up:
Exhibit 1. Some strange food stain. They do use bibs at daycare, but bibs are not foolproof.
Exhibit 2. Some other strange food stain plus a spot of barf. The barf actually happened on my watch. On the way home we needed to make a stop. When I was paying, I sat Owen up on the counter (I was holding him, obviously. I don't need no parenting classes!). He proceeded to barf all over himself, my arm, and the counter at the store.
Exhibit 3. The mysterious black knees and ankles. I really do not know what causes this, to be perfectly honest. I think it is the surface they have outside in their play area. It is like rubber gravel, if that makes any sense. I assume thats what these stains are from.
This mysterious black stain is the biggie. I can never get this out. Here's another pair of pants, part of a cute outfit:
These pants have been through the wash no less than FIVE TIMES. They have been treated with Shout, with OxyClean, with detergent, with a combination of these three, etc. This is the best I have been able to do.
@#%$!
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Taking dorkyness to an even higher level
Well, so upon reflection, thats probably not true.
I think I hit my peak of loserdom when I joined the band at my work. I'm a scientist, and I work with a bunch of scientists. So being in the band at a science place is like, the height of dork. But in the band at work I have been playing saxophone. Of the three instruments that I own and thus could play now without having to go out and rent (flute, alto sax and oboe), the flute and sax are the easiest to pick up again after a 10 year hiatus (and actually, I played in the CWRU jazz band for my first year of grad school, so it was slightly more recently that my sax had gotten some action).
Oboe is a very challenging instrument to sound good on at the beginning. All new oboe players sound like dying ducks. I was thinking that all oboe players, despite the fact that they used to be very good, would sound like dying ducks after not touching their oboes since their last concert of college 10 years ago. So, even though it was really my primary instrument, I was terrified to try it again. I think even more so because it was my best one: what a shock to go from sounding pretty good to sounding like a dying duck! Better to just keep the good memories of how it used to be.
But then someone in my work band joined the Durham Community Concert Band. He totally talked me into joining. And, of course, what community band is looking for a saxophone player or a flute player? None of them. Both of those are a dime a dozen. So it was settled: I was going to play oboe.
Holy crap.
I never learned how to make reeds to any level that I could actually use them and sound good (long story why not, but suffice it to say that I am a freak among oboe players to not know how to make my own reeds). In college I used to use the other oboe players reeds when she didn't like them anymore. She always said she was amazed that I could sound so good playing on such crap :)
So anyhow, I had to buy some reeds first. I did this over the internet. Woo!
Then I had to make friends with my oboe again. I busted it out about a week before my first practice with the band. Not good. Although, to be fair, not as bad as I thought it would be.
First rehearsal. It is 2 hours long. My embochure is so shot that I cannot keep my mouth on the reed for more than 15 minutes. This is going to be a nightmare.
Second rehearsal. Much better! I can keep my mouth on the reed for much longer. An hour!
Now it has been 6 or 7 practices, so I am feeling much better about things. Our first concert is coming up on the 27th AND I have a solo. Small, but still. OMG. And I'm happy to say that I sound okay. I mean, nowhere near where I used to be, but I don't sound like a beginner.
I think I hit my peak of loserdom when I joined the band at my work. I'm a scientist, and I work with a bunch of scientists. So being in the band at a science place is like, the height of dork. But in the band at work I have been playing saxophone. Of the three instruments that I own and thus could play now without having to go out and rent (flute, alto sax and oboe), the flute and sax are the easiest to pick up again after a 10 year hiatus (and actually, I played in the CWRU jazz band for my first year of grad school, so it was slightly more recently that my sax had gotten some action).
Oboe is a very challenging instrument to sound good on at the beginning. All new oboe players sound like dying ducks. I was thinking that all oboe players, despite the fact that they used to be very good, would sound like dying ducks after not touching their oboes since their last concert of college 10 years ago. So, even though it was really my primary instrument, I was terrified to try it again. I think even more so because it was my best one: what a shock to go from sounding pretty good to sounding like a dying duck! Better to just keep the good memories of how it used to be.
But then someone in my work band joined the Durham Community Concert Band. He totally talked me into joining. And, of course, what community band is looking for a saxophone player or a flute player? None of them. Both of those are a dime a dozen. So it was settled: I was going to play oboe.
Holy crap.
I never learned how to make reeds to any level that I could actually use them and sound good (long story why not, but suffice it to say that I am a freak among oboe players to not know how to make my own reeds). In college I used to use the other oboe players reeds when she didn't like them anymore. She always said she was amazed that I could sound so good playing on such crap :)
So anyhow, I had to buy some reeds first. I did this over the internet. Woo!
Then I had to make friends with my oboe again. I busted it out about a week before my first practice with the band. Not good. Although, to be fair, not as bad as I thought it would be.
First rehearsal. It is 2 hours long. My embochure is so shot that I cannot keep my mouth on the reed for more than 15 minutes. This is going to be a nightmare.
Second rehearsal. Much better! I can keep my mouth on the reed for much longer. An hour!
Now it has been 6 or 7 practices, so I am feeling much better about things. Our first concert is coming up on the 27th AND I have a solo. Small, but still. OMG. And I'm happy to say that I sound okay. I mean, nowhere near where I used to be, but I don't sound like a beginner.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
I'd make a pretty crap Southerner.
Last week I went to Carolina Beach for my work retreat. I drove out there with two of my friends from work. G is a relatively recent transplant from Canada, D is from Iowa, but his wife is from South Carolina. G asked about boiled peanuts, because you see signs on the highway for them a lot. I've never had boiled peanuts, and neither had he. D, being married to a Southerner, has had them and tried to describe them to us. And they did not sound good. We had to stop to get gas and there was a guy selling peanuts and stuff out of a little trailer at the gas station, so D bought us some boiled peanuts to try. I bought some regular peanuts in case they were nasty and we needed to get the taste out of our mouths.
If you've never been so "fortunate" to come across boiled peanuts, here is a picture I took of them:
They look slimy, and thats because they are. Wet and cold. Actually, D said that when he had had them previously they were served hot. These had crystals of some sort on them, either ice (ew) or salt (I love salt but... ew).
They look kind of normal on the inside, but instead of being dry and crunchy looking, they look like a wet dog.
I wish I had taken a picture of me eating a boiled peanut. D's analysis that they tasted a bit like beans was right on. It was like eating cold, slimy, al dente kidney beans out of cold slimy little cases. I don't think G or I will be picking up any more boiled peanuts.
Also, they were totally not what I expected. I don't know, I expected them to be green for some reason, don't ask me why. And I also didn't expect them to be in their shells. I think I was picturing another thing that, I don't know, but I think might also be Southern because I have never seen it before: wet walnuts. I've never had them, but they are a topping or mix-in you can choose at our local frozen custard place. Yet another reason why NC frozen custard is a little bit off. I guess I thought those were boiled. The guy in the trailer was selling those too - wet peanuts or something - in little containers and I thought thats what the boiled peanuts were going to be. You can imagine my shock when D whipped out the plastic bag full of slimy, cold, wet peanut shells.
At my retreat we were subjected to another strange Southern thing, sweet tea. Actually, thats not revolting like the boiled peanuts were, but I'm still not a huge fan. It tastes good but is a lot sweeter than I like my iced tea to be.
This past weekend we went to the local Farmers' Market with D and his wife K. I saw some purple hull peas, which I see every week when I go to the Farmers' Market but I never know what to do with. But I asked her what to do with them, and she said she usually serves them with rice. I decided to cook them with onion, garlic, carrot, celery and tomatoes and some herbs and served them with rice, a la K-dog. They weren't bad, actually, especially when I covered the whole thing in hot sauce.
Another friend from work (an Indian friend) gave me some ideas of what to do with them to make indian peas. They're essentially black-eyed peas, which I've had in indian before. So I might try that next. They were a good compromise between Brian and I because he likes peas (he's English, what do you expect?) and I hate them. These actually had a slight pea taste, but not enough that they made me want to hurl.
If you've never been so "fortunate" to come across boiled peanuts, here is a picture I took of them:
They look slimy, and thats because they are. Wet and cold. Actually, D said that when he had had them previously they were served hot. These had crystals of some sort on them, either ice (ew) or salt (I love salt but... ew).
They look kind of normal on the inside, but instead of being dry and crunchy looking, they look like a wet dog.
I wish I had taken a picture of me eating a boiled peanut. D's analysis that they tasted a bit like beans was right on. It was like eating cold, slimy, al dente kidney beans out of cold slimy little cases. I don't think G or I will be picking up any more boiled peanuts.
Also, they were totally not what I expected. I don't know, I expected them to be green for some reason, don't ask me why. And I also didn't expect them to be in their shells. I think I was picturing another thing that, I don't know, but I think might also be Southern because I have never seen it before: wet walnuts. I've never had them, but they are a topping or mix-in you can choose at our local frozen custard place. Yet another reason why NC frozen custard is a little bit off. I guess I thought those were boiled. The guy in the trailer was selling those too - wet peanuts or something - in little containers and I thought thats what the boiled peanuts were going to be. You can imagine my shock when D whipped out the plastic bag full of slimy, cold, wet peanut shells.
At my retreat we were subjected to another strange Southern thing, sweet tea. Actually, thats not revolting like the boiled peanuts were, but I'm still not a huge fan. It tastes good but is a lot sweeter than I like my iced tea to be.
This past weekend we went to the local Farmers' Market with D and his wife K. I saw some purple hull peas, which I see every week when I go to the Farmers' Market but I never know what to do with. But I asked her what to do with them, and she said she usually serves them with rice. I decided to cook them with onion, garlic, carrot, celery and tomatoes and some herbs and served them with rice, a la K-dog. They weren't bad, actually, especially when I covered the whole thing in hot sauce.
Another friend from work (an Indian friend) gave me some ideas of what to do with them to make indian peas. They're essentially black-eyed peas, which I've had in indian before. So I might try that next. They were a good compromise between Brian and I because he likes peas (he's English, what do you expect?) and I hate them. These actually had a slight pea taste, but not enough that they made me want to hurl.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Four stars!!
Do you ever read People magazine? I do. I subscribe to it. I love all that sort of trash.
Anyhow, People also has music, movie and book reviews. The movie and music reviews will often be low. I mean, I'm flipping through one issue right now and I see three music reviews that got only 2 and a half stars. But I've noticed that the book reviews are ALWAYS high. I can't remember ever seeing one lower than 3 stars. And I think I can only remember one that was 3. Usually they're 3 and a half or 4. And I noticed this a while ago, so I've made it a point to check every time I get a new issue (weekly). Are all books fan-freaking-tastic?? I find that hard to believe. I have read books. They are not all good.
I'm not sure exactly how to explain this phenomenon. The best I can come up with is that all writing looks like 4 star work compared to People? Not that I'm complaining, obviously.
Anyhow, People also has music, movie and book reviews. The movie and music reviews will often be low. I mean, I'm flipping through one issue right now and I see three music reviews that got only 2 and a half stars. But I've noticed that the book reviews are ALWAYS high. I can't remember ever seeing one lower than 3 stars. And I think I can only remember one that was 3. Usually they're 3 and a half or 4. And I noticed this a while ago, so I've made it a point to check every time I get a new issue (weekly). Are all books fan-freaking-tastic?? I find that hard to believe. I have read books. They are not all good.
I'm not sure exactly how to explain this phenomenon. The best I can come up with is that all writing looks like 4 star work compared to People? Not that I'm complaining, obviously.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Oh I know....!
I know, you all want my links back. Well, you're just going to have to wait! That is going to take more time to accomplish than I have at my disposal right now. Thats the real bugger about switching templates. Whine whine!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
New template in progress
I think blogger dumped the template I was using, because it never comes up anymore and it is no longer available as a choice. I don't like any of the choices that exist already, so I'm going to have to come up with something myself. Give me some time.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Our new reality: back to back to back to back colds
Owen has had a cold for 3 weeks now. Its fun when a baby has a cold. Owen has already described to you on his blog some aspects of this, which are "Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy!!" The most fun part actually is the constant battle with mucus. I am looking forward eagerly to the day when Owen learns how to blow his nose. Because right now, not so much. This is accomplished with a bulb syringe I got at the hospital when Owen was born, and he HATES IT. I mean, I would hate it too, so I can't really blame him for having a total freakout every time I do it, but still. He can't eat when his nose is blocked so we start nursing, it goes horribly, we stop (which pisses him off in and of itself) and then go upstairs to his room where the evil bulb syringe lives. Then the real screaming and fighting can commence. The rest of the time Owen has twin trails of snot coming out of his nose at all times. Wiping his nose is also met with screaming.
I have been biding my time waiting for this to come to an end, but it has been 3 weeks today so I took him into the pediatrician this morning. The doctor told me that yes, this was an awful long time for one cold to last (typically 10-14 days), so he was guessing that we had actually had two colds back to back, and that this was not unusual for babies in day care. Hurrah. This could have been what happened for sure, and I probably missed the middle part of it because that was probably when he had roseola (for the second time! woo!) over Labor Day weekend. Yeeha!
Now I'm getting the cold too, my throat is sore. I guess this is going to be our life now. Hurrah!
I have been biding my time waiting for this to come to an end, but it has been 3 weeks today so I took him into the pediatrician this morning. The doctor told me that yes, this was an awful long time for one cold to last (typically 10-14 days), so he was guessing that we had actually had two colds back to back, and that this was not unusual for babies in day care. Hurrah. This could have been what happened for sure, and I probably missed the middle part of it because that was probably when he had roseola (for the second time! woo!) over Labor Day weekend. Yeeha!
Now I'm getting the cold too, my throat is sore. I guess this is going to be our life now. Hurrah!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Joining this decade
You read my blog and you probably think to yourself, "My. Lisa is soooooo technologically advanced and with it! I mean, she has a blog! And her 8 month old son has a blog! I am in awe!"
Yeah, okay. But I am not on Myspace. And I am not on Facebook.
I never got the appeal of Myspace and I'm afraid I still don't. First of all, most people's Myspace pages make my eyeballs hurt. Second of all, I mean, what do you do?? I have no idea.
Yesterday I got an invite to be someone's friend on Facebook. It was someone I knew when we lived in Cleveland but had lost touch with, so I thought it would be a good excuse to see what she was up to. I joined. Facebook checked out my Gmail account for people who were in my address book that also had Facebook accounts. Lo! Many, many instant friends. A few surprises:
1. My father-in-law
2. My PhD advisor
These are not people I expected to be Facebooking. But my PhD advisor is all into undergrads (I mean, professionally, not in some weird way) so I guess that is why he is there. I do not know why my father-in-law is on Facebook. He has only one friend, Brian's cousin, so I guess he's not super into it. I'm looking forward to hearing about this actually, so next email Mr. C - an explanation!
Today I was busy doing important scientific experiments, but I had lots of short incubations or something where I went on Facebook. I can see now how you can get addicted to it. You can search for new friends! Add things to your page! Write on other people's pages! See what TV shows everyone likes!
I put some stuff on my page. A daily quote from Karl Pilkington. A thing where you can buy me a virtual drink. I wrote on some people's pages. I got more friends, like some people from college that I had not talked to since, well, college.
So now I'm all 2005! Woo!
Yeah, okay. But I am not on Myspace. And I am not on Facebook.
I never got the appeal of Myspace and I'm afraid I still don't. First of all, most people's Myspace pages make my eyeballs hurt. Second of all, I mean, what do you do?? I have no idea.
Yesterday I got an invite to be someone's friend on Facebook. It was someone I knew when we lived in Cleveland but had lost touch with, so I thought it would be a good excuse to see what she was up to. I joined. Facebook checked out my Gmail account for people who were in my address book that also had Facebook accounts. Lo! Many, many instant friends. A few surprises:
1. My father-in-law
2. My PhD advisor
These are not people I expected to be Facebooking. But my PhD advisor is all into undergrads (I mean, professionally, not in some weird way) so I guess that is why he is there. I do not know why my father-in-law is on Facebook. He has only one friend, Brian's cousin, so I guess he's not super into it. I'm looking forward to hearing about this actually, so next email Mr. C - an explanation!
Today I was busy doing important scientific experiments, but I had lots of short incubations or something where I went on Facebook. I can see now how you can get addicted to it. You can search for new friends! Add things to your page! Write on other people's pages! See what TV shows everyone likes!
I put some stuff on my page. A daily quote from Karl Pilkington. A thing where you can buy me a virtual drink. I wrote on some people's pages. I got more friends, like some people from college that I had not talked to since, well, college.
So now I'm all 2005! Woo!
Friday, September 07, 2007
iPhone update
Well, the day of the iPhone price drop, I talked to someone at the Apple store (Okay, I know someone who works there, who, like many of the Apple employees was in the same boat as I was). That night he was somehow able to swing a refund of the $200 price difference. I think it was helpful that this all happened on the day of the price drop - the Apple stores were bombarded with people just like me, all wanting a refund. They didn't quite know how to handle it, and they gave a number of refunds that night. I think it helped if you were nice to them, as is true of pretty much any other case where you are a customer trying to get something from a company - a lot of people were not! Anyhow, so I ended up getting the refund on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Apple announced that they would give a $100 store credit to others who had bought iPhones before the price drop.
While I was certainly super annoyed about the whole thing and felt a bit betrayed by the company, I don't know that I really felt like they OWED me something. I mean, as I said, when you buy technology soon after it comes out, you are going to pay the highest price for it. You know the price will go down, but you don't expect it to go down so much, so quickly. This sort of drop was pretty much unprecedented for Apple. I did feel though like they took advantage of their most loyal customers, which sucked. They basically confirmed that they were totally taking us for a ride with the original price of the iPhone.
So, even though the $100 credit is sort of nothing to them (if anything, it will bring in more money to them because what can you buy for $100 or less?), it was nice of them to quickly make an attempt to smooth things over. From a customer service standpoint, they did pretty well.
On Thursday, Apple announced that they would give a $100 store credit to others who had bought iPhones before the price drop.
While I was certainly super annoyed about the whole thing and felt a bit betrayed by the company, I don't know that I really felt like they OWED me something. I mean, as I said, when you buy technology soon after it comes out, you are going to pay the highest price for it. You know the price will go down, but you don't expect it to go down so much, so quickly. This sort of drop was pretty much unprecedented for Apple. I did feel though like they took advantage of their most loyal customers, which sucked. They basically confirmed that they were totally taking us for a ride with the original price of the iPhone.
So, even though the $100 credit is sort of nothing to them (if anything, it will bring in more money to them because what can you buy for $100 or less?), it was nice of them to quickly make an attempt to smooth things over. From a customer service standpoint, they did pretty well.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Thanks for totally screwing me, Apple.
Dear Apple,
I am a dedicated Apple fan. I don't think I've ever owned a computer that wasn't an Apple. An Apple IIGS, a Quadra, a series of iMacs (I have had one of each style!), a PowerBook, a MacBook Pro. There are three iPods in our house at the moment. I sing your praises to anyone who will listen.
Obviously, I desperately wanted an iPhone. Desperately. I did not run right out and buy one, I waited a month or so to make sure it lived up to its promise. It did. I bought one. 27 days ago, to be exact. It was a LOT to spend on a new gadget, especially given that I have a (relatively) new baby at home, a job that doesn't pay a spectactular amount, and a new day care bill to contend with. But my husband indulged my need for gadgets and my blinding love for all things Apple and found the money so I could get one. Obviously I bought the more expensive of the two, the 8GB one - better to have the space when I want it then save some money now!
So. I'm sure you can imagine how absolutely freaking ticked off I was today when I saw that you had dropped the price on the iPhone from $599 to $399. Today. what is it... almost 70 days since it came out? Something like that. Also, less than 30 days after I purchased it.
When you buy into new technology at the beginning, you expect that the price will go down at some point. You know that, but you accept it. You do not, however, expect that the price of the new technology will drop SUBSTANTIALLY, two months after it is introduced.
What is most aggravating about this whole thing is this: Who were the people who bought iPhones in the first 70 days? The people who love Apple. Your most loyal customers. So basically, you've just told us "Ha! Suckers!"
Thats great. Thanks.
I am a dedicated Apple fan. I don't think I've ever owned a computer that wasn't an Apple. An Apple IIGS, a Quadra, a series of iMacs (I have had one of each style!), a PowerBook, a MacBook Pro. There are three iPods in our house at the moment. I sing your praises to anyone who will listen.
Obviously, I desperately wanted an iPhone. Desperately. I did not run right out and buy one, I waited a month or so to make sure it lived up to its promise. It did. I bought one. 27 days ago, to be exact. It was a LOT to spend on a new gadget, especially given that I have a (relatively) new baby at home, a job that doesn't pay a spectactular amount, and a new day care bill to contend with. But my husband indulged my need for gadgets and my blinding love for all things Apple and found the money so I could get one. Obviously I bought the more expensive of the two, the 8GB one - better to have the space when I want it then save some money now!
So. I'm sure you can imagine how absolutely freaking ticked off I was today when I saw that you had dropped the price on the iPhone from $599 to $399. Today. what is it... almost 70 days since it came out? Something like that. Also, less than 30 days after I purchased it.
When you buy into new technology at the beginning, you expect that the price will go down at some point. You know that, but you accept it. You do not, however, expect that the price of the new technology will drop SUBSTANTIALLY, two months after it is introduced.
What is most aggravating about this whole thing is this: Who were the people who bought iPhones in the first 70 days? The people who love Apple. Your most loyal customers. So basically, you've just told us "Ha! Suckers!"
Thats great. Thanks.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Ways you can tell I have to give a talk on Tuesday
1. Today I cleaned all of the doorknobs in the house with disinfecting wipes. For the first time, I think, ever (actually, its a bit surprising that I didn't do it at least once, if not daily, while I was writing my thesis).
2. I would have washed the hardwood floors if Brian hadn't just done it yesterday.
3. I spent about an hour last night updating everyone's blogs.
4. I've checked Triangle Mommies for new posts about every hour. Or, okay, more like every 15 minutes.
5. I've been looking at pictures of cells all freaking day. And yesterday. And the day before. And I think my eyes are about to drop out of my head.
6. Oh, forget it. I give up. Bleh.
2. I would have washed the hardwood floors if Brian hadn't just done it yesterday.
3. I spent about an hour last night updating everyone's blogs.
4. I've checked Triangle Mommies for new posts about every hour. Or, okay, more like every 15 minutes.
5. I've been looking at pictures of cells all freaking day. And yesterday. And the day before. And I think my eyes are about to drop out of my head.
6. Oh, forget it. I give up. Bleh.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Cat toys experiment
We have accumulated a lot of cat toys. I think the major problem is that they get stuck under the couch, the refrigerator, the washing machine, so we lose track of what we have and buy more. Sometimes Brian will do a big clear out and liberate all of the cat toys at one time. Then the cats set about getting them back under the couch. We imagine that they have little cat thoughts like this:
"Hm.. I think I'll go over here and take a nap. What the...? Oh man! He got them all back out again! Ugh. He's always making a mess with those. I mean, I don't have any thumbs! I can't pick them up! All I can do is try to bat them around and under stuff, and that takes FOREVER. Well. I guess I'd better get busy putting those away again. Hopefully he'll get the message this time!"
We have also noticed in the past that some toys appear to be preferred by the cats, but we never remember which ones. So this time, we decided to do an experiment.
Here, Brian is setting up the cat toys:
Jasmine was immediately intrigued/annoyed by our experiment and decided to get an early start:
Here's what we found when we woke up in the morning. You can see that the light green mouse that was closest to Brian, the wooly pink mouse (it doesn't look like much of a mouse anymore), the glittery green mouse and one of the green rope mice are gone. It would appear that the cats don't like the rope mice much, but they do like green!
Whoops! An interloper!
The baby also doesn't seem to like the rope mice. He goes straight for the Fish.
Then for the leopard print ball...
And whats better than one ball? Two that you can bang together!
Beamish surveys the destruction left in the baby's wake.
A few hours later, I check in again. The Fish is gone, but whether this was baby-related or cat-related is not clear. Also missing: one of the red rope mice. Surprise, the two balls are back!
Later that evening, not much has changed. One yellow rope mouse is missing, but that is it. All is quiet on the cat toys front.
That night we know that something major is going on, because Cherry is heard annoyedly meowing ALL FRIGGING NIGHT. This seriously disrupts the sleep of the lead researcher whose ears are already baby-trained to be supersensitive! And we were right. The next morning, all of the cat toys have been "put away" except the leopard print ball.
The baby is fine with this result, because the leopard print ball becomes his favorite new plaything. I guess he just wanted to get revenge on the cats for past injustices. In fact, when the baby was having issues with the cats overstepping their boundaries, Caleb suggested that one day the tables would be turned. It appears that he was right.
Results:
- The non-rope mice are favorites.
- Green is the cats favorite color.
- If all the other cats slack off, Cherry will clean up for everyone. This is no surprise, as Cherry is very conscientious in cleaning up. I swear, she'll spend like, 10 minutes kicking the cat litter around after she does her business, until no trace of the smell remains. Then she'll spend another 5 minutes wiping her paws on the mat beside the litter box.
- The baby prefers the balls.
- No one likes the rope mice.
"Hm.. I think I'll go over here and take a nap. What the...? Oh man! He got them all back out again! Ugh. He's always making a mess with those. I mean, I don't have any thumbs! I can't pick them up! All I can do is try to bat them around and under stuff, and that takes FOREVER. Well. I guess I'd better get busy putting those away again. Hopefully he'll get the message this time!"
We have also noticed in the past that some toys appear to be preferred by the cats, but we never remember which ones. So this time, we decided to do an experiment.
Here, Brian is setting up the cat toys:
Jasmine was immediately intrigued/annoyed by our experiment and decided to get an early start:
Here's what we found when we woke up in the morning. You can see that the light green mouse that was closest to Brian, the wooly pink mouse (it doesn't look like much of a mouse anymore), the glittery green mouse and one of the green rope mice are gone. It would appear that the cats don't like the rope mice much, but they do like green!
Whoops! An interloper!
The baby also doesn't seem to like the rope mice. He goes straight for the Fish.
Then for the leopard print ball...
And whats better than one ball? Two that you can bang together!
Beamish surveys the destruction left in the baby's wake.
A few hours later, I check in again. The Fish is gone, but whether this was baby-related or cat-related is not clear. Also missing: one of the red rope mice. Surprise, the two balls are back!
Later that evening, not much has changed. One yellow rope mouse is missing, but that is it. All is quiet on the cat toys front.
That night we know that something major is going on, because Cherry is heard annoyedly meowing ALL FRIGGING NIGHT. This seriously disrupts the sleep of the lead researcher whose ears are already baby-trained to be supersensitive! And we were right. The next morning, all of the cat toys have been "put away" except the leopard print ball.
The baby is fine with this result, because the leopard print ball becomes his favorite new plaything. I guess he just wanted to get revenge on the cats for past injustices. In fact, when the baby was having issues with the cats overstepping their boundaries, Caleb suggested that one day the tables would be turned. It appears that he was right.
Results:
- The non-rope mice are favorites.
- Green is the cats favorite color.
- If all the other cats slack off, Cherry will clean up for everyone. This is no surprise, as Cherry is very conscientious in cleaning up. I swear, she'll spend like, 10 minutes kicking the cat litter around after she does her business, until no trace of the smell remains. Then she'll spend another 5 minutes wiping her paws on the mat beside the litter box.
- The baby prefers the balls.
- No one likes the rope mice.
Cherry - Bug Assasin
All of our cats are fat, pretty much, but Cherry is the fattest. By far. She looks like a big stripey sausage. But Cherry has a secret identity: Ninja Bug Assasin. Cherry plucks bugs out of the air and eats them, while the other cats look on admiringly. Here is but one example of her powers:
Ninja cat from meandertail and Vimeo.
Ninja cat from meandertail and Vimeo.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
comics
Our newspaper is running a bunch of test comics to replace various ones that are gone or going. One of them I had never seen before, F Minus. It is HILARIOUS. Unfortunately its month long test is over now so I thought I'd look it up on the internets. Check it out! He has a blog too where he sometimes explains the story behind the cartoon. <
Speaking of comics, there are some comics that I can't believe still exist. Like, who reads Family Circus? Anyone? Garfield used to be funny when I was a kid (or maybe I just had a kids sense of humor and maybe it is just as funny now...) but now it totally sucks. And, Dennis the Menace and Marmaduke? OMG.
Other comics I actually enjoy and I can't understand why. In this category we would find Funky Winkerbean. It is so depressing, and yet I read it every day.
What are your favorite comics, and which ones can you totally not stand?
Speaking of comics, there are some comics that I can't believe still exist. Like, who reads Family Circus? Anyone? Garfield used to be funny when I was a kid (or maybe I just had a kids sense of humor and maybe it is just as funny now...) but now it totally sucks. And, Dennis the Menace and Marmaduke? OMG.
Other comics I actually enjoy and I can't understand why. In this category we would find Funky Winkerbean. It is so depressing, and yet I read it every day.
What are your favorite comics, and which ones can you totally not stand?
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