Quotable Thursday #16

"Youth is when you're allowed to stay up late on New Year's Eve. Middle age is when you're forced to." - Bill Vaughn.

Christmas 2009 Recap

Christmas 2009 was a busy one, though I feel as if Dave and I actually got a little bit of time to ourselves this year, which was a nice change.

Our first Christmas event was back on the 12th at the NAC for the DST Christmas Party. It was a really nice event with great food. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, including Dave and myself. I took the little camera out for a field trip and it fared pretty well, for a point-and-shoot. We also apparently got a semi-decent photo of Dave and I, which is an added bonus as I think this is the only image of Dave and I for all of 2009 (the Dave and Steph folder on my computer seems to be empty).

The second Christmas event was on the 18th at Chris, Jerrica and Lindsay's house, lovingly called Die Hohle. The Christmas dinner was set up by Jerrica and was a really nice idea. We got another excuse to get dressed up (because I really do need reasons to wear something nicer than jeans out of the house) and ate some good, homemade food. Hats off to everyone who helped with the dinner. I plan on putting these photos up on Flickr once I get the ability to work on them back - I will let you know when that happens. For now, please enjoy a photo of the eggnog Dan made - I am told it was really good (I wouldn't know as I don't drink eggnog because it is weird).

I am considering the third Christmas event to be the weekend that Dave and I set up the tree and the proceeding weekend where we attempted to get all of our Christmas shopping done. I swear Christmas really creeped up on us this year. Normally I would have all my shopping done by November 30th at the latest, this year though Dave and I were buying the last of the gift cards on the 21st!

Fourth Christmas took place on the 23rd and 24th at Dave's parents' house. Some of his extended family from both sides were there and we again ate really some good food. We also played a lot of Wii and I of course took a ton of photos. Dave's family asked for a family portrait to be done this year, likely because it is the last time they will be in Canada for Christmas. We shot in three locations, but this was my favourite photo so far. I think it came out pretty well (though I am thinking it could use some lighting up in the back - I am not completely done with it yet).

Once Christmas in Peterborough was done, we headed to Prescott. We spent Christmas Day with my parents, brother and sister-in-law and my Mom's Dad. We ate our traditional Christmas dinner and opened our gifts, which were of course awesome. We also spent some not so traditional time in the hot tub which was a super nice treat - oh how I wish we had a hot tub here in Ottawa. Mom tried something new this year and put our Christmas money in little tiny gift bags which she then put on the tree. The plan was to tell us to go to the tree every once in awhile and let us get one. In reality, she kept forgetting about it until we reminded her and we ended up getting two each time. It was still a rather interesting way to get our Christmas money.

Thankfully the very dirty car had winter tires on and made it everywhere this year as it wasn't the greatest weather while we were driving around. To the right is a photo of the car (taken from the passenger seat). As you can see, it was very packed on the drive home and it took Dave and I a fair bit to get everything into the house. The process was sped up a bit by the fact that it was ice raining and neither of us wanted to be outside. To date, the only things that have been properly put away have been the gifts. All of the things we took with us, clothes, etc are going through the normal process of sitting in the luggage until they are needed.

I am still looking forward to exchanging gifts with a few friends, though I need to buy those gifts yet (this is not me procrastinating but rather something we do every year to ensure the things we needed to get for Christmas are received).

All in all, Christmas was really good. It was a little stressful at times due to the driving, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It would have been nice to spend more time with each family, but we only get a few days off for the holiday and needed some time to ourselves as well.

Meadowlands Christmas

A couple weekends ago Dave and I spent several hours 'putting up Christmas' in our house. We set up the tree and our stockings and even got a large portion of our gifts wrapped - it was a rather productive time. We did have a few issues with the tree, like the very top bit not being strong enough to support our star and Dave having to MacGyver an attachment piece for it.

We also learned that the tree would look better with both white and blue lights rather than just the blue ones we got during the Boxing Day sales last year. So the goal this year is to get some white tree lights so that we can have both next year (excess blue lights will be used to decorate some windows as we don't have any window decorations this year - at least not yet) - we also need a tree skirt. I am really happy with our Christmas decorations, we obviously have a blue and white/silver theme going and I think it looks really pretty and very Christmas-y.

I've Got Your Back

It's just so funny!

Transparent Fish

This 'weird fish with transparent head' was first discovered in 1939, but has only recently been found alive. The image was taken in 2004 but was just released in February, 2009 and published on the National Geographic website. It was taken by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in the deep waters off California's central coast. Its name is barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) and as you can see, its forehead is similar to a cockpit. It is completely transparent enabling you to see its inner workings. What you would think were eyes at the front of its head are actually smell sensors. The eyes are tubes (or barrels - hence barreleye) that lie under the green domes in its head. The domes themselves are used to filter out the small amounts of light that reaches down into the deep, dark waters it calls home.
(information and image found at National Geographic)

Boxing Day

Every year when I was little I would go Boxing Day shopping with my mom. We usually waited until later in the day as to avoid as much as the crowds as possible and we normally just bought Christmas stuff for next year (cards, ornaments, etc.). Last year was the first year we faced the crowds and actually got to a store before it opened, though this part was not actually planned. Dave and I bought our name brand 32" TV and GPS unit for the car as well as the traditional Christmas stuff. It was very pleasant.
This year we waited until the stores were open before we headed out of my parents' house. Upon arriving at the store, we realized that the Christmas stuff had been almost completely bought out and though we were able to get a tree skirt for out Christmas tree, we weren't able to get anything else 'Christmas-y'. Dave bought some stuff from Future Shop and I looked into some Bamboo stuff, but didn't buy anything as it wasn't on sale and I need to think about it a little longer. It was definitely a much lower key Boxing Day as compared to last year.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays everyone!!
(I know this is the same image as last year, but without Photoshop, I can't make a new one)

Quotable Thursday #15

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time" - Laura Ingalls-Wilder.

Way Back Whenesday: Super S

Do you remember drawing this? I sure do. I think I drew it more than most people as my name starts with S and I would often use it to start my name when signing it. I also tried to mimic the style with the other letters in my name, but I don't think I ever got it to work quite right. The drawing I found of the Super S also has an optional hat feature, which I don't think I ever did, but was apparently just as popular.

All I Want for Christmas...

...is well, everything. I have compiled a list of wants for this Christmas season. As usual, I don't distribute this list anywhere but here, and don't intend to actual receive really any of the gifts from the Dream List, but I think it is fun to make and it helps me determine what I will want to buy myself throughout the next year.


Dream List

1. Nikon SB-800 flash unit;
2. Macro lens;
3. Nikon 28-105mm 1:3.5-4.5D lens;
4. Nikon SC-29 flash cord;
5. Adobe CS4;
6. Bamboo tablet (pen and touch, 5"x7" or larger);
7. External hard drive (with viewing screen);
8. Small chest freezer;
9. Kitchenaid toaster;
10. Winter coat (sport, detachable layers, water resistant); and,
11. Winter boots (work boot style).

Rational List

1. Photography portfolio (I believe this is coming from Dave's sister - yay!);
2. Photography reflector (white/gold);
3. Epson photo paper (8"x10" - cheapest is at Canada Computer in Ottawa [near Costco]);
4. Cirque tickets & Disney Vacation (this would be part of the dream list, but Dave and I already know it is coming from his parents - how awesome is that!);
5. Gift cards (Sears [I need capri pants for Florida], Ricki's, Reitmans, Bluenotes, Cappucci hair salon [in Ottawa], Henry's, Future Shop/Best Buy); and
6. Money is always useful.

As you can see, many of the things I want, both in dream world and the rational world, are photography based. I am pretty sure those of you who know me, or read this blog regularly could have guessed that be the case.

Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy died yesterday (December 20, 2009) at age 32 apparently from cardiac arrest. An autopsy is being performed to determine if this was indeed the cause of death.
She starred in a couple classic teen movies such as Clueless, but also more serious dramas like Girl, Interrupted. She also had some face time on the tabloids when she was dating Ashton Kutcher in 2002. Brittany Murphy dabbled in music as well when she sang with Paul Oaklenfold and also in the movie Happy Feet.
She seemed to have a good career going for her, and on the more quiet side of Hollywood to boot. I really hope her death is confirmed to be natural and the tabloids let her rest in peace.

Ctrl + Alt + Del

A while back, okay a long while back, Chris told Dave and me about a webcomic she thought we would really like = Ctrl+Alt+Del. She would periodically send me links to pages of it, most of which were about WoW. Neither Dave nor myself really got into the series, that is until recently. Dave has finished reading the entire comic series from back when it started in 2005 to the most recent posts. I am somewhere in the middle of 2006 and have a fair bit left until I am caught up, but am really enjoying it. Essentially it is a webcomic about two gamers. There is lots about gaming, obviously, and computers and comics and some movies (mostly game based movies), but also bits about their lives. I really like it and think it is actually quite funny. Everyone should check it out. (I have also added a link to it on the right)
(oh and the image is from the Ctrl+Alt+Del website)

Quotable Thursday #14

"Life isn't fair. It is just fairer than death, that's all." - William Goldman (The Princess Bride)

Working without a Header

So as you can tell, the only blog of the three that I run to have a header is my Photography one. As I lost Photoshop a little while ago, I have been unable to create (or finish creating) the headers for this blog and my weight loss blog. I had a grand idea for the weight loss blog and was just about to start it when I lost Photoshop. I had been working on a header for this blog, and had some prototypes, but nothing I really loved. So, unfortunately these blogs will be running without a header for a little while yet as Dave and I try to trick my computer into letting me install Photoshop again. Not having access to it is really hindering my creative process; however, I have reinstalled Lightroom 3 (the Beta version is available for free from Adobe) and am able to complete basic alterations and edits to my photos.

Feature Listings

Interested in looking up a previously posted feature? Well now it is easier to do just that.
I have made the list of features (over on the right) links to posts where a full listing of feature posts can be found (including their original post date). Enjoy.

How-To Tuesday: Make a Basic Collage in Photoshop

Chris asks me How to Make a Collage in Photoshop on a semi-regular basis, and though she wrote it down last time I told her, which was a while ago now, I figured I would post it here for anyone else who might be interested.
Step 1. Decide if you want a basic coloured background (1a) or a picture as your background (1b).
1a. Coloured Background
If you want a coloured background you can do one two things (i and ii):
i. After opening Photoshop, create a new image. Input the dimensions you want the final collage to be (the size of one of your photos might be a good place to start) and select the background colour desired, see below. Hit OK. You now have a blank canvas to start with. Proceed to Step 2.

ii. Another way to do this is to open any image in Photoshop. Then hit CTRL and the A key to select everything in the image. With the selection tool active (this may be the rectangular, elliptical, single row or single column marquee tool), right click the image and select Layer Via Cut, see below. You now have Layer 1 as the original photo and the background layer as a blank colour, see below (whatever your background colour was at the time). Proceed to Step 2.1b. If you would rather have an image as your background, open the image in Photoshop and then proceed to Step 2.

If you decided to use Either Step 1.a.ii or Steb 1.b then save your collage file with a new filename now as to not alter the original file used. You will likely have to save it as a Photoshop file (see end of post for description and helpful images).

Step 2. Start placing your collage images.
Open the image you want to place into your collage, make sure to keep your collage file open. Either hit CTRL and the A key to select the entire image, or using the selection tool, select only the part of the image you want in your collage. Hit CTRL and the C key to copy the selection then go back the collage file and hit CTRL and the V key to paste the image into the file. It will come in as a new layer, see below. You can move each layer around by selecting it (the currently selected layer is highlighted blue - layer 1 is selected above) and using the Move Tool, see below. You can resize the image by transforming hit, hitting CTRL and the T key will allow you to do this. Once you have resized it how you would like it, press Enter to accept the transformation. Proceed to Step 3.

Step 3. Adding the remaining images.
Repeat Step 2 with each image you want to use in your collage. Make sure to exit each photo after you are done copying them into your collage to keep your computer running efficiently. Also, remember not to save any changes made to the photos that might have been made in the process. Proceed to Step 4.

Step 4. Saving the collage.
When you save the image you get the option of what file you would like to save it as. If you intend on continuing work on the collage, you should save it first as a Photoshop file, see below. This will save all the layers and any other techniques you have used so that you can alter them later on.Once you want the image to be used in other programs, save it as a JPEG image, see below.

General Notes
Save your collage file on a regular basis to ensure you don't lose it at any time during the process.

Merry Textmas

Lately Dave and I have been listening to Live 88.5 on the drive into work. We also listen to it as we fall asleep at night (well most nights). This entire month the are having a daily contest called Merry Textmas. Basically you text in to receive a different gift (or prize) each day. As Dave and I listen, we hear of things that we would like and since I have excess money on my phone that will shortly expire, we have been texting in most days. Usually we only text once, perhaps twice each day but today we must have texted at least 5 times. Today they were giving away a 46" LED TV. I am not sure where we would have put this TV had we won, but it would have been awesome. We have tried to get another dSLR camera, a waterproof point-and-shoot camera and a kindle in the past and failed each time. I don't expect we will win anything during this month long contest, and will end up spending most if not all of my phone money on these texts, but it is fun anyway.

Quotable Thursday #13

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright (1876-1944)

Way Back Whenesday: Teddy Ruxpin

Teddy Ruxpin was one of my favourite children cartoons. His voice was soft and soothing and I loved him very much. I wanted to get one of the Teddy Ruxpin talking dolls, but they were deemed too expensive or generally unnecessary. I did however have one of his friends. I don't remember what they are called but they were the little jumpy guys that followed Teddy around. They were cute and I had a hand puppet one. You could move it's mouth, eyes and antenna and make its neck really long (as it was essentially a sock). (image found through Google) I took it to daycare one day and then lost it shortly thereafter. I found one at daycare and must have thought it was mine so I took it home. A few years later I found two of them sitting in my toybox and realized that I had actually stolen the one from the daycare - oh well.

Blog of Note (December): Totally Looks Like

Totally Looks Like is exactly what it says it is. People submit images of nouns that look like famous people. For example (this is for you Chris):Zach Efron totally looks like Toupee Dog. There are some that are funny like this one, and other that are stunningly accurate - at times I will be like oh that is Tim Allen, then look at the second image and see that the first wasn't Tim Allen, merely someone who looked EXACTLY like Tim Allen.

Techno-Drama

About two weeks ago I downloaded Lightroom 3 Beta from the Adobe website. Normally this wouldn't cause people any problems whatsoever, but considering that I had not so legal software on my computer, it caused havoc to my system when I decided to uninstall the program a few days ago. When I attempted to complete my assignment on Friday, I learned that I no longer had any access to Photoshop or any other Adobe program. Not a problem, that is why I have a backup computer right - WRONG!
Upon turning on the backup computer, it froze and Dave had to restart it. It now just beeps when you attempt to turn it on. No screen to inform us of an error - just the tower itself beeping away - like it is mocking me. So no backup computer. We tried to install the software again and again (differently each time of course) and failed every time. Eventually we decided Dave's crappy computer was going to have to take the hit and get over 7GB worth of software installed on it so I could finish my assignment on time.
A few hours later, the assignment was completed (after realizing that Dave's monitor is not colour corrected and having to do it twice as the first round was so weak I couldn't bare to submit it). I submitted the not so great assignment with no signatures on it as my brush files are all on this computer - and quite possibly deleted.
The stress levels of the day resulted in me working out a lot with the Wii Fit Plus to counteract the copious amounts of chocolate covered almonds I ate.

Quotable Thursdays #12

"The first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: Decide what you want." - Ben Stein.

Nintendo Wii

Dave and I have been looking into the Wii for quite some time. Originally I was going to purchase it back when he got the PS3 but figured that buying two consoles at the same time would lead to either fighting between who got to use to big television with their console or one console not getting played nearly as much as the other (with the latter scenario being more probably for us).

We ended up buying the Wii system this past weekend and have been playing it since. The reason we ended up buying it is because we got one as a Christmas gift for the Konings (who already know about it so on the off chance that they read my blog, I am not spoiling anything).

So far we only have Wii Sports but boy is it fun. The first day we played it, we tried out all the sports and realized that golf is the stupidest sport and we will likely never go back to it.

We went through the training levels and then tried our hand at the boxing fights which really kicked my butt, but I kicked Dave's so it was okay. We fought and played for about 4 hours and afterwards I was very tired and am now a little sore - but in a good 'I can feel my muscles' sort of way. It feels weird to play video games all day and yet be able to be happy with myself afterwards for being physically active.

We also purchased the Wii Fit Plus package (board and game) but we haven't tried it out yet. I suspect I will be equally sore and tired after it but also pretty impressed and pleased with it.

I want to buy a bunch of games that are out for the Wii like Mario Kart and Super Paper Mario, but for now I am just going to stick to Wii Sport and Wii Fit Plus.

(image found through Google)

Chrome Ad

This ad appeared on the bottom of my blog the other day (where my largest AdSense is located) and I thought it was just beautiful. I am not allowed to click my ads, so I didn't even though I am interested in learning about Chrome. I don't think I would ever download it though as Firefox has been good to me and I have enough stuff installed on my computer that I never use. But you have to admit that the graphic image used in the ad is simply breathtaking.

Force Trainer

I saw this the other day while I was shopping on the Zellers website. I think it is weird and yet I want to figure out how it works.

Zhe Yan

Yan turns 27 today!!

Yan was a roommate of Dave's for 4 years and mine for 2 years. We lived with him at Dynes and it was good times. He is now living in Montreal and working at Bombardier. The photo of him is from Chris, Jerrica and Lyndsey's Hallowe'en party when he came down for the weekend.
Happy Birthday Yan!

One Minute Writer #48 and Vacation 2010 (#1)

What is the furthest you traveled from home as a child? Describe the experience.

My parents were not the traveling type. We went on a few vacations but never very far, usually just Toronto for the theme park or random places where ball tournaments were being held.

I remember when I was in grade 10 my best friend at the time and I went on a road trip with my Dad up north. We traveled up the Trans-Canada Highway to Cochrane and then took the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee. I had made the trip before when I was much younger with my family, but didn't remember much of it. This second trip was really great, except for the fact that I got terrible heat stroke when we were on Moose Factory Island.

When I was in grade 2, we went to Disney for Christmas and it was wonderful! We drove down, which took two days, and apparently I requested we stop at every state line to take a picture, but I don't remember this. You would think I could look at the pictures, but my mom opened up the back of the camera to change the film before rolling the previous one, so they were destroyed. Oops. We spent an entire week in Disney. We stayed in one of the hotels within the Disney property and rode the convenient bus into the park each morning. It was a really great trip, that I remember pieces of, but not entirely.

Since then, I haven't traveled too much, obviously there was my London trip and the annual Cottage trips, but other than those no real vacations to speak of. Dave and I have planned and have started booking a trip to Florida this upcoming February though. His parents have given us a very kingly gift of 4 days (3 nights) in Disney plus tickets to the permanent Cirque show within Disney (La Nouba). We are spending two weeks in Florida, so that we will have enough time to enjoy ourselves both in Disney and at his parents place down there as well. We have a few plans other than Disney like Busch Gardens and Sea World, but nothing too concrete. We want to relax and just be able to enjoy ourselves as much as possible. As we are using our vacation time so early in the year, I don't really know what it will mean in terms of any other 2010 vacations, but I am sure we will figure something out. I am really excited for this trip and can't wait for it to come. We have ordered our plan tickets and the Konings have already gotten the Cirque tickets and are currently getting the Disney stuff set up - it should be a really awesome vacation!!

Quotable Thursdays #11

"The character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935).

One Minute Writer #48

Write about a time you purchased something "on a whim". How did you feel about it later?

I usually think out my purchases. In fact, I usually think them out far too much. But every once in a while I will buy something "on a whim". The last thing I can remember that I bought like this would be the complete series of Buffy.

I had wanted this DVD collection for quite some time but could never rationalize it (not that I ever really did). One day Dave and I were talking and I decided that I wanted it so I got it. A few days later it arrived in the mail and it was beautiful. Dave and I watched the incredibly geeky series over the next few months, it took longer than I thought it would as we would get distracted with other seasons of shows and random activities that would come up. I do not regret buying it at all, it was something I wanted and could afford, and I got it.

Justin Go Home

For the last two weeks our friend Justin was staying at our place. He arrived the Thursday, Oct. 29 and whipped up some costumes then went to the Halloween parties with us. We spent the rest of the time, generally hanging out and playing a tons of computer and PS3 games. He stayed until two Saturdays ago when he had his convocation from Carleton University. He graduated from the computer engineering program there and is now back home in Kingsville. It was a lot of fun having him around again. Since he left back in April, Ottawa had been a little less nerdy and Dave and I have had one less person to hang out with. Hopefully, he will be able to come back again soon.

Mondays

Mondays get a pretty bad wrap. Everyone hates them because the weekend is over and you have to go back to work/school. Though I also dislike Mondays, they happen to be the day of the work week that goes by the fastest.
Most of the morning is spent preparing for or attending the Monday Morning Meeting and then the afternoon catching up on things that I should have done on Friday. My bosses are completely preoccupied doing the same thing, so if I really want to I can slack off or at least slow down. During the evening I have class (for now) and then it is time for bed. Mondays, and their associated badness, fly by!

The Cutest AT AT

Though this is freaking adorable, I promise I will never (let Dave) dress our dog up as an AT AT. But look at how cute this little guy is - especially when his owner starts singing and talking to him and his little tail starts wagging.

Alien Birds

The above image is Kevin from the movie Up. Recently I was watching some classic Looney Tunes, specifically Hare Way to the Stars (1958), and noticed that the bird-like alien in that episode looks kind of similar to Kevin. Or rather, Kevin looks similar to it as it was obviously drawn first. I wonder if this is a coincidence or intended?
If you would like to watch Hare Way to the Stars, go here. Unfortunately embedding was disabled so I can't just include the Youtube clip here.

One Minute Writer # 47

What one piece of advice would you give to someone graduating from a college or university?

Enjoy your free time. Without school or work to tie you down, you can go anywhere and do anything so do it!

Quotable Thursdays #10

"He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it." - Douglas Adams (1952-2001), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Way Back Whenesday: Puppy Surprise

Puppy Surprise was one of the really odd toys available when I was young. I did however have it, as well as Kitty Surprise and Bunny Surprise. The general idea of these toys, if you didn't get it from the commercial above, is that they have Velcro stomachs in which lies 3, 4 or 5 baby animals. Apparently getting 5 babies was a rarity but through some stroke of luck I got 5 puppies and kittens. I only got 3 bunnies though, BUT what some people failed to notice was that you could send away to get the remaining number of babies for free (well - you had to pay shipping and handling, but it wasn't much). So my mom sent away for two additional baby bunnies, they were orange when my original ones were pink, but colour didn't really matter. Apparently, there are still upset people out there who only ever got 3 babies with their moms and never got the additional free babies.
I remember playing with the babies as oddly large pets for my barbies and not really playing with any of the parents as once the babies were born there wasn't much point. I also remember losing the mother puppy at some point and finding her years later under the couch. Normally this wouldn't matter, but our couch was also a bed, and the wire frame had squished her plastic face and left her deformed.
My mom didn't really like the toys, not because of their weird nature, but rather because I wasn't to creative with toy names and since I had the fortunate luck of getting 15 (13 plus two adopted ones) babies overall, my mom had the unfortunate luck of naming them all. When we got the mom home, I would promptly open her up and start removing babies. Every time I pulled one out I would run over to my mom and say, "What's this one's name?" and she would give me a response of Tommy or Suzy or other generic name. She still brings it up every now and then. Such a great childhood memory.

Way Back Whenesdays

Please let me know if I am getting carried away with these features. But for now, here is a bi-weekly one - Way Back Whenesdays. I have seen it on many other blogs, mostly ones revolving around stay at home moms and therefore have pictures of their children when they were little, or even themselves. I find them really interesting and want to do it myself as well - with a little difference that is. My Way Back Whenesdays will be of things that remind me of my childhood - movies, toys things of that nature. I won't rule of pictures from my childhood, but the ones I have lined up so far do not contain any.

List or Cloud

Today I was on Erin's Blog, Always a Mess, and saw that she had changed her label type from list to cloud. This has been a feature on other people's blog through other blogging sites (ie. not blogger) that I thought was neat. I had wanted it here, but it was not really an option. That is, I didn't think it was an option. Apparently Google Blogger has changed the capabilities of their labelling and though I learned they had upgraded it a little while ago, I didn't see they had added this.

The cloud label lists all your labels in alphabetical order still, it just makes it more of a graphic representation by enlarging the text of the most popular ones. I have changed it on my blogs and am going to spend the next little while seeing which I prefer - though I think I already know the answer.

Recent Hallowe'ens Past

From what I understand, Dave's family didn't really do Hallowe'en growing up. They stayed in and watched movies as a family, didn't even give out candy. Things are different now, and Dave loves Hallowe'en. Every year we put many hours and probably too much money, into our costumes - primarily his. He decided what he wants to be, usually some sort of anime character who uses a massive sword, and we get to work accomplishing his goals. For the most part, I put together the clothing and every year it is getting closer and closer to a 'from scratch' costume. I spend hours cutting, sewing and stitching together random pieces of fabric and/or clothing found at Value Village. Dave spends this time assisting me and making whatever weapon is needed for the costume that year.

The first costume I remember making with Dave was Boba Fett in 2006. It was primarily made of cardboard and paint. He made the blaster out of cardboard, a couple cheap toy guns and heaps of hot glue. I fashioned the helmet out of paper mache and bits of foam and cardboard. I then spent hours painting the stupid thing. I believe there was an all nighter right before Hallowe'en that was necessary to get the costume completed. The photo below is from this years Halloween - Dave wore his Boba Fett helmet and the gun with his suit and went as a professional (killer) (it was his back up costume for the first party).Dave spent the hours in which I painted his costume fashioning home-made wings out of wire for me and I threw some fabric on them at the last minute and went as a fairy. Unfortunately, the wings were eye-gougers and were deemed unsafe for party use.2007 was the first year of the anime costumes. He was as Cloud from Final Fantasy VII. This costume was primarily made of things found at Value Village and a hockey chest guard. As a side note, never try to sew through chest guards, it is very difficult and leads to lots of blisters on your fingers, even when you drill holes through it first.My costume as pretty much pre-made in a few seconds in Value Village. I found a dress that sort of fit and then got some gloves and a staff and voila - a warlock. Chris then decided to go as my succubus minion and we were giant losers for going as WoW characters.Last year Dave (2008) went as Ichigo from Bleach. Once again this consisted a fancy sword for Dave to make and lots of sewing for me. We found an old coat at Value Village and I tailored it to fit Dave and added many new aspects of it. The coat should have had tears on the bottom, but it was so pretty and it took so long to make that I couldn't bear to rip it all up. I also learned how not to make pants from scratch as the process to forever. It did result in the perfect looking pair of pants for the outfit, but I am certain there was a faster way to do it.
Since the costume was incredibly intensive, and we didn't start making it even remotely early enough, my costume was once again thrown together at the last minute and turned out to be rather boring. I was a photographer. We found a silly crocodile Dundee type hat from a Hallowe'en store and sewed the buttons from Dave's coat onto it since they looked a little like teeth. I wore beige pants, a brown shirt and a beige vest and my beige pashmina as it was cold and carried my camera around all night. In reality, I looked like me, especially since I stopped wearing the hat after an hour or so at the party because I don't like hats.
This year I insisted that we start early with the costumes, or at least try to. Dave decided what he wanted to be and we got to work on it almost right away. We also decided that the best way to make the costumes this year was to start completely from scratch and use the sewing machine we had bought the year before and patterns. I have since learned that though patterns make life simpler, they also make it much more chaotic. Come Hallowe'en all the costume patterns have been picked up from the FabricLands in Ottawa and you are left ordering them online. But since I live in Canada I have to order them over the phone, which I do not like doing. They take up to two weeks to come so despite the fact that we knew what we wanted to be and ordered the patterns early, we were still left making the costumes at the last minute because of shipping time.
That being said, they didn't really take that long to arrive and we were able to start working on them much earlier than any previous year. Dave decided to go as Kisame from Naruto (our friend Justin is going as Itachi from the same show). We spent a great deal of time modifying the pattern but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Of course, Dave spent hours making the new giant sword, though this time the thing is significantly lighter (previous swords have weighed a ton and would never be able to be used as no typical person could swing that more than once of twice in a fight). Like I said, the robe and sword were made from scratch. The rest of the costume, pants, sock, etc were found at various stores and modified as required.My costume was a little different this year. It changed at least three times as I was making Dave's. I determined that as the complexity of Dave's costume increases, so does the simplicity and thrown-together-ness of mine. In the end, I decided to go as a wood elf. The robe was made using the same pattern as Dave's with a few less modifications. We added some gold details to it to make it extra special and then Dave let me borrow his bow for the evening. We bought elf ears and I wore neutral clothes that I already owned beneath the robe. Unfortunately there are no photos of me wearing my costume as when we did the retake of the costumes, there wasn't enough time to get my ears back and as they took quite a while (and hurt quite badly coming off).

Fiendishly Delighted

Whenever I play the Sims, I have a tendency to create a new game and then play it until I am on the second generation or so. It is all fun and games (pun intended) until I inevitably get bored. My Sim family will be too good. They will be going to work/school every day, able to meet their little goals, do homework and get their needs into the green before the next work/school day. I stop playing that family.
I recently determined what my problem was - I always make my Sim good. I make them go to work and get their stats up and live happy little lives. I also have a tendency to pick the perfect traits so that they are excellent at whatever career I want them to have. I make them Genius and family oriented, I make them good and neat - these all result in boring games that are easy to play and generally uninteresting later on. My most recent Sim looks pure and innocent but she is downright EVIL. She is so evil that her lifetime goal is to be the Emperor of Evil. She amuses me greatly. Every once in a while she will cackle or laugh maniacally - it is great! She wants to give money to take charities down and she even wants to steal candy from a baby! Upon doing any of her evil desires she gets the above trait: Fiendishly Delighted. To be honest, I am starting to get a tad bored of her and want to make a new family, but she lasted longer than other Sims and I didn't want her to die (so I could play her evil children) as quickly as I did other Sims. This has sparked a new interest with the game for me. I am started a family now where the main character wants to see the ghost of his rich wife - in essence he is a gold digger! Sims 3 is such a wonderful game!!

Keeping Track

Have I mentioned lately how much I love spreadsheets? Well, in the off chance that I haven't, I love spreadsheets. I just finished creating one for my blogs - that's right a spreadsheet for my blogs. I have started so many features and as such have a ton of scheduled and partially started posts that the edit posts page in Blogger is becoming rather cluttered and hard to read. My spreadsheet will help me keep track of the posts I have scheduled for my different features. It is also helping me keep them regular instead of just random days throughout the month or clustered all in the same week (for my monthly features that is). It also makes it extremely obvious if I start slacking with my posts on any of my blogs as each past day is coloured in one of two colours - one for a post day, and one for a non-post day. The Great Abyss and Stephanie Beach Photography are pretty regular (in the past month and a half) but Road to a Better Me is pretty sporadic. I want to try and remedy that - possibly with features, possibly just with more regular updates, etc, I haven't quite decided.

Quotable Thursday #10

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces" - Judith Viorst

Remembrance Day

Thank You.

(image found through Google)

How-To Tuesday: Switch from French to English

I get asked how to do this at least once a week by either co-workers or a friend. Every once in a while, Windows will switch from using the English keyboard to using the French one. You will not have asked it to, nor will you have any need of it but Windows has decided to switch the language randomly. It could even happen halfway through a sentence. The ? turns into É and the > turns into . - that's right, you now have two ways to make a period using the exact same key!
So, how do you fix this you ask? How do you turn the language back to English from French?
Right beside your clock are tons of little icons (they are different for most computers, but they are always there in some capacity). Next to these there should be a little keyboard symbol.When you click on the keyboard icon you will be given your language options. For Canadians, the options will be the same as mine, though they may be different in other countries - I am not sure. Either way, since French has kicked in, Canadian French will have a check mark beside it. To correct it, select US and all will be fixed.Now if you are like me, you will want a Canadian English so that colour is spelt correctly, etc. You might think that Canadian Multilingual Standard would do that, but you would be wrong. For all intensive purposes, Canadian Multilingual Standard is the same as Canadian French. I don't know why they are both there - another wonderful Windows feature I suppose.
Of course, this technique also works to switch to French. I hope this has helped some people - I know it frustrates a great number of people in my office on a regular basis. Now, if I could only figure out why it randomly switches then I would be a true office hero!

How-To Tuesdays

Another new feature I have been thinking about for a while - this one also a monthly one. How-To Tuesdays! There are quite a few things I do that I would enjoy sharing with my readers. This idea started with How to Wrap a Baby Gift, which I posted last month. I thought of starting it then but figured I would not be able to think of enough things. I have already written a few and therefore figure it could work. Topics will likely range from sewing projects and gifting ideas to random computer functions - perhaps even some Photoshop techniques. I will try to document them with photographs and/or screen captures as much as possible as I find this helps me when learning new things.

Sweet 341

When I moved into residence I was rather nervous. Those 8 months turned out to be some of the greatest of my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Suite 341 (deemed Sweet 341 by Chris) was awesome and the people in it were even better.

I checked out XKCD the other day and saw this comic entitled "orbitals", see above. What most intrigued me, besides the completely accurate logic behind it, was that the dorm set up looked almost identical to what Chris, Emily and I had in Glengarry. The only difference is that there appears to be closets for each of the rooms, which we sadly, did not have. In fact, if you take away the closets, put a tv in the one corner across from the couch, and move the main door to the 'top' wall you would have Suite 341. I am not naive to think that no other place would have the same setup, it is just odd to see is all.

Hallowe'en at DST

Most workplaces have people who get dressed up and some will have candy and treats for their employees near Hallowe'en, and DST is no exception. This year we had a myriad of costumes and a pizza lunch/staff meeting.

The costume contest participants at DST Ottawa, are pictured above. There was our (female) CAD Technician who dressed up as our Sector Manager (with newborn son) pictured below, won the costume contest despite the fact that she wore the same costume (minus the child) last year. It is just such a funny costume it can't be topped.

Dave was a little upset later on when I told him that he likely would have won if a) his costume was complete and b) he wasn't sent out of town for the day (by me) to complete waste audits. He was only upset because the winner (and runner up) got gift cards to Future Shop and Subway, respectively. I hope that next year, my costume will be completed in time for me to participate as well as it just looked like everyone was having so much fun.

One Minute Writer #46

What nervous habit(s) do you have?

I have a few nervous habits, all of which I would really like to stop. Firstly, I bite the inside of my cheeks and my lips. It leads to not only painful and unsightly lips, but I get a wee talk about it every time I go to the dentist. Secondly, I bite and pick my nails. Usually I do this under a desk where no one can see and then throw them into the garbage, but it irritates me that I do it nonetheless. There are some others, but those are the two big ones that I do when I am nervous or bored. Oh, I fidgit. I play with pens or my iron ring, whatever is around.

A Cookie Monster Kind of Morning

This morning when I logged onto the computer and routinely opened up Google, I found a great big Cookie Monster greeting me. It is the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and both yesterday and today Google has been celebrating it with special Google headers. Yesterday was Big Bird's legs as the L, and today, as you can see above, Cookie Monster is eating the cookie Google. I really love this one as Cookie Monster was my one of my favourite characters. My dad also did (and likely still does) a really good Cookie Monster impression.

The show premiered back in 1969 and as I am told by my parents today, was a children's show that parents could bear to watch. I remember watching many hours of this show growing up and often having my dad watching it alongside me. So seeing the Cookie Monster on my computer screen this morning filled me with a warm, happy memory that made my morning a little better.

Quotable Thursday #9

"An inability to stay quiet is one of the most conspicuous failings of mankind." - Walter Bagehot.

Asbestos

Dave and I work and deal with asbestos (and asbestos abatement) on a pretty regular basis. DST does a great deal of asbestos surveys and abatement monitoring and we as juniours tend to do a great deal of the field work and report writing for these jobs. I recently completed a course on Asbestos Fibre Counting and can now do even more with asbestos.

It is also funny how Dave and I both get really excited when someone, or thing, in every day life refers to asbestos, like the above comic. (comic from xkcd). We also have this pretty annoying habit of surveying every building we walk into for asbestos and the other 10 designated substances.

Flickr

I created a Flickr account the other day and have since started uploading some of my images to it. I think this will be the best way for me to share larger numbers of photos at one time (eg. Holiday photos of family and friends). I will let you know when I post a large group of photos there both here and on my photography blog, for those of you who only visit one but might still be interested. They are of course, edited to some degree as well as signed and resized. If you are ever interested in any of my photos, just let me know and I will gladly discuss whatever it is you want to discuss.

New Poll

A new poll question has been posted that I once again would appreciate your opinion on. I am doing research on a topic that has a couple different questions to be asked so there will be a couple more about computers, etc in the near future - please bear with me as I think it is a really interesting topic/idea. I intend on making one of those free surveys but expect little to no participation on it, so this how I am approaching it for now. Thanks everyone!

Blog of Note (November): Awkward Family Photos

This month's Blog of Note is Awkward Family Photos. Basically it is what the title says, a collection of really awkward, yet awesome, family photos. There are also some really great taglines for the photos. Seriously, check this one out.

Fat Princess Review

Fat Princess is a Playstation 3 game (PS3) that Dave downloaded and started playing a little while back. Essentially it is capture the flag but instead of a silly, boring flag you need to capture and/or protect a princess who by eating cake fed to her by you and your teammates can get very, very fat.
You are placed on either the red or blue team and need to rescue your princess from the opposing team while keeping their princess captive in your castle. You can do this by being as of the following classes: warrior, ranger, priest, mage and worker. There are different maps (or levels) and to be honest, you can play different types of games than the basic capture the princess type, but in my opinion, it is the best.
When Dave heard about this game and showed me the trailers, I though it was a good game - for him. I knew he would really enjoy it and could spend endless hours mastering each of the classes. I never really thought I would get into it as it isn't really economy based or time management or the type of game where you focus on your own character, leveling it up and gaining better skills, etc. That being said, after watching Dave play for a little while, I was definitely interested. He handed me the controller for the first time when he needed to eat some food and didn't want to stop playing. I collected cake and fed it to the princess and ended up getting him a trophy for doing so. I ended up playing on my own account and am now in love.
I have been playing the game for a couple of months now and have really started to perfect one strategy. I start of playing as the worker and collect wood and ore (the two resources in the game) in an effort to upgrade the worker and then the priest. Usually I have to collect enough resources to upgrade (each class is upgradeable which gives them a second 'hat' enabling them to perform a second ability) at least three classes as I am not the only one trying to upgrade their favourite class. As you may have deduced by my previous statement (and the large graphic to the right), the priest is my preferred class. Once it is upgraded it can heal as a white priest or suck health from the opposing team members as the dark priest (wahahahaha). I enjoy running around, sucking people down to their last little heart (health) and then whacking them with my stick (as you cannot actually suck their life completely). I also enjoy switching hats repeatedly throughout the battles and healing as necessary. I find that I am getting really good at it, and tonight's games proved that more so. I won (placed first over both teams) in three consecutive games. I then handed the reigns over to Justin who is now playing and focusing his efforts in learning the ranger, which is a class that I have never really been drawn to.
At $15 dollars the game is pretty cheap. It is also pretty easy to get as you merely download the game from the PS3 store. The only expensive part of this game is the actual PS3, but lets ignore that factor for now shall we? You can play the story, and the maps themselves on your own (ie. with computers players comprising the remaining parts of your team and the opposing one) but I find the online games are much more enjoyable and rewarding. There are many PS3 trophies to obtain so the game, which force you to try different classes and strategies and in doing so, you learn different strategies for winning each level. A patch was recently released that fixed a few bugs and brought into play a new map, which is quite large and in my opinion different than the other maps - but that is likely just because it is new to me. I think everyone who has a PS3 should purchase and install this game and start playing right now - go feed the princess!

Happy Hallowe'en

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN

(image found through Google)

Generating Fun

I have been playing Facebook games lately and find the above image rather amusing. While loading the Roller Coaster time management game on Facebook, a loading bar comes up titled Generating Fun. Now, I am pretty used to semi-amusingly titled loading bars from Sims 1 through 3, but found this one to be a bit of a stretch. Is the generation of fun really something that can be loaded and measured?

Quotable Thursdays #8

"And Man created the plastic bag, and the tin and aluminum cans and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away that which he had no further use. And soon earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: 'Look at the Godawful mess.'" - Art Buchwald, 1970.

The Start and End of a Blog

I feel the starting and ending of a blog's life are pretty much standard. There is always the beginning post where you talk about what you want to accomplish with the blog - ie. what you want to post about. You perhaps say a little bit about yourself and how you came to the idea of starting a blog.

In the end, you will have long periods between posts, and most of the last ones will be an apology for not posting. (comic from xkcd - only the third panel is applicable).

It is the in between bits that differ from blog to blog. Some blogs are incredibly specific in what they post about, while others are just the general lives of the author (like this one for example). Some are really interesting while others are quite mundane. But in my opinion, most blogs start and end in the same general manner.

One Minute Writer #45

Write the story of why you were given your name. (If you don't know, write about how you feel about your name.)

This is a story I have told many people before - as far as I know it, it is a true story. When I was born, my parents had different ideas of what they wanted to name me. My mom wanted to name me Stephanie while my dad thought my name should be Jennifer. My dad thought of the very clever idea of having my older brother, then 3 years old, Tyler make the final decision. I say this was a clever idea since he was certain that his little boy would side with him and I would be named Jennifer. In fact, as hard as he tried, Tyler couldn't say Jennifer, I believe the J sound was stumping him, and as such, I was given the name Stephanie. Cute huh?
I do not know how I got my middle name, Marla, and despite how much I hated it while I was growing up, I no longer mind it. Unfortunately it means "bitter one" and when combined with my first name, which means "crowned one", my name gives me the impression of a bitter, possibly spoiled, royal child. But all of that is made up by my last name, which is awesome and essentially means "place where water meets sand".

A Cappella Nintendo

This group is called Redefined and the are an A Cappella group from the University of Wisconsin. Dave found and downloaded this video of them ages ago and we refound it the other day while he was cleaning out and backing up his computer. I figured I would find it on Youtube and share it all with you as it is just so great - especially if like us, you played a fair bit of the original Nintendo games growing up.

How to Wrap a Baby Gift

At the end of the month my childhood best friend Madison will be having her first child, a little baby boy. She had two baby showers, neither of which I could attend so instead, I mailed their present to them via Canada Post. But first, I had to wrap the adorable little clothes. My mom and I have a tradition when it comes to wrapping baby gifts and I have decided to share it.
Step 1: Purchase adorable little clothing, toys and/or baby necessities AND a baby's receiving blanket and diaper pins.
Step 2: Fold the clothing and arrange items in the middle of the receiving blanket (you may have to fold the blanket to make it a more manageable size). Step 3: Fold in corners of the blanket and secure with diaper pins.
Step 4: Finish folding in all the corners of the blanket and securing with pins until the package is all wrapped up!This is easier to do with items in boxes or individual items, rather than groups of items like here. I think this is a really cute way to present baby gifts - it also gives the mother another blanket which, from what I understand, you can never have enough of. It also happens to be a green alternative to wrapping paper, though my mom and I have been doing this for as long as I can remember, which happens to be before green was cool.