Today’s 6 O’Clock BS revolves around two “icky” comics and one messy project:
This – truly a revelation. Toothpaste for Dinner:
And afternoon gardening success!
The transplanting has started! I ran out of pots pretty early on, so the rest of the Nasturtium will have to wait until tomorrow for their new homes.
Today’s 6 O’Clock BS revolves around two “icky” comics and one messy project:
This – truly a revelation. Toothpaste for Dinner:
And afternoon gardening success!
The transplanting has started! I ran out of pots pretty early on, so the rest of the Nasturtium will have to wait until tomorrow for their new homes.
I got nothing.
Stephanie and JT have posted some thought–provoking posts about men, women, flirting, sex, harrassment and safe spaces at conferences and conventions, and that’s taken up a lot of brain space over the last 24 hours. Add in the 9-to-5 job, grocery shopping, hanging out with a friend who’s going through a rough patch and that hasn’t left me with much in the way of original thought (also, last night I was tricked – tricked I tell you! – into watching a show on the History Channel called Pawn Stars and that killed any brains cells that may have still been functioning). Also I’ve just read/browsed through about 100 posts in my Google reader and I feel like none of the thoughts in my brain are my own.
But I am excited about my masochistic garden project (why do the things I love always die!? *sniff*). The seedlings are actually doing alright this year. I brought a few pots and potting soil in today and will be transplanting them later tonight.
Nasturtium, Nemophilia, Viola, Cynoglossum (Firmament), Impatiens, Sweet Basil, Catnip, Scallions, and more Nasturtium
I have more soil in the trunk but was too lazy to go out and get it for the photo.
Snippet #1: I took this picture of some awesome mailbox “street art” in Uptown at Girard and 31st:
Snippet #2: I needed a bigger flower pot to contain my monster cherry tomato tree. My friend, Courtney, thought that she had one that would work, so she came over with a replacement. When she got to my apartment complex, she got out of the car, pulled out her cell phone and announced to me, my caretaker and a couple of neighbors, “Hey, I’m outside and I have your pot.” Greeeeat. Thanks, Court. I made a big show of displaying the brown flower pot – “Wow, this is a great pot! Thanks!” – to the neighborhood as we got it out of her trunk.
Snippet #3: WordPress lets me know what phrases people are using when they stumble across my blog via google. Yesterday I had an above-average weird Google Search Term hit: “genital anatomy dog” WTF, google.com?
Snippet #4: Today is the start of CONvergence!!! I’m using the CONvergence Scheduler, which is pretty sweet – especially for an event of this size, with 10+ panels, activities, events and parties happening every hour. There was a write-up about CONvergence in 365 Things to Do – Twin Cities, and an even better photo of some con attendees in the article!
Sunday Minneapolis Pride Report
Sunday was very, very different from Saturday. For one thing, I went to the Pride festivities with the Hubby instead of a 13 year-old and a six year-old. Sooooo different. I don’t think I really experienced the Pride events on Saturday because of my preoccupation with keeping everybody smiley and safe. On Sunday I was with the man I love and I was relatively carefree. The parade was awesome, as always! I didn’t manage to get any photos of the parade, but I did manage to scrounge up some decent video of this year’s parade.
The first one is interesting because he’s sped up the film. This first video is different from the second (below) because he has a lot of zoomed-in images, so you don’t get a feel for how large and crowded the parade is:
I like this second one BUT I would recommend skipping the beginning and watching only between 0:54-5:51. Outside of this window is just film of the videographer and her friend chatting and being silly. But the meat of the video (again – 0:54-5:51!) is fun because she mixes still shots and video, and she’s filming from the street without zoom so you feel more like a spectator watching this video than you do with the first video.
And more of my own pictures in the park, this time on Sunday with me and the Hubby:
This was my To Do List last night.
Make dinner.
I made this – Fancy Hot Dog Stroganoff from simplyrecipes.com. I substituted quinoa for the egg noodles and added spinach. This picture is from that site – My dinner was so yummy that it was all gone before I remembered that I wanted to snap a photo.
Change the litter box.
Blech.
Research wireless routers and make a decision on which one to purchase.
Ah, technology. How I take you for granted until you break.
Transplant my tomato plant, and also the parsley and chives. Plant new lettuce and spinach seeds to replace the ones that drowned in last week’s summer deluge.
Done! I can’t believe how much the tomato plant exploded! This is my tomato plant on April 17th:
Practice my Italian.
Aprenda a hablar italiano. Verb book, flashcards, iPod Italian language apps, Easy Italian workbook. Crappy, blurry photo.
Update the biodork blog with Sunday’s Pride Parade post.
See this big empty rectangle? That’s my Pride Parade post – no Pride pictures for you! You get this post with me whining about how busy I was last night instead. But I’ll have Pride pics on Thursday.
Start rereading Terry Pratchett’s The Color of Magic and be done in time for CONvergence on Thursday. Come up with some costume-ish thing for Saturday night at CON.
240 pages – no problem!
Plan rail transport from Rome to Perugia for 7/19, book my scuba dive in Sorrento, go to the bank and let them know that I’m going to be using my credit card overseas so they don’t shut down my account while I’m in Italy, figure out where/when to exchange USD for Euros, figure out how to pack enough clothing for two weeks (allowing for trips to la lavanderia) in my tiny little backpack, and…and…
Okay, that last one was really all about making the list, rather than accomplishing everything on the list.
Phew!
I’ve had a chance to play with my camera on the HTC Incredible, and I have to say – I’ve been pretty impressed with it. The autofocus feature is great. Below is a pair of pictures I took at work. I focused the first pic in the foreground, and the second pic in the background. All I did was touch the area of the screen where I wanted the camera to focus, and it did the rest.
Pretty amazing for a point-and-click camera.
I’ve had awesome, crisp photos in daylight settings, and I’ve been able to use the white balance to correct for incandescent and fluorescent indoor settings.
I like all of the options for setting the on-screen review period, the resolution and ISO settings. This camera has every option (and then some) that my traditional compact camera has.
I also like the digital slider bars that control contrast/sharpness/saturation, brightness and the zoom, although I did find the zoom to be a little restrictive, i.e., I want to zoom more than the settings allow.
Downsides to the HTC Incredible camera:
The laser roller button took a little getting used to, especially learning how to snap a photo without shaking the phone and ruining the picture.
No macro mode 🙁 But, the camera does do a good job with maintaining the focus for close-up pictures.
I’m a bit worried about the unprotected glass lens. Glass doesn’t scratch as easily as say, plastic, but still I wonder how long it will be before I manage to scuff the lens. Photo source
I don’t have any photography training, so excuse my mealy-mouth description of this – the pictures are sometimes too…saturated? The colors are a bit unbelievable, sometimes, in some situations.
The flash is very, very bright, and I haven’t yet figured out if there is a way to modulate the brightness. Below, in the indoor low-light picture of my tomato plant, everything is washed out and blue. I also haven’t been able to make good use of the flash in outdoor, shade situations. And fugedaboutit with shiny/reflective surfaces – I washed out every glossy-cover book that I tried to shoot with flash, from every angle. But I’m guessing that some fiddling around with different light/dark photos will help me hone my skill with this not-quite user-friendly flash.
I found a nice review of the HTC phone at Mobility Digest that includes a lot of screen shots.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomato Plant Update
We had a cold snap this past week in Minneapolis – well, not a snap so much as the temperature has plummeted and hasn’t come back up yet. I went out one morning and found my poor tomato plant bent over at the base – the main stem had weakened in the cold. I brought my three planters back inside and commandeered a corner in one of the apartment stairwells. I bolstered the tomato plant stem by resting the top of the plant against the wall and waited to see what would happen. It did bounce back, and is actually flowering, but I’m getting worried about the lack of direct sunlight. Ugh – cold, rainy, cloudy weather. Enough, already!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And finally, Happy 50th Anniversary of the Pill!
photo source
I found a great column in the NYTimes via Skepchick called What Every Girl Should Know. The article was written by Gail Collins and it outlines a few of the outrageous ways women used to try to prevent pregnancy. It includes a snippet from The Pill, sung by Loretta Lynn, and a few stories about Margaret Sanger and the melodramatic villan-esque Anthony Comstock.
And speaking of Loretta Lynn: Woman sang herself a song with The Pill!
Loretta Lynn: The Pill lyrics (source) – 1975
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I’d be your wife
You’d show me the world
But all I’ve seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill
All these years I’ve stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year thats gone by
Another babys come
There’s a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You’ve set this chicken your last time
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill
This old maternity dress I’ve got
Is goin’ in the garbage
The clothes I’m wearin’ from now on
Won’t take up so much yardage
Miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills
Yeah I’m makin’ up for all those years
Since I’ve got the pill
I’m tired of all your crowin’
How you and your hens play
While holdin’ a couple in my arms
Another’s on the way
This chicken’s done tore up her nest
And I’m ready to make a deal
And ya can’t afford to turn it down
‘Cause you know I’ve got the pill
This incubator is overused
Because you’ve kept it filled
The feelin’ good comes easy now
Since I’ve got the pill
It’s gettin’ dark it’s roostin’ time
Tonight’s too good to be real
Oh but daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill
Oh daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill
I’ve had a chance to play with my camera on the HTC Incredible, and I have to say – I’ve been pretty impressed with it. The autofocus feature is great. Below is a pair of pictures I took at work. I focused the first pic in the foreground, and the second pic in the background. All I did was touch the area of the screen where I wanted the camera to focus, and it did the rest.
Pretty amazing for a point-and-click camera.
I’ve had awesome, crisp photos in daylight settings, and I’ve been able to use the white balance to correct for incandescent and fluorescent indoor settings.
I like all of the options for setting the on-screen review period, the resolution and ISO settings. This camera has every option (and then some) that my traditional compact camera has.
I also like the digital slider bars that control contrast/sharpness/saturation, brightness and the zoom, although I did find the zoom to be a little restrictive, i.e., I want to zoom more than the settings allow.
Downsides to the HTC Incredible camera:
The laser roller button took a little getting used to, especially learning how to snap a photo without shaking the phone and ruining the picture.
No macro mode 🙁 But, the camera does do a good job with maintaining the focus for close-up pictures.
I’m a bit worried about the unprotected glass lens. Glass doesn’t scratch as easily as say, plastic, but still I wonder how long it will be before I manage to scuff the lens. Photo source
I don’t have any photography training, so excuse my mealy-mouth description of this – the pictures are sometimes too…saturated? The colors are a bit unbelievable, sometimes, in some situations.
The flash is very, very bright, and I haven’t yet figured out if there is a way to modulate the brightness. Below, in the indoor low-light picture of my tomato plant, everything is washed out and blue. I also haven’t been able to make good use of the flash in outdoor, shade situations. And fugedaboutit with shiny/reflective surfaces – I washed out every glossy-cover book that I tried to shoot with flash, from every angle. But I’m guessing that some fiddling around with different light/dark photos will help me hone my skill with this not-quite user-friendly flash.
I found a nice review of the HTC phone at Mobility Digest that includes a lot of screen shots.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomato Plant Update
We had a cold snap this past week in Minneapolis – well, not a snap so much as the temperature has plummeted and hasn’t come back up yet. I went out one morning and found my poor tomato plant bent over at the base – the main stem had weakened in the cold. I brought my three planters back inside and commandeered a corner in one of the apartment stairwells. I bolstered the tomato plant stem by resting the top of the plant against the wall and waited to see what would happen. It did bounce back, and is actually flowering, but I’m getting worried about the lack of direct sunlight. Ugh – cold, rainy, cloudy weather. Enough, already!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And finally, Happy 50th Anniversary of the Pill!
photo source
I found a great column in the NYTimes via Skepchick called What Every Girl Should Know. The article was written by Gail Collins and it outlines a few of the outrageous ways women used to try to prevent pregnancy. It includes a snippet from The Pill, sung by Loretta Lynn, and a few stories about Margaret Sanger and the melodramatic villan-esque Anthony Comstock.
And speaking of Loretta Lynn: Woman sang herself a song with The Pill!
Loretta Lynn: The Pill lyrics (source) – 1975
You wined me and dined me
When I was your girl
Promised if I’d be your wife
You’d show me the world
But all I’ve seen of this old world
Is a bed and a doctor bill
I’m tearin’ down your brooder house
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill
All these years I’ve stayed at home
While you had all your fun
And every year thats gone by
Another babys come
There’s a gonna be some changes made
Right here on nursery hill
You’ve set this chicken your last time
‘Cause now I’ve got the pill
This old maternity dress I’ve got
Is goin’ in the garbage
The clothes I’m wearin’ from now on
Won’t take up so much yardage
Miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills
Yeah I’m makin’ up for all those years
Since I’ve got the pill
I’m tired of all your crowin’
How you and your hens play
While holdin’ a couple in my arms
Another’s on the way
This chicken’s done tore up her nest
And I’m ready to make a deal
And ya can’t afford to turn it down
‘Cause you know I’ve got the pill
This incubator is overused
Because you’ve kept it filled
The feelin’ good comes easy now
Since I’ve got the pill
It’s gettin’ dark it’s roostin’ time
Tonight’s too good to be real
Oh but daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill
Oh daddy don’t you worry none
‘Cause mama’s got the pill
You know you might read too much I Can Haz Cheezburger when it creeps into your work life. I left this note for a coworker a few days ago to let her know that I was using some of her lab equipment. I didn’t realize how dorky it was until she came up to me wondering what was up with the note:
Here’s an close-up:
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The Minneapolis Farmer’s Market opened today! I wanted to get there early to beat the crowds and get my pick of the new produce, meats, crafts, etc. I groggily got up out of bed at 6:30am this morning and ambled downtown, and after all that effort…well, it’s too bad that I missed the part about the Market opening at 9am. This is what I saw when I arrived at 7:30 in the morning:
Doh! …At least I beat the crowds.
I did have fun watching the vendors set up. Here’s a picture of an early flower vendor rolling his cart up to the seller’s area, with the Minneapolis skyline in the background (perspective is from the Northwest).
This early in the season, there’s not much in the way of fresh produce. Any produce that is available is most likely ordered from larger distributers and repackaged – see the bulk onion bags in the back of dude’s truck? But there are local meat and dairy farmers selling meats, cheeses, and eggs, and today there were a couple of people selling seedlings and local artisans selling soap and pottery.
Another thing that was interesting about the early open was the prices of everything were higher than in the summer – less competition. There was only one person selling flowers when I arrived, and they were going for $8-$20. In the summer, you have 5-10 flower sellers per aisle, and almost nothing is over $5/bunch.
In the summer, the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market *explodes* – every vendor spot is taken, vendors peddle ready-to-eat treats, street musicians have their instrument cases open and ready to catch your spare change, and customers swarm over every spare inch of asphalt. I’ll have to check it out again next week…although maybe I’ll sleep in a little longer this time.
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Garden 2010 – Photo Update:
Last Week: 4/10/10
Today: 4/17/10
