Archive for the 'things i learned' Category

Things I learned this week

Published
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ashley
on November 21, 2008
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1. So Lorrie and I have unofficially decided to make this Christmas a handmade Christmas, because I am poor and cannot afford gifts for everyone. This means that I am really itching to make Marques something hilarious. I was originally thinking of an Domokun ipod case, but since his ipod is just a little baby nano, there’s really not a point in that because I would just be the one to use it. So it would almot be like I made my own Christmas present.

So then I was thinking, maybe I could just make him something related to the tv shows that we watch together. And thus, my “Oh, I’ll make a Doctor Who-related craft!” idea was born. So I searched for craft ideas. My original idea was to make an ipod case (I KNOW, what is with my and the ipod case. It’s pretty much the only thing I know how to make) in the shape of the Tardis but again, that’s pointless. I found this website with TONS of ideas…. so baby, if you get a Doctor Who craft from me this Christmas, this is where I got it from.

2. Also things I’m interesting in making or buying: zombie knitted dolls.

3. We can make a woolly mammoth for only like 10 million dollars. Jeff Bezos, WHERE ARE YOU? Divert some of your space funds into this project. It would be like Jurassic Park only with no raptors.

4.  I held up to my promise and I did NOT go see the Twilight film at midnight last night.  I didn’t want to wait in the cold and I didn’t want to spend it surrounded by squealing fourteen-year-old girls.  I’m glad I didn’t go because this roundup of Twilight reviews is… a little harsh.

5.  I find that I have this frantic “zomg, we have to cut HBO from our cable bill” moment every time I think about our finances.  Like the extra $15 a month is breaking us.  I never think, “We should not go to Dairy Godmother every weekend” or “I should not be buying this scarf”, it’s always “OMG HBO!”.  I suppose I think of HBO as a luxury, but I don’t think of scarves or frozen custard as a luxury even though they essentially are.  This Jezebel post was really interesting (I also do not consider tampons so much a luxury as I do a constant annoyance) and it was entertaining reading what people won’t give up.  As for me, I would never give up internet access, Netflix, or ice cream.

6.  This zombie website is very informative.

7.  This weekend, I will attempt to make these caramels.  Attempt being the key word here.  I once tried to make hard candy and ended up having to throw away a baking pan.

8.  These Jack Bauer facts are pretty funny.

9.  For me, Sarah Palin is essentially off my radar.  It’s not something I’m too concerned about.  But I did enjoy this list of 22 questions to ask Sarah Palin.

10.  These Joan Holloway paper dolls - want please.  Joan Holloway has the type of body I would probably kill puppies for.  I’d kill a (sick) kitten for her wardrobe, too.

Things I learned this week

Published
by
ashley
on November 14, 2008
in things i learned
. 1 Comment

This is short because I actually have to work today, unlike most Fridays.

1.  Two things I’m excited about - there’s a new Watchmen trailer, and the guy who directed the Bond films is attached to direct the movie adaption of World War Z, the fictionalized account of the Zombie War.  When I first read World War Z, it scared the living crap out of me.  There were points where I would have to put the book down and stop reading because it caused so much anxiety.  There’s one part in WWZ where a family is hanging out and they hear a window break and BAM zombie infestation.  After that point, I went around to all of the windows in our townhouse and peered out suspiciously.

For whatever else it’s worth, WWZ has also made me analyze every place I’ve lived or worked in for zombie attackability.  For example, as long as destroy the staircases in my office building and disable the elevators, I think we’d be okay here if we had enough food and water to last us.  But in my apartment now, I’m dead during the first wave, no doubt.  First floor, giant man-size windows, garden-style?  It was nice knowing you.

2.  Marques and I are watching Doctor Who right now, which just laminates our geek cards.  We’ve only just started the second season with David Tennant (who, by the way, is definitely the most attractive Doctor Who).  While looking up spoilers doing some research, I found out that Doctor Who is the longest running science-fiction show in the world, with 751 episodes as of July 2008.  Also, is it wrong that I kind of want to make Dalek cupcakes?

3.  And Marques is dragging me to the James Bond movie this weekend (which is only fair since I made him watch “Be Kind Rewind”, a movie that makes rant about how horrible it is).  I didn’t realize Marques was such a James Bond fan.  It’s almost like he closeted it away.  Anyway, this post about the 5 things you learn about women from James Bond is funny.

4.  And James Bond loves bacon.

5.   I love this set of photos of NYC from the 30s.

6.  I love Trader Joe’s and I shop there allll the time.  For everything.  I would marry Trader Joe even.  But sometimes I get something disgusting and I immediately think of divorce.

Things I learned this week

Published
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ashley
on November 7, 2008
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This is going to be short, because I am really busy and tired and I pretty much just want to do nothing but go home and eat pie for the rest of the weekend.  So here you go:

1.  Last night, Marques and I watched an episode of Doctor Who that was set during the London bombings of World War II. I had read about these previously, but it resparked my interest.  Here’s a good eyewitness account of the bombings, along with the necessary wikipedia page.  Also, that little gas mask dude in that episode is hella creepy.

2.  When we first moved here to beautiful suburbia, we were interested to see “single?  visit (yourtownhere)singles.com” signs along the side of the roads.  We also appreciated the “visit north(mytown)singles.com” and “south(mytown)singles.com”.  We were surprised because we didn’t really know there was that much dating demand for people in our little town.  This dude explores the phenomenon behind the signs.

3.  Man.  Velociraptors are awesome.  Thank you, Michael Chrichton (sad face) for encouraging my 11 year old self to both respect and fear velociraptors.  I totally support this charity.

4.  I like this thread of songs that are written for breakups.

5.  I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives this week where one of the people featured was making homemade ricotta cheese.  He made it look really easy.  Apparently it’s not.

6.  Also of interest (to me, because I would bathe myself in feta cheese if possible):  How to make feta cheese.  Also seems time-intensive.  Trader Joe’s has a giant block of feta for $2.99.  That works better for me.

7.  I love love love love this version of a real-life Photoshop desktop.  I love the type.

8.  I’m a big giant fan of post-apocalyptic movies and books and tv shows - I’m also a bit obsessed with the world ending in general.  This Discovery article about ten ways the universe will kill us is awesome.

9.  I appreciate this attempt at a candy hierarchy.  I would move Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to the top tier and maybe drop Twix down a notch (don’t like the cookie!)  And KitKats need to move up to the top tier too.  I love KitKats.

10.  The 50 skills every geek should have.  I am not a shut-in basement dweller.  But at least I have a Doctor Who scarf.

Things I learned this week

Published
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ashley
on October 31, 2008
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1.  First things first, Pepsi has a new logo.  I feel like for the past three weeks, I’ve made comments about new logos that companies have adopted.  I was pretty turned off by the Pepsi logo when I first saw it - I hated it.  I hate the font, I hate the little grincircles (I don’t know what else to call them) and oh my goodness, I hate the abbreviation of Mountain to MTN.  Sigh.  And I hate the Sierra Mist can.  I don’t understand why Pepsi, a company with such a recognizable brand image, would do something of this caliber.

2.  Today is Halloween.  A year ago today, while driving the six hours home from my interview, Marques and I made the decision to move here.  I am very grateful to the company I work for.  Anyway, if you’ve got Halloween plans (unlike me and Marques) and you still don’t have a costume, here’s a list of easy literary costumes you can probably pull off before your party tonight.

3.  I love this group of homemade Obama signs.

4.  I wish that we had this Halloween candy code when I was a kid.  I love the “out of candy, now giving out expired sauce packets from Taco Bell”.  HA.

5.  This evolution of the Los Angeles Times front page (and website) design is really interesting.

6.  These zombie wall decals are AWESOME.  Need and want.

7.  A good menu for election night parties.  I’m thinking about making little cake balls in red and blue for my office, since that’s where I’ll be alllll evening.

8.  Or maybe I can just make Obama cookies.

9.  I would totally watch sports…. in space.

10.  I love this gallery of pumpkins carved with video game characters!  I love the Katamari pumpkin and the Bowser pumpkin the best.

Things I learned this week

Published
by
ashley
on October 24, 2008
in things i learned
. 1 Comment

1.  The top five reasons why Luke Skywalker is a complete idiot.  I love top five lists.  I dislike Luke Skywalker (though really, he does have the coolest name).  I am a Han Solo girl all the way, which explains a lot about my previous dating history.

2.  I love websites where you can choose things by color.  Like Etsy’s colorpicker.  This website lets you find Flickr photos by color(s), and it’s pretty awesome.

3.  Sigh.  There’s a big Project Runway mess going down which could delay the next season until 2010.  What. the. hell.  Lifetime, call off your dogs - think of all the hot mess fashion I could be missing in 2009!  In the meantime, Bravo is apparently in series development to make a Project Runway clone called Fashion House (uh, worst name ever).  The worst part is that Fashion House equals NO TIM GUNN.  COME ON TELEVISION.

4.  Soylent Green broccoli is people?

5.  I think the story that scotch tape, when peeled in a vacuum chamber, emits x-rays is really, really super awesome.  Science rules.

6.  I had no idea that Chicago has a pedway system.  This almost makes me want to move to Chicago.  Also, in other cool mass transit news, Portland has an air tram.  DC, you need to step it up.  I want some more water taxis.

7.  I love this Homeland Security quilt.  This makes me want to make one, although I have no idea how to make a quilt or really even how to use my sewing machine.  Also, these little Obama and McCain crocheted finger puppets are ADORABLE.

8.  In TV news, the Lost season 5 promo makes me excited for Lost although.. you know… a million months away.  In other television news, I found out that the guy who played Becky’s boyfriend, Mark, on Roseanne totally died in 2002.  Sad.  Although that guy was a toolbag.

9.  One of my favorite television shows is Unsolved Mysteries.  I would schedule my classes around it in college so I could watch the reruns on Lifetime (yes, seriously).  Then Lifetime took it off the air and my heart, it was broken.  Now Spike has picked up Unsolved Mysteries and is creating actual new episodes with Dennis Farina as the host.  I caught a couple episodes this week (okay, I tivoed them) and while it’s not up to Robert Stack quality (the music is WAY LESS CREEPIER), it’s still as entertaining as ever.

10.  When I was home for my grandfather’s funeral back in March, I was staying with my mom (who is only 48)  and watched as she started counting out her nightly pills.  This kind of threw me for a loop because usually, we make fun of my grandmother for having to take like 80 pills a day, so it was strange to me that my mom was suddenly veering in that direction (and yes, I realize this is probably just a precursor to my old lady life).  I asked her what some of the pills were and she rattled off blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, Prozac.  Prozac?  WTF, Mom?  Turns out she was diagnosed with depression (and so is my grandmother, which, again, I am looking forward to in my middle-aged years).  So this post on Jezebel was especially interesting to me - Why are middle-aged women down in the dumps?

Bonus thing I learned this week:  The new Starbucks salted caramel hot chocolate is really, really, really good.

Things I learned this week

Published
by
ashley
on October 17, 2008
in things i learned
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1.  Best Buy snags a new logo.  This is just getting ridiculous, designers of the world.  Please stop taking the easy way out and just running san-serifed typeface + simple line image.  I do like the new logo, though, as the big yellow tag always skeeved me out for some reason.

2.  I love these movie posters that are designed to reflect the product placement in the movies.  I would hang these up on my wall if they were available for purchase.

3.  The Atlantic is getting a redesign.  Pentagram has a good blog post about the changes.  I’m not sure how I feel about it, but at least it’s not a san-serifed font with a line drawing beside it.  I love the picture of all the different “Atlantics” in the various typefaces.

4.  The most accessed and reviewed recipe at America’s Test Kitchen is green bean casserole.  I hate green bean casserole.

5.  These bacon cinnamon rolls need to be made immediately and given to me in enormous quantities.  AMANDA.

6.  I also learned an easier way to make chocolate truffles.  I made chocolate truffles a couple of years ago during Christmas and found the entire process completely overwhelming, probably because my internal body temperature is like 150 degrees and my hands melted the truffles when I tried to roll them.  Also, this instructable has really great flavor combinations (hello pecan cheesecake truffle) and this makes me want to try to make truffles again this year.

7.  The woman credited to bringing nachos to Los Angeles died at the age of 77.  This kind of makes me sad and also makes me want to eat some nachos.

8.  Where are the ladies from Project Runway season 5? Kenley Collins, my most-hated Project Runway designer EVER, is now a teacher.  She also knocked Korto’s line, saying that she was really insulted that her beautiful couture line would come in third to Korto’s.  Kenley, shut up.

9.  This (warning: Salon link) is a really fantastic essay by a really fantastic essayist, Joan Didion, about (what else?) the election.  “We could forget that we ourselves induced the coma, by indulging the government in its fantasy of absolute power, wielded absolutely. So general is this fantasy by now that we approach this election with no clear idea where bottom is: what damage has been done, what alliances have been formed and broken, what concealed reefs lie ahead. Whoever we elect president is about to find some of that out.”

10.  Never Say Die - why we can’t imagine death.  This is a really thought-provoking article that examines our mortality and our self-consciousness.  Do our minds simply cease to exist when we die, or are we conscious of everything?

Bonus:  When I was in elementary school, I went to gifted class every week.  I loved going to gifted class because it was full of awesome things like free reading time and computer games.  I cannot tell you how many Oregon Trail journeys I went on or how many times I found Carmen Sandiego.  This top ten list of the most educational video games of the 1980s is great.  I played ALL OF THESE.

Things I learned this week

Published
by
ashley
on October 9, 2008
in things i learned
. 0 Comments

So since I’ll be gone this weekend, lost in the wilderness, I thought I’d do my things I learned this week early.

1.  If I ever get married, I found the cake I want.  This Mario Kart wedding cake is AWESOME.  At the very least, I want my wedding cake to have some sort of Rainbow Road theme since I?  Rule Rainbow Road.  Scott came up with the idea that maybe I should just have rainbow cupcakes set up like the Rainbow Road track.  Scott just garnered an invitation to my future one-day-maybe wedding because of that.

2.  I love Chuck Klosterman.  I realize by saying that, I may have just painted myself into the glasses-wearing-hipster corner, but I do.  Chuck Klosterman is the only writer that can get me to read an article about sports.  So when he published his brief history of the 21st century, I was enthralled.  My favorite part was the dissolving of Major League Baseball.  Sorry, Marques.

3.  Tips on how to make food like a restaurant chef.

4.  I thought this evolution of corporate logos site was interesting.  I think the 1970s Apple logo is awesome.  I also don’t understand the big fish in the Nokia logos.

5.  I’m sure all of you have seen the literal Take on Me video.  If you haven’t, you should.  Regardless, there was a thread on Metafilter about it, and one of the commenters said this:  “Also, I hate having been such an avid reader of Smash Hits, but that girl was Morten Harket’s girlfriend at the time. Her name is Bunty. It’s sad to think what eternal wisdom doesn’t fit into my brain because of knowing this.”  So things learned: that girl was totally Morten Harket’s girlfriend.  On a side note, I’ve watched that A-Ha video like 80 times this week.

6.  Also, maybe the lead singer of A-Ha was really an actual comic book character, because he looks like he hasn’t aged very much.

7.  South Dakota is going to vote on a measure banning abortion (except in cases of rape or incest) in their state.  Seriously.  I’ve known about this for awhile thanks to the 6,000 e-mails I get a day from Ms. and NOW and all of those groups.  But this is serious stuff.  I devoted quite a lot of time in college to women’s issues.  I realize that pro-choice is not for everyone, and that’s fine, but if you are pro-choice, you might want to read the article.

I’m only doing seven.  The eighth thing I learned this week was that an old, dear friend of mine whom I haven’t talked to in quite awhile had another child this past summer.  That made me smile.  Babies aren’t for everyone, but they are for her.