Stupid Website

Once again I've stayed up too late. Tonight I was working on my photo website. I decided to put up my Photoshop projects both recent and old. I thought it'd be good motivation for working hard on my current projects. Otherwise, I'd be the only one seeing them and I could just please myself. Now perhaps I'll think of a wider audience.

Earlier this evening I finished creating a photo album on shutterfly.com. When I bought my camera, I got three coupons for free hard cover albums and they expired today. I used one a few weeks ago to make an album for Joanna with photos of her family from a CD she sent me last fall. I hear it looks awesome. I was hoping to use Anne and Jordan's photos from their trip out here last month for the other coupons but I didn't get them in time.

Joanna's folks just got back from a trip to Alaska and had taken her camera so had plenty of great photos. She used one of the coupons for an album for them. I'm sure it'll turn out great.

I used the other one for me. I put photos of my folks and family, some old and some more recent. I can't wait to see it.

Optical Effects

There are a couple blogs that I enjoy reading occasionally that have white (or light) text on a black background. I think these bloggers do not read their own blogs much.

After reading for a few minutes, when I glance away from the screen, I suffer optical effects that obscure my vision. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it takes awhile to return to normal. I sure wish they would choose to a more reader-friendly format.

Lunch Today

A big green mug full of tomato soup warmed in the micro.
A whole wheat pita toasted in the toaster.
Two sticks of low-fat string cheese chilled in the fridge.
An apple from my snack bin.

Yummy!

Tonight's Art Project

So in Photoshop you're supposed to be able to recreate various painting techniques like oil painting, chalk and charcoal. Tonight I was working on adjusting a photo in preparation of applying the watercolor filter. Here's the original image (cropped).



I used the blur tool, hue adjustments and the cloning tool to de-emphasize the background and the distracting orange sleeve, to remove the lollipop stick from her mouth and to lighten her eye color (the filter made them completely black). Here's my final project result. Click on the image to see a larger size.

Photoshop Project

I checked out a book on Photoshop on Saturday and have been plugging away on it this weekend. I'm not much of an artist but here's a project from the Paintbrushes and Art Tools chapter. It was my first try and I thought it was so pretty.

Movie of the Week

Today I watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith. It was highly entertaining. I have to say I loved it. I think it would've made an awesome book. Do you think they'll make a sequel? Mr. & Mrs. Smith Go to Washington?

I didn't love the earthquake effect of a hand-held camera at the beginning when they were in Colombia. But after awhile I got used to it (or they stopped using it). And I'm not a big fan of extended fight scenes, especially hand to hand, but their fight scene was kinda what the whole movie was leading up to, so I didn't fast forward through it (though I was tempted.)

I'm not the biggest Brad Pitt fan but if he's going to be in a movie, don't you think it behooves him to take off his shirt more often? I'm just saying...

Photos on Mac.com

I may still post an occasional photo here if it strikes me but for the time being I'm posting my pics to my .Mac website. They had some nice templates for photo albums. I'd rather spend my time editing the photos themselves than the website.

Too Much

Oh! The hockey game just went into overtime. Both it and the A's game are on in HD tonight. It's just too much good stuff.

I'm taping the A's game and watching the Carolina/Buffalo game live. I don't particularly care which team wins. I'm going to be for the Oilers in the Finals anyway.

Shave It Off

I love hockey.

I love the hockey playoffs even more.
(Oilers win the West!)

But I do not love hockey playoff beards. They're just not attractive.

I don't blame the players. They're only growing them because it's the playoffs, not because they think they look good (I hope). So it's not reflection on them as individuals. I just wish they would do something else other than grow facial hair. It's getting so bad even fans are getting into it. Okay, some of those images are pretty funny.

One year the Sharks were playing the St. Louis Blues in the playoffs and instead of growing the traditional beard, the Blues players dyed their hair blond. Even one guy who shaves his head got into the action by dyeing stripes into his bushy eyebrows. It wasn't a good look. Plus they lost to the Sharks. I didn't see the blond hair the next year.

Cable Modem Crazy

The lights on the cable modem are driving me crazy. They're all flashy, flashy all the time. I've tried various methods of blocking them. First was a breakfast bar, but I got hungry and ate it. Now I have an empty bottle of ibuprofen lying on its side, but it likes to roll away. I think I may have to just put the modem on the floor out of my line of sight. I just can't have the flickery distraction.

Sounding Good

As I was putting on my shoes (getting ready to go out for my usual Saturday morning errand run) I was reading the side of my monitor box and I read "concealed speakers". Concealed pretty well. I didn't even notice! So I found the audio cord and plugged it in. Wow. No more listening to my iTunes or WKBJ on the tinny speakers of the CPU. I am so lucky.

My Friend Elizabeth

Elizabeth is getting married in less than six months. Will she be ready? Will she make it? Will she go bonkers in the meantime?


Only time will tell...

The New Set-Up

Here's a pic of how my home computer is set up.

Books I've Read This Week

I scored big at the library last Saturday and was in a reading kind of mood last weekend so I have several books on the list this week on Books I've Read This Week.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris (of Chocolat fame) is told in first person from two different points of view, both teachers at a private boys school in England. One is a long-time teacher and the other (partly told in flashbacks) a new young teacher who grew up just outside the school's gates and who worshipped its elite atmosphere growing up but was denied attendance by economic and social position. I greatly enjoyed this story. I have to say, first person is my absolute favorite but one big disadvantage is always having only one perspective. There's a great twist at the end that I wasn't expecting which made me want to go back and re-read the whole thing. I didn't but maybe I will some day. Now, please don't take what I just told you and read the end of the book first. That would just be cheating.

Another book told partly in first person is Tomb of the Golden Bird, the latest in Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries set in Egypt. Amelia herself is the main narrator with some sections told in third person from the perspective of her now-grown son, Ramses. This installment chronicles the discovery of the tomb of King Tut which is highly interesting but, for me, it's the family interactions that make this series a favorite. I even like the descriptions of their cats.

Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin and Bleeding Hearts by Susan Wittig Albert arrived on my hold shelf and I quickly consumed both. In Cake, we continue to follow the Blackbird sisters in their humorous attempts to find love and meaning in their lives in Philadelphia. Nora is trying to make sense of her pregnancy and who she wants as the baby's father as well as who may have done in a local millionaire estranged from his family. The mob, muffins and mayhem, what could be better?

In Hearts, China and Ruby investigate the suicide of a college student apparently connected to the powerful local high school football coach in Texas, and the theft of a potential best-in-show entry in a quilt contest. Ruby even breaks out the Ouija board to China's amusement and a neighbor's consternation. China discovers more about Ruby's mysterious current flame but may wish she'd been left in the dark.

I picked up two books by new (to me) authors: Ladies With Options by Cynthia Hartwick and Some Like it Haute by Julie K. L. Dam. Ladies is the first in a two book series that describes how some small town Minnesota church women, determined to save enough for retirement, made it big in the stock market in the '80s. You can't help but root for these ladies and their families as they attempt to make some dough and save their town. The second book, Ladies with Prospects, continues the story (and is on my hold list, of course).

Haute is a cheesy romance set in Paris during Fashion Week with overtones of reality TV. If you like Project Runway, you might like this book if you're not doing anything else worthwhile. It's short and fast and, though it attempts to be a mystery, there's really nothing mysterious about it.

Now I'm plugging through Their Noble Lordships by Simon Winchester in my attempt to read everything by this insightful author. In this book from 25 years ago, Simon explores the peers of the realm and their meaning to his world in 1981. He goes rank by rank, from dukes to marquesses to earls to viscounts to barons, describing selected individuals, the House of Lords and the design of heraldic arms (among other things). Again, I am surprised by how he can interest me in a subject I wouldn't necessarily find fascinating otherwise. I even found a mention of a possible relation whose barony is still active in Lincolnshire. Too bad Sallie and I won't be going that way in the fall.

Unread books on my shelf at home:
Sarum: The Novel of England, Edward Rutherfurd
The Rebels of Ireland, also Rutherford
A Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
Guide to Mac OS X Tiger, Leo Laporte

Books on hold at the library:
Virgin Earth, Philippa Gregory (in transit)
Micah, Laurell K. Hamilton (11 of 25 holds)
The 5th Horseman, James Patterson (5 of 16 holds)
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris (8 of 13 holds)
Darcy & Elizabeth: Days & Nights at Pemberly, Linda Berdoll (2 of 2 holds)
Tool & Die, Sarah Graves (ready for pickup)
Nail Biter, Sarah Graves (due 6/8)
Ladies with Prospects, Cynthia Hartwick (in transit)
Sleep, Pale Sister, Joanne Harris (ready for pickup)

I hope I made up for a slightly lacking column on last week's books with this week's long-winded entry. Catch me next time on Books I've Read This Week.

Comcast Travails

I've feel like I've spent a lifetime on the phone with Comcast in the last 24 hours. Last night I couldn't get the cable modem to work. Turns out you actually have to turn the darn thing on. Who knew?

Today my MLB Extra Innings subscription wasn't working properly. I was getting two of the ten channels in but not, of course, the one that had the game on I wanted to watch (Detroit). So I called and the customer service rep said she was going to turn my box off remotely. Well, it didn't turn off and then she said the commands were backed up for 20 minutes. So I said forget it. I was going to be recording something (hockey). Wouldn't you know it after 20 minutes the box turned off anyway. Damn it.

The channels still weren't coming in so I called back and the rep said to turn off the box here. So I did, to no avail. She finally scheduled a service call for Sunday morning. I had to get up by 9. Yippee.

I tried the channels a few minutes later and sure enough they were coming in fine so something she did helped. But I had to call back to cancel the appointment and was on hold for a long time. Detroit was leading 3-0 when I started watching and now it's 3-2. Maybe I shouldn't be watching it after all.

Grey's Anatomy on Oprah!

Ooooo! I just found out that the stars of Grey's Anatomy are on Oprah. I'm soooo glad I'm home today!

Working at Home is Great

I have a bad sore throat and am coughing up dark gooey phlegm so I'm at home today. My eyes were almost glued shut when I woke up this morning. Yikes!

I had some stuff that needed to get out the door today so I'm working too. It's so great to have a ballgame on the telly while I'm working. I do love my comfy chaise and my tea on the side table. I may have to take a nap pretty soon though. I'm getting tired.

Online at Home, Sweet Home

Woo Hoo! I'm online at home!

More later, as my rice cooker just indicated the rice is done. Gotta go heat up my lentil stew.

Home Computer Update

FedEx should be delivering my monitor and trackball from CDW tomorrow. So I should have everything I need to set up at home tomorrow night. I drove over to the Comcast office Monday after work to pick up my cable modem and self-installation kit. Maybe I'll hook up the cables tonight so all I have to do tomorrow is install some software and plug in the Ethernet cord.

French Toast My Way

whole wheat sourdough bread
2 medium eggs
pinch of kosher salt
splash or two of fat-free milk
trans-fat-free margarine
1 t whey low
1/2 t cinnamon

Prep:
Slice your bread into 1/2 inch slices (I use four). Beat eggs well in a shallow dish (I use a deep dish glass pie plate). Add a pinch of salt and a splash or two of milk to loosen the eggs. Soak bread in dish, turning occasionally. While you're waiting, mix the sugar and cinnamon in small bowl and preheat a nonstick fry pan on medium. Preheat your toaster oven to 200º.

Cooking:
Melt a bit of margarine in your pan. You want it to sizzle a little. Lay two slices of bread in pan and cook for two minutes without moving them. (Soak your other slices of bread while the first two are cooking.) Flip and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on the cooked side (I use my fingers for better control). Cook the second side for a minute and a half and remove to warm in the toaster oven. Cook the other two slices the same way.

Enjoy!