One of the units across from mine was vacant for well over a year. It wasn’t until last fall that I noticed someone finally moved into it. It was the subtle changes at first, a doormat, an open window.
And then Christmas rolled around and there were decorations.
And then Christmas passed, and it was a new year. And as my other neighbors around me, plopped their dying Christmas trees out for pick up, I barely even noticed the greenery on this unit’s balcony.
Until I looked closer and realized, it wasn’t a Christmas tree…
It’s actually some sort of bird and squirrel play zone.
At first, I laughed. Who does this? I thought. And why?
But the more I’ve seen the cute little wild life around, I’m kind of happy about it, even if it’s not the prettiest balcony decor.
The only birds that we usually get are pigeons, so I’m happy to see these cute little fatties.
What’s even more baffling is how it’s stayed up this long. I can’t believe the management company hasn’t gotten on it. And to think, I’ve been paranoid about keeping a small trash can on my porch!
I was reorganizing a bookshelf near my kitchen that I primarily use for cookbooks, when I found this little scrapbook…
I forgot that I made this at a workshop last year. So I’m glad I took some photos at Christmas. I can now have pictures printed and tape them down. I haven’t done that in a long time!
I’ve been accused of having a chip implanted in my neck by Apple.
Biased. Yuppy. iDork. You name it. Most of these teasing accusations are from my Microsoft-centric counterparts, that us Apple folk tend to tease just as relentlessly. It’s just a fun part of working in a diverse IT environment.
I heard a recent piece on NPR about tablets in general. The idea is that in the “future” these slate like devices will simply lay about your house. As a technologist and a lazy person, this vision of the future obviously thrills me.
This will be my carry everywhere device. No more paper for notes, when I don’t want to lug my laptop to and around work. The laptop can stay home most days, unless I have to give a presentation or code remotely on campus.
The weekend after a three day weekend is always so shockingly short. I swear, I just got off work and here I am preparing for tomorrow.
This one was a good one though. It started on Friday when I took Callie to the Vet and they put another bandage on her tail. They said she could wear it for two weeks this time and then she might not have to wear the cone when she goes bandage-free!
Well this blissful state ended a little abruptly for both her and I when I came home tonight to find her Jets-colored bandage on the floor completely in tact, as if she slipped it off disgusted with their loss. She herself was just chilling on her favorite blanket. She started to lick at it pretty good, so I was forced to put the cone on her…
She gets bummed out wearing the cone, and that bums me out pretty bad. But this could be for the best. I’m thinking that it’s somehow meant to be, because this is really what the Vets wanted to do in the first place. I’m wondering if they put her bandage on in such a manner so that it would slip off easily and we’d be forced to do the truly right thing! The tail needs air, and we’ll just have to deal with our sweet little girl living in her Elizabethian cone.
After the Vet, I went to Best Buy in an effort to get NetFlix streaming on my TV. I had lots of options. Could run a DVI->HDMI cable from my laptop. Could get a PS3. Could get a capable Blu-Ray player. Best Buy did not have the cable, so it was between the PS3 or Blu-Ray. After lots of internal debate, I ended up getting the Blu-Ray. It was half the price, didn’t require a disc from NetFlix to do initial setup, and I just don’t really play games that much.
You may be asking yourself, why not wait for the Wii NetFlix option that is coming soon? Well, there’s a bit of an urgency since I’m trying to catch up a friend on Lost before the new season starts. And the Wii version won’t have HD capabilities. Plus, I’m a bit excited for Blu-Ray. I bought Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Blu-Ray, and I can’t wait to watch it!
So overall I’m glad I got it. It was really easy to setup, and now I have a whole new gigantic option of viewing options whenever I want.
On Saturday I did a ton of cleaning (again), including some de-cluttering that I had planned on doing ever since last week’s big clean up.
Today, my dad and Cathy came up for a visit. The three of us, along with Marissa and Johnny, went over to the Great Indoors, which was a little bit like torture (I’m a renter and I have no real money to speak of), and then had a fun lunch at Panera (yum!).
We talked about how I love to teach people lessons. Okay, more like my family made fun of me for that. They called me George Bluth from Arrested Development.
If you’ve never seen Arrested Development, it’s the episode called “Pier Pressures.” I wish I could show you a clip, but alas, I couldn’t find one.
Anyway, I came home and did computer-y things, and plan to curl up with my Kindle tonight. I never did share my Kindle skin experience. I do love it so! It was really easy to apply and I think it looks so cute!
I was a 18-year-old bratty graduate bound for college and angry at her parents for setting such a lame curfew. 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. My 17-year-old brother operated within the same guidelines.
So we’d go out most weeknights to hang out with friends. Me to my favorite coffee house (it was the 90s after all), and my brother to….well…I have no idea where he ever was.
And then 11:00 would roll around, we’d wander home and make our way into the kitchen for a late night snack–usually cereal, either Fruity Pebbles or Peanut Butter Captain Crunch.
By the time we settled in around the kitchen table, it would be about 11:30 and The Tonight Show would just be ending and Late Night with Conan O’Brien would be starting. As we munched on our cereal we’d laugh at Conan’s funny monologue, and we’d refill our bowls by the time the first guest would come on.
I don’t remember how we found Conan in the first place, but he became such a part of that summer and a permanent figure in the memory I have of spending time with my brother at that age, that I have been incredibly fond of him ever since.
In 2002, I went with my dad and sister to New York and we visited NBC’s Rockefeller building. We got to tour lots of the studios, but sadly not Conan’s. We were so sad! But we did the next best thing and paid for a fake photo shoot with a green screen, where it looked like we were on the set with Conan, sitting in his chairs, drinking out of mugs and laughing it up. When we got home from vacation, we lied and told my mom that we met him in real life and she believed us for a little bit, until we started laughing.
And that’s where I got my favorite mug!
I was thrilled when I heard that Conan was taking over the Tonight Show in 2009! Especially because I was no spring chicken anymore and had imposed my own self inflicted curfew to be in bed by 11 (amazing how life evolves). To have Conan start at 10:35 was most excellent to me.
So I was there watching on his debut night, and kept at it for quite awhile.
I was so certain that Conan would be there at 10:35 for years and years to come that I wasn’t as worried about viewership as I should have been. If I missed a night, it was no big deal. If I missed a week, I dealt with it.
So it should come to no surprise that I am livid at the late night fiasco at NBC. I could go on and on and on about my beef with NBC in general. I have never loved and hated something so equally and passionately as I do with NBC. Somehow NBC is my default channel, and a big chunk of my programming happens on NBC. So as much as I want to boycott or stay away from the network that chooses to destroy pretty much everything I love, I keep tuning in. LOSER!
Since this madness started, I’ve been watching every second of the Tonight Show, and he’s funnier than ever, which just makes it hurt more. I know that this isn’t the end of Conan by any means, but it still makes me sad. I hate that he only had seven months to be the host of the legendary “Tonight Show,” and I feel like he’ll forever be jaded.
And so that’s my story on that. I could dig deeper into all this, but really, this video pretty much sums it up for me!
Hi! I'm Rochelle. Welcome to my blog. This is a space that’s almost like a scrapbook, a little bit of a rant room, a gallery of creative work, and a dash of nonsense. My life is not terribly exciting but I have a lot of creative energy that’s got to be focused somewhere.
