wallpapers of 2009

I've turned my photo based vector wallpaper into a set, so I can have OSX leisurely rotate through it while I read my greader and sew lots of xmas-present-related projects. Photos of those will be coming as soon as they've been received by their new owners.

screwdriver

I got bored while my work computer was (and still is) installing Windows updates, so I took some pictures of the screen through the transulscent handle of a screwdriver which was laying on my desk. I think they look fairly pretty.

the new hotness

That's what my friend in college called her new computer, and it's what I think every time I buy a new piece of electronics. And, boy, is my new baby hot. I am typing this on a brand new 27" i7 iMac. Holy crap, is it pretty. And fast. And big.

So big that none of my old wall paper will fit. So, in honor of my newest child/computer's ridiculous resolution I have made a new wallpaper. It's based off a picture I took in the Met this summer:



And, with help from my good friends Photoshop and Illustrator, turned into this:

i made some things!

It's been awhile since my last project. Work has been keeping me pretty busy, both in terms of mental horsepower and actual time, so I've been less inclined to tinker.

However, I was inspired by my recent computer purchase's packaging (and, really, when am I not inspired by packaging?) and I've got the making stuff bug back. Below are my first two salvos. If I get what I want for xmas, there'll be lots more projects soon!

iDevice stands from corner packaging. I cut a channel down the center for the cord and painted the whole thing white to match my strict red/white bedroom color scheme.

A further mod to my Expedit "dresser". Formerly, this shelf had eight boxes in it serving as drawers, but what I really wanted was more hanging space. I unscrewed the top (well, actually the side) and removed the interior shelves on half the unit, reattached the end piece and put in a tension rod. Et voila, a place to hang my shirts!

things i learned this weekend

1. The tasting menu at Craigie, while delicious, requires no eating for at least two days prior to attempting, instead of the one I had assumed.

2. If there is a hole in the bottom of your shoe, and you step in a puddle, your foot gets wet. And, since your foot is now encased in a wet shoe, it will not dry.

3. Urban Outfitters *still* has half off women's clearance...this situation is becoming serious.

4. Fresh Pond is considerably closer than I thought. However, the bus that goes there only comes once an hour.

things i learned today, v

1. Places which do not sell cute shower curtains which do not clash with the colors of my bathroom include:
Harvard Square (Hootenany, Urban, Dickenson)
Cambridgeside Galleria (Macy's, Sears)
Downtown Crossing (Macy's, CVS)
Quincy Market (Crate and Barrel, Urban, some other random shops)
Kendall Square (COOP)


2. Places which do sell shower curtains compatible with my bathroom include:
Target

Guess where I went last?

3. Ways not to spend your Wednesday off: hunting for shower curtains.

At least my mother will have completely mold and mildew - free shower curtains when she visits.

things i learned today, iv

1. Talking to executive customer service actually ends in the thing you wanted getting done, just like on Consumerist.

2. Crashes in software I'm not actually working on do not get solved by me rambling off the things I think might be wrong.

3. It is possible for my mother to figure out digital cameras, photo transferring, Picasa, Dropbox and gchat, and to use them all simultaneously. Color me impressed.

4. Google Sites has a 100 mb attachment limit. This spells trouble.

things i learned today, part iii

1. iTunes will just break and break and break and break, but won't necessarily give you any clues as to why.

2. Organs are yummy.

3. As are chocolate truffles involving lemon and pepper.

4. Inconvenient things have no regard for when your roommate wants to go to brunch.

5. Writing about oneself is difficult and akward. Honestly, though, I already knew. It is one of the few constants in my life.

things i learned today, part ii

1. Hair that has been dyed dark red for 6 years will refuse to turn strawberry blonde. Even after two trips to the salon.

2. Playing the Wii kill-people-with-swords game for 20 minutes without pausing after not playing for a month will give you a huge blister on your thumb. And by you I am, of course, referring to myself.

3. Doing a face mask really does make my skin feel better. I hope it's not temporary magic.

4. I don't remember hearing any of Lady Gaga's music before I listened to her album today. I have, however, read innumerable blog posts about her, and her lack of pants. The music wasn't actually bad.

things i learned today, part i

1. Even if iTunes says it's synced your iPod, that doesn't mean your iPod will actually believe it has music on it.

2. Just because a Windows XP reinstall disk utterly fails to reinstall Windows on its own machine, doesn't mean that it won't install just fine somewhere else.

3. Copernicus (my bosses' dog) is both fascinated and threatened by light reflected off of CDs.

4. Some tiny graphics cards don't have fans. Instead they have heat sinks that look like gold anemones.

5. Also, Lauren made an awesome hat.

testing, testing. one. two. three.

Attempting to embed a Wave using Madoqua Wave Bot...

And for those of you without Wave:

My Google Wave account finally appears to be (sort of) working! While I definetly enjoyed the Firefly-ness of the the "shiny" error, I'm glad it's no longer constant. And, thanks to the awesome bloggy bot that lets me turn waves in to blogpost, you, dear reader, get another lovely post from me. If this goes well, you may even get several. Congradulations to you. I'm not sure how to turn spellcheck on in here, so they may be a bit misspelled, but I will do my best.

In other Google-related news, I've helped my mother rebuild her website in Google Sites. I think it looks much better than her last one and, in any case, has quite a few new quilts. Check it out here. She's decided to get an actual domain name this time, but has yet to decide on a name.

I've also been being crafty, as always. I folded 100 Lang beauty roses. You can see the flickr set here, although I really wish I could figure out how to embed the slideshow :( Hopefully someone will write an extension soon.

I also made a Lego cake with my friend Mary for our boss's birthday. The results can be seen here.

I've done other things, like reorganize my kitchen with my roommate and thoroughly clean my stove, but, tragically, they don't have flickr sets. Since wave is still crashing about every 30 seconds, I think this about all for now. For anyone having the same "shiny" errors should check out this thread.

Coming Soon: my trip to Norway.

ahem

Ok. So I failed to post for a long, long time again. I have been up to things though! I lost a job, got a (much better) job, moved, redecorated my apartment with actual furniture, bought a laser printer, joined twitter in exchange for Delicious Library, went to DIY for CHI, got some models printed by Shapeways, and built a fantastic Lego brownstone.

And, in case you ever wanted to know what one image of every project I found in my iPhoto library looks like:

One of Each from Jenna Fizel on Vimeo

now you know.

More posts to come soonish, as usual.