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Saturday, July 18th, 2009
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1:08 pm - Dear iPhoto
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You and I are through.
I don't like that you make unnecessary "face" files. And I can't turn the feature off. You're wasting space on my harddrive. I don't WANT to tag people on my computer. This is not a facebook album.
I don't like that you randomly decided to lose several photos in the preview function, leading me to believe that you had lost them entirely. Thereby causing me to reimport them only to end up with duplicates. Except, only the duplicates show up as thumbnails. What the hell?
I don't like that when I asked photobucket to upload a whole event, you picked and chose which files Photobucket would upload and thus, five or so pictures that I wanted had to be uploaded separately. Why didn't you just upload the whole event?
I don't know what your issue is, but I'm not using you anymore. I can't trust you not to lose my files and/or create unnecessary duplicates of everything. Suck it.
~Rebecca
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1:20 am - Rustic Canyon - Abandoned Nazi Commune
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For anybody interested in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) angry_vampire's hiking group, here's a hike that I'd like to propose. And reasons you may like it -- if you like graffiti and/or abandoned stuff.
Rustic Canyon can be reached two ways. 1) from Will Rogers State Park via the Backbone Trail or 2) from Capri Ave. just off of the road to Camp Josepho boyscout camp.
Cait and I intended to take the Backbone Trail the first time we went because we didn't know about the 2nd way. However, a ranger at Will Rogers State Park pointed us to Capri Ave. The week after we completed the hike, we tried the 1st way and realized it was an awful trail for the summer. The segment of Backbone Trail headed to Rustic Canyon is 5-6 miles long in one direction (meaning 10-12 miles total if you went out and back) It is full of switchbacks, mostly uphill on the way in, and not shady in the slightest. We turned back about 2 and a half miles in due to over-exertion. Definitely a better winter trail.
Capri Ave, on the other hand, is a great way to go so long as you start out early in the day.
We discovered four different ways into the canyon from the Camp Josepho road. One is a dirt path, two others are cement stairwells and the final way is a paved road blocked off by a stone and metal fence. You're most likely to find the former and latter because they're more evident, but Cait and I found one of the stairwells before the others our first time out -- it mostly has to do with what catches your attention as nothing but the fence is very prominent.
After traversing everything, this is a summation of how everything maps out. [not entirely accurate, as the memory makes a few items fuzzy, but a fair approximation.]
( map )
( trail pics and abandoned things )
Further reading:
LA Times article on Rustic Canyon Ruins
Excerpt from the book Weird California
San Diego Reader article
current music: Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups
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| Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
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2:17 pm - Phantom Friends and Friendly Vietnamese
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Trying to write more often
Vegan Vietnamese with boymaenad was AWESOME last night. We both reveled in its deliciousness, lack of weird textures (you'd honestly think you were eating meat, taste and texture-wise) and the amazingness of the owners. Not only did they make meal suggestions based on the weather, but they also gave us both a free bottle of their homemade soy milk [a high-selling product in their store] and free desserts.
YUM. I'm totally going back.
The line for Harry Potter was horrendous, people actually camped out in front of the theatre (was NOT expecting it to be all Star-Wars-y). So my showing up 4 hours before the movie placed me solidly at 2/3 of the way through the line. I laughed to myself momentarily because when I had arrived 4 hours before the 5th movie, a friend of mine had not understood why I would want to get to the theatre so early (I was about the 20th person in line for that one). And no sooner had I had that thought than I saw that exact friend... very far ahead of me in line.... meaning he had likely been there far earlier than me.
This particular friend is like a phantom limb to me on certain occasions and would have probably been in line with me at the theatre had we been on speaking terms -- and though I forgave him long ago, I don't believe we're on speaking terms -- So, I tend to do my very best not to run into him in hopes of avoiding unnecessary awkwardness. Thus, during the next two hours, while I waited for TechAllison and Alex to arrive, I did my best to keep my nose buried in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which only gets more ridiculously amusing as it goes on).
Once Allison arrived, I finally got to go the bathroom (yay!) and had to use my ticket as collateral with the door talent [Pacific calls them "talents" (101 useless facts from working in a movie theatre)]. He wrote my name on it, but ended up remembering me because of my quote "cute outfit." I stopped by Sandra and Rafa to say hi on the way back (they were near the front of the 12:15 line... [curse me and my need to buy tickets as soon as they are on sale!!!]). Then Alex met up with Allison and I and we enjoyed the thought of Matthew Lillard as Hitler -- as described by Erin via text.
Eventually we got in, I was whistled at by a security guard, and the movie started! (that's the short form) 90% of the female audience geeked out over a Twilight preview and Harry Potter finally began!
I won't trouble you with reviews and inaccuracies from book -> film. Instead I'll leave it at: I liked it and will probably go see it again.
Meanwhile, July just keeps getting more busy. Anyone else have awesomeness they'd like to invite me to so I can throw it into my busy schedule? :-)
current mood:  LJ-ey
current music: none... remarkably.
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| Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
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12:14 pm - Bullets make things short and sweet
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• Spent exactly what I budgeted for the weekend [yay budgets!]
• Saw lots of cool abandoned stuff on the 15 headed into Vegas.
• Discovered that 92proof rum + my stomach = not friends and stopped drinking after queasiness beset me.
• Think the bar Nine Fine Irish Men at NY,NY resembles Haunted Mansion at Disneyland due to hidden elevators and random alabaster busts [as in the upper torso + head sculptures).
• Enjoyed watching Adam regret introducing me to GirlAlex as she and I proceeded to share musical tastes, a love of cheese, and the ability to dance the Time Warp. Will invite her to Sins this weekend to remedy her Rocky virginity.
• Tried to play wing-woman for Adam - at his request - but to no avail as he awkwardly tried to impress GirlAlex and failed utterly.
• Received a drunken phone call from Dave, who was standing 100 feet away from me, informing me where everyone was standing... apparently he thought I got lost returning from the restroom... that was 100 feet away from him.
• Heightened my dislike of P.F.Cheng's after eating what was, arguably, the worst dish of vegetables I have ever eaten.
• Paris Brunch Buffet still rocks, though I have issues with the crepe chef who refused to make me a butter and sugar crepe... THE MOST STANDARD FORM OF CREPE! Apparently you should only eat chocolate strawberry banana crepes *eye roll*
• Sat in a spa surrounded by ten splashing children for exactly two minutes before receiving dirty looks from people as though the splashing children belonged to me. I bailed on that sitch. It could only go badly. Either with me yelling at people/kids or people/parents yelling at me.
• Enjoyed Laura's story of the decorative breasts she ordered on a giant Mrs. Field's cookie for Adam's birthday (we only ate 4% of said cookie). Let's hear it for age 40+ cookie decorators who are okay with making giant frosting boobs!
• Was complimented by Adam as being the only non-basketcase he ever dated. That's one more person looking for broken people, and not knowing what to do when he finds non-broken people.
• P.F.Cheng's fortune cookie told me I would soon receive a small lucky package. I'm not sure what that means... or if I like the sound of it.
• Missed Alex and was happy to return home. :-)
That was my weekend in a nutshell. Oh, and I played Skee Ball... because I love Skee Ball and never gamble.
The rest of July is going to be BUSY!!!! But I like it that way. Today alone involves work, taking my notary oath of office, eating vegan Vietnamese with boymaenad, getting into shenanigans before and after I enter the midnight line for Harry Potter, and then watching Harry Potter with Alex and Tech Allison. Everything from Vietnamese food on will be done in an Hermione outfit, of course (clever use of "an" for correct British pronunciation).
Postscript. If you have not read Allison's post [friends-locked] about Gilroy Garlic festival and are interested in going... you should let one of us know because I need to make reservations ASAP.
Post-Postscript. If any words are spontaneously missing from this post, I apologize. I've recently discovered that, on top of random bouts of typing dyslexia, I've been omitting words and phrases without realizing it. This is enormously annoying as it requires several re-reads of professional emails.
current music: The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny by Lemon Demon
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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1:03 pm - Thursday, Friday, Weekend
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I have the next two days off [by request].
Tomorrow I will go hiking/renegade planting with Cait in the early morning, then pick up my new glasses and visit with my mom. I am excited for my new prescription as eye-strain is no fun and makes my head hurt. The new frames will be my third in a row that have rhinestones. I'm so girlie about my eyewear *sigh*
Friday I leave for Vegas for my friend Adam's birthday. I have not decided yet if I will leave Bixby with my parents or just have Alex stop in at my house to feed him. I know Bixby is more comfortable at my house because it's what he's used to... but he's also been to my parents' house a few times and spent the night there last weekend while I was housesitting, so it's not completely foreign to him. I'll probably end up having my parents' watch him because I know my mom will enjoy the visit :-) She is very fond of my little kitten.
Hopefully my weekend goes nicely. I'm driving in with two friends-of-friends; Dave, who is a friend of Beth's (my former roommate) and Eniko, who is a friend of Keshia (one of my good friends). They met through me at some party... I think possibly even at the party where Adam and I first started "going-out" as it were. But anyway, they are now a super-gooey semi-annoying couple... the drive could be a bit long.
Meanwhile, despite the fact that I broke up with Adam after two weeks of dating him -- and then dated a handful of other people before I found Alex -- he randomly texted me about a month back to lament us never "working-out." Of course, he was drunk at a wedding while doing so, and when I pointed that fact out, he said I may be right but it didn't change anything. When I expressed that there were far better girls for him, he merely replied that I was much more awesome than I could understand. I thanked him for the compliment and told him to go to bed. The next day he texted me to apologize for the entire conversation and claimed he hadn't even remembered texting me. While that may be the case, your subconscious is your subconscious.
Since Alex is not joining me on this trip, I hope I do not find myself in an uncomfortable situation. It sucked enough turning Adam down the first time two years ago, and we've been friends for so long now (and I'm banking on him for a plane ticket in August), that any renewed affirmations on his end would not go well for either of us.
Mind you HIS friend Alex (we'll call her Girl Alex to avoid confusion) whom I've never met, should be joining us. He gushed about her a LOT the last time I saw him (though that was before the text-convo), so if he's feeling lovey, I hope he expresses it to her instead :-p
And... there's some insight into the life of Rebecca.
current music: KCRW
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| Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
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1:25 am
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Dear self,
I know you want to write an LJ post. I've listened to you start about 25 entries in your head so far, but your lack of ability to nail down a topic or first sentence should serve as proof that you're too tired to suss out what you'd like to say -- if you actually HAVE anything to say.
You've now caught up on your friends page and even commented on journals that you never comment on to solidify to their owners that you DO in fact read their journal and thus should remain on their already size-able friends lists.
It's cool... you can go to bed. You even accomplished stuff tonight! You cleaned AND you had a spontaneous art project that you already completed! That's momentous for you 'cause, you know, you suck at finishing your own projects sometimes (you should do that more... and also have the Apple store fix your broken shift key so these parentheses stop coming up as 9's and 0's)
Also, why is your TV on? Your VHS finished rewinding like... an hour ago.
Um. You talk to yourself a lot.
Go look at your kitten! He's fuzzy! And sleeping on the bed that you should be in. Yesss.... the cat will lure you to sleep....
Damn. Self-hypnosis=no go.
You are rambling now. At yourself... in your journal... that people sometimes read. You could have talked about your weekend instead. Or that bus epiphany you had this morning! Or that raise you got. Man you really suck at updating this thing. What are you DOING with your life?
Signed,
Also, yourself.
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| Friday, June 26th, 2009
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4:00 pm
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June seems to have taken a clue from the summer solstice and lost its gloom in favor of high-80s sunshine. Sometimes there's a nice cool breeze when I'm walking and I feel very much alive and in control as I stride along with my iPod and some old playlist from some past summer around this time [I find that playlists created during the same periods of each year have similar "feels"].
But now my new heaphones are dead because Bixby decided they were tasty and gnawed a hole in the left earbud wire. Pleasant.
One-eared summer playlist listening it is.
Except there's no breeze today... and so, when I leave work, I won't feel alive and in control, but melty and headachey.
Oh these headaches. I visited the eye doctor last week because I suspected they were eye-related headaches since my eye muscles feel sore and overworked. He told me I was right, but I haven't filled the prescription yet. I want new frames, but -- as though to sway me from getting new frames -- people have spontaneously been complimenting my current ones. I'll probably still get new ones, depending on what my glasses-guy has in stock.
I visited Echo Park for the first time Tuesday around 7pm. There were lots of people walking with their kids. It's a nice park. I wish it was on a grander scale. It reminded me a lot of Vondelpark in Amsterdam.
Which is sort of like Central Park (NY)... except Echo Park certainly didn't remind me of Central Park. But I do wish we had some sort of giant piazza in Los Angeles.
House of Pies did not trump DuPars at blueberry pie... and had a decidedly small pie menu for its name. I'm saddened.
The Park restaurant was okay... but charged Anisa and Riz $4.50 each for a "large" glass of milk... which was outrageous. Their chocolate dipping sauce was tasty, but I can beat their cookies.
I love cookies.
My tablet arrived yesterday despite being back-ordered as it was apparently only shipping from Fresno and thus arrived the next day after being mailed. So far, it's been an easy adjustment, and makes scrolling a lot smoother.
Had a lot of fun yesterday at Disneyland hanging out with penguinstampede, her girlfriend, gina, sexychicken, and Alex. Finally got to ride the Toy Story ride at CA Adventure, which was fun. Missed getting to ride Space Mountain for the BILLIONTH time in a row :-( Everytime we're finally going to go on in, it gets shut down. Grrrr.
And... other things.
I really do love this tablet.
current music: Let Me Go On by Seabird
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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1:43 pm - Tablets
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Yesterday I ordered my very first Tablet. I've been wanting one for years now but I kept putting it off because it seemed like a pricey investment... then I finally rationalized yesterday.
I've got three small jobs I'm doing for a musician friend... I should be getting several hundred dollars for the work (we've only set pricing for the first project so far [a joint project flash video for a German-based website that is almost in alpha], so I'm not sure of the exact total amount). While I could use that money to buy a tablet after I'm paid, it seemed more useful to HAVE the tablet to do the work and then pay myself back for the expenditure later on.
While I was musing over this possible "investment," a mutual friend of ours mentioned that her company Toolfarm could give me a good discount on the tablet I wanted - first the website discount and then an additional personal discount from her. I looked into it and, after shipping and Sales Tax, I was only going to save $1 over buying the tablet at the store and walking out with it in my hands. While it WAS only a dollar, I decided it was better to support my friend's company. [My parents always encourage me to spend my money at smaller businesses to help the economy.]
Then, while I was entering my payment information and proceeding to checkout, just as my order was about to process, Toolfarm alerted me that they had just changed the price of the tablet I was purchasing. They lowered the price an additional $30 and, thus, I saved $32 instead of $1 by buying through them.
Later on, my friend messaged me to make sure I had gotten the reduced price because the change was announced right as I was buying it. She told me she could apply the discount retroactively if necessary, but I assured her I got the correct reduced price. I really love having nice friends with awesome discounts!
The only downside is that they emailed me today to inform me that, because of the price drop, they were now backordered and couldn't mail my tablet until the end of the week.
I'm going to go crazy waiting for my new toy!
If you're at all curious, this is the model I bought, The Intuous4 - Small. 100% of people I asked said to go with Wacom, so I'm expecting to be very pleased. They also said that, though the Medium size would be a bit easier to use, the small one was more portable and would cause less stress on my wrist (which is good news for my CTS).
I'm quite anxious for it to get here now!
current music: Postcards by An Horse
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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12:02 am - It's all caffeine-free, faux punk fatigues
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Alex and I were at Buffalo Exchange on Sunday and, while perusing what is normally my favorite clothing store, I came to the decision that I just don't GET the majority of today's fashions. We don't mesh well. Bright yellow? Red and shiny gold plaid? An over abundance of tunics? Giant floppy dresses? Those UGLY sandals that come mid calf and have a bazillion straps that make you look like a gladiator? (#5 here) Eew. They even CALL them gladiator sandals... I didn't know that 'til I just went looking for a picture (go me with the correct nomenclature).
If this is where indie is going, I'm not going with it.
On the other hand, the mod-retro look that puts an indie spin on 40s and 50s fashions suits me quite nicely. I've been drooling over a few items on this website called Mod Cloth, like the Sock Hop Dress and DEFINITELY the Retro Swimsuit (imagine someone like Bettie Page in it and not that model :-S). These are the types of fashions that I want. For one, I love polka dots, which are very 50s. For another, I have the classic hourglass shape, which is suited to the narrow waists and full skirts of 40s style dresses. They also help hide my hips and thighs, two features I am eternally self-conscious about.
Of course, buying these items (and items similar to them) is WELL outside of my price range. BUT the benefit of styles from these two particular decades is that they are fairly simplistic and easy to sew. So I shall try my hand at hand-creating a few (when I have time, of course) instead of emptying my non-existent funds on that website.
I don't want to dress this way everyday, obviously, but it certainly seems nicer than what is currently trendy.
I am not divorcing boots with skirts and messenger bags though. Nor can I quite say goodbye to low-rise pants (as they are so very much a part of my teen-hood) but I'd like to welcome something else into my wardrobe.
Meanwhile.... here's a picture of me and Bixby! (just because I promised to post more.)
( piccie )
Also, my throat hurts. Stupid tonsils :-(
The end.
current music: Combat Baby by Metric
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| Monday, June 15th, 2009
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2:23 pm - two of five, tomorrow
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Fish and chips with mushy peas, how I desire thee!
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| Saturday, June 13th, 2009
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1:54 pm - Addition without Subtraction
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As predicted, I just keep piling more restaurants onto my list instead of crossing them off. So much good food, so little time.
It also seems that whenever I finally finish a project, I've already come up with three others to take its place. I'm not sure how I'll ever finish anything. My dad has had this cartoon up at his shop almost as long as I can remember that says "God put me on Earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now, I'm so far behind, I'll probably never die." That's me (probably him too or he wouldn't have it).
I've started landscaping the backyard with this-and-that-thing that I've gathered. Bricks and rocks that were left by previous tenants/owners will now be a path through the dirt. I will plant wildflowers next to the path and hopefully the grass that Heather got will go to the sides of that. And I will save a small patch for more vegetables.
I planted yellow squash, green onions, spinach, basil, and multi-colored peppers... I don't remember if I mentioned that before or not... but at any rate, they've all sprouted! Yay. In fact, I think I need to transplant some of the spinach. It's looking a bit dense...
I may even find a use for that giant cement pillar that Erin, Kim and I snatched from outside Boardners... (I'm not sure what I will use it for yet... but something.)
Then I'll redo at least one of the benches that's in front of the house so there's a nice place to sit back there.
I started this project last weekend by hauling all of the junk that was in the backyard out to the alley (it got picked up almost instantaneously!). Two dryers, a broken stroller, a lamp, a picture frame, 2 bed frames, and other small junky rubble. OH! And potentially toxic paint (surprised someone took that...)
Today I went as far on my "tree of knowledge" project as I could without more shelving... and thus I have a giant fabric tree with books piled in its branches. It sounds a little bit cooler conceptually than it came out... but oh well. I'm going to think on it some more and maybe it will be even more awesome.
Hopefully I'll have a table for the kitchen soon (either making, buying or getting from my parents. [probably the latter] Though I honestly can't recall if the table they mentioned has chairs... which would be slightly problematic).
Trying to make the house more homey. I didn't really put much effort into it before because I wasn't sure how long I was staying. But now I'm working on it.
My Macbook is awesome. I don't think I ended up posting an entry about it. I started one and then never finished it and... that was that. The harddrive of my old lappy is super broken so I'll try opening it up to determine what part isn't working, but it's pretty much a lost cause. The only sad part is that I realized my New Orleans pictures were on there. So, aside from what I put in Photobucket, I think my trip is lost *sigh*
To make my computer issues more blah, my external harddrive decided to have problems with its mini USB port. It's working in fit and spurts, so I'm dragging my files off of it as I can, then I'm shipping it out to Seagate for a replacement (5 year warranties are awesome!) This is actually the second product I've had from them that broke... they need to use less cheap plastic parts, me thinks.
I successfully made sushi for the first time last night, which was pretty awesome! Unfortunately we didn't have much time to eat it, but oh well. The point is, I am no longer made of sushi-fail!
And... that's enough news for now, I imagine.
current music: Poison by Shiny Toy Guns
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
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10:55 am - The song from my previous post
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This song has been stuck in my head. Too catchy.
(Ten out of Tenn is just a compilation on which the song appeared. It's falsely labeled as the artist on T61. Correct artist is Katie Herzig.)
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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3:24 pm - I'm in a love affair without a love song
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June gloom and I are getting along quite well.
It's not quite Portlandy (simply because of the amount of street-traffic noise I get echoed at me from the cloud cover. For the third morning in a row, I could hear kids at the elementary school five blocks away.) But it is pleasant, and helps fill a little of that tiny hole in my heart that says "You'd be happy in Portland right now." Which isn't to say that I'm at all unhappy with LA, I think I just belong to/in both cities. Not quite a transcontinental divide, but close.
I feel like I have nothing of relevance to put in here. Which I don't think is true. There's plenty that I have wanted to post about, I just don't take the time to sit down and do it. And so I feel like, whomever I only communicate with via LJ is now missing giant chunks of my life. Not that they would miss it, per se... but I miss sharing it with them.
I also feel abstractly busy. Not ACTUALLY busy... just somehow quickly passing time in a constant manner without accomplishing anything of substance and then wondering where the hell the day or week went.
Last night was probably one of the better conversations I'd had in a while, but it was via text, and therefore shortened and stunted. I miss sitting in diners at 3am with people and talking about the complexities of human existence and interactions.
I love diners.
I miss people who I feel that I should be making more efforts to hang out with, but when I try to think of a good reason to hang out with them, I can't come up with one. Not in that there is no good reason but in that *I* personally can't think of something interesting that I could invite them to do that they would want to do, find rewarding socially, or more importantly find of interest to them. And I'm really all about the interesting outtings. If I can't come up with any, I'm not sure what to do with myself :-\
I wrote to the LA Conservancy pleading my case for reduced price student memberships and got a kind letter about how they appreciated my insight and would forward my suggestion to the head of the membership committee or what have you. My former professor had urged me to state my case to them after I saw her at Last Remaining Seats. She also invited me on a walking tour when she returns from her month-long research trip. I'm (nerdily) excited about that because I find her to be an exceptionally fascinating person... and I love Los Angeles walking tours.
I've been meaning to make a post of pictures from a hike Cait and I went on over a month ago now, because it was awesome, but I always feel the urge to lay those sorts of posts out in detail. I want you to feel like you came on the hike with us. And it must also be of narrative interest. So... not having a computer for a while and now (possibly) missing a good portion of my pictures, I'm not sure when I'll do that. If ever. Yet another photoset of an adventure that I won't end up sharing that is thus only a memory between me and whoever joined me. Like that time Kim and I broke into Angel's Flight.
I feel like I just keep collecting these tiny bits of interesting life-happenings but am not sure where to pour them back out to, creatively. Part of me wants to write a "night-happenings and night walking-tours of LA" book thingie. But then I say to myself "You've been to Central Library. Almost half the history section is just books about LA and people's different takes on it." Why the stairwells are special. Why we're all superficial. Supernatural happenings. Houses of Movie Stars. And a bunch of other stuff that most people don't read or really care about. So why would my thoughts be of any interest at all?
I've now gone six consecutive paragraphs beginning with "I" and so I'll have to stop now because, even though this is my journal, that just seems a little too egocentric.
current music: Hologram by Katie Herzig
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| Friday, May 29th, 2009
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12:59 pm - Good week, I say.
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Tuesday Allison came over and we made delicious dinner foods -- potentially lethal mashed potatoes part 2, whole wheat honey bread (mmm), and a fruit & veggie salad. Dinner was followed by the awful/amazing movie Time After Time.... which was seriously awful and amazing AT THE SAME TIME (time time time time time).
Wednesday I was an impromptu guest of boymaenad at Last Remaining Seats' presentation of The Sting -- which was awesome. I got to ride in a key-operated, old-fashioned elevator for the first time, got re-excited about joining the LA Conservancy, sat in seats I would never be able to sit in at the Orpheum if it weren't for general admission seating, and visited one restaurant on my Places to Eat in 2009 list (checkmark, 1 of 5 for the summer).
Yesterday I did not get to see Erin and Rachel as planned, which made sadface :-( but I did get to see my mother who told me that she and my dad are covering almost the whole cost of the new lappy (yaaaaayyy). I spent the evening attempting to disassemble my laptop on my own, but I couldn't figure out how to disconnect the strip dealie that connects the keyboard to the motherboard, so I simply de-dusty-ed the insides, reassambled everything and tried turning it on again. As boymaenad postulated, I think the fan is dead and thus fried the motherboard... which means all of the data on my HD should actually be okay. rizwank said he'd help me transfer stuffs off of it and onto new lappy (after I figure out how to disconnect the rest of the dealie-bobbies and pull the HD out).
And thus, I owe boymaenad, rizwank, and penguinstampede for their combined computer expertise and guidance yet again :-) You guys rock. And, err... do any of you want any of the pieces for whatever they may be useful for? The LAN card, DVD drive and all that business? Dunno if anything is of use/worth holding on to.
Other stuff:
During a random Google search, I found out that there will be a gallery of the graffiti "garden" that once existed outside of the Belmont Tunnel. It will be held from June 6th-28th. Anybody interested in attending the reception/wandering the gallery?
I also figured out why the back wall of the tunnel says Tempt - Graffiti artist Tempt.
Oh, internet, how I love thee and the ever-changing amount of stuff you give me for the exact same search terms entered on different dates.
There's more, there's always more, but I should be working, so I'm gonna do that :-)
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| Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
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3:22 pm - "The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of other things. Of shoes and ships..."
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My laptop has died.
It led a great 3-year-and-8-months life, visited multiple countries and states with me, kept me company in many an airport, and helped me take awesome notes in college. We pulled many an all-nighter together, wrote lots of papers and completed lots of projects. Sometimes the whirring of the fan was a soothing noise for my sleep. Often it would display source photos to me while I painted and played me lots of good music to keep me going.
It was weckity (honestly, that was the computer's name if you networked to me) and I am beckity. And together we were beckity weckity. But now I am weckity-less.
I knew the time was approaching. The fan has slowly gotten louder in the last year and a half. I used to run it for a week or more without restarting (back when I got it), which isn't very good for the inner-working-bits. I stopped doing that about two years ago. But regardless, the parts just wore down, like computer parts do. When I turn it on, I can hear the harddrive clicking, trying to work, but just not making it. It sounds like a CD player trying to read a scratched disc. Just keeps on spinning without finding anything. It can't pull up Windows, even in DOS mode. It just sits with the Toshiba startup screen telling me to hit F2 for setup or F12 for startup options, but unable to complete either command. *sad*
I'm only missing a few files. Most of my things are still backed up from the trojan I caught a few months back, or had been saved to my external drive out of paranoia or need for mobility from home to work.
The biggest thing that's gone are play counts from iTunes (which Last.fm MAY be able to download when I get a new computer) and my playlists. I've started hand-transcribing them from my iPod, but I know a few songs are missing due to an iTunes glitch I had while my iPod was broken. So, if I ask you to verify a playlist I've sent you, I would appreciate your help in recompiling the information. I've got 200+ lists, I'm sure (likely 100 more than that, even). I've already transcribed 27 lists and I haven't even gotten out of my "CDs for Friends" folder yet. Getting into my dated playlists folder is going to take ages because there's at least 30+ playlists per year since 2005.
But still... I was prepared for this. And I promised myself I would go Mac when it happened.
I can't afford the new Macbook (not with a coverage plan anyway), even with my parents chipping in (which they said they would), so I'll end up with a classic white model. Likely buy through Apple (online) even though I despise the thought of visiting the Apple Store to get service. However, they offer a 3 year warranty and Best Buy will only give me 2 years. The third year is of most value to me because that's when things start breaking from wear and tear. I've had many a friend who cracked the screen or keyboard of their Mac simply from running through the airport... and I'm pretty accident prone, so I consider these to be possibilities in my future.
At any rate, there are lots of pluses to getting the new lappy. Most of them having to do with the switch to Apple, but a major one being the ability to write off my purchase and pay less self-employment tax next year.
So, R.I.P. Weckity (Sir Toh-Shi-Bah the 2nd) you were a great laptop. I will miss you.
~Beckity
current mood:  melancholy
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| Saturday, May 16th, 2009
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12:20 pm - In the summertime
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1. Kittens are a timesuck. Goodness. I mean, part of it is paranoia from not having owned a pet before and therefore I have to make sure he doesn't swallow or destroy anything while I'm AROUND (and attempt to forget that such things probably occur while I'm not around)... The other part is that my kitten is... well... rambunctiously aggressive? [great attack kitten]... and a tad crazy... and very bad at playing on his own. And the final part is that, well, he's just too interesting to watch and fun to play with! I will never accomplish anything ever again... until he's grown up. *sigh*
2. I've been out of school long enough that I shouldn't consider summer to be "summer break"... but I still do. So, the things I would like to do over summer break include: ( extensive list )
3. Have I mentioned how much I am enjoying having housing stuff settled? I don't think that I have. Having littleonedork and Jay here has been GREAT. :-)
4. The vet said my cat is super healthy! Whoo hoo! And his shots weren't too expensive. And he didn't have any weird reactions to them. I really got an awesome kitten. (more pictures will follow, I promise darkrefuge. He's grown a bunch already! And I've only had him a week.)
5. My seeds have sprouted! I will have my own vegetables soon enough. Yum!
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| Friday, May 8th, 2009
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4:02 pm - I have a cat! His name is Bixby :-)
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If you've known me for any amount of time, you know I love cats... but am also terribly allergic to them. Along with my dad's dislike of cats (when I lived at home) and the fact that pets are not allowed on the lease at my house, I figured I would not be getting a cat for a while (if ever). But this adorable little furball was too irresistable... and we were already hiding Fabio, littleonedork's cat from the landlord anyway.
( About Bixby )
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| Friday, May 1st, 2009
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1:46 pm - Updates Schmupdates (Schmuppetdates? yay muppets!)
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(this post has nothing to do with the title... other than the updates part... I think.)
I have a recurring sleep issue. It's taking me over half an hour to fall asleep even though I am exhausted. Then, when I wake up, I feel just as wiped-out as when I went to bed. I'm tired but not sleepy at night. *sigh*
In other news, my $70 three-year iPod coverage plan paid off this week. Well, it kind of already paid itself off, but it REALLY paid itself off now.( here's why [in detail] )
And thus I have a shiny new iPod for (mostly) free.
Moreover, the lady from that referral job (which only required me to make some Office Templates and install some software programs to a new laptop [she claims to be completely techno-illiterate]) thinks I underquoted her and told me how nice it was that I would do her job for so cheap. I honestly felt it was more than I should get for staring at her laptop as it downloaded software for a few hours. But hey, who's complaining? Only ensures that I'll get more work from her 'cause she thinks my rate is so reasonable. (and maybe a free flight? since she works for United)
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| Monday, April 20th, 2009
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1:39 pm - Pear and Gruyere Pie
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I wonder if the writers of Pushing Daisies were just guessing that this pie would taste delicious because of the fruit/cheese combination... or if they actually made one... and REALIZED how delicious it is.
In either case, they mentioned it often enough that I NEEDED to try it (as a pie-lover, it's my duty.)
And boy oh boy did it deliver.
I modified my apple pie recipe (omitted the cinnamon and nutmeg, decreased the bake-time because the fruit is softer) and used my trademark flaky crust recipe. The cheese somehow made it EVEN FLAKIER. (oh joyous pie crust delight [err... that sounds like a spam e-mail title]).
After sampling my pie, I realized that other people probably had the same pie idea and looked it up. Every single one of them referenced Pushing Daisies... so it must be an original pie concept. However, though I am probably biased, I think my pie looks the nicest and my recipe/instructions look the easiest.
Mmm. Pie.
current music: I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You by Black Kids
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| Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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11:05 am - You keep throwing curve balls, I'll keep lopping them back and hope I make it home
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*sigh*
current music: I Feel It All by Feist
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