tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-133533902024-03-13T11:39:30.728-07:00plastic alligatorerinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.comBlogger1336125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-41139425008161328162009-08-25T22:34:00.000-07:002009-08-25T23:31:17.414-07:00Same cheesy name, new domain!I needed a break, but I didn't really expect my hiatus to last this long!<br /><br />I got kind of tired with this blog. My photography and writing was feeling stale, a lot of people I know in real life have been reading and I've had a lot of things to write down during the past couple months that have no place on the internet.<br /><br />Thanks to all of you who have checked in and asked for me. Sorry for not keeping you all in the loop.<br /><br />I've started a new blog. It doesn't quite look the way I want just yet but I needed a blank slate to play with.<br /><br />I considered changing the name, but when it comes down to it, I'm kind of attached to this one. I like it, people know it. It's hard to get rid of. My mom found it and she said she knew exactly why I chose it and that it's very me.<br /><br /><a href="http://plasticgator.net">The new blog is here.</a> I hope you'll follow me over!erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-88381067917326737942009-05-24T00:00:00.000-07:002009-05-24T02:17:19.177-07:00Birds!<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3558142367/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3356/3558142367_8b14390e9d.jpg" width="500" height="342" alt="IMG_8221" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">The dining room window in the house where I grew up was five and a half feet square and faced the ocean. Our dining table was a semi-circle that hugged the wall just below it. A huge cedar branch looped down in front of it from which we suspended a bird feeder that saw a lot of action.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We didn't have cable so it provided a lot of entertainment. Frequent diners had names. I'd get up late at night with a flashlight so that I could watch Harvey the nocturnal flying squirrel because he was the coolest one.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">One of the first things I noticed when I moved out here was the lack of birds. I mean, there were probably birds around but I didn't see nearly as many. It didn't really help that the previous owners had covered the front garden with a huge slab of concrete and the back yard was a sea of oil and car parts. They had had an outdoor-only cat that they didn't feed called Fuzzers. Not to mention, the neighbour next door at the time used impressive amounts of RoundUp and Killex.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">These things do not happy bird territory make.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">You can probably imagine that I'm pretty happy that there are birds living in the back yard now. Manic would be a better way to describe my glee. It's almost ridiculous how much it amuses me that they're there. My joy however, has been tempered by the knowledge that the barrier I built on the fence beside the birdhouse has been knocked down by cats that want to harass them.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I've got my eye on you, Flinty. </p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-46151119149862145352009-05-21T23:34:00.000-07:002009-05-22T00:39:24.466-07:00This post brought to you by the tungsten setting on my camera<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3533353657/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3533353657_6b0349ecb2.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8185" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I went hiking with my camera the other day and somehow or other managed to take all my pictures with the white balance all wrong so everything looks very blue and washed out. They kind of remind me of those really tacky paintings you can get in Chinatown or in dollar stores that show the Yangtze River and a waterfall that lights up with little lights. The fact that I have photographed such a thing makes me want to whack myself.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Anyways, out on the dikes the birds were singing. We didn't really see very many. What we did see were bugs. Not the bitey kind. More like the eating-the-bitey kind and the eaten-by-birds kind, which is probably why there were so many birds. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I'm not all that good at identifying these things. I'm good at the plants and animals but once we get into the lichens and bugs my knowledge fails me. I guess I have to go back to girl guides.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I chased some dragonflies around for a bit but I didn't manage to get any spectacular photos. Not that they'd be spectacular anyways because they're all very blue.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">It's been nonstop yardwork here. My only reward for being so awesome at yardwork is more yardwork. Such is life.</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre-wrap; font-family:'Lucida Grande';font-size:11px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3534171734/"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2118/3534171734_8c45087897.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8198" /></a></span><br /></p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-88082951370025140082009-05-13T23:52:00.000-07:002009-05-14T01:22:23.494-07:00Laminated bacon<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3452851205/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3398/3452851205_d21b22d894.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8093" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">A party sat down behind us and the conversation began, spanning all sorts of things - silvaculture, raw log exports, windrow composting, Gordon Campbell, unions, mostly dominated by a single guy.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">There's a set script that seems to be followed by these conversations regardless of the actual content. The guy who does most of the talking made a lot of money. Maybe he was in the oil sands or up north somewhere. It doesn't really matter. They try to establish their importance and explain away their current less-than-favourable position by claiming all sorts of past victories but mostly they just talk.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">At one point in time the conversation drifted toward hunting. They discussed all sorts of lodges and the entertainment and game you could find there, bragging about what they'd caught themselves, who had been to the best one. Of course the one guy dominated finally by declaring the amount of bear ham and bear salami he'd eaten.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">"You know, this one place is the best," he said, "You know how you go to hotels and they put the chocolates on your pillows? You go to this place and they leave dried meat on your pillow. Dried meat!"</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">That was enough listening in on that conversation. We left.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Outside and out of earshot there was a competition to imitate the line. Dried meat on your pillow! Ick! Can you believe it? It was good for a bit of a chuckle. "I bet that's meat hanging from the mirror of that truck," my mom said in an offhand way, without really looking at it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">"There is," I replied. It was three laminated strips of bacon.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">She began to laugh hysterically. Good thing she wasn't driving.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-26455737170194656542009-05-12T23:34:00.000-07:002009-05-13T01:50:24.566-07:00Chocolates were meant to be surprises.<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3452852793/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3364/3452852793_4ae240bc58.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8099" /></a></span><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">When my parents took my sister to Seattle in the spring, she took on the task of making a reservation at a nice restaurant. She shopped around and read a lot of restaurant reviews and menus until she finally decided on what sounded like a decent seafood place with a view of the ocean.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">But when she made the reservation, something was off. She was told that the restaurant had changed its name but didn't think a lot of it until they got there. They found that the restaurant in question was actually next door, the one my sister chose had closed. The two were in the same hotel.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">The place they ended up at was still by the water, but the rotting hulk of an abandoned cargo ship was moored just outside, completely obscuring the view. The menu was different and the food wasn't particularly good. The service was very good because the restaurant was empty for the duration of their meal.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Abby was really upset because she had spent a lot of time and effort trying to find a good restaurant so she wanted to redeem herself. Not that she needed to because no one really blamed her for it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">She chose Sandbar this time. Everything was great and she received the victory she so badly deserved.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Onwards! (my blogging rut is apparently hard to get out of so I'm posting this too late and now making this post unnecessarily long)</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We also got my mom a box of chocolates and the first thing my sister did was open the map to start the orientation. I hate that. I want to be surprised. I want to jump in with both feet and not look back. I want to put a chocolate in my mouth and be disappointed when it tastes chemically or weird and I can't figure out what the flavour is supposed to be.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">That's the way it's supposed to be, but she insists on ruining it by telling me that it's a raspberry mocha just before I stick it in my mouth.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I was determined to have none of it so I tried to sneak them out of the box without her seeing it which turned into a wrestling match that I lost.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-59941474023516172852009-05-09T23:41:00.000-07:002009-05-10T00:55:16.111-07:00The creation of a fantastically large litterbox<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3499204914/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3622/3499204914_19f58631a3.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8147" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I've spent the past two days shoveling a small mountain of sand that appeared in front of our house into the back yard in order to turn the back yard into one of the most fantastic litterboxes that the neighbourhood has ever seen. Any cat who is anyone has already been around to use it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">You see, a couple of days ago the parental unit looked out into the back yard and they snapped. Up until this point, the lawn has been more weeds than grass, perpetually lumpy and in all but the driest of seasons it tends to be waterlogged, the soil a claylike muck that likes to form huge dirt clods on the bottom of your shoes that refuse to fall off until you're in the house.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">No, the weeds definitely have to go and this calls for drastic measures. The back yard is to be covered with a layer of sand, and then a layer of topsoil and then completely reseeded. Since I am currently unemployed this is my new job. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Just over the fence, the neighbours have completely let their garden go.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We shall see how effective all this will be.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-33369454604319446172009-05-06T23:17:00.000-07:002009-05-07T01:51:38.345-07:00Cinco de Mayo<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3498393739/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3551/3498393739_535ddd6419.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8161" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, the international celebration of my mother's birthday. We arrived at work and dragged her out for dinner. Dragged is an appropriate verb here because she can be pretty hard to get out of the office sometimes. I trailed her as she made a bunch of trips around the office and then somehow she lost me and I couldn't find her anywhere.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Just about the time we thought we'd succeeded, the office sucked her back up again because she'd forgotten her bag. Is her bag really that essential? Apparently yes. Dinner was nice when we finally got to it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Other than continuing my job search my mission this week is to actually learn Adobe Illustrator. I'm no expert at InDesign or Photoshop but I can use them and have the finished product look alright. I've been taught a bit of it and I've learned a lot from playing and feeling my way around. For whatever reason, I've never been able to do that with Illustrator. It's one of the most frustrating programs I've ever tried to use so we'll see how I do with it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Tomorrow if the weather's nice I'm going to go hiking and see if I can take some pictures.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-55152528353581420162009-05-03T22:24:00.000-07:002009-05-04T00:28:54.074-07:00Garden notes<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3498385179/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/3498385179_e866875555.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="mason bee" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Secret weapon: Bees. Mason bees.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">They're all black so they kind of look like long skinny flies. They're really docile and pretty much never sting. They're more efficient at pollination than regular bees.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Technically they exist in the wild but they can be kind of 'managed' if you put up housing that they find acceptable for nesting. Their larvae hibernate inside little cocoons that look like rabbit poop over the winter and wait for the weather to warm up to hatch. That means that if you keep them inside your fridge over the winter, they'll stay dormant until you decide to release them.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3499200858/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3643/3499200858_03063c15ee.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="mason bee house" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">They lay their eggs inside the holes and then plug them up with mud. You have no idea how much they amuse me. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Other than that, not much is happening out in the garden right now. I guess that means that I have some space to answer some of the questions I was asked on my last post.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Soil: The City of Port Moody was generous enough to provide us with some topsoil in it's more benevolent days. When we moved from Port Moody we shoveled it all into garbage cans and took it with us. Every year we throw in a big load of compost, some steer manure and some beds get a bit of sea soil. Most things (tomatoes especially) get crunched up eggshells and bone meal and everything gets a dusting of coffee grounds.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Beds: Everything is in raised beds because the soil here is full of clay and rotten to grow anything in. We have ten plus two bathtubs. Bathtubs are really great for tomatoes, have built-in drainage and seating. The best kind of bathtub is dusty rose, avocado green or harvest gold and found for free by the side of the road or on cragislist or freecycle.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3498389001/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3588/3498389001_fe35bdd284.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8146" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3498390585/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3333/3498390585_726c3925d5.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8150" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Maple trees have flowers. Who knew?</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-16438854371415198472009-04-30T21:44:00.000-07:002009-04-30T21:49:25.107-07:00Let's be paranoid and take leave of our senses, shall we?<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3453666446/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3453666446_6992ec7694.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8097" /></a></span><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">To mitigate the risk of swine flu SFU suggests that students should sneeze on their shirt sleeves instead of their hands. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Seriously SFU? Seriously?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">You mean to tell me that this is preferable to say, washing your hands after you sneeze?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Do you have any idea how gross my shirt would be even two hours into the day?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Are you aware of the fact that the weather is warming up and shirt sleeves are rising? Any idea how awkward it is to cough into your shoulder?</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Really?</p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">That's all I have to say about that.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-60096156075346103142009-04-29T20:38:00.000-07:002009-04-29T21:45:57.293-07:00Canstruction!<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3487144381/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3487144381_1d85d18a27.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="April-28,-2009-170" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I spent most of yesterday at <a href="http://www.canstructionvancouver.com/">Canstruction</a>. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's an annual sculpture competition. Teams of people make sculptures out of cans and then the food is donated to the food bank.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I didn't take my camera because I had a lot of other things to carry around so the pictures in this post are from my sister. Corinna at Gusgreeper has a bunch of photos from this year's competition <a href="http://gusgreeper.com/archives/855">here</a>. You can see other photos on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=canstruction+vancouver&m=text">flickr</a> though it seems like it's mostly photos from last year right now.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Some people come up with some pretty cool stuff but I think the kids in the school programs came up with the most awesome, creative, insanely gravity-defying stuff:</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3487144061/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3664/3487144061_3ef8ae7fb8_o.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande; min-height: 13.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande">Because so much more is possible when you aren't familiar with the laws of physics.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-89669000506038537782009-04-26T22:51:00.000-07:002009-04-26T23:20:43.587-07:00Smells like victory<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3479183182/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3550/3479183182_42977de880.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="pear blossoms" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">A <a href="http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/">victory garden</a> that is!</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I've resolved to start taking better notes about the garden this year, mostly because it ends up being such a big part of how I spend my time over the summer. Well, also because I care so much about the environment and food security and local eating and stuff. Okay, and also because I like to gloat about my spectacular victories at the fair last year (nine ribbons! seven firsts! best in show: fruits, vegetables and nuts!!!).</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">So indulge me - I'll probably only mention it once a week and probably on Saturdays when no one visits blogs anyways.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Today we got some new fruit trees, a cherry, plum and olive as well as some raspberry canes. We probably won't get very much fruit off them this year. I planted an entire stir-fry: pak choi, sui choi and green onions. I'm excited about the pear tree because it's covered in blossoms this year and it has only ever produced one pear before.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">While I was turning over the beds I found the skeletons of two dead rats sheltered together beneath the newspaper. Aside from a bit of dried skin on their scaly tails, the bugs had picked them clean. They were contorted in positions that suggested an agonizing death. One day I hope they make a rat poison that just makes them go to sleep very peacefully.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I buried them in the lawn without taking a picture. For quite a while afterward my shovel would scrape up against things - rocks, dried leaves - and make a high-pitched squeal that really creeped me out.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3479184278/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3479184278_f099db9088.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8121" /></a></p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-86779266503157653252009-04-24T21:33:00.000-07:002009-04-25T00:17:07.552-07:00Warning: sometimes I can be introspective and self-aware<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3452850681/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3452850681_70257fcbc9.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8091" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I had another job interview today. I think this one went better than the last. They asked good questions so it felt less like a multiple choice exam and more like a conversation, which was good for me. One of them described me as "introspective and sel-aware." We shall see.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">After that I went to a lecture about the early history of Vancouver's architecture. A lot of it was information I've already heard, but it's neat to look at it all with a different lens. Good fodder for leading tours.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">After a couple of nights of really good sleep I've hit another patch of insomnia, which is probably why I've been sitting here thinking that I probably have something worth saying, but that it's not coming out. My brain is moving like molasses.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I have to take my cat to the vet tomorrow. She's not well.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-71665911953656968912009-04-22T22:33:00.000-07:002009-04-22T23:13:01.798-07:00When all else fails, make up a new project<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3467641142/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3467641142_8186162047.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8114" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">As per tradition during this time of year, I become horribly dissatisfied with the state of my wardrobe and the options available through the usual channels. I'm not going to go into my standard rant about the crappy options available for petite sized women because my blog is already peppered with it.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">The one thing that bothers me most is the fact that I can't find a decent fitting dress shirt or blouse. You can't really fake fit with a dress shirt. Either it does or it doesn't.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Because I'm petite sized, the bust darts are usually too low, which means shirts bunch up and pull in a really unflattering way. They also never seem to have enough room in the back or the bust because I'm so barrel chested. It's almost guaranteed that if I have enough bust and shoulder room in a shirt it will hang off me like a tent and obscure the fact that I have a waist.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I also seem to have larger-than-normal biceps for someone my gender and size which also doesn't help much. Damn rowing messes up everything.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">So once again, I've decided that the best thing would be to do it myself. I'm going to draft a pattern to my measurements. It will be perfect because I made it myself. It will be so awesome that I will etch it in brass and keep it in a glass case enshrined for everyone to see. The heavens will open up and there will be perpetual sunlight in that very spot. It will be that awesome.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">But first I have to figure out how to make a pattern. My search took me to the library where I found it very interesting that none of the new, trendy books I looked at really seemed to deal with a lot of technique. I think one of the saddest things about the DIY trend is that for every good craft book out there there seems to be a lot of them that really lack substance and don't really teach anything. The fact that it is trendy and cool and therefore sells seems to be good motivation to dumb down content.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I really don't need to spend $30 on a book that will teach me to thread a drawstring through some fabric to make a skirt that looks like a flour sack. I can accomplish that on my own. I also don't need a book that claims to teach me to customize my clothes and then contains such incredibly difficult and detailed instructions as to how to sew a patch of a contrasting colour onto something or how to tie a ribbon around your waist.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I finally found what I needed in an old, battered book from the 80s with horribly dated illustrations (seen above). The moment I opened it up and saw the diagrams inside I knew that it was going to be an excellent resource. </p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Speaking of old, battered and still awesome, I also found a copy of this on the shelf:</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3466994801/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3466994801_a5632cbd54.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_8115" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Non-knitters probably won't care about this at all, but this book has been out of print for some time and has acquired an almost mythical status as that book that is kind of hard to find, sells for buckets on ebay and like Mecca should be touched once in your lifetime. I didn't even know that the <a href="http://fvrl.bc.ca/">FVRL</a> had a copy of it. It was just sitting there on the shelf, waiting for me.</p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-61211435149893634342009-04-20T17:15:00.000-07:002009-04-20T17:36:54.588-07:00Agates<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3453663756/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3561/3453663756_102841a212.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8089" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Took a trip out into the valley over the weekend. The weather was very patchy - lots of hail and fat raindrops but occasionally sunny. You could always see it raining somewhere else though. One moment a foggy cloud would descend into a valley and the next it would be clear.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">We spent a bit of time out on the gravel bars on the Fraser River near Mission, looking for agates. Seemed like there weren't very many out there to be found. We need a good flood to shake some new stuff up to the surface.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3453665812/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/3453665812_cca4fc86d3.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8095" /></a></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">I know part of that is that my attention span has changed because I use computers so much. It takes a lot of walking very slowly, concentration and scanning. It's like a kind of directed meditation, I guess. If you're doing it right, they just appear in front of you like magic. You know them when you see them. They glow.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">When I was little, there were agates everywhere and I could fill my pockets easily. When my dad was little they were everywhere and they were big. Now it's a lot of work because the sandbars have been pretty picked over. I still like doing it though. It's nice to slow down and spend some time outside.</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Lucida Grande"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3460443647/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3460443647_5d76d0c7a4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8112" /></a></p>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-82595043061065219502009-04-18T01:39:00.000-07:002009-04-18T02:28:42.243-07:00Obligatory follow-up post<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3451440637/" title="IMG_8060 by magnopere, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3306/3451440637_37dc6fa2ab.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8060" /></a></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica">Re: job interview</p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I prepared well, dressed employably, showed up on time...<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">and completely failed to exude any personality whatsoever. I was pretty wooden throughout. I've always been a bit of a chameleon. When dumped into situations where I'm with people I don't know, I tend to mirror them. It's how I get along with so many different kinds of people.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I think one of the best things an interviewer can do is to start the interview with an innocuous comment as an icebreaker about the weather or something. Then the second best thing they can do is ask an open-ended question that's fairly easy to answer - something like "what were your main tasks at your last job and what did you like about it?" Everybody has an answer to that question but more importantly, it gives people an opportunity to <i>talk</i>.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">The worst thing an interviewer can do after introducing themselves is read off a script in a very clinical voice and ask you to describe yourself with three adjectives.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">They said they would be letting everyone know their decision by Friday or Monday. It is entirely possible that the other candidates didn't do as well as me, or that my awesome references will counteract my boringness. I'm definitely capable of doing the job. I'm even convinced that it would be pretty ideal for the summer.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I've already rehearsed my rejection speech.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">Re: new computer<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I love my new MacBook Pro. Love it. Last time when I bought a computer I went cheap and that was a mistake. It ran out of memory fairly quickly and didn't have enough RAM to run everything I needed open at once. I was determined not to do that again so I probably spent too much. No regrets so far.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">This thing is fast, makes my photos look great, and I never thought I'd say this but I love the touchpad on it and use it a lot more than my mouse. It took a while to get used to, and when I turned on the computer for the first time, somehow clicking wasn't enabled and I had to plug in a mouse to get through the startup. <br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I have spent most of my evening customizing all the settings and it's fun. I love the way you plug stuff in and it all seems to work without being installed. I also love that it's integrated with flickr. Maybe I'll leave it at that. I could give you an entire boring list of the things I love, but that's what it would be - a long boring list.<br /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px">I still need to get a bunch of software for it though. <br /></p></span></div>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-87991205638336426052009-04-17T00:08:00.000-07:002009-04-20T14:18:29.333-07:00What I have learned about case-bearing clothes moths during the past two weeks.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3452257060/" title="case-bearing clothes moths by magnopere, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3636/3452257060_2433bedb38.jpg" width="500" height="350" alt="case-bearing clothes moths" /></a></span><br /></div><div><br /></div>Identification</span><br /><br />They look like a little tube of paper with some fuzz on the outside. Do not be fooled! There is a nasty little black and white wormy thing that will come out and eat your clothes. The worm will drag the little paper tube around. The whole process looks kind of bizarre.<br /><br />When you squeeze them between your fingers, the wormy thing's guts will squish out the end of the tube in a gross yet satisfying way, much like squeezing a pimple. This process is not necessary to identify them. I just did it to see what would happen because I'm like a little boy sometimes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Habits</span><br /><br />They really like to eat dust and old hair and hate light. This means that you will most likely find them underneath furniture, inside closets, in corners, in the back of shelves, underneath area rugs, in your drawers...<br /><br />You may also find them in inexplicably weird places, like on the ceiling or inside your shoes so be vigilant. Because they can climb, they could be anywhere. Most likely you won't find lots of them in any given place either. Be prepared to find one or two pretty much everywhere. There is no mother lode.<br /><br />They like dust, but they also like to eat wool, silk, leather, feathers and some kinds of food. Anywhere where these things gather they probably will gather too.<br /><br />Before I knew what these things were, I put a bunch in a jar so that I could observe and identify them. Left for a few days like that, they began to exhibit cannibalistic tendencies.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Extermination</span><br /><br />Your best defence is a good offence, which means vacuuming everything very thoroughly and inspecting stuff for damage and cocoons. If you can, throw anything that looks suspicious or infected into the freezer. 72 hours of sub-zero temperature will kill both the cocoons and their eggs. So will drycleaning.<br /><br />Flushing a bunch of them down the toilet while laughing manically is fun but not nearly as effective as the above means of extermination.<br /><br />Everything that I have read has said that moth balls, cedar, lavender... all those things you always associate with repelling moths are really not all that effective.<br /><br />If your infestation is really bad you might need to call in professional help or use chemicals. I'm really not qualified to give you any kind of advice on that. I hope you don't end up in that situation.<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11px; white-space: pre-wrap; "><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3452257158/" title="case-bearing clothes moths by magnopere, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3452257158_a31b0db474.jpg" width="378" height="500" alt="case-bearing clothes moths" /></a></span><br /></div>erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-55747107569700700482009-04-14T23:47:00.000-07:002009-04-15T00:30:07.972-07:00Preview of my super important dayI shouldn't tell you all about this but I'm going for a job interview tomorrow. I took the important step of buying a new pair of pantyhose today so as not to repeat <a href="http://magnopere.blogspot.com/2008/06/pantyhose-is-dead-to-me.html">last year</a>. I later decided that I will wear pants instead. You can't go wrong with pants.<br /><br />After the interview I'm going to see about getting a new computer. This has proven to be difficult so far because though I have saved the money to buy the thing outright with all the software that I want, I seem to lack the ability to spend that much at one time. My credit limit is too low, the ammount exceeds my daily withdrawal limit for my debit card.<br /><br />I don't have a chequing account because they send me annoying patronizing advertisement of their free chequing for young people which has a tone like:<br /><br />Yo YOUNG PERSON! We're like a totally rad financial institution that wants to give you a sexy free chequing account dawg!<br /><br />when really all they had to say was:<br /><br />Dear valued customer, we are writing to offer you a free chequing account because you are between the ages of 18 and 24. Please visit one of our branches to set it up.<br /><br />Whereas my reaction to the first is to pick apart the advertising style and wonder who put together the campaign and what kind of research into youth attitudes they did to come up with a watered-down quasi DIY inspired die-cut heavy cardstock collagey+grunge typefaces... and wonder why they've decided that that is the best way to appeal to <i>me</i>. If they'd just saved their money and sent me a letter telling me that I could get something that I would usually have to pay for for free I'd totally go for it.<br /><br />So cheques are out. Paying cash is dumb. I'd get mugged or something. My only other option is to get the store to fax my mom a bill and get her to pay for it. Then I will pay her back. So much for looking all cool and financially independent. Being young sucks.<br /><br />But the upside is that I'll be inducting myself into the shiny halls of mac ownership soonish. I will not turn pretentiously techie. I promise.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-59120688502722649292009-04-10T16:09:00.000-07:002009-04-11T00:33:13.035-07:00Clothes-eating moths: not cooler than MothraIt's amazing. I don't post for so long and yet google analytics tells me that some of you lovely people still check fairly regularly for posts. I thought I'd let you know what I'm up to right now.<br /><br />School's finally over. I have some sleep to catch up on but you have no idea how much I was looking forward to having some time off.<br /><br />I have a bit of a moth infestation that demands my immediate attention. With any luck I'll have it under control soon and won't need any chemical sprays or to throw lots of stuff out, but the whole thing has had me kind of paranoid for a while now. Not easy to write papers when you're preoccupied with thinking about moths and all the cleaning that you need to do but don't have the time for.<br /><br />I've also been experiencing some computer difficulties lately. My poor machine takes about 18 minutes to boot and sometimes when you turn it off, it hangs itself and stays on all night. It has about 85 MB of free space so I can't show you the pictures I've taken.<br /><br />Most recently my wireless modem has died. The DSL port at the back seems also to be dead so accessing the internet is starting to get really difficult.<br /><br />Next week I'll be getting a shiny new computer. Then I'll see about getting a shiny new blog.<br /><br />But first I deal with the moths...<br /><br />Would be so much cooler if they were Mothra instead.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-56092889282887062392009-03-16T22:47:00.000-07:002009-03-16T23:39:48.682-07:00Burial at sea.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3361553837/" title="IMG_8026_1 by magnopere, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3419/3361553837_5cc38953e8.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8026_1" /></a><br /><br />Today while I was in class a procession of people appeared in the courtyard outside with an inflatable raft that they placed in the pond. Shortly afterward a second group approached carrying a stiff girl on their shoulders like a coffin.<br /><br />They placed her in the raft and pushed her out into the middle of the pond. It was all quite mysterious and funerary looking, and pretty distracting to boot.<br /><br />I had to turn back to our class discussion about how the US and UK killed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Information_and_Communication_Order">NWICO</a> because they don't like communication rights and why most people have never heard of the <a href="http://www.crisinfo.org/">CRIS campaign</a>.<br /><br />When I looked next the courtyard was empty. After class we speculated. Rehearsal? Performance art? Hazing ritual? Fire arrows?<br /><br />I'm sure we overthought it.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-88393279087965635412009-03-15T22:32:00.000-07:002009-03-15T22:43:15.438-07:00My funk continues<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3110022238/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/3110022238_0748928317.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_7911_1" /></a><br /><br />I took this picture a few weeks ago now, and I've been mulling it over ever since.<br /><br />It's funny how a given medium will predispose you to think in certain ways or see from a particular point of view. <br /><br />In a lot of ways I think some of my best pictures were taken in the first six months or so that I had my camera. Sure, some of them are really lacking in technical quality, but there was something fresh about them that the ones I take now lack. Maybe it's just me that thinks that, but getting a new camera was kind of like seeing with new eyes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/26415774/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/26415774_e2b61c2e83.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_0377_1" /></a><br /><br />They say that if you have a hammer things start looking like nails, and for me, suddenly everything was a shot. I had pretty specific ideas about what "shots" looked like and in a way it kind of framed my existence. I was always looking for them. It annoyed me when people told me to take pictures of things where there were no shots.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/33812512/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/33812512_af879291e4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Chilliwack General Hospital" /></a><br /><br />Meaning, of course, not that there was nothing photo worthy to find there, but that I'd developed a way of seeing that was very hard to shake. Meaning also that gradually all my photos began to look the same.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/37192741/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/37192741_107b2c2986.jpg" width="342" height="500" alt="fuschias" /></a><br /><br />I used to follow a lot of photoblogs but I found that more than the individual photos, I visited them because of their point of view. Once I'd figured out their style, they became kind of predictable and I'd get bored of them, regardless of what new content they had to offer.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/43084553/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/43084553_9c2baf9092.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="harbour centre" /></a><br /><br />I do this with blog posts too, or at least, I do when I'm on my game (which has not been for the last three months). There's a little monologue that happens in the back of my mind that's constantly concerned with structuring my existence into an interesting post. I see something and already I'm trying to put it into words, experimenting with different phrases more than living through the moment. Eventually that gets old.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/26447998/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/22/26447998_564cff7e29.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="IMG_0350_1" /></a><br /><br />My sister said I had taken the same picture before and she was right.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-18420978348081934532009-03-10T23:10:00.000-07:002009-03-11T00:29:51.296-07:00My mother, bringer of blizzards.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3346420390/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3629/3346420390_d8c2740e74.jpg" width="500" height="346" alt="window frost" /></a><br /><br />My mom wishes to apologise for the snow and cold weather we have been having lately. She believes she brought it on by not putting away the Christmas themed tablecloth that is on the kitchen table.<br /><br />Forget groundhogs, the real reason why we have six extra weeks of winter is because the table is covered with snowmen and gnomes on skis. Kitschy, kitschy gnomes on skis.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3346420514/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3646/3346420514_1fd7487b87.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="window frost" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3345586473/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3412/3345586473_6c511f4660.jpg" width="500" height="346" alt="window frost" /></a><br /><br />We must rectify this. Stat.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-67677027662812504402009-03-07T21:17:00.000-08:002009-03-07T22:38:18.554-08:0029 centsOne of my friends limped into class the other day. She had fallen down the stairs at the skytrain station while running for the bus and her ankle was swollen to the point of looking gross and deformed. I decided I would go get some ice for her. <br /><br />I had five minutes. I ran down two flights of stairs and then all the way to the other end of the building to get to the cafeteria where I filled up a cup with ice. I ran into problems at the checkout because apparently ice costs money. Twenty-nine cents worth of money. That's practically theft.<br /><br />I didn't really have any time to argue and the cashier wasn't really the person to complain to anyways so I paid it. Good thing I had a loon in my pocket.<br /><br />I ran the ice back upstairs and didn't tell her that it cost money, because that would be petty and stupid. But 29 cents? Bah!erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-77980208491962709612009-03-05T22:59:00.000-08:002009-03-06T00:10:56.082-08:00Because who wouldn't want to write a paper about Eugene Hütz's mustache?<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QATd_ys320c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QATd_ys320c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />For my one class all the readings for this week have been about old school rap and hip hop, its links to the Caribbean, reggae and civil rights movements, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash.<br /><br />For my other class we've been looking at diasporic identities, the Caribbean, Rastafarianism, voodoo and mythical narratives of Africa as a heartland.<br /><br />I had a conversation with a colleague from another class today about music because it turns out that he's a huge reggae fan.<br /><br />I have to come up with a paper topic to hand in in eight hours.<br /><br />You know what this is all telling me?<br /><br />I need to write a paper about Balkan Beat Box. Glad you made that leap with me.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3Jv3b0VKec8&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3Jv3b0VKec8&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm going to make it about Eugene Hütz too, because his mustache is awesome.<br /><br />I have the best major ever.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-12163811520612620642009-03-03T21:41:00.000-08:002009-03-04T00:02:54.919-08:00Thinking green<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3279241211/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3564/3279241211_679eaf44ee.jpg" alt="IMG_8019_1" height="333" width="500" /></a><br /><br />I'm joining <a href="http://lollygirl.com/blog/project-spectrum">Project Spectrum</a> this time around. It's a self-guided, open-ended collective art project that revolves around four themes over the period of 8 months. The theme for March/April is north/green/stones/earth so I'm going to make something with the above because it wants to be made into something. I'm still working on making up a design so I'm not really sure what it will look like just yet. We'll see.<br /><br />One thing I know though, is that planning it out has been a lot of fun and completely absorbing so far. I think it's more the time of the semester than anything. Procrastination drives me to jump wholeheartedly into a whole lot of creative things.<br /><br />You should join me because it's fun and it's cool to see what <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/project_spectrum/pool/">everybody else comes up with.</a><br /><br />There are skunks living underneath the back porch. We are torn between choosing to coexist and choosing to get rid of them because they will likely eat everything out of the garden.erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13353390.post-50130247185778823072009-02-28T22:32:00.000-08:002009-03-01T02:00:38.388-08:00Inopportune times<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnopere/3318731732/"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3484/3318731732_441fce46f9.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="IMG_8027_1" /></a><br /><br />I've been having computer difficulties lately. Half the time it doesn't turn off when I want it to.<br /><br />I've also been pretty busy with school. I'm not sure why I don't post anything about what I'm working on there here. I'm still kind of riding a high from finishing a presentation this week. It's a weight off my shoulders and got rave reviews like "cerebral" and "you guys got the conceit of the week."<br /><br />I would have done a good job by myself, but I think it was definitely improved by the fact that I had an intelligent, agreeable partner to work with. Good to have people to bounce ideas with, especially when they have well thought out ideas that are not the same as mine. I don't learn very much when I'm always the dominant person in the group, which is often.<br /><br />People are going to be upset with me for saying this but I'm really glad it's raining. If you string too many dry days together, I get nosebleeds. They can last for hours and disrupt everything. The past few weeks I've also had really congested sinuses and it really sucks to need to blow your nose while you're paranoid that you're going to make it start again.<br /><br />Increasingly these things have been happening at the most inopportune times. In class, while I've been talking to people, on the bus or at night.<br /><br />The worst night was last week. I spend a lot of time at school on Thursdays - seven straight hours, if I'm not meeting with someone for a project. I usually get home around 11 pm and then I have to be up at 6 for school downtown the next day.<br /><br />I had a paper due in the morning and it wasn't quite finished. I got home and started working on it and for whatever reason it was slow going. It really shouldn't take all night to come up with 800 words but in this case it did. I was having trouble with it so at 2am I decided to get a couple hours sleep.<br /><br />I woke up an hour and a half later with my face in a pool of blood. I was groggy and disoriented and it had soaked into my pillow and sheets. Laundry time! I stripped everything off my bed and threw it into the wash.<br /><br />This was the perfect opportunity to get some more work done on my paper. I wrote at a snail's pace until the sheets were out of the dryer while the cat squawked at me that there were no sheets on the bed.<br /><br />I made my bed, put the cat to sleep and worked on the paper some more, which was still slow going. Half an hour later, the cat started fussing again. I checked the bed and it was wet. She'd had a seizure and peed all over it.<br /><br />Why do I only have one set of sheets?erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00540172014341265640noreply@blogger.com0