Get back in the kitchen, woman.
No really, it's good for you
BBC NEWS | Health | Housework cuts breast cancer risk
Being the good husband I am, from now on I will let my wife do all the housework, so she can improve her overall health. It will be a sacrifice on my part, I know, but that's just how much I love my wife.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
PhotoDump and /Random
Two for the price of one!
We've moved! (Again)
Well, actually this move came before the other move of which I have already blogged. Back at the beginning of October (that company that I work for) moved offices from across the street from John Wayne airport to across the street from the Irvine Spectrum. Our home move of two miles from John Wayne airport to two miles from the Spectrum was a conveniently-timed two weeks after this move. So whereas before I was living 3.2 miles from work, now it's a mere 2.9. I brought my camera in and took pictures of our new office view.
This picture was taken earlier this week, after the rain we had over the weekend. Apparently it got cold enough to snow in the mountains.
Oo! Pretty snow!
My cow-orker is from Utah and I think he has a hard time dealing with views like this without being able to go out skiing (pronounced she-ing).
Another view.
Hey, wait a minute...
...isn't that where Wonderware was located?
There are some apartment homes across the street from our offices. If we lived there I'd never need to drive again.
Although, I'd be really wary about living some place called "The Village". I wonder if they're allowed to wear red.
Shame on The Village! Unfair treatment of The Creatures!
If I ever had to take the 405 North after work, I can conveniently see what traffic is like.
There's where our old office was. The big white building on the right.
(There's a kitten on my lap. She's licking my arm.)
On a "clear" day, you can see all the way to the PV peninsula (about 50 miles away, as the penguin walks). Actually, on a clear day, you can see all the way to downtown LA, but only through binoculars.
With the Winter Solstice here, it starts to get dark around 4:45, so I had the opportunity to get some nice time-exposure night shots. This one was taken at 5:26pm, just a few minutes after sunset.
(Now she's curled up and purring.)
That bright-white streak starting from the left side of the picture is the Southbound 405 traffic.
This one was taken at 5:34. It gets dark fast. That bright white streak starting at the right side of the picture is the 5 Southbound. The two freeways are about to collide in a giant mess of concrete and metal in what is known as "The El Toro Y".
(She's so cute. She uses her paw to cover her eyes when the light is on so she can sleep.)
Thanksgiving
Not to be out-done my Mrs. Pickles' lovely Thanksgiving spread, our own Resident Murloc did a wonderful job preparing our first home Thanksgiving dinner as a married couple. She cooked a big 9 lb. Turkey allllll by her wittwe sewf.
It was very nummy. Side dishes were stuffing, Yucca (pronounced "yucky"), some stuff and some other stuff. To drink, we had some of that wonderful Spanish Sidra. Think Martinelli's with a kick.
Both our families gathered for the dinner. And we even managed to keep any fist fights from breaking out.
Nutcracker
The San Pedro City Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker was a couple weekends ago. I took some pictures, of which quite a few came out OK, despite the fact I couldn't use the flash and it was a very dark theater. I am really loving my new camera. Image Stabilization FTW!
Party scene. Very vibrant colors.
Starring Patrick Bradley as Dr. Drosselmeyer.
This picture betrays the slow shutter speeds I had to use (1/15 second in this shot). I'm still amazed at how un-blurry all the stationery things are. With my old camera this would have been a total blur-fest. With this one, the only blurry things are the things that were moving.
Ah, there's the poor sap they got to replace me as Harlequin. Back in my day, the dorky jester hat had annoying bells on it designed specifically to annoy me.
Grandfather and Grandmother's dance.
There's Tiney! She's a snow flake!
The climactic Act I conclusion. Tiney is fifth from the left.
She was also in Reed Flutes (Murlitons).
Act II was brighter so I was able to use shutter speeds from 1/25 to 1/50 of a second. It makes it easier to get action shots without too much blur.
Blah blah blah this is a comment.
Now she's a flower.
Action shot. I like this one.
She's looking a little tired. I think this was probably about 4 or 5 minutes into the piece. For those of you who don't know, Waltz of the Flowers is 6 minutes of pure hell. One of the reasons I'm glad I wasn't in it.
Finally! It's almost over!
This was during the final bows.
I like this picture. Chubby Cheeks brings a nice smile to the stage.
And this was the last picture I got before the battery of the camera died.
What Blog post would be complete without pictures of the practice children?
One of Bastet's favorite pastimes is chasing the mouse cursor on the TV screen. It's gotten to the point that when we turn on the TV she runs over to it and sits down in front of it, waiting for the cursor.
This is from our old apartment, when the kitties could still get on top of the refrigerator. Isis was having some fun by turning upside down and scooting around on her back by pushing off the bottom of the cabinets.
Silly kitten.
Of course, Bastet sometimes has a little fun playing with Isis' tail.
Here we are forcing Isis to confront her arch-nemesis. She has it out for that mouse. Rie would keep it on top of her desk, and Isis would plot ways to capture it and drag it off. It was cute to see her running away from you with a mouse hanging from her mouth.
Bastet freaks easily. And it's a lot of fun when she does, because her tail poofs up.
Freaka-cat!
This is not an uncommon site. Sometimes I get the feeling I'm being watched and turn to see a kitty sitting on the bookcase next to my desk.
Kitten Ear Muffs
Well, it's finally starting to get cold here. And buy "cold" I mean lows in the 40's, highs in the 60's. So for those of you, like me, who have short hair and sometimes get cold ears, I present to you...
...Kitten ear muffs.
Instructions:
1) Take 2 (two) standard-issue kittens.
2) Using duct tape, attach kittens to both ears.
3) Apply bactine, neosporin, and bandaids liberally to lacerations.
Side effects include cuts, scratches, blood loss, hair loss, ear loss, hearing loss, severed jugulars and death. Please consult a physician before using.
But they're so waaaaarm.
New Phone.
So (that company I work for) got us new cell phones (my number hasn't changed, if you were worried). Mine is the swiss army knife of cell phones. It used to be that phones were just used to talk, but no, not anymore. Mine can be used for so much more, like listening to music, taking pictures, and plotting the destruction of the world. Currently, my ringtone is "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" by Vaughn Williams. So if you call me and I don't answer, I'm probably just enjoying the ring.
So here' a picture of it.
And here's a picture of the camera I used to take a picture of the phone with.
Of course, now that I have a camera on my phone, what possible reason could I have for having a regular camera, since camera phones are all you need?
Oh that's right. Camera phones suck.
Exhibit A.
Exhibit B.
Can you tell which one was taken by the 2 megapixel, crappy optics, no-flash, no optical zoom piece of crap and which was taken by the 6 megapixel, beautiful optics, powerful flash, 12x optical zoom, wonder of modern technology?
But I suppose camera phones have their uses. Like when you need to take a picture of something, but don't have your decent camera with you. Like this.
468GB of system memory? Wow, I've gotta upgrade if that's what the new machines have.
And lastly, I leave you with this.
New Futurama Season.
W00tness!
Two for the price of one!
We've moved! (Again)
Well, actually this move came before the other move of which I have already blogged. Back at the beginning of October (that company that I work for) moved offices from across the street from John Wayne airport to across the street from the Irvine Spectrum. Our home move of two miles from John Wayne airport to two miles from the Spectrum was a conveniently-timed two weeks after this move. So whereas before I was living 3.2 miles from work, now it's a mere 2.9. I brought my camera in and took pictures of our new office view.
This picture was taken earlier this week, after the rain we had over the weekend. Apparently it got cold enough to snow in the mountains.
Oo! Pretty snow!
My cow-orker is from Utah and I think he has a hard time dealing with views like this without being able to go out skiing (pronounced she-ing).
Another view.
Hey, wait a minute...
...isn't that where Wonderware was located?
There are some apartment homes across the street from our offices. If we lived there I'd never need to drive again.
Although, I'd be really wary about living some place called "The Village". I wonder if they're allowed to wear red.
Shame on The Village! Unfair treatment of The Creatures!
If I ever had to take the 405 North after work, I can conveniently see what traffic is like.
There's where our old office was. The big white building on the right.
(There's a kitten on my lap. She's licking my arm.)
On a "clear" day, you can see all the way to the PV peninsula (about 50 miles away, as the penguin walks). Actually, on a clear day, you can see all the way to downtown LA, but only through binoculars.
With the Winter Solstice here, it starts to get dark around 4:45, so I had the opportunity to get some nice time-exposure night shots. This one was taken at 5:26pm, just a few minutes after sunset.
(Now she's curled up and purring.)
That bright-white streak starting from the left side of the picture is the Southbound 405 traffic.
This one was taken at 5:34. It gets dark fast. That bright white streak starting at the right side of the picture is the 5 Southbound. The two freeways are about to collide in a giant mess of concrete and metal in what is known as "The El Toro Y".
(She's so cute. She uses her paw to cover her eyes when the light is on so she can sleep.)
Thanksgiving
Not to be out-done my Mrs. Pickles' lovely Thanksgiving spread, our own Resident Murloc did a wonderful job preparing our first home Thanksgiving dinner as a married couple. She cooked a big 9 lb. Turkey allllll by her wittwe sewf.
It was very nummy. Side dishes were stuffing, Yucca (pronounced "yucky"), some stuff and some other stuff. To drink, we had some of that wonderful Spanish Sidra. Think Martinelli's with a kick.
Both our families gathered for the dinner. And we even managed to keep any fist fights from breaking out.
Nutcracker
The San Pedro City Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker was a couple weekends ago. I took some pictures, of which quite a few came out OK, despite the fact I couldn't use the flash and it was a very dark theater. I am really loving my new camera. Image Stabilization FTW!
Party scene. Very vibrant colors.
Starring Patrick Bradley as Dr. Drosselmeyer.
This picture betrays the slow shutter speeds I had to use (1/15 second in this shot). I'm still amazed at how un-blurry all the stationery things are. With my old camera this would have been a total blur-fest. With this one, the only blurry things are the things that were moving.
Ah, there's the poor sap they got to replace me as Harlequin. Back in my day, the dorky jester hat had annoying bells on it designed specifically to annoy me.
Grandfather and Grandmother's dance.
There's Tiney! She's a snow flake!
The climactic Act I conclusion. Tiney is fifth from the left.
She was also in Reed Flutes (Murlitons).
Act II was brighter so I was able to use shutter speeds from 1/25 to 1/50 of a second. It makes it easier to get action shots without too much blur.
Blah blah blah this is a comment.
Now she's a flower.
Action shot. I like this one.
She's looking a little tired. I think this was probably about 4 or 5 minutes into the piece. For those of you who don't know, Waltz of the Flowers is 6 minutes of pure hell. One of the reasons I'm glad I wasn't in it.
Finally! It's almost over!
This was during the final bows.
I like this picture. Chubby Cheeks brings a nice smile to the stage.
And this was the last picture I got before the battery of the camera died.
What Blog post would be complete without pictures of the practice children?
One of Bastet's favorite pastimes is chasing the mouse cursor on the TV screen. It's gotten to the point that when we turn on the TV she runs over to it and sits down in front of it, waiting for the cursor.
This is from our old apartment, when the kitties could still get on top of the refrigerator. Isis was having some fun by turning upside down and scooting around on her back by pushing off the bottom of the cabinets.
Silly kitten.
Of course, Bastet sometimes has a little fun playing with Isis' tail.
Here we are forcing Isis to confront her arch-nemesis. She has it out for that mouse. Rie would keep it on top of her desk, and Isis would plot ways to capture it and drag it off. It was cute to see her running away from you with a mouse hanging from her mouth.
Bastet freaks easily. And it's a lot of fun when she does, because her tail poofs up.
Freaka-cat!
This is not an uncommon site. Sometimes I get the feeling I'm being watched and turn to see a kitty sitting on the bookcase next to my desk.
Kitten Ear Muffs
Well, it's finally starting to get cold here. And buy "cold" I mean lows in the 40's, highs in the 60's. So for those of you, like me, who have short hair and sometimes get cold ears, I present to you...
...Kitten ear muffs.
Instructions:
1) Take 2 (two) standard-issue kittens.
2) Using duct tape, attach kittens to both ears.
3) Apply bactine, neosporin, and bandaids liberally to lacerations.
Side effects include cuts, scratches, blood loss, hair loss, ear loss, hearing loss, severed jugulars and death. Please consult a physician before using.
But they're so waaaaarm.
New Phone.
So (that company I work for) got us new cell phones (my number hasn't changed, if you were worried). Mine is the swiss army knife of cell phones. It used to be that phones were just used to talk, but no, not anymore. Mine can be used for so much more, like listening to music, taking pictures, and plotting the destruction of the world. Currently, my ringtone is "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis" by Vaughn Williams. So if you call me and I don't answer, I'm probably just enjoying the ring.
So here' a picture of it.
And here's a picture of the camera I used to take a picture of the phone with.
Of course, now that I have a camera on my phone, what possible reason could I have for having a regular camera, since camera phones are all you need?
Oh that's right. Camera phones suck.
Exhibit A.
Exhibit B.
Can you tell which one was taken by the 2 megapixel, crappy optics, no-flash, no optical zoom piece of crap and which was taken by the 6 megapixel, beautiful optics, powerful flash, 12x optical zoom, wonder of modern technology?
But I suppose camera phones have their uses. Like when you need to take a picture of something, but don't have your decent camera with you. Like this.
468GB of system memory? Wow, I've gotta upgrade if that's what the new machines have.
And lastly, I leave you with this.
New Futurama Season.
W00tness!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
/Cry /Sob /Wrists
Universal Press Syndicate News Release: Foxtrot Goes Sunday-Only
*Sigh* Well, it's been a good, long run. 18 years of Jason Fox's daily hijinx are enough to make any geek laugh.
But this does leave the important question: in a fight between Calvin and Jason who would win? Jason has the brains, but Calvin has a ferocious man-eating tiger.
Universal Press Syndicate News Release: Foxtrot Goes Sunday-Only
*Sigh* Well, it's been a good, long run. 18 years of Jason Fox's daily hijinx are enough to make any geek laugh.
But this does leave the important question: in a fight between Calvin and Jason who would win? Jason has the brains, but Calvin has a ferocious man-eating tiger.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
What I did today
Why, I acquired photographic proof of Bigfoot! Here he is piloting a flying saucer:
No, silly, of course that's the space shuttle Discovery, STS-116. Photographed at night. From 11 miles away. The white arrow points to the external fuel tank (but of course you could tell).
This is immediately after liftoff.
...And a few seconds after that. I should remind you at this point that it was 8:47 pm at the time of these pictures. It was brighter than this image makes it seem; you could have read a book by it.
Discovery heading for orbit. It took a while for the sound to travel to our vantage point from nearby Titusville (there were thousands of people there to watch), but when it got there, it was LOUD. TV does not do it justice by any means. It was amazing how fast it climbed, and how long it was visible. We could see the solid rocket booster separation easily through binoculars. The light of the shuttle's main engines was visible until just before cutoff, when it dropped behind a cloud in the distance.
This was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. I don't know if a daytime launch would be as impressive; it's hard to imagine it topping the night launch. Thanks to Tom for coming along.
Why, I acquired photographic proof of Bigfoot! Here he is piloting a flying saucer:
No, silly, of course that's the space shuttle Discovery, STS-116. Photographed at night. From 11 miles away. The white arrow points to the external fuel tank (but of course you could tell).
This is immediately after liftoff.
...And a few seconds after that. I should remind you at this point that it was 8:47 pm at the time of these pictures. It was brighter than this image makes it seem; you could have read a book by it.
Discovery heading for orbit. It took a while for the sound to travel to our vantage point from nearby Titusville (there were thousands of people there to watch), but when it got there, it was LOUD. TV does not do it justice by any means. It was amazing how fast it climbed, and how long it was visible. We could see the solid rocket booster separation easily through binoculars. The light of the shuttle's main engines was visible until just before cutoff, when it dropped behind a cloud in the distance.This was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity. I don't know if a daytime launch would be as impressive; it's hard to imagine it topping the night launch. Thanks to Tom for coming along.
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