Adventures of a Day Dreamer

Ghostbusters!

2011-05-01T18:18:00.002-05:00

So I was on I35 driving to my parents for my day-after-birthday lunch, when BAM. I saw it. A real live ghostbuster mobile! I think it's pretty obvious why I put my life at risk when I decided to take this photo while driving.

Best Birthday Gift. Ever.

2011-04-29T17:51:00.000-05:00

Mom: What time are you getting home from work?
Me: On my way home now. Why?
Mom: Oh, just wondering.

Me: (take my time driving home, stop and get gas, clean out my car)

Me: (Open my front door) It smells good, clean. Wait. Things have changed. (eyes dart around my living room) It's CLEAN! My mom! (call my mom) THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. You're AMAZING. Best birthday present. Ever.

Moral of the story: Make sure your parents have a spare key to your apartment, so when they have the day before your birthday off work, they can come over during the day and clean it to surprise you when you get home from work.

The Day I Got In

2011-03-14T21:46:00.000-05:00

I'm almost there. One class left. A half of a class to be exact. Then I'll finally be done. After two years of sweat, blood, tears, and nearly losing my mind, I'll finally have my Masters in Social Work and be free.

It was about this time two years ago that I got my acceptance letter to KU. I remember the evening distinctly. It was a Friday evening and I was just getting home from work. I opened my mailbox and saw it. A large white envelope. My heart jumped. I knew what it probably was, I had been coming home everyday for a couple of weeks looking for it. I carefully pulled it out and then saw the logo. This was it.

I had wanted it so bad. I hadn't told anyone how bad I had wanted it. Not even my family. But I wanted to go to KU badly. I heard so many great things about their program and met lots of social workers who went there. To top it all off my mom had gotten her MSW from KU and her BSW from K-State, like I had. I wanted to keep following in my mom's foot steps and go to KU. But, I also knew the stats weren't in my favor. KU had turned down some good social workers, really good, and a mentor had already given me the "don't take it personally if you don't get in" speech.

Now it was time for the main event. I tore open the envelope, yanked out the contents, and started skimming until I saw it. The word. The one word that would satisfy. My heart leapt. It said, "congratulations."

Sawyer

2011-03-13T16:26:00.002-05:00

What I'm Reading

2011-03-08T14:27:00.001-06:00

So good. Enough said.

Running Shoes and Cat Toys

2011-03-07T21:03:00.002-06:00

Last week, I got a new pair of running shoes. It had been a long time coming. I probably shouldn't even admit how long it had been since I had replaced them. They were well past their milage expiration. Anyway, this story isn't about the shoes.

It's about the packaging materials that came with the shoe and my cat, Sawyer. So here's what went down. Sawyer was loving how he could play with the box and has an affinity for things that crinkle (see picture above from play time with a magazine page). So the paper inside turned out to be what he was really after when he was playing with the box. To have some fun with him, I decided to put the paper in a bag of catnip for a few hours then got it out and let him play with it. He had days worth of fun. More fun then should be legal for a cat to have. He hadn't touched it for a couple days so I assumed he was done playing with it. I was apparently very wrong. I balled the paper up and put it in my recycling bin (which is a small waste basket). No more than 20 seconds after I put it in there did he go and get it out of the recycling bin and bring it back to play with a bit more. I know, seriously. He's like a little man.

Soccer Season

2011-02-20T09:49:00.000-06:00

I love soccer and lucky for me I get to to play indoor soccer each week with an awesome team called The Hawks. I know, cool name right? The coolness factor would make much more sense if you knew the names of the other teams in our league, ones like Rugburn, Gums and Roses, Stormy Weather...the list goes on. A new session of indoor soccer started up this week. We're the team in black (Hawks, black, makes sense, right?)

Anyway, while taking a breather on the sidelines, I grabbed my my phone and snapped a few pictures. I know there not the greatest, but what's super cool about them is the blurring. Here's why: check out the feet of the players. Some of them are crystal clear, meaning they were not in motion...which means they were stopping during each of the steps toward the ball. However, notice Anna, the gal bursting out in front of them. No crystal clear feet. Meaning she was moving and fast. It's no wonder she was ahead of them.

Blogger's Block

2011-02-17T18:25:00.000-06:00

I had a great post I was working on, then I decided it was too depressing so I scraped it. Outside of that, I've had what I can only classify as Blogger's Block. Fresh out of blogging ideas.

If I blogged about more of my personal life this wouldn't be so much of an issue, but after my blog in college where I blogged about my personal life waaaay too much, I've tried to reel it in. My blog in college was more like my diary. On one hand it was awesome, because now I can look back at the posts that I have saved and remember all kinds of awesome and not so awesome things. On the other hand, I started working in social services and my mom read my college blog and told me it was too personal for my professional career. She has a point if any of my clients found my old site they could have crossed some serious personal boundaries. So I shut my old site down and started this one.

But where is the line? I could use the rule of thumb that I only blog about things I would be comfortable talking to my clients about - but then that would lead me to where we currently are, which is a rather impersonal blog. Hmm.

Maybe I should ask myself this...what's the purpose of my blog? To share my life with my friends? To bring tech goodness to my friends? I think this maybe the real source of my problem...a blog without a purpose.

Good blog therapy session. Thanks.

Oh. Let me know your thoughts on this...I'm curious and impressionable about where to go with my blog.

My Brother is a Blogging

2011-01-23T18:32:00.000-06:00

Not sure what got into to him, but my brother is a blogging. Food blogging to be exact. I like this a lot because I get to be one of his taste testers. It works out pretty well for me. He's new to the world of blogging and a man, so you'll have to excuse his lack of design on his blog thus far, however the content will be awesome!

Here's his blog: kaisersfoodblog.wordpress.com

Pop Art

2011-01-21T18:06:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I posted, because I don't have much to post about currently. So I thought, what a better time to use the camera on my computer and use the pop art effect. I've never really been a fan of this effect, but today for the purpose of having a blog post, it works. Besides, look how cute my cat is...and how not too chunky my bangs look. (See my tweets from earlier this week about my chunky bangs.)

Would I buy an iPhone?

2011-01-08T20:55:00.001-06:00

I've been a big advocate for the Android platform here on my blog. I've had an Android based phone for about the last year. In August, I got my first iPod when I bought my computer (yes, first), then in November I got my second (I realized I needed waaaaaaay more storage than I got with my free one). When I got my iPod in November, I got an iPod Touch again and got the most recent generation that Steve Jobs himself called "an iPhone without a contact."

At first, I found the lack of personal controls on the iPod a little annoying. I couldn't tweak every little thing about the iPod, like I can with my phone. However, my annoyance quickly wore off, because some of my desire to tweak had come out of necessity to optimize my phone. For example, I have several apps on my phone that help manage and control the running activities of my phone so my battery won't drain completely half way through the day. There are certain things I eventually just got over, like being able to customize where I do and don't want icons on my home screen like I can with my phone and being able to put widgets on the screen to make my life easier. However, eventually I just didn't care enough to care. This is the magical key that Apple has figured out.

I realized that Apple has figured out that most people who would like to use a smartphone want and need simplicity. Only a small percentage of us are willing to take the time to learn all the in's and out's of a phone and then put the time and effort in to optimizing it. For most people, it's like having a camera or camcorder (or insert other complicated device) that you know does so much more than you do with. Ever had one of those? A device that you don't use every function that it has, or even know how to use those functions. Eventually you wonder why they couldn't make it do exactly what you want it to do when you want to do it.

That's exactly what Apple has done with the iPhone. They figured out the things that are most important then, as they do with their computers, made it simple. They already optimized the battery for me. They realized that most people aren't concerned with making pretty designs out of their icons on their home screen. And then they through it in a tiny package with a beautiful user interface.

I now use my iPod more than I use my phone, which is basically a paper weight. I have to think less with my iPod and focus on fun more. I don't want to think. Apple did all the thinking for me. They took out features that are unnecessary and through research (I assume) figured out how I would like most of my settings.

So yes, I would buy an iPhone. It's simpler. More beautiful. More intuitive.

Verizon iPhone

2011-01-07T22:34:00.001-06:00

Rachel asked a good question:

Here's my point of view:

It's a good thing.

It means those who want an iPhone don't have to sacrifice service by going to AT&T.

It also means that Apple can put out an iPhone that can run on a 4G network, because let's face it, I bet Apple was really hoping that the iPhone 4 could have been named the iPhone 4G, but no AT&T couldn't hold up there end of the deal (during the original talk about an iPhone existing, Apple and AT&T had a little chat about how AT&T would build there network to keep up with Apple's innovation).

It means that Apple will take a bit out of the growing Android market share, which let's be honest had a lot to do with the lack of a decent phone on various networks.

It means Apple's going to roll out one badass phone, expect your world to implode.

It means that all of us who have come to appreciate our Android phones will have some serious thinking to do. It's easy to embrace Android when the option of iPhone isn't available. Will Android be as awesome as we once thought it was? Probably not. (I have other reasons for this, but that's another blog post).

Hopefully, with network alternatives it might mean that there will be a price point competition for plans. But don't hold your breath. Apple has a short lesh on the price of their products and I doubt plans will drop much, if at all.

It really means we're about to see a million more iPhones and Apple will officially begin making a huge dent in Microsofts world. With Verizon iPhones will reach the hands of millions - of Window's users who are going to get curious about this awesome Mac world and when their PC burns up (as they all eventually do), they will begin looking at our dear friend Mr. Mac.

Maybe as I'm lying in bed sick tomorrow, I'll come up with a few more things, but for now, these are my initial thoughts to help bring clarity to this very confusing world.

Christmas

2010-12-24T22:56:00.000-06:00

For some reason, I can't sleep. I blame the bed.

So I thought I would take this time to wish everyone a very merry Christmas.

And show you what my cat got for Christmas this year.

So cute. It's adorable when he walks around with one of them in his mouth.

Merry Christmas!

Today's Adventure

2010-12-17T17:23:00.003-06:00

My car is getting a makeover. Ok, not really, but it will have been at the car shop for nearly 6 hours when it gets done. Guess who decided to wait for her car today instead of arrange something else? That's right me! However, I'm not upset, because thankfully I knew coming in that it would take about 4 hours, so I came prepared. I brought a fully loaded backpack of entertainment and had shops picked out that I could shop at in the surrounding area using the wonderful shuttle service to pass the time. So when the guy said that it would take another 1.5 to 2 hours to fix the other problems, I didn't even break a sweat. (Apparently, I've not had any brake lights for awhile and a leaky hose…and of course, the alignment).

Here's been today's adventure:

1st hour: in the waiting room, playing with Garage Band and mixing songs while drinking a lovely grape soda (which I thought was a grape Fanta, but didn't realize until grape soda #2 that it was not).

2nd hour: Took the shuttle, hung out at Borders, looked at the book Outliers, but decided to wait since it was $27 and then debated purchasing The Pioneer Women's cookbook. Ultimately, I decided to wait until after Christmas in case I get it for Christmas and I'll have more dough in my pocket, because it was also $27.

3rd hour: Pier One and Old Navy. I got a Techno Hoodie at Old Navy. So cool. It has the headphones built in and the cord to hook it up in the pocket. AND it's washable. This is particularly awesome, because I have a bit (that may be the understatement of the year) of anxiety and my iPod and headphones are like a security blanket. So having my headphones built into something is AWESOME.

4th hour: Brief trips to a few stores including Target. I had to cross 119th Street during this hour and 119th is not pedestrian friendly. I waited at the crosswalk for several turns of the light then realized that the light clearly didn't work and I was just going to have to risk it to make it across the street. Thankfully I was only carrying an Old Navy sack and a backpack.

5th Hour: Took the shuttle back to the car place. Chatted with the other people in the waiting room. Watched part of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? Changed into new Old Navy Techno Hoodie and tried it out (it works!) Broke out the laptop again and started typing this blogpost while drinking Grape Soda #2.

1:59pm: Finish blog post, but realize there is no wifi to publish it, so I decided to give a run down of my next few minutes.

2:04pm: The guy next to me asks me what I'm doing, I explain writing a blog post and listening to music, then we engage in a nice discussion about how makes are awesome. His wife reminds him he's not supposed to read over peoples shoulders, but he explains that it's impossible to read the tiny type on my screen (I'm writing it in Text Edit).

2:11pm: Decide to document everything in my back pack

Backpack contents:

Dried mangos from Whole Foods

The Whole Deal (Whole Foods coupons and recipes)

Stuff Christians Like book

My very first Bible EVER, given to me for Christmas in 1998 by Caroline Helmers.

Wallet

Power brick for my mac

Therapy Journal (just incase I decide to do my therapy homework early)

Macworld magazine

Mac Life magazine

3 of my favorite pens - Precise V5 Black

1 Sharpie - Black

1 Post-it highlighter with sticky tabs built in

Silly Putty - Blue

Check book

Renters insurance policy to remind me to call and inform them of my new place

Pair of sunglasses I broke this morning

A wine key (you never know when you might need it. Okay kidding, it was in another bag for another adventure I had involving glass bottled soda and got transferred to this bag on accident.)

New car insurance cards

Bottle of random meeds (e.g. ibuprofen)

Saline mist (I'm having a lot of nosebleeds, never can be too careful)

Bucky Balls (216 VERY magnetic balls, so awesome)

2:30pm: Car finished!

Holy Hip-Hop

2010-12-16T21:12:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite songs from the last month and a half:

Another favorite, a little holy hip-hop:

Snickers Dark

2010-12-05T13:10:00.000-06:00

I'm not a food blogger, but at the store recently, I've noticed a considerable number of dark chocolate options for candy. As a dark chocolate novice, I find this delightful. So I decided today to write about my experience trying the Snickers Dark.

Bite 1: It taste like a Snickers.

Bite 2: Still taste like a Snickers, but I get a subtle hint of darkness.

Bite 3: Ditto

Bite 4: It taste better than the original Snickers.

Bite 5: (BIG BITE) Am I still blogging?

Bite 6: Why am I still blogging?

Bite 7: Good to the last nugget.

After taste: Has the lingering dark effect, but is subtle and goooood.

Lease Signed!

2010-12-02T20:05:00.000-06:00

...And then the next morning (today) I woke up to this:

The first words out of my mouth: "Again?!"

Yes, that's right, count them, I have had not one, not two, but three hit and runs. All on the drivers side mirror and this time on the front fender. If you look closely at the picture you can actually see the rusty screws from the second time it got hit and I just had the auto shop screw it back together, because I decided (and am standing firm) that I'm not getting a new mirror again until I move. Thank the good Lord I signed a lease the day before. It will only be a matter of weeks before I'm fully moved over to the new place.

My Favorite Blog Post EVER

2010-12-01T14:01:00.001-06:00

THIS is my favorite blog post I've ever read. It's what inspired me to keep blogging and the tips Rachel gives are awesome and hilarious. It's some of her best work.

Holding Pattern

2010-11-30T22:25:00.000-06:00

There are lots of upcoming blog posts that are half written. Well, one is 90% written, but I hit the pause button on him for a few weeks while I move. I'll give you a preview though. It's going to be a series of blog posts outlining my ultimate electronic makeover and maybe some tips on what you guys can do as well to make your electronic lives easier. But for now, we're in a holding pattern.

For the next two weeks I'll be designing, moving into, and decorating my new apartment. I finally, bit the bullet and moved. I discovered from a firm shake from my brother that I'm really not living in the safest part of town, but more importantly I don't work in the safest part of town either. Therefore, I've never really be able to "get away" from work (e.g. I'm always reminded of work, continually as hyper-vigilant as I am at work at home). So, I'm moving to safer area of town just across the state line.

Here's my four phase plan for my move:

Phase 1: Preparing for the paint (this includes deciding on most decorating decisions, deciding on paint colors, then literally prepping for painting)
Phase 2: Painting
Phase 3: Getting Rid Of/Packing/Moving/Unpacking
Phase 4: Cleaning my old apartment

Also, get excited I'm getting ready for my very first blog giveaway. It's going to be awesome!

Stack of Bibles

2010-11-23T13:37:00.000-06:00

I recently posted this to flickr with the following caption:
"My own collection. Photographed to illustrate how excess penetrates even the most sacred parts of our lives."

I Blame Amazon and Hulu

2010-11-22T20:09:00.000-06:00

I've been a bit preoccupied recently and have inadvertently neglected my blog. I apologize. Hulu Plus rolled out to the rest of the world and Amazon MP3 keeps giving me AMAZING deals. So I've been clicking away on their websites. I have been working on a blog post - an update to my home theater one earlier. Now that Hulu is playing nice with my PS3, an update is in order. While you wait, enjoy my favorite websites:

By the way, Amazon is running super awesome specials right now - for real. I'm currently surrendering my entire bank account to them. My music collection is made up of their $3.99 and $5 album deals. I've recently gotten the new Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Kid Rock, Kanye West, and Dane Cook albums for $3.99. I'm fully aware this could be a problem.

Tweet On

2010-11-14T23:43:00.001-06:00

Now that was an interesting week. The short story is that some where in the week my body's off switch broke. Which lead to 86 hours (+1 hour of sleep) without any sleep - not by choice. My body broke sometime after the one hour nap, refusing to shut off. I don't remember much from the last half of the week...but I read a lot of wikipedia articles on sleep and a few tweets. Oh, and the New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys announcing their tour together. That made my whole week.

So speaking of Twitter (or not). If you're not on it, get on it. It's what the cool kids are doing. It's like mini-blogging. As a bonus, you get to watch hilarious conversations like this go down if you're following the right people.

Or you can have a super fun timeline that looks like this when you follow a famous blogger, tell your friend your watching the person that makes her famous, or keep up on the happenings of your friend thousands of miles away - and her sad happenings with the Apple store:

It's especially fun if you live a funny life, but even if you don't, people still like knowing your random thoughts on the world. So get on the bandwagon, I'm saving you a seat.

Tweet on.

Ultimate Home Theater

2010-11-08T18:49:00.002-06:00

Since I buying my TV this summer I've been contemplating what my ultimate home theater would look like (and by look like, I mean what it would include). My definition of "ultimate" might sway a little from most people talking about their home theater. I define an awesome home theater as sleek, efficient, and does everything I need it to do. So I've been thinking a lot about streamlining. And streaming, because I don't have cable so it's my favorite way of watching a variety of television.

Here's my current set up:

Don't get me wrong. My current set up isn't bad, in fact I really like. But we're talking ultimate home theater. So here's how it currently functions. The black box on the chair to the right is my PS3. It does pretty much everything (like the ads say) - games, blu-ray, DVDs, hooks up to the internet - but no Hulu (more on that later). The silver cord and with white thing connected to it on the chair to the left, is how I hook up my MacBook Pro to my TV. This is how I watch my ultra wonderful, Hulu. The black cord going across the left chair is going to my antenna, which will hopefully find a home on the wall eventually. I don't have cable. I find I can meet most of my needs through my Hulu and PS3, at least while in grad school.

Other than streamlining (and streaming), I've been focusing on how I can decrease clutter. So continually thinking of how to have as few things (boxes, remotes, cables, etc.).

Here's what I've (mostly) decided on:

1. If Hulu decides to play nice with the world and allow streaming through my PS3 (without paying an arm and two legs - as it currently is set up), then I would use my PS3 (already own) to stream my Hulu Plus and Netflix if I decide to keep it (though unlikely).

I would digitize my entire DVD collection, put it on an external hard drive and hook it up to my PS3 via one of the usb ports. The biggest thing lacking would be the ease of use. To play my movies and TV shows on my PS3 I would have to do the equivalent of digging through folders on my external hard drive.
I could also upload all of my music onto the external hard drive, however, I would have the same problem as above. Sony really needs to add a media player to the PS3. Then it really would do everything (besides play Hulu).

2. If Hulu (or Sony, not sure who's doing it) decides to continue to play hard ball, or I decide that the non-user friendly media center on my PS3 takes away from my viewing, then I would begin saving my pennies for the ultimate entertainment hub - the Mac mini.

Here's what I would do if I got a Mac mini:

Hook it up to the TV via a HDMI cable (no converter needed!)
Store all of my previously mentioned digitized media on it.
Turn on home sharing in iTunes on my laptop and on the mini - allowing for my music to stay on my laptop (where it's most convenient) and my movies on the mini (where the hard drive could hold them)...but allowing each device play the media content as if it was it's own.
Have Hulu Desktop launch on start-up - immediate access to content.
Last, but not least, I would purchase this bad boy:

EyeTV One. He would turn my mini into a DVR. I could record the shows I know I'm going to miss, pause the show I'm watching to make dinner, edit the content to make super awesome montages of all of my favorite scenes to share with you guys (if copyright law allowed), AND (see diddy on iTunes sharing above) play my recorded TV shows in my bed on my laptop (sick days???).

AND if the mini becomes a part of my home theater (which would then be dubbed my ultimate home theater), I could control everything with my iPod Touch.

Did the world just stop spinning?? I think I felt it. Clearly, I'm not leaning toward one option :) Too bad, the mini has so much upfront cost (though by not paying for cable it pays for itself in time). I'd better start saving my pennies.

Beautiful and Cheap (or Free!)

2010-11-07T14:29:00.003-06:00

I would like to thank my friend Jenny for turning me on to these beautiful cards from Shutterfly. I must note, that I do in fact think they really are beautiful and would still think they are beautiful if Shutterfly wasn't giving away 50 free holiday cards to bloggers who blog about them (seriously, we all love Shutterfly, go on and blog about them too!).

Here are my favorite folded cards:

Here's why I love them: The top left is my favorite. I love the simple elegance. I love the colors on the second one (top right). Again, the simplicity of the bottom left, mixing modern (the polka dot border) with traditional (love that script). Such a good job. On the last card (bottom right), I love how the picture is the total focus of the card with a simple, but powerful, Merry Christmas.

I also liked this one below. I think it's great for those who are making the transition from store bought to printed cards. Or if you're just exceptionally private...or have very few photos...or live by yourself and think putting you and your cat on the front of a card, might be silly. What's great about this one (and all of them above) is that you can put a photo on the inside. Love it.

Here are my favorite flat photo cards (these are the cheapest). I love the colors in these so much. They're just so pretty. I also really love the photo strip on the bottom one. I think it would super cute if you had consecutive shots (like a photo booth) of a couple or family (or cat and yourself).

How to Pee Outdoors

2010-11-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

I've recently decided that I'm going to start tapping into that special place in my brain where I have learned various bits of random, but useful knowledge and share them with you. To start, how to pee in the great outdoors. :)

Going to the bathroom in the great outdoors is a skill I know way too much about. However, my unnatural skill has come in handy on many occasions. Like, when I traveled overseas and one of our "rest stops" while traveling between cities was two slabs of concrete with drains in the middle (one for men and one for women) and a wall to separate them. Yep, it took the term public restroom to a whole other level.

Here's what you need to know for a successful bathroom break in the great outdoors:

Note: This is for women only, men you have it easy. Also, I'm assuming you're not peeing on a concrete pad, because if that's the case all you need to do is make sure you squat really close to the ground and keep your pants at your knees (so your pants will be higher than your pee).

1. You're number one goal is to not pee on yourself. Keep this in mind. Always. Otherwise, you will.

2. Location, Location, Location. This is where paying attention in those science and math classes will pay off. Remember your friends from physics? Gravity and Angles? Once you're away from others and are pretty sure no one else can see you, try to find slanted ground (hill? pile of dirt?).

3. Once you've picked out the spot, you have a decision to make. Pants on? Or pants off? If you chose the latter option, remember gravity when placing your clothes to the side. You don't want to place them "down stream." If you decide to go with the quicker pants on option, here's where skill comes in to play.

4. The pre-squat. This comes down to, what direction...to face, to pull your pants, etc. There are many combinations, if you're skilled in math and the laws of physics then you can figure out what will be best for your location-of-the-moment. Remember: your stream naturally goes forward a bit (take this into account when figuring out your pose). If you're not, here's my recommended combo: Face down hill in your squating position and pull your pants towards your back.

5. The squat. Leave your pants/shorts at your knees and squat as closely to the ground as possible.

6. Go.

7. The wipe. Unless you have toilet paper with you, try not to wipe. Just drip dry. I know it sounds gross, but you'll thank me later. If you go number 2, make sure you are 100% certain that the leaf you pick is not poisonous. Seriously. I once upon a time chose the wrong leaf to wipe. It was horrible. HORRIBLE. Imagine having to explain how you got that in that area of your body to your doctor. Just for future reference this leaf IS poisonous:

Alright, back to the main show. Once you've figured out how to dry yourself, you're done! Pull up your pants and go on with life! Freedom.