damenleeturks

C'mon, @netflix must be putting one over on me—this juxtaposition is just wrong. #TheWalkingDead #ShirleyTemple

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:04:10 -0700

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Seeing her run around waving a thick-blades knife would be scary if she weren't so dang cute.

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:37:39 -0700

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Celebrating 4 years of wonderful, educational, exhilarating marriage. Love you, babe.

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:07:03 -0700

Taken at Cafe Zupas

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@brittanyoos Yep. Here's an uncut vid of her playing with it. :)

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:59:00 -0700

movie.mov Watch on Posterous

Brittany and Bill bought Alex this book for her first birthday.

It's the same book (tho in a drastically different format) that I received from my parents on my first Christmas. :)

It's still one of my favorite books. :)

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Well, Hair, it was great while it lasted.

Mon, 30 May 2011 13:26:06 -0700

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Someone loves her dad. #WIN.

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:22:14 -0700

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Attention Deficit Dis … um, … what?

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 20:21:00 -0700

It is highly likely that you are presently suffering from adult attention deficit disorder, according to your responses on this self-report questionnaire. You should not take this as a diagnosis of any sort, or a recommendation for treatment. However, it would be advisable and likely beneficial for you to seek further diagnosis from a trained mental health professional immediately.

Just a quick list of the tabs open in my browser right now:

Floorplanner.com — for my wife's gardening project
Google Docs (2) — uploading spreadsheets for work
ghacks.net — trying to get these spreadsheets to upload more quickly (strangely, I have to open the xls files then close them before google will accept them correctly)
twitter.com — some random list of Mormon Twitter-ers that I was added to after #ldsconf this weekend
mikehenneke.mvourtown.com — the blogpost about ADD (ha!) by one of the other people on the previously mentioned Twitter list. Also, these sites in other tabs:
- http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_adult_symptoms.htm — could be a biography of my life. Also, I learned about "shaving yaks" today.
- http://psychcentral.com/cgi-bin/addquiz.cgi — source of the badge above. The first time I took the quiz, my score was 81; I took it again when Nicole got back from her Relief Society meeting … and I got a 93 (70+ is a "definitely")
- http://www.attentiondeficit-add-adhd.com/adhd-connors-test.htm
(Gay) Mormon Guy blog — another one of the Mormons on the Twitter list (I'd actually read his response to Elder Packer's talk a few months ago)
Netflix (on the Mini HTPC) — Reaper, Season 1

…

By the way, I set a 5-minute alarm for writing this post. It ended up taking around 15.

I give up. :P

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DIY: Wooden Tray for Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:15:00 -0800

I posted about this on Twitter and Tumblr yesterday, but I thought a few more pictures were in order (mostly because they turned out so nice in the lightbox I built, more on that later).

See the full gallery on Posterous

Anyway, here's the tray I built to house the Magic Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard we're now using with our Mac Mini HTPC. I love how the warm curves of the wood grain play off the clean, industrial lines of the aluminum, plastic, and glass.

Plus, it's a whole lot easier to use a stationary trackpad with a TV than it ever was using a mouse or remote. :P

—

Potential cost if I'd gone with one of these alternatives (interesting that most of the ones I've found are from outside the US):

US: BulletTrain Express — $129
Japan: BirdElectron Airboard (warning: page in Japanese) — but it's keyboard only, 5000 Yen (~$60 US)
Germany: Woody's Tray (warning: page in German) — 65.00 EUR (~$90 US)
Canada: Combine Collective Keyboard Tray (warning: page in Cana… no, too easy) — $99 Canadian (~$100 US)

Actual cost: much less than any of those

Want one? Let me know.

I'm thinking of selling them for about $45-50, keyboard and trackpad not included, (In other words, you supply the magic.)

Just contact damenleeturks on either Twitter or Gmail.

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With "Emphasis"

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 08:29:00 -0800

Not that I'm trying to justify swearing, but I enjoyed

I have heard it said that “damn” is not swearing, that it is only emphasis.

I was preaching one night with the late President John Henry Smith, in the opera house in Phoenix. The legislature was in session. Hearing that two of the “Mormon” apostles were there, some of the members of the legislature waited on us and said they had arranged to hire the opera house, and they would agree to fill it if we would condescend to preach. Well, we usually hire our own hall and condescend to preach to empty benches; so, of course, we condescended, and were delighted with the opportunity.

One of the good sisters who came down from Mesa was sitting behind a man while I was preaching, and she heard him say, with emphasis, that I was an earnest preacher. Pretty soon, with that emphasis again, he said I was a good preacher, and finally once more with emphasis he said: “That man believes (with emphasis) every word he is saying.”

I ask no greater compliment.

Heber J Grant in Conference Report, October 1922, 13 via firesides.org via The Art of Manliness

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Wisconsin's Climate

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:35:00 -0800

Beautifully designed.

Who cares about Wisconsin's weather, this site is pretty. :)

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Seth's Blog: The inevitable decline due to clutter

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 17:08:00 -0800

Digital media expands. It's not like paper, it can get bigger.

As digital marketers seek to increase profits, they almost always make the same mistake. They continue to add more clutter, messaging and offers, because, hey, it's free.

One more link, one more banner, one more side deal on the Groupon page.

Economics tells us that the right thing to do is run the factory until the last item produced is being sold at marginal cost. In other words, keep adding until it doesn't work any more.

In fact, human behavior tells us that this is a more permanent effect than we realize. Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn't free. In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.

And it's hard to go backward.

More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

This applies not only to website design, but also to physical site design and clutter.

Which is why so many people feel a connection, big or small, with shows like "Hoarders" or "Clean House"— we all feel like there's too much of something in our lives, and we'd like to cut out the unwanted excess.

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MacBook Pro Sleeve

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:45:00 -0800

I got a new unibody MacBook Pro for work, and its clean, smooth casing was asking to get dinged, dented, or scratched.

So, three old t-shirts, three late nights, and a recycled magnetic button clasp thingy (plus a hefty helping of iron-on hem tape), and I have this to show you.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Btw, we've got new needles for the sewing machine now, so the next one should take MUCH less time.

Hopefully.

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Super Mac Man Macbook Decal by laptopstickershop on Etsy

Mon, 08 Nov 2010 00:26:00 -0800

via etsy.com

Speaking of things I want for Christmas…

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The Rescues

Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:09:00 -0800

via thesixtyone.com

If anyone buys me any music this Christmas (or anytime soon), please, please, please buy me music by The Rescues.

Why?, you ask. Well,

They make me happy (like the Weepies, but with ... guts. And bass.).
They make me feel (like Bon Iver, but with less brooding and melancholy).
They make me full-on rock-nod with my earbuds in (like all good music should. Go on, you know I'm right. )

And if you don't get me any music (now, for Χmas, or ever), please please please go rock-nod on your own to this right now.

Or, if your surroundings allow right now, go ahead and dance to it right now, your eyes closed and your arms flailing and a smile as big as Bangkok gleaming on your face.

Yeah, that's a better option. Now, go dance. (Or rock-nod if you prefer. You pick.)

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HD Video on your iPhone 3GS (Yes!)

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:09:00 -0700

Record HD Video On Your Jailbroken iPhone 3GS

An iPhone tinkerer named Mike has successfully enabled dormant 720p video recording functionality on his iPhone 3GS. You can too if you follow the seven steps detailed over at Redmond Pie. [Redmond Pie]

via gizmodo.com

This is really dang cool. Like *really* cool.

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The synesthesia condition explained by Vilayanur Ramachandran

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:32:00 -0700

via matthewjamestaylor.com

I know, I'm posting a link to a blog that links to a video, but hey... isn't this interconnectedness what synesthesia is all about?

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That Which I Feel I Fear

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 22:57:27 -0700

I wonder
why poetry is frightened to finish each line, is frightened to find that it's better sometimes
to watch each thought flow and let someone else know
there's no end to thinking when thought's left to go
flowing on to the end and wrap back around,
'til light's lucid sound comes un-chained from the ground
starts awake and alive under each passing eye
where the smallest truths hide amongst nervous lies
and monstrously vivid mistakes seem to find
they take weeks to unravel and years to rewind
to one day, or in smaller cases one year,
to undo what's been here, to redo what appears
to have gone on long enough that it's set up its camp,
with cold, meager fires, and guy wires and tents damp
with gray dew from a thousand young, critical foes,
'cuz each thinks he knows what's a "high" and where's a "low",
and who of us cares where he found his high throne
where he titters alone, like a prone river stone.

Maybe it's merely me that despairs
when the poets put on airs
that keep me aware
I'm afraid and still scared
I don't have my own life down pat,
that I have yet to realize that
I follow other's lives and let
them determine how I should get
to where I think I should be.
I forget I'm still me.

For that which I fear
keeps me here
where there are holes in the wall
where my eyes always fall,
and the lines get shorter
cling closer to the border,
where simple sighs
in my eyes fade, then ignite
and I forget why
I started to write
and I put pen aside
and sigh.
Alone.

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Alex

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:26:00 -0700

Wow! It's been four months—Alex's third one-third first third birthday is this Friday.

And even though she'll likely celebrate the day by being stripped nearly naked, poked at, and impaled with needles at the doctor's office while her parents just sit by, I wanted to make something for her¹.

So with that in mind², I cut together this video, and made sure to include some of her first experiences

posing for pictures,
tasting solid foods,
camping,
swimming,
going to the beach,
wearing formal wear,
riding a horse,
drowsing peacefully beneath a tree, and
being held by her beautiful mother.

Music: "This Colorful World" by Eliot Morris

1. ...and for my mom living roughly 1431 miles away in Texas

2. ...and in an effort that will likely cause jealously in any future children (Sorry, Future Kids. I still love you.)

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Of Argos

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:31:00 -0700

There were quiet, still moments when
he wished he could call her back
from the icy black,
reignite those captivating eyes,
and see how the wind and the waves
made her hair come to life.

He could no longer reflect
on her absent beauty,
only on past heroics and history,
on maritime dragons and destiny,

And, had he known the bard's story,
he would have called himself Montague
tied, not by love, but by some other fate,
or hate,
or Olympian star-crossing
to a Capulet counterpart,
lover of the sea.

by Kurt Madsen

Originally posted (on Facebook) on Monday, April 30, 2007 at 2:46am

photo by Andy Norris

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Gut Reaction: Online Style | Web Style Guide

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:08:00 -0700

Contrast and emphasis

On the web, more than any other prose medium, the look of text layout strongly affects how readers relate to written content. The contrast produced by headlines, subheads, lists, and illustrations give users visual “entry points,” drawing their eyes down the page and into the content. Although the heading and list markup might look excessive in print form, on the web this markup has two big advantages:

via webstyleguide.com

I love how this page follows its own advice so precisely. It makes me feel all warm and happy inside. :)

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