WiT

If I marry the iPad I picked up last night (which is very possible) then I will wear my purple retro dress that came in the mail two days ago. Swing the thing shalalala, swish swish swish.

I can tell I have tons of work to do...

...because I just spent two hours cleaning and organizing every inch of my digital desktop. Something that has been looming for about six months.

*Exhale*

Feels. So. Good.

Away from work

Before:
After:


In the kitchen:

Strawberry rhubarb pie
(compliments of a local U-pick, our orchard and RobinHood flour)

In the garden and the chicken coop:

potatoes

corn & peas

guard dog

five star digs

ugly chickens

11:11 Fuscia Smiles

The videographer I was speaking to regarding the workshop and tutorial video we are doing at an international conference in about ten days stopped answering my emails six days ago.

Tomorrow I have to convince a visiting, distinguished scientist that he should farm out his science to me because it will be cheaper and better for him in the end.

Driving home on my scooter, on a beautiful summer day wearing a beautiful summer dress, a huge bumble bee smacked into my face shield, fell into my dress and stung my upper chest.

Minor quibbles mofo. Minor quibbles.

apples and oranges

As part of our next trade show booth, I wanted to include a cord-less frame showcasing images of our products in use. The cordless versions run around $200, my boss thought it was a great idea. I wasn't expecting to pay so much for one, especially one that is only 8 inches wide.

Then she proposed the use of a "lead retrieval" unit- a little machine you rent from the conference venue for $250+ dollars (plus "training" time!) that scans booth visitors' name tags, storing info on a database you can later access to send spam emails.

A combined cost of nearly five hundred dollars for gadgets with one time uses....hmm. An idea.

Me: "Boss-how about we get an iPad? It works as both a cordless frame for showcasing images AND as a nifty tool to bring people to our booth. Instead of a sneaky lead retrieval unit, we just straigh-up ask booth visitors who are interested in our product to book-mark their lab homepages on our iPad and then follow up that way. "

Her: "Deal."

(I fist-pumped the air).

"Just so ya know, we're in a fight..."

Despite a remark from a friend and former visitor to India/Thailand/Laos about "little brown people" who make jute rugs, I've decided that natural materials are still preferable to off-gassing carpets made by the same people in chemical-laden factories. I found a great online retailer for natural carpets and stairway runners here. They appear to ship to my location and have the exact thing I was looking for (see the image on this post). None of the local retailers (even/especially flooring specialists) had these items available. Problem is, the online selection is so good that Hubby has a favorite. And it ain't my favorite. I basically want to order this tomorrow, so this minor quibble better get resolved. If anyone cares to vote either way, go nuts:

His favorite:

My favorite:

As if fighting weren't enough, I have a lingering headache at the base of my head/behind my ears and my desk smells like Drosophila fly food (a stomach-churning smell originating from somewhere else in the building). The headache and fly food smell may be related. Ew.

sh-sh-sh-shake shake shake

zombie shoes

So I read this post a few weeks ago at a science blog I like to read. This shit is right up my alley. AND THEN, I was at an art opening at a local gallery and a cute girl there had on a flat version of the shoe. Those platforms have been around for a few years, I remember seeing them at a punk/rock-a-billy store display in some large city I was visiting (maybe Toronto?). Anyway. WOULDN'T THEY BE CUTE WITH MY PURPLE DRESS?!?!? My dress hasn't shipped yet. But that just gives me time to find and ship a pair of zombie shoes.

BRaainnnssss...

The Return

Vacation was fun, I got to play beach volleyball and then be sore for three days. It was the one and only sport I ever played competitively, albeit ten years ago. Apparently the muscles I exercise at the farm are different then those I use to posture in front of strangers while wearing nearly nothing at all. My good friend is an avid sailor and rugby player, and commented diplomatically that this was likely the only time I would be the better athlete. Good times.

I've given up on painting the house yellow before August. The primer is taking forever to finish, and what is done looks so nice, and there is so much I would rather do: pull up the cedars by the door+replace them with pretty annual flower beds. Make window boxes, hang baskets from brackets, garden. Replace the broken and stained screen door with a nice fancy one. Create a staircase runner that looks like this (paint and decor to follow):


So no little yellow farmhouse yet.

The chickens spent their first evening in the chicken coop last night. I worry the spot isn't terribly vermin-proof, but we couldn't keep the chickens in the porch any longer-it smelled so bad. I've gone on a cleaning spree the last three days, doing nasty chores like empty the refrigerator. And one of the things I need to do is scrub the front porch on hands and knees with Vim or other abrasive cleaner to get it really clean.

So much fun. So little time.

consumer report

I did it! I ordered this very lovely dress over the weekend since the company was having a fourth of july sale (20% off!). I've been coveting it since February. Yeah!



I also "invested" in some fantastic make-up while visiting Giant City. They only had one shop that carried the Afterglow Cosmetics range and my visit was incredibly worthwhile. I was able to test the products and determine which was my colour, and came away with some concealer, powdered mineral foundation and blush. It was expensive, but Afterglow isn't stuffed with crappy chemicals so it was worth it.

Parabens. Gross.

morningglory