Kellinahandbasket

Is Email Dead?

2010-08-23T08:39:00.001-07:00

"Who uses e-mail anymore?" I was surprised to hear myself say this when a friend offered to send me an address. After all, an email meant that I would have to retrieve the message and copy and paste the info into my address book...OH! THE EFFORT INVOLVED! At least with a text, the message would just pop right up for me--no signing in or buttons to tap to retrieve it--and who knows what I could accomplish with those extra milliseconds!

Frankly, I can't remember the last time I signed into Yahoo! to actually write a letter-y email to a friend because:

I already know the answer to "How are you?" and more! I've been following friends' status updates for the past two years and I know that Allison's cat kept her up all night. She's tired! (She didn't have the heart to kick him out of bed.)
If you need info and you need it quick, it's less of a burden on everyone if you just text it. Society has finally accepted that no niceties are needed.
Again, I already know how they're doing. And those pictures from last night are already online.

Point is, people are texting. People are instant messaging. People are "facebooking" (yes, it's a verb now too) or tweeting their statuses all over the place. IF I do send a letter-y type email it's actually through Facebook, which is technically a "direct message." Facebook has become my "email client" replacing both Yahoo! and Gmail for the social emails I once sent. The other two now function as inboxes for my business transactions and professional correspondences.

This begs the question, is email as we once knew it dead? Or social niceties?

f.lux Tool

2010-06-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm skeptical because, oh I don't know, the f.lux computer lighting tool won't change that I have light blazing into my eyeballs at all odd hours of the day/night...and that's the point. Light (no matter what kind/color) at 3 a.m. = messed up circadian rhythm.

The only surefire way to get on a true circadian rhythm is to avoid all electricity after dusk. Of course the reality of that happening? Zilch. So if I'm going to do it anyway, maybe f.lux will protect my circadian rhythm a little more--not 100%, but more beneficial than not using f.lux.

Weird. This is starting to sound like the whole abstinence conversation.

Conflict Minerals

2010-06-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ever since Blood Diamond, everyone's been somewhat conscious of conflict diamonds, but it looks like we should give some attention to this much bigger market:

Holy Land 2010

2010-06-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm officially in vacation mode and ready to hit the holy land with my fam for two weeks. Yes, it's been a while since I blogged, but putting waypoints on a map made it seem worth it. Behold, the upcoming itinerary:

View Holy Land 2010 in a larger map

Mediterranean Cruise 2009

2009-07-15T04:31:00.000-07:00

View Mediterranean 2009 in a larger map

Just got back from our western Mediterranean cruise that my mom took us on with my bro, sister-in-law, aunt, and cousin and it didn't disappoint. I was excited for my mom and Ryan to see one of my favorite areas: the South of France and to my delight, they loved it and got a firsthand taste of what made me fall in love with France.

I was a little worried about going back--I wasn't sure if I had overly idealized the South of France in my mind after all these years and I was certain I wouldn't have the same experience as a bona fide tourist as opposed to a student studying there, but the instant we set foot in Villefranche, I was instantly on cloud nine...I mean really happy. Plus it turns out German hasn't ruined my French--I had great interactions that were mostly seamless and even had one instance where I switched between French and German without mixing them up (when both nationalities were present). That separation never happened for my brain.

I've got to retire to the French Riviera or spend another chunk of my life there at some point. I mean, GOD, I'm in my element there. And it's cheaper than San Diego.

Homemade Yogurt

2009-06-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

R and I consume a lot of yogurt. So the next logical DIY project seemed to be "Make yogurt" especially after we went on a culinary shopping spree when my uncle was in town and I spotted a yogurt maker.

Here are the results:

Using the Salton YM9 1-Quart Yogurt Maker
manual directions yielded:

Liquid
Lumps
That gross watery stuff on the top of yogurt that everyone pours out

Every yogurt-making read emphasizes that there are a billion different variations on how to perfect yogurt to your taste, so I guess it was good to know that 2% milk, mixed with yogurt starter packets, and incubated for 5 hours was basically what I would imagine drinking cancer would be like.
Using the 101 Cookbooks yogurt recipe yielded:

Very thick
Tart
I mean so thick that it's a terrible combination if you're having problems with your mucus membranes
Great yogurt

Leave it to my new favorite food blog, Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks...this stuff is good especially when you combine it with the homemade muesli recipe and drizzle it with agave nectar. The difference here? 2% milk, milk powder, and incubation for 9 hours. Now I need to figure out how to get the silky factor in...otherwise YU-UM.

WeFollow

2009-04-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

WeFollow has usurped most of my internet surfing attention in the last 2 days. It's a directory of Twitter "power" users so it's a lot of celebrity-types and gurus who have gotten on the Web 2.0 train.

It's been interesting to see who's tapped in, but mostly it's boring. The problem with celebrities/experts on twitter is that their feed is 90% @replies to threads you didn't see from the beginning or it's plainly not them (it's their manager or publicist pushing their shows or schwag). The shopping feeds could be potentially useful, though--lots of discounts.

Paula Poundstone has been a great find, though. Probably her own manager or publicist pushed her into Twitter since she's a self-proclaimed luddite, but the luddite factor works to her advantage--she doesn't know how to @reply or include links, so it's just this clean page of her humor (which is why I'd want to follow her in the first place).

If only Eddie Izzard would get on twitter...

When I was your age, we skied.

2009-03-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

It only took 3 years, but we finally went skiing at Mountain High in the San Bernardino Mountains this past weekend, after a drive out to Anza Borrego on the Cesar Chavez holiday on Friday (I posted a few pictures from the trip on Petri's blog).

I learned a very important lesson this weekend: I'm old. Among the things that made me feel ancient:
General:

The "High" in "Mountain High" has nothing to do with altitude.
We were 2 of maybe 5 skiers in the whole resort (the rest were snowboarders).
We were 2 of maybe 5 people over 30 yrs old. Apparently skis & age are related.
"Surfer dude" speech exists on the mountains in addition to the beach.
I remember when snow gear was just supposed to keep you warm. Now? I'm pretty sure there's probably a fashion magazine out there solely for snowboarders. My pants were so uncool...as was my North Face jacket (but it blocks the wind!).

Body related:

When I lifted my leg, I could feel my ligaments/ tendons pull away from my bones, from the weight of the skis. That was a confidence booster...
I got tired halfway down the first run.
I'm pretty sure I fell every single run I did.
I was afraid of going too fast (I mean, what the ****?! Who am I?)
I didn't want to stay the full 8 hours that I paid for.

Cooking Crazy

2009-03-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

I went wild cooking this weekend, which, as R will tell you, doesn't happen too often.

This came about from:

My uncle visiting last weekend and buying us a slew of cool, new kitchen tools (his favorite past-time is cooking so this is our key bonding point
Feeling fat. I just went to the doc and I'm at the heavier end of my fluctuating 10 pound weight spectrum...sure, roll your eyes, but I have to have a limit to what weight I'll tolerate before I let myself get to the point of no return. So now I'm at my limit and it's time to kick things back into gear.
Discovering SmittenKitchen and 101 Cookbooks: Both are websites with new food ideas (for me, anyway) that are healthy and have great photos of their creations.

Recipes we made this weekend included:

Huevos rancheros (SK): Now i know what to do with all those leftover corn tortillas when we buy them for one night of enchiladas. It's amazing how much the tortilla and a little mild cheddar will take the taste factor up a notch.

Honey-toasted Fruit Muesli (101): Breakfast is set for the next week or two. R and I got hooked on the muesli/yogurt combo when we lived in Germany and in a way, muesli is muesli, but when it's homemade? You just can't beat that freshness.

Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh (101): This is similar to another recipe we do over shredded cabbage except for the orange part and it's outstanding. We had some wheatberry salad with dried cranberries and shallots to use up and the citrus flavor went nicely with it. I thought it was going to be a bust because I got navel oranges, but when they boiled down, the juice got a lot sweeter. Can't wait to have this one again.

Amazing Black Bean Brownies (101): I suspect they put the "amazing" part into its name to convince you it's not going to be sick, because who really wants black beans in their brownie? Well now I do! They're way more fudge-like than cake-like, have a heavy coffee taste, and not a hint of bean. I'm thrilled I can get my chocolate fix and not feel guilty because sugar is replaced with agave nectar as well. And btw, agave nectar is going to change my life.

Miso Soup (101): This was insanely easy. It literally took all of 5 minutes (without soba noodles) to make and was better than your restaurant miso soups. I suspect I'll probably get sick of this one soon because I'll wind up making it as my new easy meal when I don't feel like cooking (i.e., most of the time).

TEDTalks - Elizabeth Gilbert (2009)

2009-02-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

For anyone involved in the creaitve process and especially my writing
friends, check out this episode of TEDTalks, "A different way to think
about creative genius" - Elizabeth Gilbert (2009): http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/535684943/453

I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love but this makes me want to. Also, if you
haven't seen/heard TEDTalks, these are some of the best podcast
episodes out there.

Sent from my iPhone

Grooveshark

2009-02-16T21:33:00.001-08:00

Youtube was my go to for finding songs I was thinking about, but so far Grooveshark has proved pretty good PLUS you can embed a song on your web site. woo.

In celebration of this, here's Coldplay's "Strawberry Swing."

Brown Out

2009-01-11T11:32:00.000-08:00

This past year I've started to try my hand out with a little bit of video. As exciting as our lives are, don't expect to see any earth-shattering productions.

Nonetheless, here's my first attempt at a voice-over:

And here's my interview with Ryan on the day of a brown out:

This is why recording the cat is more interesting than us.

2008 Recap

2009-01-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

So I didn't do much in the way of blogging this past year and really that just means it was a good year.

Two major changes occurred that I suppose are safe to divulge at this point, and if you follow my tweets, you may already know that:

After 4 very long years, I'm finally and officially employed.
We got a cat.

Side note: I've grown to love twitter more than blogs...turns out I only really need 140 characters to say what I want to say and people only have that attention span anyway.

I've been working on and off for UCSD over the past 2 years as a temp who floats around different departments, and while I appreciated the work, let's just say that some days I was scolded for using different colors of paperclips. I wish I was kidding.

Just when I gave up on finding writing/editing jobs (i.e., what I went to school for), I got a call to temp as a senior editor. Long story short, after 5 months of temping, 4 months of interviews, somehow winning "Temp of the Month" (possibly the most hilarious award I've ever received), and narrowly missing the hiring freeze, I finally got the job in August. And I love it.

I've been reluctant to say anything because I'm in a probationary period until February, and while I'm not worried about my performance, like everyone else I've just kept an eye on this weird economic time we're in...last one in is the first one out kind of thing. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself now, even. Anyway, I basically edit content for the university's Web site, which could also be the reason for the decline of the blog posts. I get plenty of HTML in my day and while the content I edit is rife with humor opportunities, I'd rather, again, keep my job. The best part is I work with some of the smartest, funniest people I've ever known. In other words, for having been painfully unemployed and downright lost for the past 4 years, I feel like my karma finally came back.

Another side note: I feel like everything I ever did on this blog or learned from creating this blog--be it html, photography, graphics, photoshop, Web research, etc.--directly fed into my ability to get this job. Who would have thought?

In other karma news, we got a cat. This is a huge deal and has been a long time coming. Long story short is that Ryan is allergic to cats, more than a year ago we started him on shots, as time went on we visited the humane society often to monitor his reaction in a room full of cats (he seemed good), and then when some lab cats became available at UCSD, to my surprise he suggested we take one home. We then let things settle in to see how his allergies were before we possibly had to give it back.

I think it's safe to say we're past that waiting period and that we're both in love with the furball of energy who's brought a lot of energy into our lives. As a courtesy to those who would rather not read about another woman going on about her cat, the little guy does have his own separate blog...which has, in its short life, become way more popular than this one.

Airport Security

2008-12-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

A guy at the airport tried to bring a gas-powered leaf blower through.

"Let's see...I can only bring 8 oz. of shampoo on board...but I have a
sneaky suspicion that I'll get my leaf blower and its tiny canister of
gasoline right through."

Even funnier is imagining a terrorist taking a plane hostage with
their leaf blower. Note to self: fight back with my seat's personal
air vent.

Sent from my iPhone

KPBS Fame

2008-12-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

Angela Carone from KPBS' These Days e-mailed me this past weekend to see if they could feature one of my photos on their blog, Culture Lust, today. This is awesome for a million reasons:

Duh, it's my photography (though I have to admit that when I see my pic among the others, mine clearly seems to be the least artistic).
It's my co-worker's band, The Midwinters
These Days is all too familiar to someone who rarely changes the radio dial from the NPR/KPBS station.
It was randomly found on Flickr. I'm still amazed how great and well-respected flickr has turned out to be in the larger publishing world.

Kind of weird that all that time of unemployment actually yielded a semi-competent talent because lately I've rarely been tooling around in my own hobby for me. I'm actually in demand for others. The only problem is that I can't bring myself to charge because they're friends (I have a ring of people who yell at me for this, but dude...don't mix friends and business) I'm in serious need of a pimp that will take care of my bidness for me.

Playing catchup

2008-11-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I did a fruit carving and I had to catch him
before he turned into a moldy puddle on our doorstep.

(Getting Back on the Blog Wagon)

2008-11-06T07:34:00.000-08:00

Kell: Do you know what a group of cats is called?

Ryan: Cattle?

Capture Cincinnati Photo Contest

2008-08-27T18:46:00.001-07:00

I entered this last year with little hope of getting published because I hardly have any photos of my hometown...at least since the digital age. That, of course, was a sad realization so when we were back this past summer, I went on a mission to remedy that and lo and behold, this contest is going on again.

Sign up, check out my latest batch of the 'nati and vote!

For the Flickr-ites

2008-07-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Shameless self-promotion alert: I entered a photo into the Lonely Planet Publications pool on Flickr and have made it to the final cut of voting. You can help me win a guidebook and possible publication by voting for my photo in 3 easy steps:

Click here to see my photo in the running (make sure you're signed in as well).
Copy and paste this code in the comments section at the bottom of the page:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/lonelyplanetpublications/ "> This photo makes me want to travel and gets my vote in the Lonely Planet Publications group's Beach challenge</a>
Click "Post Comment" to vote.

Loads of Ireland pics coming soon...

To the motherland

2008-06-28T15:11:00.000-07:00

Too Damn Hot

2008-06-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Even Bambi is like, dude. F'real?

(Side note - I miss Ohio nature. Cardinals? Wow. Totally striking birds. Even robins, as ugly as they are, look exotic to me now)

I'm looking forward to a rainy, damp, tuberculosis-y Ireland.

In Rainbows - From the Basement

2008-06-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Though it pains me to make the comparison, after previewing Radiohead's new In Rainbows - From the Basement video, this struck me:

Week 1 of Vacation

2008-06-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

I'll try to update where I am on blogger but follow www.twitter.com/cowakazi (or the sidebar on the blog) for the fun little Cincinnati/Ireland details.

Featured in a Museum

2008-06-17T08:02:00.001-07:00

Why do I love flickr? Because things like this happen: Two of my photos were selected for presentation in a digital slideshow at the San Diego Natural History Museum. It's for their next exhibit, Water: A California Story, opening July 19, 2008. As to be expected, the photos are history related:

Swell Crashing into OB Pier--back in December there were some gnarley waves that rolled in.
Old Mission Dam--Mission Trails Regional Park can tell you more about the history than I can.

I mean, wow. I made it to a museum. I'm officially immortalized...unless their computer crashes.

Banana Limbo

2008-05-18T07:43:00.001-07:00

Get My New Posts in Your Inbox

2008-05-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

Now I KNOW that many of you who read Kellinahandbasket visit almost every day to see if I posted anything new. And thank you--it's really flattering.

Because I don't post every day, however, I want to make things easier for you. I have installed this handy dandy little subscription form on my sidebar that lets you enter your email, and when I post something new, it alerts you via email. In fact it not only alerts you but you can read the whole damn post in your inbox. It won't be as visually pleasing as the real website (and I'm not sure if images will show up correctly) but if that's the sort of thing that bothers you and you need the bells and whistles, the post link is also included in your message so that you can hop right over to the real deal. And P.S. it's starting to sound like a sales pitch but it's not. From the goodness of my warm, squishy heart, I'm just genuinely trying to make your life easier.

All this courtesy of Feedburner. (Again, just a geek reference point. Not a sales pitch.)

The truth is you really should learn about subscribing to RSS feeds because this is the type of thing that makes us seem really old to teenagers, but if you're resistant I'll provide you with this alternative before I shove an RSS tutorial down your throat.

More on that later.

Review of Jott

2008-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

So there's this service called Jott that transcribes your voice into text for emails, text messages, reminders to yourself, or as you'll see, to post to your blog. You get 30 seconds to say what you want to say. Though I won't switch my method of blogging to talking into a cell phone and uploading its contents, anyone who knows me knows that I have animated voices for my stories. Therein lies the appeal of Jott for me. Every once in a while I've wished for the ability to put my voice and intonation into a post. And so...curious about the service and its accuracy I tried it out:

What Jott heard: (listen: press on the next page) This is take four on me trying Jott on Blogger, [language of Jott not supported] it would be interesting to see if Jott understands Spanish.

What I actually said: This is take four on me trying Jott on Blogger. Count it. Numero quattro. It will be interesting to see if Jott understands Spanish.

Not bad. And upon listening to it again, I admittedly garbled my future tense. I wish it would at least ATTEMPT to spell out what it thinks it hears. Could be funny on a tipsy night to see your slurred words spelled out for you.

............................
What Jott heard: (listen) No body got the blogger connection to fell(?). I'm curious to see how Jott transcribe something like [language of Jott, not supported].

What I actually said: Now that I've got the blogger connection figured out I'm curious to see how Jott transcribes something like hulghhughhugh hughl hyill!

Not great. And I understand that we have bad cell phone coverage to contend with so that might be an issue, but there's obviously no grammar check to sort of amend what it thinks it might have heard. I'm not opposed to the lack of a grammar check, though.

............................
What Jott heard: (listen) You know how crazy your Spansih(?). I found because I don't may be I'm a French person, who speak English but don't know I want to use this Jott like every book is.

What I actually said: Now I try zee euhh French accent because euh, I don't know, maybe I am a euh French person who euhhh speaks English, but euh you know, I want to use zeh Jott like everybody else. mmn?

Now I'm just being a jerk to Jott. At this point I felt like a kid with a tape recorder.

............................
What Jott heard: (listen) This Jott is more a test to see how long it takes the Jott to post to the blog, because I'm sitting here waiting for my other one and getting kinda bored. Anyway, it is exactly 5:58 PM right now, and I guess we'll know it what kinda post when it shows at the blog.

What I actually said: This Jott is more of a test to see how long it takes the Jot to post to the blog because I'm sitting here waiting for my other ones and getting and uh getting kinda bored. Anyway it is exactly 5:58 PM right now, uum and I guess we'll know what time it posts when it shows up on the blog.

This was probably the best test because I felt the most natural in this Jott and for the most part it transcribed pretty well. Blogger said that the message posted at 6:06 PM so we're looking at roughly an 8 minute lag time between recording the message and actual post time. I like that it catches "kinda."

............................
Okay so it's alright. To its credit it also had to contend with crappy cell phone coverage, but on a more practical level this could be ideal when you want to send a text while driving just because it's safer than looking at your keypad. It might not be accurate, but you'll get to live another day. I'll have to test the driving Jott out, though, to be sure.

Powered by Jott

1930s Futuristic Fashion Predictions for the Year 2000

2008-05-12T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ooo. Swish!
An electric headlight to help her find an honest man
Candy for cuties

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

When I tell people that my mom still lives in Cincinnati and I'd consider moving back for her, people usually say something like Well at least she has your brother (also in Cincinnati). I mean, yeah, I'm glad he's there for her, but I don't feel like that makes up for my lack of presence. I love my mom very much, enjoy her company, and miss her especially on a day like today.

Because I'm lame, my present will arrive on the late side, but here's a virtual flower for me mum in the mean time from our back yard:

Happy mother's day to all the other hardworking moms as well, especially mom-in-law, Kathy.

(Side note for the photographers: this is a tip straight from Scott Kelby--black background with flowers. And that black background? That's my black fleece jacket.)

Ellen With her Hawaii Chair

2008-05-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Someone at work sent this to me the other day and I finally got around to watching it. R and I had a good chuckle this morning.

Weirded Out by Warren Buffett

2008-05-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

4 Weird Things to Consider:

That a show like All My Children even exists and people watch it.
That Warren Buffett will be a guest on it
That it won’t be his 1^st time appearing on the show
That he is going to guest star because he’s a fan of the show.

I've Been Cheating on You

2008-05-09T07:21:00.000-07:00

When I haven't been here, I've been writing posts for Garrett Photography (where I intern). Anyway I wrote a post yesterday that felt a little more Kellinahandbasket but sweet-i-fied for a different crowd. It feels unfair not to link to it so here's the round-up of all the posts you've missed out on:

Online Weight Management
Ramey & Gabe - This is the other part of my day. I color corrected these photos.
Relevant Reads: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage - Don't get too excited about that title. I'm just pointing people to an article.
Kelly & Anthony
Vendor Spotlight: Jenna @ The Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) - Cool to interview people around town. This post makes me aggravated with Wordpress since Jenna's picture is shoved up against the text. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix that. Wordpress - 1. Kell - 0.
Board & Brew
Alyssa & Blake - More color correction. And I'll take credit. I posted it even though it says Garrett did.
WPPI 2008 Craziness - I didn't do anything with this post but these are the guys I work with...who ditched me for Vegas.
Wedding Mapper
Ramey & Gabe's Engagement Session - another color correction job.

Sometimes people get excited and think that I took those pictures and I didn't. That's the handiwork of Garrett and Jason who are pretty freakin' talented. I rough edit their stuff (meaning I go through the thousands of pictures from the event and start deleting the obvious throw-aways, and it's a hard job because they take such great pictures. It also helps that seemingly the most flawless specimens of the human race flock to them. Anway. I'm going to point you to my other posts in a more timely manner. Or not. I'm not good at making promises.

Add to Any

2008-05-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

FINALLY. Easy code that incorporates all social bookmarking sites into 1 freaking button. You'll notice the new button at the bottom of this post--10 times better than the mish-mash of images that ended previous posts:

Thank you Add to Any.

Why is Add to Any better than Add This? Because if you don't see the service you use, a search bar at the top of the pop-up finds what you need, whereas Add This limits you to the services they choose to list.

Fellow blog geeks will appreciate that Add to Any also created code for a feed services button. See the subscription section at the bottom right of my sidebar for an example. And subscribe already. I'm not making money--just trying to make your life easier so you don't have to visit here every day!

Peared to Death

2008-05-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Allerca is Now Lifestyle Pets

2008-04-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Remember the sham company Allerca? Well now they're called Lifestyle Pets. I guess word got around that their CEO, Simon Brodie, is a con man so they re-invented their name and image. The new "image" of Lifestyle Pets sounds and makes it look like the cats will accessorize your modern furniture nicely. How thoughtful of them. Now when my cat expels hairballs and sheds on my furniture it can match in an elegant and classy way!

Still pushing their supposed hypoallergenic cats (that, still, no one has seen) at an elevated price of $5k (and upwards of $130k), you can now supposedly buy exotic mini-leopard looking 25 lb. cats (called the ASHERA) that are also hypoallergenic. I'm sure they'll be coming out soon with another genetically modified cat that doesn't even poop!

They've also shed that "San Diego-based company" area code, which either means that Simon Brodie moved Delaware (the new area code location) or someone got a cell phone plan there and brought it back to SD.

I've e-mailed them again to see if Simon Brodie is still affiliated. Updates forthcoming when I receive a response.

Circa 1890

2008-04-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is my great-great grandmother.

Har.

Photojojo pointed me to this Japanese application that turns your photos into these old-timey photos. It's as simple as uploading a photo and clicking the blue button underneath your choice. Et voila.

Unfortunately these expressions did not look old worldly enough to make the cut, but give you an idea of the "before" quality:

Earth Day 2008

2008-04-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I get some political forwards from the Cat Adoption Service that I volunteer for, but today I woke up to this helpful link on what can and can't be recycled in San Diego. Turns out I've been screwing up on the dairy containers...just when you think you've nailed it down.

Take care of the Earth. It's been good to you.

The Earth really is the prettiest planet, isn't it? That Apollo image never fails to wow me.

I Still Hate the Healthcare System

2008-04-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our health insurance provider (United Healthcare), like many others, offers the "convenience" of a physician search who applies to your policy. However my experience this afternoon has become relatively typical when trying to simply make *just an appointment* to see someone. Here's what happened with my calls to doctors' offices:

"This number has been disconnected."
Appointments weren't available till June. That doesn't help this painful second head that's growing out of my face NOW.
Busy signal. Why are doctors offices the only places left on earth that don't have a second line?
"This number has been disconnected."
"This number has been disconnected."
Wrong number
4:30 p.m. is after hours which is convenient since most of us work past that.
I was transferred 3 times until I finally reached the appointment setters. I didn't, however, have a medical record #. I had to call another place to just be assigned a medical record number and then call them back--and I didn't have their number since I was transferred 3 times.
"This number has been disconnected."
After hours.

I gave up after call #10. Hopefully I don't have skin cancer. If I do it was nice knowing you all. I would have liked to have hung around a little bit longer.

An Eggcident

2008-04-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

An old-timey eggcident from the B/W Film class I took this past fall

I Don't at all Feel Fat

2008-04-12T08:07:00.001-07:00

It's not even 8:30 a.m., and it looks as though this is the kind of day I have ahead of me.

Next time you feel fat, know that your ass did not do this to a chair.

Conversations with Lucas

2008-04-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

While petting a cat on the sidewalk, we met a neighbor kid, Lucas, who was full of choppy, interesting facts. Among them:

This house--I burnt it down. (And no kidding the house was gutted and getting a new facade)

Sammy [the cat] likes to play. One time he threw up.

Sometimes when Sammy farts, people laugh.

So we covered fire, barf, and farts. Did we forget anything?

Tiger to Leopard Transition

2008-04-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

To the Mac users out there...

When we got Leopard we did a complete uninstall/ reinstall/ reformatting or whatever you want to call it - not an upgrade to Tiger so as to have smoother sailing in the general operation of the computer. Upgrades are just buggier.

Anyway I was disappointed when that new install did *not* include the iLife applications like iPhoto, Comic Life, Garage Band, etc. which were originally included on my MacBook when I first purchased it. So I just took the Tiger backup discs and tried a bundle install of the iLife applications...a little nervous about trying to install older versions of things compatible with Tiger on top of the Leopard system I currently have running. Maybe this makes sense to some of you. Maybe not. I hadn't read about anyone doing this but so far it seems to have worked seamlessly for me. That is, of course, after having created only one new thing in Comic Life.

Soccer Mom Tastes

2008-04-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

If someone asked me to make a playlist for Soccer Moms I'd be sure to include little ditties like Marilyn Manson's "You, Me, and the Devil Makes 3," Korn's "Freak on a Leash," and Revolution Mother's "Switchblades and Urethane," just to name a few. I can say this because I used to ref soccer. Soccer Moms and Dads alike would spit out their car windows at me after a game as 14 year old me would walk out of the park.

According to the actual "Soccer Mom Chillout" iTunes Essentials Mix, I not only missed the campaign to clean up the Soccer Mom image, but apparently have become one as I like most of the songs listed.

The most random song on there that I still have trouble associating with "Soccer Mom"? Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek" underneath The Basics tab.

Burqini

2008-04-03T17:18:00.000-07:00

Perhaps when some people look at Ahiida's line of Burqinis they see women's oppression. When I look at Burqinis I see SPF 50+ protection and zero body issues when I'm swimming out to the end of OB's pier with my pal, Lauri.

(Thanks for the tip, L)

Support Julie & Elie in Walk MS 2008

2008-04-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Recently we received the news that one of our friends was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Julie writes:

Every hour of every day, someone is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. On October 11, 2007, one of those people was my boyfriend, Elie.

I am participating in Walk MS 2008 and am asking you to support my fundraising efforts with a tax-deductible donation.

MS is a disease which progressively makes it harder for people to move. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn't. That's why I'm participating in Walk MS. During the event, hundreds of walkers and volunteers will join forces to raise funds and awareness and to move us all closer to a world free of MS.

It's faster and easier than ever to support this cause that's so important to me. Simply click on the link at the bottom of this message and make a secure online donation. If you prefer, you can send your contribution to the address listed below.

Any amount, no matter how large, makes a difference in the lives of people with MS. I can't express how much I appreciate YOUR support.

P.S. If you would like more information about multiple sclerosis, the Society, or Walk MS, please visit www.MSandYOU.org.

Click here to visit my personal page.

Click here to view the team page for E's Entourage

To know Elie is a privilege and a pleasure and we certainly wish him and anyone else with MS a comfortable quality of life.

Consider donating to a worthy cause and research that will benefit our friend. We love you, Elie!

Blood Orange Boss

2008-03-31T07:53:00.000-07:00

You talkin' to me?

Cesar Chavez Weekend

2008-03-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a guy named Cesar Chavez, it's been a nice, long 3-day weekend - particularly nice because my high school bud, Susan, met me for lunch in Laguna Beach, and I almost died only once on the Socal freeways this weekend.

So spotlight on Susan: There's always a tinge of nervousness when you haven't seen a person for a while because What if they suck now? If they suck it could mean a million different things:

They changed
You changed
You both changed in opposite directions

Okay, maybe it only means 3 things, but the good news is Susan didn't suck. This could also be the result of a million different things:

Neither of us changed
Both of us changed in the same direction, but we still appreciate people with differences because we're thoughtful, smart, caring people who embrace diversity and will cure cancer with our amazingness alone. Oh, and we're pretty.

Well, I'm mostly talking about Susan in the latter part of #2, but back to my original point: Susan didn't suck. She never did. AND, in fact, she's only gotten better. I pretty much want to transplant her inmediatamente to San Diego and hug her so hard that we're like, Oh my god! Your head popped off AGAIN! And then we can barely get it back on because we're laughing so hard and then we eat brownies.

She's as easy-going, even-keeled, and reliable as ever. The reliable part I'm just guessing - she has not yet agreed to be the surrogate mother of our child, raise it, and then give it back to us when it's 18 years old, but we'll see if she passes that test.

And Susan, allow me to be superficial for a minute: Some friends are pretty. Some friends are cute. Some are gorgeous. To me, Susan has always struck me as straight up beautiful. I mean, look at her! As far as "looks" categories go, Susan inhabits the beauty one, which - in my mind - is the cream of the crop. And what makes Susan even more lovable is that she's probably blushing right now.

Susan - Mexico City, Spring Break, 2009. See you there.

I Can Has a Vote?

2008-03-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

Inspired by I Can Has Cheezburger and its latest stream of emo pictures, I was at Laguna Beach yesterday and came upon this "viewing machine" looking oh so sad.

So I had to take a shot and turn it into a LOL pic. 'bout time I did one of these, anyway. So give it a little clicky click and rate it! Perhaps one day I'll reach LOL fame.

Position: Blogger

2008-03-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

So the latest, greatest element of my photography internship? Resident blogger for the studio. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch- ccheck it out.

While I probably won't be writing every single post, I'll certainly have a heavy hand in the content. The lovely irony of writing on a wedding oriented blog? Having had a civil service, myself.

Lapa Rios

2008-03-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

This post is more for my personal reference, but by all means dream along with me. Lapa Rios in Costa Rica pretty much looks like paradise. There will probably be more of these types of posts because it's time I started bookmarking all of these cool places that I come across.

Side note: has anyone else heard about the new phenomenon of "Babymoons"? It's news to me, but apparently the travel industry is starting to push getaways for the "parents-to-be" before the babe arrives. (Note: No, I am not pregnant.) I mean, whatever. Any excuse is a good one for a vacation to me, but my guess is that I'd rather take that vacation *after* the kid arrives when you're ready for that much needed break from sleepless nights, feedings, and poop.

Speaking of, congratulations to our friends Marcy and Graham on their second child as of this past weekend! Any interest in a post-babymoon?

Twittering

2008-03-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Lots of people are seemingly thrown, maybe even annoyed, by this new "Twittering" thing that I've hooked up to my Facebook profile and blog.

The best explanation I've found is here (via Chris Glass). If you see friends on a regular basis, maybe it's pointless, but I really like it for all my out of town friends. I've recently decided to try it out, and thus far it's made me feel more connected with others who are in-the-know of Twitter.

To clarify: it's not an ego thing either - I certainly don't think my life is SO interesting that everyone should know my every last move. It's just for those who care about details. Because I'm a person who cares about details in others' lives, I do it hoping that you will too...because it does start to seem egotistical when you're the only one twittering with no one else to follow.

If it's still annoying you, well...sorry. Adjust your privacy/notification settings, I guess, on Facebook. For me, the convenience of its integration in all of the applications I use is great. This means I don't have to log into Blogger AND Facebook just to say the same thing. Plus it allows me to leave the computer to address those basic survival needs that have fallen by the wayside (like food) from endless weeks of surfing the net. Arguably the internet just invaded my life more, but at least I'm not isolating myself in the stale air of the house. I mean, I should be dead from having breathed up (?) all the oxygen in the house. (Thank you iPhone and now Twitter for getting me out in the sunshine).

I'll make a prediction: Twitter will be the next wave of communication technology. It appeals to those who won't/can't commit to writing a full-blown blog, and that's okay because we don't need a full-blown post on how you're late for work, BUT at least I know something about your stress level today. My best friends have always been the ones I've seen every day. So for pure scheduling reasons, I had/have great friends from grade school and high school. College wasn't the same because everyone's schedules varied so much, but my closest friends lived near by/with me. We didn't have the same classes, but we still saw each other every day and knew the kind of day we were all having. To be able to follow people through daily ups and downs means a lot. Grad school was a return to more of the routine schedule because I had lots of the same classes with lots of the same people. I LOVED that. Many close friends came from that. My point is while Twitter can't replace an actual meeting with friends, it helps. It's made goodbyes seem not so permanent.

*****
I've seen lots of Twitters lately in the pregnancy sphere: when friends have gone into labor, they've used twitter to easily update their status to all the family and friends that want to know what's going on so that they don't have to go through the chain of phone calls. It's been neat to get the excitement and info straight from the source.

Pedi-Unique

2008-03-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

Dear Amazon,

The lead picture on this product is not selling me on it.

Regards,
Kellinahandbasket

Sketch Experiments, Stupid Projects, & Shpilkes

2008-03-21T07:18:00.000-07:00

I recently started a new temp job (on top of the photography internship) with a department I quite like. The most succinct description I can give of everyone in the place is smart, funny, open-minded, and drama-free. Sure beats that other department that had a sit-down talk with me because I was using different colored paper clips. Seriously, guys. Hire me already.

Anyhow, I work with the very funny Liz, and this interesting guy, Matt (I especially like his look at robots inside furry toys and his redesign of the States).

How lucky am I?

Introducing Orthorexia Nervosa

2008-03-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

My friend, Erin, has defined a new eating disorder on one of her recent blog posts. It's certainly well thought out and an interesting read probably because I know quite a few folks with this. precise. condition. I like to be healthy too, but sometimes these people just suck all of the joy out of eating even if the meal at hand IS healthy because you spend all your time examining/talking about the benefits of the food instead of just enjoying the taste.

Part of the battle of eating healthy, for me, has been learning to appreciate the taste of fresh fruits and vegetables after having been raised on Skyline Chili. And turns out they really taste good! Your body even starts to crave the sugar in fruits instead of the sugar in chocolate. This has been a more effective way for me to err on the healthier side of food choices (though don't look at what I've been eating in my Twitter lately). So for all you Orthorexics out there, keep eating healthy, but JESUS. Rediscover the joy in food.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

I thought St. Patty's Day was this past Saturday. Turns out it was Monday. So what difference does it make if I put this post up now?

The only problem? I'm missing one other picture and I need your suggestions. For those of you who don't know the routine, I've somewhat accidentally started a series called "Renaissance."

It started with this post. Italian Renaissance portraits seem to especially have all sorts of characters, making all sorts of gangsta gestures so it's been fun to look at the "rebirth" that's happened in our culture today. Seriously...I think I could write a dissertation on it. And, hey, I know St. Valentine and now St. Patrick aren't technically from the Renaissance era, but they still have some gestures that have had a rebirth.

So if anyone comes across any gangstas who mirror Pat up there--say, holding their "greenery," pimp stick, and happen to be wearing a hood, send it my way. I've been searching and I just KNOW there's a picture for Pat in this series.

Peep Show

2008-03-15T15:36:00.001-07:00

My friend, Jen, in Portland sent me this picture a couple of days ago and it's still cracking me up. I'd love to give credit where credit is due, but I have no idea where this came from. Brilliant.

LSF Editorial Shoot

2008-03-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

Meet the founder, CEO, owner, big cheese, and boss of LSF Editorial, Lauri. A couple weeks back we did some head shots so she would have something nice to put on her Web site's profile to show potential clients that she was the rare combination of being both writerly AND someone with good hygiene. I can vouch for that, too, since she's one of my dear friends in San Diego. She showers AT LEAST once a week. Anyway I think we accomplished that goal.

Interesting side note is that Lauri had told me prior to taking any pictures that she had a "bad side" and preferred shots only on the left side of her face. That black and white picture? That's her bad side. I mean, I know your knee-jerk reaction was probably OH MY GOD! WHO IS THAT CRETIN?! But the lesson here is take pictures of people's supposed bad sides. It may turn out to be a pick. Here's her good side just to allay the shock that you may have experienced from that first picture.

And lastly, a second part of the project was to produce some images that convey writing, editing, the whole she-bang to also integrate into her website. It's still sort of a project in progress, but I quite like this image. I might even frame this one for my own keeping.

Relationship Saver #2

2008-03-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

We just got a Roomba. And last night we cracked open a beer, turned off the TV, sat on the couch, and watched it work its magic.

Relationship saver #1? The Garmin Nuvi.

I'm anxiously awaiting Relationship saver #3, the Pooba, which will clean ~~your lover's skid marks~~ the toilet for you.

SoCal Traffic

2008-02-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

is crazy to be sure, but I hit a traffic jam today around 9:45am for no other reason than it smelled like toasted bagel on that patch of highway.

And oddly, I was like, yeah...let's all enjoy this for a moment.

Random Associations

2008-02-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I hit up THE Dog Beach in OB for some more pooch shoots, which is always good for the soul. Who knows why, but this dog reminds me of Helena Christensen in Chris Isaack's video, Wicked Game. I think it's the hair. And because another dog was trying like crazy to hump her.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

2008-02-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

I made homemade laundry detergent a while ago for several reasons: to both save money and try something out that was better for the environment. Everything I've read on the "green" websites use borax and washing soda, though I think your choice of soap will be the determining factor of how "green" (literally and figuratively) your detergent recipe is.

Anyway I didn't blog about it the first time because it didn't turn out as great as I thought it would. The texture was clumpy unlike the shown picture which made me mostly cross my fingers every time I dumped it into another load. And you bet your a** I was going to use it...I had three gallons of it. Luckily it mostly did the job. Tougher stains required a little additional help from a stain stick, so it's probably not the best solution for someone with kids, but our clothes were otherwise clean--but don't expect that "mountain fresh" smell. There will be no smell at all.

So I just made another batch today and I'm feeling more confident about the results this time around because Ryan finely shredded the soap in the grater (instead of slicing off strips with a knife) and I made sure the soap completely dissolved in the water by pretty much bringing it to a wee boil. Only tomorrow will really tell when it's had time to cool and gel up, but I was a little impatient last time. Fine shreds actually made this time go faster and I was done in about an hour.

Update: The detergent is VERY gelatinous and VERY smooth! No clumps!

New Lomo Tutorial

2008-02-18T11:33:00.000-08:00

Lomo. It's an effect I'm continually drawn to. I'm also continually drawn to asking if there's a better way. And guess what? There is.

Let me take you through the steps I've followed just because what did/didn't work for me, may/may not work for you:

Originally dooce introduced me to the lomo sort of style through her awesome daily photos of her dog and family (besides that, you should subscribe to her very very funny blog). She even posted a tutorial that wasn't too helpful to me at the time because a) it assumes a bit of photoshop knowledge which I didn't/don't have much of and b) Her childhood photo example, though funny, seemed like a poor example compared to the rest of her photography.

Then I found a more spelled out version on Kingyo Senbei, which definitely improved my attempts. In fact, I still quite like them.

And now the newest addition to this collection of lomo tutorials is this one from the Digital Photography School (fellow photog students take note: this site is yet another great forum for photography enthusiasts as well as a great resource for learning and inspiring when your ideas are running dry).

Don't take my above example of the quality of this tutorial--I need to feather my vignette a bit more, and maybe come down on the sharpening among other things, but the author definitely seems to command a greater sense of authority over photoshop and why you should use the settings that are used.

Seems like a lot of steps for one image, but you can automate this by creating an action in the actions toolbar and go back and tweak whatever needs adjusting in the end. Actions, however, are for another post. :)

Snack

2008-02-17T10:01:00.000-08:00

These crackers are pretty much what I imagine prison food to taste like.

I can't stop eating them, though, because they're the only thing in this house that requires no preparation. (Peeling bananas and oranges have just become too much of a time suck in my very busy schedule...I'll be adding laziness to my blog list of categories) This is key for someone who values the speed of which one can get food to mouth. Wasa Crackers = High food to mouth velocity. And they're already so bad that I just leave the bag open in the pantry because what's the worst that could happen? Your cardboard brick of a cracker will go stale? For the Catholics out there, let me put it this way: Wasa crackers have NOTHING on communion.

Hey, speaking of Catholicism, tis the season for Lent. No meat on Fridays, right? So technically we should NOT receive communion on Fridays since the eucharist becomes Jesus' body. I mean, unless Jesus' flesh is made of cod, we're eating meat, right? Then again, the guy has been known to pull a David Blaine or two so I wouldn't put it past him where he's just like, Yeah, you know what? On Fridays I'm made out of cod. Sneaky Jesus.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Related Posts: Renaissance part 1, Renaissance part 2

Jogged Memory

2008-02-08T12:14:00.000-08:00

As I was perusing one of my old friend's flickr pictures, I came across this one, which made me jealous because I had been planning on taking a picture of one of the many statue of liberty people outside of all the tax places. What's different about this one, though, is she really reminds me of one of The Letter People. Heh. The Letter People. I'm not sure if anyone else had The Letter People in kindergarten, but they freaked. me. out. Go figure that when I search for them on youtube, the scariest one of them all--Mr. T with his Tall Teeth--is one of the first episodes that pops up. If you even make it to the part where they start a dialogue (around 2:25) it's kind of hilarious to see how much they overcompensated on the t sound. Mr. M should have worn a raincoat:

Internal Conflict of the Day

2008-02-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

Vote for the candidate I'm leaning towards or the candidate who is more electable...gah!

And there should be an "I don't know" bubble available for all the issues/referendums because frankly, I'm a totally uninformed voter on the Indian Gaming Compact issues in California AND it's not like a tiny paragraph "explaining" what my vote means clears anything up for me.

Picture of Patience

2008-02-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

We just learned the "proper" way to make black and white photos in class using calculations in Photoshop. Though many would argue this is too dark, I'm a big fan of contrast-y black and whites or a more burned out look.

Plus it was about time that we documented Ryan's beard.

For all the friends farther east, try not to take it too hard that Ryan's wearing a short sleeve shirt outside at the end of January.

Before January Runs Out...

2008-01-28T15:03:00.000-08:00

I have to get back on the blog train...thanks to Becca for getting me back on board. Woo! Woo!

Catching up:

Christmas was good. It really was. And that feels like a big deal to say because Christmases have generally been rather joyless since my dad died.

My brother got engaged. And this may have been what put a little bit of joy back in Christmas. My brother has found someone I really adore and truly brings out the best in him, which is a relief. It's the most optimistic and at peace I've seen him in a long time.

New Year's was anti-climactic. We went to bed hours before midnight and while I made resolutions the last few years, I didn't this year. I think I'm much better at making improvements in my life when the time calls for it instead of on this magic date called January 1. And oddly enough I'm better at effecting change when I don't make public announcements about it...I guess because then I know when I really want something for myself and not just because I'm beholden to what I've told others.

Case and point: I've specifically been off the blog because a job opportunity arose on December 28 (as is typical to happen only when I'm traveling) and after some interviewing, etc. I got a little gig as a photography intern! It's unpaid, so in a way I'm still funemployed, but a fun and exciting change, nonetheless. It's all that's been on my mind in January and I needed some self-reflection time to see if I really wanted a career change. Turns out it wasn't that hard to decide since I haven't had much of a career anyway. Btw this is such a cool opportunity to learn the business end of a photography business!

I'm in two photography classes now. One is a general digital photography class where the instructor is super bad ass. I'm totally inspired by her. And the other is a short sports photography class, which has been fun because it's really forced me to interact with people I don't know and unearth interpersonal skills that I used to have. Somewhere along the line I started hating people (who am I kidding--it was when we were in Germany) and I became this crotchety old woman waving her cane at any and everything people did wrong. I really felt like the world was working against me. But in the humility of having to ask random people if I could take their picture while they participated in whatever sport, people have been really accommodating and interested. Maybe it's just the vanity of California (there's the old crotchety Kell we know!), but it's really renewed my faith in humanity. It's even been fun and a great way to market myself.

And I had a blogiversary this month. It feels lame to celebrate it when this is one post for the month, but w00t! 3 years!

So things are on the upswing. FInally.

Not My Job Christmas Edition

2007-12-19T08:08:00.000-08:00

Ryan: The ox and lamb kept time? Those are the lyrics?

Kell: Yeah. Don't you love the image of this ox and lamb tapping their hooves or bobbing their heads? Maybe they get their lighters out and hoist them in the air? Pull their sleeves up and check their watches? Get the metronome going on the piano over by baby Jesus' crib?

Ryan: I thought that was the little drummer boy's job, though.

The Web Has Spoken...

2007-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

And it wants more baby animals.

After the recent feature on Yahoo! You Witness News Photos, I found out one of my photos was hand-picked on The Kitten Channel back in November. On one hand I wish it was something that reflected my wicked photography skills, but hey. I'll take the plug. So will the Cat Adoption Service of San Diego!

A Creationist Christmas

2007-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

In case you're still looking for gift ideas...
Update: This item is sold out.

Side note: I'm probably way late on the pickup, but I've heard all this buzz about Etsy. And while I'm not a big shopper, I could spend hours looking at all the cute, weird, and awesome handmade things for sale here.

Etch A Sketch Art

2007-12-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

Probably the most fascinating thing about Etch A Sketch Art is the comfort level that these people have spending hours upon hours working on a sketch, and then erasing it into oblivion...well...almost. Lucky for us, etchasketchist documents his babies and THEN kills them.

About his work etchasketchist says:

I think of an image or subject I want to do, I google that thing, i find the best reference image on Google Image search, then I just dig in and draw it. I don't do any pre-drawing on paper. Just straight from the computer screen to the etch.

This just might be the greenest way of making art.

Kiwano Club

2007-12-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

Who was expecting green on the inside? Not me.

Kiwano MELON? More like Kiwano CRAP. Man, this was bad. The taste is like an amplified cucumber, but imagine your amplified cucumber taste in the form of grapefruit. And instead of the juice in those little, elongated capsules, the consistency is more like, well, snot.

Too bad I wasn't born a Kiwano Melon. Only in this community would my adult acne be accepted as quintessential beauty.

Separated at Birth

2007-12-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Left: Hunter S. Thompson
Right: Evel Knievel

Dare I say Evel does Hunter S. Thompson better than Hunter S. Thompson?

This is NOT an Onion Headline

2007-12-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists

"Winter" Storm's a-comin!

2007-12-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

I went over to Ocean Beach to get some shots of the swell happening from the approaching storm (thanks for the tip, Lauri). This wins cutest picture of the day, but this gives you a better idea of the size of the waves coming in. Totally tubular.

Update: Hey! Hey! Look whose photo made it into Yahoo's You Witness News Photos! Odd that they didn't tell me that they accepted my submission, but go on over and click on that "recommend" button!

Black Friday Tips

2007-11-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

I, myself, am not a huge ebay fan, but I know others who swear by it to get the biggest bargains there ever were. Well, ebay bargain hunters, your bargains may have just gotten better.

I recently came across a site called Auction Intelligence whose schtick is to find misspelled or mistyped listings--the theory being that very few bids will be placed on that item since the people using a normal search won't be necessarily landing on the same search results. There's a little mistrust on my part of a seller who can't spell...for some reason I suspect a bad speller might not get my item shipped to me in a timely manner, but the truth is I know A LOT of bad spellers who are more responsible than me. I mean, if the bad speller seller is misspelling like crazy and mentions that his uncle in Burkina Faso has esophageal cancer, you might want to exercise a little caution and pass that one up. Otherwise I like the idea.

And if you know you're going to be giving restaurant gift certificates, don't even think about purchasing them until you've checked Restaurant.com first. I don't understand how it's possible to buy a $10 gift certificate for $3 or a $25 gift certificate for $10, but I won't ask questions. Some of the restaurants in, say, Cincinnati or San Diego seem kind of random in there, but there are also a few gems (whose certificates sell out fast--I guess they're allotted a certain number per month). Best advice there is not to wait if you see a deal, even if you're getting it for yourself.

Now back to my Palm Springs getaway...

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

Now go carve your turkey...

Cyclops Pear

2007-11-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

Vegas Celeb Sightings

2007-11-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

1. Pete Rose. Ryan's dad hilariously suggested we asked him for some gambling tips. Nevermind that he was signing baseballs...For Pete's sake, Pete! GET OUT OF VEGAS!

2. Joy from The View. She was at the same restaurant we ate at, which probably sounds like we were at someplace glamorous, but it was just Wolfgang Puck's...~~Spork? I forget the name.~~ Spago.

I wondered aloud if Joy would be attending The Comedy Festival, which happened this past weekend and I would have killed to go to, but didn't know it was going on until we were there. And after looking at the prices...well, my attendance would have been improbable anyway.

So no Britney (I think she gets up when I go to bed anyway), but add these two to the list of random celeb sightings/meetings (sorry about your luck, Becca):

Hulk Hogan (at a Florida boat show)
Marge Schott (I used to valet her car)
Peter Frampton (I used to serve him coffee)
Rudi Giuliani (I ran into him at my university bookstore. His teeth are incredibly square and wooden looking)
Ted Danson and Alex Désert (met them on the set of Becker when my friend, Marhs, worked at Paramount studios and took me on a tour). Also saw Kelsey Grammer that day.
washed up comic whose name I can't recall and a couple of others I know I'm not remembering...list to be revisited when memory serves me.

Kiwi Carving

2007-11-15T15:23:00.000-08:00

Honoring a Memory

2007-11-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

With the holidays coming, some of you might be considering various charities or non-profits to donate to, and I ask you to consider this:

My high school friends will remember Sara Later from the good ol' days of SUA. Sadly her nephew recently passed away from a long battle with cancer and her family has organized a non-profit in his memory (text reprinted below):

1009 Elmwood Avenue
Wilmette, IL 60091-1711
JLater@generalcable.com

As many of you know our nephew, Jeffrey Stephen Lamont, lost his 6 year battle to bone cancer. How he lived his last 6 years was truly amazing and courageous. Jeff had a dream to make it to his 21st birthday and did that. Now Jeff's family and many friends have a dream to honor Jeff and we need your help.

Jeff Lamont grew up vacationing in the woods and waters of Leelanau County Michigan. Jeff Lamont loved the lake waters and hiking in the area woods. During his 6 year battle Jeff developed a keen interest in the environment and wanted to do more to help the cause. It is our dream to create a lasting legacy in the area to complete his work and honor Jeff's life.

40 acres of wooded land near Christmas Cove are designated as the Jeff Lamont Preserve and through the Leelanau Conservancy will be preserved forever in his honor. Free from the developers and saving the valuable hardwoods. The Leelanau Conservancy is one of the designated charities for memorial gifts in Jeff's name. Our family would be honored for a tax deductible gift to help raise over $100,000 to purchase the land and help make the dream a reality.

The task is daunting, but we are determined to raise the funds. Feel free to pass this request onto others who can help this dream to honor Jeff Lamont.

On behalf of the Later and Lamont families, thank you!
Jeff Later

Tax Deductible Donations to:
The Leelanau Conservancy (a 501(c) (3) nonprofit charity)
c/o The Jeff Lamont Memorial Fund
105 N. First Street
Leland, MI 49654

P.S. Our letter will touch many hearts, but also may raise the question, "why should I donate for a memorial?" Our appeal does not fund a local school endowment; help the homeless or those in need. But it does help the environment. Jeff's cancer started during his freshman year in high school and he was given months to live. He used the time during his long battle wisely and developed the interest in nature and the environment. Jeff had big plans in life and the effort to secure this land is our way of completing one of his dreams. Visit www.theconservancy.com

Meloncholy

2007-11-09T12:20:00.001-08:00

Like a deer caught in headlights...

Love in the 21st Century

2007-11-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

I've gotten used to the idea that match.com is a ridiculously successful way to meet your lifelong partner (Hi Rachel, Becca, Chris, Kim, Christy, and Lisa--all separate, successful matches. And btw, I'm kidding meself with the implication that all of them read this), but every once in a while some new way of communicating your love pops up and slaps me in the face to remind me that we're living in the technological age. What's the newest version of proposing during the seventh inning stretch? See here.

Marathon Season

2007-11-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

When I ran my first and only marathon in 2002, I remember being exhilarated at having finished--7 months of training paid off, and I was able to get through it all injury free. Finishing is undoubtedly a big accomplishment. But there's also a part of you that can't help paying attention to your time. During the course of training, you get to know your body so well, that it's relatively easy to predict how you're going to perform. Based on my unshakable and steady pace, I had an ETA of about 4hrs. 30mins., but didn't actually get in until 5hrs. 11mins. This is where people get hooked on marathons because there's still a part of me that wants to beat that...just getting to the time that I expected to finish. That said, I like to keep up with marathon stories, and of late there have been no shortage:

Stories like this and this remind me that a marathon is a grueling activity and remind me to just be glad I finished. I mean, if Lance Armstrong was like, Whoah. That was really hard, I feel a little validated.
Stories like Katie Holmes' finish are a great read because heh. I beat her.

Egg Carvings

2007-11-06T10:20:00.000-08:00

1. Eggcellent, Smithers, 2. Oh ho, Terrance! Where's Phillip?!, 3. The Little Brother

Don't Cry, Pear

2007-11-01T12:25:00.001-07:00

Just because Halloween is over doesn't mean the fruit carving has to stop...

A Lesson in Filters

2007-10-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

Though my photography class is still frustratingly hands-off and non-visual (dude...at least throw some slides in if you're just going to lecture), it feels good to produce some tangible and visual results which I'll share.

Outside of contact sheets, these were the first prints I actually made and the key lesson here was to use 3 different filters in the enlarger to produce 3 prints of the same photograph. The end result is varying degrees of contrast.
#0 Filter
20 second exposure on the enlarger

#2 Filter
18 second exposure on the enlarger

#5 Filter
25 second exposure on the enlarger

So it's easy enough to see the difference the filter makes, but this also became a lesson in margins and focusing. The assignment asked for 6x9 photos on 8x10 paper. I don't know if the easels were just crap or what, but if you look close enough, the margins are all off and to top it off the #5 isn't completely in focus (click on it; you'll see)...things that could be possibly helped by the presence of an instructor. This is what winds up sidetracking me in the darkroom for 4 hours because if these things are off, you have to reprint it...and this is where digital has me spoiled because the amount of time it takes to see if you did that adjustment correctly is just insanely long compared to using a slide rule in photoshop. Grr.

Jack-o-cado

2007-10-30T13:02:00.001-07:00

Peanut Carving

2007-10-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

I need a macro lens for the legumes...

Related post: Banana Carving

Banana Carving

2007-10-25T12:56:00.001-07:00

Banana Carving
Originally uploaded by kellinahandbasket.

Related post: Jack-o-pom

Interactive San Diego Fire Map

2007-10-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

View Larger Map
Isn't this map relaxing? Per a friend's request, I'm posting the map I'm checking in on every 2 hours or so for what seems to be the most up to date happenings in the region. If you zoom in and find "Evacuation Center: Qualcomm Stadium," we live just south of that so we're okay. I might start getting nervous if that southern fire reaches the community of La Mesa, but even then, there'd be a whole lot of concrete jungles to jump through, and the Santa Anas don't seem to be blowing west anymore. Nonetheless, it's a (very sad) view of the extensive destruction that's happened in what were some beautiful areas.

Bush's Visit To San Diego's Firestorm

2007-10-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Why is Bush coming tomorrow? We could have used his brush-clearing skills days ago...

Jack-o-Pom

2007-10-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

In the continued spirit of Halloween...
And you might say this is also in the continued spirit of Halloween.

Related Post: Happy October

San Diego Firestorm 2007 pt. 2

2007-10-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

We've been taking walks down to the end of the street to watch the crowd at Qualcomm grow. This is the view from about 4pm today...almost looks like a black and white photo as a thumbnail through the smoke. The comparisons between Qualcomm and the Superdome have already started, which is annoying just because they're very different catastrophes with a very different demographic.

So far my favorite caller on the NPR station was a lady who said, "I just couldn't leave my house without doing the dishes first."

Firestorm San Diego 2007!

2007-10-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all the distant friends and family who have called/emailed to check up on us. Luckily our area isn't in danger of burning, but in the event we die of smoke inhalation, we love you all...life was beautiful and nothing hurt.

Things are actually much better in our neighborhood for now than it was earlier (as seen in the photo taken yesterday), though I wish I could say the same for the areas where it's actually burning.

It's been an eerie feeling all day as the radio waves and TV stations announce evacuations of one city after another, schools shut down (including my class at SDSU tomorrow), the city shuts down, the normal air traffic overhead has changed its flight pattern, and Qualcomm Stadium lights up the end of our street with evacuees creating a traffic jam in the parking lot as opposed to the normal crowd on the surrounding highways. Needless to say it's made our third anniversary probably one of the most memorable that we'll have.

First we feel our first earthquake, then a couple of weeks ago there was a big landslide, now the fires...when's the tsunami coming?

Burst of Rays Tutorial

2007-10-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

I keep telling myself that I'm going to make a masthead for the blog, but am always seemingly drowning under files and files of photos. Well it's time I delved into photoshop a little deeper and I've started with this nifty tutorial on creating a burst of rays from Dr. Photoshop. The result:

Test Day

2007-10-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned Quizlet before, and now that I'm in class again, I've found a reason to put it to good use and am loving it for my linguistics class today. My most recent discovery is that I can embed a matching game of my terms into the blog. Just wanted to see how it looks here...Feel free to play your heart out on the phonetic consonant chart set that I'm posting:

Update: Apparently Quizlet and I work really well together. Just found out I got an A- while the average grade was a C.

My Long Awaited Amazon Package Arrived...

2007-10-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

and it looks like they took awesome care of it:

Odd Night of Research

2007-10-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

You know those articles/blogs that come out every once in a while that list the weird things that people are googling? Look for my search in the next edition. Tonight I've been googling "removing dead body smell" because my bro had a neighbor die...and she wasn't found until other neighbors began complaining of a smell. The poor guy's condo is right next to hers and I guess in Cincinnati's 90 degree October, the smell has become pretty unbearable for him.

If only Dad were alive...he'd have a recommendation. My dad was in property management and he had a couple of stories about having to enter apartments after concerned calls from relatives or complaints from neighbors about a smell. One time relatives called and he entered an apartment of an older woman and he found her on the bed, yelled at her several times for her to wake up, and then shook her. She awoke and was like ??? Apparently she was so hard of hearing that she hadn't heard her phone, knocks at the door, or my dad yelling at her.

Another time neighbors complained of a smell and my dad was a little more sure that something wasn't right because he hadn't even entered and could smell a stench. Well this guy wasn't dead either. This lawyer was a pack rat to an extent that I had never seen before (because my dad had to take pictures before the Disaster Cleanup people came...that's right, the biohazard team that tidies up your crime scene and addresses all your trauma needs).

Question: Out of that "services provided" list, which team would YOU choose to be on if you had to pick? Though "filth cleanup" sounds benign, I suspect that it's wildly deceiving so I pick vehicle accidents.

Anyway, this guy kept every carry-out/delivery container he had ever eaten from and every can of Bud he had ever consumed, which filled his living room knee deep. The flies were so thick you could see them in the pictures. And ten billion times worse, this guy collected his, ahem, waste...also shockingly abundant. Piles and piles. Sorry. Try to think of these stories as festive...priming for Halloween. I'll spare further description, but trust me when I say this remains the worst image I've ever seen, beyond any "shock" pictures on the web.

Update: I've officially seen something much, much worse. And it's a shock web video. I won't even mention what it is because I felt seriously messed up for several days afterward.

And then there was that time with the two week old body, which was, indeed, dead. That was when I learned that in the messiest of corpse disposal, sheriffs will often bring inmates in to help move the body. In return for their service, they get a cigarette, stick of gum, or something of a similar non-stab-u-lous nature.

Oh yes, Dad had many heartwarming death-related stories...from his property management days, his sheriff days, the time that drunken driver wrecked in our front yard, and his vault making days for graves...

Another side note: If you plan on being buried, choose a bell-shaped vault. Most vaults are like concrete boxes (or whatever the material is) that the casket is lowered into and then topped with a lid. Those basically just fill up with water. With a bell-shaped vault, the casket is lowered onto a platform and a cap is placed over it so that the container becomes airtight. Think about an upside down glass submerged underwater. Air stays in, water stays out. Then again, vaults eventually crack from the weight of the earth and heavy machinery overhead; so it doesn't matter. You're dead anyway.

Initially I had planned on detailing my online search (which yielded more in the way of disposing a body in criminal ways and bad cop forums) and subsequent conversations with three different funeral homes tonight in this entry (the most helpful woman said to find something strongly citrus), but I guess the point has become that if Dad wouldn't have had a recommendation (he probably would have said Vicks VapoRub under the nose), he would have had a story.