Saturday, March 28, 2009

green(ish) thumb

I have a vivid imagination, which has a tendency to make me envision pretty ridiculous scenarios. So when the stock market started going down and jobs were hacked all over the country, I thought long and hard about how I could sustain without working -- just in case. The first and most obvious step was to have a garden for food (and Ted Nugent as a friend for some bow-hunted venison). I've always wanted to have a garden, having grown up with two green-thumbed parents. My dad was a pro at gardening, often taking pictures of the peppers and tomatoes compared to my softball, and he always shared the fruits of his labors with members of our church.

But I know next to nothing about gardening. If it weren't for Google, I'd be outside right now tossing seeds about my yard chanting some magic spell. But apparently, that's not how it works. So I headed to Territorial Seed Company last week and bought:
"Ring of Fire" Sunflowers - chosen for their name and appearance,
Bush Baby Hybrid Squash,- chosen because they squash grows small (won't have a bunch leftover to waste), but has a very high yield,
Copra Onions - chosen for their long storage capabilities and hardiness,
and Golden Star Hybrid Peppers - recommended.

I started by putting the pepper and onion seeds in a 6" pots with Territorial's seedling soil, and then I set them on my windowsill, where I have been periodically spraying them with water.

Today I went to Home Depot and bought a shovel, trowel, Morning Glory seeds, a trellis for those, and potting soil. I had a complete Amelia Bedelia moment when I asked the attendant if I could use potting soil in the ground. Her look of incredulosity answered my question. I'm a dumbass.

Since it was raining when I got home, I did a bunch of research on germinating seeds, etc. Good thing! Turns out the germinating soil for peppers needs to be warm, so I've put my heating pad under that. And I read that nicking and soaking Morning Glory seeds in Hydrogen Peroxide/Water solution helps them germinate. As I was messing with the seeds I've planted, I noticed the onions have already started to germinate! Victory so far on that front!! Yay! I'll wait until they're a little bit longer before I move them to the ground. I've got my sunflower seeds in a wet paper towel in a ziploc bag as well. I'm hoping for the best!






<-- The soaking morning glory seeds, onion seedlings and pepper seeds on the heating mat on my windowsill.













Well, I've got to get the house tidy for some friends coming over tonight. I've got a headache, and I'm sneezing a lot; I hope it's just allergies. And for those who are wondering, I won't be participating in the Lights Out tonight, unless my friends don't mind hanging out and gabbing in candlelight.

Luna is unamused by my attempts at gardening.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

unsweet tweet

slap bracelets.

Fad #1 of my life. In first grade I was elated when my sixth-grader "study buddy" mentor gave me one as part of my Christmas package. I was so cool, obsessively slapping my wrist with a band of metal. I liked the way it crinkled out. I was fascinated. But more than that, I was cool.

pogs.

Fad #2 of my life. My brother John had recently returned from his trip to Hawaii, and with him he brought back milk carton tops, which later became popularly known as pogs. My brother and I ruthlessly fought over slammers (he always got the cooler, thicker ones) and whose pog was whose. I swear Zack, the "blooming idiot" pog was MINE. This fad reminds me of the time our Beloved Beagle Spike wandered away from my dad's watch and came up to my elementary school, just while I happened to be on recess break. Spike impulsively ran up to one kid's pogs and messed them up with his snout. The kid kicked my dog, and I viciously returned the favor to him. Don't F*** with my beagle.

sanrio surprise

Fad #3 - I had this amazingly awesome, tricked out pencil case in elementary school from Sanrio Surprise. I could press little buttons, and the pencil compartment would pop out. It was super cool. I loved sanrio surprise so much, I bought my brother and sister their christmas presents from there that year. I have yet to live that down. Y'all are evil.

ribbons.

I'm probably skipping a few fads here, namely doc martens, but in 8th grade hair ribbons resurfaced as a cool thing for some inexplicable reason. My mom came home with a paper sack full of an array of ribbons. I felt like I had won the lottery.

I'm sure there are other fads I comfortably fell in line to follow. I like to think that I usually I actually enjoyed whatever item was being marketed. A couple of recent ones that come to mind are Twilight and ....well...blogging. However, having said this, I do not understand the purpose, or even desire, of Twitter.

I am infamous as an "oversharer." Over the years hundreds of unwitting victims have fallen prey to my outbursts of indiscretion. Facebook has made this all the easier. I can announce that I prefer my cereal without milk ( a new fad?) or that I have had four red bulls in one day. But even I am annoyed with my misuse of this function.

So why in the hell would I want to read some person's carefully scripted activity, which they are obviously doing to portray themselves in a certain light? I mean who puts what is really on their mind or what they're really doing? My friend did point out that you can follow famous people. My prompt reply was to ask if I can search for people. Sadly, I don't think any guys I would cyberstalk would actually use Twitter. Actually, I'm glad they don't.

I checked out the site. There's a convenient button for people like me: "Why?" Here are their reasons:

"Why? Because even basic updates are meaningful to family members, friends, or colleagues—especially when they’re timely." Ok, I will concede that my mom is probably the only individual in the universe who would care to know what I'm doing most times of the day. She's a mom. That's what moms DO. At work I often wonder what Luna is doing. I usually suspect she is dreaming of chasing bunnies.

"Eating soup? Research shows that moms want to know." wtf? Again, my mom is the only person who cares what I eat for lunch. Besides my dogs, who want to know if they can have some too.

"Running late to a meeting? Your co–workers might find that useful." "Hey guys! I'm so busy checking out Larry David's tweets, I realized I'm about 10 minutes late to the meeting. Go ahead and start without me. Muah!" I'm sure that would go over really well. In the world where email and text communication makes bad news so much easier to break, Twitter is now the way to let your coworkers know you don't care enough about their time to try and not waste it. Hey, I'm the first to tell you I prefer text/email over phone call/face to face interactions, but this is a new low.

"Partying? Your friends may want to join you." Chances are if I want you at my party, you have been invited. If you have not been invited, you either live in a different town or I don't want you drinking my Ninkasi.

Are these reasons really the best they can do? I was looking for reasons like "Now you can notify all of your past sexual partners of your newly discovered STD. Convenient AND easy -- like you!" or even "Getting a divorce? Use this site to avoid awkward stop and chats with acquaintances and distant friends who might ask where your jerk of a spouse is." Heck, even "Tell all your recently laid-off friends about your great new promotion you got...at the expense of their jobs!" would be permissable. But the reasons they've listed are less than intriguing.

I hope to maintain my stronghold against Twitter. I'm considering just keeping a daily word document of the random crap that spews about in my brain and then emailing it to one lucky recipient each day.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Spring Bliss


10 Reasons why this weekend will be good:

10. Green Lakes Organic Ale
9. Wine
8. Playing with a bunny tonight whilst chatting with friends and listening to good music.
7. HAIRCUT tomorrow
6. Gardening
5. sour cream chicken enchiladas and some new texmex side dish, and sharing it with friends
4. Che at the Bijou for 5 hours on Sunday
3. Twilight is out on DVD
2. Only a 40% chance of rain tomorrow




Life has been good lately.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Weekend Update

The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy and fun filled. Lots of music downloading (that's full of fun for me), music shows, Blazers games, movie going, and good times hanging out.

Some of the new favorite music that I just love and can't put down is (check out the playlist below):
Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down - We Brave Beestings and All
Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
M. Ward - Hold Time




Get a playlist! Standalone player Get Ringtones



Let's not forget the massive win of the Blazers over the Spurs last Sunday night. It was an awesome game, and I had a great time with a random Austin College guy living in Portland. He's going with me to the Mavs game this Wednesday. I cannot express my excitement about this game.


I also went to a pretty cool concert on Thursday night. The group was Sound Tribe Sector 9, and they put on an amazing show.

I also saw a couple of movies. I saw the Watchmen on Saturday after a great breakfast at Keystone Cafe with Christy. Today I saw Waltz with Bashir. This is a very sobering film about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. An Israeli soldier has effectively forgotten (or blocked) his memories of the war, particularly the massacre of Palestinian civilians by the Phalangist group. This film depicts him rebuilding his memory through meeting up with former soldiers with whom he fought.

all in animation. brilliantly done.


Today before the film, I was relaxing the in Perugino coffee shop enjoying a very weak raspberry italian soda and reading a book for my club (Snowflower and the Secret Fan --great so far) when it started snowing. It had snowed briefly earlier today while at the house, but now it was coming down hard and fast in huge flakes. Will Winter ever end?

And now that I've stuffed this blogpost as full as possible, I will depart to read more of my book.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Entrepreneurship at its MOST Fashionable

My sister definitely got the visual/creative gene in the family. If I have a question about how something will look, she's definitely the go-to person. If you pair that trait with the inability to sit around with your teeth in your mouth and the want to create things.... you get..



My sister Ruth has started a dotcom! CRC Designs is her creative outlet and attempt to beautify everyone's world. Whether you want a frame to match your decor or celebrate your alma mater, she's got it. If you have a cute kid whose hair needs a special touch, she can make the perfect "clippie." After putting a lot of hard work into her website and an equal amount of time into creating special, custom frames and hair clips, Ruth has created an extensive collection of items sure to please just about anyone.

Her special knack for what people will like is uncanny, she sent me a very cool "Brookish" frame. I have it at work (seems to be where I spend most of my time) on my windowsill. It's my Spring on the many cold, gray days we have up here. I keep forgetting to take my camera and snap a photo of it, so I've used a picture of it from her site. I've ordered three frames from her, and I can't wait to see how they will turn out. I'm confident she'll create something much cooler than I envision (I know for a fact she will...I told her my idea for one, she told me her's and all of a sudden my idea looked like a landmine at the dogpark).

So check her out at www.CRCdesigns.net!



my spring frame.

Monday, March 2, 2009

march 2nd

you are missed. every day and in every way.


going 180: happy texas independence day