Icarus

ngaio @ 12:26am: Day 7
It totally counts as Day 7/Saturday if I haven't yet gone to bed before writing this!

I am up late because I've been round Allegra and Dylan's for food, company, and a film which turned out odd but not as bad as we thought it was going to be. Even though it had Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, and surprise!naked Valentine Pelker (I know I've spelt that wrong, sorry) in it.

Tomorrow is going to be 'interesting', I have a significant amount of brought home work to do *and* one of the other things that happened this evening is that Dylan has installed Ubuntu on my laptop so I will be dual booting Windows and Ubuntu. Using Ubuntu as default and Windows for iTunes and Guild Wars. However this means that tomorrow will see a significant amount of research, negotiation, and outright pleading with the machine until I get Ubuntu and applications set up as I like. Things to do include, but are not limited to:

Set up the email fully, my main address is set up but I need to set up two others
Also to create folders and rules for the organising of said email
If I could get Windows to let me create a single .cvs file to import all the mail that would be great, otherwise I may just have to accept that if I need something in particular I'm just going to have to boot Windows to find it (yes, I know there's a way but I get an odd error message from Windows Mail when I try it) because while I've managed to export the mail to a folder it's all individual mails and there's around 5000 of them and if you think I'm importing them manually you've another think coming
Open Windows and then send an email to myself with the links for all the tabs I currently have open in Opera so I can reopen them in Opera in Ubuntu - that's my life in tabs there and I feel naked every time I open Opera in Ubuntu and they aren't there
Figure out what the hell the Opera that comes with Ubuntu has against Feeds and make it get over it (currently I don't even seem to have an option to *have* a feed reader, never mind being able to figure out how to import my feeds without also having to do the go to Windows and email the details to myself)
Find out whether Semagic is designed to work on Ubuntu and if so get that working, if not I have downloaded Logjam but Ubuntu terminology doesn't seem to allow for an .exe file so I need to start teaching myself Ubuntu-ese
Just generally poke around and get familiar and more settled with the feel of the system, possibly lower the sensitivity settings on the mouse which is significantly more sensitive on Ubuntu for some reason

Nevertheless the important things seem to be that a) it works and b) I have internet ... everything else is optional!

copperbadge @ 4:11pm: I am home!

I had a blast at the museum. There were a lot of exhibits I wanted to see and I got to see all but one, plus they've TOTALLY REARRANGED EVERYTHING since the last time I was there (admittedly this was a while ago) so it was like a whole new museum yet still filled with all my old favourite artwork.

( Childrens' Books, Burnham, Collage, Castle, Buddha, Sandwiches, Arts, and Crafts. )

amalthia @ 11:56pm: Guys I don't know how this happened...
But I think I'm really getting into Smallville again. I'm totally shipping Oliver and Clark Kent and I'm getting plot bunnies where Zodd gets his powers and discovers Clark Kent and uses his powers to try and steal Clark from Oliver...you know stuff like that...I think it helps that the guy they cast for Zodd is HOT. :) And kind of evil but...could maybe pick another destiny. I also really love Tess. I'm even shipping Clark/Lois hardcore on the show. But truly, I think Clark/Oliver makes a lot more sense! they keep having heart to heart talks and wow does Oliver look great!

P.S. my original intention of my post was to ask for fic recs for Oliver/Clark or Clark/Zodd...I looked for archives yesterday but...I didn't have much luck. :(


http://amalthia.dreamwidth.org/587626.html#comments

amalthia @ 11:48pm: The Fast and the Furious, Supernatural, Stark Trek Reboot, Misc, and Criminal Minds/SPN Recs
The Fast And The Furious

Unfinished Business by maygra (Brian/Dom) INSTANT REC!!! This story picks up where the first movie left off and I could not stop reading once I started. This is one of my all time favorite novels. :)


Supernatural

Everything Feels Like the End of by longsufferingly (Jared/Jensen) This was cute, funny, and very sweet. I'm still grinning. :)


Smoke gets in my eyes by fleshflutter (Sam/Dean Dean/OMC) This was creepy and gave me chills and wow I could not stop reading until I finished.


Criminal Minds/Supernatural

The Time Has Come to Be Gone by jujuberry136 (Gen) This was a fun action/adventure story! :)


Star Trek Reboot

And All the King's Men by mijan (Gen) This was a really good friendship fic for Kirk and McCoy. I also liked the other characters and the tests the cadets were put through.


misc

Go Problems Okay for anyone on my list that plays Go this is a must visit website! I don't actually get the chance to practice with other people but I'm having a blast working through the life and death problems.



In other news, I'm excited about Saturday because new episode of Merlin and season 2 of Legend of the Seeker starts. :) I'm not so excited about hw and house chores...but that's life.


http://amalthia.dreamwidth.org/587390.html#comments

copperbadge @ 5:59pm: I have decided to start a temp agency. If you are looking for work or looking for prospective hires, you may want to check out this post over on LJ. :)

copperbadge @ 12:56pm: It may not shock you to learn that after six months of intense RPG action, the Askworld kids have kept in contact. Because we both work for nonprofit agencies, snaxcident and I tend to have the occasional "Hey, NFPs could use this!" moment, which I swear is all that I intended when I sent an innocent email...that prepared me for WORLD DOMINATION.

( Canadians fucking love webinars. )

Between this and getting metaquoted last night, my conquest of the internet continues apace.

copperbadge @ 12:17pm: So, a lot of you asked for the recipe for/location of the peppermint-tea ice cream. WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN!

Basically all the ice cream I make comes from one recipe.

( Universal Ice Cream Custard Base )

dorothy1901 @ 10:20am: PSA: Tim Tam
Dear Fellow Residents of the United States,

Pepperidge Farm is distributing Tim Tam cookies. (Product of Australia, Tim Tam used under license.)

I found some for sale at Target.

Sincerely,
A cookie lover.

om nom nom nom

This entry was originally posted at http://dorothy1901.dreamwidth.org/7026.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

copperbadge @ 8:18am: HEY GUYS

WE SURVIVED THURSDAY

And now I have freshly made peppermint-tea ice cream in the freezer, and fresh bread for gashouse eggs for dinner tonight.

And I'm hauling a bunch of stuff home from work so I get to take a taxi, and tomorrow I'm going to the Art Institute (!!) to see the exhibit of Caldecott book art and the Victorian photocollage and the freshly opened Apostles Of Beauty.

And it's member discount week, so I am going to treat myself to the fancypants restaurant instead of the cafeteria for lunch. I love the fancypants restaurant!

*MAKES RESERVATIONS LIKE A MOFO*

leni_jess @ 5:06pm: November miscellany (since I don't seem to be posting much)

( I could have gone on about the weather ... but that gets old )

( No point in ranting about writing, you've read it all before )

( How about some fic recs? )

( Seeing my nearest and dearest soon )

( DVD-watching )

Sinks back into sloth. Then wakes up again: Semagic seems completely buggered, must post manually. Grr. What have I done to it this time?

copperbadge @ 7:48pm: The hell is up with this day? Everyone I know has had a rotten time of it today. I burned myself baking bread. Now every kitchen implement I use regularly has officially bitten me at some point.

THIS DAY IS MORE THAN FIRED. I'M PUTTING OUT A HIT ON IT.

To the brave soul who inhumes this Thursday (never could get the hang of Thursdays) I offer a scoop of peppermint ice cream and a glass of Sonic Screwdriver (one part vodka, one part blue curacao or in my place rum hurricane mix, and four parts lemon-lime soda. It's evil in a glass).

I did get 1200 words on Valet of Anize today, though.

Hey, does anyone know the supposed reasoning behind drinking hot tea in the summertime? This is my supposition:

"In Anize, we drink hot tea even in the summer," she said, as I stood awkwardly by the desk. "Sit down, Carry. I think it's a mixture of masochism and common sense. Supposedly," she continued, as I settled on the edge of the bed, "the tea either raises your body temperature, making you more comfortable in the heat, or it makes you sweat to cool yourself. On the other hand, as a country we seem obsessed with discovering who can survive the worst heat."

Are either of those correct? Are there other theories? I'd love to hear superstitions about tea. :D

ngaio @ 9:17pm: Day 5
Today I am lacking in topic again, but do not fear for tomorrow I am 75% likely to go to a Hip Hop Dance taster session at the gym and I'm sure that'll give me plenty of material to waffle. Incidentally I am so very much not hip hop material it's almost untrue, so it should be a bit of a surreal experience.

So - it's bonfire night. Huh. Had I been home I'd have seen some fireworks as I live less than 5 minutes from the town display but I'm not hugely fussed at having 'missed' them.

Aside from anything else I was walking home from the gym and texting Allegra (OK, often stopping to text as I have neither the coordination nor the spatial awareness to text and walk at the same time) with silly limericks and insulting Matt Di Angelo and stuff. She's part way up the M-something travelling back *up* from south of London having travelled *down* there today this morning. Funeral. Yeah.

Tomorrow is work colleague Lucy's partner's dad's funeral. And also the day they were meant to be picking up the keys to their first shared house. So that's a day of positives and negatives for her. I'm missing Lucy, she's been off this week and will be off next (because of preparing for the move and moving, organised before her partner's loss) and I need my partner in suffering and planning back. So much can be said with a shrug and an eye roll! Also when she comes back I don't have to log onto her computer to check things any more which means I don't have to type her password which is 'I love {partner's name}' which is good. Because I don't. I think that by and large he's a bit of an arse.)

Back to the fireworks. One of our cats doesn't like them. The other is completely unflustered by them and continues to sleep on Henry like a puppy or a baby, lying on his back with his paws in the air and a blissful expression on his face. This is the same cat I was muttering about on Twitter a few weeks ago who regularly falls out of my (upstairs) bedroom window. Silly thing.

The best firework display I ever saw was when I lived in Northampton where every August they had/have a balloon festival. You could go there 6am and 6pm and watch the balloons ascend (6am was amazing, because otherwise it was very quiet and still and just the roar of the {things that make hot air balloons go up that I can't think of the name of} and these huge multicoloured balloons rising into the sky. Anyway! - if you were there for the 6pm take off on the Saturday night if you stayed until 10pm (there were stalls and food and stuff of course) then there was also a fireworks display. So Henry and I found a quiet-ish spot and the summer evening and just lay on our backs on the grass and watched fireworks go off in the night sky. Beautiful.

copperbadge @ 3:03pm: Oh, hey, so, I got the internet back. And then the entire company ran amok. It's just been one of those weeks. I blame the full moon, because like all humans I seek meaningful structure to the essentially chaotic nature of existence, or something.

And also I want a Snickers bar.

fairestcat, posting in metafandom @ 12:22pm: Wednesday, November 4, 2009

• emeraldsword: random fic editing query - What is the etiquette of rewriting/re-editing fic after posting? Is there any? Do you all feel deceived if you go back to an old favourite and find that the author has amended the text since the last time you read? Do you even notice? -
  
  (tags: writing editing archiving etiquette fanfic question)

• accioslash: Thirty Days of Spam...Day 2 - Fic and art clearly aren't treated the same by fandom when it comes to unauthorized re-posting. Seriously, how long do you think I could actually keep up a site with a re-post of a popular fan fic with the notation "I don't know who wrote this, but if it's yours, let me know and I'll credit you." But I see that with art all the time. -
  
  (tags: fanart icons)

• ladydreamer: Easy Out - I've heard producers and writers often talking about how flattering it is that fans can get so angry at them about what they've done on a television show or a movie, and how it's an ultimate compliment in a way, since what they want to do is move the audience, to make them feel intense emotions. Any emotion is good, right? -
  
  (tags: fandom fanfic tptb)

photosinensis @ 11:33am: Recent downtime, video posting delays, and other things going wrong
This was posted originally at my WordPress blog, here.

As you’ve probably noticed, I fell behind on my video posting. I couldn’t get the time, and now I’m way behind: I’m already back in Houston. The same goes for my photo posts.

A factor in this problem was a few power outages here in Houston that took my uninterrupted power supply down for the count. As such, this site has been available only intermittently. This has also hampered my job hunting: until yesterday, I couldn’t even access my Craigslist scraper, and that’s fully half of the postings to which I respond.

Today, if you follow me on Twitter, you noticed that the site was down very briefly while I remedied the power problem. We’re now on a much larger power supply, capable of serving a 42″ HDTV, the DSL modem, cable box, a PS3, a Wii, and a Time Machine (for my mom’s backups and house Internet routing), as well as the box on which this site is hosted (because I needed a hard line in to the DSL modem to get this thing on the Internet, and the other available site, by the print server, is in much worse shape). Don’t try this at your home, kids, I’m what you might call an expert.

Those of you who have been following me for a while also know that I’ve been working on losing weight. I’ve now lost over 62 pounds. I was surprised to have lost 5 pounds on the trip, considering the fact that I was eating a lot of fast food (though it was mostly Chic-Fil-A and Subway, both of which have excellent low calorie menu selections) and was staying in a house where the idea of calorie counting was anathema. However, it’s good to be home where I can get a high-impact yet relatively low calorie breakfast (a smoothie made with nonfat yogurt and an apple, which provides 2 servings of fruit, 2 servings of milk, a multivitamin, 3 glasses of water, a serving of lean protein, and 2 teaspoons of cis-unsaturated oils¹, for less than 300 Calories). It satisfies my dairy, multivitamin, lean protein, and oil needs for the day, freeing me to eat more interesting things at lunch and/or dinner.

1. There are five oils in this category: extra virgin olive, canola, sunflower, flax, and safflower.

logovo @ 5:54pm: TeeeVeee
V.- I found the pilot last night for the V reboot disappointing. It has potential and some characters I liked, but the script was very, very clunky. I'll give it a shot next week, see if it improves any.

Leverage.- I should learn to use DVR now that we got our new box, maybe see the show "live" for once. The first season was my happy place for a few days, as we zipped through the episodes. @nd season has been sometimes *meh*, but I so love Parker and Hardison. OK, and Eliot too.

I haven't seen a single episode of White Collar yet, which makes me a rare specimen in my flist. I will though! I just need to -um- figure out when it's on. This is why people use DVR, yes? I'm so used to downloading stuff, so now that I'm actually seeing my new(ish) shows with Mr. Logovo it means messing with an actual TV.

Last thing. Burn Notice? My husband likes it, I haven't been crazy about it, had seen some S2 episodes with him, but before my trip to Mexico I saw the pilot and a handful of S1 episodes. Wow, it feels like the same thing that happened to Burn Notice happened to Leverage in S2. Sort of losing some of it's kick, which means you (well, more like I) stay because a love of the characters, and sort of stick with it even if the writing is not as fresh. Lesson to self: Don't jump into a show in S2. Always go back.

copperbadge @ 4:00pm: I've been working on Valet of Anize at a more intense pace since NaNo began; I'm a punk NaNo bootlegger, and I defy the Man by never signing up formally and subscribing to Simon's radical opinions on the topic of editing and rewriting, but that's okay because the essential concept still works. (More on this later.) Miraculously I've maintained almost a thousand words average a day, and will keep that up if I can do a little more tonight.

I find that as much as I love writing Carry and enjoy building Carry's view of Leigh Anizin, I have to work very hard to keep Bart and Stick at the periphery of the story where they ought to be. They're funny and weird and Bart's built on a sexual Jack Harkness model and Stick's kind of a kicked puppy of a puritan, and they're just so much fun.

Which informs me that even in stories I write, I prefer the sidekicks.

And given that I chronicle my life here with what I think is a reasonable amount of dry amusement, I think it's safe to declare that I am, in fact, my own Watson.

I suppose this is better than being someone else's Watson, but at least if that were the case sometimes it wouldn't be me breaking limbs and catching the plague.

ngaio @ 8:38pm: Day 4
Sorry, this one's topic is probably just going to be 'me' and 'random' because I'm a little knackered and unable to think of an actual subject to pontificate about.

Today's work environment included me emailing Roses (who I am renaming Allegra, just so you know) with the simple sentence: 'do you think she'd notice if my head exploded?'. Normally I try not to be too bitchy about work and colleagues (except Management, who deserve it) because goodness only knows I am irritating to them too I'm sure. But one colleague in particular tries my patience something chronic. What's very very irritating is that she *can* be lovely, understanding and pleasant. Unfortunately what she normally is is selfish, childish and entitled. With a side order of martyred.

So that's that bitchiness.

Good things today - Talking to Allegra and Dylan, remembering to be a friend and ask how they were and not just expect them to tell me. Also - Curry. And triple chocolate chunk butter shortbread. And coming home from the gym to sausages (97% meat) and chips. I do have to say that the SlimFast drink which was my breakfast was not a highlight of the day, but the fact that I had that rather than something else is good.

I exercised. Went to my first step class in around 6 months, and my first one at the new gym I joined. (They have a steam room so hot your nails sweat! And it has eucalyptus oil in the steam which, though I can't smell it, means I can really really breathe after being in there. Aside from the sharp lack of breath caused by the post-steam room cold shower. Urgh!) I didn't fall off the step and could do everything and keep up. Next time I need to exercise harder (I'm a great one for conserving energy, even in exercise classes) and maybe take the step up one level/block/height.

But now I can't move much, even without factoring in the large ginger cat who's been asleep on my right arm for the entirety of this entry.

copperbadge @ 12:02pm: I have many things to say today!

Actually I have many things to say every day, but a lot of time I don't have the time to say them.

First, cassie_phoenix and linlesiryn, if you're reading this, can you email me? Copperbadge at gmail. You have no contact info on your LJ pages and your numbers are up for Nameless signed copies. :)

Second, Adaigo Tea is doing The Roots Campaign, which is a cool setup where they profile a different tea farmer every month, and 10% of the sales of the tea they provide will be donated directly to them. Last month they raised something like $650 for the farmer (above, of course, what they pay for the tea to begin with). It's also an interesting look at the life of various tea farmers around the globe. And Adagio's a good company, I buy all my loose-leaf from them.

Third: If you are the USDA, and there is a major beef recall, surely the major beef recall should be linked from your home page. Or at least "food recalls" should be linked, instead of totally absent in any way from any area that a customer would intuitively visit. I know I should know what brand of beef I buy and where it comes from already, but I buy from Costco and then repack it in small serving sizes when I get home. I try to buy green and local, but sometimes I just don't have the energy to save the world through my choices in food consumption. Anyway, for everyone's reference, the USDA recall information page is here.

I also have some stuff to say about NaNo and some of its trends this year, but it's on the netbook and the netbook is at home. And by the time I prep it to post it might be irrelevant, so we'll see.

OH ALSO even my mother was less than impressed:

I didn't care much for the NCIS last night...seemed to much like a rehash of past shows and I don't like that guy Gibbs used to work for. Are Ziva and Tony ever going to go out?

<3 her.

copperbadge @ 9:53pm: Oh, and by the way:

Three ( Reasons I won't be watching the end of Girl Number 9. )

3a. If something stunningly awesome happens in the next three episodes, by all means, somebody let me know. But otherwise I've got a whole lot of Dust Echoes to watch instead.

copperbadge @ 8:06pm: It's Tuesday night, it must be time for Sam's Three Things About NCIS!

Spoilers for Episode 7.06: ( Outlaws and In-Laws )

3a. I am honestly amazed that Tony made it more than five minutes after finding out Ziva needed to become a citizen without suggesting that she marry him. I predict many fanfictions.

ngaio @ 9:47pm: Day 3
(This post is almost entirely phoebesmum's fault, just so you know.)

Sushi - (NB I am aware there seems to be some sort of sushi vs sashami terminology debate but no one has ever explained the difference to me and everything I talk about below has been sold to me as 'sushi' so that's what I'm going to say, sorry.)

Hands up who likes sushi.

Hands up who likes the sushi you get from Tesco or M&S or similar.

Hands up people who make their own sushi (I'll be coming round for your addresses later so you can teach me/feed me!).

I *love* sushi. But I like it to have raw fish which the supermarkets here don't do, it's all mackerel and tinned tuna and soft cheese (seriously, soft cheese in sushi - why?!).

Which is why one of my life's ambitions is to have *proper* sushi, made by and for Japanese people. Not Westernised. (I nearly had some a few weeks ago when I was in London but I looked at the menus and realised I probably wasn't allowed to go in and ask for one of everything so didn't. I had Chinese instead because that was an all you can eat buffet and therefore I *could* have one of everything!)

Of course this means that in theory at some point I'm going to have to experience wasabi. Which I normally avoid like the plague. Largely because spicy/hot things have a tendency to burn off my taste buds, leaving me unable to taste anything for some time. Since sushi tends to be fairly subtle in taste wasabi kinda defeats the point for me.

I'm also weird (amongst my friends, who to give them their dues are vegetarian, but who have a theoretical understanding of the appeal of fish-based sushi) in that I like the sushi that has the fish eggs on/in it. Little things which go *pop* in my mouth and give me a flood of taste? Sign me up!

... well that was random wasn't it?!

ridicully @ 9:12pm: After quiet follows rambling

First of all, thanks to everyone for the conga rats!

While I'm not finished with the diss by far, waiting for Prof. Blub to read it, is something completely different to not having written it yet. It feels good.

After my very frazzled entry, I had a very nice birthday. Boring, but nice. Long bath with silly book (reread Pope Joan, still not particularly good but enjoyable nonetheless), which I hadn't allowed myself until I finished either (books, not the baths) sleeping for a few hours in a freshly made bed, more reading, dinner with M. (no one else could make time to come, such are the joys of our place of work) - on our own our conversation tends to the awkward, live was easier in Kindergarten when it was still possible to say "I like you, can I be your friend?" without having to justify it - and did a clean install of Karmic Koala on Lachesis.

Today I avoided killing the Bitch Queen From Hell once again (barely), saw a Boa throw up 70cm of carpet and a dead rat and our head surgeon fix his trousers with Backhaus clamps.
I live a surreal live at the best of times.

Now to finish setting up the computer with everything I want, start on the case report, maybe read the articles for the journal club tomorrow and most importantly acquire all the TV series I did not watch in the last six months (or maybe I'll wait until the weekend, I might get pimped something new at the Querstrich meeting...)
Oh! I nearly forgot. I need to play around on Google Wave for a bit as well. Most of it sounds so cool, I've wanted to try it out for a few months already.

See http://ridicully.dreamwidth.org/245110.html to comment.

photosinensis @ 7:12pm: Sushi is awesome stuff. However, it seems that beyond a few standard selections (the California and crunchy rolls, for example), it seems that there is little in common between the roll offerings at most sushi bars.

What's more, it seems that the quality of the establishment can be determined by the elaborateness of its roll offerings. I've seen preparations of dragon rolls that were truly astounding, and who can ignore the ultimate in the specialty roll, the Rick roll (made either by sushi chefs named Richard, or by severe Internet jumkies, and ordered almost entirely by the 4chan crowd). Yet I've also seen some really simple specialty rolls: the sushi bar in the Land of Uh has as a specialty roll a variant on the California roll, using cream cheese instead of cucumber. It's fattier than your average Japanese sugar cube, and its texture is much thicker and more consistent. However, you simply can't eat it with soy sauce, horseradish paste dyed green, and pickled ginger*, because dairy just doesn't mix with those things.

That said, there's not much you can do with non-roll sushi. It's just seafood of some nature on a bed od short grain rice and secured with green horseradish paste (because almost nobosy in North America uses wasabi). It's rice (pure sugar) away from being sashimi.

But when set up with edamame and miso soup, even the most routine sushi becomes an awesome meal.

*And in saying this, I'm reminded of the scene from Lucky Star where the girls take a quiz to determine what kind of sishi they are, and Konata gets pickled ginger. As Kagami begins to taunt her, she exclaims, "You can't have sushi without pickled ginger!". Oh yes you can. It's strange and uninspiring, but you can.

copperbadge @ 9:28pm: I am home!

I had a great time on my ADVENTUR, and am very tired. The train was awesome! Though I do wish they had wifi on the trains. I know some of them do, so what's the holdup? I'd pay a fee, even.

But it was still an awesome journey and I got some work done, and I slept a little and had a good dinner.

And now, a quick email check and to bed.