10 March, 2008
Coming To A Supermarket Entrance Near You
So with the cold/cough/sore throat keeping me up part of the night and the general assyness that is Daylight Savings Time, I also seem to have developed some sort of irritation in my right eye that rendered it all red with glop in/around it. Which can only mean that this morning was the time for:
DRIVER'S LICENSE RENEWAL!
WhoaYeah. That photo is almost certainly going to go down as the most craptacular driver's license photo I've ever had taken (one which I'll be stuck with for the next 10-15 years, thankyouverymuchpleasekillmenowkthxbye), if not the fugliest DL photo in the history of DL photography.
So I've decided to start a grass-roots effort aimed at gathering signatures to get a measure on the ballot allowing people to Photoshop their license photos BEFORE THEY'RE LAMINATED FOR POSTERITY.
Who's with me?
~~ victoria on 8:40 PM ~~ 0 comments
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25 February, 2008
Don't Watch This Unless You Want To Just Skip To The End of the Story
Diebold accidently leaks the results of the 2008 Presidential Election.
Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
I'd be able to laugh at this more, if it weren't so close to the truth.
(h/t to Jeff Fecke over at Shakesville
~~ victoria on 7:59 PM ~~ 0 comments
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07 November, 2007
Bay Bridge-1, Container Ship-0
Yeesh!
It was very foggy this morning; I could barely see across the estuary. A huge construction barge went by but I could barely make out the shape of it and it was only a few yards away! I think we were still in the estuary when this accident happened but we were only a few minutes behind. Of course, even if I wasn't thoroughly focused on working on my NaNo novel, it would have been too foggy to really see anything (I didn't hear any "buzz" about it on the ferry).
They're trying to clean up the fuel that spilled and I hope they're able to do it quickly because I'm worried about the birds and seals and other marine life.
Labels: eeek, ferry commuting, in the news, San Francisco
~~ victoria on 7:15 PM ~~ 0 comments
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01 November, 2007
NaNoWriMo Day One: 2051 Words
Considering that, as of 7:20 p.m., PDT, when I started this thing, all I had was a main character (two if we count her cat) and a few scribbles here and there, 2,000 words is pretty dang good. I was really scratching for a beginning to my novel, to the point where I asked one of the deck hands on the ferry if I could read the first paragraph of the novel she was reading, just to kick my imagination into gear. It helped (though my first paragraph is nothing at all like the one I read).
So I can go to bed, relieved to not be behind in the word count right from the get-go.
Anyway, the shorter of it is this: Posting here may be light-ish this month while I pound out Yet Another Crappy Novel. I will try to keep up with the Simon Sundays, though, because it's important to keep his fans happy. ;-)
Labels: eeek, NaNoWriMo, Why it is
~~ victoria on 10:09 PM ~~ 0 comments
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30 October, 2007
Daaaaaammmnnn!
That was a very long earthquake! I think we shook a good 20-25 seconds! It happened about five or ten minutes ago and USGS still doesn't have much in the way of stats on it other than it was centered down toward San Jose. Check that. Now it's looking like a 5.6 and I can't tell if it was on the Hayward or Calaveras fault. If it holds at 5.6, it still won't beat my record for the largest quake I've been in: That record belongs to the earthquake we had in Portland a few months before I moved down here. That was a 5.7 magnitude. And really? I don't WANT to break that record!
I also notice that there was a small quake just off the coast in the North Bay (that's bang on the San Andreas fault). And there's a few tiny aftershocks to this one.
Simon is sufficiently freaked out and is hiding under the covers. Billie is sticking close to me. And as for me, well my day was so shitty that this is about the best thing that came of it.
UPDATE: It's looking like there's a cluster of aftershocks--or just more smallish quakes--on the Calaveras fault, so I'll go out on a limb and say the main event was on that fault and not the Hayward (which is the one that's closest to where I live). I'm not sure if that makes me feel any better...
Labels: earthquake, eeek
~~ victoria on 8:23 PM ~~ 0 comments
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21 August, 2007
I Think They Call the New Model The Pinto
From the country that brought you melamine pet food, anti-freeze tooth paste and mouth wash and all the leaded paint chips your toddler can eat, comes, well, you just have to watch:
On the other hand, it'll give the Segway Haters something new to focus on.
(h/t to my friend Gary, who found it here.)
(cross-posted @ VOX)
~~ victoria on 8:25 PM ~~ 0 comments
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08 July, 2007
Simon Sunday: A New Asana?
More Cat Yoga
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.
Naw, he was just cleaning his private kitty bits, though this does look like a new, somewhat sinister, yoga pose.
While there are no new yogas poses, Simon has added a new bit of get-momma-up-super-early-in-the-morning-to-feed-me obnoxiousness. But first, let's recap the biggest weapons in his arsenal:
* Purring shoulder kitty-paw massage (only obnoxious when he slobbers in my ear during the massage);
* Speaking of slobbering...drool on the eyelids (always a winner!);
* Laying next to my head on the pillow and whapping my face with his tail;
* Taking advantage of my sinus problems to dip his tail into my mouth(!);
* Biting my nose. Hard.
* Sticking his paw under my nose (evidently he's checking to see if I'm still alive);
* Jumping onto the dresser and/or batting my things off of the dresser
* Batting the window blinds;
* Puking.
And for his latest:
* Pulling my hair.
Yes, Simon has taken to grabbing big chunks of my hair in his mouth and giving it a good yank. I have no idea where in the hell he learned to do THAT. Nor am I the least bit amused by this.
I don't really know how to stop this, either. Saying, "NO!" and pulling him off of me only causes him to cycle through all of the other behaviours. Putting him out of the bedroom and closing the door sends him into a blind panic because HE NO LONGER HAS ACCESS TO HIS MOM! The last time I tried that (and tried ignoring his cries as all the behaviour books tell me to), he shrieked himself hoarse and I felt so awful about it. And when he thinks his tried and trusted stable of obnoxiousness isn't working, he comes up with something new and even more obnoxious. And here I was thinking he really couldn't set the bar any higher than drooling on my eyelids. Just the ICK! factor alone makes that a tough act to follow.
But I guess that, in a nutshell, is the problem: Trying to out-wit a cat. I have other things to worry over like the job, rent, making sure we're stocked with cat food (and litter), etc. But Simon has the whole day, every day to think of new sinister plots to get me to do his bidding.
Labels: cats, eeek, furkids, Simon, Simon Sunday
~~ victoria on 8:08 PM ~~ 0 comments
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19 March, 2007
Site Stats That Make Me Pause
I noticed that someone visited my site from the search "cats becoming deathly ill after vet visit". Whoever you are, my heart goes out to you and your kitty. I hope kitty is okay.
Now, I'm gonna go hug my furkids real tight and tell them how lucky I am to have them in my life.
Labels: cats, eeek, furkids, Site Stat Gazing
~~ victoria on 6:59 PM ~~ 0 comments
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01 March, 2007
Just when I think I'm used to 'em...
We get a quake that shakes the whole damn building for an excruciatingly long time. I heard it, too, before I felt it. Given the neighbours' propensity for heavy footsteps and slamming doors (especially the next-door neighbour who I wish would have her door checked if it's so damn hard to close properly), neither I nor the furkids were sure what to make of it at first. But, as the shaking went on past 10 seconds, Simon and Billie scrambled for cover. I stayed at my desk and held onto my cup of chamomile tea, knowing I'd need to slam it to soothe my rattled nerves.
Looking at the map, there've been a fair few aftershocks too (I felt the first one). Yeesh!
Labels: earthquake, eeek
~~ victoria on 9:06 PM ~~ 1 comments
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31 January, 2007
The Flickr Brouhaha
I guess I'm one of the Flickr "Old Skool": Got my account back toward the end of 2004 (I think) and have gotten away with putting off merging my Yahoo! ID with my Flickr account. Yesterday I got the "dreaded FlickrMail" saying that, as of March 15, I'll have to merge my Flickr and Yahoo! IDs and use the Yahoo! ID to sign in or I won't be able to access my account on Flickr. This, along with the announcements on limits on the number of contacts (3,000) and the number of tags (75) has created a massive mosh pit in Flickr Central and the Flickr Help forums.
I'm not going to deal with the issue of contacts and tags here, as I cannot imagine ever being able to keep up with 3,000 contacts or slapping dozens of tags on each photo and still maintain my sanity. As to the "forced" merger, however, the reactions seem to range from people who resist ANY change, to people who think anyone who complains about the merger is a whiner and should shut the hell up and leave Flickr, to people who have held their nose and merged their accounts and so far, so good to, well, people like me who are really in two minds about the whole thing.
I certainly have my philosophical issues with Yahoo! and how they use my personal information. But I've had my Yahoo! account for YEARS, so that's kind of trying to slam the barn door shut after the horse is running loose. I do have two concerns, however, that I hope are fully resolved by the time March 15 rolls around and I HAVE to merge:
1) Will Yahoo! respect my cc license? Trying to parse the leagalese in Yahoo!'s TOS left me believing that, yes, if my image is licensed All Rights Reserved, they won't use my photo(s) for any commercial purpose without my expressed consent. However, today some users discovered that wii.yahoo.com was using ALL images tagged wii, even those marked All Rights Reserved. Granted, Yahoo! admitted making an error and reconfigured so only properly-licensed images were displayed, but I wonder if that would have happened had there not been such an angry reaction from the Flickr community (i.e., people tagging ALL of their photos "wii", people uploading images tagged "wii" that called Yahoo! thieves, etc.)
OK, so my images aren't all THAT great and the possibility of Yahoo! plucking any of them to sell their product is probably one of the least of my worries, but it is a concern that needs to be resolved. I'm just not wholly convinced that the snagging of ALL images with a given tag was a simple accident or oversight.
2) Yahoo! is notorious for deactivating a user's account for Gods knows what reason. Maybe inactivity, maybe the user forgot the password (or had the CAPS LOCK on and didn't notice) or some violation of Yahoo!'s TOS, whatever. The problem is, when a Yahoo! account gets deactivated, my understanding is that the merged Flickr account also gets deleted. If I have PAID for a year's worth of Flickr service (which I *just* did before the merger kerfuffle), deleting my--hang on a sec, let me go look--1,300+ photos is a big-time NO-NO, especially given Flickr's No Refunds policy. Yeah, I have all of my images on any combination of hard drives and CDs, but if for some reason I have problems signing into my Yahoo!/Flickr account and Yahoo! decides to just deactivate me, I'm gonna be hella pissed if my account and all those photos gets deleted.
As of about 9:45 tonight, I haven't seen a definitively reassuring answer that if the Yahoo! sign in goes floopy that my Flickr account won't be zapped before the sign in issue gets resolved (which, given Yahoo!'s notoriously pokey and un-helpful customer support, could take quite a while).
And that's really pretty much it for my concerns about merging. I just want to know that my photos are being protected as much as possible (given they're on the internets and are generally fair game for anyone who can right-click on an image...etc., etc.)
editing to add something very important: I do want to commend Flickr staff. They've taken a hell of a lot of abuse in the forums and have done their best to answer users' concerns as timely and accurately as they can. I know times like this it's hard to keep a sense of humour (especially when you're fighting to keep the sense of perspective amid all the hyperbole being flung about). I hope that the worst of it is over soon.
And, hey, isn't it about time for the Flickr Turns THREE party???
(cross-posted on VisualCues)
~~ victoria on 9:25 PM ~~ 3 comments
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03 January, 2007
Well, that explains the fatigue
The sudden and insatiable craving for salsa and/or tomato-based pasta sauce was the ultimate clue that I have been fighting a cold.
The cold won.
~~ victoria on 7:10 AM ~~ 0 comments
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23 December, 2006
The Hayward Fault scores a hat-trick
So we've had THREE earthquakes since Wednesday evening, and all three have been centered in virtually the same spot. Wednesday and Friday night's scored a 3.7 but this morning's got only a 3.5 from that damn French judge (boo! fix! shenannigans!).
Anyway, it's all starting to creep me out and the cats are SO DONE with earthquakes. (Actually, now that I type that, I wonder if all that rumbly activity is why they've been so pissy at each other all week...)
Labels: earthquake, eeek, furkids
~~ victoria on 7:32 PM ~~ 0 comments
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12 December, 2006
Dinner and a movie
Artemesia popped up in my Netflix rotation again, so I really went for it: I popped in the DVD and made a slice of dry wheat toast for supper.
This week, that's livin' on the edge.
Labels: eeek
~~ victoria on 6:52 PM ~~ 0 comments
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18 November, 2006
Nothing to see here
just testing Blogger Beta to see if everything is working...
update: so far, so good!
~~ victoria on 10:55 AM ~~ 0 comments
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