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I wish my comics-making computer and my internet computer were the same thing. I'm actually getting LESS work done because when I want to slack off, I have to go into a different room and I'm less likely to get back to work.
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Nov. 28th, 2009 @ 03:53 pm
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Most of the people who had a great influence on me, who were role models for me, are dead. But there is one person who is not: high school art teacher.
We caught up today. It's been about five years since I saw her last. (Six since I graduated from high school. Has it only been six years?)
We were quite close in high school. I'd stay after school lots of times, hanging out in the art room. I learned a lot from her, but she also let me do my own things. It was a perfect balance of freedom and structure.
And we had... the Art Cult.
"Dara, you're so talented! When I grow up, I wanna be juuuuuuust liiiiiiiiiike Daaara!" -All said in unison by six girls in high pitched voices. Whenever someone (not just Dara) did something really cool, we'd all say it. Creeped the hell out of everyone else in class, but god damn it was fun.
I'm not one of those people who wishes she could be back in high school. (For one thing, I'd have to deal with Twilight fans. I don't care one way or the other, and where I am in my life, nobody else I know cares either.) But it's nice to have someone help me remember the good times.
My memory is a terrible thing, full of holes, retaining the strangest things and tossing out things I want to keep. I keep my memories in other people. |
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Is there anything that Bing or Google or any other search engine has done in, say, the past three months that made you say, "Hey, now that's innovative! I like that!"
I'm thinking specifically in the realm of web searching. |
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I have a few more holiday cards, so if you'd like one please send me your snail mail address |
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Have we heard anything this year from our elected representative? |
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My partner's getting a new mobile for her law practice, and what with
all the people coveting the iPhone, the launch of 3G services here,
etc, etc, there seems to be a renewed wave of interest in the wireless
industry and their offerings.
Amazing new devices and technologies are coming out; old technologies
are becoming more useful and ubiquitous, and it's all passing
most Canadians by because the Canadian wireless operators suck
horribly.
Unless they can unload a huge cellphone bill on their employer or business,
most Canadians can't justify the cost of features like wireless data.
And God forbid you want to use your phone in the US -- you'll pay something
like $2 a minute for voice and 75ยข a message to text. I aggressively
look for ways to NOT use my cell phone when I'm in the
United States -- the whole reason I pay a SIP termination service is so
that I can call home using the laptop & wifi instead of paying
extortionate rates to my cell carrier.
A recent a wireless spectrum auction was set up with provisions to
help new companies enter the market, and it looks like we're going to get
some new upstarts out of it. I just hope they're not befallen by the same
fate as the
old
upstarts --
both of which I've been a customer of; both of which offered great deals
until they were bought out by the big incumbents.
This entry was originally posted at http://shadowspar.dreamwidth.org/2874.html. You're welcome to comment here, or there using OpenID.
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( if you really must... click here... )
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter and LJ cut just to be contrary
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Nov. 28th, 2009 @ 01:02 am
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Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter Follow me @rosalarian. |
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Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter |
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Nov. 27th, 2009 @ 12:20 pm
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 I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, however you celebrate! I had a wonderful time! I had the awesome challenge of going to two family dinners with all the fixings. I was a little afraid I would overeat and feel sick, but I did a good job of having just a taste of everything and not eating until I was super stuffed. I have another party to go to tonight, so we shall see if I continue this trend, *laugh*  I am very pleased with how my sale has been going! I had a steady stream of shoppers all of yesterday and last night. I sold more than half of my new pendant mixes, so I gathered some more together and am listing them now before I head out to the party. Don't forget... each completed sale in my Etsy shop comes with a free gift this weekend, and with free shipping!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend! gobble gobble! |
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dubai
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Nov. 27th, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
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Dubai, Dubai.. I just have to point my finger and cry out "ha, ha!". You wanted to be the luxury banking centre and ultimate resort area, so you borrowed $60B? The wannabe nouveau riche are always funny. (yes, they had a lot of money before, but the analogy fits)
What does surprise me is the reaction the markets had. Europe was down 4% yesterday, then Asia down 5%, and it looks like the US will be down 2% today (yesterday the markets were closed, and everyone is still standing in line outside Walmart so can't be bothered to do stock trading). That isn't the part of it that surprises me: of course it would cause a huge panicked reaction. It would be like Bill Gates announcing that all his properties were in foreclosure and he was going to sleep in a cot in his office at Microsoft: there's going to be a huge ripple, even if it should just be a drop in the bucket.
The part that surprises me is that I heard the story about Dubai talking about maybe needing to default on Tuesday. Sure, the formal announcement was not until the next day -- but even when it was announced, trading was still open in the US. Have investment firms learned nothing from the last two years? Some dude comes up to you and asks "yeah, well, things are tight, could I maybe get an interest-free extension with no payments for a while?" and it doesn't send up a red flag immediately? Current Mood: quizzical Current Music: In Flames, "Everything Counts" |
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I am nothing of interest to say. Not because there aren't interesting things going on, but because I'm vaguely braindead. So pretend I've said something important and controversial, and respond to me with the proper level of enthusiasm and outrage, and we can all pretend to be witty and insightful. |
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Nov. 27th, 2009 @ 09:38 am
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Just poking through my friends list, which has a feed of blog entries that mention me, and came up with this posting at Monsters and Rockets about a sneak preview of a new game based on the sequel, TRON Legacy. Looks nifty. Too bad I don't have cable to see the show...and I'm not very good at video games anyway.
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http://store.xkcd.com/ Hey! A note to anyone interested in buying Christmas gifts from the xkcd store: the deadline for Christmas delivery of domestic orders is December 14th. We'll continue to ship after that, but won't guarantee by-Christmas delivery. (If you haven't been to the xkcd store lately, you might want to check it out. I've got some some new stuff there!)
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( if you really must... click here... )
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter and LJ cut just to be contrary
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Rio Grande Games held a board game design contest this year. Twelve candidates won preliminary rounds at playtest sessions held in their twelve local areas around the U.S. Their prize was a free attendance badge to the Chicago Game and Toy Fair, and an interview there with Jay Tummelson.
Rio Grande is a titan of the industry, publisher of Carcassonne, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Puerto Rico, and Stone Age-- an impressive percentage of "The Hotness" list on Boardgamegeek at any given time. Before the contest, Jay committed Rio Grande to publish one of the contest finalists, so that was the brass ring of the final round.
The description sets a compelling scene: a huge empty function space room. One table. Two chairs. Jay. The contestant. And the game.
Jay was so impressed with the quality that he chose to publish four of them. They decided to do it again in 2010!
Had I known in time, I certainly would have found a way to get my Ingeniators prototype to the nearest semifinals (in Chicago), sleeping in my car if necessary. However, I found out about the contest from the announcement of the finalists, sent on LinkedIn. As you can imagine, I am quite excited, both for the chances of Ingeniators, and for the chances of U-Con to administer Michigan semifinals for 2010. There is an incredible game designer community in Michigan, which deserves representation. |
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![What? Oh, no, the 'Enchanted' soundtrack was just playing because Pandora's algorithms are terrible. [silence] ... (quietly) That's how you knooooooow ...](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/pandora.png "What? Oh, no, the 'Enchanted' soundtrack was just playing because Pandora's algorithms are terrible. [silence] ... (quietly) That's how you knooooooow ...")