If You Can Handle It
This is one of the funniest birthing stories I’ve ever read. Yes, there is talk of blood and even graphic photos included but how could a baby be born without those things? Huh? Fluid Pudding rocks.
Thanks
Thanks for all your emails and comments, everyone. I’ve decided to put the survey online so you can do it electronically and the answers can be saved and searched. It should be ready to be used mid-next week and I’ll let you know when/where to go to do it.
Yesterday, for the first time in a looooong time, I got to do a photo shoot. Since we are still getting the business up and running, my usual day is about 12 hours of different types of computer stuff and phone calls. So it’s been a long time since I got to spend a whole day shooting. It was really great and I hope to do it again sometime soon or at least before another year goes by. More specifics later.
Tell Me Something…..
Why is it that talking about your own personal religious beliefs in a public fashion is scarier than talking about, oh I don’t know, your bodily functions or your yearly income?
I’m trying to do a religious study which involves people sharing what religion they belong to and practice, what they believe and how they feel about it. Ideally, they get their family to send in the information as well so we can compare how everyone feels about things. Or not. And it can all be done anonymously. But you would think that I was asking them to strip down naked and run a few laps in front of everyone at the office. Well, maybe I am in a way. But I really had no idea that it would be so hard for people to be a part of it.
My interest is finding out what it is that people believe in and why and what happens when part of the family believes something different.
Anyone interested in taking part?
(crickets chirping…….)
Basecamp by 37signals
There have been lots of times when I’ve wished for an easy application to take care of what ever ailed me. A few years ago I once spent a whole week of evenings trying to find just the right online calendar to sign up with so that I could view it anywhere, log in and change things from anywhere and integrate appointments from a handheld. There was none to be had that I could find. A few months ago when I tried to find one that would let both Mac and Windows users log in and view the same appointments and let both/all users add/edit/delete, I think I even heard the Internet laughing at me.
So when Joe and I started doing Crawberts fulltime and it became obvious that if we didn’t find a solution, one of us (me) was going to yank out all their (my) hair due to not being able to keep on top of what was going on with all our projects, we found Basecamp created by 37signals. I guess I had been living under a rock because I had no idea that it existed and how this was so, I’ll never know. Because I have to tell you that it has completely made my life worth living.
When Joe initially pointed out their website and told me I might like it, I was plenty skeptical. I’ve been burned after the initial blush of new-to-me techy love. There was a part of me that thought, after reading through all the material and realizing that it could actually be really cool if it actually worked like it actually said it did, that laughed and mocked my quickness to return to folly. But, once I read that these were the same people that created Ruby on Rails, I was ready to give it a try. That, and they offer a free plan with great functionality which I initially signed up for. I think it was about 15 minutes between that and upgrading to the next level up and about 3 months before upgrading again. And as if that weren’t enough, remember when the ‘yellow fade’ first came out? Them.
Since then, Jason Fried has become one of my heroes. The more I learn about him and read things he’s (co)written, I’m thankful that there is an example out there of how to do it right.
My favorite Basecamp features:
1. It actually works like it says it will.
2. You can import writeboards from one project to another as well as view the last and current versions of any writeboard you are editing.
3. All milestones for all projects are viewable from one page or per project.
4. Auto-emailers for new messages for the entire crew with one tick box.
5. So freakin’ easy to learn and navigate that you forget you never knew how to use it.
6. It actually WORKS like it says it will!
7. They are still making improvements like the new time log for hours worked by employees. Huzzah!
8. From the client’s perspective, they don’t ever leave our site.
Things I wish it had or that I could customize:
1. Color-coding the projects in the milestone calendar on the main page view
2. As the main Admin, I wish I received an email no matter who posts a message and no matter where they post it instead of them having to add me to the list. When I’m juggling so many clients/programmers and there are lots of new messages coming in, I don’t always remember to check where I might have missed one. When a client or programmer forgets to include me in the message thread, I sometimes miss the message for a few hours/days and that is potentially sad. There may be something I’ve been unable to find that would make this possible.
All in all, a 5 star product that I’m proud to recommend. And just using it every day reminds me that my plans to create a new division of the company and have it work really, really right might not be so far fetched.
Gardening with Mom and Dad
Here is a photo of the awesome Southern Utah dirt in my parent’s backyard.
I kept asking if I could bring some home but they just gave 3 huge boxes to my sister and her husband and you can only spare a few hundred pounds a year, yo. But, I better be next! I just want my tomatoes to taste as good as my Dads. Oh ho ho yum! I think it’s the iron in the soil. And, they sent me home with tons of delicious nutrients and treatments for our soil. No real complaints here. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Every spring, my parents plan out their garden, including the greenhouse, for optimal growth and beauty. It usually starts like this:
New Ring
Joe bought this for me on the way back home from rural Utah. I quite like it. I’m very into milky Butterscotch Amber and odd colors of Turquoise, sometimes white or robin’s egg blue but the green of this stone really called to me.
I wondered if it is Gaspeite or possibly Chrysoprase. Anyone know? It has tiny reddish/brown veins running around in it.
Trip Details (More Than You Want to Know Most Likely)
I have the stomach flu and it sucks. A little going away present from Utah, I think.
For all the highlights, go read Joe’s blog. He’s been writing up a storm about Ty’s vomit, the cherry blossoms, how awesome the dirt from southern Utah is, that he likes to bet the boys, hiding Easter eggs and what Zion means.
Technical Difficulties
Let’s try again tomorrow.
Please Leave a Message
Guess what? I’m not here. I’m driving to my niece, Alison’s, wedding to the awesome Tony which is to be held deep in the bosom of Utah. Or, if it’s Friday, I’m helping to decorate. Or if it’s Saturday, I’m actually at the ceremony, crying and hugging people and shooting photos of the lovely event. Or if it’s Sunday, I’m driving to my parent’s home. And, if it’s Monday, I’m driving back through Death Valley, passing the alien that sells beef jerky and the world’s largest thermometer, and almost home.
In the meantime, should you miss me, you can browse through the new favorites page I created just for you. Yes! You! You’ll find the most hit entries from the past 3 years plus I tossed in a couple of my own favorites that don’t get enough love.
Also, there are the interviews, flickr and the columns. And, on Monday, a new interview will magically appear even though I’m not even here!! I would tell you who it is but that would totally ruin the surprise. But I’ll give you a hint: it’s someone that is crafty.
That should totally cover you until I get back.
xo
Perfection
Finally, we have the equation for the perfect female rear. Phew. That’s a load off. Thanks, everyone.
Mr. Holmes’ equation looks like this:
“The magical figures are (S+C) x (B+F)/T = V. Though the equation looks rather complicated, it is, according to the scientist, simple.
It assesses shape, bounce, firmness and symmetry – all factors that add up to the bottom line.
S is the overall shape or droopiness of the bottom, C represents how spherical the buttocks are, B measures muscular wobble or bounce, while F records the firmness.
V is the hip to waist ratio, or symmetry of the bottom, and T measures the skin texture and presence of cellulite.”
So, that would make (S+C) x (B+F)/T = V is to female rear like (L+M) x (N+O)/P = Q is to perfect man personality.
L is the overall sensitivity of the personality, M represents how sarcastic his remarks get the closer his female companions get to menses, N measures willingness to give up the remote control, while O records his ability to be gentle yet firm when he sees his ass-kickin wife working too hard and shoos her off to bed at 2:30 am.
P is the snark to bitter ratio, or symmetry of the humor, and Q measures the grace with which he perform housely and/or husbandly duties and the number of occasions he remembers that his wife/partner/girlfriend is actually the most beautiful person on the entire planet and does, in fact have, the best butt.
We could shorten the equation to LMNOP/Q, which is famously already taught to our youth at a very young and impressionable age. Could we use also the equation for the perfect martini?
via Boing Boing
Stability
I’m never going to be the Stable Parent. First of all, there is no way to compete with my ex. He is stability personified when it comes to All Thing Stable. Second of all, he is the King because he’s making the list of the things that you are supposed to do or be to be called Stable so of course, he has more (all) of those listed attributes and I have maybe 2 which are a) be a human being and b) be alive.
When he knew me, when we were married, I was vacillating between Super Mormon Mom and complete wreck so it’s understandable to some degree that he has a hard time seeing me as something else, someone New & Improved, Edition 7.7. And it’s not that I care what he thinks about me but I totally care how his perceptions create his resistance to me being as much a mom as I can be to our kids. The way he speaks about me to his family, to his wife, where the kids can hear; casually disdainful of me. Every time he says something unflattering about me where the kids can hear they are faced with a decision about how to digest that information. They can’t really agree with him, because they don’t feel the same way, but they can’t really disagree with him either because then they would feel dumb. So they don’t know how to feel. They love both of us and don’t want to hurt either one of us. How sucky that they have to worry about it at all.
I don’t subscribe to his list. I don’t think that working 20-hour days year after year is the only answer to creating a home. It works for him. Awesome. For him. But I can create a life that is just as viable for my children and not have to have the same income. I can talk openly with them about how they and I are feeling and not pretend to be stoic if I don’t feel it organically. I don’t believe it’s healthier to make sure that the kids are in activities 24/7 all year round. It’s fine if they want to. But I don’t want to make them join every sport or convince them that they want to. Some of the kids might like to try having some down time or join a different kind of class besides the ones he thinks are cool. Because no matter what he thinks, those kids want to impress him and so they choose to join the things where he’s going to think they are the coolest. I think it should be the other way around – let them pick what they want and then think they are the coolest for doing what they love. And I don’t believe in making them go to a church that they don’t embrace purely because that is how it’s done or ‘what is right’. I want them to pick for themselves what spiritual avenue they will take and find what speaks to their souls. (more…)
Tony Pickles, Oh Dang!
Anthony has always liked pickles. He used to LOVE pickles to the tune of sneaking entire bottles and finishing them off by drinking the juice but it’s now down to a more reasonable level of a few spears every day or so. He used to walk around with his skin slightly yellow and the scent of parfum de vinaigre in a cloud about him.
He’s graduated his love of pickles to the creation level. He now enjoys making them. We’ve made them a few times over the past couple of years together with a different recipe each time. His favorites are the ones with just dill and garlic. Some of them have been pretty great. In the last batch we threw in half a teaspoon of Peppercorn Mélange which adds a little kick. He wants to create a business and sell them. I tell him, sure. We can do that. And maybe we will.
He’s into art; all kinds. Have you seen his Flash movie? He’s working on a second one with an elaborate storyline of a fallen angel, his best friend and how he gets redemption. The drama gets quite diverse and deep. I think he’s going to be quite a storyteller. We bought him his own art supplies today. He got his first set of acrylics, a mixer tray with attached lidded pots, a 20″x24″ canvas, a brush set, a tiny pink soap and a color wheel.
He calls it his first ‘real’ painting. He’s very proud of it. He keeps checking with me to see if I think it’s ‘good’ or how much I think someone might buy it for. I tell him it speaks to me about duality and contrast. Maybe something about keeping things in balance. But that isn’t what he wants to hear so I tell him it’s fantastic and I mean it. I do think it’s fantastic. But I’m his mom, so it doesn’t count. I don’t know how many times since he was much younger that we’ve talked about art and how it’s so subjective and impossible to classify ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and yet that was one of the first questions out of his mouth when he finished. He also has a deep yearning to be famous. I don’t doubt that he will be someday. I just hope it’s for something that is worthwhile and not something he’ll feel bad about later like going on the first reality TV show that comes knocking. I hope he holds out for one that is really awesome like this one.
If I could afford to, I’d buy him a digital camcorder. He loves my phone because of its capability to create small movies. Here is one where he finally got me to smile even though we bet he couldn’t. We were at the track meet last Saturday waiting for his turn to go and run the 100 meter dash. It was a looooooong day. The day that never ended. The day where the parent volunteers kept not showing up at their assigned places and we had to listen to ‘Could the parent volunteers who signed up for the long jump please report for afternoon duty?’ every five minutes. Seriously. Long day. I didn’t feel like smiling, but his awesome finger tricks totally killed and I had no choice.
He likes to do imitations of people and is in a serious Listening to How That Sounds Again, phase. He says the same phrase over and over until he perfects how he wants it to sound or makes the same noise over and over until I think I might need to chop my ears off or until he finally gets it right. Here is an example. Oh, dang, he’s cute.
Danah Boyd on O'Reilly
Danah Boyd on O’Reilly talking about MySpace. I originally saw this great article linked from Matt H.
via Plasticbag.
Reality TV and Other Nonsense with No Segues
I’m hooked on Wife Swap. Holy cow. Watching someone for an hour get dropped into a brand new element to see what happens? People experiments! Yea! Devon and I always make bets on which mom is going to cry first. I can just hear the cackling going on in the board room at the station where they decide which moms trade with whom.
“Hello New Family! I’m from a highly Christian and religious family. You are devil worshippers? Wha…?”
Crying ensues. Don’t they know going in that they are going to get messed over? It’s kind of the point of the show. Watching it reinforces my theory that people just want to stay in their comfort zone, even if it really sucks on many levels, simply because they know it.
And directly afterwards is Super Nanny. I love Jo. She kicks so much butt in so many ways. My kids are way older than the kids they always work with on the show but I don’t care. I tune in to see her mastery anyway but mostly to hear her say, ‘That is not assep’able!’ And this season, she gives out tips! For free! Because, the naughty spot could be here or here or here! It could be everywhere!
(more…)
MacGathering and SoHo Tech Show
Look. It’s us. We’ll be speaking at the upcoming MacGathering and SoHo Tech Show in LA coming up in May.
Overheard
Tony on the phone with his friend, talking about the upcoming History Day assignment:
“Ok, you’re going to be John the Baptist and I’m going to be Jesus.
No, I want to be Jesus.
What do you mean?
But, why would you want to be a Roman god when you could be the real God?
Fine, you be Jesus Christ and I’ll be John.”
