Kat Allmighty

Cabin Fever Craft Kit Roundup!

2010-02-24T08:42:00.004-06:00

Seeing as my newfound madness for all things polymer clay has helped to cure my cabin fever woes, I thought that this week I would look for some other good things to cure cabin fever with! So without further ado, here are four awesome (green for St. Patty's) kits from Etsy!

For those seamstresses out there who want something new to put on the sewing machine, here is a Twirly Swirly Ruffled Swing Top for your little girl from Littlefishbigpond. It has everything but the sewing machine and thread. And such cute green fabric, pre-cut, of course, for maximum convinience.

Speaking of kiddos, get yours involved in the crafting, by having them help you. Make a festive Green Paper Chain for your St. Patrick's Day decorations with this hip kit from CrownPaperie!

Keep warm at the St. Pat's Parade with this awesome warm Felted Scarf Kit from Etsy seller Kallerin. The kit uses Shetland yarn. Needles not provided.

And last but not least, 10eisha brings us this Green Dotted Birdcage Veil Kit for doing it up in style at all the holiday parties! How could anyone not love such a fabulous accesory?!

That pretty much wraps it up for this week. Please pick up something to do during the long grey days of winter. We don't want winter to be a scene from the Shining. Be sure to check out some polymer art in my shop here and here. Also check us out in today's edition of the Journal and Courier.

Work as Usual

2010-02-22T13:30:00.008-06:00

Busy weekend! Sorry for the day delay in updates, but I have been a workin' mama the past few days! Kyle and I are working on our collaborative art project for the gallery show in April, Kyle and I are collaborating with Annarae on some tech for her masters thesis project.

Yesterday we had lunch together at Anna's house and beforehand we made a bunch of origami stuff for a hostess gift. Look at the star I made!!! It was wonderful and lunch was a blast. (A+++ Would eat from again)

As if that weren't enough I taught Kyle crochet so that we can do some soft graffiti together. If you're in Lafayette, you should check out our first piece in person. I have loved soft graffiti since I first saw it three years ago on the Masquerade Blog. (So awesome!!) Kyle has been enthralled with it too, so we picked up some things at the craft store, and had a crochet lesson. Many thanks to Angela at the Lala Gallery for kindly giving us the site for our installation.

Last night Angela came over and we made polymer clay beads and pendants for an upcoming piece in the Journal and Courier on overcoming cabin fever. (for sale on Etsy later this week!) We went on a giant texture hunt throughout my entire house.

When you really look, it is amazing how much texture we have in our daily lives. It sort of reminded me of something out of The Island of the Colorblind by Oliver Sacks. In the book he talks about people who are born with no ability to see color, and how without that distraction they can see textures so rich that are practically invisible to the color seeing eye. Once you start to look for it, it is amazing how much texture there is in your life.

So we made polymer clay jewelry! I managed to dig up some suggested techniques from an old copy of Bead and Button Magazine which helped us tremendously. A few pointers from our toils of last night:

Use playing cards to control the thickness of the clay you are rolling out. 6 to 8 cards on each side of the clay offer a fairly stable consistent thickness.

You don't need a fancy rolling tool. We used an ink pen and it worked just fine.
Texture is FABULOUS! If it's hard to see, don't worry. We applied washes of acrylic paint to the finished projects before sealing them.
Be sure that your clay is all the way set and cool from the oven before you finish detailing and sealing it.

Past that there are some great tutorials out there. Good luck and have fun!

My Inspiration - Sixties Interiors

2010-02-15T09:40:00.004-06:00

One of the places I pull a major part of my asthetic from is 60's/70's era interior design. Whether it is weirdly wonderful, or just plain weird, I'll take it all. I have always really adored that sort of feel in interiors. My grandmother decorated with wild lamps and big owls from that time period in her fabulous mish of a house.

James Lileks is probably the first place that really focused and put into words the wonderful wonkyness for me with his Interior Desecrations, a wonderful foray into the world of, "What in the HELL were they thinking?" He even wrote a book on the topic available at Amazon.

I look and look for books of interior design from that era. You can buy some repurposed at my Etsy shop in the form of Regrettable Design Cards.

I also love the DIY Crafting movement of that era. I am forever looking for more and more unique crafting books. (I occasionally come off of some of my stash.) They just have such a wide and great variety of projects and ideas in them that keep me pushing my skill set outwards and upwards.

Sorry for the late update this week. Stuff is starting to get crazy busy now that I'm seriously buckling down on getting paintings done for the gallery show in April. (That's next month, yo.)

SPECIAL!!!

2010-02-14T08:26:00.004-06:00

So for this week's post, I am announcing my first ever featured item sale on Etsy! I sew a ton, and sometimes I custom make notions to fix some issue or other that I have.

That's what I did with the item I am featuring is the Needle Roll. I made it because pincushions just don't work for me. I travel a lot, and I basically need a traveling workshop. Needles were always sliding out of pincushions, or getting lost inside of them. I quit using them and started sliding them into the fabric in part of my sewing bag, but they would stab me.

Because of that, I started making these needle rolls. I LOVE mine! It keeps all my needles organized by size and purpose, and they don't get dull, bent, lost or stabby.

Until March 1, they are on sale for $2 at my shop, or free with any purchase over $10. Enjoy.

Great Glass Roundup.

2010-02-07T18:07:00.002-06:00

Since I was so inspired by the Chihuly exhibit last weekend, I decided to share. Here are five pieces from ten sellers that I feel channel the colors, forms and spirit of what I felt at the conservatory.

First up is this gorgeous aqua hummingbird feeder from Etsy seller Glorious Glass Garden. The colors in this shop are so vibrant, and the outdoor nature of the brilliant glass is a win-win.

Remson Glass Works has a gorgeous hand blown ruffle edged bowl that evokes images of Chihuly's Macchia.

Chihuly makes some of the largest glass floats in the world. Scale them to fit in your home with a Blown Glass Oregon Coast Sea Float from Oberini.

Use glass to mimic the forms of nature by adding a fiddlestick from Glass Garden NW to your garden. Bright and beautiful!

Add some Venetian style with an abstract handled vase hand blown by undefined art.

These are just some of the awesome glass to be found on Etsy. It's amazing to see what a true craftsperson can do.

Belated Family Christmas with Chihuly.

2010-01-31T17:30:00.005-06:00

So, we apparently have belated Christmas on a regular basis in our family. This weekend served as our get-together, and get together we did in Columbus, OH at the Franklin Park Conservatory, where they are having an exhibit in the gardens called "Chihuly Re imagined."

I've been boning up on Chihuly for just this occasion, as I wanted to be super familiar with his stuff before we went. I like to do that so I can appreciate more of the work that goes into creating what I am in the presence of. If you want to get a good eye for the work that he does, I suggest the book Chihuly: 365 Days. In that book, he said something that caught my eye and really got me going. Something I needed to see.

"Now the issue of what I am - am I a craftsman? Am I a designer? an artist? Or just what am I? This issue is much less important to me today. To be really honest, I don't' care what they call me or my work, as long as they look at it."

Reading that makes me feel better, and somewhat less marginalized with some of the comments concerning the upcoming gallery show. (this just in - Kyle and I are having a gallery show in April. Do come.)

Anyways, the glass was amazing, as was the conservatory. All and all, we had a wonderful get together. Enjoy the pictures!

Man oh Man Have I been Busy!

2009-11-02T17:14:00.004-06:00

Just putting up some quick shots of a baby gift I made as a custom order. A baby blanket and three bibs for a little girl named Emerson.

Working on getting new product made for my Etsy, custom orders, and Christmas presents.

Done Making Baby Stuff At Long Last

2009-07-05T14:45:00.003-05:00

I would just like to say that it really does take a whole weekend to put together a really fantastic baby gift.

I present to you the "Pile for Nichole." Kyle's half sister who is having her first girl sometime in the incredibly near future. (It will be a small miracle if this stuff gets there before the baby.)

The contents of her package, all handmade are as follows:

6 Bibs
5 Onsies
4 Burp cloths
2 Wrap shirts
1 Baby Bonnet

I should have made three of something, just so I could have a numbered list. Except that I am now done making baby stuff for a long, long time.

Come See What I've Been Doing!

2009-05-30T15:12:00.004-05:00

So for about the past month, I've been sewing up a storm and working on the grand re-launch of my Etsy store! That's right! Super-sweet awesome news for those of you who don't get into downtown very often and want to check out or buy my stuff! For those of you who don't know, Etsy is a place for buying and selling handmade goods.

I have a ton of new product, and new product ideas. Today I started making ties. Really nice, hand stitched numbers. They've been coming out better than I could ever have hoped. The one on the left is the try-it-out tie in fabric that I really can't find people who care about what happens to it. Hopefully I'll have a bunch of them up on Etsy this week.

I am also ever-hopeful that Kyle will make and put up some robots and/or vintage electronics. Our plan is for the space on Etsy to be for both of us. I'm working on finishing a new graphic for it this weekend that has both of us. I am also hopeful that Kyle can get my blog up and running on his server. It's nice to slowly mesh your life with someone else's. Really really nice.

Today is my first ever feature on Etsy, and it is for my handmade cards. Pictured at right is the image off of one of my Rainbow of Regrettable Design cards. They are in various color packs, four cards each, with images from the 1967 Better Homes and Gardens Interior Design Book. (A Goodwill Find) They are awful, and I love them. I have to be honest though, I made so many cards getting ready for this that I really don't care to ever make them again. I'm on to ties now, until the same thing happens, and/or we get a new Apron Show, which is a distinct possibility later this summer.

206 Railroad

2009-01-03T15:31:00.003-06:00

Kyle and I went out adventuring this weekend, and after a long absence I finally updated Abandoned Indiana with some of my photographs.

Pictured is a deteriorating house in Battleground. Enjoy!

Links of Utility!

2008-10-22T12:03:00.004-05:00

I would just like to begin this post by posing that the lip balm I bought last week out of necessity is quite a lot like kissing a smoker when you put it on. It's PepsiCo's Aquafina branded lip balm distributed by Added Extras, LLC. I will qualify that statement by saying that branding lip balm off of bottled water is in it's self strange. I mean, what flavor do you really expect it to have? I maintain, however that it both tastes and smells like someone with a pack-a-day habit. Gross.

Anyways - on to the important stuff! The reason I'm throwing this up slapdash on a Wednesday afternoon. POLITICS! (dunn dunn dunnnn!) For those of you who are Indiana residents, there is a state-level judicial election this year, and before you go off to the polls and just blindly pick who wins and looses, take a moment to think.

There are three Indiana Supreme Court judges, one Indiana Apellate Court judge and one Indiana Tax Court judge up for election/re-election. The state stuck together a nice page (file cabineted rather amusingly under "retention.") for biographies and listings of both majority and minority opinions of these five seated judges. That way you can find out if you want to vote for or against keeping them. The retention site is located here: In.Gov/Judiciary/Retention.

These judges are appointed, so keep in mind that voting to oust them means that 'our man Mitch' (my asshat of the year for 2004) gets to appoint someone! Just as a point of reference, three of the judges up for election were appointed by Former Govenor Orr (r) and the remaining two were appointed by Former Govenor Bayh (d).

And if I haven't said it already, which I don't think I have, go out on November 4, and VOTE, DAMN YOU!

Octoberfest Make'N'Take!

2008-10-18T17:17:00.007-05:00

Today was Octoberfest in Lafayette! It's the second year for this festival, and it's also my second year doing a fall themed make'n'take craft at the shop.

Last year we made baby jack-o-lanerns out of oranges, one of the projects in the FABULOUS book Making Stuff - an Alternative Craft Book. They were super cute, and also a super fiasco. Make'n'take needs to be quick, and fairly un-messy, and it took between ten and twenty minutes to hollow out an orange.

This year, I found a great tutorial for making paper pumpkin ornaments. We cut paper for thirty of them last night, but when I did a trial run, it looked like an onion! With a few quick adjustments, suggested by Betsy, we were on our way.

We went through the entire first set of thirty ornaments in three hours! I cut out twenty-four more pumpkins, and we used all but the last couple. It was a really great day, and for just the second year, it was a really great festival!

Here's an action shot of my last group of little crafters. I really think we went from total failure to zen master in one year on the fall make'n'take.
There

Talk of Art

2008-09-25T17:53:00.002-05:00

I seem to be remiss in mentioning what I'm up to.

I'm working on a few art projects right now.

"Candid Conversations" are going to be a set of embroidered pillows hopefully showing in a local gallery sometime soon.

"Vision Quest" is me working on painting that which I see without my glasses - harder than you would think.

"Buildings Without" are painted photographs I have taken of abandoned buildings.

Those are the things I've been working on lately. Hopefully someday I will manage to finish them.

What Dreams May Come

2008-09-24T18:20:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Mel gave me the biggest thing I have heard yet this year. If I can make it viable, if I can pull in the extra revenue to make it possible for Blue Monday to have an employee, she will hire me full time at the shop.

The minute she said that, everything else went on the backburner. Could this be the break I was waiting for? Time will tell.

Freeganism

2008-07-09T18:44:00.004-05:00

So gradually I seem to be gravitating towards my own brand of freeganism. I've been a sometimes dumpster diver for a while now, and was recently turned on to wild foods.

The property I live on has two kinds of pears, tart cherries, weeping red mulberries, black raspberries, cultivated grapes, giant puffball mushrooms, and Chinese garlic. Upon discovering this bounty of unused food, I started to wonder what other things lay in wait in the world around me.

Over the weekend I picked up a Peterson's Field Guide, and a copy of 101 Trees of Indiana, both very good books. I've been working on identifying plants as potential food sources, and I hope to cut down on my consumption of pesticide-coated freight shipped foods. At this point in my life, I doubt I'll ever buy jam again.

I'm hosting local foods night on the 19th, and you don't have to gather your own, just buy it local, and make it yourself and come on over for some Indiana wine and fresh local foods. (P.S., Bring wine)

Yet another reason I'm someone you should make friends with before the apocalypse happens.

It's an Enormous Backlog!

2008-05-07T17:18:00.008-05:00

Moby's Tomatohol Car. Achewood. A Timely(?) comic from a story arc that ended abruptly to my great dispair. Also - I would just like to state for the record that it is nigh on impossible to find a non-ridiculous photo of a bloody mary on GIS. Also - why the hell would anyone put a pickle in a bloody mary?

= Death. Dorothy Gambrel's Photo Stream. Sometimes, there's no other way to get your point across.

The Cold Hard Facts of Life. Very Small Array. As long as I'm putting up brilliance from Dorothy I should stick this in.

Guess Who. Cat and Girl. Hmm... could it be more Dorothy? Why yes, yes I think it is.

Honey, See If The Man from Child Protective Services Would Like a Piece. The Sneeze. Well, I have to say, I was stunned the second I saw the picture.

Pay Your Uncle Pete to ask You to Be an Assasin Day. Girls Are Pretty. I am sad to say that I always missed this holiday when growing up. Had this happened at work yesterday, though, it would have been the best day of my life.

D Listed Decor. c/o Craigslist. This site just basically writes it's self.

3191. Now on to the book of evenings.

Still Life Attributes Kit. The Ornamented Table. Basically, I just want a porcelain skull.

Tea Revives You. Keep Calm and Carry On. Nice Print.

How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Recession. Salon (source link ommitted, damn you). Much as I hate linking to sites like Salon, I can't help but love Heather. An excerpt, "Sept. 11 was supposed to make us all more down-to-earth and more honorable -- you know, the way World War II traumatized the so-called Greatest Generation enough to put down the bottle and stop beating up the little Mrs.? We were supposed to choose valiant, heartfelt, courageous paths, to give of ourselves like never before, to come together as a nation. Instead, most of us have spent the last seven years monitoring Nicole Richie's eating disorder."

I have more, but there are really so many posts of archived blog-life from January people can read in one day.

Life and Love in the Fast Lane

2008-04-02T16:32:00.003-05:00

My life seems to have taken off. After getting out of my last apartment, I have found a place to truly call home. I had the brilliant idea of hiring an unpaid assistant, who turned out to be someone worth sharing my life with, and of course I am becoming more established in the local art community by the day.

I'm going to try and make a rare Friday Freeday post this week. Hope you and yours are all doing well.

Announcing!

2008-01-27T15:55:00.001-06:00

Many many moons have gone by since I have given you kind folks an update, and still you return again and again, hoping, praying. I am here to answer those hopes and prayers.

Life has become a busier place for me since moving. Projects once on the back burner have come off - new projects have materialized. Blue Monday moved down the street, and a new coffee house has opened on main street.

Also - I am getting ready to be a part of a real actual aw-shucks art show for the first time! The Apron Show opens at K.Dee's Coffee and Roasting Company this Friday.

(Free Delicious Homemade Pie if you come between seven and nine the first day. I'm just saying.)

So come out and show your support, and if you need a place to crash, my new apartment has a very reliable sofa-bed.

Why I love The "Old-School" Grocery up the Street

2007-10-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

When I lived on 9th Street I was closest to the Payless on 18th Street driving, and for a long time that was the grocery store I went to on the rare occasions I had cause to go grocery shopping.

Then I moved to an apartment with an actual kitchen and started needing a stocked pantry. About a month ago I stumbled on the Teal Road Marsh store. A neighboring businessman told me that they had gone downhill, but I needed to get some things, and I was already there, so I stopped in.

I relished it the moment I stepped in the door. Last renovated sometime in the late sixties the store screams retro from the mortar in the brick. It is clean, and it has good prices on staples along with the sort of diverse products that Walmart could never hope to have. The thing that really got me, though - the thing that keeps me coming back is the people.

Stepping into the Marsh on Teal Road is like stepping back in time forty years. The people are not only nice, but genuine. They love that you are their customer and they exude that from their smiles to their voices. They know they have a good store, and they know that is why you are there. The department managers walk the floors in button-down shirts and ties. They bag your groceries if there are no bag-boys available. They will even have a nice chat with you if you so desire.

Suffice it to say, I have never experienced anything like it, but it makes going to the grocery during the daytime fun again.

In Regards To My Radio Silence

2007-10-13T17:28:00.001-05:00

Recently I have experienced some changes in my life. What changes, you ask? How 'bout a new home, vehicle, second (third? fourth?) job, and potentially getting licensed.

In all of that I have weathered a few crises and spent a month plus two days just getting my phone service moved two blocks down the street. Let's not even speak of getting internet service in my new home.

Suffice it to say that this is all worth it, and once I get settled there will be no more teary-eyed complaints to anyone about what a horrid roach-infested slum I live in.

So bear with me, and remember - change is for the better sometimes.

MOVING!

2007-09-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

In two weeks time I will officially be able to say that I survived the NHS Nightmare. After a year of living in the ghetto, next door to a filthy male psycho with bigger tits than mine, I have found a new home.

It's cute, it's clean, it's still in downtown. SECLUDED in downtown. It's also $50/mo cheaper.

So that's the story, kids, I'm moving. Expect more of the same erratic updates for a while.

Withdrawl

2007-08-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

For the last week I've been in Monticello waiting on my car to be healed. Yesterday, I went back to spend a night at home in Lafayette, a city that I love.

I looked at an apartment in Pheasant Run out on Brady lane. It was a nice apartment - smaller than any I have ever lived in, and in an actual complex - a fairly nice one with all the amenities. I said something to Da on the way there about moving into a soul-free cement block. It was in a joking tone of voice, but the emotion ran deeper than I had expected.

Around three, I went to the shop and told Mel about my apartment find. I expected her to be happy, instead, she sat me down and told me some truth I needed to hear. "Kat, I want you to think about living outside of downtown. If you work out of town, and already have limited time in Lafayette, if everything you want to do in Lafayette is in downtown, do you really want to spend half of your limited time driving back and forth to downtown?"

"I just don't want you to get an apartment for the sake of having one."

And with that, she drove me up and down every street in the church district, where I really want to live, and we got the number for every apartment to rent in the area. Mel is pretty much the best friend you could ever have.

We got done looking for a place, and she announced her hunger. I was starving too, and while we were trying to come up with a place to eat, I realized that all I wanted was local. Lafayette is a city with more restaraunts per capita than any other in the world. About a third of those are local places, with good, unique food. We chose The Akropolis, a greek place on 26, and the air inside smelled so good I could have sustained myself on my breath alone.

After dinner, we changed and left for the Lafayette Brewing Company, where our friends, the Woodstove Flapjack Band was playing. I had a cape cod, and stood, clapping, dancing and stomping up near the stage. The band was high energy, the venue was historic. The music was amazing, and the floor projected the stomping beat up into the air. It was awesome, and a revalation. I was suffering withdrawl from the tastes and sounds of my home.

It's official, after a year and a month, Lafayette is now my home.

So I'm absent

2007-08-13T21:44:00.001-05:00

Sewing like a maniac for Lay Flats.

See you after the festival is over.

Nuclear Power is Not Fucking Green.

2007-08-10T08:30:00.000-05:00

Just read this post on TreeHugger. And While I applaud Ontario for cutting out the coal - this is a good an comendable thing. I just want to state for the record, once and for all, that NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT FUCKING GREEN.

What's that you say? Can I back it up? Why of course.

Water Pollution - Nuclear fusion makes the the source material HOT. I mean hell of fucking hot. In order to keep the reactor from melting (think Three Mile Island/Chernobyl), the rods of reactive material are kept in a constant bath of water.

From the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy's Website:

Nuclear power plants need large, continuous water supplies to cool nuclear fuel rods in the reactor core to prevent a catastrophic meltdown accident. They pose severe security threats and have the ability to contaminate large bodies of water in the event of accident. Nuclear plants also contribute to thermal pollution and radioactive contamination of waterways.

Hmm... Here's a question! Does the fuel in a nuclear power plant last for-evz? Oh geeze, the answer seems to be no.

Check out what Wikipedia has to say about Spent Nuclear Fuel.

The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, mostly spent fuel rods, contains fission products that emit beta and gamma radiation, and actinides that emit alpha particles, such as uranium-234, neptunium-237, plutonium-238 and americium-241, and even sometimes some neutron emitters such as californium (Cf). These isotopes are formed in nuclear reactors.

The intact spent fuel can be disposed as radioactive waste. The US is currently planning disposal in deep geological formations, such as Yucca Mountain, where it has to be shielded and packaged to prevent its migration to mankind's immediate environment for thousands if not millions of years.

Oh yes, children - that quote from Wiki said thousands if not millions of years. I wonder... Does that mean if we use a lot of it, we'll have a nuclear waste disposal crisis on our hands?

In case you've never heard of Yucca Mountain, it's the USA's BRILLIANT GENIUS Plan to get rid of all those pesky nuclear power castoffs by burying them in volatile earthquake-prone ground that has a nice little stream running through it to wash all the radioactivity away.

But back on topic. We're talking about how clean and good for the Earth nuclear power is. Think a little radioactivity won't bug you?

Here's a little blurb that CNN had on the effects of radiation on people back in 1999.

Severe radiation damage to the immune system can cause overwhelming infections. And although nerves and the brain are most resistant to radiation, acute exposure usually results in damage to the central nervous system. High doses can kill outright.

The long-term effects of radiation exposure can include sterility, cancer and genetic damage that can be passed to children.

Can be passed on to children? Oh yes, yes it can. Doesn't that just sound like a walk in the park?

Oh, and lest we forget. The two main points of my argument - CHERNOBYL and THREE MILE ISLAND. Weren't those Just fiascos? I'm sure it will never happen again, though. Never never. We promise to be extra special careful next time. Promise and swear.

You know the old widows are headed back to Chernobyl now. They're going to die anyways. May as well die quickly around that which is familiar.

BUT NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT FUCKING GREEN, DAMNIT!

Friday Freeday I'm off Work!

2007-08-10T06:11:00.000-05:00

Super Deluxe Edition today- I'm off work getting ready for the great yard sale tomorrow. Also, Congrats to Jackie (Pictured at right), she just had her baby shower Saturday for little Aria May, who is due from the womb in two month's time.

An Original Oz. Bibliodessy. These are some HANDSOME illustrations.

Crocs on The Escalator. Going Underground. What gets me is that most people want their mangled shoes BACK.

The Collyer Brothers. Wiki. These guys are buried in the same cemetery as Mae West.

Lay Flats Music Festival. First ever! Blue Monday will be vending (that means me!!) Stop out to hear the gang play (MMRRG, PMG, Woodstove Flapjacks, Double A Daddies etal). Some of the proceeds go to my hunny Emily and her art program at the Carey House.

Pink Martini. Not sure how I found these guys, but they're hella rad. Be sure to tune in for the streaming audio of Hey Eugene!

WebbAlert. A new podcast about that which is up in the blogosphere. Wow - two net buzzwords in one sentence. That's a record for me.

The Lad Vampire. Artists Against 419. This site leeches bandwidth from the folks who run scam banking websites for their 419 or 'Nigerian Scam' schemes by constantly reloading images from their websites. We Americans are spoiled with all the bandwidth we have to spare. These folks have to pay for theirs.

Pat is playing at the Blind Pig tonight. See poster at left, and see you there.

That is what I've got for now. Expect something special between now and Monday.

If you can't take the heat...

2007-08-07T18:42:00.000-05:00

Don't visit me anytime soon. A heat index of 101, and my apartment is only staying a couple degrees cooler than the outside! It's so hot, and I'm so poor, that I'm drinking Lafayette City water straight from the tap - notorious for tasting of the delicious chemicals in the mighty Wabash.

I helped a Purdue student move into an apartment on upper Main yesterday, and I thought the walk back down the hill was going to kill me.

Stay cool, stay safe, and tell me what you do to keep cool without air conditioning!

The comment board is open.

Stop Spending!

2007-08-01T19:20:00.000-05:00

I am working my way up to a spending freeze again. I just need to quit spending and take care of some stuff. Well wish me, everyone, I'm going to do my best.

Friday Freeday - Out of witty titles

2007-07-27T20:01:00.000-05:00

Right, so - it's err Friday? Already? Awesome - that means payday and... oh crap, freeday too. Whelp, here is what I got:

Upromise. Upromise repays existing student loans now. Wooo! Not really my normal freeday fare, but I was so hyped about paying off my own debt instead of saving up for nonexistent children that I got over it pretty fast. Wanna contribute to mine? Lemme know.

A Lulu of a Loo. CNN. There is something very disturbing about the idea of a man pissing into the open belly of a blessed virgin shaped urinal.

Screenprinting. Craftgrrl. By request.

Get Well Balloon. Craigslist. I firmly maintain that Craigslist contains things better than any shitty LOLCatz-esque internet meme. If you think lolcats are the absolute pinnacle of humor and glib wit, I firmly maintain that you loose at life.

Paint By Numbers. American History. Paint by numbers is given the short end of the stick a lot, I think. You don't HAVE to follow the numbers. Mass produced art when hacked is art enough for me.

Dom Lupo. Today's Inspiration. Illustrator Dom Lupo writes to the T.I. Blog.

Honoring the Dead. Cat and Girl.

Classically Trained Hipsters. Mother Jones.

Leaving God out of 'IT'

2007-07-26T06:45:00.000-05:00

Planned Parenthood.

I know a lot of people, and am aware that there are a lot more people out there, who read those two words and the only thing that comes to mind is abortion.

Planned Parenthood provides lots of very important services to the community that have nothing to do with abortion. They provide education and information on sexuality and reproductive health to all who might come seeking it. They fight for more than just one-sided and frankly dangerous abstinence-only health education in schools. They provide people like me with affordable reproductive health care that I would otherwise not be able to afford. However, this is all besides the point of what I'm trying to get across today, so we'll stay out of the whole Planned Parenthood good/evil debate.

The county fair is currently going on just down the street from where I live. I stopped there Tuesday to poke around and do all the normal fair stuff, including poking through the commerce tents. I had two planned stops to make while I was in the tents, one to sign the remembrance book for Lafayette's late Mayor Rhiele, and the other at Planned Parenthood.

I was raised with a sense of civic duty, and it bothers me to draw on the communities resources without giving back. I wanted to check in with PP to see if there was anything I could do to help out. While there I got engaged in an excellent conversation about the importance of information in this day and age. While I was speaking with the woman at the PP booth, another woman walked up behind me and began perusing the literature at the booth.

While the PP worker and I were talking, another woman came into the booth area and started grabbing as much of the literature as she could while the first woman started screaming at the worker and I about being baby killers. Her hysterical shrieking rose like a siren song above the voices in the crowd while her companion tried to steal or destroy as much literature as possible from the PP booth.

My only reaction to this is to wonder what the hell is wrong with these people. Sure, I'm pro-choice, and in theory, since abortion is legal, my side is winning. Even if it were the other way around, I would not commit acts of hate against pro-lifers. As much of a problem as I have with using acts of vandalism and violence to further one's cause, there is something else that disturbs me even more.

I'm sure if you read my headline you already know what my next point is going to be.

Using God's name to justify your acts.

What makes you think your cause is so holy that God will back you? God wants us to be examples unto all peoples - he wants us to go out and save the world. How is hatred and personal furtherance in any way a benefit to others? The answer is it's not.

I get this a lot at work too. Shady little people trying to use God to further their shady little deals. I don't treat the holy any different than I do the scum-ball tax evading assholes at work. In fact, if you try to use the name of God to grease my wheels in the workplace, I'm a lot more prone to squeak.

Be hateful if you want to, it's your perogative. Just do us all a favor - stop hiding behind God and be responsible for your own actions.

Craigslist Feedback

2007-07-22T10:10:00.001-05:00

FAITHFUL COFFEE POT NEEDS NEW HOME - $2

Up for adoption is a 2-year-old blue Gevallia 10 cup coffee pot with light/dark brew control. A faithful little guy, he has served me well for the past two years.

Unfortunately, I am a cold and heartless snob. Now that I have my dear departed grandmother's percolator, I can never again drink anything other than freshly perked coffee. He sat neglected and alone, crying himself to sleep at night on the corner of the kitchen counter after she came home.

Then, I redid my kitchen, and his rarely used blue face no longer went with the decor. For the last six months he's been shut in the dark in the back of a kitchen cabinet.

This will be his last chance. I need the cabinet space he takes up to store my new blender - a shiny red birthday present of wonder and joy. If no one takes him, he will most likely die alone. A sad washed up shadow of a coffee pot put away during his prime.

Please adopt him. To be sure he has a good home, there is a $2 adoption fee.

Some scale in coffee pot, can be easily cleaned. Works flawlessly.

In response to this ad, I got my first ever feedback from Craigslist today.

I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed reading your posting about the "Faithful Coffee Pot"! Even though I don't drink coffee, I just had to write and say that this was one of the funniest postings that I have seen on craigslist in a long time. Thank you!

Sincerely,
M.D.W.

Friday Freeday Automatic Update-o-rama

2007-07-06T00:45:00.000-05:00

Friday Freeday will be a little more succinct today, as I did a lot of cleaning out last week, and haven't had much surfing time this week.

Bayneham & Tyers. Rube Goldberg Machine.

Metroblogging NYC. Poop Flight. (This link is probably not mind safe)

Flickr. Abandoned Indiana. I started this photo pool a few months ago, and I have to say, the photographs are both amazing and beautiful. We apparently have a LOT of people in the Gary area.

Flickr. US Post Offices. This is an amazing collection of New Deal murals and frescoes in post offices around the state. The guy who runs it is incredibly knowledgeable on the topic.

Cat and Girl. I know where the red fern grows now.

In other news - Blue Monday Turned One! Help us celebrate by visiting our Etsy store.

On Being a Woman

2007-07-04T18:38:00.000-05:00

In the past year I have thought, more and more often on what it means to be a woman. I used to shrug off a lot of things that what I saw as "stuffy traditional" feminists turned their noses up at. Now it seems that my way of thinking is changing gradually, and that interests me.

I read an article in TIME Magazine earlier this year about Crisis Pregnancy centers and some of the lies and misinformation women visiting them might get. It made me physically sick. I am increasingly of the opinion that a womans right to choose what goes on in her body is sacred, and while abortion is something that is not right for me, far be it from me to deny any woman her right to both that choice, and the ability to have an abortion in a clean safe environment.

I was so disturbed by the article, that I called my mother to discuss it with her. My mother does not believe in abortion because of how haunted a close family friend of ours has been by her decision many many years ago. So for a while we discussed the article, and then for the first time in my life, I asked my mother her views of abortion.

When she got done explaining her reasons for being adverse to it, she encouraged my own point of view by saying this, "Kat, honey, Don't ever quit reading - never quit learning about the things you believe in. Stand behind your beliefs, but don't be afraid to change them. Take whatever stand you need to, but don't ever, ever stop learning."

A well informed opinion is something severely lacking in this world. I think that the reason the way I look at a lot of womens issues lately has changed is that I'm getting older, and putting more things into perspective for myself.

In short - I'm becoming more informed through no fault of my own, just experience. And while experience is as good a source of information as any, I am left with a sense of slacking. Like I forgot to study for the big test.

Excuse me while I hit the books.

Man - Loaning out your laptop

2007-07-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

Is not a good way to catch up on your blogging.

I'm going to write some future posts to keep you entertained while I'm away this weekend though. Happy Fourth of July!

Road Trips - Complexity Comes With Age.

2007-07-01T17:26:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine is getting married in Wapak on Saturday. Wapak is almost five hours away from my house, and a good six hours away from my work which will be my point of departure. I hadn't really thought all that hard about it until today when I found someone to be my date for the blessed event.

Road trips take more planning now than they did four years ago. My entire vacation plans changed when I realized that after vacation I was going to work two days and then drive to Ohio.

Now in the next three days I have to get my shoes fixed, find something to wear, pack, clean the car, get the oil changed, etc. etc.

I remember when a road trip meant putting $20 (a full tank) in gas in the car and driving off into the sunset. I shouldn't feel this old at 24.

Vacation

2007-07-01T10:49:00.001-05:00

Is a mighty great thing. I'll be posting a bit more frequently till Thursday - now that the cleaning is caught up and the weekend is over.

Maze has a Kid!!

2007-06-22T20:08:00.001-05:00

This is what I get for not keeping up with everyone.

Congratulations - he's a gorgeous baby boy.

Friday Freeday - Cleaning House

2007-06-22T18:11:00.000-05:00

This weekend I will be cleaning house, and I'd love to have that include some of the stuff in my bookmarks folder too. I'm promising myself not to stop till I hit the bottom and the bookmarks are empty.

Questionable Content. "My guitar does not gently weep, it screeches profanity."

Acts of Gord. Well - just the whole site, really. The final word in being a benevolent shopkeep.

Today's Inspiration. Naiad Einsel.

Platewire. Report shitty drivers - be sure to look for yourself.

Mom's Cancer. via Wiki's Comic List. Shortly after seeing this entry, I spotted the book at the library. If you've ever known someone with cancer, it's life changing.

Moose Fish. Nailing jelly to a wall. Possible? No spoilers here, suckaz.

Victoria Heritage Foundation. Limewash FAQ. ***BEWARE OF PDF***

Cardhouse. Travelling Cross Country by Train. Wow - The God of Friday Freeday himself.

SomethingAwful Forums. Matter Energy Conservation Experiment: F4A90. Probably Goons only, but it never hurts to try.

Flickr. London Underground Fashion Victims.

The Official Unofficial Achewood Boards. Who knew?

Book Cover Blog. Self explanatory - also gorgeous.

Craigslist. The true story of the "Gay Best Friend."

Mother Jones. Hypermiler.

Urban Flora. Label your Urban Landscape.

Good Magazine. Project Orange.

Love is Blind.

Flickr. Dorothy Gambrell Tattoo. Happy birthday Cat and Girl!

The Sneeze. Green is the color of going off script. My favorite ever post by Steve. (Evar!!)

The DL on all your Booze Promoting Icon Needs

2007-06-21T18:47:00.000-05:00

The new issue of Modern Drunkard Magazine is out, and they have this great article on the best alcohol icons of all times.

On the newest incarnation of Captain Morgan:

"The present, more cartoonish incarnation of the Captain was drawn by fantasy and sci-fi artist Don Maitz, and while there is still fire in the Captain’s eyes, it seems more the leer of a sexual predator than the bloodthirsty gleam of a proper pirate."

Changing Paces

2007-06-19T17:38:00.000-05:00

I've been contemplating my frankly confusing eleventy-million blog layout, and I think I'm going to combine them all here. The new version of Blogger gives me what I wanted instead of seven different blogs in the first place, and tagging allows me to organize them as such.

So here is your notice, there will be no new postings to Fo-to, Poverty or Garden Blog, and I'm going to work at converting all the important stuff over to here. In a few months, I hope to have all that done, and have just one big happy blog for you all.

Wish me luck!

K

Busting The Shaving Cream Myth

2007-06-18T17:43:00.000-05:00

There will probably be a half dozen women who read this and think I’m talking out of my ass. “Who needs shaving cream?” they’ll think to themselves, “I just shave with water – duh.” Well ladies, I’m here to tell you that there are some of us fine skinned femmes out here who have to have something between the blade and our leg or we pay for it – big time.

I have a few issues with women’s shaving cream. The first being that it costs a butt ton for not much – $6-7 for how much?! The second that it comes in a variety of packaging that is not so hot for reducing ones environmental/waste footprint. There are the ubiquitous cans full of PCP’s and miscellaneous other crap – not to mention the fabulous tubes full of gels that are made of non-biodegradeable plastics.

I’ve been toying with the idea of quiting this game of incredibly expensive packaging for a while now, but I had no idea what to use in place of it. If I shave with water or soap, I come away with giant streaks of unpleasant razorburns, so just quitting it is not an acceptable answer.

Then thunder struck and the proverbial lightbulb lit. Beloved got me a copy of Julie and Julia for Christmas, and in it the author mentioned using her husband’s neglected shaving soap in a pinch. Brilliance! I thought.

The use of shaving soap requires four implements a razor, the soap, a shaving brush, and a mug that is wide enough for the soap and shallow enough for the brush. I already had two of these items – so I quested to the store for some shaving soap and a brush. To my delight, I found a BurmaShave brush with one of their famous couplets on the box for $4.50. Appropriately, the couplet was, “The stores are full of shaving aids – but all you need is this and blades.” A box of Williams Shaving Soap was $0.93 – though I saw it Sunday at the market for $0.83.

So the time came for the great test. Would this work? Would it be insanely labourious? Who knew? but at $0.93 for probably about a month of shaving I was game.

I would like to advise that you use only the most piping hot water your sink can produce for this. In goes the soap – after one shave it seals it’s self to the bottom of your mug, so there’s less clatter after the first time. I add some hot hot water – just enough to get the soap wet, and start wisking like the devil. It took about a minute for thick, creamy soap to come up from the mug. Daubing it on with the brush it’s thick and cool – the water cools down fast. And the shave? Heavenly. It took me far less time to do my legs, with exactly the same results I would have gotten from any far more over priced method of shaving.

Having done it a couple times now, I think one cake of soap will last far more than a month, and since it only has a box as far as litter goes, I’m a lot more happy with it than with anything else I’ve used to date as far as footprint goes.

Enjoy your cans and tubes girls – I’ll keep my BurmaShave around a while.

2007-06-17T18:44:00.000-05:00

"We witnessed what we would later come to recognize as the rejuvenating power of real estate. It's what fortunate couples turn to when their sex life has faded and they're too pious for affairs. A second car might bring people together for a week or two, but a second home can revitalize a marriage for up to nine months after the closing."

-David Sedaris
Dress your family in corduroy and denim

#99 - Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

2007-06-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

100 Books Project #99
STIFF - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Mary Roach

I just finished reading STIFF this morning, and I'm going to have to say it's required reading for anyone who might eventually die.

In STIFF, Mary Roach talks about all of the various things that happen to bodies after their owners have departed from this world. It is both irreverently funny and completely informative with an extra large helping of food-for-thought.

This book is full of hope, it talks about things you can do (or not do) to make a difference after you've gone on to the next world. Personally, I loved it, and I can't imagine anyone not loving it.

Because I just haven't seen enough wanton nudity on the net lately.

2007-06-06T18:27:00.000-05:00

2007-06-03T19:57:00.001-05:00

"There are no little events in life. Those we think of no consequence might be full of fate."

-Amelia Barr

Life The Universe and Everything

2007-05-13T09:09:00.001-05:00

Preschool kids know what happens whe you get old.

Lorem Ipsum dolor sit amet

2007-05-06T18:02:00.000-05:00

Just found a really nice Lorem Ipsum generator complete with Firefox Add-on, and thought I'd share the typography lovin'.

Some other Lorem Ipsum goodness:

Lorem Ipsum Cuff Bracelet

Lipsum love on Flickr

Lorem Ipsum - The movie

Don't know what the hell I'm talking about?

Try checking out what TheStraightDope and Wikipedia have to say about Lorem Ipsum.

Free Comic Book Day

2007-05-05T14:39:00.000-05:00

I hit up the list over at Wikipedia for FCBD today and only one of them caught my eye.

Trust me - The Umbrella Academy is worth the gas it takes to get to your local comic book shop.

Showerhead Fix

2007-04-01T17:47:00.000-05:00

One more thing-

My shower head is a piece of shit.

I was going to replace it and ask the landlord to take it out of my rent, since I know he'll never get around to that shit.

Today I did something better, and cheaper. I soaked all the hard water deposits off of it, and now it runs like new.

To do this, you will need:

1 plastic baggie that can hold water
1 twistie tie
16 oz distilled white vinegar
Several Hours

Pour vinegar in plastic bag, adjust so that entire shower head is soaking in vinegar.
Use twistie tie to attach it to the pipe leading to the shower head. Twist securely.
Wait several hours.
Without removing the bag, use your fingers to rub the shower head so that the loosened crud comes off.
Remove bag and dump vinegar down the drain (also helps to clear the drain a bit.)

This fix cost me ¢25 for the vinegar.

2007-03-25T18:59:00.001-05:00

A CHAIR THAT WILL CURE ANOREXIA

2007-03-23T22:06:00.000-05:00

Shamelessly pulled from Boing Boing. I don't like doing that, but realize - I have a long history of spamming Pro-Anna/Pro-Mia boards with photos of fat kids eating cake.

When Life Hands You Lemons, Become a Great Humanitarian

2007-03-22T19:48:00.001-05:00

Today was quite the day in our office. It actually taught me a little something about myself. You see, I consider myself a feminist. Not in any manner that most people would associate with that word. Sure, I cook and clean and sew little bunnies (really, I do), but I also have a hands on approach to being a woman. That means I don't stand down. I have verbally castrated more than one mechanic for trying to dismiss the true problems with my beloved, elderly Mustang. My bureaucratic landlord? Never stood a chance.

That's all well and good, but there are some heads that won't be turned. Either by choice or convention, some people can not and/or should not be wrangled with. Enter two such men from either side of that spectrum.

Cass - The Good Ol' Boy's Good Ol' Boy

Being one of the GOB squad has some advantages. The smile/handshake combo that opens doors no one knew existed in the first place comes to mind the quickest. With Hundreds of acres of ground spread across four or five states, Cass is the aging 'gentleman' from an era gone by. A time when every word that came from him was charming.

The first words Cass ever spoke to me were, "Hey darlin, Is your boss-man still treatin' you like a lay-dee? C'mon. You can tell uncle Cass." This was his preface to fine-tuning a real estate deal he had been working on at the time. It made me cringe.

But my fondest and possibly most horrifying memory of Cass is of him at the closing table buying property from a woman I've known since highschool. Watching a grown, married woman fawn at him, laugh at his jokes and just generally be the congenial hostess to his forty-year-old wit made me want to gag. Any ideas I might be entertaining about this woman being any sort of a role model went out the window at that closing.

Sant - The Great Humanitarian

Of course Cass is offset by another 'gentleman' who stopped in today, Sant.

If I had to guess, I'd say Sant is in his late seventies. A shabby-looking shabbily dressed man who has spent the larger part of the past decade gifting the poor disease-ridden people of Honduras with the honor of breathing their air. Probably the nicest thing I can say about Sant is that he is a huckster. He hates the government, and thinks that all laws should exclude him. After all, he is a great humanitarian. Something he will never tire of telling you all about.

He also believes women should be seen and not heard. A woman do a closing? I - or he, rather - thinks not. In the past six or so months Sant has been kicked out of numerous title companies, banks, law offices, real estate agencies, and probably a house or two. You see, these people don't understand just what a great humanitarian he really is. Silly them.

The painful thing about Sant is the reaction he draws. In the outrageous reactions he pulls from people, he gets power.

It all comes down to this. I have to choose my battles. Sure, Cass makes me want to throw up on his shoes. Did you really have to think all that hard to realize that I would love nothing more than to punch Sant in the face? On some level, it is insulting to ignore either of them. As sell-out as it sounds, I'd rather put food on my table and gas in my car.

Then again, that's not really sell out at all. Instead of dealing with these two bozos, I can just roll my eyes and go on with life. Why waste my time? I have bigger fish to fry.

I still want to punch Sant though.

The End (and not a very happy one at that)

2007-03-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

After more than two months, 19-year-old Purdue Freshman, Wade Steffey has been found.

He was found yesterday, somewhat less than fifty yards from his last known whereabouts, in a building that had been searched a half dozen times by everyone from civillians to RESCUE DOGS.

The only thing I can say about the conditions under which the body was found is this - Inexcuseable.

It is inexcuseable to me that the door was unlocked. Inexcuseable that it was unmarked. Completely inexcuseable that it was not searched. So they would have had to cut power to Owen Hall? It's a missing person for Christ's sake - that's sort of the point, isn't it?

This is what a bureaucracy that doesn't believe we can wipe our own noses gifts us with. Unmarked doors to dangerous rooms. Kept unmarked by the belief that such measures will keep 'daring' college students out.

I could rail on for days on the injustice. I could write volumes on how senseless the loss was.

What I will do instead is this. I will say what hasn't been said about the community.

I am a resident of Downtown Lafayette. I am a member of the Merchant's Association, and more importantly of the community as a whole. I am involved, and I do what I can to make a difference, but there is a limit to what the I can do.

Without the rest of the community, the I would never have been able to pour hundreds of man-hours into finding Wade. His face is plastered in a thousand store windows on both sides of the Wabash. It graces billboards and has appeared on CBS and Without a Trace.

Hands down, this is one of the finest communities that I have ever had the honor to live in. When Wade Steffey went missing on February 12, we buckled in for the long haul. We all went to searches or to the vigil. We all helped raise money or said prayers. Wether each individual did or helped to do one tiny part in the search, that person was there in spirit the whole way.

Wade Steffey will be missed. His loss is not to be trivialized in any way by what I am saying.

I suggest, however, that his loss helped us to find some of what we already had.

Body Found in Owen Hall

2007-03-19T20:37:00.000-05:00

I guess I'm not breaking any news here. I've known about this since quarter after five, but I just saw it on Blog Alice and WLFI, and it's mindfucking me to some extent, so I present to you some news.

Today a body was found in the restricted-access high-voltage room in Owen Hall at Purdue University. Owen hall is the last known location of Wade Steffey, a Purdue student who has been missing for more than two months.

I've been reading the newest stuff I can on it for an hour now. All I can say is that this is chilling. Chilling to the bone.

I guess we will know more come morning.

Steffey family, know that my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Treasure in the Attic

2007-02-05T06:22:00.000-06:00

So I am a hoarder. Friday I made a dress out of a half yard of green poplin from Jo-Anne, a thrift store cami, and an old woman nightgown I found in the free box at the Our Lady of the Lakes rummage sale about two years ago.

The thing about being a crap hound, to me at least, is that I am also a nerd, and as such I have to know about the things I am collecting. For instance, a chance purchase of a broken $3 lighter at a garage sale led to what is probably a lifelong hobby of collecting and restoring Ronson Art Metalworks pieces.

Anyways, all that aside, I have come into new treasures from multiple places this past week, and I would like to chit-chat about them to the whole five people who actually read this blog on a regular basis.

First off, at a going out of business store in Monticello, which I will be re-visiting later today, I found two games, Pounce and Tally Ho!, both by Whitman circa 1961. They are two cute additions to my vintage game collection, and they help to soothe the loss of several of my best pieces to a leaky roof last year. Pounce is a Parcheesi-esque strategy game that came with all the pieces, and a box which aside from some pencil markings on the cover was in good condition. According to the various people online with a copy for sale I got a $40 out-of-print game for about $0.50.

Tally Ho! was a bit harder to find. It is the same year and publisher as pounce, but apparently it's a lot less common. From what I can tell, it is based off of the scads of searching I did on the internet, it's worth about $20 in it's current condition, that is sans spinner and pieces. It does look delightful, however. Wouldn't you agree?

I'd love to know more about Whitman and the games it produced, but can't seem to find anything more on it online. I started a talk page at Wiki about it. Comment here or post there if you'd like to help me in my quest for more information.

I found a little glass owl that matches the one the exterminators broke earlier this year when they knocked a shelf out of a kitchen cabinet without telling anyone. It had a tiny geode, a small Yale Lock, a Game Token and an Oriental coin inside! It was in my grandmother's house. We went to help my uncle clean it out in order to sell it. My grandmother had the same taste for treasure that I did, and so while there, we found a bunch of treasures.

My grandmother loved owls, so in addition to the glass owl, she also had a cast iron owl trivet from the sixties, and a section of louvred wooden blind she used as a rolodex that had owls decopaged onto it. I always did think that was a fabulous idea.

Curses to the US Patent Office! I found a fantastic desk lamp at my grandmothers. The only markings on it are "Universal Electric Log Co, Chicago IL, No. 33" stamped into the cast iron base and two patent numbers (1858196 & 1858197) with the company name Belden on the plug. It would only show me the first page of the second patent once. Nothing more. It is a great lamp. Brown enamel on metal with a shell base (possibly an ash tray?) a flexy neck and s big metal scoop-type shade. I'm guessing forties or fifties from the construct.

Next I suppose, would be some of the kitchen items. I'll start with the pie server. My grandmother loved sterling silverware. It was the only kind she used. My cousin made off with most of it, but she did leave a few pieces behind. I went with the idea of getting a couple of spoons from the set, because that's what I remember using the most as a kid, and I returned with a half dozen butter knives and a pie server. The pie server is the only piece with enough of a maker's mark to find online. It's Onieda from the early sixties, the pattern is called Heather or Meadowbrook, and it's quite lovely.

I'm going to split this into two posts for a number of reasons, the main one being that I'm not done treasure hunting yet this week, but I will leave you with one more find. The most fascinating thing about being a hoarder, for me anyways, is learning about stuff. Last night I was trying to find a mug for shaving soap at the parent's house, and I came across a little mug that my parents have had (and my mother has hated) since before I was born. It's a McDonald's mug, and I figured it would probably be a collectible, so I looked it up online. Come to find out, it's a Fire King mug from Anchor Hocking, and there is a whole subculture on the internet of people who collect this stuff. It's a cute mint little piece that's from the early sixties and probably worth about $12.

Time for Wrist Warmers

2007-02-04T22:28:00.000-06:00

It's effing cold outside. stay indoors where it's warm. I, for one, will be starting a pair of wristies and cleaning indoors tommorow.

I found the pattern for these at Lion brand yarn's website, and I think the wrist warmers look just scrumptious.

We'll see what I think after I get started on them - something I've been putting off now for a couple of weeks.

Also - Tommorow should see a post on recent treasures I've found. Keep warm and have a nice night!

Take One Guess What Day it Is.

2007-02-02T05:57:00.000-06:00

Widget. Annarae.com. EZ Rejection Form Letter.

Pet Project. Indiana. State Historical Markers by County. Easy idea for a road trip, anyone?

Comic. Beekeeper. Bee is a smart snappy girl with unending curiosity and a penchant for getting into trouble. I picked up a copy of the first Bee book, Shutterbug Follies, a year ago and have been hooked ever since.

Adorn. Veer. Lorem Ipsum cuff bracelet. A stylish and incredibly witty piece of jewelry.

Disturbing. Blog Alice. A Purdue student went missing. This is what the news didn't mention.

Imenint Domain. The New Yorker. A look back on the man who introduced this concept.

Love Thursday (Again, Finally)

2007-01-18T17:59:00.000-06:00

I was on the phone the other day with Beloved, and made mention of how much I love my cat. This caused the following conversation:

Beloved: And your kitty-kat's name is?
Zoesdare: Raja
B: And your kitty-kat's name is?
Z: ...Raja?
B: [british accent] And your kitty-kat's name is?
Z: Raja
B: [whispers] And your kitty-kat's name is?
Z: [whispers] Raja
B: And why do you love him?
Z: Because he rocks
B: And why do you love him?

You can imagine where it went from there. It was completely unexpected, and completely and thoroughly delightful. Sort of like an impromptu song, which is what it was. It's just another reason I adore him so.

About My Cat

2007-01-12T21:46:00.000-06:00

Kat: my cat
Kat: will not eat moist cat food
Kat: because he is an ass

Beau: that's a cat for you

Friday Freeday - It's gross outside

2007-01-12T18:31:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've done an actual Freeday post, so I sort of have a buildup of interesting things to link to.

First up - Congratulations are in order for Maze - he's going to be a father!

Right - now on to the gratuitous linking!

Sketches. Patent Room.Com. Currently, my guilty pleasure is reading the interesting history/commentary in the sidenotes of the various patents here. They range from the wierd to the wonderful.

Current Events. Riverbend Blog. An Iraqi girl-blog. I find it interesting that she speaks the same way of Maliki that I do of Bush. Her thoughts on the Hussein lynching. I post this realizing that I'm going to catch a lot of flak for it. Got issues with people who listen to both sides of the story? Tough shit.

Book Blog. Julie/Julia. Scott got me the book for Christmas. I'm determined now to read the blog. If you get time and have a copy, Julie and Julia is an excellent read. My favorite part of the book? The unintentional history. By being someone who wrote about something she did in our day and time, she has recorded a unique perspective of actual historic events that have nothing to do with what she was writing about. I thought it was neat anyways.

Movies. Breakfast at Tiffany's. I saw this the other day, it's a classic, and decided it might be scandalous that I'd not seen it. I got it, and did not regrett.

Goons. There's a new Ambulance-driver Stories Thread happening, and you can find it here.

General Interest. Wired. Guy offering $1,000,000.00 to someone who proves existence of the paranormal. Great article, though it's been done before - by Scientific American, no less. It's even been written about recently in a 2005 book by Joseph Gangemi - Inamorata.

Deaths. Yvvone De Carlo died this week - She was best known as Lilly Munster. She's the one pictured at left.

QOD

2007-01-10T20:20:00.000-06:00

"The thing about not having parents is you don't have anyone to tell you you're heading down a path paved with retardedness."

(excerpt) John Dies at the End Pt2

It's out, and just as marvellous as you have now come to expect!

The Vagaries of Cancellation

2007-01-07T17:29:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to direct your attention to this very good article from PCWorld about cancelling online services. In which PCWorld author Tom Spring subscribed to 32 online services and then promptly tried to cancel them.

"Thinking that I had properly canceled my contract with the dating service True.com within two weeks of signing up, I expected to be charged for one month of service: $50. Two months later, however, my credit card statement showed $153 in True.com charges. It turns out that rather than canceling my account, I had merely suspended it temporarily--and in the process, I had also unwittingly signed up for an additional True.com service to help me improve my profile, at $1 per month."

Friday Freeday-Tracking Shit Down

2007-01-05T19:59:00.000-06:00

I have had this image kicking around on my computer for a couple of months now. For the uneducated, I will start from the beginning. Pictured, at right, is a woman in white lingere standing next to a Dalek with a small toy Dalek in her hand.

Being someone who was both raised on sci-fi classics like Doctor Who and enjoys the female form, I was instantly interested in this picture when I stumbled across it in some random bout of websurfing to which I am prone.

I immediately saved it, because you never know when some Dalek Pr0n source images will come in handy. After a copy was saved for posterity, I found myself wondering what actually birthed this image. Was this some strange and exotic fetish I had never before heard of? Are Daleks really as hot as all that? Who is this mystery woman, and why is she missing most of her clothes? More importantly, why is she missing most of her clothes next to a Dalek?

Unfortunately the nameless blog I found it on was in a foreign language. At the time, I was not interested enough to investigate further, and the image sat on my hard drive mostly forgotten. Until today, that is. I was straightening up some folders on my desktop when I ran across good ol' Dalek1.jpg (pictured above) I shared it with Bakemod, who suprisingly was unfamiliar with the Dalek race, and also, in fact, Dr. Who, and he asked a suprisingly simple question that got me hot on the trail of our mystery Dalek-humping woman. "Where did you find this?"

A few minutes of searching provided me with this article from the Tiny Nibbles archive, which gives all the pertinent info on another EXTREMELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK photo in the same set.

I'm going to say this right now, before we continue on our little journey here. It's the first time I've ever had to do this, but then there is a first for everything. The following (and some of the preceeding) source material involves boobs. Bare ones. You are warned.

Anyhow, now that we have that out of the way, I can say that our mystery girl is Dr. Who's Katy Manning, and she was posing for a magazine called Girl Illustrated. For those of you too lazy to click the link (which sort of defeats the point of Friday Freeday), the Wiki entry for Girl Illustrated reads as follows:

Girl Illustrated was a glamour magazine published in London, England from 1966 to 1977. It was a spin off of the Naturist magazine "Health & Efficiency" and was notable for its high quality paper and numerous colour photographs.

Katy Manning appeared naked with a Dalek in one issue.

Not satisfied at that - hilarious though it may be, I hunted up the official fansite for Girl Illustrated, which as I take it is quite the collector's item in some circles. From the looks of it, understandably so. The fansite is a horrid Geocities page (what fansite isnt?) which consists mostly of someone's private collection of girl illustrated.

Once there, I found the haunting image of the girl pictured at left (photo cropped for work safeness). Her name is Barbara Zimmerman, and I can't seem to find any more good dirt about her.

It is a fabulous photo, and her excellent makeup sort of reminded me of the current issue of Bust's article on Clara Bow and her "it" girl look which (at the time) flew in the face of a century of female convention and cultural taboos.

I guess this is getting a bit swimmy, so I'll cut it short. The moral of this tale is that if you find something interesting, sometimes the hunt for information will lead you to something more interesting, such as the delightful Girl Illustrated or the lovely Ms. Zimmerman.

I hope you've enjoyed this week's rather unconventional Friday Freeday. I know I certainly have.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T20:20:00.000-06:00

As a Merry Christmas wish from me, please enjoy this - my favorite trinket of internet Christmas memorabilia.

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible's Christmas Disaster Special.

RIP James Brown

2006-12-25T19:46:00.000-06:00

Another piece of an era gone by departs this world.

Thinking back on the Eulogy I wrote for Richard Avedon, I just find it rather sad.

Here is James' Wiki.

2006-12-23T10:53:00.000-06:00

The Twelve Daze of Christmas

Yeah, yeah, haven't been around in a while. My computer took an unfortunate turn for the worse. Now that it's healed, I have stories forthcoming. Until then, let this get you in the Christmas mood!

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-26T17:41:00.000-06:00

I've been taking a break from regular posting for a number of reasons. I'm managing two jobs again - this time with less stress. I'm driving an hour and a half every day to and from one of those jobs. I'm living in the city, there are more things to do and see - I have new friends.

It's really amazing the changes that living in the city again has wrought in my life. A good friend of mine told me when I got my first apartment that I was more grounded and together than I ever had been. When he told me that I realized it was true on a number of levels. I had never had my own space before - the ability to truly wind down was a huge part of that, I also could do some of the things I really wanted to do and arrange my space appropriately. I hade a home, with no pressure from anyone else no matter what, and I could go there and deal with whatever storm broke in whatever way I needed to.

Living in a true city again is the next level of that. Here I have the culture, the people, the noise and lights. I can be in a group or all alone and still pull something from the world. Togetherness is a lot easier here, aloneness too, and cities offer a level of anonymity that I could never have had living in my last home.

Moving here has helped me to regain the support network that is just not possible in a small town with no young people. Spreading your burden thin makes for a much better load to bear, and that is what I have found here.

I also am in a place where I can more easily work on things that matter - art, and the environment, and all the other things. I am taking up my activist banner again, I am making a difference, and I hope that people notice me and the changes in my life.

This post is my way of giving thanks. Thanks to everyone that helped make this happen for me. Thanks to friends both new and old. Thanks to gifts and loving, friends and family, those near and dear, and those who made the ride more enjoyable.

Thanks to the generosity of those people who I now know, who have made my new life possible. Thanks to the warm welcome everyone in this city has offered me. Thanks to everyone who has tried to make a difference. Thanks to the beating heart at the core of this city, the people the places, the sights and sounds that make this place truly beautiful.

Thanks to the cat-sitters, the musicians, the crafters and artists. Thanks to the handymen and women, the shopkeepers and shoppers. Thanks to my beloved, my neighbors, the organizations to which I belong and am involved.

Thank you all.

Because of you and everything that everyone of you do, I am blessed with a place to live that is truly one of the best places on earth. It is you, each and every one that make this a beautiful city. Sometimes that beauty is so sharp it takes my breath away, and for all of this, I am thankful.

I'M NOT COMPLAINING BECAUSE I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT TIL MONDAY

2006-11-12T08:42:00.000-06:00

I'll probably have a long angry ranting post on monday.

Until then, check out Fotoblog - it updated.

Why I Didn't Vote Last Tuesday

2006-11-11T08:14:00.000-06:00

I moved earlier this year. I did not, however, change my place of employment. I work an hours drive from the town in which I live.

In July, I changed my voter registration to my new county. I checked the Indiana Secretary of State (SOS) website to be sure the switch had gone through, and I looked up where my polling place would be.

Tuesday, I double checked it before I left for work. I left town before the polls opened, and would return with about fifteen minutes to get through traffic and go vote.

Just to be safe, that evening I made it home in 30 minutes flat. I wangled through the traffic in town, and arrived at the polling place, glad I had rushed there - traffic was worse than expected.

With utter relief, I walked through the door, down the hall, and into the polls. I signed in, my ID was checked, and I went to sign my name on the roll. That's when things went South.

My name was nowhere to be found. The woman working the rolls looked at me as though I were stupid. The computer illiterate woman who signed me in, tried to work the computer to figure out where I needed to be. The SOS website had sent me to the wrong polling place. THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

At two minutes to six, by my cell phone, they closed their polling place, told me where I voted, and told me I would never make it. NOT ONCE DID THEY OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE. I was offered neither a provisional ballot nor a kindly phone call ahead to my destination.

The polling place I was at was located at 4th and Kossuth streets. The polling place I needed to be at was located on Wabash Avenue (S 2nd). It is not possible to drive two blocks down. Railroad relocation has made Wabash Avenue an isolated dead-end street.

I had two minutes to drive nine city blocks.

I pulled the sharpest u-turn I have ever pulled in my car. I cut someone off, passed on the right, ran a red light and a stop light, and I parked on the fucking curb. I was two minutes too late.

I banged on the locked door. I pushed my sign-in sheet against the window to prove I had been on time. I begged, I pleaded, I cried, all to no avail. The gentleman who came to the door didn't even open it. He just shook his head, and turned me away.

I was heartbroken. This is the first time I have ever not voted, and this election mattered. It didn't just matter to me, it mattered to the nation. My voice was not heard on Tuesday. I couldn't even vote against Todd Rokita.

I have called everyone. Two television stations, two newspapers, the county election board, the secretary of state, the county clerk, and on Monday, I will make my last call - to the Indiana Democratic Party.

The ability to vote is my constitutional right. If you are a US citizen, then it is yours too. Suffrage is more than that though. It's a right, but it is also a duty. When you don't vote, you fail to speak - for your family, your ideals, whatever you represent. You support the status quo. Failure to vote is also a betrayal of sorts. You betray everyone who lived and bled to give you that right. If you're not a male WASP there are a lot more people involved in that betrayal.

Voting is one thing I feel very strongly about - one thing I will defend. Nothing gets between me and the right to cast my ballot, and I'll be damned if nothing comes of this.

HAPPY CAPS LOCK APPRECIATION DAY

2006-10-22T16:11:00.000-05:00

YEAH, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. APPARENTLY IT'S A HOLIDAY. IS THAT THE RIGHT WORD FOR IT? HOLIDAY? WHATEVER.

Waiting

2006-10-22T07:22:00.000-05:00

Friday and Saturday were spent for the most part waiting. Here's an update of the goings-on for you.

Mel and I went on the midnight walk of the Tour of Terror Friday. Overall it was pretty okay. I think it definitely had some potential, but I was somewhat critical of our guide. He had several verbal ticks, got us lost, and rushed through the stories. It was my understanding that this was because he was new. I may go on another walk next weekend to see if this is so.

We saw this kid named Amos Lee on an episode of Austin City Limits a while back. He's preforming live at the Music Mill in Indianapolis on the twelfth. Tickets are $15. This kid is dynamite. If you don't want to take my word for it here's the video for Arms courtesy of YouTube.

I almost forgot! There's a new member of the house. His name is Raja. He's a two year old Himalayan Blue-Point. Today marks one week in his new home. Isn't he a cutie?

Today is laundry day, So I have to jet. I should be back in later today or tommorow with further news and possibly a free-day-ish post.

Love Thursday

2006-10-19T18:06:00.000-05:00

After the day I've had, Love Thursday was the last thing on my mind, until I realized, that today I witnessed an act of love.

I moved four months ago. Just shy of four months ago, I had the phone service to my previous apartment cut off. On the phone, I asked the gentleman if I needed to do anything else to ensure that my phone service was no more, and he assured me twice that I would be taken care of.

About a month ago, I recieved a love letter from the phone company. A $400 love letter. Yes, you read that right, $400. That amount was for the regular and delinquent phone service charges from July through september. Now, let's contemplate. I had no phone service in the apartment from July on, but I just got a bill which clearly states July-September as the dates on the service and delinquency charges.

As soon as I calmed down enough, I spoke with a not-so-helpful service associate who put me through to accounts recievable. I then had to begin from the top, only to be told I needed to speak with a service associate. Time for a manager. The manager credited my account for those months, and told me I would be recieving a bill for the four days past the end of the billing cycle I owed. As soon as I got the confirmation number on the disconnect, I hung up, satisfied that I had handled the situation well.

Today I open the mail, only to see a letter from a COLLECTIONS AGENCY, requesting my now very delinquent $400. It took me about twenty minutes to calm down enough to call them this time. The level one asshole who I spoke with accused me of being a deadbeat, and explaining that the charges must be mine, either for long distance or a cell phone. Neither of those being services I had ever requested or recieved from this telephone company, I decided it was once again time for a manager.

The long and the short of it is that I owe them $13 - to which end they are sending me a letter no later than tommorow, and I have to spend my own fucking stamp to dispute the collections agency for a debt that the cocktastic phone company even admits I do not owe.

What has this all got to do with Love Thursday, you ask? I'll tell you.

When I got off the phone with the unnamed phone company, I called Beloved. I called him as soon as I collapsed into tears from the anger and the stress, and he answered. He talked to me until I was calm. He soothed me, he gave me advice on possible future encounters. He did what he does most every time I talk to him. He loves me, the good and the bad. He understands enough of the rough spots and the troubles and assorted woes. He knows when I need to be treated tenderly. He is my solace, and in my book, at least, an act of solace is an act of love.

Friday Freeday - Saturday/Sunday Apocolypse

2006-10-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Fall Mummy Wallpaper. Boing Boing. Yeah, He's freakin' cute.

St. Elsewhere. Gnarls Barkley. Music. This is fairly mainstream, but if you haven't heard it already, I urge you to purchase it. This has an incredible, funky sound I can't seem to get enough of.

Inchworms. Shoes. A truly innovative and sound concept on a number of levels. I like Inchworm shoes because not only are they cute, potentially money-saving and a good idea, but they also help to reduce consumer waste.

WTF? Cross Stitch Pattern. Subversive Stitch. Crafts. You know what you're getting from me for Christmas.

Oh, and about that title - Don't ask.

2006-10-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

A Very Angry Evening

I just shut my computer down because it no longer hibernates, and I forgot that.

In doing this, I completely lost the Saturday edition of Friday Freeday.

Please enjoy this Other Other video distraction until I have my temper tamed, and I can put that post back together.

Things Have Happened - Things Are Simmering

2006-10-14T06:54:00.000-05:00

It's been a long couple of weeks.

I spent another weekend (finally) with Beloved in Bloomington, where we spent the weekend eating out and reading the Uglies Trilogy. I'm still waiting to read the last book in the series (Specials).

Then I spent a week being poor before going on vacation. That's right, marvellous, work-free, VACATION. In the freezing climes of North Dakota. We went to visit friends and had a wonderful time. Some of the spots we stopped were Mall of America, Min.; Fort Abraham Lincoln, Nd.; Teddy Roosevelt National Park, Nd. - which is also known as the North Dakota Badlands; The Enchanted Highway, Nd. - we only made one stop, but it was well worth it. I'll be sure to update FoTo Blog as soon as I can afford to have my pictures developed.

I'll post something Friday Freeday looking a little later today to make up for three weeks of not posting it. I just got my computer back from the re-format guy, so you'll have to excuse my mess for a little while.

Happy weekend everyone!

2006-10-12T16:47:00.000-05:00

Extreme Drive Thru

Happy First Snow! Enjoy this movie till regular posting resumes next week.

FYI

2006-09-27T17:01:00.000-05:00

Povertyblog Just Updated, and is starting to update more regularly.

Check it out.

Kat Allmighty - Newsletter of my Life

2006-09-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I've been MIA for a couple weeks, but I'm back again. Last weekend posed a funeral, followed by a hellacious week, and then a weekend in Bloomington. Yes, I finally made it down there again! Anyhow, here's a couple tidbits of info.

Birthday Club!
yeah - it's cliche, but I need your birthdays! You can let me know however - email, IM, phone call. Just tell me so I know.

Del.ici.ous
Yeah, I know, I always type it wrong, but give a girl a break. I was, after all, a highschool anarchist. I'm using it, with a vengance - transferring all my bookmarks over there before the big OS switch on the laptop. That said, SUGGEST STUFF! I may even use some of your suggestions in Friday Freeday. If I do, expect due credit.

Web Services
I'm interested in the kinds of web services you use - I'm also too lazy to link all of mine, but here's a breif rundown of them:
Flickr
Bloglines
Del.ici.ous
LastFM
YouTube
Wunderground
Ta-Da
Google Calendar

September 11, 2001

2006-09-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

I woke up a little late that day. At the time I didn't have a car, so I got ready in a hurry thinking my ride had already left.

I locked my door and hustled down the hall to Beth's dorm room. I opened the door to find her and her roomate Alicia staring dumbfounded at the tv. She turned off the television and turned to me, "A plane hit the World Trade Center." I don't even know what I thought when she said that. It was so unreal to me. I thought maybe it was a horrible accident or something, I didn't know.

We drove to classes in silence, the three of us in our own little world. Beth and I had our first class together. We walked into the room and the prof announced that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, along with one at the Pentagon and one near Camp David.

I know what I thought then. I thought it was a joke. A really the fuck sick joke. A crappy un-funny joke. Then we got dismissed to the student lounge.

It was packed wall to wall with people. There almost wasn't standing room left. At the center of the room a television tuned into footage of the atrocity. I watched the South Tower collapse. I watched it on live tv. It made me numb.

It took me two years to cry. I was subscribed to Rolling Stone at the time, I got the 9/11 memorial issue. I didn't read it - couldn't read it - for two years. When I read Kurt Loder's description of running out from under a clound of debris and raining body parts, I shed tears for those people for the first time. I bawled like a baby.

That was the day, five years ago, that changed everyone's life - big or small - everything changed.

Do those people a favor. Don't use their lives to further your goals, be they political or social or whatever-the-fuck. Don't forget them either. I will carry my memories of that day to the grave with me. I will tell the story of what happened to my children and my children's children. I will pen it down on paper, and speak it aloud to people I know. I won't forget, but I also won't use my memory for someone else's gain.

2006-09-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

Lazydork's Diet Rite Expirement

How to Make a Pot Rack - by Popular Demand

2006-09-10T07:10:00.000-05:00

A couple of you have asked me how we did this, so here we go, blueprints and all.

Cost: $30

Time: 1/2 Hour

Materials:

Tape Measure
Drill
10 Feet of Damper Chain
Grill
6 Key Chain Rings
3 Zinc Coated Screw Hooks (1/4")
Various S Hooks

Figure out how far apart you want your chains to be. If you mount them all from one place, it will swing a lot and be less stable. This is a concern when taking pots of one or the other side.

Come up with the equidistant spots somewhat narrower than your grill, and drill pilot holes according to the instructions from the screw hooks. (Remember to screw into something substantial, such as a ceiling joist.) Install the screw hooks so that they each hang the same distance from the ceiling.

Cut the damper chain into three equal lengths and insert keychains into links on either end. On the wrong end, use the second-to-last link for this. Affix the ends of the chain to three equidistant points on the grill using the keyrings, and then hang from the ceiling.

Hang S hooks from the grill and use it to hold up your pots and pans!

Yes, Virginia, There is a Mouse.

2006-09-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

Yeah, It's been a long day.

I got up at the butt-crack of dawn, with the wonderful realization that I de-limed and installed the coffee pot last night. Dark black chai wakes you up wonderfully. I nanced around cleaning some, until hunger got the best of me, and set out looking for food.

I dropped in at the farmers market and filled my bag full of produce. Garlic, potatoes, lettuce, peppers, carrots, and Amish bread. I had toast with fresh strawberry jam for breakfast.

I then cleaned my apartment and washed and put up most of my dishes. All before ten-o-clock. I put a Cornish game hen into the Crok-pot to roast, gathered up some stuff and headed to Blue Monday, where I started work on Fall-weather clothing.

The folks came and we went on a trip to Menards where dad and I concieved and created a pot rack (pictured at left).

I went into the kitchen after the parents left to continue putting up clean dishes, when I noticed the shadows at the back of the counter moving queerly. I took a closer look only to find a tiny face peeping at me from around the corner of the toaster.

I'm not afraid of mice, but I don't want to kill them either. I've sort of resigned myself to the fate of sealing everything I own up. Something about the silverfish of two years ago. I stopped at the dollar store for better packaging today. Tommorow I'll begin mouse-proofing my apartment. *sigh*

Friday Freeday - Headache du-jour

2006-09-08T17:51:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it's been a bad day, long rough week. Hopefully I'll post some this weekend to make up for it. Until then, here's your Friday Freeday.

Tie One On. Aprons. Each month, the author of this blog chooses a theme, and people make aprons based off of it to be included in her Flickr photoset.

Design-Your-Own Chucks. Converse. I think the title of this link about says it all. Reasonable too. My personalized pair came in at $67.

Me. Myspace. Yeah, I've joined the unholy of unholies. I'm now an official Myspace whore.

Ninth Street Hill. My Neighborhood. Not only have I moved to a place that's on a map, I've moved to a place that's on the internet.

Traffic Physics. Science Hobbyist. Some interesting reading wether or not you have a commute to your workplace.

Zentences. Flash. A unique and fun little flash widget, try it for yourself.

Paper Bead Making. Paper U. Something to do with your scrap paper and spare time. (I'm a less waste nerd now, remember?)

2006-09-02T06:20:00.000-05:00

What just happened here?

Friday Freeday - Back Like You Wouldn't Believe.

2006-09-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Yeah, on my first free Friday with internet access, I'm pleased to use this time to bring you delightful bits of the internet.

Married To The Sea. Comic. It's a Drew/Natalie Dee comic. Circus Tent is my favorite.

CAKE PONY. Satire or possibly Porn? Yeah, I don't really have any idea. Honestly, I'm without words on this one.

Bloglines. Utility. I'm loading all my news blogs and comics into it, and abandoning bookmarks. I'm using Del.ici.ous for everything that doesn't have a feed. Making it a WHOLE lot easier to do Friday Freeday for you kids.

Ping-O-Matic. Utility. I use this to bring you fresh updates, it's only fair to give credit where credit is due. (Pings Bloglines)

Toilet Seats. Post Money Value. A very interesting take on how to re-connect product development with functionality.

WikiHow. Fucking Awesome. Yeah, you read that right, Fucking Awesome.

The Amp Guy Part The First

2006-08-29T20:38:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I walked into the shop to find M helping B tug on some fabric. B was swearing up a blue storm. B re-covered an amp for her husband, and he, being himself, told a friend she'd do one for free.

The problem was, the friend chose a fabric with a direction. She couldn't just sew a big circle and stick it to the amp, she had to cut panels into the fabric and sew them in such a way that the fabric would be the correct direction on each side of the amp. She was cursing her husband up one side and down the other.

I was so distracted by the cursing, in fact, that it took me a moment to notice the fabric. It was HORRID. It was skulls and flames in putrid colors. It looked like something a 13-year-old boy would choose.

I told B this, and she laughed, 'You have to meet this guy, that's exactly what he's like.'

Back Home Again...

2006-08-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

Wow. I guess a lot of stuff has happened since I posted here last.

I moved. Up a steep Staircase. In 90+ degree heat. In 72 hours of grueling bullshit, during which I still had to work.

I left Pizza Hut.

I now live in the city. I hadn't realized how much I missed metropolitan life, until being welcomed back into it's warm cultured arms.

I started selling my artwork at a store in downtown.

And lots of small and tall tales which will be forthcoming.

Moving!

2006-07-29T01:54:00.000-05:00

For the next seventy-two hours I'll be moving.

As such, here's some food for thought.

"War is the total failure of the human spirit."

-Robert Fisk

On Failure

2006-07-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

It is hard under extremely normal circumstances to admit defeat. Each of us hates the idea of being wrong, of falling short. It's part of what makes each of us human - the misery of defeat.

I have always worked well under stress. The best work I ever do is the stuff that comes in right under the red line. I feel more alive working down to the bitter end than I do most any other time. I won't lie. I don't always make it, but when I do, and I normally do, victory tastes so much sweeter.

I'm sort of a stress junkie, which depending on what doctor you listen to, is either good or bad for you. I choose that stress, I welcome it, and I enjoy coasting on the heels of my good work.

That leaves, however, unforseen difficulties. Stressors that take hold of you at your most vulnerable. I don't deal well with that, and right now I'm trying to as best I know how.

My landlord raised my rent $100/mo for Christmas at a time that I was living on $100/mo. I got a second job in order to move - I average 75 working hours a week at two entirely different stressful occupations.

As of today, I have seven days to get out of this apartment before the landlord boots me out. Yesterday and today, and every day from now until Friday will be 14+ hour work days. In all my spare time, I have to pack boxes of belongings in preparation for the move. I have to find time between now and Friday, during all of this to go sign a new lease in a town 45 minutes from here... if I get the apartment.

That's right folks, I may be homeless in a week, and my potential new landlords won't return my increasingly frenzied calls.

I have worked an entire summer away, I haven't slept or eaten regularly, or gone 24 hours without working more than once every other month for an entire summer, and throughout all of this my touchstone, my saving grace was the thought of moving.

The idea of failure is beginning to occupy my thoughts, the determination to come through this with an unbroken spirit is faltering. I'm scared, truly scared, for the first time in my life. This is my Hell week, and even if I do pull through, there may not be a grand celebration afterwards. The light at the end of my tunnel is starting to dim.

I am awesomely horrified.

2006-07-23T01:05:00.000-05:00

"You see, wire telegraph is a kind of very very long cat. You pull his tail in New York, and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they recieve them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

-Albert Einstein, explaining radio.

100 Books Everyone Should Read

2006-07-23T00:45:00.000-05:00

100. Bruce Brooks - Midnight Hour Encores.

This is the story of a poetic journey made by Sibilance, a prodigy, and Taxi, her father, both wonderful charachters, and an eye-opening view of the lives that we all live. I read this in highschool, it's a young adult oriented book, but you don't have to be in your teens to read this and draw something from it.

This is something new for me, but I feel the need to make a list of the books that define me, and have helped to shape my view of the world. I'm just going to put them up periodically, so check back every now and again.

2006-07-22T22:28:00.000-05:00

Net Losses. MoJo. The plight of the Menhaden.

When Europeans first arrived on the east coast of America, they encountered a living river of menhaden flowing with the seasons north and south along the coast, extending out for miles, and sometimes filling bays and estuaries from Florida to Maine with almost solid flesh. In 1608, explorer John Smith found his two-ton boat laboring through a mass of menhaden in the Chesapeake Bay “lying so thick with their heads above the water, as for want of nets (our barge driving amongst them) we attempted to catch them with a frying pan.”

I'm posting breif stuff from other places as I pack up my life and attempt to move on.

Friday Freeday, Early or Late?

2006-07-18T20:42:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm beginning to pack for the move in addition to working a million hours a week. I don't know if I'm posting Friday Freeday this week or not. Therefore, here's two weeks worth of stuff, just in case.

Chernobyl 20 Years Later. Mother Jones. A photo essay of the people and places affected by the infamous nuclear disaster.

Zoesdare Photos. Flickr. Some miscellany that may or may not have appeared on Fotoblog.

Frogger. Neave. Hey, I have to do something with my free time.

Hidden Kitchen Mama. NPR. The stories are beautiful, but so is the music. If you know where I can get a copy of that, I owe ya one.

Regina Spektor. Music. It's my new thing, she's unique, and she's good.

Local Blogs. Feedmap. An interesting idea, but the site is still VERY klunky. Only two of them are anything worth looking at, and I haven't yet had time to explore them. I'm posting them here for my personal further perusal. Bona.Fide.Cynic, BlogAlice.

Sam's Club: Prude. Disgruntled Housewife. Sort of sad, really.

Don't Drop The Coffin. Quicktime. Ginger TV. Minotaur has the whole trailer to this, but it's not something I can link to. I would really love to get a copy of this special, and also, prehaps to find out about the music in the trailer.

Alcoholic

2006-07-11T20:57:00.000-05:00

It's something said in whispered tones behind someone's back. A quiet statement from the back of the room, and until yesterday, not something that I ever imagined I would be directly or indirectly accused of.

When I get run down, when I fail to take care of myself, I get migranes, period. Yesterday was just such a day. The office needed me. They were behind. I called in to let the boss know I'd try to come in the afternoon. No shot for me today, no blessed sleep while the nausea and pain wear away, gotta try to go to work.

Me, 'I have a migrane, I'll try to make it in this afternoon'
Boss, 'Why do you always have headaches on Monday?'
Me - unaware that I always have headaches on Mondays - 'I don't know?'
Boss, 'You better try to come in today.'

The pain was horrible. Parts of my skull hurt where there wasn't any skull to hurt. I had fitful nightmare-riddled sleep for another six hours. At one, I sucked it up and went in, shaking and nauseous. The boss tried to send me home, I told him I'd try to get some work done.

Boss' business partner/golfing buddy came in around three or so when I was starting to feel human again.

Business Partner, 'You better yet?'
Me, 'Getting there.'
BP, 'If you wouldn't drink so much, that wouldn't happen.'

Yeah, you read that right. My employers think I'm an alcoholic. Between the statement and the snide tone used to convey it, the sentiment cut to the bone. I can barely remember the last time I drank. I know it was before I started my second job. I don't ever drink on work nights, which makes it hard to drink when you work seven nights a week.

The more I thought about it, the more it stung. The kicks in the ass I've been getting telling me to leave this place keep getting harder and more frequent. Good thing I'm allready on my way out the door.

Kat Classic

2006-07-08T14:39:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we're back to basics. I'm still working on the facelift, but what I had was so awful I could barely even stand to read my own blog. I can only imagine how bad it was for you all.

Friday Freeday - one day late

2006-07-08T09:51:00.000-05:00

Yeah, don't ask.

Pom Tea. Not only is it delicious, and probably good for you, but it comes in a glass with a lid. about a hundred million times more earth friendly than Lipton. I tried the blackberry. It was fantastic.

The Famous Milk Video. Youtube. This is one of the most fabulous things I've seen since Dr. Tran. If anyone can identify the music, please, let me know.

Little Girl Yodelling. Youtube. This is crazy unique, and proof that if you have confidence you can bring the house down no matter what your specialty.

Littlest Man Band. Dmusic. I was turned on to them by a friend a while back. I figure I should do a good turn for everyone else. This is my favorite band, and the best ska band I've ever heard.

CONTEST! GluuxBlog. Find him new wallpaper. I'll front a reward to anyone who finds me a good source image for my idea. Contact me and we'll talk concept.

How To Fix Your Gas Door - A Tutorial

2006-07-02T12:51:00.000-05:00

I drive a 1987 Ford Mustang LX. It has an automatically locking gas door with a button release inside my glove box. The button has never been terribly reliable, and this week I declared it officially dead, presenting the problem of how to put gas in my nearly empty gas tank. My last car was a 1988 Ford Mustang LX, and it had the same problem, so for Mustang owners everywhere, I respectfully submit this tutorial as to how I 'fixed' it.

The first order of business is to get your gas door open. Mustangs have an emergency release latch down by the spare tire in the hatchback. Having never driven a Mustang Coupe, I am unsure if the relase is located in the same spot. My emergency release was broken, so I just brute forced it open.

Next we must look at what we have. The gas door opens on a hinge to the right. On it there is a tab for pulling it open, the latch, and two bolts (shown in the diagram as Screw 1 and Screw 2). The latch is what makes the door lock, so all you need to do is remove the two screws, take off the latch and replace the screws. I did this in about three minutes with a pair of Vice Grips.

And there you have it. That is how to 'fix' your gas door so that it no longer automatically locks.

Friday Freeday

2006-06-30T22:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the idea goes to Cardhouse. I have long adored that blog, and now to help keep up with everyone and what they're watching/reading, I'm encouraging everyone to post friday freeday on their blogs.

Bob Log III Boob Scotch video 56K/DSL: "Bob Log III is an enigma wrapped in a riddle and riding a wave of futile guessing and searching as people around the globe are trying to figure out just one thing. Who is this man? Rumours have started to circulate that he is anyone from Tom Waits to one of the Strokes."

What's Up with "Al-"?: John Eisele of the American Assocation of Teachers of Arabic and Zaineb Istrabadi of Indiana University explain this common Arabic name prefix.

Three Days in Rome: My current reading is this article from Mother Jones Online I'm still working my way through it, but I welcome any comments.

Kristy Vs. The Zombie Army: My newest discovery in the wide wierd world of webcomics. (1000 bonus for alliteration)

Some Green Cleaning Recipes. Substitute the vinegar with cider vinegar or lemon juice, and as far as I'm concerned, you're in business.

Untitled

2006-06-22T21:32:00.000-05:00

I got a job working at Pizza Hut to help me relocate, to keep me from being bankrupt, and to keep me out of trouble.

I work 75+ hours a week.

I’m sleepy.

This is hard.

This is HARD.

I’m stressed out over the tiniest thing. Starting to forget what it’s like to just be outside with nothing to do. Starting to miss out on the lives of people around me.

and I’m sleepy, but I don’t want to sleep because I have so little time nowadays to just be me and do the sort of things I like to do.

I’m tired, and I can feel the craziness drawing nearer.

I hope I last until I can move.

So sleepy…

See more progress on: move to another city

Mascotty Goodness

2006-06-19T20:03:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm not getting addicted to YouTube at all. Nope, not one bit. Nossiree.

It is because of this that I am not afraid to lay before you the glorious delerium that is Mascot Mondays

Opening up

2006-06-19T00:30:00.000-05:00

For as balls-to-the-wall brassy as I am in public, you would never guess that I’m a very private person. There are things that I just don’t discuss with anyone.

I realized last week, that beloved knows the private problems and bad habits that I have. He’s seen more of the exposed inner workings than anyone else, and he understands me well enough to know why things are the way they are. He exercises soft guidance, and he accepts that I’m a hopeless mess sometimes.

And he still loves me. I made him a card telling him that last week and he opened it over the phone today. His reaction to it touched me so deeply that I cried.

See more progress on: be loved for who I am