Wordless Wednesday - Beach at the golden hour

Photo Hunters - Creative

I've always been fascinated with photos created by moving light in long exposure photographs known as light etching or light doodling. Adam is always more than willing to help create these shots and here are some of the pictures we've created over the years. 

Lastly, here is an awesome stop motion video which creates animation with light doodling by Takeshi Nagata and Kazue Monno, who are obviously far more creative than me! Here is a the link to their Pika Pika 2007 film and below is a Sprint commercial they did. Via Boing Boing.

I've been blagged!

Image from London Toy Fair has nothing to do with this blag (blag = tag + blog), but I can't post without an image!!

I've been blagged by Theresa at Sleeping Kitten Dancing Dog.

These are the rules and details of the Blag:

• Each player starts with eight random facts or habits about his or her self.
• These blagged chosen ones are to write posts on their own blog about these eight facts.
• They are also to post these rules.
• At the end of their blog they will list eight people they have chosen to blag by listing their name and a link to their blog.

Here are some random things about me.

• My favorite season is winter.
  
• My favorite color is purple.
• My favorite flavor of ice cream is coffee heath bar crunch.
  
• I love rollercoasters.
• I was due on December 25th, but was born 10 days late on January 4th.
  
• I gained 35 pounds while pregnant with Adam and 27 pounds for Dova (OK, TMI)
  
• I am always worried that people will discover that I'm just faking my job.
  
• I have a secret celebrity identity on Twitter as well as myself.

Here are the eight people I have blagged. Have fun and Happy Blagging.

• Mike at Mike's WeBlog
  
• Quentin at Perspectives from NH (that's in the Upper Area of the Right Coast)
  
• Bridget at ..."And Miles To Go Before We Sleep..."
• Criz Lai at Criz's Sanctuary
  
• Angela at angela giles klocke ... be creative with a purpose
  
• Melody at Slurping Life
• Kelly at Kellyology
  
• Morgen at It's a Blog Eat Blog World

Whew! I think the toughest part about this tagging business is coming up with the tag list! Please leave a comment if you've been blagged and blag about it! (No time pressure, it took me 2 months to get this up)

TT #11 - Children's Book Recommendations

Thirteen children's book recommendations. These are all books that we have borrowed and enjoyed from the local library.

1. Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson. Henry as in Henry David Thoreau, and Fitchburg as in Fitchburg, MA. An excellent introduction to transcendentalism for preschoolers. But if you don't want to think of it that way, it is a good reminder to practice mindfulness.
   
2. Henry and Mudge and the Happy Cat by Cynthia Rylant and Suçie Stevenson. A different Henry in this one. This book is especially endearing to me because it doesn't have the obligatory sappy happy ending and the cat looks like "mashed prunes", which our own Ebony often looks like after a rainstorm.
   
3. The Saturday Kid by Edward Sorel and Cheryl Carlesimo. Beautifully illustrated and a great story. I am extremely disappointed that someone dinged this book as being too violent. Bullies beat other kids up, they certainly didn't learn it from a book.
   
4. Oonga Boonga by Frieda Wishinsky and Carol Thompson. This book is so true to life in our family. Sometimes the only person who can calm Dova down in times of total meltdown is her silly brother Adam.
   
5. Skippyjon Jones in the Dog-House by Judy Schachner. The enclosed CD made reading this book a lot easier. I didn't care for it much at first, but the kids loved it and pretty soon we were talking about Skippyjon Jones all the time.
   
6. Old Macdonald Had an Apartment House by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett. I love the imagery of carrots growing through the ceilings in this classic book.
   
7. Old Granny and the Bean Thief by Cyntha DeFelice and Cat Bowman Smith. A great story including a cow patty as a character, set in the desert Southwest.
   
8. On the Moon by Anna Milbourne, Laura Fearn and Benji Davies. The only non-fiction book on this list (I am female after all), this is a nice introduction to space for toddlers.
9. Granite Baby by Lynne Bertrand and Kevin Hawkes. Another story from New England, this time a tall tale from New Hampshire. I love the larger-than-life illustrations and the super industrious women.
   
10. Twister by Darleen Bailey Beard. Extremely vivid, slightly scary, but wonderful.
    
11. Play, Mozart, Play! by Peter Sis. Dova and I spent hours looking at the illustrations by the author of Scranimals, but Doug felt it was just too bizarre.
    
12. Max's Words by Kate Banks and Boris Kulikov. Extremely creative story with excellent illustrations.
    
13. Car Wash by Sandra Steen. Cool illustrations and fun times.

You'll note that I made a special trip to the library to remember all these great titles just for this post!

Wordless Wednesday - More Lake Fun

Here's Adam flying off the tube.

And diving into the water. I'm not sure when he learned to dive or whether this is just a belly flop! 

Nasty Walmart Flip-Flops

Today I read this disturbing article on Boing Boing about how these Walmart flip-flops caused chemical burns (complete with images) and was even more appalled when I read the source link (with even more disturbing images). Even more atrocious is how Walmart is treating the whole situation, putting it way ahead of in terms of evil empire.  

And yet, here are the flip flops still on sale at Walmart today! I didn't even want to prop the yellow ones up for the picture, but I did turn the tags around to show they are the same ones. So far my hands and iPhone are fine! Lets just hope the $5 fake Crocs I got for Dova and me didn't come from the same Chinese company.

Update 12/13/20 - no sign of those cited links as Walmart put the kabash on this news!

Identity Theft insurance

I recently received a brochure from my insurance company advertising Identity Theft Insurance. They reprinted this information from the Federal Trade Commission on the most common methods used to steal personal information:

1. Dumpster Diving. They rummage through trash looking for bills or other paper with your personal information on it.
2. Skimming. They steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.
3. Phishing. They pretend to be financial institutions or companies and send spam or pop-up messages to get you to reveal your personal information.
4. Changing Your Address. They divert your billing statements to another location by completing a change of address form.
5. Old-Fashioned Stealing. They steal wallets and purses; mail, including bank and credit card statements; pre-approved credit offers; and new checks or tax information. They steal personnel records, or bribe employees who have access.
6. Pretexting. They use false pretenses to obtain your personal information from financial institutions, telephone companies, and other sources. For more information about pretexting, click here.

I think of myself as being savvy to the ways of the credit card thieves but yet I've had my number stolen twice. I'm pretty sure that it was #2 or #5 both times, as I had to let the card out of my sight and into the hands of unscrupulous waitresses. On the internet, I never give the number to an unsecured site and all my discarded bills and credit card offers/checks are burned in the wood stove. I am also the party pooper at work dispelling all the urban legends at work by sending out the Snopes report for each scam or too-good-to-be-true chain letter I get. Some of these even originate from HR!! Despite these apparent street smarts, I still get my number stolen (maybe I should stop using it for every single monetary transaction 2-3 times a day). So will this insurance really help? What do they really give you for it? Here is their rundown:

• $15,000 for resolving identity theft problems, with a $250 deductible per claim
• Unlimited access for you and your family to a resolution expert via a toll-free number
• Expert assistance in handling all documentation and phone calls needed to resolve your case
• Systematic notification to credit bureaus, creditors, collection agencies, government agencies, and all relevant parties
• Assistance filing a police report, completing a fraud victim affidavit, and creating a comprehensive case file for investigative and claims handling purposes
• One year of credit monitoring and fraud monitoring for victims
• Proactive assistance for victims of wallet and handbag theft
• Up-to-date information and educational resources on how to protect yourself against identity theft crime

This sounds like a whole lot of "assistance" and not much else. Credit card companies completely cover fraud as I'm happy to report, but if someone gets a hold of your bank information, $15k of coverage will not go very far. In my opinion it is just another way to sucker you out of money in a supposedly legitimate fashion.

Spell with Flickr

You can Spell with Flickr too!

Photo Hunters - Tiny

Tiny feet that is!

Thursday Thirteen #10 - My alter egos and alter names

More quiz mania this week with the theme of alter egos and alter names.

You scored as Peter Pan, Your alter ego is Peter Pan. You are a child at heart. Anything you believe is possible, and you never want to grow up. Peter Pan 81% Goofy 69% Sleeping Beauty 56% The Beast 50% Pinocchio 50% Donald Duck 50% Cinderella 44% Ariel 44% Snow White 38% Cruella De Ville 6% Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Mermaid, Mermaid: Mermaids are also known as Sirens. These creatures were beautiful women who tricked sailors into becoming completely entranced by their haunting voices and found death soon after. Not all stories of Mermaids are about gentle loving sea people. They are mystical, magical, and extremely dangerous. They have a way about them that brings anyone they are around to seem enchanted. They are very mysterious creatures and to meet one... Would mean certain Death. Let the song of the Sea fill your soul, for you are a Mermaid. Mermaid 75% Angel 75% Dragon 42% Faerie 25% WereWolf 8% Demon 0% What Mythological Creature are you? (Cool Pics!) created with QuizFarm.com

You Are Lisa Simpson

A total child prodigy and super genius, you have the mind for world domination. But you prefer world peace, Buddhism, and tofu dogs. You will be remembered for: all your academic accomplishments Your life philosophy: "I refuse to believe that everybody refuses to believe the truth"

The Simpsons Personality Test

You Are Jan Brady

Brainy and a little introverted, you tend to think life is a lot worse than it actually is. And while you may think you're a little goofy looking, most people consider you to be a major babe.

What Brady Are You?

You Are Sheryl Crow!

Down to earth with tons of creative energy When you talk, everyone can relate to you "Life springs eternal On a gaudy neon street Not that I care at all"

Who's Your Inner Rock Chick?

What Angela Means

A is for Adorable N is for Number One G is for Gorgeous E is for Elf L is for Love Bear A is for Angel Eyes

What's Your Pet Name?

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Most Serene Highness Lady Angela the Pompous of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Your Japanese Name Is...

Mayuko Reizei

What's your Japanese Name?

Your French Name is:

Shantelle Pillon

What's Your French Name?

Your German Name is:

Kerstin Anneliese

What's Your German Name?

Your Elf Name Is...

Spicy Cartwheels

What's Your Elf Name?

Your Porn Star Name Is...

E.Z. Lay

What's Your Porn Star Name?

Your Pimp Name Is...

Pimptastica Pump

What's Your Pimp Name?

Yet another geek in training

I didn't see a picture of my beautiful girl on the front page of the blog so here is a quick post to fix that.

I had no doubt from early on that Adam would be a geek just like me since he started using the mouse at 2 and totally loves video and computer games. But Dova is a different story. She still can't quite use the mouse at 3 1/2, has only a mild interest in games and a huge interest in princess stuff and anything waterborne (fish, turtles, crabs, mermaids, etc). Then we had this funny conversation:

Dova: Mom, kiss me. Mom: OK, smooch. Dova: Try again. Mom: Smooch. Dova: Much better, we need to delete the first one.

Wordless Wednesday - Water Skiing

Doug water skis for the first time in 27 years and Adam tries it for the first time.

The running joke for Doug was "He didn't even get his hair wet!"

Poor Adam submarined, but at least he lived to tell about it!

Thursday Thirteen #9 - Reading Harry Potter

I know I'm the last person on earth to start reading the Harry Potter books, but I figured it would be good to read them out loud to the kids this summer. Sometimes I end up being hoarse from all the yelling to keep these kids in line. So far here are the antics that I've had to deal with:

1. Dova jumps on me
2. Adam jumps on me
3. Dova jumps on Adam
4. Adam jumps on Dova
5. Dova jumps off the couch as a sport
6. I don't jump while reading
7. Adam lightly touches me which tickles to death
8. Dova puts a different book on top of Harry Potter and says "Read this one"
9. Adam tries to climb between me and the book
10. Dova dances around and starts singing LOUDLY
11. Adam flaps the bookmark near my face
    
12. Dova and Adam fight over the covers
13. Adam blocks my light
    

In the end, it is well worth it because Adam, at least, enjoys listening to them tremendously even though he has all the movies memorized. He even tries to read ahead after I finish a chapter. Dova, well... I guess she is too young to be interested at 3. She loves just about any other book with pictures of course.

Wordless Wednesday - Adam on the swings

And his mom covered in wood chips trying to take these shots!

Too cool for myself - my new iPhone!

Here I am 6 months after the announcement touting my new iPhone. When June 29th rolled around, I somehow managed to convince myself that I really didn't need one even though I was in a perfect position to buy, being an AT&T customer already with my current phone contract up. I even considered phones like the Samsung Blackjack and Blackberry Pearl and even a honkingly huge Palm Treo as their prices had dropped significantly. So here are the lame reasons that I finally took the plunge:

1. My current cell phone was on the fritz, often not receiving calls or making them even though the signal strength was fine, so I needed a new phone anyway.
2. When I was chatting with a younger friend about looking something up on my Palm, he said "That's so Gen-X".
3. I was getting annoyed that my iPod couldn't do video and podcasts like Tips from the Top Floor have a mixture of audio and video shows.
4. George got one on Monday July 2nd.
5. I got out of work early on Tuesday July 3rd.

Yes, totally lame. Really, it was George that put me over the edge. I kept hearing over IM about it and just couldn't take it anymore. I was lucky that the Apple Store at Rockingham Park in tax-free Salem NH still had stock as stores were running dangerously low on July 3rd. It took me all of 3 minutes to walk to an Apple borg representative, ask whether they had any iPhones in stock to which they asked, "What size?" and "Would you like 1 or 2?" One quick credit card swipe and $599 later, I had my 8GB iPhone in my hands. A lot easier than getting the Wii. So here's the great:

1. Simply beautiful design
2. Wi-fi auto detects and works well (although it managed to "forget" my home encryption key once)
3. Safari web browser is really nice, especially in landscape mode
4. Videos are awesome - both video podcasts and the built-in Youtube app work really well
5. Google Maps app is very cool - walks you through every intersection. It's not GPS, but a close facsimile. I trusted it to bring us to a place we've never been before and it also found a nicer route home from another place.
6. Gmail at my fingertips - It pulls through the POP access, and if I really need to I can go to Gmail mobile.
7. Twitter mobile at my fingertips - Unfortunately my fingertips don't extend to work as there is still no signal inside the building (no change there!)
8. Nice SMS UI with cute bubbles showing who said what.
9. Visual voicemail seems really cool, but no one's left me any yet...
10. Remarkably few bugs for a first generation device.

And the not so great:

1. No Notes synchronization. I heavily rely on my Palm memos as portable memory, and the iPhone Notes app is totally lame. No categories, no sync.
2. No games!! Hello - wouldn't you think that geeks that buy iPhones need games?!?!?!?
3. Does not work with Monster Cable's iCarPlay. I knew that my Griffin iTrip wouldn't work, but expected the Monster Cable FM transmitter to. It charged but did not transmit and only played out of the onboard speakers. The iPhone did work with Tom's built-in iPod connection for his Mercedes S550.
4. No voice memos or voice dial. George actually gave up the ability to dial and talk completely handsfree using his Bluetooth receiver.
5. No copy and paste. You cannot select text at all! So that means no blogging from the phone, only browsing.
6. Easy to fat-finger. I've had tons of Twitter updates get mangled because the Go key is too close to 'M' and the backspace key. Plus you need to start in landscape mode to get the landscape keyboard. If you start in portrait and turn the phone, it stays in portrait.
7. AT&T. I literally spent about 5 hours getting my old number ported to the phone, including a futile trip to an AT&T store (the phone representative sent me after an hour). First they wouldn't port it because it was a business account and the old company had to release the number. Finally I got the account changed to a personal account, but couldn't use the iPhone's SIM card and had to remove my old SIM card and put it into the iPhone. Yikes, it was like delicate surgery (and I did it about 10 times trying to fake it out by reprogramming the new SIM card with my old phone).
8. GSM noise - My old phone would buzz the car stereo, but this one even buzzes the TV at home. Beep bada beep beep beep!!
9. No free IM - Gotta use SMS
10. No categories for contacts. I ported all my Palm contacts into Outlook (not easily performed, but finally managed to do it for free - didn't even have Outlook installed!) and reset all the Categories for my own amusement as they don't show up on the phone.
11. A small iPod bug - if you select a video podcast from the podcast listings, it will only play the audio not the video. You can only see the video if you select it from the video listings.

Hopefully some of these rumored upgrades will prove true. I'm also excited about hopefully forthcoming Trillian app. If you are an iPhone user, make sure you read the shortcut for getting punctuation into your text. Basically, you hold down the number/punctuation key and slide it over to the character and then it will revert back to the alpha keys. Sliding works with the shift key as well.

Photo Hunters - Fake

Aw, too bad it wasn't the real Jack Sparrow! This was taken at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Las Vegas. I didn't dare kiss him for hygienic reasons!

Thursday Thirteen #8 - Happy 100!!

Thursday Thirteen celebrates 100 weeks of Thursday Thirteens! I forgot to compile my list of favorite TT's earlier, so I'm scrambling to get it done before Thursday is done! Since I'm relatively new, I'll take this opportunity to pimp my own Thursday Thirteens as well.

1. Thursday Thirteen #1 - Things that happened on my birthday - Compiled using wikipedia and Holidays for Everyday
2. Thursday Thirteen #2 - Cool NPR stories - Podcasts that I have heard and saved because they are inspiring, funny and interesting.
3. Thursday Thirteen #3 - Favorite Podsafe Music - This was actually harder to compile than I thought because I wanted 13 different artists
4. Thursday Thirteen #4 - Quiz mania - I just love internet quizzes and have another draft of quizzes lined up (perhaps coming out next week!)
5. Thursday Thirteen #5: Organ Donation - This took quite a while to compose and it felt like researching a paper for school, but in the end it was worth it and received great responses.
6. Thursday Thirteen #6 - Kindergarten Math - May be tough even for some adults, but not my boy!
7. Thursday Thirteen #7 - Cool things I saw in Las Vegas - Viva Las Vegas! Can I go back tomorrow please?
8. Mo's Blue Moon - Cool info right on the day of the blue moon
9. Mo's Summer Solstice - Another celestial occurance that happened right on that day!
10. Another Mo's Women Role Models - An excellent compilations with pictures.
11. Haley-O's Marry, One Night Stand, or Throw off a Cliff - I didn't play, but it was fun to imagine.
12. Expatriate's Chef's Mom Tricks - OK, I had to search for this one, and it is a funny list!
    
13. OK, the last one is one that I remember commenting on, but couldn't for the life off me find through Google, all about empowered women characters that kick ass.

07/23/07 Update - Apparently my Googling abilities have improved as I finally found that last elusive post: Thirteen Kick-Ass Chicks in the Flicks (or on TV). I love this post because of the subject of course, but also for all the pictures of each character.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy 4th of July

Taken on June 29, 2007 at Devens, MA. 

Adam and Dova's new light sabers.