fireshadowed

help!

I want to make a blanket for my mom for mother's day (originally I was thinking for her birthday but that is in two weeks).  I know how to make a blanket on a sewing machine, but I was thinking about knitting or crocheting something instead.  The problem is that I have never done it before and have no idea what I am doing or where to start.

Suggestions?

camera

I am thinking about getting a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28.  Mainly I was interested in a basic camera that could do well in concert settings (low light with movement).  I was talking to some people that also like to go to shows, and they seem pretty happy with this camera.  Any other suggestions though?

Also trying to decide between black and silver ;)

swllc!!

I bought two swllc shirts today.  Once I get these, I will have five of their shirts.  Really I just need some new shirts and one of my swllc shirts is getting really worn out.  Here are the shirts that I got:

( Read more... )

They also just posted a video of them playing Clones.  Apparently people keep asking for the tabs of various songs, and they decided it would be easier to make a video of them playing the song "together" so people could see how to play the song.  By the way, Dave is Oregon while Misha lives in Vietnam (last I heard).  This video totally made my day.  I really miss seeing these guys play.

...

When I got into the shuttle, an older lady asked me if I had just come from Hawaii.  I told her that I was from California.  She said that was the same thing.  Apparently it is strange to be wearing just jeans and a t-shirt when it is in the 30s and windy ;)

grumble

My flight was supposed to arrive at 2:07 pm.  I reserved a shuttle that left at 3 pm, which should have left me plenty of time.  I got off the plane at 2:45 pm and got to the shuttle counter at 2:55 pm.  There was a long line, but I just walked up to the front, told them that I had a pre-paid reservation and they helped me right there.

According to Flight Stats my flight was four minutes late in leaving and 24 minutes lates in arriving.  I thought that usually a plane could make up time during the flight, but I think part of the problem today was that the descent was kind of bouncy.  It seemed to take a long time and it felt like we circled a bit.  That might have been because they needed to find an opening for us to land.

One thing that was annoying about the flight (to CA and back) was that Frontier no longer offers free snacks and you now have to pay for their livemap that shows where you are, your speed, and your alititude.  I actually liked watching that map.

iPod

I just got myself an iPod nano.  I decided to go with the 3rd generation instead of the newest version because it seemed like this one would fit in my pocket better.  I initially wanted the black one, but its price jumped up by $60.  Instead, I got the silver one, which was actually cheaper.  According to Camel Camel Camel, its price has dropped down quite a bit in the past week.  Hopefully its price does not go down too much more or else I am going to be cranky ;)  I also got a free carrying case which is cool because this thing is going to live in my pocket.  I think that I am also going to get a $5 credit to Amazon's MP3 store (which I have used before).

Now it is just going to take forever to get it ...

Thanksgiving

I went to have Thanksgiving with my dad today (my mom and I had Thanksgiving on Sunday).  There were not that many people, but it was still good.  My nieces were really cute.  Stevie, Shawna's daughter, is about one and a half years old, so she does not remember me from the last time I saw her.  Shawna was trying to get her to say "bye Auntie Shannon" to me but she was so confused because the Auntie Shannon that she knows was sitting behind her :)

health insurance

My health insurance ran out in May and I really should find a new health insurance plan.  One problem is that what I really want is vision and dental coverage.  I also take allergy medication and that will run out at the end of the year.  Any suggestions?

t-shirts

One thing that I really hate to do is shop for clothes.  But, since I just noticed that one of my swllc shirt has a hole in it, I decided that it was time to get some new shirts.  I wandered over to Threadless and bought a few.  Now I just hope that they actually fit.

( Read more... )

in CA ...

I woke up as soon as my alarm went off, which is not usual for me.  I got ready, finished packing and left my apartment before 6 am.  The place where the shuttle was supposed to pick me up is about 1.5 miles away from where I live.  My legs were numb after about half a mile.  Another shuttle driver saw me walking and offered to drive me the rest of the way (half a mile or so) which was really nice of him.  We left at 6:40 and I got to the airport a little before 9:00.  Basically I just sat in the airport doing logic puzzles.  The flight was okay, but I was slightly annoyed that the flight attendent apparently told this woman that if her son was going to be in a car seat thing, he would have to be next to the window ... which was the seat that I had reserved.  My dad picked me up and we had In 'N Out :)

Something random ... facebook has this SuperPoke Pets thing that reminds me a lot of those virtual pets that were popular when I was young.  I have this feeling like I used to have one of them, so I looked around my room ... did not find it, but did find a lot of random stuff:  gum ball machine, jar of glitter, brass bear, a blue stone egg ...

so tired

I am so tired right now ... and I plan on waking up at 4:00 or so.  I fly tomorrow to CA.  Really looking forward to having a break and getting away from school for awhile.  I will be doing some work while I am home though.  Things seem to be going well right now.  It looks like the terms that I have added to the theory show that the pervious results were not really valid.  So, now I need to sum everything up and write it out nicely.  After break I will be meeting with a professor from chemistry to try to convince her to be on my committee.

weird

Tuesday
High:  77        Low:34

Wedneday
High:  72        Low:33

Thursday
High:  34        Low:27

I am so confused.

weird

My wall clock does this thing where it skips ahead one complete hour.  I never notice when it is fast by some other time ... it is always one hour.  It is kind of creepy.

home

Today I realized that I will be going home in less than a week.  I have not been home since early January.  It is kind of crazy to think that it has been that long.  It also got me thinking about the idea of "home" ... it is something that I have thought about before, but I have not really figured it out.  Is home where I live right now?  Where my mom lives?  Where my dad lives?

I was also thinking earlier about the things that are important to me, like music.  I was talking to my mom about how I have been listening to a lot of Chris Cornell lately and I said that he used to be in the band Soundgarden.  Now my mom has never wanted to listen to the kind of music that I like, but growing up I always had the radio on and I have probably talked about Chris Cornell/Soundgarden/Audioslave before.  It got me wondering though, about who else would know what I was talking about.  Maybe my dad ... probably not my step-mom or step-sisters.  Is this important?

Eric Hutchinson

Yesterday I saw Eric Hutchinson.  I do not remember how I first heard of him, but members of swllc has apparently played with him during his shows, so I assume that has something to do with it ;)  Matt Hires played first.  It was just him and his guitar.  I actually met him afterwards, and got him to sign my CD (a live EP that he recorded at the Hotel Cafe).  It was kind of crazy in front of the merch table (people were surrounding Eric Hutchinson), but Matt was nice enough to reach around and the CDs that I wanted to buy.  After him was Meaghan Smith.  She was kind of funny ... introduced one song by saying that it was about an ex-boyfriend who went to jail (not her fault ...), got out, and thought that they were still together.  She also said that there was an axe involved, but did not elaborate.  Eric Hutchinson was pretty good.  The music on his CD has a lot of energy, and I thought it showed up when he played his songs live.

I am so tired right now though ... I slept for a really long time, and when I finally woke up, I had a headache so I stayed in bed.  I am glad that I went though.  While I was waiting for the show to start, a girl who was standing next to me asked if I was there by myself (she was alone also).  We started talking and we seem to like the same sort of music ... we exchanged e-mails along with some bands that we thought the other should listen to.  She said that I should e-mail her if I hear of any good concerts coming.  I might have a concert buddy to go with!

concert!

I went to a concert tonight ... more about it tomorrow I think.  I am so tired right now.  I bascially did the proctoring/grading thing today for seven hours.  I almost did not want to go to the show because I felt so tired.  The walk home sucked though ... over two miles and it was around 30 degrees out!!

question ...

Moment of inertia of a uniform sphere with a hole drilled down the middle (kind of like a cylinder was taken out) ... anyone?

music!

I read an article today about how listening to "joyous" music can actually cause blood vessels to expand and increase blood flow.  Music that makes you feel anxious, on the other hand, makes blood vessels contract.  I thought it was kind of cool that listening to music can actually help my health.  They also said that it was heavy metal that tended to make people feel anxious.  I know that hearing loud music like Godsmack makes me happy.  I do not think that I really considered Godsmack to be loud/angry until I went to college and people were surprised to find out that I listened to them.  I remember trying to find a CD of theirs once at the store, and having trouble finding it because I did not look in the hard rock section.  It did not occur to me to look there because I never thought of myself as a hard rock listener.

Right now I have been listening to a lot of Chris Cornell - Soundgarden, Audioslave, and his solo stuff.  I have always really liked his voice ... I remember hearing Black Hole Sun and thinking that it was amazing.  I would love to see him play.

MP3 player?

I should probably get a new mp3 player.  The buttons on my current one occasionally decide that they do not want to work.  I am not sure if I could actually get the company to help me out at all.  Right now I have a Sansa c150.  It is 2GB, although something with more space would probably better.  I need something that handle being in my pocket ... something not too expensive would be nice.  Any ideas?

Kind of thinking about just buying a new one off of ebay ... $35.  I actually like the model that I have and it lasted about a year and a half.  *shrug*