Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

ust wanted to point out a totally neat little site that I found recently while trolling Design*Sponge: Daily Drop Cap. It's a neat little page with beautiful illustrations designed to provide you with a necessity you never new existed: lovely initial letters for your blog (or lj!) posts.

Maybe this will encourage me to post more...

hey shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

From "Ode of Remembrance" by Laurence Binyon.

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I love Disneyland and tilt-shift photography, so y'know this is like catnip, right?

This video really does remind me of living in San Francisco. I was always fascinated by the fog, especially when it would hang over the tops of the mountains like a cresting wave, holding a crisp line against the clear sky. Press play and you'll see what I mean:

Another Cloud Reel... from Delrious on Vimeo.

'Cause apparently he can do hand-springs:



And is, in the words of the immortal Zoolander, "really, really good looking."

Psych returns tomorrow, which makes me happy in the face of what appears to be a worsening cold. (Why do I get sick in August? Most people get sick in the winter, but I seem to get sick every summer.) I'm debating ditching work tomorrow to stay home and try to feel better.

No matter what, Psych will be celebrated with a bowl of Pineapple Non-Fat Frozen Yogurt from Yogurt-Land, since I tried it today and it's almost like Dole Whip, but more tangy (and with dairy). I was supposed to have Dole Whip at Disneyland today with a co-worker, but because I wasn't feeling well, I just went home instead. So to compensate, I think I'll have pineapple yogurt tomorrow, as well as today, settle in, and watch Psych and Eureka (thank goodness they air on one after the other, instead of simultaneously; I don't think I could choose between the two). This Sunday is Dad's birthday, so I need to be better by then. (Do you hear that white blood cells?!!) Maybe I'll take Dad to Disneyland on Sunday for Dole Whip (it'll be B-day free day for him).

Driving from SoCal to Mammoth for 4th of July on Friday when I spotted a totally neglected Impala for sale in Independence, CA (don't you love the name?). I caught that it was 60-something, but I'm not sure if it was a '67 (going a bit too fast to read the complete "for sale" sign on the windshield). I think I'm going to have to stop on the way back and see what year it is and how much they want for it. If it is a '67, I wonder if they know they have a "Metallicar."

I keep seeing the posters for Ice Age 3 on the sides of the freeways, and every time I see the sub-title: "Dawn of the Dinosaurs." I get an odd feeling: just what are they trying to pull here? As anyone who has taken 5th grade science knows, the dinosaurs came well before the ice age and it's accompanying saber tooth tigers, wooly mammoths, and the like. How far before? Try 60 million years. And that's what I can't figure out about "Ice Age 3" - why even try to pass off dinosaurs with wooly mammoths and early man? The only people who buy this sort of thing are the type to frequent the Creation Museum and believe the Earth is only 6,000 years old (and dinosaurs walked along side man).

Of course, the other explanation is that the writers, producers, director, and everyone else involved in this movie is either stupid, lazy, or both.

So, if the selective de-saturation tool wasn't enough, did you know there's a site online that simulates the tilt-shift photographic effect digitally? I've been obsessed with tilt-shift since I first discovered it (it's the technique that makes everything in the picture look like it's a miniature/model), but it requires an SLR and special lenses, both of which I do not have. The wonderful TiltShiftMaker, simply requires you to have the ability to upload a photo and adjust the slider indicating where you want the focal length. There's still some tinkering involved to maximize the look, but ( the effect is quite striking. )

So, some sadistic soul created a program for iPhone and iPod Touch called "Color Splash" that de-colors and lets you selectively re-color images using your finger as a brush. This is a problem because, well, selective colorization is one of my favorite trite photo effects. And since the app was only $1.99, it is now something I can do from my phone. This is highly dangerous to my productivity level.

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I like to think I'm a pretty chill person when it comes to domestic issues; I'm not a neat freak, and I don't have to do a utilities accounting down to the last penny. V and I have a rough agreement on the necessities of living: she pays the gas, electric, and water; I pay the phone and cable (isn't it sad that the two are almost the same price?).

V does the whole "direct deposit" or online bill pay (not sure which), which is fine with me, except somehow SC Edison kept getting the wires crossed, since we kept getting "24-hour cut-off" notices in the mail each month. V assured me that this was because of the date they mail the notices and the day the payment went out. So I learned to ignore the notices. No problem, right? Or so I thought...

I'm out to dinner last night when I get an urgent call and text: V wants to let me know that Edison may have turned off the power. But this is so not her fault, she assures me: she has a confirmation number [Dunh Dunh Dunh!] proving she paid the bill. Having lived with her for some time and seen how she reacts to problems with credit card bills, I have my doubts. Since she discovered the problem after 3:30, it's too late for the technician to come back out. Additional fun fact: the technician can come out and turn the power back on at the meter. However, you have to flip the main circuit breaker yourself for liability reasons (lest you have gone away with the iron on and subsequently had your power turned off/on). V doesn't know where the main switch is (we live in a condo). She hightails it to her mother's for the evening, after at least putting the freezer food in the deep freeze in the garage, which is on the HOA circuit (i.e., still working). Flash forward to today: the technician shows up and turns the power back on. I text V: has she flipped the breaker back (keep in mind, we have a fridge full of food spoiling while we wait). I'm at work, so I can't flip the switch. I get a reply at 5:00 p.m.: she didn't flip the switch because she was in too much of a rush to leave to visit the BF. So I get home at 6:00 p.m. and the power's been off for more than 24 hours. I change out of my work clothes, traipse downstairs, open the main panel for our building and flip the switch. It's frakking labeled with our unit number after all. Total time elapsed: 5 minutes. Why this could not have been done at 1:00 by the person responsible for the debacle, I do not know.

Later I'm talking to my father and bitching about the whole fiasco. He says you have to be at least 2 months in arrears for Edison to cut the cord, which makes me even more suspicious about the whole "I paid it and I have a confirmation number" line. Sometimes, I really have roommates...

You know, the kind of day when someone from work calls you at 7:30 a.m. and asks you to take three appearances for a sick co-worker, and suddenly instead of one file, you've got four. Then later, when your at the court, you answer your phone and the office manage wants to know if you can sign in on another file that just got referred over today, and on which you have no information.

Yup. Definitely going to be one of those days.

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I was watching Chuck tonight when they threw in an insertion shot as follows:



This was allegedly the "Dubai Federal Bank & Trust," located in Los Angeles. However, having spent three years walking past this particular location on a daily basis, I know for certain that the location is actually:


View Larger Map



here! (And it's actually a federal building!).

Seriously, if you just want someone to parrot your unresearched, unjustified, and unsupported position on an issue in court, why not just get a chimp with a speaker phone around his neck to do it?

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A 1967 Mercedes Benz 250SL?

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Last night was the birthday-homemade-pizza-party-bonanza, which left us with piles of left over mushrooms, sausage and cheese. The solution: make spaghetti sauce! And then, use the sauce to make lasgana (or, if I'm feeling lazy, baked spaghetti). I'd post the secret family recipe, but the punishment for disclosure is death...

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Had not seen this before, though it appears it's been floating around teh Internets since last November, but spotted the lyrics in the middle of a video linked to by Andrew Sullivan and immediately had to find the original:



I think I may need to use this for a video I plan to make of my friend's wedding and wedding pictures. She's a huge fan of Mario Kart, and I think she'll get a kick out of it.