Domestic Geek

I wrote several weeks back that I was going to make and send Holiday cards this Christmas. If you'd like one, please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) your snail mail address and leave a comment that you've done so. I'd like to get them in the mail the first week of December.

This all started when I saw this Joy of Tech comic last week:


I really wanted to do this, but since I have no money I couldn't buy myself a pumpkin, I wasn't. Marcus offered to get me one on Sunday (we passed by a church on Yale that was selling them for their youth group), so I accepted his gift. Almost as soon as we got home, I started carving. He took pictures along the way and you can find them in the Pumpkin Carving 2006 Gallery. I used some helpful hints I found reading Nitrozac's Mac O'Lantern Tutorial and at The Carving Dude. I just finished it about 5pm this evening.

May I present to you, the:



Wow, this thing was HARD! All those tiny little details around the eyes. But hey, I did it. I like it. That's all that matters. I can't wait for Marcus to see it when he gets home. The only bad thing? There were only seeds from one pumpkin. I went ahead and roasted them because I LOVE ME SOME ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS! It's my favorite snack in the whole world.

Well, I'm almost done with my pumpkin. I had a horrible sinus headache yesterday from that front that moved through, so I really didn't get as much done as I had hoped. Besides a couple of "oops" moments where I cut off some important parts, it does actually resemble what it is supposed to be. Hopefully, I can get a decent picture of it to post for everyone's viewing pleasure later this afternoon or early evening.

I'm in the middle of carving a pumpkin that Marcus bought for me yesterday. I hope it comes out like I envision. I'm trying one of those real people type carvings. If it comes out, you'll see pictures later today or tomorrow. If not, I'll be crying and pouting. (Just kidding, but I will be a tad bit upset.) I love grabbing pumpkin guts. That slimy coldness is kind of neat. Am I weird?

Marcus is fascinated with katana swords. I think I first noticed his interest after the Matrix Reloaded came out. There was definitely some impressive sword fighting in that movie. After Kill Bill came out, though, I knew he was hooked. It seemed all he could talk about for weeks was how awesome of a sword the katana was. He has even expressed an interest in getting a couple of swords so that he can take classes to learn how to use them. Because of monetary issues, I haven't been able to get him one for a gift as I had intended to do back then. I'd still really like to surprise him with one someday. Maybe I could get him a sword stand as well so that we could display it on our mantle. That would be cool.