Domestic Geek

Man, I hope people can read this. I know the blog has been absent for a bit. The company that provided my free DNS services was bought up by another company and I neglected to figure out how to direct people here. Since I can see it at home (hosted on a server here), I totally forgot about the outside world. Of course, not having written a word in forever, I didn't feel motivated to do anything about it.

I realized it is now November 1st and I want to try to complete NaBloPoMo. I failed miserably last year. I Googled to find the home page and found it is now part of BlogHer:

So, here I go. Maybe if I can get back into the habit of writing here, I'll take the time to fix the template and learn the new things in this Expression Engine install. I am so out of practice with all things web and it makes me incredibly sad.

I tend to have 50 bazillion open tabs in my browser (totally drives Marcus crazy). Since it's usually stuff I find interesting or important, I leave them open until my poor computer can't handle it anymore. It's time to dump some, so here's the list of open tabs I need to close and move on:

• Free "Learn to speak Pirate" course - in case you need to brush up for Talk Like a Pirate Day on Sept. 19th
• Top 10 Things to do in Colorado before you die
• Nourish - What's the Story of your Food
• Lewas Designs - Vinyl Wall art & stickers
• Holstee Manifesto
• DIY Stinky Feet Foot Soak
• StarTrek.com Store
• Free Vector Maps
• A site listing Hallmark Star Trek Ornaments so I can figure out which ones I'm missing
• Worm Compost Bins

Craft-related:

• Sizeable list of tutorials: bags ?K pouches & purses
• what sellers should bring to a craft fair
• Cross-Stitch Finishing Techniques
• Crochet Higby Skeleton Doll
• Cross-Stitching an Apple Logo
• Knitting Bag Tutorial
• PictureCraftwork - Online Cross-stitch Charter
• Drawstring Bag Tutorial
• Tutorial : Creating a Basic Fabric Repeating Pattern for Spoonflower
• Silk Screening Supplies: RIP software
• Ackfeld Wire - sells really cool wire hangers for quilts, etc.
• Embroidered Clock
• MacStitch - Finally - a Mac Cross-stitching program (also does knitting charts)

Recipes/Cooking/Baking:

• Martha Stewart Meatballs
• Pioneer Woman Cheesy Beer Bread
• Chicken Fajitas - used homemade spice mix (no packets)
• Pi cookie cutter - need to get this to make cookies next March 14th
• Bake at 350 - Amazing Cookies!

I was looking for something in my purse at work today and I noticed my camera lens cover stuck open. I haven't used my camera since I got back from New Mexico. Sadly, it's been in my purse since then because I'm too lazy to get my pics off the camera. I'm also bummed that I never managed to snap a pic of my friend, Angie. I guess I was just so happy to see her that I never thought to take one. Oh, well...next time.

Anyway, I tried turning the camera on and got a "lens error, restart camera" message. It had obviously gotten dinged. Must have happened when I was cut off and had to slam on my brakes, causing my purse and all of its contents to fly off my passenger seat. One of my co-workers shook it and said something was rattling. Great. I don't have the funds for either a repair or a new camera.

Once I got home, I was going to try to take it apart. After losing the very first tiny screw I took out, I decided to Google the problem instead. I came across this site about repairing digital cameras and started trying some of the suggestions. I put in fresh batteries, laid it on it's back and used a butter knife to get the lens come out as it was trying to power on. Voila, whatever was keeping it from closing or opening (whether some debris or just a little bit bent) was no longer a problem

Yay!

I got stuck at work an extra hour and a half tonight because of a stupid 12 page PDF high school newspaper file generated with Microsoft Publisher that would not go through our RIP.

It kept crashing Acrobat when I tried splitting pages out individually.

It was supposed to be black only, but everything color RGB (not CMYK).

It was poorly designed to begin with.

I was ready to scream.

Fortunately, one of my co-workers had a workaround.

It was one in a long line of jobs today that had me pulling my hair out.

I worked on a college publication that sounded like it had been written by high school students.

I literally banged my head on the desk while reading that one.

I always wondered before I got into the industry why prepress people and graphic designers* hated each other.

Now I know. Boy, do I know.

*I'm using the term designer loosely. Most of the crap we see every day is done by some yahoo who thinks just because he/she can work a computer, he/she is a designer. It's why I can't find work as a designer that pays anything.

Today was the first official snow for the area of 2010. Not the first snow I've seen, since I got the pleasure of driving in snow over Wolf Creek Pass last month when I drove down to Farmington, NM to visit my old college pal, Angie. Not thrilled as it didn't snow that much, so the roads will most likely be icy on the way into work tomorrow morning. Normally, I'm off on Wednesdays, but since I had to take a sick day last month and thus have no remaining vacation hours left, I had to trade with someone to get this Saturday off. I'm going to spend part of the day at a friend's house doing a pre-holiday knitathon. Friends, food, beverage and holiday knitting — a much better way to spend a Saturday than doing prepress work. Hopefully, I'll have some progress to show off since I really haven't been getting a whole lot of crafting done lately.

Since I wrote about it earlier in the week, I guess I should mention how well mentholated chest rub (I'm using Walgreen's generic brand) works on the soles of one's feet. Surprisingly well! It doesn't give a whole night of relief, but it does help a whole lot right after it is applied. In fact, I have it on my feet as I type. Last Saturday I was even rubbing it on my feet at work to get through the shift. Anybody out there know why it works? Is it pressure points, gets into the bloodstream, or is it something else? I'd like to know.

OK, I'm going to go knit a bit and watch the Mythbusters episode from last week (I fell asleep in the middle while Marcus and I were watching it) while I wind down to sleep. I have a feeling it is going to take a while to get to work in the morning.