it must be summer

, originally uploaded by beths96.

hailey's a babe!

babies are cute, but not as cute as cool software

I had the good fortune to work with Adam Pratt of Adobe during my time at The Company That Shall Remain Nameless. My team was tasked with ... well, it's hard to say what we were "tasked with," because (1) that phrase makes my teeth hurt, and (2) management changed its mind as often as I change my underwear -- that is, once a week ...

Adam told us he had the month of June pretty much off. Why? I can't think of a better reason.

But what prompts me to write this is the really cool software he used to create this gallery. It's called PostcardViewer, and it looks as though it requires you to run your own web server to make it work. (Stupid blogger!) It's a great way to show off the images. And couple that with the Lensbaby he used ... it looks like the most awesome way to take shots of little ones' little parts.

Anyway. Just wanted to show off that I know someone at Adobe. Why not? I'm still unemployed. :)

flush

well, the slow-moving father-in-law front passed through chanhassen yesterday. the result? a new toilet. i fixed it once before, last year, but the leaks started returning a few weeks ago.

we eventually replaced the toilet and tank completely -- not exactly the route i wanted to go, but the bowl had a crack in it -- and unlike my ass, a crack here is a bad thing.

so now i'm the proud owner of a new toilet, and it only necessitated one trip to home depot. i'm getting better at this stuff.

i think.

site-related notes

i'm messing with the template, almost hourly, in an attempt to get something aesthetically pleasing without knowing jack about ... well, about just about everything in web design.

oh, i was OK in 1996. in fact, i was pretty good, because i was chasing around this intern we had at the paper. she was our HTML expert and around her, i was like a moth at a flame. a well-built, ponytail-wearing, gum-popping flame who had no earthly idea what i was after ... or did, and knew i had no chance, but enjoyed the attention anyway.

but now it's 2006, and i've not picked up anything in the past 10 years besides "target=_blank" (which, come to think of it, is pretty accurate for me lately). so i'm messing with the blogger-provided template, and as i attempt to learn CSS better, i've at least figured out how to change fonts.

so if you're on OS X, and especially on Tiger, you'll see better fonts -- if you've got the default OS fonts installed. if you don't, then you'll get arial and like it. if you've got futura and american typewriter, though, i think it should look better.

not good, but better.

20 human months = 10 dog months

As proof of this mathematical fact, I give you:



Trotter learned to do that two months ago.

:)

slices of life

Last night Trotter saw the greatest movie of his short life: "Eight Below," which is a surprisingly good movie about some sled dogs who were left behind by a scientific mission when a nasty winter storm moved in. I say it was "the greatest movie of his short life" because he definitely responded to the scenes of the dogs whining and barking ... he was about one inch away from the screen, tail puffed up, growling. I think that's his dog-Ebert way of giving the film two paws up.

The joys of unemployment: Going to the gym in the morning, then coming home to make a nice breakfast of eggs, toast and fruit salad, and not worrying in the least about what time it is.

The five-day Pathetic Trips to Home Depot forecast: after the misguided home improvement front moved through last weekend, a relative calm settles over the greater Chanhassen area, but a slow-moving father-in-law front is making its way to the Twin Cities. I expect massive plumbing supplies and deck stain tools to bear down on the area by noon Thursday.

erik is on drugs

The Twin Cities' favorite bike shop, Erik's Bike Shop, might be so because it has the trippiest commercials ever on TV. I mean, it's like they're all stoned when they make those things.

Bike riders are usually hippies. They have those hemp backpacks and organic water bottles and low-impact soy tires and helmets made out of recycled cardboard boxes. You know the type.

See, when I take a bike ride, as I did this morning, I go out of my way to run over helpless nature creatures, and I try to find some minorities to oppress. Though we don't normally allow those types of people in my part of Carver County anyway.

I love Erik's, though, because their checkout system is based on FileMaker Pro and run on Macs ... at least, it was the last time I was there.

Good for Erik's -- the stoned Mac-loving bike hippies of greater central Minnesota.

Look at you, you were once so proud ... Feel the wrath of the left hand of Burns!

Don't ask me why I'm thinking of this episode this morning.

Maybe it's because "The Simpsons" relates to everything.

Maybe it's because you could replace "Flanders" with my name and the title of that episode might be apt.

Or maybe it's because things are different now, and I feel as though I finally can write here again.

So I used to work for an unnamed local retailer ... I'd like not to name them, but if you have a mental image of a large red circle, with a smaller red circle inside it, then I'd say you're on target.

I was afraid to write anything on this site about them, because they don't take to dissent very well, and it was all I wanted to talk about. I decided it was better to just shut up about everything. But of course I couldn't keep totally quiet, though it was more a way to express the funny things that happen in a large company.

Now I'm free. And as the ultra-conservative rock band The Who once said, freedom tastes of reality.

Meaning, I have no job. I have a ton of stuff to do around the house. And it's the first time that my lovely wife and I will be in the house ... together ... all the time.

Pray for mojo.