Mac Mini Mania

I am a PC.
(Scratch that.)
I was a PC.

Back in the day, I was strictly PC. What was this new apple thing people were always talkin' about? I liked my comfortable Dell and all its familiar things like toolbars and start buttons.

But as a student graphic designer, I began to go to the school computer labs a lot and was forced to work with Macs. I was a little frustrated. Where's the start button?! What's Garage Band?! What the hells is up with this dashboard crap?! But as I got to sophomore year, I got used to it. I got used to the speed. Used to the amazing applications that come with it for free. Used to the built in antivirus that actually works.

I was getting tired of my stupid Dell laptop. But Macs are so expensivo!!(I meant to put that "o" there because I like to pretend I know other languages) My boss told me if I wanted to get a Mac so badly, I should just get a Mac Mini on Craiglist for like $300.

It was like the word of God.

So I got one! I went to this creepy doctor's house and bought his Mac Mini for $340! It has a dual processor, 2 gb of ram, and already has a built in DVD burner! What a deal! I mean it's not the most impressive piece of machinery, but for $340 that's great. It was worth the possibility of bloody doctor murder!

My boss has tons of Mac Minis, because they're fairly cheap (half the price of a Mac laptop) and they can do whatever you want. He uses one to watch movies on, one to control the music in his office, one as a server, and one just to design on.

As you can see in the picture above, you really can use it for anything!

I was playing with mine all day today. There's all these awesome widgets you can download for free online. You can have a widget that's just a monster dancing. That's it. C'mon! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!

PS. That picture's a joke. Just in case any weirdos out there thought it was real. Hehe.

Nervous Parenting

Let it be known that I'm notoriously spontaneous and the fact that my boyfriend can also have these tendencies does not help matters at all.

I've recently just come back from a vacation at the beach. I saw hermit crabs and suddenly had a romantic idea of owning two little ones with that bf of mine. I was on the fence about it. When I asked my boyfriend if he wanted to get a couple with me he said, "Yeah, sure. Sounds good." That did it. All doubts went out the window and my eyes were starry with romance. We got them as soon as possible.

Lord all mighty.

Don't doubt that I love Theodore and Pigby, but holy bajesus, they are not "easy and affordable to care for" as oh so many people claim. I feel as though the general public is under the impression, as I was, that all hermit crabs need are some food and water. My eyes weren't twinkling for long! As soon as I google searched those bad boys, I knew I was in for it.

Here's an image of a proper tank:

This doesn't even list a hygrometer I had to get also to measure humidity! We've already spend over $200 on these suckers.

So here's the truth. They need a humidity of at least 70 or they can't breathe properly and they can slowly DIE. They need the temperature to be 80 or they'll DIE. They need salt water to bathe in or they'll DIE(I don't know if they'll actually die because of that, but I wanted to keep the pattern going.).

For the past week, I have been a nervous wreck. I eat, sleep, and breathe worry! (Literally. I just had it for breakfast earlier.) I've been struggling to keep the humidity levels over 70. Just this morning it was 60 then it dropped to 30! I've been laying in bed fretting because my poor babies can't even BREATHE! I haven't even had time let them crawl on my shirt or throw a ball around with them or embarrass them in front of their friends! I've been researching and researching, doing everything the websites advise to no avail! I've had dreams! Dreams no normal 20-year-old should have! Not only about how they can't breathe, but also that I don't have any shells. Websites say you should have at least 3 extra shells for hermit crab so they can change to their pleasing. If a crab wants to change, but can't find any suitable shells (let alone any shells at all!) they can get stressed out.

But I won't end this ranting post on a sad note. In the past few minutes, while writing this post actually, I figured out how to keep the humidity levels up. I simply covered the top with a piece of scrap cardboard. I feel intellectually (and physically) beaten by a piece cardboard.

I can't make fun of Tina and her worried husband anymore. I've now been begrudgingly shoved into their category (several years too early I might add) of being a nervous parent.

PS. Look at the time. It's 8:43 am. I've been know to sleep til noon. Sigh...

So What Is It?

My photography assignment for this week was to take abstract pictures.  What the heck is abstract photography?  My first thought was objects really close up.  Right?  Isn't that what you picture too? My teacher described it as images in which you can't really tell what it is. Sounded easy enough.

I was in San Francisco this past weekend, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to take abstract pictures.  Well, turns out.  The assignment wasn't so easy.  I was wandering downtown San Francisco and didn't know what I was doing.  I took pictures of buildings and structures.  I wasn't sure if they were abstract.  When I came home, I took some random pictures of stuff in my house.  Still didn't know if I got it right or not.

I was eager to see everyone's work at class last night. However, the teacher who gave us this assignment didn't show up, and his co-teacher wasn't entirely sure what we were supposed to do or even what qualified as abstract.  We looked at picture after picture, and he didn't think most of them could be considered abstract..

So let's play a game. My photos are below.  What are they pictures of?  And which ones do you think qualified as abstract?

Answers:
1) Loose sequins - not abstract
2) Side of a building with reflection of the building across the street - abstract
3) My new flip flops - abstract
4) Cork coasters - not abstract

Laura's Creative Writing Homework

I usually write my poems with endstop, meaning each line would end in a natural grammatical part of the sentence. I never really experimented with enjambment, so I tried to do that more in this assignment.

We had to write a prose or poem in which something changes fundamentally at least once. Not just at the level of the content but with writing strategy. Here is my poem:

I don't want to lie. This poem has no literal or abstract meaning. I just made it up out of no where. There is no wall. I feel like people always try to look for meaning in things, especially poetry, because they need it to make sense. Well, do what you will with it. I hope you enjoyed. :]

On the Move

I absolutely love photography, especially now that I am taking classes.  I've been taking pictures since I was in grade school.  I was the girl who had a camera on me at all times.  (Though not in a fanny pack although that would have rocked!)  I was there to capture every moment...whether people liked it or not.

 

Now with this photography class, I see so much more possibilities.  And it excites me.  I can do something creative and now have an outlet for my artist side.  I do have one, ya know!  People may not see it often, but I believe it's there. It's also something outside of my mundane, everyday life at my job where I sit in front of a computer and don't venture out much.

 

I especially like my photography assignments.  It's sometimes hard to find time to do it, but it forces me to make time.  There's really no excuse not to go outside and take some damn pictures. 

 

This week, I had to play around with the shutter speed to either stop or capture movement.  I wanted to change it up and shoot a different subject, not that Huz is not a cutie pie.  I really wanted to take pictures of the girls.  Pictures of kids always get ooohhs and ahhhs.  And Tina's kids are friggin' adorable.  I only had one day to do it, and by the time I got to Tina's house, I didn't have enough light to complete the assignment.  But I did get one good picture of Carmen riding her bike.  I got this great effect by panning, which requires a slow shutter speed and following Carmen with my camera while she is in motion.

 

 

To complete my assignment, I forced Huz to be my subject again.  I shot him rollerblading on a warm, sunny day.  He had to rollerblade over the same spot like 15 times.  At the end of it, he was a bit sweaty and annoyed.  But all in all, he was a great sport.  In this picture, I was able to capture his movement with a fast shutter speed.  Oh, and he is holding a hockey stick because he didn't want to look like he was just rollerskating.  (He totally was.)

 

 

You like?

Picture This!

So I did! I signed up for photography classes. I actually followed through on something. And picked up a hobby. Yay for me!

Classes already started and are going well. They are held at a local high school one evening a week. These two men in their 50/60s teach the class and both have an obsession with photography. The one guy carries a camera in his fanny pack at all times. Haha. It's so he never misses a chance to capture something beautiful. They both get excited talking about photography. And are getting me excited.

We get assignments every week. This week, we had to play around with the aperture and capture depth of field. For my assignment, I shot Huz standing 30 feet from a creek. With the widest aperture, the creek was blurred, so it looked like it was far away. It was a neat effect. Anyway, my teachers said my photos turned out well. =)

Here are some examples of a narrow depth of field:

Neat, right?

P.S. I have to tell you about this one woman in my class. She is a classic know-it-all. And she does this really annoying thing that drives me f**king crazy. Every time the teachers say something, she'd respond with an "uh-huh." Mind you, there are thirty other people in this class, so they aren't talking to only her. So every minute or so, I'd hear "uh-huh." OMG! It is so annoying.

The 3 Sisters Try Hip Hop

A few months ago, Tina called me with big news. She said she had an idea that will be life changing. I am always skeptical when either of my sisters are that excited about something. With good reason too. She wanted me to take funk/hip hop classes with her. Honestly, I didn't really want to do it. My first thought was that we were way too old to hip hop dance. But I couldn't let her go by herself. So I reluctantly agreed.

I really didn't know what to expect. But it won me over in the first class. It's a really fun way to exercise. I break a sweat every time. Plus it's something Tina and I can do together once a week. It's fun as long as you don't take it or yourself too seriously. In case you were wondering, we aren't the oldest in the class.

We learn new moves and routines every week. The instructor gets us to move our hips and do kicks and turns. Laura went to class with us today. I think she actually enjoyed herself. She was a good sport and kept up most of the time. She was so cute trying to do the kicks. Haha. But you should see me doing the spins. Laura kept laughing at my attempts. I admit that they are not pretty. I can't help that I get dizzy!

After we complete the class, we are hitting the clubs! AWWWW...YEAH!

My New Hobby Continued...

I am continuing my experiment and adventure with photography. Yes, I am still using my digital camera. However, I am looking at everything differently. I try to find art and beauty everywhere...in things I see every day to things I never really noticed before. When I photograph people, I try to take different angles and perspectives. At the shore this past weekend, I got some great candid shots, especially of my nieces. Of course, I am cheating because those girls don't have a bad side or angle. I also got some great ones of Laura too...although she doesn't want to admit it. =p

Here is my wonderful day at the beach as shown through my photos.

My stroll through the eerily quiet and clean neighborhood

My run-in with a playful dog

Two very happy girls

Rachel's sandy hands. Sand was everywhere!

A clear sign summer is over...

I Need a New Hobby

Recently I noticed that my life consists of work, TV and sleep...and that is about it. Oh, and I forgot an important one, blogging. However, now that I am finished revamping our blog (with the help of my awesome husband), I find I want to move to the next thing. Don't get me wrong. I am not done blogging...far from it. However, I feel like I need a new hobby.

It is easy for people, me included, to become resigned with life...with work, relationships, leisure...anything really. Resignation is not really what anyone strives for, right? So I am going to do something about it. Before I go on, I must preface with this: I get in these phases sometimes. =/ So bare with me.

I have several ideas swirling in my head. Not very long ago, after watching hours and hours of So You Think You Can Dance, I wanted to become a contemporary dancer. Yeah, I know...I even laughed at the idea. I am not graceful or flexible. And all the classes I could find were for 5 year olds. Apparently, I am too old! My dreams were dashed after a two minute internet search.

I had to come up with something realistic. Something I can actually do. I love writing. However, all I do at work is write, so it is hard to get motivated. I tried writing earlier this year and could only come up with three pages of an unfinished story. Yeah, it was pretty sad. It has been sitting unfinished for months.

I also love art. I thought of photography. For the longest time, I wanted to take up photography. Laziness or the lack of money stopped me. Maybe it is something I can do now. I don't have one of those DSLR cameras. But before I go spending all that money on one, I decided to practice using my digital camera. I know it is not the same. But I want to first see if I even have an eye for photography. I may suck really bad. I demanded that my husband take a walk with me today to take some pictures. I told him to humor me. So we went and just got back. It was kinda fun. It was getting dark, but I think I got some decent pictures. This hobby is great too because it got me and my husband off the couch and out of the house.

So what do you think? Should I take up knitting instead? That was my other idea.