One of the fun things about my job is that I work in the IT department. That means I get fun software to play with. Of course, that means I have to learn how to use it.
I got Photoshop CS3 recently, and while I've been working with Photoshop for years now, CS3 has some fun new built-in animation capabilities I've just started playing with.
Like this:
Nothing terribly special, I know, but a fun fifteen minutes of playing nonetheless!
Jeff's out of town, so when the sirens went off, and I confirmed it on the radar, I highed myself and the pets down into the basement. Spike had to be carried in his little travel cage, and Kaylee had to be carried because the stairs were scary. We sat away from the windows and watched the clock waiting for the storm to pass.
It did.
There was a possible touchdown less than a half a mile from us, but we got nothing more than rain. Still a little scary, though.
But we're fine. And I learned that we need to clean the basement. That will be Jeff's job when he gets back from his trip. :)
It's been a while since I posted photos of the garden, and I just got a new camera (thanks, honey!), so I thought I'd use the opportunity to play with my new camera and get some shots of the plants.
As usual, the Swiss chard is going bonkers.
The fall crops have started to go in. Beets, turnips, and here are the radishes:
More radishes will go in when I pull up the non-producing cucumbers this weekend.
And here's a little corner of the garden.
Peppers, some nasturtiums, and you can see the ruby Swiss chard in the background.
And I'm really enjoying the camera, a Fuji FinePix F40fd. It's a little pocket digital camera, but it takes nice photos.
The pets are doing well (knock on wood), though Cordy's coat is growing out and she's getting a little hotter than she'd prefer. Spike is still his usual grouchy self. And Kaylee is not going to starve to death any time soon, as you can see.
One of the things I’ve been doing while I’ve been AWOL from this blog is reading. I used to read on the bus to and from work, but since I drive now, that’s not really possible (OK, it’s possible, just not a good ides). And I used to read over my lunch hour, but now I tend to lunch with my coworkers, so that time’s gone, too.
I’ve been having trouble finding time to read, so I just decided I had to make time. So that’s one of the things I’ve been doing lately. Some books have been good and some books haven’t, but I’ve enjoyed reading again anyway.
Three books I read this past weekend:
Soon I Will Be Invincible: About an evil genius and a cyborg. No, seriously. It’s really good. Probably the best book I’ve read in a while, which may not be saying much, I realize. It’s about people and how they become who they are, and in this case, what’s the difference between being a hero and a villain (hint: not much).
Crooked Little Vein: I love Warren Ellis’ comics and blog, but I found his new book to be mostly unpleasant. I appreciated the book, but didn’t actually enjoy reading it, if that makes any sense. If you read his blog, you'll be ready for the book. If you have never read his blog, I suggest you read it for a couple weeks to give you an idea of what you're in for. In fact, I rather had the impression he wrote the book because he just had a pile of stuff from his blog that he needed to get into a story someplace.
On the Prowl: A fluffy book of four short stories about shapeshifters. I only read the first three, because I cannot stand the last author’s writing. The first one, by Patricia Briggs, was by far the best, and really the only one worth reading. I read the other two because it was a cool, rainy Sunday evening and it was the perfect time for fluff.
I've finally decided to use up some of my ever-expanding yarn stash and make myself that blanket I've been promising myself.
Yes, it's a little small now, but it'll grow. :)
I'm using up my unexplained giant stash of sportweight mercerized cotton. And while it's giant, I still won't have enough to make a blankie for myself. I've got about 8-10 skeins in kind of this range of colors, and I'm thinking of edging each square with white, then edging the whole thing in white. Or maybe cream. Or tan. Or whatever I can get in enough quantity at a low price when the time comes. :)
If you happen to have any sportweight mercerized cotton you'd like to donate to the cause, I'd love to have it. So far, I've got Reynolds' Saucy Sport (hard on the fingers and the hand, but just fine for looks), and Schachenmayr Catania (absolutely lovely to work with, but perhaps not produced anymore, sadly).
I hope I will be posting updates on this. If I don't, please ask me to make me feel guilty. :)
I know I've been lax with the blogging and e-mail replies lately, and I apologize. I suck. I know.
The reason why has pretty much been work. I've been at the new job for a little over three months now and it's getting quite busy. I've got much less time for slacking off and one fewer "weekend" day to catch up since I work five days a week now.
But the new job is good. Not exactly what I expected, but what new job is, huh? :) One of the fun things I'm doing, though, is learning Flash. Not any formal training yet, but today I went through an older version's Dummies book and managed to cobble together my very first flash movie. You can click here to see it (turn off the looping!).
It's far from perfect, but I don't think it's too bad for the first flash thing I've ever done. I've already got some ideas for what I can do next. I'm getting some training on Friday, so I'll see what I can do after that.
So, sorry about the lack of communication, but the job is taking up a lot of my time, one way or another!
Edited to add: I don't know why the movie is acting all weird. Probably something I'll figure out when I get some actual training! Right click on the movie and you'll get a context menu that'll let you play it.
It's been a while since I posted pictures of the garden, so I thought I would.
This little bed along the fence used to have our lettuce and spinach and kale in it. Once the weather got warm, however, it was given over to Swiss chard and some "leftover" pepper plants from a coworker. You can also see the nasturtiums that are keeping the fig tree company.
I need to harvest some of the Swiss chard before it starts to shade the peppers again. Good thing we like it, since it grows like crazy!
This is the first year that I'm growing eggplant, but I seem to be doing well. One of the plants has five eggplants on it. This one has two, but they're starting to turn purple.
In addition to the peppers my coworker gave me, I've got another container with ones that I raised from seed. These were a mix, so I've got some green bell peppers, as well as some purple and red ones, too.
My tomatoes are producing, but they look like crap. These are the Mr. Stripey heirlooms, which are doing OK.
I used to have tomatillos in the same bed as these tomatoes, but they were doing horribly, so I yanked them up. I'll probably plant a fall harvest of kale in their place in a month or two.
My tomatoes may not be look nice, but my basil looks fantastic.
