blog ADD

ok, who out there thinks that I’ve got a severe case of blog ADD lately?

*raises hand*

Oh well.  Apparently my normal nonlinear thinking is really showing on here lately.  But I swear I’ll get back to my “baby crap” posts – I’ve got 2 half written – and get back to my nursery reveal – I got stalled because I need to stage a picture.  Some of it is also that I got the Blogger app on my phone to encourage some real time, short posts.  But if my normal thought processes are showing then it clearly means that I’ve been posting more which is a good thing. 

Oh and I think I started something.

With a random comment on FB and its overwhelming response, it’s looking more and more like at least one ZTA friend and I are going to start a little campaign for Ovarian Cancer Awareness. 

So more on that as we get going.

um, we watch a lot of tv

Sooooooooo… We watch a lot of TV and are currently spending ~$170/month on phone/internet/Directv. 

DANG!

We’re still trying to figure out how that happened that it ended up so expensive.  We’d done our research and had concluded that Quest (now Century Link) and Directv were going to be vastly cheaper than Comcast Xfinity before calling and having everything installed.  Fast forward 6 months and we’ve finally had 2 bills in a row that are even close to being the same amount and it’s ridiculous.  We can definitely get Xfinity cheaper.

We’re going to call Century Link and see if we can work something out but I had to make sure that we could get all our shows before threatening to cancel our TV service.  Below you will find exactly what we in this house watch on a regular basis and my findings as to how you can watch those shows without cable or satellite.

I’m only looking at the various networks websites, Hulu (and Hulu+ which often only has the benefit of added devices), and Amazon Instant.  I focused on the network sites and basic Hulu because those are free.  The deal with Amazon Instant is that the shows are $1.99 per episode (or $2.99 per for HD) which I’m sure is very similar to buying the episodes on iTunes but if you have an Amazon Prime account, Amazon Instant is free.  Amazon Prime is $79.99/year which is about $6.67/month which is cheaper than Hulu Plus’ $7.99/month and there are added benefits like free Kindle books and free 2-day shipping on all Amazon orders.

Oh and we’re smart enough and have the equipment to be able to stream stuff on our laptops and still watch it on the TV so really the only downside is that one of us has to sacrifice a laptop while we watch TV.  Big deal.

Fox

   
   

	Fox.com	Hulu	Amazon Instant
Bones	8d post airdate, 5 eps	8d post airdate, 5 eps	all eps avail.
The Finder	8d post airdate, 5 eps	Hulu + only	all eps avail.
New Girl	8d post airdate, 5 eps	8d post airdate, 5 eps	all eps avail.
Glee	8d post airdate, 5 eps	8d post airdate, 5 eps	all eps avail.

Current season only for fox.com and Hulu.

ABC

 
 

	abc.com	Hulu	Amazon Instant
Castle	current season	last 5 eps, current season Hulu +	all eps avail.
Grey’s Anatomy	current season	last 5 eps, current season Hulu +	all eps avail.
Modern Family	current season	last 5 eps, current season Hulu +	all eps avail.
Happy Endings	current season	last 5 eps	all eps avail.

Bonus – there is an iPad app for the ABC player.

NBC

 
 

	nbc.com	Hulu	Amazon Instant
Up All Night	current season	only Hulu +	all eps avail.
30 Rock	current season	rotating set of 5 eps from current season	all eps avail.
Parenthood	current season	only Hulu +	all eps avail.

30 Rock is apparently in a legal battle with Hulu and that is why it will only be showing a rotating set of 5 episodes from the current season on Hulu.

CBS

 
  

	cbs.com	Hulu	Amazon Instant
How I Met Your Mother	current season	not available	all eps avail.
Mike & Molly	clips only :(	not available	only 1st season
The Big Bang Theory	current season	not available	all eps avail.
The Amazing Race	current season	not available	all eps avail.

Basically, CBS doesn’t play nice with Hulu and hates Mike & Molly.  Unfortunately, we’ve also not had a ton of success with their video player and have heard that complaint from others.  The Amazing Race isn’t currently running so I can only assume that Amazon Instant will have the current season when it’s playing.

CW

 

Full episodes of the current season are available on cwtv.com on an 8 day delay.  It’s the same deal on Hulu and Hulu +.  All episodes are available with no delay on Amazon Instant.

Bravo

 

Well, um, I have no idea.  Full episodes are supposed to be available on bravotv.com but whenever I go to the page, it’s black.  Only clips are available on Hulu.  All the episodes are available on Amazon Instant with no delay.

USA

 

On usanetwork.com the last 5 current season episodes are available on an 8 day delay.  They are 30 days delayed on Hulu.  But all episodes are available on Amazon Instant.

I know that there are other sites where you can find TV but not all of them are legit and I just wanted to focus on the “main” sources.  I could have included links for all of this stuff but I’ve already spent too much time working on this to go that far – sorry!

And, really, if you want ease, there’s nothing that beats a well working DVR and a remote.  So I’m hoping we can work something out with Century Link.

All “photos” are from Hulu via Google Image search with the exception of Mike & Molly and The Amazing Race which were just a Google Image search.  All “photos” link back to their sources

.

birthday want #2

Ok, this one is a little more “normal.”

It’s a Le Creuset Round Dutch Oven in Fennel.

See, I got this pretty one for Christmas:

And I am in LOVE.  It’s so pretty and it’s so fun to cook in but sadly, there are some recipes that just don’t fit in it’s dainty 3.5 quart size.

Clearly, I need a big ‘un – the 7.25 quart should do it - and might as well wish for a round one for some variety.

birthday want…

Is it weird that THIS

 

is what I want for my birthday?

It’s a basic Kreg Jig set.

It could also just mean that I’ve been reading too much Young House Love.

;-)

animal sounds

I was trying to figure out what sound an elephant makes (since we have so many of them in the house) and, of course, consulted the interwebs and found this:

It’s cheesy but great for some reason and she loves it.

Then I got the bright idea to have animals to go along with it.  Mostly because I figured that maybe if I laid out all the various animals in order, I might finally remember how the song goes without having to play the video.  But also because we figure that she might find it even more amusing than she already does and learn her animals.

Animals in the song: dog, cow, duck, owl, cat, bird, pig, mouse, horse, sheep, rabbit, people, snake, chicken, frog, bee, donkey, elephant, bear, and lion.

We have, or rather I have, an assortment of various stuffed animals including a whole bin of beanies.  I was able to come up with 12 out of the 20 animals so not too bad.

 
Our menagerie minus the dog because its upstairs and I’m too lazy to get him to join in on the photo shoot and the unicorn is standing in for the horse.

We still need: cat, bird, mouse, sheep, snake, chicken, frog, bee, and donkey. 

happy halloween!

I might be back later to explain how this all came about…

apt…

I’ve decided to take up swimming again in my 3rd trimester in hopes of alleviating some back pain and that whole “even pregnant women should get some exercise” thing.  I’ve been twice and it’s pretty nice.  My belly feels a bit like a pendulum swaying through the water as I do my freestyle but it’s nice to be weightless.

One of the little things they do at the pool is put up a funny on the whiteboard that tells you what the water temp and ph levels are for the pool.  It’s usually a quotation or short joke.

I thought today’s was rather apt for the coming future:

Parents spend the first part of their children’s lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the rest of their lives telling them to sit down and shut up.

fall 2010 tv preview

So we have a bit of a problem brewing.

See… the thing is we like our TV shows and we ♥ our DVR real hard and…

we’re going to be on vacation for the prime fall premiere weeks which wouldn’t be a problem…

except…

we got a new HD DVR box back in June.

It doesn’t know what we usually watch yet and we can’t set it more than a week in advance. Stupid Cox.

So here’s our predicament:

• ANTM, CW, 8pm, 9/8 – it’s currently in reruns and premieres before we leave
• Gossip Girl, CW, 9pm, 9/13 – it’s in reruns and we’ll still be in town
• Parenthood,* NBC, 10pm, 9/14 – we can set it before we leave
• HIMYM,* CBS, 8pm, 9/20 – reruns
• Mike & Molly, CBS, 9:30pm, 9/20 – new show but it’s within the week window so we can set it before we leave. I ♥ Melissa McCarthy.
• Glee,* Fox, 8pm, 9/21 – would have been just beyond what we could set ourselves but it’s in reruns
• Modern Family,* ABC, 9pm, 9/22 – reruns
• Bones,* Fox, 8pm, 9/23 – reruns
• The Big Bang Theory,* CBS, 8pm, 9/23 – reruns
• 30 Rock,* NBC, 8:30pm, 9/23 – reruns
• Grey’s Anatomy, ABC, 9pm, 9/23 – here’s where we start to run into problems
• The Office,† NBC, 9pm, 9/23 – um, I think it’s in reruns. I’ll have to check for Will.
• Private Practice, ABC, 10pm, 9/23 – no reruns. Damn you, ABC, for not running reruns
• The Amazing Race,* CBS, 9pm, 9/26 – eek. AR is never on in reruns.
• Desperate Housewives, ABC, 9pm, 9/26 – ABC, why the hate on reruns?

I’ve got a request out for some help but we’ll see. I’m also afraid that the ones that are set using current reruns won’t work and that nearly 3 weeks of TV is going to kill the hard drive space on our DVR and we’ll miss things anyway even after all of our careful planning.

* denotes what we watch together.
† the one show that I refuse to watch.
Everything else is mine and mine alone. I have awesome taste in TV.

And a thanks to a FB friend for the premiere schedule that I was so desperately looking for yesterday. Found here.

commas

I have a love/hate relationship with commas.

I was never the best at grammar in school.  I swear, I must have switched schools just enough that every English teacher I had thought that we'd already been taught the rules in a previous class.

As a result, sometimes I'm overzealous in my comma usage.

Sometimes I go back and realize that I haven't used a single one where plenty were warranted.

Then, of course, there is the old adage about "rules are meant to be broken."  In which case, it doesn't really matter where you put the commas because you don't have to follow the rules.

My issues with commas are more apparent to me now that I have this blog and can go back and reread everything I've written.

These are my random thoughts for the morning.

artists with too much time on their hands – thankfully

From various sources, I’ve come across some interesting things lately.

First, this video, Posted to Facebook by Victor, with stop-motion pictures depicting a guy walking across America.  It just happens to also feature our favorite Edward Sharpe song, “Home.”

There’s even a video of how they did it. The makers also posted a map of their journey with extra pictures if you click on the pins.

The second is another stop-motion video posted by Cup of Jo – this time made with actual pictures.  It appears to depict a man’s life journey towards his 50th grade school reunion.  Very cool!

Oddly from the same Cup of Jo post, I found a NY Times blog, Abstract City, by Christoph Niemann.  She had posted his most recent entry on being on a red eye from NYC to Berlin.  Here’s just a few select images from his posts (each picture is linked back to its original post). 

 

He uses all different mediums and inspirations.  Clearly, the above is an interpretation of DC in the style of a Google map.

  

Paint is a common medium but he has another post that he made, essentially, little voodoo dolls and photographed them.

This one actually inspired a book, I Lego NY.   The post about his kids being obsessed with the NYC Subway is a-dor-able.

I guess I’m just saying that I’m glad that there are still artists in the world and that they put a lot of time into their creations even if those creations are simply YouTube videos and blog posts.

guster + friends = fun

Ok, we’re super excited for several reasons:

1. Guster is releasing a new CD October 5th.
2. We’ve got tickets to see them on October 23rd at DAR Constitution Hall.
3. Well, Tara has them (or will have them when she gets them in the mail) because she’s coming to visit!  Bob might come too!

We like Guster and we like it when our friends come to visit.

Well, this reminded me of the video I took of them last time they were in town.  Now, since I had to break down and join YouTube to upload videos through LiveWriter, I don’t have to worry about the file size anymore.

Acoustic “Jesus on the Radio”

Since the audio in the video kind of sucks and Will found the concert on the web, click below to listen.

dude doesn’t stop “talking”

Today, I started taking a class online in hopes of being better positioned to get a job should our potential move to Denver actually occur.

It’s got a lot of videos in it and it’s a little weird but also typical for one of these courses.

The star of this one is this guy:

The weird part is that he never stops “talking.”  When the audio stops, his animated lips just keep right on moving. 

It’s kind of creepy.

bored...

So... I do have one more blog that I've been reading lately - Young House Love.  Jes had told me about it a long time ago but I didn't start following it until about a month ago after she posted their bit about Catalog Living to Facebook.  They have some ideas that I like but (a) I'm afraid of wanting to copy them too much and (b) they have a considerably lighter, more airy taste than I would like and that Will wouldn't "allow" (there's hardly any unpainted wood in their world as far as I can tell from what I've seen).

But this afternoon they posted about a decorating quiz with relation to roofing.  Sounded odd and I'm bored so I decided to check it out. 

I took the quiz (found here) and these were my results:

Really?!  Those are probably 2 of my least favorite colors.  And the description for the yellow... Terrible!  I won't even tell you what it says (and that has nothing to do with the fact that I already closed the window and can't tell you).

And who knew there were so many colors of roofing these days?

i ♥ etsy

I’d heard of Etsy.com (can someone please tell me how you’re supposed to say that?) but had never really taken the opportunity to search around until I was looking for something very specific back in May.  I started out looking for clear rhinestoned statement necklace to wear with this dress:

for Kate’s graduation dinner (something I’ll likely blog about soon though I’ll probably make sure she doesn’t mind first).  I didn’t quite find what I was looking for on Etsy so I ended up buying this:

from David’s Bridal (FYI – bad idea to go to David’s on a Saturday in June – holy cow it was busy).  But then I needed earrings.  The “problem” was that the necklace, while perfect for my outfit, was clear rhinestones set in oxidized silver.  I love silver and have a ton of it but nothing oxidized and I didn’t feel that typical shiny silver was going to go with the necklace.  After perusing the mall only to find more shiny silver, I was off to Etsy again.

One of my favorite shops that I’ve found is Red Chair.  She had these:

and another similar pair that were oxidized with 3 equally spaced dangly balls for sale (the picture is now gone from her store) but what I really wanted was the perfect combination of the two.  Oxidized silver but only one dangly ball (I felt that the 3 would be too much with the necklace). 

Well, one of the beauties of Etsy is that you can have conversations with shop owners if you perhaps like something that they’ve produced but it’s not quite what you’re looking for.  So that’s what I did.  I sent the woman behind Red Chair a message and asked what she could do for me.  In the matter of 24 hours she had agreed to make the earrings – one ball and oxidized – for only $18!

(I seriously need/want a macro lens – that would make this picture so much better)

As a bonus, she’s only in Takoma Park, MD so I received them super quickly.  And they were perfection. 

Here’s the whole look (though you can’t really see the earrings) with the whole fam:

(no, we didn’t coordinate outfits.)

While I was trolling Etsy for handmade jewelry, I was also trying to find ideas for a more personal “yay! you’re done with residency!” gift than what we’d already purchased (a map of the DC area, Not for Tourists – Washington DC, and the City Walks for DC card deck).  In the end, I had a new project on my hands which I’ll describe tomorrow (Sorry, I had to explain my love for Etsy first.)

ah, the big bang theory

When The Big Bang Theory first came on air, we weren’t pleased because it seemed like CBS was giving it more support than our favorite sitcom, How I Met Your Mother.  So we refused to watch it.

Well, we randomly would watch an episode here and there until it was finally added to the rotation towards the end of the last season.  We’ve spent the last few weeks watching the first two seasons on DVD.  We LOVE it.  Smart hilarity is amazing.  It doesn’t hurt that it’s touching too.

Each episode is named to be some sort of scientific principle.  We started to wonder if they’ve repeated any of the words.

So in keeping with the dorkiness of the show… I put all the titles in Excel to answer that very question…

Used twice (so far none have been used more than twice in 62 episodes): Alternative, Conjecture, Corollary, Experiment, Hypothesis, Paradigm, Polarization, Reaction, Vortex

Used only once:  Acquisition, Algorithm, Amplification, Annihilation, Anomaly, Approximation, Capacitance, Catalyst, Collision, Congruence, Conundrum, Decay, Decoupling, Deficiency, Deviation, Duality, Effect, Equivalency, Excitation, Expansion, Expedition, Factor, Fluctuation, Formulation, Fragmentation, Implementation, Indeterminacy, Instability, Isotope, Juxtaposition, Nanocluster, Paradox, Permeability, Postulate, Recurrence, Renormalization, Saturation, Solution, Stimulation, Sublimation, Theorem, Topology, Triangulation, Turbulence

late june randomness…

1. It’s H-O-T hot.  It’s 10:30am and it’s already 83 but it feels so much hotter.  It’s not even August, people.
2. I’m really behind on blogging again.  There were just too many weekends in a row that were (a) super busy and (b) produced a lot of pictures that I haven’t waded through.
3. We have a new dresser, a new TV, and Will has a new computer (which necessitated hooking up our “new” router – we’ve had it for over a year but couldn’t get it to work and it’s still being weird).  All things we can afford.  We just probably shouldn’t have done them all in the same week. As a result, we’re a little cash poor.  Ok, not really but we’ll be skimming off our savings to pay credit card bills this month – oops.  We didn’t plan the cash flow well at all.
4. HDTV is pretty.
5. Is it the economy or being green that all the places that are usually freezing in the summer – the mall, the movies, church – are warm?  Or is it that it’s just that hot?
6. I’m trying to redesign this here blog for its one year anniversary next Thursday.  Can I tell you how difficult it is to find gender-neutral blog designs?
7. Can it be September and time to go on vacation already?  Please.
8. Have I really been blogging for a year?
9. We’re going to see Sarah Harmer tonight.  On a school night.  I hope it’s not outside like Will said it was the last time he saw her at the Birchmere.
10. and… sometimes life sucks.

ah, live writer

On a tip from my friend Susan, I downloaded Windows Live Writer which is a desktop blog-writing program.  I tested it using the previous Spring post and maaaaan, it’s so much easier.

What does that mean?

I get to catch up on a whole bunch of blog posts!

Get ready!

rubber duckies

Sometimes I wish I could have a camera in my office - oops, I actually did that accidentally yesterday. DON'T TELL! I didn't even realize it until this morning - or even my cell phone so I could take pictures.

See - a few weeks ago, one of the guys I work with thought it would be funny to just keep putting rubber duckies on my desk.

Monday - 1 duckie

Tuesday - 2 duckies

Wednesday - 3 duckies

On Monday, no one would own up to where they had come from or who was doing it but he finally owned up on Wednesday and they stopped appearing. He was all proud of himself because he did something similar with one of his contractor PMs who is about my age and now she's pregnant. I guess that's what he thinks/hopes will happen? Who knows.

But the point is that at first, I was so annoyed with things showing up on my desk - I hate it when people use stuff on my desk (esp. my computer) or move my chair - but now, they're really cute and I wish I could take a picture of them to show you.

Here's a stand in from the interweb....



but they're not as cute as mine....

thinking spring

There may be snow in the forecast for tomorrow but it's still March which is closer to Spring than February and tulips always make me think of Spring. I can't resist buying tulips from Whole Foods whenever they have them.

i finally decided

In a previous post I was bemoaning my fortune of having to build myself a Timbuk 2 bag - something I've wanted to do for quite some time and am able to do because of the joys of cool sisters-in-law and Christmas presents.

I think I finally have it.

What do you think?

Will actually picked his out a long time ago but here's a shot of it anyway.



update: I ordered it and received the following confirmation e-mail which I redacted all details and boring parts out of. I'll highlight the funny parts.

"Thanks for picking us. Your new bag is gonna ROCK!

Here is your order summary email.

We suggest that you actually read it and like it because this is what you are getting and the Lucky One's address below is where we are going to send it. If you must be That Person, we can TRY our best to make changes or cancel your order. This is only if we have had enough coffee and our warehouse hasn't. You will need to send your email to changeorder@timbuk2.com. Remember, this is only if your order is NOT IN PRODUCTION. Once your order makes it to our production line, we can't change it for you and if it's custom, we can't take it back. Not because we don't love you; but because we already have really, really nice custom made Messenger bags from Timbuk2. It's part of the uniform.
-----------
ORDER SUMMARY:

WHO PAID
Marcy Davenport
----
THE LUCKY ONE
Marcy Davenport
----
WHATCHURGETTING
-------
HOW MUCH YOU SHELLED OUT
--------
When will my order ship?
------ Business means Monday through Friday and excludes most US holidays, just in case you didn't know. Now you do. FYI custom bags do not require any additional processing time.

How long will it take my order to get to my loving, waiting arms?
-------
What if I entered my email address in wrong?
Our deepest sympathies are being sent to you via UPS because you haven't read any of this.

Much Love,
Timbuk2 Designs"

These people are funny!