She's a mom

Mama loves me by Papa Morris

Leanne and little Asha look pretty happy together.

Leanne's baby is here!

I just read the big news on Leanne's blog. Her baby has arrived! It sounds like it was a long, hard labor because contractions began Thursday but the little one didn't make her entrance until Sunday. I also notice in the photos that they ended up at the hospital even though they'd hoped for a home birth. I haven't heard the story yet, but it sounds like all is well now. Read more on Leanne and Charles' blog Morriscope and see photos on Charles' new Flickr space.

Splendid Splenda?

New sugar substitutes are always a dicey proposition. Are you up for being the guinea pig or will you wait 10 years to see how it works out in the long run? I asked to see the ingredients in the sugar-free vanilla syrup at Starbucks the other day and it contains sucralose. I didn't realize at the time that sucralose is Splenda. I looked online and found a seemingly balanced summary of sucralose on Wikipedia.

Techie teen girls?

Two weeks ago I volunteered as a workshop assistant for two afternoons at the DigiGirlz technology camp. It was kind of neat. The two workshops I helped at were an HTML class and a Product Design class. Both workshops I attended were good, even if the product design class was taught by a developer who almost forgot to mention designers and user experience staff when discussing career options. Not to worry, I stepped right in anc clarified. ;-) The camp was featured in the Seattle PI - Microsoft camp shows technology is women's work, too

The Frappuccino generation

A thoughtful coworker passed this on to me in response to my new and actively sought out new habit: coffee. Unfortunately, since I am not as vain as a teenage girl, I get the calories from the vanilla latte and those from lunch. Excerpt:

"Think $4," says Giana. "That's what you pay for lunch. Not for coffee and lunch. Coffee is lunch. It's like the new mashed potatoes. Coffee is comfort food, especially when it rains..." Those sugary, creamy coffee drinks are packed with enough calories to make a can of Dr. Pepper seem like Slim-Fast... Michele Simon, director of the Center for Informed Food Choices in Oakland, takes a dimmer view. "What Starbucks is doing is taking a beverage that has traditionally been consumed by adults, and making it attractive to children with sugar and fat. They're using milk and sweetener as a way to soften the bitterness. You can even think of it as a gateway drug..." Caffeine is the world's most widely used mood-altering drug, and it doesn't take much to get hooked. Dr. Roland Griffiths, professor of behavioral biology and neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has found that as little as 100 milligrams of caffeine a day can produce a dependency that will induce withdrawal symptoms in many adults, ranging from headache to fatigue to inability to concentrate. There's more caffeine than that in a single cup of Starbucks coffee. Just three consecutive days of caffeine at that dosage can produce those symptoms when the stimulant fades.

Read the full article

Book: Specimen Days

Strange and interesting

This is a strange and interesting movie. It isn’t a page turner, but it’s unique and interesting and worth reading. The book consists of three separate stories that share certain character names and props. The poetry of Walt Whitman is a consistent thread. The characters themselves aren’t truly the same from story to story, though the have important underlying characteristics in common. Each story is told at a different point in time and ultimately a different “world” (though not in the fantasy sense).

Cookies for blood

Blood donation by Corinne S.

I donated blood on Tuesday for the first time in nearly two years. I was banned for a year after visiting Nuevo Vallarta and then I found it hard to go back. I wouldn't describe donating blood as fun, but it does make you feel good to do it.

Movie: Flightplan

Much better than I thought

This isn’t the best movie, but it was good, and much better than I’d heard. I thought they made some great choices about the characters that really supported the plot effectively. The acting is good. It’s true that it gets annoying for a while when Jodie is being hysterical for a long time, but that’s not the whole movie. In some ways it is like Panic Room. I think it’s worth seeing, though there’s no need to rush out and get it.

Childhood

Jumble of childhood by Corinne S.

These relics came home with me recently when I had to clean out my childhood bedroom. The backpack and clothes were actually worn by me when I was little. The doll in the upper right was made by my mom. The bears came into my life at various times. Now I have to decide if I will keep all of these or let a few more go.

Yum

Bite size by Corinne S.

My mom gave me a tomato plant for my birthday and this is the first one to ripen. It was tasty. Here's what it looked like on August 7, 2006.

Cuties

And in the smile by Corinne S.

On Saturday afternoon I babysat my cousin Cindy's kids for a couple of hours. We went to the U Village and, among other things, played in the fountain there. This little cutie, not related to me, was there playing as well. Her mother was thrilled to have her photographed in the hope of getting copies, so I obliged. She was a fun subject.

Movie: The Weather Man

Nothing to write home about

This was fine, but I am giving it 2 stars because it wasn’t good, damn it. This is one of Nicholas Cage’s ho-hum movies I am indifferent about. He plays a depressing and fucked up character trying to figure out what to do with his life. It’s a somewhat different story (okay, it’s the same but with interesting specifics) and ultimately wraps itself up, though he doesn’t exactly ride off into the sunset with his lover and life looking peachy. So, it won’t hurt to watch it, but I won’t actively recommend it.

Movie: The Matador

Funny movie and a very different role for Pierce Brosnan

Last weekend Benjamin’s parents came over for dinner and a movie (not in that order). We had rented this movie from the local video store and all 4 of us watched it. The boys liked it, I thought it was okay, and I think Barbara wasn’t a fan.

From my perspective this is a fairly amusing flick about an old hit man who starts to lose it. It’s a complete departure for Pierce Brosnan and he does it well. Greg Kinnear plays the straight man, making Brosnan actually come across as funny. Hope Davis also adds something to the film with her portrayl of Kinnear’s wife.

The one big complaint I have about this film is that it sort of dragged on. I am not sure if it was just me lacking focus or the movie was too long, but I suspect the latter.

After the movie we walked to the new-ish Thai restaurant on 65th, which is quite good. We then ate the food at our house and the elder Sherrys went home. Of course I discovered the next day that walking to the Thai place was as bad an idea as I thought since my pelvis was completely out of alignment the next day. I know I am only supposed to walk on flat surfaces right now but I live inSeattle and have stairs at both home and work. Urg!

Movie: Failure to Launch

Surprisingly good Okay, I am having rating issues. I think I am too generous with my 3 star ratings because this isn’t as good as most things I rate 4 stars but it’s better than most 3’s. I should probably expand into the 5’s and 1’s. Anyway… This is a surprisingly funny movie. It’s a relatively predictable romantic comedy at the core, but there are a few elements that take it beyond that. First, Kathy Bates is the mother and does a great job, Second, and more importantly, is the female roommate character. She is quirky and dark and really makes the story more interesting and unique. Furthermore, this movie made me lough out loud more than once, which is unusual. I recommend it as a fun comedy to enjoy alone or with your sweetie.

Pooling across the water

I can't remember if I said as much, but my happy 2.5 year long carpool ended at the beginning of July when my carpoolmates moved to their new abode in Madison Valley (a Seattle neighborhood). Since then I've tried carpooling with the husband, getting ad hoc riders through the carpool email list at work, and getting ad hoc rides through the carpool email list at work. It worked okay, but not great. This week, I joined my very own vanpool. So far it is great. Unlike previous vanpools I've known about, this one takes me door-to-door and won't drive away if I'm not standing on the curb the instant they drive up. Even better, it travels at almost the exact same times as my previous carpool. And my employer subsidizes it, so it's free for me. Whoopee!

Great Flickr photo

by fd

This is a super cute pic.

Take a poll

I know some people actually read this because you tell me so offline. So I have a question for you: Do you find it interesting to see my take on the books and movies I consume mixed in with the rest of my posts, or shall I keep the reviews confined to the All Consuming site? Please add a comment on this entry. I really do want to know your opinion. Yes, you.

Still life of still life

Painting No. 34 by bwilsonvi

My coworker painted and photographed this. I think it really effectively captures a moment. Probably better seen larger.

Tasty toy

Maple chomps on a little pug by Corinne S.

Before we ever got a pug, Benjamin got me this little stuffed pug in at McDonald's. I found it today and gave it to Maple. It is her new favorite toy. There's nothing like chomping on a little caricature of yourself to pass the time.

A sign to go home?

Benjamin snoozes in the grass by Corinne S.

Last Saturday Benjamin and I attended our friends Pete & Amy's wedding. We had a good time and I took a number of pictures, the better of which I just posted (there are a lot of them, though not as many as of TJ's wedding). This is a picture of Benjamin asleep in the grass, which I took as a sign that it was time for me to take him home (once they cut the cake that is).

This is an interesting web site that aggregates the top 100 news stories of the hour into a 10x10 grid of pictures. As a colleague of mine said, they need to work on detecting duplicates and improve their keywords, but it is still a neat site. 10x10 / 100 Words and Pictures that Define the Time

Check out this awesome gallery of artwork created using Alias (Autodesk) Sketchbook Pro. This is a program designed for the Tablet PC and more professional artists and illustrators are using tablets for this purpose. But, the program works on non-tablets too, so some of the art was probably created using a Wacom tablet.

A technology of interest lately is "multi touch," meaning touch screens that accept input from multiple fingers, and people, at one time. This is a fun and interesting video on the Technology Entertainment Design Talks site. There is also another article on a multi-touch system developed by Mitsubishi Labs.

This is me on the inside

i wonder why my kid is not napping... by sesame ellis

I had a grande iced latte this morning without breakfast and this picture reminds me of the feeling it gave me. ;-)

Battle of the pugs by Corinne S.

My mom and Rich came for a visit last Saturday and the pugs played. They are so funny!

My childhood piano by Corinne S.

A few weeks ago Benjamin and I went to Vashon to clean out my childhood belongings since the house is being prepared to sell. One of the things I couldn't take was this piano. I'd had it since I was about 8. (For those who don't know, everything important happened when I was 8. ;-) ) I put in in Craigslist for free, but the "buyer" had to haul it from Vashon. The first few responses I got were either hinky or flaky, so I was worried. But we finally found it a good home. A Romanian family in West Seattle took it for their 8 year old daughter! When they were there getting it, my dad told them he was also getting rid of an old(er than me) pickup truck. They took that, too. I love it when things work out!

Not-so-small dog in a big world by Corinne S.

I took this photo of Maple on our front stairs a couple of weeks ago. Compare it to a similar picture when Maple was a mere two months old. She's changed a lot, and our front yard has too.

Erik and Amelia by Corinne S.

Claire and I hung out and went to a movie on one of the really hot days at the end of July. I got this photo (and a couple of others) before we left for the theater (via Husky Deli (ice cream)).

Benjamin chillin' at the Leavenworth Starbucks by Corinne S.

I posted a few photos from our vacation in Leavenworth (the part AFTER the wedding).

Interracial man takes a ride by Corinne S.

My mother made this giant man doll when I was in high school between boyfriends and he is now, more than ten years later, going to Goodwill. What you can't see in this shot is that the poor man has giant Nerf balls under his shorts. I kid you not.

You may have heard that there is a battery recall for some Dell laptops. Here's an amusing story that claims the battery failure had catastrophic consequences. Excerpt:

...a Dell laptop is the primary suspect in a blaze that ignited several boxes of ammunition, sent two tough outdoorsmen running for their lives and left a vintage Ford truck burned to the ground.

Read the entire story

More wedding photos?

Mimi preparing the cake by Tim Broom

At his request, I created a Flickr account for my dad, posted his photos from TJ's wedding, and added them to the Flickr group for the wedding. In addition to a cute photo of Benjamin, Maple and I at the rehearsal dinner, he has several great photos of Mimi making the wedding cake. This truly was a family affair!

The face of a redhead

7-27-06 Camping 003 by WeilandFour

My cousin Cindy has been posting some great stuff since we got her a Flickr Pro account. I'm loving it. This is a particularly wonderful shot.

TV: 24 - Season One

Very good for broadcast TV

Benjamin and I finished watching season 1 of 24 last night. The first disc of season 2 is already in the mail from Netflix (speaking of which, I hear it gets worse for a while but that season 4 is awesome).

Benjamin and I both really enjoyed this show and did get hooked pretty quickly. I think it is one of the better TV shows available, though it is not as good as Lost or many of the HBO series (Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Carnivale, Deadwood). It may not be as noticeable when watching it over the course of 24+ weeks, but there are some plot choices that make little or no sense. Also, Benjamin and I were generally able to predict plot twists before they happened, though usually just right before rather than well in advance. Oh, and it does bug me that nothing critical ever happens during the "real time" in which the commercials fall.

Still, this is a good show and worth watching. Who’d have thought I’d say that in 2006 about something starring Kiefer Sutherland? Go figure.

Book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Cheesy and contrived, but still mostly pleasant

I just finished listening to the audio version of this book last night. Congrats to the author for reading his own audio version and doing it well. Shame on Hyperion for adding sound affects and music to dramatize an otherwise good narration. This is a book not an audio play people!

I agree with catalive’s comments on the books saccharine and sentimental nature. I’ll add contrived to that list. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice story, but it just doesn’t ring of truth. Yes, I know it’s fiction. It just doesn’t have the believability factor that makes even fantasy feel real.

Movie: Brick

Unique and interesting

This is a modern noir film set in a high school. It’s interesting and unique, but somewhat difficult to follow. The dialog is often difficult and hard to understand. Despite that, it’s a worthwhile flick.

inmybag

inmybag by U.P.

There's a Flickr group of photos of what's in your bag. :-)

Tape on books

Put tape on books by cerealandmilk

He he he.

"...[Microsoft] announced an extraordinary set of voluntary 'principles... to promote competition'. The company permanently adopted many of the temporary restrictions the DOJ had ordered in resolving the antitrust action. Those restrictions would otherwise have expired in 2009."

Read the article: Will Microsoft's new principles be its undoing?

Book: A Man Without a Country

Short, entertaining, interesting observations

This is a quick read (or listen) and is worthwhile. It’s a first person narrative about life in modern American and covers a variety of topics. Though a bit egotistical, Kurt Vonnegut is funny, intelligent, and has some interesting observations. It didn’t change my life, but I’d read it again and I recommend it (unless you like G.W. Bush).

The perils of search-and-replace

The perils of search-and-replace by marnanel

This is awesome. Read the content in the image to find the search and replace error.

Grillin'

IMG_2645 by dyrnwyn

Our friend Jimmy was nice enough to join Flickr just to post photos from my birthday. Yea Jimmy! This is a cute photo of my hubby grilling meat. :-D

Zillions of wedding photos

Groom's mother and fam by Corinne S.

After a long weekend of photo editing, I posted over 800 photos of my brother's wedding to Flickr yesterday morning.

Unfortunately it looks like a bunch of them are too dark, some because I just let Adobe Bridge do auto-correction and some because my new Dell 20" wide LDC displays at home ( :-) ) are much brighter than most displays. The colors are also all over the map. Damn me for not calibrating my displays!

But after all the hours I put in I just have to say "good enough" at this point and restrict myself to only editing the ones that they want printed (if they ask).

For the last couple of nights I've been having bridge output thousands of JPGs at different sizes from the RAW files. Now I just need to finish tidying up the directories and burn them to CD. Oh yea, and remove duplicates and re-title the ones on Flickr and add proper attribution for the ones Rob took. No problem right? How come done is never done? ;-)

Movie: Rumor Has It

Mediocre

This was a fine movie. Not great but not bad. It’s supposed to be the story of the family behind The Graduate – i.e., Mrs. Robinson. That seems like a kind of clever idea, but the movie is pretty unremarkable and predictable anyway.

Book: Inkspell

Not as good as Inkheart, but makes you want to read the end of the trilogy

I listened to the audio version of this book, which is narrated by Brendan Fraser. Unexpectedly, I didn’t think his narration of this book was as good as when he read Dragon Rider, but I think that’s just because Dragon Rider had more non-human characters that gave him a greater opportunity for sound effects and voices. This is still a very good narration. I felt that the first book in this series, Inkheart, was actually a better story. It was also much more self-contained, written in a way that makes me think a trilogy wasn’t originally planned (though the door was open). On contrast, Inkspell is clearly part of a series. You could probably ready it without reading Inkheart first, but at the end you are primed and ready for book 3 (which is not yet out). The end of Inkspell is more a pause than an ending. Despite my complaints and comparisons, this is still a worthwhile read and I am hopeful that the final book in the trilogy will be a good one when it comes out.

TV: Weeds

Fun 30 minute show, not your mama's sitcom

Last night Benjamin and I watched the second half of Weeds – Season 1. The whole season is only 10 episodes long, 30 minutes each without commercial time since it’s a Showtime show.

Claire and Erik recommended this show and I’m glad they did. It’s a very dark comedy about a hellish suburban town in which a young widow is selling weed to support her family after her husband’s sudden death.

The one thing about this show that makes zero sense to me is why this woman would WANT to continue to live in that hell. It’s all about her struggle to maintain her lifestyle, and certainly there’s value in the familiar, but man this place is icky and she doesn’t seem like someone who’d want to be there. On the other hand, I think that irony and juxtaposition is half the point.

This show is a quick jaunt due to the shortness of the season but it’s worthwhile. It’s also nice to have a show you can watch in 30 minute installments that’s actually worthwhile.

I hear season 2 is airing soon and I think it will be on iTunes for those, like me, who don’t have Showtime. Oh, and this show has some serious Showtime moments – full on fucking with nothing left to the imagination. Just FYI.

Early bird sleeps through dinner?

Early bird by flowrzrock

I got to work at 7:45 this morning. Crazy. Zzzzzz.

Why did I get in so early? Benjamin thought he had an 8 o'clock meeting (turns out it's really at 8:30) and I needed a ride from him this morning so I could drop my car off at the shop. My car is getting it's clutch master cylinder and brakes fixed today, plus a tidy little tune up. Vroom vroom.

Cutie puppy

Maple in her carrier by Corinne S.

I was working on my brother's wedding photos last night (no, I'm not done yet, quiet!) and I actually posted a few randomly chosen photos from other days. Here is a cute one of Maple in her carrier in the car when we went to Vashon a few weeks ago. We were chillin' in the ferry line.

Swinging

Swinging by fd

Lovely photo by fd, one of the photographer's on Flickr whose work I like.

Simple can be funny

This is a fun Italian cartoon I remember from childhood. (The image links to the the English translated version of the Italian website.) Clicking the image will allow you to watch some episodes of the cartoon. You can also read about the cartoon on Wikipedia.

Where the Hell is Matt?

Dancing 2006 Dancing 2005 There is a guy from Seattle who has traveled around the world and danced in each place, videotaping it. These are (links to) little movies of him dancing around the world. It really made me smile. I hope it makes you smile, too. You can also visit this guy's website: Where the Hell is Matt?

Leanne's baby blog

My beautiful and very pregnant friend Leanne just started a baby blog. It's called Morriscope (her new married last name is Morris). Yea Leanne! Way to go full Internet geek! We love you. :-)

Movie: The Family Stone

Good, amusing

I watched this on DVD from Netflix this past weekend with Benjamin. It was a lazy weekend. Sarah Jessica Parker’s character is truly annoying in this movie and some of the humor is painful to watch, but overall I thought it was a good flick. Lots of characters that are suprisingly well developed considering the limited time span of the movie and the number of characters involved. Funny with a little sadness. Not a terribly unique storyline, but well done.

Movie: Shopgirl

Nuanced novel adaptation

I thought this movie was okay when I watched it this weekend while Benjamin was at a bachelor party. But then when I watched the DVD bonuses about the making of the movie, I appreciated it even more. The movie is an adaptation of a novel written by Steve Martin. Martin did the adaptation to screenplay and also stars in the movie. Clare Danes is excellent as always and delivers a very sensitive, not overblown, performance. (It’s strange that she is also in The Family Stone, which I watched the same night.) The character of Jeremy was deeply annoying and not likable at all, but they did a decent job of making him likable at the end (their goal). It’s worth watching this, but it’s no barn burner.