{insert title here}

Coconut Carrying Octopus

2009-12-16T15:45:00.002-05:00

Check it out. There's this octopus who carries around a coconut shell for protection.

Ain't he cute?

I WIN!

2009-12-01T02:36:00.002-05:00

Mom forgot to defrost the turkey....

2009-11-26T12:12:00.001-05:00

So we're gonna eat this bunch of chickens that I've sewn together.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

8 Days

2009-11-23T15:40:00.000-05:00

There are 8 days remaining in Nanowrimo and I have a little over 15,000 words left to write. Eek!

...back to typing.

Plot Twist Generator

2009-11-20T21:45:00.004-05:00

I recently found this site called Serendipity: Plot Twist Generator.

You just click the button and it makes a random plot twist for you to use in your story. These can be simple, like "Without warning, in walks a clumsy geezer." to the ridiculous, "At this point a pirate arrives, bearing cookies."
I've clicked the button lots and have never seen the same thing twice.
This is great if you get stuck in your story. You can click away until something inspires you. It is also useful as a writing game, click once and you have to use the one that comes up.
:0)

A result of Nano

2009-11-19T20:38:00.002-05:00

One thing I've noticed from Nanowrimo is that my writing has gotten a tad more wordy. Which is a good thing for Nano, but it's begun to spill over to other areas of my life. Like school. I'd start to write some sorta note or something, but stop when I realize that I'm being unnecessarily wordy. Prior to this, my writing tended to be more concise and to the point.
It's weird.

Nanowrimo Update

2009-11-18T23:54:00.002-05:00

So, here we are, Nov 18th and I'm 23,000 words in. I should be like 30,000. I'm still determined to finish, so I've upped my daily word count to 3,000 words instead of 1,667. That way I should be able to catch up. According to my Nanowrimo report card, if I keep up that pace, I'll finish on Nov 27th. So, I'm off to get some more words in.

Bowser's Reply

2009-11-16T23:27:00.002-05:00

Well, this weekend got a little screwy with the postings and such. Either way, I will forge ahead and won't let one missed day stop me from posting on the rest.
Anyways, here is Bowser's Reply to the Mario Kart Love Song I posted earlier.

Blast!

2009-11-15T00:31:00.002-05:00

It's 12:31 am. Which means I didn't update today. or yesterday. or however it works. However since I haven't gone to sleep yet, I'm counting this as Saturday's post no matter what the time stamp says.

Anyways, enjoy the Mario Kart Love Song. It's surprisingly sweet.

I have a fence!

2009-11-13T15:14:00.011-05:00

I moved into my place a couple months ago and it didn't have a fenced yard. Which is very sad, especially for my dog who loves to run around and play outside. The other day, my cousin & my aunt's boyfriend came over and put a fence up. Yay!

Isn't it pretty?

Before the fence, my dog had to make due on a leash attached to this tree.

Now she has the whole yard to play in!

My dog is radioactive...

2009-11-12T20:03:00.002-05:00

Gluten-Free Review: S'moreables

2009-11-11T23:32:00.003-05:00

S'moreables by kinnikinnick foods is a gluten free version of gram crackers. They are fantastic! By far the best GF gram cracker I've found. Their texture is a little thicker than regular gram crackers, but the flavor is great. Definitely need to bring these on my next camping trip.

Best Gluten Free Website Ever

2009-11-10T16:28:00.002-05:00

www.myglutenfreenj.com

It's just about the best Gluten Free website out there. It has tons of information on everything from restaurants with GF menus to recipes, to product reviews. Also, long lists of GF products.
It has some New Jersey specific stuff, but a lot of it is super useful no matter where you are.
If you are interested in being Gluten-Free, I highly recommend checking it out.

For the next time you can't agree

2009-11-09T22:52:00.002-05:00

May I suggest rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock.

Nanowrimo Update

2009-11-08T22:37:00.003-05:00

So, Nanowrimo has been going well. It's been exactly 1 week today since I've started. I admit I haven't written as much as I'd like to have by this point, but I had 2 papers, 1- 2,000 words and the other 800 words. Both due this week. That ate up a lot of my writing time. Also, a friend of mine just moved to FL and is staying at my house whilest they wait for the truck with all their furniture to get here so they can officially move into their apt. I do enjoy having them around, but it doesn't help me find time to write.
This week I should be able to play catch-up. There is a hurricane that might be headed our way. On one hand, it might give me plenty of time to write, on the other if the power goes out, I won't be able to use my laptop & I don't write as fast as I type. We'll see how it goes.

Current word count - 7,686

:0)

Guy Fawkes Day

2009-11-07T16:21:00.002-05:00

It has come to my attention that Nov 5th came and went without me acknowledging Guy Fawkes Day. So I'll do it now and we can all pretend today is Nov 5th.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Basically, back in the day in England, this group of terrorists tried to blow up parliament. Word leaked out and the authorities found Guy Fawkes under the parliament building with 36 barrels of gun powder.
Now, every Nov 5th, British people celebrate the safety of the king by lighting big bonfires and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes. It is also known as Bonfire Night.

I'm mostly interested in it because it plays a big roll in my very favorite movie, V for Vendetta. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out.

Harry Potter in the Hood

2009-11-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

The Dvorak Keyboard

2009-11-05T17:10:00.004-05:00

I use a different keyboard configuration than most people. It's called a Dvorak Keyboard.
Chances are pretty good if you're typing on an English language keyboard, you're using QWERTY. When QWERTY was invented, it was done with the intent to slow down your typing so you didn't jam up your typewriter. Years later, when typewriters, then computers no longer had to worry about jamming up from people typing too fast, this guy Dvorak came along and said it's ridiculous we still use QWERTY. When you step back and look at QWERTY, it's awkward and inefficient.

Dvorak invented his keyboard layout after years of studying the most commonly used letters in the English language and hand physiology. Thus, the Dvorak keyboard results in significantly faster typing, less hand fatigue, less instances of carpel tunnel syndrome, and less typos. In fact, most people type 93% faster when they switch from QWERTY. Also, its adjustable to best suit a right or left handed person. It's even better for those typing with only one hand.

Dvorak is much easier to learn than QWERTY. So, if you're worried about having to re-learn how to type, don't. You'll have Dvorak down in no time. When I switched, I was able to type quickly after only a few hours of practice.

If it's s great, why doesn't everyone use it? Well, it got some press when it was invented, but that was during the Great Depression, so few people were running out to buy a new typewriter. It's faded in and out of popularity since then, but as with most things, people like to stick with what they're comfortable with, rather than what's better for them.

Your computer already has the ability to switch to Dvorak. It's as easy as changing a simple setting. For your physical keyboard, I recommend making little stickers to stick over your QWERTY keys. Or you can buy them off eBay. When I first switched, I cut out little letters and taped them in the appropriate place. When I decided that Dvorak was here to stay, I bought a nicer set off eBay for like $2. That set matches my keyboard perfectly, so you can't even tell there are stickers there.

For more information about Dvorak and how to make the switch, check out:
The Dvorak Keyboard and You
or
The Dvorak Zine
Or just type Dvorak keyboard into Google, you'll get tons of sites.

Not Always Right

2009-11-04T21:52:00.002-05:00

I just discovered this new site. It's where you can read all the stupid things customers sometimes say. Some of them are absolutely hilarious.

www.notalwaysright.com

It's pretty addictive. In fact, I decided to blog about it because I've been slacking off reading it instead of thinking of clever things to blog about.
It also cuts into my nano time, but I've kept up on my word count, so I'm not too concerned.

Anyway, you should check it out.

Gluten-Free Review: Crunchmaster Crackers

2009-11-03T20:05:00.002-05:00

Today I tried Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers. They were fantastic! They were crunchy and tasted great. They didn't have that seedy taste that a lot of whole grain crackers have. They went excellent with laughing cow cheese spread and I imagine they would be great with a variety of toppings. They are healthy too, whole grain, all natural, low sodium, cholesterol free, and most importantly Gluten Free! The serving size is pretty decent, too. 15 good-sized crackers for only 140 calories.
For more information or to find where to buy them, check out www.crunchmaster.com

Awesome Person of the Month - November

2009-11-02T11:46:00.003-05:00

Normally this would happen on the first, but I was busy writing about nanowrimo yesterday.
Anyway,this month's awesome person is Goldentusk from youtube. I don't know anything about him other than he makes really kickass videos. He takes movie theme songs and writes words to them, then makes music videos to them.

Here is his Batman video:

Some of the other hits include Back to the Future, Indiana Jones and the Song of Theme, James Bond, Jaws, Star Wars, Terminator, and Superman. There was one for Halloween, but it got taken down because of copyrights or something dumb like that.
To see more of his videos, clickey
He has other videos, but the movie themes are the only ones I've watched.
The videos are really well made and the lyrics are brilliant. Which is why he's my very first awesome person of the month.

It starts!

2009-11-01T12:15:00.003-05:00

Today is the official beginning of Nanowrimo and Nablopomo!
I've been saving up all my blogging for this month.
Last night I met up with several other Nanoers and at the stroke of midnight, we started writing. In the time we were there, I wrote 2,044 words. Well beyond my daily word count goal, so yay! Hopefully I can keep up with my lead, so if in the future I miss a day(Thanksgiving), it won't be that big a deal.
The most challenging part of this, other than the sheer number of words to be written is that it's a very different style of writing. I'm used to editing as I go, which is probably part of the reason I tend to get stuck. In Nanowrimo, you just have to plod ahead, ignoring little mistakes in interest of word count. Those can be fixed later in editing. I even turned off the little red spell check line that shows up under misspelled words so I'm not tempted to go back and fix them.

:0)

Nablopomo

2009-10-23T16:50:00.000-04:00

So, in addition to November being Nanowrimo, it is also Nablopomo. Nablopomo is National Blog Posting Month. You're supposed to post something on your blog every single day of the month. Should be interesting. It sounds easy enough, but with everything else I have to do in November, it might get tricky.

Nanowrimo

2009-10-21T22:39:00.000-04:00

So, I've decided to participate in nanowrimo this year. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a challenge to write a whole novel (50,000 words) in a month. It starts on November 1st and ends November 30th.
In addition to that, I'm going to school full time, trying to get my x-mas knitting done, searching for a job, while still finding time to go to the gym. Should be fun.
I tried nanowrimo a couple years ago, but didn't get too far. I'm hoping that blogging about it will help keep be motivated.

:0)