Ultramundane: It's Just Not Natural

Unretouched.

Casey — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:40:10 +0000

At Adobe’s San Francisco office in a room full of Photoshop gearheads…er, I mean, professionals. Kind of neat, actually, though I still want to find someone in the Flash group and ask them why it’s so crashy. Pretty cool that my friend Courtney and her studio have set this up.

Laissez Les Laissez-Faire.

Casey — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:49:11 +0000

On Lundi Gras, while lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I got the urge to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras. I’ve never made such a thing, so I am not sure why I suddenly imagined that overnight I would be the next Randazzo’s. By late morning I had given up on the idea of raising a yeast bread but not on the idea of a Marti Gras dinner and dessert. So having seen the “easy” recipe using canned rolls enough times, I gave it a shot.

Emiril I am not. Authentic it wasn’t. But it wasn’t that bad, considering that it was the “easy” recipe. That it was the “kids” recipe. That it was, I later discovered, the “semi-homemade” recipe.

Gods help me if I’m turning into Sandra Lee.

As penance for my foodie sins I will take a cue from Courtney’s new food blog and braise some leeks, or make some seitan, or bake up a shoo-fly pie. (Confession: I bought frozen pie crusts for this. But they’re vegan and organic, if that helps.)

Occam’s Razor Burn.

Casey — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 06:29:07 +0000

Never assign to stomach cancer what can be adequately explained by rainbow-colored cake.

OK, that’s totally not fair. There was a lot of food at the potluck, and I hadn’t heard of anyone else who got sick from eating the food there. And just because a food has seven very-brightly-colored layers does not mean it’s harboring ill will against me. So William of Ockham would probably agree, I was most likely down for four days with the stomach flu, which I could have picked up at any number of places.

But I still don’t think that William would have eaten the cake.

Regardless…now that I’m recovering, The WiiFit is getting angry with me. Unwisely I let it measure me after my fourty days in the porcelain desert, and it was elated that I was losing weight so quickly! Wow, congratulations on doing such a good job shitting out your insides! Only a few more organs more and you’ll reach your goal weight!

Now it wants to know WHY; WHY on earth have you gained so much weight? What could you have possibly been thinking? The options don’t really give you much room to wiggle out of it either. (”OVEREATING” “INACTIVITY” “PMS” “MAINLINING MILKSHAKES” “UTTER MORAL FAILURE.”) I said “INDIGESTION” and it suggested I eat more fiber. Look, I’ve only just recently gotten back into solids. I’ll work up to it, I promise.

“WORRY” was not an option that Wii Fit would accept either. I never learn my lesson not to browse WebMD for symptoms. Especially not the week before my health insurance is set to expire. But at least I know more about diarrhea, gastroenteritis, neck pain, fever and bloating than I ever wanted to.

Oh, about the neck pain? Never assign to viral meningitis what can be properly explained by hours of World of Warcraft.

Some Things Haven’t Changed.

Casey — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:26:11 +0000

Your result for The LONG Scientific Personality Test…

ISFJ-The Protector

You scored 9% I to E, 53% N to S, 10% F to T, and 16% J to P!

The protector type is called such because you feel your life is best used to protect those you love from the pitfalls of life, to see to their safety and security. You belong to the larger group called guardians. You find great satisfaction in assisting the downtrodden. You are not talkative with strangers, but you can chat tirelessly with those you trust. You have a good solid work ethic. You are thorough and very likely frugal. You do not like to be in a place of authority, and will delegate poorly if forced into a lead position. You share your type with 10% of the population.

As a romantic partner, you are generous and gentle. Occasionally you may be taken for granted because of this fact. You are tireless in providing acts of service for your loved ones. You run the risk of always being exhausted because you won’t say no to your partner. You are sensitive to criticism and will withdraw rather than fight back. You wish to be appreciated for your loyalty and whole hearted nuturing. Your values must be respected and you thrive on consideration and kindness.

Your group summary: Guardians (SJ)

Your Type Summary: ISFJ

Take The LONG Scientific Personality Test at HelloQuizzy

A Busy Morning For Deliveries.

Casey — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:26:05 +0000

You know, I was expecting a package. Instead I got two.

Guess which one I was expecting.

Welcome To My New Year.

Casey — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:25:19 +0000

To remove ink stains from your clothes dryer, place 2 cups of bleach in a bucket, then fill the bucket halfway with water. Take some old towels and soak up the liquid in the bucket. You don`t want the towels to be dripping wet, just very damp.

Place them directly into the dryer to remove the ink and run an entire cycle. Repeat if necessary. When you feel you have removed the ink sufficiently, place an old dry towel in the dryer to make sure that you removed all of the ink.

Or you buy a new dryer. Yeah, that didn’t really work. Not sure if it’s worth a second try, or if I should use a Magic Eraser and/or nail polish remover next.

Wherein Media Is Conflated With News And Pornography.

Casey — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:33:46 +0000

I haven’t seen the premiere episode of Season 44 yet; it’s on TiVo, so please no spoilers in the comments. (Except for that whole Dick Cheney is the fifth cylon thing—no surprise there. Mostly just strange that they bothered making him a skin job and not a Centurion.)

I also had a couple of people on LiveJournal suggest shaving their ‘personal areas’ in honor of the end of Bush. (I won’t link you to those.) Not sure if one wants to be that itchy for the first week of the new Presidency. It’d feel too much like being a Republican. However if you’re so inclined, I’d recommend not being literal and removing yours with a helicopter.

I Could Give Birth To Sheep.

Casey — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:22:46 +0000

Traditionally The Ex-Roommate and I would pick a song for the first of the year. It gave us something reflective to do on the nights before the New Year. This is not a tradition I’ve kept with The Boyfriend. (Unless his song for the year is the theme(s) from the Planet of the Apes. We had a nice, quiet, relaxing New Year’s celebration.)

But I did select a song for 2009. Perhaps appropriately it was originally recorded over twelve years ago, but it took her this long to agree how it should really come out. I think it’s amazing. And it’s also a pretty great song to exercise or lift weights to.¹

So this year I have some old business that I need to attend to. I have to take the good work I’ve done and make it better. This year, I could be cool. Soft as a breeze.

Or I’ll be a hurricane. Ripping up trees.

¹ Count this among the many things I never expected to post in a blog entry.

Mixed Media.

Casey — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:41:43 +0000

I was browsing the website for the Ritz Carlton Dining Room, looking at their menu wondering if I could find something to eat there (assuming I could ever afford to eat there.) I noticed the first entree listed for the second course:

TROLL-CAUGHT KING SALMON
squash blossoms stuffed with provençal vegetables, long ziti, pesto

And while a part of me knows they mean the fish was caught like this:

…another part of me really kinda hoped it was salmon caught like this instead:

Had To Put This Somewhere.

Casey — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:25:22 +0000

The Life Experience Test

Overall, you have partaken in 111 out of 169 possible life experiences.
Your average life experience score is therefore 66%.

The average score is 50%, making your experiences more than 88% of the people who have taken this test.
The average for your age group (36-55) is 56%.

Broken down by category:
Art: 10/17 (59%)
Career & Work: 10/13 (77%)
Civics & Technology: 5/7 (71%)
Crime & Disarray: 6/11 (55%)
Education: 13/18 (72%)
Fashion: 8/10 (80%)
Fitness, Health and Sports: 0/7 (0%)
Life in General: 9/14 (64%)
Relationships: 11/14 (79%)
Religion & Politics: 2/4 (50%)
Social: 18/22 (82%)
Travel: 7/20 (35%)
Vices: 12/12 (100%)

Take the test and see how YOU compare

And surely it will come as no surprise to anyone that I did far better in the “vices” category than the “sports/athletics” one.