Tuesday: a few more upsides to working a long day

Today was a long day at work. However, there were two good things that happened:

1) I was able to pass off fixing some WIPs to someone else because I'm too busy. SCORE!!!

2) Around 6:45 all the phones started ringing. I was out on the manufacturing floor...a phone was ringing. That phone stopped and a different phone started. I went to my office. Two phones were ringing. They stopped. Another phone rang and someone picked it up - no one was on the line. The fax machine buzzed. My phone rang (there was no one there). Another office phone rang. I went back to the manufacturing floor and the phones were still ringing. When I left 20 minutes later the phones were still all abuzz. Interesting.

What was also interesting is how we all have the same type of phone and yet they all sounded different.

Monday: 5 question Friday

1. What is one thing you miss the most about childhood?

I miss having summer vacation. Even in high school when I was working I still had a lot of time off. It was wonderful to have a change of pace.

2. Are you still friends with your friends from high school?

Yes, but we aren't nearly as close as we used to be. Probably because I don't live close to any of them anymore. I do keep in touch with several of them though and see them occasionally.

3. Is there a catch phrase, cliche, or word that just drives you bonkers every time you hear it?

"My bad." Bad is an adjective, so you can't own it.

4. What is one thing that you think symbolizes America...besides "Old Glory"?

This picture:

5. Do you have any scars? If so, what's the story behind it?

I have one on my back from where I had a mole removed.

(Thanks to Five Question Friday for the questions)

Sunday: why I am (semi) happy to pay my taxes

Do I like paying taxes? Not really. Does it seem unfair that those who make a lot of money have to pay more taxes? Sure. Do I think the money could be handled better? Yes. But today I don't want to talk about such topics tonight. Today I want to refute the comment "I've never heard anyone tell me anything good that taxes have done for them."

Taxes pay my salary. Taxes actually pay a lot of salaries when you think about it.

Taxes pay for schools. Even if the schools aren't very good learning is still important.

Taxes pay for recycling.

Taxes pay for a lot of social services...some that keep me safe (I can pretend it's like insurance) and some help out people who are having a hard time.

In conclusion, while taxes do have several downsides, they also do have some positive effects on society.

Sunday: cooking frisbees

We looked in our car today only to find that all of our four frisbees were misshappen.

Since it is nice to have a lot of Frisbees, we're hoping that we can reshape them. I placed one in hot water for a while to see if it would come back. It is still a little off, so it is currently under a 40lb bag of salt. The Frisbee did cool down before I put it under the salt bag, so I might need to retry the process again later.

Saturday: movies take 2

Today I worked on my 60 second movie. I spent a fair amount of the day working on it and didn't finish. :( I have most of my scenes finished and most of the prep work all figured out though, so hopefully the last bit will finish easily. It didn't help that my camera overheated and so a few of the good takes that I did get for the last part had some weird effects.

Most of the morning was spent trying to make a bluescreen (and a greenscreen). It didn't work. I probably had the wrong color fabric, because I did get the software to work on small sections of the video. It's too bad, because I was really looking forward to making some stock footage of Ben and I so that we could be in outer space or on the lip of a volcano or swimming under the ocean.

It was rather hot out today so we went out for dinner and then went to see Inception. It was a great movie. I'd highly recommend it.

Friday: movie!

For Month at The Museum, I need to make a movie. I never before realized how hard it is to put everything you want to say into one minute AND make it creative at the same time. It gives me a new respect for advertisement designers.

Anyway, here is the first movie I've ever put together. It was actually surprisingly easy. I know it's not a great movie, but I was having fun figuring out how to put the different components together.

It features my wonderful cat Flurry and her love of water.

Thursday: organized

When I'm asked to describe myself, one of the adjectives that I usually use is organized. These skills came in useful once again this afternoon. I discovered that three cables that need to start being built tomorrow but weren't on the list. Then while looking at the list I realized that two of the planned cables needed some changes made before they could be started. So I quickly did the half dozen tasks that are required to change a single wire.

Disaster averted!!