Heidi's Journal

05/29/2009 15:29 #48783

The Not-Basra Collection
Category: basra

I have about 800 pictures to process from my adventures Thursday through Sunday. These are the most immediately relevant. ;-)

My hometown had its annual festival last weekend and my aunt asked me to take pictures of her & her company's parade float. She couldn't throw candy from the float and take pictures of it at the same time, she said. After the parade, everyone goes to Island Park for the festival, which this year included a beautiful old tortoise.

theecarey - 06/01/09 08:45
tortoises are beautiful!

but not so cuddly, unfortunately :)

05/12/2009 13:45 #48656

costume rival for e:mmtornow
Category: halloween

:-)

From AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com (only about 1 in 10 images are actually funny)

dcoffee - 05/25/09 21:43
haha, that took some time! wow

tinypliny - 05/14/09 17:29
They actually look adorable. :)

libertad - 05/13/09 13:52
is (e:mmtornow) still at Roswell?

heidi - 05/12/09 16:07
i think i'm embarrassed to be part of such a lame meme. if it wasn't for the duct tape tie with Molly i would never have posted about it. the anteater one (e:jim) found was so much better.

james - 05/12/09 16:04
You are the third person to talk about that blog today.

joshua - 05/12/09 15:41
That's sharp.

05/11/2009 18:36 #48649

lady in white gave me a gift!
Category: walking

I was walking along Allen today listening to property law review audio files (really exciting stuff) and passed the lady in white. I looked back and it seemed like she was talking to me, and she waved me closer. She said that her friend (who I was... um... having a little trouble seeing) wanted to give me something. I held out my hand and she said, no, not me, him, so I shifted my hand toward where she was indicating and she said, I'm not sure how this works, but he has something for you. I waited a few more seconds and told her I think I got something, thank you very much. She seemed very pleased.

tinypliny - 05/13/09 07:27
That's interesting. I don't know if I believe in ghosts or any kind of afterlife. Sentience might be a recyclable "hard-drive" like commodity for all we know. The immune system is hereditary and has memory cells, so why can't the neural systems be capable of a similar heredity and memory (albeit of a different kind).

libertad - 05/11/09 23:45
That is amazing that she spoke to you. I sort of agree with peter here.

paul - 05/11/09 22:22
I walked right next to her today and I didn't get anything ;( You must be really special. Seriously, she is a legend. It would be so awesome if you started dressing in white now. I wonder what she would think.

hodown - 05/11/09 21:06
omg paul and i have been obsessed with her for years.

metalpeter - 05/11/09 19:49
Wow that is very strange. That being said most people think she is crazy. Most people think that people who talk to people we cant see are crazy. But if you really think about it some many people believe in life after death in some form. So why couldn't there really be a ghost or some kind of being that we aren't able to see. Yes there really are a bunch of crazy people, but they all can't be.

05/06/2009 17:49 #48605

Free! Gift certificates
Category: gifts

I have a $25 gift certificate to Shango Bistro & Wine Bar that expires 5/20/09 that I'm not going to have time to use (unless someone wants to go with me tonight). :-( Would anyone like it?

I also have two free admission tickets to the Albright-Knox permanent collection that expire 5/30/09 that I also don't have time to use. Anyone?

mrmike - 05/11/09 19:38
Got em, thanks

jenks - 05/07/09 11:32
shango's supposed to have a great brunch... I'll take it if Drew doesn't...

heidi - 05/07/09 10:12
I'm dropping them in the mail today :-) I hope you have fun!

drew - 05/07/09 09:07
Love me some wine!

mrmike - 05/06/09 19:22
I could use the art gallery ones :)

05/03/2009 12:39 #48581

gotta get a new laptop
Category: computers

I took my work laptop with me when I last went to PA because, ya know, i was working... When I got back to Buffalo, the screen stayed dark instead of lighting up on boot. However, I could still see the images; they were just very faint. I googled up some answers - most likely cause: inverter board failure. Since my laptop is about three years old, I didn't want to invest a lot in a repair, so I found a used board on ebay and also got a new battery because mine's no longer holding a charge for more than 10 minutes of use. $80 for parts and I'll have a functioning laptop for at least a few more months.... or so I thought.

The package came Tuesday and I tried the battery - wrong battery. The list of compatible Toshibas on the ebay listing was huge and mine wasn't specifically excluded... :-(

I installed the inverter board Thursday night because Drew needs something that's stored on that computer and I was going to the church on Friday... 6 screws and two small pin connectors later, I had it installed... Boot up... yea! lights! for 10 seconds. WHAT??? 10 seconds?? try again. same result. #$*!*#$ not just an inverter board problem, it's also a backlight problem. So screw it, I need a functioning laptop for finals, I need a functioning laptop for work... I gotta buy a new laptop.

I'm posting all this just to make sure it is reasonable...

How's this Toshiba look to you geeks?

I like this Sony Vaio but an extra $250 for a better processor (and admittedly excellent sony hardware) doesn't seem worth it.

I'm very hard on my machines so I don't want to spend a lot on them for them just to break because I'm clumsy and dangerous.

tinypliny - 05/13/09 07:28
I hate that finish too! Why can't they have selected a more sensible mattÃ© finish!? Isn't video chat awesome? I feel like I am taking to my family without even going home. It keeps me sane.

heidi - 05/11/09 13:07
I got the toshiba. it's speedy and functional but I really hate the super-shiny, fingerprint-gathering finish. I didn't expect to use the integrated webcam so much - I spent about two hours with one of A's aunts working on her computer using gmail video chat and logmein.com. She lives in Syracuse.

tinypliny - 05/06/09 22:23
So what did you get in the end?

I have never had bad luck with Toshiba. I dropped my first from the second floor and it still works!

heidi - 05/04/09 10:16
Yeah, I have a 5+ year old Sony vaio that's still running. The screen is falling off the hinges b/c of a few drops. Great hardware.

I realized after I posted that y'all use Macs... Really I just needed to think it through. I ordered the Toshiba last night before I went to bed, plus a 1TB backup drive, eSATA compatible. I spent a lot (too much) time moving files from the old toshiba to my 80gb external hdd and moving some to my school desktop, installing software that I use for work on the school desktop... I *hate* getting a new computer. It's such a pain to get it set up and configured and takes too much time! This is my third in about eight months.

paul - 05/04/09 09:43
I found sony hardware to be really sturdy and reliable. However, I hate all the spamware they come with.

jim - 05/04/09 09:30
I don't think the one is necessarily worth the $250 premium, but I wish I knew more about non-Apple laptops to give any better advice :)