Today did not go as planned...

... but for a change, that was OK.

Stuff happened that, instead of making me want to pull my hair out or run through a wall Warner Bros. style, actually made me feel good about my job:

• I got to meet with my managers and the outgoing grad student/intern over lunch at the University Club (f.k.a the Faculty Club) where we discussed the future of the work that I do -- what projects may or may not be coming down the line, what equipment may be purchased, staffing levels, training, and so on.
• I got to be "promoted" to an admin of the UVic Libraries Facebook Page and encouraged to add content (such as photos) whenever possible.
• I got to pose for a photo-shoot for The Ring to accompany a story about our current project in an upcoming issue (though they also took some shots without me, so there is a chance I won't end up in the final cut).

At the end of the day, while it might be fleeting, I at least felt like I was making a recognized contribution to the University.

Homemade is soooo much better

homemade_ketchup
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Some time ago, we slipped up and let Kiddo start using ketchup liberally. It got to the point where most of what she ate during any given meal was manufactured by the Heinz company. This time, when the bottle ran empty we said, "Enough! We will make our own ketchup." We have made it before, and it's easy enough.

It's also healthier (far less sugar) and pretty inexpensive; 2 litres of very fresh ketchup cost us about $9 (and could have cost less if we had bought the canned tomatoes and tomato paste on sale). Now that's a little more costly than Heinz (on sale, you can get 1L for $2.99) -- store brands are cheaper, still -- but we had complete control over what went into the end product.

Sewing Day.

three_robots
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Sunday turned out to be sewing day. I made two more robots (these all have Mac parts integrated into their design so each one is one-of-a-kind) plus I made a bunch of little tea cozies -- made to fit my stainless steel restaurant style one-cup teapot. I'll be keeping one and selling the others.

Turns out that Sunday was a good day to stay indoors anyway, as parts of the region got pounded with micro-storms and many, many people were involved in multi-car pileups.... no fun at all. Of course at our place we just saw some big flakes for a while but none of them stuck so Kiddo couldn't go out and play. They are predicting 5 cm of snow tonight though, so maybe tomorrow she will get to frolic just a little.

ZZZZAP!!! -- doh!

For some reason, I tend to generate a lot of static electricity. At work, I touch one corner of one of the privacy panels to "discharge" any built-up static. Sometimes this is enough to trigger the barcode readers.... which is a little weird.

This afternoon, I reached out to open and turn on my laptop and ---- ZZZAP! It fired up OK, but when I tried to move the mouse (it sits on my graphics tablet), nada. After using the touchpad for a while, I realized I missed the mouse and went looking for an alternate... which is when I found that it wasn't my tablet that had died but all my USB ports. They are now zombies... they appear to be alive -- they both give power to connected items and also are seen to be active by Windows -- but they no longer function.

While I could adjust to not having the mouse and I would accept not having the graphics tablet, it also means I can't transfer any music or images... and that just.won't.do.

After a web search for "acer usb not responding" I found that this is not an uncommon occurrence among laptops... the USB ports sometimes just randomly die (and likely my static zap was only a coincidence and not a trigger).

The most frequent suggested fix is to buy a PCMCIA USB expansion card (about $65) which would return two of my three ports. Of course it would also mean I would lose my wireless card... though that is not too critical right now (since the battery only holds a charge for about 8 minutes, I leave it on the desk, plugged in; adding an ethernet cable wouldn't matter).

Since my laptop will be 3 years old in March, we had slated it for replacement soon anyway... we may just have to go shopping a little earlier than planned.

Sigh.

Jedi and Wookies and Droids, OH MY!

Project 52: Stormtrooper Edition Week 4: Shakespeare
Originally uploaded by Snark Hunter

Star Wars has somehow (re)gained a very prominent place in the front of my brain these days. Kiddo (and Hubby) have been playing LEGO Star Wars almost nightly which would probably do it on its own.... but I have also had MC Chris' Fett's Vette on a constant loop in my head (YouTube has many versions of videos to accompany the song; my favourite version mixes live performance footage with some fun video game captures).

I'm not too far gone, though; I scoffed at the Church of the Jedi opening in Wales.

There was one bright Star Wars moment this week, at least. While browsing through one of my fave Flickr groups, The Secret Life of Toys, I saw this shot by SnarkHunter (above) which I recognized immediately as the graveyard scene from Hamlet.

Of course, that made me think about Shakespeare. Which made me think about my favourite movie adaptation of a Shakespeare play, 10 Things I Hate About You, which made me think about Heath Ledger. Which bummed me out a little. So... thanks a lot, Lucas.