Candyhog blog

What's right with this picture?

Several things!

1. As always, Gmail themes
2. Conversation view turned off
3. Priority Inbox

Other great Gmail things not seen in this image:

1. Labs: Undo send enabled
2. Labs: Default Reply all enabled
3. Labs: Advanced attachment options enabled

Animism

I must have become so accustomed to everything being a character, from hangin' with the 8 & 10 year-olds, that I totally anthropomorphized this object on the ferry today:

Maybe a nod to the local love of Ugly Dolls?

Working hard and hardly working

Time to cry myself a river.

This has been an amazing — and I don't mean that in a good way — couple of years. For me, the recession has meant:

Too much work. Having to do a lot of side jobs even when I have full-time work, so that I have work when the full-time stuff dries up. Working with startups is fulfilling in some ways, but so insecure.

Too little work. Working with startups is fulfilling in some ways, but so insecure. Too many hours I could be working, when I am not working.

Too little predictability. Sometime too much work, sometimes too little, no ability to look ahead and plan accordingly.

Too little play. No money, no predictable time to set aside for play.

Sorry about the complaints. My cheerfulness will return.

Facebook is frightening

How can Facebook of all entities know my Achilles Heel? How can they know that I have a storied and cherished collection of certificates of achievement participation? 

While others have MBAs and certificates of recognition from organizations to which they have contributed meaningfully, my collection is a little different. 

It begins with Participation in the Vermont Student Art Fair, and includes Safety Patrol and a certificate attesting to the fact that I am licensed to play the calliope on US inland waterways. I am an Elf Master (business software training in the 90s).

And now Facebook is sorely tempting me with this ridiculous certification...I am trying to resist.

Thin-sliced French ham cut with a muffin cutter to look like pepperoni

Old people and young people have different ideas about what goes on their half of the pizza. After it came out of the oven, everyone was happy.

Surprise landing

Today's Must-Read

Reminiscent of the McCain Golf Gear Product-Reviews-as-Artform episode, Amazon's #1-selling apparel item has 333 product reviews, and counting. A striking majority of them are masterpieces! A couple of examples are excerpted below, but do yourself a favor and read them all.

Great compliment for my skin art

Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

Why can't Amazon have more stars? 5 ain't enough!

So I'm looking for threads that say, "Hey baby...I'm real boss!" when I stumble upon this epic creation. The wolves spoke to me in a language all their own; it was like German, Mongol, and Bitchin all mixed together. I mean, one wolf howlin at the moon is major...but three???

I ordered next-day air (if only there was same day!), and, of course, a size smaller than usual to ensure the closeness of the wolves to my chest hair. When the package arrived, I tore it open, and I SWEAR angels sang. I think it was Freebird. I immediately removed my "No Fat Chicks" shirt, and replaced it with this finery. Lemme tell you: AW YEAH.

I'll spare the details of my conquests since I started wearing this shrit; suffice to say, I'm swimming in a sea of babes the likes of which are usually found on those K-Tel infomercials. I'm also more confident at work, and expect to be promoted to cashier soon. I owe everything to this shirt (I should say "shirts", since I now own 23 of them).

The joy of parsnips!

Ignore the tax forms!

— A

Easter in the PNW is best spent indoors, in my book

 

A couple of essays

Explanations

A good question regarding the previous post: What does it have to do with the Wii? We've been playing Wii Carnival, which inspired Walter to make a real-life carnival in the dining room. Luckily, no balloons and darts were involved. Just ALL of our plastic cups.

And in regards to the peanut farm, here's a view of it in which you can actually see it:

You too can make your own. All you need is a dilapidated Olde Mill that turned out to be too big for your fishtank, some peanuts, and a Sharpie!

Us, in a nutshell, thanks to the Wii

Today, I casually took a picture that seems to capture and encompass the character of our family.

In this picture, whether you can identify them or not (think "Hidden Pictures" from Highlights Magazine), are 4 people, 3 fish, some peanut people on a rusty peanut farm, a possible rolled-up armadillo, and evidence of a cat. Feel free to ask questions in the comments area!

Deconstruction

We love Top Chef. So much so that we found ourselves enjoying the following quick[fire] snack the other day:

Deconstructed Nachos!

Ingredients: Doritos, Tillamook Cheddar slab.

I am a sheep

There is no shortage of snowy "Can you believe it?!" photography being passed around the NW today, so let me pile on!

In the picture below, our house looks like a Christmas card...if I weren't so lazy/busy I'd Photoshop in some cheery lights or other signs of habitation.

At the time this was taken, I was huddled over my computer at my desk as usual (when not in Redmond doing things many other people could do just as well for Microsoft), and RT and the boys were sledding on the hill.

The big newsflash there was that the neighbor, Zoe, in Kindergarten this year, won the  Sledding Championship for BOTH our driveway and hers. Watch out world!

Also, regarding Christmas, this is the first year that both boys have been opening their advent calendar windows first thing each morning without needing to be prodded.

OK, OK, I'll include a sledding snapshot. It's not very interesting except to document that our snow was not the usual, wussy almost-snow, it is significant in volume. And though mundane in the extreme, this picture is so much more interesting than the incessant pictures on TV of cars in trouble on bridges, topsy-turvy, etc. Trust me!

— Abigail

Things every young lad should learn

Thanks to his father, Walter Thompson, 9, of Bainbridge Island now knows how to open a bottle of wine, offer a taste while displaying the bottle, and dispense a sommelier pour of 3 ounces. And cook a steak perfectly à point.

— Abigail

School lunch of the week

Andrew Sullivan tipped me off

...to this awesome art project: Jeongme Yoon's photos of kids and their gender-specific, monochrome toys.

Jeongme Yoon's work reminds me of a coffee table book I saw many years ago comprised of pictures of of people around the globe standing in front of their homes, surrounded by all their belongings.

Anyone able to find references to that I can follow? I can't seem to find anything and I'd love to see those pictures again. I recall people in Arizona with their flat screens TVs and video collections, etc., , and people in Nigeria with a single plastic bowl and fan.

Yoon's photos also remind me of a photo RT took when the boys were really little of all their toys spread out in the living room. I think someone had said they had "no" toys and he was proving otherwise. I'll try to dig it up and post it.

 — Abigail

Getting ahold of some Penne Arrabiata

Ah, modern parenting. Walter Googled Star Wars this morning to watch YouTube lego animations kids of all ages are prone to make using Star Wars™ legos. He really hit the jackpot. Some genius(es) have made lego animations to go with Eddie Izzard routine soundtracks. Though I am uncomfortable with him learning quite so much about how to swear effortlessly and effectively, I  have to agree with him that this is some high quality humor.

— Abigail

You say potato, I say OMG, WTF!

Our local produce delivery came the other day and there were some surprises! When agribusiness stops, the entertainment begins.

One more reason everyone loves fall

We find out where all the best nests are!