testing migration

okay, now does this work? that seemed too easy ...

migration

blogger is concluding their ftp publishing service at the end of this month. i've gone through their migration process for all of my archived blogs, and everything still appears to work beautifully. although, honestly, i went through the process by telling it to leave them alone. so if something had gotten screwed up, it would have been completely uncalled for.

so now i really need to migrate this blog off of the ftp service. i could tell it to leave the others alone because i don't publish to them anymore. blogger doesn't need to know where to publish new posts because there will never be any new posts to the 2008 archives. i can't do that with this one. this is me posting to it, you see? i'd like to think that it will be fine. but, if not ... it was good to know you. ;)

sugar rush

today was the big welcome back for one of my coworkers. she's returning from a 12-week maternity leave. those 12 weeks managed to go ridiculously slow & amazingly fast all at the same time. i'm sure she's thinking the same thing, looking at her baby boy that's almost 3 months old now.

how can so much happen in 3 months while so much stays the same?

spring flowers

magazine bowl, complete

joe's magazine bowl ended up being about 8" across at the top and about 3" high. i really like the feel & shape of it. patti mentioned it would be a good fit for the Trash to Treasure show at the local convention & visitors bureau. i love that idea. and my mom wants one, too.

i used several layers of mod podge on the inside so it would keep its shape. unfortunately, the mod podge isn't clear. it's got a little bit of a milky finish. maybe i should water it down? or use something else completely? i'll need to do some poking around on that.

netflix and wii

netflix has offered instant viewing for quite some time. instead of waiting for dvds to be shipped to your home, you can stream movies and tv shows directly to your computer or to your television through a netflix ready device. thankfully the dvd mailing process is ridiculously quick. if i mail a movie back on monday, i have my replacement on wednesday. i'm especially thankful for that because my computers don't support instant viewing; their operating system is too out of date. so that leaves me the option of purchasing a netflix ready device for my tv. the cheapest one is $80. that's not horrible. and it's small. but do i really need another box sitting around?

as it turns out, no i do not. this week, netflix launched instant viewing through the wii console. yesterday i got my instant viewing disc, and within minutes i was streaming law & order: criminal intent to my tv. i love it. and when i got sick of l&o, i watched mythbusters. from the time i select what i want to watch with the on-screen menus to the time the show starts is about 45 seconds. the quality is the same as having the dvd. and there's no mailing time.

this could be dangerous.

narwhals, part 2

when i redesign my blog, i'll take into account the width of youtube videos. because that last post just looks ridiculous. good thing narwhals are awesomely worth it. here's another great one:

the fabulousity of the narwhal

they recently wallpapered a small area at the office, dubbing it the War Wall. i can't say the words "war wall" without hearing "narwhal." undoubtedly this is because narwhals are awesome. so we start today with some youtube narwhal goodness.

magazine bowl, take 2

i don't have photos because i'm not done, yet. but i started a second bowl last night. on this one, i'm folding the strips one more time, making them half the size. so each one is about a half inch wide. that's making them twice as thick, so the bowl will be wider. but it also makes them only able to telescope up half as much. it's a good trade off though. these narrower strips are also easier to work with, creating less wrinkling & bunching as they're wrapped around the coil.

i'm also using super glue, which seems to be working quite well. indeed, i have no desire to go to work today - i'd much rather stay home & finish this bowl instead. :)

magazine bowl

i don't know why i can sit around like a vegetable for two hours after work, and THEN become so antsy to make something. but tonight, i decided to try a magazine bowl. basically it's folded strips of paper that are taped end to end & coiled. then you pull up the rings to form the bowl.


since the rings move, you can make the bowl whatever height you want. i'm most fond of the shortest one, on the right.


and i really like seeing the rings on the inside.

i didn't pay any attention to color scheme on this one. i just grabbed a magazine and used every page. and i taped my strips together, but i'd like to try gluing them on the next attempt. as i was tightening the coil i popped a few pieces of tape and had to go back and mend them. i'm thinking a drop of super glue would work better.

once i have the technique fine tuned, i'd like to make a much bigger one. one that's about 16" wide, maybe 4" deep. i don't know what i'll do with it when i'm done ... but i'll figure that out some other night.