Blog du Wren

A Little Slice of Heaven

Years ago, I had a real job*. I worked in Seattle in a cubicle. The work wasn't bad at all. The commute however was a drag, so I would often stay on the city. One of the ways I would treat myself was to visit my favorite pizza place, pizzeria pagliaccis.

It's been a while since i've roamed the urban streets of my past stomping grounds. Tonight, however, I find myself with a couple hours to kill as I wait for a predictably late craigslist ride. What better time to treat oneself than the present. Yum!

While the pizza (and salad, especially) and nostalgia are worth a blog post of its own, I'm using this opportunity more to try out mobile posting from my new toy. That's right! This post is done completely from Non-a-phone. HTML on a mobile keyboard isn't the easiest thing on the world, but I'm pleased to prove that it is doable! (although the process is tedious enough that none of us should get used to this up to the minute drivel)

Anyway, I've got pizza to eat (and thumbs to let recover)

Tuesday November 29 2011

File under: misc

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FC 153 - Frail to the Chief

I was halfway tempted to save this comic for next week and instead do a Thanksgiving comic (like that Google one I did a couple years back). It was going to be a big fat guy at a fully loaded dining room table, holding up a turkey leg and stein full of beer, saying "I'm thankful for triple by-pass surgeries". I didn't get around to it. Alas. Maybe next year.

One thing that I did try this time around is to think a little outside the box. Or, more specifically, do a speech bubble outside of the box. We'll see how that pans out. Ain't it grand that over 4 years into this comic creating foray, there are still new things to try!

(Oh, and for the record, I would totally vote for a grandma for president. As long as she wears a shawl, says "sonny boy", and doesn't cave to corporate interests, she's got my support!)

Thursday November 24 2011

File under: comic

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Silliness in Vegas

Combine traveling with a super fun gal, needing to test out my new not-a-phone camera, and, well, Vegas, and some fun pictures come out of it all.

Wednesday November 23 2011

File under: travel, Vegas

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On Being a VIP

I've been in Vegas now for 4 days and have seen 4 amazing shows. From medieval jousting to hypnotism, burlesque to magic. And as if that wasn't enough, we've gotten to go to all those shows as VIPs for free! What does being a VIP mean? Well, it means no waiting in line, great seats, free drinks, and pretty dang special treatment. It's really quite amazing.

But in addition to being amazing, it has been so interesting to see how this side of showbiz works. "Just ask for Zack" is all the direction we're given before heading off to the show. And sure enough, we prance* right up to the door, ask for Zack, and we're marched down to the front row. No fuss, no muss. All because we know a guy who knows a guy. And the guy we know knows lots, from the dirt about a performer's off-stage personality to the lowdown on the pyrotechnics because he built them.

In life, it is good to sometimes take a step back and realize when a situation is so spectacular, it probably won't happen again. This is one of those times. Lord knows I ain't no VIP on my own. So while it lasts, bring on the red carpet, drink tickets, and free shows! Thanks be to Vegas!

Saturday November 19 2011

File under: travel, Vegas

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Punked in Vegas

Yippee! I find myself in Las Vegas and it's, as it always seems to be, awesome. Our host/client/friend down here is a well-connected fella (as well as generous to beat the band) and has lined up night after night of shows for us to see. Last night, it was Tournament of Kings at Excalibur*.

The show was pretty rad—eating food with your hands, horses and jousting, and lots of awesome pyrotechnics. The extra addition to the night, however, was the mighty prank he played on us.

He told Merlin, who was working the crowd before hand, lots about us who then played it all off as magic. Minor. Pretty amusing in fact.
We got called out as the "these guys aren't cheering properly so now they have to do the cheer in front of all 600 people alone". Embarassing*, but not really that bad.
Before the show, when the announcer is calling out all the birthdays, anniversaries, etc., a special congratulations to the newlyweds was included. For the rest of the evening, people were coming up to congratulate us.*. This got us good. Our faces were red but at that point, we just had to roll with it.

Yep, it was a great night. After the show, we strolled the Strip in the perfect weather and took it all in. I like Vegas and look forward to a fun rest of my visit!!

Thursday November 17 2011

File under: travel, Vegas

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A New Toy

I splurged. I bought a new toy. (Although, if the IRS asks, it is a tool for work (and it kind of is).) This weekend, I bought the new Samsung Galaxy 4 player. It sounds like a phone. It looks like a phone. It even cost as much as a phone. But it's not a phone.

For a really long time, I've been looking for a portable media/internety thing. I remember way back before the iPod Touch, I was looking at the Sony Mylo (now so out of date it makes me cringed). The things that pushed me over the edge are: I need a new camera, many of the houses I now housesit at have no land line but do have wifi internet, and being able to send and receive texts while waiting for someone can really simplify communications. And Angry Birds. I felt I was really missing out so much without Angry Birds.

It is my hope that along with all the great communications things it can do*, it will benefit this blog. Although the above picture isn't so great*, one ain't so bad. I guess I'll just have to stop doing exciting things in low light... And, one of the many benefits over the iPod Touch, I can crop and upload the images directly to BdW*.

Anyway, I'm just 24 hours into playing with it, so I'm sure I'll learn much more *. In the meantime, do you have any android app suggestions that I simply can't live without? Drop them below in the comments.

Monday November 14 2011

File under: misc

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FC 152 - Science Demands More Pie

I love the concept of using science to argue for something ridiculous. "Beer kills off the weaker brain cells to allow for the growing of new stronger ones." Or "watching the football game instead of mowing the lawn is just respecting my biologic need for violence and competition. To do otherwise would be unnatural." Okay, so maybe those aren't the best examples. But the one in this comic, I'd say, is pretty dang good. It comes by way of a friend who goes as far as to call it a theory. How scientific is that?

Another great mix of science and dessert consumption is I once knew a woman who had a style of cutting brownies that always left a little corner to be cut off to nibble on. And when that one was cut off, a new one would materialize. Who says advanced geometry isn't useful in the real world?

So besides being able to wish you a Happy Friday today, I also want to point out that it is 11-11-11*. (I thought I'd go nerdy all around this time.)

Thursday November 10 2011

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The Evolving Blogosphere

Change is the only constant in the world —Heraclitus*

Duh —Wren*
One thing that has been on my mind lately is the change happening in the world of blogs these days. When once it seemed everyone had a blog, now the numbers dwindle. Even the ones that do remain sometimes have trouble keeping up with a decent frequency of posts*.

While somewhat disheartening to me, I understand. Keeping a blog is hard work. And now, with facebook and twitter, doing more or less the same thing is much easier. Heck, for twitter, you only have to come up with 140 characters. That's a far piece different from uploading images and coding up a well formed blog post.

But just because it is easier doesn't mean it is better, at least in my eyes. There is something about the community created when it takes initiative to read something, rather than having it come at you in an endless stream. Blogs offer much more ability to personalize and, in my case, experiment with integration javascript/CSS/etc. And by having to exert a little more effort to post a thought, the thoughts tend to be more well thought out and deliberate*.

While I don't mean these thoughts as a criticism of this shift, I realize that the blogosphere is still the place for me, both to post and to read. With that in mind, I've updated the Blogs du Friends to trim off those blogs that fell victim to this change and to add on some new friends.

Anyway, my thoughts on blogs, as you can imagine, could go on and on. If you ever want to discuss it, let's talk. Until then, thank you for reading.

Tuesday November 8 2011

File under: blog

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FC 151 - HORROR

As promised, here's another Halloween comic. I know it is probably too late for you to use it as a guide for this year's costume, but for those last minute folks*, perhaps it can be some inspiration.

Speaking of Halloween costumes, funny, well done, or totally amazing costumes are pretty much the life-blood of the daily internet sites these days. From babies dressed as ewoks to dogs wearing batman costumes, Halloween makes for some good internet fodder.

As for me, I'm not dressing up...unless on the off chance I get a wild hair on Monday. But if I do, maybe I'll shoot for something really scary, perhaps inspired by this comic. But just how would one dress as 'American Politics'?

Happy Friday and happy Halloween!

Thursday October 27 2011

File under: comic

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Chops Mustache and More

Two notable things about this iteration of Fun In-Between Beard: the mustache/chops/chin beard combination is kind of hard to see because without the shaved part being shaved with a blade, the stubble kind of blends in together making the awesomeness of the beard kind of subtle. Secondly, I like it so much that I've kept it 2 weeks now!

This time around, I was off the hook again for coming up with an idea for FI-BB because I again handed the buzzer off to the guest artist that did such a good job last time. I think she repeated the success with this one.

On a separate beard-related topic, I'm hoping to soon compile 5 years worth of beard pics in to a monster beard post, or maybe even a separate page to better track future beards*. Behind the sleeping around schedule, it is the thing I share most with people. Anyway, I'm sure once it happens, you'll hear about it here first.

Monday October 24 2011

File under: beard

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