Not the kind of time machine I meant

Oh allergies. Why must you ruin my Thursday?

My Time Machine backup drive died suddenly last week. I don’t know if it was age (two years) or the heat, but it just stopped working in the middle of the day, and wouldn’t come back on. I got a 1.5 TB drive (Newegg’s having a sale on external HDs, if anybody is interested), and made my previous backup drive into my new Time Machine. I was searching online to see what other people do when their time machine goes kaput. The search string “Time Machine failed” wasn’t very promising, so I switched to “Time Machine Died.”

I love (LOVE!) how the first result is some “article” on figuring out whether it’s possible to travel to the past and, say, shoot and kill your grandfather. Ooo-kay. It’s a little “how is babby formed,” but kind of a fun way to waste a couple of minutes.

I still haven’t figured out what the deal is with my dead dead HD, but I’ll worry about that later. I’m home sick today, so I think I’m going to take some allergy meds, motrin, and sleep til I know no more.

Potato/Po-tah-to

Yesterday a friend asked me what I thought of the Qaddafi situation. The town of Englewood, NJ is in an uproar (at least according to the media; I have not witnessed any uproaring myself) over the fact that the Libyan ruler (dictator?)  may be staying here when he comes to New York to speak in front of the United Nations.

First, I am truly amazed at how many ways there are to spell Gadhafi’s name and still be considered correct. In honor of this fact, I will never spell his name the same way twice in a row (although I will leave newspaper spellings the way I found them). Second, I completely understand why people would be upset about him staying in Englewood, but I don’t understand how they can allow themselves to be quoted saying such hysterical things.

NIMBY #1: “Unless this man comes into the U.S. and starts paying his share to reside in this community, this mayor and this community will not be coming with honeycake and sugar,” Mayor Michael Wildes said. “This is going to be an even greater drain on an already overtaxed community.”

• Translation, please??? What does this even mean? Why would this man be a drain on our community? Unless he suddenly cries poor and tries to collect welfare, how is he going to command any community funds? He travels with his own protection detail, so it’s unlikely that the city would have to oversee that. Also, now I can’t stop picturing Michael Wildes baking honeycakes.

NIMBY #2: City Council President Ken Rosenzweig said that if Gadhafi comes into the city, the council will do everything in its power to protect residents, especially immediate neighbors.

• Again, I do not get this. Qadaffi is not going to impose sharia on his block and start stoning the neighbors, so I do not understand why people would feel physically unsafe due to his nearness. He sucks, but I’ve never before heard claims that he would personally injure people. People in the immediate vicinity of the property owned by the Libyan government who are worried about their safety need to get a clue and realize that they’re probably on the safest block in the US right now.

Also:
”Gadhafi is a dangerous dictator whose hands are covered with the blood of Americans and our allies,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, whose district includes Englewood. He promised there would be ”hell to pay” if the U.S. State Department violates a long-standing deal barring the dictator from staying at the Libyan estate.

• Lay off the Internet Tough Guy speech there, Rothman; I doubt you can back that up. What, exactly, is he going to do to the State Department if Qadaffi is allowed to stay at the estate? Oh, right. Nothing. He may get lucky, though, as he is now saying that the White House and the State Department are urging Gaddafi to stay in New York City.

And finally:
A lot of articles about Kaddafi mention tents, and at first I thought it was some sort of ignorance, with people assuming that the Northern African dude must live in a tent. But, behold: he actually does travel with a tent. And he may need it, now that the city of Englewood has revoked work permits for improvements being made to the house owned by the Libyan government.

My personal feelings:
Gadhafi is scum, and knowingly supports criminals. He is no friend of this country or our ideals, and I’m conflicted about the fact that you can’t arrest and imprison people for sucking, but then all the politicians would be incarcerated and there’d be nobody to ru[i]n things.

Australia’s unrelenting awesomeness

Australians are awesome, as long as you allow them to bring up Paul Hogan first (if ever) and avoid ordering Foster’s beer in front of them (or anywhere else, either; Foster’s: Australian for crap). Aside from containing awesome Aussies (who always seem to be traveling/visiting/living/working someplace else anyway), Australia also has great weather, at least from a North American standpoint. When we’re burning up during our summer, most of Oz is experiencing an awesome, snowy winter. When we can’t feel our fingers or toes, they’re on the beach in their swimsuits. But what’s going on in Australian during the rainy season that debuted in much of the North American East Coast this year? For that matter, what’s going on here? Why do we have four seasons, anyway?

Because the British said so, and apparently that’s good enough for us. I do find it strange that I never questioned this before. It’s been pretty clear for the last several years that the whole “winter-spring-summer-fall” model of weather isn’t the best at capturing exactly what seems to be happening around here, meteorologically speaking.

You know who’s not taking that British-mandated 4-season thing lying down? The Aussies. And maybe we should considered joining them in their stand against such a small number of out-moded, not descriptive enough seasons. Plus, more seasons = more end of the season sales. Everybody’s a winner.

Project Runway West

First: Tim Gunn is awesome. He’s so cool, and even when faced with the craziness of some of these designers, he manages to convey both his support and his doubts. I wish that all people could have a Tim Gunn in their life.

I’m really happy that this first challenge was to design for the red carpet, instead of making an outfit out of stuff in the apartment, the clothes off the designers’ backs, trash, or supermarket finds. Those have been done to death. I was concerned when Ari said that she didn’t draw, but only because that made me think of Angela, which is always unfortunate. It’s good to know that the shameless promotion of Mood could continue with the show’s change of venue; for a second there I was worried that the designers would have to go to a Michael’s or A.C. Moore for their silk charmeuse. I don’t know if it was this group of designers, the way the editors spliced the show together, or some combination of the two, but the atmosphere in the workroom seemed pretty good. People were stressed and working hard, but I didn’t see anybody get the side-eye or be on the wrong end of a harsh word. I wonder how long this can last.

It might have annoyed me in episode five or so, but since this was the premiere, I didn’t even mind Johnny’s meltdown. He did have a valid concern, and I think that the other designers were amazingly supportive in a way that one might not have expected, given the newness of their acquaintance. Plus, Tim talked him down from the ledge and he mad it into the top three, so I hope he can carry his confidence forward, because if he does this again, I will not take it as well.

I’m shocked at how happy I was to see Nina Garcia and Michael Kors. Nobody can bitchslap a designer like those two. it was great how excited the designers were when they saw Lindsay Lohan. Nobody is that excited to see her, except for the paparazzi. I feel slightly ashamed at how surprised I was at her coherence. I know she’s not all “Dur, Sam, argh,” all the time, but I still didn’t expect her to speak as well as she did.

There were a few designs that I looooved. Shirin, Louise, Gordana, and Irina’s dresses were super. I liked Ra’Mon and Johnny’s dresses, too, but not as much. I thought that Christopher’s dress was okay, but not amazing. I was surprised that none of the women I mentioned were included in the top three. In fact, the whole top three was men; what’s up with that? I think that it would be interesting if, for one season, the designs came down the runway without the judges knowing who made them. For this to work best, I think the designers would not be able to be in the room, either. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that female designers did better when the judges didn’t know who made things. Plus, this would prevent designers from being pigeonholed as good or bad, and stop people from coasting on past successes or being punished for past disappointments. Blind judging, Project Runway. Think about it. If you use my idea, though, I’d like some credit (and free clothes).

I’m happy that Michael Kors managed to include the phrase “taste level” in the very first show. Is that a record? How can they already be worried about Qristyl’s taste after viewing only one of her designs? Going into the runway show, there were a couple of people who I worried about, but there was so many unfortunate things going on in that room that there wasn’t anybody who was a lock to go home. I was pretty unimpressed with Epperson’s dress. It looked like something that you’d wear to a fancy funeral, if such a thing exists. I’m glad that Mitchell wasn’t sent home. His dress sucked because he was given improper model measurements, not because he’s unable to design well.

I think it was nice that the person who won the first challenge was a non-fashion school graduate, because the nonnies seemed really self-conscious about everybody else knowing stuff they didn’t. I just hope they don’t spend the rest of the season harping on their feelings of inadequacy, because that would not be interesting. Of course, the loser also didn’t go to fashion school (I think!), either, but I don’t think that’s why she had to go. Her outfit was insane, and she knew that, but I think she missed the part where somebody else had to be interested in it, too. I agreed that Ari should go. She definitely had a point of view, but I can’t imagine it ever lining up with the judges’ enough to do her good on this show. And it was nice to hear her say that she learned that one should take risks responsibly; it is wearying to hear rejected contestants go on about how they were misunderstood, without acknowledging that there might have been more to it than that.

Given the fact that this is the first season of Project Runway to be cast using the Bunim-Murray people (of Real World fame), I’m surprised that there were no fist-fights, drunken hookups, or attempts to bond in a conveniently located hot tub. Malvin’s hair kind of pissed me off when I first saw it, but he doesn’t seem obnoxious, so he and his coif have grown on me. I still have zero respect for the spelling of Qristyl’s name, but from here on in, I’ll only have to see it once an episode, so I think I can keep my rage at bay. Plus, she’s on thin ice already, so if she doesn’t straighten up and fly right, she may be going home soon, meaning that I’d have to see her names zero times an episode. This would also be acceptable. The closest I came to being annoyed was with Logan’s “I’m more of a guy’s guy” comment. What did that statement add to my life? Not a thing. Maybe that’s why I thought he was going to be a pain in the ass.

This is why the Internet exists

I was randomly clicking around the intertubes this afternoon, desperately attempting not to fall asleep at work, when I came across this slice of online awesomeness: TYWKIWDBI. The blog’s name, which the authors pronounce as “Tai-Wiki-Widbee,” stands for “Things You Wouldn’t Know if We Didn’t Blog Incessantly.” And they’re probably right. After all, did you already know that the hands of people with Reynaud’s Phenomenon tend to be awesomely bright colors (although Reynaud’s phenomenon itself is infinitely less awesome)? Doubtful.

Countdown to Project Runway

After what seems like years of legal wrangling between Lifetime, The Weinstein Company, and NBC Universal , Project Runway’s first season on Lifetime starts tomorrow. I’m really excited, but aside from briefly looking at the photos and bios of the new contestants, I haven’t tried to find out anything about this season. I want to be surprised, and not to hate any of the contestants until the editors have provided me with a reason. I’m starting a new scarf, so I’ll have something else to focus on if the first episode is as underwhelming as PR season openers usually are.

Hollywood!

Jeez. I can’t believe that I forgot to upload my Hollywood pictures. Whatever was I thinking? The picture below links to the set.

Who would want this?

I asked Satanski what he wanted me to bring him back from the zoo, but he said he didn’t know. I suspect that he just wanted to get off the phone; I think I called during SuperWhy. Anyway, I tried a different tack, and asked him which animal he liked the best. Naturally, because he’s angry and scary, he said tigers. With that in mind, I searched the zoo’s gift shop until I found a really adorable pair of tiger slippers. The only problem was that they were not labeled with a size, so I had to guess about whether they’d fit him. (Question I was asked, “How do you know what size shoe he wears?” I was temped, but somehow resisted saying “Voodoo,” although the truth “I’ve bought his last few pairs of sneakers” wasn’t as interesting.)

Sadly enough, although I’d bought the only small-kid size they had, the slippers were still too small for my kiddo. I also got him a wallet when we went to SeaWorld, but I still really like the idea of tiger slippers, so I went online looking for them. I’ve just started, so I’m not exactly  discouraged, but I haven’t been able to find any Satanski-sized pairs yet. What I did find was this scary freakshow of a pair.

I have no idea why any adult would buy those slippers, or any child would want them (but here’s the link for all you nutjobs out there). I cannot imagine sticking my feet in those things without worrying that I would pull back stumps.

Pics or it didn’t happen

I’m home! I really enjoyed California a lot, and although I wouldn’t say that my vacation was especially relaxing, I do feel like the time away benefited me. As promised, I am including links to my pictures from my trip to California. I also went to Disneyland, but didn’t really feel like taking pictures there.

• Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves
• Bullitt at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
• Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs Texas Rangers
• San Diego Zoo
• SeaWorld San Diego

Some of my favorites:

Despite the Dodgers' loss, the stadium still shot of fireworks

Cute couple dancing before the movie started

The actual name of a street on the bus route back to the hotel

This animal is not dead or dying.

Wait for it…

I have taken an insane number of pictures here in California, and will upload them to my various services (Facabook, Flickr, etc.) on Thursday. My hotel charges for internet, so technically it is available, but since I think it’s a disgrace for such a nice hotel to charge for something as basic as internet connectivity, I absolutely refuse to pay for it. It’s a good thing I can tether my phone to my computer, right? I feel so smart every time I connect. Still, that connection isn’t really fast enough to transmit large files, so I’ll wait until I get home.