Tumblr

I've been trying out tumblr, and I like it. It's incredibly easy to access, runs a feed of other tumblr blogs I follow, similar to Twitter, and I can have it automatically post to Facebook and Twitter. Plus, I can easily switch among multiple blogs when I post.

I find that I post to my tumblr blogs much more frequently, and for little things (what I'm reading/watching/playing from GetGlue, for example) as well as bigger things.

So - at least for now - surf on over to:

• http://rogueslayer1.tumblr.com/ to see the Impenitent Geek blog on tumblr. 
• http://gardengrlz.tumblr.com/ for Garden Grlz, the gardening podcast/blog I do with a friend

See you there!

When Gardens Fall

A couple of nights ago, just as we were thinking it was time to crash, something in the kitchen beat us to it. At the assortment of loud noises, including breaking glass, we jumped up to investigate. First thing - establish that Ziggy and Starbuck are okay. Yes, they are.  Next step - conclude that one of them was likely the cause of the disturbance.

We have a number of wooden shelves on decorative iron brackets on two walls. These hold a variety of items - cookbooks, Cuisinart blades (in safety containers), flour/sugar, telephone, vases, etc. The lowest shelf has the toaster and two Aerogardens. This shelf was now resting on the recycling bags below, with the various items strewn across the floor. Including the now-broken bulbs from the Aerogardens. And all the crumbs from the toaster (should clean that more often). And all the water from their just-topped-off-that-day reservoirs. Oy.

Ziggy has a habit of standing on the table near the bottom shelf so he can then lean up onto the near Aerogarden to sniff and perhaps chew the herbs (savory seems to be his favorite). I believe he may have tried taking it to a four-paw and full-weight investigation, which combined with the fact that one of the brackets was just in sheetrock using those plastic anchor thingies rather than secured to a wall stud, and hijinx ensued.

We got the immediate mess cleaned up, but I put off doing the full Aerogarden cleanout and testing until this morning. Bad news - three of the four bulbs either broke visibly or internally. Good news - the remaining bulb lit up in each of the four sockets.

What remains:

• Locate wall studs
• Reposition brackets
• Secure shelves to brackets (rather than just setting on top)
• Order new bulbs
• Order new seed kits
• Set up Aerogardens with new components

Any bets on how long this will take? For now, we just need to ignore the vacant area on the wall:

Geek Vest

We're on a multi-stop vacation, currently in Sedona, Arizona. We booked ourselves onto a sunset photography jeep tour for yesterday, anticipating sunny skies and warm weather. Instead we got 41 degrees, intermittent rain and high winds. This did mean that we were the only ones who actually showed for the tour, so we had our own private tour guide and could lean around all we wanted in the jeep. Fortunately, our guide secured one of the jeeps with heated seats and a full complement of blankets, so we did survive.

We did shop around a bit for extra layers, perhaps with water-repellant features, prior to the tour, and hidden in amongst the crystal shops, art galleries, jewelry stores and tourist tee shirt shops we found Sedona Outdoors, conveniently located across the street from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Julie procured a windbreaker and a very cool zip up jacket with windblock, water repellant and coolmax.

For me, I found the best geek vest ever - even better than my travel vest with a gadgillion pockets. It's a Columbia vest, with just the right amount of pockets in just the right varieties, and with very nice lines.

The angled zip pocket on the right side is perfect for my iPhone - secure, but very easy access. On the left is a patch pocket with velcro plus a vertical zip pocket underneath. Yesterday I had my Sony Cypershot in the patch, with an attached lanyard over my head (very bumpy jeep ride). Then I tucked the Flip HD into the vertical zip.

Each hand has an open pocket and separate vertical zip, plus there are two vertical mesh pockets on the inside of the vest. Coolmax, SPF and water resistant. Awesome all around!

Prometheus

When the previews started, I really wanted to see it.  Space! Alien! Ridley Scott! Charlize Theron! How could I go wrong?

Then the reviews started coming in. Basically, dreck. Huh.  Still kind of wanted to see it, but then again, kind of not.

Fast forward to Oscar nominations. Nominated for Visual Effects. Being an Academy Awards Geek (Oscar Night is my favorite holiday), this put it squarely into the "must see by February 24" category. I get caught in this jam every year with this category - it always has movies I love, and one or two like this one.  The other nominees this year are:

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Eagerly saw it at IMAX, mostly enjoyed it but not as much as I expected. Loved, loved, loved the effects while he was wearing the ring, however.
• Life of Pi - Haven't seen it, Julie doesn't want to see it. Will need to do a solo movie outing.
• Marvel's The Avengers - Couldn't wait to see it, saw it, loved it. Lots of cool effects, both tech and superhero related
• Snow White and the Huntsman - Really liked this one. Again, Charlize Theron. Plus Kristen Stewart. And Chris Hemsworth. Lots of nominee crossover in this category. Amazing effects with all of the magical goings-on. 

So, starting Prometheus while I await the start of the inauguration (another geek subject).  Updates later.

New Additions

We've been fur-free for a couple of years now, but we've now returned to the world of pet owners. Meet Ziggy Stardust and Starbuck, a pair of siblings that are coming to us from Maine. I'm up for the weekend, and I picked them up from their foster mommy. We'll be returning home tomorrow.


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Location:ME-175,Penobscot,United States