Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of Oct 2005. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Mon, Oct 24, 2005 (1:15pm) After this, the Birds and the Bees should be easy... Kalen is a reader. She reads everything. Labels on cans, newspaper headlines, road signs, the French side of cereal boxes... all must be sounded out and puzzled through to the best of her abiity. I am so very proud of her. So it gave me pause when I heard her sounding out the following, at lunch the other day: D... Duck.. um, Duct tape. It's not just from - no, for - not just for the... bedrome. No, bedroom. Um... anymoor. Anymore. Mom! What does that mean: Duct Tape: it's not just for the bedroom anymore?I looked down at my shirt. Sure enough, I was wearing that notorious piece of apparel. "Well, sweetheart... Sometimes, when a Mommy and a Daddy love eachother very much..." Kalen rolls her eyes, because that phrase usually signifies that Mommy and Daddy are going to start kissing eachother again. "I don't want to know about the kissing, Mommy. I want to know about the Duct Tape!" So I explained about duct tape: how it's used for taping up metal ducts, where various air registers and heating ducts around the house need to connect, and how duct tape is strong, flexible, and heat resistant. Then I explained the myriad other uses for duct tape, and that it is, in fact, one of the most versatile substances in the known universe. I was just about to start into a lecture on the legendary St. Tenacious (the Patron Saint of SCA fighters, to whom we make our petitions for successful armour repair) when Kalen cut me off. "Yes, Mommy - but what about the bedroom? It says it's not just for the bedroom anymore, so what do you use it for in the bedroom???" I took a deep breath. "Sweetie, are you sure you want to know? There's kissing involved." But she insisted. So I explained as best as I could. "Okay. Sometimes when Mommies and Daddies love eachother very much, they like to play pretend..." "Because they're Gamers, right Mom? They do Roleplaying!" "Yes, that's exactly it. Sometimes they pretend games where they're being someone else. And sometimes -" "Sometimes they pretend they're DUCKS!" Kalen cuts in, jubilantly. "And then they need the Duck Tape!" I see an out, and I take it. "Ducks. Exactly. Sometimes they pretend they're ducks. And then, they need to use the duck tape to keep the ducks from escaping. So, if you ever see grown ups playing with duct tape in the bedroom, don't worry: They're just protecting the world from stray waterfowl." Kalen nods, sagely, having figured out one of the great mysteries of the universe. And for the rest of the day, I had to put up with her jumping out of her bedroom and shouting, "QUACK!" at me. |
| Tues, Oct 18, 2005 (11:50pm) Cool New Door Don't ya hate it when your computer crashes in the middle of something? It's frustrating, it's time consuming, and happens to pretty much everybody. You bitch and complain, and then reboot and see what data is recoverable. You move on. But when the computer crashes 10 times in an hour, it can really get on your nerves. Especially when the cause of frequent crashing is a toddler hitting the 'reset' button on your computer. You can replace a computer if it keeps misbehaving. But kids? Not so easy. Our solution to this problem has been to shut the cupboard door on the computer desk, sealing the PC tower into a little childproof cell, and locking it. Works great, for a while. And then the computer crashes. Again. Not surprising when you open the cupboard door and realize it's gotten so hot in there that you could cook eggs on the PC's case. Really. Shades and I decided that we needed a screen door for the computer desk - something that would let air circulate, but keep little fingers out. I brought this design challenge to my friendly neighbourhood Walrus, and this is his solution: A door with fans built into it. He custom designed a door with 2 holes cut into the bottom, and mounted a pair of 80mm vent fans on the back (inside) of the door. They're custom mod fans and glow with blue LED's when they're turned on. He spliced the power cords, and fixed it so a push button just inside the door turns them on & off. He took the locking mechanism off our old door, and transfered it over to the new one, so it locks the wee beasties out just as before. But it's cooooool in the computer cupboard now. Glowing blue, and cool inside. No more PC scrambled eggs for me! But I think I may have to play Sims for a few hours straight as an endurance test, just to make sure.... |
| Thurs, Oct 13, 2005 (4:55pm) Kalen and I made Pirate Cookies today. They looked a lot like chocolate chips cookies, but we made them while talking in Pirate voices. "Arrrr, Matey! Gimme that thar flour!" "Aye, Captain Mommy! Oh, no - Jasen, um, matey - the wee baby jus' dropped an egg Captain Mommy! Make him walk the plank!!!" "Nae, the plank's too good for the likes of him. We'll, uh... we'll make play in the livingroom with the ferocious Connor-sharks!" "Aye, Aye, Captain!" "Now - Kalen, me matey, ye'll have to be swabbin' the deck. Here's the cloth. Go down below under yon chair an' clean up the mess the wee babe made." "Aye, aye!" And she swabbed the deck. Just like that. We need more pirate discipline in this house, me thinks. |
| Tues, Oct 11, 2005 (9:40am) (This weblog entry is certified 100% kid-free!) Yesterday, I played with The Sims2 Body Shop. It's a custom content editor which lets you build your own clothes/hairstyles/bodyparts for the Sims2 video game. Since I was kinda new to it, I followed the tutorial. Two and a half frustrating hours later, I had created apair of custom eyes, in a pretty 'aqua' shade. 
The tutorial is actually pretty simple to follow, right up to the part where it says "Now export this file to your favorite graphics editor and change the color". My graphics editor (Photoshop) is on my Mac. But Sims2 plays on the PC. Although these computers sit right next to eachother, and are networked through our house ethernet system, the two refused to speak to eachother. I had to recruit Shades to help me with file-sharing, fixing properties, setting permissions, and all kinds of stuff. But it still wouldn't work. Eventually, we just dropped them (through the house network) onto his computer downstairs, and he emailed them to my Mac. The actual editting, once the right files were on my Mac, took less than 15 minutes. Then I dropped the files back onto the PC's desktop - through the house network, which caused no problems going from Mac to PC - and I was able to put the custom eyes onto my model Sim. Eyes! I made eyes!!! "I made your eyes!" I shouted jubilantly to the model now smiling at me from the monitor. "You Nexus 6!" Shades added, on cue "I made your eyes!" So now I'm off to create a Roy Batty Sim. Just 'cuz. - - - BTW - did you know that the Sims2 Nightlife has a clothing store in it called "Cold Issue Clothing"? I've been playing this game for a month now, and only just recognized it as a play on "Hot Topic". I feel somewhat excused for this lapse, however, since most Canadians have never even heard of this American gothic clothing chain. But now you have. |
| Tues, Oct 4, 2005 (8:55am. Comment added 11:55am, Wed, Oct 5 '05) Serenity was shiny. I'd blather on about it, but lots of people have already done that. So, instead, I will regale you with another tale of Sci-Fi proportions... Kalen: Mommy, are you playing the Spaceship game on your computer? Raven: Spaceward Ho! Yes, and I'm almost done destroying the enemy's holdings on this spiral arm. Just a couple more planets to go. Kalen: Ooooh! You got him!!! You killed his little ship, and his planet! Raven: That big round thing I shot down wasn't his planet, Kale. That was his MotherShip. It carries colonists, and it's what he uses to take over planets. But I have obliterated him and thwarted his evil plans for galactic conquest. Kalen, confused: You killed his Mothership? But.... what about when his Fathership comes? - - - Mike (jabberwolky) has this comment: |
