Sunday, December 28, 2008

my new toy...

a Bamboo Pad. bamboo coffee_3020_edited-1 Awesomely fun. A complete time waster, for sure.

Zach needed it for a project for his English class, but doesn't think he will have much use or time to use it, so it's mine. And Awesome. Last night I was ready to fall asleep at oh, 7 pm, but didn't actually go to bed until after 11 because Tess and I were messing around with it.

river


Because you can do stuff like this with it. The program I used is Corel Painter Essential 3. There are a ton of settings and brushes and stuff that I haven't even looked at yet....But I did discover that at the moment I cannot recreate the brush strokes that give the grass texture in the work above. Of course. Because I really like the texture of the grasses.

Some stupid texture or design or effect that I don't want to use, I will recreate endlessly and accidentally. But the perfect texture to suggest grass, lucky one-time accident.

You can even upload a photo and create watercolors and stuff outta them. The hardest part is finding time to do all this stuff. As usual.

Since it was rather pricey, it's gonna be my birthday present, I think. No IPod Touch this year. Good thing my old first generation Nano still works...

Instead I got this new fabulous item for Christmas. bamboo coffee_3012
It's really nice to have a reliable source of espresso again. My old red beast is adorable,bamboo coffee_3016_edited-1
but has become increasingly unsteady and unreliable. bamboo coffee_3011
Never a good thing when you rely on it for creamy goodness of the coffee variety. Old Red still made espresso, but the pump for the steamer seems to be kaput. Espresso without hot steamy milk is just wrong and a waste of caffeine.

Incidentally, that white box next to the source of all things espresso is my Happy Light.

Seems appropriate. My morning psuedo-sunlight and my source of happy caffeine, snuggled up together on the counter.

I turn it on in the morning and it blasts my retinas with the white hot light of a thousand fluorescent tubes. To make my brain think that I do not in fact live so far north that polar bears go "damn. The North Pole must be right around here somewhere."

Fortunately for my retinas, I have been waking up so late lately that the sun is already up, thus negating the need to sear said retinas with psuedo-sunlight. Or it's a day like today, when the sky was completely cloudless and bright sunshine shone down on us for all five and a half hours of daylight. That does mean it was zero degrees out. Step outside and your nose hairs freeze within 37 seconds, but it looks good from inside, especially if you are standing directly on the heater vent. Sunshine and cloudless skies and cold, or cloudy gray and slightly warmer. I go for the sunshine every time. We have lots of heater vents, and the Army pays our utilities.

9 comments:

  1. Hello --- I'm back. It looks and sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas. I know part of your favorite was all the kids at home. Love your new toy. That is an awesome picture you and Tess created.

    I'll get something posted in the next day or two. Tonight just dropping in on friends who think I've dropped off the edge of the earth.

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  2. I very much like your first new toy !! that would be something for me too !

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  3. So it's like a super high tech Etch-a-sketch? It looks fun! Where did you get your Happy Light? I might want to invest in one for myself...not a bad idea. I'd even wake up earlier in the morning for that shiz!

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  4. We have a light bar in our bathroom, over the mirror - which is three panels wide. So this 5 foot light bar has a whole bunch of bulbs in it (It's great for SWMBO's makeup) and in the morning, when I get up and there's no sun (4:30 am) I flip on the bathroom light and it's like W O W - It's AN ATOM BOMB!!! because right after that searing blast of light comes the friggin' HEAT WAVE off that string of hot bulbs. If it was any hotter- I wouldn't have to shave - I could just point my face at the bulbs and fry the hair off my face.

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  5. patsy -- I am glad you're back, and I will be looking for your next post!

    Gattina -- it is lots of fun!

    Cat -- exactly, except I don't turn my computer upside down to erase stuff. That would be much more fun.

    Lou -- I am laughing at the idea of you burning all the hair off your face with your light box...it would be unfortunate about the eyebrows, really. How do you look eyebrowless?

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  6. It's been very cold over here in Belgium too Julie!! I think I could do with a happy light too,( just not the kind Lou has in his bathroom though!) I hate those dark days of winter!! I'm always in need of sun and light!! I must have been a plant or something in a previous life!!

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  7. Anonymous2:12 AM

    You know that your red machine is identical to my black machine and that I'll die if it stops working, right? Well, maybe not now that I have my little stove top espresso makers and can deal with microwaved milk (shh, I can hear you cringing... it's not ideal, but it works). I had to laugh about all your happiness in one corner - light, coffee and the resulting joy in your heart. :)

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  8. Thanks for the enchilda idea Julie! It looks great!

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  9. The artwork is gorgeous!

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