Marith

A month and a half into the new job. Still entertaining if stressy. Paychecks are still omgthebestthingever and a relief each time they arrive; I'm not sure I'll ever feel secure and safe in a job again, not really.

Our new Genealogy Archives site is up and running. It's not a match for the best known genealogy site out there - yet - but we charge less than a quarter of what they do, and we're adding more data all the time. I have hopes. The other big project should be even more interesting, when I can talk about it.

Fun web toy: Tonematrix. I'm having fun putting in geometrical patterns and ASCII art and hearing what tunes they become. (A big X across the screen creates a surprisingly pretty rippling scale effect.)

If there is a list of them, someone put A Journey Round My Skull on it please? I was supposed to get things done tonight, and instead keep scrolling through early 20th century book covers from Japan and photochromes and and weird and wow. This blog could trap me for a long time. I will back away slowly now.

Or rather, shortly to be Dr. akycha! Congratulations!

Planetarium is an intriguing and awesome story-puzzle-game that's been available free on the web since 1999. I'm not terribly good at puzzles and have never tried more than the first chapter. But Jay Is Games reminded me that I've always meant to take a serious whack at it someday.

Would anybody else be interested in trying to work through Planetarium with me? You see, one of the peculiar things about this game is its timebound nature. Once you sign up, you get access to one additional chapter a week for twelve weeks. After that, you get a week where you can see the whole thing and all the solutions - for a week, and then your access expires. (You can start again at week one, of course).

The JIG folks seem to have had a lot of fun playing through as a group and sharing ideas. If doing something similar sounds like fun to you, comment here! If enough people are actually interested, we could set up an LJ community or list for the length of the game cycle.

Not dead! My new job is interesting and very busy. As the new hire I get the worst-placed cube - this is terrible for focus but a huge spur to productivity, so it kind of evens out. Nothing removes all temptation to slack like the entire company walking right behind you all day long.

I am also learning to be a train commuter, for the first time ever. Somehow I'd always thought of mass transit as being cheaper, but this isn't - it's more expensive than driving the distance would be, and a *lot* more expensive unless I get up extra early and walk to and from the station. Time to buy a backpack and sensible walking shoes. (Not sure what to say about the local rash of train accidents and suicides except augh.)

Happy birthday, dear scribblemoose! Hope it's been a wonderful one.

Happy happy mizkit Day and esmerel day!

Thank you to everyone for the well-wishes! I will be working at People Search Media, a company nobody has ever heard of but which sits on University Avenue in Palo Alto, which is kind of like the Wall Street for Internet startups. In fact it is right across from the train station. I will have to learn to be a sensible train commuter for the first time.

They apparently think I can not only walk on water but do a jazzy little tap-dance number on the wave crests. This is slightly intimidating. Must buy tap shoes.

The sheer relief of job-having is resulting in art! Amateurish art, but so what? Pictures soon.

*falls over from sheer relief*

May this be the Year of One Thousand Hugs! All hail space_parasite, who, like a fine wine, becomes more awesome with age :)

(via heavenscalyx, thanks!)



WARNING VIDEO DANGEROUS STOP SHEER FORCE OF AWESOME BLEW HOLE IN TIME STOP FORTUNATELY PUB CROWD YORKSHIRE 1935 AMUSED STOP TRISTAN FARNON NOW PLANNING QUOTE FILM MASTERPIECE UNQUOTE STRAPPING FLASHLIGHTS TO SHEEP TRICKY STOP PLEASE SEND RECH LAPTOP BATTERIES VERY VERY VERY WARM COAT STOP

Happy happy rainjoyous Day!

Many happy returns, hon, and may twenty-four be an excellent and splendiferous year for you.

Still under rock.

Have some very pretty pictures of waves, though. (thanks to truepenny for the link)

Okay, this video has been on cute overload since 2/20. I'm quite surprised it only reached my flist today. (thanks, akycha!)

Watch it on fullscreen. Really, do.

Everyone's going to be posting this link, but it's just that awesome :) (via rmd)

People like Earl W. Stafford are the best answer to all the doom and despair about the economy. If we keep on like this, the country will get better.

*beam*

(At the same time, I'm quietly praying there isn't an attack or an assassination attempt this week. But it's right and fitting to concentrate on the joy and hope tonight, not fear, and I'm grateful the media is doing just that.)

Please re-issue this book posthaste so that I may purchase it. In these modern times of uncertain mores, it is sure to be a bestseller all over again. In fact nearly everyone I know would adore to have a copy.

(Thanks to lnhammer for the link.)

Latest Flash game to be charmed by: Kutuke, a very pretty remember-the-symbols short time challenge. The art style reminds me of kimonos (yes I know there's a proper name for it, but er remind me again?) gone just a bit more peculiar. There's no "game over" point, so you can slow down and look at them when you're not challenging your own record.

The sequence of symbols and how they're dependent on each other stays mostly (but not entirely) the same for all 20 levels in a game. Then they get reshuffled. I think that's rather clever - you start remembering patterns and gain speed within a game, but you have to hold them in very short-term memory or be handicapped next game. There's bonuses you can buy that turn back the clock or helpfully explode some of the symbols (very useful in the last couple of rounds).

My record is 320 235! seconds to complete 20 levels, so far. There's no high score list - if you get faster, let me know. :) ETA: Not every symbol gets used in every level every time. Also, there is a penalty for clicking on a symbol that's not free yet. Bah.

How cold does it have to be before soap bubbles freeze? And how leet of a photographer do you have to be to capture the process? I dunno, but the results are beautiful.

Most of the ridiculously extravagant present from the folks is getting sensibly banked, but I just spent some of it on my present to myself: hot tub followed by deep tissue massage at Watercourse Way.

Their tubs are expensive, but so luxurious. I got the room that's like a Moorish palace, with the beautiful tiling and the dome and skylights and the sauna and cold plunge just there in case you want them. It was so lovely to be warm. And while I already know a very good massage therapist, the wonderful Deborah Braxton, I'd never gotten to try deep tissue work after a hot tub to soften things up first. Definitely a nice combination.

( massage philosophies differ )

Oh well! Still a nice experience. Happy NYE, everyone, hope your day is at least as good and contains a long hot soak if you want one.