The Geek Lab

Amigurumi Love

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:12:26 -0600

I have yet another new obsession (and I have many): amigurumi. Amigurumi is the Japanese word for crocheting in a circular form, which usually results in some sort of doll. I've actually known about it for awhile and have always wanted to learn how to do it, but it was once again one of those things that got put on the back burner. I finally got the urge to learn it while browsing on Etsy the other day, and finding all sorts of cute little dolls that I wanted to make myself.

So I got on YouTube and Google and found lots of video tutorials on crocheting. I find it very difficult to learn that sort of thing from books (origami, crochet, etc), so the video tutorials were wonderful. I've learned all the basic stitches, and made my first basic crochet ball. ^__^ I bought a few spools of yarn at the craft store, as well as another size hook to learn with. Right now I'm slowly working on my first amigurumi, Gumball. I messed up his head last night (decreasing is confusing) so I'm going to give it another try tonight. I'm having lots of fun with this... I just wish I had my own craft room to do it in, hehe. It gets pretty messy doing it all on my bed/computer desk.

And just because I'm lazy and can't think of anything else to write about... my To Do list for the rest of the week:

Vacuum
Dust
Clean out fridge
Mop/sweep kitchen
Laundry
Upload photos to Flickr
Put shelf in garage together

Speaking of getting things done... I took next Wednesday off work so that I could fit all my appointments in one day and wouldn't have to miss more work later. My schedule so far:

6am - Take Matt to airport
8am - Get passport photo/get passport
9am - Bank, apply for small loan
10am - Emissions test
11am - Get car title in my name
12pm - Dentist
2pm - Doctor
3pm - Have car looked at (AC issue)

Ugh, it's going to be a busy day, but at least it will be a 3-day weekend!

The reason I'm applying for a small loan has no reason whatsoever to do with money, but with building my credit. After talking with Matt, he gave me the idea to take out a small loan and then pay it back right away, so that it will increase my credit score. Right now my credit is fine -- I just don't have very much of it, which will probably end up biting me in the butt in the future when/if I try to buy a new car or house. So hopefully this will help increase it a tiny bit. ^__^

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Weekend in Vegas

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 09:51:43 -0600

Bellagio Fountains

Finally, a blog about my trip to Vegas, a week later. It was the first trip I've taken with either Matt or Steve, outside of Texas, and it was a lot of fun. Even though I hate hot places and the partying lifestyle, I still managed to have a really good time.

Margaritaville

We left on Friday night around 8pm, and arrived in Vegas at 9pm. After catching a shuttle to our hotel (we stayed at the Mirage), we changed clothes, then headed out onto the strip. I was actually amazed at how busy it was, for 11pm at night. People were crowding each other in the streets, and I actually had to hold Matt's hand, as not to get lost. We walked down to the Bellagio and watched one of the fountain shows (my favorite part about going to Vegas), and then went to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant for some dinner. I loved this restaurant... I'm not one for fancy or upscale places. I much prefer a sports bar or something of the sort. This place was perfect... themed, dark, a live band, and funky decorations. We sat in the back and ordered some drinks (pina colada for me!), along with some nachos and key lime pie. The nachos were excellent, but the pie was way too tart for my taste. We hung out there for awhile, until remembering that we were allowed to bring our drinks on the street with us and didn't have to wait to finish them. We walked back to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep.

Caesar's Palace

On Saturday morning we went to the Denny's across the street for some breakfast, and then walked up and down the strip. We checked out Caesar's Palace and the forum shops (my favorite part). There was an FAO Schwartz inside which sold Ugly Dolls... I've always wanted one, so I ended up getting one, hehe. I took pictures left and right of almost everything in that hotel/mall. The amount of extravagance is just unbelievable.

After checking out Caesar's we went to the Bellagio, and then further down the strip to M&M World. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it was fun nonetheless. We got to see a 10 minute 3D movie, and the theater was nice and cool, which was a huge contrast to the 105 degree weather outside. We checked out a few other hotels/malls on the way back to our hotel, and stopped by Cheeseburger Paradise for some drinks. I had gone there when I was in Hawaii with Kelsey, and they had the best smoothies. I tried a mango one this time (only because the bartender said the pineapple ones weren't very good, boo), which was also excellent.

M&M World

We showered and took a short nap after we got back to our hotel, and then got ready for dinner. We ate at an upscale (and pricey) restaurant in our hotel called Stack. The atmosphere was really cool... it looked like we were inside of a cave. The prices on the menu were outrageous, but it's not like we really treat ourselves that often, so we ate there anyways. I had a really yummy pasta while Matt and Steve and some steak... all of it was excellent. You can definitely tell the difference between cheap steak and expensive steak.

After dinner we took a cab to the Henderson Pavilion for the Video Games Live concert. Our cabbie didn't know where the place was, and almost got into a wreck on the way there. Las Vegas drives are scary... our shuttle driver and our cab driver were both very aggressive. O.o We finally got there and found our seats (which were good!). The show started at 8pm, and was better than I thought it would be! Basically, it was an orchestra and a choir who performed music from various video games. The first song was a mixture of lots of old school games... Pac Man, Space Invaders, etc. Each song after that was dedicated entirely to just one game... Metal Gear Solid, Mario Brothers, Final Fantasy, Civilization, Command and Conquer, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc. Each song also had video from the games to accompany the music, and you could tell when the crowd really liked a game or part of a game, because everyone started screaming and yelling. :D There was also a guy there who performed music from Final Fantasy on the piano, who became famous on YouTube for it. He didn't have any music in front of him, which meant he knew all the songs by heart, and he played them FAST. My eyes could hardly keep up with his hand movements. He was amazing! Too bad I don't remember his name, boo.

Video Games Live

After the concert we went back to the hotel and grabbed some desert at the diner. Mine ended up being HUGE... there was no way I could have eaten the whole thing by myself, even on an empty stomach. I was really tired by this point, so instead of going out, we all ended up going to bed. What can I say, I'm not a night person.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast at the buffet in our hotel, then packed and checked out. While we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to the airport, Steve took me to a Roulette table where I gambled for my first time. It was a pretty simple game, and at one point I was up $30, but in the end I lost $20. That will teach you not to gamble, haha. Overall, it was a really fun trip, and I can't wait to go again. :D

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Getting New Eyes

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:47:46 -0600

Yesterday after work I went to the eye doctor for the first time in over a year. I made an appointment because my eyes have been hurting the last few weeks, probably because I spend all day on the computer and lots of evenings reading. I've especially been reading a lot in the last few weeks, which may or may not be why my eyes have been hurting (although it sounds too coincidental). Anyways, I really liked my new eye doctor. She gave me a new kind of contact lens which is thinner than my old kind (to allow more oxygen in) and will hopefully take a little bit of the glare off things, which I told her I've been noticing. I have to come back in 2 weeks to see if these contacts are working out for me, and if they are, I will get a new prescription, and hopefully some new glasses as well. Then I can go back to reading. :D

Friday I take off for Vegas with Matt and Steve. I'm really looking forward to it, not because of gambling or drinking, as I'm not really a fan of either, but because of all the fun attractions. The two things I'd really like to do while I'm there is go to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, and M&M World. Plus checking out some of the other hotels I didn't get to see the first time will be fun. :D

I finished The Other Boleyn Girl on Monday night, just in time for the movie which was released yesterday. I watched it after I got home from the eye doctor, and although it was quite different from the book (aren't they always?), it was not bad. I think next I shall read the Chronicles of Narnia series that Steve let me borrow.

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School Thoughts

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:17:09 -0600

My little brother graduates from high school tonight. Technically, he's been doing for a semester, but he's walking tonight with the rest of his peers. It's so hard to believe that it's already been 5 years since I was in his place. It's amazing how much I have grown and learned since then. If I had to do high school over again, it would be so much easier, knowing what I know now (and not in intellectual sense).

He's already told both my parents that he doesn't plan on going to school in the fall (or ever, from what I can tell). I know you can be successful without college, but it's a lot harder, and you have to have the motivation and drive to go with it. He doesn't have either of those, so it has me a little worried. Maybe he'll change his mind in a year or two when he decides Home Depot isn't the career he had in mind.

Speaking of school... I've been toying with the idea of graduate school. Now that I've had a semester off to relax my brain, I'm starting to miss it. And with Kelsey going off to grad school in Seattle (yay Kelsey!), it's really got me thinking about it. I do plan on taking the GRE sometime in the next year -- I want to take the test fairly soon while all the math stuff is still somewhat fresh in my mind. Even if I don't decide to go, at least I'll have the scores for when/if I decide to go when I'm older. If I do go in the near future, it wouldn't be until Fall 2009, so I still have some time to think about it.

However, if I do decide to go, the first question is where? Somewhere out of state, I know that much. And I'd only be able to go if I received scholarships or funding, because I really don't want to have any student loans on my back when I'm done. I know next to nothing about receiving money for school (fellowships, research, TAs, what?), so I have some research to do. All the money would have to be merit based (I'm a straight, white girl, so that rules out more than half the scholarships available).

The second question would be what? While there are things that would be more fun for me to study (Korean language, English lit, graphic design), it'd most likely be something more specialized in the computer field. Definitely NOT Computer Science again, but perhaps Computer Information Systems, with a concentration in web or database management.

Hmmm... lots of questions to think about in the next year or so. We shall see!

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Books, Books, & More Books

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:48:13 -0600

Aside from my very busy social life in the month of May, I also managed to catch up on my reading - A LOT. I became addicted to the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, and managed to polish off all 3 books in just 3 days. The first book is being made into a movie, which is being released on my birthday, so I guess I already know what I'll be doing, hehe. Her 4th and final novel in the Twilight series is being released in August -- can't wait!

Since I'm too lazy to do 6 book review posts, I'll just list them out and rate them out of 5 stars (1 - low, 5 - high):

Bringing Down the House: 3 stars
Geisha, a Life: 4 stars
Twilight: 5 stars
New Moon: 4 stars
Eclipse: 5 stars
Animal Farm: 3 stars

I'm a cheater, I know. I will try to do a regular book review post on the book I'm currently reading, The Host, which is Stephenie Meyer's latest novel (unrelated to Twilight).

With all the reading I've been doing, I managed to strain my eyes. After staying up until 3am reading night after night for about a week straight, my eyes started hurting. At first I thought it was just a bad headache, but it wasn't my head at all, just my eyes. I laid off the reading for a few days and they felt fine, but after starting again yesterday they're back to feeling odd. I made an eye appointment for next week so hopefully they can figure out what's wrong. Maybe I need a new contact lens prescription?

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The Month of May

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:39:17 -0600

May was an extremely busy and social month for me, hence the lack of updates. Instead of trying to go back over things in detail, here is my list of updates (I'm such a slacker):

Friday, May 16th
Rockies Game vs Minnesota Twins
Bars with Kristy, Matt, Steve, Justin, Brian

Saturday, May 17th
Dinner with Matt, Steve at On the Border
Movie - Chronicles of Narnia

Monday, May 19th
Stephenie Meyer book signing

Thursday, May 22nd
Huge tornado 10 miles north of work
Lunch with Steve, tornado safety at Target
Got to leave work early, woot!

Friday, May 23rd
Took the day off work
Lunch with Matt at Wahoo's
Dinner with Matt and Steve at Red Robin
Movie - Indiana Jones

Saturday, May 24th
Haircut
Lunch with Matt and Steve at Famous Dave's

Sunday, May 25th
Housewarming party at Matt's coworker's house

Monday, May 26th
Kristy's birthday!
Dinner with Matt at Zo (new sushi place)
Met up with Kelsey at her hotel and had Krispy Kremes

Friday, May 30th
Dinner with coworkers at Biaggi's
Movie - Sex and the City

Saturday, May 31st
Steve's birthday!
Celebrated Kristy's birthday at bars in downtown Denver

June should be a bit slower in terms of my social activities. Next weekend Matt, Steve, and I are planning on going hiking up in Estes Park (if weather permits), and then the weekend after we're all heading to Vegas, baby! It should be a fun trip, I'm really excited! We finally booked our hotel last week -- we're staying at the Mirage. It looked really cool from the website, plus it's right in the middle of the strip so we should be able to walk to most of the places we plan on going.

I shall try to update my poor Vox more often. It's so neglected. -__-;;

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QotD: Pet Names

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:34:38 -0600

What are the goofy nicknames you have for your pet? Bonus points for sharing a picture of him/her.
Submitted by Papi Chulo.

Rudy has lots of nicknames... Rudy Roo, Ruders, Rudy Tuesday, Rudysaurus Rex, Rudopolous, Rudebager, Rucifer, Rudolph, and Stinker.

What's That?

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Reading and Learning... I Thought I Was Out Of School?

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:41:47 -0600

Life has been so busy lately, or so it seems. It really hasn't been that busy, but I've been keeping myself busy between movies, books, and video games, haha. It's been really nice letting go and allowing myself to have some fun and relaxation without worrying about what doesn't get done (although the house must still be clean at all times, it drives me nuts if it's messy or dirty).

Last week was dedicated to catching up on movies and such, and this week I have been getting caught up with my reading. I finished Bringing Down the House on Sunday, started Geisha, A Life and finished on Wednesday, and then started and got halfway through Twilight last night. I have a feeling that it will be finished by Saturday night. That's nearly 3 books in one week, which certainly helps make up for my slacker ways the first few weeks of May. ^^

I've also been spending a lot of time lately studying Korean. When I was cleaning through the boxes in my garage a few months ago, I found all my old books and notebooks that I used to study. It brought back a lot of memories and made me realize how much I had learned, but forgotten. I also dug out all my Korean music CDs and have been listening to those lately. The language is coming back a lot faster than I thought it would, and I'm also learning a lot more that I didn't learn before -- I suppose my memorization and comprehension skills have drastically improved since I was in 8th grade, because I feel like learning is coming a lot easier this time. It's also amazing how many more web resources there are for learning... I remember when I began learning (almost 10 years ago, *gasp*) there were hardly any websites out there dedicated to learning the Korean language, and the ones I did find were mostly concerned with learning to read/write in Hangul (the Korean writing system) and just some basic conversational words. The sites I'm able to find now are so much more in depth, and I'm really glad I've been able to find more resources for learning -- it makes it so much easier.

Tonight I am going to the Rockies game (baseball) with the old roommates (Matt, Steve, Brian, Justin), and Kristy is coming too! I think I'm more excited about seeing everyone again than I am about the actual game (actually, I know I am). It should be a really fun night. :D Tomorrow I am going to my sister's place to help set up her wireless, and then we're going to lunch. I think later in the day Matt, Steve, and I might go see Chronicles of Narnia. Hopefully Kristy can come, since her and I went to go see the first one together. We both loved it, and I've heard the new one is already getting great reviews. We'll see! I just need to read the books now, hehe.

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Yoshi's Island

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:36:31 -0600

Yesterday I was too lazy to go to the gym during lunch, so I went shopping instead. :D I was initially searching for a bag I saw at New York & Company a week or so ago, but they didn't have the one I wanted at this particular store. Since my hunt was soon over, I went into the GameStop next door and browsed their used DS games. They didn't have anything I wanted, but then I saw the Yoshi's Island game and couldn't resist. I absolutely LOVED that game on the NES when I was younger, and have been wanting it for awhile, so I went ahead and got it. I only got to play a few levels last night, but so far I love it. I can already tell I'm going to be obsessed with making sure I get all the coins/flowers/hidden things in each level, haha.

Friday night Matt, Steve, our old roommates, and I are going to the Rockies game. I haven't been to a game since I was probably 10 or 11, so it should be fun! I don't really care that much about baseball, but hanging out with them all again is going to be really fun. I hope I remember to bring my camera this time, because it seems like I've been forgetting it at all the wrong times. Oops!

We also purchased our Vegas tickets for next month. We're going for the Video Games Live concert, but also to have some fun. ;) I can't wait to check out some of the other hotels I didn't get to see on my first trip, as well as go to the wax museum and the M&M factory. It's going to be a blast!

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Mother's Day Weekend

nobody@vox.com(Jen) — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:03:23 -0600

Mother's Day Cake

A quick recap of last weekend...

On Friday I got off work at noon because we were so slow, so I went and picked up some Spicy Pickle and met Matt for lunch. We sat outside and ate since it was so nice out, and then after taking him back to work, I ran a few errands. We stayed in that night and watched No Country for Old Men while eating some pizza I picked up. It was a relaxing (and yummy) night.

Saturday I woke up early and did some cleaning and baked a cake for my mom for Mother's Day. Around 11 Matt and I decided to go to the mall, just to get out of the house for a bit. I didn't find anything I needed, so we headed over to Gordon Biersch and shared some garlic fries. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading, napping, and watching movies on TV. I finally finished Bringing Down the House (will do a review soon) and caught up on all my Netflix movies.

Sunday morning I woke up early yet again (Rudy doesn't like it when I sleep in) and finished the cake for my mom. It took awhile to work on all the flowers and frost the different layers, but the end result was worth it. I made her a french vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting, and it was delicious! I wish I had some now... While I was working on the cake, Matt and his dad went to Lowes and bought some planters, soil, and veggies for outside. We only have tomatoes and jalepeno peppers, but it's fun having something to grow. It makes our back porch look so much nicer! I'm glad Matt is in charge of them, though, because I cannot raise plants for the life of me. I've tried several times to grow orchid plants (my favorite flower) but I always end up killing them. :( So sad.

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