New Thing #51: Why Won't You Print!???

At work, I am responsible for creating a lot of the visual design work for the Christian Principles team. For the upcoming fundraising banquet, I designed something with Adobe InDesign. It was pretty challenging for me because I've never worked with the Adobe design platforms before but it was super fun. I'm glad that the program is going to be part of my repertoire after a few more months of experimenting with its different capabilities.

New Thing #50: Ink Blot

I took the Rorschach Test. This is the test using inkblots on paper and the person taking the test tells the examiner what each blot looks like. There are 10 blots (some in black & white and some in color) and my own personal reactions to each picture. Feel free to comment with your own answers.

It looks like a star-shaped guitar.

It looks like two women with their pony-tails hanging straight up and down, reclining against something (away from each other) and looking at each other in the face.
It looks like two red lizards crawling up an upside-down butterfly and a man with a green head and blue tunic and they are going to meet at the top. Will they have to fight to stay on top?
It looks like a crab rearing up with it's red and yellow claws. The crab looks like it's going to crash down.
It looks like two red sea horses smoking blue pipes under the Eiffel Tower with blue and yellow splotches of color around them.

It looks like a big, smooshed bug with a stinger at the end at small pinchers at the top .

It looks like two people facing each other with red shawls over their faces and unfortunately, they are both bleeding from the knees. Ewww.
It looks like two women fighting over a basket with a red butterfly between them and a red rabbit behind each of them.
It looks like a scary face with drooping ears at the top and eye holes in the center: like a bear skull that's placed on a table facing me. It reminds me of some of the movie masks that people wore in "primal" movies dealing with rituals.

It looks like a butterfly caught on an updraft and soaring upwards.

New Thing #49: Ole Friend

Completely out of the blue, I called a friend who lived a few houses down from me and who I've known since middle school. She had sent me a text message for my birthday and I just now decided it would be awesome to talk to her again. Her name is Catherine and she told me she's now living in Vancouver. I invited her over for dinner and I cooked fajitas and she brought over a 6-pack of Rolling Rock. We had a delightful time catching up over the past couple of years. Last time we really hung out was like 3-4 years ago! I think we will be hanging out from time-to-time since we've always gotten along so well together.

New Thing #48: Butch Cassidy

I honored the late Paul Newman. He was a generous philanthropist and awesome actor! I went and bought a bottle of his salad dressing and now I'm going to be more interested in buying his products because they are going to continue "Newman's Own" which gives all it's proceeds (following taxes) to charity. It has earned $200 million dollars already! The non-profit's mission statement is: "Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good." Plus, they taste really good and he uses healthy ingredients. Screw Hidden Valley!

New Thing #47: Prime-time Debate

What with the scary $700 billion government bail-out, I wanted to see what the presidential candidates said about the financial crisis. So, I tuned in for the entire presidential debate at Ole Miss. 30 minutes were devoted to the financial crisis, 30 minutes were on foreign policy ( which is what the debate was supposed to be on but no one really cares because what's going on in our own country right now). My mom and I talked about it for hours that day and we watched Anderson Cooper's round-table analysis following the debate.

New Thing #46: Dinner and a Movie

I have always wanted to throw a "Location-themed" dinner party. For instance, someone could make enchiladas and we could sit down and watch a movie like "Y Tu Mama Tambien." Today, I threw an England-inspired dinner party. I served corned beef and cabbage to my friend Vanessa and we watched the movie "Miss Potter" about the author Beatrix Potter. It was a delightful evening!

New Thing #45: Customer Complaint

After struggling for an hour with a product I got for a Christmas present, I took it back to the store and got a new one. Then I took THAT product home and that one was also faulty. So, I took that one back and got in-store credit. I then went home and I was so dissatisfied about how a product worked, that I wrote a formal complaint to the manufacturer.

"I was very disappointed with the "Quilting Basting Gun." I recieved it as a present for Christmas this year and it has taken me this long to get my quilt done. I took out the gun, loaded it and tried to baste my quilt together. On the very first try, it broke and a piece of red plastic fell out of the top when I shook it. I followed the instructions exactly--especially STEP 3, which was emphasized in the instructions. I took it to JoAnn's Fabrics and they swapped it for a new model. I thought the one I had was defective model but sure enough, when I brought the new Basting Gun home, it also continued to misfire and got jammed CONSTANTLY. I was incredibly dissatisfied with this product. I will never be buying anything from DRITZ that is sold at JoAnn's and I am going to look at your products to make sure that I never buy any of your junk again. On another note, I think the product is crappy because you made it with cheap, Chinese materials and now charge Americans $25.95 for a piece of junk that probably cost you about $5.00. You are terrible business people to ship your work overseas and I hope you go bankrupt."

9/29/08 Note: The company wrote me a nice e-mail back apologizing and asking if there was anything else they could do to make my experience better. Because I already returned the product, it's not like they needed to do anything but I was glad that they wrote back.

New Thing #44: Hansel & Gretel

I know this is a bit obscure, but I thought it would be cute. I left a bread crumb trail like Hansel & Gretel. For those of you who aren't an expert on the Brothers Grimm, let me remind you that this was what Hansel and Gretel used to try and find their way back home after their father took them away the second time. (The first time they used little white polished stones) This time, the little critters ate the crumbs and the children were lost, leading themselves to the witch's gingerbread house. Now, I didn't get more than 100 feet before I ran out of the remnants of my bread bag. Too bad!

New Thing #43: Exploring 23rd

I took a walk down all of 23rd Ave. in downtown Portland. It's this really nice street with all these trendy shops. I got off at the Streetcar stop at 23rd and Northrup and walked clear down to the Goosehollow MAX stop. It was a really nice way to celebrate the first day of fall.

New Thing #42: Malaria No More

Malaria No More is a non-profit organization with a mission to provide enough malaria nets treated with anti-mosquito repellent in African communities that have a high concentration of the disease. Each net is $10 for the organization and that includes the cost of the net plus teaching the locals how to use it and how to get the nets to the families. Each net is large enough to cover a whole family sleeping. I donated malaria nets in memory of my best friend who died in September of 2006. I was so happy to do this wonderful gesture in her memory. I want to also convey the importance that malaria nets are ONLY effective if EVERYONE in the village has one-- if not, the mosquitoes will just bite other people in the village that don't have one. Therefore, it's important for each village to understand the importance of the nets and to use them wisely.

New Thing #41:Book Sale

Today I made a special trip downtown to shop at the Portland Art Museum's annual art book sale. I found some fantastic books there. The Christy's auction catalogs were only $1--they are perfect for clipart for my scrapbooks. I also got a nice National Geographic photography collection and an Impressionist era collection. It was a steal of a deal! My friend Cassandra, who met me there, was also able to find several books/catalogs that she wanted. I didn't spend much at all and everything was super duper reduced in price. It was a little overwhelming at first--it was like the Filene's Basement of wedding dress sales for art enthusiasts.

New Thing #40: Letter of Tea Memories

I was feeling a little... nostalgic... today. My friends Heather, Cat and I used to go to bible study once a week in college and we would use it as a time to drink tea, do a bible study from our book of important biblical women and talk about prayer requests and what was going on in our lives. It ended up being a very soothing and comforting hour each week for me. A little rejuvenation time and a time that no matter what was happening between us, we put our differences aside and focused on each other. I heard that our bible study's husband's father had passed away recently and I felt bad about that so I wrote a long letter to an estranged person from my college days. I updated her on what was going on in my life and to say I was sorry about her loss. It was nice to reach out to her and I hope she will appreciate the gesture. I asked her to write back if she has time because I am interested to hear how she has been with her family and how life is treating her. She is such a kind lady and I feel kinda guilty about not having contacted her before but I really think now I have something to say. And better late then never...

New Thing #39: White Crane

Since I normally work at the Y on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I thought I couldn't try any of the Tai Chi classes. But today, since my schedule was switched around, I went to my first ever Tai Chi class. I've always been interested in Tai Chi--partly because I'm a Star Trek: The Next Generation nerd and Lt. Worf is always doing the Klingon form of Tai Chi and I always think it looks so cool--but I was finally glad I got to try it for myself. It requires a ton of concentration, balance and muscle control (or relaxation as was my problem because I was all "dance-tricked-out"). The instructor was very good and he was teaching the Yang-Style Tai Chi in 37 Postures. I think we made it about half-way through all the moves. I hope I can do it again because I really enjoyed myself a whole lot! Now I am drinking green tea and trying to feel zen-like.

New Thing #38: Y-M-C-A

I activated my free membership at the YMCA! Since I'm a staff member, I get a free membership for me and a family member for as long as I am employed there. I'm so excited. I'm going to start working out ASAP!

New Thing #37: Drink a la Powder

That's really all that can be said about Slim Fast, the famous diet drink producer. The last time I drank Slim Fast was when I had my wisdom teeth taken out and found out I was allergic to codeine. Guess what I was drinking/eating when I decided codeine made me sick to my stomach? Yeapers--strawberry-flavored Slim Fast. I have trouble stomaching strawberry milkshakes now. But today I made and ENJOYED a powdered weight loss version of the chocolate milkshake. I need to try some new ways to cut down on snacking and I REFUSE to take diet pills. I thought there is NO WAY I can do strawberry again, but how bad can a chocolate drink be? The answer is "not that bad" but I probably will get sick of the shake before I'm finished with my gallon of nonfat milk. Step Two: Start an exercise regiment!

New Thing #36: Get Dry!

I used dry shampoo. It was a sample size of the Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo Bar. I just lathered it in my hands and slicked it over my head. It worked pretty good but I had to pair it with conditioner so I could get a comb through my hair tonight. It smelled pretty good but it was a very unattractive brown color. Very nice to know that these shampoo bars are a decent alternative if I don't feel like dealing with liquid hair products. For instance, on airplanes I don't need to try and fit shampoo in that disturbingly small Ziploc bag.

New Thing #35: Wii Whoopee!

I've always been a Playstation fan, but I was finally introduced to the Wii game console. My friend Amanda has a Wii and I played Wii Sport and Guitar Hero. I made a little "Mii" (a little digital character) that looks like me and we played bowling and tennis. I took the Wii Fitness Test and I have the Wii age of an 80-year-old. Ohh, suck! We also brought out the guitars and rocked it on Guitar Hero! I loved Guitar Hero! I played on "easy" and was able to do a few songs on "medium." It makes me want to learn how to play a real guitar.

New Thing #34: Family Day

I had a nice family oriented day. In the afternoon my dad, my step-mom, and my step-brother came up to see my apartment. They had not been able to make it up until today so it was fun to show them around my neighborhood, my apartment complex and my cute place. We had a lovely lunch at McGrath's Fish House and we walked around the Powell's Bookstore.

Later that evening I went to see my mother and together we finished the Tuesday Oregonian crossword puzzle. Lately I've taken an interest in using crossword puzzles to try and improve my logical thinking, my spelling and vocabulary. When I was growing up, my mom used to do crosswords everyday but now that she can't use her hands much anymore, it's difficult to do them by herself. It was fun for both of us to try and figure it all out. The theme was "periods of time." I sat on the couch and read out the clues and we talked it through and we finally got it all! I have never done a crossword puzzle by myself--maybe that will be another new thing this year.

New Thing #33: SBUX drive thru

I ordered a hot chocolate through a Starbucks drive thru. It was a little silly, I mean, I worked for Starbucks for like a year and a half and it was strange to be sitting in a car waiting for my drink. I ordered and got my drink in about 3 minutes. That seemed like a ton of gas to be wasting for a $2.45 drink. But when I got it, it was so good tasting, it made the wait seem very much worthwhile.

Yay Starbucks!

And yes, this is a pic I found on the Internet! hee hee hee :P

New Thing #32: GOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!

First I would like to take a moment and say I am thinking of the families whose lives were affected by the 9/11 attacks. I have my own sad thoughts concerning this day.

Today my friend Erin and I went to go see a Portland Timbers game. They are the professional soccer team. It was really fun. They lost against the Charleston Battery 1-2. Suck! But they had "thirsty thursdays" so beer was only $2! Good deal! It was my first soccer game in general that I saw live but Erin played soccer in school so she was able to walk me through the rules. A portion of the crowd was very excited flipping scarves around and streamers and banners and their "mascot" was a guy wielding a chainsaw. That was a little freaky. When the Timbers scored a goal, he sawed off a log ring and held it up for the wild crowd.

New Thing #31: Parking Fairy

Kevin and I went to REI to look for a duffle bag for him for a work-related trip. We paid for an hour long parking pass but we only used a few minutes of it. So, we took the sticker off our car and put it back on the parking meter for the next person to take and use rather than buying their own pass. I gave someone an hour of free parking. Every little free bit counts.

New Thing #30: Ripper & Warbler

My first day of work went really well! I'm so excited but a little shocked to hit the ground running! Today I used a seam ripper to rip all the seams out of two California king size sheets for quilt backs. It wasn't too time intensive but I had to do it so I could iron the whole thing and not waste a ton of fabric. I bought sheets at Ikea for $7, which is cheaper then buying 4 to 6 yards of the cheapest cotton Joann's had in stock. Tonight I went to Valentine's with the girls and heard this strange woman "singing" that was a cross between warbling & sitar playing. Then we almost got kicked out for talking to loud because the bartender came up to us after saying "I come in peace" and asked us to keep it down. We were very polite but we were scandalized we had to keep it down when we weren't charged a cover to get in, you know? Free country and all that jazz.

New Thing #29: Quack, Quack!

We returned from our camping trip at Detroit Lake and had some hamburger and hot dog buns that got squashed on the trip home. I decided to take them to a local park's creek and feed the ducks there. The last time I fed ducks was in high school in my home town--I've been hissed at and bit by a goose-- but for the most part, I enjoy the experience. The new thing today was I fed the Rock Creek ducks with bread I would have thrown away. Afterwards, I remember that animal-activists say it's bad to feed the ducks people food. So, I researched feeding wild ducks people food. I found some interesting things from the U.S. Geological survey. Here is the website http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/about/faqs/birds/feeding.htm

It stated that:
"Wild adult ducks and young ducklings eat lots of aquatic invertebrates during spring and summer (mostly aquatic insects like midge larvae, and mayfly, dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, etc.). These natural foods are particularly high in protein, which females need to produce eggs and ducklings need for rapid growth and survival. Foods like bread (even though sometimes enriched with protein) and grain are lower in protein than the foods ducks would eat naturally at this time of year. If you made ice cream and cookies readily available at all times to your own kids, they'd eat very little of the things that are better for them nutritionally. Although little research has been done on food limitation in waterfowl, there is no reason to believe that food, particularly protein, is limiting for ducks during the breeding and brood rearing seasons. All those bugs that are plastered to your windshield after a drive through the country in late evening are one of the main reasons ducks return to your area to nest each year. If you insist on feeding the ducks, visit your local feed store and buy a scientifically formulated poultry starter with a crude protein content of 27% or greater. Use this food until about mid-August, then switch to a food with a much higher carbohydrate content (wheat, barley, or corn, for example), because ducks start putting on fat for migration at that time."

So I don't feel so bad the ducks ate my bread because they could use the higher carb content this time of year.

New Thing #28: Nick's Puppies

While camping at Detroit Lake, we had two of my friends join us. They brought their two German Shepherd puppies. Don't get me wrong: Not only do I love puppies, but I love German Shepherds. So it was fine. The only problem: They'd never been trained to be tied up on a leash while their masters were out-of-reach, busy, and inattentive to them. Naturally there was a lot of whining and barking that went on. I believe we were the scourge of the campgrounds. We tried different techniques to get them to calm down. Besides untying them, we tried "redirection." It's when you just redirect the youth's attention from something traumatic on to something else. For example, if a kid fell down instead of saying, "Ohhh honey here (kiss-kiss-kiss-hold-hold-hold)," you'd say, "Oh ouch, now look at that pony honey!" Seems to be quite a brilliant application for non-serious issues.

During breakfast, I successfully applied the redirection technique to help puppies deal with separation anxiety. I sat down by them and offered them a stick to chew on. Naturally they took the bait but I didn't let them have the stick I held it for them so I could pull it away. Therefore they were focused on the stick and not what their owner's were doing around the campsite. Now it wasn't successful for longer than 10 minutes, but while they were chewing on said stick, they could neither whine nor bark. And I bet our neighbors appreciated the respite.

New Thing #27: Cobbler

While I camping at Detroit Lake with Kevin this weekend, I had some spare time while sitting in front of the fire to work on a project or two. My mother had a Tandy Leather moccasin kit that she had bought for my dad while they were still together. With one thing and another, they just were never made. My dad is always wearing those leather boat shoes, so I knew he would still like them. This kit had leather precut pieces in dad's shoe size but had just never been put together. I made my dad a pair of leather moccasins. I took lace and stitched them together like the instructions said. I spread it out through the whole day: sewed the tops of the shoes (rode the jetski), sewed the heels (rode the jetski again), sewed the edges (ate dinner). It was a very fun project with a present that he'll really like. Here is a picture of what they look like (minus the brand name of course).

New Thing #26: Lending a hand

Because I've grown up with a mother in a wheelchair, I feel that I sometimes see people in wheelchairs differently then many of my friends do. There are three types of people: 1) Those who ignore handicaps because they think they will offend the person so they overcompensate by averting their eyes or not speaking to them. 2.) Those people who think physical handicap equals a mental handicap. I can't explain my frustration with this type of thinking. 3.) And finally, those who treat them like anyone else. If you are one of these people, thank you. If you are not, consider it something you may want to work on, because it makes a difference.

While at Safeway, I helped an elderly lady in a wheelchair reach a box on the top shelf. It was simple, I was in the aisle and I just said "May I assist you?" and she asked me for help. I didn't talk down to her, I made eye contact and I treated her like any other human being. Now, I told my boyfriend this and he thought I shouldn't have counted it as a new thing because it is something that I would have done anyway. I thought that was a fair statement. But when I mentioned it to my mother when I was stocking her pantry, she started to cry and told me that I had to have it as today's new thing. Because then people would see that OFFERING TO HELP people in wheelchairs doesn't always offend them, and if it does you can just say "okay" and walk away. It's alright if they refuse help, maybe you were mistaken. Just excuse yourself, smile, and leave. Not a big woop. I was glad I made my mother so proud.

New Thing #25: Woo Woo!

(It's the sound that boat horns make!) In the state of Oregon, it is required to have a boater's safety card with you at all times when you operate a personal watercraft or boat. I took and passed a boater's safety test to get my card to operate the jetski by myself. I failed it the first time, but I retook it immediately and got a 97%. Don't worry, I learned form my mistakes--I really am a safe boater!

New Thing #24: Click for Cancer

This September, help fund an additional 100 mammograms by being one of the thousands of people that click on the pink button on the Breast Cancer Site. The organization's premier sponsor will make the extra mammogram contribution if together we reach 10 million clicks! Click daily and spread the world of this special opportunity by sending a free "100 mammogram challenge" e-card today! http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2

I vow to click once a day this month and I sent out e-card reminders to 20 people to inspire them to do the same. (Remember only one click is counted from your computer per day so no need to go click-crazy)

10/1/08 Note: The site reached 80% of their goal, just under 8 million clicks (7.9!!!), and the sponsor (Bare Necessities) decided that was close enough that they would fund the additional mammograms. Thank you to everyone who clicked!

New Thing #23: Project Linus

As a D.I.Y. crafter, I have tons of nice yarn in my collection that isn't being used. I decided that I would do a knit project that would be giving back to the community: I am knitting a crib size blanket for Project Linus. This organization's mission is to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need of gifts of new, hand-made blankets & afghans, lovingly created by volunteer "blanketeers." I started knitting it today, caste on my stitches and it's knitting up nicely. Note: For anyone interested in knitting blankets for this organization, please visit: http://www.projectlinus.org/ to find your own local chapter. They have restrictions on what types of yarns that can be used (NO WOOLS) and will give suggestions on patterns or tell you of any special needs/donations they could use. Upon completion of the blanket, I will post an image here.

New Thing #22: Quilters do it!

I consider myself to be a quilting novice which means that I dable occasionaly in the quilting arts but I've never actually completed a project. Today I started my third quilt which is a twin-size quilt kit I got at a fabric store that was going out of business downtown. I learned how to do a new technique today for this one: I made 7 yellow yo-yo pieces for my applique flowers that I haven't learned how to do yet. I try to find something new each quilt that I put together. And in fact I'm finding out that I really enjoy sewing, but I'm not very patient for "measuring" and "pinning pieces together" or "ironing"...it's all a bunch of jibbery-jube. Well, in this quilt I am truely seeing the benefits of careful measuring--ahem. The next quilt I make, I should practice patience and make sure I do it right-- even if it takes longer. Sure I can fix mistakes but I'd rather do it right and have all the corners be straight. As for my pile of quilt tops, I haven't actually basted them or quilted them yet, I've just sewn all the tops together. At the point when I finish this latest one, I'll need to buck up and quilt them all, one after the other. I figure it will go much faster that way.