now that that's over

a very busy week and weekend, ending in a very lazy sunday

the house is spotless
which is a really pleasant byproduct of having houseguests
and hosting stinky fish brunch

our fridge is full to overflowing with leftovers

the next few weeks are sure to be a blur of:
sitting in front of the computer until i go blind/stress/anxiety/workworkwork
and then we fly to seattle for a week
to partake in more holiday feasting

i feel like i am perpetually trying to get caught up
my final crits are on december 15th

i can see clearly

day 2 of blowing off homework for domesticity/holiday preparations
it feels really nice actually
to not think about school
a relief

i went shopping at both the whole foods and the co-op
dropped off dry cleaning
picked up prescriptions
rented movies

our feast contributions for friday will be:
(yes, we celebrate thanksgiving on friday.....don't ask)
butternut squash soup
mashed potatoes
apple-pear tart
blueberry tart
cherry pie
(if i can find some good canned cherries
which means i have to go to a 3rd grocery store at some point)
so we will be cooking all day tomorrow
and cleaning
because:
they are installing our new windows today
which means the house is freezing and loud and getting really dirty
but it will be ever so much warmer when all is said and done
there were a few mishaps
but we are trying to focus on the positive: NEW WINDOWS!

i am going to make some cranberry bread later today
josh says he has never had it before
i don't believe him
i think this is just like the time he told me
he had never heard "take a letter maria" before
big fat liar

pics!

YAY, i was actually able to upload a picture!!
very exciting
this is one of josh's doodles
i scanned it in because it is part of my office catalog project
there must have been something buggy going on with blogger before

the countdown

20 more days until the last day of class
9 more actual days of class (3 classes, once a week)
next week is basically a holiday week
i finished my printing, so i don't have to go to book production on wednesday
thursday and friday we have off for bird meat day
and i am trying to get out of going to class on monday
that way i can spend the week working at my own pace
and cleaning the house
and getting ready to make pies and tarts for the big feast day

my senior degree topic is officially:
statistics and the ways in which they are misused and misunderstood
i hope to find a way to put a little personal spin on it
but i think it will be a fun and interesting project
i'm excited to start working on it

problem solving is getting really close to being done
i have posted the most current version on my web site
you need at least a flash 7 player to view it
there may be a few bugs
there are places where the text isn't showing up for some reason
i am currently working on adding more images
it isn't quite finished yet
take a peek

i'm so glad it's the weekend

monday morning

monday never really feels like monday
it feels like friday
or some other less important day of the week
it doesn't feel like the beginning of the week

flash is so freaking time consuming
i have all these grand plans
but it takes so long for me to figure things out
if i don't do something in flash every day
i forget everything
it's a whole restructuring of your brain
to remember how to think in flash
very strange

i am irritated because blogger is not letting me post pictures
it says "there was an error" every time i try to upload something
and i wanted to post a picture of our almost completed kitchen
it's so pretty
and we have been breaking it in
with one fabulous meal after the next
it's really comfortable to cook in
i'm excited about getting a table in there
which will seriously up the cozy quotient

i have to go think like flash now

gimmie a break

i took a mental health day on friday
i don't think i missed anything
and the payoff was HUGE
i stayed home and put the first floor of the house back in order
and did a quick cleaning
oh
my
god
it is nice to have our house back
i cooked some dinner
and lit some candles and surprised the hell out of josh
it felt so calm and quiet and cosy
very very good
the counter/sink guy comes to install today!!!
and that is the last piece of the puzzle (that we aren't doing ourselves)
so very very exciting
i will take some pics
i think this blog needs more pics

i spent most of my day in class scanning in flat stuff
from my office to use in my interface
which is all working pretty well
but gets redesigned pretty much every week
or should i say refined?
no, it's pretty much redesigned
which is nothing if not time consuming

the legend is real

i had always heard that it's a nightmare to work with printers, and i had managed to avoid the experience until yesterday when i had to get film made. it all started out innocently enough. i had asked LS to tell me everything i needed to bring with me, and asked her to give me the answers to any and all questions that i might be asked and wouldn't know the answers to. she left a few things out, i suppose because she's so used to the process that they didn't occur to her. but i'm getting ahead of myself.

so i went downtown early and walked over to "the printing shop" with my CD in hand, i had packaged it with all it's fonts and images and written my name and phone number on everything several times and i had a little index card with their address, phone number and "right reading emulsion down", "150 line screen", "pantone 334c (green), pantone 484c (red), process black" written on it. i walked into the office and told the lady at the front desk that i had never done this before and i wanted to do it right and could she help me? she was very nice, but she didn't seem to really know much more than me.

she sort of helped me fill out the form and got all my credit card info. when i thought i had filled everything out correctly, i tried to tell her one more thing about a strange blank sheet that printed when i test printed separations. she hadn't a clue what i was talking about and said that she would get the printer for me to talk to. this was when things started to go downhill.

i started to explain the potential problem, and that i only needed my 2 pantone colors plus black printed and so forth. he asked if i knew what this was going to cost and i said yes and we went back and forth about that a few times and then he started getting huffy and puffy that i hadn't brought in any print outs of my file, nor had i provided him with a PDF for him to consult or ANYTHING, (this was the kind of thing i was hoping to get a heads up about from LS) he was huffing and puffing and i was starting to not like the tone he was taking (a rather condescending one). had he simply been helpful and friendly and asked me to bring it back with additional documentation i would have said SURE and happily left and returned with the necessary details. but he was in fact being an arrogant butthead, and i told him that i felt like he was being unnecessarily condescending to which he replied "well, you're a student right? you need to learn to accept criticism and blah blah huff puff burf burf...."

i could have taken the high road and remained calm and straightened out the problem, but instead my head started spinning around and my eyes were bugging out and flames were coming out of my ears and i informed him that while i was a student, i was not a child and did not appreciate being spoken to like one and that i would be happy to take my business elsewhere

and then i walked to school
crying
i think i might just be wound a little too tightly these days

the suck part is that i have been unable to find anywhere else in the entire philadelphia metro area or beyond that outputs film.....so i might just have to go back there with my tail between my legs

so i guess the moral of this story is:
there is no crying in graphic design