Aug 31, 2009  •  In Pregnancy

Morning Sickness Linked to Higher Child IQ

I read this on BabyZone this morning (when my head was not bent over the toilet):

The Scoop: Although it can be a major nuisance for moms-to-be, morning sickness may actually make for smarter kids, according to a recent Canadian study. In an effort to understand the effect of first trimester nausea on fetal brain development, researchers followed 121 women who had contacted a pregnancy hotline. Among children (now between ages 3 and 7) born to these women, those whose mothers experienced morning sickness scored higher on certain tests of IQ, memory, and language skills, compared to those whose mothers had no symptoms of nausea or vomiting during pregnancy.

For Baby: Women in the study who reported the most severe bouts of morning sickness symptoms tended to have children with the highest test scores (this was even more pronounced if the mom also had a high IQ). According to researchers, morning sickness is most likely triggered by a rapid rise in human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and thyroxine—two hormones needed during pregnancy to grow and maintain a healthy placenta. While morning sickness is viewed by most as an unwanted side effect of pregnancy, researchers now speculate the condition is a sign of a healthy pregnancy and nourishing placenta. Other studies have linked morning sickness to lower rates of miscarriage, stillbirth, and preterm delivery.

I must be carrying the next Kim Ung-Yong in my womb.

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Aug 28, 2009  •  In Blogging, Personal

TTFN!

Posting will be light this weekend, because I’ll be driving down to Maryland to attend this lovely lady’s wedding:

I will be joined by these fabulous ladies:

            

         

Happy wedding day, D’orsay! And I can’t wait to see everyone else there!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Geek, Movies, Personal, Star Wars

The Top 5 Most Chilling Lines from Movies

Star Wars – Episode III, Revenge of the Sith was on TV earlier tonight. Although this must be my twentieth time watching the most bearable of the prequel trilogy, I couldn’t help but feel chills running down my spine during a particular scene.

I then delved deep into my memory banks for the most chilling moments in movies. Not necessarily scary, but chill-inducing. There are some lines that will never cease to cause goosebumps, no matter how many times you’ve watched that movie – don’t you agree?

So I present to you, my top 5 picks for the most chilling lines in movies:

5.  “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”  – Brody, Jaws

4.  “I am home.”  – Dr. Weir, Event Horizon (aka the scariest movie of the ’90s)

3.  “They mostly come out at night, mostly.”   – Newt, Aliens (also parodied by South Park )

2.  “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”  – [written by] Jack, The Shining

1.  “Execute Order 66.”  – Palpatine, Star Wars: Episode III

Can you think of any chilling lines that should be included on this list?

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Art/Design, Home

IKEA Catalog from 1965

Check out these photos of a 1965 IKEA catalog, courtesy of ikke tikke theo‘s parents:

These furnishings would be a big hit today especially with the revival of all things ’60s spurred by AMC’s Mad Men. I’m especially digging that orange sofa set.

Via kottke.org.

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Geek

De-Clutter Your Firefox Tabs with FaviconizeTabs

If you’re anything like me, you probably have endless tabs open in your Firefox windows at all times.

There is good news for us. Today, J alerted me to a Firefox extension called FaviconizeTabs which allows you to minimize the size of pre-selected tabs in order to make your favorite browser more user-friendly.

In my case, I always have Gmail, Google Reader, Facebook, and this site open in Firefox. So I simply minimized them and voila!

See how much more room I have for my other tabs?

I love having a geeky husband. I hope our baby will be geeky too.

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Aug 27, 2009  •  In Art/Design

Beautiful Matchbook Designs

The pyro in me screams, “Fire! Fire!” The designer and art afficiano part of myself squeals in delight. Here are three unique and beautiful match packagings.

Marlboro by Radi Designers:

Energy Calendar by Yurko Gutsulyak:

And, my personal favorite, the Flower Match by Cung-Young Chu:

For more, visit CrookedBrains (via Neatorama).

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Aug 26, 2009  •  In Movies

Capitalism: A Love Story

On October 2, Michael Moore’s new movie Capitalism: A Love Story will be released.

Although I don’t agree with all of Mr. Moore’s political views, his last movie Sicko was an eye-opener and I couldn’t help but cringe at our flawed healthcare system.

As a victim of this recession, I will be sure to watch Capitalism. It is discouraging to live so close to the heart of the problem (Wall Street) and witness these executives continue to prey upon others’ money.

Do you plan on watching this movie?

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Aug 26, 2009  •  In Blogging, Personal

Geek in Heels Tagline Contest!

I’ve been thinking long and hard (that’s what she said) about a tagline for my website. I tossed a bunch of them around in my head and even seriously considered a couple but concluded that I didn’t love them.

Then I realized…why don’t I ask you, the readers, for help?

As an extra incentive the winner of my choosing will receive these prizes:

  1. Not one, but FOUR packages of Kodak Premium Photo Paper, 4 x 6 Inches, Gloss, 100 sheets.

    That is a $55.96 value! What will you do with 400 sheets of photo paper? That’s for you to decide!

  2. A DVD of one of my favorite wedding movies of all time, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

  3. My eternal love and gratification. Which is worth more than the top two combined, don’t you think?

You can enter the contest in three different ways:

  1. Leave a comment below with your tagline entry.
  2. Email me at jenny (at) geekinheels [dot] com with your entry.
  3. Tweet your entry to @geekinheels

The contest will end on Wednesday, September 2nd at 12:00pm Eastern time (just one week from today).

You can enter as many times as you want, so get those creative juices flowing! Good luck!

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Aug 26, 2009  •  In Personal, Pregnancy

Pregnancy Update, Week 5

When the doctor first told me the approximate age of Tater Tot, I was shocked. That’s it??! I thought to myself. But I’ve been having symptoms for over a week!

They say that most women start experiencing symptoms of pregnancy at 6-8 weeks. I started getting symptoms at 3 weeks, which is just one week after conception. I was super-tired, cranky, bloated, and my boobs were swollen and sore. In fact, that is what prompted me to take the pregnancy test.


“You’re pregnant? Are you sure???”

Needless to say, the symptoms have intensified since then. I need to take daily naps in order to function properly. I am an emotional train wreck, being gloriously elated one minute and sobbing into my pillow the next. My hands and feet have swollen to a point where my engagement and wedding rings are uncomfortably tight (I now only wear them when I go out) and my feet look like fat sausages. I am constantly plagued by nausea (luckily I have only thrown up a couple of times), and my boobs…oh geez my boobs. At 5 weeks, my boobs have already gone up an entire cup size. They are so sore that I wear sports bras everywhere.

I guess I am one of those <sarcasm>lucky</sarcasm> women who get their symptoms super-early and in extreme doses.

According to BabyZone, this is what Tater Tot looks like right now:

Doesn’t it look like a cross between a seahorse and the aliens from the Alien movies?

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Aug 25, 2009  •  In Art/Design, Fonts, Web

MyFontbook: A Better Font Viewer

Remember how obsessive I am about my fonts? While I love my trusty “Fonts” document, it can be a PITA to constantly keep it updated.

Today I read about MyFontbook – a FREE font viewer that organizes all your fonts (all 700+ of them in my case) in an easy-to-use web interface.

What makes MyFontbook extra-useful are its additional features:

  • Tags & Favorites
  • Glyphs Viewer (!!!)
  • Font Metrics

Go sign up for a free account now!

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