Jan 21, 2009  •  In Personal, Relationships

Morbid Discussions

A couple of days ago I woke up feeling utterly crappy.

I didn’t have a fever (yet) but I felt that undeniable sensation of arghh-what-the-heck-is-my-body-up-to-now.

As the day progressed a fever developed, and my right cheek was beginning to swell. Not noticeably, but enough that the skin stretched tight and shiny across my cheekbone.

Luckily I feel much better now, and the swelling is down. However, that isn’t the point of this entry.

At the height of my illness I glanced over at J. I then realized that while we have been married for 9 months now, we have yet to write our wills.

“Hey,” I succinctly stated, “If I’m ever in a horrible accident where my body is only being kept alive by machines, I want you to pull the plug.”

“What?”

“I’m being serious. I don’t want to be a vegetable dependent on modern technology. I want you to pull the plug.”

Smirking, he replied, “I’ll decide that when the time comes.”

I then asked, “What about you? What would you want me to do if you were in that situation?”

“I’d want you to invent a machine that would keep me frozen until the right technology comes along to revive me.”

“Aish! I’m being serious! What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to invent that machine.”

Obviously J was not being cooperative. But I kept pushing.

“And if I die before you, I’d want you to get remarried.”

“No,” he replied, with a smile on his face.

“C’mon! I am being 100% serious here…I want to you get remarried, okay?”

He laughed once again and turned away.

“…Would you want me to get remarried?”

“No, I would haunt you so that you would never get to meet anyone else.”

Obviously my husband is not ready to have such conversations. However, this is something that should be discussed between a married couple, no?

So I write this in my blog, knowing that this will hold as proof of this conversation and my wishes.

Have you have these morbid conversations with your significant other?

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Jan 18, 2009  •  In Blogging

Sidebar: Left or Right?

I am pretty certain that a large portion of my readers have blogs of their own.

Do you have a sidebar? If so, is it on the right, left, or both?

I recently read an interesting article discussing the merits of both right and left sidebars.

I contemplated my own sidebar position. And after much consideration, I decided to try a right sidebar.

(And luckily, Squarespace allows me to do this with just a click of a button.)

The main reason for this change is because I want content to be king. In addition, I want this blog to be more user-friendly:

  1. Most of my readers (who are western) read left to right, and as a result, scan a page left to right. A right sidebar ensures that the first thing my readers will see will be my content.
  2. Visitors with lower image resolutions will not be forced to scroll to read my posts.
  3. Some argue that a right sidebar is easier to navigate for right-handed mouse users.

I know that these days, one of the most popular reasons for right sidebars is for SEO purposes: a right sidebar is more friendly to search engines, ensuring that your content is loaded before your sidebar (unless coded specifically not to do so). However, I honestly believe that when it comes to gaining more exposure, providing good quality content far supercedes something as trivial as sidebar position. Thus I did not take SEO into consideration when making the change.

Visually, I think that a left sidebar looks better on my site. However, this may just be due to the fact that I’m not used to the change.

What do you think? Left or right?

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Jan 18, 2009  •  In Personal, Sports

The AFC Championship Game

Last week, J admitted to me that he would’ve never married me if I were a Steelers fan.

That, my friends, is a sign of a true Baltimore Ravens fan.

Sidenote #1:  For those who are not aware, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers have what has been dubbed the “NFL’s nastiest rivalry.” See here.

Sidenote #2: Gene Wojciechowski writes, “The Ravens-Steelers matchup makes the NFC Championship Game look like a Tupperware party.”

Sidenote #3:  Reader 911WFD writes in response to the second article, “NEWS FLASH….. NFL cancels the Superbowl , league officials say it would be “REDUNDANT and ANTICLIMACTIC” after the AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.”

Although I enjoy football, I’ve always been a basketball girl.

However, I have to admit that having a football nut as a husband has been rubbing off on me. Why else would I be up at this unholy hour, reading up on the matchup and playing ESPN in the background?

So, in regards to tomorrow’s (err, today’s) AFC Championship game, all I have to say is…

GO RAVENS!


(image source)

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Jan 16, 2009  •  In Personal, Relationships

My In-and-Out Valentine

Last year, I found out about the White Castle Valentine’s Day Dinners.

Participating White Castles take reservations for this event. You are greeted at the door by a host/hostess dressed to the nines, who will escort you to your tablecloth-covered, candlelit table.

(Pictures from Off The Broiler)

It was perfect for us! We immediately made reservations and eagerly awaited our date.

However, mother nature had other plans for us – a horrible snowstorm kept us from scarfing down those delectable mini burgers and the inevitable stomachache that follows soonafter.

With our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple less than a month away, we had been looking forward to making reservations at our local White Castle once again.

Then we realized that this year’s Valentine’s Day will fall during our week-long visit to Los Angeles.

Where there is no White Castle.

Needless to say I was severely disappointed. Then J made a suggestion that made me look forward to February 14th with glee.

“Why don’t we go to In-and-Out?”

J and I LOVE In-and-Out! We are forever lifting our fists at the powers-that-be for not opening a restaurant here on the east coast. As a result we always gorge on the stuff whenever we venture out west.

So it’s settled. We will be happily celebrating this year’s Valentine’s Day at In-and-Out.

Now if only they served beer at In-and-Out…

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Jan 16, 2009  •  In NYC, Personal, Twitter

My Reaction to USAir Flight 1549

Earlier today, a US Airways plane carrying 155 passengers crash-landed into the Hudson River.

I immediately had three reactions to the incident.

 

Reaction #1: Pray for the passengers and crew

I have only began to re-realize the power of prayer and I love the impact it is having on my life. My prayer only lasted a couple of minutes, but tears undeniably pooled in my eyes as I prayed for the passenger and crew’s safety, and thanking God for delivering them from what could’ve been an even more horrible incident.

 

Reaction #2: “Frickin’ Birds!”

My friends and family have always made fun of me for my fear of birds.

“I told you so” seems so befitting, yet unsurprisingly inappropriate.

Immediately following the incident, my Facebook homepage was filled with new status updates from friends wondering if Al Queda has been training birds as a new form of attack.

At least Best Week Ever found humor in it: “The crash was reportedly caused by a flock of birds disrupting the engines, marking the most annoying documented appearance by birds since the game Ninja Gaiden.”

 

Reaction #3: Behold the power of Twitter

Last month the first report of a Denver plane crash was published via Twitter.

This incident was no exception. I first found out about the crash-landing through Twhirl, the application I use for Twitter.

And predictably, the first close-up pictures of the plane were published to a Twitter account as well.

 

Judging by my three reactions, I think it is safe to say that I am a religious, dorky, and geeky nut.

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Jan 15, 2009  •  In Funny, Geek, Star Wars

Star Wars, as Told by Someone Who Hasn’t Seen It

The travesty!

Via Boing Boing.

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Jan 13, 2009  •  In Art/Design, Blogging, Fonts, Geek

Six Helpful Links for Web Developers, Designers, and Bloggers

In the midst of developing three separate websites, I have been reading and bookmarking some useful sources for developers, designers, and bloggers. Here are six I’ve found myself returning to again and again during the past two weeks:

  1. 8 Definitive Web Font Stacks
  2. How to Embed Almost Anything in your Website
  3. 5 Exciting Things to Look Forward to in HTML 5
  4. 50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics
  5. 10 Killer WordPress Hacks
  6. 5 Techniques to Acquaint You With CSS 3

I hope you find them as useful as I do – enjoy!

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Jan 13, 2009  •  In Beauty

RevitaLash

Harro! Remember me, the girl with the non-existent eyelashes?

Last year I tried eyelash extensions and loved the look. I had long, sexy lashes for the first time in my life! It was a miracle!

After a few courses, however, I decided that the treatments were making too big a dent in my wallet. Back to short stubby lashes for me.

I still had hope, and rightfully so.

A couple of months ago my mother called me up and said she had just read all about a “revolutionary” eyelash conditioner called RevitaLash that will help me grow longer and thicker lashes. I was tempted, but the $100+ price tag deterred me. My mother, however, proceeded to go ahead and buy a tube for my younger sister (who, btw, has naturally longer lashes than me. Why?).

When my sister came home for winter break, she gave back the tube to my mother, proclaiming that her eyelashes were too long now. So long that they were becoming a nuisance.

It was then that I noticed her new lashes. Holy crap! They looked like she was wearing falsies!

My mother gladly handed me the leftover tube and I happily skipped through the rest of the day.

I did some research on RevitaLash, because I remembered reading about a similar product that had been banned by the FDA for containing the same ingredients as a glaucoma drug, with possible side effects on vision and even the color of the eyes.

After the Jan Marini eyelash conditioner was pulled from the market, RevitaLash was reformulated as well. However, it still contained the same ingredient that may cause irritation and change the color of your eyes.

I weighed the pros and cons, then decided the heck with it – my vision is already pretty bad and my irises are a boring brown color. If my eyes change color I honestly think it’ll be interesting and a nice conversation starter at the very least. Besides, I had done much worse stuff to my eyes in the past.

I started the treatment on Sunday. I forgot to take a “before” picture, but here’s one from 2007 for reference:

I’ll take a new picture every week so you can follow along on my quest for longer, fuller lashes!

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Jan 12, 2009  •  In Funny

The Evolution of Dance Part 2

Judson Laipply is back with a sequel to the most viewed video in YouTube history!

IMO, the original was better. What do you think?

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Jan 12, 2009  •  In Gadgets, Geek

The Palm Pre Kicks the iPhone’s Ass

With CES 2009 closing tonight, I think it is safe to say that the biggest announcement/drool-worthy gadget at this year’s largest gadgets show was the Palm Pre.

Upon first look, the phone isn’t too impressive.

But if you’re curious to take a good look at what the interweb has been buzzing about since its announcement Friday, take the time to watch this video of the keynote:


Dontcha just love it?

However, no device is perfect. My three main gripes with the Pre are:

  1. No expansion card. The 8 GB of internal storage is impressive, but most smart phones now come standard with the option of popping in a microSD card for full utilization of its features. Heck, a 2 TB (yes you read that right…terabyte) microSD card has just been announced – these days, we want our phones to be multimedia powerhouses!
  2. It is a closed platform. Sure, any doofus with knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript will be able to create widgets, but they won’t be native apps.
  3. The body is too “bubbly” for my tastes. You know me and my clean, angular lines.

Reports from the blogsphere state that Palm booth lackeys were very strict about minimal hands-on testing of the device at CES. That, in addition to the fact that the release date is slated for “the first half of 2009” leads me to believe that the phone is still pretty buggy.

Nonetheless, I am still pretty excited about this phone. And, as many analysts have stated, this is probably Palm’s last chance to keep afloat in the mobile market.

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