Day 3 of adding a corset back and Weekend catchup

This weekend was a whirlwind. I'm totally beat.

I rushed home after work on Friday and began furiously sewing in order to be ready in time. Mostly this included sewing in the loops which i ended up doing by hand.

Finally my mom laced me into the dress and made the final adjustments. While she steamed the dress, i ran to the costume shop and grabbed a mask. I regret that at no point during the night did i take a picture of the back. I'll put the dress back on tonight and take some pictures though.

I also added some fake eyelashes just for effect. While i loved the effect, they were the most difficult things i think i have ever put on. Thankfully, I'm one of those few lucky women who's hair pretty much always cooperates. It was nicely secured into a cascade of curls (thanks to some hot rollers) with two barrettes and i threw on as dramatic of makeup as i dared.

Just when i was feeling like flopping down on the couch and taking a nap from all the hard work, Boyfriend Jon and I whisked away to the Masquerade Ball in Seattle. From there it was a whirlwind of brilliant dresses, hilarious masks, and enchanting dancing.

For the record, neither Boyfriend Jon nor I knew how to waltz. And attempting to dance it for the first time was rather cumbersome. We stayed to the outskirts, out of the way of the older, more experienced couples as they twirled and glided across the main floor.

We quickly decided that formal ballroom lessons were long overdue. We both agree that it's important for both men and women to know how to dance for those rare formal occasions that pop up in life. Not to mention that it's just plain fun!

Long about 10:30, they had a series of performances that were highly entertaining. There was the partner changing dance that was outright hilariously choreographed to seem like infidelity. A soprano from the Seattle Opera did a beautiful aria. And two of the orchestra, the pianist and the accordionist had wonderful solos. The night was well worth the cost even if we didn't dance much.

The rest of the weekend was spent baking thank you cookies for my mom as well as a batch for Boyfriend Jon who now is adding bread and such to his diet after his surgery. Tuesday marks the official end of his soft diet, and i'm sure if he doesn't see another pudding or jello cup for several years, he won't be sorry. I pulled out my bread maker and made him a loaf of my acclaimed sweet bread as well.

After that it was cleaning up my apartment from the mess left over from the frantic sewing fiasco. I've made a decision to try and get rid of some of the larger items in my apartment that I don't use. Time to craigslist it up.

Lastly, the very same Wallet Thief as my previous post will be staying with me next week. So my cleaning efforts are doubled as i try to dog-proof my apartment. Or rather Molly-proof it.

Day 2 of adding a corset back

There's roughly twelve hours to go before the masquerade and so much to be done.

Boyfriend Jon and I made an excursion last night to a different costume shop to look at their mask selection. While most impressive, the price tags were downright painful! Jon was disappointed that a the top hat he liked was $119. So he settled for a rather dashing fedora.

For me, my taste in masks ran far beyond the capacity of my wallet. There was a gorgeous silver fillagree mask for just $156. The average of the masks in the store was around $40. And for one night, i couldn't justify that cost no matter how much my heart begged me to. However, wandering around that store, they have the single largest costume rental that I've ever seen. They won my heart when i saw the Jedi robes prominently displayed right next to the front door. I shall be returning to A Masquerade Costume in Bellevue.

Yesterday was frustrating in the dress alterations department. I tried my best to follow the advice on Sew for Dough's page, but the chord i used made my life hell. I would advise fellow attempters to avoid using any kind of chord that cannot be pressed flat or that unravels. Getting them done was quite a fight and I'm not thrilled with the results.

Getting the old fake criss cross lacing out was by far the easiest part of yesterday.

And finally i couldn't avoid it any more and i was forced to cut into the dress itself. There is no turning back now. The white lines you see were whip stitches so that the top layer (see through with the sparkles all over it) would stay in place while i cut.

All and all it was productive. But time is closing in fast and i wish i had more of to perfect my creation.

Boy this sure reminds me of being back in school. I always waited till the last second and then threw something together. Granted, writing a 5 page report was never difficult for me and i typically got A's. But with this, i run the risk of having it tear and rip, ruining the dress or exposing more flesh than intended. Since this is an annual event (i know this now) i don't want to have to do this again.

Please please please come together flawlessly! Or at the very least, make the results worth the battle.

Day 1 of adding a Corset back

In my previous post, I decided that i was going to alter my old homecoming dress in order to make ready for the masquerade.

First and foremost, let me give thanks to the multitude of online blogs, how-to sites, my mother and a co-worker who dabbles quite beautifully in sewing.

Sew for Dough a recent find that has a step by step process of how to add a corset back to a dress as according to an actual seamstress who makes gown alterations. Several nifty tricks in this little nugget.

eHow.com...as always has been extremely helpful in explaining sewing terms to me. On the bias means diagonally. Why they don't just say "diagonally" is beyond me, but online was a great deal nicer about my ignorance than the lady at the fabric shop.

My mother who gave up her evening to assist me in locating good fabric and reminding me of things like interfacing and oh yeah THREAD! which would have completely slipped my mind. Also her own sewing skills as a much needed second set of hands.

And lastly, my co-worker Susan who has a far superior knowledge of costume design than anyone else i know, who patiently took the time to explain to me how to go about making the changes i wanted.

Now for the before pictures!

Front of the dress Back of the dress

The plan is to split the back of the dress down to just about my tail bone (where the safety pin is), remove the existing fake lace up, insert a modesty panel with ribbon tie. Oh yeah, and i'll also be sealing up where the zipper currently is located on the side.

Last night, i set up my craft table and sewing machine and since it was already 9 pm, I settled for just making the ribbon into tubes to be ironed flat.

So much to do, so little time.

Ambitious plans

"Ambition is like love. Impatient both of delays and rivals."

This is another of the sayings I've picked up in my life. When my heart starts pumping, and my fingers start tapping, I find myself resenting whatever is in the way of whatever project has stolen my attention for the time being. I'm completely impatient. I just want to get to it before the obsession is past. Right now, the obstruction is work. More so than any other day lately.

What is making me so impatient for the workday to be over?

I have a sewing/craft project brewing in my head. One with a distinct time limit to it. If i can't make the deadline, it's over. The entire reason for it to be done will be gone. So i must work quickly and efficiently.

A little back story:

Junior year, i was dating my good friend Kacy and homecoming was upon us. I had been to a school dance once before, but I had worn a hand-me-down dress from my sister's friend Carla that had never fit my figure right. I begged my dad to buy me a new dress on the strict understanding that i would only get that one for all the remaining dances throughout high school. That's was just fine by me. It wasn't about the money, it was about my friends with four dresses that they would never wear again that i would have killed to be able to wear.

I found a gorgeous dress on the "cheap" rack at the boutique that i would work for a few years later. It was burgundy, with sparkles all over it. $200 later, it was mine. It was a perfect dress except for the tulle underneath. It brushed up against my skin every time i walked and by the time i had gotten to dinner, i had taken Kacy's knife and cut it off.

After that dance, the dress went into my closet never to come out again. I didn't go to Senior year homecoming or prom because i was doing running start and there was a college level final around that time.

But it has always grated on me that the dress was so expensive and I only got to wear it once. Through all the moves, and closet purges, and knowing that the dress was too extravagant for most post-highschool functions...i couldn't let the dress go. Even when it wouldn't fit anymore, and the zipper was broken...i didn't get rid of it. I'm still in love with that dress.

Now I finally have found a post-highschool function that demands a little extravagance. The masquerade will be ideal for a full skirt, rich hues and sparkles.

The problem: The dress still doesn't fit.

The solution: Perhaps it's a good thing that i like lace up dresses.

The Ambitious plan: Tonight it's off to a fabric shop to buy material for a modesty panel and the making of a lace up back for my old homecoming dress. Tomorrow, it's adjusting seams and creating the new fit...which will spill into Friday most likely. With any luck, i'll be able to make this adjustment in time. Please cross your fingers for me.

I know how to sew and have made garments before. I even sewed a bodice together by hand once a long time ago...in two days. At least this time i have a sewing machine.

Can this be done? I'm confident it can. Will it be easy? No, I'm confident it won't be.

But I like challenges.

Masquerade!

Masquerades have always enchanted me. They're the perfect blend of glamor, mystery, dancing, and fun. Perhaps it's just in my blood since masquerades were made popular by the Italians in the 16th century as part of the Venetian Carnivals. Ok, perhaps not. But something about the gorgeous gowns and glittering masks thrills me as the tomboy side of me could never understand. I'm left with a rather dorky look of excitement on my face, so i'm told.

In the process of finding something to do to celebrate Jon's official recovery from his surgery (as he unofficially scarfs down burgers, tacos and liquorish) that would double as our year+a few months-versary...i landed on the page for the dance studio I've been going to for the last 7 years. Since our (whatever)-versary lands on the 13th or 14th (to clarify, our celebration usually means being together and occasionally a special meal out) and that's when the dreaded Hallmark V-day is for February, I had to find an alternative to the timing. By grouping the recovery with it, i pulled the date up by a week. And wow, did i find the hands down winner.

Side note: I hate Valentine's day. Always have. I hated the absurdity of having to make valentines for the kids in your class so that no one was left out. I hated the day when i was single...declaring it to be "Single Awareness Day" and feeling compelled to fight those pitying looks with proclamations of how happy i was without a valentine. And i hate it now, despite having the wonderful Boyfriend Jon if i did want to celebrate it.

I hate how so many relationships are made or broken on the outcome of a single day of the year because greeting card companies have trumped it up so much... that if a guy doesn't go and spend hundreds of dollars on roses, expensive dinners, or spend weeks planning in advance...then it's just a bla valentine's day for the girl. I'm on the guy's side. What's the big deal? It's just one day.

Quite frankly, Boyfriend Jon is under strict orders to forgo any mention of the v-day, flowers, chocolates, and any kind of romance that he wouldn't show me on any other day of the year.

Ok, back from that tangent.

The dance studio is throwing a masquerade. But not just the masks, not just the costumes...but an all out ball. Variety of dances, both elegant and just plain fun. The second i saw the advertisement, i sent it straight to Boyfriend Jon with a long line of exclamation points following.

Since he...yes he... has been wanting to get back out dancing again (and i'm not really one to say no either) we bought our tickets and have begun the hunt for suitable attire. Since the theme is Hollywood Legends, thoughts of Zorro and his Spanish Rose or Cleopatra and Marc Anthony or Ret Butler and Scarlet O'Hara have been dancing through my head. But at the same time, my heart truly desires the fuller skirt and elegant fabrics of eras more suitable to a masquerade.

I'm quite aware of the cumbersome nature of such garments. But the heart wants what the heart wants! Boyfriend Jon has been patiently indulgent in this obsession. Costume shop shopping tonight. We'll see what rentals they have. Especially since i know the owner and if there's any chance of finding a costume for that will fit my figure, she'll find it.

And if that fails, I'm taking a pair of scissors to my old homecoming dress. Spent two hundred dollars on it, and haven't worn it since. What utter waste.

Once the attire is decided upon...then out comes the craft drawers and the raiding of a craft shop as mad crafter Anne gets to work.

I can't fricken WAIT!!!

This morning i stood at the edge of the world

One of the most difficult things to get used to at my job was the lack of windows. The building is basically a concrete hollow cube. The only windows are on the complete opposite side of the building from me and are part of manager's offices who shut their doors often.

I don't know if i should be upset that i indeed have gotten used to not seeing daylight for 10 hours a day (unless i leave for lunch). But something that i have noticed is that I've found a new appreciation for certain things like the rare moments when both those doors are open and my job permits me to walk by at coinciding moments.

This morning bright and early, the valley that those windows face was filled to the brim with thick fluffy fog and the sun shone brilliantly as it rose just barely above the horizon of the cloud sea. There seemed to be no end to the clouds and if i didn't know there was another mound of earth a mere half mile away, i could have been standing on the edge of the world. Everything glowed in glittering yellow as the sun demanded a moment of my time so that i might admire the beauty it had displayed for me to see.

And, standing in a office with a floor to ceiling window with no one around, i took that moment in and stole a second one just for good measure. I tried to take a picture, but it couldn't capture the incredible essence of sheer magnificent beauty that i saw.

I wished to share the beauty of that moment with anyone, but unfortunately the Droid2 was too full to capture that picture. And by the time i noticed and made room, it was too late to go back.

Creeeeeeepppyyyy

I found something rather unsettling in my car yesterday. It was a styrofoam burger king cup that had spilled out a ton of sunflower seed shells.

Not that weird you say? What if i were to tell you I hardly ever eat SUNFLOWER seeds? Only thing that goes in my car, are pumpkin seeds.

Not weird enough? What if i were to tell you the last time i went to a burger king was in early OCTOBER. And i most certainly did not get a styrofoam cup. Not to mention, my car got cleaned out before Jon's family arrived in mid December.

Still not weird enough? Boyfriend Jon (the only person i know to eat sunflower seeds ever in my car) hasn't eaten them since that October trip, much less put them in a styrofoam cup that somehow managed to elude disposal. Nor has anyone that's been in the back seat of my car since early December prior to the clean out.

And if that wasn't weird enough for you...consider these facts:

1. The only Burger King in the area is at the bottom of the hill that I was parked at when the sunflower seeds were discovered. Its about five to eight miles from my home.
2. When going out to my car to put stuff in it just before i discovered them...i heard the locks click open.
3. My windows were not open
4. The seeds were still wet....but not moldy at all
5. there is a known "problem" house around the corner.

I'm not typically one to point fingers and i will readily give the allowance that maybe i just didn't notice the seeds for a while (though for that length of time i'm going to go with improbable).

If it was someone that i know was in my back seat: Dude that's just gross.

If it was someone i don't know....WTF?

Nothing was taken (not that there was anything to take - the most expensive thing in my car is the 5$ ipod jack from radio shack) and no loose change. But WHY on earth would they break into my car just to leave their gross sunflower seed cup dumped over my back seat???? I just cannot fathom that someone would go to that much trouble to be so disgusting. It just doesn't add up.

I cleaned it all out. Everything. Even though i was supposed to be helping my sister with her remodel, i couldn't stop cleaning. Vacuumed everything, took a cleaning cloth to my dash and center console, re-organized my trunk, threw out what trash i had. I feel extremely violated. I felt like someone had defiled my little Focus and i had to make her mine again.

Boyfriend Jon tried to reason it out but even he couldn't answer some of my questions. I think he was left either wondering if i'm forgetting something that would crack this case open like...well... a sunflower seed, or if someone, somehow, for some bizarre reason, did this. Thankfully, he let me vent out my confusion and frustration until i felt better.

And now i'm making doubly sure that my doors are locked when i exit the car. Even if that means locking the doors before Boyfriend Jon gets his door open....again.

It's the attack of self taught HTML

Me+HTML= bad combination.

However, thanks to the world of the internet, even someone as inept as me can figure out how to make things like bold, strikeouts, tables, column widths, and tweak certain things about pre-made templates.

I'm in awe of people who can do this all day every day. I humbly bow to your superior skill and enormous amounts of patience. Just reading all the acronyms gives me a headache. tb, table border, tr, table row. I would rather just do an excel sheet. Which, i'm very aware has a very similar code running in the background.

Thank you so much to those who put in the time and effort to make my life easier so that I don't have to speak HTML on a daily basis. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing!

There's been a Rant and Raves tab at the top for quite some time. But due to the obnoxious way I originally had this laid out, it was rather difficult to look at. I tried colors, different lines....but what i really needed all along was a table. Which i now have!

Go go gadget internet. The ultimate tool.

I'm an opinionated person. I know this sometimes is a bad thing, but other times it can be good. I enjoy sharing my opinions and experiences with others. Most of the time i'm just trying to be helpful...in a blunt, graceless, more than you needed to know way.

I hope someone out there finds my Rants and Raves page helpful. Each of the places are hyper-linked to the post that explains more about why i chose to rant or rave.

So here are a few places that haven't made it on my list yet.

Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park:

Not only is this the workplace of wonderful friend Annie from NaNo, but it's hands down the coolest bookstore around. I never much cared for the overpriced Barnes and Nobel, or the snobbish attitude i seemed to routinely get from the Borders personnel. So i was a "leave me alone" second hand book store kind of person. But this place really rivals my favorite half price books because most likely they WILL have the book i'm looking for at super competitive prices. If i want to sit and read the first couple of chapters before buying...i can. Not once have i been interrupted to be convinced by someone who's never read the book that i should definitely buy it. The crew of Third Place really know their stuff and seem like real bookworms themselves rather than people who just needed a job.

They even have multiple kinds of food stuffs (not just a typical cafe) and occasionally a live band. This place is easily worth the drive.

(They also had Buddy Valastro from the Cake Boss there for a signing! COOL)

Another place that's worth the drive

Legend Nails in Kirkland/Juanita

I'm not big on girly things. But manicures and pedicures just feel SO good it's hard to resist sometimes. So when i go get a pedicure and pay good money, it truly and utterly pisses me off when the nail polish chips or peels after ONE DAY.

It's not like i get home and immediately wash my entire collection of dishes. But invariably, i have a tiny window of looking good.

Perhaps thats why Legend Nails is on my raves list. I don't know what they do special but I have never had a pedicure last less than THREE weeks from them. Manicures are usually good for a couple weeks at least before they start to chip.

I found it just after my sister moved because they had just opened and were having a special. Now, i'm more than willing to drive all the way over there. It's a plus cause i have someone to go with :)

Another amusing dinner with Kenny

Buddy Kenny texted me at exactly 5:00pm last night. "Bored and hungry, want to hang out?" Since i was hungry to and confirmed that i did NOT have plans with Boyfriend Jon, we went to Pho. (Vietnamese noodles).

As i told him my tale of woe about the fall, Kenny started cracking jokes to make me feel better. I normally would have J-walked to beat on-coming traffic and to not have to wait in the cold for the crosswalk. And then Kenny had to go and remind me that i was currently a gimp and probably couldn't make it. Since i had my arm hooked through his and was using him to keep me upright as i limped....it would have been ridiculous to try and argue with him.

As we left dinner after discussing our respective jobs, dreams, mutual friends, and the yummy food, Kenny asked if i wanted to go blow some stuff up (Black Ops). Considering lifting my water glass had been an effort, i mimicked the motions for the controller just to make sure my undignified fall hadn't damped that ability. Thumbs...move just fine. Kenny asked me "what about the buttons?" and i started using my pointer fingers. My left was just a little bit slower than usual. He started laughing at me so i told him to stop because clearly i could still deliver a purple-nurple even in my weakened state. That sent both of us into laughing fits as i made ninja sounds and hobbled along the sidewalk back to my car.

Thus began the next three hours of playing Black Ops and trying to remember not to use the Halo Reach controls. For desert Kenny broke out a gallon of vanilla ice cream and root beer and we had old school root beer floats for desert which absolutely hit the spot. I don't think I've had a root beer float in at least a decade. In a word: Awesome

Another one for my Rants and Raves tab:

Pho Than Brothers on Leary Way in Redmond. If you're looking for Pho and nothing else for super cheap. The small bowl is at least 8 inches across and four inches high and believe me, it's a full meal deal for only 6$. Those with bigger appetites...still can manage to get out of there with full bellies for under 10$.

My only comment is the service is fast, but dismally detached. Servers commonly say just three sentences. "how many?" when seating you. "What would you like?" when taking your order which is then brought out no more than five minutes later. And the total for your meal when paying upon leaving. They don't smile, and they typically cluster around the entrance to the kitchen talking in their own language. Also, don't expect to get are-fill of your water unless you wave one of them down and hold up your empty glass. It's not usually a problem, but something they could improve on.

Anti-slip surface doesn't get my stamp of aproval

I opened my blog this morning thinking i wouldn't have anything important to write. Indeed my weekend was relatively uneventful, lots of video games, cleaning and clothes folding.

Little did i know that leaving to go to lunch would turn out so eventful.

On the way down the two flights of stairs, i struck up a conversation with two co-workers who were also leaving to go to lunch. And when we walked out the door, the two men took the stairs and i took the ramp down. It's not a steep incline, only two three steps high and it runs for about twenty feet. I couldn't have been more than six feet from the door, with my hand on the railing, when my foot flew out behind me as i transitioned my weight. My other foot rolled painfully, and I started falling straight down and put my hand out to break my fall. It connected....and then slid to full extension on "anti-skid" textured paint that had been laid down literally a week before.

The effect was a feeling I've described as running my hand along a cheese grater. Very not happy.

Thankfully, the two co-workers saw me go down and rushed to help me. With my wrist screaming in pain, my knee throbbing and blood trickling down my leg, they helped me limp back into the building.

Incident report forms are being filled out while i sit with a gigantic bag of ice and type one handed...a skill I've developed quite well in the last couple of years.

Leave it to me, who's name means graceful...to manage to slip on a non-slip surface.

I will say this: you would think that they would consider wetness a factor in slippage in the Pacific North west and not coat a non-slip surface with a paint that clearly is slick when wet. I would think at least.

Let the Geek flag fly!

I. Am. A. Geek!

And proudly so. I'm so glad that this era is the era of technology, that nerds and geeks are no longer tormented as loners because we have the glorious world of the web in which to unite and amass our ever-growing numbers!

I know entirely too much about Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and every single movie), Star Wars (yes even the newer ones), Firefly, and Xena....just to touch the top of the list. I game, I WoW'ed (for the Horde!), I Ever-cracked, I Magic'd and I even D&D'd.

My whole life occasionally revolved around one or more of these obsessions. Throwing a fit at my parents if we missed an episode of Voyager. I had the comics, lusted after the more expensive artifacts my parents refused to get me. I argued schematics with my brothers. I won trivia contests. I wondered why we couldn't have money-less/peaceful economies. I dreamed of going to the stars. When I hear of injustice, I feel compelled to fight it.

While I'm more balanced now (hahaha) things like radio show hosts confusing

Mitochondria(power house of living cells) and Midichlorians (the symbiotic force-enabling microorganisms) still drives me insane! I have to remind myself that no everyone knows that Spock's blood is green, or that ATST's from ROTJ are also called chicken-walkers. Or that not everyone in the world knows what i mean when when i use acronyms like that!

I know that in the real world of work, get paid, pay bills, lather-rinse-repeat....these things DON'T MATTER. But I still care about them. To the point of arguing vehemently...i care about them.

I also have a sturdy support group that helps me enable this passion. Boyfriend Jon who has openly accepted my geekiness and professes it often to his co-workers. Of course, he some times uses it to tease them. "Yeah, well my girlfriend plays video games WITH me!" he's told me several times with a very impish grin on his face. I've felt completely free to remind him every other week that i don't mind watching the newest Star Trek movie again, or that i'm going to go home and pop Star Wars in, or that i just finished watching the final season of Xena and I'm thinking about starting in on BSG. We even fell for each other over Firefly.

Kenny indulges me to my bad Call of Duty skills which are progressing far beyond the "Oh my god...i don't know what to do...where am i going...door?WHAT DOOR!...i'm being shot...where are my dudes!....DIE YOU DIE DIE DIE!!!!" (which apparently was sending both Kenny and his roommate into laughing fits) to..."wait...what? I beat you kenny!?" He knows he has a willing and ...entertaining second player for evenings when he knows he's going to be off. It's great for me, because what better way to vent the stress from a frustrating day than by blowing a bunch of crap up? Figuratively that is.... erm.

Kenny is once again putting on a Call of Duty party where we all come and play on a huge projector screen and try to out-do each other. It's something i'm really looking forward to to jump start my weekend.

After 1 month with the Droid 2

It's been a month since i got my droid and here's how it's holding up. These are my findings. No incentives or perks for this review.

Battery:

• I went on amazon and bought myself some extra chargers. I believe i paid about 10$ for an extra wall charger, a media cable, and a car charger combined. That has made my life so much easier.
• My blonde roots must be showing because it wasn't until about a three days ago, that i figured out the media stand has a removable insert which allows the phone to sit and be charged WITH the back part of the case on. In my defense, the insert and the stand itself have the exact same finish so it wasn't easy to see that it was a different part.
• Still not having any trouble with the charge. I've even managed to go 2 days without charging it, granted it had minimal use (maybe 10 texts and a 2 minute phone call)

Aps:

• I've found several more useful aps:
• Amazon, weather bug, amazon Kindle, Blockbuster, IMDB, Bump, sticky notes, Droid Light, Fandango, One bus away, calculator, stopwatch/timer/alarm,
• And a bunch more time consuming games:
• Angry birds, Angry Birds Seasons, Labyrinth, Classic Tetris, Connect 4, Finger bowling, Hangman, Live hold-em, Mahjong, Mole!Mole!Mole! (infuriating whack-a- mole game), Paper-toss, Penguin, Pinball, and Blackjack
• Oh yeah, and i beat Angry Birds
• Annnnddd...i'm becoming obsessed with interactive live wallpapers. My favorite right now channels my Trekie: space starfield with warp speed capabilities (the stars come at you)

Camera/Camcorder:

I love having it at the ready. While it doesn't take as good of pictures as my regular camera, it's come in handy multiple times. Since my sister is doing a remodel and could get samples of everything, i used the camera to take pictures and record details like price and color names then emailed them straight to her so she could compare on her own time. It also came in handy in capturing my dad when he had his bluff called and to send off some interesting pictures to the rest of the family.

Connectivity/Signal

• My buddy with an iPhone has been trying to tell me how much more signal the iPhone gets than a Droid. However, every time we have been in his apartment, let alone a parking garage, elevator and even out and about...I have signal, and he doesn't. Indeed the only place i have completely lost signal was on the 4th parking level (underground) in Bellevue. Not that i expected to have any, but that was the only time my phone has beeped at me to tell me it can't find signal.
• The internet at the ready has been awesome. And yes, i was able to be on the phone and look up directions at the same time. That was just really cool.

Accessories/Other:

• I was immensely displeased that the cover i spent 20$ on from the Verizon store broke the same week. I tried everything to get it to stick on properly rather than go spend 20$ again. from rolled up tape, to carefully wrapped tape, to rubber cement! Nothing worked.
• Thankfully, i found a similar (higher rated) case on Amazon and so far have not had a single problem with it in two weeks. I bought an extra one just in case. I think the total, plus more screen protectors came to 8$. MUCH cheaper!.
• I've been considering getting a car mount, though the New-Yorker in me keeps trying to remind me that it's something Car-thieves look for. But I've needed the navigator application more than once.
• Currently, I've been sticking the phone up through the back side of my visor to hold it where i can see it without taking my eyes off the road to look down. Not a bad solution, but not very safe.

Wallet thief!

2010 ended on a slightly sour note when my wallet inexplicably went missing.

Somehow between buying coffee for a work party, and leaving the work part about six hours later, my wallet disappeared. Between juggling coffee for six people and pastries, I distinctly remember attempting to put my wallet back in my purse. It's a fairly small wallet, no bigger than the ones guys put in their back pocket. But i was distracted and i didn't actually remember if it went into the purse.

I worked all day until about five o'clock when taskmaster sister finally said "enough". I quickly went to gather my stuff and did my failsafe "keys, wallet, cell phone" mantra that i say to myself every single time i go to leave somewhere. But upon looking for my wallet, it was gone. I hadn't left the house all day, and it was highly unlikely that anyone from the work party would be desperate enough to look in MY purse for extra money.

My parents and my sister joined the search for the wayward wallet, even taking a flashlight out into the cold where my car had been parked. Meanwhile, i rushed back to the coffee shop and asked if anyone had seen my wallet. The lady looked at me like it was my fault but relented my insistence that she check the back office to see if the morning shift had found it and forgot to leave a note. After that, i rushed to my bank to put a clamp on my accounts and cancel my credit cards. After a frustrating hour, my family wasn't able to find my wallet and i was convinced that someone had picked it up.

The next day, i was forced to endure the Department Of Licensing for THREE HOURS.

Yeah, I arrived there at 1:39pm and spent the next 2 hours and 40 minutes of that just waiting to be called. I cannot believe the insanity that they expect normal working people to endure to get a license. That's pretty much half a day if someone looses a wallet as far as the work-day is concerned. It further solidified my opinion that service stations like the DOL, DMV, and Post Offices should be open later in the days than six.

The day after that, I received my replacement debit card so i was no longer dead in the water. Then i began my search for a new wallet to hold my stuff. My wallet is pretty much perfect for me so i had some trouble finding a replacement. Just when i was about ready to order one off line, i get a phone call from my sister

Sister: Hey...i gotta tell you something but you can't get mad until i finish

me: Don't you dare tell me you found my wallet...

sister: Your wallet is safe, i have it.

me: You're kidding! (facepalm) where was it???

sister: i was going to get my work pants out of my closet and i noticed something white on the floor in there. I was wondering what the heck it was and when i pulled it out, it was a bag of pumpkin seeds.

me: Oh?! (I rememberd that i did have a bag of pumpkin seeds that i hadn't noticed was gone.)

sister: I know that i don't really ever eat pumpkin seeds so i got down on my hands and knees and started clearing out.

(She has a double hanging closet so there's a layer of clothes close, but not down to the ground. her dog Molly likes to go in there and walk back and forth under the clothes, we think cause it feels like she's being pet.)

Apparently, that's where Molly has been hiding her toys and some food wrappers also. She pulled out my bag of pumpkin seeds, my wallet and a flash drive that had been taken fifteen feet from the bed where my purse had been and into Molly's closet hideout along with a couple other things.

I wanted so hard to be mad at someone, but I just couldn't do it, i started laughing. Well, now i have a new license and new cards.

Rawrggg!