Happy Pi(e) Day!

My place of employment is filled with people who love science and love any excuse to get together and eat, hence the inception of Pi(e) Day!

For the third year in a row we celebrated Pi Day today (March 14th is 3-14, for those of you who aren't geeks). Of course the first ceremonial pie was cut at 1:59pm (that would be 3-14, 1:59 for those of you still not following me!). The staff has a Pi(e) party organized by the head of the planetarium department (where the hardcore geeks live). People bring in pies and vote on the best one, after sampling as many as possible (one of the winners this year was apperantly a homemade two-crust blueberry pie, made from blueberries that were handpicked and frozen in the summer, where the top crust had a pi symbol cut into it). There are pi magnents, pi necklaces, and pi balloon decorations. This year there was also a pi-ku poetry contest; someone even did their pi-ku in 3-1-4 instead of 5-7-5. For the public, Tastycake donated snack pies to give to the first 314 guests through the door.

Unfortunately, my staff (except the lucky Lauren) was on the road; however, there were some Tastycakes (thanks to whomever saved them for us) that i arranged into a pie pyramid (or as Erin keeps insisting, a pi-amid).

Have some pie, people and celebrate both geometry and tasty pastries!

Niki's Pi-Ku

Pi r not

Square;

Pie are yummy!

2 reasons why i Love my job

1) the odd, fun, intelligent, but ultimately crazy people i work with 2) the odd things that can show up in the building at any time

Red Bull Remorse

Yeah, it was too good to be true. About an hour after the post last night where i was loving life on my legal stimulant I got a piercing headache - you know, the white-hot-poker-behind-my-eyes headache. At home i rode it out with some dinner (nothing says comforting like m'oni cheese and juice (mmmmm... cran-grape)) and a book (the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton). Once the searing-pain portion of the evening was over I found myself at my desk in the midst of a postcard making frenzy; a few of you may find the interesting results in your mailboxes in the coming days. When Mr. Sharpie showed up at 12:45 I realized perhaps I had lost focus and control over my evening. I have learned two very important lessons from this experience that I wish to share with you in the form of Public Service Announcements: 1). Though the gym is open at 1:40am, all of the lights in the parking lot are turned off, rendering the experience creepy like a zombie movie. 2). Some people of a certain natural perkiness level should stay away from "energy drinks" at all costs, really.

Speaking of drugs

CRAP. You know i am the queen of OTC meds, but avoid narcotics like the plague. I don't take medication from my doctor until i've read the pharmacy handouts. Heck, I haven't even taken No-Doze since high school. Yes, i admit i am addicted to caffeine; I have 2 Diet Cokes a day (breakfast and lunch) to avoid the shaking DTs, but I hardly consider it a problem. Through an odd twist of fate (that we don't need to go into at this juncture) I drank some Red Bull about an hour ago. CRAP. Is this sh** actually legal??? Are you trying to tell me it is just caffeine in there? Caffeine? The same caffeine you find in my Diet Coke? What is it, like 500 times the amount of caffeine? It is like my brain is on fire, in a good, good, good, good, good, good, good way! Woohooooo! Gotta go pick up my books at the checkout desk, do laundry, go to the gym, rewrite a show outline, rewrite a show script, relearn the show i am doing tomorrow, and finish not one, but two submissions to Somerset Studios on the theme "Vintage Halloween." And maybe i'll write a few letters. And maybe read. And maybe clean the house. And maybe do dishes. I might never have to sleep again!

It's like drugs (without the pesky vomitting)

Last weekend I finally finished setting up my work space in the studio-half of the big room in my apartment so I spent this weekend working on cards. And by "this weekend" I mean from noon on Saturday when i got back from the gym to 2am today. I just couldn't stop. I decided to send in a submission to "the Stamper's Sampler" magazine. The topic was using stencils within the project, instead of as a tool. I thought i might do 2 or 3 cause I wasn't very inspired by the theme, but want to make submitting to various publications a habit so I gave it a shot. I am submitting 9 cards. NINE. There are some that i love and some that did not come out quite the way I wanted, but in the end it is the process that matters. I have always made cards as a form of affection, but I am finding as I get older that i actually NEED to create. Whether it is cards, collages, paintings or scrapbooking, the creative release is not only good for me, but apperantly imperative to my health and happiness. I have discussed this with one friend who is currently cut off from one of his own major creative outlets and he has a similar story. Do any of you find that the need to create goes beyond artistic expression and is instead a tool for mental health?

Would the opposite of perky be crotchety?

I have a friend named Jonah. We used to work together until he moved to CT to head his own program. We are diametrically opposed on nearly everything; it verges on ridiculous how different we are. If I think the glass is half full, he thinks the glass was recently smashed by a passing asteroid. The things we agree on can be counted on one hand: 1) we have the best job EVER, 2) when in doubt, light it on fire, 3) pizza is yummy, 4) U2 is awesome, and 5) we love each other, though we should make each other NUTS. When he worked here, we were referred to as Frick and Frack cause we were always together, but no one really understood our friendship; in fact, when i met his then-girlfriend (now wife) for the first time, her comment was, "Wow. Is she ALWAYS that perky?" Last week were talking about me joining this century and starting a blog. The discussion instantly highlighted our personalities; here is his version of the story, from his blog: I recently had this conversation with a friend... SHE: On my blog, I keep a running list of things that make me happy. ME: Oddly enough, I like to list things that piss me off. SHE: I think this may entirely sum up the difference between us. ME: Did it occur to you that listing things which piss me off is one of the things that makes me happy? Yep. There's our entire relationship in 5 lines. So for all of you out there who feel like you might need an antidote to my unrestrained love of life, I offer you Mr Science Theater. Just remember that i warned you and that strychnine goes down better with chocolate. I love you, Jonah and there isn't a DAMN THING you can do about it! [will that make the list of things that piss you off? ;-) ]

It's like MAGIC

I am amazed by knitting. in fact, I am amazed by all needlecraft. It is one type of craft that is simply beyond me. I have tried knitting, crocheting, long stitch, emboidery, ribbon embroidery, cross-stitch and counted cross-stitch; I am equally terrible at all of them.

When I saw Kate P. this weekend she brought me a housewarming gift of hand knitted cloths (dish, face or decorative - your choice!). One was vibra-pink cause it is such a Niki color and the other was seasonal. Kate warned me that the shamrock pattern was subtle. She lied. It is obvious and COOL.

How can simple loops and knots of yarn make such different patterns? Kurt used to say that it took pixie dust to braid hair; i think it must take elven magic to knit.

Man I love having talented friends! Thanks, Kate.

Pod People, part 2

I have a digital camera. ... I'll pause for you to recover. TSP team member, Rob, is an incredible photographer. When he joined the team 3 and a half years ago, we would spend a lot of time on the road taking pictures and he had the most adorable, yet versatile digital camera. He is the person most responsible for me going from "despising digital" to "hating digital" to "tolerating digital" to "i-can-see-the-value-of-digital-but-it's-not-for-me" to "wellllllll, maybe." Over Christmas, I was talking to Mel and Mike about the fact that I had softened my views on the film vs digital debate. They had recently gotten a new camera and one of the two (i can't remember which) said, "we should send you our old camera to try." About a month or so passed and one day a big box marked "Fragile" (must be Italian) appeared at my front door. I had forgotten all about the conversation and was blown away to open the box and find Mel and Mike's old camera in my hands. They sent the camera, all the cables, a memory card, all the software, the charger, everything! Heck, it was even in the original box! I immediately took my first ever digital picture commemerating the event.

In playing around with the camera I found that Mel and Mike had sent another present along with the camera. As a "welcome to this millenia" present, there was already a picture on the memory card of the scruffiest member of our family, the cuter-than-you-would-think-possible Stanley Barr.

It has taken me a while to figure out how to 1) use the camera, 2) connect it to my computer and upload the pictures, and 3) post images on the blog.

My little Canon PowerShot is cute and fun. teehee... i like new toys. I think that I will probably continue to shoot film as i really do love film, but think that anything i might want to end up here, or send to others will also be shot digitally. Now just to find a new camera bag. The stripey Guatemala bag has almost had it!

Thank you, Mike and Melanie!!!

Perhaps I am part Canadian

Having males friends my entire life means I am conversational in most sports; however there are only a few that I actually really like. Near the top of the list is hockey. I don't know why men on skates with sticks chasing a chunk of plastic excites me, but it does. Last night Jason, Kate, Colleen and I went to the Caps game in DC to watch them take on the NY Islanders. Man, I love hockey and it is way better live. Unfortunately for the first 2 periods the Caps looked like a college intramural team with crappy passing and non-existent teamwork, but after the coaches served them what must have been a heapin' helpin' of rage stew during the second break, they came out and actually played the third period. Of course nothing could really help the damage and NY won 6 to 2. Despite losing, I still had a really good time and am considering looking into partial-season passes. A little known Niki fact : my favorite sport to watch on TV is Lumberjack Competitions. Whether it is reruns of boomrunning or the Stihl IronJack Competetion, i love me some lumberjack sports. And my favorite is Hot Saw.

A Good Day for Being Born!

March 1st is a great day for birthdays. Not only did Ohio become a state, Yellowstone become the first National Park and the Hoover Dam open, but today is David and Kaaren's lovely daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Isabelle! Also, my nephew's twins came this morning around 3am. As per our family, the girl - Rachel - was no problem, but the boy - Brandon - threw a fit and had to be taken by C-section. Both babies are fine, as is their mom. My nephew, Darryl, however is freaking out in Japan as his leave to come home and meet his babies hasn't come through yet. [I'm sure it will all work out] Happy March 1st to everyone and Happy Not-Crapuary-Anymore, too!