Doing the things...

...that a spider can... ... like getting stuck in a tree apparently.

31 Days

You know i generally avoid news - it is just so darn depressing. However, when i sign into e-mail i do at least read the headlines on MSN and Yahoo. Of course that means i am also exposed to the filler on the front pages and i admit that i sometimes click and read whatever catches my eye. Over the weekend there was a story about women who did one tiny self-improvement thing everyday for 31 days and how that one little change added up over the month. I am interested in self-improvement, but i am inherently lazy and a creature of habit so this sounded just right for me. Though i am still going to the gym and working on yoga i have found that my regiment at home has suffered (read : non-existent) since the holidays (read : Labor Day), soooooooo for the next 30 days (i did it this morning already) i will set my alarm clock one minute earlier and do crunches before i get into the shower. So says I!

Pharmaceutical free

I think that some people just don't quite get the Nikiverse. For instance, if I were to say, "We were driving through this neighborhood when I saw a huge bear with a tattoo and a mohawk; he was wearing ripped jeans and declaring his affection for the nation's capitol," there are people who would suggest that i should stop imbibing illicit narcotics. Or that i should start taking some prescription ones. To those people i say : NYAH! I don't look for the insanity, people; it is just there.

Tight Squeeze

Today we did a special program for a festival of young astronomers. Normally i'd never agree to a Starlab on a Saturday, but i thought it was a worthwhile endeavor so i said yes. The four shows went great. The site, however, was special - they put us in a classroom. Ever seen a portable planetarium? It's big. We normally perform in the gym. Today we shoehorned it into a classroom : Doesn't that look cozy? Alarming doesn't really quite capture the reality of me seeing this room or AJ trying to position the Starlab as it inflated.

Score!

Every year for Christmas my dad sends me a box of the greatest citrus Florida has to offer - the honeybell tangelo. It is sweet like candy and tastes like you are eating orange juice. It is ridiculously yummy. Plus, i love the funny bell shape. Though it is a Christmas present, the box doesn't arrive until January cause that is when they are ripe. look at that box of loveliness My box came about 2 weeks ago and we have been eating and enjoying them since. I commented at work that i was sad that i was nearly out of honeybells and when i got home guess what was waiting for me? YES!!! Another box of orangey goodness! Turns out the growers were supposed to replace my brother's shipment cause something was wrong with it, but they resent my shipment instead. Since it was their mistake i don't have to send it back and i have more honeybells. Come on over if you want one.

Jacket Drive

If you live in or around Baltimore there is a Jacket Drive for the homeless going on at the Inner Harbor, partnered by the Maryland Science Center, the Aquarium, CBS Radio and St Vincent dePaul. From noon to four on Saturday January 24th there will be a van and promotional tent on the Aquarium side of the harbor and 2 collection vans at the back door of the Science Center. People donating gently used jackets and coats will receive coupons for buy one, get one free admission tickets. Come enjoy the cultural institutions downtown and help those in need.

TAG!

I never really saw the point of tags on posts until i went to find something from last year and had to search 3 months of archives to find it. For that reason i am slowly adding tags to all of my past posts. I've done the most recent 50 and am delighted to see that the most heavily used tag is insanity. hmmmmmmmm Only 398 more to go!

Mass production

All of the New Year's cards are mailed (though the overseas one just went out today cause i actually had to go to the post office to do that one; sorry Francie) and it is still January; i consider that a success. In truth many of them were out before January 10th (which is my arbitrary goal that i have never actually made) but this year i had a lot of ones that i needed to find new addresses for so it took a bit longer to get the fourth and final mailing done. I was telling someone the other day that i made 98 cards this year and she wondered how I produce so many similar cards. It all starts with the list. I write out the list of who i want to send cards to so that i know how many i need to make; generally i have 3 lists - A for the people that have to get cards, B for people that should get cards and C for people i would like to send cards to but there is some issue like i don't have their address or it has been several years since we've been in contact with each other. The A, B and C lists this year combined to 105 people so i knew i'd need 2 large packs of card blanks and that the card base would be white (cream only comes in packs of 40 so i'd have to by 3, making it too cost prohibitive). Next comes a design. Normally i have a stamp, an image, a paper or a concept that i want to use; this year i started with the idea of a ribbon across the center of the cards. I had some Michael's gift cards from Christmas so i decided to splurge and get new paper. I found this awesome black flocked paper and turquoise ribbon and calculated how much of each i needed to buy to make the cards. The big glitter leaf was born out of the pattern on the paper. Time to prototype. This is the most time consuming part of the process cause i want the card to be nice, but reproducible. When i am make one card at a time i can put 15 intricate steps together and spend 2 hours on it, but mass cards have to be assembly-lined. You can see from the picture that the prototype is a mess as i try a bunch of different things. Once i am pretty sure of the design i start to get the materials ready. Flowers get ripped apart; Paper and ribbon get cut into the proper lengths. I will assemble one or two cards to figure out which adhesives are best for which job (this card used brads, tape runner, terrifically tacky, and 2 sizes of glue dots) and then set up a production line. (wow, the lighting was really different in those, huh?) To keep from going insane i will do some little jobs like punching a hole in the base of each leaf or coloring silver brads black with a sharpie all at once, but do big jobs like folding, stamping, signing and assembling in batches of 20-30. I also addressed, labelled and stamped the envelopes in batches of 40ish. When i finished a set of cards i would write them out and pop them into the envelope ready to go; that's why there were separate mailings and those of you at the front of the alphabet got yours a week before poor Rickki W and Kathy V. Having a system laid out keeps me from getting bored, prevents Arthur Itis and his gangsta cousin Carpel T from visiting and allows me to accomplish something every night instead of the process dragging on and on forever. There are always flaws in every system, like when i ran out of mono glue at 2 am and production came to a stand still or the fact that the middle mailing (about 30 cards) went out without the "09" written on in turquoise sparkle ink, but overall the process works for me. Right now i am working on 50 cards for an event promoting my Etsy shop and from conception to completion it will take about a week.

Winter Wonder Days

Everybody loves a good promotional day at the museum. I volunteered to work Winter Wonder Days today - appropriate as it was 20 degrees outside - and made sure i was properly theme accessorized : - glittery snowman pin on lapel of uniform - sparkly snowflakes in hair - snowman nestled in braid - fuzzy mitten and snowflake charm on name tag (hey Jean - remember when you made that charm? feels like 100 years ago, doesn't it?) We had several exploration tables set up to see ice up close, to see how salt affects ice and to learn what conditions cause winter precipitation We froze bubbles by blowing them over a pan of dry ice (look at the bottom of the pic) There was a room for exploring the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees and then make your own tree. As well as a table for cutting out snowflakes, either your own or following a pattern: There was a wintery themed puppet show including a walrus singing "What a Wonderful World" I was stationed at Salty Snowflakes where you paint on black paper with super-saturated salt solution. I went for a snowman to welcome people in: Of course i got paired with an artist who did a Baltimore Ravens shield snowflake show-off Much fun was had by all who attended, but now i need to go find lotion cause it feels like the salt sucked all the moisture right out of my hands.

Because Sleep is Over-rated

I have taken up yet another third job. Like my last one it is at my current place of employ, but for another department. Before i was working Friday nights from 5-8 for visitor services; now i am taking the same shift, but working on the floor with visitors in out earth science and astronomy current news centers. I really like working in different departments because it gives me a better understanding of how the museum works (or doesn't work) as a whole. plus, i already have the uniform. Not to mention the extra money is going into my cruise souvenir fund.