Pages Tagged “NaBloPoMo”
Blog Posts
- Who am I blogging for?
Why am I blogging these days? Who is my target audience?
- Catching up on photos
Somehow this year has just gotten away from me as far as posting general photos. Oh, I made sure to post albums from events like comic conventions and hiking trips. But the random one-offs and two-fers? I’ve been tossing them up on Instagram, Pixelfed, and/or Mastodon, but I haven’t been maintaining my Flickr gallery. Part […]
- Considering a month of daily blogging
I don’t have the time or ideas for Nanowrimo this year. It’s actually been a decade since I last did it, now that I think about it. But I’ve done NaBloPoMo a few times, and I think I can manage a month of posting one blog entry a day. Plus it’ll be a good way […]
- 20 Days of NaBloPoMo 2015
Things I learned by trying (and failing) to write a blog article every day for a month.
- Tablet Blogging is Actually Convenient!
For short posts, I’m actually more comfortable sitting on the couch and writing on my tablet than firing up my computer and sitting at my desk. This is something I discovered during NaBloPoMo. My workflow typically went like this: Write the post in the WordPress App. Set categories/tags and upload as a draft. Switch over […]
- Oddly Specific Advertising
A Casper billboard on PCH advertises the ‘perfect mattress for furries.’ I assume it’s part of a series. Either that or they’re into really niche marketing.
- Too Many Notifications
It takes forever to get a new phone’s alert settings just right. Every app is configured separately, and they all want your attention.
- Is the ransom note look obsolete?
I remember countless mystery movies, TV shows, comics and stories where a kidnapper or other extortionist of some sort sent a ransom note using letters or words cut from multiple newspapers and magazines to defeat handwriting analysis and prevent matching the quirks of individual typewriters. The jumble of different fonts made for a distinctive look. […]
- Panorama Fail: Chalk Edition
The kiddo was drawing with sidewalk chalk today, after looking at a round-up of panorama fails. So he drew one.
- AAAAAARP!
When I first spotted this sign, the ampersand in the middle looked like just one more A.
- Coin Slot For Your Cell Phone
The 5YO had an interesting idea tonight: “Devices should have slots that you can put real-world money into.” I explained that it wouldn’t be practical because someone would have to go around collecting it, and meanwhile your phone or tablet would get weighed down by all those quarters or bills. Then I brought up Square […]
- Symbolic Costuming: Stage vs. Screen
We took the kiddo to see his first live theater play today, A Year With Frog and Toad. It’s a children’s musical based on the Frog and Toad books, with each song adapted from one of the stories. The costumes in this production tended toward symbolic representation rather than realism. Frog and Toad themselves just […]
- Epi-pen How-To
A diagram of how to administer an epi-pen to someone experiencing severe anaphylaxis as a result of a food allergy, bee sting, etc.
- Les Mis / Chess: Cosette vs Florence (and Eponine)
Judy Kuhn sings both Florence on the Broadway cast album of Chess and Cosette on the Broadway cast album of Les Misérables. My recent Chess-listening binge got me thinking about the two roles, how much stronger a character Florence is (at least when looking at the stage version), and how Eponine’s greater degree of agency […]
- Listening to Chess
I recently went through a few weeks listening to Chess over and over again. This happens every few years when I find a new (to me) recording of the musical, and then I forget about it for a few years until I stumble on another version and the cycle starts again. I’ve never seen the […]
- Genre TV Update: Fall 2015
Somehow I’ve managed to end up watching mostly shows based on comic books this year. And amazingly, there are enough of them out there that I have to pick and choose. It seems I’m able to keep up with about 3 shows on a weekly basis, and still fit in family, work and other hobbies. […]
- So that’s where Vaporware comes from!
This sign pairing has been there for years, and we finally picked up enough round tuits to snap a photo of it. Usually we try to catch funny signs like this as soon as possible. You can bet M’hael’s wasn’t up for very long. But sometimes, as in this case, it’s not something broken, it’s […]
- Gloom ahead, blue sky behind
I went for a walk around the block a few afternoons back. From the office window it looked nice and sunny. That was on one side of the building. I walked out into gloom and wind. But the glass covered buildings ahead reflected the blue sky behind me. The rain started on my way back.
- WiFi is the new Color TV
When I was a kid, motels still advertised “COLOR TV!” on their signs to entice weary drivers to choose their facilities over the next one down the road. I’m pretty sure color TV was standard by then, but the signs remained. These says, every motel I drive past has “Wi-Fi” on the sign, for the […]
- Phone vs Camera
Over the past year I’ve found myself using my camera less and less, and my phone more and more. There are good reasons for it, but something’s missing.
- I “Liked” Twitter Favorites
It shouldn’t make any difference that Twitter renamed Favorites★ as Likes♥. It’s a coat of paint. But labels do matter.
- So much for SudaSudafed
Surprising no one, it turns out the replacement for pseudoephedrine in most over-the-counter cold medication doesn’t actually work.
- Fruit Basket Case
In addition to chips and candy, we have healthy snack options in the break room at work. In some cases it’s a matter of buzzword compliance: Sorry, but using non-GMO organic natural ingredients does NOT make potato chips, popcorn, Cheez-it clones and cookies “healthy” by any stretch of the imagination. But in some cases it’s […]
- Mixed Emotions / Halloween / Comikaze
I haven’t been to Comikaze Expo since their first year. It’s always been close to Long Beach Comic-Con, and I’d choose Long Beach every time. This year, though, LBCC was in mid-September, and Comikaze was Halloween weekend. And since we missed out on San Diego, it seemed like a good plan for a family comic-con. […]
- A Month of Daily Blogging: NaBloPoMo 2013 Round-Up
For November 2013, I decided to try NaBloPoMo and post every day this month. I’d been getting all the NaNoWriMo emails, and while I didn’t have the time or story ideas (and Katie’s covering the “writing a novel” thing), I was a little nostalgic for a writing challenge. Today wraps up my participation in the event. I […]
- Not Exactly Bifrost
Is that a rainbow bridge between two buildings? No, it’s part of a sun halo, formed not by water droplets but by ice crystals reflecting sunlight.
- WonderCon Wants to Go Home
WonderCon still wants to return to San Francisco, but the only convention center big enough is awfully busy…and so is the spring con schedule.
- Learn to Park!
What is it about the holiday season that makes people forget how to drive, especially in parking lots? The other day, while I was trying to back out of a parking space at the grocery store, two cars independently barreled down the wrong way in a crowded one-way aisle. A third tried, but another driver’s […]
- This is why I can’t see stars anymore
Rain, a late night and dark adapted eyes gave me a relatively nice view last night…but I miss clear skies. A photo of LA from space explains why.
- It Came from the Long Beach Comic & Horror Con 2013
My lack of a plan for this year’s con made the show floor less satisfying, but the panels were great: Marv Wolfman, Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, Young Justice.
- Light and Shadow in LA: What a Difference a Day Makes
I went out for a brief walk Thursday afternoon (sometimes you just need fresh air). It had been raining, but had stopped, and the sun had broken through the clouds. Something made me go up to the top of the nearby parking structure where I could see downtown Los Angeles. It turned out to still […]
- A Walk Outside
I’ve found my lunchtime patterns fossilizing. Mostly, there aren’t a whole lot of places to eat within walking distance that aren’t hotel restaurants and therefore expensive, and parking is such a chore that it’s not worth driving anywhere. So I end up going to two fast food places and two cafes, over and over again. […]
- Daily Posting Observations
So, I think I’ve lost the NaBloPoMo challenge, since I failed to write anything yesterday. I had something planned and everything, but I’ve been blogging in the evenings, and felt sick last night and completely forgot that I even needed to. All I remember is lying on the couch, reading Les Miserables, and reading kids’ […]
- Important* Information† About Your‡ Account!**
The envelope strongly implies, but doesn’t actually state that it’s account information from Verizon, but it turns out to be an ad for Time Warner Cable.
- Gullible
There’s an old children’s joke that goes like this: “Did you know the word gullible isn’t in the dictionary?” Then when the other child goes to look it up, you laugh at them for believing you. On the face of it, it’s a lesson in not believing everything you hear. But when it comes down […]
- Feeling Sheepish
So, um, I can’t really think of anything to write about today, not anything I can do justice to in the free time I have before midnight. So, please enjoy this artistic shot of a toy sheep that was sitting on the table. (His name is, of course, Shaun.)
- Duct Tape, Foil and Cardboard
Last night I had to do some late-night laundry, and when I went in to move clothes from the washer to the dryer, I noticed water on the floor. My first thought: Great, the washing machine’s busted. On opening it, though, it looked like it had at least drained fine. So I checked the closet […]
- Mobile: Design for Offline
Mobile apps shouldn’t stop working in a dead zone.
- WonderCon Staying in Anaheim for 2014, Long Beach Comic-Con Next Week
It’s official: WonderCon will be back in Anaheim next year, which means I’m almost certain to go. Coming up sooner, though: Long Beach, next weekend.
- Somebody Hears You
Every time I listen to Vienna Teng’s “The Hymn of Acxiom,” it gets creepier. It’s beautiful, it’s haunting…and it’s all about how big data is tracking…
- Hotels and the Illusion of Simplicity
A hotel stay feels like you’ve simplified your life, but it’s an illusion. Your complexities are deferred, and someone still has to handle maintenance.
- Airplane, leaving me to my own devices
Between my outbound and return flight, new policy allowed me to start writing during takeoff. Thoughts on flying over cities, water and open space at night.
- Nighttime HDR Test: Yerba Buena Gardens
While in San Francisco on business, I wandered into the Yerba Buena Gardens and around the Moscone center. My phone took better pictures than I expected.
- I Left my Trash in San Francisco
San Francisco makes you think about just where your trash is going, both by offering options and by labeling them.
- Time to Read
I have a long list of books I wanted to read this year, and I haven’t read nearly as many as I’d hoped. But some of the ones I have read are immense.
- Ghosts in the Cave
A long exposure shot in Thurston Lava Tube on Hawaii. If I’d known it would look this much better in black and white, I would have converted it ages ago.
- Escape from LA(X)
The spillover from today’s LAX shooting: helicopters hovering, roads closed, travelers hiking miles on foot with their luggage to get away from the airport.