Hackbright Girl Geek Dinner #3 Video

Find Michael and me:


Yay for more Hackbright alumni! They are in the midst of interviewing, so good luck!

Baby's Got Skillz

For his first birthday, my nephew Amos has decided to allow me to show off footage of his sick break dancing skillz. Here you go:





Happy first birthday, Amos! To see the original video, click here.

HyperFair and Joe Career Fair Video

I know it's goofy (and I know it's fast and I know I should have tried harder to get someone with a stronger voice), but this video about HyperFair's career fairs has taken up a lot of time in my life recently, so be nice to my brain child, okay?



Note: "Joe" is my generous cousin Kameron Smith. (Thanks, Kam!)

Another note: it was originally a slide presentation in Sliderocket, which I screen recorded using QuickTime, then I imported it into iMovie, where I added voiceover, music, and sound effects that I'd mixed in GarageBand before converting them using Media.io. Each time, something was too slow or too fast, there were problems with getting all the sounds to work, uploading, quality, format, etc., etc., etc. I know it's not the most professional thing in the world, but HyperFair needed fun social media content. I am so glad I'm finished with this project.

Michelle in Solitude

Image found at this wonderful Tumblr.

Once upon a time, I had a deep desire to live alone. I started looking at places and found one I loved, but a lot of outside pressure telling me "it wouldn't be good for me" made me hesitate, and the wonderful place with the inset lighting, shiny new floors, and a soon-to-be balcony overlooking a grassy area that led to a dock and a by-the-river swing slipped away.

Finally, that desire has been fulfilled, and no matter how temporary it is, I love it. Some people thrive on human interaction all the time. I enjoy people, but I also need space sometimes.

"Space?" you ask. "Didn't you have your own room when you lived with other people?" Mostly, yes. But just by sharing living space with someone, I felt a stressful pressure that made me feel like I could never really be at home. I felt like even when I didn't want to, I had to put on a good face and interact with others. I need time to turn off that social side of me and let my task-oriented self focus on other things. I need breaks where I don't feel bad for not talking or for simply wanting to take a nap.

Isn't it funny that there are two words for an alone state? "Loneliness" and "solitude." One negative, one positive. I don't feel lonely--and I fully agree that could be because I still have a wonderfully supportive boyfriend who fills my need for human interaction outside of work. But this solitude is like the first installment of sweet manna from heaven. I breathe it in and it heals my soul. Who knew how wonderful letting silence engulf you could be?

I can hear a cute little family that lives above me, but often I don't even notice what's going on upstairs (though I do have to say I'm glad that they go to sleep early so I can, too), and I don't feel obligated to put on a face or interact with them when I don't feel like it or when I have other things to do. I can laugh when I hear the little boy running across the floor over and over, but I don't have to point out how cute he is to his parents every time.

I love being able to focus and get things done, I love keeping everything at my level of cleanliness, I love not being annoyed by the activities in the next room and feeling like I then have to be quiet and overly considerate in everything I do, I love that I get to be in charge of this space and that it surrounds me with light and lovely things.

Plus, to make coming home all that much more rewarding is the fact that I have four very steep hills I have to climb to get there. Home is the prize at the end of a long and tiring journey.

I feel like people are generally encouraged to be more social than some inherently need to be, and though I make an effort to allow myself to step outside of that expectation when I need to, I often feel bad about it. Being forced to come home to an empty nest is a medicine I never knew. I get to decide when to leave my haven and I don't have to feel bad about it, and that is an amazing gift. I wonder who else has discovered this secret?

And now for something a little more lighthearted.

Only one of these actually apply to me (can you guess which one?), but I thought the video was funny, so here you go. Things that seem normal when you live alone:

Interview with a One-Year-Old

Just in case you haven't seen this yet:

August's Links to Love

August was a good internet month, eh?

Artsy:

A rolling table made of pallets.

Milk art.

Draw your own headboard.

A card for any occasion.

Day/night photos of New York.

Split photos of relatives.

Dribbble, a site for sharing creative web design.

Loveliest small dining room.

Have I already linked to this animated contemporary dancing video? Thought of You.

Just do it dancers:



If I were a shoe crazy, I might use my shoes as home decor. (But I'm not.)

Philadelphia graffiti artists turned mural artists.

Move, Learn, and Eat videos:

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

Exposing the brick wall made all the difference--I would looove to live here.

Can biking be an art? Maybe:




Mormon:

Daughters of Mormonism podcast.


Literary:

Save Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore house!

Sartalics to indicate sarcasm?

More Dr. Seuss books to be published!

Harry Potter trivia.

Harry Potter-related book ideas.

Backyard Scrabble.

Idiot-proof CAPTCHAs.


Yes, I Love Technology:

Search for hotels by date on a map (Google Hotel Finder)! Why didn't anyone think of this earlier?

Google Please Hire Me.


Random:

Need to improve your body image? Have a baby.

Put a bird on it:



Heartbreaking video about rape in the Republic of Congo:




Musical squares.

"Lolita" by Throw Me the Statue:



"Lincoln's Great Depression."

3D Printing (thanks to The Graphic Bee):




A politician who takes a tank to demolish problems:



Darling clothing line. (But, as usual, out of my budget.)

Human pinball:



Get a professional hassler to motivate you.

Transfer accelerator, a.k.a. "slide" in a subway station:



Rethink the food label.

Ziploc ice cream.

I first heard this song during a fitness class and thought the use of "Sound of Music" lyrics was brilliant:




I kind of like this clear glass tub.

Planet made of diamonds.

Sayde Price's "Dirt":




Peter Bradley Adams' "The Longer I Run":




Where children sleep.

Crappy laws of parenting.

The Kid Should See This collects fabulous videos, like these two:

The Horrible Glauser Birthday Tradition

This is what'll be going down for my brother Mike today. I hope he enjoys it. (And if you want to wish him a happy birthday, check out his Lucha shoe company, similar to Tom's.)

Best Reluctant Sound Ever

I re-discovered this treasure as I was moving all my Google Video videos to YouTube:



Ha ha.

What Kind of Weed Killer Do You Use?

Oh my, look what I found:


Watch The Phone Call in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Zeitgeist 2010

ˇ

Now on to 2011.

Wet Paint: "Oh, No!"

In honor of comedy actor Leslie Nielsen, who recently passed away, I watched Naked Gun. Oh my goodness. I think I have watched the following clip at least 20 times since then. The "Oh, no!" part just gets to me, as does the cake and the scream. Absolutely hilarious. (And yes, that is pre-murder football player/actor O.J. Simpson.)



If you want some more ideas of what the "Police Squad" series' sense of humor was like, watch these epilogues:

Proof That I'm Not the Only One Who Goes a Little Crazy When Studying for a Test

Good luck on your test today, Heidi. (And don't be mad at me for posting this. And happy birthday to Amy.)



You know you've gotten burned out and done crazy things, too. Just admit it.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is huge in America, as seen by the plethora of decorations. Thus, when I think of Halloween, this is what I think of:



























(I named the cat Stan after another famous fake cat named Stan)









(cackling, candy-filled books)






Oh, and watch this, because it is so funny it will really make your Halloween happy:




And watch out for creepy almost-black-haired, green-faced witches passing out candy.

October's Links to Love

Artsy:

Cutesie organic materials.

Stop-motion Lite Brite.

Oil painting on people. Ingenious.

Apartment in Paris, untouched for 70 years, holds a treasure. (Lovely decor.)

Ha ha Halloween.

Creepy stair shadows from Martha Stewart (for Halloween).

Hyperrealist painting by Gregor Thielker (not photographs as you might think).

Hollerado's OK-Go-ish video that was accomplished in one take (if you can believe it):



One-dollar food photos.

Human bookshelf.

Fabulous music video:




Eliza pointed out this nifty "all things homemade" website (with those yummy-looking pie pops).

Awesome Baja, California timelapses:

Baja California Timelapses from Mike Flores on Vimeo.

Lace fencing. Gorgeous.

Black walls. Lovely. But would you dare?

Andrew Bird and his electric violin:



The case for handwriting. (I don't believe it, except for the motor skills thing.)

Eric Carle app.

Colorful wall decals that I think don't need to be just for kids.

Well, this is a charming video of the famous Nielson family:



Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, coming out soon. About it.


Mormon:

Conversion stories: from other faiths to Mormonism.

Best beards in Mormon history. Ardis, you crack me up.

No way. A Deseret Alphabet Translator. But what if you want to translate the other way?


Yes, I Love Technology:

Have you heard about SchoolTube? It sounds like a good idea.

Recover deleted files for free! RECUVA!

Hunch: working on a more user-friendly web experience. Sometimes it's useful for the web to know--like when Amazon can suggest a book to me. Sometimes it seems overboard and we are freaked out at first--like the first time you noticed Google Ads that had to do with the email you were writing. But now I think it's cool, though I have yet to click on one of those ads. But there are also people who are crazy about their online privacy.

Google investing in wind power.

Google translating dead languages.

Identifying fonts and how to make special characters.

Yes! Yes! Yes! You can finally set your GMail to go to the next conversation after deleting, archiving, etc.

Google's security checklist.


Random:

Unfortunate placements of ads.

PBS's "God in America" series.

Light up "sorry" and "thank you" signs for your car. I think people would find them kind of insulting. I can just imagine people saying, "Oh, that's real cute. He thinks he can pull whatever stunt he wants in traffic because he has that sign."

Frito Lay is leading the way with electric delivery trucks.

Crocodile causes airplane crash.

My first introduction to Cake Wrecks.

Liu Xiaobo wins the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison.

Babywearing in Parliament.

Interpreting Facebook portraits. Weird.

Phone calls to newly-announced Nobel Prize winners.

"The Five Worst Meanest Little Girls of All Time" (isn't that title redundant?).

Be careful about keeping warm laptops on your lap (Toasted Skin Syndrome, not to be confused with TSS).

A letter to suicide considerers.

Sesame Street Old Spice spoof:



HOBBY: A celebration of Spare-time Recreational Pursuits.

Funny situation with your kid's drawings.

Another "before fame" video: Justin Bieber (I must confess, I still don't know a single song of his):




Oh brother, people couldn't handle the noisiness of Sun Chips bags. They should have looked at it as novel.

A surfing Kelpie at a surfing dog competition. What the?

Awesome Sesame Street Willow Smith parody:




And the original (wow, what a voice at such a young age, though the repetition in this song drives me crazy):



16 things you didn't know about sleep. (When I was little, I slept in sleep position A. Then I switched to B as I got older, and ever since I injured my meniscus, I have to sleep in C. Weird. I hope I don't go on to D, E, and F.)

Weezer getting older and staying young.

Funny sick notes.

A fancy new Las Vegas hotel reflects rays that burn visitors. Oops.

Digitize your handwriting! (I know, I know, I've posted on creating your own font before. But I never thought of it as a way to personalize your emails and such.)




No arms, no legs, not named Bob, but a fascinating motivational speaker:




Powerful speech by abortion survivor:

Christmas Memories in July

Some classics from Christmas 2009.

Vacuuming Sadie:



Mom and Heidi Duet:



Cozy Christmas Home:

Kate Nash

She is lovely, her voice is lovely, her accent is lovely, this song and video are lovely (but please excuse the naughty word at 2:32).

Jessica's Daily Affirmation

How would your days go if you said all these things and meant them every day in front of the mirror? According to the comments on the video, Jessica is now 12 and a straight A student. I wonder if she'd had a little too much sugar at the time. So funny.

Schwarzfahrer

Please take the time to watch this old German short film by Pepe Danquart (I've provided YouTube's embedded version with English subtitles). It won an Oscar. The title is a play on words, because "Schwarzfahrer" means "black passenger," but what you don't know is that the word "black" in combination with other things in German means "illegal" or "bad," such as with the "black market."

So, enjoy. And I promise it is worth waiting for the end!:

January's Links to Love

Literary:

Podcast classes from Oxford are free!

Play with this map of authors. That's an order. Similarly, here you can type in your favorite authors and get some suggestions for some authors you might enjoy. (Like you don't already have a list of 300 books to read.)

Writer as social butterfly article. Do you break down people when you meet them? Do you want to write about them? I do.

George Orwell's diaries.

Translate any word into Parseltongue.

The decade in books.

Artsy:

Vintage Kate Spade catalogs.

Maia Ramishvili art.

Another lovely outdoor wedding.

Helvetica cookie cutters.

The youngest fashion designer ever. (I think my little sister Heidi could do some awesome stuff, too.)

Stolen Monet finally found.

Astounding artworks out of paper.



Between the Folds movie:



I like the idea of a wallpapered dumpster.

Anderson Ink always finds cool stuff. And I like this video she posted of Ramona Falls.

I like this style on guys.

I want to make some valentines like these for the 14th. If only I were romantically involved and someone were romantically involved with me (it's better if it goes both ways, don't you agree?) . . .

35 free fonts.

What type/font are you? test. (The password is "character.")

I will always find scherenschnitte beautiful. And here is some animated scherenschnitte:



I thought I found the German version of J. Crew, but it turns out it's a British company. I love the bright colors in their spring catalog, but it doesn't look like anything ever goes on sale into my price range, so I will probably never buy anything there. Here's the American site. Two of their dresses that I love:














Music:

I'm liking The Last Shadow Puppets:



Be Still My Soul, one of my favorite hymns:


I just barely heard about literal versions of music videos. Ha ha. Like James Blunt's "You're Beautiful":


MCQ's albums of the year list (with included YouTube videos).

Some great MTV music videos.

Techy:

I want a Nexus One! But you knew that. More info.

Google and China via NY Times. And via NPR.

Cool web trend map made by a cool-looking Japanese company:

The Web Trend Map Interview from GaijinPot on Vimeo.

If I had a phone that could take apps, I would totally have foursquare, especially for when I travel.

Via Forbes: "Friendships in the Digital Age."

Have you ever seen funny wifi names? I have. Here are two that are passive agressive.

About Facebook from an employee.

If people send you a question that they just as easily could have answered themselves, and you're the very sarcastic type, send them this link:

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/


Mormon:

Mormon Scholars Testify website.

Random:

Tanya on sex slavery and New York. Yikes.

The guy who made up Gumby died.

Isn't this disease, Huntington's, tragic?

I'm thinking of juicing to get myself to eat more vegetables and digest some more enzymes. Thoughts?

Modern dating map (though we all know I'm not a modern dater because of the abstinence thing).

Bamboo bikes.

100 skills everyone should master.

I want to swim to the edge of Victoria Falls, too!

Martin Luther King (at Home) Photo Essay.

Amusing accent imitation video (not sure I think the German one is that great for a modern-day 25-year-old):



Chocolate and churros!

I'm not a big fan of hearts (as a shape for design), but these hearts seem like a good style for Valentine's Day.

And I liked these valentines.

My Incomparable Morning Routine

Pray to say thank you for my many blessings, ask for blessings for me and for my family, discuss my life, etc.
Make some breakfast (My favorite is probably bread with yogurt. Or crepes.) to eat while I:
Read my scriptures. This includes:

• Book of Mormon, two pages or something I really need or some indexing.
• A page of "The Holy Temple" brochure by Boyd K. Packer
• A section of "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet.
• A section of my patriarchal blessing.
• My "Talk to Yourself" personal mission statement.
• My notes from a general conference talk or a talk or lesson in church.
  

Review something about the German language.
Exercise. This includes:

• Doing back and shoulder and stomach exercises.
• Picking up a bunch of things with my feet, roll around on a ball, etc.
• Going jogging or swimming.
  

Play the piano at the church.
Shower.
Check Facebook.
Read all the new blog entries on my Google Reader.
Read my emails.

That's why I get up early. Otherwise I'd never get anything done.