Oh my god… have you ever eaten a Pluot? They’re the most amazing fruit ever ever ever!!! I’ve never tasted anything so delicious. It’s better than ice cream. They’re sweet and tart at the same time – and the texture is divine!
I just had one for the first time lastnight… and I’m in love! I want to go buy 20 more and eat them all day long!
Jeff Keller, reviewer extraordinaire and the man behind one of the top digital camera review sites on the web, hired me last fall for a massive redesign.
We redesigned his logo & his site from top to bottom! Since then Jeff has been working hard updating all of his archives, creating a robust content management system to efficiently handle his 7+ years of reviews in his database, updating the graphics (1000’s all had purple backgrounds) and prepare everything for our new design template.
So here it is almost a year later and last week we buttoned up the last few little things and now I present to you the new & improved (re-designed) Digital Camera Resource Page!
(The site actually went live last Thursday, but I couldn’t get around to posting it before I left :)
I’m very proud of Jeff for all his hard work putting together the back end, and am very pleased with the design – even a year later! It’s pretty exciting in the world of digital camera review sites to have a redesign like this and Jeff’s site is one of the most helpful IMO. His reviews are down to earth & easy to understand and he’s helped many people guide their way to finding the camera that’s right for them… including me!
Check it out and let me know what you think!
I’m back from Vegas!! I wanted to leave a quick note before I left but of course the last day before we headed out was too crazy & I didn’t even have time. But we’re back now & we had a fantastic trip!
We stayed at the Paris Hotel and it was awesome. This is the first time I’ve been to Vegas since I was like 19, and even then it wasn’t really to go to Vegas – so it’s practically like my first time! Virgin voyage to the city of sin! You know that was a good time ;)
Friday night we settled in, and then headed over to the Hard Rock to eat at Nobu – a DELICIOUS japanese restaurant.
While waiting for our reservation we played a little blackjack – and then after dinner we hit the craps table! This is the first time I’ve gambled at all, and we made out good! It took me awhile to realize all my chips actually meant money – but as soon as I did, I was thinking craps is the best game ever cuz it just felt like free money! :) So we both made about $100 there which was cool, and by that time our friends Bruno & Guam and their 2 friends showed up. They were headed to Body English, which is Hard Rock’s club.. so we chatted w/ them awhile and then went off to do our own thing for the rest of the night. Gotta love the free drinks while you gamble, eh? :)
Saturday we got up, ate and then hit the pool! This was the moment I’d been waiting for. Through all this hard work I’ve been doing, my one little calgon take me away fantasy is just to be laying out in the warm sun, in my bikini with a cold drink in my hand… and we did just that!
The pool there is crazy too, cuz the Eiffel tower is RIGHT next to you! It’s awesome. It wasn’t even tooo hot that day either, which made it just perfect. We even had a 2 free drinks by the pool coupon! score! :)
After cleaning up we headed over to the Bellagio Hotel (beautiful hotel – wow!) to pick up our tickets to Zumanity, with a small scare that we were too late, but thankfully they were still there. Then we headed back over to the Paris hotel for a quick trip up the Eiffel Tower :) Fun to see the view from up there and look down on the pool we’d just been chillin at.
Then we promptly headed over to New York New York (where Zumanity was playing) so we could take a look around and then grab a drink and a bite to eat to hold us over till later. Zumanity was incredible! Totally sexy… lots of skin! :) Cirque de Soleil is so great at interacting with the audience and getting everyone in the mood. Expensive tix, but you really get your money’s worth if you ask me – they give you a serious show! I thought it was great – and we had really great seats too!
After that we headed over to the Aladdin to meet up with Bruno & Guam at a restaurant called Crustacean. They actually have one here in SF, too, that I’ve never been to. We weren’t really that hungry so we all ordered some appetizers and had some yummy drinks before heading over to Curve. The boys had free passes to get in, which was cool cuz normally Rick & I don’t hit clubs that much and personally I’m not into spending the $20-$50 it can cost to get in the door of those places! So free was a great price just to check out the scene.
After that Rick & I lost a little money on the craps table at the Aladdin, and I got a taste of how different the crowd is there vs. The Hard Rock – which is a pretty fun, young scene in comparison! So we left & headed over to The Palms. Rick sat down for some blackjack there and a couple hours later made out with a couple hundred $$$!! Nice babe!!!! It sorta took care of some other loses, so all in all he came out up about a $150 or so, I think – but you should have seen some of the cards he had near the end – it was awesome!!!
Lastly, we hit Risque at the Paris (again, free passes – awww yaa), before calling it a night. Risque is actually a pretty nice club, swankier than Curve for sure.
Overall we had SUCH a fantastic trip. Rick & I had a wonderful time together, I got to get a taste for how fun gambling can be (even though I’m still quite conservative and scared of it :) and I got my fun in the sun with a cold drink! I can’t wait to go back.
Photos? Of course :) Check em out here.
1. If I dohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifn’t see a CD fit to rip for my iPod (or MP3 collection for that matter), is the CD even worth keeping?
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2. Why is it so hard to get the iPod to go back to just straight up shuffle after listening to a specific playlist or CD? Am I doing something wrong?
I also hate it when I want to turn the backlight on & if I don’t hold down the menu button long enough all of a sudden I start “the menu dance”.
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3. I have the Monstor iCarPlay FM radio connector/charger thingy, and so far it’s fantastic. I seem to have good luck w/ 88.1 here in San Francisco.
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4. Check this place out:ReadytoPlay.com.
I might actually do this. With this service I could have my entire collection of 700-800 CD’s all digital and on a couple DVD’s within 2 days. Right now I’ve barely taken the time to keep ripping, so I’m barely through 1/16 of my collection. And believe it or not, out of about 4000 songs I currently have on there – I’m getting tired of my selection :)
update (8/17): Silly me didn’t do the calculations on this right… and it would actually cost me $600+ to get my collection ripped. ($$$ !!!) Now for .10/cd I might do it – but for a $1 CD – that’s just waaaay too much when you have my collection. So now I’m on a warpath to see if I can’t get my collection ripped myself within 2 weeks – Let’s see if I can do it!
Oh – and if you’re curious, there’s another site that does something similar: RipDigital and one even cheaper than those two: MoonDogDigital. Man, you start searching for these places and you’ll see they’re poppin up everywhere, in the bay area alone I think there’s about 5 or 6 companies offering this! Now if they’ll just lower their prices… For $700 I could probably buy my own mass ripping machine & start my own company!
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5. I’ve been loving listening to WOXY
When I’m working I forget to keep changing the CD’s in my changer in the living room, so I usually just play music right off my laptop since it’s right here if I wanna change a song & all. Online streaming radio is the best though because it’s like expanding my shuffle to listen to a bunch of new stuff out there, too. I love KEXP.org, very much too. WOXY I heard about on Tribe and have listened to quite a bit since. They talk about the artists and their albums a fair bit, so I learn something, too! It’s like talk radio for the music nerd.
Oh & WOXY’s stream displays the artist & song title in iTunes! 
Sorry this is last minute, but I want you locals to know about this cool event happenin tonite here in the Mission:
The League of Pissed Off Voters Presents: Viva Blue (evite)
Location: El Rio, 3158 Mission St., San Francisco, CA
(the El Rio is a sweet bar!!)
When: Tuesday, August 10, 8:00pm
This event is a fundraiser for road-trips to register voters in Nevada. Help us swing Nevada Blue, and re-defeat Bush in November.
Featuring:
• Afrobeat band, Aphrodesia
• DJ Dyslexic + Special Guests
• $2 Margaritas!!!
Click here for more details.
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I’d go, but I’m actually going to be in Marin tonite hangin w/ the Weingals and finally seeing their new house! But if you dig good music & cheap margs AND wanna support getting that lahoooserr out of the WH, GO show your support! Plus, my friend Mike is helpin out with it – and he’s RAD! Have fun!
I LOVE comfortable shoes. We’re off to Vegas this weekend, and I sure as heck won’t be troupsing around in 2 inch strappy heals (who can wear those?) Nope, I’m a *total* practical shoe girl. I might have an occasional night out in my fancy boots not made for walkin, but strappy heals are something you’ll probably never see these size 10 feet in!
I have a few favorite pairs of shoes: My red Kenneth Cole Reactions and my tan leather slip ons I got from Nordstrom’s Rack – If I could just have brand new duplicates of these to last me another year or two I’d be pleased as punch!!
Awhile back I’d posted in someone’s comments how much I loved Dansko shoes cuz they’re so comfortable. Totally the practical type of shoe I love. (If you like Dansko/practical shoes – check out Dan’s Practicals). My Dansko sandals, that are kinda like these (but mine don’t have that buckle and they’re black) are so comfy. They’ve lasted me years, too – I bought them in New York about 3.5 years ago! If you ask me, you’ve got to have good walkin shoes!
Come to Jane & I’s garage sale & say hi & most importantly, buy our stuff! :)
This is one of the many items I’m selling – follow the link to more.
Hope to see you there!
Can you believe it’s been a week since I’ve posted? jeeshk!!!
I just had my friend in Hawaii call and ask if I’m still alive. ha! Yes, I’m alive. I’ve just been working my arse off. Look Mom, no arse! It’s all worked off! :)
So ya, I’ve just had my head buried in work literally from 9am all day, all meals right here at my desk, and when I eat I click through all the emails I’ve ignored due to working so frantically… and then on into the night, usually 1 or 3am. (!) ya… just a little crazy.
I got a rush project last week, that spilled over into this week – and then another project that became a little longer than it was supposed to be (aren’t they all? :) So, check this out (and this may only make sense to other designers/web geeks out there) but in 2 weeks I have designed 4 homepages – 2 of which I did 2nd level designs & full production of the HTML/CSS templates – another that’s just had a couple rounds of revisions/updates and another I’m still waiting to hear back on (deadline was just yesterday). I also started & completed a 12 page Whitepaper and redid all the graphs involved… (this also was a great project to get more familiar w/ Quark. I’m all ready to start a zine now boy! ha) And all the little things in between – one being a dynamic text flash thingy that was fun to do.
Anyway, as you can gather I’ve had absolutely no time to do anything else. I’ve barely bathed, eaten and slept! :)
But being busy is so overrated these days huh? I mean, I’m not here to impress you with my long super accomplished list – cuz really *EVERYONE* is just so damn busy. And as I’ve said before – I LOVE IT! So I’m not complaining, but boy is it going to be nice to sit by the pool in LV with a cold drink in my hand!
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Of course my one get-me-out-of-the-house vice is live music! And with purchasing tickets ahead of time, I was able to atleast get my booty out of the house for 3 shows in the last week.
#1 Rilo Kiley last Friday night was *AWESOME!!!!!!!!!* I’m sooo in love with the lead singer, Jenny Lewis. Her songs are so beautiful and full of passion and I love it when she swears. :) Her voice is sooo beautiful and she’s adorable… absolutely lovely to watch on stage.
It was a sweltering hot, sold out show. I am not sure how Jem, who is always wearing a couple layers, even made it through without passing out… but it’s probably cuz she’s a pro show ho! :) xoxo I love that woman.
Ok, so back to Rilo Kiley – if you don’t have any of their stuff yet – go get it now! I’ve fallen in love with their CD “Execution of All Things” – and they’ve even has a new one coming out in a week or so, which you can listen to a few of the new songs here! woohoo!
Here’s a VenisZine interview on them, too.
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After working a bit last Saturday, I did get out & have some fun by hittin Lucia’s fun gathering at Zeitgeist. It was good to be back there, it’d been awhile! I met lots of fun new folks and got to hang with a lot of good friends, too. It was awesome and the night ended with Rick & Jee talking us into hitting El Faralito around 1am. Twist my arm: Care for some butter & cheese right before bed? Heart attack, here I come! haha
It was really fun to hang w/ Jee & Dan, and get to know him a tad better – and just see them together :) It was great to spend time with Jee, too. Especially when she’s tipsy – she absolutely cracks me up. She’s much more silly :) Jee’s a sweetie.
And our fun friend Moses joined us too, which was awesome. He sprained his foot or something, so he’s got this big clown shoe on it (hilarious) & is on crutches (which is a bummer). Moses is a good guy and way fun to party with.
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Then after working all day Sunday, Jem, Rick & I hit The Hives show at The Fillmore. Sahara Hotnights opened for them – Oh & Reining Sound, too, but unfortunately we missed most of their set. I just got their “Too Much Guitar” CD off emusic though, to give it a listen & check them out. I’ve heard good things.
Sahara Hotnights wasn’t any better than when we saw them at Coachella in the 104 sweltering heat. They’re really just kinda boring live somehow. I love their CD Jenny Bomb, but live they’re just very ‘eh’. I don’t know if it’s because you can’t understand anything she’s saying – or because they – I don’t know… it just was whatever. But their chic drummer is sweet :)
The Hives were fun, but between working and going out the night before I was a little wiped out. I’d seen them at SXSW, and they were on fire & it was suuuuch a fun show! This show was really fun, too – but I think it woulda been funner if I had more energy (or a few more drinks in me :) BUT if you’ve never seen them – go & get right up front, it’s a blast. I’m looking forward to checking out their new CD.
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I did nothing but work, work, work from Mon-Thurs night and then lastnight we hit the Ambulance Ltd/Elefant show at GAMH.
Ambulance was INCREDIBLE. I loved them. They’re 5 totally real, down to earth, no frills guys that sound super solid together and you just want to take the lead singer home to your Mom.
I can’t say enough about their set… it absolutely had me sooo happy!!! Not to mention I was honestly just so happy to be surrounded by my show buddies, and with my sweetie for the first time in _days_. It was really. super. great!
Elefant came on next (after a cheering audience chanted their name even!) and I really wanted to like these guys. Especially after seeing their avid fans singing along to every song and freaking out like it’s Elvis himself! But, honestly, I didn’t think they were that great at all.
I mean, I think I woulda liked them more had I listened to the CD first… cuz the songs are catchy and I do like the lead singer’s voice. But you know what killed it for me? This guy could not have been more totally opposite of Ambulance in the down to earth, humble category. This guy is absolutely FULL OF HIMSELF! Which is fine and it’s not the worst – and it’s good to see a guy get up there and rock us out like he owns the place. BUT this guy’s hand movements have *got* to stop. It might as well been a rock opera with his silver glittery scarf, his “i’m trying too hard to look indie” overly shaggy hair and these theatrical dramatic hand movements. HA! He even *watched* his own hands as he slowly moved them dramatically in front of himself. It was hard to watch.
Ricky G made a bet with me, behind Jem, that she’d leave at the 4th song. I thought she’d stay, cuz she gave me hope when she commented on the 2nd song that she thought they sounded like The Psychadelic Furs. But wouldn’t you know it *boom* right when he called it she turned around and gave us the “i think i’m gonna go” line. I owe Rick $2. :)
And that’s THAT!! Finally an update!! Thank you if you missed me and sorry I made you come back here every day or so to find nothing! I even have a camera full of photos to post eventually, too – which I should have time to do this weekend. So, woohoo! Happy Friday everyone.
sorry – blogger ate my template, please hold
Ok, got it working again. phew!
:: blogger put out this new thing where you can turn on this modify post dealio in the settings so it has a little pencil that shows up – problem is that I use php includes, so I dont have a meta header in my template. anyway – that’s the story!
I just talked to a guy who wants to buy my car and found out he’s an inventor! COOL! I was just talkin to a kid who said he wanted to be an inventor when he grows up – and it’s so great to talk to an actual inventor by trade and hear all of what he’s invented!
His big product on the market right now is an alternative lighter fluid called Fresh Light.
He’s signed on with Duraflame to get it into stores everywhere – Go buy it so he can make bigger commission checks AND you can use a fantastic more eco-friendly lighter fluid!! :)
He’s also done some dog products and such. The guy was a wealth of info on the phone actually.
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I’m so excited to get my car SOLD! I want to buy either a VW 4 door Golf or a Subaru Outback.