Category: All (-ish)

SEI classroom signs

I’ve been volunteering with Minds Matter, and we meet at S.E.I. in what appears to be a math and science classroom. The signs on the wall amuse me, so I thought I would share them with you.

I just noticed this one today.  I’m not sure how long it’s been up.

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This fraction poster puts me at ease.  Look how nicely all the fractions fit together.IMG_5067

The kind of sign that always annoyed me as a student, yet I never could look away.  Notice how the letters are all color coded, so you can match them up.IMG_5068

I really like these hand-written statements about S.E.I.IMG_5069

Three sentence movie reviews: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

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Having seen the play, I knew what I was in for, and I had already experienced the claustrophobia that comes from being trapped in a small theater with George and Martha.  This, the film felt roomy and expansive in places, and lost some of its urgency.  That said, it’s still quite a good movie and while all actors are great, Sandy Dennis particularly delights as Honey, the young wife of a Biology Professor new to campus.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
(Part of The Next Picture Show’s pairing:  Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and 45 Years)

poster from:  http://www.impawards.com/1966/whos_afraid_of_virginia_woolf.html

PKO Senior Dissertation

This autumn and winter, I’ve been helping a senior in high school with her high school dissertation, which is what her school calls the culminating senior project. I was one of three committee members and my job was editing.  I had great fun looking over PKO’s research paper and her journal entries.

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PKO’s focus was on animals.  Her paper was about Animal Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation.  She also volunteered at the Oregon Humane Society with dogs, teaching them commands to make them more adoptable.  During that time she kept a journal, which included information about the different dogs she volunteered with as well as instructions for teaching commands to dogs.

Her teacher said it was one of the top three senior dissertations she had seen.

Well done PKO!

Snow Day!

The surprise snow, brought a not-so-suprise snow day.  (We don’t do snow in Portland, and we certainly don’t do ice on top of snow.)

Ice and snow on the front porch.

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My street was looking okay, but the side streets were icier.

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Melting ice and snow in on my doormat.

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We started the next day with a 2-hour delay, which was converted to a second snow day by 7:30am.  Two snow days!  What a gift!

Three sentence movie reviews: Top Five

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Funny, and with tons of cameos. The interview/interviewee framework was a good setup.  I wonder if Rosario Dawson will ever get a vehicle that really showcases her talents?

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home, while the snow tapered off.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/top_five.html

Surprise Snow!

Here’s what you usually get when you go to isitsnowinginpdx.com. Because there’s often a lot of weather related anticipation/hand-wringing about the possibility of snow.  And most of it comes to naught.  I find the weather hype annoying.

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But today I woke up at 4:30, read in bed, fed the cats, returned to bed and drifted off again after 7.  When I woke up around 8:30, there was…snow?  It’s been so long that snow has arrived without days of anticipation that I almost didn’t believe I was looking at actual snow.  But snow it was.  I stayed in bed and took in the view.IMG_4857

Antares kept track of the snow out the window. IMG_4858

So I’m going to ask you one more time.  Is it snowing in Portland?2016 01 03

What I spent my Christmas money on

I bought a tablet!

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And because I’ve learned that buying an electronic device is just the beginning of your expenses, aside from the tablet I bought a memory card, a heavy-duty case and also a new bluetooth speaker.  For unknown reasons the bluetooth speaker that worked perfectly fine with my phone was all crackly when used with the tablet.  I also bought a new case for my phone, as my old one was on its last legs.

One thing I like about Samsung products (and perhaps other products do this, it’s just that I’ve only had Samsung phones) is that when you get a new device and log in, everything is automatically downloaded.  It’s pretty cool.

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One thing I’m looking forward to is having a bigger platform to read the digital editions of the newspaper.  You can see the difference here:IMG_4852

And look how much bigger the pictures are on the tablet!IMG_4853

I had a $25.00 credit for apps from Amazon and bought Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, and Settlers of Cataan.  Ticket to Ride is by far the prettiest of those apps, and my inability to win, dammit, has had me playing many games.  I anticipate that not as many games will be played once I start back to work, but it’s an amusing diversion.
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My old phone case served me well.  And was cheery.IMG_4845

Three sentence movie reviews: They Came Together

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Poehler & Rudd come together for a spoof on the romantic comedy genre.  As with most spoofs, I found it amusing, but too long.  There are a million cameos, so if you get board you can spend your time extras spotting.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2014/they_came_together.html

It’s a new year! Stuff got done.

I purposely didn’t plan very many projects to work on over the break.  In fact, the only plan was fix cat tree, so Antares would stop scratching the furniture. Julie came over and we used sisal rope to replace the fraying sisal.  Good job us!

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As a reward, we prepped for my t-quilt, yet another massive undertaking.  My last quilt was made out of 3″x3″ squares of denim and other old pants.  It took more than five years and when it was done, I found it to be ugly.  But it’s super warm and keeps me warm every winter.  I just put a comforter on top so I can’t see my design.  So I have low expectations for this project.  But at this point I need to get started as I have been saving t-shirts from high school. (Borah High Class of 1993.)

I bought sheets at Fred Meyer (one black, one white) and we created a 15″x15″ template and cut out squares of backing for the t-shirts.  Then, we created  a frame (seen behind the square template made out of brown paper bags) so I could center my t-shirts before I cut them to size.  And then we cut two t-shirts so I could get started.

IMG_4847My plan is to affix the t-shirts to the sheet/backing using Sashiko embroidery.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, it was nice to have Julie’s big self-healing mat and rotary cutter, as well as her company.  Thanks Julie!