Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween

Just a little fun to keep you occupied today, click here. (courtesy of Auntie)

-Bitter

Monday, October 29, 2007

Me, week three

Well here it is, the photo you've all been waiting for with bated breath. My third attempt at a self-portrait. This week I decided to go yellow in honor of Halloween.

Me Week 3

-Bitter

Friday, October 26, 2007

Memorizing, phone numbers

The last couple of weeks have been hectic, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the blog in the coming days. :) For those of you who are interested, this time I was sucked into the photography world, the NYC Photo Expo, workshops and classes by people in the know, and meetings with other photogs. Man, time has flown, but it's slowing down now and I'm catching up on life.

*************

Several times a year as I scroll through the names listed in my cell phone, I remember the good old days when I used to know phone numbers. I remember when I used to have them memorized and could recall them at whim or how muscle memory had been drilled into my fingers so much that my fingers knew patterns instead of numbers.

When this happens, my index finger hovers for a moment over the send button of my phone and I wonder if it's such a good idea that I don't know these numbers anymore. The moment passes, I hit send, and my phone connects the call.

The ease of calling someone and the rush of the moment usually keeps me from thinking too deeply of this disconnect and its ramifications, but today I read an article in the NY Times about outsourcing knowledge and it made me pause. And I thought of my cell phone, and how I rarely do math on paper, or how often I turn to the internet for knowledge I should be able to remember from classes in school. And I wonder again, it this something I want to keep doing?

The Outsourced Brain
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: October 26, 2007
I realized the magic of the information age is that it allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants.
Unfortunately, I'm still undecided. Which in and of itself is a decision not to remember.

-Bitter

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Aaaaack! how embarrassing

Have you ever arrived home after a long day, looked into the mirror and promptly slithered to the floor in embarrassment?

Well that was me yesterday. The mascara smudges circling my eyes were bad enough to rival those featured on Seinfeld. (For you Seinfeld fans out there, you’ll know the episode I’m referring to.)

I’m going to chuck the Estee Lauder trial sample I’ve been using for the past week, and trek down to mid-town to the nearest Bobbi Brown counter to resupply myself with my usual no-smudge mascara ASAP.

My apologies to those of you who saw me at my worst, I’m hoping you’ll be able to expunge the freakish sight from your memories…soon.

-Bitter

Monday, October 15, 2007

Me, week one

Me Week 1

Yep, that's me. *smirk*

I've decided to start doing a weekly self-portrait. This is week one. The only catch, I didn't take the picture, Sherri did...so it looks like I'm off to a bad start. lol

That is unless I loosely use the term "self-portrait", because well, it is myself, and it's a portrait...right?

Next week, I promise to have been the one behind and in front of the lens. :) Everyone okay with that?

-Bitter

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

To: the biatch who sat next to me on the A train this morning

Dear biatch who sat next me during the insufferably long A train commute to work this morning,

I thought I would take a few moments out of my day to attempt to give you a few tips.

1) It's rude (and and considered disorderly conduct, see Section 1050.7, letter e) to play your music that loud on your iPod nano.

2) You're going to lose your hearing, sooner rather than later.

3) When I smiled and politely asked you to turn your music down,
you didn't have to be so incredibly rude while saying 'No'.

4) If you want to live to a ripe old age without having experienced some irate person shoving your iPod down/up/into one of your orifices, I politely suggest you never ride one of the New Jersey Transit buses out of Port Authority.

Hope you have a pleasant week and that you take my well wishes to heart as I'm particularly worried about your health.

Kind regards,
Bitter

Friday, October 5, 2007

Saving The Planet, what are you doing?

In the past two days I've read these NY Times articles, and they're a little shocking. The world is changing and the time has long since passed when we can sit back with a "Que sera, sera" attitude.

A Swiftly Melting Planet
By THOMAS HOMER-DIXON
Published: October 4, 2007
In response to the new dangers of climate change, we need a mobilization of everyone with a stake in the future.

Arctic Melt Unnerves the Experts
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: October 2, 2007
Scientists are concerned by this summer’s massive polar ice melt and its implications for the future.

I'm going to:
  • start carrying recyclables home when eat out at places that don't recycle,
  • write to my elected officials and urge them to support environmentally sound laws and practices
  • and hope that the Silicone Valley green tech race will yield viable options to making our world healthy again

What are you going to do?

-Bitter

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Under Construction, yeah . . . i'm tinkering

Over the next few days, I'll be tinkering with the blog. Playing with the look and feel.

And of course, in the grand tradition of Scalzi, I'll be posting a picture of a cat when I'm finished.

Sorry I'm not writing much, but coding and photoshopping take quite a bit of time.

-Bitter

Monday, October 1, 2007

Dare to Dream, Paul Potts

It's things like this that give me hope to keep dreaming.

What about you?

Here's Paul Potts from Britain's Got Talent...