web-goddess

Month: June 2008

  • Kinkos = FAIL

    Kinkos = FAIL
    ARGH. I wasted like an hour today with stupid Kinkos, trying to get a nice corflute sign printed up for WWKIP Day tomorrow. I was given a price brochure at the North Sydney branch and it lists the price as $50. I emailed the head city branch and asked whether it was possible to get one printed to pick up at noon tomorrow. The guy wrote back and said yes, so I sent them through the file and requested that they confirm the price for me. He never responded, so after an hour I rang them up. Turns out that guy had gone home for the day. The night guy had to ring me back about three times, finally letting me know that my sign had already gone into the production queue, would be ready “by 4pm” tomorrow, and would cost $140. WHAT??

    After much to-ing and fro-ing, in which it became apparent that the price in the brochure is for the sign alone – NOT THE PRINTING – I cancelled it. Very frustrated. I really wanted us to have a nice sign. 🙁

  • Cat Fez

    Bex just sent me a link to the greatest knitting pattern of all time: Felted Cat Fez. I LOVE IT.

  • RunningBlog

    Last night I officially registered for the Melbourne Half-Marathon on October 12th*. I also booked us into a hotel for that weekend. My friend Kylie told me about this “secret hotel” thing where you can get a reduced rate at a 4* CBD hotel, but the catch is you don’t know which one it is till after you book. (Presumably it’s whichever one has a room to fill.) Now me, I like surprises. So I made a reservation and we ended up getting the Batman’s Hill on Collins. Not bad, considering we’re saving $70/night off their regular rate. Anyway, now we just need to get some plane tickets and I’m all set. Well, except for that pesky TRAINING part…

    On that note, I went for a short, slow 4.5k run this morning. My lower back had been feeling a bit bruised from the manipulations, and it got weirded when I ran. I felt like my whole “caboose” was moving around a lot more than normal. I suppose it probably was, given that he’d freed up a lot of muscles that had become frozen in place. I noticed that it was easier to run without hunching. It’s a few hours later now, and I’m feeling some uncharacteristic soreness in my abs. I suppose these are the core muscles that are meant to be engaged when I run, but due to my misalignment I haven’t been able to use them properly. It’s a little weird to have to get to know your body all over again.

    * I will be doing this as part of the Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge. The idea is that thousands of runners around the world will all set a goal to run a set distance (5K, 10K, or the half-marathon) around that date in October. You don’t have to do it in an official race; you can run it on your own on the treadmill if you want. There are about half a dozen Australians signed up so far. If you’re a runner and you need a goal, I really recommend you consider taking part. It doesn’t cost anything and you get access to some great training plans and running forums. Check it out!

  • Chicken Fried Bacon

    A guy in a Texas roadhouse is serving up chicken-fried bacon… with GRAVY ON THE SIDE. I know, I know; you’re supposed to laugh at the stupid fat people eating their deep-fried cancer sticks. But secretly, I was watching that video and thinking to myself: “Replace that gravy with ranch dressing and we’re in business!” (Link courtesy of reader Lisa, who hilariously pointed out that there’s another reason for me to be amused by this video… which I’ll leave it up to you to discover.)

  • RunningBlog

    If it’s not one thing, it’s another, really. My lungs are finally recovered to the point where running feels good again. I did an 8K on Sunday and I felt energized at the end of it. No huffing and puffing. It was great… except for my lower back. I’ve had this issue for a couple years now, and it’s been one of the reasons that I always quit after a few months. I started seeing a sports masseuse earlier this year in an attempt to fix it. That made the problem bearable, but no matter what we did, it didn’t seem to right it completely. In fact, in the past week or so it’s progressed to the point where I’m feeling pain even when I’m not running. So this morning, it was off to a proper physiotherapist. I saw Michael at the Sports Clinic at Sydney Uni, and it turns out he’s an expert at this type of thing. He confirmed the diagnosis that my pelvis was pretty far out of alignment. (Like, centimeters out.) This biomechanical issue is the source of just about all my running complaints: back pain, tight hips, pinched sciatic nerve, tight hamstrings, hunched gait, etc. So he set about putting things back in place. There was much pulling-of-legs and manipulating-of-joints, and it all ended with a lovely session under a heating pad. I noticed some immediate changes: I could touch my toes without pain, and my hamstrings were able to stretch a lot farther. Michael gave me some stretches to do at home, and he’s restricted me to shorter runs for the next few days. He says that normally I’ll regress a third of the way back, so I’m seeing him on Monday for further correction. I can’t wait to see if this gives me a breakthrough in my speed and performance!

  • iPhone

    At last. I only have to put up with my crappy old phone for one more month…

  • Shared today on Facebook

    is salivating over iPhone 3G. Only one month!

  • Media Consumption

    It was a grey, rainy, horrible (in lots of ways) weekend, so we spent just about all of it holed up in the house.* We read, worked on our hobbies (me: knitting; the Snook: Warcraft and homebrew), and watched a lot of movies.

    • Twilight. Yeah, I finished this teen-vampire-romance less than 48 hours after I started it, and IT ROCKED. I sighed a lot. It’s just so shameless in the way that it creates the ultimate “safe” bad boy: an incredibly beautiful vampire who’s sworn off human blood (and presumably all other icky urges) and wants nothing more than to hold his girlfriend and heave meaningfully, yet who could also snap and kill her at any time. It’s like someone went into my 16-year-old brain and turned it into a book! And yes, I fully realize that I’m going to have to read, like, Crime and Punishment to make up for this ridiculous indulgence.
    • Emma. This was the Kate Beckinsale version, and I have to say that I didn’t like it very much. It was so dreary. This Emma was very snobby and unlikeable. (Ma Snook and I discussed it on the phone tonight and she agreed with me, going so far as to call our heroine “bitchy.”) The real problem, though, was Mr Knightley. He was old and not very handsome, and when he reminded Emma (just after she accepted his proposal!) that he held her in his arms as a baby, it just seemed way creepier than it did coming from Jeremy Northam. So I’m sure the Austen purists will be horrified, but I have to say I still prefer the Gwyneth Paltrow version. I like my Austen light and bright and sparkling.
    • Om Shanti Om. Despite receiving some bad news in the middle of it, this film was still able to make me smile. I’d never seen a Bollywood film before, and this one is apparently the biggest hit ever. It’s a spoof/homage to the entire genre, and it features cameos from literally dozens of famous Bollywood stars. Of course, we got maybe 5% of the jokes, but it was still fun. And DUDE, if you’re a straight woman (or a gay man), you have to see the Dard-E-Disco bit. Shahrukh Khan is apparently, like, the Brad Pitt of India, and he only gets those abs out on special occasions. Phwoar!
    • Steamboy. Oddly, the Snook (who is usually the bigger animé fan) lost interest in this one before I did. I guess I’m more of a steampunk fan than I like to admit. I thought the story and the artwork were great, but yeah, I got bored during the long third act where it just seemed like crap was blowing up. And his Dad’s horrible freaky hair is going to give me nightmares for a long time.
    • Persuasion. This was the more recent version with Sally Hawkins. I really liked it! (But hmm, it definitely wasn’t light and bright and sparkling. What do I like about my favorite Austen adaptations then? Shamefully, it appears to be handsome leading men. Captain Wentworth was double-plus dreamy.)

    * I did make it out for a 5 mile run on Sunday, which helped my mood considerably.

  • Rock & Roll Mustaches

    From the serious to the silly: The Top 10 Rock & Roll Mustaches. (Link courtesy of cousin Jenny.)

  • Thank you

    Thank you
    I just sent this in an email to a friend, and I realized as I was writing it that I should probably post it here as well:

    And thanks for your message. I feel a bit sheepish and guilty now, because really, I’m fine. I feel guilty that I didn’t get to know Josh better, but at the same time a little relieved because his loss hasn’t affected me much. I was mostly worried and sad at how his family would take it… but having spoken to them, I realize now that they’re all much stronger people than I thought. They’ve got a good support network around them, and really, it’s silly of me to think that my being there would make a great deal of difference (while I’m sure they would appreciate it). I’m still very, very lucky in that I haven’t had to deal with the loss of someone close to me. I think that’s why I tend to freak out in these situations, because I have no idea how I would deal with it.

    So thank you for your kind thoughts and messages. It seems weird to think that the well wishes of a group of random Internet friends can be a positive force in the world, but I think it probably is. At the very least, I hope you guys have been inspired to give your loved ones a call and tell them how much you care about them. As for me, I still feel a little bit like I’m living on the space station, in that I’m so far physically removed from what’s happening over there. That’s the situation though, and there are lots of folks besides me who have to deal with the same reality. We do the best we can. I guess it’s back to normal now…