Party Cat. (Link courtesy of Matt.)

Just bookmarking so I don’t forget: RoseRed has a useful tip for getting consistent yarnovers in a lace pattern.

Captain Tripps.
I got an email yesterday letting me know that I was being followed on Twitter by motherabigail. *snort* “Oh neat,” I thought. “People are twittering as the characters from The Stand.” This morning I got another notification that I was being followed by VegasWalkinDude (presumably because I tweeted that I’d meet everybody in Hemingford Home). There are lots of other characters out there (Nick, Stu, Larry, Nadine, Tom Cullen). They’re all pretty well done, sending @ messages back and forth and following the timeline of the story. That said, reading them on the bus in the rain this morning surrounded by sniffling passengers… it started to creep me out a little bit. I have an overactive imagination.

So to assuage my own anxieties, I just did some Googling. The fatality rate in Mexico (according to this article) is 6%. Which sucks, yeah, but we’re not at Captain Tripps levels yet. I’ll hold off til the weekend on stocking up on guns and batteries. (I suppose at least the fact that Australia is never mentioned in the books should make me feel a bit safer. Evidently Randall Flag only operates in the continental US.)

12 Major Brands That Will Disappear in 2009. Old Navy? NOOOOOOOO! Crap, where are Snookums and I going to stock up on cheap American clothes when we next go home? And sorry Daniel – Crocs is on the list too! (Link courtesy of Rebecca’s Pocket.)

There was a beautiful rainbow over the city tonight…

Workshop! I spent the day at AIMIA’s Essential Digital Project Management Skills course. No, I’m not going over to the Dark Side. But I work fairly closely with Venks (our PM), and it seemed like a good opportunity to get some useful advice and tips. The class was on Pitt Street in the city, and there were probably 30 of us there. (To my surprise, I recognised one chick from when she was my customer at Tapestry Craft!) The course was really good, focusing much more on practical advice than on any particular methodology. The information on stakeholder management, risk mitigation, and communication were all particularly relevant for me. After lunch, we had a Q&A session with three business owners in various parts of the I.T. industry. (Note to self: Advertising agencies sound like hell.) So it was a good day. I don’t know that I need to do the Advanced PM course, but if AIMIA ever put on any BA-specific classes, I’d definitely book it. It was well worth it.

Holy crap! The confirmed case of swine flu in northern Indiana is actually a Notre Dame student! That’s one way to get out of your mid-terms. In all seriousness though, this will probably keep us from visiting home until the whole thing blows over. Not because I fear the swine flu, but just because we’d probably have to deal with all sorts of hassles when we got back here. (Right, Gadgetgirl?)

Vegemite Cheesecake. My first response was “ZOMG ABOMINATION!” But after looking at the photos… I’d hit it.

Another blackout in the CBD. Our building seems to be fine, but the Snook’s is out. Twitter is going NUTS.

Monkey Monday: Last week I received a pretty random-yet-fun email request from Kat Murello, an actress working in New York. Her New Year’s Resolution for 2009 is to “hold a higher primate.” Yep, she wants to touch a monkey. So she’s booked in a trip to do it in a few months, and to build excitement she’s featuring monkey-related links on her blog every Monday. She was googling the topic recently and found these photos from our trip to Singapore eight years ago. She emailed to ask if I’d mind writing up my experience holding the chimpanzee. I figured, what the hell. So I went her my reply and she posted it today. Enjoy!