July 29, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
7:45 AM (Pacific)
Hummm...I know I don't write about my kids often. I can't. I'm horribly superstitious. It's the inner Asian jumping out...you know, you call your kids ugly so the gods wouldn't be interested in them.
They're great kids though. I couldn't ask for better kids. I wouldn't want anyone else's kids. :)
Everything changes once you have the kids. Life becomes simple. Not easy, mind you, but simple. You care a lot less about what anyone else thinks. It's unimportant. What's important is...the kids.
*g* Yup I was reading Dain's blog. It's a fantastic blog, it's getting to be the top draw on the site. Good. I like to attract a literate crowd. Anyhow...about mothers. Don't let them fool you. It's the worst thing when the kids grow up and go away. I can never think of letting mine go.
I mean, I'm having a hard enough time sending my son to first grade. It sounds ridiculous, but it's very, very hard. I've never felt that way about anyone else before. Okay, maybe my own mother. She'll drive ya nuts, but I can't imagine life without her.
I think...logically...you do get closer to your mother when you have your own kids. For one thing, your perspective changes. You start to realize how hard it is to bring up kids. You always have to be "on."
I think mainly because we don't pay people to bring up kids (unless, of course, they're bringing up someone else's kids)...on some level, we just naturally assume that it can't be that hard, otherwise wouldn't it be six figures?
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...
The thing is...it's your mother who really teaches you right from wrong. It's your mother who keeps you from getting a big head. If she did it wrong, believe me, you'd turn out to be one of those horribly spoiled creatures, but you aren't. You understand your own value but it's not overly inflated.
And then, you want to work. You want to do the work. That also comes from your mother. I make my kids work...I don't fetch and carry and pick up after them (well okay you have to do some of that, but when they're old enough, you can either continue doing it or make 'em pull their own weight). Ugh! I don't want them to grow up expecting someone else to wait on them.
Well I'm not gonna break my arm yet (patting myself on the back), just, probably it's hard for mothers to show that mushy side, but it's there.
Hey! My Cafepress order was shipped. That was fast. I placed the order on 7/22, mailed them the check, and it's sent.
Yes, I went for the super el cheapo flat fee, $5 for as many items as you want. They do UPS and all that, I just didn't feel like paying.
Now at least I'll find out if the lettering came out. Good grief...well I compared it to another t-shirt I have...it also has small lettering on it for the copyright. The font sizes were about the same. Still I'd like to see it.
Hummm...as you can see, I put colored bands behind the black bands on the site. Too much black. I'm sort of happy with the design now. Soooooooooort of... Actually I want to add something to it. Just not sure what, exactly.
July 25, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
6:19 PM (Pacific)
Well, I am a little bit excited. You can track Cafepress orders, and they've already received my check (they do accept checks). Hummm...I hadn't thought about it but it is a bit cool to wear something you designed yourself. Sort of a Joe Six Pack version of clothing design.
I also redid the design of the main pages of the site. Odd...my FOBB site had roughly 3 incarnations. The first was all pink. After that I went Javascript nutty and had too much Javascript all over the pages. Then at one point it all came together...I did the Grace Kelly applet and the simplified page design, and I haven't been tempted to change it since.
The new broadroom is black and white, except for the graphics, which are much bigger than the graphics I used before. I didn't do all the pages in the site that way though. It's not a corporation; it shouldn't look like one. But the main pages should have a cohesion. I dunno. I'll know after a few days if it's good.
BTW if you're bored you can look at the Coffee Cups.
I dunno, was it worth it to use a standard frameset? The only way to avoid it would be to use Javascript. Javascript can be dodgy. It's Netscape's language, I think, so it's always in danger. :) I don't actually mind the frameset...it's ugly, but it's also useful. I could have used a nested frameset, but then, if you're going to go that far, you might as well have a static frame on the left...there's no reason to have a scrollable frame there if you're going to have more than two frames.
And the thing is this. If we had a nested frameset, it still is not infinitely expandable. The only way to make a frame infinitely expandable, is to let it scroll. Once you let it scroll, it's the same ol' ugly anyway.
This new design uses three tables to get the black bands effect. Hum.
Well, I've come to one conclusion, actually. My weakness is that I never went to high school. I mean I never went to high school. I went straight from junior high to the working environment.
That is a fantastic weakness, because I missed out on the whole clique thing. I've read about it, of course I've seen the films...but it's not the same. It's taken me more than ten years to figure out four years' worth of experience.
So bear with me. lol The thing is this, and no one talks about it. But there is always this sort of jealous person in your life. Especially...if you're good. I'm not even that good, but I'm good enough so that I know what I'm saying.
You, on the other hand, may become so incredibly good, that you'll have more than one such jealous person hanging around, at a time. So...you've been warned. :) Don't let anyone destroy you.
Anyhoo, gotta go....
July 23, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
1:35 PM (Pacific)
Okey dokey! Ugh. I spent all morning fixing something the kids broke. It's just incredible.
On the other hand, they are breaking stuff less frequently now. And...it all depends on what kind of stuff you have. My stuff...they never break my stuff. I don't even care about my stuff, except for the computer and some books.
I think the worst thing my son ever did to the computer, was duplicate one of the directories...one of the more important directories. Interesting. Word for Windows automatically switched to the copy of the directory. Excel didn't. How can one software house, produce two such different levels of quality?
Hey, I finally ordered some stuff from our Cafepress shop. I dithered over it for a long time. I finally got the "Red Dream" tank and the "Pink Dream" camisole, and the hat.
The logic is, well, first of all, I can use some tank tops. The only good ones I have now are all plain black boring cotton.
Secondly, the "Pink Dream" camisole is from the "junior" size group. So I'll be able to comment on how those sizes run. And, it has the smallest font on it of all the items. Cafepress has no guide as to how small you can make the font and still have it print legibly.
The "Red Dream" tank is from the "regular" size group. And, it has the thinnest font of all the items. Ergo, if these two fly, the rest of the items will.
The hat...has that famous "bleed" area and I'd like to know how it, erm, bled. And I need a girly hat. Not girly-girly, but not an auto auction hat either.
Hum. What else. Haven't done much else aside from the usual.
July 22, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
2:42 PM (Pacific)
Hummm...it has occurred to me...that I really don't mind cleaning the house.
At first, I'll admit, I resented it. Not so much before I had the kids, because in those days I always had plenty of time to clean and do other stuff. You clean once a week and the house actuallys stays clean during that week.
After I had the kids...lol. I have two kids. They're not quite two years apart. I would say it took a full six years before I could breathe.
It's twofold. Firstly, they destroy everything. Nothing stays clean. Nothing stays where you left it.
Secondly, they eat up the rest of your free time.
So there is that period where it's next to impossible to keep the house the way you want it to be.
Lately though, it's almost gone back to the way it was before. And I've started to rediscover some benefit to cleaning, aside from the fact that the house gets clean. :)
I would say, we're becoming a less and less physical society. Our jobs are more and more automated. We spend less time beating carpets and more time on the computer.
So there is that odd, familiar feeling of working in a physical world. Dirt is dirt. It's there; how do you get rid of it? What's the quickest and easiest way?
And, we are a capitalistic society. We don't value anything that doesn't cost money. Housework is unpaid labor; hence it is unappreciated.
But it can be done, and then it can be done well. (I'm not glorifying its unpaid status, mind you. Isn't unpaid labor slavery?) I am saying that no one extolls the virtues of housework done well, even the people who do it.
OK. How do you clean a ceramic glass stovetop?
It's got baked-on crap around each burner. (Yes, you should wipe it off as it happens, but what if you don't get it all?)
The stove comes with a cream cleanser, but that doesn't work. You can't scrub it off or else it'll scratch. No solvent works on anything that baked-on.
I pondered this issue. Of course the easiest thing to do would be to throw up your hands and admit defeat, but I seldom do that. There's always a way. i.e. unless the baked-on crap has petrified, there should be a way to remove it.
I hit upon the idea of using a razor blade. The stovetop is glass, isn't it? Can't you clean glass windows with a razor blade?
And I do own my own razor blade. (People tend to lose them if you keep them around.) I went and got it and tried scraping the gunk off from an inconspicuous place in the back.
Yes! The gunk came off. I wiped off the area and inspected it carefully for scratches. But, in the same fashion as it cleans windows, the razor blade left no scratches.
I was able to make the stovetop look like new. Yes, I was proud.
How do you clean a down comforter?
99% of places on the Web tell you to dryclean these only. It's safer and easier to tell people to dryclean anything only...but some things imo can be washed in the machine.
My daughter has one of these and I can tell you, it does get dirty. I can't afford to dryclean it every time it does, plus I dislike the chemicals that drycleaners use.
I found one website that said you could machine-wash their down comforters. Just that you had to make sure you got them completely clean, otherwise you'd lose "loft."
And, after all, don't tell me that geese don't get wet.
I tried washing mine...and...it was fine. I wouldn't throw it into the wash every week, but I have successfully washed it twice.
Be very careful about drying it. (Geese seldomly spend time inside clothes dryers.) I used the Permanent Press Auto Dry cycle, choosing "less dry." You don't need to dry it completely, just enough so that you can finish drying it by spreading it out on the bed.
When it's completely dry, fluff it up and redistribute the down.
MIND YOU...if you have this ultra-expensive down comforter and you're terrified you'll trash it, or your comforter is already kind of worn-out...then by all means, go the drycleaning route. It's not worth the stress.
But if yours is a small one in good shape, and washing the comforter cover itself doesn't fly...then you can decide whether to take your chance. I did, and got good results.
Some more observations...
Swiffer cloths. How did I live without them? They are better than Grab-It's; it's worth the extra expense.
I didn't get as good results with their WetJet though. To be fair, my wooden floors are pretty crapped-out; they need refinishing.
And I wasn't too happy using it in the bathroom; for some reason, I envisioned it plucking up dirt and hairs the way the Swiffer cloths do. And it didn't. It just sort of pushed them around. (I had swept the floor before using the WetJet.)
And...I didn't like it in the kitchen. We have new stone tiles and it just didn't clean as well as a string mop.
*sigh* YMMV...some people swear by the WetJet. I just found it disappointing as a replacement for my string mop. It may yet come in handy...it seems to me it should be handier for cleaning small areas or doing touch-ups.
July 16, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
2:36 PM (Pacific)
Ugh. I'm getting lazy. The last real project I did, was the Forums.
I was looking back on my previous stuff...Java, mostly. I think having CGI support makes you lazy, since you can now do all those things you only thought about doing before.
On the other hand, I'm pretty proud of learning Photoshop. :)
Wow, I just downloaded this free links checker: Xenu. I've been meaning to do that for quite a while.
And I did, sort of, fix up our RiSearch search engine. I went back and fixed up the About... pages on the Code Guide, so's you can actually find what you're looking for.
Technically, I should go back and fix up thebroadroom pages themselves...RiSearch depends heavily on the page title, meta description and meta keywords.
Oh well...I knew if I started writing here, I'd discover something to do. :)
July 14, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
1:00 PM (Pacific)
Taking a moment to gather my thoughts here...now that Dain is back. :) By that I mean Dain Choi, the "dai" of the "jo." It's great seeing her.
It's odd but I haven't really thought, in a long time, about what I want for thebroadroom. Originally, it was to be Woolworth's. :) There is no more Woolworth's, I know, and the five-and-dime concept itself seems to be dying out in favor of bland, standardized chains.
But I'm old enough to remember Woolworth's. You could get a stick light--the kind that mounts under a cabinet--for a few bucks. Try doing that at Home Depot.
And Woolworth's had Maybelline. Old Maybelline...Eye Stix, lip glosses. The perfumed lipsticks on the cards..."Candy Ice." Remember that? I didn't think so.
I used to buy my stockings at Woolworth's. I don't like pantyhose; I wear stockings. There were tons and tons of stockings at Woolworth's. Presumably for the old ladies, of which I am one now. They had seamed stockings; the old, non-stretchy ones where the foot was actually foot-shaped; fishnets; all kinds. Cheap. Try getting that at Victoria's Secret.
In short I envisioned a place where you could find anything. You had only to start at the start of the site and keep going.
Recently though, after checking out Dain's stuff, I realized that thebroadroom should be something more.
Now I'm thinking in terms of the Tehran bazaar. I've never been there, but I have heard a lot about it. It's like a city unto itself; it's that massive. Hundreds and hundreds of shops--everything in the world is there. You could get lost in there, you could spend the rest of your life looking around in there.
Of course a site is only as good as its indexing, otherwise you really will get lost in there. That's what not I mean exactly, but the idea of building a massive site appeals to me.
July 8, 2003
posted by Colleen Shirazi at
3:53 PM (Pacific)
Another thing I've discovered...besides not being able to eat candy, my son is also sensitive to caffeine. My daughter isn't; it doesn't bother her to drink Coke or Pepsi even in the evening.
But my son is much, much better behaved, if I let him have at most one can of Coke or Pepsi per day. I've basically cut even that.
He's improved so much. Part of it of course is that he's getting older, but I noticed dramatic improvement both when I stopped letting him eat candy...I'll let him have some but very occasionally...and when I cut his caffeine. He thanked me for it actually. I don't think he realized why he was out of control.
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