Weblog Wannabe

Fodor’s Travel Wire recently posted 8 unusual budget accommodations in Europe. When in Rome, stay in a nunnery for $90 a night. Or better still, when in Scotland, stay in a castle for $28 a night. If cheap accommodations aren’t…

I kept asking Troy if there was any places in Canada offering igloo building courses, because if there was, I’d like to sign up. He just thought I was weird. So I decided to search for igloo building courses on…

Having a new computer, I had to do a fresh install of all my favourite software, including Firefox. While Firefox is good on its own, I was so used to having all the additional features that Firefox extensions provide…

Brick-O-Lizer is meant to be used to make LEGO mosaic designs, but I’ve found that you can also use it to make simple, greyscale pixel art. Just upload a .gif or .jpg image you’d like to pixellate and this tool…

When Vector Meets Photo. I’ve been meaning to give this tutorial a try for a while but procrastination always gets the better of me. Hopefully posting this will make me get to it….

Came across this t-shirt at Threadless a couple of days ago and it made me laugh because, well, I can’t use chopsticks. Every time we go to an Asian restaurant, we always have to ask for a fork and…

Playing the Show Jumping game brought back memories of watching my brother competed in show jumping events many years ago. I suck at this game, though. I think I’d do even worse if I had to do the real thing….

Nothing can make me feel more grown-up than sitting in a dentist’s office, waiting for Troy while the oral surgeon molested his mouth this past Friday. Mind you, they stated clearly that only a responsible adult may accompany a…

Tea ‘healthier’ drink than water. I should probably get some decaffeinated tea bags. I love tea (well, only orange pekoe and green tea) but my body doesn’t really get along with caffeine. Speaking of tea, am I the only one…

Canon EOS 400D Digital Rebel XTi Preview. Hopefully that means the price of its predecessor will drop significantly. Though the XTi sounds pretty sweet. I especially like how it comes with a Self-Cleaning Sensor Unit….

The stark reality of iPod’s Chinese factories. The iPod factory workers in China work 15 hours a day and earn £27 (around $51 US) a month. Haven’t seen any Boycott iPod movements going on….

So, what are the TV shows you’re looking forward to the most this fall? I’m only looking forward to Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. Sure I watch more than just two shows but I’ve taken shows like Law & Order…

What Can I Eat When My Teeth Hurt? Just so I know what to cook for Troy. He is getting one of his teeth pulled out by an oral surgeon on Friday. If there’s any soft food that you’d like…

I want to practise doing the surgeon’s knot on my hiking boots, but alas, they’re still in the car. If it really works as advertised, I’m definitely going use it all the time in winter since my boot laces are…

This collection of Bad Signs made me laugh so hard. But then again, I’m very easily amused. I’m sure I’ve seen the first one somewhere in another collection….

How to Get a Free Yacht. No kidding. Apparently people give away their yachts for free when they’re getting divorced. Well, at least in the States they do. Not sure how it is anywhere else. Make sure you can afford…

I happen to be one of those people who like the [this is good] feature on Vox. As mentioned in the Team Vox blog when the feature was released, it was meant to add “the ability to tell someone…

I upgraded my Movable Type installation from version 3.2 to version 3.31 yesterday. For some reasons, the upgrade killed Markdown and Smartypants. I’m anal about typography so that was unacceptable. So I downgraded back to version 3.2 and I got…

Panographies: Panoramas on Steroids or panorama in the style of Hockney (David Hockney is an English artist famous for his photocollages). I think I’m going to to shoot something like this when we go to Port Dover this weekend and…

We listened to part of Ali G’s interview with Pat Buchanan on CBC Radio last night and it cracked us up. “Does you think that Saddams ever be able to make these weapons of mass destruction, or as theys call…

CBC Special: Talking to Americans, with Rick Mercer (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) is up on YouTube! Funny stuff. Of course I’ve seen this on TV before but it never gets old. :) I just love Rick…

Arcade Daze is a collection of 20 freeware icons from the Icon Factory featuring characters from retro arcade games such as Super Mario, Ms. Pacman, and Space Invaders. Cool stuff! (via notcot.org — an awesome blog!)…

Google has made an announcement about Google Analytics being open to anyone who’d like to get an account. You no longer needs an invite to sign up. I’ve been a Google Analytics user since the launch, and while it’s quite…

While checking my site statistics, I saw with horror some referrals from Hot or Not Designs. Apparently someone has submitted my site to it (pretty sure it wasn’t me). It’s like the year 2000 all over again. And I thought…

How to Call in Sick When You Just Need a Day Off. If you’ve been working for the man for years, I’m sure you’ve perfected these techniques already. ;) But if you’re new, this guide might be just what you…

Blogger has announced the launch of a new version of Blogger in beta. The new features include categories (they call it “labels” instead of “tags”, which makes me wonder if Yahoo! owns “tags”) and the ability to control your blog’s…

How to develop a photo using blueprint paper and Windex. I think it’s more like an image transfer than photo development since you need a black and white print to start with. It’s still interesting nonetheless. Might try it if…

We’re already halfway past summertime but it’s no reason not to put up a summer music mix. I made a mixed CD worth of around 6 hours of music (if not more) for our cottage weekend two weeks ago….

The Gwigle Game is “an educational game to help you use Google more effectively” in which you try to figure out what is being searched for by looking at the results. I hate to admit that I didn’t go very…

I’ve been listening to Fiona Apple’s cover of Elvis Costello’s “I Want You” all morning. It’s such a great cover. I’ve had it on my playlist for a couple of weeks now but still haven’t got tired of it. You…

DC Comic Books Archive has a bunch of comic books available online for download. I’m not a comic book fan at all, but Troy is. I’m just posting this for him, though he might have known of this site already….

Adorama’s in-depth guide to Special Effects Photography is an interesting read if you’re into photography. You may need a SLR camera for some of the tricks explained in this guide, but not all….

A couple of weeks ago, our 6 years old computer started to freeze randomly. It was still bearable at first but then it happened more and more frequently to the point of being annoying. (Gotta love me for still…

“A single can of soda a day can add up to 15 pounds a year, report says.” And that is why I decided to give up on pop completely last week. I was doing well living without pop for two…

Roboclaw is a flash game in which you use the arrow keys to control the claw that’s used to pick up blue orbs and drop them into the goals without hitting any obstacles. It’s fun!…

Flickrshow is a simple javascript that enables you to display a slideshow of your Flickr photosets on your own website. I think it’s pretty cool….

BookMooch is a free book trade and exchange community. “Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch.” Sounds interesting….

How to add a Google Map to any web page in 30 seconds using WikiMapia. It does look quite straightforward. Troy really should make one of all the thrift stores he’s visited in Southwestern Ontario. Heh….

“These suicide notes were gathered at the coroners’ offices by a suicidologist/psychiatrist who asked to be anonymous.” Not really the kind of stuff you’d want to read when you’re feeling depressed….

How to make shadows on the wall. I find the shadows in the form of human faces more interesting than the animal ones. And more creepy, too!…

How to Make Stop-Motion Video Shorts with Your Digital Camera. This is definitely worth trying. We have a bunch of plastic Little People we picked up from a thrift store that we could use. Though I think Troy has more…

Superman Returns™: Stop! Press! Game. You are Jimmy Olsen and your job is to take a picture of Superman in London, Hong Kong, Sydney and Metropolis for the front page of the Daily Planet. Play the game and you’ll find…

How to Treat a Mosquito Bite. I’m one of those unlucky people who always get a big, itchy swelling from a mosquito bite. I got, oh, only a dozen of them from the cottage weekend. The biggest one is conveniently…

My mother passed away exactly three years ago today. There is no day passed that I didn’t think about her. There is so few things left to do for people you love who have passed, if any. It’s kind…

Ontario storm leaves 150,000 without power. Just thought I’d post this as a follow-up to yesterday’s post. No power outage in our area, thankfully. Though the storm last night was quite spectacular, especially in the lightning department. Today’s temperatures have…

Tornado, thunderstorm warnings in effect in a number of places including Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Erin, and southern Wellington county. A tornado has been spotted 3 kilometres southeast of the highway 6 and 401 intersection. This had better…

Do you know how much I love del.icio.us playtagger? The answer is: very much. It allows for a quick and easy playback of mp3 files. If you surf mp3 blogs a lot, you should have it on your Bookmarks Toolbar….

Firefox Day has long passed, but you still have a chance to get your name and the name of the friend you invited to download Firefox immortalised in Firefox 2….

Bubur Ayam (Indonesian Chicken Porridge) Recipe. Because Hed asked for it in a comment to one of Troy’s blog posts and because more people in the world should be eating it. It’s so good! The ultimate comfort food, at…

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to They Might Be Giants is a must-read for anyone who’s never heard of They Might Be Giants (where have you been?!?). I think it was Jordan who introduced me to TMBG years ago. He suggested…

How To Survive A Heat Wave Without Air Conditioning by MedicineNet.com. I’m going to need this today because they’re expecting today to be even warmer than yesterday and yesterday was bad enough temperaturewise. Stupid heatwave. If we lived in igloos,…