Recently in Projects Category

I might just be the biggest dork on the planet, but I wanted to share a discovery I made with my co-dorks. I figure if you're reading some stranger's (or friend's/sister's/etc.'s) weblog, then you're probably a dork, too. Sorry if I offended anyone out there. But it's better to just accept your dorkdom now, and move on...

Anyway, so for anybody who is ok with their dorkdom and wants to revel in it, I just signed up with the GREATEST web site ever. It's called Lynda.com - for $25/month (or $250/yr, but no thanks) you can have unlimited access to TONS of computer software courses. Ok, ok, so they're not interactive. But I have to learn FileMaker Pro for my future job, and honestly, it's not exactly the most intuitive tool ever. But I've done a few hours of a 7.5-hr series, and already I am totally rocking the database, yo.

Next up, I am going to do Flash - I've always wanted to learn Flash, but outside of my one three-hour course I took five years ago, I have never found a program that I could afford. If I finish the FileMaker Pro learning soon enough, I'll be able to smoosh in the Flash learning, and the whole deal will only have put me out $25.

Hell, I could extend that to two months ($50) and I'd still be saving about $750. Those courses - in "real" life (not online) - are not cheap.

Anyway, if you're into computers, or have some specific software you've always wanted to learn (they have them ALL, I swear), check out lynda.com. I've been super-impressed.

Today I bathed in my dorkiness, full force. I woke up late (almost noon... I can't believe it) and had some coffee before settling into my chair. I've often thought that if I had to reveal a drug of choice, I would most likely go with caffeine. I realize it's not exactly glamorous, but I love the 1-2 hour-long moment of intense, effortless concentration that accompanies a good cup of coffee in the morning.

This morning (erm, afternoon), I went from just checking emails and investigating a potential site overhaul (on my other site) to just jumping straight into the SQL-modifying-file-backupping-forum-searching frenzy that updating a web site entails. And the funny part? Totally rocked it. I know I have some bugs left, but I got further along than I had expected I would before my eyes just couldn't look at the screen anymore. The site looks better, and the geek in me is already fiendishly rubbing her hands together and cackling at the thought of the features yet to come.

I went to my physical therapist's new office today. She has been gushing about the space for awhile - a vacant loft-like open room that her husband (he's a contractor) has been toiling away at for the last week. Her description involved faux-window rooftops, with seperate little cabins, the outsides painted different colors to resemble an Italian village.

The whole thing sounded frankly nutty to me, but when I walked into the cobbly, wobbly courtyard and up to her brand new door, I was downright amazed. There are six different cabins for patients, each with their own door and window, and they really do make me think of Italy. There is a waiting area with plants and big windows, looking out onto a private garden. They have truly worked miracles, and seeing her new digs has made me realize something that has caused me to be dreamy, sad, and wistful all at once: I would like some space to play with.

Ideally, this space would be up on the last floor, with wooden floors, high ceilings, and an entire wall (or half-wall) of windows. It would need lots of work, and I would be able to play with the space as necessary.

While maintaining my conversation with the PT today, I wandered my way through a long and detailed reverie that involved installing my own kitchen and creating the equivalent of my sister's "craft corner" (it's amazing and I'm jealous, but that's ok). I fully walked through the apartment of my dreams, examining each section in detail, when the lack of finances reality came wandering through the front door.

And of course, I remembered that I am still begging my landlord to replace our crappy pull-out couch (I rent a crappily-furnished apartment), which means I am a long way from having my special loft space.

However, in working on my thesis, little by little, I have discovered something new in myself that I had previously been unaware of: I actually have a reasonable capacity for patience. My next aim is to exploit it.

So here's the plan: work slowly but surely, and eventually become a millionaire.

That's all I need to get the space of my dreams.

Can't be that hard, right?

TheKnitter and I went to a women-wanting-to-start-businesses meeting today. It was free, and supposedly offered in honor of "International Women's Day" (or something to that effect).

I will now provide you with a list of why you should never get together 40 French women (and two American ones) who want to start their own businesses:

1. You might be able to start the meeting with some degree of order, but whatever thread of organization it was you were working with will slowly but surely unravel, until the women are just interrupting and yelling and talking back and forth across the room to one another.

2. There will always be that one wacko who decides to a) interrupt constantly b) mutter things "to herself" loudly enough so that everyone can hear and c) make strange jokes that aren't very funny. TheKnitter blames drugs, I blame the bottle, but it doesn't matter, the result is the same: that lady needs to shut up and let me listen to the speakers in peace (she could also do without the fanny pack hanging off the SIDE of her hip and the very bad haircut).

3. Once the woman who is opening a "re-looking" business (ie Makeover/Photo shoot orgy) begins to describe how all women want to just feel like models for a day, I'm going to start shaking my head and laughing, because I, for one, don't. Of course, I didn't find the THIRTY MINUTE CONVERSATION about make-up that ensued quite as amusing.

We left before it ended.

Last week, I went to a sort of fair for aspiring business types. Don't ask. Just a plan I have, one that I wanted to test out with some real-live expert types.

Anyway, so I went to this three-day-long fair, which was quite an event. The first day was rather intense. I'm tall and blond, which already makes me stand out in this country. Add to that equation that the male:female ration was something like 2,247:3, and, well, you can imagine how that felt. The testerone was pulsating around me, practically tangible in the air. I distracted myself during boring meetings by counting the amount of unaccompanied women in the 400-person lecture halls. On one hand. When that was over, I began counting bald heads, and I always ran out of fingers and toes.

I'm working on a little project called The Two Types Project. It goes a little something like this:

There are two types of people in this world...

a) those who, when finished with their meal, smush the napkin into a ball and toss it on the table
b) and those who fold it neatly.

a) those who having matching cups/toothpaste/soap holders in their bathroom
b) those who don't.

a) those who dream of buying (or already have) a new, modern, fancypants house
b) those who dream of buying (or already have) an old, beat-up one and fixing it up.

a) those who use rulers when taking notes
b) those who don't.

a) clubbers
b) non-clubbers

a) SUV drivers
b) the rest of the world

a) those who know WWF is all acting, no action
b) those who follow WWF religiously

And so on...