Jennerosity » 5 Geek Friday

5 For Friday – Wonderbucks Edition

Jennerosity — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 17:50:31 +0000

Last weekend I took a little adventure out to Vancouver and went shopping with one of my awesome online friends at Wonderbucks. Coincidentally, I purchased exactly 5 items. So, here they are.¹

I picked up this photo frame for my bathroom. I think I’m going to rip out the backing, remove the glass, and add some wires before mounting it on the wall to act as a jewelery organizer.
A teaspoon. It’s staying at home until my office has moved to it’s new and slightly larger location. Then it’ll make it even easier to enjoy some loose tea at work.
Pillow #1. A better match than the green crocheted ones we’ve had down here so far.
Pillow #2.
And the clock! Been wanting an actual clock down here. Eventually we’ll probably get a bigger wall clock made, but for now this will work. I think it looks great on the shelf too. Here’s another picture:

My photography skills suck so they are all blurry and not well composed at all.

5 For Friday – Videos

Jennerosity — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0000

I know all the good shows are coming back for their new seasons around now. But, I know there are people out there (like me) who don’t have cable. So, if you want to check out some other free entertaining options, here are some online videos for your entertainment pleasure.

Frag Dude – seriously hilarious!

Alpha Planet – Web series that just started that has some good potential
A Comic Minute – If you like comics or want some quick reviews of them so you know what to buy, check out these videos.
TED Buy Bactrim Online without prescription Talks – Since they are ideas worth spreading I thought I’d share.
Stealth Disco – Am I the only one who thinks it would be fun to try to add to the stealth disco video library?

5 Geek Things for Friday

5 For Friday – PAX Games

Jennerosity — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Thought I’d share some of the games that we picked up¹ because of seeing them at PAX.

Zombie Dice – got the free app at first to just check it out and then went out and bought the real life game so I can play with other people. I like how easy it is to transport and the elegant simplicity of the game.
Shibuya – this one is for the iDevice. Love that it’s named for a place in Japan. It’s pretty, elegant, and challenging in a similar tetris kind of way.
Super Meat Boy – Must. Get. This. Game! It constantly had groups of people mesmerized with the game clustered around it at PAX. We groaned and cheered with each fall and narrow escape. Plus, the comic they had in the goodie bag totally rocked. They actually explained their thought Buy Chloramphenicol Online without prescription process behind the decisions they made in the game.
Scott Pilgrim The Game – Super cute graphics! And we love the fact that it’s a multi-player co-op fighting game. It’s been downloaded, though we haven’t started the game yet.
Rock Band 3 – Well d’uh!

Not an MMORPG in the entire group. In fact, I like the cartoon style graphics that a lot of these had better than the super-realistic stuff out there. If I want super-realistic, I’ll actually go outside and have fun with some real people. If I want a video game, I think a cube of meat is right up my alley.

or will pick up just as soon as they are released

5 For Friday – PAX Edition

Jennerosity — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:35:55 +0000

This weekend I’m going to be down at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle getting my geek on, so I thought I’d share with you some things I’m looking forward to experiencing down there this year.

Friends! For the first year ever, people we know in real life are also going to be attending PAX. Plus, a bunch of the tweeple I know are also going to PAX.
Being in the presence of so much awesome! Wil Wheaton, Scott Kurtz, not to mention Gabe and Tycho. This convention has always been driven by gaming enthusiasts instead of gaming industry, and it draws some of the most awesome people to it as a result. I find many of the other attendees are just super cool, friendly people, you can slip into conversation or games with very easily.
Shopping! In years past I’ve been much more frugal when attending (the last year we attended was 2007). I’ve loosened up a bit since then, and am in a much more spendy mood in general right now, so I’m sure I’ll come home with some geek stuff, and some Sephora stuff, and a racing seat¹
Celebrations and drinking. We’ve got a few things that we will be celebrating with this little weekend away. BenevoLance is finished another CGA course² and our friends The Vizier of Nameology and his wife³ have just bought a house.⁴ It was in 2007 when we discovered the delicious 5 Spice Sidecar at a little Thai restaurant nearby and we’re hoping to continue our adventures in mixology during the weekend.
Gaming! It is a gaming convention after all. And this year, I’m a much more confident gamer, so I might actually jump in and try out some games. Like in public. While people watch me! Shocking, I know. There should be some new stuff there to check out, and plenty of space to just hang out and play some games of whatever strikes our fancy.

I’ll do up a whole separate blog post about this sometime, but not today.
the exam was last night and we drove straight down afterwards
who really needs some sort of title – Vizier, get on it!
There are a few other teensy tiny minor things that we are also celebrating, such as the passing of another birthday for me and the completion of the first draft of my novel.

5 For Friday – This week was easy!

Jennerosity — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:00:31 +0000

So many things got starred or shared in my google reader this week it was really easy to pick 5!

If you use Firefox/Chrome/Safari use this extension to make your Facebook experience less cluttered.
I’m definitely going to do up a sheet of Kitsune facts¹ after reading about Sarah Darkmagic’s post on fact sheets for her character.²
Pyramid infographic of cleaning priorities. Need I say more?
Lifehacker (also the source for #’s 1, 3, and 5) linked to OhLife, an email prompting journal tool. I’ve yet to check it out but it seems kinda cool.
What can I do with a dead hard drive? Recycling & hacking projects combined? Handy! Especially since I’m a hard drive killer!

And, I’ve got some completely unrelated questions for anyone who chooses to answer it. How do you read my blog? In a reader? Do you click through after a tweet? Or is it just on your regular round of links? Just want to get some feedback for how everything looks. Is it easy to read? Any complaints, questions, or other feedback? Thanks! Of course feel free to comment on any of the links and stuff too!

And possibly some fact sheets for her alternate identities too
And this isn’t a bad thing to do for characters in your book either. Particularly if their reliability is in question.

No related posts.

5 for Friday – The Anal One Edition

Jennerosity — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:49:56 +0000

Recently at writing group, we were coming up with various roles and titles for ourselves. And yes, I got labelled as ‘the anal one.’ At first, they just said ‘the organized one’ but really, either one would be true. And this week, my google reader really bears that out, since I had a bunch of how-to’s, a printable, and a spreadsheet in there. I can’t help it, I just like to be prepared, even if I’ll never need them myself, I like to be able to throw out a handy link when someone I know is in need. ((We also did RPG titles and I got the Cleric/Healer which is cool. It was made more awesome since I was then put on the short-list for being the Cocky Hero’s love interest too.))

Gwen Bell wrote up a post describing how to take a digital sabbatical after successfully taking herself offline for a month! ((Bonus link goes to her pre-sabbatical post letting the world know what her intentions were.)) I don’t think I could take a month off.
Lifehacker had a good article about how to be the perfect host in the 21st century. Not that we have any plans of hosting out of town guests anytime soon, but I like to be prepared.
And, because Lifehacker is smart, they then posted a fillable .pdf version of the guest info pack highlighted in their perfect host article. As a lifetime chicken-scratcher, I <3 fillable .pdfs! I do like the idea of having something printed out with the wi-fi stuff available though. Perhaps for the next large geek lan party we host, I’ll put together a similar package for our guests to refer to.
How to be the perfect guest in the 21st century. I do like the mini-themes that Lifehacker sometimes does. If I do get to go be a house guest somewhere, I’d like to be a good considerate one.
And finally, Squawkfox posted another article in her “How to Make a Budget” series called: dig yourself out with the debt reduction spreadsheet. Now, I’m not in debt, and BenevoLance and I have a very good grasp of our finances, but I like reading about finance issues and I think Squawkfox packs a lot of value into her posts.

There you have it! The anal one has spoken. I’ll see you all next Friday, for another 5 things.

5 For Friday

Jennerosity — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 16:00:04 +0000

Happy Friday the 13th Everyone! I only just now realized that it is Friday the 13th and I totally don’t have anything remotely appropriate. So, here are my regular, plain, non-Friday-the-13th-themed links:

I got to build another website lately! It’s the website for my day job. It’s very light on content right now, but I’ve got more in the works. Let me know if there are any mistakes or problems. Suggestions for content are also very helpful!
I’ve seen similar ideas for digitizing all those loyalty cards before, but never been able to try one out before. This Key Ring app that Lifehacker linked to seems like it might be promising though.¹
Felicia Day shared a pic of this cool Steam Punk wheelchair she saw while at Gencon.
Speaking of conventions . . . BenevoLance and I are probably going to Wild, Buy Zithromax Online without prescription Wild West Con² next March³
And, Vcon this year has a Steam Punk theme to it, so we might try to check it out too.

And there you have it!

I’ll have to enter my cards manually because I don’t have an iPhone. I’m only going to do one at a time so I can be sure each one really works.
a totally awesome Steam Punk Convention held in Arizona. We’re already starting to think about our costumes!
And staying an extra day or two to catch the Canucks game in Arizona too.

5 for Friday

5 For Friday

Jennerosity — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:30:10 +0000

This week I’m sharing links with a caveat . . . I haven’t actually looked to closely at any of them. Most of them came up in my google reader and I went ‘oooooooo’ and clicked on the star. So, if it turns out that one or more sucks, you can’t blame me, ok!

NewbieDM – Using the 3 act structure in your D&D game – I find RPGs and writing fit together so well sometimes! As a plotter, the moment I saw ’3 act structure’ in the title, I knew it was an article that I had to read!¹
Gizmodo posted a flow chart on how to pick the perfect typeface – Fonts & flowcharts, together at last! (via Lifehacker)²
Lifehacker linked to ManageFlitter – In case you hadn’t guessed, it’s supposed to help clean up your twitter account. My online connectivity was severely hampered this week since our office internet was down for a day and a half³. Between that and my near total exhaustion from getting very little sleep, it just isn’t something I’ve gotten around to.
Lifehacker also had a piece about a program called Key Ring – I really, really want this to work for Canada. Basically, it lets you scan all your loyalty cards and such into your iPhone or Android. Since I have an iPod Touch, this would work if I manually input them all in. But, I want to make sure it actually works in stores before I go tossing out all my old cards. I think I’ll be testing it at PriceSmart first.
Dragon Chow Dice Bags – These are handmade reversible dice bags! And the person who makes them, @GeekyLyndsay, is Canadian, a gaming girl geek, and generally awesome! Been meaning to order some for a while but couldn’t decide what I wanted. I also wanted to get one for my husband BenevoLance since the puny bags he currently uses are totally inadequate and we end up with loose dice in our car. Then, I saw an awesome Koi fabric that I thought BenevoLance would love. Shortly after that, I saw the Tall, Strapping Dice Bag where you can fit a pencil in too, which is what BenevoLance does anyway. I sat down with him one night to order, only to see that a lot of her stock was gone because it’s at Gencon in booth #2732⁴. So, I have not ordered any yet,⁵ but will hopefully do so soon.⁶

Hope you all enjoy this weeks links! Got some of your own to share? Let me know in the comments!

And eventually, I will actually read it.
Aug 6 edited to add: No sooner did I post this than an opportunity to use it came up at work! So, hopefully the sign maker will know what the heck we’re talking about when we say we liked the ‘Myriad’ font the best.
we had dial up to one terminal, but I wasn’t going to use that to clean up my twitter account
And they are trying to get one to Wil Wheaton since he’s on a mission to get more dice and will definitely need a dice bag for them all
Perhaps I should do up a post about my dice and my general gaming supplies . . . hunh, that could be interesting!
Unless she will also be selling some at PAX, in which case I’ll just wait and buy one there instead.

5 For Friday – PAX Games

5 For Friday

Jennerosity — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:26:54 +0000

Ok, I figured I’d start doing a list of 5 awesome links each week to spread the link love! Just a little sampling of what I’ve been checking out and reading this week.

I am inexplicably drawn to articles that use the word ‘hack’ and when you add ‘Nintendo’ I can’t help but star it in my google reader. How to hack and supercharge your Nintendo DS (via Lifehacker)
I’m still (again?) going through a process of decluttering my life from obligations that just don’t fit right now. So the Unclutterer article on Tips for Reducing Your Commitment to Unwanted Obligations was very timely for me.
This picture is awesome!
I signed up for a service to help me keep track of my plans and let others keep track of them too –> Plancast
And I’m once again tempted by the StoryWonk courses. The next one starts in September.

5 for Friday – Life after WordCamp

Jennerosity — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:14:12 +0000

I haven’t had time yet to process my notes into a proper blog post about it, but here are the 5 big things I learned at WordCamp Vancouver.

Social bookmarking is important. I need to look into that some more.
WordPress = Joyful; Drupal = Dragon Slayer. As much as the keener in me wants to slay some dragons, the realist¹ realizes that Drupal is definitely NOT for me.
Asking lots of questions is good for figuring out what you actually should do for your online presence. Going to apply the questions that Lauren Bacon,² from raised eyebrow,³ shared during her presentation when I make my next attempt at building a website for work.
Catherine Omega & Tris Hussey are awesome lunch companions and speakers. They made me fall in love with WordPress 3.0 and some of the new theme options. The keener in me may even try tinkering with building my own themes. ((You know, eventually, when I have ‘free’ time :D ))
WordPress people are the best kind of geeks: friendly, smart, helpful, and generally awesome! (Ok, not NEW knowledge for me, but it still deserves to be said again.))

And, a bonus geek tip for you all . . . the wi-fi hotspot and electrical plug-ins are the geek equivalent of hanging at the bar for meeting new people ;)

and lazy person
Who incidentally, has awesome hair
the name makes me giggle and want to wiggle my eyebrows

5 For Friday – PAX Edition