Elegant: Bonnie Tsang Photography

If you ever wanted to feel like you stepped out of the pages of a fancy magazine, get your photo taken by Bonnie Tsang. I go to her site occasionally just to look at all the spectacular photos.
I really like her "engagement" sessions like the one at right. They don't have any of the fancy wedding flowers, tables, decorations and such but they still look just as elegant and interesting. Very nice!

Electricity!

I awoke to a 50-degree house this morning and discovered that the power was out due to the ginormous snowstorm that hit the east coast last night.

The power was not totally out, however. Lights came on at half-brightness and the TV would stay on for a short while then cut out, but the blower on the furnace wouldn't work at all. As the day went on, the house got colder and colder.

When the sun came out I took advantage of the warmth to shovel the driveway. There was about 17"...over the top of my snowboots to just under my knees.  See more pictures on my flickr page.

The temp inside was down to 44 degrees this evening when the power finally came back on around 7pm. I was already under the covers (+ 4 extra blankets) reading by half-light wearing sweatpants and socks, a long-sleeved t-shirt, sweatshirt and hoodie with a blanket over my shoulders. I also had the water dripping from two faucets to prevent freezing.

Thank you for getting my power back on, Duquesne Light linesmen!

Fun: www.Wordle.net

You can make a decorative "word cloud" with a click of the mouse, like the one at left.
Cut and paste your favorite poem, a piece of writing, or all your friends' names, click the button and in a flash, there's a cool design with all your words. You can even change colors, fonts, and tweak the layout of the words.

You can save a screen shot but better yet, print it to PDF (go get a PDF maker if you don't have one at www.cutepdf.com).
The resulting file is vector! How cool is that? That means you could use the design to create vinyl cutouts, t-shirts, enlarge it to the size of a poster or banner, etc.
(The FAQ says it is legal to make money with the designs, you just need to list the URL with the design.)

Brains: Theory of intermittent reward

Here is something very unusual. If you google this phrase, "theory of intermittent reward," only one link comes up (only one? I didn't even know that was possible anymore!).

I find it odd that there's so little reference to it because it's the one thing I remember most from Psych 101 in college. It explains so much about human compulsive behavior (gambling, whining children, people who stay with abusive partners, etc). It's a BF Skinner theory (I think) and perhaps it has a more official name but I couldn't find a simple explanation of what I remember learning anywhere but on this page. (Start reading at the yellow highlight* or you can click on the picture at left.)

In short, it's the idea that the unpredictable reward is more alluring than one at even intervals. The subject never knows when the reward is coming, so they can never be sure when or if the rewards have stopped. They think "maybe next time I'll get what I want" so they never stop hoping. This takes many forms... "Maybe this time the slot machine will make me a winner," "Maybe mom will give in if I whine long enough," "Maybe my boyfriend will be nice to me again," etc.

How does this theory apply to my life? It's why I'm so addicted to checking my www.craftcult.com page. I click on it multiple times a day to see if a sale has occurred while I wasn't looking. Because the time between sales is unpredictable (it might be 5 minutes, 5 days, or 5 weeks), there is always the chance that THE VERY NEXT TIME I look, my sale number could be higher. As a result, I never tire of checking it. I'm like the little rat pushing the bar in hopes that next time I'll get that pellet! I guess we can just be thankful that OCC (obsessive craftcult checking) is not harmful.

*The picture and link are from a 1985 story by Gary Diedrichs called "Love in the 80's, In Praise of Dangerous Women" in Orange Coast Magazine

Tips: Link Within!

I just learned how to make the "you might also like" links under my blog posts! I've seen them on other sites and wanted to have them on mine. Just now I noticed the link under the pictures on someone else's blog. It led me to this link. You just click nd the software will load! How easy is that? Yay!

Cool: Moo Cards

If you have not heard of Moo cards, or if you've heard of them but not yet ordered, I say hop to it! I finally ordered a set of business cards and they are great! Every image can be different -- if you have 50 photos you want to use, you can do it. I don't know of any other place that lets you print one of each design.
The paper is really thick and has a super smooth matte finish (I got the regular paper, not the green option). The process is fool-proof -- you can select your etsy photos from inside the moo set-up page. It could not be easier!
You can order 10 free cards here, but why bother? Take my word for it, they're really nice. You'll like them. Just go for the 50 pack!