randomness 1 Comment

Seven Degrees of Separation

I love Technorati because I love to figure out how random strangers find my page. There aren’t many, but I’d like to welcome Jesse to the fold.

No, not the fold. The club? The elite? No. Um, welcome to the… party? Yeah.

Now, check this. As far as I can figure out, Jesse frequents fantasy-writers.org, a site maintained by Elizabeth Clouse. Liz is my friend Dan’s sister, and Dan helps to manage her site. I’ve surfed around fantasy-writers.org, though, and I can’t seem to find any linkage to Dan’s personal site anywhere. Dan does link to me from his site, though.

So, I’m not quite sure how and where the blogsurfing went, exactly, but that’s how we’re linked in some roundabout way.

Or did Jesse find me from somewhere else, followed MY link to Dan, and HIS link to his sister’s site? *brain explodes*

‘Fess up, Jess. I’m curious. My audience is small. How did you happen to read my random rantings?

…Aaaaaand I’m a dork.

reviews

Bob Mould: Detroit 10-1-2005

Here’s my first attempt at a homegrown MySQL photo album: 10 photos from the Bob concert last weekend.

[Edit: After moving my site to a new host, I uploaded the three best photos to Flickr instead of standing up a new photo database.]

Fantastic show. Bob started out with three songs from his early-90’s band Sugar, which I’m fairly sure gave Aaron and me simultaneous geekgasms. The entire gamut of Bob’s solo career, Sugar, and Husker Du were all represented in the setlist, which almost made up for my missing Sugar in concert by a few years.

Aaron’s better at concert reviews than I am, so maybe he’ll post something more in-depth in the comments. Until then, suffice to say that this was the best concert I’ve been to in a very long time. I hadn’t seen Bob for fucking years, and this show was extraordinary. Awesome.

sewing 2 Comments

Futari no HAATO BARANSU…

Ritsuko Every time I walk into JoAnn Fabrics, I get the feeling that I’m a little out of my element. However… I believe now I have all the necessary fabrics and notions to create Ritsuko’s skirt (see right). I’ll tackle the helmet later.

I think I have a reasonable pattern-plan for making a huge-ass flared pleated skirt. Being a very beginning sewer (er… one who sews? Not a drainage system, kthx), I couldn’t really come up with it myself. So, I combined a tutorial for making a pleated skirt with a tutorial for making a flared skirt… and voila! — a reasonable-sounding (looking?) plan.

However, I am determined to do this right, especially as I only have 4½ yards of medium blue cotton/poly fabric, so I can’t screw this up. My determination not to screw up was only bolstered by the fact that I just spent freaking $42 on my cosplay supplies — and that’s before making the helmet.

One question for those who sew, or who have textile-related ideas: The nice lady at JoAnn’s convinced me that felt was the way to go for the white stripe of trim on the skirt. I can’t really use ribbon, since the pattern will need to be curved to allow for the flare, and any white fabric I found wasn’t thick enough to prevent the blue from showing through when held over it. After buying three yards of white felt, though, I’m having second thoughts. I don’t think the texture of the felt will be appropriate to match with the cotton/poly skirt. I was thinking of something more fake-satiny, or the same cotton/poly as the rest of the skirt, but it’s all so thin it shows the blue through from underneath.

Any solutions to my conundrum? You have a few days to comment, as I plan to wash my blue fabric before sewing, like I’m supposed to. Strict determination to do it right, after all.

news

Group seeks halt to latest Sky acquisition

by Mary-Beth McLaughlin
Toledo Blade Business Writer

A New York City consumer advocacy group wants the Federal Reserve Board to deny the latest acquisition request by Sky Financial Group Inc., alleging the Bowling Green company does not make enough loans to minorities or issues them at higher rates than those for whites.

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Despite the fact that I work for Sky (and am a caucasian to boot), they turned me down for a car loan in 2003 and a mortgage in 2004. Guess I’m in good company, anyway.