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I am an artist & teacher with a ❤ for visual expression, educational methodology, homesteading, & Jesus. My geek-love is The Joshua and we have three peanut-butters: Caleb, Jack, & Louritta.

Do You Want to Swap Your iPhone?

07/30/2007

vphone.jpgEven thought I don’t personally own an iPhone, my husband has graced me with the pleasure of using his on occasion (assuming my hands are clean with no residue that would require excessive cleansing of the screen). Today, I saw for the first time the iPhone’s big competitor, the chocolate by Verizon.
I mean, check out the sweet highlights of this phone:

  • 4 gigs of memory! If only I could find one that had 8. Oh well.
  • A sliding number pad. With a track dial for your music! Seriously, track dials are SO 2006.
  • You can download songs straight to your phone using VCAST. And don’t we all want to use VCAST? You can download the music direct to your phone, or your Microsoft XP or Vista PC!
  • You can use VCAST Videos to watch things selected by Verizon for you to see! No more painful thinking!
  • It’s VZ Navigator capable. You can get directions on it! (Oh… except this phone actually has GPS, which is actually nice in a non-sarcastic way.)
  • My personal favorite – send and receive e-mail! You can choose between MSN, AOL, or Hotmail! Isn’t that what everyone uses? Oh, and you can send e-mail using the NUMBER KEYPAD! Yeah!
  • And, a 1.3 megapixel camera! Because 1.3 megapixels is… um… pretty crappy!

I e-mailed Josh the news of this hot little phone and asked him if he wanted to trade in his iPhone. I think I heard him laugh thunderously from his office at Apple’s IL1. Oh well, I tried.
I did later hear Josh mumble something about Verizon initially being approached by Apple and turning them down. (It must be because they knew this hot little phone was in their pocket just waiting for it’s chance in the market.) Josh just shook his head, attempting to understand why a company would make such a decision. I’m sure they had their reasons, but was it smart? I guess we’ll have to see.
So, iPhone owners, anyone want so swap?

Please Forgive!

07/26/2007

I have just committed a horrible blogging crime. See, I started a bunch of blogs and then saved them as drafts and then got busy with stitches and traveling and all kinds of stuff. So, they didn’t get finished… until today. But, my sin exists in keeping all of the original dates from when I started the blogs. Is that poor netiquette? I’m not sure.
Anyway, the *new* entries date back to June 17th. Sorry for the delays. I’ll try to be more prompt in the future. 🙂

Which to Choose?

07/26/2007

I recently agreed to do an e-Rewards program where I fill out occasional surveys and then receive free stuff and “cash” that I can spend at stores. On my second survey, they were gathering information about how I use the web, and I was given this question:
eRewards2.jpg

Gee. Do all of those search sites still exist? And what about that one… that one HUGE SEARCH ENGINE that EVERYONE I KNOW uses? It didn’t make the list? Hotbot makes it on over Google? Wow.

Sesame Street Gold

07/25/2007

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Josh had been talking about ways to connect with the baby. With today’s Dora the Explorer, Elmo’s World, etc., I think Josh was questioning how he would be able to connect with these. That was before I struck gold.
I think we may get a bunch of the characters in the “mini-plush.” Even if we don’t have all of the good Sesame Street episodes for our child to watch, Josh can just reenact them all. He already has done many of them for me, and now his shows will have props. That’s sweet.

No Baby Yet?

07/24/2007

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Today, THREE PEOPLE on three separate occasions have seen me around town and said something like, “No baby yet?” or “Must be any day now,” or “I thought you’d have a baby by now.”
HELLO!?!?!?!?!?! I have eight weeks left until my due date!
And even worse, ALL THREE PEOPLE followed up their statements with some comment about how huge I look. “You look ready to pop!” or “But you’re so big!” or “Wow… it’s going to be a long couple of months with a belly like that!”
HELLO (again)!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I told Josh I want to make a t-shirt with a little dry erase spot on it that says “Baby due in x days. If you comment on my size, you will receive a swift kick in the shins.” Or something like that.
I came home upset that people would say things like that. I analyzed my size in the mirror. I think I look fine (pic is me @ 32 weeks). I’m scared about how uncomfortable I am now and that I still have two months left to endure. But, I am happy that I get to endure them in the comfort of my own home.
Now I just have to think of clever comebacks for people who have no tact.

Lewis Family Up in Stitches

07/17/2007

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On July 2nd I was cutting 1/8″ boards using a table saw at work. The boards were for the mural my summer school students were using for a display at the upcoming Cupertino Veterans Memorial. A friend walked in the room and I glanced up at him, then picked up my board to remove it from the saw. When I did that, I *misjudged* the location of the saw blade and just grazed my finger over the top of it. Blood started squirting everywhere and my first thought was, “You idiot!”
I went to the Cupertino Medical Clinic and they gave me 8 stitches in my right hand, middle finger. It basically looked like ground beef, not a good clean cut at all. Luckily, I only had the saw set to 1/8″ for the boards or it could have been a whole lot worse. No, I wasn’t wearing gloves because the cabinet they were in was locked and I didn’t have a key. Anyway, excuses aside – I cut my finger and it made me feel like a fool.
Here’s my finger 2 weeks after the incident. At this time, 4 stitches were removed and 4 of them were still buried in the flesh. I ended up having to get my finger numbed (after I blacked out twice without pain relief) so they could cut through my flesh with a scalpel and remove the other 4 stitches. Please note that my finger looks AWESOME here compared to how it looked 2 weeks before.
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It doesn’t end there, later that same week, on July 5th, Henson had an altercation with a German Shepherd. I was not there and didn’t witness any of it, but Josh had to take him to the vet where he got 14 stitches. I didn’t see his initial wound, but apparently the vet had to open up the skin more to drain it all, so it looks worse than it was initially. When I got home from work and Josh brought him home from the vet I freaked out because it was all swollen and gross.
This picture is actually 11 days after the incident, so it’s looking really good here. It’s also after me treating it twice a day during that time with my one good hand. 🙂
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Poor Henson had to wear an Elizabethan collar for a couple of weeks. He also ended up wearing a little doggy t-shirt because he would do everything he could to rip those stitches out by scraping his body against anything he could find. He actually ripped one out by bending his hind leg up there and scratching it. Basically, he was in torment the entire time.
I gave him several anti-bacterial baths (with my ONE HAND) and he would just close his eyes as I scratched all of the flaking skin on his coat. I’d also rinse the wound with antiseptic and then apply Polysporin to it so it would heal faster. Here’s a pic of him about 2 weeks after the incident playing with a new toy I got him. I think he looks a little like Davy Jones.
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Stereotyping British Nannies

07/02/2007

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I was at Starbucks the other day and there was a stout British woman at the counter arguing over whether her coffee should be $2.50 or $2.55. She had a thick British accent and a no-nonsense attitude about her. She had a put-together, yet slightly disheveled look in her short sleeve collared shirt and vest.
I thought to myself, “This lady has got to be a nanny.” Then I paused and chastised myself for being so stereotypical. “No, Stephanie,” I thought, “Not all no-nonsense stout British women are nannies.”
While I was waiting for my coffee, she dropped her lid near me. I reached down to pick it up and she firmly chided me, “No! Don’t you even think about it!” I snapped back up because, who is going to argue with this woman?
She made mention of the fact that I was standing there gently rocking back and forth (a.k.a. keeping myself from getting kicked in the ribs). Then she said (loudly and Britishly), “I have been a nanny for twenty-seven years and I still find myself rocking whenever I stand in line at the market. Even though I have no bay-bay in my arms. I guess I’m just rocking my handbag now instead!”
And, in my head (of course), I was like, “Yeah! Boo-yah! You are SO a NANNY!!!” And I felt vindicated. And it felt good.

Rockabye Baby! Literally.

07/01/2007

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I was looking around the iTunes store for good lullaby music for babies, and was quite disturbed/intrigued/confused/interested/befuddled/amused by the Rockabye Baby! albums.
These albums are basically lullaby versions of albums by popular artists. Here are the artists featured: U2, The Beatles, Radiohead, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Coldplay, Tool, The Cure, Metallica, Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Beach Boys, Nirvana, Bjork, The Ramones, and Queens of the Stone Age.
My personal favorite songs are:
1. Enter Sandman – Metallica
Seriously. I don’t think babies should listen to this. It’s creepy even as a lullaby.
2. No Woman No Cry – Bob Marley
Although I think it’s the other way around with babies and their mommies. I could sing the lyrics, “Here’s Mommy, No Cry.”
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien – Radiohead
I actually like this one. I think the Radiohead album is the best one.
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2
Good song, a bit too political for an infant though.
5. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
This is just SWEET. In a lullaby sort of way.
6. I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones
I could sing along to this one. Heh heh. Maybe new mothers could just sing to the baby, “You make me feel sedated,” as they add up the pathetic few hours of sleep they have had since the baby was born.
7. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
This one is pretty good sounding. I might actually get this one.
8. Wouldn’t it Be Nice – The Beach Boys
Actually, I could sing along to all of the Beach Boys songs, lullaby style of course. They’re just so friendly to the sing-along format.
9. Underneath it All – No Doubt
When I listen to this one, I actually hear Gwen Stefani singing it in my head.
10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
This song really works as a lullaby. I could see Josh and I singing this one to our babe as he sleeps.

My Inner Light

06/18/2007

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Alison Saar, Sapphire, 1985
Photo taken @ San Jose Museum of Art, December 2006.
At the recommendation of my doctor, I took a pre-natal yoga class offered through my medical provider. It’s called Whole Birth Yoga. The main focus of the class was doing yoga poses and learning how to focus and breathe through the discomfort while also developing flexibility.
While I liked doing the flexibility, focus, and breathing parts of the class, I did not like the sharing and spiritual aspects of the class. The first hour or so was spent doing sharing time. Also known as “connecting our inner lights.” I do not like to spend my time listening to other women gripe about their husbands and in-laws, especially in a setting where the only approved response to a woman’s griping is to offer her support and “send her positive energy.” I got bad looks when one girl was freaking out crying about how her mother-in-law insisted on being in the labor room with her when she didn’t want her to be. I said, “Why don’t you just tell her no?” *bad looks* Was I inappropriate? It just seems to me that a support group where people just share and don’t find solutions is kind of pointless.
The other part I hated was the chanting. Here are some of the things we were to chant while holding our hands over our hearts:
My inner light
is connected to your inner light
and our inner light
is connected to all the women before us
who have shared in child birth.
My inner light
honors your inner light.
The divine light inside of me
honors the divine light inside of you.
We’d always end our chanting time by saying “Namaste“.
I had a difficult time doing the chanting/spiritual part of the class, probably because I simply don’t believe in this type of spirituality. So, I simply didn’t do it. I would just stay on my mat quietly and close my eyes or look down. One day the instructor asked me why I didn’t participate in the chants and I told her that I was there for the flexibility/breathing/focus aspects of the class. She then told me that with the philosophy of whole birth yoga I needed to also “cleanse my spirit” and “recognize and honor the spirits that have gone before me” in order to get the full experience.
I interrupted her and said, “I have different spiritual beliefs that I choose to honor and would prefer to just remain silent during those portions of the class.” She tried to bring up another point and I had to be firm, “Again I choose not to particpate in this part of the class. With all respect, I don’t want to discuss this any further.”
I don’t know if I handled it well or not. I just wondered how this would be different if I had tried to preach Christianity within the context of a course offered through my medical provider.
Can I find a non-spiritual yoga class? Do they exist?

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