Month: March 2013

Spring Break 2013!

Today is the first day of Spring Break for us this year. And we’re off until April 8, so yay for a week and a day off! I don’t have any travel plans for the week, which will be nice. As much as I love to travel, it’s nice to have some time spent at home, too.

I also have nothing big planned for the break. I hope to read some, game some, walk some, shop some, clean some, and eat some. And already have done all of those today (bar the reading – which will be remedied soon enough, and the cleaning – which will be… well, there’s always Sunday). I headed off to see the folks for lunch today and we went to Lincoln Square. I had a BLT club and fries. The club was very yummy, the fries were simply OK. Then the folks and I walked to the grocery. (OK, so it wasn’t swanky shopping or anything, but it was shopping!)

Tomorrow we’re having Easter dinner at Aunt Becky’s with the promise of cards before dinner. I’m bringing the relish tray (AKA crudités) and a cheeseball (cream cheese & hot pepper jelly mixed together). I might bring brownies too if I wind up baking some tonight. Heh.

The weather was beautiful today. A few clouds, blue skies, high 40s/low 50s (˚F), so I went for another walk after supper. Tomorrow should be equally lovely, so I hope to walk a bit before we’re off to Becky’s.

March has been a good month for me and the folks. Last weekend we had a lovely time exploring new businesses in Troy. We visited the new bulk food store in the downtown, then had lunch at Mojos, a new bar (where O’Brian’s used to be). After an unsuccessful venture to Kohl’s (not a new biz), we finished off at the new cupcake store (Brittney’s Cakes) that’s run by neighbors of my folks. The cupcakes are quite tasty!

In the last bit o’ news of the Treen, I’m still doing WeightWatchers and my weight is slowly going down. Mom’s just rejoined WW and when our workplace WW ends, I intend to join mom’s WW group. (Might go there next Friday since we won’t be meeting Tuesday!)

I hope you all are doing as well as I’ve been (and if you aren’t, *hugs* to you) and may the odds be ever in your favor! (Oh wait, where did that spring from?)

GIP

I only get to use this icon once a year, so here’s my post so that I can!

Hope those of you celebrating had a Happy St Patrick’s Day! Mum decided to try her hand at corned beef and cabbage and was quite successful. Very tasty meal. (I made brownies – from a Trader Joe’s mix.)

In other news, on Tuesday comes The Hobbit on blu-ray! Woohoo!

Crowd Sourcing – an interesting endeavor

I really love how the Internet is changing how things are done. One of the more interesting developments of late is actually all about development itself. Crowd sourcing or crowd funding, where folks put up a proposal online on what they’d do if you gave them money, has been around longer than Kickstarter or Indiegogo, but it’s those websites and others which have really helped spread the concept.

My first crowd-sourced adventure was an investment which didn’t pay off (but I knew it was a gamble and waved buh-bye to my money when I sent it in). It was for a movie that a young movie director had hoped to crowd fund and so he’d set up a website on his own and tried to get the funds. One of the things that Kickstarter and other crowd-sourcing websites do now is they don’t charge you if the goal isn’t met. This director had no system like that, and told us investors up front that it might all come to naught. So I went in eyes open and willing to try to see if the project would get funded. It didn’t, alas.

Once Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and other sites came long, however, it became much easier (I suspect) for people to crowd fund projects. I have now backed several successful projects and have received several of the items I’ve crowd funded already, with more to come. (I’m probably most looking forward to my 3Doodler – expect cheesy plastic 3D objects for Christmas from me, family!)

One of the projects I’m most proud to have sponsored is the Tropes vs Women in Video Games series by Feminist Frequency. You might have heard of this project as one which was funded for WAY over the requested amount. And Anita Sarkeesian has been able to expand on her project and invest in better equipment thanks to the increased funding.

Today, she released the first of her video series on Tropes vs Women in Video Games with the first part of Damsel in Distress. I was impressed with her research and the quality of the production and look forward to the rest of the series and the various perks I’ll get as a backer. I embed (under the cut) this first part for your edification.

The March 2013 Snowmaggedon!

As a kid, I thought Snow Days were the best. First, they were usually caused by snow, which I love. Next, that meant we didn’t have to go to school. Now, I loved going to school, but snow days were still wonderful. After all, you could do ANYTHING (well, nearly) you wanted – you didn’t have any prior plans other than school.

Well, as a teacher, I’m still the same. As much as I love going to school (or work, in this case), I still love Snow Days. (Now they’re called “Calamity Days” because fog, ice, and boiler issues have all caused school closures in addition to snow.) Today, thanks to 6+” being dumped upon us overnight, we had one. Whee!

Before the snow arrived last night (around 7pm), it had been raining and then icing. Which meant that there was stuff for the snow to stick to. And all of the trees (and, more frighteningly, the power lines) were laden with snow. Very pretty to look at. So today, before lunch, I took a walk through town (first shoveling my front walk, and finishing my outing by shoveling my back walk) and took pictures of the prettiest snow laden trees, etc.

Snow Laden View 2
This is a house near the school. In summer it is surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants. Today, it was the Snow Queen of the village.

Snow Laden View 1
Here is a second shot of the same area. You might be able to see the school behind it.

Snow Laden View 3
On the main street in town, I espied this little nook of snow-laden goodness. Sadly, I couldn’t find Mr Tumnus.