New Glasses, New Haircut

I went all-out yesterday. I got new glasses and a new hair cut, taking 2 or 3 inches off my "below-shoulder length" hair. They cut it a little shorter than I thought was perfect - at least it will grow. I wear contacts, too. Some days I feel like wearing glasses and other days, I wear contacts, usually on "dressier" days.

Maybe it is age-related, but being near-sighted, I take off my glasses to read. If I am wearing contacts, I have to put ON reading glasses to see detail. I guess its bifocals for next time.

What inspired the hair change was the door-greeter at Wal-Mart. I was welcomed by a very nice, 60 or 70 year old lady who had long frizzy hair worn straight and down to the middle of her back. It looked like a nightmare on a woman that age. Horrified, I took off for the haircutting place and got a short layered look for myself.

Maybe it won't stop there. After looking at my new darker glasses and after watching Cat Schwartz when she was on the TV show, "Call for Help," with a red streak in her dark hair, I am thinking that a black streak in my blonde hair might be an interesting touch. So far, I can't get my daughter or husband to agree that it would look okay, though. It's just one tiny black streak or maybe very dark brown one. Oh well -- its something to think about for a while. I still like the idea.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope you have something or someone to cuddle with today. My current cuddle-buddy, Myst, has decided to sit up here by the computer and paw at the cursor again. He does this every day, chewing on the mouse pad, my finger and batting at anything that moves onscreen.

He is a little cat and can not jump right up to the desk thus, he meows at me until I pick him up. He has me well-trained. Good thing I am using a cordless mouse. I can move it around him. I am even getting used to lifting his tail off the keyboard to type.

Before & After Photoshop

I've learned a new techique for making Ansel Adams type dramatic black and white photos (yes, thanks again to Scott Kelby and his book for digital photographers. (Truly, anything by him is worth reading and easy to understand.) Here is the same photo. The one on the left is untouched and the one on the right is the Ansel Adams type black and white. Just having the software convert to black and white does not work. This would have looked very faded that way. It required several other touchups.

Make Yourself into a South Park Character

Design a South Park character after yourself. You can pick many details of hair, clothes, weapons, etc. Here is the one I designed -- a simple but happy Alabama girl.

Over at my photo blog site, several people have created their own character. I think I will put mine in some forthcoming pictures. She will be hanging around for an indefinite time.  If you can't read it, her t-shirt says "BamaPhotos.com." (P.S. Don't laugh, but would you believe that I have never watched an entire episode of South Park?!!)

What I really want to know is the artist who drew the cartoon character that Chris Pirillo uses on his blog (look at the character in the right hand column). I want one like that.

Dragon Optical Illusion

Here's an actual untouched-up video from Newslang.org that is just freaky. I got this from a site that is similar to Slashdot but easier to read, called diggs. Good stuff here - I may add it to my links list.

In finding this, I read two interesting blogs from former and current Screensavers guys, Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose. I have a hard time watching The Screensavers anymore. They've changed. Now, there's about one thing on the whole hour-long show that interests me. On the other hand, I find myself waiting eagerly for Leo Laporte's next Podcast (as I mentioned a few days ago). I downloaded the last show and listened to it as I drove to Atlanta. It's an amazingly helpful show for anyone who likes (or hates) their computers.

Cool Moon Panoramas

My husband (who is currently working hard to get the Space Shuttle back in flight) sent me this link to fantastic interactive Moon Panoramas. You can see 360 degrees by moving the mouse around. All I can say is "Wow!" (P.S. I was feeling bold this morning and posted a photo of myself.)

Google Maps

Google has gotten into the map business. Their maps look way cooler than Yahoo Maps or Mapquest maps. Try typing in an address and see how nice the results look (like this, all on one line --> 111 street drive, city, state). To see more, hold down the mouse button over the map and drag it to any area. Driving instructions can be included, too. (Thanks to Leoville.com for this link.)

Hormone Security Alerts

Thanks to Lynn B. for sending this link to me from AmericanGreetings.com. It is hilarious and professionally-made. If you want quick laugh, go take a peek at it -- and make sure the sound is turned up.