geek

geeking out: economics and fashion

by Lara on August 11, 2010

in fashion,geek

I’m gonna tell y’all again to read this book, now in its second edition.

The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy takes the reader on a fascinating, around-the-world journey to reveal the economic and political lessons from the life story of a simple t-shirt. Over five years, business professor Pietra Rivoli traveled from a Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory to a used clothing market in Africa, to investigate compelling questions about the politics, economics, ethics, and history of modern business and globalization. Using the story of the t-shirt to illustrate the major issues of the globalization debate, this uniquely entertaining business book offers a surprising, enlightening, and balanced look at one of the major topics of our time.

via

 

It’s not about the fashion industry directly but, you see the entire process (from cotton plant to Goodwill plus all the legislation and people involved) as a whole. Each piece of the puzzle is tightly connected and inflenced by the others. It’s really quite fascinating.

Also, for more fascinating insider information… last week, Wendy B. tweeted about the blog of Fashion Incubator. It’s a helpful and informative site for the fashion/manufacturing indstry! SO many things to learn and become aware of! Check it out!

{ 0 comments }

nonfiction tees

by Lara on August 9, 2010

in fashion,geek

In June I did a post on independently designed t-shirts. I showed this particular shirt I found on Rumplo and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. You know how you see something and can instantly imagine a half-dozen outfits with it?

Rumplo is like a clearinghouse for great tees all over the web. They will redirect you to the site it’s originally on for purchase. I had no idea where this tee came from. So, I dug and dug and finally found it again. It’s from an etsy shop called nonfiction tees and honestly, I want every single one. They’re brilliant! $15 a piece as well! I wish they did some v-necks but I’ll butcher with scissors again. Check out their listings carefully because they offer men and women’s shirts separately. They don’t print the tee until you order so, you tell them your size when you checkout.

Here’s the one I’m getting for myself:

My bf loves strange t-shirts as well so, I showed him their designs and being a nerd at heart, he got this one:

Check out these other great designs!

There are tons more! Check ‘em out!

{ 3 comments }

personality tests

by Lara on August 4, 2010

in geek

I hate when those personality tests are spot on! How dare they!? They don’t know me!

A friend of mine shared the results of a personality test that I hadn’t heard of before called the RHETI test. I already knew I was an ENTJ (sometimes ESTJ) based on the MBTI test. Being a psych major, I eat this stuff up.

Some keywords for ENTJ/ESTJ are:

decisive, fearless, planner, engaged, social, self centered, comfortable around others, image conscious, likes to be center of attention, adventurous, outgoing, emotionally stable, leader, ambitious, hard working, dominant, prepared, hates to be bored, confident, opinionated, analytical, prepares for worst case scenarios, organized, orderly, clean, driven, resourceful, finishes most things they start, achieving, risk taker, narcissistic, arrogant, perfectionist, academic, scientific, critical, avoids giving in to others, does not like to compromise, skeptical, focused, conventional, planner, realistic, responsible, norm following, respects authority, punctual, hard working, stiff, follows the rules, content, normal, strict, disciplined, aggressive, assertive, content, happy, proper, formal, strict with self, meticulous, strong sense of purpose

For better and for worse, all of this is true about me. (I hate the “arrogant” part.)

So, here’s what my friend’s new [to me] test showed:

I’m mainly a type 2 with some 1 & 8 sprinkled in. Click on the numbers and all of it is true as well.

Crazy crazy stuff but definitely a bit more accurate than stupid stupid astrology.

{ 4 comments }

on free hosting sites and blogging

by Lara on July 31, 2010

in geek

UPDATE:: Not even an hour after I posted this, I finally got a real response from my last message to WordPress from what actually sounded like a human being! What needed to be fixed was fixed and I now have access to my domain! I also received an email from the super nice guy who also left a comment here. He gave me some extra info and was really understanding. I have updated this post so many times, softening some of my anger because my particular problem was certainly unique and does not apply to the overall use of WordPress.com, which I have really enjoyed up until this point. I still hold firm to my upset over the fact that many messages to them were not truly read and addressed until I got ugly with them. Unfortunately raising some hell has been the only way I get any real customer service these days.

Now, I have to go through the process of transferring and waiting and moving everything over. Wish me luck!

******

If you follow my tweets you’ll know the hell I’ve been experiencing for over a week now. Okay, I’m going to go on a bit of a tangent here and maybe you will learn something for your own blogging experience. (Maybe I’ll get some goddamn help if someone on WordPress sees this.)

First off to explain a bit, WordPress.com and WordPress.org are two totally different things. WordPress.org is pretty much the free interface/program/software/whatever that people upload to their own webhost to make blog writing easier. It’s the nice and neat template. WordPress.com is the site where you can use that same template and also blog for free. They host your blog w/out charging you (like Blogger and all the other free blogging sites out there, although I do think Blogger allows ads.) Your blog’s web address will be blahblah.wordpress.com unless you pay them for your own domain without the wordpress part at the end. I purchased mymilkglassheart.com for a year from WordPress.com.

What I didn’t know upon starting this blog almost 2 years ago was 1) if I would stick with it 2) if anyone would read it 3) you can’t have paid ads on WordPress.com 4) you can’t upload cool plugins on WordPress.com. Now that I have stuck with it and actually have readers and opportunities to get some ads up in here, I realized I needed to switch all of my content over to a new host to make some monies off my hard work.

So I cancelled my domain with WordPress (going back to mymilkglassheart.wordpress.com) thinking I would then just register my domain with Bluehost, where I was moving to. Only problem, my domain doesn’t expire for a few more months and WordPress.com was still redirecting to my blog if you tried to go to mymilkglassheart.com. Essentially, my domain was in limbo but I couldn’t access it or transfer it. This is a unique situation and none of their support addressed this problem.

Let’s just talk about WordPress.com’s support. IT SUCKS! There are no phone numbers or direct email addresses. You go to their support section, try to figure out your problem with info they’ve already provided and then, as a last resort, you send a message through a form. These messages I sent apparently went to illiterate robots who (eventually) sent me worthless links to their support forums that didn’t help, even though I told them that the support forums didn’t cover my concerns, and that the buttons they said should be on my control panel/dashboard didn’t exist.

Upon further investigation and a phone call to wonderful, competent, helpful 24-7/365 1-800# Bluehost, trying to figure all this crap out when things I tried to do just wouldn’t work, I found out that when you buy a domain from WordPress, they use a third-party. They don’t tell you this. I also found out through Bluehost that my domain was managed by Wild West Domains. I looked them up and called, hoping to circumvent WordPress. They also have excellent customer service and reinstated the [limited] access to my domain on WordPress after I had cancelled. I hoped that would help but it didn’t. Still, the access Iwas supposed to have to my domain on WordPress.com, this access they said wad supposed to be available (with screenshots and everything) on their support forums DID NOT EXIST!

I needed my EPP Authorization Code to transfer my domain to Bluehost. An EPP Authorization Code is essentially the SS# to your domain. It allows you to take it anywhere you want. Apparently there have been many complaints online about hosts holding them hostage. Think of it like this: Pepsi registers the domain Pepsi.com. Like a patent, this domain will eventually expire and unless their people keep on top of this, someone else can come along, buy it and then Pepsi will have to buy it back from them at whatever price. Hosts have total access to expiration dates and times. They can swipe up expiring domains like a vulture at a patent office. Honestly, no one wants my stupid domain. It’s just become dirty policy to hold the EPP codes hostage.

It is a good idea when purchasing a domain to get your EPP Code right off the bat and store it somewhere safely. You may have serious issues with your host and need to transfer. It’s also your RIGHT to have it. You paid for your domain. You own it. You should have all information regarding it.

So I am now patiently waiting for a god damn human being to contact me from WordPress to give me what I need. I have sent another message to them through their form without any direct keywords. Their bots have essentially ignored it. I have also had the exact same bullshit responses from their Twitter account.

Here’s my last killer message to them:

This is the 4th time I have contacted support with a serious issue I need to have resolved in a timely manner. I have received two automatic responses with links that are worthless to me. If someone had actually read my complaints/problems they clearly would not have sent the support forum links that do not answer my questions.

I have never experienced such terrible support in my life. I would appreciate an email from a REAL human being who will help me with the issue I am having that CANNOT be addressed by any of the support options available. Believe me, I have looked and exhausted all other options.

If I don’t receive real help in regards to obtaining the access and rights to something I have paid you for, I will have no other choice but to file a formal complaint with InterNIC.

Sincerely,
Lara

If I don’t get the help I need soon, I am going to hunt high and low for any corporate contact information and I will hound those bastards like you would not believe. I also plan on filing a complaint with InterNIC. In tweeting about my issues, I got a response from a guy telling me it took him 6 months to get access to his own domain, that he paid for from Lycos. He called every extension in their office until someone finally helped him. This is not an isolated problem.

So my advice to you lovely bloggers out there… if you are serious about making something bigger out of your blog, if you want control of your own work and domain, want to control the appearance and add-ons of your blog, and maybe you would even eventually like to get paid advertising on your blog,  get the hell off the free sites. They are perfectly fine for the casual blogger, like I started off as. If your readership begins to get larger and you are committed to delivering consistent content, go ahead and pay for hosting from whatever service offers you the server storage space you need, and whatever other features sound good to you. Look for 99.9% up times. Look for good reviews and 24-7 customer service. Ask around. Get recommendations. Go ahead and upload the WordPress software to your host site. It’s excellent. Just stay off the free hosting sites. Also register your domain with a reputable registry site and get that EPP code immediately.

Also, if you can offer any advice about my current issue, I would greatly appreciate it! If nothing happens, I’m stuck here until my domain expires. I’ll be damned if I’m ordering new MOO cards!

PS: Save your snarky comments about how I should’ve hired a web developer. Seriously? I guess I should hire a publisher to handle my photo albums. Poor access to customer service is a bad thing. So is being uncooperative and withholding access to someone’s  information by sending them worthless help. I’m a do-it-yourself kind of gal. There’s no way in hell I’d hand this blog over to some cornhole playing internet bro who knows how to do things that I’m perfectly capable of teaching myself over time. I change my own tires, remove my own stitches, and I think I can figure this elementary crap out, if companies would just offer better service.

{ 2 comments }

setting up an RSS reader

by Lara on July 27, 2010

in geek

A lot of you still go to each individual website when you want to see what’s new. You have your “Favorites” list of bookmarks and click on each one when in the mood to peruse the interwebs. You have to wait for ads to load and you never really know when there’s new content.

There is a better way! It is sooo much better that it’s worth the small amount of work to set it up.

That symbol up there that you see on blogs and sites? If you don’t know what it is, or have been intimidated by it… don’t worry. We’re going to sort it all out!

There are a lot of RSS readers out there but these two excellent tutorials focus on Google Reader, which I also use. Most everyone has a Gmail email account so, it’s only natural to use Google’s reader but, even if you don’t have Gmail, you can still set one up.

With an RSS reader, you basically get the main content of all the frequently updated sites you like to visit, after you subscribe to them. You don’t get the all the extra mess on the sidebars. No ads. Just pure content. Once you add sites you want in your reader, the new posts will automatically update. You can star items to save them. You can organize sites into categories. Mine are broken down into decor, fashion, art, things that make me laugh, local Richmond blogs, etc. If I just want to catch up on the funny stuff while I’m taking a break, I just click on that category and all the new posts from the funny sites I like come up and I conveniently scroll through them. You can also access Google Reader on a smart phone, which is so great when you’re sitting waiting somewhere.

There are some blogs that update constantly. You may wind up with 50 new posts a day in your reader from just one site, which can be overwhelming. I had to unsubscribe to Apartment Therapy because it was too much. Now, that’s just one of the sites I do end up going to directly and checking out once a month or so to catch up on cool decor ideas. So, finding your comfort level with an RSS reader may take some time. That’s okay.

So, when you have  a bit of time, right click and open up >> Google Reader << in a new tab, as well as these two tutorials and follow along. Don’t get overwhelmed by all the steps. Take your time, play with the settings and learn it like you learn a new phone, and thank me later.

Subscribe to my blog while you’re at it! ;)

{ 4 comments }

day at the beach

by Lara on July 20, 2010

in geek

We drove to VA Beach for the day on Sunday. If you ask me “if you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?” first choice is always the beach. The bf is more of a cold weather kind of guy. He could easily live up North and be happy. I love the heat, the sun, the sand, the wind, the salt air, the waves crashing. Yes.

I know Nags Head, NC like the back of my hand – favorite cheap clean oceanfront place to stay, best oysters (and rooftop deck for drinks), best breakfast, best sushi, best fancy pants dinner, desolate beach spots (north of Rodanthe)… I don’t like overdeveloped beaches and a bunch of idiot teenagers cruising and junk shops everywhere. We only had one day though and VA Beach is close. So, we packed up a cooler, packed up the car with beach chairs an umbrella and towels, and hit the road with no real agenda and no idea where we would end up. I don’t know my own state’s beach like I know the Outer Banks and I haven’t been to VA Beach in years. I have to say that the main drag of the boardwalk has cleaned up significantly since the last time I went. We wound up parking near the 13th Street public entrance.

The beach was packed! Umbrellas as far as the eye could see but we managed to get a spot with an unfettered view of the waves crashing. I brought my nice camera but decided against taking it to the sand. Here are some terrible pics from my phone’s camera.

beach hair is the best, double chins are not

We took all of our important stuff and went to get lunch. The snacks weren’t cutting it. I got oysters and the bf got crab legs. We got back and all of our stuff was still safe as we left it. A few more dips in the ocean and we called it a day. Dairy Queen on the way home was a final treat to a really nice day.

 

{ 5 comments }

particles

by Lara on July 16, 2010

in art,decor,geek

Someone is finally selling prints of particle tracks officially licensed from CERN. I am sooooo excited. I have been searching for so long. I even wrote to CERN to see if they were selling prints but they have bigger fish to fry. Media Storehouse has them in different sizes, framed and unframed.

I want to get a few of them in smaller sizes and hang them together. These are the ones I’m considering. Sorry about the watermarks. Nerds unite!

Bubble chamber particle tracks. Coloured image showing a collection of tracks left by subatomic particles in a bubble chamber. A bubble chamber is a container filled with liquid hydrogen which is superheated – momentarily raised above its normal boiling point by a sudden drop in pressure in the container. Any charged particle passing through the liquid in this state leaves behind a trail of tiny bubbles as the liquid boils in its wake. These bubbles are seen as fine tracks, showing the characteristic paths of different types of particle. The paths are curved due to an intense applied magnetic field. The tightly-wound spiral tracks are due to electrons and positrons.

*

*

*

Streamer chamber photograph of 220 charged subatomic particles spilling out from the collision of a high-energy oxygen nucleus with a nucleus in a lead target. The picture was obtained by the NA35 experiment at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory outside Geneva. In addition to the 220 charged particles that leave a track in the streamer chamber, physicists estimated that a further 80 electrically neutral (& therefore invisible) particles were created in the collision. From a run in November 1986.

*

{ 0 comments }

moo!

by Lara on July 15, 2010

in geek

My mini Moo cards arrived! I chose one of their cute ready made designs in 36 different patterns. (They’re having a 30% off sale right now!)

I chose a classic typewriter font in grey ink.

{ 3 comments }

a glimpse

by Lara on July 14, 2010

in geek

A long time ago, a friend was working on her nursing school thesis about caregivers and asked me to tell her all about my experience in taking care of my mom. I wish I had saved it because I would just copy and paste it here and not be faced with the overwhelming task of trying to explain things here as well as I did then. Oh well. You’ll get an abbreviated version.

I don’t talk about my personal personal life very much on here. It’s not that I mind talking about it. It’s just not what most people want to hear about. For some reason I feel compelled to share right now.

My day job is taking care of my mom, taking care of the house my parents live in (and I grew up in), running errands, cooking, keeping things in order, and I also help run my father’s construction company. I’ve pretty much picked up where my mom left off as her condition worsened. It was a gradual process getting used to more and more responsibility.

My end of my dad’s business involves paying bills, doing bookkeeping, taking care of all the tax related stuff, phone calls, arranging meetings, keeping up with licenses, insurance bullshit (audits, etc), typing contracts and bills, shuffling papers, and generally juggling the finances in a feast or famine line of work.

In taking care of my mom, just imagine if you couldn’t move any part of your body except your head. Imagine all the care you would need. That’s what I do. My mom has M.S. but she can still talk, eat, and has a wonderfully sick sense of humor in spite of everything. She’s the kindest person I know. She is part of a house calls program with MCV so I have instant access to doctors and nurses whenever I notice an issue that’s beyond what I can address but for the most part, I’m responsible for her care. Yes, we’ve had nurses and home aids come in. They suck. My mom would be riddled with bed sores and infections if I left her at their mercy. A decade in bed and not a single bed sore. I started taking care of her foley catheters myself and no more UTIs. I have fought Medicare in Federal court and won. I have cussed doctors and nurses to hell and back. I am my mom’s biggest advocate and pit bull protection. We’ve dealt with kidney stones, cancer, a blocked femoral artery and all the aftercare, in addition to the depression that comes with her situation. It’s been a wild ride.

I also take care of the house… cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping etc… and turn around and do it all at my own place as well.

It took forever going part-time but I have my degree in psychology. It’s worthless but it’s a degree nonetheless and one of these days I will probably go to grad school. Maybe not. Who knows.

My parents busted their ass to create the business. I learned how to walk in the frame of a house. I never had a babysitter. I was putting together ceiling fans and spackling walls when I was 6. I may get my contractors license one of these days and continue with the company. Who knows with that as well. As far as future security, retirement, etc… I’m an only child and I will inherit everything. Almost every day my father tells me it’s all for me. It’s a strange feeling but I don’t have much to worry about. (Not in a nouveau riche kind of way, but more of a I’ll be okay until I get things in order kinda way.) We’re a tight-knit, old school Eastern European mentality kinda family.

A lot of people tell me they couldn’t do what I do. Okay fine. You try and sleep at night when you’re faced with the same decisions. I was once bitter. I left home at 18 and got married on a whim to a loser for 11 months before I wised up. It was an act of defiance and self-assertion. I’ve experimented with drugs, I’ve drank way too much and was extremely lucky I made it home alive. I’ve seen a therapist, I’ve read books. I’ve dealt with codependence and all the other fun things that come up. I have a grip now. I have my own life, my own love. This is just how it is for me and I figured I’d share.

{ 3 comments }

hump day

by Lara on July 14, 2010

in geek,photo friday

the weekend is almost here! What are your plans?

{ 2 comments }

← Previous Entries