We all know that the internet is full of cool stuff. But the ‘cool stuff’ that I’m particularly interested in stylish, well designed ’stuff’. Especially if this stylish, well designed ’stuff’ is environmentally friendly. Which is why I was stoked to come across Clever Bastards‘ Upcycled category in their store.

To quote CB, Upcycled is taking “Old objects, materials or junk that not only find new life, but are fashioned into something of higher value. And that re-creation is of greater value to the environment too. So make a statement of style… as well as one of sustainability.”

And right now, I am loving the Blue Willow Tea Bangles created by Lindsay Pemberton. These vintage tea cups were rescued from the Salvation Army and ‘upcycled’ into cute, stylish tea-bangles.

Cute, right? Check out Clever Bastards for more trendy + environmentally friendly stuff!

One of Siblings good friends has recently acquired a Pomeranian Puppy. A cute fuzzy little critter with sharp teeth and a ferocious yip. She has also fallen head over heels for Quinn, or so we think. On their most recent Puppy Play Date, she spent all afternoon chasing him, stealing his toys, or attempting to wrestle him to the ground.

It was awfully cute!

Livejournal user plusninety has decided that my face is prettier than theirs, and have taken one of my public photos and posted it all over their journal and lj profile. Needless to say I am kinda wigged out about it.

In short, I removed all my public photos from scrapbook. ALL OF THEM.

I also left a snarky message, because I don’t think plusninety (who is apparently Russian) is going to kindly take down a photo because I asked nicely.

I am most definitely DISGUSTED with the internet. I knew it could be creepy, but the internet *I* knew is a happy fun place, filled with fun and great things, where everyone (mostly) played nice and we all got on joyously. I forget that it has this disgusting underbelly of creepy and gross.<

Sigh. I think I just got learned by the internet.

[edit] I TOTALLY just got learned! It’s an live journal based script that takes the your journal username and generates a public picture from your account. If you log out of lj, it doesn’t generate a picture. While I’m glad that its not focused on me, this is STILL A HORRIBLE AND DESPICABLE THING TO DO! Internet, I am still unimpressed with you.[/edit]

Since Coca-Cola brought out Glaceau (famous because 50 Cent apparently owns 10% and is all gantsta on their ads) I am no longer worried about how far Coke’s corporate fingers reach because now I can walk down to the diary and help myself to the rebranded Nutrient Water Rehab:

Yes, I noticed that it’s been rebranded, and that really its EXACTLY the same thing as Vitamin Water:

And right now I care very very little about the rebranding, and am much more excited that it is now available in my locality!!

On my way back from the States a couple years back I stopped in Colorado for a week and a half to see The Second Quarter. As the altitude of Avon Creek was alot higher than I was used to, I got sick. As the cure for that is apparently ‘lax out and drink lots of water’ I compromised (not such a big fan of water) and drank copious copious amounts of Vitamin Waters Dragonfruit instead. I rather developed a taste for it, and continued drinking it like a fish even after I got better. I was sad that I only discovered the fantasticness of it at the END of my visit, but now it matters little. Thanks to Coca Cola I have some right now on my desk.

Hurrah!

[edit]Turns out I was wrong, and it turns out I do care – Nutrient Water is NOT rebranded Vitamin Water. Sigh – my bad![/edit]

1. Take a picture of yourself right now.

2. Don’t change your clothes, don’t fix your hair – just take a picture.

3. Post that picture with NO editing.

4. Post these instructions with the picture.

This is me, tired, a little bit stressed out, at work.

MMmmmmhmmmm.

The last couple weeks I’ve been working quite hard on all sorts of projects; webdesign jobs, finding suitable bridesmaids dress fabric (still!), puppy socialisation, and a whole bunch of other finicky little things. And I was getting quite flustered about all these things, and little time in which I had to do them. In my flustered state I bemoaned my woes to The Boy, and despaired in not being able to afford to hire someone to do all this work for me. The Boy indulged me and I got all the self-pity out of my system. Anyway, later I found this on my desk:

6 Steps To Riches

1. Develop a cat-dog that flies.
2. Market flying cat-dogs.
3. Sell millions worldwide.
4. Activate secret plan “Octopus”.
5. flying attack dog-cat-army of danger.
6. Steal Money from people.
VICTORY!!

Possible costs:
- Genetic Scientists
- Wings
- Glue
- Collars

While ever so slightly immoral (and not to mention the logic flaw – if I am selling millions worldwide I would already be rich and not need to steal money. I think ‘6 Steps to Riches’ sounded better than ‘3 Steps to Riches’) and is about as feasible as most B Grade horror movies, it did cheer me up no end. :)

So, I made Piklets this afternoon. It seemed like a nice thing to do, so I did. I made up the batter without making too much of a mess, and it took me a couple goes to work out how best to flip them and how long to wait before I should (sometimes they were too brown, sometimes they slid off leaving a trail of batter on the flipper).

Anyway, after eating at least half of the piklets while I was making them, I figured it would be nice if I shared them with Sibling and her boy, so I saved a few of the best ones (the ones that weren’t odd shapes, or weird shades of brown, or charcoal), buttered them with some jam and trotted down the hall to deliver them.

Well, they just left, and the best of my piklets were still sitting there uneaten.

. . .

Next time, *I’m* going to eat all the good ones, and the goobers can go without.

While I have a degree with a technical background, its been pointed out that as pretty as my designs are I don’t *actually* have any formal training in design. In truth, the lack of formal design never stopped me from producing design work. It did however stop me from appreciating designs from a formal or technical point of view.

But this is the internet, and if you can’t learn what you want from the internet, then you don’t know how to use it right. And I can honestly say I’ve been educated by the internet, and oh the fabulous things the internet has shown me!

The discovery I love the most right now is makemakemake.org and their fantastic design posters:

:) While I’m quickly learning there is more to design than just great ideas and rubbing them in other designers faces, its nice to know that at least the world of design shares ribbing quirks with every other industry.

It appears the idiocy present on the internet is getting worse. I sent off a bunch of emails to textile companies in an attempt to locate bolts of Silk Dupion appropriate for the bridesmaids dresses.

And it was all fine, till I got this reply from Alan Jones Agencies in Newton:

To: Elly
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 12:29 PM
Subject: Message from Yellow Online – Silk Dupion

SORRY WE CAN ARRAGE A SHIPMENT FROM INDIA , BUT DO NOT HAVE STOCKS,
REGARDS / ALAN JONES.

Now, receiving a message in capitals really really irks me. I think it’s lazy, unprofessional, and rude. It’s almost as annoying as people who email you in ‘txt-speak’, or don’t use the spell check function. As I had to reply to him anyway, I figured I’d mention it.

To: Alan Jones
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 13:04 PM
Subject: RE: Message from Yellow Online – Silk Dupion

Hi Alan,

Thanks for that, but I think I’d rather find a supplier that stocks Silk Dupion.

Also, just for the record, typing an email in capitals is considered rude, and unprofessional. You may want to refrain from doing so in future.

Cheers,
Elly

Mm. It’s entirely possible I wasn’t as nice as I could be about it, but whatever. It was just an FYI, and it couldn’t have hurt. But then I got a reply:

To: Elly
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 12:29 PM
Subject: RE: Message from Yellow Online – Silk Dupion

REALLY. YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY THEN.

Nice thumb in the nose gesture. Especially with the ‘good day’ comment. I guess I *could* have been nicer, obviously he took offense and was determined to ignore my attempt at internet etiquette. Fine, no problem. So I replied, this time with Wiki at my back, and with appropriate bolding of my own thumb to nose gesture:

To: Alan Jones
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 13:04 PM
Subject: RE: Message from Yellow Online – Silk Dupion

Fantastic sales technique, really.

Taken from Wikipedia, so you don’t just think I was taking a dig – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caps_lock

“On Internet chat systems, forums and Usenet, typing a sentence in all capitals is considered rude, the large letters akin to shouting or yelling within the social context. On a more practical level, text written in all capital letters, a result of engaging the caps lock, may be difficult to read.[1] The ‘Caps Lock Theory’, is often referred to in Internet chat forums and states that there is an inverse relationship between a person’s use of the caps lock and their knowledge of a particular subject“.

Cheers.

The internet wins. If you don’t know how to play nice in the playground of sales, then be prepared to get pwned with bad publicity and jokes at the expense of your intelligence.

I generally subscribe a bunch of design sites. It’s great for inspiration, and keeping up with new trends and new ideas, and a FANTASTIC way to gain perspective.

I was reading one of the archived Smashing Magazine articles, where they had asked 50 Designers 6 questions, and one of the questions was ‘Name one typical myth about web-development (which is not true)’.

The first answer cracked me up:

Myth: Web development is for boys.
Truth: It’s simple, and anybody can do it. Web development is for Spartan warriors. People still underestimate the amount of effort that goes into creating a great site or application. The various components are easy, but putting them together in the right way takes time and experience.

I love the implication there, that its not just for boys, it’s for Spartan Warriors, which, if you follow the logic, are also girls!

In short, hell YES I’m a Web Development Spartan Warrior! :)