One of the things I liked best about visiting Turkey this summer was the exercise of learning about a religion that’s different from my own but still finding myself encouraged and my faith deepened at the end of the trip.  I don’t mean this in a “we all believe in the same God” kind of way (because I definitely don’t believe that) but in the same way that you get choked up at a wedding and then immediately squeeze your lover’s hand next to you.

I’ve recently been reading a new (new to me) blog “Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist: Advice at the intersection of work and life“  I don’t even remember how I came across it and I don’t know why I like it so much.  It’s just one of the most honest blogs I’ve read in a long time.  Sockparade’s not very honest.  So it’s nice to read from the other side of the spectrum.

I like the name Penelope.  I’ve considered naming my future daughter that — but only if I can stop the husband from trying to rhyme it with “Cantaloupe”.

Anyway, today is when Rosh Hashanah ends.  Wiki says that it is a day of rest and things that are prohibited on the Shabbat are also prohibited today.  Here’s a quote from her post about it:

“All this to say: you don’t need the Jewish holidays in order to learn something about yourself. Force yourself to isolate for a day. Don’t allow yourself to do all the usual things. You will learn something about yourself. It’s impossible not to.”

If it were a Saturday I think it’d be pretty easy.  I isolate on a lot of Saturdays.  But a Tuesday or Wednesday?  That’s pretty rough.  I’d really like to set a date for a day of rest on a weekday.  I’d also like to spend some time fasting and praying.  And then my next thought is: But maybe next semester though because this semester is really busy.

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After Hurricane Ike passed through Houston I didn’t really watch the news coverage of it.  So I’m really glad a family friend sent my husband this link of Ike photos.  Impressive photography and just solid photojournalism.  As a warning, the photos are hard to look at without wincing.

This is the post I wrote last week and was planning to finish and post on Thursday– before all the hurricane craziness happened.

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Finally.  I just finished uploading the last of my Turkey photos.  Sometimes it’s hard to balance how many photos I take on a vacation.  I’m usually afraid I’ll regret bringing my D200 somewhere so I end up bringing it everywhere.  After 10 days in Turkey, I decided to leave the D200 at home for the last day of shopping in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.  It’s quite unfortunate because there were a lot of great photos to be had but it was also nice to just enjoy myself without carrying the extra weight.  Some people enjoy the solid, heavy feel of the D200 but I wouldn’t mind some lightweight technology.

I definitely think my D200 is one of the best investments I’ve made since graduating from undergraduate college.  I’m still trying to convince the husband to get an SLR camera.

I’ll be throwing up photos of Colorado and the Rocky Mountains as soon as I get a paper off of my back.

So after some observation, I realized that Twitter isn’t killing my blog.  Google Reader is killing my blog.  I usually blog about the interesting things I like but now I just share them through Google.  I think the solution is to pick out the really outstanding items I share there and blog about it.  We’re getting this (sockparade) down to a science.

Here’s a quick sampling:

I love Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys.  I don’t know anyone that doesn’t.  Here it is in blog form.  Just make sure you read it from the oldest entry to the newest entry.  Did you know they are coming out with a Facebook Movie?  If you’re bored, check out the blog Cake Wrecks for a few good laughs.  I found it through Boing Boing but apparently Ashteroid is blogrolling it too.  Disaster movie got a 00% on RottenTomatoes.  Do you like your drinks on the rocks?  Here is an ice alternative that looks like real rocks.

The geek level and randomness varies from day to day.  You can either follow my reader by bookmarking this page, checking out the blue widget I have on my sidebar, or joining Google Reader yourself and adding me as a friend.

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I think it’s interesting how everyone (myself included) is hating on the new facebook layout.  I finally took a look around this morning and while it’s pretty cluttered– I have to admit that I always prefer personal customization.  Not Myspace-customization where the font, colors and backgrounds become hideous, but drag and drop widget customization.  So I think I’m okay with it.  It’ll just take some time to get used to.  What’s interesting is that Flickr recently updated their website too but I haven’t heard as much grumbling.  Without making a comment on whether the new Flickr is better or worse than the old Flickr, they flipped the page the same way Facebook has flipped, by placing the main content on the lefthand side of the page and the column on the right.  I think this is better design (which is why sockparade is the way it is) but it’s counter intuitive when you have already been trained to expect to see the page the old way.  I haven’t heard too much grumbling about Flickr.  Is it because Flickr management has made their way into our hearts and we trust them to do what’s best for Flickr?  Even if it means that comments left on your photos are mashed up with comments you’ve left on other people’s photos?  But maybe we’re willing to give that up in order to mute some activity?  That’s customer loyalty.

Speaking of layout changes, I am still scratching my head as to why Microsoft would change MS Office menus in Vista.  I know they were trying to innovate and keep up with the times but one of their greatest advantages over Apple was that they had a huge user base that was trained on the interface of MSOffice.  I’m not sure why they would sacrifice that.

My Google Reader is easily my favorite Google app these days as it has streamlined and regulated my browsing habits as well as introduced me to new websites and ideas from my friends.  I have a widget on my sidebar that shows the latest feeds I’ve shared (the dark blue box under the heading “sharing is caring”) but I figure I’d mention it in a post because my sidebar isn’t very friendly.  (Thanks to Denver for converting me to the GReader.)

Speaking of efficiency, I ordered a white, 16GB iPhone 3G this past Sunday.  They said it will take 4-5 days to come in so that means I should receive a phone call tomorrow or Friday.  I haven’t been this excited about a product since I got my Sony XBrite monitor in college.  I don’t mean to be over dramatic but I think this purchase will change my entire lifestyle.  For those who don’t know me, I’m not a very well connected person.  I am an email junkie during the weekdays but during the weekends and in the evenings it’s difficult to contact me unless you are with me in person.  I used to go days without knowing where my cellphone was and checking my voicemail once a month was not unusual.  With the help of the husband, I’ve curbed most of this behavior and have really made an effort in the past year to stay better connected.  But I still have my days.

Once I get the iPhone, I’ll always know where my phone is (it’s too expensive not to!), I’ll always have access to email, my spontenaeity will be much better informed, and I’ll finally have my calendar on me!  While this sounds great for efficiency, I hope I don’t get too sucked in.  I don’t want to be that guy (or girl) who is constantly checking his/her phone.  I don’t want to forget the pleasure of reading a paperback book on the beach.  You know, that sort of thing.  I think I’ll be fine, I’m just slightly apprehensive.

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We went to the new H MART yesterday to pick up some ingredients for our Okonomiyaki dinner.  It’s a lot closer than Chinatown, has Korean, Japanese and Chinese foodstuffs and snacks and it’s cheap!  The produce section was really clean (sometimes hard to find in Asian Groceries) and looked really fresh.  They also have a mini foodcourt and some prepared food.  If you haven’t been, make a trip out there sometime soon.

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I’m sold on the Houstonist.  Last week it told me about the St. Arnold’s Scavenger Hunt Pub Crawl that was happening.  (We were outside of the first 200 entries, but they’re still letting us come to the party, we just won’t be eligible for the kegerator raffle.)  And this week I read about BarCampHouston3 which the husband and I will be attending this weekend.

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EDIT:

I just received the following email from AT&T!

“Your iPhone 3G order has been shipped and is on its way to the AT&T store in which you placed the order, please see address below. Your credit card has been charged.”

I love good freeware. I had to convert some .jpeg files to .pdf files this morning and stumbled across a really good freeware called Magic PDF.  After you install it, the software acts as a virtual printer.  Anytime you need to convert something to PDF, simply print it and choose Magic PDF as your printer.  It’ll prompt you to save the file and voila!  PDFed.  Simple, easy to use, and FREE!  No watermark or popup ads like some other freeware/shareware.

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Went to the Optometrist today.  Pretty ridiculous as usual.  Puffs of air shooting into my eyes, looking at the red barn at the end of the road and watching it slowly get blurry, following the tips of pens, staring into bright lights, trying to see how many fingers the assistant was holding up using only my peripheral vision, reading numbers in the “make sure you’re not colorblind” book, wearing the 3D glasses to choose which dot pops out, choosing number 1 or number 2, etc.  Why is Optometry school so hard to get into?

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Also, I updated my links and recategorized them.  The new wordpress makes it really easy.  “What links?” you might ask.  The links on the right side of the page– so far down the page that you’ve probably never even seen them before.  Take a look if you’re bored.

Most people hate Martha Stewart.

I don’t.  I’m kind of fascinated by her.  I know she’s rumored to have a horrendous temper towards her staff and she did participate in the whole stock selling scandal.  But she’s got a pretty incredible biography and I respect anyone that’s been able to make a successful living off of what they love doing.  And I really like people who are at the top of their game.  You don’t have to like someone to give respect.  She’s a business-guru and I know Oprah gets a lot of attention for being one of the most powerful businesswomen out there but I’d venture to guess that Martha’s got Oprah beat when it comes to business.  (Oprah’s interview with Martha.)

I really liked her Blueprint magazine before it shutdown and I still subscribe to the Bluelines blog which has something to do with that.  I’ve recently started reading her personal blog (The Martha Blog).  It’s surprisingly personal and I like that she takes mediocre photos of her vacations and her 4th of July weekend with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon on her boat.

Here’s a fun blooper reel of Martha Bloopers:

And here’s a fun segment that her production crew put together:

Through Bluelines I also discovered Dinner Tonight which has different recipes and food ideas for you to try.  I’m making Chicken Lettuce Wraps tonight.

Part of me feels like I need to train up to be a better wife and a better future mom.  And practicing these recipes and home ideas will help somehow?

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I went to WaMu this morning to withdraw some cash and they have a new system where you complete your transaction at the pod counter with the teller and then the teller hands you a receipt and you get your cash from the cash pickup station.  This way the tellers do not have access to the cash and they can’t get robbed.  I think it’s a pretty smart system.