Sunday Burst of Weird and Awesome

Oddities and Awesome abound!

:: Oh Japan, never, ever change!

As LiveDoor News pointed out this week, a new trend is spreading among Japanese schoolgirls. It’s called “cream puff face” (“ganmen shuukuriimu” or 顔面シュークリーム). And, you guessed it, it involves smushing a cream puff in someone’s face.

This isn’t exactly a new trend, as it’s possible to find examples of cream puff faces as early as 2007 and 2008. And, yes, this is a spin on the old fashioned pie in the face gag. But in Japan, the trend really started to take off with schoolgirls in 2011. The Japanese mainstream is just catching on now.

Huh….

(Well, stop the whaling. Other than that, never change!)

:: Check out these detailed floor plans of teevee households. I never realized that the Simpsons have two living rooms!

:: Want to make your own ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ posters? Of course you do!

Thanks to the Keep Calm-o-matic!

Another Keep Calm.


More next week!!!

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A Day at the Farm

Well, it was really cold. So it was really only about 45 minutes.

But anyway, the other day I had some time to myself, so I decided to go to Knox Farm in East Aurora to take some pictures. I knew it was cold, but I didn’t figure on how biting the wind was, so I didn’t do nearly as much walking around as I had intended. Mostly I stuck around the farm buildings themselves.

Knox Farm is a former New York State Park that was once the estate of the Knox family, a rich clan that once lived here but has since dispersed. The state never really figured out what to do with the place, park-wise, and then the budgetary disasters that unfolded during the Great Recession gave the state the opportunity to eliminate the farm as a state park. (This despite that they didn’t even have to close State Parks during the Great Depression, but that was then, when America was more willing to levy taxes in order to pay for things we collectively wanted, as opposed to a country that seemingly wants low taxes and not much else. But I digress.)

Anyhow, here are a few of the photos from that day:

Knox Farm I

Knox Farm VI

Knox Farm II

Note the cross-country skiers:

Knox Farm III

By the Barn

These next two turned out cool, because I placed the camera in a dark place, relative to where I was standing. It was not this bright! But it makes me look all science-fictiony or something.

Into the Unknown Region?

Bathed in Light


I also drove up to the Mill Road Overlook, which is simply where the road passes by the top of a wide field on a hill, allowing a wonderful view. Some activists are currently trying to secure this property so that it remains a wonderful view, as opposed to the site of yet another boring development of ugly McMansions. The view that day from up there was wonderfully stark, since it was getting on late afternoon by this point.

Mill Rd Overlook I

Mill Rd Overlook II

Mill Rd Overlook III

Save This View


I really do love this area!

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Green

Thanks to the wonder of eBay, I now own a pair of moss green Carhartt overalls. Thus I shall conquer the world. BOW, MERE MORTALS!!!

Green Carhartts!

At the library II

Green Carhartts! II


Oh…in that last photo, I have zero idea what’s going on with my eyes, or why I look like the dude who is just itching to tell you where he’s buried all of his victims. Ye Gods.

And in other news of All Things Green, The Wife crocheted me a new scarf.

The Wife crocheted me a new scarf. Because she's awesome.

I am so prepared for this year’s St. Paddy’s Day! Maybe I’ll even go to the parade this time….

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Photographic Evidence

Chronicling some recent adventures, misadventures, and regular old humdrum ventures of life, through the magic of digital photography! Huzzah!!!

Photos after the break….

First of all, Winter Storm Nemo came through the Northeast, as some of you may have heard. As is usually the case with Nor’easters, Buffalo-Niagara was mainly spared the big hit. Northern Niagara County (about 40 miles north of Casa Jaquandor) got hit with about a foot and a half of snow, but down here in the Southtowns, we didn’t get much at all, about four or five inches. Here’s what it looked like when the snow was starting to accumulate:

SnowMG!!!!

And here’s what it looked like the next morning:

SnowMG! The morning after. We got off easy, but good thoughts to those struggling now.

Ayup. Not much difference!

Of course, the cats responded to this climatic threat as they always do:

What people could learn from kittehs....

A random food thing: I like pistachio nuts.

I enjoy pistachios.

I’m glad they don’t color the damned things pink anymore, though! That was pretty annoying. I love the scene in the original Naked Gun movie where Leslie Nielsen and George Carter are staking someone out, and they’re passing the time by eating pistachios in their car. Evidently they’ve been there a while, because a solid inch around both their lips is solid pink and there’s an enormous pile of spent shells outside the car door.

Speaking of food, here’s what I look like when shopping:

Good lord...I'm just reading a label. Why does my face default to KILL YOU WITH FIRE?!

Apparently I’m incredibly angry about what I see on the label there. Weird, huh? Seriously, I’m starting to think I’m the human version of Grumpy Cat.

Anyway, on with the shopping….

Shopping I: O the choices!

Shopping II: Hobgoblin Ale?

Shopping III: I could really go for some pie


No, I didn’t get the Hobgoblin Ale. Nor did I get the coconut cream pie, alas!

I continue to be fascinated with my two pairs of Carhartt overalls, which are amazingly comfy and cozy in the cool weather. The only problem I have thus far is that, being as they are, respectively, black and brown (instead of blue denim or hickory striped), they attract cat hair like crazy. So every time I wear them out of the apartment, I have to go through this ritual first:

Cat hair, GAHHH!!!

I’ve also decided of late that I own too many dark-colored shirts and sweaters, so I’m trying to diversify a bit. I actually got this nice light-gray sweater at a local consignment store for a few bucks:

Reading rules!

I have also, over the last few years, taken a liking to the color orange, which I was never enamored of before. Strange how tastes change, isn’t it?

And finally, I had a moment the other day wherein I fully embraced my inner twelve-year-old. When I was leaving work for the day, I noticed a large sheet of bubble wrap blowing around the parking lot. It was about six feet long and one foot wide, with the larger air pockets. I didn’t want it floating around out there forever, so I grabbed it to put it in the trash dumpster outside…and then, the thought occurred to me. What thought? This thought:

I drove over bubble wrap, and IT WAS AWESOME. Your argument is invalid.

Yes, I tucked one edge under my car’s back tire, spread it out before the tire as best I could, rolled down my window so I could hear it, and drove over the bubble wrap. And yes, the sound was glorious. I couldn’t believe how loud it was! It was like driving through a corn popper. And then, my fun having been had, I got out and properly disposed of the now-destroyed sheet of bubble wrap.

And that’s the fun that’s been had lately! It’s always an adventure, here at Casa Jaquandor!

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Bibs galore

This weekend was the annual “International Overalls Weekend”, which is an event that a bunch of us overalls afficionadoes online cooked up. It used to actually be “International Overalls Day“, but I suggested that instead of always having it the same date, it be held on a floating date, such as the third Saturday of November, thus accommodating folks like me who have jobs with required uniforms during the week. This expanded out to an entire weekend.

Oddly, this weekend I only wore overalls one of the two days — today, as a matter of fact. My newest pair, actually: a pair of black Carhartt’s.

A day in overalls is a good day.

I’d never owned any Carhartts before. Not really sure why, although I’ve always found their buckling system a little odd. But that’s not really much of a reason, so I finally took the plunge a while back and bought a real pair.

And they are awesome. Seriously. I love these things, even though they have little brass rivets everywhere (next time I fly I won’t be wearing these through the metal detector) and even though these buckles take a bit of getting used to.

Carhartt IV

First of all, I like having an option other than blue denim. Second, from what I understand, unless you do things in them that are pretty brutal, Carhartts will pretty much last forever. And third, well — these are really comfortable, even for being brand-new denim that isn’t even close to being broken in yet. The only downside is that they’re black…which is a problem when one lives with any kind of furry beast. The lint roller is a necessity.

So yeah, Carhartt makes a keen pair of overalls. I already want to get a dark brown pair, and I’m keeping an eye on eBay for a hunter green pair — they don’t make that color anymore, but it sounds really cool. I also find these a lot thicker and probably warmer than my other usual pairs, so these might get heavy wear during winter. We’ll see. I do like to go out in winter with a couple layers under a pair of overalls, with a scarf around the whole:

Fleece, scarf, and #overalls. I love when it gets cold!

And I strongly suspect that the Carhartts will be my overalls of choice for whenever I next get hit with pies!

As for International Overalls Weekend, it was fun as always. In honor of the event I made a photomosaic consisting of some favorite photos of mine from my adventures in overalls since the last Overalls Day:

International Overalls Weekend 2012!

As always, overalls rule!

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Joining the Instacrowd

Yup, everybody loves to complain about Instagram, the photo app that has turned everyone with a camera phone into a snooty nitwit who thinks that taking a quick snapshot and applying a filter makes them into photographic geniuses. Yeah, I thought that, too. But the thing is…Instagram makes taking photos and getting them onto Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and many other places ridiculously easy. I think that’s the real attraction here: not the facile photos, but just how easy it makes it to get them out there.

So yeah…I’ve jumped on the Instagram bandwagon.

I’m not going to be using it exclusively, because my heart of hearts still belongs to Flickr, even though it’s…well, it’s right out of the Web of 2006. But it’s still more tailored to nicer photos, and I’ve got too many years invested in using it to just stop. Flickr isn’t as easy to use as Instagram, but so what? It’s not like it was ever hard to use. Viva la Flickr, says I! But also, given my 7-inch Samsung Galaxy tablet, I just can’t turn down Instagram.

Below the fold are some of my first efforts using Instagram.


Long hair and overalls



Overalls, with cat.


(Note to self: blog about my new Carhartt overalls one of these days.)

It turns out that ramen noodles with a fried egg is really pretty delicious:


Ramen with fried egg


I’ve seen photos of ramen with an egg for years, right on the package, but never tried it. Yum!

We went to Pumpkinville the other day, and The Daughter took a nice photo of The Wife and I, which I Instagram’d:


The Wife and I at #Pumpkinville. Days like this were made for #overalls!


And of course, stuff on the Internet must have cats:


Lester pays rapt attention.


Finally, my very first experimentations with what Instagram-filtered photos looked like involved photos of my recent pieing.

Yup, Instagram is pretty cool!

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The receiving end

I’m in the midst of a vacation from work which started last Thursday and ends this Thursday morning. We took our annual trip to Ithaca for the Apple Harvest Festival, I’ve spent a lot of quality time with The Book, and in general, I’ve relaxed. Huzzah for relaxing! (Although, the joke’s on me as far as sleeping a little later than 5:50 am goes…The Daughter has to get up for school at 6:00 anyway. So I’m pretty much up at the same time that I’m up anyway.)

Yup, it’s been a nice vacation…and today we took care of another item on the list: my quasi-annual pies in the face.

As usual, I made a video of the event, and here it is. It’s quite a bit longer than usual, mainly because I didn’t have the heart to edit Mozart, so I padded it out to the full length of the piano concerto movement.


A pie in the face is a wonderful thing!

My oh my, the tie-dyed guy is pied!

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GAHHH!!


IMG_5767, originally uploaded by Gandroid.

I feel that I should state for the record that this is not me.

That is all.

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Hair!!!


Reading, originally uploaded by Jaquandor.

I’m not a vain person. I’m really not. But…I really like my hair in this photo. Sigh!

(I also like that I’m not looking all dour and stuff.)

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