:pseudo-element{} http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:34:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 I know what you are all thinking http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2010/01/03/i-know-what-you-are-all-thinking/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2010/01/03/i-know-what-you-are-all-thinking/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:34:09 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=172 You are all going “Dear God, she updated after so many months of silence, something of the utmost importance must have happened!” and indeed you would all be right to be thinking it, because it is true. Something beyond all expectations has changed today, sunday January 3rd into a day I will not forget for years to come.

I got the VCR to work.

I feel uncannily clever and beyond a doubt the smartest woman on the planet at this instant. I have battled the wires, the sound-but-no-video input, the tracking and the lack of remote. Now I have beat my opponent into submission. Tonight I shall watch my whole collection of Disney movies. HALLELUJAH!

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2010/01/03/i-know-what-you-are-all-thinking/feed/ 5 Independance rocks http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/08/06/independance-rocks/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/08/06/independance-rocks/#comments Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:35:30 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=148 Ok so lots of time has passed since I last wrote, which is really a shame since I have a lot of good things to write about. Got a nice party to celebrate the new appartement. All the best people came and we had a nice relaxed evening of beer, cheese puffs and jello shooters.

Ok so not so relaxing as I got slapped by Debbie ( a normal occurance ) only this time it left a handprint for more than 24 hours! That was pretty cool. I don’t remember what I said but I’m sure I deserved it ;) We had a lot of empty bottles the next day, but also a couple of fresh cold beer in the fridge that lasted a week or two. Thank you guys for coming over!

Now that it has been almost a full month, I can say that life is pretty awesome. I was really surprised by how much owning a clothesline would make me really happy. I love watching the colours float in the wind from my bedroom’s window. It guess it helps that my clothes are so shiny and colourful! It’s also right by  my new bike. I’m also very surprised by how quickly I took on to using it to go to work every day. Now don’t go out thinking I will bike for fun on weekends, but going wherever I want without depending on bus schedules is pretty awesome! And what is not to love about taking 15 mins less to go work than by bus?

Finally, I think I can say for sure that I am finally home. I cooked the ancestral thyme chicken recipie and judging by the photo, I’m sure you can say it was a success. Easy, quick, tons of leftovers. There is nothing wrong about that recipe.

Luc, Debbie and Guillaume yum! cherry jello with fragoli Debbie hits like she means it Morning after kitchen counter My very own clothesline! awesome! Before cooking ]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/08/06/independance-rocks/feed/ 1 Home sweet home! http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/07/09/home-sweet-home/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/07/09/home-sweet-home/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:38:30 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=134 We’ll it’s done now. I’ve finally left the nest on Tuesday for my new home. Some preview photos :) Let me out! Tons of boxes

Everything is already pretty good for the party on Saturday.

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/07/09/home-sweet-home/feed/ 5 This game made my brain collapse… http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/14/this-game-made-my-brain-collapse/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/14/this-game-made-my-brain-collapse/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:07:00 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=132 … Right before the skydiving, Lorien showed me this fantastic video game called Braid. I’ve installed the demo (wohoo! it plays on Mac!) and even playing just the demo, I feel like my mind can’t possibly grasp the sort of time warping this game requires just to access stupidly obvious puzzle pieces!

It’s so different than anything else I’ve played before. It’s so frustratingly simple. It’s totally awesome.

Go download it. Now.

Braid trailer from David Hellman on Vimeo.

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/14/this-game-made-my-brain-collapse/feed/ 1 Return from 4 200 metres at 200km/h… http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/13/4-200-metres-at-200kmh/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/13/4-200-metres-at-200kmh/#comments Sun, 14 Jun 2009 00:57:12 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=124 Today was the big day that I had been waiting for a couple of weeks now. I had signed up for a parachute jump at work that a corworker was organizing. I had been thinking about it, a little obsessively at times, and looking forward to the moment when I would look down and jump into, well, nothing! It finally happened and I am totally thrilled. When I landed, if it had been just a question of going back in a queue like at an amusement park, I would have jumped minutes after!

My fancy suit even had puffy sleeves! Lorien landing on his ass (ok so everyone did) a lone parachute in the cloudy sky

I stressed all week long, and had some fleeting moments of sheer utter abject terror and panic throughout the day, but when I got my suit and followed the mini formation I became surprisingly serene. I thought it was the trance-like feeling someone had told me about, but it just kept with me even in the plane. The only moment I got scared was when I had to kneel in front of the door of the plane, tilt my head completly back (into the banana position!) and just lean forward. I knew the tip of my knees were floating in the air but I couldn’t see anything!

So yes, I screamed during the free fall at the start, but it was so exhilarating to see the world under me, and the sky, and to hear the noise of the air. I could also feel my face flapping around with the speed. It was so cold too. Eventually the instructor opened the parachute and I barely felt it. There was no big tug or shake, we just stopped falling so fast. I that point I realized how warm the air was and how beautiful the countryside looked when you have more than a tiny plane window to look at it.

Eventually I got to drive a little and I think turning is the BEST THING EVER. It goes woooosh by and I felt like squeeing :D

So yeah, I will definitly jump again. It was so much easier and smooth than I thought the laws of physics could warrant. The free fall part is just so intense and yet so soothing. Best Sport Ever. It just made my day when I got home and saw that former President Bush had jumped for his 85th birthday. I hope I can jump like him when I get old too.

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/13/4-200-metres-at-200kmh/feed/ 3 Twitterism http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/01/twitterism/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/01/twitterism/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:24:29 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=121 I’ve always felt very ‘meh’ about blog posts filled with random twitter posts. It seems like everything is hardcoded into a language that nobody gets unless you were on the other side of the conversation as it happened. It’s like reading a conversation that someone has with an imaginary friend. A friend that changes subject very often and randomly. I just don’t get it.

So I’m taking my vengeance with the most random text messages taken from my cell phone. The following list is taken both from my inbox and my sent message folder and hopefully is completly without meaning for everyone except me. 

  • Turtle
  • This is all your fault. Just so we’re clear.
  • THEY CUT SHEPPARD’S HAND OMG OMG OMG !?!!
  • Yay! I’ll finally hear about the gory bits :)
  • He stole underwear! So rockin’
  • So for the record : dancing in high heels till 4am is not as glamourous as it sounds
  • A nestled repetitive 5×5 if elseif elseif… structure. Supposedly the QA gagged on sight lol
  • Same Area code! never seen before
  • Your $1 beer + free bacon basket, it wouldn’t happen to be in indianapolis?
  • The downside of bowl-plates is that your fork never has quote the right angle to scrape the melted cheese in the arc…
  • Oooh i can svill speak english
  • Rainbow! :)
  • I’m watching a movie and minnesota looks disturbingly similar to quebec…
  • God it figures as soon as I find a quiet place to read it’s suddenly filled with old ladies talking at the top of their lungs…
  • Lol Omg he s trying to flirt with you… Silly boys
  • Soldier was one of the greatest movies ever made
  • Whether spill or debauchery either way that does seem to be a good sign of drunk
  • Wow I should move to Canada and become a squirrel… It appears to pay about as well as grad school.

Identity was removed to protect the reputation of the people who wrote those  :D

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/06/01/twitterism/feed/ 1 EFG http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/14/efg/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/14/efg/#comments Fri, 15 May 2009 01:15:48 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=117 Today in the bus I learned something extra-special :

epicfail02

is gone. I don’t really want to be more precise. But it made the end of the day a little special.

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/14/efg/feed/ 0 Strudel less than three http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/11/strudel-less-than-three/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/11/strudel-less-than-three/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 23:48:22 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=113 So it was mother’s day yesterday and I made my mom a super supper with salmon cakes (which had some tuna because I’m bad at reading cans) a zucchini salad and apple-cranberry strudel. I didn’t expect the strudels to be this wonderful because the oven is usually uncooperative when it comes to desserts. It was so pleasing to see the dough heat up and get all golden even thought I put egg white instead of egg yolk on top.

I really loved that it was sweet and tasty without being covered in huge grains of sugar like the store bought kind. Thank you so much College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends!

strudel

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/11/strudel-less-than-three/feed/ 0 Obsession-meter http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/05/obsession-meter/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/05/obsession-meter/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 23:59:12 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=110 I’m considering getting a facebook account just so I can find my high school good friend with whom I spent hours reading Uncanny X-Men so that we can sigh over Gambit once more together. But thanks to my “facebook proxy accounts” I know that either she got a face lift, 2 children and moved to Vancouver or she isn’t on either. Darn. 

On a completely different subject, Jason got me addict on a fantastic game on the iPod touch that is just like Risk: Lux Touch. I played so much in the last 24 hours that I drained my battery. (of course the battery died in the bus right when I was about to annihilate everyone) I’m also very pleasantly surprised by the ease of the controls considering Risk isn’t a very simple game. So I foresee that within a week I will get off the bus 3 stations too far exponentially more often than I do now.

]]> http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/05/obsession-meter/feed/ 0 Mists of Avalon http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/04/mists-of-avalon/ http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/2009/05/04/mists-of-avalon/#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 00:39:53 +0000 Laurence http://pseudo-element.thegeekcartel.com/blog/?p=107 I must say I was very apprehensive when I picked up the book. I knew I was about  10 years too old to be in the targetted audience and that I was very *very* attached to the story of Arthur from the movie Excalibur, so it was a very pleasant surprise to enjoy the first half of the book so much. The story was interesting and historically less silly than the movie (re Romans and Saxons and no full plate armour) and the character of Morgane was a lot more interesting that the one-dimensional Morgane of the movie. (ok so now you’re wondering why I even liked the movie in the first place? The Music, The Costumes, Merlin & Uther)

42-16484915

Unfortunatly it was predestined to change when Gueneviere got some page-presence and proceeded to suck away whatever hope I had that the book would show decent women. Nope. We have stron women that are so independant nobody wants to be like them… and whiners that put t shame shy 7 years old girls who stick to their mother’s skirts. Nothing in the middle. How realistic. I hate to be the one who criticizes and complains all the time but to have a main character afraid to go riding on a horse in medieval England just tops it. To have her Queen on top? forget it! I’m glad I read it, now I’ll go back to Althea, Cersei,  Paks and Eowyn? I know most of those women are not always intelligent, brave or strong, but even if they’re faillible they always try. 

In the end, if I ever find the sequel I’ll keep it for easy beach reading :)

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