Art by Kristen

282_1117

2009-06-24T00:19:00.001-07:00

282_1117
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

I updated playafoot.com with a better selection of fire photos, and a new design. All the fire spinner photos are up!

Jabba visits my lucky bamboo.

2009-06-15T14:05:00.001-07:00

I let Jabba the Frog out of his tank, and he immediately started climbing the nearby lucky bamboo. Go, Jabba, go!

Testing out the flash

2009-06-14T17:19:00.001-07:00

I rented some flash equipment so that I could do rear-sync flash photography. Rear sync flash is when the flash fires at the end of a longish exposure rather than at the beginning. The flash fires right before the shutter closes, capturing whatever that image happens to be at that moment in time. Typically it's used to create motion effects such as a car's faded image trailing behind the bright "frozen in time" portion of the image. It's also used in fire spinner photography, to create trails of light/fire around an image of a non-blurry person.

How to set up remote-triggered strobes

I used a Nikon D300 and two strobes, a Speedlight SB-600 and a Speedlight SB-800.

On the Nikon D300, in the menu settings, I scrolled down to the pencil --> e) Bracketing flash --> e3) Flash contrl for built-in flash menu. In that menu, I scrolled down until "Commander mode" was selected.
Within the "Commander mode" menu, I made sure that Built-in flash was set to M 1/128, and that Group A and Group B were both set to M 1/1. By setting the built-in flash to the lowest power I make sure that most of my light comes from my strobes. Your mileage may vary, this is a matter of taste.
On the SB-600, in order to get to the Commander mode menu, I held down the Zoom and "-" keys simultaneously. From there I made sure Channel 1 and Group A were selected.
On the SB-800, in order to get to the Commander mode menu, I held down the Select (center) key for a few seconds. I chose Channel 1 and Group A for this strobe also.
I then set the Nikon D300 to Rear Sync mode, by holding down the flash menu button to the left of the on-camera flash, and using the scroll wheel until "rear" comes up on the display.
I set an exposure for 2 seconds, positioned my strobes, and ta dah! The on-board flash goes off, I could hear the shutter open, then 2 seconds later the flashes went off.

What it looks like

The above photo shoes my test with 2 second exposure, and a slave strobe on each side (SB-600 and SB-800). I'm moving a small headlamp around in front of me. Later tonight I'll test the setup on some fire spinners.

I revamped my paintings gallery

2009-06-05T01:52:00.001-07:00

I updated my paintings gallery using the "Simplicity" skin from JAlbum gallery generator. Comments and headings should now be more consistent with standards, and each page has a thumbnail for "next" and "previous" images. I think the design is better.

Boing Boing article on DDI

2009-05-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Neat, Boing Boing did an
article on Dance Dance Immolation using one of my photos.

Here's more!

Monkey Butts

2009-05-13T20:04:00.001-07:00

Google Webmaster Tools tells me these two weird facts:

cavesandmountains.com is position #9 for the search results on muddy butt.

smallandcute.com is recently position #14 for search results on monkeys butt.

My life is complete!

Today's jog, Virginia Ave

2009-05-03T16:47:00.001-07:00

Google maps tells me I ran 3.4 miles today.

Most of it was uphill on the way there, through increasingly rich neighborhoods, and downhill on the way back, toward ApartmentComplexLand.

My pet frog.

2009-04-06T23:46:00.001-07:00

He is beautiful. His name is Jabba (Froggie) the Hutt, due to his corpulent little shape. I took photos of him tonight, you can see them here.

The secret to feet happiness

2009-04-04T21:44:00.001-07:00

So lately I've been running more and more frequently, most often with a coworker (Edwina) but also with a friend (@shoutingboy) who runs with Team in Training. In order to get past three miles without blisters, I needed a better set of socks/shoes/inserts.

Here's the new formula:

WrightSock Anti Blister Double Layer Coolmesh Quarter Sock
Tuli's Heavy Duty Heel Cup (great if you have flat feet or fallen arches)
New Balance 587B sneakers (designed for flat feet/pronating feet)
Russel Athletic sweatpants (this doesn't help the feet, but they do make good jogging pants)

So far so good! Last Saturday I ran 3.6 miles with no issues, 3 again on Monday, 3 again on Tuesday.

Smuckles von Smee

2009-03-29T19:52:00.001-07:00

I made a new animation on monsters.net. Smuckles von Smee is more than happy to slime up your toes anytime you need it!

I am talking to a friend about making monster dolls. I was inspired by UglyDolls. Super cool site, super cool products.

My birthday is coming up

2009-02-22T19:28:00.001-08:00

I turn... mumble mumble... on February 24! This also happens to be the date of a "bug-finding party" we are having at work. I don't expect the actual birthday day to be fun. March 7 should be a bit more fun, that's when I'm having the party. It will be a combined birthday/housewarming.

My boyfriend of two years and I have broken up, so I have been sad, bored, depressed, unmotivated... You know how it goes.

As an antidote to the blues, I've been distracting myself with movies and tv. I recently started watching Arrested Development. HILARIOUS. I gave it five stars on netflix, and I rarely do that.

I'll probably start up again with the creativity pretty soon. I have a drawing of Sluggo reading a book, and on the advice of a friend, I will title the book The Slime Machine by H. G. Wells.

Red flower on a totebag

2009-02-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

I spent a lot of time cleaning up my cafepress store and adding/removing products. I added Mr. Red Flower to a totebag based on the suggestion from a friend that gardening folks might dig the flower. So to speak. Get your cute red flower totebag here!

New mug on cafepress.com

2009-02-09T22:04:00.001-08:00

I have created a new mug on my cafepress.com store:

Morning monster needs his coffee.

2009-02-08T20:00:00.001-08:00

New drawing on monsters.net. Morning monster needs his coffee! Sometimes he needs more than one cup.

Mint.com has a really neat down-for-maintenance page.

2009-02-06T23:51:00.001-08:00

The mint.com down-for-maintenance page inspires me. Every site on the internet needs to come down for maintenance once in a while, why not make it interesting?

Also, I still haven't tired of Slightly Stoopid's Collie-Man. Pandora.com only ever plays the one song by them, so I have no idea (yet) if they make any other good songs.

Jogging around the lagoon cures everything

2009-02-04T20:08:00.001-08:00

I was bogged down in code reviews today and was feeling, I dunno, overwhelmed by work, but I went out for a run at 4pm. It was sunny and gorgeous, and there was a bright white egret in the middle of the lagoon. What a way to cure the blues!

We ran four laps, with two very small breaks to drink water. Even the guy with the chihuahuah was nice enough to pick up his dog as we approached (both times). I guess he got tired of chasing after his silly dog. Yay for us!

This picture doesn't really show the lagoon as I see it. From the ground, the water appears silky and reflective. Sometimes, the water of the bay (to the east) blends seamlessly into the white of the sky. I need to remember to bring my camera to work sometime.

Having someone to run with makes it way easier to stay motivated. Also, doing it when it's still sunny makes it way more likely that I won't put it off.

Mars, car business

2009-02-03T21:17:00.001-08:00

This morning I took my car to PK Automotive in San Mateo (839 San Mateo Drive). I have to give them thumbs up for service and customer courtesy. They even offered to pick me up and drop me off.

I'm very tired right now. Not used to early morning kerfluffles.

Peter showed me Google Earth's rendition of the data from the Mars Rover. It's incredibly detailed and realistic, and really really cool.

Monsters.net has been updated.

2009-01-31T17:57:00.001-08:00

The latest drawing is here. You are all reminded to buy stuff.

In the process of editing monsters.net I discovered a converter to change HTML characters into plain text, for displaying source code on the page.

<h2>This is some HTML.</h2>

Normally the above snippet would display like this:

This is some HTML.

I like Comic Sans and I don't care

2009-01-27T23:04:00.001-08:00

I have a hokey website, monsters.net. When the goal is to pile on the cute/hokey/plushy/funny as thick as it can get, then Comic Sans is the perfect font. I have created my own fonts, but nothing quite so simple and elegant (and hokey) as Comic Sans.

Another movie we enjoyed from Netflix

2009-01-25T23:46:00.001-08:00

La Moustache: Marc (Vincent Lindon) has worn a mustache all his adult life. One day on a whim, he decides to shave it off. Certain his wife will comment on the drastic change in his appearance, Marc is baffled when neither she nor friends notice at all. Even more disturbing is that once he calls attention to it, everyone insists he's never had a mustache.

The soundtrack is beautiful, and although we never figured out what really happened, we liked the movie and had a good time talking about it. Also, Peter shaved his facial hair, and I didn't notice.

It reminded me of Memory of a Killer, a German movie about a hitman suffering the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.

Aw, Netflix

2009-01-25T23:28:00.001-08:00

I am disappointed that I have no more episodes of Dead Like Me to watch on Netflix. Mandy Patinkin is fun to watch! I highly recommend the series.

I kinda like Jeckyll, so far. It's a little scary, a little funny, and has snappy dialogue.

I went downtown to check out a gym called Equinox today. It's very clean, and roomy, but I don't think it's a good deal for the money. The hours are not really compatible with mine, and the pool is open to the sky. Who swims outdoors in a gym in northern California? They kept emphasizing the pilates and yoga classes, but the last class happens before I really get home from work.

saving money

2009-01-25T00:54:00.001-08:00

We cancelled cable television recently, saving ourselves a whopping $42. It took several days before we had the patience to wait through the hold time.

I also joined a site called Mint that keeps track of multiple bank accounts/investment accounts/credit cards in one place. I like the interface much better than Quicken's. It lets you set up budgets and track portfolio performances. I really like their trends feature which breaks down my spending by category (food, health, etc).

My pandora station

2009-01-22T20:22:00.001-08:00

I have a very carefully crafted folky music station on pandora (my username is artmonstergirl). However, I have seeded it with a single song from Tool. Results: folk song, folk song, folk song, NINE INCH NAILS.

Jarring!

Yay Obama!

2009-01-21T00:13:00.001-08:00

I'm feeling hopeful, and enthusiastic, and relieved, and a little nervous, all at the same time. I can't remember the last time I felt that way about anything political.

Bah, I have a cold

2009-01-20T19:17:00.001-08:00

So I am eating lentil soup.

Rounded corners using image sprites

2009-01-17T15:19:00.001-08:00

Does anyone have an example of rounded corners with a drop shadow using CSS/image sprites, and an extensible content area? I want to achieve this kind of drop shadow, but with curved corners:

So far this set of examples from Yahoo is as good as it gets, but there is no single combination of all the features I want. The example that uses one single image seems better suited for dialogue boxes of set height, rather than extensible boxes. I like Leslie Sommer's examples of curved corner boxes that uses CSS sprites, but I would like an example of a curved corner box combined with drop shadows.

Hair flippy photos

2009-01-13T22:58:00.001-08:00

I gave myself a big headache making these photos, I had almost forgotten about them, hiding in a subdirectory.

Owl at Windy Hill

2009-01-11T18:59:00.001-08:00

We hiked Windy Hill Open Space Preserve today. This owl was sitting peacefully at in the grass.

I haven't hiked in a while, my feet are complaining.

Sneaky iguana

2009-01-09T23:31:00.001-08:00

We visited the ruins on the beach in Tulum. I like ruins, but honestly, I was more interested in taking photos of the iguanas that were all over the place. However, the iguana made it into this photo quite accidentally:

This photo reminds me that the waters of the Mexican Riviera are turquoise and beautiful, and I need to wear shades. Who is that squintmonster? Also, maybe I should get another hot weater hiking shirt, the hawaiian shirt shows up in all my photos.

Favorite new tool: Jing

2009-01-07T15:45:00.001-08:00

Jing makes it easy to make notes on screenshots and share them. And there's a version for both Windows and Mac!

Yucatan travel report #1

2009-01-03T23:11:00.001-08:00

The first thing to do if you are travelling to Cancun is to rent a car, and drive southwest. The map below covers our destinations (Playa del Carmen, Akumel, Tulum south of the next juncture, and Cobá to the west). Along the way there are several cenotes (caverns with freswhater pools in which you can snorkel or dive). We swam at Cenote Kantun-Chi, Dos Ojos Cenote, and Gran Cenote.

If you drive a half hour or so south from Cancun on route 307 you'll hit Playa del Carmen, which is very nice, full of open-air restaurants and cute little motels and some quantity of culture. South of that is Akumel, which is nicer still, particularly because of the snorkelling in Yalku Lagoon and the lovely beaches. Tulum is maybe 2 hours south of Cancun, on the map it is just south of Club de Golf Puerto Aventuras. Tulum is extremely excellent, mostly because you can rent a little cabaña on the beach and eat awesome Yucatan-flavored seafood while watching the waves come and go. Cobá has some fantastic ruins, and is more full of jungle (we saw monkeys there).

At the end of December it was amazing sunscreen & shorts weather. All the beaches we hit were very swimmable. Here is the beach at Akumel:

I really liked this area, but I recommend against staying in Cancun itself. It's a big city of enormous, absurdly priced hotels. We stayed at the Holiday Inn there our final night, probably would've gone back to Tulum if we'd been less tired and hungry. We had to wear plastic bracelets so that the security would know we were okay to come and go. An hour later I wanted to gnaw my wrist off, Peter had to cut the bracelet off with a key. Eesh.

Akumel, Tulum and Cobá all get an enthusiastic thumbs up. More about that coming soon!

One of my favorite new songs

2009-01-02T21:47:00.001-08:00

"Collie-Man" by Slightly Stoopid.

Trip to Mexico!

2008-12-30T09:54:00.001-08:00

The first batch of photos from my Mexico trip are up, including some nifty photos of pyramids from Peter. See also the cave and cenote photos.

I'm back from Mexico!

2008-12-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

Our trip was awesome! We saw beaches, caves, lagoons, crocodiles, monkeys, ruins! Full trip report and more pictures are coming soon. Watch this space!

Mexico here we come

2008-12-18T23:28:00.001-08:00

We go to Mexico on Saturday: Yucatan Peninsula.

I have to buy a snorkel mask, because I left mine at the beach in Hawaii. Oops!

Hm

2008-12-18T23:26:00.001-08:00

Digg unblocked my account but said I'm on NOTICE and they are WATCHING. I guess I double-submitted a story in April. I have submitted a handful of other stories since opening my account. Clearly I'm gaming the system. Good thing they caught me before I ran amok and spammed up their system. Uh.

What is up with Digg?

2008-12-16T08:22:00.001-08:00

Has this happened to anyone else? I tried to login to my Digg account, and saw that my account was "invalid". I sent an email to customer support, and this is what they said:

Hello,

Your account was removed for violating the Digg Terms of Service (digg.com/tos) that you agreed to.

"By way of example, and not as a limitation, you agree not to use the Services:

with the intention of artificially inflating or altering the 'digg count', blog count, comments, or any other Digg service, including by way of creating separate user accounts for the purpose of artificially altering Digg's services; giving or receiving money or other remuneration in exchange for votes; or participating in any other organized effort that in any way artificially alters the results of Digg's services;"

Due to the nature and severity of abuse, your account will not be re-instated. This decision is final and irreversible.

---Digg Support

What? Was my account hijacked? I must have dugg 3 articles total in my lifetime, from a single, boring account. Grrr.

Animated clock

2008-12-16T08:01:00.001-08:00

This is very cool.

Ginger coffee

2008-12-16T00:34:00.001-08:00

A friend suggested this for coffee: ginger, a little cinnamon, a tiny bit of clove, and a good dash of cardamon. Almost like coffee chai!

I'll have to try that in the morning.

Google Analytics is the coolest tool ever

2008-12-15T20:16:00.001-08:00

I have been using Google Analytics to track my web statistics for a while, but I guess I never really noticed their cool interactive maps. Neat! This is a picture of recent visitors from Texas.

ankiewicz.com has been updated!

2008-12-14T21:35:00.001-08:00

I have migrated the ankiewicz.com blog to a new location: ankiewicz.com/news.

Hot springs at Esalen!

2008-12-08T00:14:00.001-08:00

We took advantage of the $20 midnight bathing deal at Esalen. If you make a reservation, you can make use of all of their tubs (wonderful geothermal tubs overlooking the ocean and open to the sky) for $20 between 1am and 3am. Being natural night owls, we took advantage of this.

The next morning we hiked to the beach at Andrew Molera State Park.

Comcast Gnomes

2008-11-15T14:23:00.001-08:00

This is a followup to a customer experience I had with Comcast recently.

Shortly after I wrote the original post, I was contacted by Comcast National Customer Operations. First thing was a comment on my actual post, and then a series of emails. So far it seems as though my issues may be solvable, and, most importantly, we can do everything by email.

Two thoughts:

Woah, this is an entirely different customer experience. Although the initial (and second and third) phone experience with the Comcast was frustrating, I give Comcast credit for finally providing a non-bang-head-on-desk method for dealing with the issues.

Email is king! Chat has all the benefits of a live phone conversation, plus a clear transcript, plus the freedom to multi-task! Can we get rid of phones now?
How did they find my post?
This blog gets very little traffic; I thought I was ranting to a handful of people, or maybe even to myself. Are there armies of Comcast gnomes searching the web for complaints about the company? Is my internet account being scanned for keywords? I don't suppose I'll ever know. I'm not prone to tinfoil-hat explanations, so I'll go with "search the web" for now.

Comcast really irks me

2008-11-13T21:27:00.001-08:00

Read the followup to this story.

Original story:

So I lost the modem that I had at my old apartment when I moved. I signed up for new Comcast service, which came with a brand new modem.

The first person who spoke with me about unreturned equipment charges quoted "around $30". Okay, fine. I signed up for installation on a fancy new service.

Later on a letter came in the mail that warned me that surcharges could be "up to $500". What?!

I called. No, around $30. Ignore the letter. Okay fine.

Even later still &mdash this entire time I have a new account which is already billing to me &mdash I got another phone call, asking when I would return the old equipment. I repeated, I would NOT be returning the equipment, I lost it in the move, and had already spoken to someone about the $30 surcharge. But no. This particular customer service person said it would be $120.

What?! Where did that number come from? Oh, they explained, it's $40 for the modem and $80 for the set-top box. I argued that I should pay what I was originally quoted, because if I had known it was NOT going to be $30, I wouldn't have signed up and payed for installation on new service. Aside from the bait-and-switch on the actual surcharge, the equipment that I lost is obsolete. I have been paying rent on it for years (more than ten years at $3/month), and I have been a good, high-paying customer for that entire time. I argued with them for an hour, most of which was spent on hold. I spoke to several "supervisors". Each of them said they couldn't remove the equipment charge. I then tried to cancel my service, only to discover that I can't cancel or downgrade my service outside specific daytime hours, and I need to call a very specific number. Eventually I got pissed, and they hung up on me. A lovely hour of my time, wasted.

I then went to use the chat service to find out exactly what and how I would be charged for equipment. Magically, this customer service rep was able to quote me... $30. She claimed I would definitely not be charged $120.

So, who knows.

I can't worry about it anymore, but it bothers me to remain a customer of a company that doesn't care about its customers.

I can't have Dish in my current apartment complex and I couldn't have it at my last address. I have thought of dumping the television service and going to AT&T for internet, but the thought of another installation, more installation charges, more equipment to return... only to face the uncertainty of dealing with yet ANOTHER monolithic monopoly. Ugh.

Irk!

Connecting windows machine to mac wireless network

2008-10-25T15:00:00.001-07:00

If you have an Airport built into your Mac, or connected to your Mac, you can host a wireless network that can be shared by a number of other computers, including windows machines. I discovered that setting up a wireless network from my iMac is easy using the built-in AirPort, but setting up my Windows laptop to connect to the network required some dinking around.

Here's what to do:

Set up a network on your Mac first.

Your Mac should be set up with connection to the Internet already. I'll leave that as an exercise for you and Comcast :)
Within the System Preference, within the Sharing panel, make sure Internet Sharing is turned off, then click on Airport options. The window that pops up will allow you to create a wireless network on your Mac.
Choose a Network Name (I chose kristenisawesome), Channel automatic.
Check the enable encryption (using WEP) box.
Password fields will pop up. I chose 40-bit (more compatible) from the WEP Key Length dropdown below that. It probably doesn't matter if you choose the shorter or longer option, but remember to type in exactly 5 or 13 regular (ASCII) letters/numbers for the password.
IMPORTANT! You'll need the HEX version of that password when you connect from your PC. To convert to HEX, use an ASCII—>HEX converter. There are tons on the web, or you can learn the rules and do it yourself. I used this. Remember that the HEX password does not include the % characters. So if your HEX password looks like 45%6%78%12%1, from your point of view it should be 45678121.
Click on Okay to create the network and return to the Sharing panel.
Select Internet Sharing without checking the box just yet. There will be some options about how to share your connection. Share your connection FROM Ethernet to computers using Airport. Check the Internet Sharing box to turn it on.
Click on the Show All button to go back to the main System Preference Panel, then hit Network to see the network options.
There should be a green light next to your Ethernet already. Select AirPort from the list and then click on the Turn AirPort On button. It may say "AirPort has a self-assigned IP address and may not be able to connect to the Internet". Not a problem, don't worry about that.
See the green light? TAH DAH! You have a wireless network from your Mac.

Set up your PC to connect to your Mac network.

These instructions apply to an XP machine, but the settings are more or less the same across Windows machines.
On your PC, go to Control Panel —> Network Connections
Right-click on the wireless adapter. On my computer it's called Wireless Network Connection. Click on the properties button.
From the window that pops up, click on the Wireless Networks tab.
You should see the wireless network name that you created on your Mac.
Select your network from the list and hit the Properties button.
IMPORTANT! In the window that appears, Network Authentication should be selected to Shared.
Data encryption should say WEP.
In the Network Key box, type in the HEX key that you have already converted from your Mac network password. The regular 5 or 13-letter word won't work, Windows is expecting HEX. Yes, as usual, Windows has to be unintuitive and difficult.
Uncheck "The key is provided for me automatically" if it is checked.
Click on the OK button.
TA DAH! You should now be connected.

I give credit to MacWindows.com for helping with PC configuration. However, they claim you can acquire the HEX password directly from the Mac. That did not work for me; your mileage may vary.

Packing for the big move!

2008-10-11T17:19:00.001-07:00

I successfully culled my art collection. Several paintings went to a gallery owner on the east coast, a few to a friend, some more to a different friend, and some to the dumpster. I kept a bunch from my high school years, but I really don't need bad drawings of Duran Duran members. Apparently I used to really like drawing woodland scenes. Also, boats sinking in stormy waters. I'll scan them in when I get to the new place and have my 'puter set up and stuff.

Moving to San Mateo

2008-10-10T11:32:00.001-07:00

I move in a week, to San Mateo. I'll be closer to the caltrain. The new apartment is nicer, with hardwood floors and a gas stove. I'm really looking forward to it but the packing is bad for my back, and my nose (allergies). We must be kicking up all the dust and spiders as we clean. *Shiver*. The other night I saw a HUGE 2-inch spider crawl out of my sink. The sink was clean! Why does a spider want to hang out in my sink? OY.

Mis-use of twitter

2008-10-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Why do people use twitter to post more than five things consecutively? Do they really think that people should hear minute-by-minute updates of how long it takes the bus to arrive? Seriously.

Landscape or portrait?

2008-09-21T15:35:00.001-07:00

I like the way my web pages look when the images are all the same size, but horizontal. However, I have a number of photos that I like that happen to be vertical. I'm not sure if they can be cropped horizontal and still look good.

It's probably more worthwhile to spend my time labelling and describing the images.

Updates to ankiewicz.com

2008-09-20T16:04:00.001-07:00

I have updated ankiewicz.com using JAlbum, PHP, and mySQL. Alas, my custom database interface is no longer working on my Mac, but phpMyAdmin is not bad.

I have loaded new photos to the front page. I also made the entire gallery structure of the site less deep, so that a user can more quickly get to the large (pretty) photos. More galleries are directly accessible from the photos home page.

I still plan on rearranging the photos home page so that it displays links rather than a series of pictures. The way it was set up before, it was unclear how many pictures a person needed to click before they got the large view.

I also added a large number of custom redirects to my .htaccess file. Yay regular expressions search and replace!

I watched Orlando last night

2008-09-19T16:05:00.001-07:00

Tilda Swinton is amazing in Orlando as the son of Queen Elizabeth I who lives for 400 years, the first half as a man, the second half as a woman. Her transformation and the nuances of her facial expressions are amazing.

Oof

2008-09-18T15:11:00.001-07:00

I ran the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge last night. I felt great last night, had burgers at Barney's with some coworkers. Today I have a raging headache. I have been tons of water today, not sure whether it's dehydration or what.

styling CSS tables

2008-09-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

I recently ran into the issue of how to style tables in HTML/CSS. For tabular data, a table makes the most sense. However, I still want the dang thing to look nice. To let the columns distribute evenly, I use this CSS code:

    table {
        table-layout:fixed;
        width:100%;
    }

Then, when I want to limit the size of my columns, I add a specific class to the column. All the other columns evenly distribute themselves among the remaining width.

    table {
        table-layout:fixed;
        width:100%;
    }
    th.data {
        width:50px;
    }

I am updating the look of ankiewicz.com!

2008-09-17T00:30:00.001-07:00

Notice the handy link bar at the top of all my sites! You'll never get lost again. Also, check out the new improved home page:

Testing out MarsEdit

2008-09-16T21:55:00.001-07:00

I like the interface so far! I'm hoping MarsEdit will make updating to my blog easier and faster. Here's an image:

new home page!

2008-09-14T00:13:00.001-07:00

I updated the homepage of ankiewicz.com:

Mac Leopard is not friendly to web developers

2008-08-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

After 5 rough days of futzing with my Mac, I got mysql/apache/php running, with the help of MAMP. Boo Apple! Yay MAMP!

I use the non-pro version. I edited MAMP's httpd.conf file to get virtual hosts, restarted the servers, and sighed a sigh of relief to see that it actually works.

poison oak, bleah

2008-07-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

I will never go hiking in shorts ever again!

I got poison oak on my legs a few weeks ago while hiking at Windy Hill State Park. It is a beautiful park, but the "razorback trail" is narrow, and full of poison oak.

Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve

2008-05-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Bird pictures!

Windy Hill Open Space Preserve!

2008-04-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is a beautiful park in Portola Valley next to Skyline Drive, in the SF Bay Area. See my pictures here. There were lurking frogs, lizards, and tons and tons of wildflowers!

Fractals and PostScript!

2008-04-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

I have been playing with my pseudo-fractals lately. They are designs generated by simple mathematical rules, in PostScript, and interpreted by Preview on Macintosh. You can also open the PostScript files in Adobe Acrobat Distiller or GhostView.

Fillipe t-shirts and other fun!

2008-04-13T19:07:00.000-07:00

Fillipe on a black t-shirt!
Get yours now!

2008-04-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have been updating ankiewicz.com in too many ways to count. Check out my paintings!

I hiked Henry Coe State Park

2008-03-30T23:51:00.000-07:00

And I took a ton of photos. You can see them here.

I acquired a TICK on my hip sometime during the trip (probably when I squatted to pee off the trail.) I found it hours later and yanked it out, and it tried to craw away. ICK!

There were lovely amounts of wildlife to see and hear. I heard tons of frogs croaking, I heard a very loud turkey gobblin', I saw a turkey (not sure if it was the same one), Peter saw 5 turkeys himself, we saw deer, and we saw turkey vultures swooping overhead.

The hike was 4.5 miles round trip for me -- 2.9 miles to Frog Lake (along Frog Flat Trail), then 1 mile back along Hobbs road (very steep!), then .6 miles back along Monument trail.

I had a dream with that skinny french guy

2008-03-24T10:52:00.000-07:00

There's an actor, he's got dark hair, he's french, skinny, and he has been in a Law & Order episode at least once. He was also in a movie called "Black Robe" and another one about a space mission to Mars ("Mission to Mars," maybe.) I think he reminded me of Peter.

Anyhoo, he was in my dream last night. He was emphasizing the importance of sunscreen, so I slathered sunscreen on my face, including the zinc oxide for the nose. Note entirely comfortable.

We were going to Sunnyvale, which in my dream was a beautiful place accessible by a remote foggy road. In contrast to the real Sunnyvale, which is a boring suburb accessible by a huge freeway and several minor large roads.

At one point I was observing some pretty/spooky bushes. The branches were black and smooth and almost sculpted in appearance, like elephant tusks.

Later on I was having a conversation with this french guy, and a third guy. I can't remember what about.

The alarm woke me up mid-dream.

ankiewicz.com has new california photos

2008-03-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I have culled some old websites and incorporated the photos from those places onto ankiewicz.com. You can see them in the california photos gallery. There are photos from the Mountain View/Palo Alto shoreline, Death Valley, Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other beautiful places.

I am slowly adding data to each photo so that there's at least a caption. Some of the pages are a bit long (Death Valley could be culled) but I'm working on that.

I went to the climbing gym on friday. I can climb at a 5.6 level. Not terrible for having been away from the climbing gym for so long, still enough to leave me sore in the upper body a few days later. I'm not very ambitious about it. I just want to stay in shape.

I talked to my little brother on Sunday. Hi little bro! He went to a climbing gym for the first time. (Yeah, your hands and arms will be a little sore. It's a good workout.) They were going to go with my nephew -- I think that would be a great activity to burn off some of my nephew's excess energy. He's thirteen. EESH!

Sigh

2008-03-08T14:24:00.001-08:00

I tried to install Wordpress on my virtual servers, and encountered a bug that seems to be described here.

I spent three hours testing it locally, and it worked. When I went to install it on my live websites, it didn't work. My sysadmin says he has not been able to fix this problem (whatever it is), either.

GARRRR.

Also, I took a scuba diving refresher course today. I am totally bummed, because the class filled me with panic, fear, and confusion. I do not think I will be able to scuba dive. It was way harder than I remember, and now I feel old and incapable.

Bah.

I was hoping to at least come home and do some happy geeking, but I guess not.

BAH.

movies I recently watched

2008-03-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

I watched Alien (the first one) last night. Man, that is a great movie. Unfortunately I was distracted by the brokenness of the flash on my camera, so I wandered off after the alien started stalking and killing people, but I saw enough of it to remember how damn good it is.

Sigourney Weaver was, and is, a great actor.

I even like the hysterical woman. She played other hysterical women in other movies later in her career (notably, in The Witches of Eastwick).

Peter thought it was slow. No, man, that's how movies were made before the INSTAGRATIFICATIONLOUDNOISEBOOM era took hold. Details, and subtlety.

Tonight I watched The Sixth Sense. I love that movie too. I wonder what happened to the little kid actor. He must be 17 by now. There aren't many movies for gawky teenagers, I guess. I hope his career revives when he becomes an adult.

dangit all

2008-03-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

The built-in flash on my Nikon D200 is dead. This sucks, because that means all my tons of slave flashes are useless until I get another camera body. OR, I use a tripod (unlikely). OR, I borrow my boyfriend's camera. (More likely).

Dangit!

head of the family dream

2008-03-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I had this dream sometime in the morning:

My brother was somehow the new head of the family, but he wouldn't get out of bed to do anything.

I went outside and I was trying to navigate all this technical foo to get to the grassy part of the backyard, but I couldn't get past the technical junk. (Physical stuff, fences, security things.)

There were also robots lookin' at me (security robots shaped like Wall-E). Wall-E is an upcoming robot animation by Pixar, it's the template for 'cute robot'.

The Wall-E's in my dream were kinda sinister.

ankiewicz.com has a new look!

2008-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

I am using JAlbum to create image galleries for my website. It's connected to a database and has a place for comments, now. Coming soon: community features.

See the new look and feel here.

New paintings

2007-12-05T01:16:00.001-08:00

330_painting_004.jpg
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

New paintings! I have completed four new small acrylic paintings, 5x5x1 inch in size.

I've updated smallandcute.com

2007-10-29T18:35:00.001-07:00

There are now tons and tons of small and cute photographs in smallandcute.com.

See Lazarus the Frog:

I have updated ankiewicz.com!

2007-10-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

I have updated ankiewicz.com with new photos! Check out photos from Hawaii, Gualala (near Mendocino, north of San Francisco), El Corte de Madera (Santa Cruz Mountains), and more.

2007-10-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

I have updated cavesandmountains.com and uploaded my new photos from Crystal Sequoia Cave!

Playafoot.com is brand new!

2007-10-17T16:08:00.001-07:00

I have completely redone my burning man website

ladybug!

2007-10-02T11:47:00.001-07:00

323_0042.jpg
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

Ladybugs photographed with my new macro lens, at the mountain view shoreline.

Rusty stuff at the Mountain View Shoreline

2007-10-02T11:46:00.001-07:00

323_0020.jpg
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

Rusty stuff at the mountain view shoreline.

Moaning Caverns staircase

2007-07-17T01:08:00.001-07:00

316_0167.jpg
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

This spiral staircase has something like 162 steps, and goes straight to the bottom of the cave. There is artificial light in this tourist cave, which is near Angel's Camp (rte 49) off of Parrot's Ferry Road. There are signs everywhere! They offer a rappel for a bit more money.

2007-05-13T21:47:00.001-07:00

Rat video! Skunks McMuffin bein' really cute 'n stuff:

I swear I do not have even a micro-particle of food on my hand.

You can see more of my pets at artmonstergirl.com.

small and cute!

2007-04-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have updated the look and feel of smallandcute.com:

fire photos!

2007-04-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

I uploaded all my fire photos to my burningman website!

Please consider purchasing a flame photo.

Snowy Sierra Nevada!

2007-04-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

I went caving up in the mountains last weekend. (Lilburn Cave). It wasn't snowing on the hike in, but there was plenty of it on the way out.

I managed to bruise and cut my knee, make a hole in my BRAND NEW pants, and twist my ankle something fierce. Ow!

I twisted my ankle... getting DESSERT on the way home.

Lava Beds National Monument

2007-04-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have added photos of Sentinel Cave to my caves and mountains website:

CUTE!

2007-04-05T18:08:00.001-07:00

Click here to see something CUTE. I am not sure what kind of animal that is, but it reminds me that all animals deserved to be photographed with fruit skin hats.

jellyfish!

2007-04-05T18:07:00.001-07:00

Jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! I took hundreds of pictures.

natural bridges state park

2007-04-05T18:06:00.001-07:00

I updated my california photos website with pictures from natural bridges state park: