Category: hobbies

things I do in my spare time

guess how much I just saved at the mall …

Post author By akaemi
Post date January 27, 2007
No Comments on guess how much I just saved at the mall …

$663! My husband was a little scared when I told him the good news, but he sometimes forgets that I am a world-class bargain shopper. (For real. I have trophies.)

And just how much did I have to spend to save so much money? Half as much as I saved. (Ok, ok, half as much as I saved plus $10.) That’s right, by waiting 2 months to buy my leather jacket, I was able to get 3 turtlenecks, 4 sweaters, a pair of slacks, a pair of jeans, 3 pairs of khaki-jeans, a hoodie, a bathrobe, a tote bag, AND that leather jacket, for the original price of the jacket.

I love 75% off January! Mostly because I like a good bargain, but also because I love jackets, sweaters, and boots. And I would be broke if I paid full price for everything in my jacket-sweater-boot closet. Which, consequently, now has more room in it since I moved those pesky trophies to my new trophy room …

confession food shopping

tartar sauce

The other night, at Dairy Queen, I stole 4 packets of tartar sauce.

Now, it’s not about the money. I can afford tartar sauce. I just never seem to be able to remember to buy it when I’m at the grocery store. And when I eat my fish-sticks-frozen-dinners, it really makes me sad when I don’t have any tartar sauce. You might wonder how I can remember to buy fish sticks, but not tartar sauce – it’s because the condiments aisle comes way before the frozen foods aisle.

So, anyway, the other night, I found myself at Dairy Queen, waiting for a fish sandwich, a basket of chicken strips, and 2 blizzards – and I saw a bin of tartar sauce packets. I was ordering a fish sandwich, so I figured I had good cover – even though the sandwich comes with plenty of tartar sauce already. I donated a quarter to the leukemia kid, and then I pocketed me some tartar sauce.

As we speak, I’ve got a fish-sticks-frozen-dinner cooking in the oven. And I am looking forward to enjoying the first of my stolen goods.

fashion shopping

cowgirl pants

Thanks to a generous gift from my husband’s grandfather, I am now the proud owner of my very own cowgirl pants. The generous gift being cash, not the actual garment.

I grew up in Washington state (NOT cowgirl country), so I was unaware until very recently that there was such a thing as cowgirl pants. When I pressed the issue with my husband (born and raised in Texas, very much cowgirl country), all he could come up with was, ‘Tight. Real tight.’

When we got married a few years back, I bought myself a cowgirl hat. A shapeable, black-and-gray mottled number, accented with turquoise bits. It’s perhaps a little flashy, but it tickled me, so it joined my collection of hats I never wear.

A few months ago, I found a cowboy store in Frederick, MD, because my husband decided he needed a new cowboy hat. He didn’t find anything he liked, but I sure did. I found my very first cowgirl shirt! It’s a completely impractical rhinestoned-handwash-only piece, but it really is quite becoming. And since my husband didn’t find anything he liked, I had to buy something to make the trip worthwhile. I’m pretty sure that’s the law.

And that’s when I found out about cowgirl pants. My husband informed me that none of my jeans cut the mustard as cowgirl pants. When he couldn’t explain what, exactly that meant, I gave up all hope of ever finding any.

Until I found myself in Texas with $100 (thanks Danny!) burning a hole in my pocket, and in close proximity to all kinds of western wear stores.

And so I tried on all kinds of jeans, all the while with my husband saying, ‘No …. tighter …’ I finally found the perfectly tight pair (I’m pretty sure I can only wear them on skinny days). And then, of course, I needed some authentic boots. And also, I was informed, a rhinestone belt. The first belt I fell in love with was $85, so I quickly fell out of love, and found a … cheaper option.

Now, my outfit is complete. Someone find me a rodeo!

life shopping

merry christmas to me

Thanks to the magic of amazon.com, I made out like a bandit this Christmas. As you get older, Christmas becomes less about the stuff you get, and more about spending time with family and friends, and with finding the perfect gifts for others. So, imagine my surprise when I came home from my visit with the inlaws with a suitcase full of stuff that I love. And I owe it all to amazon!

Amazon has this wondrous invention called the wishlist. You can add anything amazon sells to your wishlist – and amazon sells EVERYTHING. Books, cds, dvds, jewelry, clothing, kitchen gadgets, appliances, toys, electronics, food – you name it, and they probably sell it. (After a quick check, amazon does not sell automobiles or livestock. So, I guess they don’t have quite everything …)

After you’ve made your wishlist, you can prioritize and comment on the items. This, of course, so others know what’s really important to you, and what’s just mildly intriguing.

And the best thing: you can mass email your wishlist out. So then everyone knows what you want! And then – you get stuff you want. And you can’t quite help feeling like you’re 6 years old and Santa brought you everything you asked for.

(Just a quick shout-out to my folks – I love the gift cards! Any time I can enjoy my favorite pasttime guilt-free is a happy day for me. Or should I say, was a happy day for me …)

hobbies technogeeky

happy new year!

2007 – where has the time gone? It’s hard to believe that I’m all grown up. I mean, really, really grown up. With a degree … and a husband … and car payments … and a mortgage … And I’m still no closer to exercising regularly, eating right, or taking full advantage of the multitude of things that are within a 4 hour drive. But – that’s what 2007 is for! Seeing as 2006 failed to deliver.

forge and batmobile So, me and my kitties rang in the new year by doing a new project. I actually got it for Christmas, but was holding off for New Years to put it together. And it’s a good thing I did! It took me through most of Harry Potter and all of Willy Wonka to put it together (thank goodness for HBO). I’m glad I had so much help from the cats, or the process would have been much quicker. Forge so thoughtfully put pieces under the coffee table and couch for me. (No, I am not joking. He is almost as fascinated with the little plastic pieces as he is with yarn, the mortal enemy of felines everywhere.)

I was just looking at the pics I took, so if you’re confused about what exactly the end product is, it’s a batmobile. I promise.

hobbies life

welcome to akaemi.com!

Ok, so if you’re here, it’s because I won’t stop ranting and raving about akaemi.com and telling everyone to come check out my new site. I’ve moved over all my previous blog entries from blogger, so you won’t have to miss any of your old favorites. 🙂

For those of you who know that I am a web developer by trade, please don’t judge too harshly. When I get home from work, I am NOT one of those people who spends their free time messing with things, and tweaking stuff, all for the benefit of the 9-to-5. And so akaemi.com is not going to have any of the cool web 2.0 gadgets that you see on fancy websites. I plan to make use of dreamhost.com‘s one-click installers – like this blog and my picture gallery – and not a whole lot more. 🙂 You should thank me for keeping things simple. Really. I’m not all that good at what I do …

Please feel free to register for your own blog or album account. 🙂 If things get too out of hand (i.e., your blog becomes more popular than mine, etc.) then I’ll just ban you. Or something.

hobbies

it’s official: I’m a sewer

No. Not a sewer sewer. A sew-er sewer, as in one who sews.

It all started six months ago, when I couldn’t find the curtains I wanted. I already had a valance on the window behind my kitchen sink. I wanted to add another short curtain, to cover the bottom half of the window. Like these curtains. Except without any obnoxious patterns or flowers.

The only curtains I could find that matched the valance were much too long. I bought them anyway, and then started looking for a 56″ black tension rod to hang them with. It had to be a black curtan rod, because the valance was hanging on a black curtain rod, and as I had picked out tab-top curtains, the curtain rod was very visible. And it had to be a tension rod, because I did not want to install any more hardware.

Guess what no one makes. Black tension rods. I had my choice of white or brass. I picked up a white one for a couple of bucks at Target, just so I could hang the curtains up to have some privacy. At their too-long length, the tension rod was hidden behind the valance, so I figured it would do.

I also picked up a sewing machine. That’s right, I purchased a $100 sewing machine to alter my $30 Target curtains.

And then I hung up the too-long curtains, and promptly forgot about my quest for a black tension rod, and my desire to shorten the curtains.

Until two weeks ago, when I found myself at Bed Bath and Beyond, and found a black tension rod. In the bath hardware department. Because shower curtain rods come in more colors than regular curtain tension rods. It was perfect, as the valance curtain rod is of a shower-curtain-rod diameter. I hadn’t thought of it before because I didn’t realize that shower curtain rods got that much shorter than a bathtub length. Apparently, though, they are expandable from 41 to 72 inches. Who knew?

And so, today, I took down my curtains and hemmed them. I called on all my sewing experience (a pair of shorts when I was 9, and I’m pretty sure my mom did half the sewing). I chopped a foot off the bottom of the curtains, ironed a new hem, and pinned it in place. I pulled the sewing machine out of the closet and made myself a bobbin. On my first try! I threaded the thread all through the machine – luckily for me, there’s directions for that written on my machine. After 3 tries, I got the bobbin in the machine. (Ok, ok, all you non-sewers, that part really is tricky!). I did a couple of practice runs on the cut-off curtain parts, to remember how to sew a straight line, and to figure out what length stitch matched the original stitch the closest. Not that anyone would know, seeing as I hacked off the original hem, but it just seemed like a good idea at the time. And then I sewed my curtains.

My stitching isn’t perfect. There are parts that don’t lay quite flat. If I ever wash the curtains, I imagine there will be some puckering due to imprecise ironing, pinning, and stitching. But it’s good enough for me. No one who visits my house will ever inspect my curtains that closely. And I know that I will never wash my curtains.

technogeeky work

ampersands are the debil

Ampersands are out to get me this week. That’s right, the cute little &. He seems so harmless … and yet he is wreaking havoc on all my tools. At quitting time, nonetheless.

Tuesday, 3 p.m. (Yes, that’s quitting time. I get in at 7. Really!) I get a frantic IM from one of my users, the transfer app isn’t working. Now, we have this transfer app because we have no less than 7 networks. (Ok, ok, so maybe it’s only 4.) So, this transfer app moves a file from one network to a different network. I only worked on the first part of the transfer process, but it’s the first part that the customer sees, so that means I get the frantic IMs. Plus, I’m way more approachable than your average developer, so I get frantic IMs for tools that aren’t even mine. Because, honestly, if you have a choice between adorableness or cranky-pants magoo, you’re gonna go with adorableness. Even if you know adorableness may very well refer you to cranky-pants.

But, anyway, the transfer app stopped working. I’ll spare the details, but it turns out that transferring a file that contains an ampersand in the filename causes the whole tranfer app to just quit working. A DOS, if you will, for all the nerds out there. I haven’t fixed the issue yet, I just told the user to avoid ampersandy filenames for the next week or two. Seeing as it’s been 5 months and this is the first ampersandy filename any of the users have tried to transfer, I’m not *too* worried it’ll happen again before I fix it.

Thursday, 3 p.m. IM from another developer, one of our web apps can’t display search results from certain criteria. I started digging through log files, and I discovered the problem: ampersands. The search results end up in xml, that is xslt-ed into html – and ampersands aren’t allowed in such things. So I patched that up, and proceeded on my merry way. Luckily, that particular web app is in a permanent beta state, which means that we, as developers, don’t guarantee that it will run without kinks. Or even that it will always be available. But, I fixed it in 28 minutes, because that’s the kind of dedication to my customers that I have. Or maybe it just really bothers me when someone finds a bug in one of my tools. Either way, it’s fixed.

Ampersands. are. the. debil.

fashion travel

airport socks

I was at Target the other day, and had the sudden need to purchase new socks. After perusing the sock aisle, I finally settled on a 3-pack of socks: one white pair, one white-with-green-and-blue-stripes pair, and one NEON GREEN pair.

I’m not normally in the habit of wearing neon green socks, but the price on the 3-pack was right, and the striped pair really are rather cute. And so I now own a pair of neon green socks.

I took a cross-country trip last week, via plane. Which meant that I had to go to the airport. Which meant that I had to go through airport security. Which meant that I had to take my shoes off. Which meant that I had the perfect opportunity to wear my neon green socks.

I hate taking my shoes off at the airport. It’s a hassle, the floor’s always dirty, and then there’s nowhere to sit down after you get through the metal detector so you end up walking while juggling your open backback, laptop, purse, belt, shoes and boarding pass until you can find a seat.

And so I decided that I would wear my neon green socks to the airport. So people would look at me and think: “That girl is wearing neon socks.” Or: “Wonder if she knew she had to take her shoes off.” Or: “How embarrassing.” And also, as a quiet (as if neon could be quiet …) protest to removing my shoes at the airport.

hobbies

too many hobbies

The older I get, the more I realize that there is just not enough time in the day. After 9 or 10 hours of working (only 8 of working, I’m no workaholic, 1 or 2 is reserved for commuting and lunch), and then another 7 for sleeping, and that doesn’t leave much free time.

Free time for shopping! I love malls, outlet malls, Target, Best Buy, office supply stores, Costco, sporting good stores, furniture stores, home goods stores, craft stores, book stores, dollar stores – I’m not picky. I don’t even need to buy anything to have a good time shopping. It’s all about the pursuit of that perfect thing, of researching available options, of watching the sales, and of finally finding the ultimate whatever.

Free time for video games! Yup, I said it. I am a solitaire addict, and I spent months honing my mah jong game so I could beat my dad (1 minute, 47 seconds). My current passion, however is World of Warcraft. I love that game! For anyone who cares, I have a level 50 leather-making troll hunter and a level 40 potion-making tauren warrior. There are so many aspects to the game, it’s something almost anyone can get into. My husband likes the raiding, where you organize 40 people to play for 6 hours to accomplish a common goal. Me, I like my leather-making and potion-making professions. And the auction house, so I can sell my leather goods and magical potions! Shopping, now that’s something I can really get into.

Free time for knitting. I just took it up, but knitting is kinda fun. I’m halfway through one baby blanket that I’m going to give to my friend who’s having twins in october – as long I can finish a second blanket, that is… It’s going to be rough going, I think, to pull it off, but I’m up for the challenge.

Free time for my tv shows! Luckily, it’s the summer, so I’ll have a little break from ER, Lost, Gilmore Girls (I don’t even know why I watch anymore, that show has turned into such a disappointment, I guess I feel like I invested so much time in it, I have to stick it out), and then all my husband’s reality tv. We are currently watching all 7 seasons of Voyager, in preparation for the Star Trek Convention, so that will keep us busy till August. We’ve almost made it through 2 seasons. It’s gonna be a long summer…

Free time for road trips! I love road trips. To anywhere. Annapolis, Baltimore, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Norfolk (check out the naval museum, they let you pet sharks), New York City, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, Hershey PA (chocolate and shopping = HEAVEN), Boston, it’s fun to just get in the car and go someplace. Except for Boston, the drive there was no fun – next time, I’m flying.

Free time for playing with my mac! I love my adorable little mac, and I feel bad for neglecting it. As we speak, I’m sitting in my husband’s recliner with my laptop. I really do like my mac, but there’s just something about a recliner… and there’s also something about the 62 degree basement… brrrr!

Free time for taking my turtle for walks. My poor tortellini, sits and mopes in her cage all day. It’s warm outside now, so I could take her out to the backyard where she can sit and mope in the not-simulated sunlight, but I seem to only think of it after the sun has gone down. Like right now, at 10:30 at night…

Free time for playing with my kitties! I love my havok and forge, and some days, they decide I might be ok. I used to have a laser pointer that they LOVED, but I put it in my pocket one day, and it went through the wash. Didn’t work so well after that. Actually, didn’t work at all, as I recall.

Free time for playing with my money. I love Quicken! More than any healthy person probably should. I love all the little graphs and charts it makes, I love the way it keeps track of all my bills, I love that it keeps up with all my loans. In short, I love that it keeps track of one of my obsessions, in one little tool.

Free time for blogging! Blogging is the best thing ever. Everyone should blog, it’s so much fun. Even without fans. Which, I would know, as I have no fans… I take that back – I do have fans – but they are either related to me, or they work with me, or they work with my husband. I have to admit, though, it makes it a little more fun, when people talk to me about things I said on my blog. It also reminds me not to be *too* truthful.

Free time for landscaping. I have grand plans to tear out all the plants in my front yard (exept for the 2 trees), install a raised flowerbed, and then fill that flowerbed with rocks. And sand. In true Japanese fashion. (I’m part Japanese. I promise. So I’m totally allowed to have a rock garden.)

Free time for reading! The only time I ever read anymore is when I fly somewhere. Especially when I fly to Washington to visit the folks. Washington to Washington is quite the day of flying…

Free time for planning my brothers’ lives! It’s a never-ending task, as they never seem to like the plans I make for them, so it requires constant revisions.

Free time for camping. I’m actually going this weekend- I’m really excited to sleep on the ground, not shower, and smell like a campfire. There’s just nothing else quite like it.

Free time for picking up NEW hobbies! In the last year, I’ve taken up blogging, knitting, mac mini-ing, and landscaping. The year before, I took up WOW. The year before that, I took up (and DROPPED, it’s really not all the fun it’s cracked up to be) wedding planning. There are just too many things out there to try, to only stick with one thing. Unfortunately, when you keep liking the things you try, it does get to be a challenge to keep up with everything. I think I’ve invented a new hobby: collecting hobbies.