I have a real weakness for Threadless bird-themed shirts. But check this one out…it’s amazing.

Field Guide

The American Library Association annual conference is going on now, in Anaheim. The cost of airfare to California and my current financial situation mean that I’m not able to go, and unless I have something specific to attend for and a track, I’m not sure I can handle the onslaught of things to do at an Annual. Let alone the temptation of being near Los Angeles, although I didn’t go near LA last time I was in Anaheim, either.

I went in 2005 (Chicago; keynote speaker: Barack Obama) and went to a bunch of programs, but mostly I wandered around the exhibits gathering advance reader copies of books and checked out the non-conference things to do in Chicago. I had never been there before, and I ended up loving the city even though I was there in such a terrible heat wave that they were afraid the heat would affect train tracks. That’s very hot.

Like most of my solo trips, this was not exactly a well-planned excursion. This usually works out in my favor. I tagged along on some things that my library school friend Katie had planned, leafed through a Lonely Planet book and picked out restaurants and museums that interested me, mixed in conference events, and overall had a pretty good, if lonely, time when I was able to ascertain where I was. I even managed to turn an innocent trip to Panera for Internet access into getting trapped at said Panera by the Pride Parade, which I hadn’t originally planned to attend, and indeed hadn’t known was going on. Good times.

I am sort of a history nerd though, and almost despite myself I like going on tours of the city I’m in and learning things I might not have normally known. I wish I had budgeted for tours when I was in Chicago…ah, well, good to know for next time, or next time I’m looking for things to do in New York City when I’m there on a daytrip.

Anyway, this travel memory is sponsored by online travel guides from Trusted Tours. If you don’t want to spend as much time lost as I do, you can subscribe to their travel newsletter and enter the drawing for a GPS. I totally need one of those.

I discovered this happy little face when I cut the top off a green pepper.

I had a stuffed pepper kick a few weeks ago.  They’re very simple to make, simpler than I had initially thought.  I made mine with about half a can of black or kidney beans, some diced onions, and a small amount of rice or couscous.  For spices I used cumin, garlic, and a bit of chili powder and crushed red peppers.

They’re more filling than I had thought.  For my first one, I bought a HUGE green pepper at the Asian market.  (I’m not sure why ginormous peppers can’t be found anywhere else, but that’s how it turns out.)  Anyway, I was able to eat maybe half of it.  I make them with smaller peppers now, and I can still barely finish.  It’s a lot of food crammed in a tiny little pepper.

You stay classy, Thoseshirts.com.

I got this quiz from the wonderful Sister Susan. I didn’t do well.

Your Life is 64% Green

You live a very green life, and you’re aware of how your actions help the earth. Of course, it’s hard to be totally green. But when you make a tradeoff, you know why you’re making it.

I do take issue with the question about buying books and magazines–okay, magazines are a fair point, but some books you simply have to own–or buy used and then pass on, as I do with books I don’t intend to keep. Ah well.

Watch for a longer entry on this later.

I’m making broccoli quiche for dinner, and instead of changing into work clothes, I put one of my grandmother’s old aprons over my dress. I look, in my opinion, smashing.

Though I also look like the secret child of Amy Sedaris and John Hodgman.

I just can’t stand it anymore, folks. The Internets keep overwhelming my poor little brain.

I went to Kurver Kreme after driving around Colonie looking for a fabric store. I hadn’t been since they opened back in March, just because I never felt like it. I hadn’t eaten dinner yet, though…So I really did have ice cream for dinner. That definitely tops my previous stupid-meals record of jellybeans for breakfast.

I feel like I should have broccoli for dessert or something.

This subject does give me an excuse to post this video, though:

Kelly and I were coming back from fetching food for the American Idol finale when we saw this wonderful custom license plate. We spotted it, waited for a red light to take the picture, and then a cop car pulled between us and the van in question. Determined, we drove a few extra blocks past my house to get the picture. Because we work hard to bring you the lulz.

My mom used one of those Internet-based printing sites to have some business cards made for her knitting business. Most of her business comes from local craft shows, but she has branched into year-round sales online.

I’ve always made my own sort of amateurish business cards to hand out to people at craft shows, and to enclose with the items that I sell online. Now I print information out on little labels and glue those to fancy paper.

The thing with handing out business cards when you sell things is that it’s best to have something that people can browse. Home address and phone number is one thing, and can be useful when craft show customers come to see you for later pickup, but I think when handing out cards at a craft show you really need a Web presence for people who have Internet access to look at. You can also use a Web site to list your upcoming events, which is another thing that customers might not think to ask about, but would look at online.

She uses Etsy, but even the simplest of commerce Websites will do. I used to host my own site, but the shopping cart interface was annoying to set up on my own.