TannieSpace

geekery, drawing and then some

OmniWeb now free!

2009-03-13 22:32

~1 min read

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Once again I got frustrated with Firefox and Safari for numerous reasons. I went over to the OmniGroup site to check out OmniWeb cause I really liked using its demo. I wanted to see what price they charged and see if I would want to part with that (next month) to solve my frustrations with The Other Browsers.

And they made it free. I suck for only finding out now, three weeks after they made it free, but at least it means I can have my lovely browser that supports applescript and Services (looking at you, Firefox!), doesn't take ages to load a page (again, looking at you, Firefox!) and supports non-mouse browsing (Firefox! no wait, that's actually Safari....).

Very happy :D


How do I do mealplanning?

2009-03-06 01:20

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Unfortunately, so far I suck at mealplanning. I know I need to, it helps with eating and all, and because lunch plays such an important part in my day, I think I should plan lunch and dinner.

I don't mean I have to make a list of lunches and dinner and days and stick to it with my last dying breath. Anything can happen. Mostly I want to have a list I can refer to, that I can fall back on.

I've tried googling this, but what I find usually refers to big families and I don't have the mealplanning-foo to translate that to me as a single very small portion eating person.

Anyone ideas? Links?


Postponing tasks in OmniFocus (and snoozing)

2009-03-02 00:01

~2 min read

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For a while I've wanted to easily postpone tasks in OmniFocus because sometimes, I just want to procrastinate a little. Last night I started fiddling and playing with AppleScript to get this done and after a few hours of that I wanted to rip my hair out. I went to bed instead because I quite like my hair intact and had a few other things to do today, so didn't get around to it until now. I applied my google-foo to try and fix the problems I ran into.

And 'lo and behold! I found Dan's site who did not only make a script to postpone the due date (defer it), it also gives you the option to defer the start date and he made a nifty little snooze script to basically hide projects / tasks from your view until you have to do them (by adjusting the start date).

I've tossed both in my ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus folder and set up a hotkey in QuickSilver and tried it out on a few tasks. Works like a charm!


Indy gifts for mother, sister and boyfriend.

2009-02-27 15:53

~2 min read

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My sister's due date is the 5th, bf's birthday the 7th and mother's the 9th.

I've started thinking about gifts for them. I have budgeted some money for these and want to try and gift a nice non-expensive gift (cheap makes it sound bad).

For my sister I can't really think of anything original, so I want to purchase a sweet little baby blanket at Ikea for 3.99 euro and then sew the name of the baby on it, to personalise. In all honesty I don't think it really matters what I give, she'll get swamped and I'll most definitely get 'outbid' by his family. I have no intention of trying to keep up with them (I don't even know them) and I do want to give a useful gift. I figured, baby blankets get puked on and dirty, she'll probably have use for one more anyway. I like the idea of a personalised blanket, so that's what I'll do :)

For my mother I want to sew something, but I don't know what. She's a pretty independent 50-something year old woman who enjoys hiking and drives a cab for a living. She enjoys going to Germany with her boyfriend where they have a caravan at some camping-site. I'm considering sewing maybe tablecloths for the tables there, with a set of napkins, or perhaps making a fancy laundry-bag (of a recycle shopping-bag and some nice fabric, for when she goes out to the caravan). Not entirely sure yet... Maybe something to pamper herself with, but what? (limited budget, willing to spend time and she'll appreciate that)

Speaking of fabric, I noticed Ikea has some pretty nice fabric. It's not all great and fab, but it can certainly compete with the store where I usually get my fabric. I also noticed they have nice cheap duvet-covers that I could buy just for the fabric. I thought that was pretty good thinking ;)

No clue for boyfriend's birthday though... What can one give a geek that basically has all he wants and needs?

So far, I've only purchased groceries and have not let my temptations get to me, hehe.

Still not sure about going out for dim sum in two weeks. I'd like too, but not sure if I want to spend that money right now. Also noticed it's pretty easy to not even consider things. At work we regularly have outings, that cost a little money. I saw the poster today and immediately thought 'Nope, can't do, No Spending Month!' It feels pretty liberating :)


Giving up.

2009-02-23 04:19

~2 min read

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Though I don't follow any religion I have had a lot of Christian influences in my life (has to do with where I live(d)). Growing up we had Carnival (which shows I grew up down south) and only later I learned this proceeded Lent. Ever since the concept of Lent has intrigued me, not from a religious point of view but more from the challenge point of view.

Lying awake in bed thinking about that and my current situation, I've decided to participate. I will give up frivolous spending and TV for Lent under the following conditions:

  • I read Lent is about fasting but Sunday doesn't count.
  • I will fast on TV shows except on Sunday when I can watch all I want.
  • I will postpone watching that Grey's Anatomy episode till the next Sunday and nobody will give me spoilers!
  • I will go for one dim sum lunch on Sunday march 15.
  • Boyfriend and mother have their birthday, will spend some money on that as well as the birthing day of my sister's child (not frivolous IMHO).
  • I will not spend money on anything else unplanned unless absolutely necessary, which means no booze, no craft supplies, no 'fun' stuff, no iPhone apps, no online ordering. Yes to medical things for me and Nano that can't wait.

As far as I know I'll start wednesday, which is exactly payday. It's a sign ;-)


Making (bento) lunches.

2009-02-22 00:41

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I've made a few lunches for work, either in my little food-containers or in mr. Bento. It has worked pretty well for bringing my own food along, and making sure I eat enough.

I received my new Laptop Lunchbox which will let me more easily transport my tasty burritos. It turned out smaller than I thought, not a bad thing at all. It looks slightly bigger than a regular lunchbox and has convenient separate containers. From the website I learned most people found too many lids annoying, so they only put one lid on one of the larger containers. I would have liked more lids (but I knew this when I bought it), but I guess worst case, I can order an extra set of inside containers. So far, I like the size, I like that it comes with a spoon and fork and it closes easily.

Hopefully in a couple of days I'll receive my other bento-box, for more food fun.

I went out to the market today and bought veggies, and then purchased panko, chick-pea flower, rice sheets, mirin and sake at the chinese store so I'll have a good base of basic ingredients. I want to make spicy lentil snacks, japanese dry curry and vegetarian cake provençale. Tasty!

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My worm, the scar.

2009-02-18 00:21

~2 min read

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Scar . Of all the medical issues I have, the only one you could technically see is my scar. The scar, looking like a little worm still, of course isn't the issue itself, but at least it shows something.

Today I read a blogpost by Priscilla Gilman that hit home. I feel pretty exhausted today, which may explain why I cried, but it's not just that. The same thing happened when I read Michael Nobbs' Beany (#1, 2 and 3). On page 13 of #1 Michael writes about that story with the frog in cold water, slowly heating it up so the frog doesn't notice it gets boiled alive. I had used the same example only days before, and he then wrote about his life getting smaller and smaller. I cried there too.

I've been ill for much longer than I've had my diagnosis. About two years ago I got the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis. A little over a year ago I learned about my genetic defect, resulting in the removal of my stomach. Six months ago, after they took it out, I learned I already had cancer in my stomach (I had it taken out as a prevention, damnit). Yesterday I learned that my terrible attacks of pain in my big toes probably mean I also have gout. Tomorrow my doctor will call me with some bloodtest-results, because I just keep feeling so bad. The never ending fatigue has to come from somewhere, as does the hairloss, the flaky skin, the fuzzy head, the insomnia. Most easily shove it towards 'stress' or 'mental issues', but I don't buy that.

Most days I feel I'm running on sheer willpower, not human energy.

And it's getting harder to summon up that will.

And people keep on telling me I look great...


Best gift ever!

2009-02-16 02:46

~1 min read

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Best gift ever.

I don't do anything for Valentines Day. If I feel the need to do something special, I just do it, I don't wait until that one day per year. Boyfriend and I joked about it and he spent most of the day on his knees with another guy, getting all hot and sweaty while filming it.

Anyway, after he finished that and cleaned up the mess, he gave me a gift. My very own cordless screwdriver! Guess who'll put her Ikea-things together with it from now on. :D

For those of you who consider this very unromantic, too bad! I love it! Had he brought me a bunch of roses I'd have smacked him on the head with it. Pretty painful with those thorns and such.


Improvement!

2009-02-11 23:44

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I've missed eating pizza since surgery. I did, a few times, but it only went well if I ate take-away pizza from one of those pizza places, not the kind I can buy in the supermarket. I could only eat 2 or 3 slices, and it seems a bit expensive to order in and only eat 1/4 of the pizza. It has to do with the dough, although I don't know the details of why it doesn't go well. Can't eat bread either, same problem. I get really ill.

Today I made a most excellent discovery. Gordita's (small, thicker tortilla wraps) work really well as a pizza-bottom. I tossed on some tomato sauce, chopped up veggies and mushrooms, added shredded cheese and popped the whole thing in the oven for 15 minutes.

Best pizza I ever had.

So I made another one just now. Two pizza's in one day. I like to spoil myself.


Making space.

2009-02-10 22:59

~2 min read

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before&afterI have this habit of stuffing things in my cabinets and forget about them. Hidden behind the doors I don't see it, so I don't think about it, or so I hope. But it never works like that. So, today I took an hour or so to declutter my two cabinets in the livingroom. I still have one left (my 'computercentre' basically), and feel very good about the progress I made today. The photo shows the before on top and the after at the bottom. I made a few paperwork-stacks that need to migrate to my file-cabinet, a task to big for this evening. I'll take another hour (or two or three) or so later this week to do it.

I put some drawingsupplies in the cabinet on the left (top-right), and consider putting my yarn and crochet things there too. I crochet in the livingroom, not in my hobby/bedroom (aka 'the funroom' ;) )

I tossed out one full garbagebag.


About

I live in Amsterdam. I like good food. I have a diabetic West Highland White Terrier named Nano. I get sick a lot. I used to freak out over needles, up until the point where I fainted. I no longer do this which helps a lot when I have to stick myself or the dog with them. I love to draw (and don’t do it enough, mostly due to my RA) and geek around with my computer. I write scripts in perl or bash/zsh. I have no stomach. I take things literally.

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