Dressr Update!

So I claim over there in the sidebar that this blog is about me AND my Clueless-inspired (the movie, duh) wardrobe management system, Dressr.... But I haven't said much about it recently, have I? So... inspired by Pamela Slim's "Start Playing Big" podcast, I'm going to start talking about it, instead of sitting on it quietly....

Let's see.... where to start? I went into Alpha testing in September of last year, had my sister start testing it, and bam! realized just how many of the little things I had forgotten. Some of it should be easy to fix -- setting up user accounts, for instance -- but pieces like making it easy to get pieces of clothing into the system (pretty important, no?) needed some major work. Unfortunately, immediately after these discoveries the server crashed and it took 2 months to get it running again. (I had backups; but we had to ship the entire system to Shuttle *twice* and get an independent analysis by Laboratory Computers here in Austin before they agreed that their motherboard couldn't handle the heat the AMD chipset was putting out.)

Anyway, this was a pretty major obstacle; logistically and emotionally. I lost some time sitting on my butt after that, but now I am raring to go. It's helped that I've decided to go to SXSW Interactive this year -- I've always known that have a deadline and having people to talk to about Dressr is the best motivation for getting things done, so now I have both! (Knowing that there would be friends like Asha at SXSW helped me decided -- and now I'm wondering why I didn't do it sooner...)

OK, this is the "emotional" update -- I'll close out for now, but am going to post some of the specific project status in the next couple of days, and send a note out to my friends to get them to start reading this blog and keep me accountable!

Huddle for Excellence

huddle for excellence
Originally uploaded by saracarl.

On the way back from our Christmas vacation, I noticed this painted spot outside our gate in Greensboro. It says "Huddle for Excellence." I'm assuming it is a safety thing (everyone stand here while the plan backs out?), but it seems an absurd example of corporate-speak to me.

Google doesn't seem to know anything about "Huddle for Excellence", but it did show that I'm not the only person who thought it noteworthy -- Alodi on flickr has a picture of it, too.

Everyone's a stylist

I had a lot of fun last night taking Ben's picture for his LibraryThing profile. We must have gone through about 20 different tries, modifying wardrobe and props for each one. The setting was a no-brainer -- in front of a bookshelf, preferably his most esoteric books. Props were a bit harder -- we started with a nice pedestal glass of beer, tried a couple different pipes, and ended up going the simpler route with none. Wardrobe, too, was modified -- we started with just a t-shirt (it's ThinkGeek's French Linux t-shirt, although you can't see it), but decided to add his blazer when we were pumping up the pomposity. Blazer and no pipe turned out strike the right chord.
Ben tends to squint when he is smiling, so after trying some different facial expressions we got this one -- a nice smoldering gaze.

It was fun!

Fisher Price's "Pull-A-Long" Lacing Shoe I

Fisher Price's "Pull-A-Long" Lacing Shoe I
Originally uploaded by saracarl.

A second vintage Fisher-Price toy. This one is great -- shaped like a shoe; pull toy; lacing toy; shape sorter (the people go in via the windows).

Parent Hackery

Asha's posted a nice profile of me over on ParentHacks...

and I am proud to claim the nomination (if not the creation -- none of mine even made the list) of the number 1 ParentHack of 2006:

'The Problem' is the problem -- not the kid

by Stu.

Queen Buzzy Bee

Queen Buzzy Bee
Originally uploaded by saracarl.

My husband's mother found his old toys in the attic and brought them down for our daughter to play with. He was an exceptionally gentle child, so these are all in great shape.

This one is called Queen Buzzy Bee. She's an old Fisher Price pull toy. Her attenae are on springs, so they bobble, and her wings turn in circles as you pull her.

I'll post a few more in the coming days.

TX Roots Blog

Yay! I've finally convinced my sister to blog! She's calling her blog TX Roots, and it's full of her expat observations. She's currently living outside of Instanbul, but I believe the blog will cover some of the other places she's lived (Guinea, West Africa; Australia...). If you ever thought being a math teacher was a boring job, you should check it out.