June 25, 2009

iPhone of awesome

I love this! Check out the funniest iPhone customization I've seen, over at Gizmodo.

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When you think about it this way...

Lunch time, and I'm watching my Facebook feed. Summer brings out lots of random weather reports, from all parts of the US and my former country of residence, Canada. It reminds me of one of the questions I sometimes get about having moved to California – usually along the lines of "aren't you afraid of earthquakes?" Well, the fact that Ottawa also had earthquakes aside, given that I've now had over two years free of blizzards, ice storms, freezing rain, whiteouts, sub-zero temperatures, humidity, tornado watches and warnings, and Stephen Harper (okay, all of the party leaders, let's be fair)... my answer would have to be "no." :) Seriously, by comparison, eastern Ontario is training grounds for Survivor. I'm including the politicians in that statement.

If you have a couple of minutes, check out this video on Gizmodo. I was at Ellin and Jer's last night, and Jer showed it to me. As Gizmodo's Adam Frucci explains, "This installation shows all of Lufthansa's flights at once, all projected in 3D on a 180-degree, 46-foot-wide screen. And damn is it cool." Seriously COOL.

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June 22, 2009

This just in...

OMG. They're recruiting for ANOTHER season of The Bachelor. When will it stop? How many innocent roses must wilt? And how many times must Chris Harrison count to one?

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Random thoughts of the night

• I love how whenever US network TV takes a trip north of the 49th, it's always "The Canadian Wilderness." Because Whistler is definitely roughing it in the bush, guys. And to the guy from Texas who's never been on a train OR to Canada... dress in 15 layers of thinsulate, tread softly, and don't disturb the wildlife or the locals. It's not that I think you can't take care of yourself, I'm just concerned that you may run into Ben Mulroney.
  
  Oh c'mon. It's been a whole year since I've made fun of him. Clearly, California has mellowed me out.

• Why I sometimes have problems reconciling what year it is – Wheel of Fortune is still on the air with new episodes, they're apparently still showing new seasons of The Bachelorette, and the radio stations here reallllllly enjoy spinning tracks from an Incubus album that's 10 years old. All in all, a veritable time warp.

• Are there seriously a bunch of guys on my TV sitting around talking about finding "The One" and how they "need to get a rose tonight"? And have I seriously not gone in search of the TV remote? Let's fix that...

• It's possible that I'm the only person with a Twitter account who has never seen an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8, and is not emotionally involved in the plot of a TLC reality show. Sometimes, it's not a bad thing to be living under a rock...

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June 21, 2009

Texts and Facebook comments from this weekend, June 19-21 edition

Compiled with care, and completely lacking any context!

"My thoughts exactly. Oh f****** well." (Manda, to me)

"Seriously, that's 5 times since Thursday. It is time for the pool. And my vitamin water may have more than vitamins. Vitamin water cosmopolitan, anyone?" (Me, to Manda)

"At the spa and thought of you – saw a towel that said don't drink and dial – even had a pic of a cell phone and a drink with the circle/no sign around it." (Steph, to me)

"I haven't told anyone off in a text in a long time!!!! ;)" (Me, to Steph)

"Or we should go to a spa in Vegas." (Me, to Steph)

"But where is Rolling Stone based? ;-)"
"I think NY but they have to have offices in LA."
"Ok. Cuz I have seen what the east coast does to you." (Manda, me, Manda)

"Musos are prob all very very similar at a cellular level."
"And by cellular level, you mean they're insane, right?" (Not telling, to protect the guilty!)

"Forget the po-po, call a fireman. Better wheels." (Me, to Manda)

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June 20, 2009

Back from Boston, back to my life

The most eye-opening thing I've learned over the last several months is how, when it comes to a girl, guys can be more cutthroat than girls are when it comes to a guy. It's even worse when they all know each other. I should know – I was the girl in the middle of it all.

One has known me for several years, was a past flame. One is his manager. One is a friend of theirs. The first two, together? A migraine. The last one, their friend? A sweetheart. All three, together? More than a girl who said goodbye to the first one (past one) so she could say hello to the last one (the friend) can do battle with. As for the one in the middle, the manager? Meddling in someone's personal life when failing to disclose details of your own is bad karma. And that's all I have to say to him.

I've had a lot to think about the last few weeks. In so doing, as much as the personal life / professional life balance is necessary, after two years of being very professional-life-centric, it's time to re-focus on my dreams and ambitions in the here and now. Just over two years ago, as I found myself here in Silicon Valley, one set of goals had been achieved. Now it's time to remember what the steps beyond those goals are, and to go after them. It's my time, and my life.

I'm back from Boston, and after a lot of sleep and some sunshine, seem to be over the jet lag that knocked me over. Normally I don't have problems with the Pacific time to Eastern time adjustment, but this week, I didn't switch over at all! The moral of the story is, next time, fly in a day earlier and give myself time to adjust before all the action starts.

Lots of love to everyone – enjoy the weekend! :)

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June 09, 2009

Tuesday night in Twitter land

My Twitter feed, as I watched the Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals in action:

- [jennalala] is watchin' some hockey, like a good Canadian ex-pat. C'mon, Detroit, tie this game and force it into triple overtime. Good Tuesday TV!

- Um NO. I said DETROIT tie the game, not Pittsburgh get another goal. GAH.

- YEAAAAAAHHHHHH... one more, baby! One more! (Okay, two more, but one more to get this into OT!)

- Hells to the yes, POWER PLAY

- Hells to the double yes, another power play.

After which point, all went eerily silent on the subject of hockey. It was a little less painful to shift the focus to:

- #squarespace ... secretly a superhero?

When Game 6 hands you lemons, switch gears and go after a free iPhone 3G S. All the better to tweet from.

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June 08, 2009

Shiatsu love

Funny -- I'm lying here, typing on my phone, and realized this is the first blog entry I've done using my phone. I'm not sure why that is! Probably because I'm always busy updating Facebook using my phone.

I had an amazing Shiatsu massage at Camelot Center in Los Altos, tonight. When I lived in Ottawa, I had regular massage therapy -- usually once every three weeks -- because of all the work I put my right shoulder and arm through with the web development part of my job. Once I moved here and was full-out writing, no web work, I didn't need massage therapy anymore. I'd never tried Shiatsu massage before, and found that I really like it. I highly recommend trying it. Watch for an open house.

Last weekend, I returned from my sixth trip to LA since March; next week, I'm in Boston. Busy girl!!

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May 24, 2009

Please don't tell me that we had that conversation... wait, what am I saying?

Sometimes, you get caught up in a moment. And sometimes that moment lasts for a couple of months. You meet someone, and you hit it off amazingly well. You go on a date and it replaces any other "best night of your life" as being THE best night of your life. Fun and perfect, in a way you'll never forget. You hang out some more, and it's always good -- better than good.

Then you have a disastrous week, and don't know what to think. A couple of days of being really sad, and overthinking everything. (It doesn't always help, having the memory that I have! Retains things almost photo-perfect, including things I'd rather not remember quite that well.)

Everything would have been fine if I just hadn't done this [insert stupid action A]. Everything would be as it was if I hadn't started that conversation.

Then you realize about the former, maybe. And about the latter, yes it would be. And that's exactly the problem.

I think I'm done with the part of my life where I regret honesty, when it doesn't work out to what I hoped it would. There's no shame in saying look, if you don't see this happening, then I'm not the girl who will be there when it's good for you, on whatever terms you want. Even when you like that person more than you've liked anyone in years. For lack of a more apt word here, yes, it suuuuuuuuuucks -- but if you can't let yourself go after, be open to, and find what you need... who will?

I'll fully admit that I've been that girl before. It somehow hasn't occurred to me before now that what I'm looking for is just as important, and I shouldn't be afraid to say it for fear of it all crumbling down. Why? I couldn't tell you. I know that when it comes to my non-professional life, the last two years have changed me a lot. This is one of the ways it has, and I'm glad for it.

When I left Ottawa, and moved out here to Silicon Valley, it was the start of going after my goals in life, rather than trying to make other people happy and maintain the status quo. The last two years have been amazing, and have gone by so fast, I can hardly believe it. The last few months -- beginning around December -- have shown me what else I want, and what I need for a balanced life. It's not a secret that I've been seeking relocation to LA. I have family there, I have friends from Ottawa there, I have someone who's been a close friend since high school there, along with her family, and a whole bunch of other friends there. It's a foundation, and a network, and a life. Saying that -- I love the job I've had for the last two years. In a perfect world, I'd transfer it to an office down there. So is it a perfect world? Time will tell.

This week has reminded me of something important -- be true to who you are, and what you want, and don't be afraid to say it, show it, DO it. You won't always like the answer, but those answers can help set you on the right path. As one of my favorite directors back in Canadialand truly believed, "When one door closes, another opens." He was fascinated by watching it in action. Me too. So don't be afraid to shut some doors -- you never know what's behind the one that opens next.

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April 07, 2009

When it makes the news, it really makes the news...

Woke up to this story in my inbox: Stolen plane from Canada escorted by US fighters

It was the part about "The plane was reported stolen Monday afternoon from Confederation College Flight School at Thunder Bay International Airport in Ontario" that actually woke me up, heh. Craziest story out of the city where I was born and raised since the whole Bambenek/America's Most Wanted thing.

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March 31, 2009

"If you like it then you should've called or texted it..."

Tomorrow is 1 year and 10 months for me as a California girl. In a little over two weeks, it will be two years since the slushy/snowy day when I was working from home by my fireplace and received an email from a recruiter at the company where I now work that changed pretty much everything. And just days from now, it will be a month since I had the sudden realization that personally, I may have grown up. That boys who behave in ways I'll politely and diplomatically call "flaky" have lost their appeal entirely. The chase isn't fun, nor is it a challenge. That whole "I'm only interested until you're interested and then I'm not interested until you're not interested" thing is just so passé. Been there, been involved with that (yeah, perhaps more than once ;)), and now... completely turned off by it. I can't say I'm sad to see that phase of my life go.

Suddenly I like the ones who call, text, and make plans. If you've been a close friend through most of my twenties, you'll understand and possibly even appreciate this. (And if you're Karen or Sophie, you're probably thanking the deities on high. ;) Love you both.)

That's the most personal I've gotten on here in awhile, and all I'm going to say on that! As per my blog rules since the beginning of time, my personal life stays off the blog, and my work life stays off the blog. There are some things you just really shouldn't share with the Internet world. ;)

Other than this, looking forward to a week of getting back to active life. I've been sick for the last few days, and pretty much lost my voice Friday, with it just getting back to mostly normal today. It's been really nice outside though, and I'm raring to go 'blading and swim in the pool. I did hit the hot tub today and got some sunshine, which was great. Fingers crossed I'm 100% by this weekend!

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March 23, 2009

No, I didn't go on a photo deleting mission...

Hmm... not sure how 7 of my photo albums in the gallery at jenniferfarwell.com suddenly emptied of photos or were deleted, but no, I didn't go on a crazy photo deleting mission. I'm not sure I want to think this hard about how to fix it, though!

Just got back last night from LA for the second time this month... happy girl. :) I love LA. So it's been a super busy month, and all good things. When I catch up on sleep I'll actually write a real blog post or something!!

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February 08, 2009

Sunday night randomness

1. I'm not sure whether or not I should be disturbed by Pico's rapt attention to Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift's duet performance during the Grammys. This from the dog that I thought only liked alt, rock, and metal. Really, puppy?
2. I really don't get the John Mayer thing. Really, honestly, truly. DOES NOT COMPUTE. I've said what I need to say, so why, Georgia Jennifer Aniston radio station music directors, why?
3. The SPPNTCJ now has a MySpace, as well as being on Twitter. (And of course, you can always find the SPPNTCJ at sppntcj.com.) So friend us on MySpace, or follow us on Twitter!
4. This has been making the Internet rounds, but in case you missed it: Police create wanted poster on Nintendo Wii (Because apparently, only Wii can stop crime.)
   
   That's some serious cutbacks, yo, when sketch artists lose out to a video game console. Good thing it wasn't something serious. I mean, it's not like they're trying to catch a criminal or anything... Oh wait.
   
   Funnier than the story itself are the comments. Here are a couple of my faves:
   
   "I saw him, but he sped away on a go-kart. God help us all if he has a blue shell."
   
   "The suspect has also been seen selling mushrooms to Italian plumbers."

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February 04, 2009

It's all psychological

Post title -- shout-out to SG and high school. ;) And it was that same era, as some of you know, that I first put the SPPNTCJ website online. The history and recognition of the SPPNTCJ are both documented on the site, and now I have something new to add to the list. Last night I discovered that the SPPNTCJ is mentioned in Psychology and the Challenges of Life: Adjustment in the New Millennium, a psychology textbook by Jeffrey S. Nevid and Spencer A. Rathus. (If you happen to have this textbook handy, it's mentioned on page 203 of the 2007 hardcover edition.) I'd like to send out a big thank you to the authors for keeping the SPPNTCJ a part of academia. I very much appreciate it!

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February 01, 2009

In other news, Satan just grabbed a parka, shovel, and ice scraper...

... While Chicken Little was hospitalized for minor head trauma, since the sky fell from the pure shock of it all. Yes folks, that's right. I'm doing what I never, ever do. PLANNING MEALS FOR THE WEEK, in advance of getting home from work, going through the fridge, freezer, and cupboards 15 times, taking the dog for a walk, then coming back inside and going through the fridge, freezer, and cupboards 15 more times... you get the picture. I call it "culinary spontaneity." Others call it "lack of interest in planning meals." Tomato, to-mah-to.

It's not that I can't cook. I can actually cook very well, when motivated enough to do so. And by cooking I mean something different than baking, but I'm good at cookies and pies, although a recent cake baking adventure shows I should probably quit while I'm ahead. My meal cooking motivation -- unless it's a weekend and I'm inspired -- is usually saved for dinner parties. For this week, so far I'm thinking chicken à la king, turkey rice soup (more like a stew), maybe grilled chicken eggplant parm... and that's about as far as I've gotten. To be continued.

Back to the cookbooks. And because this was totally random, I'll leave you with something else that's totally random -- two very cute, sweet pics of Pico that my dad took in December, when we visited for the holidays. And yes, Pico actually likes the toy turtle that was on his head, even if it looks like he's humoring us.

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