Radiant Rachel Reflecting on Ruby, Rails, Righteous Rants and Random Rubbish
Posts by Rachel
National Procrastination Week
March 3, 2010
in Ramblings
Well, no freaking wonder I can’t get anything done this week! It seems I have been unintentionally celebrating “National Procrastination Week!”
I really kinda hate it when people make up these weird “awareness” weeks like “National Wear Your Pants on Your Head Day” or “Foot Growth Awareness Week.” I mean, yeah, I see your growth and I am VERY aware of it, THANK YOU.
I think the only “National [blah blah] Day” I was ever excited for was “National No Pants Day” and that was because I hate winter and along with pants I hate wearing shoes and by May it’s usually warm enough to put on sandals too. And no, before you ask, I was no one to run around in my skivvies, it would just give me an excuse to wear shorts.
I digress. If you feel the need to be aware of or celebrate your procrastination, then by all means, please celebrate your holiday. I on the other hand will continue to be less procrastinative (“uh, I don’t think that’s a word, Rachel!”) and continue to use the Pomodoro Technique, but that discussion is for another blog post at a later time.
Corollary: After reviewing some comments on this post, I failed to mention my affinity for “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” How could I have forgotten this? It’s on my fricken birthday. I have then come to the conclusion that I am fine with “National Whatever” days but if I have to be “aware” for any extended time, I go batty. I can only take my insanity in small, bite-sized pieces.
New Theme for a New Year
March 2, 2010
in Tech
What?! When did this start happening?
Surely, you’ve noticed the recent style update to the blog, yes? Since I started the blog last year I was using DigitalNature’s “Arclite” and was happy with it for a very long time.
Then with the recent update I noticed that this weird CSS bug kept showing up around my right side panel’s boxes that made the content huge and was majorly pissing me off. After some muddling around in the code, playing with the CSS myself and checking out DigitalNature’s support, I decided to cut my losses and discovered that DigitalNature recently released a new theme called “Mystique” that was just gorgeous. And now it’s applied here! I especially like the build-in widgets for Twitter and blog-specific stats on the side. Now, if only they had a widget for Tumblr too and then I would be set with my social media feeds!
Dynamic Dummy Image Generator
February 3, 2010
in Tech
This is super geeky, but I can’t help but love it. If you’re like me, you use a lorem ipsum generator such as http://www.lipsum.com/ when you are designing layouts with sample content. But what about generating sample images to see how sizes affect your layouts (like if you’re designing a blog and you might have a variety of images with a variety of sizes linked in that blog)?
Testing, 1.. 2.. 3! Ta-da, my dummy image.
That’s where the Dynamic Dummy Image Generator comes in!
Sometimes you just need a placeholder image right at your finger tips. Just enter the width + x + height at the end of this URL and off you go!
Example: http://dummyimage.com/640×480
You can either generate one and right click + save as or just hotlink it right into whatever page you want to design. It would probably be nicer if you just downloaded the script yourself though so you don’t kill the poor guy’s server. 
And I’ll do it right now, let’s hope this works!
It’s so stupidly simple, how come I didn’t think of this already? I think it would have been awesome to have this when I was working on some design projects in the past.
Stupid Scalpers (A Small Rant)
I’ve been trying really hard to get to more concerts now than when I was in college. I feel it’s a great experience to expand your knowledge of a performer to actually see them live. I just want to say that I am really upset I wasn’t able to score tickets to see Lady Gaga while she was in NYC! I signed on at exactly 10am when the sale started and wasn’t able to even reserve one seat, let alone the three I really wanted. The concert tickets were about $50-$70 a pop originally and on places like Stub Hub they were going for $500. Re-dick-u-lous. This is why I appreciate bands like Nine Inch Nails who require names on tickets and then proof of identity when you go to the concerts (at least that’s what they did when they did the small venue circuit over the summer.) It sucks if it ends up that you can’t go to the concert because you can’t re-sell them, but the overall cost for the fan is much lower and you don’t have this secondary market popping up that exists only to screw real fans over.
To Pet Owners
January 14, 2010
in Pets
I found this on MyCorgi.com on someone else’s blog and I just had to share:
The following was found posted very low on a refrigerator door.
Dear Dogs and Cats: The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack.. Racing me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort, however. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other, stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out on the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom! If, by some miracle, I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge in an attempt to open the door. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years – canine/feline attendance is not required.
The proper order for kissing is: Kiss me first, then go smell the other dog or cat’s butt. I cannot stress this enough.
Finally, in fairness, dear pets, I have posted the following message on the front door:
TO ALL NON-PET OWNERS WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:
(1) They live here. You don’t.
(2) If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That’s why they call it ‘fur’-niture.
(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don’t speak clearly.Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
(1) eat less,
(2) don’t ask for money all the time,
(3) are easier to train,
(4) normally come when called,
(5) never ask to drive the car,
(6) don’t smoke or drink,
(7) don’t want to wear your clothes,
(8) don’t have to buy the latest fashions,
(9) don’t need a gazillion dollars for college and
(10) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children …
With it being so damn cold this winter, the thing about the bed hits close to home since Izzie has taken up jumping on the bed to sleep with me again. She, of course, demands the prime position on the bed, usually at the foot of the bed on MY side or crawls on to my lap to sleep. The other night we got into a growling match because I picked her up and moved her to the other side of the bed so I could stretch out. Um, dog! Who do you think gives you your food? It doesn’t just appear out of nowhere!
