This morning, for the first time in a very long time, I gazed affectionately at my 10 year old white iBook laptop. With a smile on my face I had flash backs of using my first tiny little Macintosh computer at college, with it's black and white screen and floppy-disk drive. Then, at a different college using larger versions of the Macintosh as I learned to be digitally creative.
I remember when the art department at the newspaper got its very first batch of G1 Power Macs and we were all so excited because they were a huge upgrade to what we had been using. I remembered being jealous of my boss at the newspaper because he had an Apple Newton.
I remember buying my very first computer at Harrods, a black all-in-one PowerMac, and reminisced about how excited I was to be able to use it's (I think) 12kph modem to connect to the internet at home using Netscape Communicator. I remember the 100mb Zip Drive I bought not long after.
I remember living in Aruba, hating that I was without a computer and then paying extortionate amounts of money to buy my iBook because there was an Apple dealer on the island. I remember being able to watch DvD's for the first time in my dingy little island home after spending long days underwater. I remember finally being able to get rid of all my really heavy scuba instructor manuals because I could now buy them on CD's.
I remember laying on a balcony studying for a scuba instructors further education class in Florida when some random cute guy started talking to me. I remember IM'ing with that same guy late at night once I was back in London as we made plans as to which Caribbean island we would find work on. "That guy" would later become my husband.
I remember being in the British Virgin Islands and able to research my family history because I had my iBook and a high speed internet connection. I remember the excitement of finding long lost cousins and slowly being able to piece my way back to 1747.
I remember my disappointment, once we were living in the USA, when I realised that I would have to buy a PC as the desktop computer at home.
I remember the Keynote events that launched the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. I remember the excitement of buying my first generation iPad because I was back to using the brand I loved. I remember my husband saying to me "I'm never buying a PC again, only Apple from now on"
Thank you for my memories Steve Jobs. Rest in peace.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Uninspired
Its Wednesday morning and frankly I'm already board with this week. I need to find better things to do during the day than actually working for a living, there's got to be more to life than this daily grind.
So Google released their new "dynamic" views for Blogger yesterday which is why I'm writing this here as I'm testing it out and seeing how I like it. I'm having a good first impression although the layouts really lend themselves to photographs and large bodies of text. I really like the lightbox feature for each of the posts. My only concern is how do people see the profile of who's writing the blog? And where do you find the tags, outside links etc... that bloggers usually have in their sidebar? Maybe this new style with encourage me to write here and cross-post to G+ which is where I seem to be spending most of my time these days. One thing that would be nice is if you could write posts (messages?) over on G+ with the option to be able to simultaneously cross-post them to Blogger.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Google+
It would seem that since being invited into Google+ a couple of months back I've neglected this blog. I've been very active over there and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that it suites my style of posting and is much more engaging. Find me over there as Claire Siconolfi.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Captive Queen
Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir
I've wanted to read this book for a while as I had really enjoyed The Wars of the Roses. In that book I had been thrilled with her writing style, using a mixture of historical fact, conjecture and creative license.
On starting this book I remember being a little disappointed at first because it seemed quite different from the other, as if it had been written for a purely fictional audience. I felt like I had been thrown onto the set of HBO's The Tudors with all the abundant sex scenes and passion detailing the early relationship between Eleanor and Henry. Every time I turned the page they were at it again, and frankly I'm amazed they didn't both die of exhaustion!
For much of the early part of the book I had flashbacks to things I had read in Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth and by the time I reached the murder of Thomas Becket I was replaying the imaginary movie I had originally made up in my head a year ago. Then towards the end of the book, when Henry and his sons are warring against each other, I kept waiting for Russell Crow to make an appearance. My mind was running through the early scenes of the latest Robin Hood movie recalling the similarities between the two and each of these famously historical figures had Hollywood faces.
Moving through the pages though was a very easy read as layer after layer of depth is added to each of the characters. Each of them becoming quite complex and really having you wanting to go off in search of more information about them. Now I find myself with a long list of people I would like to read more about. You really start to feel for each of these historical figures regardless of whether you consider them a "good guy" or a "bad guy". The descriptive change in Eleanor's demeanor while she is locked in her tower as Henry's prisoner is very subtle. Then later, after they have mellowed a little, the momentary tenderness that Henry and Eleanor show towards each other in their old age is very compelling as you again catch glimpses of why they originally came together but are sadden by the fact that they had grown so far apart.
I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book, even reading the authors notes at the end, which is something I very rarely do. Now I have to tackle my self-created further reading list...
I've wanted to read this book for a while as I had really enjoyed The Wars of the Roses. In that book I had been thrilled with her writing style, using a mixture of historical fact, conjecture and creative license.
On starting this book I remember being a little disappointed at first because it seemed quite different from the other, as if it had been written for a purely fictional audience. I felt like I had been thrown onto the set of HBO's The Tudors with all the abundant sex scenes and passion detailing the early relationship between Eleanor and Henry. Every time I turned the page they were at it again, and frankly I'm amazed they didn't both die of exhaustion!
For much of the early part of the book I had flashbacks to things I had read in Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth and by the time I reached the murder of Thomas Becket I was replaying the imaginary movie I had originally made up in my head a year ago. Then towards the end of the book, when Henry and his sons are warring against each other, I kept waiting for Russell Crow to make an appearance. My mind was running through the early scenes of the latest Robin Hood movie recalling the similarities between the two and each of these famously historical figures had Hollywood faces.
Moving through the pages though was a very easy read as layer after layer of depth is added to each of the characters. Each of them becoming quite complex and really having you wanting to go off in search of more information about them. Now I find myself with a long list of people I would like to read more about. You really start to feel for each of these historical figures regardless of whether you consider them a "good guy" or a "bad guy". The descriptive change in Eleanor's demeanor while she is locked in her tower as Henry's prisoner is very subtle. Then later, after they have mellowed a little, the momentary tenderness that Henry and Eleanor show towards each other in their old age is very compelling as you again catch glimpses of why they originally came together but are sadden by the fact that they had grown so far apart.
I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book, even reading the authors notes at the end, which is something I very rarely do. Now I have to tackle my self-created further reading list...
Monday, August 29, 2011
Survived
Well, we came through the storm unscathed, only loosing power for about three hours on Sunday evening.
One thing I did notice over the weekend though, is just how very sensationalist The Weather Channel was. I had it on as background noise while I spent two days reading on the couch (Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir). Why do reporters INSIST on standing out in the worst possible weather they can find to show us how bad it is? I mean come on, we can still see how bad it is if you face the camera at a tree. I kept expecting a billboard to take out the reporters!
One thing I did notice over the weekend though, is just how very sensationalist The Weather Channel was. I had it on as background noise while I spent two days reading on the couch (Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir). Why do reporters INSIST on standing out in the worst possible weather they can find to show us how bad it is? I mean come on, we can still see how bad it is if you face the camera at a tree. I kept expecting a billboard to take out the reporters!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Pennsic 40 (2011)
Pennsic was a blast. Its has been for the past three years. What was even better this year though is that we committed to the full two weeks, making it a weird (to some people) but proper holiday. And off course I didn't take one god-damned flippin' photograph.
We took a leisurely drive out on Sunday morning, leaving a little later than planned due to an unexpected migraine. A beautiful sunny day, hardly any traffic on the road, no road-work to get caught up in and the ability to lock up the truck-bed at service stations. We'll be doing it like this from now on. Eight hours later we arrive onsite to get mobbed by our seriously awesome camp-mates that we don't see nearly enough.
Peace Week was phenomenal. We spent a seriously lazy week finishing camp set-up, food shopping, and general laying around doing NOTHING. Well almost nothing, next year we may as well have a published A&S track in camp for all the cool things we were teaching each other. I can now spin fiber and have refined my lucet technique to the point where I don't have to look at what I'm doing any more. Our Pennsic camp is seriously awesome and filled with people that we don't get to see nearly enough. We're very diverse in our interests and when we get together all sorts of strange things end up happening or being planned. Needless to say, don't enter into the camp and then proceed to sit there and tell us that you'll NEVER do something.....
Then there was "Saturday Night at the Glen" .... Words really cannot describe how entertaining this was, but serious thanks must be given to our across-the-road neighbours and the assortment of people headed down to The Bog on that Saturday night. Imagine the scene, the road lined on both side by almost 40 people in camp chairs, heckling and cheering people to promenade past us with as much style and grace as possible. Then there was the singing of "Koom-by-ahh" whenever security headed our way in a delusional attempt to keep them from knowing what we were up too! Apparently we could be heard CLEAR across Pennsic. The one thing that surprised me the most was that it was the folks with pointy hats and bling that got into the merriment the most, whereas the "fringe" folks kinda kept their heads down for the most part and scuttled on by as quickly as they could.
I did however manage to get my four scrolls finished. They all arrived at Pennsic "mostly done" with just the odd few finishing touches needed on each of them. Off course, did I remember to take photographs of the finished scrolls? NO. I'm an idiot. I do know they all went out though, one Baronial Sapphire for Lady Osa Silverhair, two Kingdom (a Silver Crescent for Leonhard Schuwert and a Troubadour for Mhari Brewbane), and one backlog Court Baroncy for Sarra Elisabeth Graeham of Birnham. If ANYONE has or knows off photographs for these awards then I would love copies. Pretty please.
Towards the end of Peace Week I trundled myself off down to the fencing field for some pick-ups, where I discovered I was getting sick, getting my arse handed to me in the process. Turned out to be a headed cold which knocked me out for a few days with the associated sinus congestion sticking around for the rest of War. In fact I still have the remnants of it. I rested for the most part, willingly doped myself up on DayQuill, but got to the point where I needed to do "something" so headed back down to the lists to help Marshal and inspect others as they were arriving. Was a little weird being in that situation because I would rather have been fencing but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
War Week was a mixed bag. The head cold was lingering and so I didn't have as much energy as I would have liked, my fencing activities suffered because of it. I didn't get nearly as much pick-up action as I would have liked as I was pretty much conserving myself for the War Points and in case I was needed on the Champions Team (I was an alternate). However, I did have fun in the Tortuga melee, the Ansteorian Tourney and the Cadet Tourney where I got to the "sweet sixteen" out of 72 fighters, and of course it was my practice buddy Alfonso who knocked me out.
I had planned on being in the Atlantia 5-Man Melee tourney also but for various reason sat out, which worked out well as I ended up teaching a new fencer. We had a blast discussing various things and sparring a bunch. I hope he manages to find a convenient practice as he took to it really well and would be an awesome asset to the community.
I've been writing this post for a week now. There is LOTS more and as I remember aspects I will post, but for right now this post is getting too long!
We took a leisurely drive out on Sunday morning, leaving a little later than planned due to an unexpected migraine. A beautiful sunny day, hardly any traffic on the road, no road-work to get caught up in and the ability to lock up the truck-bed at service stations. We'll be doing it like this from now on. Eight hours later we arrive onsite to get mobbed by our seriously awesome camp-mates that we don't see nearly enough.
Peace Week was phenomenal. We spent a seriously lazy week finishing camp set-up, food shopping, and general laying around doing NOTHING. Well almost nothing, next year we may as well have a published A&S track in camp for all the cool things we were teaching each other. I can now spin fiber and have refined my lucet technique to the point where I don't have to look at what I'm doing any more. Our Pennsic camp is seriously awesome and filled with people that we don't get to see nearly enough. We're very diverse in our interests and when we get together all sorts of strange things end up happening or being planned. Needless to say, don't enter into the camp and then proceed to sit there and tell us that you'll NEVER do something.....
Then there was "Saturday Night at the Glen" .... Words really cannot describe how entertaining this was, but serious thanks must be given to our across-the-road neighbours and the assortment of people headed down to The Bog on that Saturday night. Imagine the scene, the road lined on both side by almost 40 people in camp chairs, heckling and cheering people to promenade past us with as much style and grace as possible. Then there was the singing of "Koom-by-ahh" whenever security headed our way in a delusional attempt to keep them from knowing what we were up too! Apparently we could be heard CLEAR across Pennsic. The one thing that surprised me the most was that it was the folks with pointy hats and bling that got into the merriment the most, whereas the "fringe" folks kinda kept their heads down for the most part and scuttled on by as quickly as they could.
I did however manage to get my four scrolls finished. They all arrived at Pennsic "mostly done" with just the odd few finishing touches needed on each of them. Off course, did I remember to take photographs of the finished scrolls? NO. I'm an idiot. I do know they all went out though, one Baronial Sapphire for Lady Osa Silverhair, two Kingdom (a Silver Crescent for Leonhard Schuwert and a Troubadour for Mhari Brewbane), and one backlog Court Baroncy for Sarra Elisabeth Graeham of Birnham. If ANYONE has or knows off photographs for these awards then I would love copies. Pretty please.
Towards the end of Peace Week I trundled myself off down to the fencing field for some pick-ups, where I discovered I was getting sick, getting my arse handed to me in the process. Turned out to be a headed cold which knocked me out for a few days with the associated sinus congestion sticking around for the rest of War. In fact I still have the remnants of it. I rested for the most part, willingly doped myself up on DayQuill, but got to the point where I needed to do "something" so headed back down to the lists to help Marshal and inspect others as they were arriving. Was a little weird being in that situation because I would rather have been fencing but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
War Week was a mixed bag. The head cold was lingering and so I didn't have as much energy as I would have liked, my fencing activities suffered because of it. I didn't get nearly as much pick-up action as I would have liked as I was pretty much conserving myself for the War Points and in case I was needed on the Champions Team (I was an alternate). However, I did have fun in the Tortuga melee, the Ansteorian Tourney and the Cadet Tourney where I got to the "sweet sixteen" out of 72 fighters, and of course it was my practice buddy Alfonso who knocked me out.
I had planned on being in the Atlantia 5-Man Melee tourney also but for various reason sat out, which worked out well as I ended up teaching a new fencer. We had a blast discussing various things and sparring a bunch. I hope he manages to find a convenient practice as he took to it really well and would be an awesome asset to the community.
I've been writing this post for a week now. There is LOTS more and as I remember aspects I will post, but for right now this post is getting too long!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Photo-A-Day Project: Day 2
Wandering around a local shopping mall, I noticed this reflection of the American flag in the entrance windows which I thought was pretty cool. Unfortunately I was shoo'd away by a security guard, apparently you're not allowed to take photo's of their mall without prior permission.
EDIT: It's just been bought to my attention on 500px that there's a little irony behind this image and its story. As one commenter put it "[...] The world must carry on and we must be free to enjoy our hobbies. Terrorist, in my mind would be undercover and probably not use a big obvious DSLR. [...] Doesn't you flag stand for the land of the Free rather than the land of the scared. [...] Glad you got the pic before you were moved on, as there is some sort of irony in the pic and the story."
 |
| Irony |
EDIT: It's just been bought to my attention on 500px that there's a little irony behind this image and its story. As one commenter put it "[...] The world must carry on and we must be free to enjoy our hobbies. Terrorist, in my mind would be undercover and probably not use a big obvious DSLR. [...] Doesn't you flag stand for the land of the Free rather than the land of the scared. [...] Glad you got the pic before you were moved on, as there is some sort of irony in the pic and the story."
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