Hello, I need your help. I'm in the middle of being interviewed for a craft site and part of the interview is to make up five questions of my own to answer. I've been dragging my feet on that bit because ever time I try to think of something I go all Monty Python, "What is your favorite color?" "Blue. No, yel-- Auuugh!"

So, with the permission of the interviewer, I'm going to ask you for questions. Anything you'd like to know about this site or my business? Questions don't necessarily need to be craft related, or related to anything in particular, but considering the craft slant on the interview it might be an advantage. I'll choose the five questions that catch my fancy (aka. seem like ones I won't have to think to hard to answer) and let you know when the interview is up.

Please ask questions in the comments. My undying zombie gratitude!

I keep seeing people link to this Lego video but I hadn't had time to stop and watch it yet. Turns out, not only is it so very fun but it was made by the husband of a reader. The video is part of a competition and if he, that is Michael Leonard, gets enough votes he could win $10K to attend law school. I say? The world needs more lawyers who know how to make Lego stop motion techno videos that can make you laugh.

Watch the video Legal Land, then go here and vote for Michael Leonard. Good luck Michael!

Recently we took a short trip to Victoria, BC. We used a Clipper vacation package -- you hop on a boat in Seattle which drops you off in Victoria two and a half hours later with, hopefully, your hotel van waiting just on the other side of customs. Most hotels are mere blocks away.



Victoria BC is a small town with a ton of stuff to do, with Butchart Gardens being the one everybody asks about. We did not visit Butchart Gardens because for this short trip the interest level/entrance fee/travel time (it's about half an hour north of Victoria) didn't weigh out with my goal of doing nothing much at all. If you are car-less you can get there via a tour bus or the regular public transportation bus.

Victoria is a very walkable/wanderable town, and the Victorian architecture and Canadian-ness of it all make it charming. I was a little worried about the size while looking at the map, but ten blocks in any direction from the hotel had us where we wanted to go so there was never any desire to rent a car or scooter to get around. (more...)

Do you happen to have a copy of the current Disc Makers catalog (shown above) taking up valuable space on your dining room table? I'd like to persuade you to trade it to me for, uh, something of equal value. You see, that is Scott's current CD* shown on the cover and we'd really like to have a copy for posterity. Funnily enough, we don't get the Disc Makers catalog anymore. Do you have one you're willing to part with? Let me know and we'll make a deal, notmartha AT gmail DOT com, thanks. Ok, I have secured one, thanks to everybody who wrote in. I somehow suspected Disc Makers sent out an awful lot of these.


* His CD Release Show is Friday, July 18th at Egan's in Ballard, you should come!

Hi, hello. I've moved this site to new hosting, and except for that bit where my Technical Advisor was too busy practicing with his band* to help me out a few days earlier, it was nicely painless. I'm very happy in my new home at Media Temple, and a huge thanks to Susie at Boygirlparty for the emphatic recommendation.

A few things are looking wonky around here as a result of upgrading to the latest version of Wordpress during the move, and I have plans to makes some small changes while we're at it. But mostly we can all carry on.


* Scott's having a "Damn, I Should've Had A CD Release Party" party at Egan's in Ballard (here in Seattle) on Friday, July 18th. You should come!


While I was away I made popsicles and cut some lavender:

It's been awfully hot here and we're all moving a bit slow including, it seems, my site. Unexplainable technical difficulties have been plaguing me since last week so I'm in the midst of packing it all up and moving it to a new home. The site might blip away for a while, but don't worry, I'll return.

In the mean time I've been watching happily as my newly planted lavender blooms enough to let me cut a little bit this year. But only at night when it's cooled down a bit. Man.

So you think you wanna elope, a very helpful and truthful guide by Cinnamon at Poise.cc. Thanks Cinnamon!

Is longevity the curse of happiness? Know any happy 80-year-olds? at Ask Metafilter

What to do with 150+ plastic buckets? at Ask Metafilter. Bukkits!

Safety in the Tenderloin? (San Francisco) at Ask Metafilter

I'm looking for workout and weight loss podcasts and blogs. at Ask Metafilter

Recommendations for Sci-Fi while on the Treadmill? at Ask Metafilter

Knot tying cards, at Cool Tools

12 Bikes for Girls at Cool Hunting

The Slog reviews Penny Arcade Adventures: On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One.

Resources for thrill seekers and general superhero/spy training in Texas? at Ask Metafilter

42 Awesome Business Card Designs at [Re]Encoded

Floral Arrangements for Engineers at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Soft Reading Lenses, Stick-on magnifiers, at Cool Tools. These might be good for some of the more intricate sewing work.

Digg has a round up of all the mems that appear in Weezer's Pork and Beans video. I, sadly, recognized nearly all of them.

What is being a baker or sous-chef like? at Ask Metafilter

A good, concise pep talk from Ira Glass, at Kottke.

HOW TO: Repair the Heels of Athletic Shoes at Craftzine

I'm looking for books set in subterranean locations. Caves, sewers, underground cities, hollow earth, etc. at Ask Metafilter

sticker shield at Cool Tools

NPR Road Trip Tool, cool, I didn't know about this.

Oops, this site was down for a good part of yesterday, sorry about that. If you came here from a feed reader hoping to enter the boygirlparty giveaway yesterday and were dee-nied, I promise it's safe to come back. Though, you might not see your comment for about 15 minutes even if I don't have to approve it. This is all part of those technical difficulties (which I hope to have resolved shortly).

We're taking a trip to Cleveland soonish and I have some questions.

General travel advice:

I'm taking my first red eye flight. What is the best travel pillow for sleep? The inflatable u-shaped pillow? The strange triangular cartoon bone shaped pillow? Or the compressible pillow shaped pillow (which a clerk at the travel store pointed out could also be used for lumbar support, thereby throwing me into a state of not-buying-anything confusion)? Any advice for snagging one of those blankets as we get on the plane?

Cleveland travel advice:

I have a list of things I definitely want to do: West Side Market, drink as much 50/50 soda as I possibly can, eat a Mr. Hero cheeseburger, see the ruins of my middle school, have dinner at Stino da Napoli, stalk Ruhlman, have a latte at the Caribou Coffee where I not-once-but-twice locked my keys into my car in an early morning precaffeinated state, scowl towards my high school, eat at the Polish restaurant from the Anthony Bourdain episode, buy a jar of Stadium Mustard, gawk at how big Lola's has gotten, visit the Arabica where Scott and I first met.

Anything else? Has anything new appeared in Cleveland that I absolutely must see? New grocery stores or libraries or malls or special cocktails to seek out? Keep in mind, I grew up here so the touristy stuff (Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame never again) doesn't interest me as much as the everyday stuff that's different than it was.

Thanks!

Here are the games I need to make time to check out. Most of these are links to the JIG Casual Gameplay site since they often posts hints, and because I've allowed them to become my sole game news source, they are good like that.

• Netshift, by Rob Allen, I loved his previous game Blackshift, in fact I'm still trying to beat level 99.
  
• Get Lost, adventure game parody you say?
  
• The Big House and You Have To Burn the Rope
  
• Floating Island, Return to Dark Castle, and The Yore
  
• An Untitled Story
  
• Overture Facile
  
• The Roomz
  
• Best of Adventure 2007
  
• Bow Street Runner, an episodic game, must get in on that
  
• King's Quest II Remake, King's Quest II Remake!!
  
• Puzzle Boy Flash
  
• Lost Pig, a text adventure
  
• Untitled Story
  
• Anika's Odyssey
  
• fun things from Magpie & Cake
  
• Guest House, ah the good old escape-the-room games
  
• Dr. Dokkoy
  
• wogger mini games
  
• Tipping Point
  
• online games at Digg
  
• Aquaria
  
• Escape Game
  
• Trapped, this is part 2 but there is a link to part 1
  
• Synapsis
  
• Key To Adventure
  
• Sam & Max, another one I'm late to the party for
  
• Goliath the Soothsayer
  
• Submachine 5
  
• The Great Kitchen Escape
  
• Princess Bride, downloadable, this you have to pay for, currently in pre-order
  
• Vision, a room escape
  
• The Daydream
  
• Questionaut
  
• Dream Chronicles 2
  
• Haluz
  
• Ghost In The Sheet

Games I'm still playing/still like:

Knytt and Knytt Stories, you need to download these, it's worth it if you like to explore.

Magic Pen, I've gotten through all the levels but, gah, I cannot complete level 24 again. How did I do it the first time?

This is a test post. That is an orange tie.

update: Huh. After a while of trying in vain to get my images to show up in Bloglines feed readers, suddenly today the images appear. At least in my Bloglines. Can anybody else see the orange tie? Please tell me I'm not hallucinating ties over here.

Scott spent most of last year writing, recording and planning for his new album, Save You From Yourself, which officially on sale today. Congratulations sweetie, I'm so proud of you!

Scott had some help producing the album, much of the recording was done in the home studio of Jim Santanella, and the photographs used were taken by Scott Mongrain. Interestingly, I got a note from ReeBeckiSupergirl a few months back, we had exchanged notes a few times over the years and at some point she figured out that my Scott and her Scott were the ones who had been traveling out to take pictures of melting ice cream and bicycles together! Seattle is sometimes a very small town.

Scott had lots of local musicians on the tracks -- Jerin Falkner, Michael Spaly of Creeping Time, Alissa Jandt of Everyday Jones, Laurie Katherine Carlsson and Jim Santanella. Everyone is a fantastic musician in her or his own right, Scott often shares gigs with all of them, and you should check them out. If you live in Seattle, keep an eye on the shows page, gigs tend to be laid back and in comfortable spots with good coffee or beer.

If you're interested you can listen to and purchase Save You From Yourself at scottandrew.com, at CD Baby and at Amazon.com.

This is a sweet little detail, when you lift the cd out of it's tray you see this:



Rita is his grandmother, who passed away last year, still feisty, at age 90.