Through My Eyes

We are living in a digital world, no doubt about that. I can remember my first digital camera, bought my sophomore year of high school, was a jaw-dropping 1.4 mega pixels. Today, this is considered a dinosaur, and my phone takes better pictures than that. I have a digital camera, but it all honesty, it's so much more work to download and move pictures from a digital camera, let alone the fact that as soon as you buy a camera it's obsolete, so 9 times out of 10 I end up using my phone to take pictures (including those for this blog.) With that in mind, I was fascinated when I found a link to photojojo's interchangeable lenses for iPhone. No kidding, these people make camera accessories for mobile phones, amongst a ton of other things. It's like living in an episode of the Jetsons. When I saw their macro/wide-angle lens, I knew I had to have it. The telescopic and fish eye lenses looked fun too, but not as useful in every day life. And so, I ordered.

Like 3 days later, I check my tracking number and HUZZAH! It was in Waco! From South Dakota! And I shipped the slowest possible! HOLLA. I got really excited. I checked my mail. Nothing. I had my old roommate check a few days later. Nothing. I thought maybe it was being forwarded to my new address, even though I sent it to my PO Box. Nothing. FINALLY, today, it made its way into my PO Box, and old roomie brought it to me at work. Thanks, Waco Post Office... Gah.

Anyway, I immediately tore into the package, which bore this hilarious label:

I thought it was hilarious. And then I opened it and realized it was because they actually include a dinosaur toy. I. Was. Ecstatic. I <3 you, photojojo. It also proved useful for playing with the lenses!! And so, I give you the comparisons!

Here, we see Dino's face, au iPhone natural:

Yeah, what is that?

Now, with the lens!

What!!?? For serious. It's that good. And I didn't even bother to really hold still or make an effort at taking a good picture (I'm at the desk at work, playing with this excitedly and hurriedly.) That lens is totally worth it. I can't wait to play with it more! I especially can't wait to try it out with my fishtank!

The lens is a two parter, and comes with the wide-angle too. I didn't really care much about that one, it was just kind of a bonus, but it seems really neat too!

Here's before:

You can see I am very busy.

And now with the lens:

Holy crap! That's held in the same position. And you can see Mr. Dino there at the bottom now! Amazing! The only downside is that you can see the edge of the lens because of the curve of the phone, but I knew that before I bought it (they state it on their site, which is really nice.)

All in all, I am more than pleased, and I can't wait to play with it more!

Two thumbs up to photojojo!
~Sarah 

Food Show, yes please!

So, not a whole lot of excitement happening around here this week! I've been kind of taking it easy after bruising myself beyond belief and pulling all my muscles moving.

Today, I went and saw Richard Dawkins speak on campus. I've always liked him since I read The God Delusion as an undergrad, but his new book, which is geared towards children and young adults, looks awesome. I'll have to get my hands on it! He was a charming old British guy (hearing him talk about the Goldilocks little bear and its "porridge" just about made me squeal.) I really liked him, his sense of humor, and everything he had to say. I'd highly recommend him.

I've also been reading The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. I read the first one in a night! I'm on Catching Fire right now, and I'm about 3/4 of the way through. Pretty exciting so far! Can't wait to get to the last one. They're actually the first books I purchased on my Kindle. On a side note, irritated about the new Kindle Fire. Ugh.

Lastly, no pictures for this post, but Saturday is the Incredible Food Show in Lexington, and I plan on totally pigging out with friends! Expect lots of good things!

Later!!

~Sarah

Ugh.

I promise I have a post. I had one to put up. Phone is at home, along with all of my pictures. There will be many cute baby pictures to come!

Book Fair

I believe I've mentioned before that I work in an academic library. It's not only tons of fun, but it also provides me, oddly enough, with oodles of supplies for various craft projects. We've been going through an enormous collection review, weeding out old, out-of-date books. Some are donated to different charities, but some are just beyond redemption and are recycled. A co-worker of mine, knowing my penchant for strange items that can be reused, pulled a book out of the recycling the other day, and of course that means PROJECT TIME.

You might remember my first Kindle cover that I made from a composition notebook.

Yes, I am brilliant.

That one cost me somewhere around 50 cents. Outrageous. I decided to use the book pilfered from the trash as Kindle cover v2.0. I really liked my composition book one, but it's just *slightly* too shallow. The velcro gives it enough space to cover the Kindle, but I'm terrified I'll crack the screen or something. The book that was found for me was definitely thick enough to be a little more protective.

Definitely.

And so...

I took this.

Yeah, not even I want to read this.

And so I got to cutting. And cutting. And cutting.

I cut the front part of the book to fit the Kindle, rounded edges and all. I'll probably sink some velcro down there too so that it closes flush (more on that in a later post.)

The front. Much neater this time.

There was a lot of book left over once I had cut deep enough to fit the kindle, and I wanted to get rid of some of the weight, so I left about fifty pages and then started cutting again.

Not as neat this time though.

That left the edge to keep it from getting crushed, but cut the weight by a ton. Maybe not literally. But still. All that's left to do now is glue all the edges together and affix the velcro! Hopefully I'll get it done tonight.

And so I leave you with this image:

What happens to patrons who don't return books.

I'm joking.

Or am I?

Long time, no post!

Hey kiddies! Sorry to be AWOL for so long, but in the Wild Wild West, I had very little wireless reception, and even less free time! Every minute was jam-packed with family, food, and fun (someone likes alliteration!)

So a quick run-down of what went on! GET READY FOR PICTURE MADNESS

First, we romped on Cannon Beach (mum and me.)


Looked at cool kelp colonies.


Found crab legs



Snuggled my niece and made dandelion wreaths.

Played badminton with my brother, against my aunt and uncle (mostly poorly.)



Rode horses. Apollo is a lovely Peruvian Paso Fino stud muffin.



Went to Multnomah Falls (mom, me, niece.)



Saw all the Cooper clan! (Mom, grandpa, me, Ian, dad, and uncle Chris.)



Got tattoos. I give Thom a big thumbs up.



Even mom got one!


Had a nice, relaxing flight back.



Before I left, Boo Boo and I had a date with the scissors.

He's looking a little rough, but feeling a bit cooler I imagine. I put up all the nice bits in a container, but I left a basket of all the dirty or matted bits in a basket and forgot about it. Came home and found that apparently the cats spent the week rolling in it and rubbing it into the carpet. How thoughtful.

The chicken babies that I got in March are pretty much all grown now! They're a little smaller than my big girls, but they're looking like real chickens.

Poofy cheeks is lovely.

The tomatoes and beans had a rolling good time while I was away!

Those are two of only zucchini I got this year. Tomatoes and beans look good though!

AND MOST EXCITING OF ALL!!!


PUMPKIN BABIES! I'm excited about these. I've been waging war against the vine borers, but I'm determined to win! I have two other HUGE ones that are oblong shaped and still green :-)

In crafty news, I made a carrier for my kindle, since I'm irresponsible and break things and/or leave them out where people can see and/or steal them. My supplies:

• Composition book: $0.40
• Mod podge
• X-acto knife
• Velcro tabs

That's it folks. What's it look like, you say?

THE BOMB, THAT'S WHAT!

I'm pretty excited. It needs more coats of mod podge, but it's almost completely done!! Yay!

Stay tuned for Patricia's next post!

Adios!