Even though I wasn't invited (sniff), I still have to say that this is one of the most beautiful wedding websites I've seen. The photography is amazing.

Congrats on your upcoming nuptials, Baudburn!

Elonka :)

Baudburn's upcoming wedding

The former Playboy playmate collapsed Thursday afternoon and was found unresponsive in her room at the Hard Rock Seminole Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., says Los Angeles attorney Ron Rale, who represents Smith in an ongoing lawsuit regarding the paternity of her daughter. Smith was rushed by ambulance shortly after 2 p.m. to nearby Memorial Regional Hospital, where she died.

I can't say as I was ever a fan of Ms. Smith, but she was so high profile, it was hard to be unaware of her existence. All the drama around her life seemed unreal, like she was a character that had stepped from some bestselling novel - marriage to a dying billionaire, legal battles about the estate with his stepson, then the death of that 67-year-old stepson, the birth of a new child to Anna Nicole, then the death of her own son, and now Anna gone too.

There's a life lesson here somewhere, but I'm at a loss to express it, other than perhaps to realize that even in those moments when I'm depressed about my own life, I have to be aware that things could be much much worse.

Many stories and legends will doubtless ensue about Anna Nicole's life, especially because of the "live fast, die young" nature of her existence, combined with her beauty and resemblance to Marilyn Monroe .

Ultimately though, I am left with sadness for Anna, for her family, and for her now motherless daughter. I offer my sympathies to all those who genuinely cared about her.

Elonka

Anna Nicole Smith

After having given it some thought, this is my #1 favorite of the SuperBowl commercials this year. Though I also liked the Coca Cola GTA and Happiness Factory commercials, and was in awe of the F-Series Super Duty graphics, this little mouse commercial still makes me laugh out loud every time. ;)

Elonka :)

Super Bowl Ads: Blockbuster Mouse

Elonka :)

'The Problem with Wikipedia' - Webcomic

This one is the most comprehensive list I've found.

Elonka :)

Food shelf life recommendations

Food Shelf-Life Recommendations

Spam of course is listed as "indefinite." ;)

Storage Life of Groceries

I actually ran across this PDF by accident while searching for something else, but it's got a lot of great info so I'm meme-ing it.

My original intent was to find a list of expiration date recommendations. I'm currently going through my kitchen cabinets, throwing out a lot of old foodstuff (including leftover supplies from Y2K, heh). In most cases I'm guided by expiration dates on the container, but in some cases I'm faced with a packet of food (like pasta or rice or tea), and I'm honestly not sure how long these things can be kept around. The Red Cross pamphlet here has some good tips. Mostly it's "rotate every six months," but there are some foods which can evidently be stored "indefinitely" as long as they're packed properly.

Elonka :)

Red Cross: Food and water in an emergency

This site has videos of all the major parts of the Okami game. I don't know if I'd call it "speed run" though, since they went through all the dialogue at normal speed rather than skipping it (which you can do starting with your second run).

This video shows a full runthrough of 11 hours, 44 minutes.

My own current record for a complete run through from start to finish is 6 hours, 14 minutes.

My run wasn't "perfect", so my guess is that a few minutes could be saved here and there, to maybe get the time to just under six hours, but I'd be really surprised to see anything faster than that, unless there's a way to further skip all the "loading" screens. If someone knows of a "fastest time" website for Okami, I'd be interested in seeing it!

Elonka :)

Okami Speed Run Videos

Wikipedians are a varied group, and while they may not know one another except online, most share two things: comfort with computers and the online world, and delight with the idea of contributing to a free encyclopedia for the entire world. Here are some faces and voices of Boston-area Wikipedians.

February 2006 article from The Boston Globe

Wikipedia: The idealists, the optimists, and the world they share

Acidus wrote:
Elonka is hardcore! At least you are making the best of it.

Heh, thanks.

As an update, things are slowly returning back to normal here. All of my co-workers' homes have services restored, though the utility company website is still showing about 10,000 homes without power. The weather outside is dry, but bitterly cold (around 10 degrees F, with wind chill).

Things at our office are slowly coming back up to normal speed. We still have blankets and pillows strewn around, plus there's a flu bug that's now working its way through the building, but other than that things are returning to routine.

Next on my "backlog" list is catching up with various internet projects, such as an ArbCom case at Wikipedia, and some Kryptos stuff.

Thanks to everyone that sent along well-wishes,

Elonka :)

RE: St. Charles storm update - Monday