Random Notes from the Random Life...

1.  I think I am not in a good mood today.  Perhaps it's because I was awake from 3:45 a.m. to 5:45 a.m. and then went back to sleep. I think I've got allergy stuff going on too and the result of both is that I feel like crap.

2.  I've sworn off writing about the boys and school here but I am biting my tongue so hard it's frigging bloody and that's not contributing to my mood either.

3.  Of course the boys, or Indy and Jock as they like to be called, are, shall we say, QUITE excited about the Indiana Jones movie.  I think we're going tomorrow afternoon.

4.  Leo wants to make a stop-action video of putting Lego together.  Anyone know how to do that?  Eh, I know that's what we have Google for but remember....I'm tired today.

5.  The asparagus that Ernie bought yesterday was so beautiful (and cheap) that we ate two bunches of it.  Just sauteed it a bit in olive oil, added a bit of leftover penne, some pancetta and a couple of eggs....sort an ersatz asparagus carbonara I guess.  It tasted like spring.


















6.  Someone told me yesterday that mourning takes a lot of energy and that it's o.k. to be tired.  That was nice to hear.

7.  I forgot all about Memorial Day....so the three day weekend is a nice surprise....

8.  Here's the song that's going through my head this morning. I love Peter Case.

Comments

[Jason]

I love asparagus, and have some sitting in my fridge. My favorite is with olive oil, salt & pepper, then grilled or oven-roasted... maybe tonight!

I have way too much time on my hands, so I did some searching around for stop motion video creation stuff.

It boils down to this:

1) You need a camera, either a decent USB webcam or (possibly) some other video camera connected to your computer.

2) You need some software. Luckily there are some free ones out there. I found a big list at http://www.stopmotionworks.com/stopmosoftwr.htm

[Jason]

If you wanted to make just a time-lapse video, you could do that with any still camera (preferably on a tripod).

[cynthia]

Cool! Thanks so much Jason!

[Lisa]

So of course I have to zero in on the food. That asparagus looks SO yummy. There's just nothing like the fresh asparagus in spring. The whole pasta thing sounds great.

Indy and Jock -- too funny! Reminds me of my husband telling me about playing Zorro when he was that age. Actually, my husband may be looking forward to the movie even more than your kids are.

[cathy]

we haven't gotten any great asparagus this year. we've had some, but it has been tasteless. really want to start growing our own.

[Dennis]

Check the instructions on your video camera, Cynthia. Some have the ability to do stop-motion, shooting one or two frames-at-a-time. For instance, maybe by putting it in record, pausing then hitting the record button for each frame. My old Sony Betamax VCR could do that.

[Leeanthro]

That asparagus looks wonderful. I wish I could have come over for dinner :)

[sagefool]

Sorry, I haven't been following along -- I think FrameByFrame is what you are looking for.

http://web.mac.com/philipp.brendel/Software/FrameByFrame.html

It's free and uses the built-in camera (or any usb camera) on your mac. Even if he changes his mind it is fun to play around with. However, it has flaked out on me when I have tried some more intensive stuff, but my guess is it will work perfect for him.