hello from the world below

Drop Spectrum

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:49:00 +0000

I'm trying to be less of a blog-bum these days, but sometimes there just isn't anything interesting to write about. So I hope you find this interesting enough to take the places of words. I think this means I'm good for atleast 1,000 words now.

Still gettin' crafty

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:38:00 +0000

The iPod case I made for Katelan, complete with hole for earbuds.

I couldn't resist

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:21:00 +0000

I found these two videos and thought I would share them for your enjoyment:

First, for the geek in everyone, Star Wars with a laugh track! CaptainChirac on YouTube took this ever-popular dramatic scene and added a laugh track to lighten up what is otherwise kind of a tense atmosphere. Laugh it up, fuzzball!

And next, for the good humored Twilight fans (the serious fans probably won't like this too much), we have this funny mashup of Buffy and Twilight. You have to admit, if Edward Cullen was a real life guy (which he isn't; I want all the females to take a moment and remind themselves of that!), his obsession with Bella would indubitably (love that word) be categorized as completely stalkerish. Watch and enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!

Gettin' crafty, part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:11:00 +0000

t's very flawed, but this is only my first foray into the world of sewing beautiful things. This is my lovely-ish new iPod case that I spent all evening and 5 episodes of Chuck working on:

And these are my wonderful new wall panels. They are 10" x 10", for those of you frustrated by the lack of scale.

And last but not least, coasters! Not much to say about that, except that I spent my Friday night sewing coasters. Yeah, I'm pretty cool, I know.

Gettin' crafty

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:38:00 +0000

Internet, meet my latest creation. I am super proud of it, solely because I made it. You always like something better when you make it yourself... like kids, I hear! This is my new lightly padded, nicely patterned, one of a kind camera strap cover. So fun to make!

Next I plan to make some beautiful fabric coasters and maybe some wall panels. I've got big plans in store for my new acquaintance the sewing machine!

I love Colorado!!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:04:00 +0000

Well, 27 long hours after leaving Starkville, we made it to the Sky Corral! Colorado is just so stinkin beautiful. I can't get over it. There are mountains, and snow (so much snow!) and nature and wildlife and stars and it is just fantastic.

We were awfully amused by the way snow explodes when you kick a bug chunk of it in the air... Why yes, we're from the South, how did you know?

Time for a break

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:06:00 +0000

I managed to survive the semester, finals are over, and it's time for a break! I'm leaving at 3:00 pm this afternoon with a group of 9 friends from First Baptist Church here in Starkville. We are driving 23 hours to Colorado, where we will be doing some work at the Sky Corral Ranch, which is being turned into a Christian retreat center in the mountains. We're really excited to get going! I know I'll take a ton of pictures, and I might be able to put some on here while we are gone, so keep an eye out!

Note to everyone...

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:06:00 +0000

If you come here to this site at any point between May 20, 2009 and August something, 2009, then you are out of luck and should redirect yourself to my West Virginia blog. That is all!

Where thy victory, O grave?

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 04:00:00 +0000

My poor blogsites. I just can't make up my mind between this one and that one. And they don't even get used all that much anyway. That means they are both neglected and I play favorites. It's a good thing I don't have any kids, the poor things would be so messed up they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Anyway, loyalty+more traditional features (i.e., comments)+easily customizable layout has brought me back here for the time being. Maybe I'll just use the other one for kicks and giggles type things, because it definitely lends itself to that. And then this once can be for posts with lots of words. Tumblr can be the children's book, Blogger can be the "young adult nonfiction" section. See?

Anyway. It's Easter! One of my very favorite holidays. I like it because it is a great reminder of the way that we could potentially be living. Sometimes I catch myself thinking something along the lines of "Awesome, it's Easter! Christ died for me, and now that it's Easter, He has risen again and sin has absolutely no power of me!" And then I have to kick myself and remember that this all transpired hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and sin has never had any power over me, except that which I allow it! It doesn't have to be that way. My Savior loves, My Savior lives, My Savior's always there for me! This is such exciting stuff. New life, guaranteed in a God who's not going to let me down. I love it! How could you not be joyful when you have a guarantee like that?

The end is near...

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:11:00 +0000

It's not lookin' good for you, bud.

Well, Blogger...

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:29:00 +0000

Dear Blogger,
I want to be upfront and honest with you right from the start. The truth is, while you are truly a great blogging site (I do love Google!), I just haven't been able to really give you the commitment you deserve. I don't want to say that it's your fault, but, well, the truth is, it's your fault. You just don't have what I have been looking for in a blog site. Before now, I didn't know that I could do better for the same price (free!), so I was content to settle half-heartedly here with you. Again, you're a great blog. But tonight I was introduced to someone else. Someone better. Someone with everything I never even knew I was looking for. The blogging world lit up for me tonight, and I am, at the very least, infatuated. Now, I don't want you to think this is the end. It's not. Yet. Right now I'd like to sort of test the waters, without burning the bridge. I hope you don't mind. You're a great blog, and I think you understand. So I won't be coming around as much in the next few weeks (I've always been kind of absent anyway, so this shouldn't be too big of a change, right?), and I'll be spending more time with this new part of my life. I'll decide later if things are going to work longterm between you and I. In the meantime, I hope you will keep an open mind to this whole situation. Thanks for being such a great site. If you need me, I'll be at http://abbyeggers.tumblr.com.
Best Regards,
Abby

My new skill

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:51:00 +0000

Do those two skies look the same? They should, because they are. The sky in the top picture used to be completely washed out and boring looking, and it was very sad because it was actually a beautiful day. But today I learned how to cheat a little when you end up with tragedies like that! I'm sure this is a very basic skill in the Photoshop world, but I just learned it and I think it's pretty cool. I guess I should go take some pictures of the sky so I can start stocking up for when I get more pictures with misleadingly boring, washed out skies.

Craftapalooza

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:00:00 +0000

I spent the weekend getting crafty! It was very fun. I made a grand total of 5 cards and 2 little heart things. I know it doesn't sound like much, but for me it is. Between classes, homework, cleaning my room, and having a social life I don't often find time to whip out the paper and glue and make pretty things. But this weekend I did, and as a result my room is kind of a mess. Also it's Monday, so back to classes and homework. The cycle has restarted... Oh well. See you in another couple of months, pretty papers!

Save the world, one instant message at a time!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:59:00 +0000

I don't know if any of y'all out there use Windows Live Messenger much. Timothy and I use it to talk online because it is set up well for video chats. I pretty much only use it to talk to him, but between the two of us there's a lot of talking going on, so I think it's safe to say that I am an avid user of Windows Live. And yesterday I made a really great discovery: I can save the world (or atleast help out here and there) just by talking to Tim online! And here's the even cooler part: You can too! And you don't even have to talk to Tim, although you'd be missing out. You just have to use Windows Live Messenger v8.1 (and up). A little under 2 years ago, Microsoft started something called the i'm initiative. Basically, they have 10 charities you can choose from. You get the code for whichever one you want to support and open the options menu in Windows Live, where you'll find a place to edit your display name. After your name you just type the code in. It changes into a little i'm icon and is displayed next to your name, and after that every time you use Windows Live or Hotmail to send an IM or email, Microsoft gives part of the program's ad revenue to the organization you entered the code for. There isn't any set value on how much they'll give, or at what point they'll stop giving. The more you talk, the more they give! Each organization is guaranteed atleast $100,000 their first year of participating. I think it's pretty cool.

On the website, you can look at profiles for each organization, but I was having trouble finding the actual codes, so I had to Google it and then I found a list elsewhere. So, for your convenience, here it is:

American Red Cross - *red+u
Boys and Girls Club of America - *bgca
National AIDS Fund - *naf
Humane Society of the United States - *hsus
ninemillion.org - *9mil
National Multiple Sclerosis Society - *mssoc
Sierra Club - *sierra
UNICEF - *unicef
StopGlobalWarming.org - *help
Susan G. Komen for the Cure - *komen

The asterisk and the part after is what you type into your display name box. I went with the Boys and Girls Club of America because I have seen up close in West Virginia what a difference a role model and an uplifting environment makes. So. There you have it, folks! You, too, can help save the world just by sitting at home talking online. And if you don't have anyone to talk to on Windows Live, just talk to me!

Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:36:00 +0000

Finally, finally, finally.

Let me read to you a list of Starkville's temperatures for the last week or month or so.

Ok, actually, I can't find anything, but let me tell you what it is you need to know: It has been COLD. COLD. COLD! Below freezing? Not unusual at all for the last week. And that's just here in Starkville. The temperatures in Atlanta have been the coldest in 6 years. I hate cold weather, I really do. It's depressing, and down here it doesn't even snow when it gets cold enough, so really all you can do is sit inside and dream of spring.

But guess what?? This morning, I woke up. The temperature was 46 degrees. The sun was shining. I went to church, and then to the cafeteria, where I sat by a bright window and read for an hour. Then I hopped on one of the campus bikes, rode to the post office to check my mail, and then enjoyed a leisurely bike ride back to my dorm. At this point the temperature is about 60. I am now sitting in a nicely lit, sunshiney room, with the window open, and my friends, I don't know that it can get any better right now. I love warm weather!!! Now it just has to stay this way.

The Christmas Hoe-Down

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:32:00 +0000

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Funny stuff. Me, Oliver, and Leah's cat Oscar, barn dancing together. Make sure you get your fix before January 15!

Did you know there is a Dark Doodad Nebula?

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:58:00 +0000

It's true. I just saw it online.

It's that dark streak there through the middle of the photo. And you know, looking at that picture, I have to say that "Dark Doodad" is really a pretty accurate name. What else are you going to call it? Black Streaky Thing? Sounds like a longer name for Dark Doodad if you ask me.

How I spent my Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 06:49:00 +0000

Tada! It took 11 hours, but I made it. This, my friends, is my crankshaft. Built from scratch. are you proud of me? Because I am proud of me! This is the first thing I have ever built from scratch in SolidWorks, and I'll tell you what, it was a doozy (hence the 11 hours). But here it is. And now I am going to bed.

Oh chemistry, how I loathe thee.

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:06:00 +0000

Due to long long hours spent studying for the chemistry exam that is finally finally over with, there hasn't been much that is blogworthy going on lately. So I borrowed this from Leah, and voilà! Insta-post! I grabbed the book closest to me, turned to page 56, started with the 5th sentence, and typed a few in.

"Ions with larger mass are deflected less; ions with smaller mass are deflected more. This deflection essentially sorts the ions by mass because most of them have the same +1 charge. The deflected ions pass through to a detector, which measure the ions as a current that is directly proprtional to the number of ions. This allows the determination of the relative abundance of the various ions in the sample."

Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the book nearest me just happens to be a chemistry book.

My greatest accomplishment

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:48:00 +0000

This. This is my greatest accomplishment. Well, for today at least. Now, this may look like a simple 200mm long hinge, but I'll have you know that a good 3+ hours of frustration and hard work went into that little pretend piece of metal. And now it is done. And I am proud. The end.

Attention, a tragedy has occurred.

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:08:00 +0000

As you may know, the Large Hadron Collider was turned on about a week and a half ago. They were warming it up (and by "warming it up" I actually mean cooling it down to around -460° F) and running a few tests, building up to mid-October when they would actually start shooting those particles at each other at [close to] the speed of light. Exciting stuff! But here's the bad news: A mere 10 days after firing it up, a giant helium leak is forcing them to shut everything back down. AND, since before they can go in and fix it they have to get the temperature back up to, say, I don't know, not absolute zero (and then back down once it's fixed!), it's going to be another couple of months before the masses can really start panicking about blackholes swallowing the world. Blast! Katelan and I were getting so excited about wearing this shirt!

In the event of a velociraptor invasion, I'm doomed.

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:38:00 +0000

28 seconds

Created by Bunk Beds Pedia

Great news, guys! If a velociraptor and I were both chained to a bunk bed with 7 foot chains, I would survive for approximately 28 seconds. Okay, maybe that's not such great news, maybe it actually means that I am a tragically wimpy pansy with zero street skillz. But you know what? I'm not really all that concerned about it. There are 2 things factoring in to my unconcerned attitude: 1) The case happens to be that velociraptors are extinct. 2) The Jones Soda cap from the bottle (Strawberry Lime!) I just opened says:

A long time, see? That translates to "longer than 28 seconds." So I feel fairly confident that I won't be encountering a velociraptor chained to a bunk bed any time soon. What a relief.

In other news, the Large Hadron Collider has not yet destroyed the world. Katelan and I will soon be buying this t-shirt and have big plans to wear it the day after they start shooting those particles at eachother. Go science!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:01:00 +0000

Yes indeed, go dwags. For the more literate and less inebriated portion of the population, a translation reads Go Dawgs! It's game day at Mississippi State and I've got my fingers crossed for another win. The fact that we're playing Auburn does worry me, but hey, we beat them last year! Then again, last year we didn't start out the season losing to Louisiana Tech.

As exciting as game day is, I am not really in the mood for it today. Today I am sniffly and achy and tired and just want to stay in bed watching the rest of Season 1 of Heroes. But duty calls. So at 4:15 I will put on my brand new, never-been-worn-by-anyone marching uniform and trudge over to McCarthy Gym to warm up with the band. Atleast I'll be trudging in style though! As I just mentioned, the new uniforms are making their debut today. Exciting times in Band Land!

The game comes on at 6 pm CST/7 pm EST on ESPN2. Tune in and pray that we don't get slaughtered!

Go Dwags!

3 Awesome Things Discovered In The Last 10 Hours

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:18:00 +0000

For some reason, in about 2 hours I will have pulled an all-nighter. I blame it on Firefox's oh-so-rad StumbleUpon add-on, as I can (clearly!) spend hours upon hours hitting that Stumble button, excited to see what new and exciting corner of the web it'll bring me next. But more on that later, when we get to number 3 on my list of Supa Fly Things Very Recently Brought To My Attention. Number 3 is just the icing on the cake that was my Evening Of Discovering Super Things! So, without further ado, topping the charts we have...

ChaCha!
ChaCha has to be the most brilliant idea in the world. It's simple: They have people (Guides) all over the country logging on whenever they have time, sitting by a computer with their special little ChaCha programs running. Then the rest of the country can think of a question, any question, and text it to ChaCha (242242). One of these Guides will receive the question and send an answer back. The answers can range anywhere from "What times will The Dark Knight [fantastic movie, by the way, in case you hadn't heard the entire rest of the country saying that] be showing at Park 12 Cobb Theater?" to "What's the funniest joke you know?" and beyond. Use your imagination. They get paid 20 cents for every message they send, so no question is too dumb/silly/lame for them.
For example:
My darling recently-broken-up friend's question: "Where can I find a decent guy?"
ChaCha's answer: "Get all dolled up and go to Home Depot! Or go to a dog park. Nice guys are everywhere."
OR
"What is your favorite state?"
"Kansas! Because that's where I'm from, and Hawaii because I want to go there."
"What will you do when you go?"
"Eat lots of good food and check out the hunnies on the beach!"
Honestly. Can you think of a better idea than ChaCha?
eBay
1 hour ago, I realized the highly addictive power of eBay. Also a brilliant idea. It's just something that holds such potential: "Ooooh, I can actually afford that!! ... Hey! That jerk outbid me! Well, I'll show him. Booya! Take that!" Don't worry Mom, I'm not doing anything dumb, I'm just saying that eBay has the power to become highly addictive. Like gambling. But fear not! I won't be gambling away what little money I do have.
This video.

Especially since our first marching show at Mississippi State this year will apparently be a Michael Jackson show, in which I will have to actually dance a portion of the Thriller dance. Yikes! I can only hope that I'll look as kickin as Darth Vader.

Summer is the bomb-diggety.

noreply@blogger.com (Abby Lee) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:40:00 +0000

I love summer. Fantastic weather (rain or shine, either one works for me!), superb vacations, spending time with friends you haven't seen in months, and (for me atleast, as I have no job) just generally being able to spend the day doing whatever the heck I want. It's awesome. Sorry to those of you who have actual jobs and are contributing to the greater good of society. I don't know how you would feel if I told you how much time I spend doing nothing more than laying in the sunshine by the pool, reading. It's a good life! :)

On a side note, it is interesting how some things apparently just don't change... like the ice cream man! When I was a kid swimming at the pool, he would come flying into the parking lot, bells jingling, and all the kids would scream "The Ice Cream Man!" and run to their parents for money. And guess what? That exact same scenario still plays out every single day, 10 years later. Oh, ice cream man. What power you have.