Heather, On Tech

Recycling Paper to Wipe With

I don't know about you, but I'm buried in a mound of paper every day when I pick my children up from school.  Between the writing practices and the drawings of Darth Vader fighting Indiana Jones (complete with lightsaver [sic.] and bullwhip), there are roughly 12-15 pieces of paper I have to go through every day.  I don't mind seeing their work, or enjoying their creative drawings; I just don't have room to save them all.  So, most of this stuff goes in the garbage every day (don't tell them that though).

In Japan, I could make use of this paper myself.  Yes, I recycle the paper usually, and the paper is dutifully reused in some fashion.  But this nifty Japanese gadget allows you to do it yourself and turn the paper into something every household needs a fair amount of: toilet paper.  Why it's called the White Goat I have no idea (yes, I know goats eat everything, but I'm pretty sure that what comes out the other end isn't really usable for anything other than fertilizer).  Please correct me if I'm wrong, though.

When, oh when will this be available in the U.S.?  I will be running to use it on a weekly basis at the very least...although somehow I doubt the quality is up to Charmin's standards, I'm sure the boys can use it. :-)

Hat tip to Newlaunches!

Office Shenanigans: Paintball Land Mines

I have to admit, this sounds like fun.  Wouldn't you just love-love-LOVE to get your coworker with a paintball land mine that's filled up with Liquid Paper or Cool Whip?  Oh yeah, I can see this in my future.

The RAP4 land mine is only $65 and it's rechargable so you can re-use it time and again.  It makes a loud noise (as you would expect) and of course blows whatever liquid you fill it with all over the place.

The best part is, it works for good friends as well as foes.  And, I know just the person to try this on...oh yes, I am evil!

Note: these "land mines" are filled with CO2 cartridges and used in paintball wars.  In theory, nobody gets hurt with them, so quityerbitchin.

hat tip: Wired magazine

Stop Motion Fighting

This is funny and creative in more ways than one.

Hat tip: Ze Frank

I'm Gonna Cut My Hair

So.  I grew up with short hair.  I played sports, and my hair is super-curly (all those pictures you see of me is the real thing; no perm here!), so having it long was really not an option.  When I got older, I started growing it out, then cutting it off.  I tend to go to extremes with it and now is no exception.  I last grew my hair long with Little E was about a year old.  I had it really short when he was born, then grew it out from there.  When Little P was born, I cut it again because bending over to play with toddlers and babies was not fun with hair in my face all the time.

Right now, my hair is the longest it's been in over 10 years.  When I cut it that time, I went from the middle of my back to a #1 guard buzz cut.  Unfortunately, this was when the movie G.I. Jane (Demi Moore) came out and everyone assumed I did it because of that.  I told everyone I lost a bet (I was changing careers and needed an excuse as to why I had shaved my head, and that seemed like a good excuse, which showed integrity) if it was "important".  The down side was that I was also a police officer and you can imagine what a lot of people thought of me.

I managed to work it pretty well back then, despite my big nose and small chest. :)  I chose to wear a little more makeup and more feminine clothes and I was under 30 years old so it worked OK.  And of course I was built like an athlete but not a linebacker, if you know what I mean.  I'm still not built too badly for an over-40-mother-of-two, but you know, I doubt I can rock it like Natalie Portman did.  More like Sigourney Weaver which, let's face it, ain't bad at all (no I'm not as tall as her but I'm probably about the age was when she did Alien3).

Anyway, what are your thoughts?  Short or super-short?  I need feedback people!

I'd post pictures of the buzz cut but I don't have any because I didn't leave it that way for long.

I just read on ReadWriteWeb about Weezer releasing their new album with a Snuggie.  Wowza.  For some reason, this doesn't surprise me, but it does make me sad in a way.

Since I live in Florida, I don't have a lot of use for a Snuggie (tongue in cheek), but I wouldn't mind the new Weezer album.  Maybe I'll download it from Amazon for $3.99.

I have spent 30 minutes trying to write an "intelligent" post about this, but it keeps sounding preachy so I'll just leave it at that.

AT & T's A-List (Finally)

We've all seen those annoying wireless company commercials where they tell you you can choose a certain number of people to be in your "calling circle" and you can make calls to them for free (without burning precious minutes).  These numbers can be other cell numbers or landlines.  Some companies offer five, others 10.

AT&T is finally joining the ranks of these companies and offering the same - only they allow those minutes to roll over as well.  Meaning not only can you save the minutes when you call, you can save them for later too.  Of course, if you call someone who is also an AT&T customer, you're already saving those minutes.

At any rate, it's about time they did this.  Fortunately for me, I never use up all my minutes (not even close), and my family, by sheer coincidence, also all uses AT&T (we were all on Cingular before the buyout).  I just don't talk on the phone that much and even with minimal minutes I don't use them all.  Ultimately I pay an ungodly sum each month to have internet access and texting available at all times of the day.

AT&T's A-list feature will go into effect on September 20, and you can read more about it here.  Apparently they will have a sliding scale as to whether you can have five or 10 numbers on your plan, depending on your monthly charges for service.

Charge via USB on the Go

Are you always on the go, never having an electrical outlet to charge your gadgets?  I have that problem on occasion - either because I don't have my electric charger with me, or because I'm on the playground with the boys and don't realise my phone battery is dead.

Well, worry no more - there is now a USB 2.0 4-port hub that doubles as a solar charger.  It includes six adapters for charging cell phones, MP3 players, and other stuff.  It will work on Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OSX, and Linux.  Oh, yeah, and there's that sun thing too, which is platform-independent.  The hub charger weighs only 54g so carrying it around with you is not a big deal.

The best part?  It only costs $20, and you can purchase it from Brando.

Transformers II

Wired's Geekdad lists 10 reasons to skip work and go see Transformers.  Hmmm...I just might have to do that.  Because, well, I'm like that.

Oh, and Frank Welker is back, as is Peter Cullen of course.  And for watching (and not listening), there's always Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel.  Nice eye candy, both of them.  Except I always confuse Josh Duhamel with Timothy Olyphant.  And no, I'm not leaving out Shia LaBeouf...I just assumed you'd know he was in it.  (I just adore IMDB, don't you?)

Wow, does that start tomorrow???

Hard Times (pass it on)

If you're one of those people who believe that something bad will happen if you don't pass it on, this video is for you.

If you've never heard of Ze Frank, well, where do you live, a box?

Instead of sending it to five people, I'm sending it to all of you. :)

The Meaning of Life

We've all seen the movies Monty Python's Meaning of Life and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  I adore the endings of both of them (the whole movies, actually).  They're so incredibly different and yet say the exact same thing: life is what you make of it.

I like to keep people guessing.  I've recently started wearing skirts and dresses to work, which is very unlike me.  It's thrown everyone for a loop, which is just what I wanted.  While I still wear my t-shirts with skulls and jeans, it's nice to come in and look (and smell) all girly for a change.  The smell refers to perfume, should you be wondering; I do take a shower every day.

This t-shirt from ThinkGeek  is great, and will show everyone how much you know about the meaning of life.  Because we all know a little bit about it, don't we?

The t-shirt can be had in blue or mustard for the low price of $18.99.