Let's make happy
Archive for June, 2007
Rock Albers, Comic Hero
Jun 22nd
Tonight John and I went to see his big brother (as seen on Last Comic Standing!) perform at Gotham. Laughter ensued.
Among the 12 or so five-minute performances, the highlight of the evening came with bunny ears, a boom box, and a megaphone. Rock Albers stole the show by far, at least according to our table of three. I’m generally more of a quiet chuckler than a hearty guffawer, but Mr. Albers had me in pieces, literally crying with his routine about various countries’ national animals. Maybe his comedy isn’t for everyone, but for us it was truly inspiring.
Check out the videos on his website for a sense of the experience. The “state birds” clip made me realize that Rock and I have something in common: we’re both from Oklahoma!
After the show, we met him and signed up to his mailing list (an honest-to-God mailing list, with real newsletters), so we’re looking forward to much more Rock.
TV Guy
Jun 20th
Little outdated TV Guy used to be the talk of the town, but now he is dwarfed by today’s modern technology.
There’s not much to him, just a blank screen and antennae. (His knobs fell off sometime in the early ’90s.)
He doesn’t measure up in more ways than one….
Retirement isn’t so bad, though – now that no one is watching him, TV Guy has more time to watch what he wants to watch: Trading Spouses.
Waves or Ruffles or Clouds
Jun 20th
Sick of her nursing mannequins and all their complaining about being in pain, my mom came back to New York with me from Oklahoma last week. On Saturday, we paid a visit to Mood, the ultimate fabric destination as seen on TV.
The staff was much nicer than I remembered from before, when I had visited during Fashion Week and they had all been in an understandable tizzy. So I definitely recommend a non-Fashion Week visit.
To complement my awesome cotton print that’s now sitting in a bag somewhere, I got this awesome cotton jersey print to sit in another bag somewhere until I actually take up sewing:
But really, it’s so pretty, I have no excuse this time not to pick up that Singer manual. I’m thinking a pretty tunic top, simple and sublime. Or at least as sublime as a first sewing project can get.
Time for a New Lamp
Jun 18th
As of last night, our ’70s-lounge-y lamp from Target is broken.
My handy husband did everything he could – he checked the bulbs, then um, checked the bulbs again. Nothing wrong with the bulbs, so we can’t think of much else to do. It seems such a waste, since the lamp is only a couple of years old. But as you can see, my computer screen is now the brightest thing in my corner workstation, which is no condition for knitting.
While we think about what to do with the lamp, we’ve started appreciating the alternative lighting we have in our bedroom. Not really enough to knit by, but pleasant nonetheless:
This is Marcel Dzama’s Sad Ghost lamp. I got it for John for Christmas a year and a half ago. He is so sad, you have to love him.
And this one was a gift to me from John’s sister several years ago. This cat is apparently called Kamkam, but I haven’t found much about it on the web, though I think I’ve seen other products at Toy Tokyo.
In any case, I wish our so-stylish Target lamp had lasted as long as our silly novelty lamps!
Become a Nurse!
Jun 17th
I knew that my mom’s job teaching nursing students at Tulsa Community College was awesome, but I didn’t know it had become even awesomer since her department was moved to a new building at TCC’s Southeastern campus.
No, this isn’t a hospital, and those aren’t real patients. This is the nursing department’s new skills lab, and those are hi-tech simulation mannequins, which do more than lie there looking creepy.
Above, my mom demonstrates how this particular mannequin, whom she calls James, is able to have a pulse. James can also make various bowel sounds, take shots, and have a catheter inserted by the nurses-in-training. Through patient simulations in this fake hospital ward, the students can practice basic nursing skills in a hands-on environment, responding to the changing needs of their eerily realistic patient-bots.
Apparently, James can even talk, and say things like “I’m in PAAAIIIN.” Luckily, Mom didn’t demonstrate the speaking function for me. She did tell me that once the students get over their giggles and start working with the mannequins as if they were real patients, they can get rather emotionally involved in taking care of them, and have to have “decompression” sessions after the experience.
So train to become a nurse and you might be able to play with these cool toys! Or, you know, help save lives and stuff.
