Geek in Heels - Page 52

Mar 2, 2012 • In Aerin, Baby, Claire, Motherhood, Personal

The Serious One vs The Happy One

At about this time last year, I would often wonder if I were doing something wrong with Claire. Yes, every new mother has her moments of doubt regarding childcare, but the type of worry that went through my mind was of a different sort — I was concerned because Claire was such a serious, intense baby.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a baby frown that much!” was a phrase I heard often.

Claire at four months old

Now that we have Aerin, whose personality has really started to surface in the past month or so, I know that I was foolish to have worried with Claire — it was just her personality! She is a pensive, serious type who only truly shines in environments and with people she loves the most, just like her mama.

In stark contrast to her older sister, Aerin is very much a happy and affectionate baby. She started to responsively smile and laugh out loud a lot faster than Claire did, and is already “talking” up a storm. And when strangers see her? “What a content little girl!” The difference between the two girls is so remarkable that even our pediatrician commented it on it.

Not only is Aerin a much happier baby than Claire was, she is an easier one too. Aerin began sleeping in 7-8 hour stretches through the night when she was just 8 weeks old. Claire didn’t get to that point until she was about 7 months old, even with sleep training! And while Claire would just sometimes cry and cry for hours at a time for seemingly no reason, J likes to say that Aerin “cries with a purpose” — meaning that she will only cry if something is wrong. (She does have her moments here and there. But I assume this is typical of all babies, no?)

And herein lies my observation as a mother to a difficult baby as well as an easy baby: a happy and easy baby is soooo much easier to bond with. This is not to say that parents of easy babies have lesser bonds with their children, but that they may have had an easier time bonding with them. After all, isn’t it generally easier to get along with, and more quickly befriend people who are friendly and sociable?

Sometimes, I can’t help but wonder how things might have been like if we had had Aerin first, or if Claire were an easier baby. Would I still have been accused of having post-partum depression? Would I still have shed that many tears? Would I have been shouting from the rooftops, “I love my baby! I love motherhood! I love my life!”?

J and I tell our friends that we feel as if we’ve paid our dues with Claire, and that it was only fair Aerin turned out to be such a happy and easy baby. And we are both grateful that we had the difficult one first, because going from hard to easy is always more preferable to the reverse. That, added to the fact that life with two kids just 13 months apart is hard enough as it is.

Does it seem like we love Claire any less, or that we are resentful of her? I hope not — that’s as far from the truth as it can get! Because while an easy baby may be easier to bond with, it seems that difficult babies force deeper bonds more quickly. 🙂

Bloggy Thursdays: Animated jQuery Drop-Down Menu

Welcome to this installment of Bloggy Thursdays, where I share with my fellow bloggers tips and tutorials to maximize and better your blog. While I do not consider myself an expert, I do like to think that after 10+ years of blogging — in addition to my technical knowledge — I know more than the average blogger when it comes to making your blog more appealing to readers.

Do you have any comments, questions, or topics you’d like to see covered here? Please send me a message via my contact form. Enjoy!

Do you use a drop-down menu structure on your blog or website? Would you like that menu to employ a fancy-schmancy sliding animation like I have on my blog? If so, this is the post for you!

The first thing you should know about practically all drop-down menus have as its backbone HTML lists, like so:

<ul>
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 1</a></li>
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="">Drop-Down Item 1</a></li>
      <li><a href="">Drop-Down Item 2</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 3</a></li>
</ul>

(If you are unfamiliar with HTML lists, go check out W3Schools’ article on them.)

In order to add the animation, you need to locate the menu portion of your site’s code. If you are using WordPress, it will most likely be in your header.php file.

Now that you’ve located your menu, look for the TOPMOST <ul> tag. What you want to do now is to add a CSS id selector to that tag. In this example, I will name this id “topNav” so this is what the updated code should look like:

<ul id="topNav">
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 1</a></li>
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 2</a>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="">Drop-Down Item 1</a></li>
      <li><a href="">Drop-Down Item 2</a></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li><a href="">Menu Item 3</a></li>
</ul>

The last step is to add the jQuery that will animate your drop-down menu. First, download jQuery and upload it to your webserver if you do not already have it. (If you are using WordPress, don’t worry about this step — WordPress installs come packaged with jQuery.) Then, add the following to the head of your page, before the </body> tag, making sure that the path of the URL (in red below) points to where your jQuery package is located:

(The path above is where the jQuery file is usually located within WordPress installs.)

Now, for the actual jQuery code. You have two options here. The first is to add the following to your page (the easiest place to insert it would be in the head section, directly below where you placed the jQuery call above):

<script type="text/javascript">
  $(document).ready(function () { 
    $('#topNav li').hover(
      function () {
        //show the submenu
        $('ul', this).hide().slideDown();
      }, 
      function () {
        //hide the submenu
        $('ul', this).slideUp();         
      }
    );
  });
</script>

The second option is to add the above code to a separate JavaScript file and call to it in your page’s head section. But if you have no idea what I just said in the previous sentence, it’s probably not a good idea to attempt this. 😉

And that’s it! You can choose to change the speed of the sliding animation by adding values in the parentheses next to the slideDown and slideUp (see this article to see what options you have). But I personally think that the default speed is a good one for most people.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions by commenting below! Slide away!

Geektastic Art of the Day: “Nick Fury’s Boy Band”

By artist Berry Presh. Poor Hulk — he feels left out!

Via Geek Tyrant.

“Why do we continue to watch this?”

Being the parents of two young girls, J and I have very little time to watch TV. So when we do get the time to catch up on our favorite shows, it is not uncommon for one of us to ask the other, “Why do we continue to watch this show again?”

Let me explain. Say that you started watching a television series. Say that you fell in love with its storyline, its characters, and the way that it makes you feel.

But after a few seasons, that show starts to lose its luster. The jokes become repetitive. The characters become clichéd and annoying. And worse still, the story begins to suffer.

In other words, the show has hit its prime long ago, and it’s been on a downward spiral since. In all likelihood, it should have been cancelled a season or two ago, but the network continues to air it because of people like us —

The people who continue to watch only because we’ve already invested so much into it.

In our household, the top three (currently running) shows that fit this criteria are:

How I Met Your Mother. Perhaps the worst offender of them all. CBS needs to realize that the show can continue even after Ted meets his future wife. (Think: courtship, engagement, wedding, kids!) Just let us find out who the mother is, already!

House. Granted, they are currently running the last season. But we feel that the show lost its magic after Cameron left.

The Office. Most fans say that the show should have ended with Michael’s departure. I say it should have ended after Jim & Pam got married.

On the flipside, there also exist shows that have been running for many seasons but still manage to keep us eagerly tuning in every week, consistently delighting and surprising us while maintaining its integrity. My top three runners in this category are:

Fringe. This fourth season has been the best yet!

Bones. This isn’t a great show, so I don’t know why I like it so much. The entire Booth & Brennan baby story has been a great turn of events.

Grey’s Anatomy. Sure, it has its moments. But you can’t deny that this is one show that is constantly filled with stimulating drama. (J would like to me point out that he does not watch “that horny doctors show.” This is solely my guilty pleasure. 😉 )

Do you also have shows that you can’t seem to stop watching although it’s grown stale? What about those that consistently keep you entertained season after season?

On a related note, everyone seems to be talking about Downton Abbey these days. Is it really that good?

The “Memento” Timeline, Visualized

I was first introduced to the genius of writer and director Christopher Nolan through his 2000 film Memento. A man suffering from anterograde amnesia who must take Polaroids of everything just to get by. An unsolved murder. And two timelines, one playing chronologically while the other presents backwards, eventually meeting in the middle at the end of the movie…what’s not to like?

(If you have never seen this movie, schedule some time off this weekend to watch it — because this movie is like Nolan’s better-known Inception in that you need to be giving it your full attention to fully enjoy it!)

Memento still remains one of my favorite psychological thrillers, so when I came across this visual map of the movie’s sequence of events I knew that I had to share it here with my readers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Via haha.nu.

Cool Tool Tuesdays: Harmy’s STAR WARS “Despecialized Editions”

Welcome to today’s installment of Cool Tool Tuesdays, where I feature a favorite item from my life and spotlight it so that others who are not familiar with the product may also benefit from it. A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, hardware, material, or website that I have personally tried and love.

Do you have any questions about today’s cool tool? Would you like an item featured in the future? Please leave a comment to this post, or send me a message via my contact form. Enjoy!

As with most Star Wars fans, I hate the various modifications that has been made to the original trilogy and I openly voice my opinion on the matter.

And unless you own the trilogy, in its unedited and original form (often in Laserdisc or VHS format), it can be difficult to relive the untainted masterpiece.

(Just in case you are wondering, I did once own Star Wars episodes IV-VI in VHS format. But it disappeared from my parents’ home while I was away at college. My parents swear they did not touch it, so we can only surmise that a visitor “borrowed” it. 🙁 I consider this one of the saddest losses of my life.)

There’s also the fact that technology has changed tremendously since 1977, when Episode IV was released. I don’t even know anyone who owns a VHS player anymore — how can we continue to enjoy the authentic version and ensure that future generations will have access to it too?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Or, in this case, where there is Star Wars, there will be a devoted following of über geeks with tons of time and resources to spare. (Or at least lend for this good cause.)

A very dedicated fan who goes by the name “Harmy” at The Original Trilogy forums has painstakingly put together a very high quality cut of the entire trilogy, utilizing a wide variety of video sources as well as custom mattes. The result: nearly identical versions of the original theatrical releases of Episodes IV-VI in HD format!

Right now, Harmy’s Despecialized Editions are the best restorations of the original trilogy by far. Because it is a fan preservation, it does not technically infringe on copyright laws…but this also means that it cannot be bought or sold. What you can do is download the trilogy and enjoy it from your computer, or burn it onto a disc and enjoy it on your television.

Heck, it even comes with cover art for Blu-ray cases — you can print those out and geek out even more!

You can learn more about the “despecialized” version of each film at the following threads in The Original Trilogy forums:

Episode IV: A New Hope

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Screened.com also featured a special, behind-the-scenes article on Harmy and his project here. It’s worth reading as it tells the tales of fandom, dedication, and “rare examples of Internet dissatisfaction leading to something genuinely amazing and productive.”

Finding the actual download links to the movies can be a bit of a pain, but they can certainly be found if you know where to look. (And if you’re really having trouble, just let me know and I’ll help you out.)

Harmy says that the “despecialized project” is not quite over yet. An obvious perfectionist, he still sees minor glitches, and wants to work on certain scenes such as the Ben vs. Vader lightsaber duel, or the original hologram of Leia, both of which were recomposited in later edits of the film and given a very different look in the process.

We will certainly be waiting for the newer — ironic when you consider that the goal is to go back to the original — release of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions with great anticipation. But in the meantime, geeks everywhere thank this 23-year-old student for all his hard work.

ETA, 2/2013:
Ever since MegaUpload has been shut down in addition to many torrent sites, it has become increasingly harder to find these movies for download. If you are having trouble, please shoot me a message via my contact form and I will send you instructions.

ETA, 5/2013:
I believe that the latest version of the Despecialized movies is 2.1. Unfortunately, I only have the original versions, so if you are looking for the most updated, I’m sorry to say that I can’t help you. REPEAT: I do NOT have the 2.1, nor do I know where to get them.

ETA, 6/2013:
I have located the 2.1 version and am currently in process of obtaining it. (The download is divided into 41 different files, hosted on a server that only allows one download at a time, so it’s taking a while.) I will post an update once I am done downloading and compiling — I hope that I can provide an easier way to download this latest version as I did with the first. 🙂 If you wish, you can message me and I will let you know once I am done.

ETA, 7/2013:
I was able to obtain version 2.1 of Episode IV. (As far as I can tell, Harmy has yet to release subsequent versions of Episodes V or VI. Please correct me if I’m wrong.) Please shoot me a message and I’ll send you instructions on how you can get it.

ETA, 7/2013:
I’ve been getting too many requests and, as a result, my servers have been overloaded. I’m sorry to say that I can no longer provide anyone direct links to the movies. However, if you contact me, I can tell you how I got the movies.

‘Star Wars’ + ‘Up’ = WIN

This mashup by illustrator James Hance (previously featured on this blog for his Wookie the Pooh pieces) is too adorable not to share.

Titled “Someone Who Loves You,” this sweet painting features Up‘s Carl Fredricksen and his wife Ellie as Han and Leia from Star Wars. Prints will be available Tuesday on Hance’s website.

Via io9.

Hibachi FAIL

Yesterday, J suggested that we take both girls and — with the help of his parents — go have lunch at a Hibachi Steakhouse.

Before I go on, I should state that I do not particularly like taking my kids to “adult” places. If the locale is specifically marketed as a family-friendly establishment? Sure, let’s go for it! But otherwise, I am a firm believer that most patrons of restaurants, theaters, and such pay the markup for the experience, and have the right to get annoyed when children are ill-behaved, or when babies won’t stop crying.

(And although I am a mother myself, I personally would pay more for a child-free cabin if I were flying without my kids.)

But this time around, I honestly believed that Claire would be fascinated by the Hibachi style of cooking, just as she had loved the Liberty Science Center. As for Aerin? We figured that we could time it so that lunch could coincide with a nap, and that she could be peacefully sleeping in her carseat on an adjacent chair while the rest of the family were dined and entertained by a Hibachi chef.

As soon as the chef arrived and performed his first showy act — a hissing river of steam angrily rising from the stove — we realized we had made a big mistake.

Because Claire started BAWLING.

Not just tears and sobs. Hysterical, red-faced WAILING with tears streaming down her face.

J’s father immediately scooped her up from the high chair and embraced her in a hug while we all pitched in to help calm her down. We tried distracting her, as well as clapping and excitedly saying “Yay!!!” whenever the chef performed a new act. But no dice. Claire seemed to only grow more and more terrified of the scary Hibachi man and his bag of tricks. Eventually, J and his father had to take turns walking her around to other parts of the restaurant because every time that they attempted to return her to the table, she would start crying again.

I felt horrible for the chef and the nice old ladies who shared the table with us. HORRIBLE. I couldn’t apologize enough.

(I also couldn’t help but look on to a nearby table with envy, because a little boy who seemed a few months younger than Claire sat in his high chair, laughing and clapping and simply enthralled by the Hibachi cooking.)

As for Aerin? She decided that she didn’t want to nap at all and started crying too. I barely got to eat my food because I had to bounce her while pacing in order to keep her quiet.

However, I’m happy to report that the outing wasn’t a complete bust. After the chef left the table, we tried one last time to return Claire to the table and she started crying again. But right then, our waitress served us dessert — ice cream! — and once Claire had a spoonful, she immediately shut up.

This was Claire’s very first time having ice cream, and it was clear that the girl loved it. We gave her four flavors to try: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and green tea. And soon, it also became apparent that she had a favorite flavor: chocolate!

Claire loved the ice cream so much that she began to dance along to the music playing at the restaurant and J caught a bit via his phone:

Isn’t it funny how we don’t teach babies to dance and they all still move their bodies along to music? Whenever Claire starts shaking her little booty even just a bit, I can’t help but think back to this video from when she was 11 months old:

J and I think that the scary Hibachi chef continued to linger on Claire’s mind, because she randomly cried out in her sleep throughout the night. 🙁 Next time, we’ll be sure to remember that our firstborn is an overly shy, cautious little girl who tends to scare easily.

Motherhood, Summed Up in a Dream

Last night, I dreamt that J and I were childless.

We dined out often. We frequently entertained, hosting epic game nights just like we used to. We traveled to places we have always wanted to visit together, but never got a chance to: Mexico, Hawaii, France, Italy, Germany…even Hong Kong and Korea! (Yes, we have never visited either places since we started dating!)

Sure, we still experienced fatigue and frustration from our careers. Sure, we were still somewhat restrained by our limited vacation days, budgets, and familial obligations. But this life was so different from what we have now. So carefree, and somewhat innocent.

(image source)

It was a good dream. No, it was a fantastic dream.

But when I woke up (to the sounds of Aerin crying), I was sad. Not because the dream had ended, but because I had missed my girls. Because while a life like that was a lot easier and nice to reminisce back on, I do not want it if it doesn’t include Claire and Aerin.

The grass may be greener on the other side, but sometimes, you still prefer your own lawn.

Sick, Sick, Sick!

The past few days have been utterly exhausting:

My father being in the hospital (Fortunately, he is now discharged and surgery is not required. Thank you for your thoughts and support!)
Claire got a throat infection
I’m sick too
Aerin is being extra, extra clingy towards me

Blogging will resume when my life returns to a semi-normal state!

The Serious One vs The Happy One

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Bloggy Thursdays: Animated jQuery Drop-Down Menu

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Geektastic Art of the Day: “Nick Fury’s Boy Band”

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“Why do we continue to watch this?”

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The “Memento” Timeline, Visualized

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Cool Tool Tuesdays: Harmy’s STAR WARS “Despecialized Editions”

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‘Star Wars’ + ‘Up’ = WIN

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Hibachi FAIL

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Motherhood, Summed Up in a Dream

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Sick, Sick, Sick!

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