Crap

I haven't posted much this week at all - and I still haven't uploaded my shoe of the day photos. I find it therapeutic after stressful work days to look at my shoes :) - lately they have been 16 hour work days.... UGH I need a vacation.

I am trying to start packing for my move and throw out what I don't need (and donate anything that's still in good shape that I don't want). It's just so overwhelming. I have too much crap. I some declutter your life consultants to come in and help me HA

I meant to

post my shoe of the day yesterday and forgot to take the pics off my camera (which of course is no small task with vista), so I will have to do that tomorrow.

Spent an entire day at a Usability Conference @ Bentley with the UPA of Boston today. Lots of good info, some not so good info (perhaps not good isn't right, just not info I was particularly interested in - I felt there are some newer technologies out there than were presented in some of the talks), and good conversation.

I think I need a day to really digest all I've heard today.....

Random Thoughts

a whole bunch of random thoughts in one post...

First - today while doing errands I was stuck at a red light in Somerville. I know shocking. But what really annoyed me - is that a pedestrian came up to the light. It's red in the direction she wants to cross so she can go, and even if it wasn't - if no one is coming why not cross? Anyway she pushes the walk button. and then just walks across the street. UM why the fuck did you push the walk if you were just going to walk anyway? Why do people always do this??? Then I continued to be stuck at the red light while no one crossed because she had crossed like 5 minutes earlier at this point. I see people do this all the time. Push the button then walk immediately never actually waiting for the WALK sign. So all the cars get stuck waiting longer. I mean sure if it's a busy road and there's never a break in the cars - clearly you have to press the walk to cross, but I'm talking about the people that press it when no one is coming, or the ones that press it and walk right after never waiting for it. It makes no sense to me.

And on a completely different note... Years ago when the Tir Na Nog was open (*sigh*) in Somerville I used to love to see Ronin Quinn play there and got his cd. He's got the best cover of Rainy Night in Soho - it's so good I can listen to it 10 times in a row and annoy everyone around me - HA. Anyway, I had ripped a whole bunch of cds onto a hard drive and that was one of them. The hard drive died and I lost all the music on it. I was so upset, because some of the cds I had ripped I just couldn't find. I don't know what happened to them, but they were gone. Then the Nog closed and I thought my Ronin Quinn cd was lost forever... Tonight while going through old cds to throw them away I found a copy of the cd - I had burned some mp3 backups to a disc and forgot about it!!!! YEY!! I'm enjoying the cd again. :)

I hate this shirt

I actually saw it on the racks at the Marc Jacobs store (or Barneys?) and it looked even more unsightly in person. I meant to blog about this shirt awhile ago, but I forgot. Then I got an email from Saks promoting summer clothes and this was the featured item in the email - and it made me remember how much I disliked it and wanted to comment on it. UM first it's super ugly, second it would DETER me from actually clicking on the email after seeing it as the featured item.

I like printed designs on shirts, but I'd rather have them in the form of a pattern than as a faux scarf. If I want a scarf with my shirt, I'll just wear a real one.

shoes 5-22

Black Esprit zipper heels:

shoes 5-21

Stuart Weitzman Black Wedge Sandals:

shoes 5-20

Black Manolo Blahniks:

shoes 5-19

White*ish* Prada wedge sandals:

shoes 5-17

I have been slacking with the shoes.. not because I haven't been taking photos, but because vista is such a pain in the ass to get the photos off the camera. Instead of hook up camera drag n'drop. I have to hook up external hard drive with card reader, turn that on, then get the camera, take out the memory card, put it in the card reader. wait wait wait wait for vista to finally recognize the drive and ONLY THEN can I drag n'drop the photos.

So what should take seconds to do, with Vista takes about a half hour. Way to make my life easier vista.... God I love those Mac commercials....

Ok I digress... back to the subject at hand. Shoes!

Saturday I went to a wedding so I wore my Gold Metallic Michael Kors heels. I LOVE these heels - they are super cute and pretty comfy (seriously!!) And they look cute with jeans too.

Why?

Why was I driving 15-20 mph in a 40 mph last night on my way home from work??

Oh right, because the guy in front of me was READING THE FUCKING PAPER instead of DRIVING! Who does this? Pay attention to the ROAD - then maybe you could go the speed limit asshole!!

I was so bullshit I took out my iPhone at a red light (turned green - but he didn't notice yet 'cuz he was reading the paper) to take a photo of this and was so excited to post it to my blog. But then today I went to email myself the photo and I screwed it up!!! I had my hand in front of the lens or something. Annoying. It was a good shot of this guy reading the paper.

I'm just amazed people do this kind of shit. I don't want to be stuck in traffic either, but I don't: read the paper, do crossword puzzles, or put on makeup when I'm driving! And if you need to talk while driving - use a bluetooth headset so you have both hands free!!!

Dancing with the Stars

I love this show! It's so fun to watch. I love the dancing, the costumes....

And I especially LOVE LOVE LOVE Jason Taylor! OMG I thought he looked hot in a Miami Dolphins uniform! Screw that - he looks HOT dancing with his shirt off (like he did last night)!!

That is what I will miss most when this season is over! Although I hope Kristi wins - she's amazing.

Only in NJ...

can you go to a wedding in 2008 and the first dance song is Bon Jovi....

Why does everyone from NJ love Bon Jovi so much? It's like a religion there. To make fun of them would be blasphemy.

Now not to say I don't *kind of secretly* like Bon Jovi - I'm a child of the '80s after all - Slippery When Wet helped define some of my teen years... I just find it funny how MUCH people from NJ still love Bon Jovi like it's still 1987!

Fancy Fancy...

Love this Dior Babe Small Shopper Bag. It's so cute and funky, but wow at $2,290.00 the price isn't!

Pucci

I have always loved Emilio Pucci. I just love the funky psychedelic patterns of his clothes, handbags, and shoes. But this is just awesome. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this Vivara Print Coated Canvas Tote!

Fall Trunk Shows

I can't believe there are already Fall trunk shows! We haven't even had a beach day yet! But that said - I can't ignore some of the cool clothes I'm seeing for fall. I love this M Missoni Metallic Striped Dress! And looks like something you could wear on a summer night in August, why wait until fall?? The colors and the sparkles are just great. Wish I had an event to wear this to.

Prada Handbag

Loving this new Prada Nappa Delave Tote for spring and summer.



Although at $1,895.00 I think I may have to admire this one from afar.

Few days off

I was away for a long weekend in New Jersey for a wedding... I feel like I've been gone for weeks!

While stuck in traffic driving back yesterday I was next to a woman that was doing a crossword puzzle while driving!! Who does this?? WTF!! It's bumper to bumper traffic. We're all annoyed. We're all bored. We all wish we could be some place else - doing something else. But you don't do a crossword puzzle while driving!!! That's a way to cause another accident! She barely looked up to even move forward. how can you really pay attention to not hitting the person in front of you when you are doing a crossword puzzle? When we/she passed the cop (dealing with the car on fire) she didn't even put the stupid crossword down! He didn't even notice (or care maybe). ARGH!

While driving home today from work I was behind another stupid, or just plain rude driver. I just can't understand the nerve of people. I was behind this car and the person threw a whole banana peel out of the window when they finished a banana!!!!! Who does this? The road isn't your garbage can! WTF!? It's not anyone else's fault you decided to eat a banana in your car, save the peel until you can dispose of it properly! I have never thrown trash out of the window of my car. Who has so little regard for the environment and everyone around themselves to throw trash out of a window.

When less is more

Not my usual topic on this blog... but it's been on my mind at work.

When dealing with a User Interface sometimes less is truly more. Just because you can give your users 100 different options doesn't mean you should. Perhaps you have the ability on the back end but you don’t expose all 100 options to the user. It’s up to us as user interface designers to try to make a best guess at how many options are enough to give users some flexibility, without overwhelming them.

What prompted me to think about this recently were of all random things: my allergies. I went to the doctor about my allergies – she gave me a prescription and told me to also pick up Claritin. Simple enough I thought.

I went to my local pharmacy and attempted to pick up Claritin (which is now behind the counter and you have to provide ID to buy) and the clerk said which one? I said Claritin. She said yes- which Claritin do you want. Well I don’t know. My doctor said Claritin - she didn’t specify which one of the 20 choices behind the counter. Why are there so many choices? There were 3 rows of choices at CVS!! They had 12 hour, 24 hour, allergy, allergy and congestion (how is this really different?), allergy reditabs. And all of these came in a myriad of sizes: 5, 10, 15, and 30 tablets. I can see why the sizes are helpful, but the other choices are just too much and add confusion (to me anyway). Why would I buy 12 hour and have to take the pill twice in a day instead of the 24 hour one? What’s the advantage? I looked at both boxes and there was no clear reason why one was better than the other. In this case I’d really be happy with less choice. And it got me thinking about usability.

Users definitely want choices and flexibility, but they don’t want so many choices they get overwhelmed and can’t use a product (or buy one). I like having the most simple options in the UI – basic ones that will be used frequently. Then have a way to get to some more advanced options – this way users can choose to go to there or not. And if they do go there, they know they clicked on advanced so it may be complicated - if it's too much the user can cancel out of them and be on their way. If they never click on the advanced options, the user is none the wiser. Ultimately doing some usability tests with average users can help determine what is an acceptable amount of options and which ones are the most important to have.

It would have been so much easier and saved a bunch of time had Claritin come in one kind: 24 hour allergy and congestion - with two options: 15 or 30 tablet pack. I would only have had to make 1 choice 15 or 30, and not the plethora of choices I had to make to buy the medicine. All this when I already felt terrible with my allergies and just wanted relief!

shoes 5-14

Prada silver and white wedges:

shoes 5-13

Sergio Rossi Python heels:

shoes 5-12

Nine West leopard print shoes:

Stupid Vista

my digital camera that isn't even a year old won't work with vista. I have tried everything to get it to install the drivers. Nothing works. With my old XP machine I just plugged the camera directly into the computer with the usb cable and dragged/dropped the photos from the camera onto the computer in minutes/if not seconds.

Now because Vista refuses to recognize the camera and the camera's website says it's already supported on vista and needs no additional drivers (yea right) - I have to use a freaking card reader. Luckily I have an external hard drive that also has a card reader in it. So I have to plug that in, turn it on, take the card out of the camera, plug it into the drive, THEN drag/drop. instead of turn on camera, plug into computer. 5 steps instead of 2! ARGHHHH WHY WHY WHY does it have to be so complicated!??

I want to update my shoe of the day pics and it's so much work to get the stupid images off my camera - otherwise I would be more prompt in updating them.

What a fun bag!

How fun is this Fendi bag the Artist Baguette? It's a white canvas bag that comes with 10 permanent markers to design your own look.

However a few things wrong with this: It could turn into a really expensive arts and crafts project - you better not mess up your drawing on the first try it's permanent, and oh yea - to draw your own bag it's gonna set you back 1,300 bucks. 1,300 bucks to draw your own bag???? It's a fun and cute idea, but shit I'm going down to Michael's craft shop - picking up some cheap little bag (I already have tons of markers) and drawing on that sucker for like $30!

What the F??

Is this crazy lawn ornament??? I drive by this house everyday on my way home from work and I just don't understand this crazy lawn thing. What is it supposed to be? A car? just some wacky white thingy to hold more grass and flowers? My photo isn't great - I took it with my iPhone while I was driving. I'll have to get a better shot when I'm stuck in traffic and have time to take a better pic.

shoes 5-9

Friday's shoes - Stuart Weitzman heels:

shoes 5-8

Jimmy Choo black heels with a little velvet edging:

Saga of the light..

Now that I'm paying more attention to that stupid light I get stuck at every day on my way home from work - I've gotten obsessed with getting photos of the stupid thing with my iphone.

Once again tonight driving home from work (at 8:15 pm) - I was stuck at the red for the duration of a 2 minute and 30 second song while NO ONE came in either direction at the green light. Why is this friggen thing on a timer???

I feel like a drug addict

the last 2.5 weeks I've had bad coughing, sore throat, sneezing, dry eyes, and stuffy nose. I couldn't tell if it was a cold, or allergies so I finally went to the doctor yesterday.

Turns out I had both, but the cold is now going away and the allergies are still here. Normally in Spring I need lots of eye drops and flonase for my sinus headaches - but that's about it. But this Spring I am using both of those, but now my doctor has me also taking Claritin once a day, and the cold/allergies has made me somewhat asthmatic so I need an inhaler too for the time being!! I feel like a drug addict. And all this shit is expensive! Stupid stuff cost me over $80!! (I mean hey that's good money for shoes!!!) One of the drugs isn't made in a generic so that was crazy expensive, and the claritin is over the counter and $20 for a package of only 15 tabs!!!

I guess the good thing about all this is that I have no appetite. Maybe I'll lose some weight HA

Shoes 5-7

Today's shoes Prada Brown wedges:

Driving Home Tonight

I had a manicure/pedicure appointment after work. Thank god - I was embarrassed to show my feet! I've been going to the same woman for about 8 years - and she's in Newton. Which is now out of the way considering I live in Somerville, but after 8 years I don't want to just find another person I trust not to cut me or whatever when they are doing my mani/pedi.

Anyway, driving back home about to get on 128 I saw 2 baby deer eating on the side of the road! They were soooo cute! They were pretty small so I assume they were babies. If there wasn't a car behind me I would have stopped to take a picture. I hope they didn't run out into the road and get hurt.

What Shoes

Am I wearing today? A co-worker of mine is fascinated, perhaps intrigued, or maybe just plain repulsed by my shoe collection. Yesterday he took a photo of my shoes, and I thought hey that could be fun to take photos of my shoes and post them. If anything maybe I will look back fondly or in horror of my choices.

So here goes...

Yesterday's shoes were bright red Dolce and Gabbana heels.

Neiman's First Mark

Sale was today and boy was it good!

I had a doctor's appointment today about my cold/allergies that I've had for a few weeks - which I found out has given me asthma! I got a prescription for an inhaler! UGH

Anyway, while I was in the area I figured I would check out Neiman's First Mark Sale. Everything was 40% off - even brand new stuff for one day only. Then I guess the First Call sale starts tomorrow, but not on new stuff... So I had to take advantage of that! I got 2 pairs of summer weight Theory pants (black and tan). I need to go get them hemmed because I'm not 6' tall.. Who do they make these pants for?? I got 3 t-shirts - blue, white, and green. A Brown/white jacket, a white/black/tan shirt, and a funky brown silk shirt with bright green flowers on it. All designer stuff, all discounted 40%! Woo hoo!!

They had super cute shoes on discount too, but I had to control myself (step away from the Pradas) - otherwise my little spending binge would have gone far north of $1,000 fast....

How Can

Rascal Flatts be on American Idol tonight AND Dancing with the Stars - Both are supposedly live, so how is that possible???? They were sitting in the audience @ American Idol, and then performed two songs on Dancing with the Stars.

Too bad I won't be in town

For the Bell X1 show @ the Paradise on May 16th.

Loving their new album Flock which I blogged about a few weeks ago. It debuted at #1 on the Irish album charts and is being played pretty heavily on 88.9 WERS. Worth checking out - it's good stuff.

Juicy Couture

What's the deal with Juicy? I don't understand the appeal. To me it just looks cheap and cheesy with an expensive price tag.

For example here's a new hoodie from Juicy Couture. From the front it seems like a normal sweatshirt, but then the back takes it to a new level of ghetto. Why would one want a giant heart with Juicy written on their back? But forget the words the heart is enormous and ugly. Oh but wait there's more - it's got a 1980s style checkerboard pattern within the heart... even better! Who likes this and what is their reasoning??? Who spends $128 for a giant ugly checkerboard heart on your back? I guess plenty of people considering the popularity of this brand, but I don't understand WHY? To me clothes should be stylish and classic, stylish and sexy, or functional and basic (to perform a job) - this is none of those.

Front:


Back:


Close up of ugly heart design:

MOBA 2

The Museum of Bad Art 2 is coming to the Somerville Theater in May according to Wicked Local. Can't wait! It's sure to be interesting...

The Light

Driving home today. You guessed it - that bullshit traffic light was red again today. And no one was coming either way. so we sat at a red while no one drove through the green.

Men's Belts

I just commented on a friend's blog with advice on some men's belts, but then I figured I would share the love. In case any guys that randomly happen to read this want some advice on belts....

So here's a few samples of standard leather men's belts that I think are pretty nice.

The comfortable black one from the Gap:


Vintage style brown one from the Gap:


A reversible one from the Gap in case you'd rather have one belt that's black and brown (it's like 2 in one shampoo and conditioner!):


Or if you're the kind of guy that likes to step it up a notch and really stylin' let me recommend these two snazzy belts sold at Nordstrom's.

This brown Gordon Rush 'Manchester' Belt is just gorgeous. The leather looks like it would be sooo soft. Love love love it. But it's gonna cost ya:


Or another that is less expensive, but looks nice for a dressier outfit:


Another black leather one from Hugo Boss: