Meandering Starre

Words from a writer, a runner, an academic, a red-head…

Hear me on Escape Pod!

Filed under: Me, Amusing, News, Technology, Pop Culture — Starre at 4:50 pm on Friday, August 1, 2008

After being a fan for more than a year, I’ve now read a story for Escape Pod. well, not a whole story, just part of one. I’m the interviewer in “How I Mounted Goldie, Saved My Partner Lori, and Sniffed Out The People’s Justice.” Stephen, of Escape Pod, was the dog. My throat hurt for him while we were reading it. While I’ve not listened to it yet, the story is a good one, so I recommend going right to the site and giving it a listen (and then subscribing to Escape Pod if you have not already).

Running in heels?

Filed under: Running, Women's Issues, Gender, Amusing, Pop Culture — Starre at 4:55 pm on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

As a runner, I am very careful about what I put on my feet when running. I am also a bit of a shoe horse and love funky shoes of the heeled sort. However, I do not combine the heels with the running. That would be insane, right?

Well, regardless there is a stiletto heel race for women in Amsterdam. It is not too long, 380-yards, but the stilettos must be at least 3.5 inches! Sounds like torture to me! In fact, I think my facial expression would be the same as the woman in second place.

CNEWS image of two women running in heels
The prize is $15,000 and the winner, when asked how she would spend the prize, smartly said she would spend it on “anything but high heels.”

Image from CNews.

Wigging out your cat

Filed under: Pets, Reflections, Amusing, Websites to See, Pop Culture — Starre at 6:48 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2007

For those of you who own cats and are jealous of all the cool dog clothing and accessories out there—be jealous no more. Now you can buy wigs for your cats!

I kid you not. Wigs for cats. I know no self-respecting cat that would wear a wig. I think most cats may find a wig to be a really fun toy, but not a fashion accessory. I have no idea how the person got the cats to stay still for these pictures. My best theory is drugs—the cats must be drugged. Oh, and the wigs ain’t cheap. Can you say $50?! Now that is an expensive cat toy! It does come with a nice metal wig toy case!

I love this line: “When not in use, the wig should always be stored in its pawproof case.” We all know why that is. Translation: “When you are not torturing you cat by making them wear a wig, put the wig back into this cat destruction-proof tin before the cat can destroy the wig. But do be careful as the cat may try to destroy you as soon as the wig is hidden since you tried to make her wear it.”

[side note: look up destruction-proof on Google and the first link has to do with cat toys. Too funny!]

I think I will keep my cat’s self-respect and my $50 bucks. I have better things to spend the $50 on—like my own accessories (shoes!).

Okay all that said I do kinda like the pink and blue ones…

Awesome thrust vectored adio-controlled plane video

Filed under: Amusing, Technology — Starre at 12:27 am on Thursday, November 15, 2007

The aero geek in me, which does not get brought out much lately, had a field day today. First, I saw some fighter jets and got to argue discuss with Bill over lunch about what kind they were (F-16 and an F-14, I think), and then a friend sent me a link to this cool video of a Mig 29 R/C Airplane. It is a thrust vectored radio-controlled plane and the stunts are pretty cool. It’s long video, but you do not need to see the full video to enjoy it. If you have no idea what a “thrust vectored” plane can do, you should especially check this out and be awed.

Coming right up: One Birthday extra long!

Filed under: Me, Amusing, News, Life — Starre at 5:57 pm on Thursday, November 1, 2007

Due to the recent move of the fall time change back, I have been given a special gift by the time change powers that be. The “fall back” time change occurs on my birthday, which means November 4th is 25 hours long! One extra birthday hour! What better gift for someone who doesn’t have enough time as it is? Since I plan on spending my birthday relaxing and spending time with myself, loved ones, and friends, I won’t use this time to get any “work” done, but it does mean I get extra time to not work, which is truly a wonderful gift.

Feminists, Harry Potter, and NIN

Filed under: Reflections, Short, Amusing, Life — Starre at 3:18 pm on Friday, October 5, 2007

I am working on my presentation for fem rhet (which I give tomorrow) and I am listening to my iPod. “I want to fuck you like an animal” just came up. It doesn’t seem to fit the conference theme or my fan avatars in Harry Potter presentation. Interesting contrast…

I am “very well envoweled”

Filed under: Amusing, Websites to See — Starre at 7:32 pm on Wednesday, August 15, 2007

After reading the Evil Eyebrow post on the Is this your name? site, I had to try it out myself. And I found out I am “very well envoweled” and that only 8.5% of the 1 million names they looked at have more vowels. Interesting… You can check out the full and fascinating analysis of my name. Here are a few other tidbits:

  • My personal power animal is the Vampire Squid (there is far too much to say about this)
  • They guesstimate there are 140 ‘Jennifer Bowie’s’ (great, and I thought I was one of a kind)
  • My name backwards is “Refinnej Eiwob” (not too bad, kind of weird. Anyone going to start calling me this?).

Baby, it is HOT outside!

Filed under: Georgia, Amusing, News, Life — Starre at 11:58 pm on Tuesday, August 14, 2007

When I got in my car today after swimming, I saw this on my dashboard:

Baby, it is hot outside! 118!

Yes, that says 118 (degrees Fahrenheit)! Now it was not “really” that hot out. My car had been in a hot parking lot for about an hour and in such cases tends to read a bit warm. After driving it registered a more accurate 102. Now do remember, this is in Georgia with 1000000% humidity, so it feels more like… well that 118 degrees my car thought! Okay, well maybe 112 or something.

After my swim today I used the hot tub, but didn’t stay long as the 102 degree water just wasn’t as relaxing, especially when I knew it was ‘bout that outside (and only slightly less humid).

This is all Bill’s fault (okay and mine too) because he/we kept saying it really had not gotten that hot yet. Then we have several days over 100 degrees. Fun. We actually spent part of last week in Orlando, and surprisingly it was cooler (about 6 degrees, mid 90’s instead of +100). BTW Disney is not as fun in August when it is 96. Just so you know.

Odd Sign

Filed under: Photos, Travel, Amusing, Life — Starre at 10:31 am on Saturday, July 14, 2007

This is the oddest sign.
Read it closely.
Seen in NH on the way to Maine on 6/23/07.
Please tell me what they have to do with each other.

Note: you may need to click on it and see it bigger. I am to lazy to photo edit it to make it more visible.

Breaking Atmo

Filed under: Blog Issues, Amusing, News, Movies, Technology, Pop Culture — Starre at 9:43 am on Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Yes, I know the Evil Eyebrow already already blogged about this and many of my readers also read his blog. Oh well. This is still worthy of its own blog entry on my blog. Plus, when he wrote it had not happened yet.

Serenity and Firefly at 7:38 PM Eastern time (or so) on STS-117 have finally broken Earth Atmo and are now into the black. The DVDs were part of the recent launch and are being given to the International Space Station crew thanks to astronaut browncoat Steven R. Swanson (this event has its own blog). I swear Firefly fandom is contagious, like the black plague. But then it is the best show ever. And I do not exaggerate.

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