Tag Archives: website

Dark XP and Gmail

For everyone who has followed me on the internet all these years, they know that I have a dark side. I absolutely LOVE dark-themed websites, for some reason. All my websites have been dark, save my very first Blogger template. I even wrote about the switch from light to dark back in 2002. Too bad I didn’t post a screenshot. I use dark desktop/wallpapers on all my computers, even the one at work. For my personal computers, I’ve been using a dark theme called Royale Noir. It looks exactly like Royale, the blue default XP theme, only it’s, uh, dark.

royalenoir Dark XP and Gmail

Download Royale Noir Windows XP theme:

Instructions:

  1. Extract files to “C:\windows\resources\themes\royale noir”
  2. Double click on “luna.msstyles”
  3. Select “Noir” from “Color Scheme”

Because this theme has been code-signed by Microsoft, No UXTheme.dll hack required.

More recently, I’ve been testing out a darkened version of Gmail. It requires the Stylish Firefox extension and the Gmail Redesigned user style by UneasySilence. Cool interface, eh? Has Gmail ever changed it’s look since it was launched?

darkgmaill Dark XP and Gmail

Oh, and I’m also trying out the dark Google web search. I wonder how many people out there are into dark skins/themes.

We have achieved fluidity…again.

Been playing around with another photoblog plugin for WordPress.  Still a lot of things I need to figure out, so we’ll see if I stick with this one.

So this site is once again what they call fluid.  All the columns should be pretty flexible now, and adjusts to the size of the browser window, up until a width of about 980 pixels.  So it’s a little bit fixed and a little bit liquid.  I should rest my eyes now.  But before then, I’ll leave with a couple of neat ‘net nuggets’ I found.

You can call China for free.  Thanks, Ariel.

One of my friends in China really liked a poem that someone made into a website.

My A’s have made it into the playoffs.  Hopefully they won’t lose in the first round like they always do.

X marks your experiences

Here goes another (I wonder how much of this people know about me):

Place an X by all the things you’ve done, or remove the X from the ones you have not, then answer the following questions and post it on your blog.” My comments in [].

( x )Smoked a cigarette [that's according to my sister, but I have no recollection of it]
( ) Drank so much you threw up
( x ) Crashed a friend’s car
( ) Stolen a car
( x ) Been in love [phileo, agape, koinonia]
( ) Been dumped
( x) Shoplifted
( ) Been laid off/fired
( x ) Quit your job
( ) Been in a fist fight? [Does Wing Chun count?]
( ) Snuck out of your parent’s house
( x ) Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back
( ) Been arrested
( ) Gone on a blind date
( x ) Lied to a friend
( x ) Skipped school
( ) Seen someone die
( x )Been to Mexico
( x ) Been on a plane
( x ) Been lost
( x ) Been on the opposite side of the country
( x ) Gone to Washington, DC
( x ) Swam in the ocean
( x ) Felt like dying
( x ) Cried yourself to sleep
( x ) Played cops and robbers
( ) Recently colored with crayons
( x ) Sang karaoke
( ) Paid for a meal with only coins
( x ) Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t
( x ) Made prank phone calls…
( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
( x ) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Danced in the rain
( ) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
( ) Practiced kissing on your hand and/or pillow
( ) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about
( x ) Made a bonfire on the beach
( x ) Crashed a party
( x ) Gone roller-skating [roller-skating when I was little, roller blading when I was older]
( x ) Ice-skating
( ) Ever been the butt end of a joke from a comedy show?

Any nicknames;? BJ, Beej
What is your favorite drink? water, juice, coffee, milk tea
Tattoos? no.
Body piercing? only 3, including the ones on my ears.
How much do you love your job? It’s fine. Lots of work, supportive management, learning so much.
Birthplace? San Francisco
Favorite vacation spot? Anywhere new.
Ever been to Africa? No
Ever steal any traffic signs? Yes
Ever been in a car accident? Yes
Salad dressing? Kraft zesty Italian
Favorite pie? Fresh Strawberry
Favorite Number? 7,8,12,22
Favorite movie? The Princess Bride
Favorite holiday? Christmas
Favorite food? Yes. Food is a favorite.
Favorite day of the week? Friday
Favorite brand of body soap? Dove
Favorite current TV show? CSI
Favorite smell? Recently, it’s the smell of the woods, probably because I live in the city and I don’t experience it as much as I did before.
Toothpaste? Colgate
What do you do to relax? Read, watch TV, play around with this website.
Message to your friends reading this- “Thanks for reading this.”
How do you see yourself in 10 years? Not sure, God knows.
What do you enjoy receiving? Affirmation, including comments. :)

Four things

You know when you played tag and you wanted to be it….oh oh, tag me, tag me! You end up just reaching out asking for the tag? I’m it!

Four jobs I’ve had in my life

  • Ice Cream Scooper
  • Teacher
  • Restaurant Manager
  • Therapist

Four movies I can watch over and over (hmm, I own the last 3 movies on the list)

  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • Princess Bride
  • Spaceballs
  • Chocolat

Four places I have lived

  • San Leandro, CA
  • Danville, CA
  • Santa Barbara, CA
  • Hong Kong

Four TV shows I love to watch

  • Jeopardy
  • CSI
  • Apprentice
  • Lost

Four places I have been on vacation (not many places, sadly)

  • British Columbia, Canada
  • HK/China
  • Florida
  • East Coast

Four websites I visit daily (er, almost daily)

  • Bloglines
  • Google News
  • Yahoo -to check mail and fantasy golf stats (when I remember)
  • The high school fellowship site

Four of my favorite foods

  • Breakfast – sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, toast, bacon, etc.
  • Japanese -but not the raw stuff, hate the texture
  • Noodles -any kind
  • My mom’s cooking

Four places I would rather be right now

  • Sleeping in my bed
  • Snowboarding on a snow-covered mountain somewhere
  • On a golf course playing 9 holes (not in any shape for 18 right now)
  • Eating with my parents or my grandma

Four people I am tagging to do this (no one specific, like how I was tagged)

  • anybody who reads this and wears glasses
  • anybody who reads this and is bored
  • anybody who reads this and has a blog
  • anybody who reads this and is procrastinating like me

Geek salad

I worked a half day today, which was great cuz I got to relax. The other half was spent catching up on reading all my RSS subscriptions. I like it cuz I don’t have to visit every single website, all the news that gets published is brought to me. I use Thunderbird since I use it for email as well, but if you want to try it out, I’d suggest something like Bloglines. I also found livemarks, which is a project to show del.icio.us bookmarks live. There’s a handy dandy Firefox extension called JustBlogIt that let’s me blog about things pretty effortlessly. Firefox? What, too cool for IE? That’s right. I should put up one of those images, but I think the pop up bar I have now is good enough.

I’m a little late, Open Office 2.0 is out. Finally, I can edit my resume without it looking all weird.

And I also found a lot of cool broadband tools. While you’re there, test your line performance. Or find out your IP address. A lot of people probably already know about this stuff. See, I’m not that geeky. Wait, I just posted about it, yeah I am.

Anyways, I did almost nothing today, which was a time of much needed rest. I gotta make sure I get my stuff done. Remember the milk.

Tired of being tired

I’ve been so tired these past two weeks. Is it because I work really long hours during the week or that I’ve been out of town on the weekends? I feel like I haven’t been home at all. Or maybe it’s because I switched to decaf coincidentally about two weeks ago. You’d think Peet’s is so strong that even the decaf should still have some effect, but I guess not. I definitely need to go back to the real stuff. I’m such a coffee fiend — someone get me something here.

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It was good to hang out with Julia and Benny tonight. I’m glad we’ve kept in touch (kinda) after all these years and it sure helps when you have mutual friends. Julia made my day when she mentioned how she liked this site and that she learned a little bit more about me just by reading some of my entries. I wished more people would take advantage of this internet thing and use it as a tool to keep in touch or just to communicate in a different way. I guess that’s why things like Friendster was created. I actually hate those types of things. Personally, I like the freedom and creativity of websites so I can write my own thoughts or participate in a conversation through comments. Hmm, ya think?

Talking to Benny about golf made me realize how much I miss playing. I haven’t gone out all year. I can never play on the weekdays because I spend so much time at that wretched place that holds my paycheck hostage until I do what they ask. As for the weekends, Sundays are shot and I’d feel guilty if I spent 5 hours on Saturday doing anything but cleaning my house, doing laundry or bills, or planning for Sunday school. I’m such a homebody. Man, I need to get out more.

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Team America: World Police is funny, but crude. Would you expect anything less from the creators of South Park? Satire on our political strategy. Cheesy line: “I promised not to die, but I’m already dead inside.” I love it.

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Didya know that supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is in dictionary.com?

Whitewater rafting

I’ve gone whitewater rafting before, but this time we ran the Middle Fork of the American River. It was terrific. If you look at the picture on the website, you can see how all the people in the boat (with the exception of the guide) is sitting down in the middle of the boat. That’s because in the Tunnel Chute, the guide gave the command to “get down” so we would put the weight in the center of the boat. That was only for a few seconds and we were called back to paddling immediately after the first huge drop. The water was sooo cold, but it was extremely fun. Thanks to Brad for a fun trip!

Someone asked if I would take the high schoolers next year. All summer long, they kept asking me when I would plan a rafting trip for them. Even the several weeks prior to the trip, I asked for a show of hands of who’s interested and who would go. But when it came time to turn in all the permission slips and money, not a single soul wanted to go. So you ask, will you plan a rafting trip for them next year? I say they don’t deserve to go. I don’t even want to plan the snow trip anymore. I just know that I’m going up.

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As I posted before, today is officially Talk Like a Pirate Day. Play this game where you have to convert as many people as possible into piratey Pastafarians as you can before the time runs out.

Apprentice and computer news, Peet’s, and Britney

story.shelton.ap Apprentice and computer news, Peets, and Britney‘Apprentice’ Chris arrested I knew it was going to happen sooner or later with that guy’s temper. He should have been voted off a long time ago.

Computer Issues
I’ve been having problems browsing during the evenings. I’d be able to get online to chat, but couldn’t access any websites. Both Jerry and Morgan suggested it might be a dns issue. So I called up my ISP and was diverted to several different phone numbers where the people had no idea about what was going on. After being put on hold for about a 1/2 hour, I finally spoke with a guy who helped me clear up the problem. It turns out that my computer was pointing to some random dns server. So it was a dns issue after all. Thanks to the guys for their help.

Peet’s coffee
I love going to Peet’s to buy my coffee. I just go in there to buy a pound and they give you a free cup. “Free”…my favorite word. With “sale” coming in a close 2nd. So Chinese.

For Gordon: Britney Spears is pregnant

Sideblog

Yay, I finally got a sideblog goin on here called “mini-golf.” Those are just links to websites that I’ve come across that don’t warrant their own full post on the front page. They look similar to Matt’s asides and asides for WordPress 1.5. But instead of separating out a special category, the mini-post plugin allows you to make small posts and handle them differently. You can choose to intersperse the mini-posts among the normal posts on your site (which I think makes the page look too cluttered) or you can put it in the sidebar. This was exactly what I wanted ever since I’ve converted over from MT. Thanks Morgan!

Funny:

morganiq: heh, I just realized something
morganiq: your nickname could be twisted into 闭嘴。
morganiq: BEE-jway
morganiq: “shut up”

100 Things About Me

Last updated: January, 2013

Everyone else has done it, so here it goes:

  1. I’m known as simply some girl online, and BJ at Starbucks or Jamba Juice. My real nickname is Beej (short for BJ, from Baby Jen)
  2. My REAL real name is Jennifer
  3. I’ve always wanted a nickname when I was little
  4. Coincidentally, I’ve had a nickname ever since then
  5. One of my elementary teachers used to call me JT
  6. I was born in San Francisco
  7. I can speak Chinese (Cantonese)
  8. But I can’t read characters
  9. Unless they’re menu items
  10. Neither can I write Chinese
  11. Except for my name and a few numbers
  12. I can understand Toisanese/Taishanese, a Chinese dialect from the region of Toisan (or Taishan)
  13. But I can’t speak it
  14. I have 2 siblings: 1 brother and 1 sister
  15. I’m a “left brain” person – analytical, and not very good at art- although I’m getting better a photography.
  16. I have a scar on my chin
  17. And on my scalp
  18. I believe in God
  19. And wished everyone else did too
  20. To quote The Princess Bride, “I am not left-handed”
  21. I won the spelling bee in elementary school
  22. Twice
  23. And almost won county (placed 9th out of 172)
  24. I didn’t finish reading a single book in high school
  25. I’ve worn glasses since the 4th grade
  26. I now wear contacts
  27. And wish I didn’t have to
  28. I like long hair
  29. But not on guys
  30. I worked in an ice cream shop in high school
  31. I know CPR
  32. And First Aid
  33. I’ve been certified as a lifeguard
  34. But never worked as one
  35. I’ve never gone swimming in the ocean
  36. Because the last time I was in the ocean, I didn’t know how to swim
  37. When I was little, my parents took me to the airport to watch airplanes take off and land
  38. Even now, I love watching airplanes take off and land
  39. Because they remind me of places far far away
  40. I majored in Psychology
  41. And minored in Asian American Studies
  42. I love to learn
  43. But I hate proving what I’ve learned
  44. I played intramural ultimate frisbee in college.
  45. My friends made me watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show my freshman year in college
  46. I had 12 different roommates in college
  47. I used to skateboard
  48. But I can’t skate nor rollerblade
  49. I’ve held an uzi
  50. And shot a gun
  51. I’ve taken piano lessons, like every other good Chinese kid
  52. I play the guitar
  53. And a little bit of bass
  54. I like to play golf
  55. I can’t wipe the smile off my face when I snowboard
  56. I drive can drive a stick shift
  57. I’ve seen a car flip over 3 times on its side
  58. I’ve been in a car that flipped over on its side
  59. I love dark chocolate
  60. I drink way too much coffee
  61. And not enough water
  62. I enjoy cooking
  63. But hate cleaning up afterwards
  64. I think I have worms because I like to eat so often
  65. I love spicy food
  66. I don’t drink much soda
  67. But if I do, I go for diet because it’s not as sweet
  68. I’ve worked overseas
  69. I’m still a little afraid of the dark
  70. I’ve gone ocean kayaking
  71. I miss mountain biking
  72. I’ve biked in the snow
  73. I love horseback riding
  74. I tried rock climbing
  75. And realized that I’m extremely weak
  76. Which is why I’m studying 詠春, 朱家螳螂, and 陳家太極拳
  77. I’m afraid of heights
  78. But I can ride roller coasters
  79. Except the ones that drop straight down
  80. I haven’t had to stay in the hospital since infancy
  81. I’ve never broken a bone
  82. But I’ve torn a ligament
  83. I had a dog named Gershwin
  84. I ate dog meat when I was in China
  85. I get motion sickness REAL easily
  86. I want to visit the Holy Land
  87. I like falling asleep with the TV on
  88. And I ALWAYS sleep in a fetal position
  89. I’m not afraid of dying
  90. But I’m afraid of suffering
  91. I like scary movies
  92. I’m a gigantic fan of Saturday Night Live
  93. I don’t like taking naps — it feels like I’m wasting the day away.
  94. I like to read
  95. I hate writing
  96. But I love blogging
  97. This website was born November 21, 2001 at 10:54pm
  98. Three different blog engines have powered it: Blogger, Movable Type, and WordPress
  99. I spend too much time on the computer
  100. Working on lame things such as this list

Gmail invites and email stuff

Gmail invites
Ok, I’ve got 50 invites. Anyone want an account? Leave a comment. Check it out, you can even make your own graphic Gmail signature.

gmail3.php Gmail invites and email stuff

Gmail drive
Gmail drive is an extension for Windows Explorer that makes your Gmail account show up as a drive in My Computer. Now you can upload/download to and from your 1 Gig Gmail account easily. Caveat: each file has to be under 10 Megs. So no full backups of somegirlwitha.com, unfortunately. Ah, well, it’s still a neat little program. How to use your Gmail account as a personal file server.

Thunderbird and Webmail
Yay, I finally got what I’ve been waiting so long for. I can now use thunderbird to access my hotmail and yahoo accounts using this webmail extension. They had some problems with the Yahoo module, but it’s fixed. Now I’ve got all my email in one place and I don’t have to visit all these different websites checking for mail. Always count on me to find the laziest ways to do things.

What’s the best CMS out there?

I’ve been looking at different CMS’s for websites. No, I’m not moving from wordpress. It’s good enough for what I want to do. I’ve looked at some sites like opensourcecms.com, which also points to the cmsmatrix. I’ve been testing out mambo and it seems to pretty good. It’s pretty big and sometimes confusing to use (not sure how all those sections and categories work) at times, but it seems more flexible than the nukes. Funny, opensourcecms.com also uses mambo…hmm.