Skype: Video Calling in Wifi and 3G

Around 1 a.m. last night my brother, Paul, texts me from across the house: "Can I come over for a sec?" I wondered if something was wrong. Seconds later he is bursting in my room pleading with me to sign in to Skype on my iPhone. Video calling had arrived.

Let's do a little background here so my enthusiasm for this new feature can be fully understood. Lately T-Mobile has been thinking they are so clever with the pink-striped dress woman. "Weeeee have video calling in 3G and the iPhone doesn'tttttt," the commercials taunted. They also have some dorky guy piggy-backed onto to iPhone guy, saying it's AT&T weighing him down. (You can view the commercial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7gaPWeZMdw)

Did I mention that Apple first started these commercials? You can't beat Apple at it's own game. In my brother's educated (via his Apple obsession and reading Macrumors) opinion, FaceTime hasn't been offered in 3G yet because it hasn't been perfected. They don't want to release some halfway done feature. No, I haven't used T-Mobile's video calling so I can't say it isn't top notch. But I'm going to go ahead and guess it isn't exactly FaceTime. However, I can vouch for FaceTime. And it's simply wonderful.

With that said, Skype's release of video calling for the iPhone was pretty much a TAKE THAT T-MOBILE. Well, it was to me anyway.

Back to 1 a.m. last night. Yes, we did sit on my bed and video call each other to test it out. First we tried it on Wifi. Perfection. My brother's physical voice was in sync with the audio coming out of my phone. The picture was also very clear. Then we turned off our Wifi and tried calling on 3G. Still very clear. But, yes, the audio was a little delayed. But who could tell unless the two callers happen to be in the same room?

Today we also tried calling over 3G with about 20 miles between us. It still worked very well. I am very pleased. I stinkin' called my brother over video from the passenger seat of my car!

Christian Bale.

Does he even need more of an introduction?

When he popped up on the scene a few years ago, I thought Bale was sort of a "man of the hour" type of actor. I thought he was going to be good at one thing and that he'd be overused in that role and we'd all get tired of him. (Eh-hem. I'm talking about you, Cameron Diaz) Because really, he was in several things in a row in the mid-2000s. The Machinist, Batman Begins, Prestige.

That changed last week when I saw The Fighter.

A few weeks before I saw the film, I watched the trailer. Mark Wahlberg punching around, Amy Adams 10 pounds heavier with an accent and some skinny drug type. What's that? The credits say Christian Bale is in the movie? THAT SKINNY SLIMEY-ACTING DUDE IS HIM? I encountered the same feeling while watching the film. I couldn't get over it. Every single scene. The accent. The mannerisms. The overall character. During the film, I kept trying to picture the way he was in another movie. I honestly couldn't. Prestige? No. Batman Begins? No. I could only see him as Dicky Eklund. Every inch of his body was Dicky. And every syllable the left his mouth was Dicky.

This is the definition of an excellent actor if you ask me. Christian Bale was unrecognizable. He left his own personality and mannerisms at home and brought a totally different person to the screen. I haven't been able to stop singing his praises since.

Last night, we decided to watch The Dark Knight because my dad got a new BlueRay player for Christmas. First, it was utterly strange to see Bale so beefed up. He almost looked overweight to me compared to his appearance in The Fighter. (Clearly NOT overweight, but this is the vast difference in his physically appearance) It was strange to see him as Bruce Wayne: suave millionaire. I've clearly not been appreciating Bale's talents because I was highly impressed last night by his portrayal in The Dark Knight. Minus, the strangely low Batman voice of course.

Looking back on his career thus far, it's safe to say that I underestimated and underappreciated his talent. He has played wildly different roles over the course of his career. It just took his role as Dicky Eklund for the bells to finally go off in my brain.

To recap, Christian Bale is sort of my favorite actor at the moment. It's actually a tie with James Franco quite frankly. (127 Hours anyone?) And if Bale doesn't win a Golden Globe or an Oscar I'm going to be, well, pretty upset.

NOTE. If you are, or think you are, a professional movie reviewer: please refrain from ripping me apart. I don't claim to know it all. Everything in this blog is just my humble opinion and view :)

Back.

So remember when I was like a blogging fiend this summer? It's about to happen again. Christmas break, for me, begins at 6:20 p.m. tomorrow. Brilliant.

Blogging was obviously shoved onto the back burner this semester. I had to devote my creative energies to clearly more amazing things like: police beat stories, city council stories, reading novels out of british lit and postcolonial lit, research essays. That's no excuse for abandoning this blog, I know.

My brother, Paul, became a master blogger over this semester because he had to for class. He got absolutely amazing feedback. Our church even posted one of his posts on Facebook. I'm way proud of how he's evolved as a technology blogger. So, there was that making me feel guilty for leaving my blog in the dust. (For real check out his blog: technopaul)

Then there was Hyperbole and a Half. I'd actually read some posts from this blog before, but I completely forgot about it until my friend, Kelly, suggested I check it out. This girl writes wacky blogs about whatever is going on in her life. Totally different from my blogging style. But hilarious. And SHE DOES IT FOR A LIVING, PEOPLE. So she obviously has more time to devote than I do. But it made me feel a teensy bit inspired.

And now that I will have free time, and surely plenty of experiences at new cupcake places, shopping for Christmas and enjoying a school break, I will be back in action.

Next week, my wisdom teeth are coming out. That's bound to be blog worthy.

Don't judge.

Shea vs. the unclassified spider

Sounds like a children's book, eh? Well this is no fairytale. I'd classify this one under Sci-Fi or Horror. Yeah.

It started when I woke up this morning. I'm going to the bathroom with my door open since I'm home alone and I see it. A brown spider the size of my palm. I watch as it shifts its weight, staring at me. Slowly, all while I'm still peeing, it crawls under my bed.

HORROR OF HORRORS!

What is worse than a spider in your room? A spider hiding under your bed where you can't see it! Panic sets in, and I'm horrified.

An hour and a half goes by, and no sign of the eight-legged monster. In that hour and a half, I sat on my kitchen counter (away from the floor!) and read about the best ways to kill a spider. A mortal mistake. You know what happens when you google that? Pictures of spiders come up! And you read that there's a spider called a brown recluse that is POISONOUS. Great. I also found out that spraying a spider with just about anything will kill it. Spiders breathe through their skin. Spraying them suffocates them.

My weapons of choice: Raid wasp/hornet, Hot Shot wasp/hornet and Redken 23 forceful hairspray.

So now I wait.

Finally it emerges on the other side of my bed. Hairspray in hand, I decide it's best to wait for it to crawl farther away from my bed. (More spray time before it darts under the bed away from me) well, after a few minutes it retreats under the bed again. Great.

I'm ashamed to say this. I'm on the phone with my mom and I BREAK DOWN. The spider is out of my reach. How will I sleep if I can't find it? How did it get in? My skin is crawling. Mom calms me down and assures me it will come back out and I will kill it.

Worst of all, I don't know the species of spider. My brother is bug identifier extraordinaire. (Thanks to Mrs. Crouse the Biology teacher). He hasn't seen it but doesn't know what it is by my description. Ahhh. It's better to know your enemy.

30 minutes later the spider is by my desk. Perfect. Maximum spray time. I have to do it. I get the Hot Shot in hand. Shaking, I hold the thing like it's a high caliber gun and douse it. My carpet is a monsoon of white Hot Shot spray. I empty the rest of the can and it is STILL walking. Who is this thing? Batman?! I run in the living room to grab Raid. I spray as much as possible until it goes back under my bed.

SURELY THIS THING IS DEAD.

I have a coughing fit because of the fumes. Surely I suffocated this thing. My room is practically a death chamber. As of yet, no sign of the spider.

My bug man was already supposed to be coming to spray today. So when he comes, that sucker will be gone for good. And hopefully identified.

Review: Dessertapalooza

So I'm a little behind on my reviews lately, but I'm catching up.

A few weeks ago I visited Dessertapalooza at Firewheel. Megan heard about it and knew we had to go so I could review. I've sort of accidentally turned into a cupcake reviewer.

The Process. Dessertapalooza offers cupcakes, cakes and other desserts. Here, the cupcake process is a little more personal. All the cake part of the cupcakes are displayed inside of cake platter. You choose between red velvet (why is everyone copying Sprinkles?), chocolate, vanilla and the flavor of the day. On the day I went that special flavor was pina colada. Then you choose your icing (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cream cheese). I like this idea a lot. You get to choose your cupcake. You get to be a part of the process.

I chose red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Megan chose vanilla with strawberry frosting, and Chelsea chose vanilla with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.

Cupcake Appearance. I must say, the cupcakes were quite attractive. Since the frosting was applied out of an icing bag, it had a swirly look to it whereas when it is applied by knife it is more smooth. These were also some of the largest cupcakes I have ever seen. They could almost be qualified as a small cake. (Yes, I'm aware a cupcake is basically a small cake...) Once we reached the checkout, cupcakes were placed on a clear plate alongside a plastic fork. This is a HUGE plus.

*Sprinkles gives wooden forks that alter the taste of the cupcake.

*The Cupcakery gave no fork at all.

Cupcake Taste. This is the most important of all. Obviously. The cake section was very moist and well flavored. The cream cheese frosting was a good consistency; not crunchy and not liquidy. However, Megan was not satisfied with her frosting. Dessertapalooza uses a whip cream-like frosting. (Minus 10 points!) Indulging in whip cream frosting isn't indulging at all. It reminds me of a cake I could grab at Wal-Mart. Yuck. I'm all about the buttercream frosting. With that said, Chelsea likes whip cream frosting and said it was delicious.

Atmosphere. A+ for atmosphere. The little bakery was blue and pink with colorful barstools, a giant lovesac (where we sat). The ceiling above the lovesac had a TV. Very cute.

We also talked to the owner and told her we were giant Sprinkles fan and that we would be critical. She definitely tried to win us over. We asked her why she opened Dessertapalooza. She said she and her husband were always looking for a place where they could go with friends to get coffee and pie, so they decided to open one. (Yes, they do serve coffee.) She was very nice to us, and definitely seems like the type to build relationships with her customers.

If you're ever in Garland, I'd say give Dessertapalooza a try. The red velvet won my heart.

The Mid Century Modernist's Holy Grail

Yesterday I died. And then I wound up in mid century modern heaven.

But first, how I got there:

Lula B's (one of my favorite antiquing stores) opened a new location on Riverfront drive. Naturally, I had to go visit sometime. Sunday afternoon was as good a time as any...especially since my mom had seen some chairs on Craigslist that were there that she wanted to check out.

We had heard legends and tales about the antique/vintage shops on Riverfront, but never dreamed such a monstrosity. We drove up on what seemed like a pretty shady area. Bail bonds abounding. We spotted Lula B's and pulled in to a parking space. What's that? ANOTHER store I've been dying to hunt inside is right next door?! I had seen many ads from White Elephant on Craigslist and knew they had great stuff. And again, had been planning on going.

We perused White Elephant first. Many of the booths: not my favorite time period or style. Several of the booths in the back corner: MY STYLE. (No, we haven't reached heaven yet. Keep hanging in there.) Beautiful pieces. Retro wingbacks. Cane chairs. Old dressers painted red. It was fantastic.

But it was already 4pm, and everything closed at 5. So we had to keep moving.

Lula B's had gorgeous pieces galore, as always. We looked at the chairs we saw online and decided they weren't what we needed. Mom found a retro microphone.heh. NOT 300 yards. We walked several stores down, past a bail bonds place and some other shady storefronts and decided it was best to get back to driving.

We reach Moderne. Nothing special from the outside. Honestly, we weren't expecting much. But were we ever wrong. Right from the front entrance: lucite tables, tulip chairs, record cabinets and more. Some old honky tonk song was playing on the radio. Not exactly fitting for the store, but oh well. The more we walked, the more there was. Area after area was just piled with buffet pieces like I've never seen, dining room tables, nightstands, Eames chairs, Herman Miller. There was so much you really couldn't even see it all.

We get to a back room where it appears that people are working on different pieces. We ask the owner, who introduced himself and gave us 3 business cards, if it's okay to go in. It is. The first thing that catches my eye:

Beautiful. Unlike any chair set I've ever seen. Mind you, two weeks ago we already purchased a pair of chairs for the new living room. But here they were. The PERFECT chairs. Okay, so they look like space-age Jetson chairs to the untrained, non-designer eye. But I see its potential. Reupholstered in two different chenille-like fabrics.

We were truly overwhelmed by the gargantuan inventory of pieces that Moderne had.

But back to the chairs. WE WANTED THEM. BAD. And they were more than what we usually pay. (Honestly, a steal for something in that good of condition and that unusual) But it's still a lot of money. We wandered around the store for at least an hour before making the big decision. Mom felt nauseated and had to sit down. (Note: Mom usually has no problem when she spends, it's my dad who turns green.) It was a mix of astonishment and having to make an impulse decision.

In the world of antiques, you can't go home and think about it. You just have to go with your gut because it probably won't be there tomorrow.

So...we bought them. Reupholstered, they will go perfect with the new couch. But what about the other chairs we already bought? Well, looks like we are going to have to sell them. They weren't right.

In case you couldn't tell, I love antiquing. I'd rather shop for furniture at Lula B's and Moderne or an antique mall that smells like Love's Babysoft and sometimes has no air conditioning than for clothes at Forever21 any day. I want to be Sarah on Sarah's House. On another day, I will definitely be conquering the rest of Riverfront.