Did I mention the Legos?

- I’ve become really interested and fully invested in upping my technical skills, particularly w/ php, mysql, Drupal, etc. More to come on that subject.

- Despite my recent struggles with WordPress I’ve decided to keep this blog on WordPress for the time being. I don’t love WordPress for many reasons, but I don’t hate it either. It makes blogging pretty easy, and as long as that’s all you want to do it definitely works. Redesign forthcoming. I have a ‘real’ website in development elsewhere. I started development on it in WordPress and am slowly moving over to Drupal.

- I also have a pretty fun php project in the works. Launches in early September. Stay tuned.

- Check out centerfieldgate.com, a Washington Nationals blog customized and maintained by yours truly. You may remember a post from last year in which I mentioned my work on river-dogz. I’m happy to say that my skillz are a bit better than back then. Granted I’m using a stock theme but all of it just generally looks better. It’s also a recent addition to the NL East Chatter community. Hawt.

- I helped out a bunch on masspoetry.org and attended the festival last October. I’m not helping as much with it this year given other commitments but it’s still a really awesome event so you should probably go to masspoetry.org. Masspoetry.org. Oh also, you’re only cool if you actually attend the festival!

- I developed and was tech support for vetsforobama.org during most of his campaign until the campaign actually took the site over. That’s probably the site I am most proud of on my resume, given tons of custom design work and functionality, trying to manage a massive petition, and pretty much always being on call for any site issues despite my objections (“I have a job!”). They had to take the site down for legal reasons after the campaign ended, but maybe I’ll find a screenshot and post it later. He won, too, so that doesn’t hurt.

- I also did The Truth About Palin and The Truth About McCain. Tumblr is fun.

- I moved to Boston from DC successfully, with my 2 cats. I’m in the same crappy apartment but moving to a better one soon (September 1).

- Oh, I signed up for Twitter. If you came here from me posting a link to Twitter, that’s awesome. If not, email me if you want my twitter name or just want to stalk me.

- that reminds me, I need to set up a penfall.com email address

- I’m getting a new iPhone, suckas.

- I may start to write those Musings again soon. Maybe musings from Cambridge? Ideas are welcome.

I think that’s it. I’m on the Acela to DC at the moment, it’s 7am, I’ve been awake for 3 hours and only got 3.5hrs of sleep. I have a long day ahead, a long week ahead, and I’ve officially exhausted my want or ability to write (or say?) anything creative at least for the next 24 hours. Time to go check Google Analytics and see if Tweeting about this made any difference in site traffic.

I have to admit – I don’t check w00t.com on a daily basis. Most of the time I’ll check it on a whim, or if my coworkers or friends point me to the site for a cool product. So, it’s for this reason that I point your attention, right now, to w00t.com! We’ve recently been working with a very cool company – Neuton Mowers. Of course all of the people we work with are very cool, but I don’t have a lawn, and never before have I wanted something so badly that I personally have no use for. Neuton sells battery powered lawnmowers, and they’re selling them on woot right now. Now, you might be skeptical – skeptical of the power, the actual ability to cut grass effectively, or even the claim that it’s great for our environment (why would you jump to such drastic conclusions though?). I assure you having used it (and lifted it) myself that it is, simply put, an awesome machine. Click here for a tour of the 6.2 mower.

Let’s skip ahead for a moment. The Neuton lawnmowers releases no carbon emissions – unlike those old gas mowers. All it takes is a charge of the battery and you’re good to go. But what about that battery? Aren’t batteries terrible for the environment too? I’m glad you asked. Neuton has partnered with East Penn Manufacturing to take care of those old batteries and make sure they don’t end up in a landfill never to decompose. They also do some great work in local communities, letting folks exchange their dirty gas mowers for a Neuton.

There are so many reasons why a Neuton is better than a gas mower, even putting aside the immense environmental benefit. Ever feel like screaming at a neighbor who decides they want to mow their lawn at 6am on Sunday? Don’t you just love the smell of gasoline in the morning? Not only does the Neuton only emit the smell of fresh grass clippings, it sounds great too. It’s hard to describe how quiet it is, but I’ll say this – you can carry on a conversation while mowing your lawn. No earplugs necessary, and no angry neighbor (or angry you, depending on the day).

Take a peek at the woots per capita map to see if your neighbors are wooting today. One day we won’t ever wake up to the grinding of gas-powered machines. Woot up!

So I’ve decided to get some real hosting (you know, paid hosting…) for this site so I can install fun things and make it more interesting. But I’m nervous about transferring the hosting for this site. Will I lose data? What if something happens? Is it really as easy as going to bluehost and clicking on “transfer client?”

Suggestions, anyone?

Also in the back of my car, though, will be two very distressed cats. Well, I hope they won’t be distressed. Here’s what they look like when they’re calm:

Fisher is the fat black cat on the right, Desi the healthier on the left (don’t ask why one is fat and the other isn’t – they both eat exactly the same thing). I’ve never driven long distance with any cat – the farthest we went with Fisher was about two blocks, and a minute into the drive he started whining.

So I’ve been reading up on how to drive long distances with cats but all of the advice is contradictory. Some say to drug your cats, some claim that drugging them will only make them disoriented and nervous. I’m generally against drugging – I’m just overly paranoid that I’ll give them too much of any given drug and will inadvertently kill my cats. Plus, I wouldn’t want to be drugged. Do unto others… right?

Then there are the more “natural” methods of calming cats for a drive, which I just don’t believe actually work. 

Some people recommend buying a dog crate and leaving food, ice cubes, toys, and a small litter box in the crate for your cat. They even go so far as to say “under no circumstances should you let your cats out of the crate during the drive” for fear of them getting stuck under the gas pedal, or any other inconvenient place. Others argue that leaving water, food, etc outside of the crate and letting your cat have breaks from the crate when you stop for gas is the best idea. That way the cat can unwind from being stuck in a crate and have a chance to eat or stink up the car if they so choose. Even better, some suggest putting your cat on a leash to go do its business outside when you stop. To that I say no thank you – I don’t want to lose my cats on the side of the highway because I thought they needed a pee break. It’s an 8 hour drive, they’ll live.

Other articles suggest that using something like Feliway will work to calm any anxiety your cat may have about driving, loud car noises, strange smells, etc. But it’s also used to deter cats from peeing, so what is the logic there? To make my cat hold it for 8 hours?

And then there are the scary articles – the ones that warn about severe motion sickness (see the pic of the cat drooling…), dehydration, cats simply going batshit in a crate, and so on. This is really where my severe paranoia comes in – I’d rather not emotionally traumatize my cats for life, or have them hate me for the next 10 years. You may scoff, but at least one of my cats holds grudges pretty well. When we moved apartments last year, and the move was literally two blocks away, Fisher was grumpy towards us for at least a month. Instead of cuddling he’d hide under the bed, when we’d lure him out with a treat or wet food he’d quickly eat it and retreat back under the bed. 

In any case, as you can probably tell I’m just a little anxious about driving my cats such a long distance. So far I have prepared by buying a medium sized dog crate that the both of them will share. They’re friends, so I don’t see them getting in any fights with each other, but maybe I’m wrong – thoughts, anyone?

I’ve left the crate open in our apartment with a blanket and a few toys in it so they can get acclamated, but so far they’ve only sat on top of the crate, not in it. Last night I gave it a test run, and put both of them in the crate and closed the door. Fisher was okay with it – he sat there, stared at me as if to say “okay, I don’t like this, but I know you’re going to let me out soon. You are. You definitely are.”

Desi immediately freaked out – it wasn’t anything major, but I could tell she was nervous as she started pacing and pawing at the walls of the crate. And whining. I left them in the crate for no longer than three minutes and Fisher proved to be the calm one of the two – he even stayed sitting in the crate for a few minutes after I opened it up again. 

In the end I think it’s a little weird that of all the things I could be worried about with my move, I am focusing on my cats. I haven’t finished packing, the apartment is a mess, I don’t have a parking permit to park in Cambridge (that’s another blog post all together), and did I mention my dad is driving a uhaul? I don’t think he’s ever driven one before. 

But even with all of that, it’s all about the cats. Here’s hoping they whine for a few minutes but slowly and calmly fall asleep for the entire drive. 

The official Press Release:

“Cal Perry, CNN’s award-winning Baghdad bureau chief and producer, has been appointed as the network’s new international correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide.

Perry, who has been instrumental in coordinating and guiding CNN’s unrivaled coverage of Iraq over the past four years, takes up his new position in April. In this new role, he will cover Lebanon and also support CNN’s growing presence across the Middle East with editorial operations in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Baghdad, Cairo, Dubai and Jerusalem.

As Baghdad bureau chief, Perry oversaw a staff of more than two dozen journalists and also reported breaking news and produced long-form programming including CNN Presents: Combat Hospital, which won a CINE award in 2007.

‘Cal’s expertise of the region is an invaluable asset for us, and I’m delighted that he is taking up a new role in Beirut,’ Khosravi said. ‘As we continue to strengthen our presence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world through our content ownership strategy adding additional correspondents and resources, having ‘can do’ reporters of his caliber are essential.’

In addition to this appointment, CNN International is also boosting its feature programming in the region with additional resources for Inside The Middle East and the acclaimed and recently launched Market Place Middle East. In addition to tapping into CNN’s planned production center in Abu Dhabi that was announced in January, both programs will have exclusive access to international correspondent Brent Sadler and his considerable knowledge and experience of the region.

This new role for Sadler underscores the importance and commitment to the region by CNN and will allow both programs to plan more in-depth and expanded coverage.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.”

Congratulations Cal!

You’ll notice that my website-building skills are pretty minimal (the header could use some work), but all in all I’m quite proud of myself! I even figured out how to get an image to show up in a text widget – for me, that’s a huge accomplishment. Also, changing the fonts or text size was initially a challenge but now I find myself talking about font families and scrolling through stylesheets. It’s crazy! (for me it’s crazy.)

As for changing colors, well, I’m just not there yet. I mean, can someone please tell me what this means? As I began working with code and trying to figure it all out, the colors seemed pretty self explanatory. Find the ’333′ in the stylesheet for the header color, change it to ’033′ and you’ll get a new color (dark blue), right? Wrong.

Now I find myself working even harder on my own site (I’d link to it, but it’s currently password protected), trying new things, working with code and challenging myself more and more to try to make a website not only look good, but go past the original theme and make it my own. Once I take the password protection off it’s going to be great – not just visually, but it is and will be a full collection of my writing, research, and some photos.

A final note about river-dogz - I think it would be pretty awesome to have an embedded calendar (or something similar) to show the Nats season schedule. Any suggestions for how to go about that?

Since being at South by Southwest and doing my best to blog about all of the amazing panels I have attended (or at least take detailed notes for future posts), I’ve come to the realization that I have deprived my loyal readers (all four of you) of my daily rantings, ravings, thoughts, insights, poems, and everything else.

Well, that’s going to change, starting now. I’m committing myself to at least 5 posts per week, if not more. Welcome back Penfall lovers – I have returned!

So far the plan is to relax by the pool, read some books I’ve been meaning to read for a while, hike, hang out w/ Matt, and occasionally do some dishes and babysit so the ranch doesn’t deduct anything from Matt’s paycheck for my stay.

I can’t wait!

After spending at least an hour, if not more, browsing the internet for other solutions, I decided that everyone was full of crap. I put a small towel on my head, and then a hat tightly fit on top of the towel (to prevent them from swarming around my face and hair). I donned some large oven mitts, a long sleeved shirt, jeans, and shoes. I grabbed a bottle of Febreze, and as I walked past the mirror I stopped to look at myself, and laughed. So it was maybe a little ridiculous, but while I am generally okay with bugs outdoors, I have zero tolerance for bugs indoors.

My mission was clear: spray the stationary flies with the Febreze (if a human can’t swallow it without getting deathly ill, imagine what it must do to a small fruit fly), and get the ones in the air with the oven mitts. It worked pretty well! About 45minutes to an hour later, I had gotten most of them, and the ones that had escaped I considered not worth the effort.

Last night, when I returned from work there were only three, maybe four stragglers in my kitchen, hovering weakly. I got the oven mitts again, and presto! No more fruit flies (don’t worry, I’m washing the stupid oven mitts I haven’t used except for this occasion before I hang them up again in my kitchen). I considered my efforts a success. At work today I wasn’t concerned with fruit flies, I did not dread coming home to see this gross display of nature in my kitchen. Yet, when I arrived at home and went into the kitchen, there they were. And let me assure you, they are EVERYWHERE.

I would be upset, but not nearly as angry as I am now, if I had inadvertently left food out, or had forgotten to run the garbage disposal for a few days. I would be upset, but not pissed off, if this was actually my fault. Now, instead of relaxing when I come home after a long day of work, I have to deal with this sh*t. Now I have to wait for some guy to come to my apartment and spray toxic crap in and around my sink instead of going to the bar to say goodbye to a good friend and colleague.

My dad says, as he does, “That’s too bad” (and really he means, “yeah? So what. That’s life. Deal with it.”) My mom says, “Well, did you look under the fridge? Did you run the garbage disposal? Is there any food out? Did you clean? Did you try…?…?…?…?” and you can imagine I just love that. My friend Jessica says “Maybe you should breed them and then sell them to biologists — they love fruit flies!” Very helpful. My boyfriend Matt says, “Eww, that sucks baby.” Mhm. Thanks.

What I really need is someone to say, “Hey, I had the same problem once. Why don’t you try this fail-safe method and you’ll never see the fruit flies again!” The truth is, there is no fail-safe method. Even online, there are only suggestions, “try this” and “give this a shot.” So now, I wait for the man with the poison to come save the day … or just poison my kitty and me and leave the fruit flies to revel in the new food supply.

http://www.stickergiant.com/page/sg/PROD/antibush/cabs021

That’s all for now. My very unreliable IE7 froze and I lost a post that I had been working on for a long time. Serves me right for not writing in a word document I guess.