I’m a Project Runway fan, and when Anna called me yesterday and asked me for ideas for videos to show as sample introductions in class, I was in the middle of Episode 1 of Season 6. So the first segment, where everyone meets each other and introduces themselves to the camera, sprang to mind. Then today Anna texted me to say thanks, she’s going to use it.

Unfortunately, I teach in France, and I don’t start teaching until October, which presents two problems: 1) Lifetime.com won’t let me view it because of my French IP address and 2) the videos will be taken down at the end of September (I believe). But I’m kind of taken with the idea of using this segment to inspire them to do intros, so I decided to poke around for ways to capture streaming video content.

I did a search and found a good list of screen video capture software (for Mac, I’m sure there are tons for Windows too) and selected the one with the best demo (as in, no watermark across the screen): it’s called Snapz Pro X and the demo is good for 15 days, which is all I can use it for anyway, though if I really like it I might buy it at some point.

So I turned on PR episode 1 on the lifetime site (though I couldn’t record full screen) and video-screen-captured it and here it is! It’s only the first five minutes of the episode so I don’t feel bad. Plus, they shouldn’t block foreign IP addresses .

Project Runway Season 6 intros (or most of it, I may have cut it off before we got to everyone)

It’s compressed to high quality so it looks good enough full screen but also takes lots of time to download. I’ll figure out exactly how I’ll use it in class later.

playing farm games on Facebook. Specifically, Farm Town and Farmville. I was invited to Farmville by a grad school friend and at first I completely ignored it, until she posted pictures of her adorable farm. Then I started down into the vortex. Or the rabbit hole, if you will. There are indeed rabbits. Then I got my mom involved. Seriously they are so addictive. So much so that I’m going to post a list of Farmville vs. Farm Town pros:

Farmville:
cuter, better graphics, including cuter avatar
much easier to navigate, avatar never wanders off on own while harvesting
can collect from animals (though you never eat or kill them—pigs collect truffles, cows and goats give milk, bunnies give angora wool, am waiting to find out what I get from my horse)
can sends gifts to friends all day long not just once

Farm Town:
can give avatar silly name
can make money faster so less sitting around waiting for things to grow
animals wander around farm, dogs scratch themselves
flowers
can interact with other farmers and hire them/be hired

I recommend either one. Won’t you be my neighbor? Get your mom addicted too!

Went to the Houston consulate this morning and it turns out they do need a copy of the contract or something that gives the dates of my employment. So I dropped everything off and am supposed to fax them something from the university saying I’ve been hired and from when to when. Hopefully I can get it done by Monday or sometime next week. I think I’ll still be leaving on time, the Houston consulate is pretty prompt.

If I ever were to do this again, now I would know exactly how it’s supposed to work…

Blurg.

I’m going to Houston tomorrow to go to the consulate on Wednesday. Every time I go I have irrational fears that something will go wrong. But I’m pretty sure everything’s in order this year (unlike last year).

I’ve started thinking about 2010-11 and am redoing my resume to send it to East Coast teacher agencies. Who knows what this year will bring but I would like to have a concrete plan for if staying in France falls through or just feels too complicated. I really loved Boston when I was there visiting my brother last year, right after coming back from France. I think I’d be happy in the northeast.

Wish I had something more cohesive to post, but I don’t.

totally made my day. I cooked them like this and they were delicious. I didn’t have a big enough pan to do them all single-layer so some looked burnt but they still tasted great.

Last Friday I sent a letter (a real one, and in French) to the French consulate in Houston telling them my new address, phone number, and e-mail address for when they receive my papers from France. BEST IDEA EVER. I just got a phone call from someone there saying everything is there already and I should go ahead and make an appointment. Hurrah! I don’t know if they had it already and didn’t have my contact info or what, since they left a message and I didn’t actually talk to anyone.

Looks like I’ll be going to France on time this year!!

has been sort of fascinating. Sometimes they just stare at me like I should be doing something very important for them and I’m not. Then sometimes when I’m watching tv they stare at me like I’m the most boring person on earth. Then sometimes they wake me up by staring at me (actually that was just once, this morning, and it was only Otto I saw when I opened my eyes).

Last night I was getting ready to turn the light off and saw a cockroach climb up the door frame. I smacked it with a shoe but then it disappeared. Otto (who had been almost asleep) was immediately as invested in looking for it as I was. I was touched by his recognizing how important it was that I kill that thing before going back to bed.

Otto has a habit of walking into the room, huffing and stomping one foot. Then I have to guess what he wants because he can’t talk. Is his yellow cigarillo stuck under the couch? Does he want to go outside? Really those are the only two guesses I’ve learned.

I gave them baths yesterday and haircuts today because I feel bad about how boring I am (seriously I either type or read or watch movies/tv) and also because they stank. White dogs get dirty fast. Otto was very eager for the haircut (lay down patiently on the table when it took me 15 minutes to fix the clippers) but not so much for the bath.

In other really miscellaneous news… I finally saw Knocked Up because my parents are gone and I knew I could watch things they don’t want to see. And I thought it was really good. But those movies still make me feel like the world and popular comedy are inherently sexist, even though I know Judd Apatow isn’t. The ending was uplifting, and the middle was pretty depressing.

I also went to the UTSA library today and it is seriously wack. There are four elevators. One serves floors 2 and 3, one serves floors 1 and 4, and one serves floors 1 and 2. Or something like that. So to get from 4 to 3, you have to go to 1, get off, go to 2, get off and then take a final elevator to 3. I think. I don’t even remember how we did but honestly it was something like that.

of the masters report done. It’s sooo slow to write.

Am alone with the dogs this week and they are particularly needy and anxious. I am too (except for the anxious part). Am discovering things like Otto is much better behaved on walks and pretty much always wants to go outside.

So, where do people buy furniture in France? I’m thinking I’ll need a bed and an armoire, definitely, and maybe a desk. Probably a desk. I’ve heard of Emmaus and Ikea (there’s no Ikea in Poitiers sadly, I’d have to go all the way to Tours) but nothing really in the way of normal, standard furniture stores. I’m will to spend a little money, like, I don’t want hideous things, but not too much. There’s an Intermarche right near my future home—they don’t sell furniture do they?