What a slacker! Thoughts of a slacker.

I Want It Wednesday: 3D Cameras

I Want It Wednesdays, Photography No Responses »

May 252011

I have always LOVED 3D movies and photography. I have even been playing with a little bit with my digital camera. But all those images must be of things and not people since you have to take two pictures for every one 3D.

Well now there are not only 3D digital cameras but 3D camcorders as well. While I would love one of the higher end 3D video cameras I will settle for the less expensive one.

There are two that I am looking at…

Fujifilm FinePix Real 3D W3 Digital Camera with 3.5-Inch LCD and the Sony MHS-FS3 3D Bloggie Video Camera (Black)

But which one do I go with? The Bloggie is designed more for video but will do photos too and the Fuji FinePix is the reverse.

They both have dual CCDs so there is no loss in separating the lenses. Do I let price win this?

Fuji Film FinePix Real 3D W3 Essentials Accessory Kit

Donations to the ARL and Other Stuff

Pets, Rants No Responses »

May 202011

For the last couple of years Boris (that’s my cat) and I have been making donations and helping out our local animal shelters. When I make the donations I like to personal deliver them to the animals and take pictures of their little faces lighting up when they get a toy or a treat. Sometimes it is the first time they have been given a toy and it is so rewarding watching them finally figure out how to have fun with it.

I usally post the donation photos and adoption information of the animals over at Boris’ site — BorisKitty.com (he has more followers on his blog than I do and we won’t even get into all his followers on Twitter and friends on facebook).

Today I took over boxes and boxes of dog treats from work and a small bag of treats and toys for the kitties for the animals at the Animal Rescue League of Berks County as I have done MANY times over the past few years. When I took my first photo of a cat playing with one of the toys I gave them a staff member yelled at me for taking pictures and basically told me to leave. I had no idea what was going on as I said I have gone in and taken photos of the cats in their care on MANY occasions.

Needless to say I was very disappointed and a bit upset by being blocked from my project. I asked to speak with the director of the ARL who tried his best to placate me with the old “it has always been our policy” bit. Oh really, then why have I been allowed before without getting special permission to photograph? It seems they had some one posting photos on facebook that showed them in a bad light and instead of fixing the issues these photos pointed out to the world at large the sweep them under the carpet by banning photography. Doing that only makes it seem like they REALLY have something to hide doesn’t it?

I half expect to see an expose on them on Action News sometime in the future.

I was assured that nothing bad is going on and that they are only trying to stop that sort of thing from happening again.

Ok, wait an minute here…

If nothing bad is going on why do you have to stop photographs from showing it?

I have never liked the ARL all that much any way, especially since they are a kill shelter, and this new issue only reinforces that dislike.

Yes, animals you take in there are usually put down within days of going there and sometimes they are put down within minutes. But they had been cleaning up their act a bit, or so I thought, by implementing a fostering program, which gives the animals a fighting chance to be adopted out instead of put to sleep.

The staff there are never friendly, yes they are trying to do their job and I am sure most, if not all of them, dislike working in a kill shelter, but if you don’t like your job or you don’t like people quit. Of all the times I have donated I have never once been thanked or helped with the boxes (and I usually take a lot of boxes in). Surprisingly this was the first time someone not only helped me with the boxes (came out and took one of the last two inside for me), but also kind of thanked me and asked if I needed a receipt. (I should have taken them up on that receipt that pile of boxes retails at over $800.)

When I raised $11oo for them online with the first SCIFIpawty I never heard one word of thanks. I guess the HSBC spoiled me by sending out a thank you letter every time I drop something off at their facility.

I know there is bad blood between the ARL and HSBC but never once have I heard HSBC speak ill of the ARL. The director of the ARL freely spoke of HSBC and of his opinions of them. Not very good form for the director is it? But he was trying to place blame for the whole Skittles issue on everyone else except the ARL where it belongs.

Guess I will stick with groups that appreciate what I do for them like One By One Cat Rescue and Humane Society of Berks County. Two very worthy animal rescue groups indeed.

If you know of some other worthy shelters or rescue groups please let me know in the comments below.

Poor Rick Santorum

Junk, Odd Stuff No Responses »

May 152011

If you haven’t heard it before you will most likely hear about it shortly.

Sen. Rick Santorum has a problem with Google (well not just Google but all the search engines really, but apparently he uses and blames Google the most).

When you search for his name a nasty website tops the charts. This was a prank pulled on him back in 2003 but still gets relevant SEO rankings today.

If you want to know what the prank is simply read the search engines description of the site that pops up first (no not the paid ads which I assume is how Santorum’s team is fighting back. Or better yet go the the wikipedia article Santorum (neologism) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What does that mean for Rick Santorum? Not much really. He can’t remove it and the more people link to it the higher the rankings will go (reason I don’t link to it). But this will never go away — EVER.

Not that I am a fan of Santorum in any way shape or form. I just don’t wish to propagate this type of trash.

Perhaps this is a lesson for everyone. Be careful out their because you don’t want someone posting something nasty about you on the net.

Happy Mother’s Day

Death, Mourning, Depression No Responses »

May 082011

A mother’s kiss can make an owie go away.

A mother’s homemade soup can cure the flu.

A mother’s hug can make all the cares in the world disappear.

I miss that.

SCIFIpawty Contest: Win an Autographed Go-Go’s CD

Collectibles, Comics, Music, Pets 16 Responses »

Mar 262011

Being a child of the 80s the Go-Go’s are a big deal to me. They were one of the first bands I really liked and I still like their music even if it isn’t like all the other dark, gloomy, heavy stuff I usually listen too. The Go-Go’s will remain a favorite band of mine. That being said, it is with extreme pleasure (and a little bit of jealousy as I would like to keep this) that get to give away this autographed CD insert from the Go-Go’s signed by all five band members. This was given to me by band member Jane Wiedlin (you can also win signed copies of her Lady Robotika comic over at ScifiSlacker.com).

She donated these great prizes to help us raise money for One By One Cat Rescue during SCIFIpawty (a virtual science fiction convention my cat Boris holds every year).

So how do you go about entering our contest? Just answer the trivia question in the comments below and you are entered into our random drawing for this super awesome prize.

Want more chances to win? Donate to our charity using the same email address as the used to answer the question below and you’ll get another entry for every $5 you donate.

Donate here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/kelly-hoffman/boriskitty1×1

Answer this Question in the comments: Where was Jane on March 11th to 13th? (hint)

Fine Print: No purchase necessary, void where prohibited, odds of winning depends on number of entries. One entry per person, household, email address, etc. Contest ends 4/5/11.

Oprah Takes Over The World

TV No Responses »

Feb 012011

I first heard about OWN: the new Oprah Winfrey Network when my cable company informed me that Discovery Health would be turning into OWN. I enjoyed the late night shows on Discovery Health and new Oprah’s new network really wasn’t going to be something I wanted to watch.

So when SheSpeaks.com gave me the opportunity to view one of the new shows on OWN prior to the premiere of the channel on my cable network I thought I would give it a chance and see what it would be all about.

The show was “Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star”. My first reaction was, “Oh great yet another reality TV series.”

I am not a fan of any show that makes people fight, bicker or argue on camera. If I wanted to watch that I could sit on my front porch and watch the city go by. I want real entertainment. Something that takes my mind off of the every day grind. Not add to it.

So needless to say I was less than impressed with the show but I was even less thrilled by the cast of characters trying to get there OWN show. There was no one in that group except maybe the woman that already worked in television that I could see EVER having a show or at least having a show that went beyond an episode or two.

The other shows on the network are just more reality or talk shows. Again not something that will have me setting my DVR or tuning my TV to that station. Sorry Oprah. Not that she’ll miss this one viewer with her 80 million plus fans out there watch her every move.

Well At Least I Am Still A Pisces

Everything in Between, Odd Stuff No Responses »

Jan 202011

I did not pay too much attention to the new star signs when the news first hit as I am not into astrology, but I do find it interesting that along with moving some of the dates they have added a whole new sign to the line up.

Several of my friends and family have changed signs. Wonder what they link of their new sign? Does it match their personality or will they stick with the old one?

The new 13th sign is Ophiuchus (how the heck do you pronounce that).

The new signs and dates are as follows:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 20 – Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10 – Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 – Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 – Jan. 20

Maybe this is what’s wrong with the world today? No one knows where they stand or how they are supposed to act or which horoscope to read in the daily paper!

The Terrible Things That People Do

Pets No Responses »

Nov 112010

Yesterday when I went out to get my lunch I glanced at the newsstand where I saw an adorable kitty face looking back at me. Then I read the headline and I was simply heart broken.

The kitty had been shot by some unknown assailant with a small caliber weapon or pellet gun. Shatter 11 bones in its upper leg. The kitty’s name is Peanut and as I read her ordeal I immediately wanted to do something for her and her owner, Mrs. Hanick of West Chester.

Then I had a chance to speak to Mrs. Hanick and it simply reconfirmed my resolution to do something, anything, to help her out with this big vet bill.

The surgery has cost upwards of $2400 with more to come and more doctors visits and that’s if the kitty stays healthy and strong. I am not even going to think about what would happen if the cat gets an infection. One day at a time (and this isn’t even one of my cats). 86 year old Mrs. Hanick, who only wants the best for her feline companion, had to use her home equity loan to pay the vet bill. We cannot allow them to risk their home, can we?

Boris and I work hard every day to raise money and awareness for charities, why we couldn’t we do the same thing here? We went about setting up a Chip-In page where people can donate (big or small it all adds up) and we would make sure that Mrs. Hanick gets the money after our fund raising drive, which we set to end 11/26/2010. We wanted this is be a very thankful Thanksgiving.

After only one day we have already raised over $225 thanks to all Boris’ online friends, known as anipals, and CatToys.com for a very sizable donation of $125! I hope that we will be able to really help out this nice lady and her hurt kitty cat.

Boris is actively blogging and tweeting to get the word out. Here are his posts (WARNING: these are written by Boris, who speaks kitteh).

The majority of the updates will be over on his blog and website, BorisKitty.com. Please consider donating something, anything. Thank you.

Worlds Best Cat Litter

Pets, Raves No Responses »

Nov 072010

It really isn’t just a self-aggrandizing name, it really is the World’s Best Cat Litter.

I won a bag in a contest on Twitter and tried it out on our cats and I just loved it and so did the cats.

It is almost dustless, which was so nice when filling the box. No cloud of perfumed yuck flew up in my face.

Even without all the perfumes of other clumping litters it still kept the smell down too. Cat urine was almost undetectable when cleaning out the cat box.

The worst part was that it was only available at Petco or Petsmart which are not on my regular shopping routes.

It is now at Target and for a limited time there is a $3 off coupon on the 8 lb bags. Sweet! Now I can pick it up when I stop for a regular shopping trip instead of making a special trip to a specialty store.

Head on over to the World’s Best Cat Litter’s website for more information and to enter their contest to win a year’s supply of litter & a $200 Target gift card. Good Luck!

Snickers Peanut Butter YUM

Free Stuff, Raves No Responses »

Nov 042010

I had an opportunity to sample the new Snickers Peanut Butter candy bars, at least I would have if I wasn’t allergic to peanuts! So I did a private sampling with all my co-workers and friends.

The overall opinion was that is was a very tasty candy bar. This only made me want to try it even more!

As you can see by the picture it has all the YUMMY goodness of a regular Snickers but the peanuts are surround by very tasty peanut butter.

I had a blast handing the new treats out on Halloween, but I really, really wanted to nom some for myself. Just look at all the fun everyone working with Snickers & SheSpeaks.com had…

So go ahead and taste them (they should be in stores now) and then stop by here and rub it in how yummy they are and how I don’t get to eat any. Go ahead. I dare you.

Halloween With Snickers

Free Stuff, Odd Stuff, Pets No Responses »

Nov 022010

A little before Halloween I heard about a great promotion that SheSpeaks.com was having for Snickers. So I quickly applied to be a part of it, telling them how much I love Halloween (it is my Christmas).

I little while later I was told I had been chosen to be one of the Snickers “Coolest House on the Block” participants.

So cool! The package of goodies arrived about a week before Halloween. Boris helped me inventory everything we got (especially the candy — probably because it sounded a little like his treat bags as I was pulling them out of the box).

Next up was to decorate the house. Being city folk we don’t like to have the house decorated too early, just to cut down on the possibility of vandals. However, SheSpeaks.com needed photos posted by a certain time showing the decorations in place.

So I went about building a cemetery out front and hung the HUGE Snickers banner behind it. This was placed right where all the Trick-or-Treaters would see it as they came up our front steps.) The banner reads, “It’s No Trick. Here’s the only house where you can get this new treat.”

Glad I did not completely decorate as we had some really windy days leading up to Sunday’s Halloween night. So I added the finishing touches to the decorations Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately the mini fog machine Snickers sent did not work out as it was still too windy. All the fog blew away in seconds. But the strobe light really made the cemetery creepy.

I heard quite a few parents reading the banner aloud as I handed out the candy to their kids and even a few came over and asked for some for themselves as well.

Boris was getting rather upset about being left inside the house when all the excitement was outside.

Here’s a gallery of Trick-or-Treaters from the evening. This is only a small sampling as I gave out all of the candy and it was quite busy at times. I also had some smaller ghosts & goblins that I chose not to post because of their tender young age. But boy were some of them adorable.

At the end of the evening there were two little furry Trick-or-Treaters. They unfortunately did not get any of the Snickers, but I still was able to give them some Halloween toys (I should have had some Greenies on hand for them).

Boris also told all of his friends about how Halloween was on Snickers this year and what he was up to on Halloween night. (Warning: Boris’ blog is written in kitteh speek.)

I Want it Wednesday: Wampa Rug

Collectibles, I Want It Wednesdays, Online Shoping No Responses »

Oct 202010

Call me crazy (hahaha very funny), but I love this Wampa Rug. It is an officially licensed Star Wars product made by ThinkGeek.com (gotta love those geeks).

I already have the TaunTaun sleeping bag (and I have to make a lightsaber noise every time I open it too). It keeps me toasty warm on those cold Hoth winter nights.

Apparently the slave girl is not included with the Wampa Rug, sorry fan boys.

Iams Kicks Off Adoptions in National Adopt a Pet Month

Pets No Responses »

Oct 152010

Iams Home 4 the Holidays officially opened its “doors” October 1st, the start of national Adopt a Pet Month and runs through the Holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Years) ending January 4, 2011.

Their goal this year is to find homes for 1.5 million animals. If that wasn’t a lofty enough idea they are also striving to donate 5 million meals to shelter animals! They are doing this because they understand not everyone can adopt and for those of us that still wish to participate we can do so by helping them reach that goal if not the adoption goal.

To date the Iams Home 4 the Holidays program has found homes for 4.6 million animals and enriching the lives of just as many people in the process!

“We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve helped more than 4.6 million animals find homes over the last 11 years,” said Maria Beatriz Rodriguez, Iams general manager. “Our core mission has been and remains to reduce pet homelessness through adoption.

So you want to do something to help? Head over to facebook and “like” the Iams page, which by the way also has great tips and information on how to help. For now though simply clicking “like” will donate a meal. Doing that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and all you had to do was something you do daily anyways. Can’t get any easier than that. Take it a step further and invite your friends to do the same, each new like means another meal.

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What A Slacker!