Sunday Dress and Hair

Sorry, I only took one picture of the front and it turned out fuzzy, but you get the idea.

Wisdom from Elle

It's been a while since I've posted Elleims.
Here are a few.
#1. Kate and Bill came to visit this summer as you know.
You may not know that after they left Elle told me some interesting information about them.
She said, " I can tell which side of the bed Katie slept on. I know her scent--I picked it up. It smells like, ya know, Utah. But I haven't picked up Bill's scent. So Katie was on the right and Bill was on the Left."
uh. huh.


#2. I ate a cookie and Elle caught me in the act. I told her "It was calling me."
Later, I saw her leaning her ear towards the plate of cookies on the table.
Listening.



#3. Yesterday was the kick off for Red Ribbon Week (say "No" to drugs). In class, they talked about saying "No" and the harmful effect of drugs and alcohol.
For homework, Elle had to write a paragraph about saying "No" to drugs. She had to have a topic sentence. She decided it should be about how drugs aren't healthy for your body.
So, I asked her what the ill effects of different drugs are.
She said smoking is bad for your lungs and you can't breathe.
She couldn't remember the ill effects of alcohol, so we looked it up.
We found out that alcohol is bad for your liver and if you drink too much, you could die.
When we got to the part about the liver, Elle perked up and said,
"You know how people used to eat each other?"
Blank look from me.
"You, know, way back when. . .Well, if they were eating someone who had too much alcohol, then they would eat a bad liver!"
um. sure. ok.

Although she didn't put it in the paragraph, we can all know never to drink alcohol just in case we become dinner someday--
we wouldn't want to provide a bad liver!
After all, what kind of meal would we be without the liver!

( I have NO idea why she thinks our ancestors used to eat each other.
She said she doesn't remember where she learned it either. Don't worry, we set her straight)

In other news, it is FREAKING HOT here! It's supposed to get up to 97!
It is currently 91!
I think we are actually in Hell and I just missed the memo.

Husband tag

So, my friend Tiffany tagged me on her blog. Usually, I pretend not to notice things like blog tags and email forwards, but I've been meaning to post something like this anyway. To show my rebellion, I've decided not to answer the questions in the tag. Instead, I made up my own. I'm sure you'll thank me in the end ;)


Interview with Chris

N:What do you do for a living?

Chris: I work for Dreamworks in the undefined* department writing shaders and finding out what the surfacing department needs so they can make things look better. I've also done texture synthesis and anti aliasing.
*I don't really have a department or a manager. I just make up things and pretend to be busy. I even had to decide when my last day would be, and inform the accountant that I was leaving. I sit with the research and development department, but I'm not part of them. If they were moved into a different location on campus, I'd be left behind in my corner, and then I'd have to talk to someone in management and have my self moved.

N: What is your job title?

Chris: Shading/effects developer

N: What is texture synthesis?

Chris: The way to generate images based on other images. Like if you have one little picture of grass you can make a pattern that doesn't repeat. Watch the patch-based texture synthesis here.

N: And what is anti aliasing?

Chris: This. In figure (a) there is all sorts of yucky bits and in (b), it has been anti-aliased.

N: What are shaders?

Chris: Programs that make the geometry look real.

N: What do you mean by Geometry?

Chris: characters, ground, rocks, buildings etc.

N: What do you do all day?

Chris: I go to meetings with the lighting department, the Shrek 4 team, and the rendering group. I walk around and talk to people trying to understand their frustrations and what needs to be improved.

N: What do you do after you've collected all your data from everyone?

Chris: I try to figure out how to change the shaders to give better results.

N: What shaders have you improved at Dreamworks?

Chris: Skin, metals, and reflections.

N: How do you improve shaders?

Chris: I look to see how I can make the shading tools easier for the artist to use, to look better and behave more realistically.

N:What movies have you worked on at Dreamworks?

Chris: Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar 2, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train your Dragon and Shrek 4.

N:Where would we find your name in the credits?

Chris: I'm currently under “surfacing”--“Global Surfacing.”*
* I have to be sure to ask to be put in the credits. Since I'm not really managed, I don't fall into one of the standard categories, so I can get forgotten if I'm not careful. (see KFP) N: (ya, I'm still sore about that)

N: What exactly is global surfacing?

Chris: It means I work with the surfacing teams for all the shows at Dreamworks, not just one show.

N: Are you excited to start your new job with Pixar?

Chris: I am. I worked with their software when I worked at Digital Domain, and there were some things I never really liked about it. I look forward to having the chance to fix it.

N: What will you be doing there?

Chris: I will be writing shaders, and re-writing shaders that come with Renderman when you buy it. Well, you probably won't buy it as it is really expensive, and doesn't come in handy for word processing or blogging.

N:What will your title be?

Chris: Renderman engineer

N: Will your name be in the credits of Pixar movies?

Chris: Yes, probably

N: Why do you think people call you a genius?

Chris: It's a joke they like to play on me. I think that Paul Schoeni propagated the myth that I was really smart. Or maybe it's because I can usually come up with a way to solve problems.

N: Thank you for the interview.

Chris: You're welcome

See! Wasn't that interesting/informative?
I know I learned a lot!

Madagascar 2

We just got back from a screening of Madagascar 2!
Go see it November 7th!
When the credits roll,
look on the right hand side under "Global Surfacing" and you will see
Christopher N. Harvey
Yea!!
p.s. There is NO tag scene, so after you see Chris' name, feel free to leave ;)

Prop 8

Check This out. Then do everything you can to save marriage.
Vote yes on 8, my friends!

Sunday dress and hair and stuff

I found a bunch of blog sites that are all about cute little girl hair styles, so I decided to try this one out today. It was a good compromise for me wanting to do Elle's hair up all cute and her wanting it down since she has to have it up for school (lice is back in town).






































In other news, Chris and Elle are on the balcony here, but they are NOT eating stinky fish this time! Instead, they are drawing with charcoal!
Elle has been wanting some charcoal, so Chris bought her some yesterday at the art store and they tried it out today.












And Elle's friend gave her a fairy house kit for her birthday and she finally had some time to put it together the other day. It came with the fairy statue, the green stuff and flowers. The kit suggested that we go out in nature and find things to add to it, which we did.
The flag was Elle's idea too.
She used hot glue to put it together, and by the time she glued one side of the roof, the first side was dry. This turned out to be a good thing, though, because she can lift one side of the roof up and peek at all the fairies who have moved in.

I have to do this last part because of Hannah
She tagged me.
The rules of the tag are as follows:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 6 random things about yourself.
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them. (I refuse to do this party, sorry. You can consider yourself tagged if you really want to :)
5. Let the person know you tagged them on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when you've posted.

1. I get hiccups when I eat white bread
2. I have three kidneys
3. Colors and Numbers have gender. I'm consistent about it too. (3 is a girl, and green is a boy, by the way)
4. I love peppermint ice cream, especially if it has chunks
5. Five is my favorite number
6. I have been to Germany. Once.

4 of 4

I was reading a friend's blog and I thought I'd play along too.
This is my fourth picture in my fourth file in Picasa. (If you don't use Picasa, you should really start. It's free!)
This picture was taken last year when we were taking pictures for our annual on-the-beach-Christmas photo.
As you can see, it was pretty cold that day in December. Elle has her coat on and everything ;)
What's your 4 of 4?

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to a great gal!








































And and awesome boy!

Good Food Friday Fairy Cake

Here's how the fairy cake turned out

close up

It's Somebody's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!


(I'm working on The Cake now and I'll post it later for Good Food Friday!)

I love the beach!

We decided to take advantage of yesterday's "unassigned school day" to go with some friends to the beach.
It was a perfect day!
The weather was unbelievably hot
and the water was feet numbing cold,
which was good because it was so hot ;)

Elle decided to make a sand angel.

We even saw several dolphins!
It was a great day!
I can't wait until we get to skip school again!