Ceramics and Clay

Hunter and Emma just finished a ceramics class that was offered through the community. They went every week for 6 weeks and made some really fun things! They still have some projects curing on the shelves at the studio, and we’ll add those to the gallery too when they’re ready. (Also in the gallery are pictures of Emma’s projects from her after-school class where she painted ceramics. Hunter took a “Mad Science” class and it was a blast, but there weren’t any projects to include in the gallery.) It was great fun for them and the little girls loved it too because we would play at the park next door during the class and watch the ducks on the pond there. We even fed the ducks sometimes which Hannah and Sabrina especially loved.

Now that this class is over, it’s on to bowling class, and although the kids were super late to their first class because we got stuck at an orthodontist appointment for Emma, it looks to be great fun as well. I just may need to bring a roll of quarters to keep Hannah busy at the video games because she would love to bowl right along with the big kids.

Somebody Else Sees It Too

Rob forwarded this article on to me and I liked it so much that I just have to share it. Here are some highlights:

Find a fairer way to judge Mitt Romney by Rich Lowry

“For once, the media aren’t so thrilled by a “first.” Usually being the first African-American, woman, Latino or anything else to run for a major office gives a campaign a frisson of excitement in the press. Such pioneering campaigns are said to hold important lessons about the tolerance of the American public.

But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney represents the first “first” that has elicited a lukewarm reaction from the media. Journalists constantly run stories about whether Romney can become the first Mormon president — with an undercurrent suggesting that they’d be just fine if he can’t.

…A trope in Romney-as-Mormon stories is that evangelical Christians won’t be able to vote for a Mormon. There is a whiff of wishfulness to this, as if reporters hope evangelicals prove as bigoted as reporters have always suspected they were…

…If Romney is the Mormon church’s intended instrument as president, it must be because the church has hatched a sinister plot to bring better management techniques to the federal government and cut wasteful spending, Romney’s rather unthreatening campaign pledges. There is zero evidence of the church having ever “controlled” Sens. Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch or Gordon Smith — all Mormons — let alone Romney while he served four years as governor of Massachusetts…

…Indeed, rather than recoiling at his Mormonism, Republican primary voters may conclude that the handsome, “golly”-exclaiming, (newly) down-the-line conservative is simply too good to be true.That wouldn’t necessarily be a “first,” but it would certainly be a fairer way to judge Romney than on his religious faith.”

Support Mitt Romney!

Unfortunately, we missed the debate last night, but we have been following the presidential nomination race pretty well. A friend e-mailed a link to Mitt Romney’s Sign Up America and I joined his team. Watch this video to see if he has the things you want in our next president too. Rob and I both feel that Romney has the best qualifications to lead our country. He’s got a great track record for saving failing endeavors, with large corporations and the Salt Lake Olympics. Since America has recently reached a low point both with our reputation in the world, and with our lack of unity among ourselves, I think he is the man to turn us around. So sign up to join him for 2008!

Light Tent

For my birthday Rob got me a light tent. It looks a lot like a small white pop-up tent, and came with two lights and a black or white background. I hadn’t gotten around to setting it up until last week, and it is so much fun. I haven’t done much with it yet, but it is a great way to get an even light when photographing objects. I have also seen a lot of blogs that show you how to build your own, but it’s nice to have one that is a bit more substantial. I took a picture of some toys Hannah picked out for me, and a bowl Emma painted in an after-school art class. For anyone that’s big into Ebay, you might want to try this out!

New Design for WhiteBinder.org

I just finished putting together a new site design for WhiteBinder.org. The prompting for the change came because I recently got involved in putting a site together for a friend of mine back in LA (which I may or may not tell you about depending on how it turns out when it’s all done). Anyway, the more I was working on that other site, the more I was unhappy with how WhiteBinder looked. It just seemed too monochromatic and jammed together. I’m really happy with how this new design has turned out. It’s not just a new look, there are also some new features that will enhance the experience for you, the website visitor (yes, you!). Here are the highlights:

1. You can resize the font on any page by clicking the “A” graphics in the top bar.
2. You can change the width of the site from “narrow” to “wide” to “auto width” by clicking those little line and arrow graphics in the top bar.
3. You can set the color scheme of the site to blue, green or orange to match almost any decor. No longer will my site clash with your drapes.
4. I figured out how to get the “create pdf” button to work that appears in the top right of every article. Before, all the text in the pdf would be all jumbled together. The way I got it to work, for those that are interested (ok, just Marky… ok, probably not even Marky), is to pull all the css code out of the paragraph tags (even any class designations) and put everything into the separate style sheet. I’ve only had time to do this for a few of the more popular articles so far so it doesn’t yet work for all of them.
5. The main menu on the top left is set up as a transmenu. Move your mouse over the menu and you’ll see it in action (ooh, high tech!)

You may also notice some familiar faces in the scrolling graphic on the main page. I’ll be updating those images from time to time so check back often, you never know who will make an appearance on the soon-to-be-world-famous WhiteBinder scrolling graphic of destiny^®!

So anyway, it’s still a bit of a work in progress and I could use your help polishing it up. Please take a look around and let me know if you come across anything that doesn’t work or doesn’t seem to be formatted correctly, or just let me know how completely awesome the site is in all ways, I’m cool with either.

Here It Goes Again… and Again… and Again

In order to fully appreciate this post, you must watch these videos in order. First is the song by OK Go “Here It Goes Again.” How did they come up with this? Who would think to choreograph a video with treadmills!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

Now watch these high school guys do the song for their school talent show. They must have practiced a million times!:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq7r3F1SoX0

And finally, a side by side comparison of the two videos. Pretty impressive!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6STO7TCFik