Tourist trap

Yesterday I went out to Pier 39 with Boyfriend, his mother, grandmother, and the Blonde Bookworm. Yes, we trooped out to that wonderful, chilly, gaudy tourist trap and enjoyed some rare and gorgeous San Francisco sunshine.

What's great about the tourist trap is the ridiculous kitsch they sell. I will never tire of the glitter pink flasks with San Francisco emblazoned on the front, the shirts that copy the latest fashion (right now it's Run DMC), and endless shot glasses and spoons and keychains that are sold everywhere.

Here, for example, is Boyfriend wearing a large floppy hat:

I had to follow through on my threat to Instagram the image.

More importantly, I got Captain America socks.

Yeah I did.

I have to admit: I'm a bit conflicted about these. They're awesome and I adore them... but I am absolutely a bandwagon fan. I never read the comic books, and never got involved in the story of the Cap until the most recent movies. And while Boyfriend couldn't be happier that I'm excited about Captain America, I still haven't read the comic books.

So, my limited audience, I ask you: Can I wear these socks without being an Idiot Nerd Girl? Where is the line between enjoying a popular cultural icon and calling yourself a fan? If someone says I'm not a "true" Cap fan because I haven't loved him long enough, are they a Cap Hipster? THESE ARE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

Unexpected long post is unexpected. Food coming soon!

You can take the girl out of the research university...

Gentle readers, it's with great shame that I admit this fact to you: I am not a big fan of doing research. I don't just mean googling furiously to find the source of a picture, or plunging through records of political science journals to learn more about how State of the Union addresses affect public opinion polls. No, I am not a fan of testing hypotheses through experimentation or polling, then crunching numbers.

I thought I wasn't cut out to be a researcher until a project at work led me to this graph:

Rankings courtesy of AppAnnie.com; additional analytics are my own work

Well that looked weird, I thought to myself. Downloads for the Monster.com app peak on Wednesdays and drop drastically on the weekends. And then I suddenly understood the "research bug." I need to know more about this trend. I need to know if app downloads correlate to anything else.

So whenever I have time, I'll be researching the link between job-searching apps and the economy over time. I might even look at how popular game apps fit into the picture. Who knows? It's a brand new world in so many ways: As TechNet put it, "there are now roughly 466'000 jobs in the 'App Economy' in the United States, up from zero in 2007." And while the world of research isn't new to me, the idea of loving it is.

Of course, I will be posting my results whenever I have them. Just keep in mind that I am transitioning from college student to A Real Adult, and I might not have a lot of time to dedicate to number crunching. I hope this post has gotten you as interested as I am!

Nerdsanity

After teasing us for years with superhero movie after superhero movie, The Avengers is coming out tonight at midnight. Last night, I tried to distract myself from my impatience by making myself a shirt to wear to my first viewing. You can do it too! All you need is bleach, a spray bottle, contact paper, and a dark-colored shirt. (Or pants, if you wish.)

I got see-through contact paper so I could see the design underneath while I used an Xacto knife to cut away where the bleach would go.

I blew up a SHIELD (Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, or, depending on whom you ask, Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) logo I found online. After cutting out the entire design, I took off the paper backing and stuck the contact paper on top of the shirt. I slipped a few sheets of newspaper inside the shirt to keep the bleach from getting on the back side of the shirt.

I spritzed bleach on the shirt and dabbed at it with a paper towel to keep the bleach from spreading through the fabric and under the contact paper.

I put cardboard around the contact paper to keep the bleach away from the fabric. I repeated the spritzing and dabbing twice more.

After the front dried, I flipped the shirt over and repeated the process and put another design on the back.

I was a little overzealous with the bleach here, and the stars got a little obscured because I put too much bleach and it bled into the fabric.

Final product was more red than bleached-out tan, but I like it. I'm happy with the result, and it really didn't take a lot of time. If you do it yourself, be patient and it will turn out well.

Not enough nerd for you? Here's a bonus: LEGO is coming out with an Avengers series. Sadly, the average play set is around $20, and since I can get about four meals for the same price and I have to prioritize, I'll only be lusting after these sets from afar.

But the posters are awesome.

Triple geek-out

Quick blog post today on three marvelous geek moments I had today:

1. I got to use some magnificent (and expensive) headphones at my internship today. These are the kind of headphones that DJs and sound mixers use. I listened to "Resistance" by Muse (among other songs) and realized there are entire lines and chords I've never heard before. It was beautiful. I need $200 to drop on headphones so I can feel like I'm inside the song whenever I listen to music.

2. I'm going to staff a booth at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco for my internship. It's the largest conference/exhibition on Apple products in the world, where all the newest and best products are shown off by developers. It's going to be exhausting and I'm going to love it. I'm ridiculously excited.

3. On a completely separate note, LEGO is going to start selling Lord of the Rings mini-figs this summer. Today they released a picture of the Fellowship mini-figs, and they are adorable and I want them now.

That's all for now. Check back soon for the good stories from Macworld and the fashionable life of Autumn and Rob!

The Hobbit has landed

I've been waiting 4 years for this. Without further ado, the official trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:

Watched this first thing today at work. There was nothing more important in my life at the time, and luckily for me, my boss agreed that it was the best use of 2 minutes and 32 seconds.

I expect to watch this movie at least 15 more times by the end of the work day today. Now the long wait for December 14, 2012 begins.