A T-Shirt A Day Keeps the Boredom Away

I have designed so many T-shirts over the years, I hardly know what to do with them.  There are too many for me to actually wear, so most designs are just sitting in a folder on my computer.  I'm not really interested in selling them, they're just for my own amusement.  And for all I know, someone else came up with some of them before me, anyway.  But, I have decided to post a new T-shirt design every day.  They're really just up for viewing, and I would be very unhappy if I saw somebody wearing one or something.  And most of them are obscure Futurama references.  Nevertheless, here is the first one.  It is, naturally, an obscure Futurama reference.  And, for more fun, visit Fashionably Geek.  I highly recommend their T-shirts.

Got Futurama Apparel?

Today I had what I thought was a very unique and awesome idea: A Zoidberg hat!!!  After some extensive Googling, however, I discovered that my idea wasn't that original after all.  But I did find some incredibly awesome hats that I just HAD to share.  That also reminded me that I have been having inspiration after inspiration for Futurama-themed T-shirts (I know, I spend WAY too much time thinking about Futurama).  Anyway, there are so many that I couldn't do them all in one post, but I'll do a few every time and eventually they'll all be there.  And so, without further ado, presenting the best Futurama (and other nerdy) hats EVER!!!  (Keep in mind that I DID NOT design or make these, I just found them on the internet). 
Number 1: The roll-up Zoidberg hat
Number 2: The beastly Batman hat
Number 3: The intense R2-D2 hat
Number 4: The adorable Bender hat
Number 5: The sweet Nibbler hat
Number 6: The incredible Brain-parasite hat
And, for even more amazing geeky hats, visit The Geekery at Cutiehats.com

More Nike ID Shoes... And what is a label?

Today I have some more Nike ID shoes.  They're not the greatest, but maybe they'll catch on.  Anyway, the links are: 

Green and yellow Nike Air

Green, red, and yellow Nike Dunk

Green, blue, and red Nike LunarGlide

I have the little images in case you can't load the full-sized ones. And, while you're at it, design your own!  I would love to see your designs, so if you come up with any, post the link in a comment!

I also found a few neat websites, and with the gift-giving holidays coming up, they’re perfect for the geek or nerd on your list.  Take it from me.  Here are the links: 

Thinkgeek.com

Snorg Tees

NeatoShop Gifts for Geeks

Today was the first time I tried putting a label on my post.  I have no idea what that does, but it should say “Blathered by Grace at 7:04 AM”.  If it looks cool, I’m going to start putting that at the bottom of all my posts.

More on shoes, and some thoughts

Hello all!  Ahead of me is a five-day weekend, which will be filled with tea, Futurama, and other nerdy glory.  It will also be full of BLOGGING, so settle in.
First, some thoughts on flannel.  It is an amazing material!  It is warm, which is becoming increasingly necessary as we steadily approach winter.  It is often plaid, and need I say any more on that?  I LOVE PLAID.  Flannel shirts are hipster-y, and can be worn in many different styles.  All said- they're the perfect winter fashion.
Next, some blather about food.  One of the things I would like to do this looong weekend is make some recipes I found in my Spanish textbook.  This textbook, while utterly useless for Spanish homework, is at least entertaining to flip through, and it contains a few good recipes.  I want to make dulce de leche, which is an amazing delicious caramel-y goo, meaning "sweet milk" when translated from Spanish.  Interestingly, the word "dulce" is also in Italian, and that means you often find it in music, meaning sweetly, or dulce cantabule, sweetly singing.  Aren't roots fun?  I also want to make platanos horneados (note: in Spanish, the word platano, meaning banana or plantain, has an accent over the first "a", but I couldn't figure out how to insert one.  If you speak Spanish, bear with me.)  These are bananas cooked in butter with honey and cloves on them.  NOM!!!
Currently, I'm reading Ender's Game, which actually I've never read before, though you'd think someone like me would be all over that book.  Anyway, is it just me, or are the plots of Ender's Game and the Shadow Children series awfully similar?  

I've also been busy off in shoeland lately.  Not only did I design my own shoe, (which I want to get made, by the way, but I'm afraid it would be rather pricey), but I also designed a basketball shoe on Nike ID that is wickedly awesome.   Click here to see it.  Meanwhile, be sure to check out http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid /index.jsp , which is where you can custom-build just about any shoe.  As I design more, I'll be sure to post them.  Something else I did: Make a brochure for the shoe I made.  I'll try to post it here in a minute.

The 3 C's: Clothing Catalog & Coneapulting

Today I have two pages from the Grace Catalog; unfortunately you can't order from it, but since no one reads this anyway I guess it doesn't really matter.  This is just to give you (my nonexistent reader) an idea of the sort of clothing I design (I didn't design anything in the catalog, but what I DO design is very similar.)

And,  today I'm posting the rules, regulations, etc of CONEAPULTING!!!! (An amazingly fun game my friend and I invented.)  We'd love it if you could try it out and spread the word about it. 


CONEAPULTING:

When coneapulting first came to be, it was an after soccer practice activity my best friend and I would play using the goal flags and cones over at Bandelier park.  The year was about 2007.  Since it was around 1914 when the traffic cone was first invented by Charles P. Rudabaker, we say that’s when coneapulting unofficially started: The birth of cones.     We’d have competitive games, and that was where we developed a lot of the variations you’ll see later.  But there were a couple of major problems.  The first one was we’d play it at each other’s houses, and both of us had dirt backyards, which then limited us a bit, but we learned to work with it.  Fun fact: today, official coneapulting games are played on dirt fields because of this!  I didn’t have flags, and my friend's mom did but she didn’t want us to mess them up.  Furthermore, the flags didn’t even work that well in terms of distance launching.  So we needed something sturdy yet flexible and strong, and I happened to have a large quantity of it growing in my backyard: Bamboo.  Our other problem still exists, but we’ve gotten a bit more careful over the years, so it’s not as prominent any more.  Our cones would break, and break, and break upon break.  And they still do!  But it’s nothing a little (or a LOT) of duct tape can’t fix…  Also, the great thing about using flags was that they didn’t hurt your hands, but bamboo did.  In the early days, we’d come out of a game with hands splintered, blistered, scratched, and rubbed raw.  Today, we’ve got official coneapulting gloves to prevent that, but then we made handle grips out of bubble wrap and duct tape, and patented them under the name of “G&E’s coneapulting comfort grips”.  Another problem was the scratches, the scrapes, and the constant fear one of us would get our eyes gouged out.  The poles were sharp, and we were only ten or eleven years old.  Luckily, neither of us is any the worse for wear because of this, and now we’ve got face masks, arms guards, and various pads to protect coneapulters.  

        The rules of coneapulting, for those who care:

The rules of coneapulting are very similar to those of soccer.  Traditionally played 5 v 5, our  league will be 4 v 4.  In 5 v 5, there is one keeper, who guards the goal with a baseball bat, 2 defensive players, who help guard the goal, and 2 offensive players, who try to score on the opposite goal.  In our league, there is one keeper, 2 offensive players, and only one defensive player.  The players launch the cone with their poles.  They can pass the cone back and forth or run with the cone.   They can knock the cone off other player’s poles, but if the cone is on the ground, they can only scoop it up with the poles, they can’t kick it.  If someone kicks the cone, the other team gets a kick penalty shot on their goal, with only the keeper guarding it.  The only other time a penalty is taken is if a player is fouled, or if they enter the keeper’s box.  Fouls include:

  Shoving another player

  Elbowing

  Knocking another player down

  Kicking another player

  Intentionally jabbing another player with their pole

  Launching the cone directly at another player

  Hitting another player with their pole.

No one can enter the keeper’s box except for the keeper.  This is a box around the goal.  Neither the defense nor the other team’s offense can enter it.  If they do, the other team is awarded a penalty on their goal.  All penalties are taken from the penalty line, a line two feet in front of the keeper’s box.

At the beginning of each game, there is a rock toss to see which direction each team is facing.  The two team captains stand on either side of the center line, and the referee flips the rock.  The home captain calls either bumpy or smooth.  If the rock lands on the side they called, they get to pick which direction they want to go first, but the other team starts with the cone.  If they don’t get the side they called, the other team gets to pick the direction but they get to start with the cone.