triumphantly jenny

don’t trust the ill

jennybento — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:11:00 +0000

I have had some sort of flu/food poisoning thing for 4 days. It has resulted in me eating white bread and soup and mostly gatorade for 4 days. I am starving but when I try to eat other things, my body disagrees.

So I went to the store to get some supplies of things I can eat. But I basically returned with nothing I could eat. It’s worse than being a giant stoner. My bag includes:

An instant 4-pack of velveeta mac n cheese
1 bag chocolate donettes
1 pack of baloney
1 bag of rolos

Why do I become a character from Raising Arizona when ill?

I Want to Visit You

jennybento — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:18:58 +0000

Hey there!

I have a lot of friends all over this and many other countries. I like to visit people, and I’d really love to get to all 50 of these United States. Often people think the place they live is kind of lame and won’t extend an invitation. Some of you reading this blog don’t know me personally all that well, so it may not have occurred to you to offer me your couch. Well, never underestimate how little I have to know you to sleep on YOUR COUCH!

So I have made this little form. If you’re open to a visitor–whether that means a free couch or just a cup of coffee if I were in town–please fill out the form!

One note–I am pretty allergic to all non-human animals. Many of my friends are the types to have pets. When I ask if you have a pet-free area, I don’t mean “can you put your pets in one room when I visit.” I mean “Do you have at least one room where pets never ever are allowed in that I could sleep in.” I know this is nitpicky, but it’s really the difference between me enjoying hanging out with you and dying in your house. Which would be awkward for all of us!

SxSW Juggalo Lecture Audio & Slides

jennybento — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:51:23 +0000

the audio of my lecture is now available here with slides here.

hello sxswers!

jennybento — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:17:08 +0000

If you saw me at SXSW you’re welcome to view Slides from Juggalos: Rabid Branding, A Case Study here. If you have questions you’re welcome to contact me here, via twitter (jennybento) or via gmail at jennybento. Some of my slides from a few other talks are there. If you are interested in hearing me talk about pop culture, branding, social media, metadata, taxonomies, user experience or some combo of all of them, please contact me

Thanks for coming, and don’t forget to rate the panel!

where’s jenny & hello n00bs!

jennybento — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:24:57 +0000

Hey everybody!

I’ll be flying to Austin tomorrow for SxSW Interactive. I believe this is my fifth time (with some years off), and my second time speaking. I won’t be speaking about my day job topic of metadata, but instead my night job topic–JUGGALOS! So if you’ll be in Austin, come to Juggalos: Rabid Branding, A Case Study on Tuesday March 13 at 11AM in the Convention Center Ballroom B. I am only up against, oh Mark Mothersbaugh and Andrew WK in the same time slot.

Slides will be up later, and if you’re in Austin, give me a holler! My main plans are eating tacos and eating margaritas.

goals roundup

jennybento — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 07:20:13 +0000

Frankly, after a few months into the year I didn’t even look at these. I don’t think I’ll be doing it again this year. Lots of people say making goals public holds you accountable, and I am sure that’s true if you care at all what other people think about you.

~~Meet with a financial planner.~~ –I have an appt.
~~Switch to a non-evil/Trevor approved bank~~–done
Develop bedtime routine.–nope
Eat breakfast at home most days.–achieved on and off
~~Take a class to learn a new thing~~.-done times a bunch
Hire a housecleaner.–nope
Process all dad stuff–nope
~~See a psychiatrist~~–did this briefly. it helped but wasn’t for me.
~~Regular cardio~~–like everyday!
Limit online time at home.–on & off
~~Redesign/fix/update blog infrastructure.~~–done! right under the wire here!
~~Floss regularly~~.–on & off. my very persnickety hygenist is happy.

A little over half? I’ll take that.

new face

jennybento — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 06:22:19 +0000

I’ve had this blog for a little over five years, and it’s had the same facade the entire time. Until today. High time, I say. So enjoy the new look and excuse any technical difficulties I have along the way. All comments are encouraged.

product endorsements

jennybento — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:20:37 +0000

—I’m cleaning up the site a bit and some old posts have to be republished. Enjoy this post from April 6, 2009—

Here are some recently consumed items that I find awesome.

Robertson Winery Gewurtzstraminer 2008 I love Gewurtz. I only buy Gewurtz, sparkling wines, Rieslings, and dessert wines. This is the shit. Very sweet and refreshing. I got it at Cost Plus.

Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins I tried these a while ago at the TImes Square Duane Reade and could never find them again. Sometimes I would crave them but I never saw them anywhere else. Whole Foods has them! Oh joy of joys! They are overpriced but extremely delicious with chevre.

Fancy Ice Creams + Matt’s Cookie Sandwiches It’s a global world but some awesome things don’t cross state lines. One of these things is Matt’s Cookies. They are basically the only store bought cookie that tastes like a real person made them. And that person may be Jesus. They are chewy and awesome. If you put ice cream between them it is amazing.*

The Chagall Mural(s) I am not going to lie. I mourn the loss of the Chrysler Building. But I work right by the Chagall Mural and it’s pretty great. It’s very, very different in every way from the Chrysler Building, and that’s metaphorically helpful. Things don’t have to be the same to both be awesome, a lesson everyone needs all the time.

Buster Buster is a very accurate and excellently designed application for the iPhone which tells you when your Chicago bus is coming. It enables laziness and I love it. It’s not yet available for full release but it will be here.

RuPaul’s Drag Race This is an amazing show. You can watch it online. And you will love it. It is fierce.
What else should I be checking out?

*Here’s a bizarre fact I learned when Googling “Matt’s Cookies.” I am on the first page of hits for Matt’s Cookies. I wonder if now I will be twice? Will that officially make me the world’s biggest fan of Matt’s Cookies?

independence day

jennybento — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 05:19:12 +0000

—I’m cleaning up the site a bit and some old posts have to be republished. Enjoy this post from July 4, 2009—

Happy Nationalist holiday! Don’t get me wrong I like America a lot, but I feel our nationalist propaganda is weak. The communists regularly rout us in awesome/entertaining displays of patriotism.

I’ll be spending this 4th watching baseball like a good American. Last year I went on a ferry ride by the Statue of Liberty. The year before I was in Nashville and saw Dolly Parton! Yay America! The year before that, I think I went to Pennsylvania for the first time? To a pig roast? It’s all so hazy. One year I went to the 2nd biggest rodeo in Oregon (which is fairly impressive, I must say). But I do like doing capital-A American things on Independence Day. It’s kind of hard when you live in blue states though. Again, red states are way better at nationalist propaganda.

But in honor of this Independence Day, I give you one of the funniest things ever on the subject–Red State Update’s Independence Day video,

Holiday Guide

jennybento — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:54:01 +0000

I love figuring out what to get people for holidays but I almost never know how to answer the question, “what do you want for Christmas?” So year round, I keep track of my favorite things. If you need to get someone an interesting gift, let me suggest my lists:

Pinterest:
Stuff My Friends Would Like

Buy Me This
Jewelry I Want

Delicious: Buy Me

In terms of things I have used this year that I have loved and would suggest you purchase:

GoToobs-good for travel or going to the gym.

CapCap-also by HumanGear. If you use Nalgenes frequently, these are great and totally make me drink more water.

GSI DukJug-It’s a water bottle that resists odor, has an awesome sippy cup lid, and has a built in area for holding duct tape. Okay I’ve never used that function, but I love this container and I recently called the company for a replacement sippycup lid, and the people who work they were really great to me.

Lands’ End Tugless Tank-I swim several times a week and this is the best suit I have found for actual swimming if you have boobs. It’s usually on sale too! Full disclosure: Lands’ End is affiliated with my employer, but that really doesn’t make a difference for me.

Isotoner SmarTouch Gloves-had them last year and loved them. Bought an extra pair this year.

Trader Joe’s Frozen Ahi Tuna Chunks-A major component of my diet. Because they are frozen I can sear them on the outside while keeping them raw inside. Amazing.

Traverse Bay Dried Cherries-Good price, delicious.

Timbuk2 Slacker Backpack-In general I am a big fan of all Timbuk2 Backpacks. For messenger bags I have always been more of a Chrome person. If you want a well thought out backpack that doesn’t make you look like you’re in high school, I highly suggest Timbuk2. Now I think all of their backpacks come with a bottle opener built in. No matter how much I abuse this bag, it looks brand new. I get compliments on it all the time, especially at business events, where I feel like a kid wearing a backpack, usually. I think this bag has been superseded by the Swig.

Online Glasses-this was the first year I convinced a lot of people to buy glasses online, and once you have, you never think about buying them in a store again. I’ve ordered from a lot of places, but for my money Coastal Contacts and Zenni Optical remain my favorites. Both have great coupons & deals if you sign up for their mailing list. Both have very large selections and a lot of new styles all the time, which is what I am always looking for. Both have a really great left hand navigation filtration system. I know a lot of people who started with Warby Parker, but to my mind they have an extremely narrow selection. They seem kind of overpriced, and mainly aimed at people who need to try on the glasses before pulling the trigger. I can see why you might need this the first time you purchase glasses online, but for people who’ve done it before it seems unnecessary. Most of their glasses are all in the same style and in very traditional colors, which is just not at all what I am looking for.

What I’d love but haven’t found:

A non-wool but odor repellant version of Smartwool socks, underwear & baselayers
A sports bra that limited bouncing without me having to wear 2 sports bras
A travel backpack for my upcoming trip to Turkey,
An arch supportive casual black oxford shoe for women
More pink sneakers, particularly neon pink & orange or neon pink & black.
Shoe organization shelves
A Jewelry box that isn’t wood but is more modernist looking.
Makeup organization (actually a Pink Box)