Saturday, January 31, 2009

The end is in sight

in a number of ways....

Feeling better, gotta love that z-pack

I noticed today that six months from today (26 weeks actually) will be August 1st. It will mark some serious freedom for me. My daughter will be OUT of the school, her big (OMG, she's already got 50 people on her mental guest list) graduation party will be over, and I will hopefully have typed up 95% of the school directory and be ready to pass that darling thing off to someone else. I am turning over the dance this year after I do it for the last time. I'm also hoping to rid myself of the super raffle (by chopping the ticket price in half and proving that we'll easily sell it out that way). And I am going to heartily recommend to whoever does yearbook next year that they NOT use the computer method for most of the pages. Oy.

LOST is working toward "an end" (I'm still suspicious that there will be a movie after the tv series ends, I hope that we don't have to wait for the movie to understand how it all ends, and I hope the movie doesn't suck...) and here is an interview on a very spoilerish website even mentions throwing in a shirtless sawyer for the first episode this season to placate fans who weren't into the time travel.

Oh, and football season's almost over. I wish basketball were, but hey, you can't have it all, right?

Friday, January 30, 2009

It's not even February

...and I have somehow used up 1/4 of my time off for the entire year. Oh, joy.

(edit -- wait... that includes time I planned through April. Neeeeeeeevermind.)

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Another day, another Zpack

I am sick again, internet. Again the long drive to the oncall medical center. To see the German dr whose name has 12 syllables, because my "real" dr with the Russian name has the nerve to be out of town.

I bought this little friend in Target while waiting for my prescription. My teen asked if I was sure I didn't want "a dragon, raaarrr". Isn't she funny? This was $15 cheaper than the plain ones, and cuter than the dragon. Although the dragon would be funny with steam coming out his nostrils. Damn. She was right.

I am also concerned because at the highest setting, this guy gurgles an awful lot. Great. I have a peeing penguin on my nightstand. I will sleep well.

So for the next 3 days I will concentrate on getting healthy again (I slept until almost lunchtime today) and catch up on a few thousand things on the side. (No. I will rest. Really. I bought new batteries for the cable remote and everything. )

Which reminds me! Watch The Office. After that soccer game or table tennis playoff or whatever it is that's going on Sunday.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Do not get shot getting the shot


So.

The other day I admired the fog on the river on my way to work. I often admire the sunrise views I get while I slog down the highway to work at 7:30 every morning. (Oh, who am I kidding? I'm never on time, it's always "a few" minutes after that.)

My camera was in my purse but I couldn't get to it. So yesterday I made a point to have it within reach. No fog yesterday. Sigh.

This building is abandoned and for the last few days, the sun has been hitting it just right, streaming through the remnants of the windows and making the inside glow. (View it larger to try to see what I mean.)

I didn't do a great job of capturing it --but in my own defense you have to visualize how I actually took this shot --

I put my window down (this is on a highway running alongside the river, and it was about 20 yesterday, so enjoy that icy wind in your mind. )

I had the camera all set with the right mode, before I left my house. Yes, I planned this. It's winter. I have no life. OK ?

I put the camera up to my face... or more like, up to my jaw, resting it just below my left ear. Holding it only with my right hand, without looking at it, I just took about 6 shots in one continuous stream as I got close to where this building is. It was mainly just an experiment afforded by the ease of deleting unwanted digital frames.

:::official voice:::: At no time did my eyes leave the highway.

The traffic was pretty thin and I had a good buffer of empty space all around me, and I made damn sure I stayed in my lane and at the right speed. The clicking was a MUCH lower priority than anything else. I swear.

And yes, I know I'm absolutely nuts, but I was amused to have found at least one semi-usable shot.

After work I tried to go into the park that is up the river a bit from here. The gate was open and I had seen cars in the lot when I went by, so I pulled in, only to meet up with two police cars coming out. "The park is closed, Ma'am." ::::glares at me:::::

So I couldn't stay, which sucked because I could see that I would have been able to get some good shots of the ice on the river.

"Sorry officer" (insert other obsequiousness)

Conversations

So, I answered my phone yesterday at work by putting on my headset but hitting the speakerphone button. I answer my phone by saying my name, since my department name changes every time I get a new manager. SO it probably sounded odd. Muffled, maybe. But...

The caller was someone who I have done work for recently, and immediately went on the offensive with "You don't sound happy to hear from me". Well, no, not if that's your idea of a hello. Geez

We then were talking about some Notes server moves and he said something that I thought was dumb (that the Notes applications I worked on would be down while the servers are moved... which is WHY we have the notes servers "clustered", the main servers will "fail over" to other servers, and that's almost transparent to the users.... you don't have to understand that much, just go with me....) and I said "well why wouldn't they fail over to the backup servers here, like they normally would if the ones there were down?"

He then said "Wait... where are you?" As a reminder, HE CALLED ME. Using a different area code from his own, for a different state from his own, and thus (one could argue) he should know EXACTLY where I was.

Sigh.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

On your mark

Last week the only person on my treadmill was my 18 month old nephew (tm was OFF thank you) as previously noted.

So I decided I had to either start running on it, or just surrender and use it as a laundry rack. Yesterday I blasted some iTunes (like Hope it Gives You Hell) and ran a measly 3/4 mile at a blazing 3MPH pace (Just Dance, by Lady Gaga, is perfect tempo. Just saying. Having to share a music library with a teen has its benefits.) Not exactly a marathon but hey... It's a start.

Of course then I went and had deeelicious chicken parm at Suzy's. So maybe I broke even. Sort of? Whatever. :-)

Carly(via Blackberry)

Monday, January 26, 2009

Heard over dinner

My son: "aunt Suzy, have you ever heard of a REALLY old band, called Aerosmith?"

Cue the adults laughing hysterically.

By the way, really good wine. Especially with homemade chicken parm. (And even more so since I didn't have to cook).


Carly(via Blackberry)

Look up

Like my new header? My friend did it. Awesome, yes? All of the photos are mine and have appeared in the blog previously. (Except the glass of wine, which is a stock photo).

Happy Monday. The local newscasters were talking about the gloomyiest day of winter (when you've broken your resolutions, your credit card bills come, and it's cold and dark and so on....) . Way to be cheerful for your viewers, you guys. At least they didn't say "it's TODAY." Apparently we've gotten past it.

So things are going to get better now, right? :::::taps foot, waiting::::::

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Call

Your song lyrics for today....

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war


and also....


Now (I'm) back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that (I) have to forget


(sung by Regina Spector)

you can watch this to hear the song (from oneof the Narnia movies) performed by the PS22 chorus. Love it.

or you can watch this Tori Amos song, sung by the same kids

Too Funny



Oh, oh OH.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

My day

It was a rather exhausting day, I have to tell you

Up at 7pm. ok, 7:14. Once I was dressed, breakfast, etc, I dialed in to do some work. Then the PTO president whom I abandoned this year (not.... still running 3 or four things....helping with the web page, and so on....) called to discuss lunch stuff.

Left house at 8:30. Mission: buy 3 quarts of buttermilk, then head over to the school. I know. Seriously. Buttermilk.

9:00 am - met "my team".... we will do food prep once a month for the school. Today we made ranch dressing (with the buttermilk) and then made ziti for 60. Not hard, but it took 3 hours to do the cooking and cleanup. This was the first day I met the other people; they were pretty nice so it was good. I felt a little guilty because I was the only one who had done this before, so I was directing the 3 of them, more than doing any of the work. The kitchen is tiny and I was trying to stay one step ahead of them to keep everything moving along so we could just get out of there. And I pulled out the wrong foil prep pans. Dummy! But they all think on their feet, and said "Um, no, this doesn't work", so actually it was a good trial for them and now I know they're smart and will really make this work. I made a point to send them each an individual email tonight thanking them, so I hope that it's cool.

12:05 - take photograph of the front of the school, because the one I had for the yearbook sucked and was way too grainy when I enlarged it for the first page. Brrr. Did I mention it was about 20 degrees? IT"S SO COLD HERE. AAAAAAAAAAAGH.

12:15 hungry. Eat bad food because I have to head to a store 20 minutes away to get my new glasses... Hmmph

12:30 Get to glasses store. Walk from parking space to mall in horrific winds which make me whimper. The closer I get to the mall door, the harder the icy wind blew. Eff. Me.

Friendly clerk takes my name, gets optician, who comes with pink cat's eye frames which Are Not Mine. (insert silent internal cussing) I'm not sure why I totally didn't get stressed by this. I simply said almost conversationally, "um, those are the wrong frames"... optician went and checked them out, and said the professional, polished equivalent of "we really effed up and put your lenses in the wrong frames and we're really really sorry because these are cheap and ugly so we know you don't want them and we'll put a rush on the right frames and new lenses"

1:10 get home and eat some cheese danish in frustration. With milk. I know. But damn, it was good.

1:14 rinse the black fibers out of my eyes. Ever since I washed that black scarf, I swear to (whoever you choose) that it has magical powers of regeneration. It sheds TINY black fibers constantly. All over my coat, every sweater and shirt I have, holy effing crap those fibers are EVERYWHERE. I can't get over it. And they are in my eyes, and uh, (gross) on tissues

And no, I can't bring myself to get rid of the damn thing. It's REALLY soft, and it's REALLY effing damn cold now so I just can't part with it even though I mentally compare it to asbestos every time I have to rinse a fiber of its fuzz out of my eye.

1:3o leave for basketball game I don't want to go to, but I am a good Mom. Sorta. Because I did go. But I didn't want to. I wanted to lie on the couch and watch Top Chef.

2:30 another mom said to me "I found minnows in my laundry.... A was fishing and left them in his pockets. "

1) that is SO funny. Washed AND dried minnows. Were they medium rare or well done?
2) it's winter - where was he fishing????

Are you tired yet? because I was, by this point

3:00 playing with camera, shooting black and white at ISO 400. Happy.

3:30 - we lose, by about 3 points. Sigh.

4:30 - headed up to go to dinner with our friends (their son is on same team.... the boys plotted all through dinner for a sleepover. I won! It wasn't at my house! Bonus - eggplant parm. Nummy. And low carb.

6:00 - came home to do more yearbook work. AKA "can I get five minutes in a conference room with these developers to just kill them for not making an easy way to scale a photo to a new size without cropping off kids' heads?"

7:45 find the easy way. Sigh.

8:14 Brother in law calls.... yes, that one. Husband gives excuse to keep them from visiting but when I realize they are 3 blocks away I make him call back to invite them over.

8:30 frantic tidying up. How relaxing. Clean stove because it is A Thing, ever since SIL mentioned how she hates cleaning her flat top stove Mr. Carly wants mine to be spotless when she comes to visit, because It's Not That Hard. Petty. Small. Cleaned.

9:15 BIL comes with toddlers... who I love dearly, but OMG they are like pinballs bouncing around my house. Nephew is in stage where he screams "Mama" if anyone else dares to breathe in his general direction. Happy times.

9:45 nephew is more or less playing on my treadmill, which is fine if it's off, he just wants to climb up on it. He is one year old. His mother says "Do you want to see what it does when it's on? " Ummmm. No.

10:30 Relatives leave. Open another mini bottle of wine (one glass)

11:20 hit post and wonder why anyone would want to read this lonnnnnnng entry.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Clicked

In these shoes, Stanley played Ave Maria on the church organ for me, when I converted. (I was raised Lutheran and joined the Catholic church a few years after meeting my husband.)

In these shoes, he played for the baptisms of each of my children, at a Sunday mass... and thousands of other babies, over his 55 (and counting!) years of service at our church.

In these shoes, he played on the Christmas Eve that my son was carried up the aisle, representing the Baby Jesus.

He has played for so many girls in tiny white dresses and boys in white ties, as they receive their sacrament of First Holy Communion. And yes, that includes my children.

He played for my friend's wedding. When her husband tragically died a year later, and we were all heartbroken, and the entire community came together to grieve with her, Stanley wore these shoes.

So many weddings, so many funerals, he has played, wearing these shoes.

He has played Lenten music, Tenebrae services, Easter Vigils and Easter mornings, Advent Sundays (four weeks, year after year after year) and Christmas carols at Midnight Mass, in these shoes.

In the choir loft, there are file cabinets brimming with frayed yellow sheets of paper, worn at the edges by many before me -- all songs which Stanley has played, in these shoes.

Latin masses-- I never dreamed there were so many variations.

We sing Bach, Beethoven, Schubert. German music, Russian music. Polish music, to honor the homeland of Stanley's ancestors. And, something that always amuses me, gospel music that would be very familiar in a Baptist church far south of where we stand to sing.

Yes, he has played the Hallelujah chorus. MANY times.

In these shoes, he plays Stars and Stripes Forever, and God Bless America, every Fourth of July.

May he wear them for many, many years to come.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Aretha's hat

the hat is everywhere... this page has some yawners but a few that make it all worthwhile.

Unclicked

I am starting to think about not only the photo opportunites that I have missed not only for lack of a camera in my hand, but also those images I have been reluctant to capture.

Someone remarked to me last week "Oh, it's always easy to tell how you feel." It was kind and lighthearted, and there is some truth to it. Always? No. I am certainly bossy and outspoken about some things, but like anyone else I have moments when I clam up and don't have the guts to say what I'm thinking or ask for what I want.

Sunday at church I had my camera in my purse. I got to the choir loft first, followed up the stairs by a sweet older Tenor who reminds me in some ways of my own father. He's very nice, and yet his presence made me too shy to take an opportunity to get a shot I've been wanting.

Stanley has a pair of shoes, which rest by the organ when he is not playing. They are beautifully aged leather men's dress shoes -- faded and distressed, literally cracked through on one side. The soles are worn thin. They are surely twenty years old, at least, and serve as tangible evidence that this man has been playing for years and years and years. I'm quite sure he can FEEL the pedals in these shoes.

I want to capture them, to do the image justice, and I am not sure a hastily snapped shot will ever succeed. Black and white? Sepia? Will the congregation below see my flash? Can I shoot at a different ISO? WHAT will Stanley say if he catches me photographing his shoes? Will he understand? I think he might.

I am quite fond of Stanley. My own grandfather (the only one I ever met; the other died long before I was born) had the same quick wit and conspiratorial smile. Somehow for me a photo of the shoes would be almost as much a portrait of Stanley as if I were able to take a shot of him smiling at me over his music rack.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

No doubt about it

Drew delivers. I tell you no lies.

Not only did he call Smokey Bones to find out exactly what the waiter's t-shirt said, he also found the complete transcript of Rev Lowery's prayer.

(Yes. He called the restaurant and asked whoever answered, let's call them SB, about the shirt. SB must have noticed our particular waiter standing right nearby because he said "hey, turn around let me read your shirt". I think some people who sit near my cubicle are annoyed about how loudly I laughed at him for doing that)

Back to the prayer, we were walking out of the restaurant to get back to work, and I stopped to see a bit more, and we watched the prayer, the end of which is right about now:

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen."
AUDIENCE: Amen! REV. LOWERY: Say amen -- AUDIENCE: Amen! REV. LOWERY: -- and amen. AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)




Carly(via Blackberry)

I just have to add

edit - my bad... I know the full story now! but isn't this a good photo?
... as wonderful as the ceremony was otherwise, I laughed when Barack mixed up his words, trying to repeat the oath ... I mean, you haven't been practicing it in your pajamas in front of the bathroom mirror for WEEEEEEKS?????

a fine hat

So I convinced Drew that we needed to sneak out to lunch early to get to our local Smokey Bones (a bbq restaurant, for my friends in England) and watch the inauguration.

Our waiter was very cute and wore a shirt with "a good dry rub enhances our meat" on the back. Below that it said "stop laughing". I asked him if he had to wear that particular shirt (there are several variations of funny shirts, like "beer: it makes you do cool things". ) So he pretended not to know "which one" he had on and immediately started flirting with me for the rest of lunch.

That, or he was really NOT straight and just appreciated my sense of humour. I could not tell.

I got him to change the channel, because we could SEE nbc but HEAR cnn, and it looked like a subtitled kung foo movie or something because the audio was not in synch.

But the true point of this post... Aretha's hat is the single most awesome hat I have ever seen in my life. Diamonds and all. You know those were NOT rhinestones, not for the Queen to sing for Barack on this day. Oh no.

The other best part was the preacher and his black man, red man closing prayer. Amen. Well worth the price of admission.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Irving Berlin

said it best....

While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:

God Bless America
Land that I love
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.

From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Killing me dead

I am exhausted right now. Today I had a yearbook meeting at my house. All day.

Alllllllllllll daaaaaaaaaay, 9 am to 4 pm.

All day, after two of the kids slept over. At 1:30 a.m. this morning, I went out to the family room where they were watching a movie and chatting, and pointed out to my offspring that "you're stressing me out... we have SO much work to do tomorrow, and you guys aren't getting any sleep... you won't want to do anything." Hrmppph. Yes, Mommy is a grouch. Life sucks.

It's not bad enough that it's my day off today, (yay holiday!) and there was no relaxing with bonbons in my future, but to feel like I was going to have to struggle to keep tired cranky teens working with me all day made me VERY frustrated.

That deadline is coming, kids. We can't seem to ever get into the computer room at school. (The teacher has to be present, but she is part time and has another job after school. She's lovely and it's not HER fault that we can't seem to meet at a convenient time, but there it is. We're getting nowhere fast.)

All in all, it went MUCH better than I'd feared. We got 12 collage pages done and I finally figured out how to "flow" portraits, and did most of the grades. The kids used scissor and actual photos for the collages but the FLOW process is online, with digital portraits, and it's great once you figure out how the hell to use it.

Go to the library, find a class, count how many portraits there are (after you figure out how to hide the 2nd best shot of each kid) Pick a template that will hold that many kids, edit that grade's page, add the template, set the border, go back to the portrait library, and find the LITTLE, TINY word "flow" off to the side and click on it. Go BACK to the page, and check the names. Easy peasy, right???? Now I have to kill you. You know too much.

**I could have a field day with their developers. The workflow on this thing SUCKS.

Oh, and do this with "A New Day" playing 1,000 times on the crappy speaker of an iPod touch. I dare you. At one point my right eye was twitching savagely. I had a headache from lack of sleep and just wanted to make will.i.am go away, far away, forever. To to Madagascar, even though I tend to feel Big and Chunky, and he apparently likes them that way. Oh, go check the soundtrack. It's a very funny song.

So now I have some scanning and editing to do (which actually easy) and I still have 3 weeks until the deadline (shhhh, don't tell them). I am feeling much better. But still exhausted.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday art - the Oh, Not Again edition


So my friend "Drew" and I have been sort of reminding each other to try to carve out time to work on photography skills, (for me, it's because I'm thinking the way to cope with the arctic blast is to do things I find INTERESTING and not just required.) He is doing a "take a shot every day" type project, and also mentioned HDR to me.

There are some images and an explanation here and also here --the 2nd one is the better link with more examples, because it's also an ad for a utility that takes one digital photo and makes it look HDR. (Usually you merge multiple exposures taken using a tripod, to make an HDR image)

Here is my "tree" again, and you have to admit, it's definitely different. To me these (HDR) images look like someone painted them with pastels / oil/ acrylic


Cool, eh? Intense.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

If

...if you should want vanilla cupcakes with sprinkles on top, I am your girl. No wonder I have no room in my cupboards.

Carly(via Blackberry)

Books? Aren't those the paper things?

(Dear Blogger... why do you post a post if I hit enter with my cursor in the title field and nothing in the body of the post? Did someone test THAT in production instead of QV?)

I want this. Hmm. OK, "want" is rude. I would love this book.




Right now I am reading this: and I will let you know how I like it.


Friday, January 16, 2009

But it smelled like feet...


Washing that scarf? That black, I-didn't- think-it-was- THAT-fuzzy scarf? Not such a great idea. Especially with things like the new celtics jersey my son wanted so badly (#5... alternate home jersey, green with black numbers and edges and now, special limited edition, weird black fuzz all over it - hopefully for a very short time only!!!)

Look up, look down






Shuttersisters spoke of changing your viewpoint the other day, by looking up for example. Up was sky, out my window, and so I looked down instead. Here's a little detail for the day.

Working from home, so I get to start earlier and stop now & then for laundry, oh so exciting -- and I picked up the camera before lunch.

Because it's logical (not) I tried to open some of our windows on the coldest day in quite a while.


Found that some of the new locks on our windows (in the addition) actually prevent opening of said windows. Hmmm. Mr. Carly is not going to like that observation...

One of the ones that DID open gave me a view of a drainpipe with some "drips" frozen on it, which I experimented a little bit with (you can see a few on my flickr page , I'm not really sure where I'm going with whiter vs. bluer, just yet... )

I am also looking at other photographers' work like (this series at an old ranch) and noticing that they zoom in on details, and show only part of an object, where I try to do the opposite all too often.

Once upon a time, that leaf above was green and beautiful.... sigh. I hate winter.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It's only a paper moon


I miss my porch.

Part of me is all full of bravado: Eh, it's cold, wear a sweater.

The part of me that is ten toes? Well, that part turned to ice on the drive to work.

Tomorrow will be c-c-c-c-older. Ssigh....

I can't sit out on the porch for a few minutes, unless I would like to perfect my popsicle impression. I miss eating breakfast out there, stealing five minutes for a cup of hot tea, and most of all, riding my bike out on the porch late in the evening and listening to my iPod, with no light but whatever is coming from the moon.

And speaking of the moon.


I was driving through the park (where I used to run, and hope to run again someday WARMER) on my way to work and noticed the moon through the trees.

See, the tiny little white blob? It's not ice on the windshield.

This picture is more of a placeholder than a serious attempt, because I hate the cut branch in the center of that tree. I had all of 30 seconds elapse between the time I thought "I should stop and take pictures" and the time I felt really guilty, late for work, yada yada.

And yes, I did take it from inside the car. I did actually pull over and park, but I really didn't have time to get out of the car, walk around to the right place, frame it.... aaagh. No time. And did I mention, COLD? Way too cold.

But I love being able to see the moon during the daytime, and knowing that it will come around again sometime, when I can beat my guilt down and take a few more minutes to spend on a decent photo.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Too much to fit it all in

My friend and agreed today that we need to both stop taking on projects that we will be responsible for ALL ALONE. We each have our long todo lists.

That promise won't help me now, with yearbook staring me in the face and the computer teacher's schedule not coinciding with mine. So next Monday my "holiday" will be a jam session at my house and hopefully we will catch up on everything.

I could blog the funny story about using one of the "night" settings on my camera to take a shot of my daughter with the full moon over her shoulder... just as she was about to fall through the thin crust of ice over the softer snow on our lawn(all from the last big storm). And how we laughed. And how she talked me down from worrying about all of this yearbook stuff by putting her hand on my shoulder and saying "we'll get it done... I'll help you..." and how cool that is.

Or the great game yesterday that my son had, (he even scored, twss.... ) and the crazy parents that take an 11 year old's game SO. Seriously. I mean, yelling at a teenager who is learning how to keep the book? Honestly. Grow up. Control yourself. "They" didn't foul your kid out, your kid fouled himself out. (You have five. Use them well. That's my feeling on that topic.)

Or how the tree is still in my front window and how I wonder what my neighbors think of that. Or that a certain someone appears not to be speaking to me after I spoke my mind on some recent behaviour.

but I'm running out of time to say any more...



PS: The song I'm stuck on today.... (iTunes kindly has a feature to play one song over and over....)


Pink / Glitter in the Air

Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands? Close your eyes and trusted, just trusted Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air? Have you ever looked fear in the face And said I just don´t care


It´s only half past the point of no return The tip of the ice berg The sun before the burn The thunder before the lightning The breath before the phrase Have you ever felt this way?

Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone? Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you´re not alone Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry? Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?

It´s only half past the point of oblivion The hourglass on the table The walk before the run The breath before the kiss And the fear before the phrase Have you ever felt this way?

There you are, sitting in the garden Clutching my coffee, Calling me sugar You called me sugar

Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight? Tonight

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Dear Santa,


Santa (I know, it's early but I'm giving you plenty of time to work on this...)

I really, really want this necklace.


It's perfect for my work from home days.


Say hi to the reindeer,


xo,

Carly






Holy crap

I thought Sting could not look any worse. Shoe polish, anyone?


Carly(via Blackberry)

Yay

Golden Globes... pretty people... gorgeous dresses...

I'm a happy girl.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Sunday art

OK, class, get your pencils out, we're having an art quiz. Or, well, a poll. Give me your opinion.

Here's "A"...





And "B"....



Which do you like better, and why?

For many years I have been in "point and snap" mode. I realized today that I need to, and want to, improve my composition/ framing of photos, as a first goal.

But in this case there is really only a difference in "flame" and overall brightness here; what do you like better?

As an aside, I love hibachi food. (Went to celebrate my nephew's birthday... the chef said "happy saki!! happy saki!!" and gave us grownups shots; they were squirted through the air from the bottle he was cooking with, which my sister in law and I executed VERY poorly, slobber dribble dribble ugh....)


Oh, and here's a miniature daffodil...




my SIL got them, and I just thought they were a wonderful sign of hope for warm sunny days, not to mention good macro practice (I have to learn how to control the macro focus on my camera in manual mode, this was the best of about 7 tries; more manual reading in my future! )

It's snowing again.... sigh.

Friday, January 09, 2009

Applications now being accepted

Poly says I need a new boyfriend (she blacklisted Leo for very good reasons, and I'm kind of over Mike, and Alton just looks old and Walton-ish lately.) But she is right. Carly is lonesome. Hmmm. I need someone new to Google every day.

There's Brandon Flowers, but he's out because the first name is just bad for reasons I can't get into. I guess I could call him Killer. He is cute in a penguin.




Then there's Josh, but he's getting married tomorrow or maybe tonight, I dunno, and I don't want no drama, drama.
:::thinking through tv shows:::: I guess Eric Dane is ok, but he's married too, right?
I watched this but when I got to the Karate Kid I laughed too hard and closed it.

Hmmm. Maybe Dierks will help me "Feel that Fire".

Any ideas? (this is the part where you people who lurk around here actually need to comment... he has to be at least, I don't know, late 30's or I will feel creepy and old. Help me out.)

Why not?

The next Freihofer 5K is 20 weeks away(tomorrow). So, I am going to knot up my sneakers and get on the treadmill again. I might have Mr. Carly convinced to bring the it into our family room from the garage, just until about Easter or so. So I won't have to freeeeeeeeze all January & February.

Wish me luck.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Trying to look on the bright side



So this is how I am feeling. (yes, this is really me.. I need a haircut, and apparently an eyelift....)

I had an official "diabetic eye exam" for the first time today. They blinded me with science. It's not bad enough that they dilate your eyes, then they shine really really bright lights at you. This shot was AFTER the "un-dilate drops" which sting like nobody's business, and don't do all that much for quite a while.

And, being me, I came home and stood by a window with the blinds part way open, and figured out how to use the macro setting on my new camera (MINUS the flash, because I had quite enough of THAT at the doctor), and capture the moment. I guess you'd just have to know me. But I like the way that my hands show up in the pupils. Everything I see, I want to take a picture of, and this just embodies that.

My eyes are apparently fine so far - so the exam went well (if you don't count the strangeness that comes with being "adult" and having your parents bring you. They insisted, saying I wouldn't be able to drive afterwards.)

Well actually, in no particular order,
  • My father drives around wearing a white hard hat. (He used to work at a food plant; I think it's from there. He's been retired some 5 or 10 years, but he keeps things. )
  • My parents followed me into the doctor's office (which was fine, it's cold out, and we'd be there a while) and then sat down without another word while I checked in, and they just opened magazines and didn't talk to each other or me. The receptionist more or less came out to try to figure out who they were and why they were there.
  • Then the technician said "Oh, is one of you coming in too?" (not seeing my NO NO NO NO NO screaming silently through the air. ) They didn't. Phew.
  • All the way back to my house they argued about burgers. He asked what's for dinner; she said burgers. He said what kind, McDonald's or Burger King, and she said "(family last name)". Then he said "but I can't have mustard and onion and pickles then..." and she said "You never told me you wanted mustard and onion and pickles on your burgers." Mind you, married since 1961. I wanted to stare into the sun by then, just so that I would somehow erupt in flames from the sticky chemicals on my eyeballs, in hopes that they'd push me out of the car. Wait, you need a magnifying glass for that, don't you?
  • After saying all the way back to my house that he needed to use the bathroom, he declined to come in and use the bathroom. OK Dad. See ya. Good luck with the Flomax.

I swear I thanked them for bringing me, but I'm not sure they noticed.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

And yet I never win lotto

I was just thinking about my camera & wishing it would come when the doorbell rang. OH YEAH !!! It's here!!

It has to warm up but after that I'll be clicking away all afternoon. Awesome.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Testing, 1, 2, 3....

This might be suitable for the clients I have at work... when I told them I wouldn't have the program moved to a production region until Monday* (especially if they keep changing the final draft of the form....) they asked if they could email out the test region link to all of the end users "because the code is there."

Um, no. The test region is for testing, and if you stop giving me more changes to do, and just test what I've built, so that I can move it to production where it's supposed to be, I won't have to send you a link to a strange angry hamburger that apparently has a limited vocabulary. (I couldn't build the note I WANTED to build on that typewriter screen.)

*Monday was the date they requested as the delivery date. It WILL be done and moved into production by Monday. This is all VERY familiar, old news, to programmers. Any programmer. Every client does this. "Can you do more? Can I have the program finished early? Why not?" This is like working with toddlers who want to open their presents Christmas eve. Or, say, the first time it snows in December. People are that random.

Monday, January 05, 2009

I've got cool friends

This was on my desk at work this morning.

(I'd do a cartwheel but hey, it's icy here this morning)

It just became my personal projects log (for things that are MY projects, dammit, not school or work stuff).

The first thing I wrote in it is some notes abouit how I want to change the free calendar I'm working on. I am not happy with the templates shutterfly provides and want to collage some photos using photoshop (so that I can emphasize certain shots by making them bigger, and also shutterfly really doesn't take into account those of us who still frame some photos vertically...) and upload those collages to make the calendar with. So I have some scribbles and sketches going.

On a side note, there is a new guy in my church choir who reminds me of Andy Bernard. Seriously.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Hopefully

I can finish by the end of the year. Wait - I said that last month. :::sigh:::

It was actually fun tonight because the Evil top stripes are more or less done. You can't see in the crappy blackberry photo probably but there's plenty of blending in the brown, and that's basically me just playing with different shades (with no concern for Proper Shading Technique, mind you. ) This is just me having fun, not aiming for photo realism.

Oy... My neck hurts though- I haven't done this in a while.

I think I lost home plate. That's one way to keep those damn Yankees from scoring.


Carly(via Blackberry)

A personal note

Dear Mr. Travolta,

I am so heartbroken about your loss. I hate the fact that the scum sucking media in this country is eagerly trying to somehow blame you for the loss of your beautiful son. Any accusations of neglect, or comments on you and your wife's preference for/against certain treatments, based on religious reasons -- all of those whispers and rumors are horribly obscene in my eyes.

I know from the experiences of one of my own extended family members that having seizures is frightening for not only the patient, but also everyone nearby. One can't just cavalierly wave their hand and say "take medication" and be certain that the medication will resolve the seizures. There are limits to how much medication a child's body can tolerate/ metabolize, and sometimes the maximum allowed dose still won't control the seizures. There are side effects to worry about. Ignorant people brush all of these details aside, when their motive is to tear down a grieving family rather than to support them. It's EVIL to treat any family that way.

In our family's case, doctors were able to find a medicine that has controlled R's seizures for years now, but that didn't happen until after he had a long seizure that very nearly took his life. I can still recall the phone call from his father, telling me about the seizure, the ambulance ride to a larger hospital, and the details of what the doctors had to do to stop the seizure and stabilize him. TO SAVE HIS LIFE.

So my thoughts and prayers are with you.

Sunday art - Poly makes a funny



One of my favorite Floridians (ok, almost the only one I know, where IS Diz these days?) sent me this link for Sunday art. I have to say, it cracked me up, because I never really have understood the whole Disney mystique thing. I have no desire to go to the park, wait in line for hours, hunt for Mickey, breakfast with the princesses, etc. So sue me. Maybe someday I'll take a Disney cruise, but that's about it.

(Oh, and don't miss this - love those things! )

I actually like THIS one:
And if this is more your speed,


you can go here courtesy of Suzy, who found this page and passed it to me.
Some look a little like Xtina to me. Just sayin'. I could never have the patience to mold a face (look on the sculpting tutorials page of that website if you're interested in the method).

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Partay

1) Neighbors are awesome

2) I think I drank an entire bottle of riesling.

3) Suzy and the Boyfriend came. I found the last of The Cake in the fridge and he ate it all.

We had an impromptuu wii tournament and heard about how my friend the mailman got himself in the middle of a police raid by accident. Awesome case of wrong place wrong time.

I'm sleeping in Saturday.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Friday, January 02, 2009

Sushi time

Shrimp, now peas & carrots as previously mentioned....bamboo mats are highly overrated


Carly(via Blackberry)

A little Dexter for your new year

Someone gave me Dexter Freebish at some point... we had a shared drive we used to all put cd's on (at work), and also people have pressed CD's into my hands in an attempt to widen my tastes beyond country and pop music (it's slowly working, I swear it is)...

So lately I am trying to listen to some of that music I don't recognize, which is now on my OWN hard drive. I was busy getting ready for the party tonight (I am making sushi rolls with rice, cooked shrimp, snow peas and naughty carrots) and happened to shift my attention to the music just in time to hear this part:

Nothing in life will ever come that easy.
Doesn't mean it has to be that hard.
I know you will find out who you are. *

I find that somewhat encouraging at the start of this new year, don't you?

*(Leaving Town/ A Life of Saturdays)

Someone

...Was being VERY bad at the carrot processing plant. I swear to you, internet, I opened the bag of carrots myself and this is what fell out.
This is what happens when people have to work the day before/ after a holiday.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Thursday, January 01, 2009

I'm just saying

...that I'm really ready for the Ice Road Truckers marathon to be over.


Carly(via Blackberry)

Cheese

I just bought myself a Canon Powershot A590 ; my other camera literally was non-resuscitatable (is that remotely spelled right? it was dead, really really dead...) on 12/23; and I desperately want something shiny and cool like the Digital Rebel - but there's that whole reality of finances thing; those are $900, and this was on sale for $120. Someday, Santa Claus. For now I will carry it where ever I go because it is small and I keep seeing Things that I would like to shoot. Not people. Ha, ha.

(Oh, and Poly, dammit !!!!!! But, OK. For you. That's my shortest celebrity crush ever. Damn you, X. I guess I'll go back to having Clooney as my Blackberry wallpaper. )

All this to avoid working on the yearbook. Hmmph. Happy Nude Year! Wait... what? Oh. OK. Whatever.

Things will get better... right?

I distinctly remember a day in... maybe February?  I remember the moment, but not what day it was. I was sitting at work thinking about plan...