I love Flickr.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Runned voer
Dragon Mood? -- bleary-eyed and weary-scaled
Yippee, it's Friday. Too bad I feel like I've been "runned voer" (as I initially typed it) by a Mack truck this morning. Five-and-a-half hours of sleep is NOT ENOUGH!
After I got home from work last night, I DOWNloaded the photos that S and others took of the baby, reduced and cropped them in Photoshop and then UPloaded them to Flickr for Caroline Marie and the rest of the world TO SEE!
It felt good and fun and creative to do -- even at four in the morning!
But now? Aye-yaye-yaye! Don't ask.
Yippee, it's Friday. Too bad I feel like I've been "runned voer" (as I initially typed it) by a Mack truck this morning. Five-and-a-half hours of sleep is NOT ENOUGH!
After I got home from work last night, I DOWNloaded the photos that S and others took of the baby, reduced and cropped them in Photoshop and then UPloaded them to Flickr for Caroline Marie and the rest of the world TO SEE!
It felt good and fun and creative to do -- even at four in the morning!
But now? Aye-yaye-yaye! Don't ask.
September 21, 2006 -- A beautiful world
Madison probably is still catching up on her sleep from her speedy arrival into the world yesterday.
But when she wakes up, she's got a WHOLE WIDE WORLD out there to spend a lifetime exploring. And Flickr is a great tool for expanding your ideas about just how big that world is ... never mind how BEAUTIFUL it is!
Thanks to Flickrleech (whose name I detest) for the ability to capture a WHOLE page of thumbnails. As Flickrleech puts it so succintly, "Paging sucks!" See the original collage here.
Brought to you by all the talented and generous people who use Flickr.
But when she wakes up, she's got a WHOLE WIDE WORLD out there to spend a lifetime exploring. And Flickr is a great tool for expanding your ideas about just how big that world is ... never mind how BEAUTIFUL it is!
Thanks to Flickrleech (whose name I detest) for the ability to capture a WHOLE page of thumbnails. As Flickrleech puts it so succintly, "Paging sucks!" See the original collage here.
Brought to you by all the talented and generous people who use Flickr.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Celebrating Madison's imminent arrival
So ... Sarah and Matt are at the hospital trying to have a baby. Caroline and I are both at work, pretending to be engaged in our tasks, but really thinking about Sarah, about the baby and simply enjoying chatting with each other on Gmail's messaging tool. As part of the fun and excitement of Madison's imminent arrival, we had an informal "pool" going on the time of her about-to-be birth.
3:35 PM Caroline: I said 4:55, you've got 5:55, Hope's got 6:24 and Steph's making Sarah suffer all the way to 7:32.
So, how are we doing this -- just whomever is closest to the time, regardless of whether you go over or not? So, if she goes anywhere up until 5:24:59, I win? And what do I win, exactly?
3:36 PM Caroline: Do I get to be the baby's God Dragon Mother? I WANT TO BE A GOD DRAGON MOTHER! Speaking of which, do we know what this kid's Chinese sign will be?
I'll go check...
3:38 PM me : I don't know .... I think we're talking about a drink or a shot of tah-kill-yah or something like that!
3:39 PM As for being the baby's God Dragon Mother .... sheesh, I dunno! Sounds like a little pagan and piratical to me!
3:40 PM Caroline: And, your point is???
3:41 PM me: Ha-ha-ha ....
3:43 PM Caroline: Whooo-hoo! She's gonna be a FIRE DOG!
me: ... Oooh, a FIRE DOG!
Cool!
3:44 PM Caroline:I think a fire dog sounds WAY cool!
Not quite as cool as a fire dragon, but we can't all be perfect...
3:45 PM :D
me: ha-ha-ha
Or cool like a WATER dragon!
Caroline: Or ANY kind of dragon!
Dragons are the best
3:46 PM Caroline: Bestest dragonestest!
3:49 PM me: Did you ever text-message Matt?
4:05 PM Caroline: You know, I wonder if cell phones are even allowed to be on in the rooms? Matt might not have even gotten my text message.
me: Oh, that's probably the case ... but EVENTUALLY he'll get it, tell Sarah and they'll have a good laugh about it ... after she's done PUSHING THAT BABY OUT!
4:06 PM Caroline : Yep!
4:14 PM me: Sarah is in quite a bit of pain/discomfort, so the doc gave her another epidural. He said to expect that things will probably move right along now.
Later
Caroline: I'm bugging on outta here -- give me a call on my cell when you have any more info on the Fire Puppy. Love you!
Later still
Caroline: Hello-hello! Are you there? I'm home from my dinner. Any news on Madison's first few hours?
Well, Madison was born at 4:36 p.m., an arrival so unexpectedly early even the doctor didn't make her delivery! She arrived healthy and well, with all ten fingers and toes, 7 lbs. 6 oz., all 19-3/4 inches of her beautiful and perfect. Mommy and Daddy (I hear) were ecstatic and emotional.
As for me, I'm giddily celebrating for Matt and Sarah and their new baby daughter. I'm ALSO celebrating (once again) MY wonderful daughter, the delightfully deranged Lina, the Fire Dragon, the wenchiest wench and piratical Wendish princess this side of the Mississippi! I love you, Lina!
3:35 PM Caroline: I said 4:55, you've got 5:55, Hope's got 6:24 and Steph's making Sarah suffer all the way to 7:32.
So, how are we doing this -- just whomever is closest to the time, regardless of whether you go over or not? So, if she goes anywhere up until 5:24:59, I win? And what do I win, exactly?
3:36 PM Caroline: Do I get to be the baby's God Dragon Mother? I WANT TO BE A GOD DRAGON MOTHER! Speaking of which, do we know what this kid's Chinese sign will be?
I'll go check...
3:38 PM me : I don't know .... I think we're talking about a drink or a shot of tah-kill-yah or something like that!
3:39 PM As for being the baby's God Dragon Mother .... sheesh, I dunno! Sounds like a little pagan and piratical to me!
3:40 PM Caroline: And, your point is???
3:41 PM me: Ha-ha-ha ....
3:43 PM Caroline: Whooo-hoo! She's gonna be a FIRE DOG!
me: ... Oooh, a FIRE DOG!
Cool!
3:44 PM Caroline:I think a fire dog sounds WAY cool!
Not quite as cool as a fire dragon, but we can't all be perfect...
3:45 PM :D
me: ha-ha-ha
Or cool like a WATER dragon!
Caroline: Or ANY kind of dragon!
Dragons are the best
3:46 PM Caroline: Bestest dragonestest!
3:49 PM me: Did you ever text-message Matt?
4:05 PM Caroline: You know, I wonder if cell phones are even allowed to be on in the rooms? Matt might not have even gotten my text message.
me: Oh, that's probably the case ... but EVENTUALLY he'll get it, tell Sarah and they'll have a good laugh about it ... after she's done PUSHING THAT BABY OUT!
4:06 PM Caroline : Yep!
4:14 PM me: Sarah is in quite a bit of pain/discomfort, so the doc gave her another epidural. He said to expect that things will probably move right along now.
Later
Caroline: I'm bugging on outta here -- give me a call on my cell when you have any more info on the Fire Puppy. Love you!
Later still
Caroline: Hello-hello! Are you there? I'm home from my dinner. Any news on Madison's first few hours?
Well, Madison was born at 4:36 p.m., an arrival so unexpectedly early even the doctor didn't make her delivery! She arrived healthy and well, with all ten fingers and toes, 7 lbs. 6 oz., all 19-3/4 inches of her beautiful and perfect. Mommy and Daddy (I hear) were ecstatic and emotional.
As for me, I'm giddily celebrating for Matt and Sarah and their new baby daughter. I'm ALSO celebrating (once again) MY wonderful daughter, the delightfully deranged Lina, the Fire Dragon, the wenchiest wench and piratical Wendish princess this side of the Mississippi! I love you, Lina!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
the end of WHAT?
Some new websites I'm checking out:
- http://absolutemichigan.com/dig/
- http://michpics.wordpress.com/
- Greenstone Media -- an all new, women-owned and operated internet radio station, founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda. Check it out!
- https://zyb.com/ -- sadly, my phone won't work with Zyb
- and last, but certainly not least: http://www.spartanedge.com/
subtitled "THE END OF PUSSY JOURNALISM"
Monday, September 18, 2006
waxing ..er I mean, soaping rhapsodic about Mistral!
My daughter, the ever-so-good writer writes about the Soap Opera in Madison. It's a wonderful, sensuous, full of knooks and crannies kind of place that you can easily spend an hour or three in.
When I visit Lina, I usually request a stop in at the Soap Opera and I head straight for the Mistral soaps. They are beautifully crafted, heavenly scented, slightly expensive and totally worth every penny. I too put them in our linen closet to make all the linens smell fragrant.
Ohh, yes ... I especially like their Linden Lettuce and the Wild Blackberry (I think that's the name -- I'll have to run down downstairs and check in the linen closet).
When I visit Lina, I usually request a stop in at the Soap Opera and I head straight for the Mistral soaps. They are beautifully crafted, heavenly scented, slightly expensive and totally worth every penny. I too put them in our linen closet to make all the linens smell fragrant.
Ohh, yes ... I especially like their Linden Lettuce and the Wild Blackberry (I think that's the name -- I'll have to run down downstairs and check in the linen closet).
Talk radio by, for and about women
Dragon Mood? -- energized
Gloria Steinem was a guest on Bill Maher's Real Time on Friday night. She spoke of a new venture, Greenstone Media, launched by Jane Fonda and herself. Their home page describes themselves this way:
Gloria Steinem was a guest on Bill Maher's Real Time on Friday night. She spoke of a new venture, Greenstone Media, launched by Jane Fonda and herself. Their home page describes themselves this way:
We’re giving women the radio they want but can’t currently find: entertaining, informative, and inspiring talk delivered in an engaging, inclusive way.As I write this, I'm listening to an interview of Gloria by a group of women bloggers, collectively known as the "mommybloggers." It's interesting and thought-provoking. Have a listen.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
We have lift off
I usually don't 'ooh' and 'ahh' over old cars ... but this one is an exception.
Look at the chrome, look at the detailing, look at the color of this vintage Caddy. Wow!
Kudos to Today is a good day!
... just how I'm feeling
... it's 1:30 a.m., I'm tired and I wanna go home.
Word of the Day
Word of the Day
tetchy \TECH-ee\, adjective: Peevish; testy; irritable.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Flying time, layoffs and family crazies
Dragon Mood? -- tired, bewildered and muddling along
I can't believe it's been a WEEK since I last posted. Whew, where has the time gone?
I worked Tuesday through Thursday. I was supposed to work a ten-hour day on Friday, but Thursday evening, it was cancelled. I was ticked off to say the least. The reasons given seemed rather lame to me. Things continued to happen at work that gave me cause for worry that they might be laying us off ... as we completed our fourth week on the job.
S and I had a pretty busy weekend. I'll get to that in a minute.
Yesterday, I went into work at the usual time, fired up my computer and prepared to begin working. Steve, one of the other guys on the night shift came to me and said, "They're having a meeting in the conference room." I thought to myself, "Here we go." When I got back to the door into the conference room, Hany (pronounced Hah-nee), our night lead was there. He frowned lightly at me, waved his hands and shook his head. I took my cue, turned around and went back to my desk.
Sure enough, four people were laid off -- three from the night shift, one from the day shift. My coworkers, Steve and Mike, were laid off, as well as a Lansing guy who had only been there a week. Mike was the fellow teaching us how to swear in Romanian. They were told this may only be temporary, but I don't think I'll see those guys again.
Seeing people laid off cast quite a pall over our little, now even littler group. I started to get a headache just from the sheer tension of it all. Hany came and talked to me, trying to reassure me. He encouraged me to keep working, focus on accuracy and getting the drawings as "perfect" as possible. Talking to me about 'perfectionist' goals is like taking the proverbial coals to Newcastle ... but thankfully, Hany has a light and optimistic "touch" in his manner of speaking. I just buckled down and tried to get through as many of these machining operation drawings as possible.
Later, that evening, I called S as well as my sister, Ruth. I shared the job update with them. (big sigh)
As for this weekend, Ruth and I managed to eke out about an hour-and-a-half to meet up with each other. We sat over coffee (well, I had coffee) and jabber and catch up on each other's news. It was balm for my soul to have a chance to visit with Ruth. I believe she felt the same way. We have said countless times to one another what a blessing it is to have one another for talking, sharing and simply unburdening ourselves when life's events feel too heavy.
After I got back home, I changed into grubby clothes and S and I proceeded to unload a landscape trailer full of pine boughs that were originally headed for the dump, now euphemistically called a "transfer station?" When did that happen? Because of concerns about spreading the emerald ash borer, the dump/transfer station won't take tree debris anymore. So, now we've got a big pile of pine boughs and debris to deal with. ArrrghhH!
We finally got on the road, S in the truck pulling the landscape trailer and me in my little car, caravaning behind her. I felt more than a little annoyed with her because she doesn't take care of problems ahead of time, and then, the problems are inflated (by her) sometimes to crisis level and she turns to me to 'share' the inconvenience/annoyance/worry of them with her. More old family dynamics!
Thankfully, the trip was uneventful. I managed to listen to virtually the entire MSU/Eastern Michigan football game, first on a local Lansing station and then, further north, WJR, in its first season broadcasting MSU football. That was fun!
We pulled into Grayling and S peeled off to head with her brother-in-law, Jim, to load up the trailer at the storage unit where Sally has more of her too-many-belongings stored. I hit the local Rite-Aid and bought beer and a huge bottle of Piesporter. When I got to Sally and Grandma's house, I immediately unscrewed that bottle, poured us all a glass and started drinking. Nothing like alcohol to lubricate the machinations of family communication, eh!
Sally actually fixed us all a nice, sumptuous dinner that evening. Never mind that we didn't eat until after 10 o'clock. (And so much for observing Oprah's rule about never eating after seven!) I was starved and the food tasted good. We finally got to bed around 2:30 in the morning.
The next morning we were up by 9:00. I made us some single cups of coffee with our little coffee filter cup and some ground Alterra coffee I had brought. Jim and Michelle showed up and S and Jim began working on the running lights on the trailer. Again, her not attending to this problem earlier was an annoyance, but I'll let go of that (for now). They dinked around with those darn running lights for over two hours and were never able to get them to work. By now, it was after noon, so we all jumped in our various vehicles and headed the 30 miles north to Gaylord to work on another storage unit, an old pole barn that Sally's now deceased husband, Bob, had built over 15 years ago and filled with the flotsam and jetsam of his building trade, loads and loads of old lumber, some of it worth keeping, much of it not worth any thing.
To make a too-long story shorter, we made two trips to Gaylord, filling the landscape trailer four feet high with lumber and wood of every description, driving it back to Sally's house to pile and stack next to another pole barn she build two years ago. The goal is to cover it with a tarp and either use it or sell it. Hah! We'll see if that ever happens. We all joked (out of Sally's earshot) that when she's dead and gone, that pile of lumber will still be sitting there, old and rotting ... and we'll have a giant bonfire in her memory. I can see it now.
The other thing we 'rescused' from the Gaylord pole barn was an old aluminum fishing boat that belongs to S, along with a boat trailer. The boat looks in great shape (because it's aluminum -- what's to go wrong?) but the trailer was in pretty rough shape. The tires were both flat and totally decrepit. The winching mechanism needs some work. The last Michigan license on the boat was dated '92. That's how long that boat has been sitting there. Hmm.
We didn't leave Grayling until 9:30 Sunday evening. That's after only six hours of sleep, physical labor outside in the fresh air all day and I'll tell you -- I was pooped. S caravaned with me (this time) south on I-75, as I was heading for the pied-a-terre here in Detroit and she peeled off at Flint back towards the pine forest. After 190 miles and three hours, I pulled in the driveway. Mission accomplished!
I can't believe it's been a WEEK since I last posted. Whew, where has the time gone?
I worked Tuesday through Thursday. I was supposed to work a ten-hour day on Friday, but Thursday evening, it was cancelled. I was ticked off to say the least. The reasons given seemed rather lame to me. Things continued to happen at work that gave me cause for worry that they might be laying us off ... as we completed our fourth week on the job.
S and I had a pretty busy weekend. I'll get to that in a minute.
Yesterday, I went into work at the usual time, fired up my computer and prepared to begin working. Steve, one of the other guys on the night shift came to me and said, "They're having a meeting in the conference room." I thought to myself, "Here we go." When I got back to the door into the conference room, Hany (pronounced Hah-nee), our night lead was there. He frowned lightly at me, waved his hands and shook his head. I took my cue, turned around and went back to my desk.
Sure enough, four people were laid off -- three from the night shift, one from the day shift. My coworkers, Steve and Mike, were laid off, as well as a Lansing guy who had only been there a week. Mike was the fellow teaching us how to swear in Romanian. They were told this may only be temporary, but I don't think I'll see those guys again.
Seeing people laid off cast quite a pall over our little, now even littler group. I started to get a headache just from the sheer tension of it all. Hany came and talked to me, trying to reassure me. He encouraged me to keep working, focus on accuracy and getting the drawings as "perfect" as possible. Talking to me about 'perfectionist' goals is like taking the proverbial coals to Newcastle ... but thankfully, Hany has a light and optimistic "touch" in his manner of speaking. I just buckled down and tried to get through as many of these machining operation drawings as possible.
Later, that evening, I called S as well as my sister, Ruth. I shared the job update with them. (big sigh)
As for this weekend, Ruth and I managed to eke out about an hour-and-a-half to meet up with each other. We sat over coffee (well, I had coffee) and jabber and catch up on each other's news. It was balm for my soul to have a chance to visit with Ruth. I believe she felt the same way. We have said countless times to one another what a blessing it is to have one another for talking, sharing and simply unburdening ourselves when life's events feel too heavy.
After I got back home, I changed into grubby clothes and S and I proceeded to unload a landscape trailer full of pine boughs that were originally headed for the dump, now euphemistically called a "transfer station?" When did that happen? Because of concerns about spreading the emerald ash borer, the dump/transfer station won't take tree debris anymore. So, now we've got a big pile of pine boughs and debris to deal with. ArrrghhH!
We finally got on the road, S in the truck pulling the landscape trailer and me in my little car, caravaning behind her. I felt more than a little annoyed with her because she doesn't take care of problems ahead of time, and then, the problems are inflated (by her) sometimes to crisis level and she turns to me to 'share' the inconvenience/annoyance/worry of them with her. More old family dynamics!
Thankfully, the trip was uneventful. I managed to listen to virtually the entire MSU/Eastern Michigan football game, first on a local Lansing station and then, further north, WJR, in its first season broadcasting MSU football. That was fun!
We pulled into Grayling and S peeled off to head with her brother-in-law, Jim, to load up the trailer at the storage unit where Sally has more of her too-many-belongings stored. I hit the local Rite-Aid and bought beer and a huge bottle of Piesporter. When I got to Sally and Grandma's house, I immediately unscrewed that bottle, poured us all a glass and started drinking. Nothing like alcohol to lubricate the machinations of family communication, eh!
Sally actually fixed us all a nice, sumptuous dinner that evening. Never mind that we didn't eat until after 10 o'clock. (And so much for observing Oprah's rule about never eating after seven!) I was starved and the food tasted good. We finally got to bed around 2:30 in the morning.
The next morning we were up by 9:00. I made us some single cups of coffee with our little coffee filter cup and some ground Alterra coffee I had brought. Jim and Michelle showed up and S and Jim began working on the running lights on the trailer. Again, her not attending to this problem earlier was an annoyance, but I'll let go of that (for now). They dinked around with those darn running lights for over two hours and were never able to get them to work. By now, it was after noon, so we all jumped in our various vehicles and headed the 30 miles north to Gaylord to work on another storage unit, an old pole barn that Sally's now deceased husband, Bob, had built over 15 years ago and filled with the flotsam and jetsam of his building trade, loads and loads of old lumber, some of it worth keeping, much of it not worth any thing.
To make a too-long story shorter, we made two trips to Gaylord, filling the landscape trailer four feet high with lumber and wood of every description, driving it back to Sally's house to pile and stack next to another pole barn she build two years ago. The goal is to cover it with a tarp and either use it or sell it. Hah! We'll see if that ever happens. We all joked (out of Sally's earshot) that when she's dead and gone, that pile of lumber will still be sitting there, old and rotting ... and we'll have a giant bonfire in her memory. I can see it now.
The other thing we 'rescused' from the Gaylord pole barn was an old aluminum fishing boat that belongs to S, along with a boat trailer. The boat looks in great shape (because it's aluminum -- what's to go wrong?) but the trailer was in pretty rough shape. The tires were both flat and totally decrepit. The winching mechanism needs some work. The last Michigan license on the boat was dated '92. That's how long that boat has been sitting there. Hmm.
We didn't leave Grayling until 9:30 Sunday evening. That's after only six hours of sleep, physical labor outside in the fresh air all day and I'll tell you -- I was pooped. S caravaned with me (this time) south on I-75, as I was heading for the pied-a-terre here in Detroit and she peeled off at Flint back towards the pine forest. After 190 miles and three hours, I pulled in the driveway. Mission accomplished!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Labor Day weekend recap
Dragon Mood? -- subdued
It's Tuesday evening -- I'm back at work. Unlike some of my coworkers who made the usual comments about the weekend not being long enough ... I'm feeling like I did have a weekend. It was relaxing, it was long enough and I'm still feeling extremely thankful to have a job right now. Which I'm glad to be working at right now (actually I'm on my lunch break).
S and I did have a pretty low-key weekend. We putzed around the house a bit. We re-installed the fountain on the deck after she waterproofed it two weekends ago. We visited and shared a spicy rib dinner with our eager-to-entertain neighbor and young-78-year-old lawnboy, Bill. I threw some cole slaw together and we took a store-bought apple pie as a thank-you for Bill. We watched an absolute wasteland of TV on Saturday night and I was bummed that we hadn't rented some DVDs for the evening. Just how many commercials can the broadcasters jam into one hour's worth of TV ... while re-airing tired and/or violent old movies? Yecch!
Sunday, J & J invited us over for a pontoon ride and dinner. Geez, did we have fun! At least I did! I think S was tired and feeling a bit under the weather from her ongoing thryoid problems. The weather was gorgeous. We spent at least a couple of hours toodling (is "toodling" a word?) around the lake, watching other boaters, picnickers, houses around the lakeshore and drunken partyers in the middle of the lake.
The highlight of the pontoon ride (for me) was at dusk as we watched the whooping cranes return to their lake "safe harbor" for the night. Their yodel-y warbles, calling and replying, never fail to enthrall me with nature's primeval beauty. And, of course, the sunset on the lake was lovely, with Mother Nature putting on a spectacular watercolor show. I wish I could paint like that!
Monday was another beautiful late-summer Michigan day. The temperatures were in the low 70s and the humidity was low, as well -- in a word, perfect! I sat out on the deck in the morning, did a few sudoku puzzles, and called my Uncle George. It was great to hear his voice after these many months of not talking. My cousin, Brenda, was there too so I got to talk briefly with her also.
Late in the afternoon, we took a ride into south Lansing to deliver numerous boxes of children's books to Matt and Sarah, in anticipation of their little girl, Madison, making her appearance in the world ... 17 more days to go! Bless her heart, Sarah was very gracious about having four boxes of books rather unceremoniously dumped in her living room. S was happy to get them out of the back of the truck and delivered for Sarah and Lindsey to divide.
I complained to S that I couldn't remember the last time that I had had a hot meal (not including burgers and/or ribs). She responded by driving us to an all-night diner for a mashed-potatoes-gravy-peas-and-pork-chop dinner! It was heavenly! We got home, packed up our stuff and headed down here to the pied-a-terre. A nice long weekend!
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