Ack-Comp woes!

My Ewido alerted me yesterday, that I had picked up a Trojan, so I ran through the hoops:
-Run Trend Micro House Call, Restart.
-Re-Run Ewido, Restart
-Run Windows Online Safety Beta Scanner, Restart
-Run Bit Defender
-Run MS Anti-Spy Beta
-Run Norton, (Which I am deciding has become immeasurably useless of late) Restart.
-Install and Run Zone Alarm, Restart.

After I did the first run with House Call, it picked up on the Trojan again and gave me a message that said it couldn't be cleaned. So I ran it again. The second time it found nothing. All subsequent anti Malware programs found nothing - BUT - my IE is still running...uhm "wrong?" and while I have no Mozilla installed on my computer, I keep getting a message everytime I try to start up IE that "it is not my default browser and would I like to to be?" I have been clicking, "Yes" but each tie I start it it tells me the same thing, so now I am thinking that there is something nefarious still lurking beneath the surface of the keyboard.

I am sorely tempted to dload XP SP2, however, I know it does not "work and play well" with othe machines, but the IT guy at Cascade keeps ranting about how I MUST have it because this Trojan crap wouldn't be happening if I had updated to SP 2.

And yet, I hear those confirming words inside my head, words from :

Michael Kellogg friendly neighborhood Foley Artist and IT guy-Extroardinaire
and
Bryan Seigfreid, Not-so-Local IT Guy Extraordinaire

their words ring inside my head like a siren -"Danger! Danger! Do NOT Load the SP2. Danger! Danger!"

And yet...in a tangled mess of Microsoft foolishness, some how my update - which is configured to only ALERT me of updates and NOT auto update, started an auto update while I was not looking - and you guessed it : it started to dload some xp SP2. I was unable to stop the Dload midway so I just jerked the line outta the wall and that put a stop to it. Funy thing is though...it didn't actually load XP SP2 proper, but only four of the Hotfixes?
Weirdness.
But this is the same time last year, that Windows update did the very same thing to me. It was last May, when Windows update by passed my settings to be alerted and not auto updated and managed to Dload the entire XP SP2 update. I thought at that time, "screw you Bill Gates! I am the one who decides when and what to update, not you." and I prompltly uninstalled XP SP2.
It was like a giant taloned creature (the long arm of Bill Gates?) reached in and dragged out a handful of my computers intrails, leaving a twitching lifeless cadaver in its place. That was a good long telephone call to India, let me tell you!

So I have no desire to repeat it.

But it irks me...aside from my current IE browser issues, that there are four XPSP2 hotfixes in there that I am not sure if I can safely extricate.

Such is Tuesday.

Must teach Art today.
Drive to Portland tomorow to take a friend to her workmans comp evaulation.
Thursday is edit the huge novel for the 7th grade english lit class.
Friday afternoon is drive back to Portland so Blake can go to a Camp Crew Reunion, and drive back home Saturday.

Love to Drive.

Hate to buy gas.

Learn the tune, everyone.

I think we're all going to be singing it sooner and louder than we think.
(Man! I wish my car would run on skim milk.)

A new Game

I was at a neighbors garage sale and they were selling some games. Since Scout is a "Pirata-phone" I decided to grab Sid Meier's : Pirates. Since Scout is away on a retreat at the beach, I thought to myself, "O goody! I will get it all installed and make sure it works and then when she comes home won't she be thrilled!" So I get the thing loading and am blindsided by the obvious: Serial Code.
Duh!
So my first, gut impulse is to email a friend of mine and Firaxis.
"Dude!", I write, "I know this is not your gig, but dang...what do I do now."
Of course... after sending the message I realise that I need to go hunt down my neighbor.
(This sends me into a Flashback-to one of those "Mysterium-Moments-where-Rich-and-Ryan -are-standing-in-my-room-listening-patiently-while-I-rant-about-"some dilemma"-and-they-both-calmly-answer-in-a-single-sentence-and-problems-are-suddenly-solved" kinds of moments, where I completely bypass common sense and make what is simple, convoluted.)

Anyway...
So I got the serial number and got the game loaded, (Dang it took almost as much time to load as Revelation!) and Kenz sits down to play it. She names her character...

"Captain Bellboy."

I have no idea where THAT came from!
But you know that, with a name like "Cap'n Bellboy" this adventurer ain't gonna get too far.

Chansons de les Viris

Ok, Scuttle-butt has it that this virus/set of viri take about 16 days to run it's/their course.
Tomorrow is day 16 for me, and sure enough I am starting to be able to hold my head up again.

I rarely get sick.
Maybe once a year...very light - medium grade cold, or even maybe once every-other-year, but its been years since I was THIS sick.

Honestly, about 10 days into it, I was sure I was never going to be healthy again.
I honestly thought, "this is it, from here on in, its the slow slide toward the grave for me."
I am waiting for death to come...like a friend.

But...

Well today is day 15 and the sun is out and I am SITTING UP!
Ain't THAT something!
I think I may live again to walk outside another day.

French for Raindear

Thank you to Raindear from The One Ring dot Net Chatroom, for correcting my French.
I wuld not get through tomorrows conversation without your help!

You are the best!
Thank you!

"Clariona"

The night before Easter

So MacKenz decides that she would like to be baptized on Easter.
Great!
This is how we ended up doing our kids: we let them decide if and when to be baptized, and so far it seems to have worked well for us.
Anyway, so the night before, she is assembling her "Baptism garb" because at this particular church they do total immerion, as one might find it in one of the 4 Gospels when Jesus went to John the Baptist and he dunked Him all the way under.
Though there are many other acceptable traditions around baptism, such as "sprinkling" etc...total immersion happens to be what we do.

So anyway...she is assembling her garb, and she comes out all frustrated saying,

"Mom! I only have 2 pairs of shin guards and they don't match! AND...I can't find any other of my soccer clothes!"

I respond, "What's in your head, girl! You're not going to be defending a soccer ball from Pastor Tim in the Baptismal tank! You don't NEED the shin guards!"

I swear! This kid...the things that come into her head!

What kinda sickness IS this?

Basic cold last weekend.
Spent 3+ days with 102 fever.
Fever broke and now...?
What the heck is THIS?...
within two hours of the fever breaking, I have hives coming out all over me. Arms, legs, stomach, neck. And my head feels like a lead weight, and I can barely hear.

That was yesterday.
Today I seem to have more hives.

This has been a solid 7 day thang now.
Kinda weird.

Somebody pass the tub of Benedryl Creme?

Well, craziness ensues...

First order of business:

Welcome to the first (and possibly only) meeting of AAA. (Not AA.)
"Approval Addicts Anonymous."
*She rises from her seat and walks forward to address the group.*
"My name is Blog Biscuit and I am an Approval Addict."
*Group claps and says, "Hi blog Biscuit." She steps back down and takes her seat.*

This week proves to be crazy and yet with a special anal-retentive order assigned to the craziness - much like driving a chariot pulled by six horses all trying to go a different direction.

Monday - plan art curriculum for the rest of the school year so that it is easily taught by any one who walks in off the street and not necessarily me.

Tuesday - finish editing Stephen R. Lawhead's Taliesin for English Lit read aloud for the 7th graders. (400 pages to go.)

Wednesday - paint/shoot process art. Double check preparations for the lyst move on Saturday.

Thursday - Music day - Fiddle, Mandolin, Hammered Dulcimer, Irish Whistle practice day.

Friday - Fill-in work at local Mailbox/Shipping/Office Supply store here in town.

Saturday - Move Lysts, Procure and Pre-Prep Easter foods. Clean house and entertain mother-in-law.

Sunday-MacKenz is Baptised at Easter service. Commit Easter Hooplah.

Monday-work at Mailbox Store again.

Tuesday-Teach art in the A.M. Tuesday afternoon (Hears Moody Blues playing that song?) emotional melt down and subsequent collapse.

Wed, Thurs, Fri - prepare for Hammered Dulcimer Festival. (YAY!)
I get to shoot a montage of the whole event and process a gift CD for each member upon departure. I know this sounds like work, and for anybody else, it would be, except that I adore these people, and I adore sitting in front of my loverly computer processing images in Photo Shop. (None of that was said tongue-in-cheek either.)
I know.
I am sick.
One man's heaven is another man's hell I guess.

;o)

A Weird and Cryptic Question Answered.

Did you ever have a moment when there is something you have been thinking about, maybe for a while, and then somebody says something that sets the stage for you to follow through and do it, or say it? It feels like jumping off a cliff with 1000 IRS agents at your back. Its scary, you don'tn know where you are going to land, but you KNOW that it is now the right thing to do.

For about a week or two, there has been something uncomfortable tugging at my heart.
When such…inner promptings occur, it usually means that I should take note, because God is trying to draw my attention to either something good, or something that I need to let Him fix within me.

So I have been mulling and chewing on something, and the more I do, the more it bugs me.
Some people may be freaked out by the word I am about to share, but I know, because of My Friend's background, he will not be weirded out by such a word.

The word is confess.
The confession is mine, in the form of an apology to My Friend.

His oddly timed comment about what occurred to him and his departure from his "volunteer-job" – well, I don’t know about any of the particulars there, but I DO know about my own part before any of that happened.

I did write him a letter.
An inflamed and enraged letter calling him out on the carpet for what appeared to me to be negligent service at the time. I was hurt and dismayed because at the time, I was feeling pressured that the people that took my place needed to do things the way I would.

For that I was wrong and I apologise.

You would think that a sin of that magnitude against a brother would have sat ill with me for a lot longer, but I think that was Gods mercy on me; letting me get to the point where I could deal with the truth, before He forced me to be accountable for it.
But to be honest, it has really bugged me for the last two weeks solidly, and when My Friend suddenly made mention of his own experience after that fact, well, it seemed like I was being given a chance to make good.

Whether he even remembers any of that letter, I do not know. He may be made of tougher stuff, and such a flip-out may have rolled from him like water off a ducks back. For me, it bugs me that I did wrong and I need to be honest and accountable.

I am truly sorry.
And even more to his credit, he has only treated me with complete and utter grace despite my offense. How Godly an example is that?

I am thankful for for his extending such grace to me.

I am truly, and humbly sorry for my behaviour.

*Exhales*

Sounds Gallery created

I combined another site with this one, and have created a perpetual sample gallery, of various sound files. The Sounds Gallery link will reside in the sidebar.

You can access it at:
http://sound-collection.blogspot.com

Right now I might call your attention to some instructional materials there, for some standard jam tunes. There are midi and wav files for the ear-trained learner, as well as each tune's abc file and sheet music, for those who can read music.

There are some samples of some good friend of mine who play Hammered Dulcimer that you may want to check out if you have never heard it before, but the SOUNDS GALLLERY will not be dedicated to the Hammered Dulcimer alone.
You will eventually find all maner of bizarre things there.

Free to Bad Home : Updated

I am cutting the canvas, "Die Die Die, Hateful Thing" from it's frame.
It will have one of two fates:
-Unholy incense rising to above the juniper trees on the beir we shall call "Burn Pile."
-Fold it mercilssly and cram in an envelope and mail it to you. Contact me privately with shipping coordinates.

(I dunno, I wonder if that would then qualify as "Hate Mail?" I can't think of anyone I would want to do that to.)

****Addendum****

It's gone.
:oD

mih-

Feelin' Scrappy

I am thrilled to see my people spreading their wings and branching out into new creativity!

Blue Max is getting back into his 3D work. I know he has some great texture libraries and all manner of fun stuff at his site and locked away in his old bean too. I canna wait to see the body of work that is produced there in the coming year!

And my sister is letting fly with her unedited and freewheeling writing style.
She works so hard all the live long week, and I am SO pleased to see her take another recreational opportunity to write. Write write write! Edit later! (Or in this case, never!)

As for me, well I uploaded two projects into the scraps gallery, both still works in process.
Honestly, I need to do anything to jumprstart some creativity!
So I 'lined them up against the wall and shot them,' then I dragged them over and threw them into the Scrap pile - ehr...scrap gallery.
;o)

More Childlike Ironies

Sure, sure, children are usually sweet, nice things that you're happy to have around until they discover the joy that is appealing to their peer groups, and the attendant familial disassociation whenever the 'groan-ups' are nearby.

Two year- and three year-olds are in a special catagory when they are learning to assert their sense of individualism by pushing boundaries and learning to say "no." Often. Very often. Contrariness becomes their end-all of existence for a period of time... Which is why, during three days of illness that you wouldn't wish upon a committed enemy, let alone your kid... there is an ever-so-slight guilty pleasure in that child wanting to do nothing but sit in your lap and hold you till he/she falls asleep.

I wonder what illness they have to get to put them off of creating miniature death-scene coffins out of violin boxes. Hmmm...

Childlike Amusements

I read Rushings Blog tonight and his situation is so common and yet his response to it was SO uncommon. He sounds like a good guy, simply because of the choices he makes, no matter how uncomfortable to himself. I kind of lump him and Blue Max into the same pile in that they are both dads of this kind.

On a seperate note, my own child has been up to odd things.
Yes, she is 10 and she still holds some regard for a few dollies.
She has one, which she rec'd for Christmas, which is one of the "Bratz Big Babies."
Holding that thought in mind, lets move along...

...today Scout and I rec'd our fiddle-which we purchased off Ebay - and the box was quickly claimed by KenZ, as it resembled an oddly shaped coffin.

So, while some sweet and good little children might construct some loverly diarama or other such tableau type creation, my daughter creates a sarcophagus for her "Bratz Baby."

Interred therein, is the mummified baby (Toilet paper wrappings and shroud) and a seperate "Canopick Jar," containing the dollies brain (having been hand crafted of fimo clay and baked) , and the dollies intestines (shoes laces stolen from some outgrown Converse shoes).

She then went on to adorn the exterior of the sarcophagus with paint, representing the appropriate rank, or "Station" of the occupant in glorious tempera paint.

I can safely state that I had nothing to do with this activity.

I just gave birth to odd little people I guess.

:o)

Don't Mess with Gramma Texas!

An eye witness gives an account of a car accident.
Must have speakers.


Also, for some pointless fun:
Go waste a few minutes clicking and dragging Boneless Girl

Neuroses Revisited, Chapter 3

I am working on a series of architectural abstracts.
I love goemetry.
It is safe.
It is a haven.
It is a safe "Play Pen" in which to experiment.
And yet because of the purest line, I find myslef trying to replicate the perfection that exists within the structure rather than boldly letting the paint fly and represent - or MISrepresent the original piece.

Damned in the doing
Damned in the doing not.

The circles in my mind go round and round and round and round.

Paint this,
Do not paint this...it is wrong.
Do this... do it not, for no one will grok it.
Care not if others grasp, or grasp not; the impetus, the elan.
Just do.
Just be.

Just BE.

Permit yourself to exist.

As you are, right this moment.

And breathe.
Exhale paint.
For so has God apparently ordained you to be in this single moment.

Who then am I, to deny the handi-work of the Almighty?
Do I say "curse this thing that you have made?"

Does the pot say to the potter, "You screwed up, dude?"
(Make that Dude with a Capitol 'D')

Or do I step out in risk, and Be.
Just Be.

The mental/emotional gymnastics make me want to puke.

It is the demonic rollercoaster.
The rollerscoaster from hell.
Aka, "work."
Aka "Art."

Further Boldening

My own personal pet peeve word that people use? "irregardless."

"Regardless" means "without regard." The "ir-" prefix is a variant of "un-," a prefix denoting negation. Therefore "irregardless" parses to "not regardless" or, down to its least common denominator, "with regard", a definition that is likely opposite to the intended meaning of the speaker.

I hear this word and my hackles rise. Perhaps it's just me.

May I Be So Bold...

...as to say that, I believe that what I am about to say is 100% flawlessly correct?
Indisputably correct.
With regard to the correct usage of the word "Anyways" within the confines of the English language,:

well...there is no such word.

"Anyway" is indeed a word.

Anyway(S!) is not.

There is no 's' at the end of any word spelled in this manner: a-n-y-w-a-y.

No Such word.

Today in a production of the play entitled, "The Imaginary Invalid" I heard this particular NON-word transcend it's text based mis-use and enter spoken language.

It was an abomination unto mine ears and a grievous sin, steeped in vileness.

So let me stand atop the mount of all that is linguistically holy, and pray for my bretheren that they may not sin in such a manner again.

May the truth be written upon stone tablets for the future generations to behold:

And therein was the word written:

"Thou shalt not speaketh, or writeth with the hand,-nay verily, even with thine keyboard, the word "anyway" with an 's' upon its ending."

And the heavenly host sang joyously over all the land, for truth had gone forth.

Book of Hesitations, Chapter 5, verse 55.
The Blogbiscuit Paraphrased Edition.

(Inter)National Digressions ?

Oh its 2:30 am! In a fit of insomnia, I say "lets hop on the blabbering rollercoaster to Free-Association Land!"


Today on ALL THINGS IRISH:

Tis a great day to pay hommage to himself, America's own patron Saint of Ireland, "Lucky The Leprechaun," .
(Warning, hideous ad banner, but fascinating and Magically Delicious trivia.


In response to the previous post by Blueness Maximus,
this Canadienne says (on the subject of Seperatist movements) :

"Hey! Mes Freres! You want to be seperate? Go for it, everyone should have their chance to try!" Of course I say that about Scotland too.

And I have also been known to hover between saying:

A : "Screw the Middle East and their oil. Let's take Californian's and put them over there and pick up Israel and transplant it to Southern Cal. Of course that would be contrary to what God did in the bible, I mean, He didn't lead Moses through the desert and across the ocean to California. I mean, truth to tell, it ain't no promised land.

and B : "Screw the Middle East and their oil. Let's just forget about it and use up all of our own resources as fast as we can, have a huge civil war about it, and then the survivors can go back to an agrarian society."

Eeny meeny miney.
;o)

And yet as far as my seperatists sentiments go, I also flop to the practical side where La Belle Quebec is concerned, saying, "Mes cher ami's, you cannot make it on your own Franc. You need your "Loonies" and "Moonies. You need the rest of Canada."
(Said while waving the Blue & White Fleur-de-lis, and shouting "Je me souvien!" Yes, it is a schizophrenic moment.)

Loonies-the $1 coin with a loon on the front.
Moonies-the $1 coin with the Queen in front and a "Bear" behind.
;o)

The Queen?
Queen?
Didn't Freddy Mercury die?
(My Great Grandmother (Quebecoise) kept a portrait of the Queen on her fireplace mantle. When she died, her daughter (My Grandmother) burned it. Of course she also burned a portrait if my great-great-great-great Grandfather...but that is yet another macabre tale worth sharing next Halloween. Or so I have been told.)

English Pig Dogs?

And what is up with that?
A teeny tiny little island of a country, originally populated with troll-like beasties, (genuflect to Peter Street and Tweek,who never read this blog anyway. "Beggin yer pardon, Gentlemen") rose up and subdued the known world, bleeding the wealth off the French for 100 years like a parasite, and carting it back across the sea.
What makes them so ferocious?
So self assured?
Who are the inhabitants of this postage stamp sized nation, who conquered continents?
The proof 's of their global dominations are housed within the confines of the British Museum.
How did this scruffy little people manage it?
Probably by harnessing the Scots. (They were supposed to be a pretty scary bunch.)

Well I don't know, and yeah, I can take a happy-go-lucky swing at the English from time to time, (after all it is my birthright, being French) but you gotta admit, they have everything because they have managed to do everything and when it comes down to it, thats no small feat.
And then they show up on this continent in groups of Fab Four and, when they open their mouths to speak, an odd accent rolls forth melting the brain cells of women from one coast to the other. Multitudes concquered and nary a finger lifted.

Well it's all Greek to me.
(While not actually BEING Greek.)

Ah America.
Sufferers of MHD - Multiple Heritage Disorder.
Isn't familial stuff weird?
Do you ever do any genealogical stuff?
Man, it seems like the further you get into it, the more freaks you find buried in the closet.
You should try it sometime, for the sake of your bairns.

Well after leaping all over the globe, I have managed to bring it back around to the original subject.
That would be a first.
;o)

Redheaded Redux

There are those who are proud of their ancestry and there are people who simply give it a tip o' the hat from time to time, but for whom it means not more than a yearly brouhaha. And that's OK.

Our host here, however, has got a bit of a personality problem. Not that her personality is at fault, or even fault-y; nay forbid the thought. It's just that she's recently coming to terms with a diverse heritage that will be difficult to reconcile between it's various aspects.

Take the long established Canadian portion, and now let's throw in the possible English connection. Now, would this Canadienne be perhaps a bit of the Canadian seperatist? Would this Mihshehl be more likely to spit on Queen Elizabeth or recommend that she be further immorialized by having her portrait on all of the Canuck Cash being spat out of ATMs in downtown Toronto? It boggles the mind.

Then let's consider the French Celt, similarly long established and borne out by the artistic streak and Catholic outlook. Good Lord, should the Teutonic chromosomal vector bear out, would she attempt to simultaneously go to war with her own Gaullic half and also to invite herself to Belgium for an economic conference and a cigarette? Or, God forbid, the German doesn't pan out and we hit the Angle or Jute of the Isles of Great Brittain for a genetic kegger: Would our Mihshehl attempt to throw herself into either side of the English Channel at once, only to meet herself in the middle for a fistfight and a bottle of Port? It boggles the mind.

So, truly, as you read these words, say a prayer for our Mihshehl, as coming to terms with her own existence will either be A) nigh impossible or B) if attained, it could cause a rift in space time causing universal chaos: wars, death, destruction, plausible Democratic foreign policy, lego chicken legs and a reduction in cable television rates.

May God have mercy on her soul.

Red Haired Skeletons in the Closet.

Well it is St. Pats and this day strangely holds new meaning me.
It was only about a month ago that I found "Skeletons" in the family closet.
This is the half of the family that I don't hang with much.
They are far more quirky than I (as hard as THAT is to believe.)
So, having invested my genealogical research throughout the years into the obvious half of my family -the French Canadian/Acadian side, I managed to ignore the other half - writing them off as being "probably" English, (derisive snort!) and calling it done.
Well...how wrong I was.
My grandmother was apparently full of Green-Leprechauny-Goodness.
(She had the maiden name "Ready", which is a bastardization of the name O'Reddy and more formally, O'Rhiada.

I guess, like alot of Irish immigrants, they dropped the 'O'.

I always wondered what the big deal was with St. Patricks day and my mom.

The woman worked for 3 days to turn beef brisket into corned beef with its accomanying cabbage and potatos.
Her simple answer to my query was always, "Thats what we do on St. Patricks day.
Gramma did it, and her gramma before her did it, and I learned from them how to make it."

Poor gramma, She was a saint.
She married an itinerant Hell-Fire-and-Brimstone-Screaming Preacher who dragged her around the hot southwest, making her and the kids do migrant farm work while he preached from town to town. I can remember him kicking her under the table, interupting her conversations when he wanted to speak, and he would say to her, "Shut up Ethel!" and then he would commandeer the conversation.
Nice compassionate man.
He beat his sons when they found some bottle caps in the street and played with them.
He accused them of stealing the bottle caps.
He beat my mom in the face with a jelly ladel when she was 18 because she put on make-up and went to see a movie.
It is the only time that my gramma got in his face.
She grabbed the ladel right outta his hands, and she told him to "stop that this instant!"
As the story goes, apparently he was stunned by her boldness.
In his pause, my mom raced out the door and ran away to Astoria.
She went on to marry a catholic Frenchman and later returned with him and two children, to Oregon.

So there is apparently a fair quantity of Irish in me that I never knew I had.
Somehow I will have to square with that half.


;o)

mih-

Skype and SOUNDS update

SKYPE:
Gotta Love it.
I can transcend the confines of traditional text and send forth the nuances of all my screwy idiosyncratic speech patterns in all their glory. And Lehsa can bounce them back in reciprocal quirkiness and we laff and laff and laff and laff our butts off - while all the time remaining in CC chat and nobody knows what the heck we are going on about.
hehe hee hee hee he.
Ahhh I like Skype!

SOUNDS:
In honour of St. Patricks Day, I loaded a sample of Flogging Molly.
It is a 3.9 MB wma

Enjoy

Updated 3/14/2006: Help with UU

Tuesday March 14th

The boy knows I am neurotic.
My friends have me pegged.
As embarrassing as that may be, it is also a comfort, because I know that they know and there is no fooling. I can't hide the fact that I get...uh...wound up.

So in his grace he writes the following:

Suggestions,

Start by making a nice cup of coffee.

Then turn the computer on... if the computer doesn't respond make sure that the cat didn't eat the power cord.

Then go to this site: http://plasma.cyanworlds.com/getting-started.xml

If you own regular Uru Ages Beyond Myst - use this patch http://plasma.cyanworlds.com/cgi-bin/pick.cgi/patches/until-uru-abm-patch-0.38.9.exe

If you have Complete Chronicles- use this patch http://plasma.cyanworlds.com/cgi-bin/pick.cgi/patches/until-uru-cc-patch-0.38.9.exe

When patching make sure you direct the patch to where your Uru is installed.
Mine is C:\Program Files\Ubi Soft\Cyan Worlds\Uru-Ages Beyond Myst

If you still have problems after all of this, it might be because your firewall ports aren't opened.

If nothing works. Take a walk outside and smell the roses. If the roses aren't out. Smell tree bark.

If tree bark seems funny. Call me

Ryan


Now if that weren't all, I get another phone call from a very good friend (who's Airline and Storm Door Company shall remain nameless) and after only a few minutes he discovers that the first thing to do is to get out of the router and straight into the modem.

Again, I have to say, I have THE best friends.

They put up with me.
They educate me.





SUNDAY MARCH 12th

In the old days, James would have told me, step by step, what to do and what to expect.

I am so THANKFUL that I have Lehsa.

She doesn't make me feel stupid for the asking.
As though I should already know something.

Thank you Lehsa.
:o)

And also, many thanks to Barb, Blue, Walt and Peter.
Just for being knuckleheads.
:o)

What great friends I have!

Brue Matz Have Happy Fliday Menu of Joy Luck

Special Alert:

To BabZ: you must go here now. You will read. You will laff. You will die from laff.
The you must go here and thank Mr. Max for making path to Happy Menu of Joy.

To everyone else:

Go therefore, and do likewise.

yes I am frustrated with UU

But it is ok.
I am quite USED TO it.

It's probably some incompatability issue with some hardware in my computer.
Oh well.
Such is life.

Many many many thanks to my dear friends, namely Walt and Gavin C, Aeronie and Toria who have all been so open with invitations and good advice.
Bless you all, I just canna get the bloody thing to fly.

And most of all, thank to you, DragonBoy. Your patience has gone into the "long suffering" zone.
Thank you for always being my friend.
Even when I am stupid.
EXPECIALLY when I am stupid.

Anyway, I wish you all thebest on your "Cavernsome" adventures.
I do not have the time or skills required to join you.

And some how, it's really ok.
:o)

Weird little Tune

Blake came across this oddball little tune.
I have no idea what its called or who did it.
Or even how old it is.
It was on a mixed CD he got from a friend and forgot about.
It had things from the 70's, it had Sinatra. It had all inds of odd songs.
Anyway, this funky jazz whistling number will remain in the "SOUNDS" link in the side bar for a while.

Its 2.70MB

To answer or NOT to answer, that IS the question.

Since Summer of 2004 I have become a "screener" of phone calls.
Granted, with moments of irregularness, but for the most part, a screener.

Those moments of laxity do often carry profound and reinforcing consequences however.
And so, tonight I crafted my own personal post-it note and stuck it to the front of the cabinet housing my Message Machine.

The Note reads:

The phone is EVIL!
Do NOT ever answer it.
Listen to ALL calls first and NEVER pick up.
You can always call back.

(Exceptions to those rule are the kids. Only the kids.)

Why must I hit myself in the head (as with a hammer) with this message more than once in a lifetime?
Surely it is because I am a stupid, gullible idiot.

Why do I continually think that things and people can change?
Why?
Well, frankly - OMG there it goes AGAIN! The phone is ringing NOW!!!!
Let's see who it is....

(listens...)

It is Stu calling for the kids. Good I am off the hook.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh...

Why do I continually think that things and people can change?
Why?
Well, frankly because they DO.
It's not always for the better, but sometimes it IS, and doesn't everyone deserve a chance?
A second chance?
A third, fourth, fifth chance?
All that "70x 7" crap that Jesus spoke about with regard to forgiveness? Why woud i expect to receive such forgiveness if I am not willing to extend it?
I dunno.
I am danged if I do, and danged if I don't.

But at least I have gone back to not answering the phone!...except... I just did, didn't I?

ugh!

Labour -VS- what EVER!!!!!

Man!
I am SO angry!!!!
I just got off the phone with my friend. (Not Barb)
She was speaking about her job situation and how she was going for a job at the hospital.
No problem.
Its all good.
Then she mentions how her landlord said that there was a job down at the local grocery store, they were looking for checkers.
She said, “Oh! No way! It would be like waitressing! I want SO much MORE for my life than some loser job like THAT.”

This pissed me off on SO many levels and I decided to not back down, but to drive it.
So I pointed out that, if one does not live in a small town (like ours) then there is a Union for Grocery checkers and they make good money AND retirement AND benefits (all of which she does not currently enjoy) She said, “Oh no. If I did THAT job, then I would be ashamed and couldn’t show my face. Not in public”

Now I am filled with a white-hot blinding rage.
So I ask her, “why?”
She says, “Well I want MORE for my life.”
I said, “No. you want different.” You want different challenges in your life. The people who make a career out of union grocery checker jobs want job security and pensions and retirement and health benefits etc. They just have different priorities. So what you want is not “more” or “better” but just “different.”
She did not agree.
I after she went on to further berate the value of service jobs such as grocery tellers and waitressing, I said to her, "I want you to know that I take offense. I know VERY good people who spend their lives working in just such a vocation, serving others and providing for the needs of their families, and what you are saying is that you are judging them.”
She says, “No I am not judging anybody”
I replied, “Well then, is a grocery clerk or waitress job, a “loser” job.
And she said, “well YES!”
And I said then you have misjudged and demeaned valuable people in my life.
She totally did not see this.

I am so pissed.

She says "I am just talking about ME. (me me me, blah blah blah me me me)
I personally would be embarrassed to be seen in any of those jobs.”

I said, “I am not asking you about YOU anymore. We are no longer speaking about YOU.
"I am talking about value and about losers. Do you see people who take those jobs as dead end losers?”

She hemmed and hawed and she would not answer.

Finally after some spluttering, she said, “well, I don’t know how the conversation got there. I was talking about ME.”

And I said, “well I am not talking about YOU. And you have just dissed some VERY good and valuable people I know.”

We hastily ended our phone conversation.

I am pissed at her viewpoint, she seems to think that some one who does a service job is of lesser value than some one who does a media or art job.And she seems to think SHE is more special than somebody else.

Even though she said SHE did not want such a job, she spoke with derision for such jobs and the people who “sink” to doing them.

I am SO offended.

In Gods economy, there is NO job too menial.
There is NO task that is valueless.
And the relegating to the “Loser” category of people who work in service jobs is offensive and unacceptable to me.
Everybody has value!

Greater is he who works hard and supports the needs of his family, than he who earns little for the sake of his/her arrogance.

The poor man/woman is the one who will not give 100% to any task that comes to hand, no matter how small or insignificant it seems to be in the beginning.

And I would love to quote God Almighty here even, by saying, “to the one to whom much is given, is much required.”
“Do your best in all things, as though unto God himself, and much will be given to you.”
That last sentence was the Mih paraphrase)

The point is, EVERY ONE has value and EVERY job has value.
How dare(HOW BLOODY DARE!!!!!!!!!!!) anyone relegate any task or person doing it, to the unwanted or valueless pile.

I am so mad, I can almost vomit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sumus Two

This is an after thought which has come since my writing of this, and my reading of this and responding to it in his comments section.

I was just working on a canvas that has royally ticked me off for quite a few months.
As I was attacking it with more white paint, I was also thinking and pondering the words he said at this blog and my own responses, and it suddenly occurred to me that, to top off everything that I said, it's not even like my art has any identifiable subjects even!

So in summary and up to this point I suppose it can be said based on all that has gone on during this exchange of ideas, that :

A). Being an artist, I am there for not a sentient life form.

B). And the end product of my endeavors as an "Artsist" is not even about anything at all. No nice landscapes or portraits, but uh...nothing...as evidenced here, here, here and here.

Now granted, the majority of this conversation has gone on with a significant Tongue-In-Cheek attitude, yet it is still funny how some things bubble under the surface and while we know they are wrong, we wrestle with them anyway on a deep gut level.

sumus quid sumus

Catalog Successes and Road Blocks:
-part of life I suppose. I thought it would have gone toprint by now, but I forgot about everyone else doing their part. I did my part. I just forgot that they are not as anal as I am and have other things to do besides submit copy and what not. So it has been "Hurry-up-and-Wait." I hate it, but there is not much I can do about it. Just apart of life sometimes.

It freaks me out.
For years people I know, introduce me as "Well this is 'Blog Bicsuit,' she is an artist."
Boy those are awfully hard words that stick in my craw no matter how hard I try to distract or disuade anyone from identifying me with those words, it seems to come back home to roost.
I guess is is finally happening because I find myself purposefully preparing stuff for the gallery.
I have no idea how this happened.
It kinda snuck up on me.
(If 'snuck' is even a word.)

THEM : Hey, some people are thinking of organizing a co-op gallery, why don't you just come and sit in on the meeting.

ME : Huh. What the heck. Why not?

And then it happens. Everybody starts going around the room stating their name and their medium.

FOTO GURU: I am a nature photographer. I am not a "geek" and do no photomanipulation what so ever.

DECOR WOMAN: I do furniture and jewelry.

ME : Uh. My name is "Blog Biscuit." (Scramble, think fast stupid, what are you gonna say?) And I am a total geek and do some digital art/photo manipulation."

(Whew! Safe. I managed to find some acceptable words.)

WENDY (painter extraordinaire) Oh "Blog Biscuit!" You are also a painter too!

ME : Smiles weakly. Becomes invisible. I am now an empty Jacket and levi's sitting here cleverly poised in this chair.

And so...
I find myself needing to somehow come up with something presentable to "submit" (another difficult to fathom, word) to the co-op board - a jury of my peers. Great. a "jury."
They will say that what I do is not art but a crime.
And there it will be.
Spoken aloud, and therefore, fact.

What ever happened to my "just BEing."

They say you are not an artist until you have at least 1000 paintings completed.

I have a long way to go.

Yikes.

Clio Award Winning Commercial from the 1970's

Ah yes, thanks to my friend Amber we can take a journey back in time to the Ads of the 1970's.
This one in partiular will tug at the hearts of all those who are old enough to remember the original airing of this commerical - Scroll down and select "INDIAN IN CANOE".

Catalog Project

So,
a local merchant has hired me to work on a wholesale catalog for their business.
So far they haven't sent me any actual TEXT, so I had to just slap some random words in there in the mean time, under the images where she said she wanted them for page 1 and page 2.
There business is kind of a "Down Home, Americana" product business and so I thought the gingham BG worked, but I am not sure if it isn't still too busy. When I get to putting up pages with multiple products, then I will probably have to scale WAY back n the gingham, unless I just ghost it out even more.
The process is fun though.

I have found heaven on earth

At least as far as design goes.

Were it not for the other valued members of my household, I would gut my house in favour of most of the design options found at the links listed below.


Go Mod

In Mod

Padio

Design Public

Retro Online

Retro Decades

Oh, for unlimited resources and Ultimate Domestic Power!

Albino Squirrel

If you've followed this blog for more than a year, then you probably remember the days when I was at Cascade Station as the building secretary, and you would remember my references to Donna, my supervisor. So Donna was over today and she had some fotos she wanted me to process for her. Inamongst the batch was a great littleshot of something I have not yet seen before. It seems that John, Donna's husand was out on a construction job and he shot a foto of this little Albino Squirrel.

Pretty cool, huh?

Being not me

Cryptic Update for Wednesday, Feb 15th, 2006

Being not me is exhausting and takes 5 other people to do it.
But is worthwhile, even so.

NCASD Co. Soup Line and Movie Terror

NCASD Co. Soup Line: Cajun Chili Gets Funky

So today is Sunday.
I began soaking the beans yesterday, per the receipe provided by Brian.
Ok so, in our small mountain tourist town we don't have "Ham Beenz Cajun" so I am improvising.
Now is the time to be afraid.

So instead of the "provided Spice Packet" I must improvise.
Basil, Fennel, Cayenne, Red Pepper, White pepper, Garlic, onion, Tomato Sauce extraordinaire, scrap the tom paste - ain't got it. Yellow Onion. Red Onion. Purple Onion. Paprika. Red Wine.
Kielbasa, and Chourice. The lemon juice too.

So it has a more northerly, Portuguese-Italian-Cajun slap to it's face.
Instead of Fresh water, I used Bathwater - NO NO ! Just KIDDING!
I made up a batch of beef/onion/vegetable broth on Friday for use in this mess.

I am tempted to throw some okra in there to thicken things, but will restrain myself.
;o)
I will let you know if it ends up edible.
Such is my way in the kitchen.

(Pizza and "normal" cajun food aside, for these things I CAN cook properly - Oh and REAL Chai made the East Indian way.)

Suggested NCASD In Flight Movie: FLIGHT PLAN

Brian!
Have you seen Flight Plan yet???
Now that you have kids, it will make your blood run cold!
Jodie Foster is perfect, as always!

Scorpy-Toddlerpede

Ok, this might give YOU nightmares, but I think it is fabulous!
Go check out this "sculpture" and applaude this wonderful freaky artist.

MST3K

I love it.
So Barb sent me home with her collection that she got for Christmas.
I was used to seeing Joel, but kinda forgot about Pearl, Bobo and Brain Guy.
(I know! How can I forget THEM.)
This morning I put on "Screaming Skull" while I was cleaning the kitchen.
There is a brief Gumby cartoon at the beginning.
I thought I was gonna die, it was too hilarious.

Anyway, this is a good day for MST3K.

Also on the marquee is:

Quest of the Delta Nights, with David Warner playing opposite David Warner and with David Warner in a supporting role.

Soul Takers - With Martin Sheen's "vastly more talented but unappreciated brother" Joe Estevez.

I think for today, 3 is all the 'B' movies I can handle at a time.

if you ever get the chance, you should check out these painful movies with histerical commentary.

Auctions, books, and stuff

Well, I have 4 of the small journals ready to fill with paper. I haven't decided what I will do with the one I was making for Aquila. may use it as the Virtual Attendee Book at the next gathering, if I am unable to sell it for Sharon.
Speaking of the auctions, I may just get my own Ebay store and sell these things so tht the money can go the Sharon.


I already have, ready, A signed EDGE disk from the first Mysterium ever in 2000, a copy of Myst IV:Revelation, and the Hand Bound Journal I was already making for Jame.

I feel like I should follow through even if it doesn't work out for anyone else to do so.
I know there was another lady who had something she wanted to sell, maybe she can sell it on my site with me and we will just funnel the payments in to Sharons PayPal account. Of course, first I will have to learn how to do that.
;o)

Remembering

heh!
I told Barb today about James.
His one and only post as cub-reporter "Zimmy" Zimmerman, to Canker Shores only News paper " The Shore Throat" can be found here at Canker Shores

There were times he made me laff so hard I had to pee!

Delayed reaction

In the beginning there was a flurry of internal panic and a sense of the necessity of the battening down of hatches.
Circling of wagons.
Counting of heads.
FEMA response to disaster relief.

Out of the fog, walked the army.
Out of the depths of the Mysts walked the cavalry.
Prepared and calm, ready and true of heart.

They brought all, they did all.
All I could do was assist, handing the scalpel as they, with a practiced surgical hand, cut away and stitched together the fresh wounds. I swabbed when need arose.

Now that healing is ready to begin, I am reminded, by music, of unspoken things.

There are 3 days.
3 days left to endure.
With the approach of The Day, may I not grown faint in deeds needing to be done.

The answer I prayed for has come in 6 pieces.
3 are the foundation.
3 greet the new day.

Though my heart dares not hope it, I pray that it will always BE so.
Old things are indeed passed and new things can become real.

For the interim, my own crash has arrived.
Unexpected and glorious, in its terrible tempest.
The winds blow and change their direction hourly.
The waves rise and toss and I am as flotsam and jetsam upon such a sea and yet...
there is a haven and an island that is solid and steady.
My feet dangle and twirl in the surf, awaiting contact with it once again,
knowing it will come.

Well I lost Track

*Hangs head in Shame*
It is true.
I lost track of Rushing's Blog...
but now you can link to the new and improved version found in the sidebar at the right.

:o)
Yay!

If you listen to John Kerry...

You might be tempted to think that, as he puts it, we could be eradicate our dependence upon foreign oil within 10 years.
What complete and utter crap.
What an idiotic, self absorbed toad.
I order to achieve his own ends he would insinuate that the government is in coplete control of the auto industry and the individual choice of people.
It just shows how clueless and arrogant John Kerry is.

His statement that "it is not the American people who are addicted to oil, but this administration" is ludicrous. Look at how we plow through, not only oil, but energy as a whole.
I remember a news blurb from a few years back that illustrates the american mentallity on its own comfort. There was a serious heat wave in southern Cal. There were brown outs and what not, and in man-on-the-street interviews, people acknowledged that they needed to cut back, but when pressed with the question "were they going to limit use of their own air conditioners?" almost to a man, they answered, "No way."

The american people are VERY used to their comforts.
Right down to the last man.

So Mr Kerry, you and people like you , need to stop shouting at the American people and engage them instead. You people who watch the news and believe stuff like his statements, out of hand, need to think past the words.

The government can eradicate our dependence upon foreigh oil?
Yes with a HUGE invasive government that bleeds our pockets dry through the taxation needed to support its ponderous weight. And then, you want to hear peopel cry foul at government poking its nose into provate lives, wait till they legislate every singe mile we drive.
No.
But that would be ok with some people, because they have to be combative and have their way, even if their way is worse than what we had to begin with.

Thats my rant and I am sticking to it.

John Kerry is FULL of lies and crap.
George Stephanopoulus (clintin administration) doesn't even have a good word for the guy.

Lonely Vigils, Many Lights.

I spent the hour in vigil.
Afterward I toddled down to the Lake to ponder.
I took out my old journal and flipping to the first page, I rewrote it, knowing that it does one good to be mindful of such things.

The SOUNDS link in the side bar has been updated: Hammered Dulcimer Medley of Snow Blind/Over The Waterfall, courtesy of Peter Ballerstedt, of the NWHDS.

so I am the one standing in the midst...

So I am the one standing in the midst of the hustling, bustling crowd that goes about its daily business.

In the midst of the crowd I stand on a box - a milk crate - and wringing my hands while shouting as though to the world, in a high pitched and quavering voice,

"DO NOT PANIC! EVERYONE REMAIN CALM!"

but everyone IS calm and it is only me that panicked.

I am reminded of something a friend once said jokingly a long time ago about being Chicken Little.

I can relate right about now.

*Takes a deep breath*

Ok...

Show Tunes and Meredith Wilson for better living.

(Quotes from the Famous Play by Meredith Wilson slaved with some miscellaneous observations.)

Marion...
Madam Libraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
rian.

pick a little, talk a little,
pick a little, talk a little,
chew chew chew talk alot
pick a little more.

I wonder if the library eventually became an albatross?
I wonder why the whole town hated her.
It's not like they really knew her.

But I suppose that's the kind of talk that starts rumours about Travelling Salesmen too.
Well it only stands to reason.
I mean really, it only goes to show that if you just sit down and talk about things....

The problem is, most peoples knees aren't willing to bend.

G'night Zimmy!

My other best friend has passed away.

I still find it hard to fathom though I have known for hours.

I have done the best I could do for our people both on the lysts as well as the NWHDS.
I have procurred your best beloveds to help oversee.

To step away from the keyboard now, is to embrace a day that tells me you have gone where I cannot yet follow. For you it is a glorious day. Filled with reunions too numerous to count.

I will remain and find a way.

You are my best friend.
I haven't told Barb yet.
Maybe we'll go out for a beer in your honour.
Thanks also for your writing inspiration!
(Now I know that Canker Shores must NOT die and Patsy and Patrick must have their day.)

I am going to go and take a nap now.
The hatches are battened down, and I can step away.

I wish you were here Zimmy!


little m-

2Young 2 B Old and Revelation

Dang!
It's true!
Oh the crime of it all!
To be a 20 year old trappend inside an ... uhm ... older-than-20-year-old body!
When I am 90, I am sure I will feel the same.
Such is the way of things.

Let not youth be wasted, oh you who are young.


More Myst 4 Revelation in the comments section.

One Thing Leads to Another

SO after writing that last Angerful blogpost, I found myself visiting the following sites which sure cheered me up, and reminded me of what a great place America has been.
(hee hee hee hee)

The faint of heart should not visit these sights.
Only the wry, dry sense of humour will survive.

One of my favorite Greeting Products designers:
Anne Taintor:
Here, here, here and here.

And James Lileks:
Here, here, a sample from his latest book "Interior Desecrations,"
a sample from his previous book "Gallery of Regrettable Foods".

SO angry I could SPIT!

(*Carries ladder in and places it against a box of Tide(tm) Detergent.
Climbs onto soap box. Clears throat and adjusts Kevlar(tm) lined jacket.*)

I am NOT going to apologise for being an American.

Do you apologise for being French or Canadian or English or Brazilian or Japanese, or Israeli or what ever?

NO of course you don't. That would never enter your head.

It has become far too easy for the entire world (including Americans themselves???)
to blame everything on "Americans" right now.
Screw that.
Its crap.
I am NOT going to own it.
You don't find the rest of the world apologizing for their nationality, or worrying about offending the U.S. or any body else by being born some place?
You don't find the rest of the globe's citizen travelling around being contrite when they enter a country with the attitude, "Yes I know what my passport says. I am sorry you have to lay eyes on me, a foul American, today."

Not everything in the world is America's fault.

Humanity is what it is.
The earths citizens are to blame for the earths problems, both with regard to war and the environment.

It has always been so.
And guess what, it's not going to change because people are people.
There is NOTHING NEW under the sun.
NOTHING NEW!
NOTHING!

Rome rose and Fell.
So did Babylon.
World powers come and go.
Why?
Because they are populated with imperfect humanity.

When somebody comes along saying, "Entire Global Peace can be had for all people now!" then you will know beyond doubt that they are either a complete idiot, or the devil himself.

I am not blind.
Our country has some REAL problems.
But the shape the modern world and its trials and tribulations are not entirely our fault, and for us to go around apologizing for being Americans is WRONG.

On the contrary, who is it that rushes aid where its needed, even to potential enemies?
Huh?

*Adjusts ladder and climbs down off of Tide Detergent Box*

There it is.

Get over it.

Man, am I MAD!

Boys will be Boys

My son is the new internet laughing stock for today, Jan 15th, 2006.

Lovely.

I give you:
http://www.funny-videos.co.uk/videodryIce.html

Myst IV: Revelation and Elbow

not uch to say tonight except that my elbow is killing me. I got Xrays today. No bone chips but I have an injured Bursa, which tends to get "Rice Grain" textured scar tissue whihc is VERY painful and gets caught in all the wrong places in there and takes MONTHS to heal.
Of course.
Why not.

I did play Revelation again tonight.
See comments for spoilery commentary on that.
;o)

one armed again...

one handed typing again.
remember that elbow I injured last month when I slipped and fell on the ice?
it has bothered me off-and-on since then. I just assumed I had hit a nerve or something.
it locked up on me tonight and, first I couldn't straighten it out - then i couldn't then i managed to manipulate it out straight, and now I cam't bend it. I iced it but still couldn't bend it to 45degrees, so I just splinted it straight and hope it is better in the morning. Stu thinks its a nerve or muscle spasm. I don't know. I am wondering if it might be a bone chip.
stupid ice!
stupid arm!
good thing I only need one good hand to play Myst IV:Revelation!
:o)

More on that in the Comment Section - spoilers - beware?

Stuff and Revelation

Ok so...after another night in Tomahna...well, now I see.
In order not to spoil the game play for any one who has not yet played Myst IV: Revelation, I will confine my blogging about it to the comments section. SO if you don't want to see any spoilers, don't look at the comments.
:o)

It appears that Mysterium will be held inSPokane this year.
Yay! A place I can drive to.
This means I can take "mo betta stuff."
This means I can make another road-trip up into wheat land to shoot soem fun photos.
Maybe I can convince Lehsa to go along?
I can fit 3 comfortably in my car, so it would be fun to take an extra day, either thursday or Monday (Sunday?) and just make a day-trip to shoot images.

Fun to think about.

I Broke Tomahna, and Kids Become Cats

I Broke Tomahna.
I dunno what I did.
I am not playing Myst IV: Revelation for more than an hour and I already manage to "Break Tomahna." I did what the man said. I started the water wheel. Fortunately the little girl ran across to the safe side just before I broke everything.

Maybe I will try powering up a different section of the place tonight.


WHEN CHILDREN TURN INTO CATS
By Adair Lara
From : Northshore School District Newsletter, Connections, Junior Ed, Nov. 1996, v. 8, no. 2

I just realized that while children are dogs, loyal and affectionate, teenagers are cats.

It’s so easy to be the owner of a dog. You feed it, train it, boss it around and it puts its heads on your knee and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting. It follows you around, chews the dust covers off the Great Literature series if you stay too long at the party and bounds inside with enthusiasm when you call it in from the yard.

Then, one day around age 13, your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat. When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if wondering who died and made you emperor. Instead of dogging your footsteps, it disappears. You won’t see it again until it gets hungry, when it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough to turn its nose up at whatever you’re serving. When you reach out to ruffle its head, in that old affectionate gesture, it twists away from you, then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to remember where it has seen you before.

It sometimes conks out right after breakfast. It might steel itself to the communication necessary to get the back door opened or the car keys handed to it, but even that amount of dependence is disagreeable to it now.

Stunned, more than a little hurt, you have two choices. The first – and the one chosen by many parents – is that you can continue to behave like a dog owner. After all, your heart still swells when you look at your dog, you still want its company, and naturally when you tell it to stop digging up the rose bushes, you still expect it to obey you, pronto. IT PAYS NO attention now, of course, being a cat. So you toss it onto the back porch, telling it it can stay there and think about things, mister, and it glares at you, not deigning to reply. It wants you to recognize that it has a new nature now, and it must reel independent or it will die.

You, not realizing that the dog is now a cat, think something must be desperately wrong with it. It seems so anti-social, so distant, so sort of depressed. It won’t go on family outings.

Since you’re the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit on command, naturally you assume that whatever is wrong with it is something you did, or left undone. Flooded with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave.

Only now, you’re dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now produces exactly the opposite of the desired result. Call it, and it runs away. Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter. The more you go toward it, wringing your hands, the more it moves away.

Your second choice is to do the necessary reading, and learn to behave like a cat owner. Put a dish of food near the door, and let it come to you. If you must issue commands, find out what it wants to do, and command it to do it. BUT REMEMBER THAT a cat needs affection, too, and your help. Sit still, and it will come, seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten. Be there to open the door for it.

Realize that all dog owners go through this, and few find it easy. My glance used to travel from my cat Mike looking regal and aloof on the fence to a foolish German shepherd on the sidewalk across the street, jumping for joy simply because he was getting to go outside. Now I miss the little boy who insisted I watch “Full House” with him, and who has now sealed him into a bedroom with a stereo and TV. The little girl who wrote me mash notes and is now peeling rubber in the driveway.

The only consolation is that if you do it right, let them go, be cool as a cat yourself, one day they will walk into the kitchen and give you a big kiss and say, you’ve been on your feet all day, let me get those dishes for you – and you’ll realize they’re dogs again.

Brief check in

Twirling a stick as bait, the mighty hunters prepare to enter the wilderness in search of the perfect "Non-Religion Specific, Yuletide, Winter Solstice Holiday Tree."

Of course we ALL KNOW what it really is. ;o)



Scout is more successful at creating Snow Angels than Helga is, but Helga does her best anyway.






The girls and Helga (black lump in back) frolic in the snow.








Down the trail I go, with the fish-eye lens.
(Don't try this on your own kids. I am a trained professional.)


















This is my best friend of 22 years, Barb, leading the way out into the wintery Wilderness to slay the elusive Christmas tree. She is notorious for selecting a 12 foot tree and requiring us to saw off the bottom 4-5 feet. She is what we embarrassingly refer to as a "tree-topper."

Even after lopping off the botton 3 feet, she still got home and it was too big, requiring another amputation of the bottom 4 feet. This left the tree at about 6.5 feet tall.

She is a crazy woman.

A visit from the Trojans...

Insures that my frequent web presence will diminish for a little while.

I will catch you all later.

mih-

2nd Annual Christmas Greeting

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

From me to you, with all the heartfelt sentiment I can muster.

;o)

Actually, this is my telephone answering machine recording at the moment.
;o)

I am trying not to be whiney.

But four freaking days before Christmas and they decide that now is the right time to tear the remainder of my kitchen apart in order to lay tile?
Now?
Furniture is redistributed through out the rest of the house and in the kids bedrooms, making them a cramped mess.
The refridgerator is parked in the family room.

For the next 3+ days, my kitchen, the laundry room, Scouts bathroom and her bedroom will be nearly inaccessible.

I am kinda pissed about the timing of this.
but you see, I can't be pissed.
Stu is shooting a marketing video for the flooring company and the materials distributor, so the flooring job is almost free.

Still, it is kind of a bummer.
The kids are out of school on break.
They are bored out of their skulls because of the freezing rain, they can't really go any place.
Now they are jammed into tighter quarters.

I still have Christmas shopping and presents to wrap.
I have no idea now, how I will get in there to defrost the turkey for Christmas Eve dinner.
There can be nothing out on the counters or any dishes out because it is a shooting set as well as a construction site.

I am trying not to whine.
I am trying to remember that this floor job is waaaaaaay over due and now we are getting it for mere pennies.

I just wish that it wasn't happening now.

Another Installment of Christmas Tune Cavalcade

ok, so...
All I can say is about this weeks "Christmas Tune Cavalcade" selection is:

Yes, this guy is totally serious.
No, I am not going to tell his name.
(Poor kid-and hey, it's NOT one of mine!)

The title of the song is :

"Christmas Time is Here."
(And we could also say, "don't we all just want to die?")

In fair warning, I should mention that I was not actually able to listen to this song the whole way through the first time I heard it.
I had to digest it in snippets.
The magnitude of this boy's sincerity is both pityable and terrifying.

Hope he has a good year this year.

N A R N I A

Well, I was unprepared.
Unprepared for my own internal response.
Having read the entire collection, many times over, ever since I was 12 years of age, I found myself weeping.
And now for the confession:
not merely weeping at the proper, poignant parts of the story, but weeping from the very beginning.
"What?" you ask, "You mean as they were setting up the story, before the kids ever arrived in Narnia?"

Earlier than that, for I am uber-pathetic.

I found my eyes grow damp, during the Opening Credits!

Am I stupid or what?

Tumnus was perfect.
The Queen was perfectly chilling.

I blubbered my way through the whole freakin film.

After all the years of reading these works, and often finding metaphorical applications for my every day life, I guess I sould have expected as much.

I was unprepared.

Watch the ending credits too.You may see some familiar names.

POCCNR Freakin' Christmas Deer!

Well, I don't have Cyrillic loaded into my computer.
As many of you know, Stu recently spent a month in Siberia acquiring interesting images and even a nifty souvenir in the form of arrest papers and a signed confession. Among some of the other neato souvenirs, were some lovely Christmas cards.
Now if I had a Cyrillic font, I would just type out Russian Christmas Cards in the proper way, but since I don't you are stuck with:

POCCNR
(For fun, I am choosing to prounounce it "Paw-K-nrrrrr.")

So, in the Spirit of Christmas I give you
Merry POCCNR Christmas!

And also in the Spirit of the Season I have uploaded my first Christmas song selection for this year. It is "Merry Freakin' Christmas" by Calibretto 13.
It is a 2MB wma, and will end up on the SOUNDS link, in the sidebar at the right.

We have had decent snow in the last week or so, and now we also have freezing fog, which some may find annoying, however I find it so lovely that I don't even mind the dumb deer so much.
I had fun using my first Apophysis render as part of the back ground. :o)

Apophysis Fun and Thot 4 the Day

So I downloaded Apophysis last night and messed about with it for a while today.
I can see how, once I get a handle on it, it could be really fun!
Fun program.
Even for a sufferer for Math Anxiety such as myself.
;o)

As I ponder things and people it occurred to me that when we become obsessed with the utter destruction of a thing/idea/person/company we hate, far too often we end up becoming a carbon copy of that thing we hate.

Funny that.

Actually, it's not funny.
It's scary.

Tune, Snow pics

And Now: Snow

The snows have finally come!
See what comes of leaving your toys outside?

More snow
in the front yard,
here and here.






A Christmas Song For You (tm)

In honour of Decembers first friday, I give you a lovely Christmas tune to start your weekend.
Check out a selection from the soon-to-be-holiday-classic:

Star Wars - Christmas In The Stars
Scroll down about half way and just below the terrible photo you will find the link to the song.

Birds and Brine - A German Thing?

Makes me wonder, because a good friend of mine, Pete Ballerstedt
(can you GET any more German than that? *waves to Brian Siegfried* Yeah, yeah you too!) was telling me that he just brined his turkey for this recent Thanksgiving dinner, and also, Blue Max has posted up his most favorite Fowl Brine recipe at his site.

So, you looked at his recipe, right, and now you're back?
Good.

Ok, so I will progress, mainly in repsonse to the recipe details (lacking) in Mr. Max's recipe:

I started by following the directions.
(That is how these things ALWAYS start, don't they?)

Ok, I got everything he said up until the putting the chicken in the marinade part.
I was planning to cover the top with Saran Wrap and place the whole thing in the fridge, but the chicken kept pecking holes through the plastic.
I tried to wrap it again and again more quickly and replace the thing back into the fridge, and before I could, the stupid chicken got a leg free, which tangled in the wire condiment shelf above, and pulled that out, spilling the condiments out onto the floor.
I slipped in a puddle of Apple Butter and ended up sprawled on the floor with the chicken starting to really get loose at this point.

I reached behind me with one hand to flip open the cupboard door and grabbed a mettle lid to smash down over the top of the pan, but it wouldn't stay on because the chicken kept trying to jump up, no matter how hard, or how many times I slammed the lid back down!
So, I wrapped the chicken under one arm tightly, and I got hold of the wooden meat-mallet from the third drawer, and started to beat the bird into submission, but - and do you know how hard it is to beat a chicken while it's kicking and pecking and you only have one arm to hold it with? Well I hit myself in the face a couple of times just because some blows glanced off the chicken and back at me. I also got my arm a few good times I'll tell ya, too - but anyway, I finally got the thing to sit still for a minute, and I put the lid back on the pan, and it seems to be staying on now, but I will say that, in the future, Mr. Max should put a mention in this recipe about the length of the prep time as well as the clean up time.

Hey, and the laundry too!

New Job Congrats & News Papers

Congrats to a long time friend on his new job in AZ.
This is what we've been praying for, right?
Remember that when you feel exhausted.
;o)

Seriously,
Congrats!

Also, after reading the account of a friend regarding the audacious miss use of editorial priviledges utilized by his local newspaper, I was prompted to check out the editorial policies of our own Sisters Nugget News.
(For fun, check out the Sherriffs Calls and Letters in the left hand sidebar.)

It seems that there is a word limit, however, I don't know how strictly they adhere to it, because it seems like there are occasionally some letters which are well over 300 words, and yet they are permitted to appear because they make a point of some sort.

Reading Aquila's account of his own experience in Modesto, makes me appreciate the more open attitude of our own editorial staff.

And check this----> What people think they have a right to say - much thanks to North Canton Airline and Storm Door for bringing this to our attention.

Which Muppet Are You?

You are Rizzo the Rat.You have few friends, but are loyal to those you do
have. Maybe if you didn't smell like sewage
you would have more.

Ya know, He's not such a bad guy...for a rat.
I coulda done worse I think.
He's kinda uptown and clever.
I should aspire to such heights!
;o)


SPECIES:Rodentia Digesta Lotta Grub
HOMETOWN:Brooklyn, USA
FAVORITE MOVIE:"Rat On A Hot Tin Roof"
FAVORITE SONG:"The Pest Is Yet To Come"
FAVORITE FOOD:You got it, I'll eat it.
HOBBIES:See "Favorite Food".
QUOTE:"When do we eat?"

What Muppet are you?
brought to you by

Thanks to SALAR (See link in sidebar)

Helpful Household Hint of the YEAR!!!!

I love Companion Pet Clinic (tm).
It's like Kaiser, but for Animals.
We had a Companion Pet Clinic when we lived in Portland - the most Honest and thrift minded but compassionate vets I ever knew.

And now I finally found another one!

So the helpful hint they shared with me???

Hydrogen peroxide!

Buy a spray bottle and label it and keep only peroxide in it.
Its many lovlerly uses?

-a wound on man, child or beast that you don't want to apply pressure to but need to sterilize?

Spray the peroxide on the affected area.

-Got a Blood stain on your clothing or elsewhere?

Spray peroxide on the stain. It works much like it does on the wounds - bubbling out the offending germs/molecules whatEVER.

I saw it in action. A lady brought in an injured cat which left blood all over the front of her shirt. The tech sprayed peroxide liberally all over it and I watched the stains almost disappear before my eyes.

-Got some other freaky stain? According to the tech, if you spray it quick with peroxide, then blot it, (or dilute with water/more peroxide and blot it) then you can get rid of most any stain. Impressive.

My poor dear Cat Twizzle:



















You see al lthat thick, downey hair?
Yeah.
She suffered some sort of puncture wound that jammed a HUGE wad of this hair into the wound and she got a horrific absess from it.

Her post surgical care calls for Daily moist hot packs ( Ever try to hold something wet against an injured cat? riiiight) and sterilizing with peroxide. Well, I got smart in one area. I immediately bought a small spray bottle and filled it with peroxide. What could be the most stressful area of her care is a complete no-brainer/non-issue.

If I had only known this when my kids were small, they could have brought all their little 'owies' in and I coudl have zapped a bit of peroxide on there and a bandaid with neosporin and away they could go. All of those bloody noses that every one in our family has suffered (Severe. Lasting 45 min to an hour 3-5 times daily in spring and summer) If I had known the peroxide trick, I wouldn;t have thrown out so many ruined articles of clothing.

And so, I am telling you, it is a good idea to keep a spray bottle of Hydrogen peroxide in hand -

Just in case.

;o)

mih-

I'll see that Alfredo...

...and raise you a Mashed Potato - in honour of the holidays.

So Blue Max's recent Recipe update reminded me that I haven't yet shared out this years Recipe for the Holiday-Side-Dish-of-Joy.

Blue's recipe reminded me of this because my own recipe (or rather Scout's) is comprised mainly of dairy products as well.

-8 potatos cubed and boiled (or how ever many you need-just adjust the other ingredients accordingly.)

-2 c grated cheddar
-1 brick of Creme Cheese (Neufchatel for the weenie - uh I mean calorie conscious)
-1 small container of Sour Creme
-1-2 cubes of butter. (Not margarine aka plastic)
-1 c of some other grated cheese. Mozzerella, parmesan, Swiss, whatEVER.
-Some half and half or whip cream or at least some milk.

Boil the spuds until tender aka mashable
While they are still mega hot, dump in all of the dairy products except the half and half or whip creme. Slowly add half and half/cream/milk while you beat the entire mess with an electric mixer until smooth.

Feel free to make alot, because these keep VERY well being refridgerated and you can dilute with milk/half and half (or even maybe a light ale?) , add chives/onions garlic etc...and you have alovely potato soup.

So there it is.
Scouts Famous Mashed Potatos Aka "Hot Cheese Pudding."

Bon appetit.

Grace-ious Living?

Pete B sent me this nutty-cool link where this guy has started a photo blog of "Grace."

After taking the Races of Middle Earth Quiz...

...I ended up as:


Numenorean

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?

Butch Arrington:3D and Film Making

Check out Butch Arrington's latest endeavor, as he journals his way through shooting.

Jutting Brow lapses into Sink Hole

As you may recall yesterdays blog post, (Scroll down 1)
I was visiting with the neighborhood, itinerant doberman - a VERY friendly dog,
and one I would adopt in a heart beat.
So as the next 1 hour (post injury) wore on, I could feel the swelling go down, but then I had weird headaches and neck aches all day. I guess it was just those fluids trying to escape?

Anyway after yesterdays injury hooplah,
I awoke this morning to the greeting of my son saying:

"Whoa! Dude! Your eye!"

So I went to the mirror and what do I see?












I apologise for the blurriness, as I am still trying to get used to this new camera, but I DID have the presence of mind to toy with the fish-eye (no pun there) :










I am going to have lots of fun with the Fish-Eye (lens!) at next summer's Mysterium.
it will give a new feel to the old-style "Wall-Of-Shame" photo's.

:o)

The Jutting Brow of the Neanderthal...

...is now mine, courtesy of a neighbor dog.

Buddy is a gigantic and VERY friendly doberman. He is so sweet.
He has a very hard noggin, though.
And he is a "leaner." He leans his eentire weight against you in a show of affection.
So he is leaning aganst my hip (again this is a tall dog)
And I bend over the other direction to pick up something I dropped while petting him and he jerks his head around toward me and cold-cocks me right in the eyebrow which swell up to the size of an Almond Roca immediately!

That was about five minutes ago and the thing is still growing larger.

It hurts like "12 yards of you-know-where."

Just call me Cro-magnon Girl, I guess.
(N0. Don't.)

ow.


ow.

Same post UPDATED: Russia's Window-Revisited

First Siberia Update - in pictures


The landscapes of siberia are incredibly beautiful.
The people are warm and friendly, each face a story in itself,
as we can see in the eyes of this lovely Siberian girl at Age 20 and at Age 25

On a seperate note, and since we have spent the month processing Stu's lovely trip to Siberia and enjoying his aquisition of the neato Souvenirs (Arrest Papers and Signed Confession),
I thought I would add this nutty Russian Art tidbit, courtesy of WOHBA.

One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven


If you're inspired after watching other people create, click the pencil in the upper right and become the artist.

Anniversaries and Literary Triumphs!

A fun desktop

Well, I was wondering why I have the recent craving to Play Riven again, while I haven't even had the comon decency to finish Exile, URU, Revelation of Myst V.
Of course, at this time of eyar my thoughts turn toward Christmas, as I am the quintessential Queen of all things Festive during the holidays. (Those websites that you visit with the Bad Christmas lights? That is what is going on in my heart and head starting in November!)

Anyway....So I figured out why the craving to play Riven happens to me inthe winter. DUH!!!
Riven was the first coputer game ever, that I played. I got it for Christmas. I think this is why.
So I thin I will give in to my craving and make space annually at this time of year to play Riven.
An anniversarial kind of thing, ya know?

So...the other Big thing which thrills me:
I have long wanted to have a means/opportunity to read aloud, the works of Stephen R. Lawhead to students. I used to read his youth works to the 1-4th graders (Timothy Mallard, Anna Hedgehog and Jeremy Vole).
I have long wanted to share his Arthurian Quintilogy with the older grades.
Granted, there are some graphic battle and crusader-type atrocities described in it, but after consulting with a bunch of people at the forums, I have decided to pencil in my own edits now that ...

*Drumroll please*

...the Junior High English teacher has enthusiastically invited me to read Lawheads works!
I could almost spit I am so thrilled!

So I will start with Taliesin.
I was thinking of skipping the Arthur quintilogy, and starting with the Albion Saga trilogy, being that it is merely a trilogy, but I had to check my heart.
While the Albion saga is probably his best crafted work yet (imho) my heart lies with Arthur. :o)

So - quintilogy it is.

The books I will be working through are:
-Taliesin
-Merlin
-Arthur
-Pendragon
-Grail
Then if there is time, hit the recap in the 6th book "Avalon."
(Although I may skip it as I think it would be a boon to bring in some exposure to the Crusades.)

If I get through all of that, then maybe when the current 6th graders are 8th graders, I will be able to move them right from Arthur into Lawheads Crusader Trilogy:

-The Iron Lance
-The Black Rood
-The Mystic Rose

I can't wait to begin!!

Where did the koi go?

N.S. Tartan



Fact of the day from the Scotsman Journal:
Hugh Gray of the British Aluminium Company took the first known "photos" of the Loch Ness Monster today in 1933. The first claimed sighting of the legendary beast that may live in Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, was in 1871. More than 50 people claim to have seen "Nessie". For more information on the Loch Ness Monster click here

Nessie Lives!

Majik-J

I have this friend who I like to think of as "Majik-J."
Many times, all I have to do is share an idea, and my friend Majik-J, manages to make it possible to happen. After many years of Majik-J making many wonderful things happen, I was allowed to be a part of something that Majik-J was doing.
To be invited to help a friend is a huge priviledge.
To be invited to help a friend who is helping many other friends, is a high honour.
I am humbled by recieving such an invitation.

Studio update

I was chatting in CC (Yes its back now!) with Jahuti, and ended up shooting an updated set of pics of my studio space as it is today. I apologise for the grainy/blurriness. I was in a hurry.


When you walk in the door, and a big white wall greets you.
So turn your head right...


















This is kind of like a sitting, thinking, resting, greeting area.


This is the back wall





This is the workspace. Can you tell what I am looking at on my computer?
;o)



There are about 12 of these orb things and they are all sitting around the house.
Each one is approx 2 ft in diameter.

The cool thing about being back in CC today, was that I was able to work on this canvas that was REALLY annoying me and I was not sure I was going to be able to finish it. While I was sitting there watching the screen and seeing everybody bop in and out, I found I was able to work peacefully. I even ended up getting some ideas from K'laamas and may try to incorporate thos einto the image as well, if they end up fitting.

Anyway, it was a fine day to be sure.
You never know what you've got till its gone.
Thanks to Mark D for getting Cho back up.