Time for a brief check-in....I'm alive, still just overwhelmed with life. Which means, I've had to mostly eliminate a few things from my life - sleep, showering, and internet.
However! I am online today for a very good, very exciting reason. My sister called a few minutes ago to tell me that she is engaged! I couldn't be more happy for her. My future brother-in-law M is a great guy and I'm so happy to be adding him to the family. I immediately logged on to my Facebook account to tell him so, and it so happened that my cousin (who happens to be one of M's best friends) was online, and we spent a few minutes chatting about the happy news.
Isn't the internet grand? It makes the world seem so small.
***************************************************I don't think I've posted since before Natalie's birthday, which has been almost a month ago already. She's now 2 going on 20. One minute she will be carrying on a mature conversation with me about death ("The baby toad died. I squished him. That was so sad." Trust me, you probably don't want to hear that story. I still get queasy when I think of it.)
And the next minute, she is throwing a tantrum because I chose the WRONG shirt out of her closet.
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And now, I hear SpongeBob SquarePants coming to an end out in the living room, which means the end of my time on the internet. Once I get my life straightened out, hopefully within the next month, I will start posting more again.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Still Trucking Along
Keep Trucking
Mid-terms are over! I hear a big crowd cheering when I say that, he he! Now I am ready for finals and I just want to keep trucking until I get done with school. I really enjoy school and learning, I am always learning a crazy amount of new things all the time, but I am ready for a job I love. Ready to photograph and design things that will be in magazines, or will really inspire people!I had a ton of more photo's from NY, it was really crazy how many I actually took, but I love them all and the best part in my opinion is that Griz got some time with the camera. When Katie and I were shopping he would wonder around the neighborhoods we were in and just shoot away. He got some really great shots and it just makes me happy he stepped out of his box a little! You can see all the photos from NY here. Lately I have been wanting to work on macro shots, so today I took the camera out in the yard and played around shooting some rings, they came out amazing and I can't wait to look at them on my computer!This weekend was great, I got to work on editing a shoot I did of this amazing family, which when I am done I will post them here. Griz and I also went for a walk with the pups. We went down to this new park right by us, we never even knew it was there because the walk way was hidden between two houses and a dead end. It was the cutest little park right by the river. We let the dogs run around and have some fun in the water. Griz was walking over all the rocks to get down to me by the water and found this little snake, well it wasn't that little, but it was a baby. He kind of freaked out because Rodie was just on the same rock. Griz knew it was poison because it had a pointed head, but it wasn't until we got home that we found out it was a cotton head. We freaked out because we both know if Rodie would have gotten bit he would have been a goner. I swear this dog has nine lives. He really out lives the craziest situations.The rest of the weekend was great, relaxing. We got to hang out with Griz's brother and his wife, they just moved to Tampa a week ago and we are all excited they are here. There will be many hang outs from now on! Ok well thats it for today!Happy Monday-Lo
me and Katie, best friends since 3rd grade!
Cinema Society Keeps On Trucking
“It’s great to have a regular movie night!” said Michelle Monaghan at Friday night’s Cinema Society screening of her new film Trucker. Well, at least as regular as these things can get. Instead of a velvet-rope affair, the opening mixed it up downtown at the Village East Cinema, where regular fans noshed their popcorn alongside the likes of Arlenis Sosa and Karolina Kurkova—hitting her nine-month mark this week. Still, Monaghan had cleaned up for the occasion sporting head-to-toe Calvin Klein in honor of the night’s co-host. It’s a far glossier look than her character in the film, a tough truck driver who has to make room in her life for her estranged son. Afterward, the group headed to dinner at Charles in the West Village, where Mary Alice Stephenson surprised Monaghan with a French show tune sung by burlesque performer Lady Rizo. It was all in celebration of Monaghan’s role, which some are comparing to Sally Field in Norma Rae. “For me, this was the role of a lifetime,” said Monaghan. “It’s not often that you get to read characters that are not just one-dimensional.” —Katie Hintz
Photo: Billy Farrell/PatrickMcMullan.comMonday, October 12, 2009 2:56:58 PM - Link
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OCTOBER 12, 1989, 2009
For some reason I wasn't feeling well so I guess it was best to have just a driving day. Woke up long before daybreak in the west side of Laramie, Wyoming. Went east on I-80 and was going through Cheyenne, Wyoming as the sun was making it's appearance. Didn't stop in Cheyenne; just continued east into Nebraska. Once into Nebraska, it seems like the lightly hilly land turns green...I mean really green. Continued to Big Springs, Nebraska where I fueled my truck tanks(161 gallons). bought me some chips and dip and I was on my way east. Got to Lincoln, Nebraska where I decided to take another long break. Cut driving a little short today( about 2.5 hours) as not feeling too well. Took a good 8 hour sleep break and was up heading east before midnight. Was passing Ashland, Nebraska as my calendar day ended.
SECOND 5 YEARS:
Nothing today...will have a lot starting in a couple days...
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
The foundation stone was laid in 1869 and the project opened its doors to the public in 1892.
Between the years of 1862 and 1874 over 15,000 objects were purchased by the Bowes family. At every turn you can see important and precious works from all over Europe, and each piece has its own story to tell. However it is the 230 year-old Silver Swan that is the best-loved object in the museum. The Silver Swan is an English silver automaton, a unique attraction that was bought by the Bowes in 1872. The life size model is still in working order and is operated at the museum on a daily basis.
The following video is of the Silver Swan as mine was spoilt by inconsiderate people standing so that nobody else could see. The swan performs just once a day now and the performance last 30 seconds. When I inquired about the value of the swan the reply was one word........Priceless.
Trucking along
So some good news to start the day. And that is where good news leaves us for a bit...
I got a new roommate yesterday. Nice girl in her 20's with IUI twin girls at 24 weeks. She was in because her doctor from another hospital was concerned about her shortened cervix, but that hospital does not have L&D. She was given an IV and then steroid shots and was going to be released today on strict bedrest once she received her final steroid shot.
So she calls her husband to pick her up. He can not get in right away, so she asks the nurse if she can stay a few hours. "No problem, we will order you lunch and wait to do the discharge". So an hour or so passes, she goes to take a shower and comes out in pain. She pages the nurse, tells her she is having cramping... Next thing you know she is 3cm dilated. They need to get her on IV STAT to try to stop the contractions. They wheel her off upstairs.
This is the second roommate who went into labor. I was very concerned about the twin mama, she talked on the phone a lot, but she was a sweet girl calling her babies her "little women". The nurse came and told me she had delivered and the babies were doing good. I will continue to think of them and hope they will grow big and strong.
After all this went down, the nurse thought it great timing to take my blood pressure. 148/50. Well, wouldn't your blood pressure rise too! Not to mention I was watching the Red Sox! So the nurse said she will make note about everything that went on and hopefully the doctor will take that into consideration when checking the charts in the AM.
So next check (I get checked every 4 hours. sitting up and then lying down) she has me lie down, and my bp is in the 120/50. Good! She then starts talking about the labor process and how I will be a pro now since I got to watch it/listen 2 times now. Yadda Yadda... Sit up, my blood pressure is 142/55. Okay - you think we can not talk during checks any more?
All is right with my night check, a new nurse. Both times in the 130's. Getting lower. So I plan on chalking this up to 1 person delivering 2 babies, 1 devastating Red Sox loss and 1 devastating Patriots loss. I will wake up tomorrow and all will be right in the world. Plans will remain to let me out Tuesday! Fingers crossed.
Say No to Pink Tu-Tu's
Dogs cannot actually speak for themselves but some special individuals feel like they can communicate with them on a level that not just anyone can. I am one of these people. That's right. I'm not a cracker jack--I just understand these furry creatures because I pay attention. And many of them have collectively asked me to share a particular message with all you folks who don't seem able to communicate with their pets but do love them and have the best intentions, however misguided they end up being. Ready for the message? Here it is:
Dogs don't like to be dressed in clothes.
Gasp! I know, I know. Were you sitting down? I should've warned you but alas, it's true. Amazingly, there aren't doggie clothing stores in the wild and yet, dogs of all breeds manage to survive cool--even cold--weather in just their skin and--get this--fur.
How can people claim to adore their pets and then proceed to humiliate them by dressing them in clothes? Sweaters, rain coats, sparkly beaded shirts. The look of discomfort and humiliation on the animals' faces who are relegated to walking in front of their doggie friends in such a display is so sad. Usually it's the smaller dogs who are subjected to such nonsense (why is this? Probably because more people who really wish they had children to "baby" end up with small dogs they can more easily child-substitute with: holding, cradling, pushing in strollers and, yes, dressing) but today was the ultimate indignity that finally prompted me to make this announcement on behalf of dogs everywhere. Walking down the street was a grown man in a Chicago Bears jersey walking a big black lab wearing--you guessed it--a Chicago Bears jersey. Really? This is how you "man up" your dog? As I drove by, the dog literally rolled his eyes at me and gestured up at his moronic owner. All I could do was roll my eyes back and shrug my shoulders. And off they went--the man walking unencumbered, and the dog walking, with his legs stuck through sleeve holes, encumbered.
Please, if you truly love dogs, let them be dogs. And dogs do not wear sports jerseys, sweaters, hats, sunglasses or pink tu-tu's. Ever.
Response To Transportation (Trucking) Industry Publication Communicating Gary Locke’s (Obama’s Secretary of Commerce) Downplaying of “Climate Change”
An associated problem, which will prove to be just as large, if not significantly larger, is the problem related to post-peak oil. It is a well-accepted belief, if not fact, that we have probably passed the peak of oil resources available for our squanderous consumption. After all, it is a finite planet and it takes millions of years under special geologic conditions to form an oil field. The effort, though considerable; to find, extract, transport, refine, transport, and exhaust (yes, poof - gone FOREVER) is but a relative flash in the pan in human history.
The world uses about 80 million barrels a day of oil. Fully 25% of that (approximately 20 million barrels a day) are consumed by the people of the continental United States, 14 million of those barrels used in the transportation sector alone.
If we want to conserve precious fossil fuels for priority uses such as solar assisted heating, cooking, electricity generation, cooling, agricultural inputs, durable products, necessary industrial processes, inter-community and inter-regional transport within a paradigm of relocalization for all communities and regions (moving towards self-sufficiency), and preserve the luxury and convenience of occasional automobile and airplane travel in a manner that explicitly adjusts for economic disruption, then we must plan and implement, allocate our resources accordingly.
We are currently on a linear projection into oblivion. We must reassess the role of the automobile and airplane in our society/economy. A huge job creations program could be realized by rebuilding our sprawled neighborhoods and reallocating production and distribution resources, so that almost all have the quality of life advantages of having their needs and reasonable wants, and the capability of making a living, available within walking distance of their homes. Such a relocalization (towards self-sufficiency) program will have the effect of reducing personal automobile use by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years, freeing up precious, yet finite fossil fuels for priority uses.
There will always be a need for long-range transport, as few if any regions could realize total self-sufficiency and comparative advantages do exist. However, the transportation industry can do their part for the youth and children, the survival of the species, by considering their role and the adjustments that will need to be made (in shifting to a more regional and inter-community/within regions economy).
Please consider the policies, programs, strategies, and actions that you can take to cooperate.
Mike Morin
Eugene, OR, USA
wiserunion@earthlink.net
(541) 343-3808