Five on Friday - 1983 Cuz I Felt Like It!

It's Friday and that mean it's music for Trav's Five on Friday meme. For some unknown reason, I decided to step back to 1983 this week and pull some songs from when I was playing disc jockey at KSJC Delta College Radio in Stockton, California where we were "keeping it alive at 89.5!"  Wow but that seems like an entire lifetime ago and I guess it could have been as I was only 24 back when I first started spinning records - you know, that stuff they call "vinyl" these days!

Gee, I wonder whatever happened to Thomas Dolby??

Thursday Thoughts

I have come to the conclusion that I take way too many pictures as for the past two days I have spent hours going through only about half of the ones that I took in Baltimore and am still not done organizing them into the post that I want to write - and that's only one post about one area.  No wonder I'll never be a travel writer - I probably wouldn't be able to make the deadline!  And you want to know what the worst part is?  I want to go back down and take more pictures as there were places I missed pictures of!  Good Lord, I'm a picture addict!

Speaking of pictures, the one above is of Union Station in New Haven that I took with my iPhone a few weeks back when Amanda's friend Sami came up to visit. They just don't make train stations like they used to, do they?

Matter of fact, they don't make buildings at all like they used to!  One of the things I really loved about Baltimore was all of the different types of architecture there and the distinct personalities of all the buildings.  Eventually I'll get around to showing you pictures of some of those buildings once I get things organized.

Speaking of not being organized, I don't think it has sunk into Amanda's head yet that she'll be leaving for college in a few weeks as I have yet to see her do anything towards getting her stuff together.  I'm not sure if she's in denial or procrastinating but it's really putting me on edge and I've been a terrible grouch the past couple of days.  Oscar in his garbage can has nothing on me!

Speaking of being a grouch, while we were in Delaware we stopped in at Best Buy to pick up a camera for Amanda to take to Otakon with her as she had forgotten the other camera here at home.  It was nothing fancy but we figured it would do the job and the salesclerk at Best Buy said that if we decided we didn't like it, we could bring it back within 14 days. That sounded fair enough so Amanda tried it out in the hotel and decided that no, she didn't like it and she'd just use the phone on her iPhone instead.  No problem, we'll just return the camera back in Connecticut.

Well, yesterday I took the camera back to Best Buy and was told that I could certainly return it but that they charged a 15% restocking fee because the box had been opened.  Excuse me?  The guy in Delaware said nothing about a restocking fee!  I was told that if I were to exchange the camera for another camera then they wouldn't charge me the 15% but if I wanted to exchange it for something else or get my money back then the 15% would apply.  Seriously?  Everything was back in the box and repackaged like almost brand-new but that didn't matter as the box had been opened.  I briefly looked at their other cameras but then decided that they could just charge me the 15% and I would never darken their door again as what would happen if we got another camera and didn't like it any better?  Nothing for nothing but with a lot of cameras, you don't know how you're going to like the pictures until you've taken a few and that requires you to open the box!!  The girl at the counter told me that the other salesclerk should have told me about the restocking fee when I bought the camera but even if he hadn't, it was on the back of the receipt.  Right ... like I read the backs of receipts!  Not that I'll ever have to worry about reading the back of a receipt from Best Buy again anyway - I don't care if they're practically giving things away, I will never shop there again.  The whole thing notched my grouchiness level up a couple of points.

After all that I decided that lunch was in order so we went across the street to drown my frustration in Olive Garden's unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks.  Nothing says "go away bad feelings" better than their Chicken and Gnocchi soup ... unless it's the Zuppa Toscana of course!  Nom, nom, nom!  At least I left there in a better mood but it slowly crept back up on me after we got home.

I'm back to work for 16 hours today so we'll see how my mood goes - I'm hoping for a good day with no drama or trauma or stress.  Probably a lot to ask for but maybe I'll get lucky!  Keep your fingers crossed for me and in return, I promise to try to get some pictures of Baltimore up soon - honest!

Oops! I Think I Missed Something!

There's been so much going on lately what with spending the weekend in Baltimore, getting ready to ship Amanda off to college, trying to figure out when Jamie is coming up to live, and life in general that I completely and totally forgot to acknowledge the fourth anniversary of my own blog on July 25th!

Looking back, it's hard to believe that I started this blog four years ago when Amanda was just starting out as a freshman at Norwich Free Academy and now here she is, on the verge of starting out as a freshman at the Montserrat College of Art.  Once again I've got to ask the age-old question of  "Where did the time go??"  When it's quiet enough, I'm pretty sure I can hear it whooshing by.

When I started this blog I had no idea the amount of wonderful new friends it would bring into my life - some whom I have had the great pleasure of meeting in person and others whom I have only met through typed words but who are just as special to me.  I've often heard people say that having one's own blog is very much a narcissistic endeavor but I am going to totally disagree with that as the people that I have met through blogging are some of the nicest, most giving, caring, sharing, and unselfish people that I have ever had the good grace to meet.  Sure - those of us who blog write about our lives and the things going on in our lives but isn't that a major part of friendship to begin with?  Sharing who and what we are with others?

Blogging has broadened my horizons tremendously and opened up so many new areas of my life; I'm very happy that I started on this journey four years ago and that so many wonderful people have come along for the ride. Thank you - one and all (well, except for the spammers!) for allowing me to be a part of your lives and letting me share my joys and sorrows, accomplishments and defeats, successes and failures with you for the last four years.

Oh ... and let's not forget my love of history and the pictures that sometimes go along with it!  Having a blog gives me a chance to be a sort of Junior Tour Guide and share some of the great places I've found along life's travels.  I may never actually be a travel writer but it's fun acting like one from time to time!

Speaking of which, I'm working on pictures and stories from Baltimore but until I can get my act together sufficiently enough to organize things here's a sneak preview of Miss Bee's hometown -


Here's to the next four years because - trust me - we definitely aren't there yet!

Greetings from Norwich!

After what could be called "The Drive From Hell" up the Eastern Seaboard yesterday, Amanda and I finally got home last night a little before 11:00 after leaving Baltimore (which is approximately 325 miles away) a little after 2:00.  It was a frustrating drive - to say the least - as it seemed as if someone had put stop lights in the middle of the New Jersey Turnpike.  As I told Amanda, there are just too many cars and not enough roadway these days to make any sort of travel pleasurable and there's really no good way to get from here to there - not quickly anyway!

Anyhow, all grumbling aside, we made it home safe and sound with enough time for me to catch at least some sleep before my 16-hour shift in dispatch.  Oy. Luckily after I get through today I'm off for the next two days so with any luck I'll get some pictures edited (the one in this post was taken from our hotel with my iPhone) - I've only got about 900 or so to sort through!  Trust me, I've got plenty of blog fodder for future posts - LOTS of future posts!

Greetings from Baltimore!

Just a quick post via my iPhone to say hi from Charm City! The hotel doesn't have free Internet so I haven't been on-line to do a regular post as I refuse to pay $9.95 for 24 hours. Plus I've been way too busy taking pictures of probably every building in Baltimore!

We're heading home later today - around 2:00 - and I've got my fingers crossed for decent traveling conditions. Rumor has it rain is moving in later and travel on the East Coast always involves way too much traffic but hopefully it won't be too bad.

All in all, it's been a nice weekend and eventually I'll have lots of pictures and posts to share with you. There is history galore here and you know I'm loving it!

Five on Friday - 1993

In honor of my youngest daughter's birthday this past Monday, I have chosen five songs from the year of Jamie's birth for this week's Five on Friday - the fun meme that Travis hosts every week.

As hard as it is for me to believe, when I started going through songs from 1993 it dawned on me that I knew darned few of them.  Did I really not listen to music hardly at all that year?  Seriously?  How did that happen?  Music has always been a major part of my life but apparently not in 1993 and that bothers me a little bit though it doesn't mean that I was in a complete and total musical void and there were some that rung a bell or hit the right note!

It's a bit of an odd and eclectic mix but I hope you'll find something here that you enjoy! Surprisingly I actually found some that Amanda knew so they must not be that bad!

I'd Like to Thank the Academy ...

As I may have mentioned (or not), I haven't been working anywhere near the number of hours that I had been working now that we are actually up to staff in our dispatch center - knock on wood or any reasonable facsimile!  I've picked up an extra shift or two here or there but right now 40 hours a week is the norm and even though my paycheck is decidedly lighter, I'm rather enjoying a standard work week and having more time to do things other than tell ambulance crews where to go and sometimes what to do when they get there!

I believe I also mentioned a couple times that work had been totally stressing me out for awhile there but I contribute most of that to the fact that I was totally stressed about so many other things that work couldn't help but be added to the mix.  As much as I try, it's not possible to leave all of the personal baggage in the hall by my locker and some of it invariably gets carted into the dispatch center with me.  I wish that weren't the case but alas, I'm only human.

All that said, it was quite the very pleasant surprise when I went into work this past Tuesday afternoon that not only was there some of Renee's extremely delicious chocolate-chip banana bread waiting for me but my supervisor handed me something that I really wasn't expecting - the award for Employee of the Month for June!

I have always thought that it's pretty darned cool that I work for a company that recognizes its employees even though there are those who think the program is in need of a revamp (a sentiment that I have shared myself from time to time as even though it is a good program, I think it has the potential to be great).  I sure the heck don't ever remember getting any sort of recognition when I worked for the Cop Shop - with the exception of the much-appreciated thank you's from the guys on the street from time to time - so working for a company that not only appreciates its employees but let's them know it does is really a very nice thing.

What makes this recent award surprising is that six years ago I was awarded Employee of the Month in July of 2004 - an award that put me in the running for Employee of the Year which I was very honored to receive in January of 2005.  With the title came a really nice plaque, a parking space close to the door, and a lot of ribbing from my fellow dispatchers as well as the realization that I had pretty much hit the pinnacle of my success with the company after only my first year of employment with them.  I'm pretty sure that no one has ever gotten Employee of the Year twice and I was also told that as a former Employee of the Year, chances were good I wasn't going to get Employee of the Month again as it wouldn't be fair to the other employees if the same people got it over and over again. Logical?  Yes.  Depressing?  Yes.  Less of an incentive to do a good job?  No.

Whether I was ever going to get another award from the company or not, I have this thing called a work ethic that was handed down to me by my parents who got it from their parents who got it from ... well, you know where I'm going!  I was taught that if you're going to do something then do it to the best of your ability no matter what because even if no one else ever notices, it's a matter of personal pride and at the end of the day I still have to answer to myself.

All that said, though, it's still really nice when someone says "Hey, nice job!" or "We appreciate the effort you've put in!" as like I said above, I'm only human and we humans like the equivalent of a good head scritch every once in awhile ourselves. I'm going to consider my recent award a very nice head scritch!

I just find it kind of funny that I got the award for the month when I took a vacation!  I wonder if they're trying to tell me something??

Mid-Week Musings

Hey!  How did it get to be the end of July already??

Speaking of July - on the news last night the weatherman said that this July is going to go down in the record books as the hottest July since the National Weather Service started keeping records back in 1888.  June has already gone down in the books for the same thing so if it seems like it's been hotter than usual this summer - it has been!

I'm rather hoping for a bit of a break this weekend as Amanda and I are taking her last road trip before college down to Baltimore - a trip which surprisingly has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe!  Instead Amanda is going to be attending the Otakon Convention which in their words "celebrates all anime, manga, and all facets of Asian pop culture!"  Okkaaayyyy ... she bought and paid for her own ticket so I'm basically going to be playing Hoke to her Miss Daisy!   She just recently managed to rope her friend Darci into going with her so we'll be making a stop in New Jersey along the way.

I think her prime reason for going is that she wants to meet Tessa Stone who is the comic artist of Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name - a web comic that Amanda absolutely loves.  Ms. Stone's artwork is very much like that which Amanda hopes to someday do so she is really looking forward to the opportunity to meet her in person.

Apparently I may get the opportunity to meet her in person myself as I was asked last night if I would be able to do group photos for Tessa and her "fans" on Saturday evening.  Not having any one thing in particular on my own agenda - at least not yet but I've found some things I'm quite interested in doing - I'm pretty sure I'll have the time to do that before going back to my own devices in Baltimore.

This being my third trip down to Baltimore at least I've got a semi-decent idea of the lay of the land so what I'm mostly planning on doing while there is taking pictures of some of the more historic parts of the city.  The hotel I managed to get a really amazing deal at (more on that in another post) is located in the Mount Vernon section of the city which is considered to be the heart of Baltimore's arts and culture community.  Once the home of Baltimore's gilded age elite, there is a lot there for any history buff to love including the original Washington Monument erected 50 years before the one in Washington, the Basilica of the Assumption which was America's first cathedral built between 1806 through 1821, and the Enoch Pratt Free Library which is one of the oldest public libraries in the country established in 1882.

Anyhow, there will be lots more on this later but for now I've got to take Amanda up to her doctor's office to get a meningitis shot - something she's really not looking forward to but a definite must for college!  I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday no matter what you may be doing this hot, hot July!

Suggestions Wanted!

My resident artist has agreed to redesign my blog for me before she toddles off to art college next month but we've run into a bit of a snag in that I haven't been able to come up with an idea for what she should do and neither has she.  Truth be told, I'm actually rather surprised she hasn't suggested a shambling member of the undead with one foot in the grave and the other on a recent victim while changing the blog title to "Are We Dead Yet??" but she's not suggested that at all!

As neither one of us are coming up with anything creative, Amanda thought I should ask my readers for suggestions as to what you think she should do to jazz things up a little around here.  After all, a blog is like living room furniture in that you have to rearrange it every once in awhile before it gets too old and worn and the furniture settles so deep into the carpet that it leaves grooves that will never come out.

So ... what say you?  Suggestions?  Ideas?  Thoughts?

Happy 17th Birthday to My Baby!

Seventeen years ago today in a hospital less than three blocks from where I live now I gave birth to my youngest child - Jamie Jessica.  I think that for the very first time in those 17 years, Jamie isn't spending her birthday here in Connecticut but that's okay as we'll just wait to celebrate until she moves up sometime next month as long as things go according to plan.

Where the future will take her yet we don't know but she's already got her high school diploma in hand and I'm going to do my best to make sure that she has every opportunity at happiness and a career that she wants to do - not that she just has to do - as Amanda does.

In the meantime, I wish her a very happy birthday and hope that she knows that even though she's not here in person she is here in my heart and always will be.

Happy birthday, kiddo, and we'll get that ice cream cake you always love once you come back up to Connecticut - promise!

Things That Make You Go "I Don't Think So!"

Congratulations.
You have been chosen to receive ($1,000,000.00 USD)in the on-going
chevron/Texaco poverty alleviation program 2010.Send you Name & contact
address to Mr Kennith Davids at (chevronpayment@gmail.com
)to file for your claims.Or dial +2348067852678 for more information on
this program.
Note:All E-mail response should be sent to the following email address for
verification and payment approval
Yours kenneth Davids.
On line co-ordinate
Chevron/Texaco oil&gas company.

I received the above email a couple of days ago in my inbox as it seems that the spam filters on Yahoo! have been letting a few slip of late. I suspect that with the increasing amount of spam out there that it's tough catching all of it so I can understand having to deal with this sort of thing from time to time.

The reason I kept it was because it made me laugh with the phrase " the on-going chevron/Texaco poverty alleviation program 2010".  I have to admit that I've had an on-going poverty alleviation program myself during 2010 in the form of working probably way too much overtime but sadly, it's not working any better than this email would in alleviating my on-going poverty!

The other sad thing is that this email is so poorly written that it seems to me that it would be very difficult for anyone to believe that it was official but I would be willing to be that there are some who would still fall for it and all it takes is a small handful for this sort of scam to keep being one of the weapons of choice of people who just don't want to make an honest living like the rest of us.

Maybe if Chevron/Texaco came up with an on-going spam alleviation program I might buy into it!

Sunday Thought

The Amen! of Nature is always a flower.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

I'm a little over a month late on this post but as I mentioned earlier, in addition to June 18th being Amanda's 18th birthday it was also the day of her high school graduation and, except for the fact that it was just a little bit too warm, we couldn't have asked for a better day as there was none of the dreaded New England summer humidity hanging in the air nor were there buckets of rain pouring down.

Unfortunately there were also darned few clouds hanging in the air either and had I been using the part of my brain designed for actual thinking I would have brought an umbrella or two with us when my mother, our friend Amy, and I walked over to the Norwich Free Academy campus around 3:00 to attend the graduation ceremony which began at 4:00 p.m. with a massive processional!

NFA's graduation is traditionally held on the athletic field behind the school unless it rains and then they hold it in the gym with very limited seating but broadcast the ceremony on closed-circuit TV in classrooms around the campus.  There was certainly no need to hold the ceremony in the gym this year but for those of us sitting in the metal bleachers waiting for the ceremony to begin, it was going to be a very warm afternoon!

Every year my company provides an ambulance to be on standby just in case someone is overwhelmed by the excitement and/or heat and this year was no exception.  It's a good thing they were there as three students had problems with the heat during the course of the afternoon but that's no surprise as when you're graduating 546 students it takes time - especially when the speaker from the Class of 1960 decides to go on and on and on longer than the song at the end of Titanic!  Both of the speakers chosen from the Class of 2010 were quite good and quite quick but apparently the gentleman who represented the alumni of 50 years ago didn't realize that people were just about ready to melt in the bleachers across from him. Granted a lot had happened in the past 50 years but this guy seemed to want to cover all of it in intricate details and before his speech was over we could see vultures circling in the air just waiting for someone to keel over while the half moon had risen quite high in the sky!

At long last the speeches were done, the presentations were made, and it was the moment that all 546 of the kids sitting in the glaring sun on the athletic field and their friends and family surrounding them had waited four years for - the presentation of the diplomas!  As I waited for Amanda's name to be called I tried to remember what had it been like for me way back in 1976 waiting my turn to walk across the stage and accept the certificate that closed the door on my youth and pointed me in the direction of adulthood and my own dreams but alas, like so many things anymore, the memories were sketchy at best.  And of course there were no video cameras or score of photographers or parents with really good zoom lenses on their own cameras sitting in the stands to record the event while updating on Facebook and Twitter!

Amanda doesn't have my last name so luckily we didn't have to wait all the way to the O's before her name was called (and mispronounced as seems to be the norm) so shortly after she received her diploma my Mom, Amy, and I retreated to the shade on the side of the athletic field and waited for the ceremony to be over. I certainly didn't want my Mom to be one of the people that my co-workers needed to lend assistance to - especially considering that it was her birthday also and probably the last thing she wanted was a trip to the Emergency Room!

Once the last student finally received his diploma, the newly anointed alumni of the Norwich Free Academy Class of 2010 receded from the athletic field where they were greeted by cheering family and friends all immensely proud of their own graduates - myself included. As happy as Amanda was to have her high school career behind her, I still found it hard to believe that those four years had passed by so quickly and that my very last child had graduated from high school - having been leaped over by her younger sister by a mere six days!

Amanda's Graduation

When we got back to the house where Jamie had been waiting as there weren't enough tickets for her to attend her sister's graduation being that her father had come all the way up from Florida to be there, I had Jamie put on her cap & gown that we had brought up from Florida so that I could have a picture taken with both of my graduates.  After all, I was never expecting to have both my girls graduate in 2010 and the occasion needed to be marked.

And look! They're both smiling at the same time! It's a graduation miracle!

Five on Friday - Amanda's Picks Version #2

Amanda asked me last night if it would be okay if she choose the songs for this week's Five on Friday, the fun meme of our host Travis who invites us to pick out five (or even a few more if the spirit moves you) favorite songs and then post them on Fridays.  Hence the name ... Five on Friday!  If you'd like to join us be sure to click over to Trav's Thoughts and check out the suggested guidelines.

I was happy to turn this week's musical choices over to Amanda as even though I always come up with these great ideas - or what I think are great ideas - for sets I then promptly forget what they were because I haven't gotten smart enough to write the ideas down when they pop into my head.  I either need to start taking the highly touted fish oil to improve my brain function or begin carrying a notepad and pencil around with me on a regular basis if I ever hope to remember these "great sets"!   I really wish I could remember when it was I became so forgetful!

Anyway, enough about my loss of memory ... courtesy of Amanda I present to you this week's Five on Friday - enjoy!

Meanwhile ... Back on Amanda's 18th Birthday

My bad!  It's been over a month now since Amanda's 18th birthday and graduation and I've yet to do any posts on it - gasp!  That's it; I've gone and lost Mother of the Year yet again and I've got no doubt that I was really going to be in the running this year, too!  Oh bother!

Anyway, in an attempt to catch up on the blessed event(s), let me back up to Friday, June the 18th, the date of not only Amanda's high school graduation but also her 18th birthday - the type of occasion that only manages to happen once in a lifetime when the planets align in the proper order ... or something like that!

Knowing that this was an event of historical proportions, I had begun thinking early about what sort of gift to get my off-to-art-college-in-the-fall-wannabe-illustrator daughter.  What could possibly be good enough for this sort of monumental occasion; what could possibly say "I'm proud of you for making it through high school with my sanity intact and oh by the way, welcome to adulthood!"; what gift would stand head-and-shoulders over all gifts?  Wait!  I know!  How about a one-of-a-kind, drawn-just-for-Amanda, none-other-like-it-in-the-world piece of art by her most favorite illustrator Gris Grimly?!?

For those of you who have been devoted followers of this blog (and I thank you all!), you probably remember that Amanda had the chance to meet Mr. Grimly at a book-signing in Baltimore last October when we made our second trip of the year to Charm City to attend the slightly-late funeral for Edgar Allan Poe - an event that was being held due to the fact that Poe had never had a proper funeral when he first died in a Baltimore hospital back in October of 1849.

In addition to meeting her favorite illustrator at the book-signing (where I exercised my parental right to embarrass her as much as possible), Amanda also had the chance to hear him speak at Poe's funeral being that Mr. Grimly has illustrated two books of Poe's writings - Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness and Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia - and he had been invited to speak along with other people who had been influenced by E.A. Poe such as H.P. Lovecraft, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, and (the still-alive) Ellen Datlow! I know it probably sounds a little strange but it really was a very cool event and I'm really glad we went.  Not many people walking around today can say they attended Poe's funeral but I can!

However, I digress - as per usual!  Knowing that one of the things Amanda wanted most in the world was to someday own an illustration of her own by Gris Grimly, I decided to send him an email and see if he would be at all available to do a commissioned piece for her birthday/graduation.  I was a little leery of him having the time to take on an extra project being that he had been hard at work on illustrating the original 1818 story of Frankenstein as well as bringing his version of Pinocchio to life on film but when I received an email back, he said that even though he was swamped he'd be able to do a cool ink sketch for Amanda that would indeed be a special gift.

A few more emails back and forth hammered out the details of when I'd need it by as well as ideas of what Amanda might like - heck, I figured he could draw two stick figures and she'd be thrilled to pieces but obviously the man is a professional and there's no way he's going to put his name on something like that!  Wanting to make sure that I knew my daughter as well as I thought I did, I consulted with her brain twin and best buddy Sami and together we worked up a list of probably way-too-many ideas for the poor guy to sort through!

Shortly after that, I was emailed a pencil sketch of Gris' planned artwork for Amanda so that I could make suggested changes if I wanted to before he inked it in.  Changes?  Oh heck no!  Even just looking at the rough pencil sketch I knew that Amanda was going to be totally blown away by the piece which I had mentioned she was probably going to want to get as a tattoo someday also.  He took that into consideration while he was sketching and what he had shown me was perfectly Amanda!

While waiting for the final sketch to arrive I took the time to order what I hoped would be the perfect picture frame and archival matting to display her one-of-a-kind gift and then I had everything shipped to work so that Amanda wouldn't be the one to get the mail the day any of it showed up. She wouldn't have been suspicious about yet another picture frame arriving but a delivery from Mad Creator Productions would certainly have raised both eyebrows! There were a couple of times before the big day that I thought about giving the artwork to her early as I was pretty excited to see what her reaction was going to be but somehow I managed to wait until the morning of her birthday/graduation.  As a matter of fact, I even managed to wait until she had returned from her "reunion" breakfast with her father - an event she hadn't exactly been looking forward to but which she got through without any of the problems she anticipated.

For those of you who missed it on Facebook, I feel it's my obligation to post the video that I took of Amanda opening her gift even though it embarrasses the heck out of the kid (again).  After all, I can't possibly violate the Code of Parental Ethics that requires us to embarrass our offspring as often as we can and besides, I don't think her reaction is embarrassing at all - I think it's priceless! The only thing that would have made it better is if I didn't have to listen to my own voice. Ew.

In conclusion, I think I'm going to have to say that I chose wisely and that Amanda was really quite happy with her gift. A big thank you once again to Gris Grimly for taking the time out of his incredibly busy schedule to make my daughter's day and then some. All I can say is that it's a good thing I've got four years before I think about a college graduation present because I'm not sure how on earth I'm going to top that one!

*I'm not posting a bigger/better picture of the sketch itself which is titled "Crypt Courtship" as Amanda doesn't want someone liking it so much that they copy it and get their own tattoo before she does but trust me, the detail is amazing and then some!

Happiness is ...

... a new chirpy toy from the grocery store ...

... that makes you roll around on your back in bliss ...

... and maybe look just a little silly ... 

... but you don't care because it's all yours!

Winging It

I've got the day off today and there is a ton of stuff I should/could be doing but I seem to have gotten sucked into the vortex of the internet and am having trouble breaking free.  I also figured I hadn't written a post in two days so I needed to come up with something!  So ... this isn't exactly a random stream of consciousness thing but here we go ...

I could get used to having regular days off again.  This week I'm only working five - that's right FIVE - shifts and it's kinda nice!

I picked up my photo from the Mystic Arts Gallery on Sunday at the close of the show that it was in and was handed some paperwork by the lady at the desk about a couple more shows coming up very soon.  She was very complimentary towards my photo and suggested I submit work for the upcoming shows.  I'm thinking about it but just can't decide on which pictures to use.  What I think of as art is definitely not what a lot of other people think of as art!

Matter of fact, when I stopped at the gate to the parking lot where the attendant collects parking fees and said I was there to "pick up my artwork" I felt rather strange saying that as I don't consider my photos to be artwork - just pictures.

Amanda is an artist - I just like to fool around with the camera.

There's some drama at work with one of my dispatch partners and her marriage that has made me again remember why I don't mind being alone.  The decision to end my marriage was tough but in the end, it was definitely worth it.  I wouldn't want to be walking in her shoes for love or money right now.

I would, however, love to be able to hold hands with someone again.  There are times when the Queen song "Find Me Somebody to Love" plays on a continuous loop through my head but I guess that's just life.

Reading posts by Sandee's husband, Zane, makes me really wish for a good man in my life - especially as it seems he and Sarge Charlie are competing for most romantic guy on the internet!  Why are all the good ones always taken??

A very special guy in my life dropped a cooler off on my backstep this morning that contained a very large, very chilled bottle of wine - a gift from he and his wife to help alleviate some of the stress I've been having lately. Guess what I'll be doing later while catching up on shows on the DVR??  Thank you, Andrew - and Bethany, too!

I need to renew my driver's license, Amanda needs to get a state-issued ID card, I need to open a bank account for her, she needs to get a meningitis shot that she's really NOT looking forward to, I need to mow the lawn, Amanda needs to get her final high school transcripts, I need to write a really large check to Montserrat, Amanda needs to think about what she's taking with her to college ... I need to get off this computer!

Sunday Sentiment

"It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more."
~ Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Saturday Stuff

Compared to last week, this has been a rather nice week ... no, make that a fantastic week!

Making the decision to use my 401K for Amanda's first year of college has taken a major weight off of my shoulders though I have had a little trepidation about that same weight reapplying itself next year when we have to start trying to figure out financing for her sophomore year however, there's time to cross that bridge later so I'm going to try not to stress about it now.

I had a long talk with Jamie the other night and the current plan is for her to move up here after Amanda leaves for college at the end of August.  That, of course, is subject to change if she can't remember to tell the truth to her father however she wants to try to continue to work at her job at McDonald's and save up some money before moving up here.  She did express some interest in possibly taking some courses at the local community college so I told her father to fill out a FAFSA and see what she qualifies for in regards to financial aid.  He was on unemployment for a very long time so she should qualify for a lot more than Amanda did.

Work wasn't too bad this week due to the simple fact that I had a lot more time off than I've been used to having.  If I hadn't picked up the open shift this evening, I would have worked a mere five shifts - something I haven't done in a very, very long time.  Next week really should be just five shifts as there's nothing open that I know of.  Even though I'm going to miss the overtime pay, I really think I could get used to having more time off!

So how did I spend a lot of that time off?  Sitting on the couch and watching programs that I had recorded on the DVR long ago.  I had five episodes of "Flashpoint" stacked up that I thoroughly enjoyed watching.  I've become a bit hooked on that show as it's not your typical cop drama - thank goodness!

Amanda and I went to the movies with our friend Paula to see the new Leonardo DiCaprio film "Inception" last night and let me just say that it was fantastic and definitely lived up to all the hype!  The movie is directed by Christopher Nolan of "Dark Knight" fame and he did a wonderful job with the film.  Add on a fantastic score by Hans Zimmer, some truly amazing special effects, and those blue eyes of Leonardo and well ... go see it as I want to discuss the ending with someone!  Amanda's already wanting to see it again she liked it so much.

And for all of you who told me to go out and do something for myself after the horrible week I had previous to this one, you'll be glad to know that I did just that in the form of some hair pampering.  I'd been wanting something different so I decided to become a brunette and got a nice cut to boot.  This picture is not that great as I took it with my cell phone but it gives you a bit of an idea at any rate. Of course, it must not be that much of a change as Amanda has failed to make any reference to my new do at all - perhaps it wasn't extreme enough for her?

Everyone have a lovely weekend no matter what your plans may be!

Five on Friday - Maroon 5

After a long Thursday at work, it's a real pleasure to be able to participate in Travis' quick and easy Five on Friday meme! If you're interested in joining us one of these Fridays, pop on over to Trav's Thoughts where he lays out the guidelines for becoming a Five on Friday participant.

To make this really quick & easy for this week the only thing I've got left to say is that I've picked out some of my favorite Maroon 5 music - enjoy!