Photo update ..

So .. lately I've been getting out with my camera. Actually I have been doing it more frequently off and on for the past 2 months but I think lately I've finally made a breakthrough.

To explain ..

When I was going out for fall photos and so on, it was more like pulling photography teeth. I'd go out with a friend and they're snapping away and I'm standing there. .. thinking I see absolutely nothing here. .. then about an hour or so until the deal, if not longer, I finally see one or two things worth catching. But the whole time the world looks no different to me .. not like before.

The other day I went out and I hit that ceiling. Right off the bat something caught my eye. Then, like before, that first shot, which still lives on my hard drive, turned into something else .. and so on. Next thing you know I'm out for hours and still going .. and not wanting to go in because all of a sudden the street I've worked on since April now looks so different to me.

Since then I've been willingly taking my camera more often and sighing on the days that it's stayed at home. And moaning on the night the batteries were dead (hey, i'm out of practice and the last thing I think about are those batteries!). Now, I'm sitting here trying not to go out and almost miserable that I'm still sitting here.

And to top it off ... for a change I'm actually pulling photos off of my camera that I like, and it's not just one or two of them, it's most of them.

Finally .. a breakthrough .. I think.


At the same time I'm half beating myself over it because of all the times it should not be happening now. But that's another blog and probably not one I'm willing to rehash right now .. as it may do exactly what I think it will .. which is demotivate me.

On that note I'm going to stop writing and watch some TV for a while .. :o)

A Welcomed Break

So .. how nice is it that I now have a few weeks between semesters?

You have no idea..

I have made a list of chores that I want to do while I can, which includes upgrading the memory on this laptop. I am also intending on both taking more photos and going through the thousands of photos on my hard drive that are wasting away.

So many things, so little time...

Ok ..well I completely screwed my sleep schedule up starting Thursday and through last night.I'm attempting tonight to bring harmony back into play before the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

My Work on the Internet .. :o)

I used to save links of websites that my work was posted on, but I've stopped doing that. Well, I'm going to start doing that again, because just now I actually needed something that I've worked on and I knew exactly where it was.

I'll update this as I run across them.

Work for MSD's CSO Long Term Control Plan (which is about 40 hours of my work week, if not more):

1. Power Point Presentation from one of the Stakeholder's meetings. Granted it's not as pretty in it's PDFed form, but I primarily worked on most of the graphics for this one. It's a big file though.
2. Here's another Power Point, although they aren't as nice when PDF'ed out.

Finicky Internet and Needing a Sugar Fix

Apparently my nighttime surfing choices are limited, and it's driving me crazy. You know the person who clicks 'refresh' over and over and over again, like someone with some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder? Well I was turning into that person there for a minute. Like watching paint dry, I was waiting for my internet to just start magically working ..

Just my week...

So, I had my last test in my Surface Water Quality Modeling class today. Painful but over with. Now I have a term project remaining, with it's data neatly stored online, as I was assuming that Bellsouth was going to cooperate tonight.

In addition, I have a second term project for my Transportation Modeling class due in 3 days, whose data is also sitting neatly on said internet. Grrrr ... and I am actually trying for once to do the right thing!!


My web surfing choices are apparently the following:

• Flickr - loads amazing fast (is it a Yahoo conspiracy??)
• Blogger - hence why I'm writing
• Geocaching - just a snippet here and snippet there .. not enough to find anything interesting and just enough to tick me off
• Google every once in a while (Google haters ... must be stopped!!!)
  
• .....

... that's it .. grrrrr. If they're going to kill my internet, at least give me something to shop online at or something... I'm on another gadget kick, oh geez, and so I'm currently resisting two things although that does not stop me from window shopping and dreaming.

It's been, oh, two and a half hours now with no feed .. a feed that I need for these stupid classes (ok .. teachers, not that you'll ever read this, but the eclasses aren't stupid at all, they're wonderfully engaging and have great practical applications .. LMAO .. ok over the top but I actually like the classes, minding the extensive virtual sucking up). I actually took a 30 minute eye closing break in hopes that my computer would feel sympathy for me, but apparently not.

It's 9:30 ish and I guess I officially give up.


All the while Starbucks, and something sweet, are calling my name.

• I need to lay off the Starbucks, I'm dreaming of it now, or at least I may as well... I would sleep like a baby, assuming I was only dreaming and not still containing it in my system.
  
• I had ONE, count 'em, ONE mint at work today, and it was the first one in probably a month or two. That ONE little 'harmless' mint was evil, setting off my annoying sweet tooth. OMG .. I'm just dying here. I could slap my father and on up the line for doing this to me.... Besides, don't ask me why Starbucks doesn't qualify as feeding the sweet tooth .. I don't get it myself, but I don't complain when it doesn't set it in motion like it is now ..

So, here I am... I'm sitting here OCD'ing over the internet, thinking of Starbucks, and looking for anything sweet in my house.

Knowing that I inherit a long and deep sweet tooth there is literally nothing sweet in my house besides the necessities. Nothing. It's been like that for about 6 years because I'd just eat it all and make the sweet tooth even worse. So, I'm mentally fighting myself to try and not go to Starbucks and at the same time not go do something just stupid like eat a bowl full of sugar.

Ha ha ha .. that would be pretty pathetic, eh?!

Luckily there is one thing that trumps my sweet tooth ... my laziness. So, no going to Starbucks as it means I'd have to get up, put some pants on, put my few things out of reach from the dogs (give them 2 minutes alone in the house and you can't imagine what they won't chew up on me .. ), walk across to the back of the house, into my car in the dang cold, and down that whole 1/2 mile to the local coffee fix. Then I have to drive all the way back (because it's just so far ..), come back in, let the dogs out (I'm not allowed in if they can't go out), not get comfortable until I let them back in, then go through the whole process of getting back into my jammies and thawing myself back out.

That's just too much work!

Plus, I'm recalling how I actually did that last night, with the intent of pulling a late night study session, .. which turned into me getting a Venti at 8:45PM and being up all dang night long because of it. Just madness.



Well, seeing as I almost caved and went to Starbucks .. I'll just have to continue with the goal of making this my longest blog yet, or something along those lines.

OMG you say? But Christina your blogs are horribly long and painfully rambling .. how can they possibly get any longer?

So the funniest thing is this .. except for me rambling in this blog, I am actually making an attempt to do what I like to call .. shut the F up .. ha ha. Yea, and don't substitute in the bad word because I say it in the 'better rated' version that you are reading here. When I'm talking and writing to people, I'm putting my foot down to myself, and telling myself to not tell everyone and every detail, whether in person or in email. So for the people who think that I don't tell them enough .. well I'm going to start telling you less. I just have a tendency, on occasion, to talk too much, and I consistently talk too darn much in emails and well ... it needs to stop!!



Ok .. now I'm bored... I rarely watch TV now, outside of a few shows, so I guess it's a good excuse to work on homework .. dangit. Either way I'm thinking of just going to bed so I don't have to sit here all miserable.


Oh wait .. one more note. So I was contacted again by Publishers International today. They are using one of my photos in the book seen below (click on the photo to direct you to my flickr page and ultimately the photo in use)...





Now they've sent the paperwork, which I've already returned, asking to use the photo again in another book, something like Amazing Places in North America (probably a similar book, but more adult oriented activities I'm guessing). I'll get paid for the usage again and will also get a copy of the new book as well .. :o)

I think this will be the 4th or 5th book that I'll have photos in, but at least 4 (I have to pull my list to find out .. which also needs a stable internet connection!!). Those books, a handful of websites, a couple of calendars, a future annual report publication, and a few other random details.

Pretty interesting and I honestly love seeing photos that I've taken being put to use other than on my website, but I just wish I had more time to do something more with it. However, I'm hoping to go through the thousands of photos rotting on my hard drive between semesters and also try and do something more than I'm doing now.