tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17875105337897639182024-03-13T14:33:55.958-05:00Trench Warefare TooA blog about life in the trenchesTanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.comBlogger542125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-80586828043025354372012-11-30T19:51:00.001-06:002012-12-01T13:20:26.889-06:00An Ode to the Coffeehouse <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">If you're paying attention at all, you'll notice that I post <a href="https://www.facebook.com/peopleinthetrenches" target="_blank">a lot</a> <a href="http://peopleinthetrenches.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">of pictures</a> on my people blogs </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">from Gray Owl Coffee</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">, a local place here in Norman. That's because I'm there all the time. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ironically, I'm not a huge coffee drinker. I've never have been, but I love all the rituals that surround coffee and its consumers. I love seeing my Facebook friends post about not having had their morning cup. Part of me feels almost jealous that I can't gripe about the same thing. Not having had your morning swig of Diet Coke just doesn't have the same ring to it.*</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> I love the smell of it, I love the feel of a warm mug in your hands, I love the variety of mugs people use to drink it, I love all the accoutrements that accompany the coffee: the cinnamon shakers, the raw sugar canisters, the little stir sticks. I love all the pretentious kinds of coffee out there: latte, macchiato, espresso, iced coffee, Irish coffee, Turkish coffee, frappuccino, coffee milk (that was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, which is probably why, even though I don't drink <i>real </i>coffee, I can certainly stomach a latte with no issues whatsoever), cappuccino, mocha...the list is endless. Coffee drinkers are automatically elevated to Wordly Knowledgeable Individuals in my mind when they order anything other than say, coffee. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which brings me back to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gray-Owl-Coffee/114660805788" target="_blank">Gray Owl Coffee</a>. Not only do I love the way it smells in there, but I love the groovy people that go there, the groovy music that is always going in the background**, the groovy furniture the use to decorate the place. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I love the sound of the barista banging the used coffee grounds into the garbage and I love to hear the steamer heating up milk.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> I love that I can bring my daughter there to hang out and play backgammon and I love that my son has met girls there on first dates. I love that everyone from a 7-year-old to a retiree feels comfortable there. I don't love that I almost feel like a fraud, frequenting the place as I do and not being a real coffee drinker, but that's another entry for another day. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It has a roving cast of characters, so I doubt I'll quite frequenting the place anytime soon, fraud status be damned. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=313919012054897&set=a.221832311263568.48832.221813044598828&type=1&theater" target="_blank">Here is Jenna,</a> the woman is generally working the counter on Tuesday evenings, the night Libby and I go to hang out. She's in the process of making my low-fat pumpkin latte. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Well...never mind. Apparently I've run out of space on the allotted servers and can no longer post pictures unless I a)delete photos or b)fork over money to Picassa. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Greedy bastards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*Yes, it's true. I drink Diet Coke in the morning. But I'm quitting. It's my 2015 New Year's Resolution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">** </span></div>
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-14286409397621730682012-11-18T17:49:00.005-06:002012-11-18T17:49:58.704-06:00Post Secret Today <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-47861695963747705932012-10-30T15:47:00.002-05:002012-10-30T15:59:53.007-05:00The Riley <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I ran into him on Sunday--he was headed home from a classic car show. He sorta caught my attention seeing as the steering wheel is ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE CAR. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wanted so bad to ask what the thing was worth, but I'm not rude. So I googled it. It's worth a LOT. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Put me behind the wheel of that thing, and I would instantly turn into dyslexic driver and be running into fire hydrants within 2 miles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He's had this car, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riley_Motor" target="_blank">a Riley,</a> (BMW now owns the brand) for 40 years and it is pristine condition. I think because he's only driven it 1 mile a year as evidenced by his odometer: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">What he was most proud of, however, was the way the engine sounds. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"I wish you could get a picture of the sound". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"Oh, I can take care of that." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I cornered him for 15 minutes. There were even costume changes, as I got him wearing three different hats. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It's really too bad I'm so shy. -> </span><br />
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-53243373396454616172012-10-15T09:27:00.000-05:002012-10-15T09:27:40.757-05:00Nicole<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">There's a ceramic artist in Oklahoma City who makes <a href="http://www.4anythingart.com/4anythingart/ciczoster1/PSlink.asp" target="_blank">corsets out of clay</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">But that's not what I'm going to show you today. Today I'm going to show you pictures of her bathroom, which is the most spectacular bathroom I've ever seen. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">There's no way to give that place justice, so you'll just have to make do with some of my paltry photography and go from there. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">First of all, the artist: </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsioUqLGtuGPdqg81tz_jV0gUO5MWIQs9p_lxYDQTuZ3c5ietrQqJGDXfvvFhb39xSAQWfSrTJVeZSmW-e4H2egC2WNBsfChDOL4o909lHH1T2R02IVcXV5JmknX_Oz1cNwTgEvCQC_Dg/s1600/nicole_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsioUqLGtuGPdqg81tz_jV0gUO5MWIQs9p_lxYDQTuZ3c5ietrQqJGDXfvvFhb39xSAQWfSrTJVeZSmW-e4H2egC2WNBsfChDOL4o909lHH1T2R02IVcXV5JmknX_Oz1cNwTgEvCQC_Dg/s640/nicole_edited-1.jpg" width="402" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicole Moan<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Secondly, the method: She designs pictures, oftentimes based on her father's art, and then reconfigures the art in <i>ceramic tile</i>. Not square tiles, mind. This is ceramic tile in all shapes and sizes: everything from swirls to puzzle pieces to stars to squiggles. She first has to make the tile--an extraordinarily time-consuming process as I can fully attest, and then she methodically installs it so that it becomes representational art. Then of course she has to grout it all, which is arguably more of a pain in the ass than the tile work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm featuring her bathroom here, but her entire living room floor is her own ceramic design (again, based on her father's artwork), as is her main hallway, and of course the the kitchen counters and backdrop are an eye fiesta. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">On the subject at hand. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Her bathroom, floor to ceiling, is decorated in this wonderful "Under the Sea" motif. And when I say floor, I don't mean she has blue 4-inch ceramic tiles on the floor so she could concentrate on the walls and ceiling. I mean the floor is a canvas in-and-of* itself. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Naturally I didn't take pictures of the floor. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">But you can see pictures of it <a href="http://www.4anythingart.com/4anythingart/ciczoster1/bathroom.asp" target="_blank">here</a>, along with her wonderful bathtub and toilet. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I would frankly be scared to do my business on that throne for fear of insulting the thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Here are some detail pics. These are just little treats that are around her (several) mirrors: </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wgUoZK-PROHVTPnC8J3lK5HVneHDcZ3cSjcRogYP_rYAOCA9sbWg8yjwQ9i5OsCwtB_3hreVA7V3z2vXoNGfvJfumr9hwAUo7HjgMfZ6gb4Dk0EQZ_URfWimAwmkItgMNEnrpx6uiBw/s1600/mirror_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4wgUoZK-PROHVTPnC8J3lK5HVneHDcZ3cSjcRogYP_rYAOCA9sbWg8yjwQ9i5OsCwtB_3hreVA7V3z2vXoNGfvJfumr9hwAUo7HjgMfZ6gb4Dk0EQZ_URfWimAwmkItgMNEnrpx6uiBw/s400/mirror_edited-1.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes I feel like somebody's watching me. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhXevGQhsJzSJZ6RvvxFe9iVrzXJ1oWJSAxsUgZnS50o6ZO1snpG8mHjIyYBg_uhlmJhghh0UY29dZ8NRgp4Zn3EGhhW4d1qO5FY7PNqbeN_tmoSamMLbtqtBCcvN8DMcjnNZmkrr7Yc/s1600/mirror2_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhXevGQhsJzSJZ6RvvxFe9iVrzXJ1oWJSAxsUgZnS50o6ZO1snpG8mHjIyYBg_uhlmJhghh0UY29dZ8NRgp4Zn3EGhhW4d1qO5FY7PNqbeN_tmoSamMLbtqtBCcvN8DMcjnNZmkrr7Yc/s640/mirror2_edited-1.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One. By. One. she installed these details. This is OCD at its best. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghKyAKh3gDqD6ch2_yxmN0tC59GQgu7UeTwjYLVgW-Pwjsd9PZtwdZ7EPy_LugeZvRnM5UgY4MaaP_rjvUkizXxDJ8nQRSSS23a27ZT8R3poXOJKdenodW3MqfUts05THf64Vu7vGmTs/s1600/sink_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhghKyAKh3gDqD6ch2_yxmN0tC59GQgu7UeTwjYLVgW-Pwjsd9PZtwdZ7EPy_LugeZvRnM5UgY4MaaP_rjvUkizXxDJ8nQRSSS23a27ZT8R3poXOJKdenodW3MqfUts05THf64Vu7vGmTs/s640/sink_edited-1.jpg" width="502" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the sink. Complete with a bug in a bottle. Which no bathroom should be without. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The counter top is designed to look like water is flowing onto the floor, so the floor (Yeah, I'm back to the floor. What of it?) by the counter is textured in such a manner to emulate water. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Stay with me. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">You can see from the sink picture that her hand-made, costume counter top is configured of some plastic-y, resin-y substance that can be only be summed up as witchcraft.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> Add to this the knowledge that there are multiple layers of goodness to look at on the counter alone, including glitter (!), and I swear to Poseidon you'll feel like you're on an acid trip after being in there for three minutes.**</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Here's a glimpse of the ceiling: </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EPs6qkjKLZAMpjA7MKYduzSA9V1_yFP1363J5p_nJhIcSDu1nGHQb6dfUIwrKhlTKsizMYqIscxNEbogrqxBVJgTRGbSssC8DO01wwOX1Hy2fFcHWiyj4ya9YQ1ejmfMeCMVLUq0RqQ/s1600/ceiling_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EPs6qkjKLZAMpjA7MKYduzSA9V1_yFP1363J5p_nJhIcSDu1nGHQb6dfUIwrKhlTKsizMYqIscxNEbogrqxBVJgTRGbSssC8DO01wwOX1Hy2fFcHWiyj4ya9YQ1ejmfMeCMVLUq0RqQ/s640/ceiling_edited-1.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who has the patience for this? I would be a drunk by now. Seriously. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">You see those pieces on the bottom section? Those are actually mirror shards reflecting the ceiling pattern. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'll give you a minute. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">.......</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Check this out: She even had the nerve to put WINE BOTTLES in the opening where her window was. Here's a snippet of her window...you can get a feel for the concept <a href="http://inspirationgreen.com/glassbottlewalls.html" target="_blank">here.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsCsJneJBpmZFnJ0f3ahRzPRxVD8Ryx-5v2e3REO5bQdt_w9dPPCN94RxE62BukwXAyvvcXMXBzRHpFzzvQrWU9UL1fGK4P4LHAtoQgCVfp5KEzsf4jYEb2AmdHnRCEt35tUXPk4TWt8/s1600/wine+bottle+window_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLsCsJneJBpmZFnJ0f3ahRzPRxVD8Ryx-5v2e3REO5bQdt_w9dPPCN94RxE62BukwXAyvvcXMXBzRHpFzzvQrWU9UL1fGK4P4LHAtoQgCVfp5KEzsf4jYEb2AmdHnRCEt35tUXPk4TWt8/s640/wine+bottle+window_edited-1.jpg" width="442" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Takes going green to whole new level. This is destined to happen in my home somewhere. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The entire installation took three months of almost constant work to complete.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">She says sometimes her friends will call her and ask her to come over to take a bath. I personally maintain she's at risk every time she allows someone who doesn't live in the house to cross the threshold. Because if it were me, I would padlock myself in there and never leave. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">-> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">*Do you hyphenate "in and of"?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">**I assume. I've never actually done acid, but that bathroom can't be a far-off depiction of the kaleidoscope+ I understand goes on in the brain after ingestion. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"> +Of course I didn't spell that correctly the first time. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-44431905357535676032012-10-08T08:52:00.003-05:002012-10-08T09:12:13.665-05:00Laundry Day <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It was 8:15 on a Saturday morning. I had been awake since before 7:00. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Let's be clear here: I don't do before-seven-o'clock on a Saturday morning. Life circumstances that forces anyone out of bed before, say, 9:45 on Saturday morning is simply sadism engineered by The Man. But there I was, up, out and about because my kid has the nerve to want to improve his chances for a better future by taking the SAT. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">What's worse is it was completely overcast so I couldn't even head downtown for some nice urban shots in the dewy early morning light. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Therefore I was meandering as I had some time to kill before photography class--driving around a part of town that used to be my stomping ground; the school sponsoring the SAT is my high school alma mater. I get up to that part of town periodically and always drive around a bit to check out the lay of the land. It's amazing, isn't it, the changes that can happen to a major street over the years? The building I'm always most nostalgic about, <a href="http://www.mountstmary.org/" target="_blank">other than the high school itself</a>, is the one that used to be a bowling alley. We actually learned to bowl during the winter months of PE my freshman year and we walked to that bowling alley, where Coach Burtschi expected us to keep score <i>by hand. </i>The bowling alley also had a snack bar, and oftentimes after school my friends and I would go hang out there. They served Mr. Pibb. Plus they had a Pac Man machine. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The building, amazingly, is still there but the business is long gone. Tucked in next door these days is a laundry mat. <i> </i></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which is where I met Elizabeth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGQ2a01A4HLrTasmmoWVATFpORcTEkPtokgFYsKwsgsEpJaPRXEQb3U9f6DmdNPZ343Wt2pJWuJQXU4Cp2k9whCQYB2fjcvvF2iFBDYdsvrLRkhx1w-QjKUVLg8DLrcVZEuF3tqWLlW4/s1600/laundry+day_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgGQ2a01A4HLrTasmmoWVATFpORcTEkPtokgFYsKwsgsEpJaPRXEQb3U9f6DmdNPZ343Wt2pJWuJQXU4Cp2k9whCQYB2fjcvvF2iFBDYdsvrLRkhx1w-QjKUVLg8DLrcVZEuF3tqWLlW4/s400/laundry+day_edited-1.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">She had gotten behind on the chore over the past week because one of her daughters was in the hospital. The little girl has an immune-deficiency disorder and bites, scrapes, abrasions, etc. can turn into impetigo in short order. Her body has a hard time fighting the infection and she requires IV antibiotics to get rid of them. Summertime is worse. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Elizabeth, her father calls her "Beth", married her high-school sweetheart; he's now active duty in the Marines. He just signed on for another tour of duty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"So you're going to have to move around a lot, I guess?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"We just bought a house, so I'm staying here."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As it turns out, Elizabeth works at the laundry mat on the weekends. She doesn't usually bring her clothes to wash with her, but right now the dryer at home is broken. She has to pay to do her laundry, but she gets reimbursed the expense in her paycheck. A small perk. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">She's also bi-lingual, English and Spanish, and helped me purchase chicken tamales from a man who came in peddling his wife's cooking for some extra money. I bought a baker's dozen for dinner that night which set me back $12. They were still warm. -> </span></div>
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-1893643066969509252012-09-28T23:34:00.000-05:002012-10-03T08:14:25.423-05:00Derek<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It is without question the tackiest thing in the world to take your camera to a memorial service. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">That being said, I took my camera to a memorial service last week. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I didn't bring it out during the service--God, give me some credit. Afterwards at the reception though, I spotted this man from across the room talking with my friend. Not doubt he was offering his sincerest sympathies to her as she just lost her father, an inevitable loss I've yet to face and one I hope I don't have to encounter for some time. At any rate, I couldn't help but notice his <strike>dark and mysterious good looks coupled with a long, lush ponytail</strike> earrings and matching necklace.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3PCsvDesxq4MEfPIncg8UiZSDJk7SmHtrTPkOKqrp4a_TC4Tqp1XJG0CYpEhrHQfTEx70b1UONpm3yx_6nQDu94omiT9Kxwf9CVIFER9db_56OaIfs6BCVYw_XWMy6Vsv6jHXMSDGL8/s1600/derek_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3PCsvDesxq4MEfPIncg8UiZSDJk7SmHtrTPkOKqrp4a_TC4Tqp1XJG0CYpEhrHQfTEx70b1UONpm3yx_6nQDu94omiT9Kxwf9CVIFER9db_56OaIfs6BCVYw_XWMy6Vsv6jHXMSDGL8/s640/derek_edited-1.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's sorta dashing, amiright? </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He just <i>happened</i> to be talking to her when I approached her to bid my farewells. She told me he's an artist and described his process. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Check this out: He puts a pen to paper and says "what do you want me to draw?" And you say something like "a shoe." Then, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BevCt6d9pN0&feature=relmfu" target="_blank">without ever letting the pen leave the paper</a> and with one continuous line he produces art!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">My friend has one of his pieces displayed in her living room. It's gorgeous and I know it well. I said in jest* I would get him a napkin so he could draw me something too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">To his grand credit he was willing to produce and actually tried, but it didn't work--there was too much texture on said napkin. Then he said "OK, now I'm on a mission. Let's find some paper." In short order, after some quick thinking, I was able to produce a canvas so he could work his magic: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWxJxxmrv6Gich8gkwEx7wVTMdb-WXMs83lCMQG1tbrw8isWDx2rFq1SjAkL0hSgW4tT8fdA4akvJTbr0QYGxw8qyBNc0Is01QpdTzxM2ODCGZ3r1jD7TzmBZZE-ASCtpe2nMeyRVSSbU/s1600/derek+shoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWxJxxmrv6Gich8gkwEx7wVTMdb-WXMs83lCMQG1tbrw8isWDx2rFq1SjAkL0hSgW4tT8fdA4akvJTbr0QYGxw8qyBNc0Is01QpdTzxM2ODCGZ3r1jD7TzmBZZE-ASCtpe2nMeyRVSSbU/s400/derek+shoe.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This may or may not be drawn on the back of the memorial pamphlet. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I really didn't have any intention of taking his picture until he drew this. As I was setting up to shoot him in action (I got too engrossed watching the picture appear and missed my opportunity) he said, pointing, "the light is better from over there." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I die. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">There's more! Not only is he talented and knows about photography, he's </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">also a consultant to the Oklahoma Supreme Court for Native American issues.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">And a DJ on </span><a href="http://www.thespyfm.com/" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;" target="_blank">The Spy</a><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">And charming. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Did I mention the matching earrings and necklace? -> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">PS: RIP <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/ourlives/article.aspx?subjectid=58&articleid=20120925_16_A11_CUTLIN548141" target="_blank">Edward Hardy Summers</a>, OK Supreme Court Justice. This blog entry vetted and approved by my dear friend Julia. I'm so sorry for your loss. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*mostly </span></div>
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-47131184119294766932012-09-21T17:10:00.000-05:002012-09-21T17:11:44.891-05:00Beverly and Maria <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">These photos were two weeks in the making because I'm a highly skilled professional who pays the utmost attention to detail. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Let me break it down for you: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I attended my first yoga class in at least 3 years two weeks ago and met a woman who I'll tell you about in a minute. I asked if it was OK to take her photo. She acquiesced. I pulled out the camera, focused, clicked and...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">...realized I didn't have a memory card in the camera. At which point I stammered and begged forgiveness and asked if I could try again the following Friday. "I'll be here," she told me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The following Friday before I left the house, I ensured the camera absolutely, positively had a memory card so I could capture Beverly. Yup! It was there. After yoga I approached her again, went to take a photo and nothing--NOTHING!--was on any of my screens. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Because I'd forgotten to put the blasted battery, which was recharging at my house, back in the camera. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Today she didn't believe me when I told her I was really, truly prepared to capture her photo. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">But I showed her. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>Beverly</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGahxdivvlyzmju7eR-NmdPymZNA60vTAFdDtK9k2qZmy11XGo7TpC9nsUDk5F4i1vKBYhJUjnMI06C2Fx9cJYIg4vK9nqorpT_soCXZslK5183vDKmlc-Nrp4HzZS8IcYgNRCylCy3c/s1600/Beverly_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="351" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGahxdivvlyzmju7eR-NmdPymZNA60vTAFdDtK9k2qZmy11XGo7TpC9nsUDk5F4i1vKBYhJUjnMI06C2Fx9cJYIg4vK9nqorpT_soCXZslK5183vDKmlc-Nrp4HzZS8IcYgNRCylCy3c/s400/Beverly_edited-1.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">was born with a heart defect that eventually led to two open-heart surgeries in 2009. The second one left her with a condition called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_hypertension" target="_blank">pulmonary hypertension</a>, which resulted in her needing an oxygen tank permanently. This, in addition to recovering from having her chest cracked open, is the hand life dealt her. It's a lot for anyone to take. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">She was depressed for a year following the diagnosis and subsequent rehab--a year in which she didn't get out much and felt a bit sorry for her lot in life. The need for the oxygen embarrassed her. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It's through no fault of her own, of course, but that didn't make the reality of walking around in public with medical equipment in tow any easier to swallow. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Enter <b>Maria</b>...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6FFGKMF7n81XNKDDXjyvdcaJsQ9p-Ak4wOi-ox0Ag1nlFMVeY2BKgpPpK1_z1vJJmTD6aOzrk3lcceCrQVbUqqITcCNtGtYtT6BxqAityRjiLIWuDKWNBDzRWFwCSpbQ-7xuumhEL3M/s1600/maria_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6FFGKMF7n81XNKDDXjyvdcaJsQ9p-Ak4wOi-ox0Ag1nlFMVeY2BKgpPpK1_z1vJJmTD6aOzrk3lcceCrQVbUqqITcCNtGtYtT6BxqAityRjiLIWuDKWNBDzRWFwCSpbQ-7xuumhEL3M/s640/maria_edited-1.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">who was relentless with her friend. She told Beverly to get up, get moving, get back to the YMCA. The ladies met there and Beverly was attending Maria's fitness classes (she teaches several a week) before all her health problems took their toll.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It took some coaxing. Beverly protested that everyone would be looking at her. Yes, said Maria, they probably would be. So what? It was this tough love that eventually led Beverly on the road to emotional recovery. She is now as active as she was before. Pilates, yoga, trekking, riding horses...she does it all. She had to tweak her equipment to accommodate her activities, but she's living her life. She told me this morning that she doesn't breath as deeply as she should when she's working out for fear that the extra noise from the machine would be bothersome to others. But I told her I liked the sound--that rhythmic, pressurized hiss is somehow comforting. She then shared women from her other classes use the sound as well. If they don't hear the hiss, they know Beverly isn't breathing and set her straight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It takes a village, doesn't it, to help us navigate this world. I find both these women inspiring: Beverly for not giving in to the depression and Maria for not giving up on her friend. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">What's your excuse for not living your life? -> </span><br />
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-65375155194820631262012-09-21T14:21:00.000-05:002012-09-21T14:46:19.755-05:00Blog Changes <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm sure you've noticed my lack of postings in the past few weeks. My energy hasn't been there for it, and thus I've taken a break and given some thought as to how I'll proceed with it from here. I hate to let this blog go, as it's been around in some form for almost five years. But there is a time and place for everything and as my interests and needs change, so too will my public forum for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">For the record, I know I'm going about this whole blogging thing ALL wrong. Blogs should have a specific focus or cohesive theme in order to be successful. So say all the pundits, anyway. Well guess what I say to that? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Me, to that: TTTHHHHPPPPTTT </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I've been taking pictures of people for the past several months--to the detriment of my gun pictures, frankly--and I continue to greatly enjoy doing so. It's a natural progression, I think. Social worker to "photographer"* to focusing a good portion of my energies on those around me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Some people I don't spend much time with at all. Some, however, are willing to honor me with their stories but I tend to condense these tales for the Facebook audience for a variety of reasons. So for now the more compelling stories I hear I will flesh out over here. I won't put a number on how often I do so or the days I do so, but you'll know when it happens if <a href="https://www.facebook.com/peopleinthetrenches" target="_blank">you're following the people blog over there</a> or on <a href="http://peopleinthetrenches.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>. I still may throw in personal observations but it will likely be in the context of profiling other people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As for my next photo project? Well, I'm back to a picture a day starting October 1, 2012. I'm not going to force a subject matter this time, though. What I am going to say is I must take at least one photo a day for one year in a thoughtful, deliberate manner. Thus I will enter my third year into photography, my second year into DSLR photography, with purpose. I will post them to Flickr of course, and if I feature any of them here, it will be on Mondays. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As always, thanks for following along. Have a great Friday!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Say you: Wait!! What about your stated goal of getting The Bloggess to notice you? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Say me: Didn't you know? I'm a quitter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">*I had a subject tell me where to stand for better lighting just yesterday, which was sorta humiliating. I'm hardly an actual photographer.</span><br />
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-74908402274212329992012-09-03T14:55:00.000-05:002012-09-21T15:00:46.428-05:00The End <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpMK-h8VWOJYB3UbFInmcOzBJVf4Wgcv8QMuymfst8mezy622mWFGZKwjnAORlV1-AFipNi8TxooXyiMiXwcUly8djBWbaosZqz9BwoLdEcYxm5DoMGJpiEWAE8_p5Z6wbnOHc2eNKrU/s1600/IMG_4784%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpMK-h8VWOJYB3UbFInmcOzBJVf4Wgcv8QMuymfst8mezy622mWFGZKwjnAORlV1-AFipNi8TxooXyiMiXwcUly8djBWbaosZqz9BwoLdEcYxm5DoMGJpiEWAE8_p5Z6wbnOHc2eNKrU/s640/IMG_4784%5B1%5D.JPG" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We got this in the mail over the weekend. Seriously, people, I can't make this shit up. I thought it was a nice bookend for my Gun Show project. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which admittedly fizzled out. I just became interested in other subject matter and I feel a bit bad about it, but not really. I'm still taking photos, I'm remain passionate about the craft, I <i>think</i> I'm improving...it's all good. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aynatt/sets/72157627733565645/" target="_blank">Here are all the photos</a> I took over the past year. I met my goal of posting once a week, but did not meet my goal of 75 total. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Ah, well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Life moves on. -> </span></div>
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-82755574347809354672012-08-27T23:11:00.000-05:002012-08-27T23:11:38.124-05:00Browning <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeisy0XCTcjxmfCPAnEkdaSpW3le1U8YTE0shgba_gSM_SEU7m4vOofOdWvnb1_BHxBFDcGAOGC1O4dRaZrmnjn1PPSzR-XJGMutm9qOt81aWOdRupTWKB6n8mGzvHo6MTz47tz5i0gWU/s1600/antique+shotgun_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeisy0XCTcjxmfCPAnEkdaSpW3le1U8YTE0shgba_gSM_SEU7m4vOofOdWvnb1_BHxBFDcGAOGC1O4dRaZrmnjn1PPSzR-XJGMutm9qOt81aWOdRupTWKB6n8mGzvHo6MTz47tz5i0gWU/s320/antique+shotgun_edited-1.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-90758189002617631172012-08-20T22:56:00.001-05:002012-08-20T22:56:23.748-05:00Diva Ln. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I had a great picture for today that I KNOW I edited but cannot find anywhere. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">So I'll post this one in the hopes that my first choice appears. If it doesn't, it means I edited it but didn't actually save the edit and I've long since deleted that batch of pictures off my card. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Brilliant. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaOqzeOE44AQiWS8CGSXjJfp0-XFtK2Vr35Yjl-q2xmg3cOiUW-BrCIAlNTukIfboHNOtFFTGstBRl9evVBcSWWsx7y-ZKoNJStHGS12M1dIeJidojA9wkmxwKEydlzOocO658JJRhIs/s1600/Michael's+room+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaOqzeOE44AQiWS8CGSXjJfp0-XFtK2Vr35Yjl-q2xmg3cOiUW-BrCIAlNTukIfboHNOtFFTGstBRl9evVBcSWWsx7y-ZKoNJStHGS12M1dIeJidojA9wkmxwKEydlzOocO658JJRhIs/s320/Michael's+room+copy.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-50537892850836332782012-08-15T23:30:00.000-05:002012-08-16T00:21:18.517-05:00Sugar-Coated Secrets <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">So I was reading <a href="http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/strategies-for-breaking-bad-habits-and-cultivating-good-ones/" target="_blank">some articles</a> on how to break bad habits because articles are much shorter than books and you can finish them in all of fifteen minutes and there's a whole lot less guilt involved than with buying an e-book after hearing the <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them" target="_blank">Fresh Air story</a> about the actual book and vowing to read it <i>immediately </i>and changing your ways <i>immediately</i> and then only getting one-third of the way through the book you paid for and never picking it up again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Not to mention not getting started on changing those bad habits because you can't yet because you <i>didn't finish the book. </i>And you want to make sure you do it right. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Right? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which, now that I think about it, may be the underlying reason for not finishing the book--so I don't have to change the bad habits.* </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">At any rate, I read articles. Yay for the internet! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, now I don't have any excuses to not get started. On</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">e of the things I'm supposed to do is publicly state what my bad habit is so I can be held accountable for changing it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Don't worry. I'm not going to shock you by admitting to a heroin habit, although my mother was convinced I was on the needle back in the early 90's.** No, this habit is much more mundane and middle-aged and typical and frightfully, dreadfully, unblog-worthy boring. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I eat at night.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I eat when I'm sorta hungry, not hungry at all, bored, sitting in front of the computer, reading a book, or lying in bed watching <a href="http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html" target="_blank">Game of Thrones.</a> </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I eat chocolate and hummus and buttered popcorn and sushi and pretzels and pretzels sandwiched with yummy cheese and right now I want to eat ALL THE CHEDDAR in the house. And all the chocolate. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">So I'm madly typing, intending to go public with my secret and drinking a ton of water (so I feel full. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Yes, I know about chewing gum and brushing my teeth too.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Because water is absolutely what one wants when a carb craving is hitting you in the psyche like a wreaking ball. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I was OK on the first night because I got called out right during the witching hour. Obviously I had other stuff on my mind and when I got home, I was exhausted. Never mind that life is a cruel bitch and the ER had pizza <b>and</b> cake, opened and displayed like a centerfold upon my arrival. But it was the first night and my resolve held firm.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Last night wasn't bad because I was with friends late into the evening. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">But tonight has been rough. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I would like to point out to all of you that should you struggle with this same habit and would like to break said habit, day three of your new and improved lifestyle at approximately 10:45 at night is not the best time to visit Pinterest. <a href="http://fifteenspatulas.com/2011/12/12/hot-buttered-fluffy-pretzels/" target="_blank">Bad</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ginnerobot/3431227193" target="_blank">bad</a>, <a href="http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/bacon-wrapped-jalapeno-chicken-bites" target="_blank">BAD</a> idea. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">*gulping water* </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The action that makes the most sense to me is picking one habit you want to change and concentrating all your efforts on that one goal for thirty days. Thirty days is do-able. It's a relatively short amount of time and when you start there's already a light at the end of the tunnel. It is, after all, only September or April or June or November. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Unless you're on day three of your new! Improved! lifestyle and really, really, really want something that, once you eat it, releases sugar into your blood at roughly the rate of a failed Hoover Dam. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Honestly, raw spaghetti sounds good right about now. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This sucks.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> -></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">*</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">Whoa, i</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">nsight! </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sorry, got carried away there. I'll try not to let that happen again. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">**Really. Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime. </span><br />
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-26549084537441905952012-08-13T20:18:00.002-05:002012-08-13T20:18:41.676-05:00Randy on the Range<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbgG1ckldMjsVDQgyRQzhn6fWTYoCk6NFchOMlYlk-oq-ZP2l6xI3Ax0E6KWWLKd4V9ls_pqeyMPgg3kSdb8d0VHEqBcttGIsD60fEWERasb8PA0fs-wOxpZYe-Z3HbuGIpG0oeyxuSU/s1600/randy_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIbgG1ckldMjsVDQgyRQzhn6fWTYoCk6NFchOMlYlk-oq-ZP2l6xI3Ax0E6KWWLKd4V9ls_pqeyMPgg3kSdb8d0VHEqBcttGIsD60fEWERasb8PA0fs-wOxpZYe-Z3HbuGIpG0oeyxuSU/s640/randy_edited-1.jpg" width="430" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I had the camera on rapid fire, but a gunshot moves a WHOLE lot faster. I was hoping to catch the discharge flash coming out of the barrel, but I all got was the spent cartridges flying in the air. See them? </span></div>
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-62807426473009590712012-08-10T13:17:00.002-05:002012-09-21T14:47:34.586-05:00Wanted: Stray Cat Name<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We have a new member of the family: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYq_oDgp0WuMLmvKvxPPq4IMclhVARJd2rtswPxcglW4S04ceZq5ovrVsXmsD6E37Eun-dYL3w9Jm0F32vg1ccyidBPcN4rBxToTrrvEFRBJaCqpbFmi9x5j4re2Eki1c9SiRK2dUwC0/s1600/IMG_4748%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtYq_oDgp0WuMLmvKvxPPq4IMclhVARJd2rtswPxcglW4S04ceZq5ovrVsXmsD6E37Eun-dYL3w9Jm0F32vg1ccyidBPcN4rBxToTrrvEFRBJaCqpbFmi9x5j4re2Eki1c9SiRK2dUwC0/s400/IMG_4748%5B1%5D.JPG" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some funky "lens" on Hipstamatic. This was the only shot in which he didn't move.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He's been here less than 15 hours as of this writing, and naturally there's upheaval. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Upheaval between the the parents and kids: t</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">he kids are insisting we name him "Charlie". I'm not sure I'm on board with this name. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Upheaval with Old Angry Cat: he's not speaking to me AND being passive aggressive by eating the kitten food instead of his own food. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Upheaval with Kitty-Who's-Not-Named-Charlie: he unceremoniously took a dump on my living room rug despite the fact that I've got his very own litter box set up for him and I've put him in it at least five times since his arrival. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Upheaval with sleeping habits: Kitty-Who's-Not-Named-Charlie decided it was play time. At 6:45 this morning. He was insistent. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">INSISTENT. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He pounced my face. -> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-26575493554056456892012-08-06T12:44:00.004-05:002012-08-06T12:45:18.490-05:00On Nation Under God<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMqq15bjlfJsZG-B6DUP1Fnblk5LeZP2x89KXMlxNLpavuT_pWGRAZdpfNVFA-K1as9_LRUv_lbZaI8Afl1olKBVkbPNtmdX6DAiBLffwk854GKtlW43hmt2MuA5G3TGhUSle4X9XD0A/s1600/8-6-12+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMqq15bjlfJsZG-B6DUP1Fnblk5LeZP2x89KXMlxNLpavuT_pWGRAZdpfNVFA-K1as9_LRUv_lbZaI8Afl1olKBVkbPNtmdX6DAiBLffwk854GKtlW43hmt2MuA5G3TGhUSle4X9XD0A/s320/8-6-12+copy.jpg" width="508" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seen in Guymon, OK</td></tr>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57487094/sikh-temple-shooting-suspect-identified-as-wade-michael-page-motivation-unclear/" target="_blank">And in other news, a gunman unleashes on a Sikh Temple yesterday. </a> This on the heels of the Colorado shooting two weeks ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">One nation. Under God. -> </span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-66919166822689123322012-07-30T22:44:00.000-05:002012-07-30T22:45:14.390-05:00Fat Man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRwEqHUHjd1jh6ed1wJKZEYk7JCcquehm1XhS21zPXfCDlCr8dSPrYMesN8IZTTr-esSVj0Pa_GyUDaxmwvT3MDQpfSiW3bg7VaR4iI2ONsssdO1jrF2u_BUU1li8_lavR7zKthZWC_-8/s1600/fat+man+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRwEqHUHjd1jh6ed1wJKZEYk7JCcquehm1XhS21zPXfCDlCr8dSPrYMesN8IZTTr-esSVj0Pa_GyUDaxmwvT3MDQpfSiW3bg7VaR4iI2ONsssdO1jrF2u_BUU1li8_lavR7zKthZWC_-8/s400/fat+man+copy.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We went to the <a href="http://www.lanl.gov/museum/index.shtml" target="_blank">Bradbury Science Museum</a> in Los Alamos, NM a few days ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This is an exact replica of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man" target="_blank">Fat Man</a>, the atomic bomb the United States detonated over Nagasaki, Japan during WWII. </span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-77725460776457271802012-07-23T21:47:00.002-05:002012-07-23T21:47:32.106-05:00Santa Fe National Cemetery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvBoIsGCuUWmjWOeBwoYvJaq8axYQ8ZGEocXX2kYZRgi1ChG0AXg-dh_o6o3M8nLkTTpFkM_hCqexS2BRhVPCMDVxJJsf0WUKFhggWs5qXBBRA1URq_wFVEE-WWlq7xYs4q2aTCwZy_g/s1600/7-24-12+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvBoIsGCuUWmjWOeBwoYvJaq8axYQ8ZGEocXX2kYZRgi1ChG0AXg-dh_o6o3M8nLkTTpFkM_hCqexS2BRhVPCMDVxJJsf0WUKFhggWs5qXBBRA1URq_wFVEE-WWlq7xYs4q2aTCwZy_g/s400/7-24-12+copy.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<br /></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-89836344432556516182012-07-20T08:09:00.000-05:002012-07-20T08:09:30.167-05:00Friday Ramblings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">1) The fam and I are heading out on vacation tomorrow. We're going to New Mexico--Santa Fe for six nights and then meandering around the state for another week. Assuming it's not on fire. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, who's been to Santa Fe has told me I'm going to love it there. I've no doubt I will and while I'm looking forward to seeing the town, I'm really looking forward to all the photograph opportunities which I know lie ahead. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">2) I ran across <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnade/sets/72157627894114489/" target="_blank">this flickr collection</a> a couple of nights ago and was absolutely captivated. A photographer in New York City takes pictures of the local flavor, as I do, but he has a special place in his heart for drug addicts. He gets to know people, snaps their picture and tells a snippet of their story. The portraits are wonderful and the words behind them are compelling and heartbreaking. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/arnade/6573403185/in/set-72157627894114489" target="_blank">This one in particular almost brought me to tears</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">3) It's supposed to be 105 today. <i>One hundred and five degrees. </i>That is just too damned hot.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">4) I just learned the news that there was a shooting in a Colorado movie theater last night. Twelve dead. Some guy waltzed into a Batman premier and opened fire. But we shouldn't let this isolated event stop us from owning and <a href="http://www.opencarry.org/opencarry.html" target="_blank">sometimes openly carrying guns</a> because it's America and it's our RIGHT as Americans to own weapons specifically designed for killing living things. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre" target="_blank">Or this isolated event.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting" target="_blank">Or this one.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre" target="_blank">Or this one.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4837676/" target="_blank">Or this one.</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-03-10/news/17917466_1_samson-alabama-man-rampage" target="_blank">Or this one....</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33678801/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/gunman-kills-wounds-fort-hood/#.UAlWp7Se7ng" target="_blank">(Or this one.)</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Sorry--this turned into an early Monday rant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Song of the week: </span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u1xrNaTO1bI?rel=0" width="500"></iframe></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-85898173965644865462012-07-19T00:52:00.000-05:002012-07-19T01:17:31.648-05:00This Post is a Mess. But it Will Stay. Your Move, Blogger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">As you know, we have two cats. One cat is an old, angry, bald man. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The other one? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGTMOxexJ7d7m2OO1QVkUpzHGrsCIaQ7MK9i2VmZcHONyPii9WRz3KA4jaE4Ip8QscEk74VgBKxOBx-8IJ3XIYplwqPIhNpdtunc6dL81dAmHyaydyb9kkSSxfZqXKm2VVPPiXy5v5Hw/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTGTMOxexJ7d7m2OO1QVkUpzHGrsCIaQ7MK9i2VmZcHONyPii9WRz3KA4jaE4Ip8QscEk74VgBKxOBx-8IJ3XIYplwqPIhNpdtunc6dL81dAmHyaydyb9kkSSxfZqXKm2VVPPiXy5v5Hw/s320/photo.JPG" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yolanda Yorgenson. Yo-Yo for short. AKA "Da Yo" </td></tr>
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<span style=font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">She's the Kim Kardashian of cats. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lovely, but worthless. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style=font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">You can't pick her up, she won't sit in your lap, she refuses to snuggle, there's no getting her on your bed for that classic walk-in-your-bedroom-find-a-cat-on-your-bed scenario (I love that), she loudly insists on being let outside at 5 in the morning (EVERY morning), she loudly insists on being let back in at 5:10 a.m., she randomly pees in closets and plants and she's not even a bugger, let alone a mouser. To top it all off, she's skittish beyond belief and takes off like a bullet anytime a stranger dares to cross her threshold. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Case in point: I have a friend who's moving back to Norman and she and her husband stayed with us for a few nights back in May while they were here house hunting. Night one with strangers in her midst and Yo-Yo kitty took off, but she kind of hung out in the yard. Night two with strangers in the house she yelled at the back door for us to let her in. When I opened the door for her however, she took one look in the house, discovered there were still non-Matteks who had the nerve to be in there and took off. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We didn't see her again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">For <i>weeks. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We didn't see her for so long, in fact, that we were convinced she had either died or forced herself upon another family. Probably the latter because seeing as I've diagnosed her with an attachment disorder, it wouldn't be any big deal for her to move right into another human's home. Especially since she's so pretty. No self-respecting cat lover is going to turn her away. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which is where my neighbor comes in. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Him, to us last night: Hey you guys aren't missing your cat are you? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The Boy: Uh, yeah. We are. Why? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The neighbor: Because I'm pretty sure she's been living in my attic for the last month. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">You read that correctly, folks. Right next door the ENTIRE time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://trenchwarfaretoo.blogspot.com/2012/05/huff-wonder-dawg.html">Remember this incident with my dog?</a> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Same neighbor. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Who are obviously running a pet Shangri-La on the down low. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We have yet to be able to confirm our wayward cat is actually inhabiting the attic for a couple of reasons. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">1) The same couple who stayed with us before and initially ran off the cat stayed with us again last night. Plus they had their two kids with them, which had we brought her back, would have sent our cat running into traffic, no doubt. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">2)Now that we know she's there, she refused to even be SEEN today. Libby and Mitch went traipsing around the attic and the cat stayed well out of sight. She may very well be feral at this point. But she was half there already, so that wouldn't be a surprise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm not even sure why I'm expending this much energy being worried about her. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In fact, I won't. I'm moving on! </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In other pet news, we had the The Boston Terror here with us for a week while my parents caroused Canada. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Turns out she will turn on a hose like a cock in a fight. MY dog freaks when you turn on the hose too, but he just goes after the water: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiGlsMYWtMap0NJpzN5V4p90d6flzfqndUgXQI_CbKQHbTkyXr_Po4MoBBp0IQtYQkIbWHC3PUI9PW8CsNHJ_wVRT-xJ3jgaplnxCMhXpfDpPPKmOSd00X5FrRgkY0WAukScchHV657E/s1600/Huff+and+the+hose+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="431" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyiGlsMYWtMap0NJpzN5V4p90d6flzfqndUgXQI_CbKQHbTkyXr_Po4MoBBp0IQtYQkIbWHC3PUI9PW8CsNHJ_wVRT-xJ3jgaplnxCMhXpfDpPPKmOSd00X5FrRgkY0WAukScchHV657E/s400/Huff+and+the+hose+copy.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The Terror on the other hand, goes right for the source: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12lJKY1Iw63koUlOChua3e1erV3RDI_iHGSRvbpy8Mzsz68JVV-kzAZcnkS9xAMBtnFhMU_fe7le6ihjI6Vq_1eGvO3oKcoE8iNjnywCsu1WCczloZZUVPUPGUBFNTBck0RoIfVtPydA/s1600/BT+and+the+hose+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12lJKY1Iw63koUlOChua3e1erV3RDI_iHGSRvbpy8Mzsz68JVV-kzAZcnkS9xAMBtnFhMU_fe7le6ihjI6Vq_1eGvO3oKcoE8iNjnywCsu1WCczloZZUVPUPGUBFNTBck0RoIfVtPydA/s640/BT+and+the+hose+copy.jpg" width="500" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> I had lots of other stuff I was going to say about this damn dog, mostly that in a fit of trying to save us from that wily hose she missed the hose entirely and BIT MY LEG leaving a bruise roughly the size of Nebraska as her mark. But as you can clearly see from this schizophrenic styled post, Blogger is giving me issues. Again. I can't go in and make edits because every time I try to go to the compose screen Blogger crashes. And I can't make changes to the html because every time I try to do so Blogger crashes. I can't cut and paste into a new edit screen because every time I do Blogger crashes. And I simply <i><b>refuse</b></i> to lose another entry to Blogger. I WIN THIS ROUND!!<br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-58276238791040593952012-07-16T13:06:00.004-05:002012-07-16T13:06:43.929-05:00The Bullet Family<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsvIS_NKapFrgYTa8qqjMtJCg8Nd4hKkVQYDs23KlIt2dvxmoNKroeY2mtIRhLrjxNkg7kdl_u3tnEbnx8VN42jUMNE8u96qg22z3JVcPEE6wgIVUyeCpFFtXpBm30Ewq7XKMQTfwX2A/s1600/IMG_4681%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAsvIS_NKapFrgYTa8qqjMtJCg8Nd4hKkVQYDs23KlIt2dvxmoNKroeY2mtIRhLrjxNkg7kdl_u3tnEbnx8VN42jUMNE8u96qg22z3JVcPEE6wgIVUyeCpFFtXpBm30Ewq7XKMQTfwX2A/s400/IMG_4681%5B1%5D.JPG" width="500" /></a></div>
<br /></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-62888018527222101962012-07-13T23:59:00.000-05:002012-07-16T15:20:39.084-05:00I'm Brilliant!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The Boy is considering colleges. Seeing as theoretically he could be moving from the house and moving into a dorm in 13 month's time, this is not unreasonable. He's narrowed his choices to two that he would really, REALLY like to attend. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He has BMW aspirations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">We have a used Kia budget. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">In his world, he will graduate from <a href="http://www.utulsa.edu/" target="_blank">University of Tulsa</a> but the <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/" target="_blank">University of Texas at Austin</a> would work just as well. Both of which have retail price tags that are enough to make any cardiologist weep with sheer joy. Tulsa is a private university, meaning you do the math. And UT at Austin? Well, it's out of state so he might as well be applying to Princeton. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">But I have a plan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Oh, don't talk to me about loans, grants, scholarships, or having a discussion with him about lowering his expectations. None of this will be necessary because my plan is totally, utterly <i>full proof</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">No doubt you've heard the expression something "will cost an arm and a leg". Well I've done the math. Being a social worker, and one that works as a contractor to boot, my extremities are worth nothing more than tuition for one year at a state school. And let me be clear: I'm not talking about The University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State here. I'm talking about some tiny state institution holed up in a backwater town. Picture, if you will, Sorthweest Oklahoma U in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluejacket,_Oklahoma" target="_blank">Bluejacket</a>, Oklahoma.* That's what my leg and arm are worth. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.parishilton.com/" target="_blank">Paris Hilton</a>'s extremities, however, are worth a LOT more. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm going to harvest them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It won't be dodgy affair though. I don't think I can get nearly the amount of money for her arm and leg by hiring a professional amputator** and selling them on the black market. No, I'm going to go about this in a completely legitimate and thoroughly 2012 way: I'm going to start an internet campaign that will no doubt go viral in hours the ultimately force her to donate them. All it takes is for the <a href="http://gawker.com/5922481/the-viral+video+microcelebrity+industrial-complex-or-making-money-off-the-bus-lady-video?popular=true" target="_blank">Reddit community</a> to get wind of my plan. I totally have that one covered because The Geek's been on <a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">Reddit</a> for <b>years. </b>Everyone knows once Reddit gets it in their collective heads that something needs to happen, <i><a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/meet-omari-reddit-raised-50k-for-him-and-his-orphanage-in-under-14-hours/68090" target="_blank">they make it happen</a>. </i>Plus I think we all know celebrities are all about philanthropy and Paris is sorta lacking in this area. What celebrity wouldn't want to donate extremities to help send a kid with Asperger's Syndrome*** to college so he can ultimately make the world a better place, especially with Reddit shaming them into action? (We'll ignore for the moment that he wants to be an attorney.) Plus I'm talking PARIS HILTON. I personally think an arm and a leg is overkill. </span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><br /></i><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">All she has to do is offer to sell her thumb--perhaps plated in platinum--at a charity auction and I'm telling you, my kid's going to Dartmouth and then Yale Law School for fucking free.****<i> </i>It could be her left thumb. I would totally be OK with her going under general anesthesia for the procedure. And getting a prescription for 10mg Lortab for months afterwards. Since she's going to take care of The Boy's future, I don't think asking her to suffer is very polite. And let's face it, Paris could use the karma. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I TOLD you. Fool. Proof. -> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Song of the week: </span><br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Xc2r2eU_qNQ?rel=0" width="500"></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*Not an actual school. Sorthweest is an actual direction, though. And Bluejacket is a real town.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">**amputator is an actual word. On this blog.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">***printed with permission</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">****And I mean FREE. Fees, books, living expenses, traveling, everything.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-87093977057590021042012-07-11T11:25:00.002-05:002012-07-11T11:28:17.618-05:00This Truck Needs a Name<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">The Geek drives an old truck. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm not talking a retro cool, turquoise-1950's-Ford-or-Chevy old here. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm talking about just an old, red truck. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It's a 1995 Nissan King Cab and it has I don't even know how many miles on it. It's not even pimped out or decorated or anything. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Here, look: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8TCcvUW1Q7QUlBalzTYc3QvU8TL4z6o-AGboCHfWgVtVvlgV1NX0HyCkHYAW81acSPcikm_Ap25zFFJ10pZVBMvQe-0YRsoYb2tH3a2pmCb1mkNajEV879SGZ-gcsZiQ_JFOPbiprvc/s1600/IMG_4664%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8TCcvUW1Q7QUlBalzTYc3QvU8TL4z6o-AGboCHfWgVtVvlgV1NX0HyCkHYAW81acSPcikm_Ap25zFFJ10pZVBMvQe-0YRsoYb2tH3a2pmCb1mkNajEV879SGZ-gcsZiQ_JFOPbiprvc/s320/IMG_4664%5B1%5D.JPG" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It gets better. Here's a closeup of one of his head lights: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFTiqef6efrG3ZF7m5kGzqXogZ1CZNdjy-AEBYV3cCo5Xs0iwAf3wNkTXJGDIeBRaKZ4LuKrjKEWktYWSzC41ceRS2anvNDAmDflixngKYVqwYSkytWOmZohehe0XXr7aWz8FELw-Qlg/s1600/IMG_4663%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFTiqef6efrG3ZF7m5kGzqXogZ1CZNdjy-AEBYV3cCo5Xs0iwAf3wNkTXJGDIeBRaKZ4LuKrjKEWktYWSzC41ceRS2anvNDAmDflixngKYVqwYSkytWOmZohehe0XXr7aWz8FELw-Qlg/s640/IMG_4663%5B1%5D.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">One of the tail lights in back? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Red tape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">And here's what his steering column looks like: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWgu0hRssZ8x390bNWdQCuLeOOY1TBBIhtpAt4Nf9H_a9qDHeWBnsezaDwKIu4v4CCfJ9pYKe1-m8ho6Wh3tEkBB3wGYYwkGC2KhYDi81rQchU8lIkAhupnKxYM2nMMQM2K61e6GyOr8/s1600/IMG_4661%5B1%5D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWgu0hRssZ8x390bNWdQCuLeOOY1TBBIhtpAt4Nf9H_a9qDHeWBnsezaDwKIu4v4CCfJ9pYKe1-m8ho6Wh3tEkBB3wGYYwkGC2KhYDi81rQchU8lIkAhupnKxYM2nMMQM2K61e6GyOr8/s400/IMG_4661%5B1%5D.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spiders have set up camp in there: an indication of the time frame.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">That's right. No plastic cover so the innards are exposed.* It's been that way for </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;">years</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">And you know the vents that are at the top of your hood to keep out debris like leaves and twigs and squirrels? His are gone. GONE. Gone also for years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">None of this seems to matter to The Geek, who takes a certain amount of pride driving that nameless dinosaur to work day in and day out. People at the office have given him a hard time about it too, which has done nothing but make him dig in his heels deeper and keep trucking along, so to speak, in The Little Red Nissan. He's had to push start it at the office before and you know what lesson Mitch took away from that one? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">He's an elderly statesman because the kids who helped--kids who were old enough to have professional jobs--literally did not know you could jump start a car by popping the clutch.** </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">It should go without saying that over time he's become quite attached to it. When Lil' Red was in the hospital not long ago, Mitch had access to and was driving a 5-speed Volvo, 2010 model. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">A VOLVO! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">His response when he picked up his own vehicle? The one with the barely working air conditioning in July in Oklahoma? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">"I missed my truck." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Which brings me to the point of my story. A few weeks ago he went out of town and three miles outside the airport the truck broke down. We worked out logistics for me to go get it and when I got to the truck, I found this: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqhb7WKbJjF_DHVXp2J-QfcDbqgbQt1AwWftWfGKG-ijrsnP3ildJIN9s0xJ550u5yUzES-X6IFQjq_rp4MR3DJu9NnMDwUXpkBDOxhQa411DZTyuKMKHFqggcWrUPIFYeSDUILUfDmk/s1600/the+note.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqhb7WKbJjF_DHVXp2J-QfcDbqgbQt1AwWftWfGKG-ijrsnP3ildJIN9s0xJ550u5yUzES-X6IFQjq_rp4MR3DJu9NnMDwUXpkBDOxhQa411DZTyuKMKHFqggcWrUPIFYeSDUILUfDmk/s640/the+note.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He likes to Capitalize. For Emphasis, one assumes. </td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I would say I was surprised to find the note, but here's the punch line of my story: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">This happens all the time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">I'm not joking. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">All. The. Time. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">About a year ago I was watering plants in my driveway and a perfect stranger approached me: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Said Him: Is that little Nissan for sale? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Said Me: No, it's not. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Said Him: Well here's my information anyway. Call me if you change your mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">EVERY time Mitch brings in the truck in to his preferred guy (he won't entrust it to just anyone, you see) said guy offers to buy the truck. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">You guys, <i>we're sitting on a gold mine. </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Lil' Red is our retirement plan. -> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">*If that's not a metaphor, I don't know what is.</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">**I was never very good at that, but I distinctly remember having to do it once in a parking lot in south OKC. Oddly enough, I was driving a Nissan. </span><span style=font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"> </span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-21031011094023001752012-07-09T10:54:00.000-05:002012-07-09T10:57:17.251-05:00Colt<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaWE58-YUB_KY04m-kbavaryLNGLgH_qzzUnDUU1dQdYCz_ziSbF9IIW3S-wt_Ueh23m7EvueQQYr48sAXU0r5zPmCo4XC1XGcddyem8lSKnrRsj8aoyjF_tBIOUSOECw5w_7VpQgnPc/s1600/IMG_3745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjaWE58-YUB_KY04m-kbavaryLNGLgH_qzzUnDUU1dQdYCz_ziSbF9IIW3S-wt_Ueh23m7EvueQQYr48sAXU0r5zPmCo4XC1XGcddyem8lSKnrRsj8aoyjF_tBIOUSOECw5w_7VpQgnPc/s320/IMG_3745.JPG" width="500" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Civil War era Colt found in a Norman pawn shop. Yours for only $5,999.95. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-35041537151930490192012-07-06T12:56:00.001-05:002012-07-06T12:57:08.572-05:00Friday Randmoness. No Snark.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">1. I found a blog a few months back and I just love it. It's called <a href="http://dosomethingcool.net/" target="_blank">Do Something Cool</a>. I suppose it's really nothing more than a self-help advice wrapped up in new technology and presented by a man instead of a woman. But somehow the articles have a different feel to them. This isn't a blog about how to quit drinking or ditch that man who treats you wrong or how your communication skills with your spouse are all wrong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Nope. He encourages you to jump in an area of the ocean swarming with sharks. He encourages you to travel, surround yourself with interesting people, do something new, <i>get out of your comfort zone.</i> He tells you to read books and stop watching TV and get off the computer. Ask questions. Seek answers. It's...well, cool. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">2. Speaking of cool, The Boy is planning a trip to NYC with his friends for next summer. He was bemoaning the costs, but seeing as he's 19, hostels and the bus are completely doable. He's really committed to saving his money and going; I sincerely hope he makes it happen. I never had that kind of gumption when I was his age. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">3. My family, however, is going to go hang out in New Mexico--primarily Santa Fe. We leave in two weeks! I can't believe the time to go is finally here. I've never been and I'm really looking forward to seeing the town and the area around it. I'm envisioning gorgeous photo opportunities for myself and lots of fun stuff to see and do for the family. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Song of the week: </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kgJbLQtaQps?rel=0" width="500"></iframe></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1787510533789763918.post-13447417203271067802012-07-04T09:31:00.002-05:002012-07-04T09:31:29.349-05:00Happy 4th<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Have a safe holiday everyone! </span></div>Tanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16310224569736431703noreply@blogger.com0