Morning Funny

Yes, I realize I need to get back to uploading New Mexico Photos. But to help you keep your panties out of a twist, have a look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_duMORCX0EU&search=snl%20target

Although I'm not much of a SNL fan, it's kinda one of those "you know you've made it big when..." things. Apparently, scrapping has hit the bigtime!

Do me a favor...

Go here: http://kevan.org/johari?name=mauriah and do what it asks you. I want to see how our answers compare.

Thanks!
me

Painful Scrapping

Who would have thought that the simple, joyous act of creating scrapbook pages could be so painful? No, I haven't slipped while using my Xacto knife...I'm scrapping someone else's photos! Not even on a contract basis, but rather I'm using found photos in my own scrapbook, because I failed to take any photos of my own at these particular places. I'm not sure why it is SOOO difficult for me to get layouts down on paper when the photos are not my own. It's like they're missing a soul, and so I have to tear part of my own out and put it down on the page to make up for it. I really HATE this process. I've also never particularly liked making pages without photos. I'm not sure which process is worse, though, since I haven't done a photoless layout in a long time. Whatever the case, though, I find it interesting that in the layout I'm doing now, my subconscious has actually guided me into creating a layout that will completely COVER the photos I'm using. It's an interactive page that will require pulling the photos out of sleeves. I must be pretty ashamed of myself. In reality, I didn't take pictures because I wasn't sure it was allowed. At least, that's my excuse for the lack of photos inside the buildings (I'm doing a layout of the glassworks we visited in Sweden). But why on earth I didn't even bother to snap any photos of the outsides of these buildings it beyond me. And now I pay the price for it. I've actually had to take the day off "work" today, in order to have the gumption to push through these layouts.

I'll be SOOOO happy when they're done, and I can move on to more harmonious, happy tasks!

Pretty for the day

Butterfly World in South Florida
Originally uploaded by Aliaaaaa.

Wow! One of the ladies on one of my scrappin boards posted a layout that featured a flower like this. It's apparently part of the group of flowers known as Passiflora (Passion Vines), and as the caption would tell you, it was apparently shot at Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, FL. I once considered stopping there, but didn't, for whatever reason. Now that I've seen some of the photo ops that await there, however, I will definitely have to see it the next time I'm in the neighborhood. Just gotta make sure I time my visit so that these babies will be blooming when I'm there! In the meantime, this photo is going on my desktop for inspiration. Props to Aliaaaaa for posting it!

Dilbert and Scrapbooking? YEAH BABY!

If you like Dilbert (which I do), and you like scrapbooking (which I don't -- I LOVE it and I'm addicted to it), you'll appreciate this. Alice scraps. Who'da thunk?

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20060615.html

I'll bet if my old company ever runs into that dude, they'll wish they still had me on staff!

Tux vs. Club Scrap

OK, I finally broke down and purchased the Flickr Pro subscription (grumble, mutter). So I've now posted a lovely little photostream of what happens twice a month when I receive a Club Scrap box. My mom's cat, Tux, is SO helpful! But since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'll just send you over there to see.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/auri/168810540/in/set-72157594168308996/

Flickr is Evil!

OK, I don't really mean that. I'll admit I failed to read very thoroughly during my hasty sign-up. Thus, now that they've gotten me addicted, I learn that I can only create three photo sets within my free account. I will have to pay $25 for a year of Pro, which will then allow me unlimited sets. And I have this GREAT set of photos of Tux, Mom's cat, tearing into my Club Scrap stuff. That I SOOOO want to post. RIGHT NOW. But of course, thanks to a recent slew of doctor and lab bills, I am rather severely in the hole. WAH!

OK, Guess I'll stop whining now, and go try to earn some money.

Grump of the day

And now for something completely different...

Mom & I were discussing yesterday the sorry state that the English language has gotten itself into lately. Or, more precisely, the utter contempt with which it is treated by the vast majority of its speakers, ESPECIALLY those who should know better! For example, journalists and television personalities. Sure, we all make mistakes, misspeak, and pound out typos (I have quite a few in this blog, if you look for them). And during everyday, informal speech, I tend to go a bit lax myself, especially if you know me, and know I know better. Further, I often extend my laxity to this blog, with such faux pas as beginning sentences with "and" or "but" (see previous sentence), or using extremely colloquial spellings such as "prolly" and "dunno." These last two are primarily an offshoot of my time spent on instant messaging clients...they just roll off the fingers so much more quickly than their proper counterparts. But, dammit, I know better! And these people, these imbeciles who are supposedly more educated and more qualified and, well, just more better than me (*ahem*), are feeding the general populace's ignorance. For just one tiny example, visit my latest flickr photostream, and check out the wealth of boo-boos I found in roughly 5 minutes on Reuters.com. Is it because Reuters was founded by a German, so we're dealing with non-native English speakers? I think not. Not in this day and age. Not to mention the fact that many non-native English speakers, once they have a thorough command of the language, are more knowledgeable about its finer points than the vast majority of native speakers. I also used to think that this was solely an American problem, but I have since had the scales removed from my eyes by many a British journalist and blogger.

As an interesting aside, during a visit to the Harry Ransom Center in Austin a couple of weeks ago, I was stunned to learn that such highly respected authors as Mark Twain, H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were proponents of spelling reform for the English language. Although I'm not 100% against spelling reform (I need only look at words such as through and enough to realize that ours is a bloody complex language), I'm not much for it either. There is something about voluntarily dumbing down our language to the lowest common denominator that grates on me. Severely. If English must "evolve" as certain of my friends would call it (*ahem* JEFF), then let it be dragged kicking and screaming into this phase; I would hate to have to look back on English as the language that blithely trod the most direct route to its own demise.

OK, I'm going to step down off of my soap box now, before I get very worked up (as opposed to just frothing at the mouth, as I am now).

And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled installments of the New Mexico trip...

New Mexico, Installment 3

Well, Jeff's plan of relocating the boat to a boatyard down south has been cancelled by a contrary water pump...or engine hose...or something. He finds that the bilge is flooding quite quickly as he runs the engine, so he has turned around and is heading back. He'll be back tomorrow afternoon, so it looks like I'll have a boat to stay on while he's gone...if I so choose.

In older news...back to New Mexico.

After we got home from the Tsankawi site of Bandelier, Jeff & I went grocery shopping, and, as previously agreed, made dinner for eight. He made his/Jannies famous Blue Corn Enchilada Casserole...er, Hot Dish...and I made Pumpkin Upside Down Pie. I must admit, I got the easy part. Everything needed for dinner was then packed up and hauled over to Jannie & Jim's new house, so I got to see it (I had foregone a chance to see it earlier in the week...but that's another story). I also got to meet most of the rest of the family. But did I take a camera with me? NOOOOOO. That would've been smart! This entire trip, I did not get one SINGLE photograph of anyone outside of my family, myself, & Jeff. I know I don't really like asking people to pose, so that might have something to do with it. But just not bringing a camera at all to the new house was inexcusable! But enough self-flagellation...Dinner was a hit, and when we returned to the home base that evening, Jeff got us clearance to stay another night, so that we could explore the remainder of Bandelier at our leisure the following day...which brings me to the photos, which tell that tale. Click here to have a peek!

It had been threatening real rain and intermittently spitting at us all day, as well as being quite windy at times. We had seen a wildfire off in the distance, and were concerned about just how far it would spread with all the wind. Although we hoped the rain would be a mitigating factor, we later learned that it had been started by a lightning strike :(

MUCH Better!

OK, I have found a much easier way to upload & share my photos with y'all. It's called Flickr. The more web-savvy among you will probably have heard of it before. I've been aware of it for at least a year now, but I've balked at signing up for yet another service. But having tried it, I'm now kicking myself for not signing up sooner! The only limitation is that I can only upload 20MB worth of photos per month, which essentially means that I can no longer share my photos at full resolution. A small price to pay, if you ask me! Of course, if you've just GOTTA have one of my photos in a size that will blow up or crop well, you can always email me and ask nicely. I'll probably be flattered. Go ahead, try me!

In any event, here's a link to my next installment. Use the More> buttons off to the right to navigate through, and click on the photos in order to read the captions. Or, if you don't care about the storyline, just click on view as slideshow (also off to the right). Just to give you an idea, even though this had the same number of pictures as the last installment, it took me roughly 1/6th the time to put together. Which means that you'll probably be seeing more and longer installments in the much nearer future!

Can I just say...

...that creating that last post was ENTIRELY too taxing? I don't know why it was soooo difficult. It might be because Picasa/Bloggerbot only allows me to upload three photos at a time, or because the combination of raw html & Blogger's Composer don't play well together, or maybe it's just because of the innumerable times I had to flip back and forth between posts to try to get all of the photos into a single post along with the appropriate photo captions. But whatever the case, putting nine photos into a single post is probably something I'll not be attempting again. I guess you can expect three at a time, until I figure out an EASY way to circumvent the limits. Maybe by using the Blogger component in Word...

In any event, enjoy the previous post, with all its goofy spacing and whatnot, as it's probably the last you'll see of that photographic length for some time to come. And don't forget that you can (OK, SHOULD be able to) click on any of the photos for a larger version.

Happy Friday!

Back home again, in old Florida...

New Mexico, especially the mountainous portions, were awesome! But at the same time, it does feel good to be back. Oddly enough, my sleeping issues are the reverse of what they usually are; normally it takes me several days to acclimate to sleeping on the ground (atop a Therm-a-Rest). This time, I don't remember any acclimation period for that, but I am having difficulty getting used to sleeping in the van again. Go figure! I think part of it may be that I have not yet found the perfect inflation level for the Therm-a-Rest I use in the van yet (it went with us on the trip). But whatever. I'm sure that's not what you tuned in to my blog to read about!

If you know me, and you know how I always carry two digital cameras on vacation, and enough digital "film" to be able to photograph one new thing, oh, every 10 seconds during a 3-week vacation, then you probably came here looking for pictures of my exploits. Well...I won't disappoint you, but you may have to wait a bit. I'm just now downloading said photos onto a local drive, and, since I do carry two cameras, there will be a lot of interleaving that will need to be done before I can call them properly sorted and offer up only the best for your consideration. Fear not, however, my virtually travelling friends! Here is the first installment. Viddy well!

Only in Texas would you find a restroom with a mural like this on the wall...

Our first hot spring -- Montezuma! Too hot in the top tub, but Jeff found the second one to be just right!

Our second hot spring -- Stagecoach (aka Manby)

View down the gorge where Stagecoach hot spring was located.

Bubbly rocks!

When it rains (on the plain), it snows (in the nearby mountains)!

Jeff climbing up to retrieve a copper sample from an unusual formation alongside the road in Santa Fe National Forest.

Bubbly cliffs!

San Antonio Hot Spring, creating its own beautiful, misty morning.