I'm sitting at a table in JFK; computer plugged in trying to use the sketchy free internet connection from Jet Blue, camera in lap attempting to catch something of the people in this airport without the wonderful shield I had behind the flight info tv's at LAX. *sighs* the bottoms of those boards are all filled in here, no place for the photographer to hide and photograph feet in peace.

I have much to do though. Many wonderful birthday emails to respond to, just finished de-spamming my blog. Literally thousands of photographs to sort through and a couple cards worth to download too. Blogs and photoblogs to catch up on! I really do wish I could find a hidden spot to photograph feet from.

Oh and there is much to write up about the trip, but I don't think I'll get to that right this moment. Though I will say that Kevin got home to house and Nym Sunday evening and I miss him terribly. But it was still good to travel on a bit and spend a couple days in western upstate NY with my parents and sister. But oh its good to be going home now (had to go back to JFK to get to CA - silly flights).

Oh and in true Rachel style I managed to sprain my ankle on Sunday just before we left for the airport. So now I'm all bandaged up and while feeling better am still a bit tender and rather bruised.

la la la... too many hours to sit here... la la la la la la la la la......

more later!

Or at least getting a lot less stressed Kitty. I've been really pleased and surprised with how well she has been doing the last few months. Especially since moving to the new house she has settled in and become pretty relaxed and tolerant. That is a lot to say for this cat.

We got her a cat sitter for while we were away for nearly a week and a half at xmas time, and while she was very needy when we got home, she didn't trow any tantrums or get "pissed at us" at all.

That alone is impressive, but she also has been getting remarks from a few people she has lived with in the past. Both Ammy and DanaMarie have mentioned she is almost a different cat.

On top of all of this, last night... Kevin had a few of his poker friends over to play a little poker. around 11pm or so there were about four other people besides Kevin and I sitting around in the game room and Nym comes downstairs. That was a little surprising, but what shocked me was that she came right over to the table, got up on Kevin's lap and then wanted to get up in the middle of the poker table.

It was amazing, she doesn't like people she doesn't know very much, and 6 people is usually way too many for her to do more than show her face at the stairs. I was really impressed. Yay for recovering kitty!!

For the last week I've been having a hard time looking at my poor little car in the driveway, all banged up and crushed and violated. But she was still in the driveway so it was okay.

My car's name is Guinevere and even though she is about 11 years old she is still young at heart. I learned to drive on her, she spent some time at school with me, she took me to see long distance boyfriends, and to live and work in NH, MA and PA and all over the place.

I took off to see the country and spend some time on my own, but she was there with me, all the way to Utah and back to NY and everywhere in between. She got some great parallel parking experience in Pittsburgh, and then she drove Nym and I all the way out to the bay area. She helped me begin to learn this new area, she was always there.

She has had her problems, but whenever I sit down in her its like coming home. She is part of me, an extension, my wings!!

I love Gwen and I can't imagine walking outside and not seeing her there in the driveway or the parking lot or whatever. I don't like the idea that I will never sit in her again. She is my pet and my friend. I know she is just a car, a piece of metal, but she is mine and tomorrow she will be gone.

:( :( :(

Bye Gwen, I will miss you more than ever I thought would. Sometimes love just sneaks up on you.

98% of the teenage population does or has tried smoking pot. If you're one of the 2% who hasn't, copy & paste this into your journal.

-From CapriciousK

I have to say I've actually never picked up a cigarette. I know this was due to growing up watching what smoking did to my father. He has quit at this point, thank goodness! I have to say that even without witnessing that, I don't understand where the appeal is to start in the first place. I understand the addiction, just not starting in the first place. *sighs*

Edit: And then Kevin did some research

Comment spammers are normally evil... and annoying. Though thanks to Blacklist its easier to deal with. Lately though the spams have been getting weirder and harder to determine.

This post made me feel a little better. At least I'm not the only one.

Thanks to Groovy Mother for finding this and making me feel better.

thanks to "Groovy Mother" for this link.

Kevin bought me a ring!!!!!!

Now before any of you go jumping to conclusions, just settle down. Its not the kind of ring that has that whole "till death do us part" ceremony attached to it. Very appropriate joke for halloween though. ;) But anyway, its not that and it won't be for a while, if ever, so just hold your horses.

Anyone who knows me from before I moved to California knows that I have an affinity for rings. I used to wear four to five daily. And nearly all of my rings have story or meaning behind them. When I moved to California and started losing a bit more weight most of my rings stopped fitting me and I had to stop wearing all but two of them. Often times my hands feel naked.

One of the rings I used to wear was a claddagh ring. I have missed it, I liked having a symbol on my finger that could tell people if I was in a relationship or not (provided they were in the know). When I couldn't wear my old one anymore Kevin said he would get me a new one, especially since the ring should be from and worn for the person you are in a relationship with. Well we never found one we liked and it got put off with everything else so I've been about 6 months without a claddagh on my finger... Till Now!!!

In my favorite little jewelry store in Palo Alto, Shady Lane, we found the perfect ring.

Its a non-traditional claddagh ring since it is missing the crown. The hands symbolize friendship, the heart symbolizes love and the crown is meant to symbolize loyalty or in some older interpretations it could possibly be fealty. I could say that the ring without the crown is a more updated ring for today's woman... but really I just like it this way!

Anyway this is my new ring that my Kevin got for me. I love him and it so so so much!!!

(The other ring is the emerald I bought myself after graduating with my Masters In Arts Management from CMU)

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

Kevin is in Pittsburgh right now. I wish I was with him, I miss Pittsburgh in a lot of ways. I really miss the people and in many ways it was a cool place to be. We decided that I shouldn't go this time mostly due to the upcoming closing on the house. Oh well.

I miss my Kevin too... and he did the sweetest thing. Yesterday after he landed he called to let me know that the flight went fine and he was there safe and sound. We hung up before he took the tram from the terminal to the main section of the airport. A few minutes later Kevin called me back; he was on the other side of the tram and had just passed security and was standing where he and I had first met (yes, Kevin and I met face to face for the first time in an airport). We have been to that spot many times since or first meeting, as I picked him up from some trip or another or we both were traveling, but there was something super sweet in the thought that he was standing in that spot alone and thinking of me!

Okay, end the sappy... we will now return to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

Running a couple errands this afternoon I pulled up in the left lane to the intersection of El Camino Real and Castro in Mountain View. Sitting at the intersection waiting for the light to change I, like most other drivers, looked around at the people in the other cars. We really are all voyeurs at heart.

I looked to my left at the truck in the turn lane. Being a truck next to my little Subaru I had to look up to see the little Asian woman sitting in the passenger set. I couldn't see the driver however I did see did see the arm of a male next to a bird sitting on the steering wheel. That's right, a big white Cockattoo sitting there on the steering wheel.

I was flabbergasted. Someone had to honk at me to go when the light changed. I did manage one quick glance as I drove buy, just enough time to see a little asian man in the drivers seat with ANOTHER smaller Cockattoo sitting on his shoulder.

The things you can see just down the street.

Yesterday was an interesting and varied day.

We started with a 10.2 mile bike ride. Normally this is lots of fun however the day before I had pushed myself taking a pilates class immediately followed by a Kickboxing class. It was good but at the same time when I got out on the bike ride the next morning I was still feeling weak. My muscles weren't hurting or anything, I just wasn't back up to full strength yet. I'm a weakling. But I was already out so I pushed and got through it. I wasn't feeling that great though, so I skipped my plans to use the rowing machine and such, I rested on the couch for a while but still ventured to Yoga.

YOGA IS GREAT!! I went hoping that even though I was feeling weak, that some good stretching would relax my muscles so I could then relax the rest of the afternoon. It more than worked, my muscles relaxed and rejuvenated. I left feeling stronger and ready to go.

Body problems over for the time being I ran a couple errands. It will be a little while before we buy new furniture for the new house. We need to save some money and really figure out what we want. In the meantime, my love-seat is an UGLY-ASS thing. I picked up a wonderful faux-suede slipcover. It doesn't look spectacular now, but it looks much much nicer and it feels so good to sit on. It will be a huge improvement for the time being, I'm happy.

While at Target getting the slip cover, I was reminded of one of my weaknesses. HALLOWEEN!! All the halloween goods are coming out. Oh, its my favorite holiday and I can go crazy. We had a great costume idea for this year, however we don't have the extra time or money with all the move. So costume stored until next year. I am determined though to create a creepy graveyard in my front garden before halloween to entice trick-or-treaters. I LOVE HALLOWEEN.

Home with lunch and a little relaxation I was a happy girl. Just before 4 pm I went over to google for a lecture on being a homeowner as an investment. It was interesting, but I was still a bit tired and my mind drifted.

One of my favorite things about Google is the massage chair in the lobby of building 41. Kevin took 20 minutes to finish up a few things (oh yeah, he let me drive the Prius all day!! *grin*), so I sat down at the massage chair and relaxed. The massage chair is a wonder... it does a better job than any non-human massage device I've ever tried. It was a nice 20 minutes.

Done at Google, we hopped a train into the city for a baseball game!! I have missed baseball, there is something magical about baseball. The stadium, the lights, the smells. the green of the field, the hats and jersey's everywhere, hot dogs!! Cheers and songs.

It was a good game. The Giants vs. the Astros. Now the problem is we lost... not good. The Giants are in second place in our division, and of course the LA Dodgers, our rivals are in first. The Dodgers were playing at the same time and only ahead by half a game. So not only were we hoping for a win, but also for LA to lose. LA won, we lost... grrr... but still a wonderful evening. AND we are still in contending for the wild card slot into the playoffs, so we are still doing well, and I'm planning on seeing another game or two this season!

Back on the train and on the way home after a long day. We read and relaxed. At one point during the the ride a child's jean jacket dangled down above Kevin's head and swung around. It's like a cat with a string, its so hard to ignore. Kevin and I tried not to do anything, till Kevin couldn't take it anymore and 'quick of a fox' snatched it out of the air. And then dutifully held the jacket up in the air for the 5 year-old little girl to take back. She was having a grand time and during the course of the ride we were not his only victims.

Long night, happy times, good sleep!! Yay!!

So my grandfather had this game on big floppy disks when I was a kid. I think I must have been 11 or so. My grandpa also had a racing game but I have so never been good at racing games. I have always liked thinking games and somehow this text based game appealed to me. So eventually I would end up putting the Hitchhikers guide game in.

At 11 I had not yet read the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, but since when did something like that stop me from trying. Amazingly, even at that age I was able to figure out that I needed to take the pill in my pocket and pick up some stuff and go outside to find the bulldozer ready to kill me and my house. I do remember very distinctly never being able to make it past the bulldozer.

Oddly I never got around to reading the books until college, but I finally did and loved them. Since then I have thought back to this game a few times, but never since played it.

Today one of the blogs I read posted a link to the same game I remember from my grandpa's computer. So I sit down to try playing it again. This time I know that I need to lay down in front of the bulldozer.

Well I have tried it a couple times at this point and so far the bulldozer has just run me over again and again. I DON'T GET IT!! What the *&#@@@!*%$ am I supposed to do. So now given its been a few years since I have read the books, but still... why is it I can't get any farther then when I was 11. Grrr....

My guess is that I'm wording things incorrectly or something. Help anybody?

Pets are so very funny.

Last night Kevin and Athena and I watched Kill Bill. I won't spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it. However during one fight scene there is ball on a chain and it is being swung all around. The swinging is making this great wosh wosh sound that was moving through the surround sound all around us.

I love surround sound, however this was more than little Miss Nym could take. She kept running around toward each speaker, eyes toward the sky, trying desperately to figure out what it was that was making that sound.

Oh she wanted that wosh wosh thing! Eventually, driven a little crazy she gave up and walked off down the hall, head still pointed toward the ceiling. Keeping an eye out just in case.

It was the funniest thing EVER!!! I need to get a good copy of that wosh noise. Gotta love torturing your cat!

Okay, so I'm not quite that dramatic. It was a little out patient procedure. The worst part for me was having the IV. Due to a childhood experience with a very unprofessional doctor (thats another story involving being pinned to a table and the doctor even saying rude things to my parents afterward) I tend to feel like any needle is me actually being attacked. As a child I did actually kick a nurse. I'm much better now but its psychologically ingrained in me and I can't stop the emotions of fear that are accompanied.

This all explained to the nurse I put on my new little spa gel pack mask thingy, gave her my arm and tried my very best. She was pretty happy with my best, she said I have great veins and that I didn't flinch or tense that much. I'm very happy that she was really good at giving an IV. Don't get me wrong, I cried like a baby, but I kept all the stress in my head and didn't let it effect what she needed to do. That doesn't mean that I'm okay with needles again... just means I'm proud of myself and that I can pull it off when I have to.

I don't remember a lot of the procedure. My throat was very dry, since I'd been fasting all day and hadn't had anything to drink in hours either. I laid in the room for a while with electrodes and a oxygen monitor and the whole works and I watched the the computer that monitored my vitals for a while till the doctor came. Within a minute of the doctor entering and beginning talking to me they had me hooked to drugs and my head went fuzzy fast.

I remember them spraying this awful tasting numbing stuff in my throat a couple times and making me swallow. I don't think I actually remember them putting the tube into my throat. At one point I do remember looking at the monitor and seeing some pictures up there of my stomach. I think someone must have spoken to me to make me aware because there for four still pictures there, as in it was pretty much done. It was too bad cause I was kind of looking forward to watching the screen as they explored my inards.

I was wheeled to recovery where Kevin came to join me. And then after they decided I was good the put me in a wheel chair and took me out to the car. It was really good that they put me in a wheel chair, I was still very dizzy and getting nauseous. I had to lay down in the car and went right to sleep when I got home. Kevin has been doing a good job of taking care of me. I have more energy, don't feel so numb and drugged anymore. My arm is sore from the IV and my stomach is sore from everything but most likely from the biopsy and apparently pumping air into my stomach so they can look around. All to be expected. Overall I'm just glad that its over with.

Their findings, I guess I won't know for a while. They took a biopsy and some test of bacteria in my stomach. I have an appointment in two weeks. My tummy looks pretty clean on the inside, but that doesn't explain the pains I've been having. So I don't know.

But for all of your viewing pleasure I have included a link so that any who want to can see what the inside of my stomach/esophagus and top of the large intestines look like. These are good healthy organs by appearance, soon it will be time to find out what invisible evils they are hiding.

I just don't understand... are they actually threatening retaliation and revenge if we don't reelect Bush/Cheney? Sounds like an hissy fit and a tantrum to me!!

I received a blast from the past today. Driving to my massage this morning (oh was it good) I put on one of the radio morning shows. The DJ's are on vacation so they are playing taped shows from the past. On the show they were re-running this morning the DJ's had gotten ahold of the Fabio CD.

Ahhh... the Fabio CD... the worst piece of music ever recorded and yet...

Susquehanna University, around my sophomore or junior year Amy received a care package from her mom which included the Fabio CD she had picked up at the dollar store. We all rolled our eyes and laughed but we stuck the CD in. Oh its awful, corny background music while Fabio tries to use his sexy voice to tell stories about how he would woo a women in one way or another. The songs are all called things like "Fabio on Slow Dancing".

We rolled around laughing. Jay began strutting around the room mouthing along with Fabio. We did a mini photo shoot where Jay tried out poses that Fabio displayed in the dusk jacket. We just loved the dolphin pose!!

Oh those were good times. I can still picture that whole Fabio day.

I wish that the radio show hadn't been taped... I really wanted to call in!

A few RNC observations I find interesting:

Former right-wing Republican Congressman from Florida Joe Scarborough on the convention. (Thanks Kicking Ass)

"I find it remarkable. We are three days into this convention, and we have been talking all year about how this election is going to be about George W. Bush. The Republicans, with their ad campaigns, the third-party attacks, this convention, three nights into this convention, this convention remains about John Kerry. I can't remember a major presidential election where you have an incumbent that makes the central focus of their convention about the other guy, about the challenger. It is a radical departure from politics as usual. And what does it say about what they think George Bush has done over the past four years, and, more importantly, what the American people think of George Bush?"

Further Observations from Kicking Ass and the New York Times:

"The front page of the New York Times today features a graphic that counts the number of times certain words were used during the first three days of both the Republican and Democratic Conventions. We mentioned Bush 18 times. The Republicans have mentioned Kerry 86."

In Jon Stewart's Coverage of the RNC he pointed out with a lovely video montage, the lovely first day theme: September 11. Can we say EXPLOITATION!!??!!

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

I have been cleaning and organizing our house for weeks now. Kevin moved into this town house about a year ago and I moved in not long after. We have spent most of the year without even really unpacking.

Finally this summer, with a lot of help from Ali I got started on cleaning and organizing the bedroom and then a good start on the living/dining room. After that great start, there ended up being a stack of boxes with semi organized contents stacked in the dining room, the hallway and the office. And the office had yet to be touched.

I managed to ignore this for a while and our world continued to be incomplete. Finally, in my recent urge to try and take control of my world attacked the house. I started this week by organizing the closet in the office and continued by organizing the contents of all the boxes, and creating a livable space. I ordered some really cool filing cabinets as well as a great drafting table.

We haven't gotten the filing part down yet, but i have created a work space for myself as well as a house that doesn't look like we just moved in and isn't full of boxes. Kevin was a huge help last night in the final throws of cleaning. I have a really great sense of completion. ;)

Its amazing... I almost don't believe this is the house I live in!

Woo hoo... I made the house clean, organized and a happy place to live! Now lets look for a new house!!

PS: oh yeah... and I served my first dinner in my nice clean house tonight. Here is the menu, drool away:

Anyone who was having issues with my RSS feed, I have updated the code so everyone should be able to use it now.

Anyone on Live Journal you can use phxfeather to keep up on my blogs too.

Enjoy!!

No, he's not really my brother, but he might as well be. He has been my best friend and big brother for about eight years now. I made mention of his accident at the end of my last post, but now I have finally talked to him and have details so I'm catching you up.

About a week ago while Rex was driving in a 45 mph zone, some one going the other direction swerved and hit him head on at 90 mph. There is speculation it was a drunk driver, but I really don't know much about this end of things yet.

The injury list has been given to me at a few different levels, and truthfully I'm a bit dazed and don't really remember it all. I know he broke both legs in several places (one I know was turned all the way sideways at one point) as well as his femur (I think thats his foot/ankle) and his right knee. There are other scrapes and things but no internal damage and for that I'm ever so thankful.

In the past week he has undergone 3 separate surgeries with a day recovery between each one. Through all of this he is still in good spirits and even though he is in a lot of pain he is being stronger and better about this than I think I could ever hope to be.

I find myself being mad at the world. Besides Rex's accident and my stomach problem (which is ever so minimal in comparison to everything else), we have had the death's of Kevin's father and grandmother in the last year, my sister has been having problems with her uterus, Kevin's cousin Steve's wife Susan had complications with her pregnancy (luckily everything turned out fine), my friend Ryan has two friends who recently lost babies though.

My friend DanaMarie's mother had some pre-cancerous growths removed from her colon and while that went well she seems to now have an infection in her diaphragm, in addition her cousin Tara has been diagnosed with cancer in her uterus. And to top it all off this weekend one of our friends Mark had a rare accident where the spark plug popped out of his car and set it on fire; even rarer was the fact that it didn't explode, he was fine. However Krissy's boyfriend Noah was not as lucky as the other day a car cut him off on his motorcycle and he was forced into the the center concrete barrier. Like Rex he is also currently in the hospital. He had surgery on his ankle and is in a lot of pain but should be going home and starting rehab possibly tomorrow.

All of this stuff has happened in the last year. About 95% of it happened in the last two or three months. Its driving me nuts, I'm pissed at the world, I'm worried about all of my friends and family, I've even been a little scared while driving.

Everyone in the world is too negative lately, there is too much bad energy floating around. I'm scared and worried, but I'm working on turning it around. I need to think good thoughts and send good energy everywhere I can. Please, if you find yourself being upset or reckless or stressed, take a moment and think about someone you love, some moment of happiness, something good and send a little good energy into the world. I know its all cheesy and stuff, but I can't take any more of these things happening, and no one else should have to either. Also send Rex and the rest of the people I've talked about here and everyone you know some good thoughts. They will all appreciate it.

I'm ending this post now, and knowing that a lot of my past posts have been sad, depressed or dismal in some way I am now making a conscious effort for my posts for the next few weeks to be upbeat and fun. Stay tuned...

I have often said I would be a bad mother because any time something amusing happened I would have to photograph it, whether its bad or good. I would never endanger the child's life, but a little extra discomfort of the sake of a amusing picture is worth it right?

Anyway, Kevin found this story of a parent who seems to follow my philosophy and I just have to share!!

"I was working in the office this afternoon (from home) when my daughter Aubrey came into the house to inform me that Justin was stuck. Well, the kids often play that game with me and as I was engaged in my work I didn't feel the need to rush out to check. I told Aubrey instead to tell Justin to get himself unstuck. 20 minutes later Aubrey returned to let me know that Justin could not get himself unstuck and that he was very sad. I decided to check it out, annoyed, and to my surprise Justin had managed to slide himself in between the two mailboxes and wedge himself tight. I had to climb up on top and pull him out and it was a struggle at that. Morale of the story, Sometimes kids are actually telling the truth!"

Thank you to Automags.org for this one.

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

PS: Make a donation to Tyrell Elem. School Arts! Email me for information: rachel at phoenixfeather.net

Anything you want to tell me feel free!!

So I scored an 84 (grr... I didn't get points for a couple I think I should have gotten. billie = billy in my book.) which I guess only proves that I was an 80's child. Its a fun test though!

One thing I learned about myself on this test, its really hard to change songs in my head very quickly. Oh, and you may have a bunch of songs stuck in your head for the rest of the day!

Thanks to Blacksheep for this quiz.

As a photographer who thinks quite often about the legal side of photography, I found this little story at overshadowed rather funny! (and the picture is rather pretty too!)

Great blog you have here. Thanks

A Photo With A Story!!

Nym vs. Hummy

Kevin and I have been turning our backyard into a Hummyland for our little hummingbird neighbors. We see them everyday now, they are getting used to us being there and we love it!

Yesterday, after my driving test, I picked up Nym to spend the day with me. She has been getting more and more interested in the outside and since Ammy and Rick, like us, have an enclosed backyard she is allowed to spend some time in the backyard if someone is with her (she is not the brightest - she isn't even close to figuring out she can jump fences).

Yesterday she was exploring our backyard for the first time and I was following her with the camera trying to get a couple of good shots. At one point she was checking out a plant not far from the hummy tree (prolly deciding if she could eat it) when one of our male hummy's appeared to check her out and inform her she wasn't to come any closer to the tree.

I AM A BAD MOMMY!! This has been decided since when a teritorial hummingbird appears to check out my cat and give her a scare, what do I do? I take pictures!

In my defense there was a decent distance between the two of them until the last photo. The Hummingbirds have buzzed Kevin and I several times, letting us know who is boss and testing us; they have never gotten too close. I wasn't too worried that hummy would hurt Nym - or at least not without some buzzing warning. I was never worried that Nym would hurt hummy - my poor cat can't catch a slug effectively; She is good at imaginary bugs though. In any case I took this photo right before I dove in, grabbed my cat and put her inside. I think she is still pissed at me for ruining her fun.

I do love this photo though.

I have been considering how I want to redesign the In Pictures... side of my site for a few weeks now. However I have sped up those thoughts due to a link from Random Pixel (a cool Kevin project) which has largely increased traffic my photo blog.

I wanted to better display my photos and take advantage of this opportunity to attract more viewers - so you will now find a mini redo of the photo site has taken effect. Don't fret, a larger redesign is still to come.

I still don't have comments up there, so for now feel free to leave a comment here on my recent album Off The Beaten Path. I will try and get something more specific up very very soon.

I am still on my hunt to capture instances of Hummy in pictures! (If you don't know what I mean let me explain that I am convinced there is only one Hummingbird - its name is Hummy - it is my Hummy and each of us experience instances of this one Hummy).

In any case Hummy has been appearing again at the back window and I have been diving for the new Nikon with quick reaction turn on and trying to catch him, to no avail. Yesterday and today produced two very overexposed shots of a blur of a hummingbird. I did catch a decent one on saturday, but it was nothing wonderful.

I have learned to track them by sound. Its kind of a pop pop, or rather snap snap sound. I can figure out what direction they are coming from. Using sound I found one up close and personal instance, but with several branches between us and no clear photo until Hummy was gone.

Kevin says he is going to help me turn the backyard into Hummy-land!! I will bring them all to me!

So if you were here this morning you would have seen me, standing in the back yard in my pjs, camera ready, listening for the pop of a Hummy, watching at least one instance of him buzz around a eucalyptus tree in the distance, and trying to snap out a reply with my fingers so maybe he would come near. *sighs*

I will get him, I will!!!

Past Hummy Pictures:
3/10/04 Along Came Hummy
2/28/04 Hummy on a Wire

Kicking Ass says: "When your strongest supporters call you a liar, where do you have left to turn?"

I love this!!

However on the other hand I signed up online to volunteer for John Kerry - and they still haven't contacted me for anything but a donation. I expected at least a list of who to contact for certain ways to volunteer. Oh well, time to try harder.

This site is pretty cool. In an effort to find out what laughing is a photographer and a balloon twister have gone on trips around the world together making balloon hats for people and photographing them. They also ask the question "What is Laughing?" to which they have a variety of reponses. If nothing else check out the photos on this site, they will get you laughing.

"Laughing is the smile of the World."

Weerashon Puttrpadit, Mahasarakham, Thailand

So Phoenix Feather readers, what is laughing to you?

[Thanks to Photo Blog for this link.

This is a cool photography site: Modern Ruins. They only take photos of modern technology that has been abandoned. There are also stories collected from people who experienced these ruins. I really love this one.

"So you've taken pictures of the Alcoa factory that was my childhood fascination? Did you sneak through a window, and look up at fallen dust blanketed stairs? Did you hear loud thumping in the dark? Those were the sounds of the criminals who lived in that factory and plotted their crimes through out the night. I was always very quiet in there, and always got out very fast. But even when I was outside, surrounded by faded, scragally grasses and bright yellow danger signs I could still feel the life that had once come to work every day. I could still smell the sweat and see the small paths left by heavy boots in the ground. But hey, I was only eight and I really did believe that each time I left that edifice, there was a man watching me leave from the top window. He was probably an ex-worker who lost his livelihood when he lost his job, and that was probably his oil soiled, stiffened, leather glove that I had just stepped on, so I began to run as fast as I could.... maybe that's why I spend my time in the places that time has passed by."

(Thank you to Feed Me Links for finding me this link).

Google rumors from the girlfriend of a Googler!

Kevin's UI design is so cool! I'm so proud. And I got to be a usability tester several weeks ago!

;)

This blog entry very much amuses me. You should check it out.

... the gentle "wack wack" of a kitty tail against the side of your head as she sits on the back of the couch behind you! Odd I know, but its so nice to have my kitty here with me. Its odd things you miss about those you love.

Sorry this last photo album went up late: The hosting server has been having issues and I couldn't upload anything. So I went out with the new camera instead! ;)

Please forgive me!

Kevin and I have both signed up for online photography classes at Better Photo.com. Kevin is taking The Art of Composition, (which I can't give you a link to cause the course is full now - I got him the last slot - and they took down the description) and I am taking Understanding Exposure. Both classes start in 12 days on April 7th.

So I logged in to the virtual classroom today to look around. There is a place for students to introduce themselves and provide a self portrait. I'm taking class with people from Denmark, Syndney Australia, and New York City among other places.

So I'm preparing to introduce myself to class, but I don't have a self portrait. So that has been one of my tasks for today. I have however discovered this is hard. Normally when I photograph its because I find something and I'm inspired by the subject. I don't know how to photograph myself, and I'm not sure what I want to say with the photograph.

*ponders* I'll let you all know when I come up with something, but advice is welcome!

*giggle* And that’s a mouthful!

I created this game for Mark! Because he "asked for it" and it will be fun.

There are about three and a half weeks till Easter, and I don't care if you celebrate Easter or not, everyone loves Easter eggs! For this reason I'm sending you all on an Easter egg hunt, Rachel style.

No, you are not looking for a decorated egg this time, but instead the techy version of an Easter egg. An Easter egg is a hidden, invisible or unknown link on a page. The little hand that appears when you put your cursor on a link will appear when you find the Easter egg. The best way to find the egg is simply to scan the page with your cursor until the hand appears in a place where there isn't an obvious link. Click the link and it will take you to the first Easter egg.

There will be a new hunt each week until Easter. So you have three hunts to look forward too.

How to Play:
1. I have placed 3 Easter eggs on 3 different Phoenix Feather pages. The first one is on this blog default.

2. Find the Easter egg and click on the link; it will take you to a hidden page with your egg and a link to the page that contains the next Easter egg.

3. Repeat this process until you have found all three Easter eggs.

4. The last hidden Easter egg page will have a random surprise and a secret email. Email me there and I will put your name on the Easter Egg Hall Of Fame.

5. You have until Wednesday March 31st to find the eggs and then a new Easter egg hunt will be put into place. One hunt a week(approx) until Easter!

I will try to make the Easter eggs worth the search. See you at the end of the hunt!

On Democrats Questioning What Bush Knew Before 9/11:
"…what I want to say to my Democratic friends in the Congress is that they need to be very cautious not to seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions, as were made by some today, that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9/11. Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." [Cheney Remarks, 5/16/02—aired on NBC Meet the Press, 5/19/02] [http://www.democrats.org/blog/display/00010527.html]

*ponders* I think this translates as: "No comment! And anyone who tries to make me comment will wish they were never born"

But you know, I could be wrong.

Possible Mathmatical Origin of "The Number of the Beast: 666":

Take the main roman numerals (the ones that get a new letter) 1 through 50 and add them up:

I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500 +
___________
666

So whether or not this is true Scott Flansburgh, aka The Human Calculator has suggested letters were put in place by the Romans to make math difficult so people wouldn't progress. Therefore 666 became an evil number because it implied intellegence and breaking their code.

So I did a google search on the "Origin of 666" and this is what I came up with:

The devil is both god (the god of flesh) and man so he gets the trinity of numbers for being a god and the number 6 which is the number for man, hence 666.

Its also suggested it connected to ancient Pagen Numerology and the Illuminati (I'm still working on reading about this one - their explination is long!! - and they also suggest that Phoenix is the ancient name of Lucifer, which I'm annoyed about, but must read). However my short term understanding is that there were 36 lesser gods and when the numbers 1 through 36 are added (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666) you get 666.

I have no idea why I latched on to this train of thought. I was just listening to the radio before my workout in case they gave out any bonus codes (I'm a sucker for dumb promotional games). Scott Flansburgh was a cool morning guest. His math theories and abilities were interesting and I love that his main work is teaching math to kids. But he randomly brought it up and my mind got hooked.

Anyway, I'm amused - thought I'd share.

Ali helped me fullfill a random urge to dye green streaks into my hair. Its temporary, and sadly its already fading away (some will still be there for St. Patricks day tomorrow) but its oh so much fun!