seymour in all his furriness

help me raise $3300 for the leukemia society. I am $1200 away from making my minimum goal. won't you consider a $25 donation?

 
the spirit of christmas...dressing the dogs in style. Molly on the left with fashionable sleigh bell collar and Luna on the right in her stylish santa hat. Pups accompanied by their human moms, Kiersten and Sheila. I love this time of year.

   
while on an offsite for work I was stricken by spiking high blood pressure and ended up in the emergency room and then the hospital for the weekend. what a lovely way to spend the weekend - far from home, no family, no friends except via phone if they call in and no internet access. sounds like hell. anyway, a couple of pencam shots of the view from my room. lots of tests later, I was released and allowed to fly home. I am doing better now but it was a scare and not really that fun.

pics from my photo workshop are coming, i promise!.

feeling creatively challenged - needing to do something drastic - I don't know what - but feeling bogged down by life, by work, by the holidays, by being sick. is this normal for the year end / year beginning? it is cloudy and rainy and i see nothing that speaks out to me to photograph. maybe a change of scenery is needed.

wishing I was in New York. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

I am having my furnace replaced this week and when they pulled the old - 50 year old - furnace out, it had this cool control panel on it. Notice the sans-serif type and the funky 1950's colors. Simple, subtle yet elegant and industrious.

A couple of shots from a visit to Great America this summer with coworkers. The second image is the only one I was able to take while on the rides. They go too fast to be able to hold a camera and take a picture at the same time. Some days my life feels like this...

Sunday night Sheila took me to a performance event featuring a couple of her performance artist friends —Katie Bell and M.I. Blue.

This couple —both performance artists, known for coordinating the dadafest each year, have been together for 4 years as a couple and as performers —are breaking up. They decided that because they were performance artists and that this was an incredibly big event for them, that they would turn it into a piece and share their breakup with their friends and audience.

Went to the baseball game Wednesday night. Hoping to see Barry Bonds hit his 600th homerun. Didn't happen unfortunately. He hit it tonight instead. But the game was a lot of fun anyway - and the Giants won 4-3. A bunch of us from work went. Our seats were along the third baseline. Pretty good view. Took the train home after the game. I really love living so close to San Francisco.

the evening light filters in through the blinds and offers a new view of the cabinets I have been dragging around with me for years. they were my grandmother's and were in her kitchen for as far back as I can remember. They held wondrous things back then. I like to think they still do.

Went to Lord of the Rings on Thursday. Terrific - mesmerizing and captivating. I kept saying to myself - "how did they do that" and "boy I have to pee but I can't get up now..." I highly recommend it and can't wait til it's on DVD. I think I am going to have to reread the books - it's been so long.

Family and friends over on Saturday - the parents and aunt and uncle in town for the holidays. I am thankful for family and friends this year and for their safe travel. We don't get together nearly often enough so this has been fun. The house is full and the cats and dogs are very appreciative of all the new attention. Lots of videos being watched:: Shrek, Pecker, Ghengis Blues the moving documentary about Paul Pena and Tuvan throat singing as well as the newest episodes of Absolutely Fabulous.

Went for a long ride yesterday and it was good.

Found this on my online travels today:

If I were a work of art, I would be Edvard Munch's The Scream.

I express the subconscious troubles and anxieties of the world. I hold my head and let loose the primal terror of my innermost fears, surrounded by a lurid landscape which reflects my feeble grasp on reality.

Which work of art would you be?

Note: Links and picture removed because site is not there any more. Probably because of traffic load or copyright infringement.

Last week's tragedy affected us all in a horrible big way and in personal little ways. My aunt and uncle were on a flight back from Paris on Tuesday when they were diverted and stranded for several days in Newfoundland. His account is interesting and has pics from the area as well as of fellow passengers.

Some of my thoughts noted here.
Jason Kottke has great links and coverage from the personal perspective.

Spent a low key weekend. Sheila took me to see Cowboy Junkies for an early birthday present Friday evening. Another great concert at the Mountain Winery. They were excellent, and the evening was only marred by a trio of women behind us who had a running commentary through the whole evening. Being a non-confrontational type of person, I didn't smack them. But I wanted to. Especially during all the songs where the one girl kept saying "this song is my favorite", "Margot is so coooool", and then she would sing along. Normally that's ok, but the Cowboy Junkies are so mellow, it wasn't cool.

Saturday was spent at my friend Natasha's house. She just had a baby (4 months ago) and they had a bunch of friends (11 of us) over for barbecue and a rousing round of Cranium. I know this game has been around awhile - I have seen it at Starbucks for years. But I had never played and I am wondering why. It was a blast. All the games you are familiar with rolled into one (pictionary, charades, trivial pursuit, word problems, logic problems, sculpture, singing, improv, etc), with some twists. I don't know if this is old hat for everyone and I have been under a log, but I feel like I just discovered a hidden world. Anyway it was great fun, met some neat new people and was able to visit with old friends and play with the baby. If you want to buy it (or anything else) for me, my birthday is this coming Wednesday.

Spent Sunday catching up on house type stuff and scouring ebay for accessories for the new camera. Still have some outstanding auctions, but it looks like I will have some new filters to play with. Am planning a trip back east week after next, so look for some new photos.

Is it just me or did people look cooler in the 1950's?
mom
dad

Spent the weekend painting my ceiling in my room. Dark blue. I amnow about to put stars and constellations up both as painted objects and glow in the dark elements. It is kind of fun.
I am looking for astrological relationships and starcharts to add to the imagery. Makes a nice break from the work week.


I watched the Olympic Women's Marathon this morning and am amazed at the endurance and stamina of these women. I am inspired to start running again. We have great trails outside the office and I think it is just the ticket for noon time work relief.