10 things the iPod generation will never experience

Taken from http://downtuned.net.....

10 Things The ‘iPod Generation’ Will Never Experience…

Hey you kids! Get the hell off my lawn! With your gameboys and iPods and knife crime. You don’t know you’re born. Back in my day we’d walk seven miles to pick up a CD from our local record store. Uphill. Both ways. The guy there would look down at us from behind the counter and we’d feel small. And we LIKED IT…

etc…

But seriously, over the last few years, the way we consume music has changed beyond recognition. The so called ‘iPod generation’ (a horrible, if functional turn of phrase) get their musical kicks in ways – 10 years ago – I would never have imagined. They’re both lucky and unlucky, as they will never experience the things on the list that follows…

1. Spending inordinate amounts of time with CD inserts / Sleeve notes

It’s amazing, the human eye. I would never imagine I could read text as small as I did on some ‘thanks’ lists… Endlessly pouring over the reams of band names, roadie and friends for advice on future purchases. And then spending further hours with the lyrics, reading them along with the songs until you have them word perfect. What he hell do teenagers do with their time now?

2. Lending an album to a friend, and hoping to get it back

It’s the greatest thing you’ve ever heard. The soaring majesty of the music and the depth and poetry of the lyrics. This album speaks to you. If only you had someone to talk about it with! Someone to share the experience. What about your mate, Dave? He’d love this! And he’d be well impressed that you found it first. Now Dave’s got the album and he thinks it’s ‘OK.’ When you ask for it back, he tells you he left it in his mum’s car. You never get that album back. Shit.

3. Broken CD case teeth

They’re designed to hold the CD safely. Designed to protect it. But, damn it, at least 25% of the time – when you open the freshly purchased CD and removed the impossibly snug shrink wrap – there’s that tell-tale rattle telling you that the centre section of teeth has broken apart, rendering the case useless.

4. Walls Of Neatly Stacked CDs

I feel sorry for manufacturers of CD storage solutions. They had no part in the demise of music as a physical medium. They just built furniture. Furniture that is becoming obsolete. It was always a yardstick music fans would use to scope each other out – the amount of wall coved by CDs – sometimes alphabetised by the truly faithful. What now? Check the amount of drive space used by MP3s? Not so easy.

5. Mixtapes with EFFORT

Ok, yes, you can burn a CD, put together a Spotify playlist or just mail over a bunch of MP3s. But that doesn’t count. To put together a proper mix tape you must experience the songs yourself, hit the buttons at the right time and put some effort into the selection. You don’t want the last song to cut out in the middle, so you have to scout song lengths. It’s also a tape, so there will be no skipping. The songs must flow together properly. It’s an art form, really. Sadly a lost one.

6. Putting together CD Wallets For Trips

Twenty minutes before you leave on a two week trip with your family and, although you’ve packed your Discman and headphones, you’ve forgotten to pack your CDs. Shit! What do you do? Grab the first few from the rack or make some tough decisions? This is all you’re going to have for two whole weeks. Your only respite from deadly-dull chit-chat. Greatest hits albums? New albums? Take a risk on the one Dave lent you? Old favorites? The stress is KILLING you.

7. Waiting For Albums To Come Out

Not just waiting – but waiting. Outside of the shop waiting. This shows true commitment to the cause. The shop would open, you would rush in, all excited, and the dude behind the counter would clock you by your clothes, hair and demeanor and have the album ready. Maybe there would be a few of you, huddled in the shop doorway like very well dressed hobos (or if it was a metal album – hobos) awaiting the magic moment when the album could be yours…

8. Tape Trading

When you can’t just Google, Scrob or Lazyweb it, how do you discover new music? By exchanging tapes by post! Underground music was once fueled by the Royal Mail and the C90 tape. Often second or third generation recordings and, quite often, awful. It was the best way of doing business, purely for the surprise factor. What the hell would be on the next one from that strange grindcore fan in the eastern bloc?

9. Skinning Up On An Album Cover

The absolutely perfect place to do it. Plenty of room, no grooves, easy to clean and looks damn good. You can’t skin up on an iPod.

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10 The Secret Track

See what I did there?
Clever eh?
Remember when you’d listen to an album going to sleep and just as you are about to nod off KRAAGGGGGHHHHHSSSSSS! SECRET TRACK!!!
Terrifying. Sometimes it’d be the band goofing about in the studio. Sometimes an acoustic track. Sometimes just another track… It was an Easter egg for the committed fan and now, sadly consigned to history.

Gavin loves his tickles

One of Gavin's very favorite things to do, is to have Flip tickled to crap out of him! It's too funny to watch. They roll around on the bed and tickle until Gavin's face is purple and he can barely breath. I often have to step in and make them take a break from their fun so that Gavin can calm down for a bit. He simply doesn't notice that he's not getting any oxygen to his brain!

Words of Wisdom from the internet

1. A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.
2. A will is a dead giveaway.
3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
4. A backward poet writes inverse.
5. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts; in feudalism, it’s your Count that votes.
6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
7. If you don’t pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I’ll show you A-flat miner.
10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
13. You are stuck with your debt if you can’t budge it.
14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.
15. He broke into song because he couldn’t find the key.
16. A calendar’s days are numbered.
17. A lot of money is tainted: ‘Taint yours, and ‘taint mine.
18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.
19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.
21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.
22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
23. When you’ve seen one shopping center you’ve seen a mall.
24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she’d dye.
26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
27. Santa’s helpers are subordinate clauses.
28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.
29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.

My resignation

My Resignation

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.
I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities
of an 8 year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald's
and think that it's a four star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle
and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money
because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree
and run a lemonade stand with my friends
on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple;
when all you knew were colours,
multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes,
but that didn't bother you,
because you didn't know what you didn't know
and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy
because you were blissfully unaware
of all the things that should make you worried
or upset.

I want to think the world is fair;
that everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible.
I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life
and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple again.
I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes,
mountains of paperwork,
depressing news,
how to survive more days in the month
than there is money in the bank,
doctor bills,
gossip,
illness,
and the loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs,
and a kind word;
truth,
justice,
peace,
dreams,
imagination,
mankind,
and making angels in the snow.

So . . . here's my checkbook and my car-keys,
my credit card bills and my 401K statements.

I am officially resigning from adulthood.
And if you want to discuss this further,
you'll have to catch me first, cause........

Owl loves a good scratch

How to trick people into thinking you're good looking

Rest in peace, oh Captain, my captain...

I know that The Deadliest Catch is just a reality show, and that no one really KNOWS any of the people on it, but it's so hard not to feel like you know these people. Out of all of the captains, Phil Harris seemed to be the most caring, the funniest, the most dedicated captain of them all. He was always so protective of his boys, but you can tell he wanted them to learn their lessons on their own, and that he wanted them to become good, strong men. And no matter what they did, no matter how much he yelled at the crew, you could tell he truly cared for each and every one of them. Captain Phil is one of those guys you see on TV, but you wish you could hang out with him. He was one of those guys that you wanted to come to your house and BBQ steaks with. He always had such great stories, and great words of wisdom. He was also very good at his job. Once again, I know it's just a reality show, but I think that the world is a little less fun- a little less joyous now that Captain Phil Harris is gone.
Dec. 21, 1956 to Feb. 9th, 2010

How to be a successful Overlord

As taken from the website: http://www.proft.org/tips/evil.html

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear Plexiglas visors, not face concealing ones.
2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.
3. My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell in my dungeon.
4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
5. The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragon of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
6. I will not gloat over my enemies predicament before killing them.
7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought, I'll shoot him and then say "No."
8. After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.
9. I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled, "Danger: Don Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will clearly not be labelled as such.
10. I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum - a small hotel room well outside my border will work just as well.
11. I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
13. All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least several round of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.
14. The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other form of last request.
15. I will never employ any device with a digital count-down. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable. I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.
16. I will never utter the sentence "But before I kill you, there's just one thing I want to know."
17. When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.
18. I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would prove a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time.
19. I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own father.
20. Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.
21. I will hire a fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legion of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman foot soldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set.
22. No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.
23. I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in their use. That way -- even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless -- my troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears and rocks.
24. I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strength and weaknesses. Even though this takes some fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
25. No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible spot.
26. No matter how attractive certain members of the rebellion are, there is probably someone just as attractive which is not desperate to kill me. Therefore, I will think twice before ordering a prisoner sent to my bed chamber.
27. I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.
28. My pet monster will be kept in a secure cage from which it cannot escape and into which I could not accidentally stumble.
29. I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion.
30. All bumbling conjurers, clumsy squires, no-talent bards, and cowardly thieves in the land will be preemptively put to death. My foes will surely give up and abandon their quest if they have no source of comic relief.
31. All naive, busty tavern wenches in my realm will be replaced with surly, world-weary waitresses who will provide no unexpected reinforcements and/or romantic sub-plot for the hero or his side-kick.
32. I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to come by.
33. I won't require high-ranking female members of my organization to wear a stainless-steel bustier. Morale is better with a more casual dress-code. Similarly, outfits made entirely from black leather will be reserved for formal occasions.
34. I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.
35. I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.
36. I will not imprison members of the same party in the same cell block, let alone the same cell. If they are important prisoners, I will keep the only key to the cell door on my person instead of handing copies to every bottom-rung guard in the prison.
37. If my trusted lieutenant tell me my Legion of Terror is losing a battle, I will believe him.. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.
38. If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me in my old age.
39. If I absolutely must ride into battle, I will certainly not ride at the forefront of my Legions of Terror, nor will I seek out my opposite number among his army.
40. I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable super-weapon, I will use it early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
41. Once my power is secure, I will destroy all of those pesky time travel devices.
42. When I capture the hero, I will make sure I also get his dog, monkey, ferret, or whatever sickeningly cute little animal capable of untying ropes and filching keys that happens to follow him around.
43. I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my plans.
44. I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance.
45. I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him and say "And here is the price for failure." then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.
46. If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?", I will reply "This." and kill the advisor.
47. If I learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy me, I will slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of waiting for him to mature.
48. I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.
49. If I learn the whereabouts of the one artifact which can destroy me, I will not send all of my troops out to seize it. Instead I will send them out to seize something else and quietly put a Want-Ad in the local paper.
50. My main computers will have their own special operating system that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh powerbooks.
51. If one of my dungeon guards begins expressing concern over the conditions of the beautiful princess' cell, I will immediately transfer him to a less people oriented position.
52. I will hire a team of board-certified architects and surveyors to examine my castle and inform me of any secret passages and abandoned tunnels that I might not know about.
53. If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her.
54. I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being then attempt to double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.
55. The deformed mutants and odd-ball psychotics will have their place in my Legion of Terror. However before I send them out on important covert missions that require tact and subtlety, I will first see if there is anyone else equally qualified who would attract less attention.
56. My Legion of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.
57. Before employing any captured artifacts or machinery, I will carefully read the owners manual.
58. If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner.
59. I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.
60. My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it will not be used. Note: This also applies to passwords.
61. If my advisors ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?" I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them.
62. I will design fortress hallways with no alcoves or protruding structural supports which intruders could use for cover in a firefight.
63. Bulk trash will be disposed of in incinerators, not compactors. And they will be kept hot, with none of this nonsense about flames going through accessible tunnels at predictable intervals.
64. I will see a compentant psychiatrist and get cured of all extremely unusual phobias and bizarre compulsive habits which could prove to be disadvantageous.
65. If I must have a computer system with publicly available terminals, the maps they display will have a room clearly marked as the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment.
66. My security keypad will actually be a fingerprint scanner. Anyone who watches someone press a sequence of buttons or dusts the pad for fingerprints and then subsequently tries to enter by repeating that sequence will trigger the alarm system.
67. No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be instructed to treat every surveillance camera malfunction as a full-scale emergency.
68. I will spare someone who saved my life sometime in the past. This is only reasonable as it encourages others to do so. However, the offer is good one time only. If they want me to spare them again, they'd better save my life again.
69. All midwives will be banned from the realm. All babies will be delivered at state-approved hospitals. Orphans will be placed in foster homes, not abandoned in the woods to be raised by creatures of the wild.
70. When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of quizzically peering around a corner.
71. If I decide to test a lieutenant's loyalty and see if he/she should be made a trusted lieutenant, I will have a crack squad of marksmen standing by in case the answer is no.
72. If all the heroes are standing together around a strange device and begin to taunt me, I will pull out a conventional weapon, instead of using my unstoppable super weapon on them.
73. I will not agree to let the heroes go free if they win a rigged contest, even though my advisors assure me it is impossible for them to win.
74. When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not label the disk "Project Overlord" and leave it lying on top of my desk.
75. I will instruct my Legion of Terror to attack the heroes en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time.
76. If the hero runs up to my roof, I will not run up after him and struggle with him in an attempt to push him over the edge. I will also not engage him at the edge of a cliff. (In the middle of a rope-bridge over a river of molten lava is not even worth considering.)
77. If I have a fit of temporary insanity and decide to give the hero the chance to reject a job as my trusted lieutenant, I will retain enough sanity to wait until my current trusted lieutenant is out of earshot before making the offer.
78. I will not tell my Legion of Terror "And he must be taken alive-" the command will be "And try to take him alive if it is reasonable practical."
79. If my doomsday device happens to come with a reverse switch, as soon as it has been employed it will be melted down and made into limited edition commemorative coins.
80. If my weakest troops fail to eliminate a hero, I will send out my best troops instead of wasting time with progressively stronger ones as he gets closer and closer to my fortress.
81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.
82. I will not shoot at any of my enemies if they are standing in front of the crucial support beam to a heavy, dangerously unbalanced structure.
83. If I'm eating dinner with the hero, put poison in his goblet, then have to leave the table for any reason, I will order new drinks for both of us instead of trying to decide whether or not to switch with him.
84. I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite sex.
85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 stones of power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more alone the lines of "Push the button/"
86. I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.
87. My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I will not construct walkways above them.
88. If a group of henchmen fail miserably at a task, I will not berate them for incompetence then send the same group out to do the task again.
89. After I capture the hero's super weapon, I will not disband legions and relax my guard because I believe whoever holds the weapon is unstoppable. After all, the hero held the weapon and I took it from him.
90. I will not design my main control room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.
91. I will not ignore the messenger that stumbles in exhausted and obviously agitated until my personal grooming or current entertainment is finished. It might actually be important.
92. If I ever talk to the hero on the phone, I will not taunt him. Instead, I will say that his dogged perseverance has given me new insight on the futility of my evil ways and that if he leaves me alone for a few months of quiet contemplation I will likely return to the path of righteousness. (Heroes are incredibly gullible in this regard.)
93. If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and the underling who failed or betrayed me, I will die first.
94. When arresting prisoners, my guards will not allow them to stop and grab a useless trinket of purely sentimental value.
95. My dungeon will have its own qualified medical staff complete with bodyguards. That way if a prisoner becomes sick and his cell mate tells the guard it's an emergency, the guard will fetch a trauma team instead of opening the cell for a look.
96. My door mechanisms will be designed so that blasting the control panel on the outside seals the door and blasting the control panel on the inside opens the door, not vice versa.
97. My dungeon cells will not be furnished with objects that contain reflective surfaces or anything that can be unraveled.
98. If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However, if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each other' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.
99. Any data files of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb.
100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free, unlimited internet access.

Tragedy

Remember to sing the caption in the tune of the theme from Spongebob...

Thoughts for the day

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die. 2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. 3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. 4. There is great need for a sarcasm font. 5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? 6. Was learning cursive really necessary? 7. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. 8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. 9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired. 10. Bad decisions make good stories. 11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. 12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again. 13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to. 14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever. 15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run? 16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste. 17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call. 18. My 4-year old nephew asked me in the car the other day "What would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that? 19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well. 20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

Horsing around

This photo was taken a few month ago, probably in April...Kaya was taking riding lessons from Katherine Vanderpool in Loleta. Kaya just loved to ride! I think this is something she'll miss a lot. I was told that she was quite good at it, and had a lot of natural skill. As a kid, I just remember holding on for dear life as I had once been thrown from a horse, and was constantly petrified of being tossed on my rear again! This horse is Gonzo. Out of all of the horses on the farm, he was one of my favorites. He had extremely long bangs (Okay, I know...they aren't bangs...but I'm not sure what they are called in the horse world) that hid the most beautiful and expressive eyes. I'll miss him. And I'm sure Kaya will, too.

When it rains, it POURS!

I guess I'm just used to Humboldt County rain, where it starts, and never stops! Here in Texas, it'll be 100 degrees out, and sunny. Then these HUGE gray clouds will appear out of nowhere, and then DUMP rain for an hour. The temperature will drop 20 degrees, and everything will be under 3 inches of water, and then it will just stop. This is outside our bedroom window. I'm not sure you can see it because it was taken through a window and a screen, but there is enough water out there to take a bath in...at least 3 inches of water on the ground. It's so crazy! And fun! If there hadn't been thunder and lightning with this storm, I would have gone outside and played in it! The biggest, fastest rain drops I've ever seen!

It's Blue!

BLUE Cream Soda?!? Have you ever seen such a beast??? Because I haven't. It was a little sweeter than normal cream soda, but other than that I couldn't tell a difference. Why make it blue? Because it's awesome! One of the oddities of Texas I guess...

Feeding the strays

There are several stray cats around here. The first one we saw is a big (but skinny) tom cat, that the kids have appropriately named Tommy. It's obvious that he once belonged to someone because he's super tame and keeps trying to come in the house. The others seem to be adolescent cats that haven't been tames. They seem to be from the same litter, as they are about the same size and two of them look almost identical. This picture is of the second one we saw. She has a tiny little head, HUGE eyes and HUGE ears. She's quite skiddish and runs if you move to fast. I don't think we'll tame these ones, though. They don't seem to want to be our friends :( We just put food out for them daily and watch them. Flip said there are little kittens near the gym here as well. I haven't seen them, and honestly don't want to because I would have an overwhelming urge to catch them, tame them and find them homes. I really need to stop doing that...

Need...to...be....crafty!

I think I may be going through T-Shirt craft withdraws! I don't think it would be a good idea to start doing that now because I'd just make a big ole mess, and because we aren't at our own house currently, I don't think my Mom-in-Law would appreciate a giant mess in her apartment. So I've got a mental list going on in my head of projects I want to do. I've also found something else, non T-shirt related I want to do. Sort of... The little plastic containers they use for single serving deserts at La Madelaine are perfect for crafting! I'm thinking of painting them, and using them for light covers so I can put them on a strand of white lights and use them for decorating. We'll see if I can collect enough plastic containers for that or not...that's a LOT of tiny little tiramisus!

All tuckered out

Flip and Gavin had decided that since the girls (Me, Grandma Janne, and Kaya) were going to go out, that they too would go out. They packed up their water, put on their walking shoes and away they went! When us girls came back, this is where I found Gavin... It seems that their short walk had turned into a longer walk, and that poor Gavin crashed when they came home. They were supposed to walk to few blocks down to check out the Elementary school where Gavin and Kaya might go. It seems that Flip decided that wasn't far enough. And by the time they had walked 5 miles in the lovely Texas heat, Gavin had had enough. It wasn't that hot that day, maybe 90 degrees or so. Gavin just isn't used to it yet :)

Barsky made it!

When we left California, I had to leave behind ALL of my beloved dogs and my cat. I was tempted to leave my fish behind as well, as I was afraid that he wouldn't make the trip. I decided that he was too important to leave behind. My Dad had promised me a fish when I was maybe 12 or so, but never came through...until my Birthday this year. He finally bought me the Beta he had promised me 18 years ago! Even though I knew there was a chance that Barsky wouldn't make the trip in the car, I wanted to try. I made him a temporary home in a plastic ice cream bucket. I made sure he had his rocks and plants so he'd feel more at home. I also put in a plastic Tiki cup so he'd have a place to hide if he needed to. When we left, I carefully put the lid on his new home, and set him on the floor of the truck, hoping he'd be safe. I kept the music to a minimum because I wasn't so sure if he liked Adam Lambert as much as I do. At every stop along the way, I cracked the windows, and put a giant gel ice pack over him with a towel so he wouldn't over heat. When we got to a hotel, he was the first thing that came out of the truck; gently I'd place him on the dresser away from the window and air conditioner to keep his water temperature from fluctuating too much. And while his color did fade a bit, from a brilliant blue, to more of a deeper midnight blue, he seemed to manage okay. We have been in Texas for a few days now, and he finally got his new home. I got him a small tank to live in, and he loves it! His color has started to come back, he's more active than I've seen him in weeks, and he's eating more than usual as well. He seems to have adapted to our new environment better than I have! Way to go Barsky!

Kaya's first Tiramisu

After an afternoon at the McNay art museum, Grandma Janne took us to a lovely little bakery/cafe called Le Madelaine (http://www.lamadeleine.com/). It's a charming little cafe with a lot of various pastries, breads and food items. After a quick look at the menu, Kaya and I decided to split a French Dip sandwich with a side of some sort of bow tie pesto pasta salad. It was super tasty, and Kaya liked it a lot, even with the horseradish! After lunch, we were treated to desert, something that we don't do very often. We each got a mini version of one of their deserts. Kaya had the Tiramisu, I had the cheesecake, and Grandma Janne had a mini tart of some sort. They were all quite good, and they came in tall, square, plastic containers! That may be the best part because we now have two little containers to do something with! I've already thought of several craft ideas... Now I just need to go back and get enough desert to get enough plastic containers to make said crafts! But at $1.95, it's a good deal and well worth the calories!