More photos

A nice picture of Chelsea

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Voodoo doll heads

Library art

Absolutely no dignity

As you can see, my dog Jessie took the nose dirt thing to the extreme today. I just had to document it.

old clock

Here is a picture of a clock my grandparents gave me. It was made in the late 1800s, and I really love it. It's been in my family since it was made. My grandfather loved clocks, and he did some work on this one. My grandparents also had a cuckoo clock with pine cones on chains -- you pulled on these to keep the clock going.

The clock above is definitely one of my favorite possessions. It would be the first thing I would grab (after my animals!) if there was a fire. I'm glad I was able to take a nice picture of it.

My new camera

Here is a picture of my new camera. It's a Canon Rebel XTI. The funny looking plastic thing over the top is used to soften the flash.
Here are a couple of pictures I took using the flash diffuser:
To the left is a picture of Mandy, who is mad. She's 17-years-old this year and she doesn't like to be bothered. Thus the glare. There's a cat glare but no light glare thanks to the funny looking camera attachment. And yes that is my toilet in the background, and I need to pick up my pajamas. Concentrate on the cat!


And here is a picture of Pedro:

Pedro never gets mad. I imagine I wouldn't even get a rise out of him if I pulled his tale, he's just a very docile animal. He never complains.

I'm still trying to get a decent picture of my little cat, Chelsea. She is not docile, and I grabbed her by the tale when I was trying to give her medicine and she bit me.

I hope to post some more photos this weekend, including some non-pet pictures. Thanks for taking a look at my creations.

My replacement camera is here!

My replacement camera arrived yesterday, but I haven't had any time to take any photos. I work this weekend, so my time will be limited then also. But I'm off Monday! So stay tuned ...

Bluetooth breakup

My love affair with my Bluetooth headphones is over. They were great at first, but then I had a problem getting them to fit correctly in my ears. There's a big receiver-like thing that goes behind your head; it tends to pull the ear cups away from my ears. And now I'm having problems connecting my phone with the headphones. Sometimes I have to turn the headphones on and off three times AND turn my phone off before I can get a connection.

It's back to my old ipod headphones for me, at least until something better comes along.

Courted by presidential candidates

This weekend I received four calls from the Hillary Clinton campaign. Two were recorded messages from Hillary herself, the other two were actual people asking me to go out and vote. Which I've already done by absentee ballot.

I also received a real-person call from Obama's Ohio campaign headquarters.

And I've gotten more than one recorded call from Cindy Lazarus, and John O'Grady has called at least twice.

I've never received so many campaign calls! It's going to be a very interesting primary . . .

Little cat update

Chelsea the cat seems to be doing better. She has been sneezing for a couple days so I now think she has a cat cold. I have to give her pink liquid antibiotic and a liquid pain reliever. So she hates me. And pink liquid antibiotic has been splattered in some interesting places.

She came to the kitchen and ate today so I think the worst is over if you don't count the twice daily dosage of meds . . .

Grey Gardens -- put it in your Netflix queue!

Here's another clip from Grey Gardens:

Where I am with "Lost"

Tonight I'm going to watch disc 4 of 6 of the first season of "Lost." Here are some of my observations about the show:

• It makes a lot more sense when you watch the episodes in order. I watched the second disc before the first one by mistake and boy was I confused!
• These people run ALL THE TIME. They must have a special "running through the jungle" camera on set that they are really proud of.
• Does the Korean husband speak English too? Sometimes I see a flicker of understanding in his eyes when he's "listening" to someone speak. (DO NOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION OR ANY OTHER QUESTIONS I ASK OR I WILL HAVE TO HATE YOU!)
• Is Kate a bad person or a good person, or maybe a good person who used to be bad? I'm confused.
• Where the heck does Elizabeth Mitchell fit in to all of this? I know she's on the show later. Did she fall from the sky?
• I'll be waiting by my mailbox on Monday hoping that disc 6 gets here, I can't imagine how the season will end.
• Season 2 is moving to the top of my Netflix queue. Quickly followed by season 3.
  

Those are some of the thoughts populating my head lately. This show is very addictive. I can see why people love it. But that doesn't mean I'll EVER watch American Idol . . .

Don't name your kid "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116" if you live in Sweden ...

... or else you might just find yourself the recipient of a hefty fine. Boing Boing has the story:

Swedish couple fined for naming their child "Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116"

DO play with your food!

A site called perpetualkid.com is selling a game called Tic Tac Toast:


It's only $2.99! Check it out here.

My favorite winter accoutrements

Two winter accessories I cannot live without: my behind-the-head ear muffs and my Columbian boots. Both items are absolute necessities when the weather gets nasty. For example, this morning, my boots kept my feet dry while I walked through the snow that fell last night. And my ears remained nice and warm.
Dry feet and warm ears -- it's little things like these that can mean the difference between a good and bad day!

Pet drama

I have a sick pet. Chelsea, my new cat, stopped eating yesterday. She was also hiding, and she clearly wasn't feeling well. I took her to the vet today - it was very unpleasant for both if us. The vet thinks she may have some sort of sore throat. I have to give her antibiotics.

Chelsea ate when we got home, but she is still hiding from me. She wants nothing to do with me - first I took her to the vet and then I forced her to take her liquid antibiotic. I would be upset too.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Hopefully the antibiotics will work and she'll be back to normal soon.
Susan
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Starbucks news

There's a chance my Starbucks might be closed for a little while next week. Baristas are getting re-trained at 7,100 Starbucks stores. According to the Chicago Tribune blog The Stew:

Starbucks has announced it will close its almost 7,100 company-owned stores across the country on Feb. 26 for several hours so it can bring its employees back up to speed on creating a perfect shot and steaming milk and pulling it all together for a great drink. The barista re-education is a "renewed focus on espresso standards," say Starbucks honchos.

I think I'm safe because, along with many others, I tend to go to my Starbucks after lunch. I'm going to ask them on my next trip just in case. One can never be too careful when it comes to a daily fix!

Stuffed animal guts

Here's a perfect toy for the kid who has everything - an inside out stuffed animal:
The guy who makes the above bear has several different models. His name is Kent Rogowski and here is what he has to say about his creations:

Bears, is a series of portraits of the most unusual sort: ordinary teddy bears that have been turned inside out and restuffed. Each animal's appearance is determined by the necessities of the manufacturing process. Simple patterns and devices never meant to be seen are now prominent physical characteristics, giving each one a distinctly quirky personality: their fasteners become eyes, their seams become scars, and their stuffing creeps out in the most unexpected places. Together these images form a topology of strange yet oddly familiar creatures. They are at once hideous yet cuddly, disturbing yet endearing, absurd yet adorable, while offering a metaphor for us all to consider. These bears, which have lived and loved and lost as much as their owners, have suffered and endured through it all. It is by virtue of revealing their inner core might we better understand our own.

You can see the rest of his bears by clicking here.

Here's a new one

Here's a priceless piece of information that was published on the UK's Courier site:

Human pelican’ guilty of drink driving

A PERTHSHIRE postman who crashed his car claimed he failed a breath test due to a “unique” medical condition which caused him to store alcohol in his neck like a human pelican.

Click here to read all about this man's amazing "medical condition."

Good for a few laughs

Here are a few funny cat bath photos, courtesy of my sister (click to enlarge).

A question I don't want answered, thanks anyway

I'm watching the first season of Lost on DVD. I mistakenly watched episodes 5-8 before episodes 1-4, so I was confused for a little while. I'm now ready for the rest of season 1.

Something that confuses me - I know from commercials for later seasons of Lost that there are new cast members every once in a while. Where did they come from? Were they there already? Perhaps they were there all along, but they didn't become main characters until later. Color me intrigued.