So this week (and I can’t quite believe it) I quit my job.  I said goodbye to my large office (well sorta large - it’s larger then my current broom closet - I guess…) and my duel monitor computer (duel because I “borrowed” a monitor off a broken box in the DML), saw my friends one last time, returned my keys, my camera (this has be totally deplorably heartbroken), and the Macintosh to the college from whence they came and left to discover my check was over $2,000 short leaving me a grand total of $600 to live on for two months — prior to that horrible discovery however….

My friend from the library Annars through me a going away party and got me the coolest cake that anyone has ever thought to give me.

The peeps at work know I’m a huge Doctor Who fan so Annars did some Internet Research (she must have had a great Internet Research teacher…*grin)

She put together the most awesome reception.  Highlander was on vacation so he was able to come too which was great - he got to meet everyone I work with.  The entire computer department (sans a couple of folks) was there and the president of the college and vice president.  That was cool, of course it could have been the free cake — but I always felt a lot closer and more of a member to the MCS (ITS now) department then the Business department. Well honestly I also felt more part of the library too.

Dr. Zaius took us to lunch and let Highlander know what a jerk he was for stealing me away from home.  I’m not sure Highlander knew right away that Zaius was joking… *grin.  We had a great time.  I got you a surprise coming in the mail Zaius btw… it’s not much but eh’ I’m not too good at the gift giving thing.

I haven’t wrote much about my occupation on here but I’m a computer tech/designer/photographer/web developer/editor/teacher.  This fall I will be setting out on a new job teaching at a different college while remaining on as adjuct at my previous post.

For my new job I have to travel and get in a lot more training which has me sooo nervous and scared.  I’m really shy.  I couldn’t even breath walking into my old job for at least a year I was so scared!  So anyway - it should be interesting.

I finally got my pay too which was good because the $600 wasn’t going to cover the $800 of checks I had wrote on that check.  I didn’t get my full pay because of an accounting error but figure I’ll get that portion back tax time.  After I had about three panic attacks about not having money to rent the UHaul the situation was worked out with a bit of help from the dean.

Okay — I know everyone is getting bored of my stupid personal life, so this is the thought of the day.  Everyone has ‘needs’ (See Maslow’s Heirarchy…) but I’ve been pondering how it’s really hard to separate our emotional from physical needs.  I need a place to live because emotionally it makes me feel safer.  Eh’ just a notion I’m chewing over for now.

Oh — Ryleh, your last batch of Cicer was a doozey!  It was the strongest I’ve had to date - well I only actually made it through a single sip.  Wiskey is a closer description of the juice.  It was STRONG.  But Highlander set out to drink — get this — and entire cup of it.  After which he could barely stand up and when he past out in bed asleep he didn’t move for at least 7 hours, not a snore, not a twitch, didn’t roll over — nuthin’.  So I kept checking to see if he was still amoung the living.

Further news — Highlander has me saving money from online shopping now.  I found 275 thread count sheets - full queen size set for $30 (they are sooo nice) and Sears had a price mismark so we purchased a 6hp Craftsman shop vac with all the attachments for $17 — normally over $100.  He also showed me a check company that allows you to upload your own check designs.  My checks are going to be righteously cool ;-)  Most deals I’ve found at http://www.slickdealz.net

I move next weekend - until then I won’t be posting much, unless I get really bored not being at work.  After the move - well it’s back to work the next day but at my new location. No rest for the wicked.

Also — I still have a cat to give away, declawed and spayed folks.  You WANT this cat.

I appreciate all of you who still bother to read this blog, I don’t know why you do  - but thanks

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(I have more photos to post but I left them at work - so I will cover my going away party and other current events later in a different post.)

We don’t listen to ourselves.

We don’t question ourselves.

How often do you have thoughts that you don’t have permission to have? A suspicion that you push out of your mind because you should not think it? So often we don’t listen to ourselves very well.

Sometimes we are scared or withering and we don’t tell ourselves at all.  And a few times we’re brilliant and triumphant but there isn’t a soul who knows it but ourselves.

And so often our internal rules fall upon the heads of our children and our mates - people in our lives who aren’t allowed to ask questions either.

But those we love - we really love… they see us, the vulnerable and awkward us and they love us anyway.  They do not point out weakness or flaws instead they shrug and in comradeship of a journey, of life shared, we go forward.

Hold yourself responsible but let that person off the hook.  Recognize where you falter but work on it.   Live for the day.  Try to tell people in your life by your actions and your ways that you appreciate them.  It’s not always easy, especially if you’re a reclusive thinker like I am… I could always do more and part of me is always chiding myself for not making phone calls, for not going to visit more, for not opening up to people I care about.

Next time you have a thought that you don’t have permission to have, something taboo - why are you thinking it?  Give yourself and others permission to think, to feel and live.

–(thus says the fully indoctrinated liberal arts student… )

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So this week Highlander is on vacation and we started off our 11 days together (whoo hoo) with him arriving at my house. In the morning we left for White Hart medieval faire which is near Springfield Missouri. Because of the heat and our hectic schedules we decided on one day of faire instead of two.

What are these gypsies staring at?

Staring at my Highlander! Gypsies steal ;-P

The drive to White Hart wasn’t so bad until we came upon the entrance, after significant rain the mowed path in the field threatened to take our our little car and leave it stuck as it either mired in mud or hit high center because of a rut.

The fair was a shadow of last years no doubt due unfortunately to ever increasing gas prices. There were far less vendors, less performers, and less to see and do yet the fair people rallied and those present had a great time. Among the performers were the Red Moon Tribe (belly dancers photographed above) and the always great Queens Gambit a celtic musical group.

We may have missed this years fair due to the same reasons everyone else did (can we say depression yet?) But two of our fav’ people were having a public engagement presided over by queen Liz herself

.

Highlander and I had a great time walking around the fair and enjoying the sites, smells and attractions. We tried to pose seriously when Sir Ryleh the Green Man went to take our photo…

(Check those awesome socks — oooh yeah boy - I was showing off my legs *silly grin)

Finally I cracked up laughing. (Screen shot is mired by some Macintosh background stuff - sorry)

After the faire we dropped off the kiddos, loaded up the car and headed up to our newly rented place. I hadn’t seen it with any furniture in it or gotten to spend a single night. Walking in is a bit overwhelming - it is sooooo HUGE and so ostentatious. I tend to be a simple person and HOLY COW - what a PAD!!

I really like the new place - but for Highlander it’s the server room I think that makes it for him. I think I’ll rename it the Highlander alcove. It’s where the terabyte media server resides. The apartment is large enough that he actually had to install a wireless bridge to get wireless Internet all the way to the back of the place.

My favorite spot is probably my spacious closet which about the size of my current bedroom. It’s large enough to sport a light, multiple power outlets and even a vent for heating and cooling (crazy hu?) It is lined with handy shelves and a ton of built in storage space. I could spend a year or so carefully sorting everything I own onto specific shelf spots. The kitchen is totally awesome to and get this — everything works! I have a garbage disposal and a vent on my stove — oooh lalala, I feel like I’m in a resort.

The downside — okay before everyone gets jealous and writes me nastiness about how I’m gloating ( hey I’m happy - you know how rarely something amazingly cool happens to a person? Well when it comes along I think a person should relish the fact that for once things don’t suck) — anyway the bathroom toilets are both put in narrow areas with no accessible storage so us females who like to hide our feminine supplies can’t and there isn’t any space for a trash can.

Those of you who are only happy when it rains will also enjoy the fact that beautiful spacious place is home to a thriving community of obnoxiously poisonous fiddle back spiders who seem hungry enough to come toward any movement they detect on carpet. (Found that out on a particularly romantic make-out session on the carpet where I ended up completely freaking out after being converged on by two spiders. My complete phobia of spiders having kicked in to full screeching and “lets get out of here” mode.”)

Beige carpet, beige poisonous hungry spiders - what could go wrong? So far tonight we’ve killed eight. (And yes I’m completely geeky enough to know my spider species - so I know we have actually two species of fiddle backs living in the place and the majority are the really nasty species that are smaller, harder to see and have a very nasty bite.

Finally we went home and picked up the kiddos and brought them back. Their mouths were hanging open — WHOA - the place is BIG. Little guy got lost. Soon they discovered about the spiders though and suddenly super cool place started to look like a scene from Arachnophobia. Over all they like it thus far.

Ooh - but when we got to my old house we found out that a tornado had hit and by an act of the divine had knocked down the huge oak tree BESIDE Highlander’s car and not simply through it.  It really did a huge amount of damage.  I heard it was from a cyclone that never quite touched all the way to the ground.  The people in the house beside the tree were probably happy.

Finally my thought of the day — a person can practice and be good at many tasks.  Or spend a lot of time in a particular pursuit (like trying to prove the world is flat)  but really for it to be of value and meaning life and the choices we make must have relevance.  So this week I am trying to live in relevance and choose my actions and my preoccupations thusly.

BUT… It’s only Wednesday..

Tags: Personal Gossip, Thought of the Day // Add Comment »

 Every morning there’s a halo hanging from the corner of my girlfriend’s 4-post bed
I know it’s not mine but I’ll see if I could use it for the weekend or a one night stand - Sugar Ray

So tomorrow I get to see Highlander again and it’s been the better part of a week which is about five days or so way too long.   Next week he has his vacation days he has to use up so we’ll be hanging out most of the week together in a blatant attempt to get on each others nerves finally.  It hasn’t happened yet but we have 11 days to test it out.  Our prediction — we’ll get up to some sort of adventure or another.  We’re both pretty broke $$ so the adventures will have to be on a shoestring budget. 

This weekend is White Hart Faire http://whitehart-faire.com/  which I will be attending with my favorite Scottsman and my cubs.  Rumor has it that Ryleh the Green Man will be in attendance along with a retinue of the Ides of March.  There is also a special handfasting and formal engagement for two of our crew (I will be posting some photos - ooooh yes). 

I read on National Geographic that 7 Gorillas were shot in cold blood in Africa and they were trying to determine why.  It was clear to me that probably they were escaped from some sort of science experiment gone wrong and they, if left unchecked in the wild, would have kept mutating and challenged the dominance of the human race.  Often when I read something mundane I have to jazz it up a little bit for my brain.

I picked out my camera today, the Canon EOS 40D.  Yeah no way I can afford it yet but maybe if I start my own diamond mine…  It’s a good solid DSLR that can take some rough action but also a bit more advanced then what I’m used to (more buttons to play with, more features to learn etc.)

Eleven days to go, just one more night alone.

Tags: Love // Add Comment »

I’m up in Missouri today and its a little after 8am and raining to beat the band.   I sit outside on Highlander’s upstairs patio enjoying the thunder and lightening show all around me - I have a front row seat.  I’m glad I’m not driving in Highlander’s Neon somewhere, the streets look like they have about 3″ of water on them.  And as the rain turns into a solid sheet I even get sprayed with a soft mist at my vantage point.

I’m more than a little bit homesick and longing for my familiar little office and saying hello to my friends.   Hearing Ryleh says, “Oh Shirt!” When something goes wrong.   I especially miss seeing my kiddos.  The longer I’m away from them the more anxious and restless I get.

It hit me night before last - omg - I’m actually leaving? Somehow I never thought I would ever leave my comfy little college home and routine.  All the people who made me feel safe and cared about.  The jokes we all forwarded the disagreements over how Mac’s are simply better computers .  It all balled up in my throat like an anxiety hair ball.

I just needed some time lately to kind of decompress and be alone with all the many changes and process them.  It’s a beautiful rainy day for that.

I met a lot of locals up here where I’m moving yesterday and they reminded me of the family I’m moving away from …only they don’t realize how cool I am yet here :D  It’s like being on the first chapter I guess.  I feel incredibly lucky while at the same time a little voice says, ‘yeah right - wait until you find out how much work this is all going to be!’

Technocist loaned me her awesome ThinkGeek t-shirts and I wore one up to the local college and talked shop yesterday that said <GEEK> and on the back </GEEK>.  It was great. :D  And nope, I didn’t wash and dry it technocist and I made sure it stayed in great shape.  I even packed it separate in a plastic bag.

There is a great gym here.  Last year you may recall I was banned from the local college gym during my workout hour.  There is a brand new YMCA here with equipment I never dreamed about + a large swimming pool for laps.

I really liked the local college too.  There are a lot of great people out there and they were super nice to me.   It was a familiar atmosphere, the faces and names changed and the layout was a bit different.

All in all, I got lost several times yesterday and ended up finally sorta learning my way around and where things were.  I went and bought some groceries and shopped a bit.  Last night Highlander and I went to Joplin and wow - lots and lots of stores.  I can’t wait to take the kids shoe shopping :D  I found a great outlet.

We ended up going to Best Buy to be elitist and heckle their prices.  I was really hoping someone would try to sale me an e-machine *evil grin.  No such luck, so we wandered around and then left.

I don’t know about this place being better or my old place being worse, I guess it’s just different.  I think I’ll fit in here alright, no problemo but I will miss everyone - so you all have to stay on Yahoo!

It’s Friday and I should so be at work but for now I’m heading back off to bed for a snooze.

Tags: General Stuff // Add Comment »

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/06/democrat-files.html

I think maybe instead of depression it should be called the ‘Great F’ck Up’.  I’m not sure what impeaching Bush right now would do other than get the Democrats some press.  If they do manage to get him impeached and they go around gloating about it I think I’ll puke.  (if he does get impeached - would that put Cheney in charge? OMFG) How about doing something when it matters?  How about those idiots start thinking.  I’m basically a democrat but Hillary and Obama are complete show boating losers and I’ll go over to the dark side of liberatarianism before considering either of them.  All the candidates in my opinion for this upcoming election are mediocre at best, self-serving and not very good leaders by even boy scout standards, how they’ll save Rome - who knows, we need Cesar. 

I’m from Oklahoma.  We have huge oil reserves in that state.  I don’t know politics but it looks like someone would be thinking that we could tap our own oil reserves to drive down the price of crude in our country to a plateau — a price cap if you will so that crude couldn’t go up over the insane price it already is.  Then with that in place other counter measures could be worked out like taking that nice little country we now own, Iraq, and squeezing all the damn oil out of it.  Hey — if there isn’t enough we can squeeze Afghanistan too.  And if they don’t like it over there what are they going to do?  Be terrorist?  Bingo — but why can’t we charge them for this war we’re fighting for them? 

With oil supplied and levelled off I would then massively fund solar and wind power research and give huge tax breaks to company that go green.  The nitrogen fueled cars won’t work, they will never work and any funding into them is a huge crock of crap — and I’m not buying the corn and sugar into biofuel — sure it’s renewable but I rather grow crops to eat and feed to things I plan to eat.  But we can make everything we use more efficient.

I think Bush should be put in charge of Iraq, send him over there to rule for awhile.  Obama can have Afghanistan and then put the top ten brilliant minds in our country in charge of it.  Yup, I’m calling for some smart people to be in charge.  The founding fathers weren’t idiots — but they never imagined our country would be run by idiots so I think they thought it would be unnessary to put that into the constitution.  Which just goes to show once again you should always spell everything out exactly.

Well I know nothing about politics, I don’t even have cable and even when I did I got all my news from the Colbert Report and John Stewart.  I do know I’m irritated and worried over the price of gas and everything else going up.  I’m in the lucky middle class section of society - I don’t know how in the hell anyone struggling to make it is surving. 

Tags: General Stuff // Add Comment »

 My thought of the day:

When the Halley Bop comet appeared people all over the world in undeveloped regions met, discussed and put together the calculations, fashioned optical devices and worked on the science.  Knowledge and science keeps alive the word ‘civilization’ when it comes to us humans.

No greater tool has ever existed for mankind then the Internet.  This is our legacy to those who will come after us and try to forge a better world.

When we watch the scary sort of shows where robots rule the world (Matrix if you will) what stands them apart and makes them powerful is they have a vast supply (database) of knowledge, no restrictions to gaining or using said knowledge AND — they all just want to make their species better.  They are working for the good of the whole instead of the individual.  (This could so digress into an interesting essay on the failure of Marx).

So my thought of the day is I wish the politicians and the screwball RIAA and anti-piracy and Internet control groups would just STOP and think about the fact that historically the people who try to control, stop and interrupt the flow of information and knowledge are the bad guys.   The people burning books are not working for the good of our species, and when you try to shut down expression on the net its no different.

The Internet is powerful because it was born free.  Those who try to regulate it are evil and anti-species.  Long live knowledge the root and the foundation of our humanity.   And for those who want to shut it down, regulate it and profit from the knowledge rather than to let it flow…check your history — you always get your asses kicked in the end.

Long Live The Net

My Weekend in Photographs

I went five days without seeing Highlander.  First time in a few weeks I’ve had to wait so long and it did so suck.  However I’ve been sick and down and out and all that so by the time my antibiotics really started their work it was Thursday, and I went to see him Friday.

Friday I was anxious enough I didn’t change out of my clothes to work but instead went see him straight away.  His upstairs apartment was sweltering - the air conditioning had gone out.  But all in all with the company I surprisingly didn’t mind! In fact I had a wonderful time and we walked around downtown and did our usual urban hiking.

Highlander had played phone tag with an out of town landlord all week with an attractive 3 bedroom tri-plex we wanted to rent (along it would seem with half the darn town).  Luckily for me Highlander does have a knack for getting good deals and we arranged to see the property first — how he managed that feat ???

It’s in a good location, close to Highlander’s family, partially underground, new construction with two smaller units on top that are rented out.  So we put down the deposit and will hear back this week to make sure we have it rented, and if so pick up keys next weekend.  We drove to my house to attend a b’day party and Highlander’s sister came with.

We had a good time and the weekend was over way too soon.  I took a wide variety of photos a few of which are below.

I am sad I’ll have to soon relinquish my camera back to ye’old work place since I don’t own it and I can’t take it with me.  With any luck someone will come along and learn how to use it because it truly is an awesome bit of technology.  The bubbles below I shot with a Sigma Macro 50mm DG lens — and the thing is, I had to manually focus on floating bubbles!  I think I did rather well consider it was a breezy day!

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So I don’t watch much television at all, hence why I had my cable turned off. Highlander gave me a nifty gadget that stores an insane number of shows and it was preloaded with enough entertainment for about 300 years and on it was season 1-3 of Battle Star Galactica a series on the Sci Fi Channel. http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

I resisted watching it but he dragged me into it knowing (of course) I would soon be addicted. I think being a computer technician I have some insights to the show that maybe I should share.

Quick overview of Battlestar Galactica — Man created these super bad ass robots (see below)

They had guns for arms, lazer eyes and the one hand they did have was razor sharp and good for cutting (like ripping open people as they marched along killing everything in their path). They also had human like intelligence. What could go wrong? I mean — if you have the technology to build a robot why not make it warm and friendly like the Cylon above? Makes ME feel assured they’re not going to try to take over the universe. Not.

Then they rebelled. Damn, who could have seen that coming? The cool thing about the Cylons is they never seem to need parts, refueled or even to reboot. They just keep running flawlessly, which can only mean one thing.

Macintosh created the Cylons. It’s an apple!

Well — true, they had to have. So in essence now the world is being destroyed by Mac’s — but wait. You know how artsy Macintosh’s are — as far as computers go, they are completely sexy. But some how or another some jerk at Windows had gave them a can opener body with a bunch of guns, amo, lazers, claws — but deep inside it knew it was a Mac. It wanted to get back to its sexy self. It had a need for self expression.

So it started making little hottie Cylons much like the new thin versions of the Macbook.

As usual the guys at Windows were kicking themselves watching in envy as once again Macintosh totally wiped the floor with them. They had to be asking themselves, “why did we make big ugly scary robots when HOLY HELL we could have made really damn sexy robots that served coffee in the office.”

Cylon; “It’s not so bad Gaius - Windows has always had blue screens of death. It isn’t your fault.”

Cylon; “You’ve been using ctrl+alt+delete and DOS now for 400 years, maybe you should try Linux…”

See how useful Macintosh Cylon’s could have been? But nope, we made them have to turn themselves into totally smoking hot females and they held that shit against the human race big time.

So they rebelled and killed almost the entire human race except for a few rebels out in the middle of no where that the Cylons are obsessed with hunting down and killing.

My last question was — why are only the female cyclon’s hot? Hey SciFi — throw the females some eye candy will ya? How about the resurrection of Kevin Sorbo? It’s like he was the only hot male person the SciFi channel employed so he showed up in every single sci-fi role - why stop now? Okay Gaius might pass as good looking (since I’m supporting him for president I’ll throw him a compliment even though he’s a bit on the diminutive and feminine side) but really - that’s pretty paltry when compared to all the hot chicks Battlestar Galatica boasts - not to forgot Starbuck who I love. Finally a chick who is pretty, smart and kicks some serious ass.

Above: Starbuck

So finally what I can leave you with is something I don’t want you to have to learn the hard way. If you want a future for your children and yourselves and do not want everything blown to hell by rebelling robots — BUY A MACINTOSH. It’s the only way to save the world.

(and if you’re not motivated by saving the world — it’s the only way to have red hot sexy robots running around with plenty of copies of themselves to keep you company! Boooy!)

So dump your stupid Windows boxes and you on the Linux — step away. Go get a Macintosh.

[Battlestar is a series that has to be watched in order to make any sense at all, and I think it would be dreadful to try to watch it on tv with commercials, or if you miss an episode etc. so check them out on DVD! http://www.amazon.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Miniseries-Edward-James/dp/B00064AFBE ]

Tags: Funny // Add Comment »

Backstory… Okay for giggles I dared Highlander to write me a song. Now Highlander is musically gifted and has a wonderful voice. I on the other hand with hay fever and braces can’t sing and my music ability is limited to singing along with the radio…but I can write a bit. I’m two weeks over due for writing my song – but here it is -7

Time does not see us, So we do not heed time

I noticed you had no tacky bumper stickers
and no heads of death or deformities
When I rattled on to you while we sat
your smile said you weren’t just enduring
and you brought the sunshine and we turned it on

In love we rule
In love we rule
In love we rule
rule
In love we rule
In love we rule

And we converged on the world and the stars took notice
And we lit up the sky dancing twilight
And we tied up time, made it our own

Well he always says, eh’ it will be alright
everything is just a challenge when you’re unstoppable
sometimes it’s for cherry pie
and we carved into it our hearts for one another
and my hand found yours and you said I love you

And you stroked my hair

In love we rule
In love we rule
In love we rule
rule
In love we rule
In love we rule

And we converged on the world and the stars took notice
And we lit up the sky dancing twilight
And we tied up time, made it our own

[bridge]

He’s got his eyes fixed on me
I’m melting into the sea
content and laughing met my match
adventure
safe with my secret keeper
safe with my secret keeper (guardian)
and we’ll be lost to the world soon enough so let’s fly

[/bridge]

In love we rule
In love we rule
In love we rule
rule
In love we rule
In love we rule

And we converged on the world and the stars took notice
And we lit up the sky dancing twilight
And we tied up time, made it our own

In love we rule
In love we rule

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I found some free icons online today. And I read some interesting signs that a guy places outside his business. Yeah. And that was about the most interesting thing that happened. I have bronchitis which sucks, I finally fell asleep at 12 midnight to wake up petting my cat Sissy, I was sitting up petting a cat, how weird is that, I had the impression I had been thinking about something in a murky way - it was 4am and I kept coughing and didn’t fall back to sleep so went to work with three hours of sleep. I can’t stop coughing no matter how many ‘tussin smoothies I suck down. Tomorrow I have two doctor appointments so at some point maybe I’ll get some antibiotics.

Maybe today was a disagreeable let down from yesterday when my name was given to the state attorney’s office as the main party responsible for copyright material appearing on our web site at work (thank you employer). Actually though - this time I’m not guilty. A person can sneeze and violate copyright law, knowingly and accidentally we all probably violate it about 50 times a week - meanwhile I know of four web sites just this week that took essays myself and a friend wrote and used them to promote their site, put their names on our work and EVEN wrote a wikipedia entry saying they had come up with the ideas in our essays. Fuckers. I talked to Dave who thought that since our ideas are good and our essays really helpful maybe we shouldn’t bother - but the people who are using our material aren’t on the up and up so I don’t know. We might set down and write a cease and desist when he gets back state side in July. On the other hand he pointed out all the philosophers and writers who came before us who if it wasn’t for their work - we couldn’t do ours so aren’t we just as guilty copyright wise? Descartes - We’re sorry dude.

I’m not guilty and as I see it the only party that is are the sharks at Getty images and their gang of insipid Israeli lawyers who pester webmasters with just an unreal range of demands and money and who pay a third party bandwidth hog which masquerades as a different app (i.e. basically they hack and steal bandwith) that goes in and invasively checks sites for copyright infringement. These pieces of shit automate their lawsuit process. Getty images you suck ass. Your images suck which is why I contribute to and use Morguefile.com or stockxchng , which most experienced designers and techs do so they end up going after Soccer Mom’s who thought they would build a web site.

Most image use and licensing is meant for commercial printing or commercial web sites but Getty often goes after small web information or non-profits and people who had no clue they were even using a Getty image. These people aren’t hurting photographers or anyone at all — anymore than libraries are destroying the world of books. I’m a photographer, a designer and a web developer and I have my own need to uphold copyright but this is total BS and they’re abusing the system to line foreign pockets (well foreign to me).

It’s like this software licensing thing that we have going in this world. If I wrote a song and played it on a piano no one is going to come and check and make sure I actually owned the piano I used, I don’t have to continue to license my piano and I don’t have a reoccurring fee on it. Then again though, I really think knowledge and art should belong to all and not just the privileged. (viva the Internet, Open Source Forever!!)

Check out what Zaius wrote (sans the profanity - but ya’ feeling my vibe brother)
http://zaius.2truth.com/   http://zaius.2truth.com/

moving on from revolution…

Psuedo-morph, that’s my word for the day. It means false form and if I was a psuedomorph Cephalopod style I could leave a smoky outline of myself in my chair at work and leave for a substantial amount of time and totally fool my coworkers. Muhahaha. That’s the super power I want this week.

In other news the vending machine at work had a sudden price hike of a week and a half ago increasing their chocolate chip cookie price from .50 to a startling .80 cents while at the same time stocking the more desirable double chocolate variety. I was relieved to discover this Monday the price had dropped to a more reasonable .60 cents however the old chocolate chip cookies had returned - at least they’re not raisin.

I have a job opportunity possibly up near where Highlander lives and we’re looking at a place Saturday to possibly rent. I’ll still be around my old stomp ground for awhile unless the attorney general smacks me down.

Gas prices. I have yet to gripe about them — but today when I was driving into work I noticed that the line of big ol’ trucks was replaced with some of the tiniest cars I had ever seen at the GM dealership. The other dealership had mixed it up a bit but Ramsey’s has stubbornly held on to the gas guzzlers beside the road, maybe they don’t have a choice. I would hate to be selling SUV’s right now. When I got my car it was $6-$8 to fill up the tank - now its over $30 and as I watch the value of my dollar sink plum away I’m not sure if I should be glad that it reduces the amount I really owe on all those old student loans or feel sick because how in the hell people will make it — I don’t know. I don’t know how people are making it now. We ship all our money elsewhere and we get all our products from elsewhere. Eh’ it doesn’t seem like an adequate system for propping up the economy.

Thus ends my boring bronchitis and fever filled day. I miss Highlander. He says he shaved, egads!

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