Happy Howloween

The fearsome pirate Black Bellamy...



And Dorothy, who is most definitely not in Kansas (and hates her hair!)...



Hope everyone has a happy Halloween and no one OD's on candy!

Get Rich Slow

A while back I did some T-shirt designs and put them up in a Cafe Press store. Mostly I did it to vent or show a little attitude, but I figured it wouldn't hurt if someone bought one and I made a couple of bucks.

Those of you with a creative bent or even just a good sense of humor (my designs are nothing more than cool type) ought to try it. You would need a good graphics editing program like Illustrator or Photoshop, though. I bet Jazzmin has the tools and could do some crazy stuff that Goth-ish people would buy (I believe "goth" is one of the more popular search terms on Cafe Press, BTW).

There are other places you can make and sell your own stuff - I just happened to do this one. I'm not getting rich, but I have sold several shirts and made $30 - not bad for something that cost me nothing and that I haven't promoted at all. People seem to like the Bad Mama Jama shirt ; )

Riding on the Metro - II

Brian and I were talking last night about global warming, pollution, "draconian governmental regulation" (his phrase), hybrids and public transportation. It was a heartwarming conversation (for a couple of geeks, anyway).

We agreed that Atlanta's transportation system just plain sucks except when you want to get to the airport or ballgame in rush hour traffic. I took the train to work for a while and it involved driving halfway to work, parking at the station and fearing that my car would be vandalized, riding an east-west train, changing to a north-south train, then walking 10 minutes to my office. A big pain in the arse, but doable if you have 2 hours to kill and a good book to read (just don't get too engrossed in your book and forget to watch your back). Since I moved I cut my commute down to 30 minutes or less and the train doesn't stop within any reasonable walking distance from my office so I won't even consider it as an alternative.

The train really doesn't go anywhere. There's a great disparity in the decor, atmosphere, safety and upkeep between the north/south and east/west lines. And really, they just charge too much.

I said that by and large, I thought most of the country didn't have viable transportation alternatives to taking an automobile to work. Plus, since most of us can only afford one car to serve all purposes we tend to drive cars to work that are bigger and less fuel efficient than what we might need just for commuting. Lots of people would like to be greener, but it tends to be a big, expensive pain in the butt.

NYC is one place where a whole bunch of people don't even own cars at all. I'm not going to look this up right now, but I believe the city's public transportation system is the most extensive in the country. If MARTA, Atlanta's public transportation system, could get their act together and build a network like NYC's the Average Joe might have a real alternative to bumper-to-bumper traffic on 75, 85 and 285. Well, if they could do enough to make sure that Average Joe was safe and comfortable.

For now I think those of us who only occasionally venture onto buses or trains do so with great fear and trepidation. Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) wrote a funny blog post about just this thing when he and his wife rode the subway in NYC.

If this is what we'd have to put up with when there is a system that goes anywhere maybe it's a good thing MARTA doesn't.

What is Amanda doing anyway?

So we got this house, and now I have no time. I wake up early every morning, take care of the dogs, get coffee in me and get ready and then woosh I'm off to work. I work work work a lot of the time working through lunch, and then get off and battle traffic to the interstate. Not so bad once I get on the highway, but I still have 25 miles to drive back to the house once I'm off the surface streets. If I'm lucky I can go straight home, but a lot of the time I have to stop by the store for something important. Like coffee or creamer or dog food. You know, the basics. Then I get to take care of dinner. If Steve is in town I will cook real food, but when he's traveling the dogs get fed while I heat up my Lean Cuisine. That leaves me enough calories to enjoy some Starbucks ice cream (yum more coffee) or a cookie or whatever else I have in the house while I watch T.V. for about 15 minutes until I can no longer hold my eyes open and I have to take myself to bed. If it's a weekend I try to take care of stuff around the house, but I really dread having to leave because I feel like I never get to spend enough time here anyways and I don't like having to crate the dogs. We just got our first dining room table ever and now we are total freaks and must eat every meal there no matter how good T.V. is at the time. I actually ate breakfast this morning just to enjoy the fact that I am no longer having to hold my plate in my lap, eating with one hand and swatting at the dogs with the other. Neko now cries because he can't actually see the yummy goodness on our plates and he probably knows his days of getting scraps are coming to an end. Good thing, since he's turned in to quite a little butterball. Well, now it is 9 and I don't think I'll be able to stay awake much longer. I was really hoping to post pictures of the house, but I can't find my adapter for my SD card and there is no telling where it may be, so I can't get the pictures off my phone easily. Oh well, I will post again when I get a chance, maybe sometime in the next decade, and put pictures up then. I tell ya, I have no idea how you all do it with work and a house and dogs because there's just not enough hours in the day for me, or maybe just not enough coffee :)

Message from Ruben

[ my e-mail to Ruben ]

Hi Ruben!

How are things going? I can't believe you're living in Mexico. Will you write me back and tell me about it? I'd like to hear what you do and how you like it. I bet the food is very good : )

Mom asked me to send a link to the family blog, so here it is:

http://rosche.blogspot.com

Hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Auntie Teresa

[ reply from Ruben ]

can you tell this to the blog what i say to you?:

is the food food you ask ...of course it is .. the only problem is guess what i eat at my house here the old mexican favorite rice and beans every day, it is actually very healthy with the vegetable side dishes it is what i say authentic. i am doing real good here i run alot and am even in a picture with some runners in a paper... i am going to school here in mexico even though i dont understand what the teachers are saying..i have some private spanish teacher thanks to the good people who are helping me here. I cant wait to come over to the USA and meet the family... there is always a possibility i wont come to the states soon i have to say that since right now things are happening. i wont be able to go on much so dont expect to be answered for at least a week but ill always call home... you will be surprised by all the things that are happening here that i am also getting in touch with my family on my fathers side. i am different than what i was before i can say that...

p.s. 2+2 is what?....a math problem

sincerely ruben

Of Course You Know, This Means War!

I had a few pretty nice plants in the front yard when I moved in. Hostas, mini sunflowers, and my favorite - four o'clocks. I didn't gripe when the sunflowers went south since they were nearing the end of their life span anyway. Then I walked out one morning and my hostas were chewed down to little nubs. I was only slightly disgruntled since they'll come back next year anyway. Now the creature got my four o'clocks. I didn't think anything would kill them. They are chewed down to the branches with only a few scraggly bitten up leaves remaining. Then I saw it - the evil grass hopper. I tried beaning it with a rock but this nasty little creature hops way better than I throw and is now chewing on the last remaining leaf of my marigold - another flower I thought you couldn't kill. There is also a few (or maybe a few hundred for all I know) of his cousins hanging around the backyard waiting for the spring planting. They got their little grasshopper bibs tucked under their chins and a knife and fork in each of their hands - just waiting for me to plant dinner for them. I don't care what it takes, Malathion, Agent Orange, an A-Bomb or what ever - you're going down you stupid grasshopper! Do you hear me?! Your days are numbered!

I Has a Sweet Potato

This LiveJournal post of a "conversation" between an owner and a dog hell-bent on doing what it pleases sent me into hysterical laughter and to the point of tears. My coworkers thought I'd completely lost my mind, I'm sure.

Warning: Do not read while eating or drinking, or with a full bladder!

Racy!

We (Brian, Michelle, Brandon & I) went to an animal farm of sorts as well this weekend. SummerWind Farm, to be exact, where we attended an annual gathering of something like 300+ Greyhounds and their owners. It was a lot of fun, but tiring. Brian judged the Greyhound contests for the second year in a row, and was licked and hugged by numerous doggies while trying to determine the best kisser and hugger. And for the second year in a row, Sara had the second-longest tail and Grayson was the second-or third-tallest (I forget).

Probably the best thing we got to do is watch the dogs take off as fast as they could toward a stuffed bunny at the end of a training lure (what they use to teach Greyhounds to chase - they don't need much encouragement). Next to the person with the lure was another person with a squawker - a gadget that makes a generic prey-like sound (close to a squirrel, but not quite). It's a combination that makes the dogs so crazy they want to go get it. A third person was there with a radar gun, clocking the dogs. This year, both Sara and Grayson beat their times from last year, coming in at 46mph. Needless to say, they've spent most of the time since then laying around the house!

There was a big (for us) announcement about a special, secret fundraising effort that had been undertaken. Since it costs, on average, $475 to take a dog from the track, spay/neuter and house it before adoption, and we can only get $275 for an adoption fee, there would be a constant shortfall without fundraising and donations. So someone had the bright idea, after seeing the film Calendar Girls, to do a similar nude calendar using some of our members and their Greyhounds in shots with, shall we say, strategically placed props. It was really nicely done, and we hope to sell at least 1500 of them. Take a look (it's maybe PG-13 and there is very little actually revealed, so don't panic!) - www.greymates.org. Please, please pass it along to anyone you think would get a kick out of it. Even if they don't buy a calendar they may pass it along to someone who will. Surprisingly, women - straight ones - have been the most enthusiastic supporters so far.

No, I'm not in it. I seriously considered it, though! But I did do the design and coding for the web site : )

Greenbriar Ranch

Caitlin and I went to this animal park that just opened up not far from our house. You could pet and feed most of the animals. A small deer let me pet it and it licked me (good thing it wasn't slimey like some animals), it was so sweet. It took about 2 hours to ride through the ranch, they would stop and let you feed the animals. They had deer, pigs, buffalo,ostriches, emus, zebras,rams, elks, gazelles,chickens,roasters,peacocks,donkeys,goats,sheep, and minature horses. We had alot of fun, Caitlin was a little leary of feeding them by hand. The guide said it wouldn't be a good idea to hand feed the zebra or buffalo, but you could feed them out of your bucket. One of the deer's horns were so big I didn't hand feed him because I was afraid I'd get speared. Two male deers almost went at it but one backed down.

Home Sweet Home

Greenbrier is a trip. It's like a modern version of Mayberry. One of our neighbors got raided last week for growing wacky tobaccy. I hadn't even had a clue this was going on as we had never even seen the guy, but I vaguely remember wondering about all the police ATV's I heard zooming around on his property at the time. Our local ice cream man zooms down the street to our end of the block instead of the usual slow crawl they do then jams on the break in front of our house before pulling into our driveway to chew the fat for ever and a dayafter he gets Lea Anna's dough then zooms back down the road to where ever else he goes on his route. I guess it's something you'd have to see to appreciate. Our mayor does not even have a high school diploma but is a self made man and a slickster who also appointed himself chief of the volunteer fire department and runs a local construction business. He was knocking on our door for donations just a couple of days after we moved in. Everyone I meet is some type of character. I love it here! I think I'll skip the "Plant Man's" house when we go trick-or-treating though. You never know what you'll get mixed in with the candy!