tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1636142868502115862024-03-13T07:25:05.594-04:00Gypsy VisionsOddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-14342680431524535862011-03-14T16:12:00.000-04:002011-03-14T16:12:10.331-04:00Where to find me....I've been hanging out at my other blog....<br />
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<a href="http://jypsievisions.blogspot.com/">Jypsie Visions</a><br />
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I know, I know, same name, different spelling.... well, Jypsie is what I had intended this to start out with, but thought the spelling might be a problem with people finding me on the web. Then I thought better of it and realized that hey, this is my website and I want the funky spelling. So, I made a new one. I'm still going to keep this one for now. Who knows? I may end up using it again later, I may not. But for now, please join me at <a href="http://jypsievisions.blogspot.com/">Jypsie Visions</a> for my latest adventures in life on Earth as my family and I know it.<br />
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Thank you,<br />
OddysseyOddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-66479303936985526282010-09-21T02:10:00.000-04:002010-09-21T02:10:13.912-04:00Welcome Jeremiah!I'm amazed at the miracle who is my son...<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIYrHEWlaaaswGp3XwKEE3CsFt37Sl4zQfzo_KV7sf654X-g7b-Nq6V2WJQCq6MuCyCLwm2Vvom1WZsO_jxSmiFZWNenP8w-cVe7eL50tRxy9X8Y1zmn_tBAy9VE5i8CcMTIUD3E2kXKg/s1600/IMG_0170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIYrHEWlaaaswGp3XwKEE3CsFt37Sl4zQfzo_KV7sf654X-g7b-Nq6V2WJQCq6MuCyCLwm2Vvom1WZsO_jxSmiFZWNenP8w-cVe7eL50tRxy9X8Y1zmn_tBAy9VE5i8CcMTIUD3E2kXKg/s320/IMG_0170.JPG" /></a></div> He's only four weeks old and has already blown my mind and stolen my heart!Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-20468031479605442072010-07-07T11:09:00.002-04:002010-07-07T11:11:42.033-04:00A Wish List Item....I really <strike>need</strike> want a new camera.<br />
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I was looking through some of the photos that I took a couple years ago with the camera that I still have now... they were sharp, clean, the colors seemed more vivid... but not so much now. Oh, the pictures look ok. They look fine for saving some memories, but they're not like they used to be.<br />
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The camera that I'd love to have is completely out of reach for me... for a mere $799... which is more than my mortgage payment, I might add... I could have an <a href="http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1461" TARGET="_blank">Olympus PEN E-P1!</a> Oh, the wonderful photography I could make with such a camera! *sign* But, alas, the money.... Oh, the bills I could pay with such money!<br />
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And with a baby on the way.... HA! Not very likely that I'll get such a snazzy snapshot apparatus... nor even anything half that good. I'll probably end up just keeping my old camera that's still working, albeit not as up to par as it was back in the day... but then again... I'm not exactly as spiffy as I used to be either!Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-50980060333195379632010-06-17T21:22:00.001-04:002010-06-17T21:24:09.889-04:00Belly Bump at 28 weeks today!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrEmyAmQAfBB8Gb7L5Rsp8hzJTSxQltaf03i1KOpdM2FNl_Rg8dgzTAV7xBOLfg-G5KPmQco-xT8IXsVMGjLxXTIj2io7Tg4yABMJzSXTDbTK1gZlQCgqCC0N61o1k4-uEExKBvvfohw/s1600/Baby-Bump-28-Weeks-circle-gif.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTrEmyAmQAfBB8Gb7L5Rsp8hzJTSxQltaf03i1KOpdM2FNl_Rg8dgzTAV7xBOLfg-G5KPmQco-xT8IXsVMGjLxXTIj2io7Tg4yABMJzSXTDbTK1gZlQCgqCC0N61o1k4-uEExKBvvfohw/s320/Baby-Bump-28-Weeks-circle-gif.gif" /></a></div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-18059404739302429552010-06-16T17:26:00.002-04:002010-06-17T00:59:49.362-04:00Life's a BeachWe've started to walk on the beach in the mornings... before it gets hot! The sunrises have been just fantastic! I need to remember to bring my camera!<br />
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This past Monday we came across some interesting items... (we took them with my hubby's phone, I tried to clean them up a bit)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzaf2lyRLPIGLYhIgLXjtpkRX7jfSzFncG5Sdoty8h032kzhbM1fly03c4AlIELspXGTTVwME33JMBsaNlsPrfXxxcJS4uR8U6YBoG5-rjIliHCpbkTeRLbDVnop0DGLkP4uzGBFso34/s1600/shark-top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNzaf2lyRLPIGLYhIgLXjtpkRX7jfSzFncG5Sdoty8h032kzhbM1fly03c4AlIELspXGTTVwME33JMBsaNlsPrfXxxcJS4uR8U6YBoG5-rjIliHCpbkTeRLbDVnop0DGLkP4uzGBFso34/s320/shark-top.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86pMHwQHBpLjCkpoGBfst-tFZUarWYURo0F0p-aLBO1s6nJ74ES8dlEw8qke-Ylk0143Zh6lvmH29LTy0ApQAj4GWDVeFXKDoL-BIn8rLX0FhmCgSzXX-Xx3PsbWI4yERGfOx2NaaNN0/s1600/shark-bottom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj86pMHwQHBpLjCkpoGBfst-tFZUarWYURo0F0p-aLBO1s6nJ74ES8dlEw8qke-Ylk0143Zh6lvmH29LTy0ApQAj4GWDVeFXKDoL-BIn8rLX0FhmCgSzXX-Xx3PsbWI4yERGfOx2NaaNN0/s320/shark-bottom.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNjUPU3dMArF6dNmbsQgMZTJ-DAjNmQ-sBlabDI4OnGNHzHwPtiROa8g0p9Ay-QQ2Toc0mQJAn_vdL50XVIL3ZB5jUwCN2ixekJpWNvwIRYumaTyaByaqtWqXf3hRsUASvUt4Zy0H2Ek/s1600/shark-icky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVNjUPU3dMArF6dNmbsQgMZTJ-DAjNmQ-sBlabDI4OnGNHzHwPtiROa8g0p9Ay-QQ2Toc0mQJAn_vdL50XVIL3ZB5jUwCN2ixekJpWNvwIRYumaTyaByaqtWqXf3hRsUASvUt4Zy0H2Ek/s320/shark-icky.jpg" /></a></div>Someone must have cut the head off not too long before we got there... the teeth were already gone as well.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn1eq0aKAY5Bd07HExnvderw6GThUlnr2KaSma5wvTmHaOegCO425vi0VRSgna9QwIviomFhE1Ng1fr_9al79N-uKlYA_apVI8jpHh-M3QE44js_KbqZjY1iBf5xHVcEzC7hyjhNOXyw/s1600/starfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn1eq0aKAY5Bd07HExnvderw6GThUlnr2KaSma5wvTmHaOegCO425vi0VRSgna9QwIviomFhE1Ng1fr_9al79N-uKlYA_apVI8jpHh-M3QE44js_KbqZjY1iBf5xHVcEzC7hyjhNOXyw/s320/starfish.jpg" /></a></div>Found a live starfish too... I've found a few of these before. Same color and all... I need to find out what kind they are exactly. Wish we had a salt water tank at home! This guy was mostly buried and we almost missed him. Anyone know what kind of starfish this one is? I've tried looking it up and found quite a few pics, but no actual label for the type/kind it falls under.<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=7c06c2cb-00e8-4b44-bc2d-afc705233775" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-45860056230830291132010-06-13T18:03:00.006-04:002010-06-17T01:03:07.443-04:00Gone Surfin'Ya know, it's quite interesting, the things you can come across on the internet while surfing around. When I started on computers they were nothing but DOS programs... little green dots of binary code on a black screen. (I thought they were just a fad... silly me!) That was twenty-five-ish years ago that I first touched one. About ten years ago, I actually got a laptop (my first computer) and learned how they worked and really got into the whole thing.... including how to build my own! But "surfing" wasn't my objective. I didn't know how to "surf" the web... it just didn't make sense to me. If I wanted to know something, I just looked it up. Why would I randomly click on anything?!<br />
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Ahhh, but there's a whole world out there that most people never see (nor would they probably care to, but that's another story) and wouldn't see if they didn't surf around the net. ("Surf around the net"?? Now a few decades ago, that would have brought up a much different image in my mind than it does now!)<br />
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Anywhooo....<br />
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So, I'm trying to get caught up with my Facebook crap... er.... stuff.... friends... farmville.... whatever.... and come across a comment from an old friend. He has a link, so I click on it. It takes me to his blog and I read. It's actually interesting and he has some other links that I click on and before you know it, I've found a whole mindless menagerie of things that I had no idea were out there. Some people have nothing better to do than put these things together... and then again... maybe they do, but are avoiding them. Not sure what the reason is for some of the things I find, but they are, at the very least, mildly interesting... others are "bookmark" worthy IMHO.<br />
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I dare to share them here....<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSYH-Q7zh0">A twist on <i>Smells Like Teen Spirit</i></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvRzWYCZ2e0">Perpetual Motion Found!</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.goldeggs.nl/yes/">Light Switch</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASxPwiZOlPE">Infinite Fun</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXQmsEiPvsY">Human Slinky</a><br />
(The kid in the orange shirt is amazing!) <br />
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<a href="http://www.amanita-design.net/">Cool Flash</a><br />
(click on the little white spots on the mushroom in the bottom right hand corner)<br />
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<a href="http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/">Where the Hell is Matt?</a><br />
(I came across this a while back and just remembered it while I was typing this blog. It's quite interesting if you check out his story and how he got started on this journey. Don't forget to watch the video!) <br />
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<div style="color: cyan;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Enjoy!</span></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=2fd3c825-fa31-4fe9-a1b9-4356979fed34" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related pretty-attribution"><script defer="defer" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" type="text/javascript">
</script></span></div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-7364416104838062412010-04-27T21:13:00.003-04:002010-04-27T21:14:56.282-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_q8nsmuG7gSjmP-9ezLVVMQ6wjdNGcavWcmhsagDvjp7YpCh49W3v7ALFjJiOGt4tYuWg9tr5toEpkxk657diRoPu9jZUqrjhHPqBPID0FYUIYOwyQ__0eDzEXX9DyiNrGK_r_0rIPkQ/s1600/Lullaby-Moon-042710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Lullaby Moon</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_q8nsmuG7gSjmP-9ezLVVMQ6wjdNGcavWcmhsagDvjp7YpCh49W3v7ALFjJiOGt4tYuWg9tr5toEpkxk657diRoPu9jZUqrjhHPqBPID0FYUIYOwyQ__0eDzEXX9DyiNrGK_r_0rIPkQ/s320/Lullaby-Moon-042710.jpg" width="320" /></div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-44421660308373090662010-04-17T13:04:00.001-04:002010-04-17T13:49:27.235-04:00MIA...Well, I've been MIA for a while and haven't posted anything to any of my blogs. You would think that with me not working at the moment, that I would have plenty of time to goof around on the web. But it seems that there's even more to do and that I'm so much busier than when I was working 40+ hours a week. I'm not sure if it's because I finally have time to do all the things that I didn't have time for before.... or maybe I've found too many other things to occupy my time, such as being prego and school work! I've also been trying to keep up with my photography as much as I can.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvs0WjQCJ8ouLDuTwkPff22cMrja8G6H07LqHjIT7ANaiXL_OfF-4Q6azgqD3jvuXNHCkjyRtYVlpV5YQWhMihwnncNVwX0nCDWmxyVIhFwDWWTzuvVdzFT19XwgCXyGUAhnLR7aPq8oE/s1600/IMG_4935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvs0WjQCJ8ouLDuTwkPff22cMrja8G6H07LqHjIT7ANaiXL_OfF-4Q6azgqD3jvuXNHCkjyRtYVlpV5YQWhMihwnncNVwX0nCDWmxyVIhFwDWWTzuvVdzFT19XwgCXyGUAhnLR7aPq8oE/s320/IMG_4935.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<--- Rocks at the beach just after sunrise.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0B5FMut8RzmMJMxYtrodBHr9Zpc_p-AD7JE-uodkWYP2t3UgW98vmuRQkwySL2zGtcC3bNI62cbYRpqi9RH-WtaDLeBGSb2RCAam_FCTwiSvT_Q86ZHRxOKUSXH0xg7i-aPptPEW2Rs/s1600/IMG_4931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0B5FMut8RzmMJMxYtrodBHr9Zpc_p-AD7JE-uodkWYP2t3UgW98vmuRQkwySL2zGtcC3bNI62cbYRpqi9RH-WtaDLeBGSb2RCAam_FCTwiSvT_Q86ZHRxOKUSXH0xg7i-aPptPEW2Rs/s320/IMG_4931.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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Sunrise at the beach in NE Florida. ---><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi_y3A_Il_HdrOvwZQs_0Jc1733H5JznVCysji8LaJmP4EogDxoOJDDdMakVP3LUDxfZbXLblpRU_I25pihUb1HoAWK1-Y723wgVSlbYGqdhBNyrjUmYhyphenhyphenf23ZzWxnwGyoBtmtlvlUHU/s1600/as-the-sun-rises.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJi_y3A_Il_HdrOvwZQs_0Jc1733H5JznVCysji8LaJmP4EogDxoOJDDdMakVP3LUDxfZbXLblpRU_I25pihUb1HoAWK1-Y723wgVSlbYGqdhBNyrjUmYhyphenhyphenf23ZzWxnwGyoBtmtlvlUHU/s320/as-the-sun-rises.jpg" width="240" wt="true" /></a><--- as the sun rises.</div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-15770658860422053372009-12-17T19:18:00.000-05:002009-12-17T19:18:54.393-05:00Zoning Out to see more of the worldIt's amazing what you see when you're not paying attention to what you're doing... or when you're "zoning out." When I'm like that, I tend to "feel" the world around me, if that makes any sense. I see more of my peripheral vision and things catch my attention in the corner of my eye... that leads me to distraction, but I find cool things that way sometimes. <br />
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I caught some really cool cloud formations like that one day:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCv3cNKdHgdCjUkEE7I1F87o_b1B1kM0GL8HWjM30xDy_f5MziqSKI1fTHwyz0NhVIzf7KRVeZoQW552h7y8VqddzAWGcyWd9CB8SIn8Ty8T8-cgD2QCDEcbg_rYHKwVEp_GhIaPPf6Uc/s1600-h/IMG_4021_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCv3cNKdHgdCjUkEE7I1F87o_b1B1kM0GL8HWjM30xDy_f5MziqSKI1fTHwyz0NhVIzf7KRVeZoQW552h7y8VqddzAWGcyWd9CB8SIn8Ty8T8-cgD2QCDEcbg_rYHKwVEp_GhIaPPf6Uc/s320/IMG_4021_sm.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">People were driving along under these miraculous clouds, talking on their cell phones, putting on mascara, eating, doing whatever, but as I watched the clouds and the traffic go by, no one seemed to take notice of the "doom" from above. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who notices stuff like this.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOdSVudc448UipgjkF80EofyYngOQ8IU3gilWeytKcaiRQHwAPRkSdkvFmqyMZyy5CvNMicvDqoqfF7g0k7ieQRfsh_OFpYCz3OLOJMWqMs-reslupAsGdFDoLJZI0xJ4bX3ySCyEyEs/s1600-h/IMG_4035_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOdSVudc448UipgjkF80EofyYngOQ8IU3gilWeytKcaiRQHwAPRkSdkvFmqyMZyy5CvNMicvDqoqfF7g0k7ieQRfsh_OFpYCz3OLOJMWqMs-reslupAsGdFDoLJZI0xJ4bX3ySCyEyEs/s320/IMG_4035_sm.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Above, you can see some of the rain. The very middle of this pic has a portion of the cloud that was actually "rolling" - I fully expected for this to turn into a tornado, or at the very least a horrific storm, but strangely enough, we had very little happen. Some rain and thunder, a little lightening, but rather anti-climactic. Beautiful clouds, though! <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggojIuY_L1uXyjGYYVUQTXf6F5vaaNfyxBoIz5MC-odZBFm7PLwqG0vXWasIcw2lmidbPpJnN-vNv5SqwyAlq19Lero6nFaEgxV8gVJ6wjqckmXBJ02gbYR8A9i7kZ0JJzSt7di1lmEjA/s1600-h/IMG_4026_sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggojIuY_L1uXyjGYYVUQTXf6F5vaaNfyxBoIz5MC-odZBFm7PLwqG0vXWasIcw2lmidbPpJnN-vNv5SqwyAlq19Lero6nFaEgxV8gVJ6wjqckmXBJ02gbYR8A9i7kZ0JJzSt7di1lmEjA/s320/IMG_4026_sm.jpg" /></a><br />
</div>Here are some more points coming down. These clouds took up the whole sky and went on for miles. I actually pulled over on the highway just to take these pics.<br />
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Anyone else have any really cool pics to share? What do you "see" when you <i>Zone Out?</i>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-72741719822101354712009-12-16T10:49:00.003-05:002009-12-16T10:52:52.887-05:00How to get back at a co-worker on vacation...<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> This is too funny and I just had to share!</span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Click this link ---> </span><a href="http://cdstewart.blogspot.com/2008/08/boxed-up-cubicle.html"><span style="font-size: x-large;">boxed-up-cubicle</span></a>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-40543510342710489862009-12-16T10:08:00.000-05:002009-12-16T10:08:20.923-05:00Misc stuff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEl4SF6akkev2b96g0pIBL1x0JK-dWXKAUn3OUee78f-BLhf1wDE3icV9NJwmL6op_n6dIeu90LNVDjR0eMGJQ9T6Dq2V62RGDPmAFqBOOtVRHGKOiD5F6IGCTPjdjaBu3bvKG69J7bA/s1600-h/time_zones.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPEl4SF6akkev2b96g0pIBL1x0JK-dWXKAUn3OUee78f-BLhf1wDE3icV9NJwmL6op_n6dIeu90LNVDjR0eMGJQ9T6Dq2V62RGDPmAFqBOOtVRHGKOiD5F6IGCTPjdjaBu3bvKG69J7bA/s640/time_zones.gif" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Found this handy little Time Zone pic at <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/pages/unions/read_article.php?topic_id=22805600&union_id=308">GameSpot.com</a><br />
</div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-63802725456914120762009-08-25T18:28:00.005-04:002009-08-26T01:57:01.396-04:00It's all in the Attitude<span style="font-family: verdana; color: rgb(51, 153, 153);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Attitudes</span></span><br /><br />Everyone's got one. Good, bad, sarcastic, irritating, cranky, pissy, negative, positive... pick an adjective, any adjective... they're all covered. The problem is that the negative ones seem to out-weigh the positive ones in our society today. Stand in any line and wait for service anywhere and you'll see it plain as the nose on your face. Somebody (and I'm not saying it's you) is complaining about how long the line is, someone's upset about how slow it's moving, someone else is irritated at something else, and on and on....<br /><br />It's contageous, actually. Misery loves company and it's an ice-breaker among strangers in a very long, and otherwise uncomfortably silent, line. It's the same on the other side of the counter too. The poor workers get abused all day long by people, when they're just there to get a very small paycheck. It's not their fault that the company didn't staff them properly in the first place and they just need to vent, so they complain to each other, the next person in line hears it and then the attitude spreads even more.<br /><br />But, believe it or not, a positive attitude can be contageous as well... it's just harder to keep up for some reason. The old saying "The squeeky wheel gets the oil" stands true and it also helps us to correct what's going wrong in business. If we don't know what we're doing wrong, how can we expect improve? <span style="font-style: italic;">But </span>how can we continue to grow in the right direction if no one tells us we're doing right? Kudos are just as important and I think people forget to give them most of the time. But if someone is doing really well in an area, don't you think it would be helpful to let them know, "hey, keep up the good work!" so they don't change what they're doing to something that's not as good? If they don't get any praise, they may think they're not doing anything right.<br /><br />Back to the positives... The other day, I was in a very slow moving line at McDonalds. Apparently it had been that way for a while... and when I finally made it to the window to pay, the young woman was smiling, very energetic and she said, with humor and emphasis, "Welcome to the first window! Not many people make it this far." We both laughed, I gave her my money, she gave me my change and said, "Thank you, good luck!" I thanked her and laughing, I drove to the next window to get my food. Unfortunately the next woman was not in the same mood. The second woman was very down, was very upset at work and being so short-handed. I tried to joke with her and say at least she had good job security, but she just complained more, so I said, "Well, at least you have a job." took my food and drove off. Fortunately, the first woman's attitude was still with me and I was still giggling over her witicism and it kept me in a pretty good mood for the rest of the day.<br /><br />But why does a bad mood spread quicker than a good mood? I'll walk into work in a pleasant mood, most everyone else will be in a decent mood as well... then one person... one bad apple, as they say... spoils the bunch. Why is it? Studies show it, or so I've heard, but what is it about that negative energy that's so powerful that the other surrounding positive energy gets morphed... transformed... warped into the negative? Why can't the happy people snuf out the negative person's negative energy and turn them around? "Hey why so mad? why so sad? why so glum? what's so wrong, so upsetting? etc... here, let us help you!"<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 153); font-style: italic;font-size:180%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">AH HA! Eureka!</span></span><br /><br />Maybe that's the key! I think that could be what's wrong... why the negative spreads quicker... because the positive people stay quiet... they don't help... they're ashamed of being happy... or don't want to "get involved"... don't want to bring attention to themselves and bring the wrath of the upset person down upon themselves. So, everyone stays quiet, and the guilt allows the misery to take over. <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 153, 153); font-weight: bold;">Bingo!</span> The Devil's gotcha!<br /><br />So, now what do you do? Have a meeting at work? Decide to be strong on your own? Pray for strength every day? Talk to the other positive people in your close network of coworker/friends? Well, why not all of the above? One step at a time.Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-68466812898371532022009-08-15T17:39:00.019-04:002009-08-15T19:59:02.194-04:00Distraction, Digression, Deviation, Disruption...Distractions can be bad... or they can be good... depends upon your outlook. I got onto my laptop to work on my assignment for school (quite a large assignment that will take me a few hours to do) and got distracted as I was doing research. I started looking up my subjects and other things caught my eye and I started surfing the web... more and more, I got further away from my subject... I now have about twenty-eight tabs open in my window, I don't even see the one for my class anymore because it was the first one opened.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 255, 255); font-weight: bold;font-family:lucida grande;font-size:180%;" >Distracted! </span><br /><br />Total Disruption of my goal... it's now dinner time, I haven't eaten all day and my schoolwork <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">still</span> isn't done! And now I'm here on my blog talking about it! But I had a thought and just needed to voice it. Hence why I started this blog in the first place, but I digress..... (pun intended)<br /><p class="zemanta-img zemanta-action-dragged" style="margin: 1em; float: right; display: block; width: 151px;"><a style="font-family: zemantaDummyFont;" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2373/2124673642_115fb71c69_m.jpg"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2373/2124673642_115fb71c69_m.jpg" alt="Frosty Morning Web" style="border: medium none ; display: block; width: 141px; height: 127px;" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/43145783@N00/2124673642">foxypar4</a> via Flickr</span></p><br />So, was it a bad thing that I got distracted?<br /><br />Well, as I traveled accross the internet's intricately weaved web, <p class="zemanta-img zemanta-action-dragged" style="margin: 1em; float: right; display: block; width: 110px;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3266842478_20674f9a87_m.jpg"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3464/3266842478_20674f9a87_m.jpg" alt="Server Cabling" style="border: medium none ; display: block; width: 100px; height: 150px;" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/34289491@N03/3266842478">A3sthetix</a> via Flickr</span></p>I came across a really interesting picture on diviantArt.com where one of the Diviant's took an HDR photo.<br /><br />It was beautiful! Morbid... yes, but beautiful.<br /><br /><a href="http://madame-boudoir.deviantart.com/art/Alone-112723917" target="_blank">http://madame-boudoir.deviantart.com/art/Alone-112723917</a><br /><br />But WTF is HDR??<br /><br />So, I surfed some more and found a tutorial on how to fake an HDR photo, where it was explained what an HDR photo actually is. It's when you take multiple photos of the same subject (and in her case, this was a little girl... imagine a little girl holding completely still for this!) and superimposing them on top of each other to get an impossibly high definition photo. It's actually quite amazing and stunning, when done properly.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.deke.com/content/faking-hdr-portrait" target="_blank">http://www.deke.com/content/faking-hdr-portrait</a><br /><br />So, I began practicing on some of my own photography.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 204, 255);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Still Distracted!</span></span><br /><br />I was utterly amazed at what I was able to do. I had some noteworthy photos of my own that I took of some "nature" a while back. A large snail was one of them and I was very happy with the original photo. It came out very nice and the color was bright, but apparently, I was wrong. After applying his technique, the details came out so strongly... so vibrantly... I was totally blown away!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYU3rkKLET9zMIaG93KiMq-khg8weC6SeN_yUkZsF8dC__eoFLbtCxEXMK-xfrVXDBki3PRvbc1VdyLhswTdod87RlqeMhau6eyGR2VJ-r8Bn1j-sP8urgDyRanlGyfjGTsyqhwiJIBHc/s1600-h/SnailBefore.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYU3rkKLET9zMIaG93KiMq-khg8weC6SeN_yUkZsF8dC__eoFLbtCxEXMK-xfrVXDBki3PRvbc1VdyLhswTdod87RlqeMhau6eyGR2VJ-r8Bn1j-sP8urgDyRanlGyfjGTsyqhwiJIBHc/s320/SnailBefore.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370317911813694674" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUmiMPm6moYfr_gEN6LO8ViZuGKzKmzILo5xPApEMitiav6Y6HYWdwWnA-cK5QRxxd0yIQhBAx1OqZwY3QU4Yk6HANnFYhTAwLVPRtgWz5iRvHkjl8hO9ZmsWu9UQbzR2u4qkup4ZxTFM/s1600-h/SnailAfter.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUmiMPm6moYfr_gEN6LO8ViZuGKzKmzILo5xPApEMitiav6Y6HYWdwWnA-cK5QRxxd0yIQhBAx1OqZwY3QU4Yk6HANnFYhTAwLVPRtgWz5iRvHkjl8hO9ZmsWu9UQbzR2u4qkup4ZxTFM/s320/SnailAfter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5370318267749360962" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Another photo, a potrait, was taken for the purposes of work... it came out amazingly good and I will be showing my boss on Monday. He was already impressed with my photography skills. Wait 'til he sees what I can do now!<br /><br />In the meantime, I still haven't finished my schoolwork... it's now 6pm... I still haven't eaten anything at all today... and all I've accomplished today is (a load of laundry and some dishes when first woke up at 8:30am this morning and...) surfing the web.<br /><br />So... Was the distraction good or bad?<br /><br />I leave it to you to decide.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;" class="zemanta-pixie"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://reblog.zemanta.com/zemified/c2d6ef57-0f2c-4dba-b10a-58deba00ebb8/" title="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]"><img style="border: medium none ; float: right; width: 51px; height: 13px;" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=c2d6ef57-0f2c-4dba-b10a-58deba00ebb8" alt="Reblog this post [with Zemanta]" /></a><span class="zem-script more-related more-info pretty-attribution paragraph-reblog"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://static.zemanta.com/readside/loader.js" defer="defer"></script></span></div>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-163614286850211586.post-57209372571121921652009-08-14T19:20:00.000-04:002009-08-14T19:39:03.129-04:00Peace, Harmony & Balance (part one)<span style="font-family: verdana;">It's amazing to me, how much more I notice around me, the more peaceful I feel. I've recently had some amazing changes in my life and have found a sense of calm that seems to surround me more often than not. I don't seem to get as frazzled during the day at work as I used to... I don't get as stressed out as I used to... I don't worry quite as much... etc. <br /><br />I stopped smoking, stopped drinking coffee, don't drink or do drugs, and, yes, I was recently baptized, so I "found religion" if you want to put it that way. I've <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> been a christian, but I've just made more of an effort than I had been and it seems to have made quite an impact on things.<br /><br />I still struggle with bills and time management... I'm still overworked and haven't had a raise in who-knows-how-long.... but I trust that God will take care of everything. Now, I've always trusted that He would take care of everything... and He always has... but I've always worried about everything until He came through for me too... and was exhausted with the worry. I don't feel all that worry as much. Oh, maybe a moment or two, but it goes away and I move on to what needs to be done.<br /><br />But back to what I was initially talking about. I've always been one for noticing nature and things that would normally go unnoticed by the average Joe Schmoe on the street. But lately, I seem to be noticing a LOT more. Things seem to be falling into place and making sense more for me in my life and in my understanding of things around me, what I read, what I learn, what I hear, etc. <br /><br />Is it because I'm more at peace? More in harmony with the world and with myself? With God? All of the above? I'm leaning toward the later, but whatever the answer is, I'm beginning to like it!<br /></span>Oddysseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00246101119255832415noreply@blogger.com0