Living In the World, Not on It

Isn't this amazing? I love this image and I enjoy sunrises. I happen to enjoy sunsets, too, but I never seem to be in a place where the sunset is spectacular and also can be taken while indoors and get this rather unusual look. I take images through glass all the time, especially this time of year, since I have this thing about being cold. I have taken many rising sun images from all over but there is something about this glass that creates the "phantom sun" that is in the lower part of the image. And amazingly enough, I may have somehow gotten the moon. It was a new moon when I took this last week, and I don't know how, but there is a crescent-shaped shadow in front of the phantom sun. It's the only image that came out this way. So maybe something else created that shadow... dirt on the glass? But if it was dirt, why didn't it show up in any other photo? I stood there and took images of the rising sun from the same spot for a few minutes, many images. (The fi...

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I went onto e-bay yesterday at my parents' house to check on a couple of items and then, out of sheer boredom, began looking for other good buys. I'm always on the lookout for older, outdated flavours that I would still buy from the stores if they carried them. Then I found these! Saying I'm delighted would be an understatement. And I knew - knew - what an amazing deal 3 of these candles at 40 pus shipping was. With just 19.5 hours to go, I figured I'd put a bid in, expecially as no one had put anything in to date. In five minutes, four more bids showed up - from the same person. One person jumped on this - either s/he had been watching it all along or s/he'd been on and found it just as I had. So that bidder missed the first two on this one - I had opened the bid at $45 - and on the third, the price showed as $46. I was looking at this when Ray asked me questions about bidding and how it works. So I showed him by putting in a bid for $47, which still showed as out...

I'm enjoying the beginning of January. There is something to be said for the languid laziness now that the holidays are officially over. I took the tree and the last of the lights down last night, put away most of the booty from it, and finished watching the two NetFlix movies that Luis ordered. The house is okay, I just need to move the furniture back into place and get the livingroom looking more like the livingroom again. The corner where the tree was is very empty. I should figure out the best place for the tower as well. My iPod tower. I love it. The sound quality is amazing. It is one tall, slender speaker with a little interface for the iPod at the top and I find that it sounds like surround sound, without the five million wires and five speakers. It is wonderful! Yesterday my boots arrived and that is the official end of Christmas gifts as well. That is a little bit disappointing - I love receiving gifts. But I have my birthday coming up soon, so not all is lost. I've s...

Ready to see if your Sun sign will shine in 2009? Go to above listed Website to look up your personal horoscope. From your career path to your amorous adventures to just life in general, Astrology.com takes a good long look at what the stars have in store for you this year! Click on your Sun sign below to get started with your 2009 Yearly Overview, and then check out the stellar insights into Your Career in 2009 and Your Romantic Life in 2009. Here’s to a cosmic time in 2009! Aquarius January 20 – February 18 Career Overview » Romantic Overview » (blogger's note: I'm just putting this up here for the interest and fun of doing so. By no means do I take this seriously in that they don't know me and tailor it my needs. But I am skeptical about all of this - seems a bit hocus-pocus, if you know what I mean.) But let us see what the Career and Romantic Overviews will give us... Aquarius Outlook for 2009 Year 2009 Career Your imagination needs a creative outlet for you to do yo...

That's right. I have been completely non-productive today. I have done nothing. I fed the kitten. That was my one and only contribution to anyone else. I have spent the morning in the living room, firmly ensconced on the couch, pillows built up, the iod implanted on my iTower with all kinds of stuff - JoCo, U2, Sam Cooke, Bill Engvall, George Carlin, Coldplay, etc. playing. The fire is roaring in the fireplace - well, it was a moment ago. I guess it has caught up to whatever temperature Luis had set it. I have had a bit to eat. I have sucked down three or four bottles of water (well... water laced with Crystal Lite... my chemical mix for the day... you have to wonder if this really is okay, especially in the quantities I drink it). George Carlin is talking about people wasting time when they first get into work. He made the comment that no one ever sees a memo with the time 9:01. True. I produce memos around 0630. Even better! And then the comment about you can get a half hour out ...

How'd that happen? Where did it go? Normally this is where I would say that 2008 was just horrendous and 2009 has to be better. What an idiot I am. It is what I make of it. No year goes by that doesn't have its horrors. No year goes by that doesn't have its shining moments. They are all like that - the good and the bad, the memorable and the unmentionable. And if I go around moping about the year I'm in and saying that it can't get worse and the next year has to be all smiles and no tears, well, I'll never find the happiness that I'm always telling others I feel. In general I am happy (today was a huge exception to the rule - it was good from 0330, when I woke up to around 0830 but really turned to shit after that), and somehow I let the unhappy moments rule my life and then when December comes along, dragging all the "holidays" and ultimately the big change of the year (which is strictly a manmade thing and doesn't even tie in with astronomy)...

Some pictures from the Christmas Eve festivities: My cousin Renee with her Lambie blanket. I got myself a couple of those, too. I love how soft it is and knew she would, too. True to form, she loved it. This is my Uncle Raoul, Luis and Aunt Amy. Luis is trying to set up the iTouch that Amy got for Christmas. They'll have to hook it up to the laptop or primary computer to really do that, but she seems to like the toy. Renee with her Lambie. Another successful gift! Alex with one of many, many books that he got! He did really well with the books and DVDs and such. So did all of us - it is a great family that I am part of in that we all read a lot. Renee with her father at the dinner table.

25 December 2008 3x Thursday: 12/25/y2k+8: Merry Platypus, One And All! 1. What are you doing for Xmas this year? The usual: my mother's family on Long Island on Christmas Eve, my parents' house on Christmas Day, and then we exchanged gifts and had dinner with Tom, Alayna and Matthew last night. I have a couple of gifts to send out this week. Otherwise, I'm pretty much done. 2. What items are on your wishlist this year? The shorter list is what isn't on my list... My Amazon Wish List is usually 4 pages long. I want candles all of the time but no one wants to fund that. I got a lot of nice things, and I am not unhappy. I did regift something from Luis' father and the recepient loves it. I don't use hand lotions; my skin is never dry. 3. What do you think about the idea of gift giving in general. Do you think it's necessary? Why/why not? There are a great many things that humans do that has nothing or little to do with necessity; but it is fun and enjoyable an...

November is gone, just like that. Welcome December. Where did the time go? Time is the most amazing commodity we have. It cannot be saved or held, but it is still the best thing to have. On occasion, one has "too much time" on his or her hands. And yet, what do we gripe about most? Not having enough time. But time is like everything else. It is what you make of it. Make the most of it, then. Maybe I am flaky and crazy, but at least I enjoy every minute of it. I'm a happy smiling person and time is my friend. I make the best of it all. So today was the first day of the week and the month, the last month of 2008. The year has had its high and low points. But at the end of the day, it is the high points that make the low ones bearable. The bad with the good. I started my day at 0444, sharp. Up and out of bed; showered and dressed by 0530, on my way to work by 0544. I love that I can get ready in one hour. I'm always amazed that women take so long to get ready to leave th...