Libertad's Journal

01/21/2007 18:33 #37808

Picture frames and stuff

My last semester is finally here. Five more classes starting tomorrow and after 7 years I will have my Bachelor degree. My schedule sucks and on two nights of the week I'll be in class until 7:15. Long night classes are awful. I'm not sure when is the best time to go to the gym now because it seems like I crash after working out. Some people get tons of energy and I do too, but there is a period where I crash and burn and it isn't good when it happens in class.

I am sending a few of my ice storm pictures to my grandparents to show my appreciation for them. I got a frame at Target for about $20 that fits all three of them. The first one I wanted to get was darker and I'm glad I didn't get it cause it would have looked wierd in their house. Usually I don't give pictures as gifts even though I want to because everyone's taste is different and I don't want them to feel bad if they don't want to hang it. I think my grandparents will like this though. They have always encouraged my photography since I was like 15. I have done quite a bit of frame shopping and they are quite expensive. I did manage to get 5 or 6 4x6 frames at the dollar store and then I realized you can't hang them up so I have to get special hardware to do that. Most of the time I leave all my pics as Digital files, so I'm trying to break that habit and get some printed. I got the photos developed at Delaware Cam for .19 each. If anyone knows a cheaper place but equal quality let me know.

Here is the completed frame. It looks better in person. The lighting made it look yellowish.

I entered Coco into a photo contest for some rabbit magazine but haven't heard back. I'm not sure my pics do so well in contests but I love them all the same. Wab isn't the type that they usually feature in the publication. We didn't even know what his "breed" was. I don't care really. People that care all that much about breeds are sometimes a bit crazy. I used to show dogs so I know. It was so stupid.

Here is Coco. I think I notice him aging. I kind of like it, you don't always get to see rabbits aging. Maybe he is 4 years old?

The frame I got for my grandparents is kind of big. Im not even sure what to do to send it. Maybe I'll just go to mailboxes etc. and ask them to pack it and everything. I hope it isn't super expensive because i'm trying not to squander my money.

theecarey - 01/22/07 22:49
What a wonderful choice of pictures! I would find this to be a magnificent gift- it is something you created and that you want the recipient to have. You grandparents will adore it!

Coco looks wise, like he has some great stories to tell. It was nice touching noses with Coco :)

mike - 01/21/07 23:56
i think it is an awesome gift that they will love. I think like getting pictures as gifts!

jenks - 01/21/07 22:38
I'll second that. I think it's an awesome gift. Thoughtful and personal and one of a kind. :)

imk2 - 01/21/07 18:56
ok, i was trying to tell you this in chat, but you didnt see me. i love this present. i think they will love it too. i would love it if someone gave me something like that.

01/15/2007 16:01 #37701

MLK ON ICE

dcoffee - 01/23/07 16:08
Hey Great Stuff!

inspiraysean - 01/22/07 11:40
killer snaps, nice work!

twisted - 01/19/07 21:19
Those are the hottest, sexiest, ice pictures ever! (Sorry, just now catching up.)

theecarey - 01/15/07 23:59
Very lovely pics, Lib. Something about everything being encased in ice- time stands still- everything is quiet. I am particularly fond of the statue head with icicles.
Have you been outside this evening? if it is quiet where you are, the sound of the ice on the trees can be heard. It is almost deafening in my yard.. but go up to a tree branch and you will hear it.
Thanks for sharing all of these! :)
And btw, it has been a really long time since I have seen you anywhere. maybe coffee or we can both vist LC soon.

ladycroft - 01/15/07 19:22
lovely. when the world outside is covered in ice it's so beautiful i feel like i'm on another planet. i miss you. want to come over and chant?

metalpeter - 01/15/07 19:19
First of all thanks for sharing those pictures, I don't really have a favorite but some of them are amazing.

jenks - 01/15/07 18:47
Wow! great pix! I thought I was on matthew's post for a second. All day when I was out I was thinking 'I hope someone is taking pix of this". Glad you were. So gorgeous. :)

mrmike - 01/15/07 18:13
Great pictures. thanks for sharing. agreeing with lilho

vycious - 01/15/07 16:33
I WANT MY NEW CAMERA SOOOOO BADDD! its being shipped as i type.

lilho - 01/15/07 16:27
awesome, you have some mad camera skillz.

01/12/2007 00:06 #37654

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

So I guess escallating the war is being called a Hail Maliki pass, as in the Hail Mary pass in football. I have always liked this prayer for some reason.

So here are some quotes from our DEFENSE SECRETARY

"I would confess I am no expert on Iraq."

"I am no expert of military matters."

How sad.

Maybe I just don't know the full context of these quotes, but they are still scary. I feel bad for the troops that have to serve longer than they had signed up for. What a way to get shit on.

source of quotes

libertad - 01/13/07 18:05
As far as I know Def. Sec Gates plays an important role in iraq policy. That is why these quotes upset me and that has not changed at all. I may not know exactly where def. secratrie's responsibilities lie, but I am still fairly certain that a recently appointed one should be pretty damn knowledgeable on the situation there. Who knows maybe he didn't even say these things or they were taken out of context. The quotes were removed from the article. Is he better than Rumsfeld? probably, but I wasn't comparing him to anyone. Point was that if the quotes really do express his true sentiment than it saddens me. Just a statement really of how I reacted to reading the quotes.

joshua - 01/12/07 14:19
The important thing to remember when people get brought into Cabinet-level positions such as SecDef, is that these people (with the possible exception of SecState) are bureaucrats that essentially serve as a liason between their respective Departments and the Executive Branch.

SecDefs are not military men - it is a civilian position that occasionally have people with military pasts. Some SecDefs had previous experience in the post - Rummy was President Ford's SecDef 30 years ago. VP Cheney was a SecDef under Bush 41. Bill Clinton's last SecDef, Richard Cohen, got an undergrad degree in Latin and went on to become a lawyer and a Congressman. Secretary Gates served for decades in the CIA and eventually became DCI - the top position within "the farm." Some come from corporate backgrounds. Usually the criteria for these candidates require them to have run a large company or branch of government - the Pentagon itself is a large bureaucracy with a massive budget so there is a very striking correlation.

Ultimately, the SecDef does not write military strategy - this is up to the top 4-stars within each branch.

chico - 01/12/07 09:16
Hey (e:Libertad) I have some thoughts about the SecDef's remarks but I decided to post them as a journal entry ( (e:chico,44) ).

01/10/2007 20:28 #37632

Alvin! Simon! Theodore!

I was just chatting with (e:mrmike) and for some reason I remembered one of the toys from my childhood. Now I'm so sad that neither I or my parents still have any of these toys. We moved a lot and it just didn't seem important to keep anything. Really I don't think I have any more toys.

When I loved Christmas, I would play the Alvin and the Chimpmunk's Xmas album on my fisher price record player. It would drive my parents insane to hear their 'chipmunk' voices all high and chipmunk like 24/7. I can't imagine why they wouldn't like it. A couple of years ago I found the album on vinyl in perfect condition.

Wascally Wabbit chewed the corners oh so slightly. Now it is in near mint condition...

One Xmas me and my brother and sister all got a Chipmunk doll. My older sister got Simon, I got Alvin and my brother got THeodore. When you pull the string it would say things like "Alvin loves you"

I also had this. It is so awesome.

At a flea market in Florida I found Theodore out of the three in their glassware set. Now I just need to find Alvin and Simon.

metalpeter - 01/11/07 18:09
I still have an LP of a group called the grasshopers sing Alvin and the chipmunks. It is weird cause they have the part of dave on the albulm also.

mrmike - 01/10/07 20:43
The Chipmonks still show up on the Boomerang cartoon channel. That classic 60s animation where only the mouths moved during dialogue. Very Kitchy!

01/08/2007 18:35 #37593

I saved

I saved, I thought that meant something to you.

joshua - 01/11/07 09:12
This has gotta be the double/triple coupon day type of thing - I've never been good at saving money at the grocery store so this is completely alien to me.

My buddy with 3 kids though? He's a flippin' 10th degree black belt at coupon clipping.

oda - 01/09/07 16:13
good for you! you saved 31%, that requires some serious bargain hunting and coupon clipping. fun times at tops indeed.

tops should start putting the percent you save on the receipts to show how much cheaper they are. one grocery store in massachusetts did that and i always liked to play the game "see how much i can save." i liked the great sales they had. once when they had triple coupons and i got paid to buy rice a roni, because it was already on sale. i love grocery shopping!

i can't figure out why the co-op always gives you way less than the 2% discount they're supposed to give. yesterday i spent 15.82 there and they only took off 12 cents. i only saved .7%

inspiraysean - 01/08/07 20:14
think I saved like .90 cents with my wegman's shoppers club card today.

chico - 01/08/07 20:08
It means something to ME, bee-atch. How the h-e-double-hockey-sticks did you save over $62 on your grocery bill? And do you do consulting work for those of us who are happy when we manage to save $1.50 in beer-bottle refunds?