Crazy Bad!

Wow.. those were some crazy bad storms that just blew through! Bad enough where you start wishing that the office building actually had a basement! At the same time it was one of those wierd "it hurts when I do that, let me try that again.. yup.. still hurts" moments... The storm was so dark that we ended up shutting off the lights and closing the office door to enhance the lightening flashes and opening the window so we could hear the boom of the thunder. It was spectacular... in a "I'm really scared and I want my Mommy!" kinda way!

It's funny how weather can effect you. I found myself stopping at the grocery store on the way home to pick up the ingredients for one of my 'comfort foods' - Onion Soup Spaghetti! YUM! Nothing calms you down like a belly full of warm "I grew up on this stuff" type food! (if you want the recipe - shoot me a comment)... unless it's a big glass of really cheap Wally-mart wine! But of course... what else would you drink with a big plate o' pasta? So basically I should be comatose by 7:30! WOOHOO!

Later...

Wrong... again

So Dear Readers, it's just shy of a year that I've been writing 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10! We'll have to plan something special for the Bloggy Birthday! Oh, but what? See the problem here is the word "plan"... I don't think I've ever planned a single one of the posts that you've read here! Oh a couple of times I've sketched out my post in my head on that long trip up 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10, but to say that I actually plan my posts.. nope.. and now it turns out that that is all wrong!

Lately I've been reading a couple of those articles "How to Blog" and "How do you Blog?" and well... ok.. so I've been doing it all wrong... Turns out I'm supposed to use a Word Processer to sketch out a rough draft, tweak it for days, correct my spelling and grammar, and good Lord, my PUNCTUATION... ... ... Then I'm supposed to save the finished document in case something ever goes horribly wrong with Blogger and they lose my posts so that I'll have a backup that I can restore from. After all this is done, then, and only then, do I copy and paste my perfectly edited copy into the Blogger interface! OH.. and then there's the "idea document", yup it seems that on those days when the ideas just flow like the wind, I'm supposed to write them all down for future use. You know for those days when I just can't come up with something to write about... YEAH RIGHT! Where's the fun in that I ask you!

If I had followed all those rules you would never have seen such great posts on here as the great "Paul McCartney Sucks" post... That post actually got me more comments than anything else I've written in here... So much for following those pesky "research your topic BEFORE you write" rules! Again... what fun would that be?

No... thanks anyway... I'll keep typing from the seat of my pants thank you... complete with spelling errors and improper grammar... and ... naturally... lots... of... elipses.... ok... so I'll be a LITTLE more careful with my facts... but hey... gettin' stuff wrong is how we learn right? Why spend all that time making sure I've got stuff right when there are so many people out there willing to point out my errors? I'll just let you guys spot me and maybe we'll ALL learn somethin'! I'll type and you guys can be my editors and research department, after all, aren't blogs supposed to be interactive? I'll post the corrections to my entries, I promise, and we'll all have a good laugh at my expense, cause that's just how I am... Someone in their right mind might just go in and hit the delete key next to their stupidity and hope it all just goes away, but no.. not me... here you will get the FULL story... complete with tons of ellipses for emphasis!

Later...

Rust

The add photo in the blogger interface... yup.. pretty cool.. We still get the 'click to enlarge' with the added benefit of aligning the text around the picture! Nice! It even adds a nice alt tag to the pics!

So here's the latest pic - this one might be headed for a greeting card - nothing says "Thinking of You!" like a rusty old lantern!

Charming...

Wow... photos!

Well... so it turns out you can now add pics to the blog directly in your blogger interface. Cool... Of course the coolness factor remains to be seen. There really is no documentation as to how small is small, how medium is medium and yeah, how large is large. I'm used to using hello which allows you to select your size by using pixel counts, and then there's that handy "click to go to the original size" feature.

So here's the first use of the new blogger photo adder. This is the non-photoshopped version of the funky dragon-fly I posted a couple of days ago. This is actually the last known photo of our friend here as is little body was found broken and lifeless a couple of days later on the bumper of my husbands truck. We'll always have Photoshop!

Later

When EXACTLY do I get to "know better"?

We've all heard it... "You should know better!"... For a while there in my teens I thought that was my new middle name "Laura Youshouldknowbetter"... so... I'm still waiting... when EXACTLY do I get to know better? Huh?? Answer me that one... Is there a certain age? A level of maturity? Well... me and my orange ankles would like to know when that is thank you very much! Yes... Orange freakin' ankles... OH.. it all started harmlessly enough.. just a little dry skin on my legs.. that's all.. so it was off to Wally-mart for the cure.

Standing in front of the moisturizer aisle I was presented with what seemed like billions of choices.. creams.. sprays... with aloe.. with vitamin e... alpha hydroxy.. oh.. what to choose! And then I spotted it... the Jergens Natural Glow daily moisterizer... Well, hello there! It's 2 birds in one creamy bottle! You mean I can cure my dry skin and get a natural healthy glow all in one? Awesome... imagine... soft silky glowing skin on my legs, and all for less than 5 bucks! Well howdy do and sign me up!

So.. here I sit - three applications of this wonder product later when I notice that gee... my legs do feel smoother.. the stuff must be working... OH MY.. and my thighs are a little 'glowy' looking... nice! And then I spot it... the orange dirty looking ring around my ankle... OH GOD!! It's on both legs! I look positively diseased... or at least like I hadn't scrubbed my ankles since the first George exclaimed "Read my lips!".. *sigh...

Apparently "youshouldknowbetter" occurs sometime after the age of 42!

Later...

It's F'in Thursday!

I hate the F word... I mean really hate it... in my opinion the only people that use the F word are ignorant or crude or worse yet, trying to 'sound cool'... ummm NO! NOT cool! So... okay... as I'm sure my neighbors will attest, why then did they hear the words "you F'in this".. and "F'in that" being screamed in my front yard this morning? I hate to admit it, but yeah.. that was my foul-mouthed rant that the whole neighborhood heard this mornin'... For 40 minutes straight they were entertained by a stream of profanity so loud and colorful it would have made a Quentin Tarrentino movie sound like Disney had gotten their hands in on the editing process! And what caused this uncharacteristic rant? A little 17 pound dog that JUST WON'T GET HER F'IN ASS IN THE F'IN HOUSE! GGGGRRR!!!

For 40 minutes I tried to capture the little shit... all I wanted to do was leave for work... that's all... is that too much to ask?? Apparently yes... it is... I tried treats... I tried milk.. I tried sneaking up on her... and when all that failed I resorted to screaming "F U" at the top of my lungs! It finally took starting my truck and sitting there for 4 minutes and finally the stupid little shit decided she would come along... HA... GOTCHA! Of course that was followed by me carrying her to the house to throw her in while screaming.. "What the F is the matter with you!"

*sigh... yes.. I am throughly ashamed... but you know what... I also somehow feel cleansed... renewed even.. I guess everyone needs a good screaming fit every now and then and I certainly had mine this morning... so okay... we're back to normal now... hopefully it'll be another 10 years before I sink to that crude and ignorant level again... at least I'm sure the F'in neighbors are hoping so!

Later...

*sigh...
Later

Groovy!

Check out the quickie excersize in family below... At a family Graduation bbq the first photo was making the rounds... that's my sis-in-law, third from the left, heading out to her senior prom 27 years ago! NICE FRO! Then.. working my way thru the crowd of family I captured the 2nd pic posted below, of my big bro, the husband of the sis-in-law.. and third pic.. naturally... a combo of the two! HA! Pure evil!

Later...

Never let someone
Later

who has Photoshop
Later

take your picture!
Later

Where did that come from?

If you've been reading along here on 9 2 Bay 2 9 2 10 you know that a few months ago I added the little "Ads by Goooogle" to the side of my blog... this is a little bit of 'smart technology' where it scans your text and displays ads that are pertinent to whatever you've blogged about... all and all it's been pretty clever... when my Caribbean vacation was the topic of the month it displayed various ads for cruises and cruise lines.. My 'new prison program' entry prompted Prison Pen Pals ads... and right now - in response to my Pet Peeve #3 entry we have "Nose Filters" ads... I've never even heard of a nose filter!

So today I went in to my own blog - intent on blogging about those little ads - to see exactly what was displaying on my page... What did I find? An ad for "Sexy Girls & Sexy Guys"! HUH??? Where did that come from?? Was it my entry about "Release the Hairs"? eewww! Maybe it was the use of the phrase "frankly some of them lose something to the shrinkage... " double eewww! But no.. I think I figured it out.. it was the one quick reference to "Do you think Wacko Jacko is 'hot'"?? Now that's a HUGE EEEWWWW!! It's almost enough to make one watch what they type or contemplate removal of the ads... one reference to someone being 'hot' and we have potential porn ads... great.. just great... but... then again... maybe we should see if we can influence what kind of ads we get... maybe if I put some ambigous words in bold type we can have a little fun with the Google engine... words like... oh... how about BOOGIE? Will that score us more nose filters or dancing references? How about... PEANUTS.. will we get comics or nuts? ok.. one more.. JAM... will we get fruit spread or music? I guess only time will tell..

Later...

A little little..

It's a little frustrating... naturally I've got to go with a smaller version of my pics here on the blog and frankly some of them lose something to the shrinkage... remember you can click on the pics and get the full version of them! Almost all of them will open to 1024 pixels across (provided I haven't cropped them, which usually I don't do, I just try to take the best picture I can so it doesn't need any touching up!).. perfect for desktop wallpaper.. just please shoot me a comment if you intend to use any of them in any way... I'd appreciate your courtesy... and be tickled to boot!

I've been having some of my favorites printed up and made into blank greeting cards.. if you'd like some yourself, again, comment me and I can have some made up from my originals for you too at a reasonable cost... (Take that Hallmark! You can keep your canned 5 dollar greetings!) I've got a batch of 'em on their way right now.. can't wait to see them.. of course they would have gotten here sooner if I had used the correct shipping address! Good thing their coming thru the good ole' US Post Office so my forwarding request should get them to me!

Later...

Have a Happy Photoshop Day!
Later

Watch out for the dragons!
Later

Photoshopped Johnny Jump-Ups - fresh from my garden (and pc) to you!
Later

Dogwood - prettius in pinkus
Later

Quickies...

Missing woman!

On Tuesday there was a "news flash" on Masslive about a missing 45 year old woman in Belchertown. No description - just 'missing' and that the cops were searching Cold Spring Road area for 2 days. Then nothing.. no articles.. no alerts.. nothing.. Then on Friday a quick article (cause that's all they ever have is a paragraph) on wwlp.com about an unidentified woman's body being found on Cold Spring Road.. Today however, there appears to be several smaller 'news flash' type articles on Masslive about this, funny, even tho I looked repeatedly for more info on this missing person I never found anything till today! So.. what's up with this? As you know I drive thru Belchertown almost daily, my husband is in town every weekend... we would have been happy to keep an eye out for her.. to help anyway we could... but it's kind of tough to help when they won't release any details... being a 40 something woman, I can only hope I don't have the misfortune of going missing in Belchertown if this is the kind of search effort they put forth! Now.. there may be extenuating circumstances in this case to explain the lack of information released to the public, but I would still hope that even if I just lost it and decided to disappear that there would be more of an effort to locate me...

Wacko Walks

Not Guilty on all counts... I still haven't sorted out the Jackson trial... of course I didn't pay all that much attention to it so I'm not all that familiar with what happened in court... One thing I can say, it seems that the Jury did a great job of sorting out their personal opinions from what they heard in court... Frankly, if they hadn't, they would have convicted him just on the Bashir interview alone... so... is Jacko a pedophile or just so maturity deficient that he has the mentality of an 8 year old boy complete with the desire for pajama parties? And what about those financial difficulties they've been reporting... I think I may have the answer... perhaps Wacko Jacko could become the posterchild for the National Mental Health Association! Their posters could read something like this:
- Did you release white doves and cry hysterically with joy at his acquittal?
- Do you think it's 'sweet' that he shares his bed with children?
- Would you allow your child to be alone with this man?
- Do you think he looks 'hot' and have requested your surgeon give you a nose like Michael?
- Do you think having an official 'umbrella holder' is really cool?
- Have you ever appeared in public in pajama bottoms?
- Do you have thousands of hours of video of you grabbing your own crotch but none of you kissing another person?
- Have you ever had a best friend named 'Bubbles'?
- Have you ever sung a love song to a rat?
- Are you a black male that could make a vampire look like they just spent 2 weeks in the Aruban sunshine?
- Have news reporters ever done a 10 minute rant stating "If being a freak was a crime he would be jailed immediately!"?

IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED YES TO ANY OF THE ABOVE QUESTIONS - PLEASE SEEK HELP IMMEDIATELY! BECAUSE NO-ONE SHOULD HAVE TO BE LIKE MIKE!

Release the Hairs!

Thankfully the humidity is now gone! I can now release my hair... if you have been 'blessed' with the same kinky curly hair as me, you know exactly what I mean! A couple more days of this humidity and my head would have become a public danger! "I swear I didn't see the stop sign officer, there was this woman in front of me with the biggest afro I've seen since 1972, and strangly enough, she was whiter than Michael Jackson!"

Later....

Snot Balls & Pet Peeves

Did you see that new breakthru they've made in Oceanography? Snot Balls... yup.. no kidding! Snot Balls! Something to the effect of Snot Ball houses bringing food to the ocean's floor and that's why there's more fish down there... brilliant! Which leads me to something that I haven't done in quite some time... Pet Peeves... that's right folks... this one is such a HUGE peeve of mine that I swear I blogged it before, but apparently not.. I just looked thru my archives and no where did this one pop up... so, here you go...

Pet Peeve #3

Nose blowers... oh, but not just any Nose Blower! PUBLIC Nose Blowers! You know.. just about nothing makes me crazier (note that this is peeve number THREE!) than sitting in a restaurant, enjoying a lovely meal, and having the person at the next table whip out a hanky, or napkin and blow a huge wad of snot out of their nose! Wonderful.. thanks so much... my dining experience just wouldn't be the same without the sound of your juicy snots flying from your nostrils! I swear I'm going to make up a business card or a little note of some kind saying:

"Thanks so much for enhancing my dining experience with your public nose blowing. My meal just wouldn't have been the same without the sound of your wad of snot hitting your napkin! Maybe next you could remove your shoes and use your spoon to remove the jam from between your toes! Next time, please use the rest room for your snot removal - this will ensure your privacy, you can check for any wayward boogers in the mirror afterwards, and the rest of us can eat without being completely grossed out! OH.. and you could freakin' WASH YOUR HANDS as well!"

I really think that would get my point across with the minimum amount of "making a scene". The snot-blower could just discreetly read the note, be properly corrected, and quietly go back to their meal. What do you think? OK.. so maybe we're back to the "trying to right the world" issue..

Later...

Got a secret?

I found this blog on a blog from blogger.. say that 5 times fast... then go to this address: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ but be warned - some of the secrets sent on these amazing postcards are pretty extreme... but all are RIVETING!!! A MUST read for anyone that is a student of the human race!

Then get out your box of 96 Crayola's, your scissors, the Elmer's glue, and dig those skeletons out of the closet! I just might stick a stamp on a few bones myself!

Therapy on a 4x6 chunk of cardboard and the only bill is the cost of a stamp... priceless!

Later

Ever worry about yourself?

Sometimes I do... you may be surprised to hear this, but I have my faults... yes that's right.. me... I have faults... one of them (but certainly not the least of them) is I tend to be judgemental... and of course I struggle with passing along my judgements to those that I have judged... Sometimes you just feel like you can see where someone is going wrong and you just get the overwhelming urge to scream it from the rooftops, call 'em up and "inform" them, shoot them an email, or at the very least blog it and hope they read it and see themselves in the nuggets of "wisdom" posted there...

Now I could put these judgemental urges down to "trying to save them"... or even "trying to help them with their various issues"... and the ever popular "been there, done that, here's how I got past it".. but frankly I worry that it may have more to do with "I think your screwing up and here's how I think you should change." note the plethora of "I think"s in that little statement... Why does what I think about your issues matter? What makes me think I know best? Maybe your happy... Maybe the only way you can work thru your 'issues' is to recognize them yourself... Maybe just the act of my pointing out what "I think" your issue is, is actually THE issue... Maybe there isn't an issue at all... When exactly does concern for someone turn to 'judging them'... and when does passing along concerns and possible solutions turn into meddling?

Huh... now we move into "helping people with their issues is the job of Therapists"... Does that mean that all Therapists are judgemental? but wait... therapists are supposed to remain impartial... right? So how can they treat you for something if they aren't allowed to make a judgement? Doesn't it all start with the Therapist deciding you have an issue that requires treatment? Or is the difference the fact that you have contacted the Therapist so therefor you think that you have an issue that you need help with - even if that help turns out to be realizing that it is really a non-issue that you shouldn't be worried about at all... OH.. and here we go.. back to.. who decides that it's a 'non-issue'.. the Therapist? but they aren't supposed to judge... DOH! Abbott & Costello "Who's on first?"

And that's exactly why I worry about myself sometimes... I can debate myself for hours on end... oh... but then maybe I'm missing the whole point... maybe there's an issue that I can't even see that makes me want to 'right the world'... or.. Maybe I'm judging myself too harshly and I actually may know a thing or two that could help someone else out.. is NOT saying anything when you may have an answer wrong as well? Does your reason for expressing an opinion or offering advice play a part in all of this? Does having the 'best intentions' justify meddling? Is it 'meddling' if you have the best intentions?

OK... so... now that you've all read this... which of you is worried about me too? and are ya' gonna tell me about it, or will you feel that you'd be meddling? ;)

Later...

Where did that darn cat go?
Later

Missing... again...

Just another crazy week... those darn Holidays... their great while they last but then it's back to work with a one day deficit! No rest for the wicked!

All week long I've been jonesing for some new music... Warren Haynes is awesome but even I need a little variety now and then. *Gasp.. imagine that... different music... I have a 6 disc cd player in my truck and currently 3 of those slots are occupied by Warren... Gov't Mule and Warren... Acoustic Warren... and Live Warren... slot 1 is empty (the manchild has been borrowing my truck and this slot has been designated for him)... slot 3 is occupied by Elvis Costello... and slot 5 is a compilation of some of my other favorites (ranging from Mellencamp, to local group Almost Speechless, and well... more Warren Haynes!)

So.. finally.. yesterday evening I found the time to login to my new emusic.com account! OH... the selection.. but what to select... now.. just to warn you if your looking to score some cheap mp3's yourself, your not gonna find any Brittany Spears (thank GOD!)... no Nine Inch Nails... no U2... safe to say if it's top 40 you won't find it here... but what you will find is some awesome Ray Charles... some CCR.. some John Lee Hooker... BB King... Otis Redding... Muddy Waters... Leadbelly... T. Bone Walker... yes.. can you say "I got the Blues!" and their awesome... I downloaded 2 full cd's worth of some of the best old-school "Mama killed a chicken but thought it was a duck" and served it up with "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer" Blues! Awesome...

Maybe today I'll see what they've got in the R&B section... oh.. or maybe classical.. poor Warren.. I think he's gonna end up in the little black holder hanging off my sun visor...

Later...