Me: Pretty much kicked everyone’s bejeweled score (on my facebook friends list) by 30k. lol
Mack: Noice
Mack: Well done
Me: I feel it ranks up there with world peace
Me: Or at least rubbing my victory in their FACES

On one of our visits down to Oregon visiting Mack’s parents something inside me changed (or snapped) and suddenly I wanted chickens. This in itself was really odd since I’m scared of chickens. Or at least I was more so then I am now. Something about their beady eyes and sharp talons was a major turn off to me. Until I had farm fresh eggs. After that? Suddenly chickens weren’t all that bad in my book.

As we prepare to get some chickens for our backyard I decided it was high-time I do some research and learn more about these predators (joking) who will soon be making our lives a whole lot more chaotic.

1. More than 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs.
2. The vast majority of poultry are raised using intensive farming techniques. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 74 percent of the world’s poultry meat, and 68 percent of eggs are produced this way.
3. The broody hen will stop laying and instead will focus on the incubation of the eggs (a full clutch (all the eggs produced by birds or reptiles at a single time) is usually about 12 eggs).
4. Incubation for eggs is about 21 days (if the egg has been fertilized).
5. Chickens may live for five to eleven years, depending on the breed.
6. Meat chicken generally lives six weeks before slaughter.
7. Chickens can sense fear. This excites them.**
8. A chicken is 75% water.
9. A chicken once had its head cut off and survived for over eighteen months, headless.
10. There are more chickens on Earth than there are humans.
11. There are four cities in the United States that have the word “chicken” in their name: Chicken, Alaska; Chicken Bristle, Illinois; Chicken Bristle, Kentucky; and Chicken Town, Pennsylvania.
12. The chicken is the closest living relative of the tyrannosaurus-rex.
13. Hens will try to lay in nests that already contain eggs, and have been known to move eggs from neighboring nests into their own. Hens can also be extremely stubborn about always laying in the same location.
14. The fear of chickens is called ‘Alektorophobia’.
15. On average, a hen layouts 300 eggs per year.

* emphasis on “I didn’t know”.
** citation needed.

my sources: Amazing Chicken Facts, Wikipedia: Chicken, and 20 Little Known Facts about Chickens

Now, originally we were going to catch a ride up to Dallas on Sunday morning with the newly wed couple as they went off to their honeymoon. Saturday night, however, we decided in part due to how stressful Saturday was for everyone and also the want for the newlyweds to have alone time and not have to cart us around to another place we’d find another ride elsewhere. It was suggested we try Enterprise car rentals since hey! They come to where YOU are!

… unless it’s Sunday. Then you’re S.O.L. as we came to find out.

Sunday morning, Mack and I scrambled around our Super 8 hotel room trying to gather stuff and find someone, somewhere, anything??, that was open on Sunday to get us to Dallas where we could rent a car to get up to Oklahoma City, from where we were flying out of Monday afternoon. After about an hour of this we finally decided hey, perhaps another day in Rockwall wouldn’t be all that bad?

Plus we kind of had no other choice.

Luckily, due to all of Mack’s traveling last fall for business, he had earned a substantial amount of Hilton reward points and we were able to use them for a “free” night at the Hilton (only took Mack six-weeks of back and forth travel to earn them!). Now, not to disparage the classiness of the Super 8 but I will have you know I moved the table in from of the door every night just in case.

Paranoid, yes, but justified. Years ago my uncle and aunt woke up in their hotel room to find themselves being robbed.

After all our stuff was haphazardly packed, we made our way to the front office to check out and order a taxi to get across town before we figured out how to get from the Hilton to Dallas the next day. We checked out and the taxi was called (and judgement passed since we had to tell the receptionist where the taxi was to take us) we sat down in the lobby to wait for the taxi to eventually show.

Enter awesome Trucker Dude.

As we were waiting on the couch we watched a semi pull into the parking lot and adjust approximately fifty times. Once satisfied the driver climbed down and lumbered towards the office. Now, the man wasn’t huge or anything but you could tell he was full of life and took no prisoners if you angered him. This, of course, naturally intrigued us as he burst forth into the lobby and demanded the receptionist offer him the best deal he could offer since it was only an overnight stay and he knew people and wasn’t willing to accept anything but the lowest deal. The initial price was offered and Trucker Dude scoffed saying they could do better and he knew it. Another figure was thrown out, five dollars cheaper, and Trucker Dude rolled his eyes and was asked again if that was truly the best deal? A stare-down commenced before declared the deal was the best available, the receptionist cowering(I can only assume). With a huff Trucker Dude turned his heal and said he’d be back but he’d probably find a better deal elsewhere.

At this point Mack was thoroughly impressed with this dudes powers of persuasion and I’m sure took mental notes.

Another twenty-minutes passed before Trucker Dude re-appeared with coffee and a few million more semi adjustments. The whole exchange between him and the receptionist, round two, was equally as amusing.

T.D. (Trucker Dude): Now, I have to have a room where I can see the semi. This is REALLY important.
Receptionist: We will see what we can do.
T.D.: You don’t understand, I must see the semi. I can move it. I can park in your damn swimming pool I’m so skilled at moving that truck! Then I can get it out with no problem.
Receptionist: …
T.D.: Now, do you guys have HBO?
Receptionist: Yes, we have that channel.
T.D.: Well good! True Blood is back on tonight and I gotta watch! … where ya from anyway?
Receptionist: I was born here in Texas.
T.D.: No, I mean, where are you really from? You look like you’re from India.
Receptionist: Yes, my family is from India.
T.D.: Yeah, I knew it. When did you come over from India?

So on and so forth.

As Trucker Dude waited for a room with a view of his semi he spotted Mack and I on the couch carefully avoiding eye contact. Fortunately these things mattered not to him and he started chatting with us, first asking what we were doing there (waiting for a taxi), where we’re from (Seattle, and we’re stranded, thanks), and commenting on my wrist tattoo since people with ink were “cool” and “good people.” His energy and enthusiasm drew us out and I thought damn, does this man have people skills!

We only really talked with him for a few minutes before our taxi finally showed up. As he helped me with my bags (what a gentleman!) he said farewell and that he hoped the rest of our journey was uneventful and we made it home safe.

I can tell you one thing for sure: this random stranger so full of energy and life definitely made our morning and brightened our mood on that difficult day.

Late last night Mack and I got back from our trip to Texas for my friends wedding. Lots of stories to come about the weekend (like the whole wedding party almost eating boat deck when a strong wave hit during the ceremony) but in the meantime: get a taste of a Texas wedding!

Technorati Tags: texas, weddings, summer, texan wedding, traveling, photography, casual photos

Thought I’d try another I Heart Photography challenge since the theme this week is “Pets“. We all know I am crazy cat lady, after-all.

I admit that I tend to let my desk get over-run with random crap all of the time. It’s the easiest place to simply throw stuff that I need sometime in the future but not immediately. Lately it’s been particularly bad with the move and putting stuff there.

But seriously, let’s have a breakdown of all the crap that is currently on my desk.

A) Colored pencils since my sketches must be ~full of color~ I decided.
B) Piles of books and magazines. Right now the stack includes “The AdSense Code“, “No One Cares What You Had for Lunch“, “The 4-Hour Work Week: Expanded and Updated“, and “The Photography Bible“.
C) My old cellphone and charger.
D) Dual monitor that is hooked up to my main laptop.
E) Headphones and other connecting wires.
F) My Nikon D90 (and now my Panasonic since I just downloaded all my pictures pre-trip to my friends wedding)
G) Apple related chords.
H) Piece of paper I write random notes on. This particular piece was devoted to airline ticket prices!
I) My laptop.
J) Keyboard!
K) Mouse pad and mouse
L) Let’s see, I have scrap paper with bill due dates, a prescription, 2 business cards, and another random scrap piece of paper with notes.
M) External monitor which hooks to the tower which is where I process all my photos.
N) USB jump drive
O) Glass of water. Usually you’ll find a glass or two of some sort of liquid on my desk.
P) My cell phone is usually hidden under papers somewhere. That day it was placed out in the open. Go figure!
Q) Notebook and sketchpad.
R) Work laptop which I still do contract work on for my old company.
S) Empty CD case. Don’t know why, but there you go.

Since this photo was taken I’ve amassed even more stuff on my desk and am at a seriously dangerous level of “I might be buried alive”.

So, Internet, make me feel better about how dirty my desk it and post and link pictures of your desks!

Technorati Tags: sharing, desks, workspace, work area, dirty desks, clutter

Apparently Garrett had found our push lawn mower that had been left in the shed and decided it’d be fun to mow the lawn. I wondered aloud: “Is this the only fun thing to do at our house at 9PM on a Monday?”

I mean, I definitely wasn’t complaining that the lawn was getting done but the amount of amusement that the brothers and sister got out of it? Kind of funny in a weird way. Mack and Garrett were running laps up and down the backyard trying to “beat each other’s times”… until Garrett went back into the shed and found something interesting.

“Hey Garrett, what’s up?”

Mack was intrigued. What was Garrett doing?

“I think we can do more damage with the one Garrett found!”

Of course Mack went over to play around with the potentially deadly object. As Garrett put it: Dumb and Dumber.

It was all going well until apparently they figured it out enough for Garrett to shock himself while trying to start it.

His older brother, as you can tell, was obviously very sympathetic.

You’d think this would make them stop trying to get it to work?

Of course not. That would be admitting defeat!

While Tweedledee and Tweedledum continued trying to lose a limb, their sister was finishing the job they had started on the rest of the lawn with the push mower. That is until it got stuck full of grass for the millionth time.

Emily has more of a sense of self preservation than her brothers. This was made abundantly clear as Mack and Garrett, tired of trying to get the Death Machine to work, reminisced about childhood stories messing with the nerves in each others arms.

Boys.

Technorati Tags: brothers, siblings, mowing the lawn, this is how we roll, fun times, family, sibling bonding

Sometimes, when they think we aren’t looking, the cats like to be affectionate and help groom each other.

And it’s quite adorable…

(more…)

Sometimes I get really overwhelmed with being unemployed. It has a tendency to strike out of nowhere and almost bring me to my knees because of what a humbling experience it is. Rejection after rejection from various jobs I’ve applied to (or never hearing from them at all) makes me question my abilities and talents. Are my designs not professional enough? Should I have perhaps used another color? I try not to take it personally when I hear that they’ve gone with someone else or they can’t offer me a position at this time but deep down I wonder: what’s wrong with me?

People ask me how the job hunt is going and usually I laugh airily and reply, “Oh, same old same old.” Only Mack and my family really knows the extent of how much it gets under my skin and makes me question if I have what it takes to be a designer. I know there are other people out there who have more natural talent but gosh darn it, I have drive! The desire to learn! I’m a hard worker who is willing to learn what it takes to do the job.

But sometimes that isn’t enough.

Looking through web design jobs they want more years of experience then I have or more coding background with the ability to design with the best. I can code, sure, but what I’m finding is companies wanting programmer-designer hybrids who can do it all for very little money. I’m sorry but in my experience they are very different mind sets and I am very sorry mine is the design, not coding, one.

In my desperation I’ve applied for a few retail jobs and have only heard back from one, which was a polite email to inform me that sorry, they were unable to offer me a position at this time. I’ve worked retail before and can do it well so why the rejection? Is it my multiple degrees and years of design experience? I just can’t seem to win!

I’m fortunate in that my old company still has me do contract work for them for a few hours a week. Also, I have another contract job I’m very fortunate to be doing, as well. It’s not like there isn’t any cash flow, no matter how little, coming in but not having the constant stream stresses me out to the point I write down a list of bill due dates and amounts as I tally my bank account and rack my brain for ideas of businesses I could potentially do.

These thoughts get into my mind and will sometimes drag me down but then I come crashing down to reality and realize I don’t have a job but I have my family, friends, health, a roof over my head, and of course a supportive and loving boyfriend who reaches out to me in my dark times of anxiety and reminds me it’s okay.

Last night, when we were leaving Knowledge Night at a local pub we were walking towards the car in the crisp “summer” evening and noticed a multitude of cop cars blockading the street with a fire truck parked against the building, fire fighter at the top of the ladder not moving. When we rounded the building we saw a girl hanging over the ledge threatening to jump. Hecklers in the street were yelling at her to jump while others shouted for her it wasn’t worth it! Seeing her, worrying about her, humbled me that she felt so desperate that she was in that situation. Not wanting to stand around and stare (and probably agitate her further) we got into the car and left hoping for the best.

No matter how hard I perceive my situation to be, it could always be worse. We all just have to remember: “Everythings Gonna be Alright”

Technorati Tags: unemployment, jobs, job market, bad economy, humbling experiences, life

I say heal since, as those of you who have moved by yourself before know, furniture is heavy. I know I’m a fairly physically weak individual so the fact I helped Mack move his couch from point A to point B was quite impressive… especially when you consider I had a box spring fall on my foot.

I hate furniture. Seriously I do.

Of course moving the couch this time was nothing compared to when Mack and I got it up a flight of stairs at our old apartment in Florida. Just remembering that experience in the middle of the Florida summer heat is enough to make me want to break out in hives.

An unexpected surprise in all of this is finally unpacking boxes that we’ve had sitting in storage for almost a year. I swear to you it’s almost like Christmas as we open boxes and are like “oh my! I forgot we had this! Score!”

Minus the box of cereal I packed for some reason. It was way past it’s sell by date by the time we finally opened that box…

Still, my packing the cereal wasn’t as bad as the fruit someone packed in a box for us for our Arizona to Florida move. That was a very unpleasant discovery, let me tell you.

I’m glad we have the ability to take this move slow since we’ve gotten so burnt out with moving in the past we end up getting frustrated and leaving stuff in boxes. This time though? Slow and easy with the happy thought that we’re here to stay for awhile and have all the time to enjoy it.

If anything else I could be a professional mover at this point.

I should look into that… might solve the unemployment problem. Hmm…

Technorati Tags: moving, boxes, relocation, travel, stress