Some thoughts about the cursed 'D' word..actually both of them and other ideas....

Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends!!There is an ancient Chinese proverbb that says 'may you live in interesting times'. Interesting is not the adjective I would use for that is happening in the world in general and the western countries in particular. While we have been told in no certain terms that we are 'officially' in a recession...technically it really should be termed a depression.

Why? If only due to the fact that each day there are companies that are firing people in numbers that would range from the average crowd for a Minnesota Twins home game [20,000 or so] to the actual attendance at Oakland Raider games [50,000 and this is without the padding the NFL is known for to say a game is a sellout]. The social support system that does exist here in the US can only handle so many requests to same for aid and other necessities before it cracks and falls under the weight. While this was not in place at the time of the Great Depression, the situation is getting just as dire for many. And should General Motors go under by the end of the year [which is no longer an 'in theory' discussion but with each passing day a reality, the dam will rupture. And to add insult to injury, the next adminstration whoc claim to have read their history has no real idea as to how to shore up the US system in particular and the western economy in general. Sadly, what may happen to this country may be similar to what had happend to New York City when David Dinkins was mayor. Or as has been darkly hinted at in other corners we may end up being disintegrated by conditions into a copy of what happened to the Soviet Union not too long ago.

Changing gears here, there is another 'd' word that comes to mind on a few other issues. That being 'diversity' which is now becoming this catch-all replacement phrase for 'we must have a workplace that looks like America'. Nothing wrong with that idea, nothing wrong with the theory of the concept. It is just in reality that it has become a joke. If you are wondering what I mean, take a look at the lack of logic which is on display here. I will say no more outside of this: there is a marked difference between employing those based on skills and not looking at ethnicity, gender or status of hair and those who in the skill procurment process make a blatant effort to be picky to they have this % of ______, etc. Sad when one thinks about it.

Now speaking of diversity in another context, you may notice different haircolors and textures being displayed by Yours Truly.That is on purpose and not just for the sake of the person I love. It is that there is something rather odd that there are those out there who want to impose a view of 'you are black therefore you should not wear this color hair, this color contact lenses'...you get the idea. Yet these are the same creeps who want to maintain THIER right to freedom of expression. Amazing...
if not just plain sick.

By having a society that is more focused on the double standard of such trivial proportions, some have helped turn the this place of ideas into a bottomless pit of inanity. The most uncomfortable thought in this is, where the US used to be a beacon for many has now become a laughingstock in so many ways...to list them aall would take several pages on its own. It is an embrassment of non riches.

By the way....at some point in the next few days...I had promised to post a little more detail about DES and its role in gender issues. If only due to the fact that there have been some remarks made that the creation of those who are M to F is not natural or could not possibly happen otherwise. Then again, Carver and Mendel showed that nature can create certain characteristics in peanuts and lima beans.

Til next time True Believers!!

A Certain Degree of Determination results in One Little Victory

Well never let it be said that determination in one's field over time does not pay off. In addition to chatting on the net, writing those copious emails to my crush and posting pics in different places, I do keep my skills as a tech up. For some
reason that actually paid off today when I did some work for a longterm client of mine. And it was nice, an incredible rush..

Why you may ask? Even though there has not been that much of a call for me to go out and do onsite tech support, there has been a constructive effort here to stay as current as possible. Reason being is that one never knows when an email or a call will come in and say 'we need you'. And there is something else to this. It is the feeling, the charge, the high that one gets when the endeavor works, when it hits on all cylinders. When you have fxed a system and the customer has a smile on their face, all that time spent beforehand was and is worth it. A former supervisor of mine years ago called this the 'WOW' factor. That is what it was today. A 'WOW' a 'Randi, you do know your stuff, even after all this time' moment.

What would be nice is if this could happen everyplace else. As much as this may sound narcissistic, self centered and boderline selfish...I really want to do the same in an emotional vein for that one person. Yes, it happens here with the cats; Rachel and Marissa really do like it when there is something that occurs to make them purr, smile in their own way and say 'Mom you did us a really big favor...THANK YOU!!' While catnip and dry food would obviously not do for a human, gosh there is this desire, burning need in a sense to do same. But to quote the song from Rush.....I will take today as 'One Little Victory'.

Til next time True Believers!!!

Odd how things work out at times...

Hello True Believers!!



One of the really nice things about having a little extra time to oneself and the right equipment, is that this allows a person to experiment a little more with some things they had waned to try. Be this cooking, be this with art, be this with music...time and issues conspire to create opportunities to do so. And if you have been following this blog, you know that this has been a period where I have been baring the soul; in photographic visage as well in prose to the one who I am very deeply smitten with. In the vein of the former...seeing that the weather has forced me to take the picture taking indoors, I am working with a digital camera that I am now finally getting to know. Yes, even though I am a whiz with PC's and have garnered a reputation of being the person who very little about a Windows-based computer can get by...I have started to become more at ease with this little beastie. While 0's and 1's will not take the place of an orange-shifted, analogue red, blue green and silver coated platform, it is just nice to know that with a little practice and thinking about the one I love while posing can result in images that are as good as those I have taken outdoors.

For those of you who may be thinking that this is keeping up with the joneses at Flickr and other sites, that is not the case in the least. This is showing the person who I am smitten with that this is who will be waiting for her...diffent haircolor, different looks. But still with a smile...somewhat private...somewhat more than I show to even my neighbors [yes, some of them are amazed that your loyal correspondent actually has teeth]...but it is easier for me to do this when I can place the mind in the state of 'while others will see it, I treat this as though it is for an audience of one'. Which was something I think some may not understand in full. The vanity streak is something that does happen, even with the most jaded or jaundiced of the human race. Not that it has bitten here strongly, however this is
something that becomes easier to do when there is another rationale at play.


By the way, for those of you who are wondering what that 'ax' I use for the outdoor [more like about 97% of those]looks like, this is it in the pic to the left It is a Yashica AF-230 and while it looks like a little toy in these pics, do not let that fool you. When this was first on the market [and this for me was ages ago...back in that long lost decade of the 80's], it was considered to be one of the true breakthrough SLR's of its day. What kept it up there in the same pantheon with the Nikon F-3 and the Canon EOS [remember this was the camera that took the place of the AE-1 Program] was that it could be 'stopped down' to a manual and also introduced the 'Trap Focus' option. 'Trap Focus' allowed the camera to be set at a predetermined focal distance and set on one item in the middle of the screen and anything that would walk into the center of the field of vision would trigger the shutter. Odd is that Yashica did not effectively patent this idea, and Nikon, Canon, Konica and a few others copied this. But this was the original...and when this was found on Ebay a couple years ago, I grabbed it. It was that white whale, that perfect machine that was the toy to have for yours truly.


So there You have it for now....be it digital or film, I do this if not to improve the image, but to show my beloved that yes, this is the face behind the emails and other visual representations. One day we will connect...if only because I do not see the fates doing to this heart what it seems to do to those who are fans of the Chicago Cubs.

Til next time True Believers!!