The Last Day of Work for 2006

Glass M&Ms 1, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

"Hazah!" and "Booyah!"

Today is the last day of work for 2006, and I'm outta here right after lunch! This camper is most happy.

Between today and tomorrow the rest of the shopping will be wrapped up, and then comes Christmas Eve day and Christmas itself, and then a relatively sane week at home.

I'm hopping to post at least one blog entry of substance between now and New Year's but we'll see how things go.

"Merry Christmas" to you all!

The Great Photo Fiasco of '06

Family Pics, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

Look what we finally have!

That's right, me shutterbugs and bugettes, we finally have the photos from Wal-Mart! After many, *many* phonecalls to Wal-Mart (some polite, some not-so polite), the folks at Wally World agreed to refund us the cost of all the prints, plus reprinted the missing photo cards at no charge. Now we can get on with the harrowing task of addressing a whole lotta envelopes to send out our cards.

Understandably, this isn't Wal-Mart's fault per se (the blame is shared between Fuji labs and the online ordering system), but still they could have managed the situation better.

All in all, the photos came out pretty damn good if you ask me! Not bad for the first time out doing portraits.

Just the same, walmart DOT com will not be seeing any more of my business. And don't even get me started on Fuji...

Another Whacked Monday

100_1817_edited-1, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

I don't like Mondays to begin with; I also don't particularly like mornings, and Mondays are the morning of the week. But this Monday just seems to be particularly whacked.

First, I'm still waiting for the proper hardware at work so that I can do my job properly - testing new software on what will soon be unsupported hardware really isn't going to help much. I've been told that the equipment I need will be available sometime in the first half of January. Lessee, that would put it about 4 weeks after I need it!

Next, I'm still waiting for some photos that I ordered online from Wally World (aka Wal-Mart). Nothing that should have been too strenuous - some 8x10s, 5x7s, throw in a few wallet-sized prints for good measure, and a whole bunch of photo Christmas cards. They were ordered on November 25th, and should have only taken about 5 days to arrive.

Part of the order arrived in the expect time, but the wallet-sized prints and the Christmas cards were missing. Fuji Labs, who does the offsite photo processing for Wal-Mart messed up the order. The very courteous person at the photo counter would request that they re-process the order correctly and would have it ready by week's end -- at no charge! Ok - I'm a happy camper thus far.

That, however, was about a week and a half ago, and not a darn thing to show for it. I'm getting more than a little annoyed with this - mainly because I'm anxious to see how the prints turned out. You see, these are no professional photos being done this year. Yes, me little shutterbugs, these are photos I took - my first foray into anything even remotely resembling portrait photography! And I just can't wait to see the result!

While I am "more than a little annoyed" at the fiasco that is walmart DOT com, Patti is downright livid - and with good reason. It is now December 11, and we still don't have our Christmas cards to send out. While in the grand scheme of things, this may not be a big deal, it is still a major irritant, especially given all the other chaos that ensues around the holidays.

Suffice to say, walmart.com will NOT be getting any more of our business.

A whacked Monday in a whacked December in a (thus-far) whacked holiday season. Appropriately enough, I have included a whacked - courtesy of Photoshop Elements - self-pic for today's blog.

I'll keep ya posted on the "Great Photo Fiasco of '06".

In With the New

Blazer1, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

Now that I've shown you our old vehicle, lemme now introduce you to our new vehicle. A 4-wheel drive 2000 Chevy Blazer. This is one sweet piece of automobile. And it is a fantastic shade of blue!!

I'm almost looking forward to the first snowfall of the year...

...almost...

Out With the Old

minivan2, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

R.I.P.: Our 1997 Pontiac Trans Sport Minivan

The minivan died last night while I was on my way to pick up MJ and Bethanie from youth group. I'm not sure which I find more annoying - that the van stopped running only about 1/2 mile from my destination, or that the foolish thing couldn't wait two more days before conking out so that we could at least drive it to the dealership for the trade-in (we already had a replacement vehicle picked out, and the paperwork was in progress!)

But on the upside, it did its job relatively well for the 5 years we had it (and it did rack up over 175,000 miles!) And we will be getting the van towed to the dealership tomorrow and picking up our new vehicle - a 2000 Chevy Blazer with 4-wheel drive. Boo-yah!!

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907

For today blog, I give you a quote from Theodore Roosevelt.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Still very appropriate for this day and age.

The Creative Flow

Ya just gotta love the holidays. I mean, besides all the food, getting together with family and friends, the food, creating fond memories, and the food, there's all the beautiful and often handmade crafts and decorations (did I mention the food?)

Something about making crafts, whether for display or gifting, really resonates with me. I can even find myself admiring Martha Stewart. I mean this lady is really talented - a domestic MacGyver of sorts. Who else can create a festive holiday centerpiece will little more than toenail clippings and used tampons?

Speaking of which, here's one for the "you have got to be kidding and I wish you were" files. I stumbled across (rather, someone wishing to remain anonymous showed me) this one website, celebrating the many varied and creative uses for - of all things - tampons.

Yes, you read that correctly: tampons. Apparently they're no longer just teabags for vampires (that is what that string is for, right? And I thought Lipton was famous for the "flow-through" bag!) Celestial Seasonings? Ahhh, no - I don't think so...

Anyhow, the URL for this veritable treasure trove of "Ewww"-ness is http://www.tamponcrafts.com/. There, you will find the instructions for creating a myriad of crafts for any occasion. There is even instructions for making your very own tampon shooter. The description for which reads as follows:

The Menstrual Militia is now recruiting! Arm yourself with a Tampon Shooter and report for target practice and tactical tampon maneuvers. Safe for indoor or outdoor use, this air-powered gun fires tampons "bullets" up to 20 feet. Our Tampon Bandolier insures that you've always got a supply of ammo at the ready, plus you'll never have to hunt around for a spare tampon in case you really need one.

Now there's something I wouldn't even touch with a 10-foot applicator!

I'm sure there will be new projects added, so you will need to check back there periodically.

Well, I'm at a loss...

Until next month (if not sooner)...

Happy Thanksgiving!

cranberries, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

The turkey is stuffed, as will be the rest of us this afternoon. I even brought the cranberries.

Hope you have an enjoyable Turkey Day!

Gobble Gobble.

The Road Ahead

Evening Commute, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

To everything there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted,

A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build up,

A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

A time to get and a time to lose, a time to keep and a time to cast away,

A time to rend and a time to sew, a time to keep silence and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiates 3:1-8 (AMP)


The time for grieving has passed for me, and it's now time to start living life again. Life is indeed short, but what matters is how we can make the most of the time we have. Life is too short for worrying about everything (though is often much we feel we have to worry about - as if that could even change anything!), and certainly far too short to spend it looking for the negatives: the bad side of things, the "angles" we think people have.

I don't know what the road ahead holds for me - only God know that (and I'm quite happy to leave those details in His more-than-capable hands!), but there is only one way to find out - live it out, moment by moment, day by day.

And that's just what I intend to do.

Tribute to a good friend and fellow barbershopper

Tony Tribute 1, originally uploaded by CraftyGuy.

Anthony J (Tony) Iacobone Sr. (second from the right, standing to my right, in the quartet photo) passed away on November 10, 2006. I had the pleasure, privelege, and honor of singing with him in the quartet "Z Street" and the "Sounds of Concord" chorus. A good bass, an even better friend, not soon to be forgotten.

This was the last photo taken of the quartet (and our best one).

Quartet photo (c) 2004 by Mark Lawrence.