Sunday, November 29, 2009

Christmas Tree


From another angle
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

I put my tree up this afternoon and began the process of decorating. Here is the star I use at the top of my tree.

The tree is about 4ft high and has multi-colored lights. I thought a white star would be a pretty addition to the tree last winter.

More Pics on Flickr. :)

-Cheers

Black Friday


Peekaboo
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

As we were waiting for dinner, some of my family decided to visit and look through the ads for Black Friday. I wasn't able to find a lot of things that I actually wanted. There were cute sweaters and significant sales on a variety of items, but nothing I was willing to get up in the wee dawn to purchase.

I was lucky on Friday. My mom bought be plates in the morning...I missed the crowds and enjoyed a beautiful Seattle day at Greenlake with my parents mid-morning and a tasty lunch at Via Tribunali. Afterwards, my dad wanted to go downtown so we ended up making a pit stop at Macy's, but at least it was after the parade and things had calmed down a teensy bit.

It's fun to see the winter spirit outside of shopping. I love seeing Christmas Lights. I just wish it could snow here and not shut the city down. To have snow and lights would be wonderful. I'd love to take pictures of that moment. Snowflakes swirling around Pike Place Market.

Later that night we went to see the new Sandra Bullock movie: The Blind Side. It's based off a book about a real NFL Player. It's Michael Oher's story and wow! It was fantastic. I think the movie was fairly accurate...there's a few things here and there...but he is a person who has an incredible story. It really makes me think about my circumstances and what I'm doing with my resources.

I set up my christmas tree today. In fact, I'm still attempting to decorate my apartment. Turns out some lights I purchased last year don't light up all the way. Tis a shame. :( Ah well, I realized my mom had given me my baby's first christmas ornament. I had thought I didn't have any special ornaments in my closet. As I pulled the bag out that she had packed for me last year, I realized my mom had given me a lot of ornaments that had memories attached to them. A clothespin angel I had made when I was little. A stuffed turtle and pink poodle that our cat would always try to rip to shreds at christmas time. Some Korean ornaments that my mom had specially bought for me when I was younger...she then got more when I was older. A moose we bought when we lived in MN. It's fun to decorate and relive those memories. I even got my bubble lights out! I love those things like crazy. Bubble lighs are like the best invention ever.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Imp

An imp is a mythological being similar to a fairy or demon, frequently described in folklore and superstition. Imps are often described as mischievous more than seriously threatening. They are usually described as lively and having small stature.

imp·ish: of, relating to, or befitting an imp; especially: mischievous

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Coding

I wish I was better at it. I'm not bad, but there's just so much to learn. Right now I'm still piecing things together...little by little. Reminds me I need to fix some JS errors on a website I maintain.

I want to change my blog template colors, but I'm not exactly the best at picking colors that go together. This is why most of the art I have is black & white or overall, tends to have just one shade of a particular color. I'm not good with the mixing.

HTML colors are hex characters...so...everything looks like: #fff or #f6f6f6 or something. Now if only I could figure out how to put some together in an aesthetically pleasing way... :-\ This is nothing like choosing pillows for a couch. Or maybe it is...but I'll never have a website that's gold with crimson accents. :-P

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Sicky

I hate being sick. I cough...I sniff...I generally feel awful. I've been fighting off a cold for the past week...I think my body is beginning to give in. I had my normal bought of sneezing over the weekend, but now I'm feeling weak and unhappy. Perhaps it's time to stay home. :-(

In other news...I had a fantastic weekend in Spokane. A part of me wants to live there so I can spend time with Bean all the time. But then there's the part of me that loves being out here. Someday I will make up my mind and figure out where I want to go and what I want to do. I took a lot of pictures this weekend. It was so much fun to have a model or two for pictures. I got to try quite a few new things...night photography has never been my strength, but I'm quite thrilled with how some of the pictures turned out.

We drove around for forever...trying to find lights that I had seen on the drive to Bean's apartment from the airport. When we excursioned back out...Bean made a few wrong turns...we ended up in a really creeptastic area of Spokane. But we survived and trekked on...eventually decided to just go out I-90 towards the airport. Turns out the trees with lights were the driveway entrance to the Hampton Inn in Spokane. I got to run around like an idiot taking pictures and standing in odd positions while Bean sat in a warm car. My hands were definitely jealous. It also snowed this weekend in Spokane so it was really exciting to be able to go out in the snow. You can't really do that in Seattle. LAME!

The white lights were beautiful in the snow...if only there had been more to have a fight or build a snowman. I saw a group of kids rolling a ball around...it was mostly full of leaves. fail.

Nonetheless...check out my Flickr Pics!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I am the Queen


I am the Queen
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

A day at the park with the Queen. Yes, she's very strict. ;)

-Cheers!

Lights


Lights
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

I just happen to like this picture too. :)

-Cheers

Friday, November 13, 2009

On Fire


On Fire
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

New Pictures! It snowed and so we had an adventure looking for lights. Check out my Flickr Account!

-Cheers!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Glow


Glow
Originally uploaded by kharms5253

New pictures. Check it out! i'm practicing my picture taking. :)

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tech Software

Need I say more?


Malwarebytes
Great for removing malicious software from your computer. Malware should not be consfused with a virus, though a lot of malware behaves similarliy to many computer viruses out there. It's free and awesome! Doesn't take much system resources and there is a paid for version if you're interested.

CD XP Burner
If you have anything older than Windows 7, then you can't burn ISO images from your computer. Bummer dude. If you need to burn an ISO image, then this is probably one of the better options next to upgrading to Windows 7. :)

Security Essentials
If you don't have the money to purchase a full Antivirus Sweet, Microsoft Security Essentials is a good place to start. It's a light program (doesn't take up too many system resources) and it does a good job at removing what it finds. There are other free pieces of Antivirus out there, but they'll include pop-ups and some companies don't update their products often enough. Coupled with some malware removal tools you'll be set.

Screen Capture Software
Lets you take screenshots of your computer with one click.

That's all for now.

Award?

Apparently I got an award for my blog. This seems to be a little bit like chain emails, but why not? I also picked my own picture because the other one was awful. The conditions for this tag are as follows:
  1. Thank the person who gave this to you
  2. Copy the award.
  3. Post it in your blog
  4. Tell us 7 things your readers don’t know
  5. Link 7 new bloggers
  6. Notify winners of the award with a comment on their blog
  7. Keep being awesome.

So here goes...

Thank you Lee Ryan for tagging me. Here are my 7 things:

  1. I'm an impulsive shopper, but it doesn't come around too often. Otherwise I'd be really broke by now.
  2. I think Fake Flowers can be just as nice if not better at times than the Real Ones.
  3. I watch Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice (they are not my favorite shows, but I'm almost always caught up on what's going down)
  4. I like going out for night drives...not day drives. Late night drives means there are no other cars on the road and all - well, most - things are quiet.
  5. I like playing practical jokes, but I rarely do them because I have this built in thing in my system that keeps me "responsible, always"
  6. I love LOLCATS and will always interject poor grammar and spelling into conversations (speaking, chatting, email) when possible.
  7. I like watching Anime (sorry). Stuff like Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam Wing, GunXSword, Ghost in the Shell and some other feature length movies.

Seven Bloggers for Seven Awards

  1. Whitney Hanna for her beautiful pictures
  2. The Story of My Being an Itinerant for being my roommate for so long, but not right now...too bad she doesn't update at all. :-\ But she's my BFF so I guess I can forgive her of that since we talk nearly every single day.
  3. Perichoretic Living for writing beautiful posts and making fantastic coffee at Muse Co. Coffee Shop
  4. Pastoral Musings From Rain City for being someone who speaks truth into society and challenges us to become better people and to step into this amazing story and move forward rather than stand still.
  5. To InfinitEAT and Beyond for blogging about food. Eating is definitely a hobby. :)
  6. ETC Magazine - it's from SPU and contains a lot of information about how to get involved at SPU and what's going on in Seattle
  7. Saturday Morning from my Study because it's Dr. Eaton and he's the president of SPU.

I'm not going to email everyone to let them know about this award so I guess I'm breaking the chain. Or I might get struck down dead. I don't know...but I don't believe in Karma so whatever. If you see this, you should take a look at blogs because they really are good.

Twitter


Follow me on Twitter if you like. It's where I do updates the most. There's a lot or random stuff in there, but sometimes you might find something useful.

Computer Stuff

I've done it! I've finally convinced my Grandma to upgrade her computer to Windows 7. It's amazing to see how people respond to technology. My job is to help people learn how to use technology to make their lives just that much easier...be more productive, take less time...be less frustrated at the end of the day. I always seem to be teaching at times when the person has hit panic mode. In this case with my Grandma, she had no clue her computer was taking its last steps.

I used to think that I wanted to be a teacher. Many people told me I'm great with kids and have a natural gift for teaching and explaining things. Maybe that's true...maybe it's not. I have spent a lot of time in the classroom, but sometimes I wonder about my patience level. I can easily get frustrated when I need to explain things over and over to the same person. Maybe teaching isn't my cup of tea. On the other hand...explaining something to someone so they can understand how something functions and seeing their reaction is incredible. At the end of the day, I love my work.

My Grandma is nearing 80 and I'm amazed at her progress. She sends emails, scans pictures and does nearly everything the average computer user does. When I told her I was able to find her a free computer (new to her, but three years old) she was elated! Excited enough that she decided to buy a new keyboard. :) So, I'm spending my Thanksgiving weekend working, but it's well worth the few hours on my part to make sure my Grandma can do everything she wants and needs to do on her computer. Windows 7 is certainly going to be a learning curve (she's prepared herself by purchasing a Windows 7 for Dummies book), but in the end I think she will be happier.

Her response is a reminder that while people may not show me that same response at work, that it doesn't mean I didn't do my work well or that I didn't resolve their problems or answer all their questions. It's important to teach no matter what field you're in. No one is intuitive and you can't expect anyone to know exactly what's going on. And if you've been explaining things over and over, then it's time to change tactics. Maybe someday I will be a teacher.