Poster

I want this poster size. I don't like beer but The Lover tried this one tonight and said it was good. I just like the label. Is it bad that I had a big urge to rip it off the bottle even though we were in a super nice restaurant?

Pictures to Make You Jealous

Not really, I don't like making people jealous. This place SUCKS. Not really though. I am finally feeling the need to shoot again so the new digs have been getting some one on one time with the camera. These are straight off the camera so don't judge me. Enjoy;

My favorite window.

The upstairs above the kitchen/game room

The living room, hurrah!

The ceiling with the heating vents alllll the way up there. And The Lover climbing things.

More to come for sureeeeee.

A Blessing In Disguise

I have a dog, a little miniature mouth and pooper. He eats and he excretes. This is probably not the best situation for loft living but he's the closest thing to a child I will have in a long time (especially since my mom told me the other day that labor feels like having to poop but 8 times worse), so he's here with us enjoying the wide open spaces.

And the block we have to walk to get to a tiny square of grass for him to poop. Just today I had a conversation with a homeless man while my dog searched for the perfect pinpoint to drop his prized load before walking home.

I guess you can either complain about it or let it teach you some things.

I Sell Stuff

Today I have sold a couch, dishwasher, stove, microwave, and items for a Hummer. That equals lots of mula.

I AM THE MAN

The Adventure Begins

So here we are in this beautiful loft in an amazing downtown setting with the only thing to hold us down is the lack of income. Oh crap. We are guaranteed this place for 34 more days and then we have to get creative. Talk about stressful! We just have to remind ourselves that we were in the same boat at our old home except even worse off. Now we have a fighting chance.

I don't know what the future days or weeks will hold. We are scrambling like crazy for any sort of money that can come our way. I'm hoping that with some die hard gusto we land something big and make it. This place is just too pretty to lose.

On a side note, my feet hurt. My back hurts. I'm so sick of lifting awkward boxes made for big armed people. The Lover had a Washing Machine fall on his bad knee and we both have a rainbow collection of bruises. Lets just hope we don't have to do it all over again in 34 days. We won't make it.

Drum Roll Please

Aaaaaaand ta-da!



Can someone pass the broom?

Moving Today!

We are all packed up and going...............somewhere! Yay!

P.S. I'm never moving on my own again, movers for the win!

Thatta Way!

We get set to move one direction and then at last notice we decide the other then back and forth, back and forth.

What the heck?

My Dog is a Cat

Caesar, my pooch, loves the sun and splays out in it as if he were a cat. He also likes bouncy, rubbery balls. (quit it you) I believe I should follow his example.

By the Way

If you want to send a message to your President do it here. Join in the movement. Let him know that you have a voice and demand it be heard.

Maybe then the American people can win.

My Vision is Cloudy

I try to put some thoughts together but end up failing. It seems my mind is full of scattered ideas and generalizations. The greatest way to know just how messed up your brain really is is to think about the dreams you've been having lately. There's a whole new world of messed the freak up laying just beneath the surface and it scares the crap outta me. Thank God the government hasn't created mind-reading chips yet or I'd be ball and chained then thrown off the side of a boat to forever lay at the bottom of the ocean.

With the fishies.

Oh, my friend got engaged. I still call her a friend because she's nice but..... she's eccentric. See she used to date my best friend's brother. They lived together for 5 years and she finally broke up with him when she realized he never wanted marriage or a house with a white picket fence, or any other estrogen driven dreams. So she does the bravest thing one could do and packs up her life to start a new one independently. She makes it scraping by in some small podunk town that hasn't even made it onto a map. Her ex boyfriend's best friend happens to run into her and fireworks explode or something to that effect. They date, the move in together, and 6 months later BAM he gives her a ring.

What the heck? Firstly, this guy is dating his best friend's ex girlfriend. Isn't there a rule against that? Doesn't the ex boyfriend now get to kick best friend's ass? Regardless she got the freaking ring. I didn't see it coming. ha

Which reminds me, where is my ring?? (I know the boy reads this and apparently I like it when he craps his pants.)

So congrats to them. I'm just going to sit here, sip on my milk and wonder when my day of reckoning will arrive.

At Last

Memory in Pictures

This is me completely, retardedly drunk right before the big move to Knoxville from Raleigh 2.5 years ago. It was one of the last nights we celebrated our friendships we had made. Apparently we were having a really good time.

One memory that sticks out from that night was when I walked over to a random table and started an awesome conversation. I don't remember the details but eventually our tables merged and we made some single serving friends.

Good times.

One of My Favorite Songs of All Time

Yeah.

Lucky

Dedicated to The Lover, truly the best in my life.

Eyes on the Prize

I know I've been all doom and gloom lately but it has been unintentional. I let life get the better of me and drag me down. The Lover called me an Ostrich the other day and he's pretty correct in that statement. It seems when times get too much for me to handle I hide my head in the dirt, or comforter. Needless to say I've done a lot of sleeping lately.

I think I broke out of it though. Times are still rough, I have no idea how we are going to make a mortgage payment, or if we are going to move and if so where, but my shoulders are not as heavy as they were.

It was as simple as filling out the Interests part on my facebook profile that reminded me of all the things I do enjoy. All the happier times I know will happen again and when they do how tiny a blip this downtime will appear on the radar. I cannot freaking wait for that to happen but patience is a lesson I have to learn right now.

So, eyes on the prize. I'll keep looking forward at what I ultimately want to do where I ultimately want to be and it just so happens that The Lover wants to be there with me.

Photograph by Paul Hardy.

Something's Gotta Give

I think this is the first time in my life that I've not had any direction. I honestly do not know what the next step should be. It's leaving me in a desperate state and with an achy jaw.

Seems like that job opportunity for The Lover has fallen through which means bye bye beautiful loft and, that's right, direction. Now we're sitting in a boat in the middle of the ocean hoping to get our unemployment and wondering when we can pay our bills.

My heart wants to pack up for the coast and hope to land a job, any job, but my brain tells me how stupid it is to go anywhere without money coming in. Then I'm reminded that I don't have a job here anyhow.

My brain says to stay in Knoxville, as much as I'm over this place we have a roof over our heads (for now) and are on location to go out and search for a job. My heart has already packed this place up so it would be hard to put those paintings back up on the wall and restock the kitchen with dishes.

Another part of me was really interested in that loft, in downtown living. We scoped out cute places to chill, I had picked good photo ops in my head, and already began decorating that gorgeous place we almost called home. However, I doubt we would have any luck finding a job in that region since it is so small.

So what to do? Can someone just give me a little sign? A little nudge saying "Go this way, you won't regret it."? A job would be the best sign, wink wink. ;)

I Need A Cookie

Like this one.

I'm Leaving

I want to pack my crap up and head East. I want to arrive with no job and no home and just hustle my butt off until something hits.

Crazy?

Hard Lesson Learned

Because of the recession, or depression, whichever phrase is more suitable at this point, I have put a lot of perspective onto myself from the eyes of the holy job Gods. I've learned a lot about the career side of myself that I have ignored for quite some time simply because I didn't have to pay attention.

My working career has been fairly easy to say the least. I have not gotten a college degree, something I still regret and hope to accomplish in the near future. Education has always been important to me and I value what I've received thus far but it needs to be a priority to extend it further. I've bounced from high school job to high school job without collecting any skills that would set me apart from thousands of people fighting for the simple fry cook position at McDonald's (which they can have, they're on my ban list right now).

Unless anyone wants to hire me to clean up dog poop or take pictures I'm stuck with only knowing how to clean up dog poop and take pictures. They say now is the time to network but I don't really have one besides friends and family outside of where I live or hope to move. The last real job I had that was one step slightly above high school level I left on a not-so-good note, right before the economy "crashed".

Alas, I will still try. I'll submit resume after resume and hope someone gives me the chance to prove what I'm worth. I somehow managed to score an interview for Monday though I don't know if I should celebrate. After going through the online application the system allowed me to pick a date and time to interview. The automated system worries me and I'll feel better once I talk to a being of the human sort.

At this point, I can't wait to move so I can get out and meet people. Shake hands, show my charm, my incredible intellect, and hope for the best. What would you do in an unemployed situation in today's world?

Air

Air
Originally uploaded by pablo_obscura

I absolutely love flying on planes and always make sure to reserve the window seat. It is amazing to watch the world get miniature and big at the same time. I hope to have many more flights in the future, especially with the loved one as he has never stepped foot on a plane nor been in the sky. We are quickly arranging to fix this.

One Kabillion Trillion Zoinks

Educating America

If you live in America and eat beef you should read the following.

To those of us whose living depends on the cattle market, selling cattle, raising the best beef possible… this is frustrating. This will keep us from ever stopping there again, even for a drink.

McDonald’s claims that there is not enough beef in the USA to support their restaurants. Well, we know that is not so. Our opinion is they are looking to save money at our expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of the USA are the ones who made McDonald’s successful in the first place, but we are not good enough to provide beef.

All Americans that sell cows at a livestock auction barn had to sign a paper stating that we do NOT EVER feed our cows any part of another cow. South Americans are not required to do this as of yet.

McDonald’s has announced that they are going to start importing much of their beef from South America. The problem is that South Americans aren’t under the same regulations as American beef producers, and the regulations they have are loosely controlled.

They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that have been banned here at home because of residues found in the beef. They can also use various hormones and growth regulators that we can’t. The American public needs to be aware of this problem and that they may be putting themselves at risk from now on by eating at good old McDonald’s.

American ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the world and this is what Americans deserve to eat. Not beef from countries where quality is loosely controlled. I’m sorry but everything is not always about the bottom line, and when it comes to jeopardizing my family’s health, that is where I draw the line. Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on.

David W. Forrest, Ph.D ., PAS, Dipl.

ACAP Department of Animal Science
Texas A&M University
2471 TAMU College Station , TX 77843-2471

To save a few quick bucks McDonalds is willing to put the American public's health at risk. Spending money outside America won't help the economy either.

Jurassic Park For Realzies

So this is how we are going to die. Our stupid asses are going to clone freaking dinosaurs for "scientific" purposes and then get eaten by them. All the while creating intelligent robots who one day decide to stop listening to us and crush the human race with their iron fists. At the same time the dead will rise from their graves to feast on flesh.

Maybe if we are lucky we can convince the robots to capture the zombies for the dinosaurs to eat. Whatever happens I'm going to the vacation rental I have on Mars when these whackos invent it.

Here's the scoop and why you should run for your life and avoid any petting zoos in the future;

The Pyrenean ibex, a form of wild mountain goat, was officially declared extinct in 2000 when the last-known animal of its kind was found dead in northern Spain.

Shortly before its death, scientists preserved skin samples of the goat, a subspecies of the Spanish ibex that live in mountain ranges across the country, in liquid nitrogen.

Using DNA taken from these skin samples, the scientists were able to replace the genetic material in eggs from domestic goats, to clone a female Pyrenean ibex, or bucardo as they are known. It is the first time an extinct animal has been cloned.

Sadly, the newborn ibex kid died shortly after birth due to physical defects in its lungs. Other cloned animals, including sheep, have been born with similar lung defects.

But the breakthrough has raised hopes that it will be possible to save endangered and newly extinct species by resurrecting them from frozen tissue.

It has also increased the possibility that it will one day be possible to reproduce long-dead species such as woolly mammoths and even dinosaurs.

Dr Jose Folch, from the Centre of Food Technology and Research of Aragon, in Zaragoza, northern Spain, led the research along with colleagues from the National Research Institute of Agriculture and Food in Madrid.

He said: "The delivered kid was genetically identical to the bucardo. In species such as bucardo, cloning is the only possibility to avoid its complete disappearance."

Pyrenean ibex, which have distinctive curved horns, were once common in northern Spain and in the French Pyrenees, but extensive hunting during the 19th century reduced their numbers to fewer than 100 individuals.

They were eventually declared protected in 1973, but by 1981 just 30 remained in their last foothold in the Ordesa National Park in the Aragon District of the Pyrenees.

The last bucardo, a 13-year-old female known as Celia, was found dead in January 2000 by park rangers near the French border with her skull crushed.

Dr Folch and his colleagues, who were funded by the Aragon regional government, had, however, captured the bucardo the previous year and had taken a tissue sample from her ear for cryopreservation.

Using techniques similar to those used to clone Dolly the sheep, known as nuclear transfer, the researchers were able to transplant DNA from the tissue into eggs taken from domestic goats to create 439 embryos, of which 57 were implanted into surrogate females.

Just seven of the embryos resulted in pregnancies and only one of the goats finally gave birth to a female bucardo, which died a seven minutes later due to breathing difficulties, perhaps due to flaws in the DNA used to create the clone.

Despite the highly inefficient cloning process and death of the cloned bucardo, many scientists believe similar approaches may be the only way to save critically endangered species from disappearing.

Research carried out by Japanese geneticist Teruhiko Wakayama raised hopes that even species that died out long ago could be resurrected after he used cells taken from mice frozen 16 years ago to produce healthy clones.

But attempts to bring back species such as woolly mammoths and even the Dodo are fraught with difficulties. Even when preserved in ice, DNA degrades over time and this leaves gaps in the genetic information required to produce a healthy animal.

Scientists, however, last year published a near-complete genome of the woolly mammoth, which died out around 10,000 years ago, sparking speculation it will be possible to synthesise the mammoth DNA.

Professor Robert Miller, director the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Sciences Unit at Edinburgh University, is working with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland on a project to use cloning on rare African mammals including the northern white rhino.

They have set up the Institute for Breeding Rare and Endangered African Mammals in the hope of using breeding technologies to conserve species including the Ethiopian wolf, the African wild dog and the pygmy hippo.

Professor Millar said: "I think this is an exciting advance as it does show the potential of being able to regenerate extinct species.

"Clearly there is some way to go before it can be used effectively, but the advances in this field are such that we will see more and more solutions to the problems faced."

A number of projects around the world are now attempting to store tissue and DNA from endangered species. The Zoological Society of London and the Natural History Museum have set up the Frozen Ark project in a bid to preserve DNA from thousands of animals before they disappear entirely

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/4409958/Extinct-ibex-is-resurrected-by-cloning.html

25 Things You Didn't Know About Me (And May Not Want To)

1. I'm a bandwagoner. I do things because other people like to do them. I even like the Vols a little bit. Shoot me.

2. I'm a hardcore beach fan, forever and always. If you want to make me the happiest person alive put my butt on some sand near a large salty body of water and world peace will commence.

3. I don't like NASCAR or Virginia. I apologize to those who do but it's just not my cup of tea. In two weeks I may be moving close to both these items.

4. Believe it or not, health is important to me. Sometimes I put it on the back burner and when I do I feel awful. I know what it feels like to be in great condition and my life goal is to remain healthy and fit, once we get some extra money.

5. I love dying my hair, especially rainbow colors. I want to experiment with being completely pink and blonde. Pink would be fun and blonde is the only color I haven't succeeded at yet. I tried blonde from a box last year but got pukey orange instead. If I go blonde it will have to be from a salon. Who knows? It might look fantastic (some would say it'd fit my personality better)

6. I love to dance. Let me rephrase, I love to get drunk and dance because that's when my really good moves come out. After a few rum and cokes the only person on the dance floor is me and the music. I usually leave with a clapping audience (in my mind).

7. My favorite band is The Killers. Not just because their music rocks but because of the times specific songs remind me of. Usually road trips headed East to the beach.

8. I hate beer. It's an acquired taste I've never taken the time to acquire. I used to drink Smirnoff Ice but have since graduated to Wood Chuck, go me!

9. I don't want to live in what I call "an old person home". An old person home is one of those completely brick homes that you know some grandpa or grandma is living in. No thank you.

10. I want to travel the world. I want to see everything and learn from all the different cultures.

11. The tropics have greatly influenced how I view life. I love to live life "on island time" and get back to the roots of nature. I love the conservation efforts of Costa Rica, the music of the Bahamas, and the beauty of the Caribbean. It is a place I plan to visit more than once.

12. I want to own a Golden Retriever one day, a female. I think this makes me a bad person since there are so many dogs stuck in the pound. If I make enough money I will save at least one from there as well.

13. I missed snow for a day and then Mother Nature reminded me of the cold that comes with it and I don't miss snow anymore.

14. I hate wearing high heels, they ALWAYS hurt my feet. Does this make me weird?

15. I love chocolate. Maybe too much, well no maybe about it. There could be worse things I guess.

16. I also love milk, skim milk only though. It's so tasty and better than soda. hee

17. I hate stress, a lot. I want to move to a land that has no stress.

18. I'm having a hard time thinking about things you guys would want to know about me so I'm going to use that as one answer. Ha!

19. The boyfriend and I have a song we sing together all the time, the words are weird, the beat is crazy and our singing is lacking but we enjoy it.

20. I used to wear glasses as a child and I can remember the day I rejoiced when the doctor said I no longer needed them. However, if I lose my right eye I will be considered legally blind. Eek!

21. The only pet peeve I have about the boyfriend that makes me grind my teeth is when he says "tooken" instead of taken or took. I try really hard not to correct him and fail miserably. He's a very bright man and I think that's why it irks me.

22. I miss Wegman's, a grocery store up north that I believe has the full right to monopolize the industry.

23. I'm a night owl. The perfect day begins at noon or later and ends at 2am or so. I am finding that I also enjoy daylight which is not conducive to my natural habits.

24. I have big feet. Size ten in womens. Can you believe that crap?

25. The only high end purse I ever owned was a fabulous Coach bag bought in the Bahamas. I talked the merchant down from $100 to $60. At the time I didn't realize just how expensive it was until I came home and searched it on the website. I sold it for $20 bucks at a garage sale recently.

Ok I made it, took me only about three hours. Whew.

Spinning In Circles.

I feel like a truck that's got stuck in the mud. Just spinning and spinning and spinning hoping I'll get unstuck but don't know when that will happen.

He's on the phone right now and just scheduled an interview in Charleston on Thursday.

Sounds like we are going to go ahead with our planning but not know the destination. I think we'd have better luck if when we hopped in the U-Haul to start the ignition and just closed our eyes, pointed in some random direction and drove that way.

Either way, I'm cool with it.

Hey Guys

The Steelers won. And Bruce Springstein donkey punched a camera with his crotch. He's such a bad ass. Admittedly, I watched the Super Bowl for the commercials and because it seems like the American thing to do. What kind of person would I be if someone on the street asked me details of the game and I could only respond by saying "Uh, I was watching Real Chance at Love Reunion." They would strip me of my citizenship I just know it.

I did get a little excited. I rooted for the Steelers because I know of them more than the Cardinals (seriously aren't they a baseball team? They got lost big time). At the end when things got close I was clapping away like a mad fool. As if my sole support would give them the desire to win the big time.

Really, I think it was the old man owner up in the box with his coat taking on and off moves that scared the pee out of the team. His suspenders meant serious business and I wouldn't want to be the guy to say "Whoops, we lost, better luck next year!"

I think it was funny when that really big defense guy ran 100 yards to a touchdown. Did you see him suck on that oxygen? That's what I would have been like. Running for my life like I stole a baby and then collapsing because holy shit I just freaking ran! I guess he was excited because he decided to punch the crap out of some Cardinal player later in the game. Nothin' but testosterone.

As for the commercials, seriously I think the 1 second clip for Miller High Life won. That shit was whack! I did enjoy the Koala punching though not really for the punching part, that commercial had me at the dude drinking gold. I can't recall any other fantastic commercials which is pretty lame considering I originally sat down for them and ended up watching more game.

So in conclusion, you can try and avoid the Super Bowl, you can try and watch just the commercials, but once that American blood gets pumping you will watch history unfold on your 50" lcd hd tv. It's good to be the King.

Until next time....

It's February

Which means in exactly 14 days we are moving into that fantastic condo. We hope. We don't even know yet! I mean, we are pretty sure but I'd like a little more reassurance than "Yeah if everything works out it's totally yours!" two weeks before move in day. I'm like, wha? Do I even begin to pack? I hate packing and if I can prolong it, I will. Then I'm told the Love may have to go out of state the week before we are supposed to move for training. Awesome, sounds like I get to pack no matter what!

You know how many times I've moved in the last two years? 4 times!!! I feel like a ball in the pinball machine, just sort of bouncing around until the handler gets tired of thwaping the button. After this move though we are stuck for 2 years, potentially.

I'm actually excited about the move even though it's not the beach. It's the smartest decision right now and will allow us to plan properly for our coastal migration. I would just like to know if this is going to work out, like yesterday.

Please, please, please!

Jason Mraz

I will make it my goal to see him live before my time expires.



*Swoon*

I love a musical artist who's voice is the same recorded and as it is live.