Parrot

Parrot
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

Bleys has recently taken to this new position. He creeps along the back of the chair, usually after a stint on the perch, and lays down with his head resting on your shoulder. It is one of the most adorable things ever. It also gives a person the biggest warm fuzzy when he does it. I mean who could resist that face snuggling into your neck? I wanted to get a picture of him with Roland, but this one turned out better instead. I think I'm still going to try to get some better ones later.

Royal

I also took a picture of the other gloxinias that are blooming on the balcony. These are a really nice deep purple with white edges and look all fuzzy like the red ones.

Keen

My first begonia bloomed today. It looks lovely and I hope there are many more to follow. Unfortunately I've been having a lot of trouble with stem rot due to the extremely high humidity here. It has cause the loss of at least two begonias unless they are able to send out a new shoot, which I'm totally doubtful of.

Regal

One of the people from the flyball team I've been taking classes from and making a website for invited some of us to a dinner that the Boca Raton Kennel Club was putting on. It was interesting and nice to get out. But, by far, the coolest thing about the meeting was this other dude who was there. He is actually from Michigan, soon to be moving to Palm Beach. He does portaits of people and dogs and stuff and he is REALLY good. I mean I totally want one of these...can't you just imagine one of Bleys sitting on some poofy pillow?

Flyball hopeful

I was lucky enough to have someone take some pictures of Bleys at Flyball on Monday. Her name is Claudia and she has an adorable little pup named Kodi. You can check out some of her other pictures from practice on Sunday. Here Bleys looks all impressive going for the ball on the flyball box. Unfortunately half the time once he gets up there he forgets what I want him to do with the ball. Despite this, we are making all sort of progress in learning this sport. When we started Bleys didn't have a clue how to retrieve and he didn't know how to catch anything in his mouth. I mean if you threw a piece of food at him he would let it hit him in the face, wait for it to fall to the floor, and then eat it. Now he retrieves reliably in the house and about 75% outside with distractions. He also catches food about 95% of the time and will actually catch a ball (when thrown gently) about 50% of the time. I thinks that is doing really well for a little less than 2 months.

Sleepy

Anne sent me an email today that I thought I would share with you. You can not resist the cutness!

Buck

Apparently there is a new spa in Las Vegas, and it was built with Roland in mind. In, Caesar's Palace you can now visit Qua Baths and Spa and enter the Artic Ice Room where it perpetually snows.

Strings

50's Green Dress
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

I think I'm done with my latest craft project. I made a dress (Butterick 4790) out of green broadcloth. I had made this pattern once before in purple. But I have since changed sizes, so it was time to get it out again. Also the broadcloth is very light and breezy so it might be nice here in Florida in the summer. I did end up lining it becuase the fabric was a little too thin though. I'm hoping it doesn't look too homemade and I can wear it soon.

Borders

Sometimes I just can't express how much frustration Internet Explorer causes me. I suppose it's a good thing that IE7 is so much more css complient than IE6, but how do you reconcile the two? I mean, somehow I have to make my site look descent in IE7, while still making it work in IE6 for those who haven't made the switch. I can't even imagine being a web designer and dealing with this stuff every day.

In case you were wondering, the browser that wins in complience is Opera 9. Firefox is at best adequate, but not really great, and IE is a joke.

Storm Riders

A while ago I made a prototype website for the nature center I sometimes volunteer with. I made it because their current website is atrocious and very '1.0' (according to Anne). We are talking about a site made with Frontpage with frames, that contains very little useful information, about a trillion animated gifs, and hasn't been updated in forever. Long story short, they didn't care. I offered it to them free, with the ability to pull it down at any time when they got a better/professional one. Not interested. So not interested that they didn't even take the time to look at it. I was, admittedly, a little disappointed.

Life moves on. During the making of that website I learned a cool css trick for having the main content of your website look like it is on a frosted pane over your background. I thought it was pretty sweet. So when the flyball team Bleys and I are taking classes from wanted to update their site, I made another site that uses the same trick. It looks like the flyball team might actually use the site I designed too. You can check out the original site here, and my version temporarily located here. Mine is still in the working phase, so there are some links that don't go anywhere, and some (quite a few) pictures missing. There is still an animated gif and they would really like there to be sound as well. Both of which I would leave out if it were up to me.

Drip

This lake disappeared. All the water up and vanished. How weird is that? I guess not so weird.

Bit

I guess I just haven't had much inspiration for the blog the past couple of weeks. I've been working on a website for the flyball team I take lessons from, and sewing a dress. The dress is taking much longer than expected because I ended up needing to line it. It's causing some problems at the hem, but hopefully I'm getting that worked out. I'm just thankful that no one sees the lining as it's a bit of a mess.

In some good news, Jason is coming for a visit at the end of next week! I'm so excited. It will be really nice to get to spend some time with such a good friend. I really miss having the opportunity to see those people we are close with. Luckily he will be able to stay for quite a while so we can hang out and go do stuff and not feel rushed about it.

In some bad news, we still don't have a roof yet. But at least the roofers have started coming back again. There were three weeks in there when nothing happened. What I don't dig, is that they have taken the time to haul tiles up to pretty much all the roofs before attaching them. This means that, as of this moment, if a hurricane comes we don't have a roof, but we do have a whole apartement complex full of shrapnel. Hopefully they will keep coming back and we will have a roof before a hurricane comes.

Herd

Okay, you can read the article or not, but there is an adorable black and tan Cavalier pictured at the top. I want one!

Hero

Sad news.

Tips

As you may have read, Jason is taking a new position at Stryker (I wonder if he will have to wear a suit more). But before he does he will probably come to visit us for a little vacation. It's a good idea to take that vacation before starting the new job, because after he starts the chances of him being able to squeeze in time away will be much dimished. Luckily for Roland and I, it looks like Jason will be coming down to visit us!

We've been chatting a bit about what to do when he arrives and beside the obvious (some fun dining, some beach bumming, etc) we were thinking of visiting the Keys for a few days. Even after living here for quite a while now I still haven't been to the Keys. Bad Susan. Jason was thinking, and I am totally in agreement, that a little side trip would be cool and we could possibly do some diving while we are there. I'm always being told how great the diving is down there, but I'm not comfortable just driving down there by myself and taking my chances with a dive buddy.

So I've been looking around online at some info on the Keys and it seems like Key Largo has a lot of cool stuff going for it. Key Largo has some wicked looking diving, with the Spiegel Grove and cool statues underwater and all. They also have dolphin encounter places that would be really cool, but too expensive for the time being. Kayaking sounds cool and if they water is calm, relaxing too. However, it is tempting to go on down to Key West, because, well it's the end of the line. Plus, you hear a lot of about the interesting people who reside there. Right now Key Largo is calling to me, but who know what more cool stuff I will find online. I still haven't looked into places to stay for the few days we will be down there, but given how touristy it is down there, I'm sure they have all sort of options.

Vicious

Dr J....watch your back.



Update: Seriously folks check out Dr J's adorable dog. Look at the ears!

Flavors

I was in the pet store a while ago to get some new toothpaste for Bleys (I think we are on to poultry flavor this time) and saw a new toothbrush. Not being particularly satisfied with his current tooth brush, I decided to give it a try, being a whole new design and all. I have to say I'm impressed. I actually have a scaler (like the dentists use on your very own teeth) that I use when I have to, but with this new toothbrush the amount I have to use it has gone down dramatically. It's hard to tell, but I think I'm seeing improvement over time as well. I think it is actually taking down some of the old tartar buildup. All this is pretty sweet since he already has a heart murmur and doesn't need any help from tooth decay.

Wind

We had flyball again this morning and it went pretty well. I just really wish I had some jumps at home to work with. Even better I would love to have a flyball box too, but the jumps at least could be made for not a ridiculous amount of money. If we were still in Michigan I could just impose on my Dad to cut them out for me and then I could finish them myself. But now that I'm in Florida I don't have that option.

Anway, I took some more pictures at practice (of the real flyball dogs). So here they are:




This one isn't terribly good, with the blurry factor, but the dog seemed to having so much fun leaping!


Same with this one, taken on the second run.


Between races this dog looked so nice, just standing there, it deserved a picture.


This was my favorite picture of the day.

Tidy

Dr J posted some very nice pictures of Leon - Dog Wonder, so I thought maybe a cute picture of Bleys was in order. He obliged me by already laying there with his paws crossed.

Seeing Red

Okay, so...wow. I'm currently without words. I've been following a story about a book banning in Oklahoma. The book is a young adult novel called The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson. What could possibly be offensive about it? Well it's about what happens to friendships when young people start to grow up and date. What probably really got it banned is that it involves three very close girl friends, one of which goes away for the summer and the other two start a relationship, however, there is no sex in the book. If you would like a much better explaination of the whole thing check out the authors blog on the subject. It would be interesting to note that of the people on the committee to ban the book (who actually don't have the power to do that) only ONE of them actually read the book. And she (a librarian) was the only one to stand against this insanity. Book banning is enough to get my blood running, but I just read the latest update in which the librarian who stood up against this was removed from her position as chair of a library committe, and another librarian (who alerted the author to the situation) was called into meet with the committe and ending up resigning rather be a part of their version of a school. Oh, and none of them will respond to the author's emails, voice mails, or letters. Won't even acknowledge that she contacted them. Seriously? I don't even know what to say to that, other than mad props to the librarian who originally stood up for the book (and actually READ it before discussing it) and to Ninja Librarian Susan Hunt who has some major morals and she's sticking to them. You are currently my hero. If you want a better description of how this all went down, you too can read the update on Ms. Johnson blog.

Muggles Misunderstand

Maybe he was just trying to deliver something.

Thoughtful hearts

Katie just updated her blog with some adorable movies of Charlotte (who may or may not be a rubber ducky cannibal) and directed people to Charlotte Central - your source for ridiculously cute baby pictures. Amongst the photos found there were some of Charlotte in a dress I made! I'm so geeked, so here they are for you to check out. After which you should go check out the rest of the pictures.




Can someone say future botanist?

Whet

I thought this forray into food stylist vs. reality was interesting. Most of them look pretty attrocious without the nosh nudgers and food fluffers. Via Pop Candy.

World

I uploaded some more pictures from my Dad. This set is from Epcot, which we visited for two days on our vacation.


How does he do it? Another picture that looks like it should be a postcard.


Back in the World Showcase we saw some of the various performers, including the group that plays in the restaurant in Germany. They were one of the reasons I wanted to eat there with my parents.


And my personal favorite, the candy lady, Myuki. She makes these fantastic animals out of candy. Here she is making an octopus.


Roland and I also did the scuba thing and my Dad got this picture of me waving to them.


I took a piture of this green heron as well, but my Dad's is clearly superior.


We also ate dinner at the Rose and Crown one evening and I got something called a blue glowtini, which featured a glowing cube.


The theme of this years flower and garden festival was pirates, so the topiaries in Epcot were thusly attired.

Super

Well it seems that my computer is going to give me grief. Last night it decided that both hard drives had errors and and since it was both of them nothing was bootable. So I called my Dad and we tried to figure out what was going on. Eventually I did get to Windows and was able to re-back up everthing to my extrnal hard drive (I had done that a week or so ago, but since a crash seems evident I thought it would be nice to do it again). This morning I called Dell and got India, then my cell phone signal faded. So as it stands my computer is working (albeit on the slow side) but my raid array is still trying to rebuild itself and I'm not convinced that it will be successful, Sprint is the bane of my existance, and the Dell people can't help me unless my computer is actively malfunctioning right this minute.

In happier news Bleys did really well (for him) at Flyball yesterday. We've been working hard on it in the living room and it's been getting much better, but I was nervous about taking him outside with a bunch of other dogs (so many distractions). But he did, for the first time outside, run up to the box, and get the tennis ball. He didn't actually bring it back to me so much, but he did grab it! Yay for Bleys.

Also in the better news department, Roland and I tried out a new restaurant with some people he knows from school. The place is called Galanga and is a mixture of Thai and Japanese. I actually liked the appetizer better than the dinner I chose, but those who ordered sushi said it was awesome. So, perhaps if Jason comes to visit sometime we can swing over there and he can try out the sushi.

Nerf Herder at 12 O'Clock

For pictures from MGM, again from the photo-master: Dad.


Another postcard worthy shot.


Here was a shot that really did the forced perspective in MGM proud. It looks pretty real from here huh?


One of my favorite shots of the entire vacation. I love it when my Dad gets silly.

Via Dad

I got some pictures from my Dad! Here are a few from the Magic Kingdom that were fun.


Is this not a beautiful shot of the castle? It looks like it could be a postcard. He also took another really nice one that includes the bottom of the castle, but of course there are people in that one, and this one had a better blue sky behind it.


I think this was while Mom and I were waiting for Roland and Dad to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was holding onto Dad's camera bag for him and decided to try out his camera (which is totally awesome).


Dad and Goofy!


Oh Noes! Watch out for Emperor Zurg!

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good

On Wednesday Dave went all gourmet on the kitchen and made some zuccini soup. It turned out really yummy and pretty healthful to boot. Dave had a poker game last night, so I got to sample the soup for dinner last night and it was delicious.