Sometimes Silent

This is the first video I’ve ever emailed (sent it to my sister who likes musicals).

Keep watching as it builds to the big finale

So it’s the weekend before the 4th of July. Folks have been walking past my place to get to the beach and the iPhone has gone on sale and hasn’t sold out at most locations.

I meanwhile am neither sunburned nor new gadget bearing.

Instead I have been working on some finishing touches for my twins shop.

Yes twins. I’m an Aunt-to-be of twins. I can’t believe it, my sister is going to be a mom to two identical twin girls! So that got me to thinking. Twins are just so cute if they wear the same thing. Yet, you are supposed to be careful to treat twins as individuals. So… I designed something that will do both: nearly identical twin sets. I also did the baby shower invitations but that’s not as revolutionary.

So how’s that for fireworks and “revolutionary features”? Better than a sunburn and iPhone tan line right?
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When my sister proposed going to Yosemite for three days I thought it was too short a time considering how far a drive it is but it was her trip and I was willing to go along with it just to get out there. It turned out we did quite a bit on the trip and had a lot of fun.

We left early enough Wednesday so that we were able to arrive in time to rent bikes and ride around. Thursday we hiked half dome (I had planned to climb it again but my climbing partner’s knee was not cooperative). It was good to just hike it again though to refresh my memory of it and I did get to have a little fun on the cable route. The view from the top of Half Dome is, of course well worth it however you get up there.

Life lesson learned? Go ahead and take those trips that don’t always “make sense”.

So a long time ago I got interviewed for a book for the American Management Association. At the time I thought it was more a business to business book that was showing case studies of different business models (Cafepress included) and that it wouldn’t be widely available. Well, turns out it’s more of a motivational, “you can do this too book” (though it seems to have hands on exercises and even tutorials as well — not done with it yet) and it’s being sold on Amazon.

It’s pretty interesting so far. When I first learned what the title was going to be I had to laugh — “Internet Riches” — and the subtitle is… “The Simple Money Making Secrets of Online Millionaires”. I wrote back that I hoped I was an example of how you can start with little start up and end up NOT being a millionaire.

Anyway, I got my copy the other day and seeing just how many folks are profiled in it (including WeddingChannel.com and FARK, but also folks like the creators of Bathboats.com who are NOT millionaires) I feel a bit better about not being a fraud, lol.

If you’d like to buy a copy you can see the book here:

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Just saying I went, I saw, I had fun. I’ve done a few write ups for The Safehouse and gotten some screen shot exclusives, so check those out over there.

On a personal note, it was fun having my friend stay over last minute, it made the commute more bearable as well.

I’ve been using Blockbuster Online’s service for months now but I’m just ending my 2 week trial period with Netflix after having heard good things about them for a long time.

Short story: I’m sticking with Blockbuster.

Longer story:

Netflix
I tried out Netflix because some friends in the area (who have not used Blockbuster Online) said they have a fast turn around since one of the location places is just one town (15 minutes) over. I had heard about the Netflix settlement (they were sued for purposely demoting fast returners DVDs) and figured that was settled and they wouldn’t do it again. Well, my Blockbuster DVDs still got here faster than my Netflix ones…and this was with me churning them over at the same rate. So that was one possible Pro for Netflix that turned out to be a wash.

One Pro that did pan out for Netflix is their website. It was easier to browse and add DVDs to my queue using Netflix and the friend recommendation system is nice. One caveat to this… while using Blockbuster’s website I didn’t have any complaints so it’s only something I noticed using both systems.

Finally, for a Netflix Pro point I figured they would have a wider selection of movies. As a test I searched for “The Last Temptation of Christ” which I had heard was not available from Blockbuster. I was wrong, it’s available from both services. Maybe time has made that movie not as controversial though?

Blockbuster
I started out subscribed to their unlimited 3 out at a time plan with the additional 2 free coupons a month. At the time I also got a coupon for a buy one get one free ice cream, and a free used DVD. The next month I got a coupon for buy one get on free popcorn and a used dvd for $5, another time I got one for a discount on a game. It continued like that for awhile but I haven’t seen another coupon like that for 2 months now, I only see my usual 2 free rentals.

After I got into some TV shows (darn it, I got hooked on LOST) I realized that 3 movies at a time plus the coupons was too many DVDs. I cut back to the 2 out at a time, 2 bonus coupons plan, at a very affordable $11.99 a month. The bonus coupons are great, they allow for immediate gratification on new DVD releases and spontaneous viewing choices. If I lived far from a Blockbuster I’d consider Netflix’s service but 2 movies out at a time for $11.99 even without the coupons is still a good deal.

Anyway, there’s my two bytes worth

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Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day

It’s today from nooon till 8 pm!

I’m not usually a sweet tooth kind of gal, but ice cream is in its own category to me… the category where I’d name it as one of the foods I’d choose to have with me on a deserted island… along with a fridge and electricity and running water and…

Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

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Happy April Fool’s Day!

Just what is a fool? I think one of the most memorable times when a person remembers feeling foolish is when it’s related to the big L word, Love. Apparently, Google does too: Google Romance

Another fool? Well there were professional ones as well:

Jester Baseball Jersey

What is it about being a fool that makes a whole day named after it?

Personally I think it’s the laughter, not only of others but of yourself. You get a release from playing the fool or from realizing you were one and maybe even learning from it afterwards.

Whatever the reason, have a foolish day today!

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Today we took Manuka out for her last hunt in captivity. We went a different, longer way into the field near the river. L kept her on fist the whole time and K and I tried to scare game her way. K flushed out 2 rabbits but they got away. As the time went on L let me take his place holding Manuka on top of a small hill and he took my spot being a “bird dog”.

He was successful and flushed a rabbit out in our line of sight. I let Manuka go and she swooped down magnificently.

Once she became preoccupied with eating, L took her jesses and bracelets off. Then K and I took our turns petting her goodbye, L of course did so as well.

Then we retreated to another small hill and watcher over her in case a dog were to come up upon her.

Eventually she stopped eating and dragged the rest of the rabbit into a bush. Where she also stayed for awhile. Every now and then she had looked our way when she was eating so we wondered what she would do at the end.

Turns out she just stayed in the bush. No dramatic sail off into the sunset ending.

L had had an id bracelet put on her in case she was found by someone else and needed help. We guessed that if she did permanently adopt the field as her hunting ground that we could id her from that.

She would be wild again if we saw her next, L said it would not take long at all for her to fear humans again.

We walked back and occasionally talked about L’s new hawk, a male juvenile. We might be hunting with him in a month’s time. Also he was hoping to gain another bird or he might be helping to rehabiliate a peregrine.

Bye Manuka, the first hawk I got to help fly and train, live long, have little birdies, and may your prey never get away!

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This week I got to go out twice. The first outing was a night outing. This was much easier than my first day time outing. Essentially we walked along and L used a flashlight to direct Manuka’s attention to prey. She was alert and her head swiveled to follow the beam of light. She caught a rabbit during this outing and, unlike the first rabbit I had seen her catch, this one was destined to be hawk food. Since Manuka was successful so early in the evening (L told me that at times he’d been out till 11 pm looking for prey) we went back to his house and then he let me transport Manuka from the garage to the “cage” he had built for her at the side of his house. I was a little nervous but it was quite a thrill. I was slightly surprised at her weight, though of course she had just eaten.

Once we got to her “cage” — think more of an aviary here since there is room for her and several humans and it has two parts to it and several perches — I had another treat. L let me train her to come to my “fist”. Literally, I had on a falconer’s glove and then would “present” my fist and shine my light on it. She was to then jump or fly down to it and she’d find a small piece of meat which I had hidden there. We did this a number of times. She spread her feathers in my eyes once. I was more amused than startled. Manuka seemed much more focused than our first outing, it was a thrill to see be with a hawk and watch it do its thing. Very majestic bird.

Fast forward to today. This afternoon it was L, myself, and his friend K and K’s brother. A party of 4 humans, one to handle Manuka and us 3 to be bird dogs again. I carried one perch and the extra falconer’s glove. Manuka today, sadly, did not show the focus of our night time session. She wanted to go to the trees again and perch there rather than stay with us. She missed a rabbit and then another. Finally she ended up at a tree near the abandoned shack again. This is the scene of tragedy according to L. She caught a small lizard and flew with it to the roof. Why is this a tragedy? Because it showed she was still suspicious of L and wanted to keep her prey away from him. That suspicion, L said, was caused by a blunder he had made when first hunting with Manuka when he took her prey away too soon from her.

When he explained this to us it made me think of how falconry was a distillation of nature and nurture. Manuka is a natural hunter, yet L could show her a few things before he released her to the wild. Manuka’s suspicions were born of a few mistakes L had made when training her. But those mistakes stuck with her and was now causing problems. This is how it is with wild birds, cause and effect show up clearly. It drives home how humans too are animals influenced by nature and nurture.

As we “bird dog people” walked back towards the car. We discussed how it had been a great day dispite Manuka’s behavior. Just being in her presence was inspiring, and the day and the excercise (you try trampling around bushes for hours) was great.

In the end I did get to use the glove again… K took some pictures of me holding Manuka, it was posed of course, not a bird I had raised, but it was still thrilling enough that it’s going to be a picture I treasure for a long time.

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