When I visit artist websites and I like their work, the 2nd page I go to is their bio–the About Me page.
Did you ever notice that many of them write, “I’ve always been into art.” Ever read one that said, “I never enjoyed art and was forced to pursue it against my will”?
Seriously, it looked like a scene right out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. There were three solid rows of birds on the power lines in our backyard. Usually they’re chirping, hopping, and pecking around the bird feeder that hubby staked by the garage this year, but this morning they looked a little miffed that the feeder was empty. So they sat there and waited.
Sipping my first cuppa coffee and smoking the A.M. ciggie (yes, still, but I’ve moved it outside which is 89% of the challenge—no smokie while working at my desk anymore!) a bunny leisurely hopped past me into the yard, and a few minutes later, 2 squirrels came running straight towards me. Kinda freaked me out, so I stuck my leg out which caused the second one to screech and haul ass back to where he came from. Honestly, I feel like cinda-fricken-ella sometimes, all nature-y and stuff.
So why the “Birdman of Cherry Street?” ’tis my hubby, A.K.A. the “Mayor of Cherry Street.”
If you ran into my husband on the street, you would never suspect him to be the flower planting, critter loving and no-kill bug guy that he is. He once carried a lost turtle about half a mile back to the creek (some of you old-time FullMoon Graphics fans might remember the set I created in his honor after that incident). And now he’s the Birdman.
I really should take my camera with me when I sit outside. And to think that I would miss all of this if I still smoked in the house. ha! Go figure.
but I don’t.
That’s one of the joys of being self-employed and working from home. Don’t have to fix my hair, no make-up and I wear whatever I want. Although when I was still working at the hospital I wore scrubs, which some would say wasn’t exactly “getting dressed” either.
The other morning I was sitting outside on the patio, waking up with my first cuppa, when the neighbor walked by on her way to work. Waving a cheery good morning to her, I thought about how nice she looked and briefly—very briefly—kind of wished that I was going to work. For the most part, having to crawl out of bed to the annoying squeal of the alarm, stumble to the shower and go through the daily routine of getting to work by 6:00 am isn’t something that I really miss.
Then I started thinking… what if I got up, fixed my hair and got dressed in something that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen in, all before I plunked myself down in front of my computer to begin my work day. Would it make me feel more energized? More ready to dig in to my projects right from the get-go? If you’ve ever worked from home, you know how important it is to be self-disciplined and resist the urge to check into Twitter & Facebook & a few of your fav blogs to see what’s up before you actually begin working. Although it’s generally not a problem for me to do so (I am so much better at this than I used to be!), maybe by “getting ready” the old way would make it easier. Granted, I could still have foggy mornings either way, whether it’s at a remote workplace or in my own home, thinking about it yesterday was entertaining. As a matter of fact, as I write this post, I realize how much I really do appreciate not having to physically “go to” work any longer. And come winter when I hear my neighbor scraping the ice off of her windshield in 0º weather on her way to work, I’m sure I’ll have a chuckle (guffaw) at the absurdity of even considering all of the above! Silly me.
;)
For my non-facebook friends – I became an official Gramma one week ago today!
Nola Grace, born 5-16.
I am becoming increasingly irritated with my monitor’s screen resolution. I changed it to see how a client was viewing his new site with a high res setting, which was way too small for me (2500 x something) and when I went to change mine back to my previous settings – 1400 x 900 – I couldn’t. No matter what I did it just wasn’t happening. What the hell? Nothing else has changed. No new drivers, no updates to ANYthing. I am stuck with 1680 x 1050 (not ideal) vs 1360 x 768 (huge everything!).
I can read content ok, but things aren’t as pretty as they could be to me. The majority of websites look like crap… patterned backgrounds not wide or long enough, sites that aren’t centered. Heck, even some of my own site(s) aren’t as attractive which compels me to redesign them, NOW. It’s throwing me off in my own design process. I usually average my sites to look best @ at least 1024 x 768 even though the current trend is 76% higher than that.
Along with the screen res issue, now that I have my laptop side-by-side with my desktop, the color differences in monitors is just as annoying. My large monitor is color calibrated, vibrant & saturated with stunning graphics, but when I cross-check sites on other computers the view is discouraging (and ugly).
What to do?
I realize that I have no control how everyone else views the web… their screen resolution, color settings and the browser that they use ( don’t even get me started on browsers!), I can only do the best that I can. But this damn screen res setting on my pc definitely needs a solution asap!
Any suggestions? Anyone?
Which comes first, the baby or the laptop?
Things have been a little hectic around the Kitty household these days. **Baby Raisin is due to appear any day now. In preparation of my staying with Jennie & Brian the first couple weeks after Raisin’s birth, I bought a new laptop and am tediously trying to get everything work related from desktop to the laptop. I’m also trying to clear my palette of current projects before I leave. Ack!
Of course every day that passes is another day closer. hurryhurryhurry… and since it’s a 3-4 hr drive to Babyland, once we get The Call from Jennie, we’re outta here! There’s a lot of “hopefully(s)” that come to mind. Hopefully it won’t be during rush hour in Chicago. Hopefully it won’t be in the middle of the night and we can’t take the dogs in for boarding until they open… hopefully it won’t be a super-fast, extraordinary-for-first-baby delivery (sorry Jennie) (for you I hope it will be)… and on and on.
Ultimately it all doesn’t matter. What matters is the birth of our first granddaughter. The health of our daughter & baby. The miracle of birth. Is there really anything else?
**When Jennie found out she was pregnant, the baby books said baby was about the size of a raisin—hence the name “Baby Raisin.” And since Jennie & Brian won’t reveal the name they have chosen for her she remains Baby Raisin. Hubby says he’s going to call her that anyway, regardless.
;)
