Another Transition

Life is nothing more than a series of transitions from one state of being to another. Sometimes those transitions are rapid and head-spinning, other times they are lost in the mundane of day-to-day life. As long as we are changing, we are growing. The latest massive transition is that my baby became a senior in high school yesterday. Today is the last day of school, but he was exempted from a number of his final exams and had his last one yesterday.

He's 17 and a bright, but lazy, young man. I always thought he was the bolder of our two sons, but I'm finding he's more timid about somethings than his big brother. Driving for instance. When DS#1 was learning to drive, he pestered us everytime we went to the car to be allowed to drive. DS#2 is afraid. He's worried about staying centered in the lane and the amount of traffic. We had a talk last night that if he wanted to get a job, he's going to have to learn to drive, and that learning to drive in this city, traffic is a fact of life he's going to have to learn to deal with.

If you have any suggestions on how to motivate a 17 year old boy to clean house, or at least his room, please let me know! LOL

A New Look

I've created a new header for my blog. It's made from the Weeds and Wildflowers Celebrating Color Collection. They do some really cool work there. I'm still trying to get the look of my blog right, so bear with me if it looks different every time or has a problem. If you do see a problem, please let me know! I'm still trying to figure this stuff out.

Visiting Long Beach

Wow, two posts in one day! What's the world coming to? Anyway, I promised pictures from my visit to Long Beach. I went specifically to see the Queen Mary and found a few other things along the way. So I made a digital scrapbook page using a couple of the photos and a freebie kit from one of the faculty at 123-Scrap.



Even though there were clouds all morning, the sun came out late in the afternoon and I was able to at least the ship and the ocean. If you ever make it to California, be sure to plan a visit to Long Beach. It's beautiful.

I Got to Meet Chris

I got to meet one of the scrappers I admire a lot, not only because she creates beautiful pages, but she runs one of the best scrapbook sites I have found. Chris is a really neat person with lots of stories to tell. She gave me directions to Redondo Beach where we had dinner on the pier and watched the sunset.

There's a bell bouy just off the end of the jetty that was hosting a number of sea lions. We got a kick out of watching them trying to get on it and falling off as the balance changed.



I had a great time visiting. We ate at Kincaid's out on the porch. And although it was a little chilly, we were right over the breaking surf which was relaxing to watch and hear. I don't know much about tides, but I think it was coming in because the waves were crashing higher up when we left than when we got there.

All in all it was a very pleasant evening and I made it back to the hotel without getting lost. Chris gives great directions. Even to the point of telling me about the way I was going and to not get confused. Which was a good thing because I'm not that familiar with California highways and I thought I was going the wrong direction for a time, but I hung in there and finally found it.

Today, I'm not sure what I'll do this evening, but I know I need to pack at some point to head home tomorrow. I got some scrapbook pages done on this trip. Maybe I'll pack up all my paper stuff and try some digi scrapping with the new pictures I've got. I'll leave you with one more picture of one of the fellows hanging out at the pier:

Travelling for Business

I am currently in Anaheim, California, taking a class for my job. I'm learning about clustering HP-UX systems with Serviceguard. Now if you know what that means, you're truly part of the geek-dom. If not, suffice it to say I'm learning an advanced computer topic.

The trip out here was really quite tolerable, considering what one must go through to get on an airplane. There was a little turbulence, but nothing that bothered me in the least. The only problem I had was that I couldn't clear my ears on descent and there were two of them! When they finally did clear, it sounded like there were Pop Rocks candy going off in my ears. The pressure was so bad both times that my eyes were watering and my hearing was going dim. I really thought I might burst an eardrum at one point. I was just hoping it wouldn't be both! I suppose I shouldn't have left home without taking some serious decongestant, but I did and that's what happens.

When I got to my hotel room, I had a throbbing headache from all the sinus and ear pressure and my ears were still popping. Even today, three days later, there's still some popping going on and I've even been taking Claritin-D religiously since Monday. I hope it clears up before I leave on Friday! Otherwise it's going to be a long flight home.

I spoke to my husband yesterday and he told me a funny story. Snickers, the big dumb dog, is afraid of lightening, thunder, water, cats, you name it. Well, on Monday night there was a thunderstorm. Ever since Tango died, Snickers has been an indoor dog, so he's fairly well insulated from storms, but the thunder still bothers him. Randy told me that DS#1 woke up Tuesday morning with Snickers in bed with him! That dog has never been on any furniture except the couch where Tango used to lay down. How he came to the conclusion that sleeping with one of the boys was an okay thing to do, but in light of his fear, I guess it was okay. What a goofy dog!

Last evening after class I drove out to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary. This is an oceanliner passenger ship that began sailing in 1936. I didn't go aboard, but I wanted to be able to say I had seen it. It's definitely a big ship. I'll post a photo later. I drove back down the Pacific Coast Highway just to be different and see what all the hoopla about the PCH is, but I got lost after I turned off of it to get to Anaheim. It's a good thing I had my trusty PDA loaded with mapping software because I was able to get my location loaded in and it took me right back to the Embassy Suites. Whew! I could have been lost for a long time or ended up in San Diego!

Tonight I'm going to Redondo Beach Pier to see the sights. It ought to prove interesting. One other place I would like to see is the Crystal Cathedral. I'll have to google it to find out how to get there. Hopefully I can make it by there in daylight to take some photos.

Finally, in closing, GO! SPURS! GO! ~ GO! SPURS! GO! ~ GO! SPURS! GO!

New Toy!

I got my Mother's Day present on Wednesday, a Nikkor 70-300mm telephoto lens for the Nikon D-50 my husband gave me for Christmas. There's still a lot to learn, but it takes some really awesome photos. The first event I used it at was the Jazz Band and Combo concert. They also had the ensembles going to State Solo and Ensemble contest perform. This picture was taken from near the rear of the high school auditorium and the flautists are near the front of the stage.


This photo is from the same seat, but DS is at the back of the stage. It's a little fuzzy, but the fact that I can get this close gives me encouragement to keep trying.

DS#1 took this photo of the baseball team before the game and after warm up. When I was paging through the photos he took, this one took my breath away. It still does even now.



I took this one on they way into the office from the parking lot. There is this huge flowering bush near the street that is covered with these blooms in the summer. It's a Mexican bird-of-paradise and it is quite lovely.



I still have a lot to learn about this new lens, like taking close-ups in the macro mode. Sometimes it just won't take the picture and I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

This is going to be a busy weekend. Tonight we're going to the baseball game to hopefully watch UTSA clinch sole possession of the Southland Conference Baseball title and DS#2 is helping set up a video display at the church. Saturday I have to take DH shopping to find something to wear to the Band Banquet tomorrow evening, then after the banquet I have to go to work, hopefully not for the whole four hours scheduled. This is our biannual cluster testing weekend that is mandatory for us to attend. The last two of these I participated in went 18 and 22 hours respectively. We've made a few changes to the environment and will hopefully keep it down to the four hours we're allotted. Then on Sunday there are two church services and then I leave for Anaheim, CA for training. I'm not sure, yet, when I'm going to pack.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Mother's Day Follow-up

I just received a call from my father's SO. We have to call her that because they have no intention of ever getting married because of financial reasons, but I choose to call her my stepmother because she has stepped in for our family since my mother's death. I made cards for my stepmother and DH's stepmother. Mary called today to let me know how Daddy's surgery went to remove a polyp in his sinuses and when I asked if she had got the card I sent, she took off to find it. They live part-time in his city, part-time in her city, and part-time traveling around the country, so mail is gathered and stored. She had to go look through the box at Daddy's because she thought it was all his mail. Sooo...she loved the card and the sentiment, and Daddy's doing great.

We go with DS#1 tomorrow to meet with an accountant about getting his business set up properly. It's getting incrementally closer and closer to reality. I covet prayers and good thoughts coming our way for the success of his business. He's 20 years old and isn't afraid of failure. I suppose it's the certainty of youth, but I know he's going to make a good go at it one way or another. He's thought through so many different facets, he's getting accounts lined up, getting his sales force lined up, and has made a lot of good contacts in the field. My boy's growing up.