After months of waiting, I finally know what happened with this joke that I  someone played on my coworker.  *insert evil grin*

He still doesn't know who did sent the letter in question, but he HAS to know it was a joke.  While discussing "Arianna" yesterday, he told me that he spoke with her HR person at the hospital where she is employed and almost got her fired.  *snortle*  Yeah right, he didn't know it was a joke.  I'm sure he's messing with me and trying to make me feel bad... that is, if I'm the culprit.  ;-)

The past few months, my focus has shifted to finding what really makes me happy.  Besides my family and friends, photography has brought me a lot of joy.  I'm not writing as much (which is evident) because my passion is directed towards photography and how it keeps my sanity and lifts my spirits when I'm down. 

I've created a new page to my blog and it's along the left hand side called Passion for Photography or the direct link is:  http://passionsofmyheart.squarespace.com/passion-for-photography/  I plan to post a photo a day during the week and sometimes on the weekend.  They may be new photos or from my archive as I look back to see where I've been. 

I hope to see you there...

My blog is back after some technical difficulties...  thanks to all of those who checked up on me to make sure I was alive or hadn't left the blogging world. 

My good friend Emma gave me the Brilliant Bloggers Award last week and now it's my turn to pass it on.  Thank you again, Emma; I'm honored!  :-)

Now is my turn to pass it on to who I deem fit to receive it.  This is the tough part for me because everyone is a great blogger in their own way.  Please do not feel left out if I didn't name your blog because I'm going to choose blogs that I haven't given an award to before (if my memory doesn't fail me) or haven't given an award in a long time.  

DreamTeaser is a long-time friend of mine who is a brilliant writer and has a way of writing great stories and poetry.  He's an aspiring singer and has a heart of gold.

Sheiss Weekly, otherwise known as Mamacita, is so fun and a great writer.  She has a way of pulling me into her stories of the chaotic life and usually makes me crack up with laughter. 

Petroville is a blog that I started reading a couple of years ago and although I'm not a regular visitor (due to time constraints), she's a brilliant writer and deserves recognition. 

Brian is a history buff and he has a knack of writing that makes me want to learn more.  I wish I had him as a history teacher when I went to school!  ;-)

Curtis is a good man and has quite a sense of humor that comes out in his writing.  I met him through his late wife, Ellen (rest in peace) and I enjoy reading his blog. 

Gunsmoke Files is written by an incredible writer.  I love his style of writing and his stories are hilarious!  

Nikki-Ann takes incredible photos and she writes of her passions for her homeland (Wales) and family genealogy.  She is a fan of music and goes to a lot of concerts.  She's a sweetheart and a good friend of mine.

If you'd like to give some of your readers the award, then please do so.  Pass the award along by visiting their blogs and leaving a comment. 

On a side note, if you use an iPod, make sure it doesn't drop while connected to your ears ... trust me, it hurts! 

Aunt Lou Jean & MomSaturday was my parents' 51st wedding anniversary!  In celebration, I took them to Salt Lake City on the Front Runner train then caught the inner-city train, Trax to Temple Square.  It was a beautiful day and we beat the rush of shoppers and those who had other destinations.  My Aunt Lou Jean spent the weekend with us and she came along on the trip. 

Click on photos to EMBIGGEN!

I have to admit my frustration that it was SO difficult to get Mom, Dad, and/or Lou Jean to smile at the same time.  (insert laughter here)

Gardens at Temple SquareWe arrived at Temple Square and the gardens were in full bloom and the sun was shining brightly but fortunately, there was also a lot of shade still so we didn't get overheated too soon. 

Dad rode in his wheelchair and enjoyed being chauffeured around.  Lou Jean and him were joking around about her sitting on his lap because she could have used a wheelchair ride too. 

Reflection of the Salt Lake Temple

Salt Lake Temple & Reflection PoolWe spent the majority of the time around the reflecting pool and the water fountains - all were so gorgeous!  All in all, I took 6GB of photos on the trip; digital photography rocks. 

The lighting was perfect to get a great reflection in the pool of the temple and I had fun capturing distorted reflections because some kids on the other side were touching the water and it carried all the way over to the side where I was.  

I captured some photos of this little boy having a lot of fun and I love how they turned out with all the reflection of the trees. 

Boy Playing in Reflection Pool

 

Mom and Dad posed for me and out of about 20 photos, this is the only one where they were both smiling... to a degree.  They asked me to take their photo so why they were acting like it was torture is beyond me.  I have to laugh at it though.

The water fountains were incredible and I had fun shooting this one, which is right behind the Church Office Building and the Lyon House Pantry in a nice courtyard.  As we were walking in a walkway/alley by the Lyon House Pantry, there was a woman and two men arguing on the street and using some colorful language and it was turning to physical violence.  There were four other people standing and watching - all of us with our cell phones to start dialing.  One of the men saw that we were there and he decided he better back off and no one was hurt. 

Foyer of the Joseph Smith BuildingAfter they cleared out, we walked down the street to find a place to eat lunch.  There was a cafe inside the Joseph Smith Building and we had some sandwiches there.  I've never been inside the building and it was stunning!  Wow.  Very ornate and beautiful.  

We left for Trax and made it just in time to make our 1:25 train back home.  By the time we got home, it was definitely nap/rest time.  However, my day was not done... more about that on another day :-)

Wow... three posts in three days!  Now that's a big gee whiz!  ;-)

Last night's photo competition at the Wasatch Camera Club was a great night and there were a lot of  great photos.  The theme was "The Decisive Moment" and I submitted two in the theme and two to the open category.  There were a lot of rodeo photos and some great action shots.  The judges were very helpful with their critiques of my photos and I learned a lot.  Most the awards went to the rodeo photos in my Novice level, but they deserved the awards. 

I am proud that I received an Honorable Mention in the themed category for this photo, The Egg Backflip, it's my sister Susie in the restaurant where she works.  It was her idea that I take photos of her working.  The way she flips eggs always amazed me and she's fast; I took around 50 photos to get this one!

I followed that with a 3rd place for "Angels Among Us" in the open category.  I learned that cropping it a bit closer would make it better and I can see what they meant by that. 

I submitted this one of my niece Elyssa and didn't place; I should have entered another one that didn't have her smile blocked.  Bad Karen. 

And finally, "Everything is Rosy," which did not place either but I got some good advice on cropping it and the judges said the water was too distracting.  I chose this photo because it's the photo with the most comments on my Flickr photo page and I wanted to see how it would do in competition. 

Another thing I learned last night is that judges are biased, which is part of being human.  Each person has his/her own tastes and ways they connect with photos and the world.  The judges were excellent but they loved the action/sport shots.  I'm not upset that I didn't do as well as last competition because part of being in the club is learning and being adventurous. 

Darlene won 1st place in the Intermediate level in theme and 3rd place in the open theme.  Congrats, Darlene!  Ribbons, ribbons, everywhere!  :-D

I saw my Rheumologist yesterday for my Remicade treatment and I finally convinced him to change my pain medication because the darvocet isn't doing squat - even if I take three.  I don't know what he'll prescribe yet, he wants to discuss it with my Internist first, which is fine.  He took me off amitryptiline (for Fibromyalgia) because after three weeks of knocking me out at night, it began to keep me awake and wired - and it did nothing for my pain.  We're giving Flexeril a try next.  I don't want to go on any more antidepressants for pain or other ailments.  I don't like the way they make me feel and actually make me feel depressed.  I've also decided to go off prednisone because I'm sick and tired of the side effects and I want to see if it's even doing any good any more.  Gee whiz, it would be so great if it will work out. 

Enough about my health stuff...

Onto something funny that my coworker pointed out an article to me in a Salt Lake newspaper, The Deseret News.  There is a sexual-oriented business (SOB) (LOL) the small town of Roy, Utah is being sued by a sex store because the city is trying to get rid of the store.  The full story is HERE and it's typical of some people's mentality here.  I giggled throughout the article and reading the comments. 

I'm all for Doctor John's and the store is not increasing crime rate and lowering property values - criminals are doing that.  I actually left a comment (it's the one about outlawing chocolate LOL), which I normally don't do but I couldn't resist.  It's a shame that Doctor John's has to go through all of that just to stay in business.

Gee whiz... leave it to the fine politicians of Utah.

As I sit here, several thoughts enter my mind about what I want to write about; the thoughts of the past week and what is the most important.  One event stands out more than the rest.  My dear friend Hula called me Saturday evening to tell me that she and her family went through their house to assess the damage for the first time since it flooded while they were in Europe. 

I cannot imagine all they've been through, despite being with them for a few days in July.  While there, I saw the struggles of this wonderful family and how they handled it all with grace and the knowledge that family and those they love are the most important things in the world.  Material things are just that, material.  What makes some material things precious is the connection and love that accompanied them.   Their spirits filled with hope and gratitude were not destroyed. 

Hula told me that there were three things that were left in the house that were ruined due to the heat and moisture during the asbestos removal and those three things were photos that I gave her.  The insurance adjuster kept asking her to put a dollar amount to replacing the photos and her only response was, "I can't.  There is no dollar amount." 

My heart exploded knowing how much they meant to her but I also smiled and assured her that those three things were replaceable.  However, the intangible aspects of the photos will not and will never be destroyed.  The photos will be reprinted and sent to her and I feel more pride and love now than I did when I gave them to her the first time. 

The photo above is of her daughter, Hula Girl, that I took two years ago. See, Hula... it can't be destroyed. 

How blessed I am to have so many wonderful loved ones and family in my life... my cup runneth over. 

****************

Part II

It's my friend DAVE's birthday today so go over and wish him a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Have a great day, Dave!  *HUGS*

The camera club that I belong to, The Wasatch Camera Club, has another photo competition this month (on August 21) and the theme is, "The Decisive Moment."  I was perplexed about what photos I could submit within that them because I didn't understand it's about.  It's not about taking a photo of someone deciding something.  Henri Carter-Bresson explained it best.

"the decisive moment, it is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." 

Once I understood the meaning, I narrowed the search to the photos I took of my niece Elyssa in the swimming pool last weekend.  I selected my three favorites that fit (I hope!) the meaning and cropped them and changed them to black and white.  Now to decide which of the three I like!  If you want to see my choices, you can see them on my Flickr site.

The second photo is yet to be taken, however, my sister Susie came up with a brilliant idea and I have a field trip to take!  I don't want to say anything yet because I have to see how it turns out. 

I can submit two photos that are outside of the theme as well and will be working on those in the next week. 

Friday evening, Susie and I went to the Weber County Fair where we looked at all the photos in the competition and it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it.  We walked around the other exhibits then decided we had enough and wanted to go out to dinner.  It was really great spending time with her because we usually don't have the chance to go out together. 

We had another opportunity to hang out yesterday when we went to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which was great and I love it as much as I did the first movie.  I tried to talk her into seeing Mama Mia too but she had too much to do today. 

That pretty much sums up my weekend... how was yours?

My friends, Emma and Pete from the lovely England, are campaigning to use promo codes.  They have a promo code for 1800PetMeds which is 10% off your order and free shipping if your order is over $39.  This is a great way to save some money for pet supplies and save time by having it delivered to your door.

Use the promo code pete at checkout.

You can also save on domains at GoDaddy and they have several different promo codes for that see http://www.emmaandpete.btpodshow.com/ for the details.

I use it for my domain and it's great to be able to save some money.  The promo codes won't ever expire.

The judging at the Weber County Fair was yesterday (Tuesday) so I made a trip to the fair after work and physical therapy - just long enough to see how my photos did.  I'll take my time on another day to see all the photos there. 

The results are: 

For Wildlife, 1st place!  

For Macro, 2nd Place

And finally... For Portraits, 3rd Place.

I was so excited that I sent the photo taken with my phone of "Sleeping Beauty" AKA my grandniece Eli to family, my nephew, Travis (Eli's daddy) called me right away and said, "Karen, you kick ass."  LOL  I take that as a high compliment!  But I also told him that having a beautiful daughter like he has certainly helped me.  :-) 

It's hard to believe how quickly time goes by; last week felt as if it was crazy and it probably was.  Work was busy because I was working on a big document and meeting a deadline so I stayed late on Thursday to get it done.  I've been going to physical therapy three times a week (where I went last year and the pool I go to) to help my knees that are ridden with Osteo Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Why they don't go in and clean it all out, I don't know, but the PT is helping.  I love the electro stimulation and wish I could take the machine home with me.  I'm doing a lot of different exercises to strengthen the muscles above and below my knees and so far, I think it's helping.  I'm loving the opportunity to use the pool, which is my happy place.  

The weekend went fast - as usual.  I prepared three photos for entry in the Weber County Fair that runs 6 - 9 August; submissions are this afternoon and I think the judging is Thursday.  I hope to stop out there after work on Thursday to see how I did but I'm definitely going out on Friday evening with my sis. 

I had a tough time deciding on a third photo but after speaking to my sis, she told me her favorite photo is the purple angel center of a pansy and that's what I'm entering.  The other two are a moose at Big Springs and my grand niece, Eli.  I printed them out 11 x 14 and I'm still so impressed and happy with my big printer. 

        

Saturday night, my parents were outside with my niece Elyssa where she played in the little swimming pool - which used to be my tanning pool.  I went out with my camera to see what shots I could get.  I snapped this photo of my parents while watching Elyssa play in the pool and it still amazes me how much love my parents have for one another.  Their 51st anniversary is on August 23.  Mom threw the soccer ball to her and splashed her with water then Elyssa threw the ball back to Mom.  I think we laughed as much as Elyssa did.  

I felt filled with love and laughter as I took the photos of Elyssa; she is truly a gift from above. 

 

Mom's purple and white Larkspurs.  As I took these photos from different angles and lighting, I noticed how much the flower resembles a Larkspur bird.  Such incredible beauty that I see through my camera lenses that I never noticed before.

Why do Mom's computer blues always become mine?  Not that I wouldn't do anything for her... it's just frustrating when what I do doesn't work. 

The day after I arrived in Denver, I get a call from Mom telling me that her computer wouldn't connect to the internet.  I told her to reboot the modem and her computer, either or both usually does the trick but not this time.  Fine, I wasn't home so she could use my computer.  Nervously biting my nails hoping my baby would be fine in her hands ;-)

Since I got home on July 14, I've been working on this ridiculous problem as I've had time (and energy HAHAHAHA),  seriously cutting into my fun computer time.  Last weekend, I had my very nice techy neighbor come over to see if there was something I was missing but alas, he said I did everything I could have and his laptop wouldn't connect either. 

Mom's computer hooks to the modem via USB since it 1) doesn't have an Ethernet card and 2) my computer uses the one Ethernet connection on the modem.  Her computer (which is actually my old one so I know it well), would connect to the modem/local area network but not the internet.  Curious. 

Two previous techs gave us advice, one of whom I told to jump in the lake because she said it was a browser issue.  Not.  I even tried connecting other computers to the same USB connection with no luck.  They even sent us a new modem, thinking that the USB port went bad on the modem.   Received new modem Tuesday but still same issue.  Next - try wireless.

I researched a wireless desktop adapter online and had Mom buy one and I spent four hours on it last night and another two this evening until I concluded that wasn't working any better.  Back to the store she went to return it while I spoke with tech support person #3. 

Finally, this third guy knew what he was talking about... that is, after 30 minutes of trying different things while my hear flattened out on the phone.  He had an epiphany and recalled a memo that came out shortly after July 8 stating that Microsoft pushed out an update that didn't play well with firewalls such as ZoneAlarm, which Mom's computer has. 

I lowered the security to "medium" from "high" and voila.  Instant internet connection.  I'm actually so grateful that it's fixed  that I'm happy enough not to call Microsoft and tell them where to shove their so-called update and ask when they're going to fix it so I can boost the firewall settings again. 

On second thought, gee whiz, I'll leave that pleasure until tomorrow.  I may even send them a bill for the hours of time I've spent trying to fix their stupidity.   Thanks, Microsoft.

It's been a whirlwind week since I returned from Hula's.  Besides the usual working and health stuff, Mom's PC is on the blink and won't connect to the internet so I've spent my limited "play time" trying to sort it out.  I've narrowed it down to the connection speed, which most likely means one of the USB connectors is failing.  The connection speed is 12 while my PC, in an ethernet connection is 100.  Anyway...

My trip to Hula's was good, as always.  My main reason for going was to spend time with her and her family.  Her and her family are going through so much with their house flooding and on top of that, last week on the night before I flew in, she and her two kids were in a car accident.  Thankfully no one was hurt seriously; Hula Girl has several bruises from the seatbelt, dashboard, and on her forehead where Hula fisted her while keeping her back in the seat.  Hula Girl has one heck of a shiner on her forehead from that but it saved her from going forward through the windshield.   

A guy driving a tow truck turned left on a red light in front of Hula and she swerved to and that too, saved them from the wreck being worse.  The tow truck driver tried to get out of responsibility but the evidence was there that he ran the red light and he was cited and faulted.  Hooray!  

As for their house, we couldn't enter it due to all that was going on there and their insurance company arranged for an apartment to live in for the next six weeks until their house is finished.  They're all doing so well with everything that's happened, much better than I would do in their place.  They're looking at the positive side of this all and knowing they have one another and everything else is replaceable.  

We managed to have some fun amidst all the stress and saw four movies.  We saw Kit Kittridge: An American Girl, Kung Fu Panda, and Wall E with the kids then we went out on our own to see Get Smart (Hula Hubby stayed home with the kids).  We laughed so hard through the entire movie and it was just the release we needed.  

After the movie, we went to Red Robin for dinner and I got a fancy limeade drink that had blueberries in it and what do you think happened when two very tired, sober, and silly women saw the blueberries and the straw?  Yup.  Trouble. 

The first one is Hula "Creating" followed by what we call, "Dingoberries," then "Cactipussy," and last is "Wall Eeee!"

Saturday was the kids' birthday party at a swimming pool and that was a lot of fun.  I went in the pool for a while then I got out and watched everyone and took some photos.  It was so fun to see everyone having so much fun and forgetting all their troubles.  

Sunday, we went for a drive through Evergreen and to the very special place where the Hulas were married.  It was a lovely day and I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful scenery.  On the way back into town, there was a carshow in a parking lot so they indulged me and let me take some photos of the cars.  There were three Camaros - two 1969's and one 1970.  I drooled over the 1969's since that's my favorite year for the car.  I haven't had a chance to go through all my photos yet but pehaps later this weekend...