Official Announcement

Heath and I, along with two friends, Dave Block and Jim Gade, would like to formally announce the formation of Digital Ninjas Media, Inc.

Below is Heath's "announcement"

It is now a matter of public record. We will be supplying the area with turn-key media production: Television commercials, radio spots, web page design, media space design, viral marketing strategy, and anything else we feel that we can assist our potential clients with.

Dave Block is the founder of Block Films, an independent filmmaker with several comedy gems under his belt in the Wyatt Trash series. Dave has done not only movie production, editing, and sound, but has also spent a good deal of his life as an actor.

Jim Gade is an old friend whom I look forward to re-connecting with more in the near-term. If any of you have ever been to a Rockford Ice Hogs game, you've seen Jim's work (we'll have a whole working archive of all of our works once the page for the company begins to form up and go live). He handles all of the media production for them - digital and otherwise - and is some kind of alien/wizard hybrid when it comes to digital graphic design.

If a Song Could Be President

"John Prine would run the FBI" - Over The Rhine

A few weeks ago, my boss was announced as the new Chairman of the Winnebago County Republican Central Committee.

You may, or may not, remember that in 2009 he briefly ran for State Representative of the 68th District. (I wrote his webpage and was working on the campaign). He ran due to the announcement that Dave Winters would not be running for the position again. When Winters changed his mind and announced his candidacy for reelection, my boss decided that, since he fully supported Winters, he would not run against him and dropped out. It was understandable, but disappointing for me as this was a wonderful opportunity and experience.

Two weeks ago, the Event Coordinator for the WCRCC announced she had found a new position. As this is an extremely part-time position (roughly 3 to 4 hours a week), when the announcement was made in our office, I semi-jokingly said I'd do it.

Friday, for the third time that week, my boss said that if I was interested he could change the hours that someone needed to be in the office (once a week for a few hours) so that I wouldn't lose much time at work, and could easily make up the hours.

After discussing with Husband, I will be submitting my Letter of Interest tomorrow and finalizing details to confirm this will, in fact, work with my schedule.

Worse than a 10-year-old with a fair prize...

My ghost shrimp died yesterday. First one, then the other. I think they got a little too warm, but I'm not really sure.

Our power went out a little after 6:00 Tuesday evening. Just after my migraine hit. By 9:00 I had spent a large amount of time trying to sleep through the neighbor girl play catch in our yard just below my bedroom window (because her big, fenced-in backyard wasn't good enough for her) and had finally asked Heath if there was anything he could do about whatever was beeping in the house every minute or so.

I decided that, since the air wasn't on, and the upper level was getting a bit warm, I should move the fish, snail and shrimp(s) to the lower level. So I piled them all into the 1 gallon bowl I use when cleaning the tank and brought them downstairs where it was cooler. Of course, just over an hour later, the power came back on.

I left them in the bowl overnight, thinking I'd get them settled back in the tank Wednesday evening. I was completely out of it (see "migraine" above), but I do know that they were swimming around happily in the bowl before I left for work in the morning. However, I returned home to 1 less shrimp than when I left (the dead one having been given a "flush funeral" by Husband...thank you!). The other appeared happy and healthy, but less than an hour later, she too was gone.

So this weekend, I plan on setting up the corner tank so that I can take another try at raising baby ghost shrimp, and then begin the hunt for a store that is not out of stock. Hopefully, I'll find one with eggs. We'll see how that goes.

I'm bad at this

2+ months. So much for my plans to keep up-to-date.

A quick fill in... I now have two ghost shrimp, since Lou has passed. Both females, and both had eggs when I got them. I tried to raise the babies, and even found a couple of the super tiny, see-through guys a few days after the hatching, but they didn't survive the week.

I am working to reinstate the anonymous work blog, and that will hopefully be up and running soon. I just can't make some of these stories up!

Other than that, I am trying to maintain a drama-free life. I think I would be able to achieve this goal, if it weren't for the overwhelming drama others seem to bring to the table. And now, somehow, I find myself being the bad guy, which is more than confusing to me. I'm 34. I do not need to be put in a position where my friend(s) are mad at me and I don't know why. To quote my sister-in-law "Sometimes when people are in the wrong and they know it, they act very childish." I hope it passes, but if not, I'll live.

I'm trying to market and grow both the Tailored To Hire and Virtual Assistant businesses, which seems to have taken over my weekend, and will probably continue to do so. I will continue to post when I manage to drag my lazy self to the site, so until next time... Have a wonderful, yet drama-free, week!

Dance, Burger Boy!

I've been working on developing Job Skills Preparation classes in partnering with RootsUp. So far, I have each of the classes' main topic, a summary of what each class will teach, and a variety of information thrown unorganizationally (is that a word) into an MSWord document.

Also, it has changed from being "classes" to being a seminar. It's a learning process, I suppose there will be more changes as it forms.

In December, I finally broke down and purchased a used Blackberry Curve. I love it. I'm a technological nerd. I love being able to say I learned to type at the age of 10 on a commodore 64 (with 128 mode). And I drool over the next newest gadget (Blackberry Playbook, anyone?)

I also decided to purchase friends for my fish, Ryuk. I have a snail. This is the second snail, actually. The first one was our friend. Husband liked snail, Ryuk liked snail, I liked snail and I believe Cheyenne liked snail. She was a good snail. Then she spent a day not moving and it wasn't long before we determined she was dying. It took a whole week (apparently they die as slow as they move), it was sad. So we bought a new one, and while I was there I decided to buy a ghost shrimp. It looked evil at first, but now he's just cool. He's see-through, and it's really gross to watch him eat, since you can see the food in his body. They have names, now, too. I had one name picked out, but I didn't know which one to apply the name to, and I didn't want to name one without the other, so I held onto it. Until two weekends ago. Knitter-in-law was visiting and when I told her the name issue, she said that I should name the Ghost Shrimp "Lou". Hence, I have a Ghost Shrimp named Lou. The snail is now named Menchi. Menchi was a dog from an anime series. In the show, a poor girl finds the dog and takes it home with the intention of eating it. However, on the way, she stumbles upon food. She takes the dog home and decides to keep it as her Emergency Food Supply. She names it Menchi.

Along the lines of filling in holes, an old high school friend is back in the picture. Her daughter contacted me via facebook one night and the rest is history. However, she has decided to make the change from one version of shortening her name to another version. Boy is that hard to get used to. So far, I'm not doing so good with that...

I finally got my hands on a garden gnome, and I'm currently waiting for Husband to use the bathroom... I decided I could get away with the lame gnome-on-the-toilet prank this time since he doesn't even know we have one. I did take a picture of him with a razor taped to his hands that will become the background on his laptop tomorrow morning before I leave for work.

I think that catches us up for now. Now, if I can just keep up with it!

I'm back

Yes. I am back. With a goal of posting at least once a month, a plan to redesign the page, and no reason as to why.

Coming soon:

Tailored To Hire Partnering With RootsUp.

Old friend / New Name.

Why my Ghost Shrimp is named Lou.

and more!

So don't miss out on this exciting(?) reinstatement!

Yay me!

Cheyenne says Hi.

I finally get settled in with my notes and laptop; ready to type away and the cat takes over.  Settled half on my keyboard and half on my arms, this will be quite a challenge. But I have procrastinated long enough, so here it is:

January 20th
Wednesday
I stopped at the local store this morning to pick up soft lotion kleenexes thanks to my lovely cold and noticed that the lane which is usually open is now closed.  In fact, they are all closed.  My only option is the self checkout lane, which I avoid like the plague.  Jobs are hard enough to come by these days, why not find other ways to get rid of low paying jobs and help others join the unemployed crowd.

January 21st
Thursday
Sometimes during lunch I like to go relax on one of the two couches in our building.  I have a favorite, due to the fact that the room is usually hovering around 80 or so (I so love warmth) The office right next to the room this particular couch is in is used by the Baptist Association and today he was searching the web listening to several politicians and the Baptist view of them. Interesting.

January 22nd
Friday
We have renters in our building at work.  One of these is a process server and another is another attorney.  The secretary for the attorney and the process server apparently used to date way back in the day.  She’s married now and happy.  Today, I saw them kiss. Sort of.  It was a friendly sort of thing but definitely shocking to someone who didn’t know and wasn’t expecting that sort of thing.

January 23rd
Saturday
Heath used my label-maker.  It made me giddy with organizational joy.

January 24th
Sunday
I went to pick up some clothes that was donated to <a href=”http:\\tailoredtohire.com”>Tailored To Hire</a> and as I was returning home some handicap driver pulled out in front of me.  Then almost ran into a parked car.

January 25th
Monday
I have been trying to train Ryuk (my fish) to eat out of my hand. I stick of piece of his “treats” on my finger and dangle it in the water.  Today, he took it from me!

January 26th
Tuesday
Today I got to see a lady just barely make it outside of a public building before throwing up. All over the sidewalk.

January 27th
Wednesday
For Christmas I got the attorney’s in my office something they were passionate about.  They each got a picture of something that they hollered and yelled about all year long.  In one case, it was a picture of someone who had no business in our building parked in our parking lot.  Today, the attorney finally had enough and went outside to tell her she couldn’t park there anymore. Just as the bus pulled up dropping off her child.

January 28th
Thursday
My cat threw up everywhere today.  By the time I got home, my husband had it all cleaned up, but there were paper towels warning of wet spots scattered throughout the house. Yuck.

January 29th
Friday
I really don’t have much for today other than watching people try to be lazy and cut across the work parking lot only to realize they can’t get through because of the snow and they have to turn around. Exciting, I know.

January 30th
Saturday
My Knitter-in-law’s birthday celebration.  We went to a yummy restaurant where I ate food I had never eaten before. We hung out and had a good time. Keen.

January 31st – February 5th
I appear to be missing my notes from January 31st through February 5th and since I am writing this on March 9th there is no way I am going to remember this.  To be posted later????

February 6th
Saturday
My day was spent with my new laptop! It’s pink and shiny and perfect!

February 7th
Sunday
Today was spent with my laptop still. Setting it up and fun stuff. My husband is keen.

February 8th
Monday
We have very fat squirrels at work. But they’re cute, especially when they drink out of puddles.

February 9th
Tuesday
Our neighbor (from down the street) snow-blowed our driveway today. Thanks, Tyler! Our snow-blower has gone to … wherever snow-blowers go to when they are no more.

February 10th
Wednesday
Our receptionist had to shovel today.  She hurts herself walking from one room to another, she doesn’t go a week without dropping and/or spilling a can of soda, she is over 50 and has very bad knees, but she was asked to shovel.

February 11th
Thursday
I received a call today from our of counsel attorney’s husband.  I told him she was not there and his response was:

“Oh. Well I’ll tell you what I needed, I was just wondering what size mitten I should get.”

I told him I was sorry, but I really didn’t know.  And that was our conversation.

February 12th
Friday
My brother-in-law and his wife came up and we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  It was fun and horrible all at the same time.

February 13th
Saturday
We played Wii Bowling with my brother-in-law and his wife. Finally, something I can beat them at.

February 14th
Sunday
Today I watched more Olympic fun.

February 15th
Monday
Food Pantry!  Tonight I worked on cleaning off shelves in a storage closet and hid from some people.  It was nice.

And I will leave you with that. Still almost a month behind, but better than it was!

I have not forgotten you!

Seriously, I haven’t.  I have a list of all my daily viewings, it’s just not with me.  I also have lasagna noodles, which were to be made into lasagna for my mom for a Christmas present.  Lucky for me, she’s pretty understanding about the fact that I haven’t gotten it to her yet. 

The real post is forthcoming. I promise!

P365 1.15.10 - 1.19.10

January 15th
Pizza. We have a nice weekly ritual of ordering pizza on Friday nights and hanging out watching sitcoms. It's a great way to begin the weekend and the site of Sam's Pepperoni, Double Cheese and Green Olive Pizza was particularly amazing after the week I'd had.

January 16th
I has a problem. Whenever I go into a store with animals, I can't stay away from them. I was viewing the Betta fish at our too-close-to-home mega-store. They are so pretty. The first one was gold/flesh colored with a brilliant red-gold tail. I really wanted him While holding the cup in my hand, I caught a glimpse of the fish behind it. A pale purple betta. OMG the fish was PURPLE! I wanted him too. Then, I saw it.
Have you ever seen something and immediately thought of the person it should belong to? Today I saw Heath's fish. Heath doesn't want a fish, but this was his fish. We have a slightly-broken ceramic green and red dragon in our closet. This "Japanese Fighting Fish" is the exact same colors. Shimmery green-green body with a fiery red tail. I wanted this fish for Heath.
I have since resolved to never go near the Betta fish section again unless I am picking up supplies for my fish. Why do I have to like a fish that cannot be put in a tank with others of its kind?

January 17th
I sit behind my sister-in-law, S, and her three kids in church. My sister-in-law has a beautiful voice (I think its a requirement of living in her hometown in Arkansas). Today, the youngest was sitting on S's (heh) lap during song service and S would sing at her and they would smile at each other. The little girl gave her mom the biggest most sincere smile that showed complete joy and happyness. Very sweet.

January 18th
I took my cat to the vet today. On the way home he sat calmly in my lap and buried his head in the crook of my arm. At one point while I was scratching his head at a stop sign, he looked up at me in a way that I can only explain was a thank you for getting him out of there, meowed, touched his nose to my nose, laid back down and buried his head again. This was very touching as I believe he spends most of his time planning my demise.

January 19th
For those of you who see too many parents on cell phones lose track of their childre; this posting is for you:
I watched a young father remove three children ranging from approximately 2 to 5 years old from his mini-van. As he got the first one out, he knelt down and placed one of the child's hands on the car, then reached in for the second, and again knelt down and placed one of her hands on the car next to the first. He repeated this with the third and placed her hand on the car while he made sure he had everything he needed. He then linked everyone's arms together creating a chain and they happily trotted off across the parking lot, chatting and being happy together. Hooray for cool parents!

Project 365

Last year my Knitter-in-Law had a Project 365. To improve upon her photography skills, she resolved to take 1 picture a day. She then posted them on her blog. If you have time, I suggest looking through them as she has some really amazing pictures. She said at the end that she felt it helped not only her photo-taking abilities and knowledge, but also helped her view things in different perspectives. Or maybe she said she improved her viewing skills and knowledged her differences.
It's been a while since I've read the post.

Either way, I'm stealing the title and some generalities of this project for myself. She's keen so I don't think she'll mind.

I wanted to start off the year with the Couch to 5K program, which knitter-in-law (shocker. - I see a pattern forming) informed me of when I mentioned I had begun walking with the intent to start running. I actually managed to start this before the beginning of the year, but on January 3rd I decided to tackle another task. I took myself off my medication, which was prescribed to me for various reasons which I will not go into, but I recently learned just how horrible this medication was. (bored? want some interesting reading that may encourage you to crusade with me? google Effexor XR and Effexor XR withdrawal... and sign the petition to make Wyeth-Ayert stop telling doctors there are no side effects.) Back to my point: While I am still experiencing withdrawal (mostly brain shocks--today is day 17, in case you were wondering)I have decided that I wanted a Project 365.

Earlier last year I had posted random goings-on and enjoyed it. My Project 365 is starting January 15th, because it's my project and that is when I started. (with the exception of one from the 4th; I just can't get the image out of my head.)

I say now as a disclaimer for the entire project: This is non-judgmental. If you feel that by posting that I saw a man in a woman's blouse with a hot pink faux pearl necklace wearing a hot pink bra is somehow judgmental and mean, than you should stop reading for the year. Because I saw it. That was your January 4th P365 posting.

I also would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any lame "I didn't leave the house so here's another post on something my cat/fish/husband did."

Also, I may post pictures if I felt the need to take one, but I in no way intend to completely steal from my knitter-in-law.

That is all.

(Postings of January 15th through the 19th coming soon.)

Dead Fishy

My new fishy died. While he was still new. He only lasted 5 days, which has to be the shortest time frame anyone over the age of 12 has kept a fish alive. So I has a new fishy. Meet Ryuk Ni (ni means 2 in Japanese... I took a lesson from the Simpsons and their cat and then made it Japanese)

As you can see, the cat likes him, too.



Ryuk Ni is far more active than Ryuk (Ichi, I guess). He has also learned things, for instance, he knows where the hole he gets fed through is and if he swims up to it and stares at it, I will feel bad and feed him.

Also, he makes cute fishy faces at me.

So far, he's lived longer than the other one. We'll see how this goes.

I has a fish.

His name is Ryuk (named for a character from the anime series Death Note. Ryuk is a Shinigami, or Angel of Death, who likes apples).

He came right up to me. I was searching through all the little Betta Bowls looking for a blue Crown Tail Betta and all the others would (try to) swim away (not very far.. these were 1 liter bowls) except this little guy (a red Crown Tail Betta). So I picked him up and told him his name. He swished his tail and swam in a happy little circle. I had already picked out the tank, but was unsure of the gravel. I set white gravel on one side of his bowl and black gravel on the other side. He chose black.



He's very happy and really likes freeze dried blood worms. Disgusting! But it is fun to watch him attack them (even though they are dead, he still attacks them.) And it's interesting to see him swim to the top and breathe air. Yes, Bettas breathe air--with their mouth. They can't live off of it, but they like to do it.


(He had just taken a breath. I missed the actual taking of said breath.)