Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This spooky car ad gave me goosebumps!!

This is how the story was told to me. A director was looking for video of cars driving along a country road for a documentary he was making. He came across this bit of video, which had some weird notes with it.

Apparently they were filming this piece for a car advertisement. Halfway through, just as the car was passing some trees, there appears to be a kind of mist in front of the car. Then it gets really freaky. It's really hard to see at first. I had to look at it 3 times before I could make it out. It seems to be the shape of a person directly in front of the car, crossing the road. But the car passes right thru it.

Yeah.

If you listen very carefully you can hear the cameraman say, "What the heck is that?"

The ad was never shown. Apparently, this stretch of road is a notorious accident magnet, and after seeing this thing they thought it better to can the whole thing.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT5YuvsSAZ0

The Power To Choose

"MAKING CHOICES IS YOUR GREATEST POWER

While your character is formed by your circumstances,
your desires can shape those circumstances.
The one thing over which you have absolute control is your own thoughts.
It is this that puts you in a position to control your own destiny.

Nature is constantly at work around you.
Character and destiny are her handiwork.
She gives you love and hate, jealousy and reverence.
You have the power to choose which impulse you follow.

At any time you can decide to alter the course of your life.
No one can ever take that away from you.
You can do what you want to do and be who you want to be.

Your greatest power is the power to choose.

- THE DAILY GURU"

http://www.thedailyguru.com

Artist: Joe Boylard

A friend passed along an article about a gentleman I worked with at Jackson Kelly (he and I have both since moved on to other jobs) who is also an artist. His work is so beautiful I wanted to link to his website.

http://www.joebolyard.com/

The article says his specialty is "repousse" which is a type of metal work. He also paints.

Arts & Craft Fair Jewelry

I am selling jewelry at my first Arts & Craft Show at St. Albans High School on November 11.

I uploaded pics of the jewelry I have made so far for the show. I was surprised at how much I have already. I inventoried it today and took it out to see how it would look on the display stuff I've bought. I've got one more black velvet tray coming. The crystals really look good on it so I may put them on the new tray. I need more of some items. I have arranged by type first, then type of bead, and within the bead types I will organize by color and/or price range. For the bracelets, anyway. I'm so excited! I'm having so much fun with this and it's so new for me. It's 2 weeks from today and I am happy with where I am.

I ordered an antique white table cloth today (some things will be placed on the table cloth) and bought some silk yellow roses today to decorate with. I still have to make little signs for the table, price everything, make labels with the prices & descriptions, and a bunch of other stuff! Click on the pic below to view the web album if you'd like to see the jewelry.

Arts & Crafts Fair jewelry

General Hospital

Wow, has it really been 25 years since Luke & Laura were married? I watched it in a dorm room at Marshall with my friends.

"'General' Admissions

25 years later: Genie Francis on Luke-and-Laura mania. The actress, who recently returned to ''General Hospital,'' remembers growing up on the set

by Abby West"

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1551176_3_0_,00.html

Evolution of Dance

This is a fun six minutes

Soccer Playoffs

My nephew's team, Hayes Middle School, made the playoffs but lost to Charleston Catholic in the first round. They play again Friday for 3rd or 4th place. Go Hornets!

  

A rose from my sweetie

  

Graziano's make-a da besta pizza

  

When I was in junior high/high school they gave away Graziano's pizza on FM-105 and to win you had to call and say "Graziano's make-a da besta pizza", in a pseudo Italian accent. I won one once. What better prize is there than pizza? Especially from my favorite pizza place ever?!?

Verizon

I hate Verizon! I got a letter saying they were going to change our telephone directory listing to match the 911 records UNLESS I CALL THEM to tell them not to. I specifically set up our phone to show only our town, because Dave is in the public eye and we don't want crazy people showing up at our house.

So far I have called 4 times. First of all, they have a horrible voice activated automation system. You can't just press 1 or 0, you have to speak to it. And if you don't say the words it wants to hear, it says "sorry, I didn't get that". I have learned to just say OPERATOR and they put you through.

The first lady refused to help me because I didn't have my account number (the letter I rcvd didn't say I needed it and didn't include it). The second guy sent me to a dept where you order phone directories which wasn't open. The third time the automated system sent me to the place. The fourth time a lady explained I needed to call the billing department, which closes at 5:00, even though the letter said to call the number I called between 8:00 and 6:00.

ARGH! I hate dealing with companies like that! I really would like to just say forget it, cancel my acct. WE already use our cell phones as our primary phones, but we like to keep the land line for emergency purposes and to have a number to give businesses so we don't get calls on our cell phones that we don't want. We might just have to reconsider that though.

Oh and it reminds me of when we had Verizon DSL, and how they continued charging us for months and months after we cancelled and we had to jump through hoops to get that solved. Why am I still doing business with this company? As a matter of fact, they said on the recording that we can choose who our local carrier is. I am going to look into that as soon as I have time.

Morning Scene

Every morning, an elderly man walks east up Quarrier Street toward the library with a little bag.  As he crosses Summers Street, the horde of pigeons waiting on top of the building fly down to greet him.  He dumps a bag of bread crumbs (I think - could be seeds?) and they feast.  He is there every morning, at the same time, to feed his friends.  But he doesn't stick around to visit.  He just serves them breakfast and turns around to go back the way he came. 

 

I love little slices of life like that.  And for some reason I find this scene touching.  And I wonder about the man and his life.

West Virginia Record

I stumbled across this free newspaper in Graziano's one day. It is geared toward the legal community, I think, but I think non-legal people would find it interesting as well. Since I have worked in the legal community for over 22 years, I find it quite interesting.

What they say about themselves:

"OUR GOAL at the West Virginia Record is to cover West Virginia's legal system in a way that enables you, our readers, to make the public business your business.

As the state’s first and only legal journal, The Record will focus upon civil actions in our courts. Torts- as they’re known-- are too often ignored by the prevailing media, yet their progress has a profound impact on the people of our state.

We aim to protect the public’s interest by reporting on West Virginia’s civil justice system thoroughly and vigorously.

To be sure, whether one agrees or disagrees with the happenings at all of our courthouses, no one should believe that what happens at them is the norm. West Virginia’s courts regularly rank among the most litigious in the land."

You can find them online here: The West Virginia Record

Love

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

-- Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, Beloved Persian Poet

Autumn Leaves

 

This must be a sugar maple.

This article from the USDA has good info:

Why Leaves Change Colors 

Twiggy the Piggy

My Niece's guinea pig

  

Foggy Soccer Morning

  

Dinnertime at the Harmans

  

Autumn Colors

It's very dreary today so these aren't great, but I was so entranced by all the color on the way home I had to grab the camera when I got here.

 
 
  

I love beads

I'm cleaning off the camera.... these are just some beads I love. The jewelry is for sale, but I'm gearing up for my first arts & crafts fair (a small one).

Purple Apache Jasper

 

Fire Opal Swarovski Crystals

 

Cafe au Lait Onyx

 

 

20 top tips for surviving life in the workplace

This article is hilarious (click title of the entry for the link). It's from the UK, so some of the terms are a little different than ours, but its applicable nonetheless.

I was going to put the whole thing here but it's awfully long. I'll just put the first few to give you a taste.

Guy Browning offers 20 top tips for surviving life in the workplace
Wednesday October 18, 2006
The Guardian

1 Never offer to make coffee

In an open plan office there is a ritual where everyone waits hours for the first person to say: "Who wants a coffee?" That person then finds themselves in the kitchen for the rest of the day working as a junior catering manager. Also remember that nobody ever gets to the top of an organisation by drinking stinky teas. No one wants to have a serious meeting in a room that smells of peppermint/rhubarb/aloe vera.


2 Ignore all emails

Working in the post room is not generally a career choice for most people. Yet with the epidemic of email most people spend half their working lives slaving away in their own personal computer post room. Most emails are biodegradable, however. If you let them sink to the bottom of the pile and go unanswered they will eventually become irrelevant. To some people, doing this might seem like just about the most daring and suicidal thing you could possibly do in an office but, if something really matters, the person who sent it will eventually call you to ask you about it.

3 Get yourself noticed

Getting ahead in business means getting noticed, but working hard makes you almost invisible. Therefore it's a lot better to work hard at getting yourself noticed. What senior management likes more than anything else is junior managers who show signs of initiative and volunteer to do things. Most of the reason for this is that the more junior managers volunteer to do, the less senior managers will have to do themselves. Of course, volunteering for things and doing things are two different matters. Once you have got the credit for volunteering for a project, it's best to get as far away as possible from the project before the work kicks in. The best way to do that is to volunteer for another project.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1924681,00.html