Most days my mother is good with technology, she is after all the technology coordinator at her work.  But some days it laughable.  Lately I have had to translate what each kind of smiley face means.  My mom wanted me to make a YouTube video that shows what each means for adults to look at and understand.  So, I am used to explaining what each kind of face means. Yesterday I was at the grocery store reading a magazine while waiting in line.  This older man was also there reading the front cover of a Cosmo magazine.  He was staring at it looking strange for a while.  (For those of you who haven’t read a Cosmo magazine… its all about sex and fashion… not a typical guy magazine)  The man turned to me and asked me that the comment meant.  It read “What his text really means. (You’ll be totally ) I busted up laughing and tried to explain things to him.  It was really strange and completely awkward. LOL.

Sorry I haven’t posted anything…  there has been snow.  Alot of snow.  So hold your horses I will get to this when I get the chance.

The new puppy’s name is Penny.  And they jury is still out if she is a good or a bad one.  I tried training her today… but that made me go crazy.  I have to keep repeating that she is just a puppy… she is just a puppy. So, I will only correct her if she does something bad and let her just be.   I will Cesar Millan/Divine Canine her later.  But here are some photos of the new Chocolate Lab, Penny.

Find a Penny pick her up...

The sleeping Hound.

Sleeping Penny

Pretty Penny

Cesar Millan has Daddy, we have Lucky.

I have finished reviewing SecondLife… and my conclusion is that it is a time succubus.  It is pointless for anything other than socializing.  I went to noted educational and business places like: IBM, NASA, MIT, ect.  And no matter what time I went there was nobody there, but when I went to social places like a bar or a dance the place was packed.  If you want to socialize and “meet” people then use this program.  I quickly got bored during my mission and spent the most amount of time working on my Avatar.  So for my mission SecondLife gets a D-.

I get the magazine Real Simple in the mail and someone sent me a link to their site.  I love this magazine.  It has fantastic ideas and great tips.  Here is the link and the tips are fantastic, I implement them now for my own home business. I especially love the Do Not Disturb idea.  I am now using it, because everyone should be able to have normal business hours… including me.

Also, I would like to make a plea for people to donate or help out in any way to help the people in Haiti.  One horrible thing that has sprung from this are corrupt organizations popping up saying that they are helping but are just pocketing the money.  In order for you to know that your money is going to the right place and helping, please donate to the American Red Cross or any other legit company of your choosing.  Please research and become educated about these companies before giving them your money, we don’t want what happened during Hurricane Katrina to happen again. I would hate to see selfish people gain from other people’s heartbreak.  If you can’t send money, please send your prayers.  The world views American culture to be obsessed with money, celebrity, sex, and scandal… but that is not what we are, that is what television shows the world.  We are strength, faith, unity, compassion, equal rights to all, and generosity.  Donate today.

Oh, how easily I become distracted when my boyfriend comes to town.  I will go back on to SecondLife tonight.  I have been remiss in trying it out again. On the other hand I did get to go to the Farm Show.  I LOVE THE FARM SHOW.  Its a Pennsylvania tradition.  You hop in your car and cruise down to the Farm Show Complex and pay an expedient price for parking ($10). The nice thing is the the venue is free and you can mill around snacking on all the good freebies.  Its like an EXTRA large petting zoo.  Although, I wouldn’t recommend petting any of the animals they smell and are covered in poo or pee.  Thing people have to do at the farm show are as follows:  Milkshake, Potato Doughnut, Fried Veggies, and French Fries.  The Milkshakes are the best you will ever have… no joke. The vanilla is just amazing and my boyfriend loved the chocolate as well.  LOVE THEM!  This year was good, we checked out the different events and really had such a great time.  I did miss this when I lived in Florida, nothing compares with the Pennsylvania Farm Show.  It really is great.  And remember: Every 9 cows creats 1 Pennsylvania Job.  So support your local farms.

Also, we got a new puppy! Name still under review.  She has been called Haven, Wriggles, Olly, and most recently Penny. Any good puppy names shoot them my way, so far I have been calling it hound. Ok, back to the real world.

Based on a suggestion from a reader, I am going to try out popular online sites and give my feedback on it. First up is SecondLife.  This is a program that sort of runs an alternate reality.  Today is my first day in the program and I am sort of lost. On the downside I did start up my account at 12 am… so the cast of characters running around in there wasn’t very desirable for my goal.  My goal is to network and maybe build business contacts through it.  I researched that this is one direction that companies across the globe are taking. Mind you its not the new facebook or twitter, actually its not new at all, but it is an online outlet where business is taking place.  On my first time in there I designed my avatar (who is far skinner than I am), walked around a bit, and talked to a guy in Dublin about starting a business.  I am not using SecondLife to socialize but to see what opportunities it can offer me in the realm of freelance and owning a small business.   The cast of characters that I ran into at 2 in the morning was quite interesting.  I ran into a tiger-woman, a couple vampires, and some verbally handicapped miscreants.  I will try this program for a few days, but I am not expecting much.  Although, MIT, IBM, and Notre Dame are all on there, if I can find them.  I will try and research this a bit more and fill you in on whats going on.

Howdy in the new year!  The holidays were great… My sister from Africa came home for a couple weeks, and my covert super spy skills helped bring my other sister over from China without the family knowing.  So, in a pinch … I know my fall back career could be ninja or super spy.   I have been asked this last year on many occasions to start a V-Log (video blog) and I can see how that would be a good idea for people who have problems reading, but it usually quickly turns emo and whinny and no one wants another one of those polluting the interweb.   But, I have also been asked to post a donate button.  So I posted a paypal donate button on the side of my blog.  You ask and you shall receive.

Well the holidays were kick butt!  I got to spend time with my whole family and relax.  My boyfriend came down and had his first Christmas with my family.  On New Years we threw a murder mystery dinner party.  Which is a blast.  Click here to look into doing one.   Hassan and I went sledding,  his first time.  And we watched some good films.  Up, Sherlock Holmes(twice), Kiss the Girls, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Departed, Body of Lies (which according to my boyfriend was mainly filmed in Morocco and had quite a few Moroccan actors in it).   But all good things must come to an end… and so my work must start again.  If anyone  has any design projects they need done, shoot me an email.  Happy New Year!

The holiday season is a time for many things.  I enjoy reconnecting with my old friends and catching up with my relatives across the pond.  Its also a time for wonderful food and holiday shopping.  This holiday season I am raking in the bucks freelancing with Andirun Designs and also putting in hours at a local Williams-Sonoma.  I enjoy doing both jobs, and I like the vast differences between them.  One is by myself on a computer sitting on my bum all day, with a some side trips to youtube, facebook, and yahoo news.  The other is standing, talking to customers and having a laugh with co-workers.  Its been really crazy busy and I know I have been remiss in updating my blog lately.  I just want to let you in on my schedule lately.  My day starts by waking up, doing some emailing and paperwork, making myself presentable, and then I have the morning debate as to which of my dress shoes won’t leave my feet mangled and bloody by the end of the day.  I grab a bite to eat, pack a little lunch and then go to work at Williams-Sonoma for 8 hours.  By the time I get off, I limp home and sit on my bum for at least a good hour or so.  Then I pal around with my Mom and Dad.  After that I go to my office and work on what needs to be done.  Finally I have some face time over the internet with my boyfriend.  I usually get to sleep around 1 or 2 am… and it all starts back up again at 8 the next morning.  This week is going to be a mad house.  Only two days of not working both jobs before Christmas and one is the day I go down to get my sister in D.C.   We will see how I feel at the end of all this.  I am tired now and I think I might call it an early night.

Its true.  I do feel like an old man.  I can’t sleep through the night anymore and I always have to go to the facilities, just because I happened to stir  a little.  I wake up just enough to think: do I have to go?  Not really.  And then once I think that, it just happens to be the only thing I can think about.  And the only way to stop thinking about it is to wake all the way up and hike my bum all the way to the ladies room.  And then it takes me another half hour to an hour to lull myself back to sleep.  I don’t have to use the facilities all the time,  I just have the superpower of hyper-focus and I can’t rest until the problem is solved…  This trait served me well in art school and at work, but not for my nocturnal habits.  It really is the wet blanket for a good nights sleep, but it does keep me from having a wet blanket… so that is an upside.  Oh well, I have become an old man before my time.  All I need is to loose all tack, remove what filter I do have between my mind and my mouth, and cultivate the smell of mothballs.  That would really be attractive.  Poor Hassan is dating a geriatric.

Oh the holidays are my favorite time of the year… and Thanksgiving is the best of them all.  I truly love this day of thanks  and giving.  This year I donated what money I could to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. It is such an amazing charity that helps children no matter what.  I really believe in its cause and I can’t talk about it enough.  Operation Picklepuss when off without a hitch really.  We eliminated a lot of the things we were going to originally make because we weren’t actually feeding an army.  We had: Pumpkin Butter Dip, Dee’s Taco Dip, a 25lb Turkey, 2 Stuffings, Sweet Potatoes, “Mean Green”, Cranberry Relish, Mashed Potatoes, Pecan Pie, Apple Cranberry Pie, Pumpkin Pie,  Sugarless Apple Pie and so much more. My Mom and I had most everything ready the day before and then threw it in the oven an hour before dinner.  It was really great to see the babies…  All in all a really great Thanksgiving.  One I am thankful for.