Monday - thanks for a great start to my week

Unfortunately this post will be brief (I need to get to work), but I just had to get this out there and off my chest so I can focus on my work. Long story short - my coworker asked me if I was proud that he worked 4hrs on Saturday. 'would you like me to be proud?' I asked as I had to idea where this was going and I was not in the mood for idle chit chat this Monday morning. Someone else asked if working on Saturdays was the new standard. My coworker's response, "No, because '2lively' would go postal on us."

What am I supposed to say to that?!?

Yes, I have been working a lot at my job and perhaps I have not been the happiest person there, but still. Perhaps I should lighten up the amount of work I get done so I can sit around and socialize with my coworkers. Ugh! I guess I am loosing the game of politics in the office. Plus to say something after we already discussed the news of 1 person shot and killed (all that had filtered out to the media on Monday Morning) in Virginia.

Not sure I feel better, but at least it is off my chest.

Here's to hoping that Tuesday is a much better day!

Photo of the Day

Now there is a nice photo that does not look pixelated!

I have been thinking about all my flower photos and hope to pull out my favorites and start posting them here. I would be interested to see what others think of my favorite flower photos.

Inspiration

We all love a little inspiration, and i just found this new blog that might help elevate my photography a little bit. If not, I will at least be learning something new every day.

It is called: Daily Tips To Improve Your Photography and it is right on blogspot.
http://dailyphototips.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Photo of the Day

Ugh! I guess Kodak gallery is not the place to go to post photos. What a huge disappointment as I was trying them out - new photo cards, small albums and stickers. Yes, I love paper!

Oh well. Now I know!

Sunday

I should be working, but I find that if I do not get an early start then the procrastinator in me kicks in and it is slow to get to work. I thought I would snoop around the web (surprise, surprise) and look for some other interesting websites. I just stumbled across another website I am interested in and wanted to update my links.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

My heart hurts...

life has been extremely busy and the relaxing day I was supposed to have today turned into a day full of little annoying things that have built up into a large heart ache. Perhaps I have been listening too much to "The Last Kiss" soundtrack, but I really do like it and thought it would help me unwind before crashing in the bed tonight.

Last night was not a good night for sleeping. Tomorrow I have a ton of work to do but we will see if I will be able to sit down and get to work or if I will be distracted. ugh!

I hope everyone else is doing well today, tomorrow, this weekend!

Sweet dreams everyone. Perhaps I will post a photo tomorrow as I have been slacking recently.

Photo of the Day

Yesterday was a great day to get out and drive around. We headed east to Sacramento to see something new.

Here is my photo of the week.

Enjoy!

What Will Matter by: Michael Josephson

- Founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics

Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else.

Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to do lists will expire.

The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.

It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.

It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought but what you built, not what you got but what you gave.

What will matter is not your success but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage, or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.

What will matter is not your memories but the memories that live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

This month is flying by....

It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be the 15th of the month. Where has the time gone?

I have been working an insane amount of hours at my job, so last week was just a blur. Between my job and a class to broaden my mind on a Saturday morning, I was just about at the end of my rope on Sunday. Luckily I had some time during work yesterday to get out into the beautiful sunshine and run a few errands in town after lunch. Yes, I do have a day job. However I have seen many others 'run into town' whether it be on lunch break or not so I realized it was up to me to take back some of my time and not live like a crazy person. It was so nice working 9-6 yesterday with some outdoor time.

I do hope today is another relaxing (if that ever is a word that can be associated with work) day.

On other creative news, I am beginning to day dream about my portfolio. It is time to start picking my favorites and putting them in one location. I might even use some of the photos posted here to jump start my favorites club. Perhaps I will start posting my favs here and see what the world thinks.

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Photo of the Day

I thought perhaps people suffering through a crazy end of the winter would like to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Soon tulips will be blooming and spring will pop up everywhere. Granted, I have the luxury of seeing spring earlier than most, but I thought I would share this happy photo with everyone!

Enjoy!

secrets

I have a secret - someone close to me does not know I do this. However I may have been caught.

Ugh!

Another tidbit that I really need to think about

As I have mentioned in the past, I really like reading through blogs and catching up on the lives of people I do not even know. Perhaps I should start blogging about cool, random things in my own life so I can be wrapped up in the here and now of my life rather than the latest news of others. Anyway....

I was reading through a blog and stumbled across something that struck a chord with me. This tidbit came from http://opensourcephoto.blogspot.com/


"He told me a story about how someone could go about defeating a lion. He said all you need is a chair and a whip...because when you hold the chair up and point it towards the lion the lion can't focus on what's attacking it because it sees the four legs of the chair and it gets paralyzed. The lion can't focus and can then be defeated.

Many of you have heard my " Get FREE" talk and you know that the first thing we must do in order to be successful in anything is to FOCUS our attention, our energy, and our emotions and not become distracted and paralyzed by all the possible opportunities.

What are you going to focus on today? ...and what are you going to give to give up in order to do that?"

I find myself thinking about all the options, to the point where I will obsess over them and not make a decision. This is something I know I should fix, or do something about, but my inability to make a decision leaves me paralyzed.

Perhaps while I slumber tonight, something will come to me - either an idea or will power to try and make things different.

Another view

Well, another shot from that wonderful warm day in San Francisco at Pier 39. Of course I used some photoshop actions to beautify this photo. I really do want to learn how to use photoshop and get the best photographs I can from my images. Perhaps it is time to sit down and go back through a few lessons I received to help me become familiar with the program. However, the moment that I learn CS2, the newest version will be out of beta testing and people will be using that software. Ah, the addiction of a hobby and trying to keep up with the latest and greatest.

Purchasing a new lens has been a back and forth exercise for me so it will take me awhile before I upgrade on photoshop.

Enjoy!

Music, Music, and more Music

I am currently ripping a bunch of CDs into iTunes. Why I didn't do it while I was unemployed? I have absolutely no idea. Crazy! I was digging around looking for a few Beck CDs that I have to make a few copies for a friend at work but I cannot find them. I have found a large stack of music that has not been imported into iTunes. I guess having an older iPod - the mini to be precise, has not forced me into getting all the music into iTunes.

Tonight before turning in I should back up all the music and the photos so if the computer decides to bite the dust, have a hiccup, or cannibalize itself, I will not loose all of my time!

So, what is your favorite band or favorite CD?

Photo of the Day

While I had other things on my "must photograph" list today, this is one of those moments that I knew that I had to take this photograph. I just love it! This crab sculpture is at the entrance to the famous Pier 39. Today, there was a You Tube convention milling around at this location while others were there to take in the warm, beautiful day at the Pier. Plus, who would have thought about having Tulipmania in February as other places in the US are under a deep freeze or digging out from the snow and ice that blasted through the Midwest and East.

I really do hope that I was not captured on any videos for You Tube as I had a messy run in with cajun shrimp bucket at Bubba Gump's this afternoon. It first started with a little drip on my purple shirt. I was hoping it would come out. However, after a struggle to peel the shrimp, I was splattered with cajun shrimp drippings all over my shirt. I would have laughed harder if the spicy dripping didn't land in my eye. Some day I will look back at the mess and laugh, but having to walk around with a messy shirt was not my idea of a great day out.

We did make it north to Point Bonita Lighthouse. The fog was threatening to blow in before we had a chance to cross the bridge, so we will have to go back to cross the bridge.

Enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love the fact that I am so past the point of wanting to go out for a fancy dinner on Valentine's Day! I can still hear the vivid description a former coworker gave about her horrible dinner at a really expensive place in town. Long story short, the food was so-so, the service was pushy, as in pushing you out the door so they could seat the next set of lovebirds, and it was so noisy! I can also hear another friend telling me about how stressful her evening was because she left work late, stuck in traffic, barely had time to shower, to get to the restaurant, to eat food that she really didn't want to eat because it was so important to her boyfriend!

However, some people really like the idea of going out for dinner to a nice restaurant on Valentine's day. If that is your thing, I do hope you had a wonderful day/evening/ meal/ flowers/ candy/ etc.

I am all about chocolate, so I threw out the idea of Chocolate Week at work. So next week it will be chocolate treats every day. I cannot wait! I might even look up some chocolate trivia for each day just to keep us enjoying that chocolate high!

Happy Day to Everyone!

We all could use a little advice...

A good friend of mine has been a great resource for me. She is always willing to listen and ask great questions to help you process whatever is on your mind or troubling you. I thought it was time to give her website a SHOUT OUT as it is a great site for some fun information.

Sometimes you need just some general life lessons as we navigate this great journey.

So go check out:

http://www.kristingraham.com/index.htm

and drop her an email if there is some Life Basic 101 topic that you are interested in hearing about, or something you have to share.

Self Confidence

Nothing quite like hearing "From the moment I met X, I knew I liked him. That isn't to say that we didn't like you." Obviously it has taken some time for people to get to know me and warm up to me. The crazy thing is I feel as if my job is on the line every week and the more mistakes I make the closer I move to being let go. So I try to do even more work than I can do, bring work home while X tells me to "Go home. the work will still be here tomorrow." Sure, X, you have not had the pressure of getting as much done or you know how to not let it affect you.

What it really comes down to - I am a people pleaser. I wish I could just do things for myself that make me happy (without being cruel to others) and not get so caught up in how will people like me? Do they like me? Do I fit in?

It is just a job that I am learning about, gaining experience and self confidence. Yet I get so worried about how I am doing compared to others. Will the boss like me? I get a sinking feeling every time I hear the "Can I speak with you?" Why is that? Fear of failure? Who knows?

I just wish my A game was better.

One quick photo - as I need to get my mind in a peaceful place

January 2007 photo of Stinson beach and the cool cloud reflection.

Work - it can be a killer on your personal life

I am currently struggling finding a nice balance between work, home, and fun. And as everyone in the rat race knows - there isn't a balance since most people spend over 40+hours a week at work. Add to that total the commuting time and getting ready for work (guys have it so easy) and that is a large chunk of the day. Then running around on the weekends with everyone else in a major city trying to get your errands done as well as head some where cool to catch something fun is always a race.

Currently I have a mountain of work to do before crashing, yet I had to cook dinner and clean up before I could get started on work. I do better if I have more sleep, but I also need to clean up tonight as I didn't do it on the weekend.

For me, every week is something crazy happening in my life. Today - server crash at work. How am I supposed to get the information I need to chat with my clients if the server is down. Plus the temporary fix is even slower than the slow server we have.

I stress out about my job because I fear I will loose it, yet several people are telling me that it is ok if I do not get it all done. The work will be there tomorrow. "If you get all the work done, the boss will just give you more work to do." Uh, isn't that the point (to some degree)?

CRACK - back to work with me.