I shouldn't even have taken the time to post this. We're less than two days to the Festival and all I have to say is ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Back to work!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
I'm in the Newspaper and on TV
Don't worry, I didn't do anything illegal: A news reporter interviewed me for this jazz festival we are putting on next weekend, and so I got quoted in the newspaper (a bunch of times). See the story below. (Can you find the misquote? There's one that I think is sort of obvious. Oh, and the typos? Maybe I should apply to be a copy editor for their paper. They look like they could use the help.)
Passing it on the next generation Jazz Fest seeks to keep community support
Meghan Vogel For the Times-Standard
Article Launched: 03/20/2008 09:21:29 AM PDT
Since 1991, Redwood Coast Music Festival's Jazz Fest has invested nearly half-a-million dollars into local senior and youth programs. But as 2008's bleak national economic forecast looms over the 18th annual Redwood Coast Jazz Fest, promoters are keeping their fingers crossed the event will continue to be a success.
”We're a little slow on ticket sales this year, because the economy's not so good and gas prices are high, but it's still hard to know how it's going to turn out”" said Naomi Clark, assistant director of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals. “We're hoping last-minute ticket buyers will come through for us.”
Originally co-founded as a nonprofit organization to raise funds for area senior programs by Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely and Assemblymember Patty Berg, the festival has donated more than $300,000 to local senior programs in its 17 years of existence. In 1996, Blues By the Bay was added to the events held by Redwood Coast Music Festivals, and the organization's mission expanded to include support of programs benefiting youth music education.
Over the years, dozens of local groups have reaped the benefit of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals' generosity. In the senior category, there's Humboldt Home Health, Northcoast Advocacy Services, Redwood Community Action Agency, Food For People, the Healy Senior Center and the Area Agency on Aging. And that's just naming a few. On the youth side, the festival has raised money to purchase new musical instruments for local schools, as well has funded concert productions and music clinics.
Festival volunteer Billie Lau noted how the Jazz Fest pumps money into the local economy. As a destination tourist event, she said, local restaurants and motels can count on the Jazz Fest to shine their coffers.
Before moving to the area to be closer to her son and her two grandchildren, Lau said she would attend the Jazz Fest every year from Corpus Christi, Texas. She moved here five years ago and has been volunteering with the festival ever since.
”It's really great because you feel like you're getting to help the community,” she said.
This year, the festival will add two new venues at Redwood Acres, Franceschi Hall and the Vickers Building. Clark said there will be art and craft vendors on hand, and that Franceschi Hall's 1,000-square foot dance floor should be perfect for swing dancing.
”We have some professional swing dancers coming, and we're really focusing on having more dancing this year,” she said. “We're trying to bring the younger generation out.”
On Saturday, March 29, the Eureka Muni is host to a dance party extravaganza featuring the saucy sounds of Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, the hard-hitting blues of JC Smith and a group CNN Showbiz labeled as “at the forefront of the swing revival,” Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums. During the festival, the Skillet Lickers will also be participating in a Q&A feedback sessions, or “jazz clinic,” for local high school music students.
The Friday before the dance party will also be geared toward a younger sort of crowd, Clark said. Don't worry Jazz Fests traditionalists- your favorite regulars from festivals past will still be in town jazzin' it up as well.
”Friday night will be a new modern jazz concert at the Arkley Center with The Brubeck Brothers, the sons of Dave Brubeck, and Incendio, a jazz fusion band. We hope to get the HSU crowd out that night,” Clark said.
Throughout the Jazz Fest, which runs March 27 through 30, you can catch any number of bands at the at the festival's venues of the Arkley Center, the Adorni Center, the Red Lion, the Eureka Muni and Redwood Acres. Returning artists include Cornet Chop Suey, Gator Beat and Titan Hot 7.
”We have to pass this kind of music down to the next generation,” Clark said. “They should come out and give this a try. It's an educational process too. I'm in my early 20s, but I'm really enjoying this music. And most of this music is where modern American music came from."
Ticket prices for the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival vary. For more information, visit www.redwoodjazz.org or call Festival Headquarters at 445-3378.
Click HERE to link to the article on times-standard.com.
I was also in a TV commercial, but I only have a copy in DVD format and haven't had time to figure out how to post that. It's sort of cool/annoying that Humboldt is so small, because now I walk around and get recognized. People say "I saw you on TV." And then they quote me: "In the spirit of the north coast!" (That's the last line I say in the ad.) It's not really what I had expected to happen in my life, so it's sort of disconcerting in a way. But also sort of fun. I'll take my 30 seconds of "fame". It's gotta be better than infamy, right?
P.S. I never said I was in my early 20's. I swear I said mid-20's. Mike was more than happy to point out that I'm about to turn 27 and even saying mid-20's is pushing it a little. Thanks, Mike. Also, Incendio is a LATIN JAZZ FUSION band, not just a jazz fusion band. Leaving the Latin out of that sort of made using the word fusion not as effective, in my opinion.
Passing it on the next generation Jazz Fest seeks to keep community support
Meghan Vogel For the Times-Standard
Article Launched: 03/20/2008 09:21:29 AM PDT
Since 1991, Redwood Coast Music Festival's Jazz Fest has invested nearly half-a-million dollars into local senior and youth programs. But as 2008's bleak national economic forecast looms over the 18th annual Redwood Coast Jazz Fest, promoters are keeping their fingers crossed the event will continue to be a success.
”We're a little slow on ticket sales this year, because the economy's not so good and gas prices are high, but it's still hard to know how it's going to turn out”" said Naomi Clark, assistant director of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals. “We're hoping last-minute ticket buyers will come through for us.”
Originally co-founded as a nonprofit organization to raise funds for area senior programs by Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely and Assemblymember Patty Berg, the festival has donated more than $300,000 to local senior programs in its 17 years of existence. In 1996, Blues By the Bay was added to the events held by Redwood Coast Music Festivals, and the organization's mission expanded to include support of programs benefiting youth music education.
Over the years, dozens of local groups have reaped the benefit of the Redwood Coast Music Festivals' generosity. In the senior category, there's Humboldt Home Health, Northcoast Advocacy Services, Redwood Community Action Agency, Food For People, the Healy Senior Center and the Area Agency on Aging. And that's just naming a few. On the youth side, the festival has raised money to purchase new musical instruments for local schools, as well has funded concert productions and music clinics.
Festival volunteer Billie Lau noted how the Jazz Fest pumps money into the local economy. As a destination tourist event, she said, local restaurants and motels can count on the Jazz Fest to shine their coffers.
Before moving to the area to be closer to her son and her two grandchildren, Lau said she would attend the Jazz Fest every year from Corpus Christi, Texas. She moved here five years ago and has been volunteering with the festival ever since.
”It's really great because you feel like you're getting to help the community,” she said.
This year, the festival will add two new venues at Redwood Acres, Franceschi Hall and the Vickers Building. Clark said there will be art and craft vendors on hand, and that Franceschi Hall's 1,000-square foot dance floor should be perfect for swing dancing.
”We have some professional swing dancers coming, and we're really focusing on having more dancing this year,” she said. “We're trying to bring the younger generation out.”
On Saturday, March 29, the Eureka Muni is host to a dance party extravaganza featuring the saucy sounds of Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, the hard-hitting blues of JC Smith and a group CNN Showbiz labeled as “at the forefront of the swing revival,” Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums. During the festival, the Skillet Lickers will also be participating in a Q&A feedback sessions, or “jazz clinic,” for local high school music students.
The Friday before the dance party will also be geared toward a younger sort of crowd, Clark said. Don't worry Jazz Fests traditionalists- your favorite regulars from festivals past will still be in town jazzin' it up as well.
”Friday night will be a new modern jazz concert at the Arkley Center with The Brubeck Brothers, the sons of Dave Brubeck, and Incendio, a jazz fusion band. We hope to get the HSU crowd out that night,” Clark said.
Throughout the Jazz Fest, which runs March 27 through 30, you can catch any number of bands at the at the festival's venues of the Arkley Center, the Adorni Center, the Red Lion, the Eureka Muni and Redwood Acres. Returning artists include Cornet Chop Suey, Gator Beat and Titan Hot 7.
”We have to pass this kind of music down to the next generation,” Clark said. “They should come out and give this a try. It's an educational process too. I'm in my early 20s, but I'm really enjoying this music. And most of this music is where modern American music came from."
Ticket prices for the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival vary. For more information, visit www.redwoodjazz.org or call Festival Headquarters at 445-3378.
Click HERE to link to the article on times-standard.com.
I was also in a TV commercial, but I only have a copy in DVD format and haven't had time to figure out how to post that. It's sort of cool/annoying that Humboldt is so small, because now I walk around and get recognized. People say "I saw you on TV." And then they quote me: "In the spirit of the north coast!" (That's the last line I say in the ad.) It's not really what I had expected to happen in my life, so it's sort of disconcerting in a way. But also sort of fun. I'll take my 30 seconds of "fame". It's gotta be better than infamy, right?
P.S. I never said I was in my early 20's. I swear I said mid-20's. Mike was more than happy to point out that I'm about to turn 27 and even saying mid-20's is pushing it a little. Thanks, Mike. Also, Incendio is a LATIN JAZZ FUSION band, not just a jazz fusion band. Leaving the Latin out of that sort of made using the word fusion not as effective, in my opinion.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
My California Anniversary
So I've been here a year (as of March 12, actually). So, that's some kind of accomplishment. The year's been rough, I would have to say, but now it's behind me, and I think there's some downhill in sight for a while.
It's less than two weeks until the jazz festival. (Six venues, over 100 shows, four days, just me, the director, and volunteers to run this thing - so yeah, you could say things are a bit hectic at the moment. But no worries, I'm rockin' it. Finally feeling like I am really good at my job. So, that's always nice.) I've been working 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I'm looking forward to having other pursuits again.
After this is over, I think I'll take a trip back home. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. There is this other festival coming up, Blues by the Bay, in August this year. I have some other ideas too. So we'll see where my second year in Humboldt County takes me. Hopefully much farther than the first.
The weather's been pretty nice. Spring is here, everything is in bloom. The sun is out. It's a new day.
It's less than two weeks until the jazz festival. (Six venues, over 100 shows, four days, just me, the director, and volunteers to run this thing - so yeah, you could say things are a bit hectic at the moment. But no worries, I'm rockin' it. Finally feeling like I am really good at my job. So, that's always nice.) I've been working 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. I'm looking forward to having other pursuits again.
After this is over, I think I'll take a trip back home. After that, I'm not sure what I'll do. There is this other festival coming up, Blues by the Bay, in August this year. I have some other ideas too. So we'll see where my second year in Humboldt County takes me. Hopefully much farther than the first.
The weather's been pretty nice. Spring is here, everything is in bloom. The sun is out. It's a new day.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Photoshop for Dummies
Here's what I made at my Photoshop class tonight:
This may not look like much, but it started out as four different pictures, and I combined them into one four-layered picture, wait, five-layered picture (the words make their own layer, don't I sound smart, yeah, right). I also cropped, selected, filtered, rotated, and a whole bunch of other fun verbs that I now cannot recall, these picture items to create the one "lovely" picture item you see above.
Yeah, so why did I think Photoshop was hard? Oh, yeah, because 1) my boss insisted that he did not have time to show me how to edit text in ads he made using Photoshop and 2) my boyfriend insisted he didn't have time to show me how to manipulate and edit pictures using Photoshop.
That's what I get for listening to them instead of to myself. Myself was all, "Naomi, you can totally do Photoshop without a class, girl," and I was all, "I don't know, Mike and Glenn don't think I can..."
So there were these old ladies in my class and most of Monday night was spent explaining to them where the pictures go when you transfer them from your camera to your computer; and how to rename a file and such things like that. But I did learn some useful things that the men in my life (i.e. boss and boyfriend) are just too swamped to show me, so it wasn't all for naught.
So now I will go kick some Photoshop ass. Or, at least, edit some Photoshop files at work and create some Photoshop files for Mike's work...
This may not look like much, but it started out as four different pictures, and I combined them into one four-layered picture, wait, five-layered picture (the words make their own layer, don't I sound smart, yeah, right). I also cropped, selected, filtered, rotated, and a whole bunch of other fun verbs that I now cannot recall, these picture items to create the one "lovely" picture item you see above.
Yeah, so why did I think Photoshop was hard? Oh, yeah, because 1) my boss insisted that he did not have time to show me how to edit text in ads he made using Photoshop and 2) my boyfriend insisted he didn't have time to show me how to manipulate and edit pictures using Photoshop.
That's what I get for listening to them instead of to myself. Myself was all, "Naomi, you can totally do Photoshop without a class, girl," and I was all, "I don't know, Mike and Glenn don't think I can..."
So there were these old ladies in my class and most of Monday night was spent explaining to them where the pictures go when you transfer them from your camera to your computer; and how to rename a file and such things like that. But I did learn some useful things that the men in my life (i.e. boss and boyfriend) are just too swamped to show me, so it wasn't all for naught.
So now I will go kick some Photoshop ass. Or, at least, edit some Photoshop files at work and create some Photoshop files for Mike's work...
My Artist made the Front Page
Mike was on the front page of one of the local papers here on Monday, and now the front page is on the side of our fridge:
They got his name wrong though (they printed it as "Warren Lake") so now we call him The Artist Formerly Known as Mike Warren, or TAFKAMW (we also think Warren Lake makes a great hippie name):
This glass layout, called a rollup, was designed and created by hand by Mike:
Edited 2/28 to add the text of the feature (it wasn't really an article, so much as a photographic feature with picture captions - here are the picture captions):
TOP: The Glass Station artist Warren Lake uses a high-temperature torch to melt colored glass into a great white shark's head as another torch keeps the glass reef pedestal (upon which the shark will stand) hot.
LEFT: The Glass Station co-owner and artist Joseph Reinik holds a finished vase created with colorful glass pieces fused onto and melted around it. He and his partner in the Blue Lake business, Scott Harris, each have about 10 years experience working with glass. Reinik recently finished a class from a master glass sculptor.
BELOW: An assortment of colorful items that have been handmade ahead of time are sometimes heated and then fused onto and melted around molten glass to make a vase with multidimensional features instead of just flat layers.
They got his name wrong though (they printed it as "Warren Lake") so now we call him The Artist Formerly Known as Mike Warren, or TAFKAMW (we also think Warren Lake makes a great hippie name):
This glass layout, called a rollup, was designed and created by hand by Mike:
Edited 2/28 to add the text of the feature (it wasn't really an article, so much as a photographic feature with picture captions - here are the picture captions):
TOP: The Glass Station artist Warren Lake uses a high-temperature torch to melt colored glass into a great white shark's head as another torch keeps the glass reef pedestal (upon which the shark will stand) hot.
LEFT: The Glass Station co-owner and artist Joseph Reinik holds a finished vase created with colorful glass pieces fused onto and melted around it. He and his partner in the Blue Lake business, Scott Harris, each have about 10 years experience working with glass. Reinik recently finished a class from a master glass sculptor.
BELOW: An assortment of colorful items that have been handmade ahead of time are sometimes heated and then fused onto and melted around molten glass to make a vase with multidimensional features instead of just flat layers.
Day 11 of the Flu
So, it's not pinkeye, and it's not the Humboldt Crud. It's the flu. According to the news, there is a flu epidemic (or is pandemic?) going on in 45 states right now, and the hospitals are full. This isn't that 24-hour flu that is nasty as all get-out and then you move on with your life. No, siree. This is the THREE-WEEK flu that is nasty as all get-out, and then in your weakened state you stagger on with your life.
So I have been wanting to lose some weight, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.
Last week I went to exactly one day of work. So far this week, I've been to work one day as well, which is not exactly a good track record (nor is it my norm). Monday morning I felt OK, but by the afternoon my splitting headache and my ringing ears and my firey sore throat feeling like I was trying to choke down a tennis ball every time I swallowed (which is, like, a lot, we swallow a lot, you might not notice unless your throat hurts for six days straight) should have been a clue that I needed to call it a day. I forced myself to suffer through the day, went to my first Photoshop class that I have already paid for and was so excited about, and then Tuesday I paid for it, all day. Today, I'm significantly better than yesterday, but I think I need to not push myself. Which means, I'm working on getting to work, so I can acoomplish something, but taking a shower and getting dressed caused me to lie down and take an hour nap. It's pathetic.
I actually had one of our board members telling me Monday that I wasn't taking this flu seriously enough. Because I was at work. Um, we are four 1/2 weeks to this festival, and I haven't even gotten the vendor contracts out the the door yet. I'm trying to take it all seriously. This is just the worst timing ever.
So, anyway. I don't have the Humboldt Crud. Which is like, yay for me, I guess. Apparently it's a rite of passage or so the crazy locals say. As I've never had it, I wouldn't know if it's preferred to this flu crap that I have, but I'm seriously thinking that anything would be better than this. Definitely melodramatic, i.e. me.
Also, now that I have read that the easiest way to catch the flu is by touching your mouth and face with dirty hands, I am hyper aware of the fact that I touch my face a lot. I also wash my hands a lot, but all it takes is one time with not-so-clean hands. And my computer at work is not exactly just used by me. It's like the town bicycle of computers. So now I get to be obsessed about yet another thing. Awesome.
P.S. As I cited no sources for this little epi(or pan)demic, just type "flu current" into your search engine and you'll see what I'm talking about. Or you can just take my word for it.
P.P.S. OK, here is one link: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm - the states in brown mean the flu is widespread there. As you can see, Florida is currently the place to be.
So I have been wanting to lose some weight, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind.
Last week I went to exactly one day of work. So far this week, I've been to work one day as well, which is not exactly a good track record (nor is it my norm). Monday morning I felt OK, but by the afternoon my splitting headache and my ringing ears and my firey sore throat feeling like I was trying to choke down a tennis ball every time I swallowed (which is, like, a lot, we swallow a lot, you might not notice unless your throat hurts for six days straight) should have been a clue that I needed to call it a day. I forced myself to suffer through the day, went to my first Photoshop class that I have already paid for and was so excited about, and then Tuesday I paid for it, all day. Today, I'm significantly better than yesterday, but I think I need to not push myself. Which means, I'm working on getting to work, so I can acoomplish something, but taking a shower and getting dressed caused me to lie down and take an hour nap. It's pathetic.
I actually had one of our board members telling me Monday that I wasn't taking this flu seriously enough. Because I was at work. Um, we are four 1/2 weeks to this festival, and I haven't even gotten the vendor contracts out the the door yet. I'm trying to take it all seriously. This is just the worst timing ever.
So, anyway. I don't have the Humboldt Crud. Which is like, yay for me, I guess. Apparently it's a rite of passage or so the crazy locals say. As I've never had it, I wouldn't know if it's preferred to this flu crap that I have, but I'm seriously thinking that anything would be better than this. Definitely melodramatic, i.e. me.
Also, now that I have read that the easiest way to catch the flu is by touching your mouth and face with dirty hands, I am hyper aware of the fact that I touch my face a lot. I also wash my hands a lot, but all it takes is one time with not-so-clean hands. And my computer at work is not exactly just used by me. It's like the town bicycle of computers. So now I get to be obsessed about yet another thing. Awesome.
P.S. As I cited no sources for this little epi(or pan)demic, just type "flu current" into your search engine and you'll see what I'm talking about. Or you can just take my word for it.
P.P.S. OK, here is one link: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm - the states in brown mean the flu is widespread there. As you can see, Florida is currently the place to be.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
On a better note
Mike and I celebrated our togetherness by him making his disgusting pinkeye girlfriend a lovely eggs, facon (that's fake bacon, it's quite good), and toast breakfast; and then sitting down together and writing a new goals list for 2008. It feels good to be a team. It feels a little bit like we're Bonnie and Clyde, but without the criminal part.
We also decided that we would celebrate our anniversary again/better/for real on March 12, when our Humboldt life together officially started. The hope is that by then I won't have [pinkeye, mumps, scarlet fever, insert obscure illness here].
Also, Mike brought me this herbal remedy called "Miracle 3000" or something like that, and he insists that a) it works, and b) I will take it at least 3 times a week so that I can stop being such a sicky.
True love in all its glory.
We also decided that we would celebrate our anniversary again/better/for real on March 12, when our Humboldt life together officially started. The hope is that by then I won't have [pinkeye, mumps, scarlet fever, insert obscure illness here].
Also, Mike brought me this herbal remedy called "Miracle 3000" or something like that, and he insists that a) it works, and b) I will take it at least 3 times a week so that I can stop being such a sicky.
True love in all its glory.
Awesome
The eye goo situation is now happening in both eyes. According to my medical book and my boyfriend's reaction, it's pinkeye.
Have I mentioned yet how much fun I am having?
Hi, I'm five years old apparently, and therefore I have pinkeye.
Have I mentioned yet how much fun I am having?
Hi, I'm five years old apparently, and therefore I have pinkeye.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Crud
I think I have the Humboldt Crud. I have been sick for almost a week. It started out as the body ache, fever, flu yuckiness, and then segued seamlessly into the horribly sore throat, hacking cough, snot nose, headachy, earachy cocktail that I am currently enjoying.
Sorry to paint such a lovely picture.
I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired. With Monday being a holiday, I called in sick to work Tuesday and Wednesday, went to work on Thursday, and got sent back home with orders not to come back on Friday.
I've never had that happen before.
I never thought I'd miss the days of the good ol' 24-hour-bug. I mean, it was hardcore, but just when you thought you couldn't take it anymore, you got better.
I am so bored/lonely/tired/over this crap.
Now today my eye decided that it wanted to join the party and started oozing copious amounts of eye goo. Just my right eye though. Yes, eye goo is the technical term. I might be dying.
OK, I'm not dying. It's just the crud. Yay, Humboldt.
Sorry to paint such a lovely picture.
I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired. With Monday being a holiday, I called in sick to work Tuesday and Wednesday, went to work on Thursday, and got sent back home with orders not to come back on Friday.
I've never had that happen before.
I never thought I'd miss the days of the good ol' 24-hour-bug. I mean, it was hardcore, but just when you thought you couldn't take it anymore, you got better.
I am so bored/lonely/tired/over this crap.
Now today my eye decided that it wanted to join the party and started oozing copious amounts of eye goo. Just my right eye though. Yes, eye goo is the technical term. I might be dying.
OK, I'm not dying. It's just the crud. Yay, Humboldt.
Happy Anniversary
Tommorrow, Saturday, February 23, Mike and I will have been together for a year.
Wednesday, March 12, I will have been here in Humboldt County for a year.
And for your viewing pleasure, this is yours truly, as drawn by 10-year-old Kaya:
She made me with green eyes because initially she didn't have a brown marker, but as I did not want green hair, I searched around the house until I found her a brown marker. Whew, that was a close one.
P.S. The kids got Presidents Week off! California is crazy!
Edited to add a picture of the little artist herself, hard at work:
Wednesday, March 12, I will have been here in Humboldt County for a year.
And for your viewing pleasure, this is yours truly, as drawn by 10-year-old Kaya:
She made me with green eyes because initially she didn't have a brown marker, but as I did not want green hair, I searched around the house until I found her a brown marker. Whew, that was a close one.
P.S. The kids got Presidents Week off! California is crazy!
Edited to add a picture of the little artist herself, hard at work:
Monday, February 18, 2008
Don't Worry About a Thing
This has been hanging out in my favorites for a year or so; I thought I'd share it here. A very cute little boy serenades us with Bob Marley's Three Little Birds.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Thanks to the Presidents...
Is this a normal thing, because I don't remember it ever happening in Wisconsin? I get a paid holiday from work today because it's Presidents Day today.
I am sick anyway, got some stupid flu-like bug, so I guess the presidents, or whoever decided to give me this day off, saved me a sick call into the office...
I am sick anyway, got some stupid flu-like bug, so I guess the presidents, or whoever decided to give me this day off, saved me a sick call into the office...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Online Glass Art Gallery
Click HERE to check out Mike's gallery on glassartists.org.
The URL is glassartists.org/MikeWarren, FYI.
I will be working on getting more pictures on here every few days or so, so check back in periodically. This is just the tip of the iceberg, y'all.
Edited to add some pictures, in case you need some inspiration to click my link, you won't regret it, I promise!
And there are plenty more where these came from!
The URL is glassartists.org/MikeWarren, FYI.
I will be working on getting more pictures on here every few days or so, so check back in periodically. This is just the tip of the iceberg, y'all.
Edited to add some pictures, in case you need some inspiration to click my link, you won't regret it, I promise!
And there are plenty more where these came from!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
On Love, Random Stranger Style
A man who appeared to have all of his worldly possessions with him in a shopping cart handed me a photocopy of this poem, handwritten on a plain white sheet of paper, as I walked by on my way to the post office:
Love and marriage,
Love and marriage
go together
like a horse and carriage,
This I tell you brother,
You can't have one
without the other.
I couldn't tell if it was the Frank Sinatra version or the theme song from the sitcom Married with Children, though I can't see how that really makes a difference. I guess I appreciate the sentiment? I can't help but wonder what made him choose this poem to photocopy and hand out to passersby. I also can't help but wonder if he handed out his little marriage poem to men too. Maybe I have been proposed to and I don't even know it!
Well, at the very least, I now know this random stranger's opinion on love, AND marriage. And I'm glad too.
Love and marriage,
Love and marriage
go together
like a horse and carriage,
This I tell you brother,
You can't have one
without the other.
I couldn't tell if it was the Frank Sinatra version or the theme song from the sitcom Married with Children, though I can't see how that really makes a difference. I guess I appreciate the sentiment? I can't help but wonder what made him choose this poem to photocopy and hand out to passersby. I also can't help but wonder if he handed out his little marriage poem to men too. Maybe I have been proposed to and I don't even know it!
Well, at the very least, I now know this random stranger's opinion on love, AND marriage. And I'm glad too.
Friday, February 8, 2008
'08 is Great
What's New:
Seven weeks to the jazz festival, and still lots and lots to do.
Taking a photoshop class at College of the Redwoods starting February 25.
Volunteering/working in trade for glass classes doing office work at the hot glass studio where Mike works. First glass class will be end of this month, on a Saturday. I will try to make something cool.
Being "stepmom" on the weekends to 10-year-old Kaya and 12-year-old Josh, having all kinds of fun times, including baking cookies, having snow fights*, racing to the end of the street, learning hot glass techniques at their dad's shop, watching movies like Madagascar and Open Season, having sleepovers camp-out style on the living room floor, and other bonding-like moments.
Working on getting Mike's artwork up on various glass artist websites, will post links when I'm done.
Planning a trip home to Wisconsin some time in late April/early May, details to follow once airline tickets are bought and vacation time at work is approved, not in that particular order (vacation time is unofficially approved, but not the specific dates yet).
*For the record, it only snowed here that one day. Yes, I'm bragging a little. You all have each other, albeit having each other in 10 feet of snow. Two thousand miles away from my beloved family, I have to hold on to whatever I can, so I will "brag" about the fact that there is no snow here. Ha ha. And I'm sorry. I hope you all are being safe and staying warm.
Camping out:
Hanging out at the glass studio:
Playing with puppies:
Seven weeks to the jazz festival, and still lots and lots to do.
Taking a photoshop class at College of the Redwoods starting February 25.
Volunteering/working in trade for glass classes doing office work at the hot glass studio where Mike works. First glass class will be end of this month, on a Saturday. I will try to make something cool.
Being "stepmom" on the weekends to 10-year-old Kaya and 12-year-old Josh, having all kinds of fun times, including baking cookies, having snow fights*, racing to the end of the street, learning hot glass techniques at their dad's shop, watching movies like Madagascar and Open Season, having sleepovers camp-out style on the living room floor, and other bonding-like moments.
Working on getting Mike's artwork up on various glass artist websites, will post links when I'm done.
Planning a trip home to Wisconsin some time in late April/early May, details to follow once airline tickets are bought and vacation time at work is approved, not in that particular order (vacation time is unofficially approved, but not the specific dates yet).
*For the record, it only snowed here that one day. Yes, I'm bragging a little. You all have each other, albeit having each other in 10 feet of snow. Two thousand miles away from my beloved family, I have to hold on to whatever I can, so I will "brag" about the fact that there is no snow here. Ha ha. And I'm sorry. I hope you all are being safe and staying warm.
Camping out:
Hanging out at the glass studio:
Playing with puppies:
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
It's Snowing in "Paradise"
Yeah, so Sunday it snowed enough for the kids and me to have a snowball fight, and I don't mean like a sorry excuse for a snowball fight either. It was a full fledged down and dirty knock 'em out snowball fight. And those of you who know me realize this means that it was a completely unfair fight that I only didn't lose because 1) I know how to outrun Kaya and Josh on slippery ground and 2) I used my umbrella as a shield.
It snowed for much of the day and the snow actually stuck. I'm pretty certain I was the only person in the entire town of Blue Lake, where one of Mike's glass studios is, who had an actual ice/snow scraper in the trunk of my car. Yeah, everybody was jealous. Everybody was also making a very big deal out of it, like they had never seen snow before in their lives. While I appreciate that Josh and Kaya, who have lived in Humboldt County for most and all of their lives respectively, don't recall ever having seen it in person, my being from Wisconsin sort of colored my personal experience. Let's just say I wasn't too pumped on the snow situation. Especially since Saturday was warm enough for no coats! It's like the weather taunted us with what it could be like, and then BAM! SNOW. Ew.
Yesterday it alternated between sun and rain, no snow that I can tell, but looking up in the mountains I can see they have been dumped on with snow up there, and the weather forecast has predicted that the mountaintop communities should expect another eight inches today/tonight! That is a lot for around here. Heck, I think that's a lot for anywhere.
OK, apparently, I'm a snow scrooge. Whatever. Mike scolded his kids for getting all wet playing in the snow and then being cold because they didn't have the proper winter wear, and I stuck up for them: "They are just kids. None of us knew to have proper winter wear because it hasn't snowed here in years." Yeah, OK, he said. And then we went home and huddled under blankets with cups of hot chocolate and watched The Family Guy. The way it should be on a snowy day.
It snowed for much of the day and the snow actually stuck. I'm pretty certain I was the only person in the entire town of Blue Lake, where one of Mike's glass studios is, who had an actual ice/snow scraper in the trunk of my car. Yeah, everybody was jealous. Everybody was also making a very big deal out of it, like they had never seen snow before in their lives. While I appreciate that Josh and Kaya, who have lived in Humboldt County for most and all of their lives respectively, don't recall ever having seen it in person, my being from Wisconsin sort of colored my personal experience. Let's just say I wasn't too pumped on the snow situation. Especially since Saturday was warm enough for no coats! It's like the weather taunted us with what it could be like, and then BAM! SNOW. Ew.
Yesterday it alternated between sun and rain, no snow that I can tell, but looking up in the mountains I can see they have been dumped on with snow up there, and the weather forecast has predicted that the mountaintop communities should expect another eight inches today/tonight! That is a lot for around here. Heck, I think that's a lot for anywhere.
OK, apparently, I'm a snow scrooge. Whatever. Mike scolded his kids for getting all wet playing in the snow and then being cold because they didn't have the proper winter wear, and I stuck up for them: "They are just kids. None of us knew to have proper winter wear because it hasn't snowed here in years." Yeah, OK, he said. And then we went home and huddled under blankets with cups of hot chocolate and watched The Family Guy. The way it should be on a snowy day.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Three, Count 'em, Three Excellent Things About Today
1) I have Fridays off so I get to do fun things like rearrange my living room and clean stuff and run important errands (well, rearranging my living room is fun).
2) The sun is out! And there's no wind, so it feels like almost 50 degrees! I had the front door open while I cleaned this morning and I was only wearing a teeshirt (and pants) and wasn't cold at all!
3) I bought a couch on Craigslist (for cheap!) on Wednedsay and Mike helped me move the living room around today and now my apartment is finally cute and comfortably livable!
4) I know I said three but I just thought of another thing! I have the internet at home now! That could also be bad.
Yay!
Here are some pictures of my insanely tiny but (finally!) cute apartment:
The outside still needs a little work, but...
Here's where my car is parked, next to the barn where the cows hang out:
Edited 1.19.08 to add a few more pics:
Trying to keep the main living area warm with a space heater, these are the doors to the bathroom, our bedroom, the linen closet (uber skinny door) and the "spare" bedroom (aka walk-in closet). I just thought it looked sort of cool:
(The angle is from sitting at our little eating "nook".)
Hope you enjoyed this episode of our tiny adorable apartment as much as I do.
2) The sun is out! And there's no wind, so it feels like almost 50 degrees! I had the front door open while I cleaned this morning and I was only wearing a teeshirt (and pants) and wasn't cold at all!
3) I bought a couch on Craigslist (for cheap!) on Wednedsay and Mike helped me move the living room around today and now my apartment is finally cute and comfortably livable!
4) I know I said three but I just thought of another thing! I have the internet at home now! That could also be bad.
Yay!
Here are some pictures of my insanely tiny but (finally!) cute apartment:
The outside still needs a little work, but...
Here's where my car is parked, next to the barn where the cows hang out:
Edited 1.19.08 to add a few more pics:
Trying to keep the main living area warm with a space heater, these are the doors to the bathroom, our bedroom, the linen closet (uber skinny door) and the "spare" bedroom (aka walk-in closet). I just thought it looked sort of cool:
(The angle is from sitting at our little eating "nook".)
Hope you enjoyed this episode of our tiny adorable apartment as much as I do.
OK, fine, here's what I have to say about my stupid hamster
I wrote this yesterday:
My two-year-old dwarf hamster, Smalls, died. I think he got too cold. Or maybe two years is his life expectancy. I have no idea. All I know is that I fed him and gave him water and tried not to hate the boring little sucker too much, and then yesterday amidst my running around between work and errands and life, it suddenly occurred to me that his food bowl, which usually remains empty, not because I don't feed him but because he eats his food the second it hits his bowl, was the same level it had been for days, and his water too. Suddenly I'm driving down the road about to pick up a sofa I purchased off Craigslist with my borrowed SUV and I have this thought: My Hamster Has Died.
I got home, moved the couch in, made some dinner, it was late and I was hungry, had a beer, it was late and I had been working all day, and then... I couldn't stall anymore. I took off his lid and yelled and rattled his food bowl. The little bugger always comes out when I call to him.
He didn't come out.
I found him curled up in a tight little ball in the corner under his bedding. The poor little thing just curled up and died. I feel like a terrible hamster mother. I didn't even much like him, because he's a poor replacement for the dogs in my life I've had to let go as relationships come and go, he just eats and smells funny and bites me. I usually called him whatever random name that came to mind and occasionally I would reach in and pet his back while he was eating and too preoccupied to pull away and turn his sharp little choppers on me.
But when I found him curled up there I cried. OK? I cried for my dumb little hamster and my apparent inability to keep even a dumb little hamster alive.
My sweetest ever boyfriend held me and didn't make fun of me even once. He said it was OK to feel sad because it was my pet and a life and I was taking care of him. He said he probably died of old age. Or coldness. But that it wasn't my fault.
You know, the sweet things good boyfriends say when their girlfriends are sad.
He also said we'll give Hammy a proper burial in the redwoods.
I feel so sad, relieved, guilty, and curious. I just hope he didn't suffer too much. I hope it was his time to go, that he died of old age, and that he was remotely happy in his short meaningless little life.
RIP, Smalls, April 2006-January 2008. I will miss you when I think of you. You didn't even eat all your gourmet hamster food I bought you, you little punk. I'm glad I didn't let Mike feed you to the owl that lives in the barn by our house.
My two-year-old dwarf hamster, Smalls, died. I think he got too cold. Or maybe two years is his life expectancy. I have no idea. All I know is that I fed him and gave him water and tried not to hate the boring little sucker too much, and then yesterday amidst my running around between work and errands and life, it suddenly occurred to me that his food bowl, which usually remains empty, not because I don't feed him but because he eats his food the second it hits his bowl, was the same level it had been for days, and his water too. Suddenly I'm driving down the road about to pick up a sofa I purchased off Craigslist with my borrowed SUV and I have this thought: My Hamster Has Died.
I got home, moved the couch in, made some dinner, it was late and I was hungry, had a beer, it was late and I had been working all day, and then... I couldn't stall anymore. I took off his lid and yelled and rattled his food bowl. The little bugger always comes out when I call to him.
He didn't come out.
I found him curled up in a tight little ball in the corner under his bedding. The poor little thing just curled up and died. I feel like a terrible hamster mother. I didn't even much like him, because he's a poor replacement for the dogs in my life I've had to let go as relationships come and go, he just eats and smells funny and bites me. I usually called him whatever random name that came to mind and occasionally I would reach in and pet his back while he was eating and too preoccupied to pull away and turn his sharp little choppers on me.
But when I found him curled up there I cried. OK? I cried for my dumb little hamster and my apparent inability to keep even a dumb little hamster alive.
My sweetest ever boyfriend held me and didn't make fun of me even once. He said it was OK to feel sad because it was my pet and a life and I was taking care of him. He said he probably died of old age. Or coldness. But that it wasn't my fault.
You know, the sweet things good boyfriends say when their girlfriends are sad.
He also said we'll give Hammy a proper burial in the redwoods.
I feel so sad, relieved, guilty, and curious. I just hope he didn't suffer too much. I hope it was his time to go, that he died of old age, and that he was remotely happy in his short meaningless little life.
RIP, Smalls, April 2006-January 2008. I will miss you when I think of you. You didn't even eat all your gourmet hamster food I bought you, you little punk. I'm glad I didn't let Mike feed you to the owl that lives in the barn by our house.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The details of this post are peculiar.
President Clinton came to town yesterday. He spoke to the 400 "elite" people of Humboldt County, whomever that may be (in this case it was the 400 people who managed to fit into the building). Most of the thousands of people who waited for hours in the cold went home dissatisfied.
I spent my evening purchasing a couch for my living room (finally!) and transporting it home. Although it would have been nice to catch a glimpse of the celebrity that is Bill Clinton, I have a fair-weather interest, and that means taking off half a day's work to wait in the very cold wind for hours on end only to have to either push my way in or to have waited in vain did not fit within the parameters of my curiosity.
Some people would call that lazy. I would call it smart.
In other news, the worst part about this week is that my hamster died, and the best part about today is that I brought my super comfortable office chair from home into work and it is awesome.
I spent my evening purchasing a couch for my living room (finally!) and transporting it home. Although it would have been nice to catch a glimpse of the celebrity that is Bill Clinton, I have a fair-weather interest, and that means taking off half a day's work to wait in the very cold wind for hours on end only to have to either push my way in or to have waited in vain did not fit within the parameters of my curiosity.
Some people would call that lazy. I would call it smart.
In other news, the worst part about this week is that my hamster died, and the best part about today is that I brought my super comfortable office chair from home into work and it is awesome.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Humboldt Has a Visitor
Former President Clinton may or may not be coming to Eureka tomorrow to advocate for his wife, but I can neither confirm nor deny this is true.
I will have to get back to you. (I just think this is interesting because Humboldt is so rural and off the map in so many ways.)
I will have to get back to you. (I just think this is interesting because Humboldt is so rural and off the map in so many ways.)
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