Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

My Flickr Account

I have posted a lot of my glass photos to Flickr. It's become a little bit of an obsession these days now that the holiday sales have slowed down. For example, it's after 9 am and I'm still in bed surfing until either the laptop batteries die or my rumbling stomach forces me to get some breakfast.

A girl needs nice wheels

On Saturday I test drove a Subaru Outback. The dealer then let me keep it over the weekend and last night I went and officially bought it. It's bad ass black with the Limited and VDC package and seems to have every option known to man. It's now sitting in the garage waiting for me to take it for a spin. It is my first automatic car and a fear that is going to take some time getting used to. The heated leather seats, climate control, MP3 compatible system and sun roof, however will not take any getting used to :-)

I still feel a little sad about the Pathfinder and I'll miss having a car with no monthly payments, but all things considered my new black Outback is a pretty nice ride.
I think I'll call it Oscar.

Farewell Pathfinder

Today we lost the Pathfinder. RIP big guy, I'll miss you. After 11 years, 111,000 miles and countless trips to the mountains Percy the Pathfinder is gone. I always felt safe, I always felt in control, I knew I would always be safe behind the wheel.

Chris was driving him on I-70 when we hit some ice while changing lanes. We thought he was going to straighten up but the slide continued and then the wheels made a quick turn to the right. It's exactly like they say...it happened all in slow motion. I could see the concrete barrier and knew we were heading for it...I also knew that it was going to wreck Percy pretty badly, I knew it was over. We hit the concrete barrier and immediately both airbags released. The impact made us bounce back a few feet before coming to a rest. I looked up to see smoke or steam coming from the engine...then we were hit from behind and as my neck jerked I though "nice, we're going to cause a pile up on the highway".

Not knowing if it was steam or smoke I immediately tried to get out as the car began to fill with what turned out to be powder from the airbags. Percy had crumpled and the doors needed a big shove to open before I could get out and see the whole sorry situation.

A couple of nice people stopped to see if we were okay; a woman in a car and a King Soopers delivery driver, he helped us stop the horn that has stuck during the first impact. With the cars whizzing by on the highway, the cold and snow and the shock, we really could do without the noise of the horn. It was a UPS guy in the truck behind who hit us on his way to work. He took the whole thing pretty well, and we sat in his warm truck as we waited for the police and then for the tow trucks.

I emptied out Percy....all the car information, receipts, shopping bags, first aid kit and spare parking change. I remembered to take the Bee bear that was originally from my Mum's 205 and a Sterling dream catcher that I had originally given to Mum.

I knew as I saw him being dragged onto the flat bed truck, that I would never see him again.

I'm on week 8 of unemployment which really is not as bad as it seams. I'm really busy with PrizmaticArt.com, job searches and lunches with gals.

I just set up mobile blogging on my phone. This could get interesting...

BTW - Check out;
http://prizmaticart.blogger.com

Prizmatic Art LLC

I started a new company; Prizmatic Art LLC. I did it mainly so I could get access to wholesale glass materials, I did it also because I'm actually making money and I need to make sure I am doing everything correctly for tax purposes.

I suppose this is my first press release ;-)
As the CEO, CTO, CFO, COO, GM, PM and work monkey at Prizmatic, I'd like to announce that Prizmatic Art LLC is now a registered company in the state of Colorado. We are open for business!

The Inevitable

The inevitable happened and I was laid off Sept 14th. Since I have known this was going to happen for a few months, I am a little dismayed that I didn't find anything. The plan was to honor my promise to stay with the company through the transition and then, without too much of a delay, get another job. I think I started looking for a job too soon and now I am tired of looking.

Cambozola

I got new laptop this weekend.
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits/2006/mobility/fs_dv6000.pdf

I'm not sure about Vista - it's like it's trying to be be helpful...."oh don't worry about where that file is, you don't need to worry about insignificant things like that! Trust me, I know where it is and can find it when you need it. Are you sure you want to do that? Just checking. You never know these days with viruses and hackers. Do you have permissions to do that? Just checking. I'm sorry, I think you don't know what you're doing so I'm going to disable that install."

Grrrr, give me XP back!!!!!

Anyway, I have permission to name my new laptop. I have been using a Wallace and Gromit theme. My old NT PC was called Wallace, Chris had a PC called Gromit (cause it was a dog). He then got a laptop and called it Shawn. I called the printer server Miss Tweedy. I then got a laptop and couldn't find any names I liked, so I called it Gorgonzola because of A Grand Day Out (to the moon) and because Wallace and I like cheese. My jump drive then had to be called Wee Brie. I could have called it Crackers, but I liked the cheese name theme. So it was only natural that my new laptop should be called Cambozola! I look forward to a long and rewarding relationship together once I have tamed Vista and let it know who is really the boss!

I was so smug....

I have been asked to stay on as a transitional PM for another month. My lay off date is now September 14th. I am starting to step up the job search, but this extra month will give me some room to take my time and hopefully find a good employment match.

I have got over the initial shock and mourning for my beloved NETg. I am now slowly realizing that I probably won't get another job as a remote employee and work from home. I have been so smug in my purple office these last 3+ years. I am so environmentally friendly, I only drive 4k miles a year. I can use 100% recycled printer paper in my home office. My work clothes are cheap Costco shorts and I wear Birkenstocks all year (my feet are so happy)....I haven't been to Talbots for dry clean clothes in years! I work from 7:30am to 5:30pm - I get out of bed at 7am and I eat a healthy lunch on the back patio with my cute kitties. Life has been good.

It's going to be a terrible shock to my system when I have to get up at 6am to start work at 8am after driving in rush hour traffic. I'll eat out more and be forced to eat unknown fats and chemicals. I am going to need a whole new wardrobe of clothes...whaaa, whaa, wha! I know that's what normal people do....it's just that I have experienced the other side; the efficient, healthy, environmentally friendly and economically pleasing telecommuting lifestyle! It's going to be so hard to go back to the old fashioned way.

I choose to look on the bright side - I may get lucky again and find a fun telecommuting job in a company with true professionals, just like NETg.