i'm so excited to use the words "my president" for the first time in eight years

i'm so excited to use the words "my president" for the first time in eight years, originally uploaded by emdot.

i voted and then i bought a new pair of boots

i voted and then i bought a new pair of boots, originally uploaded by emdot.

Step One: vote. check.

Step Two: acknowledge as you pull out of polling place parking lot that the metal-on-metal sound you hear tearing through your brain when applying brakes must be stopped.

Step Three: drive directly to shop; resign self to having to fork over a LOT of money for new brakes and probably new rotors.

Step Four: get to work.

Step Five: send file to printers; big project finally going to press. Yea! Plus, added bonus of no last-minute rush around problems.

Step Six: Get call from shop: brakes will be about $250 LESS than you anticipated.

Step Seven: thank your sweet stars above.

Step Eight: car's ready; go get it.

Step Nine: Reward self for most awesome day with new boots even though you went in for new maryjane's and they cost about $85 more than you planned to pay.

Step 10: try not to gloat too much about how awesome today is because you still have election coverage tonight and we really do not know how tonight will turn out but oh my god please please please let it be Barack Obama.

a note to zephyr1

a note to zephyr1, originally uploaded by emdot.

happy birthday to my girl in mass. we love and miss you, Reb.

papercuts

kitten kingdom, originally uploaded by emdot.

I'm a big fan of elsa mora and her amazing papercuts as well as Patricia Zapata, AKA a little hut.

today i decided to try... first problem -- what to cut. second problem -- it's hard! :) these are about two inches tall. i think you can tell the one of the left is my frist attempt; the one on the right is the second

how elsita gets those smooth edges is beyond me. i will keep trying.

Big Nathan, Little Ysa

Big Nathan, Little Ysa, originally uploaded by emdot.

My new little niece will be two weeks on election day. ;)

Home Sweet Home | Hope Sweet Hope

Home Sweet Home | Hope Sweet Hope, originally uploaded by a35mmlife.

Oh man. Election day is almost here. I am very excited. And hopeful.

I really look forward to being able to say "my president." MY PRESIDENT.

It's been a long time.

O You and Finishing the Cycle

thank you kb, originally uploaded by emdot.

Last weekend I went to SF with one of my best friends -- she bought me
a ticket to the O You conference which is (hold your eye rolls)
centered around O Magazine (O as in Oprah). It wasn't an Oprah
event... it was a series of lecture-seminars from regular
contributors. I went to the Martha Beck, Suze Orman, Peter Walsh, and
Marianne Williamson seminars. Martha Beck and Suze Orman were my
favorites, but I find myself changed by one thing that Peter Walsh
said (I'll share in a sec.).

Oprah did make a surprise appearance (she'd never done it before at an
O You deal) and that was very cool. :) What I loved was seeing how the
contributors truly respected and were in awe of her.

What Peter Walsh said. It was in answering someone who said "what do I
do with paper clutter?!" (which I struggle with, too). He said think
of a load of laundry. If you were stop the laundry mid-cycle and just
let the clothes sit there in the water for a week, you'd go back to
some pretty stinky laundry and a much bigger mess on your hands. It's
the same with the mail -- if you bring it in and leave it on the
counter or pile it on your desk instead of "finishing the cycle" right
away, in a week you'll have a tub of stinky laundry.

This was a huge light bulb to me. All of a sudden I can see all of my
mid-cycle stops... aha! Finish the cycle. Finish the cycle. Finish the
cycle. Got it.

don't lose faith

one is the loneliest number, originally uploaded by emdot.

When little obstacles crop up on the spiritual path, a good practitioner does not lose faith and begin to doubt, but has the discernment to recognize difficulties, whatever they may be, for what they are—just obstacles, and nothing more. It is the nature of things that when you recognize an obstacle as such, it ceases to be an obstacle. Equally, it is by failing to recognize an obstacle for what it is, and therefore taking it seriously, that it is empowered and solidified and becomes a real blockage. — Sogyal Rinpoche

Agent Orange

bird of technicolored dream coat, originally uploaded by emdot.

I have no idea how my camera did this, but I'm not complaining.

Life is bittersweet these days. Perhaps it's bittersweet all days.

Bad News!!

ceci n'est pas un poet, originally uploaded by emdot.

Oh sigh.

I brought my computer down to Orange County with me this weekend. My dad is a big computer nerd, always bragging about buidling this and improving that and updating that and whoop-do-doo doo doo bleep bloop (which is what my brain says as people begin to talk computers).

My computer has been at capacity for a couple of months. I keep having to delete things (lots of things) so that it will work. He said, "bring it down, we'll give you a new hard drive and update this and super charge that and bionic that and on and on bleep bloop."

What do you need to save? asked my dad.

My photos and music. Well, and everything in My documents. Can we do that?

Yes, he said.

Okay, then. Everything in my documents.

---

You know what happened right? My photos and music = GONE!

My fault, ultimately, because I didn't have anything backed up (my CD burner dealie bob stopped working in 05 and I just treated it with a dose of Denial and Whatever (a wreckless policy).

So, my fault. But that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. All my photos!! Fewer than 10% of my photos are on Flickr... so while I still have my Flickr photos, I don't have most of my photos. And since I rarely post photos of family or family events, those are all gone.

So, my fault. BUT STILL.

-- tears --

Today I will rigorously practice non-attachment.

Lost contacts

Lost contacts, originally uploaded by publicenergy.

ha ha ha. that title has made me laugh a few times this morning. dave wild does it again. :)

hitherto unidentified bovine

hitherto unidentified bovine, originally uploaded by emdot.

just sharing with you the little things that crack me up for really no good reason.

and-uh one-uh and-uh two-uh

i've watched this 10 times now. i'm hoping to watch it 10 more.

ffffound brings traffic

a little reminder, originally uploaded by emdot.

This is an old-ish image from my Flickr stream that has been getting a lot of traffic and faves lately. I checked the stats and they seem to be coming from ffffound (and oh, ffffound how I do love you.).

How cool to have one of my images on ffffound! I love that.

And also, I love to see this photo pop up again and again in my "recent activity" list on Flickr as it IS a wonderful little reminder. :)

Happy day, people. It's Friday. And you are loved.

Oh! And PS, do you want to see the photos I fave on FFFFound? You can.... Check 'em out here.

a little central coast gorgeousness

grasses, originally uploaded by emdot.

Ah, central coast, I do love you. ;)

This is from an inlet in Cuesta-by-the-Sea a little neighborhood of Los Osos. Just a little slice of heaven I wanted to share.

Blessed are the Cheese Makers

Blessed are the Cheese Makers, originally uploaded by publicenergy.

This was the first laugh of my day, this holy cow (bull?) from Dave Wild, aka publicenergy on Flickr.

I share with you two more funny ones below. Happy day people! ;) Make it a good one. And if you can't make it a good one, here are three photos (this one and the next two) that'll help you laugh about it.

Super(monkey)man 2

Super(monkey)man 2, originally uploaded by Monkeyman (Pierre).

super crisp for monkeyman! :)

This mask might be the best money we've ever spent

This mask might be the best money we've ever spent, originally uploaded by gruber.

super foods for spider man?

goodbye summer

goodbye summer, originally uploaded by emdot.

It was a rough week. But today, somehow, the clouds kinda lifted and for the first time in days (weeks?) I felt like I found my footing.

Steve and I made a sunset run to the coast. Or maybe that was a coast run to the sunset. We caught egrets and ducks and whimbrels and boats and bay. It was good.

Shiver Me Timbers

bad gulls bad gulls what you gonna do, originally uploaded by emdot.

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day. In its honor, this nature shot was my desktop background all day. Yarrr! Harrr! Arrr!