No Drive

I finally found the picture hard drive. That's a big deal. In such a digital & nomadic lifestyle we lead, backing up our pictures is a must! Also, between the laptop & desktop PCs, pictures & music can get scattered easily. Music purchased on one computer, pictures put here, etc. I try to round things up at least every three months. During "picture heavy" months (i.e. holidays, birthdays, vacation), I'll do it once a month.

Well, when we got back at the end of June, we had all three drives. After Mairyn's birthday, I could only find the music & document drives. The picture one was nowhere to be found! That little drive has *everything* on it. Everything since June 2003, which was when we got our first digital camera. I searched high and low. Nothing. I knew it had to be somewhere, but it was always nagging me at the back of my mind, "Where is that drive?" Finally, three nights ago, I found it! And in quite an accessible place. It was with the other LARGE external hard drives. It is small, the size of a passport. Not that I hadn't checked that place a dozen times already. Oh well. All is right in the world, my pictures are safe & sound.

I have spent the last two days updating the drive. Transferring files from different computers to the central photo loading zone and freeing up literally GIGS of memory. It's just always so stressful when I'm deleting duplicate files that the computer found and it asks me "Are you sure you want to delete this file?" Yes? Didn't you just tell me it's a duplicate?? Anyway, I've been stumbling down memory lane, looking at everything! I also discovered a file of scanned pictures that I forgot I had! See, our children straddle the digital & film world. For Eliza & Mairyn; the best camera we had was a WalMart disposable box camera. And then before Spencer left for Jordan (May 2003), his parents gave him a digital camera. So our digital picture files begin with June 2003.

But the downside to all this is that I don't have hardly any physical pictures of the two younger kids. I was *very good* about putting pictures in albums. Not scrapbooks, just picture sleeves in an album. That, for me, is organized. The kids love flipping through them! But those hard copy pictures end when Mairyn is about 1 year old. So I'm going to make some albums that include the rest of our children. You know, actual proof that we have 4 children, instead of a 3 1/2 year old and 1 year old, as our albums would lead you to believe!

Here's a gee-whiz collage I whipped up for myself. I wanted to compare the babes and I actually had pictures of all 4 at about the same age, 2-3 days. (eliza & mairyn's I scanned in)

top L-R: Mairyn (3 days); Grant (2 days);

bottom L-R: Eliza (2 days); Jacqueline (2 days)

All together now: Awwwwww!

YouTube Tuesday: It gets me

Do you ever reach one of those music plateaus and go, "I need to find some new stuff!" And then after fruitless hours of listening to 30 second segments of lame-o songs, you still don't find anything? I sometimes wonder why I even go to Amazon for song hunting. YouTube is the place to be. Vevo is awesome. They have music videos. Vevo rocks, not only because of the music, but because I can watch their videos here in my realm outside of the United States. Yes Hulu, I hope you're reading this. You give me unending frustration with that confused emoticon and message, ":-/ We're sorry, this is not yet available in your country." Vevo may not have instant T.V., but they do have (just about) every artist's music video you could dream of.

This song, "Hey Mama" by Mat Kearney is a gem. It's got hand-clapping but it's still got a rock-y edge. And booming drums; a beat you can really move to. I pump this song up when I'm in the homestretch in my workout. It gets me through.




So you only got one song from that odyssey of hunting, you're saying. Yes, one new-to-me song. Break your Heart & Dynomite by Taio Cruz may have been slipped into the cart at the begging behest of my 9 & 11 year old daughters. *sigh* What can I say? I'm a sucker for my kids. I still think it's cool that they have their own "taste" in music. Even if their taste is every song that is played ad nauseum (extra on the nausea) on the radio. It is entirely Mairyn's fault that we own Chris Brown's song "Forever". Do you have any songs like that, ones that you wouldn't listen to, but you like it because you like that your kid likes it? Still with me? Anyway, that's enough jibber-jabber from me.

Musings from the gas pump

I dread that moment when I look at the gas gauge and the needle is hovering near the 'E'. I've really got to get gas. I can't go any further. I only dread it when it's hot. You have to turn off the car (duh) to fill up and that means letting out all that nice, cool air and welcoming in the thick waves of heat just radiating from the heated pavement and car engines beside you. I try to do it when I don't have kids with me, so they don't have to suffer, but that means I have to go during the day. If I don't time it right, there are forever long lines. There is just one gas station in our vicinity. (meaning within a 20 minute drive)

Today, the lines are 6 deep for every pump and once I get in line, it is very shortly 3-4 deep behind me. Ok, I'm committed. No backing out now. Thank goodness it's not Ramadan anymore. I have an iced beverage and am waiting patiently. (because during ramalama-ding-dong eating & drinking in public is forbidden.)

The radio station I'm listening to can't decide if it's broadcasting AFN or this French language station. It does that a lot, though. Creep the car forward a few feet, it's Taio Cruz, then another inch and it's Francophone News. I have *got* to remember my iPod.

There are, of course, those cars/people that think they are too important to wait in line and simply navigate around the whole tangle of cars and back into the empty front slot. It usually happens once or twice every visit. (fyi, the pumps are one way pull in)

When my turn finally comes, Dudey doesn't even ask me which kind of fuel I want. He lifts the nozzle for 'Mumtaz' (which is the higher grade expensive stuff). I have to lean out the window and tell him, "La'a, Jayyid minfudlak." (no, no the cheap stuff, please) I sip on my icy bevvie gratefully and people watch. There is a ninja lady in the car next to mine. Her 3 or 4 year old is bouncing around on the front seat and trying to crawl onto the dash. On the other side, there is a white robed sheik with aviator glasses, staring at me. Ok, I will not be looking that way anymore.

The pump shuts off and I pay dudey for the gas and tip him a bit for sweating it out by the gas pump. I pull off and Sheik's glasses follow. Hope you enjoyed the view, buddy! Whew, it's all done. And it only took me 30 minutes.

Solid

The third day of school, there was an elementary open house. We got to meet the teachers, see the classrooms, etc. Eliza is officially in the Middle school, her open house is at the end of this week. Mairyn & Grant both have 'new to the school' teachers. They feel special. In Mairyn's classroom, there were a couple of getting to know you worksheets that the kids had filled out. This was Mairyn's worksheet.

I think it's safe to say that she feels comfortable in the new class.

Cool at 86

I know, it's not YouTube Tuesday. But I couldn't wait until Tuesday to share this gem.

This vid is called, "Webcam 101 for Seniors". Here's the article, --> 'Vid Turns Oregon Oldsters into YouTube celebrities'. Basically, Grandma & Grandpa (they would be *my* grandparents age, my children's great-grandparents) got their first laptop and were trying to figure out how to take pictures. Grandma unwittingly turned the video feature to 'record' and then continues to try to figure out how to take pictures, while Grandpa goofs off.

The great thing about this vid is that it isn't even adorable because they're trying to figure out the computer. It's them being so dang sweet and not even trying! They are a couple obviously still in love AND have a sense of humor. Remember, they don't know they're being recorded and are still acting like this. And I think they'll still have videos like this when I'm a grandparent/great-grandparent, only the super-geeks will be completely up to date on all technology! Watch, learn & enjoy!

I'm in a funk. I've been in it before. I've got this road block in my mind. It's time to bulldoze it into oblivion.
Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

I've got this quote in plain sight of my desk. I pep myself up with it every day. I'm not going to beat myself up about the pictures I haven't posted. I am not going to let what I "should have done" affect what I am trying to accomplish; which is *anything* at this point. I'm working on gathering all the pictures (and other stuff) from the last 6 months into one place. They've been digitally scattered due to our transient life since March. Yeah, call me a spoiled expat brat for feeling displaced and inconvenienced because of my host country's problems. You wouldn't be the first.

Here is the obligatory "First Day of School" picture. All of them off to the bus at the same time. And they all come bursting in the door at the same time every afternoon. This is a first for me. Give me a few weeks before I start to miss them. It was such a long & hellish summer, we all need a break from each other. And there you have it; my first blog post with both 'damn' and 'hell'. I think I just saw a pig fly past the window.

YouTube Tuesday: We can't do that video!

Other than the fact that is is YouTube Tuesday, it is also the first day of school. Alhamdulla-freakin'-llah! It's about time. You cannot fathom the feelings that are coursing through me right now. I love my kids; I'm their number one fan. But three months and 6 days is way too long for summer vacation. Way. Too. Long. Especially when two of those months were spent inside the house because it was too hot to go outside and do summertime activities, like ride bikes or even swim. I have been ready for this day for a long, long time. 

And so to transition smoothly into the Video du Jour, I freaking love this vid. It is a recent find and I have probably watched it about 10 times. I love Ok Go. I love their music. I love their videos. I love love love them. The energy and fun of this collaboration just suits my mood so well today. Please enjoy!