rena

the sound

last weekend, i had to photograph the Surinamese version of  ‘Monstertrucks’ LOL sort of that is, lots of mud, roaring vehicles and sun, omg, the sun was fierce! the event was held in former bauxite mining fields so the earth was red, the mud was yucky, even more so when it started to rain. often they got stuck, over logs, HUGE logs, or just in the mud/water mixture. it was fun to watch, especially those cute guys ha!

“Boys and their toys”

Guy Thing by Aja Abney and Dianne Rigdon
Orange Romp by Bohemian Art
Old Animalia by Bohemian Art
danielle’s date brushes by Danielle Donaldson
font: OCR A Extended

“Fail”

Guy Thing by Aja Abney and Dianne Rigdon
Guy Thing Extras Add-On Papers by Dianne Rigdon
Sleeping Garden by Bohemian Art
Sleeping Garden – Add-On by Bohemian Art
Orange Romp FREEBIE by Bohemian Art
Orange Romp (Sampler) by Bohemian Art
Super Delish Date Brushes by Danielle Donaldson
Paint Like You Mean It Alphabet by Rachel Young

This is a basic Compression Chart for student reference; this can be used as a basic guide when approaching the task of processing different types of audio material with Compression. This reference will be periodically updated. Remember this is guide and not definitive, nothing is set in stone, but it should prove useful.

John Harding

Va prezentam un alt site al SC SF STORE EXIM SRL, Saibe . ro (www.saibe.ro).
Nu uitati ca la Store gasiti o gama larga de organe de asamblare (piulite, saibe, suruburi etc) si intotdeauna veti avea de unde alege!
Va asteptam pe http://www.storeinc.ro – siteul principal.

Va prezentam un alt site al SC SF STORE EXIM SRL, Piulita . ro (www.piulita.ro).
Nu uitati ca la Store gasiti o gama larga de organe de asamblare (piulite, saibe, suruburi etc) si intotdeauna veti avea de unde alege!
Va asteptam pe http://www.storeinc.ro – siteul principal.

Allora ditelo che non volete proprio più farci tornare a tifare per la Nazionale…

Credits:
Kimla Design ~ Waiting for Winter
Templatepack 27 No.1 by kristins scrap design available @ kristinsscrapdesign.com/store/ and @ Pickleberrypop
Pics by Jana

c

Woke up fairly groggy from the night before and turned on the Weather Channel. I suppose I should have rolled out from under the covers and walked across the dreary, mostly yellow decorated room (the walls, carpet, furnishings all had various forms of that color – as do just about all La Quintas) lifted the window and looked outside, which revealed a cheery scene – it was so grey as to be almost dark and pouring rain.

The temperatures in the Dakotas were in the low 30’s and there was snow forecasted off and on for most of the week. I’ve ridden through plenty of weather but October snow in the Dakotas THEN having to ride across Wyoming, Colorado and Utah was an absolute deal breaker. So I looked at the radar and decided to head south and do my best to stay where the temps were in the 70’s and 80’s. It’s great having enough time to simply abandon your trip plans and re-route to other interesting locations and places. You have to be a bit of a free thinker to just point the bike in another direction and just go. Most people spend considerable time thinking about the route prior to leaving and to scrap it entirely can be very difficult.

This would be another day of slab. Running from the cold and the rain. You will notice that on the days were the weather was nasty or the trip mostly involved interstate there few pictures. Why record the pain of riding in the rain for 10 hours and the interstate in the mid-west all looks the same.

Somewhere in Kansas

More of the same but the weather is starting to improve. I love being able to look at the weather radar on my IPhone and plot routes that will take me out of the bad weather!

Somewhere in northeast Kansas I got on a Kansas Turnpike. Yes, I know that in a tip report you are supposed to post detailed route maps, Google Earth sat pictures, topo maps, and coordinates. You will have to forgive me as at this point I had only broadly figured out where I wanted to go. So detailed routes were not important to me. It was on this part of my trip I learned two interesting things. The first is to observe the nature of where you are. Kansas – Ok, what they have lots of in Kansas – WIDE OPEN SPACES. What else? Well not too many gas stations in the more rural parts. So when I got on this turnpike and banged the Futura into 6^th gear the low fuel warning light came on. Crap! That sucks. I stabbed a finger at the Garmin and told it to find me a gas station. 35 miles….. What’s the range of this thing when the light comes on? About that, maybe, I’m not sure. Options? Turning around? No, it’s a similar distance…. Crap. Well in for a penny. There was NOTHING on this stretch of highway. Absolutely nothing but farmland. I made it to the fist exit about 20 miles up the road. Nice smiling older woman in the toll booth. “Where is the closest gas mam?” About 15 miles down the road she replied. “Anything closer? I’m in a bad way with fuel” Nope she replied. So now I’m rolling down a road in the middle of nowhere IN the middle of nowhere. No idea where I stand with fuel but worried. Doing 55 now and coasting down hills. Heck I say to myself I’ll just ask at a farm house if I run out. Of course that assumes that there are farmhouses with people in them. There is absolutely no one around, no cars, no cows, nothing. Down a long straight the bike coughs and dies. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRG! Well I’ll figure this out and put down the kickstand and climb off. I take off my gloves and helmet and look around – silence and nothing. I walk around the front of the bike and crouch down to think looking at the front wheel. I’ve been off the bike in total for less than 2 minutes when over the hill come two Harley riders. Now this is the second thing I learned today. Although Harley guys usually won’t wave back at non Harley riders they absolutely WILL stop for another biker in distress. I’ve seen this now enough to be certain about it. So they pull up and I sheepishly tell them I ran out of gas. “Hop on” says one. So less than 4 minutes after running out of gas I’m on the back of a Harley headed towards a gas station! Talk about being grateful! Man!

It’s hard to hang on to the back of the bike as there is no back rest and I feel that any moment I might slide off, Then again I feel a bit weird about hanging on to someone I don’t know and most of all I’m worried about people seeing two six foot guys in black leather holding on to each other…. I’d rather fall off. Anyway, we get to the gas station where they have an unusually large supply of red plastic gas cans. So I buy one and fill it with gas and we toss it into the Harley’s saddle bag and head back to my bike. We chat a bit about riding and I tell him a good friend was raised in Lawrence, Kansas. This elicits a response as apparently he is from a rival town whose football teams face each other and he makes a few good natured insults about the smell in Lawrence, and why the football teams suck, etc.

We get back to my bike and I fill up and the bike immediately starts. One guy has a new Zumo and we compare it to my Nuvi. Almost identical displays and menus except of course, for the Zumo being waterproof. I cannot thank these guys enough for saving me and convince them to keep the gascan – as one says it might come in handy at some point and it fits perfectly in his saddle bag. I fire up the bike and head for the gas station vowing to go out of the way to help any other biker I see to return the favor – and many weeks later I will.

As you can see from the picture I finally rode out of the bad weather and it was actually starting to turn nice. I make it into Witchita early evening and try to find an affordable place to stay for the night. For whatever reason I decided to spend a bit more and hit a Courtyard Marriott. Fantastic room with a gigantic big screen HD TV, great view and bed. This is the only place I stayed during the entire trip that had “a free hot breakfast” that was actually worth a crap. Waiters and fresh juice and a breakfast buffett that was actually filled with food I wanted to eat. Packed up the bike and bid goodbye to Wichita.

Next – Wichita, Kansas to Amarillo, Texas

don’t know what the attraction to my window is, not only Puss but all kinds of birds come and hang out there too. i’ve discovered that the birds especially like it because the airconditioning excess water sprays in the direction of the window, which makes it a wonderful shower for them. anyhoo, this particular bird wasn’t taking a shower, but its contrasting colors were so attractive against the barren background, i had to take some shots.

“Outside My Window 2″

Aviary Dreaming (kit, wordart and alpha) by Tangie Baxter

After an embarassing Saturday night I decided it was best not only to leave my town, but leave the state as well. I left Massachusetts surprising early when compared to the time I went to bed. The ride to CT early in the morning is surprisingly pleasant especially in the fall. There was no traffic, no idiot drivers and best of all no weather!

Every time I go to CT it’s always raining, snowing, sleeting or has the potential to become a hurricane or a tornado (no, not really, but it certainly seems like it). Going to CT is always special. No, not because I receive a gift or there’s some girl waiting for me, but because I rarely see those friends whom I used to spend all my time with two – four years ago.

I cannot even explain what’s so special about it. We never do anything special nor do we ever talk about doing something so extraordinary. But perhaps that’s exactly what it is. We just let things happen and no matter what does happen, we find a way to make it enjoyable.

So, I guess it’s a good thing that I have to go back there this weekend. I forgot my phone charger there – I can be quite absent minded at times. Fortunately, I have a car charger and a computer one, too!

In other news, the Bruins have managed to win two-in-a-row, all without Tim Thomas! They travel to St. Louis tonight and Minnesota Wednesday.

Speaking of Wednesday, I only have to work a half day and Thursday and Friday are off AND paid! That’s when teaching can be pretty sweet.  Thursday is Thanksgiving and with that holiday comes to eventual travel to the boonies – aka my aunt’s house in the middle of nowhere. My Da decided I couldn’t drive my own car there because it wouldn’t be a full family experience (thank you Chevy Chase).

Bunch of crap if you ask me.

Searching for Evidence of an Atlantintropic World

On a recent trip to South Dakota I decided to track down a few ghost towns as evidence that the Atlantintropic Theory was a tangible summation of the decay and decline of culture surrounding modern society. These towns, some populated well into the 1900s, collapsed because of economic or physiological decay. I have been visiting these kinds of places for a long time, more than 30 years now, and I feel that they offer one of the closest representations of the Atlantintropic ideal.

After laying out plans at dinner one night, I was able to convince several of my traveling companions to journey off the beaten path and find the lost town of Tinton. Underestimating the terrain, how dark the canyons get after sunset, and encountering difficulties like tire spikes, our first night was less than a success. We agreed to give it another go the following night, but this time with the right kind of car, and a little more daylight.

Located deep in the Black Hills of SD, in a remote portion of Spearfish Canyon, Tinton sustained itself as a mining town. Residents were reported to occupy the town up until the 1950s when the mill was destroyed by fire. Being such a “new” ghost town makes Tinton an ideal place to visit because so much of the town is still intact.

It was quite an adventure to finally reach Tinton. In the pouring rain, with washed out roads, and no real markers, we had a hell of a time finding it. We jumped out of our vehicle a number of times to navigate around obstacles, and with weather slowing our progress, we arrived later than expected. Getting there just after dusk, wet and tired, we climbed out of our mud covered SUV just in time to see the clouds break and reveal a purple sky dressed with a beautiful rainbow stretching across the ghostly remains of Tinton.

The sight regenerated everyone’s mood, and we immediately began exploring the collapsing buildings and overgrown landscape. While the others snapped away photos, I walked silently around the town absorbing the emotional feel of the site. This was truly an Atlantintropic expedition. The photos, notes, and memories I collected were invigorating inspiration for the Atlantintropic project. You can find albums and collections of Tinton and other Atlantintropic expeditions at the following dot-coms, blogs, and media sites.

Media Sites/Photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexdatzuk/
http://picasaweb.google.com/AlexDatzuk
http://picasaweb.google.com/Datzuk.com

Blogs
http://datzuk.blogsome.com/
http://datzuk.livejournal.com/
http://datzuk.wordpress.com/
http://datzuk.blogspot.com/
http://artlifeculture.blogspot.com/
http://datzuk.xanga.com/

Dot-Coms
http://www.atlantintropic.com
http://www.artlifeculture.com
http://www.datzuk.com

I have been taking a CT course through the CAMRT. Over the past few months I have been diligently passing in assignments and doing my homework like a good little boy. Today was the final exam. I have been studying pretty hard for the past few weeks, I’m not the kind of guy to go into an exam unprepared. The exam was scheduled for 2.5 hours but it only took me about an hour and twenty minutes. I was expecting it to be a bit harder, not tha I’m complaining of course. I imagine it will rake a few weeks to get the results back but I’m sure I dud just fine! I have two mire CT courses to take but I think I might wait till next summer to take tge next one.

This afternoon I’m taking it easy. I may have a few celebratory beverages tonight.

uhm yeah

“Art Journal Page: All Taped Up”

everything by Tangie Baxter
Tape Bliss 1
Timeless Masters 1
Vintage Ad Words Samplers
Lot No. 88 {Duct the Halls}
Cirque Joyeux Collab with SherrieJD
Paddy Whack Collab with SherrieJD
{TBD Classic Collabs} Treetop Serenade with SherrieJD

Oh that Justin Chando guy, he only takes those pictures of boats….. Seemingly…. seemingly.  Actually I probably have the most fun shooting mostly all kinds of sports.  This picture is from this past weekend that I thought you I should share with you.  Sequences are my favorite thing to do with skating or surfing.  Watch me do it with a sailboat.  But, anyway just because I’m not doing events right now doesn’t mean that I stop shooting, it’s what I love to do.  So, scroll down a bit and check out some more new images from the past month or so.

-Just a heads-up, the start of 2010 you will see some big changes in the Justin Chando brand… It’s going to be a lot of fun to broaden the spectrum (but more on that very soon). Thanks for the support!

Little sufing?  This was back when Hurricane Bill was coming up the east coast, some of my friends tore it up.

]]> http://sixtyeight.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/altered-hearts-november/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:58:39 +0000 Sandra http://sixtyeight.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/altered-hearts-november/

the Altered Hearts zine is OUT!!! i was invited by Sherrie and the rest of the altered team at ScrapArtist to join them as a creative artist and ofcourse i said YES!

and this is what we have been working on:

best of all, this is totally FREE. click here or on the image to go and get it in the store. we hope you will participate in our ATC challenge too. a forum will be opened up for any questions, getting inspiration, sharing your art, for everybody who wants to participate, whether you are an altered artist veteran or just a newbie checking things out. see you there at ScrapArtist!

A quick update about my personal health today. And it ends with a call from the oncology PA, not Dr. A! YAY!

Advanced metastatic breast cancer likes to attack the brain for some reason. No scientific reason that I know of, maybe it’s just that the brain is a soft, semi-round mass and it feels at home there. Anyway, as a matter of course, my oncologist performs a baseline brain CT scan to rule out involvement. My test was on Tuesday morning at 8:30.

The test itself isn’t invasive although the technician did pump some contrast in through my port to make sure that if anything was there it would be found. I laid (I always have trouble with lied and laid, hope I chose wisely) down on a table and was put into the CT machine. It took a total of 10 minutes for the test and all I had to do was not move since it’s basically a head x-ray.

The technician was a warm and caring soul who offered some kind words about the struggles of cancer treatment. Really, if you give a smile, the world does smile with you. Anyway, we had been talking in the time leading upto the test. When I left he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I was hoping it meant that nothing showed up, but I couldn’t be certain. And, since he’d be fired for saying anything, I certainly didn’t press it.

Yesterday, Jessica called to say that everything was clean on my test.

I slept very, very well last night.

“We WERE making popcorn….I like popcorn!” —Kelly Anne

“Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!” —Darrell

You can only try to pick a fight for so long before you actually have to be in one. This ought to be a lesson for both Brad and Darrell. Brad, who had clearly snapped by the end of last episode and was berating KellyAnne on her birthday and uncharacteristically chugging a bottle of wine in the beginning of last night’s episode, charged—or drunkenly stumbled—into the Champions’ room and seemed desperate to fight someone. For some reason—either his bank account, or his location in the room, or his posture—Brad picked Darrell.

Darrell did not do his best to defuse the situation. Yelling “Do it!” eight times in a row is probably not the best conflict resolution strategy. Eventually Brad did it, even if “it” was nothing more than a pusillanimous push.

Nobody can accuse Darrell of being all talk, though, as he quickly threw Brad against the wall on the other side of the room, then bounced him to the floor, where he landed four clean punches to Brad’s face. It was probably the most one-sided “fight” in RW/RR Challenge history, even edging out CT and Adam on The Duel II. Adam was at least sober, and entire teams intervened to keep CT at bay. In the aftermath of this one, which lasted about four seconds, blood was pouring out of Brad’s eye as he stumbled around the house like a baby trying to stand up for the first time. In his final confessional, his eye was purple and completely shut.

Basically, the lesson is: Don’t get into a fight with Darrell. Especially if you’re drunk.

As soon as Darrell got his last punch in, though, he regretted it. That fight cost him at least $31,000 and likely a lot more: His team had already guaranteed his spot in the final challenge, and the Champions are heavy favorites to win that, and every other challenge before it. Instead he and Brad got sent home with nothing and their accounts are put back into the pot for the final challenge (although Brad had next to nothing—$2000—in his personal bank account anyway).

Fights were happening left and right in last night’s episode. Brad and Darrell’s was the most significant, but Dunbar and KellyAnne’s was the most…personal. KellyAnne was upset with Dunbar for apparently spreading a rumor that they had sex. Dunbar denies spreading such a rumor, but insists that, as he tells KellyAnne: “My penis touched your vagina.” This fight made both of them sound like preteens, calling each other “bitch” and whining about who said what and when. It also made KellyAnne irrationally insist that her team would improve if Dunbar, their last male, went home.

Susie also got into a fight with KellyAnne and Casey. She didn’t like that the two of them were eavesdropping on her strategy-session with Kenny and Evan, and she particularly didn’t like that they were eating popcorn while they were doing it: “I’m at my wit’s end with your prancing.” Casey was right to call this an instance of displaced anger, which is frustrating, since Susie is one of the more rational players in this game. She was eminently reasonable in the way she confronted Evan and Kenny, and in the deliberation.

Brad and Darrell, unfortunately, were the only ones to come to blows. They were also the only ones sent home, as MTV cut-off the elimination round with a “To Be Continued.” Great, now my week is ruined.

Oh well, it’s time to rank the pain away:

Eliminated: Darrell (Champion) Brad (Challenger)

The best part about this fight, other than everything, was that there was and is no ill will at all between these two. This fight was completely avoidable.

Who Would Have Been Eliminated If MTV Hadn’t Cut Us Off Right in the Middle: Kimberly (Challenger) Johnny (Champion)

The elimination challenge is pretty physical; it’s essentially a tug of war in which the two people can hit each other. This benefits the stronger player in both cases, and that’s Susie and Dunbar.

The Top Eight:

8. Susie (Champion, NEW): Given that she was in the middle of an elimination at the end, she can’t be too high. But I have confidence in her.

7. Dunbar (Challenger, -3): People kept saying last night that Dunbar talks a big game. Have we seen any evidence of this, or is it happening off-camera?

6. Casey (Challenger, +4): She has managed to stay out of the Ruins all game, but I think the Champions will let Susie get to face her in the last elimination.

5. Sarah (Challenger, +2): If the Champions don’t let Susie pick Casey next week, then Sarah’s the next weakest girl.

4. Derrick (Champion, +5): If Dunbar beats Johnny, then Derrick will have to go into the final Ruins against Dunbar, since he’s not part of the Kenny-Evan Alliance.

3. KellyAnne (Challenger, +3): I found her really annoying in this episode, but I don’t see any way that she goes into the Ruins again.

2. Kenny (Champion, +1): The look he gave when Johnny suggested that he volunteer himself for the Ruins was priceless: I’m Kenny…I don’t do that.

1. Evan (Champion, +1): He takes back the #1 spot! And all it took was last week’s #1 getting sent home for nearly decapitating Brad.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill.

Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care bill that includes a government-run insurance program — even if it includes a provision allowing states to opt out of the program, as Reid has said the Senate bill will.

“We’re trying to do too much at once,” Lieberman said. “To put this government-created insurance company on top of everything else is just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.” Lieberman said that he’d vote against a public option plan “even with an opt-out because it still creates a whole new government entitlement program for which taxpayers will be on the line.”

being a CT resident all my life, I wil support Lieberman. I dont agree with Joe on all issues , But for him to stand up again against the Obama Machine… I can respect that, and thats more than i cansay for most of Congress….. Ill Vote for Joe again… and no not that douchebag Joe Biden…

New Haven, CT — Months ago, after we graduated from the University of Connecticut,  I made my friend Dan a framed resume with only one word in the body: Yale.

Dreams do come true.

Like a proud father,  today Dan got accepted to the physicians assistant program at Yale University. I’m tearing up just writing about it. Sniff, sniff.

- east coast paper boy