Broken Camera Makes for Boring Blog Posts

Well,  what are you going to do?  Cheryl dropped the camera yesterday, and it's finished.  Just like that!  And we are not talking about a huge drop off the 10th story of a building.  She dropped it from the coffee table onto a carpeted floor.  And that was all it took!  I shudder to think about all the rough handling I gave it when I was taking pictures.  It is a miniature computer after all.  I know...because I did the autopsy on it! 
That's right,  I took the thing apart after we decided it was pointless to try to revive it.  I'm not much of an electronic techie, but I thought I could figure something out after opening it up.  This is why I'm not a doctor...OR a Surgeon! 

"Well Mr. Smith,  Let's cut you open and see what is causing all those problems!"   It's called EPLORITORY SURGURY and I guess it is done from time to time.   Scary stuff!

And there was a point not too far after I got the cover off where I figured I was in unexplored territory.  I managed to get it completely apart and noting looked "broke"  No cracked mother board. Disconnected wires, Bent frames.  Nope,  It just would not turn on.  Battery fully charged, all connections being made,   All switches flipped on and off.  Nothing.

Cheryl read online that this happens quite often.  And the only recourse is to buy a new one.   To get it fixes cot the same as buying a new one..  ( and that is not cheap!)  On the bright side, Target has them on sale from time to time, and our camera is currently down from when we first purchased it a couple of years ago.  Now I know we could purchase a cheaper. more durable one.  But we like the quality of the pics the Nikon gives us...and we already know how to use most of the features.  Tech tends to make these leaps every year, and something as "old" as a camera from 2011 is almost out of date by 2013!

 I Guess it is good to buy new stuff from time to time.   But it is always nice to choose when to upgrade rather than be forced to.  Then again,  I, Like most people I know, probably would hang on to an expensive obsolete camera well past it's usefulness simply because you paid top dollar for it when it was new and cutting edge.  Ah the humanity!

In the mean time,  Blog posts and Origami listings will be halted until the problem is solved....i.e. get a new camera....

Origami Camels

Bactrian two hump

It is too bad Windows live writer is messed up.  I have already spent more time than I would like to the problem and all I get is more and more frustrated.

Dromedary one hump

  Anyway,  I have been folding up some camels lately for a request in the shop.  I have found several versions, but ultimately, the two hump version has been the most promising.  Go figure. 








 I liked the single hump ( Dromedary) version, but have yet to get it to turn out right.  And it ends up being too small.  I have to fold it out of a triangle and the largest paper I can find ends up being 20 inches on the legs of the triangle.  I still want to mess around with it as it is a rather elegant and simple model and I tend to overthink and over-fold things.

 No matter.  Enjoy the pics and I hate that Windows Live is messing with me this way.   It was so much more simple to just submit and be done.  Ah well,  Breaking addictions is never easy. 

Tomatoes Galore!

I knew it would happen.   Tomatoes!  Like a bad ‘B’ Movie, the tomatoes are on the march!….Into our kitchen.   I always wondered how they could come up with a movie about tomatoes when all you have to do is eat them.   It might be tough, but there has to be someone out there who will eat more than his share of tomatoes and save the planet from invasion.   At the very least, you could turn them into salsa, Catsup, or Marinara sauce.  Bad luck for the tomatoes if they invaded during Super Bowl Weekend!

As for me,  I like tomatoes just fine, but staying on top of them has become quite the chore.  It seems I have been picking a bowl of them just about every day this week!  I’m running out of room and Ideas on how to eat them.  I don’t want to gain 10 lbs. just eating tomatoes.  And I can only imagine the horror that will occur to my digestive system if I were to eat all the tomatoes set before me. 
It’s too bad this is not  a chocolate plant.  If there were ever a movie called “Attack of the Killer Chocolate Bars”   I’ll be the hero that saves the day!  Mmmmm Chocolate! 

Basia. Promises (1987)

Remember this song?   I totally loved her back then.   And I’ve been playing this song over and over recently.   Ah the ‘80s was such a great decade.  Enjoy the song

So many Dragons, So Little Time

Even though I find my self with days off now, I still seem to lack the time to make an effective dent in my Origami Shop.   You might be surprised just how long certain items take to fold up.  Anyway, I got a request the other week for some origami dragons.   Small ones….about 8-9 inches long for a mobile idea this client had for her baby.  3 western, 3 eastern dragons.  Simple!

Well, I managed to finished about two dragons a day last week and finally got them listed in the shop.  It’s a funny thing trying to come up with 6 different designs of the same dragon,  but I managed to do it and I was happy with them.  I thought about setting them aside for her, but I have experience with request.   I thought I would list them and let her know of them so she could purchase them only if she liked them.  No pressure, no fuss, no waiting. 

The risk, of coarse, is that someone else would purchase one or more of the set while they were waiting for the intended buyer.   And that is what happened!

It’s all good, actually.  I would rather sell them to whoever than pressure someone into buying something they are not happy with.   I can always fold up another.  It’s not like these were one of a kind pieces that can never be replicated.   In fact,  I can probably produce the faster this time around because I won’t have to waste time with the concept.  everything is easier the second time around.

So,  I now get to start the week with a sale I have to ship out and a few “other  things’  I have to do.  But I thought I would at the very least post the dragons on the blogvso I would have something to show.   Enjoy!

ACT Qualifying Disaster!!!

Well, it was bound to happen.  I failed…to qualify for an ACT English writing Project.  I’m no stranger to failure.  I would like to think that at some point, I will put it on my resume as something I’m fairly good at.  Whether it be at school, on the job, or even at life, I have a failure I can proudly point out in any of those categories. I have read that failures make you stronger, or smarter, or something…But mostly I find them just depressing.

You would think that with two college degrees, I could master the training of just about anything ACT puts in front of me.  I qualified for MCAT!  Now, technically I don’t have an English degree.  I DO have a bachelors in Elementary School Education.  And, even though I wanted to be a math teacher, I was forced to take English Grammar, English Writing, English Literature, English Composition, and even SPEECH!.  I’m sure English majors have more advanced classes, but I think I would have most of the basics covered in that array of instructions. 

Ah, Don’t get me wrong,  I don’t feel like ACT tried to single me out.  Cheryl passed just fine!  ( oh, she has a MASTERS in English/Philosophy!)  I guess that Philosophy degree pays off….in the right field.  And I guess that makes me feel like an even bigger idiot for not signing up for the math/ science/ or even History project.  ( Fish and Wildlife/biology/physics/calc one and two may have actually helped in one of those projects) But no, I thought, “English?  How difficult can THAT be? “

Ah well,  On a bright note, I now have more time to dedicate to Origami.  ( yeah!  THAT is helpful!  Try paying the bills with little folded paper cranes!)http://www.cardealexpert.com/news-information/fyi/origami-pigs/  And I don’t have to hurt my brain trying to wrestle with those papers. ( Incidentally,   my head actually DOES hurt after a day of scoring.) And I can sleep in if I want to. Drink good coffee, play with the cats, and donate more time to my blog.   See?  The shame and disappointment is almost all gone!

In reality, I do feel as if My pride has been dinged a little.  The ADULT me knows that no one can possibly know everything, and no matter how well educated you may be,  there will always be holes in your knowledge.   An English major will probably not be very good at wiring up a building, pouring concrete, sewing clothes, or repairing a furnace.  There are people who specialize in those fields and people who label themselves as academics pay good money for those services. 

But the “ACADEMIC” in me feels like I’m getting slower, I’m out of shape, and perhaps I’m not as  smart as I once thought I was.  I should be able to wrap my head around just about anything that ACT throws at me.  I GOT TWO DEGEES!  We are just “scoring papers” after all.  Even a trained monkey can do it, right? 

Well,  Not this Monkey!  The Ape in me wants to climb a high tree and yell at the top of my lungs!  Throw rotted fruit at bystanders and generally make an embarrassing  spectacle of my self!  Luckily,  I have subdued those animal-like reflexes to the point where I now sit quietly at home and blog about my problems with snarky wit…or at least try to. In the end, I know the depression will pass, the sun will rise and the earth will continue to turn. The universe does not care and my world will not end.   One little project is not going to kill me. (And I have survived failures much larger than this!)  My new found time will be donated to other causes and ACT has another project coming up in three weeks.  It’s all good.

Bull Shark, Bull Dog, Red Bull, No Bull!

Just the latest Origami I have been working on.  Tomorrow starts another project at ACT.   And I have a request for more Origami Dragons.  So, I’ll be busy pretty much all week this week.  Thought I would just post a quick set of my latest creations.  Enjoy!