I was looking at photos over at Flickr this morning, as I am often known to do, and I came across a maternity “belly shot” photo. I know that being pregnant is a very beautiful thing, but I just have to say it…
Pregnant belly photos really creep me out.
Guess what?!? Episode 5 of Pointy Sticks is now LIVE! Go download it, check it out, and let me know what you think! And remember, even though it is called a podcast, no iPod is required to listen to it!
(For the non-knitters out there, there is good music to listen to, and some non-knitting content, so give it a chance!)
Pretty picture shared to remind me to focus on the good things and not the bad.
Gah. Some days, people suck. I mean, really suck.
I don’t normally rant about anything related to Blogomania here. Matter of fact, I don’t really rant about Blogomania at all – it is actually fairly smooth 99.998% of the time. People need hosting, I set up their hosting, their sites run.
Back in 2004, there was a problem with the online registration form. Depending on web browsers or on the type of computer people were using, the form broke and they didn’t get sent through to PayPal to pay for their hosting. No problem, we normally set them up, sent them the link, they paid, all was good in the world. A little inconvenience, but we could never duplicate the problem to fix it, and eventually it just stopped happening.
Fast forward to today. A client wrote that he wanted to shut his site down. No problem. Close the account on the server. Go into PayPal to find his payment subscription and make sure it is cancelled. Can’t find it. Write him and ask for the e-mail address, as sometimes PayPal is weird about searches on names. He sends it. Repeat search. Find that he has no payment subscription. Ever. Odd, but look around some more – and discover that he is one of those people that we set up when the form failed.
Problem is, he never got a payment link. So he has been hosted for 17 months without any payment at all for the hosting.
Ugh. I write to him, explain the mistake, point out that it is entirely my fault for not catching it – oh, 16 months ago. Ask him if he would be willing to pay a small, greatly reduced portion of the fee. I offered to take payments. Anything. I considered not writing at all, since I have nothing to hold over him – I can’t suspend his account as it is already closed, and … well, it is my own fault. I was just hoping to maybe make up a small portion of the lost fees.
He wrote back that I offered no proof, he really didn’t see any reason to pay anything. A “better luck next time” sort of response. Uh, hello? The proof is right there in HIS bank statements, or in HIS PayPal account – he hasn’t paid a thing. I can’t log into these things to show him this proof, and I already told him everything I know, down to the date he initially signed up. It wasn’t a ton of money, but still – I guess I just didn’t expect that response. Whatever. Sigh. At least his account is closed and gone.
People. I normally have a lot of faith in the good of mankind, but it has been really rocked tonight. Oh well, karma is a bitch sometimes, and they always say that what goes around comes around.
The above photograph was taken last fall. When it was cool outside. Click it to view it large.
It is freakin’ sweltering hot outside. It is April. It is supposed to be spring. NOT near record-breaking temps in the 90s or whatever unbelievable temperature it was today. At 4pm, I had to walk across the very small campus – maybe 2 blocks worth of walking – and while I was walking fast because I was in a hurry, I was dripping wet by the time I arrived at the Fine Arts department offices. I was miserable. This makes me cranky.
Tomorrow’s high temperature is expected to be 94 degrees. That doesn’t even take into account the “feels like” temperature, which will probably be around 97 degrees with the nasty humidity.
Oh yeah, I am *so* excited that summer is right around the corner. Ha!
It is going to be a long, hot summer. I am grumpy just thinking about it.
I’ll try to stop complaining now. There is no use. We aren’t moving anywhere – I put in a plug last night for Mike to try to get a job at the giant company that his friend Mandy now works at in Seattle (not Microsoft), but he pointed out what a good place he is at right now with his company – he is doing what he loves, he has room to advance, so on and so forth. Neither one of us wants to give that up. If only it didn’t mean living in Houston. Of course, there are other reasons to stay here – low cost of living, inexpensive housing (especially compared to Seattle!), my parents live here (although my Mom wants to move too), Jason is about to start high school, if we moved I would have to pay “out of state” tuiton for awhile in a new state until we met the residency requirements… the list goes on.
On a positive note, my Half Pi Shawl is done! I just have to block it out tonight or tomorrow night. And I entered 5 photographs in the Fine Arts department competition – 2 Paris photos (only one which has been posted online), 1 flower photo, and 2 black & white photographs (including the sleeping flamingos); if they select any of them they will be displayed in the gallery on campus, and the winner of the competition gets scholarship money. I also have my applications for two other scholarships almost ready to go – the Honor Students scholarship (I am in Honors Chemistry right now), and the Pre-Professional Medical program scholarship. Having someone else cover the cost of books and tuition would be sweet!
Oh! And I can put a price on the prints and offer them up for sale! It would be so awesome to have someone buy my photographs!
Today we decided to head south for some time on Galveston Island. It has been a long time since we have made a trip down there, which is strange. Considering how close it is, I always wonder why we don’t go more often. We love it down there. (So much that we had our wedding down there almost 2 years ago!) As an added perk, Mike drove, so I got to knit two more rows on my Half Pi shawl. Just 12 more to go!
I needed to get some photos taken for my photography class, and Jason and Mike were my “models” for some of the shots. I hope they turn out as well as I think they will – especially the one of Mike jumping up in the air! (“Stop Motion” photo for one of my assignments.) We took photos along the beach, the Strand, and of the church museum where we were married.
We also went to one of the gift shops along the Seawall to pick up seashells for my Biology scavenger hunt. Yes, the teacher already said that we could buy them. If we bring in about 40 items off the list, we can get up to 3% added to our overall grade for the class. Considering I made a low C on my first lab practical and my first test, I need every point I can get. (I did manage to make a 83.3 – which is a B – on my latest lab practical, so that helps get me closer to the B I am trying to make in the class!)
A quick shopping trip along the Strand to get hermit crabs for Jason wrapped up our day. Why do I get the feeling that I am going to end up taking care of them in the long run? Oh well, if they die at least I can add them to my scavenger hunt! After we picked up the hermit crabs we had dinner at Fuddruckers on the Strand and then headed for home.
What a nice, relaxing day. I needed that. I can always use more time down by the Gulf. We have talked about renting a beach house for a week this summer, but still need to figure out the logistics of doing it. I think it would be a nice chance for a get-away without having to go very far away. We are still tossing around ideas for a vacation trip this year, but haven’t narrowed down yet where it is we want to go. Why can’t money grow on trees so we can travel to all the places we want to go and visit all the relatives we want to see?