My Dad found this spider and brought it over for Jason. Sorry about the crappy photo, but there is *no* way I’m taking it out of the container before I figure out what it is. I do know one thing that it is – HUGE. Other than a tarantula, it is the largest spider I have ever seen. It has to be at least 3 inches across.
Any ideas on what kind of spider it might be? And is it poisonous?
My stupid elbow is all out of whack again (grrrr…) and it burns like mad whenever I try to bend my arm. Before I go back to my ice pack and my episode of Footballer’s Wives (my BBC show that I’m currently hooked on), I had to point out that Episode 8 of the Pointy Sticks podcast went live last night. w00t!
This proves once again that I shouldn’t use the desktop computer at all unless I absolutely have to. This happens every single time. Of course, I crashed last night without putting on my elbow brace, so that didn’t help make things better. Ugh.
Go listen to Pointy Sticks and I’ll be back as soon!
We are pleased to announce that Hosting Matters, Inc. has acquired the
assets of Blogomania.com. Effective immediately, Hosting Matters will
provide service, support, and billing functions to all Blogomania.com
clients.
I am now a dotcom success story. I started a dotcom business, I helped it grow, and I sold it off. How cool is that?
Now that the e-mails are going out to clients, I can *finally* post about it here. Yes, this is what all of my cryptic posts have been about. Blogomania, which I started back in February, 2002, has been purchased by Hosting Matters. I’ve worked with them for 4 years now, as they maintained the servers where Blogomania resided. Since 2002, Blogomania grew from a little dream to a large-ish company for me – albeit small by Hosting Matters standards, I’m sure. They had been watching things though, and had seen that with my family, school, knitting, photography … everything going on in my life … well, the time was right.
They made a buyout offer last Tuesday, and after thinking on it for a few days, debating back and forth with Mike about it as I worked out my thoughts on it, and a lot of restless nights, I agreed to it this past weekend. It was a really, really hard call. I love doing the support work – it is just a strain on my time. This became most obvious when we were on vacation this summer. The time had come, and I have ultimate faith that they will take excellent care of every single client.
Once the decision was made, it was a flurry of events until now. Actually, it isn’t quite over yet. Now the e-mails are going out (if you haven’t received one, let me know and I’ll point you in the right direction), tomorrow I will be cancelling payment subscriptions and then … it will be done.
But whenever one door closes, another opens. Elaine asked me a few weeks ago if I was interested in going to art festivals with her and selling prints. Her idea was that we could split the booth costs and fulfill our dreams of getting our work out there. That is why I asked what photos you would like to see on the walls of your home – I am working out the list of what prints I will be taking to the shows, matted and beautifully displayed. I really believe that working with Elaine on this will be fantastic for both of us, as we can keep each other on track, encourage one another to keep going, and get it done. Plus, Elaine is the queen of spreadsheets. She probably thinks I hate them, but I don’t at all – I work best when I come into an already organized situation. I see things from a “big picture” perspective, and I love coming up with marketing ideas. She sees the details that we need to do, and organizes the timeline of things we need to get done. Plus she is the research queen, finding us so many things that we need. Not only will this be a great way to get our work out there, but we are already finding contacts that need photo work done – getting our names out there is a great thing.
Our first show is coming in November. We will be at the Yale Street Market for the First Saturday in the Heights. If you’re in Houston, please come by and see us! Fresh Photography will be getting an overhaul soon and we will feature both of our work there. We have more plans coming, but for now that is the start.
Life is good. A little chaotic right now, but very good. Oh, and I just finished recording Episode 8, so it will be available soon.
Oh, how I want to knit this. I’m not a big Star Wars fan, I have no need for it, I would probably never wear it – but I just adore The Leia Hat. Really, how could you resist? [via Mac, who wants to make it for her husband. Mwuhaha!]
I can’t believe what a whirlwind this past week has been. No, I still can’t tell you what is up. I will soon. Today was the first day in over a week that I didn’t feel like I was walking around in a fog. Of course, only getting 2.73 hours of sleep Sunday night didn’t exactly make Monday a great day. I still didn’t get quite a full night last night, but 6-7 hours is a lot better than less than 3. I was just too wired.
Now that the majority of the dust has settled, I’m just waiting for Mike to finish his online geek class so that I can go and podcast. I’m running out of steam though, so if he isn’t done soon it might have to wait until tomorrow afternoon. Which is seriously frustrating, because I wanted it out by last weekend. Two weeks – I have a schedule here! Gah.
Oh well. I guess I have to play nice and share the computer – for now. Until I find a way to record decent sound quality on the laptop, that is.
As for other news – I got to have lunch yesterday with Staci, which was a fabulous treat. Except we both were suffering from an attack of The GERD, which cut it short. We will definitely have to do it again soon though. Her dogs are so fabulous – I adore them, and she has for them the best beds from the dog bed reviews at dogsrecommend.com. If I could have smuggled one of them out of her house without her noticing, I seriously would have considered it. Of course, I would have had to post photos of them all the time because they are so darn sweet, and she would have busted me – but I live way out in the ‘burbs and she would have to find her way out into the wild wilderness of the outskirts of Houston. I also got to see her Steekin’ Project up close and personal, along with her Master Knitter goodies and some other gift items that can not be seen on the blog. I am always so impressed with her knitting. Oh! I got to see her new knitting bag in person too! I’ve got my album ready to send off to have one made up for me – I can’t wait!
Elaine came over Sunday night so we could discuss photography stuff. She is making me be organized, and good things will come of this. We have plans in the works, and will be sharing more details as soon as we get everything lined up. My Big Thing had thrown a sudden kink in everything, but now I think we are rolling ahead. I’m so psyched! I *heart* photography. And Elaine.
On the knitting front, I started a sock in the pink Regia Bamboo sock yarn, and I am going to frog it and make it larger. I might make it ribbed all the way down, but I haven’t decided yet. I might just rip it off the needles and dig into the Vesper “Big Pink Cookie” sock yarn that is calling my name. Loudly. I am also part of the way into my sweater sleeve, for the third time. I think this one is a winner. I love working with the Brooks Farm 4-Play yarn, it is so fabulous! Photos of all to come soon. I promise.
But first? Episode 8 of PointySticks! (I think I hear Mike getting off of the desktop, and I’m going to snag it while I am still awake!)