The Pioneer Woman Part Deux

I got on the computer this morning and did my normal checks - Woot, Facebook, CNN, and then Flickr - when to my tremendous surprise and exaltation I saw that one of my photos had been chosen for Group 4 of the Pioneer Woman's bug photography assignment! Woo-hoo! I've been submitting my pictures and hoping to be chosen for quite a while now. If you read my previous post you know of my love of the Pioneer Woman and her website - http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/ - and not just the photography part. But, go, go see my picture on her site. The screen-capture here is just not as impressive!

A Hat - A Straw Hat

A Hat - A Straw Hat (as read by William Shatner)

Imagine my surprise when I saw the hat,
The hat - a straw hat,
close to the rat,
up on the placemat.

My feet ran pitty-pat,
as the cat jumped at the rat,
and the hat - a straw hat,
went flying with a splat!

The moral is that,
a hat - a straw hat,
should not be set on a mat,
by a cat and a rat!

Hello from Wisconsin

Ever been to River Falls, Wisconsin? That's where I am now - taking some technical training (long overdue). The weather is great - cool but not too cool - and sunny. My brain is working hard trying to cram as much information in as possible without concentrating on the fact that this new knowledge may mean many many hours of re-work when I get back to NIST. Haven't had a chance to take any photos - hopefully will before I get to the airport on Saturday. There's a great kayaking river here in town - the Kinnickinnic - but no time to do it. The university where we're holding class is practically empty since it is June so the town is almost shut down. It only has 12,500 population listed on the sign. It's less than an hour from the Twin Cities airport. Anyway, guess that's it for now....lunch break is over.

GPS

So, be careful in New Mexico when you're following GPS directions. You may end up off-road on dirt paths they call roads in middle of a forest in Cloudcroft after dark surrounded by elk! Thank goodness we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle - a RAV 4 - that did pretty well. The other thing to be careful of is driving on tribal land without permission. We had a nice friendly chat with a Warchief about that when trying to go to the Taos Peublo yesterday. But he let us continue on the road only to find out that the peublo was closed - think he would have known that. But nevertheless we went there today. No pictures of that though.

The Pioneer Woman and Me

Last Tuesday I did something very unusual for myself. I took off work early and went somewhere where I knew there would be a crowd and general pan-delirium....a book signing! The Pioneer Woman (she's the one who is not me in the photo) is a wildly popular blogger - http://thepioneerwoman.com/ - that I've been following for quite some time. She's the only blogger I follow with any regularity besides my wonderful brother-in-law, David, of course. I apologize for the blurriness of the photo but I clearly did not take it and I thought I had it set correctly for the lady that did but apparently not. I intentionally made the background black & white because otherwise it was a riot of color that I found difficult on the eyes. Anyway, back to the signing, it was indeed pan-delirium but luckily I got there early enough to get a ticket in the third group of 50 (turned out to have 9 groups by the time they were done) to get my book signed. I sat for a couple of hours waiting for it to start and stood in line for a couple more...very not like me. But she is just infectiously adorable and a fun and fabulous writer so I couldn't pass up the opportunity that she'd be in Virginia for a signing (she lives in Oklahoma on a cattle ranch normally). I met some very nice ladies in line and that made it much more fun to stand for hours. So that's my brush with fame.

Salvaged CDs - UPDATE

Thought y'all would like to know an update on the salvaged CDs. The following titles were salvaged:











+ Rufus Wainwright - Want One
+ Rufus Wainwright - Want Two
+ Rufus Wainwright - Release the Stars
+ Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - Disc 1
+ Alison Krauss & Union Station - Live - Disc 2
+ k. d. Lang - Watershed
+ Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
+ Les Paul & Friends - American Made World Played
+ Moby - Last Night
+ Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
+ Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
+ Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
+ Keane - Perfect Symmetry
+ Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion
+ Seal - Soul
+ Scissor Sisters - Tah Dah!
+ Neon Neon - Stainless Style
+ John Digweed - Transitions - Volume 2
+ A homemade CD from a "Show" on 01/03/08. The first track says it's DJ Jazzy Jesse from Nashville, Tennessee. --- The mystery continues. Are these DJ Jazzy Jesse's CDs? How did they get in the Potomac River?
+ An unlabeled CD of folk and rock that sounds like something I should probably know, but am drawing a blank.

So there you have it. More stuff to add to my music library. I have really enjoyed listening to Madeleine Peyroux. Really nice voice.

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

I just wanted to share with y'all a couple of shots that I took at the tidal basin last weekend. It was generally a gray day, but it was fun to see the cherry blossoms nonetheless.