Snap Snappity Snap

So, I just entered a second photo contest today and I just sold my first picture!

I submitted my Lincoln at Sunrise and Hopperesque photos to FotoWeek DC 2008 and I think I might enter the 2008 National Geographic International Photography Contest. However, in looking at the caliber of pictures from last year's NG Contest, I'm feeling enormously intimidated. What I take from all of this is, this is really a hobby I enjoy and would like to pursue far more seriously.

As for selling a picture, someone who saw Lincoln at Sunrise at the Washington DC LDS Visitors Center just ordered a copy from me. I've been posting more and more of my pictures at ImageKind and hope that will produce some revenue, too.

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In other news, some of you know I'm getting ready to launch a website that will allow people to hire me for my writing skills. In particular, I'll be focusing initially on resume writing and all the materials one needs to be successful in one's career transition and continuity efforts. Eventually, I hope to expand my work to include technical writing, marketing communications/public relations, and manuscript editing. In the case of the latter three, I'd love to be able to hire others to do a lot of the work.

The glitch: My web designer still has not finished my website. Despite repeated emails firmly stating "I want this done by such-and-such a date" I'm not getting results. If we haven't launched by August 18, I'm going to go live with a temporary blog site I started creating a while ago. I can't afford not to get this thing going and start reaping the benefits of some of my own skills and abilities.

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I've been working on landscaping my front and back yards and let me tell you, my skills and abilities in that arena are sorely lacking. I've managed to kill almost all of my front yard grass with Round Up. I'm enriching the growing area, though, with some topsoil I've salvaged from my landscaping efforts in the back yard and I hope to reseed the whole thing in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, thanks to the sheer brute efforts of my dad, we've cleared out the dirt and weeds from the back and are preparing to lay pavers this weekend! I can't wait to double the parking back there!

Oh, and remember those nasty arborvitae bushes I had in the front? I dug all three of those out and I don't even miss them. Now I just have to decide if I want to plant all azaleas or do something a little more decorative like a Japanese maple and some boxwoods or terraced flowerbeds or what. Mostly, I'm making up a lot of this as I go along and am trying to keep the cost down.

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And speaking of numbers, did you know that more than 16,000 books have been written about President Lincoln? Sixteen THOUSAND! That's just astounding to me. I wonder who, aside from God in all of his/her disguises and formulations, has had more books written about them? Hitler, maybe?

Now there's a juxtaposition: Hitler versus Lincoln. Hm. No-brainer as to who is the more admirable of the two.

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That's all I have for now. As I type this, it's 1:30 PM. That's right! I'm ruminating during daylight hours.

The Dirty Bastard Cat is serenely asleep on the filing cabinet next to Bee's desk. Bee is... I don't know where. Hm. Perhaps in the basement, where it's cooler. This evening, we're meeting friends for dinner at a place called El Golfo. I hope it's as good as Guapo's. There's nothing worse than bad Mexican food. (Actually, bad Thai food is pretty awful, too.)

Oh, and I had my hair cut at the Aveda Institute. It's not too bad. I mean, heck, for $18 I can't complain all that much. Plus, I get 20% off my next appointment, so I'll be going back in five weeks. I can't think of the last time I paid less than $15 for a haircut.

There you have. Thoughts while the sun is up and reasonable people are awake.

Wait. That begs a question. Are reasonable people up during daylight hours? Now there, as the great western philosopher Winnie the Pooh might say, is a think to think.