Filed under Life …

May 09 2013
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Life, Nature, Weather

Spring 2013 in Colorado Unkind

When the early buds broke on my snow crabapple this year, I anticipated the flowers … flowers on this particular tree have always, without fail, year after year meant one more big snowfall. This year that big snowfall came earlier and confused all the trees. They thought it was fall. :( The tiny leaflets turned brown, dried up, and fell off the trees just as yet another wet, heavy snowfall came through. Now we wait for the second buds to come forward at a time when we’re usually seeing trees full of leaves. This might mean the crabapple tree in the backyard won’t produce fruit this year. I wouldn’t be mad about that!

What I am mad about is this…

Evergreens Succumb to Heavy SnowThese shrubs were fine until that last heavy snow. Not only did they not perk all the way back up, but they are turning brown. Not-so-evergreen anymore. :( Will they make a comeback, or will we have to remove them? They were only about 18 inches tall when we moved here just over 13 years ago. I believe they are Leyland Cypress trees, and I’m a little surprised that they were planted in the first place because they are more for zones 6-10 (we’re zone 5 here). They could be Emerald Green Thuja, though. Don’t know. Didn’t plant them. :D If they have to go, I want some fast-growing trees planted in their place. I picture three Aspens along that section of fence placed 5 feet apart. In the other corner of the yard, a Hybrid Poplar. My only worry about that one is the breakage tendencies in the heavy snow.

I not only want more privacy from the houses behind us that sit on higher ground and look down into our backyard, but I want more shade. Our house faces NNW (a bit more N than NW). So the two bedrooms upstairs on the west side of the house are always the hottest in the summer. We’re just out of luck there. The backyard, however, really bugs me because I like being outside. I just don’t like being on display! :P If anyone wins the lottery and wants to share so I can create an amazing outdoor living space, you know where to reach me!

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May 08 2013
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Entertainment, Life

Lauren | Season 1 – Silencing Women in Military

Featuring Troian Bellisario (Pretty Little Liars) & Jennifer Beals (Flashdance)

This is a web series with short episodes. Season 1 is just 3 webisodes long. I am hooked! CAUTION: The subject matter is for mature audiences. It’s very powerful!

Lauren | Season 1 Feat. Troian Bellisario & Jennifer Beals – YouTube.

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May 07 2013
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Life, work

Internet Crime: Scammers Barking Up Wrong Tree Here

Fraud - Scam - Theft - DangerThey will stop at nothing. Scammers. Scum of the earth! They will weasel their way in anyway they can to get personal information. My post about an Arbonne product is getting a fair amount of attention from people searching the very term on the internet. It’s starting to show up as a suggestion for related searches in multiple places. I had a few new comments today, but I only approved one of them.

You see, two of the new comments had email domains from Germany but came from IP addresses in Ontario, Canada. One asked to do a link exchange because our blogs were “based around the same subject”. I checked their blog, and there was one post written in February about Legos. I could be wrong, but I’m just not seeing the similarity there. :D That one asked me to email if remotely interested. Not even the slightest bit, honey. I don’t know what you’re after, but I’m not giving. You obviously have no idea what I do all day at work!

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May 04 2013
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Life, politics

Gun Control | My 400th Blog Post!

I usually refrain from posting such opinions, and I’m still going to be as gentle as possible with this one. I have to spit this out, though. The NRA recently said, “We will never surrender our guns. Never.” I also see posts on social network sites stating the same thing. I don’t see anything in the President’s plan to reduce gun violence that says anything about anyone being required to surrender guns they already own. If this is being proposed somewhere, please show me where it is written.

What does a child want so urgently to do when told not to touch something? They want to touch it! When humans are told they can’t do something, they want desperately to do it. Tell them they can’t have, and they want! It seems a bit of mass hysteria is being formed here.

Requiring background checks for all gun sales, strengthening those checks, and passing a new, stronger ban on assault weapons … I believe these are good things. I’m not against handguns for self defense with concealed carry permits. Guns for hunting? Fine! Semi-automatic assault weapons? What on God’s green earth does any John Q Citizen need those for? I’m sorry. No, I’m not sorry for having an opinion. I don’t think there is any need to have such a weapon in any house. As many reasons as someone who does have (or want) one will try to spew out to make their point, I honestly believe it’s because they are being told they may not have the freedom to purchase one in the not-too-distant future. Period.

Assault RifleIt’s interesting to me that the point was made that [killer's name left out on purpose] left the Bushmaster rifle in the car. What if he hadn’t? He still had the thought in his head of using it when he gathered weapons that day. Ponder the alternate outcome if he had taken that one in with him.

We will continue to have the right to bear arms. No one is going to abolish the second amendment! Calm down, people.

Once upon a time, a child was told he could eat all the cookies he wanted. The child later developed diabetes. Changes had to be made to his diet, and he could no longer have all the cookies he wanted. He especially couldn’t have the giant sized cookies loaded with super-sized chocolate chunks. He never wanted it more than at the very moment he was told he couldn’t have it! However, the change was necessary.

Change happens all the time, everywhere. Sometimes it’s necessary for things to change to continue to move forward. Change is often uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be considered bad.

I can’t believe all the whining I’m hearing about the proposed gun control measures. What astonishes me even more is to witness the contempt in the hearts of my Christian friends over the issue. I just don’t understand that. Shame.

Here ends my tirade on the issue. My 400th blog post certainly went out with a bang!

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May 03 2013
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Life

Colorado Native Bumper Stickers

Is there a hidden meaning to these stickers?

Colorado Native Bumper StickerWhen we first moved here, I would see these and wonder if it was simply a pride thing or if the  urban sprawl issue was really irritating those who were born and raised here. Being transplants from another state, I couldn’t help but take it personally. It’s not like we left our jobs, family, and friends behind just to move to Colorado. An existing job brought us here. I live in the U.S.A. One nation, man! :D I truly do appreciate the Colorado natives sharing their beautiful state.

Feel free to shed light on this!

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Apr 29 2013
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Life, Uncategorized

A Royal Anniversary | Will & Kate

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that my girls and I camped out in our family room with my cell phone alarm set to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the Royal Wedding live. Two years! Where has the time gone?

William & Catherine, Duke & Duchess of Cambridge

Photo by Hugo Burnand in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace

I’m still getting back into a blogorythm here. I have to hit 400 posts by Saturday, and I won’t have time to post tomorrow because I’m going straight from working five hours to helping shoot a wedding in Golden. This one is just a filler. :) There are too many things swimming around in my head right now to focus on anything that requires deep thought. I do like to dig into a topic and ramble about it, those posts take over an hour. I have some ideas, and some of them are sure to strike up some lively comment threads if they reach the right people! You’ll just have to wait, though. This chick needs sleep now!

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Apr 27 2013
2 Comments
House, Life, work

Because I Committed to It…

Last night I posted that I would blog today. Oh, the pressure! So I logged in and browsed through themes first because, well, that’s just how I am. I like to change things up now and then, and my previous theme just wasn’t me. I was trying something different, but it was just a little too cutesy for me. I like things more streamlined and simple. Then, of course, other adjustments have to be made when you switch themes. I’m still holding out for the perfect theme (that doesn’t cost money!) so this will do for now.

Usually blog posts take a considerable amount of time for me. It’s much harder than it looks – at least for me because to try to avoid being taken the wrong way (it happens a lot), many more words have to be added for clarification. When posting about a particular topic, I spend a lot of time researching. OK, I spend a lot of time getting sidetracked on the internet. :D So my comeback post is going to be scattered free-writing with no particular direction or purpose.

Laptop Crisis Over

Over a year ago, my son fessed up that he … well we’ll say that while in his possession, my laptop took a spill that resulted in a cracked screen. He promised to pay to have it repaired and said my other son could probably do it if we ordered the replacement screen online. Never happened. When living arrangements changed in December, I spent less and less time in my office  trying to offer a bit of privacy. This is what I get for being a softy. Others wouldn’t have regard for privacy and would walk on through whenever. I should … it’s my house … that’s my office … that’s the route to my office, but something in my just can’t do it.

The reason for the living arrangement thing had changed even before it occurred; though, I didn’t know this until a few weeks after it occurred. Then it became possible that the arrangement could be extended by months or even a year. That, combined with the fact that I grew fond of being upstairs more, made me really want my laptop back. With my laptop, the plan was to be able to access the files on my desktop downstairs so I could work on my photos upstairs and also to be able to blog again. After seeing how much work was involved in replacing a screen on a laptop, another thought popped into my head. Why not just get an external monitor to hook up to the laptop? Genius! Now I can blog from the brightest, most airy room in my house. :) Accessing my desktop is still a bit of a problem, but we’re working on figuring that out.

New DeskOK, so this photo doesn’t make the room look so bright and airy, but it really is! Light pours in from those windows and bounces off the walls and vaulted ceiling. The desk is from IKEA and was originally bought for Miranda’s room for a desktop computer. Then she took over a laptop that I bought at a company auction for cheap and stopped using the desktop. I might try to come up with a way to make it look a little less IKEA-esque. That tiny wireless keyboard is still on a trial basis. The guy at Best Buy told me I had 14 days to bring it back if I didn’t like it. It’s cute, and I like that it doesn’t take up a lot of space, but I’m already making a lot of typos and backspacing and retyping over and over because I’m so used to ergonomic keyboards both at my desktop and for work. I think it may go back today in exchange for an ergo. Plus, I already miss the 10-key pad.

Work

Just before my vacation/spring break, I had my annual review and was promoted to “Senior Agent” (level 4 rep). This is the same level required to be a Lead, but we already have two of those. One other person was also promoted to this level, so there are two of us – one to assist each Lead. Since it’s really a new thing, they are still hammering out the details and coming up with a full list of responsibilities. Until then, we’re making it up as we go along. The promotion came with a surprisingly nice raise (I’m talking jaw-dropping here!), but I won’t expand on that here. Wouldn’t be prudent! That will certainly help us keep our heads above water. At least our noses anyway. Just as satisfying is knowing they have that much confidence in me to give me more responsibility and trust my judgement on certain things.

This is where I must end because, on that note, I have 2.5 hours of overtime to finish before getting out of the house on this gorgeous Saturday!

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Feb 10 2013
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Life

Confrontation is My Kryptnonite

KryptoniteI avoid confrontation like the plague! I don’t like to be the bad guy, and I don’t like to be in situations where someone is arguing a point with me and I feel powerless to defend myself. These things happen at home, in my personal life, and at work.

At home, I become the push-over – the one everyone knows can’t say “no” – the one that always says “that’s OK” on the outside but on the inside it’s so not OK. I try to be the easy-going, laid-back person when I’m really dying inside over the smallest things, like crumbs or other dribbles left behind in the kitchen and not cleaned up by the person who left them … like covers left crumpled on the couches or thrown on the floor … like dishes not returned to the kitchen.

In other areas of my personal life, I avoid confrontation, arguments, disagreements, and even voicing a differing opinion in certain circumstances because I don’t like people to be mad at me. This may make me seem like a pansy lacking self confidence. Or, maybe I come off as aloof, which can be interpreted as bitchy and self-centered. Wow. Others’ opinions bred from misconceptions can be incredibly nasty and hurtful.

At work … Oh, at work! All was fine until the introduction of phones to my job description nearly a year ago. Most phone calls are fine, but there are some that rattle me to my core. I call it telephone roulette. I never know what I’ll be faced with when I answer a call. So every time the phone rings, I jump. Knowledge should be our armor, but that armor has holes. Things are constantly growing, changing, and evolving in my department as well as with the entire company. I like to know everything possible about issues we receive calls for. When I don’t know the how, when, or why when confronted by a caller, I feel like an idiot – not at all a strong representative of the company. That bothers me.

Mark Twain once said, “To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and arrogance.” Maybe I think too much and therefore worry too much about what others think of me. If they’re going to think I’m a bitch or am self-centered, I may as well go down being confident rather than mousy. I need to let myself be ignorant to others’ opinions of me and just arrogant enough to believe in myself.

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Jan 10 2013
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Life

HOA Violation Notice – Inoperable Vehicle

We received yet another “courtesy notice” of a “possible violation” with the check mark next to “Other: Inoperable Vehicle”. The notice didn’t describe the vehicle, though. We were invited to discuss this notice by email or phone if we felt it was received in error. Wanting to make sure I had a record of such discussion this time, I chose to do so by email:

RE: “Inoperable Vehicle”

  
If the “inoperable vehicle” you are referring to is the teal Nissan Altima in the street, you are correct. It is, in fact, inoperable. Arrangements have already been made to remove it, and it will be gone by Saturday (1/12/13) afternoon.

The MG in the driveway cannot be labeled as “inoperable”. It is considered a “leisure-use” vehicle. This vehicle has been discussed in the past with someone in your office, and we were told it was fine. Unfortunately, that conversation was by phone so I don’t have documentation of that discussion. I don’t see that tiny car as an eye sore whether or not it has left the driveway and then parked in the same spot. When I leave the house, I often see the same cars parked in the same spots at the same houses. I don’t know if they’ve been moved at all. I don’t watch them constantly, nor do I have a surveillance camera on them 24/7 to know for a fact that they’ve moved. Technically, starting a vehicle, putting it in drive, moving a few feet forward, then putting it in reverse and moving a few feet backward can be considered being “driven under its own propulsion” … if one must present an argument.

Further, this car cannot be parked in our two-car garage because half of it needs to be used as a storage shed for trash cans, lawn equipment, and other tools. The other side is for my car. I may be a bit spoiled that way, but it’s one luxury I don’t want to give up.

Frankly, I’m offended that anyone is bothered by this car. It’s kind of like seeing an overweight girl in sweats and no makeup walking among skinny girls in designer clothes and painted faces in a “retail resort” and passing judgment on her. That’s not the kind of person I am, and it saddens me to live in a society that is like that.

Our house is not trashy and is not lowering the property value of others around us. Therefore, we respectfully request that you mark this issue as resolved.

Sincerely,
The Karners

NOTE:  The quote, “driven under its own propulsion” referenced above came directly from a section in the notice that apparently was taken from the HOA bylaws. 
:)
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Jan 08 2013
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Life

2012 Blog Year in Review

I found this report in my email inbox today. It included a link to the 2011 report. This is further proof that I work too much and should be grateful that overtime has been restricted and usually not offered at all anymore. I only had 40 new posts in 2012 compared to 125 in 2011, which really wasn’t a lot either. However, I did post more to my photography blog in 2012, so the number could be closer to the same combined. This blog is comprised of more personal thoughts and opinions, though. I would love to have more time to devote to writing here. It exercises the left side of my brain, where the photography blog exercises the right side.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 16,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

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