days of learning

I love browsing on flickr, I keep finding new stuff that I want to try, and so much to learn, also it generates ideas. I wish I didn't have drill this weekend so I could play. On Saturday I have to go up to New Castle, and I think in the A.M. or even after I would like to stop in Mercer and grab some shots of waterfalls-Springfield Falls- I should be able to accomplish this.

Either way, I would like to try and get a shot similar to this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65687061@N00/309733153/in/pool-481638@N25/

which I think is doable, Market Square has some amazing lights, but they are not multicolored.

Good times to be had.

As a child I went to buttermilk falls, which is a small cascade in Asbury woods in erie-here is my photographing trip through this small valley, we had to walk through the creek because there really isn't a legal way to get to the falls.

http://sru.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2048004&l=c7ee4&id=47500837

Pictures

next in line for todays' flickr fun.

Where i grew up there was a purple outback, that glued action figures and small dolls to the car, this car reminded me of that, there is an expection that this one is signicantly worse.

Silly car
http://flickr.com/photos/lydiaricci/857274939/

I really love this arch way, the picture itself is okay, however I think Arches are very hard to capture their true beauty.

Beautiful Arch Way
http://flickr.com/photos/islandrover/2085981875/

This is just sorta fun, with excellent textures.
Fun texture
http://flickr.com/photos/marysolra/2086769452/

Interesting photos

This hole week has been so long, and I blame this feeling on the fact that I had a two day week from the holiday. I am really trying to not complain, but its hot and I am bored.

So while searching flickr, out of bordem i came accross this photo,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8864427@N05/2058603046/in/photostream/

a doll on a fence, well the doll body being pierced. This refers to a sacerfice or muderious theme to a baby, well all intenshions are to be a little silly, its still pretty intense and serious. I really enjoy the out of focus the picture brings and whatnot, good stuffs.

Next

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nescafe/2055584732/

Coffee cup-Its cold out and xmas is upon us, why to bring it in from Starbucks,

Great compensition

My fave is a pittsburgh shot actually

http://flickr.com/photos/patrick58/206195907/

I am definatly going to try to do something like this, it maybe stealing an idea I know, but I am actually searching flickr to learn new techniques.

I dig this one, it wins the food photos i searched, looks like choc ice cream with a cheery on top in a cupcake wrapper

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65668398@N00/2075808363/in/pool-creative_tabletop_photography/

Support or no Support?

I thought this was interesting-due to an email I recently recieved-one of those fowards ones where you are not sure if it true or not!


Starbucks Statement on Refusal to Donate Coffee to U.S. Marines
Response to Internet rumor
Thank you for taking the time to contact Starbucks regarding coffee donations to those serving in our armed forces.
Starbucks has the deepest respect and admiration for U.S. military personnel. We are extremely grateful to the men and women who serve stateside or overseas. We sincerely appreciate that they are willing to risk their lives to protect Americans and our values of freedom and democracy. While Starbucks as a company cannot directly donate to military personnel, many of our partners (employees) show their support by donating coffee.
Recently, there was an e-mail circulating the internet that contained misinformation about Starbucks and our support of the military. Starbucks was able to locate the author who turned out to be a Marine Sergeant. He was very grateful that we contacted him and apologized for any misunderstanding, as he did not intend to spread the rumor. He subsequently sent an e-mail to his original distribution list correcting his mistake, which I've included at the end of this e-mail.
I would like to take this opportunity to clarify Starbucks policy regarding charitable contributions. We are able to donate to nonprofit organizations that are designated as public charities under Section 501(c) (3) of the IRS Code, including public libraries and schools. The U.S. military or individual military personnel do not qualify as a public charity.
However, on an individual level, many Starbucks partners have collected and shipped numerous pounds of Starbucks coffee overseas. Starbucks partners receive one pound of free coffee each week as an employee benefit (known as "partner mark-out"). Many of our partners have elected to send their weekly mark-out of coffee to members of the military or military families, and related organizations.
As an example of this generosity, our partners in our Atascadero, California store sent their weekly mark out coffee to troops in Afghanistan so they are able to enjoy a little piece of home. Our customer relations department in Seattle donated hundreds of pounds of coffee to the sailors in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group. These are just a few examples of our partners supporting the troops. We recognize and appreciate the very personal connection that customers have with us and how they might miss their Starbucks Experience while overseas.
Thank you again for writing and ask you to accept our deepest appreciation to servicemen and women and hope you remain a valued Starbucks customer. If you have any additional feedback or would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact us at (800) 235-2883 or email us at info@starbucks.com.
Sincerely, David Campbell Customer Relations Starbucks Coffee Company
Text of Sgt. Wright's Email:
Dear Readers,
Almost 5 months ago I sent an e-mail to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong thing that needs to be cleared up. I heard by word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn't support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn't do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many copies of their company's policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick and wrong letter that I sent out to you.
Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to. Thank you very much for understanding about this.
Howard C. Wright Sgt USMC 1st Force Recon Co 1st Plt PLT RTO

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would hate to believe that this is true-because it I find that is does, I can never drink Starbucks again.

_________________________________________________________

Hero's is on tonight! and I get that channel at home-my life is based around TV. My night tonight will be Sleep (Nap), folding clothes, a discussion for school, exercising, and watching heroes

well I am now a UPMC employee-Childrens Hospital-making a little more money and really working in the research field!!!!

breaking it to my boss is going to be super hard-really hard...and all the patients...

well i made this decsion and change comes with taking new things on...

I got 3 parking tickets, and one has the wrong liceance plate on it-I am so tempted to not pay it-but my luck i would still have to pay the $45.50. Yeah-thank goodness my car wasn't towed.

Tonight I am going to the Hard Rock Cafe-to see the Neon Swing Experience (my buddy Andy plays bass). Yeah!

I bought my first NEW CAR!

a nissan versa

its blue

and new

and beautiful, I drove it off the lot with 51 miles on it :)

also now I have heard back from the job-that they are almost finished with things on their end, also that due to being under a new ownership they again, had to redo the job description. Maybe 3 weeks, I will know-but for now I need to concentrait on doing a good job here and in school!

Last night a friend Chris came over and we went for a 2 mile drive in my car around Bloomfield, then we hit Niccos and drank-well i had arum and coke in about 30 secs then moved onto 3 sam adams winter laugers-I hope I get to head to the BBT-I love the BBT!

I get to see Liz on Saturday evening I hope! That would be awesome! I am hoping to go to D's again and get some of the Wheat beer on tap-its good and cheap-and Awesome!

still no word about the job, I guess on Friday I need to make the call and see where it stands. I will most likely email HR, because I am a sissy.

all and all I have a good amount of school work to do, and no motivation to do it. I have RSP again this weekend-3 weekends in a row-no break! Then the following I will be sitting in classes about ODP (officer development process). In March there is a conference at FTIG that I am supost to attend, I just don't feel up to it though-monstly because I would have to rent a vehicle which isn't such a big deal-but dang that is alot in a weekend-Good money though.

We keep are heat on 60 degrees-and it hasn't been cold out and the bill for last month was 233-budget plan time! I would like to get a car-it can be gently used-but that is more credit i have to take out :( Next trip to Erie I guess I will go see Jimmy-even though the last two have been nothing but problems. The best bet is to get a new little car, like a Chevey Colbolt or Aveo-it will work for now-good on gas and i guess affordable.

I am getting so nervrus and frustrated. I think I may have faxed an application with a bunch pf spelling errors.

umm..they havn't called back at all, nothing. The last thing I heard was

"well be in touch" that was over a week ago. Why must they put me through this bull.

A lady in my office was offered the ICP positon at the same hospital. I want to work there. I want to not waste away like I am now. Wasting away...

December is the Deadlyist month

In Oct 105 american troops were killed, including my friend LT Loudon, now in December the death toll is 106, Bush has called for more troops to deploy, and the govenment has changed the bill for guard and reserve troops to serve more frequently but for no more than 12 months. They are calling up more marines, and trying to expand its force by 27,000. I hope this is all worth it, and the 3,000 soldiers that have died, and the more that will be killed is worth the cause. Lately, it feels like what is the point anymore, but I am not all aware what is going on, and I can't respectively say "Its Bullshit" when I don't know everything. Just seems like more poeple are dying and terror still rains in this world.

U.S. toll for Dec. highest of year
Killing of 3 Marines brings monthly total to 106
Saturday, December 30, 2006By Lauren Frayer, The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Three more Marines were killed in battle in Iraq, the military said yesterday, making December the year's deadliest month for U.S. troops with the toll reaching 106.
The Marines, all assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, died Thursday of wounds from fighting in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said. Their deaths pushed the toll past the 105 U.S. service members killed in October.
At least 2,993 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an AP count.
In violence yesterday, a suicide bomber killed at least nine people near a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, and 32 tortured bodies were found across the country as Iraqis braced for Saddam Hussein's execution.
American troops killed six people and destroyed a weapons cache in separate raids in Baghdad and northwest of the Iraqi capital, the U.S. military said. One of the raids targeted two buildings in the village of Thar Thar, where U.S. troops found 16 pounds of homemade explosives, two large bombs, a rocket-propelled grenade, suicide vests and multiple batteries, the military said.
Iraqi forces backed by U.S. troops entered a mosque southeast of Baghdad, capturing 13 suspects and confiscating weapons, the U.S. military also said.
A suicide bomber wearing an explosives belt detonated himself near a Shiite mosque in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding about a dozen, police said.
Twenty-two bodies showing signs of torture were found dumped on the streets of the Iraqi capital yesterday, and 10 more were found in Baqouba northeast of Baghdad, police and morgue officials said.
The violence was not heavier than usual in Iraq yesterday, three days after an Iraqi appeals court upheld Saddam's death sentence for the 1982 killings of 148 Shiites. The former president was hanged last night.
American and Iraqi officials said have expressed concern about the potential for a spike in bloodshed following Saddam's death.
Already, December was shaping up to be one of the worst months for Iraqi civilian deaths since The Associated Press began keeping track in May 2005.
Through Thursday, at least 2,139 Iraqis have been killed in war-related or sectarian violence, an average rate of about 76 people a day, according to an AP count. That compares to at least 2,184 killed in November at an average of about 70 a day, the worst month for Iraqi civilians deaths since May 2005. In October, AP counted at least 1,216 civilians killed.
The AP count includes civilians, government officials and police and security forces, and is considered a minimum based on AP reporting. The actual number is likely higher, as many killings go unreported.
In more violence yesterday, gunmen killed two oil company employees in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, police said. A civilian was shot dead near his home in another attack in the same area.
Two more civilians and a policeman died in separate attacks in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, police said.
A round of mortar shells slammed into al-Maidan square in central Baghdad, wounding 10 people and damaging shops and buildings in the area, a police officer at Rissafa police station said on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.
A roadside bomb wounded three civilians in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

Iraq Edges Closer To Iran, With Or Without The U.S.

Los Angeles TimesJanuary 16, 2007 Pg. 1
Iraq Edges Closer To Iran, With Or Without The U.S.
By Louise Roug and Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff Writers
BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government is moving to solidify relations with Iran, even as the United States turns up the rhetorical heat and bolsters its military forces to confront Tehran's influence in Iraq.
Iraq's foreign minister, responding to a U.S. raid on an Iranian office in Irbil in northern Iraq last week, said Monday that the government intended to transform similar Iranian agencies into consulates. The minister, Hoshyar Zebari, also said the government planned to negotiate more border entry points with Iran.
The U.S. military is still holding five Iranians detained in Thursday's raid. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said records seized in the raid and statements made by the detainees showed that at least some of them worked for Iran's intelligence service.
"I don't think there is any disagreement on the fact that these folks that we have captured are foreign intelligence agents in this country, working with Iraqis to destabilize Iraq and target coalition forces that are here at Iraq's request," Casey said Monday.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, added, "We are going after their networks in Iraq."
Iraqis, who have echoed Tehran's calls for the U.S. to release the five men, say the three-way standoff that has ensued reveals more about American meddling in Iraqi affairs than about Iranian influence.
"We, as Iraqis, have our own interest," Zebari said in an interview with The Times. "We are bound by geographic destiny to live with" Iran, adding that the Iraqi government wanted "to engage them constructively."
Zebari's comments reinforced the growing differences between the Iraqi government's approach and that of the Bush administration, which has rejected calls by the nonpartisan Iraq Study Group to open talks with Iran and Syria.
Administration officials accuse Iran of sowing anarchy and violence in the region.
Zebari's remarks came two days after Iraq and Iran announced a security agreement. "Terrorism threatens not only Iraq but all the regional countries," Iranian radio reported Sherwan Waili, Iraq's national security minister, as saying.
The overtures to Tehran also followed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's appointment last week of a security commander for Baghdad over the objections of U.S. officials, who favored another candidate.
American officials oppose the presence in Iraq of Iranian officials and members of the Revolutionary Guard, which is controlled by religious hard-liners in Iran. Washington and Tehran have been at odds for decades and are in a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
But to Iraq, Iran is its biggest trading partner and a source of tourist revenue, mainly from the thousands of Shiite Muslim pilgrims who travel to the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala every year.
In Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish north, much of the economy is founded on trade with Iran and the smuggling of contraband into the Islamic Republic. Since the 1979 founding of Iran's theocracy, Kurdistan has been a transit point for banned alcohol, movies and satellite dishes.
A blow to the economy
The U.S. raid on the Iranian office, which handled visas and other paperwork for Iraqis traveling to Iran, struck at the heart of Kurdistan's economy, which depends on commercial ties with Iran facilitated through that office.
Doing business with Iran also means doing business with the Revolutionary Guard, an institution that controls Iran's borders. Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, Iran's ambassador to Iraq, is a former member of the guard. Any neighboring country that wants to do business with Iran has to deal with members of the force, which was created by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to aid the Islamic revolution.
Iraq's Kurds share a storied history with the Revolutionary Guard, fighting side by side against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, once told The Times that he planned military operations against Hussein with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's controversial president.
Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador, acknowledged the past but said it was time for Iraqis to sever ties to such groups.
"Now Iraq is in a different place," he said. "There cannot be and there should not be relations with security institutions of neighboring states that work against the interests of this new Iraq."
Iraqis and Kurds who oppose the detention of the five Iranians say the U.S. raid made the Iraqi government appear weak or a puppet of the Americans.
"They should help the Iraqi government to demonstrate its independence [and] sovereignty in its dealing with other countries," said Zebari, the foreign minister, referring to U.S. officials.
"Because of the simplest things, any country will question the basis of your sovereignty, and that weakens the position of the Iraqi government."
'Not a new discovery'
Iraqi officials want the U.S. to release the five Iranians. Zebari described them as "Iranian officials" working in a "liaison office" where Iraqis could go for "consular services like travel permits to Iran."
Kurdish regional authorities and the government in Baghdad knew about the Iranians in Irbil and were in the process of transforming the agency into a consulate, Zebari said.
"This is not a new discovery, this office," he said. The Iranians had been "working there publicly, openly. It was not a clandestine network. That's the thing we need to explain to our friends."
He said the Iraqi government had not been shown any of what Casey said was evidence that the Iranians were spies. He said Iraq had not been part of the interrogation.
While Iraq has been strengthening its ties with Iran, it has also made overtures to its western neighbor Syria. Talabani is on a state visit to Damascus, the first such high-level meeting in almost three decades.
"For some time, we've been working quietly with them to normalize relations, to start up security talks with them," Zebari said.
The Iraq Study Group recommended that the U.S. begin a dialogue with Iran and Syria.
But administration officials, under the sway of neoconservative intellectuals who see Iran as a danger to Israel and the U.S., have resisted such calls, saying Tehran must give up its nuclear program and stop supporting militant groups in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon before there can be talks.
Last year, Abdelaziz Hakim, a leading Shiite politician in Iraq who spent years in exile in Iran, tried to improve U.S.-Iran relations by proposing that Iraq act as a go-between or a host for talks between the two nations. Iran rejected the plan when it became public, Zebari said.
Instead, relations have worsened, creating diplomatic headaches in Iraq.
"This is not a clean war," Zebari said. "These complications, embarrassments happen. Through these last three, four years we've been through this many times."

More Troops In Iraq, But Success Will 'Take Time'

USA TodayJanuary 16, 2007 Pg. 9
More Troops In Iraq, But Success Will 'Take Time'
First of extra 21,500 vowed by Bush arrive
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — The new security plan for Iraq will need time to take hold and may not yield significant results for several months, the outgoing U.S. commander there cautioned Monday.
Gen. George Casey told reporters that some of the 21,500 additional U.S. troops President Bush promised for Iraq last week have already begun arriving.
However, their success in calming sectarian violence will depend on better cooperation from Iraq's military and police and broad support from Iraqi politicians that has been lacking, Casey said.
"As with any plan, there are no guarantees of success, and it's not going to happen overnight. But with sustained political support, and the concentrated efforts on all sides, I believe that this plan can work," Casey said at a joint news conference with the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.
"I think you'll see a gradual evolution over the next two to three months, and then you'll see things continue to get better out through the spring, out through the summer and fall. But it will take some time," Casey said.
Both Casey and Khalilzad repeatedly said they had assurances that no areas of Baghdad would be allowed to serve as sanctuaries for gunmen. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has until now been hesitant to enforce crackdowns on some militias, including the Mahdi Army of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, one of al-Maliki's key political supporters.
The drive to secure Iraq is likely to fail without strong backing from al-Maliki, said Stephen Biddle, a military analyst at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.
"The issue is whether the different states' interests are aligned," Biddle said. "If they're not, it's a serious, serious problem. And it's not at all clear if the Maliki interests and the U.S. interests are aligned."
Casey said the new security plan will give al-Maliki unprecedented power at the top of the command structure, though U.S. troops will still be under control of American commanders.
"(The plan) is Iraqi-conceived and will be Iraqi-led — not only on the security side but on the political, economic and media/public affairs sides," Casey said.
Casey and Khalilzad also said that five Iranian citizens arrested by U.S. forces Thursday in Irbil, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, were "intelligence agents" working to undermine the government and target coalition troops.
Iran has said the men were diplomats and demanded their release.
"These gentlemen were not diplomats," Khalilzad said, adding they had ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force that answers directly to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "We have an understanding with the prime minister that we'll target these networks."
Casey said: "We have statements made by people in detention, and we have records that give us great confidence that these are, in fact, intelligence operatives."
At least 55 people were killed or found dead across Iraq on Monday, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. military announced the deaths of two more soldiers, both killed in Baghdad.

I spent the last four days in a comma, doing school work and drinking.

My father has moved from the stone age and purchased a cell phone, he is excited about it, wait till he really finds what a HUGE pain they are. He also sold his towncar and got a truck, he is excited, I think he is going to start cutting lawns and plowing so he just doesn't sit around and waste away, I think I could deal with sitting around and working out-meeting my friends for lunches and coffee, that was my life ROCK! I would probably get a little part time job and take a class for personal enjoyment, hmm...

THe children's hospital called me, they are interested if I am interested in a job, that would rule. So maybe if it pays $$$ I will have to leave my little home at the VA, if not I will stay at the VA, just man they took their time in getting back to me-and hopefully will not take as much time.

TOnight i am going to a lecture-about Health Care reform I think it will help me out actually-well i hope it does anyways...Yeah-

I finished my multiculture crap, now two more classes to do, then this weekend getting started on a project for school-so it isn't so hard in the end to do everything. Other than that, this is my life.

I want to wake up early tomorrow and run, and do that for the rest of my life-however i don't get up so well anymore.

Good Joke

The Reverend's wife tells about her day:
The other day I went to a local religious bookstore where I saw a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker. I bought it and put it on the bumper of my car. I'm really glad I did since I had such an uplifting experience. I was stopped at a light a busy intersection, just lost in thought about the Lord and didn't notice that the light had changed. That bumper sticker really worked! I found lots of people who love Jesus. Why.. the guy behind me started to honk like crazy. He must really love the Lord because pretty soon… he leaned out his window and yelled "Jesus Christ" as loud as he could. It was like a football game with him shouting, "GO! For Christ's sake, Go!" Everyone else started honking for Jesus too, so I leaned out my window and waved and smiled at all those loving people. There must have been a guy from Florida back there because I could hear him yelling about a sunny beach and I saw him waving in a funny way with only one finger stuck up in the air. I asked my two kids what that meant and they kind of squirmed and looked at each other and told me it was the Hawaiian good luck sign…so I leaned out the window and gave that middle finger good luck sign back. A couple of people were so caught up in the joy of the moment that they got out of their cars and were walking toward me. I bet they wanted to pray, but just then I noticed that the light had changed and I stepped on the gas and a good thing I did because I was the only one to get across the intersection. I looked back at them standing there and I leaned out the window and gave them a big smile and held up the Hawaiian good luck sign as I drove away. Praise the Lord for such wonderful people and for my bumper sticker

Stupid thought of the day...

"I sold my house and moved into a pandemonium..." Toronto mayor Allan Lanport

Well I just got my class assignments and discussions, and I am thinking "HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?"

I have 3 large projects for each class-with many assignments leading up around the same time-tonight I am going to get some supplies.

3 ring binders
a Planner
Printer Ink
printer paper.
then sit down and write all my assignments in... when i have drill and days off from work-all that crap

I am a little stressed but its friday!

Stupid thought of the day...

Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing over 7,000 pounds

"we have seen thee, queen of cheese, lying quetly at you ease, gently fanned by evening breeze, the fair form no flies dare seize."

-James McIntyre, from the book Very Bad poetry.