Alison's Blog

Hello everyone, it has been almost a year since my last entry, well I warned you that the more that happens in my life the less I have to say about it. As you probably know this new year (2009) has been the pits. First my mother Wilma B. Sinnott passed away in January, my dog Rowdy passed away a week later. My cat Marble died in April and my uncle Roger passed away in May. Yet I am not prepared to write about any of that right now, I'm moved to write about my latest (and least) loss, my computer died last week. Of course it died without warning and of course it died in the middle of a backup.

2 or 3 computers ago, I was fed up with the CRAP software that comes installed on systems that you buy as a complete package, (for a price, Best Buy will remove some of it for you.) So I started buying parts and throwing them together to build my own system. Each time I buy a little smarter, and have less problems putting them together but I have a little obsession that I exhibit each time I start a new system. I am obsessed with having the fastest, biggest and flashest system I can afford. Mind you, I am too lazy to do too much research, but I pick a processor and let the website steer me in the right direction for motherboard, graphics card, sound card and other stuff. So my latest adventure has gained me a machine that is ready for gaming.

First I bought an Intel Core i7 Processor, with an ASUS motherboard

A Thermally Advanced Chassis, (Ultra X Blaster) 120mm blue light flashing fans, 1000w power supply, 1T HD with an Aluminum Heatpipe Cooler, GeForce 9600 GT graphics card (with it's own 2 G of ram and a fan),

and a Sound Blaster X-fi Xtreme Audio sound card.

The flashing fans and other entertaining lights are totally lost on me because, the tower is locked away in my computer desk (although if the room is dark, my desk sort of glows). So gamers watch out! I will kick ass when I play... well... um... spider solitare.

Well, this time I have no excuse. Forgive me bloggers for I have sinned. It's been over two months since my last entry. I have taken on a new charge but she is not a puppy and no where near as labor intensive as Millie. Meet Jackie.

Jackie is a 3 year old Jack Russell Terrier whose 80 something owner fell and had to go to rehab. There was no one to care for Jackie except the owner's older sister. I agreed to take Jackie until her owner is better or to re-home her if the owner cannot care for her anymore. She is a very sweet dog and very calm for a JRT. This past weekend, Millie came back to visit for a couple of days and chaos ensued. Fortunately Jackie kept Millie entertained for the whole weekend.

Then in an attempt to kill 4 birds with one stone, we went to Brookfield for a walk.

Getting there was half the fun!

I have a puppy.

That has been my excuse for everything I did not do for the last two months.
Why are you late?
Why did you not get that done?
Why have I not heard from you lately?

I have a puppy.

The puppy in question is a (now) one year old Pekinese named Millie that belongs to a friend of mine from work. She (the friend, not Millie) was 8 months pregnant, had a husband with pneumonia, and a non-house broken puppy. She did not want to give Millie away but she had too much to deal with to keep her. I told her that I would take the puppy until things settled down and she could make the decision with less pressure. So I had a puppy.

I have a theory about puppies and men. They are really cute and fun to play with but I don’t want one in my house. It is amazing how much one little 12 # puppy can disrupt an entire household. She harassed Rowdy unmercifully, drove Sadie to hide on the second floor for two months, peed and pooped all over and did her best to eat my couch.

Millie was owned by an elderly lady who passed away. My friend at work was kind enough to give her a new home. So when she came to my house she had been in 3 homes in her 10 months of life. That can be very upsetting for a puppy. I attempted various ways to house-break Millie, including newspapers and pee pads (Millie would run around the house with the pad in her mouth waving it like a victory flag). I finally tied her to my belt for two weeks until I could catch her peeing in the house and correct her for it. It took exactly two times before she got the idea and she was an angel after that.

I will admit that I had a grand time with Millie, she made me laugh and was so smart that in two months she learned these behaviors on command:
Sit
Sit up
Lay down
Speak (she is the only dog I ever heard that really says “woof”)
Sing (which is a growl that sometimes ends with a belch)
Cry
Pee (very handy, especially when it is raining out)

Millie has gone back home and while it will be nice to read my morning paper and not have to juggle 3 dog leashes on our morning walk, I will really miss that bundle of joy.

Check out some Millie pictures on this link:
http://alisons.powweb.com/petphotos/id7.html

To my legion of fans... would you believe thousands? Well ok, both of you, I apologize for my long silence but you know, I have a puppy.

Well, I have under taken the monumental task of sorting through my photos and cleaning up my hard drive. About once or twice a year I try to pick out the better photos and move the losers to a spot where I can get to them but they do not hamper me when I am looking for photos worth printing. The problem is, I am my own worst critic and some of the photos that I have not looked at in a while are better then I first thought. I need to be surprised by shots that I have forgotten about to like them. I have not yet learned to identify the features that make or break a particular photo. I live by the old adage, “I don’t know art, but I know what I like.” I have posted a few of these older shots on my website and would welcome your opinions, good or bad, on these or any other photos on my site.
http://alisons.powweb.com/id26.html

2007 All rights reserved

I took this photo with my second digital camera an 2.1mp Olympus C-2100uz. I love the eerie feel of this photo. I have printed it but never exhibited it. It was taken in August of 2002 at a pond in Brookfield that is now turning into a beaver meadow. I try to remember that even if I am shooting subjects that have been photographed a zillion times before, each instant in time is unique and the moment that I capture will never happen again.

I have been suffering from Zoo withdrawal lately and since I am a member of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, I packed my camera equipment and headed out there.
http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org
Unlike our local (not to be named) zoo, the Syracuse zoo has a lot of exhibits inside a large building so the weather is less of an issue. I went in, tripod in hand, to see what images I could capture. The first part of the building has the nocturnal exhibits and since I do not want to use a flash on animals that cannot escape it, I can only photograph the animals that are not moving, That lets out the Ocelots, the Bats and surprisingly most of the Sloths. From there you can go into the free flight aviary. There are several species of birds flying around in there but the windows backlight several of the birds so photos can be difficult. Here is a shot of a very cooperative Rainbow Loorikeet.

From the aviary, you move past the Lions. The exhibit is outside but you view it from inside the building through glass. The Lions stay near the glass to the delight of the visitors especially the kids. From there you move through the Primate section and then to the outside exhibits. The newest exhibit at the zoo is the Penguins. It is very nice with several different viewing angles. Check out some of the photos on my site.
http://alisons.powweb.com/id24.html
http://alisons.powweb.com/id25.html