I just found this on the BBC News online…
A visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England tripped over a loose shoe lace, fell down a flight of stairs and smashed two 300 year-old Qing vases on the way down.  (Yes, that’s Qing, not Ming!)

I guess he was probably trying to grab onto something to break his fall… Anyway, according to the report, the man was okay, but the vases are screwed! 

I think I can safely say that doggie wear isn’t just a phenomenon restricted to trendy places like L.A., anymore, no, it’s definitely catching on… I see proud pooches bouncing through the streets in their doggie sneakers and hoodies everywhere nowadays.  My question is this:  When is Nike going to catch on? Okay, I’m just kidding!

Pet clothing sites like glamourdog.com and 2dogsandacat.com have a fun selection of casual, through formal doggie and kitty wear… I’m talking about boots, socks, over-night kits, sleep wear, t-shirts and even wedding gear, just to name a few items that I’ve seen there. 

You should check it out, just for the fun of it, even if, like me, you don’t have either a cat, or dog… Maybe it’ll tempt you to get a pet, just so that you can indulge in shopping for these cute outfits!  (Yeah, I know that was an irresponsible comment about the pets, but I couldn’t resist!)

The cold weather can be a bit depressing at times.  Those cutting winds can drive a person nuts.  One evening, last week, while trying to get around town on foot, the snow got into my eyeballs and I could barely see where I was going… Turned a corner and whoosh!  A gust hit me so hard that I was almost blown off my feet.  It was really tempting to start yelling, sherrrpaaa!!! at the top of my voice, coz I needed help.  I don’t know why, but somehow I got the feeling it was only happening to me, everyone else seemed fine… I saw a few people without coats, hats or gloves, trudging through two inches of snow, in a blizzard, happily talking on their cellphones!?  Hmmm…

Nevertheless, I still find a certain amount of inspiration in the sight of the winter clouds over head.  The strange, ever-changing formations created as they roll heavily across the sky on a grey afternoon, are fascinating to watch.  I can see why certain landscape artists would be willing spend so much time freezing their butts off outdoors, in an effort to capture such a scene…

I’m considering the idea of getting started on painting some cityscapes soon.  I’ll probably work digitally.  I’ve seen the work of artists like robh, (Broadview Blog) who is producing some impressive results using Adobe Photoshop, as well as various others who are making great use of Corel Painter. 

I’ve done a quite a bit of drawing and color work in Photoshop and Flash obviously, but so far my own work has mostly consisted of relatively flat blocks of color with very little shading for my animations and cartoons.  Color sketches and paintings are going to be a whole different challenge.  I’ve got my Wacom pad and pen ready, and Photoshop at the click of a button, so we’ll see what happens....

“I am following Nature without
being able to grasp her,
I perhaps owe having become
a painter to flowers.”
Claude Monet, on Landscape Art

Friday already… Youch!

I did have the intention of getting some artwork into the gallery section of my site by the end of this week. 

However, things being what they are around here, we got extraordinarily busy again.

I’ll give you an idea of just one of many possible scenarios:  You’re working on the design for another new web site.  You’re nearly finished and it’s a thing of beauty.  During last minute testing, you click a link and WHAM, suddenly, it isn’t working the way it should be anymore.  Or, you do a recommended software upgrade and BLAAM, your entire site explodes because a bug fix that came with the upgrade, fixed one thing, but broke something else.  You’re left staring, open-mouthed, at the aberration that has now replaced your beautiful web site, wondering:  What just happened?

So, it’s 2 a.m., three days later and you’re still wading knee deep through the code, (coz this web site’s really extensive) trying to find out where things went wrong.  Then it’s on to the support forums to try and figure out how to fix the bug fix that was suppose to fix the bug that… Oh, never mind…

Anyway, this, as you might imagine, doesn’t leave much time for messing about on my blog. 

I am holding out hope though, that I’ll be able to squeeze in at least a few bits, before Saturday hits.

Those thoughtful guys over at PetsMobility have come up with a voice enabled, GPS doggie cellphone!  Cool, huh!

Disaster has struck and I can’t cope...

My coffee machine has bitten the dust. 
It’s gone to that great coffee machine place in the sky and I can’t cope…

Wait… I’ve just discovered something…
Yep!  If I keep hitting the start button, eventually the light goes green just long enough for a few drips before it goes red again…
Another hit and…
Yes, in about half an hour, I’ll have one full cup! Yay!

Is it just me, or is there a conspiracy out there to manufacture coffee-makers that don’t actually make coffee anymore?

Is it too much to ask that our shiny new programmable, grind and brew gizmo does just that, without breaking almost immediately?  We’ve been through at least three different coffee machines, during this year alone!  And I promise you, we don’t ask it to do any more than make a couple of pots a day!

We bought one earlier this year, that stopped working just over three months later, which, incidentally was also after the 90 day warranty had run out.  Then, after spending months of making coffee the way my great-granny used to make it, we decided to invest in another.  And presto! That one was already broken when we unpacked it! 

That darned thing had to be humped all the way back across town to the store that very same day, to be exchanged for yet another.

Now, okay, this one does work, but has the peculiar habit of popping open (the lid that is), a minute or two after the coffee has finished brewing… What the heck?

Oh well, I guess I am asking too much…

It’s time again for my encounter suit,
Face snow and rain in my encounter suit.
Covered head to toe in my encounter suit,
Can bear the cold in my encounter suit...

~ The encounter Suit Pt.1
by Annyash

© 2005 Annyash760.