Thursday, July 02, 2009
Only in the UK: a workplace morale boosting initiative known as Naked Friday.
# posted by Amanda at 7:45 PM |
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
"Granddad said he had some *unusual habits.*"---Sophie, aged 6 years and 5 months, describing what what she's heard about Michael Jackson.
# posted by Amanda at 12:14 PM |
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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Big news day, huh? I was starting to put together a really nice reflective post about The Gloved One, but something else is taking precedence.
You may have noticed that I like to take photos. This web site links to my Flickr photo account. However, by design, the converse is not true: there is no link from Flickr to this site. There were a number of reasons for that decision, at the root of which is privacy. And underlying that is safety.
Sophie is, by far, my favorite photography subject. As she gets older, she's becoming much less cooperative about having her picture taken. I try not to wear out my welcome and limit the "photography sessions." When I do manage to get a really good shot of her, I make it available for family and kind friends by posting it on Flickr.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Flickr system, folks with accounts can "favorite" other users' photos. Favorited photos are essentially bookmarked for ease of repeat viewing. Flickr also notifies the owner of the photo that it has been favorited, and by whom. A brilliant feature, indeed.
When someone outside of my Flickr contact list favorites a photo of Sophie, I check out that person's profile, including their other favorited photos. Sometimes it's okay: ballet instructors favoriting photos of dance costumes, Renaissance Fair fans favoriting pictures of braided hair styles, etc. Other times, what I find in peoples' favorited photo collections raises my hackles and I block them from being able to add photos of my child to their pervy little collections. Tonight I blocked some creep whose favorite photos---including four of Sophie---fit exclusively into two categories: 1) young kids and 2) scantily clad women.
So it comes back to issues of privacy and safety and a decision about how to address the problem. I could stop posting photos of Sophie...but then the legitimate visitors to this space wouldn't be able to see her grow over the years. (And let's face it: Sophie has a way bigger fan club than I do---I know she's why most of you read this site!)
Or I can continue to monitor and block when necessary. The fringe benefit to this method is that the Flickr administrators can be alerted to the pervs and the decision of how best to handle placed in their court, so to speak. Personally, I like the idea of a bit of ROUGH handling in these cases.
# posted by Amanda at 9:29 PM |
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
This was Sophie's fourth year of dance classes, all with the same dance company. She's had really, really awesome teachers who make the classes and dances fun for the kids. Sophie has danced with some of these girls since she was two years old.
They had their revue this weekend: a show on Friday night, and the final show this afternoon. This year Sophie performed in four different numbers.
Four dances to learn, four costumes to change in and out of QUICKLY, and four separate and distinct heart attacks for this backstage mommy.
After a few years of this routine, I feel like I'm starting to understand Sophie's particular quirks regarding performing. For example:
1. If you watched her during the dress rehearsal, you'd think that the kid had no clue whatsoever about the dances she's supposed to be doing. (Queue a mini-coronary for me.)
2. However, by the end of that event, she always picks up a lot of the steps from several dances that she's NOT performing. (Last year she paid a lot of attention to the set directions and learned phrases like "tap mics" and "spotlight" and "fade out.")
3. Don't try to "pep talk" her before a performance. It just makes her surly.
4. Every year, without fail, Sophie nails her dances during the performances.
So, four dances for my little diva, and as usual, she was amazing! This year she added something: a smile for the audience. I am so proud of her!
# posted by Amanda at 6:14 PM |
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Saturday, June 06, 2009
I Never Thought I'd Have Reason to Say This in the Context of a Heterosexual Relationship
"Can I borrow your bikini top next weekend?"
Folks...it's complicated. Explanation sometime later.
# posted by Amanda at 9:39 PM |
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Happy Mother's Day, everyone.
# posted by Amanda at 9:58 PM |
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Monday, May 04, 2009
We're in the middle of an extended monsoon here in the mid-Atlantic. Lots of flowers coming into bloom, but conditions have been too wet to afford much opportunity to get out and photograph. Sunday morning I happened to see a bit of purple in the garden. Why let the bloom go to waste outside? Still in satin pajamas, I braved the rain and knee-high grass to fetch this lone iris.
It is currently gracing the windowsill in my kitchen.
# posted by Amanda at 7:45 PM |
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
Here's a bit of extremely important news: Switzerland has banned nude hiking. Interesting that an actual law had to be created to curtail this activity. To me, it sounds like an invitation to pick up ticks in sensitive personal areas.
# posted by Amanda at 10:41 PM |
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Monday, April 06, 2009
It is April and I Am Into:
- new music: Don Omar, "Virtual Diva"
- the search for fresh grouper...my local Whole Foods seems to carry every type of fish EXCEPT grouper
- Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
- Bare Minerals makeup and Stila lip glaze
- yellow!
- cherry blossoms
# posted by Amanda at 9:15 PM |
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Monday, March 23, 2009
 Created by Train Horns
# posted by Amanda at 9:39 PM |
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