Took this picture during editing. I really appreciate how Tim walks to the beat of his own drum. He's really witty, too. Here, he is modeling his new rain gear. Well, he was taking it off so I wouldn't get a picture of him modeling the rain gear.
I don't know what it is, but Mondays can be really crazy. That's the day that I work at the Missourian as a Photo Editor from 9 to 4:30. And today was just really stressful. I mean, I don't normally let someone who's touchy get to me, where I am kind of snarky back, but I did today. I just really didn't want to deal with it and it kind of came through. One of our photographers, who I shall call Pat (or Paaaaaat for all you SNL fans), can be really touchy about how the photos s/he has taken are used, and today (when I'm trying to do something that Pat should have done something in the first place), s/he came into the Photo Bubble and was like, "What are you doing?!!" Like 'why are you desecrating the work that I've done?!!' When all I am trying to do is edit one of Pat's photos (that Pat should have dumped into the edited folder for the project) so that it looks like it did in Pat's multimedia piece that the copy desk was chomping at the bit to put online but needed this picture to put up with the piece. And of course, once Pat discovered what exactly I was doing, Pat didn't like the picture I had chosen, so we ended up having to use another one. And the ironic thing is that the thumbnail they used on the front for her piece *was* the picture I had chosen and liked better.
Just all together annoying. I hope when I am working with an editor, I am not one of those annoying people. And Pat is always like this - overly touchy/possessive about what s/he creates and at the same time, makes more work for us editors because s/he likes to shoot in raw, when the pictures need to be jpegs. But I digress. I shouldn't have let the stress get to me.
This is my approximation of my new passport picture. After searching for all last week my passport, going through every place it could be inside, and through all of my boxes out in the storage shed and being unsuccessful, it occured to me yesterday that I may have, on my father's encouragement, put my passport in my fireproof suitcase that they gave me for Christmas a few years ago. Instead of leaving it in the exact same spot where I have kept it since I got my first passport back in 1987, I believe I put it in the suitcase. And now, I cannot seem to find that suitcase. It is probably stuck in some corner of the storage shed, but I didn't seem to find it when I went looking for it. So, I ended up sending off for a replacement passport on Tuesday. And after the meeting with the International Programs office on Tuesday morning, I made sure that it was expedited so that I will have it back in time to get my Visa for Belgium. Which cost me an extra $60. Arg!
But while I was at the Post Office (which is where I got my picture taken, BTW), it occurred to me that I would have had to renew it anyway, because it would have expired while I was abroad. If I do end up going to Brussels, I will be there through the end of April, and the passport would have expired at the end of March, 2011.
At least I was able to, during my search, find my old canceled passport from 1987, so that I could send that it instead of my flimsy birth certificate.
But picture is my approximation of what my passport picture will look like. The postman, named (Michael) Wood, had me put my hair behind my ears for the picture. And, of course, when I have to stand with no smile on my face, my eyes tend to look buggy. (You should see my first driver's license picture!)
On Wednesday, Dr. Temple Grandin spoke on the MU campus. It was so interesting.
I went to the lecture with Kim, who had discovered Grandin because of the biopic movie that she rented from Redbox. I knew about Grandin because of an All Things Considered piece I heard back in 2002. She is a really incredible woman who just happens to be autistic.
Her lecture was really interesting. I want to read her books (which she mentioned, I think 3 times during her lecture, that they're available on Amazon.com). She was very detailed in describing how autistic think. Very insightful. I really enjoyed it - because she is funny and engaging. And she argues that this is because of a lifetime of learning how to move from the specific to the general, making associations between the specific folders of her mind. It was very cool and something that I'm going to mention to my cousin, whose son has Asperger's and who could be helped with some of her admonishments (like that they need lots of experiences to make connections and that they need exposure to tons of things so that they can become productive adults).
One other anecdote: a woman asked about how to potty train her 8-year-old autistic son so that he will have a bowel movement in the toilet. After asking a few questions, Temple basically said that her son would need to *see* someone pooping in the toilet, "leave nothing to the imagination." Which is hysterical, but also very insightful in how the autistic mind works.
I thought this was very sweet - Riley was snuggled between Cullen and the wall. Yes, this is almost a typical occurance, but not this sandwich. And I caught Cullen's tail not wagging. Which is unusual - because you just look at Cullen and he realizes it, it will wag.
This Friday was relatively slow. And since I was feeling under the weather, the time seemed to drag on and on. This picture is in relation to Vox's upcoming edition of drinking. The magazine's editors couldn't decide between the two images, so they got the newsroom's opinions as to which they liked better. I said: (indicating that I prefer the picture on the right) that it "catches my eye more, more appealing; may be more 'sophisticated' but the one on the left immediately makes me think it's about out-of-control college drinking ONLY; this cover looks more inclusive of the entire CoMo community." (And someone seconded my opinion :)
They ended up going with the one I liked. :)
Arg! I hate fleas! Riley has been keeping me awake, which I figured out was not because of gas but because his rump was itchy. I hate flea season (Summer and Fall)! Riley is allergic to their bites and if he gets any, goes outside and rolls around in the dirt to get his itches, which gets him bitten more and the circle continues... So Riley's been itching and even with his flea treatment, seemed to pick quite a few fleas. (Dudley was actually worse - I must have picked at least 20 fleas off of him! Craziness.) But this is what happens when Riley gnaws on a spot. He ripped out his fur and left this oozing spot (about the size of a half-dollar). So I trimmed back the fur and have been putting on Sulfadene to stop the itching and make the scab. (Which amazingly also helped me get a good night's sleep because Riley wasn't freaked out...)
As usual, Sunday is a pretty busy day. I took communion to Aunt Louise (she was under the weather) and took the boys to the park (where I got to talk about how fantastic the photoj program is at MU) and I also got to watch Reece play his last game of the season. I chose this picture because it kind of encapsulates Reece playing soccer - he's serious but goofy all at the same time. He's still trying to figure out what to do with his appendages, so sometimes he seems spacey, but he's not. It was pretty cool - Reece specifically requested that I come and watch him play :)
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