Things on my mind lately

Life. It gives me so much to write about, but so little time to do it in. Which is precisely why I requested this evening at home. So I could write. Then I proceeded to find a bagillion (its a real number) other things to do first. Much to my husband’s amusement, as he’d ask, “So how’s the blogging going?”

Hrmph.

So anyway. Things on my mind lately.

Hacked
As my Weekly Winners stated, it was brought to my attention that my blog was blocked by Google due to malware. (Thank you, Amy, for telling me!) I have another domain name that I’ve honestly never done anything with… but its become a place I house some images used in this blog’s design. Well, that domain name got hacked (thanks to a plug-in on WordPress that was not properly updated — my bad!) and a trojan got installed onto that other domain. Domino effect occurred and even this blog got blocked until the problem was cleared up and the unsecure plug-in was, well, plugged. (Thanks to Lisey for finding and fixing that!)

This blog takes a whole tribe, I swear.

But the important thing is that all is well again, and everyone should be able to access this site again.

If the people who design and install all these viruses, etc. would put their talents to GOOD use, we’d probably have the cure for cancer by now.

Weekend Madness
I don’t write much about my husband’s trips on the road. I feel like there’s an unspoken confidentiality there that I try to respect. I also keep many of my rants and raves about “the life” for the Road Widows blog.

But this last weekend? Hoo boy! The short-version is: bus fire, canceled show, missed connector, lost guitar. ONE of these could derail a run. All four in one weekend! I was a little afraid to pick my husband up at the airport. I kinda wanted to make him take a cab lest we have an accident on the way home with the luck they had on the road. Crazy!! Can we go back to normal no-drama this coming weekend? Please?

That billboard
Grrrrr… here, let me link to this article which says it all really well. (If you don’t click it, its about the billboard that went up in Gainesville, FL that claimed they’d been annexed by “Aggie Nation.” It was only up a few hours before TAMU had it removed.)

Now, let me shake my fist at those errant individuals who seemed to think this would be funny. I’ve gotten ragged about it more than I care this week thanks to you. I was irritated personally due to how bad it made us look, but the add to it the fact that I’ve had to hear about it all week? You are not funny. You are not clever. You are not showing the true Aggie spirit going into this season in the SEC. Please stop wasting your money and donate it to good causes…

MDA
Like the Muscular Dystrophy Association! Not real happy with how the Labor Day telethon-but-its-not-a-telethon fundraiser went. Gone is the excitement of watching the numbers rise. Gone is a long period of time to bring in dollars. Yes, they got bigger names than ever before. But, dang it, I don’t watch for that! I watched for the show of hope and love. I watched because it warmed my heart just as fast as it broke it. I watched because the money raised was exciting! (We still don’t have a total, and I doubt we will. Sadness!)

And don’t EVEN get me started on how the local Nashville Fox station decided to cut the last hour and show it after the news instead of just moving the news for one night. I’m still ticked off to the -nth degree about THAT.

Please, MDA, find a way to bring back the Labor Day telethon. Please. We live in a world with blinders… the telethon gave people a view into others’ life struggles and got others to reach out and help each other. Thank you for all you do! And Thank You to everyone who donated!

Politics
I hate politics. Be it the presidential election or be it just navigating the work place. Politics stress me out.

That being said. This is the ONLY POLITICAL STATEMENT YOU’LL SEE IN THIS BLOG. So here goes. I don’t consider myself a democrat. I don’t consider myself republican. I don’t consider myself “independent.” I consider myself an American who will vote based on what I see as being the person or people who will care for this country best. So, please, don’t try to sway me that one party is the best party, because I don’t agree with that. I never have. I never will.

Photography
I love photography. I AM turning it into a career.

But to say I am disappointed that both  my weddings this year ended up off my books would be an understatement. At least one is just postponed. So that’s hopeful! Its perhaps for the best, since I was so nervous about it. But it also made me sad, and I went through about a week of just not having my usual photo-interest. Licking my wounds, for lack of a better way to describe it. But my interest is back, and I’m not giving up! I love it too much to give up.

Football
Ahhh… I was born and raised in Texas, and there is a reason why all those football movies and TV shows get set in Texas. Football is KING.

When my brother posted on Facebook about hating to see school start. I just replied back, “But… football!”

Be it high school, college or professional. I love it. Last week I was screaming at my laptop, listening to my high school pull off a last minute win with a 2-pt conversion. I’m GIDDY to go get together with other Middle Tennessee Aggies watch Texas A&M play this Saturday. And, hey, the Cowboys won this week. A pleasant surprise for sure! Now lets see what the Titans do…

I. Love. Football. (I don’t love how it can turn normally civil people its jerks, but that’s their issue and beside the point and a post for another time.)

A photo
Since I’m not entirely sure how to end this post, I’ll leave you with a photo…

301: Downtown at sunset

Weekly Winners (Aug. 26 – Sept. 2)

Started by the lovely Lotus, Weekly Winners is a fun little thing bloggers do to showcase some of their favorite photos from the previous week.

Visit Lotus’ site and check out her various entries, and find other participants. See some amazing photos brought to you by bloggers around the world. Leave a little love when you do — its like food for the soul!

 

Photos taken using my Droid Razr, Nikon Coolpix L20 or Sony DSLR A230.
View all of my photos on my Flickr stream.

♥♥♥

It came to my attention that Google Chrome users have been blocked from viewing my blog due to malware warnings being thrown from my other domain name that I use to host some of the images in my design. Upon deeper inspection (and a day-long lesson in site hacking) I discovered the index page of that domain name had indeed been infected with a Trojan. The virus has been removed due to my having a back-up of that site to upload and overwrite the bad files. However, work is still being done to investigate where it came from in the first place — so it can be avoided happening again (or getting worse!). In the mean time, Firefox and Explorer users should be fine to view this blog, but Chrome is still getting blocked. Once I know any backdoors are buttoned up, I’ll go through the process of un-blocking my site on the Google network.

In the mean time, some of my favorite photos from the last week:

Bailey
I’ve discovered I have about ten photos of Bailey to every one of Smokey. But he’s so photogenic and patient with me. My sweet, sweet Bailey.

291: New earrings
My husband occasionally surprises me with gifts from the road. Last weekend, he surprised me with earrings from Montana. Love, love, love them!

296: Blue moon
The blue moon was so bright!! I unfortunately just haven’t been able to invest in the right type of lens for good moon shots, but I love the ring that formed around the moon due to the clouds.

298: Wet web
Wet web. I hate spiders, but I know the good these guys are, so I don’t mess with them. Besides, it offered me a great photo opportunity!

Red bead
Red beads in my tree! I’m not sure what kind of tree it is, but I like it!

After the rain
Rain drops made the yard seem to sparkle in the sunlight after rain from what is left of Hurricane Isaac came through.

After the rain
I’m thankful for the rain, and the clean, clear beauty it leaves behind.

♥♥♥