Category: flickr

all about me, blog on blog, civil rights, flickr, happenings, near and dear, nursing, school

year end… again

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So again, I find myself at the end of another year, and I am sitting here asking myself, what has happened with this year? It has flown by. Since I started nursing school, and since being a nurse full time, I find that I need to have way more down time, and time that I spend recovering from the job, mostly because it is so tough. That being said, I am definitely still here, and things are good; in fact, much better right now than before, and I feel that it will keep getting better. Here’s a few things that have happened recently that I probably should have blogged about, but didn’t.


In September, James and I got married in DC. Here’s a lot of photos, and I realize that I need to upload so many more… in time. It was an amazing experience. We have been together for a little over 11 years, and we got married with friends and family, and it was honestly, the best I could have imagined. My parents were there, James’ parents were there, and everything went over without any issues. The wedding itself was short and sweet, which I liked, the reception was amazing, and is something that we can always cherish. There were many great memories, lots of fun, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

A little over a month ago, I decided to take a big chance, and switch jobs (and hospitals). So far, going from the Emergency Department to the ICU has been a bit of a change (unorganized chaos to timely structure), but I can already tell that I am a lot less stressed, and a lot less upset all of the time. I think the pressure of the ungrateful, not-sick-give-me-a-sandwich patients in the ED finally wore me out, and the universe gave me a huge sign that it was time for a change. I am excited about this new opportunity, and I cannot wait until I get more accustomed to my new environment, and feel as comfortable here as I did in the ED. I have already learned a lot, and I know that this was a good move, and I am excited for the new experience.

Lastly, I started grad school for my MSN, which will propel me from RN to FNP. I am getting more into the process, and I am sure that this is going to be a great thing in the long run, but it’s definitely another major undertaking, that I have decided to take on. It seems that I either love school, or love student loan debt, because here I go again… although the outcome will be a major reward, and I know that it will be difficult, but is ultimately a great choice.

All in all, it’s been a busy year, and many changes have taken place; and I expect great things as a result. Here’s to a great (and hopefully even better than 2014) 2015!

flickr, venting

only friends and or family can see this photo

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Well, I finally had enough of my photos on flickr being stalked by pervs and favorited like crazy be people that had no identifiable profile, so I had to make my entire flickr account friends and family only (this sucks, because I noticed that my William Fitzsimmons photos from the previous post no longer show up… bummer). I don’t know how long I will keep it that way, nor do I know if I will “unlock” some of my photos for mass internet consumption once again, but I had just had enough. I literally get tons of favorites, and the mass adding of some specific photos to galleries; something that you cannot control other than to simply delete them yourself. I guess I’d had enough.

The tattoo pictures specifically got a lot of action. See, I am happy that people enjoyed my pictures of mine and James’ tattoos, but NO I don’t want it to be inspiration for YOUR next tattoo. I don’t want emails asking me if you can copy the design, and no I don’t want you to favorite pictures of me with my shirt off showing my tattoo when we aren’t even friends, and you have no pictures/profile to speak of. Also, pictures of feet, a picture of a woman in a thong that I had to delete, and things I was scratching my head wondering why so many people were favoriting that photo meant I am done with this bullshit.

Perhaps I am being harsh, but I freaking pay for flickr, and I think it is a shame that anyone can just sign up for an account, and can turn a fun photo sharing experience into something weird and pervy; so I did what I could to stop it from pissing me off further. If you want to be a friend of mine on flickr, add me, and I may add you back; but I am turning into one of those bitchy people that state they will only add friends that have an active profile, profile picture, and actual photos to share on their profile pages.

Sorry, but thems the ropes, folks. No more mister free balling, let photos fly in the wind flickr guy over here. After thinking about it while writing this, I may make some picture public and others private (and yes, I know nothing is truly private on the internet, but at least it isn’t being waived around in my face for crying out loud, and on a site I pay for), but we’ll have to determine them on a photo by photo basis. It sucks, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do.

concerts, flickr, music musings, music suggestion

William Fitzsimmons @ Smith’s Olde Bar, April 14, 2011

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After being a fan for several years now, I finally got to see the amazing William Fitzsimmons this week at the intimate upstairs venue in Smith’s Olde Bar, here in Atlanta. I was pleased upon arriving to the show to find that Smith’s is now smoke free, which I have to say, made for an even better night. Immediately upon walking in to Smith’s, it was neat to see William casually having dinner in the bar; they are just like real people, aren’t they?

The show started with Slow Runner, a band I had never heard of previously, but a band that I am infinitely more interested in after seeing live. They were adorable all around (especially the bass player; what a hottie), and their sound reminded me a lot of the Postal Service. They were excellent live, and it is always great to discover a new band.

The show was somewhat of an intimate affair; I have never been to a concert where most of the people actually sat on the floor rather than standing. This started with Slow Runner, and continued on when William took the stage, and it was actually very pleasant, and made the concert even more intimate and enjoyable. One thing that was pretty annoying, was something that I notice at a lot of concerts (especially with acoustic artists); the audience was talking so much that you could hear them almost more than the band playing. Well, that stopped when William got on stage, and after he sang a few songs. He told the audience that there was a “nice bar downstairs if they wanted to have a conversation, but this was a folk show, and if you wanted to stay, then you needed to respect those that come to see that show, and well, shut the fuck up”. Um, that was fucking awesome that he did that; and the audience responded by shutting up for the most part. I love when an artist takes the time to acknowledge those that are there to enjoy them, and demands the respect they so rightfully deserve from that audience, without being a diva about it. William wanted us to enjoy his show, and it was great to have him request that the audience respect everyone that was there to hear him; and not their conversation instead.

What followed was an exquisite, beautiful musical experience. In case you didn’t know, William’s musical style is an incredibly soft, almost whisper-driven type of folk, and his tender voice, aching lyrics, and self-proclaimed “depressed songs” softly echoed with an fragility that was palpable in the bar that night. He could not have performed more beautifully, and his talent was clear from the moment he took the stage; his vocal talent and musical ability are nothing less than studio quality live. It looked effortless to watch him, as he stood there and serenaded the audience with his delicate songs.

Between songs, he quipped about his somber tone, and how he was half-heartedly sorry to bring down the mood for the night; not that any of us really minded, after all, that’s why we were there. I was surprised by how funny he was, and that beneath that delicate voice was such a jokester. Much was said about his epic beard, and he had several funny stories about people getting caught in it as they posed with him for pictures.

Overall, it was an excellent concert, and I was honestly sad when it was over (which is a rarity for me at concerts, I usually cannot wait to get the fuck out of the venue; I have an amazing track record of finding the worst part of the audience to stand near at any show). I can definitely say, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to; both the music and the experience were top notch. Afterwards, we stuck around and got to meet William after the show. He was super nice, and seemed genuinely happy that we enjoyed the show and his music. I thanked him for coming to Atlanta, and told him I couldn’t wait for him to return; after such an amazing show, I can’t wait to see this guy live again.

So far, 2011 has been a great year for William Fitzsimmons in my book; a fantastic new album release, Gold In The Shadow (already one of my favorites of 2011 so far), and a truly amazing concert experience. Who could ask for more? Not this guy.

(Pictures here. Sorry, you can only see them if we are friends, because pervs and jerks ruined flickr for me.)

concerts, flickr, hotness, music musings, photography

Mat Kearney at Center Stage, October 16, 2009

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Well, this is a definitely a few weeks overdue, but I have had good excuses: I have definitely been busy. But enough about that; let’s get to my Mat Kearney concert experience.

Overall, the concert was great. Mat sounds amazing live, and totally delivers in concert. He probably played all of his songs from his first album, as well as his new album (which is amazing, btw). I couldn’t have wished for a better performance.
Mat Kearney @ Center Stage, ATL 10/16/09
I got a lot of great pictures of Mat, and even a few good ones of his crazy hot guitar player that was to the left of him; in fact, all of the backing band members were cute and bearded (which was definitely an added bonus). You can check out the whole set on flickr.

One cool thing that happened during his set, was when he was singing a song, and started to get down off of the stage to lean over and touch people’s hands: surprisingly, instead of just shaking hands and what not, he jumped off the stage into the crowd and ran right past us!! You could tell that no one was expecting it, because instead of rushing up to him, people just ran away from him. It was kind of funny, actually, because you would have expected the opposite. I managed to get a very paparazzi shot of the moment he was closest to me. Neat stuff indeed. I think it added to the whole concert, because he was clearly having fun because of the crowd. I did think that he was a bit cocky with expecting everyone to know the words to all of his songs, because near the end of the show, he pretty much just held up the microphone to the crowd for like 15 minutes. While that was a little annoying, it didn’t distract from how good the rest of the show was.

Since it was at a standing room only venue (Center Stage), I just knew that I would encounter some of those “we are entitled to walk to the front and stand in front of you because we are better people just because we are” people, and low and behold, about an hour into the show, they tried to push their way up in front of us. The best, though, was that they ended up in front of the people in front of me, and they were very vocal about their disapproval; they left after like 2 songs. I just don’t understand why people have that sense of entitlement. If you want to stand in the front, do like we did; get there early, and wait it out. If not, don’t complain when someone doesn’t want you to come up in front of them and stand there; we put in the time, so we deserve to be up front… you don’t. /rant

flickr, near and dear, photography, show the love

weekend walk through the park

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Yesterday, James and I took the doggies out to the park for a nice walk, and I took my camera, and snapped some great pictures. Here are a few of them:
us at the park
mr. pickles looks intense
*sniff*
This was actually Mr. Pickles’ first visit to the doggie park. He had a lot of fun, while Sydney did his typical, “why are there other dogs here?” stand offish thing. It was a nice little Sunday afternoon thing to do with my family, and hopefully, will motivate me to continue to taking more pictures; something that I REALLY need to do.

flickr, happenings, tragic

atlanta flood 2009

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I, like many of you, heard lots of reports of how bad the flooding was out there yesterday, and I don’t think I really realized it until I was driving home and saw this:
Ok I believe it's bad.
While I know my personal observation was relatively minor compared to everything else that went down, I have to say that the whole thing is rather scary. Also, it has me reliving when hurricane Floyd came through Greenville, NC, and the whole town was practically underwater because of the surge of the Tar River. I was in college at the time, and luckily, I lived in the dorms, so I personally was relatively “untouched” by the storm (well, except for being out of school for 2 weeks, and being forced out of the dorm because of water contamination). Well, that, and a lot of my friends lost their homes, cars, and most of their possessions, and it was horrible. I remember the aftermath of the storm, and the times after the flooding were almost worse than the actual flooding, so I know there are many Atlanta residents that have a long journey ahead of them.

My heart goes out to anyone that was touched by this unusually heavy storm; I hope that everyone is safe and their homes are safe as well. Luckily for us, we just lost power for a few hours, and that was the worst of it. I just hope that things don’t continue to escalate for those that have already suffered. If you are still out there facing the flooding, please, stay safe. I only hope that the coming days of forcasted rain don’t make this dire situation even worse.

flickr, friends, happenings, shiny stuff

get yer swimmies on!

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While I wasn’t able to move heaven, I definitely moved a lot of earth to make the pool possible. The “easy set” pool has to be on level ground, and if you look at the picture, you can tell that it STILL isn’t on totally level ground:
guess what
However, it is REALLY close, so I am not going to worry about it anymore (next year, James and I agreed that someone else will be coming out to level the ground before we try to install the pool ourselves). I have a very sore back, and I just hope that this damn thing was worth all of the headache, blood, sweat, and tears that went into making it a reality. I am going to focus on enjoying it, and try not to dwell on the minor leaning thing.

I got in it yesterday after it filled, to put the salt in, and it was very cool and nice, even though I didn’t actually “go for a swim”. It is only about 3 and a 1/2 feet deep, so it isn’t really enough to “swim” in, but it is surely enough for me to float in and drink a well deserved Mai Tai (which I am still trying to find my favorite recipe) or seven. I just hope that I can enjoy the fruits of all my back-breaking labor, and hopefully have a few friends over to share in the fun. Who’s in?

flickr, home improvement, listen up!

ikea faucet installation how to: something you need to know

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Oh Ikea… how do I love thee? I could go on forever counting the ways. For me, there is something cathartic about putting together your cute furniture, and a sense of accomplishment that comes along with it that is unlike most other things in this world. HOWEVER (and that is a BIG however), occasionally, you throw a major curve ball at me, and your other customers, and we have to figure out how to make the strange situation work for us.

This is a story of one of those curve balls.

After redoing the main bathroom’s shower and all of the headache that came with it, I refused to go back to using my shitty master bath’s vanity, so I figured I could just “add that on” to the other project. Most of all, it was easy fixes; there is nothing wrong with the shower in our master, and the floor is okay, so I just painted (sassy green!), and thought a new vanity and medicine cabinet was all I needed. For the most part, I have been 100% correct; I am totally happy with all of the somewhat minor changes that I have made. I LOVE the new cabinet, and the vanity is way more compact, and looks way more high end than the one that was in there since we moved in. However (there’s that word again!), I hit a snag when I went to connect the new faucet to the water supply line.
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
As you can see in the above picture, the lines were just a little too short, but that wasn’t the real problem; the fitting was completely different than the fitting of my previous faucet, which meant that they would not connect to the supply lines.

In fact, it should be stated to anyone that considers ever getting Ikea faucets, that their supply connection STANDARD is 1/2″ (which actually measures 1″ in diameter, which is just odd), not the 3/8″ standard for the United States (NOTE: I could be getting this backwards (but I’m pretty sure I’m not): Ikea says, “Connection hoses with 3/8″ connection included.”, but I’m fairly certain it was a 1/2″ connector at the end of the supply line… regardless, it doesn’t fit.). So what does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that the Ikea supply connections are far bigger than the existing connections that come out of your wall, and well, to put it bluntly, it just won’t work. I found this interesting, because it isn’t mentioned ANYWHERE in the Ikea manual for the faucet.

Hmmm…

So here’s what I did:

First, I googled the situation. I managed to find out that this is only a slightly known issue for those that have ventured into the realm of Swedish flat pack furniture, and lucky for me, there were solutions! So here’s what I had to do…

1) I went to Lowes, and was told they didn’t have what I needed. Don’t waste your time, go DIRECTLY to Ace Hardware, because they have everything you need; which differs from Steve’s (somewhat more complicated, sorry Steve!) solution I linked to above. Here’s what you will need:
2 connection adapters (not sure that’s what they are called); these will be the connection between the Ikea hoses and your new hose. It should be 1/2″ on the Ikea end, and 3/8″ on the other end for the new hose.
2 new faucet connector hoses, standard 3/8″ fittings on each end.

And that’s it!!

Now, here are some pictures, because this is incredibly difficult to explain just using words:
This is the new hose that I was describing with the male/male adapter installed on top:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
This will be screwed into the Ikea faucet connector:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
Now, the the Ikea faucet is screwed into an adapter, and that adapter is now screwed into a hose that has the standard connector for the supply line coming out of the wall. We’re all set!!!

This is what it looked like when I got everything all in:
ikea faucet installation: something you NEED to know!
$25 dollars and a little elbow grease, and it works like a charm. Now, I don’t know why those hoses start at 12″, causing me to have to snake it around like that, but I don’t care as long as it fucking works, and it does.

So, if you plan on getting a cute little sink, and oh-so-easy to install faucet to go with said sink, be sure to come back and reference this post. It will save you time, because you won’t have to start out empty handed; you can get the adapters and new hoses before you start!

Oh the joys of DIY home improvement… right?! Needless to say, I am more than happy with my “new” bathroom(s), and I can let out a sigh of relief and go back to loving Ikea wholeheartedly (even though I MAY have cursed their name a few points during the project); but don’t even get me started on that weird ass p-trap and the nonsense that went into getting that cluster fuck to work.

UPDATE: It didn’t occur to me to post pictures of the sink/faucet (I was focused on the stress of getting the damn thing installed), but Shan’s request reminded me; so here you go: (I may update this with actual photos of MY cabinet/sink/faucet in the near future, so check back for that)

flickr, is it just me?, listen up!, that is so gay, venting

it is NOT sexual preference!

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I don’t know how many times I have seen people refer to sexual orientation as sexual preference, but each and every time it pisses me the fuck off. Whether you choose to rest on ignorance or not is no excuse; the word preference is indicative of choice, and being gay is NOT A CHOICE.
FYI:
So therefore, if you CHOOSE to use the phrase sexual preference, I may CHOOSE to punch you in your fucking ignorant ass neck. I’m just saying.