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Archive for March, 2006

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I’m on Schmap!

Thursday, March 23rd, 2006

In a previous post, I had mentioned that two of my photos from my Flickr.com site had been shortlisted for inclusion in Schmap’s New York online guide.  Well, one of the two made it into the guide!

The photo that made the cut is the one of the scrolling message board in the Staten Island Ferry terminal.  To see it, go to Schmap.com and download the New York guide.  Then, from the New York guide’s home page, click on the magnifying glass in the lower, left-hand corner to do a search for “staten island ferry.”  This will pull up a listing in the Directory on the left-hand side.  Click on “Staten Island Ferry,” and you will see a rotation of three photos — one of which is mine — in the upper, right-hand corner.  Clicking on the photo takes you to my Flickr site.

Also, I am — or, I should say, my flickr name (TimDan2) is — listed in the credits.  From the home page, click on “Photo credits” under “Credits.”

You make bath time lots of fun!

Monday, March 13th, 2006

I spent most of this past weekend doing boring things around the house, like cleaning and storing our humidifier, cleaning the oven, and moving the boxes we have packed, to date, all to one location.  The quest to sort through, consolidate, pack and — sometimes — get rid of our stuff continues.  My mind is in the mode of grouping everything I see into one of five categories: 1) pack for storage, 2) pack to bring with, 3) give to my parent’s (they bought some of our furniture, etc. for their new cabin), 4) bring to Goodwill, or 5) set out for the trash collector to take (or anyone else who wanders by).

I also gave our dog, Jake, a bath.  He HATES baths and, so, we haven’t given him one in a long time.  In the past, we have practically had to pin him down to pour a little water on him, soap him up and, then, rinse him off.  He squirms around, with all four of his legs flailing about in an effort to get away, and makes this sad crying/screaming noise that — if the neighbors heard — they would think that we were torturing the poor thing!  One time when Dan was giving him a bath years ago, Jake got Dan in the eyelid with one of his (Jake’s, of course) claws, and I had to take Dan to the emergency room!  I decided to give Jake a bath on Saturday after having run across — while recently cleaning out a cabinet in the bathroom — the shampoo for dogs that we use.  It reminded me that he hadn’t had a bath in a long time, and I figured that he probably should have one before we hit the road.  So, I put on my shorts and t-shirt (You WILL get wet on this ride!), grabbed a tupperware pitcher from the kitchen, found an old beach towel, got the shampoo out of the cabinet, ran the water to warm it up and filled the pitcher with the warm water.  Jake was watching all this, but I think he just thought I was going to take a shower.  Then, I called him over, scooped him up in my arms, stepped into the tub, and squatted with Jake between my knees.  Then, I poured some of the warm water over his back; no, he still doesn’t like baths!  He tried to leap out of my arms, but I set the pitcher down and pulled him back into the confines of my legs and arms.  Well, he was partially wet, so I squirted some shampoo into the wet fur and lathered up that area.  I repeated this — with Jake trying to leap away every time I poured water on him — until he was fully lathered.  I avoided his head altogether because Dan and I conjectured that the worst part for him is getting water in his eyes.  He didn’t mind the actual lathering part because it’s just as if I was petting or scratching him.  A few good dumps of warm water over the soapy areas and we were done.  He did still make the crying/screaming noise, but it seemed to be more subdued than I had remembered.  Maybe it’s his age; he’s eight years old, now.  Or, maybe he’s getting used to being constrained by me each month when I trim his nails.  He doesn’t care for that, either, but has become accustomed to the routine and hardly tries to squirm away anymore.  In any case, the hard part was over, and I just needed to towel him off and give him a treat — yea!!
 
Both of our jobs now know that we will be leaving.  I put in my notice a month ago.  I hadn’t planned on announcing my leaving that early, but my boss — the manager of our area (Guest Research) — left in mid-February to work at a marketing firm.  This meant that after I left, the Research area would consist of one person (Ben, the Guest Relations and Research Assistant), so I wanted to give my boss’s boss (Terry) enough time to plan for my departure.  I’ve been working on passing key information on to Ben, updating documentation of the workings of the Research area, and generally tying up any loose ends.

 

Heard of schmap.com??

Friday, March 3rd, 2006
Earlier this week I received an email letting me know that two of my photos on my Flickr site have been short-listed for inclusion in the Schmap New York Guide, to be published in late March.  I wouldn't receive royalties or ... [Continue reading this entry]