Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Oooh...HAPPY Halloween!

So we went to the mall tonight for trick or treating, thanks to Tropical Storm Noel bringing wind and rain to the area. So we're going around, and come across Victoria's Secret...which had this sign up....


...WELL then...I guess all they are offering are TRICKS now...I think I'll go have a looksee! ;)

Careful when buying from Buy.com

They don't seem to package their stuff well enough...


NOTE: The item inside was not damaged, but was so poorly prepared for shipment that this is how it arrived, box crushed, torn...I'm amazed. I probably won't buy from them for awhile now.

Happy Halloween!

Some of the people I work with...


...freaks.

(Okay, I'm in the photo, too...)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Me (Gauze Ghoul). Halloween 2007.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Florida Wildlife

I'm starting to get scared of my backyard. First we had a white rabbit...now a huge iguana...


So I went outside to see if I could catch it...and you wouldn't think these things are fast, but boy are they! It got into a tree fairly quickly, and out of my grasp. Overall, head to tail, it was about 3-4 feet long.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Herald Hunt 2007!

The Hunt for 2007...is over. I will have to write more later...but I want to share some of the pics with you now...(You can always go to my site and see what I thought...)

Nice banner! This would look good in my home office...

The crowd swells...

We had famous Americans...

The key to another puzzle...

A golf tournament...

Flying sharks...and other animals...

Mermaids....??!

...and the Electric Slide (not a puzzle, but just a crowd thing...)

Dave and Tom thanked me for my site...

...and were kind enough to still be photographed with me later.

Judi Smith and I (thanks for EVERYTHING, Judi!)

...and then I just conked out.

...but some beer got me going again!

...and we had a great time with friends!

It was a GOOD YEAR this year...and I can't wait for the D.C. Hunt on May 18th!

Help me, R2-D2, you're my only hope...

...of winning the Herald Hunt!

Aussie Floyd!


They're coming soon! I can't wait!

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Max

Max and I (December 10th, 2001)

Max Wenzel
8/14/1969 - 10/10/2007

One of my few first cousins (Max) committed suicide last night in Oregon. He had recently been diagnosed with systemic cancer, and just pulled away from everyone, visited his favorite places, some friends, made some type of arrangements to be cremated, left a note...and then took his life.

In my generation of my family (on my father's side), there were only five children total...my two sisters and I, my cousin Nick...and Max. My sisters were older than Max and didn't really have any real strong relationship with him, Nick is only 12 or so years old...but Max was about a year or so older than me, and he and I got along.

Max had difficulties finding his place in life. In particular, he was diagnosed only late in high school with dyslexia, he had a tendency to be somewhat anti-social. It wasn't easy for people to get close to Max. I think I did, however. I used to go up to Wisconsin in the summers when I was young and used to spend time with Max...we had a great time. I miss those days. Unfortunately, as we got older, we rarely spoke. The picture above is from the last time we saw each other.

While he had girlfriends over the years, he never got married and never had any children. He also never really seemed to find his 'true calling', but he did come to love the Oregon coastline.

Poor Max...and my poor aunt and uncle...

Max, I love ya, buddy...and I'm sorry that you felt this was the way that you needed to go...I hope you're finding the happiness and peace you wanted and needed. I'll miss you. We all will.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Beauty of a sunset, Hal!

Seeing patterns...

Coming into work the other day, I found this weird pattern formed in the condensation on the door to the office...who the heck would draw this weird pattern?

Upon further inspection, I found the culprit trying to quickly hide...