The Scriptorium

Closed

2009-09-04T20:05:00.004-04:00

So I'm closing up shop here for the duration. Seems I got the seven-year itch or something, and this space just isn't doing it for me any longer. I've decided to go "underground", and am starting a new blog under a pseudonym (no, not a Pseudonymph, that's someone completely different). I think I will be better able to express myself that way, and who knows what can happen when more freedom is at play? Anyway, I'll try to email those who I think will be interested with the new site address. If you don't get an email right away, it's because of one of 3 things: I haven't got around to it yet; I don't think you're interested; it just totally slipped my mind. If you are interested and you want to take the time, email me a reminder to send you the address (or leave me a comment here).

A Prayer for Father's Day

2009-06-21T19:52:00.002-04:00

One of the elder members of our church read out this prayer in service this evening:

Almighty and everlasting God, from whom cometh every perfect gift; send down upon our fathers, both here in this life and with Thee, the healthful Spirit of Thy grace. And, that it may truly please Thee, pour upon them the continual dew of Thy blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honor of our Advocate and Mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessings to all of you who are fathers and fathers-to-be today...

Closed for Maintenance...

2009-06-11T18:59:00.003-04:00

I've been very sporadic lately on posting here, partly due to being busy all the time, with the overtime I've been getting lately. I'm generally so tired when I get home I forget everything I wanted to write about here. Another factor is the Facebook thing. It's so much easier to write a snippet there, that I generally do that instead of log in here. Also, there's the fact that lately what I want to write about is either spiritual or political, and that's not really the tone I've set for this space. I have another, more private space where I plan to write about spiritual things (shoot me an email if you're interested in reading that and I'll send you the address), and I've been kicking around the idea of starting a political blog. Haven't done that yet, due to the aforementioned time constraints. Anyway, all that to say that I'm taking a hiatus from The Scriptorium for a while. I'll still be reading and commenting on other blogs, and hope to keep posting photos on my flickr account.

Happy Easter to all!

2009-04-11T23:14:00.002-04:00

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

2009 Lexington Tea Party

2009-03-22T11:45:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I went to the Tea Party rally/protest in downtown Lexington, to protest the current administration's spending/governing policies. It was a good chance also for me to try out my new camera. It performed even better than I had hoped. The photo above was taken from close to 50 yards away. The clarity with it is just awesome, especially compared to what I had been using. I'm looking forward to trying out the macro on it, and I know that I will be just as happy with that. The rally was very cool too, the first time I'd ever attended a political rally. Speeches, signs, costumes, and a brilliant day of sunshine for it all. I've uploaded the best of the photos onto both my Facebook page and my Flickr account...

Mission G

2009-02-23T07:24:00.002-05:00

There's a new commercial out for Gatorade that I just saw last night. I thought it was clever, so went to the website to see if there was more. Turns out, they had several in a series, which they strung together to make the following mini-feature. It's a shameless ripoff, of course, but at least it's a ripoff of one of the BEST. MOVIES. EVER. IMO...

This is how we will get our "tax break" from Obama...

2009-02-21T13:39:00.003-05:00

I decided to do a bit of comedy Photoshopping today--here are the results:

This may be the only "stimulation" coming from this new bill--don't spend it all in one place...

Gonna Have To Face It...

2009-02-07T04:42:00.002-05:00

60%

Gaaaaaaaagh! It's 4 in the freakin' morning, on a Saturday, and I can't sleep--again! So what do I do? Take an internet quiz about how addicted I am to blogging, of course... Actually, I'm a bit surprised the number wasn't higher. I think I'm gonna try to go back to sleep. In a minute. Just after I check out Facebook one more time... :}

This guy has the right idea...

2009-02-04T17:47:00.003-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions, which I never did get around to posting here, was to more fully integrate, both in my life and on this blog, the various areas of my life--religious, political, etc. In that spirit, I share with you a video of an interview with one governor who gets it. Mark Sanford is the Governor of South Carolina, a Republican, and one of the truest conservatives on the political scene today. The video is about 11 minutes long, and details his views on the "stimulus package" currently being proposed by the Federal Government. I encourage everyone to watch this, because Gov. Sanford makes a whole lot of sense in a time of seemingly senseless politics.

Happy February!

2009-02-01T13:06:00.004-05:00

I've added more (and better) photos of the ice on my Flickr account, for those who might be interested.

It's been a very busy week this past week; those of us who were able to make it in to work got really worked hard to make up for those who couldn't. In addition, some sort of virus attacked our India facility, where all the claims go for first level processing, so we had to make up for their shortfall as well. I think they have everything fixed now, but I worked at least 9 hours of OT over the past 8 days. Should be a good paycheck, though, and I need one or two of those... I'm pretty wore out, so this will be a short post. Later...

2009-01-28T19:41:00.002-05:00

I have several posts rolling around in my head, but seemingly no time to organize my thoughts enough to post it all lately. There's the one about my New Year's resolutions, which I will still post soon, even though it's nearly February, because some of the resolutions concern how I will use this blog in future. No worries, I'll still be here, just thinking about some areas that I rarely post about in my life that I may post about more in future.

Anyway, this post is about...the weather. Exciting, huh? That's about all I can handle at present, but it has been rather more interesting around here lately, weather-wise. We've had a bit of an ice storm over the last couple of days, as you can see from the photo above and the others which I have uploaded both on my Facebook page and on my Flickr account. It was fun chipping ice off my car in order to get out and do errands (doctor, DMV, that sort of thing), but I did manage to get pretty much everything done that I really needed to do. Then I rented a couple of movies, stocked up on supplies (you know, beer and snacks :)), then settled in for the rest of the afternoon.

Funny story: I got my car all chipped out and ready to go, when one of my neighbors, who had broken his ice scraper trying to get the ice off his windows, asked if he could borrow mine. I don't really know him, but am pretty open-handed with those sort of things, so I gave it to him, said that I was on my way to a doctor's appointment, and he could leave my scraper in front of my apartment door when he was done. Eric, a young man from Cameroon, said that he didn't want to leave the scraper in the hall in case someone stole it before I got home. So he said he would keep it for me, and I should come to his apartment when I got back to retrieve it. I agreed and went on to the clinic. When I got home, I stopped downstairs at Eric's apartment to get my scraper. He had, of course, broken it. I don't know what else I expected, since he had broken his own before borrowing mine. Still, no big deal--they are not that expensive. After handing me back my broken scraper, though, he asked to come in and "hang out" for a while. I really didn't feel like being with people at the moment, and sensed that he wanted more than just to talk, so I declined. Then he asked me when we were going to go out. I'm pretty sure that I'm at least 10 years older than him, 6 inches taller than him, and outweigh him by several pounds. WTF? He was very persistent, and I just kept giving him vague declinations. Turns out, he works for the same place I do, except as a security guard on the overnight shift. When I went in to work today, I asked the day shift guard, a woman, if she knew him and her impressions of him. She basically told me that he would eventually ask me for money. Good luck with that, I haven't got any to give! :)

Maybe it's just me...

2009-01-05T22:51:00.007-05:00

Maybe it's just me, but as I was flipping through channels tonight, and stopped for a bit on Superstars of Dance, it occurred to me: is or is not Michael Flatley starting to look a bit like Liberace?

A meme for the New Year...

2009-01-03T17:34:00.017-05:00

It seems that Mr. Farty at least is ~~bugging me~~ clamoring for a new post from me, but this will have to do for now. I have plans to post my resolutions for the new year, but first I have to ~~think them up~~ do many important things around here.

So anyway, Ricardipus has posted a quite extensive meme, and I thought I'd ~~placate~~ entertain my reader(s) with that for the moment. Here's the rules: 1. Everyone uses this same list of 99 Things. 2. Feel free to add editorial comments (mine are in square brackets). 3. Change the font of each item according to the legend below. 4. That's it! Simple, really.

Things I’ve already done: boldface
Things I want to do: italics
Things I haven’t done and don’t want to: plain text

99 Things

1. started your own blog [obviously, several of them, but only keep up with this one]

2. slept under the stars [I've always had at least a tent over me]

3. played in a band [If tambourine counts, then I've played in a band. I've definitely sung in a band, though...]

4. visited Hawaii [I'd go if someone I really liked wanted to, and was prepared to foot the bill, but it's not really on my list of places I want to go...]

5. watched a meteor shower [lying in a ditch on the side of the road with about 4 guys, but that's another story...]

6. given more than you can afford to charity [generally, if I give to charity, it's "more than I can afford"...]

7. been to Disneyland/world [the "happiest place on Earth" would just make me crazy with all the people, I think...]

8. climbed a mountain [being in the mountains sounds fun; climbing one, not so much]

9. held a praying mantis

10. sang a solo [ask the Casa Girls about that one]

11. bungee jumped [no thanks]

12. visited Paris [thought about it while in London, but didn't really have the $$$]

13. watched a lightning storm at sea [sounds like fun, as long as it's not a hurricane]

14. taught yourself an art from scratch [I'm very artsy--my mom says I practically came out of the womb sewing, which sounds painful, when you think of it...]

15. adopted a child [again, something I would do for a mate, but not something I would think of on my own, unless a close friend with children died or something...]

16. had food poisoning [not diagnosed, but probably have had a mild case at one time]

17. walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty [do they still let people do that?]

18. grown your own vegetables [grew up with farming parents]

19. seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. slept on an overnight train [something romantic like the Orient Express, maybe--not the "red eye" to Milwaukee, thanks...]

21. had a pillow fight [duh, I'm a girl...]

22. hitch hiked [no thanks, not looking to be serial killed]

23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill [shhh, don't tell :) ]

24. built a snow fort

25. held a lamb

26. gone skinny dipping [does a hot tub count?]

27. run a marathon [boy, wouldn't that be something to see, just before they call the paramedics...]

28. ridden a gondola in Venice

29. seen a total eclipse [sun and moon]

30. watched a sunrise or sunset [both]

31. hit a home run

32. been on a cruise [would love to do an Alaskan cruise, or one of those that go around to Norway, Sweden, and Denmark]

33. seen Niagara Falls in person [as a child, don't remember much about it]

34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors [just the ones a generation or so back :) ]

35. seen an Amish community [seen Shaker communities, but not Amish]

36. taught yourself a new language [I have a bit of Spanish, but didn't teach myself, I had a teacher...]

37. had enough money to be truly satisfied [does anybody?]

38. seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. gone rock climbing [been there, not a fan]

40. seen Michelangelo’s David in person [want to with all my heart]

41. sung karaoke [love it, especially seeing the people who expect just another off-key drunk, then I open my mouth...]

42. seen Old Faithful geyser erupt in person

43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant [wish I had the money to do this, especially when I see a soldier in uniform]

44. visited Africa

45. walked on a beach by moonlight

46. been transported in an ambulance [just a broken hand in a car wreck; I was a bit embarrassed by all the attention]

47. had your portrait painted [did my self-portrait in painting class--it's not bad, but needs work.]

48. gone deep sea fishing [I'd go along for the ride, sounds like an adventure]

49. seen the Sistine Chapel in person [oh, please, please, please, may I?]

50. been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris [even though I'm a BIG 'fraidy cat with heights, I'd maybe do it for the Eiffel Tower]

51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling [I don't swim well, but think I could maybe do it with "life support"...]

52. kissed in the rain [pretty sure I have, but can't think when]

53. played in the mud [Um, a kid in Kentucky? Where else would we play?]

54. gone to a drive-in theater [there was one down the road from us]

55. been in a movie [why not, sounds like fun...]

56. visited the Great Wall of China

57. started a business [does Amway count? :) ]

58. taken a martial arts class [not really my thing]

59. visited Russia

60. served at a soup kitchen [just last weekend, in fact]

61. sold girl scout cookies [yeah, back in the days when you actually went door-to-door]

62. gone whale watching

63. gotten flowers for no reason [Surely, I must have, but can't remember when. I've given them for no reason, though..]

64. donated blood [sold plasma in college, but I don't seem to have a high enough hematacrit (?) level for them to take whole blood from me...]

65. gone sky diving [no thanks]

66. visited a Nazi concentration camp [That sounds weird to want to visit, but it's important that we remember...]

67. bounced a check

68. flown in a helicopter

69. saved a favorite childhood toy [too late for wishing now]

70. visited the Lincoln memorial [did a "drive-by" on our 1 1/2 hour whirlwind photo tour of DC--would like to do it properly, though...]

71. eaten caviar [it's not really all the hype would lead you to believe...]

72. pieced a quilt [a machine quilt, but I designed it myself...]

73. stood in Times Square

74. toured the Everglades

75. been fired from a job [a couple of times]

76. seen the changing of the guard in London

77. broken a bone [I don't recommend it...]

78. been on a speeding motorcycle [depends on your definition of "speeding", but at highway speeds,yes]

79. seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. published a book [I illustrated it, but my name is on the front cover...]

81. visited the Vatican

82. bought a brand new car [a couple of them--one only had 14 miles on it when I bought it]

83. walked in Jerusalem

84. had your picture in the newspaper [never in the police blotter, though...]

85. read the entire Bible [once, it took me three years on a "plan"]

86. visited the White House

87. killed and prepared an animal for eating [If fish counts, yes. I've been very close when it was done, though--my dad was a hunter and we often had game to eat. I could do it if I needed to, I think, especially the prep part...]

88. had chickenpox [my brother gave it to me for Christmas one year]

89. saved someone’s life [never had to, thank God]

90. sat on a jury

91. met someone famous [Jim Varney used to come to the Spencer Gifts I managed to buy gold jewelry]

92. joined a book club [could be fun, if it were the right one]

93. lost a loved one

94. had a baby [no, thanks--loooove other people's kids, though]

95. seen the Alamo in person

96. swum in the Great Salt Lake

97. been involved in a law suit [does divorce count?]

98. owned a cell phone [Hellooooo, it's 2009...]

99. been stung by a bee

So that makes 43 things that I have done, 41 things that I want to do, and 16 things that I haven't done, and don't really care if I do. By the way, if you're still reading this, consider yourself tagged...

I'm baaaaaaack...

2008-12-08T17:41:00.002-05:00

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!! I'm back, y'all! The guys at the Geek Squad, especially Blaine, are geniuseses. As it turns out, it seems the power supply IS all that was wrong with my computer and, about $200 later, I'm back in business! Now to sort through the 85 emails waiting on my server for my attention...

Waiting...

2008-12-04T17:47:00.002-05:00

So I'm still "offline" for the moment. I'm at the public library right now, with the clock ticking down on my hour of surfing delight. I have ordered the power supply for my iMac, which was a bit of a pain because I ended up having to have a friend order it for me. The guy on eBay from whom I ordered it would only take Paypal, not just a credit card, and I could not for the life of me remember my Paypal password. When I tried to get them to send me an email to change my password, it never came. So I was screwed. I have my password saved...on my desktop. Of course, if I could get to that, I wouldn't need it. I guess I'm learning all sorts of lessons, here... Anyway, the part is ordered and should be here in the next couple of days. The Geek Squad @ Best Buy says that they will install it for me, for a small fee, once I bring it to them. Now I just have to hope that all that is wrong with the computer is the power supply...

Bummer...

2008-11-25T18:27:00.002-05:00

So I think that Rik may have jinxed me :) Yesterday, we had a bit of a rainstorm, and apparently an additional power surge for good measure. I had four items plugged up to my surge protector: my computer, my speakers, my DSL modem, and one of my printers. Of those, three of them came through unscathed. Guess which one did not? That's right--the computer. Apparently, my power supply on the iMac was killed to DEATH. So, I have to either find a new power supply and get it installed, or make my way to Cincinnati, where the nearest Apple service center is located, to have it done there. All that to say, I'm gonna be very sporadic online for the next little while. If anyone really needs to get in touch with me quickly, telephone is the way to go for now. Now if I could just find some methadone for the facebook and email addictions...

My Desktop

2008-11-22T05:41:00.003-05:00

My friend Bryan has a very cool photo of the interior of Ely Cathedral as his wallpaper. He has asked those of us who read his blog to share with the world, "What's on your desktop?" Mine is above, a photo that I took of Stonehenge when I was there a couple of years ago. I like this particular shot because it's still daylight (taken about 3:30pm on January 2, 2007), but you can see the moon just above the stones. It's been my wallpaper pretty much since I came home from that trip, mostly because I've been unmotivated to change it. Maybe it's time for a change of scenery...

It's my birthday!

2008-11-18T05:30:00.000-05:00

My friend Cari, otherwise known as evilpromqueen, sent me this wee birthday wish, for my birthday, duh... Isn't it the cutest? Thanks to everyone who sent me well wishes on teh Facebook...

Barack O'Bama?

2008-11-13T18:10:00.003-05:00

Well, it seems that our new prez, Barack O'Bama (that's right) has found his Irish roots. There's even a catchy new tune about it:

I have to wonder: has Obama ever seen this movie?

Obama Campaign Aftermath

2008-11-06T18:27:00.002-05:00

A "campaign update" from The Onion, a very funny website:

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

Thanks to Will for the find...

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T06:51:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween, everyone! Make it a great one but a safe one, 'k? I will be dressing up for work today; if all goes well, photos to follow...

Alright, already! :)

2008-10-28T18:58:00.002-04:00

So it's been so long since I've last posted that I've actually got people complaining about it. I didn't even know anyone was still reading me. Good to know, actually...

Mr. Farty is helping me get back into the swing of things by tagging me for a meme: Seven Random Things About Me. I already have 100 things about me on my sidebar, but they were written about 5 years ago, so I guess they are getting a bit out of date. So here we go, after far too long an introduction:

1. My political views are generally shaped by the quote, "He who gives a man a fish, feeds him for a day; he who teaches a man to fish feeds him forever."
2. I am probably far too "artsy" to be as conservative as I am, but there you go...
3. I think that guys with bald (shaved) heads are sexy. Generally speaking...
4. I am a recovering pack rat. I am systematically trying to rid myself of the "dust catchers" in my apartment. You know, so I can go out and get some more...
5. I have a deep fascination with all things Celtic. Scotland, Ireland, Wales--that's my idea of a great 1-month holiday itinerary...
6. I used to sing backup vocals in a "rock" band. "Rock" in quotes because it was a '50's and '60's band. Not hard rock...
7. I used to be a belly dancer, for fun but not for profit. Not for lack of trying to make it profitable, mind you...

OK, there's my random 7. Now let's see who's reading this by tagging some more folks: Ricardipus, Dawn the Wrathful, Cari (on MySpace or Facebook, your choice), Rik Aitch, Aled, Liz, and Will, if for no other reason than to get him to blog about something other than politics for a change... :)

Arrr!

2008-09-19T06:20:00.002-04:00

It's that time again! International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Now go out there and shiver their timbers! Arrrrrr! *cough*cough*cough*

Craig Ferguson on voting...

2008-09-11T20:01:00.004-04:00

Craig Ferguson is probably my favorite late-night talk show host, although I rarely am able to stay up late enough to watch him. Usually if I want to see him, I'll record it or look on YouTube, which is where this bit came from (by way of Will's blog), aired last night, I guess. It's a shame that we Merkans, as Mr. Farty calls us, have to be schooled by our newest citizens on how to behave...

Disclaimer: I know that some of you do not vote due to religious convictions, and I do not think that you all are morons. I get the "conscientious objector" thing. This rant of Craig's I think is more directed to those who can't be arsed to get to the polls due to apathy. Make the time this year. It's more important than ever...

What My Name Means...

2008-08-24T08:58:00.002-04:00

This is actually fairly accurate in my case, both the good and the not-so-good parts. I've never really thought of myself as "bold and daring", but I suppose for something I really want, I can be...

What Debi Means

You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row.

You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace.

People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous.

You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things.

Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times.

You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.

You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.

You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?