I just snapped 20 pictures for Rannie’s film exchange without ever leaving my living room or patio. I think I got some really good shots too - after using digital so much lately, it’s interesting to use film and not have the preview option. You have to trust your instincts, which is a great lesson for good photography. Learn to look around you - you never know what you might find. Don’t be afraid to lay on the ground or stand on a chair - whatever you need to do to get the shot.

Speaking of getting an interesting shot, check out what you get when you combine a pinhole camera with the inside of your mouth. Amazing! [via Chris]

While I hooked Heather up with the Zip Zap that she really wanted for Hanukkah for Derek, some credit goes to Mike too, since he was the one that found the only Radio Shack in Houston with a steady supply of them. With that discovery, he was able to fill my need and the needs of others for cute remote control cars! Zoom Zoom! Is it Christmas yet? I want to play with mine!

Speaking of Christmas - the annual debate is here: when is the right time to put up the Christmas tree? Feel free to leave your feedback on this - I would love to know what you think!

Unlike some people I know, I don’t normally pay a lot of attention to college football - but Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be complete without a little Aggie football! (Does it count if I’m really watching the game because I want to see the Aggie Band?) Gig’em, Aggies! Beat The Hell Outta t.u.!

I have many things to be thankful for this past year, most of all my wonderful family and friends. Here is wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble, gobble!

News from Around the World:

:: Minnesota Man Declares Land a Sovereign Indian Nation and puts a Strip Club on It. Hmmm… well, it’s better than when he offered to sell a third of North Dakota to the Soviet Union back in 1959.

:: Law will Create ‘Playground’ for Children on the Internet They’ve approved the “Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act”, creating the .kids.us domain. They think it will help protect children from online predators. I think that’s up to parents, not the government. Should we place bets on how fast the predators and the pr0n infiltrate it?

:: A Feminist’s Barbie Conundrums - Barbie reflects our confusion about feminism in some pretty interesting ways.

:: Nuts Can Help Protect Women from Diabetes - considering the history of diabetes in my family, I think I need to start eating five or more servings of nuts or peanut butter a week!

:: Appeals Court Upholds Louisiana’s Sodomy Law - I wonder if the law is still on the books in Texas, and how it would hold up in court. I really don’t think it’s the government’s right to snoop around in our bedrooms, do you?

:: Speaking of Texas, porn showed up in a Ft. Worth businessman’s slide show and he was jailed because of it - somehow, it’s odd that child pornography just showed up in his slideshow. He claimed it was a virus on his computer; interesting, since they found he had e-mailed pictures to others and the virus placed a folder of printed pictures in his desk too. Nice to know he’s a pastor at a Baptist Church too.

:: Birth Control Pill for Men for Sale in 5 Years - well, it’s about friggin’ time!
[via We Have Brains]

WHOO HOO! It’s Robyn’s birthday! The Big 3-0! Whoo hoo!!! Hope you have an absolutely FANTASTIC DAY! Whenever you’re feeling old, just remember that I’m still older than you are! Hope that helps!

Happy Birthday! Hope all of your wishes come true!

This week’s This-or-That is all about the Turkey Day! It’s a day late, but here it goes…
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Oh my. Now I can’t stop singing the “Chim-Chimney” song from Mary Poppins. Yes, some brilliant Texan thought that he could get in to his locked house if he slid down his chimney. When he ended up wedged in the chimney in the country where most people refuse to take the blame for their own mistakes, what did he do? He blamed Mary Poppins, of course! Damn that Mary Poppins! Practically perfect in every way, my ass! (Uh oh. I think all this work today is making me punchy!) [via Minnesota Gardener]

So, it’s 9pm on the night before Thanksgiving, and what am I doing? Why, I’m taking a break from work! *sigh* What a day it has been! I knew when I left the office at 8:30 last night that it was going to be a long day. My boss was nice enough to let me come in at 10am since I had stayed late, which allowed me to relax - sort of - before coming in to the office. My first phone call from a client was at 8:30 this morning, and he wasn’t too happy about things that were completely out of my control. Can’t say I blame him, but there also was nothing I could do. Talked to the boss at 9 as I went to the bagel shop. Mmmm… bagels. Got to the office at 10 and started to work on the content that needs to get on a site that is launching on Monday afternoon.

Maybe now is a good time to note that while I can code HTML with the best of them (I hand code using Notepad most of the time), my job is a Project Manager. I don’t code for a living, it’s not what brings home the bacon. But it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and all of the Designers are on vacation. The work had to get done, and I was the only person available that was volunteering to do it.

After working through lunch, I was pretty run down by the time 5pm rolled around. I sent out the last critical client e-mails and then I asked if I could finish up from home. Now I’m working off of a 20 page fax and making these revisions so that they are in place before the next round comes in on Friday. Yes, you got that right - I’ll be working Friday too. Like I said … it has to get done, and someone has to do it. I’ve been told they will make it up to me with alternate time off, and with the holidays coming up it would be nice to do some shopping when it’s not a madhouse out there. Plus I can work on Friday from home. So it all works out in the end.

The only thing that got me through the day? I wore my purple outfit to work. What makes that so special? Well, if it wasn’t such a nice fabric I would wear it for pajamas! Ahhhh… nothing like getting away with wearing something as cozy as jammies at work!

They say that beer gives you good body, but I always thought they meant your hair. You know, bouncy, beautiful, full of body hair. Now There’s Beer to Wash Away Your Troubles and you can find out what it does to your body too! A German brewery has developed a brew you can wash with. “The beer cloaks bathers in a delicate aroma of malt.” Mmmm… just what I’ve always wanted! [via VieuxBandit]

I’m so excited! I just got news from tyd that the film for Rannie’s Film Exchange Project is in route to my house! I have to finish shooting my roll still over Thanksgiving vacation and then mine will be on it’s way too!

More great news - I just discovered that my boss was going to sell on eBay his hardback set of the Lord of the Rings. I have been looking at the nice hardback set for awhile, but never got one - so it’s a win-win situation for us! I get the books, he doesn’t have to pay listing fees and deal with shipping, and we’re all happy!

Yesterday was a crazy busy day and I was doing work related stuff until 11:30 last night, leaving me only minutes for fun & play with Kymberlie’s Zip Zap but nothing more. What happens when I have to work like that? I miss all the important things going on around me, like the fact that it was Mike’s birthday! Hope you had a great day, you Nasty Bastard! *smooch!*

The 500th entry has now been posted at Picture Yourself! I decided last week to reserve the 10 spots after 500 for people who have been absolutely fundamental in getting the project going, either with their mad code skills, their support, getting the word out to the public, or all of the above. Over the next two days these photos will be published for you to enjoy! If you haven’t already - isn’t it about time you Picture Yourself?

I never use Netscape. I hate Netscape - I always have. I think that people tend to love the first browser that they use - and for me, it was Internet Explorer. Today I had to open up the Netscape browser though because my IE is corrupted and won’t let me save images correctly and I need to snag content from a client’s old site, so Netscape was the only option. While there, I discovered on the Netscape home page that there is a Netscape Music Channel where you can listen to entire CDs with Real Audio! Sweet! There are a few new CDs I’ve thought about getting, but I don’t want to download them through Kazaa right now - so this is the perfect alternative!