Making Honey - In the news (sorta)

Making Honey, originally uploaded by arkansawyer.

I was contacted yesterday by one of the editors of "Now Public" - a user-based news service, requesting permission to use my "bee" photo in a news story.

I'll post the link, below, if you're interested... But I noticed today that the accompanying news story has several "bee" photos, but mine is the primary one being used on the main page.

Also, if you go to their main page (at least as of now) and click on 'sort by popularity' - this story and photo rank up there in the top 5 (number 5 to be exact).

Anyhow, I am not getting paid for this use of my photo, but still, it's a good thing, I think. I like the photo and I am glad someone somewhere is using it. :) And besides, only I have the original high-resolution version... Meaning, if someone rips it off and starts printing or selling copies (always a risk when publishing online) then they'll get a not-so-top quality version of it. I would hope anyone serious about using it in that way would just email me and ask for it!

Okay, tangent done, and on to the news...

http://www.nowpublic.com/mystery_bee_disappearances_sweeping_u_s

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Well, okay, real news, you say?

As in, how is life, the universe, and everything?

Ahem... ahhhhh... My muse has been silent for a long time.

(okay for those of my readers who don't know what a muse is - I must admit I was pretty darn confused a few months ago when someone popped it at me. It's that inside voice that tells your fingertips what to type or write. And for those who assume everyone knows what a muse is, well.. .Shoot me. I am from the backwoods of Arkansaw and proud of it. We don't use confuselating words like that where I come from).

Rant done. uhhhh.........

For the past several months I have spent quite a bit of time on deviantart, at my page there, Arkansawyer . From my main page, you can click 'gallery' to see photos of what my current world (that is, Pennsylvania) are looking like. You can click 'journal' to see some other 'writings' similar to my blogsite here. Most of that, though, is either dA specific or is posted in parallel here, so you might not find anything of interest.

Back in early November, I went to Philly (that is to say, actually, a suburb of Philadelphia) for a disaster recovery exercise for work. No need to get into the boring details, but things went smoothly. BUT on my return back to work, I found out my 'team lead' (there's three of us) got promoted into bosshood (a great thing).

Leaving me with most of his real work. And since he had always worked MUCH harder than me, I scrambled for awhile trying to pick up the pace. (no, not picante sauce). Then, a couple of weeks later, another guy on another 'team' quit (there were two on that team).

Then, end of December, the other guy on that team quit. Both found other, better opportunities, and I can't blame them for going. BUT... Although the company sent someone over for awhile to pick up their slack, finding a qualified replacement turned into a nightmare.

I was asked to watch over their shoulders and learn what I could.

Now... Let's suppose you know English. (You do don't you?). And people around you are speaking Spanish. (and we'll further assume that you do not understand Spanish). You're boss, Mommy, whoever, says, "Listen, and learn..." So you sit there and watch these people talk for a few days.

Do you know Spanish? Haha... Not unless you're a heck of a lot smarter than I!!! Well, long story short, I really did know the basics (very very very basic) of their systems. And one of the temp guys was a trainer, and he sat down and for a couple of weeks, we did some serious 'discovery' of that system.

Turns out Spanish and English aren't that different after all. I mean, they are. Sometimes, they put verbs before nouns and the whole structure is pretty confusing. But at the end of the day, they utter noises and meanings come across.

Okay. I don't know Spanish. Scratch that. Ummm.. .Anyhow, I am picking up these new systems. I am doing the already doubled-up work, plus some more all-new (to me) systems. And... Honestly, it's been good to be busy.

And somehow, I've still had time to take a few photos now and then. But for about two months, I didn't comment on people's work over on dA - and for at least that long, I haven't really written much over here.

So, a few days ago, I started working on my backlog there. Then this 'news' request came for my photo. And I was wanting to tell you about that. And then my muse started whispering saying I should catch you up a bit, and now I am writing this. And I hope you are reading it.

Oh wait. You say you fell asleep up there? You SKIMMED it??? Argh. See if I write anything again.

I bet no one even comments. Okay. hmmm... How's about for each person I know who comments on this, next time I am in your town or you visit mine, I'll buy you a bottle of Pepsi and a candy bar as a reward?

Well anyways. Christmas came and went. My birthday came and went. Oh, how old am I? I lost count a few years back but by my best recollection I am a little bit older than them thar hills. The Ouachitas, that is.

I was, no kidding, asked, just today, if Abraham Lincoln was president when I was a kid. It was a serious question too.

Well... uhhhhh... No, for the record, he passed away some months before my birth.

And on that note... I've been reading Aragon instead of sleeping, then I snuck in here to write this nonsense and drivel. I guess I'd better go back and read a bit more, then turn in for tonight. For tomorrow will come too soon. MUCH too soon.

Good night, all.

PS. If you don't do windows updates on your computer (click Tools... Windows Update... in Internet Explorer and follow the prompts and apply all the current updates) then you clocks are gonna be messed up after March 11 by an hour, until April 1.

It all has to do with the stuff about the daylight savings time changing forward. Microsoft operating systems do that automatically. But if you've not updated the 'patches' then it's gonna do it on the first Sunday of April, not the 2nd Sunday of March as it now should.

Dontcha just love Congress. Didn't their Momma ever tell them, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?"