Geek Habitat

Custom fine art prints and stock photography, with more to come.

Finally, it’s ALIVE.

Now the hard work really starts!

Certain songs hit you, stopping you in your tracks and forcing you to listen to their lyrics. That’s how Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News” hits me whenever I hear it.

The lyrics are as apt today as when it was written… just replace “Lebanon” and “Ireland” with “Afghanistan”, “The Gulf” or similar (though sadly, without any changes, it’s still accurate.)

The song also reminds me there’s a reason 99% of my news consumption is online, under my own control, rather than through the television (where “if it bleeds, it leads”).

Yes, I know no one watches the news or car races for the GOOD NEWS — we’re all waiting for the “drama”, the train wreck, the adrenaline rush. Still, the world could use… a little good news… every day.

I felt compelled to post this via email to family and a couple of friends, because it touched me immediately.

Think you have life hard? There’s always someone who has a rougher road…

One such person is a young woman whom I had not heard of until today, as I read a CNN article about the ethical repercussions of “face transplants“.

Her name is Jacqueline Saburido and her story is tragic, yet inspiring… You should also read the Austin American-Statesman chronicle of her story (it’s worth the free but tedious online registration).

We can add her to our mental list of people who probably deal with more pain, suffering and personal struggle on any given day than most of us (I’ll be the first to raise my hands high) ever do.

—
Not part of the email I sent out, and thus not redundant to the few of you who received my email:

If everyone’s keyring had two photos of this strong young woman, one before and one after she was hit by a drunk driver, I’d wager we’d have at least one less alcohol-related death every night. Hand the keyrings out at high school football games and pep rallies, concerts and parties, off-campus corporate gatherings, etc.

Just some food for thought, and a reminder of just how good 99% of us have this life… petty troubles and all.

Several weeks ago, Dad emailed us with an anecdote from his ongoing adventures in England. Reading the driving directions to a location he would be travelling to, he read the following: “…pass a Pelican crossing and turn RIGHT…”

A PELICAN crossing? We have all heard of or seen duck or cow crossing signs. State and national park visitors are familiar with hiker, bicyclist and even equestrian (horse) crossing signs. But who knew PELICANS needed crossings, too?

Inspired by the Brits’ obvious need for a suitable sign for such crossings, I Photoshopped one (using one of our pelican photos as the inspiration) and sent it to Dad:
** Pelican Crossing

That’s when he replied that, actually, Pelican Crossings in the United Kingdom are a “pedestrian crosswalk with traffic signals.” He mentioned there are also Zebra Crossings, as well — again, a type of pedestrian crosswalk.

The British and American penchant for being different from one another, even if it means both nations look completely ridiculous in the process, is well known. Thus, my Google-itch to research the nature and origins of said crossings began.

Did pelican crossings somehow resemble pelicans, as zebra crossing’s diagonal stripes called to mind a zebra’s coat, or was it just one of those “Well, that’s something…” British-isms?

My research turned up stranger still terms — do you realize as you innocently walk around the UK streets, you may have to negotiate the following:
a Puffin Crossing, Toucan Crossing, or my absolute favorite — a Staggered Pelican Crossing?
Don’t believe me?

…A Staggered Pelican? I guess that’s after it’s been at the pub too long?!

My funny bone now thoroughly tingling, I finally happened upon some reasonable explanations for all these twisted British names.

The Pelican Crossing is apparently what started it all… “it” being the whole embarassing bird-themed street crossing nomenclature. You see, the Pelican in Pelican crossing is actually an acronym —
PEdestrian LIght CONtrolled crossing

Oooh, clever.

So, that was several weeks ago. Today, I was taking a break from editing photos for our website launch (Memorial Day), and I found still more unintentional(?) British comedy gold:

“LOOK, honey, it’s a Humped Zebra Crossing up ahead! Should we slow down?”
(The link is Safe-For-Work (SFW); it’s a photo of an actual British “humped zebra crossing” sign.)

The blog is still naked, and that’s more than a little embarassing now that I know a couple folks I’d rather impress than “ho hum” to death have visited. I’ll tuck away some time to at least dress this place up a bit soon.

Anyway, it’s a lovely day here:
- The windows are open and the birds are singing (OK, so they are just starlings — the bird world’s version of a juvenile delinquent. You take what you can get!)

- The cats are curled up in their favorite nooks, and the humans are as well. Justin’s listening to music and writing an article; I’m upstairs creatively avoiding work — and letting myself enjoy it!

- I’ve avoided reading the news for a couple days and can again appreciate that there’s beauty all around. Thank you, Noah, for the long distance reminder!

- I am beginning to see the end of the tunnel, meaning we are nearing the launch of our stock & print photography store! Yes, it’s taken longer than I bargained, but the delays have proven worthwhile and instructive. I’m psyched!

- Thanks to a new dual firewire/USB 2.0 cable for my iPod, I’m now migrating all my music to an old, spare PC instead of my 400mhz Powerbook (whose hard drive has better uses than MP3-serving). In the process of this transition, I’ve been rediscovering a lot of wonderful music.

- Everyone in the family is healthy and safe, from the littlest Moore to the eldest in the clan. And in another month or so, we’ll have my Dad back in the States after his 4-month stint in England.

That’s all for now. Have a great day, and try not to go blind looking at this drab default design, ‘k? {grin}