Goodbye 2007

Leaping Lizards

Quiet day this afternoon in still sunny and warm Florida. Seems my part of Michigan received a half-foot of snow yesterday and I've got a snowman waiting on my doorstop when I get home:


So, down here, Chris worked on Ron Paul signs and I played with the camera. Found a new friend hanging out in the bushes by the end of the driveway.



He didn't seem to care too much about me so I probably could have taken a dozen more photos. The other night, leaving the boat dock, we saw some really big lizards, 3-4 feet in size. I'm hoping to get back over there with the camera tomorrow or Monday for a photo shoot.

There are lots of little skink type salamanders running around. You can't walk to the end of the drive without seeing 5 or 6 of them skitter away. Generally, they don't hold still for pictures but I got one, by chance I'm sure:



Looking at this picture creeps me out, even though Chris says they are harmless:



(its a spider, about the size of a fingernail in real life)

Flying Too

Okay, the music is cheesy but.....

Flying

I'm spending the holidays in the Florida Keys with Chris and his family. I arrived Saturday night (very very late) just in time to miss the winter wind storm in Michigan.


On Sunday, Chris' brother James took me up in the small plane they rented to come down from Tampa.












I also took some video of our take-off and from the air. Will post that later.

Merry Christmas from Miami!

Chris sent me these pictures from the Holiday Parade in Florida. All photos were taken with a camera phone so don't expect prize-winning quality. But there are some pretty cool boat floats to see.

White Elephant

Today was my department's annual staff meeting, followed by a luncheon and our White Elephant gift exchange. When I drew the #6, I knew that unless I opened the worst gift ever, it was probably going to be stolen from me.

Sure enough, I opened a very nice cooler that holds 2 bottles of wine or a 12 pack of soda with room for ice. I kept it longer than I expected because 2 gifts after me was a cooler filled with small bottles of alcohol for making jello shots. But it was soon gone and I had to pick another prize. Thus far I'd not seen anything I wanted to steal so I opened a new gift.

And got this:



The perfect touch was the red light bulb inside. After determining that hanging it outside my office door was probably not the best most professional choice, I stuck in my desk drawer until I plot my next move. Buy the coordinating leg lamp from A Christmas Story? Hang on to it, for re-gifting next year? Pass it on to Kayla, whose 11th birthday is just 2 weeks away?

Blast it

Do you feel like Isaac? Like the Monkey is always there, right over your shoulder?

Well, put on your spaceman helmet.


Get out your hairdryer blaster.


And show that monkey the what for!



PS: Insert your own Star Wars twee-twee blaster sounds as needed.

Ever feel like...

there's something weighing you down, keeping you from accomplishing your goals? Or always following you around?

Like.... like a Monkey on your back?