Roxy

Roxy

Last Friday my boss, Tim, and I were talking shop when he commented that he was going on vacation for two weeks. He was telling me how his dog sitter bailed on him and he was in need of someone to look after his dog, Roxy.

Ashton has been begging for a dog, so I thought this was an opportunity for Ashton to live with a furry friend for a couple of weeks. Plus, Tim needed help. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But, I love dogs and it's been years since I had one. So I couldn't help myself.

Roxy is a Great Dane and is considered a gentle giant. She's all black with a little white on her chest.

According to dogbreedinfo.com the origin of the bread is:

Incised on some Greek money dating back to 36 B.C. is the image of a dog very similar to the Great Dane of today. The Great Dane is known as the "Apollo of all dogs." In 407 A.D. German Gaul and part of Italy and Spain were invaded by an Asiatic people (the Alans) who brought with them powerful mastiff-like dogs. In Germany especially, where these magnificent animals capable of overcoming bears and wild boars were much admired, a process of selective breeding was begun. The dogs were crossed with Irish Greyhounds, and the issue was the beautiful, large, thin, agile dog known today as the Great Dane. Despite the fact that they are called Danes in English, these dogs have nothing to do with Denmark. Some of the Great Dane's talents are tracking, watchdog and carting.

Tim and his wife, Amy, dropped off Roxy Sunday with all her food, chew toys and even a bed. The poor girl was very nervous and Marc, the boys and I tried our best to make her feel at home. Her first night away from home was hard, so I slept on the couch to keep her company.

Today, she was home alone. And like in the movie, we came home to find a mess. Roxy had shredded her bed to tiny pieces. Thankfully the furniture was spared, but now I'm worried she'll turn her attention to them.

I'll keep you posted.

Sleep Delay: Singing 101

Ashton will do about anything to delay going to bed, which I swallow hook, line and sinker.

"I'm hungry."
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"My belly hurts."
His favorite is, "I'm scared."

But, on Thursday Ashton used a new one on me. He wanted me to film him singing to me.
I couldn't say no. Thirty minutes later this is one of the four serenades he sang me.

Frogs and The Wild Oceans

Strong thunderstorms hit most of South Florida today, so Marc, Ashton and I went to the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science to see an IMAX movie, Wild Ocean: Where Africa Meets the Sea in 3D, and to see the very cool Frogs: A Chorus of Colors exhibit.

We were all left wide eyed and mouths open at the colorful frogs and the incredible massive feeding frenzy that takes place every year in the ocean of South Africa as billions of fish migrate up the SwaZulu-Natal Wild Coast. Both the Frogs and the animals off the coast of South Africa have something in common: They're survival is being threatened by global warming.

My heart is saddened at the thought of losing these beautiful creatures. Yet, I was thankful that Ashton had a chance to see these special animals live at the museum and in the IMAX movie.

For more info on the exhibits go to http://www.mods.org/

Hurricane Dana

The eye of Hurricane Dana was coming our way towards Las Olas Saturday morning with a landfall of around 3pm. The high Cat. 2/3 storm with gusts of 130mph is expected to retain it's strength building up a large storm surge. Everyone was running around hysterically preparing for the storm and heading to higher ground. We at the Sun-Sentinel were calm and collected wearing our flip flops and shorts in Deerfield Beach putting out the newspaper.

THIS IS JUST A TEST.....

Every year a group of us meet to have a hurricane dry run as if a storm was coming our way. We do everything to put out a newspaper to troubleshoot possible problems in the process. We found a few problems, but IT was there to help us solve them.


Robyn, Victoria and crew hard at work editing copy.


Ken proof reading copy in the hurricane newsroom center.


Michele, wearing the appropriate outfit for a hurricance, hard at work.


Frank..not sure if he's praying this is over soon or asleep?


Our fearless leader Philip surfing the net.


Don't trip on the cords.

Two Headed Boy

Ashton has an amazing sense of humor. This kid is funny. Last night he weged himself in the glass sliding door of my closet in order to make himself appear as if he were two kids via his relection in the mirror while singing, Row, Row, Row Your Boat..I think?

It took a lot of will power not to pee in my pants from laughling so hard, but I kept it inside as I filmed his performance.

I hope you enjoyed it....

Ashton Jack appears every Friday at 7pm and right before his bedtime. Admission is free.

Coffee + The Boys= Bad Blend

For Fathers Day we (I) got him a coffee maker, Philips' Senseo. Mandy and Saskia had one when we went up to see Quinten a few weeks ago. Marc loved the coffee and asked for it for Fathers Day. It's a very cool machine that uses individually wrapped coffee pods to make one big cup or two smaller cups of coffee. The pods come in many different flavors and it's so easy to use our boys are now making their own coffee in the morning.

The result ...a bad blend of caffeine+boys. In the few days they've been here they've almost brewed all of the pods I got Marc. The house is a mess, they're bouncing off walls and getting on each others last nerve.

Now I'm rethinking if this coffee machine was a good idea to have in our home. At least the old one was so hard to use that it deterred anyone from brewing a cup or two or three or four.

My plan is to cut off the pod supply...maybe then the boys (including Marc) will detox from the caffeine that now runs through their veins.

Summer Fun

Lots of Swimming, playing with friends, hanging out with family, being annoyed by siblings, sleeping in and staying up late .... these are a few things Austen and Dalton are enjoying about summer.

Happy Fathers Day

Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad.


















Marc & The Boys

Abuelo Anibal





















Papa Larry














Dad & me (Taimy)



















Papi Renee













Granddaddy James

Remembering The Good Old Days

Susana, Belinda and I at the Pettijohn Awards 2007




Photographers Scott Fisher and Carline Jean




Me with my Pettijohn 2007




Pat, John, Kavita and Kathy



It's a bad time right now to be a journalist. Not because there isn't a wealth of stories to report on: corrupt politicians, the war in Iraq, poverty, recession, drought, polution and I can go on and on and on...



It's a bad time to be a journalist because newspapers' advertising profit is dropping fast. The bad economy isn't only hitting the housing sector, gas prices, food cost or our paychecks, it's also hitting newspapers. Businesses are buying fewer ads and circulation is going down. As a consequence, papers are cutting, cutting, cutting saleries, pages, and (what hurts the most) staffing. The Sun-Sentinel where I work has tried to think creatively to prevent loss of jobs. We have a website that's doing well and now we're going to have a television station in our newsroom. But, despite all this, we're going through another round of layoffs, firings or "staff reductions" ...however you want to call it.



As the Director of Photography I'm in the thick of things. I've never been in this position and never imagined I would be. In the 10 years I've worked at the paper we've always been positive about the future, we've always made profits and we've always put out a great product for our readers.



But, with the downturn in the economy, things have changed. A cloud of dume and gloom has loomed over our industry and now our paper. It's been very hard to keep positive trying to motivate my visual team to concentrate on the work for our readers. How can we be positive if our jobs are in jepourdy?



What keeps me hopefull is the strong believe I have in the power of photography. A photography can truly be more powerful than words. A picture can stop you cold to make you think of the world you live in, a person across the ocean dying of starvation, a war a world away that kills our men and women every day. A picture can also make you laugh. Capturing a silly baby playing or a dog painted to look like a clown. When I remember these pictures, my faith in photojournalism resurfaces giving me the will to fight another day to save someone's job. Why? For my staff, my craft and my readers.

A face only a mother can love

Ashton at Disney in Dec. 2007 as a Dragon

What's with all the nipples?

Since Marc began studying to become an electrician I've also been picking up facts about the trade. I'm not able to wire up a whole house or know the difference between AC/DC..I just thought that was a rock band. But, as listen to Marc recap his work day I sometimes learn a few things (whether I like it or not).

This past weekend while in Floral City, Fl. at Ron's house upgrading his electrical panel from 60 to 150 (don't ask me what that means..although what I do know is that it means he can plug in his stove, refrigerator, computer, air conditioner and TV without worrying about the house burning down), I learned about nipples. NOT those nipples. But the electrical building kinda nipples like these below.

Racquel and I were at Lowe's when I spotted the unusually named items. We got a good laugh about it. In a male dominated industry, I guess it's not that unusual.



Conduit Nipple


Offset Nipple


Threaded Nipple

As explained to me by Marc (if I don't get it right let me know), nipples connect two electrical boxes or panels. Offset nipples is used when the boxes or panels do not align.

This has been your electrical lesson for today.

Where's Taimy? At Home Sick

I've always had bronchitis. Constant coughing that is debilitating. I remember my mother taking me to the doctor's office to get breathing treatments every day when I was a child. As an adult I still suffer.

What is Bronchitis?

Bronchitis (pronounced: brahn-kite-uss) is an inflammation of the lining of the bronchial tubes, the airways that connect the trachea (windpipe) to the lungs. This delicate, mucus-producing lining covers and protects the respiratory system, the organs and tissues involved in breathing. When a person has bronchitis, it may be harder for air to pass in and out of the lungs than it normally would, the tissues become irritated and more mucus is produced. The most common symptom of bronchitis is a cough. (source: http://www.righthealth.com/)

I'm going to try to see a doctor tomorrow. In the meantime I'm trying to rest, drink lots of fluids and stay away from things that irritate my bronchial tubes like smoke or dust.

Hopefully it won't be a bad case of bronchitis because I hate being home sick.

Electricity & Sweat -- A good mix

Ron outside his home in Floral City,Fl 6/8/08

We made it safely to the small town of Floral City where we spent the night at Central Motel. We arrived late, around midnight. Marc and John had several hours of beer drinking in their system. Gene and Racquel arrived a few hour after us due to a minor detour on I-95 instead of taking the Turnpike as directed caused by a reliance in Gene's internal sense (or lack of) of direction and turning off their GPS. It didn't help that Racquel hasn't learned Women's Rule # 52.22: Never fall asleep when a man is driving, you know where you're going better than he does.

We all had a restful, but very short nap brutally disturbed by the sound of the motel wake up call. The crew got ready and met with Christine and her dad, Ron, at a local restaurant, Jeanette's Little Restaurant, that opened early just for us. Ron has the hook-up at the 9 table restaurant.

After breakfast we drove through the beautiful winding road lined with magnolia trees, Spanish moss oaks and wild turkeys looking for a meal...or becoming one. The crew went right to work....OK, they went to work. I looked for a cool shaded spot to sit my big butt in while waiting for the medicine Christine got me for my coughing to take affect. I'm praying the coughing doesn't get worst.

The crew consisted of:

Marc, Taimy, Larry (senior), John, Christine, Larry (junior), Racquel and Ron, the home owner.

John and Marc on the roof disconnecting the house from the main electric off the pole.

Marc hard at work sweating as he kicks electrical butt Saturday.

Gene working on the new electrical panel inside Ron's home.

Of course after a few minute, Marc realized he didn't bring a few essential thing for the job. So it was a trip to Lowe's, which Racquel and I did turn on the GPS system to find.

Once at Lowe's all went smoothly thanks to a very nice employee who new the difference between 1 1/2" LB and 2" Compression Bushing, several phone calls from Christine adding other items to the list and a sense of humor.

Flash forward a few hours and we're all done...OK, their done. Thanks to the crew, Ron can enjoy electricity without the use of several extension cords or fire extinguisher just in case.

Enjoy the light.

Sick & The Road

Yesterday I began losing my voice and not feeling very well. This morning I woke up feeling worst, so I stayed home to rest. Ashton headed to school for Splash Day and then to my mother's house in Hialeah for four days of total nirvana. Her house is the land of whatever he wants and where "no" is outlawed. She spoils him to the max. She's abuela that's her job.

Marc, a few family, friends and I are hitting the road to do some work at our friend Christine's father's house in Floral City, Fl. about four hours away. Marc says it's a big job with lots of electrical work to be done, but he's assembled a small army to attack the job at full force and complete it in one day. I just hope I don't get worst. My plan is to drink lots of fluids, take my medication and take it very, very easy.

Lost Photos

New Years Eve Marc and I went on a cruise with friends, Tony & Karen, to count down the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008. I, like always, brought my camera along to document the moment and harass Marc with the constant picture taking. After several drinks I went to the bathroom. While balancing over the toilet I dropped my beloved camera, a Canon PowerShot SD 400. I was devastated. It stopped working. I thought I had broken it.
Since that night I've had the camera with it's memory disk still in it in my underwear drawer occasionally taking it out lamenting it's demise. Until this Monday when something told me to take it out of it's underwear prison, take the battery out of the camera and charge it up. After 24 hours or more of charging the battery I slipped it into the small, silver camera I love (a christmas gift from Marc) and turned it on. To my surprise it worked. With my mouth open in delight I played back the pictures I took on the New Years Eve and shot a couple of pictures of our messy bed. My heart filled with joy that my camera, an extension of my arm and soul, works.


Tony & Karen

Other pictures I found in my "broken" camera included pictures of me at a workshp, Christmas and our yearly trip to Evergreen. Alabama.


Marc and Greg out on the cattle farm in Evergreen.


Railroad Museaum in Alabama


Dalton's birthday party at Chucky Cheese. They're never to old.


Boys and friends asleep after hitting Santa's Enchanted Forest in Miami.


Old house in Alabama.


Ashton in a one room school house in Alabama.


Marc on the toilet in Alabama.

Congrats to Austen & Dalton!

Austen and Dalton have had an amazing academic year. As the 2007-2008 school year comes to a close I wanted to tell them how proud we are of their hard work and achievements.

Austen has maintained his high level of academic achievement by being on the A-B Honor Roll the entire year. Today he received several medals and certificates for his accomplishments.


Austen with his teacher

Dalton has done an amazing job elevating his grades through lots of hard work and the help of his tutor, Raquel. Although he's had some help, it was all Dalton's brain power, hard work and determination to improve all of his grades and end the year on a high note.



Marc and I are very proud of our boys and all their accomplishments this school year.

We love you

Friends

Good Friends
What would we ever do without them?



This is how Joseph Cohen's book begins. Fatima, who I've known since junior high, graduated high school with and lived in the same dormroom for a couple of years while attending UF in Gainsville, gave me this book for Christmas in 1992. Sixteen years have past since she gave me this book on friendship and I still look at it and we're still friends.





Fatima, American High School 1991

I've dug up a few old pictures of friends that Marc and I have had over the years. Here are their pictures with quotes from Cohen's book, A Good Friend.





Christine & Madison, Disney 2005

"Really good friends. They're not the "How ya doin'" variety, but that elite group of comrades who have burrowed into our beings a lot deeper than the average belly button."




Leah & I, University of Florida 1991

"A good friend takes up right where you left off 30 years ago."









Maria & I, Christmas 2005


"Take a look in the bathroom mirror and what do you see? Shadowy images of good friends hovering behind us left and right. Shuddering as we overdo the makeup. Admit it or not, good friends influence us from top to bottom. From the length of our locks to the designs on our shoelaces ... to the tiles we put on our kitchen floor. Who else could talk us into buying shoulder pads by the gross? Good friends and good taste. Not always a perfect partnership. But never a dull moment."