So I scored an 84 (grr... I didn't get points for a couple I think I should have gotten. billie = billy in my book.) which I guess only proves that I was an 80's child. Its a fun test though!

One thing I learned about myself on this test, its really hard to change songs in my head very quickly. Oh, and you may have a bunch of songs stuck in your head for the rest of the day!

Thanks to Blacksheep for this quiz.

As a photographer who thinks quite often about the legal side of photography, I found this little story at overshadowed rather funny! (and the picture is rather pretty too!)

So Photoblogs.org has a realtime list of Hot Photoblogs, which are photo blogs that have generated the most interest in the last 7 days among Photoblog.org viewers.

Phoenix Feather Photos the "In Pictures..." side of my site has made it to number 78 on that list!

I'm a Hot Photoblog!!! Woo Hoo!!! *does a little dance*

A Photo With A Story!!

Nym vs. Hummy

Kevin and I have been turning our backyard into a Hummyland for our little hummingbird neighbors. We see them everyday now, they are getting used to us being there and we love it!

Yesterday, after my driving test, I picked up Nym to spend the day with me. She has been getting more and more interested in the outside and since Ammy and Rick, like us, have an enclosed backyard she is allowed to spend some time in the backyard if someone is with her (she is not the brightest - she isn't even close to figuring out she can jump fences).

Yesterday she was exploring our backyard for the first time and I was following her with the camera trying to get a couple of good shots. At one point she was checking out a plant not far from the hummy tree (prolly deciding if she could eat it) when one of our male hummy's appeared to check her out and inform her she wasn't to come any closer to the tree.

I AM A BAD MOMMY!! This has been decided since when a teritorial hummingbird appears to check out my cat and give her a scare, what do I do? I take pictures!

In my defense there was a decent distance between the two of them until the last photo. The Hummingbirds have buzzed Kevin and I several times, letting us know who is boss and testing us; they have never gotten too close. I wasn't too worried that hummy would hurt Nym - or at least not without some buzzing warning. I was never worried that Nym would hurt hummy - my poor cat can't catch a slug effectively; She is good at imaginary bugs though. In any case I took this photo right before I dove in, grabbed my cat and put her inside. I think she is still pissed at me for ruining her fun.

I do love this photo though.

I have been considering how I want to redesign the In Pictures... side of my site for a few weeks now. However I have sped up those thoughts due to a link from Random Pixel (a cool Kevin project) which has largely increased traffic my photo blog.

I wanted to better display my photos and take advantage of this opportunity to attract more viewers - so you will now find a mini redo of the photo site has taken effect. Don't fret, a larger redesign is still to come.

I still don't have comments up there, so for now feel free to leave a comment here on my recent album Off The Beaten Path. I will try and get something more specific up very very soon.

I am still on my hunt to capture instances of Hummy in pictures! (If you don't know what I mean let me explain that I am convinced there is only one Hummingbird - its name is Hummy - it is my Hummy and each of us experience instances of this one Hummy).

In any case Hummy has been appearing again at the back window and I have been diving for the new Nikon with quick reaction turn on and trying to catch him, to no avail. Yesterday and today produced two very overexposed shots of a blur of a hummingbird. I did catch a decent one on saturday, but it was nothing wonderful.

I have learned to track them by sound. Its kind of a pop pop, or rather snap snap sound. I can figure out what direction they are coming from. Using sound I found one up close and personal instance, but with several branches between us and no clear photo until Hummy was gone.

Kevin says he is going to help me turn the backyard into Hummy-land!! I will bring them all to me!

So if you were here this morning you would have seen me, standing in the back yard in my pjs, camera ready, listening for the pop of a Hummy, watching at least one instance of him buzz around a eucalyptus tree in the distance, and trying to snap out a reply with my fingers so maybe he would come near. *sighs*

I will get him, I will!!!

Past Hummy Pictures:
3/10/04 Along Came Hummy
2/28/04 Hummy on a Wire

Kicking Ass says: "When your strongest supporters call you a liar, where do you have left to turn?"

I love this!!

However on the other hand I signed up online to volunteer for John Kerry - and they still haven't contacted me for anything but a donation. I expected at least a list of who to contact for certain ways to volunteer. Oh well, time to try harder.

This site is pretty cool. In an effort to find out what laughing is a photographer and a balloon twister have gone on trips around the world together making balloon hats for people and photographing them. They also ask the question "What is Laughing?" to which they have a variety of reponses. If nothing else check out the photos on this site, they will get you laughing.

"Laughing is the smile of the World."

Weerashon Puttrpadit, Mahasarakham, Thailand

So Phoenix Feather readers, what is laughing to you?

[Thanks to Photo Blog for this link.

This is a cool photography site: Modern Ruins. They only take photos of modern technology that has been abandoned. There are also stories collected from people who experienced these ruins. I really love this one.

"So you've taken pictures of the Alcoa factory that was my childhood fascination? Did you sneak through a window, and look up at fallen dust blanketed stairs? Did you hear loud thumping in the dark? Those were the sounds of the criminals who lived in that factory and plotted their crimes through out the night. I was always very quiet in there, and always got out very fast. But even when I was outside, surrounded by faded, scragally grasses and bright yellow danger signs I could still feel the life that had once come to work every day. I could still smell the sweat and see the small paths left by heavy boots in the ground. But hey, I was only eight and I really did believe that each time I left that edifice, there was a man watching me leave from the top window. He was probably an ex-worker who lost his livelihood when he lost his job, and that was probably his oil soiled, stiffened, leather glove that I had just stepped on, so I began to run as fast as I could.... maybe that's why I spend my time in the places that time has passed by."

(Thank you to Feed Me Links for finding me this link).

Google rumors from the girlfriend of a Googler!

Kevin's UI design is so cool! I'm so proud. And I got to be a usability tester several weeks ago!

;)

This blog entry very much amuses me. You should check it out.

... the gentle "wack wack" of a kitty tail against the side of your head as she sits on the back of the couch behind you! Odd I know, but its so nice to have my kitty here with me. Its odd things you miss about those you love.

Sorry this last photo album went up late: The hosting server has been having issues and I couldn't upload anything. So I went out with the new camera instead! ;)

Please forgive me!

Kevin and I have both signed up for online photography classes at Better Photo.com. Kevin is taking The Art of Composition, (which I can't give you a link to cause the course is full now - I got him the last slot - and they took down the description) and I am taking Understanding Exposure. Both classes start in 12 days on April 7th.

So I logged in to the virtual classroom today to look around. There is a place for students to introduce themselves and provide a self portrait. I'm taking class with people from Denmark, Syndney Australia, and New York City among other places.

So I'm preparing to introduce myself to class, but I don't have a self portrait. So that has been one of my tasks for today. I have however discovered this is hard. Normally when I photograph its because I find something and I'm inspired by the subject. I don't know how to photograph myself, and I'm not sure what I want to say with the photograph.

*ponders* I'll let you all know when I come up with something, but advice is welcome!

*giggle* And that’s a mouthful!

I created this game for Mark! Because he "asked for it" and it will be fun.

There are about three and a half weeks till Easter, and I don't care if you celebrate Easter or not, everyone loves Easter eggs! For this reason I'm sending you all on an Easter egg hunt, Rachel style.

No, you are not looking for a decorated egg this time, but instead the techy version of an Easter egg. An Easter egg is a hidden, invisible or unknown link on a page. The little hand that appears when you put your cursor on a link will appear when you find the Easter egg. The best way to find the egg is simply to scan the page with your cursor until the hand appears in a place where there isn't an obvious link. Click the link and it will take you to the first Easter egg.

There will be a new hunt each week until Easter. So you have three hunts to look forward too.

How to Play:
1. I have placed 3 Easter eggs on 3 different Phoenix Feather pages. The first one is on this blog default.

2. Find the Easter egg and click on the link; it will take you to a hidden page with your egg and a link to the page that contains the next Easter egg.

3. Repeat this process until you have found all three Easter eggs.

4. The last hidden Easter egg page will have a random surprise and a secret email. Email me there and I will put your name on the Easter Egg Hall Of Fame.

5. You have until Wednesday March 31st to find the eggs and then a new Easter egg hunt will be put into place. One hunt a week(approx) until Easter!

I will try to make the Easter eggs worth the search. See you at the end of the hunt!

On Democrats Questioning What Bush Knew Before 9/11:
"…what I want to say to my Democratic friends in the Congress is that they need to be very cautious not to seek political advantage by making incendiary suggestions, as were made by some today, that the White House had advance information that would have prevented the tragic attacks of 9/11. Such commentary is thoroughly irresponsible and totally unworthy of national leaders in a time of war." [Cheney Remarks, 5/16/02—aired on NBC Meet the Press, 5/19/02] [http://www.democrats.org/blog/display/00010527.html]

*ponders* I think this translates as: "No comment! And anyone who tries to make me comment will wish they were never born"

But you know, I could be wrong.

Possible Mathmatical Origin of "The Number of the Beast: 666":

Take the main roman numerals (the ones that get a new letter) 1 through 50 and add them up:

I = 1
V = 5
X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500 +
___________
666

So whether or not this is true Scott Flansburgh, aka The Human Calculator has suggested letters were put in place by the Romans to make math difficult so people wouldn't progress. Therefore 666 became an evil number because it implied intellegence and breaking their code.

So I did a google search on the "Origin of 666" and this is what I came up with:

The devil is both god (the god of flesh) and man so he gets the trinity of numbers for being a god and the number 6 which is the number for man, hence 666.

Its also suggested it connected to ancient Pagen Numerology and the Illuminati (I'm still working on reading about this one - their explination is long!! - and they also suggest that Phoenix is the ancient name of Lucifer, which I'm annoyed about, but must read). However my short term understanding is that there were 36 lesser gods and when the numbers 1 through 36 are added (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666) you get 666.

I have no idea why I latched on to this train of thought. I was just listening to the radio before my workout in case they gave out any bonus codes (I'm a sucker for dumb promotional games). Scott Flansburgh was a cool morning guest. His math theories and abilities were interesting and I love that his main work is teaching math to kids. But he randomly brought it up and my mind got hooked.

Anyway, I'm amused - thought I'd share.

Ali helped me fullfill a random urge to dye green streaks into my hair. Its temporary, and sadly its already fading away (some will still be there for St. Patricks day tomorrow) but its oh so much fun!