Flickr being Yahoo!'ed

GRRR! I have to be honest, even with all the massages and everything, I really really would rather have flickr stay exactly the way it is right now, than to sell out to Yahoo! I have no idea how much hard work they do at flickr (though I know it's alot) but selling to Yahoo!?? NOOOoooo.....

I have never liked Yahoo. A few years back, my USS Nevada (blue) family support group had a yahoo group, and to be a part of it you had to sign up with Yahoo. I thought, ok that's alright. But to sign up, you had to input your existing email address as an alternative, and after that the spam started FLOODING in!! I ended up getting so fed up, I started a new email. I've never gone back. I can't stand Yahoo! As alot of other flickrite bloggers have expressed, what's going to happen to our photos and groups? How much is flickr going to be infiltrated? Will I now get Yahoo spam to my email address I had to provide for flickr? If so, I'm outta there before you can sneeze! I have 2 email addys on my flickr account... what is Yahoo's privacy policy for that? Are they going to now provide those to outside companies? You know Yahoo, anything to make another buck in the fight to gain ground and catch up with Google (I so wish Google would've acquired flickr... they started up as just a little company too... they know where flickr is coming from and I think would work harder to keep the integrity and vision of Ludicorp than Yahoo will...) Please tell me this is a bad dream that I'll wake up from tomorrow...

If not... *sniff sniff :( .... I'll be watching sooo closely. They better not become Yahoor...

And what about my beloved Daily Zeitgeist? Will that now have Yahoo ads as well? *sigh... all the questions....

I'm freezing, Mt. St. Helens Erupted, and other stuff

It is freezing!! After setting record highs today now it's so cold! That's the paradox of the Puget Sound. I still fondly remember weather in Cali, where it's warm during the day, and cool at night... here it gets warm at times, but the clear sky is like an open window that just lets all the heat escape when it gets dark. I almost hope for clouds just to keep the heat in! And lately I've been praying for rain. We haven't seen a drop of precipitation since it snowed during the Pats game. That was ultracool. Too bad my husband was/is out to sea and missed it. The Pats are his team. While my Niners sucked hard core (who knows what the future holds, but more promise than the dismal past with Dennis "I ruin every team I coach" Erickson) Greg got me hooked on NE. Funny, I never thought I'd like an east coast team... AFC at that. Whatever, they're an awesome team, and I'm officially a fan. Can't say that about Boston per se, although it was superduper that they finally won the Series... my hubby was ecstatic! He ran around the house yelling "Go BoSox!" and had to call up his family to cheer the win. Such a cutie. I remember the last time my team was in the series (the SF Giants)... funny how no matter how bad they do, I've never given up on them... I always believe, I always hope, I keep the faith. They say Giants fans are among the most loyal in baseball. Well, I'm a testament to that! The fact is, I know they can make it, I know they can win! Just because I haven't seen it happen...
----- So back to the original topic, today. I had to turn the heater up and throw an extra shirt on just cuz our house isn't sealed up so well. My poor bird, she must be freezing. I really should go close the laundry room door; that's where most of the cold air comes in (somehow, it goes thru the dryer hose, and emanates from there throughout the house) You can almost feel a breeze... What I should really do is laundry, period. I've got a loveseat full of clothes to fold, a washer of clothes to dry, and a basket full to wash. So why the heck am I sitting here? Who knows... I guess I get a bit lonely at night, sitting on my comp (usually flickring) and listening to the TV in the background. I don't feel like doing anything, even though I need to. Ever have times when you just really really feel like cleaning... and you do it for hours, and feel so good afterwards? Well, now isn't one of those times. I'm exhausted. Staying up till 4am cuz you just can't fall asleep really sux. Bryant's at my mom's tonight, so that's nice. A little break. I'm looking forward to next week, when I finally get some more (adult) human contact. Being around 3 small children all day, and not much chance to hang out with (what) friends, I feel like my social skills are deteriorating rapidly. I haven't made it to the Nevada's family support group meetings at all this deployment. Next week though... oh shoot!! Well, my friends (ok, I have 2) Carrie and Jessica were gonna come over Tues. and have a movie night after our kids were in bed (well, Jessica doesn't have any; Carrie's got 2, that her hubby will be home with) but that's my very last FSG mtg. This is our last patrol with the Nevada (thank God) and I've met some great women over the last few years. I really don't want to miss the last meeting. Durnit. I'll hafta call my friends and cancel. Hmm. Maybe another night... Oh, and our GRNN dinner is coming up too... the last event b4 the guys come home. (Should I say what it stands for? ;) That's always fun. I've decided not to buy tix this time for first hug/kiss. We won first hug last time, and I spent so much $ ... I don't need to do it again. Let somebody else get that priviledge... 'tho it'd be sick to get to ride on the boat back thru the canal. My hubby's not a chief, so lemme guess... not gonna happen. But a girl can dream...
------- Wow, it's gotten really late... but before I go, Mt. St. Helens... it erupted again... well more like a really big burp. No lava, rocks, or anything, just a huge ash cloud. Went up 36,000 ft. And they don't have a clue what this means. Will there be another eruption? Is it likely to mirror the one in 1980? Well, they don't seem to think so... right. Did they think the '80 one was gonna be so big? *sigh... I'll do a bit more research on this when I'm not so tired. I promise I'll start blogging more, so there aren't these circuitous entries that kind of just ramble on about nothing. I sure hope to get an email soon though... my husband sent one but I received it about 6 times today. That's submarine email... sporadic, unreliable... it's like they've taken your emotions on a ride with the boat, up and down with the swells of anticipation and the troughs of disappointment. They're not coming home when they're supposed to... that sucked to tell the kids. Add more hearts to the whiteboard... well, we've at least erased the ones we added, and a couple more by now. And was supposed to be getting a call soon... not gonna happen. Their only break taken away due to the uncertainties of the job... such is navy life. Well, we can always take a trip ourselves later... hopefully.-------For now, I'm going to bed. Still need to fold clothes too....

Up Late... or Early?

Well, it's past 3 am, and I'm still awake... again. It's so hard to sleep when my husband's out to sea. Thank God this is his last patrol... at least for a while. We're not sure if we'll do the obliserve or not...

So I can't believe how long it's been since I've visited my own blog. I found an awesome website/photo-sharing community called flickr. That's now where I've been spending most of my online time. Wow, it sure is fun, but sucks up alot of time. I've gotten some of my friends and fam. to join, but I never know if they actually visit, or anything because I've only ever gotten 2 comments on any of my photos (one from my mom, one from my dad) and nobody has uploaded any photos! Makes me feel a bit lonely... I know my father-in-law looked once, and my hubby's grandpa has looked, but I have no idea how often they do. His family is all on the east coast, so I figured it'd be a great way to show them the latest photos of the kids, and keep in touch. Well, it was a good idea anyway. And the pics are there, whenever they decide to see them again. :)

So this summer, I'll be going back east for the first time since I moved away when I was 7. It'll be the first time to New England and poss. Florida. Anheiser Busch is giving away tix to their theme parks for military families, and Greg's grandparents live in FL, so it might just work out perfectly. The kids have never been to Sea World. I used to live in so. Cali when I was little, and it was my fave place to be. I especially loved the dolphin tank. And everyone loves Shamu... even though there's been... who knows how many? :) I would love to take them for the day. I'm sure Greg's grandparents would love to come along too. But whether we do that or not, we'll def. be visiting the rest of Greg's fam. in New England. I've heard so much about there from him, but never seen it... and only glimpses in pics from his childhood. I'm a little apprehensive. Oh, it has nothing to do with his family, I love them all and they're so nice and welcoming. His mom is the sweetest woman I've ever met. And I can't wait to see his little sisters again. His father is so funny and corny, and his step-mom is really helpful and fun. They're all great to talk to. But it'll be wierd going to his "home" seeing where he grew up and all. I mean, cool... but I guess because I've never known what it was like to grow up in one place. I guess you could say I'm worried about being jealous? Not envious, but well, it may sound pathetic, but whenever he talks about all his great childhood memories, and his friends and stuff... I dunno. I'm glad he has such great memories... but so many are tied up in someone else, and experiences I want to share with him he's already done with someone else. Or should I say, A someone else. And I think that's what most frightens me... the chance of meeting that someone else. Ok, frighten is a bad word. Dreading, maybe? Not sure why, I guess there's a few reasons. Well, first of all, how many people want to meet their spouse's "highschool sweetheart?" I mean, they only dated for a short time his sr. year, but he didn't date anyone after her, so that's what he considers her. And you always hear those stories of someone down the line getting divorced and finding love again, with their "old flame." Do I think that could happen? Well... things happen. All I can say is I really really hope not. I hope that Greg and I can work out our differences, that we can start to work together and be like a married couple should be. I def. know I don't want to go back east if our lives continue the way it has been going.

So what really scares ... I mean, worries me about meeting her? I guess one thing is, I'll have a face to put with the name. I really don't want that face haunting me. I have a name, I have stories. I don't need a face to put with them. The thing is, they stopped talking not too long before he met me. He claims to have been completely over her, but he used to talk about her all the time. Now, he has apologized for that, he apparently didn't realize he talked about her so much. Which worried me even more... that it was so natural to just talk about her. The funny thing is, she was totally using him. She didn't really care about him, and when he tells me all the things that happened between them, and how she snubbed him so many times (I mean, the whole reason they broke up in high school was cuz she wanted to date someone else) in some ways I feel bad for him, and in some ways I just want to say "HELLO!!" I mean, he still doesn't get what was going on. But he's a guy. They are pretty much clueless when it comes to the communication part of relationships, or the subtlety of blowing someone off. Well, she didn't so much blow him off as lead him on. I mean, she wasn't very clear. I can see where she was stringing him along. And I know she knows it too (probably flattered her that he was so into her, and she didn't want to let it go completely) but I don't think he ever will. Maybe it would just be too painful. Or maybe he just doesn't want to admit it.
Anyways, I really don't want to meet her. I don't want that awkward "I'm the first one he thought might be the one" and "Hi, I'm the one he did marry" moment. Just me, but I'd rather not see the girl he was so close to emotionally. Sometimes I thought (when we were dating, and first married) that he was still closer to her in his heart than he was to me. That's a hard place to be in.
So hopefully that meeting won't happen, and I'll just have happiness and joy at seeing where my husband grew up and went camping, and running, and everything. At the very least, I'll get to see his family again, and the kids will get to see their grandparents that they haven't seen since the wedding and Rose's birth.

Let's just pray that we get a minivan before summer...