Bubble Lamps and Laptops

Years ago, when people would ask, "So, what are you?" I would answer, "I'm a mortician."  Or, "I'm a med tech."  Or, "I pick melons."  That last one is true.  I really did pick melons, and other than this, it was one of my all-time favorite vocations.  I just didn't realize it at the time.

These days when people ask what I do, I answer, "I'm a writer."  And then I start listing all those other things I do along with it to actually make money.

Last month, though I was productive, it wasn't in writing.  And now I've been reminded how hard it is to pull out of a tail-spin with writing and get the wheels in my head turning again to produce content.  For those who encouraged, poked, prodded and threatened .... I sincerely thank you or I might be sitting here with a blank page again tonight.

In an effort to stimulate my brain, and make my limited work space as effectually inspiring as possible, I've done some considerable revamping lately.  Part of the revamping that I added within the last few months has been a bubble lamp.

It's a very cool lamp.  Makes just the right sort of noise, and changes colors while the bubbles churn in a vertical tube.

In the photo, you can see the bubble lamp.



My work space.

The bubble lamp sits right next to my laptop, and behind it is a USMC towel I've hung up to hide an area that's to have shelving put in when McGuyver (Jonathan Hall) can find the time to add them.

It will take some time because Jonathan is the busiest guy I know, but it's worth the wait because he's meticulous and does excellent work.

That being said, behind the towel is an opening to a hallway.  And though the bubble lamp is usually sitting in a fairly secure spot on my desk, today I'd slid it over while working on a project for my sister's website and online gallery.

The bubbles flowed fine while I worked away through the hours (I really did spend hours working on her project, at least eight hours today, and I'm nowhere near finished), and as I was loosing daylight this evening, and realizing it would soon be time to work-out, shower and head to another job, somehow the bubble lamp ended up vibrating to the very edge of the desk ... and beyond.

It fell backwards (thankfully) past the towel, and through the opening behind it, to land on the hallway floor.  I was THRILLED that it didn't fall sideways onto my laptop, but was sure the thing had shattered and flooded water all over the wooden floor in the hall.

Amazingly, it didn't shatter, or even crack.  And, only a small bit of water spilled through the hole in the top cover.  It's also electric and didn't make a puddle on the disconnected power cord that had detatched itself from the lamp, but was still plugged into the power source on the surge protector.

Electricity and I generally are at odds with one another.  I once plugged in a hair dryer in a hotel room in Holland.  No sooner had I plugged it in than blue fire erupted from the outlet, followed by a loud bang, and suddenly the entire floor I was staying on was in the dark and without electricity.

I was surprised that the hotel maintenance guy was so nice about it.  Maybe the fact that I was wide-eyed and shaking had something to do with his kind response to the problem.

After tonight's lamp incident I decided to call it a day with the web-building and get in my shortened version of a workout before I run off to the other job tonight.

There are new articles coming up soon on the Hub, and new posts coming up on the blog as soon.  Hope you'll keep in touch and keep up with the reading.

God bless, thanks for the read, and don't forget to thank a veteran next time you run across one!

Angelia Phillips/femmeflashpoint

Crispy!

Fall seems to have finally shown up in DFW, but I'm thinking with so little water, the leaves are just gonna drop right off before changing.  (That's what I meant by crispy - I've been stepping on them, and everything that's fallen so far sounds crispy.) I was hoping to get some shots on the bike trails of fall foliage.  Odds for pulling it off aren't great, but since I'm the glass is at least half-full sort, I'm hoping that Jared or I manage some shots that don't come out with COLOR, and not just brown and ... crispy-looking!  If not, I'll just have to look at Alicia's fall photos instead, but it'd be kinda nice to have some of my own for the Pack Rides blog.

I've been doing some research on copywriting.  It's been sleepy research so, until I've had a little time to examine the resources with a clearer head, and possibly a consult with Jared Hall, I won't have a much firmer grasp on what it entails than I do now.

What little about it I DO understand is ... writing adverts, landing pages, and money.  I like all three. :)

With the line-up I have thus far, if I had the freedom to pull it off, I could effectively have an interview every single day for weeks on end.  There's just THAT MUCH STUFF sitting and waiting to go flying onto a page!  And, it's not like it's dribble (which is occasionally what ends up in my blogs, but this is where I think out loud), it's stuff worth reading.  It stuff written about people, and ... what's not worth the read when it comes to real people in real situations with real needs, or overcoming real circumstances that are often less than best, or making differences for others in good ways?

Coming up this month are Tobias Robinson (Hubpages.com), a visit to a church of a different sort on Sunday ( that will also publish on Hubpages if I can manage to stay awake long enough to shine my boots and show up for service, even if I don't have a horse here), Part III of Heartbeats For Hoofbeats (also on Hubpages.com), hopefully back to the stockyards to get some better notes and photos from the long-horn herders, and what else ... ?  (I'm thinking thinking.  Do you hear the gears grinding and see the smoke yet?)  Ah well, that's three out of three!  I've an idea on who I plan to fill the last opening with, but I'd best not mention him yet because I haven't asked.  I'll get back on that one with you when I've confirmed it. 

MEANWHILE ... for my readers, once more I thank you for propelling me down the path of self-employment doing something that I reallllly love doing!  Please leave a comment now and then; say hi, or get lost, or even make a recommendation for an interview or article ... any ideological contributions are always appreciated!  Please don't ask for recipes - I don't think I can write recipes.  I never read them myself and never use them on the rare occasions that I cook.

But - pretty much anything outside of recipes and cooking is fair game!  Ok, wait up ... fru-fru is out in general.  I just can't produce fru-fru info from my keyboard.  It never comes out well.  You can also follow my blogs via e-mail (if you like them well enough to follow them).  See that little field up there on the right side of the page?  Email addy goes in there, and then my stuff goes to you, and Google watches, which helps me out. :)

Oh yes, on a final note ... Halloween is almost here.  I know, I know - half my kin and friends don't do the Halloween thing so ... cover your eyes please.

I have high hopes to get to attend a hooky-spooky haunted something-or-other this year.  I'm trying to convince Torres to come with.  She gets all wigged out by the spook-fests, but I'm thinking if we take along at least one guy friend (or more), then we'll surely make it out alive!

That's the plan anyway - we may have screamers croop, but it'll be worth it!