We’ve had some pretty strong storms roll through the area over the past couple of days. Yesterday morning a pretty good one rolled through. It stayed south of Fargo, but did head toward Wahpeton. Apparently it was enough of a storm to make the tree in the backyard of my Grandma’s old house fall on the house. The house is a split level … my Grandma and one uncle used to live upstairs while another uncle lived downstairs.
Thank goodness my Grandma and uncles no longer live there (they just moved out recently). But still … to see the tree on the house … it just makes me sad.
The pic was scanned (by my sister … thanks Lisa) from the Wahpeton, ND paper, the Daily News.
Yesterday was a fairly full day. I went with Robin and Dannilynn to the MSUM celebration. That took up most of the afternoon. Then I came back home and chilled for a while. The Busch Nationwide Series race at Daytona was on, so I watched that (of course). Dale Jr was in it. And it was Daytona.
Around 9:45pm I headed over to Robin’s so we could go to watch the fireworks. We went last year, but Dannilynn was too young (2 months old) to enjoy them. This year she was actually awake and watching them. I did get some pics of the fireworks. They’re not the best. I used the fireworks setting on my camera. Here’s a preview:
I also got video of the finale. That was better than the pics.
Overall, I was NOT impressed by the fireworks this year. Last year just seemed better and longer. But then again, I think after seeing the show at the pyrotechnics convention in West Fargo … nothing else can compare to that. But it was good to get out of the apartment for a good chunk of the day. And to hang out with Robin and Dannilynn.
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Originally uploaded by hightechredneckwoman
Robin, Dannilynn, and I went to the MSUM 4th of July festivities today. We went to the parade and then to the MSUM campus for some entertainment, food, booths, and other stuff.
I took a bunch of pics of Dannilynn at the parade since this was the first one she could really enjoy. She was at this one last year, but she was only 2 months old then. And she was at the West Fest parade last year, but she was still pretty little. She really seemed to enjoy it.
This pic just looks like she’s saying “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?” It’s my favorite of the bunch.
We might go to watch the fireworks later tonite. It just depends on what kind of mood Dannilynn is in. If we do, I’ll try to take pics. I’ll post if they turn out good.
Today marks the 4 year anniversary of my new career path. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years already. I went from having a hobby of working on websites (and teaching myself) to working on them for a living. I’ve learned a lot in these past 4 years, and I’m still learning.
The last 4 years haven’t all been peachy. Back in September 2006 I was laid off. It wasn’t because of my work. It was a situation the company encountered. They basically laid off all but about 5 people, and they weren’t guaranteed a position for very much longer. But then about a month later, they offered me my position back. I was the only one they brought back. I’ve basically been with them ever since.
I say “basically” because the company no longer exists. The client that we had been working with hired myself and my boss at the beginning of this year. So I’m still doing the same thing, but my paychecks come from someone else now. 
And I’ve been working from home since the start of the year.
I definitely love what I do … making ideas come to life online. I do have my bad days, but I think that’s mainly because I work at home. I’m the kind of person who needs to get out of my apartment from time to time, so working from home makes me go batty some times. That’s why I wish there was a coworking location here. Maybe when I win the lottery I’ll set one up. I can dream, can’t I? LOL
While I do love what I’m doing, I’m starting to get more interested in other aspects of the web … namely social media. That’s kind of ironic since I am definitely NOT a social person. I’m the girl who sits in the corner watching people have fun. But I need to change that. 
I have no immediate plan to change my career plan yet again. I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. But I think that in my spare time I might start looking into the whole social media field. It might turn out that it’s not for me. But it doesn’t hurt to look into it. I’m at a point in my life where I feel like I need to get more involved with things. I’m not getting any younger. LOL I think that would help with the working from home thing and feeling like I’m trapped in my apartment.
Where will I be 4 years from today? Who knows. I would like to think that I will still be involved in some aspect of web programming. Maybe even in some other aspect of the web. But since I don’t have a crystal ball and since I can’t see the future, I have no idea where I will actually be. I just hope that wherever I am and whatever I’m doing, I’m happy. That’s all I want. To be happy.
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Originally uploaded by hightechredneckwoman
Today has been a rather interesting day. Around noon, I went out on my balcony and saw smoke in the direction of the mall. It turns out there was a really big apartment fire a few blocks north and west of the mall. There’s no roof left on that building. Very scary.
Then while I was at Robin’s this afternoon, my Mom called to let me know that there was a severe storm headed toward town. Lots of wind when that went through. Branches everywhere.
Then shortly after I got home from Robin’s, around 7:30pm or so, we had another storm head toward town. This one had a tornado warning on it. It looked VERY nasty on radar. I took this pic as it approached town. It was the most impressive shelf/wall cloud I’ve seen in a while. I’ve got some more in my Flickr account.
Talk about a wild day. And YESTERDAY was Friday the 13th. LOL
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Originally uploaded by hightechredneckwoman
I love storms. I have for as long as I can remember. And I love taking pictures of the clouds. There are some weak thunderstorms moving through the area tonite. I looked out my window and saw these shelf clouds. I had to take pictures of them. I used the widescreen setting of my camera and snapped these from my balcony.
I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get some good storm pics this summer. I’ll just have to wait and see what sort of weather rolls in around here. Of course I’ll share any good pics I manage to get.
As I mentioned in my last post, I got some video of Sawyer Brown last nite at RibFest. I uploaded one of them to YouTube. This video shows Mark Miller’s fancy footwork. That man sure can dance. The video is pretty good quality, but YouTube doesn’t show the high quality one by default. If you go here, click the ‘watch in high quality’ link to view in all its (compressed for the internet) glory.
It’s that time of year again. Time for the FargoDome parking lot to be filled with the delicious aroma of ribs and brisket. This weekend is RibFest. You just can’t beat delicious food and concerts for next to nothing. With a discount coupon, you can get in the gate for $3. Parking is $3. But the concerts are free. So for $6, you get to see some awesome live music from national acts. Yeah, the food is extra, but for the amount you get, it’s not bad.
Last nite had Sawyer Brown on stage. Robin, Dannilynn, and I went. We ate some food, watched some pigs race, and then watch the concert. It was the first real test of my camera. Yeah, I used it at Dannilynn’s birthday party, but those pics were taken inside. Last nite was more of a challenge. It was dark out and we weren’t all that close to the stage. Kind of hard to get close when you have a stroller. And loud music isn’t good for little ears. I need to do more playing with my camera to find the best settings, but I did get some okay pics for the conditions. Here’s a preview …
I got a couple of pretty good videos too. The sound is rather loud. I don’t think I have software that will tone down the sound, but I am planning on putting them up on YouTube after I do a little processing to shrink them down in size. I’ll post ‘em here after I get that done. So be on the lookout.
We’re going back to RibFest tomorrow nite. Diamond Rio is there. They were supposed to play last year, but the weather was so bad, they canceled everything for that nite. I really hope that doesn’t happen again this year. There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow, but there was yesterday too, but the weather was perfect last nite. So here’s hoping tomorrow will be too. And maybe I’ll have my camera figured out for less than ideal conditions by then.
Six years ago today, I dove into the world of blogging. Way back then I was on LiveJournal. Surprisingly, it’s still around … not sure if that’s a good thing or not … LOL.
Then in 2002 … September 17th to be exact … I migrated to MoveableType. I don’t have any of my posts from then up until January 10, 2003 because of an issue I had with my web host at the time.
And in 2004 … June 22nd to be exact … I moved over to WordPress, and that’s where I’ve been ever since. And I’m very happy with WordPress and have no intentions of changing ever again.
In these past 6 years I’ve done a lot of bitching and moaning, but that’s not all I’ve done. I’ve learned alot as well. I’m a completely different person than the one who made that first post 6 years ago.
In these past 6 years, my blog has been at 4 different web addresses on 3 different domains … 2 of which are mine:
I probably shouldn’t link to those, but they are a part of my history … all the bitching and moaning as well as the positive stuff. I still can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 6 years. Boy does time sure fly.
Robin, Dannilynn, and I went out for lunch yesterday at IHOP. It was the first time I’ve been there since they opened. I’ve been wanting to eat there. I had a burger … very good. I need to go there for breakfast some time.
While we were waiting for our food, she and Robin were playing around with a wet wipe. Dannilynn was giggling up a storm. She is so darn adorable. The only problem was that she stopped giggling so much as soon as I grabbed my camera. She still giggled, just not as much.
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