MikkiStreak

Ok, #1 probably wouldn't be a huge issue to me (if I didn't read the other 2 issues), because we always take Raven with us everywhere (as long as it's not too warm/cold). So we go for dinner, sometimes a movie, and we leave her in the truck with the windows cracked because she loves people watching and the Explorer is still better than cooping her up in the kennel at home. (But we also have cushy blankets in the back, and keep food/water dishes filled in the truck for her too). We also take her on vacation with us, and camp out if we can't find a pet friendly hotel to stay in. (We spoil her and love doing it! Now, the other 2 items, I think you should discuss it with the couple. Without offering any leading information, pose the "what if" questions to them. I think the most important thing is whether they would bond and have a sense of commitment to Elsie. Owners make mistakes, especially if they're never adopted mill dogs (or a new breed they aren't familiar with), etc... but the real question is: if Elsie started regressing in her potty training, what would they do? Do they have plans on how they would integrate the dogs? What happens if the dogs have difficulty getting along? Commitment and education are the two biggest obstacles to animal adoptions. People drop animals off at shelters because they aren't willing to adjust their lifestyle or spend the time fixing the issue. And sometimes, the people just have no clue how to overcome obstacles with animals, and have no idea what resources to turn to.

Quote: Originally Posted by KellyandMatt08 Since you girls had Robin photograph your weddings, do you have any picture recommendations that you think she missed? Or do you think she covered everything well? She is photographing mine in May. I would provide a specific list of individuals you'd like her to shoot photos of, and the priority that guest has in your photo list (such as, maybe you want 2-3 photos to choose from of your parents and you, but only 1 photo of you and some distant uncle you're not as close to). I would also ask for multiple shots to be taken of each item you've put on the list, and emphasize you want that so you have a wider choice. For example, if she takes 5 shots of one photo setup, then she narrows it down to only 2 good ones from the original 5 taken- you want to see both of those 2 photos to choose which one you would want as a print. Once everyone is together (welcome dinner, etc...) before the wedding, make sure to introduce her to each person on that list individually and emphasize who they are and the relationship between you and the person (ie: This is Aunt Mary- she is my fiancee's aunt whom he's only been able to see once every 5 years)... Me, personally--- I would ask to see the raw images from the camera before any touch-up work had been done. There could be 1-2 images that she wouldn't choose to make in the presentation to you- but those could be the images you would actually want. (Sorry about the hijack Raeka!)

Quote: Originally Posted by Christine Christa I dare you to send that exact e-mail to the mortgage broker...seriously. hahaha.... you should have seen the one she sent! She definitely got her point accross in it!!! haha!

Quote: Originally Posted by JessicaLovesBrian Thanks for the tips Maria!! I'm sort of thinking about getting back into photography, but I didn't jump on the digital camera bandwagon until late, so they are all pretty new to me. Your adivce helps though! That Fujifilm one looks pretty neat. I'll have to look into it. Melissa, that Canon has been the one I've been looking at as well!!! Since you've had some familiarity with photography before, a really good online source for reviews is definitely going to be Popular Photography, Digital Photo Review. Both those sites really helped me compare apples to apples on products, and from that, it was pretty easy to find the best online purchasing sources.

here's the fuji style I mentioned: Fujifilm | FinePix S8000fd Digital Camera | 15774199 | B&H Photo just be sure that if the battery source on ANY digital camera is regular alkaline battery, that you read the reviews on the camera. If you see any reports of quick battery drainage, RUN. digital cameras tend to be "bleeders" of alkaline batteries (where you'll get maybe 15-60 minutes of taking pictures before the batteries die). Avoid HP point-n-shoot's that use alkaline. Worst purchase I ever made for that very reason. When I bought my most recent camera, I very very HAPPILY took my HP to the parking lot and beat the shit out of it with a bat...

I'd say go for point & shoot digital, instead of a full dslr (unless you plan on getting back into photography). The real reason I say this, is because if you're looking for a good quality image with faster shutter speeds to capture Aiden on-the-go, messing around with camera settings on a dslr to go from manual to programmable is going to be frustrating. The only thing that makes me cautious about your need for the digital camera is the dropping thing. Honestly, film cameras always took that kind of abuse better because they didn't use electronic circuitry to perform actions. Unlike digital cameras, which are going to be more sensitive to "shocks" like that. Granted, there are probably some models out there that are more shock-resistant than other models--- but overall, they might wear out more quickly.... My brother-in-law has a "point-n-shoot" attitude dslr from Fuji. They took it with them this summer to Alaska and even I was surprised by the clarity of images (it was like a 7.0 meg camera) and the zoom capabilities (they were on one mountain and had some decent close-up's of animals on the mountain facing them). The big thing with the zoom is optical-vs-digital zoom. The digital zoom has more deterioration of the image quality, IMO. Optical zoom maintains quality, but won't go as far with the zoom ability.

And, we love garage-saling and estate sales and estate auctions because we find some items that the people have no clue what their value is, and then we resell on ebay. I've found antique cameras that people were selling for like $5 and because of the brand name, I knew it was worth more- so I'd sell it on ebay or craig's list for $100.

Forgot a couple more: * I buy our household cleaning supplies at the dollar store. Instead of buying off-brand cleaners for $3 or name-brand for $4-5, I get window cleaner, furniture cleaner, toilet cleaner, floor cleaner, etc... from dollar general. Same size product, but costs $1. This alone saves us about $20-30 each month. * I learned a lot of savings tips from my dad. We shop garage sales and flea markets primarily because we think it's fun and interesting. But also, because we find things like brand new, in the package, toothbrushes, or other household items that someone is just getting rid of to save space. So we can find a lot of new items for $.50-1.00 instead of paying $3-4 for each item in a store. * Along those same lines---- we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going garage-saling in the "rich" part of town. I'm telling ya--- those are the best. These people are just wanting to get rid of shit without having to deal with having it removed, so there are some real quality items that can be purchased dirt cheap. Unlike lower-income and middle-class people---- we notice those garage sales are because people want to get rid of things, but they want to make $$$ on it, so the prices are higher. * No judgment please on this one: We have been known to "dumpster dive". No, not for used crappy condition items. But the college town I lived in during my 20's had some fabulous finds every May/June. Literally, we would find brand new, in-the-box microwaves, TV's, etc... from college kids who didn't have room to take all the belongings they bought during the year back to their hometowns with them. Along those lines--- on occasion, we would drive around town the night before garbage day because we'd find nice furniture sitting curb-side to pick up for free. So forgot about those trips--- it's been about 15 years since I did stuff like that....

I learned to live very frugally after high school. I was living in my car for quite awhile and had to get pretty damn creative to survive. Even tho my lifestyle is (thankfully!) not like that anymore, I'm still a pretty simple person and make sure I don't develop attachments to "things", which really keeps my lifestyle simple. So, here are my normal "cutbacks" that are just part of my life, regardless of financial situation. * We make sure to turn the central air off every chance we get an open doors/windows. When we do run the air, it's always set to about 80' (which in 100+ weather, definitely feels cold to us). In the winter, we keep the furnace set to 65 and wear sweats/slippers/sweatshirts around home (and we always have throws everywhere to cozy up with). Also, in the winter when it's cold and we're baking something in the oven for dinner--- we leave the oven door open after dinner is done cooking and the oven is turned off, so we can use that dinner heat for warming of our kitching/breakfast nook. * We always make sure to turn off entertainment equipment, lights, etc... when we leave the room. * I almost always wash our clothes in cold water so we aren't using the water heater (gas) to wash clothes. We also don't do laundry until we have a nice full load. * We spend more time on the weekends at the dog park or at the lake, just relaxing on the docks fishing and/or reading books in the sun. We also have a killer picnic basket we picked up on clearance from Target a couple years ago and use that to pack up lunches for our days at the lake. * When we go out of town, we actually prefer to camp instead of doing the hotel thing during nice weather. We'll even inflate the air mattress in the back of the SUV and sleep there when traveling too. When I've gone through periods of unemployment, I cut back even further: using public transportation for distance travel around the city, cutting out the home phone and using a cell phone, using dial-up instead of DSL, getting rid of cable and just using library resources for entertainment, buying generic brands for almost everything, etc...

A loft, I'm assuming? Absolutely love it---- the hardwoods are gorgeous, and the kitchen is awesome!!! When I was in high school, I always dreamed of graduating from the art academy in Chicago and having a loft like this!

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Is it the same for someone from the US entering mexico? I would think NAFTA would be the same for all of north america. The work permits only seem possible to get if the person is a resident of mexico for some time. If NAFTA states a person can do business in Mexico as long as they are not making permenent residence then traveling photographers shouldn't have a problem. From what I was reading elsewhere, it sounds like there may be other policies in the works (or even in place already) where the US and Mexico are concerned because of the immigration issues our "president" and President Fox have tried to negotiate. But, I don't know if Mrs. V's photographer is from the US or not. I assumed the photographer is Canadian, since she's from Canada...

nevermind.... removing original comment.

Kathi, that place looks great--- love the yard size too! I gotta ask tho--- is real estate really that high in demand in Stephenville? We're in Plano and have been watching the market for the Dallas side, and the FW side of the metroplex. We've noticed that FW in general has so much better pricing than Dallas for what all is found in the property itself... I'm just floored that the real estate in Stephenville is this much higher than FW in general---- I would have expected a smaller community that far outside of FW would have even lower prices than found in the immediate FW suburbs. What am I missing? I know there's got to be something I don't know about that reflects the difference. (We would LOVE to move to FW, if we stay in the metroplex.... so I'm really interested in your take on the market over there. We have a different perspective since we live in NE suburbs of Dallas...)

Ok, the way this sounds---- it seems as if Canadian residents entering Mexico provide "proof" they are entering Mexico without the intent of long-term employment, and that's about it. Temporary Entry into the United States and Mexico - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) I tried going to the Canadian Embassy site listed, but get an error (something between the two sites isn't communicating properly).

I think they're blowing smoke up your butt because it's only a month before the wedding. I'd probably demand some type of "official" information. An email from a resort that has become well-known for their stance about photographers, is a little suspicious to me. Especially since it's geared toward photography--- not other vendors who could be brought in from out of the country (like videographers, or ministers, etc...); their email specifially referenced photographers and nothing else. I would also call the US Embassy in Mexico to confirm/deny this information before responding to the email. But, I know your Canadian, so I don't have any familiarity with Canadian resources that could provide you with more information about this.

Soooooo... April Fool's Day... And here's another one: A guy I work with just bought a $30,000 truck last month and just put the tags on it.... So we put a "For Sale: $5,000" sign on it with his cell phone number. And then watched the calls start rolling in. We also blew up balloons and filled (literally) the Program Manager's office, so that he couldn't get into his office this morning...

It looks amazing! I can even picture things once Rafael starts getting in there and doing his "magic" too! I can't wait to see more of the pics once you guys start personalizing the house!

Hey, curious, are those oak cabinets with a non-oak stain on them? I know you guys made a lot of decisions in the favor of energy efficiency--- are gas stoves considered more energy efficient? I've been wondering about that since crude oil prices keep increasing, but gas has more heat control compared to electric. So I'm wondering which one really is more energy-efficient (gas or oil)? I have kitchen envy. Which is the female version of penis envy. Yours is HUGE!

We haven't really felt too much of an impact (knock on wood!). I work in technology and after 2001 when my industry collapsed, I'm super-paranoid about being out of work again. Frank is more vulnerable than I am, IMO. He's a customer service manager for a company that handles the retail industry. But, even tho the owners threaten they're losing their major accounts (and have threatened this for the last 2 years), they told him today that even if that happened, he would have nothing to worry about--- he's their "keeper". For me, I'm still in technology, but the new job I took last July came with a 40% pay increase off the bat, my bonus was 75% of the total possible amount, and the annual increase was 5% this year. I've also taken more steps to keep myself in the "asset" column of the employee list: I work later at night, work more in the office than from home to get the visibility, took on the largest client we signed, and have designed quite a few software applications that are now being implemented into our core product line, as well as taking on some department projects that will help us increase efficiency. We're starting to look at building a house later this year, but we'll probably keep an eye on the market to make sure we don't jump into it too early and risk losing better interest rates & builder incentives. It's a gamble, but at the same time, we're still going to buy at a better time for the market than any other time we'd consider, so that's fine with me. We don't go overboard on expenses tho. We spend more wisely: we're putting more into the 401K and short-term less risky investments, and are only keeping about $1000 in emergency money for now while we throw all our "extra" toward debt to pay it all off. We drive "efficiently"--- I started driving the SUV because I have the shorter commute, and on weekends, we drive the economy car. We also use rewards cards/memberships to get the lowest gas prices as possible. We also tighten the reins on entertainment: instead of going to the movies, we do the blockbuster monthly rental thing; instead of going out to eat at more expensive places like we used to, we go to lower-end restaurants like Fridays, Applebee's, etc... when we do go for dinner. And, instead of heading to the bar to drink- we've become closet drinkers at home.

And, as always, our biggest source of amusement- Raven: Her "official" Easter photo:

I like this one, but it seems "bland" to me with the constant consistent colors...

These are from the Dallas Aboretum. Not sure I put these up before. I tried searching thru my previous threads, but didn't see anything...

So, these are the most recent ones in the last few months. This is from a weekend trip to Austin. We went thru the state capitol, and of course, Frank had to add his "political assessment"... the Japanese tourists got a kick out of it. Williams Clements Jr: Williams Clements Jr. Jr. (no typo folks- only in TX would there be a Jr. Jr.): Mark White: Ann Richards: Last, the "W": We did "the W" last because we figured we'd have to RUN from the capitol building with a lynchmob after us, considering the cult following this idiot has in texas... hehehehe... we definitely did not make some people happy with this photo opportunity.....

Quote: Originally Posted by Christa She just likes me because I'm high on Nyquil right now... hell yes! shit, I'm archiving our conversation from today. I've either enhanced my extremely vulgar & offensive vocabulary, or given myself enough ammunition from you today to really have some fun for awhile!