US News & World Report rated Occupational Therapist as one of the Best 25 Careers of 2007. Unfortunately, the median salary listed is one of the lowest of the 25 and “Prestige” was given the rating of “C”. It’s true…so true. Oh well…I suppose you’ll never hear me complain about not being able to find a job or that I’m being replaced by someone in India.
It was time to clean out the fish bowl this weekend and Farshie was looking rather sad. I remembered that he’s actually a tropical fish that’s supposed to be living in the warm waters of Southeast Asia and realized that poor Farshie’s been hanging out in a bowl next to the window with no heater. How unfortunate. I am one mean slum-lord.
To the left is Farshie’s old studio with cramped quarters and no central heating.
He’s down by the rocks hiding somewhere.
So, we drove up to Buena Park to pick up an old 5-gallon tank that has been sitting empty since we moved to our house. Unfortunately, it was given away. You’d think that after our stupid college days of 50 million tanks in one apartment that we’d be able to find something for him. But no…that was not the case this time. We actually had to go to pet store to buy him a new crib. So now Farshie’s stylin’ in an Eclipse 5-gallon corner acrylic tank with a BIO-wheel filter. We also got him a nice heater to bring his water temp up a little bit. We’re hoping it will bring his color back to a sapphire blue and he’ll be swimming around a bit more.
This is Farshie in his new condo with central heating and extra square inchage.
He’s looking happier already. We might need to get him a couple Cory Roombas in a week or so.
Alright, Flickr is starting to grow on me. It definitely won’t replace ofoto for my albums and printing but I’m using it as my photo gallery and a way to share my photos with the rest of the world. 
I’ve learned a lot about photography through the comments people make on my photos (good and bad). It definitely takes a thick skin to post your photos into public pools. Some people are brutally honest but most give really good constructive criticism in the form of crop suggestions and how to improve my composition. I’ve also realized that some photos that I think are nice are not necessarily as appreciated by others. I guess it’s all a learning process.
By the way, my new lens is so much fun. It’s great for portraits and indoor photos. It’s also really small and light so it’s been much easier to take the camera around with me. The dog has been very patient with me since it probably seems like that stupid camera is in his eye all the time. I guess the best thing about this lens, for him, is that he isn’t blinded by the flash anymore.
I just got a call from the Irvine Fine Arts Center and they cancelled my darkroom class!! I emailed my instructor from last semester (who was going to teach this class too) and he said that there weren’t enough people registered so they had to cancel it. Boooo…so now what?! I guess I’ll just have to wait for my fisheye to arrive and shoot more photos with the Holga. I’m going to need a whole suitcase for all my camera gear when I fly to Vail. The 1.8 should be perfect for our nighttime outings!!
For Christmas, Jes said that I could get a new lens for my camera. Well, I’ve been pining over two particular lenses for over a year and now it’s time to decide on which one. Over the weekend, I finally made my decision and ordered (through Amazon) the 50mm f/1.4 for $269. I decided on that one because it was the cheaper of the two (other being a Macro lens that was at least $389). Unfortunately it was on backorder and their estimated date of delivery was mid-Feb!
So this afternoon, I went to Samy’s Camera looking for a used lens – hoping it would make it cheaper. Instead, I ended up bringing home a brand new 50mm f/1.8 for only $129! I basically saved myself $140 for a lens that is almost as good. To reward myself, I went home and ordered the fisheye adaptor that I that I also had my eye on. What’s cool about it is that it attaches to my Holga AND my new 50mm!! Yay! Just to give you some perspective, the real fisheye lens (10.5mm f/2.8) that I would have bought costs about $600. This adaptor that is made in Japan and made of glass (versus plastic) is only $85! What a deal! So, for the price of the original lens that I ordered, I ended up with two and still some money left over to buy some 120 film. Awesome.
I also signed up for my darkroom class today. It starts this Thursday and I can’t wait to process the B&W 120 that I used in the Holga. Photochemicals, here I come!
I started my day as I usually do. Got up, walked the dog, and went to work. At 1:30, I got a phone call from Jes and thought, “Oh no. What did the dog do now?” That wasn’t the issue at all. It was much worse. Jes went into work this morning and got laid off. It’s not a huge surprise but it was much earlier than he expected. Their company was expecting a big layoff in June but he got the boot much earlier. When he told me, I wasn’t mad, surprised, or anxious. I was just speechless. So, I asked to be excused from this afternoon’s staff meeting and went home to console the husband even though he was probably more relieved than anything else. Fortunately for us, this was a lay off and not a firing, which means a nice severance package will be coming our way. We also found out this afternoon that shortly after Jes left the building, they had a big meeting to announce that no one would be getting raises or bonuses this year. It sucks that we’re a single-income household for a while but it sorta looks like Jes won in the end.
In other news, the WoW Expansion Pack came out today and we went to Target to go get it. He also applied for a job at Blizzard today. It was a funny coincidence that he was going to apply for the job opening even before getting laid off today. It’s pretty ironic that the game that took over our house these past 7 months may potentially support the house after wall. Stupid WoW.
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