Doodle Analysis

"If you really want to get anal about your doodles" (or don't flush those doodles! Analyze them first!")

Repeated triangles, squares and other shapes drawn in patterns is supposed to mean an organized brain and meticulous planning and thinking, along with efficiency and purposefulness. Hmmm.... I'm not so sure about that. I do alot of pattern-type doodles and I am most definitely not methodical and efficient. I guess there is always at least one exception to any "rule ..."

Here's another doodle type -- repetitive shapes:

According to the Anna Koren Graphology Center, repeated shapes means someone with patience, perseverance, who is also methodical and has the ability to concentrate. Hmmm, though I also doodle as above, and I think I am patient and can concentrate - I am again not methodical. Oh well. :-)

hEADING dOWN to tHe dESERT

nOT gonna be poSTin here for a few days. nOt that i've been all that faithful the last week or so. tIM and I have been busy wrapping up projects so we can have a break! YAH ! i'm ready for tHIs. Zion here we come.

Human Fountain

Human Fountain Cropped
Originally uploaded by D W S.

I wanted to save this somehow for Gabe to see - it's part of the Street Performers Photo Pool on flickr. Check it out, Gabe - you and Aaron might really like some of these pictures.

Gallatin River on April 16th

Spring is trying to assert itself over winter's stubborn grip

Tribute to an old-soul friend of mine

Sam, just hours after his spring, 2005 haircut

I thought I would post some photos of my trusty companion, Sam, who is 16 (human) years old this year (2005) That means he's over 100 in dog years. Definitely a senior, and a right spry senior at that. He still enjoys life, wags his tail, loves walks (although he seems to love the first half of the walk more than the second, going-home half...)

I am going to write some of his story here on my blog. I'll add to it as I have time. It's a remarkable story and Sam has been an incredible old friend for a long time. He's getting really old. We don't know how much longer he'll be with us. But... you never know with anybody, right? I mean, I could die tomorrow. Or tonight. So could he. So could any of us. Life is too precious to let it go by without expressing appreciation.

So here, I am expressing appreciation for a friend who has loved me -- loved Mickey, Gabe, Tim -- unconditionally. No matter what. He beams love to us. He also beams at us: "food, please, just a mere scrap of that thing you're eating."

It seems to me, people usually wait until someone dies to share their feelings about that person, or to share a tribute to that person. Why not do it while your loved ones are still alive?

It's like flowers ... why wait until a funeral to bring flowers? Bring flowers whenever you think about it! While your husband, wife, mother, sister, grandparent, friend .... are still alive, to enjoy the flowers. So, I'm writing this tribute (and it's a work in progress, mind you) about Sam while he's still quite alive -- and kickin.


Sam, on the day of his spring haircut.
He looks younger and older at the same time. Younger because he just isn't covered with all that shag ... and older because you can see how skinny he is and you can see all his lumps and bumps. Signs of age, I guess. sigh.


Sam likes to go with us on our pilgrimages to the river. Here he is with me, his favorite "alpha dog" a couple months ago. Late February, same hike below:


Why fight over the chair, they've just learned to share it.

to be continued......

DUMPSTER DIVING FOR BUILDING MATERIALS

I found this dandy little clip in Greenclips, an email subscription-based newsletter. You can subscribe to Greenclips here:

In a surprising twist on continuing education, residents of the Gowanus section of Brooklyn paid $20 to take Dumpster Diving 301, a course on fishing for free home-improvement materials—things like scratched doors and mismatched kitchen cupboards—from construction waste bins. Students in the seminar, sponsored by an "art combine" called the Madagascar Institute, where do-it-yourselfers trying to cut construction costs by sorting through nail- and-grime-ridden rejectamenta. Their leaders were two seasoned teachers, Omar Freilla and Maureen Flaherty. Like a lot of other Dumpster divers, Ms. Flaherty and Mr. Freilla—who said he and his wife plan to buy and restore a home in the South Bronx using found materials—practice the sport not only to conserve cash but also to decrease Earth-clogging waste. One of Ms. Flaherty’s biggest tips was to watch for building permits and construction-size dumpsters. Meanwhile, Build It Green! NYC, a 17,500-square-foot low-end ‘Lowe's,’ opened last month in Astoria, Queens, with stacks of reclaimed kitchen cabinets, mismatched doors and carefully mined wood molding, along with sinks, radiators, handrails— even a few new Andersen windows. -- 1st printed in The New York Times, 24 Mar 05, p. D10, by Carole Braden