Browser BACK Button = Whole Weeks Worth Of Work GONZO

I'm sure at some point you've all hit the BACK button on your browser, and much to your dismay realized that everything you'd just written on the previous page has completely disapeared. you know... like entering in a bunch of information into an internet 'form' for school registration, or signing up for something online? Maybe you've written a long heartfelt email or a huge blog post and somehow, some way, with the click of your mouse, the internet connection 'timing out' or some part of your hand touching a wierd key you didnt know had a 'function' you've lost it ALL. i'm assuming you know the feeling... anger - disbelief - annoyance. well last saturday i brought this feeling to a whole new level.

ive been working on a website for a P.E.T.A. like company. its the first 'non-creative' type website ive had to make. certainly no pretty pictures to work with, no creative layouts to imply... just a straight forward site with lots of written info and disturbing content. ive been putting off taking on these types of sites because it meant learning code. (click on the picture to get a better view of the dreaded code...) all that jibberish stuff thats in behind many of the sites we surf... but the money was good so i took it on.

pretty much everything i know about anything comes from consuming ALOT of coffee and teaching myself through online tutorials, forums, reading other peoples solved problems and my own trail and error... i dive in head first, barely coming up for breath of air (or food and sleep) until i have a pretty good understanding of what it is im doing AND a finished product to prove it.

for this new job i chose to make the site using 'Joomla'. (won't expain, its just another of the many ways to make a website). so i was working on the site via my own site (heres where it gets complicated) and my site is 'hosted' by my dad who has his own 'server'. well it came to the point where i needed to switch what id been working on (over a weeks worth of work, i was 1/2 way done!) over to the server that the finished site would be residing on. dad and i decided that it would be best if first we got it onto my computers local server (sorry, boring... i know) and THEN put it up on their server... bla bla bla... for some STUPID reason he had me log into his SQL server and started talking me through what i needed to do...

dad: "OKaaaaayyyy. see on the left theres a drop down menu?"
me: "yuuup..."
dad: kay, click on it and you'll see your name."
me: "kay, clicked it."
(my dad is also logged in and can see everything im doing.)
dad: "ok, so its brought up a table on the right now. do you see where it says Joomla?"
me: "yaaaaah... ok clicked it"
dad: "now click on the bla bla bla"
(don't remember much after this part of the conversion.)
me: "sorry, the what? i dont see that."
dad: "ok you're in the wrong part of the bla bla bla, you need to be in the bla bla bla"
Heres where i clicked the BACK button so i could go BACK A STEP. makes sense right?
dad: "dalyn, what did you just do?"
me: "what do you mean? im looking for the bla bla bla."
dad: "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE."
(i hear my dad feverishly clicking around on his keyboard...)
dad: "well. its gone. you deleted it."
me: "WHAT??? no i didnt! hows that possible???"
dad: "did you press the BACK button?"
me: "YES!"
dad: "i should have never let you in here... just log out"
me: "WHY THE HECK DID YOU LET ME IN HERE!!?? its GONE??? isn't there like a 'trash' or something?"
dad: "afraid not hun, sorry. you've gotta start from scratch."

there was this empty hollow feeling that came over me. i hung up the phone and just stared at my screen for a while. in a haze of numbness i spent the next 2 hours googling what i had just done, searching for solutions to my problem. turns out there weren't any within my price range.

i plan to make at least 2 to 3 blog entries a week, and i would have last week had the above bullshit not happened! but im back on track now. so, as i said earlier, im sure you've all had something similar happen... leave a comment or personal experience and help me deal with my grief!!! *d

Modeling Poses For The Beginner Part #1

I'm not the kind of person to shy away from the camera but i'm not exactly the person that is jumping to get in every shot taken either. i wouldn't say that im an ugly person but i also wouldn't say that im modeling material... (my boobs are too big ive been told... snicker snicker!) but over the years i have honed several 'looks'. im well known for them - im loved AND hated for them. i use to never smile in pictures. not sure why, i guess i thought my smile looked weird? or it made my nose look longer? i dont know, but i just didn't smile. well that all changed at around 26. maybe it was the drink, maybe it was the drugs, who knows! but ive become well known in a circle of people for my signature 'looks'. i thought id share some of my secrets with those of you out there that stuggle with shying away from the camera. they are all sure-fire ways to be remembered for years down the road.
Please read these before taking a look at the images...

1. make your eyes POP. think of something really exciting or something that made you exasperated and just make the camera feel it.

2. if you have cleavage - USE IT. squeeze 'em up and OUT. works well for photos at the beach or pool. (sorry guys on this one... try bicepts maybe?)

3. if your out drinking and you're holding a drink, your guard will already be down, so go with it. try a sexy cocked eyebrow and pursed lips. (guys this CAN work for you as well)

4. 'spur of the moment' is easy and always looks natural! pretend you just got the best surprise of your life. both levels of teeth NEED to be showing in this one to get the full effect.

5. everybody loves a rockstar... just pretend you're singing and laughing at the same time. props are good for this pose (broomstick, hairbrush etc...) if you dont have a prop throw a fist in the air with a strong, legs spread stance.

6. stand out in a picture. you want to be rememebered? then pull a look out of your back pocket and make your friends next to you look super boring! any of the above will work for this one.

7. work WITH, not against your facial features. sometimes a cocked smile or wandering eyes can really work in a picture... try thinking of something eles or looking off into the distance... certainly works for me! (i know my friends are jealous of this look in particular...)

8. accessories can really turn what would have been a boring photo into something extra special. try glasses? im sure you'll think of something.

i know its hard to get an idea of what i mean from just words, so ive included a few pics of myself and friends to get you started. dont copy my looks, but make and create your OWN signature look... you can do it! i hope this little post helped!

Vodka Tonic with Two Titties Please!

conversation upon waking up this morning at 11am...
me: 'sweety, i let you sleep in' (im up at the crack of dawn no matter WHAT day it is. this friend of mine has the same problem.)
sweety: 'i KNOW! its amazing!'
me: 'i frickin' STARVING'
sweety: silence.... ....
me: 'i wish we had gravy'
sweety: 'gravy? GRAVY?'
me: 'ya, you know gravy... forget it.'

i then got up and made us biscuits and sausage gravy (very american of me... you won't find this on any canadian menu). with grease pulsing through our arteries we decided to go thrifting, or 'hitting the VV' as we sometimes call it. 'VV' stands for Value Village, a huge chain of thrift stores across canada and i beleive the states? they usually take over the ghetto supermarket building in your local neighbourhood, so imagine walking into a Safeway sized store of used goodies!

we decide which particular store location we should visit. if you didn't catch what we were talking about you might think us quite the snobs!

hubby: so hastings or victoria? (street names of VV locations)
me: i have NOT been happy with hastings lately AT ALL.
hubby: i agree. can't say im too pleased with victoria as well. what about edmonds?
me: yes, i could do edmonds... its been a while but we always seem to find something worth while there...
hubby: EDMONDS IT IS!



so... we hardly need ANYTHING else in our little house, but ill make room for these finds! HUGE piece of awesome fabric, ugly purple leather jacket that i will make a cool-ass purse out of, semi-lame paint-by-number (we have a massive collection of them), small frame, and 3 SWEET glasses! Vodka Tonic with Two Titties Please! nice arent they? the kind of glasses you pull out for visits with the in-laws... now i just need to decide what each of them are saying...
any suggestions out there???

Saddly, my love costs money. How much? See monthy electric bill.

Channel 18 (Canadian weather channel)
News Caster's voice: "thanks Pinter, we'll be back to check in on the Manitoba's drought situation in 10 minutes... and now lets head over to the West Coast where notmuchhaschanged in the last few days! as mentioned earlier today, the British Columbia Lower Mainland is looking back on - and forward to...!! .... - you guessed it folks! RAIN! we've got ANOTHER major low preasure system coming up from the ..."

...if it wasn't for a hangover or my renowned selective/unavailable memory, i would swear they just put the 'West Coast' weather portion of the newscast on endless 'repeat'. But still, for stupid (though most likely hereditary) reasons i love to watch the weather channel or weather portion of the local news. i find myself uttering the words i grew up listening to from my mother after she had watched the news report.... "ooooooooooooooooo - ooooohhhh dave! DAVE!? DAVE D A V E (yelling for my dad) ohhhhhhh dave! theres a big one coming in - a BIG ONE!... ..... dave did you hear me?" of course he didn't. a 'BIG ONE' means having to give his wife endless backrubs and listening to painful moans in the night (weather induced pains of course...).

maybe now you're thinking... what? weather? pain? i just don't get what she's trying to put togther here. well if this is you - i might find it in my heart to try not hating you. let me explain.

SPECIAL PEOPLE + LOW PRESSURE WEATHER SYSTEMS = ARTHRITIS AND ACHING JOINTS.

it started happening when i was around 13 years old. sharp annoying pains in my right arm and wrist. it continues to happen at 32 years old, and yes... im turning into my mum (or your crazy grama?). on a bright sunny day i'm the person that rubs their elbow and says... "yup... 3 days. THREE DAYS. BIG storm coming in. BIG... TRUST me." and sure enough - im always right (thought rarely believed).

so why the title 'Saddly, my love costs money. How much? See monthy electric bill.'? well when one lives in a 1950's house that was slapped up in 3 days one has to except the fact that thought rent is cheap, what is saved in rent - is made up in the heating bill. single pained windows and 1 inch gaps in the doorways don't make for a cozy home. i lock myself in my office with my plug-in oil heater and pretend its summertime in January! and though i may venture out at 4pm to whip up a sweetass dinner and then quickly eat it with you for 5 minutes... i can't physically bring myself to continue hanging out in any other room that is not my office.

so what did my hubby do? he turned up the heat. gawd, you gotta love that. i know i do. is the 'oh there's a storm coming in! i can FEEL it!' comments bunk or believible? *d

my 1st entry EVER... ghetto breakfast

ok, so this is my 1st entry. who am i? what do i do? why the need to write about it? all valid questions and i'll answer them in a bit, but first a few images of my workspace.




um, ya, i work from home. if one was allowed the comforts pointed out in the images above at a 9-5 job then i might concider relocating - but until then, i think i'll stay here! so i'm hoping this has given you a mild idea of who i am. my name is dalyn. i'm a graphic designer, illustrator, teacher etc. and i live in vancouver, b.c. canada.
my best friend has been writing a great blog for about year now, and i guess he's given me the bug. from the links on his blog i have found others, like this one (some pretty funny stuff!) and this one (some pretty interesting stuff!). when i should be working i find myself reading a peice of comedy from somebody i've never met. it's great... i may never have to buy another book.
i don't use CAPITALS as you may have noticed. my shift key broke on my old computer and i never got back into the groove of using them. when i do use them it's meant to give you impression of me speaking LOUDLY. i also love using '...' too me it just means a slight pause...
so if i've captured your attention by now let me explain the pictures above...... (extra long pause)

my office:
aside from the street noise, it's perfect. 10 feet away from the kitchen and bathroom, no co-workers to annoy me aside from my kitty Chubba (Csaba) who only gets up for about 5 minutes around 1pm. as for the street noise, 6 lanes of traffic - all day every day (it makes my desk shake at times). it only takes me about 10 seconds to get to work (1 minute if i have to go pee) and there's no dress code!

desk close up:
love my MAC. LOVE IT. love my 1960's oil heater. love my wine.

shelf close up:
uuuuhhh... yah well i/we (hubby and i) do have a problem with collecting things. there will be later posts on that whole part of my life... and there are many of them!

chips 'n cheese:
it is unfortunate AND embarrasing that i am known as the 'natcho's girl' at the 7-11 just up the street.
"heyyyyy! it's the natcho's girl!" is really emabrassing at 9am on a tuesday morning... trust me. this situation also happens at the local beer and wine store when i try a different type of wine... "what?! no Sola today??" i'll talk about 'Sola' later...

so here's what you can expect from my posts... anything that can go wrong, quite often already has gone wrong for me. but i'm a GREAT sport... trust me. example: have you ever parked your van on a hill, forgetting to leaving it in gear and pull the emergency break? have you then tried to open your door (while running alongside the van) with a key from another one of your 4 vans? (because you broke the original key off in the ignition) i doubt it...! this is the kind of stuff that happens to me on regular basis. i think my writing about such situations will ease the need to drink so much wine.... but if it doesn't?... thank GAWD i like wine!
i love comments and i'll comment back... *dalyn