Road Trip

Keeping my fingers crossed... I should be travelling to Dallas with Cathie to pick up Eve by Friday. At least, I hope so. I think I'm in the mood for a little break, and some time with Cathie. I haven't told much about my children, so bear with me while I take a quick tour down Memory Lane. It'll be necessary, in order to relate this piece of history to my life now.

Cathie is my youngest offspring. She has been a trip, herself! Youngest of three children, too young to remember her parent's divorce. She found out very early how powerful a winsome smile and twinkling eyes were, then tried very hard to keep people from figuring out how smart she really was. Admittedly, Eve was a tough act to follow -- she's one of the smartest people I know. So Cathie chose a different path. She's been a real challenge, but like her brother and sister, she has always known she has my heart at all times.

So now Cathie is a sergeant in the US army, a medic, but not yet a doctor or a nurse. She enlisted during her senior year of high school, intent on becoming a doctor, and wanting to join the army. Although her stepmother was against it and hoped I would put a stop to it (her dad mysteriously stepped back and let the women sort things out -- smarter than I thought!), I gave Cathie my support. I had seen her pursue whims and have brief infatuations with ideas before, but this wasn't one of them.

Cathie left for basic training before her eighteenth birthday. She's 25, now. Cathie has been stationed in Germany, Kosovo, and South Korea. She is not in an infantry division, but she's a sharpshooter. She can administer an IV or deliver a baby. She can drive or work on the engine of a Hummer. And she saved someone's life in a tragic situation, although she has never been in battle.

In February of 2003, Cathie was stationed at Fort Campbell, the army base nearest to our home. Her brother was in Fort Hood, Texas, awaiting his tour of duty in South Korea. As is common for deploying military, he was selling, giving away, or storing several belongings, amongst which as a very nice sofa. Cathie decided to drive down and get it, using the trip as an excuse to see him before he left. Her friend Tina offered to accompany her. Cathie didn't tell me, she she knew I couldn't go, and since she didn't plan to be gone long.

In the early hours of Saturday, February 1, Cathie was following an 18-wheel tractor-trailer truck on a highway in Texas, not far from Texarkana. Only an hour or so before the descent and crash of the space shuttle Columbia, there was another tragic crash and loss of life. The truck ran into a bridge over a creek. It veered and then stopped, hanging part-way off the edge of the bridge. Its load, a 5-ton industrial lathe, flew off the truck and struck Cathie's Dodge pick-up truck.

The driver of the large truck was dead, wedged behind the steering wheel, dangling above the creekbed. Cathie remembers hearing the screams of his passenger, a woman who was thrown when the truck went off the road. The woman was taken to the Texarkana hospital, where she laspsed into a coma. She never awoke.

Cathie had tried to respond to the screams, but she couldn't move her leg. Instead, she tended to her friend Tina, who had turned very white and seemed to pass out. Tina had suffered from a mini-stroke and stopped breathing. Cathie kept breathing for her, keeping her alive, while two men in another pick-up truck found them and contacted help.

I can only imagine how Cathie felt, waiting in the hospital for news about Tina. I know the television sets and people were certainly abuzz with the news of the space shuttle. Cathie said she knew Tina's chances didn't look good. When she called me from the hospital, her voice was shaking.

It's been two years and ten months. Cathie found out her ankle was broken, but not till she got back to Fort Campbell and was still in excruciating pain.
Tina had extensive surgery and then surprized everyone by waking up able to speak. She had suffered some brain damage that affected her eyesight and several other functions. She could not read, or name attributes like colors, at that time. I am not sure how she is doing with those abilities now. In addtion to requiring heart surgery, Tina had to have a tear in her liver repaired from the airbag inflation. She is still raising her two little boys, but she will need help and medical attention for the rest of her life.

In 2003, Cathie said that she never wanted to drive again. I understood, but I knew she would. It would be something she'd have to do in order to heal.
She now drives another Dodge pick-up truck. She has driven on that same road again more than once. For the most part, she seems to have faced her demons from that day. Her retelling of the event usually makes her feel stronger, whereas it makes me feel a little shaky.

This trip to pick up Eve in Dallas and come home for Christmas is going to be a pleasant trip, though, where we can talk at our leisure, play CDs on her stereo, and sing Christmas songs. (Yes, we do silly things like that on road trips.)

Maybe soon I can face my demons again, too, and revisit the place where I lost my sister Cathy. I hope to do them both proud.

Lorilei

...and I knew it was going to be...

Oh, you know the story. In the course of a day, something happens to you. It's kind of bad, but not earth-shaking. Certainly nothing that anyone else wouldn't just shake off so they can get on with life. Yeah. But that event begins to attract more little problems, more disappointments. Suddenly it's like a snowball running down the hill. What happened? How did the situation get out of hand?

One of my favorite books to read with kids, aside from some of Dr. Seuss's classics, is Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Yes, I must confess. I think I was Alexander in another lifetime. Only now my past has caught up to me. The chewing gum of life has stuck itself in my hair, and my double-decker strawberry ice cream cone has hit the floor. It has probably left gooey pink splashes all over my new plain white sneakers, too.

It just seems that one thing after another keeps happening. Not in a day, but cumulatively. It just keeps building. You really wonder when this is going to end.

I don't even want to discuss the CafePress boards. If you've ever been a moderator in a public forum of culturally diverse people with varied opinions, you know it can be a challenge. That's probably enough said.

I own several name domains, mostly in conjunction with my CafePress stores. I know some folks with over 100 of them, but I'm not competing for the honor of domain-name princess. These are just very handy tools for getting around the world wide web.
One of my domains was born of an idea triggered by my annoyance at the neverending supply of unsolicited emails. And what do you call it? What the US government, Monty Python, and the rest of the cyberworld calls it -- spam.

On my site, the subject of this annoyance became not only a proud but fictitious foreign country, where everyone was deposed royalty trying to regain their rightful fortune, but also home of a camp for the underprivilged children. These children, of course, have the time of their young lives, while being trained to love life's greatest pleasures -- composing sad sob-stories in email, and revering credit card information and small greenish pictures of dead presidents. This very tongue-in-cheek site was called Camp Spam. Products bore phrases such as "I already gave all my money to budding scam artists at campspam.com" and "We {heart} George" (Washington). It seemed obvious it was all about unsolicited emails, many of which are specifically targeted to online shopkeepers.

Unfortunately, the people who sent me one email were not amused. They did not think the connection was obvious enough. They were a law firm. They did not contact CafePress, but came straight after me. I received a PDF and certified snail mail (with my name misspelled). This prestigious law firm said their client wanted me to cease and desist. Who was this client? Hormel, makers of SPAM.

I made changes. First, I changed the graphics to camp sp@m. This did not make them happy. I put in disclaimers. These have finally evolved into the following statement: "This store is NOT, never has been, and never will be affiliated with Hormel® or any of its products. "

They are still not happy. The legal department at CafePress has tried to intervene on my behalf, but the H. lawyers can't be bothered long enough to look at my site and see what changes have been made. It sounds like they want the happy, smiling faces of the Sp@manian campers to be against the thing that is their own livelihood. Ah, the irony of people who do not get irony.

All my campers are now hidden online (though I have a Camp shirt I still wear with pride). I even hid the "We {heart} George" shirts for now, though I'm thinking of bringing those back. I could add "We {heart} Abe," " We {heart} Andy," " We {heart} Ulysses," and "We {heart} Benjy" to them for an interesting section.

An example of my old designs:

I have just one design there now. The store section (and its parent basic store) now contain a lot of informational text and that design. I am adding the white tee as well, to give variation. Choice is good. Oh, I'll just make it six shirts. That's a nice number.

The new t-shirt design makes it clear what my designs are about: the CAN-SPAM ACT of 2003. I know this is really what Hormel wanted all along, so people would know what it is for which it stands. Oh -- I mean the US government act, not the little can of meat.
http://www.campspam.com

Ain't freedom wonderful?

Time for me to get ready for work. I'll have to tell about the other weird things another time.

Lorilei

Sneaking back in...

*gulp*
You caught me. Just when I thought no one would notice... okay, so six months is a bit long to be absent without leave. But I have an alibi, your honor....

Where to begin? This summer and fall (or autumn, for those of you who might think I fell) were crazy. My computer has crashed -- twice, I think? The last time required disc formatting. Several art files bit the dust. I could blame this on my tech support guy Paul, but -- well, why not? He'll never read this. He's my son. My blog would have to be the most boring thing on the face of the earth, to him.

Yes, it's Paul's fault. Because the airport security when he returned to the US from South Korea (US Army) damaged the video card when they dropped it on the floor. And he gave the video card to me. And it damaged my motherboard so it eventually blew up. And Paul hadn't hooked up my Drive A (Ron, my floppy drive) or helped me get a program for Drive E (my CD burner) so I could back up my work. I do have all the diskettes from older work, but practically nothing from the last year or so. But I will survive. I've managed to salvage a few things here and there. Some things I have recreated. And I will make new things, too.

But I spent literally hours working on a row of adorable little people for my Teachers Pets business cards, and they are gone.

I bought two packages of the goofy things, which were on special, but they looked terrible. I thought it was my own fault, and I haven't given them out at all. But in looking at the template online, I see it was not my fault. I wish I could get a reprint of them -- or at least get a copy of my artwork so I could get them done else where. I think what makes me the maddest is that I meant to upload the high resolution version of my little people to CafePress for t-shirts, but it got fried when the motherboard died.
(... so, bye-bye, Miss American Pie....)

T-shirts and Horcruxes and horses -- oh, my

I have been "away" a remarkably long time. Sorry about that. -- So much going on!

I finally made myself read the last five chapters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I am still sniffling. But I'm not telling anything about the plot. Except it is both funny and grim, and full of magic, like all of J.K. Rowling's work. Otherwise, no spoilers from me.
I want Book 7! No, maybe I don't. I need to reread this one a few times -- to let it "sink in."

Generally speaking, I am normally a shy, retiring person who would just as soon hole up in my room reading, drawing, and/or computer-ing. If I'm outside the house, it's generally to hang out with animals somewhere, or because it's necessary. After all, the groceries won't get here without help. And for some reason, I don't get a paycheck if I don't go to work. Go figure.

Yet I went to the Grand Opening of the CafePress-Louisville facility the day after Independence Day (July 4), unaccompanied, knowing people there only by association through the computer. We had emailed and sent message board messages, but we had never met in person or even spoken on the phone. What would they be like? Would I be what they were expecting? I doubted it.

I had worked at Kentucky Downs on the Fourth. We closed much later than I thought we would, but the tips were good. When I arrived home, Mom was anxious for me to get on the road. Even though I'd been excited about the trip, I found myself lagging, faltering a bit ... It would be so nice to just stay home. Medium is on tonight.... But I finally grabbed all my stuff, including my trusty AAA Trip Tik, and got on Interstate-65.
I spent the night at a motel near the fairgrounds area. After a good night's sleep, I began my search for the Grand Opening site.

I found the road names and numbers on my map. I made a mental note of the way to return to Churchill Downs, since I hoped to visit it as well. There are so many places I would like to see in Louisville, but first things first. I found Cane Run Road and turned left, heading south, only a short distance from the twisting banks of the Ohio River, Indiana on the other side. I found the Riverport area. Lots of shipping and distribution areas for various companies. I looked for a big CafePress.com sign with the shooting star on it. I traveled the entire length of the road (probably almost a mile), then looped back around to try again.
There was a driveway leading to a large building on my right. No permanent sign, but a banner with the address. Hmmm. I turned in at the driveway. The doorway's trim was CafePress green -- this had to be the place.

Inside, I met Tony and a couple of other CP employees. When I introduced myself, I was surprised by the response.
"You're Lorilei? You're famous!"
Okay, I'm not really famous, but it was good to hear, anyway. It seemed like everyone recognized my name.

I had a tour of the facility before the Grand Opening ceremony. There were speeches by local dignitaries as well as Fred, Maheesh, and Angela from CP. Fred's little boy helped him cut the ribbon.

P.L. and my other kids

Well, after much instant-messaging and file-sharing, I have gotten P.L. started on her own blog. I'll even get to help contribute to it. Yippee! It's going to be fun.

Meanwhile, daughter Cathie is preparing to head out to Fort Bragg in her new Dodge pick-up. Her half-brother Chris put a trailer hitch on it Monday. She'll be back next weekend, and she'll take more of her belongings over. I'm looking forward to going to visit, once she has an apartment.

And I am still excited about the CafePress Meet & Greet in Louisville. I have a shirt I'm going to wear. P.L. loves it, especially since she is featured on it.



I'll be posting later to let you know how it goes.

Lorilei

Updates ~

I have gotten so far behind on things. But a lot has been happening recently.

My daughter Cathie is back from South Korea. Unfortunately, she's off to North Carolina and her new post on Tuesday. We have done some interesting things, but not everything I had planned.
I really wanted to take her to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts while she's here. (I'd go just to see Monet.)
If Cathie can't accompany me, I'll go myself. It won't be the first time.

Additionally, I am starting three new online stores, none of which is "live" yet. One is a collaborative site with someone else, but the other two are the offspring of my main store, Lorilei's Artist at Work.
My fulfillment company, CafePress, is also opening a new facility in Louisville, Kentucky -- yay!
**happy dance**
The July 5 grand opening ceremony is also going to be a Meet & Greet, complete with a barbeque cook-out. (I hope there's more than barbeque -- it doesn't get along with my digestive system.)
I have created a t-shirt for the occasion, and I'm hoping to take some stuff along for fun.

Speaking of fun, I also hope I can visit Churchill Downs while I'm in Louisville. I know they are dark on July 5-6, but maybe the museum will be open, at least. Too bad they won't be running that day. I'd love to take some fellow CP-ers to Churchill to see the horses, especially some of the Californians who've never been to Kentucky.

Got to go soon. My nephew is on my computer, and I'm catching up on my mother's at the moment. But I work an earlier shift at Kentucky Downs tomorrow, so I can't stay online all night, even for Bejeweled 2.

Lorilei

M.I.A

Here I am! The reports of my being missing have been greatly exaggerated.
I did not hire someone to kidnap me. And I'm not getting married.
What with the Preakness over the weekend, and our computers going offline, I have been away for a bit. I'm still playing catch-up.

I think we need to have a little talk with the Linksys tech folks. Paul's and Mom's computers still won't get online.
Paul has had very few problems with this so far, since he's been hanging out with Danny ever since Sunday. (Sorry about that random link, but I am proud that I personally know three people on IMDB. Danny is one of them.)

Paul has taken Danny to house-sit for a friend. When Paul returns, he's going to want his computer online -- or to use mine.
Urgh! I need mine to update my CafePress store, work on the new premium store, moderate my boards, and ... play Bejeweled 2.
Yes, I am addicted to Bejeweled 2. I have the downloaded version on my computer, so I don't even have to be online. I have over 11 million points in the endless game. My top score in the timed game is 600,000+.

Duty calls -- time to plant some roses in the yard. Those shiny little gems will have to wait a little longer.

Lorilei

Little Honda

It isn't a little motorbike from the 60s, but it is exciting and fun.

Darn, I forgot about the chat. There was a CafePress chat Thursday night. I really did mean to attend. but I simply forgot.
At 7:00 (central time)/5:00 (pacific time), I was driving around in Portland, Tennessee, with my son Paul, in my newly acquired Honda Accord. Needless to say, I have been pretty excited .

First, when I got off work last night, I went to Nashville with Paul and a friend to see the 12:04 AM showing of "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith." I loved it.
We drove through Portland on our way home to see if the Accord I had taken on a test drive was still parked at the car lot.
So today I went to talk to my credit union about a loan for the car. *gulp*
Not only did the woman at the credit union arrange for me to get the loan, but she even talked to the car salesman and got him to lower the price. Wow -- talk about customer service and satisfaction!

So Paul drove me to Portland to pick up my car. It isn't brand new, but it's really nice. I love driving it. Paul said he thinks it's the nicest car I have ever owned.

Tomorrow I go to my insurance agent, then to the court clerk's office. Then I'll take the paperwork back to my credit union.
Then I go to work at my "other" job, as a parimutuels teller. I punch or key tickets (on a Tote machine) for Thoroughbred horse racing.
The Preakness is this Saturday, too. I have no idea what I'm going to wear. I have been too wrapped up in getting my car to think about that. I'll try to find something suitable while I'm in Bowling Green.

I wonder how Giacomo will do in the Preakness. It was purely luck that Polly and I had a win and show ticket on him in the Kentucky Derby. I so wish I'd had the superfecta (first 4 horses to finish). After all, we had the 10, 12, and 17 -- we just left out 18. How silly of us. :Þ

Well, I'd better get some sleep. Friday will be a long day.
I'm thinking of naming my car. Rhonda the Honda.
Help me, Honda, help, help me Honda....

Okay, time for bed.

Lorilei
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Tuesday Afternoon

Okay, so it's really evening, now. I just thought some Moody Blues sounded good.

It's been a hectic day. I'm still waiting to hear about the car I have my eye on. It's a champagne-colored Honda sedan. And this didn't really affect my decision, but -- it has a sunroof. Oooooh!

I'm really sharp today, though. I took a nap earlier so I could be on time for a scheduled chat. I arrived in the chat room and made the discovery that I was early. -- By 48 hours. The chat is on Thursday, not Tuesday!

A GreatGear friend has helped me with a design I'm going to try out on the Spreadshirt site. A young lady had emailed me a few days ago to request a personalized black hoodie, so I decided to see what I could do with flocked merchandise. I hope she doesn't mind that it's going to be a pullover hoodie. Next I'll have to learn to create vector images.
*sigh*
Maybe CafePress will get similar products -- using flocking and/or embroidery -- in the near future. I'm really excited that the newest CafePress facility will be located in Kentucky.

Time to go check email and moderate message boards....

Lorilei

New weblog

Testing, one two three... is this thing on?
I'm new to this, as you can tell. It is an experiment, a companion to my online store.
Here goes the first post, so I can see how it looks.

Lorilei