The Sunken Gardens!

How is my new Karenesque website coming along?  Why, very well, thank you for asking!  It's getting close to the release date.  If all goes according to plan, it will likely be launched in the next couple of weeks.  Isn't it exciting?

Until that date, let me share with you two of my most recent videos (both edited with Adobe Premiere Pro.)

First up - this is some video I took while at the Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg, Florida.  I recently obtained a new digital camcorder and I wanted to play with it a bit.  I did not use a tripod for this footage, though when I looked back at some of my clips I wished I had!

Next - more footage taken while at the Sunken Gardens.  The biggest difference here?  Besides the fact that I used a tripod, these video clips were taken with the office Sony 4K digital camcorder.  The quality difference is astounding!  

I will keep you posted on the Karenesque release date!  Until then, enjoy the Sunken Gardens!

Well, I haven't had the chance to make the changes to this site that I have planned yet, so instead I will write a post about what is to come.

I plan on making karenesque.com a main starting page for all my other sites and blogs.  So travelingkaren.com (which is sadly lacking in posts as well due to my lack of traveling lately) haikugeek.com, and any other sites I might create will have their links on this page.  I plan on removing the blog from karenesque.com (though this blog will still be available through this site) and using it instead to post all of my projects and doings.  I have been extremely busy in the last couple of months trying to finish up a few video projects for family and friends.  My most recent one went over quite well with the recipients!  They wanted it on Youtube and posted it on Facebook to announce that they are expecting.  They took all the video on their iPhones and gave the footage to me for editing.  I only had a few days to complete it, but I think the finished project turned out quite well, and they were thrilled!

I am currently working on another video, and hope to post it on this page shortly!  After this one is completed, the next project on my list is to begin creating the new and improved Karenesque website!

Check back here for exciting new stuff soon!

It has been a while since I've written in my blog... work and other side projects have kept me incredibly busy!

I have some new ideas for the Karenesque site that I hope to put into effect soon.  Check back in the next couple of months and hopefully it will be up and running!

In the meantime, check out haikugeek.com!  I wanted to try my hand at Dreamweaver, and it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself!

Cheers!

Karen

Bird of no Feathers

I always knew that my big feet would cause great misery and misfortune one of these days.  Yesterday was that day.

Before I tell you this, I just want to make sure you all know that Nimbin is OK and has no serious injuries.  Now that I got your attention...  the story!  Nimbin (my cockatiel) was sitting on my shoulder like he normally does when I'm at home.   I wanted to grab something to eat, so  I put Nimbin on top of his cage and walked over to the kitchen.  Unbeknownst to me, Nimbin flew to the floor and followed me into the kitchen.  I turned around and stepped back towards the living room when and I heard a little shriek.  I looked down, and saw Nimbin running away from me... well, most of him ran away from me.   His tail stayed in the kitchen.

Oh I have never felt so bad about anything in my life!  I caught up to Nimbin and he didn't seem to be hurt... there was no blood on him (or on his feathers).  I am sure his little bum smarted, it's probably like getting a chunk of your hair pulled out (or like being waxed against your will).   The poor little guy!  He looks so strange without his tail!  Here are some pictures:

My poor sweet birdy.  Look at how many feathers came out!  It's unbelievable that all of those feathers were pulled out and there was no blood at all!

The vet wasn't open yesterday when it happened, but I took him in today and the doctor said he will be perfectly fine, although it will probably take a few months before his feathers start growing back.  Thank goodness!   Of course, now every time I look at his little pear shaped tailless body I feel just as terrible as I did when it happened.

Now, in memory of tails lost, here is a picture of Nimbin with all his glorious feathers!  (He is the one on the left).

Oh, and the wild birds must have caught wind of what happened.  This morning, my car was covered in bird poop.

Happy 11th Anniversary of the Worlds Longest Covered Bridge!

Apparently, the worlds longest covered bridge is in Canada.  And today is it's birthday!  On this day, the day of America's independence, 11 years ago... Canada had a dream.  A dream of the worlds LONGEST covered bridge.  Even google.ca is excited about it!

 

Speaking of Independence Day... I had a pretty good view of the fireworks from my apartment.  But they were incredibly close, which caused an incredible racket.  It sounded like people were setting off fireworks right outside my door!  I feel bad for anyone in my apartment building who has small children that were trying to sleep...  Wanna see the fireworks?  I know you want to!  Here ya go! 

 (Hopefully the video works.  If not... well, I'm going to leave it anyway. )

Well, happy 4th everyone!

Debby

When no one is asking me to write, I have oh, so very much to say.  But for some reason, when I am expected to write (in this case, I expect myself to write in my blog) I can never think of a topic to write about.  What's up with that?  Maybe my problem is that my life is too boring.  When I was in Australia, I had something interesting happen to me every day, so it was easy to keep up with my blog!  Now, I work a 9-5 at a doctors office, and yes, sometimes interesting things happen, but because of HIPPA regulations I can not tell you about them.

Maybe I should just start making things up, so I can have interesting stories to tell all of the two people who read this, my blog.

Anyway, most of you know that I was affected by Tropical Storm Debby earlier this week.  Sunday we had torrential downpours, which caused massive flooding.   On Monday, I had to bring my car into the shop to get fixed, which meant I had to drive roads that I don't commonly drive through.  On my way to the shop, a few roads were flooded enough to have lane closures, but I was able to get past the water by using the median.  

I dropped off my car and picked up my rental car quickly and easily... though I can't say I'm a huge fan of my rental car.  It's tiny and low to the ground, which makes it so hard to get in and out of.  But, if it is only for a few days, I guess I can live with it.  So, I'm driving the new rental car to the office, again driving a route that I'm not familiar with.  I take a side street (as recommended by my GPS) and I notice some flooding blocking an intersection that I needed to cross.  I looked down the road and could see some cars past the flooded road... but I couldn't be sure if they had driven through it.  The flooded area wasn't blocked off at all.  Yes, it's a side road, but it's a fairly well traveled side road.  I figured that if I couldn't pass it, they would have blocked it off!  The decision was made.  I was going to go through.

Slowly, slowly, my tiny rental car started it's journey through the water.  It was higher in the middle than I thought it would be... I was starting to get pretty nervous.  The water was moving quickly to the left, and it seemed like my car was struggling to stay in its lane.   Was the car drifting to the left along with the flood?  Was there a creek in that direction that my car would soon get sucked into?  I pressed down on the gas a bit, I wanted to get out of the water as quickly as possible!  My car started making a strange sputtering sound... Shoot, was I even going to make it out of the water?  Have I ruined the rental car on my first day?  WAS I GOING TO BE SWEPT OUT INTO THE OCEAN, NEVER TO BE HEARD FROM AGAIN?!  Then, it was over.  I was out of the water, no worse for the wear.  I made it, with only minor water damage to the car.  But it was worth it.  I have the story.

My poor car

I've had my wonderful, beautiful car for a year now... and luckily I've had no bumps, scratches, dents, or chips in the paint.  But yesterday... all of that changed.  My poor car was attacked by a snappy looking red Camaro convertible.  Here is the damage:

It happened at a light right down the road from my apartment development.  The guy in the Camaro was trying to squeeze by me on the left to get into the turn lane... well, apparently he misjudged the room he had!

Sigh.  I was really concerned for a while that I would have to go through my insurance company, pay a 500 dollar deductible, and possibly have my insurance payments raise.   Thankfully, I misunderstood what the "no fault" part of Florida's insurance meant.  This guys insurance (I found out later that the guy who hit me is actually a doctor, so I don't feel bad if his insurance has to go up) is paying for everything.  Even my rental car.  And I didn't have to call my insurance at all on this.

So it was definitely an annoying inconvenience for me... but, at least I won't be losing any money.  Maybe I will even gain money if the rental car has better gas mileage than my car does!  Silver linings, right?