Raffle Tickets for Dominic’s Siblings School January 28, 2010
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So using the power of my blog, Twitter, & Facebook, I implore you to reach into your pocket and buy a raffle ticket to support the school Dominic's siblings attend in Oregon. With the economy as bad as it is in Oregon, a lot of families have been unable to pay their tuition in full, what with trying to feed their kids and live indoors and all. The proceeds from the raffle will go towards paying the existing teachers' salaries, as well as remodeling the teachers' house owned by the school & church into a convent. They are having nuns arrive in July to take over some teaching duties next year, which will cut down on salaries the school needs to pay.
Tickets are $10 each. First prize is $3000 cash. Second prize is $500 cash. Third prize is $250 cash. Fourth prize is $100 cash. The drawing will be held at their annual Renaissance Dinner and Auction on April 23rd. If you're interested in buying a ticket, you can either let me know and I can give you my in-laws' address to send the money to, or send the money for the ticket directly to the school and mention that you're buying tickets from the Fawver children and they'll let my mother-in-law Michelle know that it came & attribute it towards their goals. Checks can be made payable to St. Thomas Becket Academy. The address is 25269 E. Bolton Rd., Veneta, OR 97487. Remember that this is a non-profit organization, so your donation for the raffle ticket is tax-deductible and they will send you a receipt if you request it. I've included a copy of the raffle ticket for good measure, though since they are numbered, this will not be your actual ticket
January Update January 15, 2010
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So Steve sent out a mass email a couple weeks ago that Voltaire was going to be playing at the Sacanime show in Sacramento and he wanted someone to go with him, or else he was going alone. I was bummed out because of some other things that I'll get to soon enough, so I said sure – I'll go. Admittedly, the way he worded it in his email, I thought it was a movie. But after talking to him, quickly found it was a music group. And of course come show time, realized it's one dude. Who is awesome. I've had his songs stuck in my head all week; it's really quite infectious. He's got some for free on iTunes which I highly recommend – just search for Voltaire and download his podcast from 2007 – it's not a podcast at all, just a few songs he tossed up for free. Now, I guess Steve's been listening to Voltaire for like 10 years, and has always managed to miss his concerts when he's been in his area. So he went MAJOR fanboy on him…it's safe to describe him as positively GIDDY when he got Voltaire to sign some of his swag… AND Steve was standing front row center for the show while I sat back in the chairs and video taped it. Lucky for us I was taping because during one song Voltaire asked Steve up on stage to sing with him. What kind of fanboy wet dream is that?! So that's now captured for prosperity, and I'm officially a fan of Voltaire. I bought a shirt that says "If it involves Dorritos, Mountain Dew, and Bloodshed – Count Me In!" I bought it with the intention of selling it to my brother, but it grew on me and I think I'll keep it. After I wash it and try it on I'll make a decision… if' it fits snugly then I'll sell it to him. As I mentioned, this concert was at the Sacanime show. That was weird… there's definitely a reason I don't go to places like that. Too many young kids and teenagers for my taste. Annoying. Beyond the fact that nothing about anime interests me in the slightest. I can safely say I'd have more interest in a comicon! *Wine Charms*
For Christmas I etched some wine glasses as gifts for my mother in law and Dominic's aunt Bridget. I then got the idea from parusing for something on the Michael's Crafts website to make wine charms to go with them. So I did, and they LOVED THEM. Michelle (MIL) raved about them to her mom & Dom's other aunt Julie and when we arrived at Christmas dinner at his grandmother's house they told me they'd officially recruited me to make some for them to sell at their holiday bazaar at the church next year. Bridget raved about hers too and told me how nice they were. Dom's mom just told me the other day that she loves hers and uses them every Sunday when there's more people up at the house for dinner. Somewhere along this journey, someone suggested I make some and sell them. So I'm making some sets and have put a few up for sale on Etsy.com/shop/BlinkstarMedia. I have more made at home that I need to bust out my table top lighting studio and take photos of to list. I'm also taking some with me to the conference I'm going to this weekend to show a woman who runs a site called OurHandmadeGifts.com and she may be interested in selling them on her site too. Which would be awesome. I take requests, so if there's a theme of charms or colors you'd like and are willing to pay $10 for a set of 5 or 6, let me know. Oh, here's the pics of some:
*Job Stuff*Last Friday, I apparently made a career move. My hand was forced! I was called by my current boss around noon that they were making a business decision to stop using contractors out of the area and to bring all accounts in-house for the new team in Boulder, CO to work on. She went on and on about how I was the best person on her team, one of the best affiliate managers in the industry, and how if I were in Boulder she'd have me running a small division myself. But, she knows I can't (and don't want to) move to Boulder, so they're letting me go at the end of the month. I'll work on the jewelry client I've been working with since June and then nothing. She also admitted that she pays them FAR less than me. Which is kind of insulting that I just can't be kept because I'm expensive, because honestly the average affiliate manager in this industry makes $80-$120 K and I don't make even half the low ball estimate. Whatever. So I hung up the phone, yelled for a minute, then started doing what I did last April when I was let go from New Edge with zero notice… emailing every contact in the industry I have asking them for leads on new positions. I got on a couple phone calls and by 3pm I had a new job lined up. I signed the contract yesterday. It'll be for slightly more money, a higher performance incentive bonus, doing client support and sales for an automated coupon feed website. I won't be an affiliate manager in the traditional sense anymore, but it's a smooth transition. I'm excited, and I even start working for them officially tomorrow and on Monday will be putting some time in for them at their booth at Affiliate Summit (which I was always planning on going to). I'm a contract worker for 3 months while they're in the midst of redoing some HR stuff internally, then I'll be brought in as a full employee once they get that sorted. It's awesome. So yeah… new job within 3 hrs. I know that pisses some people off, but it really proves to me that this is a career I'm working on here, not just another job. And that feels good. That's about all I have to update on the past goings on in January, other than I finally took down my Christmas decorations this week. A little late for me, but work's been nutty. Hopefully with this change to a new job and everything, things will calm down. I hope!
New Year’s Eve 2009 January 1, 2010
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So despite some initial potential drama at the onset of where to get together for New Year's Eve this year, once we got past that a good time was had by all. It ended up that Katie wasn't feeling well & stayed home, & Jennie is on bed rest by Doctor's orders, so it was me, Lorenza, Rachel, Steve, & Dominic. We ate bad pizza (well, I'm not a fan of Little Caesars personally, but there were no general complaints). We made margaritas, something we haven't done in AGES thanks to Rachel bringing over her Magic Bullet blender. It's a handy little thing… and makes me wonder where the fuck my blender ever went. It's got to be in a box in the garage somewhere! I finally broke down the box of various liquor that we've had since we moved from the apartment in San Leandro some 2-3 years ago. There was interesting stuff in there… in fact that's where the strawberry margarita mix came from! Totally unopened bottle for the win! I had also braved a NYE trip to Safeway earlier in the evening and picked up OJ and vodka for some screwdrivers, but ended up sticking with one alcohol. It hasn't done me any good since I have a headache today… not sure if it can truly be classified as a hangover since I wasn't that drunk at all and I sorta had a headache all day yesterday that never went 100% away, so it's hard to tell.
Anyway, we also played a good game of Scene It. Dominic had never actually played and, while he's pretty sure he didn't answer a single question right, he got about half way around the board by the end and had a good time. I had a great time – and yes, it's probably because I have the satisfaction of being the winner! Steve also introduced us to a new drop shot that will probably be resurrected in the future since Dominic & Lorenza seemed to enjoy it. It's basically a shot of Hot Damn dropped into a glass of Red Bull & allegedly tastes just like Big Red gum. They tried to get me to drink one, but I knew I wouldn't like it since I really don't like cinnamon gum at all. Lorenza actually wanted to chew some gum afterwards. See the video… and I apologize for it being shaky, I was apparently more buzzed than I thought: </object> </object> Perhaps I should have taken more photos of the evening, but there's wasn't a whole lot going on necessarily. After Scene It we turned on Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve with Ryan Seacrest. Yes, I typed the whole thing out because it sounds so ridiculous. We saw a just sad performance by Jennifer Lopez in a skintight, all-too-close to camel toe jumpsuit. Someone like Britney Spears can get away with such a jumpsuit, but 40 some year old Jennifer Lopez shouldn't be wearing that shit. We did the countdown and had a great evening. I guess I should also recap my Christmas since I never did write about it. It was good; we went up to Oregon to visit Dominic's family. He got me the Pictionary Man game, which we were going to play last night but didn't get around to it. He also bought me some nice amethyst earrings. I bought him a nice tie clip and the last Robert Jordan book, and another thing that I can't mention yet since it hasn't arrived and he may read this lol. He'll like it though. I also got "The Hollywood Book of Death" from Jennie & Tim (& baby! on the way), the Ariel Precious Moment's ornament from Lorenza, "Seeking Spirits" and a travel channel DVD from Katie, and an Ariel Aquarius mug from Rachel. Good stuff. We also took advantage of the after Christmas sales and zero sales tax in Oregon and bought a new Christmas tree. It's a lot better than the one we have – pre-lit, 6" tall, and assembles in 3 steps instead of the one we have that has every branch go on individually. We're going to box this one up and give it to his brother. I wish we could just have a real tree, but Dominic's allergies don't allow it. Oh well, this will be a breeze to put up next year. I was going to pull down all the decorations today, but my head is hurting too much. So I've decided that a Family Guy marathon is a better idea. I will probably take everything down tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo of our tree with presents underneath and a shot of the sunrise when we were leaving Oregon.
Jose Cuervo Christmas December 18, 2009
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Surprised Kitty November 29, 2009
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This is SO DAMN ADORABLE!
Pros & Cons of Working at Panera Bread November 23, 2009
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Pros:
- Climate controlled – air conditioned in the summer and heated in the winter.
- Constant supply of Mountain Dew.
- Good food.
- Free Wireless Internet
- Comfy chairs & (usually) plenty of outlets to plug into.
- No cats bugging me.
- I get to people watch while working.
- I seem to be more productive.
- Jazzy music that's a good background noise for working… nothing too distracting and rather calming.
Cons:
- Leaving my laptop unattended while using the bathroom.
- Hoping no one jacks my laptop while using the bathroom.
- Hoping that, should someone make an attempt, the dozen people within view of my table will be honest enough to stop said person.
- Small children yelling MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY I WANT SAMMICH MOMMY MOMMY
- Cell phone service kinda blows.
- People on the phone carrying on LONG, boring conversations :/
You Found Me November 21, 2009
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You found me, but this isn't actually where I blog. This is just so some other TrishaLyn doesn't squat my username. Find me elsewhere at
For Marketing Stuff www.TrishaLyn.comFor Food Stuff www.FoodAskew.net
For Girl Scout Stuff www.GirlScoutGuide.com
For Media Stuff www.BlinkstarMedia.com
For Personal Stuff http://trisha.posterous.com Or find my hubster Dominic at For Model Railroad Stuff www.RailroadRedux.com
For Airsoft Stuff www.AirsoftofAlameda.com
Dominic’s Graduation November 11, 2009
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Okay I started writing this the day of his graduation from my phone while waiting for the ceremony to start. I've been putting it off for no good reason; just lazy. I'm so proud of Dominic – he's graduated Summa Cum Laude with his Bachelor of Science in Technical Project Management. He had the pretty gold tassel I was so envious of at my graduation 6 years ago. Its really a shame that his parents could not afford to fly down for the weekend to see it. But I was dutifully armed with my camera and took plenty of photos, and videos with my Flip camera, though I haven't loaded them yet. So here they are:
Decorated the House… Finally October 4, 2009
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It's only been 14 months since we moved in here, but I've finally put up our paintings and pictures on the walls. It's actually very strange that I haven't done it sooner, especially considering our long term committment to live here in my dad's house, but it's been a crazy year. In the last year I've changed jobs twice and gone from working in an office to working from home. With the availability of wall space, I plotted out where things were going to go, generally, before hanging them and I have to say I think it all turned out well. I went back and forth today between hanging things on the walls and upgrading all my installations of WordPress on my various blogs and websites, with a trip to K-Mart for shelves peppered in.
I really focused on the living room and hallway today. Tomorrow I have plans, so I think next weekend or sometime during the week is when I'll attempt to focus on hanging the few things in the bedroom and have Dominic hang the shelves. He also needs to fix the hole in the wall in the kitchen that was created when I removed the shot glass shelves before the fair and rehang the one still down and the new one I bought. I'm up to four shelves and I need to get them all back up. The shelves I bought today at K-mart are nice black shelves to go in the bedroom to put all my dolphin stuff on and Dominic's dragon stuff on. Then hanging the shadow box of wedding stuff, the wedding portrait, and the embroidered date thingy (hard to describe) in the bedroom will complete everything, pretty much. Back in August when we went to New York to go to Affiliate Summit, we bid on and won a digital picture frame in a silent auction benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. I just got around to messing with the frame today and it's pretty cool, though with the size of the photos I'm loading onto it I'm limited to around 400 (I'd originally picked out about 1300 to go on it). I need to read the manual to check out the optimal size and do some resizing… or go buy an SD card to put photos on, either way. We're not sure where to hang it since the cord has to be plugged in and we don't want the cats messing with it. So it's sitting on top of my printer for the time being. Of course, messing with the photos for that got me remembering that I had a bunch of photos from the fair (and since) to go through, so I did that and I'm uploading the finished photos dutifully to Flickr and Kodak Gallery right now. Without further ado, here's some photos of the decor. Holy shit, our house actually looks like people live here and don't just crash somewhere lol. The wall between the bathroom door and my desk. The lower picture is a drawing Dominic's sister Noelle drew:
The wall above the couch… all painted by my late grandmother Jean:
Hard to photograph this, but the wall with the mirror behind the TV and DVD racks:
Between the front door and the front window, photo by Bryan Wilson:
The hall to our bedroom… family & some friend photos:
Some of this was here, but I found my grad caps and some other assorted memorabilia so rearranged this:
Award Winning Shot Glass Collection July 14, 2009
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97th Annual Alameda County Fair Breaks Attendance Records!
July 14, 2009, Pleasanton, CA – During the first 11 days of this year’s run, the Alameda County Fair has broken attendance records in their 20+ years of record keeping. To date, an outstanding 288,502 patrons have attended this year’s fair, according to Rick K. Pickering, CEO. “The fair is on track to see well over 400K attendees by the end of fair,” he states.
Fully able to accommodate the average 30K daily visitors, the fair encompasses some 267 acres, making it one of the largest fairs in California, numbering 84, statewide. Nationally, the Alameda County Fair ranks 50 in attendance among all fairs in the US.
And yes, ladies and germs, I won 4th place for my shot glass collection in the hobby competition there. BOOYA! I haven't yet taken the pictures of me with the case and the award ribbon inside, but for your reference here's the picture I took before the case was closed the day I set it up. This is only about 2/3 of my collection, by the way. Next year I'm going to submit my dolphins!
AWARD WINNING, bitches!
