http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post.html

Oh!! The Most Awesome Nerdy Sheep Video Ever!

This morning Alex sent me this video. I think it is really cool!
I love anything sheep!
(judge me if you must!)

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/03/oh-most-awesome-nerdy-sheep-video-ever.html

I Have Been Awarded The Superior Scribbler Award by Sue of

Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

It was through blogging that I became friends with Sue and Matt. We do lots of work together with PSICAN. Sue is one of my close friends.

Thanks Sue!

As with all things in life here are the rules of acceptance.

Rules:

1.) Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

2.) Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.

3.) Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.

4.) Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!

5.) Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

I am choosing for the first person, who is a new blogger to me:

Shannon P Murree: she blogs about real estate, but her her piece on volunteering is the piece I want to award her for..

My Second choice is :

Lindsay who writes Storm Moon Knits: she is an innovative knit and crochet designer who is also a spinner. When I feel like I am struggling with my knitting work I read her past posts so I can be stimulated by something really cool to look at!

My Third choice is:

RennyBA who writes RennyBA's Terrella: I have been reading his blog the longest. He shares about his life in Norway. Renny is one of the first bloggers I became friends with.


My Fourth Choice is:

John Wilder who writes Wilder By Far :
His is the funniest blog I read. I have been reading him since his days up in Alaska. Now he is down in Texas, and his point of view on life is very entertaining....


My Fifth Choice is:

Canadutch:
I have been reading Breigh's blog for a long time too.
It is about an East Coast Canadian Gal who now lives in The Netherlands.
It is interesting to read about her coping with homesickness. It is really interesting reading about their pets. And most interesting is her view of the life in The Netherlands.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-have-been-awarded-superior-scribbler.html

Jeremy Hotz and Perry Perlmuter posted pics of us on their web sites today.

Their Fan Club PR girl was so busy!

Cam and Carl With Perry Perlmuter

Jeremy Hotz, Sam The Dog Miniature, and Me

Jeremy Hotz, Me, and Carl

Perry Perlmuter and Jeremy looking at the Card I sent with the miniature of Sam

Jeremy Hotz with his Sam The Dog miniature by me!

We are in the front row. You can see Cam's shaved head and we are all to his left.

Carl and I dying laughing!

Cam, Mishelle, Carl and Me

Here is a compilation video of some of Jeremy Hotz's material.
Lots of this material is on the new CD!

Comedy Central Presents | Jeremy Hotz
Vezi mai multe video din Divertisment »

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/03/jeremy-hotz-and-perry-perlmuter-posted.html

We Had A Blast Seeing Jeremy Hotz Last Night!



Saturday we drove to Kitchener to see Jeremy Hotz perform.
Perry Perlmutar opened for Jeremy. He is a really funny guy! When he opens for Jeremy it means your ticket is worth a double show! Two great comics for the price of one!

Jeremy stayed about an hour after the show signing an autograph for everyone who wanted one.
Perry stuck around too and took the time to talk to folks. They remember faces if they have seen you more than once in the season.....shows they really notice their fans.


Cam and Mishelle had a great time at the show!
I think they would agree that Jeremy Hotz is a great date!




Carl had a blast at the show!
He was killing himself laughing when Jeremy looked right at him and started in about the Canadian Army.
Carl was killing himself over the winter gear comments........


Jeremy asked for a photo of us with the miniature to be taken. That was pretty cool!
Jeremy signed all the matts I brought from last show's photos, and our CDs. He was so kind to take the time to sign them all.
I made up two photo matts with Mary Ann's photos in them too, so she could have an autographed copy of her pics too.


Thanks Jeremy Hotz.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/03/we-had-blast-seeing-jeremy-hotz-last.html

Sam Is Going To A New Home,





Tonight is the Jeremy Hotz show in Kitchener.
We have front row tickets!

Jeremy always does a "meet-in-greet" for the fans after the show.
I have some photos from the last show I have matted for him to sign, and I am going to give him a miniature of his Dog Sam.

Don't tell him! LOL


It took me 30 hours to complete Sam. I had a couple of small photos that showed me his shape and colours. It was interesting making a long-haired dog. I have to basically affix every long hair on its own then when all the hairs are in place I have to groom him! I didn't know grooming was so difficult! I now appreciate the work my friend Pauline does....

I can just imagine the weirdness of it all......Jeremy Hotz's Canadian fan gives him a miniature of his dog made of.......matted hair wool! I am sure I have just given him a new line for his show LOL

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/02/sam-is-going-to-new-home-tonight-is.html

Jane Fonda Is Writing A Blog, and she is on Twitter!


I have a strange list of folks who are famous who I think are quite interesting.
One of the women who has always interested me is Jane Fonda.
She was the activist actress who could piss of my Dad the easiest, so in my secret delight I have always thought she was awesome! I know Mom likes her too.

So I was watching TV the other morning and she was in an interview about a new play she is doing in New York called "33 Variations". My ears perked up even more when I heard her talking about her blog and using Twitter.

Jane's website is http://www.janefonda.com

Her Bog web address is http://janefonda.com/category/my-blog

Perhaps she will notice us and come read our blogs....

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/02/jane-fonda-is-writing-blog-and-she-is.html

I Started Another Blog Today

It is not under my normal profile, as I have restricted it a lot.
It is one of pointers and tips to prepare for your Ontario Drivers License G2 and G road tests.

If you want to see it you can go to Keep It Between The Lines

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-started-another-blog-today-it-is-not.html

I Will Have No System For A While......

Well it seems that my RAM lite issue was not the only issue I have to deal with.
There is a motherboard issue with my laptop that I use for all my publishing and A/V.
So the baby is going back to HP to have the motherboard replaced.

My shipping box arrived today from HP, so I will be sending her back before the week ends.
Alex and I are just finishing up some video formatting and uploading for my virtual classroom, and my future classes, and when I am done, I will remove the battery from my laptop and pack her up and send her back to HP.

They told me it will take 15 days to get it back.

So if my posts are a bit boring these next few weeks you know why...
My Son Alex has updated his blog and is promising open source release for some code he developed for part of the 4000 Project before the end of the week as well! See what he has going at http://automaticpixel.com/blog/

I will be able to do some work from one of the satellite units in the house.
I have spent the last few days jigging some of my apps so I can access them from my terabyte of external hard drive backup for my system and my 500 G external for my A/V. Yes, I am over backed-up. But boy am I glad I am......

I had to beef up my back up when I changed to my new camera. My new camera shoots in RAW format, and each file is quite huge. And, of course, I also have two copies of each photo. One in original format and one in JPEG that has been sized for the web through Adobe. I upgraded to the terabyte for my system backup because the 500G size filled up and I was having trouble backing up some of my stuff. Vista uses the majority of the 500G just backing up Vista. There isn't a whole lot of room for personal stuff. So it is easy to max out the back up.

I figure that possibly some other layman on the net may be having some troubles and might want to know what other regular ole folks use to combat the limitations of laptop use, so I figured I would share.....

Now I will tell you what happened to the laptop which was a clue the motherboard is going:
First the Wireless LAN device stopped working suddenly. My computer could not even find the wireless network to connect to and the wireless device indicator light glows orange instead of blue. I could still use a hard wire to hook up to the net, so I can still use the computer for the time being, but with no guarantees I can keep using it... Then the screen on the laptop was losing an array of colours and began to look extremely pixelated, yet my external monitor was fine. HP flashed the BIOS for me and I got my screen colour back temporarily but it began to deteriorate again and within hours - back to worst case.....
I run a Compac Presario that I purchased in 2007.

Carl did a lot of research on help from HP and on forums to see the symptoms, then we called HP...

The computer has been limping along all week while I finish up stuff and do some extra manual backups on some little things like email and games etc.....just in case.....

I Beta test games through Pogo and I have kept a few I really like, and I don't want to lose them.

I think I have to describe myself as the middle-aged not so tech geek. I am only Geek by osmosis. My Husband is one of the Original Geeks (he still has a working AppleIIPlus). He graduated from Computer Sciences at Seneca College in Toronto in the mid '70s and has been a very technical guy all through the years, even when he moved up the executive ladder he stayed true to his Geek heritage-LOL. My Son Alex is an Uber Geek! I think he will be someone to watch and follow for the next few yrs. At 19 he opened his own successful Web Development Company called Automatic Pixel Productions. He has contracted for big Canadian and American companies over the past few years while attending University, studying Computer Science. He is the only "kid" I know that worked 40hrs a week in 7 days while attending University full time. And the only "kid" I know who misses University to attend business and IT conferences and symposiums, instead of missing because of hangovers LOL. He is now 22, and a Computer Sciences student at Trent University.....


Now how did I get all my A/V knowledge? Well that is the other Son. My Son Cam is at Seneca College. He is just finishing his degree in Corporate Media Production. The first step for him. His second step will be TV production, and then film school. He has aspirations to be the next Kevin Smith....
Personally I think he will be a good screenplay writer and director. He has a gift for writing.
He is also a performer, and comedian. He studied standup at Humber College at 15. That's right...15!
I really got into photography while following his band around for a few years, and my early blogs were about that experience of shooting PR videos and photos as he was the Lead Singer for a Progressive Metal band. He is 20 now....

I think I am really really lucky that I live with some of the most Nerdy, Geeky guys on the planet. Without their influence I don't think I would have ever gotten into blogging, which ended up my own therapy for my recovery from my brain injury in 2005. And of course, now my other therapy for recovery was knitting and I walked into Needle Felting with that, and now I have my own web gallery and I teach knitting and needle felting from the virtual classroom and run my little life from my home in countryside north of Toronto (which is quickly becoming urban). Who'd of thunk that I would have left the trucking industry and then become a driving instructor and then become a web-based uber blogger and crafter.....not me! Perhaps one day I will have the guts to post a timeline of my career path. I think you would all be surprised where my education started, where it turned to new paths, and what I have gotten to do in my life.

Here are a few tidbits on the path (just for Bill my Loyal reader LOL)

I was a Junior Forest Ranger in 1980 in Thunder Bay.
ESL instructor
Bartender
I graduated high school in 1982 with an OSSHGD which is the highest of high school education in Canada. Which is a University bound qualification. I studied Arts and Sciences.
My first post secondary Degree is in Dental Technology...Basically I was a dental scientist.(my degree skills include health science degree, and engineering education in Metalurgy and Studies in ceramic and polymer technology
I had a family
Competitive Fiddle player and house band and studio violinist
I went back to University and studied at OBC/OTS (Ontario Bible College and Theological Semenary) How's that for a shock! Now all the witches are going "What?!" (It is easier to argue a theological point when you battle on common ground. Gotta become an expert some how.....)
I also went to Seneca College and studied part of a Computer Sciences degree.
Teacher and library assistant, and ESL assistant
Then there were the yrs as an online editor.... (ahah bet you didn't see that one coming LOL)
Sex Shop crusador!(that needs a whole other blog!)
Trangender Transformation specialist(yep, an interesting part of my life where I instructed Men who were Women inside to understand what it is like to be a woman, and to help them understand a woman's thought process so they had information from a real live woman that they could relate to and ask questions to)
Then trucker gal
YD instructor
And now what you get today.... middle-aged, retired, and finding her inner knitter and needle felter. Who writes about her weirdness for the world at large, or at small.....LOL...."Superstar!"


So now I have talked-up my family, and made you laugh with my CV, I will leave you to go back to work on my back-ups..... :)

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-will-have-no-system-for-while.html

Tomorrow We Say Goodbye To A Friend,


I sit here tonight in a surreal mood. Something that feels like I have just been on a creepy amusement park ride, and I am waiting in line for another weird thrill. It is sad and scared and lost all at the same time.

It isn't that often a person has to say the next words about one of their friends, at our age.....anyway.....but.......

On Monday night one of our friends died suddenly and tragically. The shock of the news on Tuesday morning was enough to make our hearts stop.

Our friend Paul Bruton was the husband of my friend Norma. In late 2005 or early 2006 Norma and I became fast friends as we worked on our recoveries from neurological injury. Paul and Norma and Carl and I have hung out ever since. (well as much as Norma and I have been able to hang out anyhow).

It was because of Norma's yarn shop that I recovered as well as I did. Knitting was part of my physical therapy and rehabilitation, and I spent many many days at the shop.

Paul was an Ontario Yarn rep, so most every yarn shop in Ontario has had him pass through their front door. He really knew his fibre!

Paul was a very nice guy. I know that all the yarn people I know thought the world of him, and I know Norma really counted on him a lot these last years as she has not been so well. Norma would always joke that she really needed him around cuz she can't cook to save her life, but I know it was more than that. He treated her Mom like a queen and really respected her friends, and was easy to get along with. I think he helped her balance most of the time.

I know what that is like. Cuz I tend to be all over the place and Carl pulls me back to reality when my mind swoops me into the obcessive weirdness of my artsyism where time stands still and my world is caught up in my imagination.

Carl and I have been stuck in a rut all week. Feeling quiet and dull while thinking about Paul. It is hard to believe I won't watch him walk into the shop with his ear-to-ear smile and a story. It is hard to believe we won't go over to the house and sit around the kitchen table for hours gabbing about nothing in particular........

One of our buddies is gone.

You don't really prepare yourself for the death of a friend. It is just a little too close to the home age where we all have to think about it but never really want to....Reminding us that we have to live for the now and not keep putting off stuff with excuses of next time or next year, or next week.

So with this promise to Paul before we say goodbye tomorrow....that we will live for NOW....and no longer wait...

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/02/tomorrow-we-say-goodbye-to-friend-i-sit.html

I Have Some Movies I Want To Share About!


City Of Ember:

This is a 2008 sleeper.
In Canada it was a limited release film and it was not highly publicized.
I think this was a huge mistake!

If you like Sci Fi, Thriller, and or Fantasy, you need to see this movie! There are lots of familiar faces and the story is rich! I really like this story and the movie must be put on your MUST SEE list!

Al put me on to this film and I was really fortunate to get a chance to view it!

Here is the trailer:

The Lost Room:

This was a mini series released by the SciFi Channel. Originally it was three episodes playing at about 1.5 hrs each.
This too has some great known faces in it, and this story is being compared to "Heroes"...but more believable.
The concept in the story is intriguing. It is ScFi and a Crime drama rolled into one.
If you like Law And Order, or Heroes, or Lost, or even StarGate you will really like this movie.
The story is not futuristic, it is contemporary.

Here is the Trailer:






I know I don't talk about movies often. Carl and I watch more movies than TV. We are still movie theatre goers too. We haven't just fallen into waiting until the film comes out on video. We really enjoy getting out go to a film. We see all the popular movies, and once in a while we get to see some not so popular ones that are soo interesting too. You hear a the hype and the news about the films so I don't often share about them here. I will share about one of the popular ones out now too though.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button:

This movie is a really interesting story. It is a long film that does not feel long. Carl and I were both really into the story and the time went fast. I was thrilled at the CGI in this movie. I was also really happy to see it was not an old story. Many good films are from old books, that could be close to 100yrs old. This story proves itself to have been developed from this current time and I really like that.


Here is the trailer:

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-have-some-movies-i-want-to-share.html

Something A Little Different While I Await Some Necessary RAM

I am computer free for a few days.
Yep!

Not so good for me.
I am now awaiting some necessary RAM as I have maxxed out my laptop RAM doing video conversions etc.
I am accessing all of my Etsy and stuff the old fashioned way, and not through email prompts.
I am provider email free until the computer is RAM rich.

So I am limping on a wing and a prayer until it arrives.
I can't show you new videos or uploads so I figured you might like to check out my Son Alex's revamped blog.

Al is a University student in the world of Computer Science. He already has his own very successful web development company. It is interesting to hear his stories about what he is plugged into and what he is working on.

Hope you enjoy it!:

http://automaticpixel.com/blog/

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/01/something-little-different-while-i.html

Yesterday Obama Became President Of The United States Of America

I watched the TV most of the day yesterday.
I was in awe of the number of people in Washington for the event.
It was very amazing.

I found out today that the White House will have a daily blog: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

I am quite interested in how the blog idea will work. Seeing his campaign was quite strong on the web.

I think this will be a tough job for him. I really hope things settle quickly. I think the world will feel much more stable once things settle in the US.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/01/yesterday-obama-became-president-of.html

My Heart Breaks For My Friend
(please click on the Blue words to read more details about Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson)

#100

You all know that my Husband Carl and my Son Alex are Canadian Military Reservists. Our family is so proud of them for their dedication to Canada and The Queen for taking on this part-time training for the security of our homeland.

Today as I write this I cry and cry.
When your family is in the military, whether they are a full-time soldier or a part-time soldier, you share an affinity with other military families. It is a giant fraternal family which connects you with many people.

Once your family is in the military, you feel like there are always a million arms reaching out to you holding you up, and patting you on the back, and cheering with you on the good days, and on the bad ones......the shoulders of those million arms all collectively slump, and every soldier fraternal family mourns a loss together, and through the sadness a tiny light glows and gets bigger and bigger. That light is a memory, a reason, a purpose and a hope. It is what keeps the troops going, what makes a soldier choose to do what they do.........LOVE, DEDICATION, A TRUE CALLING. Soldiers become soldiers because they have a calling. Yes, a calling. It is just like a religious calling. It is like God and soldiers make a deal. God blesses them with a love so great, that they are willing to lay down their lives for everyone's sake, so the rest of us can be at peace. So we can choose to be pacifists, and to sit comfortably in our homes and enjoy the privileges of this life each day. The soldier's love for their country is so great, that it compels them to go that next step further, and choose to serve.

I know in some places soldiers are conscripted and their ideals about their job are a bit different at first, but once they are doing their job they become bonded to the calling as well. There is no escaping the calling once the training begins.

Right now our Reservist unit has approximately 32 soldiers in dedicated combat in Afghanistan and Sudan. These soldiers are our friends. Folks we see every week when they are here. Most of them are close to my Son Alex's age. Many are not married. A few are a bit older and have wives and children.....A couple are old guys who have seen combat in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Croatia already.....
Here in Canada our reservists have always been trained well. They get more training than most American full-time military recruits. Canada has always trained their military reservists well, and always given them the option of attaching to a regular force unit and serving in battle. Our guys choose to serve. And our reservists choose to serve part-time at home, while doing their full-time carriers as well.......and these days our unit Brothers are taking leave from their full-time jobs to serve in battle. They are making a conscious choice to step away from the comforts that home provides, with job security and an easy life to fulfill their Calling in a whole and complete way. I think about this every single day.

I think about it because the Calling stretches beyond the brothers who serve. It leaches into the hearts of the family too. If Carl or Alex told me tomorrow they are stepping aside of this easy life to go to battle I would be fine with it because I know it is a choice they HAVE to make. One made because the calling and love of being a civil servant is too great for them just to hang back. It hurts a lot when people ask a soldier's family dumb questions like "Why would they choose to put themselves in harms way?" or to slight the war efforts by saying, "We have no business being there...."
Canadian Military is dedicated to NATO. We are peace keeping forces. Actually peace making...these days... but none-the-less our troops serve the world. They put themselves in harms way so the world has the luxuries it has today. And today, so Afghani people can have some freedoms from a life we could not imagine as we sit in our homes with our computers and browse the world wide web for mostly fun. A life where the basics of life are taken away from them forcibly and their lives are shattered by death and destruction daily....... we didn't start the mess, but or forces are compelled to take action towards stopping it!

So my long preamble is to bring me to the real reason I write today.
My Friend Has lost her Son.
Ann has been my Dr's Nurse for quite a long time. And because of my illness, our family sees her often. Our soldier light is our connection to her. Our conversations about her son and his service are our bond. She too is a soldier, only she serves in the Salvation Army. Dedicating her time and life to serve the community as her blessed calling. An absolutely lovely woman who has a heart bigger than you can imagine.
On December 5th, all the soldier families here took a moment from their day to stand in silence and say a prayer for more fallen comrads. We have been doing this a lot. On that day we marked our 100th soldier killed in battle while serving their calling, to serve NATO, to keep peace for the sake of the world. The 100th soldier that freely chose to give his life for everyone because they loved us all that much....!

I am so saddened that I didn't make the connection to the Soldier's name that day. For the media kept saying the unit was from Gagetown, and not Petewawa. So for some reason the name Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson did not register in my mind as someone we knew...Carl didn't make the connection either.
When I saw Ann yesterday I knew something was wrong. The saddness on her face was unbearable. Then she said to me, "You don't know, do you?" Then my heart sank. I knew then.
She shared some details with me about the process they went through after this. And we shared our words of comfort. "He was doing what he loved, he DID make a difference, and it was necessary he become a hero." And then a weird sad smile between us.

These last months we had talked often about this tour Rob was on. It was probably going to be his last one. He was a training officer and had many battle tours. But this one was really special. It was really dangerous because he was training Afghan soldiers how to fight for themselves. The most important job in peace keeping is to help that country stand on its feet and take the steps to freedom, and training the Afghan soldiers is one of the biggest steps to that perpetual freedom. Of course it is the most dangerous too, because those on the training battles will be specifically targetted by the enemy.
Please take a moment to imagine our soldiers in full battlement and training. With the years and years of time and dedicated service and knowledge of weaponry and tactics training people who didn't have running water or shoes or food on their table a few months ago. People who may not even be able to read, so they can learn how to use sofisticated weapons and tactics so save their own lives in the future. It is almost infathonable to imagine.

I read Rob was killed instantly in his armoured vehicle. INSTANTLY.
Instantly is an interesting word. Soldiers like to hear it. It gives them hope that their brother did not suffer. I will hold on to that hope.
But......mind you......I will take to my heart that instantly probably meant a death so hanus you want to shut off your mind to the possibilities.......think about that for a minute, and remember he served for YOU.

Please read this interview Rob did for the press in December:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1335030

Please read this article about Warrant Robert John Wilson at Hero Fund
http://www.herofund.ca/?cat=112

Condolensces Guestbook for Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson
(please remember anti-military comments in a military guestbook are in bad taste)
http://www.legacy.com/Can/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=120990623

As of this moment the CANADIAN DEATH TOLL IS 107

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-heart-breaks-for-my-friend-please.html

The Last Comic Standing is Continuing till the end of February!

Well Jeremy has come up in the votes.
There was a huge influx of votes and it is being looked into, but I think they will find that it is just us webby folks voting on internet and on cell phone text message.

Please keep voting for Jeremy. I would really like to hear that Jeremy won when we see eachother on Feb 28th.

LETS GET THE CANADIAN GUY VOTED IN AS THE BEST COMIC STANDING!!!!

click on this voting link and then go to Jeremy's profile and press vote now.

http://motivated-motion.blogspot.com/2009/01/last-comic-standing-is-continuing-till.html