I spent the better part of this morning fighting with the printer, trying to get it to print a single line on each of 200 envelopes. All I can say is that I now have a much deeper and better understanding of the beatdown scene in Office Space (which I had to explain to a couple of coworkers, who have mysteriously never seen the movie).

Lexmark T630, welcome to my shit list.

Oh, and the only coffee left in the kitchen this morning was decaf, to add insult to injury.

so. tired.

The regular receptionist is in Vegas today and tomorrow, so I had to work a full shift at reception instead of my usual half of one, half of the other deal. No problem, except it starts at 8:30 AM. There is not enough coffee in the world to make me happy with that.

It was a decent day, though. Since it's technically spring break (although the world of white outside my window is decidedly unspringlike), things are very quiet around campus. Plus, I've spent much of the day thinking about an idea that sort of popped into my head while I was lying awake last night.

As most of you know (and as I've posted here probably ad nauseam), I've been doing a lot of the photography for the Humane Society's website, and it's been a whole lot of fun. I really enjoy photographing animals, much more so than people (I have no idea why), and from what I've heard, I'm good at it. It strikes me that this might be a good way to pull in a nice bit of extra cash while I'm in law school... after all, there are a lot of besotted pet owners out there who either don't have a good camera or can't be arsed to drag their pet out to a photography studio for an overpriced shot of it licking its butt. At least with digital you can delete the butt shots and you don't have to pay for film.

So what I'm thinking is that I should set myself up in business in a fairly minor way... flyers and business cards in pet stores, the Humane Society, etc. I've already got the camera, I have shots to use to build a portfolio, and I have the capability to burn photo CDs and clean up any goofs in Photoshop. I also have my pbase site for any kind of promotions, although if this really takes off I'll probably want a separate site.

The only real questions are, what should I call it and how much should I charge?

Whew. I spoke to my regular agent this morning, who confirmed that both properties actually permit cats, so I'm good to go.

I got fan mail! Someone wrote in to the Humane Society just to say this:

I would like to congratulate the person taking the recent cat pictures on the website. The cats look so animated that I know the camera person is a cat lover! I'm sure this will help the cats find new homes. Thank you. With 3 cats myself, I'm sure this took some time!

Awwww. I feel all warm and fuzzy now, which is a nice counteraction to the possible trouble I'm having with my new apartment.

I should explain... last week, I finally contracted with a rental agency down in Ithaca for a nearly-perfect apartment. It's within walking distance of the law school, but not next door (thus forcing me to get some exercise), it's a spacious one-bedroom in a small building housing mostly other grad students, and the rent includes all utilities except electricity and phone. It's a little expensive, but a good deal all around, and best of all, it's cat-friendly.

Or maybe not. Upon receiving the check for my security deposit today, the agency faxed me the official lease to sign, and in checking it over, I saw the horrible words, "no pets." I phoned the office to ask what was up, even though I was 99% sure it was just a standard lease that had inclusions not necessarily applying to this specific property; I've been working with a head agent from the rental company who specifically recommended this complex to me when she heard I had cats.

The girl I talked to today was not the one I usually speak with, and she seemed to think that the lease, not the other agent, was correct. So I left a slightly panicked message for the other agent to phone me tomorrow and let me know for sure what's going on.

However, even if this place turns out not to allow cats, the other complex managed by this office definitely does. (There are two complexes, one allows cats and the other doesn't, so the confusion is just over which one of them does.) I took a look at the website, and while it's quite a bit farther from school (i.e., bus or drive commute), it's bigger, has more amenities (dishwasher!), and is actually cheaper than the original place. So it's not like I'll be homeless or have to give up my cats. It's just going to be a bit of a pain in the ass to straighten all this out.

These photos are just fantastic. I only dream of being a photographer like this.

Happy Valentine's Day!

And on-topic, I have to say I approve of the Prince Charles-Camilla Parker Bowles engagement. Good for them, and it took the Royal Family long enough to lighten up about that divorcée thing, really. We all know by now that Charles and Camilla ought to have tied the knot way back when they first started dating, but then we wouldn't have Wills and Harry, after all.

I wonder what the wedding dress will look like?

I got a couple of great pictures today.

Someone on one of my forums linked to this, which is a cleaner for the inside of your computer screen. Malcolm got interested, and the result was this photo and the next one.

I feel bad for not taking many shots of Maddy lately, but really, she doesn't do nearly as many boneheaded things as Malcolm does, and isn't that what's photogenic?

New cats up for adoption at the Humane Society! No dogs this week, although we'll have a bunch soon... a puppy mill got raided last week, and once the pups have been cleared for fostering/adoption, there will be some freaking adorable puppy pictures up on the site.

I've been working on my financial aid forms tonight, which should be finished tomorrow after I've met with the tax guy (so he can tell me how much tax I'll be paying, etc.). I'll be glad when they're finished, even though they're not as scary as I'd heard they would be.

Photoshop, I love you.

My photo page is once again linked, off to the left side of this page, so go take a look if you haven't in a while... there are a couple of new pictures in the Cats gallery and a whole new gallery (under "My Life") for family and friends.

I got my copy of Photoshop Elements yesterday (yay!), and I've been playing around a little bit today. Where has this software been all my life? I only know how to do maybe a tenth of what it can do yet, and I already think it's completely fantastic. As I get more proficient, I'll eventually put up a gallery for photos I've altered in various ways (I'm not talking basic red-eye removal, here, more like treated to look like paintings, etc.). That won't be for a little while, though. I have to learn the program first.

Right now I'm having a glass of wine while I wait for a load of laundry to finish. Life without school is good.

After a bit of a hiatus during which my computer and I were sick, I'm restarting this blog because I'm working long hours and a lot of them are boring. Plus, I want a place to show off any good new photos I'm doing, since I'll be newly equipped with photo editing capabilities very soon.

I've changed the look and title of the blog to reflect the change in focus... after all, I'm not in London any more, so I can't exactly call it Adventures Abroad. The current title may or may not be temporary, though. I'm trying to think up a good one.

Also, you can now comment on individual posts (my chatterbox expired and I've forgotten the site where you get them).

Links coming soon!