Soooo...hello again

Look, some cruel parent (probably a dad), taught the family bunnies a trick while the kids were at school.

I've taken a couple weeks off to work on another project, and to let my hand heal a little. It's coming along nicely, and I think the doctor lied (or was just incompetent since he wasn't an orthopedist) when he said I'd need 6-8 weeks in a cast for my tiny fractures. Dr. Kollmer told me the brace would be fine, and I hardly ever need it anymore, but still wear it sometimes.

I took the sand bags out of the heavy bag and re-stuffed it. It's much softer now. So, I've been shadow boxing , jump-roping and half-swimming for exercise. I want to go skating this weekend if James is up for it.

We've been spending a lot of time with Joe driving us around in the car--he'll be able to get his driver's license soon. Since he has such limited driving experience, we're also enrolling him in driving school since the driver's ed class was full when we registered him at school.

I've been working on some writing projects which are mostly in the market research phase right now. I've learned so much during the past few years, and there's a lot of ideas swirling around in my head.

I'll be posting some wittier posts in the near future...I just have to sort out a ton of information and think about what tidbits of current thought I want to give out.

I miss the medical field. I mean, I really miss it. I miss x-ray and the clinical environment, so I put in some applications for some part-time or full-time positions. Sometimes you have to try something new to see if it's for you or not. And I'm not confident the eBay thing is for me. My passion has always been the medical field, and writing, and animals, so that's maybe I should concentrate on one or all of those. I've been working on my resume, and it looks really, really good.

Not much else is happening. We spent a quiet weekend at home, watching movies and doing some household things.

One thing I did this weekend was attempt to find the combat artist/war correspondent, the mysterious "JF." So far, I haven't been able to find someone with those exact initials, but this guy's drawing looks similar.

I've also been reading about symbology. One of the many interesting things I learned was about how every authentic Persian rug is unique. The rug makers had patterns to follow, but they would deliberately weave in a "mistake," so that none were ever "perfect."

Also, some of the patterns were drawn without the designer's hand ever leaving the page--a sure sign of a "magic" symbol. Hidden symbols were also a key part of the rugs. Symbols included carnations (happiness), parrots (love), camels (wealth), and pomegranates (abundance).

Even the colors held rich meanings. For example:

Green represented hope, paradise, and spiritual renewal. However, they ususally used very little green, because it was a color the Persians associated with someone in power, like Mohammed. When they did use green, they'd use it in very low-traffic areas.

Yellow and gold represented the sun, life, power, and wealth. Since these dyes were rare and expensive, weavers usually reserved these for royalty. Some weavers even integrated strands of precious metals, such as gold and silver, into rugs.

The rich red colors come from the madder root (genus Rubia, as in ruby). The vibrance of this highly desired color made those fortunate owners associate it with courage and good luck.

Even the more common colors had significant meaning: