CONTEST: Merry Christmas to You!

In celebration of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and an amazing New Year (2011 is going to be GREAT!!), I'm announcing a contest that will run until December 15th!

Here's what you need to do:

• Post a photo of your super cute kiddo(s) on the Rusty Turtle Photography facebook page with a caption of why you should be chosen!
• Tell all of your friends, family, neighbours, old college roommates, and fellow grocery shoppers to "Like" or comment on YOUR photo

At 11:59pm PST on December 15th, I will tally up the "likes" and comments. The three photos with the most comments will be winners!

1st Place - Free photo session for up to two children, password protected customer gallery, and a print package of one 16x24, four 8x10's, four 5x7's, ten 4x6's, and three sheets of wallets (twelve total). (Value of $915)

2nd Place - Free photo session for up to two children, password protected customer gallery, one 11x14 print, and three sheets of wallets (twelve total). (Value of $370)

3rd Place - Free print package of one 11x14, two 8x10's, two 5x7's, and one sheet of wallets (four total). (Value of $230)

All other submissions - 10% off the purchase of any complete or custom photo collection (see website @ www.rustyturtlephotography.com or contact me for details). At the completion of the contest, you will be asked to provide a street address or an email address where I can send your special offer.

So, tell all your friends to post their photos and to vote for yours! Ready, set, go!!!

Rules:

• Only one submission per family
• At least one child must be over the age of 2 and under the age of 12
• One comment/like per person per photo (this means you can vote for yours and a friend's!)
• You may "like" or comment on your own photo
• Any additional services, prints, products, or fees will be paid in full
• All prizes expire March 31st, 2011
• May not be used with any other offer
• All travel outside of Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties must be paid for by winners/clients

Any questions, please email megan@rustyturtlephotography.com or megan@megan-beth.com.

Tools for Photographers: Workshop Workbook

Okay, I'm in love.

Why?

Because. For... well, ever, I've been wanting to attend a workshop. But I can't. Because I'm just not going to spend a bazillion dollars on a day with j* and my camera (much as I'd like to).

But this is what I found: The Workshop Workbook, which covers a HUGE range of topics, and is available for literally a fraction of the cost of a workshop. And the best news is that it's on SALE today! Plus, they're having a giveaway! Seriously, if you LOVE photography and are serious about improving yourself and your business, go buy it. Now!

(I'd share mine, but we all know I'm not good at that, and it's also illegal.)

Eustace and the Lion

"I knew it was a well because you could see the water bubbling up from the bottom of it: but it was a lot bigger than most wells--like a very big, round bath with marble steps going down into it. The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. But the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I don't know if he said any words out loud or not.

"I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and, instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I just stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.

"But just as I was going to put my foot into the water I looked down and saw that it was all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as it had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this under skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.

"Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good."

"Then the lion said--but I don't know if it spoke--You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat on my back to let him do it."

"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right through into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything else I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know--if you've ever picked the scab of of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund.

"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off--just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt--and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly looking that the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me--I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on--and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again..."

From Voyage of the Dawn Treader, "How the Adventure Ended" by C.S. Lewis

Language as a Legacy

Every parent knows that if Mommy or Daddy says bad words, so will Baby. Children first parrot what they learn from those around them, then begin to create their own phrases and sentences using the vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and punctuation available to them. This is fairly evident in, and easily proven by, immigrant families. Teachers these days, especially in the grade school level, face a dozen challenges with the children of non-English speaking parents. These hurdles come in all shapes and sizes, varying from the child who has no English because of this to the child whose parents cannot foster a strong language education... and beyond, into nightmares that schools and teachers struggle with daily.

I've been thinking lately about language as a legacy, and how our interactions with everyone around us affect literacy and language development. For instance, on a very small level, every time Cameron hears a "big" word, he subconsciously stores it away in his brain for future use; and future use for him is about thirty times in the week following that acquisition. Despite the fact that, often times, he knew the word before, could have given an accurate definition, and used it in a sentence, it's the hearing it that prompts him to incorporate the new word into his daily speak.... And he will go out of his way to do so.

We blame "schools these days" and fallen American education for the degradation of the English language, but I say we stop pointing the finger for a moment and consider what we've done to contribute. Every day, I deal with dozens of intelligent people--people who have MS degrees, who are CEO's of companies, who write professionally, even--and shake my head at the disgrace brought upon the tongue I speak. Sure, I sound like an English snob now; I've never denied that I am a purist in this. But hear me out: When we get sloppy, it gets noticed. Sometimes I think that we get so used to living in a world where virtual communication is acceptable that we don't stop to think about what we're communicating.

There's a small, publicly-traded company I work with based out of Costa Mesa. The Director of Human Resources, a perfectionist whom nearly everyone in my office can't stand, regularly sends me emails with typos. Huge, easy-to-spot typos. Sloppy typos. Things like, "Please check Josh's reference's," or, "There going to interview him Tuesday." I know, small things to you, yes? But this person is the face of her company to me. My opinion of her company is formed based on my interactions with her... and she doesn't care enough to give her email a once-over for that? My guess is that she's very intelligent and has at least one degree; these are just sloppy mistakes, and if someone else sent them to her... well, that would be the end of the world.

Here's another annoyingly common trend: adverbs. I totally enjoy adverbs and their ability to transform a sentence. In fact, I'm a firm believer that adverbs completely help to emphasise a point. But realistically, I've just written four sentences that would have been just fine without an adverb, but used one anyway. The overuse of adverbs is a trend noticeable in recent years, likely attributed to the "valley girl" dialect and popularised by shows like Beverly Hills 90210. In case you didn't notice, there are six adverbs in this paragraph. Literally. And I think things would have been okay without them.

I could go on and on, but I'll refrain. It comes down to this: Pull yourselves together, team. What you say and write is noticed. Go ahead; do the unpopular thing and proof read that text you're about to send. I'm not saying that I never have typos; God (and my boss) know I do. Certainly, I am not perfect in anything I do, even this, which I am passionate in. But language is a legacy, and though it evolves (in the sense that it changes constantly), it seems to me that "devolve" is the proper word in this instance. We are allowing laziness to punctuate our IMs and emails; God forbid you type "see" rather than "c" in that text.

Language is contagious. Get it right. You are commissioned; go and do.

This is the funniest thing I have ever seen.

I see a LOT of resumes every day--my guess would be between two and three hundred daily, probably one thousand per week. I've seen some bad resumes in my time, and some great ones, but this one stands out.

We have a debate going in my office about whether this one is real or not. Please, enjoy, and let me know if you think it's real or not. :) (For this possibly real person's protection, I'm taking out his info).

Rob J. Jr.


Entry Level Web Design Skills (I Am The Webmaster/Owner of 2 Websites)
Speed Read Rate: 80-100 Words Per Minute
High School Diploma
Good attendance. Only 1 sick day because I eat a lot of organics.
Got the Highest Score on State Exam English Portion in the 3rd grade.
Certificate of Completion for Customer Interaction Training Program
Multilingual(English+German+Spanish)
IQ 146


Work Experience
Webmaster
11/2009-Present Making Money Off The Ads I Put On My Websites
Janitor
9/2006 - 4/2007(Relocation) Clean Inside, San Francisco, CA
Cleaning tables+chairs+racks
Education
8/2002 - 6/2006 International Studies Academy High School, San Francisco,
CA

NO ARRESTS
NO CONVICTIONS

Sammi

Once again, I will be posting Wordy Wednesday on Thursday; today, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend Sammi.

I found Sammi on the side of the freeway on the way home from Cam's on Sunday night. He was running up the on ramp, and, being my mother's daughter, I couldn't just leave him. So I pulled off and was surprised when he immediately began trotting my way. When I crouched down and offered my hand for him to sniff, he eagerly greeted me with sloppy puppy kisses. I tried getting him in the car, but with no luck.

Fortunately, a moment later, a family in a white Prius came and helped me get him into my backseat. (If you're miraculously reading this, thank you soooo much for your help!) On the way home, he was calm and joyously stuck his head out the window; a family in a car beside me complimented me on my beautiful dog. When I arrived back at the house, my parents were ready with food and water for the adventurer. We set up a bed in the garage and left him overnight, praying he wouldn't freeze, and before I went to bed, I prayed over him, that he would find a good home.

In the morning, my mom and I drove around putting signs up on our half of the city. All day, I waited for a call. And all day yesterday, we waited.

And this morning, I'm pretty sure my mom decided we should just give him a home. Either way, whether he stays with us or not, this is Sammi, in all his morning cuteness:











When Sammi jumps up, he's huge! Probably as tall as I am, and he easily knocks me to the ground... and quickly makes up for it with sweet puppy kisses!

In the Presence of Abba

I read this book a while ago, Hadassah: One Night With the King. You may have been subjected to the rather awful movie version; if so, don't let it spoil this for you. The books was one of the most well-worth-it reads I've had, in my truly extensive experience with books.

But I'm not here to talk about the book overall. I'm risking copyright infringement for the purposes of sharing with you an excerpt, a piece of the book that hit me hard and has changed my focus. Without further ado, here it is:

---

And the Mordecai asked the fateful question. "What was it really like to enter the Holy Place, the dwelling of the Almighty?"

The old man turned to his host and raised his eyebrows high. I could not tell whether he was giving Mordecai a quick reappraisal or glaring at him for his impudence. Then I saw that his eyes were watering. As he was completely motionless in that instant, I wondered if he was suffering some sort of internal breakdown.

But then he looked away, and two large tears rolled over the creases below his eyelids only to disappear in the sparse hairs of his beard. No, I could tell he was not angry at Mordecai for asking the question. He was merely preparing his reply with all the strength he could muster.

"Ah yes, the perennial question. Or at least, it once was. Ah, my son..." and he trailed off. Then he turned around quickly, with a surprising ferocity in his eyes. "It's not just what you think, you know. Everyone things it is all fear and trembling. And some days it was. Especially in my early years. But I will tell you the truth. The memory that keeps my heart strong and my head clear is the thought of days when my heart was pure before Him. When I had spent time reading the Sacred Texts, preparing myself beforehand, had sung His praises, asked for forgiveness, I would enter the temple and suddenly be engulfed in His presence...."

At that moment he jerked his head back and stared into the ceilings as if he were seeing some opening into heaven itself. He made a small keening cry, like that of a newbord child. Then he looked down and his gaze was turned so inward he seemed to have forgotten we were even present. Several more tears fell from his cheeks onto the table. Finally he looked up again, not quite back to the ceiling but just over our heads, as if meeting our gaze would have simply been too much at the moment.

"God really does have a presence, do you know?" He asked it almost petulantly, as though his proximity to tears was due to some skepticism on our part. "My whole being would throb with this awareness of His person. I thought I could feel His heart. And at such times I was glad everyone else kept their distance, because often I would dance and laugh and weep and sing and shout all at the same time because my chest felt like it would truly, truly burst if I did not. I felt--I felt... well, have you ever seen a young child greet a beloved father after a long absence? The little arms pumping, the little legs churning, the leap into his arms, the tears in the father's eyes? I felt like that. A child so overcome with joy at His return that all I wanted to do in this world was to leap as high into His bosom as I could. And I could feel His tears, too. That's the wonder of it, don't you see? I could feel His Spirit being fed, His heart gladdened, His pain--yes, His pain--being healed somehow."

... "I always believed," Jacob continued, "that the catalyst for these times of blissful closeness to Him was that I had focused my attention on Him, not on myself. Not on the fact that the Master of the Universe, may His name be blessed, stood in my presence, and I in His at that moment. I could not even think of such a thing, although I suppose it was true. No, like that little child, I was completely enraptured by His arrival and His presence, and my own part in the matter was completely forgotten. Then, of course, as He surrounded me and wrapped me like an infant in those Abba arms, it became more impossible to turn a thought unto myself. What caused His joy was not my puny righteousness--my holiness, which would have been like filthy rags to Him had He chosen to examine it. In that moment His charity--His favor--was far too great to scrutinize my fault. Again, it was not about me. Not about me at all. What caused His joy was seeing my rapture at His presence and the communion that it sparked. That is what gladdens His heart. Often I have to remind myself that the example of parenthood is not accidental. He is our Father. He is many other things, too, of course. But He is every bit as much a Father, and more, than any man whose heart has ever ached at being separated from his little ones."

---

I know it seems random, just sort of put here, but I was trying to explain it to Cam today and I just felt like it was worthy of sharing... I didn't include the whole thing, for lack of desire to type all night, but I did want to share it with you. Thoughts on the matter? Does our joy come from just being with Him, leaping into our Abba's arms without a thought for anything else? Or does it come from something else? Where should our focus be? Most of the time, I blog for me and you just happen to read it, but this time, I'm blogging for us all, and I really really really do want to know what you think.

Wordy Wednesday: Affect/Effect

I'd like to introduce Wordy Wednesdays, even though it's Thursday, which will teach you something new about the English language. Sometimes, it will be correct pronunciation of words (for instance, that frozen stuff you eat is sherbet, not sherbert; and you frustrate me when you say fustrate); sometimes, correct grammar (no examples here; just study my blog and every word), sometimes, a little something about punctuation. I will discuss made up words that do work, and made up words that don't, the evolution (and, often, devolution) of the English language (thank you, Urban Dictionary), and so much more. In a nutshell, Wordy Wednesday is just one English nerd's attempt to save the word, one bad sentence at a time. At times, I'll play book critic, praising books with fabulous verbage, condemning those novels whose authors should consider burying themselves alive for the disgrace they've brought upon the English language.

As a fair warning, I think the Brits have it right: colour, realise, centre, ageing, cheque... you get the idea. I won't insist that you do it this way, but when you're trying to impress your boss with new vocab, just don't quote me letter for letter without checking the dictionary first.

For my first edition, let's talk about effect and affect.

effect--n. something that is produced by an agency or cause; result; consequence

There are a BUNCH of other definitions for this word, but you get the idea. Remember when you were six and learning about parts of speech? A noun is a person, place, or thing. Effect is a thing.

affect--v. to act on; produce an effect or change in

Verb... something that implies action. As a general principle, if you can add "ed" on the end of it, it's a verb. Let's look at some differences between these two homonyms:

The pain killers had a strong effect on her after the surgery.
After the surgery, she was strongly affected by the painkillers.

I cannot affect the outcome of the race by cheering.
My cheering does not have an effect on the outcome of the race.

One last note: If you look in the dictionary, it will tell you that affect is also a noun. This is true, but it's not pronounced the same way; nor does it have a similar meaning to effect. These two words are not interchangeable, even though they sound the same.

Go forth and make use of this information!

Newborn: Makayla Rae

On October 2, little miss Makayla Rae entered the world, along with thousands of others that day. But she was different... This baby was special, because she's the first child of all my high school friends. On top of that, this sweet girl happens to be one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen. Danny and Corrie asked me to take pictures of their little girl, and it was such a special experience for me. Sorry these took so long!

Miss Makayla kept showing off her cute little baby feet... but she wouldn't hold still! It was so hard to get a good picture of them, but alas, I finally prevailed.





Go ahead, try to tell me babies can't laugh.





Danny and Corrie's puppies are still pretty curious about the new addition to their household!






This is my favourite shot of the day... There are tons of cute photos with Danny and her, or Corrie and her, or the whole family... but for some reason, I just love this.








I couldn't leave out this cute shot!












Beautiful! This actually ties for first place...

Dharma Match

Some interesting photos I took in July on Kauai. These are dedicated to Dave Gonzalez, who would buy photos of rusty objects. :) Bear and Tracy actually found this place and told me, "It looks like the Dharma Initiative's tennis court!" Sure enough, when I set eyes on this place, the whole neighbourhood screamed "Lost" to me. Enjoy!