Big news of the day was the tree coming out.  Fascinating to watch.  Pondman Todd told me yesterday that I had to choose between the tree or the pond.  They do not play well together.  I chose the pond.

Don't you think that the navy coat hanging over the bird feeder is attractive?  I would have never thought of that!  It definitely keeps the squirrels out...and the birds too, I'm afraid.

I had to hurry and take pictures before the rain started so the project is not completely finished.  Whatever is not finished today will be finished on Monday.  But I think that you can still get a good idea of what it will look like.  We are so happy with it.  And Scott (the main man) said that it will take 1 year for plants to mature. Wow!

Day 3

Yikes!  This was my view as I opened the door of my office this morning!



This was the view from my room for most of the day.



This was the result at the end of 3 long days of work!

AAAHHH!  Beauty...wish I knew how to include an audio to the sound of the water flowing over the rocks.  We will sleep with out door open tonight!
Tomorrow the plants if the rain holds out. Otherwise it will be Monday.  But I will do a final post.

Yard Work - Day 2

Work on Day 2 just ended.  It doesn't look like much change but imagine moving those huge bolders.  That took a lot of planning and execution and rest in between. And as you can see, there is only 1 bolder left to place.  Here are the only pics that I took today.

Backyard Project - Day 1

These pictures are of day one of our back yard project. We are super-excited about getting the water feature fixed and properly integrated into the landscape. We want to post the other three days of the project as they work. Good intentions and all that...
We are also thankful to be able to choose our yard project in 2011. This time in 2009, we had a whole series of projects chosen for us by the monsoon rains.

The project requires the bottom basin of the fountain to be enlarged, new, BIG boulders brought in and a large number of plants either
relocated or planted new.



They began today with digging up all the plants on the hill, enlarging the basin and delivering boulders and plants.





Tomorrow? We don't know.

LivePerson

The last 40 days of summer quarter at SCAD became an all-hands-on-deck push to boost fall enrollment (which was successful, by the way). Part of that push was having my team start taking LivePerson shifts. You know when you are looking at washing machine's on the Home Depot website, and a box pops up declaring that there's an expert online who is available to chat? Well, that was me. Usually the recruiters do that job, but my little support team got called in to be resident experts. Only, we're not nearly as familiar with the daily life as the recruiters.

Usually the questions are pretty easy. What scholarships do you offer? When is the application deadline? What do you mean SCAD doesn't have an application deadline? That must cause for chaos in the admission office.

Today I had a more interesting chat. After talking I scrolled down to the information in the pre-chat survey he filled out so that I could make a note of this interaction on his record, because, well, he deserved it. Only then did I discover his name was Billy Bob, and you can reach him at noneofyourbusiness@yahoo.com.

This was the chat:
Claire: Hi, Billy. How may I help you?
Billy: hello what type of drama/musical do yall have?
Claire: Are you asking about what kind of productions go on during the year? Or about the performing arts program?
Billy: yes
Claire: Performing Arts
Claire: Program information can be found at that link.
Claire: As far as the productions that take place, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you much.

{At this point I started typing that I had not been around for the full year yet, but would try to track down some more information if he would be willing to wait just a moment}

Billy: yes
Billy: try
Billy: TRY !
Claire: Why don't you contact someone from the department. At the link above, you can find contact information for the Dean and Chair.
Claire: If you click "View Bio" you can get their contact information.
Claire: They should be able to give you some better information.
Billy: :P NOO!!

Way to go, Billy. SCAD would be lucky to have you.

Vale versus Cricket

Don't worry, neither Vale nor the cricket were harmed in the making of this video.  Sorry that I am just now posting this. It's so funny!

Vale v Cricket from MNR on Vimeo.

Happy and Pops

I guess this is going to be video week for the Kangs and I am so glad I got this on video. Benjamin has been doing this motion for Pops when I get him up from his nap this week. Pops actually makes a popping sound when he does it... B tries. This is often how I hear him calling for Happy, which he has yet to do for her in person but now I am proving he DOES do it!! Benjamin loves his Happy and Pops!!!

Untitled from Katie Kang on Vimeo.