Have you ever heard a song that just hits you in the heart?

I’m pretty eclectic when it comes to music and living in different countries has allowed me the privilege of listening to the music of other cultures within the cultures where they were born, from the Mariachi bands of Mexico to the Reggae and Calypso music of the Caribbean to the Latin from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and more. Some, I’ll admit, I’ve just plain gotten used to after hearing it over and over and over. Even though I’m eclectic, I’ll never get used to rotten-rap or heavy metal…and some of the newer music I’ve recently been privy to. But, overall, I like what I hear.

However, and I repeat, however…I will never forget the chills I felt as my heart skipped a beat the first time I heard Luis Miguel sing Si Tu Ti Atreves. Until last night, I had no idea what the title of the song was or what he was singing…only that each time I heard it on television ~ I’d stop typing. And, for me, that’s saying something. Usually, when my television is on I can’t to tell you what program is on because I’m be into whatever work I’m trying to accomplish. But, when I hear Luis Miguel sing Si Tu Ti Atreves, each and every time, I stop what I’m doing and watch the music video that I’m fortunate enough to watch on several Mexican and Latin channels my cable company subscribe to. Si Tu Ti Atreves is one of the major commercials on each of these channels so if my TV is on, I get to hear it almost every hour.

To this moment, the only translation of the song I know is the title, Si Tu Ti Atreves meaning, If You Dare. My Spanish is all right, at best, so I understand many of the words but not enough to put them together to comprehend. Still, the emotion behind Luis Miguel’s voice, the look in his eyes, his body language…all speak volumes that anyone can understand.

Now, click play and tell me I’m wrong…Si Tu Ti Atreves…If You Dare…

~ Diana

It’s been said that if we have a passion and turn it into a business we’ll have great success. However, when that business, that is still our passion, exposes top government secrets…that’s dangerous.

As many of us have read, photographer, Trevor Paglen, has taken some amazing photographs of the sky from his own backyard. While they are beautiful, as you can see from the photographs I’ve posted here, they display a culmination of over two years of trial-and-error and meticulous research, telescopes, webcams, computers, and of course, a large format camera exposing many of our worst fears…secret satellites.

There’s no telling which country or organization the satellites belong to but the fact that Trevor Paglen has photograph 189 of them is a little scary.

Paglen first became interested in the government’s so-called “black projects” while combing through U.S. Geological Survey archives of satellite prison photos in 2002. He noticed that many of the photo frames of prison sites were missing or, in some cases, heavily edited.

“I thought: What the hell is this? We still have blank spots on maps? We’ve mapped the whole structure of the cosmos and the human genome, so what’s this all about?” Paglen said.

Eventually, those blank spots led Paglen to other covert subjects and turned a hobby into a full-time job ~ one with an unquestionable political stance. He has blurry abstractions of his super-telephoto images showing secret military installations in Nevada, the tiny blips of satellites streaking across the night sky in his new series of photos are meant more as reminders rather than as documentation.

Paglen explains, “For a time, people were getting arrested for photographing the Brooklyn Bridge. So to me, what it meant to do photography also changed. There was a new kind of politics to it ~ something that was very aggressive and dangerous ~ and a presumption that it would reveal some kind of truth or evidence.”

Ultimately, the satellite photos are an attempt to critique that attitude. While the budget for black military operations has more than doubled in the last 10 years and the government continues to espouse the virtues of secrecy, it can’t prevent interested amateur astronomers from calculating the orbital paths of spy satellites.

Paglen’s photographs, while beautiful are scary, to say the least. His exhibit of only a small portion of his 1,500 photographs is/was on display at the University of California Berkeley Art Museum through September 14^th.

While researching this article I’ve found that the exhibit may have just been shut down. Hmmm

~ Diana

This morning, my friend, Sara, sent me a message that, for me, hit real close to home. As you’ve read, she’s going through a divorce that is turning out to be more than a challenge than she’d hoped since her husband wants the divorce as much as she does.

She’s heard me say a million times that we are never given a challenge without also being given the opportunity to overcome that challenge and become stronger. At this point, she’s wondering just how strong she needs to be.

For the past four or five years, as Sara and her husband have moved closer to parting ways, she’s found her own approaches to becoming stronger. She sent me one of them this morning that I wanted to share with you.

“Concentrate on what you want.”

“When you think about what you don’t want to happen, it happens! Concentrating on what you fear and obsessing about negative outcomes has a way of manifesting disastrous images in your head. These images are very powerful and often turn into reality.

Instead, create pictures in your mind of what you want. Imagine the best possible outcome. Take a minute or two to do this everyday.

When you focus your energy toward things you really want, rather than toward what you don’t want, the universe will respond and deliver. Try it. It’s an amazing phenomenon that nurtures your desires.”

This piece is from Meditations for Women but even men can practice it. Until this morning I’d never read this piece but I truly believe it’s true. If you find yourself being negative, always cursing your problems and where you are in life…copy this affirmation and read it daily. Better yet, subscribe to my RSS feed at the top right of this website and you’ll see it all the time ;-).

~ Diana

Sara is one of my good friends going through a divorce after almost 30 years of marriage. Her husband is refusing to part with a dime to help support her. She works, but doesn’t earn enough to support herself. She worked for many years early in her marriage so her husband could concentrate full-time on getting his doctoral degree…been-there-done-that.

For now, she’s still living with her husband but it’s getting more and more difficult as the divorce moves forward. He refuses to move out and she can’t afford to move out. She’s hoping that when she makes up their daughter’s bedroom and tells him to find a bed to put in there that he gets the message. He probably won’t ~ but she can hope.

Sara knows I enjoy blogging. It’s where can combine two passions; writing and being creative. She’s thought about it so that she can have an outlet to express her emotions. Today, I told her how to make money on Bloggerwave. She can blog about what she wants to say and make money at the same time. The more she blogs the more money she’ll make. It could be her answer to making ends meet until the divorce is finalized…and beyond. Good luck, Sara!

~ Diana

You’ve all heard me talk about my friend, Sheri, and her hunny. Remember, they put in a cool pool this year and are making a lot of changes to their home. I wanted to show you a photo of their pool. It’s very cool and perfect for their backyard.

Now that they’ve completed this task they’re going to paint their house. Sheri wanted to paint it themselves and her hunny wants to hire it done. Not that I get a vote, but they’d never need to paint it again if they installed vinyl siding. And, just think how great it would look…every year!

Not only are they going to paint the exterior of the house (or put up the vinyl siding ;-) she’s considering replacing the outdoor carpet and redesigning their porch. Of course, she wants everything to coordinate which is very cool. I’ll have her send photos when she’s all done so everyone can see the finished project.

Sheri and her hunny are pretty lucky. They live in an area of Florida that gets a lot of sunshine so her pool and making the outdoor of their home is important to them. I’m pretty luck because Sheri is my friend and I might be up there for a visit…very soon ;-) And yes, in the photo I’ll post, I’ll be the one with the umbrella in my Pinà Colada in the pool. Sheri, of course, will have the Margarita, no salt.

~ Diana

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

Have you ever had a Serendipity Effect? I’d love to hear more….

~ Diana

My hubby and I are on our way to the St. Kitts Music Festival the end of this month. Ever since we lived on this beautiful Caribbean island we’ve tried to return for the annual music festival. The festival has brought in great performers like the beautiful voice of Dionne Warwick, R&B beauty, Jully Black, and nostalgic Air Supply. Of course, it wouldn’t be the same if the night air wasn’t mixed with the Calypso and Reggae music from local artists. 

As one of the few approved photographers, we always get to go behind-the-scenes, talk with the artists and see the cool ‘stuff’ (equipment). Many of the Caribbean television and radio stations carry the concert live for all four nights. By now, they all know us and welcome us backstage. It’s interesting, to say the least, to listen to the sounds, see the lights, and hear guys talk about how their patch panels has made the change of artists so much easier and smoother. My favorite part is photographing them as they tell their stories about past concerts.

It’ll be fun going back again to listen to the Reggae music of Morgan Heritage, Socrates, and Beanie Man that the Caribbean is known for and seeing old friends.

~ Diana

Have you ever had one of those days when everything seems to be down or failing? In the past I feared my memory failing me. No, not my memory-memory…my computer memory. There’s not a photographer or illustrator that doesn’t fear this with every time they click “save”.

Now, I don’t fear losing my computer memory since I have an external hard drive and have installed enough memory on my internal hard drive for all the photographs I can take for a long while. Of course, now, I fear losing my Internet connection. My Internet is up and down like an antsy child. I’ve learned to keep a USB Flash Pen Drive for when I need to find the nearest Internet café to plug into.

What did we do before computers, before computer memory, and before Internet? Crazy enough, I do remember a time before Internet. Most of the time, I’m grateful for Internet, of course, then there’s times like this morning when I wanted to throw my hard drive into the oncoming traffic outside. I didn’t. Instead, I impatiently waited for my Internet to return.

~ Diana

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
If a neurologist can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can reverse the effects of a stroke ~ totally. The trick is getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which can, in itself, be the hurdle to overcome.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S ~ Ask the individual to SMILE

T ~ Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today)

R ~ Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke ~ Stick out Your Tongue

Another sign of a stroke is this: Ask the person to stick out their tongue. If the tongue is crooked, if it goes to one side or the other, this is also an indication of a stroke.

Please, remember the STR and Tongue symptoms and pass this on to your friends, family and loved ones. I’ll keep it here as well…just in case you need to refer back. Thanks, Steve, for passing this on to me.

~ Diana

After 30+ years of marriage…she’s had it and leaving. Life’s twists and turns keep all of us moving forward. Hopefully, none of us takes too many steps backward without taking even more steps forward. Sometimes, though, even after 30 years of marriage, we have to take a step back to know how to move forward.

My friend and former classmate, Susan, is now trying to move forward after deciding to end her 30+ year marriage. She can’t say she made this decision overnight; it’s taken her more than five years of counseling, thought, and processing her marriage to come to this decision. Having been through the process more than once, I don’t envy her but hope that I can be there for her.

One of Susan’s biggest concerns all along has been their house. She doesn’t want it but does want her share of the equity, which is only fair. Her soon-2-b former husband wants to keep the house rather than preparing it to sell. He’s not real ambitious.

Susan’s had no idea how she would get her husband to part with enough money to buy her out. She has enough problems getting him to part with $10 for gas; thus the divorce. Thankfully, my crazy past has helped me help her. There are mortgage lenders that have what they call “divorce buyouts” where they will pay Susan a large cash buyout and then provide her husband with low payments so he can keep his house.

Susan and I are sure that her husband won’t look into mortgage lenders on his own and hopes he can figure out another way to keep the house…and his money. Unfortunately for him, Susan’s already making the call to set the wheels in motion.

~ Diana