Places that don't seem real

A few pics from Belize. The whole trip pretty much consisted of "is this for real? Quick, get the camera!" Proof:

Ah, the year ahead

This was an amazing year. And I would do the cool thing that Stacy came up with, but it was all so chaotic that I can't remember much of it. That inspired me, though, to look back at the chaos and resolve to find a way out. So, I guess I'll be making resolutions this year, which is something I don't usually do.

First of all, I'm a complete dork, and have decided to sit down and put together mission and vision statements, and then a list of my values. When I come up with them, I'm sure I'll post them here.

In the meantime, here are the very not glamorous resolutions:
Focus on the things I enjoy
Get my *&^% together
End the chaos

Yeah, I know they're vague, and they say that detailed goals are more likely to be met, but you've got to start somewhere. And I've already got some ideas about the details behind these. So, I'm on my way.

Christmas and Such

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah (though I don't think any Hanukkah celebrators read my blog, some of my friends are, so this is for them). Anyway, ours was pretty crazy, but nice.

Belize pictures are coming, I promise. There's some serious editing to be done. We came back with 1650 pictures and have it narrowed down to 600 now. I have to lighten them up and get rid of some dust spots. Then I'll post a few.

I hope to blog again before NYE, but if not, happy New Year!

Sailing ... take me away ...

We're off for the next week. Sailing in Belize with four other couples.

See San Pedro on the map? That's where we're taking off. South for a few days, then back North - island hopping the whole way.

Two boats - a catmaran and a monohull. I still don't quite believe this is my life. It pretty much rocks to have friends that are licensed captains and willing to take their friends along for the ride. Anyway, talk to you folks after the 18th.

How in the world is it

that tonight I'm just seeing Moulin Rouge for the first time? Apparently, around the time in 2001 that this came out in theaters, I was an idiot. I should have run out and seen it the night it opened.

Prayer Request

You know, I don't usually do this, but in the midst of all my lately worrying about
how are we going to get our house in order, save money, pay off debt, pay for Dave to go to chef school, my job for next year and whether we can handle a pay cut for me to be happier in what I do every day, and my job the year after that and whether we're ready to take the risk of a drastic career change, and add to all of this the thought of babies...

I get a long email from a high school classmate and former coworker. Most of it:

... my brother Grant was diagnosed with Cancer this week. He went in Monday because he was having pains in his shoulder and abdomen. This was sudden and very unexpected.

He has tumors on his liver, his chest, and they belive there is cancer in his bones as well. He had a biopsi today and we have the consult with the doctor on Monday to discuss what treatment options we have.

As of right now, the prognosis does not look good. BUT I believe in miracles and right now we need a miracle. So many of you have asked what you can do for him and for me, please pray for him. Pray for guidance of his doctors, pray for God's healing power, pray for his strenght to get through this. Grant is 39. He has two little boys... [H]is wife has been so strong and so wonderful. For those of you how know Grant personally, you know that he is someone that fills a room and makes you feel like a life long friend when you shake his hand for the first time...

One of Grant's sayings that he has up everywhere in his office and at home is ...PMA - Positive Mental Attitude. Please pray for him and share with your own churches and friends this prayer we have.

Genetically, I seem to be lucky, and there has been very little cancer in my family. I've been pretty sheltered from cancer my entire life. But now, as I've become and adult (gasp), I hear about it more and more from those around me. A friend from college was recently diagnosed with stage IV cancer at 31, and a friend's aunt has more than 100 stage III tumors in her abdomen and kidneys. My friends moms have had it, but then, even at it's worst, I'm now ashamed to say that I felt somewhat removed from it.

Not anymore. So please, if you are someone who prays, and maybe even if you're not, please pray for Grant Wells and for his family and doctors.

Damn those cold-hearted conservatives

They keep all their money to themselves and shun the less fortunate.

Or do they?

Oh, Bond

Went to see Bond last night. I have been jazzed about this movie ever since I heard Daniel Craig was the pick. He was so fantastic in Layer Cake.

So, how was it?

Let it suffice to say I wanted to sit in my seat and watch the next show when it was all over.

I owe Dave big time because he was kind enough to put up with the giggle fit my mom and I had after about the sixth shot of Bond's perfect butt. Whoever tailored those pants did a fantastic job. (Turns out she did the new Batman movies, too. She knows how to dress a man.)

Boys, don't let this deter you from seeing the movie. The action sequences are incredible - especially the opening free-running sequence.

Commentary on Tuesday's Results

I can't say it any better than this post from The Agitator.

Quick Update

OK, the last month has been nuts, but the last two weeks, Dave and I have both been sick and pretty much went straight to the couch then to bed every night after work. And something is up with blogger and my work servers, and I can no longer post from there.
Let's see ...
I passed my class.
Now I'm in class two of six: Insurance and Risk Management. (fun fun)
Still waffling, though, on the final decision.
On Monday I officially worked more in one 24-hour period than ever before (and hopefully ever again). We had a release for one of our largest clients on Monday night, and I was part of the team on this project. They are on the pacific coast. I worked a regular day from 9 to about 5:15, went to the first half of my class, and got back to work right at 8pm for the start of the release. One of the three vendors on this project took from 8-midnight to release their part. Then our part began. We were done in about an hour. Then we tested, fixed and called it a successful release at 5:02am Eastern. Holy shit! If you'd told me even six months ago that I would ever work until 5am (actually at work), I wouldn't have believed you. But it somehow happened. And it's kind of funny, but it really wasn't all that bad. The worst was driving home, then trying to get to sleep before the sun came up. I slept until about 10:30, then got up and got dressed for Halloween (cowgirl - chaps and all - didn't have to buy a thing - pictures later). I also loaded up the fabo "triple threat" chili that Dave made for my company's contest, and headed back to work around noon. I was surprisingly alert all day.
And now it's late on Wednesday night, too, so I better get to sleep.
I'll try not to stay away so long next time.

Hehe

From Wall Street Journal online's Opinion Journal Best of the Web...

Life Imitates 'Team America'

Hans Blix: "I'm sorry, but the U.N. must be firm with you. Let me see your whole palace, or else." Kim Jong Il: "Or else what?" Blix: "Or else we will be very, very angry with you, and we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are."--dialogue from "Team America: World Police" (2004)

"The world lined up against North Korea on Monday for staging a nuclear test denounced even by key allies. . . . There was no talk of military action. But the Security Council quickly condemned North Korea's decision to flout a U.N. appeal to cancel the test after the reclusive regime announced it had set off an underground atomic explosion."--Associated Press, Oct. 9, 2006

And after

The bathroom renovation is just about complete. The only stuff left won't be really visible: caulking the ceiling/wall joints and filling a spot on the side of the vanity. The rest is done!

Today, what a day.

Started out with this race. Dave and I both entered. Surprise! Dave finished ahead of me. But there were fewer women in my age group, so I placed (in my age group, for women). Kind of funny; like being one of the few players in baseball to hit a homerun while John Smith was pitching in the rain on a Thursday in New York. It was a cool race, though, and we'll do it again next year if anyone wants to join.

Then, the studying commenced, for about 5 hours. I have a midterm tomorrow for a class I've been taking, and I'm terrified. I haven't had to study like this in ages. It's weird trying to get my brain to work this way again. I'll know tomorrow about 7pm if this is shaping up to be the new direction for me. I've been keeping it pretty low-key, but tomorrow will be a turning point. It's when I'll need to make the go/no-go decision to commit to the rest of the classes for the next year, and look at making a major career change away from a company and a job that I really enjoy - in favor of one that has greater potential and of course greater risk.

Some Before, Some In Between, and Some After

So, as you may have noticed, we started a major project this weekend. It seems that the people who built this house decided not to seal the faucets in the shower before tiling the wall. This laziness resulted in rotten drywall halfway up and all the way around the shower. We ripped out the tile and drywall. I wanted to do tile again. Lowes didn't have the matching tile in stock (350 of them!). I absolutely did not want a vinyl shower insert. I just don't like them. Well, turns out, I don't mind the textured ones so much. Especially when they've been discontinued and they cost $10! Yep, $10 vs. $300+. Guess what won that battle?

We're not quite done. We have to still sand down the walls where the old tile used to be, but the new insert doesn't cover. Then I'm going to paint, then put up the towel racks, toilet paper holder, and curtains. Oh, and a new light fixture. So, there are no after pictures. Those are a while out still. But there are "in between" pictures of the new tub fixtures, insert, and sink fixture.
Drywall going in.
New tub fixtures going in. Or maybe old ones coming out. I'm really not sure.
Look at that lovely new shower!
And those fixtures!
Yep, they're sealed this time.

Dave also tackled the new sink fixtures tonight.
Notice there's not even a plug.


And now ...



And the fun part of owning a home, is that this is just the beginning. We also have a new back door to install.



And kitchen cabinets to paint. Doors now. Cabinet faces later. Then walls, then new tile floor, then new countertops and sink.


And a new bannister.

And a new upstairs back door.

And then we turn the enclosed garage into a real garage.

And we need a new lawnmower.

I could go on all night. I practically have, so I'll stop here. I know why people decide on townhomes and apartments, though. Or build new houses out in the sticks.

Working for the weekend

Kids, this is what becomes necessary when you those who came before you don't seal the wall behind the faucets in a shower...

Good for them

So, there are a couple of recent columns, articles, whatever that put me in the "it's about time somebody on their side said it" state of mind.

Many liberals, in their blind hatred of George W. Bush (not reasoned disagreement with his policies or actions, but blind hatred), do indeed have their heads in the sand about the threat of Muslim extremism. They'll bitch over here in the US (rightfully) about the ridiculous prudishness of the FCC, but the equivocate when extremists murder and kidnap in the name of Islam. Well, Sam Harris, a professed liberal, has said it in the LA Times. Maybe some people are listening. But I doubt it.

And then there are faculty members of the Al Qasemi College, and "institute of Islamic higher education in Israel." Some of the faculty have come to the US to discuss the need for openness and liberalism in the Islamic world. There are a couple of interesting things at play here, in my mind. 1) There is an Islamic College in Israel, and 2) They have come to the US to discuss the need for the greater Islamic world to come into the 21st century with the rest of us. Imagine a Jewish University in an Islamic country. Imagine these Muslim faculty voicing these ideas in an Islamic country such as Syria, Lebanon, or Iran. I'm glad they're spreading these ideas, though. It has to start somewhere, and hopefully their ideas will grow within their own culture.

Both stories are courtesy of the Wall Street Journal Best of the Web.

And, by the way, there is a lot that I want to blog, and there's a lot going on in my little corner of the world. But it just takes forever to formulate the thoughts, and usually Blogger eats them (as The Big C would say) a couple of times, first.

SUVs 14 million years ago?

"SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A 30-mile maze canyons in Antarctica was carved out of bedrock by the catastrophic draining of subglacial lakes during global warming between 12 million and 14 million years ago, according to university researchers who warn a similar event today could have serious environmental consequences."

Heck, I didn't even know people were burning fossil fuels back then, much less driving Expeditions.

Hodgson, who has written extensively about global warming and its impact on Antarctica, said some lake water discharges are contemporary. One such rapid discharge occurred in 1997-1998 when a one-mile-square lake emptied into two other downstream lakes under the ice sheet over a period of 16 months.

"It is very unlikely that the volume of these discharges would equal those of the Miocene (epoch), when the Labyrinth formed, because the ice sheet then was much more dynamic and temperate and therefore likely contained — and discharged — substantially greater volumes of subglacial meltwater," Hodgson said.

The British scientist said that present day global warming has not had any measured effects on the volume or movement of subglacial meltwater beneath the Antarctic ice sheet 'so it is premature to predict a new era of flooding as a result of global warming."

Wow

Great column on the "reasons" behind anti-semitism.

Obligatory post

I know it's been a while. Work is hell. Have time to read and comment in the mornings, but not enough to think about a real post. Sorry. Will catch up someday.

Not much relaxing

going on this weekend.

Two Funkle shows, then back home to do some major work.

That swing I said was going in last weekend didn't. But it did today. Not all by its magical self, of course, but with the unbelievably hard work of Dave and his dad.

Before...


That's where we were going to put it. But that was before Dave so handily found these lovely chunks of concrete with the post hole digger.


So, we decided to put it here


instead. Turns out, that was a much better idea. It's a shady spot with a view of the back of the house, not the side. And it seems to really bring the yard in somehow. We'll put up some laticework, and plant a flowering vine to finish it off. There's obviously some landscaping to do, but I absolutely LOVE our new swing.


Did I mention that Dave's dad built this? Happy early birthdays to us!

(Oh, and please ignore those lovely orange paintball spots. Those will also be dealt with shortly).

Comments Update

Thank you to Beer Pong for letting me know that I managed to turn on comment moderation in my last round of what I thought were minor changes. Not realizing I had turned that on, I didn't include an email address for blogger to send the messages, so I never knew anyone was commenting. Anyway, should be all fixed now.

Having a strange day today.

That's all.

Thanks for reading.

Comments

So do I need to pour my heart out or insult someone to get a comment on this blog? What about insulting people in the process of pouring my heart out?

New Bike

I meant to blog this before. Because I got totally burned out on mountain biking after riding this trail a couple years ago, I finally decided to take a little bonus money and get a road bike.

I picked this



up last Friday, and put 10 miles on it at Hilton Head. I love it! Hopefully, I'll be entering some triathlons with Dave and Brian as the bike rider of a relay team. Triathlon season is apparently coming to a close, but maybe we'll find one.

Online Gambling

I know that many of the bloggers on the roll here are fond of poker. You may be interested in this post from The Agitator about congressional efforts to outlaw (more stringently, I guess, since it's already "outlawed") internet gambling, and then in calling your senator and congressman.

Ah, the weekend

So this weekend will be pretty interesting, and hopefully we'll get some stuff done. Dave's out of town until late tomorrow night, so tonight and tomorrow, I'll be watching movies that I'd never watch with Dave. These movies include, but may not be limited to: Little Fish, The Castle, and In Her Shoes. What I will not be seeing is Pirates, since I've promised, of course, to wait and watch it with my dear husband (hopefully Sunday night).

I will also be going to the gym tonight for a swim, then a lovely dinner of leftover spaghetti. Yum!

Tomorrow will be cleaning the house, among other chores and duties. Then to see Fishtank with Stacy before heading off to the airport.

Sunday should be fantastic because Dave's dad is coming over to put up the incredible swing he made us as a birthday gift. And if that doesn't take too long, he may also help us fix our downstairs shower that hasn't worked since we bought the house.

I know it sounds pitiful, but I'm really excited about this weekend. Maybe I'll have pictures of the swing and fabulous bathroom soon.

Well

We're back from Hilton Head, which was nice, but too short. England lost on penalties after holding Portugal off with only 10 players - how depressing. Then the team that beat them lost to France. So it's France and Italy in the final game. Who would have picked that?!

Now it's time to catch up at work, and get some stuff done around the house this weekend.

Yippee.

Hopefully, I'll have something fun and interesting to post soon.

Weird mood

Not sure exactly why I haven't felt like blogging lately. There just hasn't been much to say, I guess. There's a lot going on, but at the same time, there's really not much going on. Does that make sense?

I'm starting to want to become much more of a homebody. There's a lot I want to do to our house, and for the first time, it's that I want to, not that I feel like we have to. So that's kind of cool. But it's also frustrating because I look at our calendar and in the next couple months, there are only a couple of weekends with nothing scheduled. Luckily, one of those is soon, so we're not likely to schedule anything else over it and can get some stuff done.

I don't know. It's just been strange lately.

Sorry for the lame post. Enjoy your holiday weekend. If you're in Hilton Head, come to the Wild Wing and watch the England game with us!

Blog Themes, Inspiration, and Great Songwriters

While Funkle Ester was busy winning the Flagpole Award for Best Cover Band (YAY!), Dave and I were at Eddie’s Attic watching one of my favorite songwriters perform. I must thank Dave publicly for being so sweet, patient, and understanding to go with me and sit four feet from the stage next to me while I swooned over Radney Foster. He’s a wonderful man, who puts up with a lot from me (Dave, not Radney) in the way of forced screenings of girly movies and country music, for instance.

I’m happy to say that Dave appreciates good music, even if it’s country. This is great for our relationship, because, though I pretty much have to introduce it to him, he’s open to listening. And he seems to have truly enjoyed the show last night.

This time around it was Radney and his acoustic, with another guitarist (Eric Borash) with an electric guitar.

What’s interesting is that I’ve noticed a few themes in Radney’s music as I’ve listened to it more and more. A big theme of his is taking chances. And in his most recent albums, he’s written a lot of songs about love and happy relationships. I know you’re thinking, but wait, didn’t you say he’s a country singer? Yes. I have to say, I’m impressed with his ability to write songs about great love and when things go right, or even sticking it out when things in life go wrong. He’s got plenty of love-gone-wrong songs, too, but so many love-is-great songs. It seems that most songwriters can only write when they’re miserable, so it’s nice to hear one that can write no matter what.

Good grief, I’m rambling here.

Favorite lyrics? Well I could probably quote from 40 different songs and count them as favorites. I’ll spare you and only include a few here:

If You Can’t Be Good (Be Lucky)(Foster/Morrou)
The title pretty much says it all

There are nights I own this town
Most nights it owns me
Play my guitar till it draws blood
It still won’t let me be
People think you know what you’re talking about
All because you wrote some song
I ain’t no smarter than the rest of these clowns
I’m just making it up as I go along
Making It Up As I Go Along (Foster)

Built that wall around your heart
So that no one could get through it
You must have missed a spot, baby
I walked right through it
Love Had Something to Say About It (Foster)

Now romance is just like money
You can always get more if you got it
And let me tell you friends
I’m a lot more handsome with a c-note in my pocket
Folding Money (Foster)

That kiss that you just hammered me with girl,
Is a staggering revelation
Drunk on Love (Foster/Brown)


And really, when it comes down to it, song lyrics are as much about the delivery and music behind them as they are about the words. So if you like country music (Texas country, storyteller stuff), get some Radney Foster. See What You Want to See (a little more pop/Americana, actually) and And Then There’s Me are both good albums to start with.

Yes indeedy

The English boys did it again today. They beat Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 today. They played a bit sloppy but closed the deal in the last 10 minutes of the game. Even better, both goal scorers play for Liverpool - with Beckham serving up a beautiful cross for Crouch to head in at the 83rd minute, and Gerrard scoring a blazing left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net at the beginning of stoppage time.

Good on ya!

Key West Pictures ... Finally

I'm sorry there are no captions, but I had captions and about 10 pictures loaded into Blogger earlier, and all was lost when I tried to save the draft and work on something else for a while. Grrr.

So, without further ado (or any real info), here are some pics.