I suppose, technically, it's Saturday already. I should be getting ready for bed, but I'm having fun updating my blog layout yet again. Usually I go months before giving the site an overhaul, but since, unlike Blogger, you have to pay to edit the CSS on Wordpress, I figured I'd get my money's worth :-) Although I'm curious now-- what will happen if I don't renew my subscription? Will my edits be reverted to the original theme? Or will they stay, and I simply can't make any more edits till I pay again? I guess I shall find out in November! Anyway, this round of editing went much more smoothly than my last one, partly because I started from an existing theme instead of the bare-bones minimum Sandbox, and partly because at work this week I've been tweaking the look and feel of some of our webpages, using-- you guessed it-- CSS. So I'm a little more familiar with it now.
So I figured, while I was here, that I would write a little something. Or a lot something. I have a tendency towards verbosity. As Lisa puts it: "Why use 10 words when you can use 100?" :-P
Our insurance claim and the business of Allan's car is behind us. The auto shop did a great job fixing the back, his car looks good as new! While it was in the shop, the sheriff who took my report called me to give an update on the case. They found the guy who did it, and although they couldn't place him at the scene of the accident without eyewitnesses (and thus arrest him for drunken or reckless driving), they could at least prove his vehicle was the one that hit ours, and so the insurance carrier on that car would take care of the reimbursement. Well, this week I got a call from USAA-- turns out that the car was not actually insured at the time of the accident! So now they're going after the guy personally to get their money back. I hope they're able to nail him. We're extremely fortunate that we suffered no monetary loss and only slight inconvenience by his actions-- he could've gotten someone killed!
In other news, I conducted my first phone interview at work the other day, and I spent quite a bit of time preparing for it. It was a good learning experience, and I get to do it again next week. I'm definitely feeling more confident about it!
I'm glad things are starting to dry up and warm up after last week's endless rain (though the snow on the mountains made for a pretty sight!). Our apartment, though it gets direct sunlight in the afternoon, stays cold all day. The bathroom gets so cold that one day I noticed the big lotion bottle kept dispensing thinner and thinner lotion. It was almost watery. Thinking it was going bad, I opened it up to investigate-- only to discover that, much like curds and whey, it had separated! I now keep the lotion bottle on the dining room table, where it's warmer. At least the place will stay nice and cool during the summer! Not that it gets very hot here in the summer, anyway.
I've been experimenting with conditioners lately, trying to find the right one. It's amazing how a particular conditioner can yield such beautiful, soft, shiny hair on my husband and son, and yet actually DRY my hair out worse than if I'd used no conditioner at all (Tresemme, in case you're curious). And some conditioners are so weak that despite lathering it on my hair, it does absolutely nothing. What I've found is that 1) I need a really thick, heavy conditioner-- the kind that's almost solid and 2) I always end up going back to Pantene. The cabinet under our sink is now littered with various sample sizes of various conditioners-- not only different brands (Garnier, Dove, Tresemme, Pantene) but also different sub-types of Pantene (Moisturizing, Smoothing, Ice Shine and Breakage Defense). It's easy to experiment with inexpensive, $1 sample size bottles, and I continue my quest for the perfect conditioner! :-D At least I know now what brand to stick to. That narrows it down some ;-)
And now that I've rambled on enough and procrastinated even longer, I shall wrap this up and go to bed. Good night!
La Maison des Tortues: One third of the "heckled trio" writes...
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
When Blogging Changed My Life
Today's post comes courtesy of Tabitha. As part of her Blogoversary giveaway, I'm submitting my entry for the Starbucks gift card (my favorite prize of the bunch! ;-) ) with this blog post.
Her prompt reads:
Tell me about a time when blogging changed your life.
Now, rather than talk about *a* single instance, this blog shall be a twofold post:
Chapter 1 -- Making Friends
Let's see... I started blogging in 2004, writing a few posts on Tripod.com but mainly focusing on using Tripod's blog features to keep a baby diary for Todd, who was born that year. Serious blogging didn't really come onto the scene until 2005, when community/gaming site Grab.com, of which I was an active member at the time, came out with blog features. By then, I'd started making friends on Grab. The majority of my current blog subscribers, in fact, are people I met from Grab. They are folks of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all over the globe. When I started blogging, the community spilled over from the forums onto my blog. It wasn't unusual to see the comments section take on a life of their own, sometimes veering completely away from the original subject matter.
Anyway, it was here that I started to bloom socially. I'd always been an introvert, and still am. Online, I found myself interacting with people and socializing in ways that I never would offline. Blogging gave me a creative outlet and a sort of "personal" forum on which to hang out with my friends. I enjoyed writing, and I enjoyed the ensuing camaraderie. I even wound up meeting some of these online friends, from night out in Hollywood in a limo to a 4th of July BBQ in Salem, OR to Chicago O'Hare Airport to cloudy and rainy Wales to visiting the Grab HQ in Washington.
Before that, even, we all got together one New Year's Eve, plugged in our computer mics, and had some raucous fun with a Yahoo voice chat NYE party! Now THAT took some planning, considering everyone was in different timezones-- from Eastern Time in Michigan to early morning in the UK to... well, already well into the next DAY in Australia.
So yes, my social life was improving, even if it was in front of a computer. I met people I would never have otherwise met, and enjoyed learning new things about them.
In fact, I've never been a big fan of the terms "IRL" or "real life friends". Makes it sound like my online friends aren't my "real" friends. Nothing could be further from the truth. These folks aren't any less real than the people I can physically hear and see. That's why I prefer the term "offline" friends, to distinguish the medium through which we interact, rather than assign any labels to the supposed level of reality this friendships are. You could say blogging changed my life in that respect.
But probably my most amazing life-changing story comes not directly from blogging itself, but from one of the friendships forged through the social networking/blog site I started on.
Chapter 2 -- One such friend becomes a lifesaver
A while back, my marriage fell on rocky times. My husband and I seemed to be at an impasse, and then the turning point came unexpectedly: one of my online friends, “Callie”, suddenly wrote to me out of the blue describing her own marriage problems. Suddenly I found myself “counseling” her, writing words of comfort and advice that I know could not have come from my own head. I had no idea where these words and ideas were coming from-- I have absolutely no background in this sort of thing! And throughout the course of this “counseling”, I realized I was being a hypocrite, and that I should be applying the things I was telling her to my own marriage. Once I did, things began to improve. Our marriage is better than it ever was.
Another effect of my conversations with Callie is of a more spiritual nature. I was born and raised agnostic, and when it came to matters of God, I was still on the fence. My interaction with Callie (among other things that I'll save for some other post) left no doubt in my mind that God exists and that his hand was at work with us. First there was the matter of being able to give her advice. Where was it coming from? I am convinced it was inspired by God and I feel as if I caught a brief glimpse into what it must've been like for the divinely-guided Bible writers in their day. I just put my fingers to the keyboard and they practically went on autopilot. Second, there was Callie's point of view-- she later told me she had no idea why she picked me, a distant friend, to confide in-- she just felt guided to write to me. Apparently God had things to tell her AND me simultaneously. Since then, not only have our marriages greatly improved, but our spiritual lives have been recharged, as well.
If it weren't for Grab/blogging, I would never have met Callie (even though I have not, to this day, met her face to face). I am glad I did, for, as they say, the rest is history!
Her prompt reads:
Tell me about a time when blogging changed your life.
Now, rather than talk about *a* single instance, this blog shall be a twofold post:
Chapter 1 -- Making Friends
Let's see... I started blogging in 2004, writing a few posts on Tripod.com but mainly focusing on using Tripod's blog features to keep a baby diary for Todd, who was born that year. Serious blogging didn't really come onto the scene until 2005, when community/gaming site Grab.com, of which I was an active member at the time, came out with blog features. By then, I'd started making friends on Grab. The majority of my current blog subscribers, in fact, are people I met from Grab. They are folks of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all over the globe. When I started blogging, the community spilled over from the forums onto my blog. It wasn't unusual to see the comments section take on a life of their own, sometimes veering completely away from the original subject matter.
Anyway, it was here that I started to bloom socially. I'd always been an introvert, and still am. Online, I found myself interacting with people and socializing in ways that I never would offline. Blogging gave me a creative outlet and a sort of "personal" forum on which to hang out with my friends. I enjoyed writing, and I enjoyed the ensuing camaraderie. I even wound up meeting some of these online friends, from night out in Hollywood in a limo to a 4th of July BBQ in Salem, OR to Chicago O'Hare Airport to cloudy and rainy Wales to visiting the Grab HQ in Washington.
Before that, even, we all got together one New Year's Eve, plugged in our computer mics, and had some raucous fun with a Yahoo voice chat NYE party! Now THAT took some planning, considering everyone was in different timezones-- from Eastern Time in Michigan to early morning in the UK to... well, already well into the next DAY in Australia.
So yes, my social life was improving, even if it was in front of a computer. I met people I would never have otherwise met, and enjoyed learning new things about them.
In fact, I've never been a big fan of the terms "IRL" or "real life friends". Makes it sound like my online friends aren't my "real" friends. Nothing could be further from the truth. These folks aren't any less real than the people I can physically hear and see. That's why I prefer the term "offline" friends, to distinguish the medium through which we interact, rather than assign any labels to the supposed level of reality this friendships are. You could say blogging changed my life in that respect.
But probably my most amazing life-changing story comes not directly from blogging itself, but from one of the friendships forged through the social networking/blog site I started on.
Chapter 2 -- One such friend becomes a lifesaver
A while back, my marriage fell on rocky times. My husband and I seemed to be at an impasse, and then the turning point came unexpectedly: one of my online friends, “Callie”, suddenly wrote to me out of the blue describing her own marriage problems. Suddenly I found myself “counseling” her, writing words of comfort and advice that I know could not have come from my own head. I had no idea where these words and ideas were coming from-- I have absolutely no background in this sort of thing! And throughout the course of this “counseling”, I realized I was being a hypocrite, and that I should be applying the things I was telling her to my own marriage. Once I did, things began to improve. Our marriage is better than it ever was.
Another effect of my conversations with Callie is of a more spiritual nature. I was born and raised agnostic, and when it came to matters of God, I was still on the fence. My interaction with Callie (among other things that I'll save for some other post) left no doubt in my mind that God exists and that his hand was at work with us. First there was the matter of being able to give her advice. Where was it coming from? I am convinced it was inspired by God and I feel as if I caught a brief glimpse into what it must've been like for the divinely-guided Bible writers in their day. I just put my fingers to the keyboard and they practically went on autopilot. Second, there was Callie's point of view-- she later told me she had no idea why she picked me, a distant friend, to confide in-- she just felt guided to write to me. Apparently God had things to tell her AND me simultaneously. Since then, not only have our marriages greatly improved, but our spiritual lives have been recharged, as well.
If it weren't for Grab/blogging, I would never have met Callie (even though I have not, to this day, met her face to face). I am glad I did, for, as they say, the rest is history!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Writer's Block
The "add new post" screen on Wordpress has been up for several hours. I have this burning desire to write something, but my mind is blank. I cannot think of a thing to write about. I consult my usual sources of aid for writer's block-- sources that usually provide a spark that gets me going: Plinky, LiveJournal, even Grab. Not tonight. Tonight I'm simply left feeling restless and frustrated. You know when you are trying to think of a word or a name, and it's right there in the periphery of your memory, right there on the tip of your tongue, and yet you just can't quite grasp it? That's how I'm feeling right now. Like I know there's stuff I want to write-- more importantly, stuff I *feel* like writing, and yet I can't seem to quite put my finger on the exact topic.
And so here I am. My fingers poised over the keyboard. Ready to type. Itching to type. Restless leg syndrome? How about restless finger syndrome?
There was a time when I challenged my readers to a "truth or dare" game, which elicited some interesting responses, leading to even more interesting antics/blog entries. Nowadays I fear my readership is too few and far between to successfully attempt such a thing. But for those few who are still around, I throw it out there: what should I write about? Or... what should I do, what should I undertake, and then report back on? What are you interested in seeing/hearing about?
Oh, and just for posterity, since I doubt this will ever happen again:
Woo-hoo! Finally beat some of the hardcore champs in my friends list! Considering the insane scores many of them repeatedly get, considering the same names always dominate the top of the scoreboard, and considering that I have a hard enough time placing in the top 5 of my friends as is, this was an exciting sight to see. And such a rarity!
And so here I am. My fingers poised over the keyboard. Ready to type. Itching to type. Restless leg syndrome? How about restless finger syndrome?
There was a time when I challenged my readers to a "truth or dare" game, which elicited some interesting responses, leading to even more interesting antics/blog entries. Nowadays I fear my readership is too few and far between to successfully attempt such a thing. But for those few who are still around, I throw it out there: what should I write about? Or... what should I do, what should I undertake, and then report back on? What are you interested in seeing/hearing about?
Oh, and just for posterity, since I doubt this will ever happen again:
Woo-hoo! Finally beat some of the hardcore champs in my friends list! Considering the insane scores many of them repeatedly get, considering the same names always dominate the top of the scoreboard, and considering that I have a hard enough time placing in the top 5 of my friends as is, this was an exciting sight to see. And such a rarity!
Friday, January 15, 2010
How's Your Hearing?
You are about 20 years old |
The teen repellent will no longer foil you, but you can still hear some pretty high tones. The highest pitched ultrasonic mosquito ringtone that I can hear is 16.7kHz |
| Find out which ultrasonic ringtones you can hear! |
A couple weeks ago, as was told secondhand, our pastor played a series of different ringtones over the speakers to illustrate how hearing declines with age-- only the younger folks were able to hear the higher-pitched tones. I wasn't at the service that day, but heard all about it at lunch afterward. I was curious to know how much I would've been able to hear, considering I have pretty sharp hearing. Would my hearing fall into the normal range of other thirty-somethings? Would I have been able to join the ranks of the teenagers hearing the highest frequency tones?
As it turns out, these tones are available at this website: http://www.ultrasonic-ringtones.com/
I tried playing the tones in order, and stopped at 16.7 kHz. Apparently, according to the "quiz" result, that puts my hearing on par with that of an average 20-year-old. Not bad, considering I'm a dozen years older than that ;-) And despite his poor hearing and despite the fact that he's pushing 40, Allan could still hear tones "reserved" for thirty-somethings ;-) That ought to make him feel young.
What's interesting to note is that although I couldn't actually hear any tones beyond 16.7 kHz, at the higher frequencies (except for the very last one) I could still detect a change in the air indicating that something was vibrating, I just couldn't hear the actual sound itself. That was fascinating to me.
I've always maintained that I have extra-sensitive hearing to make up for my very poor eyesight. I don't know what my eyesight is in terms of the 20/20 scale (those numbers have always been meaningless to me) but I can tell you my eyeglass prescription: exactly -5 in one eye, and -4.75 in the other, plus a touch of astigmatism. Allan is the opposite-- I can discern almost no difference in blurriness when I try on his near-paper-thin glasses. By the time farsightedness hits him sometime this decade, he probably won't even NEED glasses anymore.
So, my hope is that Todd will get a good mix-- hearing like his Mommy, and eyesight like his Daddy. Or at the very least-- an even mix of both, yielding average nearsightedness and average hearing. I'd be happy with that :-)
How about you? How's your hearing?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Wonderful World of Learning
(gee, my title sounds like one of those PBS specials, doesn't it? Or a kid's program)
I got a copy of the Winter quarter schedule of classes for the SBCC Adult Ed division this week, and started thumbing through it tonight. All sorts of interesting things jumped out at me. That, coupled with Tabitha's recent post, still fresh on my mind, got me thinking about all the things I'd love to do if I had more free time. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits (despite my constant ragging on Allan-- hey, it's a survival mechanism!) but having such responsibilities make it kind of hard to freely pursue all sorts of personal interests.
So I thought I'd jot down a few of the things I'd like to pursue (mostly classes) sometime in the not-too-distant future. But hey, even if I have to wait until Todd's in college, I'll only be in my mid-40s, that's still young enough! So here's my list, in no particular order:
1. Take an art class. I took them when I was younger-- too young to appreciate the nuances of drawing and painting techniques, I suppose. Would love to try my hand at it again.
2. Take singing lessons. I can carry a tune, but I've never had any sort of formal lessons, and I'd like to learn proper technique. I took the bilingual singing class through Adult Ed with my friend Leah this past summer, but it wasn't so much a class to teach you anything as it was preparation for our Fiesta performance.
3. Brush up on my French. All I know of it is what I learned throughout 3 years of high school, so it isn't much. But I love the language and love the sound of it, and would love to be able to understand more.
4. Learn the basics of some sort of ballroom dancing.
5. Take a writing course. Two kinds: creative writing for fun, and business/technical writing-- also for fun, I suppose-- for career purposes.
6. Take a "how to study the Bible" course. I had a brief taste of this at the beginning of last year (yeesh, seems strange to call 2009 "last" year!), during one of my small group studies. Our leader shared a few techniques (culled from her own Bible education and experience) for how to read/study the Bible and they were pretty useful! I'd love to delve into it more than I currently am.
7a. Do a summer internship at a turtle rehab center/research university. Today I donated $100 to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, to help their efforts in saving cold-stunned sea turtles. Basically, a sudden cold snap recently caused thousands of sea turtles along the south/eastern coasts of the US to basically go into a coma and float to the surface, endangering their lives. If you know me, you know that I have a soft spot for all kinds of animals-- but especially sea turtles. I can't wait to get the receipt so I can submit a company match that will essentially double my donation. Anyway... I've always wanted to work in close proximity with and learn more about these beautiful, majestic creatures.
(okay, okay, I qualified that with a subgrouping because that's not very realistic, since I can't well take 3 months off for something like this, those organizations would prefer giving internships to people pursuing a career in this area, and the locations would be places where you'd find turtles-- Florida, South Carolina, Costa Rica, Indonesia... so let's float down from the clouds a bit and pick something a little closer to home...)
7b. Volunteer at a local animal shelter or other organization dedicated to animals. This is actually something I could see trying to pursue in a few years, when Todd's a little older and can tag along and help. What a wonderful way to introduce him to volunteering and instill a love of animals in him.
8. Get back into playing the piano. Much like my art lessons, I think my piano lessons (which I took from age 8-16) were largely wasted, aesthetically speaking, on an unappreciative student. Oh, I practiced and I played but I never really got into it, and did so wholly out of obligation, because my parents were paying for a piano teacher to come every week. I know that if I'd actually put my heart into my piano lessons, I could've done so much better and learned so much more-- not to mention outright enjoyed myself rather than feeling like it was a burdensome chore.
9. Related to #2: Sing as part of a choir. In 8th grade I took choir, but I was the piano accompaniment. I didn't sing. I remember being dazzled by way all those voices combined harmoniously together, especially when we performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah". I tried joining this informal a cappella singing group at UCSB, but found it a little too advanced for me, since I can hardly sight read. Besides, my class projects quickly encroached upon my time. Then I joined the Hope Community Church choir, and even though it was really small and most of us were amateurs, I had a great time! For the first time in my life I started to understand the application of all that music theory I learned during piano lessons. I started developing an ear for harmony. My sight reading began to improve. And I was really enjoying myself! I'd love to get back into that sort of thing.
Hmm... as I read back on this list, I can't help but think that this sounds like a bucket list. Maybe it is, in a way. But if so, it only encompasses a subset of what my true bucket list would be (not that I've given any thought to said list :-P) I prefer to think of this as "Helly's List of Personal Interest Pursuits". Or better yet, "Helly's Highlights from the SBCC Adult Ed Catalog".... hey-- perhaps that should've been the title of my post ;-)
I got a copy of the Winter quarter schedule of classes for the SBCC Adult Ed division this week, and started thumbing through it tonight. All sorts of interesting things jumped out at me. That, coupled with Tabitha's recent post, still fresh on my mind, got me thinking about all the things I'd love to do if I had more free time. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits (despite my constant ragging on Allan-- hey, it's a survival mechanism!) but having such responsibilities make it kind of hard to freely pursue all sorts of personal interests.
So I thought I'd jot down a few of the things I'd like to pursue (mostly classes) sometime in the not-too-distant future. But hey, even if I have to wait until Todd's in college, I'll only be in my mid-40s, that's still young enough! So here's my list, in no particular order:
1. Take an art class. I took them when I was younger-- too young to appreciate the nuances of drawing and painting techniques, I suppose. Would love to try my hand at it again.
2. Take singing lessons. I can carry a tune, but I've never had any sort of formal lessons, and I'd like to learn proper technique. I took the bilingual singing class through Adult Ed with my friend Leah this past summer, but it wasn't so much a class to teach you anything as it was preparation for our Fiesta performance.
3. Brush up on my French. All I know of it is what I learned throughout 3 years of high school, so it isn't much. But I love the language and love the sound of it, and would love to be able to understand more.
4. Learn the basics of some sort of ballroom dancing.
5. Take a writing course. Two kinds: creative writing for fun, and business/technical writing-- also for fun, I suppose-- for career purposes.
6. Take a "how to study the Bible" course. I had a brief taste of this at the beginning of last year (yeesh, seems strange to call 2009 "last" year!), during one of my small group studies. Our leader shared a few techniques (culled from her own Bible education and experience) for how to read/study the Bible and they were pretty useful! I'd love to delve into it more than I currently am.
7a. Do a summer internship at a turtle rehab center/research university. Today I donated $100 to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, to help their efforts in saving cold-stunned sea turtles. Basically, a sudden cold snap recently caused thousands of sea turtles along the south/eastern coasts of the US to basically go into a coma and float to the surface, endangering their lives. If you know me, you know that I have a soft spot for all kinds of animals-- but especially sea turtles. I can't wait to get the receipt so I can submit a company match that will essentially double my donation. Anyway... I've always wanted to work in close proximity with and learn more about these beautiful, majestic creatures.
(okay, okay, I qualified that with a subgrouping because that's not very realistic, since I can't well take 3 months off for something like this, those organizations would prefer giving internships to people pursuing a career in this area, and the locations would be places where you'd find turtles-- Florida, South Carolina, Costa Rica, Indonesia... so let's float down from the clouds a bit and pick something a little closer to home...)
7b. Volunteer at a local animal shelter or other organization dedicated to animals. This is actually something I could see trying to pursue in a few years, when Todd's a little older and can tag along and help. What a wonderful way to introduce him to volunteering and instill a love of animals in him.
8. Get back into playing the piano. Much like my art lessons, I think my piano lessons (which I took from age 8-16) were largely wasted, aesthetically speaking, on an unappreciative student. Oh, I practiced and I played but I never really got into it, and did so wholly out of obligation, because my parents were paying for a piano teacher to come every week. I know that if I'd actually put my heart into my piano lessons, I could've done so much better and learned so much more-- not to mention outright enjoyed myself rather than feeling like it was a burdensome chore.
9. Related to #2: Sing as part of a choir. In 8th grade I took choir, but I was the piano accompaniment. I didn't sing. I remember being dazzled by way all those voices combined harmoniously together, especially when we performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah". I tried joining this informal a cappella singing group at UCSB, but found it a little too advanced for me, since I can hardly sight read. Besides, my class projects quickly encroached upon my time. Then I joined the Hope Community Church choir, and even though it was really small and most of us were amateurs, I had a great time! For the first time in my life I started to understand the application of all that music theory I learned during piano lessons. I started developing an ear for harmony. My sight reading began to improve. And I was really enjoying myself! I'd love to get back into that sort of thing.
Hmm... as I read back on this list, I can't help but think that this sounds like a bucket list. Maybe it is, in a way. But if so, it only encompasses a subset of what my true bucket list would be (not that I've given any thought to said list :-P) I prefer to think of this as "Helly's List of Personal Interest Pursuits". Or better yet, "Helly's Highlights from the SBCC Adult Ed Catalog".... hey-- perhaps that should've been the title of my post ;-)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Hump Day Hodgepodge
Ah, Hump Day. That middle of the week we've all got to get through. Allan always looks forward to Wednesdays because that's when we get bagels at work. I quickly got tired of them, though, and stopped eating them a few months ago.
These days, I look forward to Wednesdays not only because its end signals the arrival of the weekend, but because now it's the one day in the middle of the week that we get a break from after-school activities. It's only one kid, and it's only two things-- swimming and karate-- but when you get home with just enough time to shower, eat dinner, and get ready for bed, it gets tiring after a while. Last quarter was especially tiring, with swimming MW, small group Tuesday, and karate Thursday. Never has the term TGIF been so appropriate... and so welcomed! So this quarter we decided, for the first time, to forego small group, especially since Todd's schedule has shifted so that he now has karate twice a week instead of just once.
So... no posts for a while, as you can see. But I didn't want to let *too* many days go by without trying to post. But what to write about? These days my head is filled with work and Todd. Not the most exciting of writing material, and Todd has his own separate blog anyway. So here's a hodgepodge instead:
Came back with the little man on Saturday night. Went to church as a whole family on Sunday, for the first time in... I don't know how long! Between Todd's absence, lack of car, and Allan's commitment to help with sound/equipment, I honestly cannot remember the last time the 3 of us all went to and left church together... in ONE car!
Speaking of cars... we got Allan's car back yesterday, yay! Nice new bumper and trunk, and shiny coat of paint on the back. They cleaned and vacuumed the interior as well! What service :-) I also spoke with the officer who took my report on the hit-and-run, who gave me an update on what they'd found. Although they found the guy, who had injuries consistent with the crash, and on whom the cops have had their eye on for a while, they couldn't outright arrest him for the hit-and-run, since there were no eyewitnesses to confirm that he was the one behind the wheel when it happened. Still, they at least have the car and its insurance information, which means that our insurance will have someone concrete to pursue for reimbursement. As for the guy, well, there's the civil suit option available to us... although I have no idea what we could actually sue FOR.
Ever partake of the phenomenon that is Craigslist? We found our living/dining room furniture there, as well as our current rental deal. Well, our company has its own internal Craigslist, the Bulletin. It's typically used to sell all sorts of things, or get recommendations for services such as doctors, hairstylists and auto mechanics, or request things. I've used the Bulletin for recommendations. I've used it to sell stuff. I've used it to buy our current VCR/DVD player when our VCR conked out. And yesterday, it came to the rescue once more. I realized too late that I'd left Todd's swim trunks at my parents' house. His first swim lesson of the season was that evening, and they wouldn't allow him in the pool without appropriate swim wear. So I scoured the various stores in the area-- K-Mart, Sears, sporting good stores both big and small. None had any in stock, as it was off-season. So I decided to try the Bulletin, figuring that there HAD to be some parents out there with boys older than Todd, who would be willing to sell the now-outgrown trunks! Sure enough, I got several responses and came away with a nice pair that Todd really liked! :-) All hail the mighty Bulletin! :-D
Time for more meetings and then, I hope, an uninterrupted afternoon of working... without having to worry about rushing off by 4:30 to pick up Todd for something. And nothing to rush about doing tonight... just laundry. Ahhhh.... Hump Day isn't so bad after all!
These days, I look forward to Wednesdays not only because its end signals the arrival of the weekend, but because now it's the one day in the middle of the week that we get a break from after-school activities. It's only one kid, and it's only two things-- swimming and karate-- but when you get home with just enough time to shower, eat dinner, and get ready for bed, it gets tiring after a while. Last quarter was especially tiring, with swimming MW, small group Tuesday, and karate Thursday. Never has the term TGIF been so appropriate... and so welcomed! So this quarter we decided, for the first time, to forego small group, especially since Todd's schedule has shifted so that he now has karate twice a week instead of just once.
So... no posts for a while, as you can see. But I didn't want to let *too* many days go by without trying to post. But what to write about? These days my head is filled with work and Todd. Not the most exciting of writing material, and Todd has his own separate blog anyway. So here's a hodgepodge instead:
Came back with the little man on Saturday night. Went to church as a whole family on Sunday, for the first time in... I don't know how long! Between Todd's absence, lack of car, and Allan's commitment to help with sound/equipment, I honestly cannot remember the last time the 3 of us all went to and left church together... in ONE car!
Speaking of cars... we got Allan's car back yesterday, yay! Nice new bumper and trunk, and shiny coat of paint on the back. They cleaned and vacuumed the interior as well! What service :-) I also spoke with the officer who took my report on the hit-and-run, who gave me an update on what they'd found. Although they found the guy, who had injuries consistent with the crash, and on whom the cops have had their eye on for a while, they couldn't outright arrest him for the hit-and-run, since there were no eyewitnesses to confirm that he was the one behind the wheel when it happened. Still, they at least have the car and its insurance information, which means that our insurance will have someone concrete to pursue for reimbursement. As for the guy, well, there's the civil suit option available to us... although I have no idea what we could actually sue FOR.
Ever partake of the phenomenon that is Craigslist? We found our living/dining room furniture there, as well as our current rental deal. Well, our company has its own internal Craigslist, the Bulletin. It's typically used to sell all sorts of things, or get recommendations for services such as doctors, hairstylists and auto mechanics, or request things. I've used the Bulletin for recommendations. I've used it to sell stuff. I've used it to buy our current VCR/DVD player when our VCR conked out. And yesterday, it came to the rescue once more. I realized too late that I'd left Todd's swim trunks at my parents' house. His first swim lesson of the season was that evening, and they wouldn't allow him in the pool without appropriate swim wear. So I scoured the various stores in the area-- K-Mart, Sears, sporting good stores both big and small. None had any in stock, as it was off-season. So I decided to try the Bulletin, figuring that there HAD to be some parents out there with boys older than Todd, who would be willing to sell the now-outgrown trunks! Sure enough, I got several responses and came away with a nice pair that Todd really liked! :-) All hail the mighty Bulletin! :-D
Time for more meetings and then, I hope, an uninterrupted afternoon of working... without having to worry about rushing off by 4:30 to pick up Todd for something. And nothing to rush about doing tonight... just laundry. Ahhhh.... Hump Day isn't so bad after all!
Friday, January 8, 2010
Friday Five: Dreams
Haven't done a Friday Five in a long time, and thought this one was rather interesting.
1. What did you dream about last night?
2. Do you record your dreams in your blog or a journal?
3. Do you think dreams are messages our bodies are trying to tell us? If so, are you real big on trying to interpret all the details?
4. Do you remember your first nightmare?
5. Have you ever had a recurring dream? If you did, what was it and what do you think it meant?
1. Not last night, but the night before: This dream was so vivid that I thought it was really taking place. I dreamt that Joe and Tabitha were still at our place, and we were talking (just as we had actually been doing a few hours earlier) and next thing I know, we're having an animated conversation about... code reviews. (Don't say a word, Joe :-P) Ever had one of those days where your mind was so absorbed with work that it carried on into dreams later? *shudder*
2. I used to. I thought maybe I could find a pattern or some meaning or something. And most of the time, I really only jotted them down because they made for some "interesting" memories. But it turns out that it's really only interesting for the first few hours after waking up (especially those dreams that evoke emotional reactions), maybe a few days if you write it down. After that, when I went back and re-read them, I found them little more than a hodgepodge of weird scenes. So I stopped doing that.
3. I think sometimes they are. Sometimes they're obviously side effects of having your mind concentrate on something in particular for a long stretch of time (like the code review dream :-P). Sometimes they just embody wishful thinking. And yeah, once in a while maybe you might uncover hidden meaning in your dreams, but I don't think that happens often enough to warrant spending much time trying to interpret them.
4. I don't really have nightmares. I've had dreams where I felt very sad or very angry or very happy, but never ones where I was anything beyond mildly frightened. The worst have been dreams where I'm being chased or attacked, and I turn around to attack the attacker back with something powerful, like a big knife or gun or baseball bat, but fail: either I miss, or can't stab/hit hard enough. Or else the attacker is just super-resilient and still crawls along the floor despite my having pumped a dozen bullets into him ;-P Still, those are probably the "worst" dreams I've ever had, and even they seemed so surreal they evoked more frustration ("How come I can't beat him down!?") than fear.
5. Quite a few, in fact: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=28049135&blogID=419651721
How about you?
1. What did you dream about last night?
2. Do you record your dreams in your blog or a journal?
3. Do you think dreams are messages our bodies are trying to tell us? If so, are you real big on trying to interpret all the details?
4. Do you remember your first nightmare?
5. Have you ever had a recurring dream? If you did, what was it and what do you think it meant?
1. Not last night, but the night before: This dream was so vivid that I thought it was really taking place. I dreamt that Joe and Tabitha were still at our place, and we were talking (just as we had actually been doing a few hours earlier) and next thing I know, we're having an animated conversation about... code reviews. (Don't say a word, Joe :-P) Ever had one of those days where your mind was so absorbed with work that it carried on into dreams later? *shudder*
2. I used to. I thought maybe I could find a pattern or some meaning or something. And most of the time, I really only jotted them down because they made for some "interesting" memories. But it turns out that it's really only interesting for the first few hours after waking up (especially those dreams that evoke emotional reactions), maybe a few days if you write it down. After that, when I went back and re-read them, I found them little more than a hodgepodge of weird scenes. So I stopped doing that.
3. I think sometimes they are. Sometimes they're obviously side effects of having your mind concentrate on something in particular for a long stretch of time (like the code review dream :-P). Sometimes they just embody wishful thinking. And yeah, once in a while maybe you might uncover hidden meaning in your dreams, but I don't think that happens often enough to warrant spending much time trying to interpret them.
4. I don't really have nightmares. I've had dreams where I felt very sad or very angry or very happy, but never ones where I was anything beyond mildly frightened. The worst have been dreams where I'm being chased or attacked, and I turn around to attack the attacker back with something powerful, like a big knife or gun or baseball bat, but fail: either I miss, or can't stab/hit hard enough. Or else the attacker is just super-resilient and still crawls along the floor despite my having pumped a dozen bullets into him ;-P Still, those are probably the "worst" dreams I've ever had, and even they seemed so surreal they evoked more frustration ("How come I can't beat him down!?") than fear.
5. Quite a few, in fact: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=28049135&blogID=419651721
How about you?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Word Leprosy
I suffer from a bad case of it. And the condition only seems to worsen with time. AND it's apparently contagious! I don't know what causes it-- maybe when I speak my mouth goes just a hair faster than my mind, and trips over the words.
Last night I was reminded of the term "Spoonerism", in which the first letters/parts of a couple words in your sentence are inverted. Happens to the best of us. I had noticed that it was starting to happen to me more frequently. Such gems as "tark shank" (shark tank) and "cue toot turtles" (two cute turtles) and "turgers and bacos" (burgers and tacos) are among my favorite Spoonerisms that have slipped from my lips.
Oh, but Helly takes it a step further. How about switching whole WORDS around?
"Your son made a book out of houses"
"The stuffed turtles have leads of paw"
"Our cash got checked"
"Rub a tummy's alligator"
"Your head's son is hard"
My absolute favorite? Is also one of my favorite TV shows: "Animal's Funniest Planet". You know what's especially sad about that one? The fact that I've termed it that so often, the real title (Planet's Funniest Animals) no longer sounds correct to me. It sounds strange and mixed up.
Still not funny enough for you? How about something akin to mixing metaphors: mixing words to create new meanings.
Classic example is one I presented to my brother-in-law a year ago: "I have a beef to pick with you!" (combination of "bone to pick with you" and "beef with you")
Another time, I accused Allan of being the "sauce" of my frustration (combo of "source" and "cause")
And when I made an age dig at Allan, it didn't quite come out right: "You have to forget, I'm not that old!" (combo of "you have to remember" and "you can't forget")
I have to say, that the most amusing of all my word mixups is the title of the post itself. For a long time, we joked about my having "word dyslexia", which is a rather appropriate description of all of the above word mishaps. Then one day my mouth was *really* getting ahead of my mind, and I totally blanked on the word "dyslexia". Next thing I knew, my mouth blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and from that day forward, we laughed about my "word leprosy" instead.
Funnier still? (or sadder, depending on how you look at it) This stuff is contagious! Allan never had trouble mixing up words before he met me. Now he commits word leprosy almost as often as I do. Even young Todd is starting to show signs of it. Fortunately he's able to laugh just as hard about it as his parents laugh at their own foibles with the English language.
Ah, word leprosy. One might be persuaded to seek a cure, but then where would all these ridiculous gems come from? Nah, I think I'll keep it.
How about you? Care to share any memorable doozies that came flying out of your mouth? :-)
Last night I was reminded of the term "Spoonerism", in which the first letters/parts of a couple words in your sentence are inverted. Happens to the best of us. I had noticed that it was starting to happen to me more frequently. Such gems as "tark shank" (shark tank) and "cue toot turtles" (two cute turtles) and "turgers and bacos" (burgers and tacos) are among my favorite Spoonerisms that have slipped from my lips.
Oh, but Helly takes it a step further. How about switching whole WORDS around?
"Your son made a book out of houses"
"The stuffed turtles have leads of paw"
"Our cash got checked"
"Rub a tummy's alligator"
"Your head's son is hard"
My absolute favorite? Is also one of my favorite TV shows: "Animal's Funniest Planet". You know what's especially sad about that one? The fact that I've termed it that so often, the real title (Planet's Funniest Animals) no longer sounds correct to me. It sounds strange and mixed up.
Still not funny enough for you? How about something akin to mixing metaphors: mixing words to create new meanings.
Classic example is one I presented to my brother-in-law a year ago: "I have a beef to pick with you!" (combination of "bone to pick with you" and "beef with you")
Another time, I accused Allan of being the "sauce" of my frustration (combo of "source" and "cause")
And when I made an age dig at Allan, it didn't quite come out right: "You have to forget, I'm not that old!" (combo of "you have to remember" and "you can't forget")
I have to say, that the most amusing of all my word mixups is the title of the post itself. For a long time, we joked about my having "word dyslexia", which is a rather appropriate description of all of the above word mishaps. Then one day my mouth was *really* getting ahead of my mind, and I totally blanked on the word "dyslexia". Next thing I knew, my mouth blurted out the first thing that came to mind, and from that day forward, we laughed about my "word leprosy" instead.
Funnier still? (or sadder, depending on how you look at it) This stuff is contagious! Allan never had trouble mixing up words before he met me. Now he commits word leprosy almost as often as I do. Even young Todd is starting to show signs of it. Fortunately he's able to laugh just as hard about it as his parents laugh at their own foibles with the English language.
Ah, word leprosy. One might be persuaded to seek a cure, but then where would all these ridiculous gems come from? Nah, I think I'll keep it.
How about you? Care to share any memorable doozies that came flying out of your mouth? :-)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Little Slice of Germany
Having spent a quarter of my life (wow, how time flies-- I remember when I used to refer to it as "a third" of my life!) in Germany, it comes as no surprise that I have a certain fondness for the country, the language, the culture, the people, and the food. If I had to pick another place to live besides where I currently am, it'd be Germany: http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/405964
And oh, the food. Having grown up as a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl, nothing suits my palate as well as German food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, it is without a doubt my favorite cuisine: http://heckledtrio.tumblr.com/post/92325897/guten-appetit
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover a wonderful, homey little slice of Germany right here in Santa Barbara-- in the form of Brummi's restaurant on upper State Street. Brummi's offered typical German fare: various kinds of schnitzel and wursts, rouladen and goulasch, with sides of spaetzle, sauerkraut and potato pancakes. Allan and I finally gave it a try last week, for lunch on New Year's Eve. He had the Bockwurst with sauerkraut and potato salad, while I had the Jaegerschnitzel with its familiar mushroom sauce. The dessert? Apfelkuechlein, a delightful concoction of sliced apples dipped in batter, deep-fried, and served in warm, creamy vanilla sauce. Whatever that batter was made of, it was to die for. Multiple mouth orgasms ensued.
We learned that during the holidays, the restaurant serves special dinners of fried duck, potatoes and red cabbage, with Stollen (and vanilla sauce) for dessert. We made reservations for dinner that following Saturday and invited a friend from work, who brought his girlfriend. Dinner was fantastic! I got to enjoy my much-loved spaetzle (homemade egg noodles), the duck was so tender it kept slipping off my fork as I tried to pull pieces off, and the potatoes were the most creamy, moist things I'd ever tasted! Normally I have to lather boiled potatoes with plenty of gravy, but these? These I could eat without any gravy whatsoever, and they still melted in my mouth and filled it with the most delicious flavors. Everything was clearly homemade and made with lots of love.
The food was fantastic, but the service was the icing on the cake :-) We were greeted, seated and served by the owner of the restaurant, whom many of the regulars dubbed "Mom". She was funny and spunky, and doted on us much like mom would. That really enhanced the homey feel of the place!
We managed to take some pictures of our food (alas, we neglected to take pictures of the duck!) and photos just don't do justice to the aroma and flavor concentrated on one plate:
Here is Allan's Bockwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad:
Here is Helly's Jaegerschnitzel with fries:
And here is that SINFULLY delicious Apfelkuechlein dessert, the most delicious things my mouth has ever had the pleasure of feasting on!
If you live in Santa Barbara, you must try Brummi's. If you're ever up this way for a visit, you must stop by Brummi's. It is hands-down my new favorite restaurant, and I look forward to more belly-pleasing, belly-filling visits there :-)
Guten Appetit!
And oh, the food. Having grown up as a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl, nothing suits my palate as well as German food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, it is without a doubt my favorite cuisine: http://heckledtrio.tumblr.com/post/92325897/guten-appetit
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover a wonderful, homey little slice of Germany right here in Santa Barbara-- in the form of Brummi's restaurant on upper State Street. Brummi's offered typical German fare: various kinds of schnitzel and wursts, rouladen and goulasch, with sides of spaetzle, sauerkraut and potato pancakes. Allan and I finally gave it a try last week, for lunch on New Year's Eve. He had the Bockwurst with sauerkraut and potato salad, while I had the Jaegerschnitzel with its familiar mushroom sauce. The dessert? Apfelkuechlein, a delightful concoction of sliced apples dipped in batter, deep-fried, and served in warm, creamy vanilla sauce. Whatever that batter was made of, it was to die for. Multiple mouth orgasms ensued.
We learned that during the holidays, the restaurant serves special dinners of fried duck, potatoes and red cabbage, with Stollen (and vanilla sauce) for dessert. We made reservations for dinner that following Saturday and invited a friend from work, who brought his girlfriend. Dinner was fantastic! I got to enjoy my much-loved spaetzle (homemade egg noodles), the duck was so tender it kept slipping off my fork as I tried to pull pieces off, and the potatoes were the most creamy, moist things I'd ever tasted! Normally I have to lather boiled potatoes with plenty of gravy, but these? These I could eat without any gravy whatsoever, and they still melted in my mouth and filled it with the most delicious flavors. Everything was clearly homemade and made with lots of love.
The food was fantastic, but the service was the icing on the cake :-) We were greeted, seated and served by the owner of the restaurant, whom many of the regulars dubbed "Mom". She was funny and spunky, and doted on us much like mom would. That really enhanced the homey feel of the place!
We managed to take some pictures of our food (alas, we neglected to take pictures of the duck!) and photos just don't do justice to the aroma and flavor concentrated on one plate:
Here is Allan's Bockwurst, sauerkraut and potato salad:
Here is Helly's Jaegerschnitzel with fries:
And here is that SINFULLY delicious Apfelkuechlein dessert, the most delicious things my mouth has ever had the pleasure of feasting on!
If you live in Santa Barbara, you must try Brummi's. If you're ever up this way for a visit, you must stop by Brummi's. It is hands-down my new favorite restaurant, and I look forward to more belly-pleasing, belly-filling visits there :-)
Guten Appetit!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Service with a Smile
A few things this past week have got me thinking about the thankless task of being in a job whereby you do things for others, whether you're a dealer in a Vegas casino, an insurance claims rep, or a cleaning lady.
Because of my military service, I'm eligible to use USAA for my auto insurance needs. I eventually started using them for financial needs, as well: banking, investments, credit... because of their stellar records for service. All my experiences with them have always been very positive. After Allan's car was hit, we began the process of filing the claim so we could get the car repaired. I hadn't anticipated any problems, but I didn't expect things to go as smoothly as they did. They made the arrangements for towing and for the adjuster to inspect the car at the repair shop. All we had to do was await a phone call to set up a time to meet with the appraiser. Of course, there's still work to do ahead of us, but so far USAA is certainly living up to its reputation, as I once made a point to blog about.
A conversation I had with a friend at work this week also made me think about experiences I'd had in a completely different setting: Las Vegas. The last time I've been there, before our most recent trip last week, was 5 years ago. Still on starving student budgets, Allan and I stayed at the Gold Spike, one of the more run-down and seedier hotels in downtown Las Vegas. Still, it was a decent hotel-- good water pressure and drainage (something you see a lot of complaints about), clean rooms, excellent food value for your money. All that paled, though, in comparison to the service! We didn't need anything out of the ordinary, but the staff we encountered everywhere in the hotel were exceptionally courteous and friendly, much more so than you would normally find elsewhere. My friend had a similar experience-- after having some trying luck with the casinos on the Strip, he tried one of the casinos downtown while his friends watched the Fremont show. And the dealer there took real good care of him, enabling him to turn his luck around a bit. It seems ironic that the run-down, shabby places, the ones most people would sniff their noses at, are the ones with the best service. Why is that, I wonder?
And finally, I noticed a little gem when I went to the restroom at work earlier this week. You know how, in upscale restaurants, your cloth napkin will be folded into neat shapes? Or in some of the nicer hotels, the cleaning crew will sometimes fold the towels into cute little shapes for you? Well, I came across this in one of the stalls. Not just a triangular fold job you see in most hotels, but an intricate little design. And not just on one toilet paper roll, but all the rolls in the stall! The person who did this was probably used to it and likely didn't take very long to do it, but I was particularly impressed just by this little gesture, especially given that it wasn't in some posh hotel, but at work. One little effort to spruce up the place, to give a little attention to detail, really showed how much the person cared about her work. It definitely made a lasting impression!
Because of my military service, I'm eligible to use USAA for my auto insurance needs. I eventually started using them for financial needs, as well: banking, investments, credit... because of their stellar records for service. All my experiences with them have always been very positive. After Allan's car was hit, we began the process of filing the claim so we could get the car repaired. I hadn't anticipated any problems, but I didn't expect things to go as smoothly as they did. They made the arrangements for towing and for the adjuster to inspect the car at the repair shop. All we had to do was await a phone call to set up a time to meet with the appraiser. Of course, there's still work to do ahead of us, but so far USAA is certainly living up to its reputation, as I once made a point to blog about.
A conversation I had with a friend at work this week also made me think about experiences I'd had in a completely different setting: Las Vegas. The last time I've been there, before our most recent trip last week, was 5 years ago. Still on starving student budgets, Allan and I stayed at the Gold Spike, one of the more run-down and seedier hotels in downtown Las Vegas. Still, it was a decent hotel-- good water pressure and drainage (something you see a lot of complaints about), clean rooms, excellent food value for your money. All that paled, though, in comparison to the service! We didn't need anything out of the ordinary, but the staff we encountered everywhere in the hotel were exceptionally courteous and friendly, much more so than you would normally find elsewhere. My friend had a similar experience-- after having some trying luck with the casinos on the Strip, he tried one of the casinos downtown while his friends watched the Fremont show. And the dealer there took real good care of him, enabling him to turn his luck around a bit. It seems ironic that the run-down, shabby places, the ones most people would sniff their noses at, are the ones with the best service. Why is that, I wonder?
And finally, I noticed a little gem when I went to the restroom at work earlier this week. You know how, in upscale restaurants, your cloth napkin will be folded into neat shapes? Or in some of the nicer hotels, the cleaning crew will sometimes fold the towels into cute little shapes for you? Well, I came across this in one of the stalls. Not just a triangular fold job you see in most hotels, but an intricate little design. And not just on one toilet paper roll, but all the rolls in the stall! The person who did this was probably used to it and likely didn't take very long to do it, but I was particularly impressed just by this little gesture, especially given that it wasn't in some posh hotel, but at work. One little effort to spruce up the place, to give a little attention to detail, really showed how much the person cared about her work. It definitely made a lasting impression!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Decade in Review
Last post of 2009 :-) Between Blogger, Wordpress and Tumblr, I totaled 168 posts for the year. All in all, not bad, considering my long slump in the middle of the year.
A couple weeks ago Steve posted a blog entry titled "Decade in Review", which briefly chronicled his (mis)adventures throughout the last 10 years. I thought it was neat, and a much broader spin on the typical "Year in Review", so I thought I'd give it a shot, too... well, assuming I can remember enough details from that far back.
2000: spent New Year's Eve... laying down carpet tiles in my apartment! Still living in Mannheim, Germany. Started serving my "dream job" in the Army, as the Battalion Adjutant (S-1), and loved it.
2001: got out of the Army, did an overseas separation and used up my accumulated leave time to tour Europe the last couple months there before returning stateside. I planned to pick up my car from the Los Angeles port... on 9/11. Had to reschedule. Moved into bedroom in Lien's house. Started first quarter at UCSB that Fall.
2002: Summer school classes at Cal State Long Beach, met most of the "Geeks" (including Allan) when they arrived at UCSB. Moved into bedroom in Margaret's house.
2003: Uncle passed away. So Cal Bioinformatics Summer Institute at Cal State LA followed by internship at USC. Started working as Lead TA at UCSB. Got married. Went to Minneapolis, MN in the dead of winter for our honeymoon, freezing our lungs out and visiting Mall of America. Picked up favorite stuffed Rottweiler, Rocky, there. Moved to brand new studio apartment above Mike and Corrie's house.
2004: Moved to 2-bedroom in Storke FSH. Todd born. Spent the summer working on research instead of doing an internship. Flew to Germany with my grad advisor (his home country), met with his German colleagues and collaborated on research project.
2005: Finally graduated from UCSB. Started working at Amgen. Moved back in with my parents and Todd, and visited Allan on weekends. Started blogging on Grab.com. Mom underwent surgery to remove colon cancer.
2006: Rang in the New Year with a Yahoo chat party involving online friends from ALL over the world-- US, Canada, UK, Australia! Geronimo, the first of the stuffed sea turtles, arrives from Hawaii. Moved to 1-bedroom in West Campus FSH. Todd started preschool and began socializing more.
2007: Lisa visited the US. I turned the big 3-0, and went to California Adventure with the boys to celebrate. Summer family road trip! Flew to Vancouver, stayed for a week, then drove down West Coast, visiting friends and sights along the way: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco. Grandma passed away. Beloved Neon conked out after all the heavy commutes to/from Thousand Oaks. Started blogging on Myspace. Laid off from Amgen. Mom underwent surgery to remove metastasized cancer in lung. Brought Todd to SB full-time. Pistachio, the next sea turtle, joins the family on Christmas.
2008: Started working at Citrix alongside Allan. Todd started preschool here, didn't like it. Moved to 1-bedroom in Willow Springs. Started blogging on Blogger. Todd began kindergarten. Traveled to Indonesia with my parents to visit huge extended family I'd never met before!
2009: Spent the summer singing karaoke online on Myspace. Moved to 2-bedroom in Willow Springs. Had a foray into the real estate world. Started blogging on Wordpress. Discovered how fun it is to travel to Vegas at Christmastime.
So that's the decade in review. I'm probably forgetting an important item here and there-- feel free to refresh my memory if I left something out, so I can edit!
Looks like 2007 was quite the busy year! I am amused that, as many times as I moved physically throughout the decade, I moved blogging services almost as many times ;-) I feel a bit like a flea-- always jumping around. One of these days we'll settle somewhere, for good, and actually stay longer than 2 years in one place ;-P (Funny-- 2 years is my record on one blogging service (Grab) and 2 years is our record for staying in any one place (the 1-bedroom West Campus apartment)). Let's see how 2010 and the next decade shape up!
And how was your decade?
A couple weeks ago Steve posted a blog entry titled "Decade in Review", which briefly chronicled his (mis)adventures throughout the last 10 years. I thought it was neat, and a much broader spin on the typical "Year in Review", so I thought I'd give it a shot, too... well, assuming I can remember enough details from that far back.
2000: spent New Year's Eve... laying down carpet tiles in my apartment! Still living in Mannheim, Germany. Started serving my "dream job" in the Army, as the Battalion Adjutant (S-1), and loved it.
2001: got out of the Army, did an overseas separation and used up my accumulated leave time to tour Europe the last couple months there before returning stateside. I planned to pick up my car from the Los Angeles port... on 9/11. Had to reschedule. Moved into bedroom in Lien's house. Started first quarter at UCSB that Fall.
2002: Summer school classes at Cal State Long Beach, met most of the "Geeks" (including Allan) when they arrived at UCSB. Moved into bedroom in Margaret's house.
2003: Uncle passed away. So Cal Bioinformatics Summer Institute at Cal State LA followed by internship at USC. Started working as Lead TA at UCSB. Got married. Went to Minneapolis, MN in the dead of winter for our honeymoon, freezing our lungs out and visiting Mall of America. Picked up favorite stuffed Rottweiler, Rocky, there. Moved to brand new studio apartment above Mike and Corrie's house.
2004: Moved to 2-bedroom in Storke FSH. Todd born. Spent the summer working on research instead of doing an internship. Flew to Germany with my grad advisor (his home country), met with his German colleagues and collaborated on research project.
2005: Finally graduated from UCSB. Started working at Amgen. Moved back in with my parents and Todd, and visited Allan on weekends. Started blogging on Grab.com. Mom underwent surgery to remove colon cancer.
2006: Rang in the New Year with a Yahoo chat party involving online friends from ALL over the world-- US, Canada, UK, Australia! Geronimo, the first of the stuffed sea turtles, arrives from Hawaii. Moved to 1-bedroom in West Campus FSH. Todd started preschool and began socializing more.
2007: Lisa visited the US. I turned the big 3-0, and went to California Adventure with the boys to celebrate. Summer family road trip! Flew to Vancouver, stayed for a week, then drove down West Coast, visiting friends and sights along the way: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco. Grandma passed away. Beloved Neon conked out after all the heavy commutes to/from Thousand Oaks. Started blogging on Myspace. Laid off from Amgen. Mom underwent surgery to remove metastasized cancer in lung. Brought Todd to SB full-time. Pistachio, the next sea turtle, joins the family on Christmas.
2008: Started working at Citrix alongside Allan. Todd started preschool here, didn't like it. Moved to 1-bedroom in Willow Springs. Started blogging on Blogger. Todd began kindergarten. Traveled to Indonesia with my parents to visit huge extended family I'd never met before!
2009: Spent the summer singing karaoke online on Myspace. Moved to 2-bedroom in Willow Springs. Had a foray into the real estate world. Started blogging on Wordpress. Discovered how fun it is to travel to Vegas at Christmastime.
So that's the decade in review. I'm probably forgetting an important item here and there-- feel free to refresh my memory if I left something out, so I can edit!
Looks like 2007 was quite the busy year! I am amused that, as many times as I moved physically throughout the decade, I moved blogging services almost as many times ;-) I feel a bit like a flea-- always jumping around. One of these days we'll settle somewhere, for good, and actually stay longer than 2 years in one place ;-P (Funny-- 2 years is my record on one blogging service (Grab) and 2 years is our record for staying in any one place (the 1-bedroom West Campus apartment)). Let's see how 2010 and the next decade shape up!
And how was your decade?
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
New haircut
It's been 6 months since my last haircut, and I was definitely due for another one. I had finally found a stylist that wasn't afraid to really thin out my hair, since she herself had thick hair. When I visited her at the beginning of summer (intent on losing the shag so I'd have an easier time washing my hair after swimming), she cautioned me against getting layers on top of the thinning. However, when she was done with the thinning, I wasn't wholly satisfied with how the hair looked, and asked for layers anyway, which she did, without complaint. It didn't take long for her prediction to come true-- as the thinned-out hair grew in, it pushed the layers outward (my hair also has a natural wave that causes shorter hair to flip outward) as the rest of the hair grew long and straight underneath it. I had a tough time taming it!
So I decided to go back to her, since she was obviously the type of stylist who would listen to her client, offer her opinion, but not insist on it if the client disagreed. It's been the most trying part of finding a good stylist-- many were too afraid of thinning my hair "too much", and some even insisted I shouldn't thin it and be glad I had such thick hair. But I ranted enough about that here: http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/105612
Anyway, last night she trimmed my hair and then explained what would happen if she thinned it more-- basically the same as what happened with the ill-fated layers. This time I decided to take her advice and stop right there. Even then, she gave me the option of returning within a month if I truly wanted to thin it more, and she'd do it at no charge-- basically completing this haircut. I think I'll be fine till my next salon visit :-)
Here's some shots of my hair today. First pic was taken by Allan on his phone this morning at the office, the hair showed up well but I didn't like the look on my face, I thought I looked too sleepy. Ah well, here it is anyway:
When I got home tonight I decided to give my own phone's camera a try, and here's the result:
And finally, I thought I'd try a side view. Kinda hard holding the phone at an awkward angle to the side, not knowing if you're even in the frame, but I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway:
All in all, I'm pleased with the haircut. Now that I've discovered a good conditioner for my hair (back to good ol' Pantene), it's a lot easier to tame even the thickest and unruliest of the tresses, so thinning isn't as important as it used to be. I can go a year between good thinnings just fine :-)
So I decided to go back to her, since she was obviously the type of stylist who would listen to her client, offer her opinion, but not insist on it if the client disagreed. It's been the most trying part of finding a good stylist-- many were too afraid of thinning my hair "too much", and some even insisted I shouldn't thin it and be glad I had such thick hair. But I ranted enough about that here: http://blogs.grab.com/hellykwee/105612
Anyway, last night she trimmed my hair and then explained what would happen if she thinned it more-- basically the same as what happened with the ill-fated layers. This time I decided to take her advice and stop right there. Even then, she gave me the option of returning within a month if I truly wanted to thin it more, and she'd do it at no charge-- basically completing this haircut. I think I'll be fine till my next salon visit :-)
Here's some shots of my hair today. First pic was taken by Allan on his phone this morning at the office, the hair showed up well but I didn't like the look on my face, I thought I looked too sleepy. Ah well, here it is anyway:
When I got home tonight I decided to give my own phone's camera a try, and here's the result:
And finally, I thought I'd try a side view. Kinda hard holding the phone at an awkward angle to the side, not knowing if you're even in the frame, but I thought I'd give it a whirl anyway:
All in all, I'm pleased with the haircut. Now that I've discovered a good conditioner for my hair (back to good ol' Pantene), it's a lot easier to tame even the thickest and unruliest of the tresses, so thinning isn't as important as it used to be. I can go a year between good thinnings just fine :-)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Friendly Game Show Help
Brief holiday update, first: Christmas came and went, another year gone by. As Todd gets older, they become more fun. The older he gets, the less shy he is, and this year you could tell he really looked forward to playing with Uncle Ron again-- even following him around and calling out "Uncle Ron! Let's build something else!" while carrying the new erector set he got from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Ron this year :-) He enjoyed teasing Uncle Ron (much to Aunt Debbie's delight!) as they played together, and even mustered up the courage to try to sneak up on him and Aunt Debbie to administer tickles. No belly kisses yet-- maybe next year. He's come a long way from the little baby who sat on their dining table and did nothing but stare at the ceiling fan going round and round and round and...
Today's lighthearted post comes again courtesy of Plinky.com:
If you were on a game show where you got to choose a few friends to call for help, who would you pick?
Assuming they'll allow me to place long distance calls outside the country, the first person that comes to mind is our family friend Ingrid, from Germany. I remember once watching the German version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" with her once. I swear if she'd been on the show, she'd be a millionaire right now. She got every question right, without hesitation.
I'd also pick Allan, because there's nothing sadder than the sight of a pouting, left-out husband ;-) Okay, there are real reasons, too-- he knows plenty about geeky stuff, sports and WWII history. A good mix, especially since game show questions tend to draw from all sorts of random subjects. I know next to nothing about sports, so Allan would come in handy there. Otherwise I'd be one of those embarrassed fools that struck out of the game at the $200 level because I couldn't answer a simple sports question!
I'd pick my dad, because even though he's the quiet type, he's pretty up-to-date on current events, and knows a lot about all sorts of little things, especially when it comes to things more scientific/mechanical/technical.
I'd have to also pick Scot, because I know of no bigger movie buff than him. He's guaranteed to be able to help me out of a pinch on a movie-related question!
Okay, just exactly how many people are we allowed? ;-)
How about you? Who would you pick?
Today's lighthearted post comes again courtesy of Plinky.com:
If you were on a game show where you got to choose a few friends to call for help, who would you pick?
Assuming they'll allow me to place long distance calls outside the country, the first person that comes to mind is our family friend Ingrid, from Germany. I remember once watching the German version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" with her once. I swear if she'd been on the show, she'd be a millionaire right now. She got every question right, without hesitation.
I'd also pick Allan, because there's nothing sadder than the sight of a pouting, left-out husband ;-) Okay, there are real reasons, too-- he knows plenty about geeky stuff, sports and WWII history. A good mix, especially since game show questions tend to draw from all sorts of random subjects. I know next to nothing about sports, so Allan would come in handy there. Otherwise I'd be one of those embarrassed fools that struck out of the game at the $200 level because I couldn't answer a simple sports question!
I'd pick my dad, because even though he's the quiet type, he's pretty up-to-date on current events, and knows a lot about all sorts of little things, especially when it comes to things more scientific/mechanical/technical.
I'd have to also pick Scot, because I know of no bigger movie buff than him. He's guaranteed to be able to help me out of a pinch on a movie-related question!
Okay, just exactly how many people are we allowed? ;-)
How about you? Who would you pick?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Las Vegas, Day 3
Checkout day! At long last our car, well-rested in the parking garage all week, got to start driving again :-) Rather than eating before we left, we decided to head out at around 11am and then hit a buffet for brunch at one of the hotels in Primm, some 40 minutes away. Unfortunately, our plans went awry. We first went to Buffalo Bill's, which we discovered was closed for a few weeks! Tried going across the way to Whiskey Pete's, only to discover that their buffet wasn't open (though their cafe was). Our minds still set on a buffet, after the wonderful experience with one that got mediocre reviews in Vegas, we went to Primm Valley Resort, which charged more for a much smaller selection. The service was terrible, to boot. It took us ages to get silverware and drinks, and by the time we got knives, our meat was cold and tough. The food wasn't that great either, although they did have a delicious spaghetti sauce with whole chunks of vegetables. That was its only redeeming factor. We're definitely never going there again!
I guess this wasn't much of a post, as the rest of the day was spent driving home, settling back in, wrapping Christmas presents in preparation for Friday, and enjoying sleeping in our own beds and showering in our own showers. Back to work on Thursday, et voila! Our vacation is over and we had an immensely good time.
As you can tell from all the previous posts outlining our trip, I've included a tiny smattering of photos to accompany the writing, but I've uploaded most of the pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2440729&id=3605072
And for this post, I thought I'd share a couple shots from our hotel room, such as the mirror on the ceiling:
and the views from our balcony:
Again, scroll down to read the rest of the blog entries, and click here to see the rest of the photos :-)
I guess this wasn't much of a post, as the rest of the day was spent driving home, settling back in, wrapping Christmas presents in preparation for Friday, and enjoying sleeping in our own beds and showering in our own showers. Back to work on Thursday, et voila! Our vacation is over and we had an immensely good time.
As you can tell from all the previous posts outlining our trip, I've included a tiny smattering of photos to accompany the writing, but I've uploaded most of the pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2440729&id=3605072
And for this post, I thought I'd share a couple shots from our hotel room, such as the mirror on the ceiling:
and the views from our balcony:
Again, scroll down to read the rest of the blog entries, and click here to see the rest of the photos :-)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Las Vegas, Day 2
Tuesday begin with some serious sleeping in. We wound up staying up till 2am watching "Law and Order" and "Cold Case" on TV. I guess we were making up for not having cable for so long ;-)
We nourished ourselves with a second trip to Toby Keith's Bar and Grill, this time trying out the pulled-pork sandwiches-- yum! After seeing the turtles, ducks, koi and flamingos in the habitat outside the Flamingo, we decided to head north and stopped by places like the Casino Royale and the Palazzo-- which, in my opinion, had more of an Italian flavor in its decor and atmosphere than the Venetian did. One of my favorite sights in the Palazzo was the pool of cranberries, set against a waterfall:
We also found Humpty Dumpty, all in one piece (for now):
We visited the Wynn, which had been built since the last time I was in Vegas, and crossed the street to the Fashion Mall, where I sat on a couch to rest my aching feet while Allan looked at geeky toy stores. As luck would have it, the spot I sat down in was right smack dab in the middle of a show that took place every hour. Nothing special-- just Santa and some girl elves dancing to several favorite Christmas tunes, but it was fun to watch and a pleasant diversion, and again, nice to hear familiar Christmas tunes because we're here during the season! :-)
A few hotels later, and the wind was really starting to bear down on us! We made a quick stop by Caesar's Forums yet again to pick up a couple things for Christmas gifts that we'd spied while we were there earlier. As we stopped at a cafe for a quick snack and rest stop, I noticed that it was feeding time at the aquarium, and got to watch the diver swarmed by fish as she handed out food. Cutest of all were the little stingrays, who nibbled along her arm until they reached her hand, where she hand-fed them a piece of shrimp, petting them as they swam off. What a cool job!
We were blown straight back across the street to our hotel, where we rested and washed up for dinner. Guess who we saw on the way up to our room, in the elevator: yup, our elevator friend. Guess who we saw on our way down to head to dinner? Yup, you guessed it-- seven times! We introduced ourselves at long last and mused at how wild it was that in a tourist city as large as this, we ran into the same people multiple times!
Anyway, coupon in hand, we intended to go to the buffet at Paris, having heard good things about it. Unfortunately, we were just a little too late-- the buffet was so full they closed the line off. Bummer! None of the other restaurants looked appealing, so we stopped by Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon, having seen signs all over the place for its "$9.99 all-you-can-eat Chinese menu". Of course there was a catch-- you could order your entree and get unlimited refills-- but only of that particular entree. So I ordered a veggie dish while Allan ordered a meat dish, and we ate contentedly: 2 servings! Even if we hadn't gotten the refill, it would've been well worth the price, it was so delicious and filling!
Another great way to end the day :-)
We nourished ourselves with a second trip to Toby Keith's Bar and Grill, this time trying out the pulled-pork sandwiches-- yum! After seeing the turtles, ducks, koi and flamingos in the habitat outside the Flamingo, we decided to head north and stopped by places like the Casino Royale and the Palazzo-- which, in my opinion, had more of an Italian flavor in its decor and atmosphere than the Venetian did. One of my favorite sights in the Palazzo was the pool of cranberries, set against a waterfall:
We also found Humpty Dumpty, all in one piece (for now):
We visited the Wynn, which had been built since the last time I was in Vegas, and crossed the street to the Fashion Mall, where I sat on a couch to rest my aching feet while Allan looked at geeky toy stores. As luck would have it, the spot I sat down in was right smack dab in the middle of a show that took place every hour. Nothing special-- just Santa and some girl elves dancing to several favorite Christmas tunes, but it was fun to watch and a pleasant diversion, and again, nice to hear familiar Christmas tunes because we're here during the season! :-)
A few hotels later, and the wind was really starting to bear down on us! We made a quick stop by Caesar's Forums yet again to pick up a couple things for Christmas gifts that we'd spied while we were there earlier. As we stopped at a cafe for a quick snack and rest stop, I noticed that it was feeding time at the aquarium, and got to watch the diver swarmed by fish as she handed out food. Cutest of all were the little stingrays, who nibbled along her arm until they reached her hand, where she hand-fed them a piece of shrimp, petting them as they swam off. What a cool job!
We were blown straight back across the street to our hotel, where we rested and washed up for dinner. Guess who we saw on the way up to our room, in the elevator: yup, our elevator friend. Guess who we saw on our way down to head to dinner? Yup, you guessed it-- seven times! We introduced ourselves at long last and mused at how wild it was that in a tourist city as large as this, we ran into the same people multiple times!
Anyway, coupon in hand, we intended to go to the buffet at Paris, having heard good things about it. Unfortunately, we were just a little too late-- the buffet was so full they closed the line off. Bummer! None of the other restaurants looked appealing, so we stopped by Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon, having seen signs all over the place for its "$9.99 all-you-can-eat Chinese menu". Of course there was a catch-- you could order your entree and get unlimited refills-- but only of that particular entree. So I ordered a veggie dish while Allan ordered a meat dish, and we ate contentedly: 2 servings! Even if we hadn't gotten the refill, it would've been well worth the price, it was so delicious and filling!
Another great way to end the day :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)