Dogs are cute until...

...they move in next door and they bark incessantly for HOURS on end in a young, high pitched yelp. How they manage to do so without getting tired I do not know. What is weird is how loud it is. I would think I shouldn't be able to hear it through my closed window and theirs. Maybe my neighbor in the building next door (it might even be the building behind mine) keeps their window open. If that is the case, well, then my patience may wear thin for the owner.

Jon Stewart and the conservative "machine"

I love the fact that this clip was forwarded to me by my Aunt Deede who lives in Tromsø Norway.

What have you done with your life?

Saw this on my cousin's blog and thought I would do the same. Every item in BOLD is something I have done. It is amazing how much I have forgotten. Plus I gotta say that several of the items I have yet to do I have no desire to ever accomplish.

200 Have and Have-nots!
1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing (only if you count a rock climbing wall)
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain (have I really not done this one? Man, I've got to get on this :)
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions At least I think I contributed to it.
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you (But I have been the subject of art that got sold to someone I didn't know before I could buy it myself)
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway (or equivalent to your country) play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one (Only if mini-golf counts?)
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon (I am counting this since I walked one)
136. Learned to surf (well tried to learn)
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers (I hope so! Oh wait, I was thinking of the british definition!)
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime (only if you count Clue)
200. Commented on a friend's blog today.

I fancy someone :)

As I watched again The Taming of the Shrew the other night I was reminded of how much I like Rufus Sewell. I don't think it is too much of a stretch for me to say that I fancy him. I do. I forget about him a bit, and sometimes he takes a back seat to Clive Owen. But in actuality, I think I like him a bit more than Clive. (gasp!) They both have the ability to be complex, can play darker roles, usually pick intelligent and interesting characters, look good in jeans and in suits, but the relaxed humor Rufus can exhibit isn't one that is seen by Clive. Rufus is a bit quirky and I like that the most. Well, and the fact that my adoration has sustained itself since I saw him perform in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia at the Royal National Theatre in London on Monday, April 5th 1993! Yep, I found my play bill and ticket. I didn't see Clive until Croupier in 1998. So there you go. I fancy Rufus.

Oh crap. As I went to find links for Clive I found his fansite and now I have to rethink who I fancy more. Oh dear, what a quandary. Hmm, maybe Rufus by a hair. After all, he is at least available. :)

ps. Apparently the blank boxes are photos that won't show. But if you click on them, they take you to photos from IMDB.

So yo mama writes some postcards?

As I was perusing some random blogs, I somehow found myself clicking on a link to this site. I have to tell, you I crack up at these emails. The gist of the site is that people submit actual emails or IM chats from their mother.

So great. They make me smile. It quickly got added to my reader.

Can only go up from here, right?

I don't get sick. I sometimes wear this statement like a badge of honor, but often it is just fact. I don't. I get minor colds that last a few days with each symptom arriving separately. Other than that, I get bronchitis every 5 years or so. Well this year, thus far, I am making up for lost time.

1. Kept up with the zicam and held a cold off for a couple weeks. It finally reared its ugly head just as I was heading into the 3 day MLK weekend. Thought it would be a run of the mill cold until Monday. By Friday, I was able to go to work. Yep, MLK was a gorgeous day and that whole week was sunny and lovely, or so it looked from outside my windows. The cold took me under for 4 days and then I had a week or so to recover before a friend came into town.

2. A few days after the main beast of the cold leaves my body, I get dealt another blow. My Uncle Ed passed away at home while taking a nap on Monday afternoon. The family was all able to gather at the house and say our final goodbye's before he was taken away. He will sorely be missed. He was a one of a kind man who knew who he was and lived his life according to his values. He didn't have a work personality and a home personality. Everyone who knew him, really knew him.

3. So my friend is in town for nearly a week and goes home on a Thursday. That night, I meet up with friends for dinner at a new cool restaurant. My plans to go to work on Friday (so as to avoid wasting a vacation day that would entail me laying around my house doing not much of anything) were thwarted. I woke up at 2:45am not feeling very well. By 3:15am, the first of MANY "episodes" occurred. At least that is what the nurse at my doctor's office kept calling them. It sounds so much more civilized than what I was actually going through. But the consensus was I had food poisoning. This was only the 3rd time that I (or my mother) can remember having "episodes". Once when I was 16, a couple years ago and earlier this month. See, I really don't get sick! I am not just making it up.

If I am being generous with my caloric intake, I consumed about 200 calories that day. Definitely do not recommend it as a good weight loss plan. Slowly drinking water and gatorade. Who knew 4 saltines and a single slice of a banana would be so filling! Also, I never knew I could savor a saltine so much that it would take 20 minutes to eat it. No joke. But I slowly added food and within a few days, I was unfortunately/fortunately back to my usual appetite.

But I figure I have had a lot of time to think and process some things that I otherwise would not have done. And really, the year can only get better right? I mean, I think I crammed all my sickness into one tight time period just to get it over with.

I heart burgerville

Just when I thought my love for Burgerville couldn't grow any more, I get proved wrong. Given the wonderfully sunny and crisp, but not cold, fall weather we are having, I decided to walk to Burgerville for lunch. As I ordered all my food that was pretty much all locally grown or made in the NW, the cashier asked that I NOT throw my garbage away after I ate. Before I could ask why, she informs me that the company has made the decision to compost and recycle! How very NW and cool is that?!?!?!?! In their research, Burgerville hopes to reduce their garbage sent to landfills will be reduced 85% from 340 tons a month to a mere 41 tons! See the article below for details. (sorry for the need to likely copy and paste on the link. I am at work and not really wanting to take the time to figure out why the link isn't working right now...)

http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-21/1192580268282530.xml&storylist=orlocal

Autumn is the time to leap, not Fall

So this autumn I am doing something I have never done before. I'm super excited as it is turning out to be a great outlet for my creativity. Here it goes: I am making a movie. Well, a short film really. Some of you readers have graciously opened your homes up to the altar of possible locations and for that I am truly grateful. My friend and partner in the venture has been assigning me various books to beef up my film making knowledge. Some of it seems very intuitive and some just downright weird given the various union and guild regulations, etc. But I am up for the challenge. I like challenges.

At present this is more of a side hobby, but who knows, it may turn into something else. But I realized something about myself when this opportunity popped up. I often get that inspiration to leap into the abyss of the unknown, but my fear of success and failure (that somehow manage to coexist at the same time) eventually pulls me back. The times that I follow through on that intuition usually provide some of my happiest memories so why do I hold myself back? Well, I am done with that poppycock nonsense!

I'm hitting the road...well the airways

Heading off to San Francisco Friday morning for a short trip to San Francisco with JD. Should be fun. Helps that I am just now dipping into my 2007 vacation. All the vacation I have taken was using up 2006 days. Amazing how much vacation I store up when I don't get my old 4 weeks (my current company only gives me 3) and I don't head off to Europe due to my desire to save some money. Anyway, should be good times ahead.

This morning I am bugged!

So I got up a bit early this morning since I knew I would be in meetings most of the day and I wanted to have time for something productive. I guess it is a good thing I did get up early; had I not, I wouldn't have found an ENORMOUS bug in my apartment. I do take offense to HOW the thing was discovered. I came upon it (or more accurately it came upon me) when it fell from my bathroom light fixture on my leg, while I was sitting on the toilet. I don't handle bugs of any size well, but a giant something with long antennas that make its size go from its body length of an inch+ to nearly 2 inches is more than my bleary eyes can take; especially when the thing lands on me so unceremoniously. Ugh. I would give you a more accurate size measurement, but the bug is currently residing under a opaque mug on my living room floor. I know I should kill it. I know I want to kill it. Yet I cannot kill it. The bigger the creature, the harder it is for me to kill. Especiially if they have any type of hard skeletal body. Just he crunching sound of the thing being crushed grosses me out. So I will call my trusty friend in the neighborhood who will happily come and dispose of the creature for me.

ps. I just learned (as I thought it might be) that the bug is a giant, grown silver fish. I was going to put a picture of one up, but frankly I couldn't really look at my screen and had to blindly close the window. So count yourself lucky.

Lufthansa is the distracting demon

Because I love to travel, I get emails from different airlines and travel sites. Lufthansa has a sweepstakes going on right now that has a game attached...a highly addictive game.

The gist? There are 3 rounds.
Round 1 has a map of Europe (no words) and red dots for each city they fly into. They will list a city, you click the corresponding red dot. Easy enough (well, unless, like me, you never learned German geography.) Each of the 5 answers has a maximum of 1000 points. The points will be adjusted downward for how far from the correct answer you are.

Round 2 is the same thing, but they have removed the red dots and you only have the country outlines to go from. The 5 questions are each worth 2,000 points.

Round 3 is more difficult as they remove the country outlines and you are left with the land mass outline. The 5 questions are each worth 3,000 points.

Total points possible: 30,000. Number of people who have achieved it? A lot. Me? Not so much, but I have gotten pretty close. I won't say how many times it has taken to get this score, mostly because I don't think I can count that high. Anyway, see for yourself.

Can you spot the fake smile?

I apparently can. I found this on my perusing of the internet while at home. Amazingly not while working! I got 19 of 20 correct and could kick myself because the one I missed, I almost chose differently. But it is apparently a study done by the BBC in the UK.

Sorry, I can't be bothered right now to make sure the link is working, so if not, just copy and paste.

Can you spot the fake smile? http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/

the spoken word vs. the written word?

Do you think we as people have our most intellectual of discussions with the written conversation or the spoken dialogue? How do we encapsulate those things discovered in the spoken dialogue so that we can refer back to it and allow it to grow within us and possibly change our own perceptions of ourselves?

I just recently came across a response to a friends email that I had saved on my computer for some reason. The bulk of our emailing was done on a website that deletes messages after 30 days whether you want them to or not. Needless to say, I forgot about this until I decided I wanted to print out the conversations and couldn't find them. But discovering this response on my computer made me realize how often I forget that I can and do have intellectual discussions. I also forget how much I thoroughly enjoy them. Spoken converations probably happen often as well, but I have a short memory when it comes to this stuff and so do need the reminders of those things written down. But what about other people?

The Secret is out but I wish it wasn't

This post is really my venting of how much The Secret bugs me. I can appreciate and recognize that like attracts like and that if you send out positive energy, it is a good thing and that usually that is what you get back. But it seems like since Oprah championed the whole concept and the craze, tons of people credit it for their success...and it is getting ridiculous.

When people say that they won a contest because they believe in the Secret and they practiced the principles of it, I just want to scream. If you go with that thinking, then clearly the other contestants weren't really believing in the Secret or else they weren't believing in it as much. Aargh.

If you want to believe in the concept, fine. But at least recognize that the belief should be more that if you want good things in your life you should project good things. You don't get to always pick what those good things are. God does. You just need to be open to the possibility.

Okay. That is it. It is out of my system.

What accent do you have?

So Aisy http://aisyworld.blogspot.com/ had this test on her blog and I decided to copy her. Apparently I don't sound like the area I come from and have lived most of my life in. Maybe its because I had speech therapy for 10 years...hmmm, maybe my therapist was from the "midlands". However, I wonder when they say the region of "the West" if they mean California. But I buy into the fact that it is an accent that "doesn't have an accent". I mean, people on the news and radio all learn to talk like us so they can sound good!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
Boston
The Northeast
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Let's try this again

I finally decided to try and correct my map of countries travelled. We'll see if it takes this time...



create your own visited country map

New digs

I have the keys to my new life. This last weekend, I moved most of my stuff into my new postage stamp of an apartment. Couple things are still not there, but it will happen. The sofa on the last post got returned before I took possession. I realized I should really have a real bed. Since there is limited room, I sold my sister my old bed and I bought a twin. It allows me more room for storage. As a result, I actually think everything is going to fit. I just bought a couple bookshelves to house all my books among other things. Got some shelves in the kitchen for all my pots and pans, etc. I am just glad that I didn't have to move my stuff in and immediately start living there. I am able to set things up on my own time and get it set up. Today, got my cable installed. The highlight was a cute technician who was from Nottingham England.

I'll have my bed and sleep on it too!

Since I am moving into my wee little place, I decided to sell my bed and buy a sleeper sofa. After several weeks of looking and continuously returning to one at a cool store called Hip, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy it on Labor Day. Unfortunately, they were closed that day so no sofa. I ended up going by the store on Thursday and discovered that they had only 1 left and it was the floor model so no go. Because the sofa is so popular (4 sold the week before) the guy tells me it is likely a 6 - 7 week wait but that he would verify and call me if they have an order already placed for some.

Well, I was helping a friend with the flowers at a wedding on Saturday when I get a call from the store. They had done an inventory check at their warehouse and found one in the color I wanted. So I drove over there with my good friend Jaime to look at it one last time before taking the plunge. It should be noted that the color is not so much beige as it appears in the photo but more of a caramel color. The back also can be in 3 different angles.

Duly chastised

Okay, Aisy, I get it. I am not the most consistent of blog writers. It all ebbs and flows with how busy I am at work I think. But I also think it is the same tendency I have with things in general. When I like something, I love it and I go gangbusters for it and want to do it all the time. Then after a bit of time, the love fades a bit not because I don't like it anymore but because there is a new something I now like that is consuming my time.

I have a friend who is trying to get me to join myspace and I am holding out. It will just become one more thing to divide my time and take away from my posting of occasional blog postings. So I am remaining strong and not succumbing.

I will try and be better, I promise. Just no guarantees. Hey, at least I am more frequent than Rebus:-)

Just some of the reason's I love Portland

Powell's City of Books. I love the place. I cannot lie. But I love it even more when I take in 3 boxes full of books I have been keeping since college and walk out with only 1 box and $110 in cash. It could have been more if I had taken store credit (to the tune of $135, but I want the cash this time). I think walked a couple blocks to Everday Music with another box full of all my cd's and walk out with a near empty box and $90 cash. Luckily I didn't get mugged right then or else they would have gotten about $190 more in cash than I normally ever carry.

But as the guy at Powell's was sorting through my books, we got to talking about simplifying one's life. He said he had to do that when he and his wife moved to England a few years ago. They went because of his wife's work, but he had probably one of the best jobs there is while over there. He was still working for Michael Powell as a book buyer. Instead of waiting for people to bring the books to him, he got to travel around to various book auctions and estate sales and buy antiquarian books.

If you have never been to Portland, Powell's is definitely in the top 10, if not 5, places people insist you see. It is a warehouse on an entire city block with multiple floors just full of books. Best of all, for anyone not from the US, they accept almost every major currency for their books with exchange rates posted.

Back to the topic of selling the stuff. With my proceeds, I was able to buy a 320GB external hard drive so I can back up all my music without needing all of the cd's. More space then I needed, but I am sure in time I will fill it up.