Moments From My Weekend...

• Got my projector! She's beautiful! She hasn't been named yet, I need to spend a bit more time with her. She is an Optoma EP706.
• Also got a new vacuum. The Jury is still out on whether or not I like it. It's loud, that's for sure. Eva is afraid of it.
• Dan and I were struck by boredom last night. So we ended up going to:
• Changing Hands
• Trader Joe's
• Got lots of fun lunch stuff.
  
• Best Buy
• Couldn't find anything good
  
• Cost Plus World Market
• Got some foodstuffs, including marzipan. They already have their Christmas stuff out! It's not even Halloween yet!
• KFC
• Where we waiting in the drive through line for twelve minutes! My food was cold when I got it. :(
• XBOX died. We are sending it to Microsoft for repair. Dan is sad. I think that's why he was so bored on Saturday night.
• I started playing Final Fantasy XII again. Actually I started playing before the XBOX died. Played on my free time this weekend. I love that game!
• Went to lunch with Wende at Island's Fine Burgers. Talking with Wende was great, Island's was over priced.
  
• Watched "Memories of M*A*S*H" - Strangely I still love that show! Part of me will always have a crush on Hawkeye Pierce.

So...what did you do?

Walking the dog

Hobie is old.

There's just no gettin' around that sad fact. What makes it worse is that his will has not caught up with his body. He wants with a not so quiet desperateness to go for a walk. But once we're out, he poops out after about 100 feet. Then I get to feel like the most cruel person in the world as I drag him down the street to home. It seems like it's better to take him out than to never exercise him, but I have to admit, it's depressing.

I wish I could make him a young dog again. I wish he didn't feel pain every time he tries to get up or sit down.

My poor sweet Hobie

4 hours in...

Oy. I've been working on school stuff for the last 4 hours! And not even the fun stuff! Not the, I'm planning a cool lesson and researching stuff on the Internet. Nope. I'm trying to get my gradebook squared away. I feel I've been hopelessly wrong about this from the start. I've fouled the whole mess up but good.

Which, okay. I'm new. I'm learning. I will make mistakes in my first month of teaching.

But I hope that I'm changing all of that. Now that I will be toting my laptop to and from school, I've decided to transfer my grades to a computerized gradebook. No problems yet, but I feel like I'm missing some work. Which, well, it kind of sucks! Also, I now wish I had done what I originally planned to do, which was have each subject have a separate grade book. Now I have to split them up, which isn't as easy as it sounds. And really, I'm not even done transferring all the grades from the paper book. I'm giving myself a little slack on that - I can do that when I get home each night and just back date it.

Went to Prescott yesterday. Ostensibly to visit two of Mom & Mike's friends - Jim and Beverly. But we got to tool around downtown Prescott, have lunch, and drive up a butte/mountain, too. The weather was dreamy - in the 80's and overcast. At one point it even rained! I took a whole mess of pictures. Most of them were of the antique soda fountain that Jim and Beverly have. It's a pretty cool thing, I have to say. Jim made me the best hot fudge sundae that I've had in a long damn time. They were quite lovely people and I hope to go back some day.

I tried to upload about 47 pictures to Flickr from yesterday, but it errored out for some strange reason. It squawked about my API key, so I'll have to look into that. I'm going to try again later to get them uploaded. I need to burn a cd of some of the pictures on my computer. I don't want to clutter it up if I'm going to be using it for work, too. I really, REALLY need to get a bigger hard drive installed soon.

Frenetic Friday

Well, I made it through yet another week. This particular one seemed a bit more harried than others even though it was only four days long. Perhaps it was because it was only four days long and contained more than its share of oddball activities. Here's a rundown:

Tuesday: Fairly normal day, actually - only one special (right in the morning).

Wednesday: No specials, but we had our very first writing benchmark. I might add that I was given three days notice about said benchmark, thank you very much. To add to the stress of knowing that my students weren't very well prepared, I had to break up the test to preserve my reading block. Never mind that the fifth grade was allowed to move their reading block - for some reason that I'm unaware of, we did not. Not only that, not only that, but we also had a lockdown drill scheduled for that day. I knew it would be coming, I just didn't know when. I spent the day perpetually tense, ready to shepherd my students into the area of the room they are to go to during a lockdown. My back was killing me by the end of the day - I assume it was from the tension.

And no, Wednesday is NOT over. After school on that day I had to stay for DIBELS training, which I discussed in an earlier entry. I'll have another day next Wednesday, but thankfully it's an early release day, so I won't be SO late getting home.

Thursday: My mom came in for Science - which was a good thing, not it's opposite. The kids were crazy chatty, though, and driving me nutty. They are never outright badly behaved, they're just very ...social. Not a terrible problem to have by any means, just annoying.

Friday: Picture day. Yikes. I don't even want to see mine, but I know I'll not have a choice. After school I went to the district office to get my insurance card. When I came in they said that the person I was supposed to get it from was already gone as it was "quite late." Well, uh, sorry, but I left as soon as I was able - only 15 minutes after I'm even contractually allowed to leave. Not much I can do about that.

So, all in all, a crazy week. I'm going to try to implement reading centers next week. Wish me luck.

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Now playing: Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway
via FoxyTunes

Late in the evening

I seem to always blog at this time of day. I can't honestly say I know why that is. What I do know is that it's a highly inconvenient time to decide to write.

I'm tired.
My wit has fled the building.
I feel pressured to get to bed (since I have to get up at 5:00 am).

All in all, blogging just before bed just seems more like a pain than anything else. Still, this is the time that I remember to write. This is the time that I tell myself I better put something down, just to keep in the habit. For when I skip a day, it breeds into two weeks before I've noticed the loss. I'd prefer to write something half delirious than nothing at all.

Due to DIBELS training, I didn't get home until rather late. I feel like I just got home and it's already time for bed. Those of you who don't know what DIBELS is, it's a test (of sorts) that we give to students to check their progress in reading. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills - to be exact. It involves having students read letters, or nonsense words, or a short story. We check for understanding of words and how many they can read in a minutes time.

Can you tell how exciting this is? To me, although it's a good way to check progress, it's just wone more thing that I have to find time for in my already overcrowded schedule. Seriously, we're already jammed up like sardines - no need to throw a cat into the mix, too.

Okay, I think the deliriousness has sunk in too far now. Time to hie me off to bed.

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Now playing: Various - GA.S3E23.Kate Walsh - Your Song
via FoxyTunes

A Night Full Of Grading

Oy. This is what you get when you put off grading. You get an entire night of sitting on your butt, grading papers, and entering them in your book. You also lose an entire evening that could have been spent relaxing and recreating.

I suppose this is where I say that I'll learn from this experience and grow as a person/teacher. Well, you can hold your breath but I'm not gonna. I think I probably need two more nights of torture before I actually learn the lesson. ;)

After these words of wisdom, off I go to bed, in search of my brain.

Blog Relocation Update

Yeah, that's gonna take forever. I had made it to 200 posts. 200 posts people!! I frankly don't have the time or the inclination to move them all! So...I took all of the last few months and then began selecting my favorites from there. At a certain point, even that was too much to deal with. I've backed up my old blog on my computer and am going to try to access it when I have free time. Other than that, I'm not going to worry about it. There were some gems, I know, but into each life some rain must fall.

So, now I'm behind in my prep for tomorrow. Gotta run!

Edited to add: With the exception of February 2006, I have saved all my posts. The old website is officially gone (which was kind of sad for me), but the posts will show up here over time.

Moving In

Having decided that there is simply no reason for me to PAY to blog when I can do it for free, I am moving in to this new blog site. I debated for a while about whether to use Blogger or Yahoo 360, but have obviously chosen to go with Blogger. I really have no good reason for choosing one over the other, except 360 irritates me on some level. It's a MySpace kind of level, although NOTHING irritates me like the clunky mess that is My Space. I will be moving all my posts from my old website over here, but that might take some time. I won't close out the old blog until that is done.

In the meantime, as is my wont, I will change things around and squeeze myself into this new space.

The Ear That Portends Doom

Some people, usually those with arthritis or a severe injury, feel an ache in their knees when a bad storm is coming. Some people get a rash when they feel stress. I have the Ear That Portends Doom (hereafter ETPD).

It’s not really a magical power. But whenever I am starting to get sick, the ETPD sends me an early warning. It begins to feel like it’s permanently clogged and aches. I find that I begin pressing on the ear trying to get it to stop. For some reason, it is the act of touching the ear that reminds me what this means. If I don’t do something, I’m going down…down, down to sickness town.

The ETPD has been sent me two warnings in the last month. One which I talked about in an earlier post, the last on Friday afternoon. This weekend, though, I wasn’t able to so handily fend it off. I did begin taking Airborne and resting, but I still feel buggy. Today I have a lurking headache and my face hurts a bit, that under-the-skin sinusy pain. I wanted to spend today sleeping, but am currently up for the moment…bored of my bedroom and the couch. I’ve taken refuge in my office and am arranging my iPod (Jim the 2nd) while I listen to “A Breath of Snow and Ashes.”

It’s especially bad timing this week as I have a staff meeting on Wednesday afternoon and a professional development seminar on Thursday. Which means two late evenings for me. Also, it’s just more of a pain to be sick as a teacher than it is in many other professions. I would have to arrange for a substitute and have work ready for them to do in my absence. This would of course mean that I would have to actually go to school to drop it off, in which case, what’s the point? I might as well just stay and work if I can drive down there.

I’ve put a comforting stew in the crockpot for dinner. My nausea from yesterday has mostly subsided. I’m putting that little adventure down to my eating cheese. I just HAVE to learn some time. Today’s dinner has: beef, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, red wine and broth. I can smell it all the way across the house and it’s wonderful. It’s not really stew weather, but yesterday’s storms have put me in the mood for autumn.

I better get used to summer still lurking around or else September’s heat will be especially vexing.

In other surprising news, I’m thinking again about adopting in a few years. I know, it’s crazy, right? I now spend all my days with kids, you’d think that would make me want to avoid that like the plague. I’ve waffled back to the pro-adoption corner. It’s a good thing the hubby is used to my shiny ways. He just sits back and waits to see where I’ll land. Don’t place your bets yet…it’s still early days.

2007 Fantasy Football Draft

To my husband, this is serious business. For five odd years, my beloved has bullied, coaxed and sweet talked me into the annual drama that is fantasy football. Every year, when I invariably lose, I swear that I will never do it again. Yet, every year, I find myself here again.

It’s draft day.

In fact, in less than an hour, there will be universal pandemonium in my family room. We will be sitting on our respective couches with his and hers laptops - it’s almost like we’re playing Battleship. An air of tense panic and adrenaline fueled excitement will settle over the room (the tense panic belonging to me, the excitement to Dan, who thrives in these situations). The dogs will eventually flee once we start laughing at the picks our friends and fellow league-mates choose.

My sweet husband has suggested that I spend this last 45 minutes researching players and taking notes. I think he really believes that I can soak in 3 months of neglected football information in that amount of time. Instead, I elect to blog the moment: These final few peaceful minutes before football irrevocably reenters my life.

The quote that adorns my husband’s personal team page:

Ah, the wonders of a career in public education

Today was definitely a Monday. I have very little time in the morning, time that is completely filled with getting ready for work. Here’s a picture of my morning:

5:00 - Dan’s alarm goes off. I immediately have to pee, but can’t go because Dan’s in the bathroom getting ready for work. The desire to urinate is like some inborn, cosmic NEED. I would love to be able to sleep in, but my bladder will never let me. Now, my alarm doesn’t go off for another 10 minutes, but there’s not point in trying to sleep now. I lay there, though, suffering, because I’m too lazy to run for the guest bathroom.

5:08 ish: Dan is done with the bathroom. I bolt out of bed, grunt a greeting to Dan and high tail it into the bathroom. I start the shower to get it rolling and answer my bladder’s call. Yes, I know this is too much information. Get over it.

5:09: In the shower, struggling for consciousness. Sometimes I’m so tired I feel a little nauseous.

5:20 - Hurdle over the dogs into the closet - gently remind them that they went for a walk the night before. I don’t have time now. Avoid their crestfallen eyes. Push the guilt down into my toes. Find something to wear that, hopefully, matches and will be comfortable. Hem and haw over shoes. I can’t bring myself to wear the high ones yet.

5:22 - Onto the guest bathroom where I dry my hair and put my makeup on - not always in that order. I hate blow drying my hair - absolutely loathe it. But my hair looks icky right now if I don’t. It’s at that awkward length - I’m trying to grow it out. Dogs have followed me to this room - I steadfastly ignore their pleading eyes. Must be strong. Don’t have time.

5:35 - Hurry into the kitchen to make my lunch - lately it’s been turkey on wheat. If I’m feeling saucy I’ll put a slice of Provolone on it. Someday I’ll have time to make my breakfast, too. Don’t know when that will be. Currently I grab a piece of bread and a soda and eat it on the way.

5:40 - Throw dog food in the bowls for the dogs. Hobie will ignore his. Eva will inhale hers.

5:42 - Begin loading stuff into the truck. Invariably I forget something and have to run back inside.

5:50 - Last minute check - this is usually the time that I also remember that I wanted to burn a CD - this morning it was The Fray, Michelle Branch and something else but I can’t remember what.

5:58 - Con Eva behind her barrier. Put their food down and race out the door.

6:02 - Leave for work - sometimes I have to get gas which puts me a bit behind.

6:45 - Arrive at Saguaro.

So, that’s a typical morning for me. And Dan wonders why I can’t do “fill in the blank task here” in the morning. NO TIME!!!

This morning, my principal called all the 4th grade teachers in to tell us one of us might have to move to a different school. Numbers are all screwy in the district. One of the other teachers volunteered to go, so hopefully it won’t be me (even though it probably would have been if she hadn’t volunteered - I was the last hired). She doesn’t want us newbies to have to adjust to another school when we’re still figuring out what we’re doing. Don’t know yet if this is definite. Cross your fingers not. If she does have to move - I’ll get more students. Sigh.

Impressions from the first week…

• Nervous - it’s the first day and I’m already talking too fast. I wonder if they notice that it’s not all that hot in here but I’m sweating. I know this sounds disgusting, but I can feel the sweat at the roots of my hair. As I begin to notice this it gets worse. I have forgotten to bring a comb or a brush, so on my lunch I frantically finger comb my hair, hoping to make it not so gross.
• Kids are cute - I seem to have a good bunch of kids. None of them seem to be thuggy. None of them seem to be outright rude or defiant. I don’t have any English Language Learners - I’m the mainstream classroom.
• New student - I haven’t even finished the tour of my room and I already have a new student. I feel a little bad for him, coming into a new class after it’s already underway. I scoot a desk over into a group of students and settle him down. Throughout the day, I give him a name tag, pencil, white board, dry erase marker, basket (to keep pencil and marker in) and a homework folder. The other kids seem to be accepting him well (of course it IS only the first day).
• I’ve forgotten a lot over the summer. For instance, I seem to have forgotten that kids need precise directions. They also ask a LOT of questions. I think nerves is playing a part in how much I can’t remember on the spot.
• It’s really HOT outside. I have taken the kids on a couple of tours through the school. When we walk outside I’m slammed with heat. It seems sunnier here than I’m used to. I toy with the idea of bringing an umbrella. But knowing how stupid that would look, I choose not to. I can’t wait for October.
• Not enough hours in the day. I’ve heard people say this before - most of them teachers - and paid it no mind. But it’s true. There aren’t enough hours in the day. I have so much stuff to do, that I could stay at school from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm and still have plenty of stuff to do.
• The drive isn’t that bad. I really, REALLY love audio books. I have become the Tempe Public Library’s number one fan. Currently I’m listening to Diana Gabaldon’s “A Breath of Snow and Ashes.” I love it. In fact, sometimes I get home and sit in the driveway for a moment or two so I can keep listening. I highly recommend this book. Of course, this is book 6 in a series of ginormous books, so it’s a time investment.
• Typical. It’s the first week and I can tell I’m getting sick…already. I have started slamming Airborne and got a lot of rest this weekend, so hopefully that will nip it in the bud. My head still hurts a bit though. I think it ’s because I’ve been running myself ragged and damaged my immune system. I do NOT want to be sick.
• I’m to tired to surf the Internet anymore. I know, Wende, I didn’t think it was possible either. But I am SO tired. I hope I acclimate to this schedule and can find some time to do something besides check email. (i miss the internet)

To be continued…

Meet The Teacher Night

Whew! I’m wiped. It was more exhausting, more tense than I thought it would be. Probably because I’m not always comfortable the first time I meet someone. This was meeting a whole host of someones. Parents, kids, sisters, brothers, you name it.

The positive spin is that the students and parents that DID show up seemed sane and normal. More than that, the kids actually seemed kinda cool. One kid saw a certain poster in my room and burst out “YODA!” Officially my favorite kid, like, ever.

I have a computer. YAY! When the tech guy came in with my computer, I was overcome with delight. Finally, I would be back in the game! I’ve been so starved for technology that I could practically smell the hard drive and hear the wondrousness that is the Internet. I was so excited I told the astonished tech that he was the man of my dreams. He finds me amusing now.

Tomorrow is the big day. Think good thoughts for me. I’ve typed out two and a half pages of things I want to accomplish tomorrow. I hope I have enough to do. I hope I have MORE than enough to do, actually. I would like to have some stuff left over for the next day. I’ve got lots of fun things planned…and some not so fun things. But that’s life, right?

2 Days To Go

Well, that’s if you count today, which I guess is already over. So, in reality, 1 day to go. Sheesh.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. I have to be at the school by 7:30 am and will be there until 6:00 pm at the earliest. Tomorrow night is “Meet the Teacher Night.” Parents and students can come to the school and check out their student’s room and, well, me. This is very informal - I only have to say hello and be pleasant. In a couple of weeks is the Open House which is a bit more stressful.

In other news, we had our last in service (although I didn’t get a certificate for it, like I did for the Math thing). I feel one of life’s great ironies is that teachers make the worst audiences. I swear, it seemed like they just would NOT be quiet. When the instructor was talking, you could always hear 2 or 3 side conversations going on. At the very least, you would think they could whisper! I find it supremely annoying.

The thing is that I know it’s not strictly MY problem. If it doesn’t bother the instructo, it shouldn’t bother me, right? But bless it, it does. I think it’s rude. It’s like people think what ever they are talking about is more important than anything else going on. And I have trouble filtering out those conversations. Which makes it even more annoying.

You might think that would mean I have a low tolerance for noise in my classroom, but that’s not necessarily so. Of course, I do have a rule that if I’m talking, no one else should be. But if they’re working and need to say something to their neighbor, they can whisper. As long as they aren’t disrupting others or interrupting ME, I’m okay.

I was supposed to get my computer today. The tech flagged me down in the hall to inform me that my computer was toast. I wish I had remembered to write down what kind he had said it was, I know it sounded old. Anyhow, he said that they tried replacing the hard drive but that didn’t help (I could probably have told him that). So I’m getting a “new” one. I put that in quotation marks because I don’t know what “new” means in this instance. I don’t know if it means brand spankin’ new, or dug-out-of-a-pile-and-still-older-than-dirt-but-new-to-me. Moving on, the tech told me that I would have said new computer this morning, but that never happened. I’m hoping he meant tomorrow morning. I just want a computer that works! Is that too much to ask?

In tomorrow’s episode: I meet parents of my first group of students/victims.

Oh, and my categories thing doesn’t appear to be working - I can’t choose a category. The dang thing tells me the database is corrupted. I don’t know how to fix it. Will look into it later.

Drizzly, lazy day

I’m sitting on my couch watching “The Terminator” on UPN right now. I like this movie. For some reason, I can’t bring myself to do things today that require actual thought.

It has been the laziest of days, even though I have gotten a few things accomplished. I did get some chicken precooked so I don’t have to fuss with it during the week. I cleaned up after the soirée last night. I watched “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.“ I played a little “Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.” I looked out the window and thought about mowing the lawn. But it was too damp out there to really work. Then I promptly plopped down onto the couch and began slothing it up.

On the subject of the gathering of fine folk held at my home last night, it was rather entertaining. I’m not sure if I have ever played Apples to Apples before, but it was fun. I say that even though Wende and I had the world’s crappiest cards. We didn’t win, although I’ll bet if we had played Charades we would have kicked butt.

I probably had a shade too much to drink last night and while I’m a happy drunk (unless I’m getting my clock cleaned in Halo 2 by Brian) I’m a depressed hangover person. I’ve had zero energy today. I guess the only good thing that came out of my lethargy is that I’m fairly well rested for this upcoming crazy week.

Tomorrow I have my last bit of training and then the rest of the day to work on planning. Although I’m anxious about some things, I feel relatively good about other things. At this point, I just want to get going. As Tom Petty so wisely said: The waiting is the hardest part.

First Human Instinct: Voyeurism?

Today is just like any other day: I got up, took the dogs for a walk, took a shower, then settled down to check my email and do my daily surfing. Just like anyone else who frequents the Internet on a daily basis, I have places I usually go to every day: Blogs I read, news pages I check, comics I read. In fact, it’s just like reading the daily newspaper in nearly every respect, except it’s not on paper and my fingers don’t turn black from the ink.

This morning, as I was reading one of my daily blog reads, I got to thinking. What is it about blogging that is so entertaining? Many of the blogs I read are written by people I don’t know and will likely never meet. I have no vested interest in what goes on in their lives? What is it that draws me back day after day?

I can only imagine that it is, in part, voyeurism. Sometimes reading blogs feels like getting a peak into someone else’s life. It’s like I’m standing outside someone’s window looking in, or have snuck into their room and read their diary. The only difference being that these people have opened this window willingly and (should) know that the rest of the world is examining their lives.

When I was thinking about all this (while I was blow drying my hair if you must know), I began wondering if this was solely and American thing or if it’s more base than that. If it’s a human thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a human thing. Blogging is wildly popular the world over - that is if you aren’t a total Luddite. People all over the world are exposing their lives to those who crave to live vicariously through said lives. It all comes down to supply and demand, I guess.

For now, I’m going to put these thoughts away, go get my eggs and toast and get on with my life.

The Tortoise and the Dog

The moment that I’ve been half dreading, yet waiting for, happened last night: George, the tortoise, came out of hibernation.

If you’re anything like me, you read that and thought something like: “But I thought hibernation would end just after winter?” That’s what I always thought…that every creature that hibernated did it just like a bear would. Apparently, the desert tortoise doesn’t hold to the same time table as it’s furry friend in the North. (Now that I type that, though, I’m not sure a bear and a tortoise WOULD be friends.) In this case, I believe it was the thunderstorm last evening that brought George out of her yearly sleep.

Dan and I had begun our weekend of hiding from the world (mostly ‘cuz we’re tight on funds) when it started to rain last night. When I was making dinner, I looked out the window and saw that it was pouring rain. I naturally went outside, rain in this part of the country is almost as rare as oxygen in space. Dan elected to stand just inside the house (stubbornly sticking to his “not leaving the house” decree), Hobie went with me and Eva stood in the doorway. She seemed a bit perplexed about the rain.

It smelled wonderful, heavy with moisture and the exact opposite of what we are used to. I stood there for a moment, watching it rain before I noticed that George was booking it across the back yard. I immediately looked to the dogs; they hadn’t noticed her yet. George continued her trek across the yard, she nearly slipped into the pool once, but saved herself (and me having to dive in the pool after her). I again looked at Eva - she still didn’t appear to have noticed George.

Then, all of a sudden, Eva’s ears pricked up and she cocked her head to the side - George had been spotted. I grabbed Eva by the collar to hold her back while we decided how to handle this. We decided the best thing to to would be to take her over and let her have a sniff (and see what she would do). She didn’t lunge at her or anything, just sniffed - but I didn’t feel easy about it at all. I didn’t want to be responsible for the safety of my mom’s tortoise when I couldn’t really predict what Eva would do when unsupervised. Sure, George can pull back into her shell, but Eva has BIG teeth. Eva could gnaw on that shell for entertainment. Heck, it probably looks like a chew toy to her.

I called my mom and we made arrangements for her to pick up the tortoise tomorrow. Neither of us wanted to be constantly worrying about her and Eva. We figured she would just be safer elsewhere. But you can’t just leave her in the backyard and expect to find her the next day. It’s a sizable backyard - and she’s crafty. We decided the best thing to do would be to keep her in a room inside the house until the morning. That way, we’d at least have a general idea of where she should be.

After picking George up, hidden in a towel, I tricked the dogs into going outside so they wouldn’t know what room I was putting the tortoise in. We settled George into the guest bathroom, with some lettuce and a pie plate full of water for nourishment. Then we shut the bathroom door and let the hounds back in.

Hobie couldn’t have cared less about the whole ordeal. He was more excited about the going out and going in business. The tortoise is old news to him. Eva…yeah, she’s another story. Once we let her back in, it took her two seconds to beeline to the guest bathroom and park herself outside the door. She must have a really good sniffer. After that, it was impossible to get her away from the door. Every once in awhile Eva would bark really loud and throw herself at the door - making this really loud boom.

It only took a few times of that going on before I called my mom and told her George would be coming over that night instead of in the morning as previously planned. I didn’t think I could take 12 hours of hearing Eva bark and bang against the door. Heck, I’m not sure George could have handled that. So, after only a little bit of complaining from Dan (about his previous “not leaving the house” decree) we bundled up George and drove her over to my Mom’s, where she is happily wandering around at this very moment.

Oh, For Goodness Sake!

So, I watched two James Bond movies today:

This one (Goldfinger),

and this one (Die Another Day),

…and I’m here to tell you that not all Bond movies are created equal. It will come as no surprise to most that I very much preferred Goldfinger to Die Another Day. Actually, I was very impressed with Goldfinger. It actually held my interest through 90% of it, which for a Bond movie, is kinda awesome. Sean Connery was extra special scrumptious in this particular flick, which helped the interest factor.

Which brings me to Die Another Day. Sigh. Frankly, it was the punniest movie ever. Raisin Bran claims to have two scoops of raisins in every box? Well Die Another Day had about two HUNDRED puns in their script. To be fair, I really enjoyed the first 45 minutes or so. It was actually pretty dark in the beginning. Then…well, the only way to sum up would be to say that all forms logic, scientific believability and decent dialogue when crashing out the back of a plane.

• Who knew that a Lamborghini could fall out of a plane flying at a pretty decent altitude, crash nose first into the ground and barely suffer a dent. Dang, I just gotta get me one of those cars! They must be the safest things on the planet!
• Who knew that you could sit in a helicopter that was being sucked out of the back of a plane (yes, the same one as before), fall into a dead spin and still start the helicopter mere seconds before impact on the ground. I thought that helicopters didn’t tend to like pesky things like burning embers raining down on them, or plane parts whooshing by, or STARTING while plummeting to the earth.
• Who knew that a human being could dive off what looked like a 200 foot high cliff into the water below and SURVIVE! Gravity and physics be damned, Halle Berry can do it!
• Who knew that people could gosh darn switch DNA!?!?!
• Who knew that 60 minutes of screen time could have so many puns!

On a better note, now I’m watching Over the Hedge. It doesn’t seem quite so annoying…and already the script is better.

RJ:
That is an S.U.V; Humans ride in then because they are slowly losing their ability to walk.

Penny:
Jeepers, its so big!

Lou:
How many humans fit in there?

RJ:
Usually, one.

Love it!

What’s in a date?

When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten?

This article by Elizabeth Weil for the New York Times magazine, tells a story that I’m sure most people don’t think about. Many cultures, throughout history, cautioned parents not to enter their children to school until they were old enough to perform some kind of test that proved they were able to handle it. We in America, the land of the free, base this instead on a date that means nothing in terms of child development. This country is so obsessed with competition, we don’t think about whether or not we are doing our children real harm by entering them into school before they are emotionally ready. Anyhow, read the article, it’s quite interesting. Having spent the last year in a 1st grade classroom, I can readily attest to how immature children develop problems (be it behaviorally or educationally) in class. Why set your kids up for failure?

Profile of a wet Rottie

Profile of a wet Rottie

Originally uploaded by Christine Cowen.

Hello! My name is Eva and I just moved in with the owner of this blog. I’m a German Rottweiler and am almost 2 years old. So far, I really like it here. I enjoy playing with Hobie (even if he’s kinda cranky some of the time) and chasing water out of the hose. Apparently, tomorrow is the first day that I’m going to be left home alone for longer than 30 minutes. Cross your fingers that I remember to be good while my owners are gone!

You can find more pictures of my adventures with the hose on Flickr at the following web address:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/literarypanda/

I’m kinda sleepy from my afternoon fun, so I’m gonna go take a nap now. Bye!

The Summer of Netflix Begins

I finally broke down and signed up for Netflix…er, rather Dan finally broke down and agreed to the Netflix idea I’d been shoving down his throat for several months. But why pick nits?

I signed up Wednesday night and spent an obscene amount of time rating and adding movies to my queue. I have this whole house of cards (or movies actually) set up. This staggered mess where I get a disc of CSI, then a movie and then an anime. We’ll see if my ordering actually helps out of if I still end up micro managing it to death. Knowing what a control freak I am, I’ll probably still micro manage anyhow.

Up first is Kiki’s Delivery Service, another movie by Studio Ghibli. I’ve been wanting to watch this forever, but it’s hideously expensive to buy at the stores. I’ll update with a review later.

We return with some obnoxious cuteness.

Because I’ve been too lazy and unfocused to blog properly, here is a blog of cuteness:

Exhibit A: My dog, the cutest dog ever! See the little tip of his tongue poking out of his mouth as he snoozes. So. Darn. Cute!

Exhibit B:

Stuffed Owl of Cuteness - Purchased today from Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe. The photo doesn’t even do justice to the cuteness of this tiny sweetie.

Okay…done now.

Obsession is a dark master…(or The Big Hoops and Yoyo Post)

I just spent at least an hour viewing e-cards. No need to clean out your ears (or your eyes) I meant what I typed. I have become obsessed with the following characters:

My favorite, to date, is the Second Guess Thursday card:

…which I sent to a couple of people. I sent Sarcastic Wednesday to Wende (cuz she totally gets the sarcasm love). So now, of course I just absolutely NEED this:

and this:

and maybe…just maybe…this:

Why? Because I’m CRAZY. C. R. A. Z. Y. All caps. All the time.

I’m so gullible to marketing.

Day One

…was actually yesterday for these new plants, but hey, why pick nits?

I went with my mama to get some work done for my grandmother yesterday. Had a fine time as we dusted, swept, moved, attempted to vacuum, giggled and chatted. What do I mean by attempted to vacuum? Well one of my tasks was cleaning the ceiling fan blades. There was some question as to what would work better: using a hand held vacuum-thing or using a Swiffer-jobbie (like my very technical description?). The vote (in reality the decree from my mother) came down in favor of the hand held vacuum, so as not to spread dust. However, once I climbed up the step ladder and started up the thing, it only gave a feeble, fading attempt at performing its duties before it sputtered and died. The consensus was that it fell off its charger. In came the Swiffer, out went the dust.

What was really super cool about the whole thing was that I found a piece of furniture at my grandmother’s that I thought for sure was long gone. It’s a smallish round table with curved legs. The top of the table actually contains a drawer. She told me I could take it, but I wanted to make sure I could find a place for it. I’m going to pick it up in a couple of weeks. When I do I’ll post a picture. I always loved this table and I’m glad to know it’s not gone forever. I think I’ll put it in the living room. Dan’s not so sure about that idea, but he wasn’t really given much of a choice.

So, after working at grandma’s, mom and I toodled over to a nursery to look at plants. There, we got a whole host of plants for the front yard that I planted yesterday afternoon. Ooh, I forgot to mention that grandma had started me a couple of plants that I took with me. About 4:00 yesterday afternoon I set out to give these plants new homes. There were actually quite a few of them. Only the plants that seem rather large were existing plants.

It was tiring work, at one point as I was digging little holes for these guys I hit an ant hill. Gah! I turned the hose on it and tried to drown the little buggers. Not sure how well that will have turned out. All’s well that ends well, though and all plants now have homes. Dan is skeptical at how well they will survive. Given our track record (dead plants: 45, living plants: 4) I can’t say as I blame him.

Oh the irony

I am sitting at ASU right now, waiting for my five screening interviews to begin. This is, of course, not the irony. The irony is from the picture above. As I sit, at a nice shaded table next to the Memorial Union, I am typing on my Apple laptop, right across from the above pictured Microsoft Van. I thumb my nose in their general direction.

What, not ironic enough for you? When it’s YOUR blog, you can be more ironic than me, but until then…[insert vague pithy comment here].

On the topic of said interviews, I’m nervous and antsy. I kind of wish it was time to begin (I have another 40 minutes or so to wait). Once I’m in the interviews I should be fine. It’s the waiting that sucks. Of course, this is true of all things. Luckily, I can kill some time in the hike to the Student Rec Center and another bit of time going to the bathroom. Shoot. With that in mind, why am I waxing poetic (HAH!) on my blog.

Gotta run!

Blogging To Return...Two Care

Yes, yes…blogging is shortly to return to this page. I lost my flow for a few weeks, for which I apologize. Well, actually I lost the will to blog. Every time I thought about doing it, I was filled with a kind of dread. I’m over that now, so hang on to your hats.

Dan and I spent Easter with friends last evening. It was absolutely fantastic. Their kids are adorable and the dinner was delicious. Dan even ate asparagus. Shoot, I even ate asparagus. The rest of the meal consisted of cucumber and tomato salad (with dill, it was delicious), ham, au gratin potatoes (homemade) and hot cross buns. It was nice to see our friends and their respective parents, just a lovely, lovely time. I think we’ll make a habit of that. Plus, how can you turn down the time to get a three-year-old to say “Uncle Dan is evil.” High comedy, I say.

I have roughly four weeks left to go in the semester. Yippie! I’m gonna miss this class and all, but they are tiring!! And they obviously inspire far too many exclamation points. I received a call from my former boss on Easter to let me know that they will be able to employ me for special projects this summer. Yay! That’s one huge worry off my mind (and Dan’s, truth be told). I’m to work 9-1 Monday through Friday, which is perfect.

If you’re curious about what all “special projects” entails, join the club. Merri was telling the job info to JP while he was on the phone with me and they were both unfortunately talking at the same time. I could only understand something about handbell choirs and working directly with Merri…which works for me. However, I better not show up to find that I have to wear a handbell costume and stand on the street. I’ll be cross.

Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t get bad blogging tasted in my mouth again. Cuz that just sucked.

Live from Anaheim

Well, regardless of what the news says, I’ve seen no evidence of fires. Of course, that was probably in Anaheim Hills and I really have no clue how far that is from Anaheim proper. Still, the magical umbrella of Disney has protected the park from harm.

The weather here is actually fantastic, not too hot and not too cool. We’re back in the hotel room right now, just taking a break from the chaos. We plan to head out in a couple of hours, have dinner at Downtown Disney and one last go at a few rides, then we’ll head out.

I also have to remark that going on a Tuesday, even if it IS Spring Break has produced wonderful results as far as crowds go. We’ve only had to wait about 30 minutes at the worst (for Indiana Jones), so that’s not bad at all. Strangely enough, the ride for Peter Pan’s Flight was the longest line we’ve seen…weird.

We have been shocked at the lack of parenting skills we’ve seen in the park. Parents don’t seem to care that they’re infants are tired and want no part of Disneyland. They let their very young children run rampant, crashing into adults (one kid elbowed me in the back repeatedly in a ride until I turned around and gave my best teacher glare) and generally causing mayhem.

But all in all, even with those minor complaints, it’s been a fantastic day. I haven’t found any souvenirs that really called my name (except one adorable Eeyore stuffed toy), so that’s been a little disappointing. But I’m gonna take a gander at some of the shops at Downtown Disney. I’d be surprised if I didn’t find ANYTHING!

We leave tomorrow for home…

Hot and Cold in San Diego

Here it is: my first official blog from on the road. I am currently sitting in my hotel room in San Diego. I should add that it is kind of a swanky hotel, right on the ocean. It comes complete with a high rise tower, an ocean view and a balcony. This morning we had breakfast in bed while listening to the seagulls. It’s hard to get much better than that!

We went to the San Diego Zoo today. I really forgot how huge that zoo is. I also apparently forgot that it’s not always easy walking. We were quite literally hiking at some points. And huffing. And puffing. It was a tiny bit hot and whenever we were in the sun we were baking. I felt like I was getting burned on the back of my neck, even though I had lathered on SPF 30 that morning and every chance I got during the day. Luckily, I was wrong and I didn’t get burned.

This was my first live and in person view of a Giant Panda. They keep the female and male separated and there were no baby panda viewings today. The female, who is apparently going into heat, was crashed out…I got some stellar photos of her butt. The male was at first munching on some bamboo, but we didn’t get over in time to really witness that. The second time we went back to the exhibit he was asleep behind a log. I got a cute photo of that (which will all have to wait to be posted - I forgot my USB cable).

Since our lunch at the zoo was rather unremarkable, we ate dinner at The Melting Pot. That was absolutely fabulous. I know that we have at least one in the Valley and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a different, yet scrumptious meal.

Now on to the cold, our shower is apparently only spitting out cold water. Not sure why as this morning it was fine. I hope tomorrow morning it is okay. I would not want to walk around Sea World all day without having a shower.

Don’t know if I’ll be able to blog from Anaheim. If not, I’ll update with all the news of Sea World and Disneyland after I get home on Wednesday night.

Mic…key…Mouse!

All hail Spring Break!!

One more day and I’ll be speeding off to sunny California. There just aren’t enough words to describe how ready I am to get out of this state for a few days. Especially now that it’s getting a lot warmer…a lot FASTER than I would like. Seriously, how do you go from 68 to 92 in the space of approximately two weeks!?!

Here’s the itinerary:

Saturday: Leave for San Diego. Chill out at the hotel after we get there.

Sunday: Sea World or San Diego Zoo.

Monday: Whichever one we don’t get to on Sunday.

Tuesday: Up to Anaheim for Disneyland.

Wednesday: Return home.

Thursday: Play Final Fantasy XII all freaking day long!

Friday: Get some yard work done (hmph!) then goof off.

Saturday: K. Marie’s bridal shower. That reminds me…I have to check to see if I can bring the hubby. Not sure if it’s a couple’s shower or girls only. Marie…if you’re reading this let me know if that’s okay!

Sunday: Make sure my lesson plans are ready for the next week.

I plan to take oodles and oodles of pictures. I think I’m gonna bring my laptop (and leave it in the hotel safe while we’re at the theme parks) and get some writing done if I get the urge. I’ve been feeling the urge to begin world building again.

Look for pictures from my travels! I’ll try to blog at the hotel.

Bees In Our Bonnets

After a hard day at work, I drove home with only two things on my mind: returning my mother’s call about our tax return and preparing lesson plans for tomorrow. I practiced unsafe driving by calling my mother on the way home from work. I’m happy to report that we’re getting a refund this year! Yay! Now I can take that trip on spring break without worrying about too much (more on that in a bit).

After we wrapped up our conversation, I pulled into the driveway and began unloading my crap from the truck.
Uncharacteristically, Dan met me outside the house, looking slightly panicked. I wasn’t even inside the house when he told me that there were several bees inside the house and that there was a swarm in our backyard. I stood there for a moment, rooted to the spot. After that news I didn’t even want to go into the house. Why would I want to go in where there were bees?!

Dan told me he had them trapped in the master bathroom, so I went into the house. The most unfortunate part of this whole scenario is that Dan is very allergic to bee stings. He was rightly nervous about this whole turn of events. We went into the house and headed towards the master bedroom. Once inside the bedroom I could see that there was a bee in our closet now, too. We swiftly left the bedroom and headed out into the family room to see what was going on outside.

Upon peeking out the back door window, I could see about 15 - 20 bees flying around our master bathroom door. Our master bathroom leads directly out into the backyard. I called my mom, who told me my options were to go buy bee killer spray, spray them and run or; leave them alone and wait for them to go away.

After going on the internet, I learned that bumble bees usually don’t attack you unless you attack them first. Suddenly I was struck with a mental vision of me running wildly away from a swarm of bees, screaming my head off and trying to get inside. Since I was pretty sure I couldn’t outrun a bee, I decided to check on the bees in the backyard. Luckily, it seemed like they were down to about three or four remaining bees.

While Dan watched from inside, I walked around the house into the backyard (you know, to sneak up on the bees), and opened the bathroom door to let the trapped bees out. The entire time I walked towards the bathroom door I was chanting: Don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me. Thankfully, they listened and I high tailed it back into the house.

Of course, now we realized that we had opened up the door (which we had to do to let the trapped bees out) but what was to prevent more bees from going inside the bathroom. Genius. I suited up in bee proof clothing, which involved a hoodie sweatshirt - with the hood part up around my head and tied closed enough to only allow my eyes and my nose out.

I’ll wait while you laugh at that image.

Done? Good, so I opened the bathroom door and was thrilled to discover the room bee free. (As I type this, I hope they didn’t go into the vents and are even now plotting to come out when I’m taking a shower.) I quickly shut the bathroom door and closed the dog door, thus ending the Amazing Bee Adventure.

I had planned to talk about my spring break trip, but I’ve rambled on long enough for today. I’ll leave that for another day. Oh, and no, I don’t have ANY idea why these bees showed up. Nothing has changed, to my knowledge, from yesterday to today. Weird.

Summa Cum Laude

Suma Cum Laude

Originally uploaded by C.M.Cowen.

I picked up my cords yesterday after I paid my graduation fees. I will be graduating Summa Cum Laude. As a side note, I have to note that I spelled Summa wrong on this picture in Flickr! Oh, the irony! Anyhow, that’s all I really had to say for now.

Mr. Bento & Me

Mr. Bento

Originally uploaded by C.M.Cowen.

Is everyone sitting down? I have some, well…some shocking news. Please don’t pass this on to Dan, Hobie or R2-D2, but there is a new love in my life. I’ve tried to keep it to myself. I’ve tried to deny my feelings. Still, it cannot be denied. There is nothing for it but to shout it from the virtual rooftop. So, without further ado, picture me standing on the prow of the Titanic:

I LOVE MR. BENTO!!!!

[Steps down from the railing]

Wow. It’s amazing how much better I feel after getting that out in the open. In my defense, Dan and I have already discussed my love of the Bento man. Hobie and R2, however, they’re still in the dark and I’d like to keep it that way. Come to think about it, I’m not even sure R2 and Hobie even know about each OTHER! Er, so…don’t tell them about this email at ALL!

What a tangled web we weave…[Go on, Mom, finish the sentence, you know you want to!]

Edited to add: In case it was too vague, Mr. Bento is pictured at the beginning of the blog.

Miles to go...

My ginormous education exam (the AEPA exam) is thankfully over with. Now I just have to wait for the results. But there will be more about that in my Student Teaching blog. I’m now ready to begin making plans and scheduling the refurbishing of my house and yard. I’ll start with cleaning up the yard to get ready for planting in the spring. Here’s my list of things I need to get done in my backyard:

1. Remove grapefruit tree - I hate grapefruit, why would I keep the dumb thing.
2. Put lights out in the yard, especially under the orange tree.
3. Clean out dead plants - This will be a huuuuuuge job. It won’t get done in one weekend. It won’t get done in two weekends.
4. Dig a hole for a tree to replace the Ash that died (From old age, I didn’t kill it!).
5. Pick out a tree to put in the hole.
6. Remove rocks from around the pool and clean out the weeds. I should probably spray those areas with Round Up, too.
7. Remove dead oranges from under the tree.
8. Trim back lemon tree.
9. Trim back hibiscus (at least the parts that froze during the last cold snap).
10. Figure out how the drip system works
11. Figure out what to do with the compost area - which Dan affectionately calls the nuclear waste corner.
12. Clean up raised bed to prepare for small vegetable garden.
13. Design a layout for new plants and flowers - I’m thinking of blending Asian and Western ideas.
14. Put rock/fountain feature where grapefruit tree used to be.
15. Cut cat’s claw back from slide.
16. Trim orange tree.

Sheesh. And that’s only the backyard. I didn’t even get into the front yard. I plan to start with just a little bit a day. Work my way up to harder stuff.

State of the Union

This one goes out to Mike - my political discussion cohort.

Did I just hear that correctly? Did I hear President Bush say that they were working on reducing gasoline usage in this country by 20%? Was that the caribou I just heard high-fiving each other? Er, maybe not. (First of all, caribou don’t have five [fingers] to “high” anyway.) Still, he wants to reduce this usage by 20% in the next 10 years. I’m not gonna argue too much with that.

“Our citizens don’t much care which side of the aisle we sit on, as long as we are willing to cross that aisle when there is work to be done.”

I also agree with this statement. I don’t care if they’re Republican or Democrat, I care that they do what they say they will. I care that they faithfully represent their constituents. Oh, alright, I also care that they don’t lie, cheat, murder or commit any other foul crimes, too.
One last couple of things that I noted from the State of the Union. Was it just me or did Dick Cheney look like he was going to start laughing during the “oil” part of the speech. Don’t know why, but it bothered me. And those people who don’t stand and clap? Are they the Democrats or just tired and cranky? Ah, just got a better look, I think they are the Supreme Court Justices. Are they too good to stand up?

Meet Alan & Zeddie

So, I think I’ve mentioned that I’ve been sick for most of my vacation. Which, I think we can agree, really sucks. Recently I have been begun to feel almost up to par again. For awhile there I didn’t believe I would ever get to feeling good, so “almost up to par” is a minor miracle for me.

Last night, while lying awake (which I do a lot), I realized that I was feeling restless. Of course, 2:00 in the morning is not a good time to get up and go somewhere, especially when it’s below freezing outside. While lying there listening to Dan wheeze sickly in his sleep (since he has now caught what I had apparently), I hatched a plan to go somewhere today. I really wanted to try out my new camera, but my backyard is just not very photo ready yet. In fact, it’s a disaster area that I’ve yet to have the guts to face.

Since there’s not much in my neighborhood worth taking pictures of, I decided to find a nice park to walk around. Something not too far, as I didn’t want to use a lot of gas, but something that could pass for pretty. Where I live might have its charms (nice weather, etc.) but it’s not very scenic. It’s suburban sprawl at its worst. It doesn’t have the city charm of a big city like San Francisco or New York or Chicago. It also doesn’t have the green lushness sported by the suburbs of Los Angeles. It’s pretty much just city and desert.

I chose to go to a park called Kiwanis Park, which is very convenient to my house. It has a nice little lake and a walking path that I thought would be good. As I’ve said, it’s been cold out the last few days - very cold for Phoenix. After dressing appropriately, I gathered my camera and Jack ( my iPod) and left for the park. The park was fairly desolate, the grass is all brown right now, but I’m sure it’s very pretty in the spring and summer when the grass is green. Still, there were plenty of ducks to photograph, so I practice taking photos of ducks in the lake.

Just as I was leaving the park to go home, I came upon Alan and Zeddie. They were just entering the park for a stroll. Zeddie was so rambunctious and cute that I stopped to talk with them for awhile. Jack’s headphones were a possible casualty of the encounter considering Zeddie pulled them off me. I actually haven’t checked to see if they still work, I’m sure they’re okay. Zeddie is a brindled bull dog and full of life. Alan tells me that she is great with children and special needs children and I can believe it. She was very playful.

I’m starting to see how much of a positive effect this camera could have on my little introverted life. If I hadn’t gone to the park to take pictures, I wouldn’t have made a new friend today. And if I hadn’t taken the camera, I wouldn’t have a picture to mark the moment. Best purchase I’ve made in a long time, I think. I hope to return when the grass is greener and maybe see Alan and Zeddie there again.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside (for AZ)

It’s really cold here today, at least for Arizona. Well, rather, it’s cold for Phoenix. And yes, we’re all bundling up and whining like babies about the “frigid” temperatures. I found this forecast on AZ Central.com - what I really appreciate about it is that apparently it’s gonna be REALLY cold on Friday! Zero! Well, at least it will be sunny. Sorry for the lame and short post, but I’m cold - gotta go find some long johns.

Sphere: Related Content

A Rainy Day

It doesn’t happen often, but it’s raining here in Arizona. That’s one of the things I love about January, it seems to rain a lot during this month. My sweet Hobie (pictured above) and I managed to get home from our walk just in time to avoid the heavier rain. I’ll never understand why he (and every other dog I’ve ever had) likes to drink the water that builds up in the grooves of the cool deck by the pool.

It’s also nice and cool today, which has made for good weather to get things done. I was quite productive today, if I can toot my own horn. Dan is still not feeling well, so after he came home from work I bundled him into the bedroom to sleep. My husband can be a sweet man, but he (by his own admission) can be a rotten, cranky sick person. To his credit, he’s tried hard to not be that way to me and during this particular sick time, he’s been okay.

I went to Fry’s Food today to pick up stuff for lunches next week. I had ordered a Japanese Bento Box (a Japanese lunch box) which should arrive on Monday, so I needed to get stuff to put in it! That is, assuming UPS delivers on Martin Luther King day. Anyhow, when I went to Fry’s I ended up picking up a lot of Japanese food to put in it. Today for lunch I made myself some Miso soup, it was great. I also treated myself to some London Broil to put in my lunch. If anyone has any good spring roll recipes, send them my way!

As you can probably tell, I’m really enjoying my camera. Okay, the rain picture isn’t much to speak of, but it serves as proof that water does sometimes fall from the sky here. Hobie, however, is probably tired of me stalking him with my camera. Someone from Eukanuba emailed me about entering one of my pictures of Hobie into a Beautiful Breeds contest. Maybe he’ll be famous!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, tomorrow anyway! My brain is a little fried as I haven’t been sleeping well lately. No, not because I’m partying or staying up late. This is more sickness related. This stupid sinus thing just WILL NOT go away. And, let me tell you, I’m so tired of being sick. This has dragged on for almost two solid weeks now.

But, I digress, I didn’t mean to spend this blog bitching about how lousy I’ve felt. I meant to introduce the world to my new baby, which should be arriving tomorrow. I know I was gonna get the Cannon S3, but I decided to go with the S2, because it was only 1 mega pixel less and that saved me about $100. Sweet, huh?!

The Mothership Has Landed!

Words just cannot convey how excited I am with what I just found on The Force.net. Imagine, if you will, my ultimate technology gadget dream. What would it be? What wonders would it entail? Hmmm…I think that whoever invented the following shiniest of the Shinies, must have connected themselves somehow to my brain and pulled together my fondest dreams. Without further ado, behold the wonder:

Introduce yourselves to the R2-D2 projector. But not just any old projector (which would still be rockin’ cool) but so much more. You will note by the first picture that you insert the DVD or CD where Leia put the plans and I assume he projects out the eye.

Also note the remote control, so he might roll (or it could just be for the DVD player)! In addition, he can play mp3, mp4, and jpg. Okay, so far, you’re thinking…yeah, I can see where she would totally dig this. But it gets better!

This picture shows that he is capable of projecting an 80 inch picture on a ceiling or a wall. We’ll just agree that the ceiling projection looks a bit uncomfortable.

More features:

His head swivels!

Memory card and USB input!

For cryin’ out loud! Check out the iPod dock! There’s even a place for Jack (previously Jim, before the memory wipe) in this wondrous thing of beauty!

I don’t think I ever imagined that anyone would be this creative! That anyone would take my beloved droid and put him to such good use!

I don’t even have pictured the Millennium Falcon shaped remote control (complete with sound effects) pictured here, but believe me, he has it.

What I don’t know, is how much this sweet baby costs. I’m trying not to imagine it, because I’m sure that he’s out of my budget. Which. Just. Sucks!!! If anyone ever deserved this God given creation, it’s me! ME, I tell you!

Check out the website for more while I go weep openly…