I'd Rather Be...

Tagged

Sarah tagged me the other day, and I thought I'd oblige her by actually posting in a timely manner.

Ten years ago I…

1. I decided to return Jonathan’s first phone call.
2. lived alone in an apartment I loved but couldn’t afford.
3. had an unfortunate run-in with an illegally parked car.
4. didn’t want to spend more than a $1.20 for gas.
5. didn’t have a passport.

5 things on today’s to-do list . . .

1. Order Jonathan’s birthday cake.
2. Order food platters for Jonathan’s birthday.
3. Call the gas fireplace guy about the thermostat.
4. Post to my blog.
5. Knit two rows on the shawl that will never be finished.

5 snacks I enjoy . . .

1. String Cheese
2. Salsa and tortilla chips
3. Dill pickles
4. Ice cold grapes
5. Chocolate Smothered Special Toffee

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire . . .

1. Quit my job
2. Go back to school
3. Learn to sail (I stole this from Sarah)
4. Travel far and often.
5. See a personal trainer 5 days a week. (I want to be healthy enough to enjoy all that money.)

5 places I have lived . . .

1. Tachikawa AFB, Japan
2. Grissom AFB, Indiana
3. Bismarck, ND
4. Seattle, WA
5. Lake Forest Park, WA

5 jobs I have had . . .

1. Assistant Manager at Wilson’s Leather.
2. Splicer at a Kodak processing plant (I was trying to finish my degree, and it was graveyard work!)
3. Project Coordinator
4. Self-employed environmental data tech.
5. Data Manager

I tag… Frank, Elly, Renee, Cass, and Lynne.

Geeking Out Again

So I tried to share something funny with someone this morning...only to realize yet again that I'm a total geek.  The things that make me laugh don't always resonate with other people.   So, I'll share it here and get it out of my system.

I found myself behind a Toyota Highlander at an intersection the other day.  The Highlander is an SUV and I drive a small car.  This means that I had a perfect view of the license plate since it was right at eye level for me.  I spent a few minutes trying to decipher the vanity plate only to give up. (I personally feel that this in not a reflection of my puzzle solving abilities.  Instead I take it as further proof that people are strange.) Then I noticed that the border around the license plate bore the inscription, "There can be only one."  This made me laugh.  I'm now taunted by the pleasant fantasy that Highlander SUVs across the country are dueling it out for mastery of the highways. 

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE

Plotting

October will start in the next month.  What does this mean to me? Well several things.  Halloween, sweaters, Jonathan's birthday, Pumpkins, Fall colors, Christmas shopping, big ultrasounds (the kind where you get to find out the gender), and last but not least...NaNoWriMo sign up!

To annoy all of those people who've asked to see last year's pathetic (but highly entertaining) effort, I thought I'd post chapter 2 here.

Isn't Wordle fun?  (for more Wordle fun, visit the world page: www.wordle.net.   Or check out the Wordles for last night's debates here.)

Oh, and for those of you asking about my other big project for the year, click the ultrasounds hyperlink above.

Reading

For any and all 80's Science Fiction fans, you may be interested in the following information:

David R. Palmer is writing again!

I read the book Emergence every year from about 1985 until I moved away from home in 1991.  During my first reading, the protagonist and I were the same age.  Palmer's writing style, while distinct, shared common elements with some of my other favorite authors.  The plot has plenty of edge of your seat conflict, an entertaining bird and a little bit of romance.  Put simply, I loved that book.  I still love it.  In fact, I'm going to go home and start unpacking books just so that I can find it and read it again.  (Or not since I just spent the last of my B&N birthday money...so I have new books waiting at home!)

With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that I'm over the moon about the news that a 3 part sequel to Emergence will be serialized this year in Analog magazine.  (Yes, part of my birthday money went to a subscription to Analog.)

So, for non-science fiction fans, this is probably takes the cake for boring posts.  But for my fellow fans- GLEE!

Boom De Ya Da

I don't watch a lot of TV, so I usually miss all the really great commercials.  Great commercials you say? Yes, a few exist, so there's no need to hide the sharp implements.  As evidence, I provide the following link:
Boom De Ya Da (A commercial for the Discovery Channel).

Warning: The song found at the above link is a potential source of involuntary musical imagery (ear worm).

Unpacked

We're officially 100% out of our old apartment as of today.   We've been sort of slow about it since we'd much rather be at the new house.  Since we have a lease through the end of July, we haven't felt too rushed.  That said, I'm glad to be out now since there's a possibility that we'll get a refund on part of July's rent.  It's hard to believe, but apparently people are eager to move into that apartment complex.  I blame it on all of the recent condo conversions. 

I've received some not so subtle hints that it's time for me to get some pictures of the house up.  I've been holding out since I really want to be all moved into the place.  There are still boxes everywhere.  I realize that it'll be a while before they're all gone, but I want to at least get the big living areas completed (living, family, dining, kitchen and bedroom) before I run around documenting our home.   

In the meantime, I've got some more random eye candy for everyone:

1. Rose from our backyard garden.  This beauty is right outside our dining room windows.  I've never been a huge rose fan, but I think I understand all the fuss now.

2. Yet another zoo shot.  I've got some shots of the entire display, but they all have a goat's butt in them too.  So for propriety's sake I've posted this one.

3. Posing Elephant

4. Pippin's reaction upon realizing that I'm outside while he's inside.  (Not a great picture, but it gives me the giggles, so I thought I'd share.)

Home

We will be soon.  Yep, that's right.  We bought a house.   Our offer was accepted back at the end of April, but I haven't wanted to say anything on the blog quite yet because it would have been awful to come back and retract if everything fell through for some reason.   (That didn't keep me from pinning down any of our friends that would listen though.  Sorry everyone!)   However, as of last Friday, everything looks good to go and we should close on the 30th.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to save any of the pictures from the online listing before it went off the market, but I'll post some after we have the keys in our hands.   I promise!

In the meantime, I think that becoming a homeowner may do strange things to you.  Or not.  I've been fascinated by robots since the 6th grade.  And now I find myself yearning for this: Roomba

Green and Fuzzy

One of my friends from college sent me an email with the following image attached.  I laughed out loud when I saw it.  Hopefully it makes someone else smile too.

Calm

Big News!  Jonathan and I are actively hunting for a house. We spent the last month mortgage shopping. Once we got that figured out and attained pre-approval status we interviewed a couple real estate agents. Both were great, but we ended up going with someone that we felt really knew the area and had been around long enough that we were absolutely sure that she could function in a buyer’s market. We spent the day with her on Saturday and she didn’t let us down. That said, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the other agent that we interviewed. She seemed great too, and it was nice to feel that we couldn’t really make a bad decision in this instance. Funny that. I suspect that it will be a while before we feel that way again. Looking at houses is a lot of fun, but sitting down and trying to parse through all the information we gathered (emotional and factual) is not as easy. I’m going to spend the rest of the evening putting together a spreadsheet tool with some weighted scores that should help us wrap our heads around everything. Even if the top scoring house isn’t our favorite, simply acknowledging that fact will provide us with some good decision making fodder.

I spent a good chunk of today at the zoo, but my camera batteries are dead and we don’t have an SD card reader in the house…so I’ll post a couple pics from our last trip to the zoo. We’ll refer to this weirdness as zoo lag from here on out. 

Me

Just a quick note for everyone expecting to see Lesli's blog:  I'm pretty sure you actually want to go to a blog called Dragonfly Time.   I think there’s been a typo in her profile information. While I certainly don’t mind the visitors, I suspect that you’re looking for a nifty scrap-booking page rather than my little journal for friends and family.

Thanks for all the great comments!

P.S. I had to do a bit of Holmesian sleuthing to figure this out.  If I am in fact wrong about Lesli's identity, I'll let you everyone know and head back to the drawing board.