Random posts:
- Last minute change in plans this Thanksgiving - ended up down in CT w/ my cousins and dad. Nicely hosted at family friends (of my cousins) so very little prep or clean up.
- Played Spite and Malice - it was a long game but good. We played with 4 - it might be better with 3?
- Speaking of games, for the longest time I was continuously an underdog when playing Rummy with my dad. Recently, I’ve fared better - nothing like practice!
- Driving back from CT I was surprised how many people had Christmas trees on the roofs of their cars. So early! And yet, I need to start figuring out where to get my tree this year.
- You know junk drawers right? I don’t really have one. I’m pretty organized… kindof. My trick is that I have a junk room. I dump the random stuff up in the loft and it sits out of sight forever. This weekend I made a go of it and it’s all nice and tidy and put away. It still feels good to have order around me, even several days after the cleaning. Now, if I can only keep it tidy.
- My latest addiction is looking at real estate online in my town. I think my burn from the last house is finally subsiding. Not completely, but some. There’s this cute little yellow house…
- Do you remember that website that predicted airline ticket prices and when to buy tickets? Well that same guy has a new website that tracks data for electronics and tells you the best time to buy things www.decide.com I’m thinking of getting a new digital camera. I’m finally accepting that perhaps one reason why I don’t take many pictures is because my camera is almost 10 years old and doesn’t take great photos. This site might help me pull the trigger.
- And finally, here’s a cute little video I stumbled upon. Enjoy!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
PI
I blame it on being surrounded by engineers 2/3s of my waking day - I’m totally nerding out! Strangely I’m becoming more geeky than my peers though - there’s a question for another day. First it was an interest in learning how solve the rubik’s cube, well over 25 years after owning my first cube. And now, for some reason I have decided to memorize pi. Well, at least the first part of it. I think I have the first 16 digits memorized. And I think that’s enough. Large enough to be impressive but small enough not to take up other valuable real estate up there in the old noggin. Why possibly would I want to do this? I have no idea. I am complete rubbish at memorizing. And I can’t even remember the last time I used pi. Just go with it I tell myself… (as she becomes more eccentric).
BTW, did you know that “nerd” most likely was invented by Dr. Seuss? "A nerkle, a nerd, and a seersucker too!".
BTW, did you know you can find your birthday in pi? Mine is only 68,554 digits into the number. My brother's doesn't show up until way after 920,000 digits. Just saying.
BTW, did you know that “nerd” most likely was invented by Dr. Seuss? "A nerkle, a nerd, and a seersucker too!".
BTW, did you know you can find your birthday in pi? Mine is only 68,554 digits into the number. My brother's doesn't show up until way after 920,000 digits. Just saying.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday Leftovers
Here goes…
- The New England cold that has been flirting with me for the past month or so finally decided to commit and settle down.
- I was out sick both Friday and Monday last weekend.
- I quickly gave up trying to be productive while out sick and languished about the house drinking fluids, watching movies (latest theme is the apocalyptic type), and knitting.
- I’m almost done one of the bulkiest sweaters I’ve ever made. I’m not sure I’ll wear it but I decided not to rip it out so that only means moving forward and finishing it.
- I dragged myself to work each day this week and am starting to slowly feel better.
- Still, I’m beyond delighted tomorrow is Saturday.
- I was only gone for four days, but something changed, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.
- This week I presented at a conference. It’s been hanging over me to work on the presentation for the last month. So nice to be done and it was well received.
- Don’t you hate it when you have a cold and are speaking and your throat suddenly goes beyond dry you think you’ll choke.
- I drank a lot of water during my hour and half presentation.
- The first day back from being sick I wasn’t sure if it was real or I was napping. I was walking home after work, across the bridge looking at the wonderful city skyline at night. Same as usual, except now there was:
- Worth noting that Occupy Wall Street is across the street from the federal reserve building and subway station.
- Last night swung by an opening. Some friends from growing up went out on their own and opened a business. I was going to show my support and then to home for an early night.
- Ended up running into someone from my industry I’ve been wanting to catch up with for awhile - there goes an hour.
- A little later, Maggie and Dave from Maine came down to help celebrate - there goes the night.
- Had a blast catching up and hanging out - skyping (on an iPhone) with Sara in DC in the bathroom (only place where it was quiet), ended up closing the place down.
- It was strangely déjà vousish of old highschool times with a twist of our older mature selves. Strange when old and new worlds collide. There was talk of a ski weekend away this winter. That would be fun, although I haven’t skied since the ‘90s!
- Took two subways and a bus to get home - they all arrived within minutes - very nicely timed and appreciated as I fell into bed at midnight!
- The New England cold that has been flirting with me for the past month or so finally decided to commit and settle down.
- I was out sick both Friday and Monday last weekend.
- I quickly gave up trying to be productive while out sick and languished about the house drinking fluids, watching movies (latest theme is the apocalyptic type), and knitting.
- I’m almost done one of the bulkiest sweaters I’ve ever made. I’m not sure I’ll wear it but I decided not to rip it out so that only means moving forward and finishing it.
- I dragged myself to work each day this week and am starting to slowly feel better.
- Still, I’m beyond delighted tomorrow is Saturday.
- I was only gone for four days, but something changed, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what.
- This week I presented at a conference. It’s been hanging over me to work on the presentation for the last month. So nice to be done and it was well received.
- Don’t you hate it when you have a cold and are speaking and your throat suddenly goes beyond dry you think you’ll choke.
- I drank a lot of water during my hour and half presentation.
- The first day back from being sick I wasn’t sure if it was real or I was napping. I was walking home after work, across the bridge looking at the wonderful city skyline at night. Same as usual, except now there was:
- 3 or 4 helicopters circling above in the dark cloudy sky. They didn’t look like the traffic type but more government issue.
- There were spotlights criss-crossing the sky - batman call style.
- 10+ motorcycle police parked outside the federal reserve building just chilling but a little ominous
- Sirens galore as I reached the subway station - ambulances, EMT and fire all coming from different directions on different streets
- Worth noting that Occupy Wall Street is across the street from the federal reserve building and subway station.
- Last night swung by an opening. Some friends from growing up went out on their own and opened a business. I was going to show my support and then to home for an early night.
- Ended up running into someone from my industry I’ve been wanting to catch up with for awhile - there goes an hour.
- A little later, Maggie and Dave from Maine came down to help celebrate - there goes the night.
- Had a blast catching up and hanging out - skyping (on an iPhone) with Sara in DC in the bathroom (only place where it was quiet), ended up closing the place down.
- It was strangely déjà vousish of old highschool times with a twist of our older mature selves. Strange when old and new worlds collide. There was talk of a ski weekend away this winter. That would be fun, although I haven’t skied since the ‘90s!
- Took two subways and a bus to get home - they all arrived within minutes - very nicely timed and appreciated as I fell into bed at midnight!
Monday, November 07, 2011
Fall Weekend: Ecotarium
It was a beautiful late-fall weekend this last weekend. (I rewrote that sentence a few times trying not to use weekend twice - no luck). It’s weekends like these that make you appreciate living in an area with seasons. And I got to spend a bunch of the time outside. I had a play date/slumber party with Cameron and Maggie (and their mom - Cece). We made our way up to the Ecotarium in Worchester. It was a fun museum and I have to say it again, seeing a museum through the eyes of youngsters is fun all over again. I wasn’t wild about the live animals they had (not a big fan of zoos*) but they had a lot of cool stuffed animals - which I like and other amazing exhibits. Funny enough, one of the highlights of the museum was at the very beginning - where the kids were able to walk on air. Well, sort of.
Right next to the first batch of exhibits was a glass railing that looked down at the two floors below. The designers had taken a portion of the floor and made it glass. It provided a strange optic illusion. You weren’t quite sure where the hard surfaces were. I was helping Maggie take off her winter jacket and I notice Cameron at the edge of the regular floor, reaching his arm out trying to find the glass wall that is usually there. And it wasn’t there! We go over and show how you can go onto the glass floor. It was a strange thing that the little minds took a while to process. Their bodies were so funny - they wanted to check it out and walk out on the glass floor but their legs wouldn’t really let them move at first. And then the strange tentative little steps. And then a moment later they’re rolling around and enjoying this new phenomena, the fear completely gone. There were several other kids, one young girl was a little too young and just freaked out that the normal physics of her life was turned upside down!
We jumped from exhibit to exhibit - even checked out some ferrets (you can see a tail) and at one point was able to jam all three of us into this one play structure. Of course Cam crawled out before the camera could come out. The other highlight was at the end of the museum - we took a train ride around the grounds and even went through a tunnel - excitement. I wonder what it would be like having that job - riding the train over the same short route hour after hour.
In the afternoon, Maggie was down for her nap and Cam, Cece and I hung out outside. Cam was a great little helper and helped me vacuum my car - I love a cleanly vacuumed car. And they have a great set-up with a shop-vac that makes it so easy. I’m sure I’ve waxed poetic about it before. I was on a roll and even vacuumed Cece’s car too - cosmetically. Cam loved vacuuming but was more interested in vacuuming up little leaves. We would take turns. First he would go vacuuming up leaves on the garage floor. And then I would quickly try to get as much done on the cars. He would come up and interrupt me periodically with a leaf in his hand for me to vacuum - too cute. Also, I wish I had gotten a picture, but we were both wearing “ear muffs” to protect our ears from the noise. Except his were a bit big so ended up squishing his cheeks forward too.
And we came up with a fun game in the afternoon. He has a John Deer toy tractor. I’d sweep up leaves in the driveway and he would come over, I’d load him up and he would go over and dump them out, backing up just like he has seen his dad. That task kept him occupied for hours. He would get really excited and tell us about what he was doing. I couldn’t always follow all of it since he was so excited.
In the morning, I heard Cam first so came in to wake him up. He was so excited - it’s like special medicine. I climbed up into his new and amazing fire truck bed and we hung out in bed chatting for awhile until we heard Maggie. And then we went in to get her and she was so excited to see us. We hung out in her room and both kids wanted to take their PJs off and just roll around gently rough housing together. Cam picked out both of their outfits and I think it was about when they were both running around buck-naked that mom got up and came in. A morning at church playing with more new toys and then home for lunch.
Sunday afternoon, I ran errands before heading home and didn’t get in until 4 pm. I was very thankful for the extra hour as I tried to catch-up on chores before crashing for the night. All in all a fun weekend and thanks to Cece, some pictures to remember the days by!
*Funny side note, as we were driving to the museum, Cece mentioned how someone had told her that visiting zoos in developing countries wasn’t a great idea (they have trouble taking care of their own population, let alone animals). And in mid-sentence she laughs when she realizes it was my brother who told her that - not some strange “someone”. Small world and still strange to have her relaying conversations she had with Nick. We were far apart in age we didn’t overlap in friends.
Right next to the first batch of exhibits was a glass railing that looked down at the two floors below. The designers had taken a portion of the floor and made it glass. It provided a strange optic illusion. You weren’t quite sure where the hard surfaces were. I was helping Maggie take off her winter jacket and I notice Cameron at the edge of the regular floor, reaching his arm out trying to find the glass wall that is usually there. And it wasn’t there! We go over and show how you can go onto the glass floor. It was a strange thing that the little minds took a while to process. Their bodies were so funny - they wanted to check it out and walk out on the glass floor but their legs wouldn’t really let them move at first. And then the strange tentative little steps. And then a moment later they’re rolling around and enjoying this new phenomena, the fear completely gone. There were several other kids, one young girl was a little too young and just freaked out that the normal physics of her life was turned upside down!
We jumped from exhibit to exhibit - even checked out some ferrets (you can see a tail) and at one point was able to jam all three of us into this one play structure. Of course Cam crawled out before the camera could come out. The other highlight was at the end of the museum - we took a train ride around the grounds and even went through a tunnel - excitement. I wonder what it would be like having that job - riding the train over the same short route hour after hour.
In the afternoon, Maggie was down for her nap and Cam, Cece and I hung out outside. Cam was a great little helper and helped me vacuum my car - I love a cleanly vacuumed car. And they have a great set-up with a shop-vac that makes it so easy. I’m sure I’ve waxed poetic about it before. I was on a roll and even vacuumed Cece’s car too - cosmetically. Cam loved vacuuming but was more interested in vacuuming up little leaves. We would take turns. First he would go vacuuming up leaves on the garage floor. And then I would quickly try to get as much done on the cars. He would come up and interrupt me periodically with a leaf in his hand for me to vacuum - too cute. Also, I wish I had gotten a picture, but we were both wearing “ear muffs” to protect our ears from the noise. Except his were a bit big so ended up squishing his cheeks forward too.
And we came up with a fun game in the afternoon. He has a John Deer toy tractor. I’d sweep up leaves in the driveway and he would come over, I’d load him up and he would go over and dump them out, backing up just like he has seen his dad. That task kept him occupied for hours. He would get really excited and tell us about what he was doing. I couldn’t always follow all of it since he was so excited.
In the morning, I heard Cam first so came in to wake him up. He was so excited - it’s like special medicine. I climbed up into his new and amazing fire truck bed and we hung out in bed chatting for awhile until we heard Maggie. And then we went in to get her and she was so excited to see us. We hung out in her room and both kids wanted to take their PJs off and just roll around gently rough housing together. Cam picked out both of their outfits and I think it was about when they were both running around buck-naked that mom got up and came in. A morning at church playing with more new toys and then home for lunch.
Sunday afternoon, I ran errands before heading home and didn’t get in until 4 pm. I was very thankful for the extra hour as I tried to catch-up on chores before crashing for the night. All in all a fun weekend and thanks to Cece, some pictures to remember the days by!
*Funny side note, as we were driving to the museum, Cece mentioned how someone had told her that visiting zoos in developing countries wasn’t a great idea (they have trouble taking care of their own population, let alone animals). And in mid-sentence she laughs when she realizes it was my brother who told her that - not some strange “someone”. Small world and still strange to have her relaying conversations she had with Nick. We were far apart in age we didn’t overlap in friends.
Friday, November 04, 2011
Halloween
Who knew I’d have a Halloween this year. A lot of towns canceled Halloween because of the snow storm and downed wires. Granted I haven’t really gone trick-or-treating for myself in decades. And then surprise surprise I find myself in a pseudo-halloween. No costume - other than the 9-to-5 grind gear but I’ve been collecting a lot of candy. That’s the great thing of working in an office of 9 floors of workers. The nature of my job has me running around a lot and I end up at a lot of desks with little baskets of candy out. This week I’ve had my share of treats. I even hit the token “house” that hands out full size candy! Today, I’m tempted to make one last round. It’s like Halloween spread out across several days - and I get to eat the candy when I get it (something we were never allowed growing up - had to be checked first and then we got just one piece a night). Granted, I do suffer from the drops after the sugar-highs but that’s usually on my way home. Hey - Halloween only happens once a year right!
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