Cheltenham Chat

Happy Birthday

2012-01-26T14:23:00.003-07:00

Unless there is a gourmet dinner and a decadent cake made by my friend Charles, I'm not really much for celebrating my birthday. There have been some years, pre-facebook era, where I've tried to fly under the radar come birthday time.

Yesterday was my birthday. No fun plans were on my calendar and this post is not going to be about how an awesome surprise was thrown for me. But the day was a flurry of academic activity and a tasty zemon lest cake.

My mock-viva presentation was yesterday. We're not sure that I will have to do a viva but I am interested in presenting my research at a conference so this was good practice. I was grilled. The questions were out of left field and the other attending research students are now good and frightened about having to give a presentation in the future. But several times the interrogators, I mean panel, suggested the research only needed a few minor adjustments and it would be ready for conferences. I'm excited. They're excited.

And then I was handed a class to teach for this term. It was very sudden. As in, I got to my research office yesterday morning, turned on my computer, got a phone call from the head of the department, ran up to his office, he gave me a 10 minute explanation about why the class is being run this term, told me to meet with my supervisor who moderates the course, and then to email him the module guideline (syllabus for you American readers) by the end of the day. Before 5:00 p.m. I had sent my first email to my first set of students and Viola, I am a lecturer.

The funny thing about my life is that I have strange and sudden things handed to me, but yet, I know they aren't 'just' handed to me because I've been preparing, and researching, and running calculations, and making spreadsheets about how, where, and what of my future. I've run at least a dozen different scenarios to catch all the 'what-if's'. This wasn't one of the scenario's I had planned for, but I am prepared. And so very excited.

I'll be teaching Research Methods. I think every lecturer on campus is happy that they will not have to be teaching any of the assignments this term, but I can't think of a better class to teach. I LOVE Research Methods.

We'll see how I fare in ten weeks.

One Year

2012-01-17T03:34:00.003-07:00

Once upon a time I had a bicycle accident. I broke my arm and was in a series of casts for six months. I was cast free for two months when one cold icy day in Boston I slipped on the ice covered cobblestones of Harvard Square. Naturally, when falling on ice, I used my hands to catch myself and felt tension and pressure in my very unflexible wrist. Xrays and MRI's did not show any new break but the doctors felt the need to put me back in a cast for six weeks "to make sure".

The new cast lasted a week. It took three days of constant sawing with a steak knife, cutting little pieces off at a time, before I was free. After six months, and no detectable injury, I couldn't endure another six weeks of being bound.

Thursday will be my one year anniversary here in the UK. I have loved almost every single day. England is a beautiful country and I can't believe I've been lucky enough to live here and to do my graduate degree. I've worked hard during my Master's, rarely taking any breaks. The Master's was recently submitted and now I'm on to the PhD, which is a little less time and space restrictive.

I will be doing my field research in the States, and suddenly, my living conditions have become like the six week cast. Once endurable because of the need to be here, I am claustrophobic and eager to move on now that the time has come to do so. A year is a long time for me to be in any one place, but I live in one room and yet have no privacy. I can only afford weekly groceries, but even if I had money to spare, material goods like proper fitting running shoes don't exist here. I haven't the money to travel and see the sights, and at the same time work odd unstructured hours so I wouldn't have multiple days off to go far anyway.

I have no idea when or where my next stop will be but I'm anxious to get there.

Poop

2011-11-11T11:59:00.004-07:00

Have you ever read the book Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi? It's a funny little book about how everyone, animals and humans poop. The illustrations try to capture the different piles left by different animals. I never really understood the boy though. He's running away naked and poop is flinging all behind him.

As I don't have any children, talking about poop is not a common occurrence for me, but part of living in a different culture is dealing with bathroom issues. I'm not living in a 3rd world country where I have to dig a latrine, but relieving ones self is different here.

First, vernacular: Americans say "I'm going to the rest room" or 'bathroom' which could mean that you're relieving yourself, or freshening up, or snooping through someone's medicine cabinet. It gives the other members of the party something to think about other than you doing number one or number two. Here, most people say "I have to go to the toilette" which seems direct and graphic and gives the American mind no alternative choices to think about what is going on behind the closed door.

Second, flushing: All toilette's are designed to flush with a little pressure (for pee) or a lot of pressure (for poop). In most public places, the highest pressure doesn't seem to flush even all the pee. Don't poop in public restrooms.

Third, bowl design: Toilette design is not universal. I never spent much time looking inside an American toilette bowl, but I noticed that British toilette's have a tendency to retain stuff in a way that I never noticed in America. It comes down to the inside back wall is sloped more than an American commode. I'm not sure what purpose the design is for - maybe cutting down on splash - but it results in flushing with the high pressure, waiting for the tank to re-fill and flushing again.

So now you all know about pooping in the UK. I'm sure you're glad there are no pictures to accompany this post.

3rd quarter update

2011-09-28T12:46:00.002-06:00

We are at the end of September and entering the final stages of my Masters of Research programme. To make sure that I am keeping up with my New Year's Resolution I have completed the following so far this year:

MRes
Four modules/papers completed

MBA
Dissertation completed

Personal Creative Writing
Novel - three complete drafts. Now working on fourth.
Essay - two essays completed

Not too bad so far. Now for the rest of this year I have to collect data from a bunch of businesses, analyze the data, and write a modest size (25,000 wrds) dissertation and write a proposal for my PhD. Okay, a little more work to do. But getting there.

And that damn novel isn't going to be ready to send out by the end of the year. Hoping that the fourth draft will smooth away a lot of rough places. Maybe the 6th draft will be the one?

Building Blocks

2011-09-22T11:12:00.002-06:00

Blocks are nice and solid. They are the foundation of buildings, learning, and measurement. In even the most unsquare of cities (Boston, I'm talking to you) they measure distance. In every city in America, so many blocks equal a mile. It's seven large blocks in Salt Lake City. Some sources say it's twenty (20??) in New York City. Regardless of how many blocks it takes to make a mile, American's know that they can say "Such-n-Such is three blocks away" and we all know what is meant.

Here in Cheltenham (I don't know if this applies to all of the UK) people do not use blocks as a measurement. I haven't actually figured out exactly what they use. Mostly it's something like "It's close to the end of the upper High Street." or "Go towards Montpellier". The town is small enough that once you've lived here long enough that seems to work. But try giving directions to out-of-towners.

We could use time. "It takes 10 minutes to get to point B" but I'm a fast walker so do I bump up the minutes for average walkers? And I don't think that many people have a very good internal sense of time. Are you talking as you walk? Are you browsing at store fronts along the way? Are you rewriting your thesis paper?

Many listen to music as they walk. Could we use songs as measurement? It takes four songs to get to the bookstore. Except I listen to mostly classical. It takes one good concerto for me to get from my house to the Park Campus.

I guess the only real solution is just to get a map.

Facebook Society is Weird

2011-09-15T14:58:00.002-06:00

I worked at the tea room today. My co-workers and the owner seem to like me quite a lot and we all had a good day talking. Our Wednesday Weight Watcher women came in and I chatted with the one about her new puppy.

Walking home from the grocery store after work, the beep beep of a horn caught my attention. It was the Elders and a passenger and were waving to say "hello"!

Walking up the drive to our terrace complex, one of my neighbors was outside, having just got home from her daughter's wedding in Jamaica. My short-term lease is coming to a close and she was excited that I was still living here. We chatted for a while about the Jamaican adventures.

I checked my voice mail an hour ago (I never bring my cell phone anywhere with me.) and I had a message from a friend from church. Just calling to see if I wanted to get together during the day to hang out.

The day was ending with me feeling pretty happy that people like me. Then I noticed that I lost two Facebook 'friends'.

Now, I've defriended a time or too. Like the guy that friended me the morning after meeting him at a party and I wanted to see if he was someone that might be of interest. He wasn't and a month later I defriended him. And I've been defriended for somewhat justified reasons. I also have some people who refuse to be my 'friend' but there's a history and I get it. But I'm kind of surprised by the two who recently defriended me. The one, we are acquaintances of the large body of Boston network. While not knowing each other on a deep level, there also shouldn't be any animosity towards one another. I mean, I know I'm difficult, but I usually do know when someone doesn't care for me. And the other was a recent co-worker that again, I thought we were on friendly terms.

But the silly thing is, I have real life people who interacted with me today, and for the past eight months, that do like me. They are a part of my real breathing and kicking life. The other two people, as nice as they are, aren't really a part of any aspect of my life. Just my past, and recently virtual life. So should it really bother me all that much? Probably not. But it does.

People are weird. I am weir. Facebook is weird.

My Country Tis of Thee

2011-09-11T04:25:00.005-06:00

I've tried to avoid most media coverage on this 10th anniversary of 9/11 but here I find myself posting my own blog about it. I can't believe that is has already been ten years. Though it doesn't seem like it just happened yesterday, it does seem like it was just a year ago or so. Throughout the past century, I think most American's remember where they were and what they were doing when a national event occurred; The bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of JFK, and for our generation, 9/11.

I had been in Washington D.C. that weekend and had flown home to Boston on the evening of the 10th. The next morning I drove to my office out in Marlborough, an hour and half outside of Boston. We were all working when someone came running into our office, shouting about a plane hitting the first tower. What an amazing and horrific accident we all thought and rushed into the conference room to turn on the television.

As the events quickly unfolded we were told to stay in Marlborough until cleared to go home. No one new if Boston was also going to be attacked and it was safer to stay where we were. By mid-day we were told to go home. Directly home. Emotions didn't hit until driving through the toll booths along the Mass Pike. The green arrows were on all ports and the collectors were waving people through, tears in most eyes. People needed to get through as quickly as possible. Safety and speed was more important than revenue.

That afternoon, as my roommate and I were glued to our television set, the first of several military aircraft went zooming close over head. The first one evoked fear as we knew that all planes were supposed to be grounded. The next several fly by's were no less unnerving as we realized they were out securing our city from any further attacks.

Several days later I went to a flag ceremony out in Weston. You did anything you could to be a part of a community. As the flag was raised and positioned at half-mast and we sang the National Anthem, a cyclist taking advantage of the warm Autumn day for a country ride, stopped along side the rode, dismounted, removed his helmet, and placed his hand over his heart and sang along with us. Ten years later, that is the image that is in my head of national pride.

A few weeks later I had to fly for a business trip. Security was now military men in full gear, carrying machine guns. Machine guns in airports were only things you saw in the international news, not in American airports. Passengers were quiet, courteous to one another, quick to hand over anything requested.

Ten years later, something things have reverted back to pre-9/11. For some, life will never be the same. Living in Boston and working for a financial services company, you know people who were on the planes or people who worked in the Twin Towers. You know people who should have been there but by a twist of fate weren't. Ten years later I love my country just as much as before.

This is one of my favorite anthem's to America. During the events and aftermath of the terrorist attacks we witnessed heroics and courage and bravery and succoring.

My native country thee
Land of the noble free
Thy name I love

Mind Mapping

2011-09-01T13:25:00.010-06:00

My friend Kevin has been posting a series of great stuff based on the book Making Ideas Happen and I thought I would share the method to my madness on how I create Action Plans for all my brilliant ideas. (Brilliant might be stretching it a bit.)

It starts with Mind Mapping. This is something I picked up from a training class through work several years ago. This has suited me for just about every aspect of my life: Work ideas, school ideas, novel plots, etc. I call it a cross between a pin wheel and a spider web. In the center is the crux of the issue. Each fork out represents major ideas with their associated pros/cons/action plans or whatever the situation calls for.

I will need to be making some major life choices with a drop due date of August 2012. This mind map consist of three main choices I have while I finish up my PhD. They are: Full time instructor, "Real Job" + adjunct professor, or contract work + adjunct professor. I think if you click on the photo you can see the branches below each of those choices.

(Most often, I do all of this, and I make spreadsheets to analytically weigh pros & cons listed under each pinwheel, but in the end, the final decision is based on gut instinct. Sorry, no lessons on how to do that. )

Once I choose a decision I make a project calendar for the full time frame. In this case, I chose being a full time instructor. (This is not a declaration of my future. I'm merely using this example for demonstration purposes.) There is the primary goal one - obtaining PhD, primary goal two - becoming full time instructor, and secondary goals. (click on the image for a larger image.)
Now that I have this master plan laid out, I can make a weekly/monthly calendar. The sample below was extracted from the beginning of this year while I was finishing my MBA and starting the Masters of Research. And yes, I did schedule in my T.V. time. I love T.V.This calendar then gets printed out and posted on my fridge. However, reading through Kevin's blog I realize that I probably should commit to more actionable items. Might speed the process of accomplishment along a bit more.

Service

2011-08-28T15:22:00.002-06:00

There are a lot of different careers that I would love to have: professional classical musician, writer, veterinarian, Las Vegas show girl (I know, but it's true. It's the feathery costumes), landscape designer, tennis player (I have a better chance at being a show girl), movie director, spy, soccer mom.

I've also considered more service oriented jobs: FEMA, red cross, etc. If I were a man, or Episcopalian, I would also consider being a chaplain in the Armed services (In order to be a chaplain you have to be able to perform the ordinances of your own religion.) I did spend a short time helping out in a Christian shelter in Boston where I helped read the Holy Bible and sat in prayer and mediation with those who asked for the help. And I've been involved in orchestrating quite a few other service projects through the years. (Mt. Vernon nursing home anyone? Or the Sunday clean-ups at the duck pond in Malden?) Generally speaking, I have many short comings, but I have a great love for God and all that he has created and enjoy being a serviceable person.

Unless of course that is in an official capacity. I'm not sure that I have any readers who are not LDS or don't know anything about the religion, but I'll briefly explain: Ours is a lay church which means it is of the people, for the people, by the people. Oh wait, that might be the Gettysburg address...but it's kind of the same thing. We all take part in doing our part. Except me.

I can't hold it together when I'm given an official calling (responsibility). A psychoanalysis of all the many reasons why would be longer than a blog post should ever be, so we'll just leave it there. I can sign up to clean up the building, I can volunteer to watch someone's children in an emergency, I can give a talk, I can sub a class, I can visit the sick, the elderly, the poor, but the minute I am given any of these tasks to do on a regular basis I am filled with dread, resentment, panic, fear, anger. Pretty much all the feelings that the are opposite to being filled with the love of Christ.

There have been many leaders who think I'm an evil person because I don't *want* a calling, that I am not *willing* to serve. A diabetic doesn't fast, a cripple isn't assigned to be the janitor. There are many people that have mortal things that prevent them from doing all that they want to do. An official calling is one of those things for me.

But I think me and God are good. He created me and He gets me. I don't know that I care too much if anyone else does. Even if I do get the stink eye from church leaders from time to time.

Afternoon walks

2011-08-11T11:20:00.010-06:00

I love a good walk. A good walk can be in the city, a small village or out in the country. Today I'll take you along for my afternoon walk.

My walk starts from my flat, heads out North along the neighborhood sidewalk for a mile and half and then I head East to the public foot paths running through the pasture lands.

Flowers along a brick wall.

Walking past the football field and playground towards the public foot paths. There are so many churches here. More churches than people!

Yellow flowers and a happy bee. I haven't yet crossed a climbing post to get into the pasture.

My goal is to make it to this mansion. Impossible. All the public footpath's circumvent it and the closer you get the more the view is obscured by trees.

Oh how I wish I could just lay in the field and read Hardy and Gaskell and Browning and Tennyson all day....

I crossed about six of these today. And went through a few gates as well.

Cresting the top of the hill I was on. Across the way is Cleeve Hill. The highest point in the Cotswold (1083 above sea level) (not very high. :) )

I may have eaten myself silly on blackberries. I kind of felt like a little bear in the forest eating berries. Fruit the way Mother Nature intended.

Thus concludes the afternoon walk. And surprisingly I did not get rained on.

Avebury

2011-07-31T12:05:00.016-06:00

I know my blog posts are dwindling but I've not really been doing much of anything exciting and have been busy with school work. But on Thursday I took a short trip to Avebury with some friends from church. It was great to get out of town and spend time with people. And sheep. And rocks.

Avebury is a henge monument containing three LARGE stone circles. (Similar to Stonehenge). We also went to West Kennet Long Barrow (or neolithic burial tomb).

I'll open this blog with one of my favorite pictures. There is a giant barley field surrounding the Barrow. The day had been warm and full of sunshine. Towards the afternoon a few clouds were rolling in and I loved the contrast of the barley, green grass and grey skies.

This second picture is the opening to the Barrow. It's believed that the construction on it began around 3600 BC. It was excavated around 1859 and discovered remnants of at least 46 burials. You can walk in the front part of the barrow and walk into several small chambers.

This is me resting against one of the rocks lining the entrance to the barrow.

The picture on the left is me standing in the center of one of the henge circles which also happens to be a sheep pasture. The tiny little village of Avebury is behind me. This picture reminded me of the picture of me from Zurich last October. There's something about me standing with an open field behind me that makes me look like I'm really standing in a booth and the scenery is CGI..

The circle of rocks is very large, large enough that the little village was built in the center of the circle, so you can't get a good photo of the rocks like at Stonehenge, but here is me with some of the rocks in the back ground. And if you ever wonder why most of my photo's have me cut off at the legs it's not because I'm ashamed of my legs. It's because I always wear tennis shoes and I choose to cut them out of the photo's. :)
There are not many shops in the village. Maybe five? Quaint.

And we'll close the blog post with a second of my favorite photo's from the trip. Sheep. They are completely unfazed by the hundreds of tourist trampling through their pasture.

Raindrops on roses...

2011-06-20T13:15:00.009-06:00

I heard the most alarming thing on the news last week; England is suffering from drought-like conditions. I think that is alarming as it seems that we've had ample rainfall so far this year. Last Friday as I was walking home from campus, in the rain, I spotted a mamma duck and her gaggle of ducklings feeding along the brook in the park near my house. This evening, when it started to rain again (for the record it also rained Saturday and Sunday...), I grabbed my camera and went back to the park to see if I could snap a few photo's of the ducklings.

(Okay, this is a rose, not a duck.)

Here is mamma duck in action. She jumps up to grab the tassels of the weeds and pulls it down for the kiddies to eat the bugs along its stem.

You'll have to click on the photo to enlarge, and then look along the water line to see tiny little brown blobs. Those are the ducklings. You want better pictures of ducklings? Go to the Boston Public Gardens 'cause real life ducklings are hard to photograph! (Or, buy me a better camera. :)

Here they are making a run for it.

While I had my camera out, I'll walk you through my almost daily journey through this park. On nice days I do my morning reading in front of the fountain, eat lunch, and then walk on to campus to write up on what I've read. It's a favorite place for lunch hang-out and sometimes I do get a little distracted watching people.

I am now walking on the path to exit the park. (This is around where the duckies were hanging out.)

Continuing along the path.

And now I'm exiting the park. (Also used as an entrance upon my return home.) I like to think of these different areas as outdoor rooms. This park has three or four such rooms with very different atmospheres. If you click to enlarge this photo you can see that it is still raining. It was difficult to snap the photo's while holding an umbrella overhead.

Cardiff

2011-06-12T11:13:00.013-06:00

I took a day trip to Cardiff yesterday. Because I don't have a car (and too afraid to drive here to rent) I'm kind of limited to what and where I get to travel. There is a bus company based out of Cheltenham that does excursions, mostly shopping trips for older people, but the trips are fairly cheap. Yesterday was their monthly trip to Cardiff. Most of the passengers were indeed elderly and then some grandparents with their grand kids. Sitting directly behind me was an old man sporting a cream color fleece jacket with images of tan kittens on the bottom, and his deaf wife. The entire journey he whistled, hummed, repeated overheard conversations under his breath and pointed to every pasture filled with sheep, pigs, ponies and cows. Not sure that his wife isn't faking her deafness.

The forecast had called for rain, but I lucked out and it was sunny the entire day. (Sunny being relative. You can tell from the pictures that there were many clouds in the sky. But I was actually able to remove my jacket for an hour and didn't open my umbrella once, so that was pretty successful.)

I went to the museum. It's pretty big and is a mixture of natural history and art and lots of Welsh culture. I usually get a headache after spending an hour or so in a museum. I think it's a mixture of shifting focus from reading tiny placards and then trying to stare at a huge painting. Add the fact that the placards are written in Welsh first and English second and I didn't last more than an hour.

The picture below is the top of the city hall, which is next to the museum and the picture on the right is United Kingdom Coat of Arms and then Welsh dragons.

The next two photo's are locations from Torchwood. Don't know what that is? Missing out. (Sorry Dr. Who fans, I couldn't find the Tardis.)

Finally got to see my first castle. Not sure that moat would really keep out that many invaders...

Along the castle wall are carved animals. This one is my favorite.
And here are more...

And some more....(I did take a picture of every animal but I will spare you.)

Behind the castle is a park. I did have to do some homework during the day (I get too sick if I read on the bus) and the park was the perfect place to catch up on my reading. The river Taff runs through Cardiff, which is to the left of these large knobbly trees. Even though I was cold, there were a fair amount of people out swimming in the river. I love the carved flowers in the tree trunk.

There must be something in the water here in the UK because I've turned into a hobbit too! I have no idea what camera setting the woman put my camera on to give me such short legs.

As I was walking back to the bus a naked bike tour rode past. These were my thoughts as they rode past:
a) good thing for them the weather forecast turned out to be wrong
b) men of Wales are mostly uncircumcised (what? you'd look too.)
c) I wouldn't care about people seeing me nude, but I wouldn't want a bike seat up my bum.

London

2011-05-08T14:32:00.011-06:00

This past week Melyn's husband had to come to London for work. Melyn packed her bags and came along for the trip. I hopped a bus to London and spent Wed and Thursday doing the tourist thing and catching up. (Okay, we definitely did more talking than touring.) (I also have to mention how awesome Melyn's husband is. Even though he was the one working and needed to be alert, he slept on the floor Wed night so that I could stay over in the hotel.)

When I lived on the East Coast I loved taking the China town bus in to NYC. Some people like trains. I like buses. Maybe it's the beatnik in me that feels it's the closest to hopping the rails, or hitchhiking. Like you're running away, if only for a day.

I was afraid the weather wasn't going to be kind to us. Just as the bus pulled into London, the clouds opened wide. I'm not one to take a taxi, especially as the hotel was only a mile from the bus depot, but I was so turned around and it was raining so hard, I had no choice. Note to any travelers - taxi's in the UK are NOT cheap! Fortunately the skies cleared up as Melyn and I headed out on our first adventure.

She and her husband had purchased a 24 hour bus tour the evening before, so we headed to the red bus to catch it towards our first destination. A bus tour operator from a different company tried to runaway with me.

After riding around town, we headed out to the War Museum. Looking for a place to eat, Melyn spotted an Egyptian restaurant on the corner of our street. I can't say exactly what freaked me out about the place, but all the little hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. Melyn convinced me to at least take a look inside. It took a good 10 minutes of looking at the menu before I was willing to stay. And it turned out to be so very delicious! As Melyn and her husband spend time in Arabic speaking countries, she is learning the language and out of instinct responded to the server as he sat us at the table. He was so delighted with this tall Caucasian woman knowing his language and where he was from that he through in a few extra freebies for us. Melyn ordered a lemonade with crushed mint. I can't wait to try to make this at home. Best thing I've tasted this year! Once the server found out that I lived in the UK he was trying to invite himself to come visit me. It was an odd day with four different occasions of men excessively flirt with me.

These are inside the restaurant. They made Melyn scrunch down. (I tower over most people here in Cheltenham, so it was odd the first few minutes of hanging out with her. I forgot what it was like to be short again.)

After lunch we went to the War Museum. It was odd to see history from a non-U.S. perspective. I have a strong fascination with WWII as it is. It was humbling to look at the impact of the war on the UK and to be reminded that it happened directly on this land. It's something that America hasn't really experienced since the Civil War. No pictures of the museum though.

The two pics below are some of the more famous landmarks. The London Eye (um, ferris wheel) and Parliament. (Also known as Big Ben though our tour operator said that Big Ben is actually the bell in the tower. Not the tower itself.)

The next day we walked toward Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the Guards. Here I am petting one of the Queen's horses. (I don't know if that's what they are officially called, but that's what I referred to them as.) The second pic is as the fresh guards are marching towards Buckingham Palace. It was very Wizard of Oz'ish.

Later in the day we walked up to the British Museum. We didn't get to spend much time in there, but what we did get to see was pretty awesome. The pic on the left is me and Zeus. We also spent some time in the National Gallery and I dragged poor Melyn into almost every used bookstore that we passed along the way. (I'm on a very specific quest for buying certain British books while here.)

Sadly the day ended much to quickly and we had to say good-bye. Melyn and her husband were kind enough to walk me part way to the bus depot (I seriously have never felt so lost in a city before.)

And one of the best things about the trip?!? American Candy! Melyn was kind enough to smuggle some of my favorites over here. I did a calculation on the gum, and if I conserve myself to two sticks a day, this will last me for a little over two months. I really hope someone else comes for a visit soon there after...

London was fun, but as the bus entered the Cotswolds, and I gazed out on the rolling hills and sheep pastueres, I was reminded of how happy I am that I chose this area for graduate school.

The Royal Wedding

2011-05-02T04:57:00.014-06:00

I've always wanted to elope. I want a small wedding, without the hassle and anxiety of waiting and preparing and all the questions and noisy neighbors. But I do want the magical "it" dress. Probably kind of hard to elope AND have the perfect dress. And I've never wanted a traditional reception. My ideal reception would be a parade float. Yes, you read that correctly. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a "Just Married" float where you toss out favors to people lined up on the street? Maybe this is the Louisiana blood in me, or the fact that I grew up in marching bands, but I LOVE parades and think it would be just crazy fun to have a "Just Married" float. Yeah, it'll truly be a special man who is willing to do this for me...

Last Friday was the Royal Wedding. They were broadcasting it at the Imperial Gardens during the Cheltenham Jazz Festival. I'll admit, I teared up just a bit whenever the crown cheered and raised their flags. (I also cry during parades, road races, and any other large scale crowd gathering event.) There were little kids wearing crowns, tiara's and wedding veils. People wearing paper faces of the Queen, William, Harry and Kate. And yes, there were more than a handful of women dressed in wedding attire. There were picnics and champagne and general well wishing. And a mumble through the crowd as everyone said to the person standing next to them "For richer or richer" instead of "for richer or poorer".

As I mentioned, this is also the weekend of the Jazz Festival. Jamie Cullum was the hot ticket that I would have given up eating for a week to watch, but his concert was sold out before the tickets were actually released on line. There was also Cleo Lane, whom I saw in concert a long time ago and wasn't really my favorite so not in a huge rush to see her again. Mostly I've walked around, enjoyed the sunshine, listened to the free bands in the open stage (lots of high school jazz bands etc) and perused the shopping stalls.

Nothing says "jazz" like garlic...

And could I interest you in some sausages and potatoes? All of the food vendors had these giant round skillets. I don't recall seeing anything like this in the states. HUGE!

I also wanted to share with you my run venue this past week. I love that a five miler can take me from town center to country side. On Tuesday a herd of cattle were grazing through this field. Of course by the time I could run the route again on Friday the cows had gone off to graze elsewhere. Nevertheless, I love the tree, yellow flowers and wooden fence.

I'm always a little afraid of running on the little country roads because I have a tendency to forget which side to run on. This little side tour took me through a pasture where I saw Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the other rabbits of Watership Down hopping through the tall grass. There were sheep pastures to the left and right, and a few peacocks perched on a fence that I could barely see through the thicket of branches. And I wondered if the person who erected these gates thought they resembled the pearly gates of Heaven.

babysitting British style

2011-04-09T14:37:00.002-06:00

I inadvertently got roped into babysitting this weekend. And by roped in, I mean, these kids kind of appear and the adults who are supposed to be taking care of them aren't around. 10:30 p.m. and I walked past the living room to see two kids still up, in their day clothes, eating jelly-beans and watching Sponge Bob. I'm not an experienced parent, but even I know that's probably not ideal. I get them changed into p.j.'s and then have to figure out if a five year old needs helping brushing his teeth.

The funniest part of the weekend is trying to have a conversation with the two kids. I don't speak British English and they don't speak American English. Adults can figure out what the other person means, but a 5-year old doesn't have the skill to work out context. These were my favorite conversations:

Me to the child who is being too rough with one of the cats: "be nice to the red cat."
Child: "What's a red cat?"
Me pointing to the red fur cat
Child: "The ginger cat?"
Me: "Yes, the red cat."
Child: "What do you call red things?"
Me: "red"

Child watching Sponge Bob: "What does zero dollars mean?"
Me: "you have no money."
Child: "What is a dollar."
6 year old child who is smarter than me: "it's like zero pounds."
Me to myself: "Oh, that's what he didn't understand..."

Me to child: "C'mon, let's put on your pants."
Child, looking down at his Cars underoos. "I have pants on."
Me holding up his jeans. "Put these on. We call these pants in America."

Me: "What time is your Mom coming back?"
5 year old looking quizzically at me and then at 6 year old
6 year old: "You mum."
Really, does Mom and Mum sound that different to a 5 year old?

Child wanting to play: "I'm the king of the castle, you're a dirty rascal"
Me trying to explain that we don't have kings or castles in America

Then there were the conversations that maybe parents get tired of, but makes me really want kids, and those were about not putting rocks in the back pack with the clothes, eating pears for lunch even if you don't like pears because pears are all we have, tickling and pillow fights are fun and we can play as long as we have a little control, yes it's annoying that the 5 year old wants to follow you around, but its also very sweet and if he took your favorite rock either find a new favorite rock or ask him if you can have it back, and general rambunctiousness.

Hypoglycemia

2011-04-03T04:46:00.002-06:00

I love order and routine. Sometimes I don't think about it. Order, like air, exist in my life. Sometimes I do feel a little controlled by my obsessive need to control everything around me. I know that it drives other people crazy. Sometimes things occur that make me remember there are reasons that I am methodical in certain aspects of my life. Eating and Exercising are two of those things.

Anyone who has every tried to make plans with me knows that I won't give up exercise for social occasions and that eating food (when, how much, what kind) is always on my mind. These seem like small things but they have a huge impact on my relationship with other people. Sometimes I think my friends think it is my preference to be this way. And since I've been this way for such a long time, I think it's my preference too.

The past few weeks have reminded me that it's not a preference but a necessity. I have always had hypoglycemia. I'm very active and rarely hungry. Without sticking to a formal eating pattern that includes when, and what I'm eating, this trio gets me into trouble. It's usually when I'm out walking and I realize I don't have enough gas in the tank. There is no light going off to say fuel up, but strikes suddenly. This is happening with increasing frequency the past few weeks. Yesterday was the scariest episode I've had in a while.

I left the research office in time to walk to the mart to pick up dinner before watching conference. The moment I left my office I knew that my glucose level was too low. You know how, when a camera takes a picture it takes a second for the shutter to reset before you can take a new picture? My vision was like that. A mere blink would take seconds before my vision would restore. I couldn't judge distance and I was afraid I was going to get hit crossing the road. Walking is difficult as I can't really feel my body and I have to remind myself that I have feet and they do work and to trust they will get me where I need to go. Kind of like when you give the reigns over to the horse and trust he'll get you home safely. Walking into the mart I tried to grab food as quickly as possible. A banana, orange, bread, sliced chicken breast, humus, a small stick of cheese. Standing in the check out line sweat was pouring off of me. I usually do get sweaty in these situations, but this was bad. It was trickling down my back and front, dripping off my nose, my hair became visibly damp. I don't sweat this badly when I work out!

I bought my food, sat down in the closest chair and struggled to peel the banana. I felt better. A nibble of cheese and I felt like I could walk to conference. Outside the breezy 60 degree weather chilled my sweaty body to the bone. I walked to church, ate a portion of my new rations and tried to stay awake through conference. I was wiped out the rest of the evening.

And I thought laying on the kitchen floor with my coat still on and my book bag in hand the other night was bad.

All because I now get up two hours later than I have the past fifteen-years and I work out at a different time of day and I don't have the means to pack and prepare lots of food at the research office.

So next time you want me to rearrange my day to do something fun, please don't think it's because I don't like you, or because I'm anti-social. My routine is almost a case of life and unconsciousness.

Ducks make me happy.

2011-04-02T13:08:00.011-06:00

My first paper is due at the very end of April. During a meeting with my supervisors last week I asked if they wanted to see a draft of the paper prior to the due date. I shouldn't have asked. They decided that would be a good idea, and due to the Easter break, set the due date for the 4th which is in two days. I have never worked so hard on a small paper and it still be in complete disarray. I'm already 1,000 words over the limit and I haven't even got to three points of the paper. I realize it's a draft, but this is the first work my supervisors are seeing and I want it to be tight and buttoned up. That's why I'm now avoiding working on it by giving my weekly blog update.

Below are pics of my research office. The pic on the left is the seat I prefer to sit in. There is not designated space, but is first come-first serve. However, most often I get my preference, especially on Friday as the day the Muslim men go to the Mosque. And as 95% of the people I share the office with are Muslim men, the office is usually empty on Friday. And sadly, anytime new conflicts arise in Libya.

You can see that I apparently need three desk spaces for my homework. You may be able to see the prayer rugs in the back of the second picture. The only thing I find strange about prayer time is that those who aren't praying are walking around, talking, and being noisy while the others are praying. I'm so used to the reverent super-quiet way of praying.

I mapped my route the other day and realized that most days I am walking 6 miles between campus, the shop or errands and home. On top of running 5 or 6 miles or going to the gym. No wonder I want to eat a loaf of bread when I get home in the evening!

However, the time it takes me to walk to and from would certainly be shorter if I didn't stop to take a picture of every flower, bee and bird on my way!

The two below are scenes from Christ Church Road. I have no idea what the little flower like leafs are on the left but I thought they were very adorable. The pic on the right is a garden of flowers with Christ Church in the background. There is no good angle to get a good photo of the entirety of the magnificent church. Beautiful church. Hate the green doors.

This was from this morning, walking around The Park campus before heading into the office. Look at that cute little duck! There were about 8 or 9 ducks skimming around on the pond while the adults looked on and quacked encouragement and instruction.
Why is it that I love bats but hate squirrels? Love ducks but hate seagulls?

I love that it looks like the mallard is talking to me on the left. He's saying "Hey Lady! Leave me alone and go do your homework." The pic on the right is two seagulls perched on the little blue boat house. My only wish would be for a better camera, one that I could control focus and shutter speed, instead of my little crap point and shoot.

Harlequin

2011-03-27T08:43:00.008-06:00

I think it only fitting that I would get a job at a place called Harlequin, as I do seem to be having a love affair with this town.

Harlequin Tea Room and Curio is a small shop on High Street. (My favorite used bookstore, Moss, that I blogged about previously. is on the side street directly across from the tea room.) We have every day tea, herbal infusions, coffee and hot chocolate, and an assortment of tea cakes and sandwiches. There are also collectibles and cute knick-knacks.

The photo below is looking into the shop from the front door. Take a seat please and I will come take your order.
The photo on the left is looking from the counter out into the store. That is an assortment of quilts, linen and lace work that is for sale. The photo on the right are the tea pots we use. The smaller pots are used for tea for one. The larger pots are tea for two. I already have a few favorite pots and cups and saucers. I didn't take a photo of the espresso machine, but it's your standard shiny silver espresso machine you'd find in a coffee shop. And I LOVE the smell when we grind the coffee beans and make a fresh cup. I still don't quiet know the difference between a cappucino and a latte, but not to worry, I have a cheat sheet to follow when you order.

The picture on the right is a cute petite four tray that was made using various china saucers. The owner makes them herself. I think this coming Thursday I'll be getting to help sort out china sets in the store room and help make a few too.

The pictures below are from today. My cell phone didn't automatically adjust to British Summer Time (Daylight Savings Time) and church is a 40-50 minute walk from my home so I didn't make it. I walked to the Pittville Park instead. On the left is the Pump Room. I think the name has something to do with the spa waters. (Cheltenham is a "spa" town) The building is used today for concerts and theater events. The photo on the right is a bridge in the little pond. Pittville Park reminds me of Central Park in NYC, only much, much, much smaller.

Going Green

2011-03-20T12:07:00.011-06:00

My head is pounding as I've been moving from the state of Ignorance to the state of Confusion while wondering how many miles to go before I reach the state of Aha! (I'm not even going to worry about packing my bags to the state of Knowledge and Wisdom for sometime to come. I've been dutiful working on trying to cram as many books and academic articles into my head as it can possibly hold at one time. Kind of like eating too much pizza, it taste really good at first and suddenly you are stuffed beyond capacity.

Despite the somewhat sickening feeling of progression, I have been loving most every moment. I experienced this when working on my MBA - I really love doing academic research and writing!

There are certain things that have happened enough to me that I should recognize the occurrence as it's happening but I still struggle during the incident. Getting a job and meeting boys are two big ones that come to mind.

Jobs: The morning I was scheduled to interview with CAP Utah last January, I was overcome with a great desire to NOT go to the interview. I had several other offers and I really, really, really did not want to go. I got the job almost immediately. The same thing happened with the job move to D.C., and one of my most favorite jobs, working at New Frontiers.

Thursday morning I was scheduled to go help out at a tea-room to see how I "got on". I woke up with such dread and discouragement and tried in earnest to talk myself out of going. What finally got me out of the door was my honor because I had promised that I would go in for a few hours. I got the job, and furthermore, the girl that I'll be working with talked a lot about how many people have applied because of redundancies. (I can't wait to take photo's to post them for you! The tea-room is just about as lovely as can be!) You would think I'd recognize this feeling at this point.

Boys: I am just ridiculous when it comes to boys! I have ruined more opportunities by sheer stupidity than you would think would be humanly possible. No blog post could do it service.

Tuesday, the most adorable man that I have ever met came knocking on the door to let us know about the changes to recycling. As I am not the decision maker in the house I normally get my flat mate for these calls, but I really wanted to talk to this guy. We talked for about 15 minutes. Talking about the weather and sports has never been so interesting to me. As he was getting ready to leave he said "Oh, let me get your name and number."
Me: "My name is Heidi. I don't know my number."
Him: pause "It's for the Council anyway so that's okay."
and the conversation quickly ends. The next day looking at the Council website regarding the street canvassers it clearly stated that the people will not ask for personal contact information. I did understand in the moment that he was asking specifically for my number because he wanted it for himself but I had no idea how to explain that I don't know my number off the top of my head but I'd be happy to get it for him. Ugh! being boy-crazy and boy-stupid is a really bad combination.

Anyway, the part of the post that any of you care about - the week in photos.

This is one of my favorite photo's of the past two months. There is something about the green cars and the yellow house that is delicious like sunshine. The lime green (non-beetle) car makes me want to go for a long drive in the rolling country side with a long cream scarf streaming behind me.

The day that I took the above photo I was leaving campus and spotted the green van in the parking lot. It makes me want to go to a cabin on the lake. Love the red rims! Since I was taken with the idea of green cars this week, I thought I'd add the cute little Green Coffee Machine that is the town center. The man who operates it is twice as large as the cab of his 'truck'!

What could be more green than Spring? Spring is getting more into bloom around here. The daffodils are right outside my research office. The photo on the right is on my way home from my research office. Some photo's never can do justice to how things make you feel in real life. This is one of them. I loved the sunshine streaming through the white blossoms and the contrast of the pink and white.

And this has nothing to do with Spring or green but I think it's really funny. It's a sign at an intersection crossing. I love the "If you are visually impaired" part because um, how are you going to read the sign if you are visually impaired?

The Flat

2011-03-13T13:16:00.019-06:00

Now that I've been here for almost two months (my time here is going so quickly!) I thought I would finally post some photo's from around my flat. I wasn't at all sure that I would stay in this flat when I first arrived, it usually does take me a month or two to figure out if I can handle quirks of a place, but I feel pretty settled now, feeling a little bit more like this is "home" instead of someone just renting a room.

First I'll tell you briefly about my flat mates - all men.

1 - He is the owner. I'm guessing he's a little over 40, has a sister with my name, has his own marketing company, but earns most of his living as a DJ. His office is the garage and he is up till 4 or 5 in the morning making his mixes. Kind of jittery, but very easy going.

2 - In the room next to mine. He's a chef. He also works late and I usually don't see him. When he is home he spends most of his time in his room. Sometimes his girlfriend is over and she is the most giggly person I've ever heard. In fact I've decided the reason I'm not in a relationship is because I could never just giggle day after day after day. No one is that amusing to me. He's also nice, when I do see him. And he is Winston the Cat's master. (there might be some jealous feelings that Winston hangs out in my room more often now...)

3 - This is a new guy who just moved in a month ago, replacing a young French student who was here on exchange. The new guy is probably also a bit over 40. He's an IT professional from Bournemouth. He was contracted to work here in Cheltenham for only a few months and when he found out he'd be here through the rest of the year decided to find something more permanent than just a room let. I talk to the him the most. In fact, his moving in made me feel more comfortable because he hangs out in the common rooms, watches t.v. and socializes so I feel like I don't need to stay buried in my own room all the time.

4 - There was another Frenchmen who lived here, but he and his girlfriend just moved into an apartment together, so he has not been replaced yet. The owner is trying to find another female as that balances out the house better.

Then there is Sophie the Cat and Winston the Cat and they don't get along with one another at all.

So...pics.. The pic on your left is the front of the house, the center pic is the back yard, directly out my 2nd level bedroom window. The far pic is zoomed in on a church steeple that I can see from my window while I'm working at my desk. I like how the back yard is called a "garden". I've not heard one person refer to their plot of earth as a "yard". It's always a "garden". I think calling it a garden makes you feel more inclined to do something with it rather than just having a square of grass that you water and mow. It's also nice with all the growth that you can't see into your neighbors outdoor living space.

This is my bedroom window with the neighbor's cat coming up for a visit. He and Winston are playmates.

The living room: The decorating in the flat is unique. I wouldn't really call it masculine and wonder if it's not leftover remnants of a previous relationship. I love the giant chess set. Sophie is in the background of the center pic. And the right is a pic of two little faerie figures on the edge of the t.v.

A tall wooden bird and a giant wooden turtle in the living room. I like them.

The pic on the left is the mail on the floor. It scares me every time it's delivered. The Royal Post man really chucks it through the door. The mail carriers here ride bikes with giant baskets on the front. When going from house to house, the stand on one pedal, pushing the bike along like a scooter. The pic in the center is the electric tea kettle. I love this thing. I love herbal infusions, hot ovaltine, and barley/chicory drinks so this thing is wonderful! The little things on the right? Poached egg holders. Everyone in this house eats poached eggs almost every day. yuck!! But I do think the egg holders are kind of cute.

The pic on the left is the washer AND the dryer. Perhaps small apartments in the big cities in the States have these, but I've never used one before. However, the pic in the center is demonstrating how one flat mate actually dries his clothes; draped around the house. As you may know, I hate drying in a dryer, so I'm very happy that draping clothes around the house to dry is completely acceptable. The pic on the right is in the shower room. (The toilet is in one room. the bathtub is in a different room.) I wish you could really see how many cobwebs are on these lights. It's not AS spooky as this picture looks, but the style of light coupled with the cobwebs is kind of Silver Dollar City haunted hous'ish'.

I would put up a picture of my room, but it's messy (typical) and small, which doesn't help the messy factor. But it's no smaller than any standard size room in Boston and I have seen smaller. It's pink with purple and white curtains and has a lovely picture of a Valentine type heart, which I love despite the fact that most people assume that I don't like girly and flowery things...

Gut Feelings

2011-03-04T14:13:00.005-07:00

When I started planning on doing my PhD in the UK I made a spreadsheet ('cause I like doing that) that ranked my top choice schools. The criteria were UK ranking, world ranking, accreditation, followed by location, cost of living, and so forth. I had about ten schools on the list. There were four schools that meet all the criteria that I needed, and they were at the very top of the list, a pack at the bottom that were fallback plans and then there was the school that I'm currently attending, UofG. It was nestled somewhere in the middle of the pack. I honestly couldn't tell you how it even made it on the list, let alone into the middle of the rankings.

The plan was to start school in fall 2011. In Sept of 2010, when I knew that I really, really, really wanted to start in the winter term at the beginning of 2011, my list got cut to three schools. Not many schools had a winter start date. Suddenly my list consisted of one school from the top four of my list, school A, one school that I hadn't considered but took winter students, and UofG. Still holding it's own in the middle of the pack.

Getting my degree from an AASCB school is very important for finding teaching jobs back in the US and so I was very focused on school A. I contacted several professors, worked really hard on my proposal, but somewhere in it, I got the feeling that it wasn't the school I wanted to go to. I sent off two proposals and applications right before heading to my Zurich trip. I knew before I even left that regardless of accreditation I really wanted to go to UofG.

Today I met a fellow PhD student who is from Toronto. She just transferred to UofG in January. From, wait for it, school A! The AASCB school that I felt I needed to go to, but didn't feel good about. She faces some of the same accreditation issues that I do and this is also why she chose school A. She said that despite it's very high ranking and accreditation, the business school is horrible. Professors are miserable and leaving left and right and there is no guidance for doctoral students and many quit the program.

How completely bizarre is that? I love to plan and organize and make my spreadsheets, but after all the intellectual thinking is done I sit back and listen to what my gut tells me. (well, it's a bit more spiritual than just my gut...) It always leads me to the right path. (unfortunately, sometimes the "right" path is also the painful path. The D.C. years are a testament to that.)

Sometimes I really like my gut.

(I hadn't planned on a post today and don't have any new photo's, but what's a post without a photo? I thought I'd share an oldie but a goody from my 2009 trip to Disney World. :) )

Traffic

2011-03-01T05:21:00.006-07:00

As a pedestrian, when I move to a new city it takes me a few weeks to figure out the flow of traffic and traffic lights. Which red lights stay red longer, which intersection gets a green arrow first, which small streets are safer to jay walk, etc. That adjustment has taken a little longer here because I have to stop and think about what side of the street the car will be coming from. And there are one way streets and traffic rotary's and strange intersections that even the drivers don't seem to know how to maneuver. I basically look like an owl when I'm preparing to cross the road. I swivel my head in all directions just to make sure the coast is clear. (And when I have the right of way I always like to make contact with the driver. Even though I understand that cars travel on the opposite side of the road, and drivers drive on the right side of the car, I have ingrained instincts to look at the left of the car for the driver. And the driver's not there!)

I first learned to drive in Boston, having to deal with rush hour traffic going through Harvard Square. This intersection below reminds me of that chaos just on a smaller scale. The first picture is as I'm walking to class at FCH and then the second picture is coming back from FCH. This is where I saw an accident last week. I know it doesn't seem difficult in this pics, but there are six different traffic patterns that happens here. It's kind of like when you put together those little race tracks that have those multi-line connectors so you can make figure 8 tracks.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved here was how noisy the traffic is. You expect traffic noise a big city. Everyone talks about how much American's drive and Europeans walk everywhere and Cheltenham is a small condensed town so you don't really think there will be much driving. But there is. And it's really noisy. Maybe it's that the little toy cars here are noisier than American cars? or maybe it's on big streets where there is consistent traffic there is a dull hum and you don't notice a car zipping around the corner?

These are photo's of the small little cars here. Even "big" cars like Audi and Mercedes and other luxury cars are very small. I wish I could have gotten a photo of me standing next to the Jeep in the photo on the left. It's like a little toy jeep. And you can see that most parking is done on lots in front of houses. The pic on the right is a row of small cars.

As for traffic on the sidewalk and the grocery store? I still haven't figured it out. Stairs and escalators follow the same driving pattern of walking/driving on the left, instead of the right, but the grocery store seems to be a free-for-all.

Libya

2011-02-22T06:15:00.003-07:00

One reason I wanted to come to the UK for graduate school was to gain a more global perspective of the world around me. The quality of life is similar between the US and the UK but there is a huge difference in censorship, accessibility and importance to knowing what is going on in the world around you.

There are five of us students who started the doctorate business program this February. Me and four Middle Eastern men; three of which are from Libya. One of these men has his wife and three children still in Libya and they had anticipated moving here in a few months.

None of these men were in class last night as violent protest erupted in Libya yesterday.

Egypt, Tunisia, Libya. These wars and protest and politically unstable countries affect immediate people that you know here in the UK. Talking with a flatmate who has family in the US and travels there quiet a bit understands how American's are about international news. It's not that it isn't important to us, but it doesn't have the same immediacy. And as he put it, when refugees move to the US they want to become American but when refugees move to the UK they still want to be Egyptians or Libyans etc.

In the US if you want to know what is going on internationally you have to go out searching for the information. It's not coming to you. And it is so censored. I don't mean politically censored so that it's more American centric and the US is so great. Sure, every country does a bit of that, but what I mean is it is a polished, clean and censored version of war and violence and the ravages on the human body and life. And that makes it easier to think it's not really all that bad. Until you are sitting in a classroom where half your classmates are missing because they have family on the other side of a border that can't be crossed.

Pasties

2011-02-18T05:57:00.004-07:00

When I think of food from the UK I think Fish & Chips. (walked past a fish & chip place this morning called The Codfather.) I had never heard of a pasty until a few months ago when my co-workers went to a British shop in Salt Lake for lunch. But pasties are a HUGE deal here.

The first week I moved here I had two of them. (not in one day...) That first week was so cold and wet and my insides were a shaky anxious mess and those pasties set me right.

What is a pasty? It's basically a pot pie shaped like a calzone. Lots of buttery flaky crust surrounding piping hot chicken and vegetables gooieness. They can't be healthy for you, but it feels like eating a pocket of sunshine on a cold drizzly day.

I give you the pasty.

Fortunately, the day that I ate this one, I had just signed up at a small gym near my house. Not realizing that weights were measured in kilograms rather than pounds, I had a very intense work out. Not that a pasty is great recovery food, but I don't think it did much damage either. As long as I don't eat them on a regular basis...

This is my favorite shop for them, and as you can read on the door, they are voted best pasty in Cheltenham. It's no lie. I wanted to get better photo's of the shop, but the girl working the counter flipped out when I started taking pictures. I did ask this fellow if he minded me taking the picture. He didn't. There are a few rows of tables and chairs in front as well, and even on the wettest days people are sitting there drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.

(and don't let the Extra 'gum' on the counter fool you. It is not normal sticks of gum like in the States.)

The Library

2011-02-13T04:31:00.006-07:00

Previously I posted a few pictures of both campus that I am working on: Francis Close Hall and The Park. Clearly I currently have a favorite - FCH. The pictures below are all of the library. Nice library huh?

The picture on the right is inside the court yard. I am standing on the ground in the south-east corner. There are several reading benches around so I'm sure once it's warmer (dryer?) I will spend able time out there. I went on a little self guided tour of the building. The upper floor are rows of offices tucked in nooks and crannies and eaves. The picture on the left is taken from the upper level, south-west corner. Anyone have a pet dragon I can borrow for the year?

It is a maze in there and I had no idea how to get out. Once on the ground floor I spotted a man coming out of his office and I had to ask him how to get out. He asked, "Where do you want to go?" I said "Outside of this building." He opened a blue wooden door and I was suddenly outside.

The doors: This picture on the left looks like a front door. You can go in it, but it's not the main door for the library. It only leads you up a staircase to the upper level offices. The door on the right is similar to the blue door I exited. I don't think they are supposed to be used by students...I love the architecture of these doors. However, the main entrance to the library is a modern glass, handicapped accessible, security gate type door you'd find at most libraries. Not very exciting.

Some favorite angles. When I was fourteen or so, my Young Women leader's husband was building a small castle in the woods of the Ozark Mountains. Sounds really cool but it was probably very close to what living and building a castle back in the olden times was really like. They lived in the basement, which was somewhat moderized, but small and dark, while they slowly built each floor, buttresses and towers. It was built from local rock and sand that they picked up and put in their truck by hand and dumped out by hand. On many occasions I got to help build the castle. I helped load up sand, collect rocks, mix cement, lay the rocks, set flooring, etc. I basically got to build one small tower by myself. By the time I left home the castle was still incomplete. Not sure that it ever was completed, but it was such a cool experience.

I think about that when I walk past the walls of the FCH library. I look at the stones and wonder about the hands that collected the rocks and laid the walls and the oxen that carted the material over the Cotswolds. (We at least did have a truck.) And I try to remind myself that hand building a castle is not in my five year, ten year, or any year plan. Because it would be kind of cool...

A spring day walk in Feb

2011-02-08T08:52:00.008-07:00

Today has been a very bright and warm day. I'm not sure why American's think British weather is crap because so far even the worst day has been miles above the Salt Lake inversion and the blizzards of Boston.

My goal today was to walk around Pittville park and check out a second-hand bookstore. The bookstore was the last thing I did, but I have to start with its photo. Moss Books. It was amazing! The sheer madness of the tiny space with an amazingly large and current volume of books just might make its way into my top five favorite bookstores. Don't go there with a particular book in mind and go wearing something you don't mind crawling around on the floor in. It's organized to a degree but it's not neat and pristine like big box bookstore. There are rows within rows within rows of books and a certain amount of bending, kneeling, and shuffling is needed to break the iceberg of books. I did find a Penguin classic of sociology terms which will come in handy for my thesis so I feel justified in wrapping this adventure up in the name of academic pursuits.

A few weeks ago, in the blog about my own personal British Invasion I talked about Emerson Lake and Palmer. One of my favorite's from them was a piece called Mars, the Bringer of War. (most awesome 70's rock cover of a classical piece ever!) A few years later, I discovered the original in The Planets, composed by Gustav Holst. He was born Sept 21, 1874 in Cheltenham. The photo on the left is his birthplace. (the door closest to you, with the little plaque on the wall.) Almost directly across the street is the entrance to Pittville Park (an unfortunate name for a lovely park). The park was created in the early 1820's. I try to imagine what it was like for little Gustav, out walking in the park, creating music in his head.

I took lots and lots of pictures of the park, but sunny afternoons are not the best for photography and I'd like to get better shots. So stay tuned throughout the year for more Pittsville Park photos. I did however want to include these two. The one on the left, taken on Feb 8, 2011 is a batch of crocus in full bloom. There are quiet a few spring flowers already up around the park. February! I don't know if that is normal for these parts but I sure like it! The second photo is a peacock. I know the fence kind of distracts but I wanted to include it. Inside the park are three large aviary cages. I've seen peacocks in real life before but you forget just how beautiful their plumage is and with the bright sunlight shining on its iridescent blue and green feathers I just had to take a photo if only to remember it in my own mind.

The photo below is a row of 8 "cookie cutter houses" along the road to Pittville Park. Wonder what the HOA by-laws are with those?

Feed the Birds

2011-02-03T11:53:00.010-07:00

I've been here in Cheltenham for two weeks. When I first move to a place where an accent is different than what I am used to, I mentally repeat what people say, in their accent. Not necessarily conversations that I'm engaged in, but random conversations that I overhear. I do this until the accent doesn't seem strange anymore. Like someone suffering from PTSD mentally repeating an incident until the strange seems ordinary. But less traumatic.

I've been here for two weeks and I am repeating internal conversations less and less. And I don't worry about my accent anymore. And I've started feeling confident about taking short cuts, like cutting through the train station on my way to one section of town, saving a good two block walk. I'm not pulling out my well wrinkled town map as much either. I'm starting to feel at home.

It hasn't really taken too much time to feel like I fit in but there have been a few moments that I've felt something inside that isn't necessarily homesickness, but that's the closest word that would apply. It's not for a specific place or person (sorry my dear readers. I acknowledged a long time ago there is a part of my heart that is like the dark, cold side of the moon, where I don't miss people like normal people do.) It's a homesickness for routine, and for things. I miss going to the store and seeing familiar labels. The first week was easy because I was a visitor and on vacation, but now I am settled but don't yet belong.

But I also feel a great sense of relief. The transition to a different city and a different country has been much easier than I had any right to hope for. And has been easier than some of the more recent moves that should have been better. And it's all such a mystery how this year and the next few will play out.

For the photo part of today's introspection I give you The Old Lady and the Pigeons.

Directly off of High Street, one of the busier shopping streets, I spotted this elderly woman and her bicycle, tied down with her grocery shopping. She had some bread that she was tossing out to the birds and as she walked down the ally, the birds followed. Here are two of the photos of their journey. On the right you can barely make out the woman for all the flying pigeons.

I was on my way to the public library (nothing at all like those in the States!) and thought it would be stalkerish to follow her down the ally, so I continued on the next main street curving off of High Street. A block further, I found another ally and spotted a beautiful church in the a courtyard behind the buildings. I walked down the path and low-and-behold, I found the woman there, bike leaning against the church wall, pigeons flocking all around her. One even sitting on her shoulder. (If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll see her at the bottom right.) I tried to be discreet, as if I were taking pictures of the church, but mostly I was just fascinated, and a little sad for, this little old woman. I have a feeling that's going to be me in about sixty years.

As every photo entry seems to have an animal of some sort (and I don't really qualify pigeons as 'animals') I thought I would include this little gem of this dog looking out the window at me. I just think they're funny!

New Friends

2011-01-31T11:25:00.003-07:00

There are two cat's that live in the house: Winston and Sofie. They are not on friendly terms with one another. Sofie is a bit territorial. She came to sit with me one day while I was reading on the sofa. But only because I was in her spot and she wanted me to move. She'll purr if I pet her, but she doesn't approach for scratching and is content to be left alone.

Then there is Winston. I've been here for less than two weeks and he already seems to think we are best friends. He has to sit on my lap whenever he can, and just like Pennywhistle and Maltie, he has to follow me from room to room. Even if that includes opening the bathroom door while I'm taking a shower.

Sometimes I sleep with my window open. My room is small, and with a well working radiator and a very thick comforter, I overheat while I'm asleep. One night I shut Winston out of my room only to wake up with him curled on top of my legs. The little Romeo just came right in through the window!

Sometimes he makes me miss my little fluffies than if there was no cat here at all, but it is fun to have him around. And it's always a million times easier to make friends with a pet than a human.

The British Invasion

2011-01-30T11:48:00.004-07:00

People ask me why I chose to do grad school in the UK. I have a long list of practical reasons, but the real answer probably is a shoulder shrug and saying "why not?" But honestly, living in the UK had never been high on my destination list. With my first father, we moved quite a lot around the U.S. and my second father worked in exotic and mysterious places like Cameroon, Nigeria, and Brazil. Usually my fantasy places were warm and tropical. I don't even know when the UK came on my radar as even existing.

Like most people, music has a way of anchoring memories in my mind. The earliest memories I have include my mother singing the Beatles songs as we traveled. (moved.) (other early musical memories included a hefty dose of John Denver, my first father singing Hank Williams songs as we acted out the lyrics and learning Rhinestone Cowboy. To this day I can still sing it line for line.)

The songs that capture living in Longview, TX are Cold As Ice and Hot Blooded by Foreigner and Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. Baker Street meant MY street. It meant Chef Boy Ardee pizza kits, ravioli and spaghetti-o's, riding our bikes full speed down a steep hill, the smell of autumn leaves decaying in swimming pools. (maybe the only time that decay has a fond smell...)

Most of my early music years were introduced to me by my older sister. This trend continued well into my late teens. When I was about thirteen the new introduction was Duran Duran. I was now old enough to understand the sex appeal of musicians and I fell madly in love with every member of the group. I became an official member of their fan club and I had to rearrange all my cute cat/dog/horse posters to make way for Simon, John, Roger and Nick. (Just didn't fall so much for Andy.) Following my affair with Duran Duran came Roger Daltry and Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Powell).

Duran Duran aside, when I am in the mood for something other than classical or jazz, these are still the artist I listen to today. And speaking of jazz, several years ago came along Jamie Cullum of which I now own three of his cd's.

Also when I was about 12 or 13 I started reading James Herriott; All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, and All Things Wise and Wonderful. These were wonderful stories of a big animal veterinarian and his escapades with his clients, animal and human, in the rolling country-side. Living on a sheep farm in the rolling hills of the Ozark mountains, the difference in the stories culture to my own seemed more about antiquity and generational changes than the fact they were set in a different country.

It probably wasn't until popularity of Kenneth Brannagh and Hugh Grant that I really became aware of the UK as a place. In the past fifteen years I've probably watched about every British art house movie available in the U.S. - The Secret of Roan Innish, Cold Comfort Farm, Waking Ned Divine, Billy Elliot, Dear Frankie, and the list goes on. But I still never thought, "Gee, I'd really like to live in the U.K." From all of these movies it seemed like a sad and heart breaking place with ghost stories that get woven into your soul but not something you'd go seeking after.

So it wasn't until I started my MBA, which is through the Univ of Wales, that I considered it. But once the thought entered my head, about a week into my first course, the idea never left. It became the most practical, sensible and comforting thought I had had in a long time. And so almost two, very quick years later, I am here.

Oddly enough, just a few weeks before I moved, Gerry Rafferty passed away. All these years and I never had any idea that he was British and that Baker Street was named after a London Street. No, the song still means Longview, Texas to me.

School

2011-01-29T08:47:00.008-07:00

I've been made fun of a few times already this past week for saying "school". As in, "I am here for graduate school." or "School starts the 1st of Feb." Little children go to school. I go to university. I'd have to revisit my grammar books to diagram that sentence but I want to say "I go to THE university". Not "I go to university" like "I go to work". Saying "football" for soccer seems like an easier transition for my mouth to make so now I use the word "studies" or "class" when I tell people why I am here.

Which reminds me, when I first arrived in Cheltenham, my flatmate had sent a taxi to collect me at the bus depot. While he was arranging my luggage in the back of the car I was reading the digital directions which gave a description of who he was picking up and where to take me and said "help the lady wiv her luggage..." Had some My Fair Lady scenes flash through my head when I read that.

So speaking of school, here is the photo part of today's blog - There are four campuses for the Univ of Gloucestershire. I'll be attending two of them. The first photo's are Francis Close Hall. This is where the majority of the MRes (Master of Research) classes are held. This is also where the school and community choir rehearses. I love this campus, but it's not really in the best side of town.

There is a beautiful chapel on the grounds that I didn't capture yet. More photo's to come I'm sure.

Below is The Park Campus. Aptly named I think. It has the business school so the business part of my research will happen there. The entire campus sits on a tear drop shape of land, the buildings in the smaller part and the winding trails and duck pond of the park on the fat round bottom. The Park is in the very nice part of town. The building you see in the left photo is one of the halls of residence.

I think it's so beautiful here and it's only January. I can't wait until spring. I've been taking notes of all the parks and nooks and paths that I want to revisit once the flowers are out.

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down A Mountain

2011-01-26T13:09:00.011-07:00

I don't know if you've ever heard of that movie. Hugh Grant at the height of Hugh Grant. The only thing I remember about it was how much I wanted it to be over. Not really one I recommend, but the title popped into my head this afternoon when I went for a walk.

When I go out on walks I like to have a destination. Once I've locked the destination into my internal GPS I like to observe and think along the way. And take winding paths that come along the way. Cheltenham is small town. Sitting in my bedroom and looking out the window across the town center, I can see the country side. Today's destination was to first locate where my next Monday meeting is held and then to see how far across town I can go.

In a seven mile round trip I made it to the base of Leckhampton Hill. And when I say base, I mean, I actually followed a little public foot path and walked about the country side before coming back down to the town.

These first two photo's are of a house with a real honest-to-goodness thatched roof. This house was not sitting out in the country, but along a row of modern houses. The second photo is the gate to the open pasture. The little yellow sign says "Public Access". And yes, it was extremely muddy.

The next two photo's are me standing in the pasture. To the North is the town of Cheltenham. (I told you it's not very big.) and to the South is a large house. I know, it's not very clear, but trust me it's bordering on castle'ish.

This next photo made me laugh! School was just getting out and parents and their little grade schoolers were walking home. This dog was sitting in the window in what appears to be eager anticipation at someone coming home. Usually one would see a cat sitting in a window in such a pose. Plus, the dog is clearly a few sizes too big for that window sill!

In other news I will tell you that at midnight last night I learned that American pancakes are not the same as British pancakes.

Military Time

2011-01-25T07:31:00.018-07:00

When moving to another country you're prepared to adjust to driving patterns, language barriers and currency conversions, but it's the small things that stick out to you. Small things that will soon become normal, but for now pop out in my mind anytime I go for a walk.

First, I have yet to see anyone, walking or driving, talking on their cell phone. Or mobile as I should call it. Even though Cheltenham is a small town, it's not the sticks. People do have cell phones. They just don't seem to be on it 27/7. I don't even hear my flat mates glued to their phones.

Second, people don't seem as thirsty here as in America. In the US there are drinking fountains everywhere, plus everyone walks around with a water bottle, taking swigs every four or five steps. Like soldiers packing canteens out in the desert. I haven't seen anyone drinking from a water bottle, I don't see eco-friendly canisters for sale here (that are all the rage in the US), and there isn't even a water fountain at the church. Perhaps people here hydrate by absorbing the mist that is constantly in the air.

And the time. Everything is in military time. I'm fine up till 2, because I can easily add 2 to 12 to get 14. But somewhere around 17, 18 and 19 I just realize that it's after 3:00 p.m. but before 10:00 p.m. 10 is easy because I used to process payroll for an evening shift that ended at 22:00, or 10:00 p.m. Also, it's only 2 hours before midnight. I'm sure within a few months my mind will automatically know what time it is without these crazy calculations.

For those only interested in looking at photo's, below is something I found down a little ally way off one of the main shopping streets. It's five mosaic murals that tell a story of a parade elephant that escaped to eat peanuts. I'm not sure the story has any historical context to Cheltenham, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Getting Lost

2011-01-22T10:02:00.021-07:00

In this first week, before school starts and I get an established routine, before I go to bed at night I make a list of things to do so that I feel I'm being productive during the day. I had three task today - walk past the campus, get a phone and a hair dryer. (I didn't say these were world changing task...)

Before setting out I wrote down directions so that I could accomplish my goals in a circular route. I am usually very good with directions and map reading but with no visible sun and crazier streets than Boston I have no idea where to find North and South, Left and Right. The nice thing though is that Cheltenham is so small that I can't get lost, even if I can't find my exact destination.

After having asked for directions to campus I followed a narrow winding residential road. The two pictures below is the little street. I bet I will never walk down that street again. I have no idea where it is, or how I really got there.

A little way down I came across St. Gregory's Catholic church. I thought perhaps it's spires were going to be my campus but I was wrong. (by several blocks according to my map.) The picture on the left is the front door. The photo on the right was a small alley way next to the church. It reminded me of all the British movies I've watch through the years.

Just a few blocks away is St. Mary or St. Mark's church. I'm not sure which as it seems the map has it declared as both. I love all the moss on the roof.

The winding path finally brought me to town center where I had been yesterday. The area was packed with people. Yesterday there were people walking around. More than what you'd see walking around in Salt Lake, but today it was like walking down Broadway in New York early on a Saturday evening. Very busy.

I saw a man walking his two little terriers and I just had to ask him if I could take their photo's. I'm sure he's thinking "strange American. dogs aren't on the tourism sight seeing list." but terriers and English Sheep dogs are my most favorite dogs. (in fact, if you crossed Pennywhistle with a sheep you'd get something that resembles the terrier on the left.)

So cute! Even if the white one didn't want it's photo taken.

Jocu

2011-01-13T08:37:00.003-07:00

When I was little I wanted a pet dog. Anytime I would ask for one my dad would say "We have dogs."

We didn't have pet dogs. We had hunting dogs. That lived outside. And would go off in the woods days on end. I wanted a cute little dog that would live inside with me and be my best friend. I domesticated every other animal on the farm. I had a pet duck that I would carry around tucked up under my arm. I had my pet sheep Spider. We had a pet raccoon for a little while. And always tons of feral cats that I would tame.

One Wednesday evening, as everyone was gathering for Seminary and other church meetings, my friends the Blau's brought a pile of puppies to give away. They were plump, fluffy little black and white creatures. I feel instantly in love.

On this same fateful day, my mother just happened to purchase a small pure-bred toy poodle. My dad had said no to the mutts, but when my mother drove into the church parking lot with a paid-for dog, how could they reasonably say no to a free one?

I picked out the fluffiest little one of the bunch and named him Jocu. Yes, a reworking of Cujo. They looked like little miniature black&white St. Bernards. I loved Jocu so much.

When I moved out on my own, at the age of 16, I thought I was mature enough to take on the world. When I look back on my journal entries for that time, the most thing I talked about was missing Jocu who had to stay behind.

This morning I woke up to an empty house. Last night I found a new home for Maltie and Pennywhistle. I know the new family will love them just as much as I, and for the cats they'll be happy with who ever loves, feeds and snuggles with them. But it is quiet here and I expect to see them at every turn. It was strange to turn open the shades and not have to pull them up so the cats can look out the window. And to brush my teeth without them sticking their head into the running water.

They have been loving and faithful companions through three very lonely and difficult years. I will miss them very much. I may be getting gray hair and a few wrinkles, but I haven't really changed much since I was sixteen years old.

Rachel Green

2011-01-09T09:58:00.003-07:00

I love movies and T.V. shows. And I love celebrity gossip sites. Not that I think it gives me much insight to celebrities, but does give me insight to board posters.

Every time a new Jennifer Aniston movie comes out, the posters go crazy with "when is Jennifer Aniston going to stop playing Rachel Green?" Here's the thing, if you watch more than four different performances by any given actor, you're going to find they have the same expression of sorrow, joy, love, surprise, etc. They touch their face, move their hair, and walk fairly similar in every role. Jennifer Aniston, like most, is a movie version of her own mannerisms playing out a role.

Yes, there are some actors who do manage to drastically alter themselves into the new role. Christian Bale comes to mind. But even then, sometimes when I'm watching one of his performances I'm thinking more about how Christian Bale became that character, more than following that character through the story. Oddly enough, I could completely believe him as Bruce Wayne but no one really talks much about his role as Batman.

We enjoy performances by certain actors because we like them. Some seem like ourselves, or a version of us we'd like to be. Some seem like people we'd be friends with if they were co-workers or school mates. Acting, like any other job, goes to the person who is well liked, not necessarily the one best qualified for the job. No one is going to purposely choose to spend time, whether a fifty hour work week, or a two hour movie, with someone we don't like.

Is every Jennifer Aniston role Rachel Green? I think they all have Jennifer Aniston in common, not Rachel Green. When I finish watching one of her movies I generally feel happy. (Marlow and Me excluded.) And if I come away happy, after trying to escape the doldrums of my real life, then Jennifer Aniston did her job.

2010 in review

2011-01-01T10:52:00.002-07:00

Welcome to the new year. I am a resolution setter, but mostly I just like making plans. Before going forward with the new year, lets review how I did on Year One of the new Five Year plan that I set forth last December:

1) Get a job -

Check. I actually got an awesome job. When I moved here it was to focus on completing my MBA and prepping for grad school. I wasn't too particular about what kind of job and would have been happy serving tables. I definitely didn't want a high stress, time intensive job.

As fate would have it, I landed a job as an Analyst with Community Action Partnership of Utah. I had been trying to get on to similar non-profits for the past five or six years in Boston and D.C. It wasn't even on my radar for the short term relocation back to SLC. But there it just kind of landed in my lap. It wasn't everything that I dreamed it to be, but it also was better and more eye-opening than expected.

2) Complete and publish mystery novel

Nope. But it's not dead either. Work and MBA studies took up a bit more brain power than I had anticipated. But I've been plugging away at it and hope to be ready to start the second draft by the end of January. (I anticipate needing at least three drafts before ready to publish.)

3) Begin MBA dissertation

Check. I actually really hoped to have a completed first draft done before the end of the year, but applying for a doctorate program happened earlier in the five year plan than I had set out. Oct and Nov were consumed with research proposals and then the MBA trip to Zurich. However, I have a pretty solid structure for the dissertation. And almost most of my literature review completed, which is a solid chunk so I'm pretty pleased with the rate of this goal.

4) Marry Richard Armitage

Okay, well, since he doesn't know I exist this one is a bit more difficult to have any control over. And through the year I've decided that if he's unwilling, or unable, to help me complete my five year plan, then I'll settle for Gerard Butler.

5) Join Community Band

Fail. There aren't as many community bands/orchestras here as there are in the East. I did go listen to one that I thought about joining, but opening for fourth rate trumpet players aren't really a dime a dozen. The Univ of Gloucestershire does have a community orchestra and choir. I've already contacted the conductor about openings and it might be a possibility. However, since packing space is at a premium, and my trumpet isn't really that great, I think I may join the choir and then if I stay on to do my PhD at the school I'll look at perhaps upgrading trumpets and joining the orchestra.

So I have a mixed bag of success and failure for the past year. To be honest I haven't thought too much about my exact goals for 2011, but maybe because overarching themes from 2010 are playing out, but I do like to put down a formal check list so:

1: Finish MBA dissertation by March

2: Finish Master of Research dissertation by December

3: Finish the damn novel!

4: Begin PhD program (Dec 2011)

5: One half-marathon (I don't know the running/racing atmosphere in England so I'm not sure how feasible this one is.)

6: Go on a date. And kiss. If Armitage or Butler are not available I will settle for a normal mortal man.

Well, it looks like a short list, but boy I've got a lot of work to do! 2011 already seems like a blur. But I'm really looking forward to it. I have a year of very defined parameters which allows my brain to relax. I only have to focus on the doing, not the planning. And the planning part of my brain could probably do with a little bit of a break.

Watts in a Name

2010-12-19T13:22:00.002-07:00

Back when I started this blog I owned a house on Watts St in Malden, MA. I fantasized about starting a little neighborhood newsletter called Watts What, but that didn't pan out so I started a blog instead.

Since then, I moved to D.C. for a year and a half. And then to Salt Lake last December. But I kept the blog name Watts What. When I moved to SLC, I knew that the time here was short, at most, a year and a half, until I started grad school in August of 2011.

The mast plan got sped up a bit and I'll starting grad school Feb 1, 2011 instead of in the fall. I'll be doing a one year Master of Research with the Univ of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham, England and then begin my PhD studies. Visa in hand, I've booked my plane ticket and paid January rent on a shared flat and will move from the U.S. on January 18th.

I think it's a good time to change the name of the blog. For now I'm going with Cheltenham Chat. If you have any other suggestions, let me know. I hope to be a bit better at blogging so that I can capture my experience living in the U.K. Hope you follow along!

Weighing In

2010-12-10T10:05:00.002-07:00

I like to think that I am above having vanity issues, but I know it's not true. I don't fret too much about my hair, or make-up, or the state of my fingernails. I don't care if I wear the latest fashions. But one thing that I have struggled with for a long time is my weight.

I know that I am not overweight but I'm also not skinny. And I'd be fine with it if it weren't for the fact that I work out ALL THE TIME and eat really healthy. An average day for me is: early morning - 45 minutes of yoga, pilates or a jog, depending on the day of the week, bike to 5 miles to work, bike 5 miles home, evening - walk 1.67 miles to the gym, workout of an hour (weights or cardio depending on day of the week) walk home 1.67 miles. And sometimes there is walking in the middle too. I go through a lot of tennis shoes. Then there are things like tennis and swimming and other things that I throw in. I never drive to the grocery store, so I'm like a little sherpa packing groceries home too.

I've been fairly consistent with my activity/eating level my entire adult life. So you would think that I'd consistently stay in the size. But I don't. I range from size 10 to size 14. (Okay, there was one short period that I got a little out of control and was down to a size 8. It wasn't pretty on me.) Needless to say it gets frustrating and I have no idea why I fluctuate so radically. It's like every eight to ten months.

In the summer I finally went to my dr and had a little bit of a break-down. I mean, I seriously can't keep this fitness routine up for the rest of my life and I was starting to get fat. We did all the test - yes to hypoglemia and yes to a small thyroid imbalance, but nothing she wanted to start treating just yet. The two things she did put me on though - vitamin d two times a day (I already take a b-complex) and sleeping medication.

I'm not going to be a super-model anytime soon, but those two things have changed my body for the positive.

I've never been a huge fan of magazines like Shape and Fitness and am now even less so. Eat sensibly, work out, be honest with yourself, and if things aren't happening the way they should. Go see your doctor. It took blood test and a consultation. A $10 bottle of vitamin D and a $4 bottle of sleeping pills and I'm healthier than I've been in a long time.

More Zurich

2010-12-06T10:41:00.009-07:00

Thought I'd share a little more about my trip (esp for those not on Facebook)

This is my tiny hotel room. I knew that European hotel rooms would be small, but I had expected a musty room covered with fabric. This was very clean and industrial. and cold. And there were no chairs in the room or the lobby, so it wasn't a very comfortable place to be. It took me a few days to figure out things like how to turn on the lights and hot water in the shower.

The hotel staff didn't speak English very well, nor were very helpful so I tried to figure things out on my own. I saw the cleaning woman insert the door key-card into a pocket on the wall and viola! lights. The hot water was something else. The universal sign for hot is red and blue for cold, and that worked fine for the sink, but the shower didn't seem to cooperate. The first few days involved me filling up my water bottle from the sink, and pouring it on myself while standing in the shower. Luckily my room was small enough that I could reach the sink from the shower.

Zurich isn't really a hot spot of tourism, but there was a river that ran along the length of the city with a jogging path on both sides of the bank. It was a flourish of activity and I went for a walk along it every day.

Directly across the nearest bridge from my hotel was a playground and this little zoo. It had goats, very feathery chickens and some pigs.

It seems anytime I am at an event with Middle Eastern men, at least one of them falls in love with me. I kid you not. I have had three marriage proposals after things like Embassy dinners, etc. This poor guy spent the entire week trying to woo me; fetching me water, making sure I was warm/cool enough in the class room, general staring, and trying to get me to go to lunch/dinner with him every night.

To be fair, there were only four women in the class and the other three were all married.

This is my group, the WI dairy cluster project team.

Returning from my daily stroll, I passed by a small family carrying illuminated vegetables. As i continued on I met up with the entire neighborhood out in a parade. There was a marching band, carts lit up with candles, and singing and talking. I followed along for several blocks and finally found someone to ask what the celebration was for. She couldn't explain it in English very well, but it was something to do with celebrating Fall. Similar to our Halloween but more about nature and less about goblins.

The next day as I went out for a walk I found these carved out turnips hanging from a tree. This is what the kids were walking around with! I can't imagine carving a turnips is easy!

Along that same street was a neighborhood park. On this particular day there was a hot game of bocce and some ping-pong going on.

The Saturday after our class, four of us still in town went on a guided tour. This is a scene from inside the bus.

Three of us along the banks of the lake. The fourth person wasn't actually in our class. There were two classes being held that week. This poor guy came to our class the first day, sat through the entire day, and at the end, realized he was in the wrong class.

On the tour we went outside the city and up a tram to the country side. This is me with very hairy cows in the back ground. I don't think you can see the cows.

Me on the ferry to the Gold Coast. It's called the Gold Coast because there are vineyards along the banks. During the Autumn, when the grape leaves change colour, it shimmers like gold. The tour guide also said that people call it the Gold Coast because only rich people can afford to live there. Tour guides are so funny.

Amitav and I on the ferry.

Sunday walk in the rain. There is a very cool museum in the back ground.

The museum from the other side of the river. This is about two miles down the river path from my hotel.

Mostly I ambled about and picked random streets to go up. I have no idea what I'm taking pictures of but felt pressure to show something of my trip.

This was another random street. Reminds me of Boston. And thus concludes my trip to Zurich. I did enjoy that pedestrians have the right of way, though the streets and sidewalks aren't very clearly separated so there were a few times when I didn't know where the sidewalk ended and street began. I was also struck by how many men took their children out for a walk. I saw as many men walking around with baby carriages as women. And there were lots of people on crutches. I mean, enough that I noticed how many people I saw on crutches. And it's not because there were more pedestrians and therefor I'd see more people using crutches instead of driving in cars. There are just as many pedestrians in Boston and NYC and I can think of a single time I saw anyone walking around on crutches that didn't involve a cast. This was like two or three people, of different ages, a day. It just struck me as odd.

Zurich

2010-11-19T10:02:00.003-07:00

I went. I loved the week long of class. Hated the rest of my time there. Were you really expecting me to enjoy myself? You really don't know me if you did.

The class was great. I loved meeting everyone, and have a slight crush on my professor. It's not the first professor I've had a crush on. And it's always the Middle-Eastern men who get crushes on me. We met Monday-Friday and worked from 9:00 am - 9:00 pm working on projects. We did a large multi-class lunch on Thursday and I met even more interesting people. I wish the group was doing more classes together but this is the last class for most of us. Definitely should do this as the beginning of the program, not at the end.

The rest of the time I found very stressful. I don't do vacation. I don't even like a three day weekend. So two weeks in a foreign country, in a tiny hotel room that doesn't even have a chair to sit on, with lots of idle time, is not my idea of fun. I don't like to shop (couldn't afford to even if I did like it) and don't enjoy eating out. (Definitely couldn't afford to eat out in Zurich where lunch started at $20) And even this introvert needs a little human interaction so going alone was extremely lonely. In fact, both border patrol, Zurich and US, when asking length of stay, purpose of visit, was I traveling alone, did a double take when I said "Yes. I'm traveling alone." "Really?"

This is the other sad thing I realized I'm now not normal for the rest of society. Out of 30 classmates there were only four women. And there were only three single people. I realized I am now not part of a larger statistic. Up till 30 it was abnormal to be single and LDS, but the rest of the developed world was still single. But now I'm in a demographic that pretty much everyone is married, or married and divorced. People, even non-LDS people, think its a bit strange for someone my age to be never-married and childless.

Anyway, I'll post additional Zurich photos in the next post.

Tennis

2010-09-18T13:30:00.003-06:00

I love tennis. We didn't grow up in a house that watched football or baseball, rarely even basketball even though we all played. We watched things like tennis, track & field and swimming. I think this may have been because my dad worked over seas where those sports were more popular and televised so we watched them when he was home as well.

I've been a fan of tennis since the days of Boris Becker, Ivan Lendle and Stephan Edberg. There were some heated debates in the house about who was better looking; as I have a tendency to be attracted to red heads, I favored Becker.

Every now and then, when we were in town, Dad would take us to the tennis courts. He'd be on one side, we would all be on the other and he'd still win. Granted none of us knew much about technique and such. When I moved out on my own, I would find a court with a backboard or wall and play by myself. But again, I've never known technique.

Liberty Park, a short two mile walk from home, has adult tennis classes. During the summer break I signed up for the adult beginner class. It was a short, fun six week class. Now that school is back in, I think I have to postpone taking the second class, but I have had so much fun the past six weeks and can't wait to take another class.

To end my summer tennis, I decided to watch a little Boris Becker vs Stephan Edberg on YouTube. They were amazing tennis players.

Google

2010-09-09T19:08:00.002-06:00

I am usually okay with changes and updates to software and search engines, but Google, you have failed with the new way that you search. Hate it Hate it Hate it. May start using Bing instead.

2010-09-04T12:00:00.003-06:00

In about six months I have to decide what I'm going to do with Pennywhistle and Maltie. If all goes according to my master plan, I will start a PhD programme next fall in the UK.

Do I take the cats with me? I hate the idea of putting them on a plane for that trip. Plus, to take pets into the UK you have to have a six month quarantine to prove they are rabies free. (I'd start that process in January. The vet test them for rabies, then puts a chip in them, and if the cats don't go outside for six months they can safely enter the UK.)

But the idea of giving them away also makes me really, really sad. Who is going to love them as much as I? Who is going to cater to their every strange quirk? (They have many.)

Here are two photo's that capture a snippet of their daily lives:

This is Pennywhistle fanning herself. She LOVES to sit in front of the fans!

I call this hydration station. They both love to drink water from the running tap. They both have different techniques. As you can see from this photo, Maltie likes to lap straight from the running stream. Pennywhistle sticks her paw in the stream and licks from that. Or licks from the base of the sink where the water is hitting.

Strange creatures.

CSBG

2010-08-21T09:51:00.002-06:00

This past week I attended a two day conference on The History of CSBG (Community Service Block Grant) hosted by David Bradley. I know, the title makes it seem like the conference would be as interesting as watching mud dry. But it actually was a very intriguing, inspiring, and informative conference.

CSBG was started as part of Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty and was headed by Sargent Shriver. (Yes, Maria's father.) CSBG is a large part of what funds Community Action Agencies throughout the U.S. (Who I work for, hence the conference.) I won't go into much detail here because I'm afraid my blog post will not be as intriguing as the conference was.

But, I had quite a few thoughts that I wanted to share with you.

One - I believe humility is an important tool in powerful leadership.

Martin Luther King Jr has always been one of my favorite leaders of the 20th century. As part of the conference we watched several news clippings of his work and speeches and I came away more impressed than ever. I believe there was humility in his non-violent approach to activism. I also think to understand people in humble circumstances takes a like heart.

We also learned much about Sargent Shriver. He is now my 2nd favorite leader in the 20th century. Watching his interviews is what got me rethinking the importance of humility. He was so competent and passionate and called on to lead many important organizations (He was the first director of the Peace Corps!) but watch interviews of him and he comes across as the most sincere and humble person. You want to follow him not because he forces you, but because you want to emulate him. Seriously, if you are into watching historical podcast and such, try to find some interviews with him. You will not be disappointed!

Anyway, that will be the one thought I share today. Look for the next untimely installment which may be on the immigration debate, Albert Bandura's work on Self-Efficacy, or on my upcoming trip to Philly...

2010-08-02T20:13:00.002-06:00

Yes. I'm still alive. Just busy working on that five year plan.

Just submitted finals a week ago. Can't believe that I only have two courses (and one major dissertation!) left and I will be done with my MBA! Holy-Smokes!

I have a few weeks before the next course so I am busy working on the novel. Sometimes I read a few pages and I think "Wow! Where did I come up with that?" And then sometimes I read and I shake my head in embarrassment.

I did have a great weekend meeting up with friends from the past. Heather Durst and her husband and children came into town, and Tara was driving through so we met up for lunch. I haven't seen either of them for well over *gulp* 15 years, but it was like no time had passed at all. It is truly great to be in the presence of people who have probably seen you at your worst and still like you!

On Saturday one of my roommates from Boston got married. There was a little mini-reunion at the reception. It was lovely and I am homesick for Boston.

(when am I not?)

Twist

2010-05-30T14:33:00.002-06:00

I just finished a popular novel written by a popular author, and that has been made into a popular movie. Most people who've heard of the book/movie knows that there is a twist at the end. Even the brief description on the back of the book says "and so-and-so isn't who he really is".

After finishing the book I've decided I concretely hate twist endings. Even the most well done ones (like the just finished book) don't seem that clever to me.

First, it seems the author is afraid the reader can't commit to the fairy story created and so gives and easy out. Think "Life of Pi". There were moments of complete magic and crafted well enough that I could accept what I was reading, even though I knew it couldn't happen in real life. probably. But then there was the escape hatch for the realist at the end.

Second, I don't like committing myself to a character, hating or loving him, and then 300 pages later, find out that none of him is real. All those emotions that I went through were for nothing. Most good novels are worth at least a second read. I want to study my faulty hero again, what did I miss, what more should I feel. But a novel with a twist? Why bother?

Last week LOST ended it's six year run. A lot of people were disappointed because all the mystery's of the island were not revealed. I'm glad they weren't. I think some major twist and escape routes would need to be created to end the show on time. Instead, despite all the weird twist that happened DURING the show, the characters ended true to the fashion that they began. And I'd be happy to take the journey with them again.

I won't tell you the book I just read, just in case you've been thinking of reading it, and didn't know there was a twist ending. Just don't wait in anticipation for me to write a twist/dream/face story anytime soon.

2012 Summer Games

2010-05-16T21:08:00.002-06:00

Today I realized, that if all goes according to my most recent five year plan, that I will be starting grad school in Sept 2011. My top school choices are in the UK, which means I will be in England for the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. And anyone who remotely knows me, knows that I am a HUGE fan of the Summer Games.

So, while not as cool as actually being a competitor of the games (still thinking that kayaking is my best option), it has me excited enough to try even harder to stick to the game plan.

Whatever motivates us right?

Award Week

2010-05-06T18:42:00.002-06:00

It's been a fun week around work.

Wednesday, my boss, Heather Tritten, accepted her award as one of Utah's 2010 30 Women to Watch. The other 29 women were cool, but it was really great to have our boss win this award.

Today, our entire staff got to accept an award from United Way as the Community Change Partner of the Year. (Even though I've only been there since January, I'm still pretty excited to be an award winner!)

It's been like the Golden Globes and Oscars around our office!

Us. (check out my co-worker's tie! It's pretty awesome.)

Space

2010-03-08T21:37:00.002-07:00

Aside from the castle my future husband is going to buy for me, I don't really fantasize about having a huge house. I see a big house as something that cost more to heat and cool and clean. I especially don't understand why small families need big houses. Why does a mom, dad and two kids need a four bedroom house? Or bigger?

In my neighborhood, the houses are pretty small. Little post-war ranch and bungalow styles houses. Most are about 1400 sq feet, have a living room, kitchen, one bath, three bedrooms. Maybe there is a dining alcove set off from the kitchen. These are the size of houses that our grandparents raised our mom's and dad's in. Kids shared a 12x12 room. And it was doable!

Having visited a friend who recently bought one of these houses, I felt a little claustrophobic. And it makes me feel bad because I feel like I'm trying to create a justification for having a larger house. And then I started thinking about the relativity of size. These houses were built for my grandparents generation. both of my grandmothers were 4'9". I'm 5'9" And entire foot taller.

My 4'9" grandmother could be in a 12x12 room, which is 144 sq feet. She would have an approx arm reach of 5'0 so let's just round up and say my grandmother could take up 25 sq feet which would leave 119 sq feet of non-human space available. At 5'9" and a 6 foot reach I take up about 36 sq feet which would leave 108 sq ft. And we aren't even calculating actual body mass. I know 11 feet of difference doesn't sound like a lot, but section off that much from one of your rooms and see if you don't notice it. And then section of that much from every room...

And then there's just being a whole foot closer to the ceiling too!

The Atlantic

2010-03-05T17:22:00.002-07:00

There's an article in the March issue of the Atlantic on assisted suicide. Though very well articulated to the benefits of it, I didn't finish reading the article. But it did get me thinking.

In my heart, I wish that I could believe it was okay. I remember going to visit my dad in the hospital when he was dying from cancer. He was really sick for a very long time. He had always been an active man. Not even five kids could wear him out. And then he just laid in a hospital bed. Shut off from sunshine and movement.

I know people watch loved ones as they suffer even worse fates than that. And my heart does wish that we could bring closer what is inevitable.

For me it's not even a question of is it right or wrong and how does God see it, as much as looking at what God's purpose for us on this earth. And it's to learn. And learning causes pain a lot of the time. There are things we learn in our own suffering and there are things we learn in watching the suffering of our loved ones. I know that our experiences and learning are taken with us into eternal life. It is not our place to say when that learning should end.

The article says that assisted suicide is about human rights. We really want to control so many things, even our own deaths. I myself have perfectly thought about how I want to peacefully die on the summer solstice of my 120th year.

I don't know why this article made me want to post something. I think I just get sad when we fail to realize the purpose of our life and try to avoid pain. Pain isn't the purpose, but pain is part of the process. I know I want to enter into eternal life gleaning all that I can from this mortal life.

Deseret Industries

2010-02-28T14:22:00.002-07:00

When I lived in Springfield, MO I used to go to the 'antique' stores all the time. A lot of it was junk, but it was still very interesting junk. One of my particular favorites stores was an old three story brick building. It had lamp post and street signs, carousel horses and giant plaster gargoyles and griffins. I can't imagine there is a huge market for these items, but I loved walking along the hardwood floors fantasying about living on the top, sun-filled open room with a griffin in the corner. Now of course, a place like that would cost a nice million in a gentrified downtown area.

Here in Salt Lake I don't find many stores like that, but they do have the great D.I. where though it may not be eccentric junk, it's very functional. And as I am trying to stay as transitional as possible, a lot of my household belongings are being acquired there.

Last week I was able to take a large desk and tiny table home from the office. At D.I. I was able to find the perfect cheap seating to go with the table and desk. I mean PERFECT fit for each at a total of $15.

AND I was able to get a few great books too! Malcollm Gladwell's Blink that I've wanted to read but after my disappointment in Freakenomics refused to pay full price for. $1. Drucker (whom I love) Post-Capitalist Society. $1. The New Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and their Music. $1! (yeah, okay, that one they probably should have paid me to take it, but I'm pretty excited about reading it...)

$18 dollars for three exciting books and two chairs to sit and read them in.

I bet if they did have a griffin for sale it would be $10 and I would buy it too.

Periodicals

2010-02-24T21:33:00.003-07:00

I have mid-terms this week. (yes, but I'm blogging instead) I find when I am stressed, my relief is buying a book or magazine. Doesn't really make sense that if I'm stressed about reading one thing I want to read something else, but that's just how my pressure valve works.

And the pressure has been mounting in me even worse than normal as I put a cease on my book and magazine buying the moment I put in my two week notice at F.I. I couldn't justify spending money on non-essentials as long as I didn't have a job and had to embrace the idea of the public library.

Last weekend I finally caved. I'm well employed. I've been a good girl in my spending (well, there was the whole Pennywhistle incident...) and it's time to lift the magazine ban with a quick trip to B & N on the way to the gym.

I purchased.

But here is the funny thing about buying a magazine in UT. The demographics, and thus the magazine readership, is somewhat different than back East.

My top tier magazine choices are: The Economist, Inc., Harpers, Hobby Farms
Second tier: Entrepreneurship, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Success, The New Yorker
Third: Eating Well, Yoga Journal, Writers Digest, Scientific America
Fourth: Anything that might catch my fancy...

In the East, my top two tiers are readily accessible, eye level, in the Current Events section. You know, with magazines like Time and Newsweek. Here in Utah, I had to walk up and down the magazine racks, searching for them. I finally found them on the very bottom row, two shelves deep. (Meanwhile, I did find an ENTIRE section devoted to crafts and scrapbooking.)

Everyday I keep finding new things that remind me I'm not in the East anymore. But I guess trading easy access to literary diversity and global knowledge is worth the benefits of affordability, easy commuting, warm winters and friendship.

And yes. I could subscribe and it would be less expensive. But I like going to the bookstore, buying it, and bringing it home.

Little Pennywhistle

2010-02-13T12:49:00.003-07:00

We had a rough weekend last weekend. Little Pennywhistle, who seems to get more blog time than Maltie, and whose name is just Pennywhistle but somehow I always call her Little Pennywhistle, had to take a few trips to the Pet ER.

Thursday evening I came home to a little 'treat' on the living room floor. I wasn't too concerned as it happens on occasion. However, Friday I came home to multiple piles of 'treats'. I was starting to get a little concerned. Several hours later, and halfway into a Lost catch up episode, and after having noticed that it was 55 degrees in the apartment and that the furnace had stopped working, Pennywhistle started emesising and howling in pain. It was 10:30 on a Friday night (um, yeah, I have a REALLY exciting social life), new to the area and not knowing any vets, I was a little frantic.

I finally found an emergency clinic. I stayed until about 12:30 while they did a few xrays on her and then they kept her over night.

The next day I collected her about 1:30 in the afternoon. She seemed worse than the night before. Wobbly and weak and hair all matted. Maltie went on the attack the minute we came home. Animals are not kind in the face of illness.

For the next 12 hours I worried and fretted. Come bedtime, I couldn't sleep and would get up at the smallest sound to see if she was still okay. The 3:00 a.m. check and it was 50 degrees in the apartment and she was huddled up on a box along an outside wall. I put a towel over her hoping to help her keep warm. 8:00 a.m. I brought her back to the ER again.

Having grown up on a farm, I have a great love and respect for animals, but I also don't believe in spending large sums of money on pets. animals are animals. humans are humans. All weekend long I was contemplating what my price threshold was and what illness I was willing to treat and which I were not.

The second check-in the vet sat with me and asked, "is there a possibility she could have eaten a foreign object?" A possibility? Oh, it's a certainty. I am always having to pull plastic and string from her mouth. I try to hide these non edibles but she hunts them out! They did an ultrasound and knew that it was something lodged in her stomach. He didn't ask, so much as told me, they were prepping for surgery. So I guess I was glad that I didn't have much choice in saying "yes" or "no" to the procedure.

She was able to come home Monday evening. Almost a week later, after hand feeding her yogurt and wet cat food and struggling to shove antibiotics into her, she is starting to put a little weight back on. She's not as wobbly and can now jump into my bed, but can't yet make her higher perches. Maltie has stopped hissing at her. And my landlord did get the furnace back on so the apartment is now warm again.

The one 'good' thing that came out of the weekend was that I was able to get completely current on Lost as we head into the final season.

The plan is coming together

2010-01-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

Check 1 thing off my 2010 to do list. I started my new job today with the Community Action Partnership of Utah. Seriously, Seriously so excited and happy about this job. More info to come.

However, this is the first time in a month that I have gotten out of bed at 6:00 a.m. and was awake and productive through the whole day, and now at 9:55 p.m. I am exhausted. A good exhausted.

The Library

2010-01-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

In concept, I love the idea of a public library. A large building with many, many, many books and cd's and magazines. All free for you to check-out and use at your own will. Books. Music. Free.

I like all of these words.

However, the actuality of a library doesn't work for me. Why? Possession. If a book is worth my time to read, I want to possess it. I don't want to borrow it and give it back. I want to put my notes in it, catalog it and put it on the shelf in my living room where I can pull it out occasionally and flip through it's pages again.

A week ago I checked out a book titled Cowgirls: Women of the American West. I'm not sure what the impetus was writing this book, but it speaks to me. It's not extremely well written and is more of a transcript for the lives of women the book is about, but it has engrossed me. It speaks to me. Insert verdant hills and sheep for the dusty mountains and horses, and the expressed feelings and experiences could be me.

The book is due back at the library on the 25th. That's a lousy birthday present to myself: return fantastic book back to the library.

I will. But I'm also ordering a copy off of amazon. so much for free reading.

All dressed up and no place to go

2010-01-11T20:52:00.000-07:00

This time one month ago today I was sitting behind my wheel, exhausted but trying to press on to the first stop, on what was to be a four day drive.

No earth shattering anything has happened in the past month since arriving. It's gone by fast, but peacefully. It's been a good feeling.

I did have a bit of disappointment Saturday evening. Once I decided to move back to UT, I excitedly updated my calendar with one special event per month. One of the things I hated most about D.C. was the inability to go to concerts and plays. Sure, D.C. has plenty of events, but they cost an arm, leg and at least 100 hairs off your head. As an example, the only thing I went to was West Side Story. It cost $75 for nose-bleed seats, took an hour to commute via bus/subway connection and then coming home $25 for subway/taxi connection. $100 for bad seating and no food. It was actually easier and cheaper for me to take the Chinatown bus to NYC and catch shows that way. (This I did do several times.)

So, needless to say, I was very excited at the prospects of a 15 minute drive and $20 dollar seating for really good quality performances.

This past Saturday I had planned to attend the Utah Symphony performing Rachmaninoff symphony #2. I really struggled with myself about if it was the most prudent thing to do as I don't yet have a job. I decided that for $20 (and this included parking) I could afford to attend. (and then I fretted over parking which turned out to be wasted anxiety. This isn't Boston. There is no traffic downtown and ton of easy and cheap parking!)

I walked in to the ticket counter, and shock of shocks, they did not have one single $16 dollar seat. The ticket agent claimed the only seats they had left were $40 dollar tickets which are at the top of the price range for Abravenell Hall. I've been so used to Boston and NYC where a) people pay for the better seats so there are always cheap seats available and b) there are so many venues for patrons to attend that there are always seats available. I'm not used to UT where there may be one symphony, and one play, and maybe one dance production in a weekend.

I had struggled, but rationalized $20 for a ticket. There was no way I could part with $40. That's grocery's for a week. Not to mention that I find it statistically improbable that they would not have ONE cheaper seat available...

So I drove over to Charles and Peter's and watched a little old Star Trek with the family.

So I guess it wasn't a total lost, but all that make-up, hair and jewelry was kind of a waste.

Five Year Plan

2009-12-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

I love making Five Year Plans. Some of the things I have planned have happened, some have not. I find that having direction gives me stability for deviation. Lack of direction leaves me as a lump on the couch and afraid of chaos. As the new year approaches, and as I have had a slight deviation in my plans, I thought it might be good to update my Five Year Plan.

2010:
Get a job
Complete and publish mystery novel
Begin MBA dissertation
Marry Richard Armitage
Join community band

2011:
Complete MBA
Application for PhD/DBA programme
Complete 2nd novel have been working on

2012-2014
Complete PhD
Have Richard Armitage's babies
Attempt extended genealogy for grandfather (Francis Casmir Ziolkwoski)

2015
Work one year for African Development Bank Group
Begin application for teaching position
Start a small sheep farm
Grow to higher quality community orchestra

So this is a rough outline and I know it looks a little vague. Trust me, my private Excel version of the plan is much more detailed. Between the lines will be things like half-marathons, triathlons, spending time with friends, serving in the community, etc. This updated plan feels ambitious but achievable, and satisfies my core person. It incorporates my love of knowledge, arts, and helping people. I really like the direction of this plan.

Especially the Richard Armitage part...:)

Good Gifts

2009-12-27T13:23:00.001-07:00

The greatest gift this Christmas season was the Christmas Spirit. It has been a few years since I've really looked forward to Christmas and I was afraid that I had outgrown the magic of the season. But I think it was hibernating through heartbreak of the past few years.

Second great gift is being back in Salt Lake and being surrounded by good friends whom I love. I was able to spend the day with Charles and Peter and their family.

The best tangible gift was the Christmas tree Holly and Shawn put into the apartment before I moved here.

Then I was thinking about some of the other fun gifts I've been given in recent years. I don't really get a lot of gifts. My opinion on gifts is give one if the item really speaks to you about that person. Otherwise just give treats or time instead.

But here is a collage of some of my favorite gifts in the past few years. (one special gift is missing from below. It's a wooden frog with a huge mouth. Melyn gave it to me the year I went to visit my step-day while he was ill. Don't worry Melyn, I still have it, but it's packed away with my frog things. I still need one more bookshelf to unpack everything. ) (yes. I have frog things.)

I think you can all recognize Grover. Kelly gave him to me when we were roommates on Dana St. Love him. He does live under the bed during most of the year, and then comes out during Christmas time.

The brown thing is, at best guess a Hippo. I've had him since 2000. Right before I moved to Boston. He was given to me at work during our Secret Santa exchange. Everyone at work had already been given there gifts and the days were ticking buy. I tried to be a mature adult, but I was really sad that my person had forgotten me. The Friday before vacation, the gift appeared. I stepped away from my desk and when I came back, the hippo was there! It's sooooo soft.

The little heart-shaped pillow is from Becky. Must have been about 5 or 6 years ago. It's so simple, but I like it. Anytime I move, it's one of the first things to get hung on a door knob.

The blanket is from Melyn. Maybe 2 years ago? (and it could have also been a b-day gift...but for the sake of this blog, we'll call it a Christmas gift. :) ) It's a simple fleece blanket that has music bars on it. It's well used. (not for playing music. but for snuggling up with a book.)

The three books and plastic grasshopper and snake are from Angie. The same year I got Grover from Kelly. She used the grasshopper and snake as bows and ribbons. I thought it was very clever and fitting for me. (there was a spider as well, but the cats decided it would make a great toy and they ripped all of it's legs off.)

And last, but not least, the whirly-pop. Best gift ever! Misty and Jessica gave this to me. Also the year I got the wooden frog, right before I left to visit Raymond in the hospital. I know that things like whirly-pops and hotchocolate mugs and soap baskets are given to people as gifts because other people can't think of what to give. But Jessica and Misty knew the whirly-pop was THE perfect gift for me. I have used it almost every day since I got it. I don't know many gifts that are as well used and appreciated as my whirly-pop!

The Greatest Gifts

2009-12-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

Christma Eve Eve

2009-12-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

On the 23rd Salt Lake received a timely little snow fall. I was so excited to shovel the walk! Having lived in Boston for 7 years, I've grown accustom to having to shovel the minute one little wet icy snowflake hit the earth. I probably went a little overkill on the powdery snow of Utah. The neighbors probably think I'm a fanatic.

It was so beautiful and peaceful with the snow and all the Christmas lights, so after my second clearing around 9:00 p.m. I decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood and take photo's of the lights. (I wish I had a great camera that did night shots well.) In no particular order, here are some of my favorite shots of the day:

The entire yard of this house was lit up! I particularly liked the row of colored lights along the fence. I think this style of light is my favorite outdoor light.

This lamp post is in my neighbors yard. And I was very much in their yard when I was taking the photo. I did invade quite a few yards that night. And I'm a tall bulkish person with a heavy coat and hat on. I'm lucky no one called the cops on me.

I do love this photo. It was still snowing when I took this one. I have another shot where you can see the fat snowflakes coming down, but the post didn't convey well.

Poor flamingos. They should be taken into the garage for the winter.

This was earlier in the day, after the first shovel run. This is a row of little evergreens along our drive.

This is what I see across the street from me. It's a pretty colorful house during the day. It's big and blue and purple. The Christmas lights definitely match the house. As you can see, the cats also like to look out. (the cat is inside. It's a large picture window at the front of the house.)

Yard Work

2009-12-22T21:27:00.000-07:00

One of my least favorite things about living in an apartment for the past year and half was not having a yard. I especially missed yard work.

I know yard work is two four letter words for most people, but I just love almost everything about it. I love moving my body. I love being outside. I like getting something done. I like casually getting to know neighbors while you do these things. I love having something to show for your efforts afterwords. I just love it.

One of the main things I required when looking for a new place to rent in SLC, was having access to a yard. My new landlord (and he's new at being a landlord) is a pretty laid back dude and has plenty of other projects to work on and has given me carte blanche of the yard. This won't really get too exciting until Spring. But I did tell him I will happily shovel snow and mow the lawn. I think he thought I was joking a little.

But I wasn't. It has snowed today. I have shoveled.

I love having a yard again.

At least I'm not in 2 feet of snow in DC....

2009-12-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

My week in a nutshell:

Unpack a box
Stare into space contemplating what to do with other unpacked boxes
Apply for job
Stare into space contemplating not having a job
Farm on Farmville
Update Facebook Status
Go for a walk
And repeat with unpacking a box....

Quickest of Updates

2009-12-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

Just finished my accounting final. *phew* just hoping to have passed.

Now, to pack for the move to Utah. Yep. Moving. To Utah.

Embassy Series

2009-11-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I went to a dinner hosted by the Bahrain Embassy. (Small little country in the Middles East.) The Bahrain staff and ambassador were very friendly, talkative people. The food was SOOO delicious, but I ate so much that I didn't need to eat for several days.

I can't say that it was a lovely time. More like a very, very odd time.

First, as it usually does at these kind of functions, one man singled me out to fall madly in love with me and want to stay by my side the whole evening. (Does anybody remember that evening we spent with Britta at the Harvard Leadership Forum...?) And while you may be saying, "well, there you go, guy's do want to date you" let me say that these are not average people and they don't want to "date" me, they want to marry me two hours into the evening. That's a little fast for me.

Secondly, we were assigned seating. Six people to each round table. I had gone with one of my co-workers and his wife but we were not seated at the same table. And I'm not really the most social person amongst a lot of strangers, but I vowed to do my best.

The first person to come to the table was a middle-aged silky gray/blond hair guy. I introduced myself. He introduced himself. He was from Texas. I said, Oh, I've lived in Texas. What part? He wasn't really interested in trying to make a connection on that one. And we sat in silence. He, turning his back to me, to look around at the other people in the room, I drinking water to occupy myself. The rest of the six came at once. On my right was the Ambassador's secretary. She was very quiet and kept her eyes to the table the entire evening. To her right was a 60ish man from London who was an engineer of sorts, specializing in water-proofing plastics. To his right and directly across from me was a young Bahrain staff employee who just graduated from university studies in England, also in Engineering. Back to my left, was the man from Texas, who at one point said he worked in Defense, but at other points said he was a hedgefund manager. To his left was a man from Jersey. Very, Very much from Jersey. And the boss of the Britain man.

The conversation the entire evening was monopolized by the man from Texas, who I will from here on out call, "the jackass". He would ask someone a question, and then tell them their answer. He was the expert on England, Middle Eastern Customs, and water-proofing plastics. If other people tried to converse with one another he would interject himself with a smart-aleck comment.

Example: The young Bahrain man asked me what it was like to live in Boston. I say Boston is great! Before the conversation could continue, "the jackass" says "Unless you're going to drive through the tunnel." insert loud braying laugh here. oh so clever. you've heard of the Big Dig.

This went on about black pudding, football versus soccer versus rugby etc. And meanwhile, he his handing out his hedgefund business card left and right telling everyone how great his company has done and no one has been unhappy with their returns. And at one point he made a comment about "now that we let women drive and vote" and did a backhand slap across my shoulder.

The funniest part of this, is Jersey Man, sat quitely the entire night, just watching "the jackass" with a look of contempt on his face. I'm fairly certain he contacted one of his 'business partners' after dinner and put a hit out on him.

There are funnier things that happened that evening, but feel I must edit due to the people involved and the goodness and popularity of this series. But let me just say, there was some private operatic serenading and goading by two of the funniest old ladies who kept yelling out "c'mon baby! Sing us a song!"

It was an evening.

At the end of this long tale, I will say, the evening was another nail in the DC coffin. Not because it was weird. I liked that it was weird. But, because I came away from it knowing that I can find that kind of weird anywhere. No, not at an Embassy, but other functions. The Embassy part of it held no glamour or pull for me. Just one more realization that DC is not the place for me.

Disney World

2009-11-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here is an overview of my four day trip to Orlando.

Saturday - arrived to beautiful 90 degree sunshine. Holly didn't come in until later in the afternoon so I spent the day relaxing at the pool; swimming, sun bathing, going down the water slide, watching other people, watching the little lizards play around me, reading. Yeah, it was super-nice.

Saturday evening was Halloween. We contemplated going out to do something but we didn't rent a car, and Orlando is not the really convienent place to be carless. The hotel did have a free shuttle to the Disney shopping area so we went there, ate dinner, and walked around and watched people. lots and lots and lots of people. on Halloween. Plenty of stuff to entertain the people watcher in you.

The photo below is at the Lego store. This was a giant Lego water dragon. It was really cool.

Sunday - We went to the Animal Kingdom. I LOVED it. It wasn't very crowded and we got to do a loop of the park twice. Rode all the rides we wanted and even had time to do some stuff we didn't really care about but was fun none-the-less.

The picture below was on a little walking animal tour. These are giant fruit bats. And I did not crop this photo to make the bat appear larger. They ARE large. but completely harmless. unless you are fruit. They were really amazing and I probably took more photo's of the bats than anything else the entire trip.

The picture below are of beautiful Mandarin Ducks. I had never seen one before, but fell in love. We searched all over the gift shops hoping to find a stuffed or carved toy of these ducks. To no avail. Holly kept reminding me that we are outside the Disney Demographic.

Saturday Night was spent looking longingly across the major highway at the CVS and 7-11. Orlando seems to have a thing against gum and all we wanted was popcorn, gum, and a cheap dinner. But without a car that was vain wishing. We ate dinner at the hotel next door. Hotel food.

Monday we went to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived early and was able to ride about 6 rides before the crowds came in. We rode the Pirates of Carribean in complete solitude. It was spooky great!

Once the crowds came we utilized deductive planning and the fast pass system and again managed to ride everything we wanted multiple times. I loved the Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh rides. Magical.

Below is a photo of Holly at the race track. (I don't think we're big picture takers. I made Holly take photo's of me, but always felt like a schmuk for getting in the flow of other patrons.)

The picture below is of the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. I'm pretty sure I want to live on a tropical island in this 'house'. It was really fun and amazing.

Winnie the Pooh, Me and Tigger. Yes, we waited in line to take this photo. A line longer than most ride lines, but it was so adorable to watch little kids walk up and treat Pooh and Tigger as if they were real. I've decided that when I retire at the age of 95, I want to go work at Disney and be like a train conductor on the animal safari or something.

Vacation - the bad

2009-11-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Just got back from a quick trip to Disney World. It was a ton-of-fun. I'll post the good stuff later with photo's, but first the bad...

Flying home - upon an already early arrival, found out my flight was delayed. When I got to my gate found out it was delayed by an hour and a half, then two hours. The PSA kept alerting us that homeland security had as on Orange alert, and then I overheard someone say that National had a 10pm curfew. I was a little freaked out!

I then found out that National ALWAYS has a 10pm curfew. But for a while, the delay, the orange alert and the curfew all had me alarmed.

Finally, we took off, 30 minutes after I should have already been home.

Pillows - The hotel bed was super-comfortable. The pillows however jacked your head up at a 90 degree angle. Try as I might I couldn't punch the things down! So I'd go to sleep on the pillow and then wake up off the pillow. And basically tossed and turned all night.

Food - It was Disney world. You can imagine. yeah, not my thing. Our last day in FL we finally got to eat oatmeal for breakfast and soup and salad for lunch. that's my kind of food.

Umm...I think that's all I've got for the bad stuff. Life was rough for a few days. :)

Testimony from Conference

2009-10-07T20:09:00.000-06:00

I loved watching General Conference this past weekend. I used to write down notes during every talk, trying to find answers to all my burning questions about the direction of my life. Now, I just listen and feel. It makes it a much more positive experience for me instead of waiting for each talk to be a little compass that is going to point me north south east or west. Mostly this Conference I felt a great appreciation for the Apostles; for the commitment and honor in which they live their lives. And for the testimony they share of Christ and the living gospel.

Sometimes day after day, week after week, I stop thinking about Christ as real and start thinking of him more like an image or statue. Something I'm praying to, not Someone I'm praying with. But watching and listening to the Apostles this weekend I had my testimony renewed through the example and experiences of the Prophet and Apostles that Christ was once a living human on earth, that He is the resurrected Son of God, and that he does visit and teach those of us in our mortal missions on earth.

Just like you can't explain air, I can't really explain this testimony. But I guess that's the great thing about a testimony is that it's in your own heart which understands the temple it beats in.

Helpful Household Hints

2009-10-02T19:47:00.000-06:00

Long before being "green" and recycling were cool, I've always been looking for a way to save money and resources. I blame my grandparents who taught me to recycle aluminum foil and bread bags even. I've discovered a "new" way to save water.

My bedtime ritual includes brushing, flossing, taking out my contacts, brushing my hair and washing my face. I also like to wash my feet. The water in my apartment takes forever to warm up and I've hated how much water I've been wasting. Most of the time I've given up and washed my face with cool water. As the colder weather is coming, I've dreaded the cool water face wash.

But I've discovered something. Heating up a pot of water on the stove! Revolutionary! (yeah, I think they did this in the olden days...) So now, I put a small sauce pan on the stove to heat, go brush and floss, take out the contacts, turn down the bed. By this time my water is getting to a simmer. I take the pot of water to the bath room, and blend a little heated water with normal tap water in a basin. (big Target mixing bowl actually) Wash my face in nice hot water.

After I'm finished with washing my face, I take the basin of water and set it down in the bath tub. I take the remaining hot water in the sauce pan, poor it into the basin, sit down on the side of the bath, and stick my feet in for a nice 10 minute soak while I read a magazine, scriptures, or homework.

The cats usually come for a visit as well. They think this is the strangest thing ever.

But now I've only used one basin and one small sauce pan of water, had a thorough face cleaning, a relaxing foot soak, and got my scripture reading in.

shopping

2009-09-10T18:23:00.000-06:00

My top preference for shopping is to support local independent stores

Second in line would be to shop at high-end, well managed chains

My last choice is always the internet. I just prefer my money to support my local community. However, I have searched Barnes & Nobles and Borders for a few cd's. And yes, I still buy whole cd's instead of dowloading. But because everyone is downloading now days, B&N and Borders have NO decent classical and jazz selection. So, for the first time ever, I've orded music cd's off of Amazon.

I'm sorry Barnes & Noble. Maybe if you had something more than Mozart and Bach in your racks I would have remained loyal...

Moving Day

2009-08-22T17:37:00.000-06:00

No, not mine...but almost as happy, my friend Cara moved to DC about a month ago (part of the annual DC-Boston Exchange) and she just moved into her actual apartment today. Just 2 whole miles from me. I am sooooo excited to have her here!!!

With Friends Like These...

2009-08-21T21:41:00.000-06:00

So, it's not too often that I rant in my blog. I don't often even rant in my journals. Just not things I like to record I guess. But there is something that has been eating away at me for a while, and seems to be a reoccurring theme for me and I'm just very frustrated.

The few of you who read my blog know I'm not the most socially outgoing person, nor am I the easiest person to be friends with, but you know I try really hard to care about my friends and to help when I can, and just offer prayers when there is nothing left to do. But it seems that most Mormon friends want easy short term friendship and if you expect anything more than that you are going to be left in the dust. The non-Mormon people that I know have a very solid tight-knit, long enduring circle of friends that stick by one another through thick and thin, good traits and bad.

I've been here in D.C. for over a year, and have made very few friends. The closest friend I made was at one time a co-worker and member of my same ward. She is a lot younger than I, and married, so we're not really having the same experiences, but I really cared a lot about her and really valued her as a friend. (and not just because she's the only one I had either. She has a long list of qualities that are really great.) Now, most of her other friends are like her. Young, married, enjoy things like getting together in groups, scrapbooking and arts and crafts. Not my thing. Not my thing on so many levels. I had been invited a couple of times, but really, what am I going to do at one of these functions? I don't scrapbook, I can't afford to start a hobby that I wouldn't keep up, and I have a really difficult time interacting with groups of people. I know those are things that she really enjoy's doing, and I know that friendships are about give and take, but those are just things that are beyond me. So, I've tried to organize other activties that I think we would both enjoy. Racing, hip-hop dance classes (and reader, you know don't you that I don't know ANY hip-hop music...), going to the gym, even shopping, which I kind of hate doing, and other craft classes like soap making. So a mixture of things that I enoy, but also some things that I thought she would enjoy doing.

And I feel like we have both equally been there for one another. I've really struggled with living here in DC and she's listened to me. She's had frustrations about her marriage, and even though I'm not married, I've given her my support. I've tried to be there through her anxiety about her family. When she was laid-off during our reduction in workforce I called her every day to offer a friendly voice, knowing how depressing it can be staying at home everyday, looking for a job.

And we've both flaked out on each other. She offering me rides to church but then not going, or changing the pick-up time by hours, or canceling on the hip-hop class, and I've flaked on her on going to the scrapbooking parties and things of that nature.

So give and take right? But somehow, in the past few months, something has changed, and now I'm considered a 'bad friend'. What exactly? I don't know. I've asked but received no answer, but I will tell you it changed after one particular Saturday. The Friday before we were talking about swimming in her complex's pool while her husband studied for the GRE. I have already mentioned to her that I planned on going to see a matinee and that I had some homework to do. As a planner, I kind of need to have a little bit of a schedule. Since I already knew I had a few things to do, I needed to know in what order to do them. I asked her about what time she thought would work to go swimming. She said she'd have to check with her husband. Friday ended.

My Saturday began. Like every day of the week. I'm up before 6:00 a.m. I went for a 16 mile bike ride, went for a four mile run. Did some homework, planned my weekly menu, walked the mile to the shopping/movie complex, picked up my ticket to a matinee and went to Target to pickup non-perishables. 11:30 am I get a text saying "We're going to play it by ear."...okay, my day started hours ago and since I never heard back from you, my day is now fully scheduled. PLUS, because I can't currently drive, I have to schedule when and where I'm going. You live over 2 miles away from me, so I can't just drop everything and go to your house when your ready, and I've already covered 22 miles, and now I'm supposed to have enough energy to walk anouther 4 and go swimming? I'm sorry that I'm not a play-it-by-ear person and I'm sorry that I wasn't just sitting around my apartment wasting time, waiting for you to call me to maybe go swim sometime during the day.

Aside from her asking me work questions (she was rehired), she hasn't really talked to me too much for the past two months. So I'm a little frustrated that I feel like I'm getting used on the work end of things, and extremely frustrated for being made to feel like I'm a bad person.

Yes! I am an structured, non-scrapbooking, small group, low-key, midly high-maintence kind of person. But am I a bad person who doesn't deserve any friends?

Harpers Index

2009-08-17T20:56:00.000-06:00

From the August issue:

Estimated percentage of all existing blogs that have not been updated in four months: 94

The Weather Report

2009-08-04T16:29:00.000-06:00

Folks I've got nothing for you. I am just not exciting enough for blogging. Headlines from my most recent personal journals:

"The frogs are really vocal today."
"The Mimosa trees are still in blossom."
"I exercised my Right to Dry today" (did you know it's illegal to hang your laundry out side?)
"The locust are buzzing at such a fast rate I think they're going to saw down that tree."

Since I was little these are the things I write in my journal. Maybe I should start writing for the Farmers Almanac?

Well, I hope you keep checking my blog in hopes of getting something juicy sometime soon.

Nephew

2009-07-12T15:01:00.000-06:00

My sister just sent me an email with photo's of her son, whom I've never seen. (He's like 4 or 5 years old so this tells you how close my sister and I are.)

On the DNA gradient scale, my sister has very dark hair and very dark eyes. Her coloring is straight out of my dad's Native American gene pool. I, the second child, the middle of psychological development AND mom & pop's coloring, have lighter brown eyes and lighter brown hair. When I was younger, even till my early 20's, my hair was more red than brown. Cody, the 3rd child and only boy has my mothers complete European color. Creamy white skin, cotton blond hair, and Prussian blue eyes.

Color aside, we all three look exactly like my mom AND dad who don't look like each other.

My sister now has three children. Two daughters almost grown, and then the little boy. Same gender set up as our family. Her oldest daughter looks just like my sister (her mom) and just like me. The second daughter is a equal mix of her mom and dad. So, I was kind of expecting her younger boy to look more like my brother.

And then I opened the photo document. And the boy looks just like my sister and me! dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, same every thing! It really kind of threw me for a curve ball. I don't know why, but that is just not what I imagined her boy to look like, and it's not what I imagine my future children to look like, but I think there is strong evidence that they will. And that's not really jiving with the fantasy life I've concocted all these years...

Ducks

2009-07-08T17:41:00.000-06:00

I had a not-so-great day today. Sometimes, when I have those days, the bike commute home clears my head and I get home happier and more relaxed. Sometimes though, the extra exertion raises my blood pressure and I get caught inside my head, having destructive conversations with myself. Today was that day and by the time I got to my street I could feel my face distorted in the pre-storm of big fat tears.

As I pulled up on to the side walk of my complex I saw a mottled brown mamma duck with three little ducklings walking through the sprinklers. Those little fuzzy ducks playing in the water zapped any bad thought right out of my head!

I don't know why I love animals so much but I just do!

Blog Roll

2009-06-14T19:42:00.000-06:00

Do you remember a long time ago, before Blogs, in a land called Boston, we received almost weekly email updates from J. Andy Kane. The emails would contain the latest on what was happening at Club Passim, random trips, and the lyrics to a song? And you felt kind of cool that you were on the mail distribution list? I for one, would love to have more updates from Mr. Kane since marring one of the coolest girls in the world, running off to CA and having an adorable baby. I thought for sure that he would have one of the greatest blogs around. But the once great electronic communicators and his lovely wife are somewhat off the grid. sad. If anyone has any sway with these two, can you prod them into more updates for the wanting semi-public?

Anyway, I was thinking of them as I have a(n)(inactive) link to their blog. Do you wander who else I review on a constant basis? Oddly, I almost never log into my blog to get my updates via my links. This is more how it happens:

I go to Replikate's blog, see what is going on in her world. From her links I first visit
Kelly
then I back track and visit
Corey - from Corey I check up on Jodi and Jesse, Lane and Jalei, Lisa, and JaNe and Evan.
back track now I click on my own link. from my link I visit
Rachel & Jeremy and baby E. - then to Linda. From Linda I visit the Turleybenson. From Turleybenson I check in on all the Revere Ward people. then back up to Linda and go to Kevin (who is already on my own list, but I'm already on Linda's.)
then I back up to my list and visit Hyrum and Nicole - which give my Melyn & Kyler (if I'm NOT logged into my blog email...) and also gives me Leah
back to my list to visit Cassy
then to Cara from which I can visit Stacey and Aleigh and Lauren, if I hadn't already visited Lauren via Linda via Katie.

And if no one has posted in the past few days I'm not above reading links from people that I have never ever met. It's like People and US of the Mormon world for me.

This of couse is all after I've read the major newspapers and my scriptures...

Maya Angelou

2009-05-31T18:45:00.000-06:00

Long, Long ago, I used to race almost every weekend. Don't get me wrong, I was never very fast, but I really enjoy the camaraderie of a race. And I love having a large collection of t-shirts. But that was long ago, and I really haven't been running much, let alone racing. But I've missed it, and so I talked my friend Krysta into doing a race with me last Saturday. It was the inaugural Maya Angelou something-or-other foundation 5-k fund raiser.

Neither of us have really prepared for the run, but we were both impressed with ourselves on how well we did and how easy the race was and it was really tons of fun. So we are thinking we are going to try to do one a month. YAY! I was really starting to run low on t-shirts. :)

Krysta and me before the race.

Me being cheesy before the race with all the boats in the background. I assure you this was the least cheesy photo of me. How do you like my hot pink top and my purple shorts?? Hey, if you can't outrun people by speed, you gotta try blinding them.

NYC

2009-05-25T16:49:00.000-06:00

I have really been having an urge to go to NYC the past few months. I remember the first time I went was overwhelming to me. Not the bigness, but the noise. Non-stop noise and lights. But each time I go, I like it more and more. I don't think I'd ever want to live there, but I do love going for a day or two.

I took the Chinatown bus from DC. It was so strange to be entering the city from New Jersey. For the past many years I had been traveling down from Boston and entered from CT and it was a little disconcerting to see it from a different angle. An angle that doesn't seem to belong to me yet.

I had three specific things that I wanted to do: go to the temple, a matinee show at the NYC Ballet, and go to the Strand book store. Without giving you a line by line journaled detail of my time table, let me just say that I was perfectly timed to be where I needed to be, when I needed to be there. It seemed that the entire city was working on my time table.

I did get to see a few new parts of the city. Two favorite little spots where both gardens. I grabbed a quick deli lunch between attending the temple, and going to the ballet. There was no seating left at the deli. I walked down a side street and was going to be content to sit on a brick wall and eat my sandwich and soup, when I noticed across the way, a little garden with benches. I went in, ate my lunch, listened to the birds and felt more like a new yorker in a hidden gem, than a tourist at a flashy eatery.

The second garden is a public garden along East Houston. I spotted it as I was walking from the book store to Chinatown to find a bus home. I was in too much of a rush to go inside and look at everything, but slowed my walk and brushed my hand against the plants along the fence. It will be my first stop on my next trip to the city.

Another reason I'm glad that I don't live there is all the food! I am no foodie, but I think I'd get very fat if I lived in New York. There are so many tempting restaurants, bistro's, deli's, and pasty shops. I would want to sample the whole city and then I'd be a big apple! Sadly, there were no roasted nut carts anywhere in the city. Does anyone know the scoop on the missing peanuts?

The one thing that is difficult for me, and this is true of all trips, vacations or splurges, is my extreme unwillingness to spend money. My mind itemizes and adds every penny that I spend and I think about the things that I SHOULD spend my money on, not the things that I want to spend my money on. There are certain virtues to being such a tightwad, and I'm sure Benjamin Franklin would approve, but even Silas Mariner only found happiness after learning to spend his money instead of hording it away in his floor boards.

All in all, it was a very successful trip. And I can't wait till the next time when I can go visit the newly discovered garden.

Star Trek

2009-05-10T08:30:00.000-06:00

I watched the new Star Trek yesterday. Ah the memories. I grew up watching reruns of the original Star Trek and it had quite an effect on me. My childhood fantasy life, when living with my grandparents in Louisiana, involved a combination of Star Trek and Fantasy Island. At dusk I would put on my grandmother's white flowing night-gown, with matching robe and hood and run around the yard, chiffon fabric blowing in the breeze.

In my world, the Magnolia tree was my mother ship, the Pecan tree close by was the evil ship, and all the Azalea bushes were worlds to be conquered. I wish that I had photo's of the schematic of my grandmother's yard so that you could see the distance involved in my conquering, and how large these 'planets' were. I couldn't suspend reality well enough to make myself believe that I could transport to these planets, so I had to create my own little space shuttle for travel. My space shuttle was a toy International tractor that looked like this:

The other thing I realized watching the new Star Trek is how much I love Spock. And I loved Spock when I was little too. I think this might explain a little bit about my troubles in my love life; I love men who are logical, structured, and emotionally controlled to the point of almost being robotic.

I'll probably have a better chance of getting to the Moon with that toy tractor than make a real-life Mr. Spock fall in love with me.

BTW, if you haven't already, go see the new Star Trek!

so boring it's not worthy of a post title...

2009-05-09T08:50:00.000-06:00

Hello Reader, I haven't posted for sometime, because I have nothing new to post about. For all those who have wondered, the earrings are still in. And even though it has been well past the six weeks mark, I still wear the same little corn-flower blue earrings that I had the ears pierced with.

I have bought one pair of what looked like small sparkly studs. But I've found that earrings are like Christmas trees; what looks small out in the open, is too big for the living room once you get it inside. I first attempted to change the earrings around the 8 week mark. I got the left earring out of my ear with a little bit of pain and tugging. When I picked up the new earring, four times larger than the other pair, I knew that I should not have started this without assistance. It was Saturday night, my friend Krysta and her husband where out of town, and wouldn't see my co-worker Jess until Monday. And seriously, I'm a grown woman, I should be able to do this my self. With a few sweat and tears (literally) I got the new earring into my left ear. I didn't even try to work on my right ear. The next morning out with the new and back with the old.

I have since worn the new pair once.

So, I don't know if this post is a testamant to my very boring life that I am telling you all about this, or if getting my ears peirced has been such a trauma for me that each step seems note worthy.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-05T16:38:00.001-06:00

I have wanted to see the Nation's Cherry Blossoms for about 10 years. Upon moving to DC, I had no intention of staying here for a year, and thought that I would be gone by January and would miss the Cherry Blossoms. Thanks to the economy, I am still in DC. But thanks to being in DC, I have finally been able to see the Cherry Blossoms!

I've been taking my camera on my bike commute every day, but the weather hasn't been too great. (Not much snow in the winter here, but rain, rain, rain in the spring. Got to raise our water table some how I suppose.)

I biked over this morning (Sunday) to try to capture the pink blossoms in the sunrise and before the tourist. Guess what, all the tourist have the same idea! I have to post my most favorite photo first. And I apologize if it kind of freaks you out, but I was very excited! Everyone is looking around at the blossoms and taking photo's, and I saw this little guy sitting on the tree. I can't imagine it's a good sign to see a bat out-and-about in broad day light, but I asked a park ranger and he didn't seem all that concerned.

This next photo was taken last Monday night on the bike ride home. I just loved the bright daffodils lining the river path. Across the river are the Cherry Blossoms.

This photo was actually taken last Saturday. It was the opening day of the Cherry Blossom Festival. They had a kite flying contest next to the Washington Monument. It was cold and drizzly and I didn't stay for the kites too long, but it was neat while I was there. The blossoms looked ethereal in all the fog.

I love the reflection of the far trees in the photo below. I think this would look really nice in a water-color painting.

Me. Any guess where I work? :)

I got caught on the wrong side of the Cherry Blossom 10 miler and had to watch for about an hour before I could catch the trail back home. But I didn't mind. I love to cheer people on in races. It kind of makes me emotional. I can't explain it but I get teary eyed when I watch races. Even if it's on T.V....

Anyway, I'm sure as more things bloom I'll have more photo's to post.

No hablo espanol

2009-03-24T17:24:00.000-06:00

Wednesday marks my six week mark for my new cute little pierced ears and I am able to change the earrings. I haven't bought any new earrings yet, as I wanted to wait to see if I could really last the whole six weeks. But since I have endured, I've been looking forward to a little shopping with one of my girl friends.

Last Saturday I came home from errands and I saw the new Avon catalog on my apartment doorstep. I'm not much an Avon or Mary Kay person, but I thought to myself, "hmm...in these difficult economic times, I'd rather help out an independent woman trying to make ends meet, than a big corporate company." I picked up the catalog and started to look through it to see if they carried earrings. They do. But. The entire catalog is in Spanish and Maria, the Avon rep, doesn't speak English.

Oh well, Macy's has been struggling in these tough times too...

Pied Piper

2009-03-19T19:44:00.000-06:00

I'm really excited to report that I just got a new flute yesterday. As I reported earlier several months ago, my division at work runs different campaigns throughout the year. Winner's of the campaigns receive 'perk points' which they can then use to buy merchandise and air fare. I'm fairly certain I'm going to use all of my 'perk points' on musical instruments. :)

So, my new little flute came in the mail yesterday. I haven't played one in a realllllllyyyy long time. I'm both amazed at how easy it is to get a nice sound going, and sad at not remembering my fingering. It almost seems bizarre that we learn how to speak this other language of notes!

Just like with my keyboarding and singing, the cats come running to me when I'm playing the flute. Their eyes are as big as saucers and their ears pricked towards me. I can't figure out if they hate the sounds, or love it. (when I sing they come running to me and sniff my mouth.)

Spring is almost here

2009-02-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

On my commute home this evening along the Mt. Vernon Trail, I noticed a field of dark little shapes on the ground. At first I thought it might be ducks, but realized the little shapes weren't moving. Then I realized it's a field of little spring flowers like daffodils and crocus popping up!

I am sooooo excited that spring is just around the corner!

3rd times a charm?

2009-02-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

When I was 7 years old, I really wanted my ears pierced. This was way back before you go to the mall to do it. Or maybe most people did, but you could get those do-it-at-home kits as well, so my mom but said kit, we iced my earlobes and painstakingly shoved metal post through my tender little ears. I had them for a week before I had an allergic reaction to the gold plating.

About 10 years ago I decided it was time to try getting my ears pierced again. My girlfriend Rebecca and I went to the little jelewry store in ZCMI center, and she held my hand while I had them pierced. And I cried. And I kept them in fore about 2 days before the idea of metal post being jammed in my flesh made me so sick that I had to take them out. And I couldn't look at another girl with earrings for about 6 months.

This week, my girlfriend Holly is in town for work, and we've had a blast going out to eat every night and catching up, and the weather has been absolulty perfect! (60 degrees and sunshine in the middle of Feb.) Monday night she lent me a magazine to ride on the subway home. It was Instyle which isn't my thing too much, but I started thinking about earrings again. (I think about them all the time, but just knew I would never get my ears pierced. Again.) For some reason, she brought up earrings on Tuesday, and thus began the plan to get my ears pierced today.

And we did. And I am so glad for the good natured funny store manager at Claires Boutique, and they're stuffed monkey. I almost ripped a limb off that poor creature, but the ears are pierced. We will see how long they stay this way.

Christmas Cards

2008-12-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

I want 'em!

My address is 3806 Executive Ave, A21, Alexandria VA 22305.

If you would like a card, post your address as a comment, or shoot me an email to watts_malden@yahoo.com.

Vital Stats

2008-12-05T15:18:00.000-07:00

Confirmed stats at the doctors office:

Resting heart rate = 41 bpm
Normal core temperature = 96 degrees
Blood pressure = 110/60

I don't know if I'm really healthy or kind of dead...

Lonesome Dove

2008-11-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

I had every plan in the world to go on a road trip yesterday. Friday I printed out my little maps and itinerary, gassed up the car, and then stopped in at the bookstore to pick up a newly released business book. I can never buy just ONE book, but have to buy at least TWO. If I'm going in to get a non-fiction book, I have to pick out one fiction that is on my list and vice versa. Don't want to get unbalanced in my reading...

My list of fiction comes from various list that are compiled, mostly by Random House; 100 top books of the American 20th century is my favorite. The have been five on my list that keep getting bumped, either because I desperately wanted to read something else, or the bookstore didn't have it in stock.

Lonesome Dove has been one of those five. It has been bumped several times mostly because it's a Western and I'm a girl. So, on Friday, having picked up the new business book I specifically went to get, and having just watched the dusty, but sexy cattle driver of Hugh Jackman in Australia, I was hankerin' for Western and Lonesome Dove jumped off my list and into my hands.

It's been an engrossing read. Enough so that I started thinking late Friday night, maybe I should take one of my accrued vacation days and stay home and read tomorrow...and I did. It's a big book, almost as big as Les Mis. I'm on page 146 and I'm not sure that I've gotten to the "Pulitzer prize winning" guts of the book, but it's good.

One thing that I think is odd is how much he talks about peeing. There's not a chapter that goes by that he doesn't talk about one of the cowboys peeing. (or pissing to be exact) Do guys like to read about cowboys peeing??

Well, I'll see ya' again in about another 799 pages.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T17:27:00.001-07:00

We didn't celebrate holidays in my family when I was a child. When I moved out at a young age I used to fantasize about what my future holidays would be like: a large warm house full of family and friends talking, playing games, reading books, watching football or Hallmark movies, bread baking, and pies cooling on the counter, dogs curled up by the fire, etc. You get the picture.

Many, many years later, this fantasy hasn't come even close to being true. Well, I do have little animals curled up fast asleep but they're cats, not dogs. I love the meaning of being thankful and doing for others, though I try to do this everyday. but I'm kind of over celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas the way others do. Mostly it's turned out that it's a day spent with a hodge-podge of strangers that you'll never see again and eating LARGE amounts of food (which I'm not sure how that differs from just going out to a restaurant) Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not really all that into eating, and definitely not into spending lots of time with strangers.

However, in my anti-Thanksgiving celebration, there are a few things that I wish to express thanksgiving for this season:

I'm grateful for having a good job and a savings account
I'm grateful for having well stocked cupboards with healthy food
I'm grateful for a healthy and strong body
I'm grateful for my faith in Christ
I'm grateful for being able to choose my own religion, vote, and other liberties
I'm grateful for my two cats and animals in general
I'm grateful for technology, education, books and knowledge
And I'm grateful for the sunshine when it is out, and I'm grateful for the rain when it rains. (I don't know how to express how much I love weather, but almost every journal entry and every prayer starts out with my gratitude for whatever it was for the day. )

Don't worry, it's not a policital thing

2008-11-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

If you check up on me once a week or so for updates, I am sad to report that I've got nothing for you.

The most exciting thing I've got to report today is that I had a dream last night that I married Obama, and I'm not sure I would classify that as 'exciting'. Just very bizarre. And I'm not sure why him; I'm sure he'll be a fine President, but I'm not into politicians, or men with super-huge egos (and I believe if you want to be President, you've GOT to have a huge ego) and I don't really find him attractive, and, he's got a wife and kids and everything, so why him? I've got a long list of celebrity crushes that I'd much rather walk down the aisle with!

Yep. That's about it. I wasn't even cool enough to go to Bond this weekend. (Yeah, James Bond! I'd rather marry him than Obama.)

Time Change

2008-11-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is the hardest part of the year for me; the time between the time change and the winter solistice, Dec 21. I need sunshine! Even in the coldest of February I can be content to know that each day is getting longer.

On my ride home Friday night, I noticed an oak tree had suddenly changed it's color. The contrast along the evergreens and weeping willows was striking. Every day I think about bringing my camera to work to capture the monuments by sunrise or sunset, but having been caught in the rain several times, I always decide to keep my camera home. Knowing that I'll now be riding home in the dark, I resigned myself to capturing the tree in my minds camera and call it good.

Luckily for my camera (and my spirits) dear Mother Nature gave us one last fantastically beautiful Saturday. I went for a three hour ride and soaked up as much sunshine as I could hoping it'll keep me for the next few months. (I rode enough that I actually had a little motion sickness when I went to bed last night. Like after you go boating.)

I am no great photographer, but below is the tunnel of trees with the glowing orange oak. (double click on the photo and I think you'll get a larger image.) And a little photo of me under the tree.

Below that is a little turle on a log that I snapped. Isn't he so cute?

A New Toy

2008-10-27T20:15:00.000-06:00

When I first moved out on my own at the young age of 16, my first dad gave me a few hundred dollars as a Christmas/Birthday/Goodluck gift. Hmmmm....what to buy...I was torn between two tempations: a xylophone or a motorcylce. With help from my second dad I opted for a 250cc Honda Twinstar Motorcycle. It was, in this case, the more practical decision.

At work we have various competitions with different tiers of award points. With these points you can 'purchase' goods from a special website. Kinda like Wheel-of-Fortune. I've never been too interested in the competitions because it seems that what most people buy are clothes, jewelery, tv's and electronic gizmo's and other such normal fares. However...

A few weeks ago I was on the site trying to figure out what I can order. I was thinking maybe I should get some winter gear to bike to work in. And then...I saw a musical instrument tab...hehehe...with 9 hard-earned points I got a keyboard. It's nothing out of this world, but for living in a tiny little apartment, and not having had a piano for so long, I am in heaven!

And now, I love these competitions. If we win our next one, I'm going to get a flute! I am on my way to owning my very own orchestra.

Sadly, they don't have any xylophones...

007

2008-10-18T06:50:00.000-06:00

Only in DC....

Yesterday I had to go to the Judiciary Building in Downtown DC to begin the process of getting my notary. (for work.) The people conducting the orientation were going through a list of documents we can, or cannot notarize, and the appropriate forms of identifaction we can accept.

With a completly straight face, they went through the list of ID we can accept for secret agents.

emesis

2008-10-14T17:31:00.000-06:00

At least once a year I will get the three day flu. The first day will start with a fever and chills; intense sweating, joint and muscle aches, delirium. On the second day the fever continues and then comes stomach pain. It's that second day that I dread so much; I know that I'm going to vomit eventually, and I know from years of experience that I will feel better, but with each stomach pain I twist and squirm and try to hold things down. Then comes the event, (use your imagination) and then subsiding relief until the next build-up. On the third day I am tired and drained but feel so much better. I can manage to watch a TV show or even read a book. Toast and soup sit comfortably in my belly.

I kind of feel like my move to DC has been a drawn out second day of the flu. For the past two years a pain had been building in me. I squirmed and twisted and tried to avoid what needed to come out. But moving here was like drinking a glass of epsom salt and all has come rushing out of me. It's as yucky as I remember these sorts of things being, but I know that soon the pain will no longer be a part of me.

I only wish that you could take a flu shot for life.

Gizmo

2008-08-31T17:16:00.001-06:00

My little Pennywhistel has turned into a regular Gremlin! She is so sweet, but she loves to spend time with me and needs my attention anytime I home. Even if when I'm at home means 3:00 am in the morning when I'm sound asleep. To wake me for hugs and scratches, she hops up on the bed and starts her tender sad meowing. Secondly, she will start patting me with her little paw. When that fails to illicit a petting hand, she will nudge at the covers until she finds bare flesh and then starts nipping at me.

Every night we have a little talk about waiting until the alarm goes off at 5:30 and also discuss that I am not covered with fur like her real mother. So far, I have not been able to teach her English or how to tell time.

(I wish that I could take a better photo of her. She really does look like Gizmo with her little tufts of long fur behind her ears, and her little beige mask.)

Going for Gold?

2008-08-27T17:03:00.000-06:00

I'm having a little Olympic Withdrawal. I miss Lochte, Lezak, Phelps and Torres. I miss Bolt and Bob too. I miss the backstories, victories and defeats. (However, for the first time in over two weeks I've been able to go to bed before midnight.)

Growing up in track & field and swimming, I've always been a sucker for the summer games and I still dream about someday being a competitior. (I'm thinking flat water kayaking or clay pigeon shooting are my last options at this point in my life...) But it's not the Gold I'd dream about getting. It's the Bronze.

When you win the Gold, you are the champion for four years, but people are going to talk about how you cheated, or the judges cheated, or how you just barely won, or that you take steroids. And then somebody is going to take it away from you and you'll be compared to who wins four years from now and who you beat etc.

When you win the Silver, it just means you weren't good enough to get the Gold. Sometimes you weren't good enough by 1/100 of a second. You are going to lie awake for many nights thinking "if only". If only I would have jumped a little harder, glided a little faster, pedalled stronger, ran faster, if only...

But the Bronze...have you ever watched the Bronze winner? They are just as happy as the Gold winner, if not happier. They were good enough to get a medal at the Olympic games. They gave it their all with no expectation other than to finish. There's no pressure to justify how they won, and no pressure that their record is going to be taken from them. Just peaceful sleeping knowing you won a medal at the Olympics. Case in point, when Peter Vanderkaay won bronze in the mens 200 Freestyle. He was so ecstatic on the medal podium, and his father crying and waving in the stands. The bronze. I'd race for the bronze.

*Eating Yams and Long Striding Gams

2008-08-20T20:22:00.001-06:00

Every two years I'm reminded how much I love Bob Costas!

(you know. The Olympic broadcaster? Yeah, I'm sure he does other sports too...)

(*upon the Jamaican Bolt winning the Gold.)

Volunteering

2008-08-06T19:45:00.000-06:00

So if you know anything about me you probably know that a) I'm a little quirky and b) I really love volunteer projects.

Before I even moved down to DC I submitted an application to teach adult education to the Arlington County Correctional Facility. i.e...people in jail. I've been very excited about this project and have called and emailed with the director. Last week I went to the orientation for the program and I loved everything about it: the organizers, the other volunteers, the service it self.

However, I've talked myself out of this volunteer project. Not for the reasons normal people might. Like, the fact that you are actually in the jail, you have have training for what happens WHEN you're in a lock down, that you are sitting in a room with 6-8 people who could have sold drugs or murdered someone. no, none of those reasons. I was actually really excited about all of that.

It came down to two things: 1) scheduling: they don't offer classes at a time that I can volunteer. 2) wardrobe. yeah. so, the main three kinds of clothes I wear are business suits, dress/skirts, work-out clothes. But in the jail we can not wear skirts or business clothes or anything that would show a lot of skin, like shorts. Casual pants and big shirts are the only thing you can wear. It's completely understandable why, but those are clothes I don't own, and, the thought of wearing pants just was too much for me.

Yes reader, I opted out of tutoring GED classes to inmates because I can't wear pants.

Commute

2008-07-30T19:23:00.000-06:00

When I first interviewed in the DC office, I was told that several people biked to work. I spent some time with two of them and they pointed out on a map where they lived and the trail they used. That information was one of the biggest deciding factors when I booked my apartment. I will do anything to get where I need to go by using my own energy. I just HATE driving and am only mildly less averse to taking the subway.

My last mtn bike was stolen during a robbery in November. I had a difficult time deciding what kind of bike to get. The commute is 8 miles each way so I didn't want to go with a fat mtn bike with shocks, but I have never liked being on a road bike. I REALLY wanted a cyclocross, or tricross bike, but they're not cheap. I went with the hybrid on road slicks. Ideally I could have a bike for all purposes, but this one will do for now.

Including my Incredible Hulk trike, this is my 9th bike which doesn't sound like a lot if you say compare them to shoes, but I imagine is more than I'll ever have of cars.

Anyway, below are a few pictures of what my commute home looks like. I wish I could capture the wind and sound in the last two photo's. The trail goes right along the airport and there is a giant park that in the evening everyone goes to to have picnics, play soccer, but mostly just to watch the planes take off and land. It literally almost takes your breath away the planes are so close over head.

The Ride

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

Some cool statue as you cross the bridge

Coming in for a landing

just passed over head