I'm such a whiner

Lately, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how sad and creepy our neighborhood is. The other day, we were driving home in silence and I was scanning the tagged concrete walls along the freeway and sighed, "I wouldn't mind moving to a nicer city." I've always known that we don't live in the best area of Sacramento, and I also know it's not the worst. Our street itself is quiet (if you can drown out the incessant barking from the neighbor's dogs) and relatively clean. Even the streets in our immediate vicinity are decent (when there aren't GIANT piles of garbage sitting in the gutters). Once you venture out beyond a 200-yard radius, it starts to look rundown and sketchy. Mind you, I don't feel like I'll get shot if I wander outside, but you definitely won't find me walking the dog after dark. I don't think it's too much to ask to feel safe in my own surroundings. Yes, I know crime can happen anywhere, and if that's the case, shouldn't common sense and decency happen anywhere? The prime example I can think of is the grocery store. I don't even know how many times have I walked into my local-to-remain-nameless-grocery store to find that wife-beaters and pajama pants were the unofficial uniform of the day. Really people? Is there no pride or sense of decency in the world? And that pile of garbage in front of your house? Are you planning on taking it anywhere or is a magical Garbage Elf going to whisk it away for you? And if so, why didn't anyone tell me about such elves (I could really use an extra pair of tiny hands around the house)? And really, are we still spray painting gang affiliations on walls along the freeways?

Ghettoness aside, I do like our house. It's new-ish and we haven't had any major problems. That said, I do daydream about an adorable Spanish style home with a terra cotta roof and archways everywhere, inside and out. And you know what? Those homes don't exist in our price range in this city. And I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but any decent house in a decent neighborhood is way beyond what we want to spend.

We have toyed with the idea of moving out of the area someday but no plans are in the works yet. We both have pretty stable jobs here and both of our families are close by. I guess if there isn't any definitive push to leave (i.e. job relocation or something similar), I have a hard time justifying a move. I guess untill that happens, I'll continue to have this itch.

Just desserts

I'd like to share the progression of desserts that took place over the weekend:

Thanksgiving day dessert:

 Friday's dessert:

 Saturday's dessert:

Plus pecan pie

And Sunday's dessert:

Seriously need food detox now. And gym time tomorrow.

I think someone had a case of the Mondays

The following is based on a true story. This happened a few months ago, and after it happened I made a mental note to be sure and write a post about it. And then some stuff and some other stuff got in the way of my (semi) regular posting schedule and it got pushed back into the recesses of my brain. I remembered it recently, picked it up, dusted it off (yes, my recesses are dusty) and here goes:

It was noon-ish on a weekday and I was driving to lunch. I turned into a left-turn lane at an upcoming intersection. There was a grandpa following a ways behind me who also turned into the same left turn lane. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a ridiculous, monster style truck in the far right lane. The truck was the kind that had tires so high, I could pitch a tent and set up camp underneath it. Mr. Idiot Trucker decided, a little too late, that he needed to turn left as well, and what did he do? He cut across 3 lanes of traffic and cut in front of grandpa. He came so close I could have sworn he shaved the right side of gramps's car. Meanwhile, gramps was none too happy about this so he honked his horn and gave the universal sign for "DARN YOU, YOU LITTLE HOOLIGAN WHIPPERSNAPPER." Oh, you don't know that hand sign?  It's the classic, tightly clenched fist-shake.

In that moment, gramps was my hero. I could see myself doing the same thing in his position. Or at least I would hope so. Now, I know plenty of people who would instantly raise the mightiest of fingers and wave it at the hooligan in question, but not I. I have far less of a spine. I would fear the consequences that may result from my bird-flipping, so I would definitely opt for the less offensive yet classic shake of the fist. Or I would even go Mr. Potato-Head style and put on my angry-eyes and then give the famous evil stare-down.

Back to the story, we were all 3 sitting at a red light. Me first, then the punk, then gramps. The seemingly harmless fist-shake apparently enraged the punk kid. So much so that he threw open his door, jumped out of his truck and-I FREAKING KID YOU NOT-started JUMPING ON THE HOOD OF GRAMPA'S CAR.  After 3 or 4 jumps, the light was still red and the kid got back into his truck and sped off into the distance. I was in shock and felt terrible for the old man behind me, who no doubt, was also in shock. When the light changed the man took off in the direction that the kid went. I sincerely hope he found him or at least got a license plate number. I hope the man didn't have to pay hundreds of dollars for a brand new hood. I hope justice was served. In hindsight, I feel like I probably should have done something to help, but I was honestly scared shitless for fear of what that kid might do. I really hope karma gives him a swift kick in the rear. Like perhaps...maybe...his girlfriend should dump him...on his birthday...at Disneyland. Or someone should at least pee in his cheerios. Yeah, I could go for that.

Helpful holiday tip

You're welcome.

2 weeks later

We all live in a yellow... Mila?!

Turns out we are that couple. The one that dresses up our pup for halloween. I was surprised that she didn't mind it too much.

Apparently what she does mind is adorable stuffed piggies roaming around her house.

Poor fella didn't stand a chance.

qotd

Quote of the Day (courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com):


"I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."  -Anonymous


Amen! 

On the other side

I survived! I made it through the grueling 13 hours of testing and now it's only 15-ish weeks until I get the results mailed to me. FIF. TEEN. WEEKS. I can't express the anguish that I feel just by typing that, but I must say that the sense of relief I feel far outweighs it.

I have soooo been looking forward to getting my leisure time back and since the exam, I've been having a hard time focusing on what I want to do first. I've been looking forward to so many things, including:

1. posting on le blog
2. taking more photos
3. getting back into the gym
4. reading the books I've put on the backburner
5. playing silly videogames with the Hub*
6. *Addition to number 4: drinking and playing silly videogames with the hub  
7. shopping (get better soon, Roseville Galleria!)
8. testing out holiday recipes. Gotta brush up on my stuffing and take a stab at beof bourguignon.
9. seeking out artwork for our bedroom and office; possibly framing some of my photos...
10. catching up on the movies we wanted to go see at the theater
11. baby showers! 
12. getting in touch with friends that I haven't seen in months
13. tackling another painting project (eyes rolling back into my skull)
14. VEGGING. OUT. 

I'm so excited for the fall season and my new found free time. It's good to be back. 

One.

A year ago today:

We got all gussied up...

...and had a great time.

Love you, Hub.

Office artwork

I've been looking for prints to hang up in my office. I was convinced I wanted something bold and graphic design-y and typographic (and I haven't necessarily ruled that out), but then I stumbled upon these prints by Matt Lyon:

Ontogenesis

Viral

The Letter V (of course!)

I just love the colors, geometric patterns and the abstract-ness of it all. There is also a typography collection, so maybe I can get the best of both worlds. Friends, I may have just struck gold. 

Happy Birthday

Puppy turns one today! Happy Birthday, Mila. I remember when you were so tiny and snuggly. Like so:

So tiny and squishable...

 So protective of her toys from day 1

One of her first walks

Learning the joys of sunbathing

And here she is just being so effing cute. 

Yes, we love our spoiled pup. And to think, just last year she was a tiny, wrinkly (and in all likelihood, not very cute) newborn and we were getting ready for the wedding. What a crazy year it's been! Here's to many more, my furry child.

 P.S. Sorry we bore you so much. Zzzzz....

After a long study day

So today I finished my seismic design class. It's the home stretch from now till October 29th and 30th. EEEK!

Anyway, I got home and decided to whip up an early dinner. Which consisted of eggs (scrambled with mushrooms and topped with cherry tomatoes) and coffee.

I love me some breakfast for dinner. And coffee. And when you have a cute mug like this, how can you resist? Speaking of being unable to resist, I also had the following in honor of this here blog:

mmmm...brownies...

To top it off, I also had a chocolate-and-caramel chip cookie (baked by my mother-in-law, henceforth to be referred to as Queen of Cookies). I didn't get a picture of the cookie though. I'm sorry. But don't worry. It's now living comfortably in my belly.  

Mila thought it was all a bit much. She lay there in the living room and quietly judged me.

Are you sure you need that cookie AND the brownie? 

The Hub has been so wonderful the past few months. I've been less than helpful around the house since I'm so consumed in my studies. He's been a huge help and so supportive. He recently tackled this project and it looks fabulous:

Behold, family photos along our stairwell

I know, you can't really see the pictures, but trust me, they are treasured family photos that have been sitting in a drawer for the past several months. They finally made it onto the walls thanks to my wonderful Hub. 

In closing, here's a video that has brought me much joy this week. I unapologetically love Justin Timberlake. And his new glasses. 

Checking in

Just a quick note to mention that I've kicked my study schedule into overdrive. I'm studying at lunch at work, which means that leisurely lunches with The Hub will be few and far between (insert cheesy, sad face emoticon if you wish, because I won't bring myself to use them here). I'll also be studying in the evenings at home although the location may change depending on my ability to avoid distractions (e.g. phone, TV, imac or ipod. Damn you, Steve Jobs for those pretty shiny things that direct my attention towards my music and photos instead of my textbooks.)  That leaves the weekend, when I have the 8-hour seismic review class on Saturdays and of course my wide-open Sundays. Well, not really wide open, cuz guess what?! I'll be studying then too. (insert very sad face here. We're talking the kind of sad face who has a prescription for Prozac).

In other news, Brandon Flowers's new album "Flamingo" rocks my socks.
And The Bird and the Bee's "Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future" blows my skirt up. Way up.
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(And Steve Jobs, I was just kidding. I don't know why I said that. I really do love those shiny things.)

The best season

Thought it appropriate to bust out the autumn ale at dinner tonight. Such a lovely way to cap off an otherwise BLURG kind of day. Happy almost autumn!

Currently listening to...

Sometimes, when I get in the car and I know it's going to be a 20+ minute drive, I like to have some tunage to sing along to. To which... I can sing along...? Anyway, grammatical correctness aside, I like singing in the car. Lucky for me I found the perfect CD that really lets my inner American Idol shine: Regina Spektor's Far. I love, love, love this album. (Yes, I still say album.) It's full of quirky lyrics and beautiful melodies. She's got amazing range and even sings like a dolphin on 1 of the tracks. For reals. Don't tell me that's not enticing.

Perseverance

So back in early spring, I bought this Kong-on-Steroids for She-Who-Eats-A-Lot. The correct name for the kong is the Kong Wobbler and it's awesome. You fill it with treats and your pup has to knock it around to get the delicious treasures inside to fall out. I thought it'd be a great way for Mila to use some brain power and figure out a way to get the munchables out. Well turns out she was a little low on brain power when I first brought this home because she had no idea what to do with it. She'd sniff the opening and she knew there were treats inside, but she was too afraid to play with it. After about a week of her highly ineffective "sniff, then run away really fast" technique, I put it away and sobbed over the $20 I'd never see again. Not really, but I was a little sad because I was so sure she was going to love it. Well, fast forward to 2 days ago when I was rummaging through old dog toys and found the wobbler in the back of the closet. I figured maybe we should have another go at it. And wouldn't you know, someone has finally figured out how to get the treats out. It's safe to say this is her new favorite toy.

Inspiration

I know, I know. I've been gone for a while. I've been consumed by work and studying lately, so please give me a break. I don't even have time for a full post today, but I just found something that was too good to not post. The New Dress A Day blog. This young lady is taking 365 ugly dresses and using only $365 to make them pretty. So creative and talented, I tell you. I can't wait until this exam is behind me so that I have more time to dive into more creative projects...rather than study about soil bearing capacities. zzzzzzzzz........

I should be studying

But instead of studying, we've been having fun getting some new toys for the house. The one I'm most excited about:

That's right, friends. We got ourselves an imac. It was a gift for both of us since I had recently been lusting after a new system (and larger screen) to view and edit photos. The Hub also wanted it because he had been wanting a mac for years. Out of his collection of computers, he had yet to call any of them a mac.  (yes, he has various computers. in case I never mentioned it before, he is a self proclaimed nerd. it's practically part of his job) We opted for the imac instead of any of the mac books mostly because we figured we wouldn't necessarily be traveling with it, and we didn't want to shell out that much additional cash for one anyway. We're both pretty excited and have a lot to learn about it still. I'm having fun playing with iPhoto and maybe in the future, I'll cave and get Lightroom or some other software. Still have to do some research on that. Perhaps when my photography hobby gets a little more serious, we shall see.

Another, more Martha Stewart-y toy we got was:

Finally got myself a sewing machine. I had a few projects hiding in the closet, just waiting to be hemmed or otherwise mended, so hopefully I'll finally get around to them. I already mended a couple dog beds because Mila thought they were for killing, gutting and eating the scrumptious fluff contained within each one. It's been a trip to start sewing again since I hadn't done it since high school. I forgot how much fun it was. 

In other news, a couple projects that were on the back-burner have finally been completed and/or are underway. First, I got started on our "wall of wedding photos."

 

I know, I know.  "That's it?!" Well, we have a bunch of other 8x10s and 5x7s that are sitting in frames, just waiting to be slapped on the wall. I'll get to those eventually. I'm still getting over how labor intensive it was to get those 2 pictures up, perfectly even, and level so that stack of 12+ frames is not at all enticing. 

Oh! And how can I forget the little project that morphed into The Project I Wouldn't Mind Never Doing Again: re-finishing my old dresser. First, some brief backstory. I bought this dresser at a little antique store when I was in still in high school and it was pepto pink when I bought it. Literally so pink that it required the aid of medication to keep your stomach from turning while looking at it. Through the years I painted it a couple times, and recently decided to paint it yet again. I figured it was time to really do it right and I decided to strip the paint off, primer and repaint. I had no idea how vile a substance paint stripper really is. People: buy really good gloves if you are going to work with this shit, lest you end up removing layers of skin from your hands along with layers of paint from whatever it is you're working on. Anyway, after the dresser shed a few coats of paint, this is what it looked like: 

After some more paint stripper and much sanding, it was time for primer then paint. We decided on yellow because we thought it'd be a sunny pop of color in our otherwise neutral and subdued bedroom. After paint, it was off to find some new knobs. We found some gorgeous ones at Antrhopologie (as well as a new hook for the dog's leash and collars and a fun new doorknob for Hub's office and a new dress for moi, but anyway...): 

(Please excuse the poor quality of these pics.) 

And of course the final product:

And a bonus photo of Mila, just because she wanted some camera time: 

What a ham.

Anyway, we've been productive the past few weeks. I won't even go into the projects The Hub has been tackling. Let's just say that our tv stand is new and improved and the new stereo receiver kicks a metric ton of ass. Oh, and he loves his Dremel tool. And no, that's not a euphemism. 

It Is Time

That time I've been dreading for the past few years has finally come. It's PE registration time. What exactly is the PE, you ask? Well even if you didn't, here's a definition courtesy of ncees.org: 

"The PE exam tests your ability to practice competently in a particular engineering discipline. It is designed for engineers who have gained at least four years’ post-college work experience in their chosen engineering discipline. The PE exam is typically the last step in the process of becoming a licensed P.E. (or professional engineer)."

Basically, you pass this test and get your Professional Engineer's license. I have until July 19th to gather all my application forms, college transcripts, and reference letters (I have to ask at least 4 of my supervisors/peers to vouch for me and the quality of my engineering work thus far) and send them in to the California Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. Should I miss this deadline, I will have to wait 6-ish months to apply and take the test in April since it's only given twice a year. Once I register, I am basically plugging into study mode for the remainder of summer until the test at the end of October. I kid you not, my friends, this thing is brutal. It's 2 days of 8 hour long exams. Oh, and there's a take home portion I need to complete and send in with my application. Lovely. I almost forgot about that one. Needless to say I am not thrilled about it but I am motivated. This test is broken into portions and should an examinee (notice my restraint in that I didn't say "testee." Except for just now.) fail any portions, they have to retake and pass each portion to obtain their license. I constantly hear about colleagues who must take and retake the test and I definitely know how that goes. I had to take the EIT (Engineer-In-Training exam, junior version of the PE where it's *only* 8 hours of testing) twice. It's not a fun experience. I'm really shooting for passing on the first try, but in order to do so I know I'll have to buckle down hard. I'm probably going to need to paste this to my hand during study sessions:

(as seen here)

El Caribe

I guess I should come to terms with the fact that vacation is over. It's actually been over 3 weeks since we got back from our honeymoon to Jamaica but I still find myself drifting back to the Caribbean during those duller moments at work or during my commute. We had an amazing time learning about Montego Bay, lounging by the beach and taking pictures of it all to incite jealousy from all our friends and family.

That's going to be all the photos you get for now. Mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to sift through the hundreds of other photos. The ones above are a few of my favorites anyway. 

(Side note, let's hope for a quick and more peaceful resolution to the violence and unrest in Kingston. According to the BBC, there have been "at least 31 deaths in the anti-drug offensive." Everyone send your good thoughts and prayers toward the lovely island of Jamaica.) 

Needless to say, the vacation was everything a vacation should be: relaxing, rejuvenating, and interesting. There's nothing worse than being on vacation and after a couple of relaxing days, having that feeling of "Well, I've done the pool and beach thing, but now what?" There was always something to do around the resort. Kayaking in the ocean was a popular choice, but probably the best one was the impromptu 3 hour hike starting at the beach and climbing 2000 feet up to Johnny Cash's house in Cinnamon Hill. Along the way, we learned so much about about the history of the land and the plantation. The several-hundred-year-old structures are still standing and some of the churches are still functional (see the church in the photo, above).  I also really admire the Jamaican approach toward medicine. They always try the natural approach first by using the countless varieties of plants and trees native to the island. Popular natural options include brewing teas and making ointments from the leaves of plants. 

All in all, it was a very educational and truly wonderful trip. Many thanks to the Hub for being a great travel partner. Here's to many more trips like this one.

For any occasion

Just a quickie today (get your mind outta the gutter). I came across these cards and fell in love with the sarcasm and the beautiful designs. For example:

There are plenty of other cards for pretty much every occasion. Each one equally hilarious as the next. I know a handful of people that would appreciate this kind of humor so they should be expecting one of these from me in the near future. Now, I never wish ill on anyone, but I really hope someone gets a case of the sniffles or something so that I can send them the "get well soon" card. I'm particularly fond of that one. 

This is what's wrong

Rarely do I get to bear witness to something truly "blog-worthy." Today, however, was an exception. It happened today at lunch when I stopped by the ATM to deposit some checks. My visit to the bank was extended a bit when one of the checks I needed to deposit gave the ATM indigestion and it popped back out of his mouth mid-transaction.  Yes, I just said the ATM was male. And his name was Pip.

Anyway, I had to go inside the bank to deposit my check with an actual live person bank teller. When was the last time you did that, huh? For me, it had been a while. So I'm standing in line behind 3-ish people. An older gentleman was at the head of the line when one of the tellers was freed up. After the "I can help the next person in line" announcement from the pleasant middle eastern woman teller (yes, this fact is pertinent to the story), the gentleman at the head of the line looks at her, shakes his head and said "No thanks, i'll wait for 1 of those 2."  And by "those 2," the man was referring to the other 2 bank tellers, who were younger and looked like children of the Aryan race. Those 2 tellers were tied up for a bit and so he decided to wait. The next couple people in line went ahead of him to be served by the first teller. When my turn came, he was still waiting for 1 of the other 2 tellers, both of whom looked like they had just graduated high school and were probably more preoccupied with updating their facebook status than focusing on the task at hand. I went to deposit my check with the first teller. While she was helping me, I looked back at the man and he was giving my teller the stink eye. Full on glaring at her! Now, I can't say for sure what that man's deal was and I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but I do know he was an IDIOT. He refused service from the perfectly capable teller and then proceeded to make faces at her. Are you kidding me? This, my friends, is what's wrong with the world. 

He's GAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!

Big news people! Ricky Martin is GAAAAAAAAAAYYY! Man, any chance I get to make a Drop Dead Gorgeous reference, you betcha I'm gonna take it. Did you catch that? 2 references within the first 3 sentences! I really shouldn't be all that excited about that but I am. Anywho.... on to more relevant matters...

Tis Monday evening and a wonderful one at that. I've spent the past several days in a wonderfully blissful state. I had Friday off to do chores and get the mundane tasks out of the way, as per usual. Then Saturday, the Hub, pup, and I went to my in-laws' for a relaxing afternoon filled with lunch, sunshine and watching the dogs snip at each others' noses. And oh yeah, we made Mila gallop her happy ass almost 2 miles to grandma's house. Needless to say, she slipped peacefully into a coma and cursed us in her dreams for the whole car ride home and the remainder of that evening. Even though that day wasn't particularly eventful, it was wonderful. I haven't been this chipper in a long time and I like to think the weather played a big part in my mood. 

Sunday was  spent eating breakfast with my parents in honor of mi padre's cumpleaños. We parted ways while we ran errands and my parents headed back home to Placerville. After settling back at home, we decided, what the hell, and headed up to Placerville to hang out at my parents' house. Mila loved seeing her other grandparents, and she especially loved sniffing every substance in their backyard. There's no end to the twitching of that little scrunched up, spotted, flubby nose. Sniff sniff sniff! On everything. And oh yeah, she almost ate a beetle, but when he started playing hard to get and dodged her advances, she said, "F that, I'll go sniff this rock instead." Because rocks are far more interesting than live insects. Go figure. She's still very much in that "EVERYTHING IS SO NEW AND EXCITING! stage, and she must sniff and/or lick everything in her path to determine if the object at hand is worth her time or perhaps there is something better over there! or over there! OH LOOK! A LEAF JUST FELL FROM THAT TREE! LET'S GO CHECK IT OUT!

Dear lord, I just realized I've spent the majority of this post rambling about my dog (which is borderline embarrassing in itself), whom I haven't even properly introduced! Mila Georgia McGrew is our nearly 6 month old Boston terrier puppy. Mila was a name that the Hub tossed out there while we were driving one day. Georgia came about on our car ride to pick her up from the breeder's house. We knew her first and last initials were going to be M and M, so we thought it'd be cool if she were MGM. Well turns out the breeder's house was on (or just off, I can't quite remember) Georgia St. And there you have it. Here she is in her usual pose (with something hanging out of her mouth):

My happy pants mood continued through today, where I went to work and spent the day learning yet another aspect of the job from my ever-so-patient boss. God bless that man. I've been at my job for almost 4 years now, but in some ways I still feel very much like a newbie. There's just so much to learn but thank goodness for the managers I've had the pleasure of working with lately. They have so much patience and this sort of...."we're all in this together" attitude, which I realize sounds cheesy but it's the best way I know to describe it. 

I came home, had a light dinner and read my new book: It Sucked and then I Cried by Heather B. Armstrong. LOVE IT as I love all things dooce related. I pried myself away just long enough to get my ass kicked by Jillian Michaels and her trusty side-kicks via her fitness DVD. If you try it, expect your limbs to feel weak and jello-y immediately following your workout. And you may need the help of a loved one to haul your shaky, exhausted body into the shower. You were warned. And if you don't experience this and I'm the only one, well, don't bother telling me about how weak I am. I might cry. Despite my weariness, I'm still in a good mood, as it's now Gossip Girl time and the yuppie upper east side kids require my attention. God knows they don't get enough attention as it is. 

Good riddance, February

So, yeah. February came and went without so much as a peep out of me. Or should I say, not a click out of me. Or whatever the hell kind of noise a keyboard makes. I don't know why, but I think my hormones decided that I would pms for the entire second month of the year. It seemed like there was drama in every aspect of my life. I won't go into details here because I do have some boundaries, believe it or not. Let's just say that at any and every point in time during last month, I was either sad, irritated, or stressed. Does that ever happen to you? Please tell me I'm not alone on this one. Anyway, things are looking up for March as well as the next few months so the whining will stop here. Ha, did you believe that last statement? Silly goose, you are. Shows how much you know about me, because that leads me to my next rant....

So how old are you supposed to be before staying in hotels stops being SOOOOOOO fun, and instead you spend every minute worrying about the germs lurking on every surface. Yes, I have become that person. Only pressing the buttons on the TV remote when I'm really ready to make a commitment to a new channel or volume level. I know, I shouldn't even be touching it to begin with, but it's NBC Thursday and I gotta watch the arrival of Jim and Pam's baby. And let's not forget how I get a terrible night's sleep because I'm constantly waking up throughout the night because the temperature is like that of a meat locker. And that's because the sad, pitiful excuse for a heating/AC unit decided I was too demanding and sighed dramatically as it breathed its last breath. And one last thing, perhaps the best, is the family of miscreants that decided to book 3 rooms, but can't exactly remember which 3 and decides to just go around plugging their room keys in every door until one of them flashes that little "YOU WIN!" green light. FOR REALS. Moral of the story: I miss my hub and puppy at home.

Latest nerdery

I have been ordered to finish the remaining third of a bottle of red wine, so naturally, the most obvious thing to do in a case like this is to complete the task and then get online and unleash some of my innermost thoughts into the interwebs. Ok, maybe these are not my innermost thoughts, necessarily, but how about some fluffy commentary on Avatar, which we went to see last night? Hmm?

I’ll start off by admitting that, yes, I was a skeptic. I knew it was going to be good, since the critics were giving it above average to good reviews, but I just can’t say I had much desire to watch it. However, you give me 3 straight hours of HGTV or TLC and you would get a resounding, “Hell yes, sounds like a great way to kill an afternoon!” from me. I don’t know, I guess I was just depending on the Hub to be the driving force and say, “We’re going to watch Avatar on such and such day at so and so time” since I figured he’d be in more of a rush to see it, but that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t until the buzz around the Hub’s place of work finally got to him and he decided we would go see it in 3D.

I’ll cut to the chase and say that the story itself was not groundbreaking, with its themes of being connected to our environment and community. It’s the world of the Na’vi, as well as the people themselves and their devotion to each other and their deity that makes this story so wonderful to look at and intriguing to think about. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will mention that I really liked how even the animals on Pandora play such a major role. They, too, feel a strong connection to their surroundings and act on their instincts to protect their home. Let me just say now, I want an ikran. How awesome would it be to sail above highway 50 on one of those?

The high attention to detail is in every aspect of the film: from the language of the Na’vi to the plants and trees, which were created by actual linguists and botanists, respectively. Oh, and I can’t forget the science labs where Dr. Grace and her hench-people worked, with their sexy glass touch-screens. Yes, not only would I love to go to Pandora, but I’d love to work in that lab too! Needless to say, I loved the movie and highly recommend it to anyone who might have even the smallest appreciation for any sci-fi or fantasy type nerdery.

the blog title will make more sense after this

So the new year brought along with it the same old resolutions. Eat right and work out regularly, get more organized, get the house looking spiffy and take more pictures. So far, things have gone according to plan. I've hit the gym consistently, at least 4 times per week since the beginning of the year, the house has been coming along nicely and I'm planning on a new dslr come tax return time. But this whole food thing, man is that hard, especially when you consider that my whole day revolves around food. I'm constantly thinking about it: when I get to have my next snack, what it will consist of, and when I'll have the next snack or meal after that. Despite the thought-consuming power of food, I do eat pretty well. I start my day with oatmeal, but come 10 am, my good friend Hunger comes up from behind me and punches a hole through the back of my chair and wrings out my torso. You can imagine how inconvenient this whole scene is since it's a pretty small office and the resulting sounds from my stomach are cause for embarrassment. After the morning snack, the next 2 hours are ok, and then that bastard Hunger comes around again and the whole scene repeats. This usually continues for the rest of the day till dinner time. The easy thing would be to say, just snack on healthy stuff like nuts or fruit or something. Sure, I can do that, but why would I? Especially when the doritos in the pantry do such a wonderful and tasty job of taming the wild Hunger and then throwing it out on its ass.

For reals this time

Ten months without a new blog post. I think the internet can officially consider me M.I.A. There's no real reason for my absence, other than the fact that I am lazy and didn't feel the need to post since I really don't have any readers. Then it hit me: if I want to practice writing, I've got to just do it (sorry Nike). If nothing else, I need to consider this little corner of the interweb as my own little outlet. It'll be my "something-to-do" when there is not a single thing to watch on any of the 300+ channels on TV. It'll be my frustration-reliever and thought-recorder. Are you ready blog? It sounds like I've talked you up quite a bit, so you better live up to the hype.