Comings and Goings

Dropped my roomie off at the airport before work this morning. Feels like the end of an era, we've had nearly 3 great years as roomies, but sadly that time is coming to an end. It will be strange to go home to only my cat. So long human! I'll miss you.

Dutch Passport

Woo hoo! Its official, I received my Dutch passport last night :) :) I am now officially a Dutch citizen. How bizarre is that? The only time I've ever set foot in the Netherlands was in the airport in Amsterdam. I'll have to remedy that soon.

But what is it with passport photos? In this one I look I'm practically asleep. Such a terrible picture. Ah well, can't do much about that.

Fondue

A couple of weekends ago, we had some people over for dinner, which we topped off with chocolate fondue. Mmmmm...good stuff. Here are a couple of the fondue action shots.




Looking at these pictures makes me think that someone needs to create an 'Ode to Yuka'. I think there would be a lot of great shots floating around :)

An Ode to DC

An Ode to my crazy roomie :)

Noodles

Very difficult to eat with a spoon...

So Sad...

In honour of all the snow we've been getting lately I was going to post some lovely snowy pictures. However, I can't get Hello to work to post my pictures. So much for that plan :( Ah, well, maybe later.

Beautiful Snow, a poem by J. W. Watson

Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below,
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of people you meet.
Dancing,
        Flirting,
              Skimming along,

Beautiful snow! It can do no wrong;
Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in frolicksome freak;
Beautiful snow from heaven above,
Pure as an angel, gentle as love!

Oh, the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go
Whirling about in maddening fun:
Chasing,
        Laughing,
              Hurrying by.

It lights on the face and it sparkles the eye;
And the dogs with a bark and a bound
Snap at the crystals as they eddy around;
The town is alive, and its heart is aglow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow.

How wild the crowd goes swaying along,
Hailing each other with humor and song;
How the gay sleighs like meteors flash by,
Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye:
Ringing,
        Swinging,
              Dashing they go,

Over the crest of the beautiful snow;
Snow so pure as it falls from the sky,
To be trampled in time by the crowd rushing by -
To be trampled and tracked by thousands of feet
Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street.

Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell,
Fell like the snow flakes from heaven to hell;
Fell to be trampled as filth in the street,
Fell to be scoffed, to be spit on and beat;
Pleading,
        Cursing,
              Dreading to die,

Selling my soul to whoever would buy;
Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread,
Hating the living and fearing the dead.
Merciful God! I have fallen so low!
And yet I was once like the beautiful snow..

Once I was fair as the beautiful snow,
With an eye like a crystal, a heart like its glow;
Once I was loved for my innocent grace--
Flattered and sought for the charms of my face!
Father,
        Mother,
              Sisters--all,

God and myself I have lost by my fall:
The veriest wretch that goes shivering by,
Will make a wide sweep lest I wander too night,
For all that is on or above me I know,
There is nothing so pure as the beautiful snow.

How strange it should be that this beautiful snow
Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go!
How strange it should be when the night comes again
If the snow and the ice struck my desperate brain!
Fainting,
        Freezing,
              Dying alone,

Too wicked for prayer, too weak for a moan
To be heard in the streets of the crazy town,
Gone mad in the joy of snow coming down:
To be and to die in my terrible woe,
With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful snow.

~ by J. W. Watson. (1870)

Airplane Problems and Solutions

Found these in my surfing...rather long, but I thought they were pretty good :)

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet", which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except Auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last.................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Rangeela

I can't wait for Saturday...it's Rangeela time at Calvin again. We've got a whole group of people together this year to go. Should be lots of fun. And my cousin will be in town too, hooray!

Spring?

I think marketing people have something against us. I was walking around the mall last night, and most stores have their spring lines out. And most have sales going on as well. So us, the happy consumer goes in and buys lots of fun spring clothes, only to walk back to our cars in the snow and cold. Then we have two options, either wait and wait and wait for warmer weather to sport our new clothes, or freeze our butts off because we can't wait. I usually fall into the latter category, wearing my new clothes, and freezing. Why must they do this to us??

Curiosity Killed the Cat

The other day I used my last kleenex so I tossed the box to Nutmeg, my cat. A little while later I hear this banging around so I look to see what's going on. The silly cat had gotten her head stuck in the box and was running around trying to get unstuck. LOL. Of course I had to run for my camera, this was just too good pass up. Once I snapped a couple of pictures, I helped Nutmeg get out of the Kleenex box.

Phantom of the Opera

Went to see the Phantom of the Opera last night. Excellent movie/musical. Parts of it were rather cheesy, but as a whole it was great. Good story, great music, very handsome phantom :) I loved his eyes, a world of sadness in those eyes. Definately worth going to the theatre to see it. Now I should go and get the music for it, I love those songs. Just wish I had gone to see it when it was playing in Toronto.

Strange Dreams

I had a really strange dream last night. I was wondering around a department store. My teeth were feeling a little odd so I looked in the mirror and saw that two were loose. So I made a mental note to be careful and continued wandering about the store. A little while later my mouth started filling up with blood. I ran into the bathroom and spit the blood into the sink. Along with the blood came two of my teeth. Two from right up front too. I remember smiling into the mirror, and thinking, oh this is not good, looking at the two gaping holes in my mouth. I picked out my teeth with the intention of going to a dentist asap. Then I woke up, with all my teeth intact.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Yesterday afternoon, after a trip to the mall, I decided to deck the halls, so to speak. I put together a wreath for our door, and strung Christmas lights on the porch. But I still felt that something was lacking. So after a trip to Meijer, and much hemming and hawing, I picked out a Christmas tree (the kind that comes in a box :). Hauled it home with some other odds and ends through the quite icy streets. After some wrestling, I got the tree up, and decorated it with the meager collection of ornaments I have. Strung up some garlands, rarranged my little glowing village, and hung a couple of stockings by the "chimney" with care. Now the place looks much more Christmasy, just how I like it :)

Computer Virus

An email forward from one of my aunts:

I am sending this to everyone who sends me e-mail.

One of you sent a virus.

It is a very severe virus.

Look what it did to my mouse!

SinterKlaas

This past weekend, my roomie and I made a quick trip to my parent's house to celebrate SinterKlaas. The drive was pleasantly uneventful, no snow to contend with, just clear, dry roads. Saturday morning I woke up early, for some reason I can never sleep in when I'm at my parent's house. So I took advantage of the fact and wrapped my presents (you can't take wrapped gifts across the border).

By mid-morning we were up and out, visiting a couple of bookstores. Hit the mall briefly, but didn't stay long, way too busy with all the holiday shoppers. But we did make a stop at the pet store, and I found a nice marshmellow coat at Rikki's.

When we got back home, the house smelled great. My grandparents were there, and mom was busy cooking dinner. When my aunt and uncle, and a great aunt arrived, we all had a nice dinner. After dinner, we had lots and lots of great junk food. Mom had been to the Dutch store in town and bought all kinds of yummy goodies. Ate way too much :) The rest of the evening we unwrapped presents, visited, and ate some more. Ryan and I played two games of pool, and I got whooped both times. I blame it on the table, or maybe the rumbonen ;)

Sunday morning we went to church, visited with some people there, drank coffee. After church we went to my aunt and uncle's house for more coffee, and more goodies. Returned to my parent's house after a bit, where we packed up my car with all of our loot, including more junk food of course. Arrived back in GR before midnight, to our lonely little kitty.

Good ol' Bridget

Watched the sequel to Bridget Jones Diary last night. Bridget was up to her usual antics. Not quite as good as the first one, but still enjoyable to watch. I think that in this case, the book is better than the movie. I should read the first book, see how that one compares to the first movie. In Edge of Reason, Cleaver stoops lower and lower, driving home just how big of a jerk he is, and Darcy just seems to get cuter and cuter - and he looks great in a suit :) And if there's hope for Bridget, who is continually (almost painfully) awkward, there's hope for all of us, right?

Thanksgiving

We had our thanksgiving feast on Thursday with a small group of friends. It was nice, just four of us. My roomie and I cooked the whole shebang, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pies, and so on. After dinner we watched the Fellowship of the Ring, which seems to be becoming a thanksgiving tradition at our place. We even gave Nutmeg the cat her own thanksgiving feast. I gave her part of the turkey carcus to gnaw on. She really loved that. The only problem with thanksgiving is, now we have to deal with all the leftovers that are still residing in our fridge.

Home Again

I'm back safe and sound in GR once again. I feel as though I've been gone for a month, but it's really only been five days. I certainly feel like I could sleep for about a week. I was so totally and completely exhausted when I rolled in last night around 11:30. Unpacked a few things (had to find my toothbrush and pjs), then went to bed.

It was an emotional week, a time of laughter through tears, remembering, reminiscing, and telling stories. Had a chance to catch up with aunts, uncles, and cousins that I haven't seen in quite some time. But of course it's a bittersweet reunion. It's good to be back though, back to a regular schedule, and my own space.

Networking

This is great, the Comcast guy just came with our broadband cable box thingy. I installed, signed up, etc, and I hooked up the wireless router. Now I'm parked with my laptop on the couch, and I'm online. I love this. I don't have to go out to check my email, or get online. I'm very much liking this :)

Earphones

Yesterday afternoon I broke down and bought myself some new earphones. Not only do they look cool, but they have great sound quality and no leakage. They were definately worth the $39.99, though that's more than I would ever have imagined spending on a pair of earphones. I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great pair of earphones.


My new earphones.

Bumper Sticker: If this car is too dirty then you wash it.

Achooo!

Bleh. I hate being sick. Nothing major, just a stuffed up head, sore throat, the sniffles, and feeling extremely tired. But it makes the days even longer and the nights shorter. No matter how early I go to bed, its never enough sleep.

Took Nyquil before going to bed last night. That stuff is great. I could breathe, and I was out cold the entire night. I bet I wouldn't have woken up if a train went through my room. It was hard enough getting up to my alarm clock this morning. Here's hoping this cold will soon have run its course.

New Work Life

It's been a long time since I've been blogging. Work has been quite busy lately. Last Wednesday we packed up and moved the office to north Monroe. We had a couple of guys come with a uHaul, and we loaded up and drove across town to the new building. I got to ride in a freight elevator...that was kinda cool. For the first couple of days we worked on folding tables setup about the office. No walls or anything, just a big open space. That was rather loud, you could hear everything.

On Tuesday some guys came to setup our cubes. Bang, bang, bang all day. That was loud and very hard to concentrate. But now I have a cube, and even a window! I really like our new office. It's great in the morning when the sun is shining in. We have six large windows. Much better than the basement. We still don't have our phones set up quite right, and our networking is not quite done yet, but all in all, its a great improvement from our somewhat damp basement office.

GEMS Update

Last night was our second GEMS meeting of the season. This year's theme is "Search for Truth" so for the past two weeks we've been having a mock trial about truth. Last week's lesson asked the question, "Is there such a thing as absolute truth?" and last night we discussed, "Does absolute truth matter?" The girls are the jury, and they have a trial folder where they answer questions to come to a verdict. Its pretty fun.

After the trial, I took my 3rd graders to our classroom where we spent some time getting to know one another. I had six girls last night, and it looks like it'll be a good group. There's pretty good dynamics in the group. After chatting for a bit we constructed a "Friendship Tree". I glued a tree made out of construction paper on a piece of bristol board and had each girl trace her hand on a coloured piece of paper, and write her name on it. Then each girl taped her hand onto the tree. The hands are the leaves on our tree, and every week the girls will put a happy face sticker on her hand. So by the end of the year, our tree's leaves will be covered in stickers. We ended our evening with a game of Telephone, which seems to be a universal favorite.

Church Picnic

It's been awhile since I've been to a church picnic. Saturday afternoon/evening we went to the Fellowship Greens for food and fellowship. We arrived a bit early and watched the some of the kids games. The usual, clothing relay, egg relay, water balloon toss, and fishing. I think my favorite one was watching the boys dress up as "fairy princesses" for the clothing relay. They were horrified when they saw the clothes that they had to wear. It was so funny.

After the kids games, and the rest of the people returned from golfing, everyone sat down for dinner. We had BBQ chicken, many, many, many salads and a wide assortment of desserts. There was so much food, but by the end, most of it was gone. The best part was meeting new people and getting a chance to chat and get to know them better. Its hard, and I'm terrible at remembering names, but I'm slowly getting to know some people at church.

Nutmeg

Last night Raisin (the hamster) did not have "wings" (food stuffed in her cheeks), so I put her in the ball to run around. I left the door to her cage open. After awhile, I began to wonder where Nutmeg had gotten to. She'd been terrorizing me the whole evening, but now she was nowhere to be found. Then I noticed a dark shape in Raisin's cage. The dumb cat had climbed in and was sniffing around. I had to go pull out my camera, this one was too good to pass up.



What a silly cat. So we have a hamster that thinks she's a monkey and a cat that thinks she's a hamster.

Worms

What's worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm.

Bleech, I was crunching away at a necterine, when I look down to see a little crawling thing on the pit. Gross! At least he was whole, so I hadn't bitten him yet. *shivers* So gross though. *shudders*

Tools

The other day I wandered about Lowe's in search of a new tool. I brought my little desk home from my parent's place, and plan to sand it down and refinish it. As a kid, I always wanted to do that and now is my chance. I considered doing it by hand, but thought, that will take a very long time. So I went in search of a power sander. I found a nice little palm sander, yellow and black, with a carrying case to boot. Last night I hauled the sander and the desk out to the garage for a test drive. I have to say that using the power sander is pretty sweet. In a matter of minutes, it gives you a decently smooth surface. Not to mention the fact that its a lot of fun. I know where I'll be this weekend :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am now officially 24 years old. I've been around for nearly a quarter of a century. Funny thing is, I still feel 19 or 20. I can totally understand how shocking it must be to turn 30 or 40, but still feel like you're 20.

Even though today is my birthday, this year I've had a birthday week. Kinda cool. On Sunday, my mom made me a cake that we took to my grandparents house to share. Then on Tuesday we had dinner and games at our house. Mmmm...dark chocolate... :) Last night my roomie produced an assortment of rather random packages. Rather interesting gifts for a 24-year-old, but fun nonetheless. Ranging from a fun bread shaped tupperware and a kids book, to a bar shaker.

So now I have two new books to add to my collection:

The Berenstein Bears and the Messy Room, best book ever :) When I was about 8, I borrowed this book from the school library many, many times. I just loved it. I always wanted a bedroom that looked like brother and sister's when they were finished cleaning it up. Since I loved this book so much, my mom finally bought it for me. The sad thing is, I lost my copy of the book. A few months ago I searched my parents bookselves but couldn't find it anywhere...that was a sad day. But now I have my own copy again, and all is well with the world :)

Alton Brown has a great show on the food network, Good Eats. Kinda like Bill Nigh the Science Guy, but with cooking. This'll be a fun book to read, and then add to my collection of cookbooks.

Driving

Its interesting the things you see while driving. Friday night I hopped in the car and drove to Ontario for the weekend. I was motoring along quite nicely when, boom, major traffic. Stop and go, stop and go. I'm watching the bumper in front of me when I notice a white pickup truck pulling up beside me. I glance at the truck and see this guy in the passenger seat looking at me. And not just looking, craned around and looking back. As the truck passed me, the dude in the passenger seat blew me a kiss. Very strange, never had anyone do that before...but brought a smile to my face (the guy was cute too :P).

New Kitten!

Last night I picked up my new little kitten. She (I think its a she) is so cute :) Haven't come up with a name for her yet though.



It's like having a baby in the house. She cries when she's hungry and when she wants to be picked up. I tried keeping her in my bed last night, but she wiggles around too much. This morning she peed on me, so I had to lock her in the panty (don't want her peeing on the carpet). But it was so sad, she was crying and pawing at the door when I left. Not used to being on her own I guess.

Cedar Point

Cedar Point was awesome. Hit most of the big coasters. Out of the ones that we tried, here are my top 5 favorite ones:

1. Magnum - doesn't have the same heart-in-your-throat-hold-on-and-hope-you-dont-die drops that the Millenium Force had, but it had all the speed and tunnels and turns.

2. Raptor - a great feet-dangly coaster, lots of turns and twists, the wind in you face is great. Its only downfall was that it kind of rattles your head a little too much on the last turn.

3. Gemini - a coaster with two trains going at the same time on parallel tracks. Nothing too extreme, but a lot of fun.

4. Mantis - a standup coaster that twists you around and upside down.

5. Millenium Force - great aside from that first drop, its just a little too high and steep for me. Maybe I just need to try it again, afterall, it was the first one we hit. Talk about starting big :)

Another fun thing to do is to take the little train around the park. Its nice and relaxing after being dropped, flipped, turned, twisted, and drenched. It was so peaceful and nice that we stayed on for two loops.

Badgers and LOTR

Original Bagders

Today I discovered a LOTR version. Both are pretty dumb, but amusing.

Chicago

We spent Saturday wandering about Chicago. Particularly strange was the large globe-like thing that was in the park, or as Abi called it, a giant red blood cell. Rather bizarre looking.

Mackinac Pictures

Mackinac Bridge; The ferry leaving the harbor.


Arch Rock; My roomie standing in a meadow; Me on one of the many trails.


A view of the main street; So many bicycles!

Mackinac Island

Saturday my roomie and I got up before the crack of dawn (4:30 am), hopped into the car and headed north. I love driving so early in the morning, you feel like you're the only one up. About halfway there we got to watch the sunrise which was pretty, but kind of a pain cuz we were travelling east at the time. Arrived in St. Ignace around 9 am, bought our tickets, and boarded the ferry. When we reached the island, one of the first things we saw was a GFS truck backed up to a horse-drawn trailer. Now that is a strange sight.

Since it was still early and relatively we decided to lose ourselves in the park. We followed the trails as best as we could, but they were too windy and confusing. So we simply followed whatever trails we happened upon and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Walking through the park was certainly a contrast to the downtown area of the island. It was so quiet and peaceful. With the exception of a few other walkers, the odd horse and rider, and an occasional bicyclist, it felt like we were all alone. It was rather nice.

After covering a major chunk of the island on foot we stopped at a little picnic area to eat our lunch. From there we walked back to the downtown and wandered in and out of the various shops. And of course we stopped to watch them making fudge. We bought a sample box, and broke into it while waiting for the next ferry to come and take us back to the mainland.

Back in St. Ignace we wandered through a bookstore, then stopped for a bite of dinner at a 50s style diner. The strange thing was, the diner had no tourists, it was all locals, even though it was right across the street from all the ferries.

A great, though very tiring day. I have pictures to share, but I need to download them still.

Dreams

I had a very strange dream last night/this morning. I was in some sort of US government organization that was looking for a treasurer. They were taking nominations, and there were some people who were interested in the position. But there was a catch. The job would be in England. Most people weren't too happy about that, but I thought, hey, sounds great! So I got my name on the list. I remember it saying something about my not having any advanced mathematics, but that I would be a quick learner. Unfortunately I woke up before I found out if I would be moving to England or not.

Beach Day

Yesterday was a great beach day. After church we grabbed a bite of lunch then headed off to the Grand Haven beach. Unfortunately everyone else had also decided that it was a great beach day. All you could see was a sea of bodies, and there was no parking to be found. So, plan B. We changed our minds and went to a local park, much fewer people, a less crowded beach, and best of all, available parking! So we settled down on the sand with our towels, sunscreen and reading material to enjoy the afternoon sun. Watched a mother bury her son in the sand, kids building sandcastles, couples walking hand in hand along the shore, and one family digging a big hole to bury their father in. Upon returning home, we picked up some noodle soup after a bit of grocery shopping, and headed home to watch Minority Report. What a life :)


Samara and I at the beach.

Why Computers Sometimes Crash! by Dr. Seuss

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port
And the bus is interrupted at a very last resort
And the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash
And your data is corrupted cause the index doesn't hash
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse
But your packets want to tunnel unto another protocol
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall,
And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse
Then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang
'Cuz sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy in the disk
And the macrocode instructions cause unnecessary risk
Then you'll have to flash the memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM.
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your Mom!

Testing hello.com

Abi, Me, DC, and Sarah in Sevilla. Tom is in the background.

Chocolat

I watched Chocolat last night, great movie, and now I feel strangely inspired to open a choclaterie of my own. Too bad I don't know anything about making chocolates. Maybe I should learn, that and brush up my french. Then I can pack up and move to a little town somewhere in the french countryside. I just love the little town that the movie is set in. Apparently, the town they used had a total population of 250, just the right size :)

Song of the Day

I've been listening to a new CD today, Maroon 5, Songs about Jane. My roomie bought it and lent it to me, I really like it. I think I need to make a "backup" of this one :)

Song of the day is "Through With You".

Can you see me
Floating above your head
As you lay in bed
Thinking about everything
That you did not do
Cause saying "I love you"
Has nothing to do with meaning it

And I don't trust you
Cause every time you're here
Your intentions are unclear
I spend every hour waiting for a phone call
That I know will never come
I used to think that you were the one
Now I'm sick of thinking anything at all

You ain't ever coming back to me
That's not how things were supposed to be
You take my hand just give it back
No other lover has ever done that

Do you remember
The way we used to melt
Do you remember how it felt
When I touched you, oh
Cause I remember very well
And how long has it been
Since someone you let in
Has given what I gave to you

And at night when you sleep
Do you dream I would be there
Just for a minute or two do you?

You ain't ever coming back to me
That's not how things were supposed to be
You take my hand just give it back
o other lover has ever done that

Heartache heartache I just have so much
A simple love with a complex touch
There is nothing you can say or do
I called to let you know I'm through with you.

Pride and Prejudice

I spent an excellent 5 hours last night watching the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. I've been meaning to buy it for awhile now, and finally did. I think I've seen the movie about six times, but still do not tire of watching the dynamics between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. Good food, good friends, good movie, Mr. Darcy, what better way to spend an evening...

The Lady and the Unicorn

Just finished reading The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier, another book about a piece of artwork (same author as Girl with a Pearl Earring). My roomie had borrowed it from the library, so I was reading it on the way to and from Chicago. This book is about a set of six medieval tapestries that are now housed in the Cluny musuem in Paris. We got to see them when we visited the musuem at Cluny, so reading about them was very interesting. I really like how Chevalier takes what we know about a piece of art and then weaves a story around it. For anyone who liked Girl with a Pearl Earring, I would recommend this book.

Weekend

Had a great long weekend, in spite of the weather. Friday I stayed home to clean up my room and the apartment. I had to clear my room for my new furniture :) I got a new bed, dresser, night stand delivered on Saturday morning. So now after 4 years of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, I finally have a real bed!

Saturday, after the guys arranged my furniture I headed south to Mike and Sandi's for the day. We went out in the boat, swam for awhile then had a fish fry and fireworks. It rained for a bit, but otherwise the weather was great.

Sunday, bummed around at home. Didn't feel like going out in the rain to watch more fireworks, so stayed home and watched Independance Day, and Cold Mountain.

Monday, went down to Chicago, ate an excellent lunch at Big Bowl, walked around, shopped, had some good coffee at Moonstruck, went to the Sears tower, zero visibility, stayed on the ground, wandered around Chinatown, came back to GR.

Happy Canada Day!

Some links for your reading pleasure:
Some History of the day.
History of the flag.
The national anthem

Beach

Yesterday afternoon my roomie and I drove out to the Grand Haven beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, nice beach weather. The water was frigid so we just stayed on the sand soaking in the sun. Spent my time reading reading and working on my tan (har har, like that will work). My 'tan' is just my skin getting a bit more pink. After it got cold, we walked along the pier past all the people fishing and walking their dogs. Now I can actually say that I've been to Lake Michigan :)

Paris Photos

I've started to upload some of my trip pictures. Here is what I have so far, more to come: Paris Photos.

Stepford Wives

Watched Stepford Wives last night. It was kind of interesting, completely cheesy, but a fun movie. All the wives were like extreme Martha Stewart's, immaculate houses, always cooking and cleaning and waiting on their husbands and children hand and foot. At one point Nicole Kidman's character bakes about 5,000 cupcakes because she is trying to get into the whole 'Stepford thing'. Another great one is the book club. The woman read a book about decorating for the holidays and the entire discussion is centered around how you can use pinecones in your decorations. Completely ridiculous :)

Europe

Back in Grand Rapids again. Just spent two weeks roaming about France and Spain. Spain was nice, but I absolutely loved France. Now I'm torn, I thought Florence would be a nice place to live, but now I think that I would prefer Paris, or maybe someplace in the French countryside. We didn't spend any time in the country, but what I saw from the train was absolutely gorgeous. I just loved the little towns nestled into the rolling hills. Plus it would be the perfect opportunity to work on my french, not to mention the cute french guys ;) The ones in Spain aren't bad either, but its a lot more difficult to talk to them (not knowing Spanish).

But now its back to reality and the regular grind. *sigh* Vacations are never long enough.

Money

I don't understand it. You can go to almost any bank in Ontario (in my experience) and get US currency. But I just got back from my bank, they don't have CDN currency. And the woman at the counter said that she has called around to other banks for other people and no one seems to have it. That makes no sense to me...Canada is only a 3 hour drive away! Ah well, life goes on.

Weekend

This morning I was up at 5 am, long before the sun. I got in my car and headed west in the drizzling rain. I had to go to customs this morning to renew my work visa. After a reasonably short wait at the border I headed to Grand Rapids, back to work. When I got home I was exhausted and hungry, I'd had an egg McMuffin at 7, but nothing since then. For some reason driving never makes me hungry. So I made a sandwich then went to bed. But once I got to bed I couldn't sleep. So I got up again, put on a heavy sweater (its freezing out) and headed to UM. Catch up on my surfing.

Now I'm drinking my coffee and surfing along. Which reminds me, I made my dad happy this weekend. At my aunt and uncle's house I had a cup of coffee. He looked at me, then said, "you've started drinking coffee?! It's about time!" Hee hee, he's been trying to get me to drink coffee for years.

Can't Wait

18 days and counting... :D :D

Wheels!

I have wheels again! My car was in the shop this past week for some much belated body work. So for seven days I've been without wheels, bumming rides from my roomie, walking and taking the bus around town. But this morning I picked up my car, he looks so shiny and new, and they even vacuumed the inside for me. It's great to have wheels again :)

Online Melissas

Ok, just had to share this one. I was looking up URLs with my name in them, geeky, I know, when I stumbled across this one "Melissa Net." dedicated to the Melissas of the world. Hee hee. :)

Error Messages

I just love helpful error messages: "The event class for this subscription is in an invalid partition." Huh?!?

Something Beautiful

Following recent trends on other blogs...but I decided to be different and post song lyrics. This is the signature song on Great Big Sea's latest CD. A slower song, unlike the louder more upbeat songs that they have.

Something Beautiful

Hey You, you lost your only friend
You can't believe you're broken heart will ever mend
But every mountain has its faces that'd make you want to stop
On this so unwelcome journey from the bottom to the top.

Move along
I believe there's Something Beautiful to see
Move along
I believe there's Something Beautiful
Just waiting for you and me

I know you'll never count the tears you've cried
Though you've asked a million questions
No one could tell you why
A single soul is chosen to be the one put to the test
But there will be some consolation for a heart that never rests

The years will make us older
The winters make us colder
And there's one more thing I've come to know for sure
There's no bitterness that smolders, no chip on any shoulder
That a random act of kindness couldn't cure

Hey You, you lost your only friend
You can't believe you're broken heart will ever mend
But every mountain has its faces that'd make you want to stop
On this so neverending journey from the bottom to the top.

Yoga

Recently my roomie and I have started going to yoga classes. I've never really been interested in it because I always thought it was kind of hoaky. But I've found that the various poses are good for strength and exercising muscles that I don't use very often. We've been twice now and my muscles are speaking to me :) I'm not sure I like what they're saying, but on the flip side it feels pretty good too. I'm amazed at what some of the other women can do. I find the crocodile pose particularly difficult, I can't quite manage it yet. All in good time I guess.

Naptime

So sleepy...I feel like dozing off right here under my desk. The letters are all sort of blurry. My mind cannot focus. I need more sleep. Mmmmm, sleep... I think I need some sugar.

Ok that's better. Did everyone have a good weekend? Do anything exciting? Watched "13 Going on 30" on Friday, went shopping Saturday. Saturday night went to a birthday party at which I drank too much. Sunday slept in, no hangover just exhausted, did laundry, watched some TV and went to bed. Too late obviously.

That was the extent of my weekend. Now I need a nap, or another day of weekend.

Email

Email is an interesting form of communication. When you write things in an email they come out differently than if you expressed them verbally. Its harder to portray feelings and emotions in text. You lose tone, pauses, inflection, etc. On the other hand I find it easier to express things in writing than say in person, or over the phone. Despite email's limitations of being very one-sided, it is a comfortable medium for expressing things. I also like the fact that it gives you a chance to compose what you want to say, instead of having to 'think on your feet'.

I remember as a kid I used to be afraid of phones. Whenever the phone rang, me and my brother and sister would all yell, 'not it!' No one wanted to answer the phone. One time I had to call a friend of mine about a birthday party, or something like that. I took out the phone and set it on the table. I stared at it for awhile, picked up the receiver, listened to the dial tone, took a deep breath, started dialing, hung up again. Walked away, walked past the table, stared at the phone for a while longer. Listened to the dial tone again, hung up. And so on, and so on. I think it must have took an hour to make that phone call. And it wasn't even a call to a boy!

So with the invention of emailing I am much better able to communicate (and no I'm not scared of phones anymore, though I still prefer ftf interactions).

Happy Monday :)

Happy Monday everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend :) I thoroughly enjoyed the weather this weekend, there's nothing like cruising down the road at 60 with the windows wide open and your hair blowing everywhere.

Bought the latest Great Big Sea CD last night, Something Beautiful. My new favorite song is 'HelmetHead'. I just love the lyrics, and it's very upbeat.

I was just seventeen, when I made the AHL
I couldn't skate in junior, but my fists rang like a bell.
I'll never win a title, and I'll never win the cup,
But when it comes to ladies, I've had the best of luck.

My first one was a sly one, hanging round the rink,
But they sent me off to Cornwall, as fast as you could blink,
In Moose Jaw I was right in love, the daughter of the coach —
He traded me for nothing, didn't take to my approach.

So good-bye, fare thee well,
There's no time for delay,
You'll see me at the face-off, or catch the play-by-play
So good-bye, fare thee well,
I'm glad you shared my bed,
But never trust a fellow with a helmet on his head.

Chantal was from Moncton, elle a jouer avec moi.
A tongue as sharp as razors, but she had a fancy car.
Her husband was a bruiser, played senior in Quebec,
If he'd had the rights of it, it would have been my neck.

Nancy couldn't watch me fight, she'd always be in tears,
Waving from the bleachers, and screaming in my ears,
Dee I should have married, and we had a dandy fling,
But I had a one way contract, blew the money for the ring.

I should have sent a letter, and it would have been polite,
But I'm cleaning out my locker, and time is getting tight.
I'm calling from the station, perhaps another day,
Cause they're calling up a rookie, and they're trading me away.

Last night at GEMs I started the paper creations badge with my girls. We started out answering some basic questions about origami, paper-mache and other paper crafts. At first the girls weren't too interested in writing down the answers, but when I told them it was for a badge, they became more interested :) After answering the questions, I pulled out some origami paper and showed the girls how to make a cat, a frog and a bat. I picked some pretty basic designs, so it wasn't too hard to lead the girls through the different folds. In fact, we finished with about 15 minutes to spare.

Since we had extra time, I pulled out my bandana so we could play 'whack-em'. 'Whack-em' is a game that we used to play with our youth group. Everyone sits in a circle and picks an animal. One person stands in the centre of the circle with a dish towel in hand. Someone starts by saying, 'Cat likes Dog'. Dog replies with 'Dog likes Horse' and so on. The person in the middle has to tag the person called before he/she can say their piece. I taught my girls this game last week and they really enjoyed it, so we played it again this week.

I've finally been playing around with my photos, and have some new ones for your viewing pleasure. These photos are from DC's birthday. There are also some pictures of Raisin, our new roommate :) You can also look at older photos if you like.

A new look. I've made the photos pages more coherent with my main blog page. Now they all match (well, except for the ad at the top).

Bumper Sticker: My kid beat up your honor student.

Hmmm...I logged in because I had something to share. But now as I sit here staring at a blank screen, I've completely forgotten whatever it was. Ah well, mustn've been that earth shattering :) Suffice it to say that today is a beautiful day, and I hope this weather keeps up. So far its a good day for a roadtrip :)

I like cherry tomatoes. Little round balls that explode with sweetness when you bite into them.

Last night we had a mother-daughter tea for GEMS. It truly was a tea too. We asked everyone to dress up and bring their favorite tea cup. We had everything from formal gowns, to confirmation dresses, bridesmaid dresses, wedding gowns, etc. Some girls had hats, others had white gloves, it was great fun. We served tea and punch and coffee, and fruit and goodies. While the girls and their moms were munching, we went around the room so everyone could share the story behind their dress and their tea cup.

The tables looked great. One of the ladies in the church has a doll collection that she brought in, along with some quilts and quilt blocks for table decorations. Everything was very springy, pinks, purples, greens, yellows and blues. I'm glad the weather was so warm yesterday, it really felt like spring. Seeing all the tea cups makes me want to collect tea cups and have my own tea party (not that many people drink tea anymore). Ah well, our tea party was fun and I think everyone enjoyed it.

Had a strange dream last night, or rather this morning. I was an instructor in some class at some school. I was checking my email and saw that I had over 2000 messages. But I couldn't log into my account to delete them even though I knew they were all viruses. I managed to delete a couple of them somehow, but then I got even more bad emails. Man, I think I need more sleep...even my dreams are turning geeky...

Today at work I got an error message while testing our software:
Incorrect visit Id format found. Error Code: 2002

I don't think I've been so happy to get an error message. The clinics have had this phantom error that pops up several times a day, but I can never reproduce it. And end users are oh so helpful..."it won't save" is all I get. But today, after a conversation with my boss I got a brainwave about how to try to reproduce the problem. And what do you know...it worked! Now I can actually fix this problem and get it off my list.

Well that was exciting. I'm sitting here minding my own business and my boss comes by to microwave something (the microwave is a few feet away from my desk). Then her snack starts to spark and suddenly bursts into flame. I go over there to look and her napkin is half burnt. We both start laughing, it was so funny :) Now the office smells like a campfire...mmm...just need some marshmellows.

Had a strange dream last night/this morning. It started out reasonably ordinary. I was at the top of a big snow-covered hill with a group of kids/friends. The hill was very steep on one side and on the other it dropped off into jagged rocks. We were sledding down the steep side. I almost had a mishap and went down the wrong side...that wouldn't have been pretty.

Then my dream changed, these spirits came and started chasing us. They were dressed in black cloaks with white masks, and they came swooping down out of the sky towards us. They started out as one spirit, but split into several. Then I was all alone in a fenced-in area trying to get away from one of the spirits. I was trying to fly away over the fence, but my body just wouldn't obey me (in past dreams I usually can fly away from danger).

After I was totally freaked out, the spirit changed into a more human creature and we were in some tall building. I think he was supposed to capture me and turn me in, because as we were walking down the hall he heard voices. He pulled me into the elevator on the first floor and pinned me back against the wall so no one would see me. Then we got to talking about how people didn't understand us and were afraid of us. I told him how on earth we finally realized we could move to the moon and that better for everyone. Turns out he was some sort of alien and we were on a planet somewhere. I'm not sure if I was human or alien, but the whole encounter with the alien was turning into a romantic encounter by the time I woke up.

Sledding, scary spirits chasing me, romance with aliens in elevators...strange indeed.

I had a great weekend. Abi came up on Friday so we talked about trip stuff stuff. It was great seeing you Abi! Then on Saturday I left bright and early and headed east. The weather was great so driving was fun. There's nothing like putting a great CD in and hitting the open road. Arrived home around 2:30 to find my dad shovelling the driveway. He was a little surprised to see me so early cuz I had said that I wasn't going to leave too early. Chatted with my mom for a bit then went shopping for birthday presents for my aunt and grandma, and picked up my sister from work. We were looking for plants, but it being valentines day, the shelves were pretty much empty. We did find some that were good at the one florist shop, but the pickins were pretty slim.

My dad picked up my brother from a church function later that evening and then the whole family sat down to dinner together. That doesn't happen much anymore so it was kinda nice. Sunday morning I went to my home church (parents church), saw my Opa and a few friends, then headed over to my aunt's house. She had it all decorated and setup, so there wasn't much to do but wait for my grandma to get there. When Grandma walked in the door she was speechless. Connie had asked her to come over for cake in the afternoon cuz she had a bunch of stuff to do in the evening. But grandma was not expecting the whole family to be there. Then she noticed that I was there too, and she said "What are you doing here?" Then she had to come and give me a hug. She was so surprised, it was great.

We had dinner and cake, then another of my aunts pulled out a cake for my aunt Connie (her 30th birthday was in January). She was so surprised. She didn't know that it was really a double surprise party that she was hosting :)

Monday morning I took my brother back to school then headed back to GR. So yeah, it was a fun weekend, especially getting to see my mom's side of the family again (it had been a while).

I can't resist these cheesy tests...What Famous Leader Are You?


9 Questions                             18 Questions                            27 Questions                         45 Questions

o/~ Lady luck apologizes, for the way she's been behaving, and she promises she'll change... o/~

I finally brought my CDs into work, and I've been listening to The Proclaimers all morning. Good stuff. I can listen to these guys for hours and hours on end.

Got a new puzzle this weekend to replace the light house one. This puzzle will be a challenge. Its one of those maze puzzles, first you have to construct the rooms, then you have to put the rooms together so you don't get eaten by any wild animals. Was up too late working on it last night... :)

o/~ And I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walks a thousand miles to fall down at your door... o/~

Thinking of a thousand miles, I'm taking Monday off, and going home to see my family. My grandma (on my mom's side) turns 75 next week, so we're having a gathering of family and friends. Its been a while since I've seen my mom's side of the family so I'm really looking forward to this weekend. But now I should get back to my coding...one more great song...

/~ I'm on my way from misery to happiness today, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, I'm on my way from misery to happiness today.... o/~

Joke of the day:

1: Why to elephants paint their toenails red?
2: So they can hide in cherry trees.

1: Have you ever seen an elephant hiding in a cherry tree?
2: No.
1: See, it works!

Last night at GEMS the lesson was about jokes that seem funny, but are really hurtful because they cut other people down. I began the lesson with a little joke telling, and Laffy Taffy. I had the girls tell their favorite jokes, and read the jokes that are on the wrappers of the Laffy Taffy. One of my girls told the above joke.

Another good one was:
Q: Why was the boy covered in giftwrap?
A: Because his mother told him to live in the present.

Alternate answer offered by one of my girls:
A: Because his mother told him to get his life wrapped up.

There were many more extremely corny jokes that I will spare you from, but it was a lot of fun.

Havering

As I was listening to Proclaimers on my way to work today, I thought to myself, I should really try to find "havering" on google today. I've always wondered what it meant, but have never been able to figure it out. According to Wordsmith.org havering means to talk nonesense - good to know - makes sense in the context of the song too.

Yey for snow! We're driving in a winter wonderland once again. Had an interesting drive home last night after work. Its kind of an adventure. You approach the corner that you need to turn at. Then you think to yourself, ok, what will this corner be like, how much slush will there be, will I slide around or will this be a clean turn. A couple of times I thought to myself, uh oh, I hope I can stop...snow bank here I come :) But I didn't have to resort to landing in any snow banks, which was good. I don't need that kind of excitment. The only downside of winter driving is having to watch out for other drivers, aside from them, driving in the snow and slush is actually pretty fun.

I wish it was May...then it would be almost June...*sigh*

Drivethroughs

Last night I went through a drivethrough. Aren't you proud of me DC? Went to McDonalds, to get some fries. Normally I give drivethroughs a wide bearth. For some reason I've never liked them. You drive up, roll down your window, give your order to a box with a funny sounding voice. Then you drive to the next window and hand over some money. Next window, an arm hands over your food and you drive off. Then you're left with the interesting task of eating while trying to drive, but that is another matter entirely.

I think what I don't like is the impersonal nature of drivethroughs, I would much rather park, get out, go inside, order from a real person that is standing there in front of me, and then get my food from that same person. Service with a smile. But last night it was late (why does everything have to close so early?) and I wanted some fries, so out of necessity I had to go through the drivethrough. And you know, it wasn't so bad. I still prefer to go inside, but I think I may be warming up to drivethroughs.

Wow, January 18, where has the time gone. Still haven't posted pictures either. Actually haven't even had a chance to sort through them, I should do that soon. So here I sit, Sunday afternoon at UM, sipping my mocha and catching up on my blog reading.

Went to a Griffins game last night. That was interesting, certainly different than watching on TV. I can understand why people like to go and see the games in person, its a different experience. Personally I found the crowd as entertaining as the game. Oh, and we won, 2-1 in overtime.

Yesterday afternoon I went with a couple of friends to the Mud Room. I painted a platter and small bowl (for dip or something). That was fun, we hadn't been there in awhile. Now I want to go again :)

GEMS last night was surprisingly quiet and relaxing. I only had three of my girls there (due to weather I imagine) so we had a nice quiet lesson. It was kind of nice to be able to talk to the girls on a more one-to-one level. We sat in a circle and talked about our holidays. I had an activity involving Bible verses and the names of God which they enjoyed. I wrote out Bible verses on pieces of paper and put them in a hat. The girls took turns picking one out, reading it, then matching it up to one of God's names on a poster board. Then one of the girls suggested we read our favourite Bible verses, which I thought was a great idea. One wanted to read Psalm 119...but then decided it was too long :) Overall a good evening.

I'm back in Grand Rapids. I had an awesome Christmas break with family and friends. BC was beautiful, I loved the different climates. The lower mainland was very mild, but then you drive a little and you hit winter and a foot of snow. It was great. So I got a green and a white Christmas...the best of both worlds. I have tons of pictures to share, 200+ not to mention the pictures that my mom is going to send me. We both had our digital cameras along and were having fun playing around with them. So stay tuned for pictures, I'll post a handful. If you want the full treatment, I have them on my laptop :) Got to see a bunch of my aunts, uncles, and cousins, some of my friends, and had some good times with my immediate family. But now I'm back and need to get back into day to day life again, bleh. Hope everyone had a great Christmas :)

This morning when I woke up I looked out the window and saw that the world had been blanketed in snow while we were sleeping. So beautiful. The cars looked all snug and warm in their blankets. And you can't beat the drive to work, the trees looked so pretty. It's beginning to feel like Christmas, three more days till I head for home!

It is far too quiet here this afternoon. Everyone else has gone home for the day and I'm left here all on my own....Yikes, I don't like being here on my own...this creepy looking guy was just at the window so I locked the door. He's gone now, and I hope he doesn't come back. We're in the basement, so it's easy to see in our windows. Anyhow, that's not what I going to write about...hmm...I was thinking about the snow that is currently falling outside and I was thinking about Christmas, which will be here before we know it.

Ah yes, last night was our last GEMs night until after Christmas. We took the girls to Metropolitan hospital to go caroling. We asked the girls to bring some of their beanie babies and stuffed animals with them to give to patients, so as we caroled up and down the halls, the girls took turns giving the toys to people. It was a lot of fun, and I think the girls enjoyed it. I was amazed at how well-behaved they can be. But once we got back to the church they were back to racing around again. We had hot chocolate and I gave my girls cards and candycane reindeer. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, a candycane reindeer is a candycane with a brown pipecleaner for antlers and googly-eyes and a red nose. I also got to meet one of my girls' mothers, which is always nice.

Going back in time, Tuesday I did most of my Christmas shopping. Guam I think I did what you would classify as power shopping. Just some loose ends to tie up and my shopping will be done.

Further back, Sunday I decided to make the house more Christmas-y so I put up some lights and decorated my little pine tree. A rather small Christmas tree, but I think its kinda cute. Saturday I went to a Christmas party with Pat (for his work). And that brings us back to Friday which was Sinterklaas.

Thinking about Sinterklaas makes me hope that the Koogers have some fun Sinterklaas-like celebration in mind for when we're in Vancouver...that would be fun :) I can't wait till December 20th...only eight more days!

Happy Sinterklaas everyone!

*sigh* I wish I had my headphones with me... I bought the Return of the King soundtrack last night and was listening to it in my car. I popped it in as soon as I got out of Best Buy. Now I'm itching to drive home so I can listen to the rest of it...if only I had remembered to bring my headphones along today...

Wow, December 1st already...only 25 days till Christmas...how did that sneak up so fast?

I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving weekend. I for one really needed that four day break. Too bad it couldn't have been a little longer :) Good company, good food, fun times. But DC is right, the house will seem very quiet. I like having lots of people around. And I like playing the part of the hostess, feeding people, arranging beds, etc, etc. It felt as though no one had left, like we all lived in Grand Rapids again. Its sad that everyone lives so far apart...

By the way, the reviews are in, and Thanksgiving dinner was a success. Though we were a little behind schedule...but good things come to those who wait, right?

Good morning everyone. One more day of work and then its Thanksgiving weekend, yey :) This year my roomie and I are being ambitious and cooking dinner for friends. Last night I tackled the pies. I've never made a pie before so I wasn't exactly sure what to do. But I followed the directions in the cookbook for apple pie and it seemed to work out ok. I was surprised at how little actually goes into a pie crust, only flour, salt, shortening and water. That's it.
So I mixed and rolled my crust according to the recipes suggestions. Now I just hope for the best. I'm hoping my crust will be flaky and not hard or dry, or soggy. We'll see when I bake it I guess :)

The pumpkin pie was easy. I bought the crust and all you have to do is mix everything together, dump it in and bake it. Couldn't be much easier than that. Baking is fun, tonight I'll mix up the dough for the rolls and set it to rising.

It's snowing! That makes me happy :) Keep it coming! It looks so pretty, so much better than dreary brown.

Yesterday was Wednesday so I had GEMs. Brought the girls' mirrors back (I brought them home to dry and to put hangers on the back), we had praise and worship to start, then we had a craft. Denise had a craft planned for us. We made thank you gifts for the teachers and leaders in the church. The girls got to make two, one for someone in the church and one to take home to give to someone. A lot of the girls had a hard time with this. Some wanted to take both home, others wanted to give them to each other... It was kind of tough telling the girls that they couldn't, but I think it's an important lesson that they need to learn. It's also hard to get them to think of people outside of their immediate family. So an interesting night.

Afterwards we had a counsellor meeting at one woman's house. That was a little strange. All the other counsellors are married with kids. I felt really young and free. They were talking about how difficult it is to get out... how more than twice in one week is plenty... And I'm thinking, only twice? Its kinda nice being able to go out whenever you want. I think I'll enjoy others peoples kids for awhile :)

*looks around groggily*

Bleh, I hate headaches. Especially when they wake me up. This morning I was awake at 5:30 because of my stupid head. So I stumbled around in the dark, found some water and drugs, swallowed and fell back into bed. But on the flip side, I slept much better from 5:30 to 8:30...a little too much better.

I had a dream that DC and I went to my place again. We were at church and there was this rock band playing on the balcony. All my friends were there too, and some were in the band. I remember them being good, but can't remember what they sounded like. Strange dreams.

Monday...*sigh* I had a good weekend though. Friday night Cathy and I went to Pete Brown's Office (we're becoming regulars there :) to see one of Cathy's friends play. That was a lot of fun, I met all kinds of cool people. But I didn't get home till after two, which was kinda bad cuz Saturday DC, Michelle, Stacy and I went shopping. We hit three different malls and were out for 12+ hours. Man were my feet tired :) But I got some new clothes which I really needed, so that's good.

Sunday morning I slept in...oops :) Cleaned up a bit in the afternoon then went to the Vesper service. Went out to dinner afterwards with my roomie then came home to watch CI, of course. Worked on my cats x-stitch which is going to take me forever...but it'll be worth it, I really like the pattern. Anywho, back to work now...

It's snowing! Well, not anymore, but it was when I drove in to work this morning. I can't wait for the snow to come :) It makes everything look so pretty. Much better than dreary brown.

Last night at GEMs was fun. I started off with the girls in two lines, facing each other. One side were mirrors and they had to mimic everything the other side was doing. Then we switched it around. The lesson was about being created in God's image and how we reflect God like mirrors. After our little game, I passed around the magazines with our lesson in it. The girls were not sitting in their chairs, so I said that whoever is sitting by the time I count to 10 gets a candy. That worked very well :) I'll have to remember that one. Our lesson continued the story about Josie that we've been reading all year. After some questions we got to the fun part. I bought some foam and mirrors and foam cutouts. I made frames for the mirrors out of black foam and had the girls decorate the frames with foam shapes. Heart, circles, squares, triangles, butterflies, dragonflies, ... The girls loved doing that, and it kept them quiet. We finished up our evening singing with the rest of the GEMs girls.

*breaths a big sigh of relief*

Its the weekend! Yey! That makes me so happy :) Talk about a roller coaster day. I worked on a total of four projects today. Not each one at a time, but on a rotating schedule. I worked on each one for about 10 minutes to half an hour, then switch! We've been getting things in three of our projects all synched up and my bosses were testing so we could push up a release tonight. So, boss 1 discovers an issue in project A, update, push up. Boss 2 discovers an error in project B, fix, push up. Boss 2 has a question about project C, take a moment to answer. Have a meeting for project D, drive over to client, come back, boss 1 is waiting with another issue, boss 2 has a couple more questions. Boss 1 finds some strange data in our database... And so on and so on, all day long.

*phew* This nutty (though strangely satisfying) day is over and I can go home and not think about work till Monday. Life is good.

GEMS

Last night was fun. I was missing two of my girls, but I think that last night was the rowdiest. One girl in particular...she was actually vibrating she had so much energy. She couldn't sit still for more than 2 minutes at a time. Tiring just to watch her.

But despite that, the girls had fun. We started out with a charades type game to illustrate the power of words. They really liked that. After the game I pulled out my candy jar. You should have seen their eyes :) When I said that they had to sit down before getting any candy, they quickly found their seats. Candy works well on these girls. As they were munching away, we managed to get through two lessons, which surprised me, cuz they were so loud. But they did come up with good answers so they were listening too. I think the girls are warming up to me now, they were sharing all kinds of stories with me about their friends and school. I'm getting to know them better too.

I'm looking forward to next week, cuz I have a craft planned that ties into the lesson quite nicely. I used to love doing crafts when I was a Calvinette, and I know the girls will love it too. Next week's lesson also suggests a great game that the girls will love. Planning lessons for my girls is a lot of fun cuz at this age they are so receptive.

Tonight I picked up two new CDs, The Essential Simon and Garfunkel and Natalie MacMaster - Blueprint. Mmm, good stuff. Now I need to take a roadtrip. Nothing like the listening to some good tunes and driving the open road.