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Friday night Jeff and I left work a little early to head over to Bear Creek Canoe Run and get our campsite. We arrived about 3:30 to find the place closed and gate locked. So we drive 20 minutes back to town, call leave message and piddle around dollar stores. The owners returned about 5:30 (some emergency kept them away). We set up our tent in some drizzling weather. 6pm - no sign of friends. I guess about 6:30 we drive back up the hill a couple miles to get cell signal and leave messages. The brothers are lost but found some cool Bluegrass festival with old men missing teeth. I think a little after 7 the others get there. Claire brought a pop up tent which turned out great since the rain didnt stop. We also had portable tiny charcoal grills which we had to cook on since we couldn't get a fire. About 10pm the bottom dropped out and lots of rain came down. I was ok with rain, but the lightening kept bringing flashes to mind of all the downed trees in our neighborhood last weekend and I knew our tent would not stand a chance against a tree. The heavy storms lasted about 2 hours - no sleep for me when the ground kept shaking! Afterward the slow steady rain was nice except that I had drips on my legs (yes rain guard must have leaky seams). It kinda reminded me of chinese water torture - when was the next drop going to fall. So I guess I got about 4 hours sleep that night.
For breakfast we boiled omelets in a baggy -pretty easy and tasty. We went kayaking about noon for the half day trip. We went down lower bear creek, that had class I and II rapids. I think there were only class I rapids though. The water was a bit murky after all the rain, but it was a pretty float trip. In the middle we found a beautiful waterfall that you walked over shallow rocks and under a cliff edge to get to. The guys went in the swimming hole which was freezing. They guys also jumped off a rope swing a few times in another spot. After we had floated for 4.5 hours we got worried that we somehow missed our exiting spot, but we found it - guess we were just slow paddlers. Sunny managed to flip her kayaking 3 times I think. Jeff did once and had to struggle to get the water out and get back in (sorry noone stopped to help). So there were a few bang-ups in the bunch, several bug bites, one ankle twist, and one puking incident, but that was about it.
We returned home Sunday morning exhausted with alot of wet muddy stuff to clean up.

My long weekend in LA, Cali was jam packed and very fun. Stephanie and I went to see Patrick get married. That wedding is now on the top of my list as most beautiful that I've been to. Ranch in Malibu, garden set up, lights and flowerballs hanging from the trees, a big sweeping tent with more lights for the reception... you get the idea. The only 'super star' I noticed was Justin Guarini (Amerian Idol season 1) but he didnt do any singing, they just had a DJ. And after the wedding they had a bon fire - yes even that was glamorous :) For the other days we mostly stayed around the beach areas of Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Riding bikes from the hotel down the bike path was alot of fun! (Though my own bike seat would have been more comfortable). One day we did cruise over to Hollywood Blvd, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr, and then went down Mulholland Dr and on to the Getty Museum. That was another gorgeous place - set back in the hills, cool art, amazing circular garden, and there just happened to be an assortment of live music to add to the atmosphere. I think the only 'bad' part of the trip was that we kept forgetting our jackets and were a bit chilly at night with a breeze in the 60s. Ofcourse we stepped off the plane coming home and couldn't breathe in the 97 degree hot humid weather. That definitely meant the mini vacation was over!

Now for something closer to home - we're camping and kayaking this weekend. maybe next weekend I'll stay at home. or not :)

This morning the XM radio wasn't working thru the TIVO so I had to listen to VH1 for music while getting ready. I became paralyzed for a minute (or two) and had to watch - New Kids on the Block has a new video out. My biggest memory of them is that I didnt know who they were and felt rejected in my first classroom in 8th grade. I'll backup...
When I was in 7th grade in Houston my musical influences were from my brother - Rock music like Guns & Roses, Def Leopard and Led Zeppelin -- and another friend who listened to Depeche Mode and Erasure. Move forward, I get transplanted to Alabama arrive in a new school and all the girls are asking me which NKOTB was my favorite. I had no idea what/who they were talking about so they looked at me like I came from another country. Instead I made friends with Carole, the one chick in the class wearing mostly black and a studded necklace. From then on I was into GlamRock and went to all the rock concerts that came through town (Poison, Skid Row, etc). And it took a while, but I did befriend the other girls in the class, and we stayed decent friends through highschool.

This past weekend we went to the Hsv Farmers Market. It was free corn day - man, that brings out lots of people! I thought it'd be free raw corn still in the shucks, but no, it was small 1/3 cobb pieces that were grilled. We did pick up some plums, cantaloupe, blueberries and squash though. I was not over impressed with the plums and cantaloupe though. And why is a guy there selling plums from California?! I guess I misunderstood the purpose of a local farmers market. I do like the blueberries in my cereal, though they are pretty pricey. I'm still hoping the (closer to me) Madison farmers market grows more to include more food items instead of plants and soaps. And before I go back, I'm going to take a notepad to the grocery store and write down prices so I can compare and see if it's worth the gas money to go back. It sucks how I think in terms of gas money now. For example, my company is having a free ice cream social today. It's approximately 16 miles round trip for me to go. That makes it about $3 in gas, so technically not free. and it's not bluebell, so is it worth it?

I'm back from the Alaskan cruise. This was a family trip with several of Jeff's family members - 12 of us all together. We were on Royal Caribbean ship out of Seattle going to Juneau, Skagway, Prince Rupert and back into Seattle. A great time was had by all. We had beautiful blue skies and clear weather at all the ports. I was most excited about the whale watching excursion. We found 2 sets of mama and baby humpback whales and several other hb whales. No orcas though. We saw 2 glaciers, hiked through a rainforest, hiked a different 6 mile trail to some waterfalls, battled mosquitoes larger than Texas ones, got woken up by the foghorns, saw sea lions, walked on a beach to find petroglyphs, stretched our bellies from all the good food, battled with Ramada when a nest of ticks was found in the bed, and much more that I'm not remembering right now. I think part of the post vacation bliss I'm feeling right now is realizing how cool a family I married into. A mother-in-law that paid for and planned a vacation like this, being there and having fun, and coming back and liking them even more - life is good!

Now the mission is to get 1200 photos (combined from everyone) condensed into a single photo album. That will be my project for the next few weeks. Right now, a few photos are found here (in folders by day)
http://picasaweb.google.com/themachamers

That is the caption of my photo taken today showing me in a space suit on Mars. The photo is not exactly realistic looking, but it's still cool. It was part of a NASA traveling exhibit with freebies, so of course I tried it out, hey it got me away from the desk for a few minutes. It is in a big 18-wheeler trailer split into 2 rooms. The first part shows a very quick video and then 4 players use a touch screen panel to add components to a lunar base. Then there is another quick movie about going to the moon and the 6 sites we've already been to. They also have a small moon rock that you can touch (it looked like a regular rock to me). Then the tour (about 10 people at a time) moves into the next segment which is a circular kind of hexagon shaped room. They show video on 4 walls and on the floor. It starts off like you're in the water looking at an island and you can stomp on the fish and make them move more. Here, I envision kids going crazy and making the trailer shake :) Then the video went into more moon stuff and how NASA has helped other areas of our every day lives. And another part had moon rocks moving everywhere that you could stomp on again. I think I got carried away with the stomping because I've already forgotten part of the video's message :)
I'll add the scanned photo if I can find the guy with the scanner on this floor.

Bittbox posted a new list. I was shaking my head in agreement at most of them, but these in particular:
2. Your clients pay you for your professional expertise and skill, yet you’ve run into one of ‘those’ clients, that refuses to take the advice from the very person he/she is paying for advice (you).
4. You’ve requested a vector logo from a client, and instead, they email you a 72 dpi image they grabbed from a website.
10. You’ve had a client ask you to “Make the logo bigger.” There is also a separate funny video for this.
12. You’ve learned to over-price web design projects because most clients are more picky about their websites than a high school girl picking out a prom dress.
19. You’ve done everything but give up a body part to talk a client out of a “Flash Intro.” Yeah. I said it. Flash Intro. Sad, so so sad. (goes along with #2)
24. You’ve had a client that wants a website they can “update” on their own, but doesn’t know shit about websites.

I can't remember who now, but a friend had words to the final countdown song in an email or chat and it's in my head now. We leave for Seattle in 2 days for the Alaskan cruise. So far the weather channel is predicting rain everywhere we go. I may kick myself for not buying some gollash (sp?) boots that were so fashionable in the Memphis mud. Then again I'm already worried about how much luggage I'll have.
My mother-in-law has planned this entire trip and kept up with all the confirmation numbers for hotels, cruise, cars, cabs, etc. I think I'm going to tease her about quiting the dental field and going into vacation planning.
We have our regular cat sitter lined up - I think we're his cash cow - he loves it when we go on vacation! Yesterday my boss held a 4.5 hour meeting, so I'm definitely ready to forget about this place for a while.

Not much else to speak of besides yard work and some movie watching. We saw Indiana Jones. And depending on all the plans in Seattle on the return, we may try to see Hancock, Will Smith's latest movie. Hopefully we'll catch some fireworks in Seattle somewhere.

I had my first gas tank that cost more than $60 today. Locally we are holding at about $3.99 and I'm thankful to have a car that doesn't want premium grade. I do remember when gas was under $1. I think that was about 12 years ago. Those were the good ole days when you could cruise for fun and not worry. Now I calculate a trip to store X will cost me an additional $4 b/c it's 10 miles across town. Or even leaving for lunch will add an extra $3, making now even cheap Taco Bell go up to about $7 so it's hardly ever worth it.

My group at work had their awards ceremony today. I liked the casual setting at the botanical gardens, but it was hot. I'm waiting to see if anyone got sick from the potato salad. (I stay away from mayo when it's served in 90 degree weather). I was nominated for a peer award under the communication category. I had a suspicion that I would loose to the younger, cuter, always happy and now pregnant girl and I was right. Everyone likes her including me, so I wasn't upset.

Before going to the Botanical Gardens I went to the Space & Rocket Center to see our exhibit getting set up. This was my first time in the new Davidson center. I was impressed. They did a good job of setting it up so you can walk under the Saturn V rocket. I'll have to take Jeff back with me and show him the fake moon dirt glovebox I helped create.

A few weeks ago our 3.5 year old oven started acting up. It would sound a horrific alarm and shut down if the temp got higher than 375. After some research I came to the conclusion that GE sucked and it was not worth another $400 in parts and labor for a $700 oven. (Yes we lost $50 to a repairman who said they discounted the parts). So we got an upgrade, a Whirlpool convection oven. We also decided to try to install it ourselves before paying $120 to install it. I helped Jeff move both ovens (he should be glad I'm not a 5 foot 100 lb lady -the type he used to be attracted to, or maybe still dreams about, ha). It started off easy, but ofcourse he did have to pull the saw out and cut off about an 1/4" off the wood cabinet. It made our house smell like sawdust but everything turned out and it works. yea! I only baked some rolls in it tonight, so I'm still dont have enough info to compare a convection oven with a traditional one.

In other news, I heard a new (what I think is) redneck term. Some people were near a line talking and someone else came up and asked if they were in line and he said, "no we are just bumping our gums". WTF? Jeff and I laughed. I guess it means just talking. sounds stupid to me.

Friday night we hung out at Keith & Angie's for Keith's birthday. The no-kids night was definitely more calm after the past 2 kid-filled parties at their house. Oh, Kaylee's first birthday party was very cute last weekend. The castle cake was amazing. Saturday was Jeff's birthday. We didn't do much besides clean house and some yard work. Jeff got his new Tivo HD hooked up, as well as XM radio coming thru the tv. Sunday we had some friends over the pool and then back to our house for a cookout. Overall a nice pleasant weekend with good company.

Today at work I got to hear about some bikini-bull riding. A few guys went to N.Carolina for some training, met up with other customer/friends including some from Sweden and went to a bar advertising bikini-bull riding. The story wasn't as wild as I was hoping, but I couldn't help but wonder if they have bikini-bull riding in Sweden. I think they only saw fully clothed girls (though some in dresses) ride, so I'm sure it wasn't anywhere comparable to the nude beaches they have access to in Europe. Still, it's funny to think of Europeans in what was probably a redneck bar. ha!

I first saw an article about the solar tree - a large combination of street lights in a modern shape. (It is actually in Milan but designed by someone in Vienna.) This is so much prettier than a standard looking light post with a couple square flap looking panels attached.

Today I read an article about another solar tree, more like plant-sized version that comes potted. The leaves are organic thin-film solar cells.

I always get excited when I can see that designers have involvement in making something functional also beautiful. (I'm on the hunt for some more cool examples) And for the plant-size version, I'm hoping they come out with a palm tree size one. Jeff has been saying no to me when I ask for a palm tree saying it wont fit in our suburban setting (which I agree), but I'd make the sacrifice of standing out for a solar version.

I think I've made a friend of mine jealous about some upcoming travels/vacations. I can't help but to talk about going places and wishing to go places since everyday life seems too ordinary to talk about and probably boring to most people. I think I am a person that likes to stay on the go and escape my boring desk job, which I clearly remember saying I would NEVER have as an adult. I think those words came out of my mouth before I had to make my own money to survive. Lately I've been pondering how do people come up with a balance in life and planning, that is, spend enough of your money to have fun in your youth, while saving enough to retire on comfortably. I've seen too many examples of deaths too soon into retirement, or a disability limiting mobility. When I think of those examples it's easier to say sure, lets fly off to that destination since there is no guarantee we'll be around long enough or healthy enough to do it in our 50s or 60s. I'm also afraid of more family obligations I'll have in the coming years. My parents have buried 3 of their parents in the last few years, with many years before that consumed with providing care for them. Now they are working on fixing their own misc ailments as well as taking their siblings to the doctor for misc problems. That does not leave enough room for fun. Hmm, so yeah, I think I just validated my reasons for some trips this summer. Alaska is in a few weeks, then a friends wedding in Los Angeles. And recently Jeff's friend invited him to London, so I'm working on figuring out how to fit that in.

Last Friday Hsv police were in a high speed chase that made it's way on the arsenal. Communication didn't flow in time to move the barricades at the gate and the 2 ladies didn’t crash their car for several more miles on base. That crash resulted in the death of a NASA employee. Today a MSFC rep talked to everyone and answered questions. The usual questions flowed, why couldn’t they shoot the tires out, did the police call to warn the gate guards, this means they aren't prepared for a terrorist, etc. The terrorist question drives me crazy. I wish the country didn’t live in fear, it's not a good way to live your life. Anyone can die in a car crash at any time or a freak of nature like an earthquake. The latest story I heard was that this man had just come back from lunch with his family and his two boys, ages 6 and 3, begged their daddy to stay home and play with them. How sad to think that the 6 year old will probably grow up remembering that. It was another instance in life that makes me more aware of how lucky I am for so many things, family, health, friends, too many to list.

On another note, today is voting day. On the local ballot is a sales tax increase to 8.5% with the benefit going to schools. In my frustration yesterday trying to find out details of who and what else was on the ballot, I also looked up what Alabama property taxes were in comparison to the rest of the nation. AL ranked #49, and that is probably a correlation where our schools rank. If they want better schools, why can't the state or people of the state raise the property tax. That will hit those with money harder. Instead they propose a sales tax that hits everyone hard including the poor and lower income that rent. And for future reference if you need to do research on candidates, this is a great site: www.votesmart.org.

I have a new record for amount of time to get through the gate at work. Normally my commute to work is about 12 minutes. Today it was 37 minutes. I thought there was a wreck or maybe some random car checks since we had a highspeed police chase on base that resulted in a fatality last week, but no, the big slow down was so that people could take their badge out of the plastic sleeve and show to the patrolman. This is a new part of our special badges - a plastic sleeve holder since we can't punch holes in them to attach a clip. Now I have a new fear - this sleeve will become loose and my badge will fall out in the toilet.

Jeff and I finally finished painting the kitchen this weekend. Yes, thats me on top of the fridge in order to reach above the cabinets. Before I tried out a light green and it just didn't work with the rest of the tan elsewhere in the house. And since I'm not ready to paint the rest of the house, I decided to go with a darker color. It looks great and even goes with the ceiling color - yea, one less thing to paint. Here is another larger version.

I took a cute photo of Ginger near her new feeder. This is her usual pitiful 'feed me' face. If you click on the image there is a larger version that also shows the timer dial that comes with the feeder. You can set it to go off every 15 minutes if needed. So far Ginger has not tried to bang this one around like the last feeder.

I read a few articles about a miracle fruit/berry that tricks the tongue to make everything taste sweet, including lemons. It seems to change the flavor of most everything that hits your tongue for 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating the berry. A guy in NY has had a few flavor tripping parties to experiment with food. It sounds pretty cool. One lady was pouring Tabasco on her tongue and another said that Guinness beer tasted like chocolate milk. Here's the link for the NYTimes article. Even funnier was a video of the G4 network hosts trying it out, the chic couldnt handle it :) A guy in Florida is selling 30 berries with overnight shipping for $90. This Wallstreet Journal article has some more history on it and other peoples efforts and failures to work with the FDA for diabetic uses.

This cracked me up. I had dinner with a friend and in the middle of telling a story she mentions going online to smellywasher.com and buying their product. Great website name! Evidently front-loading washing machines tend to stink. So bad, that Linda's whole house stunk. How horrible! but the magic trick is to just use borax detergent with every load and it wont stink. So that website is ripping people off by charging $16 for plain Borax (or so Linda said, since I dont have one and have not tried it).

I took off on Friday since I knew the office would be dead. My goal of the day was to get my wedding photo album done (yes 2.5 years late). And I made excellent progress, I'm just lacking the honeymoon photos. This is my first time using blurb.com so I have my fingers crossed. They give you the exact size of the pages, so most pages I did my own collage in photoshop. Friday night we got a call from Jeff's friend that he was going to be in town and we should come down to his parents lake house. That was an offer we couldn't refuse. So Saturday we spent at the lake and caught up with Aaron and Karen who we had not seen since their wedding in California. The water was very cold so I didn’t stay in long. His family had a house full with 3 kids there and 3 grandkids, so we left after a wonderful dinner of bbq'd beef and pork tenderloin. Sunday we got caught up on yard work which I followed with an hour at the pool, and then a nap and then off to Keith and Angie's cookout. They had a big crowd, maybe 40 if you included all the kids. It's funny to think how their parties have changed to include the kiddie activities now. Monday I got the kitchen painted a rusted red color. I love it. Now I just have to paint above the cabinets. Most muscles in my body are sore from something or a combination of things I did this weekend. I guess now they'll stiffen up sitting at work.