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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Blogging from the hotel

I'm in Madison, WI, for the Careers Conference. The conference has been great -- I've attended several interesting presentations and met many interesting people. I felt like I finally know enough about careers to make attending the conference worthwhile to me, and thanks to the clothes Steph got me for Christmas, I finally felt like I looked like I belonged there. I'm on a public computer, so I can't post my picture of the clothes.

You see, my laptop and my suitcase are on a shuttle to the airport. They were keeping my stuff downstairs until my shuttle, but they mistakenly put everyone's stuff on the earlier shuttle. Fortunately, they have the Internets in the lobby and I have a book in my bag. Also, the earlier shuttle will be returning before I have to leave.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the conference and I hope my boss will send me to another one soon.

Update: The shuttle driver brought back my luggage and apologized profusely. I was, of course, very understanding, especially because they had the Internets in the lobby and I had a book with me.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Colts win!

I tried to call Michelle to talk smack to her because the Colts will be playing the Bears in the Super Bowl, but it appears everyone else with Cingular is doing the same thing, so I don't have service. It was a very exciting game, though, with the largest comeback in AFC championship history.

Disclaimer: I am the world's biggest fair-weather fan. I don't follow football. I've only seen two entire Colts games before, and that's only because we had free tickets.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

VW ASCII art

On the New Beetle list, I've seen quite a few different pieces of VW-related ASCII art. However, someone on the Prius list owns a '65 Beetle, and I think his is my favorite so far:

Carl
Proud Owner of Stanley, a 1965 VW bug!
(O\|/O) (.\~/.)

I love the back of the Beetle. I would have used lowercase Os for the headlights, though -- I think it's more to scale:

(o\|/o)

Saturday, January 13, 2007

NYR update 2

1. Floss. I forgot to floss the other night. However, I've flossed each night except that one, so I'm working on forming the habit.

2. Go out to lunch at work only once a week. Doing well. I went out to lunch with some co-workers yesterday, and that was the first time I've done so all year, so I even made progress on my goal of catching up from last year's excesses.

3. Be on time to work. Not doing so well. I still can't get up early enough to get out of the house on time.

4. Land flip. No flip yet, but I learned a new jump sequence (half lutz-toe loop-falling leaf-salchow), which is seriously kicking my ass. It's most assuredly going in the program by the time I compete in February.

5. Save money. Doing okay. I'm saving money by cooking more at home, not buying stuff, and not shopping on eBay (except for the new walking shoes I bought to replace my walking shoes at work, which had split at the heel seam).

6. New recipes. Some progress. I'm making a new variation on white chicken chili tonight, and I made a version of baked ziti with some substitutions last week.

7. Less trans fat. Doing pretty well. I found a loaf of garlic bread with no trans fat last night at the grocery store, and I haven't had a single french fry all year.

8. Perfumes. Doing moderately well. As I said, I picked out three perfumes, and I've been wearing them a little more than half the time. Today I marked the level in each with a marker. (One has about 1/4 bottle left, one has about 2/3 bottle left, and one is almost full.) However, I purchased three new bottles of perfume at the Body Shop the other night. They were on clearance ($6 each, originally $16 each) and they've been discontinued, so I felt I had to get them. I already knew I liked them because I have a little sample pack of nine of their scents. They're keeping four of those and getting rid of five. I feel kind of bad about buying them, though, so I'm not going to use them until I finish at least one bottle of the three I'm trying to finish.

9. The Compact. Doing okay except for the purchase of some small stuffed animals (at 75% off) to throw to my skating friends at competitions and the aforementioned perfume. Also, I bought walking shoes, but that's kind of health-related, as I need to take care of my feet and my old walking shoes were cutting into them and making them bleed.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Blogiversary

I started my blog one year ago today. In honor of my blogiversary, I changed my template and added a blogroll.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

2006 Year in Books

I read only 23 books in 2006. That's more than I read in 2005, but not as many as I wanted to read. Here's the rundown:



I read this for book club, and it was just okay.



We got an advance reader's copy of this at work, and I was excited to see a book about a kid with two moms. I ended up disliking some of the characters, though, which frustrated me.



Prep got mixed reviews, and I agree with those who felt the main character, Lee, didn't change or grow very much. I mostly enjoyed the book despite Lee's flaws, though.



Another book club selection. I enjoyed this book. I felt for Grady even though his predicament was all his own doing.



I forget the answer to the title question, but I found this book entertaining. It wasn't just another boring health book.



I read a different edition of this book. The cover has Encyclopedia Brown pictured wrong! Doesn't he have reddish-brown hair? It certainly isn't that dark. I had a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown books as a kid, and I found this one at a garage sale. When I was at my dad's last weekend, I found my old copies, so more Encyclopedia Brown may be on my reading list for 2007. He's still a good detective.



Steph picked this book up at a book sale; I read it one day when we were sitting around her house. It was a fun way to spend a couple hours on a lazy Saturday afternoon.



I bought this book for my not-exactly-a-niece Raven, who's 14, and I felt I should take a look to see what it was like. It's a good thing I did, because after I gave it to her, she called me to ask what some of the British words meant.



Yet another book club book. I thought it could have ended sooner. It was interesting to read a classic science fiction novel.



I like memoir-type books in which people talk about their daily lives. Karol Griffin has a very different life from mine. I enjoyed learning about the world of a tattoo artist.



I loved these essays, especially one in which the author and a friend made a contraption to remove stray plastic bags from trees.



One of my favorite books from sophomore English. We read The Great Gatsby for book club, and I enjoyed it almost as much nineteen (!) years later. I loved it for its social commentary.



I picked Amalee up at the library because I was interested to see what kind of book Dar Williams would write. I like her music.



Steph bought Geography Club because it is about a gay kid in high school. I wasn't out in high school, so it's interesting to read about kids who are.



I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I read this book. I got it at the library sale for Michelle because we used to watch General Hospital.



Another book club selection. It was a fun read; I borrowed his earlier book Jennifer Government from my mom, and maybe I'll get to it this year.



Jim Henson rocks.



I liked the premise, but I couldn't relate to the author very well.



I wasn't young enough, fabulous enough, or broke enough for this book. I already knew most of the stuff she covered -- I think I need a different Suze Orman book.



This book was a little unsettling. Freyer had friends over to tag items they thought were representative of his life, and he sold them on eBay. I liked the stories behind the items and the description of his process, but I was sad that he sold many of his photos and other items that were really meaningful to him.



This book didn't work for me. The dialogue wasn't realistic and the story seemed a little forced.



Adding to my collection of skating books...



Definitely one of my favorite books of the year. I loved reading about the author's relationship with the encyclopedia and with knowledge in general.

I hope to read a little more in 2007. I've already started two books, and Steph and I are reading a story each night from a book of 365 bedtime stories. This year I also need to buy fewer books and clear out a few more of the books I don't want to keep.

Monday, January 01, 2007

NYR update

An update on my resolutions:

1. So far, so good. I flossed after I got home from Dan and Doug's last night in a semi-tipsy state because I figured it was after midnight, so it counted.

2, 3, and 4. Haven't worked or skated yet this year. Did watch some skating today, though.

5. Didn't spend excess money at the grocery when on mission for soup vegetables. Oh, wait, maybe I did. But we will use the items I bought -- crackers to go with the cheese my aunt sent us and marinade for the chicken in the freezer.

6. I made bean soup a little differently today. It turned out okay.

7. So far, so good.

8. I chose three perfumes and wore one of them. I'm not sure I can stick to wearing only those three, but I can at least focus on using them a lot and using them up.

9. I didn't buy anything new today. Only food.