tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242056092024-03-05T21:47:53.731-08:00Alex JUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-13968778092825195292010-09-02T08:17:00.000-07:002010-09-02T08:17:49.731-07:00Raleigh Ringers in my weekly Ticketmaster newsletter email<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYLu4ZP8rkzOc3T9Ff2mz7mzbArhbB9L5g9vjLeTfg9rWo81QXYe3u3jruLFjddcMVnfrW2nQEsz0NhBkXzcT1UD36xdZMqagVI-IhZzQ30Mz9faL-ZjQwaX_LgByulo82yQ/s1600/ticketmaster.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaYLu4ZP8rkzOc3T9Ff2mz7mzbArhbB9L5g9vjLeTfg9rWo81QXYe3u3jruLFjddcMVnfrW2nQEsz0NhBkXzcT1UD36xdZMqagVI-IhZzQ30Mz9faL-ZjQwaX_LgByulo82yQ/s640/ticketmaster.bmp" width="626" /></a></div>Like wow, I am totally geeked-out excited by that, how cool! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-81205265087818975172010-05-03T08:45:00.000-07:002010-05-03T08:45:30.113-07:00Had a fabulous weekend out on tour with The Raleigh Ringers. We played a concert Saturday north of Baltimore in Maryland, and one outside of Richmond, Virginia on Sunday. The two were both great experiences! <br />
Friday night on the way up, one of our members ended up trying to help a lady break into her car with a hanger... we sacrificed another lady's costume hanger for this, but weren't able to open the car before we had to get back on the road... luckily, someone was on the way to help her.<br />
Saturday we played at a church, to a crowd of ~600 or more. They were very enthusiastic and responsive! I talked to several sweet older ladies afterward ... one was like "I was watching you, I play your same bells. You're really good!" Another said "I'm 83 and I've been playing bells for 4 years now and it's so much fun!" I said, good for you for picking up a new hobby, that is awesome! Some girls came up to me as I was taking inventory of some of our sales stuff, and one of them said "They say I look like you!" I said, true, we both have the long blond hair, etc.. it was cute! We heard that parties had come from Youngstown, OH, as well as West Virginia to attend this Maryland show!<br />
Sunday we were hosted by a church, and the concert was in the neighboring high school auditorium. The hosting church was so sweet, served us a sit-down lunch of fried chicken & awesome vegetables, blackberry cobbler mmm, we almost wanted to go into food comas instead of go perform after that! There were some really sweet people, everyone enjoyed the show so much. The sweetest thing was after the concert, when we let anyone from the audience who wants to to come up on stage and talk with us, see/play our music and instruments, and ask questions, etc. There was a mom with her two daughters, and one of her daughters was in a wheelchair. That girl was named Anna and she was getting each of the Ringers to sign her autograph book. At the end, she was talking to a few of us and made us count several times to make sure she had gotten each one of our signatures. Her mom said that she is so into us, and that everyone who comes to their house has to watch one of our videos on youtube because Anna says "this is so amazing, you have to see this." Her mom said that she had just lost her job two weeks ago and wasn't sure she'd be able to buy the tickets to the concert, and how she didn't know how she could tell her daughter that they couldn't go, but that then she won 2 tickets on the radio and so she only had to buy one, so she said "I guess God wanted us to come to your concert!" It was... really touching! Talking to all the people who love our music and getting to do what I love to bring joy to people makes me feel so blessed to be able to do this. It's an amazing thing, and I hope to enjoy it for as long as I can!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-60674759485283907332010-03-29T21:25:00.000-07:002010-03-29T21:25:33.929-07:00So excited! The weather outside has been gorgeous. Duke is going to the Final Four (even if I'm lame and I'm not even though it's in IN)! Meredith is here, and things are going well with her with work and with friends! hehe. Things are going great with me with friends etc.! It's Easter this weekend, always a wonderful time to remember! And Melissa is coming with her fam the weekend after that!!! :) So excited for all this great stuff, I'm very fortunate!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-24450888254366079452010-03-15T20:00:00.001-07:002010-03-15T20:00:43.136-07:00Pride & Prejudice still has its place, but I now think that crack-for-women is watching your boyfriend work on a car in his work shirt... sweeet! 8-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-63283553515942953382010-01-26T17:45:00.000-08:002010-01-26T17:45:59.896-08:00How do you practice handbells at home without your own set?<br />
Well, let me tell you. When you are a newbie to a crazy-good new group and feel the expected trepidation, you take home your music, copy it, highlight all over the copy, and get an mp3 file to listen to from the recordings guru. Then it's time to sit on the floor and practice with spoons. Currently, laid out around me on the floor, I have: <br />
4 big spatulas<br />
1 plastic whisk<br />
1 plastic spoon<br />
1 large flat cake spreader thingy<br />
1 serving spoon<br />
1 regular spoon<br />
1 serving fork<br />
1 regular fork<br />
I then sit and listen over and over and stop and start and correct and beat these various implements on the floor and my shoulders and wave them in the air like I'm really playing. It would be a pretty strange scene to walk in on unawares.<br />
Each of these implements represents a specific piece / instrument that I am expected to keep track of and play at just the right time... Usually at any given time I'll have 3 of the above things in my hands. No pressure, though...<br />
Oh, and this is just one song of an approx. 20-song lineup that we're learning for April concerts. Let the peeing of the pants commence.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-85587045273775136222010-01-21T05:29:00.000-08:002010-01-21T05:29:08.103-08:00Sometimes, I wonder what in the world is really going on in my subconscious mind... last night I dreamed about catheter-related bloodstream infections and walking to France. In the first section, I was at a hospital with a group of people and I think that we were going to watch a procedure on or talk to my friend's dad. However, the doctor informed us that he had a catheter-related infection and was not doing well and so we could not see him. In something that would only make sense to my Cook friends, I asked him if he used a Spectrum catheter and he said no, he used some other company's antibiotic <i>coated</i> catheter, as opposed to this antibiotic <i>inpregnated</i> one. He said it was cheaper and I remember actually screaming at him that the Spectrum catheter had a 2 mm zone of inhibition (I think my dream made that up) with no resistance developed in any of the literature studies (I think that part's real) and that if it could have prevented this, it would have been worth the extra money. Why do I dream about things like that?<br />
Later after this eventful visit, I dreamed that I was going with my friend Betsy and some others to France, where she's doing her study abroad, only... we were planning to walk. I was confused by this and how we were planning to get there the same day, and was kind of cranky because I figured we'd be pretty darn tired from all that walking. Somehow I learned that there was a place up north where France was really close to the US, and that we were going to cross there over a bridge or something (what the heck?!?), but that still made me cranky because we were going to have to walk up the whole East Coast in one afternoon and that sounded like hard work.<br />
So strange...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-91880054466788231482010-01-14T21:53:00.000-08:002010-01-14T21:53:02.556-08:00So, everyone who knows me knows that I am a geek for science, math, guys in glasses, owls, all things Chi O, and handbells. Today I'm humbled and excited to share that I auditioned for and got a spot for next year's Raleigh Ringers, which to me is pretty much the top group I could be in! I've known of this group since I was a little girl and watched their television Christmas specials on PBS. My handbell directors & teachers always spoke of the Raleigh Ringers with esteem, and if any of my groups ever tackled a really super challenging song, chances are it was commissioned by/for Raleigh Ringers. When my bell group was gearing up for a tour in Russia, we went to go see RR in Indianapolis, on their week-long summer tour! I never thought that I'd end up here, in this area, and actually be able to have a spot in this group!<br />
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I know it's going to take a lot of time, and I'm going to have to work hard to get to the level of the veteran members of the group. But I'm excited, and ready to work hard! I'm still on an emotional high tonight. It's been a great week!!<br />
www.rr.org - we could be coming to a city near you this year!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-19680426159960191122010-01-07T15:45:00.000-08:002010-01-07T18:56:45.863-08:00After an often frustrating day and first week of the new year, tonight I reached for the good stuff... no, not hard liquor... the crack-for-women of all chick flicks, Pride & Prejudice. It doesn't matter that I know the fictional story and idealistic romance is unrealistic and even unhealthy... sometimes it is just what you need.<br />
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I usually consider that I'm a fairly patient person. I will stand in the line at the store for ages behind a difficult person with their price check or returns and never get snappy with the cashier... I was a math & science phone tutor for 4 years for heaven's sake ... I don't know if anything else has tested my patience in quite that way. Yet when it comes to the condition that is being young and single it is a constant struggle for me to be patient. No matter how much I can direct myself with my logical side to not worry or care, that 'obsessing' or worrying is detrimental, it still hurts my heart sometimes and I guess I've just been acutely aware of it in the past week or so.<br />
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Do you know, it's an interesting thing that moving to an area with many educated young people, as this Triangle is, should open the doors to more opportunities, and certainly I think that's true. It's also true, though, that the 'competition,' if you will, is tougher. A nice guy can actually meet a girl at a bar who's a gorgeous, outgoing, med student, or PhD candidate from some Ivy League school. We can't just assume that things will go well by virtue only of our not being bimbos, here.<br />
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On a better note, I'm really lucky and fortunate to have wonderful friends here and also in places far away. I got to talk to Krystal last night (yay, Krystal) which was great. I got to catch up with a ton of Indiana friends, and family, over my wonderfully long Christmas break, and that was wonderful! Ultimately, these things are lasting and are the most important things, and I am deeply grateful for all of these friends and for my family. January, I suppose, is always just hard.. cold, the holiday lights come down, it's always dark... :) But that's why they make chick flicks and warm blankets.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-60794482132524838232009-12-30T20:54:00.000-08:002009-12-30T20:54:22.039-08:00Hello all :) It has been awhile, and it has been a busy couple of months! I finished the first semester of grad school (yayy) and had some nice holidays at home after working a hard week at the family ham store. I'm really glad I've gotten to see as many people back here in Indiana as I have. This week has been nice and lazy, and I've gotten to catch up on some reading and some quality time with the family dog ;)<br />
I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and has a wonderful and safe New Year's celebration!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-8387421414043984962009-11-01T20:18:00.000-08:002009-11-02T07:55:16.730-08:00It was a great weekend in NJ/NYC with my girls! We did lots of fun NYC-type things, and were within feet of Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman at their Bway show. Amazing. The show was great, they were great, and afterward was possibly the best part because they dropped their American accents for the play and explained that it was one of the designated fundraising-for-charity days and that among other things they were giving away for a set dollar-amount donation, they auctioned off their shirts and would sign them and take a photo backstage with the winner. My girls and I wished that we had enough money that $3000 would have seemed like an okay price to pay for this, but sadly we are all either broke or practical enough to know that it would not work. *sigh* so fun :)<br />
Miss everybody already!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-57918473213359556392009-10-18T12:42:00.000-07:002009-10-18T12:42:45.142-07:00Isn't it weird how when you come into a new place, or a new group, or anything like that, that it takes so long to get connected and actually feel at home, feel integrated... and yet it takes so little time when you move on to feel disconnected. "Keeping in touch" is always harder than you think it will be and happens less often than you think it will, allowing us to lose track of people we thought we'd be close with forever. I guess right now maybe I'm looking more at this side, which gives me a negative perspective, but fortunately there is the blessing of making new friends... it's just very hard to achieve the level of closeness you had with the ones you left behind, and it takes a very long time to build those relationships. I am trying to look at this as a good thing or a fun opportunity.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-65105663559033614652009-08-21T20:14:00.000-07:002009-08-21T20:26:30.579-07:00This moderately shy new student is glad to have/have had some sort of plans [with people!] for every day of the weekend! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-54088447080739891892009-08-19T19:43:00.000-07:002009-08-19T19:50:28.323-07:00More funny/interesting North Carolina experiences:<br />-you can buy pepper spray at the license branch here. (Well, at the plates one, which is separate from the one you have to go to get your driver's license). Yes, I'll take my plates, and one of the pepper spray, I said. "Sure, sweetie, what color do you want?" Um, blue, I said. Score. Now I am ferocious or something.<br /><br />-I went to that license branch wearing a black flip flop and a tan one and didn't realize this until I went to my bank for what was I think the 5th time in 3 days because of all the paperwork and accounts I've been doing, like I think I should be hanging out with them on the weekends or something now, and the lady was like "Ms. Jantzen, did you mean to put on two different shoes today? Is that maybe an Indiana thing?" Nope... Not even she believed that one... I had two pairs of flip flops under my desk here and just put my feet into them and never looked down.<br /><br />-You can buy alcohol on Sunday. Laura-Lee and I wanted a bottle of wine with dinner and asked first at customer service, where I think they thought we were crazy. "We're from out of state," I said.<br /><br />-Today one of the orientation events was an optional safety/security seminar. Since I come from a college where you could leave your door standing open and your laptop there while you wander the campus alone at 3am, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get some education. There were only probably 12 of us there, and 4 of us were BME students. What is it about us biomedical engineers that made us either more afraid or more into safety? Yes, there are a lot of us, but 4 of 12 is still disproportionately high. Not sure what this says about us but will keep my feelers out.<br /><br />-The Engineering Dept. apparently puts on a happy hour with free beer from 4-6 every Friday at the cafe in the bottom of our building. What a fun idea! Beer or no beer, it's just nice that they do things to get all the engineering programs together, both students and professors. There are rumors that budget cutbacks might affect this nice service this year, and I hope that doesn't happen (what unfortunate timing on my part that would be).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-51087192708180142532009-08-17T11:19:00.000-07:002009-08-17T11:24:59.352-07:00I have made it to North Carolina! Last weekend Melissa & her mom & I packed up my house and then Saturday we loaded the truck with the help of several other friends. That night Carrie & Alyson & I drove down to my parents' house, where we overnighted before making the 9-hour trip to Durham. Sunday evening, we got everything moved in down here. The 3 of us lovely ladies really did it all - so we felt kinda like superheroes :-D They helped me unpack a bunch and we also got to spend a few days looking around the area. So grateful to have had all the help I had - packing, loading, moving, unloading! Don't know what I would have done without my friends for all of that. :) During this past week I got business taken care of - library & bank accounts, new license & license plate, bought my books, met with my advisor, etc.! Then my friend Laura-Lee was down from Friday night to this morning and we bought me some things I needed like a bed and some little cabinets to put around the apartment. It's coming together! :) Classes start a week from today, but orientation is this week, so there are various events here & there. I'm pretty terrified of going to some of those things by myself - that's very hard for me, but that's the way I've got to do it to make friends.<br /><br />Anyway I like the area where I'm living, I like my apartment, and so far the whole area here seems nice. It's pretty hot but I guess it'll be nicer in the winter!!! :) Oh, and did I mention? I loove Southern food :-D We used to have this chain Bojangles in Louisville and slowly they all went out and my family was so sad because we used to pick up lunch there on the weekends all the time, and I loved the fried chicken & their seasoned fries & dirty rice. And when we started getting within like 100 miles of Durham there were Bojangles signs for like every exit and I was like, sa-weet, I'm so excited! I ate there with Carrie & Alyson and with Laura-Lee, and it was just as good as I remembered! Not to mention the one on the week-day lunch was *packed* so I guess I can feel secure that not all of the milion of them in a short radius from me will be going out anytime soon. Plus Carrie, Alyson, & I went to this neat place called Carolina Brewery in Chapel Hill and I had some killer shrimp & grits. I have always loved grits so people have joked that I am Southern on the inside. I guess just without the accent.<br /><br />That's all for now! Just an update since everal people have been joking that I must have fallen off the face of the earth or been trapped under a dresser or something :) It's been a very busy week takin' care of business!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-30031646364867915422009-08-05T18:50:00.000-07:002009-08-08T01:39:44.120-07:00Should I have eaten an apple a day?<br />There is nothing like medical problems to make you appreciate your good health, including things you never thought you could appreciate. When I found out about my freakish skin allergies 3 yrs ago and learned that I'd probably never be able to buy mainstream shampoo at the store again, I thought that was a big deal. Like 'wow, I'm probably always going to have this. I'm going to have to deal with this forever, weird.' Haha, um, no. Not a big deal. Perspective is everything! It's kind of crazy because I'm still [technically] just 24, but yet have these random problems. How fun for both the wallet and the conversational circuit ;-) At least it's something that can be managed with medicine; hopefully that keeps me in check for a long time. :) So, it's all good, don't worry about me [although do pray for me if you do/ are inclined], just - if you're healthy, don't take it for granted :) Although as I've experienced it's almost impossible not to when it's all you know.<br /><br />Now in other news I'm doing a thoroughly slowpoke job of packing up this house to move to NC. So, too bad that's happening Saturday!! I finished writing my goodbye notes to coworkers today but not without crying over a few of them. I realized yesterday that I definitely moved from the cold and unemotional stage to the hyperemotional stage of this process. And today at work didn't help what with all of the thoughtful cards, gifts, emails, etc. This is not easy. Even though the overall idea of what I'm doing is exciting, the nuts & bolts execution is not without its little bit of heartache.<br />*edit* I can't believe this, when I posted this that sentence read 'exiting' instead of 'exciting!' Geeze Louise! ;-) :-pUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-89973647501130261432009-07-25T19:46:00.000-07:002009-07-25T20:23:19.898-07:00Be warned that what follows is a rant; it's selfish and whiney and you proceed at your own risk. I'm really stressed out, emotions thin at leaving a place I've been for 3 years and not getting very much sleep. So I'm not feeling very gracious today.<br />Yesterday and today, my bell group from the Indianapolis area traveled down to Southern Indiana & Louisville for a 3-concert tour. I'm from that area of course, and another girl who's been with the group longer also is from down there (we rang bells together in high school). We did a concert Friday night, one this afternoon, and one this evening at 6pm. First one was in Floyds Knobs, 2nd in New Albany, and 3rd was in Louisville. Playing was really fun. I enjoyed being around my group and playing my last 3 concerts with them before moving to NC. I do this because I enjoy it, but also because I'm under some delusion that our performances are entertaining for people. Let me say first off that I'm fully aware that bells are about as cool as marching band (right, Carrie?). I personally like both, but I know that not everyone does. But [and I wouldn't normally say this] we are good at what we do. This is not your grandma's church choir; the reason I drive an hour each way to rehearsal is that there aren't a lot of groups who are at this level. And we don't just play hymns or dirges or something, we played jazz tonight, popular oldies, classical, a popular vocal song. Ahem, so anyway this has been planned for months. Months ago I sent messages to people I knew in the area telling them to mark their calendars. I talked to my church pastor and the announcement was in our bulletin for 2 weeks. We made events on facebook and invited everyone we know in the area. I was excited for people down there to see what I've been doing up here. We stuffed mailers to every area church, and we had a small blurb in the 'events' page of the Louisville newspaper. And it's summer, people are on vacations and stuff, but how many people that I knew came to those concerts? Well my mom & dad came to two of them. My best friend's family (my 2nd family) came to one, and my best friend and her husband came to one. One friend came by at the last minute I think who ran into us at lunch. So basically 5 people besides my family cared enough to plan to go to this free entertainment that my group & I put on. Each according to what worked into their schedule, but it was nice having all 3 of those options! How many people from my home church came to one of these, of the people who have known me since I was born and many of whom are starting to try to ring in a chime group there? Zero is how many. Some of them don't get out at night; luckily, our concert *in* New Albany was in the afternoon. Of friends of mine who played in bell groups *with* me for years and who have known me since I was 5, or 12, or whatever, zero of them came. And I guess this is sad to me for multiple reasons. One is that no one came out to cheer me on, see what I do, or support me. The other is that no one came just because it might be *enjoyable*! Yes, I guess I did choose the wrong musical avocation, should have gone with rock & roll, because I can tell you that something else there is zero of is hot guys at or in bell concerts, haha!! Did I mention these concerts were free? I <span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-style:italic;">know</span></span>, it's not everyone's "thing." As for the people who have played and listened to bells for years or who are getting started with it at church, yeah I don't get that, but do you really think that if one of these people's choir, or garage band, or *chess team* came from two hours away to the town where I live that I would *actually* miss it if I were in town and not on the floor throwing up or something? It would be in my calendar, and I would go, even if I was in the middle of a really gripping video game or something :-p. So if you're not going to go, just tell me you're not going to go. Don't say to me this very week "I'm going to try to go". Is your schedule that unpredictable all of a sudden?<br />So I guess it really is more fun to play than to listen to. My sister said I shouldn't take it personally, that if 5 people came to my birthday party or something I should be worried, but not this. And I was like you know what? I care about this more than if I had a birthday party or something. Because I spent hours preparing for this, driving to rehearsals, and working hard to get better at it. Lol I should have taken up guitar, because rockers don't have to pull teeth to get old friends to come to their concerts. They've got friends coming out of the woodwork looking for backstage passes. I do understand how dumb and selfish this is, but it's not like I thought everyone I've ever met would show up, just a few more than what did. On a positive note everyone in my group was very pleased with the overall attendance and thought that the trip was definitely worthwhile and fun. I even agree with that! I just wish that I wasn't friends with such lame-os. I guess that I should not spend so much time on bells in NC and take up a new hobby that is more cool, or else just stick to performing in retirement homes. I definitely don't feel the need to give the CD that we made as Christmas presents - I guess that isn't as special as I thought. Because while there are people who do enjoy this kind of thing, those aren't people I know.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-68326213082093824542009-06-07T19:01:00.000-07:002009-06-07T19:02:14.075-07:00The Snow Patrol/Coldplay concert this Friday was *awesome!!* Glad I got to go with such fun people to see 2 of my very favorite bands ever! Super duper :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-11450743277733448202009-06-02T02:18:00.000-07:002009-06-02T02:46:18.015-07:00If Walt Disney World bills itself as the Happiest Place on Earth, then I think O'Hare airport is the opposite... the Least Happy / "Miserablest" Place on Earth. As you might guess, that is where I am right now, working on my 12th consecutive hour. This includes at least an hour wandering around, an hour or two waiting for my plane to board, at least 2 hours in that plane on the tarmac waiting to be cleared to take off because of weather, then returning to the terminal for more of the sitting & wandering and finally 3 or 4 hours of sleeping /slash/ laying horizontally on a cot with a thin blanket until we were herded out just before 4am local time.<br />I know, I know, we have all had experiences like this. Heck, I've had experiences similar to this before. This is one of those times it sucks not to live in a big hub and not wanting to spend the $ and deal with the complications and fatigue of just renting a car to come home. Looks like an extra half day of work I get to take off.<br />Anyway, where I was going with all of this is just that I don't think I've ever had an experience here at O'Hare that was any better than marginal. So as I'm walking past all of their '2016 Olympics candidate city' posters, I am bitterly thinking to myself that we shouldn't funnel that kind of traffic through here unless we want them to hate the U.S. more. I know, though, I guess, that if this is their final destination, they won't be sleeping in the cot city like I was.<br />I just think it's a really unhappy place, that's all.<br />*edit* good grief, even the background elevator music in the terminal is skipping!!!!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-9613512231540955132009-05-29T19:46:00.001-07:002009-05-29T19:48:34.279-07:00Today, in Denali NP, we saw:<br />Brown Bear (+ 2 yearling cubs)<br />Grizzly Bear (huge)<br />Arctic Ground Squirrels (x5-10)<br />Snowshoe Hare (x100 or so)<br />Moose (the rare pinto moose actually [this is true], with white markings, and its yearling baby with color marking)<br />Fox (x4)<br />Caribou (x6)<br />Dall's Sheep (x many)<br />lots of birds and other wildlife!!<br />We were in a wolf zone while hiking today, apparently, but missed out on that (thank goodness!!)<br />Crazy Alaska :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-12142837739454782562009-05-26T23:10:00.000-07:002009-05-26T23:13:12.807-07:00Today some of the animals we saw on our boat tour of Kenai Fjords NP and driving around seward included:<br />Sea otters playing, Orca Whale, Humpback Whale, Fin Whales (5), Mountain Goat & kid, Dall’s Porpoise, 2 varieties of puffins (tons of them), gulls, Bald Eagles, Sea Lions (tons of them), lady-moose, and a black bear. <br />Alaska is a crazy cool place!<br />The weather has been absolutely gorgeous. We also saw several glaciers. Tomorrow we begin driving north toward Denali :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-53068108793291904212009-05-25T22:22:00.000-07:002009-05-25T22:29:05.813-07:00Alaska is fabulous!! We've seen many mountains, bald eagles, great things and a craft market in Anchorage, as well as walked right up to the toe of a glacier tonight. Tonight we're also staying at a fun B&B with tons of real bear rugs courtesy of the man of the house!<br /><br />More fun things to follow :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-18041070544846122492009-05-21T18:33:00.001-07:002009-05-21T18:33:51.108-07:00Saturday - to Alaska!! :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-47510967851293232462009-05-07T12:21:00.001-07:002009-05-07T12:22:39.646-07:00I don't know what it is, but lately I just cry at the drop of a hat! (Oh, that's so sad your hat fell on the floor)<br />But yeah, seriously, there hasn't been a day of this week that I haven't choked up or cried a little bit, probably a couple of times. I guess I am more anxious about this move and more conflicted about what I'm leaving behind than my conscious brain knows.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-42678852239249040202009-04-29T19:23:00.000-07:002009-04-29T20:06:32.312-07:00I've been rather wrapped up and self-absorbed lately, so to everyone, I apologize. And, really, I don't know who I'm kidding here with the 'lately' because I think it's rather a character trait. I'm not looking to be contradicted (so don't), just stating something that I have been observing and something that I'm working on and praying on.<br /><br />I've been very down lately... I have plenty of reasons to cite for this, but I think that this is also really just an inherent issue that I need help with. Two days in a row I've heard of unexpected deaths of family friends, whom I've spent considerable time with. In neither case was it unexpected, but for me, I wasn't close enough to know that things were getting close, and so it was a very sad shock. I feel like I've gotten the one-two punch to the gut, and have had my small meltdowns here and there. This combined with talks of re-evaluating pricing on the house has not put the smile on my face.<br /><br />I blanked on one of my very best friend's birthdays today... See paragraph 1... I'm so sorry, I love and cherish you.<br /><br />I went to a very cool concert with Jill & Anne Marie last night (yay!) and that was very fun and helped with the cheer factor :-D I was just so excited that the very cute Australian singer who was also very musically talented busted out the digeridoo and played it. That was so cool to me, memories of Sydney Harbor!<br /><br />Going out to San Diego next week... here's hoping we don't all die of swine flu :-p If Cook Medical doesn't come out with any new products in the next several many years, you'll know it's because all of their R&D engineers globally infected one another with flu in the pursuit of forming better working relationships, leaving monkeys to finish the paperwork :-p :-p I don't know whether this thing is something to legitimately worry about contracting or not? It seems to be in the grey area between ignorant hysteria and actually serious.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24205609.post-67653835458707474212009-04-28T03:41:00.000-07:002009-04-28T03:43:39.805-07:00My community bell group recorded a CD on Saturday. That was fun :) A real recording studio with the sound engineer guy in the little room, etc. hehe. We listened to some of the playbacks during our lunch break, and it actually sounded really cool all together - usually I can only hear the stuff right around me and not the whole ensemble together, so that was neat. I can't wait to hear how it comes out... Looks like I know what all my family's getting for Christmas when I'm a poor grad student ;-)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0