Going to Prom!

Yes I am 23 years old and I am going to my first Prom. Don't worry it is not with highschool kids. Some friends of mine (Frisbee friends) are having an 80's Prom. I'll be big hair, funky ugly dresses, baby blue suits, 80's music and picture perfect memories. I can't wait. Plus it's my first prom ever (as I went to an all girls highschool that didn't have one..:( boo).

Art & History

I have created a new blog. One that is dedicated to my two greatest interest: art and history. I hope you will enjoy it.

I will still post here for the occasional comment, but most of my activity will now be at the new blog.

Hogan's Heroes

Ivan Dixon recently passed away. Ivan played Sgt. James Kinchloe in the 1960's tv comedy "Hogan's Heroes".



Rest in Peace.

Simon's Cat

This is Just like my cat. Trampies. Anyone who has a cat needs to see this video. I found it on Youtube.

Mummified Dinosaur!

In 1999 a mummified dinosaur was found in North Dakota. Over these past couple of years scientist have been extracting the mummified Edmontosaurus from the rock in which it is enclosed. The fossil has been nick named Dakota.

Dakota is about 30 feet from nose to tail. It is one of 4 mummified dinosaurs that have ever been found. Of the 4 Dakota has the most, and best preserved skin. This discovery has really helped scientist explore the question: "what did dinosaurs look like?"



I am very excited about this discovery. Dakota will be put on public display for the first time this summer. Road trip anyone?

National Geographic has been funding this excavation.

Banana

You may or may not remember, but a little while ago I read a book called "Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World." Apparently I was ahead of the curb with this book, as last Sunday the New York Times featured it in their weekly book review. Today, when searching for the review online I found Dan Koeppel's official blog/website for his book. It has some interesting stuff. Everything from science to the connection between Keira Knightley and our market banana.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Although I will not be able to celebrate, since I will be at work or in class until 11p.m. I wish everyone else a Happy St. Patty's day!

Indonesian Bird

Indonesian bird newly discovered by scientists.

The Togian white-eye was first spotted by scientist in 1996. Recently the scientific community has recognized it as a "new species". I found the use of the word "new" to be very interesting. The bird has been there for a long time. It's not like one day in 2006 the sun rose and POOF there was a new green bird that had never existed before. The species has been there for a long time, however scientist have adopted a "new to me" kind of attitude when it comes to scientific discoveries. While I agree that it is very cool to find something that no one has seen or understood before, it doesn't mean the thing didn't exist. Gravity was always there, Newton just recognized it as an entity and gave it a name. Ok, so that may be stretching it a bit, but the concept is the same. instead of saying things like "the new Togian white-eye" how about we just say "the Togian white-eye". Or we need a word to describe something that is "new to me" but not really new at all. Does anyone know if there is a word for that?

The Power of a Good Shirt

Recently I went clothing shopping. This is usually a bad thing as I never return with the item I intended to buy, and all the items I did not intend to buy. This time I went shopping for new jeans. I had worn a whole through my old ones (they had lasted me 3+ years).

When I got to the store I discovered the worst thing possible... J.C. Penny was having a sale. I know most would see a sale as a good thing, but it's really not. It just means I'm going to buy more items that I don't need.

I restrained myself.

Be Proud.

I only bought 3 pants, 2 shirts, 4 sweaters and a jacket. (Yes I used the word only to describe 10 items) If you had seen the amount of items I tried on you would understand that I used great restraint.

And to top it off it was all under the amount I allow myself for impromptu shopping sprees!

Anyways, the shopping wasn't really the point of this post. The point is a new, stylish shirt can bring light to the cloudiest day. Wearing my new shirt to work today has made me feel more confident than what I would feel in a shirt I've worn to work several times before. It probably helps that it's pink!

So my advise, If you stuck in a rut, go buy a new shirt, preferably pink. (Yes, this even applies to guys.)

Babies R' Us

Awe she's so cute

Isn't he precious

Awe do you have a boo boo on your tuddly tush

Ok so that last one might not be as common, but these are all things you hear when a baby or toddler enters a room. It seems like women just melt over these tiny, miniature versions of themselves. The lose all semblance of maturity, and start talking gibberish. I mean what does "Gha Ha" mean anyways? It certainly is not in any oxford dictionary I ever saw. I have never felt the desire to coo and cuddle a baby. It was a learning experience to be with my niece and nephews during this phase of their life. I was very happy when they became old enough to play tag.

This is the age I love. Their youthful endurance is inspiring. When they smile because their having fun playing with their aunt makes is far more understandable and rewarding then when they smile cause they just flashed their belly.

I do like babies. They are cute, usually, and pretty simple. Food, Sleep, Poop, Food. That's a life I understand. Simple. Clear. What I don't understand is the reaction of most women to their presence. My reaction is to hold them, tickle them, but funny faces and high pitch voices are not natural for me. Maybe this would change if I had a kid, but I can't imagine that.

Stretching is not so great afterall

Research suggests that stretching does not affect soreness or risk of injury during exercise.

~NY Times

According to at least two studies reported on in by the New York Times, stretching is not as beneficial as it has been thought. It does not lesson the chance of injury during activity. Stretching does not decrease the amount of soreness one might feel after a difficult workout.

The reason I am so happy about this is I never stretch, and I always get yelled at for it, whether by my boyfriend, my roommate, or my mother I always get told: "If you had stretched you wouldn't be sore right now." Well HA! I would be sore anyways!

Pictures

The signature piece of pottery from the Jomon of Japan. This was the first culture to develope fired pottery (based on current dates).



In homage of the worst holliday hallmark has ever invented (see earlier post for more details)




Since television is currently lacking any interesting sports (I do not consider basketball interesting, it's just a personal preference) here are some pictures of the most exciting contest currently underway. Who will win for the Democrates?? Obama? Clinton?



Gorrillas do it face to face! Apparently scientist had not witnessed gorrillas have sex in the missionary position, until now! Isn't this exciting!?!?



Mr. Thaci talks to the press as the announcement for Kosovo's independence becomes ever closer. The announcement is expected to happen any day now, with the U.S. stating that they will recognize Kosovo when the time comes.



A Pterodactyl fossil has been found in China. "We have this really amazing creature, sparrow sized, which lived essentially in the trees, showing us a very new, very interesting side of the evolutionary history of those animals," said Alexander W. A. Kellner of the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Valentines Day

I am not a fan of this so called holiday. This probubly stems from listening to my father talk about it as a conspiracy created by halmark and other corporations to increase sales. However, the idea of it being a "Hallmark Holiday" doesn't bother me too much, after all what holiday isn't one now a days. There are two main reasons I dislike the holiday.

1. The Expectations. Every man knows that he is expected to do something great. Each guy then either tries to reach those expectations or not, in either case he fails. Why does he fail? Because women create these crazy ideas of what they "expect" their significant others to do on this loathsome holiday. These expectations are usually above and beyond what any normal person would think on any other day, thus dooming the men because they can't possibly meet these expectations. Then when expectations are met the girl either has to pretend like they were, even though there is dissapointment or be out right disappointed (hopefully she chooses the former).

2. A years worth of romance and thoughtfulness is cramed into one day. It's too confining. If someone thinks of something really sweet to do for their significant other they are far more likely to save it for valentines day than to just act upon their inspiration. These means instead of a romantic day on November 6 or July 23 the couple get one day, with the rest of America on February 14. I personally would much rather smaller romantic things throughout the year than one out of proportion day.

So those are my thoughts on February 14.

$1 Paperback!

I LOVE books! I like to read them. I like to have them site on my shelf and look pretty. I love books.

Yesterday a group had a book sale. It was a fundraiser, where all of the proceeds would go to the winner of the "Outstanding Student Award" given by the Alumni Association. There were over 1,000 books on sale. All of the books were donated by one professor. What's crazy about this, besides the fact that one guy has over 1,000 books available to donate, is that he only donated the books that were in his attic because they couldn't fit in his library. THE MAN HAS A LIBRARY!

How many books do you need to have before you can call something a library? How does one person collect that many books? How many books do you have to have to donate over 1,000 without blinking?

This man amazies me.

I, of course, bought some books. I purchased 7 books for $8. Each paperback was $1 (5 for $4) and each hardcover was $3. (Can you figure out how many paperbacks and hardcovers I bought?) The 7 books includded:

Michangelo and the Pope's Ceiling
Journey to Portugal
Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of South America
The Complete Writings of Thucydides
Chocolat
The Creators
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

Lazer Tag is not Cool

Apparently Lazer Tag is only for little kids and dorks. I learned this when John and I tried to get some people together to play Lazer Tag this weekend. John was inspired to suggest the game and I was overwhelmingly enthusiastic for the idea. So we called a few people up seeing if we could get a group of us together to play.

No one wanted to play!

I was astonished. We were not dettered. John and I headed out to the Lazer Tag arena where we promptly signed up for two games. (While waiting for our first game to start I bet John in a game of air hockey.) The first game we played against eachother. Sadly he shot me more than I shot him, but that is only do to a photo shot in my direction in the last 30 seconds of play. Stupid Photons. What ever happend to simple point and shoot Lazer Tag. (Now they have photo blasters and shields...it's ridiculous.)

The second game had alot more people and we decided to be on the same team. John ended up coming 5th out of 34 people and I was 12th. Not bad.

Lazer tag was lots of fun. It was also, surprisingly exhausting. All the running, climbing, ducking. It really drives up the adrenalline.

After a couple great games I have to say Lazer Tag is awesome. It is definatly not just for kids.

A succesful mix of Umbrella?

Is this really possible? The song Umbrella has been used in a very successful mix. The mix includes 27 different songs, and yes one of them is Umbrella. It could be the best mix I've ever heard. You can download the song at wired965.com for free. It was mixed by DJ Earworm (what a name huh?) and is call State of Pop.

I have pretty much avoided being one of those people who love to buy music and play it all the time. I had a few cd's of tried and true artists and was perfectly content. Plus my best friend always had a vast array of new music for me to dabble in, that was, until recently. Recently I have become addicted to finding new music. While much of this music may not be new to the you and the rest of the musically inclined people of the world it is new to me. Two of my most recent finds are Ugly Cassanova and Vampire Weekend. Which brings me to anouther thing...how do bands come up with these crazy names? Vampire Weekend? What, did they watch a whole weekend of vampire movies and decide to start a band after Dracula finally died on Sunday?

"You have no fear of the underdog. That's why you will not survive." -Underdog by Spoon

Word of the Day!

So I love saying Wahoo! As in an expressions to show delight, but today a very dear friend found out that a wahoo is an actual thing. It's a word not just a sound. So here it is for all of you to bask in the greatness that is the wahoo.

American Heritage Dictionary -

wa·hoo (wä-hōō', wä'hōō) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. wa·hoos
A deciduous shrub or small tree (Euonymus atropurpurea) of eastern North America, having small purplish flowers, pink fruit, and scarlet arillate seeds.

2008 Election...

Now that February 5 has come and gone The Republicans have united behind John McCain. I have to say out of the final three republican candidates, McCain is probubly the best. I haven't been following the Republican race very closely. I've scanned a few headlines, read one or two articles, but nothing serious. Now that there is only one Republican left I am finally sitting down and taking a goos look at the candidate. I visited John McCain's official website today. I have come to the conclusion that I will not be voting for this candidate. He makes some valid points on many issues, but the direction he wants to lead the country in most of the issues just doesn't sit well with me. Can't same I'm very surprised. I've been a libral all my life, and although I consider myself an independant I tend to lean towards the side of the Democrates.

As to which Democrate candidate I prefer...well the ones I liked left the race...so now I'm thinking.

I'll get back to you on that one.

Back to School (Part 2)

So now I have been back in school for almost a week. I've had both of my courses and have started the homework/reading assignments due next week. I'm still excited to be back in school, but after a monday that lasted from 9am to 10pm (this does not include my commute) it's lost a bit of it's euphoria.

I am taking two Master's of Arts Management (MAM) courses at GMU. The first is "Board Members Management." This course explores the realtionship between Board Member volunteers and the staff, specifically the arts director and executive director. It's an interesting course. We are going to be studying various cases throughout the semester. I'm intrigued, as I have never had to deal with a Board. I think I'll learn alot from this, and the reading is also very managable. Thankfully.

The second course is Art's Policy. Now this course has the potential to be great. I couldn't get a real feel for it in the first session, but I'm hoping for the best. So far the reading is a bit repetative, each of the 4 articles are pretty much saying the same thing. Arts are important for a culture, and are protected in our constitutional rights. That's great, but anyone who has ever dealt with the arts and actually sat down to think about it could have figured that out. I'm hoping it'll improve, afterall it is the first week.

The hardest part of this is definatly going to be sitting still and paying attention to a lecture for 3 hours per class.

olympic pictures

The official medals for the Beijing Olymipic games were revealed this week.



China is having difficulties getting ready for the Olympics. They are supposed to clean their air before the arrival of the athlets by going green, but as you can see from this picture taken last Friday, their not having much luck. Hopefully they will clean up their act an the athletes will be aable to breath.

Election 2008

Recently Guiliani and Edwards dropped out of the 2008 Presidential race.

When Guiliani dropped out I did a little dance in my collegue's office. I litterally pumped my arms and spun around. I am not a fan of this particular New Yorker. I didn't agreee with alot of his views, and strongly believe that in today's global community you have to have more experience than mayor to be a successful president.

A friend and I discussed the importance of experience in a president. the position I took after our discussion is that a president needs to be a great leader who has the experience that would provide them with key, helpful international connections, support of intellegent, truthful and knowledgable advisers, and knowledge of the inner workings of capital hill.

We both agreed, Guliani does not fit the bill.

Edwards dropping out of the race should be interesting. Will he support anyone? Who will he support? Will he play Kingmaker? We will just have to wait and see.

Feb. 5 will be fun!

My Own Pictures

Tigger and I at MGM studios! Disney is my favorite place on earth.



A picture of me at my very first home, live, Dallas Cowboys game. During tailgating I mentioned that this was my first game and people just started handing my buffalo wings, painting my face. It was glorious.



A classic photo of my time in Washington D.C.



My maid of honor bouquet for my sister's wedding.



Picture of the Washington D.C. Mall



Me in San Fransisco!



This is a rainbow that I saw on a road trip with my dad. This was an extraordinary rainbow because as we closed in on it became a whole rainbow, then doubled. Which meant that not only did wa have a whole rainbow that we were driving into, but it had a twin underneath it. It was really cool. the road literally went under the rainbow.



More pictures of my road trip with my dad.










Mayan Ruins. I went to see some mayan ruins on a cruise in 2006. I was amazed by the quality of these ruins.






I know I shouldn't technically put a picture of myself on the web but... this is me at the Mediterranean ocean.


This was taken in southern France from a helicopter pad that Meghan and I sneaked on to.



I took this picture from the 3rd row on the 50th yard line at the Eagles stadium.

Video Games

Before I go on about various video games that I am currently enjoying and games that will be coming out soon and am desperately wanting to buy I want to say that GAMEINFORMER recently compared how "green" various electronic companies currently are. It depresses me to tell you Nintendo was last on the list. I have a Wii, Nintendo 64, and two games boys. They didn't meet any of the criteria. I can only hope that this means they will be trying to improve their global footprint. Microsoft came in as causing the 3rd largest footprint. The #1 green company was Samsung, followed by Sony.

Well now that's done, let's get down to business. I love video games. I have a special fondness for silly, simple games. I am not a fan of first person shooter game. These just befuddle me. As I mentioned above, I have a Wii. This has got to be the greatest console EVER! Even if I only played Wii sports this console would be worth every penny. I currently own: Shrek the third (DO NOT BUY THIS), Super Paper Mario (DEFINITELY DO NOT BUY THIS), Mario Party 8 (fun for drunken gatherings, but usually just leads us to team tennis), Super Mario Galaxy (Anyone seeing a trend? This game is actually pretty fun. I tried playing drunk once and the lack of gravity made my game playing skills very entertaining for my friends), Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (There are no words), and of course Wii Sports.

So while I have major enjoyment in my Lego Star Wars and Marios I am so excited for some new games. I guess Lego Star Wars was a huge hit because their coming out with not 1 but 2 new lego games (Batman and Indiana Jones). Now I could go either way on Batman, but Indiana Jones is just freekin AWESOME!! I grew up loving two things (well three things but lego's doesn't seem to be making a lego Die Hard anytime soon) and those were Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I could probably spend a whole weekend in absolute bliss just watching these films (not including the new Star Wars...George Lucas I hate you). My god mother had a pool when I was young. She also had a pool vacuum that we lovingly called R2-D2. When I got to college I wanted to be an archaeologist just like Indiana Jones. I have since grown to realize archaeology is not like that, but I still want to work with artifacts, preferably in a museum setting. So imagine my elation when I turn the page in GAMEINFORMER to two whole spreads about LEGO Indiana Jones. Let's just say I was...happy. With the Wii I will actually get to snap his whip!! Oh, Remember that seen where he had to fight the crazy guy in the desert town and even though he had his whip out he pulled out his gun and shot him (in know this was because he had muffed up the whip sequence for far too many frustrating takes)... I love that scene. The game comes out late this year and you bet your bum I will be playing it every second I get.

The next game I'm really excited about is Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors. WAHOOO!! Just the title is exhilarating! This game comes out on February 26. Dragon Quest was the first RPG I played and really, REALLY enjoyed. I remember sitting in my friends college dorm, after they had all gone to bed, and playing the game for hours. I never pulled all nighters for school, but Dragon Quest... for that I pulled all nighters. The game was so much fun. I can't wait for the new one to come out. I will again not sleep, but who need sleep, not me!

There is a third game that has caught my attention, but it is not for the Wii. This one is for the PC. Civilization: Revolution. This game will be coming out in 2008. I'm not complete sure about it yet. I love Civ. 3. I enjoyed playing the new Civ. with my bf, but I do not yet own this version for myself. (something that I keep meaning to remedy.)

And that is all for video games.

Pictures!

An Arctic-hare. This bunny lives in the Arctic. It has thick white fur and short ears. It looks like an adorable snow ball. It is now the background on my desktop!



Bill Gates. In a recent poll done by College Grad Real World I selected to be Bill Gates, if I had to chose which celebrity I would be out of Bill Gates, Oprah, Tom Brady, and Brad Pitt.


A book I just finished that frustrated me to no end, and at the end it just made me angry! The characters we're either "users," people who use everyone around them with out caring about others or the repercussions, or "doormats," people who are use and do nothing about it but complain to their grandma.



Rodents of unusual size are real! Scientist found remains of an ancient rodent that was 1 ton, the size of a car! Imagine having one of those in your basement.


A girl holds a red flower between soldiers in Stavropol during a ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Stavropol from German forces.

Go Bloomberg!

At a recent committee of Mayors Michael Bloomberg proposed a $15 taxes per ton of emissions produced by companies. To this I say GO Mayor Bloomberg. He isn't exactly being revolutionary here, since his plan is very similar to Se. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, but I always cheer on support for the environment.

Bloomberg's response to Pres. Bush's voluntary emissions targets was that they are like "voluntary speed limits--doomed to fail."

CNN covered Bloomberg's statement and the committee meeting.

Back To School!!

I am highly excited. Extremely Excited! UNNATURALLY EXCITED! for school.

That's right I am not only going back to school, as a non-degree student at GMU, but am overwhelmingly excited. I normally get excited by a new semester, but this is beyond anything I've experienced before. I have already read one article, and plan on starting my book, The Board Member's Book by Brian O'Connell, tonight!

My first class is on Monday. I hope it all lives up to my excitement.

What politician are you most like?

I recently took an on-line quiz to see which politician I have the most in common with (at least as far as political views are concerned). The quiz starts by having you rate the importance of various issues, then they ask you questions about the issues you think are the most important. I had an 88% similarity with Mike Gravel, 86% similarity with Dennis Kucinich and 85% similarity with Bill Richardson (who recently dropped out).

If you interested in taking the test follow this link.

Pictures

A New study has found that a drink a day can add years to your life. Drink up!


After 21 years of marriage SpiderMan and Mary Jane are getting divorced!

Cocoa in a glass

Yoo Hoo. Hot Chocolate. Chocolate Milk. Liquid chocolate is something that man has enjoyed since they learned how to harness cocoa. Recently scientist have discovered evidence that suggests Mesoamericans used cocoa pods to create chocolate drinks 500 years earlier than had been previously thought. This means that ancient Americans, pre-Olmec, were drinking these mixtures as early as 1100BC.

How cool is that! I remember going to my dad’s factory when I was a kid and always buying a Yoo Hoo out of the vending machine. They actually kept the Yoo Hoo in the machine just for me, that’s how much I drank, and spent. I went back to the shop a couple years ago, and they didn’t sell Yoo Hoo anymore. I was severely disappointed. That is a drink that is rooted deeply in my childhood.


Today I don’t drink Yoo Hoo, it just doesn’t taste the same to me, but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying other chocolate drinks. Chocolate milk could be the most fun to make out of all the chocolate drinks. Personally I squeeze the Hershey’s bottle until it covers the bottom of the glass three times over. Then poor in the milk. Then, and this is my favorite part, MIX! I personally like to circle the spoon around the glass as fast as I can creating a vortex within the glass. Yummy.

And of course there is Hot Chocolate. In the winter there is nothing better, except maybe hot apple cider. A good cup of hot chocolate can brighten up your day. Down the street from where I work is a coffee shop. I’m not a fan of coffee, but they have a $10 hot chocolate. $10 you say? Yes, $10, and it’s worth every cent. I’ve never had a hot chocolate that was thicker or darker. It was so chocolaty and delicious I can’t compare it to anything else, because nothing else is like it. For $10 you can’t have one everyday, but every now and then I just have to treat myself.

For more information about the discovery in Mesoamerica read the article.

2008

Happy New Year!!

Well it's 2008. Let's all hope this is a year of peace. My prayers for the 2008 are:

That the leaders of our world start doing more then just talk about the hazards facing the environment.

That Iraq grows into it's new position as a country and with-in the global world.

That we find the space to store all the wonderful artifacts we have found through the years, and will continue to find this year so that history can be preserved.

Those are my hopes for the year (oh and the more personal one of..please let me get into grad school). Now here is a look at how the world ended 2007 and began 2008.


Los Vegas!

London!

Moscow!

Cleveland!

New York!