Monday, July 30, 2007

Things I want to do - someday

In not particular order or priority - things I would like to do someday.

1. Visit area 51

2. Go to a shuttle launch

3. Go whale watching

4. See the 7 wonders of the world

5. Go to Rome

6. Visit all 50 states

7. See the Taj Mahal in the moonlight

8. Visit the grave of a great artist, a great humanitarian and a great scientist.

9. Visit my boarding school again

10. Watch an eclipse

11. Visit New York City at Christmas

12. Take a hot air balloon ride

13. Work at an animal shelter

14. Work at a food kitchen for Thanksgiving or Christmas

15. Visit Stonehenge

16. Learn to salsa

17. Learn to cha-cha

18. Go to Yosemite

19. Visit Washingon DC

20. Go on a cruise

21. Plant and grow a garden

22. Go to the top of the Empire State Bldg.

23. Go to Seattle

24. Go to Simla, India

25. Spend a month in India

26. Read Moby Dick

27. Go star gazing

28. See the Starry Night by Van Gogh

29. Go to the Smithsonian

30. See the Gugenheim

31. See Falling Water

32. Go cross country sking

33. Stay on a house boat

34. Build a home with Habitat for Humanity

35. Make a spiritual journey

36. Learn photography

37. take an overnight trip on a train (again)

38. get a tattoo

39. learn to sew

40. make a quilt for charity

41. Visit Tibet (#35)

42. See the Declaration of Independence

43. See a live volcano

44. Fly a kite

45. Walk across the Golden Gate

46. See Wicked

47. Plant a tree


This is a work in progress.........




Done:

Visit Paris

Visit the Louvre

Visit Maui

See a volcano - Haleakala

Travel alone

Sunday, July 29, 2007

In the world of JK Rowling

So you had to know I'd have my head buried in the book every chance I got this week and I am finally done. I can't say that I had my normal bit of staying up to all hours of the night reading (not an indication on the book) to make sure I could work during the day but between last night and today I finished the book and I've got to say:

IT'S GREAT!

I don't want to ruin anything for the people that are still working through it but it really did deliver a punch. I cried, I laughed, I was on the edge of my seat, so to speak, and I am really happy about how it ended. Course it would have been nicer some things weren't that way but we knew that was coming. I very much liked the Luna character here and you could totally see how the person playing her in the Order of the Phoenix was perfectly cast. Oh and Neville! Mrs Weasley - who would have thought she had it in her! And what about Kreacher huh? And Dobbie! And what about the turn on Big D and the story behind AD.

My cousin told me that as she was surfing along, a pop-up said "Voldemort kills XXXXXX" - how horrible is that to put something like that out on a pop-up, someone else told me that and totally pissed me off - why would you tell someone that knowing they're DYING to read the book???? Anyhows, that little bit wasn't true.

As some of you may recall, I had a hard time with how the Half Blood Prince ended and had to reread the book to look for clues fo it not being true but I feel content having finished this book and the ending.

Everywhere I looked this week, I seemed to see people carrying their HP - so cool to see how everyone has taken to this.

If you're interested in some reviews and talk on the book - check out this link - warning - there are spoilers

http://caffeinatedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/07/hallows-not-horcruxes.html

http://caffeinatedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-potter-links.html

Hmmmm, what am I going to do now?

Sunday, July 22, 2007

I wasn't gonna

I was going to try holding out for a bit on the HP book but I couldn't stand the suspense and ran over to Costco and picked it up. I've made it through a couple of chapters already. Noticed Smariek also picked it up but her DH got to it first - so there won't be any discussions of anything here - only to say that it is good. I am so glad I didn't wait
I stopped by the mall to go to the Disney store to get something for my nephew and as I was walking out, I saw an employee working at the mall sitting in corner reading it.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

You Are An ESFJ

The Caregiver

You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.
A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.
You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.
You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people.

In love, you value harmony and mutual understanding.
You will apologize or give someone the benefit of the doubt, if it means getting over a fight sooner.

At work, you are good at building relationships and connecting with people.
You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher.

How you see yourself: Organized, dependable, co-operative

When other people don't get you, they see you as: Opinionated, critical, and know-it-all
You Are Pretty Logical

You're a bit of a wizard when it comes to logic
While you don't have perfect logic, you logic is pretty darn good
Keep at it - you've got a lot of natural talent in this area!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Your Psyche is Violet

You are spiritual, intuitive, and serene.
People trust you to rescue them from bad situations, and you usually come through.
While you are quite enlightened, you find that your path is very lonely.

When you are too violet: you can't connect to ordinary life or ordinary people

When you don't have enough violet: you lack wisdom and can't learn from the past

Personality Profile - is this me?

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:

You have high extroversion.
You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends.
You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation.
Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!"

Conscientiousness:

You have high conscientiousness.
Intelligent and reliable, you tend to succeed in life.
Most things in your life are organized and planned well.
But you borderline on being a total perfectionist.

Agreeableness:

You have medium agreeableness.
You're generally a friendly and trusting person.
But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.
You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.
In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.
You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.
A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Insomnia, HP & more

Thankfully the big project is over! A big hooray for that. There were challenging system problems that made for a very long transistion and many long days/weekends for me but we've worked through it. The development team came through and we've been operating without any major problems for a couple of weeks now. So my next big thing for this project is planning a party for everyone that worked on it - should be fun and a great way to end it.

It's been really nice having a life again. I had forgotten what it was like to have a normal work load and work day and not bringing piles of work home. For a bit it almost felt abnormal sitting at my desk and having a moment to pause and not feeling overwhelmed. Oh, and the phone doesn't ring - that's just plain unbelievable.

Right after I finish the project, I get the insomnia again - grrrr - you would think with the stress gone that I would have no trouble sleeping but I did. It took me a bit to remember why I had this problem before - duh! The sleepless is related to a sinus infection and it wasn't that I wasn't sleeping but I couldn't stay asleep. And course once you're awake, you think of all kinds of things and there goes the sleepiness. Sleep deprivation makes me stupid and neurotic.

I took the day off yesterday, I wanted to catch up on sleep given the sleeping problems and of course catch the new Harry Potter movie - which I did. The movie was great - it was the best one yet and I wasn't the least bit distracted by that wasn't in the movie. Can't wait for the book to come out this month. A colleague is going to go see it in IMAX and I think I might try that some time, should be fun. Also stopped by Lowes and the nursery to pick up some pots and planting mix to transplant my orchids. I don't have the green thumb Smariek has but I haven't killed them yet, so I figured I would attempt at transplanting, to see if they flower again. Smariek manages to grow them with no effort whatsoever - they just grow like weeds in her house - amazing!

I need to add Transformers to the list of summer movies - getting great reviews.

I've given up on reading the Ludlum Bourne books - I got through the first 2 but I just can't keep up with the plot and the writing. And from what I can see of the books vs the movies, they're not even along the same lines, so I am through with Ludlum. Back to easy reading books for me. I've got a Dan Brown book laying around somewhere that I will start next or maybe the next HP book.