Saturday, February 24, 2007
Goal Setting
I set a goal for myself this New Years that I would get myself back on my good eating and exercising routine! Well, its almost March and I've been on track for a month now with working out. I've also been eating right for the majority of the new year. This time, I'm NOT following Weight Watchers. I think its a great program and I've lost a ton of weight on WW in the past--but this time, I'm trying it on my own (eating everything in moderation--mostly healthy foods and once-in-a-while-splurges). And it seems to be working--so far! I've been working out four days a week. I've even tried some new classes at the gym--Fitball and Water Aerobics. I feel great and I LOOK like I'm getting toned! Today, I put on a zip down hoodie from last spring and was delighted when the thing practically was hanging off of me! Yay, me!
Six Bits of Weirdness
I was tagged by Jennifer to post six weird things about myself. So here goes!
1. When I'm really angry, my nose twitches!
2. I was almost born on my dad's birthday. His birthday is October 3rd. I guess my mom went into labor with me on the 2nd (or maybe it was the 3rd) but I was delivered on October 4th.
3. I love road trips. That might not be so weird, but I've also been on a couple road trips by myself! I once drove to Missouri by myself to visit friends. On the way home, I drove fourteen hours in one day (from 8am to 10 pm) with minimal stops! By the end of that evening, I was alert with the aid of NoDoz and Visine! Strangely enough, I even find solo road trips liberating an invigorating!
4. Speaking of road trips...on my cross-country road trip three and a half years ago, I spent a night at my friend Amber's in Memphis, where she was living at the time. This was July in the South. Hot!!! And, the city of Memphis was in the midst of a sixteen day long power outage, thanks to a powerful storm. I was staying with Amber at the tail end of this power outage. Half of Beale Street was closed down. Also, the windows in Amber's house were painted shut so it was very, very stuffy! However, the morning I was leaving, we woke up to power. Lights. Electricity. AC. (Speaking of power outages, the famous power outage in the Northeast took place only a couple weeks later! I was sitting in the pub on the Berkeley Campus in Berkeley, California when it took place!)
5. I am not obsessive-compulsive by any means! However, I do sorta have an obsessive personality. I get really fixated on something and then I totally lose interest. Example, last spring, I HAD to have the Nintendo DS. I got it and it was a fun toy for about a month...it still comes out to play once in a while, but for the most part, I've lost interest in it.
6. I'm a vegetarian. Is that weird? A lot of people are vegetarians these days, but its still not the norm! I last had pork/lamb when I was fourteen. When I was fifteen, I gave up red meat. When I was 20, in the frozen foods aisle of Shop Rite, I decided it was time to stop eating poultry and become a full-fledged vegetarian.
I'm supposed to tag six people to do this meme. I'm not even sure if six peole read this blog! How about this concept? If you'd like to post six weird things, cool! If not, thats okay, too.
1. When I'm really angry, my nose twitches!
2. I was almost born on my dad's birthday. His birthday is October 3rd. I guess my mom went into labor with me on the 2nd (or maybe it was the 3rd) but I was delivered on October 4th.
3. I love road trips. That might not be so weird, but I've also been on a couple road trips by myself! I once drove to Missouri by myself to visit friends. On the way home, I drove fourteen hours in one day (from 8am to 10 pm) with minimal stops! By the end of that evening, I was alert with the aid of NoDoz and Visine! Strangely enough, I even find solo road trips liberating an invigorating!
4. Speaking of road trips...on my cross-country road trip three and a half years ago, I spent a night at my friend Amber's in Memphis, where she was living at the time. This was July in the South. Hot!!! And, the city of Memphis was in the midst of a sixteen day long power outage, thanks to a powerful storm. I was staying with Amber at the tail end of this power outage. Half of Beale Street was closed down. Also, the windows in Amber's house were painted shut so it was very, very stuffy! However, the morning I was leaving, we woke up to power. Lights. Electricity. AC. (Speaking of power outages, the famous power outage in the Northeast took place only a couple weeks later! I was sitting in the pub on the Berkeley Campus in Berkeley, California when it took place!)
5. I am not obsessive-compulsive by any means! However, I do sorta have an obsessive personality. I get really fixated on something and then I totally lose interest. Example, last spring, I HAD to have the Nintendo DS. I got it and it was a fun toy for about a month...it still comes out to play once in a while, but for the most part, I've lost interest in it.
6. I'm a vegetarian. Is that weird? A lot of people are vegetarians these days, but its still not the norm! I last had pork/lamb when I was fourteen. When I was fifteen, I gave up red meat. When I was 20, in the frozen foods aisle of Shop Rite, I decided it was time to stop eating poultry and become a full-fledged vegetarian.
I'm supposed to tag six people to do this meme. I'm not even sure if six peole read this blog! How about this concept? If you'd like to post six weird things, cool! If not, thats okay, too.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Centralia
About six years ago, I first learned about the mine fire burning underneath the town of Centralia, Pa. The story fascinated me to no end and to this day, I can't get enough of the story!
Let me start from the beginning. Somewhere in the midst of central Pennsylvania lies the mining town of Centralia, Pa. It was never a big town but it was a mining town. Anthrocite, a type of coal, was mined here. However, after the 1929 stock market crash, one of the mining companies folded. And that was that. Centralia's mining days were over!
Fast forward to the year 1962. Landfills sit atop the old mine. A fire starts in the landfill...the fire spreads and spreads underneath the town of Centralia. The anthrocite fire cannot be extinguished! The fire continued to burn for many years (and still does to this day)! The residents of the town continued to live in this inferno! In the early 1980s, an eleven or twelve year old boy, was standing in his grandmother's backyard when the ground opened up beneath him! He slid twelve feet beneath the earth, grasping onto tree roots to prevent him from falling into the fire beneath the ground! Thankfully, his older cousin was able to grab hold of him and pull him to safety. After this, lots of money was spent to relocate the residents of Centralia. Some still stay though. I don't know, maybe ten.
The town of Centralia is a few hours from where I live. Maybe three. I really want to go there and check it out. Turns out that Eric, the guy I've been seeing, is from a town pretty nearby to Centralia! How cool is that? And, he was able to get me a reviewer's copy of the book, The Day the Earth Caved in: An American Mining Tragedy, a book all about the Centralia mine fires.
Let me start from the beginning. Somewhere in the midst of central Pennsylvania lies the mining town of Centralia, Pa. It was never a big town but it was a mining town. Anthrocite, a type of coal, was mined here. However, after the 1929 stock market crash, one of the mining companies folded. And that was that. Centralia's mining days were over!
Fast forward to the year 1962. Landfills sit atop the old mine. A fire starts in the landfill...the fire spreads and spreads underneath the town of Centralia. The anthrocite fire cannot be extinguished! The fire continued to burn for many years (and still does to this day)! The residents of the town continued to live in this inferno! In the early 1980s, an eleven or twelve year old boy, was standing in his grandmother's backyard when the ground opened up beneath him! He slid twelve feet beneath the earth, grasping onto tree roots to prevent him from falling into the fire beneath the ground! Thankfully, his older cousin was able to grab hold of him and pull him to safety. After this, lots of money was spent to relocate the residents of Centralia. Some still stay though. I don't know, maybe ten.
The town of Centralia is a few hours from where I live. Maybe three. I really want to go there and check it out. Turns out that Eric, the guy I've been seeing, is from a town pretty nearby to Centralia! How cool is that? And, he was able to get me a reviewer's copy of the book, The Day the Earth Caved in: An American Mining Tragedy, a book all about the Centralia mine fires.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
A Good Weekend
Did I mention that I love weekends? Did I mention that I love four day weekends? I'm so happy that I'm off Monday and Tuesday for Presidents Day/Winter Break! It's been a good and interesting weekend thusfar.
Friday, I went to the gym and stayed home and chilled!
Saturday, I slept in and ran errands, did laundry, etc.
Saturday night, I had a third date, which in my opinion, went quite well! We had dinner at a delicious restaurant called Coccola, a trendy and energetic eatery. We met at eight and sat, eating and eating and drinking, until after eleven. I started off with some kind of strawberry-rum type drink with lime! It was sweet, but not too sweet, not too strong, just right. I followed that with a glass of white sangria, which was served in a gigantic sized wine glass! My appetizer was the Asian spring rolls--crunchy and tasty! Dinner was the eggplant ravioli, minus the lobster! The raviolis were wonderfully flavorful and the sauce was yummy and tangy! I ordered one of my very favorite desserts--the tiramasu--a perfect way to end the meal! After dinner, the rest of the evening was spent talking...many hours of talking about every and any topic imaginable. We were sorta baffled by the fact that we get along so well even though we have such different interests.
So, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll notice this is the first date I've blogged about in quite a while. In the past few months, I've been on many first, second, and even one other third date(s)! But this is the first one that I felt was worthy of a posting.
So today's Sunday. I may just linger in my pajamas all day. That sounds good to me! Monday night, I have another date. And Tuesday night, I'm having dinner with my brother and his wife. Wednesday, I'll be back at school. Then 2 more days to another weekend! I love weekends :)
Friday, I went to the gym and stayed home and chilled!
Saturday, I slept in and ran errands, did laundry, etc.
Saturday night, I had a third date, which in my opinion, went quite well! We had dinner at a delicious restaurant called Coccola, a trendy and energetic eatery. We met at eight and sat, eating and eating and drinking, until after eleven. I started off with some kind of strawberry-rum type drink with lime! It was sweet, but not too sweet, not too strong, just right. I followed that with a glass of white sangria, which was served in a gigantic sized wine glass! My appetizer was the Asian spring rolls--crunchy and tasty! Dinner was the eggplant ravioli, minus the lobster! The raviolis were wonderfully flavorful and the sauce was yummy and tangy! I ordered one of my very favorite desserts--the tiramasu--a perfect way to end the meal! After dinner, the rest of the evening was spent talking...many hours of talking about every and any topic imaginable. We were sorta baffled by the fact that we get along so well even though we have such different interests.
So, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll notice this is the first date I've blogged about in quite a while. In the past few months, I've been on many first, second, and even one other third date(s)! But this is the first one that I felt was worthy of a posting.
So today's Sunday. I may just linger in my pajamas all day. That sounds good to me! Monday night, I have another date. And Tuesday night, I'm having dinner with my brother and his wife. Wednesday, I'll be back at school. Then 2 more days to another weekend! I love weekends :)
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Happy ValentineSnow Day!!!
Happy Valentines Day, Readers! Today I'm savoring every lovey-dovey Valentine-y moment possible with my cute and cuddly Norton and Pumpkin! Outside, its icing buckets and I'd like to say my house is toasty and warm but alas, we're having heating issues here. Hopefully, it will be resolved soon! Well, its nice to spend a Valentines Snow Day home in my sweats!
On a side note, my 4th generation iPod doesn't like me too much anymore. It hardly holds any battery charge; I think its just about time to upgrade to one of those nifty 30 gig color/video iPods.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Dummies...Read this!
Last night, I went to Barnes and Noble to break up the monotony of the week...work, tutoring, gym, laundry. I perused several books and magazines and enjoyed a soy green tea latte.
One thing I always find interesting is the collection of "For Dummies" books. Poker for Dummies, Dog Training for Dummies, Exercising for Dummies, etc. But this one takes the cake for sure as the funniest I've seen yet!
Myspace for Dummies.
Now if you need that book, you really are a dummie! (Sorry if I offended anybody who owns that book.)
One thing I always find interesting is the collection of "For Dummies" books. Poker for Dummies, Dog Training for Dummies, Exercising for Dummies, etc. But this one takes the cake for sure as the funniest I've seen yet!
Myspace for Dummies.
Now if you need that book, you really are a dummie! (Sorry if I offended anybody who owns that book.)
Thursday, February 08, 2007
A Bored, Busy Bee
I've been incredibly busy lately...I'm working out A LOT more than I have in a long time! Last week, I hit the gym five times! This week, I started taking classes there...Tuesday night, I tried water aerobics and yesterday, fitball. I'm working my butt off (literally!) and I'm feeling results! This is a great thing.
Along with the gym, and my regular teaching job, I tutor a couple days a week...my weekends are usually jam-packed...my Saturday morning class, catching up with laundry and chores, and getting together with friends, etc...
So, does it make any sense, that with my busy schedule and all, I get home at night and I'm so BORED? Singledom is not all it's cracked up to be. I read...I started writing in a journal regularly--for the first time in years! I don't watch too much tv but spend too much time on the computer. I think I need more emotional fulfillment...or something...
(This is really not meant as a rant or a rave...just a comment...)
Along with the gym, and my regular teaching job, I tutor a couple days a week...my weekends are usually jam-packed...my Saturday morning class, catching up with laundry and chores, and getting together with friends, etc...
So, does it make any sense, that with my busy schedule and all, I get home at night and I'm so BORED? Singledom is not all it's cracked up to be. I read...I started writing in a journal regularly--for the first time in years! I don't watch too much tv but spend too much time on the computer. I think I need more emotional fulfillment...or something...
(This is really not meant as a rant or a rave...just a comment...)
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
Lets-Ban-the-Superbowl Sunday
Okay, well, I didn't really ban the Superbowl. I went to a girlfriend's house and it was just the two of us and we decided not to watch it. We did indulge in the Superbowl required finger foods...I made a yummy Mexican pizza and we had mint chocolate chip ice cream with fat free No Pudge cappucino flavored brownies...yum. Instead of watching the Superbowl, we watched the Last Kiss with Zach Braff. It was definately NOT a chick flick--very realistic and on some levels, disturbing. It did have a somewhat happy ending but not really one you'd expect. I would certainly recommend it though!
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