A few days off

Things will be quiet here on the blog for a few days while Dave and I head up to Wisconsin for my sister’s wedding. We’re reading a poem together.

The flowers above are actually from our wedding last year. I have a few more pictures in a Flickr set if you’re interested, but I actually haven’t uploaded most of them.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

72 Hours Without TV or Internet

My husband and I returned yesterday afternoon from a long weekend away. We spent the time recharging and relaxing at a bed and breakfast near Lake Geneva, WI. It was really nice just to have the time off and to have a bit of balance in our lives. My mother seemed a little baffled that Dave and I chose to go somewhere without TV. She could manage 3 days without a computer fine (although my parents do travel with a laptop pretty much everywhere), but TV would be much harder for her. For me, missing the computer and the connection to the world was much more difficult. But there’s certainly a generational difference there: My parents get their news from print newspapers and the TV; I get mine all through RSS. It was a little weird not having any idea what was happening in the world all weekend.

Mostly, I really just enjoyed relaxing, being on the beach, reading in our room, and hanging out with Dave. Saturday morning we visited the Yerkes Observatory, the largest refracting telescope in the world. I remember taking the tour of the observatory growing up, and it was fun to see it again. We even bought a little piece of meteorite (yeah, totally touristy, but the money supports the observatory). I love that this telescope that was built over 100 years ago is still making contributions to science and education.

Do you think that anything we write and create now on our blogs and wikis and online videos and networking profiles will still be educating people in 100 years?

Technorati Tags: relax, vacation, yerkes+observatory

8 Random Facts About Me

Cammy Bean tagged me for the 8 Random Facts About Me meme. Like Cammy, it’s my first time being tagged for a meme. I agree that this is a sign that we have finally “arrived” in the blogosphere.

First, the Rules:

1) Post these rules before you give your facts

2) List 8 random facts about yourself

3) At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them

4) Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

And here’s the random facts about me.

Image citation
Big cow, Oasis Cheese & Gift Shop,
Janesville, WI from bryanbutko’s
photostream.

1. I grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin, home of a big plastic cow. Janesville used to also be the home of Miracle the white buffalo, but alas, Miracle passed away several years ago.

2. After a few years off, I’m back to playing the Horn again. (You probably know it as the French Horn, but it isn’t really French. I won’t bore you with the details, as really only Horn players care.) I’ve done a little playing at my church and I’m joining a local Horn choir that starts rehearsing later this month.

3. I’m 5′1″ (155 cm) tall. My paternal grandmother was 5 feet tall at her tallest (she’s shrunk a bit now), and she was the tallest of 4 sisters. I was pretty much genetically doomed from the start. On my dad’s side of the family, the oldest kids are usually the shortest. That was the pattern for my siblings too; my sister is a few inches taller than me, and my brother is a few inches taller than her. I accept that I can’t reach things on the top shelves; I just wish I could reach the back of the second shelf in my kitchen cabinets.

4. I started playing the piano when I was 4 years old. I was a Suzuki piano kid. Without a keyboard or piano since college my skills have dropped pretty substantially, and I’d really have to work to get them back now. Maybe someday.

5. I have many, many allergies, both environmental and food. When I did the testing for environmental allergies, my allergist actually gasped when she saw how red and swollen my back was. Fortunately the allergy shots really do seem to make a difference, and I’m slowly becoming less sensitive. Thank God I’m not allergic to chocolate though; I don’t know what I’d do!

6. The Muppets are some of my all-time favorite TV, music, and movies. My sister and I wore out multiple copies of the tape from the first Muppet album; we can still sing many of the songs. I recently discovered the Muppet Wiki, which has so much great information about all the incarnations of the Muppets.

7. When I was 12, I played a character in a serial radio show called the Christmas Calendar. The show played on a local AM station most weekdays in December leading up to Christmas. The plot was that December 25 had left the calendar, preventing Santa from bringing presents. Siblings Jenny and Dan took a tour through a magic calendar factory, traipsing through holidays from the whole year along the way–not just the big holidays, but ones like National Clown Month too. It was very silly, but a lot of fun.

8. My husband, Dave, and I will celebrate our one-year anniversary on August 26. He makes me so happy, and I’m so lucky to have him. (Fortunately, he doesn’t read this, so he won’t be embarrassed.)

And now on to the tagging of other people. I apologize if you’ve already participated or done something like this in the past (I know a similar meme went around last December). If I’m tagging you, it’s because I’d like to know more about you, so please consider it a compliment (even if you do find memes annoying). (If you really do hate memes like this though, don’t feel obligated to post.)

Natalie Laderas-Kilkenny
April Hayman
Mark Wagner
Karl Kapp
Jennifer Maddrell
Kim Cofino (She’s traveling for the next few weeks though)
Cheri Toledo
Sathish Narayanan (e-Learning Tyro)

Technorati Tags: 8things, random, meme,

Lack of Internet Access is Stressful

Maybe this is just a reflection of how lame I am, but I have to say that not have any internet connection for 24 hours was really irritating to me. The Chicago area had major thunderstorms roll through last night and apparently one of the power surges fried our modem. It’s amazing how much not having access affected my routines, and how much effect it has on my life.

Of course, it’s also possible that dealing with Comcast’s customer service is really what stressed me out so much today.

I’m feeling whiny and not very motivated to write anything real right now. So, sorry for the little break here, but I’ll try to post something over the weekend.

Out for the Weekend

I’m in Minnesota for my sister’s graduation from seminary this weekend. My grandmother’s condo has 1-foot thick concrete walls, so it’s not a real good place for picking up a wireless connection.

I’m hoping to have the opportunity to do some offline writing so I’ll have some more posts early next week, but it’s going to be quiet on here until at least Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks for your patience!

Bio and Picture Posted

I have finally gotten around to posting a personal bio and picture. You can find out all about me here.

I had 15 views here yesterday! OK, I know that’s an incredibly small number in the online world, but it’s kind of exciting for me. Thanks for reading!