Locked Out

I stopped exercising around the time of our move and then procrastinated resuming because it was so. dang. hot. most of July and August. It's still hot, but as the sun rises later the mornings stay cooler longer so a couple weeks ago I started getting out of the house again with my baby toddler in the stroller to walk/jog around the neighborhood, local parks, or the Poudre River Trail (local butchered French pronunciation: "POO-der" River). I've already noticed an encouraging difference in my stamina and strength.

Yesterday I got ready as usual, strapped the kid in her stroller, and took off for a round of the neighborhood.  I didn't take snacks or water or sunscreen or a hat for the kid (I use a blanket to block the sun when I'm lazy) because we needed to return soon to head to a play group at a park. It would just be a quick jaunt.

Our neighborhood is next to cornfields and there's a nice wide, paved path along the border between the homes and open space lined with bushes and trees and other vegetation. It's a very pretty route and hardly anyone else uses it so we aren't ever interrupted by bikers or other pedestrians.

We traversed the length of the path and returned home. I opened the compartment on the tray to pull out my keys to get back inside the house to open the garage. No keys. NO KEYS? I am usually paranoid about leaving my keys and triple check they are in the stroller before locking up the house but somehow grabbing the keys completely slipped my mind that morning.

We've talked about giving spare keys to a local relative and placing a hide-a-key somewhere outside but of course hadn't executed these plans yet. I texted my husband to please come home at lunchtime to let us in then prepared to hang out on the porch or lawn till then.

Thankfully, I recently made friends with a family down the street that go to our church. I texted her my predicament to let her know we'd miss play group. She turned around and came back to rescue us. She had an extra car seat, grabbed sunscreen and some water bottles for us, and we piled into her little Mitsubishi with her daughters and headed to the park to pass the time till we could get back in the house.

It was much nicer to pass the time with friends and eating their snacks than sitting like a lame duck at home for three hours. That afternoon I wasted no time strategically planting a spare key for future episodes of Mom-Brain, but I am so grateful to have new friends nearby willing to help us out in a pinch if I ever end up in a similar situation again.

Baby Girl enjoying her current favorite pastime 

Pros and Cons of Homeownership

We'll start with cons, because there aren't many.

Con:

• We had to buy a new fridge. That wasn't the bummer. The bummer is after it was installed, it did not get cold. Thursday after we moved was the earliest a technician could come look at it. Turns out it had no frion. Whoever let a fridge be sold without frion is a nincompoop. The good news is we have a loaner fridge while we wait for the new fridge to come (it has to be special ordered). While we waited for servicing we scraped by with a mini-fridge so it's nice to have a full size and be able to buy some fresh food again.

Um... yeah. That's it for cons. (Yes, other things may go wrong later, home ownership, blah blah blah. Don't rain on my home honeymoon.)

PROS! In no particular order:

• Attached Garage! My car is a dark blue so in the summer it reaches about 1000 degrees sitting in the sun. I love parking in a garage again! Also, I don't have to carry in/out EVERYTHING at the same time up/down 4 flights of stairs while carrying a toddler.  Shuttling stuff to/from the garage is now a delight.
• Baby has her own room! As a result, she is sleeping much better and we can spend our evenings after her bedtime in the living room, our bedroom, or both! I always heard a move can disrupt sleep for kids for a while. I'm so grateful that we've had the opposite experience. She goes down for bed an naps without a fuss and one nap a day lasts one hour. ONE HOUR. Guys! Look, I'm blogging again!
• Flowers! Our yard has beautiful and simple landscaping. All the plants are still relatively young, but I have roses and lilies that started blooming the week we moved and they are gorgeous!
• Linoleum! Namely, in the entry and dining area. It's not as ritzy as tile or wood, but it ain't beige carpet and that's what matters. 
• Shed! We have a cute, sturdy shed only a couple years old. Perfect place to keep the recreational equipment we've been keeping in our living room/cars for years.
• Kitchen Island! When we were house shopping, one of my requirements was at least one span of unadulterated counter space. I was so tired of rolling out dough and running into a wall. Now I have at least 30 square feet of unbounded counter top.
• Raised garden beds! Never though I'd be excited about that. I'm not much of a gardener, but I spent all morning pulling weeds from the flower beds and didn't hate life so that bodes well for the vegetable garden.
• Private laundry room! Past are the days of paying per load. Our situation at the apartment wasn't terrible; there was a laundry room on each floor of the building and I could do multiple loads at a time. But since I had to pay the same amount per load I always waited till I had a full load before washing anything. Now I have options galore! 
• Basement! We have a full unfinished basement. Finally space for food storage, camping equipment, and other random stuff that doesn't belong in our living space.
• Linen closet! I don't have to store all the extra sheets and towels in my closet, under the bed, or on the bathroom floor.
• No wall sharing! Every so often we catch ourselves thinking something that is no longer necessary. "Is the music too loud? Will somebody hate us for hammering/vacuuming to early/late?" Then we remember we are the sole occupants of our building and shake our heads, feel a little silly, and smile.
• Amazing shower head! We bought this for ourselves as a housewarming gift. It has like 10 different spray settings and an articulating arm so we can raise the head high enough that my husband can shower standing up straight. He's very tall, so this is very exciting.

That's all for now. There are definitely others, but baby girl is laughing in the next room which means her nap is over, which means blogging is over. 

Welcome home!

We are officially moved in! Moving day was a little stressful. I mean more stressful than it we anticipated it would be. As I'm married to Mr. Prepared, he lined up a crew of people to help load the truck weeks in advance. Then suddenly the night before/day of we learned only 2 guys could actually help after all. After some desperate calls to anyone we could think of, a couple of angels showed up and everything was loaded without working anyone to death. All the friends who committed to help me clean showed up so that was wonderful.  We definitely left the place cleaner than we found it.

At the other end, the truck was unloaded in a mere 30 minutes by 4 guys because apparently unloading goods and carrying them 20 feet is a little easier than transporting them from the 5th floor across the building, down an elevator, and across a parking lot into the truck.

I'm sure this was easiest move of our married lives, going from a small apartment to a house, so I'm fully appreciating that. I hope we don't have to move again for a long time.

Now comes the part that for some people is fun but for me is very stressful.: decorating. I'm a bit of an overthinker so facing a house full of decisions about colors, wall hangings, window treatments, bedding, pillows, etc. is overwhelming especially when I don't have a clear idea of what I like and what fits our style. It took me a year to finally decide which pictures to hang in the apartment, and where, and how, and then actually hang them.

The awesome thing about decorating though is we can do whatever we want! Paint! Hang! Nails everywhere! #nodeposit. Yay for home ownership!

Food

I am recently engaged in learning to meal plan effectively.  Coming home from a long day of work and then deciding what to have for dinner and realizing everything we might make that could pass for a real meal requires thawing and cooking is the worst.

Second worst is actually having ideas and realizing we're missing one key ingredient for each option.

Tied for second worst is when I have lots of ideas that all involve milk or cream.  My husband is lactose intolerant and baby can't quite handle cow milk proteins yet so that makes me dairy-restricted as well for now.

After too many hangry nights and the grown-up decision to eat more vegetables, I decided to start meal planning.  It takes a bit of effort and I'm kind of lazy, but so far so delicious.  Sometimes the meals take just as much effort to execute as before, but pre-deciding what to eat and knowing all ingredients are on hand is half the battle.  With those two things taken care of, and I'm much more willing to make the meal.  

It's also satisfying to realize we aren't wasting food like we used to.  Not like it happened a ton.  My husband is a rock star at eating leftovers, but we used to partially eat something then the rest ended up in the fridge and eventually going bad because it didn't go with anything else.  Now everything we buy, particularly fresh perishables, has a plan and gets used up in time.

I realize these things I'm learning are all things people who meal plan tell you are great about meal planning, but it's one of those things you still just have to do to realize and appreciate the benefits for yourself.  Having babies is like that too.

I decided from the start I should blog about all this because I've been anemic on the blog ideas lately. Meal-planning leads to blog-planning.  How appropriate. 

When I remembered, I took pictures:

Ginger salmon with sauteed veggies and bacon

Pesto pasta with chicken and sauteed asparagus. I made the pesto myself!

Pork empanadas with quinoa and black beans

Ham and bean soup improvised from the broth leftover from slow cooking pork for the empanadas

Mini meatloaf, homemade mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob

Hamburger and homemade sweet potato fries

Fish tacos (except all we had were giant tortillas so more like fish burritos)

Meals not pictured include Waldorf salad, chicken fingers and onion rings (I've been on a deep frying kick), panini, french toast, tikka marsala, pulled pork sandwiches, and pizza (our dairy splurge when we can't help ourselves; my pizza is amazing).  

Most of the things we make take 30 minutes or less.  The most time intensive dishes are probably pizza and the empanadas. The latter has a particularly long prep period including slow cooking the pork and assembling the empanadas.  Actual cook time is like 25 minutes tops.  They can be made and frozen for later cooking, and one batch is big enough for 2-3 meals for us.  And I usually cook 4 lbs of pork at a time and use it for other dishes too.

I've also been planning healthier snacks to take to work or have on hand at home.  We've been enjoying lots of carrots and hummus, applesauce, and granola bars.  Baby girl is starting solids in earnest soon.  I want her to eat what we eat, so we better eat what I want her to eat.

Most of my recipes and improvisation inspiration comes from allrecipes.com.  If you want a particular recipe for anything seen or mentioned above, let me know.

Happy birthday, Blog

I was just sitting here during my lunch break thinking and decided to look up my first blog post.  I realized I started this blog 4 years and 2 days ago.  Lots has happened since then, but 4 years worth of stuff?  Hard to believe. 

I started the blog as I was preparing to leave for a sememster in Jerusalem.  It's fun to reread and remember what I was doing and feeling at the time.  I had no idea what it would be like, but I know it would be important and change me.  As I describe the feeling in my second post, "It's almost like knowing you are about to win the lottery, but instead of cash you're getting Life."

"Life as I know it" certainly changed a lot since then.  I don't think I've ever told wrote about where my blog's name came from.  It's from a line in the movie P.S I Love You.  At the end of the movie the main character is reading a letter from her husband written before he died of an illness some time before (I'm not spoiling anything; this is entire premis of the plot and the first thing any summary of the movie will tell you). 

After encouraging her to move on with life without him, he tells her:

"Watch out for that signal, when life as you know it ends." 

That line resonated with me, especially as I was at that very time face to face with one of those signals telling me this incredible and rare opportunity was ending life as I knew it.  That kind of ending though isn't a termination.  It's a transformation.  We still exist, but how we exist changes, "normal" changes, life as we know it is different than it used to be.  Just think about that.  Isn't that a thrilling to think about?  How so much can hinge on one choice?  I think so.

I've tried to make this little blog a chronical of those "signals" of when life as I know it ends, and what happens because of them.  If you've been here from the start you've followed me to Israel, to Utah, through college, to graduation, to Denver, to Europe, and to wherever else I set my mind to go and do.  Thanks for indulging me over the years.  May you take notice of the signals that change your life as you know it.

Déja vu. Or, My Life is Awesome Twice.

Remember when I won free tickets to a KT Tunstall concert last year?

It happened again!  Booyah!  I entered another drawing for free tickets from the same company I got tickets from before and won again!  I'm starting to think nobody else is entering these drawings.  Maybe I should enter for all their ticket giveaways.  This time the tickets were for the David Cook and Gavin DeGraw concert last Saturday.  I wouldn't have purchased tickets to the show, but I certainly was interested in seeing them for free. 

This guy was at work, so my roommate came with me.  I took pictures but I lost my camera again so I don't have the visuals to prove it. 

Seriously a great show.  Carolina Liar was the opening act, then David came out, then Gavin (like how I talk about them like we're old pals?).  All the artists were outstanding performers, the kind of performers that look like they are having a blast the whole time. Espcially Gavin.  He gyrated so much I was starting to think he had some kind of tic.

The lead singer from One Republic is a Colorado local and made a cameo at the show because he helped write Gavin's new single.  I literally ran into him by the merch counter between sets, but I didn't know who he was besides a guy who didn't look where he was going.  My roommate almost died when she found out and tried to convince me to never shower again. 

I recommend both David and Gavin's music.  David is more rock than pop, and Gavin is more pop than rock.  But both produce strong, well-executed, catchy, relatable music.  Give them a listen.  I recommend checking out their new singles here and here.

Fall[ing]

Well, howdy fall!  It's like Colorado knew when September started because *BAM*, 50 degrees and rain.  But true to form, it has since forgot and all week it has been 80 degrees+ though mornings are a little colder than they used to be.  I get kind of restless on chilly mornings because I feel like I should be running a cross country race.  My body still gets all anxious and ready for it.  Unfortunately, running has sort of faded away for the last little while.  First, because my running buddy is back in nursing school and thus forfeited her life until December, and second, because I've been doing other fun things instead like

(click on any picture to view it full size)

slacklining,

longboarding/rollerblading,

window shopping at IKEA,

making pizza,

watching pee wee football,

and appreciating nature

...with this guy.

East, West, Home's Best

Two posts in a week?  Gasp!  Yes, it's true.  Now that the most stressful nine weeks of my life are behind me (complete with 10 min lunches, going home "early" meant going home an hour late, poor posture, scrambled brain, tears, and a few outbursts at the futility of it all) I'm coming back to life and happy to be here.  My workload is back to managable levels, and I got to run away from it all and take a trip home to Idaho!

Yay!

I don't make it there very often these days.  I think I've spent a collective 12 days in Coeur d'Alene in the last year and a half and most of that time was during the winter.  August is definitely the time to visit the great Inland Northwest.  Perfect weather, warm water, and still green green green everywhere. 

And then, of course, the North Idaho Fair and Rodeo!  Yep, I made it back to help out at the Elephant Ear Booth this year.  Our family worker roster was a bit lean this year, so I went home to help out.  I had a blast.  I went boating twice, worked at the fair everyday with a mass of relatives whom I love, went running and hung out with my dad at Tubbs Hill, played my harp, met my newborn nephew, hung out with friends at the fair, went to my brother's cross country meet.  I think it was so good because it was the most engaged I've been in being home and taking advantage of all the, well, advantages. 

Photo collage of the trip, because it's a lot easier than uploading pictures individually.  And it takes less time to load.  And you probably wouldn't care to look at each picture individually anyway unless you're my stalker.  Or bored.  Or my dad.  

Click on collage to see it larger.

The Summer of Firsts

This summer has been full of all sorts of "firsts" for me. I love firsts. I like the excitement and anticipation of something new about to happen but not knowing exactly what to expect, and the surprise when it goes beyond anything I could imagine up. Keeps life thrilling.

A chronical of selected summer 2011 "firsts":

First time wakeboarding (and set a record getting up on my 3rd try!)

First time visiting the CO mountains (as opposed to driving through)

First visitor

First place in the ice cream sculpting contest!

First time wake skating (Got up on first and EVERY try!  I'm going pro.)

First visit with this little guy

First time finishing an entire game of Monopoly... and winning!

Jackie Came to Play

My former roommate Jackie came to visit me last month.  We lived together our last year at BYU.  I actually wrote this post a while ago, but delayed publishing because I wanted to include pictures.  Sadly, my camera went MIA a week ago and I still haven't downloaded the pictures.  For the sake of talking about his while it's still relevant, here is the post minus the pictures.  She put pictures on her blog though, so if you're curious to see what the following looked like wander on over there.

****UPDATE 8-9-2011: The camera is found!  Accompanying pictures now posted below.********

The weekend started with an uneventful ride home from the airport (which is notable because with CO's weather, it can be very eventful) followed by pizza and a good ol' late-night conversation in the kitchen like old times.

Saturday morning we went up to Red Rocks to hike.  The area is most known for it's concert venue, but the amphitheater is actually part of a large natural park.  We walked around the amphitheatre for fun and watched crazy people exercising all over.  Then we hiked a short-ish trail below it.  No lemonade stands this time, but still legit and only about 2,000 ft lower in elevation.

After an afternoon nap and a delicious lunch of pesto pasta (where Jackie is, so is good food), we did accounting/concocted enchiladas in preparation for dinner.  Jackie did the former.  Jared and I did the latter.  Some friends from church organized a picnic-style group date, which is what the food was for.  We attended said date with dates.  Good times were had by all. 

Sunday we attended church in purposely match-y outfits, ate more delicious food at a birthday dinner for a friend, took another nap (Jackie lives at sea level, so we blame the elevation for all the naps), and had more excellent conversation per our style.

Monday I had to work, but I worked just a 1/2 day and Jackie came along.  She had work to do too even though she was on vacation because accountants are cool like that.  We did our business simultaneously then spent the rest of the afternoon around downtown Denver.  We ate at the SAME Cafe, perused books at the Tattered Cover, sunbathed on benches, played tunes on a piano, checked out the City Library (pun intended), chowed down at Mad Greens, and wound it all up with a visit to the Denver Temple.

The fun didn't end there.  After we went back to the house we couldn't decided between making focaccia or ciabatta bread, so we made both and watched Despicable Me for the first time.

Thanks for the visit, Jackie!  You're the best!

Token injury post

This post is a bit delayed and outdated, but whatev. I smashed my thumb at work about two weeks ago.  The exterior bar of the office door sometimes detaches on the right side when I pull to shut the door, causing the bar to fall and swing from the side still attached.  That day I needed to make a quick trip to the restroom before I went downtown to take care of some of my daily duties. Instead of using my key to shut the office door behind me like a smart person, I just pulled it shut like the lazy woman I am.  Disastrous results.

Some of the flesh pinched off and seeped blood, but I could feel the inevitable swelling become the bigger problem.  I continued to the restroom (when you gotta go, you gotta go) and then stayed to run my phalange under the cold running water while I thought of my next move.  I finally went over to the coffee shop next door to ask for ice.  As the guy handed me some, he said "That looks really bad."  Yeah, thanks.

It swelled so much I couldn't bend it because the skin stetched too tight.  It doesn't look too bad in this picture. I'd been icing it a while and the swelling had reduced a lot.  I ended up with bruising on the back of the thumb all the way down to the base of the finger.  The bar hit just above the knuckle and below the nailbed, so the nail thankfully did not turn black though one little part has discoloring.  I hope it doesn't grow in weird later.

I contrived this to keep my thumb under ice to free up my other hand and fingers to get work done. 

It worked pretty well, actually.

It was either this or I had no use of either hand as I held ice against the thumb.

Couple things I've observed after the incident:

1. Not having the use of one opposable thumb made me feel half-prosimian (primates without an opposable thumb, like the lemur).  I can report from empirical knowledge that the opposable thumb is indeed an evolutionary advantage making grasping, typing, and answering a phone vastly easier.

2. Depsite the convienience of opposability, a primate may still function without it. It was interesting to observe how my other fingers took on the work of my thumb, especially when typing.

My thumb is almost fully recovered now.  It was touch-and-go a couple of days, but I was able to save the whole hand (name that movie!).  I've accidently bumped the thumb a few times and that makes it hurt like the dickens all over again.  It's still a bit bruised and I have a bump of calcium deposit at the point of impact, but it could be worse and overall I'm pleased with my body's ability to heal itself.

The love of my life!

Today is our anniversary.  I'm SO blessed to be sharing life's journey with you!  Loves!



Together since June 10, 2005 <3

To commemorate this day, here are a few pictures from over the years....

Roadtrip!  I'm, uh, checking my voicemail, Mom...

Visiting Danny!

 

Same roadtrip, but now I'm in the backseat!

My trusty Taiwan fishy!

Aerial shot!  Can you see her?!

Remember how the windshield used to be cracked?!!  



Ooo, shiny!


Today is also the anniversary of my high school graduation, as well as THE day of my younger brother Scott's graduation.  It's kind of trippy, because I remember when he was born.

(In case you didn't pick up on my ironic overuse of exclamation points, I'm not actually obsessed with my car.)

Idiot Encounters

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like I've dealt with more idiots than normal today and it inspired me to vent to this listening ear I call a blog. 

Much of my job involves customer service, and I'm pretty good at it if I can trust my customer's candid and unsolicited positive feedback.  But some people sure try my patience.

The following situations describe most of the idiot encounters at my job.  I attribute my positive service record to only thinking the following responses instead of saying them.  (Actually, I do say them, to myself.  It helps, a little.) 

Some context: my office is in a parking garage.  Like, literally inside the garage, in a little enclosed room.  I am not an attendant; I just happen to work by entry/exit gates which are fully automated and get a front row seat to the idiocy and sometimes get called upon to save people from themselves.

Situation #1:

Customer forgest to pay for monthly parking and uses the excuse "Life's been crazy".

What I don't say (but really want to):

And... how is that relevant to the situation?  "Crazy life" is not an excuse. It is the human condition. It will never change, so plan for it and pay on time like everyone else.  (The only person I authorized to use this excuse was the girl who missed a payment because she fell on glass and severed two tendons and an artery in her wrist.  Now THAT's an excuse.)

Situation #2:

Customer tells me he lost his parking ticket.  I tell him to push the lost ticket button on his way out and pay the daily max ($12).  He says he was only parked for 10 minutes.

 

What I don't say (but really want to):

Wow, then that means you are REALLY dumb for losing your little ticket in only 10 minutes, huh?  You shall be properly punished when you pay to leave.

Situation #3:

Monthly parker gets card turned off for non-payment and get's irritated that "it's only the 10th", like I'm asking for his money way before it's due.

What I don't say (but really want to):

Well, sir, payment was due on the 1st.  It has always been due on the 1st.  And it will always be due on the 1st.  You got your invoice on the 20th of last month.  I gave you 10 day grace period.  That means you have had 21 days to pay.  You work for a bank, have a personal assistant, drive a Jaguar, and you're apparently an idiot.  I fear for your clients.  Now pay for your parking and leave me alone.

Situation #4:

People drive cars into the concrete partition.

I don't have to say anything.  These idiots never complain to me because figure out they're idiots on their own. 

Of course, there are more idiot types than those listed above.  There are a lot of people who don't look at the signs showing them how to insert their tickets and credit cards properly (they always look sheepish  when I come turn the card over). 

Plenty who only carry an old credit card with barely any mag strip left and act annoyed when the card doesn't work. 

Those who don't read signs and enter after 4pm (when the rate is a flat $4) who think they're being overcharged when they only stay an hour and so try to get out free.  (It never works, btw).

A few who don't wait for the gate to lift before plowing into it.  (This is a primary reason we got security cameras.)

And then, like today, there are the people (TWO within seconds of each other this afternoon) who don't pay attention to the clearance height restriction and knock down the clearance bar-- and then act annoyed that it did damage to their cargo tub on top of the vehicle.  My reply for that: Nobody made you park here.   Actually, we'd rather you didn't park here which is why we put up a sign.  Now go away, please.

Glad to get that off my chest.  I feel better already.  It's amazing what a few italics can do for the soul. 

Anyone got a good idiot enounter to share with the class? 

Customer Satisfaction

I have a happy story.

One of our parking locations is full to capacity, so I only add new parkers from a waiting list when others cancel.  One woman had the foresight to call and get on the waiting list 2 months in advance of when she'd actually need to park.  She'd call peridically to see where she was on the list.  I told her she had a good chance of getting a parking pass by the time it was needed, but I guess she was still super stressed out about it.

Earlier this month when she called I told her she could park by the end of the month.  She was immediately ecstatic and gushed about how awesome I am.  I was surprised at her outpouring of emotion -- after all, I didn't do anything in particular to make it happen except my job-- but she was so relieved that I couldn't help but feel good that I made somebody's day a little easier.  Sometimes I get an excited person who is relieved she can stop paying for daily parking, but I've never had anyone like this woman.  She told me how grateful she was, and that I sound so nice and friendly and professional on the phone, and that she was excited-- excited, mind you-- to finally meet me in person.  Talk about flattery!  I almost suspected sarcasm but her tone was all sincerity. 

She came in today to deliver her application and finish the set-up process.  To my surprise, she also delivered these:



Nothing says customer satisfaction quite like a pelargonium x hortorum and puppies.



No, Rhonda, it's people like YOU that make this world a better place.  Thanks for saying thanks.

Podcasts

I spend a lot of time alone every day, especially in my car as I commute to and from work and driving around town during the workday getting stuff done.  Spending that much time in a vehicle gets boring and I get really tired of the radio.  Enter my saving grace: the podcast!  As quoted by our good friend Wikipedia, a podcast (for those of you who only use the internet for rereading junk email, checking Facebook, and looking at this blog) "is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; program-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software."

I download podcasts to my iTunes then put them on my iPod to listen to through my speakers at work or home or in the car.  I now get profoundly sad when I don't update my iPod and am doomed to listen to music or NPR's All Things Considered on my way home from work.  Not that ATC is a bad show.  I've learned more about Middle Eastern politics than I ever wanted to know, but they seem to only talk about ME politics and that can get boring. 

The following are my favorite podcasts:

TAL is a weekly radio show (and now triple-Emmy-winning  television series on Current TV) hosted by Ira Glass where they typically choose a theme then tell stories on the theme.  Sometimes a story is so engrossing they do the whole show on one story, but it's rare.  The show isn't just about telling a good story though.  Each hour-long show seeks to reveal something about the theme, something deeper and provoking about our American life and culture.  Since that kind of activity is what I've been trained to do in virtually every anthropology class I've ever taken, I am understandably in love.

The show hires a couple of interns a year and before I got the job in Colorado I considered applying for it.  I still think it would be rad.  For a list of some favorite shows you can stream from your computer, go here.

This podcast is associated with the website HowStuffWorks.com.  The site sponsors other podcasts too, but SYSK is the best one mainly because their topics are cooler and the podcasters are more entertaining to listen to.  I've heard epidsodes ranging from riots, to red heads, to house flies, to kissing, to Amelia Earhart.  I found this podcast on iTunes under their free stuff and subscribed.  They are usually 20-30 minutes long and new ones come out a couple times a week.  They also have a blog where they post the article they write in conjunction with each podcast as well as other interesting articles on a myriad of subjects.  Listen. Love. Learn.

 A podcast that I subscribed to just yesterday upon the recommendation from a friend is The Moth.  Sounds cryptic, but it's just people storytelling.  I don't know where the name comes from.  I've only listened to 2 stories so far so I don't know much about it yet, but it seems to be more geared towards storytelling for storytelling's sake, and who doesn't love a good story?  The Moth definitely has potential to become another favorite.

Statistics can be fun!

Today I discovered the "Stats" tab on my blogger dashboard.  I have no idea how long it's been there, but I'm glad it is!  It provides me information about my blog traffic such as referring sites (who found me from veganfoodrecipes.com?), countries where people have viewed it, browsers people use, and even the kind of operating system used (the PC people far outnumber Mac; I wonder if that reveals something about my politics).  You can view traffic right now, from all day today, all month, and all time.  There is no identifying information so I can't tell who exactly who is visiting my corner of the web.  I can't back-stalk anyone, but it is very interesting to see what kind of audience I'm reaching.  I'm surprised by which posts have had the most views, a little disappointed at the ones that only have a few.  But I won't feel bad because that probably has more to do with my marketing than my readership's loyalty.

My favorite information is seeing where people are at when they viewed my blog.  The countries with the most pageviews are listed.  Of course, by far the place most people view it from is the United States, but surprisingly (or maybe not) the second on the list is Brazil.  I had a brother and cousin serve missions in Brazil for our church so they probably pulled it up once in a while. Tied for third are Azerbaijan, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  The latter two are explainable-- I know of readers in each place-- but the former?  I had to Google it because I'd never heard of it before.  Who might have found me in Azerbaijan?  Must have turned up in a random web search.  To round out the list, fourth most popular is Russia trailed by Burundi, Latvia, Ukraine, and Denmark respectively.  As far flung as they may seem, I can actually guess who was viewing it in eastern Europe and Denmark, but I don't know anyone in Burundi.  Must have been other fluke hits.  I'm surprised Germany and Taiwan didn't make the list since I know I have/had readers in each.  I guess the system isn't perfect or comprehensive.  But it is certainly entertaining!

Greetings to my readers everywhere!  I'm always flattered when people want to read what I write.  Even if you have stumbled here by accident, thanks for visiting and feel free to stay a while. 

Laundry List

Well, I'm back.  It was great.  Too much to really blog about in its entirety, so here is a laundry list of things I liked, learned, or did.  If I get enough feedback to expand on one I will.

• Aer Lingus has nice planes, but bring a coat for the flight because they keep the temperature at freezing, more or less.
• All the museums are closed on Mondays in Milan.  Use that day to travel, not sightsee.  We learned this in Milan, on a Monday.
• If you do find yourself with nothing to do on a Monday in Milan, there's a great bench at the Castello Sforzesco that's perfect for taking naps.
• I am quite the navigator as long as I have a map and a public transportation pass.  Just call me GPS.
• Italy is very hot in the summer.  And humid.  Don't plan on looking cute if you go in the summer, unless you think sweat is cute.
• The Italian countryside really looks like you'd imagine it on a postcard: rolling hills covered in green orchards and vinyards and pastures of farm animals.
• The best gelato in the world is in San Gimignano.  Not even kidding.  World Gelato Champions twice.
• Michelanelo's David= awesome
• I have Rennaisance crush on Brunelleschi-an architecture.  I climbed his Dome in Florence.  I CLIMED BRUNELLESCHI'S DOME!  THAT IS SOO COOl!
• The Bell Tower in Pisa leans.  It looks like it is peeking out behind the church, kind of like "Andy popping into frame"
• St. Peter's is SO BIG.  Like, you have no idea.  So big.  And amazing.
• The Pantheon is free!  Yah!  And in the top 5 coolest buildings I've ever been in.  And I've been in some cool buildings.
• Florence has way better shopping than Rome.  Do all your shopping in Florence.
• I'm sorry if you had European plans thwarted by the France air workers strike on July 21.  You can blame Mom and I for that.  Probably more mom than me because she has a history of causing things like that.
• Ireland is not hot in the summer.  It's perfect.
• Ireland also looks like a postcard.
• Checked another World Heritage site off my list: The Giant's Causeway.  Look it up and be jealous.
• Ireland has better breakfast than Italy.  Maybe because it's lacking the ridiculous amounts of carbohydrates.  The bacon is to die for.  Literally.  It's all fatty and delicious!
• Linen is cool! 
• Quakers are very nice people. 

Announcements

No, not that kind of announcement.  I'll prepare you better before that happens. Speaking of marriage, I was with family all weekend so I got that question a lot.  Not as much as I used to get.  Maybe they are giving up on me.  Or graduation overshadowed my singlehood this time.  Haha, that reminds me of a story.  My little brother and I had a conversation this weekend.  It went like something like this:

     little brother: So are all those guys at BYU idiots?
     me: Apparently.  Guys don't go for girls who aren't staying around.
     little brother: That's dumb.
     me: Well, what would you do if you liked a girl but she was moving away in a week?
     little brother: Change her mind.

Good answer, little brother.  I gave him a high five and assured him of future success in life and marriage with that attitude.

Yes, I'm moving away from Utah.  That's one of the real announcements.  My brother Luke offered me a job with his company in Denver and I accepted.  Now that I'm done with school and nobody has really tried to "change my mind", there's no reason to stay around here.  I'm moving to Colorado next weekend and start the job in one week from today.  I don't know anything about Denver except that everyone likes it.  That's encouraging.

The other announcement is connected to the reason I was with family all weekend.  Twelve days ago I took my last final ever.  Then I went home triumphant until my mom called to tell me my Aunt Gayle had passed away on a humanitarian trip to Tonga.  It was shocking and terrible, but we're ok.  She's ok.  Uncle Gary's ok.  Isn't it so nice how we can be ok because of what we know?  I love that.  I've felt really peaceful and good about the whole situation despite the tragedy.  It's sort of weird, to be ok about it, but I know she lived a great life and is still doing good where she is now.  The hard part is learning to live without her.  But even in that department there have been miracles to reward our faith.

One blessing is I got to see all my immediate family but Josh this weekend as we traveled to Rigby, Idaho, for Aunt Gayle's memorial service.  My mom got us hotel rooms and all the siblings had to share two rooms.  No additional deaths or major altercations = another miracle.  (We love each other, but sometimes we love better from a distance.)  Under the circumstances, it was a nice weekend of fellowship and comfort.

Uncle Gary and Aunt Gayle are both from Coeur d'Alene originally, so the local paper did a nice story on Gayle.  You can read it here if you want more details.

What are you going to do with that?

I hear that question a lot. Mostly because people don't actually understand what anthropology is. If they truly understood what I study, the question wouldn't be so annoying because it would be an informed question from someone who trusts that I have legit career path possibilities, not a followup question in an effort to mask ignorance. Like when people ask me where I'm from and I say Idaho, and then they ask what part and I say Coeur d'Alene, and then they nod like they know and kinda squint and ask if that's near Blackfoot, because they have cousins in Blackfoot. Nope. Idaho knowledge fail.

Let me inform the curious and give you something else to ask me whenever you see me for the next year whether this stays current news or not. I want to work for these guys. They have an internship I want to try for. I don't know anything about radio broadcasting, but I'm a smart kid; I can learn. My ultimate goal is not to love the actual studio production aspect, but to find stories and write shows and interview people.

I first heard about This American Life from a class. I rediscovered this nugget of a public radio show this last semester and spent a lot of time listening to past shows while I worked at the museum on a project that didn't often need brain power. I love a good story, and these shows are all about good stories. Not just good stories, but good stories with a point. There's always a "so what?" to the stories, and the anthropologist inside me glories in the discovery of the "so what?" and "why does that matter?" (Ironically, I discovered what I wanted for Christmas, these three days after Christmas: the Super Limited Edition This American Life DVD Set/Book, or just the first or second season of the TV show. Lucky for me, I have a birthday coming up! hint, hint)

If I did score an internship, it wouldn't happen for a year, as in January 2011. The internships run Jan-June and July-Dec in NYC, and they're paid. I could try for the July one next summer, but I plan to be out of the country most of that month.

In the meantime....I'll find something else to do. Don't ask me what, because I don't know.

DING. Time's up.

I'm back! Did you miss me?

I'm home. Finals are over and not having any academic obligations for 16 days is a very happy prospect. I had a pretty low key finals week. I only had two tests and a presentation, and since I'm a champ I rocked all of it. I even managed to work 15 hours, watch some movies, hang out with friends, and start a modeling career.

Wait, what?

Yes, you read that right. Sort of. It's a funny story. Or maybe it's only funny to me. To preface, my Aunt Mary Ann tells me every time she sees me that I should be a model because I have "exotic eyes," to the point that it's a family joke. Then, one day last week I saw a woman from church who randomly stopped me and told me that I should be a model, because I am "interesting" looking, whatever that means. I usually just smile and nod when people create new career paths for me because they don't know what I do anyway.

Well, I fulfilled Aunt Mary Ann's dream for me on Monday. A girl in one of my classes is a photography major and asked me to pose for a photo for one of her final projects. Her friend did the awesome makeup and hairstyling. We had a lot of fun. The point of the project was to kind of personify character traits, and I got to be the dark side. Luckily, I've had a lot of practice with the "stare-down-I-don't-care-get-out-of-my-way" face on my brothers over the years. The photographer and makeup artist were sufficiently impressed with it. Way better than Blue Steel. If she sends me any copies of my photos I'll post them.

Maybe I should look up the next casting call for ANTM. Heck with academia! With the current job market, championing a "reality" show may be a more attainable objective anyway.