Momentary Musings

J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!

2008-12-26T10:14:00.001-08:00

Me & Ryan

Dad & Ryan

Dad took Ryan and I to a Jets game on Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time. The Jets didn't play so great - it was raining & slippery. Oh yeah, and the refs had to be at least mildly insane. ;-) But at least we had a good time!

10 Year Reunion

2008-12-26T09:59:00.001-08:00

Mari, Me, and Elisabeth at the Reunion

The Friday after Thanksgiving was my 10 year high school reunion. I have to say, I was a little undecided about going. I'm not in touch with very many people from high school. Although I suppose I'm talking to a few more now because of facebook. But you never know how people are going to be. Will there be 10 year old pettiness? ('Cause I had had more than enough of that by the time some of it followed me to college) Would everyone be showing off about their accomplishments? Would it just be awkward?

It turns out that I wasn't the only one who had these worries - but it also turned out that there was no reason to worry. Everyone was great. I caught up with old friends and acquaintances. Met a spouse or two (although most people had left their significant others at home).

And generally, I had a great time. I recommend attending your 10 year reunion.

Japan

2008-12-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

The last stop on my trip to Asia was Japan - where I spent time in Tokyo and Kyoto. Japan was my favorite place of the three I visited. The people were friendly, everything was clean, and organized, and logical, and well-run. It was pretty awesome. I took approximately a billion pictures in Japan, and I was there for over a week - so I saw a lot. I'll try to whittle it down to the highlights.

I went to Tokyo first. I saw Akihabra - the electronics district, Shibuya & the Tokyo Times Square, Harajuku and the crazy Japanese youngsters. There were also some great shrines. The really cool thing is that I managed to be there during the Japanese 3-5-7 holiday. During this holiday they dress up their 3 year old girls, 5 year old boys, and 7 year old girls in kimono and take them out to the shrines for pictures and blessings. They were adorable.

Akihabra - Electronics District

3-5-7 girl at Maji Shrine

Kyoto was next. Again, I was fantastically lucky. It turned out that the Japanese maples were changing into their fall colors, so the elaborate temple gardens were an absolute sight to behold.

Kinkaku-ji - one of the most breathtaking Temples

Ginkaku-ji had some of the most beautiful gardens

I stayed in a Ryokan in Kyoto - which is the closest you'll get to staying in a Japanese home (unless you find a japanese home to stay in) The Inn was run by three sisters, you leave your shoes at the door, and sleep on a futon on the floor. It was a great experience. And the service was wonderful. The people were very sweet and eager to help me.

Entrance to Three Sisters Inn

Real Zen Garden

Fushimi Inari Taisha

Japan - More Pictures

Beijing, China

2008-12-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

The second week of my trip to Asia took me to Beijing, China. What a culture shock after Thailand. It was freezing cold, and the people were pretty rude. Also, almost no one spoke English, (And I only knew how to say please & thank you.) so that made for quite an adventure. I did have some fun shopping - although the aggressive salespeople at the markets were a little rough to deal with.

The pollution was pretty horrific. (You can see that in the olympic pictures below). It was thick enough that it looked like fog ... but it wasn't. I could smell it in my hair and in my clothes, and it was bad enough that it just felt hard to breathe after you'd been walking for a while. They certainly did quite a PR campaign at the olympics. I've heard that the sky really was as blue as it looked on TV - but that's only because they shut down the factories, forbade cars from driving in the city, and forced the sky to rain every night during the olympics. Amazing - the life in a communist country.

We made it to Tianenmen Square and the Forbidden City

And to the big olympic sites

But, the highlight was clearly the Great Wall. We rode a ski lift up to the wall, walked up & down along the wall for a bit, and then took a tobaggan down. It was awesome. In fact, the tobaggan was so awesome, that we went back up for another trip.

Self portrait on the great wall

view of the ski lift from above

The end of the luge

China - More Pictures

Bangkok, Thailand

2008-12-26T08:24:00.000-08:00

I'm a little slow lately - I was traveling for the entire month of November, and with the Christmas season, it took me an unusually long time to get back to being normally functional. (Actually, I'm probably still not there yet.)

Anyway, the first stop on my November trip was to Bangkok, Thailand. I spent my entire birthday on a plane, but it was worth it for the traveling I got to do.

It was hotter n heck in Thailand. I was sweating like crazy - especially because I was trying to keep myself covered like the Thais do. It was in the 80s and 90s there, and all of the locals were in pants and polo shirts. I was dying for some shorts and tank tops, but I didn't want to stick out like a crazy lewd American either. The Thai people were very polite and friendly. And quite religious. There were Buddhist shrines outside of every hotel, and randomly located in the street. The concept, apparently, is that you stop to pray whenever. You don't just wait until a designated day of the week.

We saw quite a few amazingly ornate temples.

I had a great time learning about Thai culture, eating the food, and seeing the sights. I could have done without smelling some of the smells ... but I guess it's necessary to get the full experience. :)

Thailand - More Pictures

Time for Pumpkin Carving!

2008-10-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

Did you know that most people don't make a tradition out of pumpkin carving? I am learning that now. My dad always said it was important for our little nuclear family to have its own traditions, and Pumpkin Carving at Halloween was one of them. My parents still do it if any of us kids are nearby - this year Christine was the only one close enough to participate.

Pumpkins by Mom, Christine & Dad

But even though Theresa & I were not part of the actual family event, we both called home (and each other) to live vicariously through the others. Back in the day Dad would take us to William's Nursery and each of the three girls would pick out their own pumpkin. I always wanted the biggest pumpkin I could find. Christine took the longest, searching for the perfect pumpkin. All I can remember about Theresa's pumpkins was that they were always small - she informs me that in fact she was looking for a pumpkin with one flat side, and "They had to be small, Dad made us each carry our own, and I was always smaller than you guys!". Dad always picked out a pumpkin too - usually something with some personality.

When we got home Mom broke out the newspaper to cover the table, dad took a huge knife to cut the tops off of our pumpkins, and we all got to scooping out pumpkin gook. We collected all of the seeds in a big metal bowl in the middle of the table - and Mom worked on cleaning & baking the pumpkin seeds.

It's so easy to make a family tradition, and it lives with you forever. Dad told me last night the he had called William's Nursery before he & Christine (25) went to pick up pumpkins, he wanted to be sure it wouldn't close before they got there. Upon learning that they would be open until 6 my Dad said to the woman on the phone: "Oh good, because my daughter really wants to pick out pumpkins so we can carve them tonight." The woman on the phone responded "Well, how old is your daughter? The pony rides stop at 5, and I wouldn't want you to get here as the last pony ride is ending and have your daughter be disappointed."

The "Piece de la Resistance" was always the candle inside the pumpkin ... We might do this as soon as we finished the pumpkins, or just in time to put them out for Halloween night.

I'm keeping the tradition alive in VA: This year I am determined. Ryan and I have already bought our pumpkins, now just to find the time to carve them ...

What is Your Strength?

2008-10-23T09:24:00.001-07:00

At the gym last week there was a giant poster that I actually stopped to read. It said "What is your strength?" and it was covered in handwritten notes.

"My strength is my daughter"

"My strength is that I will never be fat again"

"My strength is God"

It was inspiring to see what gives other people strength, and it got me thinking about where my strength comes from. I think some of my strength comes from me - and from 'formative' experiences that I've had. But a lot of credit for formative experiences goes to my parents as well.

Simple Pleasures

2008-10-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

On the radio this morning people were calling in about the things in life that are their simple pleasures. People talked about their old cars managing to start up in the morning, and their children, and other things that I can't remember. But I do remember that I enjoyed listening to it. It helps put things in perspective again, especially with the way I have been ridiculously stressed for the last two weeks. So here are some of my simple pleasures:

Carving pumpkins at Halloween (more on this soon)
dressing up - I've worn skirts & boots & makeup & jewelry for the last few days, and it always makes me feel good
Crisp fall weather
making plans with friends
calling my family when I'm driving
cuddling

I love Outlets

2008-10-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Outlet Shopping, I mean. Ashley & I went outlet shopping today, I discovered that the Outlets at Hagerstown are significantly more awesome than the ones at Leesburg. So there's some useful information, for all those of you who live in the DC area, like shopping, and read my blog (probably no one :).

It's a Love Story

2008-10-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

"Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone,
I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run
You'll be the prince, I'll be the princess
it's a love story, baby just say yes.
. . .
This love is difficult, but it's real, don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
. . .
I got tired of waiting
wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading
when i met you on the outskirts of town

and I said Romeo, save me, i've been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
is this in my head, i don't know what to think

He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring
and said, Marry me Juliet you never have to be alone
I love you and that's all i really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
it's a love story Baby just say yes"
-Taylor Swift "Love Story"

Even after everything, I'm still a romantic.
I like this song. I like how it starts out hopeful, turns nervous & questioning, and just then becomes elated.

Speaking of Love Story - that's one of my favorite books. :)

When to Stop Reading

2008-10-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Some important advice from my Aunt Lynn:

"So the advice is read 50 pages to see if you like it and then quit if you don't? Or some people say, read 100 pages minus your age. Older people don't have as much time left to waste on bad books."

I learned (again) how valuable her advice was, after I forced myself to read all of Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway".

Are you a reader? Check out goodreads.com - it's a social networking site (sort of) focused on books. You connect with your friends & write reviews for the books you read, then you get updates whenever any of your friends read a book, or add a book to their list. I'm loving it. I love tracking what I read, and I love seeing what my friends are reading - I've added a lot of interesting books to my list based on friends' recommendations. Goodreads came along at just the right time for me, when I was fed up with reading mediocre books because I just didn't know what to pick up next.

Whitewater Rafting

2008-10-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went with a group of friends to raft the Upper Gauley. It was pretty awesome.

pictures :)

Here's Ryan and I in our AMAZING rafting gear:

Sexy Sexy!

and a sample Action shot:

I'm second from the back, on the near side.

The Upper Gauley is supposedly the 2nd best river for rafting in the US, and the 7th best in the world. There are 5 class 5 rapids. And, to give you some perspective ... a class 7 is a rapid that no one has ever ridden and lived, a class 6 you can ride with extreme skill & luck ... and then there's class 5. So, it was pretty intense. I was definitely freaked out before I went, but it was one of those things that was on my list, and I've wanted to do it for years... so there's no way I was backing out. The guides really do a good job of keeping you in line, even if they do have fun dumping you in the river on purpose here and there. :) I highly recommend the experience!

Baltic Cruise: Bath, United Kingdom

2008-10-01T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Bath wasn't technically part of the cruise, but it was part of the cruise trip. We took the bus back to london from Dover, and then the train out to Bath. The path took us through Reading ... look! there's proof!

Reading Train Station

I was really hoping we'd have time to stop in Reading and send a postcard to Ryan & his parents ... but we didn't have time.

Bath was absolutely beautiful. The weather was nice, and the town was really cute.

View from the Bridge, on the way into town

Mom, Glamour Girl

At Lunch

We saw Portrait of a Lady at an old theater

We went to the Fashion Museum - which was pretty cool. There happened to be an exhibit on a designer who designed clothes for Marilyn Monroe. The best part of that exhibit was the fabulously gay tour guide - he was so enthusiastic and absolutely in awe of the clothing.

Trying on corsets and hoop skirts at the Fashion Museum

Marilyn Monroe's Dress

The baths, of course, were a required stop. The exhibit was pretty extensive, with a lot of information about how they were actually used, and what life was like at that time.

Drinking the famous (gross and warm) spa water

Good thing beer rinses out the mouth ...

On our last day, we drove

Yes ... Mom was totally nervous to have me driving on the left

to Stonehenge for special 'Stone Circle Access' tour. That meant that we actually got to go in and among the stones, which was really awesome. There were only about 10 of us in there at the same time, and we actually got to touch the stones. It was really cool.

Kissing the 'Face' Rock

Picking up Mom

The last stop before the airport was Salisbury

Salisbury Cathedral

I love cloisters :)

Another view of the cloisters

I guess this is it for this series of posts ... it was a pretty awesome trip.

Baltic Cruise: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2008-09-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam was awesome. It was overcast and chilly ... and I still loved it. There was so much to see.

Mom is Amsterdam!

On the riverbank where we ate lunch

We headed straight to the Reijksmuseum when we got to Amsterdam, which was under construction. I'm actually thankful we weren't there when it was in its full glory. The works of the museum were condensed with the construction & they displayed only the Master Works ... and that was painful enough. I think I don't like old, dark, Dutch paintings of people I don't know. The Night Watchmen was the highlight of the tour.

After that we went to the Van Gogh museum which was packed ... and still absolutely amazing. It was probably one of the highlights of the entire cruise for me. Rooms and rooms of Van Gogh's art arranged chronologically, and with an audio tour to explain what was going on in his life as he was going through different stages in his artistic career.
Finally, we went to the Anne Frank house - which was certainly sobering. It really tells a different story, when you are actually standing in the spaces where those families lived for so long.

Anne Frank, outside her temporary home.

Mom and I meandered our way back to the ship after that. We walked along the edge of the disappearing red light district and saw some interesting shops, and lots of 'coffee shops'.

One last thing I want to point out ... check out the shield of Amsterdam below. Notice the 3 X's? Those are St. Andrew's Crosses, and represent different things, depending on your source of information. But I just thought it was amusing, given Amsterdam's somewhat lewd reputation.

Baltic Cruise: Tallinn, Estonia

2008-09-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

Tallinn wasn't one of those places that would have been on my travel list of places to see, but I really enjoyed it. It was a really cute old town, and the weather was beautiful, so that always helps. We ended up joining some of the other families on our cruise to do a bike tour, which was a lot of fun ... except for my butt. My butt was really unhappy. :)

Sunken Ship Memorial

The beautiful day

Presidential Palace, and me looking like a Giant Dork - it was kind of on purpose though, one can't help it when one is wearing such stylish clothing

'Fat Margaret' fortress walls outside Old Tallinn

Awesome Statue!

We toured an Open Air Museum on our bikes too ...

It's not better without the helmet, is it?

A view of a church in old town - the locals never took to the Russian Orthodox religion, but ironically, this church is what saved the city from heavy bombing in the war.

View over the city

Baltic Cruise: St. Petersburg, Russia

2008-09-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

First off - I highly recommend St. Petersburg. It turns out that you can make a pretty beautiful city when you have years and years of tsars collecting money from the citizens and never really having to give any of it back. Everybody had a palace, the Tsar, the Tsar's mom, the Tsar's brother. And every time there was a new Tsar you had to build a new Winter and Summer palace. Absolutely insane.

Mom at Catherine's Palace

Me, looking like a dorky Tourist, at Peter's Palace

Inside Peterhof

Random Russian Church

We stayed in St. Petersburg for two days, so since it was the home of Tchaichovsky, we had to see some Russian Ballet. We saw Swan Lake - it was pretty great. I loved the Champagne intermission - we should do that at every show.

I'll throw in a random Rodin - because I love it. The Hermitage museum was full of amazing art and sculpture.

The Church of the Spilled Blood was certainly a highlight - it was absolutely amazing to see in person.

Amazingly, we managed to catch a glimpse of the Solar Eclipse while we were out there. It was tough to get a picture of it, but the camera did manage to capture it when it was showing through the clouds.

Mom and I took approximately a billion pictures in St. Petersburg, I imagine you'll be satisfied with just a taste. :)

The

Baltic Cruise: Helsinki, Finland

2008-09-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

Finland turned out to be pretty great. Mom and I navigated our way to an old sea fort in the morning via ferry. Navigation turned out to be an adventure given the ridiculous number of vowels in all of the street names.

We took approximately a million pictures there.

Then we hoofed it back to the ship to meet up with our tour which went to the Open Air Museum. Basically an outdoor museum displaying different types of housing and traditional buildings from around Finland.

Last was the Rock Church - which was awesome... And then my camera died.

Baltic Cruise: Berlin, Germany

2008-09-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Berlin meant a 3 hour bus ride in from the coast, but it was completely worth it. The most fascinating part was seeing the contrast between East and West Berlin. Historically, West Berlin was the place to be - there was money and capitalism, so they could afford to rebuild. East Berlin was communist and poor, and consequently they couldn't really rebuild. An interesting after effect is that decades later, East Berlin has become the place to be. When west Berlin was rebuilt, it was rebuilt in a rather utilitarian, unimaginative style. It was after a war, the important thing was just to get the city functioning again. East Berlin was barely rebuilt at all during that time, and remained in ruins for decades ... but the good news was that as it has started to be rebuilt, the builders are taking their time, and the architects are getting artsy. East Berlin is now where all the cool cats hang out.

Bombed out Old Church, and the ugly new 70s church

Posing

Berlin Wall Markers

Holocaust Memorial

Burn Before Reading

2008-09-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

I saw Burn Before Reading last week & I really enjoyed it. It was fun & funny, and it's always amusing to see how movies portray the government... the stark gray offices, the empty hallways ... the boss that doesn't know what to tell his inferiors ...

"Report back to me when ...

I don't know...

When it makes sense."

And at the end of a series of ridiculous occurrences and unfortunate mishaps ... the conclusion:

"What did we learn?

I don't know either.

I guess we learned not to do that again.

F*ck if I know what we did."

*sigh* how very, very true. :)

Baltic Cruise: Copenhagen, Denmark

2008-09-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Our first port was Copenhagen. We started with breakfast, a necessity for two Swingle women.

Then we hopped a bus for a city tour. We saw the classic Little Mermaid statue. It was built in homage to Hans Christian Anderson's famous tale ... but no one from Copenhagen can understand how it got to be such a big deal.

Then we saw some other sights ... fountains, the Queen's Winter Castle...

Tivoli gardens turned out to be less spectacular than we had originally hoped. It turned out that we were there at exactly the wrong time to see any of the performances, so it was basically an Epcot Center crossed with a Six Flags for kids. We amused ourselves anyway, and then used the extra time to plan our next stop.

Rosenburg Castle - the home of the Danish crown jewels.

We navigated our way back to the ship on foot . . . just in time.

Baltic Cruise: Days at Sea

2008-09-16T14:19:00.000-07:00

Our first day on our ship, the Carnival Splendor, was a day at sea. Mom and I were very lazy during our days at sea. But that's what vacation's for, right? It turned out that after several days in a row of hard core sightseeing, we needed some time to relax anyway. But complete nothingness gets boring after a day too. We didn't do much on the ship - so I'll let some pictures tell you about it.

Reading on the windy deck

Mini golf

Self-Portrait in front of the 10:30 pm Baltic Sunset

In the cabin before formal night

Who says I need to put clothes on? This bathrobe is so comfy ...

Baltic Cruise: Dover, UK

2008-09-15T14:02:00.001-07:00

Continuing the posts about my recent trip ... We took a bus from London to Dover to get on the cruise ship.

We stopped on the way at Dover Castle - and it was fricking freezing & breezy. I was definitely starting to worry that I should have packed warmer clothes. Anyway, the castle was a castle ..

From Europe Cruise

but the really cool part was touring the "Secret Wartime Tunnels".

From Europe Cruise

Apparently the tunnels have been used throughout the years to fortify the city of Dover against attacks from the Sea. The tunnels were set up as they used to be in WWII - as a hospital. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was pretty neat to see the setup in there, and kind of amazing to imagine what it must have actually been like during wartime. All I can say is, thank goodness for modern medicine!

Holding you ...

2008-09-15T13:58:00.000-07:00

"Holding you holds me together

when holding on gets just a little too hard.

When this tightrope I travel begins to unravel

and I feel like I'm falling apart,

holding you holds me together." - Gretchen Wilson's "Holding You"

I've been emotional lately. My sister's crazy car accident sent ripples through everyone in my family, and I've been stressed at work & with the whole Italy thing. Plus a million people I know are getting married or having babies - which is just weird.

Anyway, having someone to hold ... and to hold me. Has really helped.

Wear Your Seatbelt

2008-09-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

Here's Theresa & Benny ... and the remnants of Theresa's car. Her front left tire is completely gone, so we think it blew. The car spun around and then flipped several times, before coming to rest in the median. Theresa climbed out the driver's side window & the car caught fire. Benny was thrown from the car, but managed to get away with only biting his tongue. Theresa was wearing her seatbelt, and gripping the steering wheel to keep herself in place. She's bruised and scratched, and otherwise fine.

So ... did I make my point?

Beautiful is Better than Pretty

2008-08-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

There's a guy I see every day who always says "Good Morning, Beautiful", or "Have a good night, Gorgeous." It always makes me smile. There's something magical about the words beautiful & gorgeous.

Baltic Cruise: London, UK

2008-08-17T20:26:00.001-07:00

Mom and I just went on a European Cruise for two and a half weeks. As I get the time, I'll put up a few posts from the different places that we went.

The trip started in London, UK. We decided to fly in a day early, to give ourselves some buffer in case there were any flight/luggage/jet lag issues. We both have been to London before, so a day was actually sufficient for us. We checked in to the hotel, and then started wandering around the city looking to amuse ourselves.

First stop is obvious, if you know my mom & I ... gotta get some food! We found a 'pancake' stand near Westminster Abbey. They're basically crepes, but thicker. We had tomato & cheese, and banana nutella ... mmmm.

We decided to wander up to the West End - London's theatre disrict. We bought half price tickets & saw Blood Brothers. We had never heard of it, but it turns out it's been playing for 20 years and has won all kinds of awards. It was a good show - although we were struggling a bit with our jet lag. Don't tell anybody, but we were both wiping away tears at the end.

After the show, we had Fish & Chips by the London Eye, and then wandered along the banks of the Thames, where Mom bought an ice cream.

In other news, I'm pretty sure England is one of the few great places in Europe for breakfast. Gotta love a full english breakfast.

Kissing Girls

2008-08-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

"I kissed a girl and I liked it,
the taste of her cherry chapstick.
I kissed a girl just to try it,
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it.
It felt so wrong,
it felt so right.
Don't mean I'm in love tonight.
I kissed a girl and I liked it"- Katy Perry's I Kissed A Girl

A fun, poppy song that sticks in your head with its rhythm. It just amuses me to think about all of the girls who have fun getting attention from the boys by hinting with it ... and have never really kissed a girl. Maybe it's just funny to me. :-p

Expected Results

2008-08-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

"We can't keep doing the same things and expecting different results." - Janet on Swingtown

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." -Einstein

I had actually heard the Einstein quote first - but Swingtown reminded me of it, and for some reason it hit me more as being relevant, instead of just funny.

In Swingtown Janet was talking to her husband about why he should see a therapist - but really what she was saying was that the way that they were trying to work together wasn't working, and maybe they should try something else. It can be hard to admit that kind of thing - for an individual, and maybe even more so for a couple. But what a difference it makes when you figure it out.

Temptation

2008-08-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

"Temptations may come, that ain't no sin - you get stronger every time that you don't give in." - From Tim McGraw's Walk Like A Man

I wrote this one down a while ago - I guess I like the way it gives hope for us sinners. Just because you think bad things, or you think you want to act on something that you shouldn't - that doesn't mean you've already failed. If you can manage to hold yourself together and not cross that line from temptation to sin, you've succeeded.

Paris ... MO

2008-07-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Paris, MO with Ryan. We had a great time. I got to see all the places that Ryan always talks about & meet some more of his family. We went fishing & picked apricots & cherries. Had awesome frozen custard, and went to the drive-in. Oh yeah, and Ryan's sister had a baby. :)
It was a pretty great trip.

http://picasaweb.google.com/KateRita/TripToParisMO

Inertia

2008-07-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

"I'm astounded by the inertia of bad ideas." - from 'The Know-It-All'

In this case, the author was referring to how farenheight was anchored.

0 - the temperature at which an equal mixture of salt and water freezes
30 - the (inaccurate) temperature at which water freezes
96 - the (inaccurate) temperature of human beings

The problem, of course, it that it's usually easier to stick with how things have been, than to gain the momentum to change anything

Warren Buffet Wit

2008-07-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

I wrote these down from a book of Warren Buffet wit that I read a while ago:

"I don't try to jump over seven-foot bars, i look around for one-foot bars that i can step over." 20

Baby steps ... That's what I have to keep telling myself at work. And every time you step over a one-foot bar, you have made progress.

"Always hang around with people better than you and you'll float up a little bit. Hang around with the other kind and you'll start sliding down the pole." 37

A good thing to be aware of ... without even noticing it, you can take on the bad habits or the good habits of those around you.

"Working with people you don't like is like 'marrying for money'." 86

And they say marrying for money is the hardest job there is. :)

Planning

2008-07-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

"Plans are worthless, Planning is everything."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

ohhhh ... is that why I never look at the notes I write to myself after I write them?

Habits

2008-07-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

"We are creatures of habit - so I like to questions assumptions that may have been true 10 years ago & are not anymore"

*sigh*
It's so nice to hear something like that from a manager at a meeting. Especially when it's said in response to someone who is defending themselves for making stupid decisions for the last 5 years.

Back to Golf

2008-05-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

I've started playing golf again - my Dad says he's really proud. :)
Anyway, I've gotten out a couple of times - it seems like 9 holes is right about my level. If I get the ball up in the air, I'm pretty excited. And I'm enjoying walking around outside in the sunshine and getting some lackadaisical exercise. I think I found this article more amusing now that I'm playing more, but I'm pretty sure it'd be interesting anyway:

Golf - Baghdad Style