I'm trying realllly hard to get some work done, but I'm distracted by all the research in front of me and just digging in more and more.  I think my opinion is clear now so it's time to close the door, pump the tunes, and write.

 

You'll regret it if you don't do it...

Facebook gets the most of my attention as that's where I have over 300 friends and now I check it as often as I check my Hotmail account.

 

I just tried Twitter but it seems the same as the Facebook Status and I don't care if people publicly know what I'm doing, in fact I would rather they didn't.

 

As I am a Microsoftie I am trying to give Spaces another try but I gotta say it's hard...I have less than 30 friends on here and it seems like quite the effort to add more as that's dupe work from Facebook.

 

If anyone is struggling with the same things, let me know...

I have been spending quite a bit of time on Facebook lately, but I heard about the latest release of WL and saw the big pawn heads on campus and thought I would try Spaces out again and see if the ux has changed....

My dad has always been a fan of the Lone Ranger and his horse Silver.  Always wanting to impress my father, I got me one!

 

The only difference between Bleu Eyes and Silver is well, Bleu has blue eyes.

 

I am so cool!

 

 

You know when you drop something on the ground and it slows you up for a second or two - do you ever wonder if that brief moment might save your life?

 

Sometimes I think about it when you hear a story from someone who says that if they had been just a second sooner or later they would have been in an accident or hurt in some way.

 

Just something I think about when I reach down to pick up a pen or some insignificant thing that slowed me up in my normal pace.

 

I don't agree with Christmas Tree lots. I think it is so wasteful that a bunch of trees are cut down and just sit there - many never purchased. On my way to visit my horse I pass by two different lots on Avondale Rd.  Those poor trees just hang out day after day. I hardly ever see anyone in those lots and I assume that the trees will be used for firewood or shredded to a pulp.

 

I used to have a fake tree - and I realize that there are die hards out there that want the "real" thing, but it isn't wasteful and the fakes are starting to look more and more real.

 

Those lots just make me feel sad when I see all those lonely little trees that may have been cut for no reason at all - they could have their roots still.

 

Perhaps the answer is to go to a Christmas tree farm where you can cut your own tree and then there isn't waste - it will for sure be used.

 

It would also be nice if the leftover trees that are pre-cut go to lower income families that don't have enough to purchase a tree for Christmas.

I've been trying to figure out what I want to say at Candice's service and so I tried writing a poem.  I had it sitting in notepad on my computer and just now took another look at it and realized that it came out in the shape of a "C".  It actually startled me when I discovered it.

 

 

 

waiting for your return
plans for a reunion
change in plans
unexpected
sadness
shock
dismay
anger
rage
loneliness
where did you go
when are you coming back
waiting to see you again

I lost my best friend on November 10th.  It seems so strange to blog about it, but I want to get a couple of messages out there to the world so that her death isn't meaningless.

 

First, Candice and her boyfriend Owen were killed by a drunk driver.  I don't need to tell you that drinking and driving is bad, but to me, its real now. Someone very dear to me died because someone was drinking and driving and now its not just a bad idea its a horribly tragic and needless atrocity.  For the sake of your family and friends and anyone else that could be affected by you drinking and driving, please don't do it. And don't let your friends and family do it.  The driver that killed them had friends in the car that could have stopped him but they didn't and now they are dead too.  5 people died because one person decided to drink and drive.  He knew the road well that he was travelling on when he killed them, but he crossed the center line and hit them straight on.  My point is that it doesn't matter how familiar you are with the road, you just can't think straight when mixing alcohol and getting behind the wheel.

 

Secondly, be good to your friends.  Candice loved her friends and showed kindness, respect, devotion, caring and love towards them.  She nurtured our relationship far more than I did. We have lived in different cities for the past 6 years and she was the one that worked the hardest to keep our friendship alive by visiting, emailing and calling me.  My birthday and Christmas are going to be tough this year b/c I always looked forward to hearing from her and exchanging gifts and cards.  She always put so much thought into her gifts and it wasn't the fact she got me something it was that she cared about me enough to want to do something nice for me.  If you have a friend that you keep meaning to call or write to, just do it.  It'll make you feel great and you will have no regrets.  They can be gone in a split second and you won't ever get that chance to tell them how you feel, so do it today, do it right now.

 

Candice was on this planet for a reason and I think one of those reasons was to demonstrate what a true friend is and how easily you can lose them, so hold on tight, and look after them.

How can they do this? No Lost until Feb? Come on now! So many other crappy shows that they can put on hiatus for that new crappy dejavu show to premiere.

 

And while I'm at it, where the hell is 24?  I see that the leading lady is now on that new show "The Nine" so I guess she won't be returning.

 

Whatev. We've still got The Office and Heroes.  We may survive as long as we save the cheerleader.

I figured there was some significance to me turning 32 on the 23rd of this month.  Maybe not as significant as turning 23 on the 23rd, but I figured I won't have anymore of these types of number comparisons so I should call it out.

 

That's it. C ya

OK, well, its not a boxed product, so not really hitting the streets, but we are coming out of beta.  Exciting stuff. Want a free domain name? (yes, i said free). Want free webhosting? (yes, i said free) then go to www.officelive.com. Done.

 

p.s. no, Office Live is NOT Office on the web. Its about software plus services, people.  Office plus Live.

 

I found this site 43people.com which has been around for a year or so.  I am quite impressed with it and its peer sites - 43places.com, 43things.com, and allconsuming or something like that.

 

I have made a list of well, 43 things I want to do and 43 places I want to go.  I'm having a hard time listing out 43 people I want to meet.  I'm really not into the whole "star" groupie bandwagon.  I actually went to that site in the first place b/c I thought I could find some people in Seattle with common interests.  It seems like there is networking going on between the people that started up the site and their circle, but not so much with "outsiders."

 

No matter, I have also joined meetup.com and am planning on attending one of the events.  Seems like there are a lot of people in Seattle that want to meet other people in Seattle. Go figure.  It is much easier to meet people when you are in school.  Work is good too, but I feel like Michael and I are in this limbo place - people our age have kids and once you have kids you go into some other category of people that only hang out with others that have rugrats.  Whatever, we have our dogs and that's just fine with us. :-)

I have seen a trend over the last couple of years that is going to change my approach to travel planning.  Anytime I travel extensively by airplane (and most especially when in coach) and to developing countries, I come home sick as a dog. In the last 2 years this has been true for my travels to India, Japan, and East Africa.

 

In order to take a break from this experience, and to test out my hypothesis, the new travel rules for at least the next year or so are the following:

- plane travel in coach cannot exceed 5 hours and in biz class cannot exceed 10 hours

- entry into the country must not include requirements for shots or pills

- tap water must be drinkable

 

I realize that this might sound limiting, but in coach this will get me to most any place in the USA and Canada, parts of Mexico and will get me to Europe and South America in biz class.

 

Turns out that I don't have malaria - instead I have strep throat.  I have had this nasty throat infection about a bazillion times since I was little but I think that each time I get it I feel worse than the last time.  I really thought I was dying.  Nevertheless, I have to take antibiotics and hopefully will be in tip top shape by Monday for work.

 

I must have gotten it on the plane or airport...seemed like there were a few sick people around and you can contract it in the air or off bathroom handles.  My other theory is that because I have had it so many times that its always in my system but rears its ugly head when my immune system is down. I'll need to research that.

Michael and I just got back from 2+ weeks in Tanzania. We went on a safari to Tarangire Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti, and Lake Manyara, and then Zanzibar to chill out before returning home.

 

It was an amazing trip, except for one thing, I'm very very sick.  I was very diligent in my preparations prior to leaving for East Africa - took all the shots and started taking the anti-Malaria pills.  The problem was that the pills made me feel sick, and when I got to Africa, I didn't see any mosquitoes so I opted out of continuing to take the pills.  Unfortunately when we got to Zanzibar, there were mosquitoes and I got bitten. 

 

I started feeling ill on Wednesday, one day after our return and about 6 days after my first bite.  I feel like I have a severe flu - couldn't even get out of bed until yesterday when I forced myself to the doctor to get tested. I haven't received the results yet.  Hopefully its just a bad case of the flu due to 30 hours of travel, but I won't be surprised if my stupidity has landed me in deeper trouble.  Thankfully malaria is curable and I am glad to me in the U.S. if I do need treatment.

Mosquitos have got to be the most annoying little good for nothin buggers ever.  Without fail every night I have to retreat indoors at about 9pm because the little pests start attacking me.  Sometimes I pretend that Im a celebrity and the mosquitos are the paparazzi and I whack at them and call them names and sometimes even squish them like the little bugs they are.

 

The other thing I don't like about them is when you do get one and then the blood they recently stole is now splattered on your skin and you aren't sure whose blood it is.  That's kinda gross.  I mean, it could be some rodent's blood.

I was just about to give up on reality t.v. when along came this show - Rock Star: INXS.  The name sucks but hey, Brooke Burke is hosting it and Dave Navarro stars in it.  Its SOOOO much better than American Idol - its totally laid back, there isn't any sqeaky voiced peewees fighting with egotistical englishmen, just chillin Ozzies and Dave.

 

The 15 contestants are all very talented and have their own style - not squeaky clean Americans singing to the under 14 crowd.  These are serious musicians that are serious about classic rock and vying to become the frontman/woman for an established well-known band.

 

This show has got my attention - I can't wait to see who INXS ultimately chooses as Michael Hutchence was of course a sexy, white male and they have both males and females, black and white to choose from with very different styles from Michael.

 

Very cool.