Above & Beyond

This is awesome... if I ever go to Chicago, this is on my list.  Its a 10 x 40 foot sculpture entitled Above and Beyond, is comprised of imprinted dog tags, one for each of the more than 58,000 service men and women who died in the Vietnam War. Above & Beyond is the first new permanent Vietnam War memorial, other than The Wall in Washington, D.C., to list all those killed in action.


http://www.nvam.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218&Itemid=54

Coffee Joulies.... I need these...

Yep ... definitely need these.  :-)

http://www.joulies.com/#

Want to be a Mars Colony Pioneer?

Want to be a Mars colony pioneer?  You apparently can in 2023…. After 8 years of training… did I mention this will be a reality TV event?   This is craziness.  Basically Mars One will have a selection process in 2013.  You will go through 8 YEARS of training then go live on Mars.  Only FOUR people will go to Mars for the 1^st 2 years beginning in 2023… then every 2 years, 2 more people will join.  So for 2 years its only 4 of you?  That’s a long time with only 4 people. 

 AND there’s no coming back!  Total emigration to Mars.  This raises a lot of issues with me… what if you get sick, have a heart attack, get stabbed, cut off your hand, aliens attack, etc?  You are at least 8 months away from anyone that could help you?  This doesn’t sound like a good plan at all. 

Who is really going to do this?  If you have a family, do you really want to desert them to go live on Mars?  Do you really want to leave earth forever to live on an unknown planet with only 3 people?  I see this becoming a reality disaster…

If you hate it, oh well. You are stuck on Mars.  You have to really hate your life on earth to go live on another planet…  True dedication to go live on another planet you know nothing about… forget about the unknown aliens you are going to try to become neighbors with….

I really see this never happening but what do you think?  Read more about it at the following links….  Enjoy J

http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/08/16418875-wanted-mars-colonists-for-reality-tv?lite

 

http://mars-one.com/en/faq-en/21-faq-selection/183-which-group-gets-to-go-first

Good things in a jar...

August really?  I’m such a slacker on blogging.  I always find things I want to blog about then never do it.  I only have 10 followers anyways.  J  So wow 2013.  I had no problem moving into 2013.  You know how most people will write/type 2012 continuously for the 1^st 6 months of 2013?  Not me.  I was ready for 2013…. I was writing 2013 before the end of December!  

I’m not writing any new years resolutions for 2013.  I have done them in the past years only to have them broken and/or forgot about by February.  Instead I am going to write down all the good things that happen this year, no matter how big or small, and put them in a jar.  At the end of 2013, I’m going to read everything in the jar.  I may even incorporate it into my Christmas letter. J  I think this will be much more rewarding at the end of the year than broken and failed resolutions.  I also did not come up with this idea…. I stole it.  I don’t remember where I saw it but it’s a great idea.  J   

Rented 4 movies from my favorite video store.....

Three of them I have already seen, the 4th is available on Netflix Streaming.... Great.  Waste of money and time apparently.  Adds to the greatness my week has been.

I had fleas this week... well my house did.  Actually my cat did first, she scattered them all over my house.  I sprinkled flea killer in my carpet which in turn made me and my cat sick....but hopefully killed all the $%#$% nasty parasites in my house.

I did go to Cirque Du Soleil Dralion last night.  Great show!  They never fail to be amazing.  On a mission to see all of their shows, 3 down, lots more to go.  :-)

  

Tapes, Tapes, & More Tapes....

My best friend got married so my project of making all the paper products(invites, programs, thank you cards, etc) is complete!  Now I have a new project.... hopefully will be done in time for Christmas....

My parents had all these home video tapes from when we were growing up.... I have taken them and am in the process of organizing by date.  Some of them are not labeled so I have to view all of them.... which is quite entertaining at times.  Alex - may have to make you a special DVD.  ;-)

 Tapes, tapes, tapes.....

Unlabeled tapes

LABELED TAPES :-) 

 

The idea is to EDIT the boring stuff out and put the good stuff on DVDs.... hopefully I'll be done in time for Christmas.  We'll see.  :-)

Drank a fruit fly this morning.....

Got your attention, right?  I really did drink a fruit fly this morning.  Not on purpose.  The damn thing flew in my coffee and I didn't see it... felt it though.  GROSS!  Now I inspect my coffee before every drink.... paranoid. 

Anyways, its Friday again and I didn't even tell you what I did last weekend yet... so here's what happened....

TOUR DE FAT!

New Belgium Brewery out of Ft. Collins, CO and creator of my favorite beer had a festival in Durham, NC on Saturday.  It was pretty entertaining and there were  great bands...even though I can't remember the names of them.  Heres some photos.... 

People do read my blog.... :-)

My life is fairly boring.... I've not been up to much of anything since I got back from Colorado.  Work has kept me busy since we are trying to move our office (again) to merge with the Durham RTP office.  There seem to be a lot of winers in my company now.... Anyways enough about work (for now).

So I hardly ever watch the news.  That may keep me out of the loop of whats going on in the world but I'd rather not know all the bad shit going on around my city and all the people they are looking for so I don't watch it.  I do learn a lot of unnecessary news from yahoo though.  :-)   This morning I watched an interview with a lady that wrote a book "Why you're not married yet."  I thought she may have some insight as to why I'm not married yet... since she did write the book.  Here's the top 4 reasons she started off the interview with:  (BAD WORDS ALERT)

1. You’re a bitch. 
2. You’re a liar.
3. You’re shallow.
4. You’re selfish. 

Really???  You wrote a book about this?  Those all sound like my exs…. Reasons why I didn’t marry them!  I’m not sure what age group she talked with to gather her data, but none of these describe me.  I can be a bitch sometimes but there’s probably a reason for it.  Most of the time I’m pretty nice ;-)   Definitely not a liar… in fact, I probably say the truth too much and too soon.  Telling someone I just met that I want to get married and have kids is probably going to scare the guy away.  Shallow?  I wouldn’t say I’m shallow… choosy maybe.  A girl has to have some standards...   Definitely not selfish.  I moved to NC for a guy... that doesn’t seem too selfish to me.  Anyways, I shut the interview off after that.  I hope no one wastes their money on buying her book…. 

After that news, I didn’t read anything else.  That was enough nonsense for one day.  Maybe I’ll learn something tomorrow.  :-)

Love these kids!

My nieces - Aryssa, Chloe, and Layla - and my nephew Lennox.  Cutest kids ever!  They are growing up so fast!! 

18 days of Colorado...

felt like a month!  I've been in Colorado forever... not really, only 18 days :-)  I had a blast though.  I visited a bunch of friends and family that I haven't seen in a while.  I drove up to Steamboat Springs with my brother Alex.  We visited with my 2 favorite housekeepers - Kathy and Mary Jo.

We also hung out with my friend Rich and some of his friends for a while.  I don't have any pictures!  I can't believe I didn't take any?!? 

Prudence and I planned a fantastic bachelorette party for JJ... can't post any of those pictures  :-)

Visited with my Grandpa and Jan. 



Tried to see the solar eclipse with some paper but it was too cloudy...

Had dinner and T-Snow with my brother Clayton and his family... learned a new song for Tropical snow that the kids sing... you'll have to let them sing it to you though :-)   Clay took me to Eaton to see their new house that is being built ....

Lennox is always happy.  :-)

 Clayton!  Layla actually took this shot :-)

Went out to Ft Morgan to see Phillip & Elysse.  This is their sweet dog Bell.



Had a great morning with Aryssa and Chloe at their field day on the last day of school.

Then there was the big day - the reason I came to Colorado for so long - Jacque and Jasons wedding!  It was a great day and lots of fun... I'm still recovering...  :-)  Met some great people - some of which I hope to see again....  :-)



It was a great time! I am ready to get back home though but I will miss everyone and can't wait to come back again.  :-)