Oh great, I decided to write a blog post and every thought immediately left my brain. Hmm...let's see.
iPads: I got to see one in person the other weekend and I was a little more impressed than I expected. Usually I have trouble with touchscreens, and on Mom's iPod Touch, the keyboard is so small I can't use it at all because I always hit the wrong keys. But this had a large enough keyboard on the touch-screen that I could actually use it. On the other hand, it worked fine sitting on the little plastic stand in the Apple store, but it was too big for me to hold in one hand comfortably (kind of defeats the purpose of the nice big keyboard too, if you have to type with one hand) and I can see how using it either flat on a desk, or on your lap could really mess up your neck and back from looking down at it all the time.
Pros:
Large touch-screen
Wonderful for Google Maps. I'm very very fond of Google Maps, and this was just about the perfect device for that. Large enough that you could see a pretty big piece of map at a time, and very easy and intuitive to move around on. Easier even than on a computer where you have to click and drag with the mouse to see more of the map.
Slightly more portable than a laptop...I could probably fit one in my purse.
Cons:
Touch-screens get smeared up very fast, and it's a glossy screen so it really needs to be clean to see it properly.
Awkward to use
Not the most convenient thing for getting typical computer stuff done...not if you already have a laptop anyway.
I can't justify paying $600+ for something just because it's awesome for Google Maps. :) BUT I finally got to see one anyway! And it really was great for maps...
In other news...there are extreme disadvantages to being pale. Because of wearing two different swimsuits to the pool (switching up the strap placement on my back), I now have an awful sunburn right where my back had been protected by the straps on one swimsuit and therefore had no sun-exposure until the other day. It burnt, then it blistered and peeled, and right now it's getting better, but I'm avoiding normal shirts as much as possible and having Mom put cortisone cream on the burnt part. Ouch. Why, oh why do I always have ridiculous injuries like this? Oh, and I get to go to the pool because it's days I work and I take the little girl to the pool. :) So much more enjoyable than playing outside or walking in this heat!
I cleaned my room up the other day, getting rid of some stuff and organizing the rest, and I'm very glad to be able to see the top of my desk now. As usual, I'll see how long that actually lasts...
I'm also trying to make plans for next month. I have some time off and I want to go see my cousins, and then there's also a beach trip with some friends somewhat tentatively planned. So, fun stuff. I think this may be the busiest summer I've ever had. Which is fine with me. :)
So I guess life in a nutshell right now is work, reading, getting together with friends. Except, surely there are more things going on than that...? I guess that's the public version of what's going on. This was going to be a good post, but as I said, every decent thought left my brain and I'm left with, well, that up there. :D
Oh, to people who are commenting: I'm sorry about the annoying word-verification thing. I turned it on a while back to deal with all the spam comments I was getting, just turned it off last week and immediately started getting spammed again. So, I know it's annoying, but I have to have it on.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
From Psalm 42
This hymn was in my head all day yesterday...I think I read something that referenced Psalm 42 or something, and immediately thought of this.
It's a beautiful hymn, both the words and music. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a recording of it anywhere online, so I took a picture of it from my hymnal, so if you can read music you'll have an idea of what it sounds like anyway. 662 in the Trinity Hymnal if you have one.
(Click to enlarge.)
As the hart longs for flowing streams,
So longs my soul for thee, O God.
My soul does thirst for the living God;
When shall I come to see thy face?
My tears have fed me day and night,
while men have said, "Where is your God?"
But I recall as my soul pours dry,
The days of praise within thy house
Why do I mourn and toil within,
When it is mine to hope in God?
I shall again sing praise to Him;
He is my help, He is my God.
It's a beautiful hymn, both the words and music. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find a recording of it anywhere online, so I took a picture of it from my hymnal, so if you can read music you'll have an idea of what it sounds like anyway. 662 in the Trinity Hymnal if you have one.
(Click to enlarge.)
As the hart longs for flowing streams,
So longs my soul for thee, O God.
My soul does thirst for the living God;
When shall I come to see thy face?
My tears have fed me day and night,
while men have said, "Where is your God?"
But I recall as my soul pours dry,
The days of praise within thy house
Why do I mourn and toil within,
When it is mine to hope in God?
I shall again sing praise to Him;
He is my help, He is my God.
Friday, June 18, 2010
They taste good too
I made these yesterday afternoon:
The sesame ones turned out better than the cinnamon raisin ones...looks-wise anyway.
Yum, bagels. They're the most bizarre things to make too, since you boil them before you bake them...
The sesame ones turned out better than the cinnamon raisin ones...looks-wise anyway.
Yum, bagels. They're the most bizarre things to make too, since you boil them before you bake them...
Friday, June 11, 2010
My latest knitting project
I finally finished my knitting project! It was going to be a whole dress, this pattern: Little Black Dress but I didn't have enough yarn, plus I knit very tightly, so it was ending up smaller than it was supposed to be anyway. So I made a tunic-y top instead. I finished it last week I think, and finally got around to taking photos of it.
(Speaking of which, I'm annoyed at how fuzzy the pictures came out. I'm guessing it was because I was using the 2 sec. remote setting, so it wasn't able to focus very clearly, or I managed to move after it did.)
Another disadvantage of the timer? Looking tense because you're trying to take the picture and hold still at the same time. Oh, and I look like I have a Barbie doll hand, because I'm holding the remote in my right hand. :D (Seriously, Barbie dolls always have their hands partially open like that...always makes sure the sleeves of their outfits get caught on the thumb...very annoying. But I digress.)
And could my arms look any longer and skinnier?? Goodness. Maybe sleeveless isn't such a good look after all. :P
I couldn't figure out what other color of ribbon to put in it, so I just went with black. Anyway, I finally got that done, and now my only knitting project is a pair of socks that I started knitting and will have to make myself finish. I'm not too fond of how the first sock is turning out, but I'll have to make another one the same. And then I can go onto a different pattern and some awesome green sock yarn I got. Unless...hmm. Maybe I'll start on the green yarn with a different pattern and if I like how they turn out then I'll rip out the current sock and make a different pattern with that yarn! Yeah...that's sounding like a better plan.
(Speaking of which, I'm annoyed at how fuzzy the pictures came out. I'm guessing it was because I was using the 2 sec. remote setting, so it wasn't able to focus very clearly, or I managed to move after it did.)
Another disadvantage of the timer? Looking tense because you're trying to take the picture and hold still at the same time. Oh, and I look like I have a Barbie doll hand, because I'm holding the remote in my right hand. :D (Seriously, Barbie dolls always have their hands partially open like that...always makes sure the sleeves of their outfits get caught on the thumb...very annoying. But I digress.)
And could my arms look any longer and skinnier?? Goodness. Maybe sleeveless isn't such a good look after all. :P
I couldn't figure out what other color of ribbon to put in it, so I just went with black. Anyway, I finally got that done, and now my only knitting project is a pair of socks that I started knitting and will have to make myself finish. I'm not too fond of how the first sock is turning out, but I'll have to make another one the same. And then I can go onto a different pattern and some awesome green sock yarn I got. Unless...hmm. Maybe I'll start on the green yarn with a different pattern and if I like how they turn out then I'll rip out the current sock and make a different pattern with that yarn! Yeah...that's sounding like a better plan.
Monday, June 07, 2010
8-15 depending on how you count
I'm never quite sure what constitutes having been to a state...staying there for a day or more? Staying overnight on a drive through? Stopping for 30+ minutes? Driving through?
I've been to 8 states if you count staying there for at least a day/sightseeing, etc.
visited 8 states (16%)
15 states if you count driving through or layovers on the way to other places/staying overnight. I'm not sure about Tennessee; it's not the most direct route, but I'm guessing we've gone through there to get to Illinois at least once.
visited 15 states (30%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
I've been to 8 states if you count staying there for at least a day/sightseeing, etc.
visited 8 states (16%)
15 states if you count driving through or layovers on the way to other places/staying overnight. I'm not sure about Tennessee; it's not the most direct route, but I'm guessing we've gone through there to get to Illinois at least once.
visited 15 states (30%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
Friday, June 04, 2010
Extremely long weekend
I haven't blogged much about what I've been up to the past, er, month or so, but just last weekend will require a whole blog post to itself. A whole...long...blog post.
The homeschool conference was Thursday through Saturday and there were several things I wanted to go to there, plus Mom and Dad and Colin actually ended up going this year too. I think Colin was a little disappointed in the conference; I'm not really quite sure what he expected, but he seemed a bit surprised about what it was. We all went two years ago, but apparently it was somehow much more exciting that year.
I also got to meet Lizzie and Sarah from The Random Digressors! We've been online friends for...what, two years or so? and finally got to meet in person, so that was fun! We went out for supper together Thursday evening. (I'm obviously terribly attached to my computer...and phone...and camera...)
Thursday night at the conference was the teen and alumni dance, which I went to last year and enjoyed despite the fact that I was older than a lot of the kids there. This year I think I was older than most of the kids there even though they split it up so that there was nobody younger than fifteen in that group. I don't have any problem hanging out with any age group, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun having hardly anyone my age to dance with. Plus I think I slightly freaked out a seventeen year old when I told him my age. We were talking some and I asked how old he was, because I thought maybe he was a little older.
Him: *cheerfully* "I'm seventeen"
Me: "Oh, I'm twenty..."
Him: *awkward silence* "Oh...! I see..." *awkward silence resumes until I get a new partner*
Um, okay then. Well, I complain about people saying I'm young, but that just made me feel old and creepy. :D Sheesh, only a three year difference (and I usually get along well with anyone younger than me!) but apparently this guy had a problem with that. At any rate, it didn't improve my feeling that I was older than just about everybody there and didn't exactly belong.
The dance was okay, but nobody ever really got a chance to figure out what they were supposed to be doing, so it was all a bit chaotic and not really in a fun way, at least not for me. It was supposed to be line dancing and swing dancing, but my friends who have gone swing dancing before said it wasn't the usual type, and that I need to try real swing dancing sometime. :D Comparing notes later, my we came to the conclusion that we had all three been thinking "This is making my legs hurt and isn't really that fun...why am I doing this?" So, no dance next year, I think.
What amused me was that after dancing, standing around talking, taking my friends home (Laura to the house she was house-sitting and her little brother back to their house), I didn't get home myself until nearly midnight I think. Whoo, I was out late after a....homeschool conference? Isn't that supposed to be all conservative and sedate, etc.? Well, maybe not...homeschoolers, ya know...unpredictable.
Friday I went to several sessions, bought books in the bookfair, and went to the talent show in the evening. Decided once again that I do not understand worship/liturgical dance at all, and that the videographers they had taping the show were going to have a very cheesy finished product if it looked like it did on the screens. :P I was lucky to be sitting by Laura's younger brother though, so we were able to make faces at each other about the acts that were...sarcasm-inducing, shall we say? Nah, there were some really good ones too. Some little kids who played the piano wonderfully, a group of girls who did fancy jump-rope tricks, and some guys who played guitar.
Saturday was busy: I went to one session with my brother, walked around the bookfair with the rest of my family, got lunch on the way home, got home, changed clothes, turned around and went back to meet up with Laura for the graduation. Our friend Lauren was graduating, as was Lizzie. Anyway, we sat through that and it was very, very long! It was amazing how many people were graduating, and that was only half of the group in that room because they divided it up. Then we all squished into the crowd in the hall afterward and took photos.
After the graduation Laura and I met up with her brothers and a group of college students/alumni that they hang out with and we had supper at Wendy's (I ate entirely too much fast food this past weekend. Bleah.) then went and hung out at Laura's house for a while.
One of the girls who was there is an osteopathic medicine student and she was able to do something to my neck/shoulder to make it feel a whole lot better. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but she moved my arm so that the muscles could go back to where they were supposed to be, and held it there long enough for them to relax. My back felt great after that! Laura was a little worried though...she walked in and decided it looked more like I was being tortured. "Ahh, why did I ask my friend to come over with all of you here?! Maybe that was a bad idea!" I assured her that Kim was by no means torturing me and that I was perfectly fine. :D
After we relaxed for a while and drank tea we went to play ultimate frisbee by the light of parking lot lights at Reynolda Gardens. The frisbees had lights in them too, like these: LED discs (maybe they weren't those exact ones, but something similar.) Pretty awesome!
Now, I enjoy throwing frisbees and ultimate frisbee even though I'm not very good at it, so I was having fun until I reached up (to actually catch one, surprise, surprise) and it hit my fingernails instead, bending my right ring finger fingernail back about a 1/4 inch. Not fun. At all. So after yelling in pain as it hit, and trying not to use any very bad language, I managed to tell everybody what had happened and a couple people took charge since I couldn't think straight to know what to do. Oh, and since the usual male reaction to injuries seems to be "SOMEONE'S BLEEDING?! Let me see!" several of the guys had to see my finger. :D
Stop reading if you get grossed out easily......but Laura had to bend my fingernail back for me. It hadn't broken, just bent backwards and stayed there, and there was no way I could make myself endure the pain and push it back myself. Thank goodness she's not grossed out by stuff like that. I'd been fine up until that point (I mean, apart from being in pain and bleeding!), but after that I started feeling faint. I don't pass out right away from a painful injury, but if it keeps up it's too much for me. So I sat down in the grass with my head down while Laura and our friend Rachael went to find something to wrap my finger with. Anyway, after all that I was still feeling sick and light-headed, so I didn't think I could drive home. So someone helped me to the car and Rachael and Laura took me home, although once I got sitting down I was starting to feel a little bit better. Anyway, they were all so nice about it, but I hated to ruin the game and all. Last thing I wanted was to be the drama queen getting injured and passing out. Ugh, me and my freak hand injuries. A broken finger from volleyball and now this. Yet I've played volleyball and ultimate both several times without injury, so it's not that I can't play sports or something.
So that was Saturday, I got home late, Sunday was church, a nap in the afternoon, and then Monday I pretty much sat around all day. Well, no, I made waffles for breakfast and brownies sometime in the afternoon, but other than that I think I sat around editing photos from the past few weeks. Not, however, 365 photos, because I've sadly stalled on that. I may start up again the beginning of next month, but I'm not sure. I hate to not finish that, but it seems like I've been busy with lots of little things and had hardly even taken any photos at all until the past few weeks.
To top it all off I woke up Tuesday morning a half hour after my alarm was set for, and had to rush to get ready for work, sniffling and sneezing multiple times in the process. At some point last weekend I managed to pick up a nice cold, so now I have an annoying summer cold. :D *cough, cough*
And that, was last weekend. All in all an awesome weekend.
The homeschool conference was Thursday through Saturday and there were several things I wanted to go to there, plus Mom and Dad and Colin actually ended up going this year too. I think Colin was a little disappointed in the conference; I'm not really quite sure what he expected, but he seemed a bit surprised about what it was. We all went two years ago, but apparently it was somehow much more exciting that year.
I also got to meet Lizzie and Sarah from The Random Digressors! We've been online friends for...what, two years or so? and finally got to meet in person, so that was fun! We went out for supper together Thursday evening. (I'm obviously terribly attached to my computer...and phone...and camera...)
Thursday night at the conference was the teen and alumni dance, which I went to last year and enjoyed despite the fact that I was older than a lot of the kids there. This year I think I was older than most of the kids there even though they split it up so that there was nobody younger than fifteen in that group. I don't have any problem hanging out with any age group, but it wasn't a whole lot of fun having hardly anyone my age to dance with. Plus I think I slightly freaked out a seventeen year old when I told him my age. We were talking some and I asked how old he was, because I thought maybe he was a little older.
Him: *cheerfully* "I'm seventeen"
Me: "Oh, I'm twenty..."
Him: *awkward silence* "Oh...! I see..." *awkward silence resumes until I get a new partner*
Um, okay then. Well, I complain about people saying I'm young, but that just made me feel old and creepy. :D Sheesh, only a three year difference (and I usually get along well with anyone younger than me!) but apparently this guy had a problem with that. At any rate, it didn't improve my feeling that I was older than just about everybody there and didn't exactly belong.
The dance was okay, but nobody ever really got a chance to figure out what they were supposed to be doing, so it was all a bit chaotic and not really in a fun way, at least not for me. It was supposed to be line dancing and swing dancing, but my friends who have gone swing dancing before said it wasn't the usual type, and that I need to try real swing dancing sometime. :D Comparing notes later, my we came to the conclusion that we had all three been thinking "This is making my legs hurt and isn't really that fun...why am I doing this?" So, no dance next year, I think.
What amused me was that after dancing, standing around talking, taking my friends home (Laura to the house she was house-sitting and her little brother back to their house), I didn't get home myself until nearly midnight I think. Whoo, I was out late after a....homeschool conference? Isn't that supposed to be all conservative and sedate, etc.? Well, maybe not...homeschoolers, ya know...unpredictable.
Friday I went to several sessions, bought books in the bookfair, and went to the talent show in the evening. Decided once again that I do not understand worship/liturgical dance at all, and that the videographers they had taping the show were going to have a very cheesy finished product if it looked like it did on the screens. :P I was lucky to be sitting by Laura's younger brother though, so we were able to make faces at each other about the acts that were...sarcasm-inducing, shall we say? Nah, there were some really good ones too. Some little kids who played the piano wonderfully, a group of girls who did fancy jump-rope tricks, and some guys who played guitar.
Saturday was busy: I went to one session with my brother, walked around the bookfair with the rest of my family, got lunch on the way home, got home, changed clothes, turned around and went back to meet up with Laura for the graduation. Our friend Lauren was graduating, as was Lizzie. Anyway, we sat through that and it was very, very long! It was amazing how many people were graduating, and that was only half of the group in that room because they divided it up. Then we all squished into the crowd in the hall afterward and took photos.
After the graduation Laura and I met up with her brothers and a group of college students/alumni that they hang out with and we had supper at Wendy's (I ate entirely too much fast food this past weekend. Bleah.) then went and hung out at Laura's house for a while.
One of the girls who was there is an osteopathic medicine student and she was able to do something to my neck/shoulder to make it feel a whole lot better. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but she moved my arm so that the muscles could go back to where they were supposed to be, and held it there long enough for them to relax. My back felt great after that! Laura was a little worried though...she walked in and decided it looked more like I was being tortured. "Ahh, why did I ask my friend to come over with all of you here?! Maybe that was a bad idea!" I assured her that Kim was by no means torturing me and that I was perfectly fine. :D
After we relaxed for a while and drank tea we went to play ultimate frisbee by the light of parking lot lights at Reynolda Gardens. The frisbees had lights in them too, like these: LED discs (maybe they weren't those exact ones, but something similar.) Pretty awesome!
Now, I enjoy throwing frisbees and ultimate frisbee even though I'm not very good at it, so I was having fun until I reached up (to actually catch one, surprise, surprise) and it hit my fingernails instead, bending my right ring finger fingernail back about a 1/4 inch. Not fun. At all. So after yelling in pain as it hit, and trying not to use any very bad language, I managed to tell everybody what had happened and a couple people took charge since I couldn't think straight to know what to do. Oh, and since the usual male reaction to injuries seems to be "SOMEONE'S BLEEDING?! Let me see!" several of the guys had to see my finger. :D
Stop reading if you get grossed out easily......but Laura had to bend my fingernail back for me. It hadn't broken, just bent backwards and stayed there, and there was no way I could make myself endure the pain and push it back myself. Thank goodness she's not grossed out by stuff like that. I'd been fine up until that point (I mean, apart from being in pain and bleeding!), but after that I started feeling faint. I don't pass out right away from a painful injury, but if it keeps up it's too much for me. So I sat down in the grass with my head down while Laura and our friend Rachael went to find something to wrap my finger with. Anyway, after all that I was still feeling sick and light-headed, so I didn't think I could drive home. So someone helped me to the car and Rachael and Laura took me home, although once I got sitting down I was starting to feel a little bit better. Anyway, they were all so nice about it, but I hated to ruin the game and all. Last thing I wanted was to be the drama queen getting injured and passing out. Ugh, me and my freak hand injuries. A broken finger from volleyball and now this. Yet I've played volleyball and ultimate both several times without injury, so it's not that I can't play sports or something.
So that was Saturday, I got home late, Sunday was church, a nap in the afternoon, and then Monday I pretty much sat around all day. Well, no, I made waffles for breakfast and brownies sometime in the afternoon, but other than that I think I sat around editing photos from the past few weeks. Not, however, 365 photos, because I've sadly stalled on that. I may start up again the beginning of next month, but I'm not sure. I hate to not finish that, but it seems like I've been busy with lots of little things and had hardly even taken any photos at all until the past few weeks.
To top it all off I woke up Tuesday morning a half hour after my alarm was set for, and had to rush to get ready for work, sniffling and sneezing multiple times in the process. At some point last weekend I managed to pick up a nice cold, so now I have an annoying summer cold. :D *cough, cough*
And that, was last weekend. All in all an awesome weekend.
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