I’ve moved!

I’ve moved my blog to http://spellingqueen25.wordpress.com

Follow me there!

Wait a Minute!

Delorean – Back to the future / No koffiekoeke for you

“You get one hour in a time machine. Where to?”

I would definitely skip the future. What if I saw something great there, but my time traveling caused it not to happen? What if I saw something terrible there and I couldn’t change it?

I think I’d head to the past, though I’m not sure–

Wait a second! I have “one hour” in a time machine??? You mean I can use it for an hour? Who long does a trip take? Or I can only spend one hour in my chosen time period?

After I make a trip couldn’t I save a little time to go back and tell myself to go to a different time? Thus having almost infinite trips? (This is making my head hurt worse than the conversation I had about infinity with two of my Twitter friends!*)

I have to quote Marty McFly in Back to the Future. He is frustrated that his attempts to warn Doc Brown about his future death have gone unheeded. Marty says something to the affect of “If only I had more time. What am I saying? I’ve got a time machine! I’ve got all the time in the world!”

It seems funny to me that you’d say I have one hour. If I have a time machine, don’t I have all the time I want?!?!?

Oh yeah, and shouldn’t the question be “when to?”

And it is funny that this was the prompt question today because there was a Doctor Who marathon today on Syfy. With a DeLorean you can only ask “when to?” But with a TARDIS you can ask “when to?” and “where to?”

*The question was “in infinity, are there as many even numbers as there are numbers?” Yes because numbers just keep going? Or no because only every other number is even and therefore there are “more” numbers than even numbers?

Anyone care to weigh in on this?

A Plethora of Plinky Posts

As you may have noticed, many of my blog posts come as a result of Plinky.com prompts. I’ve been a bit busy with miscellaneous holiday activities (including working eight days straight) and I haven’t gotten around to the Plinky prompts that have been arriving in my inbox. But they have all been good ones so I decided to lump them all together in one big Plinky prompt bonanza!

“Share what you know about your family ancestry.”

I do wish I knew more about my family’s ancestry. I don’t know my family tree’s roots very well. My mother’s side appears to be Irish and German. Dad’s side is German and something else no one knows for sure.

When thinking about my family history I cannot but hope to find something exciting. Like maybe I’ve descended from European royalty. Or from one of the families on the Mayflower! Perhaps there was a famous scientist or inventor in my family tree. The possibilities are endless! Well, maybe not endless, but since I don’t know very much for certain there is plenty of room for my (overactive) imagination!

My idea for my NaNoWriMo “novel” (The Not-So Secret Diary of Tabitha Neil) centered around a young girl listening to a story told by her grandmother that prompted her to find out more about her own family.

I should take a hint from my own writing and find out more about my own family.

“What do you want to be remembered for?”

I want to be remembered for becoming a great writer, of course!!!

But aside from that I would just want to be remembered as being funny, smart, hard-working, interesting, friendly, kind, and well-traveled. I’d like to be someone you’d want to have around to make you smile, help get things done, or just hang out with.

“What are you looking forward to this year?”

Nothing in particular. Is that sad? I just don’t expect 2011 to be much different than 2010. I will probably be going back to college (not looking forward to it at all) but other than that I expect to experience the same ups and downs as any other year.

Now what would I like to have happen this year? That’s a different question. If I could write the script for 2011 it would include all sorts of great things.

• Going to Red Sox games (maybe even sitting on the Green Monster!)
• Getting a paid writing gig (though I am super excited to start writing for Bottomlinesox.com this year!)
• Traveling to somewhere I’ve never been before (See “Where I’d Like To Go”)
• Making new friends and meeting even more Twitter friends “in real life.”

I don’t know if any of these things will happen, but I certainly hope they will!

“What is the single most important thing you accomplished this year?”

I don’t know. I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything too spectacular in 2010. I wish I could say I finally made it to New Zealand or had some of my writing published or decided for certain what I want to be “when I grow up” and how to get there.

But before I throw up my hands in despair and say that 2010 was a failure, I should follow Michael Nobbs’ advice and take a look at what I have accomplished, no matter how small.

It might not seem like an accomplishment, but I met five Twitter friends (@TheRealMBB, @paulrharvey3, @SilverFear, @Prouty, @TheBostonMench) in person this year. I’m not the most outgoing/social person on the planet, so overcoming my slight fear of “strangers” was a big deal for me.

I began my blog in January (and have totaled over 1,770 views so far! See “2010 In Review: Stats“) and wrote a “novel” for National Novel Writing Month in November. I hope that both of these will help me develop my writing into a career, but we’ll see. And I made it through another year without any major disasters (natural or self-inflicted) so that’s a very good thing!

2010 In Review: Blogging

WordPress.com surprised me with an email containing stats about my blog (“2010 In Review: Stats”). None of the stats really surprised me (I check my blog stats more often than a new mom checks on a sleeping infant!) but the email did get me thinking about the past year.

I posted my first blog on January 11 (“My First Entry“) though it wasn’t much of anything. Over the past year I’ve had fun writing. This blog (combined with Twitter) has given me opportunities to write for my fellow Red Sox fans. I hope that 2011 brings me continued opportunities to entertain and inform. As a kid I kept a dairy (called it a journal when I got older because it sounded more sophisticated) but didn’t write in it regularly. I think that blogging has encouraged me to sit down and work out my thoughts/feelings more. Plus it is always a big ego boost to see the number of views and comments increase!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my crazy/random/selfish/Red-Sox-obsessed/food-related thoughts in 2010 and that 2011 brings even better ones!

2010 In Review: Stats

The following was generated by WordPress.com:

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 154 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 129 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 72mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was December 1st with 37 views. The most popular post that day was Sigh.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, compaq-laptop.aol.com, en.wordpress.com, plinky.com, and alphainventions.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for canalinni beans, kids movie mouse, and how to survive a month without a computer.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Sigh December 2010
1 comment

2

About January 2010
1 comment

3

What I’m Reading (9/21/10) January 2010
2 comments

4

NaNoWriMo November 2010
13 comments and 2 Likes on WordPress.com

5

One Crazy Theory November 2010
6 comments

I Have No Resolve

I have given up making New Year’s Resolutions. I never keep them. However, if I were to make one it would be to blog every day. But I know there will be days that I just don’t have anything to say. And really what does it matter?

But then I think that I really do want to be a real “writer” and I had better get to work at it.

So I’m not going to call this a “resolution.” But I am going to participate in WordPress.com’s postaday2011.

We’ll see how this works!

Variety

Spices from Gujarat

If I had to listen to one album for the rest of my life it would be…torture. No, that’s not the name of the album. I’m not into angry-death-screaming-metal music. I think I’d go nuts if I had to listen to the same album over and over and over and over…

No matter how much you love something, too much of a good thing eventually goes bad. This is why I am so strongly against Christmas lights, decorations, music, TV shows, etc. before Thanksgiving or after New Year’s Day. (See “It’s the Least Wonderful Time of the Year”) If it is around all the time it will stop being special and start being commonplace or, worse yet, annoying.

As much as I love U2’s Joshua Tree, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and The Killer’s Hot Fuss, if I had to listen to any of them repeatedly I would start to hate them.

And I’m not much of an album person anyway. I was overjoyed when iTunes came on the scene and I could just buy the songs I liked rather than spend money on an album that included four good songs, five tolerable-but-not-lovable songs, and two hate-it-so-much-you-dive-for-the-next-button songs.

I think the 90s scarred me for life as far as album buying goes. I LOVED Ace of Base’s The Sign, Hootie and the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View and Gin Blossoms’ New Miserable Experience. And when I say “loved,” I mean really loved. I listened constantly. (Added bonus: Ace of Base drove the parents nuts!) So when each of these bands came out with a second album I ran out and bought it without even hearing many songs on the radio first. Man, was I disappointed. They all sucked. Bad. I don’t think I bought another album again for a long time after that. In fact I think this is when I started buying soundtracks. The Friends soundtrack started it. (Scrubs and Gilmore Girls are other good TV show soundtracks.) It was so nice to have a mix of songs by different artists. No matter how much you love a band, all their songs are similar in style, tone, etc. But with a mix of different artists, you get more variety.

And after all variety, they say, is the spice of life!

This Says It All

The question was “what does your home say about you?”

Where I abide says it all.

I still live with my parents. This tells you either I:

a) have no money
b) am too lazy
c) don’t want/am scared to live alone or
d) all of the above.

The correct answer is d.
Within my parents house, my bedroom says a lot about me as well. It is messy. Not half-eaten-sandwich-under-the-bed kind of messy. It’s more clean-clothes-piled-on-the-desk kind of messy (with a touch of tubberware-containers-in-a-stack-in-the-middle-of-the-room messy). I don’t have enough space for all my clothes and precious belongings. Or maybe I just keep too much stuff. Probably the later.

Why do I keep so many things?

a) I might need them in the future. You never know.
b) I’m emotionally attached to them. They remind me of a person/place/time/vacation.
c) I’d get rid of them, but they aren’t broken. Someone could use them. I’d donate or sell if I knew how to best go about it.
d) All of the above.

I think you get the idea.

In other words I am

a) poor
b) lazy
c) scared
d) messy
e) a pack rat
f) all of the above

Go me.

The Lost Week

Someone on twitter (I’d give credit where it is due if I could remember who it was) referred to the week in between Christmas and New Years as a “lost week.” In many businesses the usual staff is decimated by vacations so nothing gets done. Also many year-in-review shows are aired this week celebrating the year that was despite it not having come to a conclusion yet. As a kid it was the greatest week but also the week that went by the fastest as you enjoyed having time to play with your new toys without pesky school getting in the way. As a teacher it goes by too fast and you never have enough time to get caught up on all the reading, watching, and relaxing you hoped you would.

Photos That Make Me Smile

The Plinky prompt was looking for one photo, but I couldn’t just stop at one.

Ahh, childhood memories!

I had these for lunch practically everyday as a kid. I still buy a can every now and then.

I started and actually finished a creative project for once. It was just a simple gift card holder, but it still makes me smile.

Making these striped shortbread cookies isn’t easy. The recipe has many steps and is a bit tedious. It is also hard because they aren’t my favorite cookies, but I know my parents really like them because they aren’t “too sweet” (I don’t understand what the problem with that is!). Getting the cookies done always makes me smile because it is quite an accomplishment.

Of course, who wouldn’t smile when they have cookies to eat! (I’m sure you can all guess what the big, red B stands for!)

Taking a minute to wonder at the little things in life always makes me smile!

Dealing with Snowpocalypse

The Plinky prompt question from yesterday was  “how do you stay entertained with you’re snowed in?”

It’s is funny that this should be a question now because the Northeast just got pounded by snow and no doubt quite a few people are dealing with this issue right now.

I would flip on the TV and check out the morning shows and SportsCenter. In the middle of the day television programing just plain sucks so that’s when I’d turn to the laptop. I’d write some and check out all the blogs I follow with Google Reader. Then I’d either pop in a DVD (I received Inception, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me for Christmas) or pick up a book (that reminds me, The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan is due back at the library today so I’d better get reading!).

I hope everyone is surviving the snow!

(The really sad thing is what I described above as how I deal with being snowed it is actually what I do everyday regardless of the weather.)

Where I’d Like To Go

Humboldt Mountains, South Island, New Zealand

The three countries I’d like to visit most are

• New Zealand
• United Kingdom
• the rest of the United States

Honorable mention goes out to Greece, France, and Australia

Someone Who Deserves More Credit

Golden Cashier

Retail workers.

Ok, now that I am one, this is coming from a selfish place, but oh well. I think we all (myself included) take for granted the people behind the scenes of our daily lives.

You think, “I’ll run to the store after work.” But you don’t think about the fact that some people don’t get to have a “regular” 9-5 schedule so that you can have the opportunity to shop in the evening. And this about the weekend. So that you can shop after church someone else has to miss out on a lazy afternoon on the couch watching football.

I’m not complaining about the customers in the store. (Certainly not for without them I’d be out of a job!) I just think we call need to stop and think about other people as we go through our daily chores and errands.

Christmas Thoughts: Ornaments

I love decorating for Christmas. The Christmas tree with its plethora of ornaments is the center of it all. My mother started the tradition of getting an ornament every year. Starting in 2001, when we went to San Jose for Christmas, we started buying ornaments while traveling, even when the trip did not occur during the holidays. We’ve since added ornaments from Amish country in Pennsylvania, Atlanta, Baltimore, Hearst Castle, and of course Boston.

We have also amassed quite a collection of hand-made ornaments. Some made by yours truly, but others were made by family, friends, and students of mine. (In case you’re wondering, the ornament above is an angel. At least that’s what its creator told me when she gave it to me.)

Of course, many of the ornaments have taken on a sports theme as well over the years!

Two years ago I attempted to make a database of all the ornaments for my mom for a Christmas present. It took forever to photograph every one. And some ornaments were just not photogenic. I still have some work to do on the project. FileMaker Pro is a great program, by the way, for both simple and complex databases alike. (No, I didn’t get paid to write that. I really do like this program!)

Christmas Thoughts: Music

There is certainly no shortage of good Christmas songs. I could go on for quite a while about all my favorite tunes (“Do They Know It’s Christmas,” “The Christmas Song,” and “All I Want For Christmas is You” immediately come to mind).

But instead I keep thinking about other ways to sing classic Christmas songs.

“Jingle Bells”

Jingle bells. Batman smells. Robin laid an egg. Batmobile lost a wheel and the Joker got away.

“Angels We Have Heard On High”

In egg shells eee day oh!

And my personal favorite “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with comedic echo:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)

Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)

And if you ever saw it (saw it)

You would even say it glows (like a light bulb)

All of the other reindeer (reindeer)

Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio)

They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)

Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly)

Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say (ho ho ho)

Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight.

Then how the reindeer loved him. (loved him)

And they shouted out with glee

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)

You’ll go down in history (like Columbus)