My thoughts for today...

8:15 am - You know it's cold when your nose hair freezes walking from the car to the building.

8:20 am - why! Why! WHY...did I lock my laptop in my desk and then leave the key at home?!?!? WHY!?!?!

9:35 am - when opening a carbonated beverage, it is probably best to not do so around expensive electronics...lesson learned.

10:39 am - it'd be pretty awesome if when they built our new workspace (cubicles, lighting, networking, etc.) they actually finished it before we moved down to the third floor. Instead we get to try to talk to students and make phone calls while surrounded by drilling, hammering and general construction chatter and clutter.

12:12 pm - Do you ever have one of those days where you try wearing something different (combining different things or clothes that you haven't worn in a while) and when you leave the house you think you look great but after wearing it for an hour or so, you feel frumpy, lumpy and/or generally uncomfortable and you make a mental note not to wear that particular outfit again...? That's me today.

1:26 pm - I think the reason I loved Cup of Noodles so much as a kid, besides the fact that I only got them when Ice Skating up at the Park City Ski Resort, is because it's the only time you could ever slurp something and get it all over your face and clothes and it didn't really matter. Unfortunately, that same logic does not apply to a working adult. Too bad....

1:27 pm - Surprising fact, mini kit kat bars are more popular than mint truffle Hershey kisses. Who'd of guessed?

3:16 pm - Another reason Cup of Noodles is better as a young thing - I am now hungry.

3:34 pm - Why is the last hour and half always the longest part of the day??

4:28 pm - I am currently using one headphone and answered the phone with the headphone ear. I think it's time for me to leave.

4:52 pm- Oh for the love...is it time to leave yet?

Shake it up

I'm a restless creature....sort of. Sometimes I will get the urge to just get in the car and go. Where? I don't know but I just want to go. I never do. You see, I have this thing called a job and I have rent and bills to pay every month. I would love to just jump on a plane and head to Europe or some tropical island or Asia....see something I've never seen before. It tends to come in spurts. I'll be fairly happy and content with where I am in my life but then BAM! out of nowhere, I get the urge to take off. Like now. I live a pretty good life. I have a great apartment, a good job, a plan for the future, good friends and family but I'm getting restless. I feel the need to shake things up a bit. Usually when I feel this way, I rearrange furniture. Problem is, there's nothing to rearrange. I have too much furniture in my bedroom - it won't fit any other way and I can't really rearrange the rest of the apartment as I live with someone. So instead, I'll just blog about it and try to find some way to channel my nomadic instinct.

Christmas Cheer

As of late I don't blog nearly as often as I used to. Sometimes I'll sit down to do it and I'll stare at the empty window of a new post and just draw a blank. I got nothin'. And since I'm not an entirely narcissistic and self centered person (not entirely) I wouldn't want to bore you BUT something happened this week and I think it's important to share....are you ready? It's December!!! It is the end of the 2009, winter and Christmas is upon us. There is fresh snow on the ground. Every time I walk into a grocery store I hear the gentle ringing of the Salvation Army bells. Santa, reindeer, lights and wreaths are everywhere. My apartment smells like Christmas thanks to the pretty pine tree sitting in my living room. I love the Christmas season. It is nearly impossible to not be happy. I love shopping for my loved ones and finding the perfect gift for them. More often than not, it is quite a struggle for me to not give it to them right away or at least tell them what it is. But more importantly, apart from all the commercialism of Christmas - the lights, the santas and food - we get to focus on the birth of Christ, our Saviour. A friend has been sending an email every day in December about Christ to help us remember the real reason for the season. On the 5th she sent this:

His hour had come. He was alone, yet among crowds of people. Alone He was, with eager angels waiting to comfort him. Alone with his Father in deepest sympathy, but knowing that his Son must walk alone the bloody and Tortuous path. Alone he had been in the garden- praying for strength to drink the bitter cup.

He who alone on the earth created the world and all that is in it, he who made the silver from which the pieces were stamped which bought him, he who could command defenders on both sides of the veil-- stood and suffered. What dignity! What mastery! What control! - Spencer W. Kimball (Ensign, Dec. 1980)

I love the commercial, Hallmark side of Christmas as much as the next person, but I hope this holiday season we remember the real reason for the season - Christ.

New SYTYCD Favorite

I absolutely love Jakob!

Close to Home

Books and Such

I love books. I love being able to escape into a different world and forget about what's going on in mine if I need to. Of course, I read quite a bit and I have quite a few books than I have read more than once. As a Lit major in college I got credit for reading and talking about some of the greatest books in literature. It was a pretty sweet deal. As I have continued to read and expand my own library since college I have missed talking about what I've read. I recently met a friend of a friend that has a blog called Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Woolf? (It's Woolf not wolf..as in Virginia Woolf. Get it? It's the simple things in life really). Anyway, it's basically a blog for people to post book reviews. After briefly perusing the blog, I've already found several books that I have added to my "to-read" list. I also have a profile on goodreads.com. It's a cool website where you can build your own bookshelf and post reviews and can read others reviews. I've found several books that I know love from that website. Since I love books and reading so much, I've decided to share that with you all. It won't be every post but when I finish a book or come across a book that I particularly enjoyed I will give you all a heads up about it. It probably won't be a review a la Who's Afraid but it'll be my thoughts on the book.

So to start it off here are a couple of books that I have read lately that I thoroughly enjoyed.

1. The Nazi Officer's Wife
If you enjoy memoirs and are interested in WWII/Holocaust, this is a must read. It's the story of Edith Hahn Beer, a Jewish woman that grew up in Vienna. She was a young adult at the start of the war. She survives by marrying a member of the Nazi party who later becomes an officer. It's very well written and the story of her life moves at the perfect pace. I stayed up late to read the next chapter and then the next chapter. It was a very touching look at humanity and what we will do in order to survive. She is first forced to live in a ghetto and then into a labor camp. When she gets back her mother has been forced to the "east"...Poland and eventually death in a concentration camp. She goes underground for a brief period of time but then, with the help of a Christian friend she becomes a Christian woman and moves away from Vienna. She then meets and marries Werner Vetter, a Nazi Party Member. It's not graphic or violent as many WWII memoirs can be given the subject matter. It's a close look at it was like for countless Jews that were hidden in plain sight and the everyday terror that she and many others must have felt at a knock at the door, getting her weekly rations, clothing, etc. Seriously...read it.

2.The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
This is actually the first in a trilogy. The second book was recently published and I'm not entirely sure when the third will be completed. My coworker first got me interested in this book but when she told me what it was about I was seriously disturbed and I wasn't sure I was going to read it. Having read it, I really enjoyed it. It's a young adult novel. Following a rebellion, all of North America has been destroyed and it is now the nation of Panem. 12 Districts that are all controlled by the Capitol. The 13th district was utterly destroyed in the rebellion. In remembrance of the Uprising and to remind each district the control the Capitol holds over them the Capital hosts the Hunger Games. Each district sends two tributes, one girl and one boy ages 12-18, to participate in the Games. They are sent to the Capital and then they are all put in a huge arena that changes landscapes, traps, animals, conditions etc. every year. Once in the arena, they have to kill everyone off and the last person standing is the winner. So now you see why I was extremely unsure about this book but really it's very good. It's disturbing but I think it's supposed to be disturbing. You have to continually remind yourself that the characters you are reading about are just children. It reminded me a bit of William Golding's Lord of the Flies. This story centers on the two tributes from the poor, coal producing District Twelve. I can't say too much without giving away the ending but it's an interesting story and really pulls you in. If you look deeper you could find the social commentary but you don't need to in order to enjoy the book.

3. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
I am actually currently reading this one. I started it quite a while ago but at the time, I had recently been on a "classics" reading spree and I just couldn't get through it. But now, I've been reading pretty "easy" books and decided it was time to have another go at Hardy. So far I've been enjoying it. It's not a book that you read just to get to the end of the story. You have to enjoy the language and the descriptions of what is going on. Hardy has a way of layering meaning on top of meaning. It can be difficult to get through but it's worth it, in my opinion, to persevere to the end. In Tess the title character gets into bad situations, gets herself out just to get into more trouble down the road. It's not her fault necessarily but it's not a real pick me up sort of story. In describing Tess's budding relationship with another character throughout the day, Hardy describes the rising and setting of the sun. He says

The gray half-tones of daybreak are not the gray half-tones of the day's close,
though the degree of their shade may be the same. In the twilight of the morning
light seems active, darkness passive; in the twilight of evening it is the darkness
which is active and crescent, and the light which is the drowsy reverse.

Hardy has a way of describing the world around the characters as a way of giving further illumination into the mind, life and emotions of the characters. I don't think Hardy is for everyone but I'm enjoying it. I don't think he'll make it to my top 5 favorite "classic" authors but I can at least understand while he's considered a classic.

So that was more than just one novel but don't get used to it.

Makes me want to do a little two steppin'

My coworker found this today. It's kind of catchy.