Category Archives: technology

in the mail

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This week, the mail has been my friend. Normally, it brings bills and information about any number of business schools that I won’t be applying to, but this week was different. Sure, it helped that I ordered a few things online, but I was so surprised how quickly they all arrived.

So, here they are (and remember, we all choose to spend our money in different ways…don’t judge me).

  1. A letter from the IRS stating that I will be getting an additional $600 back from Uncle Sam.

  2. Cute, white shoes (not the easiest find in March) for working in my church’s temple. I spend five hours there one evening a week, and I’m on my feet a good portion of the time, so I felt it was worth a little investment to get shoes that were comfortable. They are amazing. Seriously amazing. I actually ended up ordering another pair (in a different style and color) because they are cute (okay, maybe not the latest trend…but still cute) and comfortable. Not the norm for me, I know.

  3. A nutrition scale. I actually used to have one (probably still do buried in the depths of my storage unit), but after spending five hours looking for it one Saturday, I decided that maybe it didn’t want to be found. I was just going to order the same one, but as with all things technology, some advancements have been made since I purchased my original one, so I ordered this one instead. It arrived on Monday. I am in love. (Is that possible?) It is amazing. I can add multiple ingredients and it keeps track of everything and will store it. No more guessing when I’m trying to calculate points. No more asking, “Is that 1.5 cups of whole strawberries? Sliced strawberries?” I can just put things on the scale and know immediately. Yes, yes, I think I really am in love.

  4. My new passport. My old one was going to expire in April and with a possible trip out of the country in May (I will be posting all about it soon), I really needed to get the new one before the old one expired. Not to mention the fact that I was taught by my mother that you should always have a current passport as you never know when you might need to leave the country unexpectedly. Ha ha ha. As in, sometimes there are deals on air travel that you just can’t pass up. It’s interesting. I haven’t been out of the country in seven years (which is a long time for me), and yet I think if I didn’t have a passport, I’d feel trapped. I mean, I love my country, but there’s something comforting about knowing I can leave it at any time.

video may have killed the radio star…

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But it has made it possible for you to see just how cute my nephew really is! Bear with me as I am not the greatest videographer…I like to take still shots much, much better. But it was fun to play with the new camera. (You won’t see any of me, but you can hear me…sometimes I say stupid things, and sometimes my little brother likes to point that out to me).

  1. I am grateful for technology…specifically that my new point and shoot digital camera that takes amazing videos. I have no desire at this point in my life to actually own a video camera, but this gets the job done. Sorry this video is a little long…but I have zero editing skills as of yet.

  2. I am grateful for my newfound love of the Wall Street Journal. It’s very strange, but I find it fascinating.

  3. I am grateful for my perfect eye-sight. Every so often, I think glasses would be fun…but then I get over it. I hate getting ready for bed as it is, and I’m sure I’d be a contact wearer if I could be, so that would just add one more step.

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.

Lionel Hampton

dear you…inspired by true movies

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If any of the trailers don’t show up, try refreshing the page. Apparently, they’re a little shy at times. Also, be warned (thanks Adriane for the comment), some of the trailers may give away a lot of the movie.

Dear Becoming Jane,

Whoever decided that a woman in her mid-thirties should look like an old maid on her death bed is an idiot. You were a great movie. Sad, but great. I loved so many things about you. But really, that last scene almost killed you. You just needed to fire whoever was calling the shots on Anne Hathaway’s makeup. I realize that Jane Austen didn’t have the many, many anti-aging methods now available, but really, there is no way she looked like that. I mean, her sister-in-law was older than she was and didn’t look so old. Were you trying to send a message that married people age better than single people? Were you trying to make me dread my thirties? Help me understand what you would allow such a travesty to happen.

With much sadness and fear for my future,

Chloe

Dear mother who thought bringing her 1-year-old to see Bourne Supremacy in the theater was a good idea,

Why would you ever think that was a good idea? First, it’s totally inconsiderate. If you can’t find a babysitter, don’t go to the movie. Or go see Shrek 3. Or wait until you can find a sitter. Or wait until the movie comes out of video.

If it was only for my comfort, I would not be writing this letter. However, that is not my only concern, nor is it my greatest. I don’t know if you realize this, but the decibel level in movie theaters can and will seriously damage your poor child’s ears. It’s one thing for us, as adults, to subject ourselves to the ear-damaging sound in the theater, it is quite another to inflict it on an infant. Especially since infants’ ears are so much more sensitive, and thus, more easily damaged.

My final concern is similar to the second. Do you really want to expose your baby to all of that violence as a baby? I mean, really. Do you think just because your baby can’t talk that he can’t be damaged by all of it?

I realize that I don’t have children and so, may not understand how hard it is to forgo my desires for my baby’s health and well-being. But I’m pretty sure that I will think about those things before getting myself pregnant. Maybe you should have, as well.

With much concern,

A single girl who wonders why you get to be a mother right now and she doesn’t

Dear High School Musical 2,

While I fully expected cheese and was very entertained by it, and you have provided me with a fantastic new “breakup song”, I do have limits and those limits start with fake shooting stars, followed closely by singing reflections in a pond, and end with lanterns that mysteriously float away, when nothing about the movie contains any other “magic”. Oh, and I can’t neglect to mention the fireworks. Seriously, you need to fire your special effects people if that’s what they are producing. Or your writers, if that’s what they wrote into the script. Or whoever made the decision not leave those bits of film on the cutting room floor.

With much embarrassment (for you and me),

A closet fan

Dear Hairspray,

Thank you! I love you! I wasn’t sure what I thought about John Travolta, but he was divine, as were all of the other actors. I even liked Amanda Bynes. All of it was amazing…okay, maybe the singing picture of Tracy was a bit much, but you’re a musical, so I guess it’s to be expected. Oh, and excellent choice with Christopher Walken. As Sarah put it, “he’s hilarious and terrifying all at the same time.” I can’t say enough about you. You are a new favorite. Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t have chosen Michelle Pfeiffer. I mean, she’s kind of fake looking and really, her singing voice is not my favorite. And even that’s forgivable. I mean, the audience is supposed to hate her, and I did. You are really and truly brilliant. Perfectly delightful!

With much love,

A huge fan (not huge like Edna Turnblad, but huge in the sense that I really love you and sing your praises)

Dear Stardust,

Thank you for being such a perfect movie. You have everything, laughter, adventure and romance. You will be the next DVD I purchase now that I have a budget. You are The Princess Bride for my generation. Okay, so The Princess Bride was The Princess Bride for my generation. But you are fantastic just the same.

I do have to say that I am truly grateful that the first time I saw you there were no crazy hyenas in the audience. I wonder if that woman knew she sounded like a crazy fool. Hmm? Anyway, even with the loud and inappropriately timed laughter, I liked you even more the second time. Robert De Niro was perfect for his role. And that Charlie Cox…delicious!

With many smiles,

A huge fan of the truly romantic comedy

in pieces

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This title refers to both how I am going to post about the trip to D.C. and the state of my body after running 15 miles. I’m not a fan of travel logs or play by plays (I find them a bit, well, boring), so I’m going to try to keep things as interesting as possible. I have a million thoughts to share, so this may take a while. If you would like another perspective on any of the weekend activities, you can visit Anne’s blog.

So, let’s go ahead and get started with the run. I have some thoughts pre-run, but I’ll save those for later.

First of all, 6:00 am comes very early when you are in the Eastern Time Zone, but still on Mountain Time and you don’t get to bed until 1:30 am. And it seems even earlier when you you sleep in a bed that is so comfortable, you really believe you could just live in it.


But somehow I managed to roll my butt out of bed and get ready for the run. (P.S. and by the way, when you are packing for a three day trip that involves running 15 miles and a presentation which requires professional clothing, you feel like you are the world’s worst over-packer.) It didn’t hurt that the aforementioned Anne was picking me up, so I had to be ready to go. Apparently that was her motivation as well.

Anne arrived on time, looking as bright eyed and bushy tailed as myself, and we were off. Part of what made getting up less difficult was the anticipation of meeting Anne. We have been running blogger buddies for a while now and we will be running St. George together, so it was so fun that I got to meet her and we got to run together. You are all missing out. We both had little “runner” gifts for each other. She gave me a fabulous arm band, which I used and I discovered that sweat bands really do help, although because it was Under Armour, I really did look like a walking (well, running) advert for the company with my tank top and pants to match.

The run was absolutely fantastic. Everyone here in Utah had warned me of the heat and humidity, but I got very lucky and was able to run in about 75 degree weather with very low humidity. It was great! What was even more great, though, was the amazing sites I got to see while running.


Have I ever mentioned how much I love technology? Like the fact that my phone can take pictures. The photos are courtesy of my camera phone. I have to say, it did pretty well for what it is. I don’t know what the little black marks are in some of the pics, but I didn’t feel like editing them out.

This is a picture of the Washington Monument from whatever bridge we ran across to get over the Potomac.

Anne told me what this building was, but I can’t remember. I do know that it reminded me of buildings in France and so, I loved it. (I know there are haters out there, but I am not one of them).

Duh.

Duh, again.

I will probably edit this one to get rid of the little black blob because I really love this picture of the capitol. Impressive for a camera phone.

Jefferson Memorial (I think) from the bridge on our way back.

Hain’s Point

So, that was our run…at least what we saw. It seriously was an amazing experience to run around our nation’s capitol and see all of these sites. Hain’s Point (the last pic) is my new favorite. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but it’s a man emerging from the ground (or sinking, maybe). Absolutely breathtaking, as were the 15 miles we ran, as in, dying for breath. We were both ready to be done at the end. 15 miles is a long way to run. I can’t believe we are going to have to do that, plus 11.2 in order to finish the marathon.

Having not run with someone in a very long time, it was fun to discover that a) I really do enjoy having a running buddy, and b) I can now chit-chat while running, as opposed to just listening. I do feel bad that Anne had to be the one present while I made the latter discovery. Sometimes I just can’t shut up. By the end of the run, however, we were both speechless.

The good news is that, while I was in lots of pain the rest of Saturday, the rest of the trip I was just fine…an indication that I am training how I should be. No blisters at all, just some fantastic under arm chafing. Anne and I were discussing the stages of chafing afterward. It really is fascinating. I wish I had taken pictures of each stage, but I only got this one, of the final stage…the crusty, painful, scabby stage. (It may not look that bad, but “the torture, I assure you, was acute”.)
The best part of the run, besides the fact that it was over and that there were 6 cold water bottles and an ice-pack waiting in Anne’s car because she’s brilliant, was going back to the hotel and getting in the pool. Seriously fabulous!

*My playlist is relatively the same as it has been for the past 3 long runs, so…you can check the 13 miler for details. Yes, we were both listening to our iPods with one ear, and each other with the other. My multi-tasking abilities are uncanny.

remodel…

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I’ve got a new look. The motivation came from my friend’s post about her “makeover”. I have always wanted to personalize my blog with a banner, I just didn’t know how. And once I figured that out…well, I just couldn’t stop. I should really just take an html class. As much as I enjoy the trial and error method, I think tonight did me in. I went through several different “looks” and had the foresight to save them all, just in case I want to change something down the road. My two biggest triumphs were figuring out how to get the mini-dot background into my non-mini-dot template, and how to widen the body where these posts are located. And, as time consuming as it was, I have to say that it was totally worth it.

A question for anyone…I want to make my header a little smaller and I’m not sure how to do that. I tried making the picture smaller, but that didn’t work, so I think it’s probably something in the html.