Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Good morning!! :-) Just wanted to check in. Nothing exciting this week. Just wanted to check in. Keep looking at my website. :-D
Monday, April 28, 2003
Had a great weekend this weekend. After buying the new lens and working with the awesome conductor, I had company from Buffalo on Sunday. We drove around Northern VA a bit, walked on the Mount Vernon trail near Roosevelt Island, and went to see the movie Chicago (what a great movie!!) More later....
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Oops ... haven't updated for a while. Sorry!! I've had lots going on. I had the opportunity to play in an orchestra (for $$!! believe it or not!!) and have been driving to and from Fredricksburg several times this week. That's all done now (concert was tonight). I had a GREAT time. The conductor was the composer, and was wonderful. It was a blast!!
I also bought a zoom lens today. I hope to go out and play with it some time in the next several days. :-)
I'll write more later.
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Okay ... I have a question for anyone out there who might be reading this blog!! What 35mm film would you recommend for this trip to Alaska? Or can you point me out to a website, etc. that could recommend film for me? I am frustrated with this decision because I know that slide film is the best choice for landscapes, but I will most likely want prints of everything I take pictures of ... and want to use print film. I also don't know that I ought to be purchasing loads of rolls of slow film (ASA 100 or even 50), which would be great for long exposures with a tripod, but what if an eagle flies through my next shot ... then I'll wish I had ASA 400 loaded ... so should I go with the inbetween stuff? I really don't like 200 speed film ... but .... but .... but .........
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Hello!! Quick note tonight ... I'm exhausted and have LOTS to do. But I wanted to let you know that I have made reservations for our ferry travels in the inside passage. :-) YAY!!
Next, I'll be looking for places that will likely require hotel/motel reservations. Some of the smaller, more remote cities only have a certain number of hotel rooms, and once they're gone, they're gone. And, if you miss the last boat out, you don't have a place to sleep. We don't want that, now, do we? ;-)
Monday, April 21, 2003
Woo hoo! I'm totally stoked!! I have finally made some reservations for Alaska. I have definitely decided to travel north from Fairbanks ... on a 3 day tour to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean. I'll be north of the Arctic Circle, and will see the Yukon River. YAY!!
I will also be spending a couple of nights at a roadhouse deep inside the Denali National Park. Hopefully we'll see the peak (although it's rather unlikely!) and, weather permitting, maybe I can do some hiking and horseback riding.
We're on our way!!!!!!!!!! :-D
Good morning!! Not much to say ... it's the first day back to school after the Spring Break. I think that we'll schedule naptime about 5 minutes into every class period. That should put me back on track! :-) Have a good one!!
Saturday, April 19, 2003
Wow ... they really don't make Saturdays long enough!!
I was up at 6:00 this morning to start working on errands and stuff around the house, etc. It is now 9:00 p.m., and I just "quit". I'm not quite done with what I wanted done ... but am satisfied that I did a LOT of "work".
One of the things that I did that I'm rather proud of ... I installed a new toilet. From scratch. Put in a new water supply valve and everything. Now I have to check it for a couple of days to make sure that the seal isn't leaking. So far so good.
Have a very happy Easter weekend ... HE IS RISEN INDEED!!
Friday, April 18, 2003
Hello, all!!! (okay ... hello to the one or two of you who actually read my blog...) :-D
Unlike my friend, Kate, I had no exciting haircut experience today to tell you about. I got up early and out of the house early, only to arrive at the DMV 45 minutes before they open without the papers that I needed. SOOOO.... I got back on the road, drove home, got the papers, and got back to DMV to be about 100 people farther back in line (still 5 minutes before they were to open). Finally, TWO AND A HALF HOURS later, I finished there. Well, at least I sat and read a LOT about efficient packing (with my Alaska trip in mind) ..... (yes ... I have a BOOK about efficient packing!!) ..... (no, Mom, I didn't have this book before the last time I fllew to Buffalo!) :-D
The rest of my day was boring ... running errands, etc. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
BUT ... the bright spot in my day was a yummy lunch with a very dear friend who I don't often get to have lengthy chats with. YAY!! We had a very nice time (and I got to have LAMB gyro. I LOVE lamb!!)
Now I've got "around the house" stuff to do, and hopefully will be able to be sitting down with my quilt in time to watch my TWO taped episodes of CSI from earlier in the week while working on my quilt.
Thursday, April 17, 2003
Okay ... the rain wasn't at all bad. In fact, the areas where the forecast was "freezing rain" had no precip. at all. The only rain I hit was for about an hour through the Harrisburg area. It wasn't bad at all.
I'm now back in DC ... unpacking, checking e-mail, making lists of things "to do" for the next two days, and trying to get all done with all of the above before I click on Survivor (where I'll be hoping that they vote Heidi or Jenna off) and CSI (!!!!).
I'm also uploading changes I've made to my website over the past week. Check it out. :-) I added new pictures of my nephew, updated my Alaska site, my main page and my Road Tripping site. Enjoy!!
Howdy folks!! I'm driving back to DC today. I figured that I'd try to find the rainiest, ickiest day ... and spend that entire day driving through the mountains of Pennsylvania. LOL!! Doesn't it figure. They're even supposed to be having freezing rain for about the first 4 hours of my drive.
Two random thoughts:
First of all ... one final note about the birthday party. Another benefit of attending a one-year-old birthday party is that I now know what WIGGLES is!!! Wa-hoo!! I've seen them on TV twice now since!! ;-)
Secondly ... I got to have BEEF ON WECK while I was here!! Truly a Buffalo specialty.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Whew! They came back. That was weird. Okay ... comment away!! ;-)
What happened to my comments? They've disappeared?
I feel a lot better about knowing the different driving times and distances that we'll be looking at for this trip this summer. I sat down last night and really did a day-by-day itinerary that I think will be rather close to actual driving times. Now I still need to decide about the trip up north. I'm looking at this website, and will check today to see what others are out there. If you go to that site ... look at the trip that combines both driving and flying to/from Prudhoe Bay. Interesting, huh?
Today we're going to visit my aunt who's in a nursing home, and another aunt who lives down the street from her. I'm sure I'll be on later. :-)
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Finally!! I stopped at AAA this morning and got information about the driving hours between Billings, MT and Jasper, AB. NOW I know where I'll need to make reservations and how many driving days I should expect. Whew!!
Lunch this afternoon with family friends. YUM!!
Monday, April 14, 2003
Wow!! I missed a day. Isn't that interesting!! LOL!!
That's because there wasn't much going on. I drove from my brother's house to my mother's house. (That trip, by the way, takes me through my old alma mater, SUNY Geneseo. Memories....) Then Mom and I ran some errands, and then we watched a couple of episodes of CSI that she has taped (yup - I got her hooked!!)
Who knows ... today may be more interesting. :-D
Saturday, April 12, 2003
Okay ... so I haven't been to many 1-year-old birthday parties in my life. Whoo! Lots of little kids ... and they all seem to melt down simultaneously!! ;-) It was fun, though, and my nephew seemed to have a great time (he didn't follow the melt-down trend!!)
THEN ... we rented "8 Mile" (after Ian went to bed). What a good movie!!! (Somebody tell Melen!) I must say that I really liked it. Surprise, surprise. Doesn't make me want to listen to his music. But it was a movie worth watching.
Haven't gotten much more done as far as reservations for Banff or Jasper yet. I'll have to work on that tomorrow. I'm trying to figure out how many hours it will take to drive from Billings to Jasper. There seem to be problems at one or the other of mapquest.com and maps.yahoo.com. The distance from Billings, MT to Calgary, AB is about 650 miles ... both websites agree on that. THEN ... mapquest says that the driving TIME is about 18 hours. EIGHTEEN!!?? Yahoo quotes the driving time as ten hours. Now ... I realize that some of this is mountain driving. But ... eighteen hours? And mapquest is supposed to be more reliable. What do I do. I can't make reservations for a place that I can't possibly get to in a day of driving. And ... I don't want to get stuck sleeping in my car because my reservations are for the next night and Banff and Jasper are too full to just get a room when you arrive there. UGH!! I guess I'm off to AAA this week. Hope that Western NY AAA will accept my Potomac membership for the trip-tik.
Later!!
Friday, April 11, 2003
Nothing much to write today. ;-) I'm having a relaxed day with my students and am leaving right after school for my brother's house in Elmira (actually Big Flats) New York for my nephew's first birthday party (tomorrow). Then, on Sunday, it will be shuffling off to Buffalo for the rest of the week. :-D
Thursday, April 10, 2003
OKay ... I MUST be in the 22nd century!! I am multi-tasking, sitting here watching Survivor, The Amazon, instant message chatting with my mom while typing my blog, and waiting for my instant dinner to be done in the microwave. I have arrived! :-)
Oh - forgot to mention that it's my nephew's FIRST birthday on Saturday. Woo hoo!! I can't believe it's been a year already!!!!!! I'll be there for the party. I can't wait!!
I'm still deciding about accomodations in or near Jasper National Park in Alberta.
f-8 and THERE - here's hopin'!!
Have a good one!!
Tuesday, April 08, 2003
I don't think that my blog will ever show up on the "blogs we've noticed recently" list. :-) But ... I guess it's good that I don't have all that much to say. ;-) LOL!! I hope I'll have more to say tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I continue to read about trips that go north of Fairbanks. I'm also reading about driving through the Canadian Rockies. Does anyone want to tell me about Banff or Jasper?
Monday, April 07, 2003
Okay ... I'm still working on my trip planning for Alaska (you'll hear that probably every day until I leave!) But right now, I'm trying to decide whether or not to accept the expense of travelling north of Fairbanks. Like to go past the Arctic Circle and to see the Arctic Ocean and possibly tour the oil company at Prudhoe Bay, AK. What are your thoughts about that? :-D
Good Monday morning!! Did you all remember to set your clocks ahead, or are you late for work? :-D
More later! Take a look at my website.
Sunday, April 06, 2003
Weekends are WAYYY too short. :-)
First of all, Mom. She had another little "episode" this morning. We were worried about her, but the doctor said that she should just keep an eye on it. She feels a lot better now. I'm making sure I talk with her once a day or so.
I also spent a good amount of time today working on researching my upcoming trip to Alaska. It's going to be a blast!! We've almost set an itinerary. There are only a couple of minor details to work out, and we'll be ready to make real reservations.
Well ... on with the "getting-to-bed-early" part of the weekend. Hope yours was good, too. :-D
Saturday, April 05, 2003
Not sure why the previous post came out like that, but the "edit" button is messed up, too, so I can't do anything about it. Anyway ... please visit my website.
Oh ... I think that I forgot to put the end quote on the html script. Duh!! It's time to set the clocks ahead and go to sleep. (Maybe read a little about Alaska before I find my pillow.) :-D
Have a great weekend!!
Well ... another Saturday, and I don't feel like I've gotten much done. I mean, I rearranged my living room, but that wasn't as vital a task as some others that I needed to be doing. The goal for the rest of the week will be to have the car packed by Friday morning, and be ready to leave for New York straight from school on Friday afternoon.
Talked with Mom this afternoon, and she's sounding lots better.
Don't forget to visit • posted by Lou Ann Aepelbacher @ 6:36 PM •
• 0 comments • • permalink •
