Friday, May 30, 2003
Woo hoo!! It's FRIDAY!! And ... I have a dilemma!! My friend and colleague, Kate, insists that I have to NAME my cars (I recently purchased an SUV, and have decided to keep my "little" car for commuting purposes) because it's too boring/confusing talking about "the little car" and "the SUV". (It doesn't help that they're both Nissans!!) But I'm not coming up with any decent names. THUS ... the car naming contest!! Please leave a comment (yes - ulterior motives!!) giving me ideas for the names of my two babies. ;-) By the way ... if you'd like a visual idea of what they look like, you can find pictures of both autos at: my road tripping website.
By the way ... I want to point you, again, to a GREAT website. There is this couple of East Coast born & raised, city kids who are making a road trip that is similar to the one I made two summers ago. Their writing is a RIOT, and I SOOOO identify with them because they sound a LOT like me in their reactions to being "out west". You'll have to check out their online travelogue!!
So ... remember to opinionate at me about naming my cars ... and don't forget to read about Rick & Jen's road trip!!! Have a great weekend!!!
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
What a rainy weekend. We moved our "Picnic with the Pops" concert inside (even though the couple of hours during the concert were some of the nicest weather all weekend ... 71 degrees and blue skies ... but the field was under water still). The venue was PACKED (seated about 790, standing room ALL AROUND the outside of the auditorium IN FACT ... a lot of the people who weren't there in time to even get into the theater stood for over an hour in the lobby and just listened. What fun!! There was a group of Marines from Quantico and a group of Veterans from a local American Legion post who presented colors at the beginning of the concert. We played the obligatory (and AWESOME) patriotic tunes: Stars & Stripes Forever, America the Beautiful, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Star Spangled Banner, etc. And we played a BUNCH of "USO" numbers: Boogie Woogie Bugel Boy, a Duke Ellington suite, In the Mood, St. Louis Blues, a Big Band suite (with Sing, Sing, Sing ... my fave!!), etc. AND ... Sarah and Melanie and I (our Fredericksburg carpool) went to Taco Bell BEFORE and AFTER the concert!!!!! YUMMMMM!!!!!
The rest of my holiday weekend was spent half-vegetating and half-working around the house. Part of me wonders if I'll ever be ready to leave for Alaska ... but on D-Day (June 28), it will not be a problem any more. I'll just have to take what I have and make due for the rest. :-)
Oh - and ... another thing that I did this weekend ... helped a friend plan her first (alone) road trip!! :-) She's been wanting to see the Adirondack's ... and has about 10 days that she can take off this summer. She also wanted to see Niagara Falls, so we worked out a schedule for her to do some scenic driving, and then spend a couple of days in the upstate NY region ... and then a drive along Lake Ontario, and then a couple of days in Niagara Falls. :-D
In the meantime, you'll have to check out this website: http://www.uptoolate.com/rick/roadtrip2003/ ... which is where a couple is moving from Boston to Los Angeles. They contacted me and told me that they had read my website while researching their trip, and loved it. They're on the road currently, and updating their site almost every day. They even drove through (and MENTIONED!) the town of Cheektowaga!!! Go figure!! :-) It's amazing that one would actually end up driving THROUGH Cheektowaga (I didn't realize that Cheektowaga was on the way to anywhere!!) Anyway ... check out Jen and Rick's website ... their trip is making me even more anxious for my own. :-)
Friday, May 23, 2003
Good morning. Not much to talk about this week. We finished our list of places to make our reservations ... and now Dianna is calling to make those reservations. We had a "poetry cafe" with our students at school last night. It was a lot of fun!! This weekend will be split between catching up with some friends, our concert (and rehearsals) in Fredericksburg, and working on Alaska stuff. :-) Don't forget to check out my website.
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Wow!! The past few days have FLOWN by!! We have finally decided on all of the places where we need to make reservations. Luckily for me, Dianna is calling for the hotel reservations. That gives me time to do things like ... work! :-) Oh ... and did I mention that I finally bought that rain jacket. I really like it. It has zippers in the seems on the sides (up into the insides of the arms) so that if you get hot, you can give yourself some venting. LOL!!
We gave the Virginia Math 8 SOL test today. We'll have to wait for a month or two to find out how the kids did. I'll be waiting on pins and needles.
Monday, May 19, 2003
Good Monday morning folks!! :-) I had a very nice weekend!! Last night I had a rehearsal for a Memorial Day concert that I'll be playing the French horn in. This is going to be a WAY FUN concert ... it's all "World War II era music" ... meaning, patriotic music and then LOTS of swing and big band music. In the Mood, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Boogie Woogie Bugel Boy, Sing Sing Sing, and so on. If you're interested ... it's going to be a great concert. Check out their website. You won't regret coming out!!
Okay ... off to work on preparing my students for the SOL tests. :-) Please make sure you re-read my post for Tuesday, May 13.
Saturday, May 17, 2003
I went to AAA today and got my trip tik ordered!! WOO HOO!!! I'm going to Alaska!!! :-)
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Okie, dokie, folks!! PLEASE, if you're reading this, make comments. See the little link below? The one that says, "Comments". See how it almost always says, "(0)" nexxt to it. That means that there are ZERO comments. My friends husband thinks he is the only person who reads my blog. He thinks that I have no friends. He thinks that my mother doesn't love me. EVEN MY MOTHER DOESN'T LEAVE COMMENTS!!! It's easy!! Just click on the word, "comments", and then put your wonderful, lovey, dovey comment in the big empty box (you'll need to put your first name and your email address so I can write back to you), and then click on the button at the bottom (I think it says, "Comment") and it will be posted ... to ME!! (Please, please, please comment on my blog!! I'm begging you!!)
Sunday, May 11, 2003
TITLE: THE MOTHER'S DAY CARD SAGA!!!!!
I can't believe it. Of all years for my mother to get her mother's day card ... it would NEED to be this year!!!!!
The saga goes something like this: First ... about 3 weeks ago, I went to the Hallmark store and bought several cards that I had been needing to get. I then went to the Mother's Day card section, and read almost every card, and picked the NICEST card that they had there. I paid for my merchandise and went home. When I got home, I realized that I had taken the Mother's Day card and NOT THE ENVELOPE. (DUH!!) I wonder ... if the girl at the counter was pulling the cards out of the flap of the envelopes for the other cards I had purchased, and when she got to the Mother's Day card, WHY didn't she say to me, "Oh, did you not take an envelope on purpose?" Well, I hate shopping, so I refused to go back to the mall (where that Hallmark shop was located) to find out if I could get an envelope from them. UGH!!
Second: About 2 weeks ago, I found an equally nice card at Giant and picked it up while I was grocery shopping. I wanted to make sure that Mom got the card in plenty of time, so I made sure that it went in the mail about a week ago. I had taken it to school, and didn't have a return address stamp with me, so I hand-wrote my address in the top corner, and then wrote my mother's address and put the stamp on it, and mailed it in our main office. Done! (NOT!!)
Third: On Thursday, in my mailbox at home, was my Mother's Day card, "Return to Sender" and "No such street address." Double DUH!! I had mailed it to her street address, but MY town, state and zip code (it was in my head after writing my own address in the top corner!!) Can you believe that!? Well, I REALLY wanted my mother to get her card on time, and so I crossed out the wrong town, state and zip, and used black permanent marker to write the correct ones, and put a white label over the old, postmarked stamp. I decided to get up REALLY early on Friday morning (4:15 a.m.) to beat the rush hour traffic, I left my house by 5:15 a.m. and drove across town to the big post office "hub" at Merrifield. They can often get things to Buffalo over night, so I figured that if the card was in the first batch of mail, it might have a chance of making it to Mom in Saturday's mail. Maybe not!!
Finally: I just got home from church and some errands. I hadn't gone outside at all yesterday in the yucky weather, so I picked up my mail on the way in the house. Don't you know ... the card was in my mailbox again. AARRGGHHH!!!! This time, I can't figure out what was wrong, except that I hadn't crossed out the "return to sender" and "no such street" stamps on the front of the card. I give up!!
Mom - I love you!! There's a Hallmark e-card waiting for you in your e-mail. Enjoy!! I'll call you later!!
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Howdy!! I spent most of today working on my Alaska trip. I'm more excited about this by the day. My next quest is to find a backpack that will fill several rolls: first, to fit most of the stuff that I would want to take with me on any of our overnight side trips (like 2 weeks in the inside passage) as well as going into our other hotels daily. And ... it would be wonderful if it had a detachable day pack for carrying along in the car, etc. I think I've found one. I'll let you know. :-)
Friday, May 09, 2003
Another late evening note: I have just updated my photo gallery with new pictures of my nephew. Enjoy!!
Howdy ya'll!! Quick note ... some of you send me e-mails commenting on the blog (or lately, on the lack of postings to the blog). I'd love it if I got some more comments right here on the page. :-) My colleague's husband who I've met about twice has commented more than any of my other friends, and tells his wife that he wonders if he's the only one reading my blog. :-D Thanks for showing Patrick that I really do have friends!! :-) I'll write more this weekend.
Thursday, May 08, 2003
Sorry - I've not been good at keeping up with my blog this week. I've been scolded by several folks. Interesting that people actually read this! :-)
Really ... haven't been up to much. Trying to catch up with some friends, and have gone out for dinner several times this week (such is the life!) The most recent was Thai food last night. LOVE Thai food!!!!
As far as my Alaska trip ... I have come closer to finalizing the important parts of the itinerary (I think). I hate having to set exact dates to be in certain places. The last cross country trip I took, I would just drive into whatever town that I got tired in, and get a place to stay. Nothing was planned more than a few minutes ahead of time. This time, I have to make reservations for a LOT of the places that we want to stay. It makes me uncomfortable because ... what if the car breaks down or we get stopped up for some reason a few weeks before the reservations are set for ... then we get all behind. Ugh!! I'll just have to live with it.
Anyway ... I think that the next several things that I'll need to do in getting ready for the trip involve shopping for things that need to come with me. I need to decide on a back pack that I will consider using as my main luggage as we travel by ferry for two weeks ... I'm hoping to find a pack that has a detachable day pack, so that I can use that as a "fanny pack" for day-to-day stuff throughout the entire trip. I also need to get a rain jacket that can also be a wind breaker. I think I want something with a zip-in liner because the weather in the Inside Passage can be downright cold and most definitely will be WET. So ... back pack and rain jacket are on my list of things to do. :-)
Have a wonderful day!! I'll try to keep this up to date more regularly!! :-D
Friday, May 02, 2003
MY MOTHER IS THE BEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!! (She's also the best librarian!!)
I sent her an e-mail this morning after I posted my most recent about the Continental Divide. Within a couple of hours she had sent three e-mails to me from websites explaining (in great depth) the continental drainage systems. I can't wait to sit down and read everything.
THANKS MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-D
Hey, ya'll!!
I have a new obsession. Someone please help me (because the geography teachers I work with can't answer this question for me ... and they won't even help point me in the right direction!!) I want to figure out where the Continental Divide's Eastern side changes from Atlantic drainage to Arctic drainage. My geography colleagues told me, "don't know, don't care." (HAH!) I'm trying to find this stuff on the internet, and am coming up dry. HELP!! Thanks!! :-)
Mom - this ought to be right up your alley!! ;-)
