No, this isn't anything philosophical about my slow, plodding updating of the Tudor site or anything... it is *really* about a tortoise and a hare.
We live out in a rural area east of Austin and as a result get to see birds and animals that I almost never saw in town. On the way home on Friday, we were coming down one of the roads back to our area and had to veer slightly around a turtle that was crawling slowly across the pavement. About 300 yards down the road, a hare darted into the brush. I don't know if they were in the middle of their famous race or if it was already over, but I hope the turtle managed to pull it off again. Slow and steady wins the race! :)
BTW, I would have posted this and a couple of other things over the weekend, but our satellite internet connection was VERY flaky. The weather was fine in our area, but apparently the main control center is on the east coast and was getting hit with all the rain and flooding over the past few days. It seemed to be okay this morning, so hopefully it will be okay this evening and I can get a few more posts onto the other blogs!
This and that...
Well, I figured since I seem to be getting only one post out a month, I should do one in June before the month runs out...
First off, I'm bummed that the US will not be advancing in the World Cup 2006. I really thought they would play better than they did. Oh well, at least I have some other teams to root for, especially England.
And to continue a sports theme... The current audiobook that I'm listening to is "Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season" by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King (yes THAT Stephen King). I've been a Red Sox fan for about 20 years now (and a baseball fan in general for even longer than that) and I'm just loving this book. I think you really need to be a fan of the game - and being a Sox fan doesn't hurt - to fully appreciate the book, since a lot of it is just a chronicle of their experiences watching Red Sox games (sometimes in person, sometimes on TV). But I'm enjoying every minute of it. You've got to love the comparison of being a Red Sox fan to Charlie Brown, hoping that this time, this ONE time, Lucy isn't going to yank the football out from under you. And of course, as all Red Sox fans know, "Pigs can fly, hell is frozen over, the slipper finally fits, and impossible dreams really CAN come true." (quoted from a Boston Globe headline)
Speaking of Stephen King, my vacation plans for August are now set. A month or so ago I saw news about J.K. Rowling coming back to the States for the first time in six years as part of a charity reading with Stephen King and John Irving in New York City. At first I thought it would be yet another cool fan thing that I wouldn't get a chance to do, but then I noticed the dates were just a few days before we were planning on going to Maine (which is another Stephen King tie-in, since he lives in the lovely town of Bangor, Maine). So, a few emails were sent and arrangements were made and I bought tickets! We'll also be visiting Philadelphia, so it will be my first trip to that city and NYC (although I've seen it from the air several times). We're not going to have a lot of time in NYC, but one of the things I'd like to do is see the Holbein of Thomas More in the Frick Collection.
That's it for now!
First off, I'm bummed that the US will not be advancing in the World Cup 2006. I really thought they would play better than they did. Oh well, at least I have some other teams to root for, especially England.
And to continue a sports theme... The current audiobook that I'm listening to is "Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season" by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King (yes THAT Stephen King). I've been a Red Sox fan for about 20 years now (and a baseball fan in general for even longer than that) and I'm just loving this book. I think you really need to be a fan of the game - and being a Sox fan doesn't hurt - to fully appreciate the book, since a lot of it is just a chronicle of their experiences watching Red Sox games (sometimes in person, sometimes on TV). But I'm enjoying every minute of it. You've got to love the comparison of being a Red Sox fan to Charlie Brown, hoping that this time, this ONE time, Lucy isn't going to yank the football out from under you. And of course, as all Red Sox fans know, "Pigs can fly, hell is frozen over, the slipper finally fits, and impossible dreams really CAN come true." (quoted from a Boston Globe headline)
Speaking of Stephen King, my vacation plans for August are now set. A month or so ago I saw news about J.K. Rowling coming back to the States for the first time in six years as part of a charity reading with Stephen King and John Irving in New York City. At first I thought it would be yet another cool fan thing that I wouldn't get a chance to do, but then I noticed the dates were just a few days before we were planning on going to Maine (which is another Stephen King tie-in, since he lives in the lovely town of Bangor, Maine). So, a few emails were sent and arrangements were made and I bought tickets! We'll also be visiting Philadelphia, so it will be my first trip to that city and NYC (although I've seen it from the air several times). We're not going to have a lot of time in NYC, but one of the things I'd like to do is see the Holbein of Thomas More in the Frick Collection.
That's it for now!
How time does fly!
And not just the weeks between blog posts lately...
I just realized that today, eight years ago, I embarked on my first trip to Great Britain! I had been doing some freelance consulting for an science education project and had earned enough for a plane ticket and youth hostels (the rest having to go on a credit card), so I bit the bullet and did it! I went completely on my own, on my first overseas trip, and to prove just how crazy I was, I even drove on the left. I rented a car for the first week and then stayed in London for the second week. It was a great trip, although as I learned on my second and third trips, it is nice to travel with others as well.
Hopefully in the next couple of years I'll be able to get back across the pond.
Yet another month goes by...
Well, I certainly didn't expect yet another month to go by with out another post, but yet is has! The beginning of April was really crazy, and then it was a week or so of catch-up after that. I've been writing up some posts off-line, but I haven't put any finishing touches on yet... just mostly random thoughts and such. I've also been working on what will be the latest addition to the website and my continuing web adventures. I'll elaborate more soon over at the main TudorHistory.org blog!
Wow... a month?
I didn't expect that a month would go by before I got around to making a new post. And unfortunately this isn't going to be much of one... I keep meaning to start some semi-regular AstroPosts about astronomy (my "day" job), but I haven't polished them much yet so it will still be a while before I get any posted. My new laptop arrived today, so I'm going to concentrate on getting it set up, but look for more posts once that's done!
Hopefully back in the swing of things
If you saw the main Tudor site blog, you'll see that I'm mostly back on the mend now after being sick for way too long. There are still some lingering issues, but I can cope. As I've probably mentioned before, I work at a large university and frequently interact with the public and school groups, so I'm always being exposed to bugs. One of the hazards of academia, I guess. I'm lucky that I'm relatively young (I'll be 34 later this week), since some of the older folks around here have been having an even harder time shaking it.
Anyway, enough of my health issues. Maybe I'll have a real post soon!
Anyway, enough of my health issues. Maybe I'll have a real post soon!
Spoke too soon
Well, I *thought* was only going to be sick last week (and I was) and I *thought* I was back to nearly 100% by Sunday, and now I'm sick again. I don't know if it's a relapse or something new (I'm afraid it's something new) but I'm going to spend most of the rest of this Valentine's Day in bed, and not in a good way.
The one bright spot of the day was that my boyfriend, who is travelling for work and won't be home until 9:00 tonight, had some lovely flowers sent to me at work. See below (click for a larger version):
Two of my favorite flower scents are in there... roses and stock. Yummy!
The one bright spot of the day was that my boyfriend, who is travelling for work and won't be home until 9:00 tonight, had some lovely flowers sent to me at work. See below (click for a larger version):
Two of my favorite flower scents are in there... roses and stock. Yummy!
What's been going on with me recently
It's been a tiring past two weeks, and I'm afraid that I'm now going to be suffering through a cold for the upcoming week. We had our annual winter board meeting at work on the 3rd and 4th, which can sometimes be stressful (especially when people come to you at the last minute with a powerpoint and the computer can't read their thumbdrive). I'm glad that it is over with for another year, even though the banquet and open bar isn't so bad. :)
The Burns supper the weekend before was lots of fun, as expected. I had the honor of piping in the haggis (with a tin whistle, since I haven't gotten very far learning the bagpipe chanter yet). I'm not a big Scotch drinker, so I brought some Drambuie, which is a liqueur with Scotch and heather honey. Quite tasty! I also had some mead that was made by friends of the hostess' son that was very good. I've been wanting to try my hand at making my own and now I have good incentive. The homemade drink was so much better than the commercial stuff!
My head is starting to swim with the increasing congestion, so I guess it's time for me to get off the computer for a while and get ready to watch "the big American football game that takes place in a large round-shaped stadium". I don't really care about the teams playing this year, but the commercials are usually fun to watch.
(For those of your who aren't American, I'm referring to the Super Bowl, and I used the circumlocution because of the running joke about not being able to use the phrase in advertising unless you pay the licensing fee... so some people use creative phrasing to avoid saying the name.)
The Burns supper the weekend before was lots of fun, as expected. I had the honor of piping in the haggis (with a tin whistle, since I haven't gotten very far learning the bagpipe chanter yet). I'm not a big Scotch drinker, so I brought some Drambuie, which is a liqueur with Scotch and heather honey. Quite tasty! I also had some mead that was made by friends of the hostess' son that was very good. I've been wanting to try my hand at making my own and now I have good incentive. The homemade drink was so much better than the commercial stuff!
My head is starting to swim with the increasing congestion, so I guess it's time for me to get off the computer for a while and get ready to watch "the big American football game that takes place in a large round-shaped stadium". I don't really care about the teams playing this year, but the commercials are usually fun to watch.
(For those of your who aren't American, I'm referring to the Super Bowl, and I used the circumlocution because of the running joke about not being able to use the phrase in advertising unless you pay the licensing fee... so some people use creative phrasing to avoid saying the name.)
Burns Supper
Anyone do a Burns Supper each year? A friend from work is having one on the 28th (a few days late, but given the amount of Scotch that will be consumed, it's better to not have it during the work week!) and it will be my second such event. The last one was two years ago where I ate my first Americanized haggis (we can't legally get some of the parts that would go into a "true" haggis according to the cook), which actually wasn't so bad. I kind of wish that I had given in to my temptation when I was in Edinburgh in 2000 and bought a can of haggis that I saw in a giftshop, but since I had to carry all my stuff for that part of the trip I really didn't want that weighing me down... I'm pretty sure it was about the density of a white dwarf star.
NATIONAL CHAMPS!
Forgive me a moment of bragging on my alma mater (and employer) for winning the College Football National Championship! Needless to say, Austin went nuts last night and I only got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep. The game actually lived up to the hype. I think the football pundits who said it would basically come down to whoever had the ball last were right on the money. What a game!
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