Leila on Nottingham RADIO
Leila on Nottingham RADIO
Co-worker's newest tattoo. She had a 6 p.m. appointment last night and didn't finish until 11 p.m. I'm glad I didn't go with her because that's just too long & chunk of time.
Nice, no?
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I remember racing as fast as I could past the orange groves and the Yeehaw Junction signs in my Dodge Shadow in the midst of my three hour drive from Boca Raton to Bartow, Florida to watch the 1996 Opening Ceremonies at my best friend’s, Tom’s house.
I couldn’t afford to fly to Atlanta and watch it in person. I was also so broke that I couldn’t even afford the gas in my car to drive the full 8 hours back to Atlanta. And besides, I had just broken up with my Atlanta girlfriend, Sara, because the long distance relationship rendered our love useless. So I didn’t want to feel worse by being in and around the places we haunted together.
I moved to Atlanta in October 1992 for college just as the preparations for the Olympics had hit full steam. I felt the energy. I could feel the excitement building.
And in February of 1996, I graduated college and took a job in Boca Raton across from the IBM Research and Development headquarters where the first IBM PC was created. My office was just across from the road where the chartered flight touched down that held Bill Gates and Paul Allen who had an operating system called Microsoft DOS – that would be a cheaper alternative to the IBM DOS.
And it broke my heart to be leaving the city as the eyes of the world were about to descend on it.
So in the sleepy town of Bartow, Florida where my best friend had taken a forestry job – we watched his small color television eating hot wings and pizza – wishing we were home.
But the saddest aspect of the Olympics is the week after; a subtle depression seems to hit the entire city. A feeling of, “I can’t believe its over.”
And now twelve years later, Beijing proved to be no different.
]]>If you can't go on a trip this weekend, you can go on an interactive one, at least! Take a look at this fantastic map of famous journeys - which just happens to include Phileas Fogg's Around the World in 80 Days path.
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LONDON ,England (AP) — Nils Olav already has medals for good conduct and long service. He made honorary colonel-in-chief of the elite Norwegian King’s Guard in 2005. And on Friday he was knighted.
Not bad for a 90-centimeter (three foot) tall penguin — actually, three of them.
A resident of Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, the original Nils Olav was made an honorary member of the King’s Guard in 1972 after being picked out as the guard’s mascot by lieutenant Nils Egelien.
The guards adopted him because they often toured the zoo during their visits to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, an annual military music festival, according to zoo spokeswoman Maxine Finlay.
The king penguin was named after Egelien and Norway’s then-King Olav V. When the penguin died — Finlay said no one at the zoo knew exactly when — he was replaced by a second penguin, who inherited Nils Olav’s name and rank.
The current Nils Olav, the third penguin to serve as the guards’ mascot, was promoted from honorable regimental sergeant major to honorary colonel-in-chief in 2005, Finlay said.
The knighthood ceremony began Friday morning with speeches and a fanfare before Nils arrived, under escort with the King’s Guard Color Detachment.
Nils then reviewed the troops lined up outside the penguin enclosure at the zoo, waddling down the row of uniformed soldiers, occasionally stopping to crane his neck and peer inquisitively at their crisp uniforms before being guided forward by his handler.
Nils was then knighted by British Maj. Gen. Euan Loudon on behalf of Norway’s King Harald V. Loudon dropped the king’s sword on both sides of Nils’s black-and-white frame, and the penguin’s colonel-in-chief badge, tied to his flipper, was swapped for one symbolizing his knighthood.
“He’ll be a “sir” now,” Finlay said.
EDIT: picture found here
another pic courtesy of jaypo
I've been thinking about the limited shelf-life of a blog post. There are only so many readers who will see a given entry. Take the one I'm writing now: some people who follow me may be online today; they may find their way over to my blog; they may read this post. But a few days from now, the likelihood of it being read plummets, especially if I have posted new entries in the meantime.
I understand this from personal experience. If I've been busy and haven't been reading blogs for a few days, it's unlikely that I'll have the time to read more than the newest posts from people I follow. Which is a shame, since I'm probably missing out on some great stuff. But that's the way it goes. Only so many hours in the day.
To put a more positive twist on this, I've decided to think of blog posts as being a lot like news articles.* A journalist writing for a daily newspaper has a window of a day or two during which a piece may find an audience. After that, it's off to the archive (or the recycling bin).
I'm curious. Do you ever dip into the archives of bloggers you read? If so, how often and why? Does consideration of 'shelf-life' have an impact on what/how often you post?
*Don't misunderstand. I'm definitely not equating my ramblings to actual news journalism. I'm just making a comparison based on transiency.
Well, not quite. My birthday is in eleven days. At that time I will be turning 27 years old. TWENTY. FRIGGIN. SEVEN. (How did I get so old?) I'm not anticipating it to be a huge birthday blowout like most kids get. Then again, I've never had a birthday blowout that is completely focused on making the birthday girl happy. I never had birthday parties as a kid with a bunch of friends and balloons and streamers. I didn't have a bunch of friends either. I had very few.
My 18th milestone birthday was getting adjusted to Las Vegas. Two months prior (and just shortly after high school graduation), I moved here from Minnesota....where the legal gambling age is 18. I got to wait 3 more years. Woo.
And on my 21st birthday, I was a bridesmaid in rural Pennsylvania. The only drink I had that day was a strawberry dacquiri.
But I digress.
Last year, I went to a local irish pub with a cover band.
Only a handful of people showed up, but they were the most important to me (with the exception of one girl who couldn't come because she had food poisoning. She's a very dear friend of mine). My then-friend Heather, who was about 5 months pregnant, even showed up. (Unfortunately we aren't friends anymore, but that was one of the best times I had with her.)
I informed the band that it was my birthday and it would rock if they could play some songs. Trying not to look at the tweaked out drummer who was obviously tripping off of something, I waited patiently to hear my requests. And waited. And waited. About two hours in, we went to another bar, with none of my songs being played. Why?
If ya pay them to play a song, they'll push you to the front of the request queue. (Forgot for a second that I was in Vegas and almost everything is money driven). I later discovered that I had left behind (I don't know how) an Old Navy gift card that was given to me by Heather. Another downfall of the evening.
I'm not saying I had a bad birthday last year. It was wonderful; spent with the people who meant most to me. Got buzzed to the point that I was taking pictures of whatever crossed my lens. (My boyfriend surprised me with tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. Hands down the best gift I've ever gotten from a "S-O".)
What are my expectations for this year?
Ay, there's the rub. That's where I went wrong. I had them in the first place. This year, I'm going to let whatever happens....happen. I don't have any plans other than spending it with my boyfriend and receiving haphazard phone call birthday wishes from friends and loved ones.
COUGHBut I will point out my Amazon.com wishlist on my sidebarCOUGH
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This was the scene in my kitchen today. Well, this is the scene in my kitchen every day...except Angel is normally much more excited about breakfast. She was being very patient....which is odd. Usually, she's just vibrating with excitement. I guess she wasn't as hungry as Annie this morning. :) Sorry the video is kinda dark. Most of our lighting comes from the windows and it's a really gloomy, rainy day today.
(and I should have a t-shirt with this one)
You gotta sin to get saved
--Maria McKee