The Clog Blog of the Dancin' Librarian
Reading: 1001 Pearls of Buddhist Wisdom
Watching: Our 2007 clogging show (making the DVD)
Link of the Week: Cloggers' Delight
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11/21/2003
1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.(0) comments
Finish the loose ends of our home renovation, finish the books I'm in the middle of, get all our current foster cats adopted out, get my Hawaii pictures printed and in an album, and work out the details for how to train the new ILL student assistant I will have in January.
2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.
Andy Brown, Jackie Cress (both high school friends), Rebecca Barnhill, Vanessa Wood (both college roommates), and Caroline Yoshioka Vore (longtime penpal).
3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do.
Hoo boy. Play the piano (I know, I've made some progress, I have to practice), read cat & dog fecals (sounds gross but it would really save CPS some money), be less sensitive to criticism, sew (again, getting there, gotta practice), sing on key (not a chance in hell, LOL!)
4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).
Pay off all our debts and those of our families. Fund a no-kill animal shelter in Concord. Travel. Build a community that needs it a new library. Become a philanthropist.
5. List five things you do that help you relax.
Snuggle up with Brian, read, clog, pet the cats, go for a walk outside
11/17/2003
Remember all that time I spent busting my butt to get a grant application finished before I left for Hawaii? All for naught. Apparently we're not pathetic enough. (Which is pretty damn depressing, when you think about it.)(0) comments
11/16/2003
So on we flew to Kauai. We got to the hotel at suppertime, so all we did was eat dinner and go to bed. The view from our hotel room window was Bali H'ai. Yes, that's the real name of the peak, thanks to the movie. The funny thing is, there's a ridgeline leading to the peak that they computerized out in the movie. The next morning we took a helicopter ride over the island. The mountain at the center of the island is the wettest spot in the world, 600 inches of rain a year! The island is very green and has tons of rain-fueled waterfalls. There is also a deep, beautiful canyon and the only-accessible-by-long-hike-or-boat Na Pali coastline.(0) comments
That afternoon Mom and I spent some time on the beach and by the pool. Dinner that night was with the Gastonia folks on the tour (Yes, we went all the way to Hawaii to meet 2 couples from the other side of Charlotte).
The next day we took the long way to the airport, stopping at some scenic points and a beautiful waterfall. A couple of big hurricanes have hit Kauai, which destroyed chicken houses and set chickens loose, resulting in succeeding generations of feral chickens. Some of these have figured out that hanging out at the scenic stops is a good way to get lunch, so we saw some beautiful chickens. Eventually we got to the airport, and headed on to Maui.
11/12/2003
Ryan Andrew Pearce was born last night at 11pm, 8 lbs 6 oz 20 inches and 21 hours of labor for my poor cousin Makenzie. Ack, it's hard to believe my little cousin is a mama now!(0) comments
11/11/2003
(0) comments
"...and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me..."
-Lee Greenwood
Today is Veteran's Day. Most Americans will, as usual, either not notice it, or spend the day griping that the mail doesn't run/banks are closed/etc. I personally think EVERYTHING should be closed, and we should all have to spend the day at home with loved ones (being grateful that they are with us instead of dead in a war) and the TV networks should show nothing but movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Platoon all day long. Something to drill into people's heads how horrible war is, and how much of a sacrifice it was to each and every veteran to go fight - and how much more of a sacrifice it was for the families of those who didn't come home. And how much we should appreciate them and the freedom they fought for. Even those like my father, who fought in a war he didn't agree with only because they made him, fought for our freedom, because he did what his country asked him to do. And even when America does stupid shit it's still the land of the free. God bless our veterans.
Graphics from Doc's Patriotic Graphics.
11/09/2003
First things first. Hawaii is a hell of a long way away. Worth the trip of course, but a long way away! We flew from Charlotte to Denver to LA to Kona. The plane food was actually decent (one point United has over USAir, though they can't come close to Olympic Airlines in Greece.) The Kona airport is pretty neat. There are no jetways, you just exit the plane via stairs and walk across the tarmac. There are also no actual buildings - even the baggage claim is outdoors, under a roof but open to the outside on 3 sides. Kona gets only 10 inches of rain a year so I guess that works there!(0) comments
The first thing you think of when you drive through Kona-Kailua is "Damn, but that's a lot of lava!" I mean, we all know the islands were created by volcanoes and that the Big Island (Hawaii) still has active ones, but it's still amazing how much of that side of the island is just black lava. But, it makes for very cool graffiti! People use white rocks to create graffiti on the black lava. It's not exactly condoned but since it's not destructive, it's not frowned upon either. All the major roadways are lined with it - mostly "Jane + John" type, though I saw a few political statements, pro-sports-team messages, etc.
We got there at suppertime Hawaii time, though it was after midnight body time, so we had a small dinner at the hotel and went to bed. I did, however, have a rather unique and tasty drink - mango juice, lime juice, and Captain Morgan's spiced rum.
The next day we got up butt-early and started on an all-day bus tour around the whole island. The first stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park. Back in olden times, if you broke a kapu (law), the only penalty was death. But if you ran to a place of refuge, where the priests lived, they would perform a ceremony on you and you could go home safely. People who could not or would not fight in war were also offered sanctuary there. It is a very peaceful place, beautiful. We saw a sea turtle in the edge of the water.
Next stop was a neat church with the inside completely painted with both Hawaiian and Christian designs. It reminded you a bit of Greek Orthodox churhes, though the paintings weren't quite like Byzantine iconography. Next stop was the volcanically-created black sand beach, followed by a lunch which ended with cheesecake with passion fruit topping. I had passion fruit stuff many times afterwards and never did decide whether I really liked it or not. It was very good on the cheesecake though.
The afternoon was spent going through Volcanoes National Park. We saw the crater of Kilauea, lava flows as recent as the 1980s, and volcanic steam. The geologist in me was completely fascinated, and it was neat to stand on lava that is only 30 years old! We returned to the hotel via Hilo, and went through the town - I forget it's name - that is the southernmost town in the U.S.
The next day we ended up not doing too much, because we were scheduled for a helicopter flight that kept getting canceled due to rain on the other parts of the island. We even saw some rain in Kona-Kailua - it gets 10 inches a year and we saw a half inch, go figure. Mom and I did spend a little time on the beach, just relaxing in the sun. We saw some neat birds and a mongoose. The hotel was incredible - full of waterfalls and flower gardens, just beautiful.
That night for dinner we went up to the Kahua Ranch, a working ranch on top of a mountain. You wouldn't expect to see cacti in Hawaii, but they are there on the dry sides of the mountains. The dinner was good, and the entertainment included a good musician and a touch of line dancing (yes, of course I joined in. Later when the guy played Rocky Top I also got up and clogged, which resulted in several of the northerners on our tour group asking what kind of dancing I was doing.) I fed a trained pig named Piggly Wiggly, and generally had a lot of fun.
The next morning we finally got to do the helicopter ride. We flew between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, over rainforest, wild donkeys and the Kilauea crater, to get to the active side of Kilauea. You could see where lava flows had destroyed neighborhoods, and we saw some active lava as well as parts of the mountain on fire from the volcanic heat. It was positively incredible. Then we flew under a rainbow to the coast and along the coastline a bit. This was the main reason my grandpa had wanted to go to Hawaii - to take me on this helicopter ride, which he'd done on his own years ago. It was just the two of us in the helicopter and it was truly wonderful.
Next we toured a historical coffee farm, which was interesting. We had lunch in downtown Kailua, then headed to the airport, where due to the lack of jetways they "forklifted" Papa onto the plane. (He can't do stairs well, so they put us on a moveable platform, drove the platform to the plane, and raised the platform to door level. Funny!) Hawaiian Airlines has neat planes - the interiors are purple and white. Your in-flight refreshment is a container of passion fruit-orange juice - I never decided if I liked that either, but I drank it on every interisland flight so I guess it wasn't bad! Off we went to the next island, which is another blog post! :)
11/07/2003
(Yes, I will get to the Hawaii story eventually. Things have been absolutely nuts this week.)(0) comments
1. What food do you like that most people hate?
Escargot.
2. What food do you hate that most people love?
Bananas.
3. What famous person, whom many people may find attractive, is most unappealing to you?
Tom Cruise. He's fairly nice-looking, but he ain't all that.
4. What famous person, whom many people may find unappealing, do you find attractive?
Um. I don't know. I tend to lean towards unconventional good looks, but I can't think of anyone in particular right now.
5. What popular trend baffles you?
How the hell can you walk in platform shoes??? Ugh!!!!!