Specimen in Multipurpose Cleaner

Last summer, I had the unfortunate experience of getting bit by a tick. Thankfully, the tick had not been on me long and I was able to tug (and yes, it required me to tug) it out with tweezers. For years, I have been frightened of ticks, Rocky Mountain fever does not sound fun, so I was quite impressed with my feat of strength and (seeing as I took some zoology classes in college) wanted to keep the small creature. I looked for some isopropyl alcohol. Since I had none, I found some multipurpose house cleaner. This I poured into an old plastic bouillon jar and therein placed the tick. My specimen was prepared and ready for further investigation.

Winter time has come and it is (past) time to pour the tick down the drain. I have taken a picture of it (see photo on your right), so the specimen will be kept digitally. I am certain this digital photo will help scientists in years to come.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

I planned to read Dracula for Halloween, so I checked it out 10 October and finally got to reading it 14 November, and now I've finished it with Christmas just around the corner. I must admit, a strange story to be reading during the holidays, but this book definitely had the ability to take me out of the merry world surrounding me and into the dark mist of Count Dracula. I can definitely see why this story has held it's own over the years. Written in first person by several characters through the use of journal entries and letters, mixed in with some newspaper articles and telegraphs, anyone can die at any moment. I didn't know whether this story was going to end happy or sad. And I like that in a book, when you've not a clue of what the author intends for you in the end. True, I found some inconsistencies in the writing (e.g., characters were extremely smart in discovering the important details of Dracula in one chapter, but in the next they'd unfortunately forget that discovery and make a grave mistake), but overall it was a fun tale. Some of my preconceptions were also disabused: Dracula has a moustache, Van Helsing is nothing like Hugh Jackman, and sacred wafers are really the secret weapon against vampires.

Christmas tunes to enjoy

I spent the greater part of the Friday after Thanksgiving at work. It wasn't all that bad, but to lighten the mood of the ghost town office halls and the air vent buzz, I tuned into a Christmas music station via the internet. The music worked wonders. I analyzed data to O Holy Night, Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, and the Hallelujah Chorus. It was like a Christmas wonderland in office 1357 - plus a computer, some research, and fluorescent lights. Here's some of what I like to listen to during Christmas:

• two albums my sister gave me a couple of years ago, filled with everything from Brenda Lee to the Madeleine Choir School
• Osmond Christmas Album (a childhood favorite)
• Harry Connick Jr.'s When My Heart Finds Christmas
• Manheim Steamroller (the earlier albums the better)

Happy Thanksgiving!

This holiday cannot be forgotten. It is one of my favs. It is my dad's favorite. And it is always right around my mom's birthday. Why is it a favorite? Yes, there's the delicious food, great leftovers, and lots of conversation that can't be beat. But most of all, it's the feeling you get during this time. This feeling of devotion, of gratitude, of holiday spirit that just seems to make your joy that much greater. It's that feeling you get when you listen to an instrumental of the Messiah with your eyes closed, moving with the notes and humming the melodies. Cliche, I think not, it's just downright true.

Fantasy Land in the Forest

We came upon this land one afternoon when driving around the back roads of our area in Maryland. We found a pagoda, a large building with Corinthian columns, a very large German-looking building, and a statue of Hiawatha (among other things). All of the buildings were worn down, the bridges were falling apart, and the statues were looking like they needed some cleaning. We stared in awe as we drove around this curious place. Come to find out, a historic developer has teamed with a new developer to restore these enigmatic buildings as well as add some new town homes. We took a brochure from the developer's office and learned that this was the National Park Seminary. Upon further investigation we discovered what gave rise to these architectural curiosities was a girls school founded in 1894. The building with the Corinthian columns was the gymnasium, the large building a main hall which included music rooms and a ballroom, and the pagoda was a sorority house. Apparently, the president of the school and his wife allowed the girls to choose what kind of sorority home they wanted (after looking through an architectural book they provided) and they got it. In addition to a pagoda, they built a castle (complete with a bridge), a Swiss chalet, a Dutch windmill, a colonial home, a Spanish style mission home, and an Indian mission home (hence the statue of Hiawatha). And Voila! You get a fantasy land in the middle of a forest in Maryland.

Look at this place back at full swing:

Pagoda

Spanish Style Mission House

Swiss Chalet

Castle (with bridge)

Dutch Windmill

And this was a school! I hope to take a tour of this whimsical place. For links to where I ascertained this info click here or here.

What came first

Here's a question: does life make your blog more interesting or does your blog make life more interesting? The other day I was talking with a fellow (much more extreme) blogger and she said "I do cool things so I can post them on my blog." Hmmm, curious... It kind of struck me and led me to the famous query "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" In this instance, what came first, the interesting blog or the interesting life? One would suppose it was the latter. (Actually, for any of you getting really technical out there, for anyone born before the mid 90s the latter would be true, as that is when blogs are noted to have begun.) Still, could the previous be true for some situations? For instance, I wrote a post on the use of "okay" to answer the daily question of, "How are you?" This is usually a passing thought in my mind, but when I wrote about it on my blog, it made my thought more interesting. Take your blog for a moment, what came first?

Like a Knight in Shining Armor

When my sister got married, she hired a video artist to record the festivities, edit the footage, then put it to music my sister and her husband provided. The video was good stuff and when my sister got her CDs back, she got a little extra. She got a CD back that wasn't hers. How did she know it wasn't hers? Well, it was Peter Cetera's Solitude/Solitaire album, that's how she knew. Somehow, the album ended up with me. Probably because I hardly had any CDs and accepting one that no one particularly wanted increased my CD ownership by 20%. I kept it through college and pulled it out every once and a while, to show friends and family the intensity of the cover or to listen to the song from Karate Kid (Glory of Love) in order to bring back the memory of Daniel-son and his girlfriend from the rich neighborhood. Now out of college, I've pulled it out again, and let's just say, I've listened to it more than once, enough to hear his brother's faint yet rockin' backup vocals.

Programming

Man, this is already a nerdy post. But still, I'll continue. I remember once, I heard one of my friends from college mentioning that he had a computer programming assignment to do, that it was taking him days to finish it, and that in the end, try as he might, he would probably get a C, at best. I also remember going through the QA library book shelves, showing computer science students where to find their C++ or Java or SQL books. They always looked so mundane. Now, at work, I'm in a SAS class, learning some easier programming (so I can review files that make up about 15% of my work). Man, it is brutal! You need to add a '.', don't forget to close all of your parenthesis, make sure you stop the loop, end the pointer, merge correctly, enter the commands in the right order, think about what's going on in the PDV. I must say, I am in the dark (even though my teacher is quite good and actually makes programming seem fun - did I really just type that?!?). Anyhow, I thought I had a grasp of the basics of SAS and maybe I can write some small programs, but I have determined that it was definitely the right decision to never ever consider computer programming as a major, a hobby, an interest, but only as a subject for a short blog post.

Aphorisms

The other day I heard about aphorisms on npr. James Geary, the author of Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, describes an aphorism as following five laws, "It must be brief. It must be definitive. It must be personal — that's the difference between an aphorism and a proverb. It must be philosophical — that's the difference between an aphorism and a platitude, which is not philosophical. And the fifth law is it must have a twist. And that can be either a linguistic twist or a psychological twist or even a twist in logic that somehow flips the reader into a totally unexpected place." Either I just wasn't paying attention in English class, I haven't been in literary circles much, or my memory just didn't find it important, but I have never heard of this term (or I don't remember it). After hearing about aphorisms, I've become a fan. All of us have heard them, in fact, you're very familiar with many (some I know the author, others I don't): Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country - JFK. Judge not that ye be not judged - Matt 7:1. Better late than never. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. In fact, we've probably used a few this week: Great minds think alike. If you snooze, you lose. Never judge a book by its cover. Some not so familiar ones are great too: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent - Eleanor Roosevelt. The root of materialism is poverty; the well-fed remain idealists - Karol Bunsch. Don't always follow the crowd, because nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded - Yogi Berra. When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace - Jimi Hendrix. Can you think of any?

The Karamazov Brothers

Last night I felt like I had a book report due. You see, I checked out The Brothers Karamazov during the end of July. Not once, but three times I received the pleasant email from the library: "The following books are due on mm/dd/yyyy. Please return the items listed below to avoid incurring a late fee." Three times I quickly entered my several digit library number and clicked on "Renew Items." Ahh yes, three more weeks (times three) to finish! Well, my time was up. Due on 10/01/07, and still not completed with 100+ pages to go. I must interrupt at this point and recognize that some of you may be wondering why I just didn't take upon myself the 10 cents-per-day late fee. The truth is, I've never turned in a library book late and why destroy the record now? Anyhow, 100+ pages left, so I read through lunch, worked, ate some dinner, talked, and then read some more. Reading, reading, at some times skimming, all the time feeling like my AP English teacher was asking me, wiggling her fingers, what are the themes, what are the motifs, what is Dostoevsky trying to say about mankind, what about the conflicts of man vs. man, man vs. society, man vs. self? The Epilogue is here, the final pages! I finished 15 minutes before the assignment was due. I rushed to the library and deposited my books into the receptacle leading to the entrails of the library. And now for the thought provoking essays to be completed in my brain. I've been thinking a lot about this book. In some ways I think I understand what Dostoevsky was trying to say, in others ways I'm still trying to figure it out. If any of you have read this book, do you want to form a study group via comments? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Dostoevsky's notes for Chapter 5 of The Brothers Karamazov, wikipedia.org