Tuesday, May 31, 2005

sigh

I miss Nancy.

news bites

EDUCATION: On Newsweek's 100 Best High Schools in America list, my alma mater, Sumner Academy, ranked 75. (Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7761678/site/newsweek)

COMMENTS: The magazine went on the rank almost another 1,000 schools. Blue Valley North and Blue Valley Northwest were the only other two KC metro schools to make the list (at 629 and 660, respectively). Go Sabres! Another note: The list also tracked the percent of students eligible to receive subsidized lunches, with 40 percent or higher indicating a high concentration of children in poverty. No surprise, the two Blue Valley schools had low percents here (just 2.2 % and 12%), and Sumner's was quite high (42.9%). There were a few other schools on the top 100 list with high percentages of students eligible to receive subsidized lunches. Children economically disadvantaged at home don't have the be educationally disadvantage. We, society, choose to let poorer schools stay poor. We continue the trend.

CELL PHONES: T-Mobile actually fares better than other carriers in the latest customer-satisfaction rankings by J.D. Power and associates. But John Clellant, T-Mobile USA's senior marketing vice president, concedes that ranking high in an industry that generally evokes sneers is "like being the tallest pygmy." (Source: USA Today)

COMMENTS: I'm a T-Mobile customer. If you haggle, if you play hardball, you get what you need. I shudder to think of what I'd have to do to get the same at another cell phone company. Most of my leverage comes from my threat to leave after my one-year contract is up. I'd have a tougher time bargaining with the other providers who require two-year contract.

Friday, May 20, 2005

some time away

To all my reader, I'll be gone hither and thither for most of the next week. But stay tuned. With my return I shall bring new stories and pictures. You all can leave comments and entertain each other until I return, though I expect few of you with hit that comments button. Lizalou42 may leave a post. So you all can read that.

TTFN,
theCallowQueen

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

yesterday's evening

Life’s good. Nancy’s here, how could I not be happy? I caught up with her and her boyfriend down at the Plaza. We walked around, her arm linked in mine. I’ve missed that.

Then my roomie and the G-man met us for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The food was good, the cheesecake even better. Portion control in the United States is out of control. But I never realized how much until last night. Three of us split the meatloaf, and we were all stuffed. I had a third of a meal and was full enough to hesitate to eat cheesecake. There’s something wrong there (with the portion size, not the cheesecake).

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

the return


Kaufman Abroad
Originally uploaded by theCallowQueen.
Anne Marie, the Kauffman abroad, is returning to K.C. for a limited time (just five days). She'll be in town to watch her youngest brother graduate from KU.

For all interested, she has some time on Monday evening to get together with friends. (Sadly, I will be out of town on Monday.)

About the photo: I took this photo during our backpacking adventure in Europe. Anne Marie is a Kauffman abroad. She is also a Kauffman broad.

Monday, May 16, 2005

a simple prayer

I was reading an article in USA Today about Billy Graham. In a sidebar, his wife is asked the question, "How can we pray for you." She responds, "That God's will be done, and God be glorified."

I love that simplicity. So often, I've felt prayers as attempts to try to force God's hand or to try to bend his will to fit our own. Life would be perfect if he'd just listen to us, right? So often, I've felt that prayers are for us and not for God. Do we respect God when we ask for what we think we need, when He is the one who says He knows our true needs? Not at all. Just my thoughts.

antsy to see nancy

I've been at work for almost two hours, but I haven't accomplished much. Yes, I could blame it the problems with the e-mail server. (Please work by 10. Please have my missing e-mails.) But not all of my work requires e-mail. I'm just antsy. I'm just antsy to see Nancy. (Hey, that's funny; I think I'll make that the title of this post.)

It's been almost two years since I visited her in Singapore. Has it really been that long? And I get to see her in just a few hours. Yippee!

Friday, May 13, 2005

five-and-twenty years

One score and five years ago (minus one day), theCallowQueen was born.

My birthday's tomorrow. I’d almost forgotten. I know when my birthday is. I've already received my birthday present for my dad. And I've talked about tomorrow with my friends who are throwing me a birthday party. But it still didn't sink in that the day was really approaching.

I think birthdays, like the New Year, serve as reminders that time is passing. What are you doing with your time? Do you realize how slow/quickly such-and-such has happened?

I was in a crabby mood this morning, slow to ready for the day, missing the lunch I would have been having with my former co-workers. I finally arrived at work--22 minutes late (but still before two of my co-workers)--and on my desk were cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, tortilla rolls, and potato chips. Latecomers soon added more cookies, crackers, and donuts. A feast for my birthday.

I was so surprised!

Suddenly my cubicle is the place to be. A former classmate who works a few cubicles down stopped in for a snack, giving us a chance to chat and get over the awkwardness of seeing each other in the halls and not greeting each other because neither of us knows if the other would remember us.

Twenty-five is a milestone; I feel like I should have something deep, introspective to write. I don't. Maybe tomorrow.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

windermere at sunset


Windermere at sunset
Originally uploaded by theCallowQueen.
Location: Bowness on Windermere, The Lake District, England. The Lake District is in the upper west side of England. This photo is of the boats docked in Bowness' harbor on Lake Windermere.

Anne Marie and I stayed in a pleasant little hostel in Windermere a few miles up the main road. But we walked to Bowness almost every evening for dinner and to sit by the water.

Most days we'd take an open-topped bus to the nearby towns of Grasmere or Ambleside. And from these towns we'd take long (3-9 hour) hikes, walks, and treks around Grasmere Lake or up to Alcock Tarn, a hanging lake formed by glaciers situated high up in the mountainous hills.

I love pedestrian paths. There are public pathways for people or bikes or horses through pastures and farmland. You must respect the property your crossing and stick to the path, but it's the best way to travel from place to place--much more interesting than along a road or sidewalk.

We spent a week in the Lake District. We weren't even going to visit. Logically we should have stopped in the Lake District after we were in Edinburgh, but we went to Dublin. We should have stopped in the Lake District while we were up in Liverpool, but we went down to the Cottswolds and Bath. Then we went back up to the Lake District on a whim.

I'm glad we did. One of my favorite places. We ended up staying a few days longer because the train workers were on strike, and we weren't in the mood to deal with long bus rides all the way to Canterbury.

Time: Just after sunset. Wearing well through September.

Climate: Kept my jacket on unless I was on a hike.

Temperament: Enjoying the water, the swans, the ducks, the beauty of the hills and mountains. This was our first day in the Lake District. Feeling the release of stress. The Lake District was our holiday from our holiday (by now we'd been trained to say we're on holiday instead of vacation; I rather like it). It felt good to get away and up into the hills. I loved those walks--the longer the better. I did get stressed out during our stay.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

mac junior returns

Yesterday I was reminded what my life was missing. I’d forgotten what I used to love. If you’ve seen my photos on Flickr, you may have noticed that all of them were taken over two years ago. I used to be a picture-taking fiend. I was the first of my friends with a digital camera. I took pictures of everything, everywhere, and then I just stopped.

Why had I stopped? I’d almost forgotten myself until a request from my dad brought the memories flooding back.

He wanted to fix my PowerBook. That was it. That was why I’d stopped taking pictures. Spiritually, I’d lost my computer. In the temporal world, my Mac lay broken in a box out of my sight.

Two years ago, I was in a very bad car wreck. My little laptop, which I named Mac Junior, ended up wedged in my windshield. I’m very lucky that it wasn’t me in that windshield. Needless to say, I avoided all thoughts and things relating to that accident. That included my laptop and the things associated with it, such as my pictures.

Then I started a blog. Soon after I wanted to add a picture. That brought me to Flickr. Since I had the account, why not upload some of my old pictures from Europe, I thought. I’ve taken some good ones, ones I’m proud of. Looking at all those photos, I began to miss my little hobby.

And then my dad asked if he could fix my Mac. I didn’t want to think about it. The Mac was broken. I’d been told it would cost more than it was worth to repair it—if it could even be repaired. My dad was crazy. But I gave him my computer anyway.

My father is, of course, rarely crazy. He was sure this company in California could fix my little Mac without a too-high cost.

Yesterday, my dad came over to my apartment with Mac Junior—fixed. It was a weird feeling to have that slim silver box in my hands again. It was a good feeling to, a healing feeling. My little laptop is no longer in its pristine newness, but it’s back. It’s with me. It works. And I’m happy.

What’s more, I rediscovered my pictures, which had been sitting and waiting for me on Mac Junior’s hard drive. Life. I discovered life on that hard drive. Pictures of my trip to Singapore. Pictures of my friends. Pictures of my cousin’s wedding. My life. A good life. A full life. A happy life.

Thanks, Dad, for fixing my Mac. Thanks for helping me finally put that horrible wreck behind me. It was the perfect birthday present. I love you.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

word of the day: vlog

vlog, n. a blog that incorporates video clips
vlogger, n.
These are two new entries in the Oxford English Dictionary. (So new my spell checker wanted to correct as flog and flogging--ouch!)

Monday, May 09, 2005

jealous lizalou42

If you look down the left column of this blog, you'll see my new Flickr badge with some of my photos. My dear friend lizalou42 tried to do the same on the profile page of her blog without success. I felt bad for her lack of Flickr coolness, so I thought I'd plug her pictures on my blog. You can see more of the great photos she took during her recent trip to Japan here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizalou42.

Friday, May 06, 2005

word of the day: enormity

enormity n. an outrageous, improper, vicious, or immoral act
Enormity is often used in place of enormousness to mark something in extraordinarily great size, number, or degree, because enormousness sounds like a made up word.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

hack, cough, hack, ick

The woman in the cubicle catty-corner to me has perma-cough. My first day at work, I simply thought she had a cold. But I'm on my fourth week here and she's still hacking away. I cringe each time. She coughs a dry want-to-be-phlegm cough once or twice every minute. She clears her throat and starts again.

It sounds painful.
Sometimes it's so bad I want to jump up, run over, and ask if I could get her some water.
Sometimes it's so bad I want to run from this cubicle screaming.

I can't work in these conditions. I'd feel OK complaining about the guy who talks loudly on the phone all the time. Hey, I used to be that person at my old job. I'm fine with complaining about that. But, how would one complain about the noise created from a probably chronic health problem? I just can't do that.

So I try to push my little ear-bud headphones deeper into my ear canals. I turn up the music a little louder. And I try in vain to concentrate on my editing.

Monday, May 02, 2005

doing laundry in riomaggorie

Location: Riomaggorie, Italy. One of five towns along the Mediterranean called La Cinque Terre.

Time: Early evening one day late in October 2002

Climate: Warm, sunny, and wonderful

Temperament: Calm, content, and very happy

This really is probably one of the most beautiful and relaxing places I've ever been. It makes me happy just thinking about it.

When Anne Marie tried to hang our own laundry out to dry, the woman in the apartment below us yelled and scolded us for dripping water on her newly cleaned patio.
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