Halloween

Happy Halloween... a day early.  Not really since all the parties were last night.  Just the trick or treating is left for tomorrow night.  Unless you plan on going to work in a costume, which I don't.

This Halloween was more of an awareness of how fast this year has gona by more than anything... can you believe it's less than 2 months till Christmas??  Eric and I committed to just one party this year in order to keep from driving all over town like last year... which led me to feel the need to bring something special.  So I baked a cake.  A haunted house cake.  At least I tried... it didn't turn out nearly like what I hoped it would, but everyone loved it, none the less.  It was fun to do, though, so I guess that's what counts.

The costumes this year... well, I wasn't feeling nearly as creative, so I just did a pirate.  Eric, on the other hand, was very inspired by LMFAO this year, so he went as RedFoo.  With a little creative thinking (by yours truly) and some last minute shopping by Eric, we pulled together a pretty good costume.  Unfortunately, not too many people in Indiana know who LMFAO really are yet... not sure how, but they don't.  He actually had to explain who he was to some people.  The downside to living in Indiana... always behind the trends.  or maybe they're not as big as I think... but I know I love them!

All in all, though, we had a good time and there were a lot of good costumes at the party.  It's amazing how creative some people can get (ie - zombie Steve Jobs... really only works this year).  That's what makes Halloween fun!  You see traditional costumes like mine, all the way to your creative ones that only work that year.  Or just straight up creative in that you have no idea where they came up with it!

If you head out tomorrow night, be safe!  And Happy Halloween to all!

Proactive vs. Reactive

I've been pondering the recent death of IndyCar drive Dan Wheldon.  It was a horrible tragedy and a big impact for the IndyCar series.  Similar to the impact that the death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. had when he died in a race.  Both have drawn a lot of attention to their sport, not necessarily in a good way.  A lot of criticism followed regarding the safety of the drivers.

After Dale's death, NASCAR really stepped up their in-car safety requirements.  They already had restrictor plate racing for the faster tracks, but even more became regulated.  And what do you know, it's still good racing.

IndyCar had a safety meeting this morning - I'm guessing some safety regulations will come out of it.  Maybe even some form of 'restrictor plate' racing, however that might work for them.

The thing with racing... everyone's always trying to go faster than before and faster than everyone else.  Look back to when racing started... they went speeds that we drive now on the interstate.  Does it need to be that slow?  No... but 220mph is a little excessive.

The thing is, why do we have to wait until something major happens before we do something? They noted that many of the drivers were already voicing concerns about the speeds reached at the Las Vegas Speedway and were worried something bad would happen.  I think the death of one of their own wasn't their thought, but I think they all figured there'd be a 'big one' at some point during the race.

This goes for everything in life... why do people often ignore that little voice that says, "This might be bad" and keep pushing?  Why do we have to have all these stupid warnings on everyday products?  Most recently, some friends and I were laughing at a warning label on a hair dryer... "Warning - May burn eyes."  Really?  Sadly, you know it's there because someone sued someone over it (which takes me back a previous blog about stupid lawsuits).

Maybe this is why we're in debt... we've become a nation of reactive people instead of being proactive and thinking ahead of the game.  I just can't help but wonder if we've just become so competitive about everything that we've stopped thinking about what we're doing.  When's the last time you stopped before you did something major (or not) and asked yourself if it was a good idea, not just for you, but in the big scheme of things?

Obnoxious

Have you ever met someone who turns out to be someone so obnoxious and bull-headed that you wish you never crossed paths with them?  I'm not talking your typical stubbornness, but you're all-out, completely obsessive person who has blinders on to the world??  Usually it's a certain topic that sets them off... religion, politics, a constitutional right, the war, etc...

Everyone has their beliefs.  They all feel one way or another about something.  But most sane people are at least willing to listen to the other side.  They don't belittle the other side on contact and go off on a rant about their side of things.  So how does someone get to that point?  What makes them snap?  How do they get to the point of having blinders on?

It's one thing to vent about something you're not happy about, which I admit to doing all the time.  Sometimes, something will just set me off.  But even in the middle of a vent, I'll stop and listen.  Sometimes, that's what it takes to calm me down - someone on the other side speaking logically to me.  Not ranting back or saying things to belittle me, but actually bringing an intellegent outlook to the other side.  And if I feel myself getting to the obnoxious ranting level, I just stop and walk away.  It's not usually worth alienating people over, especially if it's a friend.

Healthly debate is good.  But you're not always going to be right, even if you don't want to admit it.  Soemtimes, there is not a right and wrong, as it's completely opinionated on both ends.  It is nice to be able to have an opinion and be able to voice it - that's a great thing about America.  But the key is that it is your opinion, and you can't always convince people your opinion is how others should feel.  And to start name calling or bashing someone's beliefs is just juvenille.  Let them have their opinion.

Personally, I've come across quite a few people like this is my lifetime.  I just learn to stear clear of certain topics, even if I agree, and everything's fine.  Probably just because I'm not a big fan of conflict.  Which is because I can have a temper... so I've learned the whole 'walk away' tactic to keep myself calm.  It may piss some people off when I blow off some debate or just some discussion... but bottom line, it's not worth losing a friend over.  And if it's a stranger, I walk away even faster... no telling what they might do! LOL

A New Blog

So I got inspired to start a new blog.  This will will keep going, full force.  This is all about me and my 'release' point, as far as blogging going.  In other words, this one will remain the 'exciting one', if you want to call it that.

My new blog is all about trying new stuff, like sample of products and such, and giving my opinion about how, or if, they work.  I've been going at it for a few weeks, now, so there's a few posts to read at this point.  And I'm sure I'll expand on what I post about as time goes on... but I just found myself getting the opportunity to sample so many things... why not share my opinion on my own platform??

Anyway, it's called Love It - Hate It, appropriately enough, and you can check it out here.

Enjoy!

Cruise to the Bahamas!

I was counting the day before this past weekend... my first cruise!  And it was geared up to be a good one... a girls weekend to the Bahamas!

We actually headed down to FL on Thursday evening, with plans on staying overnight in Orlando.  Timing wise, it worked out great because my sister ended up being in town for a conference that same time, so I got a chance to have dinner and catch up a little.  That was a pleasant, last minute surprise.

The next morning, we were picked up at the hotel by a shuttle to take us over to Cape Canaveral, which is the port we planned to leave out of.  We were sailing the Monarch of the Seas, part of Royal Carribean's fleet.  We weren't actually leaving port until 4:30pm, but you have to be there a minimum of 90 mins before that and we liked the idea of getting some early poolside time before departure.  But come 4:30pm, we all met up for a sail-away champagne toast as we headed out to sea!

With this being my first cruise, I really wasn't sure what to expect.  The cabins are, of course, much smaller than what you'd get for a hotel room.  But other than that, you're essentially on a floating all-inclusive resort!  Food whenever you want.  Various other bars/restaurant to hang out at.  Multiple pools (of course), lots of 'planned activities' by the cruise director and staff, shows at night, full sit down dinners (if you choose), and chances to meet new people at every corner.  Since we had a big group (there were 11 of us),we didn't have the typical dinner with new people because we already took up a large table, ourselves.  But as it was, many of us were meeting for the first time on the cruise, so it all worked out well.

We had a spectacular sunset that first night.  I wish I could say we had spectacular weather during the rest of the cruise.  It wasn't horrible, there was just cloud cover over the entire Caribbean from a tropical low over near Central America.  So even when they tried to find us sun for us, they couldn't.  But it didn't impede our fun - we were still by the pool and we still played trivia at whatever bar had it going on.

Saturday comes around and we pull into port at Nassau - my first time to the Bahamas! After the slow ride in and being turned around by a tug, we were docked and everyone disembarked for the day.  Our large group was quickly divided, though, and went separate ways (by default, in some cases).  This wasn't a bad thing.  I started with a group going to Atlantis and just walked around the massive resort (at least in the areas they'd let us without paying for one of the attractions).  That place is pretty insane - there's so much going on.  But after we saw everything we could see for free, we split up again and some stayed to see the aquarium and some went back to the Straw Market/Shopping district. I went shopping.  Of course.

So back in town, we started walking around, and that's when the intermittent rain showers started.  Some were just full downpours, which even the locals were saying is very rare.  Figures... our luck.  But as I said before, we still had a good time.  The Straw Market, for those who don't know, is like Canal Street in NYC... lots of 'cheap' knock-offs and stuff.  And we found quite a few deals!  Some of the girls can haggle!

Back on the ship, we had our formal dinner night where we got to get alldressed up.  Girls love to do that!  This is a good time to talk about the food.  You always hear about how good the food is on cruises.  My opinion... it was good, but not the 'best I've ever had.'  I think I've become a food snob - everyone else seemed to love it!  But it didn't matter - it was all about just have a good time at at dinner.  And we did, all three nights.  With lots of wine.

Sunday was our scheduled day for the private island, Cococay.   Well, it was supposed to be, anyway.  The water was too rough due to the tropical low positioned near Central America.  We were just going to anchor here and use tender boats to get to shore - they were concerned the waters would throw the tender boats around too much.  Plus, a lot of the excursion were in the water, which also were of concern.  So this was the day the Captain tried to find us some sun out of the cloud cover with no luck.  But we still had a blast around the pool and doing all the other activities on board.

Monday was just the day to pull into port - we were docked by 7:30am,  We weren't off the boat until later (about 9:30am), but we were all packed and ready to go.  It was kind of sad to end so soon... but we had so much fun!  We all decided we have to do this again next year... maybe even make it an annual tradition. 

I have lots of pictures, as you can imagine.  I want to edit some before posting, so I'll post a link here, later, when it's done.  Got some good ones.

UPDATE:  Pictures are posted!!  Go to my Fotki Page and check them out! 

Little Pumpkins

I'm a little bummed about my pumpkins this year... the dry, dry summer left the 'crop' rather small this year.  Both in numbers and size!

The spring started great - lots of rain, and the vines took off like wildfire!  But when they normally start flowering and producing 'females', it got dry, so few female buds were produced... and despite our watering, it wasn't enough.  So there were very few.  One finally took off, though.  But sadly, that pumpkin didn't get very big (because is was so dry).  He's a cutie, but only big enough to bake with - no carving this little little guy.  But he'll look cute sitting out before I carve him up for pie, at least.

Sadder, still, is the fact that this is the only pumpkin that's come to term.  And that's with about 6 vines going!  The recent rains made the vines flourish, again, and has produced quite a few female buds... there's probably close to a half-dozen!  But my concern, now, is that we'll get our first frost/freeze before they mature enough.  Keeping my fingers crossed since we're having a warm October so far... but not getting my hopes up.

*sigh*

Glad I still have seeds from last years crop!  Can't let my NC pumpkins cease to survive here (I have no idea the variety - they just came from a pumpkin I originally got in NC - it's more of a peach variety, not orange).

Never thought I'd get a kick out of growing pumpkins...

Steve Jobs

You know someone has made an impact on the world when news of their death spreads faster over social media than it does news outlets.

Just hours ago, the world was made aware of the loss of a creative genius.  Steve Jobs died today at the age of 56.  One day after the announcement of the next iPhone.  Which made bigger news?  I'll let you be the judge.

I find it interesting how I learned of the news myself.  Eric called me on my iPhone (from his iPhone) and asked if I saw his email I sent.  I said "no" and he bluntly just said "Steve Jobs died."  I scrambled for the iPad to check my email and pull up the links about his passing.  Wow... it's true.  He's gone.

I remember when I was in elementary school, and it was a HUGE deal when we upgraded from a Commodore64 computer lab to an Apple Macintosh computer lab.  But then I also remember the brand "Apple" kind of disappearing for awhile... ironically during the period Steve Jobs left the company.  In that hiatus, though, he pushed on the animation world, proving there could be better animation than what Disney could provide by pioneering Pixar films.  Then Apple made a comeback with Steve Jobs at the helm.

Now, as I write this blog on my Mac Mini, I can't help but wonder if Apple will stay the same.  Will Apple keep on the forefront of technology or will they disappear like they did before.  I hope it's the former.

Here's to a man who made us see the world differently.  A visionary who left this world a far better place with his creative mind.  Thank you, Steve - you will be missed.  Rest in Peace.

Real Men Wear Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. You can't argue that of all the Cancers out there (Cancers of all sorts SUCK!), it has, by far, outpaced all the others in awareness. The fact that I have been personally impacted by this (via my Mom's diagnosis nearly 6 years ago) makes me even more aware, but it goes way beyond me.

I think one of the most outstanding facilitators of this awareness (at least in recent years) is the NFL. The fact that they, as the huge organization they are, makes a statement the way they do every October now is awesome! They go beyond making a donation with their name attached... they have all their teams, players and coaches alike, don hot pink accessories to been seen on national television. I love watching the NFL in October... personally, I think the hot pink looks sharp on the guys. The bits of pink they wear stand out. Shoot... they get more noticed for what they do, which I guess could be good or bad depending on if a penalty gets called. LOL

Go NFL!

But even more impactful is the fact that these huge guys are showing their support for this cause. You hear some guys say they can't wear pink because it's too 'girly' for them. Tell that to one of those defensive lineman and see how long you survive. If these guys can wear pink on national television, then every guy out there should be able to wear pink, especially this month, to show their support, too. And don't give me, "Well, they get paid to wear pink!" I'm sure a lot of those players have someone in their life that has been affected by Breast Cancer, too, so they have no problem proudly showing their support.

Reality stat... 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

Show your support this month. At a minimum, don a pink ribbon at work. If you have the means to be generous, donate to the cause.