Wednesday, January 27, 2010

UK, British Isles, or Great Britain?


Here is a handy dandy diagram to help explain the mystery that is the British Isles (or at least part of it.  It doesn't explain why they insist on driving on the left side or eating concoctions such as gentleman's relish).  In the spirit of full disclosure and intellectual property protection, I found this on Sarah B's tumblr page, though for the life of me i can't find the post again which gives the link to the true source.  (Found it!)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

I Moved

I am tired of having to do the whole .blogspot.com thing on my url so I splurged and changed over to just NotBornAtChristmas.com.  I feel so grown up. :)  I hope you make the move with me and keep checking in.  Reading your comments always makes my day!

Fun Find of the Day

Now that I discovered Google Reader, I am enjoying all kinds of fun new blogs.  Here's my favorite for today.  This excerpt is prime.  I hope one day that I have enough money to have such a ridiculous will.  Also, I am hoping to make it to the list of lucky recipients sometime in the next, oh say, year.  Fingers crossed...





Dear person who designed the building I work in:

WTF?  It's like you never walked around a corner before you decided to draft the blueprints that would confine us to such small turning radii.  I can't go to the breakroom, restroom, or copy machines without meeting someone head on.  I am tired of experiencing the polite yet awkward I-just-ran-into-you-and-am-out-of-my-comfort-zone-because-you-are-in-my-bubble-uninvited, "oh sorry!" that I have to hear at least ten times a day.  Next time you design a space for people to move around in all day, could you build in fewer obstacles and more wide-corners?  Thanks. 

Sincerely,

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Thing

I posted previously about finding "a thing" to work on.  Along with planning for my upcoming move (a story I will write about momentarily), my thing has become training for the Century Bike Ride.  The ride covers 100 miles from the state fair grounds to Antelope Island and back.  I began training last week and am happy to say that I have only missed one day so far (it's a six day a week workout plan so don't be too disappointed in me).  If all goes as planned (including making up the 10 miles from my missed day last week), I will be covering a total of 2012 miles over the 16 weeks of training.  Sounds ridiculous right now, but as I slowly tick the days off it feels more and more do-able.  The first long ride was on Saturday; 30 miles total.  This week it goes up to 36.  Until the ride Saturday, my longest ride to date was 25 miles (the day I biked to Lagoon and wasn't able to sit comfortably for about a week).  I am happy to report my derriere has recovered and is no longer sore after those long rides.  At least not for now :).  Because of the inversion, I have been riding on my stationary bike indoors (and spending some quality time with Omar and String).  Once things start melting a bit, I will once again make my way to the Legacy Parkway ride on my dear bike Seven.  I sense she is eager to get out of the laundry room and feel the cool breeze on her slender frame once again.  I am considering participating in the 25 mile ride that accompanies the Salt Lake City Marathon as well to get the feel for doing a big group ride.  That takes place about a month before the Century so I should be well up to the task of a ride that long.  Wish me luck!         

Blog of Note

I found this blog during the long, slow holiday hours yesterday.  Give it a gander.  I'm sure you'll find something of interest.

Letters of Note
http://www.lettersofnote.com/

Thursday, January 14, 2010

It's Been a While

I haven't given you any updates to this post recently.  Here are some new ones!

Dewella
No-En
Melody
Miller
Emma
Eleanor

new for 1/18/10:  Joelle

Oh, and my favorite client response to my name:

"Thank you for calling (my company inserted here), my name is Noelle, how can I help you?"
"Noelle?!? so you're Jewish then?!"

1/27/10 update:  Holly

Friday, January 1, 2010

The Bitter Coffee Shop

I haven't been here for a long time. In a real way at least. I was here for all of five minutes back in October but outside of that it has been since July that I actually sat down and spent time here. I used to be here all the time. Almost every day. I never really liked it though. I only come here because it is the closest place to my house.  The people aren't my crowd. And there are, of course, the signs. "When customers - people who have purchased things here - are looking for a place to sit, please yield your seat if you are finished consuming what you have bought here."  Now, granted, they have reasons to be bitter.  They were kicked out of their formerly spacious location due to ignorance and bigotry and forced to cram into an area half the size.  Their client base, however, continues to grow and only so many seats can fit in this little area.  But aren't coffee shops all about sitting around for hours on end?  Cruising around online, chatting with friends, reading a book?  Aren't they designed to be places where people meet and talk for hours and hours?  I think they could be a little less bitter about loiterers.  I will admit, I do like the community table situation though.  I don't sit there much but it creates an interesting people-watching scene.
As I sat down and began unpacking my things, I realized, "I am going to be doing this a lot nine months from now."  Ok people, don't freak out!  I know that anything measured in nine months increments instantly brings to mind drooling infants in onesies.  But it's not that.  Nine months from now I will be wandering around a new place on my own.  Finding a place to live, finding a local market to shop at, finding hidden places to read my books, write in my journal (thanks E and Sara!), and blog about the experience.  I will have strangers to make silly jokes with and cafe folks who will know my drink of choice.  I will spend time in that huge bookshop by the park, the really old one with seemingly endless levels that smells of old bindings and slowly-deteriorating acidic paper.  I will make a point of noticing something new every day (though I don't think I will have to try very hard) and learning the history of the places that intrigue me.  I will do my best to absorb as much as I can both in school and out.  That city is a fascinating and mysterious place and I hope it reveals a little of itself to me in the short time I will be there.