Happy July 4th!

For my U.S. friends.

Feeling: festive

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: holidays

Friday Fun Day

It's been a long while since I blogged about chocolate and even longer since I posted links, so since I have the day off and some actual free time, here's a post about both!

These chocolate sculptures are almost too yummy looking to eat! I always knew chocolate was an art form! Link found on The Presurfer, where I also found a link to these Larger than Life objects.

A friend sent me this link for these chocolate-scented stamps released in France.

I love the Statue of Liberty and have 4 photo albums full of post cards of Lady Liberty, some straight forward photos and others surreal spoofs utilizing the statue, so I was glad to see Boing Boing link to a Photoshopping contest for the Statue of Liberty over on Worth1000.com. Some amazing pics were submitted.

Meanwhile, Neatorama alerts us to this contest for the Ugliest Design award. And yeah, most of them are amazingly ugly, to me, anyway!

I upgraded to Firefox 3.5 and got a nifty extension called Googlepedia. It adds a Wikipedia article to the side of your Google search results. Very cool, very useful.

Feeling: pretty darned good, actually, despite doctors from my hospital visit 8 months ago (!) deciding they want to bill me for services I don't recall receiving. I'm sure the cleaning staff will be billing me soon. ;)

For my US readers: Happy Independence Day! And to you Canadians, Happy Canada Day, belatedly.

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: links

New Shoes

Clarks High Surf from the Artisan Collection. Arrived yesterday. Very comfy in test situation. Clarks is one of the few brands I buy online without needing to try the shoes on first, although I often go to the Clarks store here in NYC to try on various new styles. I love shopping online because it saves me the hassle of carrying things home, but I do love shopping in brick and mortar stores, trying on, browsing, touching the merchandise... :)

These came in other colors, but not denim blue. Other styles were in the denim blue, but I didn't like them as much as this style. Figures.

Feeling: warm

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: shoes

They're Mammatus!

These Mammatus clouds on Friday night here in NYC were the talk of the town. They apparently come after thunderstorms, but I've never seen them here before and we sure get a lot of thunderstorms. The clouds are magnificent. It looked like an alien planet outside.



In other news, I've been feeling pretty good the last 2 weeks, almost human, so I'm cautiously optimistic that the corner has been turned on the route to health. I can't say the same about my bones, but at this point, I'm happy. Work is... well, work. 'Nuff said.

A number of celebrities died recently, and I hate blogging about that unless I was a big fan of the person, because I don't like the whole media circus, and that's certainly true about Michael Jackson's death. He had enormous talent, a sad life, and I'm sorry to hear he died. That's it.

Feeling: chipper

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: clouds

Summer Finally

So now, it's at least warm instead of cold when it's raining. And when it's not raining, it's humid. We call that summer here in NYC.

Actually felt almost normal last week and this week hasn't been too bad, either, so maybe I've turned a corner getting this gastro problem under control. I sure hope so.

Work is about to get interesting, and by interesting, I mean more stressful, with 2 retirements in my staff, and they're not likely to be replaced due to budget issues, though I can hope. If just one gets replaced, that would be a big help. With people going on vacation in the summer, we will be seriously understaffed some weeks this summer.

I still haven't tired of playing with my new camera, but due to all the rain on my days off (aka Sunday and another day, usually Wednesday), I haven't had it outside yet, so I don't know how well it does with scenery, flowers, etc. Maybe this Sunday.

Still woefully behind on pretty much everything, including reading. And that pretty much covers what's new around here.

Feeling: okay

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: miscellany

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Hubby and I went to the Mets game today. The sun came out, unexpectedly, but then it rained, a deluge of water, and since the Mets were losing at that point, we left. They did resume the game after we left, and the Mets lost. Still, a good time was had. I had my first hotdog since before I got sick last November, along with a potato knish, and I took pics (with my point & shoot, because I was not taking the new dslr to the ballpark with rain in the forecast).

Feeling: okay

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: baseball

I'm a Sucker for These

Had a pretty good week and played with my new digital slr camera today, trying to learn it, and now I'm capping off the day with one of these questionnaires we see everywhere online. I found this one on Facebook.


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My paternal grandmother.

2.WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Uh, I have no idea. That's not something I keep track of.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I used to. These days, not so much as it's looking more and more like my father's scrawl.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Assuming this means cold cuts, kosher salami.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Maybe.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Sure. It runs in my family.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Not since I was 5.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not for anything.

10. NAKED?
Is this referring to bungee jumping? Because the answer is still no. If something else, I have no clue what this is referring to.

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Kellogg's Honey Smacks.

12. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Yes.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Chocolate.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Depends on the person, meaning, whatever is most striking about them is what I'm likely to first notice.

15. RED OR PINK
Red.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I sometimes say the wrong thing. Let's just say I'm not the most socially ept person out there.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My mother.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
It's up to everyone else whether they do this or not.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Blue sweats and black slides.

20. DESCRIBE WHAT IT IS THAT YOU CANNOT RESPECT?
Dishonesty.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Just shut the TV, so, the sound of me typing.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Midnight blue or black.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Chocolate, bacon, fresh bread, vanilla, Old Spice (my father has always used it).

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A library patron yesterday.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
I do like the person whose FB page I took this from.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH
Baseball, hockey.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Dark brown with white.

28. EYES?
Dark brown.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Chocolate, cheese, pizza, bacon cheeseburgers, not necessarily at the same time. ;)

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Scary movies can have happy endings. I prefer good movies.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
The new Star Trek movie.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Purple.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Spring. But I'll take summer over winter if it's not too hot.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.

36. YOU ARE MOST COMFORTABLE-WHEN?
I'm walking around NYC, snapping pics, or sitting in comfy clothes at the computer or doing craftwork.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Beats me, especially since I'm not tagging anyone.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
See above.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
It's one of the Mouse Rug designs.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Mets game, then David Letterman.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)
Music (rock, folk, etc).

43. MYSPACE OR TWITTER?
Twitter.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Hawaii.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I have talents, not sure how special they are. ;)

46. FAVORITE PLACE VISITED?
Tie: Hawaii and San Francisco.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Beats me.

48. TRAITS YOU LOOK FOR IN A PERSON?
Honesty, trustworthiness, intelligence, sense of humor.

49. WHAT DO YOU DRIVE?
I don't, but hubby and I do own a car.

50. Thanks!!!!!!
Uh, you're welcome, whoever you are who came up with these questions.

Feeling: okay

~~~o0o~~~
Technorati Tags: questionnaires