Friday 15 July 2011

While I'm Waiting ...

Hola mis amigos ...

I've got a post on hold till a video uploads to my blip.tv account. While it's doing its thing, I had a look at the stats for this site and wanted to share ...


In the past few short days, we've got a quite a bit of an international following.  How cool is that?  And I see we're getting traffic from ted.com (thanks to a shout out from Lynne).  In the grand scheme of things, this means very little, but how cool is it that a silly little idea a few of us had less than a week ago has blossomed into whatever this is blossoming into?

<steps down from Geek soapbox>

Photography is time consuming...

I've done an hour on my photos today, and managed to caption the majority of the photos for June. Another hour should do it! This is kind of ridiculous. Really enjoying that I MUST do it, though.* Guilt free photography organization time!

Any progress that I've made is probably mitigated by the fact that I went to the pool and took another 300 shots that I'll have to sort through. Photography is fun but time consuming!

* I know that it isn't REQUIRED because this is all for fun, but it is easier for me to justify the time if I'm required to.

Mitzi G B's Day Off

I know there are supposed to be 30 consecutive days of awesomeness, yet I chose today - or it chose me - to take the day off from my 30 day walkathon. My rain hail or shine policy was compromised today by bitter winds: a weather extreme that does not fall under the rain/hail/shine model.

To protect my ailing nose/throat from the winter chills, I drank tea, rugged up and was productive. I worked on a new copywriting project and read some theory books (well, bits if them) for the thesis. I will be back by the sea maniana!

Prioritization!

An overnight adventure threw me yet another curve or two, but i've managed to stay the course with the book - it helps TREMENDOUSLY that "Packing for Mars" is just the right read* for me!

Trying to get home from work Wednesday, pack for an overnight, and hit the road by 7pm, while still getting in book time forced me to plop in the chair and read another chapter. Leaving my partially packed duffel bag on the bed. And the goal of getting to bed early, assuring 7 hours sleep? Check!

Spent the day on an outing with a friend - which included a zipline safari! Had a blast, but didn't get home until 10pm. Again, forced myself to drop in a chair and read - dirty laundry be damned!

Most interesting? i made it 3 days with no television, and only a bit of bootlegged internet. Services restored while i was away for the night. i am trying to continue to leave the television off, and manage my time on the internet (ie: stop being a laptop slug).

i've missed my local news presenters, though. i wonder if they've missed me? And the internet? i can quit any time i want to...

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*Mary Roach adores weird. It was the Apollo program that got me vectored toward a career in science. i think i want to have Ms. Roach's baby...

Harder Than You'd Think

okay, not really. i mean, yeah, i could do a lot better. but fitting stuff in amidst life sometimes makes it a bit difficult. maybe it's because i tried to squeeze three personal 30 day challenges instead of just one. i thought that, individually, they weren't that much of a challenge. and, honestly, they aren't. but that being diligent thing.

okay, yeah, fine...we're only on day 3, yes? so - -

as i said, i'm doing fine. i've spent at least 30 minutes the last few days reading an actual book - - "Room". i've gotten so used to reading the instant gratification of blogs and facebook that i find i lose focus. i have to reread passages. it takes time. but i'm getting better.

also doing fine with spending 30 minutes a day organizing and purging. can't bring myself to throwing out 10 items a day, but have been dumping stuff in the trash.

more difficult is the in bed, lights out, and go to sleep. that damn tv and interwebz tempts me to look one last time. or, even with lights out, i feel restless and can't settle in.

but, all said and done, that's what this challenge is about. over 30 days, change a habit. make a change. i'm still in.

three quarters done with the book. starting to look for the next one to tackle. i'm thinking this one - -


Mi Nueva Carrera: Guía Turístico.

A veces, es necesario para pasar el rato con un desconocido para recordar lo divertido que puede ser en tu ciudad.

Jugué guía turístico este noche, con uno de mis amigos mejores (que también es una de las personas más graciosas que conozco). La turísta era una amiga de uno amigo, de Nuevo York. Ella llegó esta mañana en Londres. Obviamente, ella necesitaba un cóctel.

En primer lugar, que la llevó a uno de mis bares favoritos, “The Cellar Door”, que es el más pequeño club nocturno de Londres. Solía ser un baño público y tiene aproximadamente el tamaño de una caja de zapatos. Pero con todos los espejos, se ve tan grande como el interior de una limusina. Me encanta.

Después, cruzamos la puente de Waterloo y tomamos alugonos fotos. No veo el horizonte de Londres con mucho frequencia, y esta bueno para decir <<oooh, ¡mira! Es Big Ben y vivo aquí, al igual que Peter Pan.>> Cuando vivía en Nueva York, que hizo lo mismo cada vez que veía el Empire State Building. Qué tonto. ;-)

Nosotros cenemos en el Riverside de BFI. La comida estaba bien, si no demasiado caros, pero hay una cierta magia para comer al aire libre en la tarde de verano. Hay una cierta magia para comer al aire libre en la tarde de verano. Especialmente en el Banco del Sur de Londres.

Después de la cena, caminamos al otro lado del puente., y vimos a un perfil diferente de la ciudad - lo mismo pero ahora iluminada frente a un cielo oscurecido. Más magia.

Finalmente, terminamos en otro de mis bares favoritos, y hemos introducido nuestro pupilo con una tradición de Londres: una jarra de Pimms que tomamos en un callejón fuera de un bar gay.  Perfecto. 

Estas son las noches que simplemente no encontrará en las guías. Y las noches que te hacen feliz de ser un turista en su ciudad adoptiva.

Day 3 - Rose of Sharon

This is a flower on one of the four Rose of Sharon bushes that line my driveway.  They just began blooming this week-- quite literally over night: woke up one morning and suddenly there were flowers.