Another Year Older
By Administrator | June 27, 2009
My legs feel like “Sixteen Tons” after my bike ride this morning, but I’m glad to have gone out into the beautiful Nevada sunshine for awhile. I’m four years (minus a day) from my self-imposed deadline to compete in a triathlon when I turn fifty so I really need to actually start training for the experience. I’ve been exercising somewhat consistently for the past few months and I could feel that my time on the recumbent bike at the gym has been helpful because I was actually able to bike uphill quite a bit this morning without having to stop to take breaks or to walk Buffy:
Once I have a little more practice updating my blog, I’ll start adding more photos of my adventures with Buffy.
Topics: Health/Wellness, The Road to 50 | No Comments »
Rollercoaster
By Administrator | May 6, 2009
The past few months have been a constant ride on the rollercoaster that is modern life. Back in January, I was told that my job had been “targeted” for elimination due to budget constraints and that I’d probably have to find another one by June 30th. I’ve held on where I am because I really like this job and I was hoping the economy might turn around enough to prevent me from having to find another one that I’m pretty sure I won’t like as much. The trouble is that the economy is still suffering, but my job has been saved as a half-time position. Now I’m worse off than I was before because all those people whose jobs have been cut will get first choice of any open positions and I can’t afford to only work twenty-one hours a week. My current plan is to find a second half-time job to help bridge the gap.
The constant stress over these past few months has affected my health. I’ve regained the weight I managed to lose, I haven’t been exercising as much as I should, and my memory is all but gone. Fortunately, I’ve been in a positive enough place for the last couple years that I can see my depression for what it is and know that things will turn around. Life is not all gloom-and-doom and my family’s situation could be much worse. Hubby is an office that is considered much more vital than mine (rightly so) so his job seems as secure as possible for the moment. Our kids are doing fairly well, all things considered. We have a roof over our heads and a little money saved up to help out if I should have to work half-time until I can figure out other options.
My semester of college is finished too, so I’m planning to spend some time concentrating on my writing and other creative pursuits like sewing and painting. I’ve also begun reading the stack of fun books that I had set aside to enjoy after my classes were done. Summer break has always been fun and a small part of me remembers the joy of the last day of school and the potential of three months freedom before returning to the schoolroom. As an adult whose currently working a full-time job, and who’ll need to continue working for the immediate future in order to help make ends meet, I don’t have the luxury of taking three months off for vacation. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the summer, though.
Topics: General Comments, Writing, Current Events, Health/Wellness | 1 Comment »
My Wild Irish…Roots
By Administrator | March 17, 2009
For many people, St. Patrick’s Day is an excuse to wear green and drink, to listen to Irish music, and to look out for Leprechauns guarding pots ‘o gold. The day for me is a reminder of my own heritage as a first-generation American on my mother’s side; the daughter of a woman who was “born and raised in Ireland” in “Dublin’s fair city” during the 1930s and 1940s. My mother followed a younger sister to the United States to keep house for an American family and ended up marrying that family’s youngest son (her younger sister married his older brother, but that’s a tale for another time) and she had not yet earned her American citizenship by the time I was born.
Some of my most lasting memories of childhood are of visits from my Irish grandparents, aunts, and uncles. My mother was the oldest daughter (and child, I think) in a family of eight surviving children: three girls and five boys. I don’t recall much about my Irish grandfather because I think he visited only once before he died at a very young 59, about the time I was five or six years old. My Irish granny is another story. She came over several times when I was young and I remember her as a very cuddly and fun woman who loved to sing, dance, and play with her grandchildren. My coloring, strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes, comes from her…as do my love of music and kids. She was the woman who, when I took her for show and tell in third grade, was helping me with my math work while the teacher wasn’t looking. Granny was the one who played on the playground with us kids during a family reunion, and who asked that I run back to the house to get bandaids when she fell and scraped her knee. I recall very well her soft hugs and the scent of her - a smell that I associate with anything Irish. Unfortunately, my granny O’Reilly also died at a young age (when I was about thirteen) so my memories of her carry the faded glow of an old photograph.
My Irish aunts and uncles visited my family over the years and one of my uncles ended up moving to the United States about the time I was in junior high school. While I loved the novelty of having foreign relatives in the house, I was also embarrassed by the fact that my uncle often asked about my “mates” at school or, since he worked at my father’s feed store, whether the customers wanted their feed in the “boot” of their car. I was self-conscious about his choice of words since I’d often been teased as a child for saying the letter h as “hay-tch” instead of “ay-tch,” something I picked up from having learned the alphabet from my mother. Mom’s accent has never really been noticeable to me, but I could always hear the Irish lilt in the voices of my granny, aunts, and uncles.
While I could go on and on about other Irish-related memories like swimming in a pool full of red-headed kids at an Irish-American get-together or wearing my Aran sweaters and hornpipes (shoes) to school as a child, that could take hours upon hours. The one thing I did inherit from my mother is the Irish gift of the gab…though I’ll never quite achieve her level of expertise in the art.
Happy St. Pat’s to you all. May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows you’re dead.
Topics: Holiday Greetings, Family | No Comments »
You Say It’s Your Birthday
By Administrator | March 9, 2009
This week is birthday week in my family: today is my dad’s big day and Saturday my youngest (newlywed) daughter turns 21. I’d like to send greetings and best wishes to them both.
Feliz compleanos.
Topics: Family | No Comments »
Promise of a New Day
By Administrator | February 22, 2009
The normally slow month of February has nearly passed and spring is now just around the corner. I’ve been so busy this year that I wasn’t struck by my normal case of the winter doldrums or blahs, for which I’m thankful, but I wish I could find a middle ground between incredibly busy and bored out of my mind.
Most of my time lately has been split between work and homework. I’m currently taking two online classes and one online/classroom hybrid that take up a lot of what would otherwise be free time. I have to say that I can highly recommend online college classes for anyone who works full-time and has the discipline to keep up with the schoolwork. My experiences with them so far have been pretty positive; I interact more with my classmates and instructors that I did in the traditional classroom environment because I’m more comfortable putting my thoughts down in writing than I am at speaking out in front of a class.
My time at work has also been pretty busy lately. Our state’s biennial legislative session convened at the beginning of the month so we’re getting a lot of requests for information from them. We’ve also been going through a higher-than-normal number of requests from other state agencies and the general public for some reason; at least, the requests have been greater than any other time since I started working in my current job more than two years ago. For those of you who may not know what I do, I work as an assistant at our state archives - the repository of documentation from state agencies that serves as the institutional memory of our state government. I have to say this is the best job I’ve ever had because I love the work and I’m constantly amazed at the different ways the information we safeguard can be put to use.
Life outside school and work has also been busy. Nearly a month ago now, my youngest daughter and new son-in-law had a beautiful and fun wedding that brought together a lot of family and friends. I thought my life would quiet down a bit after all the excitement of planning for their big day, but that hasn’t been the case since I somehow keep coming up with things to do when I might otherwise be relaxing. Now I’m starting to wonder if my life will ever again slow down so I can do some of the other things I’ve been meaning to do…like write.
I have managed to find the time to visit the gym more often this past month and I’m feeling better physically than I have in a long time. While I’m not losing weight very quickly, I am finding muscles that were lost during the time I wasn’t working out. My clothes are fitting better, I’m sleeping better, and my moods have been more positive. I’m hoping that I’ll soon have more energy to fit in some of the extra activities that I’m not managing to do right now and that I’ll also have the confidence to wear comfortably cool clothing once the summer season comes around.
If nothing else, I can honestly say that my life hasn’t been boring lately and I’m interested to see what each new day will bring.
Topics: General Comments | No Comments »
That’s Entertainment
By Administrator | February 16, 2009
We had a long weekend for the President’s Day holiday and I managed to fit in several movies over the break so I thought I might start keeping track of what I’ve seen. I haven’t been to the theater in awhile, but we’ve been getting DVDs through Netflix and have managed to see some fun ones that we might not otherwise have found.
While I’m keeping track, I think I’ll also add a mini-review with a rating based on a four-star scale in case anyone reading this might be interested in seeing any of the movies.
This weekend’s fare:
1) Madagascar II: Escape 2 Africa: This movie had quite an interesting voice cast, ranging from Friends alum David Schwimmer as Melman the giraffe to Alec Baldwin as Makunga the lion. I didn’t see the first Madagascar so I can’t really compare this one to the original, but I found the movie to be a boring rehash of a lot of other movies. Unfortunately, the best part seemed to me to be the song used in the trailer with the refrain I want to move it, move it… This may be a great movie for families with kids, but a lot of adults might be bored by repeated viewings. I recommend that parents might be more interested in other animated features like Wall-E, The Incredibles, or Monsters, Inc. if they want to watch with the kids and maintain their sanity in the process. I give this movie 1 star.
2) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor: The third movie in The Mummy franchise had two major problems that I could see…Maria Bello as Evelyn O’Connell and Luke Ford as Alex O’Connell. I have no problems with the actors themselves, but I didn’t think they really needed to replace Rachel Weisz as the wife when they could easily have written her out, and the character of the son annoyed me in the same way as the Shia LeBeouf character in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The rest of the actors in the movie were great; Brendan Fraser reprised his role as adventurer Rick O’Connell, John Hannah came back as his brother-in-law Jonathan and the addition of Jet Li as the evil Dragon Emperor and Michelle Yeoh as a witch made for some great action sequences. As you can see, I enjoyed this movie much more than Madagascar II. I give the movie 2 1/2 stars.
3) Chaplin: A 1992 movie starring Robert Downey, Jr. that chronicles the life of comic actor Charlie Chaplin. Also starring Dan Akroyd, Kevin Kline, Diane Lane, and Chaplin’s daughter Geraldine (who portrays her own grandmother, Hannah), among others. I am always fond of biographical stories and I really enjoyed this movie, though I’ll admit that the pacing was sometimes slow so viewers who enjoy more action-oriented movies might find it a bit boring. Robert Downey, Jr. did a wonderful job of portraying Chaplin. Plus, the DVD extras includes a home movie starring the real Chaplin, which I thought was a nice bonus. I give this 3 1/2 stars.As a bonus, I’ll add an extra review of a movie I watched last week to fulfill a requirement for a class I’m taking about the Vietnam War.
Bonus: Heaven & Earth: A 1993 Oliver Stone movie based on an autobiography by Le Ly Hayslip. The movie stars Haing S. Ngor of The Killing Fields, as well as Joan Chen and Tommy Lee Jones, and chronicles Hayslip’s life from her childhood in a quiet village in Vietnam, through years of conflict in her home country, to her move to the United States with her Marine husband (played by Jones). While this is a wonderful movie with beautiful cinematography, the images were very graphic and disturbing and I found myself crying throughout the majority of the 140-minute run time. I also give this one 3 1/2 stars.
And now here’s a little piece of useless trivia for you: I have connections with both Madagascar II and The Mummy III by having worked as an extra in the movie The Cooler, which starred Maria Bello and Alec Baldwin. I wasn’t actually on set with Maria Bello, but was in several scenes with Alec Baldwin, though most of that footage ended up on the cutting room floor. I can say that I was visible in one scene, I did see myself on the big screen (which was pretty exciting), and my walk-through is actually looped on the DVD scene selection menu. Working as an extra was fun and I hope I might get the chance to do it again some time. I really recommend the experience to anyone who loves movies.
Topics: Entertainment | No Comments »
Homeward Bound
By Administrator | February 1, 2009
The family newlyweds will be returning to their home today after having spent a week wining and dining on a honeymoon cruise. Hopefully, they’ll be able to settle back in to real life without too much trouble after all the excitement of the last couple months.
Welcome home guys. We missed you.
Topics: Family | 1 Comment »
Promise of a New Day
By Administrator | January 20, 2009
January 20, 2009 is exciting to me for two reasons: 1) today is my middle daughter’s 23rd birthday and 2)…oh yeah…our new President is being sworn in.
Happy Birthday, Sweetie!
Topics: Current Events, Family | No Comments »
Morning Has Broken
By Administrator | January 9, 2009
Another clear and cold January morning has dawned here northern Nevada and nothing too exciting seems to be happening around town at the moment. The front page of the morning paper has articles about Carson City’s recycling efforts, the retirement of a local district judge, the case against the man accused of killing Brianna Dennison, Obama’s call to Congress to “act boldly” on the economy, and the state demographer’s discovery that communities in northern Nevada are losing residents (though Washoe County has gained - maybe they’re moving to the “Biggest Little City” to find work?).
The economy has many people afraid that they may lose their jobs if things don’t turn around soon and many others are already out searching for work on this cold winter morning. For those of you who fall into the latter category, I wish you the best of luck in your search and hope things turn around for you soon.
The rest of us need to gear up to go out into the world and be grateful for what we have. We also need to remember that we should continue to carry the spirit of the holiday season in our hearts and try to help out our friends and neighbors whenever possible in these tough times.
Topics: Current Events | No Comments »
Another Auld Lang Syne
By Administrator | January 8, 2009
Yet another holiday season has come and gone and we’re a week in to 2009 already. Life continues to be busy in our house due to upcoming family events: middle daughter celebrates a birthday on January 20th (Inauguration Day) and youngest daughter will be married the following Saturday, January 24th. Needless to say, time seems to be going very quickly and I’m looking forward to calmer days ahead.
Our nation will have a change in administration within the next two weeks. I’m hopeful that the incoming President will be able to start fixing the mess that we have fallen in to over the past several years. Things aren’t good for many Americans at this time and economists have finally admitted that we have been in a recession for the past year; news that comes as no surprise to many people who are now starting to think we’re edging beyond the recession toward another depression.
My mind is full of many thoughts and ideas at the moment and I’m hoping to soon be able to organize them into something more coherent to add to my poor neglected blog. While I can’t seem to pinpoint one topic of discussion for this space right now, I’d at least like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2009…and to say that I have resolved not to go so long between posts.
Happy New Year!
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
