Apr 14, 2015 | Hobbies |
Had some contractors over today and had to get out of their way for a bit. What a perfect time to take a short bike ride! We stopped for a break in the middle and the tracker stopped recording (which was pretty annoying) which is why there are two sessions.
The trails are still flooded so we had to ride on the roads a bit but luckily up by us there are more side walks so we rode on those as much as possible. It was also a great opportunity to show off my new bike décor! That’s right – I got spoke stars!
Apr 11, 2015 | Hobbies |
Picked up our mountain bikes today and rode them home from the bike shop. I probably haven’t ridden a bike since I was 13 but it really is something you don’t forget!
Mine is the white bike on the right – it is a Trek Skye XL (18.5″ frame with 29″ tires). The Other and I went full mountain bike because Brent has one and we plan on doing most of our riding with him. This also allows us to do a bit more off-roading at some of the parks in the area.
The ride home was a bit stressful since we had to mainly stick to the main roads as the trails were very flooded due to all the rain recently. Was a lot of fun though and we even went out again that night around our neighborhood and on some of the trails near our house and ran into a pack of 6 deer on the trail! There is a certain excitement that does harken back to my childhood and I am looking forward to more rides this summer!
Dec 20, 2014 | Bright Ideas, Hobbies |
Dec 10, 2014 | Current Events, Hobbies |
This past weekend my sister and I attended the Raptor Workshop hosted by Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation. They are a fantastic organization dedicated to helping injured and orphaned wildlife. They treat all species of wild birds, reptiles and amphibians and treats all wild mammals excluding skunks, bats and raccoons. (although they can refer you to a wildlife organization who helps raccoons if you happen to find one). We have called them a couple times over the years for advice on various wildlife we have found and have even brought them a few injured creatures.
The raptor workshop is designed as an introduction to birds of prey and their care targeted for Nature Center and wildlife staff and volunteers, along with those just serious about birds of prey. Jackie and I learned about this class from the Flint Creek website and were immediately interested in taking it.
The workshop covers an amazing about of information for 1.5 days of work. Granted this is a high level view of raptors and their care and handling, but it was very detailed and interesting. It is meant to prepare students for the 10 week raptor internship (also through Flint Creek) where you go into further detail on raptor care and work more with the raptors.
The first day was spent on the legal bits of caring for raptors – there are a ton of laws and regulations at both the state and federal level that govern what and how Flint Creek must care for not only rescued wildlife but also its education birds. Flint Creek’s goal is to release every animal it rescues back to the wild so they have few education birds (compared to other centers). Flint Creek uses a variety of methods to make sure birds (and other animals) released get the best chance possible to survive and their numbers show that they are succeeding at their mission.
On Day 2 of the workshop, we got to handle 2 of the smaller raptors – an American Kestrel and a Screech Own. Now a kestrel is probably my favorite raptor so I was really excited and Jackie loves owls so she was equally as excited. The workshop size is kept small and the volunteers allot enough time they we were both able to handle both raptors.
Although we would both like to continue on to the raptor internship, we aren’t sure at this point if we have the time in our schedules. The internship is held once a year and only has spots for 8 people but you get hands-on training in all aspects of caring for captive birds of prey. Its a 10 week course but if you pass you can go for your raptor handler certification and even volunteer at Flint Creek to work in their raptor program. For Jackie and I, it would be a way to help any injured/orphaned raptors while also supporting a great organization in our area.
For more information on Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, please check out their website at http://www.flintcreekwildlife.org/
Aug 12, 2014 | Hobbies, Holidays, kittens |
Pretty princesses!!
Brutus assuming his ultimate form
Here he looks more like a bull.
Here he is asking if we can be done.
May 6, 2014 | Fashion, Hobbies |
I participate in the Reddit Gift Exchange and this time I did the nail and makeup exchange. I was really excited about this one because I like getting my nails painted and recently have started to enjoy painting my own nails and even trying out designs. It seems like I can’t go into Ulta or Sephora without purchasing nail polish regardless of how many colors I have. I actually put a self-imposed ban on my nail polish buying leading up to the exchange (and even that I broke…)
I didn’t do this one myself, I used my Christmas gift from Brianna to treat myself to a gel mani. Its sparkly teal with orange glitter – I feel like a mermaid!
Anyway, my gift arrived today and I couldn’t be more thrilled!! It is a DIY nail art book and some nail art brushes. My Santa included a super nice note and she totally got me the perfect gift. Honestly I would already be trying them if I didn’t get the above gel mani last Friday 🙂 Give me at least another week
So thank you thank you thank you I can’t wait to try it out! I will definitely post an update when I try my first design.
In the meantime to hold you over (cause I’m sure you need that) here are some recent manis I did myself:
Butter Knackered – this is the polish I broke my ban to buy. It was the last one left and too pretty to pass up!
Butter Rosie Lee – so much glitter!!!! Butter makes the best glitter polish I know, only issue is getting it off.
These are actually Sally Hansen nail stickers. Great for a quick mani and have some cool designs. I hope to be doing designs like this myself now!!!!
Mar 28, 2014 | Current Events, Hobbies |
Feb 26, 2014 | Fashion, Food, Hobbies, kittens |
Last week me and The Other came down with the flu. We still did SOUP-er Fridays, but switched to an easier soup than what was originally planned. We ended up making Cheddar Broccoli soup, which I normally don’t like, but this was good. Better than the Tomatoe Cream soup, but still not as good as the Beef Barley Soup.
Over the weekend I had a cat show. In between selling my own wares I was able to shop for some items for me. The best part of the show was when I found a show that stole silly kitty hats! Everyone who knows me will know how much I love 1. – wearing hats, and 2. – dressing up my cats. It’s the best of both worlds!! I also found another booth that sold human hats so I got one for myself as well (see point #1)
There was another shop that sold embroidered shirts…and embroidered toilet paper. Now there is something you have to buy when you see it. This is something rappers would have in their house – Ridiculous!!
I also found another use for my metal Starbucks card – is there anything that card can’t do!
I ate dinner Saturday night with my cousin and her husband at a Vietnamese restaurant. I had never tried Vietnamese food before but I really liked it. I had the Beef Rice Noodle Soup. The serving was HUGE and I had enough for 3 leftovers.
Nov 4, 2012 | Hobbies |
Yesterday I decided to have a little retail therapy and ended up with these bad boys
That’s right, I own shoes with kitty faces on them! They may be ridiculous but they make me smile every time I see them so I think they do their job.
I also want to give a big shout out to Lime Mayo – I discovered this in a mexican supermarket a while back and bought it as a joke. Surprisingly its one of the most awesome condiments ever! If you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it.
You have to get this brand though. I recently tried the Kraft version (“touch of lime”) and it wasn’t nearly as tasty as this one. Trust me, you’ll love it!
Oct 28, 2012 | Hobbies, Literature, Politics |
I got this book as part of the Humble eBook Bundle. I paid $25 for 13 books. (If you don’t know about the HumbleBundle, click here to learn more, its awesome!!) Over all I say its a 3/5 star book.
This book was released 10/2/2012 and you can also get it from Amazon.com. Here is a synopsis:
Trent McCauley is sixteen, brilliant, and obsessed with one thing: making movies on his computer by reassembling footage from popular films he downloads from the net. In the dystopian near-future Britain where Trent is growing up, this is more illegal than ever; the punishment for being caught three times is that your entire household’s access to the internet is cut off for a year, with no appeal.
Trent’s too clever for that too happen. Except it does, and it nearly destroys his family. Shamed and shattered, Trent runs away to London, where he slowly he learns the ways of staying alive on the streets. This brings him in touch with a demimonde of artists and activists who are trying to fight a new bill that will criminalize even more harmless internet creativity, making felons of millions of British citizens at a stroke.
Things look bad. Parliament is in power of a few wealthy media conglomerates. But the powers-that-be haven’t entirely reckoned with the power of a gripping movie to change people’s minds….
So why 3/5 stars? I think the content is appropriate to what is happening in the world now, but I felt the author tried a bit to hard to make it “geeky”. There was a lot of name dropping of actual programs and parts that I felt interrupted the flow of the story. It’s not because I didn’t understand the terms, but it was more a WTF moment on why you would even mention it unless you were trying to prove how computer-savvy you were to your audience. I also did not like the attitude of the main character. To me he felt very one dimensional and I didn’t really care how his story turned out. I didn’t feel he was responsible for any of the successes in the story – it was either luck/chance or the supporting characters turning the events to wins. The last point I will make is that since this story was set in England it was a bit weird for me to follow – mostly the slang terms. I’m sure the author was authentic here but not being familiar with some of the terms had me spending lots of time thinking about them. So much so that I often had to go back and re-read pages to grasp the meaning
Overall I do recommend it. The copyright/piracy/patent laws in the US are bad and they are getting worse as old-media corporations try to put in place laws like SOPA, ACTA, PIPA, etc. These corporations and lobby groups use many of the same arguments that were used in the books to pass the restrictive laws. I’m not sure if this book will spur anyone to action. I think it does a great job of opening your eyes to how people see it – that if it doesn’t affect them directly they don’t care – and why we must continue to spread the word against laws that restrict our freedom online. Give them an inch and they will take a mile
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