Howdy!

I just got back from Hawaii, and it was, for the most part, a great trip. Despite some initial problems (like Hawaiian Airlines losing my luggage for a few hours, a stained rental car, and a few bugs in the house) the trip turned out to be great.

I had some wonderful meals (most notably Roy's on Hawaii Kai and Sushi Sasabune downtown) swam in some perfect water, relaxed in the hot tub, read a few books and watched a few movies. Overall, that's my kind of vacation.

I've finally taken the time to update my books read and movies watched list. Since I haven't been super diligent about keeping up with them, the dates are a bit foggy for some of the items, but what can you do?

I've started my last quarter of college, and I'm really excited. I'm taking some classes I think I'm really going to enjoy (Project Management, Software User Assistance, Biopsychology, and Senior Portfolio) and my schedule is just about as good as any college student could hope for: I have NO classes on Mondays or Fridays, and my Tuesday and Thursday classes are right in a row, and don't start until 11:30. Of course, my token Wednesday class is at 9:00am, but you can't win them all.

My GPA took a bit of a dip with geography and sociobiology last quarter, but I didn't even come close to failing--which some of you know was an actual concern I had for a moment there. Hopefully this quarter I'll be able to pull of perfect (or near perfect grades) and get my GPA back up into cum laude territory. Otherwise, I'll just have to be satisfied with a piece of paper, but seriously, after ten years, I'll take it.

Alaska Cruise!!!

Here are some photos from the cruise. I was limited in my flicker file sizes, so I can't post them all, but here's a taste..

The room and pictures of glacier excursion

Towel animals

Golfing at altitude = bad

So, I wanted to be a tough guy yesterday and walk the golf course for a full 18 holes....

in Durango...

elevation: somewhere around 6,500 ft...

temperature: somewhere around 80 degrees...

tee time: noon...

Needless to say, I learned some valuable lessons yesterday...

1) I got a sunburn on the top of my feet, cause I forgot to put sunscreen on my sandals.
2) I also got a sunburn on the very back of my arms, cause I didn't quite apply the sunscreen I did apply all that well.
3) I got so overheated, and oxygen-deprived, and all-around tired that I threw up right in the fairway of the 18th hole.
4) I'm not really that good at golf.

Well, at least I made it 18 holes before I tossed my cookies. (at least that's what the rest of my party was probably thinking) And, I didn't need an ambulance or anything.

Today I played again (nothing can stop me!!!) but I used a power cart. Today went MUCH, MUCH better. The cart was better not only because I had a constant source of shade, and I didn't get as tired from walking uphill, but also because I was able to play more quickly and therefore hit more golf balls.

Since I'm a newbie, I wind up picking up my ball a lot to keep up with the more seasoned players. Today, I'm proud to say, I played three holes all the way through. That might not seem like much, but when I'm averaging around six shots per hole before I give up and pick up the ball, that's a pretty big deal. Go me! I even got a slightly illegitimate Bogey, which I am going to call a Bogey anyway, cause it sounds cool.

I also want to give a shout-out to my BFF (despite the fact that he can't spell my name) Seth, who has finally updated his blog and included some cool pictures of his new clothing and tiny dorm room. I think there's a link on the side of my blog. I'm too lazy to paste in-line links today.

Fishing with dad

Vacation Update

I'm here in beautiful Durango, Colorado, visiting my dad and Eve. I'm having a great time. The weather has been outstanding, though the fishing has not.

When Mike was still here, we went out to three different lakes to try to catch some trout, to no avail. A couple of days later, my father rented a boat and we went to Lake Vallecito to try to our luck there. Four hours later, we'd had one fish almost make it to the boat before spitting the hook and a couple of nibbles, but nothing to show for our efforts. My father caught an 18-inch trout on the way home from running some errands a couple of days ago, but of course, I wasn't there. I think he bought it at Albertsons. :)

The rest of my vacation has been vacation-y. Eve and I went out to the driving range on 9/6 and I hit the balls pretty well. Still not hitting consistently, but when I do hit them correctly, they do what they're supposed to. I'm looking forward to playing a full 18 with Dad, Eve, and their friend Ray this afternoon.

As you can see from my book pane, I've read three books this week, and I'm working on the fourth. I'm going to have to hit a bookstore at some point, since I'm reading the last book I brought, and I still have another week here, and a plane ride, as well as the cruise to get through. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

The Neverending Story: was surprisingly different from the movie. Only the first half of the book is covered in the movie, and there are a couple of key differences that I found a bit surprising, but which inform the rest of the book. The second half of the book is more a lesson in morality, so it took me a while to get through it, but the fantasy elements were really interesting.

Prep: I really breezed through this book, finishing it in less than 24 hours. I don't necessarily think that the plot would appeal to everyone, but I really enjoyed it. It's about a midwestern girl coming of age at a new england boarding school. While I obviously didn't go to boarding school, I could still relate to the normal events that happen in any high school. The writing was very easy to read, even if the main character was occasionally whiny, I was still able to continue and get through it in one day.

The Phantom Tollbooth: A nice two-hour read. This book was very much like the movie, and the illustrations were simple, but very imaginative.

That's all the news that's fit to print here in Durango. I'll try to post a picture of my dad from our fishing trip, taken from my new phone. It takes pretty good pictures in daylight, but it has no flash.

Vacation Approaches

In the previous post (subsequent if you read them linearly) I mentioned my vacation, but I can't remember if I said explicitly what I was doing in an even earlier post, and I'm far too lazy to look back...

I'm spending two weeks in Colorado with my dad and stepmom and then one week on an Alaska cruise with my husband and his grandmother.

I'm really looking forward to these three weeks!