Miscellaneous

Kudos to any Earth Hour observers! These pics are from the Boston Globe. Starting with the second picture - click on it and it goes dark. Pretty cool!!

As a side note, Brian just said that, "if terrorists ever come to ONU, he'll save the world like Sam-wise Gamgee." (I misspelled that Hobbit name, I think.) We just finished watching Toy Soldiers with Sean Austin, of Goonie and Hobbit fame.

Last but not least, I am a fan of ZenHabits.net, and today the site creator posted some book reviews. I have read a couple of them that are mentioned (and liked them) and wanted to read a couple others, so I just thought I'd share.

I'm going to go play Wii now.

It's a circle.

A vicious circle. Work out --> rotate hip backward --> go to the chiro --> can't work out for few days --> work out --> rotate hip backward --> go to chiro. You see the pattern. The only one that wins here is the chiropractor. Three cheers for sedentary living! (kidding.) I go back on Monday to see if my adjustments stuck over the weekend. They probably didn't cuz I went rollerskating...and fell. Oops.

In other news, I've found an article worth mention because I'm sick of work buzzwords. Some of the most frequent offenders include dialogue-ing, transparency, collaboration, community outreach and engagement. Yes, I use these words frequently. It doesn't mean I like it. Kudos to the Brit's local government for trying to "crack down on weasel words." I don't think they are going to have much luck, but it's entertaining to watch them try.

Now I'm segueing (which could argueably be a buzzword) to British actors and actresses. We just watched The Holiday with Kate Winslet and Jude Law. Super cute chick flick. That is all.

As promised - Earth Hour and the plight of the polar bear.

As there's a continual call to go green, this Saturday, at 8:30 p.m. (local time) is Earth Hour US! Started by the World Wildlife Fund two years ago in Australia, it has now spread to include 2,100 cities across the globe. Last year, more than 50 million participated and the lights went out at the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the Coliseum in Rome, just to name a few. Even Google's homepage went black for the day!

Although, it's fun to sit in the dark for an hour, the purpose of the lights out is to show your support for climate change. One of the most notable and publicized events of the climate change is the plight of the polar bear. As you may know ONU has the polar bear for its mascot. Poor polar bears. They're running out of ice to frolic on. In an effort to assist in educating local communities, schools with the polar bear mascot have been holding educational seminars - Ada's had at least two so far. (Yes, it's very bizarre to have a polar bear mascot in northwest Ohio.) And, I found this website to be interesting...you can follow around a polar bear!

So in an effort to support our local polar bears, we'll be sitting in the dark this Saturday at 8:30 p.m. I encourage you to do the same. Get out some candles, get out a board game, roast some mallows over those candles. Or just take a nap and you'll never know the difference. The movement is really only symbolic, so you can still have your 'puters and tv's on, but really shouldn't we power down occasionally anyway?

updates all around!

Time for some updates! I've updated the blog a bit - I was sick of the old layout. As you can imagine, we've been busy. Hence the missing blogs. I know you've been wondering...what have they been up to?!?

The quick update is that Brian studies a lot, and recently got back from a seminar for law review which was held in Baton Rouge. Law review is also keeping him very busy. While he was gone, the house looked FANTASTIC! I cleaned and cleaned. Who knew we had so much floor?!? I also *finally* finished my Watchmen book. I would recommend the movie, but with the caveat that you will probably appreciate it a bit more having read the book, and it is VERY graphic. We saw a family leaving the theater trying to shield their children's eyes - which was a little funny, because it is R, so they probably shouldn't have been there in the first place...

I also have to report on another book I just finished. This was not serious literature, but one of the funniest, trashiest books ever!! Recommended by two friends from different states, it's in the same vein as David Sedaris, but a girl version with all sorts of sexcapades and antics. My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler - great beach read and summer's coming fast!

I've also been keeping very busy with my "Little." (I hide my trashy books and magazines when she comes over.) We've painted pottery - I do not ever want to do that again. I just don't have the patience. We play LOTS of guitar hero and Wii. We attempted racquetball, and have played some HORSE basketball games. We went to the movies, the library, the nature trails at OSU Lima. And, this week we're rollerskating! (I'm very excited to rollerskate.) I'm happy to report she seemed to really enjoy the library and she wants to participate in the summer reading program. (yay librarians, even though angie doesn't read our blog...)

last but not least - in an effort to blog more and because my brain needs something new to do. i'm going to try to blog at least once a week on something educational. Most likely a cause or something that i've stumbled on, but maybe something else. I have this week's picked out, just have to post it...hopefully tomorrow, but my battery is almost dead and i'm sleepy now. more to come later!

p.s. shout out to laura for the milwaukee pic on our header.