I have added a new page. You can find the link to the right. It is called “Photos and Projects”. I will be posting some of my photos and other creative items that I work on. I will try to post a notice on the main page when ever I add something new. If you wish to leave comments about what you see you can leave it on that post.
A few weeks ago I started my new class. It is intro to photography and has been pretty interesting so far. I have learned a lot about shutter speeds, aperture and ISO. I now can take a photo in any kind of light or lack there of without having to use the flash. A warning to the family… I will be taking more photographs at gatherings. I will be known as the girl with the camera to her face. Anyway, my first assignment was to take random pictures to get use to the camera controls. We also learned to use some new software to enhance the photographs. The first picture is the one right from the camera. The second one is after I used light room for enhancing and the last one is the result of me being creative in light room. I am sure there will be a lot of photos posted on my site over the next few months.
Sometimes my boss teaches classes for plumbing inspectors. He has one coming up in October and has added a new section. This time he is doing a part on communication. We have been working on getting information together on speaking and listening for this section. Today he handed me a few pieces of paper (he prefers graph paper) and told me that it was a little humor to type up. While I was typing the stuff up I was laughing and trying not to fall out of my chair. I just had to email it to myself so that I could post it and share with everyone. So have fun reading and a good laugh.
The real definition of words used by women…
1. Fine – I am right. This argument is over. You need to shut up.
2. That’s Okay – One of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. “That’s okay” means she wants to think hard and long before deciding when and how you’ll pay for your mistake.
3. Nothing – The calm before the storm. This means “Something” and you better be on your toes. Note: Arguments that start with “Nothing” usually end with fine (See #1).
4. Five Minutes – If getting dressed, this means half an hour. (Don’t be mad about this. It’s the same definition for you when it’s your turn to do some chores around the house.)
5. Thanks – A woman is thanking you. Do not question this or faint. Just say, “You’re welcome,” and let it go.
6. Loud Sigh – Not actually a word but rather a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. It means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is standing here wasting her time arguing with you about “Nothing.” (See #3)
7. Go Ahead – This is a dare, not permission. (Don’t Do It!)
8. Don’t worry about it, I got it – The second most dangerous statement a woman can make. It means that a woman has asked a man several times to do something and is now doing it herself. (This will result in you asking at a later date, “What’s wrong?” For the woman’s response, see #3.)
Men’s Secret Language…
1. I’m Going Fishing (translated) – “I’m going to drink myself dangerously stupid, and sit in a boat with a stick in my hand, while the fish swim by in complete safety.”
2. Can I Help With Dinner (translated) – “Why isn’t it already on the table.”
3. Uh Huh, Sure Honey (translated) – “Absolutely nothing, it’s a conditioned response”
4. It Would Take Too Long To Explain (translated) – “I haven’t the foggiest.”
5. I Was Listening To You. It’s Just……..I Have Lot’s Of Things On My Mind (translated) – “Is that woman over there wearing a bra?”
6. Take A Break Honey, You’re Working Too Hard (translated) – “I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner”
7. That’s Interesting Dear (translated) – “Are you still talking”
8. You Know How Bad My Memory Is (translated) – “I remember the theme song to “F-Troop”, the address of the first girl I ever kissed, the license plate numbers of every can I’ve ever owned. I just forgot your birthday.”
9. I’ve Got My Reasons For What I’m Doing (translated) – “…..and I sure hope I think so some soon.”
10. I Can’t Find It (translated) – “I’m completely clueless as to where it’s at.”
11. What Did I Do This Time (translated) – “What did you catch me at.”
12. I Heard You (translated) – “I have no idea what you just said, and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you don’t find out.”
13. You Know I Could Never Love Anyone Else (translated) – “I am used to the way you yell at me and I realize it could be worse.”
14. You Look Terrific (translated) – “Oh God, please don’t try on more clothes.”
Over a month ago my sister Angie sent me a link that she saw on Craig’s List. It was for a doggie play date group in Troy. They have a group page thought this site called Meet Up. I looked into it and thought it might be something to take Abby to. This older couple in Troy have a very large fully fenced backyard and two large dogs. They got tired of having to go to dog parks so they created one in their backyard. You have to join their group (free of charge) and then you get all the information (this keeps weirdo’s from getting their address and such). Every second Saturday of the month they have two play date sessions. Today Abby and I headed out to the morning session. I was a excited and a little nervous. I have this fear of Abby getting loose and me not being able to get her back. But once we got there I saw that they had a two gate system for getting in and felt a little better for that. Once we got in and Abby let me get her off the leash the fun began. At first there weren’t too many dogs but more than Abby is used to. She began by roaming around getting the lay of the land. There was one smaller dog that Abby started picking on and they ran around for a little bit. Then more and more dogs were showing up and I think Abby got a little over whelmed. There were times when she would just stop and watch what was going on or go off by her self sniffing around. But she would always get back into the action. There were dogs of all sizes and breeds. There were a lot of other newcomers so I didn’t feel too out of place. I did talk with a few of the owners and everyone seemed nice. Abby had a good time running around and playing with other pups. She spent a good portion of the afternoon sleeping on the couch. We are planning on going back next month. However, it will be different next month. This is because it will be their 1 year birthday so they are having an open house style play date. Abby and I will stop in for a bit as long as things don’t get too over whelming for her. I think the more we go the more comfortable she (and I) will get.
I know this is a few days late but here is what Cris and I did our last two days in Boston. On Friday we took the subway out to Boston College. It was a pretty nice campus. I think it was my favorite of the schools we visited. It was mostly all together in the same area… more of a “campus” feeling to it. We got to take a peek into the football stadium there. We then got back on the subway and headed to Boston University. This is a massive campus that sprawls along many blocks down Common Wealth Blvd. We then decided to head back to the hotel and just kind of relax. Cris ended up getting a pretty bad head ache so we just chilled and watched some TV. We then headed down to the Uno’s down the street and had dinner. Cris was feeling a little better after eating but we just headed back to the hotel. We then decided to head down to the bar in the hotel. We kept seeing it in the evenings when we would get back in and wanted to do so we finally made it our last night. We each had a couple of drinks and met a few locals hanging out at the bar. The bartender was pretty cool. The one guy we met, I think he works for a liquor or wine company and had this huckleberry vodka in his car and gave some to the bartender. The bartender then made what he called a huckleberry pipe martini. It looked pretty good and the people that tried it said it was good. We then headed back up to our room and watched the end of the Sox’s game, then went to sleep.
We woke up on Saturday, got breakfast and then started to get ourselves ready. We had packed up most of our stuff the other night and just had to get the last minute items and other odds and ends in our bags. We then just kind of hung out at our room until 11:00 or so. We then checked out and got a cab. This cabbie was a little less scary however he was rather speedy. We made it to the airport in no time, checked our bags and made it through security very easily. There was only like two people ahead of us at security so it wasn’t too bad. We then had just over 4 hours to kill at the airport. We walked around and found that the area we were is was pretty small. However, we did find a Starbucks and had a cup of coffee. We then sat in the food court and watched a plane taxi in and unload. It was kind of interesting watching what goes on with a plane once it lands. We then got some lunch and headed back to our gate. While sitting there I noticed more and more people in fatigues gathering around us. It turned out that we had a lot of military on our flight.
Our flight back was pretty good. We were in clouds most of the time but it was a pretty smooth go. We landed right about on time. We then made our way to baggage claim, got our bags and headed out to find mom and dad. Just has we were about at the door I saw their car go by but there was no way I could call them fast enough to get them to stop. So we made our way outside and I called mom. They swung around and picked us up. We then headed home where I was greeted by a very happy puppy.
All in all it was a pretty good trip. There were a few things that were a little of a disappointment but Boston is a pretty cool city. If nothing else it was nice to just get away from things for a while. But I am glad to be home with my puppy and back in my routine.
This morning, after breakfast Cris and I got ready and headed to the train station. We were heading to a place called Downtown Crossing. It was suppose to be a lot of shopping, restaurants and bars. Well it was very disappointing. Besides the Prudential Center, there really aren’t any malls around here. They have squares that you have to run around the streets looking for stores. We went into a few stores but ended up walking back toward the hotel and stopped at a few places here.
We then headed back to our favorite spot, the Prudential Center, and had lunch. We then decided the head back up to the Skywalk Observatory since it was a nice clear sunny, not so humid day. It was much clearer up there and we got some even better shots than the last time we went up.
After that we came back to the hotel for a little bit then headed out to find the Harpoon Brewery. They had a tasting a 4 today. We left at 2 knowing that we had to go to a new station and then try to find their bus line. It’s a good thing we left early. We transferred trains just find and got to the new station without a problem. It was then trying to find the bus line that caused a bit of a head ache. The web site for Harpoon said to look for certain signs that were no where to be found. So after walking around a lot we stopped to ask someone for help. However, this guy was helping a couple that didn’t speak English and we think he told them how to get all around Boston. Then this lady just cut in front of us to ask a question. Then the guy pointed out our way. We headed down the stairs and waited for our bus. It finally showed up and we were on our way. The bus stop was right across the street from the brewery which was nice for a change. We usually ended up having to walk a good amount to where ever we are going and go out of our way. We couldn’t do that this time. We did show up a little early but that was ok because this way we got bar stools. The tasting lasted about 45 minutes. The guy who was leading the tasting hasn’t been there long but did a very good job. Cris and I both tasted their Summer Ale, Dark Ale, Raspberry Wheat and Hard Cider. They were all pretty good… we wanted to get some of the Raspberry Wheat to bring back with us but they only had cases of it cold.
After all the beer we headed back to the hotel then went to dinner. We ate at this place called B. Good. It was kind of a healthy alternative to everything else we have been eating. We then headed back to the hotel to rest for the next day. Tomorrow is our last full day in Boston. We are going to be heading to Boston College and Boston University. Saturday we will be packing up the last of our stuff, checking out, going to the airport and spending time there and then flying back home.
This morning Cris and I got up and finished our pizza from last night. We had also gone down to get some coffee and plates. We also had the Boston Cream Puffs that we bought last night. We then got ready and headed out for the day. We went to the Aquarium first and realized that we could see an Imax movie in about 20 minutes so we decided to do that first. We saw a 3D movie about the Colorado River running through the Grand Canyon. It was more about how the river is drying up and how building more cities that use the river are hurting it further. It was a little more eco-friendly than I thought it was going to be but it was still kind of cool to see the Grand Canyon in 3D. It did feel like we were there with these people.
After the movie we moved into the Aquarium. I had been seeing signs saying that Sharks and Rays were now in Boston. Well today we finally got to see what they were talking about. We got to see a couple sharks and a few different kind of sting rays. We also saw lost of penguins, big and little turtles, all kinds of fish in many different sizes, some electric eels, multi-colored frogs and jelly fish. I took some pictures and Cris took some videos. It was a little crowded in the aquarium but we had a good time. It was neat seeing all the fish… especially the really large ones.
Once we left the aquarium we headed down to a dock to buy tickets to take a ferry across the harbor to the U.S.S. Constitution. I thought the ferry would have gone a little faster but it was a nice ride. The sun was shinning and there was a nice wind making the slow go not so bad. We finally reached the other dock and had a bit of a walk around to the Navy Yard. We had to go thru security and just missed a guided tour so we had to wait about 20 minutes for the next one. We again found ourselves sitting on a park bench but this time we had someone besides ourselves to talk to. We had our tour guide talking with us and a few others that were waiting. Luckily the breeze was pretty strong and helped keep us a little cooler in the sun. We finally were able to board the ship. For those that don’t know the Constitution is the oldest commissioned ship that still sails. This was one of the original six ships made for the US Navy… the only one still around. They are currently in the process of renovating the top deck of the ship and had it stripped down a bit. We didn’t get to see the full masts since they had to take them down. However, we did get to see the gun deck and some of the cannons. We then went to the birthing deck, which is where the sailors lived while on the ship. We learned a lot about the ship and the Navy. Our tour guide did a good job.
After the tour we went into the visitor center where they had a few things set up to look at. Then we headed back down to the dock to catch the ferry back to the aquarium area. From there we got back onto the train and headed to the hotel. I think we really do have this subway thing down pretty good. After resting at the hotel for a little bit we headed to the Prudential Center for dinner. The Prudential Center has become a favorite place of ours. I think we have been there four days of the six that we have been here. After dinner we walked to an ice cream place called J.P. Licks. This place is like a mix between an ice cream place and a bar… the music was so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. As we were sitting and eating it started to rain. It didn’t last very long though… by the time we were down it had stopped. I guess ten minutes of rain over six days isn’t too bad. It was raining when we landed but cleared up by late afternoon. Tomorrow we are going to be heading to Downtown Crossing which is shopping and the Harpoon Brewery.
This morning we had a rude awaking… the phone in our room started ringing around 4:30. Luckily whoever was calling didn’t try to call back after we didn’t answer the phone. We then went back to sleep. I didn’t sleep real well… my knee was kind of bugging me and I couldn’t seem to find a position that it wouldn’t hurt. We finally got out of bed a little after 8 and started our day.
Went to the subway and headed out to Fenway Park. Our plan was to do Fenway, Boston College and Sam Adams. But since after getting off the train and following the one sign that said Fenway we walked probably a mile out of our way, in a circle before even seeing the park. Plus we did this in the sun and heat. Then we walked thru the tour, which wasn’t quite what we thought it wasn’t going to be. We were thinking that we would be seeing parts of the park that not an average person going to a game would see but that wasn’t the case. They just took us to a few different parts of the seats. We did get to see the park from a few different view points but still not what we thought it would be.
After the tour we headed to the team store to get shirts and then headed across the street to the McDonalds. We had a quick lunch and then realized that we could probably just walk back to our hotel. It took us about 30 minutes to walk back but saved us a lot of time trying to figure out where train station was. We didn’t make it to Boston College or Sam Adams. I don’t think we will be going to the Sam Adams Brewery Tour. It is a little out of the way and there is nothing else close to it.
After resting for a bit at the hotel we decided to hop on the train and head to the north end to go to a restaurant called Pizzeria Regina. The pizza was pretty good and we brought some back with us. The north end is mostly Italian and we had some loud Italian guys sitting not to far from us. Cris said at one point that she felt like she was in an episode of Sopranos. But they keep us entertained. We then went to an Italian bakery called Mike’s Pastries. We picked up dessert and a few things for the morning. We then got back on the train with all our goodies and headed back toward the hotel. We made a quick pit stop at the 7-11 to pick up some drinks and forks. We then made our way to the hotel and called it a day. Tomorrow we are planning on going to the U.S.S. Constitution and the Aquarium.
After breakfast today, Cris and I headed out for the Freedom Trail. This is a three mile walk thru downtown Boston and the North End. There is a red line on the ground that you can follow or you can take a guided tour. We decided to head out by ourselves. It starts at Boston Common, which we walked around a little bit before starting the trail. It wasn’t quite what we were expecting but some parts were kind of interesting. We did get to see the resting place of Paul Revere, Sam Adams and John Hancock. We also saw some pretty neat statues and went to Paul Revere’s house. The one bad thing was that it was hot, sunny and kind of humid outside. This made it a bit tougher to keep going.
We finally decided to just head to the Hard Rock for an early dinner. Our waitress was pretty cool and kept us entertained. She then told us a short cut to get back to the train. It did involve going up a lot of steps but it saved us from walking a long way to the other station. We then got back to our hotel and just rested. We are both a little sore but we are still going.
Tomorrow we are going to head to Fenway Park, Sam Adams Brewery and maybe Boston College. We are going to be taking the train out that way. I think we have the subway pretty much figured out so we shouldn’t get lost. I will post more tomorrow.
Today we started our day with breakfast and then headed out for our day. We headed to the subway. There is a station right by our hotel and one across the street. We headed down the stairs to the one by us but found out that we needed to head to the one across the street. We had to get what they call a Charlie Card to put money on for our fares. We were lucky because once we got things figured out a train was just pulling into the station. We only had to go three stops on the green line and then switch to the red line. We again went down the wrong set of stairs but figured things out again and got over to the right train. We finally made it to the Harvard stop and made our way back above ground.
We were right by the main part of the Harvard Campus. We walked around some of the area and saw the statute of the founder of Harvard. After walking around the campus we went in search of stores. We went into a few and got some things. We both picked up Harvard shirts and a few other odds and ends. We then grabbed lunch then went back to the subway. We made it back to our transfer station and again went up the wrong steps. However, there was a nice Bostonian that helped us figure out where we needed to go. The subway is pretty nice. It was kind of an interesting experience. We did make a fiend on the train that we kept running into until we lost him on campus.
Once we got back to our station we headed back to the hotel and just hung out for a little bit. It was pretty warm and muggy out today and we were a little worn out. We then decided to head to a German restaurant that we had read about. We took the train once again out there. The food was pretty good. Cris had a German beer and I had a white Belgian beer (I was thinking of you while drinking it Scott). The waitress talked us into trying this really awesome dessert and then we really just needed to head back to the hotel and rest up. So we decided to call it an early night and started our walk back to the hotel. We made a side trip by a cemetery. Then we were right by the public garden and Cris suggested that we try to see the brass ducks to see if we could get pictures. We got lucky and got our pictures with the big duck. We then finished out trek to the hotel and are now watching comedy on TV. Our favorite, Dane Cook, is coming up next so this will be a short post tonight.
Tomorrow we are going to be heading downtown and starting the Freedom Trail. I am sure we will stray from the trail from time to time. I will post about it tomorrow night.