Arch Madness

There is iconic architecture that needs no explanation, no location tag; you see a silhouette of the Washington Monument, the Eiffel Tower, the Space Needle and you KNOW what you are looking at without being told. The Arch in St Louis is one of those pieces. Flying in from the East you are able to see it briefly before passing the city to land at Lambert airport, north-northwest of downtown. Driving into the city i kept waiting and waiting to catch a glimpse of it, but it is right on the riverfront so you can't see it until you are in the city proper. One curve of the highway and there it was. Even from a distance you get some sense of how large it must be, but nothing had really prepared me for the sheer size of it (go ahead boys, insert "that's what she said" comment here; just know that Matt already beat you to it on the day i was there via text message). I am from the Baltimore-Washington Metroplex. We have crazy big monuments here, but wow, at 630 feet the Arch is freaking ginormous! Before i left Erin was incredulous that i was taking this crazy last minute trip. (has she ever MET me??) She demanded that i produce a picture of me gesturing to the arch as proof. I tried to figure out the timer on the new camera, but to no avail. So i asked a nice gentleman who was unlucky enough to be walking by me to take the photo. English wasn't really his strongest skill and i am pretty sure he had never seen a digital camera before so the results are less than stellar, but here you go Erin: You will notice in the picture that you can only see a tiny portion of one side of the arch. Did I mention that it it is enormous? Most of my favorite pictures that i took at the Arch - both digital and film (yes, i already have the 4 rolls from the trip developed; come over and i will show them to you) - were actually of only a portion of the Arch. It was a cloudy, but bright day leading to a lot of nice contrast and gleaminess off of the steel. Built in 1965 the Arch is part of the much larger Jefferson National Expansion Memorial located on a much larger (and expanding) St. Louis Riverfront. Next time I would like to have the time to tour all of the museum and go to the top. This time, however, paying $10 for the tram and waiting hours was just not a good option. As i said at the beginning, the Arch is iconic. In St Louis everything somehow has an arch (or a cardinal) incorporated into it. I saw lots and lots of logos and designs and souvenirs with arches while i was there, but my favorite was found by accident. Driving along the Riverfront looking for parking i happened upon a huge mural that combined graffiti and images along a long retaining wall. There was no signage for it and it was located in an interesting industrial area so it jumps out as a complete surprise. Come to find out it was done as part of a graffiti summit called Paint Louis in the late 90s. Cool.

quick aside about driving in MO

When i go to a new town I like to drive about and get a feel for it. Traditionally, I end up finding both the scariest and swankiest neighborhoods that any town has to offer and St Louis was no exception. The run-down and abandoned roads by the riverfront were a stark contrast to the Tudoresque splendor of Forest Park. Like Phoenix, AZ the city of St Louis is surrounded by suburbs that are actually tiny incorporated cities. Unlike Phoenix which has several major neighboring cities in the metroplex (Mesa, Chandler, Ahwatukee, etc) St Louis appears to be surrounded by a "city" every 2 blocks; from downtown to my hotel by the airport i passed through a dozen different incorporated cities, each proudly proclaiming their population of about 2000 people. Who keeps track of that? Who pays to have all of those signs made? The strangest thing i saw while driving were sign for highways marked by letters. The signs were just like numbered routes, with black writing inside of white boxes, but they were letters! So you might need to take I-64 to Hwy U. So very, very strange to me. You - much like me - are probably saying to to yourself, "that's a dumb system, you could only have 26 highways" but no, no we are both wrong on that point. As i left St Louis and struck out into the wilds of MO i saw that they had double-letter highways as well, which extends the number of highways you could have, but leads to intersections like this: I am sure that never gets confusing! nope. The biggest problem i encountered with this system - besides the sheer freakiness of it - was that very late at night in terrible thunderstorms, it started to seem like the signs were talking specifically to me: but i don't WANT to turn right here, sign. I need to keep going straight, please don't make me turn right. No more freaky lettered highways!

Another one bites the dust...

... a New Year's Resolution, that is. Resolution #4 for 2007 is "visit at least one new state." It is a carryover from last year so I was determined to do it as soon as possible. I landed in Missouri at 11:30 CDT and acquired state #31. Previously, I had MO as an airport state do to a layover in Kansas City on the way home from CA years ago, but now I can finally count it for real. Later that night I decided to drive to Arkansas to get state #32. I used a map tracking program online and and it said that Pocahontas, AR was only 168 miles from St. Louis. I figured i'd leave at 6:00, get there at 9:00, grab some dinner, get back on the road by 9:30 and be back to the hotel by 12:30 to rest up for the next day. The best laid plans... There was horrendous, nearly DC-level rush hour traffic, it was actually 212 miles both ways, there was torrential rain for about 6 hours of the journey and then there were the frogs. Apparently it hasn't rained much in southern MO or northern AR and as the rains started, out came the frogs - big frogs, little frogs, hopping frogs, dodging frogs, stunned frogs, defiant frogs and, inevitably, squashed frogs. At one point there were so many frogs on the road that it felt like a game of Reverse Frogger - instead of one frog braving all of the cars and trucks, it was one little car (black Toyota Corolla rental) bravely trying to dodge all the frogs. Anyhoo, plagues of Egypt aside, it was an adventure well worth it (complete with Ron on the phone trying to figure out exactly where in the Mark Twain National Forest i was located at that particular second with his GPS ("honey there are no city names for me to give you to look up - it's a forest")) despite not getting back to the hotel until 3am. I did a little dance by the side of the road and here is my proof for state #32. It is only March and that resolution is done and DONE!

How I Love to Fly

I love flying; if i could figure out a way to fly from my apartment to work everyday i would. Knowing the science behind flight makes it even more amazing to me. I love the forces you feel when you take off and land. I love the jostling of turbulence - it's like a carnival ride that you are pretty sure is safe, but was just put together by a carnie this morning. I love how your seat and the walls are constantly vibrating with the thrumming of the engines. I love seeing the world passing below, tiny like a train set, with the shadow of the plane passing over it. I especially love when you are surrounded by clouds; it seems like they are solid puffs that you could jump and bounce on. (i really, really, really want to skydive to flip and fall through the clouds) I realize it sounds crazy, but i miss airline food. I loved airline food. "Guess the Meat" was always a fun game to play and anything pasta-based was normally tasty. We do at least still get snacks. I was happy to see my friend, plane crackers: You would think that they are just crackers to be eaten on a plane, but no, no, they are crackers SHAPED like planes: I love them! It takes so little to amuse me. Thank you Southwest and thank you Nabisco for giving me yet another thing to love about flying. Generally, a day that starts on an airplane is going to be a good day!

St Louis Trip Redux

I am back in MD and had a GREAT time in St Louis. The 2 days were action-packed and fabulous. Instead of doing one incredibly long post that would take forever to write and read, I think I will do it in bite-sized chunks. That way you can get a little bit of trip at a time. Ohhhhh... it'll be like Saturday serials at the movies! Right now it looks like i will be able to get in done in 9 posts, including this one (the biggest problem at this point is figuring out how to upload pictures without going to work), so stay tuned for the adventures in Saint Louie. To get us started, here is a breakdown of trip statistics: duration of trip : 52.5 hours time sleeping : 9.5 hours distance traveled : 1604 miles, 838 by plane and 666 by car airports : 3 time zones : 2 new states : 2 New Year's resolutions finished : 1 iconic landmarks : 1 live bands: 1 encounters with police : 1 Biblical plagues : 1

Having it ALL

I've never been an either/or kinda person; I consider the Nikiverse to be a Land of And. I really wanted to go someplace during my days off - maybe even hit a new state - but since i have set up the studio i also want to stay home and spend as much time on projects as possible. The solution presented itself at 2am (as all good solutions do). I received a rather large (for me) tax refund this year. I was saving it to put towards a computer, but have decided to spend it instead. Tomorrow morning i fly to St Louis, stay for 2 days and fly home on Thursday, in time for my personal training session. This way I don't miss an appointment, i get to do laundry today, and i have at least 3 days in the studio! YIPPEE!

For the love of M

Christina did a post about 10 things she loved with the letter K, which apparently she had been challenged to do by Amy. When I commented, Christina gave me the letter M. ROCK ON LETTER M! There are so many things i love that start with the letter M that i actually had to combine things and cut things out to get down to 10. Here they are in no particular order: Mel, Mike, Matthew, Matt and Mom - i have been blessed with an abundance of people to love whose monikers start with M and i could never choose just one of them Mountains - i love, love, love mountains; i love the silence and peace that i find on mountaintops Margaritas - rocks and salt, of course; i make a killer margarita that has a touch of sweet juxtaposed to the standard tang (no, you cannot have the secret ingredient (and no, it isn't Tang)) Manicures - i am equal parts of tomboy and girlie-girl and my favorite girlie thing is the manicure; i feel extra pretty when my hands are pretty Monkeys - who doesn't love monkeys? (oh yeah, sorry Rea (she doesn't care for monkeys)) Here at my desk i have my Monkey in the Mail (Valentine's last year from Douglas), my mood monkeys (swirly, annoyed, startled, nervous breakdown, energized, giggly, hopeful, spring fever, fallen, lovesick, distracted, frightened, industrious, hacking-up-a-lung, and sassy) penned by Rob to advertise to the office how cautiously to approach my desk, and my string of pipe cleaner monkeys made by Erin Museums - art, history, science, crap; no matter what it is if you gather a bunch of it, theme it, write good signage and display it i will pay 12 bucks to come look at it (of course it helps that as a museum employee i get into a lot of places free) Marshes - ahhhh the wetlands; i love the smell of the marsh, the gentle swaying of the tall grasses, the muck flowing into my shoes - its all good in a marsh M'oni Cheese - my favorite food; how can you go wrong with noodles and cheese??? (unless you're lactose intolerant or just nuts (sorry Jason... i love you, but you're a freak)) Mail - i like making it, sending it, and receiving it (hint, hint people) Men - once described as my favorite land animal (which is actually the tiger, in case you were wondering) there is no denying how much i love men; you'll just have to take my word for it that my reasons are both subtle and obvious Are there any Ms that you love that didn't make my list?

More reasons I love my job

Today Thom and I are driving from our school to get some lunch and we pass a giant, inflated coffee cup. Seattle's Best was having a promotion outside of a mall. They were giving out free cups of coffee and samples of their coffee blend. After chatting about our respective businesses and the cool things we do, one of the coffee guys says, "Here, take this case of coffee samples." That's right, a case. All because we stopped to take pictures and were driving a van covered in dinosaurs. I love my job; sitting at a desk must suck!

and the day was GLORIOUS

My adventure with Colleen yesterday in DC was fabulous. I slept in till 9:45 (consider that i normally get up at 5:30 on weekdays) and had cold pizza and Diet Mt Dew for breakfast (the Breakfast of Champions). We set out for the National Museum of African Art by 11:00. The weather was still a bit nippy, but very sunny and bright. It was the kind of day where you needed a sweater or a jacket, but not both. The only word to describe it would GLORIOUS. Strolling through the Enid Haupt Gardens (behind the Castle on the Mall) everything was in bloom, including the Easter Trees.

I've always wondered why the International Museum, the Sackler and African Art are so teeny. It turns out that the museums are underground. That's right, underground. Enid's garden is called the Rooftop Garden and i never understood why. Now i do. In fact, the three aforementioned museums are actually linked underground by a series of corridors - kinda cool and creepy at the same time. African Art was awesome. It is hard to image trying to curate a museum to cover hundreds of different countries and tribes over the last 600 years, but it was done well. They had a nice mix of traditional tribal pieces and modern pieces made by African artists. And a big thumbs up on the traditional music playing throughout the galleries. Here is a beaded male figure of the Bamum peoples of Cameroon (late 19th century) and a huge portrait of Ethiopian women by Aidu Muluneh called "The Spirit of Sisterhood" that includes the reflection of a pasty, white sister in it. I love museums, love being exposed to things i've never seen or experienced before. My brain tingles when i learn new things. Colleen is a great person to go museuming with, as she gets how i like to experience it: i want to move through the gallery at my own pace, absorbing and thinking alone, hook up at the end of the gallery to discuss what we saw, and then move together to the next gallery. We may have to go back to African Art this summer as there is an exhibit opening in May about African graphics and written language and I loves me some written language! We wound our way through the underground maze of hallways and offices and were suddenly in the International Center where there were two exhibits: Vietnamese-Americans and the French and Indian War. Wow, talk about 2 totally different topics to be in one space. They were both well done, though. Next was a quest for R2-D2. I'm sure by now you have heard that last Thursday USPS wrapped blue mailboxes in 200 cities to look like our favorite astro-mech droid in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. I read about them on the Geeks List and was bound and determined to find one. There was much searching and asking around and we finally found one in Union Station in DC. It is adorable, as is the lovely Colleen along side. We ended up at her house, after yummy dinner burritos, watching music videos from OnDemand (gosh i like music in any form, but especially in video form - i was a member of the first MTV generation ya know) and then Food Network. I finally got home around 12:15. And to think that i could have been at work instead...

How Doth the Busy Little Bee...

I like Daylight Savings Time. I like that it is light later in the day. Who cares if it is dark in the morning? I get up at 5:30am and it wouldn't matter if the sun was shining like a laser, I would NOT want to get out of bed! At least now there is the possibility of being in the sunshine. There is so much more Vitamin D in my blood it is like being plugged into a wall socket - screw you Seasonal Affected Disorder! It has been a busy weekend in the Nikiverse; here is the quick rundown : 3 shows on Friday, training and paperwork, Fridays After Five lobby work, attempting to go see a band, hellacious ice storm, read until the wee hours, sleep, gym, all-day crop, change clothes, go see another band, discuss possible futures with a friend until 2am, read, sleep, make brunch (mmmmmm... broccolli and feta frittata), gym, go to a great play, work in the studio, about a billion phone calls, read until the wee hours, sleep, laundry, bills and correspondence, library, bank, 3 stores, gym, photo lab, home to pack, drive to Arlington, dinner with Colleen, 7 Codename: Kids Next Door episodes on Tivo (cause there are some things i really do miss, not having TV), some weird and scary sh** on OnDemand (now i have to look for a copy of the publication Art of Love because according to an enlightening 50s propaganda piece, i apparently can't possibly know how to please a man (who knew i was so misinformed and confused about men; thank goodness this $1 paperback from the 50s can set me straight)) and now here i sit in Colleen's guest room at 4am looking for information on the location of mailboxes shaped like R2-D2. Funny, i'm not even tired. Why am i in VA, you say? According to my last paycheck (dated March 9th) i have accrued the following hours: personal - 105 sick - 420 vacation - 173.6 That would be a total of 698 hours, or 99 days. If we discount the sick hours (cause i can't take more than 3 days in a row without a doctor's note) and ignore the fact that i have about 200 unaccounted comp hours, there are still 278 hours or 39 days that i need to take, some by July and some by December. Needless to say, the PTB are a bit unamused by this situation and want me to take some time off; therefore, i am only working 4 days in this 2 week pay period. How is that possible? I took these days off of the calendar 2 months ago; sure, it cost TSP bookings in the range of a possible 4K, but at least i get some time off, right? (personally i think the PTB have their priorities a bit askew, but who am i to question?) So i convinced the lovely, and dedicated, Miss Colleen to take tomorrow off so that we can have an adventure. The Federal Railway Administration is simply going to have to get along without her, on this Tuesday! [dang... am i a bad influence on everybody i meet?] As for the adventure, it is unplanned and weather dependant. It could be a driving adventure. It could be a DC adventure. It could be a museum adventure. It could be a sit-on-the-couch-in-our-jammies-and-eat-gummi-worms-while-watching-OnDemand adventure. Whatever it is, I am not going to work and i get to spend the day with Leenie. YIPPEE!!!

Pi(e) Pics

Just some quick links to pictures and a writeup about Pi(e) Day (you'll want to notice where the staff are eating pie at tables that have been arranged in the shape of pi. man, i love us). What did YOU do at work yesterday??? http://www.examiner.com/a-619980~Science_Center_offers_a_taste_of_pi.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/piccmann/sets/72157600001097850/show/

Happy Pi(e) Day!

My place of employment is filled with people who love science and love any excuse to get together and eat, hence the inception of Pi(e) Day!

For the third year in a row we celebrated Pi Day today (March 14th is 3-14, for those of you who aren't geeks). Of course the first ceremonial pie was cut at 1:59pm (that would be 3-14, 1:59 for those of you still not following me!). The staff has a Pi(e) party organized by the head of the planetarium department (where the hardcore geeks live). People bring in pies and vote on the best one, after sampling as many as possible (one of the winners this year was apperantly a homemade two-crust blueberry pie, made from blueberries that were handpicked and frozen in the summer, where the top crust had a pi symbol cut into it). There are pi magnents, pi necklaces, and pi balloon decorations. This year there was also a pi-ku poetry contest; someone even did their pi-ku in 3-1-4 instead of 5-7-5. For the public, Tastycake donated snack pies to give to the first 314 guests through the door.

Unfortunately, my staff (except the lucky Lauren) was on the road; however, there were some Tastycakes (thanks to whomever saved them for us) that i arranged into a pie pyramid (or as Erin keeps insisting, a pi-amid).

Have some pie, people and celebrate both geometry and tasty pastries!

Niki's Pi-Ku

Pi r not

Square;

Pie are yummy!

2 reasons why i Love my job

1) the odd, fun, intelligent, but ultimately crazy people i work with 2) the odd things that can show up in the building at any time

Red Bull Remorse

Yeah, it was too good to be true. About an hour after the post last night where i was loving life on my legal stimulant I got a piercing headache - you know, the white-hot-poker-behind-my-eyes headache. At home i rode it out with some dinner (nothing says comforting like m'oni cheese and juice (mmmmm... cran-grape)) and a book (the Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton). Once the searing-pain portion of the evening was over I found myself at my desk in the midst of a postcard making frenzy; a few of you may find the interesting results in your mailboxes in the coming days. When Mr. Sharpie showed up at 12:45 I realized perhaps I had lost focus and control over my evening. I have learned two very important lessons from this experience that I wish to share with you in the form of Public Service Announcements: 1). Though the gym is open at 1:40am, all of the lights in the parking lot are turned off, rendering the experience creepy like a zombie movie. 2). Some people of a certain natural perkiness level should stay away from "energy drinks" at all costs, really.

Speaking of drugs

CRAP. You know i am the queen of OTC meds, but avoid narcotics like the plague. I don't take medication from my doctor until i've read the pharmacy handouts. Heck, I haven't even taken No-Doze since high school. Yes, i admit i am addicted to caffeine; I have 2 Diet Cokes a day (breakfast and lunch) to avoid the shaking DTs, but I hardly consider it a problem. Through an odd twist of fate (that we don't need to go into at this juncture) I drank some Red Bull about an hour ago. CRAP. Is this sh** actually legal??? Are you trying to tell me it is just caffeine in there? Caffeine? The same caffeine you find in my Diet Coke? What is it, like 500 times the amount of caffeine? It is like my brain is on fire, in a good, good, good, good, good, good, good way! Woohooooo! Gotta go pick up my books at the checkout desk, do laundry, go to the gym, rewrite a show outline, rewrite a show script, relearn the show i am doing tomorrow, and finish not one, but two submissions to Somerset Studios on the theme "Vintage Halloween." And maybe i'll write a few letters. And maybe read. And maybe clean the house. And maybe do dishes. I might never have to sleep again!

It's like drugs (without the pesky vomitting)

Last weekend I finally finished setting up my work space in the studio-half of the big room in my apartment so I spent this weekend working on cards. And by "this weekend" I mean from noon on Saturday when i got back from the gym to 2am today. I just couldn't stop. I decided to send in a submission to "the Stamper's Sampler" magazine. The topic was using stencils within the project, instead of as a tool. I thought i might do 2 or 3 cause I wasn't very inspired by the theme, but want to make submitting to various publications a habit so I gave it a shot. I am submitting 9 cards. NINE. There are some that i love and some that did not come out quite the way I wanted, but in the end it is the process that matters. I have always made cards as a form of affection, but I am finding as I get older that i actually NEED to create. Whether it is cards, collages, paintings or scrapbooking, the creative release is not only good for me, but apperantly imperative to my health and happiness. I have discussed this with one friend who is currently cut off from one of his own major creative outlets and he has a similar story. Do any of you find that the need to create goes beyond artistic expression and is instead a tool for mental health?

Would the opposite of perky be crotchety?

I have a friend named Jonah. We used to work together until he moved to CT to head his own program. We are diametrically opposed on nearly everything; it verges on ridiculous how different we are. If I think the glass is half full, he thinks the glass was recently smashed by a passing asteroid. The things we agree on can be counted on one hand: 1) we have the best job EVER, 2) when in doubt, light it on fire, 3) pizza is yummy, 4) U2 is awesome, and 5) we love each other, though we should make each other NUTS. When he worked here, we were referred to as Frick and Frack cause we were always together, but no one really understood our friendship; in fact, when i met his then-girlfriend (now wife) for the first time, her comment was, "Wow. Is she ALWAYS that perky?" Last week were talking about me joining this century and starting a blog. The discussion instantly highlighted our personalities; here is his version of the story, from his blog: I recently had this conversation with a friend... SHE: On my blog, I keep a running list of things that make me happy. ME: Oddly enough, I like to list things that piss me off. SHE: I think this may entirely sum up the difference between us. ME: Did it occur to you that listing things which piss me off is one of the things that makes me happy? Yep. There's our entire relationship in 5 lines. So for all of you out there who feel like you might need an antidote to my unrestrained love of life, I offer you Mr Science Theater. Just remember that i warned you and that strychnine goes down better with chocolate. I love you, Jonah and there isn't a DAMN THING you can do about it! [will that make the list of things that piss you off? ;-) ]

It's like MAGIC

I am amazed by knitting. in fact, I am amazed by all needlecraft. It is one type of craft that is simply beyond me. I have tried knitting, crocheting, long stitch, emboidery, ribbon embroidery, cross-stitch and counted cross-stitch; I am equally terrible at all of them.

When I saw Kate P. this weekend she brought me a housewarming gift of hand knitted cloths (dish, face or decorative - your choice!). One was vibra-pink cause it is such a Niki color and the other was seasonal. Kate warned me that the shamrock pattern was subtle. She lied. It is obvious and COOL.

How can simple loops and knots of yarn make such different patterns? Kurt used to say that it took pixie dust to braid hair; i think it must take elven magic to knit.

Man I love having talented friends! Thanks, Kate.

Pod People, part 2

I have a digital camera. ... I'll pause for you to recover. TSP team member, Rob, is an incredible photographer. When he joined the team 3 and a half years ago, we would spend a lot of time on the road taking pictures and he had the most adorable, yet versatile digital camera. He is the person most responsible for me going from "despising digital" to "hating digital" to "tolerating digital" to "i-can-see-the-value-of-digital-but-it's-not-for-me" to "wellllllll, maybe." Over Christmas, I was talking to Mel and Mike about the fact that I had softened my views on the film vs digital debate. They had recently gotten a new camera and one of the two (i can't remember which) said, "we should send you our old camera to try." About a month or so passed and one day a big box marked "Fragile" (must be Italian) appeared at my front door. I had forgotten all about the conversation and was blown away to open the box and find Mel and Mike's old camera in my hands. They sent the camera, all the cables, a memory card, all the software, the charger, everything! Heck, it was even in the original box! I immediately took my first ever digital picture commemerating the event.

In playing around with the camera I found that Mel and Mike had sent another present along with the camera. As a "welcome to this millenia" present, there was already a picture on the memory card of the scruffiest member of our family, the cuter-than-you-would-think-possible Stanley Barr.

It has taken me a while to figure out how to 1) use the camera, 2) connect it to my computer and upload the pictures, and 3) post images on the blog.

My little Canon PowerShot is cute and fun. teehee... i like new toys. I think that I will probably continue to shoot film as i really do love film, but think that anything i might want to end up here, or send to others will also be shot digitally. Now just to find a new camera bag. The stripey Guatemala bag has almost had it!

Thank you, Mike and Melanie!!!

Perhaps I am part Canadian

Having males friends my entire life means I am conversational in most sports; however there are only a few that I actually really like. Near the top of the list is hockey. I don't know why men on skates with sticks chasing a chunk of plastic excites me, but it does. Last night Jason, Kate, Colleen and I went to the Caps game in DC to watch them take on the NY Islanders. Man, I love hockey and it is way better live. Unfortunately for the first 2 periods the Caps looked like a college intramural team with crappy passing and non-existent teamwork, but after the coaches served them what must have been a heapin' helpin' of rage stew during the second break, they came out and actually played the third period. Of course nothing could really help the damage and NY won 6 to 2. Despite losing, I still had a really good time and am considering looking into partial-season passes. A little known Niki fact : my favorite sport to watch on TV is Lumberjack Competitions. Whether it is reruns of boomrunning or the Stihl IronJack Competetion, i love me some lumberjack sports. And my favorite is Hot Saw.

A Good Day for Being Born!

March 1st is a great day for birthdays. Not only did Ohio become a state, Yellowstone become the first National Park and the Hoover Dam open, but today is David and Kaaren's lovely daughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Isabelle! Also, my nephew's twins came this morning around 3am. As per our family, the girl - Rachel - was no problem, but the boy - Brandon - threw a fit and had to be taken by C-section. Both babies are fine, as is their mom. My nephew, Darryl, however is freaking out in Japan as his leave to come home and meet his babies hasn't come through yet. [I'm sure it will all work out] Happy March 1st to everyone and Happy Not-Crapuary-Anymore, too!