"Think something of beauty..."
3 years ago
An overdue picture
I found pictures from JP's visit after Christmas in a obscure folder on my computer. I'm not sure why they didn't make it to my pictures folder, but alas. So here we are, a long overdue blog on JP's visit, complete with picture.
I love this picture in particular. Harper was very fond of JP and I think JP took to the the uncle role quite well. Here, JP is playing the Wii, with Harper cuddled up with him in the rocking chair. Awww....
I love this picture in particular. Harper was very fond of JP and I think JP took to the the uncle role quite well. Here, JP is playing the Wii, with Harper cuddled up with him in the rocking chair. Awww....
Be a Tourist In Your Own Hometown
Originally uploaded by hillidaa
The Cape Fear Region (which include Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and a few other less beachy places) hosts the "Be a Tourist In Your Own Hometown" event annually in the beginning of March. Many, many local tourist attractions provide free admission to persons who are legal residents of New Hanover County (and sometimes the surrounding counties of Brunswick and Pender).
Apparently, it's a promotion for the locals to know all the good tourist-y locals and thus promote them to the tourists that come during the summer. When someone asks, "How is the Cameron Art Museum?" you can give an informed opinion. (My opinion - small, but lovely- definitely worth a couple of hours on rainy afternoon.)
So Tom and I decided to check out the Battleship North Carolina. It is permanently secured on the Cape Fear river right across from downtown Wilmington. We've gone over there and mulled around outside the ship; not wanting to pay the admission. So we decided it would be a perfect time to tour the ship itself.
It was fun, we had a good time. We knew better than to bring the stroller, so I had my wrap on. But having a different center of balance on those steep stairs is a little concerning!
Tom was more impressed than I was I think, only because I've seen my fair share of military ships. I was more interested in the placards with memories from the crew than the actual boat itself.
All in all, it was a fun couple of hours on our local tourist attraction. I probably wouldn't pay full price admission for it, but I'd recommend it to anyone who had a coupon.
Apparently, it's a promotion for the locals to know all the good tourist-y locals and thus promote them to the tourists that come during the summer. When someone asks, "How is the Cameron Art Museum?" you can give an informed opinion. (My opinion - small, but lovely- definitely worth a couple of hours on rainy afternoon.)
So Tom and I decided to check out the Battleship North Carolina. It is permanently secured on the Cape Fear river right across from downtown Wilmington. We've gone over there and mulled around outside the ship; not wanting to pay the admission. So we decided it would be a perfect time to tour the ship itself.
It was fun, we had a good time. We knew better than to bring the stroller, so I had my wrap on. But having a different center of balance on those steep stairs is a little concerning!
Tom was more impressed than I was I think, only because I've seen my fair share of military ships. I was more interested in the placards with memories from the crew than the actual boat itself.
All in all, it was a fun couple of hours on our local tourist attraction. I probably wouldn't pay full price admission for it, but I'd recommend it to anyone who had a coupon.
Heartbreaker
Originally uploaded by hillidaa
This is my little heartbreaker. Those big blue eyes, that soul searching look. He melts my heart!
Too bad he's got big giant nerd genes that will activate throughout high school. But in college (should he choose to go), he'll melt the hearts of all his nerd-girl classmates.
I might be biased, though.
Too bad he's got big giant nerd genes that will activate throughout high school. But in college (should he choose to go), he'll melt the hearts of all his nerd-girl classmates.
I might be biased, though.
Nerd Rage
I read this newspost today, from Tim, the creater of the comic Ctrl-Alt-Del (linked in my sidebar). It's a comic whose central theme is gaming, but is still non-specific enough that I can appreciate it's humor. (Note: If you go to check it out, be forewarned that some of the comics do have vulgar language)
Here is what Tim wrote:
So you may have heard about the global Playstation 3 meltdown (or 'ApocalyPS3') earlier this week when a small error in the system's internal clock as it relates (I assume) to leap years rendered many systems unplayable for a whopping 24 hours.I imagine I don't need to tell you, some people flipped.The conspiracy theories flew, and the fury and threats boiled over, and it was quite the spectacle to behold if you cruised by some gaming forums in the heat of it. I'll admit, I was personally thankful that I'd finished Heavy Rain the night before. I'd have probably been a little irritated to find that I couldn't sit down to play it after work. But man oh man... forget corn, we need to get our scientists working on a way to harness nerd-rage as a renewable energy source.Hook one of these angsty geeks up to some machines, tell him his favorite game service is down on his day off, or that Michael Bay is directing a Thundercats movie, and power New York City for a month straight. It'll work I tell you. The science is out there.
You know, this could work. In fact, there are several ways I could see using human emotion/energy as a power source. You wouldn't want your life support systems to be powered that way, but hey, your toaster is a pretty safe bet. The question is, how to harness this energy using less energy that it produces... I wonder if people are looking into this sort of thing.
Wow, a quick Yahoo search is all it takes to discover:
From http://blog.fitnessoptions.co.uk/index.php/hong-kong-health-club-harness%E2%80%99s-human-energy/
- The California Fitness health club in Hong Kong has connected car batteries to exercise machines so that they can harness human energy to reduce their electricity bills.
- There are shoes that convert walking into electricity and can generate around six watts, enough to power a mobile phone and dance floors that turn vibrations into energy.
- The Ridgefield Fitness Club (in Ridgefield, CT) cycling studio, comprised of 17 indoor cycles, is connected to the club’s electrical grid through an inverter, so that human electricity can be used to power all aspects of the facility. This maximization of electricity helps reduce carbon emissions and lowers the community’s demand for fossil fuel based-energy. Any excess electricity generated from the club has the potential to return to the power grid for others in the community to use.
And this is the website of a workshop that focuses on how to add the human powered element back into things we do in everyday life anyways:
It's times like these you really do think that humans aren't going to kill themselves off the way the naysayers predict.
WARM
Today was my first day volunteering for WARM, or Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry. My church had stuffed orangish flyer into the bulletin one week, and I held onto to it, knowing that I wanted to get involved. Last week, while picking up my Angel Food order at the mall, there was a Home Improvement Expo, and WARM had a booth. I filled out the volunteer application on the spot.
They called within a few days, interested in my data management experience. I am so excited! I have been wanting to find a place where I can volunteer and be useful. WARM's mission is to repair substandard housing for those who are physically or finiancially unable to do so for themselves. I'm starting by entering in data on volunteers and applicants, and I hope that my moderate experience with data management will be useful as I learn their system.
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