Habari from Kisumu, Kenya! We're currently in an internet cafe getting milkshakes to cool down while we wait to go on a boat tour on Lake Victoria to see hippos and the sunset. A week in, and we have toured Nairobi, gone on a safari, visited Bomet where Jon and Mandy are teaching which included lunch with a local family and a tour of a tea factory and farm, and stayed in a rain forest for a couple days of hiking. After some shopping in Kisumu, we'll head to the island of Zanzibar for some beach time (and hopefully swim with dolphins!). There has been mucho staring, pit toilets, and price gouging by the locals, baboons came after me while I marked my territory on the safari, and my dad keeps trying to sell me to the local men (I insist my dowry is 20 white elephants and 2 cheetahs, but he keeps being cheap and just wants a couple of cows shipped to the US). I've also been told a number of times that my skirts are very Kenyan and the locals keep assuming I'm living in the country - thanks Kelsey! ;)
More to come later, but for now, we are alive and well and having an amazing time!
Kwa heri!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Oh the Places You'll Go
Who says we haven't progressed in recent years? I write this now on the keypad of my Android phone 10,000 ft in the air on a plane somewhere between Denver and Detroit... judging by the vast nothingness below, I'd guess Kansas or Iowa. A kid is happily yelling and kicking away at my seat, and I paid a ridiculous amount to check my bag in order to get all of the gifts I told people not to get me (I'm grateful regardless) back to Michigan.
Another year is coming to a close, another Christmas passed... though this year it didn't really feel like Christmas, it just felt like hectic family time. I guess it's a good thing that anytime I come home, it's like I never left. It's weird to think. That someday we'll likely all be married and will start staying home with our own families rather than go to the parents. I think my dad will lose his mind when that day comes, I'm not sure he knows how to function on his own at times. It's nice to get to go back though and spend time with everyone, get away for a bit. I know the minute I step outside of the airport in Michigan, I'll be missing the wonky Colorado weather... 60 deg in December, with feet of snow in the mountains!
However, I've also realized that Michigan finally feels kind of like home. I'm looking forward to getting to my apartment, walking through the door where my cat will be waiting excited to see me, sleeping in my own bed, and setting my own schedule. It's like I've grown up or something! I never thought that would happen. Christina and I have had conversations about when it is that we really become adults, partly because we were trying to avoid admitting that we might be. Is it when you get your own place? Start a full time job/career? Get married? Have a kid? Own a storage unit? We never came to any conclusion other than that we weren't there yet, but more and more it feels like I'm grownup, and that's not such a bad thing.
Its not going to stop me from doing stupid things like tying a satellite dish to the back of a truck and sledding in it though...
Another year is coming to a close, another Christmas passed... though this year it didn't really feel like Christmas, it just felt like hectic family time. I guess it's a good thing that anytime I come home, it's like I never left. It's weird to think. That someday we'll likely all be married and will start staying home with our own families rather than go to the parents. I think my dad will lose his mind when that day comes, I'm not sure he knows how to function on his own at times. It's nice to get to go back though and spend time with everyone, get away for a bit. I know the minute I step outside of the airport in Michigan, I'll be missing the wonky Colorado weather... 60 deg in December, with feet of snow in the mountains!
However, I've also realized that Michigan finally feels kind of like home. I'm looking forward to getting to my apartment, walking through the door where my cat will be waiting excited to see me, sleeping in my own bed, and setting my own schedule. It's like I've grown up or something! I never thought that would happen. Christina and I have had conversations about when it is that we really become adults, partly because we were trying to avoid admitting that we might be. Is it when you get your own place? Start a full time job/career? Get married? Have a kid? Own a storage unit? We never came to any conclusion other than that we weren't there yet, but more and more it feels like I'm grownup, and that's not such a bad thing.
Its not going to stop me from doing stupid things like tying a satellite dish to the back of a truck and sledding in it though...
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Ski Day
Last day of my Christmas trip to Colorado, also Christmas Day. My dad, brother and I decided it was the perfect day to go skiing as there would be no one on the slopes, which was true. It turned out to be a gorgeous day - perfect weather, good runs, few people.
My dads knees have started getting bad as he gets older, so he tends to quit early on us when we ski now. But not before we accidently took him down a black diamond run after lunch. Woops. He gave up after that run, leaving Colin and I to ourselves. Colin suggested using the time to practice on harder slopes since we don't care if we look like idiots in front of each other. And then he suggested we try a small area of moguls to practice. He led us to an area that last year I accidently sent him and Dad down when they were misdirected (I said stay right. I didn't mean as far right as they stayed...). We got to the area, and found that it had no moguls this year. Colin pointed to the right and suggested we go on the moguls on the next run over. Awesome idea!
So we started down, and quickly realized we have no idea how to ski moguls and suck at life. But it was good practice regardless of us falling nearly every time we turned a mogul. We got to one especially steep part, and I chose to go first. I missed the turn and started rolling down the mountain, flopping around 50 ft before being able to stop myself. Colin was cracking up like none other, and I had snow down my pants. A little further down, Colin followed my example and yardsaled hardcore. His pole was left above him, and his ski triied skiing away without him, stopping about 20 yards away on the edge of the tree line, almost lost forever. He then did it again 5 minutes later, losing one pole above him and bending the other one. He was flailed out and couldn't get himself together enough to retrieve the lost pole, so I had to take off my skis and hike the 20 ft incline. During this tiime, two guys skiing past stopped and asked if we were ok, and after assuring them we were only having pole issues, they skiied off. We must have looked like a mess though because they stopped within visual and watched us for 10 minutes while we continued to look like we had no idea what we were doing.
We got down far enough that they moved on, and we found a cut through in the trees that we elected tp take in hopes it'd lead to a less mogul-y run. It didn't, the next one over was even worse. BUT we crossed that one and cut through the trees and finally found the traverse to make it back to the lift we wanted to get to. Turns out we went to the furthest run in the resort, which led to a small lift that at the time we weren't sure where it went (turns out it dropped you off just below the other lift and may have been faster at the point we were at). The traverse had a long flat spot, and we basically had to cross-country ski part of it. Colin got tired of this and chose to take off his skis to walk...and his leg went all the way through the powdery snow. He called out to me and said he didn't know if he could get out without help, and I, 20 yards ahead, told him there was no way I was going back to help him. After using his poles as picks to pull himself out, we finally made it back an hour after starting the run. Runs normally take us 10 minutes. My whole body hurt from the experience.
I am never listening to Colin again.
My dads knees have started getting bad as he gets older, so he tends to quit early on us when we ski now. But not before we accidently took him down a black diamond run after lunch. Woops. He gave up after that run, leaving Colin and I to ourselves. Colin suggested using the time to practice on harder slopes since we don't care if we look like idiots in front of each other. And then he suggested we try a small area of moguls to practice. He led us to an area that last year I accidently sent him and Dad down when they were misdirected (I said stay right. I didn't mean as far right as they stayed...). We got to the area, and found that it had no moguls this year. Colin pointed to the right and suggested we go on the moguls on the next run over. Awesome idea!
So we started down, and quickly realized we have no idea how to ski moguls and suck at life. But it was good practice regardless of us falling nearly every time we turned a mogul. We got to one especially steep part, and I chose to go first. I missed the turn and started rolling down the mountain, flopping around 50 ft before being able to stop myself. Colin was cracking up like none other, and I had snow down my pants. A little further down, Colin followed my example and yardsaled hardcore. His pole was left above him, and his ski triied skiing away without him, stopping about 20 yards away on the edge of the tree line, almost lost forever. He then did it again 5 minutes later, losing one pole above him and bending the other one. He was flailed out and couldn't get himself together enough to retrieve the lost pole, so I had to take off my skis and hike the 20 ft incline. During this tiime, two guys skiing past stopped and asked if we were ok, and after assuring them we were only having pole issues, they skiied off. We must have looked like a mess though because they stopped within visual and watched us for 10 minutes while we continued to look like we had no idea what we were doing.
We got down far enough that they moved on, and we found a cut through in the trees that we elected tp take in hopes it'd lead to a less mogul-y run. It didn't, the next one over was even worse. BUT we crossed that one and cut through the trees and finally found the traverse to make it back to the lift we wanted to get to. Turns out we went to the furthest run in the resort, which led to a small lift that at the time we weren't sure where it went (turns out it dropped you off just below the other lift and may have been faster at the point we were at). The traverse had a long flat spot, and we basically had to cross-country ski part of it. Colin got tired of this and chose to take off his skis to walk...and his leg went all the way through the powdery snow. He called out to me and said he didn't know if he could get out without help, and I, 20 yards ahead, told him there was no way I was going back to help him. After using his poles as picks to pull himself out, we finally made it back an hour after starting the run. Runs normally take us 10 minutes. My whole body hurt from the experience.
I am never listening to Colin again.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
NaNoFail
So I effectively failed my non-existent November writing month goal. Even challenging myself and committing to writing four blog posts proved to be too much for my little uncreative mind. In part because I did not take time to sit down and think up ideas and actually get something written out. And in part because oftentimes the things that I consider writing about or are on my mind are things I don’t care to share with the unfaithful mistress that is the internet. Plus, I never stop to consider that maybe someone would find it mildly entertaining that there are times when I sit around in a room and consider what I would do if a ceiling tile were to fall on me or that I have an elaborate plan of what I would do in case someone broke into my apartment to steal me that is so much better than that of the silly girls in Taken. Seems a little crazy to me to be sharing with others.
Anyway, its end/beginning of month, which is always crazy at work, amplified when you have full days of training. They’re trying to convince me I’m a leader and therefore need to go through training on how to better equip my employees and convince them of all the happy corporate mumbo jumbo that they’ve tried to infiltrate my mind with. Unfortunately for them, my mind is so full of all of the things I have yet to finish at work, I shan’t have room for corporate silliness. This was just an excuse for a quick break… now I must run and finish to-do lists. And maybe try to talk Loki into giving me a back massage.
Anyway, its end/beginning of month, which is always crazy at work, amplified when you have full days of training. They’re trying to convince me I’m a leader and therefore need to go through training on how to better equip my employees and convince them of all the happy corporate mumbo jumbo that they’ve tried to infiltrate my mind with. Unfortunately for them, my mind is so full of all of the things I have yet to finish at work, I shan’t have room for corporate silliness. This was just an excuse for a quick break… now I must run and finish to-do lists. And maybe try to talk Loki into giving me a back massage.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Head Conversations
I’m always amazed at how easy it is for my subconscious to go a bit wild and convince me of things. A thought, an idea planted beneath becomes an obsession deeply rooted. It’s like watching a really stupid horror movie that’s laughable because you know that if they *really* wanted to get away from all of those scary apparitions, all they had to do was walk away from the freaking mirrors and never go back to that house. Yet then you find yourself having dreams of strangers that broke into your house, and when you wake up you’re convinced it really happened and you’re not alone in your home. And cats don’t make good guard dogs.
I’m awake at this moment because of this. Yeah, it’s only 8:30, but after a weekend of doing nothing but errands, I was tired out by 7pm and decided to drop myself into bed early. My mind didn’t agree unfortunately. I think I came up with every bad scenario possible for various situations, had a million made up conversations in my head, and after getting my half awake self worked up starting to think it was all true, I decided I needed to get up and eat Qdoba. Best way to fix a made up problem.
How is it so easy to let our subconscious run so wild? Maybe because we want to get ourselves to believe something, get us psyched up so it’s easier to deal with situations if we’ve already talked through the worst case we can imagine. And because I'm a notorious planner that has a horrible habit of thinking something out in it's entirety before it happens, my mind seems to take this to the extreme. I’m not sure I ever talked myself through passing out in front of a recruiter or throwing up on the guy I liked though. My subconscious was a little behind on that boat.
I’ll admit, it has helped me work up the nerve to get through certain situations that scared the bejebus out of me. Or gotten me ready to have hard conversations that I wanted to avoid (ok, so maybe some of them I still avoided regardless…). But currently, I would be preferring sleep. I’m pretty sure Waffles would too, the way he’s giving me angry groggy eyes for turning on the light without warning him. Loki just wants to play fetch with the Reeses I snuck (does it count as sneaking when no one else is around or cares? Well, I was trying to sneak it without Loki noticing, but nay I say…). So hopefully spending time writing this down (for the first time in a long time… 1 down, 3 to go for the month!) means it’ll shut up and I can sleep in peace.
See you at the aftermath, peace...but not literally...
I’m awake at this moment because of this. Yeah, it’s only 8:30, but after a weekend of doing nothing but errands, I was tired out by 7pm and decided to drop myself into bed early. My mind didn’t agree unfortunately. I think I came up with every bad scenario possible for various situations, had a million made up conversations in my head, and after getting my half awake self worked up starting to think it was all true, I decided I needed to get up and eat Qdoba. Best way to fix a made up problem.
How is it so easy to let our subconscious run so wild? Maybe because we want to get ourselves to believe something, get us psyched up so it’s easier to deal with situations if we’ve already talked through the worst case we can imagine. And because I'm a notorious planner that has a horrible habit of thinking something out in it's entirety before it happens, my mind seems to take this to the extreme. I’m not sure I ever talked myself through passing out in front of a recruiter or throwing up on the guy I liked though. My subconscious was a little behind on that boat.
I’ll admit, it has helped me work up the nerve to get through certain situations that scared the bejebus out of me. Or gotten me ready to have hard conversations that I wanted to avoid (ok, so maybe some of them I still avoided regardless…). But currently, I would be preferring sleep. I’m pretty sure Waffles would too, the way he’s giving me angry groggy eyes for turning on the light without warning him. Loki just wants to play fetch with the Reeses I snuck (does it count as sneaking when no one else is around or cares? Well, I was trying to sneak it without Loki noticing, but nay I say…). So hopefully spending time writing this down (for the first time in a long time… 1 down, 3 to go for the month!) means it’ll shut up and I can sleep in peace.
See you at the aftermath, peace...but not literally...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wedding Planning: A Family Event
I have been talking about this for several months now (read: since last September. Amy reminded me that I had spoken to her about it when I visited her in Columbia), so although many know about the horrors that are wedding planning for my sister, it well deserves it’s own post.
First of all, I think wedding planning in itself is ridiculous. $20,000 on the low end for a single day of entertaining people? Being in debt to entertain others and impress them doesn’t sound like the best way to start off your new life together as one. That is beside the point though; weddings are supposed to be an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends a union that should last a lifetime, something very worth celebration. Thusly, if you’re going to bring them all out to celebrate, a little planning is not too much to ask for. Unless you’re asking my sister.
My sister has never been the most responsible person. I’m not sure if it’s the youngest child syndrome or that perhaps I got the over-planning genes and therefore there were none left for her when she popped out 3 years later. She flies free like the wind, which has often meant disappearing without notice, getting a cat and then promptly giving it to my mother, and dating and breaking up with guys who then break into my old car and steal my birthday stereo that I passed on to her.
Now translate this “free spirit” to fit wedding planning. It doesn’t work. I even gave her the “Anti-Bride Wedding Guide”. I’m not sure she ever opened it…
The wedding is this Saturday. Let’s review how things have been going up to this point:
-The fiancé proposed. With a real ring!
+2 wedding points
-She picked out a wedding dress and got it ordered in December.
+1 wedding point
-She picked a location by January.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t reserve said location. My dad realized this and had to remedy it in March.
-1 wedding point
-She got a wedding cake picked out and on order in March with the mother’s prompting. We’ll give it to her.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t order flowers until last week. She also told them that price was no object (to her it wasn’t… my dad, who is paying for them, highly disagreed!).
-2 wedding points
-She changed the entire color of the wedding last minute last week, including the flower colors and bridesmaid dresses, from Navy Blue to Royal Purple.
-1 wedding point
-Luckily, she had not yet picked out bridesmaid dresses, the changing the color was not an issue. The issue was that her choices had ranged from juniors sizes to Mother of the Bride dresses to fabrics that were definitely going to ensure she was the only good looking girl standing in the wedding!
-1 wedding point (or is it a plus for her??)
-After sending out a link to the new purple bridesmaid dress she picked out, I made sure to let her know I didn’t care for the dress, but ordered it anyway because that’s what she really wanted. It then came in the mail, was tried on, and found to need much work to be wearable….
-1 wedding point
-While having Christina try and help me make the dress work yesterday, I was talking to my sister, and she told me that the other two bridesmaids didn’t like the dress either, so she let them order a different one, figuring it would mean I would stand out with a different dress as the Maid of Honor. Yes, I will stand out as the only one with a retarded dress on!!
-10 wedding points (personal bias)
-The groomsmen, which includes my brother, ordered tuxes, but were given no direction by the groom except that he insists on no tie or bowties, which apparently looks ridiculous. I guess the groom doesn’t have to worry about anyone standing looking better than him either…
-1 wedding point
-They completed a registry and sent out invitation a month ago.
+2 wedding points
-She sent invites to friends first, thus didn’t have enough for family, didn’t invite the entire family, and didn’t keep track of who she DID invite!
-2 wedding points
-She also did not keep track of RSVPs and who would actually be attending, so we have no idea who is actually coming and my dad has no idea what number to tell the caterer.
-1 wedding point
-I was one of the people that did NOT receive an invite. Minor since I’m in the wedding, except until last week, I didn’t know what time the wedding was at or where they were registered at. This made it hard to include information for the bridal shower, though that was already delayed due to the fact that I didn’t want to send invites to people who hadn’t even been invited to the wedding!!
-2 wedding points
-I actually got a list of girls she wanted at the bachelorette party.
+1 wedding point
-She told me to Facebook them, but didn’t give last names. Told me I could figure it out from her Facebook… she also insisted that she wanted a wild drinking night (which was a fight in itself) even though she wanted her underage friend and pregnant friend to be joining us…
-2 wedding points
-She was supposed to have all of her stuff out of my dad’s house two weeks ago so that he could prepare for family coming. She did nothing.
-1 wedding point
-After many threats, Colin took initiative and took anything she left behind to Good Will last week. She has yet to say anything (likely because she’s been staying with my mom and hasn’t been to Dad’s yet…). Problem solved, whether it was by her or not.
+1 wedding point
-With all of these frustations, I have had no shortage of prayer requests
+1 wedding point
-Ending on a good note, I get to go to Colorado, family will be gathering, good food will be eaten, and based on Jesus’s example, wine will flow freely. Wedding or not, poor planning aside, a good time should be had as long as we can make it through the rest of the week without killing my dear younger sister! (Thanks to my dad for putting some perspective on my frustrations)
+15 wedding points
Current Wedding Point Running Total: 0
...it could go either way.... ;)
First of all, I think wedding planning in itself is ridiculous. $20,000 on the low end for a single day of entertaining people? Being in debt to entertain others and impress them doesn’t sound like the best way to start off your new life together as one. That is beside the point though; weddings are supposed to be an opportunity to celebrate with family and friends a union that should last a lifetime, something very worth celebration. Thusly, if you’re going to bring them all out to celebrate, a little planning is not too much to ask for. Unless you’re asking my sister.
My sister has never been the most responsible person. I’m not sure if it’s the youngest child syndrome or that perhaps I got the over-planning genes and therefore there were none left for her when she popped out 3 years later. She flies free like the wind, which has often meant disappearing without notice, getting a cat and then promptly giving it to my mother, and dating and breaking up with guys who then break into my old car and steal my birthday stereo that I passed on to her.
Now translate this “free spirit” to fit wedding planning. It doesn’t work. I even gave her the “Anti-Bride Wedding Guide”. I’m not sure she ever opened it…
The wedding is this Saturday. Let’s review how things have been going up to this point:
-The fiancé proposed. With a real ring!
+2 wedding points
-She picked out a wedding dress and got it ordered in December.
+1 wedding point
-She picked a location by January.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t reserve said location. My dad realized this and had to remedy it in March.
-1 wedding point
-She got a wedding cake picked out and on order in March with the mother’s prompting. We’ll give it to her.
+1 wedding point
-She didn’t order flowers until last week. She also told them that price was no object (to her it wasn’t… my dad, who is paying for them, highly disagreed!).
-2 wedding points
-She changed the entire color of the wedding last minute last week, including the flower colors and bridesmaid dresses, from Navy Blue to Royal Purple.
-1 wedding point
-Luckily, she had not yet picked out bridesmaid dresses, the changing the color was not an issue. The issue was that her choices had ranged from juniors sizes to Mother of the Bride dresses to fabrics that were definitely going to ensure she was the only good looking girl standing in the wedding!
-1 wedding point (or is it a plus for her??)
-After sending out a link to the new purple bridesmaid dress she picked out, I made sure to let her know I didn’t care for the dress, but ordered it anyway because that’s what she really wanted. It then came in the mail, was tried on, and found to need much work to be wearable….
-1 wedding point
-While having Christina try and help me make the dress work yesterday, I was talking to my sister, and she told me that the other two bridesmaids didn’t like the dress either, so she let them order a different one, figuring it would mean I would stand out with a different dress as the Maid of Honor. Yes, I will stand out as the only one with a retarded dress on!!
-10 wedding points (personal bias)
-The groomsmen, which includes my brother, ordered tuxes, but were given no direction by the groom except that he insists on no tie or bowties, which apparently looks ridiculous. I guess the groom doesn’t have to worry about anyone standing looking better than him either…
-1 wedding point
-They completed a registry and sent out invitation a month ago.
+2 wedding points
-She sent invites to friends first, thus didn’t have enough for family, didn’t invite the entire family, and didn’t keep track of who she DID invite!
-2 wedding points
-She also did not keep track of RSVPs and who would actually be attending, so we have no idea who is actually coming and my dad has no idea what number to tell the caterer.
-1 wedding point
-I was one of the people that did NOT receive an invite. Minor since I’m in the wedding, except until last week, I didn’t know what time the wedding was at or where they were registered at. This made it hard to include information for the bridal shower, though that was already delayed due to the fact that I didn’t want to send invites to people who hadn’t even been invited to the wedding!!
-2 wedding points
-I actually got a list of girls she wanted at the bachelorette party.
+1 wedding point
-She told me to Facebook them, but didn’t give last names. Told me I could figure it out from her Facebook… she also insisted that she wanted a wild drinking night (which was a fight in itself) even though she wanted her underage friend and pregnant friend to be joining us…
-2 wedding points
-She was supposed to have all of her stuff out of my dad’s house two weeks ago so that he could prepare for family coming. She did nothing.
-1 wedding point
-After many threats, Colin took initiative and took anything she left behind to Good Will last week. She has yet to say anything (likely because she’s been staying with my mom and hasn’t been to Dad’s yet…). Problem solved, whether it was by her or not.
+1 wedding point
-With all of these frustations, I have had no shortage of prayer requests
+1 wedding point
-Ending on a good note, I get to go to Colorado, family will be gathering, good food will be eaten, and based on Jesus’s example, wine will flow freely. Wedding or not, poor planning aside, a good time should be had as long as we can make it through the rest of the week without killing my dear younger sister! (Thanks to my dad for putting some perspective on my frustrations)
+15 wedding points
Current Wedding Point Running Total: 0
...it could go either way.... ;)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
I <'3 U
This is awesome enough that I found it worthy to be shared (because I'm a big fat nerd!):
9x - 7i > 3 (3x-7u)
Solve for i
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