Happy Friday! Meteors And Such

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Ah...Doesn't Friday feel nice? Especially when it's only 77 degrees and we get a little rain to take care of the cracked, broken ground.

My weekend is going to be filled with freelance work, seeing as how I got a new gig for the website I write with most often. And, I was even able to get some additional funding for the new story I'm working on. Yee!

I also think a trip to someplace outskirty to see more of the Perseid Meteor Shower would be fun. I told you yesterday about how I caught it by accident a couple of night's ago and now I want more, baby! I like the idea of taking a nap then waking up a couple hours before dawn to give a sky show a good shot. Here are some meteor watching tips if you're into sky watching.

Are there any sky nerds out there like me? As a kid I was sure I was going to work for NASA, until I realized how much math I'd need to know. My folks got me a telescope as a kid (which I still have, but admittedly haven't gotten out in years) and I've fostered a real love for NOVA Science Now and the occasional book about physics and astronauts.

Also blowing my star watching mind right now? Google Sky Map. You can even put an app on your phone, which I did and found Jupiter in the sky two nights ago!

So, get out there and do some meteor watching this weekend. Dream of the infinity of space, my friends. Enjoy!

Yes, I'm Still Talking About Philly

As of today we've been back from our vacation for exactly a month. What's happened in this past month? Well, we've:

-Gotten sick and gotten better
-Buried a cat
-Picked up a stray kitten
-Bought all our Christmas presents
-Switched to cheaper cell phone plans with spiffy new smart phones
-Run out of money
-Then, within a week, had an unexpected period of financial security



Plus, I've:

-Impressed a new editor at work with my story ideas
-Written lists of employment and networking goals
-Reached out to some folks who could help me toward those ends (it's been over a week, haven't heard from any of them)

Not a bad list of things done, though of course I'd planned to get more accomplished immediately post vacay.

My biggest issue for the past few weeks has been getting enough rest. I keep saying I'm going to get ready for bed by 10:30 and then be in the bed trying to sleep an hour later. You know what I've actually been doing? Going to bed past 1 a.m. then getting up by nine the next morning, staying up all day and being exhausted but still not going to bed at night. I was up until three this morning! Then got up at nine! I'm silly with sleepless irresponsibility! But the nice thing is that I saw two shooting stars that made me feel really happy!!

Alright, I still have pictures to share, so here we go!






Delaware River


Ben Franklin Bridge






Joan of Arc


Schuylkill River


Tiger fight!


Prairie dog fight!


Hippo eyes!

Music Monday: Keep Your Husband Away From The Beard Trimmer!

See that man up there? That's HUBS. He'll be largely unrecognizable to most of you now, due to what he claims was an accident with his hair clippers. He walked into the bedroom late last night, took off his glasses and showed me this:



I don't know if you notice, but his eyebrows are basically just peach fuzz now. The damned fool ACCIDENTALLY SHAVED HIS FUCKING EYEBROWS OFF!! The lesson, ladies? Leave your husband alone with personal electrical appliances at your own embarrassing peril. Lucky for HUBS his glasses cover the area enough to make his mistake (fuck all) barely noticeable.

Now, as you contemplate the oddness of the situation, enjoy this video from Peter Bjorn and John:


This combination of song and images makes me feel like I'm living in an alternate universe. In a creepy yet fascinating way. Oh, yeah.

Because I Do My Best To Keep You Entertained

Menacing, yes. Though, not on a kitler level.

It would be fair to say, at this point, that cats and me? We're like this. And seeing as how I love me some funny cat pictures, I couldn't help but share my latest discoveries: kitlers and Ron Swansons.

You can thank me later.

From Cape May To Atlantic City

HUBS and I made July 5 an all Jersey day. After leaving Cape May we drove a couple hours north to Atlantic City, hung out with a feral boardwalk cat, walked the boardwalk until our feet hurt while dodging numerous inconsiderate sea birds, got lost inside a casino, ate mediocre BBQ, saw downtown AC at night, did a lighthouse drive-by and headed back to our hotel exhausted. All in all? It made for a good and not totally sad day.

No, Do Not Take Our Simple Pleasures Away From Us!

We know this is Calvin & Hobbes, right?

So, now I'm supposed to believe that good news is as dangerous as bad news? No. Fuck you, medicine.

From Philly To The Beach

July 5th was an interesting day. Seeing as how we got the news about Luanne that day as we were driving to Cape May, NJ to do some prime beaching, I thought I'd spend the entire day crying.



Actually, I thought the trip was pretty much over for me. I didn't think I'd be able to enjoy anything for the rest of the week and I was sure I'd be bursting into tears constantly. Luckily, while I was plenty sad and did cry randomly quite a bit, there is something to be said for non-stop activity when you're blue.


HUBS right before we hit the beach.

Cape May is a gorgeous little town. Seeing as how tourism is huge for them, the houses are no joke. Maybe there's a trailer park or ghetto hidden somewhere far away from the beach, but everything we saw was huge, awesome and very well-maintained.



HUBS and I ate at a little seafood place (The Sea Shanty) right across from the beach in a quaint little shopping plaza. The food was plentiful and amazing. I was able to finish my lobster roll, but we both had fries left over and HUBS couldn't finish his clams.



We didn't bring the cooler with us, so we made the decision to hide the fries under a pillow in the back seat for taking back to the hotel (they were fine the next night after some refrigeration). We also made what might be a controversial decision regarding the clams. We wanted someone to be able to enjoy them, so we dumped them on the sand near the walkway that led to the beach. And you know what? Within a couple of hours a gull flew over head with what looked to be a beak full of fried clam strips. That made me feel awesome, you guys!



Also helping my mood that day: the nice lady who was coming out of a nearby shop as we ate, heard me sneeze and said "Bless you." I needed that. I needed the kindness of strangers on Tuesday, July 5th. Special thanks to you, I hope you had a splendid vacation!


A random beach couple. I like to think that their names are Harvey and Sal and that they've been married for 35 years. Free time does wonders for the imagination.

We did some souvenir buying and then hit the sand. You need to buy a day pass, which I believe was $5 each, but it was plenty worth it. I was able to clear my head to the sound of ocean waves, HUBS was able to swim like a maniac, we got some good rocks and shells off the beach and we even saw a couple schools of dolphins before we left hours later.

Music Monday: Dammit Amy!

I don't know what kind of person Amy Winehouse was, but whether she was nice, flirty, bitchy, sad or a brawler it doesn't matter now. I really wish she had been able to get her shit (whatever the cause of that shit was) together. She had a great, original voice. Too bad she was ready to join the club.




Obviously not her in the video, but it is her singing.

A Monday in July (In Philly)

I'm going to just ignore the heatwave (Yesterday's high in St. Louis? 104. Yowza McFuckBuckets!) and tell you more about our Philly trip, instead.

After spending a restful day moored to our Philly hotel on Sunday (watching cable TV, ordering in pizza and blissfully finding a gas station before E became unusable fumes in a strange city), HUBS and I took to the streets on July 4 to see what all the Philly fuss was about. Several guidebooks had warned us about driving into downtown and trying to park; spaces are limited, garages and meters are hella expensive and the rules of when you can park where and for how long tend to shift. Or, so we had read.









We were planning on taking the bus into downtown to avoid all the parking hubub, but on Monday morning HUBS just wanted to get going. He convinced me to drive into the city from our home away near the airport. After a couple turns around the waterfront area, we found a spot right across from many of the seafaring attractions. We got six hour parking for about eight bucks. Not too bad, and just good enough to keep us driving into the city for the rest of the week.


Independence Hall





Our sight seeing goals were Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and any other historical stuff we could cram in during a downtown visit. One of the greatest things about traveling is coming across awesome stuff by accident. Our walk to Independence Hall was more entertaining because of the July 4th parade that happened to follow the same route we were taking.




Franklin Court


Well, now.


You know what this is, right?

We crammed all our history in before the Liberty Bell closed for a special party at around 2 p.m. After doing downtown and heading to a posh restaurant on a sailing ship for lunch (you'll hear more about that later), we drove to Valley Forge.







HUBS then took over the driving and we headed back to our hotel room. We got a kitchenette so we could store leftovers and reheat them. Best idea ever! We had planned on going into downtown to locate some fireworks, but were too exhausted from the day to move out again. Luckily, we found the local July 4th celebration with three hour concert and mega fireworks display was being broadcast on TV.

Leftovers and colorful explosions in the comfort of a cool hotel room? Yes, please!

Cell Phone! What, What!!

Blogging from my LG Optimus V! I'm so cool, now internet!!!