EGYPT TRIP part 2

Last thing on the Agenda for the day were the Giza Pyramids WHICH ARE AMAZING!!!!! The Great Pyramid is here (there is only one) - we rode camels (for 3 hours - i don't recommend this - it hurts - well it is fun so do it if you want to :)). Here is where i can show you how HUGE these structures are - so you can see 3 large pyramids and 3 small ones - the pyramid i climb on is one of the small pyramids - so you can see the comparison of all of them. Also where i did the cheesy pictures - but hey how many times are you standing in front of the Pyramids!
We rode the camels around the area - then headed over to the Sphinx - which i had heard wasn't impressive - but i think it is very impressive it is all one piece of stone, it is just that the great pyramids are right there behind it - so of course it looks smaller.

After that we convinced our guide to talk to the guards and let us stay in the area and watch the sunset - it was beautiful!

After this we went back to the Hostel and got "directions" to a restaurant - we never found the restaurant - but we found something else later quite a bit later - it was good food - but we had a diet coke with every meal to make sure to kill off any bacteria that may be consumed :).

4th day
We were on our own for this day - all we had to do was get on the train at 8pm to head down to Luxor. So we took off.
We went and purchased our Sleeping train tickets, we got those it was a very interesting method - but we didn't argue we were just glad to get tickets. We then headed off to the Citadel to see the view and the mosque of Mohammad Ali. It was beautiful and very interesting we got a tour from a Muslim woman and she shared a little about her beliefs. As we were walking around there were several teenagers around and i had a Egyptian 14 year old boyfriend for about 1/2hour - they love long hair and i guess my hair in braids wasn't "put back" enough - so they kept taking pictures and following us around - they were cute and very innocent so it was fine.

We then decided to walk to Sultan Hussan's mosque which seemed close enough and it was but getting back to downtown was a little more complicated - we ended up taking a taxi for 10 EL back to the Egyptian Museum - which was so fun and crazy some of the loot collected. King Tut's death mask was probably the most beautiful thing i have seen in forever - it was just so exquisite!
After the Egyptian Museum we headed back to the Hostel and rushed to the train station - we didn't plan too well in how much time to give, but we ended up having plenty of time. When we got to the train station we weren't sure who to get around, everything was in Arabic (go figure) but we found a tour guide who was willing to help us know which train to get on - so nice.

The train ride was another experience as well - we had a private compartment for the two of us - which was nice. Dinner was provided and as they were serving our meal they opened our doors and we met the guys who were in the compartment next to us - they were two nice Australian guys who were traveling to Aswan and then over the Red Sea to do scuba diving tour. We could see into each other's compartments and when they were unfolding our beds we started to talk - we ended up going to the club car and talking stories and playing cards until 2 in the morning - too bad we got into Luxor (our stop) at 6 in the morning :). It was fun to meet some guys traveling around in a similar style to us. Always fun to meet new people!

EGYPT TRIP part 1

1st day
Left Boston Thursday after work direct flight to Madrid
2nd day
Madrid - went to Rembrandt Exhibit at the Museo El Prado - it was a great exhibit!
Fun to stop in Madrid - it was really quite warm - the sun was out and just a nice afternoon.
We got lunch in a pub and headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Egypt.
Landed in Egypt really late - got our stamps in our passports and found out ride to our Hostel.
The guys who run the Hostel were so great - so friendly and really helpful - that night they set up a driver for the next day to take us to the Pyramids and around Cairo.
The driver was coming at 8 and so we took showers and hit the sack (after all it was after midnight).
3rd day
woke up around 7:30AM (hello it was a GO vacation)

8AM headed off with our driver Kahlead - we first headed out to Dashur; on the way we saw the Bent Pyramid.
Dashur was probably my favorite experience of the trip - we had been in Egypt for less than 12 hours and we climbed down 70meters at a 45 degree incline that was only about 4 feet tall (lets just say it was a crazy thigh workout!) When we got down to the bottom we found only one couple down in chamber - they left a few min later and then it was just Amy and I - we wanted to take a picture but of course it wasn't aloud - so we respected that - but it was so fun to be alone in the pyramid especially as the first pyramid we were at :).

Next on the agenda was Suqqra - the Step pyramids - they were very cool as well - they have recently found a new pyramid site - so that was fun to see the start of exploring a new site.
At the same site is the tomb of Mere-ruka - first real experience with hieroglyphics
Next stop on the Agenda was really on our Driver's agenda not so much ours (but they want us to spend money at their buddies/family shops along the way) so we went to a Carpet "School" (but they pay them to go to school - so more like child labor that they call school - kind of sad - didn't take any pictures though).
Next stop was the Papyrus store - and yes i bought some - i am a total sucker for these sort of things, but i am excited about it - so i have a Egyptian Calender on Papyrus - yippeee!

I'm Back

Sorry for the lack of posting, but i think i have a very good reason :). I was in Egypt for the past week and half - i will post pictures and stories as soon as i find time, it is crazy trying to get caught up with everything and everyone and enjoy the holiday season!!!

I will post within the next week pictures and stories to go along with it. Here is an Internet preview - the pyramids blew my mind - just loved them!!!

Giza Pyramids

Dreams

What do you make of Dreams - do you remember all, some or none. How do you take the ones you remember - especially when they leave an impression?

I am one that wakes up normally without much of a dream - maybe a "that was weird" feeling or "what was that" or "where did that come from" however i have had several dreams over the years that mean more (so i think) it seems if i can recall more "facts" obviously i can think about things a little more - but usually i forget them before noon - but like i was saying there were a few i still remember.

I also have my reoccurring nightmare - i have it roughly once a month and have for years - i haven't linked it to anything that happens when i am awake...yet - but it has defiantly progressed over the years. Some of the details change and all the other characters change and don't really have names - but the idea is the same and i still do the same thing. Setting is a large old style boat (like a pirate boat) with a huge main mast in the middle of the blue large ocean. The other people on the boat are usually people i know well (or at least that is the feeling). Someone who can't swim or who is a weak swimmer always falls into the water and i am on the top of the main mast in the bird perch thing and i see a large shark in the near distance - so i dive into the water to help and as i do i see the shark increase its speed because of the sound of something new in the water. I get the person onto the ladder of the boat they are always slow in climbing up. I grab a hold of the ladder and start pulling myself up the boat - but of course the shark comes and grabs me - this is where the dream has progressed at first i would wake up with knowing the shark was about to bite and pull me down but now in the dream i get bit and dragged down to the point of darkness which is where i now wake up. Everytime i have the dream i think to myself interesting.

Crazy how our imaginations work?

Do share any thoughts on dreams or if you have dreams one of your's

WE WON!!!

I just thought i would let everyone know - we get lunch from the place of our choosing - it was a close race - but we pulled it out!!! SO FUN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

This year Halloween has been quite the crazy time - so much that i planned a pumpkin carving activity for FHE but didn't actually carve one. Luckily work had a pumpkin carving contest - yippee!!!!

Jocelyn, Sylwia and I were in charge of coming up with the idea for our department- so we brainstormed for a couple of days - we thought we should keep it in the theme of our department so we were thinking either a scary bride or a wedding cake. Jocelyn was pretty excited about the wedding cake idea (it was hers :)) so she said she would go home over the weekend and practice just to see if it could be done. She comes back on Monday with a small pumpkin that despite its moldiness (not her fault) resembled a tiered cake. So it was decided.

Tuesday (the carving day) came around and Sylwia brought in some black and white beads and ribbon to do the trimming and that afternoon we went to work - originally i thought i would have little to do with the actual carving - but lets be honest i want to win so the more hands getting it done the better, right?

Wednesday I brought in spiders and spider web and a light up stick thing to put inside - we just loved it - during the process other keep saying it didn't look like a cake or it didn't look very good - well lets see who gets the last laugh now - hehe - just kidding i just think we should win!

Oh and Thursday the last and final touch came the Cake topper - we wanted to get a topper with the corpse bride - but no such luck in such short time.

As you can see i was quite involved - hehe

ewwww the guts

two hands are better than one - the carving begins

we made quite the mess - but we cleaned it up

we had snacks too

first layer done

second layer

here is the piece cut out

getting ready to take everything down to the Lobby so the guest can vote

Final product - lovely don't you think?

We even cut a piece and pulled it out a little with a plate and fork waiting we also had a Champagne flute with beads.

The guests' are voting for their favorite yesterday and today - cross your fingers we want to win - we think we get lunch or a party or something like that - but really it is just about bragging rights :).

Question for the World?!

How have you found the best way to get someone out of your system - how do you stop caring about someone and re-focus on finding someone new?

(i don't care if i know you, knew you in the past or talk to you regularly - if you see this post - please leave a comment - i think it will be good for not only me but others that read this)

Mind your manners, T urges rude riders - The Boston Globe

Mind your manners, T urges rude riders - The Boston Globe

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Yesterday i was running around the city for meetings - while i was waiting at the train station reading a couple of men came up and asked me if i would mind them asking me a few questions for an article on the new campaign for people to be courteous on the T - and i am actually in the Boston Globe - i didn't really think i would get in, but lookie lookie!

Forwarded Email - Not all true -but entertaining none the less

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BUT PROBABLY DON'T
1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton..
2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.
3. The dot over the letter 'I' is called a 'tittle'.
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
6. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
7. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.
8. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.
9. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
10. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small sized dog.
11. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark 's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
12. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).
13. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
14. Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as medicine.
15. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.
16. Leonardo Da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time, hence, multi-tasking was invented.)
17. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
18. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
19. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!
20. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orang e , purple, and silver!
21. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
22. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
23. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original 'Halloween' was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white.
24. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know.)
25. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless.)
26. The phrase 'rule of thumb' is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
27. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles At that time, the most known player on the m arket was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
28. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples
29. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
30. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher..
31. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
32. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it. I NEED TO REMEMBER THIS.
33.. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart. 'Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard , and they haul her fanny off to jail.'

Here a couple of videos

that i think are hilarious - who is this guy and how do people come up with this stuff! Love it!

ENJOY!!! :)

Sad Day

Paul Newman was a great actor, a unusually faithful man and on top of it all incredibly good looking :)!

Paul Newman, legendary actor, businessman, and race car driver died at his farmhouse near Westport, Connecticut, after a long battle with cancer.
Even for a movie star he was uncommonly handsome and charismatic. And yet, somehow, Paul Newman defied the odds. He was a good man.
Born in 1925 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, Newman was the son of a Catholic mother and Jewish father who ran a successful sporting goods operation. Splitting the difference with dad, Newman always described himself as a Jew but credited the idea of a life in sporting goods for his interest in acting. After his discharge from the Navy in 1946, he studied drama at Yale before making his way to the famed Actors’ Studio in New York where he was trained in the vaunted method style of acting by the legendary Lee Strasberg.
But for all his legendary screen performances and awards, nothing was more impressive than Paul Newman the man. Before it became chic, when it could hurt a star’s career, Newman was out there in the early 1960s with Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, and Rev. Martin Luther King marching for civil rights. A lifelong liberal, Newman, unlike too many of today’s stars, didn‘t trash the other side. Instead, he was a proponent, an advocate, and — more importantly — one who put his money where his mouth was.
The most legendary thing about Newman, however, was his marriage of fifty years to Joanne Woodward, an Academy Award winning actress in her own right. Once asked how he managed to stay faithful, Newman replied, “Why go out for hamburger, when you got steak at home.” It says a lot about man who talks about his wife in such ways. It also says a lot that of the five times Newman stepped behind the camera as a feature director, three of them involved plum roles for his wife.
Newman’s legacy will always be there for new generations to discover in revival houses and on DVD. His charitable legacy will also live on. Unfortunately, what is lost forever is the kind of movie star Paul Newman was — the kind who understood that being larger than life meant never crossing the line into the dark heart of celebrity; that it was possible to be politically active without insulting your fans; that living in rural Connecticut as opposed to Beverly Hills was how to keep your perspective.
A loving father, faithful husband, World War II veteran and philanthropist who gave away a vast fortune, being one of the all-time great screen legends was only part of who Paul Newman was. It‘s the rare circumstance where after their passing we mourn the loss of the man more than the star.
Paul Newman was 83.

Trying to Get Pumped for the Upcoming Season

So my old coworker sent me this picture of us from last winter - it got me really excited for winter - i am holding on to that excitment and hoping it will over power the dread of being cold again :)

How do you get excited for winter? I need as many ideas as possible :).

Politics

I am joining in the blogging world to discuss (ever so slightly) politics. But first can i point out in the background of this pictures - does anyone else think the guy in the suit on the right side of the picture look like Bill Clinton - that was the first thing i thought. I know it can't be (we would have heard it if Clinton was at the Convention) but doesn't he look just like him.

I don't want to get into the politics argument - so i won't really - but i did think Palin's speech last night was well delivered and good - i can't compare it to Obama's because i didn't hear his - but i have heard others say it was comparable in charisma. I think people who say McCain choosing her was rash decision took that back (at least a little) last night. Yes, i will admit her experience is weak (i am not 100% for or against i am just stating what i am observing) - but i think she is an intelligent woman who will support McCain and compliment his skills nicely. I think her investment in Alaska and knowledge of the oil industry will be a good push to seriously look into alternative energy options - which is a big issue.
Immigration - well lets admit that isn't the deciding factor for either candidate - considering both want to put a 700mile fence along the border of Mexico (does this sound stupid or like a waste of money to anyone other than me). Economics - none of the candidates know what to do with a natural fall in the economy (because it HAS to happen) but i would like to know what economic advisers each would bring into office -because they are the ones that know what they are talking about and will affect how and when the turn will take place - but i guess i will always agree to putting money back into the economy by creating jobs and helping business through tough times instead of different programs - to simply give money out. The war - i am very hesitant to say much - but progression is being made - good is happening (we know this because of the reports and the fact that the media is so quiet about it right now) - how could we just pull out now - why would we waste these past years and money by not accomplishing the task at hand when it is so close.

So much for not really getting into politics - but i am trying to keep it mellow and trying to really get an opinion this time around not that it really matters my state would be blue without any campaigning - but i want to be able to say i voted even if it doesn't make a difference - so what did you think of the Palin's speech last night?

Happy Birthday Dad

I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my Dadand Happy Anniversary to my Parents!

Here are some pictures i took from their blog so you can see how great they are!

They are both so supportive - I am so lucky -they have always supported me in my random (really - Russia, sharks, skydiving - you get the point) dreams (i have plenty) - they have always let me spread my wings and be well whatever i can imagine - thank you!

They will be back from their Mission in Cambodia in December - it will be so fun to be all together at their house again!