Today was another fabulously warm and sunny day here in SB. I am glad, because I know that it was hot during the week I was gone, and it was hot when I was in my apartment working, so I wanted this weekend to be nice so that I could actually enjoy it.

So, around 11am I slathered on some sunscreen, put on my bathing suit, and headed over to Hendry’s Beach to get a little more sun (so that maybe I’d actually look like I’ve been on a tropical vacation!). I took along this month’s reading selection for my book club and sat on the beach for a few hours, laying out and getting further in my book.

I stayed until about 2pm, when I could actually see a tan line. I didn’t want to stay out too much later after noticing that, because once you notice that you look dark when you are outside, it usually means you are fried.

For the most part, I managed to not get fried, thanks to my potent SPF 30, though there is a nice large pink splotch on my back, right in the center, where apparently my hands could not reach Also, the inside of my knee got pink, which ALWAYS happens for some reason (I guess I never remember to put sunscreen there….same usually goes for the tops of my ankles, but I remembered that spot this time so they are fine).

Anyway, color or not, it was nice to get outside. Since my room was probably at least equal in temperature to the outdoors, it was nice to at least be in the sun, especially when a light breeze would come my way.

Ohh, and I almost forgot! I saw a whole little pod of dolphins! Dolphins are in SB all the time, but these were pretty super close to shore. Like, there were a couple kayakers, and these dolphins were much closer to shore than the kayakers were. And then the dolphins started swimming near those kayakers, which was probably pretty neat for them.

Posted at 5:53 PM | (1)

Dude, I can already tell it’s going to be SO hot today. I was awakened this morning around 6am to find that it was already SUPER bright in my apartment. Any time it is really bright in here, it of course means that the sun is shining in a clear sky, as opposed to behind the marine layer or other such cloudiness. Any time it is really bright in here so early in the morning, it means that the sun will probably remain all sunshiney and thus, have a chance to raise the temperature.

So, not only is it going to be hot outside today, it’s probably also going to be about 200 degrees in my apartment by 5pm. I might die. Checking the temperature online, it says it is currently 69 (although it feels warmer than that to me). Expected high is supposedly 75, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it passed 80. Seriously. If I’m right about this, I might have to consider a side gig as a meteorologist!

I hope it is warm on the weekend so that I can go outside and enjoy it, but during the work week it kinda sucks because it makes me too hot to be really productive. I might have to head over to somewhere with air conditioning if the temperature does indeed soar.

Posted at 9:18 AM | (1)

Don’t you just love when you forget that you’re going to have a day off?

After having my week-long vacation, I also took off this last Monday so that I could catch up on sleep (toooo much waking up at 5:30am to make it to the tours on time) and drive back up to SB during the afternoon, which means that I am only working a 4 day week.

Well, this vacation seemed to me like it fell mid-month, so I was surprised when my coworker asked me if I was taking any time off next week. When I asked why he wanted to know, he mentioned because of the 4th of July.

Up until that moment, it hadn’t even occurred to me that the holiday was coming up. So, that means that next week is a 4-day week as well! Pretty kick ass! It’s always nice when you realize you that you are getting some days off. Much better than the reverse—realizing you have to work more days that you anticipated!

Posted at 5:00 PM | (3)

While I have downloaded all the pictures from my camera, I still have yet to actually go through and edit any of them and make them more presentable for viewing. In the meantime, however, I shall relate my random impressions of the cruise and the various islands (hopefully in not TOO verbose a manner).

• I mentioned my paleness prior to this trip—I fully expected to get burned. While I was not outside all day every day, there were a couple days where I was outside in my bathing suit for several hours between 10am and 5pm, which of course includes all of the peak UV/burning hours. I used my SPF 30, since that’s all I had, but I did not reapply. With perhaps the exception of my nose being a little redder than usual, I don’t really look like I was outside too long. Very strange. All I can think is that perhaps my sunscreen gets more potent with age or something—maybe I should’ve used my sister’s SPF 4!
• We took several tours—one going through the scenery of Kauai, and on the big island one each in Hilo and Kona. Each of these tours was an all day affair, which seems like a good idea when you are booking them and determining the value of how much the excursion costs and how much you get to see. However, after 7 hours every day on a bus, sitting there, waiting on people who can’t tell time, etc, the days seem a bit long—especially when you take a tour of Kona and the final destination winds up being half-way around the island, not too far from Hilo!
• Luckily, we had already seen Maui at our leisure 2 years ago, so we didn’t do any tours during our 2 days there. I think Maui is still my favorite island—though that may be because of the leisurely aspect of it. I like the fact that it has nice beaches where you can just hang out on the sand or float around in ocean and not worry about being pummeled by huge waves. I would’ve liked to have seen more of Oahu to get an opinion, but we only wound up seeing Honolulu for a short time before our ship left to begin its week-long journey.
• While there was some neat stuff on the Big Island, I’m not sure I’d pick that one as my favorite, since it was the coldest of the islands. I actually put on pants and a zippered hoodie to stay warm and was still a bit chilly. If I am going to visit a tropical island in summer, I think I prefer them to feel warm and tropical.
• Despite the presence of a little internet cafe aboard the ship, I actually did not go in there at all. For one thing, I don’t think it was that cheap, but for another, there wasn’t much that I needed to do on there. Also combined with the fact that we were on those all-day tours, I didn’t have much time for internet anyway. However, I did make pretty good use of my phone, racking up a sizeable number of minutes (though I didn’t exceed my allotted amount!)
• As far as the ship goes, it was nice enough, although I think the other cruise ships I’ve been on were better. I think they were bigger and also offered a wider variety of activities. I think in part this may be because we were in port every day, so there were fewer activities because they expect that most people will be off the boat. The other cruises we had several days at sea, so there was a greater need for onboard entertainment.
• The funny thing about these ships though, is that even though they tell you there are like 2,000 people onboard, you only seem to see the same few dozen. Perhaps it is because these people do something that catches your attention, or they have a unique look to them that makes them stand out. For example, we kept seeing this large family from Louisiana all over the ship—they were pretty weird looking and obnoxious and strange in general and they seemed to follow us wherever we went. If we were at dinner—they were at the same restaurant (despite there being like 7 choices), whatever floor we were on, there they were, whatever tour we took, they took the same one. Of course, they weren’t stalking us or anything, but seeing as how they were kind of annoying, we were less than thrilled to see them every time we turned around!

Overall though, the trip was fun, and it was nice to get to see the various islands. They really are quite pretty, and hopefully my pictures will do them justice once I get a chance to edit them a bit. Hopefully I will have a few up soon. As I go through the various locations, perhaps I will go into more detail about the things that I saw, but for now it is just the random stream of consciousness remembrance of the overall trip.

Posted at 10:39 PM | (0)

Well, I am a bit tired, but I have just arrived back from my week-long cruise to Hawaii. It was fun, but I think I will post more about it (including hopefully some pictures) either tomorrow or sometime during the week when I am more awake.

For now I think I shall go to bed. Just wanted to post something since it’s been FOREVER since I posted (more than a week, which is a bit long, even for me)!

Posted at 11:09 PM | (5)

Ok so I haven’t actually started packing, although I need to sometime between now and when I leave for home on Saturday. But, I was thinking about packing. And every time I think about packing, I start thinking about all the things I can’t pack yet.

Why is it that the earlier you pack, the more time you have to spend packing? You either pack it all up a week early and then have to dig stuff out like toothbrush and shampoo because you still need to use that stuff before you leave, or else you just leave it out until the very end and then add it to the suitcase. But packing early, while it might make it less likely that you will forget something, means that you have to have this half-packed suitcase sitting around your room until the time comes to leave. Given that extra space is at a premium here in my tiny apartment, I can’t really have a suitcase sitting out for days—it would drive me crazy as I step (or jump) over it for the 500th time.

And so, instead of actually getting anything done, I think about it instead. Although, as part of my thinking, I did take some action and made a list of stuff to take. I will just have to remember to pack light on clothing—last time I waaaaaaay overpacked. Hopefully I won’t make that same mistake twice.

Posted at 12:24 PM | (3)

Yikes, I am going to have to figure out what to take on my trip and then actually pack sometime soon. I will probably do that sometime tomorrow, or maybe I will fully utilize my procrastination skills and wait until Saturday morning!

This has been a pretty low-key week. I had book club last night, and I once again didn’t finish the book. The book seems pretty interesting from what I’ve read so far, I just haven’t taken the time I suppose. It’s ok though because there were 3 of us who didn’t finish.

We once again talked more about random personal stuff, like how one guy is going to a conference in Hawaii next week or how the one girl I mentioned before is connected to the people I went to a BBQ with Ben, and how Ben looked into a job at the same place another book club member works. I never cease to be amused with how much people in this town interconnect.

Now, off to catch up on my soaps so that I don’t (heaven forbid) fall behind during my vacation!

Posted at 7:35 PM | (0)

This weekend was pretty nice. It was sunny and warm (Saturday moreso than Sunday, but Sunday was still nice).

I had a very nice Saturday filled with things like watching that penguin surfing movie Surf’s Up (which is pretty cute, btw), hanging out in a pool and jacuzzi, and going out for appetizers, drinks, dinner, etc.

It was nice to spend some time outdoors in warm weather, because if you were to take a look at the color of my skin, you would know that this is not something I do often! It is usually either a workday so I can’t really work outside (well, I COULD but glare from the sun makes it hard to read computer screens) or else the weather isn’t really suitable for summer attire and so my poor pale skin never sees the sun.

Despite spending a few hours outside though, I don’t think I got any color—I guess I did a good job putting that sunscreen on. Not that I suppose it’s altogether a bad thing, as getting burned isn’t exactly good for you, but a little color might not hurt, especially given that I am going on vacation starting next weekend. Last time I went to Hawaii I put on so much sunscreen that, despite hanging out at the beach all day, I came back as pale as I left! We’ll see what happens this time.

Posted at 12:50 PM | (2)

As I’ve mentioned before, the apartment building I live in is quite old, so it has its quirks. One such quirk is the fact that I can feel the building shaking whenever it gets really windy. For awhile it was pretty windy here, so I could feel my room moving quite often.

Sometimes though, the building moves when it’s not windy. I’ve always wondered if one of the reasons it moves is if someone was, shall we say, vigorously gettin’ it on. This may not be the reason all of the time, but this evening I got some confirmation that it is the case at least some of the time.

The past few days have been warm, and so I’ve been opening my front door (which leads into the hallway) to help circulate the air. Today when the shaking started, so did some sounds which can probably only really be attributed to one thing. I did go close my door, but not before I heard that the neighbors responsible for the noise were also watching an episode of Entourage at the same time. Interesting.

At any rate, I have my answer, to one question at least. Of course now I have to wonder what one has to do to make the building sway like that? And do they actually watch Entourage at the same time, or merely have it on as background noise? Actually, I think I’m not really going to ponder these things, because I’m not sure I want to know. But now I know a little more about my neighbor than I (and she!) may have wanted!

Posted at 11:47 PM | (2)

It’s not like I couldn’t break away to post something here if I had something interesting to say, but I guess I preferred not breaking away for just such a thing. I’ve spent a bunch of time with Ben the last couple days, after we were done working, and so why be all like “hold on, I need to post some random blog entry!” Either that or it would be about him, which might also be awkward.

Considering I haven’t known him THAT long, I sometimes hesitate posting about him, only because I don’t want any one subject to be all that I talk about or have people get sick of reading about it.

But hanging out with him is always super nice and I would do it as often as he lets me. We spent the last couple evenings driving around looking at scenery while singing loudly in the car whenever songs we know came on the radio, dining out, or even random things like stopping on the drive back home to spend an hour hot tubbing in a place that offers such a thing with water piped in from a natural hot mineral spring.

I’ve known him for about 3 months now, and things are still going pretty good. He is sweet and I always enjoy spending time with him and I think he thinks the same about me. And on that note, I think I shall go to bed! :)

Posted at 11:43 PM | (4)

Today, for some reason, I have gotten a ton of spam in my inbox. It’s one of those styles of emails that throws in blurbs from something to make it look like real writing, even though it’s nonsense.

One thing caught my eye, however. In several of the emails, they quoted a passage from Jane Austen’s Emma. At least if they are going to be literary, they had the good sense to quote some good stuff!

Oh and in related news, today I discovered that this book I listened to, The Jane Austen Book Club, is going to be made into a movie! It’s a book about a book club that reads Jane Austen books! How cool is that?! I totally need to see it when it comes out—too bad it’s not scheduled until 2008.

Posted at 8:02 PM | (1)