Fun Facts about Dayton Ohio

I know it isn't amazing but it's sometihng to look at right?

On our way up to Chicago we were able to stop stop in the great state of Ohio, in Dayton to be exact. The reason was road construction.

It was one of those following the directions/GPS and we just had to get onto an on ramp and as soon as we got there the traffic was stopped.

When I say stopped, I mean like not moving, budging, and some people turned off their cars.

We sat there for a while until we too joined the crowd and saved some gas.

We also took this time to fill up our water bottles and pass around a snack or two.

Having been sitting for a few hours already, I got out of the car and started to walk around. I was able to watch a train go by, stretch my legs, and really appreciate how big interstates really are. It was only 3 lanes of traffic with an on-ramp, but walking around them is a lot different them zooming over them.

I thought about stealing a traffic cone but with cops and witnesses around, plus no room in the back, I decided against it.

After about 15 minutes the cars started to turn on, lights blinked on from parking white to break light red. I got in the car, merged onto the interstate, was rolling smoothly long and then...

We stopped again.

One car away from freedom.

One car away from getting on the open road.

One car away from getting to Chicago.

New Phone

I just moved into the world of grown up and teens! I have a new and my first smart phone. Now I can work on important things like angry birds and plants vs zombies and posting blogs on time. This is excting!

Facts I learned about Chicago

My "Flight" of beers at Gooseisland

1. Their portion size is not the normal. You might want to try sharing dishes to avoid waste, your pants getting too tight, eating too much, and save a little money.

2. Their taxi's are white.

3. Their subway is called the L Line. The different routes are distinguished by color. I was really confused, because in New York City, you ride numbers and letters which are ALSO colors. However in Chicago, you ride colors. We rode the Red Line.

4. It is cold. Like Frosty the Snowman will never melt type cold.

5. It is windy. Like destroy your hair, cut through all your layers of warmth and get to your bones.

6. People are actually pretty nice. The handful of people I asked about food, directions, what they were fishing for were quite talkative.

7. Chicago Deep Dish Pizzas will make your tummy hurt! This pizza is heavy! Both physically holding and trying to eat. It was amazing, but tons of cheese!

Travel Tips Learned thus far in 2013

(Inserting awesome picture later tonight!)

So now that I am older, I've been traveling more. I've been actually traveling for years, but I've hit the time of my life where there are no adults on the trips, just me and friends.

By all means we are legal adults. I have the driver's license that proves it. But when it comes to getting in the car, or on the plane, or walking around a city, there are no Mom's or Dad's shuffling me around, taking care of things like hotels, travel plans, paying for gas, food, events, as much as when I was younger. The plans are all made by me and my friends.

Not every trip I take, but more and more.

In this there is both freedom and horror.

Freedom to the do the what you want, when you want, where you want, how you want, the way you want.

The horror to realize how much I still have to learn about traveling, other cities, and how much I don't know, the costs, and how to be smart with money.

The good news, every trip, every adventure brings me more information. Here are some of the newest tips I've learned from my recent adventure.

1. Bring pillows. Take the number of people in the party and divide by half and bring that number of pillows. I am a head bobber and so randomly trying to lean my head back against the seatrest it would randomly be rolled into the side window with no soft pillow to lesson the blow. If you haven't unexpecitly hit your head into a cold glass hard window, well it sucks. One, the window is hard, two I kind of wakes you up, and three it causes your neck to kind of hurt. Jackets and sweaters kind of work as temporary pillows, but they are always unrolling and moving which makes it annoying. So save the stress, get a pillow.

2. Bring your own water. I like most brought a water bottle, however, my friend W. brought a gallon water jug that had a pour spout so when we needed to refill out bottles we could! This was awesome because you weren't slowly filling the car with empty water bottles, or polluting, or spending tons of money on just some more water, and you could refill the bottle anytime you'd like. Fresh, clean, super cheap water anytime you want it. Awesome.

3. Check out the weather and bring  the right clothes. Not wearing hats or gloves when it is a high of 22 with wind is rough. It is amazing how quickly the blood leaves your fringers to freeze. The warmer or more apporiate your clothes are the more you can enjoy the season and area.

4. Buy tickets to guaranteed places/events you want to see in advance. We went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was awesome. However, it was also Illinois residents get in free on this Sunday. We had to wait in line, outside in the cold for an hour and half to get in. Buying these in advance would have saved time and probably some money.

5. Research events that are happening in the area while you're staying there. You can avoid long lines by buying said tickets on line or seeing cool things like parades or open markets.

6. You will be tired, try to have plans and ideas for what you'd like to do, but be flexible and open to switching up things at a moments notice.

Pink Hippo Milk?

Image courtesy of Rawich from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

So this information is from about a year ago. The best part is when I e-mailed Kari at the San Diego Zoo, she said she remembered me. Fantastic!

At the time, I had been working at a job that once I week I sent a person an e-mail reminder asking for a file. Not wanting to have the same borring, hey give me this file, every week, I started putting jokes, food recipeis, and fun facts in the e-mail. One of the e-mails I saw somewhere saying that Hippo Milk was pink. I still posted it in the e-mail but it got my brain juices flowing. Which usually leads me to e-mailing people that would know better than I after a failed Google serach.

Below is my e-mail and the response from the good people at the San Deigo Zoo. Enjoy.

My E-mail:

Hello San Diego Zoo,, I hope that all of your animals are doing well. I am trying to find if a googled fun fact is true or not. I saw something about Hippos have pink milk. I went to your Hippo page and learned about their breeding habits, eating habits, and how they have the blood sweat. However, I saw nothing about having pink milk. Can you confirm or deny if they have pink milk? If they do have pink milk, do you know what causes it to be pink? Is it their diet like Flamingos? Thank you so much for your help with this question!, Shannon C., A very curious person

Their Answer:

Hi Shannon,

Thanks for contacting the San Diego Zoo with your question regarding hippo milk. This is a great question, so we went directly to a Keeper for the answer. According to our Hippo Keeper, Nate, when he sees a milk mustache on our baby hippo Adhama, it is white in color. Hippos do secrete a body oil that is red in color, so it's possible that if the milk were to mix with the body oil, it might appear to be pink. But, as far as we can tell hippo milk is white.

Thanks again for contacting us and please continue to check our website www.sandiegozoo.org for information on your favorite animals as well as news about the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We hope to have you visit us soon!

Sincerely,

Kari S.

Sr. Administrative Assistant

Collections Husbandry Science Dept.

San Diego Zoo

The past does not alway equal the future.

While trolling through the feeds on Facebook one of my friends had the above picture with the saying attached to it posted.

I looked at it. Read the words, re-read them, and then left for a little bit just to come back and read it again.

It's true. There is no argument, that pops into my head at least, that can disprove this statement.

Especially if you take it and apply it to relationships which I am about to do.

Over the last year or so I’ve told myself that I need to be open to the possibility of meeting new people (and by people I mean guys) and seeing where it goes.

I’ve had quite a few first dates, meetings, greetings, and the chances to meet some cool new gentlemen.

I’ve also had epic fails. Everything from just awkward conversations, meetings, stares, people being in different places both physically or emotionally, to wondering if I’m going to be added their list of yet another women that’s wronged them in some way.

As much as sometimes I worry about if by talking, hanging out with or making out with some of these guys if I’m helping, hurting, or am just another blip on their life’s radar. For me, I know every new guy I've met, I can and have learned something. It varies from just conversations that I should or shouldn’t have, to fun facts, to likes and dislikes I can deal with, personality quarks that are too much to handle, all the way to things that are what I consider deal breakers.

Through all of this learning and growing, this post reminds me of one thing.

My past relationships, good, bad, indifferent are beating up my future.

I am still scared. I am still worried. I am still afraid to invest. I am still afraid to be disappointed. I am still afraid to trust. I am still holding back. I am still keeping people at arm’s reach. I am still pushing back. I am hiding. I am still running.

I am doing exactly what this post is telling me, very wisely, not to do.

As much as I hope for, want, and look forward to the future. My past has me scared and sometimes both intentionally and un-intentionally sabotaging my future.  

Wow. That was rough to type.

Wow, that is even harder to acknowledge.

Admitting there is a problem is according to the big giant “They” the first step.

I can check that off the list now. 

Second step?

I have no idea.

I’ll just have to work on that part. 

Are you doing the same thing as I am? Intentionally and un-intentionally sabotaging your future? Let’s acknowledge it and start to figure what the second step is.

What is Chilling?

??????

 

I must have been tired. I came home, passed out on my couch and didn't even take off my work badge until I started to kind of function again around 10pm. I think the only reason I even woke up in the first place is because my feet were cold. I don't know about anyone else, but next to random lights being on, cold feet will never let me fully sleep. Hence when I change my sheets in winter time, there are usually a few forgotten socks that jump out.

I woke up from my slumber and resigned to the fact that going to the gym was not going to happen. Dinner consisted of some Ramon noodles and some sleepy tea. Seriously, it says so on the box. I really care for tea, but after a 3 hour nap, I needed something to help put me back to sleep. 

So as I groggily sat there eating my noodles with a spork, I wondered two things.

First do you think the broth counts towards or against my daily requirements of water I'm suppose to drink per day?

Second, what exactly is chilling? I'm currently working hard to cut back my hours at work, yet what am I suppose to do with that time once I have it?

I had my sister and her husband and a friend over for dinner, games, and chilling on Sunday. We had tacos, played some Yahztee and watched some TV. We even were successful in putting a few more pieces of a puzzle together. 

It was getting late, like 9pm, they had to leave because my sister had to be up at like 4am. So now I was just chilling with my and we were watching the first episode of The Biggest Looser. It was just what was on, nothing more special then that. However, when they left I kept asking myself, is THIS what I'm fighting so hard for? To come home and watch amazing(< sarcasm) shows? To come home and sit on the couch and just sit? 

Even as I type this my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion.

Okay, on other days, I am assuming that after work I be able to go a gym class, have a drink with friends, go watch clouds or stars depending in daylight.

But at that point, it was 9:00pm and I was restless but had no idea what to do with myself. Seriously, as sad as it sounds, how do you just chill? What do you do? Does it count if you just go back and lay in bed?

For several years now, usually around 9:00pm I am either still at work or just finishing. So the next hour is usually taken up with laundry, finding food, and probably checking out people on Facebook, other random tasks for a while before going to bed.

That is really quite sad to be honest. I know it, you know it, we both agree. But moving beyond that, what is chilling? I feel like it is something I might need to put in google. Which is even MORE sad. I usually use google for fun facts or idea on how to be romantic, NOT how to relax. 

How do you chill? What counts as chilling? Does it depend on people? Is there a standard set of items? Seriously, I am at a loss, please let me know what chilling means to you.

Thanks!  

Solid Logical Reasons for Having a Bucket List

Image created by Keerati's on Freedigitalimages.com

I think everyone should have a bucket list.

I also think that everyone should start working on their list way sooner than when all their hair is either grey or non existent.

My first argument is why not? Having goals, things to work for, things to look forward too is always good. Bucket list items are usually positive, so why not have something positive to look forward too? I mean it's your bucket list and if you want to put colonoscopy on it go for it, I just rather not.

Second Argument: You might not be able to do some things when you are older, not even grey just older. I have a friend who cannot cross of sky diving because of a back issue. I know other people who are missing a hand so playing piano is now out. Okay, I don't actually know anyone who is missing their hand, but you aren't guaranteed all body parts or all body parts to function the whole time. In an instant all things can change.

Third Argument: It pushes your boundaries  This could be little things like letting a stranger shave off the dead skin on your feet (pedicure people) to seeing if you are really afraid of highs by doing a ropes course  You wont actually know if you could do these things until you try. When you do walk across those ropes, or not kick the poor person in the face, these are all great ways to learn about yourself and your limits.

Fourth Argument: Stories dude, the stories! Good, bad, or epic fail, you will be walking away with a story if you are trying to cross something off your list. One of  my friends had sky diving on her list. It took her three attempts before the conditions were right for her to be able to go. It kind of sucked but at the same time, adds to the story. Walking on hot coals, yeah, that will lead to some discussion. Can we say trying to eat a cricket? Again, this will be one way to start a conversation.

Fifth Argument: Broaden your horizons and will make you be able to relate to more people, which leads to conversations which lead to stories, which leads to new friends, which leads to new adventures  I have jumped out of a plane, I have been sailing on the ocean, I have been on a cruise  I could have some part of a conversation with three people who have done or would like to do those things. Those awkward moments could become less and less. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying, it is a away to keep conversation going with people you haven't met before.

2013 Resolutions

Picture by Stuart Miles at www.freedigitalphotos.net

For 2013 I have decided to make some of the following resolutions. Like all goals they must be both high reaching so you have to work for them yet, obtainable.

I shall try to do the following in 2013

• Stop Multi-tasking Time with People
• Read more books
• Work less hours during the week
• Start a career not just get another job.
• Cuss less. My little nephew and niece are sponges that can now talk. I'm trying not to be the one who they learn the F bomb from.
• Work on controlling Road Rage. Some days when tried and hungry and driving with the general public, well even my colorful language and slamming on the steering wheel makes me blush. I'll be honest here though, I've had some crazy creative mean things come out of my mouth that is kind of impressive. 
• Complete half marathon
• Complete first Triathlon 
• Learn how to spell Triathlon
• Over think things less
• Plan less while adventuring more
• Get more vitamin D by going outside more. I thought about starting to smoke so I could take breaks which would get me outside several times during the day. However, I feel like the health issues that would result would be more of negative then the benefits. 
• Laugh more
• Be more understanding 
• Apologize and own up to mistakes quickly and sincerely when they are made. 
• Learn to relax and chill.

I might add a few later but I think that this will be a good start. I'm going to have to print it out and put it in my bathroom or something so I can continue to read it to make sure I'm working on them.

What are some of your New Year Resolutions?