So long 2008

So, regular newsy blogging will resume starting tomorrow, as well as the launch of something new In the meantime, here’s 2008 in review for me!

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
The problem with things like this is that a whole heck of a lot happens in a year.  Lets see, a few things include spending time in two countries other than the US (Peru and Canada), I’m engaged and beginning to plan a wedding, learning german, living on my own-ish, voted libritarian, got pulled out of the mud by a franciscan sister, played World of warcraft, and I’m sure there’s more, but thats all for now. 

2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t ever really make them since Lent is usually around the corner for us Catholics.  However, I have a feeling that my own version of bridal bootcamp is going to be in order.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Several people, another adopted, and a couple others have another on the way!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not that I can think of that I knew, but I know that Ike had a toll :-/

5. What countries did you visit?
Peru and Canada

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Certainty about where I will be, whether that be grad school or a job.

7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
November 4, 2008 – for obvious reasons

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Am I allowed to count being engaged?  Though, I didn’t plan on that really.  Lets see… writing an entire section of a project proposal all by myself and impressing my boss over the summer.  And then being able to juggle everything for the past year.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not ending something sooner.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Who doesn’t?  I had one hell of a cold/flu for about three weeks this past semester!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
The Wii!

12. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Starting senior year (which also is a scary thought), being engaged, going to a new country, trips, field outings for the internship, concerts, plays, ren fest, the election.  Oh and HURRICANE IKE!

13. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I knew I loved you — Savage Garden

14. Compared to this time last year, are you:Thinner or fatter?
Heh, I think I weigh a little more.

15. Richer or poorer?
In college, at a private school, what do you think?

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Read, and studied french.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Put off doing homework.  (BUT, I’ve made dean’s list both semesters for 2008 )

18. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Hehe, the ring on my left hand seems to indicate that. 

19. What was your favorite TV program?
Pushing Daisies.  But I watch it online when I have time.

20. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not hate so much as strongly dislike

21. What was the best book you read?
Name of the Rose

22. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Um, nothing really new.

23. What did you want and get?
The Wii, good grades, peace. 

24. What did you want and not get?
The right color green nail polish.  Need to work on that.

25. What did you not want and get?
Dental work

26. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 22, and my sisters took me to the Houston ballet the Saturday before my birthday.

27. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Finding that green nail polish

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Granola?

29. What kept you sane?
Heh, youtube.

30. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
None.

31. What political issue stirred you the most?
Anything to do with the election.

32. Who did you miss?
Friends and my fiance mostly right now.  That’ll change to my family after the 12th.

33. Who was the best new person you met?
John Paul

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
That its better to cut things off sooner rather than later, because the moer drawn out something is the worse it is.  

35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Blue-eyed boy and this brown-eyed girl
Oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
–Sweetest Thing, U2

Cold and… EXPENSIVE!

When my dad got home from work this afternoon there was talk about going to see a movie, so we all piled into a car and took of the one of the local movie theaters here in London. We get there, dad gets in line to get tickets and the bill comes out to be $75 (canadian) for the seven of us! The crazy part, believe it or not, is not that my dad was willing to spend that much, but that the theater wouldn’t break a $100 note for it. :p So, we ended up just going to the grocery store and blockbuster afterwards, where we got a pretty good deal on rentals; 6 for $15!

Anyway, my observation is that things north of the boarder are very pricey! It’ll be interesting to do a little comparing when I’m in Michigan next week to see the difference.

On another note, I need to stop watching movies with cars in them. No, I’m no talking about Cars by Pixar. With dinner we watched the Italian Job, and now I want a mini cooper heh…

So… its been a while

Gotta love it when school and life take you away from the blog-o-sphere :p However, I will say that my semester came out wonderfully well, out of my 18 hours (6 classes) I made 5 A’s and a B+. Also, I got engaged in the middle of finals week when it snowed in Houston.

Anyway, other than that, it was a pretty busy and fulfilling semester, and I’m looking forward to only taking 13 hours, however, I think planning my wedding is going to take up a good chunk of time as well… heh… at least I’m only taking a few classes!

I’m currently in what Houstonians would refer to as the land of snow and ice, also known as Canada-land. More specifically, I’m in Ontario. Why am I here? Because my parents moved here during the semester, which if I had been blogging like I had told myself I would do my readers would have known. :p Needless to say, I’m sick of snow, and slush, and cold rain. And THANK GOD for sweaters and snowboots, or I don’t know how else I would survive up here. Oh, and an interesting observation, when you go away from a coastal area like Houston you have to drink a whole heck of a lot more water! I’m currently recovering from a bit of dehydration, speaking of which, I should probably get off of here and get some more.

I will post tomorrow, and probably about something more interesting than my random bits of rambling

Peru… Oiy

From BBC this morning:

Protesters decry Peru corruption

President Garcia has seen his approval rating fall Thousands of people have taken to the streets in several Peruvian cities to protest against the rising cost of living and low wages. The demonstrations, planned weeks ago, took place just days after a scandal allegedly involving officials taking bribes for oil concessions emerged. Voters say corruption is one of their main concerns about President Alan Garcia’s government. Mr Garcia, who took office in 2006, has seen his popularity fall sharply. The demonstrations, organised by the biggest trade union, were called to demand a change in the government’s free market policies, which opponents say have failed to improve living standards for many Peruvians. But just days after a scandal allegedly involving kickbacks in return for oil contracts emerged, the protesters also took up the theme of corruption. In the capital, Lima, thousands of workers, including teachers, builders and doctors marched on Congress on Tuesday, calling for the cabinet to step down. The governing party, Apra, is stealing while the people are struggling, they chanted. Trouble broke out when a group that did not appear to be linked to the main protest began throwing stones at the police, who responded with tear gas. Damage control The demonstrations could not have come at a worse time for President Garcia, with opinion polls putting his approval rating at its lowest level since he took office, says the BBC’s Dan Collyns in Lima. Mr Garcia ordered an investigation after the alleged scandal surfaced on Sunday, and insisted that the government must be purged of corruption. But the damage control may be too late to save the government’s reputation, says our correspondent. On Sunday, a TV station broadcast a tape of a top state oil official and a lobbyist apparently agreeing to favour an oil company in a round of auctions for oil concessions. The taped conversation was allegedly between Alberto Quimper, a executive with the state energy agency, Perupetro, and a prominent lobbyist Romulo Leon. The company, Discover Petroleum of Norway, has said it made payments to Mr Leon and to a law company employing Mr Quimper, but it denied paying any bribes, Reuters reported. “The application process (was) completely open and transparent, and could not possibly have been influenced by any bribes,” Discover said in a statement. Peru’s energy sector has pushed hard to attract billions of dollars in foreign investment in the country’s huge mining industry and its fast-growing oil and gas sector.

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this country to the south, but from my observations I can say “DUH”.  My parents lived down in Lima for nearly a year, and they can attest that the gap in the standard of living there is HUGE.  Also, prices are extremely high if you’re going to live in the city, and because of the cost of food the general nutrition of the peoples there is low.  You can ask my sister who inadvertently did a nutritional observation because she’s a nerd like that, though, don’t tell her that I said that.

CONGRATS!

 I just wanted to say CONGRATS to Dr. Taylor and his wife of their newest addition!

Happy Talk like a Pirate Day!

Its that time of year again!  Remember your eyepatches, parrots and gold today, and treat yourself to a cup of grog!

Arrr!!!

Another Star Wars Moment?

So… my guy sent me this image earlier today:

Has Obama taken grammar lessons from Yoda?  Seriously. *rolls eyes* If you’re going to run for president at least use the language properly!

Frank Oz voice anyone?

The Force Will Bind Them

Here’s your WTF for today.  I would like to present to you Mr. AND Mrs. Darth Vader:

 

Can you say geeks gone wild?  Only a truly geeky girl would even consider doing this with her man!

Raising the Barr?

Meh, I known about this a while ago and have been lazy about getting it up. (There are advantages to being ‘fans’ of certain people on Facebook )

From FoxNews yesterday:

Barr Tries to Kick McCain, Obama Off Texas Ballot

by FOXNews.com

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr has filed a lawsuit in Texas demanding John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the ballot, saying they missed the official filing deadline.

Texas law requires that written certification of the party’s nominees be delivered before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before Election Day. This year, the deadline fell on Aug. 26.

Barr’s campaign contends that because neither candidate had been nominated by the official filing deadline, it was impossible for them to file under Texas law.

“The seriousness of this issue is self-evident,” reads the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday. “The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them.”

Barr, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, is expected to press his case Thursday at the Texas Supreme Court. It is the campaign’s first legal action accusing the major-party candidates of not qualifying to run in a state. The campaign is not planning to file lawsuits in other states, a Barr spokesman said.

Neither Obama nor McCain’s campaign would comment on the suit, but the office of Texas Secretary of State Esperanza “Hope” Andrade said it certified the Nov. 4 general election ballot on Sept. 3.

“We are confident that the ballot was certified properly and that Texans will have the opportunity to select the qualified candidate of their choice,” Andrade spokeswoman Ashley Burton said in a written statement to FOXNews.com.

“Wrong,” Barr campaign spokesman Steve Sinton said. “We’re right. They’re wrong. It’s not like these dates sneaked up on these guys. They knew the filing deadline.”

Barr’s petition also accuses the Democratic Party of falsely claiming that Obama had been nominated hours before he actually was.

“The facts of the case are not in dispute,” Barr campaign manager Russell Verney said. “Republicans and Democrats missed the deadline, but were still allowed on the ballot.

“Third parties are not allowed on the ballot for missing deadlines, as was the case for our campaign in West Virginia, yet the Texas secretary of state’s office believes Republicans and Democrats to be above the law.”

Pat Dixon of the Texas Libertarian Party, said the party was not seeking media attention with the lawsuit.

“All we’re doing is asking the secretary of state to obey Texas law,” he said.

 

When you look at it Barr really does have a point.  Both McCain and Obama missed the filing deadline, and it IS in Texas law that niether if these two canidates should be allowed on the ballot.  Will they be ommited from the ballot?  Probably not.  Should they be?  Thats a tough answer in all honesty, but personally I think that they should be.  The did miss the filing deadline afterall, and by asking Texas to overstep its own laws.

Personally, I like this comment from the Dallas Morning News’ TRAIL BLAZERS Blog:

Posted by cicero @ 6:07 PM Wed, Sep 17, 2008

Barr has a point. Is Texas gonna uphold their own law or not? I think Texas has an obligation to set an example here. The world’s financial markets are fallen around our ears; global warming is causing massive disruption and monster storms, it’s up the government of Texas to keep their heads when everyone else is losing theirs and kick the bums off the ballot. If you can’t follow the rules you can’t play. What would Sam Houston do?- Nevermind. The point is, unless Texas splits itself up into 5 states (which it can) each with waivers regarding the 70 day rule, then McCain should kiss those 34 electoral votes goo’bye!

As for me?  Barr ‘08 baby!

Black Coffee…

 

… Is an aquired taste.  But then again, what else is to be done when you aren’t able to get your choice of dairy product for your cup o’joe?

 

In other news, if everything is going according to plan, Dr. Taylor should be a dad today!!   Prayers definately headed his and his wife’s way