best birthday present ever

Last week was my birthday.

I would have written about it then but I was a) too excited from my surprise (more on that further down) and b) too busy with law school work.

Since my birthday was in the middle of the week, my mother came to visit me the weekend before. We had a couple nice meals and did a little shopping. While she was here we also saw Jeff Dunham live. I am fascinated by how well he does ventriloquism and the seamlessness of the show was amazing. It’s been a while since something has made me laugh that hard.

On my actual birthday I had class. Three of the actually. Just before Constitutional law 1 started I happened to check my e-mail and got the best birthday present I ever could have hoped for.

My yearbook, the 2008 Kentuckian, was named a finalist for the Pacemaker. For those who don’t know, that is basically the equivalent to the Pulitzer for college journalism.

I could barely sit still in class I was so excited. As soon as the professor told us we could go I was telling everyone around me about the nomination. I had to explain it since several people thought I had a heart condition that needed a pacemaker.

The rest of the week went pretty well too. Overall, I don’t know how a birthday could top that one.

Here’s a link to the listed of Pacemaker finalists so you can see who all else is listed. The covers of all the yearbooks are there too. Mine is about halfway down the page.

http://studentpress.org/acp/winners/ypm08.html

Have fun!

thanks everyone

I just noticed I had past a milestone with the numbers of hits to this blog. I have officially broke 1,100 hits. I should have remarked on this when it reached 1,000 but better late than never.

So thanks everyone. I hope you will continue to enjoy this window into my little world!

Have fun!

winter weather and the human ice scraper

The ice storm that hit Kentucky this week has had a big impact on my little world.

Tuesday, UK canceled classes starting before 11 a.m. and then later canceled classes starting after 3:30 p.m. I had to go to the law building for my Property class but Constitutional 1 was called off so I came back to the apartment. School should have been called off completely. The sidewalks were sheets of ice on the way back. I lost count of how many people I either heard say they had fallen or that I saw with my own eyes.

Wednesday the university was closed.

Today classes before 11 were canceled again.

Here’s some of the photos I took on the way to school this morning. (They’re from my new point-and-shoot, and they haven’t been toned. My hands are tired, you’ll see why further down, so bear with me.)

When I got in this afternoon, the wind wasn’t blowing so it didn’t feel that bad out and I didn’t have anything better to do for a while so I had the brilliant idea to remove the ice from my car.

I bundled back up and ventured back outside. I stood looking at my car and suddenly my dilemma became clear. I had a layer of ice ranging from a quarter of an inch to a little over an inch covering the entire vehicle and I remembered that I had never gotten around to buying an ice scraper.

My brain went into overdrive trying to think of something I might have that could be an improvised scraper. And then I thought, “I’m a black belt. I’ve broken concrete before. I should be able to handle ice.”

Not my finest moment. Or at least it shouldn’t have been.

I started on the thin ice around the door. My plan was to break enough to get the doors open so I could turn the defrost on the windshield and the back glass on.

Two hours and probably several hundred palm heel strikes later the only ice left on my car was what I couldn’t break up on top of the trunk.

I had done it. And no bruises on my hand I might add.

#1 on my to do list now… buy an ice scraper.

Have fun!

what I’ve been up to

And now the posts from my trip to England are complete. I am ashamed of how long it took to get all of those posted. It seems like forever ago that I got home from that trip. It has been a long time. Although, typing up those posts brought it all back. Amazing.

I could blame my delay in posting on law school being hectic (The fall semester went fairly well by the way.) but I had time every now and then to do it. I just didn’t. Instead I used my spare time to relax. I felt the urge to post other things I was doing but I didn’t think it was fair to do that when I hadn’t finished the vacation posts.

I do hope you read all of the vacation entries. Or at least take a look through the photos.

New posts will be exceedingly more regular now that that guilt is off my shoulders. So, until later this week.

Have fun!

trip to England – day eight

We came home today. This morning I woke up in London and tonight I will go to sleep in Kentucky.

Mom and I got up this morning and finished putting everything into our suitcases for the trip home. It was in question whether everything we had brought plus what we had purchased would fit into our suitcases without expanding them. Thankfully we didn’t have to; if we had, then they would have had to be checked instead of being carried on.

We took our last Tube ride on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow. Getting through the line at check in and at security was a breeze. Everyone that worked there was very helpful and nice. Mom got randomly selected to be patted down at security but I went right through.

We had much better food on this transatlantic flight than we did on the way over. I had a pork chop, potatoes and chocolate cake. I passed the time by listening to my iPod for awhile and watching a couple of the in-flight movies.

Our flight landed at Dulles in Washington at around 2:15. We had scheduled a comfortable amount of time for our layover before our connecting flight to Nashville. We ate at the Five Guys burger place in the airport. It might have been because it was the first honestly American food we had had in week, or it might have been because it had been a long time since the meal on the plan, but either way, that seemed to be the best burger I had ever had.

I checked the marquee to make sure our flight was on time. No such luck. It said our 4:47 flight had been pushed back to 5:40. We gripped about it, but in retrospect it wasn’t a terrible delay. Then it was pushed back to 7:50. It was after 8:00 by the time we finally took off. That was some of the most boring time I have ever killed. After landing, Mom and I made our way back to our vehicle and drove home.

So now here we are, back at home. It was a long, tiring week but also the best of my life. I’m happy to be home and yet at the same time I miss London. I have made up my mind. Someday I will go back and see more of the city. When, I don’t know… but someday.

Here’s a final photo from my trip to cap off these posts.

Have fun!

trip to England – day seven

Today was our second day trip. Stonehenge and  Bath!

A swanky tour bus stopped at the hotel to pick us up this morning. The company offered a tour that also went to Windsor Castle but we decided to forgo that one and catch the later one. We still got to see the outside of the Castle since we changed tour buses in the parking lot there

Our second bus was the one we rode the rest of the day. The group of people on the bus had kind of a mascot. Some other women from America had a two-year-old little girl with them and she entertained us during the trips from one place to another.

The bus took us first to Stonehenge. For just a pile of rocks in a field it’s very impressive, especially once you hear how far away some of the stones came from. We spent awhile walking around the stone circle and, of course, taking lots of pictures.

Our next stop was at a pub for lunch, the Stonehenge Inn. We had several choices of what to eat. I went for the traditional bangers and mash. It was interesting. The taste was good but the texture wasn’t what I was expecting. I think I could like it if I got used to the texture but today… not so much.

After lunch we enjoyed taking in the countryside during the hour-long ride to Bath.

The town of Bath itself is really cute. I would have liked to have more time to explore but our visit was pretty well planned down to the minute. I wouldn’t mind going back someday.

Our group went on a tour of the Roman bathes. Looking at the artifacts and reading the signs about the history of place made me feel like I had stepped into the past, kind of cliche but true nonetheless.

I hadn’t realized we had traveled so far out into the country until it took two hours to get back into London. The guide leader said we had covered 250 miles by the end of our journey. We got back into town and had dinner at the fish and chips place around the corner from the hotel before turning in for the night.

Have fun!

trip to England – day six (part two)

After we left the Eiffel Tower Monica led us to the Louvre. She told us about how long she had been living in Paris (Monica was German) and more about herself. She also told us some history of the Louvre. You could tell she really enjoyed what she was doing.

Oh, I almost forgot. Between the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre we took a boat ride down and back up the Seine. We didn’t have time to go in Notre Dame but the view from the river was amazing.

Let me just say, the entrance to the Louvre is beautiful. People can say what they want. I thought the the pyramid was very impressive. And I actually think it goes really well with the historical buildings around it. A nice contrast.

Monica wasn’t allowed to lead us through the museum because she wasn’t certified for that so she stayed with us while we bought our tickets, showed us on a map which street to walk down to catch the bus back to the train station and then bid us good-bye.

Inside the Louvre was just like imagined it and yet it was somehow even better. We saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo and so many other wonderful things. The whole time I saw walking around those oh so long hallways I wished I had more time to spend there. I definitely have to go back some day.

We left the museum and started walking toward the Opera House to catch the bus. Thank goodness I didn’t have to use my rusty spoken French while in Paris, but I was surprised to know that I could read it pretty well. That came in handy when we stopped for a late lunch. We had time so we ducked into a bistro and got sandwiches. I could read the ingredients so I was able to successfully avoid things I don’t like.

The bus got us back to Gare du Nord with some time to wait before our train so we had plenty opportunity to engage in one of my favorite hobbies, people-watching.

Mom and I had planned on sleeping during the train ride back to London. In the seats facing us were two American women, across from us were an American couple and two British guys. All of us were on our vacations, or our holidays depending on where you’re from. The four of us got to talking, comparing trips and cultural quirks. When the train pulled in at London we were all surprised the trip had gone so quickly.

We rode the Tube back to our hotel and after being going constantly since early that morning we were dead on our feet. I was asleep right after my head hit the pillow. And there’s another trip tomorrow.

Have fun!

trip to England – day six (part one)

We have another day trip planned for tomorrow but today is the big one. Paris!

We got up at an indecent hour this morning and a coach picked us up at the hotel. That was one trip I was really happy when it was over. We rode the Eurostar train from St. Pancras International station to Gare du Nord station in Paris. Several times during the ride I wished I had had my camera out for the view, but alas, I didn’t. There were several people on the train with us that booked tours through the same tour company but we were the only two who had paid for the guided tour. The extra expense was worth it. Our guide Monica met us at Gare du Nord and stayed right with us almost all day.

We got on an open-air bus outside the station and rode it to the Trocadero. (We went around the Arc de Triomphe but my pictures didn’t turn out the best in the world.) Monica said the view from there is her favorite view of the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t get to see it from many different places today, but I can definitely believe that’s the best.

As part of our tour we had a fast pass to go up on the Eiffel Tower. By passing the line was almost as good as the view.

While we were around the Eiffel Tower saw a crowd gathering and then heard the bomb squad explode a backpack that someone had left unattended. They don’t take any chances there. And I don’t blame them, but wow, I’ve never seen that before.

This post is getting long so I’m splitting it up into two parts.

Have fun!

trip to England – day five

The next couple of days are going to be jam packed so we decided to take today a little slower. This is the first morning we didn’t have an early wake up call. I didn’t realize how tired I had become until I got some extra sleep this morning. The deprivation has all been worth it though.

We rode the Tube to Piccadilly Circus and spent a while just walking around and taking in all the hustle and bustle. We also did our souvenir shopping. Picking out stuff to bring home to people was a little difficult but also sort of like a scavenger hunt. I knew I wanted a jacket to take home but finding one I liked in my size was more than difficult. The women’s sizes were cut odd, the men’s were too big. I ended up getting a big size in a child’s and that worked out well.

Taking the easy way out, we ate a big late lunch at Planet Hollywood before going back to our hotel.

No pictures today but tomorrow will have lots. We have a day trip planned but I’ll save the reveal for then.

Have fun!

trip to England – day four

Mom is happy. She got to start her morning off with coffee. The warming pot in our room had been broken so far, but they brought us a new one today.

Since we didn’t finish our tour yesterday and our bus passes were still good through the morning, Mom and I rode the Tube to Tower Hill since that’s where we got off before. We rode around town until the next stop a few minutes after our tickets expired. We lucked out. The next stop was at Buckingham Palace. We had planned earlier not to fight the crowds for the Changing of the Guard, but we did want to get some pictures of the building.

Coincidentally enough, we happened to get there just before the ceremony so we got to see it without even meaning to.

A side note: Everywhere I look people are wearing boots. It’s kind of warmer than I would consider optimal boot wearing temperature, but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone here. I guess it’s a thing.

Our next adventure was to spend sometime getting lost in the British Museum. Mom was a little confused by the signs but we walked straight there from the palace.  We first saw the usual highlights, the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles (I know they’re technically called something else now but that’s what everyone knows them as). We saw so many beautiful and amazing things we spent pretty well the rest of our afternoon there.

After that excursion we took the Tube back to our hotel and collapsed. Sorry I was too busy just looking at things today to taken a lot of photos, but I’m sure that won’t last.

Have fun!