Holy crap, it's Wednesday already? What happened to this week? My daughter joined Girl Scouts this year. For the past few years, the meetings have taken place on days that she had dance class. Somehow the scheduling gods came together this year so she can do both. It's a little weird for me because I was a Girl Scout for about 9 years and so much has changed since then. (Yes, I know, I'm old.) But I'm excited to see where this journey goes. It's quite possible that she'll only do the scouting thing for one year. At least she'll have that experience under her belt. I hope she has lots of fun.
Sound system recs please!
Does anyone have any suggestions for a decent portable sound system? I need a new sound system for my Zumba classes. I'd like to have something that isn't too difficult to transport around (since I don't have my own studio yet) and would sound decent in a basketball court-sized gym. I've been looking around at various websites (where I tend to get distracted by best effects pedals and stuff) but I'm not sure what would be ideal. I've asked other Zumba instructors and, of course, they all recommend something different. Help!
The Great Allentown Fair
Every year, I take my daughter to at least one concert. Over the past few years we've seen Miranda Cosgrove perform. This year, we went to The Great Allentown Fair to see Victoria Justice. (Chances are, if you don't watch Disney Channel or Nickelodeon, you don't know who these people are. That is OK.) For some reason, I expected the fair to be on the smaller side. Boy, was I wrong. There were tons of rides, even more food stands, and even a bunch of sideshow attractions. (My sister paid $1.00 for my daughter and I to see the "world's smallest horse." It was a Shetland Pony.) Both my sister and my daughter got wristbands so they could ride all the rides they wanted to. Unfortunately, spinning rides tend to make me nauseous so I didn't get to ride anything. To be honest, I'm not all that upset about it.
The concert itself was just OK. Max Schneider was the opening act. While he is a very competent singer, he was doing this jump/dance thing that looked weird. It kinda looked like he took dance lessons from some boy bands. Boy band dancing is OK when there is a group dancing. When it's just one guy, it looks goofy. Victoria Justice was a bit more entertaining but she doesn't have the same stage presence that Selena Gomez does. Her part of the concert seemed like a big commercial for her television show (almost every song was from the show) or her new movie (her tour bus was plastered with it) or her charities (there was actually a real commercial for this on the screen while she was changing clothes).
I know that you are probably saying "Hey, this is a concert aimed at pre-teens. What did you expect?" I have now sat through enough of these concerts to know that these performers are capable of more. Selena Gomez's concerts are engaging and fun. Both of the Victoria Justice and Miranda Cosgrove concerts felt like they were just singing at us. (For what it's worth - Gomez is a Disney kid while Justice and Cosgrove are Nickelodeon.) I know that a lot of people write off kids (tween/pre-teen/younger) but there's no reason to treat them like mindless bags of cash. Yes, they will still scream and cheer for their favorite singers either way but try to make it fun for them. They are the next concert-going generation. We don't want to scare them off with bland, boring shows.
It's Monday!
I think I finally have some things lined up to get this place updated more often. But, of course, it is Monday and today is the worst Monday ever. Things are back on track now and, if I'm lucky, things will be back to normal this week. Alas, since it is Monday, everything has been going wrong. And it all started out with the light bulb in our upstairs hallway blowing out. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad. However, this is a light that is on the ceiling so it requires standing on a chair or step ladder to reach. That wouldn't be so bad either but we are currently out of light bulbs. I have to remember to stop by the store to pick up some full spectrum light bulbs so we can see upstairs. Yes, this is the main light in the entire upstairs.
Dear Monday, I hate you. Love, Me.
Busy time!
We're heading into my busy season at work. I do have some other things to talk about. I just have to find the time to do it. My goal is to get some things straightened out this weekend and try to work out a good schedule for me. I know I can figure out a way to get everything I want to do done. (Man, that is an awkward sentence.) I vow to not procrastinate and get side-tracked by websites like www.reidsupply.com. I can do this!
There's a card for that!
My 12-year work anniversary is coming up in a few weeks. I came across a website today that sells company anniversary cards, which I found hysterical. Who in the world wants an anniversary card from their company? The first line of text on the website reads: "An employee anniversary card is a wonderful way to thank the people who keep your business running year after year." No, it's not a wonderful way to thank your employees. Thank them with a bonus or a cake or something. A company anniversary card is pointless and lacks any real emotion. This is just a lame way of saying "Hey, we didn't forget we hired you today." Lame.
Sheeder Mill Farm
With summer winding down, my family celebrated with one last trip. My mom, my aunt, my uncle, my cousin, my cousin's boyfriend, my husband, my daughter, and I all took a trail ride on horseback. About half of our group took a 30-minute riding lesson before the trail ride began, which my daughter appreciated. The trail ride itself was awesome. A majority of the ride took place in the woods so we were never in direct sunlight. Even though parts of the trail were really muddy, the beauty of the woods shone through. We all had a really great time and hope do to it again in the near future.
I'd also like to note that Sheeder Mill Farm was the best stable I have been to in a very long time. They were super friendly and the horses were all well behaved. Our group ranged from riders that have never been on a horse before to intermediate riders. None of us had any problems with our horses. (Sometimes horses will fight their riders so they can get back to the stable faster. That didn't happen here.) I highly recommend them for both riding lessons and trail rides.
A bit of a rut
I'm in a bit of a rut with this blog. When I find something wonderfully geeky, I love sharing it with you guys. However, my life nowadays is mostly filled with work, Zumba, and my daughter's activities. There isn't a lot of time for geeking out. Maybe I need to go back to the basics when I wrote about every episode of a show instead of just a season review. It would definitely be more interesting than posts about gantry crane websites. Would that be better for you? Updates would be more frequent but they might be shorter. Opinions?
The Olympics are over!
Need a new t-shirt?
My closet is woefully bare. I hate trying on clothes so, as a result, I rarely buy new pieces. The worst part of my closet is the "casual tee" section. The newest shirt in there is the cute sakura blossom shirt I bought in Washington DC two years ago. Besides that, the next newest shirt is at least 5 years old. So I started looking around online for some new tees. While the combat infantry badge shirt is kinda cool, a lot of the other shirts seem to promote hatred and violence. I don't feel comfortable buying a shirt from a site like that. Where do you buy your casual shirts?