I was wrong.

I left a comment in (e:carolinian,3) post regarding Niagara Mohawk, er, excuse me.. National Grid online payment services. National Grid has been fine so far. I wote about my observation that the site is not user friendly and is not conucive to making a quick and easy payment; something that is beneficial to both the company (they get their money) and the customer (you get it out of the way and don't have to search for or steal stamps from friends 'cause you are too lazy to go to the PO.)


How am I mistaken?

Well, I just went online to pay my National Fuel bill. It is their site that is the enigma. It is kind of like a treasure hunt (something I would normally really like), however as you navigate the site (take a guess as to where you pay your bill), that once you finally arrive and have 13 pages across the bottom of your browser, the prize is that you get to pay your bill. Not quite what I expect from a treasure hunt. I should atleast be presented with a balloon and maybe some words of wisdom. Or some ibuprofen.

Or a view of an on going log of how much time it takes me to find my bill each time. Customers could try to beat their own score. oh, make it a competition across all customers! Highlight reel score, baby! There can be month end commentary on the strategies used to get to the bill paying portion of the site. And for some, a support group.

hmmm, I am thinking that we could write a book, a users manual of the sort, well, better yet, a playbook.

Official Strategy Guide for Paying Your Bills Online: National Fuel and National Grid. heh, they're both four letter words


:)

I found a bunch of old toys and trinkets from my childhood. A near future post will reveal a few of those items. Besides those things, I thought about other childhood memories of toys, hobbies and even candy. Which brings me to this post.

I remember chewing Bazooka bubble gum


and reading the comics contained inside the wrapper.


Does anyone remember opening the wrapper and having, instead of a comic, a note that said "help, i am trapped in a bubble gum factory" ??

hehe, I hope it was a joke..



And then remember these... How I LOVED candy cigarettes


I never saw this.. crazy!


heh, and I really wanted to be a smoker. No one in my family smoked, but my mom had a couple of friends who did. I would watch them and then imitate their smoking by using a straw. It was extra special and fun when I could go buy a pack of candy cigarettes or a "carton" (six boxes wrapped together). I would puff on them with no control. An open pack of candy cigarettes were quickly "smoked". At like, 4 years of age how cool did I think I was..

sad.

Fortunately, I realized by the time I was 12 that real second hand cigarette smoke maked me ill. I get nauseaus, irritated, red eyed, and over all ill feeling when i am around it. 98% of the time it has this effect on me. Fortunate that it kept me from smoking. Not fortunate in that it can be annoying to not be able to handle being around smokers for long. I guess that isn't a bad thing either.. just makes it difficult to ignore, and difficult when people think you are looney for getting headaches around cig smoke.

Anyway, I am a non smoker and always have been, but really wanted to when I was a kid.


I am sure these are still made..
Fun Dip. Straight to the point, I like it!



I used to buy Dinosaur eggs. They came in a package of two and were pretty big, I think (I was five years old, ofcourse they were big!). They had a gobbstopper type of texture. I always purchased them at a small store in St. Catherines and not sure if I ever bought them anywhere else. I couldn't find any pictures as I hoped.

And thats about it. What are you childhood candy memories?

Actually, my original post was a comment to (e:metalpeter,654) who I began writing quite a bit in his comment section, then decided to trasnfer it to a post, but then my computer froze and everything disappeared. So now that I have no functioning brain cells at this point in the night, I wont be getting back to those thoughts! Definitely later..

heh, I think I spelled every other word wrong.

Bed time.

Good night peeps :)

Cute, huh?




baby porcupines



One more.. The hippo loves its tortoise dad/friend.

for more pics and the story of how Owen and Mzee came to be:




warning: site holds numerous inter-species families. Very cute.

all pics snagged from Google images.

Ahh, a day in the life of (e:theecarey) and (e:ladycroft)

The Mystery Adventure (TM) proved to be an exciting jaunt, as are all "Mica Mic and Kee Wee Mac" excursions.

hehe, those are our old nicknames. We have always been a pair of super sleuth adventurism extraordinaires. Our resume of experience and adventure goes way back.

So, Friday began with loading my iPod with select songs downloaded from LimeWire the night before and jotting down a few directions. The music was intentional. I knew we'd be laughing hysterically over it. I made sure not to listen to any of it until we were well on our way.

Music: check
Gas: check
Money: check
Nutritious lunch packed in cooler: check
Camera: check
Car ride munchies: check
Dr. Pepper for Timika: check
check..check..check

Anything else we could possibly need is in the trunk of my car. It is always prepared for adventure, or Armageddon, whichever happens first.

I was well aware of the weather a head of time. The rain was not a hindrance, and in fact (as predicted) is added to the quality of the trip. We ventured off to unknown territory (and it truly was unknown for Timika as all she knew of the day was that I was picking her up around noon and that all she needed was to wear clothes for being outside)

A delightful "wrong" turn here and there provided us an opportunity to see all sorts of fun things. Signs such as "Meat Raffle", "Humming Alpaca's" miniature McDonalds signs, "Posted" signs were everywhere; we were afraid of being shot when we jumped out and rummage through someone's garbage. Timika scored on a pair of super cool retro chairs. I am partial to their red color. We made a pact that I have visiting rights and that if she is no longer able to take care of them, then they would come live with me :)

Eventually we were on the "right" path. I place the words, 'wrong' and 'right' in quotes as I perceive getting a little lost and going off plan adds to the experience and does not take away from it. Be forewarned, if ever in the car with me, I never stop for directions. You can, but not if I am driving.

First place to explore is the Griffis Sculpture Park out in Springville (Ashford).


Once off the main road, we turned onto a street that made me gasp. Suddenly there was a steep hill ahead. That in itself isn't what made me feel in awe, it was the turning onto the street and the sudden visual of this road that just keeps going up.

Here I am trying to take a picture of the road behind us, backwards, while driving and while paying attention to the narrow winding road. Yeh, that's just a picture of my face. At least I look as amused as I felt.


Ahh, there we go: the descent of the road. Taking a picture of us going uphill didn't really look like much.


Eventually we turned onto a road that gave clear indication that we were getting close to the park. We were fascinated with the change in scenery. Giant metal sculptures intertwined with nature. My sense of awe heightened to jubilation as more and more sculptures appeared, of all shapes, sizes and locations. There were sculptures in the middle of a clear field along with ones that skirted the edge of the woods.

A small sampling of what we saw. For the rest, you will just need to take the trek out there :)








At one point, I pulled over, jumped out of the car, hopped over a ditch and gleefully bounded through the tall wet grass to find out what the enormous and shiny object was off in the distance. I began the journey early on with wet feet and jeans up to the knees. Wet jeans make it hard to keep them from sliding down the body. I was hiking them up all day.

spider with a beak? no thanks..


heh, this would be a nightmare come true. Eww..


Timika and I had the same sentiment at seeing this large pond; to float on a raft and relax (for me, daydream..). I can envision taking a paddle boat through that water, or a canoe, or an inner tube, or wood planks tied together!!


Whatever it was.. I climbed it. Anything that looked like it could and should be climbed, I did.
This one I really wanted to take home with me. I need one in my back yard. Forget clothes lines and birdbaths, I want a freaky metal thing to climb into!!



Like Mork and Mindy, "nanu nanu"


ewww!

Who knew NY has smurfs??
More smurf sightings..




Um, this is a classic picture. Totally priceless and I will tell you why. I am afraid of heights. Yet I am the first one climbing a tree and heading up into crazy metal sculptures. I try not to think about my fear that much. I don't like to be in the way of myself. If something is hindering me, I will work at overcoming whatever it is. And so, I proceed to climb stuff as usual. However, with the continual rain, it made for dangerous climbing. The metal was slippery and i could sense the level of fear increasing the further I went up. I was actually doind fine until the sculpture shook a little. Then that overwhelming tremble took over my brain and body. I couldn't move. I stood a few rungs from the top and internally freaked out. Had I known that the sculpture shook a little (I didn't think to ask LC) then I would have been able to prepare my brain for movement. So as I stood inside the sculpture, I willed myself to go up two more rungs. I figured I had three to go, so just going up two more was quite a compromise. I was proud of my tenacity despite the shaking fear. I leaned over to look out and Timika snapped a picture. Priceless. hahaha


sha! this is nothing..


Lasted more than 8 seconds. woo!


Meet my new friend.










rainy and sweaty (e:ladycroft)


(e:theecarey) and her 30lb back pack. Just the essentials: 4 16.9 oz bottles of water, camera, two sweat shirts, latex gloves, red hood, box of crackers, bag of assorted nature munchies, trashbag, roll of toilet paper, two umbrellas, first aid kit, flashlight and bug lotion.
And don't forget the GIANT walking stick. LC had one, so I had to have one too :)




Sometimes it sprinkled, or a gentle rain and even a couple of down pours. Either way, this hair wont be dry anytime soon. I stand and take pics, as I climbed another scultpture. Timika went up one more level.




hehe, I love these pics of her:
Crazy girl locked away at the top of the castle.


Or, the regal queen up in her tower looking down upon her minions.





The metal maze. Oh no! I can see you, Timika, but how do I get to you??






What is this?! A random pile of rocks? I must climb you. (whats the deal with the large white spot?)










(yeh, that was quite a few of pretty much the same pic)

Another friend..


such a dream-like and surreal quality to the excursion. Fog rolling in, the Amazons in the bathing pond and not a single person besides Timika and I during the entire time we were at the park, which happened to be 5+ hours!








Taking a break on the picnic tables to breathe in the heavy air, listen to the birds, frogs, rain, and cows. Yes. cows. And I say they go,"moo" ;) (see LC post)


(e:ladycroft) looking and feeling worn out, but in a very good way!


This sign cracked us up.


Not bad for an out house.


We sat on a rock and dined in the misty rain. LC admist the pile of food. Hmmmm egg salad, wheat pitas, fruit (mangos, strawberries, kiwis, apple), wheat pasta/red lentil combo, swiss cheese from the laughing cow- not the mad mooing cows we saw on the hillside, green tea and some chips. Dig in!



My oversized walking stick not suprisingly did not fit in my car. Sadly, it had to be left behind. On a cool note, you can see the chairs we picked up on the side of the road in the back seat, well kind of.. just need to look closely :)


And so, we wrapped up the day. Another point in the days adventure would have included a hot air balloon ride, however, all of our fun at the Sculpture park left us with little daylight and I am sure the balloon rides would have been way over by the time we got there. So we drove around the area some more, getting a little lost (yay) and enjoying the strange look of the incoming darkness, fog, zero people sightings and random cows.

hehe, our use of Timikas compass was a nice taste of Orienteering.

A few of the sculptures reminded me of the game MYST, as they are somethng I am sure I would come across in that game.

A fun day. I wouldnt have changed a thing!!

moral of todays post?

Dont wait for so called perfect weather to get out an explore. Half of the fun is just to see how things can be experienced and perceived in the light of changing weather. Good friends, provisions, curiosity and a sense of mystery makes for a great day.


PS-- leave your watch at home.

oh and bring extra socks, shoes and pants... or a trip to Super Wally World will be a pit stop on your way back. :)

Later gators!

I look forward to the weekend, although I have no specific plans as of yet. I know that (e:pyrcedgrrl) wants to get together. Have you come up with something you would like to do, my dear? I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head; and no, they do not include scaling sides of buildings, climbing mountains or swimming.. to Toronto. At least not this weekend ;)

Most days of the week I go for a walk or bike ride. My walks usually include going up and down hills and hidden staircases. When I am feeling rather ambitious, I will run up the hills, some of which are fairly steep. Now that I am at that point, I will start carrying my back pack with a small amount of weight and systematically increase the weight over time. This is to increase the challenge and also to have me better prepared for longer day-overnight hikes, where I will be carrying more gear. I can run up and down hills all I want, but if I am not able to maintain energy and endurance with the added weight, then it is not conducive to the more hard core activities I intend to engage in this summer and fall.

For the past couple of months I have been spending less time out at night (unless star gazing) and more time out during the day. I have ventured out to many places, locally and within a two hour drive. Usually it revolves around being outdoors; however, I like to incorporate a museum, art gallery, or other creative facet into my jaunt. Often I head out with no destination in mind other than somewhere that I can hike and think. I usually go alone, although I am always meeting people on my excursions.

One recent weekend, I walked/hiked/jogged along the canal for eight plus miles and at some point paced myself with gentlemen out on a kayak. We chatted for about a mile before I needed to resume my brisk speed. I thought that I should start jotting down notes from the conversations that I have been part of and/or observations about the people I have met. It is fascinating to talk to people and know that that is probably the only time I will ever talk or see them again. I never make an attempt to carry it beyond that moment. I enjoy these situations for what they are: transitory, momentary connections, information seeking, sharing and energetic.

I find myself in seemingly random encounters with people in all sorts of settings. Such as nature trails, store aisles, restaurant waiting areas, bathrooms, wherever two people passing might occur; male female, young, old.

When I know I want to do something, I just go out and do it. It would be nice to be accompanied on some of my excursions, yet it does not stop me from doing the things I want to do. Having a friend join me is a bonus to the experience not a prerequisite. Due to my spontaneous behavior, I often head out without seeing if anyone wants to go with me. My free time, outside of work and school responsibilities, I seek to experience, learn (unlearn) and live. I am pretty much open to anything; why not give something a try? Or do more of what I like to do?

Such as: canoeing, kayaking, climbing, hiking, biking, camping, anything with balls, day trips, longer road trips, orienteering, museums, art galleries, drawing, writing, problem solving, conversations, cross country skiing, swimming, playing, music, movies, lunches, etc..

I have found that over the past few years (+) that I have tried new activities and have been progressing back to my old self (with some major improvements), since the injury. It is deeply satisfying to recall how I went from a state of being unable to get through regular daily activities and the complete psychological darkness that surrounded that time, to the ability to do everything that I have done before plus so much more. Support, tenacity and the refusal to settle for what was, fueled my perseverance in getting better, stronger and back to normal. I am pretty much better all the way around. I am strong again, I am feeling rather fit in regards to grip strength, flexibility, lung capacity, endurance and energy. I gained a lot, weight wise, during the recovery phase and have since removed a large portion of that. (I have mentioned a little about this in previous entries)I am 75% of the way there-- that is an amazing feat in itself. I have to try to keep a positive attitude. These days I get a little irked with myself and so I just can't allow that. I keep on nourishing my body and being active, and the rest will take care of itself.

I think that time in my life really tweaked my attitude and gave me a great sense of calm on many matters in life. Getting through that situation, along with my current place of employment (first job after the injury), my grad school program and all the people I have had the fortune to meet have directly impacted the person who I have become, and am becoming. It is strange to look back and know what has changed within yourself. At times I feel very vulnerable but it reminds me that I am human; someone who makes mistakes says the wrong thing, says too much, has 'off' days, feels things, gets hurt, yet is strong, laughs, is passionate about life and truly cherishes the people within my life, even if I don't always say it or show it ( I am still learning, friends).

So, get out and try new things. Perhaps try something outside of your comfort zone?

Maybe it is taking a long evening walk, hiking the continental divide (who's with me?), or looking at something in a different perspective.
Maybe it will be taking a different route home from work.
Or having a cup of green tea instead of coffee.
Or listening to unfamiliar music.
Or letting the dirty dishes go until the next day (or for me, doing the dirty dishes the same night!)

Or relaxing with friends on a hot Memorial Day, eating ice cream cones and sipping cold soda. Pop. Sodapop. I interchange them, but I grew up saying "pop". What do you call it?

For those that are familiar with the northern Niagara region will know about Brownies, an ice cream stand out in Wilson. Not sure if it has had other names, but everyone knows where it is at. I remember going there as a kid, and occasionally I still stop for custard. I met up with a few friends this past Monday at Brownies. It was nice to sit and relax after a long hot day.


Well, we had a few toasty days. I think it is supposed to drop 20 degrees on Thursday, which will feel cold, haha. I don't care what the weather is, as it rarely stops me from doing what I want to do (e:theecarey,169) Although I am more inclined to kick back on a hot sweaty day rather than engage in a major sweatfest. No thats not true,lol. I tackled some crazy projects Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.. almost lost a finger, but thats another story :)

I think this picture will load. I had a bit of trouble re sizing it. Right now, it is the only picture from my grad ceremony that I have loaded to this computer.

It might turn out to be super tiny. I am sure you can figure out which one is me--long brown kinda straight/wavy hair.