China pics-finally!

Hi All,

Sorry I haven't kept up. I think I finally figured out the digital photo thing, though I haven't quite gotten the albums all nicely done and on snapfish. Once I do that I will let you know so that you can see them all.

In the meantime, here are two of the best shots from China. The one on top is the entire group of singers on the Great Wall at Badaling, outside of Beijing, near the end of the tour. It was pretty warm but it was awesome! Most of us chose to climb the steeper, but less crowded, side of the wall and were rewarded with stunning views and a great sense of accomplishment. There was a sense of vertigo as well since the angle of ascent is pretty close to 90 degrees at some points! The one on the bottom is me on the Sacred Way near the Terra Cotta Warriors outside of Xi'An. This was the third of the four cities we visited on our tour and I'm doing my best to imitate this impressive statue.

In other news, my last day of work is tomorrow. My co-workers threw me a really cool good-bye party today and gave me lots of white elephants to take with me to my new job. They also gave me gift cards for gas and CVS which will really help while I'm between jobs. That was really awesome of them. I'm writing this blog entry from Keith & Wendy's where I'm going to be pet/house sitting until 8/18. Max, the dog, looks like Lassie and he's a sweetie. Chloe, the kitty, is adorable but it will take her a few days to get used to me. She's really shy. I'm getting used to having lots of neighbors again. It was cute to hear the teenager's music from next door and hear her fighting a little about it with her sister. Boy, does that bring back memories, huh Becky? Oh, on that note, how about a shout out to my sister who just had her birthday on the 26th? Happy Birthday Becky!

Getting back into the swing of things

Today I checked my mail for the first time in over three weeks. The box was just about full but I was amazed that there was any room left at all. I renewed the box for six months (the shortest amount of time you can buy) so that I don't have to change my address until I actually move somewhere.

I didn't make it to my storage unit today to put away the extra stuff I didn't need on the trip but I did manage to get some groceries and see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". I liked it a lot more than the other movies. I had just about given up on them (because I loved the first four books and liked the fifth one) after they butchered "Goblet of Fire". However, when I was in China, I saw a promo for "Phoenix" and it got me excited. I had a feeling that in some ways it would be better than the book, and it was! They didn't spend 3/4 of the movie with Harry refusing to speak to his friends and Sirius wasn't drowning his sorrows, bening a jerk, and descending into lunacy. They also didn't go back and forth between making the movie completely separate from the books and taking plot shortcuts that assume the viewer has read them. That drove me bannanas in the previous movies. The battle near the end was pretty good. I still think Sirius' death is rushed but I'm biased toward Sirius because book three was my favorite.

Anyway, I got back to Susan's around 6:30pm and had a small adventure with the dogs. I gave them treats and Casey decided to guard hers instead of eat it. This would have been fine except that she & Allegra really needed to go to the bathroom and Casey was guarding her treat at the top of the stairs we needed to go down to let them outside. I found a key to the backdoor and went outside from the porch door to call them to me already downstairs. I had to reverse the process, with Allegra on part of the leash, to get back upstairs. They were confused but, when I gave them the treats for going to the bathroom, Casey finally ate her other one. It was actually funny and I was proud of my resourcefulness.

It looks like I'll be heading to Keith & Wendy's on July 30th and July 31st will be my last day at work. In preparation for talking to a reality show producer I watched an "America's Next Top Model" marathon last night. It was pretty good. (As many of you know, reality TV isn't really my cup of tea.) I think that's it for now.

My voicemail is fixed!

Hi All,

Feel free to leave messages again on my cell phone. Dad, I got yours from Sunday. Anyone else who left me a message between June 30 and July 15 should call me again or email me because those were lost. Sorry about that. Anyway, I had a better day at work yesterday and am having an okay day today.

I'm home!

Hi All,

I arrived home (a fellow Alum's house) safely around 2:30am on Sunday after being in transit for 37 1/2 hours. I slept until noon and then went off to connect with my friend Susan who I'm staying with for the next two weeks. I'm now firmly ensconced at her place and enjoying not only her company, but that of her two dogs. They are sooooo cute!

I'm a little under the weather so I slept for about a day and a half once I arrived at Susan's and then returned to work yesterday. Being back at work is very strange---with this whole transition, but I made some good contacts during the tour and a fellow alumn is going to put me in touch with a producer when she gets back from the rest of the China tour.

One other note, I'm having technical problems with the voicemail on my cell phone. If you've left a message for me already, or you need to get a hold of me in the near future, please email me or post a comment to call you on this blog. I'll try to get a hold of my cell's customer service today.

I'm in NY!

We arrived at our hotel about 20 minutes ago. I'm about to go to bed because we have to get up at 4:15am in order to board our bus to the Airport. Unfortunately, I don't feel completely healthy but I just took some emergen-c and I'm going to gargle with Scope when I get back upstairs. I'm excited and nervous. Just a reminder, for more detail on what we are doing on the tour, and in China, please click on the blog link at the upper right of this page.