i'm sooo bummed: KU lost to Maryland on Saturday evening...all for dumb dumb mistakes. That game was at the tip of our fingers...we even started out ahead at the beginning..but then went to 20 down..and came back up to closing the difference to only 2. [sigh] But I guess it wasn't mean to be. What a sad evening in Lawrence, Kansas.



Yesterday, I went to a driving range for the very time ever...holding a golf club in my hands for the time ever. What an interesting experience..and I have to admit: I liked it! I don't know if I could ever have the patience to play a whole game of golf..but it sure is fun just hittin' balls for half an hour. It was more athletic than I expected..my arms, hands and back were a bit achy afterwards.



I just ran this "old fart" script to view statistics of my employee ID number compared to everyone else currently working at Amazon and figured out that 81% of the current people working here started after me. So, only 19% of the current company started before me. Whoa.

Boy, it's been a long long time since I've updated this. Well, I've been on vacation--Thomas and I went to New York City and Puerto Rico for about a week and had a great time.

Highlights from NYC:


• Had dinner with Anna and new boyfriend, Steve, at Guastavino's...a few days later, drinks at Fez
  
  
• Saw the Blue Man Group's performance of "Tubes" which was fantastic. If you ever have the chance to see them perform, do.
  
  
• Had a swanky evening of food, drinks and dancing at Lotus with Debbie, Gina, Jimmy and others.
  
  
• Ate yummy dim sum with Li-Mei in Chinatown
  
  
• Caught the Surrealism exhibit at the Met with Judy, who later on took us on a stroll through SoHo
  
  
• Had drinks with Josh and new girlfriend
  
  
• Went down to Ground Zero and Battery Park on the 6-month anniversary where we were able to see the two new memorials: "The Sphere", a sculpture that used to sit in the WTC plaza and "Towers of Light"
  
  

Highlights from Puerto Rico:


• The sun, sand and water.
  
  
• Staying at ESJ Towers again in Room 261.
  
  
• Hiking in El Yunque, the Caribbean National Rainforest, and swimming in La Mina Waterfall
  
  
• Nighttime kayaking and swimming off the coast of Fajardo through mangroves to eventually get to Laguna Grande, a bioluminesent bay that is home to millions of glowing plankton. It's this natural phenomenon in which the movement of water produces a chemical reaction that produces light. Here are some pictures from a website to give you an idea of it--so incredible.
  
  
• A visit to the Arecibo Observatory, home of the world's largest radio telescope and where the S.E.T.I. research is conducted. It's also famous from the movies Contact and 007.
  
  
• Meeting up with Carlos for dinner
  
  
• Salsa dancing, yummy Cuban food
  
  

I will have pictures up soon. The trip back wasn't too bad either---we had an insanely long layover in Ft. Lauderdale---from 9am - 6pm---so we took advantage of it and rented a car to hit the beach! Spring break had just started and all sorts of high school and college-age teeny boppers were walking around the beach, cruising in their shiny cars. It was absolutely hilarious.



After returning, I took Eugene to see the Ahn Trio at Meany Hall. I've always been curious to see these 3 Korean sisters...really enjoyed the concert, especially the modern pieces that they played. I loved the fact that there were so many young people at the concert. I find it interesting how lately there have been a number of young, hip, stylish classical performers--such as Vanessa Mae and Bond. Hey--if it gets more young people listening to classical music, I'm not going to argue.



The Oscars were on last night, a show that I watch religiously each year. Halle Berry made Oscar history by being the first black female actress to win the Best Actress category---she was practically hyperventilating upon winning. To further make a statement, Denzel Washington won for Best Actor and Sydney Poitier was given an honorary Oscar. Even though the show went over by an hour this year, I didn't feel like it was as long as in year's past. I liked how they showed snippets for Best Song from a Film instead of having each performer play their piece in its entirety throughout the program. I also loved the special performance by Cirque du Soleil, a troupe that I adore watching.

I finally got these stylesheets to work correctly in Netscape---so for all you netscape users that have been reading my log, everything should look fairly the same as if you were reading in IE. More later on the past few weeks...

saw the pacific northwest ballet's "cinderella" last night, which was just beautiful. i loved the costumes, the dancing, and the music of prokofiev. it's been really fun being a season subscriber to the ballet. i've gotten to the point where I know what certain principal dancers look like by name and who dances like what. the last one i saw--their version of "carmen" was really interesting. it was a sort of modern twist where the audience doesn't know if they're watching the ballet or real life. kent stowell has some very unique ideas in choreographing these ballets.

I haven't been inspired to update my weblog very much lately...it's a weird feeling knowing that the only way some of my friends "catch up with me" is via reading my weblog instead of calling me or writing me a letter. that disturbs me. ugh.



Anyhow, going back home to Lawrence, Kansas this weekend to see the family and introduce Thomas to my childhood...should be really fun. I'm looking forward to it...and then just a few days later, I'll be doing my whirlwind New York City - Puerto Rico trip which I badly need. I can't wait.

check out: banned PETA superbowl commercials

Yay! I'm going to Puerto Rico! Each year, I make my retreat to Isla Verde to enjoy the sun, good food, great music and the idea of doing absolutely nothing for a few days. I've gone with Linda for the last 2 years but she's not going to make it this year; however, in a quick email, I signed on Anna and her boyfriend, Steve, to come along. Oh--it will be so much fun...I cannot wait. I very badly need a vacation. Now, time to concentrate on getting to that bikini body....yeah right.



Went snowboarding on Saturday at Crystal--what a beautiful day it was. It was sunny, clear, the snow was great. I think Thomas is really picking up on his snowboarding...I'm quite impressed. He's much farther along than I was on Day 3 back when I was learning. We were so beat, though, when we got back...just crashed.



Suzanne and Chris held a Super Bowl party yesterday at their house, which was a lot of fun. She's a great cook and had all sorts of yummy munchies. I wasn't too impressed by the commercials on TV this year---there were some good ones...but overall, there didn't seem to be that many. The game was a good one to watch, though. That last field goal by the Patriots just as the clock ticked down to zero was so impressive.