Need to Brag About My Twin

My twin sister, Erin, plays for The Baltimore Blues in the Eastern Women's Baseball Conference. The Washington Post did a story about their league.

Yay, Air!!

Most Haunted

There is a series on the Travel Channel that I like to watch sometimes (as long as I'm not alone or trying to go to sleep). It's called Most Haunted. The premise is that they have a team of people, made up of parapsychologists, mediums, historians, etc. go into a place reported as haunted. Usually the kinds of places they visit are ones that are still open to guests and visitors--like inns, restaurants, museums, and historic homes. The team aims to confirm what workers and/or guests claim to see or feel.

This Friday, June 1st, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern, the Most Haunted team will be broadcasting live for 7 hours from the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

A few years back some friends and I went to the ESP for their Terror Behind the Walls Halloween tour (remember, Michelle??). It's definitely a creepy place. At one point, the tour led us up to a second level cellblock where there was a row of dark cells. The catwalk along the row was only but 2-3 feet wide. There was a guide standing at the start of the row to send a few people down the catwalk at a time. My friend Lauren and I stepped up to begin our walk arm-in-arm. But the guide, noting our fright, made us separate and walk down the row by ourselves. I remember being terrified because the cells were these dark, steel-doored holes in the wall. Some of the cells no longer had the doors on, so they just looked so dark and scary that I was certain that someone or something would jump out at me. I covered my eyes for most it because I really didn't want to look inside the cells. Here's a screen capture to show what I'm talking about, taken from the ESP's online tour:

Cellblock 12

You can see a 360° view of the cellblocks and other areas of the Penitentiary here.

I hope to catch as much of the Most Haunted Live special as I can, depending on what I'm doing Friday night. If not, I'll have to fire up the old VCR.

Annoyance

I am so frustrated right now because my site feed is not updating correctly...my posts are listed in the wrong order. I think it has something to do with me going back and trying to add labels to posts that were missing them (from the old version of blogger). It's treating those old posts as new and bumping them to the top of my feed. UGGGHHHH.

Unless you subscribe to my feed, you won't notice this......so, carry on. Rant over.

EDIT: I am no longer annoyed. A kind soul on the help group told me how to fix the problem. Yay!

New Pictures

I've uploaded pictures from this month, including Mothers' Day and Memorial Day Weekend.

From Steve & Kathy's BBQ on Sunday, pictures at Flickr.

From Mothers' Day & Memorial Day with my family, pictures at Yahoo Photos.

Woah...

From The View - May 23, 2007 - Elisabeth vs. Rosie

They're at it again...

Inappropriate

So, last night at work I was tutoring a 2nd grader in Math. We were doing word/story problems and we came upon one that talked about "rock music tapes." To this, my student replies, "Cool...rock music." I said, "Oh, so you like rock music?" He says, "Yeah, but I can't talk about my favorite band."

Well this clearly piques my curiosity, so I question a little further, wondering what his favorite band is and why he can't talk about them...The dialogue goes like this:

Me: Why can't you talk about them?

Him: Well, because they're inappropriate.

Me: Oh...It's okay though...you can at least tell me the name of the band.

Him: It's the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

At this point, I'm laughing inside because it's definitely an odd choice for an 8-year-old, and I'm figuring he probably knows them from his parents.

Me: Oh, I know the Red Hot Chili Peppers...I like them too.

Him: (wide-eyed, smiling) You do?!

Me: Yes, but tell me why you called them inappropriate.

Him: Well, because in their songs they talk about girls and stuff so I didn't think I should talk about them.

Me: I guess your parents know you like them, right?...Do they listen to them too?

Him: Well, they know...and my Dad also likes them. [I think he also muttered something about listening to them with his Dad in the car.]

Me: Okay....let's get back to work.

Such is my life working with kids. They crack me up. You never know what they're going to say or connect to next, which is half the fun of teaching.

"She's A Sudoku Maniac"

Have you ever seen that Comcast commercial with the turtles named The Slowskies, where the male turtle says 'She's a Sudoku maniac' referring to the female? Yeah, well, they might as well be talking about me. I am addicted to Sudoku. Well, okay...not addicted in a bad way. I just like it a lot.

I've always been more drawn to the logic-type puzzles...you know, the ones where you have to make inferences and use deductive reasoning to figure out the answer. I guess that's why I like Sudoku.

Here's a quick run-down of the objective in case you are not familiar with the game:

• The object is to fill a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contains the digits from 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid. Your job is to figure out the missing digits.

Wanna play? Go ahead...give it a try. Just click in the boxes and type your numbers! Click the check mark below the puzzle to "check" your answers.

Philly Rock Radio Gets A New Contender

I still miss the days of WDRE (103.9). That's when I had to tape my favorite songs from the radio onto cassettes....I had various mix tapes in my collection. Here's a little tidbit for you too...Pearl Jam's "Alive" was the first (and last) song played on WDRE. You can hear the dramatic sign-off from "Bitterfest" here.

Thank God for WMMR (93.3) and WXPN (88.5) -- which features "Y-Rock" for fans of the former Y100 (still bitter about that one). Now, there's a new radio station for the Philadelphia-area listeners. It's at 104.5 on the frequency and professes to be entirely listener-controlled. So far, I like what I hear, with regards to the music. I don't know about the creativity though...It's actually called "Radio 104.5." I've been listening to it off and on while driving my car this week. I heard Pearl Jam's "Yellow Ledbetter" on it, so that's a plus. Just before the change-over, it was a Spanish station. However, I remember while I was growing up it was a pop/soft-rock station....wasn't it Sunny 104.5? Anyone?

Anyway, this new listener-driven 104.5 is yet another Clear Channel creation (surprise, surprise). I wonder how long it will take for them to jerk this one away or change it to a more pop-friendly theme.

In any event, I hope this one stays awhile. You can also listen online, so check it out, and tell me what you think!

M.I.A.

Yes I've been missing in action and neglecting my blog. I've been so busy lately with work, interviews, and other things. I promise to have a longer update coming soon. Now I'm off to watch the rest of A.I....Melinda better not be voted off!!

edit: Melinda went home :-( Blake and Jordin are in the finals....guess all the teeny-bopper girls voted for Blake, even though Melinda was much better.


P.S. check out my new label cloud in the sidebar..........SA-WEET!