Ataraxis Out

My friend Peter just hooked me up with Visual Thesaurus which "creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words." If you glide your cursor over the synonym hub, a short definition will appear; if you click, the map will regenerate around your new selection.

More fun for nerds!



I chose "peace" for today because I need it -- as I attempt to find serenity amidst chaos. And I like the image because it looks like someone who is successfully balancing on one leg while her hands are full and ideas are springing from her head yet she has peace in her heart.

Clearly not a self-portrait at this point in time but perhaps an aspirational vision!

Ansel in Distress

Okay, so I'm not a great photographer (yet!) but I wanted to share the silhouettes of the boys that I hung on our staircase. From this vantage point, they look like twins.



Got what I wanted! And they look great next to our deliberately tea-stained (i.e., faux aged) needlepoint family portrait -- complete with Stinky the cat -- where we are all rendered as stick figures and the hubby has a ball and chain tied around his ankle. Pure Americana kitsch.

A mi me gusta la playa!

So, what’s the best way to end an absolutely perfect vacation? By coming home to a week of springtime, sunshine, warmth, budding trees and daffodils. And leaving work on time to go to little league practice and ice cream socials at school. Oh and spending the weekend riding bikes and jumping on the neighbors' new trampoline. From now until late August (ignoring the snow this week), I should be happy!

And speaking of perfect vacations—from smooth flights that got into Puerto Vallarta early (yes, early!) to glorious, cloudless days spent oceanside with mountain views all around and cruise ships coming in/out of port—I finally got my TripAdvisor review posted.

The only issue I have with my review: I wrote NATO instead of NAFTA. Silly wabbit. Must slow down . . . or get an editor! Or better yet, give TripAdvisor some usability feedback for the next version of their site: the capability to modify a posting after it goes live would be fabulous.

Anyhoo, thank you mom for yet another week of heaven. You're pretty fly (for a white girl).

Rochester in Bloom

I received this picture from a girlfriend who works for the City of Rochester. It was taken by the City Forester on Oxford Street the other day.



It's so gorgeous here this time of year. To think we just spent the majority of the day in 85+ degree sunshine marching through town in in the Little League parade and the temp just dropped to 60 degrees as the rain came rolling through late this afternoon. What's worse? It's supposed to snow this week.

Ay caramba. But, it's still green, budding and spring right now!

Three Cups of Tea

My fantabulous friend Patrick in San Francisco sent the book Three Cups of Tea to me a few months ago and I finally took the time over my awesome vacation to read it. Whoa. Talk about inspiring.

In a nutshell, an American mountain climber, Greg Mortenson, after a harrowing (read: failed) attempt at ascending K2 basically stumbles, completely ill-of-health and frozen solid, into a tiny town in the mountains of Pakistan where he's catered to until his strength returns. And it changes his life. He witnesses the boys and girls of this town attending "school" in extreme outdoor conditions and promises to come back and build a school for these students. But this true story isn't one of the rich American guy coming back and tapping into his wealthy friends for financing. He's an otherwise unknown nurse who works the night shift, sleeps in his car and denies himself any/all modern conveniences in order to save every penny he earns for these poor, Muslim kids on the other side of the world.

He's a man on a mission and this dangerous adventure takes him repeatedly into Pakistan and Afghanistan during pre- and post-9/11 turmoil. The book allows us to experience the obstacles he encounters along with the riveting political, cultural and social dynamics of the region that our news coverage doesn't provide.

Most importantly, it shows how the simple act of providing the poorest students with a balanced education, is making them much more willing to trust Americans and, in turn, difficult for the extremist Islamic religious schools (or madrassas) to recruit.

And it shows how one man can, in fact, change the world -- one village at a time.

Lastly, although the following pales in comparison with everything else the book describes, there was something mentioned toward the end that stopped me in my tracks once again. A friend of Mortenson's named Julia Bergman heads to Pakistan with him to lend a hand in some extremely hazardous conditions. She shows up wearing a necklace that reads, "I Want To Be Thoroughly Used Up When I Die."

I simply love that. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.

I'm Still Dorky

When I was in high school, my siblings were all out of the house -- college and beyond -- and my parents worked. I would come home most days to an empty home. My mom, ever vigilant about ensuring I didn't get locked out of the house, would call out to me as I left each morning, "Don't forget your door key."

Ah yes, the daily nerd reminder from my mother!

Just kidding, mom. I know that you meant it only in a true "door key" fashion.

But it still cracks me up when I hear it -- like whenever I left the room during our recent vacation.

Yep, still dorky . . .

Bragging Rights

Just flew in from Mexico -- and boy are my arms tired. D'oh.

More on our fabulous vacation later but first I need to boast about something that has absolutely nothing to do with me but about which I am abundantly proud by proxy . . .

My nephew who is a freshman at Brown apparently won "best screenplay" in the Ivy Film Festival last weekend.

How cool is that?

Okay, I'll answer: pretty darned cool.