A Quote From Gregg

I love getting quotes from my family and friends. It really shows how much they know me. This one, from my brother, Gregg, would pretty much be my motto if it were a little shorter. How about "Live in the Moment"...

When we let go of yearning for the future, preoccupation with the past, and strategies to protect the present, there is nowhere left to go but where we are. To connect with the present moment is to begin to appreciate the beauty of true simplicity.
-- Jack Kornfield

Cool Blog Toy

I have to state officially that the "category tags" or "labels" feature that they now have available for use in this blog is the coolest feature ever.

I have gone through all my previous posts and added labels that describe the contents. This means that you can sort posts by subject now. If you are fascinated by my food pictures, click on the "food" label on a post (try it below!). So far there are the following labels: books, camping, cats, Christmas, diving, dogs, exams, family, food, friends, health, house, internet, life, me, movies, music, NaNoWriMo, quotes, restaurants, soccer, society, tai chi, travel, TV, visitors, work, writing. The category with the most links (94) is, appropriately enough, "life". The most interesting category is up to you. (Interesting note: There are 302 (303 with this one) posts, dating back from May 2004.)
Hopefully this makes my blog more fun for you! Enjoy! :)

New Stuff in Architecture

From the file of Cool Stuff:
The post-edible bakery - a bakery made completely from food-based and recycled materials.

Back From The Keys

As noted earlier in this blog, I went to Key West for New Years. I have a friend who got married on the beach on New Year's Eve and another friend who turned 40 the day after New Years Day. So, how could I turn down two excuses to go to Key West, Florida?
The trip was really fun. The wedding was beautiful, and the company was good.
I did my SCUBA Open Water Certification dives. They went well. I had a great instructor, Eric, who was very calm and reassuring. Over the four dives, I gradually got more confident with being underwater, so that by the last one, I was really enjoying the experience. The only part that I didn't enjoy was the seasickness I experienced while in the boat. I've never experienced it before, and only did after the first dive. I think it was the combination of the seawater in my mouth and the constriction of the wetsuit and the movement of the boat. The third and fourth dives, my friend, Ginger, came with me. She's a certified diver and was able to join me. She had a little trouble with her ear and had to come up early on the fouth dive.
Aside from diving, we also went parasailing the morning of the day we left. The photo is of Ginger and I... you guessed it, parasailing. Essentially we are in a harness under a special parachute towed behind a powerboat. We got up to 300 feet and were able to see completely over the island. The boat operators dunked us in the water a bit (on purpose) at the end. It was fun.
We spent lots of time drinking and eating. The shrimp was delicious (and I'm not a big shrimp fan!) and some of the fish was so tasty! I always try to have local food when I travel, so when I had the opportunity to have some fresh coconut, I did. The milk was tasty and refreshing and the meat was queerly gelatious. My mum explained later that the coconut must have been a very young one, since the meat hadn't had an opportunity to thicken and mature yet.
A good time was had by all.

Golden Brown Treats

My mum's yellow lab, Jag, tucking himself under my desk. What a cutie!
My dad decided to make bagels for the first time. They were horrible. I volunteer to dispose of them in a safe and sanitary way. ;)

Post Christmas Breather

Needless to say, I've been a bit busy lately.

As usual, work is challenging. Here's a photo of a column that was poured too tall and needed to be jackhammered down to the proper height. Time consuming and expensive? Yes.

One thing you may not know, however, is that I decided to learn to SCUBA dive. I had to do some book studying and some swimming and treading water prep, then a couple of pool dives for my confined water portion of the certification. Next weekend, when I go to Key West (for a wedding and a birthday party), I'll do the open water part of the certification. It's fun and a little scary. I'll make sure to give a good description of how it goes.

Then there's the usual holiday preparations: decorations, presents, etc. Christmas went great. Everyone loved their presents. The food was good. The house isn't as clean as I would have liked it, considering I have house guests, but hey - I'm working on it.

All in all it's been a busy busy month and I'm very happy with where I am and what I'm doing.

PS: Oh, yeah, and I've been seeing someone very nice for about the last 6 weeks. Thanks for trying to out me at the beginning of December, guys!

Another Picture and a Fun Quote

This is the coolest picture I could find from last week's site visit. It shows that we are working on the "3rd lift" of the elevator and stair core, which is made of concrete. There should be approximately 32 "lifts". 10% done, w00t!


And I saw this on a friend's email:

"A positive attitude may not solve all your
problems, but it will annoy enough people
to make it worth the effort" - Herm Albright

Quote for Me

"At the worst, a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived."
- Rose Macaulay

My dear sister sent me the above quote. I think it's both lovely and true.