I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Mine was eventful. Blew a fuse Thursday night, had to get the circuit breaker fixed (thanks to my awesome landlord, that was taken care of the next day) While fixing that, he noticed some roofing had broken loose-yikes! Looks like there will be roofers in my immediate future. ;) Overall though, I had a good Thanksgiving. :) Plenty of leftover turkey! I love turkey!

Saturday I went downtown for Winterfest. I hoped it would help me get into full Christmas mode. ;) I've got pictures, will have to post a couple soon...

Started decorating for Christmas! This is my favorite holiday. I love Christmas lights-had to replace a few this year (which is why after Christmas sales are awesome! I have backups-lights don't work? Just head down to the basement, instead of the store! ;)) I'm no where near done, but at least the is a tree with lights in my window. :)

*heehee* Okay, so I never wrote about how I felt when Brett Favre signed with the Vikings. I won't go into details, but needless to say, I was not happy. Not that this has anything to do with football, but this t-shirt made me laugh:
http://www.linorulli.com/Lino_Rulli/Shirts.html I may just have to get one!

They did it!!! The Twins are the AL 2009 Central Division Champions!!!!!!!! The first team to win after being 3 games behind with only 4 left to play. Those are my boys!!!!!! Now, it's off to New York.

Man, that tiebreaker game with the Tigers-12 innings!!! I was jumping up and down-my emotions were all over the place as they were behind, ahead, behind, tied, AHEAD!!!!

The Twins landed in N.Y. at 3:05am-first pitch is less than an hour from now...

It ain't over yet!!!

GO TWINS!!!!

Holy smokes! It's the last day of September, and I haven't written anything in this blog all month! Wow, and I thought only 2 posts a month were bad...

I've just been busy, I guess. It's not like I have nothing to write about-I think of entries all the time-just don't have the time to write them all out! I have quite a few things I've starred in my rss-reader that I'd like to write about. *sigh*

Let's see, what has happened this month? Well, St. Rocco's for Italian Band, the Tippit reunion. I actually went to the movies (btw, 9 is pretty awesome!) Worked on cleaning my Dad's telescope (the mirror really needs to be re-silvered-but that's another story that I didn't get to this month...perhaps I'll write more about that later). Hmm...what else? I participated in Case for Community Day again (7 years running!), love my tv shows (well, duh), my flowers on my porch are still blooming-my petunias have taken over my marigolds!! (although it's getting pretty chilly at night.) I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting...

BTW, the Sarah Jane Adventures starts in 16 days in the UK!!!!! (see? That's another thing-I haven't put any new countdowns in my sidebar...) I wish someone would pick it up here in the US. SciFi rebranded it's self to SyFy (Siffy), and not only did the SJA website on scifi.com disappear, but I haven't heard if they are considering airing it or not. (yeah, I haven't had much time to really dig down into GeekGirl mode to find out, either)...

Okay, okay, okay! Enough about the stuff I haven't had time to write about...

Fall is here! (YAY!) This marks the beginning of my favorite time of year (fall/winter). A couple of weeks ago I took down my summer lights in favor for some autumn decorations. (oooh...pumpkin spice candles!!!) This weekend the goal is to dig my Halloween stuff out of the basement. (oooh! for the first time in 2 years, I'm NOT moving! I get to dig my stuff out of the basement instead of bringing it home from storage...)

OOOH! A (delayed) shout out to my niece, Boo!!! Her MN reading comprehension tests came back-and she's reading a whole grade level ahead!!!! That's my girl!!!

Also, GO TWINS!!! Beat Detroit!!! You can do it!!!!!!

Bring on October!!!!

So I'm sitting here at work, catching up on some older Lino at Large podcasts that I missed...

Lino was playing "20 Bible Questions" with Lou-Lou was asking, Lino answering. Lou's usually pretty good at guessing-but he was having a hard time with this one: a thing that Jesus never touched, made of wood. It wasn't until close to the end, when Lino answered yes to 'is it from the Old Testament?' when I realized the answer was "Noah's Ark".

...however, I didn't just think it. No. I blurted, "the Ark!" for all to hear.

Lucky for me, most of my coworkers had left for the day and those that remained had headphones on-just like me. *whew!*

Perseids, Day Two: Observation time: 11:30pm-2:00am. Number of meteors spotted: 70.

Considering where I live, with the level of light pollution (not counting the moon), I'd say that's pretty good. :) I started out sitting in my lawn chair again, but quickly decided to grab my beach towel so I could lay down in the grass instead. I'm really glad I did-I had a much wider view of the sky, so I was able to catch more meteors from behind than I would have in the chair. The backyard test? Well, when I first saw this place, and looked at the backyard, I thought it had potential-not a huge backyard (although bigger than the one on Hampshire), but the grass was well kept-enough room to spread out, and there are no trees(although plenty of trees in the surrounding yards), so there'd be a wide view of the sky. I first thought, gee, I bet I could watch the Perseids back here...turns out I was right!!! Yeah, there's some light pollution, plus the potential of lights from the neighbors, but all in all, not too bad.

We had clear skies!!! I was so excited-plus, the first meteor I spotted was nice and bright, and had a long tail that graduallly faded after the meteor disappeared (I love those!)

Some notes:
-Spotted first meteor just after 11:30-by midnight, I had seen 12. By 12:30, 20.
-One meteor was slow, bright, with a fading tail...the meteor seemed to flash as it was eaten up by the atmosphere-it was really cool. Kinda reminded me of the Enterprise-D going to warp. ;)
-Around 1:20am there was a flourish of activity-I saw about 2 every minute, for roughly 10 minutes.

Yes, this was a good night. :)

I ended up seeing three meteors last night-two were definitely Perseids, the other a stray from one of the lesser showers. I was facing East/North East at the time, with Cassiopeia to my left, and the rising moon to my right. The Perseid meteors I saw ripped through the sky from left to right (N to S), the other meteor I spotted was more West to East (from my POV).

I started out around 10pm-took a lawn chair and my handy can of OFF!, and sat outside for a bit. Not for very long, though-because it was very cloudy. Whatever break in the clouds that I had seen earlier quickly disappeared, frustrated, I went in about 10:30, and decided to give it another hour.

11:30pm I headed back out-it was still quite cloudy, but there seemed to be more breaks in the clouds than before, so I decided to sit it out. After about an hour (and a couple of close calls with a skunk), I went inside to grab a light sweater. (not that it would help with the skunk, but I just wanted to add that. Good think they’ve got that white stripe, otherwise I might've been singing a different tune.LOL-I think). Anyhoo, I came back out and sat for another hour. Around 1:15am a cat with a bell on his collar nearly gave me a heart attack as it had found something in my garage that startled it. Still frustrated, I readjusted my lawn chair and decided to give it a few more minutes. I was really glad I did-around 1:25am a bright Perseid ripped right across the sky!! I was so excited!! That one alone made it all worth while for me. Shortly there after, I spotted a dimmer meteor (the one going W to E). This was around 1:30am, so I decided to stay outside until 2 (yes, I'm insane-I think I got that from my father). Around 1:41 I spotted another Perseid. Three meteors!! Despite the clouds, light pollution (my neighbors stay up as late as me-go figure!), and the rising moon.

The forecast calls for clearer skies tonight (last time I checked, anyway), so I might try to sit outside after Game Night. Also, I’m taking Friday off, so even though the peak will have passed, I might sit outside after our gig Thursday night.

(image courteous of Sky and Telescope)

Oooh! I meant to post this article by the Bad Astronomer Phil Plait yesterday:
Tweeteor shower I love the Bad Astronomy blog. :)

I am definitely my father's daughter. ;)

Gah!! It's hot-very hot-hot and muggy. We were spoiled this summer-cooler temps, not as muggy as it had been. Even when I went up north, it was unusually cool. Blah to those who whined about the temperatures never being above 90 degrees!!! I am happy with cooler summers-75 degrees, with the lower 80s tolerable for a time. But I digress...

The summer has flown by so quickly!!! Mt. Carmel came and went, the week of many actives flew by. Jerm and Allison got hitched! (Yah, I’ve got lots of pics, but I need to put new batteries in my camera-wedding shower, staff picnic, retirement party, baby shower, wedding from said shower-I used my camera ALOT in the last month!) And now the Feast is upon us! Oh, my-not only do I need to pick up batteries for my camera, but I could use a couple of extra reeds for my clarinet as well!)

I've spent the last couple of evenings (ok, more like later at night) on my back porch reading and enjoying the breeze (strong wind) and other nighttime sounds (crickets chirping, tree frogs, the occassional train whistle). Now that I discovered I do have electricity running to my porch (I've only been here, what, a year almost?) I need to put up my summer lantern lights. Sure the season is almost over, but I've still got plenty of nights to enjoy them (plus, the nails will be in place for my Halloween lights in the fall!!)

Despite my misgivings about the weather, I do love August nights-and this week is one of the best weeks in August! There’s the Feast (starts the 13th! We'll be there every night!!) And this is the week the Perseids peak!!! When we were little, my dad would lay out sleeping bags in our front lawn in Minnesota-and we would stay up late and count the meteors. Sometimes my mom would make hot chocolate for us afterwards (it gets cool at night!). I loved doing it and looked forward to it every year growing up. We used to refer to it as 'the tears of St. Lawrence'. This year, the peak is actually during the day for us here in North America (2pm, August 12th), but Sky and Telescope says that either the night of August 11-12, or 12-13 should be good for catching a few meteors. You do have to fight the waning Moon, but Perseids can be pretty bright-so you should be able to spot a few (if the weather holds!) So find an open patch of dark sky, and pull up a blanket or lawn chair, and look towards Perseus and Cassiopeia (11pm-till dawn-best viewing times) You might even catch a few stray meteors from the Delta Auarids and Kappa Cygnids. Check out the article, Perseid Meteors by Moonlight.

Oh, and don't forget the bug spray!!!!!!!!!
Clear skies and happy veiwing!!

Yikes!! Is it August already?!? The Feast starts next week!! Boy time flies. Right now I'm having issues with the month-I keep thinking it's a month later than it really is-at the end of July, I thought it was the end of August-and for some reason, I keep thinking it's September already. Do I really want the summer to be over this soon? NO! (although I am a big fan of the fall... ;) )

Got some updates-I totally meant to post reviews from Torchwood: Children of Earth but, man, that mini really drained me-as my friend Arthur said, it made Battlestar Galactica look like a picnic on Sunday! (I thought it was very good...just emotionally draining)

So what has happened since the last time I posted? A wedding shower (followed by the wedding! Duh!), a staff picnic, a retirement party, a babyshower...now the Feast is coming up...arrg...I've got alot to say, but not enough time to post it! ;)

Gah, I'm reverting back to my once-a-month only posts-gotta stop that!!!

Yes, I've been back for what, 2 weeks now? I just haven't had time to update this blog. I got back late Tuesday, then the following weekend was Mt. Carmel-so this past weekend was the first chance I've had to rest since I got back, and I didn't really do a lot of resting. ;) Anyhoo, since I'm terrible at breaking my trips/events into multiple posts, I thought I'd give a breakdown of my trip:

Things We Did: (in no particular order)
-overnight camping trip to Snake River, first day I was there
-played disc golf at Inner Grove Heights (first time a tornado siren has ever been a hazard. ;) )
-had a Doctor Who marathon (well, duh-we try to have one everytime I visit)
-campfire/bonfire (to go with the S'Mores)
-made S'Mores! (to go with the fires)
-Ladies Starbucks run (me, my sis, Shan, and Angelz-the kids thought we were going to a bar. LOL)
-went 4-wheeling (at Snake River and Willow River-rode from Willow River to Sturgeon Lake)
-became a God-Mother (yay!)
-PARTIED!
-went swimming in Lake Nokomis
-saw my cousin Christina!!! (it had been, like, 10 years!!!)
-went for a walk with sis and the dogs
-Fireworks at Forrest Lake!
-had some of Corey's fried chicken (the man can cook-best chicken EVER. Kentucky and Popeye's haven't been the same since)
-picked Boo up from the airport

Planned things we didn't get around to:
-drive around St. Paul looking for Peanuts (statues)
-late night run to White Castle and/or Taco Bell
-hiking in the Falls (Minnehaha, Taylor, or St. Croix-we just didn't get the chance)
-trip to MoA (Mall of America-that's ok-that's more of a Christmas adventure anyway. LOL)
-4-wheeling with my lil' sis. (got rained out-see camping trip and unexpected things)

Things We sorta got to do:
-See Peanuts statue (Lucy-at the ER....)

Unexpected Things:
-slept in truck overnight (that overnight camping trip? We got rained out-ended up sleeping in the truck overnight-that's also why Al and I didn't get to go 4-wheeling together)
-Met Boo at the gate!! (the lady at the Humphrey terminal was really sweet-normally only one person can go wait at the gate-I was planning on waiting at the baggage claim for her. I went with my BIL, and after she had printed out his pass, she looked at me and said, 'would you like to go to?' I told her I didn't think I would be able to, and she winked and said she was in a good mood and printed me out a pass)
-became addicted to Ice Road Truckers (thank you Shan and Lee! ;p)
-trip to ER (where I saw the Lucy statue) You know that 4-wheeling trip to Willow River? Yah, I flipped the sucker. It was the third time flipping on (first two times were at Snake River, landing in mud) But this time, I kinda rolled a bit with it-point of impact was inner right leg-I kicked it off with my left. There was a nasty bruise, and when I rode it back to the truck, I felt every bump along the way. My right leg was sore for quite a while, but the Doc up there said everything was fine, and healing normally. So who saw the latest episode of Primeval? You know-the stag party with all the ATVs? When that pre-historic rhino came up and flipped the thing with her horn, I was like, "I did that, without the help of a rhino!!" LOL.

That pretty much sums up my vacation-I had a great time, and miss everyone terribly. I might post some pics later on-but we'll see!

Don't forget! Torchwood: Children of Earth starts tonight at 9pm on BBC America!!!!

It's my vacation time!!! I can't wait to get to MN! I just added a Twitter account, but I don't know if I will be updating it much. I will be updating my facebook status occasionally. :) If I get the chance, I might post to my blog, too.

Not hitting panic mode quite yet-that's for about midnight tonight when I realize that I'm running out of time! LOL.

If you are interested in following me on Twitter, here I am: http://twitter.com/romana1977. :)

Everyone have a fun and safe 4th of July!!!!

Editorial: Dear Governor Strickland :

Join Ohio's librarians, and citizens, in rallying against a proposal that could close many libraries in the state.

Ohio Governor Proposes Halving State Support; Many Libraries Could Close :

Library aid would be cut by $227 million over two years; librarians react with new Twitter icon.

My friend Peter posted a link to this video on Facebook, and I just had to share:


(original link here: The Sideways Tornado).

It gave me goosebumps!!! Tornadoes have been on my mind lately (with all the activity this weekend, no wonder!)

I've always been fascinated by thunderstorms and tornadoes-no wonder this was one of my favorite books growing up:

(I loved those Lets Read and Find Out books!!!)

No, I am not a storm chaser, but I wouldn't mind playing one on tv. ;)

Growing up in MN, while not exactly what you would call 'tornado alley', we certainly had our fair share of tornadoes. Tornado drills were the norm (hey, do they still test the sirens on the first Wed. of every month at 1pm?), and I can remember having a set plan to get all of our outdoor toys inside the fastest way possible whenever a tornado siren sounded.

Here's a picture I took with my cell phone almost 2 years ago. My sister and I were on our way back to her place from the Cities when we got a call from my mom and the kids-you could hear the sirens going off in the background. The kids wanted us to pull over somewhere to stay safe (they didn't know we were still on the outskirts of the storm). As soon as we got off the phone, I snapped this picture:

Cool, yeah? :)

I think I'm going to have to start watching Vortex 2 on the Weather Channel now. Darn you, Mike Bettes!!! ;)

(Oh, yeah, I think I need to post a Marcon update soon...) ;)

Marcon starts tomorrow!!! Yay!! I'll be there-I never did get around to making my Sarah Jane costume from the Hand of Fear, but I did manage to put together a couple of costumes from the Sarah Jane Adventures. They aren't perfect, but they'll do. As with all of my costuming-I start out basic, and try to improve them as the cons go by. ;) Now if only I could find a pair of boots that'll fit my freakin' huge calves! ;) My goal this summer is to set up my sewing machine so I can get working on a couple of 'classic' SJ costumes!

My badge will say 'Romanadvoratrelundar'...I'm not sure if I remembered to include the "-DWC". I'm also considering adding 'Romana1 on Sarah-Jane.tv', which I eventually did to my Chicago Tardis badge (I really should have done that at the beginning of the convention!) I'll probably be totting around good 'ole Krismutt, dressed as K-9. :) I'm adding something to the K-9 costume-nothing big, but I hope people will think it's cute. Gotta remember to make it tonight!

Yikes! I better get going-I have more geeky tidbits to share, but I don't know if I'll have time to post again tonight, or before I leave for Columbus tomorrow.

Yay, Marcon!!!

Betcha didn't think I'd ever get around to this, did ya? Well, who could blame you? My track record for posting events/trips in parts isn't exactly spot on. ;) As it is, I started this 10 days ago, and haven't had the time to finish typing it up!!


Brian and Bill, setting up our tent

So, since this was the first Relay for pretty much everyone on our team, we came up with a list of items we should have on hand for next year:
(I do realize this might be a better part 3 post...? Who knows? By the end of this entry I may have decided it would be.

( more behind the cut... )

Happy May Day!!!

Eureka is coming back to SciFi in July!! It's moving to Fridays:
http://video.scifi.com/player/?id=1090958

...wouldn't new day and time indicate that it would be in a different time slot? It's moving from Tuesdays at 9, to Fridays at 9. Oh, well, maybe that's just me. ;) Yay, Eureka is returning!!

Also, I should have posted this long ago, but, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day!!!!

www.freecomicbookday.com
Check out the website to find a participating comic book store near you!!

Coming soon: Relay update #2!

So Sunday, I went to a Twins game...although most people around here would call it an Indians game...go figure!

It's tough being a fan of a non-local team-no hoopla, no fireworks when one of your guys does something totally awesome. No flashy announcements (although it was cool when they used to use the Imperial March to announce the opposing team. Hey, if you gotta have enemy music, at least it's the most awesome enemy music out there! ;)) But something does have to be said for being in enemy territory, and then spotting someone sporting a Joe Mauer jersey just like yours in the crowd. The look of recognition on someone's face when they see a complete stranger, yet we are not complete strangers, since we are rooting for the same team. Yes, we are here, and we'll keep screaming for our team!

Earlier, I ran into my friend Jerm at the Rapid station-he was there with his dad and his fiance, Allison (not to be confused with my lil' sis, Ally!!) After joking about how I was going to a Twins game and everyone else was going to an Indians game, we decided to grab lunch once we hit Tower City. Once at the game, Jerm called me and asked where I was-I told him the lower reserve, near the homerun porch. He spotted me, I waved, but still couldn't find him. After about 5 minutes of trying to figure out where he was (they were in the 400 section, way up in the sky over homeplate), I noticed they had signs for each team member and asked him which one he was by. He said, 'Oh, yeah! That's a good idea!' Once I found him, we waved at each other like over-excited children.

Here was my view:


That's the third base line-I was inches for away from the homerun porch. A great place for foul balls right? I mean, after all, it seams like when I'm on the other side, I see balls fly over here all the time. So did it happen? Did I get the chance to catch a foul? Of course not!!! Go figure, the balls all went flying on the other side that day!!! :p Sharon's husband managed to catch a foul ball...in the loge!!!

It was a great day for a game-maybe just a tad bit warm for April, but a great day. Too bad the Twins forgot their brooms!!! LOL.

I had a good time-even though I would like to see my team in my home town again. Last year for the Dome! (that's a good thing, although I bet come April 2010, they are gonna be wishing they had sprung for the retractable dome.) ;) Hey, Shan, we are SO going to a game when I come visit this summer!!!

Our team, taken by DJ Dohanyos

Friday, April 17th, I participated in Case Western's Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. Brian (our team captain) and I stayed the entire 18 hours, with various members coming and going the rest of the time. I tried to stay awake for it all, but I had to take a nap about 10 til 5 Saturday morning. I was also made a team captain, but I'll get to that later.

( more below the cut... )

Egaads! Another long stretch. I really need to find time at home to sit down and blog.

Tonight's our first Italian Band gig for the year-the Good Friday procession at St. Rocco's. Hopefully we'll get our summer schedule, too. Hopefully the rain will hold off another couple of hours! ;)

I've signed up for Case's Relay for Life which is next week. I've been meaning to write more about this...*sigh* Where does the time go? ;) Here's my page, if you are interested in my progress. :) I've joined the library's team. Only one week to go!

Already have my ticket for my summer trip to MN. Airfare's are much lower than they were last time I was looking! Yay!

I've decided I'm not going to make my Sarah Jane costume for Marcon this year. (I was going to make her Andy-Pandy outfit from the Hand of Fear) The only weekend I have free in April is the last weekend (even then, it's not-I'm going to a baseball game that weekend), and who knows what May will be like. Oh, well-perhaps next year!

Well, I need to get going-have to meet my ride to St. Rocco's! If I don't get the chance for another update before Sunday-Happy Easter!!!!

Happy Spring, everybody!