Zombies and Space Pirates!

I've added two new books to my complete pile

The newest adult book I've read is The Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare by A. C. Crispin.  This is the first in a trilogy.  I'm reading the second book now.  It's interesting to see the character of Han Solo when he was younger and dreamed of being an officer in the Imperial Navy.  Like all good star wars books it involved a lot of deception, romance, politics, and fighting.  I enjoyed it enough to commit to reading the whole series.  It will be interesting to see how Han goes from an street kid who doesn't want to shoot anyone, to the hunted man who shoots Greedo in cold blood in A New Hope.

My newest YA book is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.  This is a fun book, which makes the Bennet girls into the bad-asses we all knew they were.  In between the romance and gossip of an English country town, we see zombie fights, and martial arts.  Can't wait to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters!

Final March update

I did pretty well getting through what I wanted to do this month. I haven't finished another goal completely yet, but I have good progress for some.

10. I've sorted through my pictures from England. I have about 200 I want to print, and it will probably cost at least $50.00 to do that, so I'm going to work on saving money.

16. I actually journaled five times this month! It didn't even seem that hard, so go me!

20. I finished another adult book: The Paradise Snare by A. C. Crispin.  I'll write an entry about it soon.

22.  I read another YA book which I'm counting as my "G" book:  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith.  Again, I'll create a book entry soon.

24.  I kept up with my job searching.  I even went to a job fair for educators.  This past Monday I had a job interview, and I have another scheduled for mid-April

26.  I organized my professional development papers from grad school in a nice binder, separated by type of information.

35.  I ranked my tv shows by how much I like them so that when I start cutting them out it's easier

40.  I had a tv free night every week, which I always enjoy.

42.  I am going to cook a new recipe today, so I will probably post pictures later.  I am making meat pies, which are kind of like English pasties.

43. I bought binder sleeves for my recipes and organized my printed recipes in my binder

44.  Cook at home once a week.  I usually cook on Wednesdays, of which there were five in March.  I cooked on 4/5 of these weeks, which is still pretty good.

45.  Another restaurant that was new to me:  Carrabas Italian Grill.  I really enjoyed it.  We had Sangria to drink, which was yummy.  It was Friday in lent so I had spicy fish chowder and then manicotti.  Toped it all off with delicious tira mi su, a pick me up indeed!

46.  Justin and I also tried another beer.  We bought a six-pack of Saratoga Lager, which I thought was pretty good

49.  Justin and I had our date night to celebrate his 25th birthday.  We went out to TGI Friday's for dinner and drank girly drinks.  We then went to Barnes and Noble and wandered around a bit.

67.  I am not going to do my Wii fit or yoga goal yet, instead I've started to tackle some of the new goals I added on.

94.  I have started my new walking goal by completing week 1 of the 12-week program.  I am now in the middle of week 2.  For the most part I am walking 15 to 20 minutes a day.

94. Do 12 week beginners walking schedule

I consider this goal complete when/if: I have gotten to week twelve of the 12 week beginner walking program, in which I will be walking 60 minutes at a time.

Why this is on my list: I want to be healthier, this along with 92 and 93 is to help me start exercising.

This goal will be tracked by continuing to post on this blog

Goal Status: in progress (6/12)

93. Complete 100 push-ups

I consider this goal complete when/if: I have successfully completed the 100 push-up training program and done 100 push-ups in a row.

Why this is on my list: I can barely do 3 push-ups and would like to work on my upper-body strength

This goal will be tracked by continuing to post on this blog

Goal Status: to do

92. Complete the Two Hundred sit-ups challenge

I consider this goal complete when/if: I have successfully completed the two hundred sit-up training program and done 200 sit-ups in a row.

Why this is on my list: My body is pretty weak, and sit-ups will help with my core strength, which I really would like to work on right now.

This goal will be tracked by continuing to post on this blog

Goal Status: in progress (week 5/6 training)

First March Update

I don't have too much exciting to update yet this month.

11.  I ironed all of the seams on my quilt and it is ready to be cut into small squares

13.  I've been practicing "Zombie"

16.  I've already journaled three times this month, so this goal is getting on track

24.  I've been searching for jobs every day, and I've applied for two more.  I also updated my OLAS profile, and my wiki portfolio with my latests information.

40.  I missed doing a tv free night last week, but I did it in the first week of March

44.  I have cooked twice for my family.  I made parmesan dijon chicken one week, and stuffed shells this past week.

63.  I finally got insurance!  I went to one doctor today, and have two more appointments with other doctors I needed to see.

67.  I already messed up my exercising for this month.  I'm not sure how to motivate myself.

72.  I took one video with my flip camera at the St. Patrick's day parade after party.

75.  I went to one local event.  My family and I went to the Binghamton St. Patrick's day parade, as well as the after party at Seton school.  We had good food, beer, and lots of bagpipe music.

85.  I've been keeping up with collecting my change.  I try to use mostly my bills so that the change will add up faster.

Eating and Drinking Goals

Goal 46 is well underway because I tried the 6 beer sampler at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery.  The beers I tried were:
Local Gold Ale.  This was my favorite.  It was a light gold ale, named in honor of the athletes from Lake Placid who were participating in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver that week.

Twice Bitten Barleywine.  A darker beer, with good flavor.

Fresh Powder Milk Stout.  This was a very dark beer, similar to Guiness.  It had a very strong flavor, but I really enjoyed it.

Moose Island Ale: Another lighter, pleasant ale.

Lake Placid IPA:  I love IPAs.  One of the more bitter beers in the sampler, but good taste.

Ubu Ale:  This is the pub's most famous beer, which is found around New York, especially in this area.  I learned that it was named after a chocolate lab.  It is a reddish beer with good strong flavor.  Justin and I got pint glasses from the pub with the Ubu logo on them.

Goal 45 has also gotten off to a good start.  I went to 5 restaurants this month.

Lake Placid Pub and Brewery: Besides the beer sampler, Justin and I also had lunch here.  It was Friday during Lent so we both had fish and chips.  Mine was really good, with a good beer batter, and lots of malt vinegar for the chips.  Justin got his fish with wing sauce on it, an option I'd never seen before.  It was also very good.

Christies Grill:  My family went here for my dad's birthday.  I had crab-stuffed fish, with a side of au gratin potatoes.  The potatoes were really bland so I didn't eat them.  The fish was pretty good.  My only issue is that they seem to like to put cream sauce on everything, and I'm not a huge fan of that.

The Silo Restaurant:  Justin and I went here for Valentine's day.  It is a very nice restaurant, and they even had a guitar player playing and singing for the Valentine's day diners.  We shared crab-stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer along with our salad bar.  For my dinner I had sea scallops.  They were pretty good, and the portion was huge.  We also had a nice bottle of white wine with our dinner.

Los Tapatios:  My parents have been telling me about this place for a while and I'm so happy Justin and I finally went.  It is a tiny Mexican restaurant in Endicott.  The food is cheap and delicious.  I had the tachitos lunch that comes with one chicken and one beef tachito.  I also had mexican rice and guacamole with tortilla chips.  I definitely want to go back.

Northwoods Inn Restaurant:  I wasn't sure how the food here would be since it was a hotel, but we all had really good meals.  This place in in Lake Placid, where I was with my family for the Empire State Games.  I had a really good crab cake special that was very flavorful.

I is for the Invention of Lying

I watched this rather silly movie last Friday.  I am a big fan of Ricky Gervais, and I wanted to like this movie more than I did.  I thought that, as usual, his character was funny and also a little sweet.  However, I had bigger issues with the movie.  I didn't expect it to be a masterpiece or anything, but I didn't fully understand why the inability to lie meant that everyone in the world had to say everything that was on their minds all of the time.  Even though I was rooting for Ricky's character to get the girl in the end, I didn't think he and Jennifer Garner had great chemistry.  I enjoyed it enough while watching, but have no desire to see this movie again.

Becoming Jane Eyre

Becoming Jane Eyre by Shiela Kohler.

I was very interested to read this book, because Jane Eyre has been one of my favorite novels for many years.  I did not know much about Charlotte Bronte and her sisters, so I was looking forward to reading more about their lives.

I am not sure how much of this book was hard fact.  I know that many details of the Brontes' lives are unknown, and in those cases Kohler did a good job imagining what might have happened.  I thought she did a good job capturing the struggles of the Brontes' lives.  All of the siblings died very young, and they were never very prosperous.  My favorite parts were when the three sisters were interacting and discussing their different novels.  Kohler captured the support as well as competition that I imagine was present in a family of such creative individuals. 

The only thing I didn't always like was how many points of view the novel tries to cover.  I liked hearing from the different sisters, but I'm not sure I would have chosen to write from their father's point of view.  I probably would have just preferred it from Charlotte's point of view.  Also, the book is written in present tense.  At first this bothered me because I wasn't used to it.  However, once I was used to it this style helped me feel like I was standing in the room with this family, observing their daily life.

End of February update

11.  I have sewn all of my quilt strips together and am 2/3 of the way through ironing the seams

13.  I've started learning my first bass guitar song.  "Zombie" by the Cranberries.  I picked it because I like it and it is not one note repeated over and over.  It also isn't too fast or wide-spread on the frets for my poor out of practice fingers.

16.  I still only wrote in my journal twice last month instead of the 5 I am supposed to.  I'll keep trying this goal though.  I need to make writing more interesting so that I'll want to do it.

20.  I finished another book!  Becoming Jane Eyre by Shiela Kohler.  I'll write a review here soon

24.  I kept up with my job search every week this month.  I did not find a job, although I am on a sub list for one school district now.

27.  Justin bought me a really nice new dress.  I wore it out for Valentine's day, but I've decided that with the right stockings, shoes, and sweater I would be appropriate for teaching.

37.  I have watched my "I" movie:  The Invention of Lying.  I will be updating shortly with a review.

40.  I was also able to have one day a week without watching tv after 7

44.  I've kept up with cooking for my family at home.  This past week I cooked sirloin tips with mashed potatoes.

45.  I did a lot of dining out this month.  Between Valentine's day, Justin having a job, my dad's birthday, and going to Lake Placid, I went to 5 Restaurants.  I'll write an update about this.

46.  I tried six new kinds of beer this month at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery.  Justin and I got their six beer sampler.  I'll add a post with the beers.  My total is now 7/20

47.  I created a sign reminding me to "speak up" and posted it near my mirror in my bedroom

72.  The other night I created 2 more flip videos of Justin and his niece playing a wii dancing game