Rockhopper Penguins in Rehab

Have you ever wondered what is actually involved in cleaning up after an oil spill? I found this slide show on the BBC News website to be very interesting. I hadn't even heard about this recent oil spill!

According to Wikipedia:
On March 16, 2011, the Maltese-registered freighter MS Oliva ran aground on Nightingale Island, spilling tons of heavy crude into the ocean. The crew was rescued, but the ship broke up, leaving an oil slick that surrounded the island, threatening its population of rockhopper penguins.  Nightingale Island has no fresh water, so the penguins are being transported to Tristan da Cunha for cleaning.

Oh the Places We'll Go: Caribbean 2009

Oh the Places We'll Go! (Click me!)

Michael & I created this wonderful photobook from Pixable.com based on our trip to the Caribbean in 2009 -- We had a LivingSocial deal to create a hard cover 16-page photobook for only $10.

We traveled to Miami, St. Thomas, St. John, Tortolla, Jost Van Dyke, and St. Lucia -- all in one trip. As you can tell from the pictures, we had a wonderful time on our trip scuba diving, snorkeling, laying on the beach, hitchhiking, zip lining in a rain forest, and meeting the locals. Since it was a while ago, the dates on the Jauntlet app below are all just estimates.

Above all, I would highly recommend a trip to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands for anyone who wants to see the Caribbean that you probably fantasize about. It's such a tiny island without much commercialization. There aren't more than a few places to even stay there. Our stay at Ivan's was completely remote and amazing -- our one room cabin was just what you'd image a beach lifestyle to be. No frills, but everything you need to be comfortable so that you can hear the waves at night and walk 10 steps to the beach in the morning. Ivan's even has an honor bar, where you can make yourself the local Painkiller drink and put it on your own tab.

Lunch Boxes

So what does it mean when I come across some adorable lunch boxes on luggage.com, and looking at them makes me want to have children so that I can send them off to preschool looking so cute with their little lunch boxes?

Don't worry, I'm not planning on having children any time soon. But if you are in the market for some adorable lunch boxes, or any luggage-related item at all, there is a great Eversave deal right now -- $25 for $50 worth of merchandise from luggage.com. By adding coupon code "LUCKY" at check out, you save an extra $3.They also sell fabric sandwich holders, which is a great alternative to packing with plastic.

Stevia in the Raw

I'll admit it... I'm a pretty picky eater. It doesn't matter that I've had rattle snake, raw beef and pork, beef tongue and brain, and sea cucumber. There are still some everyday foods that I avoid. One of those things happens to be sugar substitutes. Diet sodas just aren't worth the difference in taste for me. Splenda, Equal, Sweet N' Low? Not my thing. I'd rather not have a drink that tastes like chemicals and has a weird aftertaste, thanks.

Photo of Sugar Packets: Rama

Now my point is not to get into the debate over high-fructose corn syrup (I'll leave that for another post). But being from the south, I do like my drinks sweet, y'all. I don't really see the point of unsweetened iced tea. As much of a skeptic as I am about no-calorie sweeteners, I can definitely say I was pleasantly surprised by Stevia in the Raw. After trying it on a whim one day when Michael decided to buy a package, I've actually gotten to the point that I put it in my hot tea at work on a daily basis. Although I wasn't really looking for something to help reduce my caloric intake, I guess it doesn't hurt either.

Some of the things I like about Stevia in the Raw:

• It is sweeter than sugar, so I can substitute my 2-3 packets of sugar for ~½ to ¾ of a packet of Stevia in the Raw.
• With a smaller amount needed, I don't have the issue with it not dissolving in cold drinks as much as with sugar.
• 100% natural product -- made from the extract of the Stevia plant.
• It's good for diabetics, kosher, and gluten free.

Let's not get carried away, though. It's not perfect:

• Although it's been available in Japan since the 1950s without any detected issues, there are still some potential risks, but most seem to be related to consuming way too much of it.
• It's not expensive, but not particularly cheap, either.
• Because it's 300-400x sweeter than sugar, a corn derivative (dextrose) is added to dilute the sweetness of the Stevia packet -- and I'm not exactly convinced that I need any more corn-based products in my diet.

There is currently a coupon on Stevia in the Raw's website for anyone interesting it trying it out!

Musical Weekend

Although it involved very different types of music, two events of my weekend made it a very musical one.

Friday evening started out with a trip to the Library of Congress to see a performance by Antares -- a quartet with piano, cello, violin, and clarinet. The amazing part about concerts like the one Michael and I attended on Friday is that they are all free! All you have to pay is the Ticketmaster charge of $7.50 for two tickets. I really enjoyed the pieces that they chose for the concert -- all very different -- some ultra modern, and some more traditional pieces. The guest soprano who sang during one of the songs was also very talented. I definitely plan on attending more of these free concerts as interesting ones come available on the Library of Congress schedule.


The second musical event of the weekend was Shamrock Fest, a festival with everything Irish and a bunch of non-Irish stuff, too. They had a bunch of stages with Irish-esque bands and Irish dancing, a bunch of food/drink stands, carnival rides, a lady on a unicycle, and vendor pavilions.

Michael got a VIP ticket -- with unlimited "good" beer (Guinness, etc) -- and I got a regular ticket since I don't like beer. I had a really fun time listening to the music, laughing at all the debauchery and drunk people, and eating a tasty crab cake sandwich. Yes, I bought seafood from a food stand, and I did not get sick. That is a very good thing. It was also nice because I got to hang out with some friends I had not seen in quite a long time. One of my friends from high school, Josh, was also there for the concert with a friend, so I hung out with them for a while. Then my friend from college, Caitlin, came with her boyfriend, and we had a great time catching up. Events like Shamrock Fest are always much more fun when you get to share them with old friends.

Yelp Review: Queen of Apostles Catholic Church

Queen of Apostles Catholic Church (Alexandria, VA): 3 Stars

This church has a lot of issues, acoustically. I could hear maybe every fifth word spoken by the priest, and I wasn't sitting in the back nor am I hard of hearing. I can't imagine that the elderly people can hear a thing.

Other than that, this seems like a nice church to me, with a good amount of seating available (not overly crowded).

Yelp Review: University Dive Center

University Dive Center (Charlottesville, VA): 4 Stars

If you are looking for a dive center to get SCUBA certified in Charlottesville, University Dive Center is your best bet. They have the best price in the area, and they also offer a discount for UVA students -- their advanced dive courses are also well priced. They do NAUI certifications in just a couple of weeks with night and weekend instruction.

Lynn, the instructor, is also an M.D. -- so she is very knowledgeable both about SCUBA in general and any associated health issues for those who many be concerned about that. All of the instructors are pretty friendly and helpful. The pool instruction was done at the AFC at UVA (Aquatic and Fitness Center). The worst part about the certification process was by far the open water dives. The quarry that the Dive Center uses was freeeeezing. It felt more like ice diving to me. I literally got continuous horrible cramps in my legs from being in the cold water, even though I was in a full wetsuit and hood. I would highly recommend trying to take the course in the fall rather than the spring, so that there is at least some hope that the summer months have warmed up the water a bit.

Beginning the Lenten Season

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday. That means the beginning of a 40-day period (Lent) in which Christians traditionally refrain from eating meat (not including fish) on Fridays and some people decide to deny themselves of something as a form of penance to God. Many of us can remember the difficult time I went through when I gave up chocolate for Lent in high school. Although that did serve as an act of reverence to God (it is extremely difficult to do when you normally eat chocolate multiple times a day), I wanted to give up something this year that would be an even more surefire way for me to grow as a person and develop my faith.

So, I decided to give up watching T.V.

Yes, I know. 40 whole days without television. 46 including Sundays. Although I won't be watching any shows or movies at home, I will allow myself the opportunity to go see a movie at the theater if it so happens. Thinking back on my lifetime at all of the time I have spent watching T.V., it is really appalling to think about all the ways I could have used that time instead. I saw a commercial a while ago that mentioned the amount of time that Americans spend commuting to and from work in their lifetimes, and I was horrified. But really, I can do a lot more about my lifestyle choices at home than I can about my commute (in the short term). We'll just have to see how successful (or unsuccessful) I am!

These are some of the exciting things I hope to do instead of watching T.V. over the next two months:

• Spend time with my dog, family, and friends
• Clean the house
• Read my current book: Ethics for the New Millennium by the Dalai Lama
• Exercise more
• Brush up on Spanish and Japanese

• Read the New Testament of the Bible
• Pick up a new hobby
• Bake new kinds of desserts
• Do a better job of keeping in touch with old friends
•  Make lunches at night for work

And here is some interesting information from Wikipedia about Lent:

• Ash Wednesday gets it name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of adherents as a sign of mourning and repentance to God. Ashes were used in ancient times to express mourning.
• In the Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance—a day of contemplating one's transgressions.
• The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer — through prayer, repentance, almsgiving and self-denial — for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus (Easter).
• "Lent" initially simply meant spring (as in the German Lenz and Dutch lente) and derives from the Germanic root for long because in the spring the days visibly lengthen.

Photo of Pope Benedict: roblisameehan

Keepin' It Legal

After starting this blog, I realized that the posts are much prettier and more interesting when they have associated images or photos. Although I'm sure everyone who reads this blog finds all of my thoughts incredibly interesting... something pretty to look at doesn't hurt, either. :)

Sooner or later, I started to realize that oopsies, I was just getting the images for my posts from searching Google images. Which could mean copyright infringement. After looking around the internet for a bit, I realized that finding free, legal images can actually be a really annoying task. Some websites advertise free use of their images, but only after you pay for a subscription to their site. Excuse me? That does not qualify as "free" to me. So here are three legitimate ones that I have found so far that I really like:

-Free Artistic Photos - the photos are searchable by different categories and are all free for non-commercial use.

-Every Stock Photo - once you find a photo you like, clicking on the "license" tab will give you information on how you can use it. Many of the photos do not even require you to attribute the work to the author.

-Wikimedia Commons - Access to multiple types of media files, with information on the licensing agreement associated with each photo.

Topping Off the Tank

Some very important and interesting facts from the EPA:

-When the gas pump nozzle clicks off automatically, do you add a little more gas to round off your dollar sale?
Topping off your gas tank is bad for the environment and your wallet.

• Topping off the gas tank can result in your paying for gasoline that is fed back into the station's tanks because your gas tank is full. The gas nozzle automatically clicks off when your gas tank is full. In areas of ozone nonattainment, gas station pumps are equipped with vapor recovery systems that feed back gas vapors into their tanks to prevent vapors from escaping into the air and contributing to air pollution. Any additional gas you try to pump into your tank may be drawn into the vapor line and fed back into the station’s storage tanks. 
• You need extra room in your gas tank to allow the gasoline to expand. If you top off your tank, the extra gas may evaporate into your vehicle’s vapor collection system. That system may become fouled and will not work properly causing your vehicle to run poorly and have high gas emissions.
• Gasoline vapors are harmful to breathe. Gasoline vapors contribute to bad ozone days and are a source of toxic air pollutants such as benzene. Evaporation from the spillage of gas from overfilling can occur, contributing to the air pollution problem. Remember you pay for the gas that evaporates or is spilled on the ground.
• Topping off your gas tank may foul the station's vapor recovery system. Adding more gas after the nozzle has automatically shut off can cause the station's vapor recovery system to operate improperly. This contributes to the air pollution problem and may cause the gas pump to fail to work for the next person. 

Discount Websites

I think most people that know me well also know that I love a good deal. I can't remember the last time I bought some item of clothing that wasn't on sale or I didn't have a coupon for. My grocery list pretty much only consists of things that are on sale, and I've gotten to the point where I have the prices memorized for certain items -- I will not pay more than $2.50 for juice drinks (100% juice required). When it goes below $2, I tend to stock up.

Then, I found Groupon -- and all the related sites that offer great local deals on everything from restaurants, to salons/spas, to any kind of service or store you could think of. Many of the places are either a) businesses I already go to, b) places I was planning on trying out, or c) services I have been wanting but were price-prohibitive. That's really the trick to making purchases from those websites. If you didn't have a desire to make the purchase before the deal showed up, even if it is a wonderful deal, it's best just to not buy it. Some of the buys can be real money savers, but others can be just a bust. I've been keeping track of my ratings of most of these businesses I purchase a deal from (the ones that aren't online deals -- all listed on the map below), and my average rating of them is probably 3 or 3.5 stars out of 5 -- so really just about average.

I Heart Deals

What's this?

It can get annoying to feel compelled to check these e-mails daily, since many of the deals are only available for 24 hours -- but I find that only Groupon and LivingSocial are the ones that tend to have such strict time limitations. Below is a comprehensive list of the deal sites I get information from, so you can check them out if they are in your area:

• Groupon
• Living Social
• Homerun
• Eversave
• Specialicious
• TownHog
• KGB Deals
• OpenTable Spotlight

• What's the Deal
• Half Off DC
• DC Half Off
• Bloomspot
• BuyWithMe
• Tippr
• Deals for Deeds
• DealOn

A few other sites that have deals (but I consider to be in a different category than these deal sites) are Amazon's Gold Box Deals and Restaurant.com. Many times on Restaurant.com, you can get a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant for $2-3 (with certain restrictions, depending on the restaurant)! And they aren't available for just one day -- they are there all the time. If you were already planning on eating there, why not?!

Here are two current examples of why I like these deal sites:

-Two Fandango Movie Tickets for $9 from LivingSocial

• If you go to the movies (which most people do), and were planning on doing so between now and when you would have to use the deal by (June 6th), then it really only makes sense for you to get it. Fandango is available for so many theaters across the country, it's really not prohibitive for most people. And if three friends buy from your link, then your deal is free! That happened to me when they had an Amazon.com gift card deal, and I ended up getting a free $20 gift card!

-An IPL Photofacial in McLean, VA for $99 from Eversave

• I've really been wanting to get another photofacial that will improve the complexion of my skin like the one I had at Rejuvalase (but I will only pay $100 or less), and then this deal popped up -- plus, I get another $10 off because of the "refer a friend" discount. I'd never get this done for the regular $300 per session price, but I can swing $89 maybe 1-2 times a year.

I'll probably keep posting the most exciting deals from the deal websites as they pop up! Oh yeah, there is Lifebooker.com -- but that is specific to NYC and LA, so not applicable to me on a regular basis. If there are any websites I'm missing, please let me know. :)

Stupid Birds

Well, I had an earlier post about Angry Birds... and now I am mad at some stupid birds, so I guess this is an appropriate follow on to my previous post.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to some especially loud bird calls. At 6AM. This was obviously not pleasant for me, and it sounded like there were a million birds outside of my window. I'm assuming they were on their migratory route for the spring, but they could have been a bit more courteous. Tossing and turning in bed for about an hour, I finally gave in and got up. Stupid birds.

As I go outside to my car for my morning commute, I notice that the birds decided to sit in the tree that hangs right over my car. I'm sure I don't have to go into detail about how disgusting my car looked -- you can just imagine that for yourself. The windshield was covered, to the extent that the windshield washer fluid wasn't really that effective... so I just looked between the splats of bird poo to drive. I'm sure that everyone on my way was looking at my car wondering what in the world happened and why I hadn't washed it, but oh well.

I arrived at work and decided that a car wash was completely necessary. On my lunch break, I went to one of those automatic car washers. Sadly, my $10 was almost completely wasted -- barely effective at all. I got back to Goddard (where I work), and the security guys at the gate made a comment about my car... Apparently they had noticed how horrible it looked when I left, and they told me I should go get it washed. Even though I just had it washed 2 minutes before that! They also recommended that I not park in the spot where it happened again, but it is right in front of my house, so that's not really feasible. This is still a relatively new car, so I would like to keep it nice. But I definitely wasn't willing to waste another $10 to go through the wash again. I don't know what those birds have been eating, but this is not normal. Stupid birds.

Tag Cloud

So the title of this post may seem a bit boring... who cares to talk about tag clouds anyway?

Well, you should notice my tag cloud. It is pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I can't exactly take all the credit though, as I noticed it on the Morrissons' blog first, and I immediately knew I wanted it on my blog when I started one as well. The Morrissons are actually distant relatives of mine (don't ask me to tell you the connection!); Lawrence and Michelle just moved from outside of London to northern Virginia with their three sons. So as their closest relatives in the area, we have had some fun adventures with them since they arrived, which you can read about on their blog. 

So back to the tag cloud... well, I saw it on their blog, but unfortunately the HTML was not compatible with blogger blogs. Thankfully, I found this conversion so that I could add it! I tweaked the HTML a bit to make it look the way I liked, and voila! A tag cloud that actually looks like a cloud!

And now my blog also has a pretty new background to celebrate springtime! I am certainly ready for warm weather!