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!

Adopting a Greyhound

I recently posted a (5 Star!) yelp review on Greyhound Welfare, the greyhound rescue and placement group I went through to adopt my dog. They have a very stringent process for adopting a dog from them, which includes both a phone interview and an at-home visit with one of the volunteers. All of their dogs are kept with a foster "parent" before they are adopted, which helps them adjust to home life after they come off of the track. Looking back and realizing that Michael and I adopted Sonja about a year and a half ago, I can't image what my life would be like without her!

We knew right away when we met her at a greyhound meet-up event that she was the dog for us. Even though there are plenty of dogs to adopt, we actually had to compete with two other families to adopt her!  She is so pretty (we preferred the fawn color) and has a very loving personality. She was only two years old when we adopted her, so we should have her for quite a long time with their typical lifespan of 12-15 years.

Fun Facts about Sonja:

• Her track name was "She's Got Rhythm". She was known as "She She" by the foster family before we adopted her.
• She doesn't play with dog toys. She doesn't really see the point of those weird stuffed animals. I guess that's also why she has never tried to destroy anything around the house either!
• She is very calm and loves laying around the house, especially if she has a fluffy bed to lay on. She is definitely not a hyperactive dog.
• When we take her to the dog park, she is never interested in running unless it's snowing! She prefers to just sniff around... and act like she doesn't know you when you call her name.
• She knows the following commands: sit, lay down, stay, up, no, kennel up, eat.
• We don't allow her on the couch or to eat human food -- especially when we first got her, she had a very sensitive stomach (I'll spare you the details...)!
• She has her track information tattooed on the inside of her ears from her racing days. Knowing that she was meant to be a pet, she only raced a few times and came in last or second to last in all of them.
• I am very proud of how patient she is with children and other dogs when they annoy her. Having three toddlers petting you all at once is a lot of commotion!

Here are some interesting facts and quirks about greyhounds:

• They are already crate trained when you adopt them, so there is no frustration with the housebreaking part of adopting a new pet!
• They can never be let off leash unless they are in an enclosed area; as sighthounds, they can't be redirected once they get their eyes on something they want to chase.
• Many of them (including Sonja) love to lean against you while they are being petted.
• It's not common for greyhounds to bark. Literally, I've heard Sonja bark 4 times since we've had her.
• They have pretty thin skin and bleed easily, so it's very important to be careful with their tails. It's not uncommon for a vet to have to amputate a greyhound's tail if it is caught in a screen door and starts bleeding.
• You can't house your greyhound outside in a doghouse - their skin and fur are too thin, plus they don't have much body fat.
• Because they have slender necks and heads, greyhounds have to wear a specific type of collar when on a leash (martingale collar).
• They don't have the issues with inbreeding and genetic physical problems that some breeds have.
• In comparison to most breeds, greyhounds have a very different blood chemistry, so it is important to find a vet who is at least somewhat familiar with the breed.
• Greyhounds can run up to 45 miles per hour (if they want to!)

Can you guess which one is Sonja?!

Fuelly

Fuelly.com is a website that I have been using habitually since September of last year to track my new car's fuel efficiency. It has a lot of great functionality that I would like to highlight, and hopefully that will encourage other people to take advantage of what it has to offer.

• Compare your driving to how well your car should hypothetically be doing, as it already has EPA estimates ready for your vehicle
• Monitor your mpg's over the life of your vehicle to see if you are getting more efficient at driving it
• Add multiple cars to one account, so that you and your family members can compete on who gets the best gas milage - and also compare yours to other people with the same vehicle to see how well you are driving compared to the masses
• Track how much money you are spending on gas and the price of gas over time 
• Put a badge on your blog profile to show others how great you are doing!

You can view all of my car's information at my profile. It has made me realize that the estimate of mpg's that my car calculates is actually off by usually ~3 mpg. Although I have yet to take advantage of this feature, you can also input the data right away as you're filling up your car, either through the fuelly mobile website or sending the information through text message! Fuelly has really made me more scrupulous about my driving, as I'm always competing with myself now to try and increase my gas mileage. It is also very interesting to see how much my gas mileage changes depending on the weather.

Yelp Review: Hot Yoga Bikram Tysons

Hot Yoga Bikram Tysons (McLean, VA): 5 Stars

I had my first Bikram experience at this studio, and I love this place. If it weren't so inconvenient to get to from where I live and work, I would make this my home studio.

I had been thinking about trying Bikram yoga for a while: 90 minutes of yoga with 26 postures in a room heated to 105 degrees and 35% humidity. When I saw a deal on livingsocial to try out this studio at a great price, I knew it must have been fate! This place is the reason I am hooked on Bikram.

All of the instructors I have had at the studio were great (Stephanie, Ron, Cassandra, and Rana). They were very patient and encouraging when the workout got intense - but they understand that many people may need a break from the workout to just sit down. I will admit that my first class was very intense - at one point I lost my vision as if I were going to pass out - but I sat down and rested for a minute, and I was fine after that. It does take some time to adjust, though.

The Power Yoga classes that Cassandra teaches seemed the most similar to traditional yoga (just heated). The main yoga room was pretty sanitary (no weird smells), and the locker room is spacious. All of the people who work there seem pretty laid back and nice. The one thing I really appreciated most of all that my current studio doesn't have is a refreshing, cold lavender-scented hand towel for each student at the end of class.

I did hear a few people complain that it didn't feel quite as hot to them as other Bikram studios they had gone to, but I think that may be one thing that makes it even better for beginners. I noticed that sometimes the room would be hotter than others, but you'll definitely feel it! Bikram has helped with my flexibility, strength, and posture. I leave refreshed rather than exhausted. Both Bikram in general and this studio in particular are two things I would recommend without hesitation. I would recommend that all new students bring at least the following: bottle of water, yoga mat, towel, workout clothes (but not long pants).

The Blog Phenomenon

So I've been thinking about starting back up a blog for a while now. Every few years, I go back to my blog from high school -- and it really makes me glad to have a glimpse back into my life at that time. I tend to quite easily forget details of events, and I've laughed really hard at some of those crazy high school antics that I had somehow forgotten.

Original Blurty Blog  (2003)

Livejournal (Early 2004)
Livejournal (Late 2004) 

In all honesty, the other main point of this blog is to better document things than I could be doing on facebook or twitter. I want to be able to go back and look at my thoughts or websites I like without having to dig through my previous facebook posts. I also want the freedom to fully express my thoughts (as must as possible for something posted on the internet), which you surely can't do with the character limits on twitter feeds. Now that I'm also decently active on Yelp.com, those posts will make it on here as well. You can basically just expect a hodgepodge of things... expect the unexpected!