New Focus

When I initially created this blog, I wasn't sure what the focus would be. Should it be travel? office politics? diet and exercise? entertainment reviews? All quite interesting with the potential for a good dramatic read, but as time got away from me (has it really been 4 years???), I thought why not share some of the stuff I do every day in my job as a STEM Education Consultant. Just to clarify for those of you who are not acronym aficionados, this will not be a blog about gardening, but one devoted to hands-on activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Something New

I'm not doing too well on the exercise resolution, but I've been learning lots of new things. Bruce got an Xbox Kinect for Christmas, so I thought I'd try out the "Dance Central" game for some exercise. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to turn it on and about another 15 to figure out how to use it. I finally got the hand motions working, but I haven't programmed in my voice yet. I danced to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," and then spent another 15 minutes trying to figure out how to turn the controller off. Goodness, this is supposed to be a toy!!!

Resolutions

New Year's resolutions. Many people make them, but how long do they stick? In the 2011 quest to find my "style," I've made a few.

First, is to learn something new every day. Shouldn't be too difficult, especially since I have access to the internet.

Second, my style is more athletic, both in activity and look, so I propose to exercise every day and go on more adventures. Hopefully, the end result will also mean the loss of a few pounds.

Third, spend more time with family and friends. I swear, it seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the New Millenium. Time goes by so fast and people are so stressed out trying to keep pace. So I propose to do something nice for the people around me to make their day just a little bit brighter.

That last is a little schmaltzy, but aren't most resolutions???

What is Your Style?

I was reading a description of an Artists' Retreat when I came across this line, "We would like every participant to share a technique with the others that shows his or her style..." and I was totally stumped. What in the world would I show to the others? What is my style? I like graphic art and collages, robots and computers, hiking and biking, reading and going to movies - but that's an eclectic personality, not a "style." My art is fairly structured with excellent balance (that's the engineer in me), but it's also rather simple and lacking depth. I like a little whimsy without being cute. I'm getting fairly good at assembling compositions from handmade papers, sometimes adding a touch of watercolor, pencil, or oil pastel to the backgrounds. But it's time to take it to the next level. The problem is trying to figure out what the next level is???

Project Runway

Having been out of the country, I missed the final three episodes of Project Runway. Drama. Drama. Drama. This has been the whiniest, high-maintenance, teary-eyed group of designers in the history of the show. Their low self-esteem and lack of confidence just left me drained. I am tired of hearing, "I want to win this for my mom... or my sister... or my dad... or my neighbor... or my dog..." (I exaggerate on the latter.) Did no one want to win it for themselves??? In their defense, I can't imagine living so intimately with people knowing every time you walked out the door, one of you wouldn't be coming back. And having to withstand public ridicule from a group of judges whose own taste is at times questionable (come on Michael Kors - now that you've won a lifetime achievement award, isn't it a little "costumy" to wear sunglasses indoors?).

Ancient Civilizations

I recently got to visit Ephesus, an ancient Greek city in Turkey. It was the 2nd largest city during the Roman Empire and housed the Temple of Artemis (one of the non-surviving Seven Wonders of the World destroyed in an earthquake). It was absolutely amazing to me how much has been excavated and restored, and how incredibly sophisticated the infrastructure of the city was, especially the buildings and the water distribution system. The picture shown above is the Library of Celsus.

Bugs

Having spent the last 3 months in the northwest, I totally forgot what late summer is like in hot, humid weather - bugs everywhere. I went hiking this weekend in Kentucky and was pretty much attacked from all sides, and that was after dousing myself in tick spray and wearing one of those Off fan repellents. I'm not sure this bodes well for taking up camping as a retirement hobby.