A Tuckered Tucker

Bark in the Park was crazy busy this year, and seemed even more so because we volunteered in the Registration booth this time. I always wanted to volunteer in the registration but I gotta say it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. At least there is good friends and a yummy dinner after it all.

She Said It!

"I'm feeling a little Big-Bang-Theory-ed out." Danielle A. Kane at 8:17pm today.

Going down in the record books.

y or ie

Why is it 'movie' and not 'movy' ???
Some people spell 'aunty' and others 'auntie' - why?

English is such a messy (or is it messie) language!

Sent from my iPhone

Testing from the iPhone

This is a photo from visiting cousins (Erik and Mikey), Uncle Brian, and Aunty Lora near Corpus Christi, Texas. I love them all dearly.

Batman Forever (or perhaps not?)

Moving down the line in soundtrack CDs, I come to Batman Forever. Now take a moment to remember what you thought the first time you saw this movie. Was it in the theaters? Or later, on VHS? Or perhaps only recently, on a NetFlix DVD? Very cartoony, in fact, not far away from the campy style of Batman from the 60s. Very much a contrast to Batman Begins.

Anyway, about the music. Not my favorite. I believe I received the CD with a VHS copy of the movie as part of the birthday gift. I'm going to try to do this review by what is memorable. Songs 1-7, I mostly like. After that, I tend to lose interest in listening. It begins with a U2 song that's fairly good. Next is "Where are you now?" by Brandy (do remember her? Whatever happened to her?). Of course, Seal croons the "A Kiss from a Rose," which was/is my favorite song on the album. Tracks 5-7 are sung by female artists and I can tell you that after listening to Track 5 "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Prey," I end up singing it for a bit. And that is all that I care for on this soundtrack CD. So while Amazon users gave it an average 4.5 stars, I can only give it 2 stars.

Driving thru Soundtracks

Since my car still plays CDs, I've decided to do a drive thru of my soundtracks. I will be progressing alphabetically through them. To start off, I began with Anastasia (an animated non-Disney movie that came out in the 1990s). I thought it was a decent film (Disney does better artwork, no doubt) but at the time I really liked the song, "Once Upon A December." I believe this is what motivated me to buy the soundtrack on CD. So I expected that I would play about 2-3 times and then done with it. But not so much. Turns out I very much enjoyed the soundtrack, all of it. I have no special skills with music, playing it or explaining it, but I believe this music was well-written, well-played, and well-sung. Even the evil bad dude Rasputin's song, "In the Dark of the Night" gets me bouncing around and singing along. After the movie's musical numbers, a couple of pop artists join the mix. My favorite being Richard Marx dueting with Donna Lewis on "At the Beginning." The also last 6 songs are the actual orchestra music from the movie. Within these you can hear Angela Lansbury (aka Jessica B. Fletcher) sing a tiny bit of "Once Upon A December." Finally, it ends with a Spanish version of "Journey to the Past," which is fine for me.

Anyhoo, I agree with a majority of the Amazon reviewers in giving this soundtrack 5 stars (out of 5). Splendid.

Curtain Call

I have been deliberating for some time on whether or not to get curtains in my room. PRO: more purple in room always good; darken room for better sleeping; visually aesthetically pleasing (one hopes). CON: cost (one curtain is often over $40); not easy to install; have to buy rods.

When I was out at a Bed, Bath, & Beyond, they had a nifty curtain rod for only $20 (black brushed metal with square/cube nobby ends). And with my 20% off coupon, I felt compelled to buy it. This purchase topped the waffling list and meant I was not committed to buying curtains. However, all the purple curtains I saw were still quite costly. Well, one fortunate day in a walk to Old Navy (why drive when you can make a 10 minute walk there), I passed a TJ Max store. Its crazy store with lots of random things for very good prices. Seemed like the perfect place to find cheap curtains. And I was right! In the chaotic pile of rejected and unsold curtains, I found two matching purple curtains, each for $10. However, they are not opaque, instead being a very see-through material. So then I thought about returning them to find light-blocking curtains. Actually, TJ Max had a matching pair of these, but they were mossy green, which were not hideous, but certainly not purple.

I felt inspired to quickly put up one curtain and test it out. Here is my test attempt. Held up by one rod hook and about 5 pushpins.

I continued to wonder was it really worth it to have curtains up if they did not actually block out the light? Then Danielle, my roommate, had a great idea. I could buy some cloth and attach it to the backside of the curtain either with a cloth tape or some other method. Especially sweet because I have a gift certificate to Joannas. Perfect!

This convinced me and last Sunday, I went all out (while watching Cinderella). Screwed in the six screws for the three rod hooks by using my elbow muscle while standing on my bouncy bed (super sore the next day because of this). Fiddled with rod itself to get it all lined up right and the curtains had to be on it before all of its screws could be put in proper place. And then up it went on the wall. Below are some photos. They are not great quality because I used my iPhone, which just doesn't handle indoors and dark lighting well.

All in all, it was a good experience and I am very glad that I did it.


P.S. I would like to note, that nearly every time I wrote curtains above, I first misspelled it as curatins. *sigh*

With Zephaniah Isa Kent Richey!

Yay for baby Zeph and Amanda for successful entrance to the world. So great to meet him, and can't wait to cuddle more. (born 5-10-2010, 81bs 4.5oz and 20 inches)

For some past reflections, here is a picture of me with Camdyn the day after she was born (June 30, 2008, 7lbs 2oz and 22 inches).

Belated Bday Update

*This post was supposed to auto-publish on May 8th (two months after my bday, but I guess I didn't do it right. So here it is a few days late.*

I turned 30 this year and if I had been on top of this blog, I would have posted something about it. Instead, two months late will have to do. Here are some of the fabulous celebrations of the big 3-0.

Rainbow cupcakes baked by Amanda.

Okay, this new way to edit posts is causing me some confusion. So I'll just explain the rest of the pictures from top/left to bottom/right. The next two pictures were taken by Amanda. We had our first ladies hangout (meaning no kiddos) as my special birthday treat. First we had a mini sundae at Cheesecake Factory and then red velvet cake at CA Pizza Kitchen. Next, is the photo of the flowers my parents sent to me. Aren't they pretty? I carried them around the apartment, from the living room to the bathroom to my bedroom. Next is the cake that Gina baked for me. Isn't it awesome?!!??! She baked each individual layer and then put it all together. Finally is the cake my dad baked for me, which was an orange cream cake. Yummy!

Other special celebrations included dinner with a few colleagues at the Wheel of Life, a thai vegetarian restaurant (it was delicious) and dinner + karaoke with some of my small group friends (total blast, maybe add video clips for this later).

I posted on Facebook that I was looking at birthdays from a different perspective this year. I am viewing them as inclusive. So not only am I now 30 years old, but I am still 18 years old, 6 years, 12, 16, 25, 9, and so on. Every birthday is a part of who I am.

Baking Continues

So I love to bake. Yum yum. And to eat. But mostly to give it away and enjoy other people eating it. I have baked about 5 banana cakes (dad's recipe with maple cream cheese frosting), 3 batches of brownies (my grandma's recipe), 2 carrot cakes (dad's recipe, simple but delicious), and some number of cookies to bring in to work at the Science Library. With the last batch of carrot cake I made, I had leftover pinapple, so I decided to experiment with a pineapple cherry coffee cake. It came out decently for a first time adapted recipe. The aftertaste is a little tart because there is one cup of non-fat plain yogurt. But the brown sugar topping adds sweetness.

Below is a picture of the brownies I made for Happy non-Valentine's Day (it was February 13th).

I wonder what I will be baking next...

So I'm Back

I felt inspired to start blogging again. Who knows if anyone is still following me but here I go.

I have been working as a research librarian for mathematics, physics and astronomy at UC Irvine for a little over a year now. As several/many of you know this exact job is what I have been working towards since about 2002. And you know what? I am so happy to have it and I think it is a good fit. Here are two lists describing best of and most challenging:

Best (in order as I think of them)
1) Continued education in extra awesome subject areas:
(a) I love the subjects of mathematics and astronomy
(b) Learning physics keeps me growing in new knowledge
(c) Love attending colloquiums at these departments
2) Helping students find their research information
3) Great colleagues that really help to foster an environment and culture of learning
4) Working at research university is exciting and eventful
5) Ordering books, I really enjoy browsing book collections and deliberating on best additions
6) Committee meetings (yep, color me goofy but I love group work)

Challenging
1) Miss working in the Math Department and regular interactions with students and faculty
2) There is WAY more to do than I have time to do
3) Do not like it when "to dos" slip through the cracks
4) Still learning the contextual understanding of collection development at UCI
5) What is my calling at UCI? Why has God brought me to this campus?

I'll end with a sunset from my apartment window. Nothing to do with the above but it is pretty.