Today we took Squirt and my niece and nephew to the Albuquerque Aquarium and Biopark. We had a great time although it was very hot. The Aquarium is actually very nice, the children certainly enjoyed it. The Biopark was beautiful and had so many great areas to explore – unfortunately it was very hot and we were wilting, especially my mom who has been having some medical issues in the last couple of weeks.  While we were in the Children’s Fantasy Garden, my mom slipped on a rounded edge on the walkway and fell. My mom is 65. She is in relatively good health but she has arthritis and osteoporosis. So we were very frightened. She’s ok, a little sore but fine. We decided we would come back and do the aquarium another day, preferably in the early spring or the autumn when it’s a little cooler.

One other good thing is happening today. Ducky comes home! We have all missed her (even Squirt!). She’s ready to come home as well! We will be picking her up in just a few hours. Woot! Tomorrow is my birthday – it’s a big one – the big 4-0. Surprisingly I’m not freakin’ out at all. Matter of fact, I still feel like I’m 25. Oh well right? The kids keep me young. One of the added benefits of being a teacher is even though my kids are going to grow up and move away, I’ll always have kids around to keep me young!

Alright, picture time and if I can get my dang video working a cool little video of jelly fish.

The eels were huge! Bigger than me — that’s a big eel   And some seahorsies.  

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Here’s some jelly fish and a dragon fly.

One of my favorite features was in the fantasy garden and this dragon was guarding the entrance. Isn’t he lovely??

Ok here’s the video, I don’t remember what these jelly fish were called, but they had these cool electric currents running through that created great multi color lights. Loved them!

I’ve been trying and trying to change over to the new Themes layout for my site. The problem? Well my site is highly customized and while I was getting ready to change it anyway, I was basically going to change the theme and color scheme, not the whole dang thing. To top that off, lot of my codes won’t work with Xanga Themes. I’m still trying to figure it out, but I know it was supposed to be easier and I’m having a heck of time.

For instance, I created a new header with a great picture (not a collage since I don’t have access to photoshop right now). The only problem? When I try to put my site navigation buttons on they go right through the dang middle and look retarded. I can’t get them a) at the bottom of the header or b) to run horizontally across the very top of my site. It’s uber annoying. I’m not good at html and crap like that, I barely get by, which is why my site has the same look — it took me ages and ages to get it to a stage where I was really happy with it, so I don’t mess with it.

I’m ready for a change, I just don’t know if I ‘m ready for that big of a change! So far I’ve spent several hours (read about 4) and have absolutely nada to show for it.

arrrghhhh………….. Maybe I need more coffee?

question of the day:

New Themes or Old Look and Feel?

So we are working on finding jobs. I mentioned that it will be faster to get my NM certification by going and renewing my CA credential. To top that off I’ll have two credentials and be able to go back to work in CA if we decide for some strange and completely unforeseeable reason to not stay here and return to CA instead (doubt it – but never say never right?).

So I submitted my application to the public school system here. Now to get fingerprinted, send for transcripts and get new letters of recommendation.

OK so enough boring stuff — here some interesting stuff, I think we will try to attend next year, should be fun!

In Roswell, NM — home of the famous alien spacecraft crash and coverup they hold and annual celebration of the events. I was born in Carlsbad (no – not in a cave) and moved to Roswell as a baby. We spent about 6 years there. My hubby found out and claimed that I had really been born there and that fact explained a lot – perhaps I was an alien offspring. Ha ha. What a funny guy! At any rate, this festival, the UFO festival has grown huge and thousands flock to it. It made Fox news front page.

I wonder about UFO’s. I find it hard to believe that we are the only intelligent life out of the millions of systems out in the universe. But I wonder why we haven’t been contacted — or have we? Hmmm…..

Here’s some pictures I found:

Now that’s nondiscriminatory!!

Ahh…here’s the Arby’s customers.

They had speakers, concerts, a parade and costume contest as well as an air show and other fun events. Sounds like a fun and slightly weird time! Here’s a link if you’re interested in reading more about these out of world events! Roswell UFO Festival

Alright I’m off to workout – hopefully I won’t encounter any aliens at the gym, of if I do, they’ll be friendly!

Question of the Day: Believer in other intelligent life or We’re alone in the Universe?

Myspace Graphics

Myspace Graphics

Gaelic Storm was awesome! We met about 8 other people there, 3 other couples, a single guy from their work and one of the ladies mom came to enjoy the show. We had so much fun! It was definitely a clap along, dance along, holler along good time. The zoo here is awesome from what I can see. Although I only saw about 15 minutes worth before the show started, it looks amazing. There is also and aquarium and botanical gardens. I think they do summer music shows as well.

It’s the perfect venue, it was nice and shady, with a good breeze blowing. The ampitheater is in a great location, built over a pond filled with koi and ducks. We all had blankets, we shared fried chicken, fresh fruit, and cold drinks and enjoy a lively show. The band was funny and engaging. The music was lively and I was inspired to dance…. ALOT!

I think next Friday we might have to check out the zoo once again….. as it was just lots and lots of fun.

This weekend we went to my folks place. We shot off a whole bunch of fireworks, ate too much and just generally had a good time. What is about men and boys that they feel the need to set things on fire and blow things up? All the guys, young and old had a blast with the fireworks. They are so funny. They reminded me of Adam Savage and Jaime Hyneman from Mythbusters. Actually we tried a mythbusters technique for cooling drinks this weekend and you know what? It WORKED!!!  — Cold sodas in 5 minutes or less from hot cans…no problemo! Too bad we didn’t have a fire extinguisher — we could have had them in 2.5 minutes. Darn it!

Question of the Day:

What is your preferred method for cooling beverages?