Ramblings

My mom had forwarded this to me - Machias is my parents hometown.

If you folks would cast your vote for the DownEast Community Hospital in Machias, Maine once a day they might win a free MRI. They are in 6th place tonight.

Go to www.winanmri.com and scroll down to the botton part where you will find them, Blue Box, thanks and let's see if Washington County can get something going for them.

Rats and cats work to sniff out mines:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070725/ap_on_fe_st/odd_colombia_landmines

BOGOTA, Colombia - Who says Tom and Jerry can't be friends? For the past year, a special Colombian police unit has been locking rats in cages with cats as part of a project to train the rodents to sniff out the more than 100,000 landmines planted mostly by leftist rebels across this conflict-wracked Andean country.

Bringing the rats face to face with an enemy allows them to stay more focused once they are released, veterinarian Luisa Mendez, who's been working with the animals for two years, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"Here the cats play with the rats instead of attacking them," Mendez said. "The cats wear shields on their nails so they can't cause any injuries and as a result the rats feel comfortable playing around them."

The rodents are taught to freeze in front of mines, but had difficulty staying put for fear of being attacked by predators.

Col. Javier Cifuentes, who oversees the project, said the rats' success rate in mine detection is 96 percent. Unlike dogs, the rats weigh a lot less and therefore don't trigger explosions.

Colombia is home to the world's largest number of land mine victims. Last year, there were 1,108 victims, or about one every eight hours, the government says. Nearly a quarter of the victims die from their injuries.

The nation's rat project was recognized last month as one of the five most innovative projects at a conference of behavior psychologists in Mexico, and its initial findings will soon be presented at a similar conference in Argentina.

"Have an important e-mail message to send but don't want to be alive when the person receives it? Then this is for you.

A professor at Baylor University, in Houston, has started an Internet service that allows users to send e-mail messages from beyond the grave. For $19.95 per year, according to United Press International, a customer can reserve e-mail messages to be delivered only after his or her time has passed.

Some people plan to send important stuff, such as computer passwords or locations of safety-deposit- box keys. Others may prepare that final farewell, so it will arrive in the in boxes of loved ones days
after the sender's death.

The service, called Deathswitch, works by automatically sending a message to the customer, usually every two weeks, just checking to see if that person is still alive. If no answer is received, the service goes into "worry mode" and starts pestering the person some more. Eventually the customer is declared dead, and the e-mails announcing such are sent.

To prevent a premature declaration of one's demise, users can choose a vacation mode if they plan to be away from the Internet for an extended period of time." —Dan Carnevale

Finally! The Blue Man Group will be touring in this area next year. I've heard good things about the show and have always wanted to see it. Anyone seen it?? Is it worth it???

Still bummed we missed Spamalot while it was in town so that needs to get back here already! But I'm looking forward to Wicked and on a much smaller scale the King Tut exhibit in PA.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas and I'm in short sleeves today. The whole holiday season this year has been a bit of a bummer, but hopefully things will perk up. I've completed all of my shopping and now I just need to wrap.

Also - I know I dont post much but I think after this I'll be changing it to friends only. So if anyone browses and would like to be added just let me know!

Anyone interested in a couple of de Lint books? I have doubles of Spirits in the Wire (Hardback, like new) and Forest of the Heart (large trade paperback with some shelf wear on the cover)

hard part is finding a way to get them to whoever! Happy to meet up or hold onto them if anyones interested but has to wait a few weeks. I hate to see them go to waste and the used book store wont take anything but regular paperbacks. : /

I've been having way too much fun on Holiday Wishes. Argh - I forgot how to link. I need more sleep. Anyway its featured on the LJ startup page. Mine hasnt posted yet, but I've been able to grant about seven so far. I knew there was a reason I kept some of that stuff. :) If anyone has free time - check it out. Lots of people just want cards or small stuff.

The one bad thing about booking a last minute flight is that it appears the airlines then mark you as an automatic extra security check. Both flights we were all pulled aside for special screening. Nothing like taking a toddlers shoes and then leaving seperating him from his mom. True, he could stay with my husband, but he didnt understand why he had to go somewhere else and couldnt have his shoes. The way home wasnt too bad, but the flight down we almost missed. Steve's shoes set off some kind of thing on their sensors with the special wipey things they use. They were pulling out explosive chemical manuals and kept him for half an hour with a whole bunch of people asking him questions about his job, etc. He wears them working in the yard. Who knows what the heck he might have on those things. We got on our flight with like a minute to spare. We bought shoes for the trip back!

Well, went to my first pub crawl last night. So today I'm exhausted. It was fun. A combination pub crawl, murder mystery and letterboxing event. Each pub had a suspect we had to interview and get dna/fingerprints and their personal stamp. Some required a drink to loosen their tongues. The Incan needed kisses from all the girls. After we had all their clues the suspect would give us an envelope for our next suspect/location. Then througout that we had to find locations and words to solve a cryptograph in order to find the final pub location. A little cold out but after a lemon drop and whatever else I was drinking - I warmed right up. Met some great people and had a fantastic time. Course today Steve had to work and I'm on my own with the toddler when all I want to do is curl up and lounge!

Sigh. I've really got to find an alternate babysitter in the area. We've always had my mom do it but more and more schedules clash or she's just not able to watch them on a certain night and we keep missing stuff we really want to do. : / Sometimes we just take the kids with us, but a letterboxing pub crawl really isnt kid friendly! Maybe someone from kindercare will do a babysitter night swap with me. Very frustrating.

The vow renewal was perfect. Just what we'd wanted, but way too quick. Thankfully the rain stopped just long enough for the ceremony. I really truly, did not want to have it indoors! My dress fit! Woohoo!! Not even trouble zipping the silly thing. : D

Here's a few photos. Can't wait to see the ones from the photographer.

http://photos.yahoo.com/justplaingeorge

The service at the castle was excellent. I highly recommend them to anyone wanting to vacation in Western Maryland.