Bluuuuuuuur

How can it be September already?!  The past month has just been a blur.  I haven't been to CBC for almost a month now because of traveling (for fun!).  Switzerland, Chicago, and NY.  It's been fun though - sightseeing, catching up with friends, and celebrating joyous occassions with family.

It's been so long since I've posted that I'm not even what to say.  So I'm just going to post a couple of pictures from Switzerland.  It is absolutely gorgeous there.  If you get a chance, you should go check it out.

These are views from of Zurich from one of the churches (Grossmunster). We paid a couple of Francs to walk up 187 stairs to the top of one of the towers.  Part of the climb up was in a spiral stairwell that was dark and narrow and steep and it was kind of cramped once you got to the top of the tower, but it was definitely worth it.

We rented a car while we were in Switzerland.  On the way from Zurich to Lauterbrunnen, we saw this and had to pull over to take some pictures.  The colors look kind of fake...but that's really what it looked like!  It was just absolutely beautiful. 

We also went to Zermatt, which is a car-free city so we drove to a nearby city (Tausch, I think?) and parked our car at the train station and took a train into Zermatt.  We took another train to the top of Gornergrat and this was the view.  The mountain that is sticking out on it's own on the right hand side of the picture is the Matterhorn.

I've been to Switzerland once during a backpacking trip through Europe right after I graduated college, but it was nice to have more time to explore the country.  The last time I was there, we only spent one night there (in Interlaken) and we lived and ate like poor college students. 

Anyways...that's it for now.  Pat and I are still in NY right now and flying back tomorrow morning...then it's back to the daily grind of things.  Which could be nice and relaxing in a way........they always say, home sweet home!

Nostalgia

For some reason, I've recently been reminiscing a lot about my college years.  Maybe this was triggered by talking to recent high school graduates (congrats to my SnL graduates!) about college and where they're going/what they're studying/who they're rooming with, etc. 

I don't miss much of the academic aspect of college...although I did get to know a lot of people better through study groups so I guess I miss academics in that sense.  I miss having friends live next door or on the floor above or below me.  I miss being able to hang out whenever and where ever because sleep deprivation was the norm and we could still function in a non-zombie sort of way the next day even with only a few hours of sleep (or no sleep at all!).  I miss not being bound by the responsibilities of being a working professional (although I have to admit that it is nice to have steady income...but that's more important now that we have grown up things to think about...like mortgages and 401k).  I miss those late night Gen APA practices at Angell hall and 3am Jimmy Johns or Pizza House calls.  I miss going on spring break trips to Searchmont to snowboard or Miami to hang out at Coconut Grove.  I miss the spontaneity of life, where as now, even a simple dinner has to be planned a few weeks beforehand because everyone is so busy with work, family, church, etc.

*sigh*....to be young again...
To all the SnL graduates...congrats!!  and enjoy your college years.  it goes by VERY quickly!

I am working from Canada (again) this week.  Instead of going out to eat tonight, I decided to get some take out and just eat in the hotel room.  I've been sitting in front of the computer and TV for the past 3.5 hours, uploading some pictures onto FB and watching Friends, Two and a Half Men, Master of Dance, and Jon & Kate plus 8.  I haven't watched TV that I've wanted to watch in a while.  Usually I'll watch whatever Pat is watching on TV...but usually I get annoyed because he loves to channel surf whe he gets bored of something...and it's usually at the point where I find something is interesting.

Anyways, Jon and Kate plus 8...unbelievable.  Talk about handful...
Their kids are really cute though.
Right now they are showing an episode where Jon got hair transplants...
It's pretty graphic...gross....but I don't know why I just keep watching.

Anyways, I don't really have anything of importance to write about...
It's been such a nice and quiet evening of doing nothing...
Normally I feel like I'm wasting time when I'm not being productive...
but it was kind of nice tonight.
This was good though because I have a hectic few days of work coming up.

Back to Jon & Kate plus 8...

my parents have always worked in the restaurant business so they never really plunged into this age of technology like most people have because it wasn't necessary to keep the business going.  they still use the good old brain to add up bills (and it's because of the restaurant that I can calculate tax for whatever in my head!) and to do simple mathematics.  we don't have a computer system at work to take orders or put orders in the kitchen...that's all still manually done. 

at home, however, my parents have ventured into the world of computers.  mostly for checking on their stocks and for reading chinese news.  they've been slowly learning to use the internet, but for convenience, my brother has all their favorite sites bookmarked. 

with chrissy's recent move, we signed my mom up for a hotmail account so that she could sign onto msn and talk to chrissy via webcam.  unfortunately the laptop we handed down to chrissy doesn't work that well so no web cam conversations.  but, not to let the new email address go to waste, my mom edited her NWA information and included her email in her profile because she has an email now.  so if you went and looked at my mom's inbox, it has about 20 different emails from NWA. 

i recently started emailing my mom some information on different things because i've been working on canada so sometimes it's easier to just forward her some information.  she knows how to read her emails, but never replied.  i recently taught her how to reply to emails and the other night she asked me how she can compose a brand new email.  it was so cute watching her type using her one index-finger-making-circles-in-the-air-to-find-the-right-letter method.  i'm so proud of her for learning!  next step, teaching her how to IM!

Jabbawockeez.
Wow!