My gas tank holds at least 11.4 gallons

I've had my car since 2005. I fill it every couple of weeks, usually right after the gas light comes on.

I filled it up today and got an all time high - 11.4 gallons! It's the little things, and until today, I thought it was closer to 11.25. Yes, I could probably read the manual to see just how many gallons it can hold, but isn't this more fun?

Secret!

I have 2 secrets to share with you.

1. Have you ever typed an email in outlook and tried to include a link? Copy, paste, then BLAST! The link didn't turn blue and get underlined - it won't link!!! Now what? Well, put carrots at either end i.e. <> It'll turn that puppy into a link!

2. I get gas at costco. Why? It's cheap and it's 2 minutes from my house - 1 minute if you catch the lights right. Anyhow...did you know that you can go on either side of the pump? Yep, the pump is long enough to reach all the way around your car. Maybe it's a California thing, but nobody knows this! I feel like such a cheater. I pull up to costco and there are lines for all of the cars with tanks on the left (mine is on the left as well). I pass them all and pull into a right side filling station. I'm done before any of the other cars are close to pulling in. Awesome!

I'm bad at remembering dates...

That's why I can't remember birthdays. I'm sneaking this in, before midnight on the east coast. So technically, not late yet.

Kelly and I met in college....didn't really hit it off. I was a year older and we met while in TLHC - Terry/Lander Hall Council. Bad ass.

We were working the root beer kegger - where we served root beer floats and root beer in keg cups. If you know me, you know I don't like messes - especially the sticky kind. While Kelly and I were serving, she was dripping root beer and her hands were a sticky mess. I tried to encourage her to stay a little clean....she thought I didn't like her. We now laugh about it, and she does everything she can to help make sure my hands aren't sticky.

Here's a little timeline of our friendship.

Kelly is the entire reason I've gotten involved with Relay for Life. Her passion rubbed off on me. The first Relay I participated in required a sign. And I love to make signs. So Kelly requested a sign, and she kept me company while I painted this crazy large sign in the Lander 5 lounge.

At the RA banquet we wore matching t-shirts. Mine labeled me a nerd - there was also Geek, Dork and Kelly (because she's one of a kind).

I think Kelly took me as her date to Les Mis. I think we both bawled our eyes out. Good times.

There are 2 pictures where we all look good, and this one. And I love it. It really catches the essence of who we all were. This was our Lander reunion - when I finally stopped living in the dorms and had a place we could "party." And by party, I mean taco bar.

Funny story. Kelly knew Nick through me. When Kelly needed a place to stay in DC, she stayed at Nick's. Then Kelly offered for Nick to come to NY with her and stay with our old boss, Katie. Confused yet? In any case, Kelly got Nick to pose with the bull in the financial district. Nick hates posing for anything....let alone a bull with massive cajones. Point, Kelly!

Then there was this long stretch of time where I didn't see Kelly. And then we met up during the summer of 2009 for the epic Disney World Trip. We ate until we were stuffed and Kelly posed with her coke cups at Epcot.

Kelly also visited me in SF...but Picasa is being lame and I can't upload the picture to the blog right now. Bah!

Nick and I visited Kelly while in DC for a wedding. She let us stay at her place and even met us one night for Thai. Again, Kelly was able to get Nick to pose - pretending to drink a beer so I could have an "action" shot.

And our mini reunion plus Sarah.

When we heard Glee was coming to LA, we HAD to go. And of course, we HAD to go to Disneyland. This time Zach was able to join us!

And whenever I Relay, I think of Kelly. So I thought about Kelly all day Saturday and until 9AM on Sunday. Then I promptly forgot about her and her birthday. Awesome friend. I know. Hopefully this makes up for it! Happy Birthday!

I know, I'm ending with a picture of me, Lisa and Nick....but it's a picture from Relay. Go with it.

Relay for Life - Livermore Style

It was much cooler this year. Only 85.

At the end of the day I totaled 30 miles....not too shabby. I'm really sore right now, so I'm definitely paying for it. Ran miles 26 and 27 at 2:30AM.....because it honestly felt better than walking.

Slightly delirious from the lack of sleep and sun burn. But all in all, it was an absolute success!

Here are some pics and commentary from the event.

Misting station. This was clutch in dealing with the heat. Although I partly blame it for my sunburn. It rinsed all my sunscreen off. I have a WICKED burn. OOps.

At about 11PM. Still happy and smiley. Nick showed up at 3PM with slurpees. OMG, I've never been happier to have frozen sugar in my system. He came back around 11PM and walked with us for a little, then peaced out for the bed.

No pictures from the night....too many other things to think about. Like walking straight, keeping track

of miles etc.

Dawn. So pretty. We had achieved 30 miles by about 6:30AM....after a much needed nap from 3:30-4:30AM.

Breakfast provided by the elks or lions club...some animal that people hunt in the midwest.

Pancakes and sausage never tasted so good.

Here's my team (minus a few)! They did an awesome job!

Thanks to everyone for their support. And if you'd still like to make a donation, it's not too late. Do it for my right leg - which is currently very sore :-)

How Southwest broke my heart

Alas, the honeymoon period is over. To be fair, it lasted longer than most.

Many of you know Southwest as the airline that "herds cattle." Why? Well, Southwest doesn't assign seats. Instead, you get a letter and a number. A/B/C 1-60. A1 is awesome land and C60 is the worst possible thing ever. I shudder to think of the poor sap with a C60.

The elusive A pass. Specifically A1-A30, but A31-60 isn't awful either. It's the stuff dreams are made of. Your pick of the plane and plenty of room for that carry on roller bag - you know the one - it's way too big but you're bringing it on anyways!

The way you get a "good" pass is by checking in precisely 24 hours before your flight. 24 hrs and 10 minutes - screwed! It's a crazy neurotic game and people have even written computer code to check them in automatically.

I fly Southwest quite a bit for work. As a result, I have achieved "Rapid Rewards A-List Membership." It's the equivalent of Gold status or Platinum status or whatever else you want to call it. I THOUGHT it meant that I got an A-Pass as long as I checked in well enough before the flight (12-24hrs).

HA! I check in for my 2:30 flight at 6PM and got a B29. WTF?! I thought my world had come crashing down. I'm not B list! Since I was on travel and had nothing better to do with my time, I called Southwest to see what was going on.

Here's how the conversation went:

SW: Hello.....welcome to SW.....how may I help you....you know the drill.

B: Hi, I have A-List status and I just checked in for my flight and got B29.

SW: Hmm, that's strange, you should have gotten an A. Let me look into that. Can I have your confirmation code?

B: Thanks. Here it is XXXXX

SW: Yes, it looks like you got B29.

B: Yes. But I thought I should get an A.

SW: Maybe next time you should check in earlier.

B: But I thought A-List meant I got an A pass as long as I checked in at a reasonable time before my flight.

SW:

SW: It says "Most likely an A"

B: Well, that's a little unclear.

SW: Can I help you with anything else?

B: No.

SW: Thanks and have a nice day.

So I got B29. Did I mention my flight to ABQ was delayed 2.5 hrs and my flight coming home was delayed 1.5hrs? I did I mention that I have 3 roundtrip vouchers that we can't seem to use because all the dates are blocked?

Don't get me wrong SW has an excellent cancellation policy and almost everything seems to fly for free (except pets). But I'm through the honeymoon stage, and have moved on to the "flaws" stage. Hopefully soon we (SW and I) will work out our differences and become a more harmonious pair. But for now, I'm peeved.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

Ever had one of those days? I just had one. Here's how it went:

1. Had to work in Albuquerque (1 hour ahead)

2. Got to work a little before 7AM (felt like a little before 6AM)

3. Nothing went right.

4. Thought we were going to be able to leave at 3:30 - was going to go buy some candy for my friend Lisa.

5. Ended up staying until 5:15PM - no fudge! Blast!

6. Got to the hotel and went to the gym. TV didn't work and the AC was broken.

7. Elevation made me feel like I was out of shape. Boo!

8. Ordered room service - Chicken Florentine.

9. Room service was not good at all. Ate the salad and the roll and 2 bites of dinner.

10. Went to put the tray outside the door. Door shuts on me. Locking me out. In my pajamas, with NO socks.

11. Have to walk to the front desk for a key.

12. Lone front desk lady is talking to a hotel guest about nothing important (how do I know? the conversation lasted about 5 minutes....and I can tell you, it wasn't anything important). Finally I get a key. Go back to my room and watch Toddler and Tiaras.

Turned out Nick lost 30 games of Dr. Mario - in a row - also that same night. What's going on?

The highs and lows of being small

There are some definite benefits of being small. I'm not gonna lie. The question is whether the good outweighs the bad.

GOOD

1. You can buy children's shoes and clothes. Cheaper? Yes! But you have to sift through the hello kitty, sparkles and Hannah Montana. And put up with the funny looks from sales people.

2. You fit in small places. Like an airplane seat. I can go "criss-cross-apple-sauce" in an airplane seat. Can you?

3. No one ever says "wow, you're really tall." Thus perpetuating some strange "giant" complex you may or may not be self-conscious about.

4. Pants are never short enough...but at least you can hem them. Bummer for the tall girls.

BAD

1. You get mistaken for 16 year olds. Although....it's more of a compliment these days I suppose.

2. You attract large people. What do I mean by this? Remember how I said that I fit well in airplane seats? Well, on southwest, where you can pick your seat, I often find myself next to very LARGE people. They look at me and think, "she's small, I can spill into her seat a little and she probably won't mind." I mind. Once it was so bad that the flight attendant offered me free drinks.

3. Your feet don't touch the ground while sitting in most chairs. Not too big of a problem....except on planes. Long plane rides make my knees hurt. I need a stool!

4. Picked last for basketball, volleyball....who am I kidding. I'm not athletic.

5. My stomach is smaller. I can't eat as much. But I sure do try!

6. I can't reach 1/4 of the shelves in the kitchen. Nick puts things up high. He calls it job security. In order to get the cereal down, I use kitchen tongs. No joke. They're a very versatile tool.

2 extra inches is all I'm asking for. 5'2" sounds so much better than 5' and a little.

A little bit much?

So Nick has a blog. It's the exact opposite of mine. He researches and has social commentary etc. I just write down random crap that comes out of my head. If you read the blogs, you'd have no idea we were even remotely similar.

In any case. Nick had a blog post the other day and he talked about the pledge of allegiance.

All fine and dandy.

And then he had a MONSTROUS response from tinnyray. I'm all about responses, so I was all over this one. I just love it. It's so long and detailed. And you learn so much while reading it.

I long for the day when I've blogged about such a controversial item that someone leaves me a page long comment. But I'm pretty sure Trapeze School, Mochi and London aren't going to get me there anytime soon.

Walking on the right?

I forgot to post my observation of London/UK. I made lots of observations but found this one most interesting.

They drive on the left. Right. BUT they walk on the right and people pass on the left. WTF! How confusing is that?! It's a miracle I didn't die in that country! J/K.

But they seriously have the whole "pass on the left" thing down. The underground system is accessed by LONG escalators. People are soooo good about standing to the right and passing on the left. Way better at it than we are....and we have the added benefit of also driving on the right.

Toy Story 3

I.Love.Disney.Movies.

We saw Toy Story 3 on Sunday and it was awesome. Arguably more awesome than 1 and 2 (combined!).

I got choked up a few times.

Now, the creepy bear and doll were a bit much for me, but otherwise I enjoyed the new characters. Including the crazy Ken doll!

My all time favorite is Beauty and the Beast, but my favorite Pixar movie would have to be Toy Story (1, 2 or 3). I mean, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen? If you threw Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, it would be UNBEATABLE!

Happy Tuesday!

Bruised

While we were at the trapeze class, Nick started to hurt. The instructor says to him, "Enjoy it, it's gonna hurt a lot more tomorrow."

Awesome. And what do you know. These little gems showed up on my legs within a few hours. I'm not a bruiser....I've taken line drives to my legs and had baseball seam scar but no brusie.

They don't look too bad on camera, and I can still walk just fine. But I'm interested to see how I feel in the morning. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

UPDATE: Woke up this morning and could barely move my upper body. Good workout!

Silly useless human tricks

I secretly want to join the circus.

Not really, but I always thought it would be fun to try the trapeze. Someone from work was also interested and organized a group of us to take a trapeze class at a place in Oakland. Yes, that's right. Trapeze school exists.

It was pretty crazy. Within 15 minutes we were up on the platform swinging, hooking our legs on the bar and then dismounting. By the end we had successfully backflipped off the bar and performed a catch with another instructor.

4 of the 5 of us were able to do it all. Pretty awesome! I'm pretty sure I will hurt in places I didn't know existed. The backs of my knees are already a little sore.

The scariest part was climbing the rickety old ladder to the platform. Pretty sure it doesn't comply with any sort of codes. After you make it to the top, they strap you in and let you go.

The video turned out a little grainy, but all in all, I think you'll get the idea. I'd recommend it - at least once. I'm ready to go back....Nick says he'll come and watch :-)

I knew it!

I've got a small chip on my shoulder.

You may recall my gripe with Seattle Cops and the jaywalking incident back in college.

Well, if you haven't seen the news....Seattle cops are nuts about jaywalking! Yes, yes, the girl shoved the police officer to begin with. However, I bet he was being unreasonable about the jaywalking. Just saying :-)

Sightseeing

Stace trying on the battle hat.

And testing out a cross bow.

Armor....huh....

The rest of the pictures with commentary.

London 2010

How does this room work?

I've been in a range of European hotel rooms.

Here are my observations about the one in Reading.

The Brits must be very careful shower-ers. Why? Take a look at the picture. This is the tub. There is HALF of a glass door on the tub. Kinda weird.....keeps your backside a little chilly while showering. Also notice the small gap between the bottom edge of the shower "door" and the top edge of the tub. Yeah.....perfect for water to get through. I was standing in lake Erie after I got out of the tub. The next few showers were facilitated by a towel shoved inside the gap.

And then there were the lights. So typically, you walk into a room and flip the light switch. Right? So I get inside the room and flip the switch. Nothing. I tried every switch in the room. Still nothing. WTF? Is this a faulty room? Is there one big master switch? Finally, I notice this weird card reader thingy by the door. Sure enough. Pop the room card in the reader and voila. Now all the light switches work. A little heads up would have been great.

When I say VERY.....

You say OLD!

VERY _____!

VERY _____!

You get the idea. While in Reading - 45 minutes outside of London - we stumbled upon a very old church. Est. 979.

The church also had a cemetery with tomb stones that were flat on the ground (vs the ones that stand up). This meant that a lot of the tomb stones had worn away and you couldn't tell what had been engraved on them.

What do you wear to work?

This is what I wore while in the UK.

I only had to wear it on site while walking around....so the cars wouldn't run me over. I could take it off while inside.

Stay to the left

This was my job as navigator. In addition to navigating the somewhat confusing streets of the United Kingdom, I was also in charge of yelling "Stay to the left." Because in the UK, they drive in opposite land.

Let me start out by saying that I survived. My travel companion was Alex - a co worker from New Mexico. We emailed back and forth about this trip several times, trying to coordinate hotel, flights, cars etc. Most emails went something like:

B: "We should get GPS and an automatic....that's what all the other people at work say."

A: "We should be ok. I'll print out maps."

So after a few back and forths, I let Alex do what he wanted. I didn't want to drive, so as the driver, he got to make the final call. A manual and NO GPS.

Think about it. They drive on the left, the driver sits on the right......so the shifter is in your left hand. WHAT?! To be fair, Alex was an excellent driver. But we both agreed that an automatic and GPS would be standard for any future trips.

So why is it so tough to drive in the UK? Besides the fact that it's opposite land? Roundabouts! And I'm not talking about roundabout like that one in front of Sunset Elementary in Issaquah. These roundabouts are so big you can't see the other side, sometimes you don't even know you're in one until you start rounding. Directions are given in "# of rondabouts." Go through 3 roundabouts and take the 3rd exit.

By the end of the trip we had figured it out. I'd tell him how many degrees until the exit - "enter the roundabout and exit at the 270 degree mark." Thankfully we are both science-y people....so this lingo worked.

It's also crazy to drive in the UK because 1 wrong turn can cost you 20 minutes. It's impossible to turn yourself around. We missed an exit and the next one wasn't for 8 miles. Oops.

We also went down a number of 1 lane, country, gravel-y rounds. Good times.

And the speed limits are way too fast. 50 down a road barely wider than your car, hair pin turns. I thought I was going to die on multiple occasions.

Thankfully, I'm still alive.

London

I was in the UK for 7 days - some for work, some for fun. I had a great time and even got to hang with my sis, Stace for a few days.

I'll be blogging about my trip over the next few days. But here is a quick recap - I might expand on these subjects later this week.

1. Driving on the other side of the road is scary shit. I wasn't even the driver....and I'm glad I wasn't. But hey, I'm still alive. Win.

2. Everything is brilliant!

3. English tea = black tea + milk + sugar

4. Don't eat the black pudding - keep in mind that this is a breakfast item

5. "Pop the trunk" = "Open the boot"

6. Someone actually referred to someone else as "strong as an ox" - and I think they meant it

7. Nothing sounds bad with a British accent

8. Museums in London are free - but Westmister Abbey costs an arm and a leg.....what would god say about this?

9. They sell puppies at Harrods.

10. To get around, you use an oyster card. The best part was that it came in an ikea carrying case. What? Awesome. I know.

Retainerless

I have a confession.

I still wear my retainer. Why? Well, I have straight teeth and I want to keep it that way. Duh.

Since I got my retainer in 10th grade, I've never gone more than a night or 2 without it. In fact, it has now gotten to a point where I have difficulty sleeping without it. Weird. I know. So you can imagine my horror when I got to Seattle last Thursday and realized I had forgotten it in CA. I was headed straight to London from Seattle......10+ days retainerless.

I'm now back home....and my teeth aren't crooked. But you better believe I'll be wearing it again tonight.

Back

I get back from London today.....better posts to follow. I'm jet lagged (or I will be when I land).

Friends

The best part about being a kid was having a birthday. I think this was my 2nd birthday.

This is my buddy Adam. We actually ended up going to middle school and high school together.

I love this shirt. It says - I want to be formal, but I'm here to party.






















This is my other friend, Annie. We did a lot of things together and eventually bumped into each other in college - and learned we had a handful of mutual friends. What a small world!

Seeing the fam

So in a matter of 1 week, I've seen my entire immediate family - Mom, Dad, Auntie Gayle, Erin and Tara in Seattle/Issaquah. Saw Auntie Gayle, Erin and Tara while on a run. Erin was washing her car. Random!

Seeing Stace in London. Haven't seen her since December, so it makes sense that I'd travel half way around the world to say hello.

We'll be in London when England is playing the US during the world cup. Should be awesome.

Dangela getting married

Our good friends Dan and Angela got married this past Saturday in Seattle. It was an awesome wedding at the Arctic Club downtown. Beautiful, fun and all around good time!

We're getting lapped. That's right. Lapped. People are now meeting, dating, getting engaged and getting married....all in the time we've been dating. Meh. What can you do.

On a side note, Dan had one the best - best men. His name is Blake and I'm pretty sure he's Japanese - perhaps why he is so awesome?

The kid planned the bachelor party and used an excel spreadsheet. He planned enough details to make the weekend flow but wasn't OCD about.

Then there was the best man speech. I've heard some pretty awful/awkward speeches before, never anything worth writing about....but Blake used....get ready for it....a powerpoint presentation. Incredible. It was well organized, witty with a touch of sentimentality (is that a word?).

In any case, the wedding was awesome. Oh, BTW - Blake's dad can CUT IT UP! Awesome.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

We rented "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" the other day.

Nick vaguely remembered the book...but asked if it was a chapter book....no.

It was very cute, the nerdy kid figures out how to make it rain cheeseburgers (and later spaghetti w/ meatballs, pancakes, ice cream etc).

Have you seen this movie? Did it make you physically uncomfortable when all the cheeseburgers hit the ground and fell apart? I was really bothered by it. I get it, they can't stay together, but AHHH, that's just not right. So messy! I just wanted to jump in and pick them back up and put them on plates.

The BP Oil thing

So, I'm writing this on Memorial day - yes,yes - call it what you will, I don't actually blog everyday. I blog a lot on certain days and then time the blogs to publish each day. And since I'm headed out for 2 weeks of (almost) uninterrupted travel (Albuquerque, Seattle, UK), I'm building a buffer.

I hope that by the time you read this the BP oil spill disaster has been cleaned up and they have successfully stopped the oil. But at the moment (Memorial day/last Monday etc), that is not the case and I am wondering how this could have happened.

You'd think that BP would have some sort of "Plan B" (and C and D for that matter) for disaster-like problems. They should employ a team of smart people to just think about solutions and test them out. Gas is expensive, so they can afford to pay big bucks to smart people. But maybe they had such a high safety factor that it precluded the need for a Plan B (clearly not high enough...).

Let's say BP doesn't have any smart people working for them (perhaps evidenced by their inability to solve the problem....but I digress) - they should have contacted every major smart person establishment and had everyone start brainstorming ways to stop the problem as soon as possible. It's probability - the more ideas, the higher the probability of finding a good one.

It just seems like there has got to be a better solution that sopping up the oil with leftover hair.

I don't want to call anyone a "Cheater".....

But let's be honest, is it reasonable for a person to run 890 miles over 30 days? That's 29.67 miles per day.

That's how many miles the "winner" of the nike+ challenge ran. This was that thing I signed up for last month to try and get a spot in the sold out Nike Women's Marathon. The top 100 runners get to buy a spot in the race

It's not like I'm #101 - so it doesn't really bug me, I just find it interesting. If he/she really did run 30ish miles a day, good for him/her! I just don't feel like it's all that humanly possible. But maybe that's just me. #100 averaged 5 miles a day. Still more than I'm capable of. So I don't personally feel cheated.

Better luck next time.

SatC

Sex and the City opened last Friday and I went with my friend Caresse and her sister, Aubrey.

What can I say? I got into it during grad school, watching reruns on TBS. I stopped watching any episode with Aiden because it made me ill to know that she would eventually cheat on him.

But hey, it's fun to see all the expensive outfits and determine which character you're most like - a mix of Miranda and Charlotte for me...I think.

It was a fun movie if you enjoyed the TV show...but if you didn't, you're probably not going to like the movie.

Bathroom Planning

I want to provide some suggestions for improved public restrooms.

1. When vacant, stall doors should not swing shut. They should swing to the ajar position. Why? It will help new restroom patrons determine which stalls are being used and which are empty.

2. There shouldn't be any "hidden" stalls. You know the ones. You're patiently waiting in line for the restroom when a stall finally opens. As you walk towards the stall you see another stash of stalls hidden, around the corner that are completely vacant?! WTF! How'd anyone expect you to see those?

3. They should be designed for quick entrance/exit - even when there is a line - because there's always gonna be a line at some point.

4. Install a dyson hand dryer. Because Mr. Dyson is a genius and his hand dryers rock.

5. If you are designing restrooms at the airport, double the size of everything. Because (almost) everyone will be rolling a suitcase with them. Make the aisles wider and make the stalls twice as deep. Have you ever walked into a stall with a rolling suitcase? Only to realize you can't actually shut the door because the suitcase is in your way? So you shimmy to the side of the toilet, scoot your bag as close as you can and barely get the door closed. Or is that just me?

Anyways, I don't think it would be all that difficult. I just like efficiency and a lot of restrooms aren't efficient.

What do YOU wear to a country music concert?

Some people wear jeans and a t-shirt - me - others wear grey skinny jeans tucked into cowboy boots with a white western shirt. I didn't see him from the front, but I bet we also had a really big belt buckle. But I do have one question, where's the hat?

Shoreline Amphitheater

So I have a beef with Shoreline Amphitheater. It's located in Mountain View in the heart of the google-plex. Any BIG name performs here. We've seen Jimmy Buffet, Brooks and Dunn and Time Mcgraw.

It is the most poorly designed venue I've ever visited. It can hold up to 22,000 people and should only take us 49 minutes between our house and the parking lot.

And anyone who has been there knows it's a horrible horrible lie.

From the freeway to the parking lot is less than 1 mile. But it took 35+ minutes from the freeway off ramp to the parking lot and another 15 minutes from the parking lot to the venue.

It was so bad that Nick and I said to each other "If we'd known the traffic was going to be this bad, we would have just stayed at home."

We got to the lawn just in time for Lady Antebellum - luckily the opener had an opener. We had aimed to be at Shoreline at 6:15 for a 7PM show...instead we were at our seats at 7:15. Only an hour later than anticipated. Luckily the headliner - Tim Mcgraw - didn't start until 9PM - barf - so we were actually VERY early.

The concert was great, but Shoreline should really figure this out. BTW - they don't allow grills for tailgating and you also can't have alcohol.

Bah!

London

I should be headed to London next Sunday. A few days for work and 2 for sight seeing. If you've been, what would you suggest I see?

I don't like museums - well, I like them....but so far my favorite museum has been the Heineken museum in Amsterdam - yes, it's a museum. Does that make me uncultured? No, I go to the ballet :-)

The British Museum is free, so that is the museum I will visit.

I'll also be visiting platform 9 and 3/4. Why? If you have to ask, you wont think it's cool.

Ok, best places to visit before I leave next Sunday. Thanks!

Google Analytics

I recently signed up for google analytics. I added it to my blog and it keeps track of page views, visits etc. One of the cool features is a map that shows where my visitors are visiting from.

Here's a review of the stats since May 25th (keep in mind that 10 visits could be 1 person visiting 10 times)

1. United States 159

2. Italy 7

3. India 6

4. Canada 5

5. Malaysia 4

6. Australia 2

7. Germany 2

8. Turkey 2

9. Brazil 2

10. Pakistan 1

Here is map of the US, the darker the color the more visits I received!

Top 10

10. Nevada 2

9. Maryland 2

8. Tennessee 2

7. DC 2

6. Pennsylvania 2

5. North Carolina 3

4. Ohio 12

3. Virginia

2. California

1. Washington

While it might be a little stalkerish - it's also kinda cool. Hope this doesn't keep anyone from visiting! And if you feel comfortable sharing where you're from, I'd love to put a few faces to the map dots!