ryssee's world

Yep it´s my birthday today. 29 for the 12th time, if I{m counting correctly. However, since I´m still on vacation I pretty much got to ignore it, other than to say frequently, "It´s my birthday, I can do whatever I want!" And, sing to the tune of It{s My Birthday (I Can Cry if I Want To)" stuff like "It´s my birthday I can eat if I want to, drink if I want to, shop if I want to!" or "wear hats if I want to" or "not shower if I want to" So, today, I had one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern. Balanced an egg and saw water flow counterclockwise (north of EQ), clockwise(south of EQ) , and straight down (exactly on the equator). Very cool to see the earth´s magnetic pull that way. Also, you are about 4 lbs lighter on the equator. LOL I need that with the 9000 foot altitude and bloating! The actual equator monument missed the mark by about 170 yards but was cool to visit. Not bad considering it was built a couple ...

We're off for a couple weeks to see some really cool stuff in Peru and Ecuador!

...but twice in one lifetime... (Thanks for the pics, boston.com!)

My cousin Kim at The Gav Menagerie tagged me, so here I go. Oh and check out her blog, she's one of the most entertaining writers (and bloggers) I've read, and it's not just 'cause she's my cousin. First, the rules: 1. Each player answers the questions about themselves. 2. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment letting them know they've been tagged and to ask them to play along and to read your blog. Five things I was doing 10 years ago
: 1. Living in Natick, MA, with one of my best friends, and working an hour away in Peabody 2. Just getting back from a trip to England 3. Getting promoted at work 4. Meeting up with Kim again I think? Who I knew from work, but she became another best friend this time around. And we all started going to the beach wayyyy to often without sunscreen. 5. Getting ready to turn 30. Five things on my to-do list today :
 1. Planning how much work ...

I want one of these. It's a proton collider. Not sure why I want it, but isn't this picture cool? Photo courtesy of www.newyorktimes.com. Here's the freaky article, if you want to read it. Just imagine all the dumb office dares you could do with it.

My friend Chris from UMass had a cool idea. He wrote a blog post and Google-mapped all the places he's ever lived. Unfortunately he tagged me to do the same! So here goes. If you click on the links to see the maps, just use the back button to get back to the post. They used to pop up in new windows but I don't see that I can select that feature anymore. Oh well. From birth until age 18: Shore Drive, Pittsfield, MA What kid doesn't wanna grow up near the lake? The college years +1 extra year living in Amherst 1986-87 Brown dormitory, UMass with my friend Pam from high school 1987-1989 Dickenson dormitory, UMass also with Pam. That's where I met Chris who tagged me to do this post! Summer of 1988- Store Street, London England I worked at a pub that summer, just outside of Charing Cross Station. this is the year I met my BMF Dave, who was here for a few days visiting a few weeks ago. 89-90 Cliffside Apartments with my friends Chris, Jayne, and Jen. Good time...

From www.survivinggrady.com: "Details are still a bit sketchy but the bottom line is this: the Red Sox players took a stand to protect their "extended family" of coaches and trainers. It appears there was a dispute on whether or not coaches and members of the training staff would be paid the same $40,000 stipend for the trip to Japan that the players will receive. Terry Francona and the players believed that would be the case, but news contradicting that was reported yesterday. When word filtered down to the Red Sox players, they unanimously voted to boycott today's spring training game as well as the entire Japan trip if the dispute wasn't resolved. Within and hour, their demands were evidently met. No doubt there are spin doctors working their magic to come up with a plausible story about the whole thing being a simple misunderstanding. Damage control. Whatever happens, it won't take away from what the Red Sox did as a team today to show their support to th...