Sitting here, yet again, wondering when I'm going to decide to waste $28 dollars (is that plus tax and shipping?), because I know the person who owns copies of the images I want isn't going to get them to me in any timely manner, and I doubt I can hold off my want for them until the end of May to scan them myself.

Then while looking at the pictures, the computer programmer suddenly realized how to get them now.... Duh.

Hey, sometimes I never figure out the simple answer, it has to be told to me.

Extinct: Andaman tribe’s extermination complete as last member dies

Which I found via the AOL News article Ancient Tribe Goes Extinct as Last Member Dies:

Marking the end of a language and an entire people, the last member of the Bo, an ancient tribe that lived in the Andaman Islands, has died.

When Boa Sr, as she was known, died last week, she was believed to be about 85 years old. Her husband had died years beforehand, and Boa, whose name means "land" or "earth" in the Bo language, had no children.

I remember the 2004 pictures of the Sentinelese tribesmen (not the Bo tribe, but another one of the Great Andamanese) that shot arrows at a passing helicopter. At the time it was believed an unknown tribe had accidentally been uncovered. It turned out that wasn't the case, but it was a find of more people from the ancient tribe who still lived and possibly even believed as their ancestors did.

I remember thinking how amazing it was, that something from so far in humanity's past - how we lived pre-civilization - still exists today! I remember the urge to want to protect them somehow. And the conflicting urge to want to help theoretically "better" their lives by bringing them modern medicine and knowledges. I still haven't personally resolved which would be better for them, though I believe it would be better for the world to let them exist without any interference. So we can learn from them instead of the other way around, and thereby learn about our past and ourselves.

The loss of any tribe, any peoples of the world, is sad. Perhaps even a tragedy as the loss of so many Native Americans on our own continent.

So I received an e-mail yesterday from Blogger that they are shutting down FTP updating of blogs. Meaning my blog can no longer be hosted on my own website (as a subdirectory) and use Blogger. Unfortunate. I understand their reason why: So few Blogger users use the FTP function and it's a pain to maintain. So I'm not upset, I'm just a tad bit bummed. It means I need to migrate to another blogging tool, and I really don't need another TODO on my list. Ah well. I did an itty-bit of research today and have decided I'll be going to WordPress, the installed on my own site version. Hopefully I can maintain the same RSS/Atom feeds so I don't have to update LiveJournal (which will cost money to do) and Facebook too.

Now to do the install... someday... before March 20th.

But hey! Maybe it will let me out different templates on each of the different category pages?

So there were big pretty show flakes in the sky yesterday. So nice!

I went out for a walk in it 'cause we were only supposed to get slightly more than a dusting and I haven't been able to get out and enjoy the snow this winter hardly yet. Mostly due to there not being much snow this year (*sigh*) and because the very few times there has been I've either been at work/home late or too tired/busy with family to go play in the snow. I think I also missed one snowing while I was in MA, but it snowed there so I was cool. I made it out once to make a snow angel and step HI! in the snow (and then a couple days later when a new layer of snow covered it!), and shoveled my 1/4 of the road once. But I haven't been able to make a snowman at all this year. :p Only one snowfall has actually been snowman-able and I missed being able to get out in it.

Anyway, it kept snowing yesterday - more than predicted! Even though I wanted to get out at home after I shoveled the stairs, I was hungry and then too tired to do so. So I did this morning because it was still snowing! I figured I should while I had the chance, 'cause I might not get another one, and the snow might not be around when I get get off work. Glad I did, I might be right!

I shoveled the driveway, stairs (again!), part of the road, then made a baby snowman!, then finished up my 1/4 of the road. So good :) Especially because it wasn't really cold out either. I was able to kinda kneel in the snow without freezing, and my hands didn't get cold through my gloves as ususal. We only got _maybe_ an inch over all, probably more like 1/2 inch. But it was so pretty to see falling yesterday and this morning. I'm very glad I went out in it before work and got to make the little snowman, 'cause very shortly after I got to work the snow stopped and the trees already have lost the snow.

Anyway, I should finish rambling. I love winter! (Even if my heating bill is over $300... *arg* makes it hard)

Labels: Weather

Remember to dance with your children. Like how you dance when no one's watching.

Hello All Again,

Well, the big news this year is of course the new house! People keep telling me how large it is, and I know it's very pretty, part of why I liked it. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a family room and a living room, and a kitchen full of wood! It's also only 20 years old. But the best part to me is that it's actually in Ann Arbor! I've been bicycling to work most days, until it started snowing in December. Now I take the bus that stops in front of my neighbor's house. I have wonderful neighbors behind and in front of me too. Despite fighting a persistent leaky toilet, a broken shower pipe, and the furnace dying and needing to be replaced just a few weeks after I bought the place, things have been good. Halloween was so much fun to decorate for! And the place looks beautiful for Christmas too! Pictures online: www.jennifersuniverse.com/gallery/

But a lot happened this year before the house, and a couple things since. First, my family got together and threw me a big 30th birthday party. It was wonderful! Friends, family, and lots of kids! We played childhood games like wonder ball, pin the cork on the wine bottle, egg racing, and toy car rolling. And of course there was karaoke. Also a time of sharing where I babbled a lot, and later people came up and said wonderful things about what my future holds. A very good time!

Then I had a cancer scare with my thyroid. But thankfully it turned out to be nothing.

Next up, I interviewed perspective students for Harvard College this year. What an amazing experience! I interviewed eight teens, and one was even accepted.

I called this the year of medical issues. For in the Spring I had problems with my vision and vertigo. Turned out it was the spray on sun block I was using. Weird!

Then over the summer I had surgery to remove a 4-5cm ovarian cyst. The surgery went very well, thankfully. My Aunt Bonnie, Mom, and Dad all helped me a lot in turn. My recovery was weeks longer than I had been quoted, but I'm doing fine. I remember a lot about the whole experience, more than will fit in this letter. But I want to mention two things that stand out to me. I had some awareness during the surgery, and about ¾ though I realized whomever was sitting with me had been replaced by God. After a while I got worried, because if God was there did that mean I didn't make it? I turned to ask, but as I started to, God pushed me through a door and I woke up. Good answer! Back when I had been prepping for the surgery, I made a list of phone numbers for my Aunt to call once she had news. While putting it together I realized just how many close people I have in my life, and it was a wonderful feeling. I truly am blessed.

Other than a couple trips out to Massachusetts, I only made one "big" trip this year. I drove down to South Carolina in October to visit my new godson and my first godson and their parents. The baby looked JUST like his older brother did, and the older one is now such a sweet blonde 2-year-old terror! Despite lack of sleep, we all had fun!

I also had another godchild born this year, back in May. That makes three godsons and one goddaughter for me! But he and his family moved to California shortly thereafter.

I hope you all had at least as good a year as I have, and wishes for a better one still!

Labels: Year Summaries

High School (so 1993-1996 sometime), two great friends sharing their love of Star Trek, finally record a show they semi-routinely put on for their other best friends, who are giggling behind the camera.

We had planned to send this in to America's Funniest Home Videos, back when Bob Saget was hosting.

I came across this quote on 11/20 (or rather, it was sent to me). Its numbers are more than I would think, but I still like the message:

"We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth." - Virginia Satir

Also, here's the quote of a recent day:

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." - Walt Disney

:)

Labels: Quote of the Day