WOW!!!!

Holy cow!  It has been like SIX months since I last posted.  Egad brain!  Most people in this position would do a long apology about how busy life is and how they haven't had time to do anything, but we all know that's not the case.

I'm just lazy when it comes to doing stuff on the internet.

And other people will then do a month-by-month recap of all the stuff they have done, but I'll just give it to you in ten lines.

The Dark Knight Rises is awesome but I still like the Dark Knight the best of the three
I sprained my left toe right before we went hiking but I still did some hikes in Zions
Grandpa K's backyard is beautiful and you can walk around without fear of cobwebs
I'm an official fan of Doctor Who.  Awesome!
The Legend of Korra was astounding, amazing, and so cool.  I can't wait for the next season
Mandi's home now from Nagoya, Japan.  I got to hang out with her for two weeks in Memphis
Never go to a "Learn Japanese" panel at an anime convention when you are fluent in the language.
We are no longer going to be taking the birds on outreach at work :(
Hiked Blue John's Canyon in March which is where that guy got stuck and cut off his arm
I can finish my story in 5-6 chapters!!!

Yep, that's about it.  Well, not about it, there's a ton more stuff that happened but that's the jist of it.

Here's an awesome picture I feel like sharing.  It's a cat we found on a boat in San Francisco.  Awesome, eh?  It's got a lifejacket!!!

Ooo, that was so much easier to upload than the old version!  Wow!  Maybe I'll start posting more often.

Well, that's all for now.  Until next time.....WAZZAH!!

HI!!! I'M STILL AROUND!!!

Sooo, I just realized that I love my job. Not only do I get to hang out and goof off with kids, but I get to play with animals.

Okay, not so much as play, but I do get to handle them and it makes for quite the every-day adventure. Plus, the Elvish pirate gypsy minion fiend and I have been going on a Lord of the Rings spree. We just finished the Return of the King last night. Amazing.

So, I have some pictures to show!!! Fiend, her hubby, Mom and I went to this Falconry festival that one of the co-worker's husband does. Basically, amateur falconers bring their birds, race them, and then put them in a roped off area for everyone else to check out. It was really cool to walk around and look at all of the different falcons, hawks, and owls. My co-worker's husband brought their golden eagle to show off. That was a magnificent bird. So, here's some pictures of my favorites!This was just a good shot of an adult peregrine falcon.

I love this picture. In the center is a red-tailed hawk trying to fly away, and on the right is a harris hawk face-planting it because its tethered to its perch (like all of the birds).

Here is gyrfalcon, which is the falcon of kings. Meaning, only kings owned this type of raptor.

Here is the golden eagle showing off her wingspan. You can kind of get a good idea of the size of this bird from the picture, but in person....that is one big set of wings.



This is Little Jack, a Richardson's Merlin. he was my favorite and his owner actually let us touch him. He was so cute!

So, yeah, that was the Winterfest. I had a blast.

Long Overdue Like a Birthday Card

Soooo, a lot has happened since I acquired my awesome TMNT pj's back in August. I got a job at The Living Planet Aquarium, which involves me going around to all of the elementary schools and teaching the fourth graders about the water cycle. Although it wasn't exactly what I was looking for, it has some neat benefits. Because the job is with the schools, I get federal holidays off and I get the summers off too. yep, no working during the summer for Jekka. I can hike to my hearts content, and maybe even take a trip to the aquarium in Atlanta.

Why Atlanta? They have whale sharks. ^_^

I summited Mt. Nebo, which is the tallest mountain along the Wasatch front. Here's a couple pictures of that.This is the ridge that takes you to the false summit. The real summit is only 10 feet from that, and this next picture is of me sitting on it. It was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life.
But that's not all!! The unbelievable also happened!!! Check out THESE pictures.....
That's right, my family and I...WE MET DREAM THEATER!!! They came to SLC for a concert last month, and afterwards we noticed a small group of people hanging around some tour buses in the back. So we wandered over there, waited for almost an hour and THEN THE BAND CAME OUT!!! It was like an unexpected dream come true, an item that I didn't consider for my bucket list because I didn't think it would happen. But it did!! I got the signatures of all of the band members on my Train of Thought shirt, which is white so you can see them really good.

Also in September, Kamelot came to SLC and so Mom, Dad, Chris and I went to that. It was loads of fun, but we didn't get to meet the band. And next month, Fair to Midland is coming to Utah!!! yeah, I'm stoked! December 9!!

So, that's the most exciting stuff that has happened. My goats are doing fine. I don't get to see them very much because of work. Lord Byron is behaving himself too. Thank goodness.

Er, yeah, that's about all. Toodles!

TMNT!!!!

So, I was at Wal-Mart today, walking around and being bored while Mom and siblings picked out pants for school, when I saw the awesomest thing ever.....

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pajama pants!!!!

Of course I got them! I saw them at Hot Topic several months ago and wanted to buy them, but they were a whopping $20 and I didn't have that kind of money on me. But at wally's world they were only $14. yeah, I felt happy about it, so I bought them.

Now I have a TMNT t-shirt and pants! ^_^

Harry Potter

Again, it's been several....days. But I've been very busy with grueling trips to San Diego where I tested the salt concentration of the Pacific Ocean at Oceanside beach, and the capacity of the waves to carry a human on a boogeyboard from waist-deep water to the shore. I have to report that it is very probable for the waves to do that, it's just a matter of timing when the boogeyboarder hops on the crest. That's a little more tricky.

And the ocean is salty. Very salty.

Of course, I've seen Harry Potter 7-b (as I call it). I thoroughly enjoyed it although I wanted more Gringots and invisibility cloak. However, it reminded me of a very funny posting I found ages ago on mugglenet.com. So, in the goodness of my heart, I decided to post it on my blog. If anyone should know who it was that orginally wrote it, please let me know because I would love to give them the credit they deserved. It's awesome!!

50 Ways to Annoy Voldemort
(or 50 ways to considerably shorten your lifespan)

1.Ask him why he doesn't have such a cool scar
2. Ask him if he has any grey poupon
3. Wake him up by singing Aretha Franklin's "I will survive...."
4. Greet him in the morning with a sarcastic, "My sir, you look particularly menancing today."
5. Get a pair of finger puppets resembling himself and Harry Potter. Re-enact all of Harry's victories over him in a spectacularly childish way. Be sure to give them both squeaky voices
6. Smile during Death Eater meetings and say you taught him everything he knows
7. Chew bubblegum all the time. Should he address you, your only response will be a series of huge bubbles in succession, the last of which will burst everywhere and make a mess
8. Dance the funky chicken
9. Ask him when was the last time he took a bath
10. Pat him on the head and give him flowers when his plans are foiled yet again
11. If you ever need to say "like taking candy from a baby," be sure to add "Of course, SOME of us might find that harder than others." Stare pointedly at him
12. Play "knock and run" at his bedchamber door every night
13. Call him "The-Man-Who-Let-The-Boy-Live"
14. Ask why the Dark Mark couldn't look like something "more socially acceptable"
15. Insist that you have meet chunks of cheese with more cunning plans than his
16. Pinch him. Make sure he squeals
17. Be cheerful
18. When he tries to impress you with his powers, say, "Awwww, lookit! Voldie's got a twiggle!"
19. Try to teach him to play a mouth organ
20. Roll your eyes during plotting sessions and say things under your breath like, "You're the boss, boss" or "It's your funeral."
21. Teach him how to spit tobacco
22. Taunt him about his middle name. "Marvolo? What's that, a washing detergent?"
23. Keep a good behavior chart. Award points and give out gold stars
24. Magic-marker Potter style glasses on him while he sleeps
25. Apparate into and out of his room rapidly. Do this non-stop for one hour
26. Play cards with him. Tell him he has no poker face and how does he expect to rule supreme without one.
27. Let off party-poppers in his face whenever the urge strikes you
28. "Did you even have a girlfriend? EVER?"
29. Tell him he should really try the 12-step program for Evil Overlords-Evil Overlords Anonymous
30. Anytime he enters a room, insist on entering first and announcing him grandly
31. In these announcements, fake a trumpet noise and give him an equally fake drumroll
32. Exclaim sarcastically, "You're breakin' my little heart here, Dark One" whenever he starts to talk about what has caused him to become who he is
33. Encourage him to think "happy thoughts"
34. Ask him to give you written summaries of his sinister plots for revenge and war. Correct his spelling
35. Mock his choice of Quirrel as a host
36. Tell him you think a yoga class can cure him of "his wicked ways"
37. Get the song "Mr. Tamborine Man" stuck in his head
38. If he's having an evil-plotter's-block in one of his scheming sessions, wingardium leviosa a lightbulb to float above his head. Turn it on. Look offended when he gets angry and say, "I thought I was helping!"
39. Tell him constantly to stop repressing his anger
40. Buy him a stress ball
41. Hint that he is only a character in a book and will never triumph
42. Call him Tommy-boy
43. If you're feeling gutsy, call him Voldie-poo
44. Whack him in the arm and say "mosquito" every few minutes
45. Say he looked better under the turban
46. Eat his pet snake. Offer him some
47. Teach him to steeple his fingers, lean back, and say "Eeeeexcellent!"
48. Start drawing outlandish parallels between his life story and Star Wars. Talk at great length
49. Be generally in awe of him and never look away
50. Imperius his Death Eaters into a rousing chorus of "All Things Bright and Beautiful"

Whew! That took a while! I'll have you know, I found this after the fourth book was published but before the fifth one was released. Still makes me laugh....