Sunset Slows Me Down

Sunset of a New Jersey vineyard

I just sat on my front porch and watched the sun set. I’ll be honest. I never really understood the joy of watching the sun actually set. You can’t look directly at it because it is a bit blinding (bad for the eyes I would think) and it goes so slowly (when compared to, say, a high-speed internet connection).

Even a few weeks ago after a wonderful day in Tivoli, Italy, a fellow traveler exclaimed, “look at that sunset! Come quick! There are probably only two minutes left.” I was in awe that he actually had a time of expiration ready to inspire a sense of urgency.

As is my usual response, I said, “wow, beautiful.” I mean, isn’t that what you do? Look at the sunset casting a canvas of color across the sky, say wow, then move on?

As my husband and I snapped a few photographs, our fellow traveler said he was going to wait there long enough to watch it set. So we did, too. From a small city on a hilltop, we watched the sun sink lower and lower behind another hilltop a valley away, until only a glow proved that it had been there in the first place.

A little over a week later, I stood with my husband at a vineyard in New Jersey, celebrating our wedding with a small group of family and friends. While speaking to some of our guests, I was struck by how beautiful the sky looked as the sun prepared to set over the vineyard. I asked our photographer (and friend of ours) if she would mind taking a picture. The result is shown alongside this post.

This evening while reading on my front porch (an activity I haven’t done enough this summer), I once again became distracted by the sunset. In those last few moments of light, I became acutely aware of my surroundings. My neighborhood exuded peacefulness, with everyone having already returned indoors to prepare for the week ahead. The clear sky turned salmon. The grass looked particularly green. A gentle hum from insects and the melodic notes of a lone bird provided the soundtrack while the sun dipped slowly behind the trees.

As another day draws to a close, I am calm and ready to see what tomorrow holds.

Disconnecting Changed The Way I Reconnect (For Now)

I recently returned from a two week vacation in Italy during which (most importantly) I got married and (relevant to this article) I spent about 20 minutes on the Internet. That’s right- two glorious weeks away from electronic information overload. No email, no surfing the Internet, no updating Twitter, Facebook, or this blog.

During those two weeks, I explored amazing cities in Italy, tried new food, made new friends, and spent much needed quality time with my fiancée-turned-husband. Another couple we met on the trip talked about finding an Internet café upon arrival in each new city. My husband and I wished them luck and went our own way. There just wasn’t anything I needed to check on or anyone I wanted to talk to rather than spend time with my husband and see everything I could in the one country I’ve wanted to visit since I was little.

On our second to last night, my husband purchased Internet access for 24-hours on his laptop. He spent about a half hour responding to a few business emails. I scanned my inbox and selected only two emails to read: one from my dad and one from my friend who was coordinating with vendors for my and hubby’s post-trip wedding celebration. I changed my Facebook status to say “Sherri was married in Rome, is sunning in Venice, and will be home soon.” Then I logged out of everything and went to dinner. That’s it.

What did I miss? Not a whole lot. Sure there were a couple hundred emails waiting between my personal and work email accounts. My RSS reader had collected a slew of articles and blog posts attempting to mock me in harsh black “unread” fonts. And when I finally ventured back online, they were all still there, waiting for whenever I was ready to get back to them. I leisurely worked through my personal emails at the pace of about a dozen a day, deleting liberally. I didn’t even begin reading the work emails until I returned to the office four days after my return.

Since coming home, I have radically reduced the amount of time I spend on my computer, opting instead to spend time cuddling with my husband and stepson on the couch, cooking new meals, and playing with the dog (who was probably the most excited to have me back home). After all, I work on Web sites all day. The last thing I really need to do at home is spend more time on the Internet.

There is a big world beyond my computer screen. Sometimes the Internet helps me connect to it. The key word is “sometimes.”

Breakfast Adventures

I opened a new box of cereal this morning and found the customary toy sitting right on top (which should prevent my stepson-to-be from digging through the entire box): an “Adventure Spoon.”

Ooh. You’re intrigued- admit it. What makes an ordinary eating implement adventurous, you ask? It lights up. I don’t know why. If one were pausing for a bite while exploring the long buried caverns of an ancient temple, perhaps a little extra light comes in handy.

Project Management and Weddings

I am a week and a half away from my dream vacation to Italy, where I will marry my wonderful fiancé, then come home and marry him all over again in a celebration with family and friends. Meanwhile, we just lined up a friend to do our photography, we are still working to find the right caterer, we need to finalize the script for the ceremony, and all before we leave for Italy. No problem!

From that, you would probably never guess that I am a project manager by day. Flying by the seat of my pants, you say? You’re right. However, being a project manager is exactly what made me know I could plan a wedding in relatively short notice.

As a project manager, it’s a nice idea to think that everything will go smoothly, that you will be given enough time to properly complete the project, that everyone will stick to the timeline, that vendors will respond in a timely fashion, or that there will be no unexpected surprises. Sometimes it goes that way. Sometimes the deadline is moved up and there’s no changing it back. Sometimes the scope creeps, but it is for the greater good, so you roll with it. Sometimes you get side-swiped by a circumstance you never would have seen coming.

A wedding is no different. So, six weeks ago, when my fiance said he thought we should move our celebration from our sloped backyard to a new as-of-yet undetermined location, I spent the next few minutes panicking, then the next few days finding a beautiful vineyard for a shockingly-great price.

Two weeks ago, when caterer A came back with a proposal that didn’t match what I asked for at twice the amount I budgeted, rather than rehash everything I had already told them and wait another week for a new proposal, I announced “Next,” and moved on to caterer B. I have a timeline and a budget and I intend to meet both.

I can only imagine what will come up between now and the big day. A friend of mine laughs (now) about how her florist gave her entire flower order to someone that walked in off the street. When my friend’s family went to pick up her flowers, it was all gone. No bouquets, no boutonnieres, nothing. There was no plan for missing flowers. They simply had to adjust. A few hours and many phone calls later, their entire order had been reconstructed. Ideal? No. Accomplished? Yes.

I could have taken a month or two years to plan a great wedding for my fiancé and me. The fact still remains, life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan. It will, however, always turn out.

Random Useless Fun- Skywire

In follow-up to yesterday’s post about low-resolution video games, I offer you this link to Skywire, a low-resolution game in which you must get your skyrail riders from point A to point B without losing any passengers. Completely random useless fun. Enjoy!

Skywire 2 Take control of the cable car and get the passengers to their destination safely

Play this free game now!!

Skywire and other free games can be found at miniclip.

Wii Wins Fun Quotient

My stepson-to-be saved up his money to buy a Playstation 3. My fiancé told him that if he saved $150 of his own money, dad would pick up the rest. After earning and saving for months, the young one found the Wii more enticing (much to my fiance’s chagrin- no Blu Ray player, poor graphics!). We held off on purchasing for the past month while the PS3 vs. Wii decision was weighed from every possible angle. With the final decision resting on a ten-year-old, the Wii finally won out and we purchased it last week.

My fiancé had a hard time understanding why the Wii was more appealing. In his mind, the games are at such a low resolution, why not go for better graphics on the PS3? Grown boys tend to rank high definition right up there with their favorite sports team and mom’s homemade lasagna, don’t they?

For the kids, however, it isn’t always about the best graphics. Sometimes it is simply about the fun quotient. The Wii had more games that my stepson-to-be found appealing. I would imagine the silliness (as opposed to lifelike detail) and bright colors (rather than dark, true-to-life color) contribute to his preference.

Watching him enjoy games that some adults find lackluster takes me back to when I used to play video games with my dad on our old computer. We played Space Quest, Police Quest, King’s Quest, and so many others. Sure the later King’s Quest games grew to have nice graphics, but that didn’t make the first few any less fun. The first version was barely more than blocks of color on two-dimensional screen-by-screen land, yet it still had everything I looked for- exploration, riddles, puzzles to solve. So what if the prince was comprised of a yellow triangle on top of a peach circle on top of a red square? He had no fewer adventures.

The PS3 has many fans, I suspect amongst older boys (and boys at heart). I will vouche that the graphics are incredible. Playstation maintains itself as a top contender in the video game world. The Wii earns lots of credit for the fun quotient, though, and that is one characteristic not to be overlooked.

Future Green City Imagined on New Micro-site

Remember The Jetsons cartoon? You know that perky little family living in the future where flying cars and moving sidewalks made getting around so much faster? A place where getting ready for work meant being gently pushed on to a conveyer by your bed, then carried through the shower, dryer, and make up stations? In the opening credits you would see George Jetson dropping off each family member in a personal pod that carried them the rest of the way to their destination. How efficient.

Many people have envisioned the future, usually resulting in robots, silent mini-cars, or personal hovercrafts. What happens if you imagine the future through environmentally-conscious eyes? You get The Plan for Tomorrow’s Mega City, just launched by PopSci.com (the online presence for the magazine Popular Science).

This is a fun site to visit for several reasons. First, the imagery is quite inspiring. Take note of how detailed the tree trunk is on the right side. You can almost feel its texture. Second, consider the possibilities as you click through The Plan to see ideas on how to harness energy from wind, water, and walking. (Yes, I said walking.) Amuse yourself with the thought of renting a car like you do those luggage carts at airports- take one off the front of the stack and return it to the back when you are done.

The future may or may not unfold as shown on the mega city site. All I know is I am happy there are folks out there who are focused on finding new ways to support our life on this earth.