2008 March | Linden's Pensieve

March 31, 2008

2008 New Year’s Resolutions: First Quarter Update

By xgravity23 in personal 6 Comments Tags: 2008, resolutions

I have decided that 2008 is going to be The Year of Change for Me. I made many personal improvements in 2007, but now that I’m smarter about changes, I can focus on the changes that I want to make and make them. But I’m a hardcore perfectionist, and I don’t like making mistakes and I don’t like failing.

I am regularly hand rewriting my resolutions. With each rewrite, I update. I make minor changes based on the current progress. I add new resolutions incrementally, in small steps so that I can achieve them. I feel good about my progress so far, and I look forward to your encouragement, suggestions, and more improvement in the next quarter.

March 21, 2008

It’s All Foreign to Me: Water

By xgravity23 in It's All Foreign to Me 17 Comments Tags: water

This is one in a series of posts on ways I have discovered that Germany and America are different. See the end of this post for other posts on this topic.

In 1997 my family visited Europe, and that’s when I learned this lesson. We had just boarded a train from Budapest to Neuschwanstein and we were thirsty and a bit hungry. So Mom and I went to the diner car and ordered water to start with. I remember being so very thirsty and glad to feel that the water bottle was chilled (I love cold water!). I took a big drink, but was instantly disgusted. This water was different.

It was sparkling water. Mineral water. This is a mistake you only make once. For some reason still unbeknownst to me, many people in the rest of the world prefer sparkling water. I have, in the six months I have lived here, grown fond of it, but I still want real, normal water most of the time. So, for you Americans planning a trip abroad in the near or distant future, here are some tips for asking and paying for the water you want.

March 21, 2008

The Road to Anfield: Are We There Yet?

By xgravity23 in guest posts, travel 1 Comment Tags: liverpool fc, soccer

This guest post is by Rob, my husband who always makes me laugh. As any true German does, Rob loves soccer. Yesterday, Rob described what we had to go through before actually getting tickets. Today, he tells the story of cheering against his favorite team twice and a morning full of international phone calls.

So here we were: Dressed in the red and white of Liverpool, but ultimately, hoping for them to lose. We weren’t going to support the teams they played against, but our fingers were crossed for them to lose just one time. Hopefully, that time would during be their game against Havant & Waterlooville, a team that plays in the sixth English league, which consists mostly of taxi drivers and high school teachers playing soccer part time.

March 20, 2008

The Road to Anfield: Do We Really Have to Take the Scenic Route?

By xgravity23 in guest posts, travel 4 Comments Tags: liverpool fc, soccer

This is the first guest post on Linden’s Pensieve. Rob is my amazing husband, who, as any true German does, loves soccer. In this post, Rob describes what we had to go through before actually getting tickets.

This is the story of finally crossing another item off my list of things to do before I die. The last item I got to check off was finally being able to take long walks on the beach with the woman I love after talking all about our day over a romantic candle-lit dinner.

A long time ago, I became a fan of the football team (or “soccer” as it’s known in the States) Liverpool FC, and since then, my desire to see a game of the greatest team playing the greatest sport in the greatest stadium has grown every year. You have probably read Linden’s blog about how much fun the game and the whole day was. But getting there is what made it even sweeter for me than actually being there.

March 19, 2008

Ever Heard of Fennel Salad? [RECIPE]

By xgravity23 in recipes 2 Comments Tags: fennel

Yeah, I hadn’t either. But it has quickly become one of my favorites. The Baileys, some of my colleagues here at JLU, served it to us once, and so I asked for the recipe. When Rob and I were shopping the other day, I saw some fennel bulbs for a fairly good price, so I picked one up, pulled out the recipe when I got home, and made the salad. Dee-licious!

Fennel blooms year round, so you should be able to find it at a good grocer most of the time. Here’s the recipe, in case you are interested in trying it.

March 16, 2008

Happy 323rd Birthday, Johann Sebastian Bach!

By xgravity23 in inspiration 2 Comments

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685, 323 years ago. He was a very important composer who “drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity.” Rob noticed that a local church, the Petruskirche, was putting on a “Happy Birthday, Johann Sebastian” organ concert last night, so [...]

March 15, 2008

England Day 5: The Long Trip Home!

By xgravity23 in travel 1 Comment Tags: england

Our last day in England started much earlier than any of the other days. Our bus for London left very early, so we were up before the sun. Thankfully, the bus station was an easy 10 minute walk from our hotel. We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare, and then we were on our [...]

March 15, 2008

Sarah’s Feedburner Series: Networkize & Monetize

By xgravity23 in cool technology No Comments Tags: feedburner

Today’s post is the last in Sarah’s series on pimping out your blog with Feedburner. And today, we learn about two options that you may or may not need for your feeds, but nevertheless are useful to know about: Networkizing and Monetizing. In order to start or include your blog in a feed network, you [...]

March 14, 2008

England Day 4: Liverpool

By xgravity23 in travel 3 Comments Tags: england, liverpool

Our fourth day in England was our most relaxing. Unlike the days we spent walking all over London, we spent this day on the Magical Mystery Tour bus and at the Choral Evensong at the Liverpool Cathedral. We started off by strolling around the walking district that is the city center. We found the beautiful [...]