You Tube

Hey Heroes fans--apparently Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli) has some vids up on You Tube. Search using "buckshotwon"

SYTYCD

I've been fortunate enough to be able to watch season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance this year, and to get tickets to the tour when they hit Columbus OH at the end of October. That in of itself is super exciting for me, but to make it even more special (yes, Sunny, this is the big news) I'm going to be contributing my write-up of the experience to a fairly big tv blog, Ducky Does TV. How exciting is that!

New Beginnings

Happy September, blogworld! There have been some developments in my life lately, and coincidentally the start date for both of them is tomorrow!

I start my new job tomorrow morning--I'll be working for a company doing some formatting and editing documents. I'm very excited about this new position, as I'll be working with a friend from my dance class, and I'll be receiving benefits. Yes, for the first time in my professional life, I will be working a full-time job that offers benefits--before all of my positions had been part-time or full-time without benefits, so this is very exciting! healthcare, paid leave, I can't wait :)

Secondly, tomorrow night begins another year of lessons (for adults, at least--youth classes started last week) at the Celtic Academy, and I'm teaching the new beginner class! I'm very excited about this prospect as well. Things are starting to fall into place for me.

Voyage to Cape Canaveral

I believe I promised some pictures from my trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida earlier this month. Here they are!

My friend Marie (from Irish dancing) and I took a trip to visit another friend who had moved to Florida.


This is a view from the trip back to Orlando to fly back to hot, muggy, ocean-less Ohio.



One of the lifeguard stations on the beach. I never saw any lifeguards, though.



The Atlantic Ocean. How gorgeous!



We were fortunate enough to be at Cape Canaveral for the Shuttle Endeavor to launch. We were about 35 miles from the launch site, so we saw this instead of an up-close and personal view of the shuttle. Nevertheless, it was an experience I'll never forget.



Beach essentials: Sunblock, reading material, and Diet Coke. I reapplied several times and still got burnt! (I was the same shade as when I got burnt at the Prague Marathon!)

Binary Solo

You may have noticed that I have changed my blog title from my favorite line in A Wrinkle in Time, "Caught in a downdraft and blown off course" to Binary Solo. The reference is from one of my favorite shows I discovered this summer, Flight of the Conchords. It follows the efforts of New Zealand's 4th most popular Comedy Folk Duo. These guys are actually a comedy team who have been doing live performances around the world at comedy festivals. They also had a BBC radio series before they landed in the US at HBO. Watch this video they made about the distant future (it includes an actual binary solo!):

Yo Gabba Gabba

When it's too hot to sleep in my house with no air (as tonight is--76F/24C), I spend way too much time playing on the internet. Sometimes I find the craziest things, like this children's show that has clips on Youtube. It's called Yo Gabba Gabba, and features Biz Markie giving the kids a beat of the day:



In addition to this, it featured Elijah Wood demonstrating his favorite dance, "The Puppetmaster"



hmmmm

Today's daily puppy

So, I'm not at home where I can save the picture of today's daily puppy and repost it, but it is the cutest thing you've ever seen. A rat terrier (don't let the name scare you off!) named Rhubarb, this cutie has a white body with black markings and a black face. Too cute!

Now for something completely different

Last night my mom and I decided to have some girl time whilst giving ourselves pedicures. We soaked our feet in a minty foot bath, then painted our toenails.



The dogs decided that they wanted to have their own fun, if they couldn't join us. The flash gave them (Andy=big black dog, Toby=smaller brown dog) wicked eyes:

And that's why we leave things to the professionals . . .

We have had a clogged kitchen sink here at Casa de Willis since Sunday. It had been draining slowly for a while, but backed up completely this weekend. Apparently, my parents discussed calling the plumbers, but neither of them did so. My dad was under the assumption that I was going to call the plumbers, but failed to inform me that he had given this task to me. It was a comedy of errors in communication all around. This evening, my mom had the brilliant idea that we (meaning my dad) should take care of it ourselves instead of paying someone else to do so, as it was only 1 sink that was backed up.

Probably not her best idea to date.

My dad and I took a trip to the nearest Lowes to pick up a snake among other various items (he has decided to build his own tarp shelter instead of buying a pop-up one--boggles my mind). We returned home, and started the home repair project around 8:30 ish. When I say we, I mean he started the project. I came into the picture later on. When the various snaking didn't get the job done (this time with Elizabeth-participation!), instead of wisely coming to the decision that this was a bigger job than we could handle and calling it a day, my dad decided to soldier on. He had a manic gleam in his eye--he was going to beat this clogged pipe or die trying.
I bet he regretted that decision when the stinky black gunk started coming out of the pipe in the basement that connects to the kitchen sink drain. Eventually, two hours from the start of this project, my dad had emerged victorious from his battle with the clogged drain/pipe. We didn't look like victors, as we were covered in stinky black gunk water--him more so than me.

And that, children, is why you should know when to leave things to the professionals.

Quick Post

I promise to update soon with pictures from my trip, but here is a quick video of the Atlantic Ocean I took on Friday morning while walking the beach. You can see my friend Marie walking in the sand :) (check my flickr page for more photos--it's on the sidebar!)