sparkerly.com

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time

Last Summer Joel and I went to Park City to meet some friends for dinner prior to their departure to Germany for three freaking years.  We met them at a house they rented, which was situated waaay up the side of a mountain above Park City.  On the way down to the restaurant, we saw this:

Can you believe that?  I wish I had a better phone because what you can't see is that trampoline is basically on the side of a hill.  A steep hill.  A steep hill with so many stairs, that on the way back up (yes, we had to climb back UP.  And these people call themselves my friends.  They obviously wanted me to die.) Joel had to figure out some complicated pulley system to pull me to the top.  It was really quite spectacular.
 

Rise of the Machines

You guys, I totally forgot to tell you: We got a Roomba.  I think that, over the past three years, Joel has come to understand that I don't clean.  I mean, I will clean, but I let the mess get to, like, guy-gross proportions.  This is why Joel finally gave in and we are now the proud owners of a real-life robut.  Sure all it does is vacuum, but that's all I need it to do!  Plus, I'm hoping that one day we will be able to get Peanut to do something like this:

 

Would that not be awesome?  The answer is yes... wait, no?  What is the answer to that question?  In any case, I love the Roomba!  My new favorite thing is making Joel come and look at all of the dirt and hair and pet hair and dirt it picks up.  I had no idea, but Joel, Lucy, Peanut, and I are some dirty mo-fos.  I let it go about once a week and, MY GOD, it is gross how much it picks up!  You have to come see it so we can look at it and go, "EWWWW!" together.  Good times at Carrie's house, everybody.  Good times.

Unobtainium. Really?

We saw Avatar yesterday.  I will say this: It didn't suck as much as I thought it would.  It was actually, sigh, not that bad.  I went in with extremely low expectations.  Just from hearing people talk about it, I was sure that I wouldn't like it.  This is because I like my movies to have things like depth, character development, and, I don't know, a storyline that wasn't stolen from Pocahontas.  With things like "unobtanium" and the "Na'vi"... I was worried that James Cameron was going to think too hard and sprain his brain.

Having seen the movie, however, I understand why the story doesn't need to be deeper than a splash pool in my mom's back yard.  Wow.  Almost the entire movie was CGI, but somehow it didn't feel like it.  You didn't really notice that everything was, well, fake.  We saw it in 3D and, honestly, I wouldn't want to see it otherwise.   It was awesome!  There were a couple of times, mainly with bugs or other little things flying around, I had to fight the urge to reach up and brush them from my face.  It was pretty cool and I recommend seeing it just for that.  Really, you won't be disappointed.

Now, there are a couple of things that I would like people to do for me the next time they go to the movies.  First, if there are assigned seats, sit in your assigned seats.  I don't care if you think the movie's not sold out and no one is going to sit in the empty seats, just sit in the seats on your tickets and next time buy your tickets a little earlier so you can have better seats.  Because you know what's really annoying?  Being interrupted by an usher after the movie has started because you and your three kids thought it would be ok to just take any old seat in the theater.  And then, once you move, the people who bought those seats have to move their rather large behinds (along with tubs and tubs of popcorn, what I think could be considered a vat of soda, and and shload of cotton candy) past us so they can take their rightful seats.

Secondly, get to the movie on time.  No, strike that.  Get to the movie at least 5 minutes before it's scheduled to start.  This is especially important if the movie theater has assigned seating.  You know why?  Because, I don't know about you, but most people can't see all that well in the dark.  Most people would have a hard time spotting the row number in broad daylight, let alone in a darkened theater.  So, when you come bumbling in after the movie starts and have to climb over everyone to get to a seat, it really bums me out.  So stop it.

Finally, and I can't believe I have to say this, don't talk through the whole movie.  I mean, a comment here and there is acceptable.  I'm guilty of that myself (but, to be fair, everything I say in a movie is hilarious and should-- no MUST-- be shared immediately).  But if you have to explain everything to your friend because they just don't get it, maybe you should consider getting new friends.  OR if you bring a child to a movie with subtitles, make sure that kid can read because hearing you read said subtitles to that kid will drive me bonkers. 

It's a Brand New Year! My resolution?

Blog more.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, Carrie, January is half over and this is your first post.  Wouldn't that be a resolution fail?" 

First, thanks for reading!  Secondly: Shut up!  I didn't even make this resolution until, like, 5 minutes ago, so I think I'm doing pretty well!  I'm going to try really, really hard to keep this one.  And you know what would help me out?  Comments.  Lots of comments so I can know that these words aren't just flowing from my heart out into the vast wasteland that is the blogosphere. 

Again, I know what you're thinking: "Yeah, right, your words are flowing from your 'heart.' I knew they were coming from somewhere, but I was thinking it was somewhere a little bit lower."  And again, I say, thanks for reading!  Also, shut up some more.

Resolutions and I really don't mix all that well.  I think that the only one I've ever really been able to keep was the one year I resolved to drink more water.  And I totally did.  I drank so much water, I had to move my desk into the bathroom.  I did it for an entire year.  And then I never drank water again (unless it also had vodka in it (and even then it wasn't really "water" so much as "tonic")).

And this year, I am resolving to blog more.  And I probably even have some stuff to blog about.  Like, for instance, my dog has cancer and will probably die soon.  There's an entry right there.  Also, Joel and I are going to Germany to visit our friends Jess and Sarah in May.  That's got to be good for a couple of entries.  Maybe even some pictures?  Who knows?  And there has got to be some stuff from the last, say, six months of not blogging that I could squeeze into a couple of entries.  Easy peasy, right?  Hopefully it will be as easy as I am finding my other resolution, which is to drink more wine.  I am doing very well with that one, thanks very much.

Until next time, which will be soon!  I promise!  We got a new computer for Christmas and I can blog while Joel plays Assasin's Modern Mariokart II or something.  It will be awesome.  And, for those of you who like pictures, here's a picture of Lucy: