Foggy Friday

Driving home from work on the freeway, I see a caution sign that says "Caution: Fog ahead. 2 Miles."

I've seen these warnings before and it usually turns out to be nothing. To my pleasant surprise... it was thick fog! Even though I sometimes start to feel a little claustrophobic, I still love the fog! Why can't it be foggy more often??

Reading more

So one of my goals for 2009 is to read more. I need suggestions for good books to read. I want to read at least 1 book per month. Not a huge goal, but it's better than nothing!

This month, I have been reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I'm almost done. It's a very interesting book. I have really liked it. Especially shooting down the theory of "If you go to college and get good grades, you'll get a good job and be secure." I'm not saying education is not important, because it is. I just think the whole idea of having to have a degree to get anywhere in life is not really true.

Next month, I'm planning on reading Force of Nature, by Laird Hamilton.

"Laird Hamilton has been hailed as the world's greatest big-wave surfer. His first book, Force of Nature, allows readers a rare glimpse inside the unique philosophy that has created his circumstances, and not the other way around. After all, this is a man whose biological father abandoned him shortly after he was born; whose first job was working on a pig farm; who dropped out of school in eleventh grade. And then the career decision: surfer. Though earning enough to pay the rent as any kind of surfer is next to impossible, Hamilton has ended up in the place we all desire to be: doing exactly what he loves, becoming the world's best in the process, making a great living, being surrounded by nature and family, radiating peak health and fitness, and succeeding by any definition of the word. How did he get there? And more importantly, how can the rest of us join him? Force of Nature is a detailed map to that destination, with Laird Hamilton as the reader's guide. This book is a deeply authoritative and cutting-edge guide to peak fitness in mind, body, sould, and surfing."

Other books I'm planning on reading are: 4-Hour Workweek, and I want to read The Secret again.

If you have any suggestions for a good book, let me know!

VOTE!

The videos are in. (The few video's I got!) Now it's time to vote. Vote for your favorite video over on the right side of the page! You have 1 week. Good luck to the entries!

Video #1 - Jazzercise




Video #2 - Hey Now




Video #3 - Dancin' Kim




Video #4 - Kids got the look

80's YouTube Contest!

It's BAAAAACK! Time for another contest!

Don't delay! Get your videos in asap because I always get the videos last minute!

***DEADLINE FOR VIDEO ENTRIES WILL BE SUNDAY JANUARY 18TH***

**RULES**

*Browse YouTube and try to find the best 80's video you can.
*When you find the video you want to submit, send the link to my email address. (tboz.08@gmail.com) I will make a deadline for the video submissions. (JANUARY 18TH)
*I will post the videos on my blog (anonymously) and then create a poll for you to vote.
*You can vote for **THREE DIFFERENT VIDEOS** one time each and you can't vote for your own!
*In the event of a tie, all other videos will be deleted and a new poll with the finalists will be created for you to vote again until we have a winner.
*The video can be ANYTHING from the 80's! Pure 80's goodness!


Again, the DEADLINE for video submissions for this contest will be SUNDAY JANUARY 18TH.
Videos will be posted on Monday (January 19th) and the voting can begin! Voting will last for 7 days. (Ending Sunday, January 18th)
The winner will be announced that night! Good luck!

Jump In!

Dad took sweet picture.
Dad uploaded picture to Flickr.
Dad was contacted for permission to use picture.
Dad receives magazine with picture gracing the cover.
Go Dad, Go!

The cutest smushed face you'll ever see.

I have the cutest Niece in the world.

12 days of cookies

I love the Food Network. I love the Holidays. I love the Food Network during the Holidays! This is why. 12 days of cookies! I want to try them ALL! Especially cookie #4. Mmmm. You can find all the recipes of Food Network's website by clicking HERE!

COOKIE #1
Paradise Macaroons

COOKIE #2
Pistachio Linzertorte

COOKIE #3
Gingerbread Cookies

COOKIE #4
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

COOKIE #5
Hazelnut Tea Cookies

COOKIE #6
Chocolate-Covered Snow Peaks

COOKIE #7 - Stay tuned!

CRAZY busy

Yesterday at work was the busiest day I've seen. We had over 100 faxes waiting to be processed at any given time throughout the day. Getting closer and closer to Christmas, it's just going to get crazier. I got to work today and it was much slower. I got a couple of emails from one of my supervisors. It made me feel good and thought I would just share.

"Thank you everybody for stepping up yesterday on probably one of the biggest days we have ever seen. 1,153 faxes came in yesterday, 1,472 phone calls. Call center, you did a great job handling the calls coming in at an average of 163 calls an hour. Also, thank you to those that dropped what you were doing to help with the faxes and phone calls. It was a great team effort by all. At 6 p.m. there was still 120 faxes in the queue but thanks to Felicia, Jacquie, Jessica, Tanner, Pam and Ashley Alexander who all stayed until after 8 pm and brought it down to 12 to make sure we didn’t start today off in the hole, THANK YOU!"

"Jessica & Tanner,

I just wanted to thank you guys for staying late and getting the applications cleared out. You both cleaned house with the amount of apps you processed. I attached an activity report from yesterday if you are interested. This report tells you what accounts you worked on and what you did with them. Jess you processed 211 different customers, Tanner 169. These are big numbers, THANK YOU for your efforts it made a huge difference."

Jess was at work for 10 hours and I was there only 8. I'm still part time with school. We (and a couple others) stayed until 8:30 to get everything done. It was exhausting. Keep in mind that just a couple months ago, I would average about 40 applications in a days time. so 169 is INSANE!

I just have to keep reminding myself of the commission from all of these applications and the Christmas bonus next month!

I LOVE my Niece!

Congrats to Brandon and Robyn on their recent addition to the family.

Navi La'ie Winnie

Born Thursday, November 6th 2008 at 12:00 P.M.
8 lbs. 7 oz., 21 inches long

She's so much fun and is the cutest thing ever. I could stare at her all day!

(Photos courtesy of Courtney Brooke)

Dubai is INSANE!

Look at these amazing projects and future projects I've been reading about. Crazy! I want to go!

BURJ DUBAI -

Burj Dubai is still under construction. It was started in 2004 and is scheduled to be finished in September 2009. In April 2007, Burj Dubai reached 1,553 feet, moving it past Taiwan's Taipei 101 tower to become the tallest building in the world. In April 2008, Burj Dubai became the tallest man-made structure on Earth when Emaar announced that it was higher than the 2,063-foot KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota. Burj Dubai was supposed to be completed by the end of 2008, but in June, Emaar said that "finishing touches" had delayed finishing the project until next year. Many of Dubai's building projects are facing delays because all the construction going on there has resulted in shortages of skilled labor and building materials. Emaar is keeping Burj Dubai's eventual height a closely-guarded secret, but speculation is that it will end up at 900 meters, which is equivalent to 2,953 feet.



ANARA TOWER -

This one is dubbed the Anara Tower, and while it's not going to be the tallest in the world (it'll be about 500 feet shorter than the Burj Dubai at 2,150 feet), it's still incredible all on its own.
The defining element of the Anara Tower has got to be the massive propeller-like structure at the very top, at the center of which will be a glass-ceiling hub containing one of the world's most luxe restaurants.

In the tower itself there will be 300 insanely-expensive apartments, a 250-room luxury hotel and gardens every 27 floors. Construction is due to start by the end of next year.

DUBAI TOWERS -

Imagine having a candlelit dinner in the shadows of a structure that replicates the wavering flames itself. Now hold that thought till 2011. Located in Dubai, UAE, the Dubai Towers are being built as a special spectacle for the night. These towers are four in number and are modeled to reflect the movement of candlelight. The Dubai Towers rise 400, 330, 310 and 240 meters above the ground level. They twist, turn, wave, taper and do every imaginable thing to stay true to their inspiration. Designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates, these towers are being built on a development called The Lagoons, and will be ready in mid-2010. The towers will contain numerous apartments, spas, hotels, gyms, spas, and any other luxury establishment imaginable. All these will be located on the floors which vary from 57 to 94 in number as per the varying dimensions of the towers.

THE WORLD -



The same company that brought us The Palm Islands, Al Nakheel Properties (Nakheel Corp), have done it again expanding their portfolio of man-made islands with this latest Dubai island project shaped like the continents of the world. The World will consist of between 250 to 300 smaller private artifical islands divided into four categories - private homes, estate homes, dream resorts, and community islands. Each island will range from 250,000 to 900,000 square feet in size, with 50 to 100 metres of water between each island. The development is to cover an area of 9 kilometers in length and 6 kilometers in width, surrounded by an oval shaped breakwater. The only means of transportation between the islands will be by marine transport.

THE BURJ AL-ARAB -

The Burj al Alam, or The World Tower . Upon completion it will rank as the world’s highest hotel. It is expected to be finished by 2009. At 480 meters it will only be 28 meters shorter than the Taipei 101.

THE BURJ AL-ARAB HOTEL -

Currently the world's tallest hotel Considered the only '7 star' hotel and the most luxurious hotel in the world. It stands on an artificial island in the Sea.

HYDROPOLIS -

Hydropolis, the world’s first underwater hotel. Entirely built in Germany and then assembled in Dubai , it is scheduled to be completed by 2009 after many delays.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower, which will be the centerpiece of one of the palm islands, The Palm Jumeirah.

There's even more going on that I didn't mention. Google it. It will blow you away! Who want's to go with me?!

364 days

Today is the furthest away from Halloween you can possibly be!

(I felt that was important enough to blog.)

LOST!

I just barely found this preview on the internet and had to share it immediately. Preview for season 5. January 2009. I cannot WAIT!

*For those of you not caught up, I don't suggest watching this.*