Musings for the Week - Adventure, American Idol and Aliases

1. I'm itching for an adventure. I'm not sure if it's because of the long icy winter being cooped up or just my free spirit expanding, but I'm ready for something crazy. In one of these moments a week or so ago, I read an article about various vacation ideas and saw whale watching. I was hooked! (pun intended) Whenever I want to express my free spirit, I always know my friend, Amy, is on board. So, I covertly mentioned this to her and she said, "Don't tempt me if you aren't serious." Well, I was. I began researching options....Northern California....Southern California...Cape Cod....Boston....I was so energized! Watching all the whale watching videos were making my adventuresome soul leap. But, alas, too rich for my cheap, um, er, frugal budget right now. I even researched going to Colorado....I have a yearning to experience the "big" things in God's World. Again, a bit much. Even with that disappointment, I never give up, and after some secret agent sleuthing online, I believe I've found the spot! It's within driving distance....in North Carolina....gloriously remote and scenic....includes a spa.....a coffeehouse on site....a lakeview...and looks like the set of Mamma Mia, sans the beautiful blue water. That's all I'm saying now. More later. Amy is in and we are going to be Thelma and Louise....well, without that driving off the cliff part.

2. The pressure around me to read Twilight is about make me break. I was a late adopter to the Harry Potter series and just read that last year. But, I've had multiple friends who've read the book, with various opinions, tell me about it and say, "You need to read the book." I'm now intrigued because I've been told before how much I would love a book only to find that it wasn't as fulfilling as expected. With all these multiple viewpoints I'm motivated enough given the snoop journalism in my blood that I need to know first hand. Maybe Thelma, I mean, Amy, can bring it on our trip for me.

3. American Idol came to a close last week with a blockbuster finale. I've been hesitant about this season. I love music...all kinds, which is the draw to American Idol for me. But, with the changes this year....a new judge....a new rule....I was skeptical. It appeared that maybe this show was about to jump the shark. Then the finale. Wow. Where else can you get Queen Latifah, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Ritchie, Jason Miraz, Queen and KISS all on the same stage? I was in musical heaven! Then came the shocker finish when rocker Adam didn't win and Kris Allen did. It was a good outcome...Adam could never be tied to the American Idol strings and do what he does best. Plus, KISS has already offered him the opportunity to travel with them. Makes you want to "rock and roll all night!"

4. My sweet boyfriend, Clayton, the son of my friends, Rod and Julie, always knows how to make me smile. While chatting with his Mom on the phone the other day, he wanted to talk to me. And our conversation went something like this...
Clayton: "Hi Aunt Rose!"
Me: "Hi Clayton, how are you?"
Clayton: "I'm fine...know what, Aunt Rose?" (I love that he says "know what before he shares something with me)
Me: "What Clayton?"
Rose: "Mommy was on your Facebook page and I saw your picture. You are very pretty."
Me: (Once I cleaned up the dripping sop he'd turned me into) "Aww, Clayton you are precious. And, I've seen your pictures on Mommy's page and I think you are very handsome."
When Julie got the phone back, she told me he had the biggest grin on his face. Ahh, young love. On days when I don't feel pretty or beautiful....I know one little boy that always makes me feel that way.

5. At my company, we use many aliases to gather information from our competition. It's the closest way I come to fulfilling my dream to be a secret agent. The short of it that I can tell you (without having to kill you) is we use fake names under certain domains we own so we can be undercover when interacting with competition. Because of our love of superheroes at work, one of the aliases we use is Bruce Wayne. For those of you not up on your superheroes, that's Batman. This week, we received an email to that address from a customer trying to sell Bruce their product. The e-mail said they have not been able to reach him by phone. I was so tempted to respond with "I've been cave dwelling for a while and my phone is under glass. Once I get back to Gotham, I'll send up a signal." But, the humor would have been wasted and our cover blown.