I just received a newsletter from Bookcrossing.com with the following info:
Police identify Dan Clune's body - BookCrossing mourns loss of lead programmer
On Thursday, December 23, our worst fears were realized with news that sheriff's officials positively identified a body pulled from the Pend Oreille River in Dover as that belonging to our lead programmer, Dan Clune.
The entire BookCrossing community extends heartfelt sympathy to Danny's family and those who loved him. Danny's funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 4, 2005 at 11:00 AM at Saint Peter's Church, located at 406 Forman Ave, Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey 08742.
My sympathies go out to the Clune family and Danny's friends.
On the weight loss front, I am now down about 15 pounds...wheeee!! For Christmas I primarily received cash gifts from my family and I have decided to spend most of it on a membership at the YMCA. Living in a small apartment, I don't have enough space to work out at home. Besides, knowing myself, if I register for a regular class I will feel obligated to show up. That should get me started (I hope).
I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Here's hoping that it's a better year than the last.
The devestation in South East Asia is tremendous. I am feeling so helpless. If you want to do something, no matter how small, get thee to the SEA-EAT blog This blog has been constructed as a clearinghouse of news, relief organizations, contacts to find the missing and anything else related to the Tsunami that someone thinks to put there. Donate supplies, money or your time. They're looking for techies to help the websites stay current and also to construct a 'Wiki'. The effort is international, so everyone can give something.
I've been involved with a website called Bookcrossing for about a year - when a friend passed along some books she had registered there. The premise behind the site is that you register your books and then 'release' them into the wild. The hope is that someone will pick up the book, go to the Bookcrossing website and register finding it. The site will then notify you that one of your books has been found. It's kind of an interesting way to share your books with others. I have a tough time letting go of books. Since I found the site, I've been trying to pass some of them along. It's a slow process, but I am getting rid of some.
In November, Danny Clune, a programmer at Bookcrossing, disappeared in Idaho.
Danny Clune
He was out with friends at a local bar and vanished from the parking lot just before 2am on November 6. There has been a worldwide plea for information and help. More information is available at Find Danny Although, I have a limited readership at the moment, I wanted to do my part in spreading the word. He had just recently moved to the Midwest from NYC.
I'm overweight. I've been overweight since puberty. Pictures of me as a child show a skinny kid, but as soon as I hit about 13 I started to gain weight. It was gradual. When I graduated high school I think I was only about 10 pounds overweight and 6 years later I was maybe 15 pounds more. But now I'm more than 50 pounds over what the charts say I should weigh. I've never really tried to lose it because it just seemed too hard and my body type causes me to look fat no matter what I weigh.
Last week, when I saw some of my family at Thanksgiving, I found out that both my cousin and aunt are on Weight Watchers and having a great deal of success. So I started to think about trying. The first thing I decided to do was keep a food journal. That's what most of the expert advise, so you can get an idea of what you eat and when. Being a bit of a techy-wannabe this had to be done on the computer. I signed onto Fitday.com and started entering what I ate.
I didn't plan on changing my eating habits, yet. I thought I'd become familiar with the program first. But when you have to write everything down you suddenly start to feel reluctant to binge on something. So I started to cut back on my snacking and I realized that I don't eat that much if I don't allow myself to snack. Two weeks into this and I am down 4 pounds! I am so psyched. I know this is going to take quite awhile and I'm not really aiming for really thin. I haven't started an exercise regime but I plan on adding that in when I get a bit of a handle on the food part.
Wish me luck.
Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I got busy after the holiday and then I was having problems getting into Blogger.
I had a happy dance this past week--I finished this:
Generosity by Drawn Thread
I know there are a few blank spots, but the buttons that belong on the piece have vanished into my stash. I'm sure I bought them at the same time I purchased the chart. I try to buy any buttons or specialty fibers when I buy a chart as it may be quite a while before I actually get a chance to stitch it. Buttons and fibers have a way of disappearing from the marketplace when there isn't a popular chart out using them.
My sister, Jacqui, and her partner, Amy, came to visit during the holiday weekend.
Amy and Jacqui take Manhattan
They know Jen, who works at FoxNews, and who got us all passes to be in the studio audience for the DaySide with Linda Vester show on Thanksgiving Friday. So we decided to make it a day in the city. Amy is from the midwest and thought her Mom would be impressed with her NYC escapades and her appearance on television.
First we had breakfast at the Four Season hotel, where my cousin, Robert, is a waiter. Very fancy place -- multiple staff waiting on you, overpriced food and a very ritzy ambience. Robert pointed out Matt Lauer and his family on the other side of the restaurant. I didn't want to look too touristy and take photos (New Yorkers pride themselves on being unimpressed) so the only photo I managed to take is this one of the tree in the restaurant.
Four Seasons hotel
We then ran over to the FoxNews studio where Jen placed us all dead center in the audience. One of the three of us was in just about every in-studio shot. Of course, no one we know actually saw the show :-{ It was amusing to be some of the few liberals in the audience but, fortunately, politics wasn't the main topic of that day's show, so there were no fist fights in the studio.
After the show, we walked down Fifth Avenue among all the holiday shoppers and caught a peek at the windows in Lord & Taylors and perused the holiday market in Union Square. It was a long but fun day.
Name: DebbieJRT Home: Bellerose, New York, United States About Me: crotchety cross stitcher, trying to channel my inner athlete See my complete profile
