A Real Life Fortress of Solitude....

Stand back Superman. Silver miners in Mexico have stumbled upon a natural formation to put your crystal home to shame.....

Natural crystal formations dazzle in an environment hidden from modern man...and probably for a good reason. Turns out that you need a special suit filled with ice and a cool-air respirator to survive down here due to excessive heat and humidity. It was only discovered when a mine expansion broke through into this chamber of wonders.

Sadly, the mine owners have no plans to keep this gorgeous place open to the public...once they finish mining out the silver in the adjoining mine they will turn off the pumps keeping underground water at bay; letting this chamber fill up and be forever closed off from human eyes. Its amazing to think that geologists think the earth's crust is full of these wonders... and funny to think we know more about outer space than we do about our own fragile blue planet.

Here's a link to a short video shot by a BBC Science program, highlighting the caves. You'll get a good idea not only of the immense scale of these crystal pillars, but also of their absolute beauty.

Days of teenybopper past.....

Hung out with the girls last night....sometimes just getting away for a few hours is what you really need to recharge your inner Duracels.

Played Phase 10 for the first time ever....and got my butt beat pretty soundly. I was so busy focusing on what I needed to make my run that I wouldn't pay attention to what the other gals were picking up and playing. Oh well, it was still fun.

The teenager in my life was bouncing up and down to show me a video by one of her favorite Teen Beat flavor-of-the-month and I figured who am I to deny her, even when her mother tried warning me of what I was getting myself into.

The video started.....sure enough, it starts with our teen-throb bouncing around and singing his little heart out.

Then it got weird. Coming from a gal who grew up thinking Duran Duran videos were high-class and TOTALLY MADE SENSE, this is saying a lot.

Strange escapees from Cirque du Soleil happen to be hanging out in the woods and appear hell-bent on getting our singer to join them...for what I cannot say. Maybe for a group hug?

Whatever....it was amusing to watch, and apparently this kid is uber big in Europe. It can't be for his dancing....all that leaping around looked exhausting and seriously without rhythm. I admit that if I was a teenybopper again I'd probably be all over this video though....yes, I was THAT strange of a child.

Anyone who wants to take a peek here is Mika performing "Rain".

And yes, the song is now on my MP3 player.

Maybe some things should not be remade....

I can't believe I am admitting this, but I really am interested in seeing this movie....

Go on....click on the link....you know you wanna.....

I'm a loser...

No, not that kind. The kind that absent-mindedly lays their keys down and then spends 20 minutes frantically searching for them the next morning.

The kind that loses her camera and isn't even sure where she lost it!

I can't blame old-timers disease either since I am a bit young for that still.....

Today Yancy shared a great pointer for losers like me....losers of cameras anyway. I give you Andrew McDonald's handy (and possibly helpful) guide to getting your camera back if you ever lose it. I think I may do something similar on my next camera....minus the bathtub scene!

Trust me and read it...it'll make you smile.

Well, it made me smile at any rate.

Car Update

For those who don't know....my car hasn't really been running since Monday of last week. Due to the holiday no one was even able to look at it until Monday of this week (UGH!) The reason it wouldn't start was due to a fuel line being attached improperly that worked itself loose and I leaked gas all over the driveway, but the bigger problem is the on again/off again misfiring has now been tied to a pcv valve (vents exhaust) with an internal problem. The valve is occasionally throwing residue where it doesn't belong (into one of the compression chambers and causing the misfire).

The part has been rush ordered and might be in tomorrow, but is more likely to arrive on Monday. Then, barring further issues, the VW boys think everything should be running fine. The problem (they believe) comes from previous owner abuse and using el crappo gas as this girl always uses midgrade and 3 months does not such build-up make. I have been told that since the new valve will be working properly and the service boys will clean out as much of the crap as possible that, over time, the rest of the gunk will eventually be flushed out of the system... so long as I continue to take good care of my car and use decent grade gas.

The bummer is that I will probably spend yet another weekend without wheels...not that I have any particular place I need to go, but it still sucks. In the 3+ months I've owned this car I have yet to have a month that it has not been to the shop at least twice (yes, that includes this spanking new year as well). Its all been over the same issue (which the Toyota boys could never accurately find) so, hopefully, this fixes the issue once and for all now that its in VW hands.

My bosses are now joking that this new car breaks down more than the old one...

...its not funny.

A Petition to Disney

Apparently Lost fans just can't handle the thought of their belovedly strange series coming to an end this spring. Admitedly, there is a lot going on there that I have yet to discover as I finally stopped watching this show mid season 3. I've been collecting the DVDs as they come out, however, and plan to have one huge "Lost" marathon once I have them all....I think the series will make more sense by then if I don't have to keep struggling to remember tidbits from seasons past.

But I digress.

Fans are sending around a petition for Disneyland to convert Tom Sawyer Island/Pirates Cove to a new exhibit for Losties....one where fans of the show can play with the so-called "Donkey Wheel", spot Smoke Monsters darting through the trees and climb down the infamous hatch. Other suggestions are for a submarine ride (which Disney already has in the Finding Nemo ride), Jacob's creepy cabin and Dharma crew barracks.

A bonfire on the beach admidst plane wreckage probably wouldn't be amiss either for evening visitors. The caves already on the island could double for one of several Dharma stations and the sub ride could take you to the underwater Swan station. Goodness knows they wouldn't even have to remove the pirate skeletons since it seemed for awhile there that the Losties were constantly tripping over some poor slobs remains every other episode.

Actually, Team Disney could do worse....