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1998-2001 I did a fair amount of modeling. For a while I was featured with
Arizona Models, one of Scottsdale's
premiere agencies. I'm far too old and admittedly a little out
of shape to be doing modeling these days, but I had a blast while it lasted.
It did wonders for my self-confidence, I'll admit that. Some people
take classes in public speaking, I did modeling! Most of my
assignments were either photo shoots, promotions, or as a product
spokesperson. I worked with several really excellent photographers in
Phoenix and Tucson; visit my
photo pages for some samples of their work. I went through one
summer a few years ago where I was sent to sports bars and spirits-tasting
conventions to promote Kleiner Feigling and Dooley's liqueurs. Visit them on the Web at
http://www.kleinerfeigling.de
... their original sites (in English!) don't appear to be up anymore, and
the above one is in German... There are some photos from those events
somewhere on this site. I did get to keep the outfit, which I have to
admit was really cute!
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2001 - 2003 musings...
After
ten years away from academia, I decided it was time to go back to school and
work on another degree... it was a win-win situation all around. It
would give me a stronger background, provide some of the skills necessary to
get into management one day, and I could defer my student loan payments a
little longer! At any rate, I wound up with an MBA in Technology
Management from the University of Phoenix in July, 2004. It was very
cool attending graduation... I didn't go to my college graduation at the
University of Arizona... my graduating class included about 5,000
students... but I got to walk up on stage at the Tucson Convention Center
for the hooding ceremony, and had my photo taken. Some of my friends
took me out for lunch afterwards. Who
knows what's next... maybe a doctorate?? Basically, my options are A.
no more school, B. get a Masters in Engineering, C. get a doctorate in
something, and D. go to Law School. That's the one my sister has been
leaning on me to do. Maybe...
Through the
years I've done a fair amount of web site design work... is "Webmistress" a sexy word or what? :)
Check out my site at
www.bluejackrabbit.com, which features links to
many of the sites I have developed and supported over the years. Last
year I have landed a couple new clients as well as two non-profit clients; a
local synagogue and a website for a candidate for state legislature.
I've been wading through JavaScript, CGI code and Perl in hopes
of creating better, more interactive web sites. Perhaps an enhanced
Karen's Oasis will be coming soon to a screen near you :).
Also, I've been
traveling a little - check out my Travels page for photos. I even
considered a 6-month assignment that was available - in Antarctica! I'll bet it
sounds like hell to you, but I think it would be an incredible adventure!
Although, most company briefings for those going to Antarctica include a
mandatory Power of Attorney form...in case they need to send you back in
popsicle form. :) The official newspaper of the Antarctic bases is the
Antarctic Sun,
which gets published monthly during the summer season. There is a lot
of really cool information about Antarctica and mainly, McMurdo
Station, its largest facility, on the Net. They have over 1200 people there in the summer. I
hear the bars there are pretty hip, and there's even a bowling alley.
After a
couple of years as a blond, I'm once again testing the waters as a redhead.
In honor of the World Series champions, I went with red, with blond
highlights. My hair is also staying put at about 2 inches past my shoulders. It is so hard to maintain red
hair! Well, unless you're born with it that is! The color washes
out in the shower, bleaches blond in the sun... I spent a couple weeks out
in the Pacific Ocean last summer and my hair, for some reason, had its blond
days and its red days! Very strange...
Also, after 15 years in Tucson, I finally discovered Mt.
Lemmon! Oh sure, I'd camped out there before, but I'd missed so much! I've
been up there four times this summer alone. The mountain is 9100ft., making it the
southernmost ski resort in North America. It's only 30 minutes from Tucson, to the
Northeast. This year the skiing season at Mt Lemmon Ski Valley began a
few weeks ago, and hopefully it will last until April. There just
isn't a lot of snow up there to create a good packing, and my friends tell
me there aren't enough trails up there. Still, I can't believe they're
willing to drive 5 hours to Sunrise or Snow Bowl in northern Arizona, rather
than 30 minutes to Ski Valley, where they can help revitalize the economy of
a town devastated by fire last summer. They keep the chairlift open all year, and it's a great view! They
told me you can see the lights of Phoenix on a clear evening. That's nearly 90 miles
away! There are brown and black bears on the mountain, but I've never seen
one. You may have heard about last year's Aspen Fire, which devastated
the mountain village of Summerhaven... recently one of its businesses
re-opened, and many home and business owners are in the process of
rebuilding. It's been an amazing effort on the part of the residents
of Mount Lemmon, the Tucson community and the many outreach programs that
have helped raise funds to rebuild the town and the main road, and start
replanting trees. Check out the mountain at
www.mt-lemmon.com .
My
dad was big into genealogy, and actually wrote a book about all of the
ancestors and relatives he could find in our family.
Click HERE if
you're interested in reading a little about my family history.
My roots go back
to Denmark and Barbados, of all places! Actually on my Dad's side there are
ancestors that were on the Mayflower, but I only have specifics from about 1850 on,
though some of our many families can trace their way back nearly
400 years.
First
off, I don't consider myself much of a computer 'nerd'... :) although I do spend quite a
bit of time sitting in front of one (a computer, not a nerd!), both at
work, and at home. For a typist like me, the absolute nicest thing about a computer is that I don't
have to worry about accuracy anymore when I type. Typing was really about the most
worthwhile course I took in High School. If you're still in high school, PLEASE sign
up for typing or keyboarding. It's practically a requirement for work these days.
I can't emphasize that enough, kids. Is it officially called Keyboarding
now? I hate typewriters though, and I'm glad they're nearly gone...yay! I once
had a job in which my boss would make me retype an entire memo if there was one spelling
mistake or typo. Sheesh, didn't she ever hear of Liquid Paper?
HOME...I live out here in the deserts of Tucson, Arizona.
Actually it's not really a desert, we have over half a million people here.
Tucson plays host to three Major League Baseball teams in the winter, the
2001 World Champion Diamondbacks, the White Sox and the Rockies. Don't
get me started on losing Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling... it'll all end
in tears... We're also home to Biosphere
II (henceforth referred to as TOURIST TRAP A), Old Tucson Movie Studios
(henceforth TOURIST TRAP B), the Arizona/Sonora Desert Museum, Colossal Cave, the
University of Arizona (my alma mater, go Wildcats!) and the Tucson Sidewinders AAA
Baseball team (Diamondbacks). If I had 3 days to visit Tucson, I'd take in Colossal
Cave, the Hidden Valley Inn Restaurant, Trail Dust Town & Pinnacle Peak restaurant,
the
Gaslight
Theatre (hilarious shows! Visit my Gaslight page), the Desert Museum and Tucson
Electric Park. And, if I could take the time out to do it, I'd drive up to Mt.
Lemmon...I love it up there. Didn't I mention it above? :).
 HEALTH...I keep
in pretty good shape, although I have been thinking about going on a diet.
I can't get into the Atkins or Protein Power diets... I'm just too fond of
potatoes, spaghetti, rice and cereal, I guess...
Click this link if you have any interest in hearing about the most successful diet I ever went on?
I may try it again in Fall '06... After three years of modeling, I basically decided I was
pretty happy with myself as-is, and wasn't going to diet my way to 115 lbs, like one of
Arizona's modeling agencies suggested I do. Still, I like to keep in shape. I
shelved my Ab-Rocker and AbTronic recently in favor of old-fashioned sit-ups and
crunches. They tend to work well. I do have a recumbent bike at
home, which I love, and need to use more often... My company has a weight
room, jogging track and a volleyball court. Back in summer '04 I had the chance to
play volleyball on a ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We lost
three volleyballs in about 90 minutes.
TRIVIA! I spend a lot of my
time online playing various types of trivia games, or exploring the Web. I'm a nut
for trivia, which is kinda weird since I hadn't really cared for it since the mid-80s.
Back then I was too young to go out and have a life at night, so I was playing trivia on
Compuserve (roll-and-scroll on my TRS80!), and mastering Trivial Pursuit...though my Dad
was excellent at the Baby Boomer Edition!
Visit my Trivia Page. For a
while I was an official Community Leader on America OnLine. I hosted
AOL-sanctioned trivia games a couple nights a week. I turned out to be pretty good
at hosting trivia, since I have such a huge amount of useless knowledge floating around in
my head! My best areas (in case you're up for a challenge!) are contemporary movies,
Disney, baseball, and 80's music....scary, huh! Speaking of the 80's, click here to see my
Top 500 Songs of
the 80's, or check out my Top Movies List!
Trivia
Bashes....Southern Cal, Boston, Nashville, Washington DC, Las Vegas! - As a
ruthless trivia nut on AOL, I enjoy these little getaways. Trivia bashes
give me a chance to meet up with the many players I see online in the games
I host. I have met some of the nicest people in the world through AOL
trivia (Egghead Trivia and Amazing Trivia are its most recent incarnations). You know who you are! I have been to
bashes in Washington DC , Los Angeles, Houston,
Nashville, Boston, and Las Vegas. Visit
Egghead Trivia
or ZoneTrivia
on the Net!
 DISNEY!!
I love to talk Disney, I love visiting the Disney parks, I had annual passes to
Disneyland for years, I used to go to Disneyland about 5 times a year...now
it's just too much for me...ask me anything
about Disneyland! My absolute favorite thing to see there is the nighttime show, Fantasmic! What a performance! Disneyland now has a companion theme park, the
California Adventure, as well as a shopping and entertainment complex,
Downtown Disney. They still aren't getting the crowds Disney had hoped for,
partially due to 9-11, but also because Disney charges through the nose for
just about everything. There are very few 'free lunches' at the Disney
parks. The new California park could use another attraction or two, but
otherwise is a lot of fun. Recently they opened a Tower of Terror ride
there; I'll have to see how it compares to the one in Florida. I have been lucky enough to get out to Disney World in
Florida a couple times as well, including during my son's Wish trip.
We own every Disney full-length
animated motion picture from Snow White to Lilo and Stitch on video. Even the junky ones
Disney released just so people could complete their collections, like "Saludos
Amigos" and "Make Mine Music"... I hated their newer
films, Treasure Planet and Home on the Range, (neither was memorable at
all), although Brother Bear was fair. I collect a lot of oddball Disney
stuff, figurines, McDonalds toys, glasses, stuffed animals, books, and so on. I am a
NUT for Disney buttons...my office wall at work is covered with Winnie the
Pooh buttons, and I have a dress I made completely out of Disney buttons! Visit my
Disney page
SPORTS...I
play softball once or twice a week with teams from work... usually I play
first base but occasionally I wind up at second. I'm originally from Boston,
and in
1998, I decided it was time to try to break off old ties, after years of
suffering, and become a
Diamondbacks fan. It paid nice dividends in
2001! The D'backs gave my son and I some absolutely unforgettable, wonderful
memories...way to go!!!! Bank One Ballpark is sort of like being in an
airplane hangar, as opposed to a sanctuary like Fenway Park, but it is more
spacious. Someday I'll get to watch a game from that swimming pool! It amazes me that I can eat strawberries
and cream, Indian Fry Bread, and buffalo dogs among other things at the ballpark. I
suppose that's progress. As far as the Sox go, my opinion for several
years was that I didn't think a fan, who puts up the money that supports these teams, needs to suffer emotionally
because their team didn't win again. Jerry Seinfeld once said that we are no longer
rooting for baseball players, we're rooting for laundry! Baseball is
just a big business, I might as well just enjoy myself and enjoy a game when I can.
Okay, I was wrong... in 2003 I got back onto the Sox bandwagon, and
followed them through the last two seasons. What a feeling, when they
won the 2004 World Series! Even better when they came back from 0-3 to
knock off the Yankees in the ALCS! It's a great time to be a sports
fan in Boston. One more piece of advice to you casual game-goers....don't attempt to fight other
people for a baseball! Normally mild-mannered, sweet human beings seem to become ferile monsters when a foul pop-fly comes their way. I nearly had my arm pulled out
of the socket at a game Randy Johnson pitched in May 2000, groping for a foul ball.
Randy killed a bird with a pitched baseball a few years ago...how often does THAT ever
happen? Oh well....visit my
Red Sox page, my
Diamondbacks
page, or my
World Series 2001 page!
2/04 -
My New England Patriots are world champs AGAIN!! Way to go!
Brady for President '04! Adam Vinatieri might be an average kicker
during the regular season, but he's just NAILS when it really matters.
It's so amazing to see the Pats on top of the football world, after all the
bizarre problems, poor seasons, and mishaps they've had over the years.
And finally, a new stadium in Foxboro... it's about time, folks! My
high school had a better stadium than Schaeffer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium.
Well, at least the rest rooms were nicer. Here's hoping Cory Dillon
rushes for 2000 yards and we're right back in Super Bowl XXXIX...
2/05 - Well, today is
Super Bowl Sunday... and although Dillon only rushed for 1600 yards, we're
back in the Super Bowl again! Crossing my fingers... I'm actually
visiting Boston this weekend and will be here for the game, watching it with
friends. This is the place to be during a Pats Super Bowl, win or
lose!
MY BEGINNINGS...Well, I grew up in
New England...I lived in Groveland, MA for a few years, Beverly, MA for 13 years, and then
traveled to Tucson to go to college, and have managed to get myself stuck here. Yes,
I went to the University of Arizona....go Wildcats!! I really enjoy life here
though. There is plenty to do, the cost of living isn't bad, and the people are laid
back; not as much hustle and bustle as there is in the big cities. Still, I love to
get out of town when I can - I'm in a good location, only 6 hour drive from San Diego, 7
hours to LA, 5 hours to the Grand Canyon and 6.5 to Las Vegas. Oh, and it's 100
miles to Phoenix from here.
I don't get up to Phoenix as much as
I used to. For one thing, I can never find the time! My sister, one of my Web site clients, several of my
friends, and three of my photographers are all there! Phoenix is ugly compared to
Tucson. It's not nearly as rough to get around on the roads as its residents think
it is. Try messing with the Callahan/Sumner Tunnel and Tobin Bridge in Boston!
Phoenix also has the Diamondbacks, tons of great restaurants, huge malls, basically the
big city environment. Tucson has its advantages though. I live pretty well,
I'm down the street from all sorts of shopping, it's warm here year-round, and if I want
snow, there's Mt. Lemmon, less than an hour from me. The ocean is 6 hours away, but
there are several man-made lakes in town and a few nice secluded lakes within an hour or
so from town. I really like it here :). I don't have to shovel snow, commute
by train, taxicab or subway to work, most of the roads are a comfortable 3 lanes wide in
each direction, and Tucson is home to one of my favorite places, the
Gaslight
Theatre!
MUSINGS....Don't
you miss New England? people ask me that all the time.....Well, I miss watching the
leaves change color in the fall, and driving through the countryside in September. I
miss Fenway Franks and Papa Gino's Pizza. Visit the Papa Gino's Web site. I miss my friends,
who are 3000 miles away. I miss the beach, sometimes...though it's more the ocean
that I miss, the scent of the sea in the air. Beverly is a really nice little city
(that's one of its many lighthouses in the tiny picture above. There's always been a
good balance of nature and civilization there. My house was a block away from two
different forests, and a few miles from the ocean. If you know Beverly, you know
that Nick's Roast Beef has the best roast beef sandwiches ANYWHERE. Beverly is full
of history...they burned more witches than Salem, they're the birthplace of the American
Navy, home to the first Cotton Mill in America, the place where the board game, Monopoly
was invented, and home to a huge solar panel array that helps to power the local high
school. In 2004/05 I've taken three business trips to Boston totalling
nearly a month, and I'll probably get back there again at least one more
time in '05. 2006 will be the year of my 20th high school reunion as
well, so most likely, I'll be seeing that 'Dirty Water' again soon.
Places I'd love to visit.... Paris,
London, Lake Tahoe, and Mt. Rushmore. And maybe the two largest balls
of twine in America, located somewhere in Kansas and Minnesota,
respectively. Call me a Patriot... :)
 JOBS! Over the past few years I've had some interesting
jobs...I mentioned being a systems engineer now; I spent a year programming the STATS.com
web site on America Online for Major League Baseball and the NFL, six years in healthcare information systems, and had several
part time positions; I was a secretary for a social worker for the summer of 1998, had a
wonderful time typing, faxing, copying and so forth. Probably the strangest job I
ever had was selling roses in nightclubs all over town - I thought it would be a lot of
fun, but the thrill wore off after about 3 hours, as the basket of flowers got heavier and
heavier...it wasn't long before I'd had enough of the redneck bars, the come-on lines
(the best was "You can't pass up a free meal, right?") and
so forth.
If I drown my
Cheerios in milk, would that make me a "Cereal Killer"? "Last night I
dreamed I was a car muffler...I woke up exhausted!"...
I've got a million of 'em. I'm here all the time. Please tip your waitress
on the way out. I think I get my sad sense of humor from my dad, who although he
wasn't particularly making great jokes, always made me smile.
Ever notice that no matter how fast
you drive, there's always someone in front of you? :)
If you haven't been able to tell by
now, I love to write. I keep a
journal, I babble on and on here, and I've written
several short fictional stories.
HOLIDAYS... I love Halloween. What a fun holiday! I
like getting into the holiday and putting together a costume. Besides, I usually
have a ton of leftover candy after a low trick-or-treater turnout at my house, and this
year was no exception. In 1997 I went with the cavegirl motif - carried a giant bone
in one hand, and a stuffed dino on a leash in the other. Bone necklace, sabertooth
earrings, bone in the hair, leopardskin dress, the works. 1998 I was Belle from
Beauty and the Beast. My department at work did a group Beauty & the Beast
costume, and we won a $75 lunch from the company for best group costume. I spent
four hours at the mall that night trick-or-treating with my little boy before going out
for a late snack at Damon's Restaurant. The people at the Disney Store loved the
costume, and little girls were walking up to me to shake my hand and say hello :). A
few of my costume pics are online
HERE. In 1999, Halloween came at a bad time, really,
with everything going on with my son. We still found some time to do a little
trick-or-treating though. We went to the hospital's Halloween party and
trick-or-treated along each of the first five floors...his soldier costume got rave
reviews, especially the fake muscle-chest he wore with it that covered up his
catheter...wound up with a ton of candy. He was later cleared to go out
trick-or-treating the next evening, without having to wear a sterile mask, so we went
around house-to-house, and visited the mall we went to last year. Again I had kids
coming up to me to shake my hand or pull my ears...ok, I went as Bugs Bunny :). In
2001, I think I was the only one at work in costume...my old red Saloon Girl getup... I
guess I should have expected to be the only 'fun' person around on Halloween, working with
a bunch of pocket-protecting engineers... The following year, for work, I
threw on my Tom Brady football jersey and my softball cleats, and put some
mascara under my eyes. So much easier.
ROLE MODELS
For a long time, I really didn't have very many role models, heroes, people I could
look up to. Now I could probably go on and on! Instead, I'll just mention the ones
that mean the most to me. My biggest role model is my dad, even though he's gone
(1998). He taught me so much, was my friend, and a wonderful granddad to my
son. My mom and I are very close; I live much of my life by the examples she
set.
If I had to talk about heroes,
my biggest hero would be my son. He overcame the cancer monster, and has always been
optimistic, funny, and wonderful, no matter what lay ahead of him. I can only sit
back and admire his courage. His doctors and the nurses, who cared so well for him,
are my heroes as well; miracle workers that they are. I will never be able to thank
them enough for everything they have done.
There are role models for me in
everyday life. My friends Mitch and Joe, who both find themselves at
the helm of fairly large companies, have shown me
how visions can become reality; how someone can take a great idea and actually act on it
and make it happen...many people are all talk and no action. Other people I admire include
my sister, my stepdad, my good friends Amanda, (who also gets things done, stands up as a
voice for people, ran for public office and got over 25,000 votes...and knows how to plan!), Lorena, (who balances being a great mom so well
with her demanding job), Heather (another great friend of mine and an SCA
Goddess :), Matt, (who literally risks his life at work to help
others), Nancy, (the social worker I worked for), all of my Wish Kids (more
than 40 of them now!) and anyone who
volunteers with a charitable organization.
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