Grottos and Show Caves

Everyone has their favorite memories from when they were little. They always stick in your mind as fresh as the day after regardless of how long it has been. Sometimes the details might be a little fuzzy but the crux of the memory is still the same. Some of my favorite memories of "my youth" (I'm not really old enough to use this term, but I don't know what else to call it it was well over 10 years ago that these memories were made) were in regards to the local caves. Whenever we would stay at my grandma and grandpa's summer cabin for the week, one of the trips that we would do would typically be the Meramec Caverns. Located along the Old Route 66, it opened in 1935. It's alleged claim to fame was that it was the hideout of Jesse James and his gang. It has certainly grown and gotten more touristy over the years. The last time I visited there was one of the sluices for "panning for gems" basically buying a bag filled with sand and a few gems and sifting it through the mesh to find the gems. In any case, there we were sort of shivering (not extremely cold but we had forgotten to bring our jackets and as the cave is a nice 55 degrees it was kind of cool. I always got a kick out of it but always thought that the tours were a little contrived. I'd always look over the edge of the concreted walkways and see a path that I would want to crawl through and explore (of coursethey wouldn't have let me do that). It was the same was at Marvel Cave (within Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri).

Fast forward to 2000.....

I was at my first semester of college and I found out that my Resident Admin (or something like that) was the president of the Southeast Grotto on campus. I had never really thought about it until I was given the opportunity. I couldn't pass it up. I have to say that I am glad I didn't. We only went on two trips that year, but they were both fun and a good learning experience for myself in many ways. It was the start of when I was awoken to my strong interest in Geoscience. As I had been a volunteer in the Ecology and Environment Gallery and my favorite exhibit was the stream table I had an inkling but not as strong as after my move back to Saint Louis after the failure of my second semester (due to extenuating circumstances that really had nothing to do with partying-which I did none of). Ironically when I came back to Saint Louis and continued my volunteering at the Science Center, the Omnimax there was getting ready to show "Journey Into Amazing Caves." I was ecstatic! By the time it left the Science Center the following year, I had seen it four times (it was a good thing I volunteered and later worked there or I wouldn't have afforded it) and had decided that the DVD of it was definitely what I wanted for the following Christmas.

Since that first time caving, I doubt I've been the same. When I started working at the Science Center, I had seriously considered joining a local grotto. However, I didn't drive and I knew I really didn't have the money to do so (not to mention the weekends) so my interest in spelunking went on the back burner.

Now that I have moved back to Cape Girardeau where I had first joined a grotto, I was actively in search of the club. I knew that my second semester there it had started to fade out. I was hoping that if there wasn't a club still around that I could actively pursue beginning one anew. Luckily I didn't have to worry about that. After a little search and asking the rec club sponser if he knew and a little calling around there it was!

Just yesterday I went on my first trip of the year. I won't go into too much detail. Suffice it to say that it has me hyped up for this coming year. I reason I'm all hyped is because on my future grandma-in-law's land is a sinkhole that as far as we know has never been explored. I am hoping that the sinkhole turns out to connect to a cave. Also behind her land on someone else's is also a sinkhole that we know would go at least a few feet, how much further would be the question. Now I need to contact that guy to get his approval to look at it. We will see what happens and be sure that I will be keeping this updated on this as it develops.

Sometimes you just gotta try something new...

At least, it wasn't new for me, however the person that I wanted to write the post refused to do it so it's left to me. Maybe she'll leave a comment about what her opinion of it was (*hint*hint*). I guess I need to backtrack a little bit.

It first started before John and I left for Saint Louis for an old high school friend's after-wedding reception. John decided to look up events going on in Saint Louis so that we would have more of a reason to go than just my friend's wedding (John had never met her before so he felt really out of place) and found out that the Japanese Festival was going on at Missouri Botanical Garden. John hadn't really been to the Festival before but thought it would be fun and I knew that I would enjoy it.

John didn't seem to have much fun at the reception, particularly after they started the music. John tends to be one of those guys (I guess I should say that most guys are this way) that would rather stay off on the sidelines. I hate dancing on the floor without my man with me, even though I will go and do it anyway (the music tends to be too much for me to ignore most of the time). So off John goes with Drac (Moueska's man) and JR (my friend Lar's husband back from basic). Next thing I know the first slow song is a ladies choice (I think it had to do with the fact that the only man on the floor was Mr. Barnes with Mrs. Barnes for the sing songs) so off I went to try and drag John onto the floor. Of course John wrangles a promise from me that we would be leaving after that.

So after that one slow song John and I let my sister and Drac know that we are about to head out to the Japanese Festival and they decided to join us. So after saying our farewells to our friend and her new husband Moueska agrees to meet us at the front of the Garden.

We John and I get there and call them. It turned out that they took a sidetrip to visit Tom's dad and pick up some chairs in case we ended up watching the taiko drums in the evening. When they called I told them that we would go ahead in and meet them when they got through. So John and I walked around and browsed the vendors and watched a little kids parade until they got there. By the time they got there though, the only thing left that we would be able to watch was the taiko drums so Drac and John set up the chairs while my sister and I went "shopping." I put that in quotations because neither Moues nor I have a job right now so we were trying to limit our budget. While we were there we saw a lot that we wished we could afford but we knew that we couldn't. There was one thing however that I had been looking for a loooooong time that I decided that I could justify buying. In the gift shop I found a kite with a dragon head on it and a long tail. I just couldn't help it. It is currently hanging on the wall of my library and waiting for the day when the winds are blowing calling for the dragon to fly free.

After we watched the taiko drums for a while, John decided that we needed to head out early as he didn't think Wasabi would be open long enough to go there if we stayed for the whole show. So off we go to Washington Avenue for some good (at least in my opinion) sushi, miso and salad with ginger dressing. I don't know what Moueska and Drac thought of the whole experience, maybe Moueska can give us a rundown on her blog (*hint hint*).

This week was my first week of classes in over two years. It felt slightly odd the first day. Imagine getting close to campus about ten minutes before class and barely finding parking spaces about a half mile from campus! Luckily my first class was my Pilates/Yoga class so you can bet that I was already warmed up! After that it's off the Economics and despite what I had thought of that class I think I'm going to enjoy it, I may even get a better idea as to why the USSR "didn't work." Following that it's off to grab a little grub back at my half-mile away car, good thing there was a nice park on the opposite side from where I parked so I enjoyed a nice PBJ, apple and Sprite while watching the geese. Then it's back up to campus for my Cultural Anthropology. I know that I'm going to enjoy that one. Imagine a prof that gets you hopping and goofy shouting out in class. That's what it's kind of like. I didn't even notice that an hour and fifteen minutes had gone by. Right after that it's time to hoof it over to the Johnson for my retake of College Algebra. Luckily this time I didn't get the same prof and this one slightly more interesting, he intentionally throws in curveballs to get you to say...wait a minute.... What's more, I can actually understand what he's saying. Three and a half years ago I had an oriental professor that I not only could not understand, he really didn't help me to understand things at all.

All in all I think I have a good, if slightly less intense semester this year. I had actually hoped to have that and that worked in my favor. As I am academic probation (as I had a few new things transferred in) I am limited to twelve hours, but am only taking ten as I wanted to throw in a pottery course that was filled up and the only other dance class was the Pilates/Yoga course so I jumped at the chance.

Update time!!

It's been a while since I've posted so I need to let everyone know what's going on.

July 21st was my last day at work at the SC. I am pretty sure that I'm already missing working there, but I am also pretty sure that my experience has taught me a great deal about my interests and what I enjoy doing. For the next few days I packed my stuff to move at the end of July.

July 24th-Went to North Carolina to visit with some of his dad's side of the family with John, his mom and his sister. I had a great time getting to know his sister and mom a little bit better as well as meeting some of the family. On our way back we went through the Biltmore Mansion. What I wouldn't give to have a house like it on a much smaller scale. On our way back I asked each of them which of the rooms was their favorite. John loved the library. Imagine the library from the Beast's castle in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" And you would know that I'm talking about. My favorite was torn between the library and the Banquet Hall. The Banquet Hall had medieval tapestries and carving along the wall depicting various stories. In the center was a huge table reminiscent of a Maedieval Banquet table for the royalty.

July 30th-Begin move out of my apartment. John and his cousin came up in two pickup trucks and help me get my dining room set (dining room table, chairs, buffet and china cabinet) . John had called all over the place to see about getting a Uhaul or something. Nothing. So they brought both of the pickups up to Saint louis and got them loaded up and went back to Cape. They got all of the stuff unloaded around 1am. When I heard about that the next day I felt sorry for both of them.

July 31st-John went back up to Saint Louis and helped me load up some more stuff as well as help me put my dresser (which has lasted through my brother and I as little kids all the way up until when I moved, it was in really bad shape) out n the corner as well as my old dining room table from way back. I had saved it from the dumpster at my Grandma Alice's back when I was twelvewith the intention that I would have it when I got my own place. I would have rather have taken this piece over to a Goodwill or even down to the thrift store which his gram and aunt volunteer at, however as John always argues whenenver I even slightly bring it up-we didn't have the space. I just hope someone gave it a home.

Now you are probably asking why didn't her family help here, after all they live in Saint Louis as well. The thing is that while I was getting my stuff moved, dad and the remainder of the family was moving atthe same time elsewhere. So some of the time that I would have typically spent packing up at my place ended up being spent over at dad's house going overthe stuffthat I want and don't want anymore.

So now here I am in Cape G., signed up for college classes and trying to figure out how to get around without a car. Just remember, never fail your driving test more then twice.

Walkin' in the Rain

The most I've done these past few days is take the bus out to Johnnie Brock's to return a cloak that I rented for the opening weekend of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and the SC. that meant that most of my day has bee spent either on the internet or watching TV.

When I woke up this morning I had a different plan in mind. If I didn't still have a sore jaw I would take a walk and get myself prepared for the "Komen Race for the Cure" that is going on this weekend. The extent of my exercise lately has been biking to work which while it is exercise (a full 7 1/2 mile ride each way) it's not working the muscles that I would use for walking-at least not in the same way. As it was (and at the time of this post is) raining, I needed to wear my red waterproof jacket. I will tell you this-it is definitely worth the $60 I paid for it (and that was a children's version of it-if you are a gals' size four or below go to the kids rack in REI, you'll fit an XL easily).

While I was out walking and listening to my soundtrack of "Journey into Amazing Caves," (all of the songs are from the Moody Blues, I started kind of noticing the details in vines and what not. Part of my loop included walking on an unpaved section of Grant's Trail between Pardee and Watson. Along that section I got the feeling that I temporarily could notice the past in the surroundings. There were wooden crates that made me think of hobo villages and buildings that at one time must have bordered the boxcars that brought steel and wood from elsewhere.

I'm actually looking forward to this weekend although it will be as busy as can be. I'm supposed to be at work about 1pm which would definitely be after the race, but I'm scheduled to work until 8pm. You can bet that going to be tiring. On Sunday I'm supposed to be fitted for the my bridesmaid dress for Dad and Kathy's wedding. I've already gotten the invitation for both John and I. It's definitely going to be different. This year is definitely a year of changes. I wonder what more is going to happen.

Today is a lounge day

Why is that you say? Well earlier this morning I got my wisdom teeth pulled. Can't say that the first part was all that pleasant. Hope to have a better day tommorrow though. Sunday after work John and I went to pick up my race materials for next Saturday's Race for the Cure downtown. Hopefully I'll be feeling good enough tommorrow or Wednsday to get a little practice in. I'm hoping to beat my time last time (about a 13 min/mile).

Work has been hopping. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, the SC is showing "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." I worked the midnight showing of it and it was fun! I took off from work a little before the time I would normally have and went over to Johnnie Brock's to check into their dungeon for a cloak to wear with the "Prof. Mac Gonagall" witch hat that I would be wearing that evening. Unfortunately someone that worked at another movie theater had bought all of their cloaks a few hours before I had gotten there. So instead I ended up renting a cloak instead. I wish I could buy it off of them though. Hopefully I'll feel good enough tommorrow to turn it in so I can get my deposit back. I don't have enough money otherwise. That evening I went around with my manager to talk with some VIP's that were there for a preview of the "SPACE" exhibit on a Segway. That was fun, imagine a bunch of bigwigs drooling over what you are riding/driving! After that I helped with making sure the kids that were in line for the movie were getting the goody bags with activities and whatnot. Next thing I know, it's time to call numbers __ through __ to line up for the theater for the 12:01am June fourth performance of "Harry Potter 3!" I was even among the first people to see it!

The next day at work all of the shows were sold out, in fact they sold out the day before. It seemed like there were a lot of people willing to pay the money to see it. Hopefully this runs under August, which is the end of the run for us.

BTW, if you are curious about prices for it- it's $12 for per adult ad $10 per senior (60+) or child (2-12). I know this is more expensive that the standard theater, but in general it is right on par for IMAX screens.

Updates!

Well I know that I haven't updated my blog in a while, but after I found out that Blogger added a commenting system to the weblogs, I figured it was time to try and keep this a little more current. To do this I'm going to need to recount things that are going on in my life.

1: I am now engaged (yay!), This happened mid-April. I already knew it was going to happen, but I still find it nearly impossible to believe-until I look at my left hand where my black opal engagement ring sits. Why black opal I'm assuming you are asking? That's for another post.

2: My dad is getting married at the beginning of August, which is one of the reasons why we haven't set a date. I want my dad home safe and sound before planning ours. I'm supposed to be a bridesmaid for them, so as this is my first time in a bridal party (oustide of when I was a two-year old flowergirl for my cousin's wedding) so this will be an interesting experience I am sure.

3: The museum where I work is nearly done with renovations (finally!) so I won't have to redirect visitors to the Dome. Now we'll need to redirect them back to the Main Lobby. *Sigh*

4: At the SC (will henceforth replace "the museum where I work") we are in the works for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." When we have this movie it will be crazy despite the fact that the price for the tickets will be a little more spendy than our current Omnimax films.

Well, this is it for now!

If outsourcing is good for the US economy, where's the jobs to sustain it?

I am sure that everyone that reads this blog (which I suspect is not all that many anymore) has either heard about outsourcing or experienced it firsthand. It seems to be part of everyday life these days. Just a few minutes ago I read this . It seems that the US Treasury Secretary believes that it is beneficial the economy. He may very well be right...to a point. I can see it very well. Unless the jobs that are being outsourced are replaced with jobs of similar wages, the majority of the populous will be pushed out of the way in favor of the people with money.

How could this possibly happen? Here's an example. Let's say you are the creator of sprockets. You start out as a small business and as the popularity of sprockets grows. As your demand grows, you start hiring more people. At first you simply hire people to make them. As your workforce grows you add managers and marketing to the mix. After that you add custodial etc. Now let's say for a moment that you figure, "I can make more money by shipping my base force out of the US and pay them less" (as one US dollar might be worth two to three times theirs, they would still be paid a decent wage) so you start by shipping the lower part-making aspect overseas and keeping the marketing and custodial for the last part of the assembling. A few of the people that used to be managers of the assembling staff might very well find other jobs within your own company. Then you decide, I don't need this big of a marketing staff, I'll just outsource to another company. That company may or may not necessarily be a US based company.

You're probably trying to figure out my point. Originally when outsourcing first began, it was simply the assemblers that were outsourced. Those people were told, look, there's the computer industry that is still here and kicking, why doing you go there? Well, now even those jobs have been outsourced to countries like India and Russia. Sometimes it really doesn't work to the benefit of the head programmers for a company as they would have to go back through their coding to figure out point by point what they created so that they can tell their programmers overseas "this needs to go there" and so on.

The pitfall of the outsourcing is lost jobs. The upside, the economy's great. The companies that are based in the US are thriving and surviving...but how long can this last when there aren't enough people to buy what they sell? People need real money to afford things like internet access (which customer service for it is generally outsourced) of cable services, cars, etc.

My own job at the museum where I work could be outsourced, but only to a degree. I mainly do reservations, cashiering, ticket-taking at the parking lot and greeting the visitors as they come in the door. Reservations could be outsourced to other companies (some of which may be overseas) but a majority of my position requires direct contact with the visitor in some form. Even direct people service is being replaced to a degree-only it's not outsourced as much as it is replacement by automation. Five to ten years ago it was unheard of to get an e-mailed ticket which you could take directly to the concourse. Now that is standard practice, cutting out about 1/4 of the employee base. Where do those people go?

A few people that I know have been introduced to wireless or internet so fluently that they have no clue how they got on without it. I currently have very few experiences. I live in an apartment complex that, while being fairly inexpensive and in a good neighborhood at the same time, it affords me little in the way of internet possibilities. I do not have cable and cannot afford the monthly fees for it, so I subsist on an inexpensive and yet extremely slow connection (think 28.8kb/s slow). My particular apartment complex does not have laundry facilities on-site (another way to keep the costs down I suppose) so I have to walk a little bit to get to the laundromat (not very far, but it feels far when you are carting a week’s worth of laundry).

On most days I only cart a book or two, but the last time two times I was there, I brought my laptop computer instead. As I do not have a portable CD player (I have bad karma with CD players, more on that another day) I usually bring my laptop with me to the laundromat so that I can listen to my CDs while I’m waiting for my laundry to finish. Earlier today when I had my computer on listening to one of my Christmas gifts from my sister (“Harem” by Sarah Brightman) I wonder what it would be like to have wireless access wherever you go. Think about it, you would be able to boot up your computer and be able to browse the internet while you are waiting for your laundry to dry at the laundromat, be able to do research from your lunch table in Subway.

I know that a few places already are offering these options. Nearly all St. Louis Bread Companies have wireless access. If there was a St. Louis Bread extremely close to me, I would be there regularly (that is, after I bought a wireless card) and cancel my dial-up access. I was at Borders almost a month ago and they have wireless access, but it cost. I suspect that places like that will have to wake up and smell the coffee, if they want people to use it and make it worthwhile, they will need to either get rid of the cost or make the cost worth the access in order to attract people as places like St. Louis Bread do not charge for their access.

Some companies have already tried this here and there. I remember an article that I read one time which was bemoaning the lack of access and tried to address it. McDonalds had tried a foray into wireless access by doing test stores. There is one big reason that it fell-McDonalds are known as a kid’s restaurant. Business people rarely go there because it is considered not an image they want to portray for business meetings. They would prefer to go to a coffee; bread, bagel, and luncheon place over a loud cartoonish rarely customer-friendly restaurant because it promotes a professional, customer positive atmosphere. McDonalds has been trying to stop a slump that is has been having due to over saturation of their market and that of their own doing (they over franchised their brand) by closing franchises that under-perform and by trying to create unique atmospheres to entice more people to go and “hang-out” hoping that those same people will buy more food and drink while there. One of these particular tests was adding what are called “hotspots” (areas where wireless access are available to some of those restaurants. Main problem is there has not been much demand in the United States and thereby there has not been much in the way of additional hotspots.

Hopefully the day will come that I can sit at my local laundromat and browse the internet while getting my laundry done. I can only hope.

I guess you could call me a big outdoor-type. On Monday we had the warmest day since the end of the Indian Summer back just before Thanksgiving. Being as it was so nice outside and to top it all off, I had the day off. I decided that I wouldn't sit indoors and waste away my day off like I normally do. I pulled out my bicycle, layered up and headed out. It later turned out that I didn't need as many layers as I had on so off came one sweater jacket that was keeping the heat in. I got some of my shopping done and learned another bus route in case I ever wanted to get back out to REI, Whole Foods or the Galleria Mall.

On my way back I was contacted by John (my current interest, more on him later) asking how I was doing and what I was up to. Originally he asked if I wanted a ride, but I nixed it as I knew that we couldn't have gotten my bike into the back of his car even if he had wanted to, so instead he said that he would meet me at my place (I had hoped that I would beat him there, but it didn't happen). From there we just had a nice evening at home (his home that is). ;)

Just yesterday we had our first substantial snowfall for the year. As less than thirty days ago we were still having an Indian summer, I suspect that this coming winter is going to be a long one. I remember hearing once that you generally enjoy weather closest to your b-day. Well, I don't. I was born on February 28th (I'm a pisces for anyone that really tries to count that sort of stuff) and I absolutely despise winter. I remember on my thirteenth birthday I asked for a swim party for my birthday. the party ended up being a suprise birthday, but that's another story for another day.

By the way, I don't have a weblog commenter just yet, so until I do, send all comments to me at belle.chris@juno.com

Comment

Hey all, I don't think anyone besides friends or family will be reading this, but I will try to keep this updated-and Smackie, I'll try not to make a Woman with a Problem blog.

Comment