My Car as seen on Google Street View

Double O Seven

2007 in review:

January - I packed all of my possessions, got a new apartment thanks to Craigslist, and moved in the last week of January (movers rock). I also got Microsoft certified in Excel 2003.

February - I unpacked most of my stuff and started making dinner at my house once a week, starting with chicken lettuce wraps. I also got to go to a Minnesota Wild Game.

March - I started the month by booking my airfare to Europe in May and applying for my passport. The rest of the month spent I booking hotels and tours.

April - My grandparents moved out of their house and held an auction to get rid of stuff.

May - Europe!! But first, I had to beg and plead for my passport.

June - I turned 30.

July - I reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and the Half-Blood Prince and then read the Deathly Hallows. My niece and I hit Borders at midnight for the Deathly Hallows release party. I saw Order of the Phoenix at midnight the day it came out, and 3 more times in the theater.

August - It started with the bridge collapse. It ended with the first meeting of my Writing 2 class.

September - I met a guy online, started dating him and made him my boyfriend, all in 30 short, rainy days. We went to the Renaissance Festival on the 29th.

October - I visited Duluth with the new boyfriend and I transformed myself into Medusa for Halloween. My brother-in-law and I took my sister to see Jim Gaffigan at the Orpheum for her birthday.

November - I finally got to see MIA in concert at First Ave.

December - I stopped biting my nails. I used the method of wearing a rubber band on my wrist. It served as a reminder and on the few times I did bite, I snapped the rubber band. Lastly, I posted to my blog on 27 of the 31 days in December, which was one of my 101 things to do.

Half Birthday

Today is my half-birthday, so now I am halfway to 61.

I am the one Who

I am the One Who…

Went to Italy for two weeks.

Wants to go back.

Loves to travel.

Buys too many books.

Eats and drinks too much.

Fixes problems and explains things.

Remembers random details.

Wonders how he feels.

Has strange dreams and has no idea what they mean.

Likes to spend time alone.

Turned thirty and found out it was no big deal.

Hates ketchup and mustard.

Stays up too late, reading or playing video games,

Has been to 48 states.

Remembers lines from movies and TV shows and repeats them annoyingly.

My boss treats better than the others.

Has too much clutter in my room.

Likes puzzles.

Loves board games and trivia.

Owns too many clothes.

Has worked at the same place for 11 years.

Hates politics.

Votes anyway.

Reads my news online.

Refuses to argue.

Speaks up.

Is reliable and sometimes bossy.

Can put almost anything together.

I was born...

Tonight was my last Writing Class and we had to read something out loud that we had written during the semester. This is what I read:

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN and my parents divorced before I turned three. My mother went back to college to get her Bachelor’s and moved us three girls up to St. Cloud to finish her Master’s Degree. I learned that providing for yourself and having say in what your life becomes are essential to being happy. I moved to Minneapolis when I was 19 and I have been working full-time ever since. I am trying to finish my Bachelor’s degree right now.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN My father was a Vietnam Veteran and an alcoholic. We lived in the trailer park until I was 10, when we moved into an apartment. I grew up thinking that violence solved problems. I hated the small town we lived in, so I joined the military when I turned 18. I was stationed in Afghanistan in 2001, met my husband in 2003 and got married last year.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN. My mother and two sisters lived in Minnesota until I was ten, when we moved to Seattle, WA. There I went to high school and then college, where I majored in performing arts. I now work in the local music scene as a talent booker for several venues. Most of the guys I’ve dated have been either musicians or software guys from Microsoft. The musicians are too flakey and the software guys are too boring.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN, the youngest of three girls. I went to school in St. Cloud and then college in Texas. I majored in engineering and went to work for NASA. I met my husband at work in 2001, and we got married in Italy in 2004. We take two big trips every year and we just built a house.

I was born in Redwood Falls, MN but I grew up in St, Cloud. I met my high school sweetheart the summer before ninth grade. He graduated that spring and stayed in town for college. I took a job in an office after graduation. We had a child in 1998 and then got married right after our second one in 2000. His parents helped us with a down payment on a townhouse as our wedding gift. He never finished his degree, but he loves his job at the local radio station. I am back working part time now that the kids are in school. We are currently saving money to go to Europe for our tenth anniversary.

This was an exercise in which we wrote small biographical paragraphs that examined how our lives would have turned out if major events had been different.

Apartment Therapy

I currently live in a 2 bedroom with my niece and I pay $650 per month, with no parking included.

Going backwards:
My last apartment was a studio where I paid $590 per month and had a parking spot.
Before that, it was 2 different one bedrooms for like $660 with free parking.
My sister and I shared a 2 bedroom for around $850 with free parking.
I had a one bedroom with no parking, a shared 2 bedroom for around $690 and my first apartment was a studio for $315 (!) with no parking.


These have all been in Minneapolis, St. Louis Park or Hopkins and most included some sort of "pet rent".

I feel so stupid, happy and numb.

Oscar Levant said "Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember."

I'm gonna go ahead and call him a liar. This year more than any other I have been quite aware of my own happiness at the very time I was experiencing it: on the top of a double-decker tour bus in Rome; speeding down the freeway driving to nowhere in particular; just hanging out, whether it is with old friends, new friends or old friends that are new again. Perhaps as we get older we are better able to be in the moment?

I need, I want, I should

Google your name in quotes and add another word. It's a great meme.

• "In lieu of any other blood relations who can provide the necessary environment that Ms. Hansen needs, an alternate solution is clearly. in order." From some Star Trek fanfic, in reference to Seven of Nine, whose real name is Annika Hansen.
• "Sarah H. needs volunteers to help her minister to the elderly"
• "Sarah Needs A Cold Shower, Self-Esteem" Well, doesn't everybody?
• "Sarah Needs Your Manly Vote"
• "Sarah Needs to Blog More"
• "Sarah needs to get her life back & establish herself as a person in charge!" I think it's the other way around, she is tired of being the adult.
• "Sarah should consider tax efficient savings accounts such as cash ISAs." zzz...
• "Sarah should be forced to come over, ... “Sarah should drop out of school and visit on Tuesdays!" no and NO
• "So Sarah should buy more vanilla." Absolutely, I agree
• "Yes Sarah, could be a professional food writer" No, she could not be a professional anything writer. Maybe an editor.
• "Sarah could feel dark energy streaming from it like light through broken clouds."
• "Sarah wants a later curfew and Emily wants a bra."
• "Sarah wants Lorem Ipsum on her headstone"
• "Sarah wants to be the first person on Mars" Not so much
• "Sarah wants the hustle and bustle of town life." Very true
• "Sarah had better steer clear of sharp knives and fatty foods for a while, or that house is going to need a second fireplace." Because fireplaces make houses safer?
  
• "Sarah had better be careful getting that close to a lightsaber."
• "I know she’s got a boyfriend, but your friend Sarah was wicked hot."
• "Sarah was first introduced to white people at age six."
• "Sarah can't keep her mind on the spoons." They aren't that interesting.
  
• "Sarah would receive mission objectives from her secret headquarters"
• "Sarah won't give me a turn on her scooter." See above, she is tired of being mature and has decided to indulge her infantile side.
  

21 Things That I Want in a Lover

with apologies to Alanis

1. You should own at least one suit, and look hot while wearing it.
2. You cannot see friendship or love as a competition.
3. You must have a job and pay your own way.
4. You should understand that I need time alone and time away from you, or I won't be able to miss you.
5. You have to possess the humility to put others before yourself sometimes.
6. You should not smoke.
7. Once you get to know me, you should be able to sense some of my needs without my having to express them.
8. You must be able to challenge me intellectually, even if it is about a silly topic.
9. You have to know and love yourself, because if you don't, I won't be able to.
10. You must be aware of any prejudices you have and work to rid yourself of them.
11. You should possess my Wanderlust, but if you don't, it should not be a source of fear or worry for you.
12. You should set and meet goals on a regular basis.
13. You should know the values of and the differences between knowledge, wisdom and imagination.
14. You need to be able to empathise with others, while still upholding standards.
15. You must value life in all its forms.
16. Your standards for yourself must be the same or higher as your standards for others.
17. You must show me affection, respect and fidelity.
18. You must be able to learn from your mistakes and solve problems.
19. Jealousy should only motivate you to try harder. It should not get you down.
20. You must have a sense of humor, however dry or juvenile.
21. Your priorities must be in line with mine, or we will have problems down the road.

Which File Extension are You?

Which File Extension are You?

Insight

Name THREE of your
Pet Peeves:
- telephones - dumbasses - winter

Favorite Sounds:
- my music - silence - Mina purring

Biggest Fears:
- sharks - war - the accumulation of too much wealth and power by an elite group of immortals

Biggest Challenges:
- my own sloth - not hating 90 percent of the world - discipline

Favorite Stores:
- Old Navy - Target - Michaels

Most Used Words:
-Whatever - weak - NO!

Favorite Pizza Toppings:
- Pepperoni - Garlic - Cheeeeeeeeese

Favorite Salad ingredients:
- Sunflower Seeds - Bacon - Bleu Cheese

Favorite Cartoon Characters:
- Zoidberg from Futurama - Cow from Cow and Chicken - Ralph Wiggum

Movies Recently Watched:
- Team America: World Police - 50 First Dates - Motorcycle Diaries

Favorite Fruits:
- pears - pineapple - bananas

Morning Rituals:
- brush hair and teeth - get dressed - run for the bus

Spare time activites:
- Internet time wastage - quilting - tv

Life Goals:
- My B.S. - my own house - a trip around the world

Favorite Vacations:
- San Fran - Yosemite - 2003 massive road trip

Fantasy Vacations:
- Mediterranean circle tour - Ankor Wat - Machu Picchu

Bookmarks:
- KOL - Yahoo - Google

The Friday Feast

Appetizer:
Name 3 things that you are wearing today.
insoles, a badge holder, a chip on my shoulder

Soup:
Who was the last person you hugged?
My niece

Salad:
What do you like to order from your favorite fast food place?
Meat and Potato Burrito from Taco Johns

Main Course:
What time of day do you usually feel most energized?
2-5 pm

Dessert:
Using the letters in your first name, write a sentence.
She always runs around Houston.

Feel free to shoplift

Yeah, use this on your own blog or send it to your friends in an email. Take out some lines if you don't like them (I sure did) and add at least one of your own.

If I were a stone, I would be "Sly and the Family" - just kidding - actually, I'd be a stone island, because although no man is an island, I do well as part of an archipelago.
If I were a tree, I would be a ginko because they have cool leaves.
If I were a bird, I would be a wood duck. I don't know why, but I have always liked them, plus I like pretty boys.
If I were a tool, I would be a rotary cutter, you know like a pizza cutter for fabric or paper.
If I were a flower, I would be a dandelion.
If I were weather, I would be a heat wave.
If I were a mythical creature, I would be a sphinx.
If I were a musical instrument, I would be tympani.
If I were an animal, I would be a cat, a run-of-the-mill orange tabby.
If I were a colour, I would be navy blue.
If I were an emotion, I would be malaise, a general feeling of.
If I were a vegetable, I would be a soybean.
If I were a sound, I would be your favorite song.
If I were an element, I would be bromine, a dark brown pungent liquid which is toxic and highly reactive. Maybe it is more accurate to say that bromine is my favorite element.
If I were a historical figure, I would be Sojourner Truth.
If I were a celebrity, I would be in the looney bin. The lack of privacy would not sit well with me.
If I were a book, I would be Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner.
If I were a movie, I would be Someone Like You.
If I were a food, I would be Curry Chicken from Chiang Mai Thai.
If I were a place, I would be a storage area.
If I were a piece of clothing, I would be cargo pants.
If I were a fabric, I would be army green broadcloth.
If I were an object, I would be a safety pin.
If I were a word, I would be flummoxed.
If I were a body part, I would be an ear lobe.
If I were a facial expression, I would be a grimace.
If I were a subject in school, I would be math.
If I were a shape, I would be a pyramid.
If I were a number, I would be seven.
If I were a month, I would be March.
If I were a day of the week, I would be Thursday.
If I were a time of day, I would be 7:00 PM.
If I were a piece of furniture, I would be an armoire.
If I were a sin, I would be sloth.
If I were a liquid, I would be chai tea.
If I were a planet, I would be Venus.
If I were a scent, I would be vanilla.
If I were a sea animal, I would be terrified.
If I were a dessert, I would be cannolli.
If I were a sky, I would be a sunset.

My additions:

If I were a foreign country, I would be Portugal.
If I were a weapon, I would be a spetum, which is cool looking spear.
If I were a fruit, I would be a pear.

PS Thank you to Yahoo and Google's Image Search capabilities. Have you tried them?

News Flashes:

Today is my mother's birthday as well as my sister's. Happy Birthday, ladies! And before you try to be cute, no, they were not born in the same year.
I am going to Chicago in two weeks with some friends. I can't wait.
I should be working right now, but I'm not.
All 6 of my KOL characters have gone as far as they can, questwise. I even restarted one of them. I am thinking about restarting another one. I can't wait for the reset now, even though I will lose millions of meat. I want to play the game through without buying anything. I am still working on trophies and meat making, but it gets old sometimes. I am even playing some of my niece's characters just to pass the time.
I got an A on my Calculus test. Some of the other students in the class just don't get things and need them explained 3 or 4 times. It gets annoying when they don't even recall simple Algebra.
As for my Acting Class, I think I am running at a B+ right now. We finished both of our Two Minute exercises, and we get scenes assigned next week. I need to critique a play and learn my monologue soon.
I can't believe how fast August and September went by.

Nine Layers

Get to know me better. Actually, I think the lyrics I post here say quite a bit about me, but here's the technical info:

LAYER ONE:
-- Name: Sarah
-- Birth date: June 22nd
-- Current Location: Minneapolis, MN
-- Eye Color: Blue
-- Hair Color: Dirty Blonde
-- Height: 5'7"
-- Right or Left Handed: Right
-- Zodiac Sign: Cancer

LAYER TWO:
-- Your heritage: German,Dutch
-- The shoes you wore today: none yet
-- Your weakness: slacking off
-- Your fears: sharks
-- Your perfect pizza: Garlic Chicken
-- Goal you'd like to achieve: My BS in Math

LAYER THREE:
-- Your most overused phrase online: Oy
-- Your first waking thoughts: Noooooooo. I need more sleep
-- Your best physical feature: My eyes
-- Your most missed memory: Lots of little ones, but nothing huge

LAYER FOUR:
-- Pepsi or Coke: Coke
-- McDonald's or Burger King: BK
-- Single or group dates: Single
-- Adidas or Nike: Neither, Payless for me
-- Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: How about Snapple?
-- Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
-- Cappuccino or coffee: Chai

LAYER FIVE:
-- Smoke: no
-- Cuss: yes, but I don't notice it
-- Sing: only along with the radio
-- Take a shower everyday: yes
-- Do you think you've been in love: no
-- Want to go to college: I am going right now
-- Liked high school: No, only the summers during high school (SCACHSMB)
-- Want to get married: no
-- Believe in yourself: yes
-- Get motion sickness: Sometimes
-- Think you're attractive: to some, not to others
-- Think you're a health freak: I know I am not
-- Get along with your parent(s): yes
-- Like thunderstorms: I like rain
-- Play an instrument: Not anymore

LAYER SIX: In the past month...
-- Drank alcohol: Yes
-- Smoked: No
-- Done a drug: No
-- Made Out: No
-- Gone on a date: No
-- Gone to the mall?: Yes
-- Eaten an entire box of Oreos?: No, I don't like them, too dry
-- Eaten sushi: No
-- Been on stage: Yes, I'm taking an acting class
-- Been dumped: No
-- Gone skating: No
-- Made homemade cookies : No
-- Gone skinny dipping: No
-- Dyed your hair: No, I am trying to grow out my horrid roots
-- Stolen Anything: No

LAYER SEVEN: Ever...
-- Played a game that required removal of clothing: No
-- If so, was it mixed company: No
-- Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Yes
-- Been caught "doing something": Only kissing
-- Been called a tease: Yes
-- Gotten beaten up: No
-- Shoplifted: No
-- Changed who you were to fit in: Probably

LAYER EIGHT:
-- Age you hope to be married: 75
-- Numbers and Names of Children: 15-20 All named Buford or Lurlene
-- Describe your Dream Wedding: Italy, on a hill overlooking the sea
-- How do you want to die: In my sleep, at 90
-- Where you want to go to college: Grad school in London would be awesome
-- What do you want to be when you grow up: A better version of myself, oh and a math whiz
-- What country would you most like to visit: I'd like to go to every single one, but if I have to pick, Portugal and the Azores

LAYER NINE:
-- Number of drugs taken illegally: does liquor before 21 count? cuz that's the only one
-- Number of people I could trust with my life: 5
-- Number of CDs that I own: 50-60
-- Number of piercings: Two in each ear, one eyebrow
-- Number of tattoos: None
-- Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper?: zero, to my knowledge
-- Number of scars on my body: 5 or 6 from chicken pox, and one on my chin from my toddler years, and one on my shin from a tree branch
-- Number of things in my past that I regret: 2 to the nth power, where n = the number of months I have been alive (i.e. a large number, but that's how you learn, right?)

I am 32 Flavors and then some

Ooh, a month without a post, my apologies. Much has happened. I moved and I finished Summer Semester. I got an A in both Writing and Trigonometry - yay! I still have to finish my 2 independent studies, though, and I start Acting and Calculus this week.

I went to Wild Mountain yesterday with two of my friends and we had a lot of fun on the alpine slide and go-karts. We certainly have a new summer tradition. We also went tubing down the Apple River in Wisconsin a few weeks ago. We've been doing that since 1999. I got to see my aunt and uncle from Vancouver, Wa last weekend. They were here to bring their daughter to college and look at houses, but they've decided not to move back :-(

Some of my stuff is still in storage, either in a storage unit or my friend's basement. It's like shopping every time I go to pick things up. I need to get the rest of my furniture out soon.

I don't have cable right now, so my hatred for the Olympics has increased since it is one of only 4 things I can watch. I don't even have internet, since the order for my phone service was put in wrong, and will hopefully be fixed by Thursday. So, although I do hate the Olympics, I have seen a lot of it because I watch the Today show in the morning. They're in Athens the whole time and it is cool to see so much of Greece. I really want to visit there, and now the infrastructure has been drastically improved. I think I should start going to every Olympic venue a year later.

Did you mean: solo? No, I didn't

Blogging is quite an exercise in ego, and here's another:

My Google number is 2,290 (search for your full name in quotes, i.e. "Sarah Hansen" to get yours)
I know it would be much less if my name weren't so common.

www.sarahhansen.com is taken by an Canadian designer :-(

My mother and aunt have the same name because they married brothers, but I'm pretty sure their middle names are different.

Hansen is the 222nd most popular surname in the United States; It's frequency is 0.047%.
California, Idaho, Michigan and Nebraska have towns or places named Hansen

I couldn't find myself amongst the results, but here's what I did find:
1 - high school skiier in Alaska

2 - A Canadian designer

3 - A 9 year old girl whose uncle was a police officer killed in the line of duty. She wrote a letter about him.

7 - Most Frightening: 'DNA Sequencing Lab for Sarah Hansen'
Appears to be a school project about forensics

9 - Article about a Utah woman that had brain surgery to stop epileptic seizures. It's scary because she looks sort of like me. But, Hansen is not her maiden name. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/frontpage/seattle_pima1x220031124.pdf

19 - My favorite: Apparently a sitcom on CBS had a character named after me

Show Guide: The Boys Are Back
Cast:
Hal Linden as Fred Hansen
Suzanne Pleshette as Jackie Hansen
Kevin Crowley as Rick Hansen
George Newbern as Mike Hansen
Bess Meyer as Judy Hansen
Ryan O'Donohue as Peter Hansen
Kelsey Mulrooney as Sarah Hansen
Justin Cooper as Nicky Hansen
Production Credits:
Directed by: Linwood Boomer
Produced by: Linda Nieber (producer)
Airdates:
15 half-hour episodes aired on CBS from September 11th 1994 through January 28th 1995.
Episode 14 = Searching for Sarah Hansen--01/21/1995

83 - Kentucky - The “Sarah Hansen” law imposes a 3-year period of conditional discharge following incarceration upon expiration of a sentence or completion of parole for sex offenders. It's named after a girl that was killed in 1997.

So, the best way to find me is to search for "soelo". You get my blog as well as two or three of my home pages (woefully outdated) on the first page of results. All the search engines think you have spelled the word solo wrong. Most of the rest of the results are pages in a foreign language, Italian, Spanish and Portugese. I've tried to translate them with no luck. I asked my brother-in-law who speaks Spanish if he knew what it meant and he said they are most likely misspelling the spanish word for 'floor'.

Although, I suppose putting my name all over this post might help my ranking?

My Taste

Within a few months of getting to know me, most people tell me I have strange taste. Sometimes they say its bad taste, but usually it's more like "You like the oddest combinations of men." or "That's a rather eclectic music collection you've got there." When I say taste, I mean mostly music, movies, men, TV, books and the like, but also other things like food, home decor, video games and clothes. I would describe my tastes thusly: My taste in movies is decidedly girly, while I think my TV watching is pretty ungirly (with the exception of Felicity and Dawson's Creek - they are really good shows!). Music is probably the area where I like widest selection of things. Books are harder to pin down. And men, this is probably what people think is the strangest thing about me. So, the next few messages will be me pontificating on various taste related subjects.

Things I Want

(not comprehensive in the least, and mostly materialistic)

-$500,000 - I don't need a million, just a half
-A Nissan Altima
-People to stop telling me that I will want kids one day. I love kids, but I don't want my own. If someday I do, I'll adopt. Plenty of kids need good homes.
-To travel around the world. Literally, the whole world.
-A B.S, an M.S. and then a PhD
-World Peace - a cliche, but true nonetheless
-Kevin Smith - before he was married and had kids - YUM!
-The ability to control time: freeze, speed up, back and forth, etc.
-A marquee on the back of my car to talk to the drivers behind me
-A helicopter
-A way to record my dreams on video so I can go back and watch them later
-Pinenuts to be banished from the earth because I'm allergic to them. This may sound selfish, but I assure you it's not.
-My Amazon.com wishlist delivered to my door
-A Dishwasher
-For Pineapple Fanta, Sonic and Jack in the Box to come to Minnesota