What's Your Obcession?

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CockneyRebel, if you ever make it to London, I'll happily show you Carnaby Street as it is today, and take you on a tour of beautiful tube stations!

You can get Sea Monkeys from a lot of different toy shops. I used to wonder what they were until I found some for sale a few years ago (I was about 18). They're basically modified brine-shrimp! They're pretty cool though, you can play with them using light, and they have pretty frondy sides.

This is the first I've heard about it. But I looked it up and searched for the numbers corresponding to some addresses I know. It's a pretty cool idea (especially because it expands the numbers to the entire world) but the numbers seem to come out too random to me. Maybe I just need to see a map with the numbers on it....

One cool thing I like about zip codes is they have a real system to them. Meaning I could potentially learn all the zip codes in the US!

I have a lot of obsessions. Usually my obsessions change every month or so, but they are mostly in a certain theme. Until recently, I was obsessed with animals. The only animal that I haven't obsessed over is a bird!! I like birds, though:) Now my basic obsession is books, Jane Austen, and the regency period/napoleonic wars in England, plus just about anything else about England. I generally obsess over a certain book or certain author for a while then move on to another-thank God for libraries!! Some of my other obsessions have been, Amy Grant, Tea(the drink itself and the British custom), the color purple...There are a lot more, i just can't think of them right now!!

Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
American Idol
Russia
Computers
and alot of other junk.,,,

Railroads and trains have been my obsession for the past four years. I know their histories, where the tracks run, which company owns the tracks, when the tracks were laid, and the various corporate mergers among major railroads. This obsession (I mean fascination) is now on the way out, since I pretty much exhausted all I wanted to know about. I still have a train calendar, though.

Christmas Ornaments. They're shiny, glittery, colorful. And each one is like a little time capsule full of history and good memories. Love them! Currently in the process of re-doing the system I use to catalog and store them--and look! it's halfway through March, so it's obviously a big obsession.

My favorites are a particular kind of colorful metallic plastic ornaments from the 1950's. They're ornate to the point of absurdity, like Rococo Sputniks. I imagine Liberace would have had them on his Silver Tinsel Xmas Tree.

These "Liberace Ornaments" are simultaneously hideous and beautiful in equal parts and that is a state of perfection.

We probably have one railroad interest in common. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific! Eastern Terminus in Chicago, Western terminus in Colorado Springs, CO.


First tracks laid in 1852, tracks entered Colorado Springs in 1888. During the same period (1886), the Colorado Midland laid tracks WEST of Colorado Springs to Newcastle, where the pacific connection was made. Until it's death in 1921, the Midland ferried intercontinental traffic onto Rock Island.

Died in 1980. After 5 years of indifferent maintenance, Trains coming into Colorado Springs where limited to 10 mph, as the rails were both light-duty for the tonnage, and were dangerously undermaintained.

In Colorado Springs, the city was smart enough to option the track. From where the rock joined the UP/BNSF "joint line" to the Eastern edge of town, the rails remain, although most major roads have paved over them. The city hopes to create a trolley/light rail system using the right of way. Currently a very nice bikeway parallels the track, and is one of my favorite rides.

East of town, the rails-to trails program created a neat trail that uses the old right of way and bridges. Also a neat ride.