Saturday, December 25, 2010

151. Glad

151. Glad
Definition:
(adj) showing or causing joy and pleasure
Location Placed: Thomas Edison Service Center, Woodbridge, New Jersey
Date Placed: 12/24/10 at 2:53 p.m.





I'm glad that the date this crane was placed was the first of my winter break from work. I'm glad that I got to spend Christmas with my family. I'm glad to (hopefully, weather pending!) be heading out to the Phoenix area for a week during my break. Ah, the holidays are good. Hopefully you are having a Merry Christmas if you celebrate, and if not, having a happy holiday season!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

150. Witty

150. Witty
Definition:
(adj) amusingly clever
Location Placed: Grover Cleveland Service Center, Woodbridge, New Jersey
Date Placed: 12/19/10 at 7:12pm





After an imposed hiatus from placing due to end of the semester craziness and a lovely visit from an upper respiratory infection, crane placing has recommenced. I placed this crane and then decided to get myself a carton of fries for the road. When I was leaving, I'm pretty sure I saw the guy that had picked up the crane looking at it. He then took it with him and left. That's the first time I've actually seen someone take a crane! (I usually try to make sure I'm on my way out before placing.) Definitely excited to see it was found by someone.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Another Crane Finder!!

I got this email a couple weeks ago:

November 28, 2010 at 11:41pm

Sandy,

My name is Ciara. I'm 15 years old and I live in Massachusetts. I have been volunteering at the New England Aquarium for about 7 months now, and I absolutely love it. There have been a lot of things going on in my life which have made me question many aspects of myself as a person. The Aquarium is one of the few places I can just let go and be myself and really feel like I'm doing something meaningful. I was roaming around the Giant Ocean Tank around closing time about a month ago when I found your crane. The word "esteem" to me means being proud of everything about yourself without even stopping to think about how somebody else sees it. Finding your crane has given me a lot more confidence in having a positive outlook on things, knowing that I can get through anything. I would like some time to share the crane with the people around me, but when I re-release it, I will be sure to let you know.
Thank you for everything, and I greatly support you on this mission for peace.

Ciara

P.S. I just started up a channel on youtube, and I was hoping it would be okay with you if I could post a video about the crane I found and your entire project. Let me know your thoughts.


I wanted to wait until she did the video so that I could post it with the entry for you lovely readers to see! This is a link to Ciara's YouTube channel video about her story of finding a crane. It made me a bit teary. A better person could not have found this crane. It is always my hope that the people who find these cranes take meaning away from them and hopefully find one that resonates with them. And it really sounds like that happened with Ciara and Esteem. Thanks for emailing me Ciara and for making such a wonderful video!

PS- And let's send Ciara some good health thoughts! I can't imagine having pneumonia AND bronchitis at the same time.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

149. Daring

149. Daring
Definition:
(adj) adventurous, bold
Location Placed: Charlotte Douglas International Airport (D), Charlotte, North Carolina
Date Placed: 11/28/10 2:26pm





I am a bit hesitant to say this... Charlotte Airport is probably my favorite airport I've ever been to. I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed during a layover. While this isn't my first stop, I discovered a terminal that no flights were arriving or departing from. That left me with a row of empty rocking chairs (!), a lovely view of the city of Charlotte, and some of my favorite holiday tunes playing. I could not imagine a better way to spend a little over an hour between flights. If all airports could only be like that... Rest assured, this will not be my last visit to that airport or North Carolina.

Do you have any airport that you favorite more? Or any interesting flight stories?

148. Brisk

148. Brisk
Definition:
(adj) lively, refreshing, merry
Location Placed: Computer Terminals, Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida
Date Placed: 11/28/10 11:12am





Surprisingly, by the time I was ready to leave Florida, the weather had gotten brisk. (By their standards, of course. It was still pretty warm by my thermometer.) The air was pretty crisp, the wind was blowing the palm trees around, and the temperature was around 70F. Couldn't ask for better weather. Sadly, it didn't manage to follow me home, where it was a down right frigid 35F. Home sweet home?

147. Hardy

147. Hardy
Definition:
(adj) brave, fearless, dauntless
Location Placed: Starbucks, Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida
Date Placed: 11/28/10 10:36am





Tampa International Airport is pretty vast when you start exploring. I feel like I always uncover something new when I am flying through there. Even though it's pretty visible, I just realized the Starbucks there this past time. I usually just go to my individual terminal by shuttle, but decided to stick around the main part a bit. I stood around for a while debating what hot beverage I wanted: hot chocolate, hot apple cider, tea. A number of people politely stood behind me while I was looking at the menu. Of course I told them I wasn't really in line, but it was nice to see people willing to wait in line instead of cut in front of you. What a lovely bunch.

146. Mature

146. Mature
Definition:
(adj) having reached full maturity or development
Location Placed: Author's Bookstore, Tampa International Airport, Tampa, Florida
Date Placed: 11/28/10 10:30am



Saturday, December 4, 2010

145. Silly

145. Silly
Definition:
(adj) sappy, wacky, zany
Location Placed: Indian Shores Nature Park, Indian Shores, Florida
Date Placed: 11/27/10 12:55pm





A lot of Florida beachside towns seem to devote a portion of their area to a nature area. They have boardwalks throughout the marshy areas and little placards with information about the Florida wildlife. It's a fun little educational walk. Next time I am down in the area, I'm going to see how many more of these little areas I can uncover to explore. It's always fun seeing things through a different eye.

144. Rad

144. Rad
Definition:
(adj) awesome, wonderful, amazing
Location Placed: Wachovia Bank, Reddington Shores, Florida
Date Placed: 11/27/10 12:47pm





With the 80s came the use of the word rad. The beloved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made it popular when talking about something awesome or really cool. And like a lot of other pretty odd words and phrases, it caught on. I definitely used the word back then, and I'm pretty sure it's slipped out again since. Do you ever recall using the word rad?

143. Suave

143. Suave
Definition:
(adj) debonair, smooth
Location Placed: Del Bello Park, Reddington Shores, Florida
Date Placed: 11/27/10 12:45pm