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Today is National Geek Day, so let’s geek it up!
- Star Wars or Star Trek? Yes, as in, I like both. But Star Trek is much easier to watch, and comes in hour-long segments, and there’s so much more of it. Star Wars is, like, epic, and who has the time for that. Plus, the newer 3 suck.
- Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter? I’ve never read or watched Harry Potter. I don’t like trendy things. Lord of the Rings, however, I have watched and read all of the books/movies.
- Internet Explorer or Firefox? Firefox. I hate IE, and I hate that occasionally I have to use it at work, because one of our new systems only works in IE. Who thought of that?
- iPod shuffle or iPod Nano? Nano, but I have to say that I didn’t really get a choice in that, since it was a gift. I don’t think I’d ever have made it around to actually buying one for myself. But I love my Nano. It’s white and just the right size, in both memory and physicality.
- Camera phone or mp3 phone? Neither. I think they’re both stupid ideas. I have a digital camera that is always in my purse, and the afore-mentioned Nano. I want my phone to take calls, that’s it.
- Dilbert or Jon from “Garfield”? Jon is a loser. Dilbert kinda is, but not in the same way. Dilbert is really just… slightly socially inept sometimes, and gets stuck in crummy situations, and Jon really is… just a loser.
And of course, the big question
- Mac or PC? PC, but only because it’s what I know. It would take me some time to transition over to Mac, but I could if I needed to. (I think, however, that the inability to right-click in Macs would drive me crazy for quite a while.)
Today was my first day of class. I woke up early and I got to class 15 minutes early; I did pretty good. I yawned a few times in class, but what do you expect for 9 am? I did politely cover my mouth while yawning, so hopefully the teacher just thought I was tired, and not bored. I stayed mentally engaged in the lecture, which was not overly interesting, especially since she basically covered what we had read in the textbook. But I liked the textbook. The teacher seems nice. This class has the potential to be easy. At least, after one class, it doesn’t seem hard. And it’s actually 3 classes, I just happened to miss the first two.
We practically had SNB last night.  is taking a 6-week course to become a CNA (or to start on the path towards becoming a CNA? I get confused easily), so we’re taking a break. But  called and we talked for a while, and made lunch plans for today, and stopped by after her class and stayed for half an hour. So, there ya go.
Our dryer is fixed, finally! So I did 4 loads of laundry last night, cleaned my bedroom, and watched 3 episodes of the Dead Zone. It will take me forever to get caught up on the TV I recorded this summer. I’m caught up on Monk and Stargate SG-1, but I have the entire season of The 4400 and The Closer, and almost the entire season of the Dead Zone to watch.
I’m wearing my anniversary gift from  today. For those interested, here’s what he gave me:
 Ooh, how pretty!
 A gorgeous amber pendant-and-earring set.
And, for good measure…
 Weeks' worth of yummy goodness!
Goodbye summer…
- Did you go on vacation? If so, where? If not, where do you wish you had gone? I actually went on 3 vacations this year, which was amazing! Camping twice (Scenic State Park and Tettagouchee State Park) and an actual vacation on a lake shore in a condo in Grand Marais. I can’t remember the last time I was this well-traveled, or well-relaxed.
- How many times did you swim in a pool? How many times did you go to a beach or lake? I swam in a pool exactly once, at the birthday celebration for and myself. I was at a lake many times… Scenic had one, and Tettagouchee and Grand Marais are both on Lake Superior, as well as Split Rock Lighthouse and Gooseberry Falls.
- What are the two best things about summer? Explain: I love the long days of sunlight, when the sun doesn’t set until almost 10, and I love that, because of the nature of my workplace, summer is really quite relaxed and not much is expected to be accomplished.
- What are the two worst things about summer? Explain: It ends just as I’m beginning to catch my stride, and while I love the sun, it exhausts me, and turns me the color of lobsters.
- Recall the two best memories you are going to remember about this past summer (2006): Can I just lump all my time spent with into one? (Highlight: this past weekend’s trip to Grand Marais, and yes, photos are coming – be patient!) Also, maybe a tie between
 moving here, time spent in my hammock, and ‘s dad buying me a bike.
- I’m adding a question: Two least-favorite memories of this summer: All the moving that people did, in and out of my house, … at least I didn’t have to move furniture for ! Also, saying goodbye to
 was heart-breaking, and a relief.
No, this is not the long-awaited update about my weekend. Thanks to my new memory card, we took an extravagant 250+ photos. So an update will be awhile in the making. Especially since I broke my home computer and can only do this at work.
But,  sent me photos of her pregnant belly! I don’t get to see her until the end of September, so she’ll be even huger by then. So exciting! It was a mass email, so I’m sure she won’t mind my sharing with this small world.
 Getting so big! (That's the baby's room she's in. They're not finding out if it's a boy or girl till it shows itself to the world, so everything is green.)
 She loves to take funny pictures like this. Here it's... "four months left? How big will I get?"
 Taking a breather, in the rocking chair that she got for her birthday from Mom and my brother-in-law.
- Visit :: -ing relatives
- Cake :: and eat it too
- Period :: comma
- Triumphant :: return
- Screen :: saver
- Neglect ::
- Guitar :: strings
- Loathe :: with a passion
- Sugar :: sweet
- Montage :: photo (soon to come, I promise, but I’ve got days of work to catch up on too)
Well, Tuesday night, and and I gathered at ‘s apartment to color my hair. I’d like to insert that red hair always shows up… redder in pictures, or at least mine does. I really was getting quite faded, and had horrible roots. Whatever. Well, last weekend I bought a 1GB memory stick for my digital camera, because it was a ridiculously good deal and I had a little extra spending money. We decided to give the responsibility of photographing the event, since she really only came because she thought it would be entertaining. We won’t talk about how annoying she was… (you know I love you!). Let’s just say that out of the 100 photos she took, these 12 are the only ones that I kept. (Though, really, the pictures of your feet and side profiles were quite interesting, but 4 megapixel shots of my butt really aren’t making it out there into the world.) Technically, you can click on the pictures for the large versions, but why would you? They’re huge!
 Before
 Applying the hair dye.
 Oh, what fun!
 Yes, this is really messy!
 Randomly... the frog in A's apartment
 Are we done yet?
 OK, someone's having a little too much fun.
 Taking a break in-between coloring and highlighting for dinner. Notice my healthy plateful of Cheetos? (Yes, I ate a burger and veggies before that.)
 After the highlighting. Look at my roots! A did a great job!
 The official "After" photo.
 A and L having a little fun while I rinse out my hair.
 Taking advantage of the timer function on my camera... here we are.
And… the side-by-side comparison [removed]. As it dried (in the after picture my hair is quite wet), it got a lot lighter and blonder, so you can’t tell really much of a difference yet. Hopefully I’ll take some good pictures on vacation this weekend and you’ll be able to tell better.
- Where were you 2 hours ago and what were you doing? Two hours ago I was… sitting right here in my cube, checking my email. Boring, I know.
- Who was your 2nd boyfriend/girlfriend and how old were you? Officially, the second person I could actually call my boyfriend was…
 . It was freshman year of college, so I was 18.
- Who are your 2 closest friends and explain why you chose them? While I’m going to refrain from listing people, because it totally depends on the context for who’s closest (I share more with them on a daily basis, I have a long history with them and we can catch up with no problems after months of absence, I have the most in common with them in terms of beliefs and ideas and that sort of stuff….), I do have to say that, generally speaking, I don’t choose my friends. They choose me. I’ve always been terribly shy, and never good at making new friends. In college, in life, all of the new friends I’ve made in the last… ten years, have been because other people made it a point to include me and draw me into their lives. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have chosen to be friends with any of them – in fact, I would have pursued friendships with many of them, were that my personality. But I tend to take a rather back-seat approach to friendship.
- What 2 accomplishments are you most proud of and why? Right now, I’m proud of… starting school again, and making it to one year with . As you know if you’ve been reading here, I had quite a few frustrations with finding a class to take in the last few weeks, and was originally going to start last year, and I’m proud of figuring out a way to make it work and forcing the issue. And my longest relationship before now was with the boy mentioned in #2, and that lasted 3 months (OK, 2 weeks, then we broke up for two weeks, and then another 2 1/2 months). Plus, it’d been a really long time since I’d even had guy friends, and you relate different to guys versus girls. And I was pretty sure for the first several months of our relationship that I was going to somehow f* things up. So… we’ve obviously overcome all that.
- What were the last 2 television shows you watched and did you enjoy it? Um… two episodes of Friends that I wasn’t terribly familiar with (they were from the last season, so they haven’t been on reruns that long), and an episode of Stargate SG-1 (I’m now caught up for the season!). I enjoyed, but wasn’t overly thrilled with any.
(I don’t normally do this meme, since it’s usually something along the lines of, “would you rather eat a thousand worms, or be covered in leaches?” But today the questions looked… answerable.)
Would you rather:
- cover all your food in barbecue sauce OR eat everything with a toothpick? I like the toothpick idea. Plus, bbq-covered chocolate bars just don’t do it for me.
- know how to throw a lasso with perfect accuracy OR be an expert trombonist? The idea of playing the trombone is fun (
 played), but I think the lasso would be more practical, like if I ever had kids, or maybe just when I’m a junior high teacher.
- smell like pickles OR walk like a penguin? Smell like pickles, because my boyfriend would be deliriously happy with that.
- touch your finger to your nose every time somebody says the word “know” OR laugh uncontrollably whenever somebody says the word “but”? Laughing at “butt.” I’m almost there anyways. I find the Law & Order opening lines, “…crimes are particularly heinous” to be much funnier than I should.
I got this email last week from the people who adopted :
I was just going thru some of my emails and I thought you might be interested to know that Romeo’s doing really good. He fits in perfectly here and loves all the attention he gets from people at our apt complex. He still sheds like crazy(but we love him anyway!) and somehow a bird flew into our apt last week and he caught it and killed it right away. I couldn’t believe it!Well, anyway, I just wanted you to know that he’s happy and doing well. If you ever want to see him, let me know! that’s totally cool!
Wasn’t that nice of them? I mean, I barely think about him (except when I find yet another place where he’s left his mark, if you know what I mean), but when I do, I can now think about him quite peacefully, knowing that he’s happy and healthy and loved.
Miles walked since 6/1: 58 (oops, that’s not that much… guess vacations etc helped me forget to do this more often)
You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained
The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning.
Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others.
If you’re left brained, you are likely good at math and logic.
Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet.
The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility.
Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way.
If you’re right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art.
Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.
Are You Right or Left Brained?
You Are Rowlf the Dog
Mellow and serious, you enjoy time alone cultivating your talents.
You’re a cool dog, and you always present a relaxed vibe.
A talented pianist, you can play almost anything – especially songs by Beethoven.
“My bark is worse than my bite, and my piano playing beats ‘em both.”
The Muppet Personality Test
- Cruel :: Intentions
- Jive :: Jamaican
- Weak :: Strong
- Understand :: -ing
- Bum :: Patookus
- Stairs :: Took the
- Tone :: Don’t use that… with me
- Quickly :: marched on
- Moment :: in time
- Beating :: senseless
Treats from the co-op last night that were surprisingly delicious:
- Endangered Species Chocolate – I had the dark and white chocolate blend (well, OK, I’m still eating it – it’s way too much, even for me, for 2 sittings) and it’s wonderful. I should have bought the dark chocolate bar (or one of the many combinations) for , but he still has dark chocolate at my house and his that are uneaten. (And they don’t cost nearly that much at the co-op – I don’t pay $3 for a chocolate bar, unless it’s really big.)
- Oskri Sesame Bar with Molasses – (Sorry there’s not much more exciting at that link.) They were kind of a cross between peanut brittle and granola bars, if that makes any sense. 3 thin bars… not messy to eat (like crispy granola bars are), and several flavors (not many that sparked my interest, but if you’re a more adventuresome eater, there’s plenty of variety).
(OK, not really… just a slight annoyance)
So yesterday I hopped online to register for the class I’d decided to take this fall. As you may remember, there’s already been frustration about this, since my first choice graduate school would only accept two of the courses being offered at my local community college, and out of the three different sections of each, only one was a night class and there was a section of each online. And I’d prefer to not take my history classes online. Econ, fine. But since I’d like to teach history, it’d be nice if I could be in the classroom to experience the other side, you know? Plus, I think history is a subject that lends itself much more to the classroom than online learning.
So, student ID in hand, I log on, find the course section, hit register, and… get an error message. An unclear error message. I check through all the information available to me – no holds on my account, nothing that looks strange…. So finally, after trying multiple times and getting the same error (yes, there’s a bit of insanity there, I realize), I finally email their registration office. Several emails later, the girl tells me that the class I’m trying to register for is reserved for high school students, and I should try the online one. (Which, I discovered this morning, is full. Insert b*tch session here.)
I attempted to, this morning, calmly write her back and explain how the misunderstanding might have come about, since what the course description says is that it’s only reserved to high school students through August 1, and since 23 of the 24 spots in the class are open, I assumed they’d take my money. And I tried to explain that I’d prefer a classroom class, not one online.
She hasn’t written back, and I don’t really expect her to.
In the meantime, I have contacted my second choice* graduate school to get information on what coursework would be required of me and what classes would transfer to them.
You know, if I had a car, or didn’t mind taking the bus home through downtown St Paul at 10pm, I might consider a class at Metro State. I don’t even remember if they have any that would work with my schedule, though, since I remember checking the bus schedule and learning it would take me an hour to get home. And, as we discussed Thursday night, most of the other options aren’t really convenient to me either – both U campuses are awkwardly located (bus-wise from my house).
If the unfortunate conclusion I have to draw ends up being taking yet another semester off… it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I could actually have my act together much sooner for Spring semester classes. Maybe there would be more options then – who knows, St Paul College‘s spring course schedule isn’t available yet. I won’t die, and it won’t even really set me back that far, all things considered. It’s just frustrating because I was getting soooooo close to starting.
Correction, I am so close to starting. Let’s remain positive for the time being, shall we?
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Had a nice conversation with last night. The baby kicks her constantly. She had a good birthday. The usual sister stuff.
Also, we have an all-staff meeting this afternoon. But, I will remember to go to the Farmer’s Market beforehand, which is something I’ve barely gotten to do this summer. So that’s exciting.
Finally, I did eventually write that woman back about the website design, and they still need someone. She’s going to call me to talk about details. We’ll see how that goes.
- Do you have a true love? If so, tell us a little about him or her. Really, if you don’t know the answer to this one, you must be new here.
- If you don’t have a true love person, I’m sure you have a true love hobby. What’s your favorite activity? Right now, knitting, reading, or sitting in my hammock. Once school starts, I think television could be my favorite activity.
- What’s your favorite romantic movie? Do I have to pick just one? There are so many! You’ve Got Mail, While You Were Sleeping, Love Actually, Sense and Sensibility… I could go on, but I’ll spare you.
Clothes that make me smile. My personal favorites are: your boyfriend wants me; boys are great – every girl should own one*; I’m not a tease – I’m just a reminder of what you can’t have.
Never mind that I probably wouldn’t actually wear any of them.
*No, people don’t really own each other, and if you reversed the gender on this one I’d probably go into some rant about men who think they own women. Whatever. You know it’s funny.
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thankful
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