Hey baby...what's your sign?

Well that's just weird!





Secret's out!





Well that's rude.







I love that flavor!






A necessary service in life.





So how do you get in? The exit?






What?!






I've been looking for that...

And finally, on this beautiful Friday, I leave you with this riduculous cat video...

THE CAT WHO WILL BEG FOR ANYTHING:

Arrrrrrrr!

I have a bone to pick.

I don’t understand what is up with all the bad reviews of the latest Pirates movie. I went and saw it on Friday, and I thought it was bloody brilliant. Perhaps not as good as the first, but better than the second.

I’ve heard from several people I know that they didn’t like the movie. It was just about a bunch of pirates fighting, yada yada yada.

What were you expecting? Rocket science?

The formal “critics” are cracking me up most of all, of course. First, there’s the argument that it didn’t make enough money. $401 million worldwide over four days seems like a lot ‘o money to me! But what do I know, I’m one of those silly people that actually liked the movie. ;)

The weirdest argument of all, though, is that several critics have been saying the movie was hard to follow. What brainiacs do they have critiquing these films? Everyone has different taste, so if you don’t like it, you don’t like it, but what was there to follow? Pirates fight, pirates win, pirates lose, pirates fight some more, boy gets girl, etc. Once again, not rocket science. Perhaps they didn’t see the first two so they didn’t know what was going on? It’s not like the eleventy million Halloween movies where it doesn’t matter if you see them in order. It’s a trilogy, man. It would be like watching Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers without bothering to watch the other two.

Who knows. That’s my pointless doesn’t-really-matter opinion for the day.

Needless to say, I will be seeing the next installment (which they are saying may be a prequel).

::::::

My brain is fried. I’ve got three weeks left until I’m done with school for the summer, and I’m pretty sure I’ve got gray matter leaking outta my ears. I hope that’s not the part I need.

I am So. Done. writing about administrative theories and ethics and planning and blah de blah blah blah. I can honestly say this is the worse term I have had. I mean, the other two terms I had only one class I didn’t like, but this time, all three are just crap. I think it’s probably a good thing that I’ve decided not to take summer courses.

I need a vacation! And I get one in three weeks! Hallelujah!

Happy Dance!

::::::

In other news, this disturbs me slightly because that’s the contact lense solution I use! And I’m 99% sure my bottles aren’t among the recalled ones (I’ll make sure when I get home), but it still makes me want to switch brands, that’s for sure! Unfortunately, I just bought this two-pack of big bottles, and I don’t want to just toss them because that stuff’s not cheap!

Sigh.

It’s hard to be me! ;)

Speedy Gonzales

BORE-DUMB has taken over me.

Thank Buddha I have a 3-day weekend. Unfortunately, much of that time will be spent writing papers, but at least I’ll be at home instead of at work twiddling my thumbs. Seriously…at some point you run out of internet to surf and then what do you do?

::::::

In other news, I inherited a laptop last week. My best friend graduated a couple of weeks ago, and her parents bought her an iMac notebook thingy. I’m sure it has a fancier name, I just don’t know it. Anyway, she has a Sony Viao that she bought last year and has since screwed up. She has worse computer karma than I do. That woman has been through…hold on…OK, she’s on her sixth laptop in as many years. No, I’m not kidding. I wish I were. Actually two of those were desktops.

Anyway, this Viao was causing her trouble so she got a Mac and gave me the Viao. I’ve been wanting a laptop—mostly so I can take my work with me if I need to. So I got the Viao, started her up, and quickly figured out why it wasn’t working very well. That woman had so much crap on there, I can’t even explain it. Random ass programs that took up too much room that she never even used, all those “trial” programs that came on the computer that she never removed, and too much music for the size of her memory. So I cleaned all that off, defragged her, and now she seems to be working MUCH better. Still a little slow on startup, but I haven’t had any problems so far.

::::::

Tristan wrote about a debacle he had on Friday, which reminded me of a debacle I had last Wednesday.

I got a speeding ticket.

Whazzat?? Well, first of all, let me say I was on a highway and evidently this particular area had a speed limit of 40MPH. I thought it was 45 so I was going 52. So I get pulled over, and the police officer was really nice about it, and actually laughed with me about being such an airhead. He asked for my license and then asked me if the car was registered to me and if I had insurance. It was kind of weird—he didn’t ask to see them, just if I had them. I asked him if he wanted to see them and he smiled and said, “no, I trust you.”

So he gives me a $145 ticket and says to call this number because it will probably be reduced because I have a good driving record. Then the usual have a great day, drive safely speech.

And he marked my hair as “red” on the ticket. I don’t have red hair. Weird.

Now, let me ask you this: whatever happened to warnings? I have been pulled over twice in my life. Once when I was 18 and now when I’m 25. Both times, I was not speeding excessively, I was basically going with the flow of traffic, and I was not creating an unsafe situation. But BOTH TIMES I get a ticket. What up with that? My best friend has been pulled over 7 times. Yes, I said SEVEN and she has never once gotten a ticket. What’s the deal? Is it because I don’t cry and try to show my boobs? I prefer to act like an adult in these situations, but I guess I need to rethink my strategy here.

I just can't hide it...

I'm so excited I'm going to give myself an aneurysm.

T minus 29 days until I'm in Alaska with one of my best friends partying it up Anchorage-Style!

And we're going to go on a glacier cruise, people! Cruising! Through glaciers! While the world still has glaciers! We're going on the National Park Tour -- see the tour info here.

LOOK, people...just LOOK at it!






Ack! Aneurysm, it's coming!

I think we're dead

please send rescue

Blubber

Just another manic Monday…

Actually, that’s not true. I’m so bored I could watch paint peel. The students are back for summer session, but almost no one takes summer classes, so it’s dull.

But outside is absolutely incredibly fantastically sunny!!

And it’s going to be 80 degrees! Tomorrow too!

I just don’t know what to do with myself! Of course I can’t really enjoy it because I have to work all day and I have class tomorrow, but I’ll be breakin open the sunroof this week for sure!

So how was your weekend?

Mine was OK. I had my weekend class again and it wasn’t as good as the class we had last month. We did a lot of the same thing over and over and it just really wasn’t catching my attention.

BUT, in a strange twist of fate, I ran into an old classmate of mine at my Starbucks on Saturday morning. I’ve known the guy since kindergarten, and I see him every once in a while (may 3 times in the last seven years). So I asked him what he was doing at my Starbucks, and it turns out he lives two blocks away from me! He’s been there for 8 months, and somehow we hadn’t run into each other yet! It was crazy. He also drives this fantastic yellow and black Mini Cooper. Lucky bastard. His girlfriend seemed nice, but not very friendly.

Anyway, that was my trip down memory lane for the day. He and I were in the same class for kindergarten and first grade, and we were the “smart kids,” put in AGP or TAG or whatever they call it these days. We did this advanced reading program in first grade because the other kids were still doing the See Spot run hoopla.

On Sunday I started teaching my sister how to drive! She’s almost 27 but just never got on the driving bandwagon. She needs to be able to drive for her new job, so she bought a car and got her permit the other day. So we had a driving session for a few hours, and she did really well. Still takes corners a little hard, but she’s getting better! And now I won’t have to drag her butt around because she’ll have her own car!

In other news, I ran into this video on YouTube and about died. This happened about 50 miles south of where I grew up, but eleven years before I was born. I couldn’t stop laughing because really…what the hell did they think was going to happen??

Goodbye my lover

Well, I’m afraid one of my husbands and I had to part ways.

This sort of thing just isn’t acceptable.

Bye Ty, you were a hot one!


……

In other news, I went and saw Spiderman 3 on Sunday – and only paid $3.75 bitches. I love cheap first-run theaters. It’s the best kept secret in North Portland, I’ll tell you that. The theater wasn’t even all the way full!

Has anyone seen this? I’d be curious to know your opinions of it. I was entertained of course, but there were parts where I just couldn’t help but think “are you kidding me?”





……

Now I’d like to tell you a little story about my friend Marie*. Marie dated Jason in college for a few years. They were pretty serious…talking marriage, the whole shebang. At one point, Jason had one of those early-20’s crises that seem to afflict men of this age—where they start dressing like slobs, don’t give a crap about anything, but still think they’re the shit. Now, thankfully, not all guys go through this, but Jason did.

Their relationship suffered, he started cheating on her, and they broke up.

Before they broke up, Jason actually failed out of college. His grades were so poor that he was kicked out. So he decided to go to culinary school. He didn’t tell anyone (except Marie) that he failed out of school—he said he dropped out to become a chef. Unfortunately, his credit was so awful that he couldn’t get a student loan for culinary school. So Marie, in the dumbest move of her life, co-signed a loan so he could go to school.

Most people would say that was very generous of her. Jason, after they broke up, didn’t give a rat’s ass, and wouldn’t pay his loans (any of them), so Marie has been stuck paying off the loan she cosigned for the last three years. She’s called him, emailed him, written him, hell even had me try calling him, but he’s ignored her all this time. So she steadily pays off the $5000 loan because she has no choice (he actually has a total of over $40,000 in loans that he isn’t paying).

Last week, Marie and I were having a MySpace marathon because we were both bored at work (Marie lives in another state now). At one point, she was on my page, then clicked over to a mutual friend, and then clicked over to another friend, who’s page had a comment from someone named “Jason.” She couldn’t tell who he was from the picture so she clicked over. Sho ‘nough, it was him.

Marie called me and we started looking over his page, discovering that not only was he getting married but having a child!! How he expects to afford raising a child I do not know. Marie was understandably pissed.

And then curiosity got the better of her. When they were still together, she used to check his email for him. So she tried logging in to his myspace to see if he would be dumb enough to still use the same password.

Yes, he’s dumb enough.

I made the suggestion, half-joking, that she should change something that he wouldn’t notice. Then she laughed and half-jokingly said that it was a good idea. Then we decided, not joking anymore, that she should do it.

His “about me” section said I went to college, dropped out, and became a chef. Well Marie decided to change that “dropped” to “failed.”

I thought it was beautiful. He still hasn't noticed, and it still says "failed out" on his page.

She’s now second-guessing herself and wondering if it was bad. Personally, I think the punk ass deserves it. But, my dear readers, what do you think?

Was Marie out of line?
	No, that punk ass totally deserves it.
	No, she should have done something worse to him, though.
	It's funny, but immature.
	Yes, she was way out of line.
	I don't know.
	Who cares?
Free polls from Pollhost.com

I hope you enjoy this beautiful Thursday.

*Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Where are the May flowers?

Oh, they're hiding from the rain.

The days are filled with boredom here at work…the students have finished the semester and there is only so much internet you can surf, you know?

If you were a real friend, you’d go post something entertaining on your blog.

In the interest of time-wasting, I came upon a South Park Character Creator and envisioned myself as follows:



Had a hard time choosing the right hair…none of them really encompassed my style.

My best friend is graduating tomorrow, so it’s party time. She has struggled her way through school, and she’s finally earned her teaching degree. She had a rough start back in 2000 and got a little too much into the social scene at college. She took a year off, and then went to community college. She finally transferred to Portland State and completed her bachelor’s degree in December ‘05. Her transcripts weren’t great considering her rough start, so she had to fight to get into an MAT program…but it paid off, and she was accepted. She’s a good illustration of what happens when you’re finally doing something you love: she went from a 2.5 in undergrad to a 4.0 as a graduate student. Even though she doesn’t read this blog (or even know that it exists), I’m proud of her.

…

It’s 3:00 and I have nothing to do. This is baaaaad. It’s only going to get worse next week. Too bad I can’t bring in my homework!

So in the interest of keeping busy, I have been having waaaaay too much fun with Google Satellite Maps.

Here, you can see my hood. I live somewhere within this grid, but it's a secret:



Here, you can see one of my favorite downtown buildings...the Urban Center at Portland State. Also where I spend much of my graduate school time--



Then I found the 'hood where I grew up--



And hey! There's the house I lived in during college! I used to mow that lawn, y'all:



Then I got to thinking...I wonder if they have satellite images of Quito (where I spent five glorious months back in '03)



That was my house!!! (Bottom arrow). The top arrow is where I sat drinking coffee at my favorite internet cafe. Also where I got a bus to go to school...Hey! Can I find my school?!



Entirely too much fun, people. Satellite images are just the right mix of cool and creepy.

And I know this is mean, but laughed when I read this. Do you think she'll actually go?

Sunny

I have found a need to create a new "label" : WTF?

This label is being borne from this discovery.

Oh. My. God. Have people no shame or sense of decency?

LOOK at this dog:



Is that not the saddest Please-Save-Me-Sweet-Jesus look you have ever seen? Torture!


Also, I went and saw 300 this weekend, which usually isn't my kind of movie flavor, but this video pretty much sums up what I thought about it:





Who doesn't love a man in nothing but skivvies and a cape?

Done with the April Showers

Wow.

It’s 9:30am, and I have nothing to do. This is not a promising situation here.

A few updates:

1. I did get stuck in a group with the annoying kid from yesterday’s post. And listen to how it happened: He came in late, so I didn’t have to talk to him, so I thought I was free and clear. So class started, the professor started talking about groups and he says “we have a group formed—it’s me, Brit, and the three Jennifers.” So I didn’t even get a chance to escape! The man is crazy! At that point, I figured there wasn’t much I could do, so looks like I’ll have to suck it up.

2. Recycling Guy: Haven’t mentioned him in a while—but there’s not much to update on. It’s still the usual witty banter, but that’s about it. He did come in the nick of time to get a wasp out of my office last week, though. It was stuck in the one window in my office that doesn’t open, and I’m allergic to bees (or at least I used to be…I haven’t been stung in years), so I was standing outside my office contemplating what to do when he came by to get my recycling. So he trapped it in a cup for me and let it outside. There’s something sexy about a guy that takes care of bugs for a girl, what can I say? I guess even I need to be rescued once in a while.

3. I am going to go buy myself a new digital camera this weekend! Mine sucks balls and takes horrible pictures, so it’s time to upgrade. I’m going to the camera store so I can be sure to try them all out, but I’m leaning toward this one. I had originally wanted this one but the lovely Madge suggested a Coolpix, and after cruising some pictures taken with Coolpix cameras on Flickr, I think it’s the way to go. I'll still check out the Kodak one, though. In a stroke of luck, my dad had about 60 bucks worth of gift cards for Ritz Cameras from when he bought a new digital last year, so I’ll be able to use them! Shweeeeet.


On this beautiful Friday, I would like to give you some entertainment. Another one of those "Funny Cat Videos" that are beyond silly, but always manage to make me laugh anyway:



PS: OH. MY. GOD.

I could use a milkshake right now.

I have this weird tingle above my right eyebrow, and I don’t know why…it kind of tickles. I wonder what the cause be?

I also have a pinching problem in my left thumb.
Maybe I’m not drinking enough H20 today. I’ll get right on that.

What is new in your world, dear reader?

I got a new cell phone yesterday (thank you Verizon New Every Two).

It’s a pretty red Samsung. It also has an LED screen on the front so I can see who’s calling without having to flip her open.



And is it no longer possible to get a phone without a built-in camera? I don’t mind the camera, but I think it’s weird that non-camera phones seem to have become extinct. I did use it last night to set my phone wallpaper—a picture of Jane scowling at me.

I downloaded a ringtone that threw me off guard—the actual song plays, not just notes from the chorus. So voices come out of it like the radio. Trippy.

I’ve got it set to play “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

In other news, I have two papers to write this weekend. If you could see me, you could tell that I am not enthused about this. Especially because it’s supposed to be sunny this weekend.

While I’m on the subject of school, let’s discuss group projects for a moment. There’s this thing in my program where all of my classes have group projects. No, really. Every class I’ve taken has had a group project.

I don’t mind working with people, but I can’t stand group projects. I always get stuck with people who don’t do their share, don’t contribute anything intelligent, or just downright annoy the crap out of me. Not to mention, when you work full time and go to school full time, it’s hard to schedule group meetings.

So one of my group projects this year is in my Adminstrative Theory class. And there’s this guy in my class who will not leave me alone. It’s really weird. I can’t tell if he’s just persistent or if he might actually be trying to hit on me. I can’t tell! I don’t want to sound like I think I’m all that or anything…guys never hit on me—which is probably why I can’t tell.

Anyway, this kid is also one of those annoying people who talk just to hear themselves, rarely have anything worthwhile to contribute, and also does this bizarre running commentary under his breath during class. He's also bogarts presentations and does the "one idea I had..." thing when it wasn't even his idea. It doesn’t help that he grew up in Pendleton, population 1500, mostly from incest (OK, that’s an exaggeration). But rumor has it that he was the president of the Young Republicans club in undergrad, so that’s not very promising.

But he has asked me on several occasions if I want to be in his group for this project. I really want to say, “no, you bug the crap out of me,” but I feel like that’s kind of mean. Rather, I say “I haven’t decided what I want to do my project on, so I’ll let you know.”

But he won’t let it go, people. He’s asked me three times now, and we’re forming groups tonight, so I need to figure out if I’m going to try and get out of it. What to do??

Sigh. Maybe I should get over it and realize that I’m always going to get stuck with people who bug me.

Yes, I’m a mean person.

But you have to love me anyway.

OK, I’m done bitching now.

Ganache is the devil's bait.

Wedding season has officially begun.



Wedding #1 of 5 was on Saturday, and it was nice. It was my first Catholic wedding, but there wasn’t a mass, so it was only about an hour—which is long as weddings go, really. Most I’ve been to or been in are like 15 minutes, tops. But the bride looked beautiful, and the church was quite lovely. It was a little tiny church in a random neighborhood in Wilsonville (south of Portland). I never would have known it was there, that’s for sure. Their reception was held at the Museum of the Oregon Territory, which sounds weird, but it was a great space. It had a ballroom at the top of the museum, with windows around the whole area. All in all, a good start to the season.





Wedding #2 of 5 is this weekend, but I’m forgoing this one. It’s about 3 hours away, and I have a lot of things to do this weekend. This one is more of an acquaintance, anyway, so I don’t feel guilty for skipping it. I haven’t seen the bride in the better part of a decade. I’ll send a gift and call it good!

Let’s discuss for a moment the idea of bringing a date to a wedding. I never really understood that. I mean, weddings are fun and all, but would you want to go to one if you didn’t know the couple getting married? Let me ask you—would you want to be a date to a wedding? The other strange thing is when you’re in the wedding and you bring a date. It’s not like you can sit with your date because you’re at the wedding party’s table. OK, that was kind of random, but you get the point.

In other news, I went to a fantastic restaurant on Friday. The restaurant is Lauro which is on Division. It’s a self-described “Mediterranean restaurant.” It was so damn good. Had a glass of Tempranillo, which was excellent. Then we shared a plate of tapas, which were also heavenly—great calamari! For my main course, I chose the Paella, which can never live up to the Paella I had in Spain, but it was still pretty damn good. All in all, the restaurant gets an A+.





Even though we were stuffed to the gills, we decided to hit the Pied Cow for some dessert. Ordered a lovely banana crepe a la flambé, which was pretty. They lit rum on fire on the plate. Pretty cool. A crepe accompanied by a café au lait, and I’m in heaven. They also have a selection of hookahs, so if you’re into that, this is the place to be.



So how was your weekend?

Optical Intercourse

What's that you say?

Read this fascinating story from March 2006's Chronicle of Higher Education.

A little excerpt for your enjoyment/amazement/disbelief:

Even couples who are not talking or touching can be reprimanded. Sabrina Poirier, a student at Pensacola who withdrew in 1997, was disciplined for what is known on the campus as "optical intercourse" — staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as "making eye babies." While the rule does not appear in written form, most students interviewed for this article were familiar with the concept.

Visit the school's website.



This picture from the website looks pretty questionable...doesn't it look like that guy and polka dots are making "eye babies"?? And you know he's thinking, Sweet, a threesome.

Now they are definitely sitting too close here. And I'm pretty sure he's staring at her boobs.

A look at their application is interesting (you can find a PDF link to get a good look).


DISCUSS.

Yikes.

This kind of thing just makes me sick inside.

The worst part is that we'll probably never know why.

To the left, to the left...

BLAH BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH
BLAH


I just felt it really necessary to type that.

Life has gotten away from me for a moment, but I’m getting back on track. I started classes last week, and this term is going to be an ass-kicker, I think.

My Tuesday class is good (Admin Ethics), but there’s a lot of writing involved. I have three 15-page papers to write for the class as well as a group project. That’s a lot for an 11-week term. Little did I know that it could get worse—my Thursday class (Admin Theory) has an 8-page paper, a 10-page paper, a group project, and get this: a 3-page reflection paper due EVERY WEEK. Like I have nothing better to do, people! Not only is there a lot of reading to get through, I have to “reflect” on it? What a bunch of hooey. It’s like she wants to make sure we do the readings, which is beyond stupid in my opinion. This is graduate school. We don’t need a babysitter to make sure we read. If we choose not to read that’s our own stupid fault.

Grr.

THEN, my weekend course (the one I have one weekend a month) has its first class this Friday. This is Strategic Planning in the Public Sector, taught by Professor O’Toole. So imagine my surprise when a Professor Krause sends out an email regarding our first weekend class for Strategic Planning for Non-Profits. Whoa, what?? I’m on the public sector track, hence my decision to sign up for public sector strategic planning. Needless to say, I have a mini panic attack and email the administrative assistant to the program. She informs me that O’Toole is sick and can’t teach this term. So they merged the public sector class with the non-profit class, and didn’t bother to tell anyone! And seriously, not five minutes after I sounded the alarm, they sent an email out to the MPA listserv to let everyone else know about the change.

Clearly they are not on top of things. So I went to get the book for this Krause person, and things are not looking promising because the book is titled “Strategic Planning for Non-Profits.” Hmm.

In other news, I had to make some big summer plan decisions. Originally I was planning to visit my friend in Alaska & do that leadership conference I blogged about a while ago. The timing was pretty tight, so I planned to go to Alaska from June 13-18, and then do the conference from the 21-26. WELL. My professor has decided to hold class during finals week (which is a major no-no by the way), and has completely messed up my schedule. After much consideration, I have decided to forgo the conference this summer. I was getting stressed out figuring out my schedule because the only time I could go to Alaska is during June. Not to mention, the conference is $500 and I would have to use unpaid leave from work because I don’t have enough vacation time for both Alaska and the conference, so its affordability was stressing. So now I will be visiting Alaska from June 20-25. I’m feeling better already.

BLAH. BLAH.
BLAH.
BLAH.
BLAH.

Ahhh. I needed to do that again. Sorry for the ultra-boring post, but I needed to vent for a moment.

Here’s a funny video to make it up to you:



Be sure to watch to the end—he starts to “drop it like it’s hot” and I about died.

Nap time, I think.

All I can really say about this is …whoa. Now we’re locking people up because they're sick? I mean, I understand him needing to wear a mask in public, but come on. Locking a man up for the rest of his life? Puleeze. Anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?

I mean, obviously something should be done to prevent him from infecting others, but incarcerating him in a prison-like cell indefinitely is a serious human rights violation.

Yikes.

In other news, I start my new term today. Tonight I have Administrative Ethics & Values. I like my program, I like my classes, but I am very upset because it means I have to miss House for the term. It's times like this that I wish I weren't too cheap for Tivo.

I also had to haul my butt downtown yesterday to pick up my parking permit because they didn’t mail it to me this time. So I got to wait in line for 45 minutes. It was such fun! I did get a good phone call into my friend in Indiana, though. So I was one of those annoying girls in line on a cell phone, but I don’t really care.

I had an eye appointment this morning, and I decided to consider contact lenses. I’m not very good about wearing my glasses. It’s not a vanity thing—glasses actually make me look smart (see? I have them all fooled!!). But I almost feel like they hinder my view, and I can’t wear them when I’m talking to people because I feel like there’s something in the way, and I can’t look them in the eye. My eyesight isn’t terrible, but it’s enough of an issue that I need to be able to see distances—to drive, recognize faces, see the presentations in class. One eye is worse than the other so I find myself often closing my right eye so I can see far way. Hence the need for contacts.

I have a trial pair in right now, and so far so good. They’re comfortable, but taking them out and putting them in is harder than it looks. They’re soft lenses, so I can’t really tell when I’ve grabbed them! Time to practice, I guess!

Good news for the day—I have a 3-day weekend coming up. That’s the good part about working at a Catholic-run institution. Even if I am a little Pagan.

Hair today, gone tomorrow

My window is open at work and I can hear that sweet sound of a ball hitting a bat from across campus. Oh how I love springtime and its baseball season glory.

You know what that means—Thirsty Thursday is coming soon!

In other news, I got a haircut that just about gave everyone around me a heart attack. In a good way, though, because it does indeed look fabulous. But I had quite long hair, and had long hair for a couple of years, and was ready for a change. Not to mention I have thick hair so it would take like 20 minutes to blowdry. Are you bored of this story yet and starting to scroll down? Anyway, I cut about 8 inches off, and my head feels so much lighter! You wouldn’t believe the pile of hair I left on the floor at the hairdresser’s. Now it’s about shoulder-length with fantastic layers that flip out and make me look like the diva that I am. ;)

The hairdresser was pretty funny. She was this cute little Asian lady who kept saying in her cute little Asian accent:

“Oh yes, this look cute. Make look younger!”

Then I had the

“Oooh, what yo friend say about you cut short??”

“I didn’t really tell anyone I was going to.”

“Oooh. Well what about yo boyfriend? What yo man say?”

Instead of saying “I don’t have one, and it wouldn’t matter what he said, anyway!” I just said, “Oh, I don’t have one.”

“Oooh, well this cut get you one.”

Hillaaaaaaarious.

Gotten lots of compliments already, so it was a good decision.

In other other news, my sister is moving back to Portland. She 1) Hates Seattle [sorry Tristan, I don’t know what her deal is] and 2) Hates the store she’s working in. So she got a job offer back in Portland, and she applied and was hired! It looks like she’ll be moving back in 5-6 weeks. Now I need to find a good excuse to get out of helping her move. ;)

Well that is all for now, my lovelies. Have a great weekend, relax with a beverage of your choice, and enjoy the sunshine if you have some.

A Rush of Blood

Have you ever had a dream about someone that was kind of…naughty? And then you see them the next day and you can’t really look them in the eye because you’re having graphic flashbacks from your dream?

Yeah, I’m having that problem today. And I’m not even interested in him that way (not to mention he’s only 21—no offense to you youngins out there). But he’s a cute guy, and we chat fairly regularly…but not like that. And it’s making me flustered. And it’s not helping that he keeps coming in my office. Damn dreams.




ANYWAY, what’s new? My blogging seems to have slowed, but then others have been slowing, too. Is it just that time of year?

I went and saw Children of Men on Friday and h-o-l-y s-h-i-t. That movie is intense. My friends and I were sitting there tense the whole time and then even after the movie we were so stricken and horrified that we had to go down the street and get some gelato. Wow. Great movie. I think I might buy that one.



And A/B, I had to laugh at your comment on my previous post because I did go shoe shopping! Haha! I only bought one pair, though. Just ONE. But then again…Spring Break’s not over yet…


So I donated blood on Friday, which was lovely because I haven’t been able to go in a long time. I was on antibiotics for most of the last year because of the Sinus Fiasco, so I couldn’t donate. Not to mention I wasn’t healthy so they wouldn’t have wanted my O-Positive Lovelyness anyway.

But there’s a new system called Double-Red Cell Donation, where instead of donating a pint of whole blood, they hook you up to an apheresis machine and take just your red blood cells. Red blood cells are the part most often needed in blood transfusions for sick people, so in theory, you can help two people from one donation instead of just one.

The apheresis machine separates the red blood cells from the plasma using a centrifuge that rotates at like a bazillion rpms. It was really fascinating. You can actually watch your plasma go into a bag as it spins! Then the red blood cells collected go into another bag, and the plasma is put back in your body with some saline. Then they do it again to get the other half of the red blood cells.

The plasma was pretty cool. It’s like a clearish liquid—she said mine was a good color and that she could tell I “didn’t eat cheesecake the night before, and that I have low cholesterol.” This was funny, actually, because I had eaten cheesecake the night before! Haha! It also had a very faint green tinge to it, to which she said, “you must be on hormones—birth control?” It was crazy that you can tell that much about a person by their blood’s plasma!

Anyway, the procedure did take a while, and it’s not without slight complications. When the saline/plasma goes back into your body, it makes your whole arm cold. It was weird. By the second time that they did it, I got really cold and actually had to sit with a blanket for a while. The other thing that happens is that you can become calcium deficient, and your lips go numb! They fix this by giving you Tums (yes, the antacid stuff) because they have calcium in them.

It was pretty damn cool.

And I saved two lives. So there!

Short & Sweet

I’m on Spring Break! Woo-Hoo!

I’m done with classes and homework until April 2nd, and it’s a beautiful thing. It’s already going by too fast, though. Stupid work…

I’ll still enjoy my break time, no matter how little it is.

Next term I’ll be taking Strategic Planning, Administrative Theory & Behavior, and Administrative Ethics.

Speaking of Administrative Ethics, I think it’s time to send Bushy back to class.

And speaking of Bushy, have you seen this video? It’s beautiful...



And that’s all I have to say about that.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Items of note on this Monday:

1. I do not understand WHY people feel the need to mess with my damn car! I went out to my car Sunday morning to head to the store, and someone had broken into my car. Again. The first time was somewhat funny, but it’s not anymore. I don’t like people messing with my stuff. Whoever it was must have been disappointed not to find anything (I had my face plate off my stereo so they couldn’t take it this time). Then they got into my trunk to rummage around but once again found nothing. I think they were probably

A) Looking for my face plate—many people just take it off and leave it in the glove box, for example--

or

B) Seeing if I had a stereo in my trunk as many people do.

Luckily, once again, they just jimmied my door and did not break my window. And it’s a long shot, but I am actually wondering if it might be the same moron from before because the way s/he left my car was verrrry similar to the last time. My door wasn’t closed all the way and my trunk was partially open. Perhaps this person figured I must have replaced my stereo by now so they thought they’d snag stereo #2. Fool!


2. My mock arbitration hearing went very well. I am a damn good arbitrator if I do say so myself. It was interesting to see the two sides present their cases—they were ready to draw blood! It was pretty funny, actually. Not to mention there was some shameful sucking up going on since I was the arbitrator. I could get used to that. ;)

3. The Bachelorette Party was a blast and a half. We started off the evening at the bride-to-be’s house for some pre-drinking and party games. They were of course all dirty—including a contest for shaping the best penis out of play dough as well as a “deep-throat” contest using a banana. I won one of these two games, but I will not say which for I am a lady, dammit!

We then headed to our dance class, which I mentioned in my previous post. It turns out it wasn’t actually a pole-dancing class like I originally thought. It was just exotic dancing, but pole dancing classes are offered. We learned this fantastic routine of sorts to Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” It was a lot of fun, I must say. It’s totally out of the comfort zone, of course, because there was much discussion of putting the va-jay-jay out there during the dance. We were clothed, but the idea when you actually perform the dance for someone is to be naked or at least be naked by the end of the dance if you know what I’m sayin. ;)

After we were all sexed up we headed downtown to the Irish Festival to get our drink on. Surprisingly, it wasn’t at busy as I would have thought. We didn’t have to wait in line at all to get in, so that was nice. There was plenty ‘o green beer and sody bread a-flowin. The band in the tent we were in was really fantastic. They were so damn energetic, too! After they finished their set I went to talk to the good-looking fiddle-player and he was bouncing off the walls, I tell you! He gave me a free pass to get in on Sunday but I had to finish up a term paper so I wasn’t able to go. :( Too bad. But it was a lot of fun.

4. I’m glad to have two weeks off from class, man! I still have to write up my arbitration decision, but then it’s free time until April. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself! I think perhaps I will have to visit friends who have been neglected by my busy schedule. I feel a game night coming on…