Merry Christmas
I can not wait for this week to be over and done with. I can not wait for the Christmas holiday to begin. I need some relaxation. In the meantime, enjoy this Disney magic.
Ode to a Good Dog
In 1995, we took a family vacation to Hawaii. We were introduced to Kona coffee. All the while my brother and I have been begging for a doggy addition to the family. Matthew wanted a pug dog. We returned home from the trip and finally convinced our parents to look at dogs. We went to an AKC dealer and picked out a little boy pug. He was the only pug who wasn't crazy or nuts. The dog just went over to my dad and sat near him. That was just what he needed to do to come home with us. The dealers said the dog was small and probably the runt of the litter given its action. But we didn't care. He would probably be a really small dog. Boy was that dealer wrong, wrong, wrong. We named the pug Kona Coffeebean.
For his formative years, Kona lived in the laundry room. He lived in a plastic crate for a while, until he had grown into a metal one. I remember only being allowed to take him out of the laundry room for short amounts of time when Kona first came home with us. He used to be so tiny - Silvio sized you could say. If you sat Indian-style on the floor, Kona fit right in the space left between your legs.
After Kona finally learned to not go in the house, he graduated to having run of the ground floor of the house. By run, I mean run. He would attempt to herd people and furniture for about 5-10 minutes if the whole family managed to be in the family room at the same time. We thought it was hilarious that he would do that. Now I am not surprised when Silvio does it as well.
The years sort of jumble together. I remember a summer, where it was sooo hot, Kona spent the entire day splayed out on the tile in the foyer. Winters when the snow was so deep - Kona tried walking on top of the snow and in an instant he had dropped underneath it. From then on we knew we had to shovel a potty area before we could take him out. Countless highschool mornings when I would have my Kona time watching some silly cartoons before I head off to school. Kona passing up everyone else to sit on Dad's lap in, by the by, a chair whose own time has passed. Kon-bone noticing the luggage coming up from the basement and getting sad because he knew we were going on vacation. Kona chewing on the family room carpet. His plastic bag fetish. Kona's ability to alert us to any danger - including those dogs (even animated ones) on the television. I left for college - Kona was so mad, he left...how shall we call it, a "present" in my room. The symphony that we call Kona's sleeping. The myriad of noises he made while we ate at the dinner table. Kona's love for mashed potatoes - which believe me, left me conflicted when I wanted to finish the last of the potatoes.
Kona got older. It was harder for him to move around. We started giving him glucosamin-chondrotin for his aches and pains. He stopped jumping up on people and the couch. It took him a long time to get up the stairs. I am very glad Kona stuck it through my wedding and getting to meet Silvio. He even perked up after Silvio's trip - he followed people around and was on the whole much more active. I wish he and Silvio would have had the chance to hang out together at Christmas again. But there will only be one silly pug dog at Christmas this year - not the fawn colored one. Kona passed away on Monday December 8, 2008. I am happy to have had such a wonderful dog for 13 years. He was a good dog and I hope up in doggy heaven that he gets all the mashed potatoes he wants.
Me 1, Scorpion squash
It's not a large secret - I am not a big fan of insects. Living beings that wear their skeletons on the outside and not the inside are just a little unnatural for me. We already know that I have issues with swarms of ladybugs. But I can look on that experience and laugh a bit now. This time, not so much. I walked into our office room this morning and saw a large (1-2 in) scorpion hanging out by the computer on the floor. Silvio follows me into the room at which point - I'm hysterical. I cry out for the dog to leave the room so he doesn't get stung. I run into the bedroom towards Andy's closet. I find the largest pair of boots Andy had (it's a good thing guys' feet are so much bigger than girls'). I run back into the office to find the scorpion hadn't moved. I then proceed to beat the living daylights out of the scorpion with Andy's boot sole. After I had ensured that it wasn't going to move again - I called Andy up to come back from class to help me clean up - cause I had no idea what to do. I'm from the Northeast what do you expect - anything with more than two legs gets a squashing. I think we deduced that there is a small crack between the screen and the window. Since we hadn't fully engaged the lock on the window - it probably crawled in that way. But the bigger kicker is that the bug/pest control guy was here at the apartment complex and I had just missed him when I spoke to the apartment manager about my run-in. But they managed to get him to come in tomorrow afternoon to spray. (I personally went on a spraying rampage once Andy got home). Keep your fingers crossed I don't see anymore of them.
Voter Registration
Yesterday afternoon a nice young lady knocked on the door of our apartment. She introduced herself and says she was canvassing the area to get people to register to vote. I told her that I was a registered out of state voter. (New Jersey represent! Although probably not for too much longer. I even filled out and got a new voter card after I got married. How good is that?) She responded with, "But you live here." I replied with "Yes, but I have an absentee ballot from my state." Sheesh. What part of registered out of state voter don't you get? If I know that information, one would come to the conclusion I know a thing or two about voting. It all ended with Silvio running out the front door to play in the muddy grass which led to me running around like an idiot to catch him.
Yes, I think it is great thing to get people to register. It's your right and privilege as a citizen of the United States of America. Personally, I think you should go to the county clerks office and do it yourself. Take some initiative. My reason for voting: it gives me the right to whine and complain or, alternatively, praise and take pride in how America is handling things.
With that, I need for people to not bother me about registering so I can make a decision for my absentee ballot. I'm still really quite muddled up to my ears in with this and all three recent debates have done very little to sway me in either direction. I guess I need to keep looking at Senate records and their proposed actions. At least -- my income tax class has given me a lot of insight into the tax code. Anyways, I should keep hush-hush on that - I hate it when people try to sway me with information they've found, so I don't want to do that here.
Back to the grind!
Yes, I think it is great thing to get people to register. It's your right and privilege as a citizen of the United States of America. Personally, I think you should go to the county clerks office and do it yourself. Take some initiative. My reason for voting: it gives me the right to whine and complain or, alternatively, praise and take pride in how America is handling things.
With that, I need for people to not bother me about registering so I can make a decision for my absentee ballot. I'm still really quite muddled up to my ears in with this and all three recent debates have done very little to sway me in either direction. I guess I need to keep looking at Senate records and their proposed actions. At least -- my income tax class has given me a lot of insight into the tax code. Anyways, I should keep hush-hush on that - I hate it when people try to sway me with information they've found, so I don't want to do that here.
Back to the grind!
Banking
My head, probably more aptly, my money is going in circles this week. Originally in Wachovia, which was supposed to be taken by Citigroup, and now this morning, looks like my money is going to be with Wells Fargo. I really don't have any worries about it though because the FDIC insures my accounts up to the first 100,000 dollars. (And no - I don't have 100,000 dollars, but I wish I did.)
Family Website
I created a family website for everyone to keep with what our little family (Andrew, Silvio, and myself) are up to. Right now it is still in its infancy. As time goes by, I am sure that it will become much more expansive. I have a bunch of more ideas, but at the moment I have a bunch of other projects - like my christmas stockings, gifts (holidays, birthdays, and the like), my income tax class (I'll probably write about that later), and so much more that is making the website building move along slowly. Anyway, below is the link to our site. It was quite easy to create with google, given I haven't made a website in about 6 years. Without further ado,
I have a bunch of other ideas for journal entries, and yes, it includes finishing off writing about the honeymoon. In the meantime, I have to get on my list of to-dos for the day:
I have a bunch of other ideas for journal entries, and yes, it includes finishing off writing about the honeymoon. In the meantime, I have to get on my list of to-dos for the day:
- updating our budget
- calling the vet to get the necessary papers so little Silvio can travel with me to NJ in the next couple of weeks
- domestically fun things - ie laundry and food shopping
- working on some gifts
- mailing packages
- working more on this website, christmas stockings, halloween decorations and the like.
- prepping for tomorrow's tax class
Thoughts
I think I might move my journal over to blogger - I can then add pictures without having to pay to use the site. I am also thinking about making either a family blog - which Andy, Silvio, and I can post to - or creating a family website through google. I'll let you know when it all goes down.
I swear I'll finish writing about the honeymoon - I've just been sidetracked. A bunch of tiny little projects like this have just bounced into my head and clearly I have succumbed to them. This past weekend the parents came to visit. So that was nice. A bit sad now, who am I kidding, a lot sad. Plus I have my first quiz today in my income tax course. Bah. Hope to be very domestically productive today.
Sleeping lap puppy says hello as well.
I swear I'll finish writing about the honeymoon - I've just been sidetracked. A bunch of tiny little projects like this have just bounced into my head and clearly I have succumbed to them. This past weekend the parents came to visit. So that was nice. A bit sad now, who am I kidding, a lot sad. Plus I have my first quiz today in my income tax course. Bah. Hope to be very domestically productive today.
Sleeping lap puppy says hello as well.
July 13- A Day for Knights
Our last full day in London began with another yummy breakfast at the hotel. Today was slated as a day for knights - that is we would actually be spending the day in London, whereas on the 12th we spend the day wandering around Westminster and the Palace. Instead of riding around on a bus all day, we started the day off with a walk around St. Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately it was a Sunday morning, so we did not take a gander inside given that mass was going on. The Cathedral is the third largest domed cathedral in the entire world. It had to be rebuilt after the Fire of London but withstood the blitz during World War II.
While we were walking around our Blue Badge guide, Steven, told us to keep an eye out for dragons. Dragon statues are an indication that you are entering/leaving London. After walking around the Cathedral, we made our way to the Thames. On the way we did manage to find Knightrider Street. Alas, no Hasselhoff sightings. We crossed the Thames via the Millenium Bridge. It is more affectionately known as the "Wibbly-Wobbly" bridge. At it's opening, there was so much foot-traffic that the bridge began to "wobble" about 2 ft back and forth. Only after 2 days of being open, they had to close the bridge for repair.
After crossing the bridge, we caught a glimpse of Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre. We did not go inside either. The Globe is not the original, although it was rebuilt following the same design as the original. Walking along the edge of the river we met up with a bus which would take us to the Tower of London.
We drove over the Tower bridge to get to the Tower of London. What is interesting is that most people believe the Tower Bridge is the London Bridge. In fact that is not the case. London Bridge used to have many houses attached to it. It was replaced in the 19th century, without the houses. While at the Tower of London we learned about Traitor's Gate (which St. Thomas More traveled through); the Bloody Gate; the White Tower; the Crown Jewels; and the Fusiliers Museum.
The tour guides then gave us the afternoon off. They set us loose on the city. We walked from our hotel to the British Museum. It was quite crowded to say the least. We wandered through Soho to Piccadilly Circus to pick up a little something for my brother. We realized we were nearby the National Gallery. So we stopped in for a looksie before it closed for the day. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for dinner at The Porterhouse on Maiden Street for our authentic pub meal. Andy had bangers and mash and I had fish and chips. We also had some yummy beers - of whose names I am blanking on at the moment. We meandered through Covent Garden on our return to the hotel. We slept quite well that evening.
While we were walking around our Blue Badge guide, Steven, told us to keep an eye out for dragons. Dragon statues are an indication that you are entering/leaving London. After walking around the Cathedral, we made our way to the Thames. On the way we did manage to find Knightrider Street. Alas, no Hasselhoff sightings. We crossed the Thames via the Millenium Bridge. It is more affectionately known as the "Wibbly-Wobbly" bridge. At it's opening, there was so much foot-traffic that the bridge began to "wobble" about 2 ft back and forth. Only after 2 days of being open, they had to close the bridge for repair.
After crossing the bridge, we caught a glimpse of Tate Modern and the Globe Theatre. We did not go inside either. The Globe is not the original, although it was rebuilt following the same design as the original. Walking along the edge of the river we met up with a bus which would take us to the Tower of London.
We drove over the Tower bridge to get to the Tower of London. What is interesting is that most people believe the Tower Bridge is the London Bridge. In fact that is not the case. London Bridge used to have many houses attached to it. It was replaced in the 19th century, without the houses. While at the Tower of London we learned about Traitor's Gate (which St. Thomas More traveled through); the Bloody Gate; the White Tower; the Crown Jewels; and the Fusiliers Museum.
The tour guides then gave us the afternoon off. They set us loose on the city. We walked from our hotel to the British Museum. It was quite crowded to say the least. We wandered through Soho to Piccadilly Circus to pick up a little something for my brother. We realized we were nearby the National Gallery. So we stopped in for a looksie before it closed for the day. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for dinner at The Porterhouse on Maiden Street for our authentic pub meal. Andy had bangers and mash and I had fish and chips. We also had some yummy beers - of whose names I am blanking on at the moment. We meandered through Covent Garden on our return to the hotel. We slept quite well that evening.
Request
Does anyone have a simple flat knitting pattern for an old-timey classic christmas stocking? I'm looking for something - preferably on straight needles, no double pointed or circular ones. Thanks.
Recipe update
Last evening was the first time in a while that I tried out a new recipe. It was inspired by the fact that we bought some Oklahoma wine. We opened the bottled late last week to try it and we were....well, not so impressed. By not so impressed, it was the first time we decided to not finish or even make it halfway into the bottle. Thus, I was on the search to find a simple recipe to get rid of this excess wine. Here it is:
Steak with Mushroom and Wine Sauce
The meal turned out well and was pretty easy to prepare. We made some mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli to go with it. It probably would be better if we used a drier red wine - but hey at least we got rid of some of the not so hot wine.
Steak with Mushroom and Wine Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 large garlic cloves cut in half
- 1.5 - 2 pounds sirloin
- 8 oz presliced mushrooms
- 1 cup red wine
- black pepper to season
- In skillet, heat butter and oil over moderately high heat. Add garlic. Sprinkle steak with black pepper and place in hot skillet.
- For medium rare, cook about 7 minutes; turn, cook 2 minutes and add mushrooms. (Since we had two thin individual steaks and not one huge chunk of meat, I only cooked it for 3.5 minutes on each side. I added the mushrooms immediately after flipping the meat.) Cook 5 minutes more, stirring mushrooms several times. Remove steak to a heated platter in a 200 degree oven.
- Pour wine into skillet and stir to loosen browned bits. Mash garlic with a fork.
- Increase heat and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
- Slice steak thinly across the grain (if you have a huge chunk of meat). Spoon mushroom sauce over meat.
The meal turned out well and was pretty easy to prepare. We made some mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli to go with it. It probably would be better if we used a drier red wine - but hey at least we got rid of some of the not so hot wine.
Political Interlude
I am really the last person who would actively insert herself into a political conversation. But over the past couple of weeks I have found myself watching the news channels in the morning. They are filled with campaign news. The DNC just wrapped up their convention and the RNC will be kicking off next week. Needless to say I have been watching loads of speeches or probably more accurately, lots of sound bites from speeches. I was lucky enough to catch both Biden's VP acceptance last week and the recent Palin acceptance today. Note: I have not made a decision in either direction yet. But as I listened to both speeches, I noticed something... well besides the fact that Sen. Biden is a man and Gov. Palin is a woman. Biden spent most of his acceptance speech attacking the opposition. Palin spoke about the honor of being chosen and about what the VP position or any other public servant should have their sights set on. This second speech by the governor seemed so refreshing to me. No attacks - which is really all the fills the political arena at the moment.
I suppose it is now time for me to do some serious research on the candidates/partys' platforms in the upcoming weeks. Now if only the candidates would just talk about the intricate details of their plans and not "Wah-Wah" about how their opponent's plan is a bunch of dog poop. Oh well, somethings never change.
I suppose it is now time for me to do some serious research on the candidates/partys' platforms in the upcoming weeks. Now if only the candidates would just talk about the intricate details of their plans and not "Wah-Wah" about how their opponent's plan is a bunch of dog poop. Oh well, somethings never change.
Mosquitoes
I have been out walking Silvio early in the mornings. Well, this is not exactly an early morning issue. Every time I return from our walks I discover a new clusters of mosquito bites. I do not interact well with bug bites. Needless to say my legs now have blotches of raised red marks all over the place. I have been really good about not scratching them. But unfortunately I need to now wear clothing the covers as much of my body as possible. This is not fun in nearly 100 degree heat. I would love to be able to wear shorts - alas. I have yet to determine if the area is home to lots of mosquitoes or if the developers here have just disturbed all of the surrounding insect life while constructing our apartment complex.
Wish I had more insightful things to talk about, oh well.
Wish I had more insightful things to talk about, oh well.
3 months!
I am three months old today. Hurray. I've decided the most fun thing to do this morning is sleep on mommy. But this afternoon I'm sure I will go on a chewing rampage.
~~Silvio
~~Silvio
July 12 - A Royal Journey
Our first full day in England was jam packed. We started off the morning with with a yummy breakfast at the hotels Pearl Restaurant. We had the most interesting scrambled eggs. I note this because it was not even close to the way that scrambled eggs are prepared in the United States. I'm not even sure how to describe it - they are milky, with a kick of cheesiness and salt - and were not huge chunks. It peaked our interest so much so, that we have attempted to do it here at home - and Andrew has managed to figure out the process. (One of the few times I have given him reign in the kitchen.) I guess what caught us most off guard was the bill for breakfast. Thank goodness our breakfasts were included in the tour package - - 50 pounds for a continental breakfast was astonishing. The exchange rate at the time was 2 times the dollar. I can't think of anyone who has paid 100 dollars for breakfast. Regardless of the cost, it was a yummy breakfast.
After breakfast, we joined the rest of the group for the start of our day. Our morning surprise was that the group will be using a Routemaster bus to get around the city of Westminster. The Routemaster bus has no longer been used as transportation since 2005. They can now only be rented for special occasions. Clearly our group constitutes a special occasion. We all hopped on - well in between taking pictures - and headed to Parliament Square. We got a nice view of the bell tower that houses Big Ben (the bell) as well as the Parliament buildings.
We spent the remainder of the morning touring Westminster Abbey with 2 Blue Badge guides. We got to enter a back entrance into the cloisters. We got interesting stories about the Kings and other notable people actually buried in the Abbey, like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The Abbey is so different from the way churches are built here. I think Andrew and I really liked it - even more than Notre Dame. As we exited the Abbey we were almost pulled into a Westminister Choir School event - they were holding a fund-raising fair. Although we were unable to attend, we did get to see some traditional British Dance.
Next, we were back on the bus for a short trip St. James' park. It was an absolutely amazing green park. I probably could have just spent an afternoon out there reading a book. We took some pictures and then the group headed towards Buckingham Palace. The tour guides had magically guided us to a great spot just prior to 12:30 - time for the changing of the guard. Those guys really take pride in their job. It was an amazing sight to see.
After more time to take pictures, we gathered on the bus for a ride to Harrod's Department Store, which is huge by the way. The only store that I could think of that it compares to was the FAO Schwartz store in NY except add another like 4 levels to it. We had High Tea at the Georgian Restaurant on the 4th floor. We both enjoyed the Harrod's special tea, sandwiches, and scones. Andrew and I took about an hour to explore the rest of Harrod's. Even though a half off sale was going on - I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Half off the pounds would then get doubled because of the exchange rate - so that 160 pound outfit is still 160 dollars. Ooops.
We caught the bus back to the hotel for a short afternoon of relaxing and getting all dressed up. Our dinner this evening was taken care of by the trip and we were going to Simpson's-on-the-Strand. This used to be a gentlemen's only club until 1984. Other than that tid-bit, we had a wonderful dinner. The group then walked a little ways to the Lyceum Theatre to see the production of The Lion King. If you don't know the show - it is performed with puppets. It was outstanding. I would love to get the opportunity to see it back here in the States as well. After about 5 minutes - you forget about the actors - the puppets really are alive. I was most impressed by the wildebeest stampede. It was an amazing feat of set design. As Disney VIP's, our day was a little bit longer. After the show ended, we got a special backstage tour. We got an up close look at the costumes, puppets, and sets. That was really amazing. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we had surpassed tired and gone straight to totally exhausted. But the good kind of exhausted.
After breakfast, we joined the rest of the group for the start of our day. Our morning surprise was that the group will be using a Routemaster bus to get around the city of Westminster. The Routemaster bus has no longer been used as transportation since 2005. They can now only be rented for special occasions. Clearly our group constitutes a special occasion. We all hopped on - well in between taking pictures - and headed to Parliament Square. We got a nice view of the bell tower that houses Big Ben (the bell) as well as the Parliament buildings.
We spent the remainder of the morning touring Westminster Abbey with 2 Blue Badge guides. We got to enter a back entrance into the cloisters. We got interesting stories about the Kings and other notable people actually buried in the Abbey, like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The Abbey is so different from the way churches are built here. I think Andrew and I really liked it - even more than Notre Dame. As we exited the Abbey we were almost pulled into a Westminister Choir School event - they were holding a fund-raising fair. Although we were unable to attend, we did get to see some traditional British Dance.
Next, we were back on the bus for a short trip St. James' park. It was an absolutely amazing green park. I probably could have just spent an afternoon out there reading a book. We took some pictures and then the group headed towards Buckingham Palace. The tour guides had magically guided us to a great spot just prior to 12:30 - time for the changing of the guard. Those guys really take pride in their job. It was an amazing sight to see.
After more time to take pictures, we gathered on the bus for a ride to Harrod's Department Store, which is huge by the way. The only store that I could think of that it compares to was the FAO Schwartz store in NY except add another like 4 levels to it. We had High Tea at the Georgian Restaurant on the 4th floor. We both enjoyed the Harrod's special tea, sandwiches, and scones. Andrew and I took about an hour to explore the rest of Harrod's. Even though a half off sale was going on - I couldn't bring myself to buy anything. Half off the pounds would then get doubled because of the exchange rate - so that 160 pound outfit is still 160 dollars. Ooops.
We caught the bus back to the hotel for a short afternoon of relaxing and getting all dressed up. Our dinner this evening was taken care of by the trip and we were going to Simpson's-on-the-Strand. This used to be a gentlemen's only club until 1984. Other than that tid-bit, we had a wonderful dinner. The group then walked a little ways to the Lyceum Theatre to see the production of The Lion King. If you don't know the show - it is performed with puppets. It was outstanding. I would love to get the opportunity to see it back here in the States as well. After about 5 minutes - you forget about the actors - the puppets really are alive. I was most impressed by the wildebeest stampede. It was an amazing feat of set design. As Disney VIP's, our day was a little bit longer. After the show ended, we got a special backstage tour. We got an up close look at the costumes, puppets, and sets. That was really amazing. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we had surpassed tired and gone straight to totally exhausted. But the good kind of exhausted.
Bath!
This morning I had my first bath. I don't understand why I needed one - - I was just starting to feel good about my puppy smell. I think Daddy said the Oklahoma heat combined with the huge storms, and mud, made me stinky. I wasn't complaining. I was a bit scared of the tub of water Mommy put me in, but I jumped out once. It wasn't so bad. I was even congratulated when I did great dog shake. Hey, every dog knows that - but I don't mind free praise.
My three-month birthday is just a few days away!
~~Silvio
My three-month birthday is just a few days away!
~~Silvio
LiveStrong
My mom is participating in the Livestrong Challenge in Philly on the 24th. She is walking as a member of Team 1 Reason. The team is working on raising $5000 for cancer research and awareness. I can't believe it has been 3 years since she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer- so much has happened with our family since then. I'm really grateful she could be at my wedding. So if you have some spare change, please go to
http://philly08.livestrong.org/dees
and make a donation in support of her walk and for anyone else who is fighting cancer.
http://philly08.livestrong.org/dees
and make a donation in support of her walk and for anyone else who is fighting cancer.
Checkup!
Today, mommy took me for my 12 week check-up with Dr. W. It was raining all day. Mommy was worried I wouldn't go "do my duty" before going to see the vet. But I did "do my duty" while mommy was walking me, all my info, and my pet carrier out to Happy car. Happy is a funny name for a car - although I still don't get what a car does. Somehow when the pet carrier door opened up, we were at the animal hospital. I met a bunch of new people and even saw a couple of new dogs too. All of them seemed kinda nervous though. We finally got to see Dr. W and she said I weighed a good 6.2 pounds, so I wasn't going to get huge like some other pug mommy mentioned. Kona is his name - mommy says he's 30 pounds. Someone picked me up, which made me very happy, and then I felt a bunch of ouchies on my rear-end. It hurt quite a bit. But mommy said I had been a good boy with all of the shots I had to take and even gave me a treat when I got home. I also got a souvenir red tag to put on my collar. It was a long day - so I slept for a while. At least I don't have to go to see Dr. W for a while.
~~Silvio
~~Silvio
July 10/11 - Cheers!
Here is the beginning of our honeymoon adventures:
On July 10, we left El Paso,TX in the early afternoon. We flew for a total of about 12 hours and arrived in London's Heathrow Airport at 9:30 in the morning of July 11th. After passing through customs, which did take a while to get through the line, we managed to find the Adventures By Disney car service. They took us as well as two other people on the tour to our hotel - Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court in Westminster. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of traffic and road closures, so we got our first taste of London and Westminster making our way to the hotel.
We got to the hotel around noon and checked in. We also checked in with one of our Disney tour guides - Roni. She gave us free tickets to get on the London Eye (this is actually one of the things we didn't do - we were too exhausted). We tried to follow the traveler's rule of staying awake to fight the jet lag. Didn't so much happen. Andrew and I decided to take a nap and then headed out for a little walk to find some local currency. We got a good lay of the land, but had to resort to getting currency at the front desk.
That evening we had our Welcome Dinner. We went around the room introducing ourselves. In total - there were 43 people on the tour plus our two Tour guides - Roni and Eddie. The adults got more information as to each days individual activities while the junior adventurer's got to watch a movie. We all joined up to have a yummy dinner. Afterwards, Andrew and I took a little walk to get us a bit exhausted and then headed to bed.
On July 10, we left El Paso,TX in the early afternoon. We flew for a total of about 12 hours and arrived in London's Heathrow Airport at 9:30 in the morning of July 11th. After passing through customs, which did take a while to get through the line, we managed to find the Adventures By Disney car service. They took us as well as two other people on the tour to our hotel - Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court in Westminster. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of traffic and road closures, so we got our first taste of London and Westminster making our way to the hotel.
We got to the hotel around noon and checked in. We also checked in with one of our Disney tour guides - Roni. She gave us free tickets to get on the London Eye (this is actually one of the things we didn't do - we were too exhausted). We tried to follow the traveler's rule of staying awake to fight the jet lag. Didn't so much happen. Andrew and I decided to take a nap and then headed out for a little walk to find some local currency. We got a good lay of the land, but had to resort to getting currency at the front desk.
That evening we had our Welcome Dinner. We went around the room introducing ourselves. In total - there were 43 people on the tour plus our two Tour guides - Roni and Eddie. The adults got more information as to each days individual activities while the junior adventurer's got to watch a movie. We all joined up to have a yummy dinner. Afterwards, Andrew and I took a little walk to get us a bit exhausted and then headed to bed.
I'm a crazy puppy!
Yesterday evening mommy and I were playing fetch the turkey. I'm getting really good at it. I was running from the second bedroom into the living room. But mommy threw the turkey and I wasn't looking where I was going. I ran my eye right into the edge of the door. It hurt alot. I ran to mommy instead of fetching the turkey. Mommy was very distraught.
My eye still hurts a bit. But daddy keeps trying to tell mommy that I'm just a crazy puppy and it's the sort of thing crazy puppies do. Now I know not to run so fast in the house. Maybe mommy will let me post more.
~~Silvio
My eye still hurts a bit. But daddy keeps trying to tell mommy that I'm just a crazy puppy and it's the sort of thing crazy puppies do. Now I know not to run so fast in the house. Maybe mommy will let me post more.
~~Silvio
Settled
Well, it has taken quite a bit but I think Andrew and I are pretty settled here in OK. It took a little longer than I thought. We had a great time at Amanda's wedding. It was wonderful to see everyone there. I am glad we had the opportunity to go. I think a reunion of sorts may be in order in the future.
Since arriving in OK we have gotten our very own washer and dryer units. It feels great to not have to walk outside and pay $2 plus every time I want to do a load of laundry. Even more exciting - there is no chance of any weirdos going through and touching my unmentionables. We have also added a new family member to our unit. His name is Silvio. He is a small 10 week old black pug who was born on May 25, 2008. Right now he has an affinity for chewing and sleeping. He almost has a good understanding of the game of fetch, where he will pick up his thrown turkey and return it to you. Silvio has even got a good little puppy sit. I also signed myself up for substitute teaching in the Lawton school district. Not a super difficult job to get. I figured I might be getting some calls considering I signed up for Math and Science classes. A most people usually avoid those. School starts on Friday. I don't expect to be getting calls for another week or two - unless the situation is urgent.
More importantly, I will be working on descriptions of our honeymoon. I'm concurrently working on creating a picture book of the trip for our coffeetable. Also on my agenda, picking out all of the photos from the wedding for our album and other miscellaneous things we are getting. New posts should keep rolling in.
Since arriving in OK we have gotten our very own washer and dryer units. It feels great to not have to walk outside and pay $2 plus every time I want to do a load of laundry. Even more exciting - there is no chance of any weirdos going through and touching my unmentionables. We have also added a new family member to our unit. His name is Silvio. He is a small 10 week old black pug who was born on May 25, 2008. Right now he has an affinity for chewing and sleeping. He almost has a good understanding of the game of fetch, where he will pick up his thrown turkey and return it to you. Silvio has even got a good little puppy sit. I also signed myself up for substitute teaching in the Lawton school district. Not a super difficult job to get. I figured I might be getting some calls considering I signed up for Math and Science classes. A most people usually avoid those. School starts on Friday. I don't expect to be getting calls for another week or two - unless the situation is urgent.
More importantly, I will be working on descriptions of our honeymoon. I'm concurrently working on creating a picture book of the trip for our coffeetable. Also on my agenda, picking out all of the photos from the wedding for our album and other miscellaneous things we are getting. New posts should keep rolling in.
Oh well...
I apologize to everyone for not giving honeymoon updates - our packing/move has made me super uneasy. But most of our stuff is packed away now. The movers came on Friday to get our 5,000 pounds of stuff. Maybe I'll write about the trip once we get settled in OK. I think I'll have a bit of time then - after Amanda's wedding.
Adventurers, This Way Please!
Well, Andrew and I have made it back from our honeymoon. It was amazing. Truly. I owe an extremely long detailed explanation of our trip for everyone. It's a good thing I took lots of pictures and kept a short daily diary of the trip. I think I might just make an entry for each day of the trip, according to the special name provided by Adventures by Disney. Then you can pick and choose what you want to read. I hope to be posting the Best of the Best pictures from London and from Paris on Facebook. They will probably be up before I finish writing about the entire honeymoon. So I hope you will stay tuned over the next couple of days for them. There might be a bit of a lag though - in about a week or so, Andrew and I will be making our move to OK. So we will be saying goodbye to Texas. So I guess we'll all see how good I am about packing and getting all of this information typed out.
Between trips
We are back from Lawton OK. It was a crazy trip. We checked in to Army Lodging at Fort Sill - only to find that the sheets on our bed were hairy. Super hairy. Ask for new sheets - they don't arrive for 45 minutes. Apparently, there is limited maid service - that is, only the maintenance guy is working on the weekends. We go out to dinner, and return to the room. We are there for 20 minutes when the power goes out. When I say the power goes out - it's out for all of Fort Sill. There is absolutely no working electricity. We get a little fed up and find an available room at a Ramada. We thought Ramada's were nice hotels. Not so much. This one was so sketchy - I really did fear for my life. There was one shining star in all of this - Henry, the guy at the front desk. Man, he was amazing - we checked in, and then 20 minutes later checked out. I can't imagine how he deals with it. He should really be working at a nice hotel - like the Hampton or Fairfield Inn. So we returned to Army Lodging. It was only after we have gone to Walmart to get a flashlight, that the power was back on - approximately 11:30 at night.
Monday was markedly better - we visited 2 apartment complexes, and was advised at the second to go see a newly built complex for some other layouts. We walked into the 3rd complex and looked at this great 2 bedroom/bathroom flat. We debated for about a half an hour and decided to just go for it. Everything is brand new - appliances, fixtures, carpet, wood floors, we even have a washer and dryer hook up. I'm excited to not have to walk outside to do laundry. Bigger plus, it's cool to have pets there, just a deposit and no monthly fee afterwards. We are stepping down a bit in square footage - but the new place has several really large closets - our current apartment doesn't have much of this type of space. I am confident we can make it work though. So, we should be in the new apartment on July 29th. I'll have to send out an email to update all this information for everyone.
With that, we got our flight moved up a day. So we got back to El Paso on Tuesday - just early enough to experience probably one of the largest rain storms of the year. That was fun outside of the water dripping through the window sills. Hurray for being able to move soon. This morning I got one of my two packages from circuit city. It is not my wii fit. It's the accessories I had to bundle with it. I'll probably get the fit tomorrow after we have left for our honeymoon. Maybe it'll come early in the morning like the accessories did. But who cares. We are going to London tomorrow. I can't wait!
Catch up with you later - oh yeah, the proofs are available online now from the wedding.
Monday was markedly better - we visited 2 apartment complexes, and was advised at the second to go see a newly built complex for some other layouts. We walked into the 3rd complex and looked at this great 2 bedroom/bathroom flat. We debated for about a half an hour and decided to just go for it. Everything is brand new - appliances, fixtures, carpet, wood floors, we even have a washer and dryer hook up. I'm excited to not have to walk outside to do laundry. Bigger plus, it's cool to have pets there, just a deposit and no monthly fee afterwards. We are stepping down a bit in square footage - but the new place has several really large closets - our current apartment doesn't have much of this type of space. I am confident we can make it work though. So, we should be in the new apartment on July 29th. I'll have to send out an email to update all this information for everyone.
With that, we got our flight moved up a day. So we got back to El Paso on Tuesday - just early enough to experience probably one of the largest rain storms of the year. That was fun outside of the water dripping through the window sills. Hurray for being able to move soon. This morning I got one of my two packages from circuit city. It is not my wii fit. It's the accessories I had to bundle with it. I'll probably get the fit tomorrow after we have left for our honeymoon. Maybe it'll come early in the morning like the accessories did. But who cares. We are going to London tomorrow. I can't wait!
Catch up with you later - oh yeah, the proofs are available online now from the wedding.
WEDDING PROOFS!!!
Okay, yes I am a tad bit excited. But today, one day before we head out to Lawton to look at apartments, and the zoom off on our honeymoon, we received the proofs of our wedding pictures in the mail. Our photographer, Lauren Grabelle, did an amazing job. Andy doesn't really like taking pictures, so when we finished looking through the lot (and when I say lot, I mean LOT), he said those pictures were great. High praise! Plus, we had a lot of fun looking through them. There was a lot of, "oh, and we were talking about this when this was taken." They really are great. So I need to thank everyone who was a part of the day - it really was great.
Since we have the proofs, this means that they should be going up online very soon. For anyone who couldn't make it, I am going to attempt a cut here with all of the online photo info, so that you can see the shots. I would suggest taking a look at them next week, which is probably when they will become active.
This is probably the last post for a while - unless I can get one in during our short turn around on Wednesday. Wait until the 20th to get Lawton and Honeymoon updates and photos on facebook.
Oh yeah, here's to an enjoyable July 4th weekend everyone!!
Since we have the proofs, this means that they should be going up online very soon. For anyone who couldn't make it, I am going to attempt a cut here with all of the online photo info, so that you can see the shots. I would suggest taking a look at them next week, which is probably when they will become active.
go to: www.lgphoto.com
click on: online events
This will take you to a new site. You will be asked for an event code.
event code: theresaandrew
Go nuts looking at our special day.
click on: online events
This will take you to a new site. You will be asked for an event code.
event code: theresaandrew
Go nuts looking at our special day.
This is probably the last post for a while - unless I can get one in during our short turn around on Wednesday. Wait until the 20th to get Lawton and Honeymoon updates and photos on facebook.
Oh yeah, here's to an enjoyable July 4th weekend everyone!!
Wii FIT!!!!
I have been looking for a Wii FIT since I have arrived in El Paso - at the beginning of June. Mind you, I have been kicking myself in the butt for not preordering it back when it first came out, since I knew I wanted it. I just didn't think it was a good monetary choice, seeing as there was still wedding related things to pay for. Thanks to Kate for telling me about
RefreshThing
and my own google searching for
Zooalert
that this morning both told me about Circuit City having them in stock. In my insanity I tried to get a single Wii FIT in my cart. Only to realize I needed to get a bundle. So I added a travel case and a cover to my cart and magically the Wii FIT appeared in my cart. Hurray!!! So I think I am set on video games for a while. I haven't really wanted any - I did get a chance to play rock band. It's fun - but I don't think I'd get it for a while.
I should get the FIT in the short time between getting back from Lawton and heading out on the Honeymoon. We'll see if I get a chance to play it. I'm happy, and I think Andy is finally happy he doesn't have to see me with a sad face when I miss attempting to get a FIT.
RefreshThing
and my own google searching for
Zooalert
that this morning both told me about Circuit City having them in stock. In my insanity I tried to get a single Wii FIT in my cart. Only to realize I needed to get a bundle. So I added a travel case and a cover to my cart and magically the Wii FIT appeared in my cart. Hurray!!! So I think I am set on video games for a while. I haven't really wanted any - I did get a chance to play rock band. It's fun - but I don't think I'd get it for a while.
I should get the FIT in the short time between getting back from Lawton and heading out on the Honeymoon. We'll see if I get a chance to play it. I'm happy, and I think Andy is finally happy he doesn't have to see me with a sad face when I miss attempting to get a FIT.
July
Wow, a travel intensive month. On Sunday, we will be heading to Lawton, OK to find an apartment while Andy is attending class at Fort Sill. We come back to El Paso only to get on another plane the next day for the Honeymoon. I can't wait - London and Paris. I plan on taking lots of pictures. I really am excited. I haven't been on a huge vacation trip in a while. More detailed report to come later, rest assured. When we return, we have one week to get everything together to move to OK. Another new place to say I have lived. Crazy really.
I am hoping while we are in OK to get a rescue pug. I have been looking at dogs at Homeward Bound Pug Rescue. There are a couple of pugs here that I think would be so much fun - like Dexter, Baby & Buddy, Biscuit, Dirk, and well sheesh, if I could I'd adopt as many as I can. I'll have to see about the apartment dog situation. But hopefully I could make a call to the rescue and maybe talk to them to find out more information. By the by, OK has a lot of pug puppy mills. So I think I have a good chance of finding a good dog. But the catch is...Andy gets a cat. Hopefully one I am not really allergic too. That would be fun.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll try to find a job - does Cameron University need any adjunct faculty?
I am hoping while we are in OK to get a rescue pug. I have been looking at dogs at Homeward Bound Pug Rescue. There are a couple of pugs here that I think would be so much fun - like Dexter, Baby & Buddy, Biscuit, Dirk, and well sheesh, if I could I'd adopt as many as I can. I'll have to see about the apartment dog situation. But hopefully I could make a call to the rescue and maybe talk to them to find out more information. By the by, OK has a lot of pug puppy mills. So I think I have a good chance of finding a good dog. But the catch is...Andy gets a cat. Hopefully one I am not really allergic too. That would be fun.
Oh yeah, maybe I'll try to find a job - does Cameron University need any adjunct faculty?
Army
Well, I am in the army now. I have been having some difficulty getting used to it. Not having total control over what I am doing and when i am doing it - has caused some tension. I have feel that I have very little knowledge of the military - I don't feel like I am in the club yet - so I fear I might make some serious public snafu. But I think so far I am doing alright. The big test is today. Andy will be getting promoted to Captain. I do have a part in the ceremony. I am really anxious about being in front of people I don't know. Oh well. Maybe I'll put some shots up on facebook.
Other news. I still have thank you notes to write. We had a barbeque on Saturday which was nice - went a little overboard on the food. But hey I can't complain about leftovers. I met a few people. They all have been very nice. I've procured a few new Wii games. Lego: Indiana Jones - a lot of fun to play. Each level you have what you need to make it through - but there are parts that are locked - so as you unlock more characters from each movie you can replay levels and get more hidden stuff. The Dog Island - a recommendation to me. I don't do to well with Action RPGs like Resident Evil, so this is definitely more my speed. You play as a dog and your sister/brother dog gets ill. You are on a mission to find a special dog doctor to make your sibling well. I like it - Andy finds it somewhat childish. And for the big score - Sunday we went to Best Buy and was able to pick up Mario Kart Wii. Needless to say, last night we spent the evening kart-ing. You start with 4 basic cups, 10 characters to choose from, and 6 possible vehicles. What is neat - some of the Mario Kart races come from previous versions of Mario Kart - like Peach Beach and Waluigi Stadium. There are a couple of new items - although I'm not so sure since I only compare the game to the N64 version. My pet peeve - as I opened the Mario Kart game box - I checked to see what controllers are usable for the game. I thought that you needed to have the wheel. Apparently not. You can play with the remote and nunchuks, the original controller, or a game cube controller. Pain in the behind - why doesn't Nintendo just sell the darn game by itself. People want to play the game - but it's hard to find because YOU (Nintendo) have to package it with the a darn wheel. Anyway, I will say the wheel is fun to play with and we managed to unlock one of the 4 extra cups last night. If anyone is listening out there, I just want a Wii Fit for my birthday - yes, it is still 2 months away, but that is what I want.
Anyway - I have some things to do - like figure out what to wear to this promotion ceremony. Catch ya later.
Other news. I still have thank you notes to write. We had a barbeque on Saturday which was nice - went a little overboard on the food. But hey I can't complain about leftovers. I met a few people. They all have been very nice. I've procured a few new Wii games. Lego: Indiana Jones - a lot of fun to play. Each level you have what you need to make it through - but there are parts that are locked - so as you unlock more characters from each movie you can replay levels and get more hidden stuff. The Dog Island - a recommendation to me. I don't do to well with Action RPGs like Resident Evil, so this is definitely more my speed. You play as a dog and your sister/brother dog gets ill. You are on a mission to find a special dog doctor to make your sibling well. I like it - Andy finds it somewhat childish. And for the big score - Sunday we went to Best Buy and was able to pick up Mario Kart Wii. Needless to say, last night we spent the evening kart-ing. You start with 4 basic cups, 10 characters to choose from, and 6 possible vehicles. What is neat - some of the Mario Kart races come from previous versions of Mario Kart - like Peach Beach and Waluigi Stadium. There are a couple of new items - although I'm not so sure since I only compare the game to the N64 version. My pet peeve - as I opened the Mario Kart game box - I checked to see what controllers are usable for the game. I thought that you needed to have the wheel. Apparently not. You can play with the remote and nunchuks, the original controller, or a game cube controller. Pain in the behind - why doesn't Nintendo just sell the darn game by itself. People want to play the game - but it's hard to find because YOU (Nintendo) have to package it with the a darn wheel. Anyway, I will say the wheel is fun to play with and we managed to unlock one of the 4 extra cups last night. If anyone is listening out there, I just want a Wii Fit for my birthday - yes, it is still 2 months away, but that is what I want.
Anyway - I have some things to do - like figure out what to wear to this promotion ceremony. Catch ya later.
Long Overdue
If this post were like an overdue library book, I would probably have to pay a fine of close to $20. This will most likely turn into a bullet post of everything that has happened thus far because I'm quite certain I will forget something if I try to write it in paragraph form.
Catch everyone later!
- I handed in my thesis, An Exploration in the History of Littlewood’s Conjecture. My guess is right now it is in the process of being bound into a hardcover book. I suppose I will now have two coffee table books with my name on it.
- On May 9, I graduated from the University of South Carolina. I received my Master of Arts in Mathematics - when I will actually receive the piece of paper that says this...I have no idea. But at least it is noted on my transcript. I did not walk for graduation. Instead, I attended my brother Matthew's graduation from Virginia Tech. He received his Bachelor degree in History. I'm very proud of him. I got the chance to sit in Lane Stadium, one of the rowdiest (sp?) college football stadiums in the country, for free. That probably won't happen again, unless Matt decides to walk when he graduates from Graduate School. He is now part of the Graduate History Department at Tech.
- To be honest the next two weeks are a blur in my mind. It was probably filled with a ton of running around speaking to all of the vendors. I did enjoy the fact that I got to hang out with my cousin Alycia while putting together nearly one hundred tea favors for the reception. I had a bit of fun hanging out with some of the girls for a Girls Night Out. Oh, and I have to say, this is the first time in my life I have gotten my nails done. Wow, it was really soothing, not to mention it came out about 50 times better than if I had attempted it myself.
- May 24 was the big day. It went off relatively smoothly. The guys had a bit of a snafu with the tuxes. I think they were more worried about the possibility that I might have some sort of nervous breakdown if the tuxes didn't match. But I was really quite physically spent from the prior two weeks of running around- and that was before all of the fun had started. I nearly fell asleep while getting my hair done at the salon that morning. The guys were relieved that I didn't care about the color of the tux. More than once, the vendors told me I was one of the most relaxed brides they've had in a while. I think it was for the best that I decided to just let these people do their jobs. I'm going to enjoy seeing and speaking to everyone and let the vendors do their thing. That is what I paid them to do. I couldn't believe that the day went so quickly. It was a lot of fun and I can't help but thank everyone who was there for a wonderful time. I should get proofs from the photographer by the end of July - at which point they should show up online (for anyone who is wondering).
- These past two weeks have been ... well a trip. We (my parents included) drove to South Carolina to completely move all of my things from my apartment. I kinda miss the apartment and Columbia. It turned out to be a good experience after all - even if I managed to be allergic to the state. I will miss all the friends I made there. After a day of packing, we drove out to El Paso. We drove through, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and across the state of Texas. We all spent a few days unloading my things and exploring El Paso. Then my parents and I drove back to NJ - taking a different route - through Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, to Virginia. At which point, we took the familiar I-81 trip back home. Hopefully I will get some photos on facebook from the drives.
- We made it just in time for my Great Aunt Dora's 100th birthday. What a trip. To be around from 1908-2008. She has seen a lot and what is more amazing she still has the mental acuity to tell you all the details of things that happened 20 - 30 - 40 - 50... years ago. I'm only a quarter of the way there - let's see how long I can manage.
- Last Monday was nutty. I ran around from government agency to government agency in an attempt to get the ball rolling with a name change. So, I spent the day waiting around in some hard chairs. But it was a successful day. I then hopped on a flight the next morning back to Texas. It probably was the cheapest flight I have ever gotten the day before I needed to get somewhere.
- Wednesday and Thursday was spend getting myself in the Army system. Actually, that really happened in under 2 hours on Wednesday. On Thursday it took nearly all day to get Happy Car in the system. But that is all done.
Catch everyone later!
Drum Roll Please....
Yesterday, I had a big accomplishment. I walked to the Graduate School and handed in my thesis for format check. Hurray!!! Total math writing: 32 pages. Whole paper: 36 pages. I feel a little odd considering the past like 3 weeks I have been stressing over how I am going to finish it - and ::pow:: it just creeped up on me without knowing it. Right now I am in the process of creating a presentation - no, not in Powerpoint, yuck. LaTeX makes very pretty pdf slides - plus it makes nicer math than Office does.
I have only a month to go for everything. I am proud of myself that I managed to get all of my lectures finished before my paper got handed in. That means I can relax somewhat on that front. Only have a final review sheet and exam to come up with. yippee!
Wedding news- wow, things are coming together. That means I can't keep putting it off - like calling the DJ - which I had successfully put off for nearly 3 weeks. Guess I should jump on that soon. Working on favors - ordered some samples and if they look good and taste good :::wink-wink::: then I will just put an order in for them really quick. The response cards keep coming in - at last count we had yes-es from 50 people on the list. I keep praying there will be enough room in the hall.
Outside of that, the rest of the year just seems to have been planned out. I'm not sure how that happened but it did. Finish up school, see brother graduate, get married, move loads of 'stuff' to TX, honeymoon, Amanda's wedding, somehow getting ourselves to OK, Beckie's wedding, maybe I'll look for a job, maybe I'll go to Disney in Dec (I am going through withdrawal - it would be almost a year and half.)
I think it may be time for bed.
Oh if you happen to be bored try playing HPFantrips Harry Potter Quest. I find it quite addictive. Why, yes, it is the reason I can not get myself to be motivated. How could anyone be motivated to do work if there is a Harry Potter themed online quest to do?!?!?
Addendum
Gosh how could I have forgotten this?!?! I purchased Happy Car almost 3 years ago. Every month I have religiously paid my loan installments. After a bunch of saving, last week I was able to pay off my loan 2 years early. It feels so freeing. Happy Car will officially be mine in about a week or so when I receive the title from the bank. Not to mention it is nice to get a chance to put that monthly payment to other uses - not that i'll be getting paid much past the end of the semester.
I have only a month to go for everything. I am proud of myself that I managed to get all of my lectures finished before my paper got handed in. That means I can relax somewhat on that front. Only have a final review sheet and exam to come up with. yippee!
Wedding news- wow, things are coming together. That means I can't keep putting it off - like calling the DJ - which I had successfully put off for nearly 3 weeks. Guess I should jump on that soon. Working on favors - ordered some samples and if they look good and taste good :::wink-wink::: then I will just put an order in for them really quick. The response cards keep coming in - at last count we had yes-es from 50 people on the list. I keep praying there will be enough room in the hall.
Outside of that, the rest of the year just seems to have been planned out. I'm not sure how that happened but it did. Finish up school, see brother graduate, get married, move loads of 'stuff' to TX, honeymoon, Amanda's wedding, somehow getting ourselves to OK, Beckie's wedding, maybe I'll look for a job, maybe I'll go to Disney in Dec (I am going through withdrawal - it would be almost a year and half.)
I think it may be time for bed.
Oh if you happen to be bored try playing HPFantrips Harry Potter Quest. I find it quite addictive. Why, yes, it is the reason I can not get myself to be motivated. How could anyone be motivated to do work if there is a Harry Potter themed online quest to do?!?!?
Addendum
Gosh how could I have forgotten this?!?! I purchased Happy Car almost 3 years ago. Every month I have religiously paid my loan installments. After a bunch of saving, last week I was able to pay off my loan 2 years early. It feels so freeing. Happy Car will officially be mine in about a week or so when I receive the title from the bank. Not to mention it is nice to get a chance to put that monthly payment to other uses - not that i'll be getting paid much past the end of the semester.
Tanning
Clearly, not me. But since it was over 70 degrees out today and burn your eyes sunny out you can guess there were people out tanning by the pool this afternoon.
Spring Break was exhausting. It was wonderful to get a chance to see everyone during the shower. That I am thankful for.
You know how people have a tendency to ask older, wiser, or famous people for advice. I've decided that if someone were to ever ask me for any sort of advice, my advice would be never to finish graduate work and set a wedding date within the same month - that is if you are a crazy worry-wart like I am.
I'll write again in another couple of weeks so you all know I haven't completely frazzled myself.
Spring Break was exhausting. It was wonderful to get a chance to see everyone during the shower. That I am thankful for.
You know how people have a tendency to ask older, wiser, or famous people for advice. I've decided that if someone were to ever ask me for any sort of advice, my advice would be never to finish graduate work and set a wedding date within the same month - that is if you are a crazy worry-wart like I am.
I'll write again in another couple of weeks so you all know I haven't completely frazzled myself.
Just askin' for it...
I don't know what is the matter with me. I wish I had someone around in my meeting with my advisor today. Someone to smack me upside the head and say, "Why the heck would you want to do more work?" My advisor informed me that we have pretty much finished investigated the many body of work. That I really only need to work on what is left - my, well, crappy introduction chapter and the semi-historic, not super math investigatory chapter 4. He confirmed that the topic was a good one to explore and the paper is good, based on a pure quantitative (number of pages) level. It will most likely run a bit over 30 pages without the front and back material. So he says we have time to take this a step further. Only if I want to. He won't push me. What spills out of my mouth? Yeah, sure.
Needless to say, I have spent most of the day smacking my hand against my forehead and muttering. I guess the upside is that this extension would add another 10-15 pages. If it doesn't all get completed by the first week of April, I can just leave it as an open problem. So I have until the first week of April to wrap all this up - at which I have to run all over the place to get things printed and signature-ized.
Okay - time to stop complaining and just hunker down and do the work.
Can't wait to go home for spring break. Get inundated with wedding stuff! This should be interesting.
Needless to say, I have spent most of the day smacking my hand against my forehead and muttering. I guess the upside is that this extension would add another 10-15 pages. If it doesn't all get completed by the first week of April, I can just leave it as an open problem. So I have until the first week of April to wrap all this up - at which I have to run all over the place to get things printed and signature-ized.
Okay - time to stop complaining and just hunker down and do the work.
Can't wait to go home for spring break. Get inundated with wedding stuff! This should be interesting.
Crazy proof
My thesis is centered on looking at the history of a conjecture which could probably be considered a mathematical philosophy question. It took nearly 30 years for it to be answered. At the heart of the question - is the natural ordering system we have always give us the best result? By natural ordering, I mean the basic way of counting - how we learn to organize and number - 1 cookie, 2 cookies, and so on. I guess when I say "result" I am being a bit vague - I don't want to get into the nitty gritty here - I think I might lose everyone if I actually explained it. Probably better think of it - suppose you have a very long list of grocery items and are looking to see if "carrot" is on the list. What is the best way to go searching for it? Start at the first item on the list and check them off? Maybe start at the bottom of the list and work your way up? What about start in the middle, consider the first half and check the middle of that, and so on and so on? Any one of these methods could be considered an ordering system - which item comes first, second, third in each method?
What is interesting is that in some situations (which is a really good thing for scientists or well certain scientists) that we have found orderings that give great results (under certain conditions). One group of functions has great behavior if we don't count by 1's but by powers of 2. In the case of functions that relate to this conjecture, we find that the functions as a group don't behave as nicely as we want them to do, but we can do no better than this "ugly" nature if we try to change the ordering.
So you now you are asking me - well why did you name this entry "Crazy proof"? The group of mathematicians who produced the proof submitted an article - the article is approximately 6 pages. The proof of what is the major find, from which you can prove the conjecture in less than 3 lines, is about 2.5 pages long (which by many people's standards is unbelievably short). I've spent almost 10 hours with my advisor working through the proof, plus another 10 or 15 trying to convince myself that things we spoke about were true and figuring out ways to spell all this out. So my full complete version of the proof is the total length of original article. Talk about taking some mathematical freedom when you get to submit journal articles. Yet I think the proof is unsatisfying - there doesn't seem to be any explanation of how the authors came up with their idea - it does not allow any wiggle room for using the ideas in similar contexts. It's quite possible the methods will lead to dead-ends if I try to use them in a new situation. Oh well.
In the meantime, actual writing - 25 pages (it may seem a bit low compared to before - I had to rewrite several pages and combined several proofs), total page count - 29 pages. I really only have about 2 sections left to work one - one that is more a historical account, the other my work. Oh yes - the introduction as well. It's pitiful really. I wish I had some ideas on how to rework that.
Lots of other craziness going on - the wedding detail stuff seems to be ramping up - at least a huge chunk of this work is out of the way. Catch you all later.
What is interesting is that in some situations (which is a really good thing for scientists or well certain scientists) that we have found orderings that give great results (under certain conditions). One group of functions has great behavior if we don't count by 1's but by powers of 2. In the case of functions that relate to this conjecture, we find that the functions as a group don't behave as nicely as we want them to do, but we can do no better than this "ugly" nature if we try to change the ordering.
So you now you are asking me - well why did you name this entry "Crazy proof"? The group of mathematicians who produced the proof submitted an article - the article is approximately 6 pages. The proof of what is the major find, from which you can prove the conjecture in less than 3 lines, is about 2.5 pages long (which by many people's standards is unbelievably short). I've spent almost 10 hours with my advisor working through the proof, plus another 10 or 15 trying to convince myself that things we spoke about were true and figuring out ways to spell all this out. So my full complete version of the proof is the total length of original article. Talk about taking some mathematical freedom when you get to submit journal articles. Yet I think the proof is unsatisfying - there doesn't seem to be any explanation of how the authors came up with their idea - it does not allow any wiggle room for using the ideas in similar contexts. It's quite possible the methods will lead to dead-ends if I try to use them in a new situation. Oh well.
In the meantime, actual writing - 25 pages (it may seem a bit low compared to before - I had to rewrite several pages and combined several proofs), total page count - 29 pages. I really only have about 2 sections left to work one - one that is more a historical account, the other my work. Oh yes - the introduction as well. It's pitiful really. I wish I had some ideas on how to rework that.
Lots of other craziness going on - the wedding detail stuff seems to be ramping up - at least a huge chunk of this work is out of the way. Catch you all later.
End of Week 6
I am exhausted. I think that covers everything. My brain hurts, my body aches, even my hair hurts. Maybe sometime in the future I can manage to catch a good night of sleep. By good I mean refreshing - where I wake up and say, hello day - let's do something!
Seeing as I should be getting to bed - make up class Saturday morning. Not so fun - but I rather it that time then at 5 at night during dinner. Anyway - thesis update: 23 pages of written math, total thesis page count 27.
Sorry, I don't even have the energy to finish this entry. I'll just leave it like this.
Seeing as I should be getting to bed - make up class Saturday morning. Not so fun - but I rather it that time then at 5 at night during dinner. Anyway - thesis update: 23 pages of written math, total thesis page count 27.
Sorry, I don't even have the energy to finish this entry. I'll just leave it like this.
Start of Week 5
I was really good about posting an entry there at the beginning of the semester. But now I have started to get all muddled with things. To be honest - sometimes I am amazed at the amount of random thoughts I have floating around in that gray matter. It is a wonder that I can even manage to string more than three words together while writing my thesis.
I will admit that I am getting bogged down by the details - for lots of things. As I have been told by many helpful camps - there really is not anything I can do about some situations. I can not get a hold of the forces of nature and bend space and time to get me the answers I need when I want them, which incidentally is right after I ask for them. Needless to say, I have been very cranky over the most annoyingly tiny things. I feel bad because I know that Andy has been taking the brunt of my "cranky attacks". Now let me clarify this a bit - I am not cranky about colors of flowers, table linens, silverware, or lighting. The actual practical aspects of the getting married - transportation, moving self and stuff to Texas, getting all the correct forms processed with the right agencies - all doing this in a very short time. Stupid math brain is having a battle of logistics - but there is not one single thing I can do about it. At least not now. Silly me, I can't have a problem like this and not be able to come up with some sort of solution that makes me happy. But I must say things are coming around rather well - wedding wise. So outside of stressing about silly things I have no control over - it is going great.
In the thesis arena - I have written about 12 solid pages of mathematics (even some full-fledged paragraphs too!). Current total pdf number of pages: 19. I am somewhat worried though. I spent the past 2 weeks or so on my own. Little to no adviser guidance. I feel like when we finally get to start meeting again - he will have ripped my 12 pages to half of that, or what is worse, try to make me expand on the little bit of information I have already written. But I guess I have to do it though - if it sounds reasonable. Flashback to when I wrote my honors math research at Dickinson. This work was 29 pages long - but a lion's share of the space was filled with happy triangle pictures. I guess I am on a good track. At Dickinson, it was like pulling teeth to get me to sit down and write that paper. I suppose it didn't help that I had a physics research project and paper to work on at the same time. I intend on spending the rest of February and most of March filling in the 3 chapters I have yet to even touch - and make little adjustments to the ones that I have started.
Teaching: oddly enough, going really well. I am surprised how well the students seem to be taking in the information that I am giving them. The class isn't anything near rigorous math - but every conceptual question I ask (that I would get no reply or blank stares from students when I ta-ed for the 141-142 calculus classes) the students seem to be able to answer without much prodding. More importantly, they respond with the correct ideas. So it is probably the best 50 minute class I have had. I would have more stories - except it is at 8 am and for some reason I breeze right through it and then have difficulty remembering the lecture afterwards.
Other news, Andy is coming for a the long weekend. Do I have off? No - no President's day for me. But it is nice that he gets off.
I think I deserve some cookies and milk. Catch you later.
I will admit that I am getting bogged down by the details - for lots of things. As I have been told by many helpful camps - there really is not anything I can do about some situations. I can not get a hold of the forces of nature and bend space and time to get me the answers I need when I want them, which incidentally is right after I ask for them. Needless to say, I have been very cranky over the most annoyingly tiny things. I feel bad because I know that Andy has been taking the brunt of my "cranky attacks". Now let me clarify this a bit - I am not cranky about colors of flowers, table linens, silverware, or lighting. The actual practical aspects of the getting married - transportation, moving self and stuff to Texas, getting all the correct forms processed with the right agencies - all doing this in a very short time. Stupid math brain is having a battle of logistics - but there is not one single thing I can do about it. At least not now. Silly me, I can't have a problem like this and not be able to come up with some sort of solution that makes me happy. But I must say things are coming around rather well - wedding wise. So outside of stressing about silly things I have no control over - it is going great.
In the thesis arena - I have written about 12 solid pages of mathematics (even some full-fledged paragraphs too!). Current total pdf number of pages: 19. I am somewhat worried though. I spent the past 2 weeks or so on my own. Little to no adviser guidance. I feel like when we finally get to start meeting again - he will have ripped my 12 pages to half of that, or what is worse, try to make me expand on the little bit of information I have already written. But I guess I have to do it though - if it sounds reasonable. Flashback to when I wrote my honors math research at Dickinson. This work was 29 pages long - but a lion's share of the space was filled with happy triangle pictures. I guess I am on a good track. At Dickinson, it was like pulling teeth to get me to sit down and write that paper. I suppose it didn't help that I had a physics research project and paper to work on at the same time. I intend on spending the rest of February and most of March filling in the 3 chapters I have yet to even touch - and make little adjustments to the ones that I have started.
Teaching: oddly enough, going really well. I am surprised how well the students seem to be taking in the information that I am giving them. The class isn't anything near rigorous math - but every conceptual question I ask (that I would get no reply or blank stares from students when I ta-ed for the 141-142 calculus classes) the students seem to be able to answer without much prodding. More importantly, they respond with the correct ideas. So it is probably the best 50 minute class I have had. I would have more stories - except it is at 8 am and for some reason I breeze right through it and then have difficulty remembering the lecture afterwards.
Other news, Andy is coming for a the long weekend. Do I have off? No - no President's day for me. But it is nice that he gets off.
I think I deserve some cookies and milk. Catch you later.
Elevator Encounter
Lately, after returning from school in the afternoon I have been taking the elevator to the 5th floor. It really is a cop out when you think there are 20 floors. I really do try to take the stairs. But on this fateful trip in the elevator I met a young gentlemen who is currently residing on the 3rd floor. Don't get me started on why he was in the elevator - even lacking a a heavy text-laden bookbag - he really should have taken the stairs. After he had kindly pressed the button for my floor as well as his, he gives me a funny look up and down.
"Do you happen to have any lady bug problems in the fifth floor?"
I almost wanted to laugh. But I kept a straight face and replied that yes, I had had a lady bug issue. He to asks me well what did you do? At this point you can imagine, the elevator door has already opened (we only traveled up 2 floors) and seemed to be on the verge of closing without the gentleman having gotten off. I told him I just got some bug spray and sprayed the door-jam for my balcony on a continuous basis for 3 days. After which I pointed to the elevator door, seeing as he hadn't realized it was starting to close. "Oh, thanks." You are welcome.
"Dear swarming Lady-Bug population, Thank you for choosing this guy's third floor apartment as your residence and not mine. -Theresa"
"Do you happen to have any lady bug problems in the fifth floor?"
I almost wanted to laugh. But I kept a straight face and replied that yes, I had had a lady bug issue. He to asks me well what did you do? At this point you can imagine, the elevator door has already opened (we only traveled up 2 floors) and seemed to be on the verge of closing without the gentleman having gotten off. I told him I just got some bug spray and sprayed the door-jam for my balcony on a continuous basis for 3 days. After which I pointed to the elevator door, seeing as he hadn't realized it was starting to close. "Oh, thanks." You are welcome.
"Dear swarming Lady-Bug population, Thank you for choosing this guy's third floor apartment as your residence and not mine. -Theresa"
2 weeks down
Less than 4 months til wedding.
Less than 3 months to complete thesis.
Currently, watching a pug dog lick a monitor screen.
Thanks to Suz and Chris for that one. What would I do without you? Maybe my work, I don't know.
Less than 3 months to complete thesis.
Currently, watching a pug dog lick a monitor screen.
Thanks to Suz and Chris for that one. What would I do without you? Maybe my work, I don't know.
Week 1
I was going to title (and post) this entry last week under the guise of "Week 1 = Poop". It mostly was until Friday afternoon. Yes, you can yell at me for only having to teach for 50 minutes three times a week, and attending one class all semester for 75 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But the first week always feels unbelievably overwhelming. This time even more so - because I realized there is a bunch of forms and things you need to fill out to do this whole graduation thing. Doing this requires setting up meeting times with so-called "important" people. But they are so busy the first week or so - that it just seems impossible to get done. I think it felt even more worse because I was unable to get my own schedule nailed down. It finally has gotten worked out - so I guess I'll be able to sleep at night.
But the reason for the delay of "Week 1 = Poop" is that on Friday afternoon I received a phone call asking me if a someone very special should get on a flight to Columbia because they had a 4 day weekend. Now normally my little voice of reason would say - gosh, that is crazy - you know how much an plane ticket will cost this late in the game - quite a bit is the correct answer. Some how the voice of reason didn't even get a chance to talk because out burst high-pitched yes-es faster than a pitching machine at the batting cages. So needless to say Weekend 1 was great. Too bad the rest of the weekends this semester can not even come close to topping that.
Well, now I feel extremely lonely. I dropped Andy off at the airport this morning and I just about didn't want to go into school today. I could just as well not gone, since I was the least bit productive - outside of sort of figuring out how to go about typing my masters thesis in LaTeX. I hope this week I can finish off the lectures through the first exam for my 122 class, and start building pieces of my thesis. Wedding related tasks: I need to sign us up for a Pre-Cana session, write a bunch of emails to people involved with wedding, start gathering up song ideas for the dj, and possibly creating a minute by minute run down of the important day (not that I specifically have those sorts of details...just create a file for me to fill them in). Other than that - I plan on continuing to bite my nails and be super nervous about everything.
But the reason for the delay of "Week 1 = Poop" is that on Friday afternoon I received a phone call asking me if a someone very special should get on a flight to Columbia because they had a 4 day weekend. Now normally my little voice of reason would say - gosh, that is crazy - you know how much an plane ticket will cost this late in the game - quite a bit is the correct answer. Some how the voice of reason didn't even get a chance to talk because out burst high-pitched yes-es faster than a pitching machine at the batting cages. So needless to say Weekend 1 was great. Too bad the rest of the weekends this semester can not even come close to topping that.
Well, now I feel extremely lonely. I dropped Andy off at the airport this morning and I just about didn't want to go into school today. I could just as well not gone, since I was the least bit productive - outside of sort of figuring out how to go about typing my masters thesis in LaTeX. I hope this week I can finish off the lectures through the first exam for my 122 class, and start building pieces of my thesis. Wedding related tasks: I need to sign us up for a Pre-Cana session, write a bunch of emails to people involved with wedding, start gathering up song ideas for the dj, and possibly creating a minute by minute run down of the important day (not that I specifically have those sorts of details...just create a file for me to fill them in). Other than that - I plan on continuing to bite my nails and be super nervous about everything.
Winter Break and What to Look Forward to in 2008
Wow, that kinda sounds like a news segue right before they cut to commercial break.
What can I say about winter break. I feel exhausted from traveling everywhere. It was wonderful to see Andy. I think this might have been one of the longest times on record we were both in the same place at the same time. The apartment he has (we will soon have) is very nice - although it may become crowded real quick when I try to get my stuff in there. I need to think of a way to minimize the amount of things I will bring with me - but that is a thought for another time.
We spent most of our family-free time - out shopping and buying necessary home goods. I almost don't want to go out shopping for quite a while. We bought ourselves a tree and ornaments and in a very short time got the apartment in the holiday spirit. It felt very easy and homey. I didn't really miss being at home too much. I did drag Andy to a couple of masses in El Paso. We even managed to make it through the hour and half long Midnight service complete with incense and hundreds of people attending. He survived admirably - with a couple of pokes and prods from me when we were supposed to sit, stand and kneel. Shush, don't tell anyone, but it is probably the most services I've attended in the past year and half. I have been less then a regular attendee at church here in South Carolina. Christmas Day was interesting - we slept a little late, opened presents, and spent the afternoon and evening at a fellow lieutenant's home for dinner. The rest of the evening I omit at the request of Andy.
Andy's parents and his sister showed up for a few days. so we rallied the troops (haha military metaphor) for a couple outings. We visited the White Sands Missile Base to see the museum. I think my favorite was White Sands Monument. I'm glad it was a relatively cool day or else I would have roasted out there on the sand. It was very picturesque (so I took a bunch of pictures and they are up on facebook incase you hadn't seen them). Andy, Trish, and I attended the 2007 Sun Bowl game - well through the beginning of the 3rd quarter. It was a onesided game. :oP We also made a trip out to the racetrack to see some horses run. No, I did not bet on any horses, but I enjoyed watching them.
I even managed to cook a few meals. Mostly staples - chicken and mushrooms, steak and Amanda's brown rice, baked ziti, steak and mashed potatoes, and spaghetti with meatballs and sausages. We found a good butcher that has some really nice meats. Even though all I really know is stick meat in broiler, I'm ready to learn something new. Fun Christmas gift - Entertaining with the Sopranos - which has a lot of Italian recipes that I know of but didn't really know how to make.
I even had some time at home. That was pretty good too. But it also meant getting some wedding things out of the way - setting up the guys' tuxes, and a face to face meeting with the florist. I also got to go a little wedding dress scouting with Beckie who got engaged on Christmas Day (hurray!)
So, winter break recap: I had fun in El Paso, fun at home, and got no work done.
Which leads me to my current stressed out alert level : orange! Moderate to Moderate severe stress building. Watch out for abrupt conversations and the occasional meltdown.
What I plan to accomplish this year - in no particular order:
What can I say about winter break. I feel exhausted from traveling everywhere. It was wonderful to see Andy. I think this might have been one of the longest times on record we were both in the same place at the same time. The apartment he has (we will soon have) is very nice - although it may become crowded real quick when I try to get my stuff in there. I need to think of a way to minimize the amount of things I will bring with me - but that is a thought for another time.
We spent most of our family-free time - out shopping and buying necessary home goods. I almost don't want to go out shopping for quite a while. We bought ourselves a tree and ornaments and in a very short time got the apartment in the holiday spirit. It felt very easy and homey. I didn't really miss being at home too much. I did drag Andy to a couple of masses in El Paso. We even managed to make it through the hour and half long Midnight service complete with incense and hundreds of people attending. He survived admirably - with a couple of pokes and prods from me when we were supposed to sit, stand and kneel. Shush, don't tell anyone, but it is probably the most services I've attended in the past year and half. I have been less then a regular attendee at church here in South Carolina. Christmas Day was interesting - we slept a little late, opened presents, and spent the afternoon and evening at a fellow lieutenant's home for dinner. The rest of the evening I omit at the request of Andy.
Andy's parents and his sister showed up for a few days. so we rallied the troops (haha military metaphor) for a couple outings. We visited the White Sands Missile Base to see the museum. I think my favorite was White Sands Monument. I'm glad it was a relatively cool day or else I would have roasted out there on the sand. It was very picturesque (so I took a bunch of pictures and they are up on facebook incase you hadn't seen them). Andy, Trish, and I attended the 2007 Sun Bowl game - well through the beginning of the 3rd quarter. It was a onesided game. :oP We also made a trip out to the racetrack to see some horses run. No, I did not bet on any horses, but I enjoyed watching them.
I even managed to cook a few meals. Mostly staples - chicken and mushrooms, steak and Amanda's brown rice, baked ziti, steak and mashed potatoes, and spaghetti with meatballs and sausages. We found a good butcher that has some really nice meats. Even though all I really know is stick meat in broiler, I'm ready to learn something new. Fun Christmas gift - Entertaining with the Sopranos - which has a lot of Italian recipes that I know of but didn't really know how to make.
I even had some time at home. That was pretty good too. But it also meant getting some wedding things out of the way - setting up the guys' tuxes, and a face to face meeting with the florist. I also got to go a little wedding dress scouting with Beckie who got engaged on Christmas Day (hurray!)
So, winter break recap: I had fun in El Paso, fun at home, and got no work done.
Which leads me to my current stressed out alert level : orange! Moderate to Moderate severe stress building. Watch out for abrupt conversations and the occasional meltdown.
What I plan to accomplish this year - in no particular order:
- teach a class
- finish my wedding planning
- write a Master's thesis
- present said thesis and thankfully not have to defend it in front of lots of math professors
- go to a bunch of weddings! :o)
- stay physically fit
- graduate on time
- get married myself
- do taxes
- move to Texas
- go on a honeymoon?
- move to Oklahoma
- maybe find a job
- start a new knitting project
- learn some new recipes
- complete Super Paper Mario
Belated Everything to You!
It's amazing that one can go from awakening in a full house complete with puppy dog, spend 12 hours driving, 1.5 hours eating, 1 hour helping brother unpack, drive 720 miles, and have to go to bed in lonely apartment.
More useful post to come.
More useful post to come.
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