No FRAKKIN' Way!!

I can't believe it. It was a very rough semester but somehow I pulled it out and scored an "A" in both my classes. I'm SO excited right now.

Rainy times

Seems like we are getting lots of rain lately. I really can't remember if it's normal or not. I guess that comes with age.

Jerry and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. No spoilers here. It was very good and we both really enjoyed it.

Not much else going on. I'm winding down from Exam week. Not that it was grueling but it wasn't a walk in the park either. I'm just happy for the break.

Nothing else to report....I'm kinda dull this weekend but that's fine by me.

no school

Yay! Now I just have to wait for my grades. I'm passing so I have that, which is more than a lot of my friends can say. Talk about stress!

I'll be enjoying my few weeks of no class and reading the new Harry Potter book. Jerry finished it yesterday and has passed it off to me. Can't wait!

6 hours and counting

Until my last final for the summer semester. I'm anxious to be done with this semester. It's been a tough one and I'm looking forward to my nearly full month off from school.

Tonight's test will be on ethics...WOO HOO!

Flight of the Conchords

I have no idea why but I think this show is brilliant!



Hip-Hopopotamus vs. The Rhymenocerous (isn't that just H-I-larious!)

Again, HBO pulls out another good one.

Random Poll

How much did you pay for gas the last time you filled up?

I just paid $2.829 today.

these cows make me laugh

"She's been tipped one time too many" Best line EVAH!

one week

Next week this time I will not be cranky like I am today. I should be happy my class is over but I guess just all the stress has built up and right now I'm a little crabby girl. I hate being like this. Oh well..I'm gonna go veg in front of the TV.

20 or 40

It makes no difference. I'm still scrambling around at the end of the semester like I was back at CMU. I'm looking forward to one week from today being done! The bulk of my things are out of the way. Tomorrow is kinda big as it's a ton of interpreting but it's all good.

Paid for next semester's 11 credits last night. OOF!

The week before finals!

Yup...It's true. I'm nearing the end of my summer semster and I couldn't be more happy albeit I'm slammed with projects and tests. Yes, that's right tests this week before our final next week.

Today I spent about four hours in our sign lab watching videos. We have to have 12 hours logged for the semester and guess who waited until the last week to do it.

Tomorrow will be spent doing some studying for tomorrow's test and I have to interview an interpreter for my "Special Topics" class at 2pm. Whew....

Wednesday will be spent putting final touches on a "Manuel" we have to come up with on everything and anything that an Interpreter might come up against.

Thursday will be preparing a video taped presentation and that night having our final Expressive Progression exam (Interpreting Performance).

Next week's two exams will be cake next to this week. Bring it on!

TMI? Probably...

Today I went to my very first Mammogram. Yay me! I scheduled it to be first thing in the morning because the thought of wearing no deodorant in the summer is horrid. So I headed over to the hospital around 7:45am to do my check in and hoping I could get in before my scheduled 8:15am appointment. They have done some renovations to the hospital and now have a lovely patient check in area. I was impressed not only at how it looked but how efficient it was. I know it is still early in the day but that is why I make my appointments so early. So after check in in I head down to the Breast Care Section. You walk in and it's decorated in dark wood with green wallpaper. Very cluby looking. So they call my name to verify a few more things that they missed at patient check-in and then took me back to the changing room. It was exactly like a country club locker room. Small dressing rooms with a row of lockers to keep your stuff in while you go have your breast flattened. So I change into my "gown" that ties in the front, lock up my shirt, bra and purse and sat down to peruse an Elle magazine. I maybe waited 5 minutes before my name was called and I was taken into a small room with a device to take picture of my breast. Whee! The room was white and very clinical, which is fine as it is a procedure room. Elena, the technician, had me verify my birthday and explained to me that because this is my first mammogram that they might call me back for additional films because they don't have anything to compare them too. Fine. Now for the torture. Okay, it really wasn't that bad although it wasn't a picnic either. I still have red marks where the device squeezed me. I'm hoping they won't turn into bruises although they do hurt when I poke them. (I can hear Jerry saying "then don't poke them" in my head) So after 4 pictures, 2 for each I tie back up my gown and wait as Elena dashes out of the room. I'm assuming she is going to make sure the films came out. After a few minutes she comes back in and says, "Congratulations you made it through your first Mammogram". Yay! Now I get to look forward to this once a year. I think I have a few years before they start requiring a Colonoscopy..I'm not sure though and I'm not bringing it up!

Amusing

The tooth fairy teaches children that they can sell body parts for money.
- David Richerby

Sizzilin'

As I drove to home from work the big lighted Walgreen's sign glared 102°s. Oof...that's too hot for this little Michigander. Thankfully it's only 94.8°s on our porch. I'm not much for the heat. I'd prefer a cool 65-70 degrees with the opportunity to wear a sweatshirt now and again. It will be a looooong time before I see those kinds of temps again around here. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Green!

Slowly I'm trying to make our little family a little more Earth friendly by adding greener products into our home. One of the latest additions is our new lawn mower. An electric mower called the Homelite Cordless Electric Mower. Our old gas power mower was put on the curb earlier this morning and by the time I got home from church. (Where I watched an interpreter..she was good) It was gone. I had really wanted us to get an electric mower because I would feel safer mowing then dealing with gas, oil, etc. and also it would be better for the neighborhood. Carbon footprints and noise pollution both. I had called Home Depot and the woman was very quick to tell me that they didn't have that. GAH! Oh well...so I left the choice up to Jerry.

Today we decided to phead to Home Depot to look at a Toro that he had been doing some reading on. We got there and it was sold out. They had a floor model but some other people were kind of eye balling that one. So I was about to go find someone to help us buy that one before it was gone and low and behold my Homelites were at the end of the aisle. They weren't sold out. In fact they had at three in stock. So, lesson learned, just go to the store and look because more than likely the person answering the phone doesn't have a clue. A sad state of our customer service models throughout retail. But that's a different post. So there happened to be a flatbed cart left behind so we snatched that up and loaded up our new mower. We got home and added the re-mulcher inserted the key just to see how it worked and VOILA! it had a charge. So Jerry did the front yard and the drive way. It's 91° with 61% humidity, so the back yard can wait a little bit.

Digital Divide Narrows

When I worked at AOL there has always been this desire to help make sure that everyone had access to the Internet. I think it's a great tool and that everyone should have it available to them at home. I was browsing the news in a fit of insomnia and found this article. This, to me, means that slowly everyone is getting the same opportunities to have a wonderful resource at their fingertips.

quotes from where?

Today on NPR they were talking about Mitt Romney and what it will be like for Mormon*** to campaign for President. That wasn't what caught my attention, it was the woman who said "Mormons and Catholics are NOT Christians"**. Really? Hmmm..now I won't even begin to talk about the Mormon faith because I have no facts what so ever. However, raised Catholic I can attest that we are Christians. Because "we" have stricter traditions that have actually hindered the sect in my opinion most people think that Catholics don't follow the teachings of Christ. Well, we do.

From http://www.m-w.com/
Cath·o·lic
Pronunciation: 'kath-lik, 'ka-th&-Function: noun
1 : a person who belongs to the universal Christian church
2 : a member of a Catholic church; especially : ROMAN CATHOLIC

Hmm..funny how that works out. Why people talk or be quoted on things they don't know about me totally befuddles me.

**When I went to read the transcript on NPR's website they took the word Catholic out of the woman's statement. Is that right?

*** For more info on The Mormon Faith head over to http://www.mormon.org/

Simple Smiles

Driving from one side of town to the other, crossing the St. John's river by way of the Fuller Warren bridge in a mild rain shower, I inhaled and the aroma of the Maxwell House plant filled my nostrils with titillation. I could almost taste the coffee. I had to smile. It distracted me from the discourse of NPR for a brief moment. Life's little moments are truly wonderful!

Wow...July already...

Where did this year go? I can't believe it's the 2nd of July already. I guess school and work have been keeping me busy. I imagine for all you parents out there it seems like it goes by even faster. I'm envious of that part of parenthood. Must be neat to see a little life growing and learning. Ok..enough of my mush...

In other news Scooter Libby gets the out of going to jail. What the heck! I'm tried of the "boys in the hood"( by hood I mean the government current administration) getting off. I guess Bush doesn't really care what his approval rating is because this will not help it in my eyes. Sure it's not a pardon but still why is it that people who have a little bit of fame, money or power don't have to be in jail. Yes, Hilton did spend her 23 days in jail. Funny though, I thought the judge had ruled that she had to serve out 45 days after her little day trip home. GAH! I can bet there are people in jail right now for lesser crimes who have to serve their entire sentence because they either don't have the resources for a good attorney or the court systems are over loaded and by the time their trial would come up they would have already served their time. I'm really disappointed with the way the judicial system is currently being run. Not only federally, but all over. Although I was glad to hear that the Supreme Court is listening to the habeas corpus ruling dealing with the "Gitmo" cases. It's a crime that people are being held without being able to even appear in front of some sort of court system. I seriously wonder at times what one little person like me can do to change this? Sure, I know, vote....but when I did vote this past election the upper administration seems to just ignore what the people want.

As we approach Independence Day I try to think about what our founding fathers wanted for this country. Have we abandoned all the principles or are they being clouded by "political correctness" and lobbiests. Funny, but Jerry and I were watching Star Trek and the episode had to do with politics and in it the people worshiped the American Flag and recited the Preamble of the United States Constitution. I found it interesting that even in scifi the need to let people know that our goverment is FOR the people. Meaning that we all should have equal liberties and no one should "lord" over it's people. Maybe, we as Americans should take back OUR goverment.

Lazy Weekend

After two weeks of us running around Jerry and I spend a very low key weekend together. It has been great! Jerry is getting over a cold and I'm trying to avoid it.

28 more days of this semester. I'm looking forward to August and being off from school that month. I will be taking 11 credits next semester. Oof! One of them is an online class..one is a practicum..the others are voicing and transliteration. OK..I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to remain focused on the semester at hand.

Oh...Yeah..Last Thursday we went to dinner at Campeche Bay. It was pretty good. Although it was VERY dark in the restaurant. The frozen margarita made it so I didn't care that I couldn't see the menu. Okay...it wasn't that dark. I'm still thinking that Tijuana Flats might win my favor with their prices. But it was great to go to a new restaurant with some friends.