Bea Arthur died.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/25/bea.arthur.obit/index.html

Sucks. =(

Alright, I promised I'd start writing in this thing more, so I'll try to update from the last time I posted anything real. Let's see... September 11, 2007? Whoa.

I took 18 months off from school and started again in January. My major is still communication and culture studies. School is going okay this semester - the only class I'm unsure of is oceanography ... the tests are hard and there are very few homework opportunities (well, outside of lab). So we'll see how that goes.

Jake and I are still together and going strong. =) We adopted a puppy, Logan, last May and he's gone from a scraggly 11 lb pup to a 70 lb full grown dog! Jake and Logan spend a lot of time hiking, which is good for both of them. We also have two guinea pigs, Lily and Daisy, that we got this past year. We brought Lily home in February and Daisy in March, after the pet store was going to euthanize her because they didn't have room for her (some girl just dropped her off because she didn't want her). Save for overgrown nails, there was nothing wrong with Daisy and she is one of the nicest, friendliest guinea pigs I've come across!

Jake lost his job at the university last month so we've been looking to move somewhere. There's no work up here for him and I'm not too attached to MTU. Right now, the plan is to move to Appleton with my parents (temporarily) until we figure out what to do. I have a phone interview at Maurices in Appleton (I work at Maurices in Houghton, now) for an assistant manager position - cross your fingers for me! If I get the job, we'll find a house in Appleton and Jake will continue to look for work. I also put in an application at Tailwaggers Doggy Daycare in Menasha, just in case.

So ... that's pretty much it. We're moving May 2, so we're busy packing and I have a lot to do with school as the semester winds down. On that note - time to work on my paper due tomorrow!

Emily and I went to church tonight - it's the first time I've been in a while. It was nice to go, to have that feeling of belonging and betterment again. I decided I'm not giving anything up for Lent, I'm just going to try and better myself. Start going to church regularly, eat healthier, exercise more, watch my language, pray more ... just be a better person. I think that's acceptable.

So I think I should start updating this again. Yeah? No? What do you think?

For the first three people that reply to me and re-post this challenge - I will send you something groovy.

It might be something I've made, or something cool from my hidden stash of fabulousity, it might be a mix CD - or a rubber duck, a book I think you will enjoy, or something else that is awesome.

Whatever it is, I promise that I will get it to you in 365 days or less. (I will need your snail mail if you're not local).

The only thing you need to do in order to participate is to be one of the first three to reply to this, AND post this very same thing on YOUR live journal - cause its fun to give people stuff.

What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Cultural Creative Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 94% Romanticist 63% Idealist 56% Existentialist 50% Modernist 44% Postmodernist 44% Materialist 38% Fundamentalist 25%

First off, for everyone who commented on my Religion post (fotoplasma, lapinguina, miketwalker86, doanie, banning85, and spartyfirstgirl) I really appreciate it. I know I didn't respond to any of the comments, but I read them all and really thought about what you had to say. I think I'm going to go to (Catholic) mass this Sunday and then start checking out some other services in the area. I hear there's a pretty good Episcopalian (sp?) church around here ... and it sounds pretty close to what I think I'm looking for. We'll see.

Jake and I went to Appletong this past weekend to visit my parents -- we had a good time. Friday night we went to dinner with mom, dad, and Brian and Kathy Leonhardt out at High Cliff Supper Club. Then Sean called and the 3 of us went to the new Badger Sports to play mini golf. Jake won, Sean came in second, and I came in third. But I got the only hole-in-one, so I'm okay with losing! =P

Saturday, Jake helped my dad and Peter Czurak (mom's best friend's, Bonnie's, husband) move some stuff out of our storage facility. Mom and I went grocery shopping and made sandwiches for the boys when they got back. I made chilled leek and yellow squash soup as an appetizer for dinner (though we heated it up because it turns out cold soup is just weird) and then Jake and I went to High Cliff to watch the sunset.

( Pictures! )

I was bored last night and decided to stay up and play with my new Photoshop brushes. Here's what I came up with ...

( To the pictures! )

What do you think?

Sorry it's been so long guys ... it's been hectic the past few weeks.

So the Baltimore/NASA/SIR job didn't go through ... they wanted me to put together an entire curriculum, which wouldn't have been a big deal, except they wanted me to do it before my start date ... and since I was taking two classes and working 40 hours a week, it just wasn't going to happen. So I resigned ... sucks, but ... I'm making better money working for Jay, I don't have to move to Baltimore for a few months, and I get to spend the summer with a lot of my friends. Bright side, people. =)

I'm working for Keweenaw Research Center summarizing the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge and doing a lot of paperwork that goes with that. I'm also revising the rules for CSC2008, so if you participated in CSC2007 and have any suggestions, lemme know and I can talk to the competition organizers for you. =)

FIRST is going okay ... we need to start fundraising!! We have a pretty cool project going on right now, working on a system to synch the kicker motor and speedboat motor for my boss, Jay ... for his boat, obviously. Joe can explain it better, ha.

Jake and I are good ... Sunday was our 11 month anniversary (awwww =)). On Friday I cooked homemade French Onion Soup, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Steamed Peas, Mashed Potato Timbales, and a real baked cheesecake. It was pretty delish, if I must say so. We've had a lot of good "us" conversations recently ... yay! And a particularly sweet one this afternoon, that I won't repeat until I get his permission, haha. I heart my boy! =D

Heather's all moved in to the apartment with Bailey, her 9 month old Cockapoo (the dog ... not Cockatiel ... that's a bird). It's going well. =) Bailey can be a pain sometimes, but he's a puppy, they're like that! Heather and I are going to Kati's and Russ's house tomorrow night to watch the fireworks in Lake Linden ... I'm excited! I haven't seen Kati in like ... a while. One week? Two weeks?? Holy crap, it's been awhile.

I'm going home to see my parents the July 5-9 (and going to Jon Branson's wedding on the 7th!), and then downstate with Jake to see his parents July 13-15 ... I'm excited for both trips! Particularly excited to see my parents and our new house in Appleton ... is it weird that I have no idea what my house looks like? It's funny, I feel kind of displaced. I can't imagine being an army brat and having my family move like, once a year. That would be hell, ugh. Anyway, yeah, excited to go home ... no so excited to go shopping for a dress to wear *to* the wedding on Saturday. I bought two from Kohls online and they both fit ... it's just one has this weird, puckered thing going on in the back, and the other looks like a Christmas tablecloth. So it's time to make some returns and pick up some new clothes. Yaaay shopping? Haha.

Soooo yeah, that's life right now. How are you doing?

Has anyone who reads this read Jennifer Government by Maxx Berry?

This is what he was talking about!

Holy crap.

First, I put a huge gash in my left thumb cutting strawberries.

I finally get that taken care of, go to fill up my Nalgene, and there's this huuuuge beetle crawling on it.

There's now lots of blood, bits of strawberry, and a mostly dead beetle sitting in the pipe leading out of my sink.

Ew.

Hi =)

Sorry it's been so long since the last update ... life's been kind of crazy, but mostly good.

Jake and I went to Minnesota last weekend to visit the Mall of America. Friday was Jake's birthday so while he was at work I baked some cupcakes and surprised him by being in his room when he got home, haha. I gave him the cupcakes and his present -- a digital picture frame, a comb, and some pomade (hey, he said if I bought him hair "stuff" he'd use it!) He loves the picture frame, and is tolerating the hair products. ;-) I'm glad he liked the frame ... I wasn't sure he would. =) After the birthday thing, we got in the car and drove to Bloomington (MN). We got into town around 7:00 and had a yummy dinner at the Rainforest Cafe before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel.

Saturday we were at the Mall at 10 am and managed to walk (and shop!) the entire thing by 6:00 pm. The best store we found was this shop that sold board games. I bought Blockus, some new cribbage pegs, and a deck of waterproof cards. Jake bought a book called "30 Second Mysteries", The Farming Game, and Zig-Zag. The games we got are pretty awesome. =) Jake also bought me a teddy bear from Build-A-Bear and (for himself) some books from Barnes & Noble. I bought a book called "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" - it's a funny grammar book. =) We stopped at Circuit City on the way back to our hotel and each bought a game for our Nintendo DS's. Jake got the GBA version of Super Mario World, and I bought Brain Age and Sonic Rush. They're all good games. =) After that we went to the hotel, changed into our PJs and ordered pizza. We played the games we bought for the rest of the night and had a blast just hanging out without having to worry about getting work or schoolwork done. It was good!

Sunday morning we stopped at Perkins for bakery take-out and then found a Michael's craft store right by our hotel ... this is where I spent the majority of my trip money, haha. I bought some new stamps, blank cards, a new paper-cutter, a lot of on sale stickers, and I found a picture album that will work perfectly for Kati's wedding binder! It's purty. =)

Completely coincidentally, Jake's parents are sending him $200 in the mail to buy a bike and my parents want to buy me a bike for my birthday. But since my birthday isn't until September, if I got a bike then I'd be able to use it for *maybe* a month before the snow comes and it gets icky out. So Jake and I took a detour to Appleton and each bought a bike. On Monday we went for a 4ish mile ride, and yesterday it was 6.5 miles. Hard work, but fun!!

I've been working out a lot more with heavier weights and then doing the biking thing ... I feel great, but the numbers on the scale keep going up (by like .1 every day), despite my eating a lot healthier and working out a lot more. It's kind of discouraging ... but it has to be like, muscle - right? I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing, regardless. I'm down 3 lbs overall, but that's up 4 from the beginning of last week. Yuck. A bunch of us are supposed to go out drinking tomorrow night and I really want to drink, but at the same time I'm like ... it's just gonna slow my weight loss down, consuming all that sugar and whatnot. And I've been so good (even pretty good on my vacation) I just don't want to ruin it. I can't even have diet soda with my drinks 'cause of the artificial sweeteners ... I suppose if I'm going to be drunk, I can tolerate a migraine ... maybe that's an option.

Kati's coming over later so we can work on the Save the Date magnets she's mailing out, and so we can start putting her wedding binder together. =)

I think I'm gonna go mop the floor.

More on work and stuff later.

... lonely and emo today. I think it's 'cause I've been home alone all weekend.

Summer classes start tomorrow - I'm (re)taking World Cultures, and taking French I and Website Design.

I think I'll do fine in WC and Website Design ... French, I'm not so sure about. Does anyone out there on my flist speak French? I'm conversationally fluent in German, and I'm taking Spanish I in the fall. I'm not nervous about Spanish at all, but something about French scares me. Mme Anderson said since I have a background in a foreign language it shouldn't be too hard, as long as I keep up with the exercises and stuff. I think I'm more nervous about French because while I don't speak Spanish, I've had enough exposure to it to figure out the gist of a conversation. I see Spanish words everyday ... I don't even know how to say "goodbye" in French.

What else ... oh, Heather and I subleased our apartment for a week, so I'm still in the old house (til Friday). I don't like being all alone here ... it weirds me out that the creepy landlord could come in anytime he wants. And I just don't like being alone in houses. I tried to go to bed at 10 last night, but kept hearing weird noises, so I didn't fall asleep til 4 this morning. Tonight I *have* to be in bed by 11 so I can get up for classes and work. I think a benedryl/cough syrup cocktail will fix that, if I can't sleep. Bleh.

Hmmm ... oh, I started a knitting blog. If you're interested, you can see it here. I don't have anything posted yet - I'll try to get pictures of my current projects up tonight. They include:

* Fish rug
* Fingerless gloves
* Crib blanket
* Carriage blanket

... I really need to finish one soon.

Mmm I think that's it. I apologize for the rambling ... my head feels fuzzy. I blame seasonal allergies.

I got the Robotics Coordinator position in Baltimore, for NASA's Summer Institute of Robotics.

*happy dance*

=D

I'll be in Baltimore from like, June 20 through the end of July. I'm driving out there (woo 20 hour road trip by yourself!) so I'll need some good driving music -- any suggestions?

Jake is soso supportive of me going. In his words, "I'm so glad you got the job -- you need to take it!! I mean, don't get me wrong ... it's gonna suck not seeing you for five weeks, but this is good for you!" That helps, a lot. =)

Speaking of Jake, Kati chopped his hair of last night (at his request!) to give him a super short summer haircut. I present to you ...

( Jake! )

We're going to dinner at Applebees tonight, just 'cause. <3

So for now, I'm working for KRC (same thing I did last summer before SYP), taking two summer classes, and just relaxing. It's good. =)

So decorating my room and stuff this summer ... I really want these posters.

(Some slighlty NSFW, but artistic, of course)

( Look! )

Fools In Love Lyrics
Inara George Lyrics

( Fools in love, are there any other kind of lovers? )

Things that are Good
Things with Jake are good =)
Lost 10 lbs since I last updated about weight
Going home tomorrow until next Monday
Moving into the apartment with Heather next week
Employed full-timeish by Jay for the summer

Things that are Meh
Taking two classes this summer - World Cultures (see below) and Web Design. Looking forward to Web Design, not the other one.

Things that are Bad
Probably failed a class or two this semester
In lots of debt - probably going to get a second job for the summer

"Love consists in sharing
what one has
and what one is
with those one loves.

Love ought to show itself in deeds
more than in words."
~St. Ignatius of Loyola

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070404/ap_on_re_us/cnn_shooting

Well hey, I'm glad I'm taking a group of high school kids there in a week!

=(