See you on the flip side

It's 6:40 AM on Monday, and I have another frighteningly long week ahead of me. Test today, quiz, and presentation on Thursday, and lots of meetings and whatnot in between. Wish me luck. I may not be seeing you for a while :-)

I wanna talk to the manager

OK, who gave the go-ahead on this new round of snow? Seriously. This wasn't supposed to be a big storm (in my head), but we already have 2-3 inches and it isn't even 11 AM yet. It's only allowed to snow today, but at this rate, that's all it will need.

At least they are pretty, fluffy flakes. They are so light and fluffy that some of them are literally going *up*! I tried to encourage them on that path, but none of them seemed to listen.

Peter says they look like coconut shavings. There was an episode of Studio 60 that had them running out of fake snow for the Christmas show, so they used coconut shavings instead. I decided that God's run out of snow in Colorado and is now using coconut shavings. Mmm... coconuts... Now when I look out the window, sigh, and say, "It's snowing," Peter says, "No, it's coconutting." It sounds much warmer that way.

In happier news, we bought a new RAM chip for the iMac, doubling its RAM, which makes it (and us) much happier. Everything is twice as fast, so I can keep twice as many programs open and it now runs at a normal speed! As long as Peter's laptop doesn't die, we should be able to make it until June or whenever Leopard, iLife 07 and (fingers crossed) an upgraded iMac line is available.

We also got a weather station with a remote outdoor sensor. Now we can know if we need a sweater or a parka *before* we are halfway to class and already getting frostbite! Here it is valiantly standing up the the relentless forces of nature:

Phew!

Well, I made it! First full week with all my classes, transcription job and Writing Center hours. Basically, I was on campus for a really long time (11 hours one day) for most of this week, and I have many days where I hardly have time to eat. A few things were this week only, though, so I have hopes that things will improve. I think we'll be making a little bit more money this semester, since I'm working three jobs (one of which is extremely sporadic) and getting paid a little better for one of them. Still not enough to actually make ends meet, but thank God for loans!

Ipso Facto

I'm not sure what that really means, but we'll pretend it relates to this post.

It's the weekend, therefore it's snowing. Again. Not so much this time, but enough to make me sick of the snow. Again. But it's supposed to get up to 40 and 45 in a few days! Yay! Come onnnnnnn..... MELT! Really, I woudn't mind it so much if it just melted before it snowed again, as is the Colorado (and Reno) way. Stupid El Nino. How do people live in Minnesota or Michigan or, God forbid, Alaska? Clearly, I am not a snow person. Growing up in Cali will do that to you, I guess (and yet I will never claim to be a Californian).

Off to have some hot chocolate!

Fun with Photoshop

I've had a wee bit of downtime, time when I was too tired to work, but too awake to sleep, and I've been playing with some effects in Photoshop. I can't decide if I love these effects, or if they look too silly, so please let me know your opinions. (Sample pics are our wedding photos by the wonderful Monique Sady)

Original:

Photoshopped:

Comments? Suggestions? Which do you like better?

Today's Random Thoughts

I had a blog post about me making an edible multi-course that included steak ALL WITHOUT A RECIPE, which was truly groundbreaking, but I hadn't saved it when Peter closed the browser window. Hazards of sharing a computer.

My classes are going well, but it is a bit of a transition to go back to undergrad classes. A girl in my ASL class flipped when she found out I was married and 25. I forget they are babies and in a very different stage of their lives. On the plus side, I have about 1/100th the reading of last semester (granted, I don't have my textbooks yet), so my brain is happier for the moment.

I am applying to the MA program in Speech Pathology here. Didn't I just do this? Two years is not a very long time to recover from grad school apps. It's not fair.

We watched GoodFellas and Sleepers from Netflix this week. Both were excellent. My brother is apparently big into the "illegal movie blogs" and we watched the first five minutes of a horrible tape of Happy Feet. None of us could stand the ridiculousness so we all agreed to turn it off. I've heard such good things, I can only hope it gets 1000% times better after the first 5 minutes ripped straight from a dumb version of March of the Penguins. Stheriously. Plus, I really realized that I would rather pay $18 a month for Netflix to get movies I can actually see *clearly* than free bootleg interwebs versions.

I spend too much time reading blogs. Google is wonderful (I just discovered Calendar), but their Google Reader RSS feed is getting to be too much. I need to unsubscribe from the really prolific blogs. I just can't keep up.

OK , I better finish this bad boy up before Peter comes along and closes my window. See you all soon!

Things just may work out

I've gotten my work schedule for this semester, classes are pretty set (one is still up in the air) and I think I may just survive this thing. I've only had one class so far, so a lot will depend on the workload of the unknown classes, but so far so good. If I don't have as much reading as I did last semester, things could go well. My ASL class (the one class I've had so far) looks like it will be a lot of fun and it will be great to sign almost every day again. Luckily, the emphasis of this class is on expression and production, and unlike many of the other students, I've already had some experience with that. Even though I already have a paper and a presentation due next week, compared to the assignments I've had for my MA classes, this one should be a lot more fun and less stressful.

Even the job I was afraid I might have to quit looks do-able now. We've worked out a schedule that should work really well, and having the extra money will be nice too. Of course, I haven't started working at the Writing Center yet, since they don't open until the second week of school, so I may seriously be changing my tune shortly. Stay tuned.

My brother's in town, so we're going to try to go to our favorite restaurant in town here for happy hour tapas. I'm very excited because we only go out to eat if we have company in town, even if The Med does have my favorite kind of pizza for only 3.50 per entire pizza. And it's so good too. But yeah, homecooked food is so much cheaper, why waste money on restaurants, even if they are really tasty? And we can control the healthy-factor of food we make ourselves better too.

Speaking of which, Peter and I are doing the Discovery Channel Health Challenge with his parents. It's pretty cool if you haven't heard about it. They have a great website (I'll update this blog with a link when I get home) that allows you to track your weight, exercise, provides meal plans and allows you to join "teams."So far, I've lost several pounds and have been working out a lot more than usual (though still not enough), which is my goal. I'm not all about New Year's resolutions, as such, but I do like trying to improve myself in various ways, and getting healthier has been a big one lately. Let me know if you decide to join the health challenge and here's to good health for all!

The end is near

Tomorrow we go back to school. D'oh! What happened to all the amazing free time of vacation? How did it just evaporate with me getting only a fraction of what I wanted to do done? For starters, I think I was sick all break, plus I traveled to CA, Reno and Vegas, and I was also amazingly lazy. Even today, I didn't get up until 8:30, which is better than 10, like the rest of the break. But all this will seriously bite me in the ass when I have to get up for my 8AM class this semester. Yuck! And of course, I cannot forget that I found out that Glider Pro is now freeware and available to play in OS X! I thought it wouldn't be as fun as when I was a kid, since computer games have gotten so much more sophisticated, but of course, I was tragically wrong.

In other news, we decided to wait to buy the new computer until June, or whenever they release Leopard and iLife '07 and all the other stuff that would make our computer quickly outdated. So now we are going to buy an extra RAM card for the iMac, hope that Peter's computer doesn't completely crash, and take whatever precautions we can to extend the lives of our machines. I'm a little sad, but I also know that it is probably a smart move, since there is no truly pressing need for a new computer right now (and if we get it over the summer, maybe that will give me more time to play?)

Hope everyone is warm!

Snow?

My brudda's coming tomorrow (yay!) and we're supposed to get snow tonight/tomorrow (boo). I keep looking out the window to see if it's started snowing yet, but all I've seen all day are the ominous low foggy clouds covering almost all of the mountains. Those clouds always mean snow. Since I've missed the past three snowfalls, ahem, blizzards, I'm excited to be here for one, even if it isn't supposed to be ginormous. I could have done without it, though, if only out of sympathy for all the people who have been stuck here for the past month in the snow. Oh well! The snowboarding should be good for my brother!

Cure for sore throats

I don't seem to get sick too often, maybe once or twice a year, if that, but when I do and when I have a sore throat, only one thing works to help it. Throat Coat. My miracle. When we were in Vegas and in the 2-3 days of our respective colds, Peter and I got some Throat Coat tea at Whole Foods and it saved us. I would wake up literally unable to talk, but after a cup, I was fine. Between the two of us, I think we went through at least half the box in just a few days! It also tastes really goo (IMHO). I've heard some famous singers swear by it too, but I feel like it's still my little secret, since I've been using this since I was in elementary school or at least junior high, and it's possible we could have gotten it before it hit the really big time, since the company that makes the tea was just a few towns away from us. Mmm, Throat Coat!

Where does the time go?

This week is my only time at home on vacation before school starts next week and I have so very much I want to get done. First and foremost, I have a huge research project I need to finish for the incomplete I had to take thanks to my injured arm at the end of last semester. So I'm working on that as much as I can stand it every day, staying up way too late and waking up much later than I will be able to with my 8 AM class (ick). I really want to do a major overhaul of my website, but I know that's going to take a lot of time and passion that I need to keep in reserve for my project.

Instead, I've been tearing through A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket. I'd read the first two in the children's library across from where I used to work in little chunks while I had breaks. They were amazing and I loved them, but unfortunately, Books the Third through Sixth or so were checked out, so I had to stop. This Christmas, Costco had the entire series (13 books) as a set for much less than normal (each book is usually $12.99), so we used some Christmas money to get them. I've literally read 1-2 books a day in the past few days, and I'm now on Book the Tenth. I just can't read them fast enough! I have the same problem with Harry Potter, but those I at least got them one at a time, so I could re- and re-read several times until the next came out. The Lemony Snicket books are (obviously) pretty quick reads, though the books are getting much longer. If you have a wicked sense of humor and/or were an English major, you should give them a try. Most of the references and hidden jokes I highly doubt any child would get, but they never distract from the story.

In other news, the new computer looms larger on the horizon. We went to buy it last night at our friendly local Apple Store, but learned that one or two of the upgrades we really wanted were only available online. So we're going to wait another day or two, just to see if any major software updates come out at Macworld (who needs an iPhone? Give me iLife 07!), but I don't think they are likely and we simply can't wait long enough for the new OS to come out (supposedly in June).

Since weather seems to be the hot topic in these parts these days, here ya go: today and yesterday were sunny and warm enough to melt a lot of the snow, but we are supposed to get another (smaller?) storm this weekend, just in time for my brother's flight here to likely be delayed. And it's supposed to be butt-ass cold. Highs in the teens. Yay. We'll see if we make it up to the mountains like we were planning.

OK, that's it for now, better get back to the project. A parting picture as a memory of Vegas:

From 65 degrees to two feet of snow

So we are back in Boulder. Happy to be home, but happy to have had a break and a nice time with our families. The snow here isn't that bad overall anymore, but there are definitely places where the piles are huge. We took this picture of Jessie at the airport in Ft. Collins, when she and Chris came to pick us up (such nice friends!). You definitely need a person for some perspective on things like this. Luckily, the drifts and piles aren't this bad in most places, but it seems like the roads are still fairly dangerous with ice and slush and compacted snow (though the big ones are mostly plowed). I'm not sure I'm ready to go back to school and back to the grind just yet, but I have a week to get accustomed to the idea.

We should be getting a new computer in the next week or so as well, so that's very exciting news. My little iMac is just too swamped with the 19.9 gigs of pictures and movies I've taken (and I took out all of 2003, when we went on our USA trip and took several thousand pictures). I do too much with pictures and video and DVD burning for this computer, with iPhoto taking at least 5 minutes to boot up and freezing everything else when I run it, and my DVD burner conking out, so an upgrade is in order. Also, Peter's trusty little laptop that got us through our USA trip is dying. The main battery no longer holds a charge, so having a laptop that always needs to be plugged in (and that crashes at critical points in writing final papers) is not exactly a good thing. Since the iMac still is a fine computer when it isn't trying to process 20,000 photos, we'll transfer all the pictures, wipe the slate clean and Peter will use this one for his stuff. I just want Macworld to come so we know if they are coming out with new and improved iMacs so we don't buy an insta-obsolete model! Must...wait...three...more...days!