Three down, one to go!

I finally feel like I have enough time to write on here! I'm really happy that my exams have been going well. My archaeology exam was so basic, given that I've already taken two other archaeology classes (not through the archaeology dept) and I took Geography 170: Map Reading and Intro to GIS. We've talked a lot about GIS recently, so having that background knowledge certainly helped.

Biological Anthro didn't go as well as archaeology, but that's okay. I think I still got at least a B. But seriously, if I got less than an A on the archaeology exam I'll be upset. I rocked it.

Finally, my Archaeology of Troy exam seems to have gone better than I had originally believed it would. I don't know what to expect yet, but probably a grade that I will be at least ok with.


I need a backpack, badly. I went to Target yesterday and they had only Hannah Montana and Spiderman backpacks left. I'm considering just spending the $100 or so to get a nice North Face (gasp) backpack. It's one of the few purchases from the North Face that I wouldn't feel like a coastie making. I'm just having a hard time picking one out. Exciting!

I went over to Madison Property Management and secret shopped their new property, Grand Central. It was wayyy over the top. I mean, it's only $882 for your own room in a two bedroom apartment. And with the double occupany rate, it's only $590 to share a room in that same two bedroom. Sorry, but all of the coasties already live in Lucky. I did get a free beanie and two free shirts; they're really excited about this new property over at MPM. I would be too, if I had $1000 a month to use for rent and utilites (since only water is included). It's $1000 for an EFFICIENCY! Ridic, absolutely ridic.

lalalalala

Nothing much going on - just school. Actually I missed an archaeology discussion today. Oops. So now I have to make it up - which means going to the only discussion left this week: Friday at 7:45 am. Nice and early. Oh well.

I kind of want to go to a Brewer's game before their season is done. Which means less than a week. I don't think it's going to happen, but it would have been nice to go.

I'm excited to go home! On Saturday or Sunday my parents and I are going white bass fishing in Oshkosh. I haven't been there in a year, so it'll be fun but perhaps chilly. The weather in Madison lately has been absolutely incredible - I even wore a skirt today! Of course, wearing a skirt meant that I couldn't ride my bike and thus I took the bus. The thought of the slow trudge to class is difficult to bear. Taking the bus was not conducive to arriving on time to class, but it was worth not having to leave fifteen minutes earlier.

I got two of my movies in the mail today! I watched Gladiator already, but I'm saving Troy for either this weekend or next. mmmm Brad Pitt and his sexy abs....

Anyway, we facebooked our upstairs neighbors tonight and found out that they're all football players! The first thing I thought of was hearing Gabe having relations freshman year right above me. Ridic.

Tonight I watched the first episode of Survivor: Gabon. It was just okay - I used to really get into Survivor when I was in high school, but I'm really sick of all the drama. Speaking of, Grey's was on afterward and there's too much drama for me to bother watching it.

Sorry for being so uninteresting. There's just not much going on right now - though I do have four exams next week so the posts may become even more dry.

Did you know there's no way to say "yes" in Latin? It can be implied, but one can never just say "yes."

Just foolin around

I found these ridiculous sites.

Check them out.





Pick the biggest size and most activity....creepy but so ridiculously funny, it's okay:

ShockAbsorber


Just plain hilarious:

yearbookyourself.com

All work and no play...

...accurately describes my weekend. All I did was study. I really mean it. I read five chapters in Biological Anthropology and caught up in my Troy class. I did go to Liz's soccer game which was oddly reminiscent of my younger high school days. I remember sitting on the soccer bench with Ronnie and not getting yelled at. I love those memories.

I decided to finally clean my room. It's about 87% clean.

I linked my blog to facebook and decided to take it off - my blog isn't private, but I don't want random acquaintances able to read it via facebook. Creepy.

Speaking of facebook, the new facebook design is lame. I'm not angry enough to join a group and sign a petition. After months of development, the "new" facebook isn't going anywhere, and I'm sure the developers are proud of their work. Humans are just resistant to change, and admitedly the older design was much more user friendly. And Firefox 3.0...I have similar feelings toward this update as well. I really don't like it and I'm still figuring out how to get things to download since FF links with Windows and your personal security features. While I'm ranting about updates, I also hate the new iTunes update. Why does it keep syncing my songs onto my ipod, even though they're old? I've synced it twice tonight and both times it took like ten minutes. Lame. All I wanted to do was add one new song to my ipod since my laptop's sound is currently not functioning.

I'm so confused. Recently I've received a lot of attention from guys and it's killing me. Sure, I like the attention, but I really don't want to date anyone else right now. I guess that after feeling bad about myself for putting on weight since college, it's nice to know that people find me attractive. So it goes.

No angles!

So Cait seemed quite distraught over the setup of our living room, so she brainstormed a ton of layouts (okay, like three) and Beth and I vetoed the ones with angled furniture since we've been there, done that, and it has not been so hot. But she did it - she came up with a gorgeous layout and we switched to it today. I'm bored enough that I'm actually going to pause and draw a picture for you to see exactly how wonderful the new setup is. Brb.

Okay, that took about 40 minutes since I had to use Paint. Here it is:



Moving on, I just discovered that Starbucks carries oatmeal now. Interesting.

I'm hungry but I'm all out of nugs. And mashed potatoes? None really compare to the frozen Ore Ida Steam and Mash Potatoes which I am out of, so cannot eat. After finishing this post and reviewing it, I noticed that I kind of left the resolution out of this predicament. I have decided to eat two cheese and pretzel dippers and see how it goes. Then I'll move on to trail mix. mmm trail mix.

Today I volunteered at the WPTV pledge drive. Fortunately, Wisconsin Public Television is housed right on campus at Vilas Hall. It was a really enjoyable four hour shift: they provide you with snacks and juice and soda (!) and magazines so that it goes by pretty fast. We weren't live, so at six designated times we had to go to the phones because that was when WPTV interrupted their normal programs to advertise the pledge drive and advertise the gifts that are available. Kelly ended up winning a WPTV waterbottle, but she knew how much I wanted it and gave it to me. It was really nice of her, and it worked out well since my current Nalgenes don't fit in the waterbottle holder on my bike and regular water bottles are too tiny. I really like PBS. I wish more people gave it a chance. NOVA Science Now is sweet. Check it out.

I don't know about APO this semester - I'm already finding myself with a lot on my plate. It was mentioned at the officer's meeting we had this evening that we should have an APO sleepover. Sounds fun, right? Could be - but my apartment was mentioned as a potential host. Wouldn't that be fun - a bunch of APO going home with bed bug bites? lol how terrible! oh well, so it goes.

My bonsai tree is growing nicely. My banana plant is too! It's actually a Croton "superstar" but it reminds me of bananas. The center of the leaf outgrows the actual leaf resulting in little yellow string-things sticking out from the leaves. I love it! Right now mine plants are stalky but that's okay since they are supposed to end up fuller. Having something to take care of is really nice :)

My blog has had 613 views since its inception. Crazy. Where is everybody?? I truly thought that it was basically me and a few close friends reading this - I mean a very few. Creepy...but cool.

Well, I should probably get around to my homework. Amo rosas.

Our tv needs an antenna to work :(

Nothing too new going on. I'm going to UHS tomorrow at 8:50 am to get another prescription of predisone. Fun stuff. It'll help the itchies.

Today I went to Elyse's and had a wonderful dinner! We had pineapple, mashed potatoes, and nugs. Could it have been better? I think not; we even managed to do Latin homework together!

There are so many parties this weekend that I find myself overwhelmed. I'm definitely going to the APO rush party, but I might (and want) to head over to KHK's CEOs and Administrative Assistants party. Ridic.

Sometimes it makes me sad that our building doesn't recycle. I don't know how it isn't illegal.

I ate at Sbarro today inside of Lucky. I don't know how to feel about it yet. I'm very loyal to JSM and almost feel like I'm betraying them by eating at a property that rents from Steve Brown Apts. On the other hand, I don't know of any Steve Brown employees that avoid Toppers because they rent from JSM. But being inside Lucky still feels wrong. But paying $600/month to SHARE a room is wrong.

I friended one of my TAs today. I had her freshman year and she was my first classics TA ever. I hope she agrees to be my friend!

I'm tired of bed bugs. I'm tired of their bites and thinking that everyone and their uncle has them. I have friends of friends who think they got them from us. I'm kind of tired of it :/

Today is Trent's 21st birthday. I wonder what he got! lol that was naughty.

We have to buy an antenna for each of our tvs it seems. For now, the one in the living room has bunny ears and it works, but mine doesn't work. Habeo lacrimas!

That's it. Maybe Ronnie will call me. Maybe.

School so far...

I'm really glad that school finally started....I think I'd be bored out of my mind if it hadn't finally begun. Well, the first week of classes is over and this begins the second fun-filled week. I decided not to make any future semesters difficult, and aim for the Dean's List. I'm only taking 13 credits and most of my classes are into-level. Here's my schedule (including work):
My favorite class so far is Latin. Having had Greek, it's a breeze. It's easier than Greek because it uses the same grammar as Greek, but the vocabulary is stippled with cognates and words that are identical to Spanish words (eg. casa - house). I know it'll get harder, but for now, it's rather enjoyable and by far my favorite class to do homework for.

I'm quite surprised that my Classics 430 class hasn't been as interesting as I had hoped. It's all about the archaeology of Troy, and it's taught by Professor Aylward who visits the site regularly, yet it's just not what I had imagined. Long readings about Schliemann and Kara Tepe have made it hard to remain interested. I feel like I have to take it, however, since it counts as an upper-level course toward my Classical Humanities degree AND Archaeology Certificate.

Archaeology has been fun. The last lecture was kind of dry since it was simply about "science vs pseudoscience," but the topic of archaeology really interests me, so it's easy to stay interested.

The guys in the apartment above me are playing Halo. I can hear the music from the startup screen.

Finally, Biological Anthropology. All I can say is that the professor is dynamic, and we haven't learned a shred of biology yet. I'm not particularly excited about this class but I need it for my Anthropology major.

On a completely different note, I signed up to help with the PBS phone bank on Sunday from 8:30am - 12:30pm. Basically, it's just taking credit card information from elderly people. It won't be bad, and secretly, I am a huge fan of public television. But don't tell.

Speaking of local channels, I think I have to go buy an antenna for my tv. Apparently plugging the cable from the tv into the wall is not sufficient enough to make the channels accessible. Whatev. At least we're not paying for cable. Since I'm paying more rent this year than last, the last thing I would have wanted would have been paying 1/4 of a $120 cable bill. Ridic. That's about it for now. I've been doing an excellent job of keeping myself busy.

My Lappy is sad :(

Before I begin, I have to brag about the new shoes I just bought. They're gorgeous! They only cost me $56 but retail for $185! Ridiculous! They're absolutely mint and I can't wait to wear them out with the new blue top I bought. Anyway, they took my mind off of everything just long enough that it's just now that I'm remembering all the problems my laptop is causing me.

So sometime during that party we had last week, my laptop decided to make a fool of itself and disprove all of the wonderful things I've ever said about it. It's now slow and the sound won't work. Well, it works, but it's so choppy and cracks so much that it might as well not work at all. I'm actually asking for help now: someone, anyone, please figure out what's wrong with Lappy. She's sad because she can't play videos anymore because they skip or fail to load in under a few minutes. This is so unlike her! I used to have the best Lappy in the world with an amazing graphics card and processor, but now....I'm heartbroken once more. I refuse to buy a new Lappy. Since the whole system is running slow now too, it's hard to do much of anything. Here's what I've done so far:

-Ran chkdsk /f because I was prompted to do so.
-Tried to defragment but was told that it was unnecessary by Lappy
-Reinstalled the sound drivers
-Tried to use headphones to see if the speakers were blown but they made no difference
-Almost cried

And thus, here I am now. I'm so distracted by how many bug bites I have that at least my laptop problems are currently overshadowed. I just noticed that my spellchecker on Firefox is not working. Perhaps someone who has the new 3.0 version knows why this is. I'm just about to install my XP service pack 3 so who knows what fun this will add to all that I already have.

That's it. I'm going to Target. Maybe I'll buy more shoes.

Bugs and other creepers

So, in case you have not heard, it seems that The Cottage is infested with baby spiders and bed bugs. What does this mean? It means that Beth and I are both covered in bug bites from head to toe, literally. Being a holiday weekend (labor day is Monday), we have no choice but to endure the biting for another couple days. The two of us have been sleeping on the couch since our beds have caused us nothing but trouble, it seems. This certainly won't help the infestation, but it has been making things less stressful.


Speaking of creepy things, I don't know why but the guy from Terminix is a real creeper. I asked Derek to have a different guy come on Tuesday, and he said that wouldn't be a problem at all. The fact that the bug guy asked Jenny out probably doesn't help his case. Today I got asked out by the neighbor above me. I told him that Ronnie and I are together, so that should end that. I hate lying, but I'm really not interested in anyone and am not ready to even consider seeing other people. I hav a nagging suspicion that Ronnie doesn't want to be with me, especially after he said that I shouldn't keep liking someone that doesn't like me back. Ouch. Things like that make getting over this whole thing a lot easier. And by getting over, I mean moving on from the heartbreak.

I think I'm going to go shopping. I'm the only one home and I'm pretty lonely. I think I want to go dancing tonight!

Just stuff

I just got home from work and I'm tired so I'm not going to write a whole lot. The picture above might be called a Ronnie Kun since he's playing soccer.

Let me start by saying that my apartment is the best apartment ever. That's fine if other people live in apartments that have valet parking *cough* Lucky *cough cough* but ours is really nice and we aren't paying very much at all. Our living room is massive and my room is a beautiful blue. I bought cute little plants for only $3 each at Home Depot, and I absolutely love the girls I'm living with.

Work is going well, it just stinks that I'm the only one working right now. Today I posted only a few things and then I got to stay in the air conditioned office the rest of the day. I even had a showing today!

Here's what I really wanted to write about: I'm thinking about what I might do for my Halloween costume. Here are a couple ideas:

• Domo kun (thewebsite has instructions on making a costume!)
  
• Xena, princess warrior
• Princess Peach

I haven't really decided yet, but I've got to start thinking about it and get my stuff together. Hopefully we'll have a Halloween party that'll be just as much fun as Ronnie and Cait's party was. I'll write more later since I'm hanging out with Liz, Beth, and Ace (Beth's friend from Denmark).

U.S.A. - Rockin' the Olympics since 1904

So I was clicking around Sports Illustrated and came across these interesting facts.

In 1904 the US took home 239, or 86%, of the total medals. Of course, the only other countries competing and earning a medal were Germany, Cuba, Canada, Hungary, Britain, Greece, Switzerland, and Austria. Quite a short list. Another interesting fact: Chicago was supposed to host the 1904 Olympics, but lost the bid due to St. Louis' celebration of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which wouldn't allow another international event to take place anywhere other than St. Louis. So there it was held. There was some guy with a wooden leg who won six medals (three were gold!) even though he had a wooden leg from being run over by a train (George Eyesor).

Since I love random facts, here are a few more:

• The first Olympics was held in 776 BCE. If you're in any field related to Classics, this is a fact you already know. Lots of texts speak of "the year after the first Olympiad..."etc.
  
• The 1916 Olympics were to be held in Berlin, Germany but were canceled due to WWI.
• The U.S. has hosted the Olympics four times: St.Louis (1904), Los Angeles (1932), Los Angeles (1984), Atlanta (1936).
• In 1936 Carl Diem (an Olympic organizer) had a torchbearer's ceremony at the stadium at Delphi (site of the Delphic oracle) and erected a stone to carve the Olympic rings, which became official in 1914, onto. In the 1950s two British authors reported in "History of the Ancient Games" that the rings as a symbol must have originated in Greece.
• The "mascots" for the 2008 Olympics include a fish, giant panda, Olympic flame, Tibetan antelope, and swallow (see top image). Their forms are kind of hard to distinguish.
• The US has won a total of 2404 medals, including both summer and winter games. Russia has the next most, with 1202 total.
• Through 2006, 15104 medals have been awarded.

Most of this stuff came from Wikipedia, a very credible source indeed.

Bernie Mac - gone, but certainly not forgotten

Well, friends, it seems that this morning Bernie Mac passed away due to complications of pneumonia. I mistakenly thought he was in remission, and was obviously surprised to hear this news. I'm quite saddened and regret not watching the Bernie Mac Show last night because I was tired. Promise me that you check out the Bernie Mac Show at the least - it's well worth your time. You might even start using phrases he uses and start calling people "baby girl."



I finally got a new phone! It's a Palm Centro, and thus far I love it! It's blue (although Ronnie mentioned that he preferred the black). I've been playing around on it since I got it last week and it's addicting. I'm using it as my personal planner as well as a phone. It hooks up to my laptop so I can easily upload info from my calendar on my computer to my phone. I'm amazed how far phones have come since my last phone (which perished in my car - the official cause of "death" was water damage due to the humidity). Anyway, I'm so excited about it that I have to go in a minute to add an appointment to my calendar. Oh to feel businessy....

Yesterday was Holly and Brian's wedding. All I can say is "wow." It was incredible. My dad especially liked the service since it was brief. I thought the reception was really nice since it was at Maggiano's at Mayfair. There was a pasta bar! I, being boring, chose fettuccine with marinara sauce, but there were other things you could have put in for the chef to cook. The drinks were around $8 each, so I settled with soda (which started off at $3 a glass!) which was free. It was really nice getting to see family I haven't seen in a long, long time. Something I observed, however, was that the only people under 21 at the reception included me, the flower girl, the ring bearer, and my cousin's two children. I didn't really care since I didn't bring enough money to even afford a drink, but it was a pitiful observation. Another realization: Steven and I are the only people on my dad's side to not be married and us and Liz are the only people on my mom's side not to be married (with the exception of my uncle Brian).

I'm excited to be moving in soon! I find myself missing Katie E. an awful lot. I didn't realize how much I would miss her, but I really do. I think a lot of it is because we were roommates freshman year, and lived together last year. I'm hoping that when I go up to Madison (either tomorrow or Wednesday) that I get to see her. I'm also excited to see my roommates for next year! There are people I'm not so excited to see, but I don't have to see them unless I want to. And I don't. So there.

Since I'm addicted, I'm going to go play on my phone now. Forget about Dark Cloud. I have Klondike!

Things that are UNDERrated

Some people just aren't living their lives to the fullest. Why not? Because they're missing out on these gems:

1. George Lopez and Bernie Mac
-I know, I know. A lot of people are watching or doing "something better" at 11 pm CST on weeknights. Give these guys a try! I love the Hispanic hilarity every night on George Lopez. His jokes are similar to those my friends might make, so it's like we're BFF. Now Bernie Mac is a favorite for a different reason. I like that his eyes look different directions when he talks. And while I'm on the subject of the way he talks, I like that too. These guys are way too funny to be on during prime time while quaint families are enjoying shows like American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, which is why their timeslots are 11 pm and 11:30 pm, respectively.


2. Red Robin
-You don't have to tell me that it's pricey here. But if you sign up for the birthday club you do get a free burger (a $9 value) the week of your birthday. Ronnie and I recently went and their fries are heavenly, and unlimited. UNLIMITED???? Yes! Unlimited! I think I've finally found my favorite restaurant. The chicken strips were delicious and unforgettable. Maybe my mom wants to go with me now...hmmm.

3. Sci-Fi as a genre
-So I showed Ronnie a recent Netflix movie my parents picked out: a disc from the first season of the Outer Limits. It was pretty hilarious. The episode we watched began with tumbleweeds attacking people, and then frogs, and finally boulders. It wasn't bad for being from 1964. Otherwise, I'm generally a fan of sci-fi movies from the days when special effects were in their infancy as well the newer movies. Some are better than others, of course. But don't hate just yet. Check out this list of sci-fi movies from IMDB and I'm sure you'll find that many are already some of your favorites: Best & Worst Sci-Fi titles.

Drama on the playground

Today was probably one of the best days ever work-wise. Aly and I got to go to the Country Springs Hotel's indoor waterpark along with Bridgette. Needless to say, not everyone was happy that Aly and I got to go. I'm really sick of hearing about all of the things I do "wrong" and about how I was "extremely anxious to see the roster" for the field trip which would say which of us were going. Of course I was anxious to know! Who wasn't? Regardless, I'm excited for my days at Deerfield to be over. There is just too much drama and talking behind each others' back. I hope that next year will be less stressful. In hindsight though, it seems that everyone's feelings about parks and rec are more exaggerated since the trip to the hotel was this week.

I'm getting really antsy to finish Dark Cloud. I'm so close to being done with it (minus the Demon Shaft which is a bonus dungeon) and I've finally gotten my weapon leveled up. Speaking of dungeons, Ronnie and I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons as a pair recently. It's quite fun actually and there's a lot more to do and more leveling up, given that there are only two of us getting all of the XP.

On the topic of nerdy stuff, I've gotten back into the sci-fi genre recently. My family and I have been renting the series Taken from Netflix and it is a pretty good mini-series. Right now we're watching the Outer Limits and although it's ridiculous, it's still not that bad for sci-fi. I'm really anxious to see if those old Tales from the Crypt episodes are any good. As a kid they scared me, but not that I'm older they may be lame.

Well, that's it for tonight. Only three more days of work and thus three more days until Ronnie's 21st birthday! I think I'll give him a call.

I'm here!

So it's been about 17 days since I last posted. Oops. My priorities changed once I began playing Dark Cloud again. It was only $5.99 at Gamestop in the clearance bin, making it impossible to pass up. I've gotten through a bunch of it already, and my current goal within the game is leveling up my weapon...which is taking forever. What a boring process to talk about - I'll stop.

There is something I must sound off about that is driving me crazy. I can't stand one of the Today Show hosts. Who, you might ask? Well, who is the only one that is annoying and often inappropriate? Kathie Lee Gifford, of course. I'm so sick of her making fun of whoever comes on. Sometimes people watch the Today Show because it is chock full of news and interesting segments. Nobody wants to see a host who can't stop asking inappropriate questions to guests so much that information isn't even given in a segment. See this youtube video showing Kathie Lee talking to moms who blog. Right around six minutes in, Kathie admits her fear of computers and Hoda gives the crew a look that's priceless. She justs makes herself look stupid. On a typical day her voice is hard to stand and her words make her look like an airhead - here's a video of her getting completely off topic and being typical Kathie Lee. She kind of reminds me of Kathy Griffin, an equally annoying woman. I really can't stand her either. I dislike her comedy and her voice, in particular. I'd like to move on now since I really can't stand either woman.

Here are some random things I've become interested in, in case anyone was curious:

• Dark Cloud (PS2)
• Paint colors
• Furniture for my apartment
• Planning a cute outing for my parents and I
• Making homemade fries
• Rexlace (see picture)
• Archaeological Field Schools

Football Tickets: So, I still have no idea if I got football tickets or not. I have to call the athletic dept. before I go to work. I'm worried because I didn't get an email either way. To be honest, I'll probably end up selling a bunch of them if I get tickets. But I'd still like to have them. We'll see...

An amazing secret: So, working at Parks and Rec, I found out from Karie that a guy at work bought an engagement ring for his girlfriend. What does this mean for me? Not too much, except that his girlfriend (soon-to-be-fiancee) is from the group I hung out with in high school. I'd put their names up here but I'm not that cruel. I don't know much about him lately, but she transferred to school here recently. I know she'll say yes, but I'm wondering if I'll be invited to the wedding given that I haven't communicated with her at all since high school. I'm also wondering if Katie will be invited since they had a falling out. Who knows?

My mom did something really cute yesterday. I asked her to grab me something to eat before she picked me up from Tot Lot to take me to Deerfield. So what did she do? She showed up with a mug full of cold Pepsi and a shoebox.
Inside the box were chicken nuggets, fries, a salt shaker, and napkins! She said, "I didn't have money for fast food or anything so I made you a box lunch!" How cute is that?? I love her :) She's wonderful.

Well that's all for now. I DO have to work at 11:30...

P.S. I watched a special on Tourettes and there's no need to fear: my infrequent meows are not characteristic of Tourettes in any way :) You guys are silly.