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Sunday, July 3rd, 2005
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7:49 pm - Home for the holiday
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Camp went well at the end of the week, which was very good. Patriotic day was a hit, and the kids were too cute in their costumes. Of course there was a child there until 6 because I was trying to get out of town on Friday, but that's alright. After camp I dropped off my ICON stuff to Rachel and then went to pick up Rach and we headed out of town. It's always great to have someone ride with you cause it makes the trip go much faster. AND I didn't get a ticket, hopefully that will go for the way home too. We got back around 10:30 ish; I dropped her off with her mother and then headed home.
Saturday morning I was suppose to go get my hair trimmed so maybe it would grow the last couple of inches I needed it to for locks of love. BUT my hair has been driving me nuts cause it's so long and it's soo hot at work...so I got it all chopped off. Now I've been told it looks good and makes me look older, but I still feel it looks slightly boyish. I guess older boy is a better look than 8 year old boy, though, and it will grow out pretty quickly.
After I got my hair chopped off, we picked up Heather and headed to the bay. It was a GREAT day! There was TONS of food, as always. We had gumbo, ribs, chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and like six different deserts. The jet ski was fun as usual, we also went tubing and shrimping. Anthony tumbled down the stairs and got a nice scrape on his arm, but he doesn't need a tetanus shot thank goodness. I also took a nap in the hammock, and then we shot some fireworks on the pier. Let me just tell you, it is extremely relaxing down at the bay. I sat on the swing watching the water and then laid on the pier to watch the fireworks...good times.
Today I took the kids to my church and got to see a lot of folks I haven't seen in a while. Then we came home for lunch. I started working on the windows I want to put in the living room, and actually had enough energy to go run. Ashley ran part of the way with me, then we took a break and I ran with her while she rode her bike. Of course I had to go with Anthony too, so I got a decent amount of exercise today, yay for that. Tonight I'm going over to the newly weds with Heather to watch a movie and shoot some fireworks. For now I'm eating (of course, that's what I do while I'm home).
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| Wednesday, June 29th, 2005
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8:42 am - Snooze
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I was going to get up around 7 this morning since I don't have to be at work until 10. That would give me plenty of time to workout and study, but let me just tell you, freshly shaved legs enjoy sheets. Just so you know...I must have hit my snooze button 10 times this morning. I still really don't want to get out of bed, but I've got to get ready for work now. Okay that's all, enjoy a short update while you can.
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| Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
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10:16 pm - ice cream is great
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So Rach helped me put the stuff back on my bed last night, and I actually got to sleep on sheets, Yay for that! The fleas are still here but Jennifer and I are trying to suck them all up in the vacuum as best we can. Apparently, though, the brush isn't turning anymore in the vacuum...it could have something to do with the sock that SLW sucked up when she was trying to vacuum on Saturday. I was told smoke started coming out of the thing due to the sock and JHD had to come to the rescue, I am really glad he's around to help her with her events.
We're working on learning the books of the Bible at work, and I've got three kids that pretty much have them down so that's good. hopefully tomorrow they will be more attentive and some more of them will be able to get all of the new testament memorized. I just really felt the need to pop a couple of 'em today to get them to pay attention...but I didn't. I did take some pool time away from some of them though, and I think that's almost as bad to a 6 year old. I couldn't go in the pool today because of the small hole in the side of my foot, it was sad, but I did get some reading done. I've got to start studying more, or I may end up actually having to be an engineer (wouldn't be awful, but it's not the plan). There was some drama at the pool today though. First, it thundered and all the kids had to get out because you have to wait 30 minutes from the last hearing of thunder before anyone can be in the pool, according to the Bower's life guards. Now my pawpaw always told us we were already wet and as long as we didn't see any lightning swimming in the rain wasn't going to hurt us...oh well, apparently the life guards don't feel the same way. The kids were able to get back in eventually (it never rained and no lightning was seen). One of the kids managed to trip while trying to catch a ball and cut the top of his foot, and since the first aid kit was in the van I took him to the lifeguard office to get fixed up. The head lifeguard is a bigger woman who never really seems nice...and basically...she's not. I took this kid in there (he's like 8) and I had already asked him if he had been running, he, of course said no. When we get in the office, though, she asks him like 4 times if he'd been running, then asks me if we're with a day camp, are we the ones in the purple shirts, and are we leaving at 3. All of the questions came with a tone I thought was unnecessary, but I ignored it. She was out of band aids, so she was just going to wrap his foot in gauss and tape it. Well, I was mid lean of leaning over to help him wipe the blood off his foot and put the bandages on when she snaps at me that I don't need to help him, he should do it. Then kid is 8, and I'm paid to make sure he's alright...yeah I can help him. Anyway, she gloved up and put the stuff on his foot herself and I went back outside with him. Another big woman also came made an impression on us all today...she was VERY large and had on a white shirt and pants...and nothing under either of them. When I turned around from making sure when child had found her shoes, BAM there she was in all her glory. I mean, WHY?! Why wear all white and go commando into a pool, I'm sure the kids are now scarred for life.
Back at camp I fixed up my badage and the kid that had gottebandagn hurt at the pool. The head lifeguard hadn't felt the need to clean his bloody foot, so I washed it off and rewrapped it. It was a pretty decent gash on his foot, of course the lifeguard felt otherwise because she decided all of the blood meant nothing and ofre wrappe course a bad cut wouldn't bleed like that...whatever.
Tomorrow Robert is making lasagna, so I made an eclair tonight. It looks good, but the chocolate is a little differnent than normal.different The topping is always the variable when making the eclair because you just put random amounts of sugar and milk in it, but eh. Hopefully it will still taste good. I also had ice cream from cold stone tonight...it was very good. Sadly I couldn't finish it all, so it is residing in my freezer, I know it's not the same after being frozen again, but I just couldn't throw it out. Oh and I vacuumed again tonight; I hate vacuuming and our house is way too big when I'm doing it. But anything to get rid of the fleas.
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| Monday, June 27th, 2005
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9:52 pm - Chillin'
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I fell asleep fairly early last night thanks to some Nyquil, but then woke up around 1:30am for some reason. Then a random Mobile number called my at 2ish...I didn't answer because I didn't know the number, but it was a house number from around the Semmes/Wilmer area, so I googled it. I wanted to make sure it wasn't someone I knew and just didn't have their number in my phone; it wasn't, I have never heard of the people that called me. It crossed my mind to call them when I woke up at 6:30 to see what they wanted, but I didn't because I still felt like crap when I woke up, but oh well.
Today at work was fairly uneventful. We worked on the books of the Bible in Bible study, and really I'm not quite sure why some of these kids don't know them yet. Anyway, that took a good while and then after Bible study the kids played for a little and then we had lunch. I had leftover steak, Yay for that, but it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been because my throat was absolutely killing me. After lunch we played some ultimate Frisbee, my team won the first game (I still need to get a Frisbee and practice throwing the other way). The second game was almost over when Robert went for the Frisbee and jumped on top of a table. He continued his motion off the other side of the table and into a lot of chairs, then the floor. Rachel and I were standing on the other side of the end zone and we laughed. It wasn't too funny though when he didn't get up. Apparently he had just had surgery on his knee before camp started and thought he heard something tear when he hit the ground...sad day. Caleb drove him to the ER and last I heard from him he was still waiting there; I hope it went well, but he seemed to be in a lot of pain before he left.
Rachel and I closed and then I headed to the doctor to try and remedy the crappy feeling I've had lately. When I went back the Dr. (who looked younger than me, which is bad considering I have gotten a kids menu at a restaurant in the last few years) took a look at my throat. Right off the bat she said it was strep, without even having to swab because it was "picture perfect strep" , well at least I got good strep and not just mediocre strep. She also looked at the cut on my foot and said it needed to be "cored" out to make sure there was no dirt or anything left in there...GREAT. I was also informed I did need a tetanus shot. SO, I got a tetanus shot (it wasn't awful but wasn't great either) then they moved me to another room to prep me for coring out my healing wound. I got two shots in the wound to numb it...and...dang they hurt, but at least I couldn't feel what she was doing down there after the shots cause when I finally looked up it was bleeding profusely. Of course she didn't find anything in it, but eh you never know. I wen to Rite Aid and got my prescription filled and used the demo back massager chair. The massager was really pretty good, I could use a real one though and one more centered around my neck than my back, but eh.
Now Rachel and I are just hanging out and having a few drinks while watching some TV. My foot is still bleeding me, which is not good. I will probably have to duct tape a zip lock to my foot tomorrow for the pool, so that will be fun. I think Rach is going to help me move my mattress in a few so I can put my bed skirt and stuff back on my bed...I am really tired of sleeping on just a mattress. The fleas are still here, but not as bad as they have been; I don't know that they are dying off like they should be either though. I guess that's all for now.
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| Sunday, June 26th, 2005
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8:14 pm - The clown in It is freakin' scary.
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Friday was a pretty good day at work...any pay day is a good day. We didn't do a whole lot because there was a moonwalk so the kids pretty much just played that or kick pen all day. Robert rented a snow cone machine too, but the flavors that came with it at first tasted like feet. Only one of them (blue) was even close to decent, the other ones were just totally GROSS. I got to run the snow cone machine, and that was fun. Only a few ice wars broke out, but sadly I got some purple on my lovely blue shirt. I do love that shirt but, hopefully it will come out. I did try and start a new fashion style at work by tying my shirt half up to keep anymore of the syrup on the counter from getting on my shirt. There was no real scandal though because I had on a wife beater underneath, so I wasn't showing anything inappropriate for the children. Even though, we did have an 11 year old there with her bra straps hanging out, so I probably would have fit right in if I'd tied both my wife beater and my shirt up. Friday night I had steak, which was great...as steak always is. I had been craving it for a while though, so it really hit the spot and I have enough left overs for lunch on Monday.
Yesterday, I woke up with a stiff neck, and feeling like crap. I went ahead and did my ab video though, and went to the pool for a couple of hours. The sprinkles came on while I was laying out and sprayed me, but it didn't feel too bad considering I was frying anyway. After the pool I went and got some new fish with Rachel and they are all still alive (maybe they will stay that way). I also watched It on USA yesterday. The movie scared me to death as a kid, but it wasn't so bad. It was pretty corny actually, but that clown is still freakin' scary.
I woke up feeling horrible today too, but started feeling better after taking a lot of medication. So I went out to Rach's and we finished up her dresser, which looks very good. Then I came back and pulled weeds out of my flower bed and moved an elephant ear plant from one flower to another since it had taken over the one it was in. Most of my waving petunias are fried (sad day) because I have neglected them while trying to fix the flea problem. Hopefully at least some of them will come back and I can get Steven to come cut the grass sometime this week, so my yard will look decent again.
I may try to go to the doctor tomorrow after work to get an update on my tetanus shot and make sure that's not what is wrong with me. We'll see though, maybe I will wake up feeling much better in the morning.
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| Thursday, June 23rd, 2005
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10:29 pm - Maybe two will do the trick
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Let me just say...I love camp. One of the guy counselors today said, what other job can you get paid to go down a water slide and peg kids with balls. It's a great job, crappy pay, but so much fun. The kids are freakin' hilarious even if they're being pains. Yesterday we went to Botanical gardens, I don't remember going before, but knowing my parents I'm sure I went when I was little at some point. It was a fun trip, I got to read all the way there and back. The van ride though...there's just nothing like riding in a van with a bunch of kids. I honestly think my driver and the other drivers talking on the walkie talkies were worse than the kids though. For one thing my driver kept hollarin' at the kids to fasten their seatbelt properly, and that they shouldn't be able to turn around or put their feet on the chair in front of them if they were fastened properly. Now I personally, was turning around to make sure the kids weren't killing each other, and I had my feet on the dash in front of me...but my seatbelt was on properly. Needless to say, that was very annoying. I felt bad for G though cause he was sitting in the back with the kids and had to keep telling them to put their seatbelt on, even though they were already on...oh well.
Nothing major happened at the gardens, we did a scavenger hunt with the kids and ate lunch on the grounds. Mrs. P picked up some cut flowers that the grounds people had dropped and gave them to SJ (see previous posts). Then when the director came up SJ handed him to him and said, here I picked these so we could get along better. It was very funny. Robert was about to flip out until Phil finally realized tech flowers hadn't been picked because they were cut nicely at an angle...it was funny.
Today was a water day, and it went well. The kids got to play with water balloons, water balls, and a water slide. I got pegged several times by the kids, and took a few out myself. I do need to work on my aim though, I seem to be able to hit them from far away, but not when I'm standing right next to them. I think it's because I don't really want to hurt the kids...so I should probably work on that. There is always one bad thing about water days though, sunscreen. We have to put sunscreen on the kids and it is so gross. Now some of them have good sunscreen that isn't all oily, but then there are those with the runny stuff....yuck. I also feel a little like I'm molesting the kids when putting the sunscreen on them, especially the one kid who has bigger boobs than I do...and I'm pretty sure he hasn't hit puberty yet either. Now granted it's not that hard to be bigger than me, but geez...it's bad.
We had freshly baked cookies and milk for snack and then played a little basketball before free play. I tried to study during free play, but that didn't go too well.
Tonight I had the running itch, so I decided to run down to the bank and deposit my pay check and bill checks from the roomies. So I put my card, checks, deposit slip, and a pen in a zip lock baggie, tucked it under my radio and off I went. I made it down to the bank, made my deposits and got out a little cash. I had to walk for a bit after that to rewarm up my legs from stopping at the ATM, but after that I ran to the quad did a half a lap and stopped at the steps of Gorgas. I wanted to do some bleachers there, but there were too many people sitting on the steps so I watched some people play ultimate for a little bit...I really have to learn to throw the Frisbee other than the normal way, it would help my game a ton. I have decided one thing, we need water fountains outside. The library was probably open but I didn't feel like looking, and honestly I was just nasty in my sweat soaked wife beater. It would be so awesome though if there were water fountains placed sporadically outside around campus. I think the university should work on that. Anyway, then I walked most of the way back and did my ab video before reading some MCAT stuff.
In flea news, Cook's came to spray at 3 today. I'm still getting bitten but not as bad, so hopefully the second spray will do the trick.
Oh! Mom called me tonight, and apparently while she was watering the flowers a wasp or hornet of some sort stung her in the lip...several times. She said the little sucker was hanging on tight, and now she looks like someone with a cleft lip. I hated to, but I had to laugh. I did make sure she didn't want me to call throughout the night to check on her, but she's fine...just temporarily deformed. I don't know what it is but if there is a bee or something anywhere close they will either get my mom or me...it's a curse, but oh well, at least we're not allergic.
I guess that's all for now, sorry the last few posts have been so long.
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| Sunday, June 19th, 2005
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7:09 pm - Are there sharks in this water?
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I went home this weekend for fathers day, and got to meet "the family". My dad found out he had a half sister sometime last semester, and she and her family were down to see him this weekend. Like I've said before we're a small family. Dad's dad died before I was born, his mom in September; mom's dad died when I was 8, her mom when I was 10, and her brother the summer before my freshman year of high school. My uncle only married for a little while and never had children, and dad thought he was an only child until this year...so basically it's just been us and the kids for a while. This weekend it was us and 16 other folks. Lola (dad's half sister) has two daughter and a son, they all came with their spouses and their children to total 16. It was EXTREMELY WEIRD. They were calling daddy uncle Chris and running around everywhere on the pier...it was like the twilight zone and an alternate reality. Pepper (one of dad's good friends) did come by for a while which was good since I actually know him.
I understand that it had to be hard for Lola not knowing who her parents were, but I think this is all hurting daddy too. This morning, after church, he was telling me that every time he sees her it just kills him to think about what granny had to go through and why she never told. He doesn't know if it's because she was so ashamed for giving up the baby or that she had her when she wasn't married or if she didn't want daddy to know that Papaw Bill made her give the baby up before he'd marry her. I hate seeing daddy go through this especially since granny is gone now and he will never know.
Lola's family was nice, but I (being the trusting person I am) just don't think all of them coming at once to see daddy and have ea vacation at his expense was the best idea. The bay house is dad's domain and all of his fishing stuff, he doesn't like it when we come down there for long periods of time let alone 16 people he doesn't know that don't know about fishing and being on the pier. The kids were also a little wild, and there was one 3 year-old who wasn't really watched as a 3 year-old should be. Anyway, it was a very odd weekend.
I was the jet ski chauffeur, which is difficult because...well I don't know these kids. I know Ashley and Anthony and what they can take out there. Things went well though I think , the 3 year-old did tell me he could drive himself and it took me a while to convince him he couldn't and get him off the jet ski. The rest of the kids did well, and things went fine until my last trip out. The tide had gone out and it was going to be the last ride because the jet ski doesn't like to suck up mud...it likes water, go figure. I had been taking the kids down from us a couple of miles to give them a good ride and scare the pelicans along the way. We'd chase them once we made the pelicans fly off the pylons they like to sit on and then I'd do some turns, blah, blah, blah. Well in mid circle on the last ride...nothing...the thing just went dead. I had a 10 year old girl with me at this point, and the first words out of her mouth were I'm scared, what happened, why isn't it working? Now all I know is the thing probably sucked up some mud or something else, but it didn't really matter cause no matter what I did it wouldn't start. SO, I told her not to worry I could just walk us back since it was low tide. I hopped off and started walking in waist deep water pulling the jet ski with this kid along. Next question, Are there sharks in this water? No, honey, there aren't sharks out here, it'll be fine. As those words leave my mouth, I am thinking dear Lord please don't let an alligator come out of that tall grass. Dad used to have a alligator sit and watch him while he checked the gill net and we've soon several down there. Around that time I also stepped on a log which made a nice gash in the side of my foot, so I was bleeding in this murky water while pulling a ten year old two miles...Great!
Considering there were 20ish people on the pier I just knew someone would see us and notice...well she's pulling out there something must be wrong. Nope, I must have walked a good mile or so before I finally saw the boat going into the water. I had some good bonding with my passenger and she stayed calm so that was very good. Daddy couldn't really come to the rescue quickly because it was low tide and he couldn't get sand in the motor. Once he did get there though I had walked most of the way, but we got the jet ski tied to the boat and towed it in. My passenger had a good adventure, I got a good work out and dad and I got the jet ski out of the water.
I also got some good time in with the kids, Ashley rode with me on most of my jet ski trips since she can just hold onto the back and doesn't have to sit in front of me like Anthony. I also helped her kayack, and of course Anthony and I played a little game boy this weekend too.
On the way home I got ANOTHER speeding ticket. That's two in two weeks, and it sucks. Oh well, maybe I'll learn my lesson soon enough...otherwise I'm going to go broke. My parents are cool about it though, they can't really complain to much considering Michael has totaled...3ish cars, wrecked more than that, gotten numerous tickets and suspensions and had stolen and totaled his first car by the time he was 14. Still, I don't need to try and catch up to him that's for sure.
Right now, I'm avoiding reading physics. I've read one chapter, and half of the next so once I finish this one I'll be good for the night. I have enough left overs to last me the week...I do love my parents. I thought maybe I wouldn't have anything to bring back up since there were 16 folks down this weekend. Mom had made me tacos, a tub of banana pudding, brownies, a hummingbird cake, and another cake with amazing caramel icing (she looks out for me). Dad also made enough so I got left overs from the mac and cheese, baked beans. He also pulled out frozen gumbo, shrimp and grouper fillets. Basically, my family loves to feed me, so that's fine by me.
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| Friday, June 17th, 2005
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6:51 pm - Still getting bitten
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Camp was fun today, as usual. We started off playing kickball (kick pen if you're from Northport) and that was fun for a while. Then the kids played capture the flag, which is pretty much the most boring game in the world. I did get to read some kinematics while they played though, so that was good. The fire truck came out and hosed the kids off for water day. I also got soaked and tackled into the little pool at the bottom of our blow up slide...it was fun. We played some peg the kids after that (dodge ball) that is always great...throwing balls at the kids, and not getting in trouble for it. Anyway, the rest of the day went smoothly. Nothing major happened, I put a few kids in the office, but other than that no major problems today.
I'm going home in the morning for father's day AND I will apparently be meeting my long lost aunt and tons of other folks. Her daughters (I think there are two) and maybe their husbands, and like 5 grandchildren are coming. Now since granny died in September the family has pretty much been me, the parentals and the kids . Michael too, i guess but he's not really around, so eh. Anyway, I don't know about all this having a big family thing. I've never had a big family before and apparently these folks are chatty, so who knows how it will go. I'm sure there will be lots of food though, and I haven't seen the kids in a while so that's always good.
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| Thursday, June 16th, 2005
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5:55 pm - so much for doing nothing for the rest of the summer
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So I got more score for the MCAT...and basically it sucks. I got a 26, 9 in Bio, 9 in Verbal, and 8 in Physical Sciences. Now on Kaplan I had been getting 9, 11, and 8 so if everything had just gone as planned I would have my 28 and not be worried. But nothing ever goes as planned so now I have 2 months and 4 days to get ready to take the damn test again. The test isn't that bad, yes it's eight hours, but honestly it didn't bother me taking it last time and it won't this time. The score however will have to go up. If not...maybe chemE is my calling, or physical therapy, or something along those lines. I could just find a rich guy and not work for the rest of my life...but honestly, I think the kids at camp get more action than I do, so I don't really see that happening either.
Anyway, my mother has apparently been extremely worried because she took my statement of well I have to go to work cause that's all I can do, to mean I think I'll be a day care worker for the rest of my life because I sucked at the MCAT. No, that's not what I meant, I meant I had to go to work...and there's nothing I can do about my score now, except spend another 200.00 to take the thing again.
Oh well, life goes on, it may suck for a while...but it goes on.
As far as summer lab goes I got an A, yay for that. Camp is going well. We have blossoming romances between the campers. One kid in my group loves to try and kiss girls all the time (we'll call him LK for little kisser). He got in trouble for it Monday. Then Tuesday he came up and was like, Ms. Laura, Ms. Laura, I have a blush on ... but I'm not going to try to kiss her, I just have a blush on her. They are now sitting with their arms around each other , it's cute...but like I said the kids are getting more action than I am, so I'm going to have to work on the sugar daddy plan.
Let's see...other camp stories...while playing ultimate yesterday one of our kids picked up the Frisbee but it was the other teams. Anna, Robert (the director) and I were all telling him to put it down. I was behind Robert and after about the fourth time of hollarin' put it down SJ he pulled back and let if fly as hard as he could. I got, it's going to hit him in the face out but didn't quite make it in from of Robert to stop it before, WHAM! He got him right in the mouth. His lip was bleeding and it actually chipped a tooth. It was awful...but funny. Robert was like I told him to give it to me...I said, well, you know, he did. He laughed, but still he was not happy and SJ's dad was there shortly to get him.
There have been so many stories, I'll try to post more often so you can hear about the lovely children. I do love camp though, I get to be a kid again. We played with Play dough yesterday, which is just the best thing, and I get to try and get some of my athleticism back by playing basketball, Frisbee, and football everyday. Oh, one of the kids from last year was there the other day (my first time to see him because I missed the first 3 weeks for lab). He said, Ms. Laura do you remember me...yes, D I do. So Ms. Laura do you remember when you scratched me last year? Kids remember the best things...I accidently scratched him while we were playing basketball last year, and apparently it made an impression.
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| Tuesday, June 14th, 2005
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8:06 pm - I hate bugs
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So, fleas suck. Basically it is disgusting sitting in my room being devoured by fleas. The pest people came today at ten to fix the problem, BUT I'm still getting eatin alive. I odn't know how long it takes for this stuff to sink in and get rid of them all, but it better start soon. It is now 8, so it has been 10 hours since they sprayed...I don't see as many but I'm still getting bitten constantly. Blah, I hate bugs. I vacuumed my mattress, and am trying to hide out up by laying on it, but I've already had some up here and one bit me on the arm a few minutes after vacuuming. Hopefully the fleas will be gone SOON!
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| Sunday, June 12th, 2005
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12:55 pm - Third Time's a Charm
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Well, lab is over...YAY! It really wasn't that bad, I only had one stressfull week, and honestly it wasn't all that bad either. The stress came in when I had one day to analyze the data we took for the distillation column. Other groups had several days if not a week to go over their data, but oh well. I worked until 11 pm on Tuesday night, then slept 'till 2, got up did some work here and went in to class at 3am. I stayed in 162 Bevill until 3 pm, so I was in a chemE building for 12 hours straight...that was not fun. Other than that things went well. My group was great, and we actually had a good time this summer. Apparently the whole hell on earth wasn't meant to happen this summer. Granted I don't have my grade back yet, but we'll see how that turns out next week. MCAT scores will be back on Thursday according the the amcas website.
We did get to give each other peer evaluations and apparently I was the meanest person in my group because I gave Maria a 5 out of 100. Now, Dr. A had prefaced giving out the evaluations with, if you actually want to make a difference you have to give the person a 0. I couldn't bring myself to give her a 0 because she did actually show up sometimes, so I went with a 5. Apparently the boys gave her a 25, and a 50. Oh well, she really got on my last nerve and that's the only way I could let my professors know that. I gave everyone else a 100 though because my group was pretty awesome.
Friday we had out final, and the cookout and some other celebration which will be posted later, so log in to see it.
In other news...we have fleas in the house. They really enjoy eating me alive, and it's just disgusting. Cooks is coming on Tuesday, so I have to have everything up off the floor and put away by then. This shouldn't be too hard, but for some reason I'm just not in a cleaning mood...so I'm procrastinating by posting, but eh.
Saturday morning was extremely sad. It started off well despite the rain because I had breakfast from Hardees, which was very good. I then proceeded to drive home, and I made every light coming down 8th street...yes you should be impressed, it's a great feat. As I was coming down the rode I passed a police car about two houses up from mine. Well, this police man decided I was going too fast on our little road in the rain, so he proceeded to follow me to my driveway. He gave me a nice little speech about how I could hit someone and it is raining...blah, blah, blah. Yes, I was speeding. Yes, it was raining, but come on...I'm in my driveway...I'm not going anywhere now. Oh well, I got a ticket, but not reckless endangerment like he could have given me since it was raining. I guess since it was my third time being pulled over it's about time I actually got a ticket, but still it put a slight damper on my Saturday. The parents weren't upset, dad said I should have cried...I just couldn't do it...I was too mad and the guy was just getting on my nerves. I honestly think he thought I just pulled in there to try and avoid him because he waited at the end of the driveway until I pulled under the shed and actually got out of my car to go into the house. SO, my first pay check will go to that, but at least I start work tomorrow so I will have a pay check.
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| Sunday, June 5th, 2005
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10:50 am - my body will hate me in the morning
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So Jennifer, my roommate typically makes me feel sloth like because she gets so much done. She will wake up early do homework, go running, etc. Yesterday Pete made me feel sloth like because he ran to campus (almost) from his house took a break and then ran back home. SO today I decided not to be a sloth and I got up around 8, made it to early service came home changed clothes and went running. Doing this made me come to the realization that this is the worst shape I have ever been in...if you can even call it being in any kind of shape at all. I did actually make it to the quad and made a lap around before I felt like I was going to die. So I walked a lap, then did some "bleachers" on the steps of Gorgas before walking most of the way home. Hopefully tonight I will also do my slim in 6 video and keep up with it. The plan, though, is to wake up and run everyday now...hopefully I will actually be able to run a mile and get up to about 2 or 3 before the summer is over. Since I am have decided to actually get in shape, I figure a tan shape will look better than a white one, so I'm also going to the pool today; probably very soon, and maybe the sun will come out for me.
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| Saturday, June 4th, 2005
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9:56 am - No MCAT News
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Okay so apparently I really wanted something to happen the weekend of June 5th. First I tell Robert that I can start work on the 6th because lab ends this weekend...umm, no lab ends next weekend so I had to fix that. Then I get it in my head that my scores will be back today...again, no. Actually they'll be up the 15th I think, that's 60 days from my test date. So maybe something interesting will happen at some point this weekend since my subconscience really thinks it's an important weekend.
In other news, Michael is not getting paroled. His job plans did not meet the parole boards needs, so Bo (my brother's wife's mother's live-in boyfriend and ex-husband) did not follow up with them about letting Michael work for him. So Michael will be there until which will put him in for basically two year and then I think he'll have a parole officer to check in with for another year or so. Tomorrow is a visitation day, but I don't think I'll make it cause I've got some lab stuff to do. We'll see though.
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| Friday, June 3rd, 2005
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4:47 pm - My Dad is awesome
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Yesterday was probably my most stressful day of lab. We had individual heat transfer papers and a group presentation for it at one. I had procrastinated, of course, so all I had ready was my data and graphs for my HT paper. I figured I would have plenty of time to write it if I got up early yesterday...well I did get up, but I didn't start on my paper. I got to lab around 6:45, finished my last distillation paper and then started messing with my heat data again. I was just starting to get on a roll writing when Dr. April came in and told us we had to change rooms because the incoming freshman were coming in for advising. Now the room we're in is the only computer lab with decent computers...not that I care because...well, I have a laptop and it has been GREAT for this lab. Anyway, moving was the problem, and it took me a little while to get back into a writing mood. I did finally finish my paper at 12ish, and had it ready to turn in at 1.
The presentation didn't go very well, but it was alright. He did mention something that no one had really considered and said if we didn't have it in our papers to just turn them in today...so the stress in the morning was for nothing, but eh.
We didn't get to eat until after our presentation so it was around 1:30. Mellow mushroom was our lunch choice, but we had to hurry because we had meetings at 3 and 4. I went with Justin, Tommy, and Tyler and we each ate a small pizza...it was great. Sadly, we had to go back to lab and meet with Dr. Arnold. It was our last Distillation meeting and he only gave us a 95 on our proposal, which pissed me off. The only thing he had marked off for was our hand calculation. It was suppose to be a ratio...yes I know that because that's how I did it the first two times we turned in the paper. Then HE told me to do it another way, and counted off for it...I was not happy, but oh well. Our evaporator meeting was next and it went well until Dr A decided not to listen to me. He asked a question about pressure drop and how it relates to velocity...well it varies directly with V^2, which is what I said. Five minutes after a lot of silence and Dr. A probing us for the right answer, Justin says, it's V^2. Yes, that's right...I KNOW that's why I said it five minutes ago...*sigh*. I was not happy when I left lab.
BUT my dad, being the awesome dad that he is must have known yesterday would be bad. When I got home he had mailed me a recipe for peach cobbler and 20 dollars, with a note saying he hoped everything was going well, blah, blah, blah typical gushy dad stuff. It was great. He really does well sometimes, and this was one of those times.
Today also started off stressfull because in my rage at Dr. A yesterday I told Justin he could get hammered before the distillation run...and he did. Around 8:30 this morning THREE of my FIVE lab members were there. Justin and Tommy were no where to be found and lab starts at 8. With my OCD professor I didn't think it would be good for him to show up and us not all be there and ready...but he did. We said Justin was printing stuff out and Tommy was on his way. Now, I had called Justin and he sound...like he had gotten hammered, and Tommy wasn't answering his phone They did show up closer to 9 if not after, and I don't think Dr. A was too mad, but still. He wasn't happy...I wasn't either, but Justin and Tommy are good group members so eh.
We basically played around with the distillation column today, making it flood and weep. It was actually very cool to watch it weep cause a head of water would build up and then just all woosh to the bottom at once. Granted, if it does that Monday when we're running it with alcohol it WILL NOT be cool...but it was today. The best part about today though, is that it was the end of week four. Monday will be the last actual day in the lab. Tuesday and Wednesday we have presentations then a test on Thursday and our final on Friday followed by a cook out. Justin I think is going to have a little end of summer lab celebration out at his place after the cookout so that could be fun too. Then I get to start working at camp again...yay for money...and kids.
Oh, and I think I can check my MCAT scores online at midnight tonight...so we'll see how that goes.
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| Wednesday, June 1st, 2005
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8:08 am - It's been a while
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Okay, I'm not keeping up with this blurty too well. I wish I could blame it on being EXTREMELY busy with summer lab...but I can't. They say that summer lab is suppose to be hell on Earth, but I've got 8 days left (counting today) and so far it hasn't been that bad. My group is freakin' awesome...even though we have the annoying one. The last thing she did was show up to our meeting with Dr. Arnold drunk. It scared us all to death because she is loud regularly, but she did alright and hopefully he didn't notice. Other than that summer lab is going well. We've written proposals, played with big scientific stuff, and now we're working on presentations to explain what we did to while messing with the machinery. The only experiment we have left is the distillation column, and I'm the team leader for it. The DC is suppose to be the hardest one, but eh, we'll be alright.
Oh, since I posted last I have had my first medium steak. It was a big step for me, but I'm glad I took it. The steak was excellent, and my leftovers the next day were also very good. I actually have had a lot of steak lately, and they've all been very tasty. I do love meat.
In other news, Michael was suppose to get out on May 20th, but apparently there is some backlog in the parole department...so he's still chillin' in Union Springs. He's fairly upset that he isn't out yet, but eh, he's at their mercy right? Granted it doesn't make since that folks complain about the prisons being overcrowded, and yet they don't let people out when they're suppose to...oh well. I don't know how it's going to go when he gets out, things will definitely change. My mother has been calling me a lot more lately to check in, so I think it's really getting to her that everything is about to go to hell...again. Ashley has been wanting to have more talks with mom, and the kids at school were pretty rough on her this year, but as cruel as this may sound, she's going to have to learn to deal with it. She and her brother live with her grandparents while her other brother lives with her mom and her dad is in prison...she's gonna have a hard time at school, it inevitable. We'll see how it goes though, he may not get out until August, I'll probably try and go see him again sometime if he's doesn't get out soon.
I went to the pool on Saturday, and came home extra crispy. I did enjoy it though, I need some sun that's for sure. I haven't peeled anywhere so far, but I think my face is going to peel. Hopefully this gross weather will clear up and I can go lay out some this weekend. I need to get back to the gym too!
I guess that's all for now, even though I'm sure I've left a lot out. MAYBE I'll keep up with this a little better from now on, but I can't make any promises.
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| Monday, May 16th, 2005
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12:39 pm - Bored
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I have finished one week of summer lab. Today is the start of week two, and so far I am bored. We have finished our first three proposals, and most of the fourth. I'm pretty much done for the day until our meeting at three and then after that I should be good to head to the house. Tomorrow, our fourth proposal is due and then we actually start in the lab on Wednesday.
This weekend I did a lot of nothing. Saturday we had our first exam and 8, and I was home by 10ish. Then I sat on the swing pretty much for the rest of the day. I did a little reading, watered the flowers, cross stitched...basically I enjoyed doing nothing. Saturday night I went to the movies with Bob; we went to see Kicking and Screaming. The movie was pretty good, and it gave me something to do, so that was good.
Sunday I made it to the Baptist church...my mother has not been happy about me going to the Methodist church recently, oh well. After church I did some more reading and then got some ice cream...I love ice cream. After the ice cream I finished up my book, watched some TV and then played spades. I also talked to my mom Sunday afternoon (surprise). Apparently while she was in Anthony's room watching Ashley play Nintendo she dozed off. She had told them not to wake her up if she started snoring, which she almost always does. Anyway, Ashley got a cup of water and as soon as mom was asleep dowsed her with it. Mom was not happy, and Ashley blamed it on me. Now, yes, I do threaten to get water to pour on her when she won't wake up when I'm home, but the most I've ever done is sprinkle. I have never poured a cup of water of her head. Poor mom. I actually stayed awake past midnight for the first time in a while, so yay for that...maybe summer lab hasn't completely turned me into an old person.
This morning we took our summer lab picture...I guess they want to remember who they tortured each summer. I did get to have a lovely conversation with some of my group members this morning though. We talked about cow, and how it should be cooked. Now I have had this conversation with Pete A LOT this semester, so I thought it was very odd that I was having it again. Anyway, Justin agrees with Pete about ruining a steak by having it cooked well done. I still am not a fan of having blood on my plate, but I am working on it...I've moved to medium well. We'll see if I ever get to medium rare. Anyway, we're just kind of chillin' until our meeting. Then I hope I can get home, but I guess that's all for now.
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| Friday, May 13th, 2005
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11:25 am - More Summer Lab
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Warning: This post contains scientific stuff...read at your own risk.
Okay, so summer lab is suppose to be hell on earth, and...like I said in my last post...so far it hasn't been too awful. My group seems to be working well together except for the annoying one. Honestly I think I could strangle her. She loves to avoid doing her share of the work, and hover over you while you're doing yours. AND she tends to spit when she talks, it's gross. I'm going to have to tell her she can't stand over me while I'm working...first of all, I need my space; second, you spit when you talk and I don't want my computer to short circuit; third, you're annoying hell. We'll see how it goes though, I say when we run the evaporator we just put her in there or something.
So far our team has turned in two proposals...well three as of this morning. Dr. Clark said our mixing paper will be accepted next time we turn it in, so no penalty on that one. Dr. Arnold didn't rape our evaporator paper like we thought he would. He did give us a 73 though, other groups have been getting 70s on their first papers. He scared us to death though because we had to say what weight percent solution we want. Our requirement was a minimum of 30%. We decided to go for 40 and put that in the body of the paper and then in the procedure had at least 30 written down. Then in our meeting, he wasn't really listening to how we figured our material balances out and what we (Justin) did in ChemCAD. Then we got to our paper and he was like so you say 40 everywhere except the procedure, then it says 30. We told him it said at least 30, and he was like no, no, it just says 30. We went through this for a long time, and then he finally said, you don't understand what I'm saying do you? We all looked at each other and were like....no. You didn't happen to have an old lab report did you? We all erupted with No and explanations....he thought we cheated. Which I guess is good because that means he thought our paper was too good. We didn't cheat, and the paper did say at least 30 percent. In another place on our paper he had it crossed out and had written, NO, We did the LAST summer. So he put okay by that once we explained and he understood that we didn't cheat. I think our grade would have been much better if he hadn't been pissed cause he thought we had an old lab report. But oh well, it still wasn't too bad.
Right now we're all about to go eat, as usual and then we have a meeting at 1. Maybe I'll post more later, I'm sure I left out a lot. I hope everyone is having a more interesting summer than I am so far though.
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| Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
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3:41 pm - Waiting for the other shoe to drop
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Summer lab is going along nicely. I finished up my part of the paper this morning, and we met at 8 to make sure our idea for the first experiment would work...it will. The CSTR paper was finished by 11ish and then we had lunch at Pizza Hut. I haven't been to Pizza Hut in forever, but it was good and cheap, which is the important part. The group is working well, but we may have some problems with one of our members. Today while we were trying to decide what to do for lunch and when to meet again she said she had other stuff that she had to get done. Now we are scheduled for class M-Sat. 8-5, that doesn't leave much time for "other stuff". Anyway, when we told her to decide what time to meet because she was the only one that had "other stuff", she was like, well I just need 4 hours of daylight. WTF, I'm sorry but once things pick up...like tomorrow...there will be no extra time for 4 hours of daylight. Maybe she hasn't heard, but for the next five weeks our lives are all about some ChemE...yes I know that sucks, but that's just how it is. We'll see how it goes with her tomorrow.
After lunch James went over the evaporator with us and then we split up the parts of the paper to work on tonight. I have the easy part of this paper, it's just the letter of transmittal. SO, basically right now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once we turn our first paper in tomorrow morning we will have to redo it, and the revision in with the next paper on Thursday morning. It will all start moving pretty fast and get really stressful I'm sure, but tonight I don't have much to do except make the baffles we tested this morning and rest.
One little thing did happen today though while Tyler and I were going over the evaporator valves. I went to touch one to tell him what it does and the thing started spraying...it scared me to death. So I had to run over to the other building to find James and he came to fix it. I thought I had broken the thing, but he said something just got clogged and it just happened to be while I was explaining it...so no harm done...just a little scare. Hopefully it will be the first and last. Now I think I'm going to take a nap and then work on the baffles and maybe read...something other than ChemE.
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| Monday, May 9th, 2005
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7:06 pm - summer school sucks
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Today I had to be on campus at 8 to calibrate the GC machines for the distillation column. I know this sounds like a lot of fun, but really it's not. Despite the lack of fun that accompanies this task, doing nothing instead is even worse. NOTHING is what we did. Apparently our TAs did not know how to work the GC so we sat around and waited for our professors to come help them. At one point, we asked the TA if we could at least turn the machine on so it could warm up and he said no, we had to wait for our professor. SO, we didn't get anything done from 8-11 and had to come back at one instead of being done for the day around 11. I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose some weight this summer though because the experiments are in two separate buildings and span two floors in one, and four in the other. Our lockers are on the third floor and we have to wear jeans. SO, going back and forth between buildings and up and down the stairs in jeans in the summer in Alabama should help me drop some pounds. OH! We also have to wear hard hats and goggles while working on our experiments. Today I was making one of my many treks up the stairs in MIB, and hadn't taken my hard hat off because I got tired of taking it off and putting it back on since I have t run my ponytail through it each time...but back to the story, a man was coming down the stairs while I was going up, and looked at me and then was like, Am I in a hard hat area? No, you're not I just felt like wearing one. I guess I should take it off when I'm not actually in the lab, but eh...at least I didn't have my goggles on too.
After doing nothing, Tyler and I went to lunch to try and get some work done; I felt like such a college student sitting in the Atlanta Bread Co. with my laptop, papers, and reports out. While we were there though, it happened AGAIN. This was our second day of summer lab, and who walks in, but two of our ChemE professors. John was at McAlisters when we all went to eat Saturday, and today, John and Dr. Brazel came in while we were eating. Maybe they are stalking us, to try and remind us that we are only suppose to think about ChemE for the next five weeks...who knows.
Anyway, we went back at one and worked with the GC again. It worked this time, not well, but it worked. We finished up with that and then worked some more on our proposal for the mixing experiment that is due Wednesday morning. Tonight I have to finish up my part of the paper and make some baffles (sadly I'm kind of excited about making the baffles cause it's slightly crafty, but oh well). Right now, I'm procrastinating as usual, but I'll get around to it.
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| Sunday, May 8th, 2005
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2:52 pm - Catching Up
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Okay, it's been a really long time since I've posted so I'm not quite sure where to start. Dead week was not to bad, and I went to three of my four classes on the last day of class. I honestly can't remember when the last time I went to all of my classes was, but it doesn't matter now because classes are over. Friday of dead week was my separations professor's party and you can find details about that in another post if you sign up as my friend.
Monday I had a final at 8, so I get to class around 7:15 to review my notes and stuff...7:45 rolls around and no one is there. 7:50, still no one, so I go outside and see Tyler's car is in the parking lot but then I remember he had said something about having a final right before our 445 final. SO, no, I didn't have a final at 8, I had one at 11:30...I really should pay more attention when people are telling me things. Anyway, I went home and hung out for a little while then went back to campus to take my 445 final. It was pretty bad, the last problem had us try to design a process for high fructose corn syrup from a list of materials. Now had we done this during the semester it wouldn't have been too bad, but considering we hadn't it wasn't much fun. I did get most of it though, and ended up with a 90 on the final, but a B+ in the class. Oh well.
Tuesday I did actually have a final at 8; we had the choice of taking a final in genetics, but we had to take test number 5 regardless. I, being the slacker that I have been this semester, did not get around to studying for the final so I just took test 5. Since I couldn't replace my lowest grade in there and I didn't make the 97 I needed on test 5, I ended up with an A- in there...again, oh well.
Tuesday night I started on my psych final, which I had planned on having finished Sunday. I finished half of it Tuesday while watching TV, and did the rest Wednesday morning. I was totally done with it by 2 on Wed and turned it in early, so yes, you should be impressed. Once I turned in my psych final I was done until summer lab started on Saturday.
The rest of the week I spent just bumming around, I cleaned, and helped Rachel work on her dresser. I went to graduation on Friday night with Bob, it was good and not too boring. I think Bob almost falling down the stairs in the stadium was about the funniest thing I've seen in a while. I mean, I made it up and down in heels, but is regular shoes really gave him some issues.
Friday night I went to bed around 2:30, and woke up around 5:30 as Jim and others returned. I went back to bed around 6ish and woke up, miraculously because my alarm didn't go off, at 7:30ish. Summer lab started at 8, so LeeAnn and I headed that way. The next five weeks are going to be hell on earth, but at least it is just 5 weeks. I tried to take a nap after class on Saturday, but that didn't work too well. Anthony called because he was having some issues with a forbidden card in his Yughio game. He called from Jennifer's phone and I didn't know the number, so I didn't answer, but when I heard he needed my help I had to call him back. Meaning, I had to speak civilly to my brother's wife, this was not the highlight of my day, but I did help Anthony so that was good. After I got off the phone with him I tried to go back to sleep, but my mother called shortly there after, and then daddy called once I got off the phone with her, SO needless to say I didn't get my nap in. I did go to Logan's with Pete for dinner though, and had some cow...the best invention in the world. Then I played Taboo, which is a GREAT game, with Steven and the roomies. Jim wasn't the best at Taboo so we went back to spades, but LeeAnn and I slaughtered the boys as usual, so we only got in a few games of spades. I went to bed around 1:30ish and actually slept late this morning.
Today I called my mother to wish her a happy mother's day, since I was told not to come home, that and the card she received yesterday will have to do until the next time I go home. I have the house to myself for the day, which it EXCELLENT. I have cleaned the kitchen and organized the fridge. I also did a room raid to retrieve all of our cups from the Wilson sisters. I think I was only bitten two or three times while in Megan's room, and I successfully recovered about ten cups. I also planted some mums today which hopefully multiply and come back in the fall, but we'll see. Now I'm just sitting on the porch enjoying the day. Eventually I have to go the store, but I think I'm just going to sit out here and swing and read for a little while first.
So you should be pretty much up to date now, I'll try and be better about posting daily from now on.
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