S is for Survey

I learned something last night that was both mind-blowing and earth-shattering. I was, needless to say, blown away and shattered by this revelation. So I am putting this out there for everyone and taking a little survey about the issue. I feel like I'm not alone (I have an N of 2 on this one) in this news being just too crazy, but I'd like to check in with the people.

Survey Question 1:

Did you know that baby carrots aren't really "baby carrots" - they are just pieces cut from regular adult carrots? YOU DID NOT KNOW THAT.

Survey Question 2/3:

ISN'T THAT INSANE? ARE YOU FREAKED OUT? I learned this last night and I am still amazed by it right now.

Survey Question 4/5:

Seriously, how crazy is that? Really? C'mon, that's nuts. The carrot industry has really had me fooled all these years. The even stranger part for me is that I don't like baby carrots that much. I like regular carrots better. I think I can get away with this because it is the center of the carrot so it might have a different taste profile and also apparently the process that they use to cut down the carrots heats them up a bit, so maybe it cooks them ever so slightly. I don't know. Maybe I can just taste deceit.

Survey Question 6:

Is it ever ok to continue standing in the street blocking all lanes of traffic even when a car is coming toward you? The answer to this one is no. No, jerkwads playing football and honestly just standing in the street in a gang formation, it is not ok. I don't care that it's a football weekend. I care that I have places to be. I'm in a car. A CAR! That's like 2000 lbs. of killing action right there. AND I'm driving it. SAFETY FIRST, LOSERS!

Sayonara.

R is for Responses to Readers (Because I love the interaction)

Thanks to my two loyal readers, Haytee and Sara for the questions. I appreciate that you take the time to comment. To the rest of my readers (read: Jesse), it hurts when you don't participate. So, without further ado, the answers to your questions:

Middle Name: Alexander
Milestones: Well, this is actually going to be a sort of a shocking confession. I think that we might be here another 2 years (this year and then next year, graduating in 2010). The reason for that is there are a lot of things to do before I graduate. Technically as far as the school is concerned I need to write and defend my dissertation. I also need to have some first authored papers before applying for a job and if I applied now, I don't have any in print. If I apply next year, the plan is that I would likely have 2, so I think we will wait. It would also be way less stressful for me than if I was trying to get a job/postdoc and do my dissertation all right now. Wow, I feel like I have made a major confession. This only came about in the last 2 weeks.
Plant: Z's favorite plant is, "I love all plants, except the kind that are hard to take care of because I don't like things that think they're better than me."
Floss: I try to floss at least every other day. That being said, it's actually been awhile. But according to the dentist, I'm looking good.
Shoes: No, I've moved 5 times in the last 5 years and at some point, I stopped dragging them around with me. Although they will always have a place in my heart because I don't understand their existence.
Centerpointe: I think that my brother told me that. Strange.
Z: Yes
Dating: Sure, you can definitely tell people that. Also if I come up in conversation, you should mention the following things: successful, almost done with her Ph.D. (make it sound like I'm on my second Ph.D. if you can), had a fabulous wedding, married to an incredible guy, also if you can bring some old pictures of when I was skinnier than I was in high school and show those around as though they are recent, that'd be great.
Reunion: Well, interestingly (or not), there are in fact, two reunion options, that "just happen" to be at the same time, though "not on purpose". I love that it's been 10 years and some people haven't left high school. Anyway, the "official" reunion is:

Sat Oct 11th 2008
Hilton Garden: 11460 W Hilton Way Avondale, AZ

6-7pm Open Reception - Cash Bar & App's
7-11 Dinner & Dancing

Cost is $60

The "unofficial" bbq is:
October 11th 2008

Rio Vista Community Park
8866 W. Thunderbird Rd. - Rio Vista Boulevard
1/4 mile west of Loop 101 on Thunderbird Rd.

Start time 6pm : Park closes at 10:30pm
**We can always head somewhere after if were having a good time

Price is $20 per person

You had to be on myspace to receive word of either of those events. I maintain that is stupid. But there you go. You have to RSVP to both so if you are really going, let me know and I'll get you the contact information.

Well, I hope we've learned a lot about, um, things today. If you have more questions, I'll answer them. I'm all about serving the people.

Rose says, "ba-bye".

Q is for Questions (and Reader Participation)

Q is for questions. As in, you can write in and ask a question and I'll answer it. You don't have to have an account to ask a question, you can be anonymous. Then I'll answer them and it will be fun.

And even if it's not fun...Q is also for quick.

Quit.

P is for Pissed Off

Right now I'm wearing pants, cranky pants. VERY CRANKY PANTS. I'm working on changing my name and it's a hassle. I find that amusing because at first I thought, "man, that's gonna be a big old hassle". But then when I started the process and it seemed easy enough. I still haven't received my new social security card though. Apparently though the post office doesn't have an office name change form, they are very particular about what name appears in my mailbox. Not so particular as to not deliver mail with both my old name and new name on it, but I guess just picky enough to send my social security card back to the home office because they felt that the new name was not properly represented in the mailbox. Next to Zach's last name...which as we've been discussing is my last name too. Written on the ever so official note card. By me. Seriously? That's the solution? I wrote out the names before, I could write anything I want on there. Why are we treating the mailbox like it's some fortress? At least I hope that they just didn't deliver the social security card not. I hope it's not that someone stole it and is using it to establish a whole new awesome identity.

So I'm pissed, peeved, provoked, not happy. And I took it out on someone today. Because not only don't I have a social security card which means no driver's license, etc., but the school emailed me and told me that they won't accept my maiden name as my middle name because they don't have official documentation even though they allowed it to go through before. Well, when I called her (via her email instructions) she told me that they wouldn't accept it, blah, blah and so I did say "bye", but then I sort of slammed down the receiver abruptly and I felt bad. So I sent her this email:

"I think that I was unnecessarily abrupt when I said good bye on the phone today. I wanted to apologize. It's been frustrating trying to get my name changed and I started to take that out on you. I am very sorry. I know that there is no excuse and wanted to let you know that it won't happen again. I hope you have a very nice day otherwise."

She wrote back and thanked me for my email. I felt bad though. I always hated when people were rude to me for no reason just because I was the one answering the phone. I hope that it didn't ruin her day.

P is also for paranoid. Because, and I'm sure this will come as a newsflash, I think I might be dying. I made some apple muffins the other day and I think they went bad, not "rob a liquor store bad", but moldy bad. I was eating one for awhile before I noticed that it didn't taste right. So I might die. Apparently Zach ate one today too...so he might die too.

If I make it through the night, I'll write more tomorrow. If I make it until Monday I am going to stay home all day and watch A MURDER SHE WROTE MARATHON!!!!!! I'm so happy, 26 miles of Jessica Fletcher! Oh, I hope I make it.

Peace out.

O if for...

Out, as in "out of clever ideas". Can you believe I'm out of ideas already? Yeah, me too. I guess we'll see, it's always possible that I'll come up with something. There are a lot of words that start with O, but I'm just not feeling all that creative right now.

My partner in crime did mention today that we should "take some pictures to put up on "our" blog". So I guess O is for Our. Now I'm not allowed to have anything that's my own. I think that is in fact the small print that I signed up for, but it's like, really? 50/50 all the time, huh? Like if I buy ham salad, I'm not supposed to eat the entire thing, I'm supposed to share. But it's ham salad. Perhaps the greatest creation of all time, H-A-M-S-A-L-A-D. Oh man, I really wish I had some ham salad right now. But I digress.

I bring your "our photos" from our blog. Because they are fun and because we are awesome. Omazing...that's not really a word, but it starts with "o".

The "our" in our blog. Yeah, we're looking good today. We only do shots from the neck up so that people can't tell how fat we're getting. Married life is good.

Today we put on our N.A.S.A. tattoos. We represent thug life. Science, space exploration thug life. Martians better start stepping. Anyway, we there are our matching tattoos.

That's my muscle pose.


O is for overlapping...and overexposed (no, it's more likely underexposed, but that starts with "u").

Z likes this one because he likes my face. I can't help it, I'm a white chick, I have to throw up the tough gang signs.

O is for Oppressor. Notice the happy look on my face. Well, it's more like a drunk look, drunk on the power of oppressing.

O is for Oppressed. Yeah, he's not so smug now, is he?

This is an expressive study by Zach. See? In this picture he's pointing to Arizona and Pennsylvania.

In this picture, he's pointing to Iowa. Because that's how we feel about things.

And that's Alex, he's loading up the game for us. This is our new Obsession. Get it? It starts with "o". I am so good at this. I mean, we, we are so good at this...the royal we.

Over and out.

N is for Need

Need, need, need.

I need to start working (it's 5:18 PM) and I haven't yet.
I need to organize my office.
I need to cross things off my list of things to do.
I need some more caffeine, but won't have access for a bit.
I need to answer emails, work on my IRB approval, plan out my semester, blah, blah.
I need to get the taste of garlic out of my mouth (pesto, so good, so garlicky).


Needless to say, I need to relax. So I'm out.

M is for

M is for marraige (oh, God, it's just not going to get old any time soon). I'm a married woman now. I just like repeating it because there were some years there (let's call them my "goth" phase) in which I wasn't sure I'd ever be married. I did always want to be though. I was steadfast in that desire. I like it! It's fun. It's a lot like being not married, but now I get to say "husband" and I think there is a little more respect in the eyes of other people. Z's mom has stopped introducing him to other women. Ha, just kidding, she never tried to do that. I just thought it'd be funny to say. Plus, he never would have done better than me.

M is for memory (which Zach and I lack). We had planned to bring the camera on our outing yesterday, but that did not work out. We went on a picnic in City Park and used our new picnic basket. It was awesome! Good food, nice day. Then we played Boccie ball. It didn't end in tears, so go me! Then we went over to our old neighbors' house and ended up staying forever. It was a good day! Zach and I are just chock full o' fun lately. We played Jeopardy! too. We bought it for the playstation and it keeps us entertained.

May the wind be at your back.

L is for Love (So Sappy Edition)

I love my husband! I know that's the way it should be. I'm not reinventing the wheel here. But I am struck each day anew with this feeling. I love him. Sure, he drives me nuts, but damned if I don't keep coming back every time. I had more examples or why and what and all, but I've had a big day, my allergies are bad and I'm sleepy, so suffice it to say, he's the best.

Here's what we did today because I like the recap. No, actually I hate the recap, but Zach loves it, so I do it for him.

We woke up at 10:20 AM because the postlady rang the doorbell so that we could sign for some more pictures from our wedding. You can always go here and look at the other ones and now we have these "hard copies" which I think have associated cds, so perhaps they will exist in digital format soon too. For not having a photographer we certainly have an s-load of pictures and my motto has always been "quantity over quality". Anyway, we woke up and then we looked at pictures for a bit. Then we got up and made fajitas because nothing says "breakfast" like fajitas. Then we went to Kay Jewelers and exchanged Zach's yellow gold "loaner ring" (quotes are unnecessary, but I love them) and sent his new white gold ring to be sized. So some lucky person out there is going to one day buy a wedding ring that was blessed for marriage to me. Won't that be special?

After Kay's, which I found and parked at immediately even though you can't see it from the outside of the mall, because I AM AWESOME, this is a long sentence and it's getting confusing, let's stop it here. After Kay's we went to the used video game store. Z scored some games (Madden '03, some baseball game, Twisted Metal 3, blah blah) and we got Jeopardy! We played one game so far. Sadly, the computer won. But that guy's a jerk and we're going to take him down next time. Then we went grocery shopping because we are an exciting couple. We didn't even fight although one of us (I'm not saying which one, you can draw your own conclusions) got a little snippy at the deli counter.

Then the real fun began. We got home, unpacked and put away the groceries and began our chores. Z dusted and vacuumed, I cleaned the bathrooms, the bathroom floor upstairs and we started laundry. We had some dinner and started watching the Steelers game. Then I did a million dishes, baked another pie and some more muffins, made pesto salad and bruscetta for tomorrow's planned picnic and did a million more dishes. We finished a movie and finished and put away the laundry and Zach is apparently watching The Cosby Show while I type this.

I have to go though because he needs to check the after game information for the Steelers because he's hardcore. That's fine. I'm beat. I think that we both just have allergies and there is something horrible happening in Iowa (always, always there is something horrible happening here), but we might be sick. Oh, yeah, that's right. We might have mad cow disease or perhaps some e. coli poisoning. I don't want to talk about why that might be. Some of us in the camp say that's not going to happen, others think it will. Only time will tell. It's probably allergies though because we are pretty hardy folk. Knock on wood. Ok. I've got to go now. I'm getting "the look".

Later, gators.

K is for Knocked-Kneed (Again, Thanks, Mom!)

I have already confessed to having crazy feet (see F...for feet) and I also have knock-knees. My knee joints go toward each other. The podiatrist guy says that's just all part of the splendor of being me. Right now I have orthotics in, actually I just picked them up today, but I had a temporary pair in for the last three weeks and my knees tend to snap, crackle, pop now. I asked about that today and he said, "yeah, they're going to do that". Apparently, it's because of the realignment that is occurring. That's about all that I find amusing today. My poor feet and legs are going to start hurting more because of the orthotics. But then it should be better, so that's nice.

Today Z and I went on a really long walk. We walked around for about 2 hours. I think we covered 5-6 miles. It was fun. It was also super humid. We were basically covered in condensation*. The walk was awesome in that we talked and explored the neighborhood. We had a nice time. It's always funny to me how much Zach and I have to say to each other considering that we are rarely apart (only when forced) and seem to talk all the time. It's always nice though to go on walks and explore our surroundings and talk and laugh and one of us tends to get cranky at the end and the other one has to comfort the first one and sometimes that's fine too.

Z has off this weekend so I'll let you know what we do. I think we'll have fun.


K.I.T.


*Yeah, I now know it's not condensation, but that's a funny inside joke too. I'm just full of inside jokes lately, I bet you wish you were part of the in-crowd, huh?

J is for Jokes

Here are some awesome jokes:

"A bear walks into a bar and orders a gin...................................................and tonic. The bartender says, "Fine. But I've got to ask, what's with the big pause?" The bear says, "I don't know.............................................................I've always had them."

From Demetri Martin:

“The easiest time to add insult to injury is when you’re signing somebody’s cast.”

“Some jokes are short and elegant, like a mathematical proof or a midget in a ballgown."

“About a month ago I got a cactus. A week later, it died. I was really depressed because I was like ‘Damn! I am less nurturing than a desert.’ (Ladies, that’s not true)”

From Steven Wright:

"I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time". So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance."

" If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate."

"I'm addicted to placebos. I'd give them up, but it wouldn't make a difference."

From Mitch Hedberg:

"I was gonna get a candy bar; the button I was supposed to push was "HH", so I went to the side, I found the "H" button, I pushed it twice. Fuckin' potato chips came out, man, 'cause they had a "HH" button, for Christ's sakes! You need to let me know. I'm not familiar with the concept of "HH". I did not learn my AA-BB-CC's. God god, dammit dammit."

"Is a hippopotamus really a hippopotamus or just a really cool opotamus?"

"See, this CD is in stores. The only way I could get my last CD into a store was to take one in there and leave it. “Sir, you forgot this!” “No, I did not. That is for ‘sale’. Please alphabetize ‘it’."

"We're gonna have to sweeten some of these jokes. That’s a showbiz term for “Add sugar to”."

"I was walking by a dry cleaner at 3 a.m., and it said "Sorry, we're closed." You don't have to be sorry. It's 3 a.m., and you're a dry cleaner. It would be ridiculous for me to expect you to be open. I'm not gonna walk by at ten and say, "Hey, I walked by at three, you guys were closed. Someone owes me an apology. This jacket would be halfway done!""

"I had this parrot. The parrot talked, but it did not say "I'm hungry." So it died."

Just, goodbye for now.

I is for Team (wait, there's no I in team)

When I talk about teams, I'm talking about one very special team in my life. That's TBG (it's a private joke, sorry) and Zach and I are the only members. We're pretty awesome too, so it's a great team to belong to.

Recently, actually as recently as Monday when we went to the Kernels game, we also did some other awesome activities that I forgot to mention. So I'd like to mention them now. Because I want everyone to be really up-to-date and current on my activities. Plus, I went to work yesterday and today (not really working, but still boring) so I don't have a lot of fun stuff to report.

Z and I are trying to pack our days off with tons of fun. It's a little game we play now. On Monday we went to an apple orchard and picked our own apples. That was fun. We got a bunch of different types. The orchard seemed to have about 1 million trees and they have apples that ripen at all different times. So we're hoping to go back again and pick some more. It was good exercise too. So that was fun. Today I made Bacon-Crumble Apple Pie (mmm...bacon) and Apple Oat Muffins.

They both taste delicious. Why did I eat both? Because Zach's at work and I have nothing else to do.

We also went to the Kay Jewelers and ordered his official wedding band (in white gold like mine, not in the yellow gold of his loaner ring) and the guy was very nice. So we can cross that off the list of things to do. Then we went to the Half Price bookstore and bought some books. I got a Rachael Ray book for lower carb cooking, Z got a Tolkien book and we bought some awesome birthday cards. It's always an awesome time at the bookstore. I wish it was closer, but it's fun to go to Cedar Rapids.

So that's the real story of our fun day out. Stay tuned we have much more planned. Maybe we'll even go camping again. Then I can again regal you with tales of terror.

I'm out.

H is for Hasbro (You Bastards!)

You may or may not have heard but apparently Hasbro has decided that the old version of Clue just wasn't up to snuff...ha, snuff...I kill me. They are releasing a new version of Clue. What the heck? I'm so anti. Granted, I have not played it, but I dislike change and I refuse to believe that a game that has been the same since 1948 or so needs to be updated. Too much in this world has changed already and not really for the better. I was born too late. I should have been born 50 years soon. Oh well.

In other news, I think I might start a new hobby. Collecting versions of Clue, that might be a fun hobby. Or spelunking because that's fun to say. "My hobbies include reading, bitching about things and spelunking". It just sounds so right.

I'm sorry to phone this in again, but I'm beat. I'm not really sorry, I'm fine with it, but I just want everyone to remember how awesome I am. See other posts for evidence of awesomeness.

Hasta la vista.

G is for Game (and finally, Getting it posted)

The old ball and chain and I went to a Cedar Rapids Kernels game last night. The Kernels are a single A baseball team for the Angels. They are based oddly enough in Cedar Rapids. We took the 30 mile trip last night and watched a game. We also got the Belly Buster Monday Special. Z and I took down 2 hamburgers and 2 hot dogs each and a few chips and peanuts. Um...I also had a soft pretzel with cheese. That might explain the headache and indigestion that occurred around 4 in the morning or at least the indigestion. I never should have paid for 2 of those Belly Busters. Oh well. It was fun up until about the 6th inning when I decided I was tired and wanted to go home. I lasted until the top of the 8th, but I can't honestly say I was too nice about it. I wasn't unpleasant though, I just sat quietly. I was super tired and I had to drive home, so I was pushing for us to go. I didn't post them because it was late. And now I'm making up for it, although I'm still tired.

Anyway, this is all you get for G because we didn't bring a camera and I'm super tired, did I mention that?

Goodbye.

F is for Feet (Thanks, Mom!)

I may or may not have mentioned this to you personally, but I recently went to the podiatrist because my foot hurt. My feet always hurt. But this time the left foot hurt a lot. It was the second time that I had this problem, so I finally decided to go see someone. As much as everything thinks I'm a hypochondriac, I'm not. I don't like to go to the doctor. I'd rather not know if I'm dying, I just like worrying about it. I went to the doctor and he looked at my feet and took x-rays and watched me walk. When the x-rays were complete he put them up in the room. Well, he walked in, looked at the x-rays and said, "Wow." "Huh, wow, this kind of damage isn't the kind of damage that you can do yourself from wearing bad shoes or something, this is the kind of damage that you have to inherit." And so, thanks, mom!

The doctor said I have extra bones in my feet, which 10% of the population have, and that it's not a problem. He also said I needed orthotics ASAP. He said he usually doesn't recommend orthotics on the first visit, but my feet are bad. The bones are curved. That's because I bend my feet in (on the arch) when I walk, it's called "pronating". It's bad for your feet because over time it curves the bones, like mine, which is bad. Eventually without some sort of correction I'd need to have surgery and have them break my feet, blah, blah. It was all doom and gloom at that appointment. But I got fitted for orthotics (special leather ones because I HAVE SUCH BAD FEET, they keep reminding me) and they should be coming in soon. So that's nice. Although not nice is the fact that apparently my feet, knees, joints, calf muscles, etc. will hurt for about the next 6 months or so because I essentially have to learn how to walk.

In other news, I do have good bones apparently. I mean, strong bones. He looked at my bone density on the x-rays and was impressed. So I've got that going for me.

Oh, and perhaps the best part was when the guy who was fitting me for the orthotics was talking about how bad my feet were and how I didn't walk properly, etc. He asked if I had trouble keeping up with the other kids in gym when we were running and stuff. I said yes. He said that's because my feet are so bad. I was always under the impression that it was because I've always carried an extra 50 lbs. or something, but I'm going to go ahead and take the excuse that it's my feet. "So take that, Mr. Olsen! No, I cannot run the mile any faster. I've got a doctor's note to prove it too!"

Fin.

E is for Elation (because there is no middle ground)

As the title might imply, I got my ring back. E is for Eagle Eye Danek (and I'm actually talking about my husband here). Last night he vowed that he would get the ring back for me today, and true to his word, he did. My hero. So now I guess we don't have to get a divorce, so that's comforting. The ring was under the deck, but he spotted it and then we used a mental hanger to get it out. It was truly an impressive feat.

I'd like to tell you that it was jam packed exciting day, but it wasn't. I mean, it was. I got my ring back, I went grocery shopping, I wrote about 9000 thank you cards. So good day all around, but not all that much to report. Plus my hand is cramping, so I can't really type too much. Also, Blade: Trinity is on and although they have edited it to hell and gone, I still can't stop watching.

Tune in tomorrow for F.

End Transmission.

D is for...

D is for my new last name.

D is also for drop. As in I dropped my wedding ring down between the cracks on my deck.

D is for disaster. The deck does not belong to me and it seems impossible to see the ring.

D is for depression. How could I be so clumsy as to lose that ring?

D is for downtrodden. I love wearing my ring. I miss it already.

D is for dwelling. I can't stop thinking about my ring.

D is for damnation. I want to get that ring back, but I can't do anything now it's dark.

And D is for devoted. My husband said that our love will outlast a thousand rings and that it's all ok.

I feel naked.

Dovidjenja.

C if for Clue (or Cluedo if you are outside of North America)

Today I went to see "Clue: The Musical". If there isn't a part of you that's jealous right now, just stop reading. If you know anything about me you most likely know that I love me some Clue. In fact, this was the first board game that I ever cried over (although, sadly, not the last). Clue was the first board game that I ever received. I got it for my birthday and my Mom, Grandma and I played a game. My Grandma won. And I burst into tears. My Mom said I wasn't going to be allowed to play it again unless I stopped my poor sportsmanship. But unlike the playdough threat, she relented and I've been playing board games and crying over them for years. Thanks, Mom!

We went to the Old Creamery Theatre outside of the Amana Colonies and it was awesome! It was such a fun show. I had the best time. I won't be spoiling it for you if I tell you that it was Col. Mustard in the Lounge with the Rope. They picked out the three cards at the beginning of the show and put them in a big envelope marked "confidential" just like the game. Then Mr. Boddy gave us some clues throughout the show. It was really great. Zach's favorite character was Mrs. White. She was pretty great. Very animated, great stage presence. My favorite was Mrs. Peacock. She had a great singing voice and good delivery. It was the most fun ever! It's as though God wanted to create a show that I would love and he did. I got to solve a mystery and watch a show all in one! We also had the best seats in the house. Front row, center. Awesome. Zach commented that we were the only ones in our age group - everyone else was either over 60 or under 10, but whatever. It was so great.

We also had lunch and bought some wine, cheese and chocolate in the Amana Colonies. It was fun. On the way back from Amana we had to stop at the mall for a present and in the parking lot of the mall near the Children's Museum was a NASA semi. Zach loves space and since he was such a good sport about watching Clue, I decided to throw him a bone and let him walk around the NASA semi with the other kids. It was pretty neat. We saw a video, built a virtual space station, touched an authentic moon rock, learned that NASA plans to have a station on the moon by 2020, and got some awesome mementos. Today was filled with tons of fun. Seriously, it was so exciting. I wanted to write more, but I'm tired and worn out from enjoying the day so much, so I'll just leave you with this photo essay.

C is for cutting and judging by the fried content of the food we ate for lunch, C is also for cholesterol.

C is for chocolate covered cherry because just eating your weight in schnitzel, spaetzle, potatoes, gravy, cottage cheese and coleslaw is not enough. You should always round that out with some chocolate.

C is for corn and coffee cake. We determined that we needed these items from the bakery. C is also for charm bracelet, pictured in the bottom right corner.

C is for cask catastrophe avoidance. Good job, Zach!

C is for Clue: The Musical! It was so great!

C is for cramping, as in, my face hurts because I've been smiling so big throughout the entire show because I was having such an awesome time. Sadly, I'm not kidding, my face hurt by the end of the show.

C is for cute couple. Awww!

C is for cool collectibles. Zach went to Mars and I went to the Moon. We're just awesome people, we can't help it.

C is for caption. Create your own.

Ciao

B is for Bragging (which I'm about to do)

Certain people (Larry, I'm looking at you) have questioned my commitment to doing 26 posts in a row. I'm not saying that I have a lot of stick-to-it-iveness. Let's face it, if the going gets tough, I pretty much just get out. I don't like suffering, I don't like being uncomfortable, I'm not real fond of hard work. Hmm, I suppose this all counts as bragging, it almost makes me sound like a loser, but maybe I'm just more self-aware than you are, did you ever think of that Judgy Judgerson? Ok, wow, this post has gotten off on the wrong foot, let's just back it up a bit.

I'd like to take this opportunity to brag a bit about me. I know that's pretty much the entire purpose of a blog, but I thought I'd come right out and do it. So, here goes. Two things that happened this summer are:

1. I taught my first class in which I was the sole instructor, designer, evaluator, etc.

2. I got married.

I feel pretty good about both of these things. The first went well. I enjoyed being a teacher. I always thought that I wanted to be a teacher. My parents used to buy me grade books (not that fake ones, the official kind from an actual teaching supply company) and I would make my brother and whatever other neighborhood kids were around be my students. I loved it. I'm not sure if I was giddy with the power or what, but I do love the control, I mean, the passing on of knowledge, I love passing on knowledge. That last part is true. I enjoy teaching. The class I taught was Introduction to Cognitive Psychology, as the name implies it was a class that introduced the topic of Cognitive Psychology. We covered: neuroscience, history of Cog. Psy., perception, attention, executive control, language, memory, thinking, knowledge, and motor control. I had 15 students at the start of the class and I finished with 13. They did well and I think they learned a lot. If I ever taught the course again I know it would go even more smoothly, so that's awesome. It was a ton of work and doing it on top of getting married was tough, but I'm glad I did it. I read the written evaluations of me today and their biggest complaint was that I talk too fast. That's fine. I can deal with that. I warned them at the beginning that I tend to talk fast. I talk fast when I am excited about something or nervous and often, I was both, so there. But, I was happy it wasn't something like, "Instructor doesn't seem to know anything about what she's talking about." Yeah, so there you have it. I'm awesome at teaching. Tell everyone you know.

As to the second topic mentioned. I'm sure I'll mention this more in the future and I plan to tie everything back to me getting married for at least the next 5 years. Let me just for now say this, "I had the best wedding in the history of the world." I include in this contest everyone one of Elizabeth Taylor's weddings and all of the weddings that you may have seen on "Platinum Weddings". It was so much fun. It worked out so well. It was perfect in that things went wrong and we all overcame them. Honestly, I couldn't have imagined a better day. And I had multiple people tell me that it was the best wedding they had ever attended. My brother says that this means that either people had a really good time or they like us enough to lie to our faces. Either way, that's good praise. It was such a fun time. I really loved it. Haytee was the best Matron of Honor ever (well, she was pretty good, I mean there was the whole m.h. outbreak, marraige debacle and creative suntanning, but she made up for it). Jamie was a great Best Man. I was really pleased with him and much to Zach's dismay, perhaps one of the nicest pictures is of Jamie and I dancing. I like it because I look thin, I can't help it. Anyway, I'll try to unfold the story over these Alphabet posts, but in the mean time, you can go check out the millions of pictures here. We might have more posted up there soon too, so feel free to check back. When we get to P, you'll have a whole new appreciation for them.

Bye

A is for Alive and Alphabet Posting

ALIVE

To dispel any of the rumors that might be flying around, I'm not dead. I just vanished for awhile in order to finish teaching my summer course and get married. It was a big undertaking, don't judge. The wedding was awesome and I will try to incorporate those stories into the alphabet posts. I'm going under the initials R.H.D. now. You can call or email me for the details (unless you are a stalker or identity thief, then you just get the initials). There are also big things ahead on the horizon and I really hope that everything works out ok. And no, I'm not pregnant. We may have had a short engagement, but that's just because being married is so awesome and we wanted to get right to it.


ALPHABET POSTING

Alphabet posting means that each day will have a topic starting with a letter in the alphabet in, shockingly, alphabetical order. This idea is so good I think I may have done it before and be ripping myself off, but I can't remember. Either way, it's gonna be awesome. It should also result in 26 days of posting. So hold on to your hats. I know this is sort of an inauspicious beginning and I know that there probably isn't anybody left checking this blog as I seem to have abandoned it. But I can dream.