Parker St. Madness

moving day.

2008-04-03T20:13:00.000-04:00

I'm done here.

See you there!!

oh coccyx

2008-03-16T10:20:00.004-04:00

Yesterday morning I slipped on the stairs as I was going downstairs. I landed on my coccyx, elbows, and head. Today I am in a lot of pain. Well, I was in a lot of pain but yesterday afternoon I was able to get my hands on a lot of darvocet so now I am feeling a little better. It's making me a little wonky and I'm not sure how I will write the paper I'm supposed to write. But at least I can sit on my coccyx without wanting to cry. I do love that word. COCCYX. Last night Jesse told me that I might be in a lot of pain but at least I get to say COCCYX a lot. He's so right!

Google Reader is one of my favorite things. Sometimes, though, they paraphrase headlines and I get all excited about articles that aren't very exciting. For example, this morning I read "Teachers Union Supports Slots" but when I clicked on the article in the Washington Post, it was "Teachers Union Gives Backing to Slot Machine Initiative." Disappointing.

I think I can write that paper now.

kennedy space center

2008-03-14T20:24:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday we went to visit Kennedy Space Center. It was a great day to go because most people went the day before to see the space shuttle.

This is where the shuttle launched from...

This is the vehicle assembly building...

This is the communications room or something at the Apollo/Saturn V center. I dig blinky lights.

Jesse and I with a real live person in a space suit. If I look a little stressed it is because I was wondering why I let the dude that sweeps up trash touch my camera. He did a good job so I am pretty much an asshole.

3.... 2....1.... LIFT OFF!

2008-03-13T14:00:00.002-04:00

We just happened to be staying on Cocoa Beach the night the Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on Tuesday morning at 2:28. There is nothing like hanging out on a beach in the middle of the night drinking Miller High Life watching a space shuttle launch. We were about 25 miles away so I wasn't sure we'd be able to see it. Since we are not visually impaired, we had no trouble seeing it! Unfortunately it was a cloudy night so it wasn't visible for long. And I didn't have a tripod so the photos are pretty blurry but I think you can get the idea.

it's like a club. for losers.

2008-03-10T21:49:00.001-04:00

Since getting the new camera I find myself checking out all the other cameras around me. This week I found out I'm not the only one who does this because several people have commented on my camera. I think the strangest instance was when I walked into a restaurant and was putting the camera in my bag and the hostess said, "I'm so jealous of your camera!" Wha? Huh? I just wanted a bloody mary! But I stood there and talked SLR talk with her because that's what I do now. Talk about my camera. I'm an official member of the club.

I haven't been very creative with it yet and have mostly used the automatic settings. One of my favorite things is the sports mode where you hold down the button and the shutter goes "click click click click click" really fast (that's the technical explanation). Here's a series of Magglio during batting practice. He needs to practice his fielding skills. There are more in this series but Picasa will only let me post 4 at a time. It's probably better that way.

Monday

2008-03-10T21:44:00.000-04:00

This morning we left Lakeland and drove to the east side to see the Tigers play the Nationals. We got here really early so we found this little park on the coast. It was full of nature...

After we had enough of nature we headed to Space Coast Stadium. Sweet statue of Casey at the Bat. He had a kick ass moustache.

And a little space shuttle outside the park!

pirates at tigers

2008-03-09T21:25:00.000-04:00

Today was our only game in Lakeland, at Joker Marchant Stadium. Here are some teeny tiny oranges outside the ballpark. A man saw me taking photos and told me the oranges are really sweet and yummy. I didn't try one.

Beautiful day! It was in the 60's but not very breezy. Perfect!!

Robertson pitched.

Inge played 3B. This is the trainer talking to him after he got hit with a pitch. He was okay.

I'm embarrassed to say we left during the top of the 10th inning because apparently the Tigs won with a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 10th. I hate people who leave games early. My excuse: we had left our seats because I couldn't stand listening to the annoying girl sitting behind us for ONE MORE MINUTE. We ended up standing to watch the game and were behind some people and I couldn't see anything anyway. Bummer.

Tomorrow we go to Space Coast Stadium to see the Tigs play the Nationals.

Tigers at Blue Jays

2008-03-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

Quickly, because I'm on vacation. We flew out of Detroit yesterday at 7:10 A.M. I think our plane didn't actually leave until 8. It was a really rough flight and I thought I might die. But I didn't die and we made it to Knology Park in Dunedin, FL (just north of Clearwater) to see the Tigers play the Blue Jays.

Hi Jim!!

Knology Park isn't really very nice. It's old with screws loose on the seats.

Granderson batted first, Polanco second.

Granderson needs to work on patience at the plate.

i'm ready.

2008-03-06T14:57:00.003-05:00

I went shopping today and bought new Teva's so I'm ready to go!

Finding Teva's in Michigan in March isn't as easy as you might think.

Yes, my second toe is longer than my big toe. I swear someone told me that it means I'm a lesbian but I don't remember who told me that or why.

i need to work hard and make lots of money.

2008-03-06T10:35:00.003-05:00

Because I just made the mistake of looking at the list of bands/musicians playing at SXSW 2008 and I had the incredible urge to drop everything, including spring training, and get my ass to Austin. Alas, I don't have a job. And I don't have any money. But I can't complain too much because I do have a round trip plane ticket to Tampa and 3 tickets to baseball games and plans to go to Kennedy Space Center.

You should all know by now that I am a complainer. I complain. It's what I do.

And I'll never make lots of money but hopefully I'll find ways to make up for it by fighting evil people who make lots of money and befriending nice people who make lots of money.

Maybe someday I'll get to go to SXSW.

snow day.

2008-03-05T16:14:00.000-05:00

On Monday it was around 40 degrees and all the snow melted. Yesterday it got cold again and by late afternoon it started to snow. This is what we woke up to this morning!!

Wayne State University actually cancelled classes so I got to experience my first snow day in over a decade. I celebrated with a migraine!! However, I got my ass out of bed to shovel the sidewalk this morning because by 9 AM the doorbell had been rung twice by people wanting me to pay them to shovel our 30 feet of sidewalk. Of course, I didn't answer the door but I assume that is what they wanted. Since I didn't want to be continuously bothered by my industrious neighbors, I shoveled.

Saturday afternoon we will attend our first spring training game of 2008. It can't come soon enough!!

two more

2008-02-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

Apparently Picasa will only let me post 4 photos at a time. Bastards.

An orange growing in Detroit! I wouldn't eat it.

Oh agave...why are you my husband's best friend?

sunny belle isle

2008-02-16T16:32:00.000-05:00

The sun is finally out here in Detroit so I dragged Jesse over to Belle Isle to take some photos. Unfortunately, the cold weather must have affected my eyesight because the photos I took outside didn't really turn out very well. I kind of think it wasn't all my fault because I'm pretty sure I had the lens on autofocus for those photos. We went to the Conservatory and those turned out better.

This one is for Joanna!

this is my favorite

2008-02-10T12:42:00.000-05:00

new camera

2008-02-09T12:53:00.000-05:00

Jesse's co-worker found out we were getting a Canon SLR and gave us a super zoom lens for free. I'm not sure I'll use it much because it is huge and super heavy. At first I thought it would be perfect for baseball games since our seats are in the upper deck (not to be confused with an upper decker) but Jesse's other co-worker said his friend had a hard time getting into the stadium with the lens because security thought he was a professional photographer. I'll probably try to take it at least once. If security thinks I am a professional photographer then I guess I'll take it as a compliment. And then I'll get really pissed and indignant and probably won't ever be allowed back in the park. Anyway, I tried out the lens the other night. This is a photo of the teeny tiny disco ball that is hanging under the light in the dining room. I took this photo sitting on the couch in the living room. I guess I should take a regular photo to show some super zoom perspective. But I'm lazy.

The other night I was laying on the floor taking photos and Willie Horton got right in my face. I thought this photo was funny because you can see part of her face and Barbaro Garbey looking all nosey. I think Jesse isn't very happy that we spent so much money on a camera and all I do is take photos of the cats. I told him that if we have a kid someday then I will stop taking photos of the cats. Hopefully the kid is cute. Otherwise, I might have to continue taking cat photos.

Just to prove Jesse wrong I decided to take some outdoor photos. This is the tree in our front yard. It has been pretty snowy here. Snow makes Detroit pretty. Too bad it also makes Detroit cold. I had all these plans to drive around town taking photos but damn, it's cold! I took this one after I shoveled the sidewalk so I was already out.

I ordered a lovely Lowepro SlingShot 100AW camera bag. I think I will really like it because it seems sturdy and doesn't scream, "LOOK AT ME! I'M A TOURIST WITH A CAMERA!" The only problem I have noticed so far is that for women and men with boobies, the strap you use for extra support is a little, um, uncomfortable. It either has to go under or over your right boobie and either way, it looks a little funny. It might be okay if you have really little boobies or really big boobies but if you have my size boobies, it's a little awkward. Luckily the bag is comfortable enough without using the strap and I doubt I'll be going on any super long hikes that would require the extra support. And if so, hopefully I will be with someone with really little boobies or really big boobies and they will be willing to carry the camera bag for me.

weekend fun.

2008-02-03T11:26:00.000-05:00

We got a lot of snow on Friday but not enough to keep me away from Alan Trammell. He was signing autographs at the Livonia Mall. I miss him and still feel like it wasn't completely his fault the Tigers sucked ass.

After we hung out with Mr. Trammell we went to Joel's and Amanda's to have some record fun. We didn't get as in to it as the photos on the link there but it was still hysterical! If you have a friend with a million records, you should try it sometime.

There's a really funny photo of Joe Walsh that I want to post but I think I had better get someone's permission first.

shocking.

2008-01-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

Okay so I will just say one thing about this whole Mayor scandal stuff.

I could not believe how much the Mayor and his Chief of Staff used "LOL" in their text messages. It felt very "6th grade" to me. Seriously. I think that was more disturbing to me than the other stuff.

Oh.

Except for the whole perjury thing. That was pretty disturbing.

And yes. I know I am old and there was no such thing as text messages when I was in 6th grade. Kiss my Hello Kitty ass.

lol.

2008-01-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

I started to write a post about the drama with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty. However, because I am currently interning for a Detroit City Council Member, I decided it would be a bad idea. If you have any questions about what is going on in the D, feel free to email me and I'll try to answer honestly and without sarcasm. ;)

yay!!

2008-01-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

The camera store called tonight to tell me the camera is in. I didn't get a chance to pick it up tonight so I'll go tomorrow.

I really really really hope that lady has the day off!!

shopping for a hobby.

2008-01-25T14:43:00.000-05:00

I decided I want to be a photographer when I grow up. After a little, or a lot, of research, I decided to buy a camera. Yay!! I had to order it and it will be in sometime next week. The lady at the store was very nice, helpful, and um...interesting. After she placed the order she said, "I'm so excited for you!" and I thought she was going to hug me. Thankfully there was a big counter between us. Then as I turned to leave she said, "A couple years ago I wanted to buy a nice camera but I got a wedding band instead." She then pointed to her ring-less finger and said, "Yeah. That didn't work out so well for me." I didn't know what to say! So I just thanked her for her help, told her to have a nice weekend, and walked out.

This is why I didn't sign up to do the therapy kind of social work.

quick update.

2008-01-06T21:49:00.001-05:00

Happy new year everyone!! I was thinking I would be posting all this stuff while I was on vacation from school but appparently I was wrong because I go back tomorrow. Yikes!! Hope you all had a nice and relaxing holiday and new year.

I have the best husband in the world because he gave me my dream wedding cake for Christmas. Not only did it look amazing but it tastes even better! And just so you know, fondant, while it looks really pretty, does not taste that great. Edible, but not great. But Jesse knew I would want fondant because that is what I see on Ace of Cakes so he paid more to get it for me. I seriously could not have asked for a better husband!!!

Go Tigs!!

the end is near.

2007-12-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

Only a couple more weeks left in the semester! Yay!! Last week was horrible. I stayed up ALL NIGHT on Tuesday working on that damn paper. As a matter of fact, I printed the final copy (all 27 pages) about 15 minutes before I left for class to turn it in. Staying up all night wasn't always a big deal. When I was in undergrad it was a pretty common thing. Cut to 11 YEARS LATER and I am waaaaaaay too old to stay up all night. It wasn't just that I was sleepy, my body hurt. All day on Wednesday my knees were killing me. By the time I got home from class I could hardly stand up because they hurt so bad. WTF, Todd Jones? I didn't write the paper standing up!

I'm finally caught up on sleep and now I have another big ass paper due on Wednesday. This one isn't as scary and I think I will be able to finish it at a reasonable hour. It helps that I will have most of the day tomorrow to work on it. There are lots of "interesting" (read: bad) things about my field placement but one of the "good" (read: good) things is that my supervisor is super flexible with my hours and if I say I have a big assignment due, she practically shoves me out the door and tells me to go home. According to her, school work comes first. I have learned to not argue with her.

The ipod songs crack me up so I am going to post another list. I doubt it will stop making me laugh so be prepared for many more. Just get used to it. If you don't like it, too bad.

1. Darling Nikki - Prince & the Revolution (not quite as good as Joel's rendition at the Comet Bar)
2. One Last Kiss - J. Geils Band
3. Walking Away A Winner - Kathy Mattea (when this song came on I was all, WTF, Todd Jones? It's a good reminder that I need to stop buying compilation CDs!!)
4. No. 2 in G Minor L'estate - Vivaldi
5. Sha La La La La - The Beatles
6. In A Lonely Place - New Order
7. Alison's Starting to Happen - The Lemonheads (oh sweet 1992!)
8. Till the Next Goodbye - The Rolling Stones
9. When the Whale Gets Strike - Alan Lomax (this is what happens when you share a music server with your husband and he insists on putting anything and everything anyone and everyone gives him on said shared server)
10. Pleasing Interlude No. 1 - Electric Six (the man behind the counter was the IMPOSTER!)

Back to work!

i heart cousin aaron!!

2007-11-29T09:40:00.000-05:00

Read this and then shop for holiday gifts on their website. Their site is in my links section.

working on my procrastination skills.

2007-11-27T20:01:00.000-05:00

I have a huge assignment due tomorrow. Crazy huge. I've been working on it since Friday and still am not done. As a matter of fact, I'll probably be up all night tonight.

The other day Jesse told me about driving to Royal Oak for a party and listening to his ipod on shuffle. He got to hear a pretty good (funny) mix of tunes.

So because I have a huge paper due tomorrow, I thought I'd tell you the first ten songs that played on my ipod today.

1. Remember Tomorrow - Iron Maiden
2. Dose of Thunder - The Replacements
3. You'll Have Time - William Shatner
4. Do You Hear the People Sing - Les Miserables
5. Shotgun Blues - Guns N Roses
6. That's It That's All - Beastie Boys
7. You and Me and the Bottle Makes 3 - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
8. Shopping Trolley - Beth Orton
9. Santa's Beard - They Might Be Giants
10.If You Never Say Goodbye - PM Dawn

I'm not sure what this says about me. Or my ipod.

Wait.

I think it says, GET BACK TO WORK.

And right now a lovely Beethoven piano sonata is playing. Perfect.

i know you know i hate school.

2007-11-07T23:36:00.000-05:00

But I just have to tell you that tonight I hate school because it is 11:40 p.m. and I've been working very hard on a paper and a presentation and I just realized I haven't eaten dinner yet.

Since I know I won't make be making tons of money as a social worker, perhaps I will publish a book all about my "Grad School Diet" and get rich. It will be awesome because it will include recipes! The recipes will be simple. Here is the recipe for tonight's dinner:

Ingredients:
1 5-page paper due the next day
1 PowerPoint presentation also due the next day
1 Ritalin (generic version is okay)
1 Husband/girl or boy friend/really nice roommate/pool boy or girl
1 Really good local Indian restaurant
Return home from evening class and have husband/girl or boy friend/really nice roommate/pool boy or girl order food from yummy Indian restaurant. Have them (I'm too tired to write out all the options) pick up food from yummy Indian restaurant. Place food in the refrigerator because you aren't quite ready to take a break yet. Leave food in the refrigerator for 6 hours. Finish your assignments, realize it is too late to eat dinner, and go to bed hungry.

Genius, no?

No. Never mind.

i hate writing papers.

2007-11-05T19:45:00.001-05:00

My procrastination skills have just hit a new level. I just spent 10 minutes looking up classmates on the Michigan Offender Tracking Information System.

Very interesting...

"i'm okay. it'll get better."

2007-10-25T21:25:00.000-04:00

When my friend was little he used to say that when he got hurt. Usually tears would be streaming down his face and you really couldn't tell what he was saying because he was crying so hard. But eventually, he was right. He was okay. It got better. Did I already tell that story? It seems like I did. Oh well.

Suddenly we're at that time of year when I realize that hey! I get really depressed when there isn't very much daylight!! Last year at this time I only had two classes and an internship where I didn't really do anything. It wasn't so bad. This year I have five classes and an internship that wears me out. I've been really tired the past couple weeks and this morning I think I kind of got pushed over the edge.

Wha' happened?

My car was broken into AGAIN last night. Almost exactly one month after the last time. This time they broke out the little window in the back. And this time it was even more senseless because there wasn't a roll of quarters or an outdated ipod FM transmitter thingy to take. Jesse took it to the same dude that fixed the window last time and he was kind enough to give us a frequent broken window discount. I suppose it's important to be grateful for the little things. And now I have a car alarm to protect the nothing of value that I keep in there. I can't believe I had to get a car alarm to protect my windows. What the fuck, Todd Jones?

Jesse was kind enough to drive my car to work and take care of everything. But I was mean to him when he suggested I get a car alarm. I don't want a car alarm. I hate car alarms. Of course it makes sense to get a car alarm. Replacing windows is expensive. After I hung up the phone with him, I knew I was an asshole for being mean to him. I was walking down the street on my way to class and started crying. Crying because I was mean to him. Crying because I have to get a car alarm. Crying because I have a million things to do for school and have no motivation to do any of them. Crying because I don't want to flunk out of school so will have to find some way to get shit done. Crying because I don't have a job and have no income and am completely dependent on another human being.

My own personal winter season is here. It feels like it's way too early but it's here. I have a feeling it's going to be a long one.

I know I'm okay. It'll get better.

dreams and procrastination.

2007-10-24T09:10:00.000-04:00

The past couple nights I've had some really funny dreams. At least I think they are funny. And because I am writing a paper that is due this afternoon, I'm going to tell you about my dreams that I think are funny. You might not be amused at all.

Dream #1: I got my paper that I turned in last week back. The paper is worth 125 points. The professor had taken 44 points off of my paper and had written a book's worth of comments. I was bummed, but not too upset. I asked a classmate if she did okay on her paper and she said, "Yeah. She gave me three extra points so I got 128."

When I see this classmate today I might just have to punch her. I hope we get our papers back today so I can stop thinking about those damn 44 points.

Dream #2: One of my professors made us go to a comedy club for our class and Jesse was going to be doing stand-up. I didn't want anyone to know he was my husband because I was afraid they would think the professor and I had some sort of deal worked out. I had no idea what kind of deal that would be but I was sure it would be bad. But then I was excited because I wanted Jesse to meet one of my friends. So my friend and I were sitting at the bar and Jesse came over to say hi and I decided to not introduce Jesse to my friend. And then I decided I didn't need a good grade in the class and left before Jesse went on stage.

Okay. Now I can go write this stupid paper. I don't even know how many points this paper is worth. Hopefully more than 44.

this week sucks. just like all the rest.

2007-10-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

I have three papers due this week and I have been having a hard time working on them. Yesterday I got some stuff done before I had to leave and go to see Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan in concert. Hey if you get a chance to see the show, you should definitely go. Elvis was solo and amazing. I've seen him several times and am still in love with his live shows. This was the first time I had seen Bob and I really enjoyed that too. I couldn't believe all the people that left during the last song, All Along the Watchtower. What were they thinking??

This morning I had to go to a function for my internship. I had to be there at 8AM so was super sleepy since I didn't get home until 12:30 or something last night. I got home from the thing this morning around noon and laid down for a minute. Just to rest my eyes (my parents used to say that and now I am saying it and I sound so old). And then I woke up at 3. SHIT!

And now I'm trying to wake up so I can write a coherent sentence, or 15 pages worth of coherent sentences, about systems theory and organizations.

it's getting better all the time...

2007-09-28T16:01:00.000-04:00

This week has been really strange. Bad things. Good things. I realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful husband/best friend.

Sometime last week we realized the Xbox 360 wasn't working. At all. Bummer.

Friday night we took my car to the Tigers game. Kristin ended up coming with us and we had tons of fun, even though Joel and Amanda weren't there. Anyway, on the way to the game I remembered that my car had been making funny noises when I applied the brakes. Jesse took my car in on Saturday and they said the front brakes needed some work. Over $400 worth of work. Yikes. I hate unplanned expenses like that! Especially when they aren't in the form of super cute purses! Jesse took care of my car so I could work on papers. I had two due on Wednesday!

Monday and Tuesday were internship. I ended up staying until about 6:30 on Tuesday night and had to hurry home, eat scrumptious leftovers for dinner and then get to work on my two papers. And then the leftovers staged a coup. One poop attack (at least it wasn't at school! Right, Jan-Jan??*) and three puke attacks later, I finished my papers. I felt awful and at that point, didn't really care if the papers were any good. They were done!

Wednesday morning I went out to my car so I could go to school. My first paper was due at 10:40AM. As I was opening the car door, I realized that a bunch of cd's and maps were on the driver's seat. That was odd because they are usually in the little pocket in the car door. Then when I opened the door I saw the glove compartment hanging open and that was when I realized there was also glass everywhere. DOH!! Someone broke into my car!!! So frustrating. I called Jesse at work and he said he would come home right away. I called the police and they referred me to the wrong non-emergency report number so I called them back and another dude gave me the right non-emergency report number. Jesse got home while I was waiting for someone to answer the phone. I was super frustrated that someone broke into my car and super frustrated that nobody would answer the phone so I hung up and asked Jesse to give me a ride to school. I was only 5 minutes late to class! Yay!! While I was in school, Jesse found a dude to fix my window for a reasonable price so when he picked me up from school, everything was taken care of. The window fixing dude even vacuumed most of the glass out of my car. Once again, Jesse comes to my rescue so I don't flunk out of school.

So here's the thing with the whole break-in thing. I don't want to be too dramatic about it because nobody got hurt (at least I don't think anyone got hurt. I'm assuming the thief was careful when breaking out my window) and they didn't get much of anything. The first thing a few people said to me when they heard my car was broken into was, "Oh I am so careful to not leave anything visible in my car." And I guess that is the first thing I would say to someone else that got broken into. But here's the thing. I DIDN'T leave anything visible in my car! And I DIDN'T really leave anything valuable in my car! Whoever took the time to break the window and rifle through every nook and cranny of my shit-car must have been really disappointed. All they got was an ashtray full of change (mostly nickels, dimes and pennies), a roll of quarters (Jesse had just given me a roll of quarters for parking meters), and the one item worth anything was the fm transmitter thingy for my ipod (I paid $80 for it a couple years ago. It's going for about $35 on Amazon now). But damnit. We just paid $400 for brakes and now another $110 to get the window replaced. If only I knew how to ride a bike, we could save so much money. Just kidding. I know how to ride a bike. I'm lazy. And I'm sure it would get stolen so it wouldn't really save any money. I did think it was funny that they left Jesse's cd's. We're not sure how anyone could pass up Hendrix. And they left my old Polaroid camera that has been in my trunk for a while now because I keep forgetting to give it to my nephew. They were kind enough to leave my maps. And my first-aid kit. And most importantly, my Matchbox car Brady Bunch station wagon and Sister Penelope (squeaky nun toy. She used to be "Penelope the Nun" until my Catholic friends tuned me in to the whole "sister" thing. She watches over me as I drive. She apparently does not watch over my car when I am inside the house sleeping.).

That's the break-in story.

Then last night after dinner Jesse returned the broken Xbox360 and brought home a new one. The best part is that they were able to switch the hard drives so we didn't lose progress on saved games. Jesse is awesome!!

Yup. Weird week. I'm glad it's over. I have a bunch of reading to do this weekend to catch up on the reading I didn't do last week because I was writing papers. Word on the street is that we're getting a new tv really soon so I should probably start reading now. Things are looking up! Jesse is my hero. I don't know what I would have done without him this week. I pretty much don't know what I would do without him ever.

*this is not to imply that Jan-Jan has had a poop attack at school. This is to say that we do not like it when people do have poop attacks at school.

life in the D.

2007-09-27T10:37:00.001-04:00

How I found my car yesterday morning:

It was a bad day. I'll write more later.
I love this city.

moments of silence.

2007-09-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

The Xbox 360 isn't working. Apparently it can't take Jesse's mad Guitar Hero II skills. Luckily there is a replacement plan.

My car isn't working. Apparently it can't take being 8 years old. There is not a replacement plan so hopefully someone can fix it.

The Tigers aren't working. Apparently they don't care that we already paid for every single post season home game. No replacement plan but we'll eventually get refunded. Thanks for nothing.

2007-09-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

September has been really busy. I'm thinking that it would have been a good idea to do some stuff that required thinking over the summer. All of a sudden I have to read books and think about them and then write about what I think about them and it is hard. Really hard. In my defense, I did read all of War & Peace this summer. But I didn't really have to think much until the last part of the book and even then, I didn't think that hard because nobody was going to make me write a paper about it. So, yeah...while the relaxing and having fun this summer was great, perhaps it was too relaxing and fun.

My internship has been pretty good so far. Much of the time I'm not sure what I'm doing but at least I'm doing something. And I've already seen myself on tv a couple times. That's a little creepy but now I always remember to pay attention during meetings and try to not do anything embarrassing. We'll see how that goes.

Today we are getting our bathtub re-glazed. You might not be excited about this but I can't wait! I have spent countless hours (minutes. whatever.) scrubbing the damn thing and it still doesn't look clean. Some dudes are coming over this afternoon to work their magic and then we'll have a sparkling like-new bathtub. The only problem is we can't use it for 48 hours. It's our only shower. Don't plan on stopping by this weekend, especially on Sunday, because we'll be smelly.

Let's see...what else...

OH! Transformers is being released on IMAX for a short time. I thought the makers of the movie were dumbasses for not making an IMAX version. Now I know that they are geniuses because everyone who already watched it at the regular theater will now pay again to see it at IMAX. Damn them! See you at the theater!!

Autobots...Roll out!!

oh! one more thing...

2007-09-06T20:49:00.001-04:00

This isn't mean. Just messed up.

A woman in a couple of my classes works at my former place of employment! I haven't talked to her yet but I am looking forward to talking to her about her experience at the agency. Hopefully, for her sake, it is better than the experience I had!

1 week down. a million to go.

2007-09-06T20:42:00.000-04:00

I don't really know how many more weeks of school there are. It just feels like a million.

I survived the first week. Of course, it wasn't really a week since there was no internship. But the point is, I survived.

Classes this year are interesting because I have pretty much the same people in every single class. Because of all the time we will spend together, I decided to try to be nice to everyone. It's really hard to do and I'm pretty sure I'll start smoking again because did I mention how hard it is to be nice to everyone? And I decided that I can't write about the people in my class because someone might read it and that wouldn't be nice.

If you need to contact me this semester, don't. I'll be busy reading and writing and being nice.

oh, summer. where did you go?

2007-09-04T11:19:00.000-04:00

Today is my last day of summer. Tomorrow I start my third semester of grad school. What have I accomplished this summer? Not much! But it has been fun and relaxing and full of new experiences. Jesse and I went to my 15-year high school reunion and I didn't die. It was actually fun and I got to catch up with a bunch of people that I forgot were super cool. We celebrated our 1-year anniversary! Tradition says first anniversary is the paper anniversary. We decided the first anniversary is the Magglio Ordonez anniversary. Who knows what the second anniversary will bring! Perhaps the Todd Jones anniversary? No. I don't think so. That's just wrong and not only because he will most likely never ever hit a walk-off home run to get the Tigers to the World Series.

Blogging this summer has been scarce because I'm bored with blogging. Blah blah blah. That's how I feel. Maybe school will inspire me to write more. Maybe not.

Tomorrow I will wake up to an alarm clock. The fun is over.

Ugh.

vacation chapter 3: Maine-iacs!

2007-08-15T14:56:00.000-04:00

After a few days in Canada, we were ready to head back to the U.S. It's not that we don't like the Canadians and their beautiful country but we were running out of money. I'm just being dramatic about that damn exchange rate.

After we got searched at customs coming into Maine, we headed to
Caribou to spend time with Jesse's dad. We were also happy to stay with family (Jesse's aunt's and uncle's house!) instead of a hotel. Especially since the family happened to have every video game known to humans, including Guitar Hero.

This is a tree Jesse climbed when he was a kid.

This is one of his dad's cats. They named him Dice-K, which is awesome. I love a cat named after a baseball player! And Dice-K the cat is awesome too.

After a few days in northern Maine with Jesse's dad, we headed to the southern part of the state to spend a few days with Jesse's mom and her husband. We went to the beach and swam in the ocean.

We tried to buy muff for 99 cents but then realized it was an egg bacon muffin and wanted nothing to do with it.

Hey! Fancy meeting you here!!

Jesse's sister and her family came to visit. We bought this sweet Transformers voice changing helmet for his nephew. It was awesome.

Jesse's mom has a cute kitten. His name is Jake.

We went to York's Wild Kingdom and saw lots of cool animals behind chain link fences. I don't think I had ever seen such a young zebra before. It was all wobbly on its feet.

And then we saw the Alamo.

And then we rode a carnival-like (read: scary) ferris wheel. And then it start to lightning and thunder in the distance and I was pretty sure we were going to die.

But I was wrong and we lived. After we left the zoo we started the drive toward Niagara Falls. We didn't book a hotel room ahead of time because we thought we'd drive until we got tired and then find a room. We got to Syracuse around 10PM and weren't able to find a room. Well, the Budget Inn had a suite for $120 but we opted to sit in the parking lot of the Clarion where we could get the strongest wireless signal and booked a room on hotwire.com in Rochester.

We arrived at the Hyatt around 11PM. We asked the kind man at the front desk if there were any restaurants nearby. He got out a little map and showed us where we would find several bars and restaurants. When Jesse asked if we could walk to the bars and restaurants, the kind man said we should walk to them and that it would only take 5 or 6 minutes. Sweet! He forgot to mention that they would be the scariest 5 or 6 minutes of our lives. I don't know much about Rochester, NY but now I know to NOT walk to anywhere from the Hyatt at night. Scary people everywhere. After we ate and drank at a bar, we asked the bartender to call us a cab. He was having a hard time reaching a cab company so I said, "Hey we just walked from the Hyatt but it seemed a little shady. Do you think it's safe for us to walk back?" and he said, "Uh. You need to take a cab." So we took a cab and arrived safely at the hotel. Who knew Rochester would be scarier than Detroit??

Your next installment, vacation chapter 4: happy anniversary!, will show up sometime in the next year. I'm tired of writing about vacation. Are you tired of reading? It's okay to admit it. Really!

vacation chapter 2: Quebec, Je ne parle toujours pas français

2007-08-04T11:04:00.001-04:00

I had never been to Quebec so we decided to stop by the old part of the city while we were on our way to Maine. After we parked the car we walked down some stairs and this was the first sign I saw. I immediately fell in love with the city.

We parked under the building at the top of the hill and then rode down on the little elevator thingy. And then we walked back up the hill. Since I had twisted my ankle the day before, it probably made more sense to walk down the hill and take the elevator thingy back up. We don't make any sense though.

Quebec is a classy city. That's what I say.

Quebec really was nice, even though we were only there for an hour. We ate maple ice cream and walked around and sweated and I bought a magnet with a beaver on it. Sweet!

It was a long drive to Caribou, Maine. I got bored and ended up taking a bunch of photos. These fields of yellow were really pretty and I meant to ask someone what it was but I forgot.

Coming up next: vacation chapter 3: Maine-iacs!

vacation chapter 1: Montreal, Je ne parle pas français

2007-08-03T12:29:00.000-04:00

Saturday morning (July 21) we drove from Detroit to Montreal. The drive actually went really well even though it was long. Canada sucks because the exchange rate is pretty much 1-to-1 right now. The Canadians blame it on the U.S. dollar being weak but whatever. We know the truth.

Sunday morning we walked down to the old part of the city.

And we happened upon some locks! Yay!! I love boat locks.

And I wanted to get on this guy's boat.

Where did Jesse go?

We ended up going to see the Bodyworlds 2 exhibit at the science center. I hadn't seen it before and found it very interesting. And creepy. And when we went to a deli afterward to get lunch, I looked at the shaved meats and decided to eat a bag of chips instead. Yuck and yuck.

The Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal wasn't far from where we were walking around so we decided to check it out. It was pretty cool. Sorry about the link that is in French. I couldn't get the English one to work.

I like cemeterys so we went to Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges because it is huge and really old. When we pulled in we saw a lot of signs like this one.

I don't speak or read French and Jesse was driving so couldn't stop to try to read the sign. When we drove into the cemetery we noticed nobody had mowed in a long ass time. I'm terrified of snakes and I know that snakes like to live in cemeterys that haven't been mowed in a long ass time so we didn't walk much off the road.

Right next to that cemetery is the Le Cimetière Mont-Royal that had been mowed recently. It was really pretty until I stepped in a small hole and twisted my ankle.

Back in the Cimetière Notre-Dame-des-Neiges I stopped to take a photo of this.

Right when I was done taking the picture I turned and a fox ran out from the tall grass. I was afraid of snakes when I should have been afraid of foxes. It was much cuter than a snake and I tried to find it again. The grass was much too tall.

And we found out that the signs at the entrance of the cemetery were in regards to the work stoppage at the cemetery. Apparently the workers were locked out when they demanded higher wages, better benefits, all that good stuff. I hope they get to go back to work soon.

We went to a fancy dinner at a restaurant where apparently, Ben Affleck has been sighted. I ordered some kind of fancy squash ravioli and was mortified when my entree showed up and there were 5 raviolis on my plate. 5. And they were skinny little things. So I ate dinner again later.

After fancy dinner, we were walking around and found a parade beginning to form. There were brides in underwear and grooms with the asses cut out of their pants (and they were commando!). And I didn't have my camera!! We ran back to the hotel room and grabbed the camera and went back. I didn't see the brides and brooms but I took some photos of goofy Canadiens anyway.

We were tired from a long day of walking around the city. Monday morning we got up and found a little place to get crepes and then headed toward Quebec, and eventually Maine.

Coming soon!
Chapter 2: Quebec, Je ne parle toujours pas français.

i'm back.,

2007-07-30T21:18:00.000-04:00

This afternoon we got home from our long ass vacation! It feels so good to be here. The trip was really nice. I'll write more when I have more energy. Here's a photo or three.

Me and a rack in Montreal.

Canada. Very strange.

Sometimes you should just go ahead and pay a little extra for a hotel room with this view.

bite me.

2007-07-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I was at Macy's when I heard a mom screaming at her children to stop fighting. Apparently the small girl child bit the small boy child she was sharing a stroller with. The nice cashier lady had a horrified look on her face but was kind and asked, "Are they twins? They look the same age! They're so cute!" They weren't cute. They were both crying and their faces were soaked with snot and tears. Not cute at all. The mom replied, "They are two weeks apart. We adopted them from Guatamala. LOOK WHAT YOU DID! YOU CANNOT BITE YOUR BROTHER! OH MY GOD!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!" I ran away because I couldn't stand the way she was screaming at the kids who looked like they couldn't have been more than 2-years-old. A few minutes later she walked by me still yelling at the small girl child. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THE WAY YOU ARE ACTING. BITING YOUR BROTHER. MY GOD. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? WE'RE GOING HOME AND YOU'RE GOING IN TIME OUT. I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" I'm pretty sure by that point the small girl child was trying to figure out how she could bite and permanently scar the mean woman that calls herself "mom" before running away. At least that's what I was doing.

brandon!!

2007-07-17T14:56:00.000-04:00

curtis!

2007-07-09T12:17:00.000-04:00

more than meets the eye.

2007-07-03T14:14:00.000-04:00

I can't believe I am writing this but... you should really see the Transformers movie. I never even liked the Transformers - not the cartoons, not the comic book series, and definitely not the action figures. We saw it last night and it was spectacular.

I'm telling you.

Go see it.

Now.

You will thank me. And if you don't, you quite possibly suck.

we're home again!

2007-07-02T14:32:00.000-04:00

We spent time last week with my family at Gun Lake. While hanging out with the fam is a little overwhelming, it's always fun. Where else do you see a Pooh chair with a Barbie purse and a bottle of Michelob Ultra? The Michelob Ultra wasn't mine. I swear.

The view from the door of one of the cottages...

The swimming dock!

And then we went to Hicks Lake to my uncle's surprise 70th birthday party. This is the "pop" and water cooler. Look closely and you'll see where the real fun begins.

More lake fun...

A nice vacation but it's nice to be home with Willie Horton and Barbaro Garbey again.

goodbye mike.

2007-06-22T15:53:00.000-04:00

Mike Maroth has been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. I am anxious to see who we get in his place. I will miss him because he was definitely one of the most handsome Tigers. I decided to work on a handsome baseball team. I'll let you know what the lineup is as soon as I come up with it. I promise it will be good.

not even a euphemism.

2007-06-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

A rotisserie chicken stunk up my trunk today.

back to reality.

2007-06-22T10:27:00.001-04:00

I got home from the little Tigers road trip on Wednesday evening. We actually got to my sister's, where I left my car, just before 4pm. It was nice because my parents were there so I got to see lots of awesome family and then drove home to see my awesome husband. I missed him so much! And then I fell asleep for 12-hours.

I do plan on posting more stuff about the trip but I spent yesterday recovering from the craziness of it all. It was a really great trip and I think my uncle summed it up when he said, "We'll have to do this again sometime once we've forgotten about all the negative stuff!" And he was so right. For some reason I find it incredibly cool that I asked my 69-year-old uncle to go on a 5-day road trip with me and we actually did it and survived and overall had a wonderful time.

vacation + robbery = exciting!!

2007-06-18T23:58:00.000-04:00

This is the view from my cousin's bathroom this morning.

As my cousin's boyfriend left this morning he heard someone running down the steps. It was the robber who had just used a crowbar to break in to the 1st floor apartment and the door that leads to the 2nd and 3rd floor apartments. Five cop cars showed up and then a big ol' SUV pulled in and four cops with giant guns jumped out and went through the alley. I wasn't going to take a photo but my aunt insisted and I have to say I'm glad I did (but don't tell her I said that). Unfortunately, by the time I got there the other three cops with big ass guns had already gone inside. Luckily Brent (cousin's boyfriend) had left when he did because the robber didn't get much. He had piled a bunch of stuff up by the door and was apparently going to hit the other apartments before loading up his getaway vehicle. As of tonight, I'm pretty sure he's still out there but at least he isn't here.

go tigs!!

2007-06-18T00:48:00.000-04:00

Today was a really great day. The Tigers beat the Phillies in a really loooong and exciting game. I'm pretty tired right now so I'll just post some photos.

Here's some broken bell. I figured it must be important because I had to go through security in order to see it.

It is actually very cool. You should definitely see it if you are in Philadelphia!

Uncle Larry found this diner. We met up with my cousins before the game. Very fun diner and it will be interesting to see what rating it gets!

Oh sweet baseball.

Verlander at bat!

city of brotherly love.

2007-06-17T07:51:00.000-04:00

I met my aunt and uncle at our rendezvous point yesterday morning. Our agreed upon time was 9AM but they did not arrive until 9:15, which in my opinion was no big deal. It was, however, a big deal to my uncle and by the time we had moved about 100 feet, my aunt and uncle had their first spat. My first thought was that it was cute and I was glad they were feeling comfortable enough to spat in front of me. Not all couples are cute like that and engage in more uncomfortable behavior such as smiling through gritted teeth and pretending like all is well even though you can cut the tension with a dull butter knife. No, not in this car. By the 4th spat, about 1000 feet down the street, it wasn't cute anymore. And I was hoping for gritted teeth and pretending. I'm good at pretending. I'm not so good at dealing with snippy old people. Luckily I have not been the target of any snippiness... yet. We still have a few days together.

Anyhoo...

Other than that, the trip was fairly noneventful. Lots and lots of talking. Luckily my aunt and uncle are very smart people and have interesting things to say. I didn't have to say much at all.

We arrived in Philly last night around 7 but since we had missed an exit at some point, it took us a long time to find our hotel. My uncle printed out the local map of the hotel but did not, for some reason, print out google, Mapquest, or Yahoo driving directions. I have a feeling he knows how to do that, but prefers the excitement of navigating mapless. I didn't mind because I had no plans and just sat in the backseat in my Dramamine induced coma and watched north Philly pass by my window.

Last night before I fell asleep I decided to open the curtains a bit hoping the morning sunshine would keep me from sleeping all day. I hate being the one in the group that sleeps super late and holds everyone else up. I forgot that we are on the other side of the time zone and this morning when I woke, saw the bright sun, stretched and prepared to get my lazy ass out of bed, I looked at the clock and it was 5:30. Damn. Closed the curtains and went back to sleep until a respectable 7:30.

Here are some photos from our hotel window. We are downtown on the 11th floor of a Hampton Inn. My uncle is very good at booking nice hotel rooms!

This morning we go in search of a diner (yay Julie! I'll try to take photos and notes!) and then to the game this afternoon. And then after we're all hot and sweaty and nasty from sitting in 90+ degree weather all afternoon, we'll get in the car and drive to Washington, DC. Good times.

on the road again...

2007-06-16T07:33:00.000-04:00

After spending Monday - Wednesday this week in Dexter with my sister's family, I'm heading to Philadelphia and Washington, DC today with my uncle Larry and aunt Nancy. We'll be at Tigers games on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday so watch for me! Sometimes they show Tigers fans. I tried to get chef hats but should have started that quest last week. Oh well. Hopefully I'll have enough fun to want to post while I'm there. I have a million things to post about from last week... Justin's no no. The lady with the box, the large box, at the restaurant. But you'll just have to wait.

uh. thanks? i'm sorry??

2007-06-11T20:18:00.001-04:00

I took my 11-year-old niece, her friend, and my nephew to Stucchi's tonight for ice cream. As we were sitting there enjoying our delightful and messy waffle cones, my niece's friend said to me, "You are a nice aunt. I mean, Paige said you were nice but you really are a nice one. I have mean ones. All they ever say is, 'I'm gonna smack your face.' They never laugh or take me out for ice cream."

Oh.

i love the weekend.

2007-06-10T15:25:00.000-04:00

Since I don't have any real plans or schedule during the week, the weekends are a blast because I get to hang out with Jesse and now have plans or schedule with him! We did do some fun stuff this weekend though. Stuff besides Guitar Hero.

Yesterday we went to the Detroit Festival of the Arts. It was sunny and warm and breezy and just perfect for walking around watching people and art. We saw a fabulous hat.

Oh! And we went to the library and I got a library card. It was such an odd feeling to actually want to be at a library. Must be because I wasn't meeting people for a group project or research. Although I have to admit that I haven't been to the library for research yet. But I'm sure it wouldn't be fun.

There were these crazy Dutch people on stilts. Someone described them as dragons, but I thought they looked more like anorexic raptors. And they made really loud raptor noises too. And then there was a scary dude on stilts too. It was actually pretty cool.

Today we ran errands in Novi. I bought a fabulous pair of sandals. Oh I am so in love with them. I had never even heard of Born shoes but now I will wear them forever. So comfortable!

This evening we are heading to Toledo to catch a Mudhens game because Kenny Rogers is pitching in his first rehab start. Sweet! Yes. I know I'm a dork.

cookie update

2007-06-08T14:36:00.000-04:00

What is happening to me. I'm blogging about baking cookies.

Anyway... I made the cookies. And they are amazing. And I've already eaten 2... I had to test them you know. To make sure I should continue. Yes. That's it. So if you find a cookie recipe that calls for 4 sticks of butter, make the cookies. Better yet, hire someone to make the cookies. It took me over an hour to zest limes, juice limes, and de-shell pistachios. What a pain in the ass. Thank God the cookies are delightful.

Perhaps I will make some tea and eat another one.

But not until tomorrow.

to bake or not to bake.

2007-06-07T16:42:00.000-04:00

Cookies, people. Cookies.

There was something I cooked this week that called for fresh lime juice. I couldn't find a single lime at the grocery store so I bought a whole bag of limes. A girl can only drink so many cocktails with limes so I decided to look for recipes and found one for pistachio lime cookies. Yummy!! I went and bought all the supplies and was prepared to bake cookies today. As I was looking over the recipe I noticed something was wrong. Could it really say 4 sticks of butter? 4 STICKS?? Yes. It does. And I just don't know if I can bring myself to bake something to eat with FOUR STICKS of butter in it. Or if I can bake it, can I eat it?

I still haven't decided what to do. Maybe tonight I will sit around and eat the pistachios while I try to decide what to do. And then I won't be able to make the cookies because I ate all the pistachios. 4 sticks of butter. Disgusting. Right??

Maybe the recipe makes 10 dozen cookies and that is why it calls for 4 sticks of butter. Yes... maybe that's it.

Still disgusting though.

any given sunday.

2007-06-04T11:18:00.000-04:00

Early afternoon...
Jen: Want to go for a walk at the riverfront?
Jesse: Sure.

A little later we decide to make sandwiches to eat picnic style at the riverfront.
Then we realize we don't have enough bread to make two sandwiches. Instead, we will stop at Subway on the way. But not the gas station Subway. Strip mall Subway is much less creepy.

A few minutes later...
Jen: Weather.com shows rain showers all day today. Maybe we shouldn't go?

It's not raining so we decide to go anyway.

At strip mall Subway...
Jen: What is the difference between the Italian B.M.T. and the Spicy Italian?
Sandwich Artist: The B.M.T. has ham.

A few minutes later...
Jesse: What does B.M.T. stand for?
Jen: I don't know. Excuse me, I have another question. What does B.M.T. stand for?
Sandwich Artist: You know what? I don't even know.

We finally find a parking spot.
Jen: Your moon roof is open.
Jesse: Yeah. I know.
It is a well known fact that the 2002 Volkswagen Golf TDI has a superior design that allows for the interior to remain dry when the moon roof is open and it rains.

We go to Hart Plaza and eat our Subway sandwiches. I am sad that this is the first time we have really explored Hart Plaza even though we have lived in Detroit for years now.
The seagulls plot against us. I am sure we are about to be attacked. I'm not sure why. The subs are pretty gross. They can have them if they ask. I take photos for identification purposes in case there is ever a trial.

We look at statues.

We walk on the riverfront toward COBO.

It starts to rain.
We walk a little further. It isn't raining hard.

We turn around shortly before the end of the riverfront walk.

It's raining harder.

Sideways.

In my ear.

I suppose with the right musical score and/or soundtrack it could have been an incredibly romantic moment. Lovers walking in the rain realize even the rain can't wash away their feelings for one another. They embrace. They share a passionate kiss. And then begin to slow dance to the music in their heads. In slow motion.

But we have no soundtrack. No ipods. No headphones or speakers. It's better this way because they would be destroyed in the rain.

Instead, we walk quickly with our heads down. Water drips from the brims of our not quite matching Detroit Tigers baseball caps. It's cold. It's wet. My socks are getting wet. My ear. It's raining in my ear. My socks and running shoes are soaked.

We get to the car. Out of the rain.

Or not.

memorial day picnic planning.

2007-06-01T12:40:00.001-04:00

Me: I was thinking it would be fun to tell everyone to bring a disposable 35mm camera to the picnic. We all take photos during the picnic and at the end throw them in a bag and everyone takes a random camera home and is surprised by the photos they get!

Joel: That's a great idea!

Me: Really? I thought it might be fun.

Joel: Yeahhhh.... heh heh heh .... someone's getting a lot of pictures of my penis...

Me: Never mind.

memorial day west nile virus

2007-05-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

We had planned on a Belle Isle picnic but it turned into a Williamston picnic instead. The location didn't really matter. We had the people, the food, the beer and there was even a river. But the river also meant mosquitoes. Lots of them. I have several bites that itch and one large bite that aches. I thought it was big because it is on my knee bone. But it is also big because it's all swollen and hurts like a mo' fo'. But the picnic was a blast and Julie is home! For now, anyway. Yay!!

Today I had planned on gardening but it is hot, damn hot, and I'm staying inside.

So here are some picnic photos.

So these people put four canoes and two kayaks on this little itty bitty trailer. We watched the entire process and were sure that someone was going to die. Kristin told us about someone that was decapitated when their boats slid off the trailer and into the vehicle. I didn't want to see a beheading but these people seemed kind of stupid so we were sure something bad was going to happen. And we were sure someone, the tall kid with the dark wife-beater t-shirt and ball cap standing right next to the trailer, was going to get maimed because he climbed in the trailer to ride home right before they took off. Much to our dismay, they drove away and nothing fell off and everybody's heads remained attached. The canoes and kayaks didn't even fall off and destroy Jesse's car when they hit a bump right by his car. This is a boring story now but trust me, at the time, it was minutes and minutes of entertainment.

it's that time of year again!

2007-05-26T16:36:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to make coffee ice cubes for your ice-y coffee and booze drinks!

snot and plants.

2007-05-24T14:03:00.001-04:00

Today sucks. I didn't get much sleep last night. I didn't go to the game today. Allergies are kicking my ass. I have been sneezing and sniffling since 8AM and Sudafed and Claritin didn't help. I think I have gone through half of a box of tissues and my nose still hasn't stopped running. My nose hurts. It's hot outside. I want to cry because I am a pussy.

Oh! But exciting news is that I went and bought plants for my little garden. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll feel more human and will be able to plant tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, basil, and marigolds. But first I have to figure out where to move the phlox that has taken over my little garden area. But before that my nose has to stop running. It has to.

trips.

2007-05-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

I am preparing for a road trip with my aunt and uncle. We are going to Philadelphia to see the Tigers play the Phillies and then will head to DC to see the Tigers play the Nationals. Preparations include testing motion sickness medications to see if they are truly non-drowsy. I spent much of Monday sleeping on the couch before I figured out that (A) Bonine is not really non-drowsy, and (B) I should test motion sickness medications at night when I should be sleeping anyway. I thought it was a good idea to take motion sickness medication during the day because I haven't had much time to play video games. I forgot about the whole sleepiness thing. Tomorrow afternoon I think I'll go see the Tigers play the Angels and then when evening comes and Jesse is maybe at the bar doing stand-up, I will try out the other motion sickness medication I purchased and will play video games until I fall asleep sitting up. In other preparation news, I bought tickets for the Tigs and Phillies game! It always feels more real once the tickets are purchased even though I purchased Tigs and Twins tickets and we didn't go. I'm going to see the Phillies because it won't matter if Jesse's car doesn't work. I'm riding with my aunt and uncle. Hence the motion sickness experiments.

Time to clean the house or read the New Yorker until I fall asleep. No, no meds today. Just lazy.

again with the bad ideas.

2007-05-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

I recently decided that I need to print some photos and frame them and put them on the walls of our lovely house. We've lived here for way too long to only have random photos and other things on the walls. It is time for planned wall decorations. Last night when I couldn't fall asleep I came up with the really great idea to have one wall or area dedicated to bad photos.

Photos that are bad because I'm not a photographer.

And photos that are bad because I look goofy and bad in them.

I think this will be fun not because I have really low self esteem and want to glorify the bad stuff. It's because I have really high self esteem and want to glorify my human-ness. It's time to accept my double chin, the wrinkles around my eyes when I squint, the big belly and to put all of my physical flaws out there for everyone to see and laugh at and love. So if you have bad photos of me, and I know you do, please feel free to send them my way.

confession.

2007-05-18T01:17:00.000-04:00

Movies that I have to watch if they are on tv. Even if I have seen them 20 times before. Even if I have seen them yesterday. I can't change the channel.

Clueless (it's on HBO right now!)
Overboard
Field of Dreams
Corrina, Corrina
The Untouchables

Embarrassing, no? Come on, share some of your must see movies!!

julie!

2007-05-17T14:38:00.000-04:00

So the whole point of going to MA was to surprise Julie. She curated an exhibit called "What is Love: Selections from the Permanent Collection at the UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center - University Gallery. On Thursday May 3, she hosted a Gallery Talk where she got to talk all about the exhibit. I was very excited to go and learn all about art especially since I am an "art-tard." And of course I was super excited to see Julie! I have a big mouth and am not very good at surprises but this one worked out very well. Julie was happy to see me! It was really cool to hear her speak in her professional voice about the exhibit.

Here is Julie... I hope she doesn't care if I post photos!

And here is Julie and some other people...

Another cool part about showing up at this little gallery talk was hearing all the wonderful things Julie's professors and colleagues and classmates had to say about Julie. Of course we in Michigan know how fabulous she is but it was nice to know that those in Massachusetts know it too!

After we left the gallery we went to see Michael Penn at a cool little venue. And because I am not cool, I only knew one song. But Julie is cool and the show was cool and I was so glad I was able to get a last minute ticket!

And then after that we went to Ye Ol' Watering Hole and Beer Can Museum and drank yummy screwdrivers with fresh squeezed orange juice. Way more yummy than screwdrivers with fresh mixed Tang.

And then I went back to my hotel room and tried to sleep but didn't. And then I took Jesse's car to the Volkswagen dealership in Northampton and then the dealership shuttle took me back to my hotel and didn't come pick me up until 2PM. It sucked a lot. But the car was a little better when they were done with it.

And then after that Julie and I went diner hopping! Some of you may know that Julie really enjoys diners. I enjoy them too so she took me to a couple cool ones in the area. She already posted photos on her blog but I'll post some more.

Photos from Blue Bonnet Diner

I love me a good quote of the day!

We sat at the counter and I took photos of random people also sitting at the counter.

Appetizers!

And then we went to the Miss Florence Diner!

Julie tried to get me to order the "Miss Flo's Talking Dixie" but I didn't do it.

Instead I got the diner-fabulous hot roast beef sandwich. And then only ate a few bites because I was full from appetizers. Oops.

Me! And you can see the cool jukebox at the table.

It was a really short and fun trip. I was glad Julie wasn't pissed that I showed up and that she had some time to hang out with me. I hadn't planned on hanging out with her since she is really busy finishing up with school so the Michael Penn show and the diner-hopping was super nice.

Whew. I'm finally feeling a little caught up. Birthday posts to come!

boxing.

2007-05-15T14:08:00.000-04:00

I don't know anything about boxing. I do know a little something about halls of fame. So I went to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY. Since I don't know anything about boxing, I decided I could try to learn something about it. And if not, find the funny stuff.

There were statues of dudes.

And happy dudes.

And Jewish dudes.

And sequins.

And more statues. Creepy statues.

It was a fun little hall of fame. Little. Very little. It was much little-er than the $9.50 ticket price led me to believe. I suggest that you only go if you are really into boxing. Really. A lot. Or sneak in for free. I don't suggest sneaking in because it is so little that they will find you very quickly.

get to the point.

2007-05-14T08:26:00.000-04:00

Jesse and I are on our way to America's Roller Coast! See you when we return...

sneezy

2007-05-10T08:11:00.000-04:00

When Jesse leaves in the morning he always kisses me goodbye and tells me he loves me and I usually sleep through it or wake up and get all surly because I'm not a nice morning person and then go right back to sleep. This morning I woke up and I don't know if I was surly but I probably was. I do know I couldn't go back to sleep because of a massive allergy attack. I sneezed five times in a row. Give me a break. And now something is really wrong because I am going to move the treadmill back into place and then I am going to go for a jog. What kind of allergy is this? I'm not looking forward to it but I am going to do it because the thought of it doesn't make me want to vomit so I must take advantage of this moment. I'm sure it will be tons o' fun because I am stuffy and sniffly and snotty all at the same time. Yay!

Oh, and I'm working on writing about my road trip. And I'll post photos. Ridiculous photos. Sweet!

surprise!!

2007-05-04T05:20:00.000-04:00

I am in Amherst, MA!! I can tell you this now because Julie knows. And yes, it is 5:30AM. I have a nasty case of the insomnia and haven't been to sleep yet tonight. And in a couple hours I have to go to the Volkswagen dealership in Northampton because Jesse's car is doing the same damn thing it did before the dealership in Troy "fixed" it for $200. That's right. When I called the dealership here I explained what part was replaced and that it was doing the same thing again. The dude said, "Well it must be the turbo because that part should last for more than a week." In my head I was thinking, "No shit, sherlock. And since when is Tuesday May 1 to Thursday May 3 a week?" But luckily my voice said, "Yeah. I know. Perhaps the part broke?" and he said, "Yeah. That's possible." Um. THEN WHY DID YOU SAY IT MUST BE THE TURBO???

I have lots to tell about my trip but I can hardly see straight so I can't imagine I have anything coherent to say.

But I will say that Julie was very surprised to see me. Good surprised, not bad surprised. And it has been so nice hanging out with her that I am staying until Saturday so we can go to diners and bars tomorrow. Today. And then I will sleep so I can drive straight home because I really miss my husband. A lot.

almost there.

2007-05-02T18:47:00.000-04:00

I am more than half way to my secret destination. Right now I'm at a Ramada Inn eating Burger King for dinner. Disgusting, no? But I'm really wiped and chilling in my little room and relaxing is a good thing. I talked to Jesse and since I am not home, he is having a friend over. He only invites friends over when his wicked-witch-wife is out of town. He says it isn't because he's embarrassed of me but since it happens every time I leave and rarely when I am home, he isn't very convincing. Oh well.

I can't write much about my trip so far because I don't want to give anything away. And nothing exciting has really happened.

Here's a helpful travel tip: If your throat hurts the day before you leave, it probably won't get better by the time you leave and you just might drive several hours wishing you would have stayed home. Oh. And if you decide to quit smoking, you probably shouldn't plan a long trip in the car a week later. The good thing is a sore throat kind of kills the urge to smoke. Kind of.

Time to put on my pajamas and watch tv until I fall asleep. Tomorrow will be more driving and then some fun.

ready to hit the road.

2007-05-01T12:23:00.000-04:00

Last summer I sat around and didn't do anything. I didn't work. I didn't go to school. I didn't travel. I did, however, recover from four long years of working at a stupid agency full of stupid people. This summer I plan on not working. And not going to school. I am, however, going to travel. Tomorrow I go on my super secret surprise escapade. I freaking love alliteration although I suppose 'escapade' is a stretch. I will give you one hint. And that is: IBHOF. But that is just a small part of the trip. I'm almost ready to go. The snacks are all purchased (meat sticks!) and I'll only be gone until Friday or Saturday so I won't have to take many clothes.

Yesterday I spent four and a half hours at the Volkswagen dealership getting a check-up for Jesse's car that I will be driving on my little trip. Unfortunately they broke it so Jesse had to take it back today so they could fix it. Of course they are denying they broke it but really now. When I drove it in to the lot, it worked fine. When I left the lot, it wasn't accelerating like it should. When Jesse called them, they said to give it about 50 miles to break in the new fuel filter and stuff. When he returned it to them this morning after driving more than 50 miles, they said it was broken and would cost another $220 to fix it. This is after the $440 check-up yesterday. Luckily Jesse talked them down and it didn't cost quite as much as they said. But it still pisses me off that they think we will really believe this part just happened to break during the time it was at the dealership but they had nothing to do with it. I might have been born on a Monday but it definitely wasn't yesterday. Assholes.

We see the Tigers play the Orioles tonight. I kind of wish I was there last night to see the drama with Tejada and Bonderman... and Cabrera and Sheffield... and the Orioles bench and the Tigers bench... and the Orioles bullpen and the Tigers bullpen. I giggled when Sheffield hit the 2-run homer and Cabrera just stared him down while he ran the bases. So fun!

shhh....

2007-04-29T00:23:00.000-04:00

I have a secret! I am going on a surprise trip. I can't say too much because someone might be reading and I don't want to ruin the surprise. But I am super excited and can't wait to hit the road! Unfortunately, I have to wait until Wednesday. It's probably better that way so I can get some stuff done.

I haven't smoked since Tuesday. It's probably better that you stay away from me because I'm not very nice right now. At all. Just ask Jesse. No. Don't.

okay now what.

2007-04-25T10:20:00.000-04:00

All done with school! Yesterday I went to an interview for my internship that starts in the fall. So today is my first day of having no official plans. So I will go to Target. And Michaels. And the grocery store. I was going to cut the grass because the back yard looks like a meadow straight out of Little House on the Prairie (except there aren't hills. or trees. or little girls running around in bonnets. never mind.) but it is raining and we have an electric lawn mower and I think it would be a bad idea. Yay!

Oh. I do have an official plan. Today I will not smoke cigarettes. I am a quitter.

We'll see.

almost done.

2007-04-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

Classes ended last week. I turned in my last paper on Saturday afternoon. Today is my last day of internship.

I will finally be able to catch up on reading The New Yorker.

Finally.

i don't understand you.

2007-04-18T17:15:00.000-04:00

the dude in my class that was never taught to move his jaw when he speaks. It appears to be permanently unhinged. I do not believe it is a physical disability. I believe it is a motivation disability. He is too lazy to move his mouth. He needs to stop being motivated to talk to me. I will continue with the blank stares.
the professor that gives me 100% on my paper but then writes, "this was written different than what I was looking for however, it was exactly what I hoped you would get out of it so... well done." I appreciate the 100%. But next time, maybe make your assignment a little more clear than, "Write about your experience." and I will possibly write what you were looking for.
the entire class that is in love with above professor. Are you really learning that much from her? I'm not.

i'll be alright.

2007-04-15T11:04:00.000-04:00

Just when life was looking manageable again I got some bad news. My uncle Gene died last Thursday. He didn't show up for work on Thursday or Friday so his boss called the police. They found him dead on his kitchen floor. No foul play. A bad heart attack. Uncle Gene was my mom's little brother. Always quiet. Always kind. Always driving some piece of shit, yet exciting, vehicle like a really old Porsche or a VW van that he had to park on a hill because it didn't go in reverse. Always working really hard but still showing up to family gatherings after a long night. My grandma was pregnant with him when my grandpa died. My grandma and grandpa were out on a boat ride when somehow the boat flipped. Neither of them could swim. My grandma was able to hold on to the side of the boat but my grandpa drowned. I am so sad about uncle Gene but have been able to not think about it and work on school stuff. The funeral is on Tuesday and I'm sure I'll be a mess. But hopefully by then I'll have my presentation and my paper done.

I only got to see uncle Gene a few times a year at family stuff. But I miss him already.

take note.

2007-04-10T10:47:00.000-04:00

I am at my internship right now. The computers here are straight out of the early 90's (read: pieces of shit) so I rarely use them, especially for internet purposes because the blue screen of death shows up if I have more than one Explorer window open at a time and it's a pain in the ass. At one time I must have posted something from this computer because when I just opened blogger.com to write about Abu Ghraib, I was already signed in to blogger. Yeah. I never signed out the last time I posted something from this computer. I think that was sometime last semester.

One time I was at Joanna's and I checked my gmail account and didn't sign out. Lucky for me she is a good friend and did not send out dirty emails to the church directory from my email address.

Sign out!!

what would rumsfeld do?

2007-04-10T10:31:00.000-04:00

On my way to "work" this morning I drove by a van with the company's name, "Blue Water Boarding Kennel" written on the back of the van and silhouettes of a couple dogs. Deep in my heart I knew something was wrong. A kennel that tortures dogs? Who does that? And then I realized the company really should not put their name in one line. Perhaps something like,

Blue Water

Boarding Kennel

would keep morons like me from assuming they are the Abu Ghraib for dogs.

i think i see the light.

2007-04-09T10:03:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not dying. Two more weeks of school. Only five more papers and one big ass presentation to go. All the wedding stuff is done. I'm finally thinking I can do this.

Now I'll probably get hit by a bus on my way to internship this morning.

signs of spring in michigan.

2007-04-05T23:03:00.000-04:00

Monday - Opening day. 60 + degrees and sunshine.
Wednesday - 2nd game of the season. At 1PM it was 43 degrees. By 3PM it was 38 degrees. And snowing. My entire body shook uncontrollably for almost 2 hours. Trembling knee caps are very unsettling.
Thursday - 3rd game of the season. Postponed because of the cold. Wind chill in the 20's.

baseball tonight is just wrong.

2007-04-04T19:51:00.000-04:00

"Reyes is in the box slapping it around."

signs of spring

2007-04-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

the screams of ghetto cat rape outside my window
pheasants in the back yard
switching the ridiculously warm down comforter for blankets and then freezing my ass off all night
OPENING DAY!!

ooops, i forgot!

2007-03-15T15:36:00.000-04:00

One more photo for Brenda!

I have an unhealthy obsession with the El Camino. That's right. I want one. So when I saw this one in the parking lot of Derby Lanes (the oldest dog track in Florida), I had Jesse take my picture with my phone. Oh it was so shiny and pretty.

back to the real world.

2007-03-15T15:11:00.000-04:00

I decided to return home on our scheduled flight. So now we're home and I'm freaking out about school shit again. Since I'm studying and trying to get ready for a research exam, I'll just post some photos.

Sunday we went to the split squad Tigers game at the spring training home of the Phillies, Bright House Networks Field. Our tickets were in the front row, right behind home plate. The woman that sang the National Anthem stood right in front of us and I could see myself on the big video screen while she was singing. I tried really hard to behave myself. Here's a photo of Jim Leyland talking to some dude.

I believe this is Andrew Miller pitching. I just liked this photo because you can see the ball. The next day Mr. Miller was sent to the single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers.

On Monday we saw the Tigers play the Tampa Bay Rays at their park with some ridiculous name that I don't remember and am too lazy to look it up. We have been to this park a couple times in the past. I love the view of the water! That is Bonderman warming up on the mound. I think.

This guy cracked me up. Apparently the joke was on me because I ended up with a sunburn even after slathering on the 45 sunblock.

I was determined to go to a beach before we went home. Tuesday we found a beach! I don't even remember which beach it was.

Oh wait, I remember. It's a dirty beach.

i'm never coming home. until opening day.

2007-03-11T19:25:00.000-04:00

I started to write a really long post but I'm on vacation and it felt like work. So I'll post some photos instead.

Holiday Inn Home of the Detroit Tigers. I am still not convinced the Tigers stay there. The bed in our room was really really really uncomfortable.

This thing was out in the berm area. From our seats it totally looked like it was getting railed when the little kids were jumping around in it. Slutty tiger.

Jesse doing his Uncle Rico photo impression. Joker Marchant playing field in his right eye.

Magglio at the plate. I don't know if this was the at-bat where Beckett nailed him in the head with a pitch.

Speaking of getting hit with pitches... Beckett had hit Sheffield in the 1st inning and then hit Magglio. In the 5th inning Todd Jones came in and pitched behind the batter. Bench clearing brawl ensued. Of course, we missed the whole thing because we had gone for a smoke break. Dammit. And yes, we know. Another reason smoking is bad.

Today I told Jesse I'm just going to stay down here until opening day. I will probably flunk out of school but it will be okay because I haven't been this relaxed since last summer when all I did was go to baseball games.

Time to drink more wine! I'll try to post photos from today's kick ass game sometime tomorrow. Or later tonight when I'm drunk.

uh oh.

2007-03-09T21:51:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I forgot to pack pajamas. At home I usually sleep in my birthday suit but I don't like to do that when I have house guests or when I am at a hotel. What if there is a fire in the night? I suppose there could be a fire at my house too.

I need to stop worrying about everything.

The first few years I had my drivers' license I was terrified that I would hit a cow in the road. I grew up not far from the Ag School's farms. I've stopped worrying about that so maybe there is hope for me yet. Maybe?

there's a reason i don't stay at rustic campgrounds.

2007-03-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

I like to pee/poop in toilets.

We're in Lakeland! And the hotel has free wireless internet so here I am sitting in my little hotel room with no working toilet. But it has free wireless so I suppose that's all you care about.

Traveling was fairly uneventful. This morning when we were printing out hotel/flight/rental car confirmations we realized that neither of us rented a car. Jesse got his ass on the internet and found one. I think he was lucky because we flew in to Tampa. In March. On a Friday afternoon.

Since we flew out of Detroit at 1:45pm, we decided to eat lunch at the airport. We went to a sushi restaurant so Jesse could eat that shit and I could eat something that tasted equally as nasty. Here's Jesse's lunch.

Airport sushi? For real?? The restaurant actually had Ramen on the menu. I was going to order it but couldn't justify spending $10 on Ramen noodles even knowing we wouldn't really be paying for it (no, we weren't planning on dining-and-dashing, Jesse actually gets a "travel bonus" so everything will be paid for... up to a limit...).

Our flight left on time and was relatively smooth and quiet. The noise reducing headphones work quite well.

We arrived in Tampa at about 4:30pm. 83 degrees. Palm trees. And Friday rush hour traffic. It took a while to get to Lakeland but it was okay because the car windows were open. And it's March. And we weren't shivering from the cold.

We stay at the Holiday Inn in Lakeland because it was always the "Home of the Detroit Tigers." Well, at least until a couple years ago. But when we got here today, the signs were back up! Jesse asked the front desk chick what "Home of the Detroit Tigers" means. She said it means they stay here. I'm not sure I believe that because well, if I was a Detroit Tiger, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't stay here. I mean, I know Willie Horton stayed here a couple years ago because we ran into him at the elevators. I just figured he didn't manage his finances well. It doesn't really matter if we do see Tigers here because I get all star struck and will be too shy to say anything anyway. Sad.

We got to our room and I had to pee really badly. I went in the bathroom and the toilet was full of toilet paper. I flushed it but it didn't flush so I called the front desk. They said maintenance would be right here. We left for dinner and figured maintenance would just let themselves in.

Dinner at Harry's was so yummy. We had to wait a long time but it was worth it. The obnoxious 50th birthday party with a bunch of loud and drunk old people didn't even ruin our dinner. We had the fried green tomato appetizer and it was really yummy. Washing it down with a spicy bloody mary was the way to go. We ate a lot of other stuff but I already wrote about food and I'm sure you're sick of it. Isn't that what vacation is all about though? I can't gain weight because I'm in a wedding in a few weeks and my dress is getting altered right now. I will be mortified if I go to pick it up and it doesn't fit.

We got back from dinner at 8:30 and nobody had come to fix the toilet. Come on, people! Jesse called the front desk and they said maintenance would be here right away. Yeah. Sure. I just went down to the front desk a few minutes ago (9:30pm) and she called maintenance again. The dude showed up about 3 minutes after she called. I am thinking they never called the other times. I would request free shit from them but we got free breakfast last year and it really wasn't that great. And we're only here one night anyway.

Jesse is doing stand-up at a restaurant/bar in the Best Western across the street. I'm sitting in the hotel room watching tv and writing really long posts about nothing. I'm thinking about going pee again just because I can. But I don't really have to.

Favorite things about FL so far: kids sitting outside an ice cream parlor enjoying their ice cream. I'm wearing Tevas. It is March.

Watch for exciting baseball photos tomorrow. Hopefully.

spring vacation!

2007-03-08T17:29:00.000-05:00

I am officially on spring vacation. Kind of. I have to go to a meeting tonight for a group project. But then I'll be on vacation. We leave for Florida tomorrow and I can't wait! Oh. Wait. Yes, I can. I'm kind of freaking out about getting everything done before we go. And Barbaro Garbey has been acting more strangely than usual and I am worried she is sick. And because I am not an optimist, I worry that she will die before we get back and Willie Horton will eat her. We'll have to be sure to leave extra food and hope that Willie eats the food instead of Barbaro.

Once we land in Tampa I'm sure I'll forget we even have cats. And once we are at Joker Marchant Stadium watching the Tigers play the Red Sox, I'll forget I have one million assignments due before the end of the semester in April.

I am 99% sure that I will take my computer with me so hopefully I'll find time to post something.

i love spring training.

2007-03-05T15:36:00.000-05:00

The Yankees are playing the Tigers on ESPN right now. The game has been all over the place with both teams making spring training mistakes. The announcers keep talking about how the unusually cool weather might be affecting their play.

Unusually cool at 65 degrees.

We leave on Friday and I cannot wait.

But first I have to find warm weather clothes and make sure they are clean. Then I have to pack the warm weather clothes. And I have to write two papers. And progress notes for the two families I see at internship. And a house guest tomorrow night. And find a place to do alterations on my bridesmaid dress. And I should probably clean so the house guest isn't disgusted and so we don't have to come home to a dirty house. And I have to go to a meeting for a class project. And I have to go to another meeting for another class project.

Last night I was thinking I would wear my glasses on the plane. The air is so dry on the plane and my contacts usually bug me. But then I decided I will wear my contacts because if the plane crashes and if I survive and if I have to find my way out of the jungle or the swamp or the desert and if I lose my glasses I will die because I won't see the big lion or crocodile or rattle snake coming after me. So even though we won't be flying over a jungle or swamp or desert, I think I will feel better knowing I might be able to see with my contacts if we crash and I survive.

something you don't want to hear during a home visit...

2007-03-05T13:31:00.000-05:00

"I can't just leave my wife because I don't know when my dad is going to show up here with a gun and do something crazy. I need to be here to protect her. I mean, my dad is crazy. We don't ever know what he is going to do."

Great. I love home visits. Does anyone have a bullet proof vest I can borrow?

addiction.

2007-03-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

Hi. I'm Jen and I can't get enough office supplies. Pens. Paper. Markers. Highlighters. White boards. Binders. 3-(or 2-) hole punch. Calendars/planners. Folders.

You get the picture.

When I go to the office for my internship I have anxiety attacks because they don't believe in office supplies. The other day, I walked around the office looking for a stapler that worked. I believe the 5th one I tried actually had staples. I looked for a couple folders to put papers in but never found any. One day I took a phone message for one of the employees and had to use my own paper because I could not find any message or note pads. Most of the time I can't get work done because the computers are super old and shitty or the internet doesn't work.

This morning I stayed home because I have all the office supplies I need at an arm's length. All is right with the world.

i'm moving.

2007-03-03T18:21:00.000-05:00

I decided that I need to start a new blog that is family friendly. More specifically, one that my mom can read and not be disappointed she adopted me. And one that can be found by church camp people and I don't have to pretend it wasn't me that was the dean at camp last summer. Or the summer before. I've also realized that since school is all-consuming, I have been really bad at returning emails and phone calls. Maybe if I have a blog everyone can read, I won't feel so bad about not calling/emailing people back. Or maybe I'll just feel worse that I take the time to post but not call/email back. Oh well.

I don't know when this will actually happen. I have to come up with a name first. I had a couple but they were already taken. Assholes.

If you have a suggestion, leave it in a comment. But it better be nice.

And I'll let you know when I move. That way you can continue to be bored to tears.

espn makes me flunk.

2007-03-02T14:55:00.000-05:00

I haven't been reading for my classes because I've been busy writing papers and stuff. I decided today would be a great day to read because I'm home alone with no internship shit to do and got a really great night of sleep and it's just time to try to catch up.

But no.

Spring training baseball is on ESPN. No reading will be done because baseball is back.

And no, it isn't the Tigers. It isn't even American League baseball.

I don't care.

No reading. Baseball is back.

stalking... and other stuff.

2007-03-01T14:44:00.000-05:00

The guy we bought our house from is a photographer for the Detroit News. I was checking out the photo galleries from Tigers spring training and realized that he was the photographer! So last night I emailed him and asked if he wanted to get together for a cocktail or something when Jesse and I are there. I'd love to get to know him but I'm secretly, or not so secretly, hoping he'll say, "hey guys, why don't you come with me to the ball park and I'll take pictures with you and all of your favorite Tigers. Perhaps you can have Magglio re-enact his homerun that got the Tigs to the World Series? And all the players will probably want to hang out with you too!"

My 3rd class of the day was canceled today. I was happy and a little frustrated. We have a paper due next week and I have a ton of questions. But whatever. It's rainy and cold and gross here so heading home to chill on the couch was okay too. I was almost home when my friend from school called and her truck had broken down. She lives in Port Huron, which is a ways from here. I went and sat with her until her boyfriend could get here to help. I hope she makes it home all safe and sound and her truck is fixable!

So I got home and gmail doesn't work and I feel lost. How will I find out if I'll be hanging out with the Tigers if gmail doesn't work? How will I read the email from my professor that canceled class? How will I live??

i suck.

2007-02-22T00:46:00.000-05:00

I don't post much here anymore because I am too damn busy. The five classes and internship are officially kicking my ASS. But that's not why I suck (well, it might be another reason). I suck because I procrastinate. Right now. I have a paper due at 8:30AM tomorrow. No, make that today. I didn't start writing the paper until this evening. Luckily I did a few hours worth of research on Sunday or I would be really screwed. I am tired. My body is tired. I won't be sleeping for a long time because I took a record amount of Ritalin today. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to take four doses in one day and I'm not sure how my body will respond. But at least I won't fall asleep while finishing my paper. I just took a quesadilla break and have a little more energy. Jesse is an awesome best friend and husband, and not just because he makes me quesadillas at midnight.

Today some friends and I went on a field trip between classes. Here is a photo from our little excursion.

must. write. paper. and. then. edit. and. then. finish. progress. notes. from. shitty. internship. and. then. take. a. shower. and. go. to. class.

oh the drama.

yee haw.

2007-02-18T17:45:00.000-05:00

Jesse instant-messaged me on Friday and asked if I wanted to go to the rodeo. I asked him when. Of course it didn't really matter when, I said yes before he could answer.

So we went to the rodeo on Friday night. It was at the Palace of Auburn Hills and we had free front row tickets and free parking. Nice! I had never been to a rodeo before and wasn't sure what to expect. The first surprise of the evening was the stink. It makes sense that it smelled like shit but for some reason I never even considered it. Yeah. I didn't enjoy that part of the rodeo at all. Hopefully the Palace has a sweet ventilation system because I can't imagine the Pistons would be happy to come home to a shit-smelling arena. I know I would be really mad if I had a job and went away and came back and my office smelled like shit. Or was filled with black mold. Ha! Just when you thought I was over that...

When we pulled in to the parking lot, there were a couple animal rights protesters with signs. I realized that I must hate animals. Between going to the rodeo and the dog track, I am personally responsible for the pain and suffering of so many furry, cute, and not-so-cute animals. But I'm okay with that because I work toward ending the pain and suffering of so many cute and not-so-cute human beings. Priorities, people. And besides, I watch Animal Cops and know that there are a lot of animals out there that didn't make the cut for the rodeo and the dog track that live pretty horrible lives. Anyway, I do give them props for standing out there in the freezing cold with their signs. Especially since when I went to DC a few weeks ago I was prepared to protest from my cousin's condo if it was cold outside. Just kidding. Kind of.

Pictures!

They turned off the lights and this was on the big screen. I love the Longhorn World Championship Rodeo!

I don't know if you can tell but that is a flame at the top of that there flag pole. Very patriotic.

Here's a calf that the cowboy was supposed to tackle and tie up but the calf got away. I'm not sure I understand why a cowboy would want to jump off a horse, tackle a calf, then tie up the calf but it was definitely entertaining. One guy couldn't get the calf to lay down so he picked it up and dropped it on the ground and it bounced. I started to feel bad for the calf and then I was interupted by my fond memories of the steak I had eaten for dinner on the way to the rodeo.

Then an entire cowboy family came out and did cowboy stuff. They shot stuff and lassoed stuff and stood on horses. The mom did stuff too but I don't remember because I was too busy being amazed at the concept of an entire cowboy family.

And then they did trick riding, which is different than what I thought when I heard it announced. Everyone was dressed and money was not exchanged. At least not out in front of everyone. There were three people who did hand stands and other crazy shit while riding a horse that was running really fast. Again, I can't remember exactly what they did because I was busy focusing on the gold lame' rider. Wow. I'm not sure if you can see it in this photo but she has a gold sequin headband to match her outfit. This photo is blurry but I really liked how she posed for this photo.

And then they did some other cowboy stuff. And then. Then they turned off the lights again. And then they brought out the bull.

Oh the excitement! I could feel it in the air! I don't think anyone rode this one but they rode a bunch of other bulls.

This is a photo of a bunch of cowboys beating on a bull that wouldn't cooperate. I think it kept laying down or something. So they kicked it in the head and hit it with their cowboy hats. And then it behaved so they could continue with tightening the noose around its balls so they could ride it.

I don't have much zoom on my camera so you can see how close we were. While it was exciting to have bulls and horses running at me, I don't recommend sitting in the front row at the rodeo (or at hockey games, but for a completely different reason). See, the animals and cowboys run around on lots of dirt. And when they run fast, dirt flies up and hits the people in the front row. Yuck.

So. Even though the rodeo smelled like shit and dirt landed on me, I loved it. It was waaay more exciting than the monster truck rally and I would definitely go again.

update.

2007-02-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

Last month I posted about a random voicemail I received. I completely forgot to call the man back and let him know he left the voicemail for the wrong Jen. A couple weeks ago when I was driving to Dexter to meet my family to drive to Washington, DC, my phone rang and I didn't recognize the number. I answered it and it was the guy! I tried to explain that even though yes, I am Jen, he had the wrong number. He said, "yeah right." and hung up! How rude! I thought about it for a few minutes and decided that I really needed to call him back and let him know he hung up on the wrong Jen. So I called him back and said, "You called a while ago and left a message and I meant to call you to tell you you have the wrong number but I forgot and I really don't want you to think the person you are trying to call is blowing you off because she just didn't get your message." And I had to say it really quickly because I didn't want him to hang up again. He asked me if I worked at some company and I said no, that he really had the wrong number. Then he laughed and very politely apologized and thanked me for calling him back and said goodbye.

heat

2007-02-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

All across the land people are saying, "Brrr! It's so cold!" I see news reports of people without heat in their apartments. They turn on stoves and burners in the kitchen to stay warm even though they know the hazards. I think to myself, "that is so dangerous. I hope they do not have small children or pets in the house. I hope they do not burn their entire house/apartment complex down to the ground."

I stay inside as much as possible because we have insulation in our house now. It is warm. When I do go outside I wear Cuddl Duds and I bundle up in my ridiculously warm Marmot jacket (I'm a poser. I do not ski. I search for warmth, water proof, and wind proof and am willing to pay large amounts of money for my own comfort). I pull on my knit cap and my warm mittens and run to my car and wait for it to warm up. I drive to my internship and sit in my car and call the office from my cell phone to make sure someone is in the office. I do not want to get out of my warm car if nobody is in the office. When I establish that someone is in the office, I hurry from the car to the office building. It is cold but since pretty much just my nose is exposed, it's not too bad.

Now I sit in the warm office. It is actually a little too warm. I shouldn't have worn the Cuddl Duds. I'm annoyed because my supervisor sucks and is never here on time, and when she is here, she usually ignores me or gives me some inane task just so I'll have something to do. She completely misses the point that I am here to learn and am not her secretary. I think things like, "Why me? Why do I get such a shitty internship? I can't believe I had to go out in the cold for this."

Someone comes in my office and tells me I have a phone call. It is a woman I have been speaking to on the phone for about 2 weeks now. She is Nigerian and has been in the U.S. for almost 3 years. She came here to be with her husband. He beat the shit out of her on a regular basis so she and her two young children left him 8 months ago. They lived in a domestic violence shelter for a few months and then were placed in a transitional housing program. Things have gone very wrong for this family. Two weeks ago she was told that even though they told her the rent was $475 and included utilities, they were wrong and it is actually $625. Oh, and she has to make up the difference for the three months she has already lived there. She cannot afford $625 and does not have the money to pay what they say she owes. This is illegal. She did not sign a lease. They cannot raise her rent and evict her for not paying it. I try to address this with her but the illegality of the situation is not her concern. Her concern is finding a place for her family to live. I have been doing my best to try to figure out what this transitional housing program is and why they suck so badly. I have made phone calls on her behalf. I have talked to her on several occasions and we have begun to establish a relationship. I am hopeful that I can help this family even though this is not what my internship is supposed to be.

This morning I say, "Hello! How are you today?" and my heart drops when she says, "The landlord turned off my heat on Saturday. I have a small heater but it isn't enough. I am scared." I want to throw up. I will do all I can to help her but I am not familiar with the programs in this county. Nobody returns my phone calls. This is so illegal but she doesn't care about that. The legal system is slow and she needs to find a place to live now. My supervisor still isn't here.

I am warm. I hope you are warm. Lots of people are cold right now because apparently, poor people don't even deserve heat. Even though I am warm, I am not comfortable. I have so much. It isn't right that I have so much and people are shivering inside their homes, if they have homes. Ah the guilt of a social worker. I was going to tell you to go forth and help people. That just sounds cheesy and social work-y and like I just attended a war protest or something. So instead I will tell you that I hope you can stay warm through this cold spell.

Doing what I can to help this family will help me stay warm. And comfortable.

i protest.

2007-02-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's been a week since our DC trip. Yikes!! Okay so here's the story of the weekend.

We left on Friday a little after noon. I was running late because my car didn't start. Apparently my battery doesn't like cold weather. Erica, Wendy, my mom and I loaded up my mom's car and took off for DC. We got to Dundee (about a half hour drive from where we started) and had to stop for beef jerky and some lunch.

Yummy!!

We got back on the road and had a pretty uneventful trip. We got to DC at 10:30 which was waaaay later than I thought we would get there. But we had stopped several times and I didn't want to speed too much because it freaks my mom out. Cousincori insisted we stay with her even though she was super busy. It was great to have a comfortable place to stay... for free! We were pretty tired after the long road trip so stayed in and drank some wine and went to bed early.

Saturday morning we got up and finished making our protest signs.

And we went to breakfast at the Tune Inn, which is right around the corner from Cori's condo. The dead animal heads on the wall were amazing and the greasy food was a great way to start the protest day. But as Cori said, the really great service from our waitress was a little unsettling. Good service just doesn't always fit in at a greasy breakfast bar. Great service is just strange.

It was such a beautiful day. It was chilly in the morning but it definitely warmed up.

We got to the mall a little before 11AM so there weren't very many people there. Cori and I walked around a little bit because her friend was supposed to meet us there. We finally found her and then went back to find my mom, Erica, and Wendy. They were up toward the stage so once we found them, it was hard to look back to see how many people were there. The march was supposed to start at 1PM but they had a lot of speakers so it didn't get going until almost 2. Surprisingly, I thought one of the best speakers of the day was the mayor of Salt Lake City. Who woulda thunk it?? I was also happy to hear John Conyers give a shout out to Detroit. There were some celebrities there - Jane Fonda, of course Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and Sean Penn. A couple veterans and/or their family members spoke out against the war. It really felt like everyone supported the troops but not the war. I obviously wasn't around to protest the Vietnam war but I think we all know that the troops didn't have any support. Many of the speakers not only talked about bringing the troops home and out of harm's way, but pushed for supportive services for the troops and their families once they are home.

Here is a photo of Erica and I. Such good little protesters.

It seems like it took forever for the march to start. And then when it did start, we moved at a snail's pace. The crowd was pretty fired up. Lots of yelling. Lots of sign waving. Lots of singing. Lots of getting bonked on the head with sign corners. Here's the supreme court. I like this picture because the court almost looks fake against the pretty blue sky. I think you all know I'm not that good at photoshopping so it is definitely real.

We dropped out of the march after a while because we were tired (we're old!) and hungry and had to pee. We went to lunch at some bar. I relaxed with a big burger and a very tasty bloody mary. We decided to take the subway up to the memorials and walk around since it was just late afternoon and the weather was perfect.

The World War II memorial wasn't done the last time I was in DC so I was glad we saw it. It's huge and I am sure it is even more cool when the water is in the pool.

The Lincoln Memorial is always amazing.

We also went to the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the FDR Memorial. I think I took this picture from the FDR Memorial.

And then this is the Jefferson Memorial.

We walked a long way! We finally made it back to Cori's and my mom crashed on the bed. She didn't move. We were sure to put her cell phone, a glass of water, and the remote control by her side before Wendy, Erica, and I went to meet cousinAaron and his friend, Kyle, at the 18th Amendment bar. After a couple cocktails and some food we went back to Cori's and crashed before 11PM. Cori was at a work party and when she got home, she said she thought we were all still out partying. Yeah. Right.

Sunday morning we woke up early, dropped Cori off at the airport (she was actually flying to Detroit!) and hit the road for home. We didn't run into too much bad weather, just some snow in Pennsylvania and then in Toledo. I think the worst roads I ran into were in Detroit where salting and/or plowing the roads is against the values of the city.

It was an awesome weekend with lots of fun and laughs. I love my family (and Erica definitely counts as one of the family!) and I will remember this weekend for a long time.