lil miss sunshine

the fun never ends. last weekend visiting tulsa was fabulous. i saw old friends from high school, hung out at caz's, got to see most of the family, and then raced back home in time to get ready for school monday morning. school this week has been great. i started my senior year and it shows; many of the classes have culminating papers and i started a class that has as part of its purpose to prepare me for my senior thesis. however, i love it all. none of my classes is dull this semester and each of my instructors is smart, engaging, and seem very capable of helping me learn.
i spent a wonderful weekend hanging out with larissa, going on a date with joshua, and even doing a little homework. the rest of this rainy weekend will be spent doing laundry, reading, and starting on christmas crafts. oh, and i meet a sweet woman at michael's while shopping for knitting needles. she teaches a class on sock knitting which i plan to take next month. i am feeling on top of the world today.
the rain has kept the weather cool and i have felt more up to getting things done. yesterday larissa and i made apple butter; just like my grandma used to make. today i am going to try to come up with recipes using carrots to get rid of the seemingly endless supply in the fridge.
i leave on this statement: everyone must go see lil miss sunshine, if you have not already. i laughed so hard i annoyed the guy next to me with my screeching howls. i can not say enough great things about this movie. if it is not playing in your town, buy it when it comes out on dvd.

are we there yet?

i have not posted in a few days, not because nothing is going on but there has been no time. this weekend was a blur, school started yesterday, work is backed up already, and i need to do the laundry. i will try to spend a little time catching up soon as i have fun stuff to share from this weekend.

ugly day

today was a pisser. mom called at 8:30 to tell me the computer would not turn on; i diagnosed it as a bad power supply and tried to roll over. failing at that i got up to begin my day of work. for some reason i was not able to focus and ended up surfing the internet for a few hours. at about 11 i finally decided to work but found i could not log into the website i needed to work with. so i left to deal with getting a new cell phone for our sales guy. there is nothing that makes you feel more raped than buying a cell phone and plan. with that accomplished i headed back to the office to deliver the phone. the office was a black hole and i was stuck there for the next 5 hours. in order to amuse ourselves we logged into joshua's computer and changed his wallpaper to the logo of our competitor. for some reason he did not notice for a few hours. it is no fun unless the jokee gets mad. finally i made it back home to the stack of paperwork i had to manage before i left the house at noon. tomorrow has to be better.
ps the cat is missing

last week free

happiness continues this week. i have made an absolute mess of my office but that comes with getting used to the space. they are learning to get along without me in the main office and have started sending emails or calling when they need help. i may actually get this together this semester and be a very calm girl. on that note, i heard that one of my professors is very tough and to punctuate that he has already sent the syllabi (two classes with him) and as soon as they let him on a plane back from england he will be sending more info over. i went to school today to pick up the rest of my books so i can get ahead of the game. the books look good so let us hope the classes are fun as well.
i am going home this weekend for one last hurrah before getting crazy busy again. plans have already been made to hang out with friends from high school and my lil sis is coming along. good times, good people. the only drag is that i must go over to the rent house and spray for spiders; they are not able to do that for themselves. and she wants to paint the master blue. i am not sure she saw the perfectly white house; blue? over my dead body. i worked really hard on that place and i want it to stay perfect.

defcon pics

as usual i was being a dork at defcon and decided a self portrait was needed. amazingly enough my camera comes with a self portrait feature. there are apparently enough of us dorks out there to warrant a special setting. i look like my mother in this photo. luckily you can not see the four missing teeth because i conveniently did not smile. joshua looks smashing as usual.

yeah, i am a nerd

by the way...i got a 4.0 for the summer semester.

happy days are here again

larrisa stopped by to return some books she borrowed and sat to chat with me for a few. after she asked how things were (did she really or did i just start ranting?) i went into my usual about how busy/stressed/tired/overworked i am. while i was spouting the same ole i started to get sick of hear myself complain again. so then i told her some of the good things that have been going on. i am getting caught up at work; already purchased my school books and have done a little reading; the laundry is almost finished and the dishwasher is humming its last load; my house is pretty clean and the bills are paid (almost!). it made me feel better just telling her those things. somehow my load seemed lifted and i could see the light. before she left we decided to plan a knitting/crochet group at the local coffee shop so that we can meet other, likeminded (and helpful) people to work on projects with. i have yet to finish my blanket for my mother but i decided to start on a simple shoulder bag for me in the meantime.
life is pretty good today. i worked hard loading and unloading donated imacs to refurbish for a native american after school program (see info).
I hope this look on the bright side feeling lasts. I am baking bread for the boys at work and i do not want to suddenly go into a depressing binge and eat the entire two loaves.

all your base are belong to us

i have been working in the office all week and now feel like i am a true geek.
chown -r us/base
i want to learn a bit more so i can be a better translate for the norms.

hack the planet

so, i attended my first defcon and it was everything i expected. there were geeks wearing black shirts with bionary code messages. joshua taught me how to say 'all your base are belong to us' in unix but i forgot. i decided not to participate in the scavanger hunt even though i could get an automatic 60 points by showing my boobs and letting a team member tag them in permenant marker. the team who drug a 5 foot platform around the contest area exclaiming, 'arg, i am a pirate and i am walking the plank' ended up winning that contest. joshua had a great time but did not end up winning in the bot competition (he would have but the leds stopped working and the university of utah sent an entire class). i was proud of him because he worked hard on his entry. he has decided to win next year so he can claim the coveted black badge. it turns out that computer people are easy to spot, even in vegas. i mostly hung out and watched, caught a few seminars, and made friends with the attendees. a good time was had by all.

vegas baby!

i wait for the plane to open up to let me on board and then it is vegas baby! for some reason i allowed joshua to talk me into going to defcon this year. he said it would be like a vacation. i am not a big gambler and there is something about the desert that makes me think i may not be thrilled with the weather. and yet here i wait in kci for a plane heading to tulsa of all places. who knew that in order to get to vegas from kci one would need to jaunt thru tulsa international airport. i really want to know what international flights are actually going out of tulsa. maybe they were just too cheap to get a name. a lot of airports have nice names.

yea homework!

this post is called avoiding homework. i have one last class tonight for which i am supposed to have a review of a book we read. i am almost finished with the book but frankly do not care to write the review. i think i am burned on school for a bit. we are leaving for defcon in the am and i am not packed. i still need to clean the kitchen and finish some laundry. yet here i sit not doing my homework. i have been fairly successful at avoiding work as well. the only thing besides reading i have done in the past few days has to do with the rent house in tulsa. our new tenants are moving in so i finally had to get everything scheduled. the reading has not been so bad, mostly. we have three books for this class and two of them are very enjoyable; the third is an instant sleeping pill. i guess i will get back at it. do not be surprises if you see another post today. i am really through with the school shit.

just say no

the recovery process is going fine. i long to eat but other than that i am ok. when i talk air rushes out the newly formed spaces and i sound even worse. the lisping with the braces was bad enough. for some reason i can not get the memory out of my head of the nice dentist/doctor prying the teeth from my mouth. i originally was going to take care of myself so i told them local only, no general, so i could drive myself home. they give you the shots like they are going to fill a cavity and then they yank the teeth out. for some i felt the pressure, others just came out. she gave me one stitch for each missing tooth. and yes, they hurt. i had to take the hydrocodone before class and have joshua drive me. then i explained to the nice professor that i was stoned and could not give my prsentation tonight. i wonder if i will get points off for that?

new fashion, teeth removal

i got four teeth removed today. now i have room to move other teeth around. joshua took me out for a last meal at lunch and then drove me around. i had to go to the orthodontist to get my wire removed, have the teeth extracted, then go back to get the wire put back in. they gave me hydrocodone, and a lot of it so i am expecting a little pain when the drugs wear off. i could not feel my face and kept drooling for the first hour. it would not be so bad had i not still been bleeding. finally i just got a towel and let myself drool. i have to keep gauze in the empty spots and that makes me look like a walrus.
last week of school! we celebrate by going to defcon.

i have an office

the housewarming party went well, many family members drove up from tulsa to visit. my mother did not end up making it but she plans to come up at a later time. we ate food and talked until late in the night. this morning i got up to have breakfast with bob and lee before they left town. the party was a good idea. my house is in better shape, i feel good that my relatives like me enough to drive up to visit, and i got joshua to start cleaning the garage. bob also brought up my old moped so that i can fix it up. today must be spent doing homework and getting payroll done.
the boys are climbing water towers to switch out equipment to upgrade the network.
i feel like i am finally getting caught up from the begining of the summer when i got so overwhelmed. i hope this feeling continues as there is still much more work to do. i finally got my office cleaned up so i can work comfortably from home. the missing piece is the cpu that shorted and somehow took out my ups. i was going to replace the power supply with one from work when i realized the the little shuttles have special power supplies. now i have to decide if i want to keep the little shuttle and get a new supply or move to a different box. i like those little mini itx boards and i felt close to that shuttle because i spec'ed it and built it myself.

liberal in kansas

tomorrow is my housewarming party and already my family has started arriving. bob came up last night because he wanted to have time to wander around the lake. the easiest way to get a visit from bob is to send info about the nearest lake and he will show up with a boat and fishing rods. mom and lee are driving up tonight as are my grandpa and uncle. everyone seems to want to hang out in lawrence. i just wanted them to come visit, i had no idea the prospect would be so enticing. joshua has helped around the house and even cleaned the garage a bit despite the fact that he would rather play with the new toy he is building for defcon. we are headed out there next weekend and he just had to enter a contest. i have never been to vegas for work before so this should be fun. am i allowed to write off meals eaten in a casino called circus circus? we got the paperwork back from the irs (finally) approving our 501(c)4 status. i am officially an employee of a non-profit organization.
on a happy note, i finished ny constitutional law class today and turned in the paper i wrote for a final project. bob asked me about my subject over breakfast this morning and i had to tell him that his daughters were liberal and he did not want to know that information. he replied that at least one of his daughters was a liberal. my answer was that cheryl followed my lead and then that my paper was about how the death penalty violated the eighth amendment. that was enough of an answer for him.

another weekend gone

spent the weekend in tulsa working on the rent house. that was fun. they left the place half way clean but it still required 2 days work by 3 people to get it back in shape. i was mad and wanted to send a bill to him for $3000 for all of the late fees, cleaning, and repair work he owes us but joshua said just to calm down. he killed my japanese maple in the back yard. i called an arborist to see about rescuing it and he said it was a $1500 tree. we have new tenants moving in next week so i guess i am not really mad.
this coming weekend a few of my family members and a couple of friends are stopping by to see the new place. joshua has informed me that there is no hope of getting the house finished in time. he of little faith. usually all i need is for someone to tell me i can not do something for it to get done.

another normal day in kansas

i wrote about a dog on a motorcycle a few days ago and i truely believed that was the oddest thing i would see in kansas for quite some time. it turns out i was wrong. i attend classes in topeka at a lovely university called washburn. it is the only municipal university left in the united states. see fred phelps is the exception, not the norm in topeka. in order for me to get to topeka i have two choices, the turnpike or the country highway. i would rather take the country highway everytime but it does take a few minutes longer so i tend to not go that route in the mornings. after school is another matter, with all of the time in the world i almost always take the winding road that takes me past the goat farm, the buffalo farm, the chicken farm, the people selling hay, those selling tomatoes, and just about everything in between. needless to say, i have seen a lot on that country road. i had not, however, until yesterday, seen a peacock waiting by the side of the road for me to get out of the way so he could cross. i had no idea peacocks knew to look both ways before crossing

rambling part two

so i have been having these sleepless nights, as mentioned in several previous posts, and i usually end up watching movies and eating odd leftovers out of the fridge. the other night while watching swat i got a plate with a little dollop of mayo and a few slices of turkey and cheese to dip (no bread). it was not the 'real' cheese that joshua likes; i bought some fake, processed american cheese slices and i do not care who knows i like fake cheese. these are the areas where there are a few differences between the professor's son and the girl from the wrong side of town. can i help it if i am attracted to smart types who grew up in grosse point and lawrence? this one happens to have had a little easier time growing up. never did he return from school to find that mom had not paid the water bill (or electricity, or gas) and that there was likely nothing to eat in the fridge. this is why to this day i still love to grab anything out of the pantry or fridge and see what i can throw together. during high school we used to make pasta and melt butter and parm cheese on top because that was all there was. another odd trick i learned for after school snacks was to spread frosting or peanut butter and honey on toast or crackers. we did what we could. joshua turns his nose up at many of my cooking trials like that. he has less sense of adventure when it comes to emptying the leftovers into a pot, adding sauce, and calling it dinner. for him there must be a recipe and a timer involved. not to say i do not love him for his silliness, but i still eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches. there are those rare times when i am hormonal that i think he may be judging me for my white trash upbringing. then i remember that i am more cultured, better read, and have more social grace than he. so what if i still eat a tomato and mayo sandwich? i can be white trash in my own home. he ate pork and beans with hot dogs for dinner tonight.

man's best friend

i saw a man and his dog riding a motorcycle today. the man parked the bike, set up an umbrella for the pooch and went inside. amazingly the dog stayed put and the man returned shortly to continue being a freak on a motorcycle with his dog. and this happened in topeka, not crazy lawrence where everyone has an issue (which i will blog about as soon as i have energy).
ramblings part two will come another day as i am beat today.

rambling part one

the last few days have been very odd for me and i keep meaning to blog about them for a little perspective. this may end up being a long session so i might break it into 2 or 3 parts. check back if i end in the middle of a thought. joshua does that to me all the time...we will be in a conversation and all of the sudden he stops talking and...
so back to my ramblings.
my sleep patterns have been screwy the last few months because of demands at home, a little frustration/depression, and the fact that i tend to be a night owl taking morning classes. i know that sentence is out of balance but my english professor is not reading this so i will leave it.
a combination of reading about george's escapades in cali and watching several movies about the socal area have me reminiscing about my days living in san diego. a few nights ago during a very late night movie marathon i watched SWAT whiched opened with the scene of those guys robbing the bank wearing kevlar and shooting cops with armor piercing rounds. it really happened in la. the guys robbed a bank of america and killed a few cops. that memory brought back others of the news footage of the car chases that would shut down the freeways seemingly ever other week or so. the media always had a helicopter there almost before the police air units showed up. they would replay the incident on the nightly news a few times just to make sure we all saw it. i was not living in san diego when the guy stole the tank but i have watched that several times on those police chase shows. at some point one of those chases ended at the border after some idiot not remembering the 30 minute wait to cross raced to mexico with his kid then held a knife to the toddler's throat to bargin for passage. i was also in san diego during the rodney king riots in la which actually effected san diego about as much as they effected dallas. some kids left class at ucsd and sat on the 405 blocking access north but that was all. my grandmother was visiting her sister in van nuys so i was a bit nervous about the entire area burning down. there are many more fun things i remember about sunny california, like the helicopter that landed on the freeway during rush hour and held me up for 2 hours, but none of them are experiences i would like to go through again. i guess the point i am trying to make is this...how did all of the nut jobs end up in on place? i remember now...they heard a voice telling them to go west and they were stopped by the ocean. so why all of the fuss about california? if there is any confusion please take it up with george as she is the current expert on la.
joshua has been talking about new zealand. if things fall through with the current company or go so well we are not needed for day-to-day operations he wants to work in new zealand for a bit. i told him new zealand was fine or oregon. i had a blast on my short trip to the oregon coast. more on that in a bit.