An Abusive Relationship (With My Car)

I don't want to make light of the horrible situation millions of women are in with abusive relationships so if you are someone who is going to take offense... stop reading.

I am in an abusive relationship with my car. That's right. I love my (used) car but it abuses me. I give it gas before the tank is under a quarter full. I wash it regularly in the winter so the salt doesn't eat away at the paint. I always keep the inside clean and even vacuum once in a while. I bought these cute seat covers and rags to clean the dashboard. And what does it do to me... the motor on the windshield wiper burned out when it froze to the window during a long trip and I had no where to pull over (safely) to unstick it. The back passenger window stopped working for nearly a year (yet started working again just last week). The check engine light goes on everytime it drops below freezing. And now... the tailpipe fell off. That's right... fell off. I was minding my own business and I heard a rattle. Made a right hand turn and the rattle got worse. Decided to pull over and check out the situation at the next available parking lot. That was just not soon enough for my car. Oh no. It dropped pipe right in the middle of the road. Aaaargh.

I've only had this vehical for a year and a half but have already had to take it in for a check engine light (cracked gas tank cap, replaced it, light came on a week later), ran over a tack in the road and had to get the tire patched, and now have to get a new pipe. By the time I got back to where it had fallen off - someone had already picked it up! Grrrr. I'm afraid of what else they might find when they fix this little issue. And I know I am overdue for some new brakes (thanks to some serious heavy-duty chicago road rage driving habits).

Actually, on some reflection here, I see that the abuse is double-sided. I think that is only fair... if my Kia Sportage is going to drive my wallet into the ground, then I am going to drive it into the ground. VAROOOOOOM!!!!

And You Wonder... What Were They Thinking??

Well, I suspected I would have funny stories to share about my teaching experiences. Afterall, I am teaching an introductory chemistry class - this just begs for incidents/errors/just plain fuck ups. My surprise, the funny story doesn't come from my super duper (ha!) students. Rather, it is a gem passed onto me from a fellow graduate student in chemistry who is also being subjected to intro level dimwittedness. I think I just made that word up. Anyway...

This week in chem labs the world 'round (okay, in the majority of institutions of higher learning the in US), students are doing calorimetry. A short explanation for those of you who have (smartly) avoided ever encountering this term... it is a contraption that is used to measure how much heat energy is passed to water by some object (generally a heated metal block). The container is cheap since hundreds of thousands of students do this lab. My students used styrofoam cups as the "calorimeter". My friend's students used a plastic container of some sort (details have yet to be shared - it was a short email).

As I said, they use a heated object like a metal block. You heat this object by putting it over a heat source (or in a heated environment such as a beaker of boiling water which is over a heat source). The heat source is something like a bunsen burning - ya know - the open flame kind of thing... Apparently, some students decided to put the calorimeter over the heat source. Sigh. It's plastic. And so we ask ourselves... What Were They Thinking??? (And I might add - they had directions to follow and this was definitely NOT in the directions!)

I know chemistry is a hard subject for some people but I figure they do what I did about history - avoided it like the plague. Why is anyone who is going to put a plastic cup over an open flame enrolled in a chemistry course? I think that makes it fairly clear that this isn't where his/her strength lies... try something else honey.

Of course, no matter how easily chemistry comes to you, DO NOT GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL!! Just wanted to take the opportunity to mention that AGAIN.

Hope everyone is having a terrific week. Cheers.

Did You Ever Try... & Why I Hate Republicans

So, I find myself uninterested in working on the homework for Chap. 2 (the class I am teaching has entered the wonderful world of Energy), and I don't feel like working on figures for my thesis (this is probably of no surprise either). In order to avoid both I decided to surf the blogs on this site. There is a nifty button on the top of everyone's web log that offers to take you to the "next blog" - whatever that means. I decided to actually USE the button. I suggest you pass on this fun...

First, apparently, the "next blog" has nothing to do with 1) when it was created compared to yours or 2) when it was most recently updated. It also crosses the lines of language but I didn't really care about that. I knew this would be a waste of my time by the second blog I was directed to. But, then again, this whole exercise was in order to waste my time...

This is what I encountered on my foray into random blog world: I ran across a blog that was a chronical of his/her goldfish from the baby stage in pictures only. Okay, I guess you could use this service as a way to post an endless number of pictures. Hadn't occurred to me. But goldfish?? Who seriously thinks this is a good idea? Next I came upon what I believe was a cake recipe and I won't do the injustice of even guessing the language it was in. It had a bunch of those dots above the letters (and no, I don't know the name of that accent mark). I would suspect german or some language in that family. Of course, it could be swahili for all I know. French and latin are all I am qualified to recognize. Then there was the blog just started about a week ago by some woman writing vampire BDSM for some romance novel mass producer. That was interesting, kinda. Made me, yet again, regret going to graduate school in chemistry. I could write vampire BDSM... couldn't be that hard... once I stopped laughing.

And then there was... the Republican. This was the site that made me stop surfing. No, not to read in-depth. It made me close the F**KING window. I hate republicans (at least 99.99% of them and all of them when they insist on trying to explain why they won't allow other people to live their lives and won't help those that might try to make their lives better). This particular blog writer was spouting about how idiotic liberals are. One example - and really the reason I had to stop reading - was how Clinton spent 30 million on his inaugral party so Bush spending about that much before security wasn't such a big deal. Clinton raised about 23.5 million for his and Bush had raised 25 million. He argued that Bush, therefore, was actually better than Clinton. Alright asshole, here are two reasons he's not. One - he took us to war, had bad intel for doing so, had no plan in place to actually win, didn't listen to his military leaders, and is making us incur the debt of this idiotic war almost entirely alone because he told the rest of the world to basically fuck off. This war is causing the country to go into debt to the point that I can't even see trying to recover from. Clinton, on the other hand, was actually eliminating the country debt when he needed the 7.5 million for his party. Second - there was a HUGE natural disaster on the other side of the world two weeks ago. We are not the biggest contributor to this cause. Not even close. The really stand-up thing to do would be to cancel the stupid party (you are already in office dumbass - in case you missed that) and donate the money to the relief effort. Oh wait, that would be giving money to people less privileged than you who aren't caucasian. I forgot, you are a republican. That is NEVER going to happen. And I didn't even mention this little fact yet - Clinton's 30 million INCLUDED security. Bush needed over 40 million to cover his party AND security.

I really, really find it an embarrassment to be an american and I blame that, in part, on Bush. I mean, it's not his fault he is an idiot. Mostly I blame all the people who elected him. My - oh this kills me - peers. I'm glad this blog is going to be posted on the web. At least people will know what happened when I mysteriously "disappear". Ya know, because with that moronic Patriot Act and Act II, they are scanning everything sent over the internet for the words Bush and War and "I Hate". Oh, and in case this wasn't flagged... bomb, bomb, bomb. He's managed to push environmental laws back twenty years, has reduced privacy to nearly none, caused education to become standard (read mediocre because you gotta wait for the dumb kids to keep up now) and individual rights are in the toilet. Let's see what he can do in another four years. I foresee social security being disbanded, women's (medical) rights destroyed, and a backdoor draft policy written and used in addition to the one already taking place. I hear rumors he is even looking into rewriting the law on term limitations so that he can run AGAIN in 2008.

I don't want seem like a user because I could get into the country on my own but... if/when I marry the bf - the celebration will be two-fold. Yes, a celebration of our committment to each other and our lives together. In addition, the celebration of me taking Canadian citizenship, leaving this hellhole and all of it's bible-thumping, ignorant, self-righteous, self-centered, and just plain stupid people behind. I realize they have some of these people in "canadia" but at least the government isn't being run by one of them.

Oh, and just because I am in a truely rant-a-litious mood and haven't mentioned it in my last few blogs... DON'T GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL!!

Well, I feel better... how do you feel? Really, how do you feel? Could you please post a comment. I like comments. I read the comments. It would give me a warm fuzzy if you were to leave a comment. Even one to disagree with me because I am sure at least one of my readers does disagree. You can post without being a member. Come on... comment on something. Don't make me beg. Too late I suppose. I know I gave this link to a bunch of people. Thanks Lexagirl, tattling priest, and Angry Orange for the regular comments... now what about the rest of you? How do you feel? Please. Pretty please. *sigh* I really like comments.

Top 5 Freebies

I think everyone knows the premise of this list. It is a list of five people that if I ever had the opportunity to sleep with, well, significant others be damned. He will just have to forgive me. It would certainly count as an "opportunity of a lifetime" and something not to be passed up. He's got his list (check out his blog and the comments made there - couple of good choices mentioned), here's mine:

1. The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) - Yum Yum Yum. That is a tasty looking piece of meat. There is nothing more to say. He is just HOT! Not so muscle-bound that it is freakish, but clearly testosterone laden. Oh baby, give me some of that!

2. Colin Firth - A bad boy that plays nice on screen. Apparently, he is known to be a little rogue-ish in real life. So, he can pretend to be the gentleman but he's going to give you the ride of your life - that is seriously sexy.

3. Carson Daly - Young, hip, well-spoken, funny, and just generally appealing. mmm, mmm, mmm.

4. Conan O'Brien - Maybe I have a thing for funny talk show hosts? This guy is just one of my constant favorites. Had to put him on the list.

5. Orlando Bloom - There is just something about those elf ears...

Living In Three Places, Make That Four

Have you ever reached a point where you don't know if you can't find something because you threw it out or it is just at some other house? I am there. With my move back "home" to finish writing my thesis, I have been relegated to storing things that aren't of immediate use (ie: kitchen dishes). My dad was kind enough to allow me to use his spare bedroom for some of the stuff. Since my storing habits have begun, my sisters have jumped on the spare bedroom bandwagon. Now the room is full of boxes and other assorted containers. This has required me to begin leaving packed up boxes in my Dad's living room. Good thing he doesn't use the space. Now I am living at my mom's (separate house - just to be clear on this point). The room that I am using for office/bedroom is also her "green house" room. There is a big potting table with plants that would pass for trees in some areas of the country. It doesn't leave a lot of room for random stuff. So my clothes and "last minute" items from my last apartment are in the garage. The last time she visited me in Chicago, I sent her back to MI with a bunch of boxes which are in the basement. Now, to these five areas at two houses, add my lab at NU. Oh, and my waterpolo coach had been temporarily storing stuff for me. I did collect that this last month and added it to the collection at my Dad's. On top of all these places filled with my stuff, add the bf's condo. Yup. That's right. Slowly moving my way in there too. I left some clothes for painting (on purpose) and also accidentally left my robe. I'm thinking of renting a storage unit just so I can consolidate all of my random stuff. It really has gotten out of hand! I've always wanted to own a house. I just didn't realize that it was going to become a "must have" item! I have entirely way too much stuff. *sigh*

Cursed, Ab-so-lute-ly Cursed!

I had to fly back to Lansing from Edmonton the other week. Flight out of Canada is uneventful. One lay-over in Minn. Get to MSP (Minneapolis/St. Paul) without any issue. In fact, we are a little early. I wander over to my new gate which is in the other half of the airport across the road. This is the hike I referred to earlier. I guess the international wing is completely separate from all other gates. Nice for security (because I know MSP is the next big target - HA!) but sucks for passengers.

The plane from MSP to LAN boards on time. Seems like everything is going smoothly and timely for the First Time Ever. Neither I nor the bf have had this kind of luck on previous trips. I'm sitting on the plane and it is announced that we are delayed because we need a "push" from the gate. Apparently, the airplane can normally just throw it into reverse and do the backing up on it's own but given the snow on the ground, it can't get the traction it needs for this manuever (info compliments of the pilot). Oh, the confidence I have in airlines. We can't back up but we are sure we can take off and land safely... um, I don't get it. Anyway, we wait for some truck that can push us. Then we had to wait in a de-icing line. While we are waiting in line, this is when the pilot decides to tell us that there are nearly 20 planes in front of us in this line. Ya know, sometimes I think pilots are too eager to pass info along. First the "push" that normally the plane can do but can't today and then the line in front of us. After we get to the de-icing pad, the pilot explains that we have to have two applications. The material that actually takes any debris off the plane and then a second material that keeps the debris off. And he called it debris. Not ice or snow or something that sounds relatively harmless but debris. Dude - TMI (too much information). And then, finally, we take off. I was only about 40 minutes late into LAN so overall I would have to say that the trip went pretty well. Even with the running commentary of the pilot during the delay.

This experience made me decide though, if you need to get somewhere on time, don't travel with me. Oh, but if you need snow, definitely bring me along. I seem to be a magnet for the shit. Got home to LAN, they are having what is basically a heatwave (~40 degree F) but by the time I went to bed that night it was snowing. Of course, this is the day before I need to drive down to JCC (new job things to take care of). All I can say to Mother Nature is, "Bring It Bee-atch!!!". I can take it.

AHL - I'll Take What I Can Get

American Hockey League. Well, it's not the NHL but that means you can get nearly rink-side seats for a lot less money. And being close to the players is a really cool thing.

I got the opportunity to see the Roadrunners while I was up at the Arctic Circle. They were playing against the Rochester Americans. I was torn... root for the US team or root for the team that actually lives in the city that I am visiting. My decision was to root for the best plays no matter what team they might come from. These were not common occurances so it was not too taxing on my vocal cords or my brain. This left me plenty of time to visit with the person I went to the game with. This person is the wife of my bf's good friend.

She called me up and asked if I wanted to go out and see something of the city where I was staying. I thought this was an excellent idea as I had spent the last few days in the condo preping/cleaning for new years eve and then painting. I was ready to get out - even if it was cold enough to contemplate peeing your pants to try to stay warm (if only momentarily).

There were a bunch of things that she had come up with for activities in which to spend our time doing. We both like hockey and decided that that would make for a fun evening out. We were also planning to have dinner too. Great. Sounded like we had a plan.

Most of you who know me, know that I am almost never ready early. Even when I try to be. This time, I wasn't even trying. I figured that she would be at the condo at the time we agreed. Ooops. She was, um, a tad early. We all had a good laugh about it because she had worked a full day and commuted home, then come by, and I, on the otherhand, was still in my paint clothes even though we had finished well over an hour before. Shite. Well, I'll try to plan better next time.

The hockey game, as I mentioned before, was cool because we were in row 9. I haven't sat that close since the time I went to a Grand Rapids Wolves(?) game back in '99. I didn't even get to sit that close for our college games at MSU. We were also right behind the players bench, nearly on the red line. Sweeeet seats. The game was a lot of fun. And I got to gossip about the bf and friends. I won't devulge what was said (because the bf reads this and that just wouldn't be right). Suffice to say, he is a complete corruptor of friends (as is well known) and a great catch (which is also well known). Good to know that nothing is being hidden from me. Some of you will know the double meaning of that statement. Hardy har har.

Dinner was good too. I got this huge-ass beer and was just a little giggle-y by night's end. I hope the bf friend's wife wasn't too annoyed. Overall, I had a great time.

You really have to love hockey. It is a bunch of men that look twice their size running (skating)into each other in order to hit at a little black thing on frozen water while a bunch of other men cheer them on. In fact, most all sports are great for this reason. Take a bunch of people really intent on achieving something that will in almost no way affect the world and add to it a bunch of people who paid money to watch this process take place. It's even better when it is out of the context of anything you might run into in the everyday... like, put the sport on ice or in the water. This is probably the same reason I like watching ice skating, sychonized swimming, and waterpolo.

Well, anyway, go Roadrunners! (Oh, and I don't even think I need to get into how funny it is that the hockey team's mastcot is a bird who would never live somewhere that there was ice for an length of time)

I Try To Stay In The Pink

Seems so appropriate that I stumbled across this recently...

To Snow Sport or Not To Snow Sport

I recently posted about a skiing outting the the bf and I went on. I mentioned having a wonderful time but omitted his experience from the blog. Some of you may have noticed this but maybe I am just so self-centered it didn't seem unusual. Anyway... I didn't mention his experience because I don't know what to say. My perception is that he had no fun because he suffers from flat feet and they were killing him. This made me feel terrible that I was having such a great time and he was in misery. So...

This blog entry is going to be really short... I am giving a shout-out to all of my readers to give some suggestions (and remember - you can post anonymously). Can you think of a snow sport that doesn't involve standing on your feet, may be done for longer than two minutes (no polar bear swimming suggestions please), and doesn't involve huge start up/participation costs (ie: I am not going to start to luge regularly)? Thanks. :)

Snow Sport

Skiing rocks! I’m referring to the kind of skiing where you aren’t likely to break your leg. That’s right, I am speaking of cross country skiing. Weeeee! My bf, in his bottomless well of niceness, arranged for us to visit with two of his friends that have a condo in the Rockies (also referred to by some as a cabin but it’s a condo). The condo is in Canmore. It is a town that in the last decade has just exploded. Apparently, there is a neighboring town more known for the skiing called Banff but they aren’t allowing any more people to buy property there (unless they are residents) so everyone started building just down the road in Canmore.

Of course, we should have checked the traffic report and the weather before leaving Thursday morning (given our wonderful luck while traveling).... But we didn't.

We decided on Tuesday that we would for sure go down and that Thursday would be a good day to make the trip. We would be back for most of the weekend so I could get a little work done and we would have a chance to visit with his family before my return to the states. If you know me at all, you know I don't like mornings. In both a good way and a very, very bad way, I would make the same statement about the bf. Neither of us is exactly "up with the early birds". And, true to form, both of us were running behind Thursday morning for various reasons. I just didn't want to get my lazy butt out of bed and he wanted to get a little cleaning of the truck done before our departure. Hence, we didn't make the time to check weather and traffic in our eagerness to actually leave. Sigh. Should have known better. We really, really should have known better.

Off we go. I wasn't driving so I didn't really know how bad the roads were. Frankly, they all look like complete shite compared to down here in MI. Is isn't nearly as cold at home so we salt and (with the traffic) the roads clear up relatively quickly. They don't seem to EVER clear up in Alberta. At some point about an hour into the trip, the bf mentions that it is really rough driving because the roads are very bad. I offer to drive but am denied the chance because the roads are just that bad. I know that the bf is aware I am a capable driver so I don't think it was a fear of my driving in general that made him insist on driving. Around the town that would be half way between the only two major cities in Alberta there is an accident. We don't actually see it, because, get this, it is so bad they are re-routing traffic OFF THE HIGHWAY! We heard on the radio about the accident before the traffic diversion. We heard because it was a big deal... there was a 25 car pile-up. Well, I'm not sure they were literally "piled up". The fact that that many cars were involved on a road where I seriously think I never saw more than 15 at any one time (including oncoming traffic) really brought home the seriously bad conditions we were traveling in. Does this surprise anyone? No, of course not. We have the worst luck. At this point, we are half way there and it comes down to the decision... do you turn around or drive the equal distance forward and reach your destination. We go for it. I've been looking forward to this since before I even came up to Canada. And I think the bf was just being that special kind of stubborn were, gosh darn it, we are doing this no matter what. Or maybe I am just inflicting my view on things onto his character. Anyway... we get onto a surface road for a bit, then back to the freeway, then into Calgary. At this point, the bf asks me to take a look at the map. Did I hear you groan because you know what is coming next in this story??

Sure enough, snappiness insues. I just have to laugh. You've got someone driving who lived in the city about 10 years ago and someone reading the map who has never been there. I won't bore you with the tediousness of this exchange and just summarize... I say, "take so and so road south to route 1" He says, "What road?". I repeat the statement and ascertain that it is correct. At this point, he has to look at the map while driving. I, as the newby, can't fathom why he doesn't seem to understand me. Turns out, he understood just fine, he just didn't really believe me because he had never heard of the road. We find out later that it was constructed after the period when he lived in the city. Pretty funny once we figured out the problem. Okay, we make it from route 2 to route 1. And yes, you read that correctly. We were on route 2 and had to get to route 1. I'm used to taking 96 to 127 to 94 to 50 just to get to work. What a different way of living (and number of people you are living with). Anyway... On to Canmore...

As we leave the city, the bf informs me that, yes, there are mountains ahead of us. Yeah, riiiiiiiight. Sure there are. I don't see any. Time passes and I continue to see no mountains. More time... And still, no mountains. Could he be lying to me?? Oh wait, the overcast-ness is lessening just slightly. Ooh, ooh, ooh, I think I see a foothill. Oh my god - it was right in front of me. That was the strangest thing I have experienced in quite some time. Normally, as you approach a mountainous area, you watch them get closer gradually. Now imagine, you've never seen the mountains here and don't know the roads. So far, the area you have been staying in is relatively flat. It's overcast and you can't see anything that is in the distance. Then... suddenly... right in front of you face is a huge mass of stone with snow on the top! Very disconcerting. I don't think I will soon forget that first glimpse of the (foothills of the) Rockies in Canada.

By the time we got into town, it was dark. We left the condo around 10am and now it's dark. It's been dark for a bit. Of course, I realize that the sun is going to go down early when it is winter and more north than I'm used to but this means the trip took entirely too long! I think it is suppose to take around 3.5 hours. I believe it took almost 7. I could be remembering slightly wrong. Ya know, after a while it's just better to not think about it.

We finally arrive and do the introductions. Glad to find that I like these friends of the bf too. I've liked all of his friends and that always makes life a little easier. We chat for a bit but at this time I am STARVING. We haven't eaten lunch. Out to an area restaurant. I don't remember the name of it but it was all about the bear claw as it's icon. They have great nachos. I would highly recommend it if I could remember the name. Dinner was tasty too. Then back to the condo. Oh, we stopped and bought a few snacks for the skiing trip and got rental equipment. This is a fairly amusing detail - my bf and I got exactly the same size EVERYTHING. Yup, even boots. I'm not sure how I feel about having feet that are so large. Oh well. Maybe that is why I have good balance - large area of ground contact. Anyway, all ready to go for tomorrow so now we head back to the condo.

Once back, we tossed around ideas of things to do (standard stuff: cards, games, movie). We settle on dominos. Neither of the friends have played and neither has the bf. I figure I'll get to kick a little a** as I have played. We are playing with the extended tiles (1-12points rather than the traditional 1-6 dots). Well, I am sorry to say, I was schooled! The wife (I am hesitant to use names unless they are nicknames) completely dominated the domino game. The men did not fare too well. I'm not sure I remember exactly but I think games won was something like wife=7, me=4, husband=3, bf=2. We played for hours, eventually started to get a little stupid, decided addition with more than two quantities was getting too hard and called it a night.

We caught a very brief glimpse of the mountains in the morning of our only full day there. It is a really gorgeous area. Until that time, I was taking other people at faith that there were actually mountains in the area because it was so overcast that I couldn’t see them even when I was ON them! The one glance at the foothill on the way over was all I saw until that morning. But even overcast it was still beautiful… this should tell you something.

Back to skiing… I had a wonderful time!! Being out there made you forget that the world is overpopulated. It was so quiet and I really enjoyed the snow. The trail we were on hadn’t been used before us yet that day (or so it appeared). We only saw two other people the entire time we were out there. Fabulous! I had forgotten how nice it is to get outside in the winter. I tend to hide when it gets cold but in this case I had packed appropriate clothing and was ready for the chill. There was a suggestion made that we might make a point to go again before the snow all melts away (so I guess that means sometime before June – brrrrrrrr). I hope I get to do that more often then once every five years which is what I have been averaging. And lesson learned… there are benefits to living near the Arctic Circle. Teeheehee. I shouldn’t be so mean. After all, it only got down to about -20C. (I do have to mention that today it was +5C back here in MI - giggle)

Afterwards, we drove back to the condo (it was kind of a long drive out to the trail; ~45km). I think the bf was still tired from the drive the day before and I never sleep that well in strange places so we decided that a nap sounded like a good idea. It was good.

We were then off to the Drake to have dinner and see a one-man band. Dinner was okay. nachos weren't as good as the grizzly place. Salmon wasn't really blackened. I had had so many gummys after skiing that I wasn't totally famished so it wasn't a terrible thing that the food wasn't outstanding. It was good enough. The entertainment, however, was excellent!! It was this one guy playing guitar. I was very impressed. Normally, I am very critical of musicians (being one myself to a certain extent) and find that generally the talent of stage acts is often less than noteworthy. Well, I loved this guy's work so much that I am even going to give you the link so you can check it out. http://www.ibreakstrings.com/ I really enjoyed the evening. Too bad this guy seems to be based in Calgary and doesn't ever leave Canada. Guess I'll have to go back... oh darn. I would make the suggestion that he recruit a singer and work on his lyrics. That was the only thing that I thought was maybe a little lacking. Hell, I don't know how he was able to sing anything while he was playing the way he was.

While we were there, a friend of the friends showed up for the show. He was chatting with us and told us about white water canoeing. Does anyone else think this is absolutely psychotic?? I really enjoyed going white water rafting. Yeah, with an inflatable boat. Ya know, the kind that don't sink if they get waterfilled. This guy is nuts. I was equally intrigued and frightened. And this guy was not young either. I envy people who don't seem to be bothered by the fact that they could easily DIE doing these activities. Makes me feel like a wuss. Oh well. The more I ponder this, the more I am okay with the idea of playing "safe" sports. Now, where is my air pump...

Afterwards, we were all pretty tired and quickly retired to our respective rooms. The next day was our drive back after a really nice breakfast courtesy of the bf's friends who have turned out to be two of the nicest people I've met in a while. Come to think of it, they are the nicest people I have met since the last time I was in Canada. Geez, are all Canadians nice or is just that my bf has managed to find and befriend all the good people? Anyway, I digress. Back on the road. Did I mention that the roads NEVER IMPROVE! I think that the trip back was actually worse. At one point, I was sure we were doomed to ditch. The truck fishtailed and crossed back and forth over both lanes. I thought the bf was amazingly cool. He pulled over immediately after so we could each let the adrenaline rush subside. At this point, I would probably have started crying if I had been driving. I have the unfortunate bodily response to adrenaline rushes of crying. I'm not hurt, upset, or anyting like that. It seems to be a way for my body to expell the surge of energy. Unfortunately, it even happens when something good is going on. I am sure I will cry at my wedding, birth of a kid, or if I win the lottery. I would definitely have started crying after fishtailing all over the road going ~65mph. The bf needed a moment to recover but nothing like what I would have needed. Glad he was driving.

We did make it back home without going in a ditch. It was another grueling trip that took twice as long as it would during the summer. However, I really enjoyed the little holiday away from the condo. The bf's friends were very pleasant people, the restaurants were good, the dominos were fun, the skiing was exceptional, and "Wil" was great. I might have a different view of things if I had had to do the driving but from my end... ROCK ON!! Fabulous Getaway!!

Taupe Ceilings?

Do you ever wonder why we even try to make things appear nice and pretty? The bf bought a condo in the past year and has been working on improvements since. He started with painting. When I was there in September, he had taped up some of the wall that he wanted to paint but not all of it (yet). On my arrival after staying with his parent’s for a few days, it was painfully clear that he had not really gotten any where with that project since I was there last. Okay, even I hate the blue tape at this point and I have only been subjected to it for the two weeks I was there last time. Not to mention that the banisters were completely nasty. He was planning to repaint but I figured it was worth a try to just clean them.

Three days later…

The walls are now taupe. The blue tape is gone from most of the walls. There is still a section by the laundry closet that needs to be painted but that isn’t something you have to look at every time you are watching tv. The only thing… not only are the walls taupe but some of the ceiling is too. There are little blotches where we accidentally hit the ceiling. The biggest dratter of all is that because it has this “texturing” thing, if you try to clean off the paint, it removes the stippling/stucco. Aaaargh. So, great, the walls are taupe but now the ceiling looks like ass. Really, why do we even try?

On the upside, I was able to remove most of the nastiness on the handrails. I did this little cleaning job while the bf was getting a tall ladder from his brother. (we needed a tall ladder because this painting was being done on the stairwell area and he has entirely too high ceilings) As a result of my go-getter-ness, while the painting was going on, we inevitably touched the handrails and got the darn thing dirty AGAIN. At least the second cleaning only took a few minutes instead of a few hours! The handrails look so clean that someone actually thought we had repainted them, and the walls look great (except for one small spot – I’m not going into that little debacle), but the ceiling now needs some serious attention. Darn it, drat, snarf, and shit! A house (or condo as is the case in this example) really is just a work in progress all of the time! Wonder what the project will be the next time I am out there... hmmm.....

A Word To The Wise... Don't Travel With Me

I was up at the arctic circle for the two and half weeks following Christmas. I flew up Christmas day evening. Of course, I never have uneventful travel and this was no exception. Thankfully, my flight wasn’t cancelled or anything that drastic (as it was for the bf on the way down over Thanksgiving). I arrived in Minneapolis without incident. From my arrival gate, I hiked (yes, this walk should be called a hike – yikes) to my new gate. Thought all was good. Called my bf to tell him that so far so good since I made it into Minn without issue and my flight to Regina looked all good. This is when I am told by my bf (from a foreign country I might add!!) that my flight is delayed. Um, not according to the board I am looking at that’s at my departure gate. Ha! So, apparently, the plane that we are to physically ride in for the trip up to the north is still at the airport in Iowa (or some such state that starts with an “I” that no one cares about). Greeeeaaat. Does this mean that this airport doesn’t know that the airplane is missing if we are still “on time”?? This gives me such faith in the airlines, really, it does. Sigh. Eventually, the plane showed up, they gassed it up, de-iced it, and we were off. Arrived at 1:30am-ish. I got there tired but in one piece, cleared through customs, and with all checked and carried on luggage. Let the fun begin!

I Got A Job! Suckers!!

It’s been a while… sorry about that. I’ve been pretty busy as of late. Christmas was great. I spent the holiday with my family and then the two weeks following up in Canadia (as Misha likes to say). I was feeling a little overwhelmed for a while as I was hired for a part time teaching job at a (nearly) local community college a mere 5 days before Christmas. I’m happy about having a job and excited to be teaching. It should be a great experience/resume builder. The only thing is that I do have some nervousness about being the primary lecturer. I’ve only ever been a substitute lecturer if the prof is out of town for a conference or something of that sort. This time, I give each and every lecture. I am also in total control over the quizzes and exams (evil laugh here). It will be interesting to see what the students think of me. It was recommended to me that the first time a student asks a question that I stare him down and say… “Didn’t you read any of the book”… or something of that sort. Since I want to have fairly good reviews from the students on the evaluations, I’m hesitant to use this strategy. Although I am fairly certain it would make my life much easier. “Much” with a capital M! If nothing else, this experience should make for one or two humorous blog entries.