Well... Hello Sunshine :)

I am so glad it is finally getting warm out. The tree leaves are nearly 1/2 mature size and flowers are starting to bloom. This is one of my favorite times of the year. The winter is too cold and summer is too damn hot but the spring and fall... just right.

I got nothing else to say... I'm just happy to be going outside in t-shirts and jeans without a parka or boots. Yeay!

You Know You're From...

... Michigan When...

You define summer as three months of bad sledding. You can identify an Ohio accent. You know how to play (and pronounce) Euchre. The Big Mac is something that you drive across. You believe that "down south" means Toledo. You drive 75 on the highway and you pass on the right. Your Little League baseball game was snowed out. You know how to pronounce "Mackinac". The word "thumb" has a geographical rather than an anatomical significance. You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week. You know that Kalamazoo not only exists, but that it isn't far from Hell. At least one person in your family disowns you for the week of the Michigan/Michigan State football game. Traveling coast to coast means driving from Port Huron to Muskegon. Half the change in your pocket is Canadian, eh. You show people where you grew up by pointing to a spot on your left hand. You know what a "Yooper" is. Your car rusts out before you need the brakes done Half the people you know say they are from Detroit... yet you don't personally know anyone who actually lives in Detroit "Up North" means north of Clare. Snow tires come standard on all your cars. At least 25% of your relatives work for the auto industry. Octopus and hockey go together as naturally as hot dogs and baseball. You know more about chill factors and lake effect than you'd EVER like to know! You know when it has rained because of the smell of worms. You never watch the Weather Channel - you can just assume they're wrong. The snowmen you make in your front yard actually freeze. Solid. The snow freezes so hard that you can actually walk across it and not break it or leave any marks. Your major school field trip includes camping and cross-country skiing. Half your friends have a perfect sledding hill right in their own backyard. ... Chicago When... You know what Kennedy, Dan Ryan, Eisenhower, Edens, and Bishop Ford, have in common and curse one of them daily. You know what "the Hillside strangler is." You can name three or four extra taxes nobody else pays. You know the difference between Richard J Daley and Richard M Daley. You say Chicawgo and not Chicaago. You think going to a Bears game in single digit temperatures with a wind off the lake (and freezing rain) is fun. You expect corruption in local politics. You've been caught speeding in Wisconsin because you had Illinois plates. You guard your shoveled parking space with an old chair and unusable broom. You know why they call it "the Windy City." You know dead people who voted. You've never ever considered the idea of hiring non-union laborers. You've never been to Springfield. You know a good gyros joint. You know what Giordanos, Lou Malnati's, and Gino's have in common. You know exactly how many cars are "legally" allowed to turn left after the light turns red. You don't know which ethnic "fest" to choose on any given Summer weekend. Your idea of relaxing and getting away from it all is Ravinia (with 10,000 others who have the same idea). You can recite many of "The Blues Brothers" lines and know where they filmed certain scenes. You consider paying someone to watch your car at a sporting event as just another "city tax." The "Living Room" is called the "front room" You don't pronounce the "s" at the end of Illinois. You become irate at people who do You measure distance in minutes (especially "from the city"). And you swear everything is pretty much 15 minutes away You refer to anything South of I-80 as "Southern Illinois" You refer to Lake Michigan as "The Lake" You refer to Chicago as "The City" You think 35 degrees is great weather to wash your car! You know what goes on a Chicago Style Hot Dog You know what Chicago Style Pizza REALLY is You understand what "lake-effect" means You know the difference between Amtrak and Metra, and know which station they end up at. You have ridden the "L" You can distinguish between the following area codes: 847,630,773,708, 312, & 815 You respond to the question "Where are you from" with a side" example:"WEST SIDE", "SOUTH SIDE" or "NORTHSIDE." You know what the phone number is to Empire Carpet! It's January and you see someone's kitchen chair in the street, and you know that if you're a responsible citizen and bring it back to the sidewalk you will be shot on sight You live two miles from work and it takes you two hours to drive there You don't flinch when you pay the fifth toll of your 45-minute car ride on the highway When you read a big story in the paper about mob ties in the city government, your first reaction is "So, tell me something I don't know." You know Lincoln Towing is Satan incarnate. You've paid $105 for towing, $30 for more than one "street cleaning" ticket, $58 for a city vehicle sticker, and $70 for a license plate sticker -- and chalk it all up to "neighborhood taxes." You've taken the Red Line past the point where all white people get off and all black people get on -- or vice versa. You've cursed at a cyclist, pedestrian, or in-line skater on the lakefront path. You know the significance of State and Madison. Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here Blogthings

Comcast Assness

My internet provider is licking salty donkey balls as of late. It started about a week ago. It makes it very hard to update the blog. Well, it makes it really hard to do just about everything. I have nothing much to say since I want to make sure to publish this before another crash. Basically, to summarize:

I am SOOOO pleased that I submitted grades and can now wash my hands of "that school"

The thesis writing is ass and I haven't heard from my advisor for some time now (even with the proverbial "ball" in his court)

I can't wait for the 20th - I fly up to Canadia. :D

My brother suckered me into covering his courier route and taking care of his dog while he is in Vegas. This is a horrid job. I am actually suffering from some sort of elbow injury from trying to toss the papers out of the car window. They are heavy fuckers on Sunday!

Well, that's it in summary. Hope every reader is doing well in his or her own way! Smiles!

How Nice!

Yes, that's right... I found another site totally devoted to adding useless quizzes/results to your blog. So here ya go folks:

Your Birthdate: 14

With a birthday on the 14th of the month (5 energy) you are inclined to work well with people and enjoy them. You are talented and versatile, very good at presenting ideas, and you are also very good at organization and systematizing. You may have a tendency to get itchy feet at times and need change and travel. You tend to be very progressive, imaginative and adaptable. Your mind is quick, clever and analytical. A restlessness in your nature may make you a bit impatient and easily bored with routine, and rebel against it. You have a tendency to shirk responsibility.

Sounds about right, no? well, except maybe that last one...

Your Linguistic Profile:

75% General American English

10% Dixie

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Yankee

0% Midwestern

I knew it!! I am not a hick! So there - bf. ;)

Your Brain is 40.00% Female, 60.00% Male

You have a total boy brain Logical and detailed, you tend to look at the facts And while your emotions do sway you sometimes... You never like to get feelings too involved

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Dammit! I knew this too! Aaargh. Excuse me... I gotta go buy some make-up or something...

I Have Envy

I think of myself as generally pretty happy with what I have. I do like to teach (assuming general administrative stuff isn't conspiring to ruin my plans), I have a great guy in my life, no one in my family is ill, and I wasn't beaten senseless with the ugly stick. Sure, most of us could stand to lose a few pounds or have a few more dollars and I am no exception. I am envious of those beautiful models who have both but, really, who wants to be a poodle.

"stand this way"

"good puppy"

"turn this way"

"good puppy"

"smile"

"good puppy"

"here's your treat, um, I mean, paycheck"

Anyway, back to the real reason of my blog. My best friend defended her thesis this week and passed! I'm really excited and happy for her but part of me is really, really envious. I wanna be done. I wanna be Dr. Amy. Waaaaaaa!

The one thing making me feel better about all of this is that I am done with at least one part of my suck-o life - NO MORE TEACHING! Yup. I gave my last lecture this week at the horrid, unorganized school. Weee. They take the final this next week and then I turn in grades while wishing them all a good life.

Funny story about the general organization of the school. Got a call from the "lead" instructor for the gen chem class. Apparently, the department chair was suppose to sit in on a class of mine and go over student evaluations with me. Got this call yesterday. Yup. The day after my last class. Can we say, "too little too late". Idiots. And no, no one ever came to observe me (during the entire 16 WEEK course) or discussed evals. What a joke. Now that it is almost over - I can start to laugh about all of the absurdity.

The Key Of "V"

I'm a little bummed. Looks like Vonzell is probably going home. It was a less than stellar performance this evening, coupled with the fact that she has been in the bottom three for weeks in a row now. I really like her singing (although she isn't really the best about staying in the right key - hence the blog title), she's cute, and she has the "it" factor but I don't think it is going to save her. I think she has the real potential to be a great recording artist. Too bad AI came for her about three years too soon. A lot of her issues with key can be chalked up to a lack of training. sigh. I can't believe that it might come down to a Scott-Carrie final (as things are going). Yuck.