French Fries

All I have to say is...Why?

The IT guy broke my computer...whoops, that was me!

Grad school is pretty much nuts. I have approximately 1 billion pages to read by next Wednesday, and a bunch of other "little" assignments that all add up to a mountain of assignments towering over me, ready to squash me at any moment. For some reason, I'd really like to tazor the very bottom of that pile, just for fun. Is that morbid?

I spent an hour or so with technical support, trying to figure out why I couldn't get on Blackboard. This wouldn't be such a travesty, but I have an online class, and a bunch of my other professors have half of their billion pages of articles posted on Blackboard. Anyhow, the IT guy and I became friends, and he suggested that I download a free version of a spyware program. So I did. But, in my befuddled state of mind (thinking about all the assignments I have to do) I downloaded the wrong version. In case you were wondering, you shouldn't ever ever ever accidentally download a program that isn't compatible with your processor, because then you'll have to call your brilliant little sister and ask her to help you to stop your computers start-up, shut-down continuous loop. It only took 56 minutes to resolve the issue and obliterate said program from my computer.

Anyhow, positive things that have happened so far my first week of school:

*I found the library. Always my best friend, even when I don't have any real ones within an hour and a half drive.

*Today was the first day that I looked up from the stairs and was actually surprised that I was already on my floor. I'm hoping it's because I am now accustomed to climbing three flights of stairs, and not because I was just lost in thought and hadn't realized how long I'd been climbing.

*I got assigned clients at my internship, so I will soon be doing real-people work, instead of fake-employee work (aka filling out forms and taking online quizzes about sexual harassment and such)

*We had a fire alarm go off last night at 12:30am. I'd already been in bed about 2 hours, so at first I thought it was my alarm clock. Then I thought it was our apartment that was on fire, and that I had somehow caused the fire. I climbed out of bed and considered checking my apartment, but I somehow decided I wasn't at fault, and even if I was I didn't care that much to go check my apartment. Apparently I am REALLY apathetic when I'm tired. I went down all three flights of stairs and went outside to wait for the fire department. Despite the fact that we were all grumbling, it was kind of exciting. Way to get that out of the way now, instead of waiting until, say, November.

*I took time out on Tuesday to go to the Logan Temple, and it's just beautiful. I had a wonderful time.

*I've already found a great little study couch for myself at the institute--although, trying to balance taking an institute class with my internship schedule has proved a bit difficult.

*There is a statue of French Fries on campus. No joke. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it.

P.S. VAL--Amy Grant is on the Radio right now =]

What an exciting week!

Here's some pictures of my adorable nephew. I got to spend some time with him and my sister and brother-in-law this weekend.

So, it's been a pretty eventful week. I moved in to my little apartment up in Logan on Saturday. I didn't get to meet my roommate (it appears I only have one), but I left my number and a note telling her I'd be back next Saturday. I live on the fourth floor, so I would personally like to thank my amazing little sister for helping me lug all my junk up four flights of stairs. I would also like to thank my calves and arms for not giving out on me during that time. I hope I never have to live on the fourth floor of anything that doesn't have a freight elevator ever again.

We moved Britte out of her apartment on Monday, and it took some creativity figuring out how to get all of her stuff into the little RAV4 that we rented, plus make room for the three of us in the same car. In the end, we tied our luggage, Britte's sofa cushion chair thing, and some other assorted items to the top of the roof. Now, in my defense, this is the first time I have ever attempted to tie something to the top of a car. You would think it wouldn't be that hard. But you would be wrong. I bought the tarp and bungee cords in Springville. We bought more bungee cords in Payson. We stopped just north of Nephi to purchase some duct tape. By the way, McGuyver, I was highly disappointed in the amount of time that the 20 yds of duct tape I purchased lasted on that tarp against driving 75mph and the strong winds that beat on the car at a perpendicular angle as we drove. By the time we stopped in Scipio to purchase something--anything--that would help our situation, Britte and I were laughing so hard at our ridiculous situation that I'm sure the people at the gas station thought we were drunk. I decided to try twine this time. I guess I figured that the three different elements holding this stupid piece of plastic together on the top of the car had to be somewhat effective. In the end, the twine was probably the most effective in keeping the plastic from flapping, and the bungee cords were effective in keeping the stuff on top of the car (though Britte says she is missing two pillows that were up there. I, personally, think they are lost in her room, because I clearly remember pulling them down from the top when we got home. Of course, it was midnight and I was tired and basically wanting to blow up everything on the top of the car by that point in time, so I could be mistaken).

Then today, my baby brother David got his mission call!!! We couldn't open it right away, because my Dad is floating out in the Pacific Ocean somewhere, so (following the clever plan that my parents previously came up with) my Mom emailed him and told him to call at 6pm. Britte, Dave and I went to the beach to distract him from opening his call early (and to get slight sunburns). By six we had bought pizzas and stuff for root beer floats, Dave's best friend (also named Dave) had come over, and my Dad had called. We got Rachel on a cell phone speaker phone as well, and Dave sat down to open his call. So guess where my Dave is going?

Johannesburg, South Africa
English Speaking
Entering the South Africa MTC on November 27th, 2008

Is that crazy or what? We've all been making all these random guesses as to where he would go, but I honestly never dreamed he'd be called to South Africa. I am SO jealous. I'm already scheming on how I can go there to come "pick him up" (aka, tour the country with the added benefit of being able to do so with your baby brother that you haven't seen for two years).

Rachel told us that she had been talking to Ross yesterday, and they had decided that Dave would have to go to Africa somewhere because my Dad served in Europe (Denmark), I served in South America (Chile), and my brother Mike served in Asia (Philippines). So we decided that she won the mint brownies. I'm so excited for him!!!

Because, why not?

Celebrating the year 2059, for the endless possibilities that it holds.

I made tortillas from scratch today. They ended up being amazing, though they were a little chubby and Dave said he thought they needed more salt. I was on a cooking spree, and made a yellow cake with crushed pineapple mixed in. When it had cooled I put cream cheese icing on it, and when it was time to eat it I decided we needed to celebrate something. So I pulled out all the number candles we had and decided that we should celebrate the year 2059. Then we sang a rousing chorus of I'm a Little Teapot (with the motions, of course) and blew out the candles together.

All in all, it was a very productive Sunday.
And my talk went very well, thank you.

Maybe I should start packing...

I've been pretty much vague about my packing efforts. I stole some boxes from our recent move at work, and purchased 5 more from the u-haul store this morning. Can anyone tell me why the u-haul store doesn't have parking? They have a huge lot for their vans and trucks and such, but not a single "I'm just coming to buy tape and a few boxes from you guys" parking spot. You have to park on the street, then walk up their drive-way and through their huge parking lot that you can't park in to finally get to the store. Then you have to haul your stuff back through the lot and down the hill to get to your car. I guess that's why they call it u-haul. They just want to make sure that you remember their name.

Anyhow, like I said, that has been my biggest efforts towards preparing to move up to Logan. We're scheduled to leave on Thursday. I'm optimistic that I'll be able to throw everything into boxes by then. I'm also on the lookout for inexpensive vacuum bags. You know, the kind you put your blankets in and then you suck all the air out with a vacuum cleaner, and the bag is then about 1" thick? I realize that will make my blankets and sheets and such all wrinkley, but I'm willing to deal with the consequences. So if anyone knows a good place to get them, let me know.

I also got a couple of DVD/CD cases so that I won't have to lug all of my DVD/CD covers up to Logan. I figure it will save space in my room if I put them all in the cases. I almost started taking the DVD's out of their covers to put in their case today, but for some reason felt that I would appear unfriendly and they would feel unwanted if I did it today, so I put it off. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's what was going through my mind at the time.

I went to a bridal shower this morning, and a going away dinner tonight. The dinner wasn't for me (neither was the bridal shower, haha) though a lot of my friends that were at the going away dinner for my friend Crystal also wished me well. Crystal and Brandi gave me a piggy bank painted with ocean scenes, which is always a pleasing present. Crystal painted it at this great little do-it-yourself ceramic painting shop that we've gone to together before. She did an amazing job.

It will go great in my room. I discovered today (thanks to my Mom's Saturday afternoon love of HGTV) that my design style is Ethnic Eclectic. Basically what that boils down to is that I like a lot of random things, and I try hard to tie them all in together. It suggested that I use nature-type designs to do so. If you want to take the design style quiz, here is a link. It's under "Discover Your Signature Look."

The end. I have to go to bed now. I'm speaking in sacrament meeting tomorrow, so I have to get up early to practice giving my talk. I am resisting staying up much too late reading Deathly Hallows; however, I fear I might give in. Love you, goodnight.

Play-time for Bekah

Last week, I spent Monday and Tuesday at a writing conference taught by Orson Scott Card. And it was amazing. There were about 60 other nerds there that wanted to learn about writing, and Card did not disappoint. We had class all day; we had to write a story and read about 15 beginnings to other stories during our hour (and a half?) lunch; At night we paired up with another classmate and had to interview a random person, do research in a library or bookstore, observe culture in San Diego, and then come up with 5 complete story outlines to turn in the next morning at 9am based on our findings. It turned out pretty cool. We had to share one of our ideas in a group of 6-7 people, and after we read the information on the card (we were only allowed one 3x5 card per story, and we had to fill it completely) our group members had to discuss and critique our outline. Once we had finished reading our outline, the writer wasn't allowed to comment or explain anything further. It was interesting to hear the other group members comments, and it was also kind of funny what aspects of the story they decided to focus on--parts that I didn't even think were important. So I suppose it's always good to get someone else's perspective.

One of my favorite things that he does is his "1000 ideas in an hour" group discussions. We came up with a character together, went through all the twists and turns of character development, and analyzed all the different angles of what would happen to him if such-and-such a thing happened. There's a lot more, but it's all in my notebook in my room, and it's too late for me to expend the energy leaving the family room to go get it, and then feeling obligated to put all 15 or so pages of notes on this blog. You wouldn't find my notes interesting anyhow, because most of them are little snippets of information that only my muddled brain would understand.

Anyhow, that's what I did for fun last week. Besides painting a large palm tree on one of the walls at work. I'll post a picture of it as soon as it's done. The kids want a little castaway painted on the island. I don't think I'm that talented.

P.S. I bought shoes today that look like they were made out of a tablecloth. And I think I love them.