Productivity

It feels really, really good to get some quality stuff done, you know? I got up early, had some coffee, and continued writing my neighborhood analysis for this project that Jon and I are working on.

The sun warmed my feet as it shone through my window. It was a good morning.

I continued researching information about this particular neighborhood and realized that if I played my cards right, I could get A LOT more information from the Ada County Assessor's Office and the Development Office. I showered, put on clean, springy clothes, and headed out the door. It's amazing how much information you can get when you put on the charm and throw in that you are doing research for Boise State and the Ada County Sheriff's Office. They even pay for your parking under such circumstances!

I had a brief lunch date (mmm...Thai), then ran off to a meet with Jon and a contact we've made for our project. Extreme productivity. Extreme interest.

It feels really, really good to do things right. It feels really, really good to get feedback saying that the work we're doing is worthwhile and will make a difference. I finally feel like I've started to create a niche for myself in my research style and methods.

Today, I love grad school.

I heart skiing

I didn't take Wednesday off from working on coursework to go skiing as I had hoped to..but I DID take Thursday morning! Kristen and I were both suffering from "oops, I drank a bottle of wine by myself last night" syndrome, but that didn't stop us from getting up to Bogus Basin when they opened at 10am.

I probably have not mentioned this before, but I actually did know how to ski prior to my lessons in February, so when I found out that all of the green runs were closed for the season (save one, "Coach's Corner") I was not devastated. Kristen, on the other hand, is not a very confident skier (and I can say this because she fully admits it). After a quick refresher run down Coach's Corner, Kristen took some deep breaths and attempted a run that was a tad more difficult. She fell a few times an bruised her ego a bit, so we did what I seem to do best these days after getting down the slopes--hit the bar for a bloody mary. The tender must have known that she REALLY needed that drink, as he didn't even ask for our IDs. With a bit of liquid courage, I thought she would get back out there, but it didn't quite happen that way. I took a few more blue runs while Kristen took it easy on the Coach's Corner before we headed back to town.

By 2 pm, Kristen was at work and I put on my productive pants--car emissions, check. New hair drier, check. Paper started, check. Time with boyfriend, check. Home, happy, and tired, check, check, check.

Guilty Pleasures

To make up for the crap wake-up call from this morning and to encourage myself just a bit more to work on course work that I SWORE I'd be getting done this week, I went to the grocery store to buy myself some fabulous food to cook for dinner. While waiting in line, what did I grab? Cosmo. Yeah, that's not going to distract me at allllll. I also picked up not just one, but TWO chick flicks to watch while Josh is out playing poker and I'm at home, enjoying my fabulous dinner...doesn't it make you want to come over? (I have quite a bit of booze, in case that helps.)

Grrrrr

To the asshole honking incessantly at 2am:

Thanks for waking me up out of a deep sleep just because the light wouldn't turn green for you when you wanted it to. I really appreciate the way that you changed the length of time that your horn would honk every time you hit the button and the way that you just kept right on honking, as if you were creating a soundtrack for a movie that takes place in rush hour traffic. It was really kind of you to wake me up--I've been meaning to get up at 2 am and not be able to fall back asleep for hours on end (while I'm on vacation, no less) for decades!

Ok, ok, maybe you didn't know there are houses around here--just the school and some businesses, but something tells me that you're not the brightest bulb in the socket. I'm pretty sure that traffic lights are not triggered by sound and I'm also pretty sure that if you were to take a look around, you would have seen several houses in the vicinity with happy, sleeping people in them. Take a look around, asshole, and try to be a bit more considerate next time.

Snow Report

Holy shit! It snowed 12 inches at Bogus Basin today! Quick, I need an excuse to go skiing tomorrow--and it's got to be good, like free food or a good shag afterward (that's kind of a joke--kind of). And aside from that, you've got to motivate me to complete my course work later that evening, as I've got a shit load to accomplish in the next few days. Please don't tell me just to do it on Thursday because I've got plans to go skiing that day with Kristen.

Wow, this is beginning to sound like a bad Craigslist posting...now I'm tempted to do that as well, just to see how many responses I get. Quick, someone give me motivation for that too!

The movie.

Yeah yeah yeah, 3 posts in one day--don't get used to it. I had to write something however, about how good I feel about taking some time to myself to go to a movie. I may have said it before, but I LOVE going to movies alone and today was no exception to the rule. I probably would have shared this experience with someone, but seeing as though I play the part of the *perfect* girlfriend (ha! that's funny...), I refused to let Josh go see it (even funnier...) and he's probably the only person who might have the time to go to movies with me this week. That being said, I went to see "Because I Said So" because I'm a big sap and a sucker for chick flicks and because my mom used to say those words (actually, she probably still does) on a regular basis for why, exactly, I should do things when she tells me to. Tada, premise for the title of the movie. It was cute enough--not enough to make me cry, so that was good too. The best part about the whole movie? The fact that The Weepies had a song in it, about 3/4 of the way through...and we all know how much I LOVE The Weepies!

another blogger

My friend Jon, with whom I am working on a project for my 507 Policing class (yeah!) a new blog. It's going to be good. Read it.

Spring Break!

Thank God for the fact that Boise State and the Boise School District's Spring Breaks coincide. You know what this means? Not only do I NOT have to go to work all week, but I also don't have class all week long. One would think that I would take this time to go on vacation or do something really exciting...but no...I am relaxing, right here in Boise, simply because I can. I do have big plans for finishing some papers that are due in the next month or so and rewarding myself for my daily progress by going to chick flicks and possibly meeting people for lunch, since I generally can't seem to do those things during the regular weeks of the year. Sooooo, if you are in Boise--that probably just means Josh or Jon or other random people who are in town--wanna go to lunch tomorrow? El Gallo Giro? Thai?

(Sorry, today's taken--my reward for blogging and reading is going to see "Because I Said So" at 12:30).

I heart new haircut day...

...cuz it makes you feel sooooooo good!

Patty Griffin...

...was freaking amazing.


She sounded amazing. Her band was amazing. Our seats were amazing.

la chienne

Late Saturday morning, a bitch showed up wanting to enter my open door (it was nice outside so I had the door open for some fresh air)--she was timid, but very insistent upon coming inside. Sure enough, as soon as I turned around to fold some clothes, she came inside and laid down on the floor. Weird, right? I shooed her outside again but every time I turned around, she was in my apartment. Eventually, I just let her hang out for awhile. After all, I didn't want to close my door and quite frankly, she was cute. I had a few biscuits in my cupboard, so I gave those to her. When I left later that night, she followed me to my car, whined a little bit, then chased my car down the street when I drove off.

She was there waiting for me when I got home. When I left in the morning, she was waiting at my doorstep. When I came home, she greeted me at my car door. When I sat in the yard reading, she laid on the ground next to my chair. On Monday morning when my alarm went off, she was barking outside my front door to come inside. When I returned late Monday night, she was there...again.

I know it's my fault that I gave her food and let her in for a few hours one day, but I can't keep her. There's no way that I have the time/energy/money to watch/walk/pay for dog food and vet services for her the way she needs to be cared for. So that kind of stinks, because she's super cute and even knows how to sit...and she doesn't jump up on you or your furniture...and she's good company...and I even have a yard. Sigh.

So I called the Humane Society today to come pick her up. So, I suppose if you live in the Boise area and you want a cute dog, you should either call me right away or head over to the Humane Society ASAP to get her...

St. Patty's Day

Josh and I were downtown last night celebrating with the Irish when a limo pulled up in front of where we were sitting (it was nice enough to sit outside at Old Chicago!). I turned to Josh and said, "I think Rod Stewart is driving that limo." Sure enough, the couple next to us said something a little later about how much the limo driver looked like the super star. The driver exited the limo and walked around--hoards of people came up to him wanting pictures, etc. Of course, it wasn't the actual Rod Stewart, but this picture may help you understand just how entertaining the event was...

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The sister on a national drinking day!

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Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha

In honor of not having class tonight and finally getting my renter's insurance coverage set up, I decided to sit down and have a look at the Boise Craigslist Rants and Raves section. I laughed out loud at this and thought you might enjoy it...

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http://boise.craigslist.org/rnr/293965221.html
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Rant: Who stole my " G "

Date: 2007-03-14, 1:24PM MDT


To the smart ass that stole the letter G off of our Marquis last night or early this morning; Not funny.

Do you think I like getting a call from the police at 3:00 AM telling me motorists are already complaining about our sign?

And to the people complaining; I have ran this drive-through for 10 years and donated plenty to your causes. What gives you the right to whine? Being a conservative, anal, LDS Republican does NOT give you the right to call my wife at 7:30 AM and complain. You people need to lighen the fuck up. Take up a hobby such as minding your own business.

For the record: We are selling Black "Angus" Burger for 99 cents

We are NOT selling Black Anus Burgers. There is no such thing as a black Anus Burger. Anyone with a room temperature IQ could see what happened.

Fucking morons.

Whoever stole our G, please return it ASAP.

pants

So this morning I got to school and had been there for about an hour and a half, when it became necessary to go down the hall to the loo. When I got there, I discovered that I had a hole in the crotch of my pants! It wasn't too visible, but I was so worked up about the whole thing that I walked around scared shitless that my butt would be falling out of my pants at any point in time. Then, a glimpse of hope appeared--track pants in my car! Yes! So I got the ok from our assistant principal to wear the track pants for the remainder of the day...yeah, that was hot.

The good news is, I now have an excuse to go buy new black pants!

Patty Griffin Tickets

I heard on the radio a little while back that Patty Griffin will be performing at the Egyptian Theater in Boise this month. I immediately called two people--first, my friend Alison in Chicago, who loves Patty nearly as much as I do (if not more) to gloat about the fact that Ms Griffin would be strolling through my fabulous town and I had every intention of going to see her. Second, I called my sister to ensure that she would be attending with me....I don't think I know anyone else in town who would appreciate the show as much as her. Both phone calls in place, I continued on with my day (that's the day we took the Jeep out and got nice and muddy!)

Fast forward to February 28th, when I finally made my way to the Record Exchange in downtown Boise to get our tickets. Yes, they still had some! (as if she is soooo well known that her show would be sold out...ahhh, how I dream) I also picked up her latest album, "Children Running Through." I was ecstatic! I had even made plans to leave Stats class early that day to make sure I found a parking spot without an issue. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to the Egyptian and seeing every bit of the show as I paid for, damn it.

Fast forward again to today's Stats class. It turns out that a bunch of my classmates will be at the ACJS conference in mid-March, in some town that I don't care about right now and the exam that was scheduled for March 13th is now schedule for March 20th. EFFFFFFFFINGGGGGGGG AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! You've got to be kidding me....the same day as the EFFING CONCERT!!! You can imagine my rage, disappointment, etc. when this was brought up. Granted, I have 2 hours to finish the exam that starts at 6pm and with any luck, I'll be able to finish early within that 2 hour window and get downtown before Patty takes the stage...and Patty Griffin will be the BEST reward EVER for finishing a Stats exam...buuuuuuut....ugh.

I suppose I should also mention the fact that the exam may be moved to that Thursday, the 22nd, but this wouldn't be nearly as good of a blog if I mentioned it, so I'll just leave that for another time. Oh wait...

Oh, and on a completely different note, tonight in Stats, my friend Jon tried to throw a gum wrapper at my face and "accidently" threw it down my cleavage. It sat in my shirt for the duration of class and only fell out after I got home and realized that Grey's Anatomy was a rerun. Man, what a day...

(oh, and 2 months minus a day until VEGAS!!!)