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Viva Las Vegas!

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Oh shit, whose idea was this?

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I'm in Vegas. Yesss.

I got a brand new...

...pair of roller skates! No really, my coworkers actually got me roller skates for my birthday. They want me to join a roller derby team because they think I'll kick some ass...and let's face it, I probably would.

Consider this my obligatory birthday post (it was Sunday).

I'm officially one year closer to 30.

Yesssss!

(Have I mentioned that I'm going to Vegas on Satuday?!)

The Freak Out Stage

Stats mini-thesis is due Friday at noon. Though I had my research question, variables, and unit of analysis turned in long ago, I started writing my methods section on Saturday and ran my statistics on SPSS on Sunday. I am now on the go-to-bed-at-10pm and get-up-at-4:30am schedule in order to evaluate these stupid statistics. Every spare moment is spent interpreting my results and not coming up with a damn thing that is interesting about school crime prevention programs and their effects on violent and non-violent crime.

I'm officially in the freak out stage of semester 2 of grad school...gross.

(Thankfully, everything for my policing class is ready to go...which is kind of too bad, because I really enjoyed that class and honestly wouldn't have minded continuing with more of the project....at least I did something right this semester!)

Vegas: Saturday!

Again, happy early birthday to me

I'm such a dork. I just won a radio contest for knowing what a myrmecologist is. (someone who studies ants, by the way). So I get to go here and spend $50 of someone else's money. And just in case you want to see any actual information about Rendezvous, you can go here. Wow, this sure beats studying for stats...

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Happy early birthday to me!

Liquor...

...on Sundays in Ada County has been prohibited since...well...forever, I'm sure. But, starting in June, residents of our fine county will be able to purchase liquor on Sundays! County commissioners voted unanimously to allow the sales to occur and it makes this boozer very, very happy.

For more information, go here.

I must be crazy

I had decided quite awhile ago that I was not going to take any summer courses this year because I had zero interest in the courses that were being offered in the Criminal Justice program. I actually had myself quite pumped about taking the summer to relax and have a good ol' time doing nothing...until last night. My classmate Salvador brought up the point that having grant writing experience is very helpful in the criminal justice field (I completely agree). This was followed up by my professor stating that, yes, it was a good idea and that he has "connections" (his wife) through a different college at BSU and that she would be teaching a grant writing course during the first 3 week session of summer school. After some thought and consideration, I decided to see what it was all about.

This is where I say I'm crazy. The class goes from May 14 to June 3, MONDAY-THURSDAY from 5:30 to 9:10 pm. The culmination of the course is a grant proposal of my own to actually submit, if I'd like to. This, combined with my project for this semester's 507 Policing course, should prove to be a worthwhile investment and I'm actually really excited about it. The part that I'm not so excited about is the fact that I will still be working 35 hours a week in hell, then heading off to class for several hours--4 days a week, for 3 weeks. Ouch.

The good thing about this is that I get to use these 3 credits as an elective course for the program. Yippee!
Of course, this is all conditional...I have to get permission from the prof to take teh course.

Titles

Jon just came up with a great post about how he came up with the title for his blog, then asked his reading audience to explain why we titled our blogs the way we did. Call it a challenge, if you will...and I have accepted. His questions were as follows:

"To all my readers who are either bloggers or who have contemplated blogging, here's my question for you: what's up with your title? Why choose the title you chose? Or, why would you choose a certain title, were you to blog?"

I think mine came out of feeling sorry for myself, quite honestly. Or not. I may have been enjoying my ego a bit much and realized that I needed to tone it down and by naming my blog "Mediocrity Is Not So Bad," I imagined that, somehow, my big head might shrink a bit if I wanted to be the humble person that Jesus tells us to be. Either way, it doesn't really matter HOW I came up with it as much as I like the reasoning behind it. Who cares if you're not perfect? Who cares if your clothes don't match 100% of the time or if you look decent at the grocery store instead of magnificent? In other words, who cares if you're just mediocre? I posted it here a little over a year ago, "I'm OK with being unimpressive. I sleep better." Maybe people expect less out of you if you never who them exactly how much you can do. Lazy? Maybe. Mediocre? Absolutely! As said in the Edie Carey quote above, the middle is a pretty nice place to hide--and sometimes, I prefer it that way.

Whew, any comments? Better yet, care to answer the same question about your blog? (Claire, Jon actually posted about your blog in his intro to this topic...I'm sure he'd love to hear all about "Embracing the Awkward.")

getting older

My friend Lindsay just called me to tell me that she's just recognized one of the key elements of growing old. She said she was outside looking at something in her yard when a man jogged by who was absolutely gorgeous. Her jaw dropped as she turned her head to watch him go by (yes boys, we do this too...deal with it).

It was only after he had jogged a bit further down the street when she realized that she was staring down a man with a head full of gray hair.

To justify it a bit, she did say that he was the type of man that "every woman wants her husband to look like when he gets older" (hello, fit and hot)--a "true Richard Gere."

I don't know about you, but I don't necessarily want a "true Richard Gere" of my own when I'm old and gray--I just want to look at them.

Where was I?

When Molly Ivins died? Obviously, I wasn't watching the news...or talking to anyone who might care. I can't believe I didn't know until now...

Molly Ivins Obit

Poker Night

In case I haven't mentioned it before, Josh is a big poker player. We are constantly watching poker on TV and setting the DVR to record shows like "High Stakes Poker." So earlier in the week, when we were invited to go play poker at his friends' house, I knew that there would be no turning down the offer. Well, I could have turned it down, but that would have meant that I'd be at home alone on a Saturday night and let's face it, I really wanted to hang out with Josh. So I figured that I should go, even though I'm not a great player. I'd spend $20 and enjoy the company for a little while on a Saturday night.

I never expected to actually win any money.

But I did.

After paying Josh for my buy in (wasn't that nice of him?) and paying for my own add-on at the break, I left with an extra $85 in my pocket.

Question is, was I actually playing well, or was I just lucky?!

(Vegas in less than a month!)