Waking Up Early

I am now getting into the groove of classes once again. However, next week my schedule will completely change since I'll start teaching at Scott Middle School for my practicum, which could start at 7:30 every morning. I might not get to watch Jay Leno anymore!
The last time I've had to get up so early every day was probably senior year of high school. (Getting up at 8am or later isn't early, which is what I did in college.) Even though I am not a morning person senior year was SO FUN. I had already gotten into UM by October and was just enjoying the year. My brother is at that age now, but he still has to get into Michigan before he can breeze by :P
He's going on a cruise for spring break, chaperoned by Sabrina. I wish Sabrina chaperoned my spring break trip. We had friends' parents go with us to Marco Island, but I guess we were still free to do whatever we wanted. But Sabrina is really easy-going. If I were a parent I think I would be a little uptight; I should probably work on that. [Oh and sidenote, I totally forgot to say I hung out at Sab's house the day before driving back here. I always love going to her house since they have EVERYTHING you can imagine there and she was a little upset I didn't mention it. Sorry :( ] I've only been on a cruise once with my family to the Bahamas. It was so amazing, but I think I'll appreciate a cruise more now that I am older.
Here's a random picture of Matt and I from the Milas wedding. It's the only picture from the wedding where my shoes are showing (I told the picture taker to make sure he got them in since the dress didn't really work out, but the shoes made it look better). The wedding was fun since Steph and Courtney were there, which equals a really good time!

Bear escapes exhibit after eyeing bike

I thought this was funny...

BERLIN - An Andean spectacled bear escaped from its enclosure in Berlin zoo and roamed around a children’s playground -- the second breakout since June, when a gorilla leapt over its fence, the zoo’s deputy director said on Monday. Juan, the bear, hauled himself over a wall and made for the carousel and then was very interested in a bike. "Spectacled bears eat both vegetables and meat but children tend not to be on their menu," a zoo official said. "I’d have been a lot more worried if one of our polar bears had escaped."
(article from msnbc.com)

Lots of Medals

As the 2004 Olympics come to a close, the US will have 100 medals, unless we squeak out a few more tomorrow . Russia is second with 85 medals. This gives the world another reason not to like us! I, on the other hand, am very impressed with our great effort. Yeah America!

Spinning, math questions

Spinning was out of control yesterday. It is a really good workout so I will probably go back every Wednesday. The reason spinning is hard is because instead of riding the exercise bike while sitting, we STAND the whole time. We also simulate going up hills by increasing the resistance of the pedals by whatever number the instructor tells us to. At the end of the 45 minute class, we "sprint" on our bikes, meaning we pedal as fast as we can for a few minutes in intervals. It sounds easy, but it takes a lot of control. I am a bit sore, but not as bad as I thought I was going to be. The instructor says that biking is a good conditioning exercise without being hard on your joints (especially knees), like running does to you. I'm all for it :)
In one of my math classes today, my professor said that we will be getting a lot of questions from our high school/middle school students such as "where did the addition sign come from?" Instead of saying we don't know we all were assigned a mathematical symbol to find its origin. The signs ranged from simple signs (+,-) to more advanced ones such as the integral sign or "e." I got the equal sign so here's the interesting background on that:

The Equal sign, or =, which is used to indicate the result of some operation, was invented in 1557 by Robert Recorde. Recorde grew tired of writing out the words "is equal to" so he used the equal sign symbol in his work Whetstone of Witte. He chose this sign since the two lines used are equal in length, showing that the quantities joined together by "=" are also equal.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_%28math%29


That's your math lesson of the day!

Let's get physical, physical

I'm really excited about starting to work out again. I've been slacking these past couple of years and decided to get on the ball by looking up aerobics centers. Luckily I didn't have to look too far because UNL's Rec Center is offering unlimited fitness classes for the semester for about $50. There are a variety of different classes that run from 6am to 10pm. I wanted to find a class right before dinner so I decided to take "Upper Body Blast", "Cycle Fit", and "Butts and Guts." The names are pretty self-explanatory. I've talked to a few people, including Mona and Ashley, and they both said spinning (a term for cycling) is really really hard. They were both in pain afterwards and sore for days. That class is tomorrow, so hopefully it won't be bad. If it's too challenging for me, I might have to substitute that for something else.

5K Walk/Run

I am so ready for classes to start on Monday. I've gotten my books, printed out my schedule, organized my desk, etc. Luckily my practicum starts at 10am this week. We'll be getting our school assignments and what time we need to be at the public school a little later. Since most schools start around 7:30am and we're most likely going to be teaching 1st or 2nd hour, I will have to train myself to get up ~6 everyday (gasp!). I'm used to a sleeping-in college lifestyle, so this is probably a good change for me. We'll start out teaching about one day a week while observing. By the end of the semester we're supposed to have full control of the class, including grading papers, making tests and most importantly the lesson plan, while the teacher observes. Very cool, and very scary!
Today Matt and I ran (ok we mostly walked it!) Coach Callahan's 5k in support of raising funds for juvenile diabetes and the UNL libraries. My fellow friends got me into it, and it was really nice to do something like this for a good cause. I think it's also a good way for our new football coach (obviously, Coach Callahan) to become more integrated with the city and the school. I'll put some pictures up later because I still have to finish the roll.

Stolen Art

Someone stole Edvard Munch's "Scream" from an Oslo Museum. There were a couple weird things associated with what happened. First of all, the thieves stole this painting, as well as others, in view of others, during the day. It seems that it would be smarter to steal at night when no one is around. Well then again it's not smart to steal anything at all, but moving on... Second of all, there was no security surrounding the pictures. I remember seeing movies where famous paintings are enclosed in glass or in a restricted section. And "Scream" has been stolen before, but no one thought to add any security precautions.

I took a quiz about my "flavor" or as this quiz spells it "flavour."

I am Vanilla Flavoured. I am one of the most popular flavours in the world. Subtle and smooth, I go reasonably with anyone, and rarely do anything to offend. I can be expected to be blending in in society. What Flavour Are You?

I don't know if I'm so subtle. For instance there have been many times when I talk about the waiter while he or she is coming up behind me. Subtle I am not.

Last Day of Training

I was excited to end training today. We had an end-of-training banquet and every complex staff was there, which is over 100 people. Dr. Z is the director and he was supposed to give a speech, but he called at the last minute saying he couldn't make it. Who does that? I was a little disappointed because he spoke at the end of training last year and he's a pretty entertaining speaker. So one of the RD's had to make an impromptu motivational speech. It wasn't bad for being put on the spot. I didn't realize that most of the staff was going to be dressed up. I did not get that "memo" so it is definitely not my fault. If I knew people were dressing up I would have gladly done so since I love doing that sort of thing. I picked today to wear overalls! I haven't worn overalls in over 3 years and so that was just not a good idea.
Matt was working on his moot court stuff at the law school and since the end of the year banquet was on east campus where he is I was going to call him afterwards to pick me up. Luckily I found a ride though since he was deep in thought and didn't hear the ringer when I called. He felt so bad but I thought it was just funny. His car starter works horribly anyway. I think he needs to get it fixed but he thinks the problem will just go away. haha
For dinner we went to Wasabi, which is a sushi place. We heard good things about it, but their service was terrible. There was one waitress for the whole restaurant (10-12 tables) so we could never get her to refill pop and our order took a half hour! On Iron Chef, sushi takes about two minutes. We won't be going back there.
I've been going to sleep early these days, which I guess is good training for when I start my practicum in a few weeks! I'll be refreshed when I have to teach kids about the joys of math!

Olympics, Voting, Dad's Birthday

I've been watching the Olympics sporatically and it seems like Australia is racking up medals faster than any other country. Since when has Australia been some huge sports threat?? China and Japan have also been doing well. I always thought Germany and Russia were really good, but maybe that's in the Winter Olympics. I like watching women's gymnastics. I noticed that the girls on our team are pretty old. Usually the girls are in their mid-teens because there bodies are at their optimum level; they are strong enough but not completely through puberty. However, we have women in their 20's. I just hope that doesn't have a great effect on our chances at winning! I kind of want to watch table tennis also because I'm always amazed at how much hand-eye coordination is involved when the balls are going back and forth so fast. Matt and I have a ping-pong table in the basement and we can barely go back and forth more than 5 times before we miss the line or go off the table!
I saved some comics a while back that I thought were really funny. I'm talking back to when Edwards was named the VP candidate for John Kerry.

I think it's really important for people to vote, especially my generation since that is the demographic least likely to vote. Whether you're republican, democratic, for or against the issues, it is important to exercise your right. Sometimes it seems as if one vote doesn't count, but if everyone thought that, we wouldn't have any voices out there! So that's my opinion on that situation.
In other news, it's my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad!!

Back on Track

During this past week of stress, my family was relaxing in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. I'd definitely rather be there than here. I need a vacation from my summer vacation :)
Training has been hectic, but I have the weekend off so I got some chores/errands done today. I didn't like the set up of my room so Matt and I arranged a few things. Now that I like my room the way it is, I actually finished unpacking! My room is no longer a mess! Tomorrow I'll have to go through my desk, but then my room will feel like a normal room once again.
I turned my laptop in to the help desk yesterday and I should be getting it back tomorrow. The guy who's helping me came to the conclusion that I need to back up all of my files and reinstall windows. My computer isn't responding to the ethernet connection (it did a few weeks ago, funny how that works) and the reason might be due to corrupt files on the hard drive. When I do get my laptop back, I'll have to reinstall a ton of programs such as instant messenger, adobe acrobat, MS word, excel, powerpoint, etc. I probably left all of my CDs at home, so that'll be fun trying to get ahold of those.
On the brighter side, my friend Stephanie might come to visit me in October! (Any other friends are welcome to visit whenever as well!) She's probably coming the first weekend of the month and I think there's a home football game so we'll probably do that and of course go around town seeing all the sights.
Tonight, Matt and I went to Ruby Tuesday's. Matt's been busy with Moot Court stuff, so it was good for both of us to get away from all the stress for a little while.

No Time

Since I've been back I have had NO time. My room is full of boxes and I don't have time to set up my voicemail. I got the Internet to work in my room the second I had to leave for training. Then I get back and it stops working. So I'm in the stupid computer lab again. Can you tell I'm not a happy camper? I can't wait until this week goes by and I'm more organized. Being disorganized is very stressful for me.
Anyway on a lighter and more happier note, I saw a few movies before training. I saw Collateral, which is a really good action flick. I was a little shocked at how candid Tom Cruise is about shooting people, but hey it is a movie. And I also saw the Village. I always like M. Night Shymalan's (sp?) movies. I even liked Unbreakable, which I've heard many people say has been his worst. I always like seeing a fellow Indian in the media since there are so few of them representing. Also his movies really make me think. Matt and I had a 45 minutes discussion after the movie just talking about the different themes. Now that's a good movie.

One more year of school

On Friday I will be heading back to Lincoln for my last year of graduate school. I'm a little nervous about my practicum and student teaching after that, but I know I'll get the hang of it.
I'm excited for a lot of things in the coming year... graduation, my sister's wedding, my brother's high school graduation, Matt and I finding jobs and figuring out where we're going to end up, etc.
I guess the first hurdle is driving back on Friday. It's a 12 hour trip and it seems to take FOREVER. I have a bunch of crossword puzzles, CDs, and magazines to occupy my time. Matt can drive for hours without getting tired, my max driving time is probably 3 hours (4 if I'm really awake) and then I need a break for at least a few hours before I start up again.
Although Matt says his car is in okay shape, I hope it gets us there since it almost has 100,000 miles on it! My dad says that GM cars last about that long before starting to have many problems. Hopefully the Intrigue lasts until Matt can afford to buy a new one. We might fly back during winter break instead of drive to reduce the wear and tear on his car. We shall see.
Anyway, I'm packing and running errands today and then I'll be in AA tonight.
Goodbye Michigan!

Mona is coming home

Update on bees: The exterminator came today and took care of the bees. Luckily no other bees came into the house (that we are aware of) since my last entry. Merle, the exterminator, made some spray using powder and water and killed the queen bee, which then makes the other bees that haven't already died from the powder leave the nest and move on somewhere else. He said that most hives or nests contain about 2000 bees!
Enought about that...Today my sister is coming home. I haven't seen her since the beginning of January which is probably the longest time we've gone without seeing each other! I can only spend a few days with her because then I am off to Ann Arbor Thursday evening so Matt and I can go back to Lincoln on Friday morning. I'm not ready for summer to be over!

Bees are horrible!

Yesterday I noticed we had a lot of bees going in and out of a crevice between bricks on the front side of our house. My dad bought some bug spray and sprayed the hole. When we thought they had died my dad closed the hole up. Little did we know that this is the worst thing we could've done. This morning I woke up to my parents spraying INSIDE the house. The bees had not died and had found a way into our house, probably through cracks. My parents went to work and my brother and I were faced with killing the bees. Finally, we gave up and decided to go out for lunch, go shopping, anything to pass the time until our parents came back home. After dinner we called the exterminator and he will be in tomorrow at noon. He said that he was surprised that we only killed about 10 of them since there are usually hundreds of bees in a hive/hole and they'll find any way to break free such as going through light fixtures and heating ducts. Since I have a fear of virtually any bug (with the exception of ants and flies) I am staying at Heather's house tonight. I am counting down the hours until our house is bug-free!

Golfing and Stuff

I went golfing on Saturday with Matt, his Uncle Mike, and his sister Jenny. Matt's family has a condo in Gaylord that is literally right next to the golf course. I had only gone golfing twice before and they weren't great experiences, partly because I didn't know what I was doing and the second time there were swarms of mosquitos. This time it was really fun. Mike taught me how to swing the day before at the driving range. I was just trying to hit the ball as hard as I could, but apparently that is not how you go about doing it. I used Matt's mom's clubs, which are specifically designed for women. If I had clubs I would probably want something like that. They even looked prettier. On the course we played nine holes and used the best drive to start off each hole, which made it go faster and in my opinion made it more fun. We used my drive once, but we usually used Matt's or Mike's. I don't think I would be able to play golf for a really long time, but I've never tried 18 holes so we will see if that statement is really true. Matt really likes golf so I imagine I'll be playing golf for years to come. :)