A Window To My World

It's Been A Long Time!

2009-07-09T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a terrible blogger. Really. I only had one post in May and none in June. Now it's over a week into July and this is my first post of the month. Oops. I'll try harder, I promise!

This summer is both flying by and crawling along. In some ways I can't believe the whole month of June is gone, but at the same time I'm so ready to be back at school for my (gulp) last year of college. So sometimes the days really seem to be crawling. I'm just without much to do here at home.

Not that I don't do anything at all. I'm still working at the lovely toy store. I'm getting a fair amount of hours and enjoying the paychecks. However, it leaves me pretty tired sometimes. I worked for 7 hours on the 4th, then turned around the next day and worked from 6-10 AM at a baby store that is also owned by the lovely toy store. This was before going into my store for an eight hour shift later that day. Needless to say I was extremely tired. And not in a particularly good mood when customers decided that I was the best person to ask a million questions to while I was up on a ladder changing displays.

Next week I'll be back at school for a few days to help out with freshmen orientation. I have a group of mentees who I am responsible for. I'll try not to ruin their lives too terribly. :)

In my spare time I've been thinking about the future a lot. And talking about it a great deal via text message with Sam. We're going to keep each other on track this year with our goals as far as applying to places goes. I've officially decided (and let both of my parents know) that I am definitely not going to pursue my Master of Arts in Teaching degree anymore. Nor am I going to pursue a career in teaching. Instead I'll be going into College Admissions. While I've hoped that there will be a position open at my school, I realize there is a good chance this won't happen. So I've been browsing through jobs on my new favorite website, www.higheredjobs.com and I've found a lot of really good job opportunities. So hopefully by the time I graduate there will still be lots of good ones out there.

My parents are really okay with this, thankfully. After telling my mom about one of the jobs I found in Wyoming she pulled out her atlas and found it on the map and then looked the school and town up online and told me all about it. I don't know that I'll end up quite that far away from Georgia, but I'm open to anything. So for now I'm just going to have to wait and see!

Southern Baptists and Torture

2009-05-08T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Southern Baptist Convention, a leading voice among Religious Conservatives has announced that the United States should not engage in torture under any circumstances and that the practice of "waterboarding" is torture.

This is a huge deal. The SBC has the ear of the GOP, and could provide the necessary push Republicans leaders in congress to change their stance and disavow torture as un-American and un-Christian. With the help of conservative Christian voters, the United States could move toward truly bipartisan anti-terror legislation.

I don't normally agree with the SBC on much, but on this issue, we see eye-to-eye.

Cow Patty Bingo

2009-04-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, all of my dear blogging friends!

I'm writing to see if anyone is interested in buying a ticket for the Zeta Beta chapter of Delta Tau Delta's annual Cow Patty Bingo to be held May 2, 2009, at 4 PM on the residential quad at LaGrange College.

A ticket costs $50 and buys you one square in our cow "pasture" on the Quad. On May 2, we'll bring in a cow and let it's do its business...and if it does its business on your square, you win...

$1000!!!

Who doesn't want to win a thousand dollars?If you are interested, or have any questions, let me know!

Every state...

2009-04-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

...has two Senators, right?

Wrong.

Not Minnesota.

Minnesota currently only has 1 Senator, Amy Klobuchar. This is because since the very close election held in November, there have been two recounts AND a very lengthy legal challenge. Every time, the result has been that Republican Senator Norm Coleman lost the election and Democrat Al Franken won. Yet five months after the elction, Minnesota is still under- represented in the US Senate.

Is this right? NO.

Tell the GOP to stop playing games with Minnesota's representation and allow Senator Franken to be seated:
chairman@gop.com

Change: Part 1

2009-03-22T15:43:00.001-07:00

So last night my roommate and I both made a seriously big change.

I don't really have time to write about it at the moment because Sunday nights are meeting nights, but I promise that tomorrow I will reveal the change and hopefully the reactions to this change.

And plus I don't want to spoil the surprise for the readers who will see me tomorrow.

Rooming

2009-03-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have three roommates. One of them smells. Not figuratively...literally. It's not pleasant. He leaves a lingering smell everywhere. I've used nearly a whole bottle of Fabreeze trying to make the couch, carpet, and air smell better when he's not around. He's a self-proclaimed nature lover and only a sometimes showerer. He asked all of the roommates if he smelled the other day. I just sat silently...I have trouble being mean about things like that!

So needless to say I will not be living with him next year.

Technology

2009-03-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after work I was back in my room and I opened my phone to find a big, blank white screen starring back at me. I quickly closed my phone in the hopes that maybe I had simply imagined such a thing happening. Re-opening my phone seemed to confirmed this as my eye was greeted with the familiar three letters of my fraternity that serves as the background on my phone.

I thought maybe this was a one time thing...but it's not. This morning when I woke to the sound of my phone alarm and opened it in order to hit the snooze button, I found a blank black screen starring back at me. This seems like an even worse development! I couldn't even get the screen to come back by opening and closing the phone, so I had to turn it off and power it back up to see anything. And I have done that several times today.

Thankfully, for the past four or five hours, every time I've opened my phone it has been working. Or at least on the main inside screen. The front screen still seems quite a bit out of sorts. And this problem is having a terrible side effect. It's draining my phone battery quite quickly...to the point where I charged my phone last night but now have almost no battery after making no phone calls and only one text message. And I'm in constant danger of being called and then opening my phone with no clue as to who is on the line. And that is frightening...there are some people you just would rather not talk to!! And texts...well I'll try and answer them if I can see them.

So I find myself wondering what precisely I should do. I found a forum online about the problem and a possible solution for it. But the process seems a little bit much for me (although I could probably get my dad to help me with it tomorrow). Aside from that I could switch back to my old phone...which is fairly ancient. I wouldn't lose too much since most of my contacts are on my sim card. But it's really, really old. And kind of annoying. OR...I could go to the AT&T store and explain the problem to them and have them laugh at me when I ask for a replacement (since this is not my fault...the phone hasn't been damaged, it's a manufacturer's defect) and then have them try to sell me a ridiculously expensive new phone. OR I could go to Wal-Mart and buy one of those relatively cheap to-go phone thingies and stick my sim card in it. Thoughts? Ideas? Other solutions? Similar problems?

Principles!

2009-03-03T13:20:00.000-08:00

Aside from a snow day (in Georgia), nothing too exciting has happened in my own life. Therefore, I will fall back on one of my favorite blogging topics: politics.

My target...er, topic today is Governor Sonny Perdue. Our illustrious leader seems poised to block the sale of alcohol on Sundays in stores once again. The bill finally looks like it has a snowballs chance in hell of passing through both the state senate and house, a first. But Perdue, with his deeply conservative Baptist background has publicly acknowledged that he will not sign the bill because it violates HIS religious principles. The bill itself does not legalize Sunday sales, it only gives local communities the option of allowing such sales. Public surveys show that nearly 70% of Georgians support Sunday sales. That number is likely higher in places like Atlanta, Buckhead, parts of Gwinnett County, and Athens. Despite such strong support for the measure and a variety of vastly different religious perspectives in this state, Perdue seems likely to impose his strict Baptist views on the entire state. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. You?

Suggestion

2009-02-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

I've had an interesting day, but nothing that I really feel as if I can write about here. So instead, I'll let someone else do the writing for me.

If you have a second, take a look at http://theresalwayscereal.wordpress.com/ and check out my best friend's blog. His first entry is incredibly humorous and your's truly is mentioned (though not by name)!

One day when he's a famous author you'll be saying you read his blog before he was famous.

Excitement in the Air

2009-02-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

Last week was an absolutely terrible week. Nothing seemed to go right starting on Monday and continuing on through Friday. The worst part was being with a good friend when she found out two of her precious cats had died suddenly and tragically. That was a sad, sad day.

However, this week already seems to be off to a much better start! I've heard plenty of exciting news recently! First, I know of TWO wonderful couples who will be bringing little bundles of joy into this world in August and October, respectively. I couldn't be more happy for them. Who doesn't love a new baby? Second, my friends who lost their cats rescued a little kitten from the animal shelter. Little Felix is as cute as any kitten you've ever seen. I think he thinks he's Egyptian, possibly even the Sphinx itself, judging by the way he sat on my lap.

Third, my fraternity chapter won a VERY BIG award this weekend at our division conference. We were recognized as being one of the top 10 chapters of our fraternity in the whole country. It is the fourth time in our 39 year history that our chapter has won this award and the tenth time in a row (yes...a whole decade) that we have been in the top 20 chapters.

So I'm hoping that with all of this good news this week will be much better than the last one.

Hold Your Horses...

2009-02-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

I write today because I am frustrated by things that I read online where people have totally given up on President Obama after less than a month. People...it's been like three weeks! Give the man a chance before you condemn him. Has he done a perfect job? NO. Could anyone (including John McCain) have done a perfect job? NO. But he has accomplished quite a bit early on, despite some really nasty politics by some on the far right. Giving in to the Rush Limbaugh / Sean Hannity / Anne Coulter rhetoric this early in the administration is only going to do two things: 1. Drive everyone further apart and 2. Cause the GOP to hemorrhage moderates even faster than it already is.

Another good way to save the GOP? Start looking towards moderates to lead the party. People like Arlen Spector (R-PA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in the Senate, who had the guts to go against party leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and vote for the stimulus bill to help Americans. Otherwise, the GOP may quickly become the party of only the very conservative and only the Deep South.

And while we're speaking of the stimulus...
Let's talk about Georgia's Junior Senator, Johnny Isackson. Isackson, like nearly every Republican in the Senate fell into line with Mitch McConnell and voted against the Stimulus bill. But not before he increased the size of the bill by 15 million dollars in tax incentives for people who are rich enough to flip houses. So our Senator can add unnecessary spending that does not help the average Georgian at all, but he cannot vote for the final bill that as a whole would help Georgians get jobs and make more money. Congratulations, Johnny, that's great legislating right there. Let's all remember this when we got to the polls in 2010.

On Hold

2009-02-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

As I sit here typing this I have been on hold with a doctor's office for roughly half an hour. What, you might be wondering, is wrong with me? The answer is nothing. I'm calling to set up an appointment for my roommate. Which is apparently really difficult for this office to handle. I understand that healthcare is a complicated business (too complicated...but there doesn't seem to be any going back now), but it seems as if I should be able to make an appointment for someone else without too many problems. I know his name, address, phone number, date of birth, etc. Surely they can make an appointment for the poor boy and get anything else they need when he gets there!

Now I'm being passed around to different people all over the clinic! Apparently I even ended up talking to someone in surgery. I know strep tests are important, but I hardly think they are surgical.

New

2009-01-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

There have now officially been five presidents during my lifetime.
Ronald Reagan
George Herbert Walker Bush
William Clinton
George Walker Bush
Barack Obama

Today is a wonderful day, no matter who you voted for.

A Fun Saturday

2009-01-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

I woke up yesterday with really low expectations for my day. I'm not entirely sure why. It's not as if I felt bad or the weather was particularly ominous (although it was plenty cold, which I am not fond of at all). I just felt as if the day would suck.

Thankfully, I was completely wrong. I got up and talked to Sam and told her that I really did not want to sit around my room all day doing nothing and she had a great suggestion. So I got up and got dressed and ate lunch (leftovers from my sister's birthday dinner at Olive Garden...yum!) and then me, Sam, and Carl went to the museum in town. They have an exhibit of Andy Warhol stuff and it was great! I always enjoy museums. Like they are seriously some of my favorite things ever. This one is small and it didn't take long to look at everything they had, but I'm still glad we went. I mean, for a town as small as the one I live in, it's amazing they even have a museum at all.

After the museum visit and a quick trip to Wendys, we headed back to my apartment to finish up the first season of Arrested Development. I'd never watched that show before this month, but it is absolutely hilarious. It all builds on itself and just cracks me up. Needless to say Sam, Carl, and I quote the show at any opportunity.

After finishing up the first season and having some dinner we all went up to the fraternity house for a night of fun.

So it was a successful Saturday, even if I thought it was going to suck. Hopefully today will be just as good.

Update

2009-01-10T16:18:00.001-08:00

I know some of you are probably wondering how my date went. It was a lot of fun and I smelled nice (as one of you advised). But I was given this:

That's right. I'm the proud owner of the Friend Card.

Oh well...Sam tells me it's good that I put myself out there and took a chance. I almost believe her.

Is it 2009 Already?

2009-01-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

I may have been slightly remiss in my blogging (again). But I got a little wrapped up with other stuff. After Christmas Carl came to visit me at home and stayed for a few days. It was fun just having guy time and showing him what my home life is like. We took a couple of pictures one day, so when those are ready, I'll post them. Anyway...after Carl came to visit it was New Years and then I moved back in to school and thus the blog got neglected. But maybe my resolution for 2009 can be to change that.

I have to run because I've got a busy day ahead of me. I've got a football tour this morning, some errands to run, and then I'm going on a date tonight. It's my first one in quite a while, so wish me luck!

Working At A Toy Store During Christmas

2008-12-25T21:31:00.001-08:00

As promised, here is my blog about working at a toy store during the Christmas season.

You're probably expecting a bitter rant about how mean people were and how horrible my life was for the last week and a half. But that's not what I intend to write at all. For the most part, I enjoyed my time working at the toy store. I like people and I like being able to help them find the stuff they are buying for their kids. You meet a ton of really nice people when you work in retail. The kind of people who tell you thanks a million times when you tell them where to find a Dora doll or who nearly give you a hug when you tell them the Mall of Georgia location has 17 Easy Bake Ovens. Plus I had really great co-workers who kept me smiling and laughing all day. Of course, it wasn't ALL fun. Being scheduled to work close was like my worst nightmare. We closed at midnight and for some reason there were always people still at the store when we closed, sometimes with their kids in tow. Who is still shopping at midnight? And who has their kids out of bed that late?!?! The last night that I closed I was at the store until after 2 AM because we had to clean up the store after everyone left. And it was a disaster. But that's extra money, so you didn't hear me complaining!

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. I really did not enjoy being called a racist because we did not have an African-American family for a particular dollhouse. As if I personally loaded the truck that brought the stock to our store. And then got called "just Christmas help" by the same person. And being nearly run over by shopping carts was less than enjoyable too. Although that was nothing compared to being nearly run over with cars while chasing down shopping carts in a parking lot the size of my college campus in the 35 degree weather. But these were minor incidents. Nothing big enough to stop me from doing it again next year!

Oh...one last thought. If you call your salesperson "boo" you are probably making them slightly uncomfortable. At least if I'm your salesperson, you are.

I'm A Terrible Blogger

2008-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER! But I promise I have a good excuse. First it was finals and then I came home and went right to work. So every day after being at a national toy store (that shall remain nameless and whose views are not a reflection of mine) I haven't really been in the mood for blogging. But I promise that after Tuesday, when I am done working for the season, that I will blog again. I'm hoping to do a fun one about working at a toy store during Christmas.

Elections

2008-12-02T20:52:00.001-08:00

I know I sort of promised a second post yesterday, but I was just too tired to update last night. Elections took 3 and a half hours, but I'm very pleased with the results (for the most part). I think the fraternity will be very successful in 2009. I'll be in the thick of things, as the Recording Secretary.

However, the election I'm more concerned about tonight is Georgia's run-off elections. Overall, it was a disappointing night. I don't want to be a bitter, sore loser, but I really feel like most Georgians did not take time to educate themselves before going to the polls today. The loss of Jim Martin to Saxby Chambliss is not all that surprising. He was still a little too liberal for this solidly red state. What I was more suprised about was the loss of Jim Powell to Lauren "Bubba" McDonald in the PSC race. I feel that this race was largely decided by the fact that McDonald had an "R" next to his name on the ballot and Powell had a "D". I find this an atrocious way to vote. Nearly all of McDonald's campaign contributions came from people connected to the utilities that the PSC regulates. Can you say conflict of interest? None of Powell's funds came from anyone connected to a utility. He refused to take any. McDonald is so far in the pockets of the utility companies that the Republican who currently holds the PSC seat publicly endorsed Powell and chastised McDonald. Yet, we see who Georgians elected. To further prove my point that it seems that voters didn't take the time to research the candidates, the third statewide race, for Court of Appeals, was won by Sarah Doyle, the more liberal of the two candidates. However, as a non-partisan race, there was no "R" or "D" next to the names, and voters likely picked her because she came first on the ballot.

You may wonder...what exactly is my point in all of this? I'm not entirely sure, so I couldn't tell you. I guess my hope is just that in future elections people will take time to educate themselves about the candidates before they go vote. And my other point to summarize this whole thing is that the Georgia Democratic party better be looking VERY seriously at who they want to groom for a Senate run in 2010. Johnny Isakson is up for re-election then, although he may not run again (instead, choosing to try for the Governor's mansion). The Democratic Party could take control of that seat if they pick a serious, MODERATE Democrat to run. I'm not talking a Vernon Jones or Mark Taylor. I think a good choice would be Cathy Cox, the former Georgia Secretary of State (not to be confused with Kathy Cox, the current Georgia Secretary of Education, best known for her appearance on "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?"). Anyway...that's just my thoughts.

Yours?

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T11:39:00.001-08:00

I slacked on my blogging over Thanksgiving. Not because I really did all that much over the break. Mostly I just ate, slept, and ate some more. Like I mentioned before, we did Thanksgiving with my dad's family on the Sunday before the actual holiday, so there really was nothing too exciting to look forward to on Thursday. Instead, we went to Golden Corral with my mom and her fiancee and had lunch with a couple hundred of our ethnically diverse neighbors. It was tasty, but hardly the family holiday one envisions Thanksgiving to be.

Probably my favorite moment of the break was winning Trivial Persuit. My dad and my little sister both beat me to six pie slices, but neither of them could get that last question right. So in the end I triumphed, mostly because I know my geography. I couldn't resist sharing the moment with Sam, who called me a doofus. We texted so much this break that I had to delete my inbox every day. Oh...and despite what a lot of people seem to think, Sam and I are not dating. Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

Anyway...today might be a rare two-post day because tonight my fraternity is having elections and I have been nominated for six different things, so I'll hopefully have some good news to share tonight. We'll see in about 4 hours!

High Museum

2008-11-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

If you have a chance, you should absolutely go to the High Museum in Atlanta and see the Terra Cotta soldiers. It is an amazing display and worth having to drive downtown to see. Your ticket also gets you in to see the third part of the Louvre in Atlanta collection. All the works in that collection are considered masterpieces. My favorite was a picture of Christ on the cross where the tears were so realistic that they looked like water on the glass. And, if that's not enough art for you....you also get to see a display from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (my favorite museum that I've ever been to), plus the High's permanent collection.

Alright...I'll stop my High Museum ad now. You'd think I got paid to do that. In case you couldn't guess, that's what I did yesterday. I went with a group of students to Atlanta and met my sister there. We stayed at the High for about 2 and a half hours and then got lunch and came back to school and she hung out with me and my little sister for the evening. The three of us, plus my best friend Carl went and got dinner. Then we checked out an exhibit of student art and caught some of the basketball game. Then we went to my fraternity house for a party. Overall it was a very fun Friday. But now it's Saturday and I have work to do. :(

I'm So Old...

2008-11-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

...okay, I'm not that old. But my roommates and Sam make fun of me a lot for it. This election season I was the John McCain of my apartment. Not because of my politics (far from it), but because I'm old. The evidence they use against me:

1. I'm addicted to the Game Show Network. Yes...GSN. What's life without a little bit of Jeopardy and The Wheel (that's short for Wheel of Fortune, for those under 75)?
2. Me and Sam do the crossword puzzle every day. We usually get a lot of it right.
3. I go to bed early and get up early. One night last week I was asleep by 9:30.
4. I'm ready for dinner at like 4:30. Early bird special, anyone?

I think that's all the evidence they've got on me.

In other news...
I'm very sad because my dad's side of the family ALWAYS does Thanksgiving at my grandparent's house on Thanksgiving Day. But this year some of my cousin's decided to go camping that day, so instead we're having Thanksgiving this Sunday. So I get to drive all the way to north metro Atlanta in one day for Thanksgiving and then back to school that night. My sister can't even come because she has stuff going on. Thankfully I think one of my roommates is going with me so I don't have to go alone. But I'm still not happy about it. Especially since my sister can't come.

Saturday of Fun?

2008-11-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a strange day. Gave a tour to a gazillion uninterested people, went to a great football game (my school won), and then basically did nothing but sit around the rest of the day. Which is very nice at the time, but makes me feel guilty afterward. Then I went to Waffle House with my little sister, which was nice.

I'm also starting to have some closure about things that have been bothering me and might be on the brink of something new...but that remains unseen.

Sad, but true!

2008-11-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

So I was sitting in European History (1660-1870) yesterday watching a movie because my professor is out of town at a conference and I was a tad bit bored, so I started making a list. First I listed all the states. That wasn't too hard because I can think about it geographically and just go west to east (although things get a little hairy in the northeast). Then I listed all the capitals. That wasn't hard either...I had to learn those in fifth grade. After that I decided to see what I REALLY knew. So I listed all the governors/govorner-elects I knew. Then all the Senators/Senator-elects I knew. Those were some short lists.

Here's all the governors/governor-elects I could name:
Perdue (GA)
Perdue (NC)
Crist (FL)
Riley (AL)
Richardson (NM)
Jindahl (LA)
Kaine (VA)
Schwarzenagger (CA)
Palin (AK)
Sebelius (KS)
Perry (TX)
Pawlenty (MN)

Here's all the Senators/Senator-elects I could name:
Stevens (AK) ---although this could turn out to be Begich
Merkley (OR)
McCain (AZ)
T. Udall (NM)
M. Udall (CO)
Hatch (UT)
Landrieu (LA)
Coleman (MN)
Obama (IL)
Lugar (IN)
Sessions (AL)
Isackson (GA)
Chambliss (GA) ---although this could turn out to be Martin
Hagan (NC)
Webb (VA)
Warner (VA)
Biden (DE)
Clinton (NY)
Liebererman (CT)
Kerry (MA)
Sanders (VT)
Shaheen (NH)

Only 12 governors and 22 senators! Sad, but true.

First Post

2008-11-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

So I've been reading my co-workers blogs for a little while and I decided to start one of my own. I'm not so sure about how well I'll keep up with it, or even if anyone will find it interesting, but it could be cool, so here we are.

I guess I should tell you a little about me:
I'm in my third year at a private college in the state of Georgia. I'm a member of an international fraternity, a history honor society, and I'm the president of my school's student recruiting organization. I'm very passionate about recruiting for my school, and hope to one day work in admissions.

I guess that's a really basic discription of myself, but I think it's more fun to discover who I really am through what I write about in this blog. I'm very opinionated and very passionate about things, so reading will definitely enable you to get to know me better!