Blacking Out Conference

I went to write a new post last night and the power started blacking out. Every time it did I got kicked off the internet. So I guess the powers that be wanted to spare you yet another rant on how busy I am.

However I have good news to share today (even though I am still ridiculously busy and Idaho is going back to winter) I am going to General Conference!! As in, sitting-in-the-Conference-Center going to General Conference. Josh had some friends with extra tickets and invited me to go with him which is good because Sarah was going to be there with her man this next weekend as well. We are going to have so much fun!!! And hopefully we can find someone with room for us to stay with them!

Well back to studying sensation and perception!

*Did you know that chewing with your mouth open actually increases the flavor of your food because it allows you to smell what you are eating?
OR
*Did you know that warming up before you exercise does not stretch out your muscles, it actually inhibits your Golgi Tendon Organs that detect strain on muscles, allowing you to do more without feeling the pain?

Steamy Byproducts

My roommates and I awoke this morning to find that our apartment was a steamy 84 degrees, even though our thermostat was set for 74. Weird...I think perhaps we may need the maintenance guys to come take a look at our heater. While they're at it maybe they can find what crawled up and died in it making our apartment smell so bad a month or so ago.

Thankfully Rexburg was experiencing wonderful welcome to spring blizzard backed by 50 mph winds. We turned off the heat and by the time we got back from church, even though our windows had remained closed, our apartment was back down to 75ish. The butter that was left out on the table I'm afraid cannot be returned to it original condition.

This poor butter was not the only one affected by the extreme heat, my lotion that was sitting out on my dresser no longer smelled like "Soothing Aloe" but rather "Roasted Aloe", and due to the warm moist air my hair was absolutely humongous when I rolled out of bed (sorry no pictures of that).

This was the result of our wonderful blizzard...I just hope it is gone before class tomorrow...I don't want to wear my boots....

Fielding Extras

I really just don't have enough time any more. No time to cook (which equals lots of Ramen), no time to sleep, no time to finish all the work I have to do, and not time to even think about how little time I have. I looked at my calender today and nearly had a heart attack when I realized that there are only two weeks left in the semester. That just isn't enough time.

I did so many "extra not in-class hours" things this week that I'm not even sure I can remember them all.
Monday- geology lab field trip to the Menan buttes
Tuesday- saw on campus play "The Rainmaker" for FA 100 credit
Wednesday- watched a geology video on tsunamis, and met with English professor (which resulted in the drastic alteration of my research paper thesis...which mean a lot of re-writing)
Thursday- I had no classes but I did four loads of laundry and a lot of homework
Friday- went to a women choir concert for FA 100 credit
Saturday- I went on an 8 hour geology field trip today. It was fun and interesting, but it was just way too long. To give you a quick overview of the trip we stopped at the Teton Dam site, then went up to Island Park Caldera , then to several points around Hebgen Lake in Montana, then stopped in West Yellowstone for lunch and headed home. We thankfully spent most of our time on the bus but stopped every 20 min or so and got out to look at everything geologically significant. Once we got even close to the mountains it started snowing and the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees. We tried to get a good look at one of the campsites destroyed by the avalanche at Hebgen Lake, but it was buried under something like 4 feet of snow.

The Teton Dam site. They built it on fractured volcanic rock and used very loose soil to build it up. Needless to say, as soon as it was completed, it burst sending huge amounts of water everywhere. In recent Idaho news, they want to rebuild it, in the same spot, on the same fractured rocks that will, no matter what they do, let water through. Silly people.

Well I am looking forward to a relaxing break in a few weeks, and to getting this paper done with, and that test finished, and my next poster done, and putting together our journal....

The Nuggets Theme

I got my poster back from my psychology professor today and since I didn't get a chance to take pictures before turning it in, here are some now. (I would share my grade but I don't know yet!!)

Anyways the object was to try to define learning. Each of us did our own interviews asking people about meaningful learning in their lives. Then using two other interviews from the class we came to our conclusions. These my friends are my mine, and I think they are rather inspired!

(My entire poster...yes this is the most boring poster you will ever see. That apparently is the cost for professionalism.)

(This is from my results section. I organized quotes taken from the interviews into themes that I thought defined meaningful learning.

School is proving to be exceptionally useful. Today I learned that the east coast is in danger of a mega-tsunami if the largest Canary island of the coast of Africa decides to erupt (as it apparently has done and may well do again) and as a result a landslide causes 400ft waves to head straight for the US. I also learned how to reorganize the somatosensory cortex of any human in a simple and yet humorous 3 minutes. Not to mention the ever wonderful lesson of doing laundry before you run out of clean underwear!! Oh, what wonderful nuggets of wisdom does life hold for me tomorrow?

Singing Chocolate

I wish that I had more news to share regarding my roommate but unfortunately this is kind of an ongoing process. On Sunday all of us roommates except the "one" met with the bishop and one of his counselors, to ask what we should do. One of my roommates who knows her best is supposed to talk to her and we will move on from there, depending on how she reacts to that little chat. Still not fun, but here are some pictures not related to that whole ordeal at all!!

An updated picture of my wonderful bruise. It was spectacular on Sunday, most of it was this incredible shade of blue. Now it is mostly a nasty greenish color. I am hoping it will be gone by this weekend!

Boy and I had a great time at Craigo's with Scott and Cassie on Friday! All you can eat pizza is just the best. I did however get a horrible headache about half way through the night, I think it may have been all the pizza! Sunday night we went stadium singing (see picture above). Hey, it was cold so I had to keep warm!! = )

These were all the people from our ward who went , it was fun having so many of us there! Brother Baldwin the second counselor in our bishopric and his wife were there too but they were taking the picture. Boy and I are on the left, the girl in the red coat in the very front is my roommate Kristen, and the girl in the front with a white coat is my visiting teaching companion/upstairs neighbor/FHE sister! After wards we all had hot chocolate and pancakes!!

What?!? Really?!?

I do not know where to begin. I am glad however that there is an end of sorts, but how to explain...

So I discovered this weekend that my roommate had stolen more than $50 from me over the last few weeks. Being the controlled and emotionally stable person I am, I got my money back without involving any authorities. The return of my money was however accompanied by a letter of lies (I know for a fact the $30 had not fallen under her printer box for her to find because I looked there!) and now I really feel as though an actual punishment would be a good thing. Knowing that she is still lying and still a thief makes it absolutely impossible to trust her! Anyways...my plasma money is back...and I think I have a long and painfully awkward three weeks ahead of me.

This whole ordeal followed one of the most drama filled weeks of my life. For someone who so dislikes drama of any kind, I sure seem to attract a lot of it. I feel as though I have good reason to say, "WHY ME?!?!"

Bad Pizza Luck

I seriously have some pretty bad luck. Giving plasma yesterday, the guy thought that since the blood wasn't flowing into the machine at a pressure the machine liked, he should continuously and at some points rather vigorously adjust the position of the needle in my arm. The obvious result was a scratched vein and this wonderful bruise.


After they switched arm and still had issues, and stopped the donation halfway through, the guy thought that there probably was a clot in the tubing that was causing the problems. They paid me in full which was good. I just won't be able to donate again until the bruise is gone.

It was all worth it though as my $20 bruise will be paying for Boy and I to join Scott and Cassie at Craigo's tonight for discounted all you can eat pizza!!

Toni Cleaning Time

What happens when your roommate goes out of town for a week?

(Okay well a lot of that is food that doesn't fit in my kitchen...)

Whoops...it seems it is time for some cleaning...but where to find the time?!?

Anyone want to help me write my research paper on Toni Morrison?

New Cabbage Shoes

So I got some new stuff this last week...well things that I don't normally get.

Shoes...

Hotdogs...to make pigs in a blanket with...and veggies on sale in 16oz bags for 87 cents!!

(My lunch today...yum! My piggies weren't cold!)

I also have corned beef, cabbage and potatoes waiting to be made into an excellent feast for St. Patty's Day!

I also got a virtual Mommy hug via the phone...a much needed Mommy hug...after a particularly brutal day. Thanks Mom!

A Fantabulous Bowl

Boy and I went on a double date tonight with one if his roommates. The chosen activity was bowling. I dare say that they did not even know what hit them, my 84 just blew them out of the water. Getting points is a bad thing right!?! Just kidding...bowling certainly is not my forte but it is rather fun. Especially when they put on the black lights and your pinky fingers glows from the stuff they put on it at the plasma center (to make sure you don't donate anywhere else). We also went out to Coldstone after and I got some cheesecake fantasy ice cream that was super fantabulous.

I hope that your nights were as enjoyable and your days were not as crazy as mine!!

Cross Sink Walk Hole

I am very quickly being drowned in mountains of school work. I was not pleased with my midterm grades and have taken a vow to do a lot better. I really have gotten no sleep this week and that will include tonight in which I will be making a poster for our psychology poster session in class tomorrow (for those of you who understand what a poster session is you will understand that I have a lot of work ahead of me). I also have a paper due tomorrow morning on energy sources for my Natural Disasters class. there just is not enough time in one day.

Last night I was walking back from the testing center/gym with one of my roommates and we had several odd experiences. The first was by the long staircase near the Taylor building. As we approached the stairs there were two girls standing there and they said and I quote "Can you stay to the left please? There is a sinkhole over here. The girl who went past didn't make it." We continued to the left up the stairs in the direction we were already going. Approximately 4 seconds later we looked at each other and simultaneously said "Wait what?!?" I have no idea...a sink hole? Really?!? Hmmm....

So then we got up to South 2nd East (the street I live off of and have to cross to get to campus and then back home). We noticed an abnormally large number of cars gathered down by the "safe cross walk" (meaning one of the few with a blinking light to press) and then we noticed a guy laying on the road. Being bored and nosy we went down to watch. When we got closer it be came very clear that this guy had been hit by the car that was now occupying the center lane of the road. The cars windshield was destroyed. We could tell the guy wasn't dead because his breath made timely puffs of white steam, he was also moving his legs. We waited around until EMT's and cops arrived. Then frozen and determined to be more careful crossing the street we went home to make a midnight dinner.

Proposing Airbourne Comics

Days off are supposed to be fun. Mine however always seem to be filled with work than usual. Today I need to interview someone on a meaningful learning experience they have had and then transcribe it and submit it by midnight. I also have to write up a proposal for my research paper in English. That however means that I need to know what I am going to write it on. I have a few ideas but nothing solid yet. I also have a basketball game at 9:15 which means I will undoubtedly miss most of Grey's Anatomy. ::sigh::

So there is a long story surrounding the following picture. Boy had a cold a few weeks ago and while he was over my roommate decided to pump him full of every anti-germ thing she had. This included a glass full of Airbourne. It looked gross, but he drank the whole thing. The next day however he was feeling even worse and left church early to get some rest. While all alone in Sunday school I drew this lovely comic (you will need to click on it be able to read it). Please ignore the immature elephant drawings at the bottom.

The first box is rather unclear. Boy is saying ::cough cough::, and April is handing him a glass of toxic Airbourne. As you can tell by the magnet in the corner...this comic now brings life to our otherwise boring refrigerator.

On a more mature note, I got accepted onto fast grad and will be going to school year round. While my schedule will pretty crazy I will be done with my Bachelors by the end of next summer! Now I have to figure out where I am going to live and all that fun stuff.

Luxurious Lodge Lighting

Here are a few pictures that I thought I would share with you all.

This is the room our ward had reserved in the lodge. Yes I spent the majority of my evening sitting in here consuming abnormally large amount of free chili which my stomach yelled at me for later. Pictured is my roommate April, posing in her winter gear, bundled up and ready to hit the slopes!
This is Lalana (or Lola) as most people call her. She is one of my wonderful FHE sisters. One who seems to be particularly interested in the relationship between Boy and I. She was bored at the party so I took her picture.

Yes, I came all the way out to Idaho to find me a gangster! No really though he is pretty gangster. We were having fun in case you couldn't tell. (Yes I need a little sun but can we just say it was the lighting?)

Well that was my super fun weekend. I did not go skiing which I was glad about later. Also this weekend I was able to do a lot of thinking about whether or not to stay and go to school year round. I promise you will be some of the first to know when I do finally decide. Speaking of school a fun video for you to watch (Derren Brown). Let me know what you think!!