I Know This is Really Mean, But...

...I almost wish the kid acrossed the street would wreck his 4-wheeler. I mean, I wouldn't want the kid to get hurt or anything (that would just be evil and malicious), but the noise is about to drive me batty. I usually try to work in the evenings, and I'm stuck with a rather loud 'vroom-vroom' in the background for about 2 hours each evening. Not plesant, not fun, and I'm not happy.

Movies = Headaches

Jimmy's been renting movies lately, and I've been watching them (or at least some of them). The movies that he's rented are generally ones that we've both wanted to see, but we've both been somewhat disappointed--or at least perplexed--by them. Both of the movies that I watched were brilliantly made, but I can't actually say that I liked them....

No Country for Old Men kept me on the edge of my seat, but I'm not really sure why. The most intriguing thing about this film was the soundtrack--or lack thereof. (It was directed by the same guys who did Fargo, and there were certainly a lot of similarities in style.) Overall, the movie was well-made and the story was interesting, but I'm just not sure I really 'liked' the movie.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, though a beautiful film, actually gave me a headache. The acting was excellent, the story was good, and the filming was amazing. (This movie should be studied by film students everywhere because the cinematography was so fabulous. The scenes, the lighting, the visuals were astounding.) The main problem I had with this film was that there were too many characters who all looked quite a lot alike; thus, it was difficult to keep the characters straight and, consequently, difficult to follow the main storyline. Though the movie was quite long (just over 2 1/2 hours), it didn't really feel long.

Rain

Well, it finally stopped raining here sometime during the night. Today has been beautiful...lots of sunshine outside. However, it rained all day yesterday and part of the day before. There's been quite a bit of flooding in the area, and our backyard looks like a little lake. According to weather.com, our area got somewhere between 5 and 5 1/2 inches of rain yesterday. Wow; that's a lot of water....

The Sky if Falling!! (Or Some Sort of Similar SNAFU....)

Talk about a little mistake...just follow the link.

New Phone

YAY!! I got a new cell phone this weekend!! I wasn't particularly happy with the one that I had, so the whole 'new phone' thing is quite exciting. I'm going to download some ringtones and things like that sometime this week. However, I need to figure out what songs I want my phone to play. I still like "If I Only Had a Brain" as the ringtone when people from school or the office call, but I don't know what other things I want this time. Any suggestions?

RIP Mrs. Rip

The little old lady who taught me how to knit nearly 15 years ago passed away this past week. Though not her real name, she was affectionately known as "Mrs. Rip" because she would 'make' you rip out your work in order to correct mistakes and to make a perfect project. She was 94.

Happy Frog Day!!

If it's Leap Year, then I guess that makes today Frog Day!! YAY Frogs!

More House Stuff

Wow, where do the days go? It seems like the last week has completely flown by, and this week is going just as quidkly. We're finally just about completely moved. All of the house stuff is moved; only a bit of garage and outside stuff remains to be moved. The house that we moved into is larger than the previous residence, but there isn't as much storage space inside. There is, however, a shed, so we're storing quite a bit of stuff there. Though the storage situation isn't wonderful, I certainly will admit that is very nice to have a dishwasher again.

Albuquerque...and Valentine's Day

I spent a few days in Albuquerque, NM this past week for a conference. Overall, it was a nice trip. The conference was both educational and enjoyable, so that was an overall good experience. I gave a presentation, and that that went well too. (The presentation was over a paper that I had written a few years ago, but hadn't done anything with yet. It was nice to be able to share it and to get feedback on my work.) In addition to the academic work, I did have part of a day to do touristy stuff; I went to the American International Rattlesnake Museum, the San Felipe de Neri Church, and just wandered around the University of New Mexico campus for a while.

While the trip was generally enjoyable, there were two not-so-plesant things: Valentine's Day and the flights home. Valentine's Day wasn't necessarily bad, it was just a bit odd to spend it by myself. Since this was my first "married" Valentine's Day, spending it alone was strange. In contrast to the not-so-wonderful Valentine's Day, the flights home were absolutely dreadful. When I arrived at the airport on Saturday, I learned that all flights going from Albuquerque to Dallas for that day had been cancelled due to bad weather in Dallas and that the earliest flight that I could possibly get out on was a 7am flight the following morning. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. After several hours of being frustrated and checking with other airlines, I managed to get my flights switched: I would now be flying through Denver (which I had intentionally avoided when I booked my flights because of the general likihood of bad weather in Denver this time of year) and would be arriving home about 6 hours later than originally planned (but hey, at least I'm arriving on the same day). While the whole experience was frustrating, things didn't get much better when I got on the planes. Both flights were extremely bumpy, and I ended up feeling sick for much of the trip. Not plesant at all. But anyway, I did manage to get home safely and I felt much better when I ended the day curled up in my own bed after a nice bubble bath.

Apostrophes

I read a news article (follow the link) that made me think of a poem I once heard entitled "The Death of the Apostrophe." I wish I had a copy of the poem to share, but the article's certainly worth reading....

Kansas

I received this in an e-mail forward from one of my sisters. And even though I don't live in Kansas any more, I still find it funny (and largely true)....

Jeff Foxworthy remarks on being from or living in Kansas:

**If you're proud that your region makes the national news at least 96 times each year because it's the hottest or the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Kansas.

**If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Kansas.

**If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Manhattan, Kansas.

**If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Kansas.

**If you measure distance in hours, you might live in Kansas.

**If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you might live in Kansas.

**If you often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again, you might live in Kansas.

**If you can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching, you might live in Kansas

**If you see people wearing camouflage at social events, (including weddings), you might live in Kansas.

**If you install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked, you might live in Kansas.

**If you carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them, you might live in Kansas.

**If you were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.., you might live in Kansas.

**If "Going down South" means Oklahoma, you might live in Kansas.

**If a brat is something you eat, you might live in Kansas.

**If your idea of going out to eat is a tail gate party every Friday, you might live in Kansas.

Cleaning and Painting

Cleaning and painting, painting and cleaning....that's what I did all weekend. I managed to get a lot accomplished, but there's still a lot of painting and work to do. Tucker went with me to the new place, and I think he also found the whole experience exhausting. He wasn't too fond of the nearly hour-long car rides there and back, and he seemed somewhat traumatized by the amount of people who seemed to be coming in and out of the house and by being in a new environment. He did manage to find a few 'safe places' though: behind the toilet in the bathroom and beside the tea in the kitchen cupboard that's just above the dishwasher.

Deadlines....

Ahhhh!! It seems like all of my deadlines are here!! I have an grant application packet that's due Friday, and that's nearly ready to be submitted; I only have to track down one more signature on my forms. (I've been working on that one for a while.) I also just learned that, in order to apply for a summer position, I need to have my portfolio updated and submitted by Friday. The problem here is that my supervisor has had my portfolio in his possession for an entire year, and I haven't been able to update it regularly. Thus, I frantically retrieved my portfolio this afternoon, and now I have a mere 2 days to update it...only to be resubmitting it to the same supervisor who will probably keep it another year before returning it to me. I also have a few other forms to fill out for the summer position, but those should be relatively painless in comparison to the portfolio updating. Okay, I've vented; now back to work....

Painting and School and Stuff...

Still busy.... I was hoping that things would settle into some sort of schedule once the school semester started, but not so. (And how's that for alliteration!) I had a long weekend this past weekend, and I spent most of it just relaxing with the kitty and doing house-related stuff. We didn't buy a house, but we do have a new place to live (the church has a house); we're now in the processes of packing the current residence and preparing (painting, cleaning, etc.) the new residence as well. Being that I'm not a particular fan of either packing or painting, I'm not enjoying the whole process. Thus, at the given moment, both places are in slight states of disarray (to say the least)....

I'll quit on my little blog for today; I feel as though I'm rambling....

Cows With Guns

One of my friends showed this to me. The song brought back some memories, and the video is great.... Just follow the link....