As I began writing in my blog within this last year, I was welcomed warmly into the world of blogging (mostly when I joined the BYSA ward this previous summer where everyone who is anyone has a blog) and I am now a follower of numerous blogs on a daily basis. I apologize for not having written in my own for nearly a month now. However, I found that right around the New Year all that anyone posted about was their New Year’s Resolutions. Now, most people probably don’t know this about me because I always always always keep it to myself, but I am big fan of making New Year’s resolutions. However, there was no way I was going to write a blog on it! Yeah, yeah, when you share your goals with others, there is a higher likelihood that you will accomplish your goals, but I only share them with the right people, and at the right time.
I have figured out that one of my “gifts” is that I am a very driven individual, meaning, that when I decide to do something, I DO it. No questions asked. My friends have especially pointed this out to me a lot. It’s kind of the problem-solver in me as well. I figure out how something needs to be done, and then I make sure that it is done, and I don’t quit until it is. Also, if I have decided that I want to do something, then I do it, and I never quit after that, which makes goal setting especially difficult due to the commitment that I know is involved.
Going along with this, the New Year’s Resolutions that I had set last year may seem like little things, but really, they turn out to be pretty big. I decided that I was going to floss my teeth every day. I haven’t missed a day since. My friend Sam tells me that he thinks of me every time he flosses his teeth. I got excellent reviews last time I went into the dentist. I got to cough on a petri dish in microbiology lab, and the results were very clean (meaning I had a clean mouth). Hooray for good oral hygiene!
Another goal that I had was to make my bed every day. I miss days when I go home and sleep in the guest bedroom, and when I slept on the air mattress over the summer some of those days were tough (it was hardly even a bed, give me a break!)…but other than that I feel like I’ve done really well! It just makes my room look so much cleaner, and then, I keep the rest of my room pretty much exponentially cleaner than it would be without…yeah. It’s definitely a good habit to have.
Then, I had the goal of going to institute, and making institute “a priority” as President Monson has asked us to do. My first semester freshmen year I went and I had a teacher I didn’t like, and then I didn’t go anymore after that, so I decided to change my attitude and go. I couldn’t have made a better decision in my life. And, good news: I’m graduating from institute this semester!
Those were just some of my success stories. I have other ones that are either a) personal, or b) lame(er than the ones I already said), so therefore, I will not blog about them :)
Over Christmas Break I sat down and wrote out a HUGE list of my goals that I had for this upcoming year. I even had to break it down into goals for the year, and goals for the semester. I looked at my list and I realized that there were some pretty drastic changes that I wanted to make with my life, and I knew that I couldn’t do them all at once. But, I was so stinkin’ motivated and I just wanted to do them all anyway! However, I knew I couldn’t all at once. It would be like throwing a fish into cold water.
Soo…I came up with a better plan. I kept all the ones that I knew I could do at one time (you know, just the general, good goals that everyone has or should have), but then with all my little nit-picky goals, I decided to do them one week at a time.
January 1: I started all my general goals for the year, plus washing my hair every three days. You see, before this, I could get away with not washing my hair for about a week (don’t judge, you never noticed before…did you?), but I decided it might be better for my hair if I washed it more often. Then also, I would wear it down more and not in my lame messy bun like I would for the last half of the week when it was super dirty.
January 8: I would, of course continue all my previous goals, plus (this was the week that school started) I would eat breakfast every day BEFORE class. Last semester I got in this terrible habit of eating breakfast in my first class (which was institute, and I’d eat a granola bar). Well, now my first class (on both MWF and TTH) I need to take a vigorous amount of notes in, so that won’t work. Good goal I figured. So far I’ve only missed one day. I ate breakfast in my second class, which was fine. I won’t miss again though, I promise!
January 15: Continue all previous goals, plus only going onto pinterest.com on Sundays only. This is where I take debates on whether or not this is a Sabbath appropriate activity. I think that it is; I can learn homemaking skills! Haha, jk. But really, I would waste an incredible amount of time on that site, and I HAD to go cold turkey, really. On Sunday afternoons if I have time and I want to go on the website I can. However, I’m not going to flock to it if I have something better to do.
January 22: Obviously, all my old goals, and then, a hard one for me (which shouldn’t be) Facebook for only 10 min/day. And, the sad part of this is, until I started this three days ago I didn’t realize how much TIME I spent on that stupid website!! 10 min. should be plenty for any human being. Well, when you get on it in the morning, and during lunch, and after school, and as a homework break, and before you go to bed…those times add up! Nope. They won’t anymore. 10 min. a day only.
I haven’t decided my goal yet for next week. I have about 20 in mind. I’ll choose later. They’re all good ones…I’m just glad though that I finally got Pinterest and Facebook out of my life. Maybe I should wake up earlier, or be to class on time (which to me really means early), or better yet to work on time, or take my multi-vitamin everyday (my mother would love that one).
Jan 24, 2012
Dec 26, 2011
Holly Jolly Christmas
I had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It really was splendid. What made it so great? Well, I’m a big fan of lists, so here is my list of what made my Christmas so great this year:
-Coming home each time during Christmas break to the smell of a freshly burned Christmas candle
-Spending all day Christmas Eve making cake balls! I made red velvet and chocolate, with white, milk, and dark chocolate. Here is a picture of the finished product:
-Helping my parents be “Santa” and wrap gifts for everyone
-Painting my fingernails red with white crackle on top
-Waking up to the smell of Christmas morning casserole
-Eating breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, French toast, and orange juice for breakfast
-Having my back burned next to the fire place while opening gifts
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Taking up four benches at church with my entire family (true story! They were the short side benches…but four benches still).
-Wearing new red heels to church.
-Listening to my dad sing the solo during the ward Christmas program
-Giving the gifts that I carefully had planned. True, I didn’t even think about gifts until finals were completely done, but they were still perfectly thought of, and they turned out well.
-Playing with my dog and his new Frisbee
-Hearing my nephew exclaim “Ee-a! Ee-a!!” all day long
- Getting a bike pump for my road bike
-Tending my nephew and playing with him all Christmas night
-Taking pictures with my nephew:
-Sitting with my nephew by the tree and quietly showing him the ornaments. It was the most ideal moment of my entire Christmas day!
-Listening to Christmas music! I could listen to Michael Buble's "All I Want for Christmas is You" over and over and over!!
-Eating so much cheesy, hearty, sugary food that I literally got sick last night (again, true story. I barfed. Sorry for the deets. But I habitually eat bland cereal for breakfast, maybe something for lunch, and then a medium-ish dinner. Yeah. Yesterday was too much of a splurged FEAST). Turkey, ham, funeral potatoes, stolen beans, frog eye salad, 7-layer dip, chips, cookies, cake balls, toffee. Um. Probably something else, too.
-Being with everyone in my family. No one was missing that day, and I’m very grateful for that. All 3 siblings and the 2 in-laws, all 3 nephews, my closest aunt and uncle and my 2 cousins that live next door, and of course my parents.
-Remembering the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I love what Christmas is really about, and I’m so glad that we have a holiday to celebrate it! May we always have the true love of Christ in our hearts.
-Coming home each time during Christmas break to the smell of a freshly burned Christmas candle
-Spending all day Christmas Eve making cake balls! I made red velvet and chocolate, with white, milk, and dark chocolate. Here is a picture of the finished product:
-Helping my parents be “Santa” and wrap gifts for everyone
-Painting my fingernails red with white crackle on top
-Waking up to the smell of Christmas morning casserole
-Eating breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, French toast, and orange juice for breakfast
-Having my back burned next to the fire place while opening gifts
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Taking up four benches at church with my entire family (true story! They were the short side benches…but four benches still).
-Wearing new red heels to church.
-Listening to my dad sing the solo during the ward Christmas program
-Giving the gifts that I carefully had planned. True, I didn’t even think about gifts until finals were completely done, but they were still perfectly thought of, and they turned out well.
-Playing with my dog and his new Frisbee
-Hearing my nephew exclaim “Ee-a! Ee-a!!” all day long
- Getting a bike pump for my road bike
-Tending my nephew and playing with him all Christmas night
-Taking pictures with my nephew:
-Sitting with my nephew by the tree and quietly showing him the ornaments. It was the most ideal moment of my entire Christmas day!
-Listening to Christmas music! I could listen to Michael Buble's "All I Want for Christmas is You" over and over and over!!
-Eating so much cheesy, hearty, sugary food that I literally got sick last night (again, true story. I barfed. Sorry for the deets. But I habitually eat bland cereal for breakfast, maybe something for lunch, and then a medium-ish dinner. Yeah. Yesterday was too much of a splurged FEAST). Turkey, ham, funeral potatoes, stolen beans, frog eye salad, 7-layer dip, chips, cookies, cake balls, toffee. Um. Probably something else, too.
-Being with everyone in my family. No one was missing that day, and I’m very grateful for that. All 3 siblings and the 2 in-laws, all 3 nephews, my closest aunt and uncle and my 2 cousins that live next door, and of course my parents.
-Remembering the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I love what Christmas is really about, and I’m so glad that we have a holiday to celebrate it! May we always have the true love of Christ in our hearts.
Dec 23, 2011
I am "Ee-a"
I decided yesterday that being an aunt is the greatest thing ever. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it before, but not nearly as much as I do now. My mom has this passion for babies, but I tend to have a passion for toddlers. My first nephew, Levi, will be 2 years old in April, and my other two nephews, Luke and Tristan, are almost 3 months old, and five weeks old, respectively.
The two babies I love and adore, but they’re just not as much fun as I would like. I think they’re the cutest things on the planet, and of course I have a tender spot in my heart for tiny little ones (what girl doesn’t, really?) but I just love and adore little kids more than I do tiny babies. My nephew Levi is the perfect example.
Since I was gone to Baltimore all summer, Levi completely forgot who I was. Coming back was like introducing him to a totally new person he had never met before. Living an hour away from home and going to college doesn’t help much either. I come home probably about once a month, and that’s all that he gets to see of me. I, of course, am his favorite aunt ;) so he is beginning to remember who I am now.
Levi is starting to talk. He first learned “papai” and “mamai” (daddy and mommy in Portuguese...I have no idea if I spelled that right), and “Papa” and “Mama” (for grandma and grandpa) and things like juice in Portuguese, and my two favorites, “airplane” and “touchdown!” Of course, I’ve been trying to teach him how to say Lori. But he just won’t. Instead, he just recently came up with the idea of calling me “Ee-a” [I don’t know phonetics at all, so, it sounds like the letter “e” and a as in “a horse” (not the letter A)]. Anyway….it’s SOO cute. No idea how he got it. I asked his parents what it could have come from and they have no clue either, especially since it sounds nothing like my name. But whatever, I am “Ee-a” and I love it.
Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law invited me to go out to lunch with them. We went to a place called “Dolittle’s Café.” It’s at the Ogden Airport. Levi absolutely LOVES airplanes, and this restaurant has airplanes hanging all over the ceiling and painted all over the walls. We walked in and he pointed all around and said “airpae” in his cute baby accent because he was so excited to be there! The whole time, he was happy to be there, and was happy to be with “Ee-a.” At one point, he had to have his diaper changed. As his mom took him away, he cried out, in desperation “Eeeee-aaa!!” hoping that I would save him!
We had to walk around the restaurant later and look at all the "airpaes" and Christmas decorations together after we were done eating. He loved showing his favorite aunt around, and I loved looking around with my favorite nephew.
We enjoyed the car ride home, too! We loved laughing together, without even talking! Ahhh…it’s just great being an aunt.
I don’t want to go back to school. It sounds great when I say that I don’t have to until next year!! Too bad next year is just over a week away. But then again… I’m very, very grateful that next year is coming up so soon ;) Next year will be a great one, I can’t wait to see what there is to come.
The two babies I love and adore, but they’re just not as much fun as I would like. I think they’re the cutest things on the planet, and of course I have a tender spot in my heart for tiny little ones (what girl doesn’t, really?) but I just love and adore little kids more than I do tiny babies. My nephew Levi is the perfect example.
Since I was gone to Baltimore all summer, Levi completely forgot who I was. Coming back was like introducing him to a totally new person he had never met before. Living an hour away from home and going to college doesn’t help much either. I come home probably about once a month, and that’s all that he gets to see of me. I, of course, am his favorite aunt ;) so he is beginning to remember who I am now.
Levi is starting to talk. He first learned “papai” and “mamai” (daddy and mommy in Portuguese...I have no idea if I spelled that right), and “Papa” and “Mama” (for grandma and grandpa) and things like juice in Portuguese, and my two favorites, “airplane” and “touchdown!” Of course, I’ve been trying to teach him how to say Lori. But he just won’t. Instead, he just recently came up with the idea of calling me “Ee-a” [I don’t know phonetics at all, so, it sounds like the letter “e” and a as in “a horse” (not the letter A)]. Anyway….it’s SOO cute. No idea how he got it. I asked his parents what it could have come from and they have no clue either, especially since it sounds nothing like my name. But whatever, I am “Ee-a” and I love it.
Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law invited me to go out to lunch with them. We went to a place called “Dolittle’s Café.” It’s at the Ogden Airport. Levi absolutely LOVES airplanes, and this restaurant has airplanes hanging all over the ceiling and painted all over the walls. We walked in and he pointed all around and said “airpae” in his cute baby accent because he was so excited to be there! The whole time, he was happy to be there, and was happy to be with “Ee-a.” At one point, he had to have his diaper changed. As his mom took him away, he cried out, in desperation “Eeeee-aaa!!” hoping that I would save him!
We had to walk around the restaurant later and look at all the "airpaes" and Christmas decorations together after we were done eating. He loved showing his favorite aunt around, and I loved looking around with my favorite nephew.
We enjoyed the car ride home, too! We loved laughing together, without even talking! Ahhh…it’s just great being an aunt.
I don’t want to go back to school. It sounds great when I say that I don’t have to until next year!! Too bad next year is just over a week away. But then again… I’m very, very grateful that next year is coming up so soon ;) Next year will be a great one, I can’t wait to see what there is to come.
Dec 5, 2011
Sick + Dead Week
Why am I writing a blog on Dead Week (the week before finals where no tests are given and everyone studies their brains out)? Well. I'm terribly ill. I haven't been sick since February or March. And NOW I am sick. Worst. Time. Ever. And all I can do is blog. I can't study because it is doing me no good.
I just went to the store.
I purchased two different kinds of cough drops, three packs of daytime medicine (I already had a stock of Nyquil - thanks mom!), another bottle of Zicam since I've used basically all of what I had left today...and I think that's all medicine wise. I got some oranges. Good source of vitamin C. And some chicken noodle soup. I was craving it. Ah crap. I really am sick. Oh, and some orange juice. I think that's all I got...I don't remember.
Then, I bought this years game day shirt. At the grocery store. I have never gotten to buying it yet this year because I have always had an Aggie shirt to wear to a game when I go, but I really wanted one from this year, so I got one. $7 at Lee's.
The lady at the check stand was really nice.
Then I went to chick-fil-a and got a plain chicken sandwich for dinner and ordered orange juice for my drink. I just barely realized that this was a stupid thing to do since I had bought some at the store just before. I really really am not thinking straight. This better change before finals next Monday. I have three finals on Monday. Kill me now. One of them is just a presentation, so it isn't really a final exam, but the other two are cumulative exams that both cover 25% of my final grade I believe. Ugh. I really need to study.
I just went to the store.
I purchased two different kinds of cough drops, three packs of daytime medicine (I already had a stock of Nyquil - thanks mom!), another bottle of Zicam since I've used basically all of what I had left today...and I think that's all medicine wise. I got some oranges. Good source of vitamin C. And some chicken noodle soup. I was craving it. Ah crap. I really am sick. Oh, and some orange juice. I think that's all I got...I don't remember.
Then, I bought this years game day shirt. At the grocery store. I have never gotten to buying it yet this year because I have always had an Aggie shirt to wear to a game when I go, but I really wanted one from this year, so I got one. $7 at Lee's.
The lady at the check stand was really nice.
Then I went to chick-fil-a and got a plain chicken sandwich for dinner and ordered orange juice for my drink. I just barely realized that this was a stupid thing to do since I had bought some at the store just before. I really really am not thinking straight. This better change before finals next Monday. I have three finals on Monday. Kill me now. One of them is just a presentation, so it isn't really a final exam, but the other two are cumulative exams that both cover 25% of my final grade I believe. Ugh. I really need to study.
Nov 13, 2011
#occupythespectrum
When it comes to me and Aggie Basketball, we are pretty much inseparable. I only caught onto this love of mine the middle of the season last year, and I have been awaiting this season since the last game of last years' season. Well...this season has just started, and it couldn't be any more epic.
There have only been three games so far, and the first two were only pre-season games, so they didn't technically count. BUT, we did win them though! The next one though...was the BYU (or, as USU students like to say...YBU), and it was the first real game of the season!
The USU vs. BYU game was BY FAR the MOST anticipated game of the season! The game was on Friday, 11/11/11. Here's the low down on how things went:
Starting on Wednesday, students began camping out by the Spectrum (the facility where the game is held on campus) for the game. By camping out, I literally mean full on camping out, like with tents and everything. The athletics department anticipated this (the Aggies love their basketball!) and had a plan. So, anyone who camped out, got a wrist band. A blue one. They had to have their camp site registered, and someone from their group had to be there at ALL times to essentially save their spot in line for the game. There were random tent checks 3 or 4 times a day to make sure that someone was always there from the group (that way, it allows for people from the group to go to classes and stuff, but they still have to be there to save their spot in line most of the time, it's just that atleast one person has to be there). Anyway. The blue wrist bands, and registering camp sites were being done up until the night before the game.
I did not take part in that. I guess I'm not a full-flegged Aggie fan if I did do it. Or maybe I just have my priorites set straight and I don't have time to waste camping out for two days for a basketball game. Either way, I didn't do it.
So, there are 4,000 student seats in the Spectrum (all student seats are free, it comes with tuition). They anticipated about 600 people to camp out. Well, as of Thursday morning, 1,200 students had camped out. Crazy, eh?! So, I'm imagining that there were about 2,000 that ended up camping by Thursday evening. Don't quote me on that though. So that means that for Friday line up, there were only 2,000 seats left, and more than 20,000 students left who probably still wanted seats to the game.
I had to be one of those students to get a seat. No questions asked.
From what I had heard, the plan from the athletic dept. was that the remaining students would get in just based on a normal line up. So I had to get in line the next morning. I arranged with my friends from the ward that were going to go with me to get in line with me the next morning that we would meet at 7am and walk over to the Spectrum and wait in line.
So. We did it. We got up bright and early. Just for this game. Thousands of students camping out. And now in line. And it's below freezing outside. See what we do for our basketball team!?
We got there and they were handing out some wrist bands. I was so confused. They were green. The athletics dept said that they came up with a new system the night before and that it would basically prevent people from mobbing into the Spectrum when the doors open (thank goodness!!!). So, anyone who got a green wristband was guaranteed in the Spectrum for the game, and anyone without a wristband wasn't allowed in. Genius! We called all our friends who weren't there with us for the morning shift to wait in line to come get a wrist band, and they came and got one, and then we continued our waiting in line (we still had to wait in line so that we could get good seats!)
So then, it was FREEZING cold. We had our wrist bands, and I couldn't have been happier! I was wearing soooo many layers (multiple thermals, my game day shirt, my big winter coat, gloves, ear muffs, and all the typical winter stuff really, and I was still freezing!) but we continued to wait in line. I'm just glad we didn't camp out. So here are some pics of our early morning wait:
The early morning waiters. For a while we just took pics to keep us entertained :) Ashley, Stephanie, Rachel :), me
Our cold pic
My hobo breakfast of pears in a can. And my ghetto bike in the back behind the fence.
They gave out free Chick-fil-a! We were mostly just sooo happy because it was WARM! me and Ashley
My beloved wristband and my layers
I waited in line until 10:30 and then I had to go to class. Then I had class/work etc. until 3:30, so other people from my group took turns waiting in line.
I got back in line with my group around 3:45 once I had gotten back home and grabbed some food everything that I would need for the evening for the game.
Everyone with green wrist bands had to be in line by 4:30. At 4:30 there was no getting in or out of the line. The doors opened at 5:30. Here are some pics from waiting in line in the afternoon:
Most of the group waiting outside in line
Me and Ashley. We're so anxious for the game to begin!!
At 5:30, the doors to the Spectrum opened. First, for those with blue wrist bands. Then, for those with green wrist bands. Since my group was really really close to the beginning of the green wrist band line, it seriously was as if we were at the back of the blue wrist band line essentially. It was great! We got AWESOME seats!! We sat right behind the pep band, on the curved part of the stadium. Great location. I was so happy! Not only did we get in, we go great seats. And not only did we get great seats, we didn't have to camp out for them!
We had to wait for a while for the game to start (it started at 7), but the crowd was so much fun since we were all there so early, and we couldn't leave our seats or else they would take it away and claim it as "seat saving" (which wasn't allowed). So the crowd was really fun and we did lots of cheers for the team even as they were warming up even. There were two students in the USU student section that wore BYU shits, so we did "go home" cheers to them and stuff like that. The time went by super fast.
Then. The game started.
It was EPIC.
SO
WORTH
THE
WAIT
We were neck in neck the whole first half and the first part of the second half. Then, the last 12 min or so of the second half, we finally started stepping up our game, and BYU started fouling like crazy.
Oh, and the refs were absolutely ridiculous. They were not calling one single thing against BYU, and we were getting every single thing called on us. It was nuts. But, we still stepped it up.
Being in the crowed was AMAZING. Being an Aggie is the best thing ever! And every single student in the Spectrum you know actually wanted to be there, which was awesome. All the players on the team were totally taking it all in and loving all the cheers. It was great.
It got down to the last bit of the game, and we knew we were going to WIN.
Doing the "winning team losing team" cheer never felt so good in my entire life!!!
I was so happy!!! I love USU basketball so much :)
The morning group again, now inside at the game! (plus Brian in the background)
These are our yelling faces (Stephanie, me). We basically lost our voices by the end of the game!!
WE WON! WE WON!! WE WON!!!
There have only been three games so far, and the first two were only pre-season games, so they didn't technically count. BUT, we did win them though! The next one though...was the BYU (or, as USU students like to say...YBU), and it was the first real game of the season!
The USU vs. BYU game was BY FAR the MOST anticipated game of the season! The game was on Friday, 11/11/11. Here's the low down on how things went:
Starting on Wednesday, students began camping out by the Spectrum (the facility where the game is held on campus) for the game. By camping out, I literally mean full on camping out, like with tents and everything. The athletics department anticipated this (the Aggies love their basketball!) and had a plan. So, anyone who camped out, got a wrist band. A blue one. They had to have their camp site registered, and someone from their group had to be there at ALL times to essentially save their spot in line for the game. There were random tent checks 3 or 4 times a day to make sure that someone was always there from the group (that way, it allows for people from the group to go to classes and stuff, but they still have to be there to save their spot in line most of the time, it's just that atleast one person has to be there). Anyway. The blue wrist bands, and registering camp sites were being done up until the night before the game.
I did not take part in that. I guess I'm not a full-flegged Aggie fan if I did do it. Or maybe I just have my priorites set straight and I don't have time to waste camping out for two days for a basketball game. Either way, I didn't do it.
So, there are 4,000 student seats in the Spectrum (all student seats are free, it comes with tuition). They anticipated about 600 people to camp out. Well, as of Thursday morning, 1,200 students had camped out. Crazy, eh?! So, I'm imagining that there were about 2,000 that ended up camping by Thursday evening. Don't quote me on that though. So that means that for Friday line up, there were only 2,000 seats left, and more than 20,000 students left who probably still wanted seats to the game.
I had to be one of those students to get a seat. No questions asked.
From what I had heard, the plan from the athletic dept. was that the remaining students would get in just based on a normal line up. So I had to get in line the next morning. I arranged with my friends from the ward that were going to go with me to get in line with me the next morning that we would meet at 7am and walk over to the Spectrum and wait in line.
So. We did it. We got up bright and early. Just for this game. Thousands of students camping out. And now in line. And it's below freezing outside. See what we do for our basketball team!?
We got there and they were handing out some wrist bands. I was so confused. They were green. The athletics dept said that they came up with a new system the night before and that it would basically prevent people from mobbing into the Spectrum when the doors open (thank goodness!!!). So, anyone who got a green wristband was guaranteed in the Spectrum for the game, and anyone without a wristband wasn't allowed in. Genius! We called all our friends who weren't there with us for the morning shift to wait in line to come get a wrist band, and they came and got one, and then we continued our waiting in line (we still had to wait in line so that we could get good seats!)
So then, it was FREEZING cold. We had our wrist bands, and I couldn't have been happier! I was wearing soooo many layers (multiple thermals, my game day shirt, my big winter coat, gloves, ear muffs, and all the typical winter stuff really, and I was still freezing!) but we continued to wait in line. I'm just glad we didn't camp out. So here are some pics of our early morning wait:
The early morning waiters. For a while we just took pics to keep us entertained :) Ashley, Stephanie, Rachel :), me
Our cold pic
My hobo breakfast of pears in a can. And my ghetto bike in the back behind the fence.
They gave out free Chick-fil-a! We were mostly just sooo happy because it was WARM! me and Ashley
My beloved wristband and my layers
I waited in line until 10:30 and then I had to go to class. Then I had class/work etc. until 3:30, so other people from my group took turns waiting in line.
I got back in line with my group around 3:45 once I had gotten back home and grabbed some food everything that I would need for the evening for the game.
Everyone with green wrist bands had to be in line by 4:30. At 4:30 there was no getting in or out of the line. The doors opened at 5:30. Here are some pics from waiting in line in the afternoon:
Most of the group waiting outside in line
Me and Ashley. We're so anxious for the game to begin!!
At 5:30, the doors to the Spectrum opened. First, for those with blue wrist bands. Then, for those with green wrist bands. Since my group was really really close to the beginning of the green wrist band line, it seriously was as if we were at the back of the blue wrist band line essentially. It was great! We got AWESOME seats!! We sat right behind the pep band, on the curved part of the stadium. Great location. I was so happy! Not only did we get in, we go great seats. And not only did we get great seats, we didn't have to camp out for them!
We had to wait for a while for the game to start (it started at 7), but the crowd was so much fun since we were all there so early, and we couldn't leave our seats or else they would take it away and claim it as "seat saving" (which wasn't allowed). So the crowd was really fun and we did lots of cheers for the team even as they were warming up even. There were two students in the USU student section that wore BYU shits, so we did "go home" cheers to them and stuff like that. The time went by super fast.
Then. The game started.
It was EPIC.
SO
WORTH
THE
WAIT
We were neck in neck the whole first half and the first part of the second half. Then, the last 12 min or so of the second half, we finally started stepping up our game, and BYU started fouling like crazy.
Oh, and the refs were absolutely ridiculous. They were not calling one single thing against BYU, and we were getting every single thing called on us. It was nuts. But, we still stepped it up.
Being in the crowed was AMAZING. Being an Aggie is the best thing ever! And every single student in the Spectrum you know actually wanted to be there, which was awesome. All the players on the team were totally taking it all in and loving all the cheers. It was great.
It got down to the last bit of the game, and we knew we were going to WIN.
Doing the "winning team losing team" cheer never felt so good in my entire life!!!
I was so happy!!! I love USU basketball so much :)
The morning group again, now inside at the game! (plus Brian in the background)
These are our yelling faces (Stephanie, me). We basically lost our voices by the end of the game!!
WE WON! WE WON!! WE WON!!!
Tis the Life
I went home last weekend, and my brother showed me that one of the bookmarks on his phone includes my blog. That's even better than being a follower in my mind. That means he really DOES read it. And then there's me. I love me blog. But. When I lived in Baltimore it was soooo much easier to update because I had to be in my house when it was dark and I had nothing better to do with my time than to do be on the computer. It's not like I had homework or anything.
Here's how my life goes lately:
Monday: wake up around 8. Go to class/work (lab) until 5 or 5:30. Depending on the Monday, I may or may not have eaten in that time block. If I did eat, then I can maybe squeeze in a bike ride. If not, I will come home and eat dinner, and start working on homework. I am a semi-diligent FHE attender, since last year I was an FHE mom, and I know how much attendance is appreciated. Then I come home and do homework, homework, homework. Then bed time around midnight to 1-ish.
Tuesday: Wake up around 7:30. Class/work until 6:00. Homework. Bed time by 12 or 1.
Wednesday: Same story as Monday minus the FHE part.
Thursday: Same story as Tuesday, except work only goes until 5, so I can sometimes bike.
Friday: Wake up around 9 (yay! sleep in day!!) and done with class/work at 3:30 (hooray, early done day too!!). But then...homework.
Saturday: three of my four major classes assign chunks of homeworks that are due on mondays. It seriously almost seems like I have 3 projects due every single stinkin Monday. No joke. But it's my routine. So, every Friday night/Saturday morning, day, night til the wee hours of Sunday morning I do this homework
Sunday: My homework free day. I'm first counselor in the RS pres in my ward, so I spend my time doing things for that a lot. I also spend a lot of time with my friends here, or resting from the week (it's MUCH needed), or with my family sometimes. Just doing whatever I need to really to prepare myself spiritually for the upcoming week.
So, that's really all that I do. My roommates and my mother get super concerned for me because I never even have time to eat. My roommates never see me because I spend ALL my time in the library or in the engineering building. I guess I think it's fun? Whatever. I never have time to grocery shop. The last time I went grocery shopping was on a Friday night at 11pm. It was the only time it would fit in my schedule. Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do on Friday nights, besides start doing all my hw that I would be doing the following day. I just need to eat more. I never have time to even eat.
But. Now I'm really really really going to sound like a hypocrite. I'm going to show you all the fun things that I HAVE been able to do for the past month and a half :) I take my camera with me whenever I do something that is out of the ordinary weekly schedule...so it's basically all photo documented for all you non-facebook followers of mine. The captions will explain what they all are:
My roommates and I at Peach Days in Brigham City. Maura, Katie, Jannika, and Me.
The Relief Society Presidency at our RS training retreat in Bear Lake. Ashley, me, Miryelle, and Holli
Alan and Alyssa's wedding reception! Alan and Alyssa are my friends from Baltimore. They got married in Idaho, so I was able to drive up to their wedding reception. I'm so glad that I was able to go, because I was seriously one of the only people even close to their age there...
Me and Alyssa. What a beautiful bride!!
Me and my old roommate Megan at the Thriller dance show. The Odyssey Dance Theater came to USU and put on the Thriller show, and Megan and I went to it. Tickets were $25 for the public, but student tickets were only $5. It was general admission, and Megan and I got front row seats! It was so awesome! Super entertaining, and they were all such great dancers!!
My friends and I taking out Heidi out for her 21st birthday to Cafe Sabor! Troy, Maura, Heidi, and me.
I went with Megan to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk! It's a Cache Valley tradition. Every year, there are little vignettes set up in a park that are made out of all pumpkins! It's super cute :)
Angry Birds
I LOVE Despicable Me!!
Calvin and Hobbs :)
More Calvin and Hobbs
Tigger (look at his tail!)
haha, I'm Harry Potter :P
This was actually a really cute waterfall scene...it's really hard it see in this pic though
This is, in fact, not a pumpkin, but a witch.
Jessie and Buzz!
The first basketball game of the season!!! I LOVE basketball season :) Holli, me, Karissa, and BIG BLUE!
My friend Robert Erickson's homecoming! I knew him, and all the other guys from high school. They were all on Science Olympiad with me. Me, Taylor, Robert, Iain.
My new baby nephew, Luke, at his baby blessing.
Here's how my life goes lately:
Monday: wake up around 8. Go to class/work (lab) until 5 or 5:30. Depending on the Monday, I may or may not have eaten in that time block. If I did eat, then I can maybe squeeze in a bike ride. If not, I will come home and eat dinner, and start working on homework. I am a semi-diligent FHE attender, since last year I was an FHE mom, and I know how much attendance is appreciated. Then I come home and do homework, homework, homework. Then bed time around midnight to 1-ish.
Tuesday: Wake up around 7:30. Class/work until 6:00. Homework. Bed time by 12 or 1.
Wednesday: Same story as Monday minus the FHE part.
Thursday: Same story as Tuesday, except work only goes until 5, so I can sometimes bike.
Friday: Wake up around 9 (yay! sleep in day!!) and done with class/work at 3:30 (hooray, early done day too!!). But then...homework.
Saturday: three of my four major classes assign chunks of homeworks that are due on mondays. It seriously almost seems like I have 3 projects due every single stinkin Monday. No joke. But it's my routine. So, every Friday night/Saturday morning, day, night til the wee hours of Sunday morning I do this homework
Sunday: My homework free day. I'm first counselor in the RS pres in my ward, so I spend my time doing things for that a lot. I also spend a lot of time with my friends here, or resting from the week (it's MUCH needed), or with my family sometimes. Just doing whatever I need to really to prepare myself spiritually for the upcoming week.
So, that's really all that I do. My roommates and my mother get super concerned for me because I never even have time to eat. My roommates never see me because I spend ALL my time in the library or in the engineering building. I guess I think it's fun? Whatever. I never have time to grocery shop. The last time I went grocery shopping was on a Friday night at 11pm. It was the only time it would fit in my schedule. Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do on Friday nights, besides start doing all my hw that I would be doing the following day. I just need to eat more. I never have time to even eat.
But. Now I'm really really really going to sound like a hypocrite. I'm going to show you all the fun things that I HAVE been able to do for the past month and a half :) I take my camera with me whenever I do something that is out of the ordinary weekly schedule...so it's basically all photo documented for all you non-facebook followers of mine. The captions will explain what they all are:
My roommates and I at Peach Days in Brigham City. Maura, Katie, Jannika, and Me.
The Relief Society Presidency at our RS training retreat in Bear Lake. Ashley, me, Miryelle, and Holli
Alan and Alyssa's wedding reception! Alan and Alyssa are my friends from Baltimore. They got married in Idaho, so I was able to drive up to their wedding reception. I'm so glad that I was able to go, because I was seriously one of the only people even close to their age there...
Me and Alyssa. What a beautiful bride!!
Me and my old roommate Megan at the Thriller dance show. The Odyssey Dance Theater came to USU and put on the Thriller show, and Megan and I went to it. Tickets were $25 for the public, but student tickets were only $5. It was general admission, and Megan and I got front row seats! It was so awesome! Super entertaining, and they were all such great dancers!!
My friends and I taking out Heidi out for her 21st birthday to Cafe Sabor! Troy, Maura, Heidi, and me.
I went with Megan to the North Logan Pumpkin Walk! It's a Cache Valley tradition. Every year, there are little vignettes set up in a park that are made out of all pumpkins! It's super cute :)
Angry Birds
I LOVE Despicable Me!!
Calvin and Hobbs :)
More Calvin and Hobbs
Tigger (look at his tail!)
haha, I'm Harry Potter :P
This was actually a really cute waterfall scene...it's really hard it see in this pic though
This is, in fact, not a pumpkin, but a witch.
Jessie and Buzz!
The first basketball game of the season!!! I LOVE basketball season :) Holli, me, Karissa, and BIG BLUE!
My friend Robert Erickson's homecoming! I knew him, and all the other guys from high school. They were all on Science Olympiad with me. Me, Taylor, Robert, Iain.
My new baby nephew, Luke, at his baby blessing.
Oct 18, 2011
Real Time Contamination
Well, I figured I haven't blogged in a while, and I may as well because I have some semi-exciting things I could write about.
So last Thursday, my mom came up to Logan to spend the day with me. I called her the night before just to chat, and I think she could tell that I really needed her to come up or something, because I really did. So we worked out that the next day I could just miss my Institute class and the first part of work and she could come up and I could spend time with her. We ended up just going grocery shopping, and then going out to lunch to Sizzler together. It was soo great to just get away from my little world that I live in every day and get back to reality and realize what really matters! (I love you mom!)
On Friday, my friend Siri had an Oktoberfest party. Don't worry...it was completely non-alcoholic :) Basically the whole point of it was for her to teach us how to cook German food, and then we ate it! She's half German, so it was even pretty legit. I don't remember the names of anything really, so my descriptions will be pretty vague...but regardless, it was all really good! First off, we of course had Bratwurt, and then we had some egg noodle/dumpling things (they taste JUST like egg noodles we make for stroganoff, but they're homemade!), and then some potato/onion stuff. For dessert, we had poppyseed cake. To drink, I brought some apple cider. The entire meal was super delicious! We didn't have saeurkraut (sp?) because none of us liked it. It was really fun to learn how to cook all of these things and then be able to eat them!
At work, one week ago today, I was given the assignment to calibrate the Real Time PCR machine, which *should* be an easy task. All you have to do is put some pre-made PCR plates in the machine (or, for the background, a plate with H20), and run some tests, and hopefully the machine will still be calibrated correctly. If it's not, then you just have to do some minor cleanings or fixings depending on what's wrong. Well, I ran my background calibration plate, and it said that there were a bunch of contaminated wells! So, I followed the directions, and I cleaned the metal plate in the machine with H20. I ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. I cleaned with EtOH (Ethanol), then H20, and ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. So I cleaned with bleach, then EtOH, the H20 (this is all as directed in the instruction booklet). Still contaminated! LONG STORY SHORT: I spent all through Friday cleaning and calibrating. On Friday, I was down to 10 (out of 96) contaminated well. First off, I have NOOOO idea how they got contaminated, and I had NOOO idea how they were to get any better cleaned then what I was doing.
The cleaning involved a tedious process of suctioning the fluid into the well, and suctioning it back up, and then carefully scrubbing/drying it out with the end of a Q-Tip that had had the cotton ripped off equal just the perfect amount. For each. and. every. single. well. It took hours. All my work hours last week.
Anyway. I left the machine to dry completely on Friday absolutely confident that I could come back on Monday to a perfectly clean machine.
On Monday (yesterday) I went to the lab, and put in the background plate for the calibration. I sat there and anxiously awaited the results. Remember...10 previously contaminated wells. The results popped up... 55 CONTAMINATED WELLS. WHAT!? oh no :( how is that even possible?! I didn't even touch the other 86 that weren't contaminated!! I talked with the lab tech for a while, and we couldn't think of a solution.
We got in new Real Time PCR plates right as I left the lab on Monday. The lab tech said we could test those the next day. I guess that gave me incentive to continue...
I got to work today, and the lab tech said that Sam tested it earlier with the new plates and (drum roll please)...IT PASSED!!! AND...(get this)...it was three times cleaner than it had to be to even qualify as non-contaminated! Which totally makes sense given how many hours I spent cleaning the thing..
Sorry to spend ranting time talking about how I clean a Real Time PCR machine. No one in the world even cares about that, I know. But hey. I had to write about something :) And considering that all I do is lab work and homework, I figured I'd write about the more interesting of the two...
So last Thursday, my mom came up to Logan to spend the day with me. I called her the night before just to chat, and I think she could tell that I really needed her to come up or something, because I really did. So we worked out that the next day I could just miss my Institute class and the first part of work and she could come up and I could spend time with her. We ended up just going grocery shopping, and then going out to lunch to Sizzler together. It was soo great to just get away from my little world that I live in every day and get back to reality and realize what really matters! (I love you mom!)
On Friday, my friend Siri had an Oktoberfest party. Don't worry...it was completely non-alcoholic :) Basically the whole point of it was for her to teach us how to cook German food, and then we ate it! She's half German, so it was even pretty legit. I don't remember the names of anything really, so my descriptions will be pretty vague...but regardless, it was all really good! First off, we of course had Bratwurt, and then we had some egg noodle/dumpling things (they taste JUST like egg noodles we make for stroganoff, but they're homemade!), and then some potato/onion stuff. For dessert, we had poppyseed cake. To drink, I brought some apple cider. The entire meal was super delicious! We didn't have saeurkraut (sp?) because none of us liked it. It was really fun to learn how to cook all of these things and then be able to eat them!
At work, one week ago today, I was given the assignment to calibrate the Real Time PCR machine, which *should* be an easy task. All you have to do is put some pre-made PCR plates in the machine (or, for the background, a plate with H20), and run some tests, and hopefully the machine will still be calibrated correctly. If it's not, then you just have to do some minor cleanings or fixings depending on what's wrong. Well, I ran my background calibration plate, and it said that there were a bunch of contaminated wells! So, I followed the directions, and I cleaned the metal plate in the machine with H20. I ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. I cleaned with EtOH (Ethanol), then H20, and ran the calibration again. Still contaminated. So I cleaned with bleach, then EtOH, the H20 (this is all as directed in the instruction booklet). Still contaminated! LONG STORY SHORT: I spent all through Friday cleaning and calibrating. On Friday, I was down to 10 (out of 96) contaminated well. First off, I have NOOOO idea how they got contaminated, and I had NOOO idea how they were to get any better cleaned then what I was doing.
The cleaning involved a tedious process of suctioning the fluid into the well, and suctioning it back up, and then carefully scrubbing/drying it out with the end of a Q-Tip that had had the cotton ripped off equal just the perfect amount. For each. and. every. single. well. It took hours. All my work hours last week.
Anyway. I left the machine to dry completely on Friday absolutely confident that I could come back on Monday to a perfectly clean machine.
On Monday (yesterday) I went to the lab, and put in the background plate for the calibration. I sat there and anxiously awaited the results. Remember...10 previously contaminated wells. The results popped up... 55 CONTAMINATED WELLS. WHAT!? oh no :( how is that even possible?! I didn't even touch the other 86 that weren't contaminated!! I talked with the lab tech for a while, and we couldn't think of a solution.
We got in new Real Time PCR plates right as I left the lab on Monday. The lab tech said we could test those the next day. I guess that gave me incentive to continue...
I got to work today, and the lab tech said that Sam tested it earlier with the new plates and (drum roll please)...IT PASSED!!! AND...(get this)...it was three times cleaner than it had to be to even qualify as non-contaminated! Which totally makes sense given how many hours I spent cleaning the thing..
Sorry to spend ranting time talking about how I clean a Real Time PCR machine. No one in the world even cares about that, I know. But hey. I had to write about something :) And considering that all I do is lab work and homework, I figured I'd write about the more interesting of the two...
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