Fall: the best season of them all!!!

Fall is my favorite season. No contest. We can all agree that winter (at least in Michigan) bites the big one. Summer is way too hot and too full of field work. Spring is all rainy and muddy and dead for several months, and then we may have 2 nice weeks and then its summer. Fall, on the other hand, has deliciously beautiful weather. Cool but not too cold. Fall also has leaves changing color, apple cider, football, hockey, TV that is not reruns, pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving, and many other wonderful things. Yeah fall!!!

Fall TV

The new TV season is starting (FINALLY!) and I thought I would comment on the shows I’ll be watching this year. If anyone else is watching these shows, we can discuss. Also if there are any amazing shows that I am missing, please let me know. (Although I already watch too much TV I think. I try to cap it at 1 1/2 hours per day max, not including sports.)

Category 1: Shows that I will tape if I am going to miss them:
->West Wing: One of my all time fav shows, and it’s an election year this year! Who will be the next President: Jimmy Smits or Alan Alda? (My money’s on Smits.) Superb writing and cast.
->Grey’s Anatomy: A show about surgical interns that appeals especially to 20 somethings since the characters are our age and going through some of the same life issues. Good writing, interesting storylines (maybe a little racy for some), good acting.
->The Amazing Race: The best reality show on TV! (It has won several Emmys.) This season may not be as good as previous ones because they are doing a family edition with teams of 4 instead of 2. Depending on how it goes, this show may drop down a category.
->Lost: Best new show last year. (And winner of the Emmy for best drama.) Crazy plot twists and intelligent story telling.

Category 2: Shows that I will watch if I’m home:
->CSI: Katie L got me hooked this summer. Blame her. I just can’t get enough of that micropipetting!
->Desperate Housewives: A guilty pleasure. It is on right between two category 1 shows, so it will probably be watched every week as well.
->Simpsons: Classic, but not as great as it used to be.
->Arrested Development: Funniest show that no one is watching.
->Scrubs: Zany, off the wall humor that always makes me laugh.
->Red Wings Hockey: Not technically a show, but I’ll be watching anyway. GO WINGS!

Category 3: Shows that I may watch if they are on and I have nothing else to do:
->Simpsons reruns: Gotta love em!
->The Daily Show: Hilarious!
->Jeopardy: Hey I’m a nerd, what can I say.
->Survivor: Another guilty pleasure.
->Other NHL Hockey: I can’t get enough hockey!
->NFL Football: The Lions suck but I still like to watch football in general.

Master locksmith!

So today I was sitting around the Giltner office and Elena, one of the new KBS profs, had her computer accidentally locked in a filing cabinet. We tried for like an hour to get it out, and finally I went on the internet to see if there were any instructions about how to pick locks. Well, you would be amazed at the kind of detailed instructions you can find for that type of thing! After watching the little animation on one particular site, I went to the cabinet and promptly unlocked it on my first try using a screwdriver and a paperclip! So if you ever need a locked filing cabinet opened, you know who to call!!!!

Surprise surprise!

You are a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (25% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

On a more serious note...

You don't realize how nice it is to be healthy until you experience two weeks with a constant headache. Good health is one of those things that everyone takes for granted until it is gone. It is humbling to realize how easy it is for our bodies to totally break down and for all of our plans and intentions to go to pot. Thankfully, I am finally back to normal. But being sick emphasized to me how fickle health can be and how my life is really in God's hands and not mine.

And on a completely different note... (I am not good at having a cute, unifying theme for all my posts like Katie does!)

I have lately realized that I don't get excited about things anymore. When I was a kid and some big event was coming up (holiday, big vacation, etc.) it became so important to me that the anticipation was excruciating. I was SO EXCITED for horse camp, for example, that it made me giddy just to think about it. I don't get that kind of excitement anymore, even about things that I know will be sweet (hockey season leaps to mind). I am looking forward to hockey season, but I am not passionately, joyfully ecstatic about it like I would have been 10 years ago. I wonder if this phenomenon is just a part of growing up, or if I have had some kind of fundamental attitude shift that has caused it. Sometimes I feel like I should get more excited about things, but then maybe I would just be setting myself up for disappointment if things don't turn out the way I had anticipated. Is this realism or pessimism?

Sequels

I saw a commerical last night for the movie Zorro 2, which comes out in late October I believe. (It is the sequel to the Antonio Banderas/Catherine Zeta-Jones movie from a few years ago.) There is also a Pirates of the Carribean 2 in the works. My question is this: can these movies possibly be any good? I loved the oringinal film for both of those, but I know I'm just setting myself up for disappointment by looking forward to the sequels. Can anyone think of a movie sequel that was anywhere close to as good as the original (excluding sequels that were planned before the first movie came out like LOTR and Star Wars.)?

Out in the Boonies

Top 10 signs that you live out in the country:

10. There are more cows than people on your street.
9. None of the gas stations within a 10 minute drive have “Pay at the Pump”.
8. You see road kill on your street every day.
7. If you return to your home after dark, and you forgot to turn on your porch light before you left, you have no hope of getting in because it is too dark to find your keys or the lock.
6. If you don’t have a cat then you have mice in your house.
5. To you a traffic jam is a few cars lined up behind a tractor.
4. When the power goes out, you lose your water too.
3. Your town has no traffic lights, McDonalds, or bars.
2. You have seen someone hit a deer with their car more than once.
1. You have the word “Hick” in the name of your town.


Its funny because its true! ;-)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yup, I am now 24. When did I get that old??? I'm like an adult or something. ;-)

Thanks everyone for your birthday calls and emails yesterday. It really meant a lot to me.

Health Update

I went to the health center on campus yesterday and the doctor there did not find anything seriously wrong with me. She thinks that I have a sinus infection, which would explain the intense headaches, dizziness, etc. Its possible the nausea was caused by the extremely strong headaches I had on the two days I was nauseous. It’s also possible that something like allergies is causing the headaches. I’m maybe 80% convinced that it is either a sinus infection or allergies, in which case there is not much I can do besides take a decongestant and hope it goes away.

Diagnose this disease!

Thursday: Severe headache (front of my head above my right eye), nausea, dizziness, fever
Friday: Slightly dizzy and out of sorts, otherwise okay
Saturday: fine
Sunday: fine
Monday: Severe headache (this time above my left eye), nausea, dizziness, fever
Tuesday: Dizziness, maybe fever?
Wednesday: Dizziness

Well I have no idea what is wrong with me but I've been sick (again? still?) since Monday. I am thinking about going to the doctor because with this relapse or whatever it is I have really been sick since last Thursday. Your guess is as good as mine as to what is actually wrong with me.

Top 10 signs you've been playing too much JT's Blocks

I made this list up at the end of the semester when I really was playing too much JT's Blocks. (All these things actually happened to me.) I've recently started up playing again so I thought I would post it. You probably won't get some of these if you've never experienced the wondefulness that is JT's Blocks. Try it at http://games.yahoo.com/games/login2?page=bl . (You may have to register first.) Be warned, its addictive!

Top 10 signs you have been playing too much JT's Blocks:
10. The battery in your cordless mouse goes dead
9. You have your all time high score memorized (56,335)
8. You have a big paper or project due soon
7. You have a favorite room that you always use (Baa Baa Block Sheep)
6. You have a second favorite room in case your favorite is full (Block Ness Monster)
5. You have yahoo games bookmarked
4. Your wrist and clicking finger hurt all day
3. You know that "spurious" always has the high score
2. You consider yourself a failure if you don't make it past 27,000 points.
1. While sitting on the toilet, you imagine how you would click on your bathroom floor tiles if they were actually JT's Blocks (Sadly this only worked at my EL apartment.)

Why Notre Dame is irrelevant

Some of my friends may disagree strongly with this article, but it goes a long way to summing up my feelings about why I hate Notre Dame.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=grant/050902

Tossing my cookies...

Q: When is it a bad day to miss class?
A: When the prof uses an example in his lecture that he made up especially for you about your study organism.

Yeah I came down with the flu on Wed night and didn't go to class on Thursday because I was getting to know the inside of my new toilet, if you will. And of course that happened to be the day the above situation occurred. The prof in question is on my committee too. Oh well. I am feeling a little better today (at least I am keeping food down) but not 100% yet.

No big plans for the Labor Day weekend except that I will probably attend the traditional Van Kooten Labor Day pizza party at Fricano's in Holland on Monday. I guess I'll just work on sleeping and feeling better.