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Day #35 Notes - Solving Quadratic Functions by Graphing and Factoring
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Labor Day Weekend, Ahoy!

Good things for today:

- It's Friday
- There was a bake sale outside of our building and I bought a brownie
- There's barely anyone at work
- My whiteboard is now hung in my office
- Wookiee was insane this morning and I loved it (she likes playing with Dave's drumsticks)
- Camping this weekend!
- I had a cute chauffeur drop me off


Bad things for today:

- I woke up late
- My new shoes make my feet extremely sweaty
- My new car won't arrive until October :(
- I ate the brownie and want more, more, more!
- My desk is like a trash heap
- Must... resist.... coffee... urge........

Bulb Break-In

Dave and I spent Friday night at church as part of our first duty as Junior Youth group sponsors. It was a church lock-in, and let's just say we didn't get a lot of sleep. Not only did I forget to feed Wookiee before I left yesterday, but I also forgot to water the flowers. Apparently, the dry dirt in the potted lilies that I had sitting out on the back porch must have been a signal to the animals that they would be an easy dig, because we came home today to find the pot on the floor, dirt all over the place, and bulbs half-eaten and flung around. I'll post a picture later. (Can you tell that I'm cranky?)

Madison Math Nerds

Katherine and I recently headed up to Madison, WI to attend a conference for utility company forecasters. Katherine spent a few days meeting with fellow math nerds (99% middle age or older men) while my attendance was limited to working remotely in various coffee shops and joining in on the dinner cruise, open bar, and tour of the capitol building.

Inside the capitol:

A cute girl I saw at the capitol:

The dinner cruise was the highlight of the trip for sure. We circled Lake Mendota enough times to drink several Spotted Cows (which I highly recommend):


And we enjoyed perfect weather and a beautiful sunset.

Wookiee!

It has been difficult getting back into Corn and Sprinkles ever since we were reduced to Corn. We'll never get completely over the loss of our Binko cat, but we know she would have wanted to pass along her kingdom to another female cat.

To follow up the last brief post, I'm excited to introduce our new resident dust mop, Wookiee! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wookiee should clear up any questions about her name.

Introducing...

A Bite

My mind is BLOWN! Did you know that it's Brussels Sprout, and not Brussel Sprout????

I'd also like to take this time to remind people that it's Sherbet, not Sherbert. Just a personal pet peeve of mine. I wonder if someone out there has a personal pet peeve about brussels sprouts being incorrectly called brussel sprouts.

Okay, let's be honest... I really wanted to talk about sherbet because I randomly found this outrageously rockin' album cover on google image search today.

Lightning Crashes

Now that we own a house, I don't enjoy thunderstorms nearly as much as I used to. Now I worry about trees falling on the house, lightning strikes, hail hitting the roof, and lots of other miscellaneous damage.

We haven't been to the grocery store in over a month now, thanks to our FarmFresh deliveries. Dave is in Portland, Oregon for RailsConf until Sunday, so my dinners have been consisting of random things I've found in the cupboards and refrigerator. Tonight I had cheerios, a grapefruit, and a couple of cookies. Yesterday I had couscous, a frozen waffle, and some strawberries.

I miss him.

I had the most delicious lunch ever today at the City Market. It was chicken salad on top of ... salad salad, with fruit salad on the side. Very salad-y. It was EXACTLY what I was craving. I saved about 1/3 of it to eat as part of my dinner, but ended up eating it as soon as I got back to the office. I'm so pathetic.

This was a pretty self-deprecating post, but I'm still getting over this cold/flu thing and there's no one here to hear me whine. wahhhhhhh

Hey! There's a tornado warning!

Eat My Shortz

I've been doing zillions of crossword puzzles lately, and I think I'm getting pretty good at it. It helps that the clues are repeated pretty often. Everyone at work was excited to tell me that Will Shortz (the NY Times crossword puzzle editor) was to give the commencement speech at IU this year. I guess that's cool, but I wasn't about to drive an hour to hear a guy talk about puzzles.

Uncle Randy and Aunt Julie were generous to invite us to their condo in Pennsylvania for Memorial Day weekend, so that's where we're headed early tomorrow morning! We'll be headed out of Indy just as thousands of people are headed in to see the big race on Sunday. One of these days we'll go.

Last night we went to Abyssiana, the Ethiopian restaurant on 38th St. It was a rough start, with 10 people all trying to figure out what we wanted to eat and share, but it was a lot of fun. The food was really good, and it was perfect "group" experience. After we were sated, the chef came out to ask us how we liked the food; he was so short and cute.

My employer just began a health-care incentive plan thing, where if you are in good health, they compensate you with money. I started telling my coworkers what a great idea I thought this plan was.... really excited about it. So we were all discussing this, and I said how I think people who were overweight should have to pay higher health care premiums because of all the extra health care costs they impose on the greater population. If they have a glandular problem, then that's something else... but if they just didn't exercise and didn't eat correctly, then it's a preventable problem. Someone counter argued the strong correlation between lower-income people and obesity, and how they would unfairly have to pay higher health care premiums than higher-income workers. He was right. How will the behavior change if there is no punishment? I use the word "punishment" not because I'm a jerk, but because there's a Boy George song playing on the radio and my vocabulary area of my brain is blurred right now. If someone gets 10 speeding tickets, their car insurance premiums are increased, and there is an incentive to save money by driving the speed limit. If someone is overweight, should their health insurance premiums be increased? I would think that a shorter life span and the various other weight-related ailments should be enough incentive to not let yourself become overweight, but I think it's obvious that it's not. If anything, people are motivated to lose weight mostly because of aesthetic reasons. Hey, I just remembered about those Whirlpool employees who were riled up because their health care plan imposed higher premiums for smokers. Same issue.

I took a self-defense class today at work and now feel confident that I can successfully knee an attacker in the groin, if needed. I've always wondered how I would fare in a fight, and while I am able to knee people in the groin, that's about the extent of my abilities. Thanks to some mega-padding, I got to try my self-defense skills on a guy, and I didn't perform too well. Is that very Mennonite-ish of me?

Oh, by the way... I brought $160 with me to Vegas and came back with $210. THANK YOU, WHEEL.

Potential Study #2

Say that my work building collapses. Would I have a better chance of survival if I were on the top floor, or the bottom floor?

I need to buy one of those "Worst Case Scenario" books.

Beware the Wheel...

Samantha and Patrick came to visit us yesterday, as Dave agreed to take them to the airport early (VERY early!) this morning. It's always great hanging out with them, even if Patrick kicked everyone's butts at TriBond. They also brought their cat Zoë, who was about to embark on her first plane trip. It was nice having a cat in the house again.

We donated some of Sprinkles' toys and beds (she had 3....), along with some blankets and towels, to the Humane Society a couple of weeks ago. We looked at the available cats and dogs, but none caught my eye.

Wednesday, I leave for Las Vegas, where I'll be until Friday night. Y'know... work-related things, of course.

Now, if you remember, Dave and I traveled to Las Vegas for Rachael & Chuy's wedding last August, and I ended up winning a couple hundred dollars, thanks to this bad boy:



Behold its beauty and wonder.

It is the Wheel of Fortune slot machine, and it is capable of both making your dreams come true and emptying your bank accounts.

Everyone knows that one of my life goals is to be on the Wheel of Fortune game show. Somehow, I think this is as close as I will ever get.

Seriously, though - the wheel actually spins!!!!! And there is fake applause sound!!!! And there are little animated Pats and Vannas!

I can't wait.

Oh yeah - and I hope we get a lot of work done.

Rest in Peace

Sprinkles passed away this morning. Her heart stopped beating after coming out from anesthesia for a routine dental cleaning. We miss her so much already.

We Meet Again

10 Signs Your Stress and Anxiety are Getting Out of Control:

1. Headaches, headaches, headaches
2. Change in appetite (I can't stop eating or I won't eat anything; usually, it's the former, but not long ago I lost 15 lbs. because I was too bloated and nauseous to eat for a couple of months)
3. Random crying
4. You know that feeling you get in your stomach right as you get up to make a speech? That feeling, for 24 hours a day. It's unbearable.
5. Twitching
6. Heartburn
7. Insomnia, arguably the worst of the list.
8. Skipped heartbeats (palpitations)
9. Bitten nails and picked fingers
10. Constantly taking deep breaths...

Another dip in the rollercoaster of life, I guess.

Brian McLaren + Tuna

David and I are going to Goshen College (a Mennonite college) on May 9/10th to see Brian McLaren speak about his book, "Everything Must Change."

We confess that neither of us has actually read the book, but I've done a lot of internet reading about him, if that counts for anything. He's part of the emergent church movement, and a board member of Sojourners. I'm really looking forward to communicating with others about his message, whether or not we agree with him, and whether or not we may agree with each other. It's always enjoyable to me to hear others' viewpoints about religion.

Oh, and the tuna? David made some really great tuna steaks for us last night and I just had to mention it. And we finally drank a non-cheapo wine with dinner.

Let Me Rest

I just did not want to get out of bed this morning. Our clock is turned away from the bed, and I thought for sure that I had slept for 12+ hours, but it was only 9 AM when we got out of bed. Sprinkles kept sleeping. Her latest fad is to sleep on the stack of clean towels I keep in the guest bathroom cabinet.

I just finished reading Beautiful Boy. It was pretty good, though awfully depressing.

I love drugs and drug culture.

I want to do lots of drugs. I would never, of course, but the curiosity is still there. I just love the idea of manipulating my body with chemicals. It's a neat thing. And scary.

Has It Been a Week Already?

Time flies when you're not blogging.

We made it down to Tampa, FL in one piece and very tired from our 7:00 AM flight. It was so great to see my grandparents and my aunts and uncles, some of which I haven't seen in years.

The weather didn't turn out to be as Floridian as we had hoped, but I still ended up with a sunburn and some sand in my camera and sneakers, so what else can I ask for?

Work has been ultra rough on me lately, so I don't feel like talking about it or any other things, for that matter. Instead, digest these pictures.

Us, on Lido Beach before the wedding:


SURPRISE! A stolen photograph of David:


Our pear tree is blossoming!


Me and Mr. Pear Tree, for posterity:


Some brilliantly-colored hyacinths (we think???), the fruits of some of the bulbs we planted last Fall:


Some unidentified, yet-to-flower bulb things:


Dave, chemically guarding the house from the swarm of insectazoids and spidertrons that will soon invade:

I'm Still a Dog Person, Though

One year and a day ago, we were merely Corn. One year ago, we became Corn and Sprinkles.

Thanks to her, we look forward to more dive-bomb ankle attacks, random barf on the carpet, fur in my bathrobe, bits and pieces of cardboard strewn about, and having our bladders stepped on as we lie in bed in the morning. :)

Speedy Delivery!

Last month, we signed up for service with a company called Farm Fresh Delivery. I had read an article about the owners in the Indianapolis Business Journal, and was impressed with what they had to offer, so we decided to give it a whirl. Rather, I decided, and then sheepishly asked David if he agreed. :) It has worked out really well for us because we usually had to drive up to Wild Oats or alllllll the way up to Whole Foods to get good organic produce, and now it's delivered right to our door. Now we don't have to go grocery shopping nearly as often (even though I enjoy buying food....)

Not the Best Timing

Dave is sick with a cold :( Poor guy. I hope he is well before we leave for Florida on Saturday. It sucks to fly with sinus congestion.

We visited his new workplace last night. That has to be the most beautiful office I have ever seen. I am so completely jealous. And I want to hire whoever did the decorating and furniture-buying. It was awesome.

After that, we had some massive chocolate/pastry/cake cravings, so we bought some Little Debbie chocolate chip cream pies and Chips Ahoy Big 'N' Soft chocolate chip cookies at Marsh. The Chips Ahoy ones were a little disappointing, because they really weren't very big.

We played a little Wii Smash Bros., and then I fell asleep on his lap.

Has anyone been watching Dr. House on Jeopardy???? We were super hyped while watching. This is better than watching the Super Bowl.

http://www.rose-hulman.edu/news/articles/house-jeopardy.htm

Good Things in Pictures

Our bulb(asaur)s are poking through (!):

My new jersey with super zipper action:

Sprinkles vs. The Squirrel: