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The
Soap Box Friday, December 31, 2004 NYE Please tell the ones you love how you feel and stay safe tonight. Tuesday, December 28, 2004 Just FYI I passed my classes and won't need to take psychopathology again. Phew! Friday, December 24, 2004 A Couple Quick FAQs Does it get cold there in the desert? Does it ever snow there? What's Christmas like? What will you be doing? I hope you will all be with your loved ones and in a warm and inviting place tonight. Happy holidays! Tuesday, December 21, 2004 Not So Bad Just got back from the mall and it wasn't so bad! The parking was the worst and braced myself but I was never behind more than a single person in line! Yeah, I said I was done shopping but ummm...well...those were required presents. The things I got today were optional presents. Yeah, that's it! ;) It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn Happy Solstice everyone! We've survived the darkest part of the year (and don't it feel like it?). Sad Just yesterday I was at the airport seeing a friend off for the holidays when a big cheer erupted from the crowd waiting to pick up arriving passengers. A soldier was returning home safe and sound. There were banners claiming "An American Hero" and 2 young girls clinging to the returning soldier. The scene was so sweet that I just stood there for a moment, enjoying this holiday homecoming. Yes, I am against the war. There is no way you can tell me that the loss of precious human lives is worth the blatantly illegal cowboy tactics this country used. Please don't lecture me on how we have to support the troops. I support them 100%. I support them getting home safely. What we've done we've done. Let's now stop the killing and get all of our troops home to their families. Today, however, 24 families will not see their soldier-family member alive again after an attack on a mess hall tent took place in Mosul. What makes this loss of life so sad is that there have been over 30 insurgent attacks against this same mess tent. Others have died in earlier attacks because they are in a TENT, not any sort of protected building. These deaths today were preventable. How many people have to die before they will be properly protected? I have to say, if I were a member of any family that lost a loved one today in this attack, I would sue the US government. There is evidence of another soldier dying in the same tent during an attack this summer. It is proven that a tent will not keep people safe. It is proven that this particular location was a popular target for insurgent attacks. The United States government is guilty of putting these people in harm's way and not giving them proper protection. How can we as a country ask our people to risk their lives and not do everything we can to keep them safe and to get them home in one piece? How will we disentangle ourselves from this deadly situation quickly and without additional loss of life? What will be the legacy left by this whole debacle? Monday, December 20, 2004 It's That Time Again Iff'n you have a few dollars (or Euros, Pounds, etc.) left in your pocket or on your credit card after you are done shopping this holiday season, please consider getting a gift for someone else less fortunate. Think about some poor kid that will get NOTHING this Christmas if you don't share some of your good fortune. I'm not being overly dramatic. I know there are kids in New Mexico that count on the generosity of others to have any sort of Christmas. This year I got Barbie dolls for 2 needy kids. One of the dolls was a whole $4.99 plus I got it at KB Toys that gives you 10% off if you are buying the present for what is known here as the "Giving Tree." So what's that, a whole $4.50? In the game of life, what is $4.50? For me, a poor college student who makes dirt, it's nothing. Seriously. And if helping out humans is not your thing, how about donating some cat or dog food to your local shelter? I paid a whole 25¢ a can at PetSmart for some cat food I'm going to drop by the shelter tomorrow. And anything you give to a non-profit animal shelter is tax deductible so if you find you have mucho dinero left over at this year end, maybe helping out a shelter would also be helping yourself so it's win-win! Anyway, think about if you can lend a helping hand this season. It will make you feel good! MIA Does anyone know what's happened to Rachel? Sunday, December 19, 2004 Done! I finished my Christmas shopping! Yay! I think I've sent out all the Christmas cards I'm gonna send so if you're expecting one from me and you don't get one, please excuse me, but it's been a tough month. Still waiting for my grades... Saturday, December 18, 2004 Not a Patient Person OK, my psychopathology teacher said she'd email us our grades for our final and for the class. I still haven't gotten my grades and I am not enjoying the waiting process. I was under the impression that my professor was leaving town for the holidays on Friday so I thought I'd have my grades by now. Well, there's really nothing to do but keep waiting I guess... Friday, December 17, 2004 Catching Up Well, I finished the semester on Wednesday. I was absolutely giddy when I passed in my paper (that was originally due before Thanksgiving). Now I have to wait to see if I passed psychopathology. Passing in grad school is a B or better. Worse than a B means you have to take the class again. OMG I'd rather put a cigarette out in my eye than take that class again. Yesterday I drove up to Santa Fe for some Christmas shopping. It may have been a perfect day. It snowed off and on, making the town so beautiful. I found some really unique gifts including a $20 bar of soap shaped like a frog for one friend. I do think, however, that paying $20 for a bar of soap of any shape proves I've lost my little mind. Meh, it's Christmas, right? I miss living in Santa Fe. Maybe after I'm a rich and famous psychologist (I'll settle for rich), I can afford to live there again. Now I have time away from school and it's weird! I don't have to read any research articles, organize study participants, memorize that damn DSM. I was watching a guilty pleasure movie on TV last night (Clan of the Cave Bear) and I kept thinking, "OK, I have to turn this off and DO SOMETHING" but in reality, there was nothing that needed to be done! I mean, there's always writing Christmas cards and wrapping presents and stuff (thank God for Amazon, who delivers right to my door) but it didn't HAVE to be done before this morning and I'm just not used to that feeling! Gosh, I hope I don't get just completely lazy during break and have no work ethic when school starts again. I hope everyone has a great weekend! :) Happy Birthday! Happy birthday Nicholas! I'm so grateful you were born. I love you like crazy! Tuesday, December 14, 2004 You Know You're Getting Old When... ...your best friend (who is younger than you) includes in her Christmas letter, "we hope everyone we know will have their diseases become stable, if not cured completely!" Oy veh! Monday, December 13, 2004 Entertainment News Regis Philbin will be ringing in the New Year this year in place of the ailing Dick Clark. Ewww...who picked that one? Nicole Kidman has dropped out of The Producers movie. She was supposed to be the sexy Swedish sexretary, Ulla. She is set to shoot a movie in Australia and claims she does not have time to learn the choreography for The Producers. Portia de Rossi, the sister on Arrested Development, is the new love of Ellen Degeneres's life. Both Ellen and Portia dumped their long time loves to be together. Apparently they were pawing each other backstage of VH1's The Best of '04 show...not that there is anything wrong with that... The Golden Globe nominations were announced today. Paul Giamatti's movie, Sideways, led the way with 7 nominations. Jamie Foxx got a record 3 nominations for Collateral, Ray, and Redemption. Hilary Swank got two nominations for Million Dollar Baby, her movie directed by Clint Eastwood, and for the HBO movie Iron Jawed Angels. I have seen very few of the movies nominated but after I get my paper done, I'll go live in the theater for about a week and I'll be all caught up. I was surprised that Denis Leary got a nomination for Rescue Me. I absolutely loved this short series on FX. I think I was most surprised that Denis Leary was nominated for a dramatic role. He's such a smart-aleck and a funny guy. He's up against stome still competition: Michael Chicklis, Julian McMahon, Ian McShane and James Spader. It certainly makes for an interesting race! Alright! I got a 96 on my stats final! And that's after missing 3 weeks of classes with that damn stomach virus! Woohoo! Tomorrow is my last final and boy is it going to be tough! Then finishing up a paper and then that's it until January! :) D'oh! I got my husband an A&E miniseries called Longitude for Christmas a year or two ago on DVD and I've been really interested in seeing it. Finally, last night I broke it out to start watching it as a study break. It's a 2 DVD set so I carefully took out the sleeve for disk. I opened it up and it had a number 2 on it so I thought, "they have the disks in the wrong sleeves." So I open up the sleeve that says 2, and that disk also has a 2 on it. So then I think, "maybe that 2 doesn't mean what I think it means." I take the disk out of sleeve one and pop it into the DVD player and sure enough, it says "volume2!" Dammit! This set has 2 volume 2 disks and NO number 1 disks! CRAP! I got it so long ago, I can't exactly return it now so I'm screwed. So if you have Longitude on DVD and you have two volume 1 disks, let me know and we can switch and both be happy! Sunday, December 12, 2004 Study Break I need a larf. Someone come entertain me...or at least tell me a joke. Decisions, Decisions Well it's not even 10 am and I can't decide if I should start studying for my psychopathology final (which is on Tuesday) or just go back to sleep. Thing is, once I start, I'll be studying all day so I don't want to start yet. Can you guess which option I'm leaning towards? Friday, December 10, 2004 Stupid Commercials Have you noticed how the worst commercials ever always resurface at Christmas time? Like Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds perfume commercial which was probably shot 20 years ago now. Or Chia Scooby or the Clapper or any useless crap that can't get bought any other time of the year like some Black and Decker automatic tape measure or automatic jar opener or that retarded commercial where a girl and a guy go through a car wash in a convertible with the top down so they can use their wet shavers? I am sooo sick of them! However, the commercial that bugs me the most has nothing to do with Christmas or dumb gadgets. It's for Burger King where a bust of an old Greek dude yells, "Meaning of life for chicken! Meaning of life for chicken!" Seriously, this one should win an award for the stupidest commercial ever! UPDATE: The commercial is for McDonald's apparently and it's not a bust but an entire statue of a Greek dude. Shows you how effective the commercial is when I thought it was for the competition. Remember yesterday when I said I went shopping while my new glasses were being made? Well, I bought a pair of jeans (the first pair I've had in at least 15 years) but it turns out I bought my size in short, as opposed to regular and they looked like floods! Without my glasses I couldn't even see how short they were in the dressing room. I had to return them this morning before class. That's what I get for shopping while blind! Thursday, December 9, 2004 Possibly the Most Productive Day Ever! I had my stats final today. If you had asked me on Sunday morning how I was going to take a stats final when I didn't go to class for 3 weeks I would have said "I have NO FRICKEN idea." However, my wonderful and talented husband taught me just about everything I needed to know in a matter of an hour. He's just amazing. So today when I took the final, I felt pretty darn good. I think I got an A, which would give me an A for the class. After that I went to the mall to visit the optometrist. My eyes suck! When I'm driving I can't read signs and I've been having to read tiny type in research papers and it's getting difficult. I was early for the optometrist. and it just so happens that there is a mini DMV in the mall right in front of the optometrist's office and it also just so happens that my license was set to expire in 18 days. How convenient! So I got my license, then got my new prescription then ordered new lenses and went shopping while waiting for them, completely blind. Interesting thing was that I could find plenty of things to buy for me (new wallet, pair of jeans) but nothing for anyone on my Christmas list. On well. As I was sick on my birthday, I think I'll celebrate it today! Then I went to Pier 1 and got a cushion for my papasan chair which has been cushionless for 2 months, then I remembered to return a video before it was overdue (a bloody miracle for me), got dinner at Einstein's Bagels and gassed up the car! Seriously, got more done today than I have in recent memory! Guess I'm all better! Yay! One final down, one to go...and the Godiva chocolates my mentor gave me for Christmas are DELICIOUS! Tuesday, December 7, 2004 Sorry, the blogger you're trying to read is busy making up 3 weeks worth of graduate work in a week and a half. She should be available for regular blogging as of December 16th. Thank you for your patience. Saturday, December 4, 2004 I'm still not 100% but I'm soooo much better. Mornings are still rough. I'm way emotional first thing but even off in the afternoon. I'm not sure what that's all about quite honestly. And I really don't like it. If anyone wants to tutor me in multivariate regression this weekend, let me know. Thanks. |
Blog Name: The Soap Box
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