Click It or Ticket Month

Todos esta bien

[Big sigh of relief]

That's good. I passed my spanish oral and comprhension exams with flying colors. Now all I have to do is pass the writing section and I can say "goodbye" to the unversity's forgien language department.

Today was a nice day. Well, up until now. Now, it started raining. The thunder even woke me up from my nap (I went right back to sleep, so it's no big deal). But, before this, it was nice and sunny outisde. And it was humid a little today (maybe a warning of the impending rain). But it was still nice.

Last names

There was this teller today who was really rude to me.

Most people can't say or spell my last name on the first try. For this reason, I try to get other people's last names correct on the first try. Mispronouncing/spelling mine is not a big deal, and it's never been a big deal with me, but when people purposefully butcher my last name on purpose after being corrected, trying to be funny, it's really, REALLY annoying (if not just plain tacky). I don't want to be rude back, but I think I should just start speaking spanish or something when people do that to me.

Time for something (I think)

[Long sigh] Today has been a long week. And it's only wednesday. I think the professors all team up to make certain weeks espcially hard. I have a oral exam I have to study (and practice speaking) for, two papers and a bunch of reading to do. Well, really I don't mind the reading. It's the pointless papers I hate. They teach you nothing (except how to BS your way through a class). Well, I guess that's life. Two weeks left. (Of school, that is; not life).

I need something. Like some...ice cream...or coffee...or ice cream...or a home cooked meal (none of this GMP crap)...or a hot 45 mintue shower. I'm too tired to go run. (That, and the weather isn't too good). I think I'll go lie down for a little bit and read.

Catch me if you can

In case some of you don't know, I like to run. Long distances at high rates of speed.

But I've been thinking lately about why I like to run. Is it just the knowledge that I can run really far, really fast? Does it matter that I can run 6 miles at the drop of a hat? Does it matter that I can run for an hour and a half? What difference does it make that I can run for half a mile flat out before my hands start shaking?

So I ran 7 miles today, completely intending to go a full 8 or 9. But, I tripped in front of Yesterday's and skinned my knee up pretty good (it also got bruised-a nasty mess). It started hurting when I started to run again, and I made the decision to not run any further. So I walked back from there. Injury aside, I had a great run. (Oh!, And I was able to pop a blister when I got back from my run-that was interesting).

Well, I got back ok, except now it's not ok-I have a short writing assignment in english due tomorrow. It's not long, just annoying. A page on how a poem makes me feel. I liked it better last semester when I was writing proposals on topics I chose. That was interesting. This is just stupid.

And in other news, I'm procrastinating (big surprise). I think I'll do the reading and research tonight, get to bed early(ier) than normal and write it before class. Yeah, that's the better option.

Yes, today was a good day.

Ummm...still-what happened?

Here's the school's official position on the power outage:

Dear Residents,

At approximately 3:05am on the morning of Friday, April 8, 2005 the power went out in your dorm. The power was restored at approximately 5:20am on the morning of Friday, April 8, 2005.

The cause of the outage is unknown at present. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at aekautz@gwm.sc.edu or 777-7483.

Thanks for your understanding. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Amy Kautz

Ummm...what happened here?

All of a sudden, the guys on my hall start yelling like something happened. This jarded me out of my 3AM sleep. I looked at my alarm clock to see what time it was. The alarm clock was off (and by off, I mean completely without power).

The power had gone out to my dorm.

No esta bien. Espcially since I have spanish class at 9:05 in the morning. I'll never be able to get up, and my cellphone alarm will never be able to wake me up. So I get up, and decide to wait out the return of the power. It was ok-I was able to answer a couple early morning emails.

Anyway, about 3:30, I realize that with all of the light switches in the on position, I'll wake up anyway, so it'll be ok. I can go back to sleep.

Well, my plan worked.

Some mintues ago, the power came back on. Cool, I can set my alarm now and get back to sleep. Great, now I've been interrupted twice tonight (or rather, this morning). It's cool. I feel more rested now than I've felt all week. I should go running right now. Nah, I really should get back to sleep.

But I still don't know what happened. Someone just randomly decide to throw a breaker to my dorm? Ok, don't worry about it, Danny. Back to sleep.

Getting run over (almost)

I went running today. (No big surprise) I ran 11.0 km (or, for you [insert adjective here] people, 6.8 miles). That was a lot of fun. And I almost got run over (again) by a girl driving too fast while talking on a cell phone. If there's one thing that agaitates me, it's inattention while controlling a +2 ton automobile. Grrr!!!! She almost killed me, and it really didn't seem to bother her. Her phone call was more important than my life.

Then I saw John Stossel tonight in the Koger Center. He talked about capitalism in a democracy. And about small government Which is a pretty good idea.

Today was an awesome day.

Windy day(s)...crazy day(s)

WOW!!! It's really windy today!

I was walking down Main Street, stepped out from behind a building, and literally was blown backwards the wind. Wunderground.com reports gusts of up to 43 mph/68 km/hr. I repeat, WOW. It really hinders those who are trying to walk down the street. You can lean forward at an angle so obscene that you would fall over on a normal day, but you remain standing (not upright, but side-right). The NWS (National Weather Service): Expect west winds of 30 to 35 mph... with gusts up to 45 mph... to continue into early this evening. Then... winds will gradually diminish to 20 to 25 mph tonight. Expect winds on Sunday 20 to 25 mph... with gusts to near 30 mph. These winds may cause property damage... including some downed trees and power lines. Persons outdoors... motorists... and boaters should use caution. (Couldn't they have just said "everyone use caution"? I mean, if you're not a person outdoors, motorist, or boater, what are you?)

In other news, a group of Shackers (myself included) went to help Mimi move her stuff out of her house yesterday. Backing up a bit, Cabbil and I had packed up a 'Big Red Box' storage container on Wednesday. Now, when we were moving stuff out of the attic, wew just put it in the box, not really planning at all. We got all of the stuff in there and finished the job.

Then the 7 of us helped pack another 'Big Red Box' last night. And it was quite different. For the one thing, Baker was there. And he sorta became the "packing director," instructing us on where to put things. It was different than with Wednesday; Baker planned out how stuff would be placed in the box, where as Cabbil and I figured it out as we went.

Then there was dinner. I don't know what was in the pizza we ate. Between the grunting, laughing, strange voices, and comments that were made, an outsider stepping in would've have thought we were all nuts and commited us to a mental institution. This along other things that happened during the night. Taping our hands to boxes. Trying to pack Cabbil into a box.

And one thing that requires explanation. During the time we were there, I would tape the folded boxes together. Someone would say, "Danny, I need a box." And I would coonstruct a box for them. Then, as we're packing the container outside, Baker calls out, and I quote, "I need like two or three boxes." I immeadately go over to the pile of folded boxes and construct four of them, just to be on the safe side. I take them to him, and I'm told that he needed two or three full boxes, not empty ones. Oooops. Oh well, here's some extra boxes. I guess I was a little quick on the trigger. But it was still fun.

Ahhhh...I don't think I've laughed like that in a while. At least, not here at school. Fun times.

Stories from D-block

These are just a few pictures from my dorm.

I came back last night, and the hall has been toilet papered.

I come back tonight, and someone has put shaving creme all over the place and trashed it completely.

Hmmm, interesting.

And then I'm using the bathroom today, and someone starts shouting through the halls: "Anyone have any weed or beer?" Similarly, a week ago or so, someone shouted off one of the balconies: "Yell if you live in the Towers and you're smoking weed on your porch!" I then hear several voices yell out. Ya know, I just love our "dry and drug free" university and dorms.