Friday, March 23, 2007

Snow Gone


The drifts from 3 weeks ago are nearly gone.


Soon there will be flowers.





Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Future Headline: PJ to Stand Trial For Murdering IMS


But I will get off on a brainless defense.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Watching for Spring


I've been playing in Illustrator and getting ahead of the game. On Tuesday I will have the Illustrator class and be bored shitless after being bored shitless in the do-nothing class before it.


Spring break is over. If I'd had a rip-roaring good time during break I might be sad about it, but spring break sucked. Basketball on t.v. usurped my soaps, hubby was underfoot most of the time and I didn't even get my taxes done. The worst thing about having to go back to class tomorrow is that I am not used to the new time even though I've had the whole week to adapt.


I really want to get this college experience over with. College has been a detriment to my learning. It has taken my curiousity and crushed it. It has accomplished the goal of any good institution - break them down.
Although I'm not completely broken. I half expect to get expelled for my seditious ways before graduation.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Migration

The other day I noticed that migration is in full swing. I saw 3 seperate flocks of geese flying over in a five minute span. Every time I hear the honking I have to stop, locate the flock and watch it until it is a dot in the distance. Every time!

This morning on the way to the barn I saw 2 seperate flocks. Gaggles, whatever. Leaving the barn, I saw a half of a V with one goose flying the point. Shortly behind it was the other half of the V with one goose flying point. I wanted to see them merge but they disappeared first. Why was the other half lagging? Did a goose have to make a pit stop and his half of the line stopped with him? Maybe the left half of the V were renegades trying to barge in on the right side of the V's party.

I walked to the mailbox and heard ducks. Of course I stopped to watch. This was a massive armada comprised of about 10 different V's. But the V's kept changing in this wild, flying dance of merging and reforming different V's. Before that squiggly line had completely dissolved, I heard another flock of geese. Wow.

No wonder it takes me so long to get the mail.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Dear Target

Remember when you were a great store? I do. You had everything I needed that wasn't grocery related in one spot. Well, except for automotive things which you had in a seperate building but still, you had it all.

Even when that upstart WalMart (WalMart sucks) built a store in town, I was undeterred. You were my everything (except groceries) store. Perhaps the pressure from WalMart (WalMart sucks) made you decide to build a new building and move.

I was cool with the new store. Automotive was under the same roof. You still had everything I needed. You rocked. And we lived happily together for years and years. I was not drawn into the Super WalMart (WalMart sucks) that was built. You were still my everything (except groceries) store.

Then you had to ruin a beautiful relationship by expanding. Not into a Super Target, but into a sort of super Target. You added a pharmacy (who gives a shit?) and some groceries. And you killed the soul of the store I loved.

I used to be able to help people find stuff in your aisles, I knew them so well. Now I'm pretty much lost. But it's not being lost that has killed my love for you. It is what I find when I'm wandering around those unfamiliar aisles.

Today, while searching for a hair product, I saw a 6.7 oz. bottle of shampoo for $24.99. Holy crap. That's more than I spend on a pair of jeans. For $24.99 I could buy 2 gallons of my regular shampoo. I gotta ask, WTF is wrong with you? Are you trying to force me to shop at WalMart (WalMart sucks) which will inevitably raise my blood pressure to the point of cardiac arrest?

WalMart sucks, but I have never had any expectations from that store. You, dear Target, have broken my heart.

Friday, March 09, 2007

thankgodits SPRING BREAK

I had two classes today. In the first class (layout design) I had the option to take the test over the last chapter or wait and take the test in a week. Knowing I would not get smarter over break, I took the test. I should have waited a week.

I got sucked into a trick question that was repeated in 10 different ways. I got a 78 on the test. Even the 88 I would have gotten had I not fallen into the trick question trap would not be up to my usual standards. Still, it beats the test I took yesterday. The test was a surprise since I skipped the [horribly mind numbingly stupid] class [taught by a moron who asks us how to do stuff in the program she is teaching] on Tuesday. I hadn't studied. I hadn't even READ the chapter. I got a 68. Wo.

After my dismal test this morning I had a break which I utilized by running errands, leaving the Incredible Mind Suck to talk to herself. Then I went to my only other class for the day (CAD), a class I call a do-nothing class. I have two such classes this semester taught by a brilliant man who knows these classes are just curriculum fluff for convoluted, meaningless programs.

So we mostly do nothing in either CAD or virtual modeling. Today we walked in and he told us if we had drawings that weren't done to draw them. The rest of us got to leave. So spring break started an hour early. Yay!

I have big plans for spring break. I'm going to get my taxes done.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Potato Gun Kid

On Monday a kid in one of my classes was frustrated about an impending meeting with the college bigwigs that kept getting postponed. The college President (Dr. B) and Vice President were jerking him around before giving him a tongue lashing. The kid had gotten caught shooting his potato gun outside of the dorms.

He didn’t seem worried about the meeting itself, just upset that the meeting had been scheduled and rescheduled several times. He was wearing what he considered his best shirt for a tribunal. It looked like he dug it from the bottom of a heap but whatever. I told him he should wear Goth makeup, carry a bible and when it was all over, thank Dr. B and VP T for setting him straight.

I had class with The Kid again today and asked how the meeting went. He said VP T was spitting during the vehement tongue lashing. He was meted 2 strikes on his housing policy (one more and he’s out of the dorms), a $50 fine which will double every week until it’s paid and his gun was confiscated. I think the gun being taken hurt the worst.

We imagined Dr. P and VP T playing with the potato gun and taking the $50 fine and going to a bar for drinks with it. I wouldn’t put it past them.

I was trying to think just what T’s position was at the school. I looked on the school website and couldn’t find anything. So I Googled him. Not only did I find his title (Vice President of Enrollment Services & Student Affairs) I found something better, which I knew but had forgotten. I found a news release from the state attorney general’s office about Dr. B and VP T’s little brush with the law. They got off much easier than The Kid did, even though they pled guilty to serious offenses.

I just wish I would have found the news release before The Kid had his meeting. It may not have affected the outcome but it might have made him feel better.

Monday, March 05, 2007

the other end of the witch AGAIN

The last weather report (see the other end of the witch) was about the ice storm that hit last weekend. So on Thursday school got cancelled and the weather arrived. It came in some sort of rain first, then sleet, then snow, snow, snow. Holy shit. But all was just ducky until the electricity went out at noon and stayed that way.

I went into pioneer mode and Mr. Man went to bed. He couldn't sleep the whole time the electricity was out, but I know he wanted to. I kept the house from freezing by boiling big kettles of water. I gathered snow to keep the pots full and for extra water for flushing the toilet.*

Between storms (see Incredible Mind Suck) I had gotten batteries at WalMart (WalMart sucks!) for my tiny black and white t.v. so we could watch the constant storm coverage. Light was provided by the antique kerosene lamp and candles from my car winter emergency kit. The candles from the kit proved to be much better at providing light the hundred scented soy candles I have. (When I discovered the "joy of soy" I threw out ALL of my old candles, which in retrospect, was stupid.)

We survived the night and woke up in a 57 degree house. I made cowboy coffee and washed dishes in hot snow water. We played cribbage. It wasn't too bad.

At noon I bundled up and waded through the drifts to the truck to charge my cell phone. Mr. Man went back to bed. I gathered more snow and set it on the porch. I had just gotten peeled out of my blizzard gear when the lights came back on.

Some of my neighbors weren't so lucky. They didn't get their electricity back until Saturday afternoon. And there were people in the state who still were without power from the storm the weekend before. So all in all, we were lucky.

On Saturday a neighbor came with his tractor and pushed/blew snow. Mr. Man took my car "for a little drive" and went straight to a bar. Then another bar.

I didn't venture out until yesterday. I went to town M for a few groceries then went to town B -- straight to a bar. Dammit, I deserved it. Felt like crap this morning though.

The roads are still crappy in a lot of places. And the parking lot at school is a damn joke. There were tons of empty parking spots this morning but very few that didn't have 3 feet of snow in them.

Short version: Another shitty storm, lights went out, we lived.

*For city folk -- Out here where people draw their water from wells, the water does not come out of the tap without electricity firing the pump which means no toilet flushing. But you can pour water in a toilet and it flushes like magic!