Sunday, February 28, 2010

Laundry laundry

I did two loads of laundry this weekend. I had 4 to do, but I ran out of quarters Friday night. I got more Saturday at Hogan Bros. But, Saturday night, both of the machines in the building were broken.

I think I heard someone using it today, though. I guess I'll check it out. I need more socks, in any case. I'll survive at least for another week without everything else being washed.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Catey's Mundane Life.

And yes, this is a blog about laundry. I could blog about how I have a cold and give you the details, or tell you what I had for lunch today. Yes, it could be worse than laundry.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Ah... decisions, decisions

So, I'm finalizing my schedule for next year. And by finalizing, I mean what I can feasibly do to graduate and take all the classes I want to take - that is until I don't get in to that one class that I need to get into.

In any case, I've decided not to take any more stats classes unless I can't get into different one. Which makes me a bit sad, as I like stats, and was looking forward to taking a couple more. But, instead I will be taking a women's history course and a management course, which leaves my interim free.

But what to take? This is the problem. The interim abroad trip to Thailand that I've wanted to take since freshman year is being offered next year. However, will I be able to afford it? I just spent $5000 going to Europe this past interim. Do I really want to be an additional $5000 in debt after I graduate?

I'm thinking yes. When else will I be able to spend a month in Thailand and learn in this situation again? I don't plan on working abroad after I graduate, or studying abroad during grad school. Unless I join the Peace Corps (if I cant find a job), I probably won't be going overseas until my loans are paid off.

So, I really want to do it, but I don't know if it'd be very responsible of me. Thoughts?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Netbook! p2

Well, I've had my netbook for a couple days now. I'm pretty much in love with it. It's awesome. I am charging it for the second time ever, and it still had 50 minutes of battery life. It's very handy to have to whip out and find out everything I need to know. Review: positive.

In other news, I tried to give blood today. They were too busy and wouldn't take any more walk ins even though they still had 3 hours before they ended. I would have made an appointment except they only tabled outside the caf, and didn't hang up posters anywhere else. What are faculty and non-meal plan students supposed to do? How are we supposed to find out?

So, it's a full 2 years since I last gave blood (low hemoglobin, and tattoo are two other reasons). It makes me sad. I enjoy giving blood (except when I passed out that one time - which was the last time I gave blood, but is not a reason I haven't given since then). Maybe I should find a different blood drive.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Netbook!

I has a netbook. Yay!

I haven't used it extensively yet. Why use a little one at my apartment when I have my normal laptop here? I just got it started, and turned it off. So far, it seems fine. I am a little saddened that it comes with Windows 7 starter which has less options than the basic home edition. I may upgrade if I get too annoyed with the beach desktop. Of course, and if I get money.

Test drive tomorrow at Olaf. I just won't go to the Star Tribune website. Apparently there has been a rash of viruses coming from the Strib website on campus. Dunno why!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Coooollll............!

Actually, I'm pretty warm. I'm just watching a news clip about the Jazzman, the UoM bus driver. He plays jazz. Pretty coo.

I enjoy watching the news. Right now, Sven Sundgard is on, commenting on how Duluth was the warmest spot in MN today. As he stands outside without a coat for a few minutes. If you're a gay man, and add him as a facebook friend, he usually facebook chats with you. That's something I've learned from having gay male friends. I suppose he's cute enough, but he always have sunglasses/ski goggles tan lines, which always creep me out a bit.

In other news, homework is piling on. I've read 3 of the longer chapters and 3 of the shorter ones that I have to read for this weekend, and I've only got one more that I absolutely have to read for tonight, but I would like to get ahead.

Also, the laundry machines are both broken. Great....

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Miyazaki-esque dream

I've been having pretty interesting dreams lately. I don't remember most of them, but I remember most of this mornings dream.

Anyway, so I was this girl, and there was this boy. He was magical, and came from this cave world. Everyone could see him, but only I could touch him. In any case, we were in high school, and good friends. There were seeds of love blossoming, but the Cave Spirit Council decided they needed him back before he became human totally.

So, I also have a broom. It doesn't fly very well. Shoots off for like 5 feet then falls to the ground. So, while we're being chased by the Cave Spirit shadows, and we finally figure out how to make the broom fly. (You have to burn it.)

So, we lite each piece of straw individually, and get pretty far. Our last one burns out over a lake, and we fall. I also have a cat with me, now that I think about it. In any case, me and the cat are fine (the cat somehow remains dry), but my friend is unconscious. So, we are being slowly swept to a slow-moving river, while I hold his head up, and the cat sits on my chest.

For some reason, probably because it's a dream, I can't move very much. I can just keep floating. I start to float down a tunnel (the guy and the cat disappeared at some point), and its getting darker and darker. Suddenly, a happy little glowing cloud appears out of thin air. It's happy and cheerful and glad to see me. Then, two more appear! I can begin to see the outline of a few more when...

...my alarm went off.

Goody.

In any case, it reminded me of a few Miyazaki movies. Some Kikis, some Spirited Away. Yeah. It was pretty cool, though I was a little anxious about where I was floating when I woke up.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Camp Wellstone

Last November, I signed up for something called Camp Wellstone - a weekend long community organizing workshop. It was in February. That was far enough away to make me want to sign up for a two-day long event where I would have to get up at 7:30am.

Well, I'm glad I did. I enjoyed myself so much. I learned a lot, I got free lunches, a free tshirt and a free book, and met a lot of new people, and reconnect with people I already knew. Most importantly, I was inspired. I have been feeling myself burning out, and I hate that. I am less burnt out now.

Plus, the Olympics kick ass! The 1500m short track final was freaking insane! You just need to watch the last 3 laps, and you will see how exciting it was.

In other news, I ordered an additional computer. This one is to check my email everywhere, since my laptop isn't that portable. So I ordered a netbook to bring around. It's 2.9 lbs and has 11 hours of battery life. It should be here in a week or so. I'm pretty excited!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Olympics 2010

So, it's Friday! When I got home, I put on sweats and have been chilling out on the couch since then. The Olympics started tonight! It was pretty cool, with some sadness mixed in because of the death of the Georgian (the country, not the state) luger. I can't believe that TV networks are showing the accident and attempts to resuscitate him. I find that rather disturbing and tactless.

While China's opening ceremony was splendorous and spectacular, I think I understood and appreciated more of the Canadian ceremony. They emphasized affirmation of all Canadians, something that the Chinese definitely did not do (remember the pretty girl who lip-synched while the real singer was considered too ugly to perform was backstage?). Canadians represented all their citizens, from First Nations people to GLBT people (kd lang, specifically), ethnic and racial minorities (Nelly Furtado and the opera singer), people with disabilities, and people of many talents and backgrounds. Imagine if the Chinese opening ceremony had a tap dancing man in a kilt. Or a slightly overweight poet or even an androgynous lesbian?

Canadians are really respectful. I appreciate that. I might move to Canada one day. Even though I always mock Canadians. I'm Minnesotan. It's part of the regional tradition. I must make fun of all neighboring regions, including the Dakotas (particularly Fargo), Iowa, Wisconsin and Canada. In any case, I was making fun of one Canadian official, who had a really strong Canadian accent, and I could even pick up the Canadian accent in his French.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

A Pretty Good Day

Today was really busy. Despite that (or because of that), I had a pretty good day.

My day started at 7:30, when I found out I have $2,700 at my disposal and an A- from my interim class. Woot.

Then, I went to work at the elementary school, only to find that my first hour would be spent in a school-wide assembly. I did not have assemblies like that when I was a kid. The principle handed out awards to helpful students and students who made goals they had set. He asked the school 3 questions. "What are our classroom missions?" The answer was given by a 2nd grade girl, who responded "Work, Respect, Belong." (which are posted in every room on white, red and blue paper, corresponding to the letter with which they begin). The next question is "What is a Gecko?" (Geckos are the school mascot, so it's not a random question). A girl from kindergarten answered "A hard worker." The last question was really hard, so he asked the fifth graders. It must have been hard, since I don't remember what it was (I was still a little blown away that geckos are hard workers). Anyway, after that, he then talked about Ice Age and Vegietales for a while, then we were dismissed. Maybe my elementary school was too big for an assembly like that, and my principles not so cool.

In any case, I then went to the 5th grade reading class for the 15 worst reading students. They're not so bad, really. They're better than some of the middle school students I tutored last semester. They were reading some of the books I had read when I was their age. Only one of them was reading short stories, and they were pretty complex stories (the middle schoolers all read Captain Underpants).

After 2 hours of that, I went to a 2nd grade writers workshop. Oh my god they're so cute!!! They were working on "Fact or Fib" presentations about bluebirds, and so they were using computers! They all had macbooks on their desks, and none of them knew how to type. I got to teach 2nd graders how to use Word. Aw....! Also, Roberto, a boy in the class, asked if I was a boy or a girl. It made my day. It made me really like my new haircut, which is appropriately androgynous. Also, they all liked the pikachu charm on my phone which was hanging out of my pocket. And then when I left, they all waved and said "Adios Catey!" in unison. Freakin' adorable.

Unfortunately, I had stayed there an extra 20 minutes, so no lunchtime for me! I had to scurry back to the apartment, pack a lunch, grab my backpack, and head to class. It was so sunny today that I ended up taking my coat off about 15 minutes into the walk, and still ended up sweaty. Pleasant. Luckily, I've learned my lesson, and now bring an extra shirt in my backpack every time I walk to campus. Coat+backpack+slight incline=sweaty Catey. (Its more the backpack than anything that causes the sweat. Wicks away moisture my ass!)

In any case, I then had a pleasant conversation with a faculty member of some department in the ladies room while changing/getting unsweaty. Even though I was patting myself down with a paper towel, we still managed non-awkward small talk about the weather.

After class, we had a GLOW coordinator meeting. It only lasted half an hour and was really productive. Then I went to the doctors to get a shot, which took a long time only because of VanGo, my free transportation of choice, who was really busy tonight, and was 30 minutes late picking me up from the clinic. But as an apology, he drove me to my apartment instead of Buntrock, so I didn't have to walk home.

And, I didn't have anything to do on campus tonight! I have Thursday nights free!!!!! Yay! I have been barely scraping by with adequate sleep the past 3 days, when I get up early and come home late which means homework finishes later than I would like. In any case, I was able to cook dinner and cut up the pineapple I bought on Sunday finally. Yippee! My lunch tomorrow just got 53x more interesting. Yes, 53x. And yes, that's an arbitrary number.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

First days of School

Well, spring semester finally started. Bleh. I still want to be on interim break. Or interim.

Anyway, this semester, I am taking Principles of Economics, Eurasian Geopolitical Energy, Jesus on the Indian Road, and Ethnographic Research Methods. That's about $230 in books, one of my more gouging semesters. I am not so excited about this semester, but so far, they all seem to be okay classes. They're just classes I need to take, though, rather than classes I want to take. I'm sure I'll like them well enough, but I'm not really looking forward to them. I guess this is a poor attitude to start off the semester, but I'll still try. Especially since two of them are major classes, and the other two I will need to work extra hard in because I don't really know a lot about econ or theology, nor have I ever tried to learn more. Rather, I've been pretty resistant to learning about them.

In anycase, I get the morning off. I am scheduled to work in a couple classes at the elementary school this morning, but hey, school was canceled because of the snow. Yay! So now I don't have anything to do until 12:45 when I need to leave for class. Relaxing! I got up at 7:30, went back to bed at 7:40, and woke up at 10. Unfortunately, it'll probably be the only day this semester where I can do this. Sigh. Why did I sign up for shifts at 9 in the morning on the days I could have slept in?

Oh yeah, I want money.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Woofy woofs

Today, Mom brought me to the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake to volunteer for a sled dog event. The Wildlife Science Center was featured on two episodes of the "Growing Up" series on Animal Planet a few years ago. One episode was "Growing Up Bear" and the other was "Growing Up Wolf." They function as a wildlife reservation and education center. Ergo, they have a ton of wolves, bears, raptors, big cats like lynx and cougars, and raccoons and porcupines and the like.

Anyway, so we stood outside selling hotdogs, chips and sodas for 6 hours. It was cold. It was really hard to walk after a few hours. I was so cold that half an hour after we left, I still couldn't feel my fingers, toes and face. In fact, I cut my finger on something and I didn't really notice for a while, and we had to ask our waitress for a bandaid. Then my face turned pink and sunburned-looking. It went away finally, but I think I got some minor frostbite on my face, fingers and toes.

Also, foxes smell like ass. It's a little disappointing. Also, I want a hedgehog.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Native American

Today was my cousins 7th birthday. Mom gave him some art supplies and a book with letters instead of words. It has sentences like "C D B?" (See the bee?) and "U 8 L D X!" (You ate all the eggs!). Well, my 7 year old cousin promptly tossed it aside to play with his new legos, but his older brother (age 13, I think) picked it up and tried to read it. He didn't really get it. Cue teasing. Then another cousin, who is 8 or 9, picked it up and got it pretty quick. On the page that read "I M N N-D-N" she said "I am a Native American."

Aw... cute PC cousin!

IMMD.

One more thing! Golden retrievers are cute.

One more thing! Live mouse traps are nicer all around than death-inducing mouse traps.

One more thing! I miss Jackie Chan Adventures.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Let's have some fun!

A few fun things happened today:

1) KT got a ticket! Nyah nyah...!

2) I hung out with KT!

3) I uploaded the pictures I want on facebook from my trip. Checkem out!

4) I beat Mom in scrabble by 180 points. Sheyeah! New high score of 404!

Also, I am deciding what pictures from my trip to submit to the school photo contest. I can submit 5. I've narrowed it down to 12.... so if while looking through my pictures, you see one that you think fit these criteria: (1) cross-cultural content, (2) artistic/technical quality and (3) reproducibility for photo exhibit, Then let me know! If it's one of the 12 I have in mind, it'll be useful. (Otherwise, you're just gonna confuse me!)

: )

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Take my hand and dance with me!

This will be short.

I just did a brief life-evaluation, inspired by some negative facebook activity from friends, and I realized I like my life. I have a lot to be happy about, and little to feel sad or regretful about.

I am not incandescently happy. That is reserved for Mrs. Darcy, and I am nowhere close to marrying Mr. Darcy or anyone (and that's a-ok!). I am superdedooper happy, like on Barney, when happy is the basic emotion one feels when there is no reason to feel otherwise.

This may change come finals in May, but til then, I'll revel in this.

Life is grand!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Lostuses

Today was a big day. Today, I went and caucused with the DFL in SD 48B, W1P2. I had spent a large part of the afternoon researching the candidates, looking for someone whose message and intent resonated with me. So, I voted for the one who I thought would be end the dunderheaded logjam in the state government.

MN politicians have just been stupid. None of them are exemplary, but they all think they are, ergo, nothing gets done. The only MN politician I like at all lately is Amy Klobuchar. I have hope for Maureen Reed, who is one of the people running against Bachmann, but we'll see.

I had hopes for Dean Barkely, and he did surprisingly well considering he was running against Coleman and Franken, but I knew he wouldn't win. Still voted for him though, and I don't regret it! Although now I seem to be on his mailing list for even non-political things, which is annoying. (Note to self: make only anonymous political donations).

In any case, we left the caucus early because LOST premiered at 8pm. : )

I have been so excited for this since the minute the season 5 finale ended. I feel like I know what's happening, though. This is a weird feeling. Maybe this is the explanation season, so I won't feel as LOST at the end of the episodes anymore. Which is a little disappointing. Part of the thrill was that I could form little connections and think I knew what was happening. Maybe I've just been lulled into a false sense of security, and I really should be thinking "wtf" more often than I did this episode.

In any case, textbooks and contacts are expensive. Yay credit card!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Some Strange European Disease!

I have a cold. It's not that bad, but it's annoying. At least I have a week before I have to go back to school, eh? I guess that's all I have to say about that, but I've just been chilling at home, so all I have to talk about are squirrels, mice and pokemon, and I don't particularly want to talk about any of those.

Ergo, beans.

I really like beans. They're delightful. Easy to store, easy to cook, multi-functional and tasty. They can be the side dish, or the main course. Or they can be used to keep the quiche pastry from rising during baking. I think my favorite kind of beans are lentils, even though I've never cooked them personally. They just taste really great, and apparently you don't need to soak them overnight before using them.

I also like chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans. They don't really mesh with other kinds of beans, but they're still delicious. They're a bit more temperamental, though. They need to soak and cook for longer than most beans.

Maybe I'll grow beans this summer. I am going to pay for a plot in the Northfield Community Garden this summer, which is a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I am at a loss for what to grow. Onions, potatoes, for sure. Probably corn and tomatoes. The plots aren't very large, so maybe that'll be enough. I suppose I could try something like celery or peas. The problem with peas and beans is that they require something to climb, though. I'll think about it. Feel free to give suggestions!

And please excuse the random topic. It was the first thing that popped in my head.