I Gooooo!!!!

So...for those of you who read this and don't know via Facebook....Brian and I are now officially engaged (as opposed to unofficially, which we were before). I think we will get married in Spring of 2010. I would try to be as awesome as our favorite Jessie and throw us a party just for the sake of having one, but everyone's all scattered about the country right now, so it would be a really lame party. Maybe sometime when we can get most of us in Madison we can have a party.

Or maybe we'll just see you all at our kick-ass-take-names wedding!!!

Republicans...Hypocrosy....Throw me bone!!!!

Last Friday night at the gym, I spent somewhere between 30 min- 40min convincing my friend to vote for Obama . Thank god there was not that many people around because it was a heated discussion. I could not understand how could anyone vote for a Republican when the Republicans ran this country for 8 years and did nothing, when the US unemployment rate is 5%-6%, and when Bush's popularity rating is the worst among all US presidents. Do the American people really think the Republican party is the only party that can fix American problems created by the Republicans?

My friend believes that Obama will raise taxes. Well...according to Obama's policies, he will lower taxes for middle and lower class while increasing tax on the upper class. Wow, a tax break for the middle and lower class!!!! McCain will also provide a tax break to middle and lower class but not as much as Obama's policies. In fact, with Obama's tax policies, middle class Americans will pay less tax by $500-$700 compared to McCain's tax policies. Maybe my friend did not understand that he is a middle class American or failed to do research on tax policies from each candidate.

He also stated that the money he earns, he should keep and believes in "Survival of the fittest". BTW, this is coming from a conservative Republican. WTF!!!!! From what I understand and see, the majority of Republicans are religious people and have small town values in which people help other people. So should not religious Republicans be charitable and help the less unfortunate people financially???? Better yet, should not a person with small town values help their fellow neighbor/other people financially too? WTF!!!! C'mon, a few hundred dollars won't kill you. The worst case scenario is you cannot take a 3rd or 4th vacation.

My conclusion of the Republicans and my friend is they are all full of hypocrisy. They preach Christian and small town ideals to make them look good but in the end they don't even practice those ideals. That is why I am always a Democrat and voting for Obama besides that fact that Obama is not a flip-flopper and not a liar compared to McCaine and McCaine's choice of V.P. Sarah Palin.

P.S. Please, vote in this coming presidential election and please analyze each candidate's solutions to American issues very carefully. United States needs a capable president with real solutions to real American issues.

wow, it's been aaaages since i posted!

I'm goin to Otakon next week! I'm going to be yaoi Shikamaru and andy's going as yaoi Asuma and Steph's gonna be Gaara (yes! steph's coming to visit me too!!!)

So I'm excited about that, and I'm seriously seriously procrastinating on my paper that's due tomorrow. Ugh, I have to get a B in this class or else I'll get rejected by nursing school. So... I should probably go do that....

Hope everybody's doing good.

:)

Oh, they have this site and facebook blocked at my work so I can't keep in contact as much, but maybe when I'm back on a part time schedule and going to school it'll be easier. I'd like to revive this blog but it's hard when you've got studying to do and no access at work...

Expanding the Family

No.....not having children. God help them when that happens.


Brian and I are getting a cat. I'm still not sure how I feel about that, since I'm still not sure overall how I feel about cats. This one has a story though, so I felt bad for it. My co-worker's voice teacher is moving in with her partner (the one with the cat) and she has 2 dogs AND is allergic to the cat. So, her partner needs to get rid of the cat. She didn't want to give it to a shelter, because (here's the part where I couldn't let it just go to a shelter) when she was living in California, there were alley cats behind their office building and apparently one of them had gotten into the ceiling and had kittens. So, she heard a lot of mewing from inside the wall one day, and found out that this cat and his sister had fallen down into the wall. She had the maintenance people come and tear out a big section of the wall panels and she took them home. She found someone who wanted the sister cat, but not this one.....and so she's had him for 5 years. So..........now he's coming to live with us. He comes with the name Sprite, but we (being the anime lovers we are) are re-naming him. He's gray and white, so we can't name him Kyo (cause it wouldn't work). We thought about naming him Haru, but Haru is a cow, not a cat.....maybe if he were spottier...........So (though he looks NOTHING like this cat) we've decided to name him after the cat in The Prince of Tennis and call him Kalpin. We're picking him up on Sunday.......and then I will have a cat.

He looks like this:

Hello!

Hey, guys.  I'm visiting Madison Dec 26-30.  I'll be working most of the time, but I'm going to Lelah's party on the 29th (my day off), Iris's birthday party night of the 30th, and maybe the 'dise for a bit if any of that set is going.  What's everybody else up to?  Any great holidays?  Any yule-tide nightmares?  Anybody celebrate Winter Solstice?  Jon mentioned sacrificing a goat, but I just ate goat ice cream instead.  We were lazy.  I think goat ice cream involves some personal sacrifice, if not goat morbidity.  It can be tasty, but it took a little acclimation.  I think I'm going to avoid paying for foods that involve effort to enjoy.  The weather was pretty nice after I ate it, so maybe we can all put blood-shed behind us.  Maybe not.  I really don't know anything about Winter Solstice beyond the day length and Jon's quips.  Mmm...back to work.  I miss you guys.  

Holidays!!!!

Thought I'd wish y'all a happy lots of food this weekend...and by that I mean Thanksgiving. I hate it when people say "Turkey Day".....what if you don't EAT turkey on thanksgiving. Some people have tofurkey, some people have ham, my friend Jessi's family has rock lobster. That's not turkey.....but, I digress (I just had 3 cups of coffee + Kahlua at the office.......I like this office). Regardless, everyone make sure to eat lots of food in celebration of this great country of gluttony. And if anyone happens to be in the Milwaukee area this weekend, give me a call!

As Per Request....

I'm posting.

I'd like to say, for the record, that I don't really post anywhere anymore. Nor do I live through facebook as I once did.......which is sad. Also, it's true that I don't really post, but it's not true that I don't write posts in word document form while I'm looking like I have something to do to fill the additional 7 hours a week I work now. I write them. I e-mail them to myself. And then I don't really ever get around to or feel like actually posting them. They'd go on my LiveJournal anyway.

I do update my website and the Nerd Blog occasionally though, so if you're periodically really bored and want to read about anime, manga, or video games, you can look at those I guess. I'm also finally getting around to writing dialogue treatments for the manga that Brian and I always conceptualized about myself.....but they also aren't posted yet. I'll let you know when you are so that all of you out there in boredom land can read them if you're so inclined. I have no formal training as a writer, so I'm sure they're not awesome. They just are what they are.

We have an html editor program at work, so if I could figure out how to write the countless anime and manga reviews that I've been meaning to post on the website without using reference materials, I bet I could get a lot more things done during the day.

Anyway......here's to never having any work to do on Fridays. If I make the window really small, it kinda just looks like I might be typing an e-mail, so maybe I'll post more often from work.

Love and stuff to all from increasingly cold Minneapolis. I'll be in Madison on a limited engagement for a few days in November, but most of that time is reserved for dog walking and anime club, so if you want to see me you'll have to come there.

the facebook bandwagon...

At Jo's recommendation, I'm now a'ridin it.

Man, what you said is totally true--you really CAN do a lot of friend stalking this way!

And it's really fun!! I wonder if there's a graffiti program you can add to blogger, bcz I think that's my favorite feature. You all know how much I love drawing MSPAINT style.


Tonight andy and I are going to see Jesca Hoop at Club 9:30, which looks like it's a pretty cool venue (if it is, then that's 1 more place to take any of you prospective visitors). She finally had a full-length CD come out a few weeks ago so hopefully I can buy one at the show.


It looks like she's making a stop in Chicago as well on Oct.7th, and she'll be in Minneapolis on Oct 8th so if you're interested and you have the time you should go see her. I think she's pretty cool, even though it diiid take her 9 months to send me the demo cd I ordered.

hehe. it still makes me laugh a little.

Well, I have an assignment to submit now so off I go. I just single-handedly finished what was supposed to be a group project. It's so weird being the smart one at school again... it's kinda like repeating high school...

igooo

lol haha i said i'd post more but turns out i can't access Blogger from work because for whatever reason the army doesn't want me to blog...

anyways just wanted to drop a quick hello to everyone. My sister's in town so we're going to the beach tomorrow.

and yay jo!!! i think andy's gonna take off work on the 5th so we can both come see you in philly!!

just lemme know where to meet'cha and i'm there ;)

You know I hate to be left out!

Well everyone….since it seems like everyone is moving in new directions at this time in our lives, I thought I would follow suit. Yes, that’s right…I’m leaving Madison. It’s been a good 7 year run, but I thought I should get out before it’s too late (and since the best opportunity in the world has come my way). On September 24^th I start working for The Nature Conservancy in Minneapolis. For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently working for The Nature Conservancy in Madison doing GIS and other assorted odd jobs around the office. My new position would be that of GIS analyst for the Central US Region, which includes 10 states (including Wisconsin) and 2 large scale projects (the Great Rivers Program and the Great Lakes Program). This is an amazing opportunity, and it means that I get to live in one of the places that I’ve always dreamed of spending a few years of my life….the TC (that’s Twin Cities for those of you not up on the lingo). Like I said, I start working on September 24^th, so I anticipate that I’ll be moving on the 23^rd (if any of you are so inclined to help me out!). If you want to see me before I leave, I suppose we should try to plan something (though with Brian and I both moving out now, my house might not be the most organized place to get a lot of people together). The complication is that I will be in Milwaukee for weddings on the weekend of the 14^th and the 21^st, so if we do plan something, it will need to be the weekend of the 8^th or 9^th (Friday night is probably the best that weekend…the 7^th.) or else some Thursday night, since I’ll be gone for the next 2 weekends. Also…if anyone wants to come visit Brian and I in the TC, give us some time to get a place to live, then let us know. Any of you are welcome at any time.

It’s scary to leave Wisconsin….even though I’ve always said I wanted to. I’ll miss you all, so make sure to call/e-mail/IM often ok!!!

See you soon!

I'm flying to Madison from Friday night (Sept 14) to Sunday night (Sept 16). I figure I can get together and do something fun for a couple hours one night and one morning. I am going to have to spend a lot of time studying, so that's pretty much all the pure fun I can handle. I might go visit my dad in Milwaukee, too. Hopefully, my workload for that weekend will be manageable. I think it has the potential. Anyway, I wanted to let people know. More info to follow. :D

on my own

hey all-

Thought I'd give a report since it has been so long since i've posted anything here.

Life has changed for me too, as since last Wednesday I've moved into my sweet new pad....and found myself unexpectatly lonely and depressed. Maybe its just that I'm missing my close friends that have left the midwest, or maybe this is just a phase i have to go through before i totally live on my own...

When I finally got the majority of my stuff moved in, and was on my own, i just started crying...didn't plan on that happening. plus now that i've started seeing jeremy again my anxeity has been kicking back in.....hence why right now as I write this I am NOT at my new place, but back at home in S.P....i have to say i'm appreciating my family a little more lately.

However--Jo will be staying with me next weekend! and that's totally exciting!

also, frisbee starts again this Monday, so hopefully with that and work, things will start to improve....also this Wednesday I'll get internet at my place...and oh, i'll be doing tons of stalking....

tatafornow

North Carolina

Now that I can post again, I will. I also am employed, by North Carolina State University. Classes start Wednesday, and my adviser gets back from vacation Monday. It turns out they don't expect me to start up a project any time soon. It'll involve something with quantitative disease resistance in these 3 different fungal foliar pathogens of corn, along with a lot of statistics and walking around a field in the long tradition of plant disease genetics. I like these things, as I found out all of my fellow grad students do. That's how corn geneticists come into being - by default, because no one else would willfully do the protocols. I know a lot of you guys would, too, because this is a blog of nerds. Awesome.

Um, so, school is good, and the state is pretty cool, too. I haven't seen as much racism as I was lead to expect yet, which is cool, and people are REALLY nice here. There are a couple really kick-ass bars for beer, too. Oh, and lots and lots of trees. Raleigh-Durham-etc is kind of like one really spread out large town. It's all either residential, strip malls (even all the local places are in strip malls) or sporadic short stretches of small street with local commerce in old buildings (like the Main St in every small town). All the buildings have big lawns and lots of trees between them, and the residential buildings are either old houses or really new townhouses/condos. The whole thing is spread out over about a 100-mile-long stretch of interstates. So, if you drove just 5 minutes, you'd think you just went through Oconomowoc or something, but then you could keep driving through areas just like that for another 2 hours on the side roads. It's kind of strange, but it's nice, too. And the barbecue is really good, there's a lot of fried food, and the Mexican is really bad. My co-worker and I went to a Mexican restaurant in a mountain town, and, among other not-too-tasty things, they served us really crappy Chinese rice. Oh, and everyone that worked there was Mexican. Strange. They also did not have margaritas, but they did have daiquiris. The service was great, though. The local ice cream stand was good, and named Party Time. This isn't important, but I still can't stop laughing at the idea of an ice cream stand named Party Time. Ice cream is great, but it is not, in and of itself, a party. So I think. Maybe I'm wrong.

Anyway, I really miss you guys. I don't have any friends yet to go out with on weekends, but I think I may eschew making any and just read papers and all of your myspace/facebook profiles on my days off. It's kind of been making me feel like a stalker, since a lot of you post about groups of people I don't know all that well, but it's been nice anyway. Please everybody start posting again, and I will totally read it. :D

yay employment

yes, i am employed now.

I work for andy's boss's wife, who's also an entomologist (yaaay!). We're doing monitoring of mosquito and tick-borne diseases from different army bases. I'm doing a lot of the same stuff that I did while i was in california, but with way more cool and competent people. and they're paying me pretty damn good for a part time job-- $18/hr! wooohooo!!!

Meanwhile, I'm still having issues getting the documents I need to prove I'm resident here, so if I take any classes it's gonna cost me like $300 per credit instead of half that, which sucks major ass. All I need is to show them somthing that proves i've been here for 3 months that they'll actually accept. Hopefully it'll work out, but i'm not holding my breath.


So jo, I'd still like to see you if you're heading out this way--just lemme know where you'll be and when and if possible i'll get my ass there too.


and sarah j if you still read this i needs your home address so i can accurately mapquest you!


I'm trying to work on being more bloggy now that I'm away again. I hope you'll all write more too!

yay everybody i love!