So excited I could spit

Summer is winding down which means fall and I do love fall so very much. Football, leaves changing, cooler weather and fall TV. Yes, I am excited about fall TV. Especially this show.

You broke the dog!

Gus is in training class. He should have been in training over a year ago but better late than never. The instructor often uses Gus as the example for the other owners & their pets which is cool. Gus totally gets it and is a very smart dog. A smart but STUBBORN dog. Since he's started the classes his spirit really seems to be broken now. He's not nearly as full of fun as he used to be. But, interestingly enough, the more he learns to behave the more he's been, um, asserting himself over KC. Of course it cracks me up to see a 6 pound dog trying to have his way with a 50 pound dog but alas we must curb that kind of behavior no matter how comical it may be.

Anyway the other dogs in the class are cute. There's a huge 1 year old St. Bernard (already like 60 pounds) named Franklin, a bouncy bouvier des flandres, a fun but skittish Australian cattle dog named Delta, and a teeny Yorkie named Bella. Gus is really the only one who barks. So when they let them off the leashes for play time they all come over to check Gus out. The St. Bernard LOVES the Yorkie which is so cute. I'll have to bring a camera sometime and then post pictures. It's really adorable. The pen where the training takes place in closed off by a cute white picket fence. Well poor Delta had about enough of class and tried to squeeze through last night. She got about 3/4 of the way through and got stuck. I can see how it would be traumatizing for them.

Wow

It's like she read my journal in college.

I'm allergic to my own tears

Oooh, that would be a great name for my autobiography.

But really, I am allergic to crying. My eyes, thanks to Bridge to Terabithia, are all puffy this morning. My upper eye lids, right around the tear duct, get all swollen the morning after a good cry. Maybe I should try to cry earlier in the day.

Today's daily poll on imdb is about the September movie release to which you are most looking forward. I don't think I mentioned it after ComicCon but Shoot 'Em Up with Clive Owen looks so good. You have to be ok with excessive violence but from what I saw (opening 5 minutes of the movie) it looks like a great ride. Clive Owen delivers a baby while shooting people!! Ok, I was just reading posts on the message board for the movie and people hated it. That's too bad because it really looked entertaining. I'll still go see it at my $2 theater. But anyway there looks to be some good fall releases so that makes me happy.

YAWN!!!

Thunderstorms at 2am in the morning do not a good night's sleep make. It was a bad one too. Lots of big, long BOOMs. Surprisingly the dogs were relatively good during it. There was some barking but not nearly as much as could have been. Actually they've been really, really good with my parents being out of town and all. I guess they just misbehave for attention from my mom.

So anywho, I'm pretty dang sleepy this morning. I hope 4pm comes really fast.

Flashbacks

I don't like my class! I was really looking forward to it because I have a heart for kids who are "exceptional." I'm really curious about Autism. I have a compassion for kids with learning disabilities. BUT I DON'T LIKE MY CLASS!!! The professor used to be a teacher and you can tell. She does overheads with pictures on them and leaves a sheet of paper over text so you can't read ahead. I bet she'd rather be writing on a chalkboard. Her hair reminds me of my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Grieve. Mrs. Grieve had silver hair that had one big wave down her forehead that was tucked back into a hairpin. Mrs. Grieve also was fond of paddling kids with her silver hairbrush. It was a beautiful, antique brush that really packed a wallop. Is that how one spells wallop? Anywhoodle, I was paddled once. I'm pretty sure this professor won't paddle me but you never know.

Oh and yesterday was insanely stressful at work. By next week it'll be ok but these first few days are not fun.

I loathe titles

I seriously am always struggling to come up with titles. I envy Ann's ability with blog titles.

I'm sure I'll come up with nicknames for some of the professors in my department. So far I only have 2 for the 2 single ones, Professor Swoon and Professor Perv. Professor Perv probably isn't a perv at all but his dissertation sounds like it was a bit pervy. Anyway Professor Perv has really pretty blue eyes and seems like a nice guy so I'm not going to judge quite yet. Plus he's a smarty (Harvard, Cornell and UNC) and I likes the smarties.

Professor Swoon shaved his head. He had very short hair to begin with but now he's pretty bald. He cares a great deal for the cadets here which led me to believe that he did the head-shave in some sort of allegiance to the freshmen. Sweet, huh?

I am McLovin!

I saw Superbad yesterday. It was good. I think I had high expectations though. I had some pretty good laughs but I had seen a good portion of it already. Plus I think they left out my favorite line, "It sounds like a sexy hamburger."

The rest of the weekend was pretty standard...TV, laundry, pizza, oh and jewelry making.

The cadets are now back and classes start on Wednesday. Speaking of classes, I'm taking The Exceptional Child (insert joke regarding my own level of exceptionality here) but according to the system I'm still not registered. Hmmm...

Is exceptionality a word? If not, that just shows how exceptional I am.

Old vs. New

What I won't miss:

The Little Attorney who would lurk. He'd come in the office and just stand around. He used to look at stuff on my desk and had no shame about doing so. Then I just stopped leaving stuff on the desk.

Perfume Pat and her perfume (natch), nail-clipping, loud eating, loud phone voice, and lack of humility

Wanda.

Things I will miss:
Debra and Jane
having ice everyday
a refridgerator
Perfume Pat's candy stash (though I'll probably lose weight now)
Stuff getting done simply because you work in the President's Office

I am looking forward to working in a quieter environment. So far I like the professors. Once I get a handle on things I think I'll do well in this position. And getting to leave at 4 everyday is a great thing.

My first day!

Tomorrow I'll list out the things I will and won't miss about my old job. But for now, just know that I'm very scared I'm going to screw something up here. I'm nervous but hopeful that I'll be fine.

Hold the phone, Professor Swoon just stopped by and we had a nice long chat. He's probably the best looking professor on campus and he's from California.

Long live Trader Joe's!

Raleigh was good. Instead of going to a movie we looked at a house that Dana was interested in. Turns out they're doing a new phase across the street. If Dana can hold out until December then she could get into one of those and be able to pick everything out (cabinets, flooring, wall colors, etc.). If that's the case then I'll go back up and go with her when she picks stuff out.

Mom and I listened to a book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and it was very good. Lots of f-bombs but it's British so we got used to it. It was a very good book (we actually learned a lot too) and it was almost exactly the right length, just over 6 hours.

And I got to Trader Joe's! I got everything I needed but had to pass up on a lot of the frozen stuff. Then I managed to leave the refridgerated stuff I bought in Dana's fridge. I hope she puts my diced pancetta to good use and enjoys the noodle salad, chicken satay salad and the rest of it. We did notice that Trader Joe's is about a dollar cheaper on almost everything. I don't know how they get away with that but it makes me love them even more.

Happy Friday

By the power of Greyskull!

My neck/shoulder/back is so much better today. It's still pretty sore but most of the pain is gone. My grandmother gave me a lidocaine patch to put on the bad spot. Sadly the patch wasn't quite big enough but it definitely worked. That stuff was great.

Meanwhile I watched 2 movies last night and completely forgot to call Ashley and Mark. I'm such a bad, bad friend! But the movies were very good, Miss Potter and Hot Fuzz. But I'm still a very bad friend.

Less than a week now until I'm at a new job. So weird. I do have a ton of filing to do but still, it's nice to know that I get to start a new chapter.

Oh and I'm driving back up to Raleigh this weekend. Trader Joe's, here I come!!!

Ow

My right side has seized up somehow. My neck, shoulder and upper back are all in intense pain. I just took 2 advils so here's hoping that helps. I think I slept in a weird position last night because I can't figure out what else would cause this. Sitting at my desk should be fun today.

Anyway, my biggest congrats to Mark and Ashley even though they won't be reading this. I got to see pictures of the baby and she's adorable. Though I can't figure out who she looks like. Ann is better at that.

Just a week left at my job. So weird. But very exciting too.

Oh and the heat index today is supposed to be up around 115. The heat index this morning at 6am was already at 92. Yikes. It's really oppresive and makes it hard to breathe.

So now we wait

I'm keeping my cell on my desk so I can catch any news about Baby G. I'm so excited!

Well word is definitely out on campus that I'm moving to English. I've had people I don't normally talk to come up and congratulate me. Now the issue of me moving onto campus is in the hands of the higher ups. It's a teeny-tiny apartment but it's cheap and I really don't need much. Though I'm wondering if my queen size bed will fit in the room. Oh and I'm pretty sure the apartment isn't cable ready. I guess I'll start reading again.

Frickin' Awesome

The Bourne Ultimatum was so good. Sooooo very good! Ok, sure, he couldn't live through any of the stuff they have him doing on screen but it was so fun to watch.

Oh and we (me, mom, grandmother, Jess, Eric, & kids) decided to go to dinner last night. For some reason we were in the mood for...dun, dun, dun...THE BUFFET! So we went to Ryan's. Quite an interesting place. The food was decent and the rolls were to die for. I don't know that I'd go back but it was perfect for the kids.

Ann, is this where we came up with the "white trash in love" thing?

Lastly, I gave my dad a haircut on Saturday. As usual we did it outside which makes for easier cleanup. I now look like I have some weird skin condition because I have so many mosquito bites on my legs. One is kind of a weird ring. The groupings of the bites don't make much sense either. You'd think the mosquitoes would spread out a bit but no. I have a set of three bites on the back of each ankle. Must have been a trio of mosquito friends out for a nice breakfast together. Little jerks.

How could I forget?

Go see Superbad. Seriously. I was laughing so hard I was crying. It probably helped that Judd Apatow was there and warmed up the audience by making fun of the fact that 90% of the attendees couldn't get laid, like ever.

Oh and I should have know my flight from San Diego to Dallas was doomed when I saw this guy get on the plane.

While we were waiting for the Heroes panel Henry Rollins walked by. Speaking of the Heroes panel I also forgot to mention that little Danny Bonaduce asked the panel a question and then warned them of life after a hit series gets cancelled. People were a wee bit surprised that he was there. He's short. I was next to him on the way out of the room and he's not a tall man.

Finally, I took a picture of my swag. I didn't spend much time on the floor so I didn't accumulate as much as I did the last time I went. I missed out on the Oceanic luggage tags which really bummed me out. Anywhoodle, I'm saving the Heroes tattoo for a special occasion. Christy is getting the Pirates scarf. I'm sending the VOTE PETRELLI pin to Ashlee because she lost hers. And I'll hold onto the Hot Fuzz and Balls of Fury pins for posterity.

The Good, Bad and Ugly

Going to S.D. was a mistake. I've learned my lesson now and probably won't go back for a while. Standing in terribly long lines all day to then sit on uncomfortable folding chairs was not fun. Not that the whole trip was a wash but the not so great definitely outweighed the great.

The good:
I got to see Ashlee and enjoy her interaction with some of the artists there. That was worth fighting the crowds. The presentations I did get to see were all very good. Sadly because there were so many people this year (over 125,000) we couldn't move from presentation to presentation like I had before. My biggest recommendation is Chuck. We saw the entire pilot and I fell in love not only with the show but the cast. They were so great and seemed genuinely thrilled to be there. They were definitely feeling the love from the crowd. Iron Man drew a huge crowd and deservedly so. Even if you don't know anything about Iron Man, see the movie when it comes out. It looks so great. We didn't get in to see Pushing Daisies but I've heard enough about it to still recommend it. I only saw a 2 minute clip of Bionic Woman but I do enjoy a good woman who kicks ass show. 30 Days of Night is a great idea (vampires in Alaska where it's night for 30 straight days) but it looks way too bloody. The writers/director said that they were tired of semi-friendly vampires who date teenagers. I'm glad to say that this next Incredible Hulk has NOTHING to do with the last Hulk movie. And as suspected, Edward Norton re-wrote the script for it so I'm sure it'll be good.

Heroes was probably my favorite panel for many reasons. We got there and got in line for what we thought was going to be the end of the Bionic Woman panel and then we planned to sit through the TV Guide Hot List panel. The room they were in holds 5,000 people. The room was full at 10:30 and the line wasn't moving all that fast so we were actually nervous that we wouldn't get into the 12:45 panel for Heroes. Yes, I stood in line for that long. I had Ashlee with me and we were enjoying playing with her iPhone, making fun of the freaks and catching up on stuff. The line moved slowly but surely and at noon they were letting in 100 people. Ashlee and I were number 35 & 36! The line for Heroes wrapped around the building 2x. This was no small building either, roughly the size of a city block actually. Almost the entire cast was there (don't be surprised if D.L. doesn't make it this season) and they seemed like people who genuinely loved what they do and loved being in a cast together. They showed a 2 minute montage of stuff from the upcoming season which didn't really tell us much beyond who lived from the season finale. The best news of the day was when they started talking about Heroes: Origins. I believe it'll be a 6 episode anthology of other Heroes (not the core group). The executive producer who was hosting the panel said, "We've got the writer/director of the first episode back here." After some searching behind the curtain, they brought out Kevin Smith and the place went NUTS!!!

After Heroes we went down to the conference floor and then to Hall H which holds 6,500 people. We got in the line of people waiting for the Incredible Hulk/Iron Man panels. The line was HUGE. Huger than huge if that's possible. Luckily we had someone on the inside holding seats for us.

The bad:
Well standing in line for 2 hours is not enjoyable.

The dinner at one of my favorite S.D. restaurants, Rockin' Baja Lobster, was not great. I was tired, dehydrated, etc. and almost didn't keep what I did eat of my dinner down.

My lack of sleep due to time change and Dana's snoring.

The ugly:
The trip home. I'll try to do this in a nutshell because this could easily turn into the longest post ever.

I left S.D. almost 13 hours earlier than planned and got to Raleigh at least 6 hours later. Add in a room at Motel 6 outside of the Dallas airport with no cell phone (left my charger at home) and you've got an idea of what I've been through the past two days.

Essentially:
Sunday 10:30 am - leave S.D.; circle DFW (thunderstorms) for an hour to then be diverted to Austin. We sit on the ground for an hour and a half to be refuled. Then leave Austin for DFW to find most flights cancelled. I'm then squeezed on a 10:30 flight from DFW to Austin (hi again!) to Raleigh. I land in Raleigh (THANK THE GOOD LORD ABOVE) to then have a 5 hour drive home in rush hour traffic and heavy downpours.

AND NO TRIP TO TRADER JOE'S!!!