Holy mother of pete dancing on a dead pirates nose while playing a ukulele (I've always been fond of colorful swearing, despite my obvious inability to do so). This is my last week of law school classes.
I'm one half, hallelujah, one half, don't make me go, the real world is scary.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain
Oklahoma. Setting of both a mediocre musical and one of my favorite Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman movies (also the only Cruise/Kidman movie I've seen). A state where the 5th image result on Google is a lovely shot of presumably authentic Sooner cleavage. It also has an average of 54 tornadoes a year - one of the highest rates in the world. The state vegetable is a watermelon.
It is also the place where Zach and I will be moving to in May and living for the next few years.
I'll say more when I have a better understanding of how I feel about this. Or at least a way to better articulate how I feel.
At the very least, it feels amazing to have an actual destination and plan for after graduation.
It is also the place where Zach and I will be moving to in May and living for the next few years.
I'll say more when I have a better understanding of how I feel about this. Or at least a way to better articulate how I feel.
At the very least, it feels amazing to have an actual destination and plan for after graduation.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I don't mind dentists - just my dentist
The less fun part about Spring Break was getting screwed by my Dentist.
We used to go to this bad-ass old school dentist. She worked out of this kind of creepy basement office in some random apartment building. It was a one-woman show, none of that frilly receptionist hygienist stuff. Not even x-rays. She would just look at you and know what was going on, and then dive in for the most painful and most thorough cleanings I've ever experienced. I was a little scared of her, but my teeth were great, and most of all the co-pay was always $20.
And then insurance changed things around and suddenly I had to go to new fancy dentist. Fancy dentist apparently works in a dental spa with little fountains and fancy laser x-ray's that show up on flatscreen tvs. Unsurprisingly fancy dentist's fancy machines found some very fancy gum infection that probably might just go away - but could also kill me unless I had a deep cleaning right now! Deep cleaning apparently would be a $70 co-pay, $90 total with some extra anti-bacterial rinse. Not wanting to maybe die, I figured I could do $90. So I hung out for $20 minutes, did the deep clean thing (What is the difference between a deep clean and a regular clean besides $70? They use different instruments, that get slightly deeper.) swished around some minty stuff, and went up to pay.
Whereupon I was told that special fancy deep cleaning chemical combo was actually $70+$90. Which being $70 more than I had agreed to, didn't sit right with me.
Fortunately I've been trying to get better at the whole responsible, assertive adult who is not cowed by authority things, so got up all my courage to do the adult thing and very politely said that I had been told it would be $90 total, so would they please go and double check? They would, and they did. And came back and just as nicely told me that it was actually $160 per quadrant. As in not just $160, but $160 four times. $640 - which is about $550 more than I agreed to, and about $300 more than I really care about my teeth being fancy extra special clean.
I really wanted to argue some more, to use my fancy lawyer powers for good, or at least my own good. But my fear based on past precedent that I'd somehow end up with a $2400 20-minute cleaning won out so instead I signed the papers and went home to cry and call my Mommy.
We used to go to this bad-ass old school dentist. She worked out of this kind of creepy basement office in some random apartment building. It was a one-woman show, none of that frilly receptionist hygienist stuff. Not even x-rays. She would just look at you and know what was going on, and then dive in for the most painful and most thorough cleanings I've ever experienced. I was a little scared of her, but my teeth were great, and most of all the co-pay was always $20.
And then insurance changed things around and suddenly I had to go to new fancy dentist. Fancy dentist apparently works in a dental spa with little fountains and fancy laser x-ray's that show up on flatscreen tvs. Unsurprisingly fancy dentist's fancy machines found some very fancy gum infection that probably might just go away - but could also kill me unless I had a deep cleaning right now! Deep cleaning apparently would be a $70 co-pay, $90 total with some extra anti-bacterial rinse. Not wanting to maybe die, I figured I could do $90. So I hung out for $20 minutes, did the deep clean thing (What is the difference between a deep clean and a regular clean besides $70? They use different instruments, that get slightly deeper.) swished around some minty stuff, and went up to pay.
Whereupon I was told that special fancy deep cleaning chemical combo was actually $70+$90. Which being $70 more than I had agreed to, didn't sit right with me.
Fortunately I've been trying to get better at the whole responsible, assertive adult who is not cowed by authority things, so got up all my courage to do the adult thing and very politely said that I had been told it would be $90 total, so would they please go and double check? They would, and they did. And came back and just as nicely told me that it was actually $160 per quadrant. As in not just $160, but $160 four times. $640 - which is about $550 more than I agreed to, and about $300 more than I really care about my teeth being fancy extra special clean.
I really wanted to argue some more, to use my fancy lawyer powers for good, or at least my own good. But my fear based on past precedent that I'd somehow end up with a $2400 20-minute cleaning won out so instead I signed the papers and went home to cry and call my Mommy.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Spontenaity
It's Spring Break a few weeks ago, and oh, I tried my nardest to enjoy it. Pretty well succeeded too.
Tuesday began with a much-needed haircut, and then we decided, out of the blue with no planning or foresight, to finally go and explore one of the little corners of the DC area that we've always meant to go down to, but never quite managed to work up the will power to actually go and do. (Old Town Alexandria, if you're curious).
We must have been giddy with spontaneity or something, because spur of the moment is so not how I roll. I plan. I love my plans, and spreadsheets. Generally any out of the ordinary excursion only happens after a few hours of googling and the creation of detailed spreadsheets of various sites to see and a host of dining options, complete with transportation timetables, a detailed map and a rough itinerary. I wish I was kidding. Well, kind of.
You see, my crazy planning apparently does have value. This value became very apparent about 10 minutes into our metro ride when it became very obvious that in our regularly routine lives, this was lunch time. Suddenly all the cute little shops and row houses and water front whatever really didn't matter. We needed food, and we needed it now. It's not hard to tell when we're hungry. We walk quicker, scanning the area like hawks. Our sentences become quick and staccato as we try to communicate as little as possible, because we know any extra syllables will only be hunger induced head ripping. All we needed to do was find some good fast food favorite. Like a 5 Guys or a Chipotle.
After about 5 blocks we found a Subway.
I have no problem with Subway. They are very adequate. They definitely give you food that is edible and tastes ok and is certainly worth $5. It's a perfect quick lunch. But this was spontaneous date day of love. And clearly that was much better suited by yummy but still budget friendly burgers or burritos.
I continued to feel that way for another two blocks. At which point it became very clear that a spontaneous date day of love depended much more on friendly, fed people that still liked each other than it did on the perfect meal. We went back and had Subway. It was very adequate.
One block past where we had previously stopped we saw a Five Guys. A few blocks latter, a Chipotle. What else was there to do but laugh?
Tuesday began with a much-needed haircut, and then we decided, out of the blue with no planning or foresight, to finally go and explore one of the little corners of the DC area that we've always meant to go down to, but never quite managed to work up the will power to actually go and do. (Old Town Alexandria, if you're curious).
We must have been giddy with spontaneity or something, because spur of the moment is so not how I roll. I plan. I love my plans, and spreadsheets. Generally any out of the ordinary excursion only happens after a few hours of googling and the creation of detailed spreadsheets of various sites to see and a host of dining options, complete with transportation timetables, a detailed map and a rough itinerary. I wish I was kidding. Well, kind of.
You see, my crazy planning apparently does have value. This value became very apparent about 10 minutes into our metro ride when it became very obvious that in our regularly routine lives, this was lunch time. Suddenly all the cute little shops and row houses and water front whatever really didn't matter. We needed food, and we needed it now. It's not hard to tell when we're hungry. We walk quicker, scanning the area like hawks. Our sentences become quick and staccato as we try to communicate as little as possible, because we know any extra syllables will only be hunger induced head ripping. All we needed to do was find some good fast food favorite. Like a 5 Guys or a Chipotle.
After about 5 blocks we found a Subway.
I have no problem with Subway. They are very adequate. They definitely give you food that is edible and tastes ok and is certainly worth $5. It's a perfect quick lunch. But this was spontaneous date day of love. And clearly that was much better suited by yummy but still budget friendly burgers or burritos.
I continued to feel that way for another two blocks. At which point it became very clear that a spontaneous date day of love depended much more on friendly, fed people that still liked each other than it did on the perfect meal. We went back and had Subway. It was very adequate.
One block past where we had previously stopped we saw a Five Guys. A few blocks latter, a Chipotle. What else was there to do but laugh?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
All because one person was comfortable with profanity
Zach asked me out on our first date exactly four years ago. At the time I wasn't even sure of his name.
Supposedly we actually had two classes together in my first few years at BYU, but we didn't really meet until we were both members and officers in the BYU Democrats. I had started getting involved the past fall semester, while he was living in Germany. I was comfy with the group dynamic, and then all of a sudden there was this weird new guy who started coming and talking like he belonged. Which, having been involved for years, he did, but I didn't know that. I was just kind of annoyed by him. He had apparently noticed me a little more favorably than I noticed him, and more importantly, he thought he had noticed one of the other guys noticing me and felt the need to step things up. If I was more into economics I'd say something clever about scarcity or supply and demand or something. But I'm not, so I won't. Point is, he finally decided to do more than just hang out and get somewhat annoyed looks from me.
For one of our Dem meetings, we were pretty much just hanging out and writing letters to various legislative people. Zach sat next to me and quickly struck up a conversation. I wasn't particularly thrilled. Having purposely chosen my seat because it was near the club's official hot guy, being obligated to talk to the guy I didn't really know but was vaguely annoyed by was a little frustrating. But he kept talking to me, I kept replying, and before I knew it we had spent an hour chatting away. It was almost fun. The meeting ended, but we kept right on talking as he walked home with me (I thought it was on his way home, it was actually the exact opposite direction from his apartment). Even with all the easy flowing conversation, I still didn't have any interest in him. I was having fun, but the idea of this guy as a possible romance hadn't really crossed my mind.
And then, in the middle of chatting away on my doorstep, he swore. And hot damn, I swear I had to fight to keep myself from falling into a classic old movie swoon. Those four little letters were just about the sexiest thing I'd ever heard. Just a little thing, a damn or a hell, but nothing but a handful of awkward first dates and flirtations with some very nice but painfully bland guys, and me generally feeling like I didn't fit in, that one little word turned him from some random guy, into a person of interest.
Anyone whose ever met Zach would laugh at the idea of him being considered a "bad boy". But this was BYU and that one little word may as well have been . It was damn sexy and all of a sudden he wasn't some random guy who was kind of fun to talk to, he was a free thinking rebel who I wanted to push against the wall and have my way with (I was also not a sweet little BYU girl). So when he suggested getting together and watching a movie on Friday, I was all over it.
And that's the story about how swearing led to my marriage.
Supposedly we actually had two classes together in my first few years at BYU, but we didn't really meet until we were both members and officers in the BYU Democrats. I had started getting involved the past fall semester, while he was living in Germany. I was comfy with the group dynamic, and then all of a sudden there was this weird new guy who started coming and talking like he belonged. Which, having been involved for years, he did, but I didn't know that. I was just kind of annoyed by him. He had apparently noticed me a little more favorably than I noticed him, and more importantly, he thought he had noticed one of the other guys noticing me and felt the need to step things up. If I was more into economics I'd say something clever about scarcity or supply and demand or something. But I'm not, so I won't. Point is, he finally decided to do more than just hang out and get somewhat annoyed looks from me.
For one of our Dem meetings, we were pretty much just hanging out and writing letters to various legislative people. Zach sat next to me and quickly struck up a conversation. I wasn't particularly thrilled. Having purposely chosen my seat because it was near the club's official hot guy, being obligated to talk to the guy I didn't really know but was vaguely annoyed by was a little frustrating. But he kept talking to me, I kept replying, and before I knew it we had spent an hour chatting away. It was almost fun. The meeting ended, but we kept right on talking as he walked home with me (I thought it was on his way home, it was actually the exact opposite direction from his apartment). Even with all the easy flowing conversation, I still didn't have any interest in him. I was having fun, but the idea of this guy as a possible romance hadn't really crossed my mind.
And then, in the middle of chatting away on my doorstep, he swore. And hot damn, I swear I had to fight to keep myself from falling into a classic old movie swoon. Those four little letters were just about the sexiest thing I'd ever heard. Just a little thing, a damn or a hell, but nothing but a handful of awkward first dates and flirtations with some very nice but painfully bland guys, and me generally feeling like I didn't fit in, that one little word turned him from some random guy, into a person of interest.
Anyone whose ever met Zach would laugh at the idea of him being considered a "bad boy". But this was BYU and that one little word may as well have been . It was damn sexy and all of a sudden he wasn't some random guy who was kind of fun to talk to, he was a free thinking rebel who I wanted to push against the wall and have my way with (I was also not a sweet little BYU girl). So when he suggested getting together and watching a movie on Friday, I was all over it.
And that's the story about how swearing led to my marriage.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Back
So, apparently I decided to just abandon my blog for almost a month, leaving a filler post of puppets as my last known words to the internets. Oops.
Well, to update in brief - law school scary stress blah blah soul crushing etc. Not the most fun couple of weeks, and while I certainly support keeping the realism in blogging, sometimes even I don't want to just listen to me complain and freak out. Fortunately life is back to normal levels, and I really miss blogging. Life just isn't as fun without text based interactions between internet people.
I do feel a little sheepish for coming so close to making my blog every day for a year goal, and just kind of letting go. Oh well. Life happens. I keep telling myself that if I just go back and post things back dated, I can kind of still make it, but that's just not going to happen. What will hopefully happen is that I'll keep right on writing, only hopefully more for the sake of wanting to than an artificial goal. So, hopefully less puppet filler. I'm going to finally finish up my Europe vacation recaps, get back in the habit of commenting elsewhere and just generally have a grand time.
Well, to update in brief - law school scary stress blah blah soul crushing etc. Not the most fun couple of weeks, and while I certainly support keeping the realism in blogging, sometimes even I don't want to just listen to me complain and freak out. Fortunately life is back to normal levels, and I really miss blogging. Life just isn't as fun without text based interactions between internet people.
I do feel a little sheepish for coming so close to making my blog every day for a year goal, and just kind of letting go. Oh well. Life happens. I keep telling myself that if I just go back and post things back dated, I can kind of still make it, but that's just not going to happen. What will hopefully happen is that I'll keep right on writing, only hopefully more for the sake of wanting to than an artificial goal. So, hopefully less puppet filler. I'm going to finally finish up my Europe vacation recaps, get back in the habit of commenting elsewhere and just generally have a grand time.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Internet Knows Everything About Me, Meh.
I don't really care about my privacy on the internet. At all. And I don't understand those who freak out. Oh no, facebook can take the things that you typed for all to see and tell people! Or today, when living social was doing that great $20 Amazon card for $10, a few people on facebook scoffed at those taking advantage of that deal for not reading the fine print where livingsocial can now sell your soul to the devil. Or do whatever they want with the stuff you told them. Whatever. (I didn't read the fine print)
Please. If I wasn't already giving it away for free, I would totally sell my privacy for $10 on Amazon. Because what no one has been able to show me is how anything that is done with the fairly generic information that I willingly put out into the internet is bad for me.
Now, if the internet could turn on my webcam and broadcast my oh so exciting sexcapades, or as is more likely me sitting in front of the computer eating jo-jos, that would be bothersome. Or selling my credit card number to the highest bidder, that would also be bad. But telling someone what I bought? Or even what my age and address are? Who cares.
It's not like the stuff is being sold wholesale to the highest bidders on stalkersandserialkillers.com. It's pretty much just being compiled to give to advertisers so they can more specifically target their ads. Not that big of a deal. I'd rather see ads for Zappos than penis enhancement anyways. Besides, this type of data has always been gathered. I spent an entire internship doing regressions of consumer databases to see which company was most useful for campaigns. While it is a little crazy to see how much they can tell about people (diseases, income, party affiliation, donations, pets, favorite vacation spots, and almost everything else) it's not used for anything that nefarious. Just selling things (politicians kind of count as things). And they were going to so that anyways. I don't see how helping them do it slightly better really hurts me. And come on, $10.
Please. If I wasn't already giving it away for free, I would totally sell my privacy for $10 on Amazon. Because what no one has been able to show me is how anything that is done with the fairly generic information that I willingly put out into the internet is bad for me.
Now, if the internet could turn on my webcam and broadcast my oh so exciting sexcapades, or as is more likely me sitting in front of the computer eating jo-jos, that would be bothersome. Or selling my credit card number to the highest bidder, that would also be bad. But telling someone what I bought? Or even what my age and address are? Who cares.
It's not like the stuff is being sold wholesale to the highest bidders on stalkersandserialkillers.com. It's pretty much just being compiled to give to advertisers so they can more specifically target their ads. Not that big of a deal. I'd rather see ads for Zappos than penis enhancement anyways. Besides, this type of data has always been gathered. I spent an entire internship doing regressions of consumer databases to see which company was most useful for campaigns. While it is a little crazy to see how much they can tell about people (diseases, income, party affiliation, donations, pets, favorite vacation spots, and almost everything else) it's not used for anything that nefarious. Just selling things (politicians kind of count as things). And they were going to so that anyways. I don't see how helping them do it slightly better really hurts me. And come on, $10.
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