Ahhhh, redemption.

I had my second exam in my environmental engineering class (the class in which I failed the first exam). I studied my ass off for it. I read the material in our book (lots of it), did all the practice problems in the book, re-did the homework problems, did the practice exam twice, made flashcards... probably 20+ hours of studying over several days.

IT PAID OFF! I was the first one done (which isn't necessarily a good sign, but still...), and although there were a few problems that tripped me up, I felt much better about it than the first exam. I was on pins and needles all day today, checking to see if he updated the grades, nothing, nothing... went to class, waited impatiently for the professor to hand out our tests... and as he handed mine to me, he patted me on the shoulder and discreetly said, "Most improved." I got an A! The average was 75 and I got a 91. I. Was. Ecstatic. What a freaking relief. It was the last exam before our break next week, which I'm so excited for, so now I feel like I can relax and celebrate!

Poor Car :(

My new Fusion had an accident a couple weeks ago. I haven't been that angry in a long time.

I was skipping my last class of the day so I could go home and study for an exam I had that night. As I was leaving the parking lot, I began passing a kid in a Pathfinder who was turning away from me. His rear end was pointed in my direction. I stopped, waiting for another kid to cross the street, and realized too late that the Pathfinder was coming right at me, backing into me. I panicked, yelled at him (like that's going to do any good--but it was all panic-driven), and he slammed into the front driver's side of my poor car. I just sat there in stunned, angry silence. The kid in the car came up to me and said, "Did you not see me backing up?" I took that as an accusation, and responded with "EXCUSE ME?!" I think I scared him a little. He immediately responded with, "Oh no, I know it was my fault..." So, I called the police just to cover my ass and got a report. The bumper would have to be replaced and I also noticed the wheel was scratched. After I began driving home, I realized the alignment was all screwed up too... which, knowing my luck, means the car will forever have alignment issues. Ironically, he was backing up to take the parking spot of the kid whom I was waiting on to cross the street. Also ironically, I ended up getting home at the same time as I would have if I had not skipped that class. How I love irony.

So, I went home, studied for the test and felt prepared. Actually taking the test, though... that was another story. There were some things I knew right off the top, some things I wasn't quite sure on... so I knew I didn't get an A. I figured maybe a C, which was enough to break my heart. But what I was NOT expecting was an F. Which is exactly what I got. I don't think I've ever been that upset over a grade. I fought back tears the entire class after getting the exam back. If it had been ethics class, sure, that's one thing. But this is my introduction to environmental engineering. I feel like I should be getting A's in this class (and I was until that exam). I still haven't had the heart to look at it. He went over the exam during class, so I know what I missed... and it hurts just to look at the front page of the damn thing. But at least we have two more exams and several more homework assignments, so I still have a chance to pull up my grade back into "A" territory (currently sitting at a B).

Speaking of ethics class... Today we were talking about gender stereotypes, and what characteristics we typically tie to males/females. The professor asked us, "So how do we view a woman who is aggressive, loud, doesn't take no for an answer, etc.?" Without even thinking, I answered, "She's a bitch." The class sat there for about 2 seconds and then everybody busted up, and we got into a conversation of how we call women bitches when they're aggressive, etc., and we call men bitches if they're being too sensitive or whatever. It was actually pretty hilarious conversation. I think the shock factor of someone swearing in class is what got them laughing. I keep forgetting that I'm going to school with kids who are mostly fresh out of high school. (I later explained that I don't think she's a bitch, just that this is how she's viewed. ;) )

I'm SICK!

Ugh. I woke up with a sore throat this morning, and it's evolved into a dry/sore throat, headache, and now my head is all foggy. Probably got it from the stupid, snot-nosed brats at school!

We've been watching our friends' dog Reilly (the friends that just got married, and are now on their honeymoon), and he's such a good dog. His manners are about as good as Jaiden's, but he gets up on the furniture and pulls against the leash on walks. Otherwise, he's been great, and he and Jaiden get along really well. Reilly has really latched onto Eric, though... it's funny. We figure that since Jaiden has me as his person, Reilly decided he would latch onto the only available human. ;) This morning, Eric left for work and Reilly whined for a few minutes, jumped into the bed with me, jumped off, ran to the front door, jumped back into bed, jumped off, walked around for a bit, and finally settled back onto "his" bed. Crazy dog.

WOOT!

99% on my physics exam! I'm ecstatic!

So, I should be dragged away from public view anytime I've had too much to drink. I made a total jackass out of myself last night on the dance floor at a wedding we went to. Ah well, it was fun.

I got an 89% on my differential equations exam. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with that. The professor said that he wished there had been a few more As, so I'm guessing my score was above average. Looking at the actual test, I did pretty well... not very many mistakes.

Eric and I went out with a couple of friends last night, and I think having the night off from homework really helped me unwind. I'm feeling much less stressed out today.

Stressed.

I've never in my life had so much homework. I have homework due every single week in all of my classes--and each homework assignment can take hours. Here's what this week looks like:

Monday: Environmental Eng homework due
Tuesday: AutoCAD project AND homework due
Thursday: AutoCAD homework due, Physics test
Friday: Physics homework due
Sunday: Differential Equations homework due
(And I'm sure my ethics professor will add in a homework assignment between now and the weekend.)

The AutoCAD project has taken me roughly 10 hours to complete. Over the weekend, I spent around 6 hours studying on Saturday and another 8-10 hours on Sunday. Today will be another 6 or so, tomorrow probably 3-4, Wednesday at least 3-4 (possibly more due to the physics test). And in between all of that, I still have to find time to work.

The stress is starting to affect me physically. So much for the light workload I mentioned. Out of all my classes, you would think ethics would be an easy A, right? I mean, it's just introduction to ethics. What could possibly be so hard about it? Yet I'm doing worse in that class (so far) than any other. I just got my test grade back: 79%. Bitch. I still have a B in the class, but I was really counting on getting an A in the class just in case I have to get a B in the other classes which actually ARE difficult. I think my aim for a 3.5 GPA just became harder to reach. :(

On a positive note, I'm doing well in my other classes, but the only other class I've had a test in is differential equations, and we won't get those grades until tomorrow. I did have one of the highest grades on my homework assignment for environmental engineering. I suppose that bodes well for the rest of my career?

I'm so freaking tired.

I've had several days of studying 6+ hours per day in the last couple of weeks. I have a differential equations exam tomorrow, an ethics exam Friday and a physics exam next Thursday. And lots of homework in between. My DE professor basically sucks (he's a total scatter brain, and he'll go over the same EASY problem multiple times, but then skim through difficult stuff) so I've had to learn some of this stuff on my own. Normally I wouldn't mind, but some of it is pretty difficult, and the book is really short on examples (and full of mindless text).

The bachelorette party was a ton of fun. Ugh, forget it. My brain is fried. I need sleep. I'll tell you all more about it later. If I find the time this week. :(

Soooo many spiders

:(

We have no fewer than three huge webs in our backyard, all with fat-bodied spiders at least 1" big, and I just noticed a garden spider in the front of our house--right at the window of MY womancave!! *whimper* The last time I saw one of those was at the barn in Texas. I was really hoping they just liked Texas and would all just stay there, and I could live in my own personal naive little world, knowing I was safe from the likes of a 3" garden spider. Those things are enough to give me goose bumps.

Although I'd much rather deal with a garden spider than a wolf spider. Wolf spiders crinkle the hair on the back of my neck.

My parents left yesterday after a week-long visit. I miss them already! I sometimes feel like I've been selfish for moving so far away... it sucks to have such short visits. But I do love where we live now.

Next weekend, I'm going to Charleston for a bachelorette party. I'm so excited! I've only known the bride for a few months, but she's a lot of fun and we have a lot in common.

The other day at school, a guy that sits next to me was telling me about a computer game he was playing, and I said that "it sounds like a game that my husband plays." He looked at me with this bewildered look and goes, "You're married? You don't look old enough to be married." The guy next to him agreed and said that he thought I was just an upperclassman. Ha! Made my day.

Sigh... two and a half weeks of classes down... 14 more to go. The good thing is that so far the pace has been manageable. If it stays like this, I'll be a happy camper. I've had homework basically every week in each of my classes, but so far it hasn't been too bad.

A Clemson "Connect" survey

I mentioned a few blog entries ago that I've been having to go to these mandatory events at Clemson (two of them before school started, and two of them after... one of which I still need to attend). It's called "Clemson Connect" and it's a required pass/fail "course" for all new students. They've consisted of time-wasting presentations and lame activities. Of the four events, the only remotely decent one was the library workshop, which I just attended this morning, but even it wasn't entirely helpful. I also have to attend a two-hour class that, from what I can tell, is meant to expand a student's cultural horizon. In addition to those four events, I've had to complete a two-page essay about why I chose Clemson and what experiences I've had that have led to my "arrival" etc., and do a 5-10 minute video that's based on "what I learned" from the cultural class. That video itself is going to take me forever to complete. When I found out about the video thing (they call it a VLOG for Video blog), it was the icing on the cake and I was just plain downright pissed. This is a non-credit course that has absolutely no educational value from my point of view. This Clemson Connect has not been a very welcoming experience for me, a 1+29-year-old adult.

So, we received a survey link for the "Clemson Connect" thing in an e-mail. Best e-mail I've received this week--I was so ready to bitch and moan about all the BS I've been required to do. This is what I wrote to them. I really, really hope they listen. (LIB100 is what they call this Clemson Connect thing, and if I fail it, I'm not sure whether or not it'll show up on my transcript, but I'm still considering forgoing the VLOG because I'm sure it will take me so long to do it.)

"I've loved Clemson so far, but to be completely honest, I'm pretty disappointed with the Clemson Connect series. I'm an adult student, I've transferred many credit hours of classes, so I know how college works. In addition to that, I work a stressful job, so having to do these extra (mandatory!) activities outside of work and my heavy course load has been just one more stressor in my life that I don't need.

The team-building exercises by the Welcome Leaders were made for very young individuals. For example, we were told to play rock-paper-scissors and the "loser" was supposed to follow the "winner" around. This was silly, and I felt it was a waste of my (valuable to me) time. I understand the vast majority of students are in the 18 to 22-year-old category, but I would have loved if there was some kind of "adult track" for working adults going back to college. Maybe instead of the "New Student Dialogues" assignment, which I know will take a lot of time for me to prepare, you could have a time management class or something similar. I'll be putting as much effort as time allows into this VLOG thing, but really, all of my other commitments come first, and if I have to fail LIB100, then so be it, but that will make this a very disappointing first semester. I sincerely hope someone will take my comments into consideration for future students."

(Disclaimer: I realize 18-year-olds are legally considered adults. I'm talking about people who have responsibilities outside of school: working, paying bills, mortgages, possibly kids, etc.)

So I'm a senior.

Because I transferred an ungodly amount of credit hours to Clemson, I'm considered a senior (previously, they had me listed as a freshman, and then they waived a couple of required freshman-level classes that didn't directly transfer, which meant I was done with all of the freshman year classes, which I figured made me a sophomore). That's interesting and kind of depressing because I'll be a senior for another three years, lol. Sigh.

Classes are going well so far. The pace seems slower than Drexel, but I feel like I've been doing more school work. The professors I have are assigning more homework than they did at Drexel.

Exhausted

It's been a crazy couple of days. Yesterday, I had to go to school (keep in mind that school didn't even start until today, but I feel like it started days ago) for a cheer-a-thon or something. I really do not understand the point of these things, but I think the gist of it is to get us "pumped" about school. Basically, we showed up at school to hear several speeches from faculty, staff and other students. They talk about stuff that I've already read about. For example, every student is required to take a no-credit, pass/fail course that consists of learning about the library... or something. Anyway, they have a few different requirements, and they're all listed on Clemson's BlackBoard, an online program that lists each student's classes and other info. But as long as the student has been checking his/her e-mail and actually following along with the requirements, telling us about it is really pointless. These things have been a total waste of time, and are heavily geared toward the 18 to 21-year-old crowd, which is really annoying. They need to have a non-traditional option that allows someone who can actually take care of him/herself to skip this crap. As I said to Eric one night when I was tipsy, "I don't need my hand holded!" Which totally ruined my point and made me sound completely ridiculous.

Anyway... off my soapbox.

After the cheer-a-thon, I had to go to my tongue-thingie removal appointment. Here's where it would have been nice to have my hand held. ;) I'm such a baby when it comes to needles. I rarely get shots, so when I do, I always make a huge deal out of it. The doctor sprayed a numbing agent on my tongue, and a minute later, came at me with the needle. I tried not to look at how large the needle was. Honestly, the shot really wasn't too bad. The numbing agent did its job well. But I was still a nervous, sweaty wreck, and if I had been holding anybody's hand, I probably would have left fingernail gouges. So anyway, he removed the thing with a scalpel and scissors *shudder* and then put a suture in *double shudder*. It's the weirdest sensation to have your skin tugged at, but still not really feel anything.

But now I have a suture stuck in my tongue for, I'm assuming, a couple of weeks, and I'm paranoid about the knots coming undone (one of the three came undone yesterday when I was eating), so I've been eating a liquid diet ever since. The doctor had given me a prescription for Vicodin, and man I can't remember the last time I slept so deeply.

I started classes today. Thankfully, most other students seem to want to sit in the middle or at the back, so I got lucky and was able to find a seat at the front of the class in each class today (yes, I'm one of those... but if I don't sit at the front of the class, I get easily distracted by the students sitting in front of me). My first class was differential equations. So far, his teaching style is a bit hard to follow, but hopefully I'll get used to it in time. Second class was physics II. So far, it's mostly been a review of chemistry, which is great because I love chemistry... so if the majority of the class is heavily based in chemistry, then I'm good to go. The third class was intro to ethics, one of the obligatory "arts and humanities" classes I'm required to take. It was one of the few classes still available, which is the only reason I chose it. So far, it's okay. Lots of discussion. The fourth class, my favorite, is intro to environmental engineering. We talked a lot about waste water management, which is something I'm really interested in, so I'm really happy with it so far.

That's it for now! Oh yeah, and I'm exhausted.

Booooo.

I have a lesion on my tongue. It's a little whitish/pinkish bump that's been there for about six months. It's more irritating than it is painful, but it's worried me a leetle bit, so I decided to go see a doctor. She asked several times if I ever smoked, have ever smoked, etc. No I haven't, no I haven't. :) She said it's "probably benign" but that I should go see an ear/nose/throat doctor, who would likely remove it and send it in for a biopsy... which means they'll probably need to give me a shot in the mouth to numb my tongue. SIGH. I HATE shots. I'm such a weenie.

We got a new car!

Eric and I have been talking about getting a new car for several months now. With me going to school next month, I'll be driving another 90 miles or so every week, and we figured now was a good time to get one. We've been taking the gas-guzzling Pathfinder on our long trips since Eric's other car is a stick and I can't really drive one. Plus, with a three-year loan, I'll be out of school by then (hopefully), and we'll be in a better financial position to buy a house.

Anyway. We narrowed it down to either a Kia Optima or a Ford Fusion.



Kia Optima


Ford Fusion

I wasn't too excited over getting a Kia, but Eric showed me the pics of the Optima. You have to admit, it is a hot little car. And it's fast(ish). It has a 200-HP engine, where the Fusion has a 160 I believe. And the Optima was torquey, so it had a LOT of get-up-and-go. It was fun to drive, but larger than I'm used to, so I felt like I had to peer over the steering wheel like a little girl just to see where the hell the front end stopped.

So we stopped at a Kia dealer and checked out an Optima that they had. We test drove it and I noticed next to the MSRP sticker an additional price sticker that this site calls a "bump sticker." They were charging $1995 for undercoating (holy WTF), $70ish for nitrous-something-or-other (not the stuff that makes cars go ZOOM), and $50 for mud flaps. They added this all into their own MSRP. On every car! We talked to the sales guy, and I asked if it was already on the car, and he immediately said we could take that off the price. Hmm. Then he said there was an additional $1k in rebates. So, in my mind, he really only took off $1k from the price of the car. It was the first car we looked at, so we gave our info and left to take a look at the Ford dealership.

We originally were interested in the Focus, but all they had were two Ford Fusions. One was out of our price range by about $2k, but we test drove it anyway. It was a purdy car. :) And lots of gadgets. Sun roof, fog lights, Microsoft Sync built in (a cool little techy thing). I didn't want to waste the salesman's time though, and I told him we liked the car, but that I just wasn't sure they'd be able to come down enough in price. Which was true. But he got us to come inside to talk. We weren't at all interested in buying a car that night, and we made it clear, but they really wanted to deal, and they took $2k off the sticker, but we had to get home to the doggy. All this took two hours. Should have been my first clue.

The next night, we went back to the Kia dealer first, but the car we were looking at was pulled up next to the dealership building (obviously not a good sign ;) ) and we were told that someone was thinking about buying it, but that we could stay and wait, and that "it'll be about 10 minutes"... (please). We got the saleswoman's card and left.

On to Ford.

Eric and I came up with a new price for them to consider, we haggled back and forth, and we got to a price we were mostly comfortable with. Then they throw down the sales sheet. Surprise! $400 customer service fee. Total bullshit! Eric asked them to take it off, and they refused, saying it was "standard for all car sales." Bullshit! So then we got down to the financing. We had looked online prior to coming in and saw that they were offering either $2k in rebates or 0% financing for 36 months. What we didn't know is that they included the $2k in rebates in their final price, so they only offered 5.9%. He said we could add in $500 to the price and get 1.9%. This would put us over what our limit was.

At that point, it was me doing the haggling. Eric was ready to sign the papers, but I was still fuming over the bullshit! customer service fee, so I refused to give in. I said they needed to figure out how to take off $400 and still give us 1.9%; however, they refused to budge. So I shrugged, got up, said something like, "This was more car than we were originally planning on buying, so I understand that you've reached your limit. Sorry, but we just can't do it," and thanked them for trying. (Pffft.) Honestly, I felt relieved to get the hell out of there. We had been going back and forth for four(!) hours, and I was starting to feel like they were trying to take us for a ride.

On our way back home, about ten minutes later, they called Eric and offered to take $200 off. I said, "Nope! I'm done." I don't know what they said, but Eric's like, "My back's against the wall! I've gotta listen to my wife!" And then they decided they could do $400. Honestly, if Eric hadn't been so rosy-eyed over the car, I probably would have walked regardless. I'd be willing to bet anything that if we let them stew over it for the night, they would have offered better terms. Oh well... We now have ourselves a shiny, pretty, black, and luxurious (to me) Ford Fusion!

(Okay, it's not really luxurious. But it's NEW! And it's techy!)

I'm all signed up for classes

I had signed up for all my classes during orientation, but there was one class that was full--the most important one for the semester, because it's a prerequisite of one class, which is a prerequisite for another, which is a prerequisite for another--I'm sure you get the drift--and it's only offered during the fall semester. I asked my advisor what I could do, and she said that it was at classroom capacity, so the only way I would get in is if someone dropped (unlikely due to the importance of the class) or if someone didn't pay their bill. So I was kind of freaking out.

But my advisor e-mailed me this morning telling me she got me in. WOOT!!!

I'm taking 15 credits: calc-based physics II, intro to ethics, engineering graphics (AutoCAD basically), differential equations and intro to environmental engineering (the class I just got into). Differential equations and physics will probably be the hardest, but I survived multivariable calculus, so hopefully differential equations won't be too difficult. DiffEq is based on calculus, and I understood calculus well enough.

I visited Omaha last week and had a lot of fun (other than attending my grandfather's funeral :( ). My immediate family and I went to the Stuhr Museum, which brought back a ton of memories. I haven't been there in probably 10 years. Damn I'm getting old. My sister and I and a couple of friends went out on Friday night, and I proceeded to get a bit tipsy and offended someone I had just met. Sigh. Oh well, he took it well enough. Actually, he picked up my glass and said, "We're cutting you off!" My sister and I also decided our other two friends were taking too long in the bathroom, so we drank their beers and took pictures of it. Stupid drunk people!

I'm beat!

Just had the Clemson orientation. It was full of information that was great for someone who had only been in college for maybe a year, and for someone who planned on staying on campus. :) But I did get some good info, although Eric attended the "Parents" portion (LOL) and it seems he learned things that would have been great for me to know (financial aid, co-op stuff, etc.)! Sigh.

I did find out one GREAT thing. There are two freshman classes that I haven't had yet, or at least the classes I've taken so far won't transfer directly, so because of that, my status is "freshman" AND I can't really declare a major. Apparently Clemson has a sort of weed-out process where they place all engineering students into a "general engineering" degree, and they won't change it (in my case, to environmental engineering) until you've proven yourself in the first year. Anyway, I learned today that because of the plethora of computer classes I've taken, they've found a way to consider those as transfer credits. SO, my status is now "sophomore" and I get to declare my major. WOOT! I'm thrilled. I'm so sick of taking intro classes!

So. Funny.

Maybe you have to be a horse person to see why this is so funny, but I laughed so hard at this, it brought tears to my eyes. I was reading a forum and came across this post:

"Saturday my horse was acting very fresh and naughty around the barn. Instinctively, as I left the cross ties to ride, I grabbed a dressage whip, which I rarely use. I led him into the arena and was turning to close the gate behind me when, out of the corner of my eye, I see him toss his head and begin to play up (which generally involves half-rearing at me, then dashing away as he aims a half hearted kick). I nonchalantly applied the whip across his chest to let him know he had pushed it far enough, and he was so suprised he let out a HUGE fart. Then put all his feet on the floor, and followed meekly to the mounting block."

Lightning!

I saw THE BIGGEST lightning strike ever! It couldn't have been more than 1/4 mile away, and I happened to be looking right at it out the window. It was a complete freak chance. You know how if you count "Mississippily" (a la Ross in Friends), you can supposedly count how close a storm is? Well, there was no counting. The lightning strike and thunderclap (and it was loud enough to make me jump and *gasp*) were instantaneous. I even saw width in the thing. Feeeerrrreaky!

I've been complaining for a while now how we don't seem to get storms down here much. Guess that was my payback.

Orientation on Wednesday!

I don't know why, but I'm excited for orientation. I'm dreading going to school with people that are 10+ years younger than me (that 10+ really makes me sad), but I'm happy to find out what my class schedule will be like, and thrilled that school is only 10 minutes away instead of 90. It's been nice working at home and all, but I'm really getting tired of it. The only person I talk to on a regular basis is my husband, and no offense Eric, but I'm kind of bored. :D

On a walk today, Jaiden and I ran into a loose Shih Tzu whose owner was close by. She came closer and barked. Closer again, bark bark. I sat Jaiden down, she crept closer, growl bark, tail wag, bark bark. Seemed like she wanted to say "hi" so I started walking toward her, and she took off the other way, whimpering frantically. It was kinda hilarious. I told the owner that my dog used to be friends with a Shih Tzu, and then realized how weird that probably sounded. Why didn't I just say "he used to play with a Shih Tzu"?

Inception dream

I was watching Inception for the second time, and it reminded me of a dream I had after the first time I watched it. There's a part in Inception where Leo's character is training someone about the dream stuff, and he says that in a dream, you won't be able to remember how you got there.

So anyway, in my dream I was in an orchard, doing some gardening (this was a few months ago, while I was deep into learning about gardening, so it was always on my mind), and I walked toward a table that had all my tools. For some reason or another, I wondered to myself, "How did I get here in this orchard?" And I had no idea how I got there, yet I refused to believe that it was a dream. It was very strange.

I also have dreams within dreams on a fairly regular basis. It's weird.

Small Jaiden update: I increased the glucosamine/chondroitin tablets he's been taking, and he seems to be doing much better. :)

Jaiden

I think my puppy is starting to show signs of arthritis! Dammit... he's still too young in my mind. Although I may not actually be correct in how old he is. I was looking through the records he came with, and they estimated that he was 2-3. When I got him, I was told he was about a year and a half! :(

Several months ago, I noticed he seemed to move around a bit stiffer in the mornings than usual, so I started giving him this stuff called hyaluronic acid. It's apparently very helpful for horses with arthritis. It didn't do anything for Jaiden, though, so I started him on glucosamine/chondroitin. Still nothing. :(

I'm going to have to take him to the vet. He MAY have a hairline fracture, but I kind of doubt it. They'll probably want to do X-rays and if they determine it's arthritis, I'll probably have to start him on pain meds. Sigh.

Gardening failure!

My garden has turned into almost a complete failure. Things are growing, but I'm getting no veggies! The broccoli sprouts start to form, but then they spread out and turn into flowers. Sigh. Turns out I planted way too late, so it's too hot now for the broccoli and cauliflower to produce anything. So, I'm going to have to wait until it cools off a bit and plant again... probably September. Oh well, it was my first try.

OH, speaking of gardening. I have a small trash can outside that I use for all the uneaten vegetable parts (old vegetables, leaves from the cauliflower, etc.) for composting. It's been breaking down really well. I've put a ton of stuff in it, and it's broken down to 4" of dirt-like compost. So a couple days ago, we had a fairly large rain storm and Eric and I went outside into the carport to watch. I looked over toward the compost bin and noticed a few worm-like bugs around it... and noticed more... and more... and more... They looked like leeches, and they were everywhere. There must have been 50 around the bin and on the patio. They were black and about an inch and a half long. I took a look inside the bin, and it was literally writhing with larvae, some that looked like the leeches and some that looked like maggots. Kind of like in "The Lost Boys" when the guy looked down into his Chinese container and saw nothing but squirming bugs. It was seriously creepy. There were/are probably around 500 larvae. I'm not exaggerating. (Eric took a look first and he goes, "There are millions. MILLIONS." And he was dead serious, lol.)

I had just bought a bug killer for all the spider eggs around the house (yet another shudder--WTF is with all the damn BUGS around here?!?!?!), so we started spraying the larvae. It didn't seem to be working, so I looked up what they could possibly be. It turns out they're black solder fly larvae, and that they're very beneficial for gardens, and people actually BUY these larvae from the internet! I checked the larvae out the next morning, and most of them are dead now. Sigh. I really should have checked this out rather than use the "kill first, ask questions later" method. Still, that many larvae means that many flies, and I'm not particularly thrilled about adding more flying pests around this house. I'm convinced we have so many bugs because of all the trees. Our property will have just enough trees to provide some shade. Screw this forest crap.

Weee!

I'm betting nobody checks this anymore since I write so irregularly, lol. Oh well, I'll just talk to myself.

I'm actually ready to enroll in classes at Clemson--I didn't procrastinate this time! Last year, I had to get a bunch of crap together to enroll at Drexel, including at least 4 vaccinations that I needed, which I finished about two days after classes started. For Clemson, I needed to get yet another vaccination, which I had done on Monday. Way ahead of schedule! I also had to take a math placement test (required for all students, no matter how much math you've had, even if you're transferring multiple classes--really stupid, but whatever), which I took Monday--I didn't procrastinate!--and received the highest score possible. *pats self on the back*

Speaking of being smart, I have to brag--and I can shamelessly brag because I'm only talking to myself, right...? So I had to take one of those personality tests for the contract job I'm working right now before they would interview me. A part of the test was identical to an IQ test that I've taken online before. Anyway, we were talking about the results today, just goofing around, and I asked what I got on the "intelligence" part. Apparently I scored the highest, at the top 5%. HA! (In the "sense of urgency" part of the personality test, I scored as low as possible. Hm.)

Sigh, yeah, but this isn't so smart: I just went through and calculated the number of credits that I'm transferring to Clemson: 140! That's an entire degree plus a semester's worth of credits!

:(

Damn me and my indecisiveness. Oh well, I'm sticking to it this time. No really, I AM.

Who's excited?

I'm coming to Omaha tomorrow night! Another late night for my parents. :( I need to learn to stop scheduling these late-night flights.

We had a team meeting for my Greenville company. I was supposed to do a presentation on SEO/SEM (my job), so I prepared a document. I had no idea what to expect, so I just prepared an outline instead of the usual PowerPoint presentation. Everybody else apparently knew they'd have access to a computer during the meeting, so they were prepared for it and had a presentation... however, everybody in the office also works with Macs, so I just did mine on paper.

Anyway, the presentation went well enough, but could have been better. If I can just learn how to relax during a presentation, I would be good to go. Public speaking is definitely not my strongest point. I do much better when people ask me specific questions--then I rock it (like in interviews), which is exactly what happened during the meeting. SEO/SEM can be extremely complicated, so when I have to explain it in 10-15 minutes, it gets a bit difficult, and I tend to act a bit scatter-brained. But when they asked questions, I relax and answer. After that, the meeting went well. I got to know the know-it-all-engineering-is-so-hard girlie a little better, and she's nice. She's just a bit... know-it-all. But nice. She did give me a little compliment--I said I felt so old going back to college, and she said she wouldn't have guessed how old I was if it wasn't for my wedding/engagement ring. Pffft. Whatever!

Sigh. Have I graduated yet?

Clemson

At around noon, I received an e-mail from Clemson that said, among other things, "You have what it takes to be a Tiger, and we hope you’ll choose Clemson." This didn't really make sense to me since I hadn't received an offer yet. In addition, it included a link to submit my deposit. This was somewhat amusing and somewhat frustrating. Either they had accepted me and I just hadn't been notified, or they had sent the e-mail in error. I even checked a couple hours later to see if they sent one of those "oops, this wasn't meant for you" e-mails.

The mail always comes at around 2:30 or so. I was outside doing my gardening when the mail finally arrived at 3:45. I finished cleaning up and checked the mail, and inside was a big packet from Clemson. That could only mean one thing... ;) I've been accepted! WOOT!

I'm a natural worrier, so even though it may have been ridiculous, I was kind of worried that they wouldn't accept me. Although Drexel accepted fewer students than Clemson, Drexel is ranked #86 and Clemson is ranked #64. So anyway, I'm relieved to have been accepted. :)

I bowled a 193 left-handed.

I guess it's unfair if I don't also tell you it was on a Wii. Still, the highest I ever bowled was 102 (pathetic, I know... I hate bowling). Eric and I went to a friend's place on Saturday, and we bowled on the Wii. I was Stewie. Eric was Michael Jackson. The guy setting it up accidentally set Stewie as left-handed, so instead of ignoring it, I decided to just play left-handed. And I bowled a 193! I had the second-highest score.

If I ever decide to go bowling again, I think I'm going to do it left-handed.

Dragged Eric to the shelter

Well, I didn't actually drag him. He wanted to go.

We went to the shelter to walk some of the dogs. They have two in each kennel (sometimes up to four, depending on the size of the kennel), poor puppies. Eric and I would take one dog from each kennel and walk him or her for about five minutes. We did this for an hour. Someone had left a collar on one of the dogs, and she somehow got her lower jaw underneath the collar. I noticed her trying to chew something in a very weird way, and realized what was going on. One of the other guys helping out came in and cut the collar off. The poor dog was in obvious discomfort, but she'll be okay.

Overall, it was a sad experience since I know these dogs are probably bored out of their minds (not to mention there are so few volunteers and adopters, so they tend to stand in their own waste until someone is able to clean it up), but it was nice to be able to give them a few minutes of freedom.

Crap.

I called Clemson yesterday to check on my application status, since I hadn't heard from them in a while. They had sent a few post cards, giving updates whenever they received a transcript, and each said "Nothing received" for 2005-2009--when I wasn't in school, but was working full time. I stupidly assumed they didn't really need for me to account for all dates from the time I graduated high school until now, but apparently they do.

So this whole time (I applied in early January), my application has been incomplete, and it's just been sitting at Clemson, likely not even glanced at. Even in January, I knew my application was a bit later than most motivated students, but it was still early. Now it's March, and other students who have had completed applications have been accepted and I'm sitting here with an incomplete application... which may affect my acceptance. On that note, it would be wildly helpful if Clemson actually had an online status checking system. If I hadn't called, I would never have known.

GAH. I'm kicking myself for not checking on this sooner.

Engineering is, like, so hard.

I went into Greenville to work at my new job. I met an intern who was going to Clemson, and we started talking about majors, etc. I told her I was going into environmental engineering, and she gave me the most astonished look I think I've seen on a person. It was like I told her I was going to be the next president of the United States. No, worse, like I was planning on birthing the next president of the United States. And that I just knew the baby was going to be the next Mozart, as well. Here's how our conversation went:

Intern: "That's, like, the hardest degree you can get." (Still with the look of bewilderment.)

Me: "Actually, it's considered one of the easiest of engineering degrees [which is not the reason I chose it--I chose it because I want to go into water resources management, and from what I've read, this is the best degree to have], but I had considered chemical engineering as well."

Intern: "Yeah, that one's pretty hard, too. [This coming from a business major.] I mean, you have to, like, really really want to go into engineering."

Me: (smiling, but trying not to roll my eyes) "I know, and I do."

Intern: "You have to take, like, physics--"

Me: "I took physics I, but I have to take physics II. The engineering classes have been my favorite."

Intern: "--chemistry--"

Me: "I've taken them all. Actually, I loved organic chemistry."

Intern: "Oh, well that's good. You also have to take biology--"

Me: "Yep, I've taken it."

She didn't realize I was a transfer student, so she ASSumed I didn't know what I was getting myself into (and apparently she also thought I hadn't looked into what classes I would need to take?). Silly girl. I guess a friend of hers is in her sophomore year of one of the engineering programs, and engineering has proven to be too difficult, so she's transferring. To psychology.

I have less than a semester's worth of classes to finish before I'll be considered a junior. I've chosen engineering *because* it's difficult. I don't want to graduate with a degree that I didn't have to work hard at to receive. I know not all young people are like this, but that kind of attitude really irritates me... It amazes me how people think it's a good idea to choose a degree that won't challenge them, and then expect to get a $100k job with it.

I got bugs in my tank... bugs.

(I know Becky will get the title of this post.)

I don't think I told my blogger peeps about my new tank. I bought a 10-gallon tank to put plants in and grow snails for my puffers. Here's a pic:



Those plants brought in some nice little creatures... copepods. They're tiny white things that jump around in the water like little bugs. Here's a pic:



I first noticed them about a month ago, and ever since, I've been trying to get rid of them by feeding the snails less, since the copepods pretty much eat anything. When I got the plants for the 10-gallon, I also purchased some plants for my puffer tank. The puffer's tank was growing algae faster than I could keep up, and I was really tired of cleaning it. Plants generally overwhelm the algae for resources, so I had hoped that the algae would eventually disappear.

Big mistake. The plants shed their little needles everywhere. I had dead needles all over the place, and they clogged the intakes on the filters. And the algae kept thriving. I finally gave up several weeks ago, threw out all the plants from the puffer tank and cleaned it. And the hated algae kept growing.

A couple of days ago, I noticed the water becoming cloudy, looked closer, and realized I had HUNDREDS of those nasty little copepods in the puffer's tank. So I cleaned the filters, siphoned the gravel, did a huge water change, and then it suddenly dawned on me that the glass was practically spotless. And not just the glass, but EVERYTHING in the tank was nearly free of algae. The heater has always been the worst, but nope, it's actually pretty spotless. The copepods have been cleaning my tank! Look at how spotless the thing is! SPOTLESS! I didn't clean a single thing in the tank when I changed out the water. The nasty little copepods are no longer my enemies.

SPOTLESS!

Leeeezard!

I found TWO lizards in the backyard! I was taking Jaiden out, and I saw this little brownish lizard scurry away. I ran inside to get my camera, but he had disappeared. So I started looking around for him, and I saw another, darker one with a stubby tail. I saw him yesterday, too, so he seems to be sticking around. Here he is!

Bike ride

I went on my first bike ride since I got down here. Unfortunately, I just wasn't comfortable with it. The drivers were courteous, but there was too much traffic for my liking and there were no shoulders on 90% of the ride. I probably won't be riding on these roads again. Booo. There is a long trail up in Greenville called the Swamp Rabbit Trail, but it's not really practical for us to drive there very often. Still, I didn't realize there was one around here that was even worthwhile to ride on until I found out about Swamp Rabbit (most of the trails I've seen are 2 miles long--Swamp Rabbit is about 26 miles). (By the way, I love saying that. Swamp Rabbit.) (Also, I use parentheses too often.) Anyway, we may try out the Swamp Rabbit next weekend.

I noticed my plants started wilting today. WILTING! I've been so paranoid about over-watering that I apparently went the opposite direction and nearly killed them by under-watering. I gave them all a big dose of water, and the wilting pretty much went away within an hour.

I'm a bad plant parent.

Updated picture, post-wilting:

Baloo

I had a dream about my old horse Baloo last night. For those who don't know about him, my parents got him for me when I was 16. I had been riding him for six months, and although he could be seriously temperamental and throw some huge bucks and temper tantrums, I loved him. By the time I was 21, I was no longer riding him, and he was just sitting in a pasture. I have no doubt he loved that life, but I couldn't justify spending money on board for a horse that I wasn't riding. So, I donated him to a local riding club. I haven't seen him since.

In the dream, I distinctly remember walking into his stall in some unknown barn and knowing immediately that he was unhappy. I made a vow to him that he would always be safe and happy. That's all I remember.

I've looked for him several times over the years, and although I've seen horses that look very similar to him, I've never been able to find him. That horse could be a real jerk, but I still miss him sometimes, and if I were to ever find him again, I'd take him back. He'll be 19 this April assuming he's still alive somewhere. :(

My garden containers are taking off! I have lots of big leaves and the lettuce is actually starting to look like lettuce! I'm now trying to get my strawberry seeds to hatch. Apparently they're a pain in the ass to grow... we'll see. So far, none of the seeds have sprouted.

I started my new job last week. So far, so good. They seem like a fun bunch to work with. I also started volunteering at the local shelter. They have an inexpensive spay/neuter program based on income level. One older couple brought in a cute little dog that couldn't have been more than 5 pounds. They owed $14, and they brought in an envelope (inside a Zip-Loc bag) with a $10, some ones and several quarters. It was depressing, knowing this couple had probably searched the house for whatever cash they could find. So many people down here are at poverty level.

Eric and I just went for a short walk around Lake Keowee. It's so pretty! We can't wait to (eventually) have a boat.

The beak on one of my puffers is growing too long, so I'm going to have to anesthetize him and trim it. Ugh. The stuff I have to buy is kind of expensive, so I've been putting it off a bit. Sigh... the joys of having high-maintenance fish.

Poop Tea!

I bought several bags of compost (cow and horse manure), and I made a compost "tea"--add water to some compost, oxygenate it with an aquarium pump for a few days, and water your plants with it. We'll see how the veggies like the poo.

The Garden

Here's a pic of the seedlings I've started. The ones on the right are the Lowe's seeds, and they're "leggy"--meaning, the stems have grown too tall due to lack of light. The ones on the left are the heirloom seeds, and look much better. I planted the Lowe's seeds a few days before the heirloom seeds, and we didn't buy a light until the day the heirloom seeds started sprouting, so the heirloom seeds look much healthier. The plants in the third and fourth columns in the Lowe's tray are lettuce plants. They've all completely collapsed, but they haven't died yet, and they're actually starting to sprout new leaves. I'm not sure how this will work out, but I'm running with it just to see what happens. :)

My little hatchlings:

We have a renter!

And I have a new (additional) job! This all happened in the last two days.

Our house in Philly finally has a renter. I've applied for a couple of part-time jobs to fill up my time since I'm not in school until this fall. I interviewed for them last week, and one of them offered me a job today. WOOT! I like money. If all goes well and I'm accepted into Clemson, I should be the proud owner of a Bachelor's degree in 14 years. Sigh.

We've been to a quite a few restaurants around the area, and I've been trying to shop more locally, rather than buying from the Lowe's and Wal-Marts of the world. So far, I've supported the local bookshop, bars (heh), pet shop and nursery. Well, okay, I haven't bought anything from the nursery yet, but they were really nice, along with all the other people here.. They also wanted $50 for a watering can. So I bought mine from Lowe's.

My latest obsession is gardening. What's wrong with me? I get an idea in my head, and if I initially like it, in general, I become obsessed and take off with the idea. Whatever. Anyway, I'm going to try to grow cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, strawberries, okra, cilantro, beans and spaghetti squash. I'm not taking on too much... I'm really not. So, I got some seeds from Lowe's to "practice" with, and in the meantime, I've been reading up on what to do. I also bought some heirloom seeds from Baker Seeds, and those are the ones I actually want to EAT from! They're non-hybrid, non-genetically-modified seeds that have been passed down generation to generation. The Lowe's seeds are looking pitiful. I didn't realize how much light they needed, so they grew 4 inches tall and most of them have collapsed. We bought a light, and the heirloom seed tray is mostly thriving now. I'm worried about watering too much/too little. Apparently watering too much is a rookie mistake, but how do I know when the plants are thirsty?!

Oh, and Becky, I still have spiders living under my cabinets. Unhappy face. OH! AND Eric got up into the attic to see if the whole-house fan (like the one we used to have in the old house) was letting all the heat escape, and he was screwing around up there... and let loose a dead, huge, leggy daddy long leg. It's still hanging from the fan opening with one long leg, taunting me every time I pass. I haven't worked up the courage yet to vacuum it up. Let alone use a paper towel, YECK!

Spider webs in the cabinets

We got back from Eric's parents' house on Sunday. I opened the cabinet door in our kitchen to get a bowl out, and as I was setting it down, I started looking for a spoon, then something in my brain went, "WAIT! Look at that bowl again!" At the same time, I dropped the bowl because I realized I had seen what looked like a spider crawling out of the bowl. I'm not sure if that is what I actually saw, because by the time I looked back again, the thing was gone, and all that was left was spider webs.

We had been gone for 10 days, and apparently some spider thought it was a good idea to set up camp in there. *shudder*

Ever since then, I've been creeped out any time I have to stick my hand in the cabinets. Or the drawers. Or anytime I'm cleaning in the kitchen.

I FINALLY got my grade back from my multivariable calculus professor: B+! Woohoo! Of course, I was really hoping for an A, but the class was hard, and I'm happy enough with a B+. I also got a B in my physics class, giving me a 3.17 GPA for the semester.

So, I'm starting to get my application filled out for Clemson. I've also been looking at jobs available in the area for environmental engineering, and there isn't much here. There's a power plant a few miles from us, and they have co-ops available for chemical, electrical, mechanical and civil engineering. I've been thinking about talking to them to see what the market is like for environmental engineers in the area. We'll see.