Went to the UPS store today to ship my grandparents the picture frame. I'm ashamed to say that I spent $8.70 for a 24x26x18 cardboard box. Acutally they wanted to charge me $23 to package it with their own materials. Um no. Really I have no idea where to buy cheap boxes so I bought their box for a ridiculous price. Spent $9.20 to send the frame to zipcode 13760. Cost of frame $20. Had I already not had some packing peanuts and buble wrap (I love bubble wrap) saved up, I would have spent that much in materials. I thought gifts from the heart usually cost next to nothing, but not in this case. Next time I'll just send them the pics, they can frame them if they want.

Today I waited for the bus freezing my little behind off for almost an hour. The bus schedule is now handy in my book bag.

I ordered the following books from Amazon. Beats paying Barnes and Noble at Buffalo State almost twice as much. Last semester I went the entire semester with only a pocket dictionary. I had given away my good spanish to english dictionary to a classmate learning english in Cuba. Decided that I really do need a better one. I got both spanish to english and just a regular spanish dictionary. If you use the dictionary that doesn't give the english translation you are more likely to learn it. Also grabbed a couple of others that should help me learn some new things.
    1     "How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)"
Mortimer J. Adler; Paperback; $10.88


    1     "Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books"
Azar Nafisi; Paperback; $10.17


    1     "Larousse Unabridged Dictionary: Spanish-English / English-Spanish (Larousse Unabridged)"
Editors of Larousse; Hardcover; $38.94


    1     "Textos medievales de caballerias (Letras Hispanicas)"
Paperback; $19.95

    1     "Larousse Gran Diccionario Usual de la Lengua Espanola"
Editors of Larousse; Paperback; $16.29

    1     "Diccionario de Sinonimos, Antonimos, e Ideas Afines"
Editors of Larousse (Mexico); Paperback; $4.95

    1     "Ortografia Lengua Espanola: Reglas y Ejercicios"
Paperback; $8.95

    1     "Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice"
John B. Dalbor; Paperback; $45.12

    1     "Panoramas Literarios Espana"
Beverly Mayne Kienzle; Paperback; $32.40

Book I am borrowing

Voces de Hispanoamerica


Books I still need

Don Quixote--Cervantes

Amadís de Gaula

Don Quixote--diccionario


My phonetics class was canceled again. The teacher is old and sick. We got free pens from the department chair because the teacher wasn't there again.

Being at school from 9 to 6 is way too draining. It is the three hour wait and then the hour and a half wait between classes that is the worst. By the third class I was falling asleep. Some how I gotta figure out how to stay alert for the third. Maybe I should take a nap in between? Like I mentioned before, going to the gym seems like a sure way for me to crash afterwards. I had a mocha at about 3pm because I had a free card from last semester to use for any drink I want, otherwise I drink regular coffee. Mocha isn't my favorite, but the chocolate can somewhat mask bad espresso. Maybe it was the mocha that made me crash. When I didn't drink coffee at all I had more energy, but I like it too much. What a rotten crop for the land too. If I could eat better while I was in school that would probably help, but I can't seem to manage to pack anything. I guess I could try working on that. Sorry I'm talking out loud.

So I have not heard anything regarding the letter I left someone yet. It seems I will know on Friday how the person will react. I'm so nervous because the letter was very stern in that I would not tolerate being degraded. If they decide they want to kill/stalk/terrorrize me I decided that the story would be a great lifetime movie. (e:mike) will make sure to get lifetime a script. I wonder who would play me the best? Does Justin Timberlake do any acting? It would be nice if it was someone who got their sexy back to play me. The anticipation of what could happen as the result of the letter is driving me crazy. What I know about this person is that the disrespect they have shown me is a reflection of how they feel about themselves. The situation really is quite sad. Maybe I can have a good influence on this person's life? That would be an ideal situation I suppose.

Today I did a little cat and fish sitting.



Dooku

Herby

Ligi



I also wrote a letter to someone who has continued to disrespect me. They won't be doing that any longer.



I could sleep forever now.

My last semester is finally here. Five more classes starting tomorrow and after 7 years I will have my Bachelor degree. My schedule sucks and on two nights of the week I'll be in class until 7:15. Long night classes are awful. I'm not sure when is the best time to go to the gym now because it seems like I crash after working out. Some people get tons of energy and I do too, but there is a period where I crash and burn and it isn't good when it happens in class.

I am sending a few of my ice storm pictures to my grandparents to show my appreciation for them. I got a frame at Target for about $20 that fits all three of them. The first one I wanted to get was darker and I'm glad I didn't get it cause it would have looked wierd in their house. Usually I don't give pictures as gifts even though I want to because everyone's taste is different and I don't want them to feel bad if they don't want to hang it. I think my grandparents will like this though. They have always encouraged my photography since I was like 15. I have done quite a bit of frame shopping and they are quite expensive. I did manage to get 5 or 6 4x6 frames at the dollar store and then I realized you can't hang them up so I have to get special hardware to do that. Most of the time I leave all my pics as Digital files, so I'm trying to break that habit and get some printed. I got the photos developed at Delaware Cam for .19 each. If anyone knows a cheaper place but equal quality let me know.

Here is the completed frame. It looks better in person. The lighting made it look yellowish.




I entered Coco into a photo contest for some rabbit magazine but haven't heard back. I'm not sure my pics do so well in contests but I love them all the same. Wab isn't the type that they usually feature in the publication. We didn't even know what his "breed" was. I don't care really. People that care all that much about breeds are sometimes a bit crazy. I used to show dogs so I know. It was so stupid.

Here is Coco. I think I notice him aging. I kind of like it, you don't always get to see rabbits aging. Maybe he is 4 years old?






The frame I got for my grandparents is kind of big. Im not even sure what to do to send it. Maybe I'll just go to mailboxes etc. and ask them to pack it and everything. I hope it isn't super expensive because i'm trying not to squander my money.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.




So I guess escallating the war is being called a Hail Maliki pass, as in the Hail Mary pass in football. I have always liked this prayer for some reason.

So here are some quotes from our DEFENSE SECRETARY

"I would confess I am no expert on Iraq."

"I am no expert of military matters."

How sad.

Maybe I just don't know the full context of these quotes, but they are still scary. I feel bad for the troops that have to serve longer than they had signed up for. What a way to get shit on.

source of quotes

I was just chatting with (e:mrmike) and for some reason I remembered one of the toys from my childhood. Now I'm so sad that neither I or my parents still have any of these toys. We moved a lot and it just didn't seem important to keep anything. Really I don't think I have any more toys.

When I loved Christmas, I would play the Alvin and the Chimpmunk's Xmas album on my fisher price record player. It would drive my parents insane to hear their 'chipmunk' voices all high and chipmunk like 24/7. I can't imagine why they wouldn't like it. A couple of years ago I found the album on vinyl in perfect condition.






Wascally Wabbit chewed the corners oh so slightly. Now it is in near mint condition...




One Xmas me and my brother and sister all got a Chipmunk doll. My older sister got Simon, I got Alvin and my brother got THeodore. When you pull the string it would say things like "Alvin loves you"






I also had this. It is so awesome.




At a flea market in Florida I found Theodore out of the three in their glassware set. Now I just need to find Alvin and Simon.

I saved, I thought that meant something to you.

This is my first picture. It kind of scares me.


I finally put the plastic in the windows. Look its crystal clear. Just in time for the nasty weather. It is snowing and windy now.


My mom's husband found this lamp for me at a flea market. The piggy is a lighter that shoots flames out of his nostrils.



My roommate



I made this the background on my phone. The plant hangs over into my bed so its sort of like I am one with it.



Oops almost forgot this one. Got this calendar for my roommates birthday. Its called Extraordinary Chickens. Yes it would have been a great gift for (e:mike), but he doesn't use calendars. You guys should see these chickens. I had no idea chickens could be so exotic. One of them looks like an Arctic chicken or something because of his downlike plumage.

I did it and went to get a new phone today. Screw you CRICKET, I'm free of your crap now.

My new phone is so cool. Best of all when my phone rings the ring doesn't make me want to slit my wrists. $10 after rebate.

Pics I can upload to the computer via text messaging. Here is a tester.




This means that all the times of thinking "oh I wish i had a camera so i could post this on estrip", i'll have one.
How fun!

I went with Verizon. The phone is superclear and amazing reception in my apt. What a relief. I went with a 450 min a month plan which i have decided isn't enough, so i'll have to upgrade to 900.