Today, Wednesday January 26, 2005� quite a day!!!

So first of all, today my rowing team (here at U Miami) participated in a national fundraiser, Row for Humanity! Pretty much its just a bunch of different rowing programs across the country join together in this ergathon to raise money for their program and to give a portion of the money to Habitat for Humanity. (and I'd like to add that we, all 43 of us, did a habitat house right around here on the 22nd... now that was hard work!!!!)

So the ergathon went well... it was fun!!! It was 12 hours straight of rowing from 7am to 7pm on the ergs, each of us rowed two, 1 hour pieces in the middle of campus right outside out University Center (on the Rock). And when we were picking the times I thought I was being all smart choosing to go from 8-9 and from 3-4. Well, just like Buffalo... we have gotten some cold temps lately too...:( yeah, they don't compare, but still... cold for Miami, like in the 50's and 60's, and one night was even in the 40's!!! Ok, so my selections of times was way off... first, the early one was chilly, but luckily rowing for an hour really warms you up!! But my second shift at 3 was stupid!!! So the sun did come out throughout the day and it did get warm... and just as the sun was directly in our faces, it was time for me to get on for my 3:00 shift, ahhhhh!!! It was soo painful to see, and soo draining. We survived, but it was rough, and of course, right as we got off the ergs at 4:00, the sun went behind a tree and then around 4:30, right behind the building to provide complete shade... ahhh, oh well, I was done by then!!!

All in all, we had a fun little ergathon!!!

Next order of business is TODAY IS AUSTRALIA DAY!!!! Did anyone know that??? I definitely never heard of it, but I supposed I wouldn't since I live in the US and have never been to Australia, but having 2 girls on my team who are Australian and very proud of it, we got to celebrate this wonderful day!!! Well kinda... they made us this Australian dessert... oh, it was sooo good!!! Sooo sweet!!! It was like meringue that you get on a lemon meringue pie but it was crispier, so that was the substance of this treat. Then it was topped off with whipped cream and strawberries!! It was sooo good!!! So HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!



Next order of business is the sad part of today :( On January 26, 2004, something happened... something very bad... I lost a great friend of mine :( Her name was Lumiee, she was a 1996 Chevy Lumina. She had a shiny grey (with a tint of tan) exterior and a nice cozy maroon interior. She was my very first car!!! I bought her in September 2000 at the beginning of my senior year of High School. My parents were sick of driving me to practice at 5:00 in the morning every morning so it was inevitable I was gonna buy one and Lumiee was the one I choose!!! I loved her. We went through soo much together, so many trips between Miami and Buffalo and all throughout both as well :) We got along so well!!!

But a year ago today, as I was driving myself and 4 other girls from my team back from practice to the cafeteria, I lost her. :( A woman drove through a stop sign and into me, sending Lumiee and the 5 of us inside of her into a tree. We even took the full sized palm tree out, leaving only a 2 foot high stump for a few weeks until the maintenance people removed that.

It was hard parting with her, but I knew as soon as I climbed out the window, ran to the passenger side door and made sure everyone else was out, that she was gone. Her entire front end was in the shape of a V, and I was convinced she was about to blow up from all of the dust I saw (for anyone who has not been in a car accident with airbags involved, the white dust that smells like gunpowder... is not smoke, so yes, your car is probably a mess, but don't worry, it's probably not on fire or about to explode).

But as I walked away from her and emptied her out (I couldn't believe they made me do that in the middle of the road, take out everything, golf clubs, snow brushes, everything) she was still on (I guess I just jumped out w/o taking the keys out) and her music played on... just as the thought of Lumiee, my very first car, the one that I will always hold in highest regard, will always drive on in my heart...

Lumiee, I love you and miss you very much

And this is a picture of her in her last winter in Buffalo when my mom got her stuck in the end of our driveway...

Happy birthday Paul (from me this time)
go wild tonight, you 28 year old... wow... that's pretty old isn't it???
JK!!!

ahhhh, i just typed this whole big thing and i pressed something else and the whole thing was gone... woops... anyways....

so to sum it all up since i don't feel like retyping it all, My roommate is moving out on me... and i feel bad saying this, but i really can't wait for her to go. I know i am gonna be getting someone new and that will be annoying, but jess, the one moving out, has come to be such a draining person to live with.... ahhhh now ya see, i got into detail about this just a minute ago, but like i already said, im not really in the mood to retype that all up again...

but school has started... classes are boring... we have our first erg test (rowing thing) of the season tomorrow morning, and the miami vs duke men's basketball game is on right now, i should be there, but getting tickets was too hard with class and all so I'm gonna go watch it on TV w/ alex!!!

Go CANES!!!!

wow, the snow flakes are back!!! im so excited!!! i love playing with em... especially cuz i don't really have to deal with them here in miami. but it was cold here today, well, chilly at least.

today was our 7th day out of 8 of our 3 practices a day training camp. i can't believe its going by so fast... i just hope the rest of the semester doesn't go by this fast :( i will be so sad, this is my last semester of rowing... ever :(

ok, but our practices today were running on the beach and then a quick little practice on the water in small boats... meaning, rowing in doubles, little 2 person boats

but as i said, it was chilly today, chilly and windy... wind and small boats usually doesn't go over to well... but i was in a double with a girl named sarah, huge girl... like 6'1" but huge... anyways, so we were rowing along, fighting the wind, everything was going well

and then half way we spin to head back home, i get this big idea that we should start together at the catch (the most shaky position in the stroke) on the square ( completely un supported position)

and what do you know, the boat started to tip and before i knew it... we were swiimming and i was screaming and laughing. we felt so stupid...

so our coach had to come over and get us out onto the launch boat and she, along with a guy she had in the launch flipped our boat, and we pulled it in... well sarah and i just sat there, but the guy held onto it and my coach drove us in... the cold wind was killing me, but luckily for some reason i decided to pact extra clothes today to change into... oh, im so smart, jk...

ok, that was my falling in story, not as exciting as the last time i fell in though... but still a good chuckle

(e:amanda) wants me to post this so ahhh, im not gonna get into details in fact it might not even make since, but this is to show just how incredibly stupid i am and the mess my stupidity gets me into.

ok, so yesterday was interesting day, 2 practices in the morning then we ran stairs at 4:00 then we had a fun little apartment rumble consisting of my roommate and i bitching out one of the girls in the other room for leaving the apartment go to hell over the break, no seriously, it was disgusting. ok so then around 9:15 i get ready for bed, make my lunch for, well, today, and then all hell breaks loose

now here is where it gets kinda sick and disgusting, don't read on if you feel you don't have the stomach for it, but go ahead of you wanna know what a moron i am!

so, w/o really getting into too much on the subject, yesterday was the first time i have used a tampon. well i have tried before but somehow failed, i don't know... im not really into them, but with all our practices and stuff right now, i figured it was time to start.

so the stupidity comes in...
you may or may not be familiar with the anatomy of a tampon, but for this story all you need to know is that the one i was using, like many out there have an applicator (either cardboard or plastic) to guide the actual tampon in... but it is not supposed to go "in" itself!!!!

well I AM STUPID!!! because i put it in. in all of my determination to actually figure it out how to use it this time and not fail anymore, i forgot how the damn things work.

well as you could guess, around bedtime when i went to get this little contraption out of me, i discovered my mistake... TOO LATE, STUPID!!! the cardboard had already turned mushy, but the tampon itself came out just fine. unfortunately leaving this cardboard in me. so in my efforts to get that out after it starts to tear, DAMN IT!!!

so at 9:15 pm, with the campus health clinic closed, my only real option was to go to the ER to get this thing out, (but i am leaving other events that occurred at that time out just because i need to forget about them... ahhh, i can't believe i walked in on that)

so of course the ER is full of people , and really now what's the seriousness of cardboard stuck in a vagina??? ahhhh, but the triage part was funny with me trying to explain to a male nurse what i did... hehehehehe

but so after sitting in the waiting room for 4 hours i was finally put in a room, and to avoid any more graphic details, the 1 doctor on staff finally saw me at 3:15 and i was released at 3:30... that's all im gonna say about that 8*

now the stupid thing wouldnt be so bad if it wasnt for the fact that i had only gotten 2 hours of sleep to go row 2 practices and then do a body circuit. so i had to let my coach know i only had 2 hours of sleep so i wouldnt be messing up practice for others, and of course explaining it to her was quite awkward, even though all i told her was that i was in the ER till 3:30... from problems with a tampon. well at least i didn't have to explain the problems to her, she probably thinks i got TSS or something.

so all else went well today, ahh, no it didn't , our boat ran over a dog today... A LIVE DOG!!! we tried to stop in time but we just nicked the back of him, he was playing frisbee w/ some dude and i guess didn't realize a fast moving boat was heading his way... poor dog, but he was ok, carried on playing as we rowed away.

OH OH OH!!! and i too, although don't like Starbucks either, tried that chocolate drinking (e:mike) and (e:amanda) were talking about. i actually had it w/ amanda. it was sooo chocolaty, insane... kinda tasted like i was eating/drinking warm brownie batter. it was soo rich, and i don't even like chocolate, but still, i have to admit it was tasty.

ok, that's it for now, i hope you enjoyed my stupidity... boy, it's long, if you read all the way down to here, i feel sorry for you ;) hehehehe

ahhhh, why on earth am i gonna post this??? i really shouldn't... its sooo embarrassing :( oh well, here goes, (e:amanda), you better like this ;)