Known to the State of California

Moving On

2009-08-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

When you're moving your whole world becomes boxes. That's all you think about is boxes. Boxes, where are there boxes? You just wander down the street going in and out of stores. Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes? I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate. Shut up I'm looking for boxes. Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store. There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes. Dammit, I can SMELL them. I'm like I'm obsessed. I love the smell of cardboard in the morning. You could be at a funeral. Everyone's mourning crying around, and you're looking at the casket. That's a nice box. Does anyone know where that guy got that box? When he's done with it do you think I could get that? It's got some nice handles on it. And that's what death is really. It's the last big move of your life. The hearse is like the van. The pale bearers are your close friends, the only ones you could ask to help you with a big move like that. And the casket is that great, perfect box you've been waiting for your whole life. The only problem is, once you find it, you're in it. - Jerry Seinfeld

I'm moving. You got any boxes?

Someone Handed Me A Sword

2009-08-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I started this draft about.. oh.. two months ago. I'm determined to get a post out tonight and I know that you all will love this one, so two-month old story revamped it is.

My mom will be the first to tell you that I never was a big fan of change when I was little. The stories that are always told about me at family reunions are the ones about me crying over change. The most commonly referenced involves my Nanny Vassie, my bed, and lots of tears. I've been told the story hundreds of times, I'm sure, but I feel that it's best she retell it, so I'll leave that thread there. The thread I really want to run with in this post is how I used to hate trying new things, was completely unreasonable with change, and would take forever to do anything unusual to me. I use "used to" because these days, it seems I want to try it all.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like an adventure. I love packing up and heading out and just.. disappearing for a little while. I've been in the Bay Area for almost a year now and I'm going crazy without a real move (more on that another day). One of the reasons I think I haven't completely lost it, tossed the girls and some clothes in the car and headed for Seattle or beyond, is because the Bay Area has a lot of random stuff to do. It's a big city with hundreds of various sized ones surrounding it. There's all kinds of indoor and outdoor activities just within a gas tank from my door. Just between you and me, I want to learn and do it all.

On that note, I'll quickly get into why and then explain the title. See, I have this theory that most people just.. aren't prepared for whatever comes their way. And the best way to be prepared is to learn and practice the skills you might need. Like snowboarding. I love skiing, but you never know when I'm going to be stranded on a mountain with bad guys (seriously, bad guys) chasing me and all I have to get away on is a snowboard. I might not be amazing at it, but if I know how to at least get down the mountain, I'll have more of a chance than those skiiers that refuse to learn boarding. Same thing goes for learning to jump out of a plane, surf, ride a motorcycle, fly a helicopter, bungee jump, so on and so forth. With this theory in mind, I present to you.. fencing.

Shaun really likes fencing and used to be on the team at his college. He was looking to get back into it a couple of months ago and found a gym with an open floor night. Curious to see if anyone wanted to join him, he asked our group of friends. I was the only one that not only jumped for the chance, but was available. We spent about 3 hours in this sweaty loft teaching me the basics, exercising, and just generally poking me with sticks. I wasn't very good, at all. But! One. They let me use a sword. Two. I got to "stab" Shaun. And three. They let me use a sword!!

Swaptastic

2009-06-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

I did it again. I signed up for another swap! Now, while I'm super proud of what I made for my partner, I've already written up the post about what I got.

"I received!! FINALLY! I had Meleriffic send to my office instead of house and while it's definitely more secure (last package I had sent to my house was stolen from my doorstep), it takes a lot longer to get through the office mail. ANYWAY! OMG! Image overload, coming your way.

When I opened the package I was talking to a coworker and both of our reactions were immediately "Whoa". Meleriffic, you out did yourself, completely. I was a little overwhelmed, still am really, but I love it ALL. I'll start with the group shot:

So I had to explain most all of this to my coworker, but then a fellow geek walked by and threatened to steal most of it. Let's see how much you guys can recognize without the explanations.

First up! The dice bag! I play DnD and while I already have a dice bag, I know this one won't go to waste. It actually is the perfect size for a crochet project bag, so my cat get at the pieces. That, or I will actually need a bigger dice bag soon. I keep getting more somehow. The quote on it is from Discworld, which I LOVE and i laughed so hard when I read it the first time. More when I read the note explaining everything.

Out of what looks like the same sweater she made me arm warmers for at work (someone refuses to let it get above 60 in here). I put them on and haven't taken them off since. It's been a super stressful week and "Don't Panic" in big, bold, friendly letters on my arm is exactly what I need right now.

Melerific did a lot of research on my DnD character and I think one of the things to come out of that research is a completely adorable set of dice hangers. It's a D4 and D8 and while I can't put them in the car cause the dog will eat them.. they're on my monitor as I type.

So this is amazing. My DnD character, Ed, who is a wizard with a thing for pirate hats and fire, in all her glory, embroidery style! The detail on this is amazing and I already have may too many places I want to put her. I could put her on a quilt, on the back of a hoodie, frame her, make her a pillow.. the possibilities are endless and I LOVE THE DETAIL! It's exactly how I imagined her! The material is a bit creased from travel and I didn't have anything to really stretch it out, so this picture just doesn't do it justice.

Onto the Mario goodness! First off, stitch markers! These are completely adorable. I never actually have had stitch markers before, I always end up using bits of yarn and I hate it. But now.. my knitting projects are going to be done in style! Woot!

I would have to say that this one is in my top 5 for this swap (I can't decide on a number one..). It's a Rubix cube with pictures from my favorite animes of all time. I've already had it wander off in the hands of various coworkers. It's got Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Trigun, Totoro, Full Metal Alchemist, and Howl's Moving Castle pictures for the sides. I refuse to let anyone mix it up.. I love it too much. They can mix up the normal one I already had at my desk, heh. I'm going to definitely copy this idea for a future swap, hehe.

If I had to pick one thing that just made me completely squeal from this package, this would definitely be it. I can't stop hugging it and grinning wildly. She made me my own Poporing from Ragnarok Online. I can't tell you how many of these adorable little guys I've killed to get their rares or exp from.. and how many I had as pets in game. I know I mentioned them in the questionaire, but not this specific breed of one.. and it is by far my favorite in the game and she made it perfectly! He's in my lap right now and I still can't stop hugging him! I'm spamming my old guild mates with images of it now to make them jealous.

Okay this next one is just amazing and I've had to beat off a few coworkers to keep it at my desk. It's a Mario castle with figures from the games. The effort that went into this is amazing and it's completely perfect. She burned into the wood to give it a real brick look and texture. It's the right scale for the figures and I really want to play Mario now, damnit! It's now perched on the file cabinet above my desk.

Okay, I just have to pause and say Melerific really did out do herself. Just completely. I really want to finish everything that I started and didn't have time to finish and ship it to her.

Okay, two more. More Mario! (I really love Mario.. like really. The midi files from the original are all my ringers and alarms and stuff.) I was in love with this box before I even opened it or knew what it was. And then I opened it and a few other wrapping and learned it was a Zen garden! With an amazing Mario scene painted on the inside of the lid. I'm really hesitant to open the sand and put it in there (I knock things off my desk a lot), so think I'm going to use it as a candy/goodie box instead. I hope that's okay? Either way I LOVE it.

Okay, I'm saving the most amazing one for last... the picture! She had her friend draw my DnD character for me and then framed it in this amazing frame. It's EXACTLY what I described and pictured Ed as, down to the letter. Just completely love it. I'm going to take it home and put it in my library, front and center so I get asked about it.

This package was too much and I LOVE it all. I dare say that this is the best swap package I've ever gotten. She nailed me exactly and I really want to hustle up and finish all the other stuff I started for her now, hehe. Thank you sooooooooooo much Melerific!"

Love, Peace and Mario Madness!
Tar

Yes, I Do Own a Dress

2009-06-16T23:59:00.001-07:00

And heels too.

Cisco was added to the Dow Jones recently to replace GM. To celebrate my friends and I decided to dress up and hit the town in style. When I mentioned to the organizer that I was planning on attending and would have to pick what to wear, he said something along the lines of "Oh, I mean, don't worry too much about it. I mean, do you even own a skirt?" The only reply to this was, of course, to glare and vow that I would not only show up in a skirt but I would do him one better and arrive in a dress. Accessories, as well. He used this knowledge to fuel other people to dress up as well, stating simply "Even Tiffany is wearing a dress!" Now to the pictures.

From left to right: Shaun (coworker, Donovan's twin, one of "the boys"); Stephine (Virgina's roommate); Ben/Lodi/White Ben (coworker, one of "the boys"); Virgina (coworker, photographer, friend); Me; Dennis (organizer, coworker, friend); .. some guy.. Alex? (coworker, I think).

This is my (and most everyone's) favorite picture of me from the party. She took it when I wasn't paying attention, obviously, and the funny thing is the one right after it where I posed was HORRIBLE. It's now my profile picture a lot of places.

We went to iHop afterwards for the after-party and "omg I'm starving" get together. I've never been to an iHop with 18 people cramming into seating meant for 12 before. It was hilariously fun. My camera was one of the only ones left by this time and it got passed around a bit. When I got it back and took the pictures off, I was pleased to find gems like this one. This is my favorite picture from the whole iHop adventure. Brian (just met him that night) is the guy right up in the shot and Venkat (softball "manager") is standing. I think I asked him something about ties to get him to turn and look at me.. I'm not sure, but I do know that sometime near when this picture was taken, we all stole the guy's ties and practiced tying them. I was the only female who had some prior knowledge.

No, I did not wear those shoes the whole night. I drove, as usual, and was smart enough to toss my flip flops in the back of the car before we left. I wore heels most the night.. my calves were sore the next day/that day (I didn't get home until 4:30). There are a lot of awesome things going on in this picture. All I have to add is that yes, Shaun is most always that amusing.

Last but not least, that picture. I have no idea what Josh (Sonia's husband & my Yahoo! softball teammate) was telling Ben(/Katie/Asian Ben, coworker & one of "the boys"), but I do know that I couldn't not take a picture of him telling it.

So I just realized that I mentioned a LOT of stuff that you guys may or may not already know. Like I have a group of guys that I hang out with that I refer to as "my/the boys", that I play on a Yahoo! softball team, that I rarely wear skirts (okay, you knew that already), or that I got a new tattoo (did ya notice it in one of the pics?). I'm going to try and get better, I swear, about updating. What you don't realize is that I've been writing bits and pieces of blog posts and saving them as drafts to come back to later. I just never seem to come back to them.. I'll try, though.

Peace, Love, and thank you Aunt Jeannie for turning me on to White House/Black Market!
Tar

2009-06-05T09:42:00.001-07:00

I Meet the Most Interesting People

2009-05-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure if it says something about me that I tend to attract interesting people. My friend Dennis believes without a doubt that I have the widest and most diverse group of friends out of everyone he knows. I can’t seem to have a conversation with him without him remarking at how amazing this fact is. I’ll admit that I do have a wide berth of acquaintances, spanning across most (if not all) typical genres and groups of people. I always had assumed that this was somewhat typical of someone that travelled and moved around as much as I did (and hopefully will do again, soon). A recent encounter on an airplane has adjusted my view of myself and relationships, so much so that I felt the need to write this post up instead of work while on the shuttle to Fort Collins. This is an interesting post for me because, you see, I’m writing it now but won’t be able to post it until Saturday, at the earliest. It wasn’t going to be my “I went to Colorado, Surprise!” post, but like I already said, I had an interesting encounter. I won’t get into the details of the trip I’m currently on, as that isn’t what I’m really itching to get down. I’ll save that all for another post.

No, this post is going to be able me and the interesting people I tend to find myself surrounded by. I’ve always known that my friends are a bit different, each one unique and special (and maybe a bit crazy) that makes them stick out from the swell of the general population. A couple may have something in common but it’s not rare for me to have several friends that’s only connection in the world is me. I’ve discussed with Shaun (co-worker and close friend in San Jose) the difference between my way of finding friends and his, and I think that a brief summary would help explain what I’m going to be diving into. Shaun and I both joined Cisco at the same time and with the same group of new hires. His approach to finding friends in that group was to hang out with them all, mine was to concentrate on only one or two people. I find that people natural group together into genres and “clicks” on their own and that I always seem to be floating between a couple of those natural divisions. Shaun was the starting point for one of those groups, inviting anyone and everyone he could to outings and events, letting people drop out on their own from the group. He’d use the outing to learn more about people and then decide who to pursue more one-on-one friendships with. Me, on the other hand, decided to start with exploring one-on-one friendships right off the bat. Typically this lands me fewer contacts, but the ones I have are stronger and more meaningful, in my opinion. I also tend to end up forging friendships with people in different groups, meaning I have access to a much larger friend base then the people that stick to just one group. This explains the strange set of friends I have in Fort Collins, and why I have to spend today and tonight juggling 4 different groups of friends I’m obligated (and extremely looking forward to) hanging out with. (Hmm.. I think I’m starting to use parenthesis and commas incorrectly, again.) I’m a bit critical when it comes to establishing meaningful friendships and I guard certain levels of information from people until I learn on what level I can trust them. I’d like to think that I’m not overly rude but if you don’t interest me and I don’t feel a connection, I don’t feel much reason to talk to you beyond what is required. If it takes me 4 introductions to remember someone’s name, it’s probably because I’ve met too many of them and they’ve all blurred together. This summary of how I pick friends really doesn’t explain how interesting people tend to find me, though. It just explains why I pick interesting people. I’ve decided the reason for the prior is because I am, in fact, interesting. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

The most recent person to tell me this was the gentleman I sat next to on the plane today. I knew he was a bit different (him and his wife) when they asked to sit next to me and he took the center seat, his wife the aisle. He was a shorter man, balding, Indian, and wearing those ultra UV-protection sunglasses. He had no problem talking to me and asking me questions people tend to feel are too personal and I was glad to have sat next to someone as refreshingly open as myself. I wasn’t aware how different this couple was for about an hour, though, as I immediately fell asleep before we even pulled away from the gate. It was a 7:15am flight, I had gone to bed at midnight the night prior and gotten up to take the train at 4:10am. Did I mention I’ve been working 18 hour days this week? Yeah.. I deserved a good pass out. I was enjoying it, too, until my Indian friend accidently knocked his nearly full can of Diet Coke onto my leg during his own enjoyable slumber. His wife waked me, apologizing profusely, and offered me the airline snacks I missed during my nap to make up for it. Not a lot got on me and I wasn’t too concerned, not after that blissful hour of sleep and was drifting off again when I realized the little girl in the seat in front of me had been dropping nearly all her toys on the floor and they were sliding back to me. After a lengthy and complicated retrieval process (crayons are more difficult to pick up with your toes when you’re knees are restricted by the seat in front of you), I was suddenly asked by my Indian friend about my lip ring. I’m very rarely asked by anyone under the age of 30 about the piercing and was please to answer, more so when his wife became very interested in it. She continued to drill me about it and the pros and cons of other piercings, as if she were interested in getting one herself. He, I learned, slips in and out of sleep very easily and would make comments or ask questions occasionally. Eventually she decided that I just must have him read my palm and shook him until he blinked enough sleep from his eyes to take my hand and start studying it.

Now, I’ve never held much stock in these kinds of things, though I understand that to some people they hold a lot of weight. I’m not completely against the concept of palm reading, just wary of it. Nonetheless, I was amused by the entire situation and realizing I was too awake to get back to sleep, let him continue. He studied both of my hands for a very long while, sometimes slipping back into the slumber world only to be shaken out of it by his wife. He only asked me which hand I wrote with and then started to mumble to himself as he kept studying. After nearly a good 20 minutes of study he turned to me, pushed his sunglasses to perch on his forehead and asked me my name. I smirked and told him and then he remarked with what I’m assuming to be wonder “Tiffany, you are a very interesting specimen” and then immediately went back to studying. His wife’s eyes asked with intense interest what he said and when I told her, she literally clapped her hands in glee. She leaned across him to tell me with a very serious tone that he very rarely spent this much time reading anyone’s palm and that I should feel special for what he told me. I was amused, for sure, and enjoyed the swell of ego that came from both their statements.

He ended up studying my hand for just over an hour and demanded that I let him do charts for me. It turns out that he comes from a long line of priests and that he was chosen as the priest for this generation back at his family’s temple in Indian. He was raised as such and when the time came for him to take the position, he refused the title and came to America instead. I truly believe that this is in-fact his true past as everything he told me about myself I agree to be true. He told me that I was very self-confident but never could seem to find giving myself to anything completely. He said that I’m very nice and make a lot of compromises for other people but refuse to let them do the same for me. I need to be wary of trusting people that will take advantage of this and because of this, should put off marrying as late as I possibly can, when I’m sure I’m not compromising. He said I refuse to let myself grow attached to anyone or anything and until I learn to do more for myself, should continue to do so. He said that I’m a “free spirit”, unable to stay in one place too long because I can’t seem to get attached to anything. He also said that I should embrace that while I’m young, as well as find a job that allows me to do so, as well as is what I really want to do. He said that if I let myself, I could easily become a manager within a year or so, but probably wouldn’t because I don’t like where I’m at. He also said that while I’m fantastic with kids, I shouldn’t have some for a long while because I won’t be able to really become attached to them.

When he and his wife learned that I live in San Jose, they were insistent on having me over for dinner sometime. This is actually the second time I’ve been asked to come over for dinner to someone’s house that I met on a plane. The last flight I had, actually, I met a woman who demanded I let her take me to my apartment from the airport instead of taking the lightrail (I politely refused until I realized that I would have to wait an hour for the next train). She was a nanny and we talked about her charges and my experience with Caitlin. Interesting people, indeed. I think that it’s happening more often on recently flights simply because I’m flying Southwest, which lets you pick where you sit when you get on the plane, as a first come, first seat choice system. Makes sense, when you think about it, that I would pick interesting people to sit next to, and they me.

Anyway, we’re nearly Fort Collins and I have to start packing up. I’ll post this Saturday and then write another one on Monday or so.

Love, Peace, and I really wish I had my car,
Tar

A Day of Firsts (for Ichi, at least)

2009-05-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is most likely going to be a shorter post because I need to get back to work so I can get home, but I wanted to get it down before I got lost in my own stuff again. This week is going to be crazy busy. Just insane. Anyway, this post isn't about that. It's about Ichi's day of firsts.

Saturday I had big plans. Plans that Ichi decided weren't all that thrilling to her. First I was going to take her to the dog park, something I know that she would have enjoyed, and then I was going to get my allergy shots. The order reversed from a normal Saturday, but I was planning on going to my Dungeon's and Dragons game at noon, so it made more sense this way. The game was going to end at 6 and from there my buddy Ben and I would head up to Oakland to catch The Shins in concert. I knew, however, that these plans were going to be out of whack as soon as I rolled out of bed.

My little puppy girl has become an adult dog, everyone. That's right, Ichi's had her first heat as of Saturday morning. While this is a exciting (if not a bit messy) event, it also means she can't go to the dog park for at least a month. Walking her is a little bit more of a challenge, as well. Le sigh.

This post isn't really about that, though. No.. this post is about Ichi's first chocolate bar. Hopefully, her first and last chocolate bar. Not sure how many of you know this, but chocolate is poisonous to dogs (and cats). The purer the chocolate, the worse it is. And Ichi decided to make her first chocolate experience a good one. It's really my fault for leaving the bar on the coffee table. It had been there for nearly 6 months, half eaten and open. Buried under fabric and books. Didn't stop the bored puppy. Nope, not at all. I was in the shower, totally unaware. She was apparently having a morning snack. Why she did it now after 6 months is completely lost on me.. but anyway, back to the chocolate.

I'm lucky I noticed the wrapper, otherwise I would have never known she had eaten it. Not until it was far too late. We're talking I was going to leave her home alone for 7 hours too late. After I noticed the wrapper, I called the emergency vet and talked to them about it. They recommended I bring her in, so I went ahead and did. We weren't 100% on if she had in fact ate the bar but it's always better to play it safe in these situations. More so when you consider Ichi had a pretty empty stomach. They went ahead and drugged her and emptied her stomach of what little there was in there, and sure enough, a very decent and deadly amount of dark chocolate. She's fine now, completely back up to par. Aside from a few spots on the carpet from making sure she really had an empty stomach when we got home and a dent in my back account, there was no harm done. I'd like to say she learned her lesson.. but I think, really, I'm the one that learned something.

Love, Peace, and is it really 3am?!
Tar

Quilting Time

2009-05-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a "I want to learn (blank) swap" on Craftster.org and got a quilting kit from my partner, donniesgirl. I remember helping my Grandma Edith do a couple of quilting projects when I was younger, but I've never really learned (or just don't remember) the finer points of the craft. When I moved to California I stole the sewing machine from my mom's garage in the hopes that I could pick up this craft again. Swaps like the ones at Craftster are fantastic for giving you an excuse to learn a new craft and this one in particular was a huge motivation. The best way to describe it is that if you have the motivation to sign-up and send a kit to your partner, you're going to have the motivation to actually do your craft when you get your kit. I think I proved that point as I did this quilt in two sittings of about 8 hours each and just finished it this weekend. Now I just want to brag about it. So yeah. First quilt. Woo!

It was supposed to be a log cabin quilt that was just 2x3 squares, but I decided to take advantage of the fact I was sent a ton of fabric and make it bigger, as well as tweak the pattern to something more me. I made the squares per instructions from my partner and then winged the rest based on my favorite quilt from Edith. (I still have fabric left over to make more squares.)

On a side note, my dining room/library/nook-of-awesome really lived up to its name and was turned into a quilting cove for the last two weeks. It will probably be a scrapbooking cove soon, after I get my next round of knitting projects done, that is. I really need to come up with a better system for storing all of my different craft stuff.. that will be a project in and of itself. Back to the quilt.

I don't really have a large flat surface to lay things out on, aside from my floor. So this quilt has spent a lot of time on the floor, something that Ichi has been enjoying thoroughly. Ichi just wouldn't leave it alone. She's been laying or playing on the fabric since it was in jelly roll form. Laying it out to pin was apparently an open invitation for her to take a nap on it. She finally got the hint and started laying on the edges (until I wasn't looking, of course). There's something about this thing that just draws her to it.. no idea. Maybe my partner had something interesting in her house which had a very interesting smell.

The colors are very warm and I'm glad I decided to make it bigger, as well as put the brown strips between the squares. It was a LOT of extra effort and I was pulling my hair out by the end. Naturally a couple of mistakes were made and I've fixed them all but one, so far. By the time I finished I was just fed up with working on it. I still have to get myself to fix one seam and then wash it. Who knew cutting straight strips was such a pain in the butt? Not having a large flat surface to lay the fabric out doesn't help matters either. The jelly roll strips for the squares were precut and I didn't realize how easy I had it until I went to cut the strips for the brown between the squares.

I still can't get over how much I love these colors and patterns... they're very busy, but I don't care. They're perfect for me. I wasn't too sure about how the strips would all work together. There's a lot of different patterns in that one jelly roll. I tried to group them into "heavy" and "light" pattern categories and build the squares based on that. I didn't really get a division I liked until around the 4th square, though. I can't even tell you when I caught the hang of it, they're all just so chaotic. That and I was exhausted for most of the square making. I did them all in one shot one Saturday after softball practice and DnD, not wrapping up until about 1am. Even considering how tired I was whenever I worked on it, I think I only messed up once or twice when making these squares. And even still, I can tell you the screw ups were just cause I was tired or too into watching Abby play in the fabric.

Both the girls were very into my project. Abby spent most of her time laying on the scraps or my felt "ironing board" on the table. She would watch the needle on the machine when I was going and I was always a little worried she'd try and swat it while I was working. She was very good otherwise, never getting in the way. When I needed to move her, she was more then happy to comply. Ichi, on the other hand.. was a pain in the butt. She kept trying to lay on the fabric when I had it laid out, taking naps and playing with her toys whenever she had the chance. When I had it pinned and was sewing the edge on, she followed me to the machine and laid on the part of the quilt that had overflowed onto the floor. While I was sewing the edge on. I didn't realize it until it was almost too late and nearly ripped a hole in the layers. I'm lucky I didn't break the needle.

Ichiko's excitement about the quilt being done makes mine look insignificant. She followed me around when I carried it and tried to lay on it whenever it was one a surface that was flat-ish. I kept the quilt to myself for awhile but she just literally would not stop trying to lay or be on it. I finally gave up and let her have it all to herself. I don't think she minded much. Because of this, I was only able to get one shot of the edges. I used the tie-dye looking strips for it and just absolutely love the extra "pop" it adds to the quilt. I was eyeing the leftover strips I had when I was pinning it all together. I really wanted to add another row of squares so it'd fit on my bed.. but I didn't have enough backing. So it's destined to be a couch blanket, which just means it gets more exposure.

So yeah. Just showing it off, cause I'm proud of myself. I should be, right?

Love, Peace, and Here's the forum post,
Tar

Weekend Adventuring

2009-04-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize when I moved to "Sunny" California just how sunny it would actually be here. I'd heard stories of the "perfect day", obviously, but I could only remember the warm summer from my internship here and the chilly winter I just experienced. Granted, it was sunny for most, if not all of those seasons, but nothing to make me want to send hours upon hours outdoors. And then Spring happened. I couldn't remember days like that in Colorado. Maybe I'd spent too many of my final days there indoors, hunched over a keyboard. Anyway you slice it, though, the "Perfect Day" is the only way to describe my Saturday and Sundays recently.

I use the term "Perfect Day" because I was recently asked by Rob (aka Fish, if you remember him) what my "Perfect Day" would be. I couldn't really give him an answer he wanted at the time because I could only think of days I'd recently had. Even with the small changes I would add to make them even more perfect than they were, they still weren't the far off dream day that he was aiming for. They were packed, exhausting and left little room for anything to be added, sure, but that's why they're so perfect. You should all know by now I like to keep busy and my "Perfect Days" are no exception.

This brings me to my next and main point. I think you really have to experience this point first hand (as much is allowed), so I'm going to try and do my best to give it the 3rd person perspective I think the people in the store would have had when this conversation took place.

It's around 6 o'clock on an oddly warm Sunday. The sun's been shining non-stop since around 8 this morning and you're enjoying the cool breeze the A/C units in the grocery store are pushing out nearly non-stop. It's a relief from the almost suffocating heat outside. You weren't expecting a day like today until the summer. It wasn't exactly welcome.

You're cruising the meats and cheese in a half-hearted state of focus while idly wondering how the petite Vietnamese woman in front of you expects you to get around her, her cart, and her three children when a laugh interrupts the quiet grocery shopping murmurs. It's loud and full of energy, unusual for a Sunday shopping trip, so your automatically drawn to the source. That's when your confusion doubles, I'm sure.

About ten feet to your left and coming this way is what appears to be a couple. The man is who was laughing, at the young woman it would seem, who was asking a question about her "hat". The term hat is applied loosely to what she is wearing because it is in fact a grocery hand basket. She has it turned over onto her head, set slightly off-kilter with the handle hanging under her chin like a bonnet tie. It is hard black plastic with "Safeway" painted on the rim. A standard issue grocery hand basket. She's carrying in her hands a package of hot dogs and a bottle of seasoning salt, things you think would be better suited to be in the basket in place of her head, but apparently she doesn't agree. Both the man and the woman are flush and slightly sun burned. Their hair is wet but wind and sun blown, and there are wet splotches on their clothing. They seem to be ignorant of their surroundings as they discuss the fashion sense of the "hat", only to weave around people and their carts like they're part of the scenery, talking over and through them. You tune into their conversation.

"You can't really complain about it's comfort, though, seeing as it was originally meant for something else." The man. He's taller than the woman by almost a foot, lanky with shining dark eyes. His smile is soft and the lines in his face imply that it is far from uncommon. Even his voice is filled with it, almost as if he speaks in smiles.

"True, but I can still whine about it. Where the heck is the hamburger meat?" The woman. Her smile is wider, taking over her whole face, cracking through the slight burn on her cheeks. She seems a little old to be wearing braces. "Dude, what is with these shoes? I swear, they just refuse to stay on my feet. Oh, wait, hang on, pre-made patties or no?"

"It's cheaper just to get the normal ground beef. Just take them off. Here it is." He gestures to the open freezer in front of him.

"I don't have enough hands to carry them. Hmm.. how much do you think?"

He chuckles. "I think your hat might help with the carrying. I think a pound would be enough. Ooooh.. now I'm craving hamburgers."

"Pound it is. You could always stick around for fooding. Just tell Heather to come down." She's staring at the meat and shifts around a few packages of ground beef before selecting one, removing her hat and transferring all her goods to it. She turns and skips back into the main aisle. Literally.

"She's not feeling up to it and I told her I'd cook for her. You said they carried Sunshine Wheat?" They're making their way towards the bakery. You turn to follow. You had to get sandwich bread anyway.

"I always stumble over it here. Dude, so I think people would get the wrong impression if they met me right now. I mean, really, they'd think I was freaking nuts."

No kidding. His laughter seems to agree with you. "While this is true, I think they would find you crazy if they met you at any point. They would have to experience a whole day to begin to understand your Tar-ness."

"So are you saying that I should require anyone interested in knowing me follow me around for a day? That'd be a first date they'd never forget. 12 hours of Tar. It has movie rights potential.."

This guy's standard response seems to be laughing. "A Day of Tar.. hmm, it does have a ring to it. I think a full 24 hours would be best, though. You don't run a typical timeline."

"Given. But I don't think any day would do. It'd have to be a day like today."

"Why today?"

"Okay, so think about it. I got up at 8, cleaned my kitchen and watched the cat chase the Roomba. Went to softball practice at 10, puppy in tow. Spent most of practice teaching girls how to bat, a guy how to field and discussing positions with the manager. Glomped you in the parking lot of Red Robin, where I proved to the waiter I did have the menu memorized, as well as the birthday song. We spent 10 minutes maneuvering your bike, my puppy and a hamburger patty into the car. We then spent 10 minutes after arriving to my apartment discussing biking swim-wear, possible biking trails, the science of hitchhiker towels. Biked to the mall where I bought discount softballs and we practiced bat twirling to psych out the competition. How's your toe, by the way?"

Another laugh. "It's tender."

"Sorry. What next? Oh yeah, rode our bikes through a railroad car lot-"

"That was awesome. I still wish I had my camera for that. We need to go back."

"Yeah. Send the ones you took with your phone to me on Monday, though. Anyway, railroad car, then getting lost in various neighborhoods until we got the Shaun's. Kidnapped him-"

"He was too willing for that. I'd say 'gently convinced'."

"True. 'Gently convinced' Shaun to join us. Went to get boba and talk about technicalities, then rode through random neighborhoods until we found Ben's house, on accident. Harassed him for ten minutes while playing musical bikes. Continued on to ride along the highway and then finally arrive at the pool. Convince a stranger to let us in, where we quickly removed our street clothes and jumped in. Get accused by a 5 year old of stealing his dolphin-"

His laughter's been slowly growing throughout her rant and it spikes again at that moment. They've been grabbing items here and there as they've gone, now they're paused in front of the buns. Looks like they're grilling.

"Are there no hot dog buns left or am I blind?"

He points at the back of the bottom shelve. "Blind, but justifiably so. Too close to the project."

"Thanks. Jump out of the pool dripping wet and bike here in swim wear. I still can't get over how gorgeous it is today. Cram two bikes into your car while drip drying in the parking lot. Then we come in here and I put a basket on my head. It's only 6, too. The day's barely began!"

You've followed them to the self-check out and you're starting to make your way to a cashier yourself when hear him ask her about a steak and if she thinks 14 miles is enough to defrost it. You've lost them.. though you're not really sure you ever really had them.

Love, Peace, and I know a really amazing steak recipe now.
Tar

Why I do It

2009-03-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

This post is really not a post but a ranting. I was sharing with a friend the few pictures that I had taken with my phone while standing on the top of one of the many mountains surrounding Lake Tahoe. He made a comment and I felt the strong need to elaborate and build upon it.

"John: Damn.

John: Thats beautiful stuff.

Me: I took those pics with my phone camera

Me: Imagine the direct view

John: Yeah, it's lovely.. I always loved going into the mountains.. it makes you feel secluded, isolated.. from the world outside.

Me: And then...

You give out a cheerful yelp.. born in the bottom of your gut, built up over hours and hours of a haggled existence behind an artificial window into the infinite world of our digital subconscious.. and push yourself over the rim of the wall of snow you stand on. Gleeful screams lose themselves in your throat as you streak down the mountain, snow and pure joy trailing behind you, kicked up in a dust as the planks of wood you've strapped yourself to glide over this most beautiful expression of nature's nectar...

That is what you do in the mountains. That is what you do when there's nothing but pure white softness surrounding you.. cold and clean air, burning your lungs with it's complete lack of pollution.. That is what you do on a mountain. No matter if you have to drive two hours or ten, that is what you do.

You stumble and fall, roll and sink into clean wet bliss. You fall and laugh, getting up with your face red and stinging from this most pure expression of starting anew. You wipe yourself off, brush yourself clean and then you grin and shove off.. just to do it all over again.

You pause only to catch your breathe.. either because of the absurdly gorgeous thing that you're so utterly blessed to experience.. or because you're completely exhausted from making sure you experience it to your fullest. By the time your knees shake and your thighs burn, your eyes are hooded and the smile on your face is plastered there. You won't worry about how to get to sleep tonight. You'll just worry as to whether or not you'll make it to your bed, your bedroom, your house, your street, your town, your state.. before your body loses it's grip on the slim edge of this world's existence. That is why you do it. That is why I do it. So I can wipe myself clean, start renewed and exhausted.. the grin on my lips intense, yet slowly fading.

Until the next time.."

So it's random, and long.. and overly dramatic. But I felt the urge. I didn't know what I was writing for.. but now I realize I was writing to express what I always wanted to express when standing on the edge of a mountain. Writing to try and capture in my horrible attempt what makes me feel like I'm flying. Why I always want to go back, even if I'm sore and broke, or have to drive there and back for a total of 8 hours. I spent more time driving yesterday then skiing.. silly, but true. Next time, I'll make sure that that statement is reversed.

Love, Peace, and Happy Trails,
Tar

Lessons at the Dog Park

2009-03-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

I took Ichi to the dog park this weekend and she had a blast. Her playmate, however, did not fair as well. That's Ichi and her favorite dog park buddy, Moniko, pictured on the right. I'll tell you before I dive into the story that Moniko is okay, just a few stitches, pain pills, and no playing for a while.

Taking your dog to the dog park is a treat for both you and your furry friend, but it's not someplace you can just let your best friend run wild. A dog park is like a playground, kids of different sizes and dispositions running around, playing and fighting like any other park. The key difference is that they can't understand you when you tell them no, and usually, other people's dogs won't listen to you anyway. You also have to be a lot more aware of the situation, watching for the signs that something bad is going to happen. Most owners don't understand their dogs, or how the interact with others. They separate innocent playing in fear of it being a real fight, they shelter and comfort the scared, driving those instincts further. This is something particularly dangerous, as it makes an animal more vulnerable to attack, like Moniko was. People also tend to overreact or get very hyped up and emotional when it comes to "emergency" or "scary" situations, which doesn't help our pets, who sense and pick up those emotions. I'm not a dog expert, but I can tell you my hypothesis as to what really happened at the park on Saturday, based on my classes at PetSmart and the few episodes of the Dog Whisperer that I've seen.

Ichi and Moniko are watching two pit bulls in that picture, waiting to see if they'd be coming in the park or not. The pits arrived at the park leash-less with two men trailing behind them and were extremely excited(1). Moniko's owner had told me earlier in the afternoon that she'd been attacked by a pit a couple of weeks ago and was telling me as I took the picture that one of the pits at the gate was the one that attacked her. Ichi and Moniko were in the large dog pin, something that's fairly common when the dogs in the large pin are particularly calm and easy-going. We decided when the pits showed up that we would move our small pups to the small pin, picking them up and walking to the back gate(2). This is when one of the men let the pits into the pin(3).

The pit that had previously attacked Moniko immediately ran to her and her owner, jumping on the man and grabbing at her exposed back side(4). The man was trying to knee the dog away and was panicking, the other dogs coming to crowd around him and jump at him as well. The pit got his teeth into Moniko and pulled her out of her owner's arms, tossing her to the ground. At this point the other owners were running to Moniko's aid, pulling dogs aside and yelling. I dropped Ichi into the small pin at this point and turned to step in(5) when I saw Moniko go flying about four feet from the ground. Her owner had picked her up again and the pit had grabbed her once again, shaking her and tossing her through the air. Someone had managed to grab the pit and was using all her strength (the dog could have easily weighed more then her) to hold him back as Moniko raced toward the exit(6), where she was snatched up and dropped into the small pin by another owner. A young man then grabbed the two pits and dragged them to the small enclosure between the pins, where he was quickly screamed at by various enraged women.

Moniko lost a decent bit of blood, considering she'd only 8 pounds to start. She had some deep puncture wounds in her thigh, but her owner seemed much more relaxed about the situation when he left a message on my phone a couple of hours later. Anyone that knows me in emergency situations knows that I tend to run unnervingly calm, and this one was no exception. I talked to the young man and got his information and then asked him to go put the attacker in his vehicle while I called animal services(7), assuring him that I'd watch the other pit. He didn't have any leashes for the dogs and had to literally drag the beast away, a feat that would have been impossible if he had to drag both of the large males. The young man had to walk the pit all the way home, as it turns out the dogs got out of the house and made their way down to the park without his (or the "owners") permission(8). While waiting for the man's return, I talked with animal services to explain the situation and get a better understanding of the steps we should be taking. The owner was still rather shaken and somewhat stunned, but I was luckily able to convince him that I would handle things there and he could take Moniko to the vet.

The rest of the story is rather boring.. filled with me waiting with the other pit, idly playing with him while Ichi had the time of her life being adored by two teenagers and their puppy. I gave a witness statement to the animal services officer, talked to her about what was going on, assured the young man I wasn't going to have him arrested, and tried my best to contain the other owner's fears of the remaining pit bull(9). The young man gave the officer his information and promised to pay for any vet bills, obviously distraught by the events. He claimed that the dogs weren't his but a friend's, and they had gotten out when he went over to see if his friend was home (he wasn't, and we're still not sure if this friend "exists" at all). It was commented a few times by the officer and other owners that I should consider getting a job at Animal Services, something I laughed off with knowing glance at the officer. The situation could have been a lot worse then it was and we were lucky that Moniko survived and the pit didn't attack anyone human. I don't mind taking the lead in emergency situations, but it's not something I want to do daily. Animal Services officers have one of the toughest jobs, in my opinion. They have to see and deal with a lot of very painful things for animal lovers and happy endings are extremely rare. The fact that the young man stuck around instead of disappearing was almost unheard of, and still amazes me. Their job is not one I take lightly, or envy.

So I know this post is getting huge, but I wanted to go ahead and highlight a few points.

(1) Cesar Millan will tell you that this is a bad thing, right off the bat. Excited dogs entering a dog park is extremely dangerous. They're more likely to attack or be attacked because they disrupt the playfully calm environment of the park. This is the thing that made me really wary of the pits, even before Moniko's owner told me that one had attacked her before.

(2) Picking up your dog is something that you typically shouldn't do. It teaches them things about when you pick them up, like it's okay to be afraid or to seek shelter in your arms. In this case, both Ichi and Moniko were still excited and were more annoyed that we paused playtime than they were "afraid". I carried Ichi like I do when I pick her up to play, not holding her to my chest or as defensively as Moniko's owner. I think this is one of the reasons the pit went after Moniko instead of Ichi, even though he had to run past Ichi and I to get to her. I radiated calm, Moniko's owner radiated fear and nervousness.

(3) The man that let the pits into the pin wasn't their owner. He was a neighbor to the dogs and knew them well, but he still shouldn't have let them in. They were off leash and extremely excited. He should have waited and looked for their owner, at the least.

(4) This one's very much my opinion, but the way he was carrying her made it rather easy to grab her. It's unfortunate, but none the less true. I walked close to the fence, ready to drop Ichi into the other pin if necessary. He walked about ten feet from the fence, unable to do anything but try and fight off a very eager pit bull.

(5) This was stupid, I know, but I felt obligated. Most of the owners at the park don't really understand how to act in this kinds of situations so my minor knowledge from classes at PetSmart and watching the Dog Whisperer (poor excuse, I know) is only better then theirs. I don't recommend stepping into a scenario like this willingly unless you're sure you know what to do.

(6) I just want to say that the woman that held the pit back was extremely lucky that he didn't turn on her. There's nothing else I can say to that, just that we were all lucky.

(7) Animal Services technically doesn't have jurisdiction in dog parks. The unusual fact that the owner wasn't around is the only thing that let them get involved. Dog parks have rules that clearly state that you're responsible for your own animals and any incidents that occur are a civil matter that must be settled between the owners, not with Animal Services. The fact that the owner of the pits wasn't there and that he'd attacked Moniko outside of the park before made it possible for Animal Services to get involved.

(8) We're still not sure if the young man was the owner or not. He seemed to have trouble remembering the owner's name when asked.

(9) Pit bulls have a bad rep, and it's incidents like this that create that. They're strong animals, both physically and willfully, and owners that don't know how to handle them are more to blame then the dog. The pit that remained at the park was a sweetie, completely submissive and calm, no threat unless provoked. I felt completely comfortable entering the pin with him and petting him. The other owners at the park were shocked and yelled in concern, something I can't really blame them for after seeing what the other pit had done. It's a shame that these dogs get profiled like they do and it's a trend that will continue if people treat them like the other owners did. The attacking pit bull is an exception in the world of pit bulls, not the standard. This doesn't mean you should go up and pet any passing pit bull, not in the slightest. You still need to be wary of them and give them the respect such a powerful breed demands, just don't expect them to be monsters, otherwise they'll become one.

Alright, that's taken all morning to write. Time to actually work. Oh, as a side note, I think Abby was trying to make it extra clear that a cat's life is the best when we got home.

Love, Peace, and Safe Dog-Parking,
Tar

What My Puppy Has Taught Me, Part 3

2009-03-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

This is Part 3 in what seems to be a never ending arch.

Playtime
Anyone that has watched the Dog Whisperer knows how important exercise and playtime is to a dog’s happiness. Without a proper outlet for all her energy, Ichi can get pretty destructive to my apartment (and cat). She doesn’t listen to commands, runs circles through furniture, barks at anything, and chews on everything. Playtime.. is a life saver.

When Ichi was still in puppy class, I made a point to take her to the dog park after every class. She ran and ran and ran until I dragged her back to the car, where she passed out for the rest of the day. I haven’t had the motivation recently to take her, either due to my own thing or because of the dreary weather, so she’s been stuck at home with only a small track to run through all my junk. Her frustration is also starting to show through her obedience.

This is the issue I’ve noticed with myself for a long time now. If all I do is work work work, I get bitter about it. I snap more readily, roll my eyes almost constantly, and pretty much turn into a bitch. LIfe isn’t just about work. It’s not just about playtime, though. It’s a balance act, like most everything else in life. Movie and video games every once in a while goes a long way when you’ve spent hours at work. That’s another benefit about having a puppy, though. Ichi is often my reason to leave work. Before I got her I’d be at work from 9 to 8 most days, sometimes later, sometimes earlier. And what better thing to do at home but not work? Well play with the puppy, obviously.

Peace, Love, and Tennis Balls,
Tar

P.S. - If you have some time, read my post on the events at the dog park this weekend.

What My Puppy Has Taught Me, Part 2

2009-02-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

This is the second part in a multi-part arch.

Consistency
While consistency is a huge part of raising any type of creature, it's also helpful with life in general. It's setting rules, for yourself and your puppy. If you declare that your puppy must always sit before she's allowed to say hello to people or other puppies, you have to be consistent. The same goes for tricks or basic commands. You have to use the same signals and words for each trick and command. You also have to give rewards consistently, whether they're treats, affection or toys, you always have to give them something.

I very quickly learned that these same principles are used within my everyday life. I have to be consistent with how I interact with people, and with myself. When someone does something that helps me out, I have to thank them, and give that same kind of thankfulness to everyone that helps me out. Obviously things that require more rewards are given what they deserve, but all in scale. I give the same rewards to myself, when I do something particularly difficult or deserving. I also give myself rules that I have to follow. Like always brush my teeth at least once a day, don't let people underestimate me, always give everything I can to a project, so on and so forth. Realizing that the skills that made my puppy awesome could also make me happier and eventually, more awesome, I started to be more strict with myself on being consistent. It's led to some very good results, but those are another post entirely.

Patience
Puppies aren't geniuses. I mean, yes, mine is very close.. but it still takes her awhile to realize what I what. It also takes awhile for her to learn a skill to the point that every time I say "down," she lays down. I have to be extremely patient to teach Ichi a new trick, build it up piece by piece, give her enough time to realize what I want, and then keep repeating the process. I also have to be patient when walking her.. living without a backyard is probably the best way to learn patience. When Ichi was still being potty trained, I had to walk her out to the patch of grass across the way every hour or so. And even then I had to stand there and wait for her to find the perfect spot. Sometimes she found it, sometimes not. Eventually I could wait to take her out every two hours, three, four, until now we're at about 5. Which is very convenient.

Learning patience is probably one of the most valuable skills that Ichi has taught me, so far. I'm more willing to wait, more able to wait. I build up to things piece by piece instead of trying to just jump right to building the final product. That can be applied to building anything, from material goods to financial status to relationships. It's an obvious concept, often overlooked.

Love, Peace, and Puppy Kisses,
Tar

What My Puppy Has Taught Me, Part 1

2009-01-31T15:33:00.001-08:00

It’s been said that if you raise a puppy from full-out puppydom to hard working adult you’ll have learned a lot of the skills that come with raising a child. First time parents that have raised a puppy aren’t as stressed and react more calmly when something happens. They understand the importance of scheduling, consistency, and a good carpet cleaner. Waking up at the crack of dawn for diaper changes and feedings is easier than waking up to find Fido chewing on your down comforter and peeing on your pillow (or, god help, pooping on your pillow). Oh, and don’t forget the ability to speak in baby-talk. That’s something that you learn very quickly with a puppy.

There’s some advantages that raising a puppy has over raising a child, and some obvious disadvantages. I think my favorite advantage is the speed. Accidents and potty training lasts for only a fraction of the time, as with midnight wake-up barks and destruction of prized comforters and pillows. They don’t understand what you’re saying, though.. so you can’t eventually have a talking companion as with a child. They’ll never leave you, like a grown child would, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on the dog and the child.

So in raising my bouncing Corgi Ichiko, I’ve learned and practiced a lot of skills that will help me in my “full adult” life, which is to say “when I have kids.” I’ve compiled this list, that's broken up over several posts, for all those wishing to have a little insight into the life of a single chick living with a cat who thinks she’s a dog and a dog who thinks everyone and everything was put on this planet to play with her. Or, you know, if you just want to have a laugh.

Scheduling
I never was a stickler for keeping a tight schedule, even when I was in college and trying to keep 5-6 jobs from not crashing into each other. Try as I might, I was never able to stick to a schedule for more than a week or two. Enter Ichiko. I learned very quickly that if I didn't get her (and myself) onto a schedule, I'd be getting way less sleep and way more accidents then I bargained for. I had to feed her at relatively the same time everyday, let her out every couple of hours, make sure she didn't get food or water however many hours before bedtime, and get her to sleep at close to the same time every night. If I didn't follow this schedule well enough, she'd be crying at 3 in the morning to go potty.. and once she was awake, she was AWAKE.

So I soon learned that the best thing to do was stick to a schedule. She taught me that unless I kept her up past 11, I'd be getting up before 7. Getting up at 7 actually is nice for work, so I decided that I'd keep her with her natural clock and just adapt mine to her's. Now I am exhausted and looking for bed at around 11 every night and up and at them no later then 8 every morning. On weekends, when I used to sleep in until noon, I now wake up at 9. Not only has picking up my dog's schedule helped balance my life between work and play, I feel more energized throughout the day.

So the moral of this story is: Stick to a sleep schedule. You'll feel better about yourself and once you get really into it, you won't need 4 alarm clocks to wake up in the morning. Just a cellphone and a puppy.

Until next time,
Tar

Cubed Moss Stitch Scarf

2008-06-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

So now that I'm not in college anymore, should I change the title of the blog? I think so..

Anyway, this is so I can post a pattern for a scarf I made up. I ended up making it on accident, I think, but I loved it so much I kept going with it and it became a gift for a friend. And then my mom wanted one so I have to make it for her too. It's rather simple pattern, easy to shrink or expand to your gauge, yarn, or desired size of scarf.

Cubed Moss Stitch Scarf

Yarn: Jiffy's Thick & Quick
Needles: US 11
Gauge: Not Important

Cast on an even number of stitches, S, divisible by 4
Row1 & R2: *K2, P2* to end
R3 & R4: *P2, K2* to end

Repeat Rows 1-4 until you have what looks to be a square (the length, done in L rows, is equal to the width [Note: L may not equal S])

Then, starting new row count:
---------------------
Row1: K(S/2), P(S/2)
Repeat R1 until you have L/2 rows (including R1)
R(L/2 + 1): P(S/2), K(S/2)
Repeat previous row until you have gone L/2 rows
---------------------

Begin original rows 1-4. Repeat until desired length is almost reached. Repeat section between the --- once more, going for the same amount of rows as before. Then repeat the first section for the same amount of rows. Cast off & finish.

"Head Injury, So Typical Tar"

2008-05-04T19:44:00.001-07:00

So the title has nothing to do with what this post is about, except for the fact that I haven't posted because of the head injury and I wrote what I'm about to post while in the middle of recovering. I'll give more details on the injury later. For now, my silly attempt at writing a paper that turned into an iPhone review. Enjoy.

What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.
- Steve Jobs (1991)

It’s nearly impossible to see the day of any person living in the 21st century without some sort of technology involved somewhere within it. Television, vehicles, phones, computers, escalators, doors, clocks, lights, games, tools, cameras, they all uses some sort of technology. Charting the uses of an average college student reveals that the span between technology uses can be as little as 2 seconds to as much as however long they sleep, but that’s only if you don’t consider all of the systems out there that keep their personas in touch with the world 24/7 (social networks, voicemail, SMS, etc.). While the internet is a huge resource for students and really people from any demographic, the cell phone is usually a student’s first choice for immediate communication. Today, the cell phone is more than just a phone. It’s an instant messenger, a calendar, an address book, a map, and an internet browser. Of course, no phone is more than what an iPhone can be, truly an all-terrain bicycle for our minds.

I purchased my iPhone on a whim and out of necessity to change service providers quickly. I’d played with the phone in Apple stores since it had come out and always kept up-to-date on the system with reviews, tool updates, and technical issues. From what I’d read, the phone was really all that it had been hyped up to be, minus a few details. So when I needed a new phone, it seemed the wise, if not splurging, choice. From a user interaction standpoint, the iPhone does meet a lot of natural assumptions, as well as present somewhat of a learning curve. The look and feel of the actual physical device is like heaven in your hand, something you wish every phone would feel like. The interface is just as jiggly and pretty as you’d expect from Apple, and just as intuitive. The device is a powerful machine that really can be used for so much more than just a phone, an iPod and a web browser. The problem lies in that Apple restricts the user from harnessing that power, at least legally.

Within an hour of activating my iPhone I was disappointed with how little control I had over the device. Sure you can change the ringer, put in custom images for contacts, and move around icons, but nothing else is really available to change. You’re allowed to set a wallpaper image, but that image only shows up when you unlock the phone or when you’re on a phone call, everywhere else you’re stuck with the plain black background Apple sets. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t completely disappointed. I was still thoroughly impressed with the motion sensor on the screen that would rotate the display any which way I wanted, the shiny iPod cover-flow, the ability to flick images around my screen, it was all very cool. I just felt like a kid in a candy store who was told to only look and touch, not taste.

The applications that the phone comes standard with are obviously chosen because they’re what people most often want out of a hand-held computer. I’m calling the phone a hand-held computer because it really is more than just a phone. People have converted to using their iPhone as their personal computer, which is actually rather simple to do once you learn to get past the restrictions Apple’s based on it. The calendar, camera, notepad, photo album, calculator, clock, map, web browser, text messaging, YouTube, weather and stock applications take the iPhone and place it in a much larger demographic than most smart phones on the market today. Not many teenagers are seen carting around a Blackberry or Treo.

2008-04-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

So guess what! I got a new toy.. and you all probably expected me to end up with it eventually. That's right, it's an iPhone. Thanks to my mom finally getting fed up with Sprint and no other carrier having a decent phone or reception in San Jose, I used my tax return to get a new toy. I've been eye-balling them since they came out and now that I finally have one, I'm glad I got it. It's a powerful computer, not just a phone, iPod, Internet browser and calendar. It's an Apache server, SSH access point, calculator, Javascript editor, Nintendo game system, alarm clock, and chess game. It's pretty much my go-to system now. Not to mention I hacked it to make it half of those things.

One of the nice things about my hacks is that I can take screenshots.. so here we go. First off I modified the screen to have custom icons.. and then installed a ton more apps. It's pretty easy to find free apps out there, you just have to be sure not to get incomplete or extremely badly built stuff. The cool thing is that it's making me want to build my own apps. We'll see what happens there.

Check out all my pretty applications!

Crafty Wilds

2008-04-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

So I think one of the reasons I haven't posted in here in such a long time is because I was trying to make myself post something I was kinda bored of. What I've really been wanting to post for the last few weeks is all about the crafting I've been doing! That's right folks, I've gone crafting crazzzy. Mainly knitting.. but I've been indulging in a few other crafts. This semester has most definitely been more about relaxing and exploring my creative talents outside of the academic world.

I started knitting in the summer of 2006, thanks to Gail (and Ed). Gail had started knitting with the instruction of one of her friends and passed that knowledge onto me when I came to visit. I pretty much finished my first scarf the weekend I spent with them (my mom wears it proudly now, as seen blurrily here). I was addicted! I think by Christmas 06 I had gotten to the point where I could make a scarf that didn't have some sort of hour glass shape to it, but after Christmas school picked up and I didn't have the time. Then one day in Target I noticed a "Knitting for Dummies" pocket book in the $1 bin and grabbed it. Within a weekend, I was hooked again. Sadly I don't have pics of the few scarves after my first, but I do have pics of the ones I'm working on. I like to gift most, if not all of the stuff I make because honestly, I have too much junk. I'm trying really hard to slim down all my belongings to something more manageable for my move out to Cali. I've been selling/giving away a lot (yay for craigslist).

I guess I'll just show off my projects now... cause I'm soooo in love with showing them off.

This is a binary scarf I knitted for a friend in Rhode Island. I actually ended up folding it in half (length-wise) so that it was doubly thick and not 12 inches wide. I encoded a message into it, but I'm not letting any of you read it.

This is my stack of yarn as of two weeks ago. It's been added to a bit since then, and reduced a little. I had the pleasure of learning how to wind my own balls after Abby discovered she liked yarn. She's managed to great some fantastic knots with 6 skeins so far.. which means I've gotten to wind 6 balls. I think the balls a little better than the way the yarn comes from the store, just because it looks cute & doesn't take up as much space. They're all center-pull, too ;)

Abby's new found love of yarn gave me an idea to make her a toy that she can shred to pieces and not get in trouble for. It took me a few days to finish the ball, but that's mainly because I worked on it only for about an hour at a time. The pattern can be found here. I stuffed it with some plastic bag scraps (I'll get into that later) that I have, a plastic Easter egg with a bell inside, and a bit of cat nip. It took her awhile to get into it, but I caught her carrying it around and wrestling with it a few hours ago. I'm not sure where it is right now to get a better pic of it, she rolled it out of the room a little while ago.

This is actually the second of this kind of scarf. It was the first pattern that I ever just made up, and the first time I had done more than just a solid row of knits or purls. I gifted the original to a friend in Montreal (who loved it, by the way) and I was telling mom about how I almost didn't give it up because I loved it so much. I pointed out the brand of yarn I used to make it and she liked it so much, she asked me to make one for her. I'm making this one a little wider than the last one, but still just as awesome.

This scarf has taken me literally all semester to get done, and I'm still a ways off. It's Besotted scarf that I found the pattern for a modified to be a bit.. cooler. I've only really knitted it in my Tuesday & Thursday clases and I don't really have the urge to work on it anymore right now. Abby's tore into it three times now and this last time she really went to town. It'd probably take me an hour to just get it all back together, so I'm focusing on other projects right now.

I actually started this one sometime last summer, I think, but Abby hid the other needle from me in the middle of the night, so it's gone sitting unloved for almost a year. I finally got a new set of needles in the correct size, so I can finish this puppy anytime. It's gray and blue stripped garter stitch, and super soft. The only reason I haven't finished it yet is because I don't know who I'd give it to. If anyone wants it, shoot me an email.

Not only am I knitting, I'm also recycling! I fell in love with using plastic bags for crafts, mainly melting layers together into a fabric. My first attempt I ended up melting the plastic for too long and only got one chunk of good material. I sewed it into bags, which I gifted the scarves in. My next project was a needle holder, which I love! It holds all my knitting and crochet stuff and the best part is, because it's plastic I can write on it with dry-erase markers for stitch notes!

I still had my first sheet of plastic that I melted too long and it turned into a hard vinyl-like material, and Tim was always complaining that I never had my money with me, so I turned it into card wallets. The urge struck me randomly last night so I made one and then after using it today, figure out ways to improve it. Tim liked it so much he asked for one, so now I've made three! They're super simple and take only 10 minutes or so (once you already have the plastic material). I used clear packing tape to hold it together, and to create a clear pocket on the front for IDs. There's a tab on the inside that when you pull, lifts up some or all of your cards so it's easier to get them out. I also put a flap on it so that nothing falls out. The best part about these is that I could cut out the plastic just right to get designs on the back.

I have enough material for one more, maybe two. Just let me know if you'd like one. I absolutely love mine. It's great because I never liked wallets because of their ability to gather trash and a ton of change/receipts. This way I know I only have room for my cards and maybe a bill or two, and I don't have to worry about losing one (just about losing them all, lol).

Alright.. I'm exhausted and want to knit some wrist warmers for my hold hands.. so I'm wrapping this up. I'll post pics of the Goomba hat I made later. If you'd like patterns for anything, just let me know and I'll write them up or go digging for them.

Love, Peace, and Green Tea is Yummy,
Tar

Not a real post

2008-04-02T17:18:00.001-07:00

I know I said I'd be keeping up with blog posts and I'm trying, really I am. This email is about something else, so much more important right now though. It's about technology and the classroom, and the students of today's educational system. The video is a little long.. but well worth it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related

Tar

A Year (Almost) in Review, Part 2

2008-03-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome to part 2 of the reviews from heck. This part was originally going to be about my trip to Orlando and the job interview and all that jazz.. but then I sat down to plan out all the parts of this series and it dawned on me that so much more than that happened.

First, a rather painful experience occurred. In early September I had the joy of being in a bicycle accident. It was literally a head-on-head collision with another biker, around a blind corner. After it happened I thought I was doing pretty good aside from a busted lip and bloody nose, but after walking around for a little while I realized that something was not right. A woman saw me cleaning my war wounds in the bathroom and noticed that I was not with it at all and called the paramedics. I got a ride to the hospital in a shiny ambulance and got to be strapped to a backboard for the next two hours as they checked me out. I ended up with a wicked concussion for the night and a really tender/sore neck and shoulder for the next couple of months, but now I'm doing just fine. I figured I'd be okay when it happened, I was far more concerned about the condition of my laptop and phone than myself when the paramedics were checking me out.

The pictures that go with this story have a funny story of their own. I had spent my morning in the lap, as usual, and it just so happened that Erin, Tim and I had taken some fun pictures before I headed off to class. They started out normal enough. Us posing with a red wagon, Erin and Brian (the world's best lab partner) playing around, Erin attacking me with a hammer, etc. etc. Just so happens that about an hour after the picture of Erin "attacking" me was taken, I got in the accident. The next pictures to appear on Tim's camera were of me, bloody, beaten and bruised. The series after that were of course Erin laughing and smiling at jokes later in the evening. As much as I'd like to blame the beating on Erin, I have to admit that it was in fact a bicycle accident and she was a very good friend during the whole thing, even catching a ride from one of her professors to be with me at the hospital.

So it just dawned on me that this is kind of out of order. I talked about Halloween last post and now I'm talking about my accident in September and my trip to Orlando in early October. That's right folks, this traveling fool was in Orlando for a full week back around October 17th. I was attending the Grace Hopper Conference, a conference for women in computing. I received a full scholarship to the event, including airfare, hotel, transportation and food, so all in all, fantastic trip. The conference was held at the Disney World Conference resort, just down the street from the board walk. I ran into friends from North Carolina and Google there and spent most of my trip catching up and networking. It was a fantastic trip, more so in that I got to head down to Melbourne and visit Nanny and Papaw for a long weekend.

I don't have many pictures (none, actually) from the conference itself, but I do have pictures from Bridge Day (they took us to Disney for a behind the scenes technical tour) and from the Disney Boardwalk. They have a Lego store at the walk and I was way too into that.. I had to stop myself from buying absurd amounts of Legos several times. They also had a Disney store that had a giant Stitch over the entrance way that would spit water randomly at people passing in front of the shop. The Pooh store completely grabbed my attention a couple of times, as did the toy store with the build your Mr. Potato Head wall. I was good, though, and only bought one thing my whole trip there and that was a lollipop for Caitlin. Oh, and a pressed penny cause Caitlin collects them.

Alright.. I was going to extend this post to talk about my school work last semester (which was insanely awesome but stressful) and my wisdom teeth/Thanksgiving break, but I'm thinking Part 2 is already too long. I have a lot of pictures that I want to share with you all but it's really hard to cram them all in with relevant text without just making the entire post about random pictures. If you're curious about my pictures (or Tommy's for that matter), check out my online photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/tar3820. I like to think that they're pretty well organized. Tommy is listed as one of my Favorites and you can get to his albums through mine. Feel free to download any pictures that you want, there's a link on the right hand menu.

Some people have been forwarding my emails to various other family members, which is fine. If you know someone that wants to know when I send out updates, just shoot me an email with their email address and I'll add them to the list.

Love, Peace and Wildlife on Campus,
Tar

A Year (Almost) in Review, Part 1

2008-02-19T12:23:00.000-08:00

This is the third time I've tried to sit down and start these posts. I keep struggling with the way to start.. the pictures to include.. the stories to tell.. remembering the stories I want to tell. I finally decided that I just needed to sit down and nail out the first part of my catch-up posts and do it no matter what. Don't worry about classes, don't worry about knitting, don't worry about anything but writing out what I think I owe you all. An account of what I've been up to.

That's me on September 16th, 2007. I had just gotten back into the swing of classes and work and my friends and I decided to kick off a new school year like we have since we've all known each other. Celebrate Tirrel's birthday. Tirrel is the youngest of the group, but funnily enough, is the first to have a birthday amoungst us. The celebration was mild but fun. Dinner at a local thai place and cake back at Robert's house.

I don't remember much else about that dinner aside from Robert trying on my glasses, me sitting on top of the AC vent, Rachel and Tirrel doing interesting things with their chopsticks, and talking on the phone to Cesar. I remember more about the cake and the unique (and very original if you ask me) candles that we put on the cake. It was the first get together of the year and one of the saddest. Robert and Bria had just broken up and Bria was moving out. Beth had moved to Denver and gotten married. We had all just started realizing that we were all starting to go our separate ways, some of us faster than others.

I've always been a bit more distance than the others, traveling to conferences, seeing family and friends, or moving someplace for the summer to work. Cesar and I were still close at the being of the fall semester and I flew out a few times to see him and other friends in California. I was working my usual 6-7 jobs and trying to keep up with a full class schedule, as well as my friends. My car was reaching it's last leg and I felt like every weekend I was either pulling into or out of DIA's long-term parking lot. Finally the time came where I had to decide to put a lot of money into the Saturn, or just put it into a new car.

I had done some research in years prior and had always kept my eyes open for makes and models that interested me, so when the time came to get a car I know exactly what I wanted. A Subaru Impreza, wagon. After a week of dealing with dealerships, brothers and banks, I had my new baby. 5 speed manual, Urban Grey colour, 6 cd stereo w/ surround sound and upgraded bass, climate control AC, advanced dimming rear view mirror, trunk cover & mud mat, all weather mats, bumper protector, fog lights, roof racks, 68 miles to it's name. I learned how to drive stick the first week I had it. I can't even remember how many hours I spent driving around the neighborhood that first night trying to learn how to start from a dead stop or on a hill. I stalled it at a major intersection the first 3 hours I had it and had to have someone drive it out of traffic for me. It was the first thing that I've ever done on my own that scared me. It was my first major lesson in becoming myself, I like to think.

Branching out into new crafts and projects seems to be a theme for this past year, and what better crafts to learn than making sweets? Halloween was a sugar loaded time of year, Caitlin and I making a Haunted Gingerbread house, sugar cookies and a chocolate cake that would put anyone into sugar shock. Cait and I had received the gingerbread house kit as a gift from my mother and the sugar cookies had been an attempt to use up all of the candy and baking goods I had brought into Chris and Vinna's house. The cookies didn't do a very good job, even with the neighborhood children's help devouring them, and so the cake was made in an effort to whip out all of the leftover candy and at the same time, see how much chocolate I could get into every bite.

Everyone that had a piece of cake had to have at least one large glass of milk to get it down, most people two. I titled it "Zombie's Sugar Rush" because of the holiday, and the fact it would turn anyone into a zombie after the sugar rush died down. It was a triple layer, triple fudge cake with milk chocolate frosting and chips melted between the layers, fudge frosting coating the sides. Candy corns covered the fudge and butter cream icing was on the face of it. It was a cake to go down in history.

I think now would be a good time to end this part of the story. Next post: Orlando! Job Interview! Living in the lab! Stress! Stay tuned for the next post!

Love, peace, and happy sugar rush,
Tar

Here We Go Again

2007-08-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to try and keep up with blogging again but I'm not promising anything to anyone. Looking back on the last real blog post I submitted, I realize a lot has happened. The most noticeable thing is that I've returned to Colorado, obviously. Don't start to think that I'll be staying here for much longer, though. California and Silicon Valley call to me.

Um.. so we're just going to do this on a timeline basis and we'll see if I can't get you all caught up..

My last few weeks in California were spent tying up projects, tightening friendships, and trying to delay the inevitable. Mom and Tim came out to visit (she's got pictures), Tom came out for the Google company picnic and to hang out with Cesar and I, and I avoided work. When Tom came out we took a day trip to San Fransico. For pictures of the whole weekend, visit his Picasa site here. We also played games at Google, hung out with my Google buddy Chris, and drove around the valley. Tim's got some more pics that I'll link to eventually, he just doesn't have them up yet.

I returned to Colorado on August 5th and then spent the next four days unpacking, getting my traditional after-work-cold, and sleeping in. Then on August 10th I flew to Charlotte for a conference. There I presented a poster (pretty poster link), gave a presentation, and talked it up with the people I worked with last summer. My poster received first place in the research division and I got a few ideas on what I'm going to do for my grant this year. Also, mom flew out and watched me present, as well as just hung out with me. The trip was overall great, though the weather in North Carolina could have been so much nicer..

August 15th found me back in Colorado, yet again, and getting ready for the big freshman orientation and move-in here on campus. The 16th was the big day and I spent all of it helping herd freshman into their correct rooms, as well as finding their classes and whatever else they need. Also, we found out that mosquitos prefer the taste of my blood over everyone else at the front office. Oh joy. Abby's happy to be back, I think. She had some trouble at first getting used to Megan and Sophie again, but she's getting there. I learned this summer that when I do move out, I'm going to have to get Abby someone to play with while I'm out of the house. She's a very needy kitty.. but only when you're not paying attention to her. Or when she's sleeping..

After freshman move-in I took the weekend off to relax and sleep, then spent the next Monday with Caitlin purchasing books and new bike parts. Caitlin had a great summer, apparently, and we've already fallen back into our old ways. Our first batch of baking went over well with the lab today, as you can see from the picture of Tim to the left there. Classes started on the 21st for me and I'm already living in the lab. Part of me's glad to be back in the trend and the other part of me just wants to graduate. The good news is that unless I can't hold off until then, I will be graduating in August of 2008. Not sure on dates yet, but I'll let you all know. Class breakdown is as follows:

CS314: Object-Oriented Design. Basically a class on testing and how to design your code. I pretty much learned this all at Google so it's just another snooze fest for me.

CS414: The more advanced version of the course above. Don't ask why I'm taking the basic and advanced at the same time.. I'm not happy about it either. Worst part is it doesn't seem to be anymore than what I did at Google either.

CS430: Database Systems. Yeah.. I've taken a course like this already and I've taught a course like this already.. but of course I need to take this one to get the credit I need.. (Bet you can't guess which course I'm writing this blog post in..)

CS440: Artifical Intelligence. This is the one course I'm actually interested in this semester, as well as am enjoying. The work load is a little high but it's all good. The professor is great and the material actually new and interesting.

I guess the upside of these courses is that I'm busy enough with easy homework assignments to not get too bored. That and they're all on Tuesday and Thursday.. hello four day weekends..

This class is over, so I'm going to go ride through the rain to my next adventure in computing.. oh joy.. why can't the classes be over and I can just go back to doing homework?..

Oh yeah..

2007-06-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Completely forgot that I had to post about this.. but real fast, Tom and Crystal's wedding photos are now available online and for print purchasing. Head on over to http://tomandcrystalswedding.com to have a look!

Also, I love my job. That's why I'm sending this while sitting on my bike, standing outside the espresso bar, waiting for my shuttle.

Love, Peace, and More Free T-Shirts!
Tar

It's a Changing World

2007-06-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

So I don't have time for a huge post in that I have a class in 18 minutes, but I think that it's time I at least mention this stuff. In the news recently there has been a lot of complaints about Google's privacy stance and the sharing of information. Most of these complaints have been filed by people that I generally relate to being "old-fashioned." These are the people that aren't used to the world that the Internet has created. The enormous amount of information sharing that is possible today makes it so that no longer is your public activities in San Francisco (for instance) no longer restricted to just that city, but to the entire world. A tourist snapping photos of a public park may take those photos and later post them on the web, where literally millions of people can see them. Every photo and word that I post on this blog is just as public as the Google.com website is. People are forgetting that any average Joe can become the next world-star, just because they were caught doing something in public that was photo-worthy. I'm not here to complain about this. I'm here to support it.

A good article on Google World

Privacy issue with Google Street View

Article on Google's Privacy Policy

Google's Response to Privacy Issue

As Google's data collection stands right now, I don't have any problems with it. All the data that they're getting I could actually get myself, if I wanted to. Also, the services that all of this information provides to users, whether organizations or individuals is invaluable. The fact that some of the information is what people would want to keep private is not Google's fault, in my opinion. I've always held the stance that if you want privacy on the Internet, don't use it. If you want to use the Internet and keep your information private, learn how to do so. The Internet is an extremely powerful tool that can be used to save you time, and money, or make you lose time and money. Using the Internet is comparable to driving. Even kids can drive small toy cars without worry for health risks (comparable to basic web surfing), but put a kid behind a semi or just the family car and dangerous events will take place (comparable to email, web development, blogging, posting images, posting on forums, downloading, etc.). If people are having privacy issues about what is available on the Internet and Google grabbing it, that's their own fault.

As far as images that Google collects with their Street View project, that's a little more complicated. People are complaining that the pictures reveal to the world their nasty habits or private information. What they conveniently forget while suing the billion dollar corporation is that all of the images were taken from public streets with an average camera, which I can purchase a better version of at WalMart. Any average Joe walking (or driving) down the street could take just as good, or many pictures of these people and their houses, and then posted them on an internationally read blog. The only reason people are getting upset is because it's Google, and instead of people having to fly 3000 miles to watch you smoke a cigarette, they just have to pull up their browser.

The Information Age is expanding with each bit of data that Google collects and while the consequences of that growth are hoped to be mostly for the better, the "underage driving" of the Internet in the past has put out a huge amount of data that shouldn't really be public, and is only being discovered as harmful now. People are spending millions of dollars to try and lock down information on the Internet and make it harder to search for, but what that money should really be spent doing is locking down that information more securely so that it can't be searched for. There are systems in place and that have existed for a while that will allow you to not have your information searchable by Google (or any search engine, really). This even covers having pictures taken of you. It's as simple as this, folks: If you don't want people seeing you or your information, don't make that information available in public (i.e. Smoke inside, password protect valuable information, don't upload pictures of private content, etc.).

I'm sorry if this rate seems a bit long or unprovoked, but I've been reading the news and talking to a lot of people that sometimes forget that the Internet extends behind that screen in front of them.

Thank you for you're time.

Peace, Love and I dare you to Google for "Google,"
Tar

Summer Fun

2007-06-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

This particular email today comes from sunny Northern California, where I've been living and working for the summer. I can't remember if I sent an email out explaining who I worked for, but it's Google, if you didn't already know. It's hard to believe that half of my summer is already gone. It seems as though I just started last week.

To start out this edition, I'll go a bit into what I work on. I can't give much information about it, but I'm working on Google Docs, an online application similar to Word that I would suggest for all. It has some draw backs when compared to Word, but it also has some advantages over the Microsoft version. I myself work on some of the front end things, such as the look and feel, as well as the features that are available to the users. I absolutely love my work, as well as where I work. It's pretty much like college, except you get to work on whatever you want, as long as it fits the general motto of Google.

On a real fast second note, I'm just going to give a quick apology regarding the language of this edition. I've been reading a lot more, recently, and the book that I'm currently working through has a different tone then most. It seems that that tone has seeped into my brain, however, and I'm doomed to write in it. (See why I'm apologizing? It's horrible!) Abby and I have been reading a lot, as we always do in the summer, and have a new list of recommendations for you all.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole - An interesting read, recommended by Mr. Hamiltion a few years back. It's an easy read, based in New Orleans, and stars a character that you almost always want to smack. I'd recommend this book mostly to those of you who want something of a different pace, and don't have anything else to read.
M.A.S.H. by Richard Hooker - This is the book that the movie and TV show are based on, and you can tell by the end of it. While the characters and story line are slightly different, the overall book is very similar. By the end of the piece I felt as if I had been watching M.A.S.H. all weekend, and I wanted to watch more.
Lullaby by Chuck Palahiniuk - Another disturbing book by Chuck, this time focusing on the mass consumption of materials and how we're destroying our planet. If you like Chuck's other works, you'll like this one as well. It's a quick and, as I said before, disturbing read that I'd only recommend to those of you who enjoy horror stories and books like The Things They Carried (a classic).
The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer - My favorite thus far this summer, this autobiography is a true piece of work. The book describes J.R.'s youth and his travel into adulthood, how he quested to find a substitute for his father and how he found it in the local pub. A good book about discovering yourself, I recommend this piece to anyone who's struggling with where they want their live to go, or who feel somehow cheated by their situation in life and youth.

Enough on books, though. I bet you're all curious as to what I do while I'm not working or reading. Well, until last weekend, my friends and I would take the train on Saturday up to San Francisco and distribute Free Hugs, a world-wide campaign to spread happiness. I wish I had more pictures of the hugging, but it was actually too much fun to stop and take more. We had people stopping at red lights and jumping out of their cars to hug us. Everyone we passed, even if they didn't get a hug, walked on with a smile. For those of you who wish to do something similar to this, just make a sign with cardboard and go to it, just watch out for private property. We were told by the police last Saturday that we weren't allowed to give out Free Hugs on the private property of the city and that we would be arrested if we tried to continue. Needless to say, that stopped the hugs.

The fellows in the pictures are my buddies, Cesar and Tim. Tim (above) lives in Santa Barbara and came up a few weekends to give out free hugs and just generally hang out. Cesar (right) is actually a friend of a friend of mine, Tim (another Tim who lives in Colorado), who has become a very good friend this summer. He lives just down the road from me and we often go out to movies, dinner, or just hang out in general. He's kind enough to drive me any place my bike can't take me, and he's helped me a lot with learning the new technology I need to use for work.

My bike is almost as important to me as Cesar and Tim are, at the moment. My primary mode of transportation, I bought the bike from WalMart on my first day here. Truly a WalMart bike, I've now pumped about an addition $100 into her so that I can keep riding her to work and around town. That's one of the nice things about this area, it's perfect for biking. Mostly flat, tons of bike lanes, always sunny, and everything's within riding distance. As soon as I finish this post, in fact, I will be riding the 2 miles down to the WalMart to buy Miss Abby some kitty litter. I live about three miles from work, so getting to and from is just as easy with my bike. To aid with the summer heat and riding constantly, I've also cut off most of my hair. My long locks are now down to shoulder length and I couldn't be happier. Sometimes I even wish it was shorter. I plan on mailing the hair (yes, I still have it) to Locks of Love, where they'll turn it into a wig for a child with cancer. If any of you have the ability to grow your hair out, I ask that you do so and donate as well. The hair that you donate needs to be at least 10 inches long, so plan accordingly. Also, a lot of hair salons will cut and style your hair for free when you go to donate, as well as mail the hair out for you.

Hmm... what else to talk about... Well, I guess this is where I'll get random. I have some pictures, so I guess I'll just tell about them. This first one is at the Google Developer's Day party that was thrown after the conference. For the event, Google had tens of arcade machines brought in and setup for free play, as well as about 15 pool tables. Outside on the patio they had free drinks and carnival food (cotton candy, hot dogs, tacos, ice cream, fries, etc.) and all of the tables were whiteboards (something that you can always find at Google) which people doodled on while they ate and mingled. The glasses used that night were glow in the dark cups with the Google logo, glowing in the four main Google colors. Cesar and I each got a complete set of these glasses and they're currently in my freezer waiting for an event to use them with. After the party, Cesar and I went on an excursion into the main buildings of Google and discovered the ball pit, someplace I will surely have to return to and work from. We also discovered some of the other microkitchens and surveyed the food offerings that they provided. For those of you who don't know, within 150 feet of anywhere within a Google building, you will find healthy food for the hungry works. Most of the food offerings are organic and bought from local vendors instead of the major corporations like Lays chips and such. There are also usually some sort of entertainment near the kitchens, including pinball machines, pool tables and Foosball. The Googleplex also has a gym, lap pools, volley ball court, and 14 different cafes, each with their own theme and unique menus.

While Google is a fun company to work at, there's also serious busy going on. You can tell this from the quality of my work notebook. See? I actually doodled that while struggling though a tough programming problem. Working at Google has really stretched my skills and forced me to learn some new computer languages that I had been putting off. I enjoy the struggle and wonder if I'll be able to pull myself out of the mindset that Google has put me in and step back to the one that college provides. While I don't miss the course work of CSU, I do miss the atmosphere and my friends, along with the more laid-back attitude. Don't get me wrong, Google's laid back compared to most companies, but they're still a company and work still has to get done. On the bright side, I should be able to refer you all to a link in a week or so to see some of the work that I've done.

Wow, this email is huge and I feel like I've just been putting off going to WalMart and working on another scholarship application. I'm trying to get a scholarship to a conference for women in Computer Science in Orlando this October, as well as one to a conference regarding my gaming research in North Carolina in August. We'll see what develops.

Alrighty, hopefully I'll be sending you another email soon.

Peace, Love, and Free Google t-shirts,
Tar

P.S. - George and Vassie came out and visited me last weekend and took a few pictures of me and a Google sign. I bet if we bugged them enough, they're reply-all the pictures.

Day Late? Dollar Short?

2006-12-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

Not sure if this is technically a day late.. but I figure it is. Um.. I know that a few of you were having issues with viewing the posts in this way, but let me know if you're having troubles now, considering the first time I sent you the wrong address.

I know I promised pictures from a lot of things but I haven't seen Tom to get his, or Don to get his from skiing. The only pictures I have right now are from my cell phone, taken of the campus with all the snow. So yeah, here's that pic:

It's been a while since it snowed and my camera isn't the best.. but yeah. Last week was a bit crazy (what else is new, right?) and the next two should be just as much. I have three more assignments to complete this week and then I'm done for the semester. Just have to, you know, take all my finals. I've got my first final at 7am Monday morning. Whee. My other four are divided between Thursday and Friday mornings. Then, after finals, I get to go home to the Condo and veg on my couch for about two weeks, doing nothing in particular. Oh, and Christmas shop.

What are everyone's plans for Christmas? Anyone traveling anywhere exciting? I wanted to go to Dubai for my break but we could never work the dates out. My unfailing ability to get sick for the first week of any break I have severely limited when I could go.

I'm going to be honest with you guys, I'm runnin out of ideas here on what to write about.. um... I'm sitting in the College of Business at the moment, waiting for my last class of the day, then I gotta go grab Cait. I think today I'm going to challenge her to some sort of game, whether it be Mille Bournes or a video game... I took her sledding last week, after the big snow storm. I was hesitant at first but we both had a blast and froze our bums off. It took a while for the sledding to get good because we had to pack the snow down on our path, but once we did, we were flying. It got to the point where we were almost sliding into the lake that was at the bottom of the hill. I would have taken pictures of the fun with my phone, which I had only brought for emergencies.. but I dropped it in the snow and it froze, literally. I hadn't wanted to bring my camera because I was afraid I'd land on it. I had to pull her the last block home on the sleds (we had walked there) and then I made us hot chocolate with milk and real chocolate, not that powder junk.

Anyway, class is supposed to start soon and I need to get to work on finishing my java lab.. so yeah. Until next weekend (hopefully weekend).

Peace, Love and naps in class,
Tar

Later, But At Least I Did It

2006-11-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

So I guess the first thing to say would be that I’m sorry it’s been so long. Several of you have emailed me and I’ve replied to a few of you that I would be sending something out soon.. but that soon has yet to come, until now. I would like to promise you all that I’ll be more consistent with my emails, that I won’t forget to write them, that I will have time for you.. but I can’t. What can I say? I’m human.. and a young one at that, haha. For all I can say right now is that this email’s going to be long.. and I’m going to try and send out another one next week, so take off your shoes, slouch a little in the chair and grab something to drink, cause this is going to take a while.

When we first left our adventurer, she was embarking on- wait a second.. I can’t even remember the last time I wrote one of these. And why am I calling myself an adventurer?.. Okay, ya know what, I’m just going to fill ya in as I remember stuff, okay? Coolies.

First thing I remember is that I’m a college student still. Yes, I haven’t dropped out and they haven’t decided I’m awesome enough to just hand me the degree (yet). I’m taking five courses this semester (which is almost over) and almost enjoying them all. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not enjoying my Computer Structure’s class. There are few in that class that are. Scratch that, none are. It’s essentially a class about the, you guessed it, structure of a computer. Like how electrical signals move through boards and flip little switches and make things happen.. we write programs in binary.. I seriously dislike that class. I take my laptop to it every lecture and play games or do other homework. It’s what the department calls a “pre-req” for another class.. it’s what we call a hoop. Other then that, though, I like all my other classes. I’m taking two history courses (zomg, I love them..), another computer course (not bad, tough but fun), and a business systems course (database design, whee). I’ve already enrolled for next semester. It was going to be all computer science courses, something that will drive me crazy.. so I have a history course scheduled in there too for the fun of it, though I may have to drop it because of the credit load, we’ll see. I’ll describe those courses later, like when I take them or something.

Oh! The other big news in the classes department is that they want me to help teach a course next semester. They designed a web development course around my research from last year and I’ve been helping them do it.. and they want me to help teach it. I was considering for a while using that as an excuse to get more independent study credit (I’m already getting some this semester for the work I did last summer), but I’d have to pay for the course’s tuition, and that’s just a waste of money. I’m really excited about the whole thing.. but slightly nervous. They’ve never done this before with an undergrad student and I think most of my students will actually be older then me. It’s kind of an ego boost.. but at the same time I’m freaking out a little, ya know? So yeah.. that’s that exciting news.

Hmm, let’s see.. I’m still doing research for the universities. I say ‘universities’ because I’m doing research with CSU and UNCC. My CSU research is a continuation of my research from last year, looking at website usability and navigation. My research with UNCC is also a continuation of my work there from the summer. I’m looking at playing video games at a college level and how game play effects the lives of students, as well as the type of students that are open to using a game in combination with lectures. A spin off of that is looking at the learning that happens during game play and how we might be able to capture that learning power and make it more university related. I’m extremely excited about my research.. like, insanely so. It’s just amazing what I’ve found from interviews with students. I could seriously write a paper on it all, oh wait, I am. It’s not gotten very far right now.. I’ve bitten off more then I can chew when it comes to all that I’m doing.. so I plan on working on that next semester. It seriously just amazes me the things that these games are doing.. and what people are doing for these games. I’ve talked about some of my findings to faculty at CSU and they’re excited about what conclusions I’ll make and how I can help them use those to improve the department. Haha.. I’ve been reminded a lot recently about one of the first things my friends heard me say.. *Flashback* We were walking to the Computer Science building to take a tour on our first day of college and I was talking to Fish and Donovan, who I had just met. Erin and Christy we walking behind us, chatting and listening to our conversation when I declared that my goal was to rule the world.. and that to succeed in doing so, I was going to take over the Computer Science department, then CSU, then the city, then the state, so on and so forth until the world was mine. We all laughed.. *End Flashback* but Erin’s starting to say she’s afraid it’s coming true. I can’t leave evidence of my plans behind.. so I’ll just say here a simple “Whahaha.”

(Okay, so I’m going to toss this out there right now that I’m writing this email on an airplane at.. um.. really high height, on my way home from a wonderful week at Vassie and George’s, or Nanny and Papaw, as we like to call them. I would just like to say that I enjoyed my stay so much and I can’t express how sorry I am that I got sick. Everyone there in Melbourne was awesome, and Betty, I’m sorry I never got a chance to come over and fix your computer. I called a few times, but I’m not good about leaving messages.. so it’s my fault, I’m sorry. Okay, yeah, that’s my two cents, back to the email.)

That totally blew my train of thought.. oh, right, work! I was going to talk about my work now. Okay, so I have three jobs at the moment (6 is you include my research and Halbyte.NET). I still work one night a week at Newsom Front Desk, I’m still a live-in Nanny, and I run the Publications Database for the CS department at CSU. The front desk thing is cake, nothing big to talk about there, and the publications thing is easy too. The live-in nanny gig.. well… okay. It’s just terrible. Awful. Just kidding. Heh. Chris and Vinna (the parents of Caitlin) get this email, so I had to kid a little bit. In all seriousness I love it. Caitlin’s great, the dogs are cool, and the old-farts are fun and not-so old. Personally I think that we’re all doing awesome and I couldn’t be happier. (Okay, that’s not true. Vinna, if you’re reading this, I’d be a lot happier with a king size water bed, big screen TV and a mini-fridge in my room. Oh, and can I have your and Chris’s room?) I’m beginning to see Caitlin more as the kid sister my mom never let me kidnap from another family, instead of the kiddo that I have to pick up from school. I had a tough time adjusting to the family life at first but I think I got the swing of things now. Honestly I feel that I’m not pulling my weight there.. it’s just, too easy. I mean, granted, I’m not saying have me do the dishes every night.. but the whole family there is just great. I feel right at home and I don’t have any problems with looting the fridge or asking for something. Sometimes I feel like I’m cheating them. I mean, here I am, an almost-20 (ahh!!) college student living in their basement, eating their food, using their internet, watching their TV and, oh yeah, occasionally playing with their awesome 8-year old. I mean.. half the time I’m the one that asks Caitlin to play. It’s just.. too good to be true. Watch, I’m going to get home and they’re going to ask me to start like.. waxing their cars or something. Darn my honesty. Darn it.

Anyway.. um.. what else is there?.. Oh! Right. I started a radio station. Don’t get too excited, it’s just an online radio station and like.. our average listener count right now is.. 40 or something, but yeah.. I was playing my game a few months ago and one of the guys I play with was broadcasting his music over the internet so we could listen to what he was (he kept typing the lyrics out, it was annoying cause we wanted to listen to Thriller too!) and I got this idea in my head to start an online radio station. So.. a few weeks later FirFM was born. Fir is the name of the guy that was broadcasting his stuff that day and I insisted that the station remain named after him. Another online friend of mine, named Michele, is helping Fir and I a lot with the station (she’s my other half on the net, honestly) and together we’re making a website for the station. It’s still under development (until I get more time), and once the site’s done, we’re going to do a major advertising launch and try to get our listener count up. We’re hoping to eventually get the station so popular that the advertising and donations will cover the server costs, but we’ll see.

Yawn yawn yawn. What’s next? Wanna know how the gang’s doing? Okay! Berlin, my old roommate, dropped out of college. Beth, Rachel and Tirrel live together still. Tirrel is big into bike racing right now and Beth and Rachel are just doing their thing. Fish and Bria are practically married now.. we just call them husband and wife anyway. I honestly don’t know much more then that about that part of the gang because I don’t see them often.. I hang out with Christy, Erin and Donovan more. Christy and Erin are fellow Computer Science students and together we’re earned the name of “The Trio” in the department. We’re the only girls in our class and we’re all making waves, so we’ve earned ourselves names individually and as a whole. Donovan you all love and remember. We’re back to being the inseparable duo again. He lives with two of his friends a black from campus and I’m well known for just camping on his couch between classes. We do lunch together on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on the weekends we’re usually hanging out. He cut his hair (no more white-fro!) and shaved, so he looks more human now, definitely. Um.. yeah.. not sure what else to say about Don except that he’s my best friend right now… We went skiing two weeks ago, I’ll make sure to include some pictures when I get them.

Perfect timing. We’re about to land and I can’t really think of anything else to write about right now. I mean, I could tell about my week in Florida.. but I don’t really remember it. I was a little out of it with the cold and all, so sorry. I’ll make sure to include some pictures next time and hopefully they’ll tell their own story. Let me know if you didn’t like this new website thingy and I’ll go back to emails. This is just a little easier for me.

Peace, Love and peanuts,
Tar

It's been awhile, sure. But I still love you.

2006-09-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

I know. It's been almost a full month since my last email. I'm sorry. I've been kinda out there lately. This email has a lot of information to get out because of that, I know, but you can free feel to skim or skip or whatever you would like to do with this email.

First off the bat, how are you all doing? I hope that you're all in good health and happiness and enjoying life to its fullest. I know I'm trying to.

Secondly, I have changed email providers, and in doing so I lost my original list of people that receive this email. If you are receiving this email and don't want to, simply reply so. If you're sure that I'm missing someone from the list, please let me know and I'll add them.

Thirdly, I'm writing this email over the course of the next few hours when I have free time, so I'm sorry if I repeat or miss anything. This email will also be posted on the blog at http://tarincollege.blogspot.com All of the emails from this semester (and those from the summer) will be posted there.

Alright! So! Let's start at the end of the summer. It was awesome. My experience in North Carolina, while hectic, was a blast. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I learned a lot about what I like doing in the field of computer science and what I need to do to achieve my career goals. Geez, that sounds like something I wrote for a paper.. well, I might have, heh. I had to write a paper at the end of the summer over what I did. Now I know that most, if not all of you, won't be interested in that, but, if you are, you can find the paper, my presentations from the summer and my weekly blog posts at http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte

After I flew back from Charlotte I had a few days in the Springs to catch up with family and friends before I drove back up to Fort Collins to watch Catlin for the weekend. We had a blast and we still are, just in case you were wondering. Her and I have worked out a little system that works for what we do when I'm supposed to be watching her. I don't really like to call it watching, though. At this point I see her more as a little sister then a.. um.. sitted-kid? I dunno how to phrase that but whatever, that's not how I see her anyway. I take her to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then pick her up and hang out with her Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

But yeah.. I kinda just spent those two weeks working on websites for clients, getting my room together, getting everything ready for school and hanging out with the kiddo. Then school started and my world kinda exploded again. Ahh for the two weeks of my summer vacation..

I'm taking 20 credits this semester, but don't let that freak you out! 3 of those credits are actually just me earning credit for the work I did this summer in North Carolina, so techinquely I'm only taking 17 credits. I'm taking two history courses (yay!!), two computer science (Ugh..) and a business course (Database Systems Management.. think I really have to try?). My schedule isn't as nice as last semesters but I can't complain. I have enough time inbetween classes to do things like run home to see my kitty and send emails.

...

How many of you saw the kitty comment? Come on, be honest. Hehe. Yes, I got a kitten. I actually got her Thursday.. but yeah. She's very very lovable. I was having a very stressful week and I've been wanting a new pet for about a year now, as many of you know.. so.. I caved on Thursday and went down to the shelter to get her. I had been considering a new playstation or something like that.. but she's so much better. She's one of those kittens that loves to be around you.. she falls asleep curled up in my lap when I'm reading or working on the computer.. if she can't get my lap she'll curl up on my feet. Oh! And she purrs so nicely when I pet her. I sleep with her at night (she likes to sleep on me but she'll settle for the pillow) and I'm glad to say that she likes car rides. I had to take her to Colorado Springs with me this last weekend and she did awesome in the car! She just curls up and sleeps or watches the cars zoom by. Tirrel had her out of her carrier for a bit and she did fine then too. Just sat in her lap and watched traffic. Or me. Yeah.. she's very attached to me. And now, I bet you'd all like to see pictures. Now you know that I had to take a lot.. so I'll just send you the links instead of the pictures. I took most of these the first day I got her, but I have some that are from when we were driving.

http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0243.jpg - What's that?!
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0251.jpg - She discovered under my bed!
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0252.jpg - Look how tiny!
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0259.jpg - no, she didn't pounce after this photo.. oh!1 When she's ready to pouce, she doesn't shake her tail.. she shakes her whole butt!! It's so cuteeeeeee!
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0264.jpg - Okay, it's lame.. but I had to get one of me in there with her (and ignore the brace, it's nothing serious).
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/abby%20003.jpg - She's so tiny!!
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/abby%20010.jpg - This is her asleep on my center console with her head on my water bottle.
http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/abby%20016.jpg - Bailey, Tommy's puppy, doesn't believe in blinking.

I know.. I'm so in love with her. It's a bit sad, huh? That's okay.. Mom loves her too. She spoiled her this weekend. Bought her new toys and a carrier and blankie.. now we know how her grandchildren will be treated, at least. Heh.

Well... aside from the kitty, the gang and I have been hanging out again. I missed them so much.. I mean, yeah, my NC friends were awesome and we had a great time.. but my CSU friends are like my family! Here's the scoop on them: Beth, Rachel and Tirrel are all living together in a house about 2 blocks from campus with their new kitty. Fish (Robert) and Bria have a house about 4 blocks from campus and live with their 2 cats (do you see a theme developing?). Donovan lives with two of his other friends in an apartment about 2 blocks from campus and no, they don't have a cat. Everyone had an okay summer but we're all glad to be back. We (as in most of us) went to Alley Cat (Oh, how we missed thee) and took pictures. Here's our favorite picture from that: http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/thegang.jpg

On another topic, I'm flying out to LA in October to see Vassie and George ( I hope I can go) with my mom. It's a weird setup and I won't confuse you all with it, but yeah. For Thanksgiving I'm flying out to Florida to have my gord stuffed at the Thomas family dinner. My mouth is watering already. For Christmas I'm supposed to be going to Dubai for a few weeks (hello sun tan), we'll see what happens with my passport. My old one was expired so I had to send in for a new one (cause I was a child when I got the last one and blah blah), hopefully the new one will come in soon (Is Oct. 31st soon enough?). I'm not sure what I'm doing for Spring Break or the summer, but I know that I need to stay in the Colorado area this upcoming summer (it's going to be tough.. I love to travel). If you guys have ideas or what not, I'm dying for a roadtrip.

I think that I'm out of things to talk about.. I'm sure that I'm not.. oh! I remember! So there was this massive spider in my bathtub last week. Here's the link for the picture: http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0240.jpg and http://www.bebopdevelopment.com/Kitty/100_0241.jpg (yeah, you thought that it wouldn't make it this email.. but it did! It did!).

Also, Tom and Crystal set a date (April 28th) and I'm going to be a bride's maid, apparently. I like how I found that out from the Maid of Honor instead of my brother.. way to go Tom.

Last bit, I swear. Happy b-day to Tim, George, Tom and happy Aniversary to George and Vassie!! (Sorry if I missed you, let me know.)

This class is going to start soon but the real confusing thing is that I'm not sending this email until later tonight when I can get home and upload and scan pictures. Yeah, most those urls up there don't actually work when I'm writing this. But don't worry! They work now!

Love, Peace and may your weekend be like a summer.
Tar

Sorry

2006-08-13T23:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it's been such a long time guys, I've been swamped to no end. The good news is I'm back in CO and I'm having a great time with Catlin. Classes start in a week and I'm already getting to spend time with the gang. Fish and Bria live near campus and have already started moving in. I'll probably end up helping them unpack more, like wise with Donovan and Beth & Rachel when they get here.

Just so I don't forget, two weeks ago I went to Boston for the weekend for a conference and got stranded in the Detriot airport. Me being the crazy person that I am couldn't sleep and ended up meeting a senator from Maryland, who gave me her card and asked me to email her. I did, haven't hearc back from her, but eh, it was a good 4 hours hanging out with her. There's more to the story and if you guys wanna hear it, just tell me.

Also, I'm changing over emails to tar3820@gmail.com, so please update your address books. Yahoo has been mean to me lately, so I'm slowly getting away from it.

I have a lot of pictures and I plan on posting on a website eventually (when I find the time), but for now you can go to http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte and see what I did this summer. It'll be updated over the next week or so, so check back often.

Alright, it's late and I need to get up kind early tomorrow, so I'll talk to you all later.

Love, Peace and is it really only 12:30?!~
Tar

Swamped

2006-07-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

So the Korean are leaving this week and we have presentations due today and all sorts of other stuff. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get an email out last weekend (I'm acutally writing this right now in a lecture.. shh..), but I did want you all to know that last weekend I had a blast at Ed & Gail's.

Here's some pictures from that I took from that weekend with the camera that Ed and Gail gave me. I'm only sending two and now I have to get back to working in the lecture, instead of sending emails.

This month's quiz: Which tree came first?

Gah! Sorry I'm late!
Tar

OMG, I'm So Sorry

2006-07-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

I am so, so sorry. I know, there's no excuse for three weeks, I know. I meant to get one out every weekend, I did, but there was just no time. It's been a crazy few weeks, that's for sure.

To start it out, about three weeks ago when the building I was living in got hit by lightning. It was just the A/C unit, so don't worry. Anyway, it was the weekend and there were only a few of us still there for the weekend when it happened. They offered us all rooms in another building, one with A/C, and the four of us from this project jumped on the chance. We got an apartment together and all was well. Until I found out that the new apartment had unblocked Internet! So I could play my game! Long story short, two of the girls moved back into the old building when it was fixed, and I stayed in the new one with Evie, where I spend most my time playing my game. Or working.

For a tiny cute little story, while the four of us were living together, we got bored one night and decided to have a camp out. In our living room. So! Using 5 blankets, a coffee table, a kitchen table, and a few chairs(and a couch) we made a fort. We made s'mores over the oven burner and played Apples to Apples in our fort to candlelight. Pictures will be posted shortly.

That Thursday we had Chicken Rizzo, made by Lauren, and watched a creepy Japanese movie.

Um.. okay. I was going to do this one event at a time, in order, but I can't remember it all! I remember going to WalMart one night and buying classic cartoons (we're talking the good ol' Bugs Bunny), going to see Click (great movie), had meatloaf one night (awesome, btw. I'm gonna have to make it again.), went running, watched Resident Evil, and oh yeah, worked!

The direction of work has changed a bit. It used to be that we were making quest ideas for the game and then trying to figure out how to build with Unreal Tournament editor. That wasn't exactly workable for the time limit we have, so they decided to modify our assignment. Now we're conducting a research study that looks at the interfaces and game types that students would prefer to learn with/from. We're building two different games with two different engines and then having students play through both. It's all rather involved and I really rather not get into it, cause if I do, I'll remember all that I have to work on (which I'm avoiding right now by typing out this email).

Be assured that I'm perfectly fine and having a blast. I'm really going to miss all my co-workers when I go back home, but the professor is trying hard to convince me to go to grad school here.

Oh! I almost forgot! We're up to our ears in Koreans. The Computer Science department here hosts an international game development program, where universities around the world can send a group of students to learn English and game development. The current group is Koreans and they're a fun bunch. We've been acting as tour guides and teachers for the students for the week they've been here so far, and I tell you what, those Koreans are crazy. There are a few whose English is a lot better then the others, and they're all fun to hang out with.

Um.. oh. Yesterday we took the Koreans to the mall here to go shopping (for five hours) and in my desperation to get a pet, I bought a Tamagotchi. For those of you who don't remember, those are electronic pets in the form of a keychain. I've named it after an inside joke with this group and decided that before I leave, I'm going to go Build A Bear and build something to remember them all by. Back to the pet, he's an easy little thing that I keep with me and play and feed. I must admit, I'd rather have a ferret or puppy, but my living arrangements for the next
five or six years of my life is kinda fuzzy. I plan to go overseas and I can't take any pets with me, so yeah. Hence, Tamagotchi. The good news is that where I'm living for the next couple of years has puppies.

Righto. I need to get back to work. I have a lot of pictures, but they're all on my friend's camera. I'm looking at getting my own camera here in the next few weeks or so to replace my old old one. Oh! Next weekend I'm going to go stay with Ed and Gail for a few days. I'm still not sure how I'm getting there, but I'll figure it out.

Alright, back to work I go..
Love, Peace, and Devastating Slap!
Tar

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2006-06-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is a big Happy Father's Day out there to all you dad's, especially my own. You should all remember that a woman, no matter the age, will always be her daddy's little girl. Those of us lucky enough to have daddies such as you all are truly blessed. I mean, who else is gonna teach us how to make the best popcorn? Or that celery can be yummy, with enough peanut butter that is. Hehe.

On a less special note, I'm sorry that this email has taken so long to get out. I've been rather busy and a bit lazy as of late, and I just never found the time to sit down and write it. That's what happens when you're having fun.. time just flies.

Why has time gone so quickly this week? Well! I'll tell you. Last weekend a group of us went and saw Cars in theaters. I highly, highly recommend that movie to anyone that like the Incredibles. It's very cute, and very funny. After the movie we went to the mall and walked around a bit and grabbed a bite to eat. I ended up swinging into a bookstore (gasp!) and found a Learn-to-Knit kit for $5, so I bought it and have been knitting a bit before going to bed.

Sunday afternoon I discovered the wonders of this campus' swimming pool, Tuesday I did it again. We all went out to eat on Tuesday at a local Mexican place and then went grocery shopping. There's a very popular coffee shop near the store, so we all walked over and got milkshakes. I love the shop, it's called Jackson's Java, and it's really a smaller version of Alley Kat. That night we then went to Alex's place and played video games until around 1, at which time we realized how late it was and all went home and to bed.

Wednesday night we rented some movies and a projector and set up in a lounge here in the apartment video. Some people swung by and walked the movies with us, which was awesome cause we projected it on the wall. We ended watching a weird Japanese movie and then The Producers, which is a funny movie, though not something I'd recommend to anyone under 17.

Thursday night I decided to cook for everyone, so I made stuffed green peppers. Everyone was reluctant at first, but in the end they all loved them and now they want me to cook more often. Evie, one of my roommates, went out and bought a bunch of food in the hopes that I'd want to make something with it all and cook it for us to share. Oh how well she knows me.. But later that night had some ice cream, provided by Jordan, and watched another movie with the projector. Then we played video games on it till we couldn't stay awake.

Friday, nothing much happened as everyone had left to go visit their dad's. I'm the furthest from home here, and it's a bit tough to visit my dad, so I'm hanging out alone. Bekka, a girl in the hall we met at the cookout, called me yesterday to hang out, so we went to Goodwill and shopped for a long time. I got some awesome t-shirts and found a lacrosse stick for $5. It's not the best, but it's a decent stick so now I can get my friends to play with me too. That is, if I can get it home. If it comes down to it, I'll just take it apart to fit it in my suitcase.

If you wanna know what I did at work, go to http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte/week3.php and read up. I just don't wanna retype it all, ya know?

Alright, last few things (cause I'm too lazy to send out emails separately).

- Dad, that number you sent me doesn't work in Skype. I don't have a phone card, so I can't call you any other way.

- Mom, I got you a UNCC hat. Since you aren't gonna come out here anymore, you want me to mail it to ya?

- To Dani, Catlin, and anyone else who wanted to send me mail: I really wish I could have you guys send me letters this summer, but for some reason, they're not delivering mail to the interns staying here. I guess they don't want to deal with the forwarding when we all move out. I still love to hear from people, so shoot me an email!

- To Ed and Gail: I'm gonna call you as soon as I send this, but I just wanna leave it in print. I'd love to see you guys sometime this summer and my weekends are pretty free. I'm not available on the 4th of July, and if you give me some weekends to chose from, I'm sure I can find a friend that's willing to drive me to visit.

Alright. That's it. I'm gonna go back to untangling my wad of yarn.

Love ya all.
Tar

I know, they just keep getting pushed back..

2006-06-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I'm sorry. I know I just keep pushing these emails back farther and farther, but I have a valid excuse. I do, I do. You see, I've been having too much fun working to remember to send this out. The only reason I really remembered this morning is because my mommy sent me an email a few days ago. That and I got some pictures last night from Lauren and I wanted to show them off.

Who's Lauren, you ask? Well, she's one of the girls working here in the Future Computing Lab with us. She's in the Visual Humans and Digital Environments department, but she's rooming with Paige, a girl in our gaming department. The other members of our little troop (we're becoming famous as a group, no surprise, I know) are Alex (the only guy), Jordan (crazy Korean roommate who can't remember where to park) and Evie (my musically endowed, hamster, anime loving roomie). Pictures are included.

To get down to the meat of what I've been doing this week, it's pretty much just been having fun. I finished a few games and you can download them at http://bebopdevelopment.com/Charlotte/week1.php and have a good time. The one RPG one doesn't do much. You can read that page if you want, it's my required site for the DMP program that sent me here.

Saturday we had our cookout and I think there's one picture in there from that. It was a great time, though only a few people showed up. I ran the grill and Evie the music, Paige and Lauren entertained our guests.

Monday night we went over to Dr. Barnes' house and started an addicting little (yeah right) game called Iron Dragon. We're still play the game, though it's currently paused. It's kinda a mix between Monopoly and.. just about every other game I've played. I would go further into it, but I dun wanna.

Wednesday we went back to Dr. Barnes' and continued our game, though we have yet to finish it. Thursday morning we participated in a low ropes course here on campus and I think we're all a bit sore this morning.

I'm currently in the middle of pitching a game idea for if/then loops and other conditionals. It's a racing game where you essentially program a car to automatically turn and avoid other cars, racing against other people or computer cars. Everyone's been working on it with me and we all like it, though we're having trouble fitting it into the StormHaven game, something that I really wish we could figure out.

In case you're wondering, my work day usually includes working on websites, playing games, building games, and storyboarding for more games. I know it's a crime to say, but I'm afraid I'm gonna be video gamed-out by the end of the summer. We'll see..

Love, Peace, and I Love My Job,
Tar

Nothing Like Humidity..

2006-06-02T19:02:00.000-07:00

That title says it all, people. I mean, really. Who would have thought that the south-east could be so hot and humid? It's like.. it's like it's a whole other part of the world or something. Go figure.

Anyway, yes, I am in North Carolina. I made it on time and in one piece. I have successfully moved in to my apartment, met my roommates and advisers, and gotten to know a lot of new people. So far, I can tell that I'm going to have an awesome summer, so much better then working at Panera all summer.

I'm going to toss this out there, mainly as an excuse, but I'm kinda tired right now. So if there's any typos or terrible grammar, sue me. Actually, just ignore it. I'm too broke to get sued. Hehe.

Okay! Run through of what to tell you peeps: Nanny and Papaw Thomas are da best; Hamilton is the world's best English teacher, and cake is a great way to start a party.

First things first (even though they're the latest), why Nanny and Papaw are the bomb diggity. As some of you might know, Nanny and Papaw were at a concert this last week, up in this part of the country. They were awesome enough to swing by last night and take me out to dinner. The real kicker, though, is that they took me to the store and bought me much needed dishes. Because, you see, foolish me thought that the school would provide things like pots and pans for the students who had to travel here.. go figure. But yes, they allowed me to drive them to the store so I could pick up the goods, a huge help considering I don't have a car. It wouldn't be a big deal in Colorado, but here, the campus is a bit far from the stores. So yes, huge thanks to Nanny and Papaw. And, of course to Mary and.. shoot, I forgot her name!! Oh no! Well, to Mary and her friend who willingly came along for the ride.

As far as Hamilton being the best English teacher, he rose to the call a few weeks ago and sent me some reading suggestions. And I must say, I loved Still Life with Woodpecker by Tom Robbins. It's an interesting read, and I want to recommend it to people, but honestly, I don't know if any of you would like it very much. Robbins' writing style is a bit different, to say the least. But, yes, I just wanted to finally give a shout-out to Hamlar.

Now the cake story is of course, typical me. Some of the girl's that live down the hall from me and are working on this project baked a cake Monday night. My roommate and I smelled it while rollerblading down the hall, and swung in to have a piece. One thing lead to another and the next thing you know I'm knocking on every door in the hall, inviting people to come over and have some cake. I think in total we got about 12 people to come over and get some. We all talked about what we're doing here for the summer and decided we should all get together for a barbecue on the weekends, cause there is absolutely nothing else here to do then. So, yeah. First 2 days and I've already managed to organize something which involved the hall. That was the first sign that this is going to be an awesome summer.

The second sign was of course what I'm doing here. Basically, I'm making a computer game that teaches students how to use computers. And I get to design it however I want. So far I've built a few basic games, just trying to learn the editor, but hopefully my team and I plan on getting one or two teaching games started by the end of the week. We'll see how that goes...

I wish I had pictures to send to all of you, but I have yet to get a camera that will do justice to what I photograph. I may or may not get one while I'm here, we'll have to wait and see. But for now, I'll see if I can steal the photos my co-workers have taken.

As promised:

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/bailey/P5270962%20(Large).JPG - Bailey in her pool

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/landscaping/Day_13/P5290977%20(Large).JPG - Tom and Crystal in his new backyard

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/landscaping/Day_13/P5290991%20(Large).JPG - The yard at night

Alright, catch you on the flip-side.
Tar

Quickie

2006-05-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention last week, I think, that I was sans internet this week. I have been chilling in Amy's basement (Thank You Amy) and working on her site. Check it out! http://equinaut.net

Anyway.. I'm sorry but this is the best I can do for an email. There's a lot to write, though, so eventually I will be sending another.

Real quick: Crystal graduated (see pics at Tom's site, don't know the url); I got a new client (I think); and I fly out Saturday afternoon for NC.

Peace, Love, and Pie Sacrifice!
Tar

(Yes, there shall be a Pie Sacrifice tomorrow (Friday) night at the Village Inn at Academy and Palmer Park.)

Summer Vacation PWNS

2006-05-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know. I'm a week late. Hush, I have a very good reason. I had finals. So ha!

But anyway, what has happened in these two weeks of silence? Well I'll tell you. There was bowling, packing, crashing, playing, singing, laughing and lots and lots of sleeping. Oh, it has been a good two weeks. It starting out kinda shaky, but it's ended well.

Anyway, I think the night of the last time I sent out an email the girls and I went bowling. It was terrible fun and terrible scores, but we've never let lack of skills hinder us before, now have we? Tirrel was a bit down because she had just broken up with her boyfriend, but she was having a good time smacking down pins while imagining his head on them. She came out in first in the end, so I'm sure she had a good time.

Um.. let's see. There was also a lot of packing going on that week of finals. I'm not sure if you can imagine the utter chaos that was Beth and Rachel's room, but it was insane. I was amazed, really, when they managed to get out of here close to being on time. I was a little upset that they left all their trash at my door, but, eh, I'll just call that their final good-bye. I'm proud to say I didn't finish or do my packing until the very last minute. My mother can vouch for that as she spent about 2 hours helping me move things into cars and pack and then unpack again at Vinna's. Okay.. maybe it was 3 hours..

In case you're wondering, my finals went pretty well. I kicked booty on my Stats and Discrete Structures finals and I didn't have to take my Health or Psych final. I got an A in all those classes. Chemistry... well, there's a story behind Chemistry. See, I had work the morning of my Chem final and Berlin ended up in the hospital the night before it. Don't worry, she's doing fine. Anyway, I only got about 3 hours sleep before work and then I kinda got the time of my Chem final mixed up with another final. So, yeah, I missed my Chem final. When I finally got over the shock enough, I called my professor and she agreed to let me take it the next day. So, I got an extra afternoon of studying and blew it out of the water. I ended up getting a B in the class overall, but I can't really complain because if I hadn't of taken the final, I would have gotten a D. Long story short, finals weren't that bad. Actually managed to keep my GPA up. 3.8, Woot.

So, yeah, that was finals. After finals I packed, relaxed, and didn't sleep in. I had the girls wake me up early so I could see them off and I don't regret it one bit. This was of course Friday, the day my mom came and helped me pack up and then we went shopping. My favorite shoes, the ones my mom bought me last year, finally broke. Those things lasted a little over a year, a record when it comes to my feet and sandals. So, mom and I went and got a AWESOME dinner at the Bent Fork (I highly recommend when you want to indulge a little) and then bought me new shoes. And I tell you want, these things just make me want to wear them everywhere.. We also stayed the night in Denver and shopped until we couldn't shop no more. I am now readily equipped for the warm weather of North Carolina.

That was Friday/Saturday afternoon. Saturday evening I went back to Vinna's and unpacked/setup my room. There's still a little bit I need/want to do with it, but overall I'm very comfortable. I've been enjoying the ability to sleep in, maybe a bit too much, and have been working on the CS Department's database still. I didn't get as many entries in as I wanted this week, but I did get the search engine up and working. I'm very proud of the search engine. It took a lot of time and effort, as Vinna could probably tell you.

It's been a good week, so far, just chilling and relaxing, but I tell you what, I'm ready for some action. Bria and I are supposed to get together today and I'm going to her house this evening for dinner. I may or may not sleep there, it really depends on if I feel awake enough to drive back. I'm sure I'll be fine, I have a few friends I can call to keep me awake while I drive.

Oh, Tom's posted new pictures of the backyard, check those out. If you're wondering about the flagstone on his patio, they're going to cement the cracks in a year or so, after they finish settling.

Well, I think that's it. I'm not flying out until the 27th and I'm not sure if anything more interesting if going to happen in the next week, but I'll be sure to send something out to all of you.

Peace, Love, and Have A Good Week!
Tar

Finals Ho!

2006-05-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Arg, ye mateys. I be seeing rough winds ahead. Finals sighted.

That's right, this time next week I'll be completely through finals and finished with my first year of college. Aren't you all so happy to have experienced this with me? Oh, come on, I know you love these emails. You just delete them to save space in your inbox. The fact that you don't read them first is just because you're so busy. I'm going to keep telling myself that, really, I am...

Anyway! Yes, finals. Which means that I'm studying hard, yet still seem to not be studying enough. I made a resolution when I was still play games last night at 11 that I would stop playing games till 11, at least until finals were over. Yeah, we'll see how that goes. But yes, I do have some nasty finals ahead. I'm taking three this semester, four if you count the online one I'm taking this weekend. Overall, these finals should prove interesting. I really need to pull A's in all of 'em, but I've told myself that it's okay to get a B in the classes. I'm going to be happy with a B. You know why? Because I realized that I haven't gotten anything above a B as a final grade in a math class since I was a sophomore. In high school. And all of my finals this semester are in math based classes (minus Chem, but I'm trying to throw it in that category so I'll feel better). Overall, what I'm trying to say is wish me luck. Seriously. And I'm sorry if I don't reply to anyone this week, but I hope you understand.

As far as what the gang and I have done this week, we did a lot. We went putt-putting last Wednesday night instead of skating, and I think it was actually better then skating. I'll send out pictures later.

Um, last Friday we went to a trash fashion show, where all the fashions were made from recycled material. There were some interesting pieces and I think the girls got some ideas. The most entertaining thing of that night was that Bria and I dressed up for the event. I even wore a skirt! And a nice top! And heeled shoes! It was amazing. They took photos so that in the future they can prove I dressed like a chick at least once in my life. And no, you won't be seeing them. Whahaha.

Saturday we did something... and same on Sunday. I just can't remember it. Haha. I'm so tired.. I actually overslept this morning and the girl that works the shift before me had to call me and wake me up. The good news is that it's the first time it's happened this semester and that I only have 1 more week of these shifts left. Next semester I'm still working desk, but I'm working it during the lunch shifts between my classes.

Oh! HUGE shout out to Fish, Bria, and Christie, who have helped me so much this week! The publications database that I've been working on went horribly wrong, so I'm stuck hand entering 1048 entries by hand. Fish and Bria have so kindly donated over 5 hours of time to helping me upload the information and Christie has given me a good hour. I still have about 8 hours of work ahead of me, but they have been no end of help. Doesn't it just rock having friends that love ya? That and are easily bought by Chinese Take-Out... hehe.

Which in a weird way reminds me of this summer. As many of you should know, I'm going to UNC this summer for an internship. Considering it's going to be such an interesting time (oh, I'm so sure), I might just continue these little emails over the summer. I can't promise they will be as exciting as these emails, but I'll be sure to throw in something interesting. So, if you're interested in receiving the summer addition, please reply to this email and let me know. Also, I think I'm going to start a blog for these emails, so that over the summer and next semester, I will be sending out the emails and posting them in the blog. I'm going to continue emailing to those of you who are like me and rarely get anything but junk, and the blog is for those of you who don't read these emails till you've got three in your inbox. If you would like to be removed from the email list and added to the blog update, let me know and I'll change ya over. I'll probably start the blogging next week.

Recap:
- I won't be replying this week, I've got to study.
- If you would like to receive the summer edition, please email me.
- If you would like to be removed from the email list and added to the blog notice, please email me. (If you don't understand half that sentence, you don't want to be put on the blog list.)
- And as always, if you would like to be removed completely from this subscription (I'm a newspaper now), please reply to this email with "BUG OFF!" as the subject.

All in all, just remember: 150 people are born every minute and that the world population will have double by 2200. That and alpha particles are 2+ Heliums.

Love, Peace, and Why Can't I Remember What Injective Functions Are?!
Tar

Back On Track

2006-04-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

So I'm back on track for this week, as far as Wednesday emails go. Really it's just because I had an exam yesterday and so no Chem homework right now.

Okay, so some of you may have heard but I know some of you may not have. And I know Tom is just waiting for the email to get to this, so I'll just say it now.

Bum bum bum!!!

Tom and Crystal have gotten engaged.

It happened on Saturday. He proposed during the seventh inning at the Rockies game. The ring is very, very shiny. And big rocks. If you want better descriptions, call me when I'm awake. Or just hassle him for pictures. I would go with the latter, personally.

They've set April 28th, I think, as the date. So mark your calendars. I have no idea what time or where, but they've got a year to figure that part out and tell us.

The two loves birds have also been working long and hard on making Tom's backyard more than a sand pit. The link below is a link to some pictures of the work. They plan on taking pictures after every day they work on it, so you might want to chcek back every once in awhile to see what's new.

http://www.halfbyte.net/temp/landscaping/

What else is new? Well, I got my new laptop! Oh yes, and she's a cute little thing. For those of you who understand and care, she's a IBM Thinkpad, 1400x1050 Screen, 80GB harddrive, 1.5GB RAM, about 3 hours battery life and light as a feather. She's lighter than my Chem book. Maybe even my health book, which is saying a lot. Oh, I love her dearly, if you can't tell. I'm typing on her now. I can bring her to work and play on her. Soooo much better than that old office computer.

See, the general plan is that this summer I take her with me to North Carolina to work on her. And then, next year, I can tote her between campus and the place I'll be staying at. Place I'll be staying at, that's a long title. Can you all understand what I mean when I say Vinna's? Or Catlin's? That I mean that's where I'm living next year? Well, I hope so cause that's how I'm refering to it from now on. But anyway, yes, my little baby is the apple of my eye right now.

Okay! So aside from engagements and new laptops, what else has happened? Um, let's see. Um, yeah, can't think of anything, really. Oh, so I've attached some pictures that I've been promising for weeks. And now I'm going to read my health book and take a final in that, I think.

Bored and Tired,
Tar

Yeah, So I'm Lazy

2006-04-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

I'm lazy because this is the second week I've put off sending this out till Thursday. I dunno why, it's just easier to do this on Thursdays. Something about less homework or something.

Anyway, this week has been kinda exciting. There's been Whole Foods, haircuts, Easter eggs, Gingerbread houses, longboarding, and laziness. I'm gonna warn you that this email is probably going to be terribly short. I just don't really have it in me today, maybe I'm too tired.

I think, though, that the most exciting thing that can be mentioned is that Tirrel cut Beth's hair again. Short. We're talking boy haircut short. And is it ever cute! I'll try and get a picture, along with those that I promised last week. It was done mostly because Cox had Tirrel buzz his head yesterday in the middle of our hall, on my tarp, and Beth decided she wanted summer short hair too. About two hours later, Beth had a considerable amount of hair on the floor. I must admit, I am jealous. I want short hair so bad, even more so after having to deal with these long locks for so long, but I know I'll never look as cute as Beth does. How sad.

Um.. Whole Foods is mentioned because while I have known of it for quite sometime, I had never really been there before. Friday night we spent a full hour at whole foods, trying all the samples, and determined that while it is pricey, it is also very good. So yeah, Whole Foods.

I hope you all had a great Easter, I know I did. I enjoyed sleeping in and a day of complete and utter laziness. Everyone else was home for the weekend, so I enjoyed the hall to myself. I did convince the girls to dye Easter eggs with me on Friday night, and I still have one on my desk which I intend to keep till it begins to smell.

Gingerbread houses is mentioned because last night the girls (Beth and Rachel) and I entered a Gingerbread competition. We won, of course, for our beautiful house. The theme of the competition was International, so we made an Asian house, complete with lanterns, patio-decks, koi pond, zen garden, kanji, and bamboo trees. Oh yeah, it was awesome. It's still on display in the dining center, so maybe I'll take a picture of it and send it along when I manage to get the rest of the pictures up.

Longboarding refers to the several days and afternoons I've committed to longboarding lately. Sunday afternoon I went for a nice long ride, and I must say I'm getting pretty good. I find it easier to ride barefoot then with shoes, so my feet are a little sanded, but I think overall I'm doing better then most. I went riding with Catlin on Monday and it was going well until she fell. She's alright, just some scrapes on her knees and shins, and she reopened a scrape on her one knee, but she's a tough kiddo. Walked all the way back to the house after her fall. Did all the wound-cleaning and stuff herself (with a little coaxing, mind you), so yeah, overall she's a tough cookie.

Okay, so I didn't cut it short, but I do still feel like I short-changed you all cause I just don't feel I've put as much detail and what-not into it. We'll see if next week's is better, but I have a feeling they're going to get worse because finals are coming. That makes it sound like their monsters or something, huh? Well they are. They are..

Love, Peace, and Goldfish are YUMMY,
Tar

Day Late and A Day Awake

2006-04-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm sorry I didn't send this out last night, but I wasn't working, so I didn't have the time to do it. My mommy was in town and I traded shifts so that I could spend time with her and not worry about having to get up at 2. That and I kinda wanted to see what it would be like to actually be awake for a Discrete Structures exam.

Alright, so first thing's first, let's all welcome Vinna (and probably Chris and Catlin) to this little email list. Vinna is the woman who has so graciously offered to let me live in her home for the next few years. That and hang out with her daughter (there's that whole babysitting and nanny thing, too, but who's counting that?). Second thing, the shift key is a bit funny this morning, so I'm warning you now for those kinda typos.

Um, let's see. I think I'll frist send out a music recommendation to all you music lovers out there. I have a feeling a lot of you will enjoy this site, given to me by Tom. The URL is www.Pandora.com and the general idea of the site is to create personal radio stations that get you in touch with more of the music you love by new artists. You simply sign-up (it's free, of course) and then select an artist or song title that you want your station to sound like. The site will then play you a ton of music that is like what you wanted, and you can rate the songs as you go. If you rate a song as 'liked', they'll play more like it. If you rate it as 'don't like' they won't play it again or anything like it. So far this morning I've been introduced to three new artists that I like and think worthy of CD purchase. So there ya go.

I've been trying to think what happened in the last week that was exciting, and I know something did happen. I just can't for the life of me remember. I know Wednesday we went skating and I played the arcade games more than anything. Thursday I slept and can't really remember what I did that night.

Friday I went home for my b-day (yes, it was my b-day) and had dinner at PF Chang's with Tom, Crystal, Tim and Mom. It was a very good dinner and thanks to Tom, I now have the world's longest Suduko puzzle. 21 feet. We'll see how far I get on it this summer. I also purchased the new Kingdom Hearts video game. I love it.. if only I had more time to play. I logged 10 hours last weekend, but I haven't played since Sunday morning. Saturday I slept in (oh it felt SO good) and hung out with my Mom. Sunday I drove back up and then played tour guide for some junior high school students and their mom. It was an enjoyable evening, and I've been told my tour is better than the one CSU provides. What can I say? I believe in showing you the real college experience, golf in the courtyard of Corbett and all.

Monday I went to class. Tuesday, Mom came up and took Donovan and I to dinner. And she bought me a longboard for my b-day. Whahaha. I haven't died yet on it, but I've come close, I must admit. It's a very good board and I'm just not used to riding on one that has such loose trucks. Becca's (the one I've been riding up and down the hall) turns nicely but not nearly as easy as mine. It's taking some time to get used to the better turning radius. We also visit Vinna's and Mom saw where I will be living, and met Vinna and Catlin. I'm assuming it was a good meeting because Vinna and my Mom talked for about half an hour? I can't remember how long, I just know it was a good long conversation.

Um, yesterday I went to class and actually managed to stay awake for it all. Had dindin with Mom again (thank you, again) and did some homework. Then, the girls and I went to a sneak preview of American Dreamz. I don't think I've laughed that hard at a new movie in a long time. It was great. I must warn, it is a parody on Bush, American Idol, Arabs, and America in general. In other words, don't watch it unless you're open minded and have a sense of humor.

Dum, dum. I have no idea what else to write. Sorry this isn't up to par with my normal emails, but I can promise pictures in next week's (Rachie got two rolls developed this week, I just haven't scanned them in yet).

So yeah (can you tell I like that phrase this morning), I'm going to read! Yeah... Eldest is a great book. So addicting...

Love, Peace, and When was the last time I signed like this?
Tar

Extra Crunchy Morning

2006-04-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

I'm so disappointed in all of you. No one was able to guess where last week's title came from. It probably didn't help that the title was not sung.. but, yeah. All of you Moulin Rouge fans should be ashamed of yourselfs. Now, to try and redeem yourselfs, someone should tell me why I titled the email as such today. Hint: I had an apple this morning, along with something else.

Alrighty!! I tell you what, this week has been exciting! But before I get into that, this is a HUGE shout out to Nanny Gail, who has responded to every email I've sent out in the last month and a half. See? And you said no one read this things... Pfft.

Anyway, this last week. Well, I'll start with what happened first, which of course would be classes. Now, I've attached a scanned copy of my notes from my 8am class last Wednesday. You might laugh, but that little dude is everywhere on my notes for that class. He really likes to show up on Wednesdays, usually with coffee in hand. I decided to scan him in and attach him today because 1) I know you love to get pictures, and 2) so that you folks and see what I really do in class. The really funny thing is, half the time he ends up on my notes, I don't remember putting him there. I think that's what I'm doing while I'm zoning out, honestly.

After my little alter ego appeared on my notes, I of course went through the rest of my Wednesday, taking a nice long nap around noon and then doing homework and going skating later that night. This week's skating session was a lot more enjoyable considering that Cox came with us. Which reminds me of another thing that happened Wednesday. Now, most of you don't know this, but Rachel, Beth and I all live on the first floor in the last rooms on our hall. We are quite used to people coming up to our windows to talk to us. I've often given Donovan answers to karate class questions through mine. Well, Cox stopped by Wednesday afternoon to say hi and make sure we were still on for skating. Sadly for him, some cops were driving by and saw him. You guessed it, Cox got stopped by the cops while running around to the other side of the building to talk to me through my window. We eventually noticed and got him off the hook, but not before he was questioned and held up by the police. If you knew Cox, you would know how sad and utterly hilarious the whole thing was, because while he looks a bit creepy (balding 20 year old with light orange hair), he's actually the sweetest guy we know. The really funny thing is, Fish got stopped by a cop later in the week for trying to get into our hall by tailing people. I got him off the hook, but it was still really funny to see him stopped for something he's done ALL YEAR long.

So that was Wednesday. Thursday I went and hung out with Catlin, the little girl that I will be a nanny for next semester. Yeppers, I got the live-in nanny job, thank you very much to Aunt Jeannie and Amy. I know some of you are still a bit concerned about it, but don't worry! Mom is going to meet the mom and Catlin next week and we're writing a contract so that I don't get taken advantage of. All in all, it should be a very awesomely good thing.

Um, let's see. I can't really remember anything else big, except that I saw V for Vendetta on Saturday night. Holy Cow. That movie is just plain awesome. It made me wanna read 1984 again, that's for sure. I don't recommend it to those under 16, or those of us who don't normally go to movies, but everyone else should go see it. I know one thing, I'm gonna buy it when it comes out on DvD.

Alright, last thing, I swear. I just want to tell you guys about my ultimate college experience last night. It was a beautiful day yesterday, so in the afternoon the girls and I decided to go and throw a frisbee around. We were out there for about 15 minutes before three guys came up and asked to join us. We of course said yes and expanded our circle. About 10 minutes later, one of the guy's wives showed up and joined us. 5 minutes after that, Cox rode by on his bike and we yelled for him to join us. Within 30 minutes of setting out, we had 9 people, 4 of them strangers, playing with 2 frisbees out on the IM fields until the sun set and it was too cold to continue playing barefoot. That, my friends, is the true college experience. It's not the classes, you can take those anywhere. College is about the social setting. It's about complete strangers sitting around a coffee shop talking about anything together. It's about that random guy that just started talking to you in class after about half a semester, just because he wanted to know what you always listened to. It's about an unscheduled hockey game everyday around 6 between strangers. It's about spray painting your pants out by the bike rack. It's about riding up and down your hall on longboards and $10 Walmart skateboards. It's about going to Best Buy an hour before it closes just to play the video games. It's about concerts out on the West Lawn. It's about people drawing, preaching, handing out flyers, and running for office out on the Plaza. It's about frisbee on the IM fields until your toes are numb.

Tar

I Hope You Don't Mind That I Put Down These Words...

2006-03-29T07:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, special coloring book picture to the first person that sends me back an email saying where today's title comes from.

Other than that, good morning!!! I hope you've had as fun as a week as I have. It's just been packed with ways to avoid studying. Let's see: we've been skating, we've watched movies, we've spent hours at Alley Kat, we've painted pictures and we've taken an exam.

The first one on that list is obvious. The girls and I went back to skating on Wednesday nights, but I tell you what. That rink has grown. Last week the floor was full with older couples. We're talking 60's here folks. It was somewhat entertaining, as well as unnerving.

The second one is almost as obvious as the first, really. Really, there's not a lot else to do around here but study, play games, and watch movies. I think I've seen four in the last week, but I can't be sure that it wasn't more than that. I still have about 2 or 3 on my list that I have yet to see. And holy cow, a door alarm just went off for one of the entrances. That was a wakening moment, let me tell you. Don't worry, it's nothing big. The doors have timers on them, so when they're open too long, they go off with loud, annoying sirens up here at the front desk. That alarm has been going off all semester because the wind keeps the door open too long.

Anyway, third item was Alley Kat. See, I've been trying to get back into my more involved study habits, which requires the use of a large table, something that my room is lacking. So last week I roped about 8 people into going with me to Alley Kat a few times. While they played Uno, Skipbo and Risk (Fish lost, Donovan got second, and Bria won) I studied Chem and Stats. I like to think it's helped me, but alas, not as much as I'd hoped. Skipping ahead to the fifth item, I had an exam last night. I've already figured out my grade and I got an 80. It was a toughy, though. Oh well.

Back to the fourth item on the floor: painting. I'll have to send the picture when I get it off Rachel's camera, but Monday night Bria, Rachel and I went to the art studio. While Bria tried to do her homework, Rachel and I worked our artistic magic on an old canvas. The end result was rather unique, if I say so myself. Rachel painted a very beautiful woman while I painted my patient cartoon alter-ego in blue. The final piece was something I don't think I'll forget for some time.

Oh! To add an item in that isn't on the list! My brother got a new puppy! She's a black/brown lab that has a white spot on her chest. She's the cutest thing yet. And Missy (Tom's kitty) love to play together. Oh! And I would like to take credit for naming her. Okay, maybe Crystal had a say in it too... but either way, the dog is named what I thought was the best name. Her name is Bailey, a name that Crystal and I both came up with before we even had talked together on the matter. And the funny thing is, Bailey responded to her name right away. I guess it was just meant to be.

Because I generally find attachments annoying, that and I'm lazy, the following link is of Bailey and Missy. If the link don't work, blame Tom.

//www.halfbyte.net/temp/bailey/

Peace, Love, and I So Want To Be In Bed Right Now,
Tar

Zoos, Karate, and FMA

2006-03-22T04:28:00.000-08:00

This email is probably not going to be up to my normal level of awesomeness, but I'm going to try. As most of you know, last week was Spring Break, so I didn't have to get up at 2 in the morning to go to work. This morning I did. I'm feeling that week off, really, I am.

Okay, to swing this one off I wanna let you guys know what I did my last day in Florida. You're going to think I'm a crazy out of control college kid when I tell you this, but stick with me here. I went to the.... Zoo! Heh. That's right folks, I went to the zoo. And I tell you what, those rhinos know how to party!

Ryan, Nanny Vassie, and Nell (Vassie's soul sister) went with me to the wonder that is the Brevard County Zoo on last Thursday. We took many a pictures, but sadly, they are all on Nanny Vassie's camera. If any of you haven't been to a zoo in the last 5 years or so, I highly recommend packing up the kids (who cares if they're teenagers) and spending an early morning at the zoo. I recommend eating before you go, cause zoo food is pricey. But yes, we had a great time. The rhinos were fighting when we got there, and pretty much all the animals were awake. So yeah, the zoo: a cheap entertainment.

Okay, according to my title, now I should talk about karate. Why, you ask? Because Donovan is in karate, and I'm stupid enough to actually spar with him. These last few days I've been trying in vain to kick, punch and basically evade that which is Donovan's crazy skills. Oh, don't worry, it's all in good fun and we never get hurt. If nothing else, everyone gets a huge laugh out of him trying to take me down with formal karate while I fight just plain dirty. What can I say, I'm my daddy's girl.

Okay, last thing on the list is FMA. Now I know most of you have no idea what that is, and probably won't care after I tell you, but FMA is FullMetal Alchemist, an anime Donovan and I have been watching. I just wanted to announce that not only did we finish the series on Monday, but we also watched the movie last night, meaning that we're completely done with it. Now what am I supposed to watch every evening? Anyone, suggestions?

Alright, I need to go finish my DS homework, not to mention the Chem I've been letting pile up the last two weeks... ahh.. college.

Peace, Love, and We've Got Snow!!
Tar

P.S.- Ha, snow is cooler than sunshine. Literally.

Dum-dum-DOM!!!!

2006-03-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

So I know I usually send these out at crazy morning hours, but it's spring break, baby! I'm sending it out at crazy night hours now! Go me!!

Alrighty, this week we have the adventure of the ceiling fan, pi day, and of course, the river! For those of you who can't remember anything I say, I'm in Florida this week on spring break. That's right. I flew to Florida to cut lose on sand, surf and sun. Oh, and to visit my grandparents and cousins. (Anyone who knows me will know those two sentences should be flipped.)

So yeah, the great news is that Crystal has received an A+ from about everyone down here. That's right, she's passed the test Tom, stop worrying. For everyone that isn't in Florida (and cares), Tom's girlfriend Crystal can and DOES hold her own against the entire Thomas clan. We're talking Steve, Jeannie, Ryan, Joel, Ethan, Max, George, and Vassie. All at once. I know what you're thinking. No, she isn't a robot he built in his basement.

Which leads me into the adventure of the ceiling fan. Now anyone who knows Florida knows that it's summer year round. Don't let Vassie fool you, it's not as cold down here as you think. So when we all arrived and Tom found that the ceiling fan in his room didn't work, he was a bit worried about the night-time heat. After just one night, he decided he couldn't take it. So Papaw and him went to the hardware store (second time that day) and bought a ceiling fan. Did I mention that it was like 9pm when they got back? Oh, and that we had pretty much lived on the boat that day? Needless to say, we were all exhausted. Well, we all got to talking when they arrived with the fan, so they weren't even ready to install it until about, I dunno, 10:30pm. Alright, okay, so he and Crystal go upstairs to install it. They take down the old fan and Tom takes one look at the wires, sees them arc, and decides they should cut power to that room. No big deal, right? Well guess what! This crazy house has all of its upstairs wiring running through that one single ceiling fan!! Except, of course, the bathroom's. So after they cut the power up there, they try to work in the dark to put up a fan. In the ceiling. In the DARK. With power tools that stop working for them in the middle of it all. So let me put it this way: by about 11:45pm the entire household is upstairs holding lamps and various ceiling fan parts up for Tom who's balanced on a chair and is still trying to secure the main bracket. Papaw finally got the bracket in and then they finished installing the rest a bit after midnight. I know what you're thinking, why didn't some people (like me) just go to bed? Well, I dunno about you, but I need lights to get ready for bed. Especially when all my clothes are in a suitcase spread out on a bed, with my mom's stuff, in the darkest corner of the room. I'd like to report, though, that the fan works rather well and the lights have the ability to blind you like the sun.

Tom loved that fan by the end of the weekend, what with the ability for it to cool his charred skin. That's right, Tommy-boy fried. I can't pick on him too much, though, my nose looked like a tomato for an afternoon. But yes, he fried out on the water that first day. The second day, which was an adventure far too long and involved to write about anywhere but in a book, he remembered to wear some sunscreen. I will tell you this of the second day on the boat: Never, EVER let George Thomas pull you behind his boat while you are holding onto what can only be described as a queen size air mattress tied to it by a long rope. Tom and I learned this lesson the hard way. And while it pains me to let you see these pictures, it's easier than telling you all about it.

Okay, the first attachment is of Crystal and Tom getting onto the raft. Notice the smiles. Now, the second attachment is about 4 minutes later. That splash. Yeah, that's Crystal. See the body part in the middle of it? We think it's her foot. Don't get me wrong! We loved it! But it just goes to show you we're clinically insane because Ethan and his friends wouldn't even do it after two rounds. Tom and I did it about 4 or 5 times each.

The third attachment is the handsome Mr. Max, who couldn't participate in the fun because of a broken collarbone. He's fine, his shoulder just has a weird golf ball like bump of bone growing there right now.

The fourth attachment is Tom being utterly embarrassed at the family cook-out. He was really easy to push around because he was so nervous about the whole Crystal thing. She handled it all way better than him, though. I don't think she blushed nearly a quarter as much as Tom.

The last picture is of Crystal, the cutie. She's probably smiling so big because someone probably just made Tom turn pink again.

Props to Uncle Steve for shooting all of those wonderful pictures, give him a hand folks.

What was the last thing? Oh yeah, pi day! Well, as some of you might know, the math sign pi stands for the irrational number that starts with 3.14. And guess what yesterday's date was! 3/14. So, of course, we must celebrate all that is pi! And what better way than with pie! So last night I went out and got two pies (apple and cherry) and some ice cream, took them back to Steve and Jeannie's, and we celebrated all that is the wonder of pi! Now, normally I celebrate pi day at a Village Inn with Amy and that gang, but I sadly couldn't make it this year, being in Florida and all. So, I hope that they all had a wonderful pi day and celebrated it well!

Alright, folks. I have to send another email out tonight to a family I'm hoping to work for next semester, so I'll talk to you all later. I promise, next week's email will be on time (and probably shorter).

Sun, Sun, and Do I Have A Tan Or What!
Tar

Rainbows and Summer Plans

2006-03-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

Now I bet none of you can figure out what I'm getting at when I say rainbows. And sadly, I don't have a picture of it. But I will tell you this for now: never give Beth and Rachel artistic freedom over your pants.

So how's your week been? Mine hasn't been half bad. It's been a bit rushed, considering I have to get everything done by tonight because I won't have time before I leave on Thursday. I have an exam this morning (oh joy) and I'm feeling those three hours of sleep. Went home for the weekend. Had another exam last Friday, another A. Um, yeah, I think that the little stuff in summary.

So as some of you might know, I have been applying for summer internships in the past month or so. I am happy to announce that I have been offered a 10 week research internship for the summer. The slight draw back is that it is in Carolette, NC. I am given a living fund, but it's still not as cool as if it had been in Melbourne or Colorado. Whether or not I take it depends on a few factors, one of those being exactly what I'll be researching.

Another factor is that I have been looking into a job as a live-in nanny for an 8 year old girl and her family. They want the person to start over the summer months, and it's a pretty good deal. They provide food, a room, private bathroom and did I mention that they have a really sweet house? The little girl is pretty cool, too. They're rather flexible to my schedule and I hope that it works out in the end. It's a very cheap way through live through college.

Ok, I have more homework to do and chores before seven, so I'm going to wrap this up with the story of the rainbow pants. Okay, so I have a pair of jeans that I got for about 5 bucks at Walmart. They aren't exactly white college girl pants, if you know what I mean. So I decided that I wanted to jazz up the pants a bit, which of course has to involve Beth and Rachel, our residence clothing painters. Well, long story short, after a few cans of spray paint, some very cool looking plastic, and some stencils, I now am the proud owner of rainbow pants. Oh yes, they look like rainbow pants. Yellow, red, orange, blue, black. Probably will never wear them, at least until that fateful day I'm completely out of clothes, so, yeah. That's the story of the rainbow pants.

Oh, I've also had a head cold all weekend, which is making this week all the more fun! But just think of it, though. Next week, I can sleep in, surf, swim, and generally enjoy home cooked meals.

Love, Peace, and Men In Black Is An Awesome Movie,
Tar

Ugh, Could I Be More Tired?

2006-03-01T05:18:00.000-08:00

I think the title explains my current state of wakefulness. So, yeah, I'm not so sure how this here email is going to pan out.

I guess I can start with the past week's most eventful events:

Thursday: Donovan duct taped me to my hammock. The plus side of this was that I got the hammock all afternoon and he had to get up and change the shows we were watching. I think in the end I had a better afternoon because I was taped to the hammock.

Friday: Beth, Rachel, Tirrel, Donovan and I went out for a night on the town. Don't get too excited. We just walked around Old Town and then played chess in Alley Cat. We all decided we were too tired to continue at around 1am. Yeah, we're lame. Go us!

Saturday: My mommy visited me and introduced me to a new hamburger joint. Washington's, mmhmmm.. I highly recommend.

Monday: We made/got free Zen gardens! They're pretty ugly looking, but we figure if we get some shadow boxes instead of plastic trays, they'll look awesome.

I have a question to randomly put in: Who checks their mail at 5 in the morning? I mean really, these guys should be in bed. And then they tell me they're locked out of their room. Jeez! Where were they at 4 this morning?

Anyway, continuing. Monday I also ended up taking down the hammock. I know, I know, it's sad for everyone. The strings were rubbing against the loft and breaking because of the way we tied it. There was no way to rehang it without having the same issue, and that hammock means too much to me just to let it get ruined. So, I traded my loft bed for a floor bed, stuck the one I already had against it, and bam! King size bed, baby. I rotate an average of 90 degrees every night. It's great...

Um... as far as classes go, we won't discuss my last Stats exam grade. But I took another Chem exam last night (part of the reason I'm so tired) and I have two exams next week. And after that week, Spring Break baby! I'm so pumped for a week in Florida. I've been out swimsuit shopping with the gals, but no luck yet. I mean, I have suits but they're for lap swimming. Not hanging out on the boat and surfing. Yeah, I wanna go out surfing at least once, ye Floridans (Mainly Joel and Ryan). I land Thursday night and leave the next Friday, just to let you folks know.

Alright, I'm tired and my book and that movie aren't going to watch themselves, so I'll be off now. Sorry, no pictures (as you've probably already noticed). Also, Colorado Springs peeps, I'll be in town Saturday for your general amusement, and mine. I'm not sure yet if I'll have someone with me, but I'm trying to push Donovan into coming just so I have company on the drive. We'll see.

Peace, Love, and Naps,
Tar

P.S.- Totally forgot your last email Hamlar, but I'm pretty sure you've heard of Postal Service, Snow Patrol, The Faint, and The Shins, which are my newest (to me) rants. The Fray is big right now too, but I haven't heard them, so I don't know. Hope that helps!

Incredible Edible Morning

2006-02-22T07:24:00.000-08:00

I watched the Incredibles this morning. And ate an apple. That's what that subject means.

Well, it's official, I'm a 10 year old. Why am I a 10 year old? Because I fell off of my bunk bed last night. Yeah. Ow. I blame my mother, who called me when I was asleep and knowing that no one has my number that didn't know I would be a asleep, I figured I should answer the phone. Climbing down from a bunk bed to answer what you think might be an important phone call while having just woken up is not a good idea. Don't worry, I'm not too hurt, just a very bruised and stiff knee.

Well, I finished yet another book, four actually (not including Eragon) and now I would like to recommend the Chronicles of Narnia series to our readers with younger kids. I know the movie just came out, but I think the books are still worth a reading. This series would be more for kids that can handle things like war and things of the sort. I mean, it's not graphic or anything, but I'd still say 10 and up.

As those of you watching the Weather Channel might know, we've experienced some snow. It's started warming up and melting in the last couple of days, but Wednesday through Saturday was downright chilly. It dumped snow on us Wednesday night, so much so that I wasn't willing to risk my car driving to skating in it. So the gang, disappointed by my desire to not drive, decided they would put the snow to good use and use it for sledding. Now, as some of you might think obvious, college students don't usually keep sleds in their rooms. So what did the gang end up using? Why, cafeteria trays, of course. Rachel was sent to "retrieve" a number of trays from the only open dining hall at 9pm and they all went out to sled and snowtray (like snowboard, but with a tray). I didn't go as it was a Wednesday evening and I was exhausted, but I did get to see the amount of snow that they returned covered in. Needless to say, they had a blast.

Lately the girls (Rachel, Bria, Beth, and Tirrel) have been participating in the Independent Film Competition, so I haven't been seeing a lot of them. Fish is competing as well, with a group of guys from his hall. That has left Donovan and I to watch an absurd amount of Scrubs. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I really wish that there had been fewer seasons of Scrubs. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the show, but I just don't love it as much when I watch about 10 episodes of it a day.

When I'm not watching Scrubs I'm probably organizing my 50 GB of music, which sadly keep growing everyday. All in all, I'm really tired of looking at a computer screen for most hours of the day. Because of this, I'm going to cut this one off after just one more thing.

About three weeks ago, the gang and I all went to Colorado Springs. The attached pictures are all of us at the Garden of the Gods. I figure you guys should be able to figure out who everyone is, so yeah.

Peace, Love, and Slush,
Tar

This is a Yawn in Email Form

2006-02-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

Good morning. If I could somehow send a yawn with this email, I surely would. I must apologize now for my language. I have been reading fantasy books this last week, and I fear the latest's vocabulary might be encroaching on my own. Actually, I'm fairly positive it has, reading that last sentence. Anyway, good morning and happy belated Valentine's Day. I hope that you had a pleasant holiday with your loved ones, I know I enjoyed mine.

A lot has happened in the past week that I think would be rather interesting to you, even more so if I had the fortune of having pictures. I sadly got Donovan hooked on Scrubs, so currently most of my evenings are filled with hospital jokes and staring at a screen. I've watched the entire series before, and while I do love it, I must admit that I would rather be wrapped up in a good book. Of course, if I'm not working, in class, or sleeping, I'm probably reading. I've really picked up in my reading this semester and have finished another book since the last email. I'm pretty sure I'll finish another today sometime.

While I know some of you may not have enjoyed my book review as others, I just want to put this out there: The DiscWorld series by Terry Prachett. I highly recommend it to Joel and Ryan, and whoever else that enjoys a good fantasy read that picks on everything possibly imaginable dealing with fantasy. The series so far includes about 15 books, and there are several different reading orders of the books. I have a suggested reading order chart, which I've attached to this email for those who are interested. I would say that the ages for this series would be about 15 up.

Anyway, so yes, my time has been consumed with reading (pleasure and homework), working (though not nearly as much as I should be), Ragnarok (level 48 Mage, go me), and entertaining tidbits in the past week. I think the most interesting, and slightly sickening event would be when Bria and I decided to make cookies and decorate them. Don't get me wrong, the cookies turned out great. The sickening part was all that sugar. I could only eat rice for dinner that night, I was so sugared out. We made chocolate chip and sugar cookies, and decorated ALL of them with frosting. It was whipped frosting and we added various food dyes so that we had colored and plain frosting. We also hand made the cookies into shapes so that in the end, we had, no lie, hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers and blue moons. We also had some feet (thank you Rachel) and a few flowers (to that we owe Bria). I have a feeling we were loved by the office staff that day, and hated at the same time because the smell of fresh cookies was present for quite a while. Of course, we didn't offer them any... Oops. As well, being college students lacking a proper kitchen, we had to apply the frosting with fingers and everyone knows the natural response when one's fingers are coated in sweets: lick them. My head hurt so bad after an hour I couldn't speak straight. Everyone loved our cookies, though, and the two I had were great, though enough for sugar induced comas, I'm sure.

In an attempt to burn off all that sugar and improve my skating skills, I've started to skate at the University's in-line hockey rink. After perfecting my backwards skill, Bria and I discovered that we could rent hockey sticks and a ball from the Rec Center. Needless to say, we've been playing off and on all week. And I have yet to score on her as much as she on me. Oh, I can out skate her and maneuver and maintain the puck for longer. The problem is I'm a terrible shot. I'm talking missing the goal by feet, not inches. It's no wonder now why I was always defense.

Terrible transition here, but thank you everyone who sent me pictures this last week. And email in general. I have enjoyed them all and am sorry if I have not replied to you directly, but take comfort in the fact that I've replied to no one, heh. What can I say? I'm not a huge fan of email. I prefer the instant gratification of Instant Messaging and phone calls. Yes, I know it's terrible that email is too slow for me. Too bad, I'm a hip new age kid and that's the way it's going to be! Heh.

Alright, last bit, I swear. I know you're probably all wondering what I did on V-Day, but sadly, nothing really special. The only remotely special thing I did was swing into Safeway while running an errand for Tirrel and buy Valentines for my hall mates. I also gave some to my friends and put a bright blue horse tattoo on my forehead for a few hours yesterday. It's gone now, but I feel that it did it's job in making people wonder about my sanity. See, the Valentines I bought were pony ones, like elementary kids hand out, and each one had a pony temporary tattoo. How could I not apply one in a very obvious place? I mean, it's me. Also, the boys/men of Newsom (place I live, folks) chipped together and bought all the girls/women in the hall roses. One per a female was taped to each room door around 4 in the morning. Donovan had a hand in it, he secretly revealed to us at his own risk. It was supposed to big secret, though a bit obvious that the night owls did it. And Donovan is one of the worst night owls I know. Anyway, everyone else in the Group (yes, I decided to make it a proper noun) paired off with their respective boyfriends/girlfriends and I was left with a quiet night of watching House and getting to bed early for work today. Not bad if I say so myself.

And now, my book is calling me again. This time it's Eragon by Christopher Paolin. I should probably study more for that exam I have at 10 this morning, but I'm too lazy, and tired. Oh, 90's on both exams from last week, just in case you cared.

Peace, Love and Please, No More Sugar.
Tar

Hi-ho, the Cherrio!!

2006-02-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what that means, it just kinda came to me.

Anyway, how are ya doing this morning? I'm doing alright, just slouched down in this sorry excuse for a chair, trying to keep awake. I'm more than halfway through my shift and I've already finished one assignment and a book. I hope to get some studying done before I'm off and I have to get ready for the long day ahead.

I believe the most exciting thing that happened this weekend was my visit to the Springs. The whole gang came with me, as I stated they probably would last week, and we had a fun time touring the city. I mean, yeah, we had some tough spots, but we also had a very fun day in Manitou and the Garden of the Gods. I think the best part of the weekend was the last few hours of it where it was just Donovan, Fish, Bria and I. I'm very sad to say that the Seahawks lost, but Bria swears the Steelers cheated. I wasn't really going for anyone, I just like watching the game and commercials. We only caught the last half of it, but what I saw was good.

I'm a bit out of it for this email, I must admit. I didn't get to bed as early as I had wanted because I had an exam at 6 last night. It was Chem and I'm not the least bit worried about it. I was the second to finish, and that's just cause I waited until someone else stood up before I did. It only took me 15 minutes, I wasn't sure that was a good or bad thing. I have another exam today, Psyhc, and I just need to do some reading for it. It's going to be a memory exam, which means I just have to memorize all the facts. Considering my willingness to read lately, it shouldn't be a problem.

Yeah, I've been reading a lot lately. I finished the sixth Harry Potter last week and yes, I cried like a babe. I had reread the series before I read the newest one, and I'm glad I did because I hadn't remembered a lot. I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha (I wanted to read it before I saw it), and I'm very much reminded of a book I read my freshman year. I can't remember the title, sorry Mr. H, but I remember the cover well, lol. Anyway, Memoirs is a good book, if you're into reading foreign stories.

The thing that really gets me about that book is that it's fiction. I got halfway through it before I realized that while the book was first-person, the author was a male. After reading up on it, I found out Arthur Golden wrote his story with a considerable amount of research, only one source being a geisha. The geisha he interviewed wasn't the one he wrote about, for Sayuri is an invited character. But nonetheless, he writes the story so well that I had to remind myself at the end that it was indeed fiction. Throughout the book, everything seems a bit random, barely held together through the horrible things that happen to the main character. There is an antagonist and Sayuri is obviously the protagonist, but there are also numerous character whose roles seem to be nothing and those whose seem to be everything. While the ending is slightly abrupt when compared with the elaboration of the rest of the book, it makes for a perfect, and slightly surprising, conclusion to Sayuri's life. If you have any interest in seeing the movie, I suggest reading the book first. It's a rather quick read (which isn't saying a lot considering how fast I read) and you'll be hard-pressed to put it down even at the end. I must warn, though, that considering the nature of some parts of the book, younger readers should be advised against this book. I would say 15 and above. Also, it could kinda be perceived as a chick-book, so yeah.

I'm throwing this in randomly, I know, but I want to give a shout out this week to two very important people. Firstly, everyone give it up for my mom who has now moved into a new house without almost any support in packing and unpacking. I wish I could have helped more, but thankfully I had to go back to school. Heh. Second, to Mr. H who is sadly leaving Palmer for bigger and hopefully better things. I wish ya luck beyond the stars, Hamlar.

Alright, so that was mostly an email about a book. A few final notes, if I might. First, thank you to the three people, yes three, that sent me a reply after last week's email. I must say that while I am disappointed, I'm not really surprised. Secondly, could someone please send me the email of Marsha? I know she wants to receive these, but no one has sent me her address yet. And third, though it's early:

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!

Tar

Here It Comes Again...

2006-02-01T04:38:00.000-08:00

Well good morning. And how are you doing today? Good, I hope. I am doing very well considering it's 4 in the morning here. Exceedingly well. See, I have discovered that if you move your sleep schedule forward about 7 or so hours and be consistent with it, getting up a 2:30am is not a big deal. Granted... I do climb off my loft on mornings like these, hit the snooze button and curl up on my couch, but that's why I set the alarm for 2:30 instead of 2:50. My friends aren't too pleased with me hitting the hay at 7pm, but that's because my room was the usual hang out till around midnight. The way I see it, though, is that they still get to spend time hanging out with me. I do all the work I can (basically everything that doesn't involve my computer) while working, so in the afternoons, I'm free as a bird to do whatever the gang wants to do. These 4 hours of silent work is actually really convenient because I have 4 hours of blissful study time, which I am curre! ntly taking a break from.

So aside from my crazy sleep schedule which I just decided to justify to all of you, what have I been up to this past week? Simple, I've been trying to stay aware in my classes. I thought I had boring classes last semester but they have nothing on this semesters classes. Everything I'm taking this semester I've either already had before or is a freshman level course (snore). My stats notes now have interesting cartoon characters all over them and I'm seriously considering using that class today to make a comic for the buggers. My health notes are non-existent and my discrete structures notes are full of typos and doodles. The only class I feel like I'm learning anything is Chemistry, but all I'm really learning is review (you were such an awesome teacher Ms. Smith that I could probably sleep through class and read the book and still pass with an A). My psych class is, well... yeah. We're learning about the brain now, which! is fine, but I swear the professor has a memory lapse because half the things she says is an exact repeat from a previous, or sometimes the current, lesson.

So those are my classes. The only really other exciting thing is that the gang has decided to start playing my stress relief game, Ragnarok. It's kinda weird to be showing and teaching them to play a game that I've never played with anyone I've known before. It was my personal pass time, ya know? Like Rachel and Bria did weird art things when they wanted to de-stress on their own, Fish went off and was Fish, Tirrel runs or bikes or swims, and Beth slept. I played Ragnarok. Well now Bria, Fish, and Beth play Ragnarok too. It's funny, though, because it's an online game (meaning you play with people from all over the world) and we're all playing within walking (or shouting) distance of each other. So we decided that our characters would all look alike, which is really funny considering Fish's is male! , and that we would only ever play with at least another member of the group. Oh, and none of us speak English in the game. The version we play has a lot of Germans and Brazilians, so we decided we'd pretend to play as French people. Bria taught me a few sentences, like "nous somme Francaise" and "d'accorde" and we just have a ball with it. People always wanna talk to us cause we all look the same, but we pretend we don't understand them and start speaking in French and really broken English (We is of Francaise). The laughter can be heard all the way on the third floor, I'm sure.

So whose pumped for the Superbowl?! Wooo!!!

Ok, so I'm not really that pumped for it, I mean the Broncos aren't in it and after watching the play-off game two weeks ago, it's obvious they shouldn't be. Bria is an avid Seahawks fan, so we're all cheering them on for our own safety (Bria has a very way of convincing us to follow her: her purse h! urts when it collides with your head).

Kidding. She just glares at us and screams louder for the Seahawks.

So yeah, we're all heading down to the Springs to catch the game with my mom, bro and Crystal (his serious girlfriend). We'll be swinging through various points of interests as well, like the Garden of the Gods and the bowling alley. Amy, also be aware that we will probably be arriving on your doorstep sometime this weekend as well. Everyone's coming at this point, I think, including Donovan! If our lives were a sitcom, he'd be the next door neighbor who shows up every other episode or so. He's been spending a lot of time around lately, though, spending quite a few hours on the couch. Everyone else thought it was weird at first, but he does this periodically. I would say I would send a picture, but I left my camera at home so I'll be grabbing it this weekend. I really wish I had brought it the first time I came back u! p, though, cause it's been a funny week. Tirrell cut Beth's hair one day, in the shower stall with the trash can. She did a really good job, too, considering it's now 6 inches shorter and really, REALLY cute.

So yeah, this email has kinda been everywhere this morning. Sorry about that. I'll try and be more even next time, it's just a bit distracting because the pipes are making a lot of noise this morning. That and this keyboard isn't the greatest ever, nor the computer. I'm going to head back into homework land and take a few online quizzes. They're all I got left for homework, unless you count those 4 essays which aren't due till March, but whose counting those, right?

I hope you all have a very eventful week until I send again and I've decided I want you to send me pictures. That's right, you heard me! I'm assigning you all homework. I wanna see recent pictures or at least some sort of response that you're still ! alive and I'm not sending these emails to a trash bin somewhere. Tell me what's new, what you're doing for the Superbowl, the summer months, spring break, anything I don't already know about.

Love, Peace, and Don't You Just Love Online Radio?
Tar

P.S.- Yes, I did say free hoody last week because, yes, I received a free LiveLifeLate hoody for working the Casino night that first week back. So there ya go.

Good Morning World!

2006-01-25T06:02:00.000-08:00

So there I was, on the second floor of a building I'd never been in before, a janitor halfway down the hall. She was looking at me and wondering what in the world I was doing there at 7 in the morning. I had to think fast.

And I'm going to leave that one there, whahaha. Good morning everyone. I'm sending this to you at beautiful 5 am. I've been up for a bit more than 2 hours, and I must admit, I'm pretty much wide awake. People might think this job stinks, but honestly it's the best job I could get. Sure, I have to get up early, but all I do is sit at the desk, watch movies, and do my homework. There is no better job. There are no distractions from my homework. I mean, really, I'm already done with all my homework for the day already. Another bonus is I'll be sure to be awake for my first class at 8.

So what has happened in my first week back? Well, a whole lot of nothing, really. I mean yes, I did attend all of my classes (the only one in the group who has so far) and yes I've been working. My classes are going to be pretty easy this semester, I think, and work isn't much of a concern as far as difficultly. My first class most days is Stats, and I must say it's a snore. Second is chem, which might actually nee up being my hardest and favorite class this semester. Third is usually Psychology, which isn't that tough and only slightly interesting. My health class reminds me of one of those seminars with inspirational speakers. The Psych and health class really go hand in hand, that's for sure. My last class is Discrete structures, my only remote programming course this semester.

Oh, speaking of educational things and infos, I think I have decided to pick up a minor. My brother is thrilled, I know. I'm going to go for the history minor with a focus in Asian studies. I'm going to try and get the paperwork through this week, but I'm not sure how that's going to go. I mean, I want the minor, but do I really want to have to write papers again? Hmm... I'll talk with my adviser and see how that will buy into my three-four-two year plan.

My coffee is currently wearing off. Uh-oh.

Friday night was Casino Night at the Lory Student Center. I was one of three people who volunteered to deal cards. Three. We had a full ballroom, with 23 tables, and only three dealers. It was a blast!!! Students started dealing for other students and people were having a great time. The prices went quick and the free sodas and popcorn too. My table, as usual, was awesome. I'm not the best card dealer in the west (I only ever deal at these events) so it was a little rough at first. After an hour, though, no one was complaining. I had dealt a straight and they had all decided that when I dealt a 2 on the flow, it was going to be a good hand. When my shift ended at 11pm, no one wanted me to leave. I stuck it out for another half an hour and then had to pass my spot over to Bria before I fell asleep on the table.Of course, once I got back to the dorms, I didn't want to go to bed and ended up staying till 1. Oops. Hehe.

Alright, here's this week's interesting story (though maybe not told so interestingly). You might have noticed it in the beginning, and I hope I caught your interest.

So this is the deal: Tirrel, Beth and I responded to an ad in the paper to distribute flyers. We had to be in front of the library at 6, so we were there at 6. AM. The deal is, the woman would give us $10 an hour to place flyers in various classrooms around campus, without those flyers being thrown away by the janitors. Janitors were the enemy. Let me tell you, even though it was about 30 degrees, we were still sweating from running to building to building. There were three groups of us, we all had flyers, a map, and a list of classrooms to paper. It was a ton of fun for 6 in the morning. Also, we were able to gain a better understanding of our campus. So yeah, that would be another fun and unique adventure for my college life. I mean, not every college student gets up early to distribute flyers, then get up even earlier the next day to work. Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to distribute again.

Alright, the coffee is completely out of my system, so I'm going to go back to watching my third movie of the morning. What can I say? I finished all of my homework.

Love, Peace, and a Free Hoody!
Tar

New Year, New Semester

2006-01-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I just rolled out of bed. Bare with me for this one.

So it is now 2006! Woo Hoo, we made it. Entering my second semester, I find I can't wait for classes, but I'm still a bit nervous. I mean, I have early classes all week, and as most of you know, I'm not an early morning kinda person. Add on to that the fact that most of my courses are science or math (meaning my books cost A LOT) and you have one brain-fried kiddo. It's all good. I mean, I've taken most of the courses I'm taking. That health course and phyc course are the only two I have to kinda start fronm scratch, so I'm not truely worried.

So the gang's all good. There was much hugging and jumping up and down when we all arrived together. Beth and Rachel are still rooming together across the hall, and they are happy as ever to be back. Bria is still down the hall, but in a different room. Her roommate isn't back yet, so she has the thing to herself and all her stuff has exploded. Fish is in Ingersoll still. He had a lot of his stuff from his old house shipped up here, cause he'll be living here from now till whenever. His room is bursting with stuff, I feel so bad for his roommate. Miles is now in Ingersoll as well, but I have no idea how he's doing. I haven't seen him since I picked Fish up at his house yesterday morning. We'll probably all get together and do lunch or something today.

I think I sent out my course schedule before, but I may have not. I've attached it, so there ya go. You can just ignore the strange symbols on it. They came with it when I saved it. It should just open in your Internet browser. As you can see from it, I'm insane.

Oh! And the most exciting information is this: I have single! Goodie goodie gum drops. It's still a mess right now, but it's getting there. Beth and I hung my hammock up last night and it's looking good. You can't really swing in it or the whole loft moves, but other than that, it rocks. I still have BerBer's couch, and I'm keeping the spare bed and desk. I'll send pictures of the room when I get it all together and neat, which may be never right? Kidding. It should all be clean by tonight.

Alright, I'm going to go find Bria and Fish and see if they want to go to the gym to work out and look up a class to take. I'll talk to you all, hopefully, later. And as always, feel free to reply and chat. Oh, and Joel, I WISH I had your schedule man. I'm afraid of mine.

Love, Peace, and Single Dorm Rooms!!
Tar

P.S. - Tom has a new girlfriend and not only is she really cute, but she's convinced him to take her to Florida over my Spring break. So guess who's tagging along. That's right! Mom, Tom, Crystal and I will all be heading down to Mel during my spring break, the second week in March. So gas up the boat and jet skis, and we'll see you Flordians then.

Merry Belated Christmas

2005-12-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is late. I know, I know. I was going to try and send one out on Christmas day, but honestly, I was too busy launching rocket balloons and pieces of potato at my brother. All I have to say to that is this: Stocking gifts.

So, yeah. It's been an eventful week of holidays. I've been getting into work again, remembering why I was so happy to leave it in the first place, and then remembering that I need the cash. Nanny and Papaw are here, well, okay, actually they are in Nebraska right now visiting more family, but they were here at one point and time and they will be back.

Christmas was Christmas, and honestly, I don't really wanna get into it. Don't get me wrong, nothing bad happened and I got everything I wanted. I just don't really feel like typing it all up. Call me lazy, I've been doing it for years.

Now to the juicy stuff. I got my grades back from CSU! Okay, okay. I know they aren't all straight A's, but I'm darn well close! Here's the break down: A in Java, A in Seminar, A+ in Physics, A in History, and a B in Math. The math made me sad, but I think that that exam I was sick for is what really brought me down. And next semester, I'm taking two, count them two math courses and a Chem course. I really don't want to take the math but my advisor swears that they will be the last two I ever have to take with this major.

And now I'm going to Village Inn for pie. Yes, Sara is back in town and we all demand pie.

Peace, Love, and Pie,
Tar

P.S. - I'll dig up some pics for the next email.

Long Time, No Email-y

2005-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I'm sorry. I know, I know. It's been like, what, three weeks? Jeez... I never thought I would do that to you. Forgive me?

Good.

So, yeah, it's been a few weeks. I think my last "little" email was sent before Thanksgiving, so this one is wayyyyy over due. As a lot of you guys know, I went to Florida for Thanksgiving with my brother and mother. Even though I wasn't able to make it out on the water this trip, I still had a blast. Nanny and Papaw, you guys are always the best hosts. Ya make a girl feel at home. I'm just sorry I had that headache all week.

After I got back from my little vacation I jumped right back into my studies. Oh joy. I'm happy to say that I think I got an A in my history class. We had our final presentations last week and I must say, my group's was the best. Thank goodness that I didn't have to take a final in that class. My hand would have fallen off cause of all the writing. That teacher just loves to give 5 essay exams.

I think I'm landing an A in physics as well. I would probably smack myself if I didn't, considering this is my 3rd year of physics, at the same level. It's not that I keep failing, oh no, I have gotten A's in all my physics courses. It's because my required courses don't except the credit from the previous physics classes I've taken. So, because IB wouldn't take Honors Physics credit, I had to take IB Physics. And now, because the CS Department wouldn't count my IB credit towards my degree, I had to take college physics, which is actually EASIER than IB or honors. No, no. I'm not peeved about that at all.

My math course is the one where my A is teetering. I was really, really sick for the second midterm, so I only got a 33/50 on it, which really dragged down my average. So I have to get a very high A on the final to get an A in the course, which is going to be tough, I've been told. The final is supposed to be very difficult. Cox, my math and physics study buddy, had an A in that course last year and then took the final and failed the course. Hence the reason he's taking it again this year. Needless to say, I'm studying hardcore for that one.

My seminar course didn't even have a final. It was really a very low-key kinda course. Little effort, not much brain power needed. I'm pretty sure I've got an A there, but no real way to check cause she never really gave assignments or tests.

My java course is my last final, and I think I'll do alright on it. Java has been my skate course this semester, the course that I do the minimal amount of work I have to to get an A. The final is on Tuesday, around noon, so I'm going to study for it then. I have an A in the course right now, so I'm not worried about it too much.

So yeah, Monday morning, everyone be thinking of me. My first final is 7AM. It's physics. Can we say "Ouch?" I'm not looking forward to getting up that early and taking a test. And then I have my math final that same day, three hours later. Ugh... don't try to talk to me that day, I'll be brain dead. Tuesday's java and then I'm done. I'm going to hang around till about Thursday, though, cause all my friends don't leave til around Friday. I have to clean the room anyway, because my roommate moved out. It's very, VERY nice not having her around while I'm trying to study, so I'm just hoping that I don't get assigned a new one come next semester. If they don't assign me one over break, I'll be able to have a single for a simple $500 more. Oh, that check will be written and sent in the blink of an eye if I get the chance, so everyone think happy thoughts about me getting a single next semester.

Alright, Miles is over so I've got to start studying physics. Attached are some pictures for your amusement and what-not.

Peace, Love, and Please, no more free t-shirts!
Tar

A "Little" Quicky

2005-11-17T12:53:00.000-08:00

This one is a quicky between exams and classes. As some of you might know, I'm going to Florida for Thanksgiving. This of course means that a lot of time will be spent on the water, working on my tan, and on the computers or sitting in front of the big screen TV. I've been working hard trying to finish all my homework before this weekend so that I may truly have a vacation, but I have a feeling that that physics and math assignments will still be haunting me when I hit the beaches. Oh, sorry for any typos. I chewed one of my nails too short last night in a study group meeting, so the band aid is hindering my typing.

Typing that is currently happening in the LSC. Yes, I love the ability of this campus' computer setup. I have Internet access anywhere I could possibly want. And right now, I'm trying to kill the 20 minutes before I have to walk to my next class. Mmm... only three more classes and one more exam until Thanksgiving break is official! I cannot wait. Speaking of killing the time, though, lately it has seemed like I've had more and more of it. See, next semester I have to get up around 7 in the morning everyday. And, unless I want to spend my entire vacation sleeping til 2 Florida time, I really had to get my body used to getting up early. So, this entire week, I am proud to say I've been getting up anywhere from 7:30am to 8:30am. Considering my earliest class is at 10 on Mondays and Wednesdays, I feel that this is extremely good progress. The only down side is that I have to crash before midnight. Now, if you knew my little group of friends and I, you would know that we usually force ourselves into bed around 3 in the morning. So, in a nut shell, I've been trying to force the little party known as Berlin and friends out of my room around 11 at night. Last night was really tough, though, because Tirrel and Robby got piercings last night (I didn't, thank you very much mother) and they just had to sit in my room, listening to loud music and eating McDonald's. I can understand why some people like their roommates, I just don't understand why anyone would like mine. The only reason I think that it's a good idea I continue to room with Berlin is that she knows me and understands my stupid little quirks, which a new roommate would take years to learn. That and she's hardly ever in the room.

Alright, that's enough of a rant on my roommate. I mean, look at that paragraph, it's structure is completely off. Hehe. All my friends have been complaining because they have to take College Comp, the basic English course here that really sticks. And I, of course, don't! Whahahahaha. Ha. Haha. hahahahaha.... Ok, one more and I'm done. HA! I'm sorry, it's just that they always remark on how I'm always studying and working and always so serious, but once again my hard work has put me ahead and out of certain annoying courses that they must now take. I mean, yeah, so what if I have to schedule when I have my down time? At least I find time for it and all my homework. I am proud to say that my grades at the end of this semester will most likely be favorable. Speaking of favorable, that cup of coffee is screaming my name in bloody murder pitches, so I'm going to ample over there and spend my last few remaining bits of credit on a Large Snicker Delight, hold the cream and sugar. Whahahahahahaha.

Peace, Love and Another Free T-shirt,
Tar

P.S. ~ Yes, I got another free t-shirt yesterday when I stopped in the plaza and got a free tune-up from the cycling team. My bike now runs GREAT and I have a free t-shirt. Who says you have to pay for things on campus? You just have to wait long enough until they are free. Who cares if my tires were so low they looked flat when the bike was on the rack.... they're full now! That's what counts!!!

Ten Bucks Trivia

2005-11-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

Alright. I will give ten bucks to whom ever can guess where I'm sending this email from. Fish, you're excluded. So's anyone else that is in Fort Collins right now.

So the semester is coming to a break and it's getting a little bit more crazy than before. Last weekend was the first in a long time that I was able to just sit back and chill without having to worry about driving home. I was supposed to go on a camping trip with friends, but I decided to decline after I realized how much of that time I could use for sleeping and doing homework.

Don't get me wrong, I do have a pretty good system going for the work I'm getting. I mean, it's nothing unreleasable. It's just that every week I have a Physics homework assignment due Tuesday at midnight and it usually takes about 7 hours to do the whole thing. He gives us a little under a week to do it. In Java I have a lab due every Wednesday by midnight and it really depends on the type of lab as to how long it'll take me to do. Then there's the reading for my Asian American History class every week, about 50 pages a week. Tuesdays are my Physics lab days, which I have to prep for before hand. Lately I've had a paper due for History every other week or so and an exam about once a month. Yeah, that's what's happening tomorrow, my last History exam. See, right now I have a History project which counts as my final grade, a history exam to study for, a website to make for the CS department and my CS192 class, and my research paper I have to do to get paid. Yet, here I am, typing up this email in a unique location at 2 in the morning.

What's everyone's Thanksgiving looking like? I know what'll be for you Florida-bunnies, but how about everyone else? Anyone?...

Oh! I have to gloat! I just kicked Miles' butt in chess! He was really confident going in, but he started losing it when I wouldn't fall for his traps. He's challenged me to a rematch as soon as I'm awake and have the time. Ahh... time. It's an eluding creature, that seems to exist in excessive amounts at night only. I dunno. I'd be way too bored if I didn't have that much to do.

OK, I'm cutting it short cause I have to drive back to the campus and find a parking place before my eyes fall closed for the evening. Type to y'all later.

Love, Peace, and Coffee,
Tar.

A Little Late, Am I?

2005-10-31T19:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I kinda forgot about the email for about 2 weeks, but I blame the fact that I've been busy. It's been a couple of crazy weeks, that's for sure. School, midterms, and then we had some Web issues with one of our clients and I have just now been able to sit down and email. Thank you, everyone, for your replies last email. And a special THANK YOU to Grandma Edith for the awesome S'mores maker. We've already had several sugar filled nights with it.

I'm doing good in classes. I mean, I don't know actually grades but I'm assuming that I have A's and B's in everything. I've been figuring out my schedule for next semester and I'm hoping that I can get everything I want. I register Friday, so everyone hope that I get what I have planned, or else there's going to be problems.

Dad came home two weeks ago? and visited me up here. I showed him around campus and he took some pictures. I've attached one of the pictures, just because they're so big. They are really, really pretty. His camera rocks hard core. I would steal it from him if I thought he wouldn't notice before he got out of the country.

Ok, I know this is super short, but I have a study group, so I'm out of here.

Tar

Coming Live from the LSC

2005-10-17T13:42:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I meant to send this out before the end of the weekend, but as I think you guys can all see, it's a little late for that. So, I'm sending this to you all live from the Lory Student Center here on the beautiful CSU campus in sunny Fort Collins, Co. I know I didn't have to type that all out, but I felt like it. Gives it a more, I don't know, vocal feel.

So for those of you that haven't had the pleasure of talking to me via phone in the last week, yes, I did get sick. I'd been fighting it for weeks and it finally hit Tuesday night. Hard. Yeah, I was out of it for three days. Friday I could actually think enough to realize that I was missing class, I was just sleeping so much it didn't really matter. I'm all better now, thanks, just a bit of the sniffs and throat clearing left. I'm not sure what it was, but that has passed so it doesn't really matter anymore.

Because of my sickness, I obviously didn't do much in the last week. I did have a math midterm on Wednesday, that was fun. Not. I quite literally woke up at 5:50pm Wednesday, rolled out of bed, put on something that could be considered decent in public, drove three blocks to the exam, took it, drove back to my dorm, passed out again till about noon Thrusday. The real interesting thing was that it took me an hour to answer 6 questions before I realized I really shouldn't have been taking the exam. The bad news is that there were 8 questions. I got a 33/50. Yeah.... I called my professor. Soley, who cannot exactly teach at a speed known to the general populance as normal and writes in a solid block of curlys and quies (made that up), is very understanding and says that if my grade at the end of the semester is not an A and she can tell that I have been trying (in other words it was the exams fault), she will talk to the course coodinator about my grade. I just realized that that sentence was wayyyy too long to be correct, but I don't care. It's early (11:17). I got less than four of sleep (4:20-9). And I'm going to have a late night (three books and a paper).

The great news is that the Wednesday from heck that I had last week was the official middle of my first semester in college. I think I've done very well for myself. Not only did I join an organization, but I also stuck with it until its collapse (yes, Live Life Late is officially dead). I have already established several good relations with professors, changed the way a few things are done in classes, Aced three midterms (it'd be four if it wasn't for that stupid .5 of a point), and made a large group of good friends. I'd attach pictures to this email but I'm on the LSC computer, so I don't actually have any of them with me.

That reminds me, I am very happy and surprised with CSU's student services. They have free use computers in the LSC, library, USC building (that's the CS building) and in a few other places on campus. And the computers aren't trashed! Holey rusted rocks, Batman! No one checks your ID or is watching over your shoulder. If you trash the computer, it's one less one for you to use. And the library, wow. I thought Colorado College's library in the Springs was good. I like this library so much that I'm doing a report on it for my seminar class. They also have a writing center, that checks papers for free; counseling center; and a Career Center that find me another job (like I can handle it). I highly recommend CSU's facilities.

Alright, this email is getting huge, so I'm going to cut it off after a few brief shout-outs:

1. Everyone give it up for my Mom! She came out for Parent's Weekend the 8 & 9th and ran in the CSU Homecoming 5k. She's coming back strong from her surgery and tore it up at 7:45 in the morning. She also did me the favor of running around the campus and giving herself a tour, so I didn't have to.

2. Everyone send a big pat of the back to my roommate, Berlin, who finally decided that if she actually went to class, maybe then she wouldn't miss all of those pop quizes. Oh, and studying actually kinda helps...

3. You can stop sending First Aid kits, at least for now, Beth and Rachel made it a whole 2 weeks without an injury! Granted, Rachel's eye is infected a bit still and she's still healing from where her stitches were removed, but those aren't something new so I'm saying no injuries. They also finally beat that level of Donkey Kong they've been working on for a week.

4. Send good waves to Emily Meirtz, a high school friend that decided to drop by with about 4 of her friends last night around 10. Her and her buddies, along with the normal crew that lives in my room, hung out and chatted till about 2am. She drove all the way up from Mines to visit Tirrel, who just happened to be in my room at the time. It was a blast and I do have pictures of everyone (all at once, on the couch) that I will probably send out by themselves later this week.

5. Last but not least, send it out to Fish. I'm not sure if I said this in the last email, but he got a DJ spot on KCSU, the college's radio station. He drags his butt out of bed early every Saturday to be on the radio from 6am to 8am. I haven't actually been awake yet to hear his show, but I have no doubt it's good. He had a hard gig last Saturday, so everyone send him happy vibes, he deserves them (he's the one that single-handedly doubled the size of my music collection, we like his music).

Alright, I've been at this for almost an hour, so I'm going to let you guys go and actually go grab something to eat.

Peace, Love and Chicken Soup,
Tar

Two Weeks In One!

2005-10-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then! I missed last weeks email because I was at my mommy's for the weekend, and didn't really have time to do much. This weekend is also going to be crazy, so I decided to have two emails in once. So! This accounts for last week's email and next week's.

I can't really remember what happened last week, except that I had my first History mid-term last Wed. I tell you what, my hand is still aching (course it could be from all the typing I've been doing, too). The mid-term was four ID (basically a who, what when and where with a bit of analysis throw in) and two essays. That was way too much for the time we were given. I got all my IDs done and had 40 minutes to write 2 essays. So, I wrote 3/5 of the first one and 2-3/5 of the second. It's all good though. I got the exam back Monday. 96%.

The weekend was good. I took Fish, Rachel and Berlin home with me. My car stereo is broken, so we didn't have any music on the way down. It was alright, though. We sang our own songs, gossiped and told jokes for the 2 hour drive. During the weekend, I dragged them all to my different appointments. Eye doctor, meeting with Tom, meeting with Amy, going to Best Buy, etc. Fish got his hair cut (finally) and somehow, Rachel lead Mom, I and herself into getting our eyebrows waxed. Ow.

Oh yeah. There was a passing last weekend. My iPod, Baby, passed away last week, and was put to rest last Saturday. She's in a better place now (probably at Apple, getting refurbished) and I have a new iPod. His name is Big Boy, because he's bigger than his older sister, by about 40 GB. I'm treating him better than I did Baby, hoping that he'll last much longer.

Oh yeah! I totally forgot, but Beth and I went to the CSU v. Air Force game last Thursday. It was the best! We had such a blast! We stood by the band the entire game (stand because nobody sits, except during Halftime) and screamed out lungs out. Beth wasn't a big football fan before the game, but by the 2nd quarter, she was screaming along with the rest of the crowd. We left after halftime, picked up Rachel, and finished watching the game at Chili's. We were cheering in Chili's, we were so into it. We're all going to another game together, and are going to tailgate before. Probably the Oct. 15th game. We killed Air Force, by the way.

Another member joined our little group of friends. Miles, a junior that lives on the 3rd floor, likes to come over about everynight and hang out and study. He really likes our couch and my popcorn. Mark also kinda joined, he's my physics and math study-buddy. I help him with physics and he helps we understand the stupid math book. He comes over and we do physics together (for like 5 hours straight and still don't finish the stupid problems!). So I guess I can't say the group is so little anymore. I attached some pictures of Miles and the girls playing. Tirrel is the one on the left and Rachel is on the right. No, he's not pregnant, that's a pillow up his hoody.

Alright, I have to go to Math now, so I'll talk to you all later. As always, send snail mail!

Tar

The Time You've All Been Waiting For

2005-09-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, folks! It's that time of the week! Time for Tar's weekly update!!!! (Can you hear the cheers? I can!)

Alright! Let's start at the beginning of the week! On Monday I had my first ever college math exam! Woot! Was I ever nervous! But, no worries! I flew through the exam, receiving a 100%. 50/50. All correct answers. Yeah, I'm still a bit pumped about that one.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I'm not sure what I really did, so it must have just been classes and junk.

Thursday I had my first ever physics college exam. Now, I wasn't as worried on that one, and for good cause. I didn't do as good on it as I did on the math exam, however. Only got a 97% :(. It's all good though, it didn't really bring my grade down any.

Thursday was also the day of the Pep Rally that Live Life Late put on, but I was in the exam so I didn't get to go to it. Apparently, it flopped. So, yeah. But! I did go to the movie after wards. Which also flopped. We have to figure out how to get more people coming to these events. I think Thursday was also the day I cleaned "house." I made Fish chuckle and my roommates look at me strange. I did all the dishes, vacuumed, and picked up around the room. And then! I cooked Fish fried Ramen. Who said you couldn't get creative with Ramen? And no, I didn't cook in the dorm room. We have a student kitchen in this hall and it's not exactly big and great, but it's better than a microwave by a long shot.

Friday I went to my two classes and the study abroad fair. I've been looking at doing at least a semester abroad now for a few years. I got a bunch of information on Asia exchanges and also one booklet on Semesters at Sea. I'm not sure which I'm going to do, but there's a good program in Shanghai that's drawing my attention if I don't go with the Semester at Sea. There are some awesome countries planned for upcoming trips with the Semester at Sea group. Besides, why visit one country when you can visit 10?

Saturday, yesterday, was the Computer Science Department's picnic. Not only did I go for the free food, but I also went to play softball. It was the Undergrads against the Grads and facility. Well, not really. There were only 4 Undergrads, so it ended up old verses young, kinda. I got to play catcher the entire game, for both sides, so I also got to throw the most and my arm is feeling it this morning. And, no, I wasn't unfair to either side. I even got a guy out on my team when I caught his foul ball. Granted, I wasn't really thinking when I did it, but my team still let me play for them. After they pulled my chain a bit, of course.

So! After the picnic I studied, which I'm going to go do after I send this email out. I have my first ever History exam Wednesday and the review is tomorrow, so I have to study. I also have some math and physics homework. Oh! It just dawned on me earlier this week that after I pay this last tuition payment, I need to start earning money for next semester! If any of you know anyone that's looking at getting a website made and wouldn't mind working long distance, let me know. And no, please don't just send me money, folks. I wanna work my way through college and while typing out this email every week is a bit of work, it's not enough for me to feel justified if you just give me the money. So, yeah. Web Design and development is my game, money is my aim!

Love, Peace, and sore arms!
Tar

The Peak of Free Stuff

2005-09-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

So I've already lost track of how long I've been here exactly. I think it's a hazard of doing so much oncampus with different organizations. Course, I've only really worked with one or two groups, but it's getting crazy. The good news, however, is that I get a lot of free stuff. I've gotten a lot of free meals, five free t-shirts, and 4 free Nalgeen bottles (those are expensive).

But! To explain the title of this email, I have hit the mother-load of free stuff. On Thursday Live Life Late (the organization that I'm currently trying to take over the world with) sponsored Buddy Lee Jeans to come to campus and setup a booth. They needed people to help run the booth so I got all my friends out there to help. So! Buddy Lee Jeans hooked us all up with a free pair of $40 jeans, Nalgeen bottle, hat, t-shirt, sweat bands, key chain, and as many stickers as we wanted. The also fed us. So, in conclusion I received a completely new outfit for running a basketball and RC car game booth. Yes, I am a special person.

Live Life Late(LLL) is really awesome. I love working with them. So much so that I dedicated 7 hours of my life today to go to a Leadership Conference just so LLL can be a student organization. I am now a registered officer of CSU Student Organizations. Woot. Slowly but surely, I will be extremely well known within the Student Organization department. You just
wait.

In other news, my Computer Science Research Grant research is going no where quick. My mentor found out that I make websites to pay for my tuition. Can we say "Uh-oh"? So yeah, they're paying me and I like doing it, but working on a new publications database and website wasn't what I was thinking of when I put in the get the grant. That's alright. My mentor also found out I'm interested in finding better ways to teach people the computer. So, I think I'll start researching here in the next few weeks. Elaine, the main boss over my grant is getting a bit frustrated with me though. They're giving me special privileges with my grant compared to the other students (which is funny cause all of us participating in the research are getting special privileges) so I don't really need to worry about pounding out a research project soon. See, apparently Computer Science people can writing software that allows computers to think and see like humans do. They just can't make a good website.

To class work: I still like and love the classes I did before and my grades are good, considering it's so early in the semester. First exam is in Math on Monday, and my second is in Physics on Thursday. Those are my repeat classes, so I shouldn't have any problems. Also, I've made some friends in both classes, so I have study-buddy resources. I'm lucky enough to have gotten on the good side of a guy that's taken the math course before and needs help in my physics class. So he helps me in math, I help him in physics.

Oh! Mr. H/Ron/Dude! I've got a project in my Asian American History class coming up and my group and I are focusing on Asian American literature. So if you have any suggestions other than Maxine and Pearl S. Buck, let me know! That goes to anybody else here that knows Asian American lit.

Um... I don't think there's anything else to really say. I haven't checked my snail mail in a few days, so don't know if you guys sent me anything. Thank you, if you did. I'll go check after I send this. I'm just too lazy to do it now. So yeah, I think this is the end of the email. Shoot me an email if you wanna be taken off the list, know someone that wants on, or if you want me to call you (there's a lot of you out there and I can't remember to call you all on weekends).

Love, Peace, and Free Jeans (which I'm currently wearing),
Tar

Some Pictures With This One

2005-09-12T23:40:00.000-07:00

I'm doing this email in two parts, so sorry guys if it gets a bit weird. I've attached some pictures of my room and some of my friends. The picture with the interesting "cake" is when we made a cake for Tirrel out of animal crackers and other sweets. She just turned 18, so we had to celebrate. In that picture, Rachel is the one with the glass, Bria the one without. Beth is in the last picture with Rachel, I think. Sorry about the weird angles and the darkness in the pictures. My camera is evil....

Alright, I'm going to pause the email and now eat breakfast. This shall continue either during or after my Seminar.

And now it's after!

Alright, so last week's classes were fine. I've learned that yes, it is best to do the homework before it's due and that yes, it's very easy to skip my math class and not miss anything. It's also very convenient that the gym is less than a block away. Also, the swimming pool is packed the later it gets.

Um.. aside from classes this week I attended a seminar and wrote my first paper. Woot. We also threw a surprise birthday party for Tirrel (hints the animal cracker cake) and had a slumber party. I'll have to send pictures of that next week. Oh! We also found out that smores can be made with lighters, you'll just run out of lighter fluid after the fifth one. If anyone would like to send a non-scented candle that would last a long time, that would be awesome. I think I'm going to bring my oil candle back up with me when I go home in October. We've also learned to take advantage of the to-go boxes in the dining halls. I still have food left over from last week. Finally, I finally used my dad's popcorn popper. It always burns the second batch, though. Anyone got any suggestions?

The first Live Life Late was Friday. It wasn't a huge success... but it was a success. For some reason we decided to not go with the Foam party and instead had an Open Mic night. We had four people, I think, and then we did some improv just to eat up time. The whole thing was over with around 10:30, even though it was supposed to go till 1. That's alright though cause we still had a blast. This week's event is a relief concert for hurricane victims. It's on Thursday night, so if you try to call, I won't get it. If you can't tell, I'm really into getting involved with activities. The hall painting is on hold until I can finish with my Colorado Springs client's websites, but I should be done with Michael's here in the next week.

This has turned out to be a massive email, but I guess that's alright cause the last one was so short.

Love, Peace and Free Water Bottles,
Tar

A LIttle Late, I Blame the Computer

2005-09-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

So, the internet in my room isn't working, so I couldn't really send out my weekly email when I wanted to. So, now I'm sending it during my Java class. Shhh... the TA doesn't care.

I'm now in my third week and already wishing I could finish all my work. I finished one of my client's webpages, one to go while I'm starting to working on a new one. The CS Department discovered that I did websites so they've roped me into making them a new Publications database. At least I'm getting paid, right?

You'd be so proud of me! Someone... Lol. I've already started picking at my professors. I called my Physics professor today during his lunch and moaned about his stupid homework program. Trust me, none of you would like it.

Uh-oh, the next class is starting soon and I told Fish I would leave before his stomach ate through his flesh (He forgots to eat in order to sleep more. Can we say lazy?). So yeah, it's short, it's sweet, and it's incomplete!

Tar

P.S. Going to be in Fort Collings Friday? Check out the Foam party from 9pm-11pm! LLL is hosting.

First Week of Classes

2005-08-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I had my first week of classes, as a few of you know. I know I said I'd email Friday.. but I've just been so swamped. Like right now, I'm holding two different conversations and trying to send this email. Le sigh. Alright! Down to one conversation, I can handle that.

So, yeah, I like most of my classes. I love my CS Seminar cause the professor is likely to be my hero. She's the one that got me my research grant in the CS department and she's helping me get other jobs and stuff. She's really awesome and I have a feeling, together, we're going to move the world. Haha. Just kidding. But we will move this college. We're already working on remodding the math requirements for a CS major.

My Java class is awesome, too. We get to play with robots and make them do stuff. The professor is a bit.. interesting, to say the least, but in a good way. He's from Hungry, I think.

I love, absolutely LOVE my Asian American History class. Thank you Hamilton for assigning the readings you did Junior year. The main text book is awesome and makes allusions to so many awesome works that I actually have heard of! Like Maxine Hong Kingston! Aunt Jeannie, you know who I'm talking about. Yeah. But all the books for the class are like that and Profesor Kim is cool. Very nice lecture style. Just awesome. Who cares that it is my latest class and I have to race over there to make it on time? I don't.

I don't like my physics or my math classes cause they're stupid simple. The physics class is a copy of what I've been taking for the past two years and I can't test out of it, which bores me to death. The math class is what I did 3rd quarter Junior year but expanded to a class. Which actually isn't possible, when you look at the book. They made up stuff to actually fill the class. The guy that wrote the book, is the one that teaches the class. And every semester, he rereleases the book, so you can't resell your book. Tell me that class doesn't suck.

I've already changed two classes, and I can't change again cause, honestly, I'm tired of standing in the book line. My schedule is kinda crazy right now cause of work and volunteering, but I'm going to try and keep emailing.

Um.. yeah, can't think of anything else and I've picked up a few other conversations. Sorry about poor email quality. I'll get back to you.

Post Move-in

2005-08-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've moved in. Been to a lot of events. Just for those of you who don't know, my roommate is my best friend from high school, so we're getting along fine.

Tonight, I think you would like to know, I was a Texas Hold 'Em dealer at Casino night. I was a pretty nice dealer. I had a habit of giving people more chips when they ran out. I think that was why I ended up with about 12 people at my table and only 8 chairs. Yeah. You know you're doing well when you're tipped a frisbee and 20,000 bucks. Trust me, the money was spent well. 2 bumber stickers, a key chain and a pen. Who said college wasn't expensive?

Let's see... last bit of info you'd like... I've made 4 new friends. My neighbors across the hall, Rachael and Beth, are really awesome and we've already became good friends. We hold an open door policy, seeing as we're the last two rooms at the end of the hall. We've already decided we're going to lead the revolution to paint our hallway. The white walls HAVE to go and I think two art majors (them) and one very loud and head-strong double major (me) should get the job done.

My other two buddies are Donovan and Fish (don't know his real name). They're guys in my CS major and considering we spent the better part of the day together, I think it's going to be an alright friendship. I have a feeling, deep, deep down, that I'm going to end up with a LOT of guy friends. Especially considering that I'm one of 4 girls going into CS this year. I think that I have a good chance, hmmm?

Alright, it's 1:07am so I'm going to end this quick. Once again, you want off the list, let me know. Oh! And due to my stupidity, I lost all my music :( So please! Please send me some! Attach songs, I'll give you my server address to upload them to, mail me copies, I don't care! I just want tons and tons of music.

Peace, Love, and Free T-Shirts!
Tar

Moving to CSU

2005-08-19T00:25:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll,

I thought it would be genius if I made an email contact group that I could send emails to letting
people know I'm not dying at CSU. That and when I'd be coming into town, stuff like that.

This is the first email out to you all, so just send me back an email if you wish to be removed from my lovely little list. I just added the people in my contacts that I would like to stay in touch with. In case you're wondering, this is the email I will be using in college, so yeah, feel free to shoot me an email anytime.

Alright, it's 12:25am and I move up to Fort Collins is about.. oh... 4 hours. So yeah, maybe I should get some more sleep (I took a 7 hour nap today: no, I'm not lazy at all).

Love, Peace, and Good will towards men (Ain't that Christmas?)
Tiffany