Back to the Books, Part II

The wolverine above is demonstrating for you what many students such as myself felt like today while A) attempting to park in the student lot, B) waiting to buy overpriced textbooks at the bookstore and C) trying to dodge lost freshmen, cell-phone yackers and texters and large groups of students visiting in the middle of the halls. Ah, well. Such it is every fall. It doesn't make me love UVU any less!

I've got a full course load and a dilemma. I was hoping for some advise from you, trusted blog friends. So, up until a few days ago, I was registered for 13 credits, three of them belonging to an Intro. to Art class that I've always wanted to take, just for fun. I could have used these credits toward anything I wanted, upper or lower division. Well then, I get an e-mail from my French professor. She is trying to build the French program at UV, and part of that is the dream of having a French minor available. Long story short, enrollment to these crucial classes is down and she came asking me to take 2050, Advanced French Grammars and Culture Studies. So, I dropped the art class and registered for French. However, I went to the class today, and I'm pretty overwhelmed. I haven't had French for nine months, and this is upper-level and pretty rough. It's also unnecessary. I don't need it to graduate, and I do need my GPA to stay up. But my dropping the class would mean the whole class could be dropped from the schedule, effecting the rest of the students in that class and the whole French program.

What to do? What would you do?

Which one are you?

Take the Quiz here!

Back to the Books

It's the First Day of School!
Elaina and Carter have been SO ready for school to start. I, on the other hand, feel totally blindsided. The summer went too fast, and suddenly the first day of school is already upon us? Unreal. But they looked so cute, marching to the bus stop in their new duds. That was one of my favorite things about the first day of school: shiny, new tennis shoes that nearly blinded people when in direct sunlight. I also remember going back-to-school shopping with my mom, and her nearly dying when I told her I wanted some $20 jeans. She said that was outrageous. (Never mind the going rate for Guess jeans in those days- it would have sent her over the edge!)

So tell me: what are some of your memories from elementary school? Any first-day traditions when you were growing up, or great stories from those young, impressionable years? I'd love to hear them!

Olympic Fever

I LOVE the Olympics! I love watching the competitions, I love learning about and watching sports I never would have been into otherwise (like water polo, or shooting) and I love the camaraderie of nations coming together, and I love cheering for the outstanding athletes of my country.

For the past few nights Jeff and I have stayed up until around one and two o'clock in the morning, watching all the events we can (at that hour, it's been volleyball!). He'll even bring in the laptop and we'll watch the events we missed during the day on nbc.com.

Now, for anyone who may have been watching last night, perhaps you caught the women's team gymnastics event. Coming into it, China was favored to win the gold. These girls, some of them rumored to be underage, have practically been trained since fetuses to be flippin', twirlin', balancing machines. So, enter Team USA. They're feisty and adorable, just putting everything out there, trying to beat China. NO pressure. So Alicia Sacramone, amid the pressure of perfection, falls on her balance beam routine. Trying to shake off the disappointment she obviously felt with herself, Alicia tries to find a moment to herself, tries to pull it together before her next event, and the cameras just won't get off of her.

So, long story short, the team is rattled and makes some mistakes afterward, but still does well and earns the silver medal. Now, there were two things I have to wonder afterward:
#1: since when was earning a silver medal in the Olympics such a terrible thing that the media was tearing this team to shreds afterward?
#2: at what point does the NBC reporter who interviewed Alicia afterward, think that enough punches to the gut are enough? With questions like, "Your team was obviously let down after that fall. How does that make you feel?" and "So, you know that fall may have cost your team the gold, how will you ever be able to look at yourself in the mirror ever again?" By the end of the interview, Alicia was, rightly, in tears, and I was so furious at that reporter I could have decked her. Leave her alone!
What was awesome was that after the medals ceremony, that same reporter then had a go at the whole team. She starts firing away at Alicia again, but this time the team defended her, backed her up, and Shawn Johnson reminded us that, after all, they did win a silver at the Olympics- something to be very proud of.

Someone should have that reporter interview the men's gymnastics team. Watching their enthusiasm and triumph brought me to tears. I'd like to see someone tell them not to be proud of their bronze medals.

Amber:1; Bathrooms:0

I will take this moment, since it is my blog after all, to celebrate my latest victory. Today, for over four hours, I scoured, scrubbed, detailed and disinfected my bathrooms. When I was finished, they could have been new! I was so proud of myself that I took Jeff on a tour of the bathrooms to show him what I'd done. Now, lest you think I never clean my bathrooms, I do. But this time, I did a top-top-bottom beating! It is so satisfying.

Now, for a moment of randomness, do any of you have cleaning/household tips you would like to share? I'm always open to new ones! For example, "boiling water in the microwave before attempting to clean it makes the job WAY easier!" Any others?

Rock On!

We bought Rock Band a while ago for the Wii- and WE LOVE IT! We just can't get enough. I think we caught the bug at Melissa's house last November, and since then we've been rocking out in a serious way.
We even rope poor, unsuspecting victims into playing along. But come on- by the end, everyone's playing their hearts out and singing at the top of their lungs. If you've never experienced the magic of Rock Band, come on over! We're always looking for band members.