A month of weddings…

This month is getting pretty busy, lemme tell ya… Last weekend, Brooke and I went up to Lincoln, IL for Alex Pham’s wedding. I was “drafted” to play my djembe for a song (“You and Me,” by Lifehouse), so we had to go up on Friday for the rehearsal and then, of course, stay for the wedding and reception. All in all, a good trip, and we certainly got to see lots of people, many of which I figured I’d never see again after undergrad. On the way back, we dropped by the new Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL, which was pretty neat. It was just opened last year (I think?) and features a few different theaters and plenty of documents, including original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the marriage license between him and Mary Todd. Anyway, it was an interesting trip and you all should drop by if you happen to be in mid-Illinois…

Otherwise, we’ve got Mirnela’s wedding next weekend (co-worker here at the lab…) in Mountain Home, AR and Adam Waudby’s wedding on June 23rd in St. Paul, MN. For Mirnela’s, we’ll just drive down for that day and stay a night, but for Adam’s, we’re going to head up that Wednesday and camp in Wisconsin for a few days before heading into Minnesota…a sort of “vacation,” if you will… While I look forward to the trip, the 12 hr drive there (and 12 hrs back…) aren’t all that appealing…

So yeah, July will be a welcome change from all the driving we’re doing this month… Although, I think we’ve got a few more weddings popping up in August, both of which will be here in St. Louis… Too many people getting married, I tell ya…

Oh, and I turn 25 on June 20th. Send cash. 😉

Good weekend…

This was one of the better weekends I’ve had in awhile, largely because the weather was stellar and we didn’t spend it sitting around watching TV (or studying) like usual… We drove down to Ste. Genevieve for the day on Saturday to do some wine tasting from two different wineries and look at some of the historic sites. The Cave Vineyards winery was especially neat ’cause, as the name suggests, they’ve got a cave that you can sit in and enjoy your wine and picnic lunch. Neither Brooke nor I consider ourselves to be “aficionados” or anything, but the wine was decent…certainly, the atmosphere made it worth the trip. They apparently do live music on weekends beginning in May and occasionally host “dinner and a movie” in the cave over summer as well.

Regardless, we had church Sunday morning and then spent the afternoon getting the bikes out and ready to go for another season. As we don’t particularly enjoy driving to St. Charles to hop on the Katy Trail, we tried out the St. Louis Riverfront Trail, which is thankfully within biking distance of our apartment. It’s about 11 mi long (plus a few miles to get there), and we certainly didn’t do all of it, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the day and explore a bit of the area around our place, now that the weather is cooperating.

Of course, the weekend was especially good because my final was on Friday, leaving me with absolutely no school work to accomplish over the weekend (first time in awhile!). It “only” took me 5 hours this time (instead of 6 hours, like last semester), and the exam wasn’t entirely unreasonable…but regardless, the semester is officially over for me. Not only the semester, really, but also the sum of all classwork required for the Ph.D. program. Now, I’ve gotta buckle down and write a grant that follows along the lines of my research plans, then defend it, by the end of 2007.

Ready? Set? Go!

"Staying The Course"

So, the response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech leaves me rather annoyed… More specifically, a few things: all the “today we’re all Hokies” Profile pictures on Facebook last week, and the wearing of VT’s colors last Friday.

It just seems like the American public, rather than expressing sympathies and making a difference, they jumped into a “me too” response (where, rather than doing something about it, they just change a profile picture or wear a different color that day). [Note: I’m over-generalizing with that last part, and I certainly realize that not everyone is guilty, but it is a somewhat disturbing trend amongst many…] Sure, it was a terrible event that few will forget in the near future, but what really resulted from it? What have we learned from it? What will change to make sure it never happens again?

That’s the part that gets me. Let’s think about Hurricane Katrina. This was another tragic event that occurred in August of 2005. Last week on NPR, they were in New Orleans talking about how things have been shaping up recently. There are still people in trailers, there is crime all over the place, and most of the promised FEMA funds haven’t arrived. Katrina was in the news for weeks, and lots of people went down to help, and lots of donations were sent. While many religious and campus organizations still spend their spring breaks down there, believe you me, the response is “attenuated”… What about the tsunami in Southeast Asia? Lots of people were left homeless and lots of money was sent initially. What about now? When was the last time you heard a report about that? What about the 140 people that died in Iraq the day after the VT shootings that went mostly unnoticed?

I guess I’m just trying to make sense of it all… It seems silly to me that we make ourselves feel better by trying to make ourselves a part of someone else’s tragedy, when we would all be better served by making a difference in our own lives and our own relationships to make sure the same mistakes aren’t made.

A week later, the VT tragedy is only barely in the news. They’ve [read: news organizations] all moved on already. They were so important last week – why not this week? What has changed?

Very little, and that’s the problem. Much like Katrina, the tsunami, Iraq and Columbine, we shouldn’t be surprised when this happens again.

“Staying The Course”

So, the response to the tragedy at Virginia Tech leaves me rather annoyed… More specifically, a few things: all the “today we’re all Hokies” Profile pictures on Facebook last week, and the wearing of VT’s colors last Friday.

It just seems like the American public, rather than expressing sympathies and making a difference, they jumped into a “me too” response (where, rather than doing something about it, they just change a profile picture or wear a different color that day). [Note: I’m over-generalizing with that last part, and I certainly realize that not everyone is guilty, but it is a somewhat disturbing trend amongst many…] Sure, it was a terrible event that few will forget in the near future, but what really resulted from it? What have we learned from it? What will change to make sure it never happens again?

That’s the part that gets me. Let’s think about Hurricane Katrina. This was another tragic event that occurred in August of 2005. Last week on NPR, they were in New Orleans talking about how things have been shaping up recently. There are still people in trailers, there is crime all over the place, and most of the promised FEMA funds haven’t arrived. Katrina was in the news for weeks, and lots of people went down to help, and lots of donations were sent. While many religious and campus organizations still spend their spring breaks down there, believe you me, the response is “attenuated”… What about the tsunami in Southeast Asia? Lots of people were left homeless and lots of money was sent initially. What about now? When was the last time you heard a report about that? What about the 140 people that died in Iraq the day after the VT shootings that went mostly unnoticed?

I guess I’m just trying to make sense of it all… It seems silly to me that we make ourselves feel better by trying to make ourselves a part of someone else’s tragedy, when we would all be better served by making a difference in our own lives and our own relationships to make sure the same mistakes aren’t made.

A week later, the VT tragedy is only barely in the news. They’ve [read: news organizations] all moved on already. They were so important last week – why not this week? What has changed?

Very little, and that’s the problem. Much like Katrina, the tsunami, Iraq and Columbine, we shouldn’t be surprised when this happens again.

Home stretch, and new Mario…

Well, the Easter holiday was quite fun… We took Edie to Columbia, where she met Pepper (our 15-year-old Cocker Spaniel that eats people….), and it went surprisingly well… Otherwise, we mostly chilled at home and visited with family and friends. We hadn’t been there in about two months, so it was good to get back for a change!

…yet now, I’m back at school… My last regular exam is next Thursday, and my comprehensive final is a week later. Then I’m done with taking classes forever! Next year, I can choose to teach “Drugs We Use And Abuse” to the undergrads, which I’ll probably do, but I’ll be on the other side of the desk – a different experience, to be sure…

Anyway, more importantly, Super Paper Mario comes out today, so I’ll be heading to Circuit City to buy it later…and hopefully playing it as much as possible… 😛

A spring break for the books…

So, spring break was last week…and likely the last one I’ll ever go on (in that this semester is my last one that involves an actual “class” with real “exams”).  With the time off, I flew down to Texas to visit Andy S. and Brett for the week in San Antonio and Houston, respectively.

I flew out on Tuesday at 3:50…but weather in Dallas (where my flight was heading first…) postponed the trip by a few hours.  After we finally got to Dallas, I ran to the terminal, found that there was one flight left to San Antonio (’cause I’d already missed the one I was supposed to be on…) and that it was already boarding…  So I got my ticket transferred and got on at the last minute…and somehow, my baggage followed me, despite switching flights entirely.

So, Andy S. went to work on Wednesday while I played 9+ hrs of “Twilight Princess“…poorly…  I had to get his help on some parts, but I still did most of it myself (although he may argue with this…).  There’s a good 50+ hrs left in the game, so there’s plenty more to do…  Brett came down to San Antonio Wednesday night and we went out to dinner, hung out a bit, etc.  The next day (Thursday), Andy S. worked a half-day so “we” (read: “he”) could watch the NCAA tournament and, honestly, some of those games were pretty good…  Anyway, we had a good time hanging out in San Antonio…

Friday, we all drove to Houston, a few hours away from San Antonio, to stay at Brett’s place.  While there, we played board games, Wii (…I suck at “Smash Bros.,” by the way…), and went out…  Saturday, for St. Patrick’s Day, we went by a brewery for a few hours and then by one of Brett’s friend’s houses to try some home brew that he had made…

The brewery we went to was Saint Arnold’s Brewery, which I’d never heard of…  They’re a regional brewery out of Houston, much like Schlafly is, here.  Saint Arnold’s, however, runs their operation out of a warehouse and doesn’t operate a restaurant.  Apparently, every Saturday, they open the place up from 1:00 – 3:00 pm, you pay $5, get an 8 oz. “tasting glass,” and four tokens for four drinks of anything they’ve got…which included around 5-6 varieties.  If you go often, then it behooves you to buy a larger glass from them that they’ll also fill, making that $5 stretch quite nicely over the two hours…  Regardless, the beer was excellent and a good time was had by all…

But yeah, came back on Sunday and the flight back was rather uneventful…  I had lots of reading to do last night, so I didn’t get a chance to post this sooner…and things are getting busy again already!

Anyway, overall, it was a good trip…  We didn’t do much sight-seeing, but that was fine by me…just wanted to hang out and play video games for a week, and that’s what I got!

Thanks, guys…

So three months later…

…I finally scored a Wii… I got up at 5:30 am Sunday morning, headed out to a Target north of Saint Louis in Jennings, MO, and read a book for a few hours until the store opened at 8:00. Only one other car showed up early (around 6:30 am), and otherwise, other people showed up within 15 min of the store opening. Anyway, I “easily” got one…that Target was only alotted 8 units, while the Florissant one was given 14 (and the people who couldn’t get one at Florissant had to come to Jennings…). So I grabbed an extra controller while I was there and headed home… They were sold out by 8:08 am… One per minute…

Sadly, however, this week is rapidly getting crazy and I have no clue when I’ll really get to spend “quality time” with the Wii… We got to play for a good 2 hrs yesterday, but I won’t get to play much tonight ’cause I have a brief presentation tomorrow (that I’m not prepared for…), and I have an exam next Monday…but since Mardi Gras is this weekend in Soulard, I’m not going to get much studying done over the weekend, so I’ll have to get it all done this week…

Anyway, I’m glad I finally got my new toy… Pity I suck horribly at Wii Golf and Wii Tennis… 😛

Meet Edie

Meet Edie!

So, we’ve been looking for a dog for a little while now…  Preferably, a somewhat older one so it would be more mellow, yet energetic enough to go out on walks, etc.  Also, a breed that wouldn’t bark too much and that would get along with a kitty cat…  We’ve checked out various on-line venues, including the pound, and various groups around the state.

Well, we found Edith Ann at the Humane Society here in St. Louis yesterday…”Edie” for short…  She’s a 5 year old 13″ Beagle that was owned by an older lady who had to give her up to enter a nursing home.  We brought her home today and all is well so far!  She’s a sweetie…haven’t heard her bark yet…although she does whine a bit…  She’s a little overweight, so we’ve gotta limit her food for awhile and be sure to take her on frequent walks, but that was the plan, anyway…

So far, Sam isn’t a fan of his new roommate…  He spent most of the day hiding under the bed, but finally came out around 8:30 to see what the deal is…  He’s checked Edie out a few times, but has yet to really “make friends”…  I’m sure it’ll work out, though…

Anyway, there are more pictures on my Google Photos page…check ’em out…and come visit if you want!

Update!!

So, today we visited Andy’s grandma in Lohman, and when we got back to our apartment there was a message on the machine from Barry at Bridges, offering me the job that he originally thought would be open in April, as a Coordinator.  So, now I will be in charge of about 10 staff and all of their paperwork, hiring and firing them, and making sure they’re doing all of the things they need to do for their clients as of the 22nd.  I’m really excited about my promotion before I’ve even started and can’t wait to get going, even though I still have 8 days left at HTC.  Hopefully, the next 2 weeks will go by without incident and I’ll have more news for you soon!

Yay!!

Well, it looks that way, anyway. So, I had a spur-of-the-moment interview today with a company called Bridges Community Support Services. It went really well, and at the end of the conversation, the CEO/owner offered me a job as a Community Support Worker. Basically, I’ll be going into mentally and physically disabled people’s homes to make sure that they’re safe, healthy, organized, and successful. So far, the position sounds nearly perfect (except for a small pay cut)….but at this point, just about anything would be better than DYS. The guy I met with today was really nice and seems genuinely interested in putting people who want to make a difference into jobs where they can do so. There’s also a pretty good chance of advancement pretty quickly, which is also a huge improvement over where I am now. So, I’ll be starting as soon as I have a starting date and can give my notice at Hillsboro Treatment Center. Let the questions begin…