Category: life events

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I Voted

So yeah, I got up bright and early and hit the polls at 7:20 am… (bet you’re surprised, eh Mom? Happy Birthday, by the way… ;-)) Overall, the experience was rather positive… In years past, I’ve always just voted absentee rather than visit polls in Kirksville, so this is actually the first time I’ve ever voted on election day.

Regardless, I had the option of using the electronic, touch-screen device, or I could have used the more traditional “scan tron” paper ballots… There were more people using the touch-screens, but still a good number using paper ballots. The touch-screen machines were quite easy to use and also included a roll of paper to print your votes, as well as store them within the machine. I’ve been reading through various articles about how easy it is to have an election stolen (great article, but a long read…) with these electronic voting machines, since many of them (the Diebold AccuVote TSX in particular…) have no sort of secondary printer to, in effect, “back up your vote.” In case of a recount, my vote can still be compared between the electronic copy and the paper copy that was printed and stored within the machine… So yeah, I felt much more comfortable about the whole experience after using that machine…

Note: If you want to watch the HBO documentary “Hacking Democracy,” regarding Diebold’s shenanigans, you can watch it on Google Video (for free)…it’s about 1.5 hrs long, but worth it if you don’t want to watch election coverage tonight…

…however, I did have one complaint, and that was with the actual voting using the machine. In years past, when I’ve done my absentee, I could always not vote on a particular issue or judge I knew nothing about… Unfortunately, each circuit judge on the ballot (and there were many…) had a “yes” or “no” option, not an “abstain”… Perhaps you could have just hit “Next” and skip over them that way…I dunno…and I didn’t try… I figure all those judges are doing alright, so whatever… 😛

For those that voted, what “methods” of voting did you have? Were there voting machines with rolls of paper included, or were the completely electronic with no paper “backup?” Were there lots of people still using paper ballots?

Regardless, I participated in the process of government today…

Tonight’s returns should be pretty interesting….

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An AUDIO ADRENALINE Concert

(not a Mercy Me Concert)

So, last night, we had tickets to Mercy Me, Audio Adrenaline, and Phil Wickham. The concert started at 7:00, so we thought if we got there a little after it was supposed to start, we wouldn’t have to hear a bad opener or wait for a whole bunch of stage changes. However, we got there at about 7:15 and only caught the end of the last Phil Wickham song, then Audio Adrenaline was ready to go on in about 5 minutes. We went to the concert because it was Audio Adrenaline’s last tour stop in St. Louis ever, since their lead singer’s voice is shot. They were pretty good, but the set was only about 35 minutes long and it’s pretty obvious that the singer’s voice is not doing so well. After the reason we went the the concert, we decided to stay to hear Mercy Me do “I Can Only Imagine.” Of course, they sang about a bazillion other songs first and talked and preached and talked. Their show was so polished and timed and had synced videos and way too much preaching. Andy and I were both bored and ready to go, but were waiting for “I Can Only Imagine” and stuck it out, then got out of there before the masses. So, the moral of the story is Audio Adrenaline=Good, Mercy Me=not-much-better-than-average.

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Robbed of childhood…

CNN is carrying a story where an elementary school near Boston has banned “tag” and other “unsupervised chase games,” afraid that students will get hurt and their parents will sue the school. From the article:

“I think that it’s unfortunate that kids’ lives are micromanaged and there are social skills they’ll never develop on their own,” said Debbie Laferriere, who has two children at Willett, about 40 miles south of Boston. “Playing tag is just part of being a kid.”

Another Willett parent, Celeste D’Elia, said her son feels safer because of the rule. “I’ve witnessed enough near collisions,” she said.

It’s kinda sad, methinks, how this seems to be happening across the country. I’ve heard mention of teachers who stopped using red pens to mark mistakes in homework because “it’s too degrading” to the student. Is there research somewhere where people have looked at people my age who grew up with red pens and dodgeball? Is there a significant percentage of us that have become violent psychotics because of red pens and “unsupervised chase games?”

I guess I’m saying that I hope that, when I’m a parent, I’m not that protective of my kids. If I am, I’m afraid that they’ll never learn anything about life and won’t be able to fend for themselves…they won’t be able to leave the house because of fear that they’ll bump into someone on the street, or someone will criticize their work.

On the other hand, I tend to be relatively protective in general…guess I’ll have to work on that…

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Scion xA

Scion xA

Well, time to buy another car… Now that Brooke has a job, we can afford to replace her 1995 Nissan Altima with something a tad bit more reliable, and something that gets better mileage. Well, up until tonight, she was dead set on getting a 2007 Toyota Yaris. The draw to these cars is that they are said to get at least 30 mpg in city driving conditions and approach 40 mpg on the highway. Obviously, it’s a very small car, but it’s relatively cheap and, being a Toyota, it is reliable and has high resale value.

We went to Lou Fusz Toyota tonight because they had a Yaris sedan that we could test-drive, with automatic transmission (neither of us know how to drive a manual…more on that shortly…). They didn’t have a hatchback (which is what Brooke wanted) and they probably wouldn’t have one for 4 – 8 weeks because they’re in such high demand. The sedans are easier to come by, so we figured that we’d better test-drive one while we could. Brooke liked it, overall, and it had all the features we wanted, but no amenities like power locks/windows.

I asked the salesman about the Scion xA (’cause they sell both), as far as value goes. Essentially, we found out that the base model Yaris, without manual transmission, is $12,500. The sedan we test-drove, with an automatic transmission, was more like $13,500. That’s just for the automatic, not including things like power windows and locks, and various other amenities (seats, shocks, etc.). However, if we looked at an xA, you get a four door car (rather than two), automatic transmission, power locks, windows, nicer interior, better stereo system, and anti-lock breaks…for about $600 more.

So, we test-drove an xA that they had and Brooke liked it more. Honestly, the car had a smoother ride to it, the seats were more comfortable, the display was a little better, and there’s more room, due to the four doors. That, and the mileage ratings are almost equivalent to a Yaris (slightly worse…but what’s 1 mpg?). Also, Scions are tending to get higher re-sale value than a comparable Toyota…if you look around online, you’ll see that frequently, you can buy a new xA for the price of a used xA…usually because people have done some “upgrades” to theirs, but still…

Long story short, we put a down-payment down and they’re going to get us an xA. It’ll take about four weeks to get here (maybe a little less) and we’ll have the opportunity to test-drive it and decide for sure, so we’re not obligated to buy it…but we 90% will… The one pictured above is similar to the one we’re getting, minus the wheels and “spoiler”…

Hopefully it comes sooner so I can drive my Elantra again… 😛

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You Asked…

I finally started working on Wednesday of this week in Jefferson County at the Hillsboro Treatment Center. In short, once I’m settled into the groove, I’ll be given one of three “cottages” with 8-12 boys that I’ll work with. As a youth specialist, my job is to mostly keep the boys (who are referred to a “clients”) in line and in control of themselves and the group. So far, the group I’ve been observing is really good about self-regulating their behaviors and can keep themselves on-task and focused much better than I expected. Of course, I’ve been bombarded with all kinds of questions from how old I am to if I’d punch someone back if they punched me (which was a little tricky to answer!). I haven’t gone to the official training yet, but I’m going next month and hopefully I’ll be assigned a permanent group and shift by then and have some sort of routine worked out. There are three possible schedules – 8am to 4pm, 4pm to 12am, and 12am to 8am. I’ve been working the 8-4 shift this week and next, and the timing is ideal to get to see Andy, but it’s a more exhausting shift since the clients are awake and going the whole 8 hours. The others I think would be fine for a bit of a break, but would get pretty boring since the boys are sleeping for a majority of them.

So, since I’ve had some Facebook requests for how my job was going, I thought I’d just let everybody know this way, and we’re seeing Mom and Dad tomorrow anyway, so that’ll get the word around pretty quickly, too!

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Grrr….

Well, another snag in the employment road…apparently the printouts of my transcripts were not good enough, but I wasn’t told this until this week, when I’m supposed to start working on Monday and they have to have my “official” transcripts before I can start…I’m beginning to think there’s something seriously wrong with me. Anyway, I’ll let you know if I ever really get to work.

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Finally…

I have something to post about! So, first and most exciting, I just heard back from Hillsboro Treatment Center in Jefferson County and I’ll go fill out my paperwork next week and then I can start working! Even though it’s a little far away, I think it’ll be a nearly perfect job for me, so I’m really glad about finally getting this whole job thing worked out.

Second, and a little less exciting, is that I had an appointment with a cardiologist this morning to get checked out for Brugada Syndrome. It seems at this point that I don’t have it since my EKG looked completely normal, but the cardiologist did hear a definite heart murmur, so I’ll be going back in for more tests later this month, but the really nice doctor doesn’t seem to think that it should be anything to be too concerned about right now.

Hopefully, more exciting things will happen soon so I’ll have more to type about than the progress of my knitting projects and which episode of Gilmore Girls is on today!

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Ok, Ok…

…Here’s your update…

Two weeks ago, Mallory and Leland visited on Thursday night. We went to Blueberry Hill with them, then they went to a Carninals’ game and then came back to stay at our place. Of course, by the time they got there, I was asleep and I left for work before they were even thinking about getting up. Then, that Friday, Mom met me in St. Peters after work and Rachel came back home with me. We went mini-golfing, shopping at St. Louis Mills (where we bought too many matching things), to dinner at the Olive Garden for her birthday, and then Mom and Dad came for dinner on Sunday. As you’ve surely read in Sam’s blog, we also picked out new food for the cat and a new brush.

I’ve had 3 job interviews and 1 more to go in the past couple of weeks. So far, I’ve been offered the one that pays the least but might be the most fun, so we’re still waiting to hear back from the others before a decision is made, since I want a Yaris and to quickly pay back my student loans from last year.

That’s about all, except for some reason I have had an ear ache for the past few days which caused a slight mental breakdown that Andy is not very happy about….I just don’t want to get sick when I have so much going on right now! I’ll let you know more when I know more, myself!

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Ooooo, Zooooo…

So, I had to go by the lab to run my cytotoxicity assay on the cells I killed Friday, and there’s a 3 hour incubation time…so Brooke and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go to the zoo.

I must say, for free entertainment, it was a good time. We went last summer once, but only went to a few exhibits. This time, we went through the ape house, herpetarium, insectarium, and all the outdoor exhibits. Sadly, we didn’t see the new baby elephant, but I did get to go through the herpetarium for the first time in mostly forever (see, Mom doesn’t like snakes…so we didn’t get to go through that house very often… Thanks, Mom… :-P).

For the record, however, the penguins are, by far, the bestest exhibit at the zoo. They even have Gentoo penguins!? 😉

Regardless, we had a good day. Hadn’t been to the zoo in awhile and, honestly, we should make use of a free attraction more often. Next on our list is the Anheuser-Busch Tour, which sadly, we haven’t done yet… Maybe tomorrow…maybe some other time…

On another note, my experiment worked… w00t! to data!

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My New Favorite

So, today I went to a GardenRidge store in search of an umbrella cookie cutter. Not only did I find exactly what I was looking for, but this store was like Brooke heaven! It has tons of cheap crafty things, lots of stuff on sale (like all of their candles 75% off), and an amazing section of kitchen gadgets and things I wish I have room for, but alas don’t. Anyway, that’s all…just wanted to let you know.