Category: life events

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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.

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I like A/C…

So, last Wednesday night, our power went out due to a storm that hit St. Louis. According to weatherpeople (who know more about such things than I do), the most destructive storms to directly hit St. Louis have come from the northeast. Usually, when a storm or rain is heading toward St. Louis from the west, the heat from all the concrete (among other things…) dissipates the storm before it really hits with much force. When a storm comes from the northeast however, it’s open season on the city…and that’s exactly how this one worked. Before it hit, there were warnings in effect for, like, two counties in Illinois. All the sudden, it’s storming and we’re getting 80 mph winds. wtf…

Anyway, the storm knocked out power, presumably due to fallen trees more than lightening strikes… Luckily for us, the power was back on ~18 hrs later, on Thursday around 1:00 pm. According to STLtoday.com (run by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch), there are still almost 300,000 people who are without power. AmerenUE is expecting that full restoration will happen sometime on Wednesday, nearly a full week later.

So yeah, I was out of town for the weekend visiting the Lewis family in Chattanooga, TN, so I didn’t see much around here. Brooke hung out here, so she gave me updates whenever possible…thankfully, she wasn’t stuck without A/C for long… If you know anyone living in the St. Louis area, check in with them and see how they’re doing. Otherwise, be happy that you had air conditioning for the past week, ’cause there were a good half million people around St. Louis that didn’t…

Sure makes me appreciate the situation in New Orleans last year…can’t even imagine…

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…and you must know…

We (Brooke, Lisa, Jo and I) played mini golf tonight and I made two holes-in-one…the latter of which brought in Jo’s and Brooke’s balls as well…

I rule…? 😉

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And then, an update…

So I’m at the lab, killing time until my 96-well plate is ready to be read… Figured now was as good a time as any to update the world on happenings…

Brooke and I went up to Hannibal for last weekend to visit with family and friends… Saturday was really good in that we got to shoot off fireworks, had an excellent dinner via Brooke’s Mom, and I got a lovely sunburn whilst laying on a raft in their pool. Overall, a successful weekend! My parents came into St. Louis on Monday night for some BBQ and we made some really good ribs. Brooke put them in the crock pot for a good 6 hours along with brown sugar, paprika, and just about everything else on the spice rack. They were some of the best ribs I’ve ever had, honestly…very tender and tasty… It was also good to be my parents for once! We didn’t really do anything for the actual 4th of July holiday, however. The weather wasn’t terribly cooperative in St. Louis…but we didn’t really feel like going anywhere, either. It ended up being a relaxing day, which is all I could really ask for.

Otherwise, my Biostatistics class started on Monday (yes, July 3rd…seriously…who starts a summer class the day before the 4th?!). While I’m telling myself that extended knowledge of statistics is useful for my chosen career path, I just have to wonder if reminders of Confidence Intervals, hypothesis testing, and SPSS are really worth 3.5 hours of class twice a week… Needless to say, I’ll be ranting about this waste of time for the duration of the class (another 5 weeks remain…).

I guess it’s time for the weekend again… I think Brooke is heading up to Louisiana, MO (Ma’s garage sale…) on Friday, so I’ll need entertainment Friday night (’cause Sci-Fi Friday doesn’t start up until next weekend). Keep me posted.

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Oldiness…

“Wisdom doesn’t automatically come with old age. Nothing does – except wrinkles. It’s true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.”

— Abigail Van Buren

Happy #24 to me…

I’ll be enjoying today at the lab, then going by the Schlafly Tap Room for dinner with my lovely wife this evening. Overall, should be a good day!

Now, if only I had television to watch, then today would be perfect…grrrrr…

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I had to find something to do…


So, since we don’t have any good tv and I read too fast, I recovered some chairs I’ve been meaning to take care of since we moved in last summer today. Here’s what they look like, with the “before” on the left and the “after” on the right. Other than that, I have a job interview tomorrow for a job that I really want, so think good thoughts around nine tomorrow morning!

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The Battle Has Begun…

So, the story goes like this: A few months ago, we decide to switch from Charter Television to DISHnetwork, ’cause they’re cheaper and we get the DVR service…which rocks tremendously… Well, shortly after switching, our service goes out, and the hub where cable lines head from outside the building to inside the building was locked and protected (so you can’t steal cable from Charter, of course). Well, DISH sent a technician out, who subsequently broke through the barrier to reconnect our line from the dish to the coax cable that heads into the building. The DISH technician also makes note of the fact that Charter, in disconnecting the line, didn’t just unscrew the coax cable connection, but also cut the line off so I couldn’t reconnect it without having DISH fix it.

Fast forward to this past Friday, 6/16/06. Well, I call Brooke up to tell her I’m heading home from the lab around 4:15 and she says, “oh, the TV just went out.” So, I told her to look outside and see if anyone was standing around that hub again. No one was there. I get home and start investigating… The green barrier where the hub is was re-set back on its base like it hadn’t been before, so someone had been there… But, I couldn’t find the cable that came from our dish anywhere, that was supposed to be plugged in to the line heading into our building.

I notice some ground disturbed. I grab our trowel. I move the ground.

I find the line cut and re-buried. The line from the dish. Deliberately cut. DISH is charging $100 for them to come out and repair it.

So, I’ve put in an e-mail to the FCC to check on the laws, specifically, to see if the lines within the building are owned by Charter…or by my apartment complex… If the lines are owned by Charter (somehow…), then I’ll have DISHnetwork run a separate line. If it’s owned by our apartment complex, then what Charter is doing is illegal.

Believe you me, this isn’t over.