find your spot dot com

According to Find Your Spot, I should live in these cities:

1. Eugene, Oregon
2. Corvallis, Oregon
3. Little Rock, Arkansas
4. Las Cruces, New Mexico
5. Norfolk, Virginia
6. Olympia, Washington
7. Portland, Oregon
8. Salem, Oregon
9. Las Vegas, Nevada
10. Tacoma, Washington
11. St. George, Utah
12. Hampton, Virginia
13. Alexandria, Louisiana
14. Bellingham, Washington
15. Phoenix, Arizona
16. Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana
17. Kent, Washington
18. Rocky Mount-Stony Creek, North Carolina
19. Monroe, Louisiana
20. Seattle, Washington
21. Greenville, North Carolina
22. Hickory, North Carolina
23. Augusta, Georgia
24. Chesapeake-Virginia Beach, Virginia

Lost of Oregons, Louisianas, and North Carolinas. I think I'll stay away from the last two, I've been thinking about Oregon lately. They're ranked pretty high up for beginning teacher's salaries and average teacher's salaries. #14 for both categories. As opposed to South Dakota, ranked #51 in average teacher's salaries at $32,000/year.

turkey day

Well, our turkey day was lacking a turkey, but that's okay, I had some the day before at Henry's, and my family isn't that fond of turkey, anyway.

To start, Aaron and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn (okay, 9am), packed up some stuff, took his parents some potatoes for their Thanksgiving, filled up the car, and headed to Wyoming around 10am. About the last 20 miles or so, Aaron started getting antsy after he realized he'd brought his PSP with no game in it, and the sunlight wasn't doing much for his playing DS, either. Antsy passengers don't mix well with drivers, but after a little bit of hollering at him, he calmed down. We arrived at my parents' place about 20 after 11 that morning. I'd warned Aaron to bring something with long sleeves, as it is usually about 60* in the house most times. Well, since the oven had been on most of the morning, and it was about 60* outside, it was around 80* in the house with the windows open. At the end of November! Insanity.

We had a great lunch/dinner with pork roast, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, gravy, salad, and croisant rolls. Mmmm. Followed by a chocolate cheesecake made by Ashley, and a layered cheesecake/pumpkin pie made by Aaron and myself. Everything was very delicious.

While Mom watched the Broncos kick the Cowboys' butts, Aaron and I napped on the couch, waiting for 6:30 to arrive, as we were going to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, taking my sister with us. The movie was a lot of fun, but they left stuff out from the books (as usual), but it was still good.

After sleeping on an air mattress that is bigger than my own bed, we again awoke at the butt crack of dawn (this time it was 7:30!), to get ready to go to Rapid City for some "day after Thanksgiving" shopping. WAHOO. Mom, Dad, Ashley and I ate at the Mongolian Grill, which is fun to watch, and yummy to eat. We missed the "Wake up at the pre-butt crack of dawn" sales and it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. Ashley and I managed to find something for Mom, Dad, and eachother, but we still want to get them a little something else for Christmas.
I bought myself a new, small Playstation 2 and Guitar Hero (rawk!), which I have been playing ever since I got home, and my fingers are numb.

Now I'm home, Aaron's at work, and I'm tired as crap. I think I will read until I fall asleep, wake up when he gets home from work, and maybe find something to eat before I really go to bed.

I hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was as safe and uneventful as mine!

Chirstmas list

Well, I thought this year I was going to have a hard time picking out something that I wanted for Christmas. That was until tonight.

Tonight was Henry's "Fiery Feast" that he held the night before Thanksgiving, knowing most everyone would be spending time with their families tomorrow. We watched "Conan the Barbarian" and MST3Kd it the whole time. It was great. For food stuffs, we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, some of the best dip ever (it had sour cream, cream cheese, sausage, and I still liked it), and Aaron made a cobbler (cooked fruit, gross). And then there was the PS2 and Guitar Hero. I am addicted.

So now I know what I want for Christmas: a Playstation 2 and Guitar Hero (and Dance Dance Revolution, if you're feeling generous).

So there you have it. My Christmas wish list.

cell phones, creepy old dudes, and my backyard.

Are you one of those people, who as soon as you are out of class, off the airplane, or done with work, your cell phone instantly becomes glued to your head?

No offense to any of you who are, but wow. As soon as I walk out of the classroom and into the hallway, I run into about 10,405,395,493 people who have their phones glued to their face, yakking away at nothing. The plane lands, and 40 people are calling their loved ones to let them know the plane has landed and they will be off of it in a few minutes.

It's just about the most annoying thing ever. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I guess I try not to do that, because I think it looks silly.

On a different note, there is a customer at work who always says things like, "Oh, there's that beautiful girl who works here!" "Hi darling, how are you today?" "Oh, you have the most beautiful smile." Blah blah blah. At first it was creepy. Then it was okay, 'cause I figured he's just being nice. Then on Saturday he comes in, redeems his coupons, and he was kinda bundled up, so I asked if it was still cold outside (it was cold and slushy when I'd come into work a few hours earlier), and he said it wasn't too bad, and I mentioned how I was scared I was going to slip and fall on the slush this morning when I came into work.

He said, "If I was there and you fell, I'd be there to pick you up and carry you the rest of the way." I kinda smile and turn my back to do something in the cage, and he's still there talking, or something, and I said, "Oh, you'd probably hurt your back lugging me around," to which he replies, "Oh, honey, it'd be the best back strain of my life."

Creepy again. So yeah, I'm starting to not like seeing him come up to the window anymore. I'm glad I'm behind bars for the majority of my day at work.

Oh, another note, my dad has positioned a web cam to snap pictures of our back yard every 30 seconds. So. In case you might want to see what our back yard looks like, see if Smelly Cat or Nermal are sitting on the deck rails, or perhaps spot a deer grazing, check it out: Dad's Web Cam (Scroll Down).

portfolio, schmortfolio

I talked to one of the professors in charge of reviewing all the portfolios that are turned in today about my portfolio. He says there really is no due date to get into the College of Education, which is where I am at right now, but if I want to get into classes next semester, the sooner the better. I've been checking on Web Advisor, the system online we use to register for classes, to see how fast they are filling up. There are 44 seats available: 2 sections of 22 each. The first section is about half full and the second section has 5 seats left. Aaron is pretty sure there aren't 44 people enrolled in the College of Ed. at any given moment, so I should be fine. Here's hoping he's right!

I am going to get my hairs cut and dyed today, as I have been wanting to do so for the longest time, and now I finally have the time to do it because my second class of the day was cancelled. Rockin'.

In other news, my Teacher Power Point Presentation has been handed in, I'll just need a grade on it, then I can stick it in my portfolio and have one more thing accomplished. I'm just having troubles writing the rationales for these things. I guess I just need to get into a good writing rhythm.

We're supposed to get a metric butt-ton of snow tonight, so driving to work tomorrow morning will be exciting (read: horrifyingly scary). But I should get going as I have homework, laundry, and some other crap to accomplish today. Cheerio!

quick update

Well, the Power Point presentation is finished. I just have to burn it to a CD and it'll be done. I wish there was a way I could put it on the Interweb and show everyone how silly it is.

My Indian Education teacher has cancelled three classes this month, and two or three classes next month! So with only three weeks of school left, that leaves us with only 4 or 5 classes. AWESOME. Not that I don't like the class, because I do, but it'll give me some time to work on other stuff that's more important.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday, and because my blogging has been rather infrequent, I am going to wish him a happy early birthday tonight! Happy birthday, Dad!

No fun or interesting stories tonight, just had some classes, did some homework, grocery shopping, work, all that good stuff. So I guess that's it for tonight, sorry it wasn't more interesting. Maybe I'll have something good to talk about after Thanksgiving with the family! Probably not, we're not that dramatic or anything, but Aaron's coming home with me, so that'll be nice!

Power Point, how I loathe thee

So we've got this Power Point presentation to create for my computer class. First of all, Power Point presentations are ugly because they all look the same. They all have the same cheesy animations, sound effects, and themes/backgrounds. No one likes making them, and no one likes sitting through them. Especially poorly-made presentations.

Well, this might not be considered poorly-made when I'm done with it, but it's going to be excruciating to sit through. Each slide must have the following:

• Text
• Graphics (one must be imported from the Web)
• Sound (one must be imported from the Web)
• Animation
  

There also needs to be a link to the Web, a link within the slideshow to another slide on the presentation, and an appropriate background/theme.

It's going to be terrible, busy, and just look crappy. I can make it up in about 2 hours if I just sit down to do it...but man, it's going to suck.

In other news, I forgot what I was going to say, and now I'm going to get back to adding bells and whistles to my presentation because it is due on Friday.

Well, Gillette was fun. I had lunch with Mom and Ashley at Bootleggers, this Italian, 20s style restaraunt. Very good. Mom and I went shopping for some new clothes for me, and I almost cried when I found out I needed to move up a size in shirts because I'm getting pudgy. I'd like to start going to the gym right now, but with school work being so demanding right now, I don't really have the time, so I'm going to have to wait until at least Christmas break to start working out. But I definitely feel the urge to do so now, more than ever.

Did some laundry, ate out with Mom and Dad for dinner, and went back to Spearfish, basically. It was just a nice day to spend with the family. And it really was a nice day, probably in the 60s to start out with. Dad was working on the back deck, and I talked to him about school and my portfolio for the College of Education. He said what I figured he would, "Just get it done, that's what you have to do." And I'm going to try, that's for sure. I'm just worried that I won't get it done in time to register for the block of classes, because there are only so many spaces available, and classes have already been opened for registration. We'll see. *Sigh*

Oh, I forgot to talk about my presentation on Wednesday. It went really well. I was scared I was going to be nervous or shakey or whatever, like I was the first time I got up in front of that class, but I felt a lot more prepared Wednesday night for the presentation that I did the first time. We filled out our 50 minutes easily, and it went quite well. I'm glad my partner wanted to do the presentation as soon as possible because now we have nothing left to do in that class except show up and watch other peoples' presentations. Awesome.

nothing much to say here today

I just thought I'd give a short, random post for the day. I have the presentation to give in about an hour and a half for my Human Relations class. I hate getting up in front of the class...

Lost is new (finally!), so I'm very excited about that, except someone's going to die! Hope it's someone I don't like.

Found a couple of silver half dollars last night at work to add to my collection of neat old money. I'm going home on Friday since we don't have classes and am going to give it to Mom to put in the safe deposit box at work so I don't lose the money or damage it. Aaron also gave me some Indonesian money because he knows I like money. It's 1,000 Rupiah, worth roughly $.09 USD.

And that's really about it for now. I'm over my cold, which lasted less than a week (record for me!), and didn't get very bad at all, really. Now I just have to deal with the rest of the semester. Woo hoo.

another dull day

Our presentation is only three days away and Kristina and I are going to meet one last time at the library tonight to finalize everything. I have a PowerPoint slideshow set up, which just need to be edited to add her stuff. I have note cards to talk off of, and notecards for the scenarios we are going to do. Hopefully this will help and we can get everything figured out tonight.

Work has been slow. Even when it picks up, nobody tips well.

It amazes me the number of people who do not know how to write out a traveler's check (just like a regular check is written out, signature, pay to the order of, and a date...don't just hand me a blank traveler's check and say you'd like to cash it in, please).

I think my cold is going away; I've been feeling better and I'm not so phlegmy (charming, I know). Except Aaron is getting sick now. Hopefully his goes away quick like mine did. A few people at work got a lot sicker than I did and missed work.

There's nothing to eat in the house, I'm out of conditioner, we don't have any dish soap, and I'm hungry. I hate how busy weekends are and that we can't ever see each other during them except for a few minutes at a time.

Aaron's parents have been looking out for good deals on snow tires for me and my car. Aaron even went looking with them today. I think that's very sweet of them to look after me like that.

Well, I think that's it for now. I need to tidy up the bedroom and move some stuff around in the computer room.

time for an update.

Well, over the last couple of days I have been getting a cold. I don't feel so terrible, like I usually do when I have a cold (yet), so that's definately a good sign, considering EVERYONE at work has been getting sick, taking time off, AND I deal with tons of money every day at work. It's mostly just a snuffly feeling with my ears needing to pop every time I blow my nose.

My partner and I for the presentation that has to be done in my Human Relations class got together tonight to work on our project. We're doing grieving for children, what happens and how to deal with a child in the classroom who has gone through some kind of loss. It's a sad subject, but definitely something that needs to be approached. We got a lot of stuff worked out tonight, and are going to get together again on Sunday to work on it some more.

She is also in my other group for another class where we have to come up with objectives and lesson plans for an interdisciplinary unit, or a unit/topic that uses Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, and Math. We're doing Astronomy and Space, and I got the Science end, so I think it's going to be really fun and interesting to work on. That's also a project we have to present in front of the class. I found out last night that I have almost an "A" in that class, as well! She reprimanded me a little for making my paper 15 pages long, instead of 5-7 pages long...I explained to her that I didn't want to miss anything when I was writing it, and that I couldn't do that in 5-7 pages, so I just had to have a big paper. She said she just focused on the elements of it I missed, instead of docking me for making it too long, so I got a 90% on it.

My computer class is still a topic of annoyance for me. She sets deadlines for assignments, but doesn't dock points if it's turned in late. What's the point? That assignments are very simple and quite dull, really, and are only hard to accomplish because I find myself rolling my eyes or giving exasperated sighs every time she assigns us something that I've known how to do for years.

Other school work seems to be coming along well. I don't think I'm going to have time to complete the optional 15-page paper on the grieving presentation, but that's alright.

One of my dad's employees is going to Iraq for the Guard, and they wanted to get him a going away gift, and were thinking of an MP3 player. Dad had done some research and found that an iPod was probably the best choice, due to ease of use, which is great for a first time MP3 player owner. Unfortunately, they needed something that was going to withstand the desert, and the only iPod that is pretty sturdy is the iPod mini, like mine, which is made of steel, and Apple doesn't make those anymore since the invention of the nano. Now all the iPods are made of plastic and their cases and screens are easily scratched. I have dropped my mini on the cement, and only the smallest sliver of steel chipped off it, and it still works great.

I was able to find one at the Radio Shack in town thanks to Aaron who was just there the other day. You can't find them in stores any more because they are no long being produced, and to find them online means waiting for shipping and delivery and whatnot, so the easiest solution was for me to buy one here in Spearfish, and either take it home or have Dad come and pick it up. We're still deciding what to do, but I might go home on Friday because it's Veteran's day.

Anywho, that's my long-winded update for now. I'll try to post more often with smaller quantities of words, but sometimes I don't get the chance to for a while. That, and my life has been kinda boring lately.

strange lights and strange bills.

So last night, or at 1am on Monday, November 1st, I am on my way home from work, driving along the Interstate. As I'm rounding the curve on the road that allows you to see most of the town, I see a bright flash of white light. Odd, I think, but maybe not, because it's windy outside, and it might be from a thunder and lightning storm coming in. Then, 10 seconds later, there's another, brighter flash of white light. As I'm getting off the Interstate and at the top of the off-ramp, I see an even brighter, RED flash of light come from the same spot. It was like something blew up. There was no sound, no smoke, no fire. Just bright red light. It lit up the whole sky like lightning would, except it came from the ground.

The only thing Aaron and I could figure was that maybe it was a helicoptor landing by the hospital, as their lights are quite bright. That bright, I'm not sure...

Tonight at work as I was going through the straps of bills, making sure they all had the right amount of money in them, and also making sure that I found any Where's George? bills that might be lurking around, I came upon something very unusual: a red seal $5 bill from 1963. It's in fair condition, with only a few small tears in it. The linked picture is not the actual bill I have, but it's a reference as to what mine looks like. It's probably only worth between $20 and $40, but still, that's pretty darn cool. I've been searching for things like this ever since I started working at the casino. I'm going to try to scan a picture of it at the school so I can post it here, instead of just taking a picture of it. Ooooh, that thing just made my day! I had to show it to everyone at work and tell them about it.

Here's another link to information about red seal/United States Notes.