Room to Breathe

I don't think I have had time to breathe the last few days, let alone blog. The days go by in a blur and I can barely remember what I did yesterday! Oh, now I remember. I had my last RA class. Yay! I turned my application and now it's just a waiting game. I had so many big things due last week that I have very little homework this weekend. I have the usual set of chemistry problems due on Monday, but that will take an hour or two. I have a Spanish test on Monday to study for, that's no problem either. I've already started studying for my biology test on Friday right before I go to the airport! Just knowing that I'm going home next weekend has put me in a good mood for the past few days. Where normally I would wake up tired and grumpy and think about the million things I had to do that day and how many hours it was until I could go back to sleep, instead I would wake up thinking "this is going to be a great day!" And in general, it has been. I don't want you to think I'm in a bad mood all day long. This quarter I've actually avoided being in my room and having nothing to do. I would rather work and make money or be out with friends or something. Being by myself is boring. I never thought I would say that. But it's true anyways. So I keep myself pretty busy. I find that if I don't have anything to do then I end up falling asleep and I hate that.

I got my biology test back from a few weeks ago, and it was just about as bad as I thought. 75% which was exactly the class average. At first I wasn't sure whether to be upset about it or not, and now I'm just kind of indifferent. Whatever, it's not terrible and I still have 2 more tests plus a final and a couple quizzes to bring it up. I'm not worried. And this time, I'm not waiting until the night before to study. I've already started studying.

Today Daniel and Hope and I went shopping for the Super Bowl Party. Daniel and Hope are co-programming as RAs, and somehow I got sucked into it since it's my boyfriend and my best friend doing it together. We got $50 from leadership team, and then Daniel and Hope had a little bit of programming money that they could put in. Let me tell you, $50 does not go far. I thought we would have plenty of money, but once we got to Costco we realized that it was not enough. We wanted to get frozen food like wings and mozzarella sticks, plus chips and dip and drinks, and prizes for the raffle. With fifty dollars, we got the wings, mozzarella sticks, and two bags of chips. No drinks, no decorations, no dip, no prizes, no napkins/cups/plates. Yikes. So Daniel and Hope put in some of their floor's programming money and we bought some more stuff at Safeway with that. This has definitely been a lesson in budgeting and the astronomical price of food at the moment. I am so glad I'm in school right now and not out in the "real world."

Speaking of that, my brother is out in the real world, and it sucks. He worked for a long time at Circuit City and he did really well. He was a good salesman, people liked him, and he made enough money. He has also been in school for almost 5 years now, and he's still about a year away from graduation. He had talked about enlisting in the marines after he graduated and using his knowledge of Arabic to help him move up the ranks. Well, I guess those plans have moved up. He dropped out of all his classes this semester (in time to get a tuition refund) and he has no job because Circuit City is bankrupt. He had to move back in with my parents for the first time since he graduated high school because he couldn't afford rent anymore. That sucks. I would hate to move back home for any extended length of time. My grandparents told me he is going to enlist soon. Like in the next few weeks. So now I'm really glad I'm going home because he may be gone by the time I'm home in the spring!

Happy Super Bowl!

Drama!

There have been some rumors floating around Nelson and Nagel the past week or so and I do not like it!  Two weeks ago, Jessica talked to Daniel about the rule with "cohabitation".  Someone who she wanted to remain anonymous came to her and told her that he/she thought I might be living in Daniel's room.  Of course I was, and Daniel told her that with no problem.  She said that's fine, but it needs to change.  So that weekend we moved some of my stuff out and then on room change day I changed to live in Nelson so we moved all my stuff into that room.  Problem solved.  Daniel did not get in trouble, and I did not get in trouble.  I no longer have a key to Daniel's room.  I honestly don't spend very much time in any dorm room.  I'm so busy that I'm always at class, or eating lunch, or at work.  So it doesn't really matter to me where I "live" because I'm never there.  So we did what Jessica wanted, and she was fine and we were fine and everything was great.

 

So I have to stop here and explain something.  Every person that lives in Nelson gets a key to their room.  The key is a card that looks like a credit card.  You swipe it, and the little light turns green and the door unlocks.  For people who share a room, one person is assigned to the "#1" spot and the other person to the "#2" spot so that both keys work in the same door.  At the front desk, Troy has control over all those keys.  He can activate them and deactivate them at his special computer. Up until now, Daniel was the only other person who also had that privilege.  When Troy was gone on the weekends, Daniel was responsible for the key system.  

Daniel is living in a room that is effectively a double.  Therefore, there are spots in the key system for Key "#1" and Key "#2".  I had been using the Key #2 until Jessica politely asked us to not cohabitate and we politely complied.  Apparently someone informed some people higher up in the housing department and every single Key #2 for the RA rooms was deactivated.  We were not really concerned because I don't use it anymore, but sort of curious and confused as to why they were doing this now.  Apparently, someone went to the director of the entire Housing department and she told the people under her who told the people under them and it got back to Jessica again. 

 Jessica and Daniel and I were all upset because we had solved the problem.  It was taken care of and there was no need for anyone else to get involved.  We don't know who exactly "tattled" to the higher authorities yet, but Jessica is going to find out soon.  It might be the same person who came to her two weeks ago.  We are very upset because this might affect Daniel getting hired for desk manager and me getting hired for resident assistant next year.  The higher up people may not know that it has already been fixed and may not hire Daniel because of that.  It seems to us that someone really wants to get us in trouble.  And we think we know who.  

Someone we thought was a very close friend, but apparently is NOT.  Anyways, we are not breaking any rules right now and people have no right to say that we are.  There was no reason for this person to go and tell all of the staff of the entire housing department.  I'm sure they have better things to be doing than worrying about an RA and his girlfriend for goodness sake!  So I think Daniel is going to be having a chat with this person that we are about 99% sure did all of the tattling.  But for now, Daniel and I are confident that we are doing nothing wrong and Jessica is also confident and she is going to fight for us and tell all of those higher up people that she took care of it.  And that person is apparently no longer our friend.

Whoops!

Well, AFTER I made my flight for Thursday evening, I realized that I have a biology mid-term Friday morning.  I emailed my professor, and the most she's willing to budge is to offer it earlier Friday morning.  So I am now flying out there Friday at noon, and leaving Monday at 10am.  Luckily, Southwest doesn't charge anything to change flights.  It's still three nights, and I'm still missing three classes.  Just three different classes, and no test!  I actually considered skipping the test anyways because our final exam counts for two tests if the score is higher than one of our mid-terms.  But, I am going to be really upset if I would have done well on that test and just took a zero.  That's not like me anyways to just skip a test.  And this works out fine.  I'll be back in time for my chemistry lab on Monday.  Yay!

Phoenix Here I Come!!

So today, sort of on a whim, I bought a plane ticket home.

So many of my friends that live somewhat close by are like "Hey I'm going home for the weekend, see you on Monday!" and I'm like "oh man, I wish I could just go home just like that and have home cooked meals and see my family for the weekend."  So, now I can!  Actually, the real reason is because Beth's wedding shower is that weekend and I really want to go fulfill my bridesmaidly duties.  But I'm also really excited to see my whole family.

I will be missing 12 hours of work, and 3 hours of class, but it's all worth it.  I'm leaving Thursday after NATS around 7pm, so I'll be missing my physics class that night.  But honestly, not a big deal.  I don't learn much in class anyways.  I'll also be missing one hour of Chemistry and one hour of Biology Friday morning, but that's also not a big deal.  In Chemistry I can learn the material by reading the textbook, and in Biology my professor posts her lecture online so all I have to do is study that.  I am so HAPPY!!!

Oh, I'll be home February 5 at 10pm through February 8 at 7:10pm.  So I'll probably have to leave straight from the wedding shower.  But I don't care I'm so so so excited.  :-)

X-Games and Winter Carnival

It seems like everything in Colorado is about snow.  On the weekends the entire campus empties because everyone goes to the mountains to ski.  It's kind of cool that everyone has this common interest.  I love being up in the mountains, even if I'm not that great at snowboarding.  Well this weekend is a very exciting time for most of the campus.  Every year the winter X games are held in Aspen, CO, about 4 hours from campus.  I would say about half of the students drive up there to watch.  If you haven't seen the X games, it's like the olympics on speed.  The crowd is very involved.  In fact, there is an event called "big air" that is actually decided by the crowd.  There are a bunch of huge stars that all head up to Aspen for the games.  If you don't ski or snowboard, then you may not know most of them, but I think it's safe to say that pretty much everyone knows Shaun White.  And he's definitely there.  Daniel and I wanted to go, but by the time we got around to making reservations every single hotel was booked.  The events are free to the public and the resort even has a 2-day ski pass for $65.  That's a really good deal, because usually a 1-day pass is $90.  I know, skiing is expensive.  But anyways, everyone is really excited about going up to see the x-games.  It's like a huge party.  The crowd screams and goes crazy and the athletes really interact with the crowd and get into it.  Next year Daniel and I are definitely going next year.  At first it sounded miserable.  It's cold outside, crowded, you can't really see anything, and you have to get there hours before the event if you want a good spot.  But after talking to a bunch of friends that have gone, I've changed my mind.  They said that you don't really need a good spot to see because they have big screens set up with video of the event.  And as long as you bundle up, it's not really that cold.  We'll probably share a room with a group of friends, or even better stay with one of Daniel's fraternity brothers who lives up there.  I wish we had thought about this a few weeks ago, but that's okay.  We'll be in Denver next year too.  I'll have to settle for watching it on TV all weekend.  

Speaking of snow, in a few weeks the school is sponsoring "winter Carnival".  The student government (I think that's what it's called) rents out a bunch of rooms at Winter Park and sells them to students for cheap.  They also have discounted lift tickets, sledding, tubing, and sleigh rides up on the mountain.  On campus, they have "polar bear run", free Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and a big snowball fight.  Daniel and I can't go up to the mountain because we work, so we'll have to settle for the on campus activities.  However, the "polar bear run" does not sound fun to me, so I think I'll eat ice cream and throw snowballs at people.  That does sound like lots of fun.  See why I say everything in Colorado is about snow?  Coming from Arizona, I thought that everyone hibernated inside in the winter.  Nope!  In Denver, people take full advantage of the snow and they love it.  Too bad there hasn't been any.  Only one good snow about two weeks ago.  It's supposed to "snow-rain mix" tomorrow.  Yuck.  I hate that.  Regular snow you can just brush off and it's fine.  But snow-rain is wet and cold and all your clothes are soaking and when you go inside you're dripping.  And none of the snow sticks either.  But at least it's an excuse to go to starbucks and get hot chocolate :-)  Hope and I don't need an excuse for that.  It was 70 degrees today, and we went anyways.  lol

Unexpected free time

Today turned out to be a much better day than I thought it would.  I didn't get much sleep last night.  Probably because Daniel didn't get much sleep.  At 1:05am he got a call from the front desk telling him he was supposed to work now.  He forgot.  So that woke me up.  Then he woke me up again when he came home at 4am.  He was tossing and turning all night so I couldn't really fall back asleep.  I had class at 9 so I had to get up at 8 while he didn't have class until 11 so he slept in.  I hate it when that happens because I have to leave all the lights off and be really quiet.  Well, I don't have to, but I'm sure Daniel appreciates it.

So anyways, I didn't get much sleep last night and my Wednesdays are usually pretty packed.  Chemistry 9-10, Biology 10-11, Spanish 11-12, work 12-1, mail 1-2, lab 2-4.  So I woke up thinking "I'm so tired and I won't be able to go back to bed until after 4!"  However, biology was just a review day so we got out 30 minutes early.  I spent that 30 minutes studying for our exam tomorrow and went to spanish.  It turns out that my spanish professor really was sick yesterday, and today she wasn't feeling much better, so she let us out 15 minutes early.  And the mail didn't arrive on time, so I didn't even have to do that from 1-2.  I ended up with a lot more free time than I expected.  And I got to spend a lot of that time with Daniel.  It's kind of funny because we had a three day weekend, then almost all my classes got cancelled yesterday, and today I got let out early of two of my three classes.  This week has been crazy.

Today was room change day.  Anyone who lives on campus can go to the student center and choose any available room to move into.  Any double that is only occupied by one person, or an empty single.  I had been thinking about moving to Nelson just for convenience.  At this point I'm almost never in my room because it's so out of the way.  And I don't have access to Nelson from the garage because you have to swipe into the elevators.  So today I decided just to see what's open, and I moved!  There was a room open right in between Daniel's room and Hope's room on the second floor.  I don't know much about the girl that lives there except she's really quiet and antisocial.  I pass that room about 10 times a day going from the lobby to Daniel's room, so it will be a lot more convenient.  Right after I switched rooms, Daniel and I decided to knock on the door on our way back to his room.  We heard noise and saw the light change behind the peep hole and at the crack at the bottom of the door.  So we know she was in there.  But she wouldn't open the door.  So we just left her alone.  I guess she's really REALLY antisocial.  I hope she doesn't hate me for taking the unoccupied half of her double.  Oh well it's not like I'll be there that often anyways.

Besides that I had lab today which went smoothly and I actually got the results I was supposed to.  That never happens in chemistry labs.  Organic chemistry is notoriously hard, but all my friends who have taken it in the past said that the professor is really great and it's not too hard as long as you do the homework and study.  And it has been really easy until this week.  We started doing hybridization and orbitals and I have to really struggle to understand.  It doesn't help that I have to write down the notes as fast as I can before he goes on to the next slide.  I can't even concentrate on what he's saying because I'm trying to write so quickly.  But I did really well on the homework, so I guess I understand it somewhat.

I have a spanish "composicion" due on Monday and a physics paper due Thursday.  I hate hate hate writing.  Especially if it's in a foreign language.  At least now I feel like learning spanish will be beneficial.  It will definitely come in handy while we're in Spain.  I'm so excited for Europe!  But, I'm having second thoughts about the proposal.  I kind of want it to happen in Europe because that's so romantic and special.  But on the other hand, I would also love to be able to show my family and my friends the next day and call my sister and tell her and write it on facebook and everything.  I won't really be able to do all that from Europe.  I guess in the end it's not up to me lol.  But that doesn't stop me from daydreaming about it constantly!

Recently some "friends" gave me advice on marriage.  They told me to slow down and not be in such a hurry to get married.  I found that rather ironic and hypocritical because they both knew their husbands less than a year before they got married.  I have known Daniel now for over 7 years and we've been dating for over 6 years.  I don't think that's "rushing" into anything.  I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying anything.  I know they didn't mean anything rude, but I didn't ask their advice and I definitely don't want to hear that I should wait longer.  I'm already waiting until I graduate; that's long enough.  That's longer than many other people waited anyways.  Sorry if that was rude, but obviously it's a touchy subject for me.

Oh goodness I hate fire drills.  Yet another reason not to live on campus.  Adios!

That's life.

Well, the RA workshop wasn't too bad. Mostly because the staff members I got hate all that ice breaker game stuff too. It's kind of annoying because I know all of this stuff already. They spent an hour going over the job description and everyone in the class had a million questions except me. I've worked at the desk, I've gone on "community walks" with Daniel and Hope, I've even had to deal with midnight calls to take care of drunk, belligerent, noisy residents. But I have to go through these boring classes anyways.

We did this activity where they had us write in our class schedule and then made us add everything that an RA has to do (i.e. desk hours, one-on-one meeting, programs, duty, staff meeting, etc.). When I was finished, I still had my entire Saturday open and at least 4 hours open each day. That's more free time than I have now! But I could tell they wanted us to act all surprised and overwhelmed, so I played along. I want to get hired, so I'll do whatever they want. The class is two hours each Friday for 3 weeks. At the last class our applications are due and then we sign up for individual 45 minute interviews with one current RA and one current GRD/RD. I hope I get someone from Nelson or Nagel. I know all the staffs in both of those buildings and they all think of me as an RA already so that can only help me.

Besides RA class, I actually ended up with a bunch of free time yesterday. I guess I got my work schedule messed up and I actually didn't have to work at all. So Daniel, Hope, Kristen, and I played on the billiards table in Nagel and then they watched a movie while I worked from 11pm-1am. I was really tired and ready for bed after that.

A few days ago we got a notice in the mail that our car registration is up and we need to get emissions testing done. Great. We can do that in our hours and hours of free time. So we decided to get it over with on Thursday between my classes that ended at 4 and began at 6. When we got in our car, Daniel noticed that our left rear tire was flat. VERY flat. So he got out the spare, and spent 30 minutes showing me how to change a tire. I thought it was a good learning experience for the future, but also a massive waste of time. When that was finished, we thought we better go straight to Discount and get it fixed before we worry about emissions testing. That took the entire 2 hours between classes and I barely had time to scarf down dinner before I had to leave. So today we went to go get our emissions testing done. We didn't wake up until almost noon, so by the time we got there it was 12:55. They close at 1. Ugh. And they're closed tomorrow, and they're closed the next day. Did I mention it's due by the end of the month? So Daniel's going to go on Tuesday and hopefully the wait isn't too long. Cars are such a pain. We also realized that we are getting pretty close to 60,000 miles which is a big maintenance point so we need to set aside some money for that in the next few months. At least we thought of it now and it won't be a huge surprise expense. I think we manage our money very well in that regard.

Well I'll be working for the next 3 hours. I actually have very little homework this weekend. Probably because I just had a spanish test and most of my homework is due on Friday. So it will be a nice weekend. I'll make lots of money sitting at the desk blogging.

Ramblings at work

I'm back at work and I'm not feeling too well today. I think I was out a little too late last night and maybe had a tiny bit too much to drink. But I have a very busy day, so I can't think about that.

I'm so glad it's the weekend. My classes this week were unusually boring and I was so busy I never had time to do anything but work and homework. And it's only the second week of school! Well I'm 1/5 done with this quarter and only 8 weeks to go. I like quarters because ten weeks really does go by quickly.

We have a three day weekend because of Martin Luther King Day on Monday. We don't have class, so of course I took like 8 extra hours at work. But I owe one of my co-workers because she took 8 of my hours last weekend when I went snowboarding. But one day this weekend I'm going to go out with Hope. We want to go shopping and out to lunch and maybe a movie. I have worked a ridiculous number of hours the past two weeks and we get paid next Friday so I know it's going to be a big check. I want to get some new clothes. It's definitely my weakness. And of course a ton of it will go towards Europe. We are close to $2500 now which will buy both our plane tickets and Eurail passes. So from here on out it's just room and board. Most museums in Europe are free. And that's all money that we have saved up all by ourselves. I'm still not sure exactly how much my grandparents are going to contribute.

I start RA classes today. I'm really not looking forward to that. Based on Daniel's description, it's a bunch of get to know yourself, community building crap. I hate that stuff. I wish they would just tell us 'this is what the job is', 'this is what you have to know' and give us a test on it. I could do that in one day! Instead I have to go to these classes and play all these games and stuff for 2 hours each week. Yuck. But once I'm an RA it will be worth it. I guess. I hope.

A weekend of snow!

Last weekend turned out to be really fun, but not quite the way I expected. We drove up to Keystone Friday night. I am always a little nervous to go snowboarding because it's scary and dangerous, and exhausting. But, I force myself to go because I know once I'm good, it will just be really fun. So the next morning I was a little apprehensive, but also determined. We took the shuttle bus to the ski area, and it was COLD! I hadn't put on my gloves yet and my fingers just about froze. Robert and Evan left to take a small lift up, while Daniel and I continued to River Run to take the main lift all the way to the top. At the top is the bunny slope and I planned to practice there a bit before taking a main run down to the bottom. I did surprisingly well. After about 2 times down, I was actually connecting my turns and not falling at all. Daniel was practicing skiing backwards on the bunny hill. He was amazing and patient and really helpful. He encouraged me to push myself and told me how great I was doing. I was so happy to have him there with me.

After about 6 times down, Evan and Robert came over and we decided to take the "slow run of the day" down to the bottom. It was meant for beginners and ski schools and stuff. That's when it started to go downhill, no pun intended. Once I got on a real slope, I got scared. I was terrified of going too fast and so everytime I got going faster, I went back to my heel edge. I was too scared to use my toe edge. The entire way down that's what I did. My calves burned because I was on my heels the entire time so I had to stop and rest a lot. It was so cold that my toes hurt really bad. They were so frozen! At one point, Daniel convinced me to try my toe edge and I fell. HARD. On my head. I laid there for a second to let my head stop spinning and I cried. I was frustrated, and cold, and in pain, and I cried. Usually I'm really stubborn and get right back up and go at it again, but it was just so hard that day. I wanted to get down off the mountain. Daniel was so great. He stayed with me the entire time and went slow and not once complained. I apologized for being so slow and crying, but he told me not to and he was happy that I was trying.

So I took it slow and finally made it down the mountain. When I finally got to the bottom, I was so relieved. We had lunch and I was done. My toes hurt really bad and my head hurt from that fall, so I went back to the hotel with Robert. He went back out later that afternoon, but I stayed in the hotel. It was warm and cozy, and I had homework to do anyways. Daniel and Evan got back and we took a dip in the hot tub. That's the best part of skiing in my opinion. :-) At about 5, we went back to the mountain because Evan and Daniel wanted to try night skiing. I thought they were crazy. If it was that cold during the day, imagine how cold it was going to be at night. But actually they had a great time. And so did I! I brought my book (which is amazing, by the way) and sat in starbucks drinking hot chocolate. It was very pleasant. When they were done we went to town and had dinner and watched the Cardinals kill Carolina.

I was disappointed in myself, but I think it would have been worse if I had gone out again after lunch. I was frustrated and I might have really injured myself. As it was, the next three days were very painful and I even still have some sore muscles. It will take a lot of nerve for me to go back up again this season, but I still have two more free rentals, so I think I will. Maybe I'll take a class.

We got back to campus on Sunday afternoon after terrible traffic and a long drive back. We were both exhausted and happy to be home. That night it snowed a lot and the next morning there was almost 6 inches of snow on the ground! It made me so happy. Especially because my classes were short and easy because so many students couldn't make it to class. The weather makes traffic bad so commuter students can't really get to class. But most of all, I love how campus looks all covered in white and I love the squeaky sound my boots make in freshly fallen powder and when snowflakes fall on my nose and stick to my hat. (And Beth, if you're reading this, your hat and scarf came in handy!)

This week is almost over and I couldn't be happier. One of my big successes was doing my physics homework. In class my professor has done a bunch of really complicated example problems and I was afraid the homework would be that complicated as well. But, I worked through it and I'm so proud of myself for finishing it! I was dreading it and when it was done I felt huge relief.

Well we have to go get our emission testing done and renew our car registration. Ugh. Such is life!

All work and no play

I have worked way too many hours today. And I'm in a bad mood because of it. I woke up at 8, class from 9-11, work from 11-4. Then I rented my snowboard and got back just in time for Daniel to leave. I grabbed a quick dinner, packed up my stuff for the weekend, and I'm back at the desk now watching everybody leave all dressed up to go to various parties off campus. Usually I'm pretty motivated while I'm working. I get lots of homework done and am very productive. But tonight it seems that my mind keeps wandering and I don't really want to do anything. I have some physics homework that's due on Thursday that I should get started on. My professor practically did them in class yesterday, but all of that seems to have drifted from my brain in the last 24 hours. I just can't concentrate on anything!

Daniel and a bunch of my other friends are all at RA training tonight. So nobody is keeping my company at the desk. Usually on Friday night there's a few of us playing games or watching The Office or House. But tonight it's just me. And I'm lonely. As soon as I get off and Daniel's done with training we're going to drive up the mountain to Keystone. Robert and Evan are already up there. When I rented my board it got me excited. I really really REALLY hope I can finally learn how to board the real way. I want to be good. Not really good, just good enough. And after two days up there and spending money that I shouldn't be on lift tickets, it MUST happen. Or I will be disappointed and may just give up and try skis. I'm just rambling now.

It's interesting to see different peoples' reactions to mine and Daniel's relationship. In the last week or so we've met some new people and by various means they have learned about our relationship and the probability of us getting engaged soon. Some of them are like "No you are waaaay too young" and other people are like "I'm so excited for you! You're so lucky!" Of course I tend to agree with the latter. But I can understand the former. I think they just are shocked and aren't used to us yet. People who have known us a long time realize that it isn't so crazy. But it kind of hurts my feelings all the same. Humans are so judgmental by nature and it's hard to overcome. At Daniel's staff meeting on Wednesday, they had a "show-and-tell" time. He brought the scrapbook I made him for graduation. It has pictures of us from 8th grade all the way through prom and graduation. One of our friends looked at it and actually cried. She's a hopeless romantic lol.

Aaaaggghhhh I'm tired and bored. 90 minutes to go.

The In-laws are here!

At about noon today Daniel picked up his brother and his dad from the airport. They're in Denver today and then going up to the mountain tomorrow to spend the weekend skiing. It's so nice to have them here. My family has never come to visit, so it's really exciting that some extended family are here. I showed them around my dorm and we had lunch in there. We showed them our room but then Daniel and I had class. Daniel's dad took us out to dinner to the most famous burger place in Denver, "The Cherry Cricket". It was delicious! Unfortunately, just as we were finishing up eating I got a call from the front desk telling me that I am supposed to be at work. Oops. So we rushed back and here I am. Luckily I have some wonderful co-workers who covered for me for ten minutes. They were so sweet about it too.

Tomorrow I have a couple classes and I'm working a couple hours. After 9pm when we both get off work, we are going to drive up to Keystone and spend Saturday and Sunday skiing. Robert (Daniel's dad) got a hotel room in the resort for the weekend. They are very expensive and very nice. It's so convenient to roll out of bed and practically be on the slopes already. And we can take a break if we want to, there's not as much pressure to ski all day. I hope to finally master toe turns and get to the point where I can enjoy myself up on the mountain. It's absolutely beautiful up there when everything's covered in snow. And there's something about being outside, exercising in the mountain air when it's cold that makes me feel so healthy and happy. I think that's because I grew up in a desert.

So I think I will be having a lovely weekend. :-)

Bored bored bored

I'm at work and completely out of my mind with boredom. The computer broke but I didn't know so all I have to do is read my organic chemistry textbook. Which I did for about an hour. But I can only take so much of it. So I have resorted to using my blackberry to facebook stalk old high school friends. Pathetic, I know.

This morning on the news I heard that a DU student died last night and another one is unconcious. There were huge amounts of carbon monoxide in their apartment. Who knows how many DU students live there? Its right across the street from campus. The names haven't been released yet so I don't know if I know them. I wonder if the owners of the apartment complex will be held responsible.

Another hour to go before Spanish. Ugh.

First day of classes

My first day went very well.  I think this quarter is going to be fun!  Only 16 credits this quarter so it feels like I have a ton of free time.  But it's early.  Today I had class from 9-12 and that was it.  Normally I'll have lab from 2-5, but there's no lab the first week so I have the rest of the day to relax!

First I had chemistry at 9am.  I think 9 is perfect because I don't have to wake up too early, but it gets me out of bed before I've wasted half my day sleeping in.  The professor is very young (that always surprises me when my professors are so young).  He speaks kind of quietly so when everybody is talking it's hard to hear.  And in a class of 70ish students, it gets loud easily.  But, I sit in the second row (for now) so it's not too bad.  He definitely knows what he's talking about.  I like his powerpoints a lot and he explains things really well.  It seems that I won't really have to take a lot of notes because his lectures are based a lot on the textbook (which I will read ahead of time).  My notes will mostly be example problems.  I don't think this class is going to be that difficult either.  It seems like as long as I keep up and do practice problems, I'll be okay.  I think my high school chemistry teacher really prepared me well.

Then biology.  I am very happy because my biology lecture hall is only like ten steps outside my chemistry hall so when it's really cold I won't be outside for too long.  That class is being taught by three different professors.  One for the first three weeks, another the next three weeks, and yet another for the last four weeks.   The professor that lectured today was also really great.  He isn't too young, but not like gray hair either.  He has a ponytail which gives you an idea of his personality.  He puts jokes in here and there, but not so much that it annoys me.  He also definitely knows the material.  Today it was all review from way back in high school anyways.  Judging from biology last quarter, the class will be easy as long as I attend class and study.  My professor today also made it very clear that he doesn't believe in making us memorize a bunch of fancy words and stuff, he is more concerned with teaching us concepts.  Which is great for me, because I am terrible at memorizing.  I'm not as excited about this quarter of biology because it's all on the cellular and molecular level.  I have a hard time conceptualizing things that I can't even see.  It's hard to believe that all of this stuff is happening inside our bodies without us even knowing.  But I guess chemistry is like that too.

Then spanish.  I really don't want to take spanish, but I have to.  This is my last quarter thank goodness.  My class is about half of the students from my spanish class last quarter which is great because we all get along well and know each other.  The professor is again very young.  She has a three year old and a 18 month old daughter.  She is very nice and likes to have fun in class.  Very different from my very strict European spanish professor last quarter.  I know that class will be easy.  Spanish comes pretty easily to me thanks to Daniel's mom and Abuela.  As long as I don't bomb the final like I did last quarter, I should get an A.  And I'm done before noon!

It's the first day of class and I'm already determining what my grade is going to be.  Ha.  It's really beautiful today (in Denver-winter standards).  Highs in the mid-forties and it's going to warm up to 60 by the weekend!  And that's when we're going skiing in the mountains!  How perfect.  Even more perfect is that the mountains are supposed to get a foot of snow today so there will be a really nice base when we're up there.

Sorry this was a boring post.  I'm sure most people don't really care about my professors or classes, but it's a note to myself that I'll go back and read at the end of the quarter and say "I can't believe I thought that class was going to be easy!"  and laugh at myself.

New Years & Fun in the snow!

I'm back at school!  I had a wonderful break, but I'm also very happy to be back in Denver.  Daniel and I left Phoenix at 5am on December 30.  Our friend (and my boss) Jeff invited us to stay for a few days at his family's brand new cabin (million-dollar plus) so we went up there before coming back to Denver.  It took us almost 12 hours to drive there from Phoenix, which was actually less than we thought. We were concerned about weather and driving in the snow, but the roads were all clear.  

This "cabin" is incredible.  It's up on a huge mountain surrounded by snow and forest.  There are five bedrooms including one "spa" bedroom that seriously looks like a spa.  There's a steam room AND a sauna.  A movie theatre (complete with the seats and hug screen and everything), an outdoor hot tub, and workout room with like 10 different workout machines.  The lights, TV, stereo, everything is controlled by remote control.  They have rhapsody on their TVs.  They just moved in the week after Thanksgiving.  Jeff's parents designed the whole house themselves so everything is the way they want it exactly.  We felt very lucky to be invited up there.

When we got to Jeff's house, our other friend Nikki was already there.  We spent the first night enjoying the outdoor hot tub surrounded by 2-3 feet of snow and a million stars.  Then we watched the Phantom of the Opera in their in-house movie theater while eating popcorn from their popcorn machine.  The next morning we went to a local cafe for breakfast and then Jeff took us tubing.  This was mine and Daniel's first time tubing.  I was excited, but also really nervous.  Holding on to an inflatable tube while flying down a huge mountain sounded very scary to me!  We bundled up and put on our warmest clothes, but it actually was a beautiful day.  It was sunny and about 40 degrees.  That may not sound beautiful, but when you're wearing long underwear, a sweatshirt, a coat, goggles, hat, gloves, scarf, etc. 40 degrees feels warm. There is a big golf course near Jeff's house and in the winter it is a perfect sledding hill.  There is a series of hills that go down to a lake at the bottom.  Of course the lake was frozen over.  I think it's really funny because when lakes freeze and then it snows, you can't even tell it's a lake.  You actually have to be really careful that you don't go out and walk on it without realizing it because you can fall through the ice.  The first time I wanted to go on a tube with Daniel because I was scared.  On the second big hill, we flew into the air and landed upside down!  It was scary but so fun too.  The snow was probably 2 feet deep, so when you fall off you land over a foot deep in snow.  Then we had to walk back up the mountain which took probably 30 minutes.  The altitude made it hard to breathe and it was really steep not to mention falling 2 feet with every step you take.  So it was difficult to walk back up the mountain.  After the first time walking back up we decided to designate a driver to pick us up at the bottom and drive us back up.  We went down 4-5 times and every single time I flew off at some point.  The last time I fell on my head and my hat and goggles went flying.  I had a bad headache after that and I'm still a little sore in places.  But It was so fun; I definitely want to do it again.

We went back to Jeff's house and took off all our wet, cold clothes.  When I fell and skidded in the snow everything got really wet as you can imagine.  We relaxed for a few hours and Jeff's friend Corrine joined us to go out for New Year's Eve.  We went to dinner and then ice skating on Keystone's huge lake.  Living in Arizona means I never really went ice skating outside, so this was very unique.  They also had a big Christmas display made entirely out of chocolate and an ice sculpture of santa's sleigh that we sat on very briefly.  There were fireworks at 8:00 over the lake.  People who know me know that I don't always do so well with fireworks.  But last time I saw them, I actually did okay so I thought I could handle this.  Well I neglected to factor in the ice.  Every time there was a noise, it echoed loudly off the ice.  So I basically freaked out the entire time.  It's so annoying, but I can't help it.  And it annoys Daniel a lot too.  Anyways, we drove to the other side of the mountain to see their annual torch lighting.  It was very very cold.  I stopped feeling my toes after 30 minutes outside.  We stood at the bottom of the mountain and watched as about 50 people skiied down the mountain holding lights.  It was completely dark so all you could see was lights moving down the mountain.  It was so beautiful.  Then there was another fireworks show which I watched while drinking hot chocolate inside Starbucks. :-)  

We went back to Jeff's and soaked in the hot tub until about 11:30.  We watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV and then we all went straight to bed.  It was a very exhausting day, but really fun too.  I love the snow and all the fun winter activities!  

Classes start on Monday and I am actually excited.  I'm taking Chemistry, Biology, Physics and spanish.  I love science, so I think I will enjoy my classes a lot.  Science classes means no group projects, no presentations, no papers to write.  Just show up to class, study, and take the test.  And labs are kind of fun too.  Next weekend Daniel and I are going skiing with his dad and brother.  They're flying here a week from today and we're going to stay up at Keystone.  I hope that I can finally get toe turns down and really enjoy snowboarding.  But, that means I'll miss work for a couple days.  I think it's worth it though.  I had so much fun in the snow this week, I can't wait until it snows in Denver and I can go play in it!  Unfortunately, it's 63 degrees today (am I back in Scottsdale?) so there's not much chance of snow for a couple days.