Rush Weekend

This weekend was spent entirely focused on Theta Chi. I wasn't actually planning on spending too much time at Rush, but as it turned out I did. On Friday, Daniel has a full day of classes and then he spent the evening at house tours. Paul was working, so I was home all day by myself. It was actually very nice to have the house to myself. I got a lot of work done. Daniel asked me to pick him up at 7:30pm and then we were going to go to a party thrown by his tuba professor for the whole brass department. I went to pick him up on campus, and house tours weren't done so I hung out until the last group finished. When we got back to our car, it wouldn't start. We weren't sure what the problem was, but called campus safety to jump us just in case it was the battery. That fixed it, so we drove home instead of to the party downtown.

The next day we spent running errands. We took Jackson to the groomers to get his nails filed down so he wouldn't scratch us anymore, went shopping at Costco, and bought a new battery for the car. Costco turned out to take a lot longer than we thought. They had a little booth there with cell phones and Daniel has been very interested in getting a new one so he stopped to take a look. Then we saw a sign for DirecTV. We have been looking into DirecTV for a few weeks now, but have never made a decision. So we let the salesman give us his pitch, and we went for it. I am so sick of the TV cutting out and having to adjust the antenna every time we change the channel. When you're splitting the monthly cost 3 ways, it isn't that expensive. It took a long time to go through all the paperwork and everything. I could tell Daniel was very concerned about the commitment and the cost. I was a little concerned too. But we genuinely can afford it. And our roommate(s) can afford it. They are coming on Friday to install the box. I am so excited! I have never appreciated cable television this much.

That evening Theta Chi planned a poker night at school. I drove Daniel over there and helped him set up. I wasn't planning on staying, but once I was there all the guys wanted me to stay. They served us a delicious dinner and it was really fun. It ended pretty early, so we went over to the President's apartment afterwards to have some drinks. I must have eaten a lot of food because I had like 3 drinks before I even started to feel it. One of the brothers knew how to make a bunch of different drinks. I had a "slippery nipple" and a "tequila sunrise." They were both actually really good. Though the slippery nipple was a little too strong for my taste. We were lucky our roommate Paul came and didn't drink at all so he was able to drive us home. We just left our car at the apartment complex.

The next morning Paul drove us to the light rail at 9:30am. We met two other brothers there and took the train downtown. We wanted to get as many tickets as possible for the Rockies game that afternoon. They have a special section called the Rock Pile that are only $4 a seat. But those tickets go really fast. So we got in line at 10:15am and the ticket booth opened at 10:30am. We got 16 tickets, which was just perfect. Then we went into the ballpark and watched batting practice. Around 11:30 we went out to a hot dog stand and got some lunch. That is the first time in recent memory that I have eaten food from a stand on the street. It actually was pretty okay. It put me in the mood for baseball. Around 12:45pm the rest of the guy showed up with the prospective brothers. It was so hot sitting in the outfield. We had the sun beating down on us the entire game. It must have been 95 degrees. I got a really bad sunburn and a sunglass tan on my face. The game was really good. Lots of close plays and the Rockies won. After getting to the field at 10:15am, the game felt like it lasted forever. At 4pm, Daniel and I left even though there were 2 innings left. We were exhausted. And we still had to walk to the light rail, take the train to DU, then walk about 15-20 minutes across campus to the apartment complex where we left our car the night before, and drive 10 minutes home. We didn't get home until about 5pm and I passed out in bed. I was not feeling well. I got up an hour later to eat dinner and I was feeling a little bit better. I still don't feel great today. I really don't want to get sick. I'm going to try hard to get lots of sleep and eat well so that I don't. Midterms are next week and this is the worst time to get sick.

My grandparents called on Saturday and were so happy about the scrapbook we sent them. I miss my grandparents so much! I am really excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will be in Phoenix for about a month. This year for the very first time, my cousin and her husband and one year old baby are coming to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. We have had the same 9-10 people every Thanksgiving for my whole life. It's so exciting that they are coming this year! Also, right before Thanksgiving Daniel's mom, Aunt, and Abuela are coming to Denver to visit us. And then we have Christmas, and right after Christmas my ENTIRE family is going to Disneyland together. Me and Daniel, my parents, Nicole and Mike, my grandparents, my great aunt and uncle, my aunt and uncle, my cousin and her husband and baby, my other cousin and her husband..... that's so many people! Then we go on a cruise with Daniel's family. It's a very family-filled holiday season this year! It's going to be fun!

In the more immediately future is midterms. I have two really easy tests this week, and two really hard tests next week. I actually skipped class today because it was a review session for the really easy test. I have spent this time studying for my brain exam tomorrow and playing with Jackson. He is so demanding of attention. When he is left alone, he rips anything to shreds he can find. This morning we left him for one hour and he ripped all of our mail to pieces in the living room and backyard. I think we may have to start putting him in a crate again while we're gone. But it's his own fault. I'm going to catch up on some more homework until I have to go back to school in an hour and a half. I feel so productive right now.

Jackson.... grrrr

I think Jackson is mad that we went back to school. For 3 weeks, there was someone home almost 24 hours a day. There were a few times that we all went out for dinner or to a Rockies game, but at night he was tired anyways. But now he is usually alone from 9am-2:30pm or even longer some days. When we get home, he is so desperate for attention that he is behaving badly! If I am sitting at the kitchen table on my computer, Jackson will stand there and bark over and over and over again. He doesn't bark often, but when he does it is ear-splitting! I don't want to reinforce his barking, so I ignore him. But that makes him bark more! I have discovered a way to simultaneously play with him while I'm on my computer or doing homework. I use one hand to tug on his rope or another toy and use the other hand to do whatever I'm doing. This doesn't work perfectly though. I don't know if his nails are longer, or if he's just playing rougher, but I have gotten hurt! He has a habit of grabbing on to the toy with his mouth and jumping up with his front paws. His nails hurt! I have so many scratches up and down my arms from him jumping up. And when he plays tug, he always wants to grab the side that you're holding. And quite often he ends up just chomping down on your hand instead of the toy! Last night Paul and I were playing and I threw the rope to him so he could play, and Jackson jumped onto Paul up on the chair and almost bit his hand off! It's dangerous! I don't really know what to do. If I don't play with him, he barks incessantly and loudly at me. So the situation has gotten quite obnoxious. It makes me really wish I could punish him. I yell no and he just barks right back. This makes me dread the days that we have a toddler running around. At least a toddler I can punish. Yesterday, when I got home from school, I spent 90 minutes playing with him figuring that he would be tired and leave me alone for a while. WRONG! But he is cute, so that makes it all better lol.

School has been surprisingly easy so far. Granted, it's only the end of week 2. I have had maybe 4 hours of homework total. I come home from school, and I have no homework! It's amazing. I have my first midterms this week, both in psychology. One in statistics, and one in cognitive neuroscience. And in class this week, my professor stood at the front of the class with the test in his hand and read it to us. So obviously I'm not too concerned about doing well.

Besides Jackson, this week has been very focused on Theta Chi stuff. It's rush week, so Daniel has been so busy preparing. Tonight they have house tours, and all weekend they have social activities. I was invited to go to the Rockies game on Sunday with them. We had a bunch of guys over last night, and one of them was a freshman. However, he is a legacy for Zeta Beta Tau. Daniel still thinks he may like Theta Chi better. I think I had a bit too much to drink. Why is it that in a rum and coke, the last two drinks get you more drunk than the whole rest of the glass? I woke up this morning a little hung over which made Chemistry feel so much longer. I'm proud of myself for not missing any class yet this quarter. Living off campus makes skipping class a little harder. When I'm on campus already, I might as well go, right?

I have been thinking about my 21st birthday and I have no idea what to do for it. All of my friends that are older are Theta Chi brothers. Which means I could go out on my birthday with a bunch of my fiancee's brothers..... that's weird. The other option is having people over here. That's not nearly as much fun as actually ordering drinks and everything. I also thought maybe I will wait until Nicole comes and then the two of us can go out if we want.

We did buy tickets to Wicked this week! DU bought some tickets and sold them to students at a reduced rate. We bought them for $20 and they are just about the worst seats you could get. We are in the second to last row in the top balcony. But I don't care, we'll bring binoculars or something. That's on Oct. 21 so I guess it's sort of for our anniversary, or my birthday. We have so many exciting things coming up! I love my life :-)

On the first day of school

I'm on a break between classes right now. The first day class is always short, so I have an unusually long lunch break.

The first day of school has always been happy to me. I always convince myself that I will work extra hard this term, attend every class, take tons of notes, read every chapter in the textbook, study weekly instead of right before the test, and in general have good study skills. I imagine myself getting understanding everything, doing my homework without getting frustrated, and getting straight As. It never ever turns out that way. Why not?

It usually starts with me assuming that I can do just as well without reading the textbook. Hardly anybody else does, so why do I waste my time? Then I try to do my homework, and I get frustrated because I don't understand a problem. Then an evening comes around when I had planned on studying, but I'm tired or my friends are going out or I have other "more important" things to do. So I don't study. Then the test comes around, and I do the best I can. I don't know how to do every problem, and usually I'm only really confident about half. So I get a B or C on the test.

This has been the cycle since college started. Now here I am on the first day again. My professor is going through the syllabus and I am daydreaming about completing every reading assignment, studying regularly, and seeing a bright red A on my exams. Maybe instead I should be daydreaming about spending hours each week reading and studying and doing homework. That would probably bring me back to reality.

I don't know what I can do to keep up that motivation and actually follow through. Maybe I shouldn't. I mean, if I can get Bs doing a certain amount of work, do I really want to add an extra 2o hours of studying a week to get As? I'm not really sure.

I had organic chemistry this morning and I am very concerned about how much I've forgotten. I think it's a little silly that the school has O Chem I and O Chem II before summer break, and O Chem III after. How can I not forget a ton of stuff? But at least the first chapter is easy and is a good review. I think I remembered more than a lot of people judging by participation in class this morning. My second class was statistics. I am really not looking forward to that class. What I've had of statistics in my normal math classes in high school was not fun. I did fine in it, but I hated it. The professor is very laid back, and he reads the test to us in the review session the class before. So how can I not do well, right? After lunch I have biology and then O Chem Lab. I am really dreading labs. I am so terrible and I get stressed out and somehow I manage to forget to do things, or do things completely wrong and get so many points taken off. I feel prepared for today's lab, but I'm still so anxious about it! I'm going to calm down and do the best I can.

Bells!

I went to my first bells rehearsal Thursday night. It was great! :-) The group is mostly middle-aged women who have been playing for a couple years. There are two women in their 30s that have been playing together since they were 12. There's a really old lady who just joined this year and has never played before. So it's quite a diverse group I guess. Oh, and the leader of the group has an 18 year old son who is also in it. The only boy lol. So I met everybody and we had a chance to learn about each other and talk about the year. I played E and F and it seems like I will be playing two octaves at once almost all the time. We call it "shellying." I don't know if the spelling is right. Anyways, it's enough of a challenge for me playing two octaves at once. And the people feel very familiar. It's just like I walked into a small group at CITD. They were all so nice and welcoming and asking all about me. One lady even said she has a brother and his wife that live in Phoenix and he teaches at PVHS! Crazy world. Well I'm really excited. I hope it will help us get involved and we can start to feel like Wellshire Presbyterian church is "home" for us.

Besides that, it's been more Discoveries orientation stuff. Daniel working, me taking care of the house and Jackson. We took Jackson to puppy preschool this morning. I have to say I know EXACTLY what it's like to be a parent watching your kids on the playground or at daycare. I was afraid that my puppy would be bad, or not listen, or bully the other puppies. Mostly the class was just to socialize puppies, so we took off their collars and leashes and let them play. Jackson turned out to be very good, and actually none of them were really bad. They were all so cute! Especially this rottweiller puppy. He was just one huge muscle! I would never want a rottweiller, but he was really cute.

Then Daniel had a meeting on campus, so we just took Jackson along. He had to help set up for the carnival this afternoon which means just moving tables and chairs in the gym. I kept Jackson on the leash and watched everyone set up. He was a hit again! Everybody had to stop and pet him and play with him. I got really tired of him pulling on my arm, but it was fun anyways. And he was so exhausted when we got home! We had a quick lunch, ran to Costco to get groceries and gas, and headed back to campus for the carnival. That's where all the clubs and organizations and even restaurants around campus give out free stuff and try to get you to sign up for their mailing list. We got so much cool stuff! Lots of pens and pencils, and even an organic T-shirt.

Daniel had to go back again to help clean up so I'm getting some homework done while he's gone. I think labs are the hardest part of college. No wonder, that's the only class I get a C in. At least it's only one credit. But I'm going to try really really hard this quarter. I say that every quarter. Maybe it will last this time. Or maybe not.....

School starts in two days!

Last week before school

This week has been pretty boring. I really want school to start so I can get back into a routine. This summer has been crazy! I think normalcy will be a nice change for a while. Daniel has been taking freshmen around campus all week. This is their orientation week where they register and learn all about DU and not to rape girls or drink and drive. All that stuff. I've been able to see him here and there when he has a couple hours off. In the evenings we have been hanging out with friends.

Last night we had dinner on campus and then took Jackson to the movie on the lawn. They were showing Ironman on a giant inflatable screen out on campus greens. Jackson drew a lot of attention lol. Everyone wanted to meet him and pet him and play with him. It was really hard to keep him calm though. We wanted to sit on our blanket and watch the movie, but Jackson wanted to run around and sniff everything and lick people. Of course everybody wanted to play with him too, but we didn't want him to wander. So we practiced sitting and staying calm. It didn't help that there was cotton candy and popcorn everywhere! Overall, it was a lot of fun. Everytime we go to campus I see more friends and it makes me so happy. I've missed all my friends over the summer. And it makes me a little nostalgic for living on campus. But then I remember how badly I wanted to move off campus when I did live in the dorms. Besides, I love our house even more!

Rachel Homemaker

I have felt like a housewife today. I guess in effect, I am one. Except for the wife thing lol. Daniel is working until school starts, so I'm at home with Jackson and Paul. Daniel is an orientation leader for the incoming freshmen. So while he's at work all day, I have taken it upon myself to make sure everything else gets done. I'm running errands, cleaning the house, and making dinner. We'll see how long that lasts. I will probably get bored and have to find something else to do next week.

So today I have gotten a bunch of things done that I've been meaning to do for a while. I finally bought my brother's birthday present. Price for procrastinating: $16.95 (the cost for 2-day air shipping). I cleaned the whole house. I'm the only one that cleans the house which means that it doesn't get cleaned when I'm not here. So while we were in Phoenix it got quite dirty. And I have discovered that Jackson creates much more dirt in the house. When I pick up Daniel later I will stop at the post office and mail Nicole's hair dryer which she left in Phoenix and I will deposit my check at the bank. I may need to run to the grocery store later too. Don't I sound like a housewife?

I'm kind of worried for when school starts. I'm so busy now keeping up with house cleaning and repairs and running errands, when will I get it done during school? My guess is that I will just have to live with a slightly dirtier house and clean less often. We will probably let some things go un-repaired too. I guess it's good that we're getting all that stuff done now.

I've been thinking about the job situation for this year. I really don't know what to do. Working at the desk last year was awesome. I worked a ton of hours, got my homework done, and hung out with friends at the same time. However, it will not be nearly as convenient now that the desk is a 10 minute drive instead of a 2 minute walk away. That means Daniel and I will have to fix our schedules so we work at the same time because we are carpooling to campus. We will also have to make it so we work right after class or between classes or we will be driving back and forth 3 times a day. I think we'll try it and see how it goes. Right now I have no other job prospects. When school starts I will look into working at the library, or maybe for the psychology department. But working on campus just isn't that convenient anymore. I really wish I didn't have to work at all. But Grandma and Grandpa want me to.

At ths point I'm basically biding my time until Daniel is done. He invited some of our friends over for dinner tonight so that will be fun. And now the house is nice and clean for them all. :-)

Problem Solving

Today was a problem solving kind of day.

First, we had to install a doggie door. We got one from a friend, but it didn't really work. So we looked online at a bunch of different places and found one at Home Depot for about $50. That's the best price we could find anywhere, so we went and got it. When we got home, Daniel started to cut a giant hole in our back door. Then he discovered that our door is not wood. It is metal outside with insulation on the inside. So Daniel went back to Home Depot to get a saw that will work. He cut a big hole in the door and installed the dog door! And Jackson used it right away! Success #1

Then I installed new software. I bought this software this morning and spent all day trying to install it. I figured out that it was a microsoft plug-in that wasn't working. So I went to Microsoft's website and tried to install it there. No luck. Then Daniel figured out that the plug-in should have been installed in an update that never worked. We called lenovo tech support, qwest tech support, DU tech support, and looked into Microsoft tech support (they only offer email support). Daniel worked on it for a few hours. Then I figured out that I never downloaded Vista service pack 2. I did download service pack 1. After I downloaded that (it took over an hour to complete) then I had 43 new updates! I guess it has been a while since my Windows Updater has worked. In those 43 updates was: surprise! The plug-in that I need. So finally the plug-in downloaded and the software is downloading as we speak! Success #2!!

Unfortunately, all that problem solving means I didn't get my to-do list done today. I didn't wash the car, or mail Nicole's hair dryer, or deposit my check, or clean the bathroom, or even do the laundry. Ha. Well I won't be bored tomorrow!

While I was in Arizona, I got all my textbooks and a letter from my health insurance. As I have written before, I am not too happy with my health insurance (who is?). Usually when I get a letter, it contains a huge bill that includes charges I was previously told would be covered. So I wasn't thrilled with getting another one. However, this time I opened the letter and discovered a check written to ME! For $105! How exciting! I have no idea why, but I'm not complaining.

I also paid my tuition today. I wrote a check for over $5600. Crazy. I almost couldn't fit it all on the line on the check. But it was strangely satisfying. It felt really good to be back on campus too. It is so beautiful and feels like home and independence and happiness. I am ready for classes to start! Too bad I have to wait two more weeks. I think I'll survive though.