no comment

I've recently gotten really into cooking. I can't change the channel from Food Network and Willams-Sonoma is my new favorite store. I heard that if you work for Willams-Sonoma, you only have to work like once a month to get the amazing discount. Cooking is easier than I thought it would be- except for baking. I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist but sometimes the baked goods just don't turn out like I thought they would. Tasty mistakes I'd say. This Saturday I'm taking another cooking class at Central Market to add to my advanced degrees in basic sushi and italian- basic knife skills. I'm really excited about it (weird?).

As an added note I'm going La Jolla, CA (sounds like la hoya) for a week in early August with Alice and her Dad's family. I'm especially excited because I get to cook for everybody there one night. Alice and I have been cooking for family all summer long and got to showcase our skills for her dad and Margaret the other night. They really liked the food and want us to cook in La Jolla.

texas bagpipes

This is me playing solo bagpipes for over 80,000 people during the halftime show at the Texas A&M game, Thanksgiving '03 (and a test for this blogger picture thing).

Thunderduck U

I just finished taking my government final and will soon go take my history final. I can very safely say that I made A's in both classes. My government teacher told me I did and I'd nearly have to fail my history test today to get a B. I'd have to say that Richland was not what I expected. It was easier for one thing. There were a lot of kids getting duel credit for high school. I felt like the professors were dumbing down the material for some people. All in all, I didn't like having to sit there every day and listen to things I learned and remembered from high school... Enter my dad's old laptop. It isn't much more valuable than a paperweight, but it does have one function I found very useful- the ability to run the original Roller Coaster Tycoon computer game. The game is basically SIM City but with theme parks. You can design many different types of roller coasters and micromanage you're version of Disney World. As my professors would drone on ("...the president has a 4 year term..."), I'd work on my newest theme park.

fans

Apparently more than 2 or 3 people read this thing. Since I basically haven't posted since February I should probably update readers on what it is I've been up to. It won't take long since not a whole lot has happened. I'm living in a house next year with Jon Michael, Aaron, Derek, and Charlie (the same Charlie I lived with this year). I'm home in Dallas for the summer and am taking summer school at Richland College (go thunderducks). My job at the hospital was dissolved by the OR director without telling me this year. Since I am (was) technically hired year round there's really no reason that should have happened, especially with out even telling me. I let the right people know about it and heard she won't be there much longer. That's mostly about it, other than Cameron and Matt got married. Oh yea, I turned 21 in April! That was and continues to be pretty sweet. I hope everyone is having a good summer. I've sent some of you emails and left phone messages... so get back to me on those.

...

blows dust off of blog

realizes formating is messed up

family

This weekend was pretty great. I'd had kind of a stressful week. I had a organic quiz on Thurs. and a Med/Sci test on Fri. But I made A's on both so I'm pleased. It was only stressful because it was the first grade in each and I didn't know how hard they were going to be. At around 3:30, Aunt Beth and Hogan finished with his class field trip to the capitol and Bob Bullock Texas History Museum called me to meet and show them my apartment and UT. Hogan is in 3rd grade (or is it 5th?) and is really interested in science so after we drove by the stadium and the music buildings, we got out and toured the chem building and saw some chem labs. From there we walked to the tower and went inside to show them the life sciences library (the prettiest library on campus). By that time Alice had arrived in Austin after fighting some traffic. We met back up with her at my apartment and went to my cousin Marlis and Heather's house in west Austin for dinner. I hadn't seen their house before, but Heather is a really great interior decorater so I wasn't surprised when it was magnificent. The next day Alice and I met Aunt Beth, Hogan, Marlis, Heather (and their three kids) at my great Uncle Scotie and Aunt Juanette's house for lunch. Marlis' brother David and his wife Alyssa (and two kids) were there as well. I wasn't expecting them because Alyssa had been sick the past week and so had the kids, but they all seemed to be in good form. It was really great to see everyone and spend time with them. Before coming to UT I would only see them at the reunion once a year if that. Now I get to see them all the time! The rest of the weekend Alice and I spent together, which was totally great. We ate at the Clay Pit saturday night and saw The Wedding Date (C+). It seemed like a good story but the movie didn't do it justice (I guess one should read the book). For lunch the next day we ate at Hut's burgers (also totally great).

So my friends and I are in the market for a place to live with room for 5 people for the fall for for for fer far fir fur. Somewhere close to the UT campus is what we really want and it has to have at least two bathrooms (preferably 3 or more). If you know of anything that sounds like that let me know ASAP.

ok yea... Now

ok now I'm feeling overwhelmed. Well, I can handle it... it's just that I have a lot going on. I don't get a chance to study during the week as much as I'd like... or sometimes at all. I don't know what I'm going to do about this yet. I have meetings for something most every night, or so it has seemed. This past weekend I spent 6 hours at the library just catching up... and I'm not even there yet. I made over a 100 flashcards yesterday and have more to go. We'll see if it calms down a little more. I actually have plans this weekend so it'd better!!

Alice is coming to town this weekend, as well as Aunt Beth and her oldest, Hogan. I can't wait. We're getting together with the rest of my family from Austin... yay! I should see them more often. I should also work out everyday. Anyway, I got freaked-out the other day about my course schedule for the next 3 years (6 semesters). I decided to spend some time making one up for the rest of my classes for the rest of my college career. Maybe if I spent more time obsessing over class hw instead of making three year schedules I'd have less work to do? Nah.

I gave blood earlier today for the first time. I know what you're asking yourself- how are green ducks left hand pancakes? It's just that it's never been a convenient time to give blood without knowing how I'd react. I'd read Cameron's and Emily's stories about giving blood and then passing out afterwards and didn't want to risk collapsing on the way to class right after or something. As it turns out, that only happens to a very rare few- and I just happen to know two of them. Also, I always new that I had O negative blood, but learned something new about rh factors. I know that rh factors were the signs (+ or -) assigned to the letters of blood types. What I didn't know was that a - person can only receive -, but a + person can receive either + OR - blood. In otherwords, people with - blood types can donate to either + or - blood types. I also explained to a girl (who was actually curious) how someone from two A parents, could be O. I promise she wasn't bored. To sum up, my blood (O-) is really valuable because I can give to everybody!

grade triumph

I got an email from my bio professor from last semester. I'd been pestering him for the entire break that he'd missed some points in my grade and consequently given me the wrong letter grade. Well, he finally fixed it. Why am I blogging about it? Because the grade change for that class gives me a 3.5 for the semester, which puts me on the dean's honor list! I haven't been on this list before and I'm really excited about it. Every person on the list gets 100,000 dollars, a new BMW, and automatic entry into medical school! Ok not really, but I can wish... really hard.

In other news I had my second day of classes (cause I missed last week for the inauguration). I'm overwhelmed but I sense that it will calm down after this weekend.

quick inauguration story:

So we're standing in parade formation, talking and relaxing while we wait to take off to play for the president... There's a double chain linked fence all around us and snipers on every roof. I see out of the corner of my eye some kids in between the fence walking. They decided it would be wise to try to cut across the parade route by going through the Longhorn Band. They open the fence and start trotting through the street. We all get quiet and watch. They start to go around a suburban with tinted windows... All of a sudden I see security guards and police running toward them. The snipers turn their heads on the roof, and then the doors to the suv open. Out bounds 4 FBI agents in full fatigues with bullet proof vests and ear pieces raising their m4a1 fully automatic modified assault rifles. At this point I think those kids about pooped their pants. They were led out of the area.

another quick one:

The section leaders were at the hotel for the black tie and boots ball for the pres. The aggie Ross Volunteer Guard were there as well. The ones inside the hotel didn't have their sabers, but the ones on the other side of the metal detector did. From what I understand, the ones with sabers had a red laser dot on their heart at all times. For those of you who may not know what that means... A red laser is sometimes attached to weapons (such as sniper rifles) to improve accuracy of shot (a one shot kill). So in other words, the guys with swords had a gun at their heart the whole time. Here's the cool part: the entire day they were there, and not one said that they could find out where the lasers were coming from... hidden snipers... sweet!!