There is saying that "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work." Well I guess I've had a lot of good intentions. For years I told myself that I would get back into playing the piano, but just didn't have time because I was in school, then I was working, then I was, uh, I ran out of excuses. So in February I started taking piano lessons again. At first I almost cried at how much I had lost with being 6 years out of practice. Now, my sight reading is back and I am working my way through Bach's Inventions again. I'm nowhere near where I used to be, but its a good first step. With the plan of moving to law school in the coming year I don't want to invest in a couple of hundred pounds of household goods by buying a piano, but borrowing my brother-in-laws 3/4 sized keyboard just isn't cutting it. I grew up playing a 5'-6" baby grand Boston piano and the keyboard has no action and not all of the keys. I'm debating finding a used piano to buy or just spending the money on a nice keyboard. As much as I want a brand new piano, its not the best financial decision as they don't retain their value. I was so tempted when I found out that I could get a below retail piano from a local dealer who is retired. He sells piano's at below retail because he no longer has the overhead of a store or employees and merely uses a catalog out of his house. For people who know what they want it is a great option. I don't need to sit down at a piano and try it out, I just need to pick a size and brand that meets by ability and needs. Plus, this month Kawai is having factory rebates which would be on top of the killer price.
I am really trying to make savvy financial decisions and save every penny. My friends think we're nuts, living on a student budget with two engineer incomes coming in. In reality, I'm just making it so that I have less debt when I go back to school. I'm changing my need for loans by saving up the money for law school in advance rather than spending the money on new furniture, new cars, new pianos and all the other nice things that we can technically afford but don't need. Don't even get me started on buying a house. We had our taxes done this year and for the first time ever had to pay money rather than get some back. My first thought was, oh, wouldn't it be nice to have mortgage interest to be able to deduct? However, our rent free situation living somewhere where we pay only utilities and taxes saves us way more money than the amount we would save on our taxes. Having my own home is more of a gut desire than an actual need. In the meantime its nice to watch our little egg grow larger. It will be a real kick in the gut when I have enough money for school and look at in the bank and say, hmmm...do I want a house paid for in cash or do I want to spend this all over the next three years on a degree? I really hope my plan to go to law school doesn't become a good intention after faced with the financial reality. In the meantime I'll continue to be as frugal as possible. It's a good habit to get into.
2/24/08
2/7/08
Las Vegas Trip
We started out our trip in Las Vegas by paying $80.00 for a limo to take us two miles from the airport to the Hyatt Place hotel where my meeting was being held. Why $80? Well, at 1 am the hotel shuttle wasn't running and the line for cabs on a Friday night was over an hour long. I didn't want to wait so we took the limo. Thank goodness I was on expenses.
Getting up for a 8 am meeting after getting to sleep around 2am was definitely no fun. Hubby went for a walk while I debated the intricacies of publishing a technical magazine with fellow engineers. Around noon we hooked up and went to the Hard Rock for lunch. The lunch was a working lunch so it lasted well over an hour. I was totally unimpressed with the Hyatt Place which amounted to a stripped down Hyatt, business hotel that barely qualified for each of its 3 stars. On top of this was the fact that the hotel has been recently renovated. The carpet tiles may be easy to replace should one of them become stained, but they also use carpet glue in their installation. I was apparently allergic to the glue and spent most of my 5 hours of rest scratching my arms to death. The next morning I had hubby check us out and we went to Priceline.com to see what cheap rooms were still available elsewhere. Turns out that for the same rate as we were paying at the Hyatt we could be staying at the Venetian. Deal! Sign me up! So after lunch we cabbed it from the Hyatt to the Venetian.
After checking into our suite at the Venetian I was sorry that we would have to switch over to Treasure Island the next day. I'd show you a photo, but they all have one or the other of us in them, because of all of the mirrors in the suite. The room was gorgeous and I don't say this lightly. I stay in a lot of hotels, but this one still surprised me. I got $15 worth of casino credit which we quickly doubled to $30 in the slots, apparently I'm quite lucky. We were so bushed that we just wanted to sit down, sip our drinks and blow money in the penny slots. I won as much as he lost so we came out even. For dinner we hooked up with some of my friends from my meeting and went to a local place. I try to find a good Greek restaurant whenever we travel together as it is both of our favorite food. Also, eating on the strip can be ridiculously overprices if you don't want to eat horrid/questionably sanitary buffet food. Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe is a local joint full of people who actually call Nevada home. The food is excellent, tasty, and downright cheap. Five of us who drank, had appetizers, dinner and dessert all for less than $120.00, which I consider insanely cheap.
We headed back to the hotel that night blissfully content and full of warm Baklava. Our show was playing in the Venetian hotel so we didn't have far to walk. We got tickets for Phantom before we left and it was quite spectacular. I've always loved the Phantom of the Opera. Hubby saw the broadway show in San Francisco a long time ago before we met. He has always promised me that he would take me one day so this was really special . Phantom in Vegas is a slightly abrieviated version, but spectacular none the less. I remember there was an article a few years back when they were planning the show on how they got the chandelier to fall. Trust me it is well done, women were screaming. If I hadn't known what was coming I would have been totally blown away. The engineering behind that stunt was amazing.
The next day we packed our rolly-bag up and headed downstairs to breakfast. We found a little cafe along the banks of the Venetian. Apparently there are very few people who wake up for breakfast in Vegas so it took us almost 30 minutes to find one that was open. Afterwards we walked across to the Wynn, walking through the Venetian shops along the canal on the way. Then we crossed the street and walked past Treasure Island, down through the Mirage. The Mirage was smokey and dark. After we walked what seemed like forever to get through the casino we found out that to view the lions you have to pay like $14.00 a person. It totally wasn't worth it, so we trucked all the way back out through the front. Vegas hotels are not set up so you can walk through one, out the side and out to the next one. You have to walk in then back out through the front always passing through the casino on your way anywhere.
After the Mirage we went to Ceasar's Palace and walked through the shopping mall. My feet were tired so we sat at the slots for awhile. There really isn't anywhere to sit in Vegas without spending money. You are either gambling, paying to watch a show or sitting in a restaurant. I bought cute leather gloves with cashmere linings at Coach. My one major and non-expensible purchase of the entire trip. Ceasar's Palace has some really great architecture. It looks a lot less fake than many of the other hotels.
Next after Ceasar's was the Bellagio. After the Venetian I was expecting more. It still was quite over the top with a beautiful Chinese garden and a spectacular set of glass flowers inlaid in the ceiling. This was definitely one of the nicer hotels on the strip, although probably not worth 200 more a night than the Venetian for the extra 1/2 a star. We had friends who asked to see our suite at the Venetian out of curiosity and they said that it was better than the Bellagio rooms. I can't vouch for it myself, but I bet they were right. The Bellagio has the Cirque d'Soleil show "O" which is their water show. We didn't see it on this trip, but if we go back I'll definitely put it on my list.
By this point my feet were very tired. I had only packed work shoes which was a bad idea. One should never attempt to casino tour in heels. We crossed the street to the Paris. We had lunch at the Paris. They have an Eiffel Tour restuarant which overlooks the Bellagio fountains. A bit too pricey to justify on an expense report so we settled for the Mon Ami Gabi which is on the main floor right off of the casino. It was very good and reasonably priced. The casino had a younger vibe and was not oppresively smokey or generic like most of the others we had walked through. It looked like a fun place to stay and I'd definitely go back and spend more time looking around some other time.
From the Paris we headed back in the direction of the Venetian, my feet still killing me. We walked through the Flamingo and walked along the strip to the Ghirardelli chocolate store in between Harrah's and the Venetian. We stopped by the front desk of the Venetian and picked up our bags to check into Treasure Island. After all this walking it was about 4pm and my legs were dead beat. I flopped in my King bed and didn't move for an hour. We watched a history channel special on the history of Vegas and then called the front desk for a dinner reservation. Our one criteria is the restaurant had to be in the hotel. Little did we know that would give us so many options. We briefly considered going downstairs for the ship battle performance. Those who are staying as guests at Treasure Island have a special viewing area, but it was cold and I was not happy to walk anywhere. Instead we enjoyed a pleasant dinner at Francesco's. The service was excellent and the food was great. I had gnocci with hazelnut cream sauce. We both had way more food than we could eat and regretfully passed on dessert.
Our planning paid off and our show of the night was in our hotel of the night. Mystere is a Cirque show which plays at Treasure Island. Honored eight times as "Best Production Show" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mystère has an international cast of 72 performers featuring dancers, singers, musicians and champion-caliber acrobats. The physical prowess of these performers was amazing. I was jaw droppingly spell bound for an hour and half. I swore the next day I would buy their cd as inspirational workout music. Throughout the performance two vocalists sing in a made up language while performers enact a nightly performance which send chills down the through the audience. This was definitely a family friendly show. Kind of unfortunate in some ways as I had to sit next to a couple kids which wouldn't stay in just their chairs, but I'm glad their parents got to do something fun and didn't have to leave their kids behind. However, those kids all probably left with the equivalent of a cigarettes worth of smoking damage done to their lungs just from walking to their hotel rooms at night.
It was more worthwhile to get a good night's rest rather than walk the rest of the strip the next morning so we stayed in the vicinity of Treasure Island. We walked next door to find lunch and were bitterly disappointed with our options. Unless you want mall food court food, finding lunch in Vegas proves as difficult as finding breakfast before noon. We ended up at the Neiman Marcus restaurant, I had no idea that they had a restaurant. Excellent sandwhiches, fresh bread and lots of iced tea kept us happy. Then it was off to the airport for a quick 12 hour flight home. Just a quick trip to Vegas. Having never been I can say that there is definitely a lot to see in Vegas, not so much things to do. They mostly try to funnel you into shopping and gambling. There are also shows which are some of the most unique in the world. All the smoking, unhealthy food choices and fake looking architecture and neon left a little bit of a hollow feeling in my stomach rather than one of cultural immersion. I would still go again, but I wouldn't go without a plan. I would actually want to know what I wanted to do in Vegas.
Oh yeah, as far as the gambling went, neither of us is good at it. I made up for his losses by playing video blackjack and we came out even. The whole trip actually cost us less than $300.00 which was totally worth it just to spend relaxing time together discoving a new place.
Venetian Canal shops
Getting up for a 8 am meeting after getting to sleep around 2am was definitely no fun. Hubby went for a walk while I debated the intricacies of publishing a technical magazine with fellow engineers. Around noon we hooked up and went to the Hard Rock for lunch. The lunch was a working lunch so it lasted well over an hour. I was totally unimpressed with the Hyatt Place which amounted to a stripped down Hyatt, business hotel that barely qualified for each of its 3 stars. On top of this was the fact that the hotel has been recently renovated. The carpet tiles may be easy to replace should one of them become stained, but they also use carpet glue in their installation. I was apparently allergic to the glue and spent most of my 5 hours of rest scratching my arms to death. The next morning I had hubby check us out and we went to Priceline.com to see what cheap rooms were still available elsewhere. Turns out that for the same rate as we were paying at the Hyatt we could be staying at the Venetian. Deal! Sign me up! So after lunch we cabbed it from the Hyatt to the Venetian.
After checking into our suite at the Venetian I was sorry that we would have to switch over to Treasure Island the next day. I'd show you a photo, but they all have one or the other of us in them, because of all of the mirrors in the suite. The room was gorgeous and I don't say this lightly. I stay in a lot of hotels, but this one still surprised me. I got $15 worth of casino credit which we quickly doubled to $30 in the slots, apparently I'm quite lucky. We were so bushed that we just wanted to sit down, sip our drinks and blow money in the penny slots. I won as much as he lost so we came out even. For dinner we hooked up with some of my friends from my meeting and went to a local place. I try to find a good Greek restaurant whenever we travel together as it is both of our favorite food. Also, eating on the strip can be ridiculously overprices if you don't want to eat horrid/questionably sanitary buffet food. Paymon's Mediterranean Cafe is a local joint full of people who actually call Nevada home. The food is excellent, tasty, and downright cheap. Five of us who drank, had appetizers, dinner and dessert all for less than $120.00, which I consider insanely cheap.
We headed back to the hotel that night blissfully content and full of warm Baklava. Our show was playing in the Venetian hotel so we didn't have far to walk. We got tickets for Phantom before we left and it was quite spectacular. I've always loved the Phantom of the Opera. Hubby saw the broadway show in San Francisco a long time ago before we met. He has always promised me that he would take me one day so this was really special . Phantom in Vegas is a slightly abrieviated version, but spectacular none the less. I remember there was an article a few years back when they were planning the show on how they got the chandelier to fall. Trust me it is well done, women were screaming. If I hadn't known what was coming I would have been totally blown away. The engineering behind that stunt was amazing.
The next day we packed our rolly-bag up and headed downstairs to breakfast. We found a little cafe along the banks of the Venetian. Apparently there are very few people who wake up for breakfast in Vegas so it took us almost 30 minutes to find one that was open. Afterwards we walked across to the Wynn, walking through the Venetian shops along the canal on the way. Then we crossed the street and walked past Treasure Island, down through the Mirage. The Mirage was smokey and dark. After we walked what seemed like forever to get through the casino we found out that to view the lions you have to pay like $14.00 a person. It totally wasn't worth it, so we trucked all the way back out through the front. Vegas hotels are not set up so you can walk through one, out the side and out to the next one. You have to walk in then back out through the front always passing through the casino on your way anywhere.
After the Mirage we went to Ceasar's Palace and walked through the shopping mall. My feet were tired so we sat at the slots for awhile. There really isn't anywhere to sit in Vegas without spending money. You are either gambling, paying to watch a show or sitting in a restaurant. I bought cute leather gloves with cashmere linings at Coach. My one major and non-expensible purchase of the entire trip. Ceasar's Palace has some really great architecture. It looks a lot less fake than many of the other hotels.
Next after Ceasar's was the Bellagio. After the Venetian I was expecting more. It still was quite over the top with a beautiful Chinese garden and a spectacular set of glass flowers inlaid in the ceiling. This was definitely one of the nicer hotels on the strip, although probably not worth 200 more a night than the Venetian for the extra 1/2 a star. We had friends who asked to see our suite at the Venetian out of curiosity and they said that it was better than the Bellagio rooms. I can't vouch for it myself, but I bet they were right. The Bellagio has the Cirque d'Soleil show "O" which is their water show. We didn't see it on this trip, but if we go back I'll definitely put it on my list.
By this point my feet were very tired. I had only packed work shoes which was a bad idea. One should never attempt to casino tour in heels. We crossed the street to the Paris. We had lunch at the Paris. They have an Eiffel Tour restuarant which overlooks the Bellagio fountains. A bit too pricey to justify on an expense report so we settled for the Mon Ami Gabi which is on the main floor right off of the casino. It was very good and reasonably priced. The casino had a younger vibe and was not oppresively smokey or generic like most of the others we had walked through. It looked like a fun place to stay and I'd definitely go back and spend more time looking around some other time.
From the Paris we headed back in the direction of the Venetian, my feet still killing me. We walked through the Flamingo and walked along the strip to the Ghirardelli chocolate store in between Harrah's and the Venetian. We stopped by the front desk of the Venetian and picked up our bags to check into Treasure Island. After all this walking it was about 4pm and my legs were dead beat. I flopped in my King bed and didn't move for an hour. We watched a history channel special on the history of Vegas and then called the front desk for a dinner reservation. Our one criteria is the restaurant had to be in the hotel. Little did we know that would give us so many options. We briefly considered going downstairs for the ship battle performance. Those who are staying as guests at Treasure Island have a special viewing area, but it was cold and I was not happy to walk anywhere. Instead we enjoyed a pleasant dinner at Francesco's. The service was excellent and the food was great. I had gnocci with hazelnut cream sauce. We both had way more food than we could eat and regretfully passed on dessert.
Our planning paid off and our show of the night was in our hotel of the night. Mystere is a Cirque show which plays at Treasure Island. Honored eight times as "Best Production Show" by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mystère has an international cast of 72 performers featuring dancers, singers, musicians and champion-caliber acrobats. The physical prowess of these performers was amazing. I was jaw droppingly spell bound for an hour and half. I swore the next day I would buy their cd as inspirational workout music. Throughout the performance two vocalists sing in a made up language while performers enact a nightly performance which send chills down the through the audience. This was definitely a family friendly show. Kind of unfortunate in some ways as I had to sit next to a couple kids which wouldn't stay in just their chairs, but I'm glad their parents got to do something fun and didn't have to leave their kids behind. However, those kids all probably left with the equivalent of a cigarettes worth of smoking damage done to their lungs just from walking to their hotel rooms at night.
It was more worthwhile to get a good night's rest rather than walk the rest of the strip the next morning so we stayed in the vicinity of Treasure Island. We walked next door to find lunch and were bitterly disappointed with our options. Unless you want mall food court food, finding lunch in Vegas proves as difficult as finding breakfast before noon. We ended up at the Neiman Marcus restaurant, I had no idea that they had a restaurant. Excellent sandwhiches, fresh bread and lots of iced tea kept us happy. Then it was off to the airport for a quick 12 hour flight home. Just a quick trip to Vegas. Having never been I can say that there is definitely a lot to see in Vegas, not so much things to do. They mostly try to funnel you into shopping and gambling. There are also shows which are some of the most unique in the world. All the smoking, unhealthy food choices and fake looking architecture and neon left a little bit of a hollow feeling in my stomach rather than one of cultural immersion. I would still go again, but I wouldn't go without a plan. I would actually want to know what I wanted to do in Vegas.
Oh yeah, as far as the gambling went, neither of us is good at it. I made up for his losses by playing video blackjack and we came out even. The whole trip actually cost us less than $300.00 which was totally worth it just to spend relaxing time together discoving a new place.
Venetian Canal shopsTreasure Island has a nightly show where the sexy sirens fight the bad boys
The view from our room in Treasure Island
Ceasar's Palace
Paris
Bellagio lobby with the glass flowers
Bellagio's Asian Garden
The view from our room in Treasure IslandCeasar's Palace Paris
Bellagio lobby with the glass flowersBellagio's Asian Garden
2/6/08
Patent Bar Review Course for 10% Off
I'm passing this on to my fellow engineers and technology professionals with an interest in the legal field. IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology has an agreement with The Practising Law Institute (PLI), a non-profit, continuing legal education organization, to offer members a 10 percent discount on PLI’s Patent Bar Review course. This type of discount is often available to students when in law school, but who has time to take the patent bar while in law school. Far better to student for the test and take it before law school. That is what I am planning to do. Study over this coming summer for 3-4 months and then take the test in the fall.
The PLI Patent Bar Review course is one of the top preparations course in the country for the Patent Registration Exam and is available live or via home-study. Anyone with an undergraduate degree in engineering or science or the equivalent is invited to take the Patent Bar Exam to become a patent agent. (Visit http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/dcom/olia/oed/examregist.htm for eligibility details). IEEE members should reference IEEE and their member number when registering to receive the member discount.
For more information on the Practising Law Institute or the Patent Bar Review course, visit http://www.pli.edu/barreview/patentbar/ieee.asp, or call toll free at (888-296-5973). To learn about other IEEE Education Partners programs visit http://www.ieee.org/partners.
No, this isn't a pay-per-post. I'm just trying to pass on a great deal. Also, for those science or engineer folks who aren't IEEE members yet, you should know that student membership is $30 for a full year or $15 if don't join until after March. The IEEE name was originally an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Today, the organization's scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is simply referred to by the letters I-E-E-E (pronounced Eye-triple-E). It is a great professional society to belong to and comes with many member benefits like the offer above, publications, conferences, etc. I would highly recommend becoming a member if you are in an IEEE field. Maybe I should pass this tip onto the Frugal Law Student.
And they wonder why OUR voter turnout is low
It was -50F last night and currently around -40F. MMM...and they wonder why we had such low turnout for the primary last night. We were all trying to keep warm! I did vote though. I was very happy to finally be able to put my constant political analysis to some practical use by making an informed choice. It was actually quite crazy and filled with people so our voter turnout was higher than normal although lower than expected. I guilted hubby into registering as a Republican in order to vote in the primary. He thinks it takes too much effort to caucus with the Dems, but wanted a say. They registered him at the door and I welcomed him to the party. He'll probably switch back to independent ASAP. It will be a tough decision if it comes down to Obama v. McCain. I never thought I'd vote for a democrat, but I like what he has to say.
1/29/08
Politics is More Interesting When You Play With Money
I'm very pleased that McCain won in Florida. Not only because I like him as a candidate, especially considering the alternatives, but because I'm playing CNN's Political Market. They give you $5,000 fake dollars to use to buy shares in various race outcomes. The term "market" is used because people express their opinions of what they think is going to happen by buying and selling stocks representing possible answers. A share which costs $10.00 means that most people predict the chance of that event happening is 10%. I bought shares of McCain at 45% and after tonight they are worth 100% so I made $55.00/share. Yay, my fake money is increasing. I must learn to separate what I want to happen and what most people think will happen though. I bought shares in O'Bama and they're worth $0 now. Oh well.
1/16/08
Vegas Plans or Lack Thereof
I wanted to do my typical travel plan of making a list of places to go, mapping it all out, printing out directions, show times, reservation info, etc. When I'm travelling by myself this works out well. I carry a small travel journal with key info like museum times, metro stops, and a folded walking map in it and then I set out first thing in the morning on the first day after a nice big breakfast. In Chile this worked out well the first day because I was by myself and I saw a lot of things. The next two days this didn't work out well because everybody else decided they wanted to tag along and make me tour guide because they thought they would get more out of it. You'll only get more out of this if having a plan and following it is a style of vacationing that works for you. If you lag behind the tour leader and the plan ends up going out the window she might not be happy. In the end I didn't see everything I planned to in Chile, but I had a lot of fun with friends and saw some things that were awesome and not part of the plan because I stayed flexible and just went with the flow. My plan came in handy though because whenever we were in an area I knew what restaurants were nearby, what times things were open and how to get back to the hotel from anywhere.
For Vegas I wanted to create my plan, make a list of available entertainment, times, etc. Hubby wants me to throw the plan out the window. Print out the flight and hotel confirmation codes, pack a variety of clothes with no specific outfits for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, pack a credit card and just go. He wants to have no plan, but to just go with the flow the whole time. This being Vegas and there being very few "must-see" things I may go against the very fiber of my being and go along with him. I usually end up having fun when I give up the plan. On the other hand I feel like I wasted so much time during my trip to Paris last year hanging out with people rather than seeing things. *sigh* Must fight retentiveness, must be cool, flexible, awesome wife who is just fun to be around. Wish me luck.
For Vegas I wanted to create my plan, make a list of available entertainment, times, etc. Hubby wants me to throw the plan out the window. Print out the flight and hotel confirmation codes, pack a variety of clothes with no specific outfits for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, pack a credit card and just go. He wants to have no plan, but to just go with the flow the whole time. This being Vegas and there being very few "must-see" things I may go against the very fiber of my being and go along with him. I usually end up having fun when I give up the plan. On the other hand I feel like I wasted so much time during my trip to Paris last year hanging out with people rather than seeing things. *sigh* Must fight retentiveness, must be cool, flexible, awesome wife who is just fun to be around. Wish me luck.
1/14/08
Think I Could Win Enough to Pay for Law School?
I'm sure the frugal law student would frown upon considering gambling as an alternative way of paying for law school, but if it worked for Matt Damon maybe it could work for me. I have a meeting this weekend in Vegas. Neither hubby or I had been and conveniently we had a $50.00 companion ticket so my trip is expensed and his is only $50.00. With Martin Luther King day on Monday we decided to extend the trip by a day and have a three day weekend in Vegas. I think I'll save my money for shows and food and leave the gambling to others. My problem is, I don't really know what to do in Vegas. My brother-in-law is a big poker player so he only has suggestions for which casinos are best. Unless bridge is a really big table game in Vegas I think I'll be out of luck. So for anybody out there who has some suggestions I'm looking for advice. If you had three days in Vegas for free and all you had to do is attend a 4 hour meeting. What would you do with the rest of your time?
1/8/08
Screaming Down the Bunny Hill
After reading all of the other holiday and New Years posts of the other bloggers I read, I realized that I haven't posted anything myself since before Christmas. We kept out Christmas low-key this year spending more effort into preparing Christmas dinner than in shopping. Little kids are more fun to shop for and watch their sheer delight. We don't have kids yet, so low key was great. All was as it should be. We went to Christmas Eve service as a family and as the bells tolled midnight we walked out over the glaciated parking lot to our cars, the crispness and newness of the evening air making the day seem more special. On Christmas day we had the traditional coffee cake and opened presents. After last year when I got my iPod and hubby received a very nice GPS among a big pile of other things we kept things much more simple this year. Fore awhile I was tempted to run out and grab a few more things just to make the pile under the tree larger and more exciting, but in the end our carefully thought out presents were far more meaningful. I got a few cds from his parents which I have wanted for awhile and my present from hubby was a pair of wonderful Ugg slippers which are just perfect.
After Christmas we hopped a flight down to my parent's house in Palmer. My brother is a cadet at West Point and invited us to the All Academies ball for all of the family and friends of cadets and midshipmen and the 5 service academies. It is always a bunch of mixed emotions when I see him and hubby dressed up to the 9s in their uniforms. They look so incredibly handsome and I am so proud of them, but sad at the same time. What really choked me up was the table for 1, which symbolizes the absent or killed soldiers who aren't with us for the occasion. The military has a lot of ceremonies and this one is present at every formal military ball. The photo of the soldier at the table for one was my cousin. I burst into tears when I saw it. Apparently his photo was taken for use in a Nascar add and they are still using it! The organizers were sent a copy of the poster by a recruiter, trimmed it down and edited it and used that as their photo. It is a good photo of him. Good thing I wore waterproof mascara. It's also a good thing we had our photo taken before that, because I still managed to wipe off and streak most of my foundation after I finished tearing up. It is our first family photo since I have been married, and I've been married 3 years now. For one reason or another one of us was always missing, so it was nice to have us all eight of us together and all dressed up.
The day after the ball my family decided they wanted to go skiing. Now falling is like my #1 fear so I was rather reluctant to go, but hubby decided he wanted to. Alaska has a really nice ski resort called Alyeska which is about an hour away from Anchorage. It is relatively unknown to the outside, mostly because it is almost all black diamond and double black diamond skiing with very little beginner or intermediate level slopes. It also doesn't have the typical shopping and restaurants surrounding the resort so it is mostly for serious skiers.
The year after I started college, the rest of my family got into skiing in a big way. Even my littlest sister who is 10 can ski quite well and all of the rest of my siblings could be ski instructors if they wanted to. So with great trepidation I let my little sister take me up the smallest lift. I signalled the guy in the booth to slow down the lift as we approached the top, which he obligingly did, assuming that I was signaling for the little kid sitting next to me, when in reality I was worried I would fall on my backside and have the next 4 chairs worth of people jumping over or on top of me. I made it off of the lift ok, bribing my sister with the promise of a Popsicle not to tell the rest of the family that I made the lift slow down. I shouldn't have bothered trying to save my dignity. I promptly screamed my head off and went careening into the nearest ditch. Skiing lesson #1, how to stand up after you've fallen down. This took approximately 20 minutes the first time. Ultimately it took, hubby and both of my sisters to get me down the easiest hill with a proper lift. An hour later I stumbled into the lodge sore and grumpy. My Mom said she could hear me all the way down. I was definitely the biggest baby on the mountain and ready to give up for the day.
Hubby in his infinite wisdom went and got me a lesson. Rather than starting on the easiest regular hill of the mountain my lesson started on the bunny hill. By the end of my two hour lesson I was the queen of the bunny hill. I could go, slow down, stop and turn. My confidence soared when my ski instructor pronounced me to be the best in my class of 5 and ready to progress to level 3. Level 3 is the hill which I almost killed myself going down in the morning so I was pleased. Teaching a fully grown adult to ski is like teaching them to swim. I know this from experience because I used to give adult swim lessons. Convincing a fully grown adult to put their face in water is like telling them they should jump out of a perfectly good airplane. It should not be done by a friend or family member or any frustration will come out as anger. It must be done by a 3rd party to get around the authority issue. Still it was hard for me to get over my fear of falling and realize that snow is for the most part a soft object or as my transportation engineer husband says, a good crash attenuator. He tried to make me feel better by pointing out that in winter less traffic accidents are fatalities because the snow acts as a cushion crash attenuator and its the same thing with skiing. Somehow his comments didn't help, but Angel my ski bum Latino ski instructor with his loud praise and infinite patience got me doing the impossible, enjoying skiing. It was the best $35.00 my husband has spent in a long time getting me that lesson. It will probably be awhile before I ski again, but I will hopefully remember enough to conquer the hill that had me screaming when next we meet.
Oh and for the person who asked, my LSAT score this time around was the exact same as last time. Very dissapointing. Actually I improved a lot in all categories except games, which I didn't finish.
After Christmas we hopped a flight down to my parent's house in Palmer. My brother is a cadet at West Point and invited us to the All Academies ball for all of the family and friends of cadets and midshipmen and the 5 service academies. It is always a bunch of mixed emotions when I see him and hubby dressed up to the 9s in their uniforms. They look so incredibly handsome and I am so proud of them, but sad at the same time. What really choked me up was the table for 1, which symbolizes the absent or killed soldiers who aren't with us for the occasion. The military has a lot of ceremonies and this one is present at every formal military ball. The photo of the soldier at the table for one was my cousin. I burst into tears when I saw it. Apparently his photo was taken for use in a Nascar add and they are still using it! The organizers were sent a copy of the poster by a recruiter, trimmed it down and edited it and used that as their photo. It is a good photo of him. Good thing I wore waterproof mascara. It's also a good thing we had our photo taken before that, because I still managed to wipe off and streak most of my foundation after I finished tearing up. It is our first family photo since I have been married, and I've been married 3 years now. For one reason or another one of us was always missing, so it was nice to have us all eight of us together and all dressed up.
The day after the ball my family decided they wanted to go skiing. Now falling is like my #1 fear so I was rather reluctant to go, but hubby decided he wanted to. Alaska has a really nice ski resort called Alyeska which is about an hour away from Anchorage. It is relatively unknown to the outside, mostly because it is almost all black diamond and double black diamond skiing with very little beginner or intermediate level slopes. It also doesn't have the typical shopping and restaurants surrounding the resort so it is mostly for serious skiers.
The year after I started college, the rest of my family got into skiing in a big way. Even my littlest sister who is 10 can ski quite well and all of the rest of my siblings could be ski instructors if they wanted to. So with great trepidation I let my little sister take me up the smallest lift. I signalled the guy in the booth to slow down the lift as we approached the top, which he obligingly did, assuming that I was signaling for the little kid sitting next to me, when in reality I was worried I would fall on my backside and have the next 4 chairs worth of people jumping over or on top of me. I made it off of the lift ok, bribing my sister with the promise of a Popsicle not to tell the rest of the family that I made the lift slow down. I shouldn't have bothered trying to save my dignity. I promptly screamed my head off and went careening into the nearest ditch. Skiing lesson #1, how to stand up after you've fallen down. This took approximately 20 minutes the first time. Ultimately it took, hubby and both of my sisters to get me down the easiest hill with a proper lift. An hour later I stumbled into the lodge sore and grumpy. My Mom said she could hear me all the way down. I was definitely the biggest baby on the mountain and ready to give up for the day.
Hubby in his infinite wisdom went and got me a lesson. Rather than starting on the easiest regular hill of the mountain my lesson started on the bunny hill. By the end of my two hour lesson I was the queen of the bunny hill. I could go, slow down, stop and turn. My confidence soared when my ski instructor pronounced me to be the best in my class of 5 and ready to progress to level 3. Level 3 is the hill which I almost killed myself going down in the morning so I was pleased. Teaching a fully grown adult to ski is like teaching them to swim. I know this from experience because I used to give adult swim lessons. Convincing a fully grown adult to put their face in water is like telling them they should jump out of a perfectly good airplane. It should not be done by a friend or family member or any frustration will come out as anger. It must be done by a 3rd party to get around the authority issue. Still it was hard for me to get over my fear of falling and realize that snow is for the most part a soft object or as my transportation engineer husband says, a good crash attenuator. He tried to make me feel better by pointing out that in winter less traffic accidents are fatalities because the snow acts as a cushion crash attenuator and its the same thing with skiing. Somehow his comments didn't help, but Angel my ski bum Latino ski instructor with his loud praise and infinite patience got me doing the impossible, enjoying skiing. It was the best $35.00 my husband has spent in a long time getting me that lesson. It will probably be awhile before I ski again, but I will hopefully remember enough to conquer the hill that had me screaming when next we meet.
Oh and for the person who asked, my LSAT score this time around was the exact same as last time. Very dissapointing. Actually I improved a lot in all categories except games, which I didn't finish.
12/20/07
The 1st Amendment Rocks
Or better put, I rocked the first amendment! I got an A in my Mass Media Law class. Our school doesn't give +/- so that's the best grade. I'm stoked. Now all I want for Christmas is A's in my two grad classes so I can show a perfect 4.0 on my graduate school transcripts. Maybe that will help balance out my undergraduate GPA on my law apps.
12/18/07
Now It's Advent!
My birthday has passed and its beginning to feel like Christmas. It is -31F outside and my steady stream of packages and cards have begun to arrive. Now that finals are over I have a chance at a life again. We went to Church on Sunday and it was beautiful to see how the holiday season decorations were up. Episcopalians have a tradition of the nativity wreath. Each Sunday of December we light one candle out of 4 which form a circular wreath and the center one is lit on Christmas. Our own nativity wreath has gone unlit this Christmas season with all of the hub-bub of family matters and stress of finals. After the service on Sunday I really felt the joy rather than the hassel of the season.
On Sunday night we had friends over to make Christmas cookies and homemade carmel corn. My brother-in-law brought over his XBox and we played Rock Band. I am generally a musical person with quite a few years of piano under my belt, but I admit defeat when it comes to drums. I was appointed lead singer and did much better on vocals. Hubby was actually quite good on drums. Much fun was had by all. it was nice to think, hmm... we could do this again tomorrow if we wanted to, we don't have any classes! In fact, the only thing I have to do right now is get up and go to work. It is a nice feeling. I still would like to find Christmas presents for my two brothers, but that might have to wait. Right now, I'm reveling in the freedom of having no obligations. The only thing I have to plan for is our Christmas party. Since Christmas day is traditionally a family thing for us we are having a Christmas party to celebrate the friends in our life. Mostly they are hubby's guy friends, I don't really have any girlfriends, oh well, maybe next year. With so many guys attending the main event will be the food of course, so I'll have to go grocery shopping soon. After finals the only food in the house was spaghetti. It will be nice to cook for pleasure again rather than scraping something together for dinner with no enthusiasm.
On Sunday night we had friends over to make Christmas cookies and homemade carmel corn. My brother-in-law brought over his XBox and we played Rock Band. I am generally a musical person with quite a few years of piano under my belt, but I admit defeat when it comes to drums. I was appointed lead singer and did much better on vocals. Hubby was actually quite good on drums. Much fun was had by all. it was nice to think, hmm... we could do this again tomorrow if we wanted to, we don't have any classes! In fact, the only thing I have to do right now is get up and go to work. It is a nice feeling. I still would like to find Christmas presents for my two brothers, but that might have to wait. Right now, I'm reveling in the freedom of having no obligations. The only thing I have to plan for is our Christmas party. Since Christmas day is traditionally a family thing for us we are having a Christmas party to celebrate the friends in our life. Mostly they are hubby's guy friends, I don't really have any girlfriends, oh well, maybe next year. With so many guys attending the main event will be the food of course, so I'll have to go grocery shopping soon. After finals the only food in the house was spaghetti. It will be nice to cook for pleasure again rather than scraping something together for dinner with no enthusiasm.
12/12/07
Finals are Upon Me, Oh No!
I can't believe my last post was November 21st. I have pretty much been in a funk ever since I heard about my cousin's death. We went to the funeral in D.C. I may blog about that at some point. (The Secretary of Defense was there!) Other than that I've been working on passing my classes. After this week I will be out from a crushing amount of work and better able to focus on fun things, interesting things, and future things. Tonight is my last traditional final. I still have a correspondence final due on Saturday. Tonight's final on Contract Law for Engineers is the culmination of a great course. Unfortunately I've learned so much I don't have a clue what the test will be on. I'm just hoping that knowing the cases, reading the book, reading the slides and remembering the IRAC model will get me through. My term paper was due last week and thankfully that is out of the way. I did an analysis of the new Patent Reform Act of 2007 and its impacts on science and engineering.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I always prefer to turn odd years, they make me feel younger. Unfortunately the forecast for my zip code is: (0° -27°) so my chances of doing anything other than snuggling up at home are minimal. I hate going out to eat and dreading the ride home in the cold car. I'll probably postpone my birthday until this weekend and try and get my correspondence final in Mass Media Law out of the way, that is unless hubby has sweet birthday plans that he has been very good at concealing.
Having all of my classes out of the way will be a big relief. Then I can try and be happy about my birthday and begin to get in a holiday spirit. For me, Christmas officially begins after my birthday. I usually refuse to do more than put up my tree in advance of December the 13th. This year I broke my rule and shopped ahead of my birthday. This was done partially to prevent mental breakdown by doing all of my shopping for 4 siblings, one sibling in law, and 4 parents all in 12 days right before Christmas. I shopped online and will hopefully see a steady stream of packages arriving at my doorstep over the next few days. I highly recommend online shopping to law students. It can save money if you use coupon codes which give a percentage off and free shipping, plus you can do it during your few free moments that come here and there rather than having to plan shopping around your studying. I use www.mrrebate.com, which gives me a % cash back and coupon codes, usually get a 25-30% off code and free shipping and then pay with my credit card which gives me 2% back. I almost never pay more than 70% of an items cost using this system. It's worked out well so far. All I have to do is wrap things when they arrive. This leaves me plenty of time to focus on more important things like the government's role in regulating advertising. Hmm...that's even sort of related to Christmas. I wish they'd regulate that Christmas ads can't run before Thanksgiving, but I guess I've learned enough in my class to realize why that isn't possible.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I always prefer to turn odd years, they make me feel younger. Unfortunately the forecast for my zip code is: (0° -27°) so my chances of doing anything other than snuggling up at home are minimal. I hate going out to eat and dreading the ride home in the cold car. I'll probably postpone my birthday until this weekend and try and get my correspondence final in Mass Media Law out of the way, that is unless hubby has sweet birthday plans that he has been very good at concealing.
Having all of my classes out of the way will be a big relief. Then I can try and be happy about my birthday and begin to get in a holiday spirit. For me, Christmas officially begins after my birthday. I usually refuse to do more than put up my tree in advance of December the 13th. This year I broke my rule and shopped ahead of my birthday. This was done partially to prevent mental breakdown by doing all of my shopping for 4 siblings, one sibling in law, and 4 parents all in 12 days right before Christmas. I shopped online and will hopefully see a steady stream of packages arriving at my doorstep over the next few days. I highly recommend online shopping to law students. It can save money if you use coupon codes which give a percentage off and free shipping, plus you can do it during your few free moments that come here and there rather than having to plan shopping around your studying. I use www.mrrebate.com, which gives me a % cash back and coupon codes, usually get a 25-30% off code and free shipping and then pay with my credit card which gives me 2% back. I almost never pay more than 70% of an items cost using this system. It's worked out well so far. All I have to do is wrap things when they arrive. This leaves me plenty of time to focus on more important things like the government's role in regulating advertising. Hmm...that's even sort of related to Christmas. I wish they'd regulate that Christmas ads can't run before Thanksgiving, but I guess I've learned enough in my class to realize why that isn't possible.
11/21/07
Thanks for Cooking
This year's Thanksgiving will be very low-key for us, more so than usual. I usually take great pride in preparing more dishes than my family could ever hope to eat and spending all day in the kitchen. This is followed by a Thanksgiving coma, good night's rest and the day after tradition of watching White Christmas and setting up the Christmas tree. These family traditions have been going for so long I'll hardly know what to do with myself tomorrow.
We are going over to hubby's parents' house and all I'm tasked with is showing up. Of course I'll still be making fresh bread and a side dish and making hubby wear something other than a t-shirt and jeans. His family's holidays are very simple almost to the point of just being dinner together. There will be a turkey, mashed potatoes and a veggie. To most people that sounds like Thanksgiving, but to me it sounds like somebody stole half of dinner. I have found memories of working in the kitchen with my Mom and two sisters cooking all day, trying new recipes, watching my Dad carve the turkey and try and not take his hand off with the electric knife, and listening to my Mom cheer over the football game.
This Thanksgiving I'm kind of glad I'm not spending the day with my side of the family. It will most likely be a somber occasion. I will see my parent's at the funeral in DC so we decided to stay in town and not travel to their house this year. Hubby's Mom will be glad she gets to keep him. They've had dibs on us for Christmas for the last 6 years so I guess it might be time to switch it up. One of these years it might be nice to stay home at our house, invite all of our stray friends for the holidays and create some of our own traditions, but without kids in the picture the assumption seems to be that we are the strays who need to be subdivided amongst our relatives. That's ok, for now I'll let somebody else do most of the cooking. Maybe I can even encourage them to make a bigger deal out of the holidays. Even I, who have had the same post-Thanksgiving tradition for over 20 years will break my pattern and not set up my tree first thing in the morning. I will actually dare to brave the black Friday crowds. Our TV which we bought at Sears is going on sale $600.00 off that day if I get a price adjustment before noon. I may actually drop by Old Navy too. Cashmere sweaters for less than $30.00 is hard to beat.
We are going over to hubby's parents' house and all I'm tasked with is showing up. Of course I'll still be making fresh bread and a side dish and making hubby wear something other than a t-shirt and jeans. His family's holidays are very simple almost to the point of just being dinner together. There will be a turkey, mashed potatoes and a veggie. To most people that sounds like Thanksgiving, but to me it sounds like somebody stole half of dinner. I have found memories of working in the kitchen with my Mom and two sisters cooking all day, trying new recipes, watching my Dad carve the turkey and try and not take his hand off with the electric knife, and listening to my Mom cheer over the football game.
This Thanksgiving I'm kind of glad I'm not spending the day with my side of the family. It will most likely be a somber occasion. I will see my parent's at the funeral in DC so we decided to stay in town and not travel to their house this year. Hubby's Mom will be glad she gets to keep him. They've had dibs on us for Christmas for the last 6 years so I guess it might be time to switch it up. One of these years it might be nice to stay home at our house, invite all of our stray friends for the holidays and create some of our own traditions, but without kids in the picture the assumption seems to be that we are the strays who need to be subdivided amongst our relatives. That's ok, for now I'll let somebody else do most of the cooking. Maybe I can even encourage them to make a bigger deal out of the holidays. Even I, who have had the same post-Thanksgiving tradition for over 20 years will break my pattern and not set up my tree first thing in the morning. I will actually dare to brave the black Friday crowds. Our TV which we bought at Sears is going on sale $600.00 off that day if I get a price adjustment before noon. I may actually drop by Old Navy too. Cashmere sweaters for less than $30.00 is hard to beat.
11/18/07
Correspondence Classes Suck
I am finally getting back to my mass media law class. This was a summer sessions correspondence class that I took for the fun of it. Life got in the way and as the story goes with correspondence classes in general it got put off. Now, my incomplete in the class will turn into a big fat ugly F if I don't finish the course by the second week in December. Like all of my correspondence classes, which I make lovely schedules for, I'll end up finishing it at the last minute of the extension that I shouldn't have needed in the first place. Of course, there is a catch. My professor only accepts 2 lessons a week for grading. This makes sense as I wouldn't want to have to grade an entire semester's worth of work for the entire class all at once when grades are due. This makes me have to start now and not get off schedule. I finished the first 6 lessons over the summer which leaves me with the last 6 still to go. Along with a term project. I have covered the history of the 1st amendment, prior restraint, libel, invasion of privacy (appropriation and intrusion) and invasion of privacy (publication of private information and false light) so far. This leaves me with gathering information, FOIA, protection of sources, regulation of obscene and other erotic material, copyright, regulation of advertising and telecommunications regulation. It's a lot to digest at once, but I know it's my own fault for procrastinating.
My regular semester class is going great. I'm taking contract law for engineers. I got a perfect 100% on my midterm which was a first for me. With languages I was constantly spelling things slightly off and with engineering 100% was unheard of, so getting that grade was awesome. My professor sent me a personalized e-mail telling me my grade and informing me that it was top in the class and asking if I'd ever thought of law school. I got a huge grin on my face that day which was very needed giving the way the rest of life has been going lately.
Actually, that isn't entirely true, just my family life is miserable, and not even my own family unit, its my extended family. I switched jobs as well and my new job is awesome. I keep saying how much I love it, and this is making hubby question why I would want to leave to go to school. Basically I switched from contract administration of engineering projects to design work. I'm in a group/team environment which is really great to bounce ideas around in. For the first time in my professional life I have other electrical engineers that I'm working with and can ask questions of. I'm usually surrounded by other disciplines, and trust me, it makes a big difference. I normally feel overwhelmed and silly, like my degree didn't prepare me to be a real EE. Now I realize that everybody feels that way when they get out of school and even people who have been working for 15 years have some of the same questions I did. I thought it was just a problem with me. I'm still going to work on finishing up my applications this week. I like to keep my options open and law school really excites me.
In more sober news, they have scheduled the interment at Arlington. I have booked tickets to fly into DC on the 1st of December. If I change my mind I can always cancel them. That is one of the perks of flying 150k miles a year, no change fees or cancellation fees.
I did do one happy non-school thing today. I ordered my Christmas cards. I always order from Naitonal Geographic. That way I get gorgeous photography and I support something that I believe in at the same time, science and exploration. I have cute penguin cards on their way.
My regular semester class is going great. I'm taking contract law for engineers. I got a perfect 100% on my midterm which was a first for me. With languages I was constantly spelling things slightly off and with engineering 100% was unheard of, so getting that grade was awesome. My professor sent me a personalized e-mail telling me my grade and informing me that it was top in the class and asking if I'd ever thought of law school. I got a huge grin on my face that day which was very needed giving the way the rest of life has been going lately.
Actually, that isn't entirely true, just my family life is miserable, and not even my own family unit, its my extended family. I switched jobs as well and my new job is awesome. I keep saying how much I love it, and this is making hubby question why I would want to leave to go to school. Basically I switched from contract administration of engineering projects to design work. I'm in a group/team environment which is really great to bounce ideas around in. For the first time in my professional life I have other electrical engineers that I'm working with and can ask questions of. I'm usually surrounded by other disciplines, and trust me, it makes a big difference. I normally feel overwhelmed and silly, like my degree didn't prepare me to be a real EE. Now I realize that everybody feels that way when they get out of school and even people who have been working for 15 years have some of the same questions I did. I thought it was just a problem with me. I'm still going to work on finishing up my applications this week. I like to keep my options open and law school really excites me.
In more sober news, they have scheduled the interment at Arlington. I have booked tickets to fly into DC on the 1st of December. If I change my mind I can always cancel them. That is one of the perks of flying 150k miles a year, no change fees or cancellation fees.
I did do one happy non-school thing today. I ordered my Christmas cards. I always order from Naitonal Geographic. That way I get gorgeous photography and I support something that I believe in at the same time, science and exploration. I have cute penguin cards on their way.
11/14/07
The Perfect Snowflake
As you can probably tell from my last post, life has been sucking a lot lately. I have been so demotivated. Then on Tuesday it snowed. Being an Alaskan, this is nothing new to me, it snows all the time. But the snowflakes were different than I've ever seen before. The snow was huge, so large that you could count all 6 sides of each flake and watch them come lightly to rest on your sweetheart's hair before melting. So large and fluffy, not slushy at all. They were perfect, beautiful snowflakes, and after 17 years in Alaska, the prettiest I've ever seen. They were beautiful enough to break me out of my self-absorbed thoughts and look around me again. Here is what I saw:
I didn't have my camera with me, but I found these on another blog. They capture what I saw beautifully.
11/9/07
This was my soldier
I won't post his name here because I don't want my family finding my blog under these circumstances.
This was my cousin. He was a West Point graduate serving with special forces in Iraq when he was killed on the 6th by an EFP. Last night, about 10 minutes before class my Mom called to tell me that my cousin had been killed on active duty. He was one of my closest cousins growing up and I have tons of West Virginia memories of us doing stupid things like floating along in inner tubes when the "crick" was flooded. I'm feeling like shit right now, not least because hubby is also in the Army and doesn't seem to see why this makes me so upset. I live in a military town in a military state in a BUSH country so it's not like I'm getting a lot of helpful comments. Instead, it's all, "Well, you know he was a hero." I know that he was a strong Christian and that he believed in what he was doing and loved it, and that should make me feel better, but I don't want to be told how I should feel, I just need to grieve a little and deal with personal family stuff.
He has requested burial in Arlington (DC) and depending on the family arrangements I might attend. I have never seen news footage of 9/11. On the day it happened I was at work and refused to turn on the TV when I got home. I didn't want to put myself through that emotionally. When reports come on Iraq that are at all personal I switch the channel. Not only did I have a cousin who was a Captain, I have a brother at West Point right now and a husband who joined ROTC in 2000 for the scholarship money, never imagining what the consequences of that would be. It's really hard to love the soldier and hate the war and not have everybody think you're a bad person in this country. Shouldn't everybody hate that we're at war, regardless of the reason for the war?
Me bursting into apparently random fits of tears isn't the best thing at my new job. I'm going to try not to think about this for awhile.
11/1/07
Will post soon
I really need to post the rest of my Santiago trip posts. Life has just been getting in the way lately. I leave again tomorrow for another trip to St. Louis Missouri. I also started my new job today. I'm trying to get some design experience rather than just pure contract administration experience. Not to mention the fact that I'm getting together my personal statements, begging for letters of recommendation before my professors leave on sabbatical. Oh yeah, and I'm married and trying to have a life. It's just a lot to deal with while jet-lagged and fighting a cold. I'll post soon, I promise. I'll have nothing better to do while on the plane than make blog posts.
10/23/07
Santiago Trip Day 2
I spent last night at the Radisson Santiago. Oh my God, that place was nice. And don't get me wrong, I know that in the States Radisson's are not the nicest, but internationally they are awesome. This Radisson was recently remodelled in January 2007. It's classified as a 3 star hotel, but it was much closer to 4 stars. My room was gorgeous with a really sleek modern look. The concierge was immensely helpful. The staff were all fluent in at least 3 languages. Upon checking in I received a welcome drink which was excellent. When I got to my room I had a complimentary snack and bottle of water. The bathroom was a large marble tiled affair. The best was when I opened my windows and was presented with a great view of the Andes Mountains. The hotel is located within the World Trade Center and is in easy walking distance to restaurants and is only a block away from a metro stop (Tabalaba). When I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast I was stunned at the quality and quantity of the breakfast selections. There were 10 different meat courses, eggs, hashbrowns, cereal, at least 5 different juices, fruit, and much much more. It was complimentary of course and teh service was excellent. As I was walking out the door the staff asked me if I wanted any help planning out things to do and see. They were very helpful and gave me a map with all of the highlights on it. I didn't just do the things in the guidebook, but instead went to a lot of architecturally unique things just to see them. Places without giftshops, but beautiful art instead.
I went downtown to spend the day sightseeing. Unfortunately, I discovered that on Monday most of the touristy things to do downtown are closed. I think this is because most of the museums and things are open Saturday and Sunday, so Monday is the day that they are closed. In all honesty, I wouldn’t really recommend trying to sightsee in Santiago on Monday through Wednesday. Most of the markets, museums and other sights are open Thursday through Sunday. You could probably see most of the “can’t miss” sights in Santiago in one day. Museums open at 10, so I’d start by seeing some of the cathedrals in the morning, see a few museums in the afternoon and after lunch go up the furnicular to see out over the whole of Santiago. I would then spend the afternoon shopping in the local markets and finish the night off with dinner and dancing.
In the end I spent the afternoon looking at the national cathedral and other Churches and walking around downtown. I took the metro downtown and it was surprisingly easy to navigate despite my lack of proficiency in Spanish. The ride downtown took about 30 minutes by metro and cost 480p ($1.00). The maps made it very easy to figure out where you were going and transferring lines was quick and easy.
In general the city is very safe. It is clean, easy to navigate and non-Spanish speakers can usually find someone to assist them in necessary. I will say that you should hang onto your belongings. When I was shopping in the afternoon I saw a man tackled by the police for attempting to steal from a man. He was arrested by 6 officers, cuffed and searched on the spot.
I did notice that being the only natural blonde woman in the country makes people look twice. As I was walking by I had more than one guy give me the macho South American leer. A couple of guys stopped me and wanted to tell me how beautiful I was. It was a little intimidating, but not in a scary way. I did enjoy the fact that unlike the US where I am curvy, here I am very beautiful. I'm learning to embrace my curves. Next time I think of going on a diet after watching Kiera Knightly movie I'll book a trip to Latin America instead.
When I got back to the hotel I thought about just going to bed. Dinner here starts at 9 to 9:30 at night, which is a little late when you're jet lagged. I'm quite happy to say that I took the concierge's advice and went out to dinner. I went to a small restaurant called Coco Loco off of Vitacura. The food was excellent, cheap and authentic Chilean seafood. I spent less than $10.00 for three courses and it was the best seafood I've had in a long time. Even though it was just me I had no trouble ordering. I was suprised that dinner for 1 took almost 2 hours, but it was like that in Paris as well. The neighborhood near the Radisson is quite safe and well-lit at night so I didn't mind walking back to my hotel at 11:30.
I'll have to post photos later.
I went downtown to spend the day sightseeing. Unfortunately, I discovered that on Monday most of the touristy things to do downtown are closed. I think this is because most of the museums and things are open Saturday and Sunday, so Monday is the day that they are closed. In all honesty, I wouldn’t really recommend trying to sightsee in Santiago on Monday through Wednesday. Most of the markets, museums and other sights are open Thursday through Sunday. You could probably see most of the “can’t miss” sights in Santiago in one day. Museums open at 10, so I’d start by seeing some of the cathedrals in the morning, see a few museums in the afternoon and after lunch go up the furnicular to see out over the whole of Santiago. I would then spend the afternoon shopping in the local markets and finish the night off with dinner and dancing.
In the end I spent the afternoon looking at the national cathedral and other Churches and walking around downtown. I took the metro downtown and it was surprisingly easy to navigate despite my lack of proficiency in Spanish. The ride downtown took about 30 minutes by metro and cost 480p ($1.00). The maps made it very easy to figure out where you were going and transferring lines was quick and easy.
In general the city is very safe. It is clean, easy to navigate and non-Spanish speakers can usually find someone to assist them in necessary. I will say that you should hang onto your belongings. When I was shopping in the afternoon I saw a man tackled by the police for attempting to steal from a man. He was arrested by 6 officers, cuffed and searched on the spot.
I did notice that being the only natural blonde woman in the country makes people look twice. As I was walking by I had more than one guy give me the macho South American leer. A couple of guys stopped me and wanted to tell me how beautiful I was. It was a little intimidating, but not in a scary way. I did enjoy the fact that unlike the US where I am curvy, here I am very beautiful. I'm learning to embrace my curves. Next time I think of going on a diet after watching Kiera Knightly movie I'll book a trip to Latin America instead.
When I got back to the hotel I thought about just going to bed. Dinner here starts at 9 to 9:30 at night, which is a little late when you're jet lagged. I'm quite happy to say that I took the concierge's advice and went out to dinner. I went to a small restaurant called Coco Loco off of Vitacura. The food was excellent, cheap and authentic Chilean seafood. I spent less than $10.00 for three courses and it was the best seafood I've had in a long time. Even though it was just me I had no trouble ordering. I was suprised that dinner for 1 took almost 2 hours, but it was like that in Paris as well. The neighborhood near the Radisson is quite safe and well-lit at night so I didn't mind walking back to my hotel at 11:30.
I'll have to post photos later.
10/22/07
Santiago Trip Day 1
First off, let me say that LAX is the worst international airport in the world, well that I’ve been to anyway. The entire concourse, and yes I can say entire, has just one restaurant and a few duty free stores. The hot dog stand produced overpriced and subpar hot dogs which those of us who had no other options were grateful for. There was no real bar or lounge to rest in for a few hours. I must say that if I were an international visitor, I would be unimpressed. If I’d known better I would have eaten in the domestic terminal before going through security at the international terminal. Hmm…maybe that attitude is why everyone around me appeared to drop 20 lbs the second I entered the international terminal. Yup, Americans are fat. Oh well, I just wish they had a Starbucks or something in the terminal. We don’t even restrict American’s to that level of selection in far flung Alaska, why should we be losing out on the money our international visitors would drop on their layovers by not even offering food. My other big beef with LAX is that the displays made it nearly impossible to find what gate your flight was at. If I had checked in and had my gate printed on my boarding pass that would be fine. But I checked in 12 hours prior in Fairbanks, Alaska long before my gate had ever been decided on.
I did find that exchanging money at LAX carries no fee whereas doing so in the Chile airport has a $1.50 fee. Small savings and a better exchange rate to boot. After 25 hours of travel I finally made it to Chile. I had layovers in Seattle, LA and Lima, Peru. The Peru stop was long enough for me to get off of the plane, buy a postcard and get back on the plane. I was amazed at the folks who brought back 2-3 bags worth of goods from the duty-free. That reminds me, since when has shopping on a plane become the “in” activity? The people on my Lan Chile flight were shopping duty free like there was no tomorrow. The bargains weren’t good and the duty can’t be that high. We each had catalogs in the back of our seats and they kept coming up and down the aisles delivering orders to folks. The guy in the seat next to me spent over $400 in our 12 hours together. I’ll admit, I succumbed and bought some hand cream, but that’s because mine was confiscated in LAX. I found myself more than entertained watching 4 movies, playing with the Berlitz language software (I now know how to count in Russian, English, German, French and Spanish), and playing digital Tetris, Poker and Blackjack. Those international planes are sweet, especially when you get an exit row. I had as much space as the people in first class and paid half the price. I couldn’t fully recline, but that wasn’t a big deal because I don’t sleep on planes anyway. Now it's time for me to go sleep!
I did find that exchanging money at LAX carries no fee whereas doing so in the Chile airport has a $1.50 fee. Small savings and a better exchange rate to boot. After 25 hours of travel I finally made it to Chile. I had layovers in Seattle, LA and Lima, Peru. The Peru stop was long enough for me to get off of the plane, buy a postcard and get back on the plane. I was amazed at the folks who brought back 2-3 bags worth of goods from the duty-free. That reminds me, since when has shopping on a plane become the “in” activity? The people on my Lan Chile flight were shopping duty free like there was no tomorrow. The bargains weren’t good and the duty can’t be that high. We each had catalogs in the back of our seats and they kept coming up and down the aisles delivering orders to folks. The guy in the seat next to me spent over $400 in our 12 hours together. I’ll admit, I succumbed and bought some hand cream, but that’s because mine was confiscated in LAX. I found myself more than entertained watching 4 movies, playing with the Berlitz language software (I now know how to count in Russian, English, German, French and Spanish), and playing digital Tetris, Poker and Blackjack. Those international planes are sweet, especially when you get an exit row. I had as much space as the people in first class and paid half the price. I couldn’t fully recline, but that wasn’t a big deal because I don’t sleep on planes anyway. Now it's time for me to go sleep!
10/20/07
Spanish for Travelers
I leave tonight for Santiago, Chile and I'm not ready, not by a long shot. My laundry is in the washer for things that I need to pack. I have to gather things from all over the house and put back half of things I think I'm going to pack so that I actually can carry my bag and have room for souvenirs. I would also feel guilt carrying things around that I don't really need as they only release more CO2 into the atmosphere. This will be my first eco-friendly trip. I bought carbon credits when I booked through Expedia. They sent me a nifty green luggage tag to put on my bags and show off my status to my fellow travelers. It's made out of plastic. Isn't that a petroleum product and therefore non-Earth-friendly. Perhaps it's recycled plastic. I have a lot of trip preparation to do during my flight. For one I need to look through my guidebook and see what I want to do on my two off days. For the other I need to develop a working knowledge of Spanish so that I can navigate. Apparently Chileans aren't commonly fluent in English. So far my phrase list is three words long. I have on my list: ATM, police, and coffee. Hmm... priorities need adjustment perhaps. Of course I also told myself that on my flight I would study for my midterms that are coming up the week I get back and do all of my law school applications, essays, etc. I don't think even I can do all that in 30 hours. Oh yeah, I don't sleep on planes, that will help.
10/13/07
"infidelity while on active duty in the army"
I was quite disappointed when I found out that my blog was the top result for a Google search of "infidelity while on active duty in the army." This two sided coin is a really sensitive issue, spouses cheating on soldiers and soldiers having too much fun in the desert, but with the national divorce rate as high as it is I'm sure it's not unique to the military. Thankfully I have not lived through a deployment yet, nor have I lived on a military base where this type of behavior is probably more common. To others who might find my blog this way I would offer that you should be concerned about preserving your marriage before your soldier even gets orders to deploy. Being a military spouse is hard, but making it work is really worth it. It will take work, don't kid yourself. If you are a 19 year old bride who married her high school sweetheart turned marine you're kidding yourself if you think that high school romance and gorgeous uniforms last. You have to put in the work, know when to listen and know when to shut up. This isn't just about you, you gave up "I" when you said "I do." Instead I want you to think about why you wanted to get married in the first place. Is what you have worth preserving? If so you won't be putting out personals ads looking for fun. Don't think of it as being left behind, neglected, lonely. Don't just be a dependent, stand on your own two feet and be yourself. Your marriage should be able to last and you should stand up and be your own interesting, unique and joyful person. Don't let yourself become bitter or paranoid. If you think that your partner trusts and loves you then you shouldn't have to worry about them either.
Oh and in case you're wondering why I would come up under a search like that in the first place, I did a review of a new TV show Army Wives awhile back.
Oh and in case you're wondering why I would come up under a search like that in the first place, I did a review of a new TV show Army Wives awhile back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)