Has it really been six years?

Next week is a big day for my wife and I.  We'll be celebrating our sixth year anniversary.  Time has flown by so quickly.  We've had lots of fun together and we work well together.  Laura was so excited about marrying me she didn't even let me propose.  Truth be told she mugged be for the ring in the middle of a dark park in Scotland.  I should have known then the trouble I was getting myself into but what can I say?  I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment.  We are planning on seeing Alice in Wonderland which should be lots of fun.

Most of our married life I have been a student and Laura has recently taken it upon herself to go to school.  She is currently a 4.0 student.  In my opinion that deserves some sort of reward but we don't have the money to do that so I guess having food will have to be the treat for good grades.  It's not much dear I know but you can eat this week :P.

Tomorrow is a big day for Laura.  I'm finally letting her meet one of my class mates.  I just hope she can behave herself.  Rarely can i take her out in public with her behavior.  Speaking with a "fake" British accent, being so polite and all that.  I've tried getting her to cut back but she is steadfast.  Oh well I love her to bits anyway.

Yesterday I had a super hard exam and I did really well on it.  I was so glad I passed.  Well off to class again.  Though it is a bit of a joke this class...

Crazy fast week

Last week just flew on by.  I had a few tests which kept me busy but I did well on.  On top of that the term is almost over for me thank goodness.  I need that week break.

I want to make more time for writing creatively but I don't know where all my time is going.   I need to manage it better I guess.  I think most of my time is actually spent in traffic.  At least it feels that way.  While I may not have the time I want to write I have been keeping up with my reading of the bible which I am glad of.  I made it into numbers last week.  I think I only have one more book of Moses to finish after this.  In my reading I found the definition (at least to me it is clear cut) of what the writers of the scriptures mean when they say virgin.  I know it seems like a very simple thing but it was suggested to me that what the writers meant when they said virgin was a young woman, regardless of intimate knowledge of the opposite gender or not.  This came up when someone suggested that Christ was made like any other child was with parents "knowing" each other.  In Lev. 21: 13 -14 it is clearly stated that a virgin absent of intimate knowledge of the opposite gender so I have no idea what they were talking about.  I think in Dueteronomy they may also spell it out.  

Also last week it was decided, most grudgingly, that Laura will be going to Scotland for a while.  Bleh!  Neither of us like the idea of being separated but both of us do think it to be the right thing to do.  Again the quantum teleportation device would be nice to have so I could pop over there to see her when ever.  Can we move the build date up to this weekend anybody?  She takes off the second week of March.  Right after our 6th year anniversary.  We are trying to not let that put a dampener on the time we have to spend together until she leaves for two months.  I think Laura is most worried about coming home and finding the house as a pile of rubble with me living in the shed.  She knows I'll be okay, she just doesn't know if I can keep the house okay.  Bummer deal of it is she is leaving the week before finals, and two weeks before my week break.  I don't know what I will be doing.  I think I may use that time to write.  This is of course assuming I can even get myself out of bed.  Don't worry Laura I'll still be around when you get back.  I promise.

As sad as our separation will be I am really excited for her to be able to visit family and the like.  We both miss Scotland and she will get everything done that she needs to over there.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the pictures she will be taking.  

Well back to school and such...

I dream of Rexburg!?

Oddly enough I find myself longing for the small little city known as Rexburg.  I think I may be looking for a little bit of security as right now I really am not feeling it.  While Laura and I didn't have tons of dispensable income we had enough money that if anything came up we could take care of it.  Right now I feel on the brink.  Not only was everything cheaper there in Rexburg I was near family (blood relatives and dear friends I consider family) now I feel a bit adrift.  I sometimes wonder if this is really what I want to be doing with my life.  Could someone please build an alternate reality machine where I am able to view possible outcomes of my life had certain variables been different?  I think it would be really handy and perhaps we all would be able to make better personal life choices.  I see some of my high school friends who went into the computer industry, like I had thought about doing, working and moving on with life in general.  I feel stuck.  I keep spending money I don't have and still need to come up with more money to pay for my education without knowing where to find it.

Laura and I need health insurance but I have no idea where the money is going to be coming from for that.  Everybody wants my money that I don't have, including myself.  Don't get me wrong I don't expect it to get much different after I start working as a chiropractor.  I know people are still going to be after my money but at least I will be making money to give away to people.  I get student loans equivalent to just under most starting yearly income jobs.  Needless to say it has me panicked.

What a gloomy post.  Happy Valentines Day Jonny Rain Cloud.  No cake, No ice cream.

Well I feel much better after venting that.  Hopefully all you readers (I'm not delusional, I'm pretty sure there is only a handful) aren't bummed by my depressed post.  I find it odd though that by mearly writing about it, where anyone could be reading, that I feel much  better having gotten it off my chest. I spoke to Laura about it yesterday but when I saw Rexburg on Google Earth it all came flooding back to me.  From the very first winter there I was so ready to be leaving the middle of no-where.  Four and a half years went by so quickly and now I wish I could be there once more, just a little longer.  Of course there must come a time when we must stop the wishing or risk wishing our life away.  Lesson learned: Enjoy the time you have today (why didn't I buy into that one earlier?).

Reclaiming a piece of my childhood

So I know I am a nerd.  Really I have come to accept it.  I am not an uber nerd though.  Not the kind of taped glasses, suspenders, slouching, braces, buck toothed, and pimply faced nerd.  I get excited about cool little gizmos and the like.  Video games and electronics are to me like craft stuff is to Laura.  She of course would argue that her diversion is more worthwhile because it involves creating things or preserving things, such as memories, where mine is mostly useless.  Fortunately it is not a sore point in our marriage.  While I may not be creating anything I am enjoying the art form of another.

It takes a great amount of skill to create a video game (well that is) or a nifty electronic gadget.  Take the I-pod for example.  While I don't like Apple brand products because of the way it takes over my computer and I can't tinker with it, the i-pod has a certain aesthetically pleasing look to it.  Smooth lines, user friendly interface, variety of shapes and sizes.  Looking only at the music play back feature it doesn't play your music any better than any other name brand mp3 player.  There is not something magical about it that makes crappy music sound better.  The I-pod is more expensive than most mp3 players of equal capacity yet I tend to see more i-pods than I do any other player.  You can find other players that do almost everything the i-pod can for half the price but most of them look like bricks.  Though having a brick that plays music would kind of be cool it just wouldn't sell in my opinion.

I see video games, that are well made, in a similar fashion. They are an interactive art form.  It takes time and dedication to make a video game well.  Someone needs to create the story, a group of people have to create the scenery, others have to get actors for the characters, a director to get everything pointed in the right direction, so on and so forth.  The point is someone had to take and abstract thought and translate it into a form the users could enjoy and understand while including all the necessary forms of a well defined plot.  Of course some focus more on graphics than on the plot making the game only a once through worthwhile game. So while I may not be the creator of such art, though I am working on story building, I find it no different from appreciating a good film or even a good painting.  Don't get me wrong moderation is important but I don't find it any less worth while than revisiting your favorite painting or sculpture at a museum.

So the other day when I logged onto the Wii shopping channel to see what aspects of my childhood they resurrected I found a game that brought back a lot of memories.  It was a remake for the Wii of an old NES game.  It actually is more of a sequel than a remake.  The game looks and feels like the NES game except with updated graphics and music quality.  The music is actually the same and some of the areas are quite similar to the others in the NES version.  I remember when I was first introduced to Blaster Master on the NES.  We had gone to visit my grandparents down in Oregon.  This time we were staying with my Mom's mom.  Sometimes the adults would go do fun things and leave us kids in the hands of a baby sitter.  So my parents let me rent a game so I could have something to do and keep out of the sitter's hair.  It was this game.  So I had to get it when I saw the sequel.  It isn't often we get to recapture something from our past.

So while my lovely wife is probably balking at the post, as are perhaps most of the other female readers, I really am a normal person.  I have descent social skills and I don't smell too bad.  I mean you only need to shower once a week to be socially acceptable, right?

The mis-fortunate affair of the power blender

So yesterday my wife and had to deal with the death, or perhaps severe injury only exploratory surgery will tell, of a blender.  I'm sure most of you have seen the bullet power blender or such.  We had one from JcPennys.  I got it as a gift.  I think it was a terribly useful thing.  Instead of making a smoothy in a blender and then using a cup just blend it in the cup.  Also, if you can believe what is on the cup, you could grind anything.  It spoke of grinding coffee beans.  I don't know if it would do that or not, I don't drink coffee, but it dies trying to chop an onion.  Onions are not as hard as coffee beans.  I think it made a total of six fruit smoothies then tried to attempt to chop the onion before being severely injured.

It was loud every time we used it and smelled of hot plastic.  When we first opened it the small cup had shattered.  From what I can tell the motor was loose in the case so when ever we used it the metal shaft spun so fast it melted the plastic.  I think yesterday it was enough and the interface plate (you know the bit that has teeth that attaches to the blade, what is that called? a gear?) started eating into the plastic.  I think the wound may have been fatal.  I'll tear the thing apart tonight but the prognosis is not good.

So I've noticed a really bad habit drivers have around here.  I know it happens else where as well but it happens a lot around here.  The traffic lights are kind of screwy.  You'll get on green and half a block ahead is a red. Instead of waiting at behind the line when it is green the entire intersection gets filled.  Sometimes it works out but during rush hour it is a no go.  Eventually the green turns to red and the other direction gets a green but no one can go because of the numpties in the middle of the intersection.  The kicker is that almost everyone does it.  I thought it was funny when I heard someone honking there hour at the people in the middle of the intersection like that was going to do anything.  I do have a way to solve the problem, in fact it will solve another problem as well.  At every intersection a giant trap door should be installed.  When the lights turn red the trap door opens taking in all the intersection cloggers.  On top of that the people trying to run the red would also get sucked in.  I do realize that cars may be ruined, and injuries may ensue but eventually people will learn their lesson.

Scholastic achievements

Big week this week.  My wife is in her final week of her first class of school.  It is really exciting.  My wife will be taking two classes next  next.  I'm really proud of her.  She is doing really well in he classes, much better than she thought she would, and I know she will do just fine with the extra work load when that time comes.  I think my wife is impatiently waiting to get to the classes that pertain directly to graphic design.  I guess over in Scotland they focus more directly on the classes needed to be what ever it is you are studying for.  Here we study what we need along with a bunch of other stuff to make us well rounded.

Valentines weekend sadly is filled with meetings.  It means this Friday the wife and I will be going out to celebrate.  Thanks to our friends over at Decclo our meal is going to be covered at the outback.  I have a surprise gift for her also.  You all have to wait to find out what it is because my wife reads this blog almost religiously and I can't have her finding out what she is getting before that time.  I know she will love it though regardless.  I'm just that good :P

We have friends back in Idaho that are on the final leg of that journey.  Once he graduates he'll be heading off to Podiatry school.  It is really exciting for him and his wife.  It will be another 7 years or so until he is out and working but he will have good job security.  Lets just hope the medical reform doesn't mess too much for all the practitioners out there.  The thing with the health care reform is this: it only really is going to affect insurance takers.  Insurance is what is being affected really at least to my understanding.  This means the Docs all have to play along if they are going to be taking insurance.  If all docs go to money upfront only services then the reform really has no effect.  Of course at that point I believe the free market will be able to operate allowing for some competition between practices which would also effect the prices.  It is a very interesting time and I wonder how it will all turn out.  Things typically work out for the best in the long run, but it is the short run that has me wondering.

Hybrid Cars

On my drive to school the other day I saw several hybrid vehicles.  Not surprising in CA I know but I couldn't help wonder what the point is.  I know the hype is they are more fuel efficient (I've seen some data suggesting otherwise) and they have lower CO2 emission. They are expensive and use a rare metal for their batteries and they still use fuel.

These cars aren't going to free us from dependence on oil.  They aren't a midpoint to the next fossil fuel free vehicle, not as far as I can tell.  The only thing I could see happening is removing the fuel portion from the car and going pure electric.  Problem with electric cars is they have no horsepower in comparison.  To get the same kind of horse power from an electric motor that you combustion engine gives you would have to have a massive electric motor.  Not very conducive in my opinion trying to move your car along with the huge engine.

I think it would be grand if we could come up with a instantaneous transport system.  Save on all that travel time.  Going to appointments and such would be easy.  For instance say you have a doctors appointment.  Most of us waste time waiting to be called back reading out of date magazines or trying to find the hidden objects in the children's puzzles.  With the quantum transporter (my name for the instant teleportation devices I am rambling on about) you can sign into the doctors office online, wait in the comfort of your own home until you receive a message telling the doc is ready for you and then you can beam yourself into his office ready to go.  Of course in my mind it uses a lot of electricity so we need to come up with fusion power or the bill you will have to pay to use the thing would be outrageous.

Busy week

I can hardly believe that it has nearly been a week since my last post.  I have midterms and it just kills all my time.  So for a quick recap on my week.  Monday's traffic was cruddy.  I have no idea what happened but it turned my twenty minute commute into an hour long one.  It was ridiculous.  Tuesday I had an exam in intro. to research and it was really hard.  I studied for it, I thought I put in enough study time, and sat on the exam only to feel as if I hadn't studied at all.  Yesterday I got my first exam back from biochem and found that I don't have to drop out of school as I got an A on the thing.  Also on the commute home I heard a fellow commuter going deaf.  You know the ones I'm talking about, the fellows that play their music so loud it sounds like you have a set of headphones on high with a subwoofer that gives you a nice massage with every beat.

Which brings me to today, and just minutes ago I finished my first anatomy lab exam for the day.  I have another later.  I'm sure I'll pass both.  I'm studying for another exam I have tomorrow as well.  Fortunately amongst all the chaos I have Tiger Woods Golf 10 for the Wii, which I play with my dad, and a loving wife who helps control the chaos of daily life.  I mention my wife last because her taking care of the house and me and such is most important.  Best for last.  I know it may be odd but it is how I think.  My wife understands.

Next week is going to be the same but that is okay.  I feel ready for my exams.  So my wife has this uncanny ability to pick some one out of the crowd and become friends with them.  Doesn't matter who.  She'll get in touch with famous people, and semi famous people, and  after a few exchanges she's talking to them like they were old friends.  I think it has to do with some form of mind control but I am unable to prove it at this point.  It would be really handy for my own business when I start my practice.  Maybe I could bottle it up and sell it.

Well back to the grindstone.  Too much to do and so little time.