=A$1+$A2 is in D1 and it is dragged to E1...

I've got the Dirty Dancing in Havana Nights blasting in my headphones and I can't stop bobbing my head/moving my feet in dancing steps.

The MIS exam about excel today went alright. I mean everything was pretty easy except one section about the $ sign. If you put a $ before a column or row's name when using in it a function, it locks the next character. The questions were like "if $A1+A2 is in D1 and you extend it to E1, what will happen?" and then we had like every combination possible like A$1+A2 and A1+$A2 and $A1+$A2 and A1+A$2 and $A$1+A2 and A1+$A$2 and so on. That section really killed me because I couldn't even picture it without the $ signs and I had to draw the question out on paper to even understand what it was asking.

In celebration for the end of midterms, I went to Beruit La Pita on my way to work to spoil myself with Garlic Dip (amaaazing), Chicken Shwarma, and Lentil Soup. I sat in this tiny little restaurant waiting for my food and thinking about one of the first intern lunches we all went out on together. That was one of our little places. Now, Brandon is back at Rose-Hulman and will probably be hired over Christmas when he graduates, Neil is getting married to Jess, Grant is back at MichTech graduating this year (he definitely doesn't want to return to Ricardo), Veronica is in the Americorp, Henry was hired into the company recently, Amanada is still floating around the area/company, and Pavan is working and taking classes part time at UofM. Me? I'm still doing what I've been doing for the last year and a half. Part time school and booking it to work in my free time. I kinda miss all the random drop bys by my desk by the other interns cuz there isn't really anyone to talk to anymore.

Anyway, the other day, D, me, and my mom took Romeo to this free puppy training informational seminar about housebreaking your puppy and about the different classes and services they offer. For about 15 minutes, they closed off the doorways, had all the humans sit down, and let all the puppies loose to play with each other. At first, my pup was shaking and whining when we were walking into the room because he was so nervous, but when all the puppies could play together (there was probably 10), it was soooo adorable! The puppies started sniffing each other's butts, chasing each other, and playfully pouncing on each other. There was this one little, white Havanese-Shih Tzu that was a cutie. He would run after the other puppies and then randomly plop down like a pillow and just sit there for a minute, and then he would jump back up and run after the other puppies again. My pup was smart :-P He would run after other puppies and when they would chase him, he would run and hide behind people's legs to catch his breath, and then jump back out again and continue running. So cute :)

What's on the agenda for this weekend? Sushi with D, Tom, and Alandra either Friday or Sunday evening, a bit of studying I've got to crack down on, and Enoch's wedding on Saturday.

Shaq is benched by a computer - haha

Weekend fun and pity parties

This past weekend was a good one, but an unproductive one on my part. Friday, D and I went to State to get Alandra, then we spent the rest of the evening attempting to make Mojitos and eating Taco Bell. Saturday, I slept in late and spent the afternoon cleaning the garage with D. We went to Zoup - yummmm - and then met up with Tom and Alandra for pool at Tom's house. Then D and I went to Josh's for a little SNL on his new, gigantic TV at his new house on his new, leather couches. Sunday, D came over before I was even up, and he installed my remote starter :o). It works now, the remote starter I mean, but he forgot to disable my anti-theft system so my alarm goes off every time I start my car. It's kinda funny. Tom and Alandra came over for the rest of the evening for Chinese takeout and The Lake House, which all I have to say is this: Farmer Jack or Meijer? ;)

On a separate note, I can't stand self-pitying people who can't seem to make any sense of their wallowing. They make like there is no tomorrow over dumb things and I wonder why they are wasting their time talking to me about it, because really, I don't really want to be a part of your pity party. Try to come up with a solution and you need someone to talk to? I'm your girl. But just want to wallow and wallow and wallow with no reason for it? Whatever.

Yesterday, I got "you just don't understand how hard it is for me that my friends went away to college this year and I'm still here... my life sucks" and I thought to myself "that's what happened to me and I'm doing just fine." I don't think I'm pathetic for having to make new friends and meet new people. Pick your ass up.

Last night was Prison Break with D and Josh... on HDTV :)

Today, I spent a decent amount of time and effort on a draft, and the professor decided not to collect it. Again. That makes it 0/4 in this class, and she also announced that we're not having our mid-term impromptu essay. What is my grade going to be at the end of the semester? Or better yet, what will it be based off of?

With all the hype about Michigan Football and Detroit Tigers Baseball, all I can think about is our first game we're going to this year! Counting down until November 17th...I'm so stoked!

I just feel like talking, but to who?

There are so many things I'm frustrated about, but when it really comes down to it, I've got nothing to complain about except my self induced worries/fears, which really amount to nothing!

I've been mentioning this amazing philosophy class I've been taking. Each class builds on the last class, and the way the material is taught, it assumes that nobody has really proven any of their own beliefs to themselves. Does that make sense? For example, most people (at least at a college stage) believe/don't believe based on what they have grown up with and the experiences they have undergone.

In the first several classes, we discussed various philosophers' theories about the existence of God as a cause and creator. Only defining the term "God" as a placement for the meaning "a higher cause, that which nothing greater can be conceived, a cause and start to life, the immovable mover" and so on.

In the following classes, we based our discussions on what knowledge has been "proven" in our class. For example, after we defined and proved God only as a cause, we then defined God with qualities/traits. Following that, we then discussed the existence of evil, then the meaning of faith, then self's existence, and then the mind/matter differences.

Anyway, one class period when we were discussing the problem of evil, the prof asked us: if we have proven (in the last class) all the traits of God, including God being omniscient/omnipotent, why does evil (both natural and human induced) exist? Most people answered this by saying that evil is needed to prove good and to test faith in God. One kid raised his hand and explained that he thought people were generally good. He gave the example that he felt if he walked into class one day and he was injured, most people in the class would probably rush to help him instead of watch him suffer. And everyone in the class was all for this idea.

Then the prof caught me off guard when he asked this kid, and the class, "then why are there so many starving, homeless, unloved people out there if you claim that people were generally good?" Another classmate replied by saying we can only give so much before we dip into our own stash.

How much is too much? I mean there is so much around us that is evil and yet we still don't seem to get it.

Can we really, truly love humanity? Without expecting anything in return? I mean one is supposed to treat others the way you would like to be treated, but is that loving with an expectation of the same in return? And what if we never received anything from others while loving endlessly?

Can we truly love our neighbors, our humanity endlessly? If it is so that we can only give so much before we are jeopardizing our own well being, maybe this is really not possible.

Then there was the discussion of faith. There was a lot to this discussion. But in part, I've gathered that it seems like the same discussion as the word "Christian". One can never say that he/she is faithful or a Christian, because all it really is is striving to be faithful and striving to be Christian.

All these things to think about and I'm worrying about nothing, really.

My little baby boy

My baby sleeping out in the sun :) The other day, my mom asked what I think about finally having a dog around. Really, it's like having a little kid around and I can honestly say it's brought our small family closer together and happier. He has such a personality; I never knew having a dog was like this! Sometimes I'm so amazed he's just a little pup. But he acts like a little kid because he sighs, snores, cries, gets scared (we just discovered he is terrified of balloons for some reason), begs for good food, curls up with you on the couch, has to toss and turn to get comfortable on his bed, gets irritated with us sometimes, gets excited when anyone walks into the house, hides good food in corners of rooms to savor for lator, watches out windows, and likes to sleep in the sun apparently!

Happy Birthday to meeee

Friday: The Melting Pot! Chicken, shrimp, and teriaki beef cooked in a red wine based fondue that was mixed with herbs, sliced mushrooms, and scallions. There were also 7 sauces to test and veggies.




The dessert platter we dipped in a Flaming Turtle (a milk chocolate fondue with pecans and carmel that was lit on fire):



I guess Quizno's was the first pre-suprise stop. I had no idea they were throwing me a suprise birthday party - I thought we were just eating there so we wouldn't be hungry at the corn maize.


Before the hayride left, here's us sitting in it. It was sunny but suprisingly, really cold.

We got this sheet with 12 boxes and we had to find 12 stamps randomly placed at stands in the corn maze.

Honey sticks :) A childhood favorite

Here's the sheet we stamped (one is a thumb print because someone stole the stamp) but we only found 11/12



The Hayride back, it was sooo hard to take a picture cuz we were just bouncing around. A couple times, I thought we were going to get thrown off the side!

The petting farm at Maybury:

Here's after the "SUPRISE!" part of the suprise party. I was bummed because I designated my camera to a certain someone (ahem) who took no more than 5 pictures of nothing but me, so I can't show you who showed up...