gas!

yup, i paid over fifty bucks to fill Pitter's tank. ridiculous.

segways are everywhere!

last weekend i was running the trail by my house and was passed by a dude on a segway. those things are pretty dang quick...and i thought, "yes, yes, i do live in silicon valley."

i just got an email:
San Jose Municipal Golf Course
Segway Rental Special
San Jose Municipal Golf Course and Santa Teresa Golf Club have a new promotion involving the Segway X2 single rider golf unit.

life

last Christmas my 3 year old nephew was asking his other grandpa a bunch of questions...the way 3 year olds do. grandpa dixon got a little tired of answering and said, "jakson, what's the meaning of life?" jakson thought about it, looked at him, and said, "be happy."

he's brilliant. just be happy, man.
(can't believe it took me 5 months to post this story)

iphone case

Griffin did it...the most perfect iphone case ever. it's not too slippery, it's not too sticky, it's not too thick, it stays on...i love it.

go get one. if you have an iphone, of course (all the cool kids do)

book club update

we read Peony in Love last month. i recommend it. it's sort of a chinese history lesson inside a luv story.

i think everyone in da club dug the book.

9.5 miles, a B+ and more to come!

i managed to run 9.5 miles this past weekend and felt pretty great about it. i'm still a little shocked - didn't know i had it in me. but that means i'm more on track for the coming half than i thought i was. woo!

i pulled out a B+ in marketing, which kinda shocks me. of the 5 essay questions, i had a solid answer for 1. thank goodness it was marketing, which is mostly BS, anyway.

entrepreneurship looks to be an A or A-. i'll take it!

i'm registered for my final class. i never have to go to the main SJSU campus again, 'cause the last class is "off campus." and i've heard great things about the prof.

i've still got a team fox website if you want to donate.

it's already wednesday. two more weekends of coaching and i'm done with most commitments. oh, what to do next...

love/hate and season finale week

man, this week is rough as far as tv goes. my emotions are all over the place and i have to wait until next season to put them back together...and then the writers will do it again next season. yeesh.

runner's greeting

On my run this morning, I decided that I need to figure out how I’m going to greet other runners/bikers/walkers. I’ve nodded, I’ve spoken, I’ve waved...I’d like to be able to say “good morning” to those i pass, but realized that it usually comes out very forced – either high pitched, way too breathy or like a grunt (I am running, after all).

I’m taking suggestions...but I’m seriously thinking about giving the peace sign to everyone I pass. How funny would that be?

likes/dislikes

likes - leftover cheesecake for breakfast
dislikes - new door dings in Pitter Patter

nanolaminate capacitor

"Your team has been selected as a finalist for the Business Plan Competition to be held on Thursday May 22nd, 9-12:30 in BBC 032. You will be informed of the exact time of your presentation by Wednesday. Presenters have 10 minutes to make their presentation, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. Please confirm ASAP that you can attend. Best wishes, Anu"

honestly, this is the funniest email i've gotten in a while. if you heard me talk about the nanolaminate capacitor this past semester, you've gotta think this is a joke. but no, we've made it to the final 8 (out of 55).

RunNMC and Densercap, the multilayer advantage

hahahahhaha
physics roommate, be proud. also, jeremy, take some credit for this.

wii fit

i thought about getting one...until the parody. go watch it.

clapping

in church yesterday, i decided that i have pretty great respect for those who clap even when they can't keep the beat. my favorite are those who are completely a half-beat off...just clappin' to the beat of their own drum. i love it.

(yeah, it happens to me all the time)

best friday ever!

this could be it...
NKOTB was on the Today Show...and they were AWESOME! man, oh, man...i wish i could be in Boston for their show this weekend. sure, they're old...but they're workin' out the same moves, same sound, same stuff. their voices still aren't all that great (except joey & jordan, i think).

along with the same moves, they've got a "new style!" for Hangin' Tough. if you missed it on the Today Show, i hope you see it soon. clever, very clever.

reunion tours are a great idea. that's my final thought.

*i can only expect the rest of this friday to be great - we have treats all day at work, happy hour is planned with some great friends tonight and whatever else comes my way.

interesting bay area thing

today is a Spare the Air Day in the Bay Area. every once in a while i get hit with a CA thing that i've adjusted to...and this is one of 'em. sometimes our air quality sucks. but it's ok - i still live near the ocean and haven't seen snow since december.

really, i should take the train to work or somethin'. maybe i'll work on getting a bike some time this summer.

not a great prof

it's tough when you have a prof and you come to find out that you just don't acknowledge her authority. (that's the nicest way we decided that we can put it)

last night she ended the semester on the perfect note...
apparently her record-keeping is off, because she was missing several assignments from students who were sure they’d turned it in. (kinda like elementary school) I was told by a fellow student to go check it out, so I was one of the last in line. The poor student before me got her butt chewed because the professor had “already explained several times that if anyone was missing an assignment, she’d email us.” I went back to my seat knowing she’d email me if I was missing any assignments and filled out the meanest teacher evaluation I have ever completed.

As I was leaving the class, prof stopped me to see if I’d checked on my assignments. I took a deep breathe and told her I would just wait for the email she was going to send if I was missing anything. She stopped me and said she’d like to check at that point. So I’m missing one assignment…I hope she doesn’t fail me.

Bad profs are frustrating. But I’m done with that class!!! One more final, and one more class to go with this silly MBA…

morning

this morning i woke up before my alarm clock and thought, "i've been sleeping forever."

it was strange. i'm still not sure how to deal with it. but i think it's good that i'm used to getting up early to work out. and when i don't get up early, i apparently feel like i slept "forever."

sporks!

i just heard that a company went to using sporks as a cost-cutting measure. that's just awesome. sporks.

i shoulda known...

You Should Maybe Go to Grad School

Grad school may be the right choice for you, but you need to investigate further. So put those studying skill to use, and pick a program that's perfect for you. And make sure you're going for the right reasons - not just to avoid getting a job.

Should You Go To Grad School?

but i got the email yesterday that said i'll be done august 13!!!

famished!

I feel like I’ve been starving for a few days now…but I’m eating. The only thing I can think to attribute it to is the amount of running I’ve been doing, but sheesh…it’s not like I’m avoiding food. I just can’t seem to keep up.

I plan to get a burrito for lunch to get rid of this issue.

Maybe I need more protein…I dunno…
(and i'm not taking the fact that i can take care of my starvation for granted...it's all relative, man)

networking?

as much as i complain about school, i've come to realize that i have met some pretty great people through the program. i've been fortunate when it comes to group work - just a couple peeps that i'd actually complain about.

saturday night i had dinner with last year's school crew...we now talk about running marathons and such (i guess i'll be doing one next year) instead of school. i'm the only one left with classes, so it's cool that we still get together.

this semester i've had two pretty great groups...focusing on fun, while learning something along the way. we've had lots of laughs, some actual work and other great convo's.

being in HR has made me pretty popular, as well - interview questions, networking questions, job questions - it's fun. i wish my network were bigger, but i do what i can.

i gotta get a couple people a job somewhere...

flat tire

cars are annoying when they don't work right...and last night i ran over something on the highway. it was quick, i felt a thud, mom & i threw up a quick prayer (we were chatting on the phone) and i kept driving. all seemed ok. a few hours later, however, my car was pulling to the right and making awful noises any time i ran something little over (those things they put in the lines in the highway lines). i got to my destination and confirmed that my tire was now flat. oops.

i've learned a couple things here:
1. terrible noises coming from the tire is a bad sign
2. i probably don't ever have to learn how to change a tire
3. driving 45 to keep the spare tire happy is HARD

cinco de mayo!

enjoy! make it a great day!
these california peeps know how to do it up right. i've enjoyed an excellent lunch, am waiting for 4pm margaritas & hope to enjoy some more after class tonight.

i don't remember much of cinco de mayo in minnesota. sad.

oops

i'm not sure i've gone through a drive-through without being on my phone in recent history. apparently, McD's got mad at me.

rotten tomatoes is right

Iron Man is pretty awesome. i'm not a huge comic book gal, but this movie was fantastic! funny, seemed pretty smart, a li'l intense...i recommend it.

rotten tomatoes is currently at 94%.

givin' blood

i got an email last week that they were short on my blood type, so i made an appointment. turns out the donation place is a half-mile from home. it was pretty great to go into an actual facility instead of the crampy bus that comes to work to get my blood. and the peeps were uberfriendly. i'll go back.

and, just so you learn something this week, i found out that i'm CMV negative, which the stanford blood center tests for. apparently, i have good blood that's safe for those with crappy immune systems. here's more:
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus. About 50 percent of adults have antibodies to CMV, indicating that they were previously exposed to the virus. In people with normal immunity, this virus causes only a mild respiratory illness or an infectious mononucleosis-type syndrome. However, in patients with suppressed immunity CMV can cause severe illness.

Stanford Blood Center tests all donors for evidence of CMV exposure and about half of donations are found to be negative for CMV antibody ("CMV negative"). If you are CMV positive, your donation is still very valuable and will be given to a patient that does not require CMV negative blood. Blood from CMV negative donors is required for patients with suppressed immunity. Because most of our platelets are given to cancer patients who have suppressed immunity, we must collect most of our platelets from CMV negative donors.