One More Reason...

To hate living where it snows a lot. With snow comes cold, with cold comes..well...getting chilled. It's currently 7pm and I checked the weather report. It's 1 degree right now. However, with the wind chill it "feels like" -22 degrees. Yeah, you read that right. Negative twenty-two. This crap is crazy. I hate the cold.

Snow, Snow, Snow

I found this gem of information while I was randomly surfing the net while avoiding homework.

"Based on National Weather Service records for 1961 through 1990, Rochester, New York averages 94 inches of snow annually and is the snowiest large city in the United States."
Then I looked up the snow facts for my hometown:

"Average snowfall for *********, Michigan is 144.1 inches."

Then, just because I like to waste time, I looked up the snow facts for where I'm currently living, 3 hours east of my hometown:

"Average snowfall for ***** *** *****, Michigan is 117.4 inches."

I've decided to move somewhere that has less than 100 inches of snow a year. Over 100 inches of snow is just ridiculous! Oh, and apparently living in a small city-(20,000 people in my hometown and roughly 16,000 where I live currently)-means that your snowfall amount doesn't matter.

Frustration

So I'm sitting here in the library computer lab trying to do my homework. I open the program I need to use in order to complete my homework and it tells me that the trial period has ended & that the software needs to be installed and payed for before it can be used.

WHAT THE HELL????

I pay the technology fee. Why is it so hard for them to put the necessary software on the computers? Yeah, I know it's expensive. But damnit, I'm paying $4000 a semester to go here. I mean, the CLASS BOOK uses Dreamweaver 2004, but yet we don't have the software on any computer available to students on campus.

The software is in one lab for certain, but it's part of the business department and the door is locked unless there's a class in there. So, what am I to do? This homework is due on Wednesday. My home computer doesn't support the software, or something like that. I tried downloading a 30 day trial last night. Even if I could download it, it's only for 30 days--the semester is way longer than that. I refuse to buy it, it's $400.

Grrrrrrrrrrr. Yeah, it's Monday

First Week

Well, the first week of classes is over with. It's the same old verse, same as the first. Go to class, listen to lecture, do in class assignments, come home, do homework, go back and do more of that. I don't really know how to feel about my last semester here. On one hand, I'm glad to be in my last semester. On the other hand, I'm a little dissappointed to be leaving the place I've called home since August of 2003. Granted I wanna get out of here for a number of reasons. Reason #1 is my ex is here and I want to get as far away from him as possible. Reason #2 is I've been here for 5 years. Reason #3 is I wanna get to my job in Milwaukee and start living my life without homework.

Classes are going to be crazy this semester. There's something to say for Senioritis. What with the load of homework & demands on seniors here I can see why some people just give up. Not thinking that's going to be me or anything, at least I hope not.

Other than that I'm working 6 days a week until April, when tax season is over. It's roughly 20 hours a week. Couple that with the 16 hours a week I'm required to work on my senior research project and the grant I have to write for one of my classes, it should be an interesting semester.

I guess that's all for now.

Focus

I've been noticing something with my Charge lately. She can't focus very well. I don't mean "can't focus" as in, ADHD or ADD. I mean, when she doesn't know the answer to something, she loses her focus and starts doing other things. Today, for example, we were doing math flash cards. Addition was fine, subtraction is a little bit more troublesome for her. She was doing well and then we got to a hard one. She tried it, got the wrong answer, and I told her "close, try again." in a pleasent voice. Then she started talking to the dog, fidgiting, playing with the other cards, etc.

Any ideas on what to do here? She's very smart and, up until 1st grade, never had any trouble with anything. Now that she's having trouble with something-(not severe trouble, she's still the top student in her class)-she doesn't know how to handle it. How do I help her? I've explained to her that it's okay to have trouble with things. That we'll practice together and we'll keep practicing until she gets it. That doesn't seem to help though, she still gets very uncomfortable when she doesn't get something right away.

Stage Moms

I took my Charge to dance class tonight and apparently tonight was the night for trying on their performance outfits. The performance isn't until May but the outfits came in early. So try them on we did. I got Charge into her outfit & began pinning all the extra's on. Now I'm no stranger to performance outfits. I was a figure skater for 7 years and took part in 7 performances. I know the basics of pinning, ribbons, etc. However, tonight--since we were just trying them on to see if they fit, I pinned all the extra's with the pins on the outside, not the inside--which is the right way. Apparently that wasn't "good enough" for the dance instructor because she lectured me, in front of all of the parents and other children, about the 'correct' way to pin things onto a leotard.

Embarrasing, yes. Aggrivating, extremely! There was so much I wanted to say to her but I held my tongue as I was standing in a room full of children who really didn't need to hear the expanse of my vocabulary.

Now to the stage mom part. I'm convinced that 75% of the parents there were stage parents. Most of them were mom's. They were ridiculously picky about how their children looked in these outfits. I mean, honestly, we were just putting them on the kids to see if they fit--not get everything perfect. These kids actually looked fearful. Sad really. Dance class should be fun, no scary. Shame on those parents, and that teacher, for talking down to those kids! I wanted to just pick up my Charge and take her out of there. She didn't smile the entire time we were there. Now I know why she never wants to go to dance class. I wouldn't want to go either.

T.G.I.S

Thank Goodness it's Saturday!!! I've had my Charge since Thursday at 3:45pm. 2 overnights and, thanks to the good ole' U.P. weather & the 10 inches of snow we got in 6 hours, I had her all day on Friday as well. She was SUPPOSED to be at school from 8:30-3:45 but due to the snow day that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I love her to death, but I need a break once and awhile!

Now that I'm home, I'm preparing for my very last semester in college *happy dance.* I start on Monday, wish me luck!

WebKinz Multiply

So my Charge went to her dad's last week for her annual Christmas vacation visit. She was there for 7 days. She left with 1 WebKinz. She came back with 3. 2 dogs and a Lil'Kinz Panda Bear.

My theories:

1. The 2 dogs got horny & had a baby panda

2. She guilted her dad and his girlfriend into each buying her one.

Obviously it's #2, but #1 is funnier.

A Little Empty Here

Jason went home on Thursday. It feels a bit empty here without him. :( In any case, he's back at school and I go back to work on Monday. Here's a quick rundown of what we did while he was here:

Went tubing at a local recreation area here. It was AWESOME! I hadn't been to this particular hill before and it was so much fun. He got to see some old friends while we were there and we both had a great time. We spent about 3 hours there before we got too cold to continue tubing.

Watched a 6 week old on New Year's Eve so his mom could go out and party with her friends. Seeing how Jason interacted with the baby just melted my heart. The baby and Jason took to each other very quickly and Jason even got a smile out of the little guy :)

Went to Marquette and he met the parents. Both of my parents really like him, in fact, they gave him an open door invitation anytime. We visited my dad and work and Jason and my dad hit it off. My dad showed him the inside of the ambulance and even demonstrated some of the equipment on him. Jason loved it and my dad was thrilled to give the infamous "ambulance tour."

While we were in Marquette my mom and I showed him the historical sites in town. He was absolutely loving every minute of it. I took him to one of the beaches and he found a few rocks to bring home-(he's a geologist).

Other than that we just kind of hung around town, watched movies, saw friends, etc. Overall it was great having him here and like I said at the beginning of this post, it's a little empty without him here now.