bugsii

Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Dan had made secret reservations at a place called dragonfly neo-v, which is an all vegan gourmet restaurant just a few blocks from our house (which I had been wanting to go to FOREVER).  Before we left, we exchanged gifts.  Dan was his usual lovey-dovey self and got me 2GB of RAM!  Swoon!  No, really, I love my practical husband.  I really did need it and my computer is so much faster now!

Aww. RAM.

I got Dan some iTunes cards.  He was excited about them, even thought it doesn’t show in this picture.

Aww. Ain't he cute?

Knowing that the RAM might not be that romantic, he also had some flowers hidden.  He’s so smart.

Yay, gerber daisies!

Dinner was so delicious and the restaurant was adorable!  I had pistachio-crusted portabellas and macaroni and cheese.  Dan got the vegan pizza.  Plus, we had awesome appetizers and bread with hummus.  We were stuffed, but we still left room for some ice cream at home!

Then this morning, we got up and had breakfast at Northstar.  It was a great weekend!  Now, Dan’s off to Salt Lake City for the week.  Booo.

I got up and ran this morning.  Then, I got a haircut.  It had been almost four months and I thought my hairdresser might be disgusted with me, but she seemed pleasant enough.  I don’t know why I always put off getting my hair cut.  I think it might be because I think it takes too long, or maybe it’s because I think it’s kind of expensive, or maybe I just don’t care that much.  Either way, my hair felt so much nicer after having the grizzly ends chopped.  Ahh.

Afterward, I went grocery shopping and then Dan’s family dropped by to pick up our old TV.  Dan got a new one and his sister bought the (still perfectly good, ahem) “old” one.  I guess I lost that battle.  I spent the evening watching Dan calibrate the TV (well, I guess I was technically reading for class, but I looked up every now and then).  He’s the only person I know that has this calibration device that suctions to the TV and checks the levels of red, blue, and geek, I mean green.  To me, the process was tedious and incredibly dull.  Dan, on the other hand, worked intently for a few hours.  Do I need to tell you again that I have the best geek ever?

P.S. The week you give up watching TV is not the best week to get a new one. 

Yesterday was a lot of school work with a tiny break for my Ed Tech group meeting.  In the evening, Dan went to Gameworks with Ben, Matt, and Jim (Matt’s Dad), where he apparently won 36 matches in a row at Street Fighter.  Word on the street is that he trained in Japan.  Someone told him, “It’s been an honor.”  Oh, I can’t stop laughing.  I married the best geek ever!

Anyway, while Dan was on his streak, I was reading a book for my Politics of Curriculum class and in the book, the author mentioned DH Lawrence, and for some bizarre reason I remembered that at some point, I had bought a collection of his works, and at that moment, I also thought, “Maybe I should read them!”  (in my spare time, right?).  So, I went to the bookshelf to grab the fat text and in the first few pages was a bookmark I haven’t seen for about ten years.  In fact, I don’t think I remembered it existed until just then.  On one side was a note from my Honors Pre-Calc/Agebra II teacher in high school:

In case you can’t read it, it says:

Dear Laurie,

You have been a pleasure to teach this year.  You are a Bright individual with such a happy and outgoing personality.  Thanks for adding much to the classroom.  I hope you have many good memories to take with you as you leave!  Best of Luck to you, Laurie!

Congratulations!
Mrs. Weil

Aside from the weird capitalization, I’m not going to lie, it made me cry a little.  I was such a crazy, carefree, immature, happy person in high school and I remember this class in particular.  I was usually decently good at math, so I didn’t study much for the first quiz.  When I got the quiz back, I got a C and I about DIED.  I was so nervous to have anything but an A.  So, from then on, I paid intense attention and participated like a maniac.  No kidding, I would flail my arm in the air to answer every question because I needed to understand.  Once I did “get it,” I had great fun trying to get a better score than our Italian exchange student who sat next to me and would taunt me with a 97% to my 96%.  He was learning in a second language, the punk!  We had a party at the end of the year and Mrs. Weil brought in party hats and snacks and I just loved it.  I loved that class, but I had no recollection of this bookmark, and it made me feel really good to find it.  Especially at a moment like this in my career as a student-plus.  Oftentimes I get so serious in class that I forget to laugh and enjoy it.  I get so worried about not appearing to know what I’m talking about that I can lose my sense of humor.  I need to lighten up.

On the other side of the bookmark is “A Student’s Prayer” (I went to Catholic school, in case you didn’t know):

I like the last stanza the best:

Let me always keep on learning,
Even when the class is done;
May I use my knowledge wisely,
So it works for everyone.

Okay, so I haven’t use Pre-Calc to help anyone, but Amen!

Dan left for Arizona, again.  He was gone all of last week and will be gone all of this week.  Not that I have tons of time to talk or whatever, but I like Dan’s presence and the house is much lonelier without him around.  Maybe I’ll get a bit of work done.  We’ll see.  Before he left today, we decided to have lunch at the North Market and afterward, I got Jeni’s.  They have a new rootbeer flavor that is creamy like a rootbeer float!  Two thumbs up.

Today, Dan finished his third custom made joystick.  This one was made for Benny-boo and boy is it nice!  Check it out.

Nice models too.

Dan’s working on his fourth masterpiece now.  The anticipation is killing me.

My Fall Guy

Dan and I took our annual Fall trip to hike at Clifton Gorge today.  It was crisp and beautiful and we enjoyed every minute of it.  After the hike, we stopped to get pumpkins, apples and even a squash.  I’m very serious about the squash selection process.

I didn't get that one.

After that, we went to Young’s Dairy Farm, got some burgers (they have a black bean burger now!) and ice cream.  The perfect fall day.  There are more pictures under the piictures tab (including a leaf as big as my head!).

Well, I got A LOT done today and I am feeling kinda groovy.  I slept in until 8, read, wrote my Foucault reflection, finished and submitted a paper for a journal, outlined my presentation for this Thursday (big conference!) and then read for another class.  Phew.  I need to get WAY ahead this week because next weekend is my best friend in the wide world, Marcy’s, wedding.  I am the maid of honor and I fully intend on relaxing and enjoying myself the ENTIRE weekend.  No work, just fun.

Speaking of fun, after all that work, Dan and I went to see The Informant.  It was a good movie.  You should see it.  I’m pretty tired.  Night!

Today, I woke up early to do yoga.  Then I read and read until my tech group meeting on campus, followed by my cultural studies class (which I love).  Then, I came home, made soup and read some more.  I feel a little less stressed in general, partly because Dan cleaned the bathrooms and did the laundry.  Now, I’m not saying he’s doing it just “for me” since, you know, he lives here too, but just seeing a clean bathroom and an empty laundry basket makes me feel like I have less to do.  And I am grateful for a husband that tries to relieve my stress.  Ain’t he the greatest?

Yesterday afternoon, Dan and I headed down to Cincinnati for his “surprise” 30th birthday party. I say “surprise” because he knew something was going on, just not what exactly. Joyce and I had been planning a secret party at an arcade full of classic arcade games like Streetfighter and Ms. Pacman! We rented a room in the back that had two TVs that you could also hook console games up to. Ben and Matt snuck down to help us set up games. Joyce made all the food and I bargained with the owners to stay open 30 minutes later so that we could get the UFC fight on one of the TVs in the back room. Oh, and my friend Molly even made this awesome cake shaped like an arcade stick!

Streetfighter cake!

Everyone showed up around 8 and Pete brought Dan at 8:30. Dan was surprised (or so he says) and we all had a good time running around playing games, eating pizza and cake, and watching the UFC fight.  Here’s a not unfamiliar scene from the evening.

Dan and Ben on Streetfighter II and Jeff on Ms. Pacman

There are lots more pictures of our friends and family having fun if you click on the “piictures” tab.  Happy 30th birthday to my distinguished husband who just so happens to still love video games!  I love you honey!

It was the fall of 2001 and I was a junior at Miami University.  I lived in an apartment with three of my friends.  I needed to take Physics 101 to fulfill part of my science credit requirement for my middle school license.  The physics courses on campus were early in the morning and several days a week, but there was one on a branch campus in Hamilton that was three hours one night a week.  I thought it sounded like a good idea, so I signed up for it.  The first night of class, I wore a purple basketball jersey I got a Goodwill.  It was one of those t-shirts with a number on the back and some local team on the front.  I had recently dyed my hair an orangey color and braided one section.  I drove my little black ‘97 Cavalier to Hamilton, not exactly sure where I was going, but eventually found the building and the classroom.  I made myself comfortable, got out my notebook and the classroom slowly filled with students.  A young professor walked in awkwardly and mumbled through some introductions.  At some point, I looked to my right and noticed a cute boy with dark hair and a red polo.  I quickly looked back to the front not wanting to be obvious.  But, I hadn’t really gotten a good look, so after a few minutes, I slowly looked back again and noticed broad shoulders, a strong jaw and pretty brown eyes.  Oooh, he is cute.

Class ended and there was no chance to talk to the cute boy, so I got in my car and headed home.  As I passed by a gas station, I saw a blur of red.  I craned my neck and caught another glimpse.  It was the cute boy again.  It was fate… I got home and told my roommates about that boy and schemed to figure out how to talk to him.  If I only knew at that moment that he would be the one. I might have just marched up and told him so, but then he would have been scared and maybe things would have turned out differently.  Everything worked out as it should have and now we’ve been married for exactly two years.  Happy Anniversary, cute boy.