...?

Ok, so those of you puzzling at my last three posts may wonder whether my blog got eaten by the dreaded Question Mark Monster or something.  Nope.  And as much as I would like to say a cute kitty decided to go to sleep on my keyboard, I don't have one.  The probable culprit:  I tried to blog from my phone earlier about the flurries and my flu shot.  (By the way:  We had a few flurries today, though not enough to actually show up on the ground.  And I got my flu shot.)  Why that posted three posts full of question marks and random letters, I don't know.  Though  I did get confirmation texts from Blogger on my phone saying that all three of my posts posted successfully...  Maybe instead of me getting the flu, my blog posts did?  

Anyway.  I can't decide whether I should delete them or leave them for the hilarity factor.  If you have an opinion one way or the other, please share.  In the meantime, I'm going to go hide from the dreaded Question Mark Monster.

Yay! And, housing arrangements.

I got to spend yesterday and the day before with my oh-so-awesome parents.  They are probably home right now, asleep and tired from the car trip, but I'm glad they came, despite the (non)-fun of long car rides.  We hung out, shopped, talked, saw Wall·E, saw 1964:  The Tribute performed in Virginia Tech's own Burruss Hall (which was a LOT of fun; I haven't seen my parents both singing along with music at a concert until last night), and just generally had fun.  It was awesome.  It was only icing on the cake that they brought me food, a suitcase (to make coming home for breaks easier), and other stuff.  Thank you, Mom and Dad!  xoxo!

We also discussed something very important:  where I am going to live next year.  I have to decide before Winter Break whether I am moving off campus next academic year or not, so my parents, S (the fellow woman engineering student with whom I will more than likely be rooming; she's awesome), and I met and talked apartments.  S had obviously done much more research than I had had time to do, so she knew most of the details about housing around here and had already focused on a couple nice apartment complexes.  We both want a quiet community, and we both miss having the privacy of our own rooms (or at least a near 100% guarantee that there will be somewhere in our living space where we can "recharge" alone, as we are both introverted).  We discussed stuff we need to be sure to ask while taking tours of the candidates, and we will be working on priority lists for what we can't live without soon (aka as soon as I get my dormwork done, I'm doing mine).  However, I don't think we've entirely removed the possibility of staying on campus.  But, if we do go off, Virginia Tech has an excellent bus system, and most of the apartments we are looking at are within easy walking distance too.  I wouldn't have to drive unless I had a giant tri-fold board or prototype model to transport, pretty much.

But Virginia Tech is having a bit of a housing crunch.  More and more incoming freshmen means less and less upperclassmen housing, so we may be "strongly encouraged" to do our bit to help next year's freshmen not have to live in study lounges or room with RA's (because some, over halfway into the semester, are still being forced to do that!)  I've been thinking about the possibility of going off campus for a while, and while it is nice to live right in the middle of everything, it would also be nice to have a room or quiet space of my own, and to live with someone with a similar sleep pattern.

Anyway, if anyone has any sage advise for apartment hunting or a definite reason to stay on or go off campus, please let me know.  I would definitely appreciate it, especially since I don't know everything involved or what to take into consideration.

Brr.

It's cold here.

Except indoors.

Slusher Wing, along with most of the other buildings here, is very good at retaining heat, and that seems to mean that the radiators have to come on in order to make it even hotter.  Right now, the thermostat in my room says it is about 78 degrees F in here.  That is perfectly fine with me, though.  When I'm just sitting around doing stuff and not doing any kind of exercise, I love it.  I always seem to be cold, so it is kind of nice being the perfect temperature for a change.  It gets uncomfortably hot when one of my laptops has been on my lap for a while, or I come in from walking from class outside with a coat on.  But right now, it's perfect.

But my sense of logic says that that makes no sense.  I think it makes perfect sense to say "I would rather be cold, because you can always put on another layer of clothing, whereas when you are hot, there is only so much clothing you can take off and go out in public," but for some reason, I like being on the warm side of room temperature.  Unless it gets up to heatstroke levels and I can't get out of the sun for a long time, I'm quite happy being hot.  (I'll probably alter my opinion when it gets warm again, though!)  Being cold?  I can't stand it.

Oh, and when I download my camera's pictures eventually, maybe I'll remember to post the first frost I've seen this academic year, taken early in the morning sometime this past week.

So, to my lovely parents who will be visiting this weekend:   Bring a coat.

A fire drill at a normal time? No way!

#6, and yes way.  We had the sixth fire drill of the year at about 12:45.  It was COLD.  But at least it was not at 2 AM.

I wouldn't be surprised if it frosts soon, though.  I keep forgetting to pull out either of my warm coats, though, since the dorm is very good at retaining heat AND they turned the radiators on.  I was considering changing into a t-shirt earlier before I turned the fan on.

Ok, enough ranting.  Back to homework.

BTW, I can't wait to see my parents this weekend!  Major <3!

Dorm Cookin'

So.  I bought some 75% organic Macaroni and Cheese (individual serving packets) on Thursday, and I finally decided to try one.  After buying a little tupperware-ish bowl from the general store, I set to making the pasta part of the M&C.  I used the measuring cup my mom so graciously lent me to take to college to make the pasta.

But, the microwave, so enthusiastic to actually help make a meal, was extra hot.  After about a minute, I had to stop the thing because the water nearly boiled over (glad I was watching it!)(And so, yes, watched water can boil.).  I took it out, stirred the al crunchy pasta, and put it back in to try again.  About ten seconds later I had to stop it, as it was boiling over again.  But the pasta wasn't done yet.

So, the next five minutes or so were spent stopping the microwave, stirring the pasta, and starting it again, stopping just before the white foam reached the top of the measuring cup.  I hope I didn't drive my neighbors nuts.  But eventually, the pasta was al dente the way it was supposed to be, and I could stop babysitting the microwave and actually add the cheese part of Mac&Cheese.

That is probably the brightest yellow cheese sauce I have ever seen.  It was pretty good taste-wise, but it looked almost radioactively yellow.  I suspect the dorm room lights; the cheese powder looked perfectly normal to me.  Or maybe they went a little food coloring-happy.  (Maybe that was the 25% non-organic part.)

But all in all, a successful food venture.  Except for the one poor noodle that landed on the floor and ended up in the trash.  Poor little guy.

So tune in next time on Dorm Cookin' for more adventures with Laura and her roommate's microwave.  Fun for the whole hall!

Cookies, Hair, and Bruce's Fossa

Today wasn't exactly a norm day.  Even though I usually only have one Friday class (and it gets cancelled every Friday on which we have a take-home quiz, like last Friday), today was different.  Maybe it just felt that way because we were dedicatedly getting classes off, and a large percentage of the campus population was elsewhere.  A friend of mine and I spent the day together.  We went to Crumb and Get It (see last post), which was amazing, even though we didn't do custom cookies.  We split a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie (chocolate dough and chips) and a chocolate-Andes cookie (chocolate dough with Andes mints), which were delicious.  She then showed me the public library, which was pretty cool, and then we did some homework, ate at Hokie Grill, and hung out for a couple hours.  And now I'm back at my dorm room.

Researching hair styles.

I don't know what I want to do with my hair, exactly.  And I have until November to decide, but it's still bugging me.  I want it significantly shorter, that's for sure.  Mid-neck length or so.  Long hair is a hassle, especially since I don't always blow dry my hair.  And even when I do, it frizzes and the front parts start doing their crazy little curvey-wavy thing.  So I guess I should look for a messy hair style.  Or should I get a perm?  How do those work?  And how long do they last?  I'm sick of my hair looking good for only a couple hours at a time…

On a completely unrelated note, I just discovered the name (and the function) of that weird little dip right under your nose and above your lips:  the philtrum, infranasal depression, or Bruce's Fossa.  I've always wondered.  Apparently it allows the lips to make a wider range of expressions than would otherwise be physically possible.  Which is pretty cool.  God thinks of everything, doesn't He?

Fire Drill Count

#5  (View the time stamp, please.  I got a very pleasant wake-up call of BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH after being asleep for a while.)

Though I'm sure it isn't on purpose that all our fire "drills" end up in the wee hours of the morning.  I think either some not-so-well-meaning prankster pulls the fire alarm, or someone decides he or she really really really  needs popcorn at 2:30 AM.  And burns it.  I really think the dorms don't bother to schedule fire drills; they just happen on their own.

My tablet is insane, part 2

So.  Since my tablet refuses to boot properly, I probably won't see it until Thursday, and it will probably be wiped and I'll get to spend next Friday refilling it with programs.  Oh fun.  I get to borrow someone else's computer (or something… I dunno) to do my (OneNote format exclusive) Engineering homework, which is LAME.  Why isn't there something for Windows that allows you to boot off a disk, dig around in the hard drive (because sometimes it's possible to save a computer without wiping it clean, even if you can't start off the drive!  I think I've done it before on my Macs!), save important stuff, and then reinstall the system?  For Macs, all you need are the system install discs.  They do all of that, and sometimes you don't even need to reinstall the system.  Much less wipe the hard drive.

Argh.  I have to admit that Windows, when it works, is bearable to use.  It has useful software that won't run on my (ancient) Mac.  But it is certainly hard to perform diagnostics on something that won't start up off the nonexistent system install disk and is not user friendly when broken.

I miss being able to use my Mac for everything.  (And no, don't say that it's nice that now I get to use my Mac for everything.  Half the software I need does not come on a Mac, especially not one as old and as non-Intel as mine.)

Sorry if I sound non-professional here, and I'm sorry if I'm offending your favorite computer platform or something.  I'm just frustrated and would rather rant in text than scream, punch a pillow, etc.

My tablet is INSANE!

So.  I am writing this from my Mac (which I love) instead of from my school tablet (which, up until a few hours ago, hasn't been too bad) because… well, you know how the definition of insanity is that you do something over and over and over again just the same way, yet you expect different results?  Yeah.  My tablet is trying to start up.  Over.  And over. And over.  I've changed what settings I can without actually being able to get to the operating system, yet it still hangs at one particular point in startup.  If I try to boot from a CD, it is either a CD that will wipe my hard drive (BAD, since I have taken some important notes since I last backed up my computer) or… it is a CD  that tries to start me up in a version of Knoppix.  A very limited text-only version of Knoppix, I might add.  Open source OS's are cool, but not when I don't know how to use them, and the commands I find for them online don't actually work, or at least not with the version on the CD.

Might I mention that I am spoiled, since my Mac rarely acts up, and if it does, I have the system install CDs which WON'T try to wipe the hard drive and will let me start it up and try to get stuff off the drive before wiping it?  I wish such  things existed for Windoze.  I am sick of being frustrated.  Some things just make sense.

Right after I finish my Vector Geometry test tomorrow, I am so going to one of the Computer help people.  Argh.

My First College Fire Drill

Happened at 12:04 AM.  As in, just now.

Thankfully, I was just reading Linear Algebra stuff on the computer.  One of my friends was taking a shower and had to come out in her bathrobe.

Apparently there was another fire drill a week or two ago, but it occurred around 7pm when I was out.  Midnight is a much more reasonable time, no?  More people to drive out of their rooms, more chaos, you know.  Fun times!

In other news, my halogen desk lamp has been deemed unsuitable for living on my desk, according to fire codes.  And since the inspectors apparently had no problem with the boxes I stuck behind our clothes drawers (which are under my roommate's lofted bed with about 2 1/2 feet between them and the wall, perfect for storage), I stuck the now-unmutual desk lamp in one of them.  So... now I need another source of desk light.  I think I'll be hitting Target this weekend.  (Doubly so, since my roommate wants a coffeemaker, and I am not terribly opposed to the idea...)

Anyway.  To the showers, especially since the odds have gone down that I will have to run out in my towel wrap due to a fire drill right in the middle.  *knock on wood*

Oof.

Well, I just got back from my trip to Wally's world. It was good, I got the stuff I needed, and I even got some sugar-free Pop-ice for the freezer. And cheesesticks. And chocolate chips, since I just ran out of chocolate. And, of course, Diet Dr Pepper. (Without caffeine, of course.)

Then I had to get it back here. It was heavy, and I'm still a little unfamiliar with the route to the Cage from Walmart and from the Cage to Slusher Wing. But when I got there, someone held the door open for me. Awesome people.

Well, I'm gonna go check out Gobblerfest, the student organization fair. I'm hoping there's free food. And sorry for the rant, by the way.

Man, how do people get golf carts here? I see lots of people driving them around. I want one!

Chem Lab......

Well, I have my first Chem lab tomorrow at 8:00 AM. I can't say I'm 100% looking forward to it, since during the chem lab I did during the summer program I always seemed to be making mistakes due to being nervous about making mistakes by improperly documenting the boiling of water or something else that would seem entirely trivial were it not done in a laboratory setting. Or something like that. But I'm probably just overreacting. Although I will have to boil water tomorrow... =)

Speaking of which, since we will be using Bunsen burners for several labs, and since there are many, many students who must use Bunsen burners every semester, why does the university make students bring matches or lighters to class? Would it not make sense to invest in some strikers? It feels a bit sketchy (or as native Blacksburgians say, as far as I can tell, sketch) to be carrying a lighter around in my backpack. (FYI, I am very anti-smoking!) But I guess it's understandable; mine cost barely more than a dollar. Still, the semi-implied association makes me squeamish and unjustifiably embarrassed. Although I'm not a lab instructor. Maybe there are regulations or something. If I didn't have homework to do this semester, I might research the reasoning. =) I'm not trying to subvert authority or anything; just curious and a bit weirded out.

Anyway, I should get to bed so I can actually be awake for said Chem lab. Good night!

Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day!

Well, today is the much-anticipated Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day. I won't say much, but I will point you to Kerri's blog and say that I am very happy that she came up with this idea. Also, this flyer is a very good explanation of type 1. For anyone who wants more info, please check it out.

Well, I would type more, but I'm exhausted and have a Calculus test tomorrow. Oh joy. The cause of my exhaustion will have to be blogged about soon. = ) So I'll just say that, if you see a diabetic today, give them a hug. They deserve it; diabetes is unpredictable.  And most diabetics are more than willing to answer questions, so ask them!  (But I'll tell the world right now that no type 1 diabetic is at fault for his or her disease. It isn't caused by eating too much candy or being irresponsible; the immune system just gets a bit crazy and destroyes the beta cells inside the Islets of Langerhans (which are in the pancreas) so that the body can no longer produce insulin. Believe me; if I had control over my immune system, I would not tell it to do that! = ) )

Er…  Studying.  Right.  I think I'll log off now.

I'm nervous.

I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. I've been stocking up on books, and I have my yet-unwatched DVDs of the five-hour A&E rendition of Pride and Prejudice. And a couple of Homestar Runner DVDs that Hol&J sent me for Christmas. Ready to veg out, pig out on jello, pudding, and mashed potatoes, and generally feel like yuck for a week. Ugh. At least I have entertainment. And summer homework. Some of it is interesting.

But I've been a bit more clumsy today than usual. I'm tripping over my tounge more often. I've heard the horror stories—how my mom had a couple of hers taken out in a not-so-clean office but survived (she didn't tell me about any infections or anything, so I think it was more creepy than infectious), how a few teens have woken up halfway through the procedure, negative reactions to the pain medication, etc. If my oral surgeon uses the wrong saline for my IV-thingy, I may have another horror story to add to the hall of pain: steadily climbing and later insanely high blood sugars. The doctor said he would use Ringers (I think I'm spelling that right, but since this is only the second time I've been knocked out, and the first was when I was three, I'm definitely guessing on these IV-liquid names. I am such a newbie to the horrors of the medical world.) for my IV if my blood sugar was 150ish or above on the morning of the surgery. He said if it was much lower, he would use D-5 (again, guessing on the name. It was D-something.). He only reached that decision after my mom argued with him; he wanted to use D-5 from the start. But my mom said "You do know the D stands for Dextrose, right? Her blood sugar is going to go really high." (not exact words. My memory's not that good.) Hence the above arrangement. No pressure on diabetes control, Ky. None. As long as it's around 150. Exactly would be great. Try to beat Mom's record of 152 on the morning of a surgery when she told the surgeon she'd come in at 150.

Heh. Pray for me. I think everything will be fine, but there are so many things that could go wrong.

Jetlag………

I honestly thought I would blog today. Really. And I guess I am, but just to say that I'll post pictures and more stories from Germany later. Probably tomorrow. We'll see. I'm jetlagged and tired and irritable. I wouldn't be so irritable usually after travel, but spending four weeks cooped up with one person is hard for an introvert such as myself, and I have two more weeks to go. S is a very nice person; I just need some time alone everyday to recharge.

So I'll probably update tomorrow. Sorry about the delay. Hopefully your local bookstore isn't far away so you can find something to read. (As if I update regularly enough for that to matter…)

Sooo… check back later. And happy 4th of July, everybody! **starts humming "I'm Proud To Be an American" and then stops because she realizes it's past midnight**

Blech.

Finals are this week. Today was the last full day of school for me; the rest are days that are about 4 hours and 20 minutes long. I can eat lunch at a reasonable time (i.e. not 10:30 AM, as I have had to do this year because of my lunch period classes) and maybe get to work more than two or three measly hours a week—get some serious filing done. Sweet. I'd rather get paid than sit in class and try not to fall asleep. (I don't usually fall asleep in class, by the way. I do get drowsy, though!)

Anyway, an explanation for the title of this entry: I am using Crest Whitestrips right now. The old ones, because my mom insisted in using up the 30-minutes-twice-a-day-year-old variety before buying me the five-minute-once-a-day-for-a-week kind. Which makes sense, but oh man, these things are annoying. When my mom gets home from work soon, she may be greeted with "Ewwo, Moh! Ow wuuh wuhk?" translation: Hello, Mom! How was work?". Lovely. Typing or handwriting is the only way I can communicate until 5 PM. *looks at clock* And I am afraid to swallow my spit because I'm afraid one or both of the Whitestrips will try to go down my throat as well. (Sorry. That sounds gross to me as well.) And to make matters worse, the gel on the strips tastes bad. I'm not deliberately trying to taste it, but since I put these pieces of plastic in my mouth, I am bound to taste them at least somewhat. I've heard that tastebuds die every seven years and regrow after that. I hope that happens right now and they regrow after I stop using these torture devices stupid teeth-whitening things. I hope this works well, though. I'd love to have non-yellow teeth. But I'm glad these are obsolete. The five-minute variety seems heavenly compared to these. I just hope that those don't leave goop on your teeth after the strips come off like these do!