The cutest picture story I've ever seen.

Lego Men building a computer

Busy

K, so Sarah's been in town for the past week, and she's going into the MTC on wednesday, so I've been spending as much time as possible with her. And when I'm not with her, I'm pretty much trying to make sure I don't fall behind on homework. So I've been pretty busy for a while.

So we went to Bestbuy today to give the geek squad her laptop. It's been shutting down randomly, and when she got it about 2 1/2 years ago, she got the 3 year service plan, so they're supposed to fix it for free. Well we brought it up to them, and this geek looks at it and says it's probably just an overheating problem. The way to fix it would be to blow out the dust, and that's not covered in the service plan. He'd do it though, for $20. Or, we could buy a can of air and do it ourselves. So while he's saying this, I just stood there staring at him. I was like, "so, you want me to go buy a can of air and that will make it so the machine can run for more than 5 minutes without shutting down?" (the really dumb thing is taht the shutting down is totally random. It can be on for 2 days and not shut down, or it can be on for 15 minutes and shut down.) He said, "yeah and this is where you should blow it in." and pointed to the two vents on the bottom of the laptop. I just stood there staring at him. Erik's been trying to fix it for a few days now, and he's tried reformating and system restore, but it won't even make it all the way through a format without shutting down. So after a few minutes of the geek trying to tell me that it was just dust, he said"we could run a diagnostic for you, though" and I was like, "yeah, duh. Why do you think I brought it in to you?" ok, I didn't say that, but I seriously think he thought I was completely computer illeterate.

Anyway, while we were there, I saw the cutest little USB drive. It was so tiny, and it's a gig. So, I got it. It was only $55 (after rebate of $20) and it's so cute! I put the blue cover on. So I'm in love.

Then, I came home and Erik & I looked on ebay for a laptop for one of my friends. We called her (she is so cute) and told her what we found. She was hoping to spend around $500, and said she didn't need anything fancy, so we looked and found some decent machines for around 500, but nothing really impressive. We did find one for $640 that was a really good little machine. It's an averatec, the same one I have now (the 3700 maybe?) except it's got an 80 gig hd and a DVD burner. So when I told her that we found that one, she decided she wanted it even though it was a little more than she was planning on. Since she doesn't have a paypal account or an ebay account, I told her we could get it for her and she's gonna give us the cash, then we can put it on our credit card. No harm, right? Well... I was a dummy, and instead of choosing the credit card, I chose the bank account... which doesn't have $640 in it... The thing is... (well the thing I'm hoping is) that erik gets paid on monday, and the paypal thing will go through on monday... so I'm *hoping* that there wont be any problems. And then with the cash she gives us on tuesday, we'll be able to replace what was taken out. oi. I felt like such a dummy.

In other news, I'm having a farewell party (get together, very informal) for Sarah on Tuesday from 6-8:30 or 9. Anyone who wants to come, feel free. It'll be fun, with some food, and whatever... games... who knows.

K, homework time....

top ten facts....

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Carolyn!

1. Carolyn can jump up to sixteen times her own height.
2. Carolyn will become gaseous if her temperature rises above -42°C.
3. Finding Carolyn on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.
4. In Eastern Africa you can buy beer brewed from Carolyn.
5. Never store Carolyn at room temperature!
6. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are Carolyn.
7. The canonical hours of the Christian church are matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, Carolyn and compline.
8. Two grams of Carolyn provide enough energy to power a television for over twenty-three hours.
9. Some hotels in Las Vegas have Carolyn floating in their swimming pools.
10. Carolyn has 118 ridges around the edge.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Democrats!

1. Democrats have four noses.
2. The democrat-fighting market in the Philippines is huge - several thousand democrat-fights take place there every day.
3. Wearing headphones for an hour will increase the amount of democrats in your ear 700 times!
4. Democrats will often glow under UV light!
5. Louisa May Alcott, author of 'Little Democrats', hated democrats and only wrote the book at her publisher's request.
6. Democrats will give a higher yield if milked when listening to music.
7. It takes forty minutes to hard-boil democrats.
8. If you lace democrats from the inside to the outside, the fit will be snugger around your big toe.
9. The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of democrats is blue.
10. Marie Antoinette never said 'let them eat cake' - this is a mistranslation of 'let them eat democrats'.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

And this one's for you, sukie:

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Beta fish!

1. It takes 17 muscles to smile, and 43 to frown at beta fish.
2. A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but beta fish can not!
3. Beta fish will become gaseous if their temperature rises above -42°C.
4. During the reign of Peter the Great, any Russian nobleman who chose to wear beta fish had to pay a special beta fish tax.
5. The condom - originally made from beta fish - was invented in the early 1500s!
6. Beta fish are 984 feet tall.
7. A beta fisometer is used to measure beta fish.
8. Beta fish have little need for water and are capable of going for months without drinking at all.
9. While sleeping, fifteen percent of men snore, and ten percent grind their beta fish.
10. More people are killed by beta fish each year than die in aeroplane accidents.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

insomniacish

Yeah, I'm being a bit nocturnal... not the best thing for me right now since I'm trying to get over a cold and classes start on Monday...

So, I just thought I'd post since I don't have anything better to do... well, no that's a lie, I do have something better to do, I just know I'm going to procrastinate it until the last possible minute. Like cleaning the house... I find that when I'm in school, I usually do a better job of cleaning the house because I'm procrastinating reading my homework. But then when it gets really busy, I end up doing my homework and then the house goes to pot... where did that expression come from, anyway?

I'm going over to Meryl & Yoshi's tomorrow. They bought a new couch yesterday and they have offered us their old one. So, Frik & I are going to go measure it and see if it'll fit in our little apartment. Then I'm gonna hang out over there for a while. Maybe play some star wars legos... I love that game. :o)

Yesterday, My mother in law took all the birthday people in the family out to dinner. It's kindof lucky for her that all of the people who have married into her family have birthdays really close to eachother. (Meryl: Dec 28, Rick: I think Jan 7th, and me: Jan 9th). Well, I don't know if you wanna call it lucky or unlucky. See, she has a tradition (I don't know how long running it is) that she takes her kids to lunch on their birthdays. So, since all of us "kids-in-law" have birthdays right after christmas, she decided to take us out together. the unlucky part is that it costs more (esp since it's right after christmas). The lucky part is that it gets all of the married ones together with her to have lunch. It was really fun. We went to this place... Cabo grill. It's similar to Bajio or Cafe Rio (kindof like Baja Fresh, for those of you in CO)

Then, after lunch, Frik & I went to her house and I got this crazy idea to rearrange furniture. So Lorna & I took apart a desk and we are still in the process of trying to turn the office (aka Eryn's old room) into a family room. We're gonna bring up the TV from the basement, and since Melissa & Scott are letting us have their couch, we're giving the one we currenly have to Lorna. We'll put it in the office along with a love sac that Frik & I decided we didn't want/have space for and maybe a chair... we're gonna see what we can fit in there.

Then the Front room will be... a front room! Wow... it's amazing, isn't it?

You know... I was just thinking... Lorna's got her work computer down in the office... and really, it'd create a lot more space for the family room if it wasn't there, but she doesn't want it down in the Basement (and I can't blame her. It's cold down there)... I wonder if it would be wise/ possible to combine her work computer with the family computer... and then have the landing become the office, which it is a little, but more of a home office. Hmm...

Of course, what I'd really like to do is buy her a new computer (hah, if I had money...) and then set up windows 95 (it sucks... but its they only version of windows that her digitizing software works with) as an alternative OS... Oh, I just talked to Frik about it... and we came up with another idea. A friend of ours offered him a Keyboard Video Mouse switch... which is I guess what you'd use to hook two computers up to the same keyboard, monitor, and mouse. So this is the new plan: set up both of Lorna's computers in the landing and then use the office just for the family room. Maybe move the pictures and paper down there in some little drawers or on the shelves that she's got there.

I am liking this idea. See what good ideas I come up with when I dont' sleep??

And then... for an amazing mothers day or birthday present, maybe we could chip in and get her the parts for a much needed upgrade to her "home" computer (since both of them are technically home). How much would that be? $250ish... or $300. Just a basic computer that's not from 1998...

well, I've been talking to frik about this, and I'm getting way too excited for 2:30 in the morning. Maybe it's time to go to bed. :o)

scary things

We saw a really bad accident today... actually, Frik saw it and I heard it. we were going to this store next to albertsons. we got out of the car and were walking in and suddenly i heard this crash. I turned around and saw this SUV flipped over right at the entrance to the parking lot. So Frik took out his cell phone and called 911. We started going towards it, and I could hear people screaming and crying. and little kids. It was really scary. When we got there, one lady was holding 2 little kids, and it seemed like there was still someone stuck in the car, but it was just the mom on the other side, looking for her kids. The kids had been taken out of the drivers side, and the mom was looking on the passenger side and couldn't find them. It turns out that the lady who was holding the kids was their grandma (who was driving a few cars behind her daughter and saw the whole thing happen). The lady who was driving the car was an EMT (and about 8 1/2 months pregnant) and the car that hit the SUV was a little black Honda. It was so weird that a Honda could flip an SUV, but I guess that it was going so fast, and since the SUV was turning and its center of gravity was all thrown to the outside, the Honda just had to hit it in the right spot to flip it.

So while the mom and grandma were calling people and running all over the place, I took the little boy (who I don't even know his name... I asked him and he held up 3 fingers...I guess he was 3 years old) and I wrapped him up in my jacket and held him. He kept pointing at the car and saying something I couldn't hear or understand very well.... Something about his car. So I kept telling him that it was ok and that all of the police cars and fire trucks were there to help, and telling him that his mom was ok, and his sister was ok... He was really cute, and you could tell that he was shocked. He was cuddling up to me and ... it was just really scary.

I didn't see the driver of the Honda until the EMT's were there. All I saw was that they had her strapped down to a board and they were taking her to the ambulance. So I don't know how she is, but all the others were ok.

I am a little worried about the pregnant lady's baby... she was on her way to the hospital b/c she had been having back pains, and I guess she's due to deliver in a few days, so... I hope she's ok.

When we started driving away, I was all nervous that we were going to get hit, and that Frik had to be more careful. Accidents are just scary.

On a lighter note: Erik and I went to Costco yesterday and signed up for a membership. They told us that we could sign up for an American Express card that had no fees, no annual fee as long as we keep the Costco membership, so since we are closing my bank accound some time soon, and along with it, my credit card, we decided to apply and we were approved. So now we have a Costco membership and another credit card (which is kindof scary to me...I really hate credit cards) But we took a look at our accounts today and we're putting some money from this last paycheck onto my current credit card, and then we'll finish paying it off with the next paycheck, and then close the accound and be done with the retarded bank... really, retarded...

Oh, and we went to Frik's bank today and added me to his account and ordered checks. I also made him change his address, since his bank statements are still going to his mom's house...

Tomorrow I'm going to campus to change my name (I was going to today, but it was almost 5 by the time we got home from the accident). I'm finally getting all the married stuff taken care of. It's only been 4 months. :o)

New Year

I've been thinking about whether or not I should write any new year resolutions... It seems like when people hear "new year resolution" they roll their eyes because really, who ever actually keeps theirs? Saying, "I want to loose 20 lbs" or "I want to get straight A's" or... "I want to keep the house clean".... well, it all sounds good until you try putting them in action. Isn't there a statistic that most new year resolutions are broken within 2 weeks or something? Well, I don't know, but I was putting together the Relief Society calendar for church next week (It's my calling... basically, I put all the girls birthdays on and what the lesson will be each week, then add any announcements I can find and then i look for a nice quote to put at the top) So I was thinking about what quote to put on the top and I did a search on lds.org for "new year resolution". I came back with some articles from the ensign. I picked from one called, "Resolutions" by Joe J. Christensen. They printed it a few years later in the New Era, too. It said:

"Only one verse of scripture in the entire King James Version of the New Testament suggests what the Savior did to develop himself from age twelve until he began his formal ministry at age thirty: “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man” (Luke 2:52; see JST, Matt. 3:24–26). In other words, the Savior developed in the [following areas]: intellectually (in wisdom and knowledge), physically (in stature), socially (in favor with man), and spiritually (in favor with God). I am convinced that if we make and keep resolutions in those four areas, we will have a happier and more successful new year this coming year and every year for the rest of our lives."

So, that's what made me decide to write some resolutions.... but since it seems like "new year resolutions" are made to be broken, I'm just gonna call them goals. And since an unwritten goal is pretty much just a wish, I'm going to write them here. :)

My Goals for the coming year:

-Learn more in my classes by doing my readings and homework

-Intentionally exercise (not just walking to and from class) at least once a week (baby steps, baby steps...)

-Make my apartment a place that people will feel comfortable... Maybe it's just me, but I'm usually uncomfortable in dirt and smell... I want a place that people will want to come to, and not feel like they're walking into a pig pen full of last weeks food encrusted dishes.

-Go to church every week, whether or not I can wake Erik up... :o) and Pray together at night.

There are, of course, other things that I want to work on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself. Maybe that's why people don't succeed at their new years resolutions. Maybe they just make too long of a list and they don't know where to start, and so they try to do all of them, but... honestly, you can't change your entire life at one time.

well, I'm going to go shopping. yippee!!! (not really... groceries...) :o)