Dru DiFrancesco

cochlear implants

2011-09-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

Just in case you had been wondering what cochlear implants sound like I found a link for you with some demos. Recently I have found this topic kind of interesting and have been giving it some pondering and so I went to the internet to find my answers.

THIS PAGE has 4 demos on it that are really interesting

This is a picture of basically what cochlear implants are. There is a microphone that picks up sounds and then sends them through radio channels to a thing they put in your head which then will stimulate the cochlea which is the part of your ear that senses the different pitches and such. This picture says it has a 22-electrode array but currently they have them up to 32. The higher the number the better because it basically is the number of different pitches that are heard with the implant. So with a 32-electrode array then you can hear 32 different pitches which is lots better than the earlier models with like 4. You will be able to tell from those hearing demos. Anyway, I'm sure Katie could tell you lots more about it than I can but I was so curious about what an implant would hear like.

Just in case you were wondering about men's facial hair like I was

2011-09-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

going with a theme here

2011-07-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

i love harry potter

One time i was a high school teacher...

2011-07-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

well remember that rebecca black song that was super annoying?
did you know that high schoolers love it?
like LOOOOOOVE it?
and would not let it DIE like the rest of us did after we had a good laugh about it and all the comedic spin offs?
Every friday the kids would come in singing that song
and i dont know if many of you remember high school very well
sometimes i feel like i dont
but it is like practically impossible to teach on fridays
i dont remember being quite as spacey about fridays, but maybe it's just something you dont see as much until you are the teacher and are accountable for keeping students productive

and fridays at the end of the year are literally equivalent to personally going into their homes at 5 in the morning on a saturday in july and trying to teach them for 10 hours straight all while coldstone is outside giving out free cones and the carnival is in town. i mean seriously. there's nothing in the world that could get a kid to learn something on those days.

anyway... they would all come in singing the rebecca black song and would REFUSE to do anything until we watched the music video. and one time is never enough for them. they always want to watch it at the end of the period too when they have finished all their work (which can be a pretty good motivator actually). but after a couple of weeks with wanting to puncture my own eardrums with an ice pick, i found a good compromise. i came across this little beaut one day while surfing around youtube with eric. and i would play this every friday instead of the real music video. perfect solution. now that the year is long over, i find myself kind of missing it. that's how much i like it! Anyway, i had just been thinking about it and it was such a life saver to me and i liked to so much that i thought someone else out there might also enjoy it.

by the way, it's mirror image because then it doesnt get pulled off youtube for copyright infringement

Finally Figuring out Some Features

2011-07-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

I got a cannon powershot SX30 IS for my birthday/graduation this year and I loved in from the very beginning. It takes great shots and is really easy to use. It's one of those cameras that is above the point and shoot cameras but below the big mama DSLR cameras with the changeable lenses because you gotta have the wide angle lense and then the telephoto lense and the hood and they cost a million dollars. So this is something with a lot of features like the DSLRs that allows one to be more creative and take some awesome pictures but it can also be just an easy camera for when you simply want to take pictures without all the hassles. (Also I love this particular model because it's 14.1 MP and 35X OPTICAL zoom. and it takes great videos. I recommend it for anyone looking for a good camera.)

Anyway I have mostly used the auto settings on this camera and have taken some good shots with just the manual. Even in auto mode you can still change the focus frame and get good, clear zoom shots and stuff. I have always thought "some day I will figure out all the features and settings of this camera and use them to my advantage" but then i never did. Until 4th of july came and i thought of how cool it would be now that i had a good camera to get some awesome fireworks shots. Well, i figured it out enough to get a couple pretty good shots because i figured out how to change the shutter speed so it would be like 5 seconds or so. Here is a shot i got that i feel is pretty good.

It could be a little better if I had a tripod because I can see that I was slightly shaky, but I dont have a tripod so oh well. Anyway, I was proud of me.

Then I decided to get serious. I got a book from the library, something that would just tell me what aperture was and it's relationship with ISO and shutter speed. But then the book never actually defined it. So that was dumb and I ended up having to get it from the internet. But don't worry because aperture is just how much the camera opens. So then what I did figure out from the book is that it's the same principle as when you make pinhole glasses for the kid in your class that can't see the board when you are teaching and forgot his glasses that day (that really happened to me and i literally had to make him some pinhole glasses just to stop his whining). I also played with the manual focus. Here are a few shots I took. None of them are that great of photos because they are just messing around pictures of some lights in my room, but I feel proud because they illustrate how I figured it out.

Focus is on the star light in front (wide aperture)...

I manually focused this one so the further one would now be in focus

For some reason I actually really liked this one (a smaller aperture than the first--the difference in focus between the foregroud and background is not as drastic)

Long exposure of the night sky. This took some adjusting with shutter speed, aperture, and ISO to get the right combo. I really like it though. The tree and the stars are sharp but you can see how much the clouds were moving.

Here's some of Juno Bug just because she's cute

She had just ripped up the junk mail which is one of her favorite activities

Sometimes when Juno has a treat she likes to lick your hand to show love so Brooke was just PRETENDING to lick juno's paw back to show her that she loved her too.

Juno Bug's Wedding

2011-06-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

My sister and I were watching Four Weddings on TLC when we started thinking that maybe we should have our dog get married and have her enter to be on the show. We had a few chuckles at the thought of Juno being a bride, but we didn't stop there. Of course we had to take it to the point of ridiculousness. As is per usual in our home. Here are some of the ideas we threw out randomly for how it would all go down.

---Of course the theme of the whole thing would be "a dog's fantasy"
---At the end of the ceremony the pastor would say, "you may now tear up the veil with the bride" because juno just loves to tear up stuff and it would be a great way for them to share a beautiful moment.
---For the first dance of the couple we would just put some toys in the middle of the room and watch them play together. Everyone would think it was just so adorable!
---We would serve everyone 1 cup of measured cereal (which is how much dog food Juno gets for each of her 2 meals a day) and Juno just LOVES cereal.
---For dessert we would have cookies. Dog "cookies" for the canine variety of guests (cookies is what we call Juno's treats), and human cookies for the homo sapien variety of guests.
---For dancing we would have a bunch of disco balls and lazer things because Juno LOVESSSSSSSS to chase lights
---In between the ceremony and reception the guests would all be invited to go on a walk
---Of course all the decorations would be dog themed like bones, hydrants, etc. And we would have the colors be blue and yellow/green because those are the colors dogs see best

By the time we had finished entertaining this idea we were pretty much rolling with laughter. But when it comes down to it, it would be really cute to see Juno as a bride if dogs could actually get married. I would even be willing to sew her wedding gown for her. But then I think everything Juno does is cute/funny. Now I can't help but wonder when MTV is going to be calling... True Life: I Love My Dog Too Much.

my periodic table hanging proudly on my wall

2010-11-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

It's from 1979 so it's obviously outdated but I don't care.

My favorite element: CARBON!

Halloween!

2010-10-31T18:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to visit Rach in Logan to party. The term just ended for school so I was up for some good hang out time. On Friday night we went with a whole group to the haunted labs that USU physics students put on or something. It was cool. They did a really good job. I had some guy crawling after my legs at one point and that's what got me the most. We also came back and watched an Alfred Hitchcock although I only got through the first 10 minutes before I was falling asleep too much to sit and watch. But it was good to meet some people and also hang with friends. Then on Saturday we made delicious curry (which we kinda burned but it couldn't stop the deliciousness) and hung around but then come 4 we were full up with getting dressed and ready for the howl.

This is the group of girls

Me as poison ivy. Rach did my hair and she did such a good job!

Another group shot of all of us who went to the howl.

After the howl I washed the red stuff out of my hair and let me tell you that it was not a pretty thing. There was red EVERYWHERE and I had to shampoo 4 times until the suds were not pink. It was so worth it though for how good it looked. Thanks for letting me stay in your tiny apartment for the weekend, Rach. I love you.

Another Long Time Dream: FULFILLED

2010-10-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I am now the proud owner of an ancient, but giant, perodic table. Thanks to a kind physics teacher at Taylorsville High. I only squealed just a little though.

9 days

2010-10-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Just 9 school days left.
4 chem
5 human bio
2 test days
1 mole day celebration
1/2 work day for end of term

What has become of my BFF Jared?

2010-10-15T22:32:00.000-07:00

Today I painted a totally awesome mini pumpkin that I picked out at the grocery store that was very round and it was a nice fun Halloween craft.

But the real news is that my friend Jared called to tell me that he was in the slammer, the joint, the big house, the pen, the last stop, the inside--whatever you want to call it. That's right Jared had a warrent out for his arrest and was driving on a suspended license. And we all thought he was a law abiding citizen! Good thing there were some good coppers in St. Louis who were on their toes today with an eye out for rif raf like Jared. So after some tight handcuffing, a ride to the station (don't worry he buckled up safely), getting frisked in rather uncomfortable places, being forced to admit that he didn't have any roaches on him (what's a roach anyway?), and spending a whole 10 long minutes behind bars, he finally was released. And then went on a big goose chase all over the area getting paperwork filled out and retrieving his car from impound. Jared, don't worry. Even though many might judge you harshly for your incarceration, I'll still always be your friend! You should try to get your hands on those mug shots too. I think they have profile picture potential.

4 weeks to go!

2010-10-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

I thought that it would never happen, the day when my student teaching ended. But here I am so close I can taste it. And it tastes delicious. Because it tastes like real money and a real job. I have loved student teaching a lot and the kids are awesome and sometimes I feel bad that they are my guinea pigs because I often am just faking that I know what to do. BUT I can't say that I haven't been annoyed more than a few times when the students say stuff like, "you are doing this for FREEEEEEE?!! The other teachers are getting paid to not teach while you do all this work for FREE!!!?" And what can I say other than, "Thanks for reminding me." But soon my two separate dreams of doing what I love and having money will be one magnificent reality. Hopefully. I heart the economy.

Werewolf tongue disease

2010-09-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

Was poking around the photos of stuff on WebMD like I sometimes do, and came across this little beaut. Wa-ho-ho! You KNOW you're not brushing right if it looks like that.

And what do you bet this is called? Yeah. Black hairy tongue, so creative. I like werewolf tongue disease better. And it's totally harmless by the way. It develops when your tongue bumps grow too long and collect bacteria. Like krill in a whale? That's a delicious comparison.

Utah State Fair

2010-09-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Huh, it would be quite the understatement to say that it's been a little while since I have blogged. So I won't waste my time saying it....

This weekend I went to the State Fair with my pals-ies. It was awesome and my first time going. We had a little fried stuff of course, saw cute animals (including sea lions that were trained to pose for pictures with people), and went on some rides. I avoided all the spinny stuff because I didn't want to be barfing up my fried food. On someone perhaps. Like Naomi, for example.

Me being concerned about the intense circular nature of these rides meant to empty ones insides.

Now back to student teaching! I'm halfway-ish done. But student-teacher conferences are this week and I'm nervous I'll get some crazy angry parents that belittle my professionalism through their cloaking of clever words or perhaps straight out jabs. Either way.

Just for Jared

2010-06-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

I was talking on the phone to my best friend Jared today and telling him of how he needs to catch up on reading my blog. And then I thought to myself... I should introduce the internet to my friend Jared. So that is what I will do now. Meet Jared internet! We got to be friends sophmore year of high school when he moved to utah. I had a crush on him from the very beginning but then we soon grew to just be very good friends. He is very very very funny and gets everyone rolling around on the floor in a couple minutes flat. There have been many times that I have been literally PARALIZED with laughter. I am pretty much redused to having the same amount of control over my body as Christopher Reeve post accident when Jared really gets going. He also loves to sort crackers and gets very stressed should anyone come along and MESS those crackers up. Exhibit A... He also likes to sometimes call every female toots when he gets all know-it-all-y. Which of course makes me laugh my face off. Jared also moved to the great state of Missourah a couple years or so ago and I went to visit him last summer. Best. Vacation. Ever. I actually told someone yesterday that band tour junior year was my favorite vacation. But I unknowingly lied. I'm sorry. If you are reading this take this as me correcting myself. Because Jared was so excited for me to come that he had planned out the whole trip by making lists of things we "must do" things we "may do if time permits" and "things we must NOT do" because I started teasing him about going and doing girly things. When I got there he was the greatest gentleman and gave up his room so I could have it for the week, along with his giant bed, while he took the love sac in the living room. He also took me to walmart when I first got there to buy me all the food that I wanted to eat for the week. On top of that I got to spend a lot of time hanging out with his family, catch a lightning bug, study scriptures with him every night and have deep spiritual talks, see the old man character dance at six flags, climb around a bus on top of a building, and practice my hand at brail in some gardens we went to. Jared even let me borrow a pair of his man shorts to wear to six flags because I forgot to bring shorts. What a PAL! We also worked together to get this picture at the St Louis Arch of the skirted man. Those are NOT loose fitting shorts, my internet posse. That is a hot pink mini skirt. On an old man. Who also had pierced ears. I like to call him Jare Bear. Just because he hates it and it's corny. So he calls me Drubles. We often end up playing phone tag with each other because Jared NEVERRRRRRRRRRR answers his phone when I call him 600 times. every hour. And then he sometimes calls me back but always at the moment that I can not answer or am away from my phone. But this tag and these nicknames do allow for a lot of fun voicemail messages. I can always let my true self fly free with Jared's voicemail. Including doing several strange voices just to be funny. Or sometimes annoy him (whiney voice!). We also have so many good jokes together. I just love my Jare Bear and I'm so proud of him for being the person that he is. I am sooooooooooooo lucky to have good friends. Since Rachel came back from her mission we have gotten closer than ever and it makes me so happy to see that her mission did not distance us but rather made our friendship even tighter. And even though Katie and Laura have gotten married I still talk to them a lot and have so much fun hanging out with them. It's such a treat to see them and I know I can still talk to them about anything. My life is just full of true friends. Old and new. And there were no stipulations put in place by Jared about this post.

A Run at Dusk

2010-06-01T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last night I wanted to go for a run but it was starting to get a little late-ish so I got my dad to agree to ride his bike along with me as I ran. Since that girl got stabbed and died the other night in Taylorsville on on the path, I just couldn't bring myself to go alone. He also decided to take the dog because she loves to fitness. But she has a problem of always having to stop to do business. And she also very much gets concerned with everyone staying together. She can not stand to have anyone get out of sight. Anyway, I got back from my run and looked in the mirror to see something like this... Except all across my forhead. DELICIOUS!

Sports are s'awesome

2010-05-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

Is it dumb if a big reason I want to run a full marathon someday is so that I can get one of those "26.2" bumperstickers that nobody notices unless you are really into running and then it seems like EVERYONE has one? Well that and I guess of course the whole sense of accomplishment, overcoming a difficult challenge, becoming healthier, blah blah blah. But that BUMPERSTICKER! I need to get myself one of the "13.1" stickers in the mean time.

I'm also counting down to the world cup! One whole month just stuffed full with more soccer matches than you thought you would ever want to watch. Soccer is the most popular sport in the WORLD, you know. and the world cup only comes along every 4 years. I love it. I'm going to name my first born FIFA. Okay that would be cruel. Maybe my dog?

Long Time Dream: FULFILLED

2010-05-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any of you remember this little ditty from your childhood...

but Fraggle Rock was one of my favorite shows as an extra little kid. One day I was watching it in our old house and they were ending the show so it was the last couple of episodes of the show EVER. and my mom pulled me away. As much as a whined and cried and complained, my mom pried me from the couch with the promise that those episodes would be on again some other time.

But they weren't!

In fact I never saw another episode of Fraggle Rock from that day forward. It became a sore spot in the family. If anyone ever brought it up, I would grunt out a, "fragglerock!" while making a fist and an angry expression. I would then go on to inflict all those around with an angry retelling of how I NEVER got to see how the show ended. Everyone knew, you DONT bring up Fraggle Rock with Dru.

Well this month Brooke got the free netflix trial. And either out of kindness or for her own benefit of not having to hear me get upset about it again, she put the Fraggle Rock episodes on the on-demand disk. And I watched the end of the show! And a few others. (Don't judge me! It actually is rather clever.) Only I almost cried a little at the end. It was just so darn TOUCHING! And you really CAN'T ever leave the magic. Go watch the last 3 episodes and you will agree.

I remember when I used to be really into nostalgia

2010-05-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

I've heard all sorts of things about how smell is our most powerful sense for bringing back memories. Well yay for me, I can't smell. Soooooooo my most memory triggering things are NOT smells but, I've noticed, music and cars.

This seems weird but I seriously CAN NOT see a green caddy like the one katie used to drive in high school without thinking of how it made that fax machine noise or the time that I found a lint roller and granola bar harmoniously joined as if married on the floor. It was always full of suprises. And was kind of crappy. But still ALWAYS had better pick up than my mazda 626 (RIP PEPO!). But! Yesterday I was listening to some of my music and here are some of the songs and memories attached to them.

Our House by Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young - getting migranes on long family drives during the summers when it was SO HOT and the sun was SO BRIGHT and dad wouldn't let us just have some AIR CONDITIONING!

In Love by Ben Folds and Will Shat - my first semester of college when I moved in with Beth and I would ask her to play it over and over and over and over because I thought it was so clever. And I still do.

Taxi Driver by Gym Class Heroes - Justin and how he would make me delicious cookies and crepes sometimes. Because he was a good friend like that. A good friend who also loved Death Cab and introduced me to Bright Eyes. Hello Bright Eyes. Nice to meet you.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cindi Lauper - the time in jr high a bunch of us girls including me, katie, kaisa, chelsea, and others hit the DI and each bought a really ugly hat before waltzing into one of the stake dances. Where we then requested this song and rocked out.

Popular from Wicked - going to the movies with Brooke. Because they were playing this along with the ads before the previews and Brooke started singing along. And I fell in love right there. With the song, not Brooke. Love you sista' friend.

Take Take Take by the White Stripes - running. I used to run 4 miles, 6 days a week my first year in college and this song ALWAYS seemed to come up in the shuffle on my mp3 player EVERY. TIME.

Stuttering by Ben's Brother - the dentyne ice gum commercial

Do the Panic by Phantom Planet - Karlie who made me listen to this song because she liked it so much. And the Texas album by PlayRadioPlay! Because I heard them both at the same time.

Lazy Eye by Silver Sun Pickups - the painting summer with Rachel and we would call X96 like every day to request this song. But only after 11 which was when our coworker who made us listen to B98.7, finally left. I just want you to know that I really HATE slow, cheesy, 90s love ballads and the B is just full to the brim with them! If B98.7 were a head, love ballads would be spilling out of the ears.

One thing is for sure though. Lady Gaga and Owl City will always remind me of the time I wished there were some way it was physically possible for me to gnaw my own ears off.

Spring Cleaning

2010-05-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today I participated in this ritual that happens every time spring comes.

Okay let's be real. It has nothing to do with spring for me but rather the end of a year of school and realizing all the stuff that has piled up that I didn't deal with.

Okay let's be really real now. The REAL reason that made me do it today was that every time I picked something up from my floor it came up coated in my hair/juno's fur. I will use a word analogy to better explain this to you (no need to thank me for the free practice I'm giving you for the GRE).

Barnacles : sea :: hair : floor.

But as usual, I found some metaphorical skeletons in my closet. But not the scary secretive kind that ruin lives. Rather the strange kind that come in the shape of weird objects. For instance, take the thrilling journey with me through what I found in this old Fossil purse I decided I didnt want anymore so I cleaned out the pockets and such...

(one) I found an old pin that I had looked EVERYWHERE for and swear I had lost it one time off my backpack. That was a pleasant surprise. It's a squirrel at a party with acorns. Saying, "Who invited the nuts." OH HO HO nuts... squirrel, you slay me with your little tie and your wit.

(two)Then I went on to find those weird foam animals that emerge from the capsules. They are from the first week in Zoology class in high school. Junior year. no srsly. Why I kept them, I don't know.

(three)Then I found some Brushups. Remember them? Because I do. Rip slip brush AHHHHHH! I can still see the commercial in my head.

(four)Then I found some Softlips chapstick that I actually hate. That's why I kept it in there as my emergency chapstick (I mean "lip balm") to use when in a bind. I'm addicted to the stuff. But I don't like Softlips because they are so small and skinny. I like a good fat hearty tube. That lasts a while and gives you good coverage. Or maybe I just have fat lips. But it takes me 10 pass overs just to get a full, even coat over the breadth of these smoochers.

(five)Then I found this paper with a really embarrassing message thing that Katie and I left for Curt Cordery once. And we wrote it down and planned it out because we wanted to get it JUST right. Because we thought it would be funny and annoying. Okay well it was freaking hilarious for us. And if you had been there you would have been annoyed. So I guess mission accomplished? By the way, I email Curt in prison every now and again. So if any of you want to get up on that action, feel free to hit me up. I'll give him your email address. It's all done through this totally government monitored site which creeps me out a little.

I also managed to get rid of a giant bag of stuff. No really though this bag is giant. You could honestly fit 30 people in it. If those people were babies. Because that's how I measure things, in babies.

But now that it's over, you know what I say? PASS THE VERONICA MARS PLEASE! And good thing I own it now. Because it was getting a little weird at the library every time I rented it out and the workers would give me the look. The look of disbelief that I'm checking it out again. And then looks of disbelief every subsequent visit at how quickly I'm tearing through the seasons. It's addicting okay!? Don't judge if you don't know. And I also don't have to worry about hunting down disc 4 of season 2. Or whatever disc it was. But it was bum. And would never play. The lamed disc. That would always cause a kink in the Veronica addiction. You may think I'm crazy but just TRY watching that show at a pace of only an episode per day or something. I DARE you.

And I want to leave you with these adorable pictures of my adorable dog because she is adorable. And that's why I continue to be a sucker for letting her come in my room and lay on my bed and get her fur all over EVERYTHING.

I once caught her sitting like this. No, she wasn't in the process of getting off the couch slowly, she was just chillaxin'. Just like this.

Okay this last one isn't Juno but I thought you would still be proud that I actually managed to use the word kleptomania and tungsten in the whip-fire Banana grams game I played with the Holts.

After Today!

2010-04-28T22:53:00.001-07:00

No more algebra test till September. No more looking at losers like HIM. No more haivng to cheat. No more mystery meat. No more gym. No more gym. No more gym! NO MORE GYM!

Ahhhhhhhhhh.... the end of another school year and I'm ready to ring in the month of May which is, naturally, my project month. School has ended and I finally have time to do all the stuff I wanted to do during the year but never could devote my full attention to. But there is still some time before the workin'-hard-or-hardly-workin' season begins (aka summer). I've also got a ton of life to live this summer before I pretty much am going to not exist for 10 weeks in the fall with my student teaching.

Rachel and I went to the DI because I wanted a pair of pants to start off project season with. I decided to work with man jeans--not to be confused with mom jeans--just because I wanted something that doesn't hug the leg so tight. Unfruitful attempt after unfruitful attempt (including a pair that actually did fit like mom jeans) got me feeling like I was going to have to leave empty handed. But I persevered and ended up finding a pair of green Lee jeans. I don't know how they could have escaped my grasp the first time! And they are pretty much totally new. Probably because whatever man that bought them, took them home to look at them, and promptly was brought back to the reality that he just bought a kelly green pair of jeans. Those store lights can be so deceiving. But I tried them on anyway and they were just perfect for my projecting desires. I hummed and hawed at first especially when Rachel said they looked like hulk pants, but decided to get them anyway despite them being a whole TWO DOLLARS more than all the other jeans. And they aren't hulk pants anyway. Because the hulk wears purple pants. Maybe an inverted hulk? I'm now imagining Barney wearing these jeans. Let's just go with leprocaun pants. But don't worry because they also got the Brandon Brown stamp of approval via text message. What more could I need?

So look forward to catching me wear a transformed pair of these jeans. OH EM GEE MAKE OVER!

Today I got a special package in the mail. It was a new lid to my CamelBak water bottle. Ever since I got it I felt like trying to drink out of it was like trying to breathe through one of those tiny coffee straws. While running a marathon. With cinderblocks as shoes. And sledge hammers instead of hands. Need I go on? Well I finally got around to figuring out that something really was wrong and complaining about it in an email to their warrantee people that drinking out of it made my brains hurt because I had to suck so hard. And they said they would send me a new one. And it finally came! And it works like magic. Or like it should have in the first place.

Also on Sunday I wore these super cute Jessica Simpson heels that I love so much.

And my shin muscles still are sore from keeping my feet up straight in these spikey stilettoed eye-candy feet murderers. Yes. SHIN muscles. Weird, I know. I guess I just have weak ankles. Yes you MAY call me Megara from Hercules.

The Emails Take One

2010-04-25T14:50:00.001-07:00

Many years ago rachel and i started emailing innocently back and forth our senior year of high school. Little did we know what it would become! We start a new chain after each chain reaches 100. and right now we are on our 500 set.

Inspired by katie I decided to make a book out of these emails because they are very much like a journal and I wanted to be able to read over them all and such. So I slaved away making this huge long book with the blurb software. 210 paged, 2 weeks, and 10 bucks a book later, I finally have my own book bound, hard copy of this unique journal. I also ordered a copy for rachel. And in hers I got to fulfill one of my life long dreams of writing a little note in a book I wrote to dedicate it to someone. So I wrote, "Of all the things I've never been good at, I've always at least been good at writing you back." I'm on my way to stardom!

Reading these emails has made me realize not only that I was even more of a dufus/idiot/fool back then than I ever thought possible, but also how much I have changed and grown up. Which is good. I've always wanted to be just my age, not older or younger, so I'm happy with where I am now, and I was happy with where I was then. But sometimes I think it's hard to see growth in ourselves which is what having a book like this allows me to see.

I'm so happy how it turned out. And I've got a million more to put together still. Especially since we are still writing them. But I love rachel. I love all my friends. And I'm so glad none of my best friends ever gave up on me, they stuck through my obnoxious 19 year old antics. Glad those years are behind me.

Soap Opera Dialogue

2010-04-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

I made this super cheese-tastic dialogue for one of my assignments about solutions. I feel like it's so dumb that it's funny. Enjoy.

A dialogue from the soap opera of “As the Hospital Turns”

Doctor: I’ve never seen a patient this bad before. He has suffered intense physical damage and has lost a lot of blood. We will need to start him on a blood transfusion stat!

Nurse: You mean, he needs to have a solution of water, proteins, red blood cells, white blood cells, and other nutrients pumped into his body? I’m on it.

Doctor: We may also need to give him an IV after that to keep him hydrated.

Nurse: You mean intravenous fluid which is a solution of water with mostly mineral salts dissolved? I will make sure that happens. Thank you doctor!

Doctor: I’m so glad I left my modeling career to save the lives of the sick and wounded. Where would I be if my best friend’s ex-wife hadn’t secretly been my long lost sister who then helped me realize my true passions?

Nurse: And where would I be without my finding out my dead father wasn’t really dead at all but rather turned out to be a serial killer who came after me, forcing me to change my identity and career to end up here as a nurse?

Patient: gurgling gurgling….

Doctor: Look! He’s waking up from his coma… GET THIS MAN SOME JUICE!

Nurse: I will run at get him the solution of water, high fructose corn syrup, and 2% or less of each of the following: concentrated juices (orange, tangerine, apple, lime, grapefruit); citric acid, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), beta-carotene, thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1), natural flavors, food starch-modified, canola oil, cellulose gum, xanthan gum, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium benzoate to protect flavor, yellow #5, and yellow #6 that I saw in the fridge earlier today!

Patient: Mother? Father? Diana?

Doctor: Goodness, he is in a delirium! I will open this window for you allowing a fresh solution of gases containing nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of other gases.

Nurse walks in

Patient: DIANA! I knew I’d find you again!

Nurse: * Drops the cup of Sunny D and it splashes dramatically across the floor* Gasp! It’s my FATHER!

Reading is like running. I LOVE IT!

2010-04-19T20:52:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I realize how long it has been since I actually read a book, and then I check out a whole freaking library's worth of them. Most recently I read a book about a family of three sisters who were always fighting but ended up realizing how much they still loved each other and could work through their problems, that was eerily reminiscent of my own family (hmmmm wonder why). I also have been reading a book about quantum physics and have a handful of other quantum physics books I plan to get to. And you know what I discovered about it? That it's not really that hard. Seriously, why is quantum physics the poster child for impossibly hard material to learn. Has my science knowledge really expanded THAT much? I dunno. But even as I read these books and it becomes totally demystified to me, I still picture college students slaving over stacks of quantum encyclopedias with size 6 font complete with baggy eyelids, dark circles, sweating brows, and the smell of rotting corpse exuding from their unbathed bodies. Ha, too bad they aren't me with my VAST amounts of knowledge about all things science. I mean compared to me it's like, "Albert who?" okay jk. but seriously, all sarcasm aside, if Einstein were alive today I bet I could take him in a thumb war. Bring it on Einstein! Relativity and black bodies can't save you now from my brutal thumb beating... even if I lost I could argue that in an alternate universe, I won and was celebrating my victory by singing a taunting song like a 5 year old. probably something that goes like, "nanny nanny nanny goat."

Those who can't do teach. Those who can't teach, teach gym

2010-04-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday for my class we had the assignment to teach a 45 minute lesson so our teacher got a bunch of her 8th grade students to pack into her classroom after school for extra credit and they sat through what basically is 3 extra periods of school for them. Here's what I learned,

Just because you call something a game, doesn't mean they will actually believe that it's a game.

45 minutes is far too long for any 8th grader to be thinking about any one topic.

No matter how well you explain something, there will always be some students who are confused. Similarly, any aspect can be the best and the worst part of the lesson depending on which student you ask.

They will always complain that you didn't let them pick their own groups to be with their friends.

Also, yesterday I was catching up on the Runner's World blog and I actually started to laugh out loud (LOL'd!) when I read this post. Here is my favorite excerpt:
"First, here's the main problem: Shirtless guys who shouldn't be shirtless tend not to know they shouldn't be shirtless. Or just don't care. Why? Because they're the only ones who don't have to see them shirtless."
It's also accompanied by a picture of a gross man chest with the caption, "Yes, you MAY be excused to go wash your eyeballs"

Back in the preverbial runner's equivalent of a saddle

2010-03-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've been able to get back to running with being sick and school and whatever, but today I did it. Even though I still had a lingering stuffy nose and sore throat. And even though it was cold and snowing. And even though I had tons of homework to do. But there were so many good things that came out of it I couldn't help but share.

1. Though I struggled to do the pathetic 4 miles that I did, it still made me feel a lot less like the lazy, useless, sack of crap that I was starting to feel like.

2. I hacked and sputtered all along the way like a model T Ford from 1910, but when I got back and hopped in the shower it was like the mucus and such started emptying right out of my head.

3. I pretty much went running and gave up on doing my homework because I figured there was no way I was going to come up with ideas in time to finish it. Lately I feel like coming up with ideas is like doing those children's boxes with the shapes and you put the blocks in the right holes. Only none of the holes match up. But the run not only unplugged my nose, but also my brain and suddenly in the shower I was a machine gun full of ideas and managed to finish the last 2 thirds of my assignment in 30 minutes--just in the nick of time to get really mad at how long it takes to print things in our house, and rush off to class.

And that's the moral of the story kids, that's why I love running.

The Spell is Broken

2010-03-30T22:24:00.001-07:00

I got the best parking space on all of campus today and it was kind of a big deal. Maybe this means my bad luck is broken?

The Anti-Luck of the Irish

2010-03-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Though I don't want to seem like a wet blanket, I can't help but smell (or at least I would smell if I could smell) a trend in my life right now...

Remember rachel in chile coming home from her mission. What an exciting time turned to nightmare as earthquakes struck just when her fam was going to go pick her up and it also delayed her homecoming.

Then remember my great trip to moab and my race and how it was going to be an awesome vacation and an awesome experience to run and enjoy and an experience for me to have to look back and see how far I came with my running. It would have all turned out like that if I hadn't gotten sick. Terribly terribly sick. And it's still getting the better of me.

Jared had big plans to come visit utah and see rachel and get his wisdom teeth out with awesome chipmonk cheek hang out time included. But now he suddenly got stuck in WY with all the roads closed due to snow. And there will be precious little jared time.

I also was crunching some numbers today about how often I have been sick in this last years worth of time. I have had 7 different "bugs" and been sick a total time of about 3 and a half months. Now everyone can begin to understand why my soul cringes when someone coughs near me and it's a reflex to hold my breath and run away. I just can't help but be paranoid about it.

These are just a few reasons why I always feel like a REALLY unlucky person. Especially lately I am like some kind of black hole of karma that is totally sucking the good things out of those around me too. So if I were you I would tread lightly around me, my friends.

(This is how I feel.)

Does anybody else feel a little weird when spring comes?

2010-03-15T20:47:00.000-07:00

At the very first I feel a little like this...

I start thinking about how few times I am going to get to wear my long sleeved clothes for a while so I start wearing them all and covering up instinctively. Also, plus sides to winter clothes--you can use your long sleeves to open doors (which is good for moderate germophobes like me) and there are also fewer opportunities at which one is faced with the unsightly and rather awkward bodily cracks of others(be it boobs or butts). Another thing I've always wondered about is how it makes me feel like a 40 year old woman having hot flashes or something. It's either deceptively freezing or when I go running suddenly I feel like I'm about to melt when it's only 45 degrees out.

Then I also start to move into this phase....

The sun comes out and suddenly I have no idea what is going on ever. I can't remember anything that has been happening since Christmas or why I feel like I've been in some kind of time warp. I suddenly lose my regular rhythm of life (all while not being able to remember what it used to be), forget my responsibilities regularly, and have all sorts of epiphanies of crazy things I want to do.

Then I finally end with feeling like this...

And all I can think about is how I can't wait for summer!

Overall the whole process of winter to spring I feel can be summed up in the final scene of the original disney fantasia movie...

WHAT?!

2010-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Surprise!

A Trick of the Eyes and some other random stuff

2010-03-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

I know that Jared HATESSSSSSS when I talk about running because my blog is "starting to sound just like your dumb runner's magazine" but I can't help it. And this afternoon when I was running I saw something funny. There is this place I run by where this company has all these weird spout things coming out of the ground and they spouts all have this tan colored rocks around the bottom and then some black tarp stuff around the bottom half of the rocks. The shape and the color scheme of these spouts makes me think, out of the corner of my eye, that they are a bunch of geese interspersed in this field EVER TIME. And then I feel dumb for forgetting once again that it's NOT geese. Then today I was running by and I thought these spouts were geese again and thought to myself, "oh dru, you have been duped once again. how many times are you going to do that?" But then I looked again and there actually were a couple geese! Just chillaxin' there with the spouts that look just like them. And I thought HA! because for once I wasn't duped! You can't pull the wool over my eyes!

I also found out just a few moments ago that one of my old EFY girls has her own little photography business. Actually it's less of a business and more like she just really likes to take photos so she charges a minimal fee just to pay for the cost of the pictures. Anyway, her blog is HERE and I think you should really check it out. At EFY she took tons of really really great photos with just a regular camera so I knew she was talented but seeing these pictures with her nice camera, wowie, she is awesome! And she is a really fun and great person so you would probably have a blast with her just taking the pictures. I LOVE megan!

And for a final note... I know that pretty much the same people probably read Katie (Burrell) Jordan's blog as read my blog since we have the same friends but JUST in case... Her and her hub bub lub dub Jasoncakes are selling the lease for their married apartment in Provo. It's a small but nice place. I've been there. So if you are someone or know someone who is looking for a married apartment then check out her blog post on it HERE

Freaky?

2010-03-06T11:33:00.001-08:00

The other day I was talking to jared on google chat when I told him that he should really listen to more jack's. and then this is the screen shot of his computer he sent me. Take a good close look at it.

Super Powered Glasses

2010-02-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

The other day I was wearing my nerd glasses just for fun when I realized that they are not really nerd glasses at all! They are super glasses. Consider these two images.......

The first one is Clark Kent (his "Joe Plumber" disguise from being recognized as superman) and the second one is me wearing my super glasses. I'm pretty much indistinguishable from Clark Kent! This means when I take off my glasses I will turn into the Superman(/woman) you all know and love. I mean, that's how it works, right?

one of my least favorite sounds in the WHOLE world

2010-02-10T18:03:00.001-08:00

when I turn on the radio and hear...

RAH RAH AH AH AH
ROMA ROM MAMA

it is then quickly followed by my AAAAAAAAAADOFIJOKSNEOFKNSOIGN

but really that's how it is for any lady gaga song.

Also, is it just me or is lady gaga nothing more than a skankier, futuristic, female version of liberaci?

Juno and the Banner

2010-02-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today I went running (I know it seems like half my blogs are about running but seriously this is a good one) with my dog Juno Bug (I know it seems like the other half of my blogs are about Juno but seriously this is a good one) and there was this banner that had been put up between two posts advertising the Utah Valley Marathon or whatever. Well Juno and I pass by it and I can tell Juno is thinking, "What is that?" But then right as we pass by, the wind makes the banner move every so slightly and Juno FREAKED OUT! She all of the sudden hunkered down like it was going to reach out and strike her and booked it right off of the path entirely. Oh my gosh I laughed as I ran for like a whole half mile. Oh she is so weird.

So we can add this to the list of Juno's many other fears including:

tree stumps
the blue grabber tool
plastic bags

My Countdowns

2010-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

There are only 5 weeks and like 4 days until I will get to see rachel again!
Then there are 6 weeks and 2 days until my next praxis test... chem this time. Blah.
Then there are 7 weeks and 2 days until my half marathon in moab! holla!
Then there are 13 weeks until this semester of school is OVER! and next fall is my student teaching for 10 weeks and then the trip to MEXICOOOOOOO! (mexico is totally included in my tuition by the way. bet you are all jealous.)

Anyway. I'm pretty excited for March and for summer. It's going to be busy busy busy though.

The Parkway

2010-01-19T22:14:00.001-08:00

The other day I went for a really great run on the Jordan River Parkway where I always go running. And it was a super satisfying run by the way. But I saw a guy walking with his dog and he had his cute little puppy dressed in a snuggie. I have seen these dog snuggies in the stores and snickered, but never in real life. I couldn't help but take a double take because it's just weird. Anyway then it got me to thinking about all the weird stuff I have seen on the path.

One time I went running and this guy introduced me to his "daughter Camilla" as I ran by who was some sort of german shepard mix it looked like.

Then there was the time that I saw 3 different snakes within a one mile stretch, out sunning themselves. And they weren't sunning themselves in the weeds next to the path, no, they were right smack in the middle of the path. This was actually rather alarming because Juno was with me that day and wanted to go make friends with the snakes. She's afraid of the grabber tool and plastic bags but she isn't afraid of snakes hanging out on the path. I just don't get her.

Then there was the time that I saw a hobo scrounging for food in the dumpsters for him and his dog. This one was more sad. He was pulling out these McD's bags and looking for little bits of leftover food. Whatever he could find.

Then there was the time that this woman was running in the muddy gutter of the path instead of actually ON the path. I could not figure out why she would do this because she was also tripping all over the place trying to run in that awkward gutter. Sometimes I don't understand people.

Then there was the time that I saw this guy that looked seriously JUST like one of my EFY kids that I had had the week before. Only the kid is from Colorado. But seriously, JUST LIKE HIM! I nearly ran right after him just to ask. But then I didn't.

Also, every time I take Juno she has to make a stop to deficate and it drives me bonkers. She never has to go when my parents take her. It's like she hates me or something. Doggy do-do is the worst present ever.

Westminster Institute

2010-01-16T17:08:00.001-08:00

So the people at the Westminster institute are super connected and they get tons of awesome people to come and speak on Fridays. They even convince John Bytheway to come do a class every other Wednesday at the institute. Sometimes David Archuleta shows up to that class. Last sememster he even sang a song for us. This is why Westminster charges the big bucks... jkbutseriously. Westminster rocks.

Anyway. Once again the Westminster institute was struck with stardom on Friday. Jared Hess came and spoke to us! Yes Jared Hess the director and writer of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. We got to hear some crazy crazy stories from him about making the movies and working with big stars like Jack Black. He also told us that a lot of the stuff that he put in Napoleon Dynamite were based on true family stories which were pretty hilarious retellings. He's a super cool guy who's really funny and really spiritual. I would recommend meeting him sometime if you get the chance.

Spinosaurus/Spinosaure

2010-01-02T20:38:00.000-08:00

Today Laura, Katie, and I had a great girls afternoon out. It was a total blast and totally chill like our hang outs always are because we get so caught up in talking. Anyway we went to the DI to see what weird treasures we could find and I ended up getting this wooden "Spinosaurus/Spinosaure" (Spinosaure is French for Spinosaurus) puzzle/model thing that you put together.

As soon as I got home I put it together. Only, when I was punching the pieces out from the wood sheet thing, the spine snapped in half at the neck! And I was a little mad at first because I actually paid a buck fifty for this thing. But then I was like "I will just glue it. But later when I put it all together because I can not wait." Only then I couldnt glue it. Obviously it was much more difficult to try to glue it once it was all put together. I love when I have lapses in forethought. Anyway. Then I was like, "eh. oh well." But then I decided to pretend to be a little boy and draw some blood on it with a red marker.

The body stumbles around for his head

The arm positions were especially making me feel like it was wandering around lost

The head calls to it's body

2009 has been a good year to me

2009-12-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

In January I had graduated from SUU and felt lost and confused

In February one of my best friends Laura (face) got married

In March... well nothing really happened. I guess this was about the time that I found out that I was going to be doing 5 weeks of EFY during the summer (later had 2 more weeks added).

In April one of my other best friends Katie got married

In May I did SUU graduation and got to hear Pres Monson speak

In June I had my first few weeks of EFY, got in a huge car wreck, said goodbye to my car and started the long legal journey that ensued, had another of my best friends and old room mates get married (FEEEETUS!)

In July I did some more EFY and had a total blast. I also turned in my application for Westminster and a few weeks later got the call that I was accepted. Yes. CALL. They don't mess around at Westminster.

In August I finished up my EFY weeks. I visited another of my best friends in St Louis Missourah where he lives--Jared. Best. Vacation. EVER. Then I started school at the end of the month at Westminster College into the Masters of Arts in Teaching program. I officially started on my path to becoming the greatest science teacher that ever lived. Just kidding.... butseriously...

In September I was busy busy busy with school and started my volunteer work with Youth City and such. I also started my institute classes which turned out to be super awesome. and I didn't miss any days. aren't you all so proud of me?

In October I did some more school. I also had my first court experience and actually testified in court. for serious. about my accident that happened way back in June. This may or may not have been in September. but I'm pretty sure it was October. I also visited SUU for homecoming weekend and had a total blast. I also decided I wanted to actually get good at running.

In November was Thanksgiving and more school. I ran my first organized race in Bountiful on thanksgiving day and it was a 10 K. It was a lot of fun.

In December I finished my first semester at Westminster. I also have continued to run. I got picked in the raffle to do a half marathon in Moab and I'm super excited. I also visited Cedar again because ANOTHER of my best friends and old room mates was getting married (Becca). I had a great Christmas with my family and got to hang out with Katie and Jason. Which was a lot of fun. I love them.

So overall a really great year....

NOW! I'm so excited because I get to make some NEW new year resolutions.

Oh gosh I love making goals. Which is lame. But I do. For several years I've been making some serious new year resoltuions and referencing them pretty much every week. Last night I was coming up with some but I have the problem that I always try to make too many. With this last year I only actually finished 2 of my 4 resolutions. But I NEARLY achieved the others. That counts for something in my opinion. Anyway. 2010 is going to be a good year. I'm working on some great stuff here. I wish all of you luck with your resolutions.

Turbo Time

2009-12-29T18:02:00.001-08:00

So this morning I was working out doing Turbo Sculpt which is one of the Turbo Jam work outs. I hadn't done Turbo in a long time and I forgot how much I love it. Back when I was in Cedar with all my favorite room mates, we were always doing Turbo Jam. It's very infectious. Sometimes we would have turbo parties where were were all doing it together right there in our tiny living room. Also I still find that I sometimes hum or sing the songs from it. I also find myself often doing this one move whenever I get really hyper which is like the twist and row. This all seems a little weird but seriously. These workouts are a blast.

L-L-L-Ladies! F-F-F-Fellas! It's time to partay! Partay! Someday I want to be just like Chalene Johnson.

This is going to be me in a couple of years. Except with brown hair. Believe it!

Finished with my first semester of grad school!

2009-12-19T00:04:00.000-08:00

So I guess I haven't blogged in a long time. But it's only because nothing that exciting really happens. No really. Nothing.
Well I just finshed my first semester at Westminster!
So I thought I would give some highlights.

The weirdest parts...
1) I'm the youngest of my cohort
2) Being able to say, "when I was in my undergrad..."
3) The looks I get from people when I tell them I love science and I love teenagers
4) That I'm actually going to Westminster College. I mean really. Everyone secretly (or I guess sometimes not secretly) always wants to go but then can't becuase it's too much money.
5) The bookstore is wicked tiny. I don't get how they can really fit all the books that people would need in there

The best parts...
1) Books are included in tuition. So when I pick up my books I just bring in my schedule, a worker there will get them for me, and then I walk out without paying for them. I also get to sell them back for monies still
2) I'm actually going to be a teacher
3) Next semester we are going to get to start observing in schools and such
4) I think I did pretty well on my finals. Which were all papers and presentations
5) Next semseter we don't have any classes with the elementary people. Which means we can focus more on secondary teaching.
6) The cafeteria place is actually somewhat affordable-ish. It depends on what you are buying. But it's pretty good and they sell sushi which makes me happy on the rare days that I decide to splurge.

The not greatest parts...
1) Christmas break is only 2 weeks. It makes me sad
2) I have to take the Praxis test on Jan 9th. So I will still have studying to do over this break.
3) I have to take 2 more Praxis tests after this because each disipline in science requires a different content knowledge test. Which also cost lots of monies. I will use the money I get back from my books... Still won't cover it actually.
4) Next semester we don't have any classes with the elementary people. We will never get to see them.

Anyway. Westminster is such a great place to go to school. All their buildings are so pretty and campus is so pretty and it's such a tiny campus. Which was something I always loved about SUU too. And Westminster is even way smaller. I love being able to walk across campus in 5 minutes.

Well next semester should be a totally new experience so we will see how that goes. In the mean time I'm excited to finally be able to shut my brain off just a little and enjoy the Christmas season.

Party Party Party Party

2009-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday we threw a bachelorette party for Katie!!! And I thought it was really fun and that I should share a couple of pictures here. But the party was full of food, laughs, friends, and ebarrassing katie!

Katie's mom crashed the party to do a lip sync

and katie was really embarrassed

but the rest of us were laughing pretty hard

pretty pretty katie

1993 called....

2009-02-01T00:14:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been on a little bit of a cleaning out kick and just getting rid of all my extra stuff. I've been getting together a good DI bag at school and in murray the past few times I've been here I have gone through all the old stuff in my room. Well I found an old box that I forgot what was in it and found my POGS! I thought I would share this really funny video with you because of it. I don't know if anyone remembers the Brendan Leonard show that used to air on ABC family but it was basically a guy doing dumb skits with his friends and this is one of them!

there's also this funny pog I found on the internet that I love and wish I had

It's a festivus miracle

2008-12-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

so good news everyone! okay well everyone probably already knows this by now. but im officially graduated from SUU which a bachelors degree in biology and a minor in chemistry! oh my gosh im so learned. it took forever for grades to come in. well i guess not really. they were posted by the thursday after finals but that was after pushing them back a day because the website went down so it felt like forever. and i wasnt counting myself as officially graduated until i knew for sure that i passed all my classes.

also i have been partying it up this christmas break with the get togethers full of rock band, old friends, and elf! I traveled up to the far away land of centerville to go to a party being thrown by my room mates and their wicked awesome friends. it was so fun. we had a snowflake contest and a burping contest.

I know that technically it's christmas eve here but it's still christmas adam to me since i havent gone to bed yet so i just want to wish everyone a happy festivus and a merry christmas!

2008-11-26T22:07:00.002-08:00

So Katie thankfullly reminded me just now that I haven't blogged in over a month. Thanks Katie. Well I thought I would pacify her by writing something. The problem is I have started blogs several times this past month but none of them have made it past the editor to be published (aka me, they sucked!) Well, I decided that I just had to go for it or it would never get done!

1. My room mate showed me this website called Etsy because she knew I would love it! It's a place where people post all their homemade stuff and sell it. There are some really great treasures there. If nothing else it's at least a good place to go to get good ideas when the desire to make something for yourself strikes! I've used it many times for that purpose actually. Also if you want you can even put your own things up there to sell and make some extra cash along with feel pretty special that someone else liked your stuff so much to buy it. I put the link on the side of my blog here under my fav websites list for easy access-age.

2. This is why soccer is the most popular sport in the world!

3. This is a new show that is going to premier on Current on December 10th. I wish I had that station now because it looks really cool!

4. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and have a good time shopping.

This weekend... what a hoot!

2008-10-21T02:05:00.000-07:00

I got to see the body worlds exhibit with my family in salt lake.
I went to a U of U football game with my dad on the motorcycle.
I got to see katie who I hadn't seen since MARCH!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?
I went hiking with my sister, ryan, and daphne (who is very cute) and we saw a tarantula and ryan killed a baby rattle snake. Daphne also managed to spit up on my shirt. again. only this time I didn't notice at first but it was a super sticky milk mess all down the back of my shirt! Good thing I love her so much!
I went to noodles and ate delicious delicious food!

hiking with the baby

katie and I manage a good picture! SHOCK!

but only after messing around a little first

my toothbrush seriously broke in half while I was brushing. does that happen? appearently!

my hair was doing weird things so I decided to just go with it and I found out that it was doing a weird swoopy bangs thing. as if it wanted the swoopy bangs! but this is what I would look like...

A Good Day

2008-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

So I hope everyone likes my new blog design. I don't know what took me so long. I think that I just didn't want to have to figure it out. But turns out it was way easier than I thought it was going to be.

Yesterday the most exciting thing happened to me in a really long time. Rachel's mom called me and told me that rachel was going to call me from the airport after 4 if everything went right. I was so excited that I started crying and praying that it would really work out because there would be nothing better than getting to talk to rachel even if it were only for a few minutes. Then just as my seminar was starting I got a call and I flew out of the classroom to take it. And as soon as i heard rachel say "DRUBARU!" I was so happy. and we talked like best friends. and like she'd never left. and she was asking me about the economy because they don't get the full story in the MTC she just heard it was getting super bad. and she told me about her flight and how she barfed but some really nice lady helped her feel better. and then she had to go. and I started crying. and she told me to call jared to help me feel better and she said that she would pray that he would answer since he never does. and after seminar i called jared and he answered ON THE FIRST RING!!!! and it was only moments later that jared had me 'rotfl'ing it up. and then he told me how he's going to start going to the singles ward and how he got new study guides to help him with his scripture reading and stuff. and i was so excited. what a good day.

Daphne Alta Hart

2008-10-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

I figured I would post a couple pictures of cupcake like I promised too a million years ago. And audrey pretty much has all these pictures on her blog. but oh well. i wanted to blog about daphne for myself. because i love her so much. and i can't wait to see her again soon!

Some Outlandish Goals

2008-10-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

I felt like blogging today because I had some time but I really don't ever know what to blog about. But I was thinking about how I should make a serious list of some of the stuff I want to do in life. I know that most people have done this by now but for some reason I've just never really organized the things I want to do in my life yet. I thought I would share a few of my ideas and see what people thought...

Go for a hot air balloon ride.
Design my own greeting card and have it published.
Learn to surf
Go rock climbing
Hike the Grand Canyon from rim to rim
Swim with the dolphins
See a narwhal in person

My wordle

2008-09-30T18:29:00.001-07:00

katie inspired me.
i worked on this instead of doing my homework
but it's pretty so i dont care you guys should really try making your own.
it's pretty fun and you can have it generated randomly or control the orientation of the words and colors as well as the font. there's so many possibilities!

title="Wordle: Life"> src="http://wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/220517/Life"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">

Where's your boyfriend?

2008-09-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to Taylor Stapley and Katie Poloni for opening my eyes to this video.

Everyone is doing the ice cream thing

2008-08-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

So I took this dumb ice cream quiz and apparently I'm as cooky as a cucumber.

You're as impulsive and impatient as a kid who can't wait for the cookies to come out of the oven. You treat life like a nonstop slumber party, and you like to keep things simple and silly. You scream at horror movies and laugh your butt off at comedies, but you probably can't sit still for a long, boring drama. To some people, you come across as immature, but so what? Your playful personality means you'll stay forever young.
7% of the people who took this quiz got the same evaluation.

My Missionary

2008-08-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

So as many of you probably know already, my best friend rachelz left on her mission to Santiago! oh im so proud of her but so sad without her. i thought maybe i would open up a little in this blog and share some of my rachel memories as well as tell you the story of our friendship.

we met in biology class in 10th grade. i dont remember having it with her but i made a really dumb movie for one of our projects which was shown in class. then down the road we had math together. and rachel sat behind me and we didn't really have any friends in the class so we would swap to grade our warm up papers but rachel is not so good at math and so she was always mad at me that she didn't get good scores. secretly she tells me now that she was always trying to trade with tim because she thought he was hot but he so was not hot! and he was rather ditzy if you ask me.

okay. this is the big moment in the story. we happened to be in the same group for prom and rachel asked me to go with her to the bathroom to help her with her dress after dinner and i was so shocked because i thought she hated me because of math but i guess i was the only one she really knew and so i helped her in the bathroom and then we were friends. you cant just help someone with their prom dress in the bathroom and not be friends.

after that we had year book together our senior year. it was so much fun. i had a blast in that class with everyone and rachel, me, and kenneth were like a little threesome all working together a lot of the time. except that kenneth really only wanted us to scratch his back. he liked his back scratched a lot.

That year rachel and i also worked at "the kiosk" together. which was a blast. it was a down east kiosk in fashion place. seriously it was the best job ever. and carling also started working with a us too a couple months later which made it totally awesome!

Even after we didn't work at the kiosk anymore we still had a lot of great adventures together. After going to college in opposite ends of the state, we were still friends and got together as much as we could. we got another job together painting for murray school district the summer after our first year of college.

I love rachels so much! and she's going to be the best missionary ever. i just know it. and i cant wait to see her again in a year and a half.

The Picken's Plan + Babies = ?

2008-08-10T23:54:00.000-07:00

I've started to see commercials for the Picken's Plan. Well my Viropop podcast did a special podcast all just on the Picken's Plan. It's certainly something to think about. Also my boss sent me this article.

A Girl's Best Friend

2008-08-07T16:48:00.000-07:00

So with Brooke's posts about the keeley baby it got me to missing her a lot too. I can't believe I've actually lived a whole year without her. It certainly doesn't feel like it because she has never really left me. I still tell stories about her all the time. I love her so much and that's the way it will always be!

This is my favorite picture of the keeley. It's me and all of my sisters!

Thin people aren't doing their country any favors

2008-08-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Okay the first part of this video about the barbies is just kinda dumb but the last part is the good part. I never thought I'd live to hear McDonalds refered to as an American hero.

Fresh Baked Cupcakes!

2008-08-04T11:10:00.000-07:00

I'm an aunt! I'm so excited. My little Daphne Hart niece is 6lbs and 7oz born on august 4th 2008 at 10:45 in the morning. YAY!

pictures: coming soon!

My first blog - the story of how I caved

2008-07-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does it seem like there are a million things I have to keep up with now on the internet? Yet here I am making my own blog. All I have to say is that at least it's a google app. I heart google.

Anyway, I was starting to know quite a few people with blogs and I felt like it was this whole other world that they were a part of and I couldn't be part of it without joining the blogging club.

Well in the mean time I don't really have any good stories for you or anything but enjoy a couple of random things I found on the internet. Here is a venitian blinds shirt. Girls, we never have to fret about whether or not to wear that skanky midriff shirt again! Raise this shirt to get the attention of that hot guy (or to just look like a prostitute) and lower it down for a little privacy.

Also this kid is such an awesome yoyoer than he makes me feel like the scum of the earth. seriously. why was i born so untalented?