April 2005 Archives

I uploaded some old digital photos I found, ones that used to be on previous versions of this site. They're really small, who knows what I was thinking. Sorry, I'm too lazy to find the originals and resize them. Here they are:

• Dory, Katrina, Haydn, etc.
• Kelly's black lab, Gracie.
• Some zoo photos.
• Dennis' peformance piece.
• Jessica and (some of) her kitties.
• A trip to the beach.

I also added a complete archive list of the digital entries a few weeks ago, so you can find them linked there also.

I'm supposed to be finishing a paper on tuberculosis, but of course I'm not. All the information I'm finding is either too simplified or too complex. I can't seem to think of good transitions between paragraphs either. Luckily this is the last paper of the semester (seeing as how there's only a week and a half left).

The birds seem to be doing well. It's almost their bedtime, so the lights are off for "calm down time". Winky is on my knee hiding under the desk and Wally is sitting on my shoulder preening himself, sending feathers and dust flying past my face. I feel bad for Eleanor because it seems like she's trying so hard to be part of "the flock". If Wally is sitting on the bed watching tv (which he does all the time!) Eleanor has to fly over and watch tv too. If Winky is on the ground playing with some bobby pins, Eleanor has to fly down and try to play with the bobby pins too. Winky seems to accept her at least, but Wally tries to stay as far away from her as possible. It's funny, but sad at the same time.

The finches are great. They're so tiny and cute with the tiniest cutest voices. Too bad the budgies aren't so quiet and cute. Kory and I trimmed their nails the other day, not fun! Catching finches without giving them heart attacks is not easy. Trimming little tiny finch nails that have no visible quick is also not easy.

Oh yes, I saw Dr. de Szalay today for the first time this semester. We both kind of did double takes as we walked by each other, and I thought, "Oh my goodness, there's the most genius of geniuses, Dr. de Szalay!" We both said hi to each other, and then he said, "Hey!" I turned around, probably with a huge smile on my face because I'm a huge nerd, and he asked me if the time change for his Wetland Ecology class in the fall was ok with ME! "Oh yes! It's fine!" I said. I was really thinking, "Of course! I would do anything to be in your class!" Ha, I'm such a nerd. I was so excited that I saw him and that he said hi to me and that he asked me if the time change was ok with ME! It made my day.

Here are some digital photos of the cockatiels who decided to come visit my bed at 9:00 this morning. Wally sat two inches from the tv the whole time, watching VH1, Winky wanted his neck rubbed the whole time, and Eleanor walked around and chewed on my blanket. And they all pooped all over my blanket!

All the birds are here now, and my room is crazy! Four bird cages (one with Squirrely in it though), two bird play gyms, 13 food and water dishes, 6 ladders, $47 worth of bird food from my mom (!), lots of bird seed and feathers on the floor, and 10 birds! Wow, I didn't realize how many birds that is until I typed it. It doesn't seem like that many though because 5 of them are just little tiny finches. Kory and I rearranged everything in my room tonight so now all the cages are along one wall, except for the finch cage. I don't want the cockatiels and budgies bothering them. I moved my bookshelf into the bunnies' room, it was a lot of work. Wally and Winky were in heaven, piles and piles of books on the floor for them to chew on! I kept trying to find things for them to play with so they wouldn't destroy my books. Their favorites were a piece of wadded up paper that had been through the wash, a pencil, and some old photos that I didn't need. I'm not used to having birds that actually like to walk around on the ground! Eleanor flew down to the ground once today. She sat there for a couple of minutes, just looking around, and then she flew back up to her cage! Wally and Winky on the other hand seem to be on the floor any time that I'm in the room. It's funny how different all their personalities are.

Here are some digital photos of Marcel, one of my bearded dragons. It's finally warm enough that he can sit up in the window now.

Kory shaved his head again. He tried cutting the sides of his hair the other day, messed up, and decided to just shave it all off. I, on the other hand, am trying to grow my bangs out and it's driving me crazy. Yes, I have now grown up and gained enough courage to show off my big pumpkin forehead. I now have about six hair bands and a million bobby pins because I absolutely cannot stand my hair falling in my eyes. I knew when I bought bobby pins that they would end up all over the place, and I told myself that I wouldn't let this happen. I was supposed to wear a few, take them off in the bathroom, and then put them back on in the bathroom in the morning. Well, every morning I find myself tanking two more off the piece of cardboard and pretty soon there aren't going to be any left on the cardboard and I'll have to take my lazy body and scan all the counter tops for a few. I should have bought the bobby pins that came in a case.

Wally, Winky, and the finches are coming on Wednesday! I am really excited. Today it dawned on me that it would be a lot easier to clean up after the birds if they were on a hard surface instead of newspaper on carpet. So Kory and I went and bought two squares of 3'x3' melamine and now I have the cages on top of that, and so far I really like it. It looks a lot nicer, and I think it will work out ok as long as I keep up with cleaning it daily.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the school saying that one of my classes in the fall, Stream Biology, had been cancelled. Luckily I didn't have a panic attack and I kept reading the e-mail and read that another class is taking it's time spot, Wetlands Ecology and Management. And this class just happens to be a much better class and my entomology teacher is teaching it! I was super excited and I assumed that everyone who was in Stream Biology was going to rush and sign up for Wetlands. So I still had a panic attack seeing as how there are only 11 spots total in the class, and I raced through Kent's dumb Flashline as fast as I could, went to enter the call number for the course, and it yelled me, "IT IS NOT YOUR TIME TO REGISTER SILLY GIRL! MUAHAHA!" Oh no! It's currently the sophomore's turn to schedule, so I had to wait until 6 pm in order to sign up.

To make a long boring story short, I was the first person to sign up for the class, exactly at 6 pm, and as of right now there is only one other person signed up for it. And I'm willing to bet that one other person is Leigh because I told her about it last night and she was in as much of a rush to sign up as I was. Ha! We're such losers.

I got another e-mail earlier today telling me that Ferenc (my entomology teacher) had decided to change the time of the class (panic attack) but luckily it was just like a ten minute change. BUT, the e-mail was sent out to everyone in the class AND to Ferenc. This means it was sent to loser ME and Ferenc! How embarrassing! Now he knows I'm a huge super freak!

Prior to yesterday, you couldn't get RolyPoly into the bunnies' room unless you physically carried her in, and even then she would just run back out when you set her down. Yesterday I set up a futon in the bunnies' room, and my study table is also in there now. As soon as that futon got in the room, it turned from the bunnies' room into RolyPoly's room. There is something about that futon that she just can't stay away from. She doesn't even pay attention to me and Kory anymore! She still seems a little hesitant when entering the room, and she still runs past the cages, but once she reaches the futon, oh man, she knows it was so worth it.

Now RolyPoly knows that downstairs she is only allowed on "her" couch. Every once in a while I'll come home and when I open the door I see her jump off of "my" couch. So at least she knows that she isn't allowed on "my" couch, and when I'm at home she stays off of it. This futon though, she could care less if I want her on it or not! It currently doesn't have a cover or sheet or anything, so it's black, and I have a grey/black blanket on it, so RolyPoly's hair shows up really well. But as soon as I leave the bunnies' room, RolyPoly is up on that futon laying down. I go in, tell her "No," and put her on the floor. "You have a whole couch downstairs to yourself! A couch with a fleece blanket and a kitty bed on it!" I even brought out a towel and put it on the floor next to the futon, and there are newspapers for her to lay on, but noooo, she has to lay on the futon.

So I've given up. I put the towel on the futon so she at least doesn't get hair all over the mattress. And somehow I think it's extremely cute that she likes to spend so much time in that room with the bunnies (even though she isn't in there to spend quality time the bunnies, I like to think she is).

Wally and Winky, my mom's cockatiels, are coming to live with me soon. Probably at the end of this month. Here is Wally and here is Winky. Some finches are also being added to my zoo. They've already sold my Grandpa's house, so my mom has to move into an apartment and she's not allowed to have birds. I feel bad because Wally and Winky are like her children. They were originally Grandpa's birds but they soon became really attached to my mom. I'm a little worried about their emotional well being. My mom spends a lot of time with these birds, and there is no way I can give them that much attention (she wouldn't be able to either, now that she has to work). They're probably going to be scared and depressed for a while, but hopefully they'll adapt soon. The good thing is that Eleanor will now have two friends! When my mom brought Wally and Winky to visit, Eleanor came out of her little shell and actually got down onto the floor to just be with the "flock". She didn't come down to play, or pick on them or anything, she just came down to the play gym and they all sat around and ate. I think Eleanor will help ease Wally and Winky into their new home.

I'm also pretty excited about the finches. I don't know all that much about finches, so I have a lot to learn which is exciting. I've already started researching. I think she has a Cordon Blue, a nun maybe, spice finches and society finches. I know she's had all of these at one point, but I'm not sure exactly what she has now.

It's good that I'm taking the birds though. That way my Mom knows they're in good hands, and she can come and visit them anytime she wants. She can even take them back if she finds a place where she can have them. I think everything will work out ok.

I called off work today so Kory and I could take Jasper up to the vet for his follow up (for when he got his tumors removed). It was perfect outside today, I actually like the hour and fifteen minute drive. Windows rolled down, listening to Morrissey, Kory sleeping in the passenger seat with his feet almost sticking out the window. So Jasper is doing well. He had the stitches in his shoulder taken out, but Dr. Krupka just cut the stitches in his tail because it had started bleeding when he tried to take them out. Jasper's fur doesn't seem to be growing back in very fast at all. Here's a picture of his gross bloody shoulder and here's a picture of his poor shaved (possum) tail.

Not only did my dad fix my computer, he also gave it a big overhaul. Bigger hard drive, more memory, new operating system. It took me and Kory forever to get the cable up and running again. I was scared we were still going to be internet-less for a while.

I got an e-mail from my old statistics teacher today, you know, the teacher of the wrong statistics class. It was a reminder that there is homework due on Friday. Ha! Obviously something is wrong, it seems like I'm still enrolled in the class somehow. Maybe I only am through dumb Flashline or something. I'll have to take care of that when I go and talk to financial aid about giving me MORE MONEY because I can't survive another year on less than 1/2 of what I had this year. You know, I am considered independent now because I'm OLD.

That reminds me...I mentioned before about how my statistics teacher is hilarious, and how he is always just blurting out the most random things at the most random times. Our class is pretty much just "story time". Well he came into class the other day and in the middle of teaching he said, "You know I have a cell phone." And he picked up the cell phone on his desk and showed it to us. He started to explain about how he came about finally buying one, and it started ringing! And he answered it! And then he walked out into the hallway to talk on it! Now for those of you who may have not been in school during this cell phone era (or for you new students out there, Mom!) you need to know that EVERY teacher DESPISES cell phones being used during class. Phones must be on vibrate at all times! So obviously my teacher answering his phone in class was just crazy and funny.

He came back in and said, "That was my realtor. I'm buying a new house and they accepted my offer." So we all congratulated him. "And he's also the man that sold me this phone." And then we all rolled around on the ground laughing.

Stories my Stats Teacher Told Tonight:

• How he had a TB shot when he was little and now every time he has to get a TB shot (like he did a while ago when one of his students tested positive) it shows that he has it.
• How he is selling his house by himself, and the day after he put the sign out in his yard, someone came and offered him what he wanted. He thinks something is "fishy" since everything seems to be going way too easy. Today he brought the contract the potential buyers wrote to a lawyer to check it over. He's going to keep us updated.
• While we were talking about talking on cell phones while driving, he told us he was going to give us a "vision into the future" and then made up some story about how we are all going to wear helmets while we drive so we can talk on the phone though it, get directions through it, and all we have to do is tell it what to do "with our eyes". You know, into that little thing that "flips down" in the front. "Come on guys, use your imagination. I'm telling you, it's the future."

It's horrible not having a computer. The first day it was gone I kept thinking "Well, I can't go online, but I'll just go type up an entry." And then I would realize that my computer is gone, not just the internet! So I'm up at the school again. Actually, I'm only here because Kory needed to get online to fill out his fafsa. Yeah, I know, he should have filled it out months ago.

As we trudged our way up here through all the slush and sludge, I looked down and noticed that the brights light was on on my dashboard. GREAT. My headlight is out again! My mom and I went and got it "fixed" the first time over spring break. (I feel like I've told this story before, so if I have you'll have to read it again). I took it in and told the guy that it wasn't the actual bulb, because Kory had changed it and it still wasn't working. Apparently he didn't believe me because my mom and I stood around for 15 minutes while he had a new bulb brought over from somewhere else (the whole time trying to figure out why he was getting a new bulb if the problem wasn't the bulb). So the bulb finally got there, he put it in along with some grease, we paid for a new bulb, and left. We didn't even get out of the parking lot before the brights light in the dash came on to tell my my headlight was out. I circled around and went back and wanted to say "I told you I didn't need a new bulb, give me my money back!" But he came outside, looked at it again and said, "The wires are almost completely pulled out. Looks like someone tried to yank the bulb out and yanked the wires out too." So he squished the wires back in and crimped them, and that has worked up until today. I really wish he would have replaced the whole socket or whatever that day when I actually had time. Now I have to find time to make an appointment to get it fixed again. (In this coming month, I already have to miss work because I have to take Jasper back to the vet for a follow up, go to the dermatologist for a follow up, and go to the doctor for a follow up. I don't think they would appreciate it if I took time off to get my headlight fixed).

Ok, I have to go now because Kory wants to go to a dumb movie. Ewww.

Well my computer is fried. I'm not sure when I'll have it back. I'm in the school computer lab right now, and it's really annoying. I am being forced to use Internet Explorer, and the shift keys on this keyboard keeps sticking. Yes, both of them.

My physiology teacher just e-mailed us review questions for our test on Monday, and since my computer is broken, and I don't have any money here to print, I had to write them all down. Two whole pages worth of questions! Writing out questions instead of printing them, can you imagine?

Ok, I need to go study. Who knows when I'll be able to post again. Hopefully next time it won't be from here!