My New Job

For the past two days I've been doing training at the St Lawrence Library. My job as Library Building Supervisor is quite entailed. I'm basically working a little bit in every department in the library. I'm definately going to be learning a lot which is good. I also think it's going to be a job which keeps me busy which is also good. The design of the library really reminds me of a space station or something. The archutecture is from the 60's and it's very minimalist, and deconstructified (that's not really a word). The outside of it looks like a concrete slab with a couple satelite looking things slapped on the side. The inside includes exposed concrete walls and giant pipes going across the ceiling and along the wall. One of the rooms is even called the "yellow pipe room" because it has a giant yellow pipe going through it. Another room is called "the tree room" because it has several live trees growing in the middle of it. One nice thing about the design is it is very well lit. Lots of windows and skylights, but really tacky couches. Anyway, I think I'm going to enjoy working here. I have my own ID card and everything now which allows me free membership to the gym and a 15% discount at the bookstore! Oh the perks of working at a university. I also have health insurance now, which is probably a good thing. Thanks for listening and good luck in all your jobs!

I'm Sorry Daria

Monday morning at about 11:30 I got in a car accident. Don't worry; no one was hurt! I was in a parking lot at a stop sign, I slowly pulled out, and out of nowhere came this huge, gray van and I unfortunately ran into the side of it. The van was hardly scratched but the whole front bumper of my car was torn off. The guy I ran into was very nice and collected the pieces of my car and put it into my trunk. The cop was also very nice even though she issued me a ticket for "failure to yield at a stop sign" which I find kind of ironic--I think running into something is punishment enough. The tow-truck guy was also very helpful. Tested out the car and said we could drive it home. I'm sure we looked very comical driving around with my light bulbs exposed. I guess all in all it was a good first car accident experience. Anyway, the car, whose name is Daria, is now in the shop. Hopefully I'll be able to drive her in a few days, especially because my new job starts on Monday. Until then I'm stranded at home. Feel free to give me a call or write me or Daria sympathy notes!

Quarter-Life Crisis

At least now I know I'm not the only one...

Update

Well, I figured it was about time to let everyone know what I've been doing with myself this summer after I got back from New York City. My good friend Danielle got married on July 28 to an awesome guy and I'm really happy for them! Their wedding was at a beach and it was just gorgeous. After driving three hours from their wedding and six hours from Hamilton to get home I had a job interview and then drove three more hours to join my family vacationing in VT. I heard back from my interviewers a few days into my vacation and found out that I got the job. I start August 23, and I'm very excited about it. A few days after I got home I got news that another one of my friends has gotten engaged and her wedding will be in the year. A lot of exciting things happened all at once putting an eventful finish on an uneventful summer. Things have settled down now so hopefully I will update again soonish. We'll see how exciting the coming year will be.

 

 

 

4th day in NYC

Guess I kind of forgot about blogging for a little while. Here is the much delayed final day in NYC in which we explored Central Park. Really all we wanted to see was the zoo, but we got helplessly lost because there are no signs to anything. We did finally get to the zoo at 4:30, half an hour before it closed. We spent the entire time looking at the penguins and the polar bears. I actually don't have pictures of them unfortunately. Here are some random shots of places we went to in Central Park.

 

 

 

 

That night we went to a jazz club, Swing 46. A little pricey but well worth it. It was a fun night even though Central Park was frustrating. The next day we drove back and I got a speeding ticket :oP I was sad to leave. Hopefully I will get to go back again. Good times were had by all.

3rd Day in NYC

We finally made it to see the Statue of Liberty. The line was very long, but the ferry ride was very fun. Wally liked it too.

 

 

A Bull near Wall St. It was built after the stock market crashed to represent that our economy would get back on its feet again.

 

Really ugly sunglasses in an Old Navy.

 

We also walked through China town, Little Italy and Soho; but by that point we were so tired we could hardly appreciate it. So we just went home and played cards with Abby's cousins. It was a good to get home a little earilier and rest up for our last day in the City.

2nd Night in New York City

Abby and I took the train into the city (grand central station is a very cool building) and we were planning on immediately taking the subway down to the ferry so we could go to see the statue of Liberty. However, I was curious to see what was outside the train station as I figured it would be in a central location with some cool stuff around it. Turns out I was right. We got distracted and never actually made it to the ferry that day which turned out to be a good thing because the weather was kind of blah that day. First we saw:
St. Patrick's Cathedral

 

The Empire State Building

 

Hot Dogs... and shopping for the rest of the day. We went up all nine floors of Macy's.

 

Finally to end the evening... The Phantom of the Opera! Loved it!

 

Eliza's 3rd Birthday

 

Oh, and today is Eliza's birthday

 

A cake we spent WAY too much time on, but it looks cool. Unfortunately we couldn't even eat it today because she felt too tired and sick. Hopefully tomorrow... mmmm... cake...

First Night in New York City

 

The Ferris Wheel at Toys 'R' Us "the center of the toy universe" Abby and I were in the Cabbage Patch Car

 

Times Sqaure

 

The Hershey Store

 

Giant Chocolate things...

New York, NY

As many of you know I just spent a few days in New York City. It went very smoothly and I had a very good, albeit tiring time. I don't have all my pictures yet as I'm waiting on some from Abby, but I will post some now to whet your appetite.
We stayed with some of Abby's relatives. They don't actually live in the City but a little North of it. We took a train into the city the first night we got there, walked through Times Square and went to eat at a Restaurant called Ellen's Stardust Diner. If anyone is going to the city anytime in the near future I HIGHLY recomend it. The waiters and waitresses are aspiring Broadway performers and they entertained the whole night singing show tunes and dancing on tables. It's kind of something you have to see to believe... really cool.
My final thoughts of the city is that it is one of of the cleanest and friendliest cities I have ever visited. I was expected something like a city attitude, but people on the whole were very nice, offered to take pictures for us, gave us directions, didn't push much if you stopped suddenly on the sidewalk to gape up in awe at an exceptionally shiny building... I never felt unsafe or in danger of being robbed once. I will post more pictures soon.
I love NY!

I met an old man today. He said that life is like a journey, and opportunity comes like trains coming into a train station. One comes in, and if you don't take it you can take the next one. He said opporunities are always coming for young people; you have to take advantage of them before you get too old.
He also said do what you want to do, not what someone else wants you to do. Then even if you make mistakes you can say that they were your mistakes.
He also said don't marry somebody too rich, because when they're sick of you they'll just get rid of you.

Can you imagine living your whole life in a train station, watching all the trains pull out and never having the courage to take one yourself?

Hello

I don't know if anyone still even reads my blog. Nothing exciting is happening in my life right now. I am at home relaxing and planning my next move. I will update when I find out what that is. For now, if you still check my blog, I would like to direct you to Danielle's blog. She is in Pakistan actually doing cool things. I'm sure she'd love comments on her posts.

Done with my last Psychology Paper!

And very excited about it... I started a psychology minor because I thought it was interesting. After four years I have learned that it is not. Anyway, I am done with it now. I have no papers left, just some exams and creative writing. It is just starting to dawn on me that I am actually going to be graduating this spring. Four years of my life, four summers knowing what I am going to be doing in the fall, all that is going to change now. I used to be kind of nervous about it, but now I am just delerious with excitement. Wish me luck!

School House Rock

My psychology professor told our class that we could find School House Rock on youtube. I don't know if it was a little before my time, but I remember watching these on Saturday morning TV. I think the world would be a better place if everybody had as fond memories as I do of learning about such things as how a bill becomes a law, or the how 3 is a magic number, or my own personal favorite, the conjunction:
This one was my favorite.

You'll have a hard time getting that tune out of your head!

Mind over Matter... or is it Matter over Mind?

So I have pretty much everything due in the next two weeks and have little motivation to finish anything. The warm weather is not helping either; all I want to do is play outside. So, below is a conversation I had with myself last night which pretty much sums up my attitude over the past week.

BODY: I’m so tired. I could use a twenty minute nap.

MIND: We’ve been through this before, your twenty minutes is my two hours.

BODY: C’mon, we’ve been working all day, we deserve this.

MIND: No! If I give into you now I won’t get any work done for the rest of the night.

BODY: But you can’t get any work done anyway! Not when you’re so tired. Just twenty minutes, you’ll feel so much better afterwards and you’ll be able to work much more efficiently.

MIND: I am kind of tired… But I can’t risk it. No, we must finish this paper.

BODY: Twenty minutes! You can’t spare twenty minutes to help us out?

MIND: How do I know it’ll be twenty minutes?

BODY: I have a built in alarm clock. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.

MIND: Well… ok… I guess I could spare twenty minutes. I am having a hard time thinking when I’m so tired.

BODY: I know… and you’ll feel so much better after a nap.

MIND: You’re right. I’ll just take a little cat-nap to re-engergize.

(Lies down… Two hours later…)

MIND: What?!? You told me just twenty minutes! I have so much work to do. I’ll never finish what I wanted to do tonight.

BODY: What? Oh yeah, sorry about that. I guess I forgot to turn on the internal alarm. Hey, I’m kind of hungry. How bout some Ritz crackers?

MIND: Well… I guess I can’t do much thinking on an empty stomach. Let’s go down to the kitchen…

toothpastefordinner.com
I'm not sure what part one is.

Potsdam Has a Website

And on this website you can send e-cards to your friends. These were some of the pictures they chose to use for the e-cards:
A Man-hole

Yes, it does snow there... a lot.

An Anti-Aircraft Gun. This should make everyone feel safer. We are on the cutting edge of military technology, folks.

A Machine Shop in Clarkson University. It looks like a sweat-shop.

The liquor store caught on fire! Don't worry, we have our whole team out working on it. You will be able to buy liquor in the future.

I'm not going to think too hard about what this might say about my hometown. Go Potsdam!
http://www.discoverpotsdam.com/

I Hate Mondays.

"all we need is ice-cream and a hug"

I am having a hard time motivating myself to do anything after break. I had a really good relaxing time at home with friends and family. Some pictures that about sum up the week:





The week after I got back was crazy busy, but now I have reached a lull. Almost all of my major assignmetns are due the first week of April, so I should really start working on them now but we'll see if that happens. Most likely I'll just be swamped when the time comes. Until then I will be rediscovering my love for Bowling for Soup. Have a happy Tuesday!

Happy Snow Day

This is probably the best Valentine's Day ever. It's a snow day! Below you'll find a video Melissa created chronicling the buildup of snow over the past two days. We went sledding last night while the snow was still coming down pretty hard. It is easily up to my knees in most places. Most schools are closed, including ours! Happy Snow-Day everyone!