Yesterday

I wake up with a frizzy mess of hair and immediately go to the shower, but there's no hot water. I wait an hour - still no hot water. There's no hot water in the entire building - only frigid ice water. We're not going to church due to our unclean state and our general disdain for 40 degree showers, so I decide to make a hot breakfast, only I burn the biscuits. We eat our hot and some what charred breakfast and then turn to the kitchen. It's a nightmare - dishes everywhere, week-old beans fermenting in the fridge, food spilling out of the cabinet. We clean out the beans as a team but the smell still makes me gag. I boil some water for the dirty dishes, which Chris spills on the floor. I then spill dry pasta in the puddle of hot water – It’s like we’re cooking pasta on the floor. Chris washes dishes for ten minutes and then breaks a cup in his hand. He pretends to pass out from the blood. I help him get dressed while he keeps pressure on his wound and then we're off to the emergency clinic. We sit in the waiting room an hour, during which time the bleeding stops and we learn how to transform an ugly backyard into an oasis on HGTV. Finally, they call Chris' name. Chris gets five stitches across his right pinky knuckle and I watch. The doctor says he will throw away the little metal tweezers, scissors, and forceps used to sew Chris together, so Chris asks if he can keep them; I laugh, but when we leave we're carrying a red biohazard bag full of shiny instruments wrapped in a bloody paper towel. Back to the apartment where a kitchen full of dishes remains largely untouched, only now my dishwasher is out of commission and our boiling water is cold. I boil more water and then wash dishes for an hour. I finally check the time - Only 3:00!?!?!? Can we go back to bed and start this day over?

At a Wedding

Congrats Ryan and Amber!



By the way, Chris, Gina (purple dress on the left), and I made sure the get-away car reflected their new status! It was lots of fun!.

Spring Break Re-Cap

It's Sunday night at 9:45, the end of my much anticipated spring break. Not many people over 25 get a spring break, but I am one of the furtunate few (or possibly unfortunate because this means I'm still in school) who do. So what do adults do during spring break? Well, we don't go to Mexico and get drunk for days on end. Here's where I went for spring break:



I also went here:



That's my kitchen. I made lots of yummy food, including these delicious cupcakes:



Instead of going out of town for spring break, Chris and I were blessed with our first parental check-in. You know you're an adult when rather than going home to visit your parents, your parents come visit you. We showed them what Lubbock has to offer:







And we found some time for a friendly bowling match, during which Chris and I played as a team and scored a 146! My dad proudly pointed out that, as a team, we could beat President Obama, who is currently bowling in the 120's.



Hopefully my parents went home with good reports.

Of course I found a little time to goof around - Chris and I put our matching guitar hero guitars to use, we made our cumbia dancing premier, and I shared one of my passions - baking - with the local pathfinder club.

As a result of my vacation, my books are full of yellow highlighting, my husband's stomach is full of food, and I'm ready for the final countdown for final exams that will begin tomorrow morning at 8 a.m.

So, that's what an adult does during spring break.

Smart enough for the bar exam, but not for other things...

I recently recieved an email from school administration explaining that one of the front doors to the law building is not working. This door has been having problems for a while. Nonetheless, the administration felt we were incapable of understanding the situation, so they attached this picture to the email.



Yes, we are smart enough to take the bar exam, but not smart enough to try the left door when the right door doesn't work.

Update on Current Events

(1) My oven is clean! I have lived in my apartment for a year and a half. Aside from normal cooking mishaps, like a french fry falling off a pan only to burn and smolder on the oven's bottom, there have been much messier culinary adventures, like the Thanksgiving Turkey, a roasted chicken, and melted butter on a cookie sheet with no edges. The net effect was a very dirty oven. I tried to clean it, but was unable to make any progress (probably due to my eczema break out that prevented me from exposing my hands to anything but moisturizer). Then Chris tried to clean it and almost killed himself - there was a spark that caused the entire apartment to lose power and required the assistance of our maintenance man Joe to restore. Although the oven tried to kill my husband, my husband refused to let the oven win, and now I have a clean oven!

(2) I am a law school cover girl. I recently picked up a Texas Tech School of Law catalog for a friend. After looking at the student pictures on the cover for a minute or two, I realized that I had failed to notice that I was in one of the pictures. It was one of those situations where your grandma would say, "Had that been a snake, it would have bit you."

(3) Valentines Day. Chris and I are truly in sync with each other. Chris decided to forego the traditional chocolates and instead bought me a delicious cheese ball and some fancy crackers. Being that cheese is not only my favorite food, but also the greatest food on earth, this was the perfect way to start Valentines Day. Then we exchanged gifts. I thought I would really surprise him with the gift certificate for a hour and a half massage that I had purchased, but I was more surprised to find that he had bought a gift certificate for a couple's massage for me.

Looking Good

Password Paranoia

I was recently prompted to change one of my many internet passwords. The do's and don't's for password selection were neatly listed and can be summarized as follows: An acceptable password is 8 to 15 characters long, using both upper and lower case letters and at least one number, which can not be the first or last character. Additionally, a password can not contain any part of your name nor any word found in a dictionary. A password can not be repeated within a one-year period; however, punctuation marks are permissible characters.

Suggested passwords were UGZ34Bbc3k and similar combinations. I have one such combination memorized but am blocked from using that password for the next year because it was my previous password.

The point? This is ridiculous...

Update: In response to this blog, A.J. wisely suggested that I use words like sk8. Thanks A.J.!

Laptop Surgery: The Final Chapter

I can't write very much about the last round of work on my beloved laptop. The new screen arrived today and was installed before I came home from school. But I can convey the extreme excitement I felt upon seeing my computer in one piece and the even more intense excitement that occurred approximately ten seconds later when the computer powered-up in a completely normal fashion. Once again the screen displays a clear and visible picture. Time, patience, $100, and a handy husband gave my HP DV2000 a second chance at life. The screen transplant was a resounding success!!!!

Laptop Surgery Continued

The parts for my laptop arrived last week. The first part arrived in a simple envelope; the second part arrived in a long, narrow pink box with a bow...??? Re-assembling the computer and installing the new parts was more intense than the previously described disassembly, requiring Chris to bust out his head-mounted flash light. Once the essential parts were reconnected, we anxiously hit the power button. On the upside, everything powered up as normal. Phew - everything was connected correctly. On the downside, the screen image was no better than before. More parts are on the way and only time will tell if our laptop surgery will be a success.

KFC

Went to KFC for the first time in years. Ordered the item advertised on the window. Person taking the order didn't know what the advertised item was, even after pointing to the window advertisement. Food was all over the floor. Ten dollars for a snack. Remembered why I don't eat at KFC.

Irony

As Chris and I were driving into Taos, we spotted a familiar landmark. The Giant Buddy Holly glasses in Lubbock are also in Taos, New Mexico. Check it out!




Lubbock may be the home of Buddy Holly, but Taos has us beat in scenery.

Laptop Surgery

A couple of months ago my beloved HP Pavillion DV2000 got sick. What I hoped was only a ferocious virus turned out to be a serious hardware malfunction. The estimated cost of repairs: $350 to $500, plus another $50 for a new battery. The amount of repairs covered by my one-month expired warranty: nothing. As I began perusing for a replacement computer, I soon realized there was not an economically comparable replacement for the laptop I am so fond of, despite its sub-par components.

And so began the laptop surgery. Two nights ago Chris removed the rubber screw covers from the plastic frame around the screen and began disassembling the machine in a last ditch effort to restore it to a workable condition. The do-it-yourself remedy was the only way to avoid investing more money in repairs than the laptop is worth. Chris successfully located the first possible culprit; however, there was a kink in disconnecting the part from its life-line wires. This unfortunate mistake required further disassembling the key board so that the broken part could be removed and a yet another replacement part could be ordered.

So, as I write this, my laptop is in multiple pieces. The key board is gone. The screen is disconnected. The lid cover is no longer hinged to the base. An array of screws are meticulously divided and labeled in the slots of an empty ice tray. And the laptop will remain in pieces until the necessary parts are shipped from Hong Kong to Lubbock (7 to 15 days), at which time the laptop surgery will resume.

One Year and Counting

This past month Chris and I graduated from being newly-weds to become regular married people. To celebrate this milestone, we loaded up the car and drove to New Mexico for a relaxing week in Santa Fe and Taos. Of course we had our share of alone time during the week, but we also found time to go skiing with friends and to visit Chris’ family, feasting on their delicious, cheesy, authentic Mexican food.

To say that there was a sudden change in our relationship would be misleading, but to say that we are the same as when he first wed one year ago would be even more misleading. Not too long I ago I did something that was absolutely ridiculous. I thought to myself, “Chris must think I am so weird sometimes.” Just a few days ago Chris did something equally ridiculous and then said, “I could never be myself around anyone else.” And that’s how we’ve changed. Rules and boundaries have been challenged or all together broken (in part due to the afore-mentioned delicious, cheesy, authentic Mexican food; see blog on Month Three for clarification).

After Chris and I had been dating a year or so, my coworkers began asking me when we would move in together. I didn’t hesitate in replying that cohabitation would only occur if we got married, and that’s exactly how things played out. We went from being single, living separately, and reporting to no one about our time or money to just the opposite. To all those who say that you should “try it before you buy it,” I beg to differ. You miss out on the excitement of coupling a new, lifetime commitment with a new life. I can’t imagine the first year of marriage being even half the fun if we had lived together prior to the wedding. THIS YEAR WAS AWESOME! I praise God for the blessings he gave Chris and I and I pray for a lifetime of similar years to follow, even if it means breaking an occasional prudent rule.

The Nativity Chihuahua

Part of the nativity as displayed at a church in Santa Fe

Month Eleven: Cooking A Turkey

For the past 11 months I have been pretty good about cooking dinner and keeping the kitchen stocked with healthy food. But with Chris' 27th birthday and Thanksgiving colliding with final exams this past month, I decided to take the easier route - precooked! I bought a delicious strawberry and red velvet ice cream cake for Chris' birthday. That purchase worked out wonderfully. The precooked Thanksgiving turkey, on the other hand, was not as easy.



No, I was not trying to cook the turkey in an upside down pan placed in a sink full of dirty water. The turkey came frozen. I bought it 36 hours before dinner time. It required 3 to 5 days to thaw. Do you understand the dilemma?

Upon realizing that my bird was still frozen the night before Thanksgiving, I called my mom for emergency help. She told me to place the turkey in a large bowl, fill it with cold water, and leave the water running at a trickle so as to keep the water cold. This would allow the bird to thaw evenly and in about 3 to 4 hours. The only container in my kitchen large enough to hold my turkey was the flimsy, plastic lid from Chris' ice cream cake. Once filled, the edges swelled out from the weight of the water, causing most of the water to run out. Luckily, I plugged the sink prior to filling the lid with water. Not so luckily, I failed to clean the excess icing off of the plastic cake lid. What resulted was a sink full of water mixed with dissolved strawberry frosting and some water-resistant chunks of frosting floating about. The pan was added as a weight to keep the turkey submerged, as turkeys are very bouyant (this reminded me of David's Letterman's past bit entitled "Will it Float"). The turkey thawed in time and it all worked out in the end, but next year, I will be sure to buy the turkey a little bit earlier.

Windy City

We had another windy day in Lubbock today. For those who are interested, here is a very accurate picture of what our windier days look like; strange sky color, high and constant wind speeds, and flying debris. The weather people call it "blowing dust." The other day we had blowing dust and rain; the result was raining mud.

Movie Night at Gina's

While Chris and I may have many friends in Lubbock, we have very few pictures of these individuals. Here are some pictures from a recent movie night.

Benton Baby

A couple in our church who we consider to be two of our closest friends in Lubbock recently had a baby girl. We visited the baby (and our friends) two days after she was born. I love holding newborns because they are so soft.



On our way to the hospital Chris was sure that he would not hold the baby because he had never held a newborn before. It turns out she was too irresistible even for Chris...



I must admit that for a couple who isn't even considering children at this point, we do look awfully nice with a baby.

Month Ten: Introducing Chrim

This month makes ten months that Chris and I have been married and 6 years that we have been together. As evidence that we may be running out of stuff to talk about, we recently decided that our Hollywood, celebrity-couple name would be Chrim. I googled Chrim and found a substantively lacking website devoted to the RX-7. Thus worried that Chrim may reflect Chris more than Kim, I googled our alternative: Kiss.

While there were a couple of good hits, like




There were far more hits like this:




Chrim it is...

Lubbock News

Tonight, during the election coverage on our local NBC station, the announcers abruptly interrupted coverage of the local elections to announce that NBC had forecasted Obama as the next president-elect. The coverage quickly switched to the celebrations in Chicago. When the coverage switched back to the local newscasters, the male newscaster said something about an emotional scene. The female newscaster responded with a tight-lipped “Hmmm,” followed by an awkward silence while both looked down and shifted papers. For those unaware, Lubbock is a very "red" city, and this was the first a few instances where the "red" seemed to leak through the newscasters' unbiased facade.

For an even more amusing Lubbock newscast, watch this link (my written description would be inadequate).

http://www.myfoxlubbock.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=5A2874676221C7F6F93B550FC8F58402?contentId=7154869&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Lubbock’s local newscasts never cease to amuse me…