Happy Moving Day Eve!

So, the big moving day is tomorrow. I wish I could say I was already ready to go, but I'm not. I still have a lot to do before I hit the road. I'm only taking what fits in my car. I am sad about leaving some items behind (my piano and my bed -- I love them both), but I look forward to getting all new stuff.

I still have to drag my stuff out of Anna's crawl space and sort through it all to decide what to take and what to sell at a garage sale.

Today is also my last day at work here at OSU. My co-workers took me out for a big, fancy dinner last night at Cap City Diner. It was really nice, and the food was so yummy. I had this rosemary balsamic chicken that was to die for, and the pecan pie I had for dessert was even better! As a going away present, I recieved a rather large gift card to DSW (large in value, not in size). Those who know me at all know that shopping for shoes is one of my favorite activities. Hi, I'm Tracy, and I'm a shoe-aholic.

Good News!!

I went to Florida last week for a job interview as a Children's Librarian. I got the job! I'm really excited about it. It actually sounds way too good to be true; I'm waiting for some weird stipulation to be dropped on me. My main focus will be on the teen literature and programming (which was my specialty for my degree). I will supervise 2 assistant librarians, and the three of us will run the children's department. It's a great job, and I feel really blessed to have found it.

Of course, while I was in Florida, I visited all of my family which lives down there. (Except for Drew & Marquesas. They came down to Tampa the week before for Mother's Day.) I created another montage of the photos I took while I was down there. (I'm a montage-creating fool! It's just the best way to show all of the pictures rather than just a small selection of them.) There are a couple of funny stories that go along with the pictures. There are 2 or 3 pictures of Evan "dancing." These are the pictures that are really grainy and poor quality. I had my camera on the wrong setting, but his "dancing" was spontaneous and didn't last long, so I worked with what I had. Anyway, the very first day I was there, we went to Chili's for lunch. Val told Evan to put his shoes on, so he did. He put them on and then announced, "Now I can dance." That's when the dancing started, which was mostly spinning, jumping, and doing "handstands."

There are also some pictures of Kyle with a measuring tape. This is because my parents are getting their house ready to sell, so everyone has been doing lots of work like painting all the walls from their colorful hues my Mom likes back to boring white. There's new doors all over the place (that's why one of the door frames in the background is only half painted.) Also, there are no countertops in her kitchen. They got all new cabinets, and the countertops have to be ordered after the cabinets are installed. These pictures were taken in between the cabinet installation and the counter top installation. Anyway, Kyle decided to measure the walls. Then he moved on the measuring the people. (I measure "2".)

There are many pictures taken in the pool. We will definitely miss not having such a convenient pool when my parents move.

So here's the montage. I hope you enjoy! (Sorry for those of you who are not related to me. It probably gets a little boring.)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Meet Devyn

I finally got to meet Devyn. I came to Florida for a visit. I had my 2nd interview for a library job. While I was here, I got to meet my niece Devyn. Devyn is my older sister Jill's first baby. She is about 4 months old. I took this short video of her laughing. The hands you see and the voice you hear are those of my other sister Valarie, who was showing me how to get Devyn to laugh. I did manage to make her laugh at me, but it was not in this way. She laughed at me when I held her high up over my head and let her drip drool on my face. Hey, it's all worth it for the cute laugh!

Graduation

Yesterday was the big day. Karen, Anna, and I drove up to Kent, Ohio to go to my commencement ceremony. We had a fun trip. It was nice to just get away on even a short little road trip.

The plan was for me to go home after work, pick up Anna, and then head to the east side to get Karen. By the time we got to Karen's it was 5:30, and traffic was really bad. We decided to stop and eat dinner at Texas Rodehouse before we fought the traffic to get out of town. That was a good choice. It used an hour, and by that time traffic was not nearly so bad.

We stopped to get gas in some little town and decided to get a couple of scratch off lottery tickets. We ended up winning $11 (which paid for junk food for the hotel later).

We got the hotel around 9:00, and they had a hard time finding our reservation. When they did find it, they realized that they had given our room away to someone who had come earlier in the day with the same last name. At that point, they didn't have a room with 2 double beds left. So we ended up getting 2 rooms (one was free of charge, of course). That actually worked out well because it made getting ready in the morning a lot easier since we had two bathrooms. One of the rooms had a king sized bed, which Karen and Anna shared. I got my own room with a double bed. It was also a handicapped accessible room, which means it was a little bigger than the other rooms. Plus it had a cool shower!

We hung out at the hotel. We were hoping to go swimming a little, but the pool was closed for renovations. So we watched cable (a luxury that Anna and I don't usually have) and just talked for a while. We walked across the street to a gas station and bought some Twix ice cream bars. I had never had one before, and it was delicious! (This is what our $11 in winnings went for.)

The next morning, we got up and headed up to Kent State for graduation. How ironic is it that the very first time I set foot on campus is for my graduation? I was running a little late, and so I had Anna and Karen drop me off at the doors. I had to go register, which was just telling them you were here and getting your number that determined your order in the processional line. (My number was 100.) Then I had to go line up with my fellow library science graduates. I don't know if it's just because we are the librarians, but I have to say our department was by far the most organized. We also had the most graduates present (for Masters degrees).

The ceremony went well for the most part. They pronounced my name wrong when they called it, but that doesn't really bother me that much. Nobody tripped and fell down or anything. The speaker was kind of interesting too. It was some entrepreneur business guy who made A LOT of money during his career and has a building or two named after him on campus.

I created a montage of the pictures from the road trip, the ceremony, and on campus. We actually would have had more pictures, but the batteries in my camera died, and I didn't have a spare set with me.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Holy Freakin' Lost!!!

Okay, so I am a big fan of the TV show Lost. I have been watching it from pretty much the very beginning ever since one of my co-workers told me about it and how cool it was. I started watching at about the 3rd episode and have been hooked ever since. Last night's episode was totally... well, I'm not sure what the right word is to describe it. I was watching it with Anna, and we just kept looking at each other going "Huh?" First of all, Ben is crazy! I guess we already kind of knew that. What's with this invisible Jacob guy? Only Ben can see him, but Locke can hear him call for help? Why is Jacob calling for help? Ben was totally acting like he was so scared of Jacob, but then Jacob is the one saying "Help me!" What's up with that?

And what about that Richard guy! He never ages? He's found the Fountain of Youth or something? Why isn't he sharing it with anyone else? We know that he is a "native" of the island, but we also know that he leaves the island occasionally. (He was in Juliet's flashback. He recruited her to move to the island in the first place.)

Now poor Locke is lying, bleeding to death, in a pit of skeletons. (I say "poor Locke" loosely, as he has kind of been freaking out lately -- he ruined their biggest chance to get off the island when he blew up the submarine, after all.)


Some of my favorite parts from last night's episode:

Roger "Workman" the work man -- We first saw his skeleton in the episode where Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin find the van (along with all the beer). Turns out he's Ben's dad. Also, when they found the car, wasn't it tipped on its side, and the body was found outside the car. When Ben left his Dad, dying of asphyxiation, he was inside the car, which was sitting upright. Hmmm...

I also really liked when Juliet was finally confronted and accused of being a spy for the Others. She's a tough one to figure out. Is she bad or good? She sure does have Jack wrapped around her little finger. When she's doing good things, I tend to think she's got evil motives; but when she's doing bad things, I think, "Gee, her heart's just not in all this evildoing stuff."

I'd like to say we'll get the answers to the puzzlements raised by last night's episode soon, but I doubt it. Every episode just puzzles me a little more than I was the week before. I enjoy it, though.



Here he is. It's creepy old Ben. I liked all the references to The Wizard of Oz in last night's episode, which was even called "The Man Behind the Curtain." When it comes to Ben, there have been many references to The Wizard of Oz ever since he first appeared. Does that mean he's just going to be the poor guy behind the curtain, who is creating the illusion that he is more powerful than he really is?

Some Lyrical Fun

I was laying on my bed last night listening to my MP3 player, and I was thinking about some great lines in songs. Just for fun, I will list a few, and you can try to guess what songs they're from. Some lines are poignant, some are, well, not at all...

1. "Up the stairs, to her apartment. She is balled up on the couch. Her Mom and Dad went down to Charlotte. They're not home to find us out. And we drive. Now that I have found someone I'm feeling more alone than I ever have before." (Maybe that's too many words. Does that make it too easy?)

2. "How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat. Some dance to remember; some dance to forget." (Mom, if you read this, you will get this right away. One time you told me this was your favorite line from this song that has many good lines in it.)

3. "The problem's plain to see: too much technology. Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize."

4. "You've got your dumb friends. I know what they say. They tell you I'm difficult, but so are they." (This one's just for you, Val. Well, it's actually for Mikaily. Ha ha. "My friends aren't dumb. What do they say?" Do you remember that?)

Happy guessing!

A Short Update...

Okay. I feel bad that I have not been posting as much as I think I should on my blog here. There's not really anything new to report. Graduation is coming up this Saturday. I'm going with Karen and Anna up to Kent on Friday. We're getting a hotel room. (The only thing they had left was a smoking room, so we'll smell like ash trays by the time we leave.) Graduation starts at 10:00 on Saturday morning. Afterwards we're going to a reception held by the School of Library & Information Science for its grads. I'm glad Karen and Anna are willing to come with me. I hope they're not too bored. I'm the one graduating, and I think it sounds really boring. I imagine we will take many pictures, so I will post some of those next week. I promise.

It's been 10 days!

Wow! So, it's been 10 days since I last posted anything. It's not that I've been really busy or anything. I just don't really have anything to report. I had a really good weekend. It began on Friday afternoon, when I left work early to come home and have a phone interview for a job at a library down in Florida. The interview went really well. I'm flying down there in a few weeks for part 2: the face-to-face. I'm a little nervous. I really want this job, and I will be very disappointed if it doesn't come through for me. I would get over it though.

On Friday night I helped out with our ward's Young Women fundraiser for girls' camp. (Anna is the ward's camp specialist, so she recruited me.) That actually turned out to be a lot of fun. I got to work in the kitchen dishing out lasagna with a bunch of the young women. It made me miss my old calling as the Beehive advisor back when I was in the Pickerington Ward. And we raised enough money to pay for all the girls to go to camp. Hooray!

On Saturday I went to a big scrapbooking extravaganza. I worked on my scrapbook and got a lot done. It was quite productive. Plus, I won the hourly drawing twice. Free stuff always rocks!

That's my weekend in a nutshell. I'm looking forward to when I move (on June 1st), and I panic a little when I think about all of the things I need to get done before I can go. Plus, I've made a little mental list of all the things in Ohio I want to do one more time before I leave because who knows when I'll ever be back.

Booktalking

Okay. So, you get two posts in one day today. In addition to my excitement about the upcoming Pirates movie, I also want to share a little about a recent experience I had. As you all know, I have been in graduate school for the past 2 1/2 years working toward my Master's in library science. This semester I had to do a practicum, what is called a "culminating experience." Basically, it's an internship in a library. I did mine at the Hilliard Library in the Youth Services department. As part of the practicum, it is required that you spend 100 hours working at the library, and then you have to spend an extra 50 hours on a special project. My project was a community outreach experience. I went into the two sixth grade schools in Hilliard. (Yes, the sixth graders get their very own schools here with no other grades in them.) I performed booktalks. For those of you who don't know what a booktalk is, I will try to explain it. Basically, it's a little skit about a book. Each booktalk is maybe 2 or 3 minutes long. They're kind of like movie trailers, except they're done live, and they're about books instead of movies. Anyway, I had so much fun doing them. At first I was really nervous. I didn't know what to expect from the kids. I was afraid that I would get up there, make a fool of myself, and the kids would just laugh at me and maybe even heckle a little. I was wrong! The first class I went to was the advanced reading class. That one was a good ice breaker. Those kids were totally interested. They participated when I called on them. They laughed at all the right spots. They got grossed out at the right times, etc. After that, I became much more relaxed. It helped that I was there with one of the librarians who is young and cool and very funny. He talked to them first about the upcoming summer reading club at the library and got them all riled up. Then I swooped in with the booktalks to give them some ideas of what books to read. It went really well, and I feel like I got some good experience for the future when I'm working in a library, and I have to go do booktalks again.

I am now officially done with school. I'm just waiting for the official ceremony, which is in a few weeks. Now I'm just looking for a job. Of course, I want to live in Florida to be closer to my family. I have sent my resume out to a few places, and I have my first interview next week. Wish me luck with that! I'm starting a new chapter in my life, and it's very exciting and a little bit scary. (But a little more exciting than scary.)

Have you seen this?

Have you seen the trailer for the next Pirates of the Carribean movie? I'm excited to see the movie. I'm a big fan of both Johnny Depp and Chow Yun-Fat. The special effects look so cool, especially the giant whirlpool in the ocean.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

To celebrate my "22nd" birthday this year, my good friends Anna, Karen, and Sally came with me to have dinner at Max & Erma's. We had dessert first, which was delicious. Most of us had the all you can eat sundae bar, but Sally was different. She had the chocolate chip cookies.

After dinner we went to Game Works. (As is our birthday tradition.) Sally didn't get to go seeing that she has four kids now. She finds it hard to stay out too long or too late. At Game Works, Karen and I were pretty psyched to play Mario Kart. I don't think I've played that since BYU at Sparks in Apartment 30 (FHE brothers). We used to play Mario Kart and 007 for hours on end. I was pretty good back in the day. I am not very good anymore. Plus, the button on my machine that was supposed to shoot people and drop the banana peels and stuff wasn't working. Karen's was, so she kept shooting me every time I got in front of her. Anna sat down to play Crazy Taxi -- another old school game that is very fun. She hadn't ever played it before, and she discovered that she really likes it.

I love this picture of Karen. This game was a car racing game. You had to climb into this pod thing and buckle your seat belt because the whole thing moved around as you drove. I thought it was really fun; Karen thought it was really fun; it made Anna motion sick.

Another game Anna liked was the skiing simulator. Karen and I laughed at her as she played this one becuase she stuck her booty out so far.

At the end of the night, we played some of the really old school games where you win tickets. We didn't win that many, but we got enough to get these stretchy springy bracelets. We call them our "BFF" bracelets. BFF Power Unite!

Hooray!!!

Well, last night I took the final final! No more exams for me! It's a good feeling, considering I've been going to school off and on since I was five years old. I'm excited (and quite nervous) about my impending graduation. I really couldn't have done it without the help of many other people, but I'm not going to go and get all mushy right now. I'm not totally done yet. I still have to go to the 6th grade schools and perform my booktalks. That's next week. I imagine I'll be REALLY excited by next Friday, when I have finished with that also. (Not to mention next Friday is also my birthday. What a happy day!)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I haven't posted anything in the past couple of weeks. I'm still here. I'm just busy. The end of the semester is quickly coming to an end. My final in my last class is Monday. Hooray for me! It's a great feeling. This is the last final I will EVER take! Anyway, it's study time. I also have my last presentation to do on Monday also.

We've been busy at the library. In the past month, I have helped with the Seussabration (Dr. Seuss's birthday), our first ever gaming activity for teens, and the teen art contest. I must say, I was quite impressed by the vast amount of artistic talent that teens possess. The piece that won was an etching of Little Miss Muffet with a giant, hairy spider coming down in the foreground. It was really unbelievably good. (As a person who has attempted to make etchings in one of my art classes, I can say they are difficult to do.) There were almost 200 entries. I'm glad I wasn't involved in the process to choose the winner. We had a local artist come in and do that. The winner got a gift certificate to take a summer class at CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) - a very cool prize, if you ask me. Second, Third, and Honorable Mention placers got gift certificates to Dick Blick's (an art supplies store).

My birthday is coming up. I'm glad I've been busy. It keeps me preoccupied. I haven't gotten bummed out about turning a year older because I haven't really had much time to think about it. Of course, I've been trying to decide what to do to celebrate. Last year I was in Florida for my birthday. I went to Jelly Rolls with my parents, Drew, and Marquesas. The year before that, Anna, Karen, Hi-D, Val, and I went to GameWorks. That was a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind doing that again, but we just did that at the beginning of the month for Anna's birthday. Anyone got any ideas?

Anna's Birthday

So, Anna celebrated her "22nd" birthday last Friday. Mark had Guard that weekend, so he was off jumping out of planes or something in Indiana. Karen and I decided to take Anna out to have some fun. Beth Butters (that's Karen's Mom, whom we've known since we were tweenagers) came along also. We went to BD's Mongolian BBQ for dinner. (YUMMY!) Then we went to Game Works -- a large arcade.

The food was so delicious. Since it was a birthday, we saved room for dessert. Although it turned out that we did not save enough room. You can see from the picture that the desserts were ginormous. Is that a word? It should be. That's how big our yummy ice cream things were.

Then, of course, we had a total blast at Game Works. You see, two years ago, for my "22nd" birthday, we went to Game Works. That was a few months after Anna had major spine surgery, so she couldn't really participate in anything. When I asked her what she wanted to do this year on her birthday, she told me that she really wanted to go back so that she could play too. So, we went. We even talked Beth Butters into coming. She was planning on leaving after dinner, but we convinced her to stay and play. There is a game there that is a hot air balloon race. That's the picture below of Anna, Beth Butters, and Karen strapped into those strange-looking chairs. It bounces you up and down in front of a 2-story screen, on which you watch your balloon fly. I took a pass at playing this game, as I was worried that my ginormous dessert would make an unwelcome reaapearance if I bounced around too much.

Karen and I played the Jurassic Park game for almost an hour! Neither one of us realized that we played for so long until Anna stuck her head in the booth and told us. I guess time flies when you're shooting T-Rex's and Raptors. Who knew?

We also raced in the Indy 500, where, I'm proud to say, I came in 6th out of 6 racers. Go me!

The night was really fun, and Anna did quite well, considering she left Matt with a teenage babysitter for the first time ever that night. She was nervous at the beginning of the evening, but I think time and fun lessened her anxiety. (Anna, I know you're reading this. You can correct me if I'm wrong, and I will print a retraction.)


Here we are at the Mongolian BBQ. We're eating, eating, eating!


And here is me with my GINORMOUS dessert. I have to tell you, though, that it was divine! It was hot apple crisp with ice cream and caramel on top.


Anna, Beth Butters, and Karen are strapped into their "hot air balloon" chairs. I forgot who won. I think it was Karen.


This is Karen and me shooting dinosaurs. We made it all the way to the end of the game. Karen was much better than I was. I think my favorite part was when we were standing on a dock over the water, and this big alligator dinosaur kept swimming under us, jumping up, and trying to eat us.

What a cutie!

I just had to post this picture. I think it is so cute. This is my newest niece Devyn, who is now about 7 weeks old. She is my sister Jill's first baby. I still have yet to meet her in person. This picture is one that my other sister Valarie sent to me. According to Val, Devyn smiles like this all the time.

The Visitors

Val and her family came to visit me a couple of weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to uploading a picture from their trip. We had a really good time. Jason had to come to Columbus for business, so Val and the kids decided to come along also. This picture is of me and Evan. The hotel where they stayed had an indoor pool. Swimming was a popular activity with the kids. Wow! My hair looks pretty dissheveled in this picture.

A Quick Update

Just a quick update...

Let's start with the weather. As I mentioned in my last post, winter came late to Ohio, but it came with a big bang. We had a big snow/ice storm hit this week. OSU shut down (which NEVER happens), so I had the last two days off. Usually I enjoy having a day or two where I can just sit at home, get some stuff done, watch tv, read, etc. BUT I was not prepared to be trapped at home. So I had no books to read and no movies to watch. That's why they call it stir crazy! But today the world went back to normal. School is in; work is expected; phones are ringing.

Valentines Day was yesterday. Because of the snowstorm, it almost passed by unnoticed. Late in the afternoon, I ventured out of the house with Anna to go rent a movie and buy some milk at Giant Eagle. After a short stint of being stuck in the deep snow (no thanks to Anna who got us stuck in the first place, but thanks to the handsome stranger who pushed us out), we made it to the grocery store where I remembered the Valentine occasian as I was greeted with many pink and red decorations. (The floral department is immediately inside the front door.) So, happy Valentines Day to everyone!

My sister Valarie just found out this week that her 4th baby, who is due this June, is a little girl. She was very excited, and my niece Mikaily was REALLY excited that she will not have ANOTHER brother.

I'm still working at the Hilliard Library. I'm about half way through the amount of hours required for my practicum. I think my favorite tasks I've done so far have been helping with family storytime, sitting in on the teen advisory board meeting, and designing displays for various areas in the library.

Life is good. It's not always that exciting, but it's good.

Winter Wonderland

So, winter finally came to Ohio this weekend. It took it's time about it, but it did make an appearance. So far, we've had a pretty mild season. This is the third day in a row that school has been cancelled. Monday and Tuesday it was cancelled because of the dangerously low temperatures. (I think they were concerned with the little kids standing at the bus stop for too long.) Today school was cancelled because of all the snow we got last night. The snow began yesterday afternoon. It doubled the time it usually takes me to get home from work, but it was so pretty. It was the dry, powdery kind rather than the sticky stuff that's good for making snowmen.



This is a picture from my office window. I love the snow!

eBay... A Place for Everything!

Have you ever just searched eBay to see what strange things people are selling? Or maybe it's more interesting that people are actually buying those strange things. Are you looking for a bullet proof vest? You can get it on eBay! Do you want to buy an antique watch? Guess what! Someone is selling one on eBay! You can even buy Campbells Soup labels to donate to your kid's school!

I was bored, so I started browsing around eBay to find some weird things. Here were some strange items I came across:

1. A man who was selling his soul. Well, apparently he tried to sell his soul, but eBay stopped him from doing so, saying the item he sold had to be more tangible. So, he is selling a certificate that states the highest bidder is the owner of his soul for 1 year. He is also willing to practice whatever religion the bidder wants him to for that year, and he is willing to follow the bidder's life advice for one year. Kind of creepy, don't you think? Last I checked, the bidding was up to $15.50 cents with 4 days left to go.

2. A face on the stairs.












Apparently, this face just appeared one day after they washed their stairs. Who does this miracle picture depict? The seller's guess... it must be Jesus, unless, of course it's Abraham Lincoln! Bidding starts at $50,000.

3. A bottle of Coke with a dead mouse in it. The bottle was bought from a vending machine on a college campus in California. There is a dead mouse floating at the top of the bottle. It is guaranteed that the seal is not broken on the bottle. Of course, the seller recommends that you don't drink it since there is a dead mouse in it. At this point, bidding is up to $5.51.

I could go on and on describing some of the truly strange things that people sell and buy on eBay. If you're ever bored enough, then you should check and see for yourself what you can find. It's funny.. and a little frightening.

Riddle Me This

Okay... here's one of my favorite riddles:

Three men go into a motel. The clerk tells them the room will be $30. Each man pays $10 before going to the room. The clerk then realizes that he made a mistake and should have only charged them $25 for the room. He gives $5 to the bellhop and asks him to take the change to the men in their room. The bellhop takes the $5 but pockets $2 of it. (He's not an honest bellboy.) He gives each of the 3 men $1 back as their change. After their refunds, each man ended up paying $9 for the room. Three times $9 is $27. With the $2 the bellhop kept, that's only $29. Where's the missing dollar?

I like this riddle because it's a math riddle, and math is not my strongest talent. The first time I heard this riddle, I was so confused. I could not figure it out. Even after I heard the answer, I still didn't get it. Now, in my defense, when I first heard this particular riddle, I was much younger than I am now. I'd like to think that if I heard it for the first time today, I would at least understand the answer when it's given to me if I couldn't figure it out on my own first.

Think about it for awhile, and try to figure it out. Read on for the answer...

ANSWER:
The $2 that the bellhop kept should not be added; it should be subtracted from the total paid ($27) to obtain the price of the room ($25).

The wording of the riddle tricks you into trying to do the wrong math problem, and that never comes out the way you think it should. Of course, by definition, that is what riddles do. They trick you with their ambiguous wording.

Here's what I REALLY don't understand about the riddle: What kind of motel that only charges $25 a night for a room has a bellhop?