Adventures in Life

A few days ago I went to the post office to mail some books on CD for Gabe. Because they fall under the definition of media, I was going to use the much cheaper media mail service. I went up to the counter and the postal employee weighed my first package. She said $18 something. I told her that I wanted to mail the package media mail. She quickly asked me what was in my package. I told her it was a book on CD. She said that I could mail it that way if that really was what I had in the box. I said that it was. She was essentially accusing me of lying to her about the contents of the package. She said that it could be inspected (this is what they normally say). I said fine. I had a second package to mail as well. Both of them together were under $4. So, I could see why people might abuse the media mail system. I will say that my classmates and I did get a few good laughs out of the situation.

Posted by at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I tried my luck at the Yahoo Sports Tournament Pick'em for college basketball. I am not doing so well. The only team that I have left in the tournament is Villanova. The best that I can finish in my group is 24th. Next year I am going to pick the winning team based on which color of jersey I like better. My strategy of picking a team to win if there was an optometry school in the vicinity wasn't such a great idea this year.

Posted by at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Since I know so many of you love hearing about optometry lab, I thought that I would fill you in on the lab from last week. Actually, it wasn't nearly as exciting as the Dilation and Irrigation lab from a few weeks ago. Let's see, foreign body removal...you get a foreign body in your eye and someone needs to remove it. It could be anything, even little specks of metal. So, before I can do it on a real patient, I practiced taking my forceps and golf club spud, yes that is the technical term, and removed many foreign bodies from a cup of jello designed to mimic the human cornea. We used a cup of jello, because I doubt that you could find many people willing to place a foreign body into their cornea so that we could remove it. Just in case I ever have to remove something from your cornea, I passed. We also did pressure patching. Basically, you tape some gauze over the eye in a particular way so that the patient cannot open their eye. Taking the tape off was the worst part. So, this lab wasn't that bad. Next week we all get dilated for the scleral depression lab...I have heard rumors that this one isn't pleasant, but I will let you know how it goes.

Posted by at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, Gabe and I went to a restaurant that I really like tonight, J.C. Georges. If you ever get a chance to go, you should really try the Grecian chicken tenders with the Greek-style potatoes...yummo! Anyway, when we walked up to the hostess to ask for a table she looked at us and said, "I can't remember if you like smoking or non-smoking." She actually remembered us. I think that means that we are eating there too often...the food is so good. Okay, when it gets to the point that when I walk in everyone turns, looks at me, and says "Steph!", then I might consider cutting back on my J.C. Georges addiction, but until then Grecian chicken tenders here I come!

Posted by at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Did anyone else notice that Chicago celebrated St. Patrick's Day a week early and then moved on to Easter? Before you know it, they will literally be celebrating Christmas in July!

Posted by at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

While watching another episode of the Smurfs certain things occurred which I found to be very disturbing. Smurfette was attempting to figure out which Smurf that she wanted to marry. All of the Smurfs were vying for her affection...including Papa Smurf. Growing up I always assumed that Papa Smurf was their father or at least a father figure. Also, why is Smurfette the only female Smurf? In the later episode I remember some Smurf children...where did they come from? I think that I should quit analyzing the Smurfs and just watch them.

Posted by at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Gabe and I are having a tropical themed get together at our apartment. Since we don't know what the weather is going to be like in a couple of weeks we will bring to the tropics to us. Anyway, the point of this is that I just read an article on dogs and parties. There are apparently quite a few things that can be found at parties that one should not feed a dog.
Among them are coffee, chocolate, and tea. These can cause urinary tract problems as well as nervous system problems.
Macadamia nuts. These cause problems with digestive, nervous, and muscle systems.
Grapes and Raisins. These can cause kidney problems...Clara won't like this, raisins are her favorite food.
Tobacco poisoning can cause vomiting and Alcohol consumption can cause death.

Just thought that I would pass the information along.

Posted by at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Eyeball was tonight. It is the formal for my school. Apparently this year, along with the formal, several engagements occurred. Congratulations to Andrew and Nicole...they became engaged on March 11. Also, a congratulations goes out to Jenny and Mark...they were engaged on March 10.

Posted by at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gabe put together some links for the Republican Primaries...check them out if you are interested.

Posted by at 5:00 PM | Permalink

My school has set up a new filtering system on the school's email system. We are not allowed to filter our own email, they do it for us. So, initially I thought that it would be good to at least have some filter on the email that I received in the inbox. I was wrong. I now receive "Quarantine Reports". This means that I have to open the quarantine report to see if the email really is spam. It was so much easier when I could just look at the sender and click delete. Now I actually have to open an email to see if it should have been filtered out. I am getting spam of my spam! I have been tempted to delete all of the quarantine reports that I receive without opening them, but the first time I do, it will probably be an important email. So, as for now, I will continue to open the spam that I receive of my spam.

Posted by at 8:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We just changed our T.V. package and we now get the Boomerang Channel. I just finished watching the Smurfs. It has been a really long time since I have seen them on T.V. I used to love the cartoon when I was little, and the theme song was so catchy...I would sing it for days. Great, now I am singing it. I remember collecting the figurines from the McDonald's Happy Meals when I was in gradeschool. As I was watching them this morning I was trying to figure out why Gargamel wants to rid the world of Smurfs. What would he do with all of his time if he succeeded? Chasing the Smurfs is pretty much the only thing that he does. I still can't figure out what the Smurfs did to make him dislike them so much. This morning the "Astrosmurf" episode was on. It was Dreamy Smurf's smurfday and his smurfday wish was to travel to space. So, Papa Smurf concocted an elaborate plan to make it look like he had landed on another planet. Well, the process to make things look like another planet was quite involved for the little Smurfs. As a result, they were continually asking Papa Smurf "are we there yet?" Papa Smurf became so irritated that he told them to "smurf off". Wow! I wonder what else I missed when I was watching the cartoon when I was 5. Maybe the Smurfs aren't as innocent as I once thought.

Posted by at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

If you see Maren, wish her a happy birthday! Happy Birthday Maren!

Posted by at 1:31 PM | Permalink

Gabe has a mid-term today, so yesterday evening I went to a class at Archiver's with Nicole. Hmm...I think that Nicole has been mentioned more in this blog than anyone...maybe not as much as Gabe. Anyway, we went to the "Chalk Full of Color Workshop". There were points during the class that I believe I had more chalk on me than the card. The class had a dual purpose. It looked like fun (it was) and Gabe was supposed to study while I was gone. I am not entirely convinced that he didn't do other things besides study (tv, computer, games). :) I guess the moral of this entry is, if you get a birthday card from me it might be one from the workshop...I now have a bunch of them.

Posted by at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)