Who Doesn't Love a View-Master?

My friend J and I went to see Iron Man this weekend. To my delight, Robert Downey, Jr. proved to be a refreshing choice to play Iron Man. Unlike many comic book character movies (I'm looking at you, Spiderman franchise), Iron Man has actual dialog and even a few funny lines. It was great and I'm not surprised it has taken in over $200 million worldwide in five days. But there was one thing that caught my eye and had me feeling nostalgic throughout the movie. Iron Man/Tony Stark has a fancy light-uppy thing implanted in his chest. To me, it looks just like a View-Master disk. It made me wonder if I could flick Iron Man's thumb and see an image of Donald Duck in a bathtub coming from his chest. Another flick and there's Dumbo flying over the circus tent. Ah, memories.

I'm Not Kickin' It Old School

Well, I have to say sorry for taking so long to blog lately. As you know, my life has been consumed by a certain Professor Crawford. She is a lovely lady (though I've only seen her in online video lectures) but she was not kidding when she said the coursework for this degree would be rigorous.

Back in the day when I got my Master's from UNT, I had to go to class 2 nights a week and did a lot of my homework on the weekends. I met my friend S at UNT and we kicked it old school. She and I took all our classes together, studied together, graduated together and even found the perfect bathroom stall on the 3rd floor of Matthews Hall. For some reason, that one stall had its own window and the others had boring brick walls. Man, I miss that stall.

Anyway... this new degree plan is definitely new school. Lamar University took their old school Education Administration degree plan and adjusted it to become an online course. I'm reading a lot of journal articles and books, writing papers, watching online lectures and I have at least 4 assignments due a week. One class is just 5 weeks long so the mid-term and final exams are only one week apart.

The coursework takes a good chunk of my time every single day but I was still kinda feeling disconnected from the class and its members. The class members and the 2 professors who planned the class will never meet in person. We do have a private online discussion board but none of the people in my class are interested in discussing bathroom stalls.

During the first few weeks of class, it felt as if I was not even in grad school. My brain was telling me that I needed to sit in a classroom to validate the experience. That was until I took the first mid-term exam. Yowza! That sucker was killer but I aced it! Thank you, Saint Thomas Aquinas! (Incidentally, also the patron saint of pencil makers and lightning.)

That exam was enough to get me fully connected to the grad school life once more. I still may feel disconnected from the other class members, but I can learn to accept that. If I can accept the horrible fact that Daddy Yankee is Harvard's Latino of the Year, then anything is possible.

Where's That Cap and Gown?

Ok friends, it's officially official. I'm back in school and my first class starts April 1. There was a bit of a mixup with the school (They thought I wanted a degree in marketing!) so it took a while to get things rolling. But they are rolling now and I'm all set.

My second Master's will be in Education Administration and it will be complete in October of 2009. It's a fancy new degree plan at Lamar University that allows me to take one class in 5 weeks then I get a week off before beginning the next 5-week class. It's gonna be rough but I'm looking forward to it. I put it off waaayy to long.

Since things will get crazy soon, I apologize now for letting your calls go to voicemail, forgetting to reply to your e-mail, putting late comments on your blog, forgetting your birthday, leaving you stranded at the airport and basically not seeing you for about 18 months.

But I love you and I'll see you soon! I'll be the one in the cap and gown.

My Big Redneck Wedding

M called me two nights ago and said something I never though I'd hear him say, "Turn on your TV and put it on CMT." His peculiar request piqued my interest because we are not exactly country folk.

I switched over to the Country Music Television network and found a show called, "My Big Redneck Wedding." It's hosted by Tom Arnold and CMT was having a marathon of weddings! I was particulary moved by the wedding of Gail and John in Westover, Maryland.

Please, please try to catch the flea market wedding of Gail and John. Here are just 3 reasons why:

1. The groom didn't get on one knee to propose. Instead, he peed "Will you marry me?" onto a street for her to read.

2. As a wedding gift, Gail gave John a pink bowling ball that says, "Think of me when you touch your ball."

3. John wrote his own vows and here's a hilarious clip:

The Love Shack

After dealing with that car accident and driving all Monday night in Brown Sugar, I got home at 1:00 a.m. My head said, "Go to bed, go straight to bed, do not pass Go, do not collect $200." I obeyed and did my best to stay awake at work that Tuesday. After work that day, I had to figure out when to get my car repaired and I tried to get in touch with my home security company to beef up my service. So, naturally, that was the perfect time for...

2008 Problem 4

By Tuesday night, I was exhausted and that nasty seat-belt bruise was looking gross. I just wanted to sleep. I curled up in bed and I heard this noise in my attic. It sounded like little squirrel feet. Then I heard a shriek that I often hear from the squirrels that have laid claim to the creek in my back yard. Only, that shriek was coming from my attic. I knew there was no way to get them out at night so I decided to wait until morning to de-squirrel my attic. They must have woken me up about 20 times that night.

On Wednesday, I was home for lunch and I looked in the attic. Nothing. I figured they didn't like my accommodations and they left. Whew! But later that evening, I heard them again. I made M go up into the attic to investigate. As he looked up into the attic, I saw his face drop. And he said, "They're not squirrels. They're raccoons. And they're fu*&ing!" I almost vomited on the spot. I forced M to immediately close the attic door because those nasty things can carry rabies!

It turns out that the raccoons chewed through a vent screen on my roof and got into the attic. January is mating season for raccoons and in March/April they nest and have babies. My attic was their nocturnal love shack! And during the day, they were spooning in a dark corner sleeping the day away.

On Thursday, I made phone calls to Animal Control, I lit some St. Francis candles and I bought this blue powder called Critter Ridder. I sprinkled the Critter Ridder (which aggravates a raccoon's eyes and nose) all around my house and in my attic. During the day, while I was at work, I placed a boom-box in the attic that blared La Casa 106.7 FM. If those raccoons were going to disrupt my sleep, I was going to disrupt theirs with the best in Tejano music. Animal Control lent me a raccoon trap that I set up in the attic. And the St. Francis candle was joined by a rosary session and some holy water.

By Friday night, they were gone and it only cost me $50 total. M was kind enough to repair the vent screen for me. And I finally did catch some Z's but I never did catch anything in the raccoon trap. For which I am grateful because that would have grossed me out even more than knowing some raccoons turned my attic into a dirty motel.

Brown Sugar

So, you already know about my January filled with many car troubles and attempted burglaries. As promised, here comes....

2008 Problem 3

Since January was sucking balls, I was excited to be going on a short road trip with some family and M to San Antonio. It was an excellent three-day weekend filled with too much food and not enough cocktails.

I rode back to Big D with M in his truck on January 21. The rain was pouring down, traffic was bad and when we finally made it into Austin, we were starving. We took an exit off I-35 and traveled towards one of our Austin favs. You know I'm talking about you Vinny's!

We were driving north on Lamar when we saw some crazy bitch driving south down the wet hill. She started to hydroplane, lost control, drove across the median and right into the oncoming traffic. Which included us. First, the crazy bitch hit a pickup and then the pickup smashed into a Caddy. (It was a gold Caddy!)

We were far enough down the hill that we witnessed the whole, scary thing. And then... that crazy bitch started sliding toward us! She never hit the brakes! M tried to move the truck so she wouldn't hit my side. But her car was swirling and there was nowhere to go.

She hit my side of the truck while we were at a complete stop. And we saw her coming so we knew it was going to be bad. My body pushed forward into the seat belt and then pushed back against the seat. M was jolted but since the impact wasn't on his side, it wasn't that bad. Nobody else was hurt in the accident. Is it bad that I kinda wanted that crazy bitch to bleed?

Anyway, M's truck was really damaged and wouldn't even start. It was towed to a body shop that night so that left us stranded in Austin and I had to be at work the next day!

Luckily, M's cousin lives nearby and he picked us up. We made all the insurance calls at his place and he graciously offered us his brown Suburban, appropriately named Brown Sugar, to drive back to Dallas. Now, I need to note that M's cousin is a mortician. His place is a morgue and Brown Sugar has no middle or back seats because it's used to pick up bodies. And we drove it in the middle of the night back to Dallas. Eeek!

We made it back to Dallas safely. I had a seatbelt shaped bruise from my right shoulder to my left breast. So pretty! The bruise is gone now but it was a great conversation starter! M's truck is still in Austin getting repaired. It'll be a while before it's fixed.

So anyway, that's 3 things about the hot mess that is my life. Problem 4 is coming soon and it involves raccoons. You have to come back for that one next week!

Grammy Night!

In honor of Grammy night, I busted out on the Dance Piano. Sorry to the kids who had to wait for me until I finished playing my Grammy-worthy performance of Für Elise.