Jacket

I love coats and jackets--LOVE them! Many women go out and buy dozens of pairs of shoes, but I sort of collect jackets and coats. I really need to live in a climate where I can utilize the jackets more. It got too hot here too fast.

But turning my attention to the topic at hand: there is a fabulous jacket at Lands' End that I have been coveting for months. I didn't purchase it because it was $79.50, and I feel like that is a ridiculous amount to spend on a jacket.

As the seasons turn more toward summer, the jacket is now on sale. New price? $55.65. Still WAY too much for me to spend on it, even with free shipping.

Alas, I will continue to not buy the jacket. Maybe it'll get cheaper...

At what point will it be reasonable to purchase the jacket?

Keep in mind, it's really cute. And I look great in jackets.

Accepted

Today is one of the days that you celebrate a minor victory.

I just got word from the graduation office at the university that my application for graduation has been accepted. I suspect that most people are accepted, particularly once they pay up the cost to graduate, which I think was $25-$30. I'm not sure what that covers, but I'm thinking that maybe my diploma will come with a box of chocolates or something. One can hope...

So now, I just have to survive the next 70 days and pass my classes.

Things I Don't Like

Things I'm not enjoying today: (I'll come up with a list of things I'm enjoying later...)

• Not being the winner
• Not having the time or attention span for homework
• 90 degree weather--seriously, what happened to spring?
• My inability to make everything work perfectly
• My impending homelessness
• Insomnia
• Allergies
• Going to the gym at 6:30 in the morning
• The fact that ice cream is not a vegetable
• The heat--it's too hot here
  

It's going to be a long couple of months.

Also, I could use a cloud or two to shade my universe. Just saying...

For My Relatives

Another set of Seattle pictures and stories...

On my last afternoon in Seattle, I went to the Smith Tower, which is a really tall building in the older part of Seattle. It's, uh...tall...and, well, old... The details escape me at the moment, but I think it's Seattle's first skyscraper.

Anyway, for a couple of bucks they'll take you up in an old-fashioned elevator to a floor with no offices, but just a big room called the Chinese room. It's really pretty and is often used for wedding receptions and such. Around each side of the room is an observation deck where you can go look out over the city.

The elevators:

I didn't take a picture when I was inside the elevator with the operator because I thought that he'd think it was weird, but it was pretty cool looking, and I've never been in an elevator that had to be operated by someone before. I guess it's the oldest set of elevators like it on the west coast. I thought it was neat.

Some views from the observation deck:

Looking Northwest...

Looking Northeast...you can see the Space Needle up the street a ways....

Looking Southeast...

There are lots more pictures looking all over the place, some with me in them, but I don't really know all of you so I'm going to skip the pictures of myself.

It was cloudy and drizzly that day. Interestingly enough, it was the only day I was there that it wasn't blue skies and sunny. Who would've thought? I had a fairly sunny trip. I loved this day though. So beautiful! There are all kinds of interesting buildings in Seattle and the Smith Tower had a great view of the city.

The Chinese Room is filled with beautiful, ornate carvings all over the walls and ceiling. One of the things in the room is a chair that is over 300 years old.

The chair is supposed to be blessed with great fortune. Any single woman who sits in it will be married within one year of sitting in the chair. I read the story and all of the letters that the Chinese Room has received touting the efficacy of the chair along with wedding announcements. I took a picture of the chair, and then I turned to leave. 

Suddenly, I thought of my relatives. My poor, long-suffering grandmother who has probably given up all hope that I'll ever wed was especially clear in my mind. People seem to think that I'm not trying hard enough to date and marry. So, with my extended family in my mind and heart, I walked over and sat in the chair.

Now no one can say that I'm not giving it 100%.

Invested

Like I am in so many things, it appears that I have become invested in my capstone course.

I tend to be a touch competitive. I wouldn't have thought that before, but in the past few months, each of my parents has separately used the word to describe me, both saying that I'm a little bit competitive. It turns out that they are correct.

So how do we know that I am invested in my capstone course? Today is year two of decisions. All of the teams have to have their decisions submitted by 9:00 tonight, and then the computer quickly crunches the numbers and tells us how we all did.

My heart is racing, and this is just a practice round. This capstone combines two of my tragic flaws: my need for good grades, and my need to win. This class plays right into both of those. Ugh.

Big deep breaths...it's just a game...and a grade...

Update: 9:06 pm. We won the round. We have the highest stock price and the greatest cumulative profits. I'm still not completely thrilled with our contribution margins, but our working days of capital and ratios all look fabulous. For tonight, I'm one happy camper. 

I can already tell that this game is not going to be good for my health. I am way too invested.

This Semester

Although my capstone course is only worth one credit, school advisors recommend you take it in a semester where your only other obligation will be the corresponding Strategic Management course.

This other course is a fair bit of work itself. Each week we have a test (you may refer to it as a quiz, but there are no other tests so it accounts for a substantial portion of my grade) over the reading material assigned for the week. Thus, I am tested on a batch of information that I am expected to have taught myself. Fortunately, I am an experienced teacher, including many years of teaching myself a number of things.

But I digress. These two courses overlap quite a bit conceptually and with the work involved. Recently, I was trying to explain to Somebody's Mother why it is so difficult and frustrating.

My final description?

It's like my econ class and my financial management class and my operations management class got together and spawned a child from hell.

And I hold to that assertion.

In Which We Go Accounting

One of my courses this semester is a senior capstone. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of a capstone, you can quickly understand it by knowing that, when I tell people I'm taking my capstone, those who have already done theirs say, "Oh, no! I'm so sorry."

For the capstone in the school of business, you are required to compete in an advanced computer simulation of running a large corporation that manufactures electronic sensors. You are scored on various elements of the success of your business, from total sales, to customer satisfaction, to employee retention, to stock price, and everything in between. Whoever is the best in the class gets an A, and everyone else is graded on what percentage of that person's success they achieved.

No pressure.

The first part of the simulation, which is 25% of my grade, comes from working with a team. Much to my initial delight, everyone on my team except for me is an accounting major. In my mind, this was going to make the project much easier.

Sadly, this has not been the case. Not only are they not as obsessively-nerdily-overly prepared as I would have hoped, it turns out that I had a poor grasp of what accountants do. They know nothing about forecasting or finance.

"What?" you might ask. "Accounting is the same thing as finance!"

Unfortunately, it is not. As I talked through our financials with the team and evaluated our proformas from the first "year" of business, one team member asked, "how do you know this?"

The reply I wanted to give? "How do you NOT?"

But with no alternatives, as the course is required for graduation, I press on.

I was discussing this all with my dear sister, LL, who will be visiting our great state in 74 days...not that anyone is counting... I explained the situation, and she actually already knew that accountants didn't know anything about finance. I told her that I was so frustrated because I had no idea what accountants actually do.

Her perfect summation: "They can add. With calculators."

A Letter

Dear World:

Some of you who I barely know have recently taken to spreading gossip about me. Whether it is true or not is irrelevant, although in this case I'd caution listeners to beware of who they are trusting.

If I feel that it is valuable and/or necessary for you to know something about me, I will certainly let you know. Until then, please just leave me alone. As you sit around and come up with secret meetings and rumor about me, I can't help but think that you either have no social life, no work responsibilities, or that you neglect both of them for the sake of some imagined opportunity to break some fascinating news.

I have a blog. I use Facebook. I'm even on Twitter. (I know--I work hard to keep up with kids these days.) If you do not hear something from me in person or through one of these mediums, go ahead and assume that whoever is telling you garbage is making it up. If and when there is something to tell people, I certainly do so.

If you are spreading rumor about me, whether or not you believe it is true, please quit. I am so tired of discovering new information about my life from third parties. Even if any of it were true, it certainly wouldn't be any of your business.

It's situations like this that make it extra difficult for me to want to reach out and make friends. I clearly am surrounded by untrustworthy "friends" in so many arenas.

I have to go hire an agent now that can issue press releases of statements refuting the craziness that is being broadcast about me. Such a burden...

All kidding aside, I'm not that interesting. Please stop trying to make me more so.

Exhaustedly yours,

Liz

Seattle Picture of the Day

I don't really have time to run down the entire trip, but I'll post little snippets and pictures of it as time allows. Seattle was fabulous. The weather was gorgeous, the city was beautiful, and all of my plans worked out exactly as I hoped. Each of my well-researched choices turned out to be even better than I imagined, and I had a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

So here's your first little picture.

One of the things I did on my trip was to visit a few museums. This particular piece of art was in a huge outdoor park that was maybe a mile away from my hotel. I walked down and spent a bit of time walking around the art. There were some really interesting sculptures there, but one of my favorite parts was that there were signs all over the place telling you not to touch the sculptures. I found this in the museums I visited as well. There were signs everywhere: "Please do not touch the art."

I have no desire to touch the art. I understand that touching the art is inappropriate.

But when people put a sign out there and tell me not to touch the art, it makes me want to touch the art.

I resisted. I'm so grown up.

Here are a few more pictures from the sculpture garden:

I liked this one. All of the sculptures in this park are huge. This one is one of the smaller ones. It's probably my height. The waves in the first picture in the posting are really, really large. They're easily twice my height--probably closer to thrice my height. Completely fabulous.

This one is massive. You can see the people standing around it in this particular shot--that's why I picked it. I loved this park. In a lot of ways, it's like a regular park (grass, walking trail right by the water), but then there will just be this GIANT sculpture as you're walking along. So cool...

This one cracks me up. I cannot remember what it is supposed to be. I thought it was a wheel, but the little description said it was something else that surprised me. I'll have to look it up and get back to you. Anyway, I just love this one. The artist had deep meaning in it, but it just makes me smile. It's pretty big, too.

All in all, it was a very cool park. I had seen the park online before I went on my trip, but I had assumed that it was too out of the way in relation to the other places I was going. I ended up there by accident when I was just walking around one evening. I ended up walking over some hilly miles to get back to my hotel, but it was worth it.

I'm Back!

I took my little trip this weekend, and I survived. Shocking, I know...

Where did I go, you might ask? Was it the sharks? The middle east? The bungee jumping?

Sadly, you're about to be disappointed.

What was the trip that struck fear into the hearts of my friends and neighbors?

Congratulations to the three of you who correctly identified my trip as something else horrifying altogether. I went to Seattle.

Holding Pattern

It seems like the last few weeks have been filled with waiting. Waiting for the semester to be over, waiting for finals to end, waiting for Captain Awesome to have surgery, waiting for the surgeon, waiting for the Captain to start feeling better, waiting for change, waiting, waiting, waiting...waiting might be the wrong word--it's more like surviving.

Today should be a day of rest. I can't relax. I can't focus. School starts again on Wednesday. I am not looking forward to another semester. I want it to be over so badly.

This semester, I have two classes, both from the same teacher. The courses have been described as the most difficult in the school of business, as well as the most time-consuming. Even my advisor told me not to take other courses while I was taking these two, even though they only total 4 credits. I am complying, largely because I am finished with all of the other requirements. What's even more worrisome is that, from everyone I've talked to, I've heard that if you must take the classes, you should not take them from one specific instructor. As the universe would have it, I don't have any other options. I must take the courses from him. He has been described as not only a difficult instructor, but simply not a good person. I'm sure there's goodness in him somewhere, but apparently, it's buried deep, DEEP down where no one has ever seen it. Hopefully, I won't feel that way about him, but I certainly worry.

So I wait. Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Waiting. Surviving. Somehow.

86ish days to go.

Same Waiting, Different Place

After three and a half hours of sitting in his little room in his little dress, Captain Awesome finally got to go back and have his gallbladder removed. A little over an hour later, the surgeon came out to let me know that everything went really well.

So now I sit in the same day surgery waiting room, waiting for him to be doing well enough that they can wheel him to a recovery room where I can join him.

I am the only person in this waiting room. Everyone else has gotten to go home--that's how long we've been here.

At least I have privacy.

Waiting, Sweetheart

My little brother (Captain Awesome) and I are sitting in same day
surgery waiting for his surgeon to come in and get going.

Until then, we've been having some interesting conversations. An
example:

CA: Someone had better say "stat" or I'm going to feel ripped off.
Like when we're rolling down the hall, I want him to yell, "20 cc's of
fun--STAT!"

Me: Where did you hear that?

CA: No where. I just think fun is important for my surgeon to have.

Me: I suppose that's true.

CA: 20 cc's of fun would go a long way.

--------------------------------------

Another example:

CA: Goooogle. It has a lot of "o"s in it. Like "gooooooogle crisp."

We've been laughing like crazy. What makes it all the funnier is that
he isn't even medicated yet.

We just have the sleep-deprived giggles, I suspect.

Defying Death

Because I have a little break in between semesters, I decided that I was going to take a vacation. I haven't really mentioned it to very many people because I'm a pretty private person, and I haven't posted it here on this blog because I've been extremely busy and, frankly, it's strange to have the entire world know you're going on vacation. I'm weird like that. Don't judge me.

But back to the subject at hand. I'm going on vacation. It's a vacation I've wanted to take for a long time, and I'm really looking forward to it.

In an effort over the past few weeks to be more open with those in my life and try to connect with people, since I've been pretty disconnected for the past few semesters, I told a couple of people about my vacation plans.

It's important to remember here that my vacation is already booked. There's no turning back now.

I told my hair dresser. She was initially happy for me getting to go on vacation, but then shocked and disturbed when she found out what the vacation entailed.

I told a couple of my coworkers. They were distressed and concerned that I would take such a vacation.

I've decided to stop telling people. That includes you--I will not be disclosing the details of my vacation until I return so as to not panic anyone further.

So why am I telling you this much and leaving you in suspense? Because I can.

Actually, there's a poll to the right. I'm curious as to what you think my terrifying vacation plans are. When I'm back from my undisclosed vacation on an undisclosed date, I'll fill you in on the details.

Hello, World!

Last night, I aced the final in my hardest class. Tomorrow, I'll take an online final and then get studying for my last final which is Wednesday night. The end of the semester is in sight, and I could not be more excited about it.

Who else could not be more excited about it? My TiVo. My poor, poor TiVo has been sadly neglected for the past few months. Every now and then, I turn it on to discover that it is full and doesn't feel it can record anything else. I am several months behind on most shows and have had to cut back to only the shows I really care about so as to have TiVo space.

It's a rough life, clearly.

Hopefully, TiVo and I will get to spend some quality time together this weekend as I pack for my vacation.

MIA

I had great plans for a thrilling, witty, charming blog post when I passed the 100 day mark on my graduation countdown.

That ship sailed a few days ago. I was not feeling witty or charming. It's been busy.

I'm sorry that I've been missing. I'll be back soon.

I have 18 credits this semester. So far, I've completed 8 of them, and I'm fairly confident that I passed both courses. Today, I'll complete another 4 credits. This weekend, I'll do 3 more, and then on Wednesday, the 29th, I'll take the final for the last course.

I'll then have a couple of days off, and next semester will begin.

One of my friends is graduating at BYU today. I told him how incredibly jealous I was, and then I reminded him to iron his graduation gown/dress.

This is an important tip for anyone who is graduating this week or next week--you MUST open that package and get out that wrinkly little dress so that you can be ready for your square-hatted ritual.

Also, don't trip.

Hanging in There

It has been a long semester. In truth, it's been a long seven years. I'm feeling really ready to be done with school, but I still have a semester to go after this one. However, I'm feeling hopeful that next semester won't be so terrible.

Yesterday, I posted a picture of a flower that really reflected my current feelings about the universe in general. Somebody's Mother said that sometimes those flowers just perk right up the next day. I was intrigued by this idea. Could a frozen, smushed, defeated flower be back tomorrow to fight again?

I opened the door this morning:

The flower was gone, a victim of a freak mid-April snowstorm that dumped at least half a foot of snow in the path of everything anyone was trying to accomplish.

Trees were covered.

Some trees are a lost cause.

This evening, as I ate dinner with my family, I lamented over the lost flower, which would certainly be a victim of snow or an aggressive shovel or snow blower.

Somebody's Mother told me that, although the flower had been buried under a pile of snow, it was still intact.

I went to inspect, and sure enough, it's still there.

Sometimes, even snow and tools and all the harshness in the world can't keep a daffodil down. At least for today, it's still hanging in there.

Defeat

I hear ya, man...

Descriptions

Reading apartment listings is such a joy. So many of them are so poorly written that you really wonder about people.

Sometimes, people write something that is funny, and I'm left to wonder if it's intentionally funny or unintentionally funny.

Today's example? One apartment was described as "great and spacious."

Things You Hear at Work

Today, two of my coworkers were having an interesting conversation:

D: You have to confront the fear!
R: I tried! I tried to call in the stupid airstrike!


We work for a financial institution.