A Quote

This morning, one of my emails was a "quote of the day" message.

The first line of today's quote?

"You can do anything you think you can."

It turns out that's true.

So start thinking, and get doing!

Lots of People Go To College for Seven Years

Many of the posts over the next few weeks and months will be graduation related. Just go with it.

Last night, the schedule for presentations was delayed because the professor was ripping apart each presentation.

But by 7:25 or so, we were done. I said goodbye to the group I had spent countless hours with, and after pausing alone inside the doorway, I left the business building for the last time as a student.

Surprisingly, there weren't any people around campus. I suppose it had something to do with the fact that it was the evening before a holiday break, but it seemed like everyone knew that I just needed a few minutes on my own.

I share so many of the details of my life here, but those few minutes I'm keeping just for me.

Later, after I walked through the crazy, sidewalk-watering sprinklers, I stepped off of campus and stepped into something new.

Over the years, I've played that moment over and over in my mind. How would it feel to be done? What would it be like?

It was the way I imagined in many ways, and different in many others.

For about a year, I have known one of the things that would tell you all for this moment. It's a quote from a movie. (In fact, it's one of the two things that ran through my head all year, both from movies--the other is found in the subject line.) This movie not a particularly remarkable piece of cinema, but it's funny, and this is one of my favorite quotes:

"I graduated. It's over. I did it. I know most of you are saying, any idiot can do that, but it was tough for me, so BACK OFF!"

-Billy Madison

The Captain's Big Day

Since today is a holiday in Utah (got to love those pioneers!), I didn't have to go into work or anything. It's Captain Awesome's birthday, so he and I headed out to Taste of the Valley in Provo and met up with some family there. Basically, you pay to get a ticket to walk around and eat lots of food from different local restaurants. Tasty. It was a bit too hot after about 30 minutes, but it was great fun.

The event is put on each year by the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce. I recognized the president of the chamber when we bumped into him because he spoke at my executive lecture series last semester. He's also the brother of someone my parents have known for years. He was very jazzed about the event, as the president should be. There was a free face painting booth at the event staffed by the BYU Art Education Department as well, and the president of the chamber of commerce had a little "Y" for BYU painted on his cheek. I explained to Captain Awesome who the president was when we bumped into him, but we didn't think too much of it afterward.

Later, as Captain Awesome and one of our other brothers, Sew-man, sat and ate some food, they discussed how funny they thought it would be to tell the BYU people that they wanted to have them paint a "U" for University of Utah on one of their cheeks. (The humor here is derived from a long-running rivalry between the two schools.) Sew-man, being the older brother, managed to convince Captain Awesome to go try. The Captain agreed, assuming that the painters would not go along with it.

They did.

He then realized that he couldn't back down, so he got a "U" symbol on his cheek.

Later, as we stood in another line, who should happen upon us but the president of the Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce and his "Y" symbol.

He went out of his way to talk to Captain Awesome and tease him a little bit. The Captain then sheepishly explained how he ended up with his cheek art.

Classic. A beautiful moment in our day.

Then, we came back to my place to play XBox, something I often say I'll do with him but haven't had time for. We were both pretty bad at the game, but it was super fun. We watched a movie, and then I drove him back to his house so that he could get a nap before a night of crazy partying with his friends. All in all, it was a great day, and I'm glad to have Captain Awesome as my little brother!

Good Morning

Welcome to the rest of my life.

It Comes Down To This

One hour.

One presentation.

One angry professor.

I am money.

24

In 24 hours, I'll finish my undergraduate degree.

It's a very strange feeling, being so close to being done. Everyone is excited to share in my success, and I keep getting the same questions over and over, so I thought I'd make a list of FAQs about my upcoming victory for you.

Q: Could you BE any more excited?

A: Negative. I have reached 100% excitement. If I wasn't so very tired, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep tonight!

Q: Does this degree mean you get a big raise at work?

A: Negative. However, I still have a job, which is nice. And because I will no longer be paying for tuition, books, gas money for my commute to campus, etc., it'll be sort of like a raise!

Q: Are you quitting your job?

A: Negative. Have you seen the economy lately? I'm going to stay securely in a company where I have seniority, perks, and FABULOUS holidays! Certainly, I'll eventually do something else, but I can't imagine that'll be any time before 2010. So go ahead and stop taking bets about when I'm quitting--you'll know when I know.

Q: What are you most looking forward to?

A: It changes from day to day. Right now, I'm most looking forward to sleeping. I love the idea of coming home from work, cooking dinner, eating, relaxing, reading, and heading to bed early. What will that be like? I have no idea. But I can't wait to find out.

Q: What are you going to do with all that free time?

A: Well, since I work full time, it's not that much free time, but I intend to sleep a lot more, start in on my list of about a zillion books that I haven't had time to read, do some shopping and decorating for my apartment, go through some boxes from when I was a kid and get rid of most things, vacuum my carpet (that one should be pretty quick--just haven't had time lately), and who knows what else. I'm certainly entertaining any ideas. (Except for belly dancing--just not going to happen, people).

Q: Is your family excited?

A: Thrilled, delighted, and proud as can be. In fact, they're throwing me a little graduation shindig on the 1st of August. Let me know if you need an invite! :)

Q: Are you planning to go to graduate school?

A: I'm so exhausted, I can't imagine going to any additional school any time soon. Go ahead and stop making bets on that one, too.

Q: If you knew back when you started this degree what you know now, would you still do it?

A: Yes.

Q: Really? Don't you remember how unpleasant it has been? How tired you were? How much you hated it? How difficult it was to work at the same time? How expensive it was? Those angry teachers? Dysfunctional groups? Impossible assignments? All the crying?? Seriously??

A: Absolutely.

Another Last

I just finished taking the last test for my undergrad.

WAHOO! I could not be more excited about it.

Well, not true. I would be more excited about it if it were the very last thing I had to do. Sadly, it is not. Tonight, I have to meet with my group AGAIN to work on the paper we're writing. Don't get me wrong--great guys, very smart, hard working, dedicated the class...the only issue with them is that they're all accounting majors.

Don't be offended, accountants out there. The issue for me is that their style is very different from my own. In this case, where we're writing a paper, I'd like to break it up into pieces, write our parts, get together to put it together and give it unified voice, and then move on.

They would prefer that we all sit together and talk and analyze each thought, each line, each idea, and several ideas that aren't even going to be part of the paper, until the end of time.

We worked for four hours on Thursday night. We wrote about a page. And it was poorly written, on top of everything. I'm working now on an edit of it to make it not sound like something that a bunch of high schoolers wrote before we meet again tonight to work on it.

"What?" you might ask. "Isn't it Saturday? Shouldn't you be out having fun, or at least finishing the assembly of the furniture that you bought at IKEA a week ago, the parts of which are currently strewn about your entire apartment?"

Yes. Yes, it is Saturday. I have not gone grocery shopping. Parts of my IKEA furniture are all over the place. I have not cleaned my apartment in a couple of weeks. I have people coming over tomorrow. Am I going to get to do those things before the people come over?? Negative.

I'm going to get to sit in a room where time stands still with four accounting majors.

One paper. One presentation to the instructor. Five and a half more days. Four accounting majors. Can I make it?? Only time will tell.

Dear Sun

Dear Sun:

Please go away. You're making things ridiculously hot here, and I hate it.

I feel sunburned after a quick walk outside to my car.

It's not you--it's me.

Well, that's not true. It is you. You're too hot.

Please leave. Now. Or bring some cloud friends to keep things from being 10000 degrees here.

Thanks,

Liz

Open Apology

Today, I was kneeling by a coworker's desk drinking a glass of water while she showed me something on her computer.

One of the things she showed me was shockingly funny, and somehow, I ended up spitting a mouthful of water all over her and the floor.

I was horrified. HORRIFIED, I tell you!

It was so, so embarrassing, and I want to publicly apologize to my sweet coworker for spitting on her. I truly didn't mean to. I have never spit like that before, I promise. I will endeavor to never spit on anyone again.

In a beautiful turn of events, however, that coworker accidentally gleeked a little bit on one of our other coworkers.

I feel so much better about the whole thing now.

Still, I wonder if I should surround maybe the 5 feet on any side of me with a blue tarp, like the blue bleachers at Sea World. Anyone who stands close to me may end up covered in water.

**Correction: my coworker has informed me that she didn't gleek on our other coworker; rather, she spit unintentionally, sort of during a laugh/scoff situation...just wanted to keep the story straight.**

Thinking of You

Dear LL:

Today for lunch at work, we're having Cafe Rio.

I'm thinking of you...get here already! I guess I can wait for two weeks...I guess...

Love,

Liz

Date

Today at work, an employee called to ask me a question about how to fix something on a customer's account. As I was walking through it with her, I asked if she was the person who had originally caused the error, as it would be simpler for whoever did it to fix it since it happened today, and a same-person, same-day fix is quick and easy.

The employee paused for a minute, and then said that although it wasn't her, it didn't matter because it happened on the 10th.

I then checked my calendar, and sure enough--it's not the 10th. When did that happen?

Gather Ye Rosebuds

Recently, on three separate occasions, I have seen a great deal for something that I wanted to purchase.

Once, I didn't make the purchase because I was so busy that I forgot until after the sale; on the other two, I hesitated because it was a larger purchase and I have commitment issues.

Now, all three things are much, much more expensive, and I am sad. Now, I'll probably wait for them to be cheaper again, and they won't be...but even if they are, will I just go ahead and make the purchases, or will I debate again?

Applicable poem of the day:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.

(part of an old Robert Herrick poem)

He's talking in this poem about something quite different from making purchases while things are on sale, but the idea remains the same: I'm not so good at gathering the rosebuds while I may. I need to work on that.

I quoted that poem to my old roommates the other day when I was teasing them.

It's funnier if you know what the poem is actually about, and especially if you know the title. Google it and read the whole thing. You'll like it. It'll be your cultural moment for the week.

Validation

My old manager had called me on the phone to ask a work question. As we were chatting, I mentioned to her that my current coworker said that I wasn't fun.

Her response?

"Of course you're fun! You brought donuts for everyone yesterday. If that isn't fun, I don't know what is!"

She also agreed with me on the feelings of not wanting to go out dressed like a cow.

I rest my case.

It turns out I am fun; it clearly just depends on who you ask.

Work

Sometimes, I have the strangest conversations at work.

D: Cows aren't dalmations--it's not little black spots; it's big black splotches.
Roo: Fine! I'll make big black splotches.
Me: I'm not dressing up like a cow. It's just not going to happen.
Roo: Then you're no fun.
Me: Yeah, I think we've established that.

And then we moved on to talking about work again.

What was the reason for the cow conversation? If you dress up like a cow, you can get a free meal today at Chick-fil-a.

Not worth it. I love Chick-fil-a, but if I want that for food today, I'll just buy it.

Turns out I am no fun. Truthfully, that's a pretty good assessment, especially at work. I suppose I should be more fun, but the last couple of years of work and school seem to have sucked all of the fun out of me.

I'm getting old and boring.

Oh well. I'm too tired to care.

Memory

One of the things I've been blessed with is a pretty sharp memory. I can remember lots of details about where I was, what I said, and who was there for many situations. It's useful for work, school, and trivia-based games.

Today, I my memory came in handy as I suddenly remembered that I left a carton of milk on the counter.

Unfortunately, I was also blessed with terrible timing.

I suddenly remembered leaving the milk on the counter about 13 hours after I did it.

At least it was almost empty...

The Last Lecture

(This post is not about the book "The Last Lecture," although I do want to completely endorse that as solid, meaningful reading material for anyone out there.)

I just returned from my last lecture at school. It's a very surreal feeling. Now, all that is left is a paper, a presentation of that information, and one essay exam. (It sounds worse than it actually is.)

But as far as sitting and listening to people, I am done.

I am dangerously close to having my degree.

Helpful

My sister-in-law is currently expecting her second son, my seventh nephew, to be named "Shadow Boy."

Not true. Shadow Boy is just the only name that my brother and sister-in-law can agree on at this point. My sister-in-law has suggested several names she likes, such as Zachary. My brother suggested some other great names for the baby on Saturday, including Nathan-Detroit, Jack Daniels, and Beaver. My sister-in-law is a shoo-in for sainthood.

But back to today's topic. As I have with each of my nephews, I registered for a weekly email update as to the baby's development. There's a website that does it (probably several), and I just find it interesting. I like to know how big the baby is, what it's working on in that particular week (inhaling and exhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid this week, in case you're wondering).

My favorite part of the email is how big the baby is and his approximate weight. Each week, the email compares the size of the baby to a common object for visualization purposes. One week, he may be the size of a jumbo shrimp, another week, the size of a small lime, etc. This comparison helps me to understand the size of the baby easily.

This week, the email lists Shadow Boy as about the size of "an English hothouse cucumber."

Huh.

What on earth is an English hothouse cucumber? If it's about the size of a regular cucumber, why don't they just say that he's the size of a cucumber? If it's not about the size of a regular cucumber, why not pick something less obscure for this visualization part of the email?

And I Just Can't Hide It

Today when I got in to the office, I looked at one of my many calendars and saw that on Wednesday, I will have just three weeks left of school.

For some reason, it's suddenly much more exciting than it was. My newly-discovered excitement may have something to do with the weekend that I just finished. I spent both Friday and Saturday night being pretty lazy, bumming around the apartment while I sorted through some boxes from the storage unit (two down, four million to go) and watched movies. It was so fabulous and relaxing--just a wonderful glimpse into my new life of not having school and homework every night!

Also this weekend, somebody's mother and I started the process of making cookies for the graduation party. Yesterday's project was making chocolate chip cookie dough for the freezer, to be baked the day of the party.

This was enjoyable for a few reasons. First, making cookies = graduation party approaching. Second, somebody's mother is super fun to cook with. We laughed and laughed. Third, and probably most influential, is that I ate a significant amount of cookie dough. Probably at least two cookies worth. At least. Mmmm...

If I get salmonella, so be it. One of the guys in my office already had swine flu--salmonella wouldn't faze anyone.

Awesome Indeed

My brave, wise little brother Captain Awesome has decided that he needs to go to college to get a degree. What a smart man!

He decided to start slowly by taking one class during the second half of this summer. He has been going to class regularly like a little champ, taking notes, paying attention, and doing his homework faithfully. This has required extra effort from him because it is a math class, and he has long viewed math to be his kryptonite.

They had their first test yesterday. Today he got back his score--98%.

Kryptonite no longer. That kid is a math genius!

Today's Thoughts

• If I, one of the most paranoid people in the world, think that you are paranoid, you probably should check into it.
• I love clouds, thunder, lightning, and rain. I just do. I will love them in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Especially in the summer. Sue me.
• Four weeks until I'm done with school. It feels about 27 days too long, but I'll manage.
• I have the cutest nephews in the world. Seriously, the very, very cutest. And smartest. Jealous? You should be.
• My parents are fabulous. Jealous? You should be.
• Thinking lots about this today. Read here and here for some good info from an unexpected source. Don't want to get too political on you all, so I'll leave it at that for now.
• I'm thinking about learning how to play the guitar. I've wanted to for years, and now I'm going to have time.
• Also thinking about learning to play tennis. Thoughts? I can't imagine that I'll be good at it, but could be fun/funny.
• I'm not out to get anyone. No need to think I am, people.
• That jacket I wanted to buy was on sale. I forgot to buy it before the sale ended. Now it's on sale again, but not as much. I'll just wait impatiently for the lower price. Now that I know it's out there, I can't pay more.