I think I lost my thin blood from Southern living.  It's honestly too hot outside today.  Wow.  And my office?  Sweltering.  Too bad I'm working unpaid overtime tonight.  It's been a busy, busy day!  Grr.

Picture 1

So after months and months and months of really crappy weather today has been absolutely gorgeous.  I was a little bit worried when I woke up and it was chilly and overcast, but trusting *gasp* in the weather forecast I chose to dress assuming the best outcome and cross my fingers.  It's been wonderful.  Google says the temperature outside right now is a balmy 89 degrees.  Whatever the actual temperature, I've nabbed my laptop and a picnic bench and plan on spending as much time outdoors as humanly possible until the weather gets back to Portland norm.  I even spent lunch sprawled out in the grass at the not-busy park.  It's been great!  I'd actually like to have some color to my skin other than pasty white, not to mention it's just easier to exist when there's sun around.  I'm sure there's a scientific explanation for that, even if I don't know what it is. :D

Alas, tonight I'll be indoors organizing and what not, but with all weekend shaping up to be something special, it'll be fun to see how much sun I can get.  Next step, water sports! Squee!

(4:12:19 PM) Dougie: btw
(4:12:22 PM) Carissa: ?
(4:12:39 PM) Dougie: when you start to look at particles on the sub atomic level...
(4:13:01 PM) Dougie: there behavior changes from that observed by regular Newtonian physics
(4:13:10 PM) Dougie: light for instance
(4:13:41 PM) Dougie: has been found to exist as a particle (matter) and a wave (energy) at the same time
(4:13:57 PM) Dougie: according to Newtonian physics, that's not possible
(4:14:35 PM) Carissa: Wait, light? Light has no measurable mass. It's a wave length visible to the eye, but it doesn't have particles, it can't be manipulated like that.
(4:14:47 PM) Dougie: try again
(4:15:10 PM) Dougie: it doesn't always exist as a wave
(4:15:21 PM) Dougie: that's what is so confusing about it
(4:16:39 PM) Carissa: Damn, never figured you for an academic. Where's the physics background come from?
(4:16:48 PM) Dougie: the science channel
(4:17:00 PM) Dougie: and a friend who was way into quantum physics
(4:17:03 PM) Dougie: oh
(4:17:06 PM) Dougie: btw
(4:17:15 PM) Dougie: just so you know I'm not making shit up
(4:17:17 PM) Dougie: http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/lectures/lec06.html
(4:17:37 PM) Dougie: it's mostly confusing
(4:17:48 PM) Dougie: but they do talk about the uncertainty principle
(4:17:58 PM) Dougie: it's similar to Schroedingers cat
(4:18:05 PM) Dougie: are you familiar with him?
(4:18:43 PM) Carissa: Nope, that one I don't know
(4:19:42 PM) Dougie: not into physics?
(4:20:05 PM) Carissa: I couldn't handle the math. I was a wiz at chemistry before I dropped out of college.
(4:20:16 PM) Dougie: yeah
(4:20:19 PM) Dougie: math sucks
(4:20:33 PM) Dougie: but the theories are fun to think about
(4:20:43 PM) Dougie: I just wouldn't ever want to try and prove anything
(4:21:18 PM) Carissa: I used to debate theories with friends, theories are always fun as long as you know enough to be dangerous without knowing too much to be deadly
(4:21:37 PM) Dougie: true
(4:22:04 PM) Dougie: in cse you were curious here is a link to a decent explanation of the cat : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger%27s_cat
(4:22:11 PM) Dougie: oh yeah
(4:22:17 PM) Dougie: I forgot to mention
(4:22:25 PM) Dougie: Schrodinger was a whack job
(4:23:16 PM) Carissa: Zombie Cat.
(4:23:25 PM) Dougie: lol
(4:23:42 PM) Carissa: That's an interesting theory, although, supporting it would have been near impossible one way or the other. I guess that's what he was going for.
(4:24:42 PM) Dougie: he just hated quantum mechanics and wanted to show everyone how stupid it could be
(4:25:03 PM) Dougie: obviously... there is no such thing as a zombie cat :(
(4:26:02 PM) Carissa: That's almost sad. Zombie pets could be the next big thing
(4:26:21 PM) Dougie: easy to feed I suppose :)
(4:26:38 PM) Carissa: I dunno, do they sell brains at the grocery store?
(4:26:59 PM) Carissa: 'Cause, damn, I have some teachers that would benefit from having one
(4:27:09 PM) Dougie: lol

On second thought, I always get in trouble for calling him Dougie.  I really need to change his alias, but alas, today I'm too lazy to go through and edit the conversation.  What you see, is what you get.  Sorry D-Boy. :D

Sunday was my Mother's 50th Birthday.  As birthdays go, it was mostly sedate - we did a family lunch in Portland at a wonderful Italian restaurant and gave her the mp3/video player that she had asked for.  Of course the night before, Thad, Scotty, and I had managed to use over 2,000 feet of Seran Wrap to completely cover her car.  That was the fun part.

Wrapping the Car

From there, it was a mostly mundane work week.  We've been doing dual testing with both OAKS and ELPA testing going on simultaneously.  It's not been fun.  Not only has my building had bandwidth issues, but we're seriously lacking in available technology.  Literally every single functioning computer in my building has been in use the last few days.  I spoke with the Teacher liaison between technology and certifieds and if I'm still around next year I'm hoping for some further technology to find its way into the building. 

On Wednesday I had the next major step in getting all my dental work done - and it wasn't fun.  I literally spent four plus hours in the dentist chair.  They removed my front four caps with difficulties and fitted me for the ones that are going to be made, very painful.  Today, two days later, I'm still sore and bruised and very swollen.  I'm going to be on a "soft diet" for the next three weeks if not longer, anything that requires biting is out.  I'm not a happy camper.  Theory is that it'll be worth it in the end.  Right now I'm scheduled to be done with all my teeth work mid-July.  We'll see if that happens or not.

Last night I had to run to the store and pick up school appropriate PJs.  One of the things about working in an elementary building is that you have to participate in all the cutesy/stupid events they do.  So tomorrow/Friday is wear your PJs to school day.  I, of course, ended up with a pair of sock monkey pajamas, complimented nicely by sock monkey slippers and a sock monkey stuffed critter that Scott managed to find in the toy section.  I think he had more fun with the damn monkey than I did.  Pictures to come on that one.  Lets just say the one photo I have of the damn thing isn't safe for work.  But hey, at least I'm participating, right?

100_1061

Otherwise, I'm playing alot of Mario Kart which I finally picked up for myself on Tuesday.  We're slowly working on unlocking the important parts and having fun getting pwned by the NPC's when we're doing too well.  Weekend plans include seeing Iron Man at the theater again (hello matinée showing!), catching up on much needed sleep, Guild Wars (I've been neglecting it!), and hopefully NOT painting a house.  But we'll see.  Toodles.

I have to admit, I'm registered Independent just because I could care less about the primaries and while I'll vote in the Presidential Election and keep abreast of all the latest todo news with the campaigns.  That's typically about as far as I'll go.  The one thing I have found interesting since this latest round of campaigning is the idea of a gas tax holiday.  I typically fill up my gas tank once a week, although lately it's been twice a week with all the out of town trips to get to weekend requirements (sitting in stopped traffic on I-5 and I-205 sucks).  Not that big of a deal, but it'd be nice to not be blowing a solid $40 every time I fill up my tiny Tracker.

So I came across this link and decided to plug in my numbers and see what the deal was. 

Gas Holiday

I must admit, I just don't get it.  $46 over 15 weeks really isn't a ton of money.  Granted, every penny helps these days but I just spent that on Mario Kart - it's not like it's an amazing amount of dough.  So why is this a big deal?  And if this is really how it is, and who knows, because I suck at Math and the internet is full of people telling half-truths, then can't they find a better solution?

All you folks who are so much smarter than me out there, someone help a girl out? :D

Went to the midnight showing of Iron Man.  Awesome.  I wasn't expecting much given what was in the previews and what I've seen on TV, but it turned out to be fun.  Robert Downey Jr. made the movie though, without his snarky sense of humor and line delivery, it just wouldn't have worked.  Sure, there are big explosions and a weak story line, but the effects were good most of the way through, and you have to admit, for another comic-made-movie, this one's worth paying to go see.

It's even worth getting a whopping three hours of sleep tonight to go into work later this morning.  So this one, I'd definitely recommend, go and see it.  And hey, since you're not hitting the midnight show hopefully you'll have a slightly more mature crowd.  I think the majority of the midnight crowd was boys still acting like kids, it was disturbing in many, many ways. ;)

Time to catch three hours of Zzzz's before work.  Nighty!