I have been informed some people are confused with the terms British Akon and Janai. Here's some clarification:

British Akon = Janai

Hope this helps! =)

Ho, hum the semester is now over and I don't have school until the day after MLK day. This makes life amazing. I've been having copious amounts of fun in DC enjoying the city without feeling the ball and chain of academic undertakings. Let me think of some interesting updates:

1. My Hershey's Kiss cookies took 3rd place at the IRS bake sale!
2. In the past seven days, I've seen three movies: Enchanted, Atonement, and The Kite Runner
3. I sent all my Christmas cards, and I wrote my first adult Christmas letter. WOW.
4. Janai and I became more than friends!
5. IRS Holiday Party: Let the drunken managers keep buying me drinks (somehow at my office this is totally appropriate, KYA?)!
6. My drunken manager telling me to not talk about her behavior tomorrow. A++ would like to have this happen again!
7. Carey Ma's Colombian counterpart asked me out for drinks even after I told him he was Carey Ma's Colombian counterpart....
8. I watched Love Actually and The Holiday

I think that is all the updates for now. I head home in 5 days, and there is a lot to do before then. I will miss the 50 degree weather here before I am stuck in the Artic Tundra of Minnesota for almost two weeks. BRRRRRRR......

MUAH!

I am so distracted I can't do ANYTHING.
School is over...THE ENDLESS FUN HAS BEGUN!!!!!!

Love me some surveys...

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before? Become a graduate student, run three miles, work out three times per week, buy a yoga mat.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn’t have any resolutions. Maybe that is why I actually exercised this year!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No.

4. Did anyone close to you die? No.

5. What countries did you visit? Just the U.S.A., sadly.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Developing even more meaningful relationships.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? The Teeps wedding extravaganza. It was so fun. The G-Choir reunion. Vem Ska Leva! When the Indian ran into my beautiful car, Halo. The day the last Harry Potter came out.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Being a full time student and full time employee.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not having enough fun.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? No and No. It was a great health year.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My hobo wallet. Seriously.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My sister’s 30th birthday.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I can't really think of any...

14. Where did most of your money go? Rent, Fruit, Car, Clothes, Cell Phone

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Being in school. School is so much better than work. Enough said.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Gimme More (Britney Spears), Pressure Suit (Aqualung), Good Morning (Kanye West), the soundtrack to Spring Awakening, Glamourous (Fergie)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:i. happier or sadder? Happier. ii. thinner or fatter? Thinner by 30 pounds, BITCHES! iii. richer or poorer? Richer, but not much (thank you promotion!)

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Random social outings with people I don’t know.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Eating less candy. Homework.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Midwestern style, followed by busting out the singing diva in me at church.

22. Did you fall in love in 2007? Not yet.

23. How many one-night stands? 0, HOLLA.

24. What was your favorite TV program? Project Runway.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Nope.

26. What was the best book you read? Leadership on the Line by Heifetz and Lindsky. I read ZERO non-school books. Shudder.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Spring Awakening, the musical, by Duncan Sheik. Keane. And lots more. Music is my thing.

28. What did you want and get? Good grades.

29. What did you want and not get? A clarification to my “ambiguous situation”.

30. What was your favorite film of this year? Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 25 and stole baby Jesus’ thunder by going to The Independent in Minneapolis and drinking a sharkie drink with all my friends. YAY!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Going on a vacation outside the USA.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Best dressed in the IRS! Holla! Ha ha, It helps that all my clothes are new because my old ones are too large...

34. What kept you sane?
Staying healthy, eating the right foods, losing weight, scheduling, down time at work.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jude Law or Brody.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? The Brit/Muhammad/Teddy Bear incident in Sudan. RIDICULOUS.

37. Who did you miss? My friends that are not in DC, especially the ones I don’t see when I am home.i.e. YERIN.

38. Who was the best new person you met? Janai, Heather, Stephanie

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.What makes you a person is not just one or two roles in life. Life is about everything.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. So, let go,let go. Jump in. Oh well, what you waiting for? It's all right 'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown.
“Let Go” by Frou Frou

I turned in my first 18 page paper due in the next five days. I hate that even though I read it a billion times, I still get nervous when I turn it in. GAH!

I made it home with NO DRAMA on the busiest airport day of the year. Amazing how when it is busy, my plane actually takes off on time, and lands 20 minutes early. For any of you who have taken Northwest Airlines in the past year, you know that earlieness is an urban legend for those folks.

Lo and behold in the DC airport, my tallest pal from Gustavus is sitting at Sam Adams Brewery having a beer and doing some work. He sees me and we spend the next hour waiting for the flight with each other. Score!

Thanksgiving at home: 23 people (7 were under the age of 8) at my home. Yikes! I spent all of Wednesday night hauling chairs from the basement to the upstairs. Super fun. Don't try to eat low point food on Thanksgiving, my mom made the mashed potatoes with cream cheese (she assured me it was light) AND sourcream (also light). The vegetable dishes were loaded with cheese and sour cream. I am not unsure whether East Coast soul-food style Thanksgiving or Midwest casserole, I-make-everything-with-something-cheesy is worse for you. Lucky for me, I didn't care. Bring on the carbs! (Plus, I pre-planned and took a 2.5 mile run in the morning in the 19 degree weather. I like to think you burn more calories in the frigidity of MN)

Friday: I went shopping for 10 hours and then went to have drinks with my pals, including Abby who is now a returned Peace Corps volunteer. Abby, props for answering my questions AND coming out last night. It is good to have you home!

Saturday: Best Buy and Circuit City, you suck. If you have a two day sale, try to have the sale items left on the second day. The end. Target, thank you for only making me travel to two stores to find a 22 inch monitor for my Mom, AND giving me a raincheck for my 500GB hard-drive so I didn't have to make a pilgramage to any other Targets. Target is the best store in life, and the best Targets are in MN. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING is better than Target in Minnesota. Between the shopping, I had coffee with Val and it was fun. It should make everyone feel good when you have had a friend for basically 20 years and you can still talk to them normally about everything- high school drama, man-friends, and jobs. HOLLA.

Sunday: This day hasn't occured yet, but I have to do all my laundry and maybe make some banana bread. Macy's forgot to put the wallet I bought in my bag so I have to pick it up at the store. I truly don't want to go to Macy's for the THIRD day in a row, but what do you do?

I really have to work it out so I can have some sort of vehicle in Minnesota. It sucks being home with no wheels. Boo. Akon keeps text messaging me, and I miss him. I don't want to write my papers, but they are due STAT. I can't wait for school to be over for six weeks. NOTHING WILL BE BETTER. Bring on the novels.

This week has been a ridiculous whirlwind of fun:

Monday: Veteran's Day. An excuse to sleep in, exercise, get my crap ready for class, and go to class until 11pm.
Tuesday: Work 7:30-5:30. Dinner and drinks with Akon.
Wednesday: Must....write.....paper.....
Thursday: Work 7:30-5, happy hour #1 at Ozio and happy hour #2 at Eyebar. I wasn't drunk at all but never ate dinner so after said happy hours were over, I went home at 11pm and stared at my Lean Cuisine pizza and probably got cancer from the microwave radiation.
Friday: Work 7:30-5, Macy's at lunch hour. Dinner with Jenny in Chinatown (mmm delicious protein), and then hang out at her apt (which I am ridiculously jealous of!). Try to track Akon down based on a cryptic text message (it doesn't work). Get home and eat chocolate.
Saturday: Wake up, drive over to Macy's to buy my shirt and use the coupon that is only good in the morning. Come home, work out, come to the library, and now that is where I sit. I told myself that when I am done with paper #1 I can leave. HOLLA BACK MOTIVATION.

I had a big presentation for class yesterday (yes, on SATURDAY at 8:30am!) that I was stressing about the entire week. Lucky for me, when I got my comments back from my professor, she said "your presentation was a model of what effective presentations should be". If I had a refrigerator with magnets I would my eval on it, but there are no magnets so my social glorification must occur in my blog.

This weekend was my 5th and final weekend class. I am glad they are all over and the semester is winding down. I still have some research to do in order to finish my papers, but I feel like I've been very good with time management, erring on more of the conservative side of being prepared, than the other way. I am glad that I will be able to enjoy my Thanksgiving at home. Speaking of T-giving, I can't wait to have someone else cook for me, although, since it is going to be at my house, I am already anticipating that I will have a list of "to-dos" in order to help my mom out, but that is okay with me!

No real news on British Akon, but I am taking his "I Miss You" text messages as a good sign.

So I am quite obsessed with the Spring Awakening CD. For those of you who don't know, I have a ridiculous love for singer/songwriter (and now TONY AWARD WINNER) Duncan Sheik, who wrote all the music. Duncan, let me say for the billionth time, I LOVE YOU. Your music, in musical form, is the fruition of all the things that make you a great musician.

My life/work/school to do list, which had to be moved to a legal pad last month, is finally seeing some checks and accomplishments, HOLLA. I love school.

The whole "being confused about daylight savings time" had to throw someone off and clearly this year it was me. I knew that on Sunday at 2am we set our clocks BACK one hour. HOWEVER, being the ridiculous idiot I am, I thought that was actually Monday morning (i.e. Sunday night) at 2am, so I was running a day late.

Well, it is 8am and I am here on campus for my 9am class. SUCKY. At least I was awake before my alarm so I did not miss out on sleep. YAY for sucking at life today. I have been through 47 other daylight savings time adjustments in my life; why couldn't I get this one straight? Maybe if I watched tv and they reminded me. Hm...

I guess I can get some reading done now that I am here one hour early. BOO!!!!!

Yesterday, I had one of those days where I loved living the sweet city life, which was surprising, considering it was supposed to be my Friday off, but my boss forced me to be PowerPoint bitch at a tax conference/meeting thingy, so I had to wear a suit and go to work in the pouring rain.

It is very possible that yesterday was such a good day because it was Friday to begin with, and I got more than 6 hours of sleep the night before, and I got a new haircut on Thursday night to debut. Score: 1 (me) On sleeping, I don't know how some people do it, but I need a good 7-8 hours of sleep per night. I think I am so busy during the day is why I require so much shut-eye, but if I don't force myself to sleep I actually never feel tired. Hm.

So yesterday was such a spectacular day because as I was sitting at the conference, the topic of discussion turned to what I am writing on of my papers on, mentoring. I raised my hand and made a comment about how important mentoring is in efficiently passing on institutional knowledge, and I had the entire crowd (sans by boss, suck!) including the director of my office and the advisory panel of my office nodding in agreement. Score: 2 (me). Also, there was decaf coffee out and, because it was rainy and cold out, exactly what I wanted. Score: 3(me). I also told myself that if I didn't go out to eat at lunch on Friday that I could order myself some Pizza Hut and pick it up on the way home. I printed off the coupon and ordered pizza from the metro station and planned to pick it up on 40 minutes. I hoped I was going to be on time.

The metro was slightly delayed (not bad, considering it was raining and that normally wreaks all types of havoc) and when I emerged from glorious underground transportation, it was pouring. Score: Me: 3, Mother Nature: 1. It was still pouring when I walked the 10 minutes to Pizza Hut when I arrived at 6:11pm. Best timing ever. They didn't have a plastic bag for my pizza so I huddled it under my umbrella (ella, ella) and walked home. The box still got pretty wet, but the pizza was perfect. The only bad part about huddling it under the umbrella with me was that I had to sniff the lovely pizza fumes all the way home. I was starving to begin with, by the time I got home, I wanted to rip into that pizza like a kid opening up their Lincoln Logs on Christmas. After all was done and said, I made it home cold and hungry, but within 5 minutes, I had put my PJs on and was gobbling my pizza whilst watching Under the Tuscan Sun, after I made a "no homework" pact with myself. Gots to love the no homework nights.

And now it is Saturday. The pizza is gone, the movie is over, and I have a craptacular ton of schoolwork to do. Luckily it is getting cooler out here, and there is basically only 5 weeks left in the semester. I can't believe where the time has gone, but then again, I can. Back to work!

Thank you, Quattro Auto Body, for making Halo all puuurdy again. She is back to her original glory after my post-SAS class incident. And, I didn't have to pay for anything, HOLLA!

Claire and Kevin will be here in two short days. I really cannot believe it!!! =)

A lot of good things happened today, but namely, it dropped 20 degrees from yesterday and it was a perfect 64 degrees. I feel like I have been waiting my entire life for it to get cooler outside. Sweet!

Tomorrow was supposed to be a day off, but I am working because KEVIN AND CLAIRE are coming to wisit (yes, intentional) me next weekend! I do have class, but we are going to have 100% fun the rest of the time. I seriously SERIOUSLY cannot wait.

Tomorrow ends my career as a GS-7. I will officially be a GS-9 and making lots more bank as of Monday. Sweet Jesus, thanks for hearing my semi-impoverished (but not really thank to low rent) prayer.

I am going to Eastern Market this weekend. Bring on the artisan jewelery & crafts!

I was walking home from the metro and a man walked by me wearing cologne. No one wears it at work (well, no one that isn't old) and I was insta-attracted to him. I forgot about how men's cologne is really quite schwing-a-licious. I hope British Akon is wearing cologne the next time I see him...Which should be this weekend.

I'm apparently the "go-to" social gal at work. I am the Special Studies Branch coordinator for the Combined Federal Campaign. Be ready to listen to me reminding you EVERY DAY to donate to a charity of your choice in your paycheck. Remember, it reduces your taxable income. What could be better than that? We love a low AGI...

For the past two days I've actually eated only the points I am supposed to. I forgot how hard it is to only eat circa 1300 calories a day. Bring on the fiber.

I am almost done with the tax year 2006 706-NA study. I am sick of reading the wills of non-resident aliens, but it is interesting to see where foreigners hold assets in the U.S. Always something to learn about tax law....

I went to another Deloitte presentation about Federal consulting. I still just don't know if consulting is right for me. I feel like I should use my time and talents to help solve some of the problems in the government, but at the same time, I know that I would work better solving short term projects and moving on to something new. That is really what I like to do...Something new every day. Maybe the Presidential Managment Fellow (PMF) program? Hmm...

Asparagus was on sale for $1.99. Are you kidding me? Asparagus sale days always add a nice swing in my step.

Did I mention that tomorrow is FRIDAY!?!?!

Having class from 8:30-4 on both Saturday and Sunday, and then spending Columbus Day writing a paper is not necessarily how I would spend my life, but I guess I am learning so that is stellar. Class in two hours. Must write more. Must write more.

JSTOR, you my only friend.

Carey just got me "Soulmate" by Natasha Bedingfield. THANKS PAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

For sure it's time for a real update. The semester is rambling along and somehow the time is flying by so I can never remember what day it is (although I DO always know how long it is until Friday), what time it is, or what I will be doing the next day. My life is all about one-day-at-a-time and long range stragetic planning and managing expectations.

I have to write two 15 page papers this semester, but they are both going pretty well so far. i am writing both on work which gives me a sick sense of pleasure because I am able to vent out all my frusterations academically, yeah!

The other day I went to a Deloitte info night where I scored a new Nalgene and learned more about federal consulting. It sounds like an interesting game, but I am a bit worried about the whole work/life balance thing, even though they preach what a stellar job they do at it. Regardless, Deloitte is still at the forefront of what I think I want to do come December '08 (which is coming faster than I thought, but at times not fast enough). I do think that the transition from a work-school to just a work life might be a bit challenging to me, so having a fast paced career with a company that really invests in their employees and challenges people seems really, REALLY appealing, especially considering my current work situation.

My coworker Paul is in Hawaii for ten days, so in return for getting to use his stapler (mine doesn't work and I can't order a new one) and watering his plant, I get to also have custody of his XM radio. Let me just say, having XM radio is one of the highlights of my work life of the past two weeks. Any time I want to listen to Kanye West you can always find him, not matter what!

Car update: You learn a lot when you get in a car accident. I learned a lot about the whole car accident process which is a never ending network of communication between your insurance and the other persons. My car still isn't fixed, although it has been like 3 weeks since the accident, but hopefully it will be done next week.

That is enough updating. The whole Akon situation is not really settled (though we had dinner two nights ago and that was stellar), my pals are all coming to visit, and I have lots to do!

All I want to do is download the song "Soulmate" by Natasha Beddingfield from MTV's the Hills. They only have it on iTunes- UK, and even though I was prepared to pay 1.51 (.75 pound converted) for the little guy, iTunes wouldn't let me. BAH!

Not only did I get recertified in CPR today, I had an impressive meeting with my boss' boss, and British Akon came to happy hour. There are pictures I will procure. Aren't you so excited?

It's time for a list of my pet-peeves:

-People who leave their phones on really loud, annoying rings at work.
-People who don't wash their hands after they use the bathroom.
-People who don't take take their clothes out of communal washers or dryers within 5 minutes of them being done.
-People who cut in front of me in the Smartrip lines at the metro.
-Having a conversation with the fridge open.
-Leaving lights on.
-Slamming doors.
-Not cleaning.
-Bad drivers.
-People who never stop sniffing. Blow your TA nose!!
-People who never pay all their bills at restaurants.
-People who leave water running.
-People not controlling their children in adult situations.
-Not making eye contact when speaking.

I feel better.

Weekend #1 of the 5 I will have to endure this semester is over. Holla! There really is nothing more tiring than having to wake up at 7am on both Saturday AND Sunday and go to class all day long. Even though 7am is sleeping in, I don't get my usual catch-up 10 hours a night on weekends, so it gets hard to make up for the fact that I rarely get over 6.5 hours a night on the weekdays. Sucky!

I'm going to give CAREY MA his birthday shout out now, because I am pretty sure I won't remember to post on Tuesday. Carey, you are a stellar friend who I enjoy ridiculously. I hope you have a great bday!!! =)

In other news, I am annoyed by the fact that I am the fittest I've ever been in my life but somehow I gained two pounds last week. I know you all really don't want to hear about this drama, but seriously. I probably think I can eat more than I should because I exercise so much, but I am so much hungrier. I eat two oatmeals at 7:30 and by 10:30 I am starvin' Marvin. All I do is eat fruit and 100 calorie packs. I guess I am going to have to cook stuff with lots of veggies and chicken so I don't keep gaining this ridiculous weight. BAH!

So Akon is back from Britian. Not only did he have to go to military training, he had to testify in front of his dead comrade's family for an Inquisition trial AND he had to testify in a trial related to his sisters' death. She was on a plane a year-and-a-half ago and it landed on a runway too short and everyone on the plane died. She had two young children and a bright career. He had to sit in front of the airline lawyers and listen to them try to blame the pilots and not the actual airplane and runway. I've never really felt that bad for a person, him having to do that. I got a very heartfelt and moving email from him about how he thinks its ridiculous people think war is sexy and solves problems, because he couldn't be more against war after being in the midst of it during his tour of duty. It is really validating to hear opinions like his when sometimes it feels like outspoken people in the military are all pro-war. Akon is super-educated and can eloquently point out why the hell war is just so trick-ass bad.

Okay it is Sunday night. I finished my homework for class tomorrow (holla!) so I am going to catch up on vital reading (i.e. the September of InStyle which I have yet to crack even though I've had it a week) and then go to bed.

Lots of lovies!!!

Today has been a great day, mostly becuase I am beginning to feel a little more busy at work. I actually have had enough stuff to do for two whole days now, can you believe it?

The best part of the day, however, was when I was trying to brainstorm for my big papers this semester when I realized I was going to write one about how to improve the new employee and mentorship experience at my work. I feel like that is a component pathetically lacking from my job, so I am really excited and feel somewhat (perhaps somewhat prematurely) excited and empowerd about what I am going to write. I'm not sure anyone at my work will even care about what I have to say, but wouldn't it be great if I designed a new training/mentoring/coaching program at work and people really loved their jobs? I am thinking so!

At least this is helping me formulate my thoughts for my papers. I am trying to get my planning done earlier in the semester so it is not a barrage of work at the end. Yay, time management. Yay, public servants.

All this excitement (plus the wear-off of the sugar from my Heath Bar Cooler from Caribou) are making me tired. Tired, but GOOD!!

School is at full force in its third week. I have a lot to look forward to as many of my friends are coming to visit. All I can say to that is YAY! The only problem is the ridiculous amount of crap I have to finish between now and the end of the semester. I am a pretty good planner and one thing I'm NOT is a procrastinator, but I actually sort of wish I would plan less because now all I do is worry. What is the point in worrying about how I am going to get a paper done in three months? I am such a control freak!

In other news, its only 23 days until I get my raise at work. I can't wait. The end.

It should be a busy few weeks, but I am trying to stay sane. Last night I made five lunches and lines them up in my fridge to save time in the morning. Just call me a turkey sandwich making machine. Hi-ya!

OMG SAS training is over. HOLLA.

We all know I like Indians, but I started liking them a lot LESS today when one tried to cut across two lanes of traffic and hit the drivers side of my car while I was driving. Yep, folks, my very first, albeit semi-minor car accident. I am perfectly fine, was wearing my seatbelt, and there were no injuries except my poor little Halo who has a small dent above the drivers side front wheel and a black scratch on my hubcap and part of my drivers side door. This accident was totally his fault, so at least I will have no direct bills now, but as a full-time student AND full-time worker, who has time to deal with insurance claims, inspections, deductibles, and repairs? Might I also say, if you freely admit you were in a hurry and hit someone, no matter how life-threatening or not, YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY. I didn't not even get one apology from this dude AND he chain-smoked in my face. Good lord.

All-in-all, I think I handled the situation with grace and responsibility, but I will be quite angry if this makes my insurance go up, especially now that when I renew my policy I will be 25 and it should go down. AND IT WASN'T MY FAULT!The most annoying thing about this, though, is that I barely ever drive. I only was in the car today because I was in SAS training so I drove instead of taking the metro. How annoying.

Man, the end of the weekend always sucks. Should I be excited to go to work tomorrow? I don't know why the end of vacations are almost worse than getting to go. Maybe I should just be more excited about going back to work after a break, and to realize without work there would be no weekends. Still.

So, we should rewind a bit. I officially had a super-de-duper stellar time in Minnesota. Rachel's wedding was beautiful and a ton of fun. I had a great time seeing one of my great college pals look so beautiful on such a happy day. Additionally, it was great to sing with Darcie and see some other old pals as well. I can now say I have been to a Catholic wedding ceremony, as I hadn't before. I gotta say though, the day got funny when we all realized the priest sounded like an auctioneer (seriously). The reception was so incredibly fun... Darcie pointed out, and rightfully so, that I clearly like acting out all the songs that play. Somehow, singing along doesn't seem quite enough. Too bad I wasn't the only one because Rob did his own bootie dance when Beyonce came on, Eric Wilberg knew every word and acted out Baby Got Back, and basically everyone on the dance floor re-enacted the Grease! medley when it came on. I'm also going to give a SHOUT OUT to Alex (DJ AL-X) who not ONLY played a polka (which we danced to), but also played Walk It Out at the very end (love it!).

The day after the wedding I had wondered if I aged circa 40 years because I was sore, had no voice, and was uber tired. I guess you really shouldn't scream-sing for 3 hours in heels... SO NOTED!

On Tuesday, my mom and I headed to Duluth. I am sure you guys already saw my facebook pictures, but I had a great time. I am in love with Canal Park on the shores of Lake Superior and I always will be. Gotta love all the whities on the North Shore. I saw no one that wasn't white. Seriously, not one. I gotta say, North Shore tourist stores are really obnoxious. I realize there are only so many ways to write Duluth on a shirt with pink flowers for the tourists, but do we really need that many shirts with crude comments about bodily function? I think not.

I don't remember what I did on Wednesday (uh, that means I went shopping), but I think I saw Harry Potter 5 (yes!) and on Thursday my family and I went to the MN State Fair. I do love me the State Fair. I not only had pizza twice, but I also had a deep-fried candy bar. I know most of you barely believe I would eat that, but it tastes like a gooey warm candy bar inside a Twinkie. What's not to love, OM NOM NOM NOM!

I went to lunch with my former MF pals on Friday. It was great to see them, even when I saw my crazy former boss Paul announce to everyone that he just got a child from Vietnam. I was outwardly happy, but I think I can speak for a few others that we can barely believe Paul will be a father. Yikes! His kids are going to be so high strung it will be out of control!

After more family time, my sister's 30th bday party (way too many infants), and drinks at the Happy Gnome, I sang at church on Sunday morning and then headed back on good ol North West Airlines. Strike the good. NWA actually really sucks. I've flown home four times this year and never do my planes take off or land on time. We took off 20 minutes late, which was NWA's fault, but then ran into crappy weather in DC so we flew around in circles for an hour and almost had to fly to Dulles instead of National. LUCKILY, we finally landed when I realized the metro had no power and was sort of not working. Luckily after awhile I finally ended up at the Bethesda Metro and Catherine and Tosin came to drive me home. I was so lucky they were near. Props to those guys! I ended up getting home at circa 11:30 and had to go to work the next AM, so that sucked.

Going back to work really was no fun because there was nothing to look forward too and I am sick of my job. I also had class on Monday night and realized I was in the midst of a slight academic crisis because I am taking full time classes this semester on top of my full time job, and one of my classes (International Development) turned out to be outta control in terms of reading and homework. She gave us 175 pages the night before the class and wanted it read by the next day. She would be calling on random people so we were to be prepared. There was no way I could take a class that hard when I already had to take two others plus work. so I dropped Super-Bitch's class and switched out to two different ones, when I realized I could complete two academic concentrations, and not just one. OH YEAH!

After an emergency meeting with my advisor, I am still waiting to see if they will write two concentrations on my diploma, but I will do it anyways, because I will have the correct classwork to finish them both. At least the academic crisis/bitchy prof turned into something fabulous!

So here I was this Labor Day weekend and I've done a ton of sleeping and being outside, which I am sure is good. All of my European pals have returned back to Europe so that is a bit sad. I did do some homework as well, but I know I won't be bogged down now so much as I will be bogged down later. Nothing like knowing the pressure will mount before it begins.

I am feeling a bit meh about DC especially my job and my apartment. I don't really want to get into that mentality that I should be counting down the days until I am done with graduate school because then I won't enjoy the moment, and I won't be open to staying and I really want all my options open come December 2008. I will just have to keep going and stay on track. Luckily, I really enjoy school and that is really why I'm here. Holla!

This post turned into a ridiculous rambling, so sorry. British Akon is coming back from the UK on 9/10, so hopefully I will have something MUCH more interesting for you to read about.....ON IT!!!

Sorry I am such a sporadic poster; yesterday I finished my glorious 10-day Minnesota vay-cay followed by a delayed flight and crappy metro service, meaning I was to bed really late, to work really early, and at class really late. I have class tomorrow too. I can't wait to sleep.

More later, FO SHO!

Today begins a 10-day vacation. HOLLA! No IRS or academic reading for me!

See you all in MN!

I'm always surprised when I go out with Akon because I always learn a lot of new and interesting things about him. He called me when he was in Friendship Heights and said he was getting his car cleaned, but he doesn't have a car so you can imagine my confusion when I listened to that message. So I called him back later and asked if I wanted to get ice cream. I did. Obvs. Sans the fact ice cream is too many points. We got coffee instead and were just talking for a few hours. He has been so many places there is an endless supply of stuff to talk about, so it's always fun.

I asked him if he bought a car because I was wondering what he was talking about earlier. He started to explain to me this story that I can barely comprehend. Akon spend 2003 in Iraq with the British military. He was in graduate school at the time he had to leave, so he left his car in the care of his then girlfriend. When he realized he was going to be in Iraq for at least a year, he called her and they kind of broke it off, seeing as that there was no real future with their relationship being somewhat premature for a trans-Atlantic committment. So she has his car and she used it (which was fine with him) while he was abroad. When he finally came back, she had met someone new and Akon didn't want the car back. He said it would be too strange to drive a car that his ex and her new bf drove around in all the time. He transferred the title to her even.

I asked why he had the car today. Apparently his ex was out of town on business and left the car in the wrong zone and asked him to come and pick it up so it wasn't towed. So he came to get it and decided he wanted to get the inside and outside cleaned. So he did. I tole him how amazed I was that he just GAVE someone his car which he described as "nice". His reply was something along the line of "eh, it's just a material possession, I can always get another."

So anyways, Akon was walking me back to my car post coffee and Barnes and Noble time. I asked him if he wanted a ride to his car, and he said sure. So I drive him a few blocks to his car. PEOPLE, HIS CAR THAT HE GAVE HIS EX GIRLFRIEND FREE AND CLEAR WAS A BRAND NEW BMW. Akon just rolled away in his wheels (like the real Akon, mind you!) like it was nothing, and he was going to drop the car back somewhere near her home. Not only did he give her a new 2003 BMW, he took it out of the wrong zone, cleaned it, and gave it back to her. WTF MATE. WTF. WTF. WTF. Maybe I should date him forever now so I can get his apartment...Not a bad idea, eh?!?!?!

Anyways, I think Akon thinks its funny that I just don't understand all of this. After all, the nicest car I ever owned is my current car, a 2003 Honda Accord. No offense to my lovely family sedan (I do love her!), but Akon has a BMW AND a LAND ROVER in Essex, England. Holy fricken smokes. I can't even barely believe it. Does anyone else think this is insane?

Anyways, I really enjoyed weekend #1 of 3 from academic committments. The next two I will be in MN, so what could be greater than that? The other good news of the week is that my work is paying for one of my fall classes. Yay! The bad part is that I signed up for another class (putting me at full-time) because it works out really well with my loans. This means four months of academic hell, but after December, I will only have to be part time for the rest of my academic career. I have class two nights a week now and some weekends, so it will be a tough semester. Still, I think I can handle it one last time.

Strange day. I better get to bed....work at 7:30am is NOT an easy feat!!

Can someone please explain to me how baggy clothes just got cool as I am finally getting into good physical shape? Seriously, the trend this year is baggy tops and I am not liking it. I think most of them are quite cute but are not so flattering. BOO!!!! End rant.

This morning a momentus email sending my Volunteer Management professor my final exam marked the period of 18 days of scholastic freedom. This means I have to cram all the fun from an entire missed summer INTO 18 DAYS! Luckily, I actually think that is going to happen as I am so excited to come home and go to Rachel's wedding. Besides the wedding, I am going to go to the MN State Fair, celebrate my sister's 30th birthday, go out to lunch with my MF pals, see my Gustie and high school pals, and maybe go to Duluth (I loves me some great lakes)!! Ahh, the excitement is increasing exponentially!

It was 103 degrees today with a heat index of 110. It is 10pm now and it is still 92 degrees. Talk about the dog days of summer. Today at Union Station, the Fruit2O promotional people were handing out free drinks (gotta love the crowd promotions right by work!) and I drank three bottles throughout the day. I was glad they were there too because there are a lot of homeless and somewhat crazy people that hang around Union Station, so at least they got a lot of free cold drinks.

I now have to sit and think about what I am going to do with all my free time. GOTTA LOVE IT!!

Holy Hannah (as my Grandps would say), I am now done with class for the summer. All I have left to finish is my essay for Volunteer Management (the class I finished today) and I will be home-free for 2.5 weeks. I can barely believe the fact that I made it through nine credits and did not die. The first part of the summer was much more difficult, so now I feel like I have actual free time. Whoa baby!

Yesterday it was seriously 97 degrees here with a dewpoint of 70. Do I complain how hot it is in every blog post? Probably, but seriously there is no way a human can actually function like this outside. It doesn't help that it is about 60 degrees inside my work (I'm not complaining here) so there is never any appropriate clothes to wear except to dress in layer and haul them around if you are too hot to wear them. Hauling around clothes and books and my crap is not fun when it is this hot.

I liked Volunteer Management slightly more than I thought; it was only worth the one credit I got though. The prof was nice but really repetitive and slow-paced, and basically was telling us not to stress about the final. While that was nice of her, I like to be challenged in class (although this class might be an exception). Regardless, it was a fun class as I had a lot of the same girls in my class as earlier in the summer, including a Luther grad who knows some of my friends. YEAH!

Last week seemed to be crazy busy at night. Probably because on Thursday night I went to a retirement party for work that started at 3 and I didn't leave until 9:15 pm. 6.25 perpectual hours of happy hour was quite fun (I only had one drink, a shot with my boss...ha!) but my coworkers are a hell of a lot more fun when they are drunk. As a matter of fact, I think we should make drinking at work a condition of employment so my job is better. All in favor? AYE!

On Monday I had dinner with a fabulous Gustie pal who just moved into the area. We went to Open City, my favorite place in NW, so you can't really complain about that. Akon and I are going out on Wednesday to celebrate being done with class. I will try to take a picture so you all understand how lucky I got with this one. Seriously.

Only 11 days until I come home, holla holla holla (thanks Johnny Legend)!!

Well, I hope all my friends and loved ones are safe in Minneapolis. I've gotten to speak to most of you, but my phone is working only sporadically (I'm assuming becuase I have a 651 area code). Hard to believe an entire bridge collasped in a state touted for its quality roads in spite of the weather conditions. Hope you are all okay!

My bad for being such a sucky poster. I can blame it on: a) my legal basis paper, and b) my obsession with Harry Potter. Luckily, I am done with Harry Potter and am about 97% done with my paper.

As for HP, I really enjoyed the last book, I mean, I finished it in a week with a 10 page paper to write, but now I don't know what I want to read. Ha, I actually have piles of books that I want to get through, but not waiting for another HP is different.

I am trying to remember worthy events from the last ten days. Here goes:

-9,999 someone pulling/fire alarm going off in my apartment last Sunday night. It went off for a full 45 minutes. The fire department, located LITERALLY across the street, never came. I am assuming this becuase if they came, they would have turned it off faster!
+/- Getting new back brakes on Halo. Good (love my car), bad (money).
+99999999999 HARRY POTTER
+77 Writing 70% of my paper at work
-5 Ms. Vigoren's flight being all screwed up. Once, again, no DC reunion. Ugh!
+9 Getting Reef sandals for $12.99 at TJMaxx. It was worth having the humanly most annoying and incompetent cashier. My collection of the best flip flops in the world now = 3.
+6 Trader Joe's Salsa...I had to buy it in the party size (TJ, can you please make more salsa in smaller sizes?), but I am almost done with it. I love me some Trader Joe's deliciousness. Don't try the pita chips, you will love them LOTS and maybe eat 1/2 the bag in one sitting.... not good
+776 NO CLASS FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKENDS. What a luxury. I have my last summer class next weekend. The summer of nine credits plus a full time job is almost over. I survived.
+34 Seeing my excise tax article layed out. It is a real article, wow!
-88686 My severe and increasing distaste for my job. I can't wait until my promotion in October so I can apply for other WAY better federal/private sector jobs.
+10 My produce from Farmer Randy in PA. It only drove 100 miles to get to me, plue the three miles I drove to get it. Take that produce from South America! Now it is time that I learned how to cook squash, and stat.

It is so hot here, I can't wait to get back to MN in August. I have been promoted to wedding singer for Teeps' wedding, so now I have a good excuse to get into good vocal shape. Singing with Darcie will be stellar. Dr. M would be so proud (and also have a good chuckle considering how different our voices are, but we will make it work!).

Off to make my usual assembly line of lunch food for the week. Me loves turket samiches.

I always say I don't like these, but I like reading other peeps'. Here goes:

1. What is the soundtrack for this post? Headlock by Imogen Heap
2. What's bothering you right now? Trying to decide what classes to take
3. Do you close the door when you are sleeping?Yes
4. What is in your wallet? Holy bajesus...so many cards, my work badge (which is worth it's own wallet), spare key to my car
5. Wallpaper on your computer's desktop? It used to be Raghav, now it's motivational fruit.
6. Background on your cell phone? Orchids.
7. Next time you will kiss someone? Hopefully very soon.
8. Where was your default picture taken? I only have music notes.
9. Eyes:Blue and sand a lot of pigment, hence I really need to wear shades all the time.
10. Life: Uncertain at times, but generally very good.
11. House: My sweet apt in 'thesdie
12. Doing this weekend? Party in Glover Park, BUYING HARRY POTTER, getting new brakes on the car, writing a paper on executive privilege
13. Wearing? Blue Shorts, Blue Tanktop (it's TA hot here)
14. Who was the last person to send you a text message? Toby
15. If you could have one thing right now what would it be? To own a condo
16. Listening to?Tarkan, BABY!
17. Ever kissed someone named John? Nay
18. What do you smell like? Hopefully D&G Light Blue
19. Eating? A Fiber One peanut butter bar. OM NOM NOM NOM (thanks YER!)
20. Favorite thing on your bed:My 600 thread count sheets.
21. Do you believe in a soul mate? Yes.
22. What do you wear to bed? Pj's
23. Do you remember your dreams? Sometimes. They are the ones where I am preggers. IT IS STRANGE!
24. Do you burn easily in the sun? Not really. I am a sunscreen girl, though.
25. Have you ever been gambling? I was at a casino once for circa 30 minutes. I think I gambles $3. I can't waste money like that
26. What's something you wish you could understand better? What type of professional career I want
27. What did you do last weekend? Legal Basis of Public Administration Class, ate at Guapos, yes!
28. Who do you miss? Family (Grandpa, Mom, Michelle), Erin, Claire, et al in MN!
29. Who is the last girl you hugged? I don't remember...
30. Orange or apple juice? OJ FO SHO
31. Who was the last person you went somewhere with? Emily, Toby, Catherine, Todd, Sarah for happy hour
32. What was the last text message you sent? "Thanks for coming, have a good night"
33. Have you kissed anyone on your friendslist? This is BLOGGER, NOT LJ BIATCH!
34. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? I've never grown one, but I ate a lot of them in India (Thanks Mahadeviah!, sorry I can't spell your name)
36. What was the last thing you drank? Water
37. Whose house did you go to last night?My own
38. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? Man, I don't even remember.
39. Do you like someone right now? Obviously.
40. What do you wear more, slacks, jeans, or sweatpants? Skirts.
41. What is the last movie you watched? With who? Angela's Ashes, with myself =)
42. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink:Water, diet cola products, some form of crystal light
43. What are you excited about? Getting my MPA
44. Do you want someone you can't have? I'll let you know the answer when I figure that one out.
45. Who was last to slap your butt? I don't recall...
46. Where was the last place you went? RFD (a bar in Chinatown)
47. What's on your mind right now? The weekend, Akon, my professional future
48. Have you cried recently?Probably when I watched some show on TV, but I can't remember.
49. When you think of your crush, who is it? I think we all know.
50. Is taking a shower a daily habit? Without a doubt.

I was a culinary champion tonight. In my never ending quest to conquer the world of delicious and healthy eating, I was feeling like I needed a little kick in my diet. I was getting sick of turkey sandwiches, Smartones, and popcorn.

My latest culinary adventure was making the Marshall Field's Blueberry Chicken salad which involved 14 ingredients: minced shallots, olive oil, fresh minced rosemary, honey, dijon mustard, freshly ground pepper, salt, chicken, fresh blueberries, fresh lime juice, granny smith apple, green grapes, toasted hazelnuts, and crumbled blue cheese. For someone who doesn't usually cook something from scratch, this is quite the list. I skipped off to my local Giant and purchased all the ingredients (of which I am now left with lots of rosemary which I will probably never use) and came back to assemble. Luckily this is a perfect summer salad and the only really hard part about making it is all the chopping, especially considering I only have one good knife that is very small. I even toasted the hazelnuts (a little too long, but if that is the only thing that goes wrong, I have no complaints!). It ended up to be delicious, so I am quite happy I made it.

The other recent thing I have been into lately is making my own yogurt parfaits. I take the Dannon Light N' Fit Vanilla Yogurt and pour it into a small serving dish (by that I mean gladware, ha!), add some frozen strawberries. Right before you eat it, I jsut add 1/2 c of Kashi Honey and Flax cereal. So delicious!!! I was getting sick of eating oatmeal every single morning...

It is good to go on a culinary adventure; I reccomend it. You might suprise yourself that you can actually follow directions and make something that you actually want to eat. :)

One more day (7.5 hours) more of law class tomorrow, then I will be free (well, after the final). I am then going to ONLY READ HARRY POTTER starting next Saturday!!!

In talking to Yerin the other day, I realized that, in life, I always seem to be counting down the time until something ends or something begins. I am trying to figure out if that means I am discontent with what I am doing, or if it means I am just one of those people who likes to have something new happen to on a frequent basis. I have a hard time believeing either, because my time here in Washington is going well. Sure, there are challenges, but I am glad I came out here, but on the other hand, I feel like I am a person pretty resistant to major changes, so wanting something significantly new to begin on a regular basis is also interesting for me as well. I am thinking the "new thing" is mostly work related, i.e. I mean I like to switch work assignments and have new challenges on a more regular basis. This means I should be a consultant. Hmm...

I am two of six days into my Legal Basis class, and despite the fact that the class is all day Friday-Sunday two weekends in a row, the professor (an attorney) is great and we have fun debates on hot topics such as: employment law, privacy law, abortion law, gay-rights law, and the right to die. There is no way a weekend class like this would be nearly as fun if we weren't discussing these types of topics. Being surrounded by such smart people makes me really enjoy the fact that I am in school. I LOVE SCHOOL!

Post-class I walked over to the gym where I allow myself to watch whatever trashy television I want. This time it was a Vh1 special on all the drama in Lindsey Lohan's life. Let's just say there is a lot, because after 30 minutes of exercise, they had only gotten through barely 13 months of her life. Does anyone else find that funny?

Congratulations to all my pals who are: graduating, moving out, moving on, and moving up. It is a tough time in life, but there are obviously rewarding challenges in doing these things. When one door shuts, another will open, hopefully to a better place!

This deserves its very own post.

no class no class, jiggity jig!

I finished my stats midterm on Wednesday and my professor came out drinking with us afterwards. It was stellar. He told me he thought I screwed something up on my test so I was freaking out until he called me at work the next day to tell me I got an A. Thanks, Dr. Abbey! He also wants me to grade papers from his online students at Troy University, which I found out is barely accredited. One masters student grading another masters student's work? Shady pie. He would obviously pay me, but I told him I couldn't do it until at least mid-July. Maybe I will find some time then.

Two summer classes down means to to go, but I am 5 out of 9 credits complete, so over halfway, yay! I have class next Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and again the following weekend so I had to get all my weekend stuff done today. That means grocery store and Target. Man, sometimes I feel like life's provisions make money FLY out of my wallet. Luckily July is 5 weeks long so we get paid three times, yeah!

Here was the rest of the week:

Last Sunday: Dinner with Akon, yessssss. Went to Trader Joe's. I seriously love that place.
Monday: Review for final. Crazy stats for at least 3 hours. Turn in 10 page stats paper.
Tuesday: Get caught at Farragut North when the a/c was out for 35 minutes on a 97-degree day with hundreds of angry rush-hour commuters. DAMN YOU METRO!
Wednesday: Work, Stats Test, Post Test Drinks and Chips with Salsa (LOVE IT)
Thursday: Wow, nothing to study. I accomplished nothing that night. Yeah, TV!
Friday: Annual Review at work. I rocked it, yes! I even wore my most conservative black suit dress and pearls for the occasion. Post-work dinner with Akon and Catherine's choir concert. A+++ would go again! Love you, Eric Whitacre!

All fun (shopping) today means all work tomorrow. I have pages and pages of legal briefs to read. Oy. At least it is not 96+ degrees out so maybe I will be outside if the dewpoint is under 65 for once. Doubtful...

Having the humidity drastically decrease, as well as the temperature, plus the fact that I had a three day weekend was pretty stellar. I finished my big stats paper today so all there is left to finish is the practice test tomorrow. No complaints here!

Today Akon was on campus for class so he called me when I was in the library. I ended up hanging out with him by the pow wow on campus (we weren't sure how that happened) so that was nice. I'm still trying to figure him out but it seems like things are going in the right direction.

I went shopping for a dress to wear to Teeps' wedding and I accidentally grabbed one that was one size less than I currently wear, and it fit. Yes! I didn't even realize it until I took the dress off and was quite (wait, RIDICULOUSLY) happy. I am going to be shopping for the next 6 weeks to find my "I lost 50 pounds reward dress", so if you call me and I'm at Ann Taylor, you'll know why. Right now, this one is in first place. The chick in the picture is creeptacular, but whatever. I would have to find some cute brown shoulder shrug to put over it, but it is really a beautiful dress!

I keep thinking it is Sunday but it is only Saturday. This is the greatest feeling.

One more time for good measure.

-999,999 It is 95 and uber-humid here. I have to last at least two more months of this crap.

-75 I can't understand Akon on the phone. He lived for 7 years in Australia so his accent is British and Australian. He really should be Britstralinan Akon but that is too much work to say. My guess is that I can understand about 60% of what he says on the phone. That is not enough.

+877 Quotes last night from my professor: "We reject the null hypothesis at a 95% confidence level. I'm obviously pregnant." (HE is in his mid-60s), "You can measure orgasms however you want as long as it is consistent each time" , "Work it out you hottie" (directed at me, but not in a creepy way)

+776 I will soon get my upgraded monitor at work. It is a 36 inch wide for split screen editing. Yes!

There must be something in the air here in Washington...

This weekend was bound to be fun after being stuck running the PowerPoint for the technological dweebs at the IRS Research Conference (they all have PhDs however). Somehow NO ONE ELSE said they knew how to do PowerPoint and even thought I said I didn't want to, I still had to. Do you know how hard it is to stay engaged for a day-and-a-half of tax research presentations??? Here is a nice recap of my week in numerican format a la Erin:

-87478 Having to collate all the IRS Research Conference Folders. Don't copiers do this?!
+858 Turning in my stats midterm Monday
+878787 Getting an A on my stats midterm
+85 Post-Midterm Drinks (i.e. margaritas at Guapos) along with CHIPS AND SALSA (fav)
-90 Gaining two pounds from above chips and margaritas
-4261717484 The actual IRS Conference with the exception of:
+758 Meeting Nina Olson (National Taxpayer Advocate) who wants to read my paper on the IRS Private Debt Initiative!
-10 getting only an indirect thank you for four days of research conference work that has nothing to do with me
+10 Getting 59 minutes of administrative leave from my boss, yes! I get to leave an hour early some day next week
+10: Ocean's 13
+10 New shirt from H&M
+99 D.C. United (Soccer) game at RFK Stadium

There you have it. I just got home from the soccer game and it was really fun. I am glad I made it to RFK stadium before it is closed. All play and no work today means tomorrow the gym and stats as usual. Have a great weekend!

I got a lot accomplished this weekend and had a fun time too. See, it is possible!

Next week:

• Must finish "Damned Lies and Statistics" so I can write my paper
• IRS Research Conference I was FORCED into attending
• IRS Annual Review
• Class M/W, Post-Midterm Happy Hour Monday Night

Sounds like fun, eh? I can't wait until August!!!

Well, I crafted a 13 page fundraising proposal about the Science Museum of Minnesota today. And it is a good thing because it is due at noon tomorrow, right when I plan on pumping iron, baby! This means only two more short assignments and fundraising is over! I am glad I know how to fundraise but annoyed at how hard it is. For all you grant writers out there, GOOD JOB!

I had fun with Akon last night, we had dinner and drinks and despite the 95 degree weather, killer humidity, and crazy thunderstorms we never got wet once (well, not rain wet, just sweat wet). I have sadly come to the conclusion that I think Akon just is really polite, so him paying for stuff and opening doors for the ladies is just normal behavior (i.e. he would do it for everyone, not exclusively me). How confusing but awesome is that? I repeatedly tried to pay for something, but to no avail. I won't complain. Akon has so many good manners it is like he isn't even a real person. Chivalry award!

Does anyone besides me go through food phases? I guess I've been going to a phase for a long time that I like anything they have at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. I think there is a Trader Joe's in Minnesota, but I'm not so sure about the Whole Foods. Let me tell you: a store will all organic and random delicious foods is stellar, but it is trick-ass expensive. What can you do? My new favorite food item, this Bolthouse Smoothie is so delicious, for only (technically) 2 points a bottle! The sad part is that they are really expensive, but I love them oh-so-much. Here is a list of foods I eat basically every day:

• Peanut Butter Fiber One Bars. I can only scream their praise. They are amazing!
• Oatmeal. Every single morning.
• Raspberries.
• Italian Dressing. I use it for everything.
• Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt. One point!
• Fiber One cereal. This one confirms I am a grandma already.

If you ever come stay with me, I will probably make you eat these foods because it will be all I have, so just watch out!

Only 16 more hours of class for fundraising, starting tomorrow, ending Sunday. Once my assignments and project is finished I am dropping it like its hawt. Three weekends of no school in a row, what will I do with myself?

In other news I am pumped for Harry Potter to come out. If all works out, I will have two homework-free days in which to read that book like I was born to read it! Hopefully!!

In other other news, I had a delicious lunch with a friend from one of my classes yesterday. The problem is, I am pretty sure I am already totally in love with him, but I can't tell if he likes me or if he is just being really polite about paying for stuff, opening doors, sending "thanks for the lunch" emails. His parents are British diplomats so he has impeccable manners. I am pretty bad at deciphering signals, so this should really be interesting. He looks just like Akon. HOT.

In other other other news it was over 90 degrees here today. I'm bracing myself for at least the next 120 days of sweatiness. I know all you Minnesotans probably don't get me telling you sweaty all the time, but if you ever move to the east coast you will understand. Just ask Carey Ma.

I figured this time would come, but it is not even June and I am already constantly sweaty here and also want to run over the tourists, especially the ones with 4+ children and multiple strollers on the metro. It is obvious that people leave their hotels with nothing less than a complete caravan of stuff. How annoying!

I went shopping yesterday and bought a nice linen skirt at H&M. This will be fabulous to combat being oh so sweaty. I am obviously extremely thankful for my AC. I seriously can't imagine living in the deep south where it is even hotter than here.

I also saw the movie "The Waitress" yesterday which I liked a lot. At first I was woried the movie didn't have the ending I wanted, leaving me really annoyed, however, it ended up just how I wanted it to. Yes! It brings warm fuzzies to your heart and you will feel good about the world. And for those of you who are/were somehoe obsessed with Keri Russell, you can go and feed your addiction a bit without trying to stalk her look-a-like that works at Dean and Deluca's.

On the other side of me in my *SQL programming class is a pair from O'Neal Steel. The second I heard one of them speak, I knew they were from the deep, deep south. It turns out the guy is from Biloxi, Mississippi. So far we have talked about: how Washingtonians drive much smaller cars, his truck gets 17 mpg on the highway (but he would never drive a smaller vehicle than his big truck), how bad drivers are here, and how pop should really be called "Coke". I am trying to think good thoughts about Biloxi, but it has become a legitimate challenge.

Despite the redneck quotient (RQ) being about 99.5%, they are both very nice and now live in Alabama, so maybe there RQ decreases by a few percentage points?

Later y'all.

So I spent the entire last weekend in a Fundraising for Non-Profit class, which, isn't really a class I necessarily wanted to take, however it took up two credits that I just wanted to get done, and it was a great way to learn how to get some dollars for a non-profit. Getting up for a 9-4 class on a WEEKEND it just about the worst thing you could ever do, besides my legal class which is two consecutive weekends next month, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 8:30-3:30. 8:30 on a weekend? This is not going to be pretty.

On top of this, I started my stats class tonight (3 hours) after 9 hours of *SQL database training, i.e. watching a power point presentation filled with programming language all day long. Normally, this wouldn't be so bad, however, unbeknownst to me before class, the person we sat next to were going to be our partners for the rest of the week. My "lovely" partner is a slightly-mean Chinese woman who refuses to talk to me and/or have any general nice conversation. Great. How can you spend 32 hours a week with such a sucky partner!?!?

Whatever. That is how I feel about that.

On a better note, the instructor for the class was late today and she is buying us pizza and wings tomorrow for lunch. Triple holla for that. I promise to be more funny next post...

DOES ANYONE READ MY TRICK-ASS BLOG? (besides Yerin?!?!)

It is the last weekend of academic freedom for two months so I took it upon myself to do WHATEVER I WANTED the entire weekend. The weather was so ridiculously nice today that I even took two naps outside!!!!! There is not a lot of grass near my apartment, but in true Tim Gunn style, I made it work!

I am also cooking a delicious dinner which includes asparagus, so what could be better than that?

Last night I went to Catherine's choir concert and it was great! They even sang Waternight by Eric Whitacre, and everyone loves that song no matter what. We went to the choir party afterwards, and the guard at the apartment was a total a-hole, but at least he let me in the elevator. THEN I ATE LOTS OF GREEN SKITTLES. That was a highlight.

My first semester came to a running halt in between my trips to NYC and MN, but everything went well, and I after I take statistics this summer (meh) I am really excited for my International Development class (!!!) this fall as well as my other public administration class which I have with the best professor EVER. Plus I have class on Monday and Tuesday so class will be over at the beginning of the week. Yes!

Yay for nice weather, rhubarb, Target, singing, choir, music, asparagus, and dinner.

So I had this whole entry ready, with pictures and narratives and such, and internet explorer experienced and error and had to be shut down. It is really probably time I used Mozilla....

So the past two weeks have been pretty awesome. From NYC, back to DC to finish my finals, then to MN, it has been a wonderful time with all my besties! I am so glad to have a two week break from school before the summer begins. Life is nice right now =)

I am doing a new study at work known as the "gateway to greatness" study, so finally they realize I like to be an overachiever at work THANK HEAVENS! I will now be doing the study on the 706-NA (non-resident alien estate tax), which should be fun because it shows a lot about international wealth in the USA and there are only about 1,000 returns filed each year, so I can't mess everything up, right? Ha!

I got back into DC last night an hour late, and then there were delays on the blue, yellow, AND red line to get back to my apartment and I missed the last trolley so I had to walk home. Talk about the worst commute ever! It took me 1 hr and 25 minutes to get home from the airport, which is usually 40 minutes by metro, tops. Ugh!

Happy "Public Service Recognition Week", I know you all appreciate the IRS...

And now the G-Choir Reunion...

A pictorial update

Some NYC Pictures....

Sorry about the post-lag. Finals + NYC + MN is making my life crazy. NYC was awesome. More later, of course.

A hit of Red Bull and I am going to stomp on this paper! HI YAH!!!

Go team MISSY.

Phone conversation, representative from Honda calling, wondering about my recent visit to the Honda dealer to get my car serviced

Dude on Phone: Is it okay if we send you a short email survey about your experiences?

Me: As long as the email address is not sold or spammed

Dude on Phone: No, it will only be used for this one instance.

Me: Okay, but I'm giving you my scary email address ......at irs.gov...You don't want to send spam there, now, do ya?

Dude on Phone: Hells no!

BWA HA HA! Don't mess with the IRS. WATCH OUT!

Finally, it is warm here and not so windy and rainy that I can't even open the door to get out of Caribou Coffee (true story).

Fergie dance class was mucho-fun, but I am now so sore I feel like an old man.

"I've fallen, and I can't get up!"

Let's just say the crapiness of having to be at a Tax Research Conference all day was severly turned around when I went to a street jazz class with my roommate Joy. My only wish was that we got to dance to Akon and Fergie. Not only did we warm up to Akon and Ludacris (yes!) our dance was to GLAMOUROUS (by Fergie)! Talk about the best day of my life.

Despite me dancing in a studio with professional dancers after at least 6 years sans dance training, I held my own and it was crunkin' fun!

Being so close to VA here in Washington DC, the Virginia Tech shootings hit close to home for many here. There are a good number of my coworkers that attended VT, including my cube-neighbor and manager. Many of my coworkers have kids and relatives at VT. What a sad week for them.

Of course we will all learn lessons from this like we do a day-late-and-a-dollar-short after every tragedy. But my main question to be answered is: how was a gun sold legally to a 23-year-old who walked off the streets with a credit card? I do realize state governments have jurisdiction on weapons policy, but it is time we outright banned conceal and carry laws. Having guns on the street is ridiculous. I am dumbfounded by the fact that I could walk in and buy a gun somewhere. That is sick and ridiculous. I am not blaming the man who sold Cho the gun, rather the laws that are in place that allow it. Who is anyone to ask to carry a gun?

Of course my thoughts are with the families affected by the shootings at VT. The flags flying half-staff here in Washington reflect the morose fog that has settled over the city.

New look. Pink for the Washington cherry blossoms!

I never actually made it to the Cherry Blossom Festival, because even though I go on daily Lunch Hour Adventures my boss forgot to give us 59 minutes of administrative leave (I'm not kidding, that is what it is called) to make it there and back during work. I could have gone one weekend, but time out, it was snowing so that wasn't going to happen...

I will say, the good think about working near all the shady-people at Union Station, is that you can have Smithsonian lunch hours, which I do quite often. If I am not at the Smithsonian, I am ususally at the Botanical Gardens. A little walking and a lot of flowers later, I am ready to brave the rest of the day at the IRS. It even makes up for last week when one day, I (by "I", I mean metro riders) were greeted at the top of the escalators by Muslim fundamentalists who were screaming out the rules of Islam and had defaced pictures of Jesus at 7:30 am. The next day, there were Christian fudamentalists doing the same thing on 15th & C. See what I have to go through on a daily basis just to get to work? At least the lady who sings spirituals to a harmonica has not been on my train as of late...

It is the last two weeks of class, and my life will significantly improve once this week is over. I have my 15 page (single spaced) proposal due on Wednesday and my 15 page paper on government contracting due on Thursday. Oy. The best thing, however, is that I got a ticket home to go to MN and attend the G-Choir 75th Anniversary celebration at Gustavus the first weekend of May. I am so pumped! I'm going to NYC the weekend before and then MN, meaning I have to somehow write my 10 page final worth 30% of my grade in three days (ahhh!!) but I think I will overcome the madness. I cannot WAIT to go home for the weekend!

Mini-computer drama left me standing at a Comp-USA this morning that turned me away because they are closing and stopped accepting cases YESTERDAY and Best Buy told me to buy canned air so apparently everything is a-okay with my computer. I hate the fact that servicing a computer is never short and or less than $100. I have a three year warranty on my lap top, but all the Comp USAs out here are all going out of business within a 40 mile radius of me. NOT hot.

Back to my paper then working out. I wonder what trashy tv I will watch on the elliptical machine today! Oh joy!

Having reliable and fast internet is worth the cost. The end.

I just got done applying my new flamingo-pink nail polish on my toes. Let's just say it would be perfect for a grandma sporting a straw bag and palm tree earrings. I LOVE IT!

Just two weeks of class for this semester and then I am free for two weeks. I am counting down the hours.

Happy 90th Birthday to my Grandpa Laine. You always know when a birthday is special due to the lack of the cards available at Target. I only had one choice for a Happy 90th Birthday so obvs that is quite an accomplishment. 1917 was SO LONG AGO!

Okay so I said Happy Easter yesterday, but I will say it again today. Happy Easter! I didn't eat ham today, but I did get scolded at for eating in the library. I was eating high fiber Wasa rye crackers. What food could be less threatening and spillable than Wasa Rye crackers? THEY ARE MADE BY SCANDINAVIANS, the epitome of equality and neutrality! I don't know how they missed me eating Subway yesterday with a large diet Coke, so at least now I need to know that I have to hide my food consumption in the AU library. I miss the GAC library where I could eat or drink anything I wanted anywhere I wanted. Love it! I just got done working out so I was obviously going to eat my Wasa rye crackers. I ate them after the girl left me and then I snuck my yogurt too, I am such a renegade!

Today at the soup kitchen was actually really fun. Despite me getting minorly lost, I planned ahead and still made it on time. The leader of the volunteers, I am sure was a cross dressing African-American male who had a very cheery tone. His eyebrows were too plucked and his hair was in a long sleek ponytail, obviously not so masculine. He reminded me of Angel from Rent. He was so fun, no complaints here! Our other leader Tony, kept telling me all the attention I was going to get because I am a "six-foot tall white girl with blonde hair". Well, luckily I had no problems, probably because my hairnet was so unattractive no one could tell I had blonde hair. Today, the Department of Health regulations were a win-win situation for all!

I accomplished 13 pages of my paper yesterday. Holla! Today is the bibliography and the rest. Peace out!

I woke up this morning and there was snow outside. WHAT?

Luckily the ground was dry, alleviating the annoying icy-mess that is usually the result of the crappy Maryland/DC snow removal system. Sadly, I just paid good money to have my car washed, vacuumed, and tires Armoralled (!) last weekend. Oh well, at least Halo stayed clean for one week. It was funny last Saturday because I thought some birds had left a "present" on my car circa 20 minutes after I got it washed and I was really, really mad. The next morning I went outside with some soapy water and papertowels to clean it off, but it wasn't there. Apparently, I had a dream this happened, becuase it didn't happen in real life. If that is the case, what does a dream mean with a bird pooing all over your clean car?

Tomorrow is Easter, and I won't actually be at home for once. Crazy! My mom said she is having Easter at our house, so that should be fun for her (not!). I am sure all my crazy relatives will be over with their random children. I don't really enjoy ham so missing the Easter meal is not actually that bad. I will be sad to miss my church service, however. I will not be in attendance at church tomorrow as I will be serving Easter lunch at a homeless shelter in DC. I feel like that is a good excuse, but not going to church on the single most important Christian holiday is ridiculous. Maybe I can watch John Hagee on TV. HA!

People, your taxes are due in 10 days, I hope you've completed them!

No more procrastination for me. I already spend two hours at the gym but that was probably only an excuse to no write my paper, but I actually have to do it now, or the next two weeks of my life will be even more ridiculously busy than usual.

Happy Easter pals!

So I will be the first one to admit that the government has its flaws. I don't deny it. I study the flaws and successes for at least six hours of class every week at school and live them for another 40 at work. My life revolves around the US government.

Upon random facebook searching, I come up to one of my coworkers facebook pages. He is from Michigan and just graduated from college in May '06. He spend one of his entire facebook notes complaining about two guys that work in our office.

These two employees he mentioned are developmentally disabled, and employed by the IRS as mail carriers. They also do other jobs such as mailing documents and filling the printers with paper and lugging the extra reams of paper around to where they need to be. They each have their own unique story. Brian suffered an accident as a child and was buried under sand at the beach too long after he and his brother were playing a game. His brain was deprived of oxygen too long and has since had developmental delays. While he looks like a normal 40-year-old, he lives in a group home and doesn't drive. His job allows him to pay his rent and he rides his bike wherever he needs to go. His parents have a trust fund for him and he is obviously not on public assistance. Outside of work he is involved in Irish dancing and Toastmasters (public speaking). In general, he navigates his portion of Washington DC like a charm. No, he can't do 99% of the technical things we do in my office, although he does use email like a champ, not bad for a fourty-year-old in my book!

The other guy, Glen, is also developmentally disabled. I am not sure what happened, but he is in his late 50s and still lives with his parents (although I am not sure how that really works). He does the same type of job at Brian and has similar characteristics although his defining feature is that he loves baseball.

For the work they do, they are not paid much. They are a grade level 4, and cannot advance to a higher grade, although they qualify for in-grade salary increases as well as annual increases. My guess is they make around $32,000 a year (this is after working for at LEAST ten years, mind you).

So my coworker (the one who is not developmentally disabled) starts complaining about how they are a waste of money and get paid to do nothing. He was complaining about having to hand deliver tax information to the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) which is a bit of a jog from our office. Glen and Brian are not allowed to carry tax information, even microdata files, because they do not work with data and are not trained in taxpayer privacy.

All I have to say to my coworker is: get a life and have a heart. These two men would never have the opportunity to have a job in the private sector. They are both kind-spirited and do a wonderful job at what they do. They fully understand the boundaries of what they are capable of doing and take care of themselves at work. I am proud that our government takes a small deviation from cost-based efficiency to employ these men. For the same reason all my office supplies are manufactured by blind people, the opportunity for opportunity is something I'm willing to fund with my tax dollars.