Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Inbox
My inbox right now makes me really happy. This is because it contains two of the best emails ever written. One is actually probably more sad than great, but it makes me laugh. The background:
I am taking an online religion class, and the teacher is offering 25 points of extra credit to anyone who comes to meet him in person. We were supposed to email his secretary, and she would set up an appointment. So, I emailed his secretary (who is paid for her job). Her response was probably the least professional email I have ever received (and she was probably the only one who was ever paid to email me).
"Bro. Wright could meet with on Wed. April 29th any time after 9:00 a.m. Let me know what would work 4 U.
The other email that makes me happy is actually great. First of all, my new favorite website is BYU Bookexchange, which allows people to completely bypass the bookstore and just buy and sell textbooks from other students. Yay! You don't actually get the other person's contact information except for their email address. This leads to some interesting email conversations, and then some interesting experiences. It kind of feels like a drug deal or something--"You bring the money, I'll bring the package, if you know what I mean." Anyway, please imagine the following story in black and white as an old detective movie or film noir.
This morning I was going to sell my stats book to somebody who I only knew as Ben. We had arranged to meet in the lobby of the library. I walked into the library and saw a guy sitting on a bench wearing sunglasses. He stood up with his wallet in hand as I walked towards him. "Joy?" I nodded. Then I realized that my name is not, in fact, Joy, and had to admit that, and I looked stupid.
I sat on the bench and started waiting. A few minutes later, another guy, who was also wearing sunglasses, came up. "Rachel?" I thought about it for a second, not wanting to make the same mistake. "Yes." He handed me money, I handed him the book, and we walked away.
That was pretty cool itself, but not quite as cool as my meeting that resulted from this email (see, I do remember what I was posting about).
Her: "can you meet me in the parking lot?"
Me: "Definitely."
Her: "I will be in a red pontiac grand am. I will pull up to the curb and just be near my car so you can find me."
Me: "I'll be wearing a yellow rose in my hair."
All right, so I made up my last line, but the rest were direct quotes. Don't even try to tell me that's not awesome. I love cloak-and-dagger stuff!
I am taking an online religion class, and the teacher is offering 25 points of extra credit to anyone who comes to meet him in person. We were supposed to email his secretary, and she would set up an appointment. So, I emailed his secretary (who is paid for her job). Her response was probably the least professional email I have ever received (and she was probably the only one who was ever paid to email me).
"Bro. Wright could meet with on Wed. April 29th any time after 9:00 a.m. Let me know what would work 4 U.
[Name deleted to protect her identity]
Religious Education
Brigham Young University
[contact information deleted to protect her identity]"The other email that makes me happy is actually great. First of all, my new favorite website is BYU Bookexchange, which allows people to completely bypass the bookstore and just buy and sell textbooks from other students. Yay! You don't actually get the other person's contact information except for their email address. This leads to some interesting email conversations, and then some interesting experiences. It kind of feels like a drug deal or something--"You bring the money, I'll bring the package, if you know what I mean." Anyway, please imagine the following story in black and white as an old detective movie or film noir.
This morning I was going to sell my stats book to somebody who I only knew as Ben. We had arranged to meet in the lobby of the library. I walked into the library and saw a guy sitting on a bench wearing sunglasses. He stood up with his wallet in hand as I walked towards him. "Joy?" I nodded. Then I realized that my name is not, in fact, Joy, and had to admit that, and I looked stupid.
I sat on the bench and started waiting. A few minutes later, another guy, who was also wearing sunglasses, came up. "Rachel?" I thought about it for a second, not wanting to make the same mistake. "Yes." He handed me money, I handed him the book, and we walked away.
That was pretty cool itself, but not quite as cool as my meeting that resulted from this email (see, I do remember what I was posting about).
Her: "can you meet me in the parking lot?"
Me: "Definitely."
Her: "I will be in a red pontiac grand am. I will pull up to the curb and just be near my car so you can find me."
Me: "I'll be wearing a yellow rose in my hair."
All right, so I made up my last line, but the rest were direct quotes. Don't even try to tell me that's not awesome. I love cloak-and-dagger stuff!
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Pinata
My friends and I made a pinata last night. He was made out of balloons covered with gooey newspaper, just like in second grade. Then we covered him with tissue paper, gave him a Bob Marley hat, and named him Ross. Usually you're supposed to let pinatas dry for days, but the guys I was with didn't want to wait. So they sent my roommate and me to get our hair dryers, and we blow-dried Ross. Then came the moment of truth: they thought Ross was dry, and decided to stick a needle in him to pop the balloon.
Ross was not dry. The balloon was still supporting the papier mache, and Ross imploded. Not about to let a little detail like that stop us, we stuffed him with candy anyway and duct-taped him back together, then broke it open with a golf club. Good times.
Ross was not dry. The balloon was still supporting the papier mache, and Ross imploded. Not about to let a little detail like that stop us, we stuffed him with candy anyway and duct-taped him back together, then broke it open with a golf club. Good times.
Grateful
My last post was a bit whiny, so I thought I would balance it out with another post having some things for which I am grateful.
My computer is faster now than it was this morning. This is a big deal. I uninstalled a lot of programs that I don't really use and freed up about 10% of my computer's memory. The operating system and remaining programs still take up about 65-70% of the computer's memory, but it is a huge improvement. There is enough memory to run the internet, for example. Yay!
I found somebody to buy my stats book. This book is a paperback, about 500 pages long, but cost $110 used. I tried to sell it back to the bookstore, but they offered me $12, so I decided to try to find somebody else who would buy it for a more reasonable price (say $80-$90). And I found a buyer! Also, I found somebody who will sell me my econ textbook for $70 instead of the bookstore's $175. So, the buyer gets a cheaper price than the bookstore will give, and the seller gets more than 10% of the book's price. I love win-win situations.
The former occupants of my apartment left an awesome book by C. S. Lewis. I love C. S. Lewis. He is one of the most inspiring Christian writers ever. I hope to someday be half as insightful and amazing as he was. In the meantime, I will keep blogging and hopefully at least be mildly amusing.
Facebook offers a Welsh translation. My facebook is now in Welsh. This is seriously awesome. Of course, I don't really speak Welsh, so every time I click I am either guessing or trying to remember what the buttons said in English. I think I have already done some weird things, and will probably do more, but that's really not the point. The point is that my facebook is in Welsh.
My computer is faster now than it was this morning. This is a big deal. I uninstalled a lot of programs that I don't really use and freed up about 10% of my computer's memory. The operating system and remaining programs still take up about 65-70% of the computer's memory, but it is a huge improvement. There is enough memory to run the internet, for example. Yay!
I found somebody to buy my stats book. This book is a paperback, about 500 pages long, but cost $110 used. I tried to sell it back to the bookstore, but they offered me $12, so I decided to try to find somebody else who would buy it for a more reasonable price (say $80-$90). And I found a buyer! Also, I found somebody who will sell me my econ textbook for $70 instead of the bookstore's $175. So, the buyer gets a cheaper price than the bookstore will give, and the seller gets more than 10% of the book's price. I love win-win situations.
The former occupants of my apartment left an awesome book by C. S. Lewis. I love C. S. Lewis. He is one of the most inspiring Christian writers ever. I hope to someday be half as insightful and amazing as he was. In the meantime, I will keep blogging and hopefully at least be mildly amusing.
Facebook offers a Welsh translation. My facebook is now in Welsh. This is seriously awesome. Of course, I don't really speak Welsh, so every time I click I am either guessing or trying to remember what the buttons said in English. I think I have already done some weird things, and will probably do more, but that's really not the point. The point is that my facebook is in Welsh.
Surprises
So, I moved into my new apartment, and finally got everything unpacked, or at least shoved into a convenient place from which it will never be unpacked. In the process of moving in and unpacking, I have received some interesting surprises.
First, the hot water heater is really, really good at heating up water.
Second, we have ants. All over the place. And they bite. But, it is easy to kill them by pouring hot water on them.
Third, the previous occupants are kind of strange. They are coming back in the fall, so they decided to leave a lot of their stuff here for storage, even though only one of them is paying rent. I probably shouldn't tell you stories about the kind of things they left. I will say only that I was mildly scandalized. Also, they didn't really clean very well before moving out, so tomorrow will be another cleaning day. Sigh. I thought I was done with serious cleaning. On the other hand, maybe my cleaning skills will improve and. . . OK, I can't really think of any advantages to having mad cleaning skills. But I'm sure there are some. Let me know if you think of any.
First, the hot water heater is really, really good at heating up water.
Second, we have ants. All over the place. And they bite. But, it is easy to kill them by pouring hot water on them.
Third, the previous occupants are kind of strange. They are coming back in the fall, so they decided to leave a lot of their stuff here for storage, even though only one of them is paying rent. I probably shouldn't tell you stories about the kind of things they left. I will say only that I was mildly scandalized. Also, they didn't really clean very well before moving out, so tomorrow will be another cleaning day. Sigh. I thought I was done with serious cleaning. On the other hand, maybe my cleaning skills will improve and. . . OK, I can't really think of any advantages to having mad cleaning skills. But I'm sure there are some. Let me know if you think of any.
Embarassment
So, today I was eating peeps. Now, I don't particularly like peeps, but for some reason my mom thinks I love them, so she gave me some. I don't dislike them either, and I haven't unpacked my dishes, so when I was hungry I thought they would make a good snack.
There was a knock at the door. I went to answer it, and there stood my sort-of roommate and her boyfriend. I say sort-of roommate because she is paying rent but she will be in Europe the whole time I am here, so I will not actually be living with her. She had come to pick up some stuff she wants to take with her. I talked for a few minutes, but I always feel a bit awkward when I am with somebody and their boyfriend, so soon I went back upstairs to my peep-eating and left her to her thing-gathering.
About 30 seconds later, I realized that my fingers were stained blue from the peeps. I became suspicious and went to look in a mirror. Sure enough, my teeth and lips were stained blue too. So I looked pretty awesome when I answered the door. And I gave new meaning to bluetooth.
There was a knock at the door. I went to answer it, and there stood my sort-of roommate and her boyfriend. I say sort-of roommate because she is paying rent but she will be in Europe the whole time I am here, so I will not actually be living with her. She had come to pick up some stuff she wants to take with her. I talked for a few minutes, but I always feel a bit awkward when I am with somebody and their boyfriend, so soon I went back upstairs to my peep-eating and left her to her thing-gathering.
About 30 seconds later, I realized that my fingers were stained blue from the peeps. I became suspicious and went to look in a mirror. Sure enough, my teeth and lips were stained blue too. So I looked pretty awesome when I answered the door. And I gave new meaning to bluetooth.
Giving In
Well, I finally gave into the peer pressure and started a blog. Thanks, Josh. Enjoy the power and try not to use it for evil. :)
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