Simon and Dayna

Simon's new job!

2010-02-01T21:02:00.009-06:00

Yep, Simon has a new job! He wasn't exactly looking for one or planning to leave Reynolds and Reynolds very soon, but the opportunity presented itself and it was just too good to ignore. The vet school of all places was seeking a web designer and as soon as I mentioned his name they were immediately interested. They had already interviewed quite a few applicants (I saw them while I was working, so I'm not just bragging) but they held off until Simon just put in his application. They responded immediately and hired him almost as quickly! Working for the university has its perks in pay and benefits, and it's a better environment for creative types. They've just started working on a total overhaul of the current vet school website and associated functions so he'll get to help them! He's excited for more opportunities in a more interesting environment. I am excited that he'll be in the same building as me! We'll get to carpool and maybe get lunch together, and on the days when I'm stuck here all the time I can least go down and say hi to my soon to be hubby. He actually works in the office next to me, but I only work Monday nights when he's not there... But it's an exciting change for both of us! It also got Simon to finally launch his portfolio website, so if you'd like to see his work, thoughts, and musings go here: http://simonwille.ms/

Our wedding is quickly approaching, and we're both excited and looking forward to sharing our special day with all our loved ones. I've managed to get some more info uploaded to our wedding website at www.mywedding.com/SimonAndDayna in between classes and planning for Vet School Open House. I think I've managed to bite off a little bit more than I can chew at the moment.... school feels like it's at the bottom of the priority list, which is never a good thing. There are just too many other fun things I'd rather be doing! And planning the college's biggest yearly event that tends to draw ten thousand people is a very big task. I love it, but it's definitely a time gobbler!
I've noticed that my most stressful times often accompany the addition of a new pet...or two. Here are Calvin and Hobbes: the newest and teeniest additions! Everyone knows I love turtles, and it does make me sad I couldn't bring mine from home since I don't have a good yard for them, so I found a solution! A rescue I've worked with had 2 ornate box turtle hatchlings in need of a home, and I can keep them in a small area for a few years until I have a better yard. And they're just TOO CUTE! Observe...

Happy Holidays!!

2009-12-27T23:18:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year! We wish love to all our family and friends and are very thankful for all the time we get to spend with them! Love, Simon and Dayna

Halloween Fun

2009-11-10T13:15:00.004-06:00

We didn't get all the decorations up this year with all the residual hoopla from the robbery still going on. But we did carve pumpkins and roast the seeds! It rained only a few days after and they molded, but they at least survived Halloween! We got candy but we didn't even get one trick-or-treater :(

We got our insurance check FINALLY and got new stuff. They also arrested another person for our robbery. The only fingerprint they found anywhere was on the truck and it was from one of the guys they couldn't hold more than overnight because he said he wasn't involved. False! Now he's going to jail and we can concretely pin the truck theft to them and that'll make their sentence much longer.

We're getting by and moving on, though being home is still kind of weird. Oh and he let a rat in when he robbed us and left the back door open all night. Ew! They're only cute when they're tame. I've been trying to catch it humanely, but I haven't seen it in a while...I really hope it didn't crawl into a crevice and die...

We got robbed :(

2009-10-27T22:05:00.003-05:00

In case you haven't heard, you'll need to call me to reach Simon because his phone was stolen in the robbery. Last Sunday someone came in through the bedroom window (we've had the windows open at night when it's cool and must have forgotten to lock it) and hid in the kitchen when Simon came home that evening. The thief waited until Simon went to sleep before going into the bedroom to steal nearly all of my jewelry and Simon’s keys and phone from next to the bed. He even emptied an old jewelry box from when I was a kid that was pretty far under the bed. I've always teased Simon about being a deep sleeper, but in this case it may have saved his life. Who knows what the thief might have done had Simon woken up while he was there. Simon woke up at about 4am to the tv, xbox, jewelry, liquor, ipod and the TRUCK all gone! The guy just loaded up all our stuff into our truck and drove off with it!

I was at a gala in Fredricksberg at the time, and I had both the dogs because Simon was supposed to be in Houston all weekend. We might have had a lot more missing if he hadn't come home early. Since Simon didn't have a phone he was emailing everyone he knew trying to get someone to help him and call the police. Thankfully my new phone gets email instantly so I woke up and was able to at least get the police to the house, even though they were worthless. I left Fredricksberg at 4am and didn't get to College Station until 9am. I was so scared of Simon being in danger that I didn't stop shaking until Bastrop (about 4 hours into my trip). That was literally the most scared I've ever been in my life, just the possibility of him in harm's way, and me being so far from being able to help and comfort him. Poor Simon wasn't much better off though, he threw up a lot from the stress and fear before I got there.

The jewelry was my biggest loss. They don't take jewelry unless it's real at pawn shops, so pretty much none of mine would work. Even though none of it was terribly valuable, it all had sentimental value to me. It made me sick to think that they'd probably just throw it all away since they couldn't sell it. All the earrings my mom has collected specifically for me from all over the country, things Simon had given me years ago, my Nanny's wedding ring, which I treasured more than anything else...all gone.

Thankfully we got a really lucky break though! I made up a flyer of all our missing stuff and took it to the pawn shops in case he tried to sell any of it. Well he didn't bring any of it in, but one of the employees I had talked to went home that evening and saw her daughter had some of my earrings that she recognized from my flyer! Turns out the thief was just selling them out of his apartment, which was right above hers! So she called the police and they arrested him that evening. My stuff was scattered all over the apartment, along with his marijuana and cocaine. He was even wearing some of it when they arrested him (luckily nothing I cared much about, threw that away walking out the door)! Scary thing is he lived only one street over. Looking out my backdoor I can see his apartment complex across the street.

Among the items still missing are our keys (all the locks have since been changed), my date planner with pictures of me in it, and Simon’s phone with all his contacts, which really creeps me out! Oddly the thief did not take our computer, several other gaming systems, or any of our video game collection. He also apparently had mental illness issues on top of his drug problems and obvious criminal tendencies. So we're trying to move right away! Unfortunately our landlord doesn't want to let us out of our lease at this time...we're still working on it.

Oh and we got the truck back! Some lady called me very angrily about the truck being parked in her driveway just a few blocks down. She figured we were just some drunk college kids that parked in the wrong place after partying too much and was threatening to have it towed. I have no idea how she got my phone number but I'm so glad she called so we could get the police out there to it! They didn't find any prints on it, the keys are still missing, and it reeked of marijuana and cigarette smoke! Took us a few minutes to convince the cop that it wasn't because of us! But he was actually a really nice cop who was trying to help as much as possible, he even waited with us for the tow truck to make us feel more comfortable. After a lot of fighting with the insurance we finally got the truck's locks changed and new keys on their dime. You'd think that'd be an obvious one if they could just come back for the truck whenever they wanted with the keys, but we really had to fight for that one. My opinion of USAA has fallen dramatically through this whole ordeal. I'm still fighting with the property agent for my renter's insurance.

There are still some big things missing: the xbox with hundreds and hundreds of hours worth of game saves from so many years, my charm bracelet with charms from all our vacations, and some other odds and ends, but at least we're both okay. And I got Nanny's ring back finally! The detective on our case is really nice and very helpful. Moral of the story is keep your windows and doors locked and take pictures of all your stuff! Without those we never would have caught him or gotten anything back. We're of course paranoid and uncomfortable in our own home now, but it's slowly getting better. We couldn't eat or sleep at all for the first few days, we're trying to get back to normal now. I'm getting more and more irritated about my planner missing though, apparently I have two tests next week. Wasn't aware of that!

If you need to reach Simon he doesn't have a phone so you'll to call me!

The newest addition!

2009-09-16T22:57:00.005-05:00

This is Oscar! I love George, but he does not feel the same way about me. In fact he hates me. I can't pet him at all, and I'd be content just to be able to stare at him all day, but he won't even let me do that. He turns dark and hides when he sees me :(

I had been considering getting another chameleon, a different species, for a while now because they are just the coolest little creatures. It's like watching a little colorful alien crawl around, they are so very strange. Well the perfect opportunity happened to pop up and I jumped on it! I was visiting Simmi in Dallas and there was someone offering a young, gorgeous panther chameleon with a nice cage for less than you can usually get the chameleon by itself! George is a veiled chameleon, Oscar is a panther chameleon. They don't have the tall crests on their head but they're much more colorful and usually friendlier. Well Oscar is all he's cracked up to be! He's only 6 months old and already his colors are fantastic (they don't show full color until they're 18 months) and he likes me. He lets me hold him, and I can stare at him as much as I want! When I open the cage to put in his crickets he shoots them off my hand with his tongue, which is way cool! I don't think I've seen him hiding yet. Of course they are odd little creatures, they get so stressed by even the sight of each other they stop eating. So now my desk is flanked on both sides by chameleons!

Just Me, Simon, 2 dogs, and 2 chameleons :)

This is George trying to scare me away when he tried to escape in the yard...little jerk.

Save the Date!

2009-07-20T15:15:00.012-05:00

We have FINALLY set a date! May 22, 2010. Simon and I went to San Antonio last weekend and looked at a couple venues before we picked The Club at Sonterra. It's so gorgeous and had a site for an outdoor ceremony where it's almost always breezy so even in May hopefully it will be nice. Now we can get to fun stuff with planning because we finally have the biggest part figured out. It was too hard to plan anything until we had a date/time/venue so now everything is game! We have a wedding website, it's not quite done, but I'll be updating it periodically as we get more details ironed out :

http://www.mywedding.com/SimonAndDayna

We went to Indiana for Simon's Mom's side family reunion over fourth of July weekend. Even though it rained all day on the 4th, it was still so much fun and great to see everyone again! While we were there, Pat and Sharon took us on an engagement photo shoot just for fun. They take wonderful pictures! You can see some of their shots on their website: http://ps-studiophotography.com. We love them! Now we have tons of engagement pictures :)

As we get more wedding details we'll keep you updated!

DONE!

2009-05-11T12:28:00.002-05:00

I am done with my first year of vet school! One fourth of the way there! We had our white coat ceremony to signify our accomplishment and now on to better things! I got a job teaching a summer program through Duke University for gifted high schoolers interested in vet medicine. I'm one of the co-instructors so I have to start preparing a syllabus and such, which I have absolutely no experience doing. Luckily there are others involved that all have teaching experience, I'm mostly in charge of the clinical application part since I have relevant experience. I'm looking forward to it though, it should be a lot of fun! And they're going to let me go to Indiana for a few days to see all my future in-laws :)

Simon just had his 24th birthday! That's not to say he acts like a 24 year old though, he wanted Legos for his birthday! But who am I to argue, as soon as he's done building them I can take them apart and build something cooler! He's doing well at work, he's starting to train new developers they're hiring. Simon's easily one of the most capable developers on his team now, and his bosses know it! So he's still enjoying it most of the time. The politics of working for a corporation are a little unbearable sometimes though. But as of June 1st we will have lived on our own for an entire year successfully! Aside from the loans for school we did it all on our own. Of course our families have been incredibly supportive and stocked our kitchen and closets with all the essentials to enable it all! We are unbelievably grateful for everything they have done for us!

Now that I'm out of school, and feeling much more alive, it's time to tackle the house! Spring cleaning a little late this year, but it's definitely time!

2009-02-24T22:02:00.003-06:00

Tests are done with for now, whew! In the midst of it all I had an interview and got a job as a teaching assistant for Duke TIP summer vet science program!! It's basically a class/camp for early high school advanced placement kids to come to A&M and learn about pre-vet science and get to see what happens in the vet school. They only picked two TA's and the hours are great! I get a few weeks off before and after during the summer, I don't have to wake up that early and I'll be paid as much as when I work in a clinic from 7am to 6pm from the day we stop school to the day before we start again. Plus I can get new kids interested in vet medicine and actually be able to help them learn. So I'm VERY excited about it!

I had to take care of an ostrich named Zea (pronounced Z) for a week and she laid an egg during that time. It was HEAVY, but unfertilized so I kept it! I blew out all the insides so it wouldn't go bad and now I have this ginormous egg to display.

I've been busy studying a lot so Simon's been keeping himself busy...yes those are legos. Who says getting real jobs and living on your own means we can't still play with toys?!

The vet school first years threw a Masquerade party last Friday for everyone to get dressed up and have fun to forget about classes for a day at least. It was a lot of fun, we made our own masks. Mine matched my dress and was very classy, Simon's was....well typical Simon style complete with duct tape, notebook paper, and sharpie scribbles. It was pretty cute and he even won third place in the mask contest! That in itself shows how awesome his mask was because it was basically a popularity contest for the other winners, but nobody knew who Simon was! It was nice to get a night off and have some fun!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-02-12T07:07:00.003-06:00

Too busy to post, but maybe next week after tests....Denise I haven't forgotten about the pictures!

Holiday Cheer

2009-01-06T13:08:00.007-06:00

Recap of the Holiday Cheer: You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

We visited my family and went downtown to see all the lights and festivities, and of course we couldn't escape an Alamo picture. Then on Christmas Eve we went to Simon's grandparents for the feast and got to open presents. We got fantastic presents, as usual! Now we have a grill to expand Simon's cooking ability and feed my constant hunger for meat! We got tons of other awesome presents too, thank you everyone! Back at my house Mom got both of our college diplomas professionally framed so now we can prove we're edumacated. And of course lots of other great presents! Denise gave us all family portraits we took at Thanksgiving, she's getting really good at this photography thing! Overall, a fantastic finish to a wonderful year!

Meet George!

2008-12-21T00:22:00.008-06:00

This is George! I've always, always wanted a chameleon and I finally got one! It was my Christmas present to me that I saved my cat-sitting money for. He's a young veiled chameleon and I named him George (for no apparent reason). My dad helped me build him a fantastic cage and he lives next to the desk where I study. He's fascinating to watch, and that's about all he'll allow right now. They get stressed very easily so a three hour ride to College Station and switching his cage has him ready to attack me at the moment. But he'll calm down after a while. He's already used his infamous sticky tongue to snatch mealworms off my hand ( coolest thing ever!) and seems to be adjusting slowly. Luckily the dogs don't have much interest in him. If you've never seen one up close you're missing out! They are truly one of the strangest little creatures. Of course everyone knows about the long sticky tongue and the eyes that can look in different directions, but their little feet are weird too! It's split almost perfectly so two toes are on one side and three on the other. But the little toes are fused until the ends so there are just little nubs with nails. And the prehensile tail is just too cool when it wraps around your hand. He's a neat little guy to watch!

Happy Holidays, Good Tidings, And All That Jazz...

2008-12-20T17:35:00.015-06:00

The recent barrage of repetitive, grating Christmas Muzak blared over grocery store PA systems has alerted me that the four-month-long, never-ending Holiday Season is upon is. Yay!

A while back I walked out of another long OT weekday to be greeted by snow. A lot of snow. More snow than I would've expected. In fact, my car was covered with a good two inches of powdery frost. For one night it was quite the wintery wonderland.

We might've waited too long to get a Christmas tree. Our tally of broken necessities rose by an xbox and two cars (one since fixed) so we were a bit preoccupied. At first glance our replacement tree may appear to be a small ficus draped with a sad Charlie-Brown-esque strand of luminous plastic. A second glance would most likely confirm said cursory observation.

We'll be heading back to SA to soak in all the good food and company we can handle for Christmas! See you guys then!

1/8 a veterinarian

2008-12-04T18:50:00.002-06:00

I have successfully completed my first semester of vet school! Finshed finals today...my brain hurts. I came home, curled up in a blanket on the couch and watched movies the rest of the day! It hasn't completely hit me yet but I think sleeping in tomorrow will help with that! I've been living the last few days in the library with my friend Jenny studying constantly. We would finish a final in the morning and study the rest of the day and night for the next one for 4 days in a row. Hopefully it paid off! But my body gave out before my brain did. I nearly cough up a lung on a regular basis, my nose is dripping, and my joints feel like someone severed them. It was worse yesterday so maybe it'll be a fast recovery. It's amazing what a good night's rest can do!

I've been locked away studying so much poor Simon hasn't hardly seen me at all the last few weeks. We're hoping to go hiking with the dogs (who are bored out of their minds) at one of the state parks in the area this weekend. The weather should be fantastic for it! Now that I have a decent amount of free time for a while maybe I can start wedding planning! Lots of good things ahead, I'm excited :)

Technology hates us...

2008-11-30T10:24:00.002-06:00

So the good computer is still on the fritz, the camera won't upload to the surviving computer, the internet seems to be dragging, my 'check engine' light is on in my car, and the good Xbox just red-ringed! The red-ring of death means the Xbox is officially dead and needs to be sent to the factory for them to gut it and send a new one. I think a piece of Simon's soul went with it....

Apparently we have offended the cyber gods so perhaps we should put a disclaimer before offering any kind of technical/electronics advice: "Warning - Although we do the research and the maintenance on all our stuff it still has a 90% fail rate so we make no promises for what we've recommended to you!" Cheers :)

Recap!!

2008-11-24T21:27:00.016-06:00

So the computer is still dead, but we can update anyway!

The vet school threw a big Halloween Party, which was actually really lame because the bar we reserved for the party didn't give us any of the drink specials they promised. That part really sucked for the first-years because we had a very long, extensive anatomy test earlier that day and were ready for some good times! Either way, the creative flavor was a sight to see. We had Angelina Jolie attend (a girl with hand-drawn tattoos and a stroller with as many different baby dolls she could find in it), many seductive female insects (which I still don't understand), a walking home pregnancy test (complete with urine-stained hat and a spinner to see if you were pregnant), lots of classics, and one incedibly slutty Victoria's Secret Angel! I've never understood the 'dress-up-in-lingerie' idea but this was a whole new level; she literally wore a white bra, tiny white undies, and wings. That was all!! Needless to say I couldn't get any drinks while she was anywhere near the bar. Simon went as a redneck trucker and I went as "party cloudy with a chance of rain". I sewed clouds to my sky colored dress and squirted people when they asked me what my costume was! A little lacking on the creativity, but more fun to squirt people in the face!!

Bogart was a pirate!! Moki did not care for costumes...

November 11th was my 23rd Birthday! It was Tuesday so I was a little bummed to be in class all day. But I have fantastic friends that made it all okay! They made me the best cake ever and brought it in, candles ablaze, and made the whole class sing Happy Birthday to me. Then Simon took me out to dinner and we had fabulous steak. He got me more presents than he was supposed to also. I got the first season of Futurama, the 4th season of The Office, biscuits, and fishy crackers!! He loves me :)

The semester is winding down faster than I'd like to admit. We have finals starting the Monday after Thanksgiving. Who's cruel idea was that?? I don't get to enjoy my days off, I'll be reading notes under the table as I stuff my face with turkey and other deliciousness. It feels like I just started school only a few weeks ago! Craziness. In January I'm going on a 'field trip' of sorts down to Corpus Christi with the ZEW (zoo, exotics, wildlife) club to get some hands on experience! We get to tour the Texas State Aquarium and the Sea Turtle Rescue with their vet and even get to do a dolphin and sea turtle necropsy. They're things that washed up or died in captivity, they don't kill any for us. It's a great opportunity to see the differences in anatomy among species. You would think that everything is built pretty similar...but you would be wrong.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone, stuff your craws!

Technical Difficulties

2008-11-12T23:31:00.002-06:00

Technology is rebelling. Both of our computers decided to crash at the same time, as well as my camera. The fossilized laptop is back up and running, in a precarious state of overheating unless it is dangerously perched over a basket on the coffee table. But the big fancy computer is still down for the count. What started as a hard drive failure, catastrophic as that is already, advanced to motherboard, graphics card, and operating systems failure also. FAIL! Still not sure if all our documents, pictures, and graphics work is still recoverable. And the camera won't upload anything to laptop for some reason. Sooo I can't post about Halloween, or my birthday, or the reptile session I went to because it's just not the same without pictures! So pardon the hiatus, as soon as we have conquered our rebellioous technology we'll be back online!! :)

Little Visitors

2008-10-08T19:42:00.003-05:00

This is kinda old, but I just got around to uploading the pictures. A while back, we had a small thunderstorm move into the area. Dayna just happened to be looking out into the backyard when she spied a skunk scurrying about carrying a wee baby skunk by the scruff (or whatever the equivalent of a scruff is in skunks). We watched as she couriered over each skunklet one by one right under our neighbors porch. A few days later they had relocated to ours...

We haven't seen them in a long time, but it was fun peaking out and seeing those puffballs aimlessly bumble about.

Interior Decorating

2008-09-23T22:33:00.011-05:00

It finally looks like we live here!! Would you like a tour? Here's the living room FINALLY (almost) complete with wall decor. The windows still need curtains, but the huge walls look so much better with stuff on them! Yes I am watching Ratatouille if you can see it on the tv. Gotta love Disney movies! Like the green paint? Yeah me too.

And here's the kitchen, fully stocked with utensils, tools, and best of all, food! Nice and open, and behind where I took this picture is the back door to the yard (see post 'Aftermath!' below)

And here is the game/study room (because that's a logical combination right?) with it's newest wall decor also. The very large promo poster for a fighting video game, the mini banner with bathroom humor and a giant scribbly cartoon character, and the elegant works of a master glass artist Chihuly who we both love. The only time I got in trouble for skipping band practice was when Simon was about to leave for college and we snuck off to a Chihuly art exhibit at the San Antonio Art Museum. It was the most beautiful display of the most vibrant colors and shapes I've ever seen so if you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it!!

More to come as donations are made! For only 10 cents a day you can support ... oh sorry.

Aftermath!

2008-09-23T22:27:00.005-05:00

The dreaded Hurricane Ike has blown everyone away that wasn't swallowed by the floods! Well at least I hear that's what happened on the coast. But here in Aggieland all it managed to do was knock down a few branches, the occasional small tree, and barely water the grass before the sun came out later the same day. This is the one branch in our yard that was sizeable enough to notice, and that's Moki playing in it. So much for clearing out the store shelves and cancelling school in anticipation! Aw well, who can complain about a long weekend? :)

Hurricane day!

2008-09-12T16:52:00.005-05:00

The impending doom of Hurricane Ike has shut down everything in the College Station - Bryan area for today! All the schools, even the entire University are closed mostly to offer more space for Houston/Galveston evacuees in town. But no class for me so can't complain! Ironically school has been cancelled for weather and it's sunny and breezy outside right now. The storm is expected to hit us here this far inland as a category 1 hurricane bascially so LOTS of rain, wind, and all the inconveniences of power outages and flooding. I tried to go to the store to stock up on snacks and batteries just in case and there wasn't even a hint of bread, milk, water, or fresh fruit anywhere. All the evacuees cleaned the groceries out and all the college kids who are out of school cleaned up all traces of alcohol too!

Last night we went to Hurricane Harry's, a local bar and drank hurricanes! I'm sure that place just loves hurricanes because everyone was there just for the irony. A lot of my classmates were there so they finally got to meet Simon and I got some fabulously tacky dancing from Courtney so it was all good! And now I have an extra day to study...yay...

Dr. Moki says stay safe from the hurricane if you're in its path and if not then don't dress up your pets just because you're bored :)

My Job in a Nutshell

2008-09-03T19:16:00.009-05:00

I'm almost officially done with my training period (should be done tomorrow in fact), so I thought I would explain my job better. I've been getting a lot of questions about just exactly what it is I do. Well, I come bearing examples!

I'm a web developer (who tries to focus on rich/interactive media). What that essentially means is I write controls in a number of languages or markups that interact with your browser to render some kind of effect. Mostly, I write in CSS, Javascript, and Flash Actionscript 3.0. Due to the proprietary nature of our site building software, I don't actually have access to HTML which can make my job...difficult. I also make all my own graphics using a bunch of other nifty programs, some of which I'm sure you've heard of like Photoshop for instance. It's easiest to think of Web developers as a kind of hybrid between programmers and graphic artists. You can wiki all those terms if you like or I can just show you some stuff.

Click here to visit this Flash hub!
Above is an example of a Flash hub I made that uses Javascript and Flash to render animations and interactive elements (like the nav menu). If the site doesn't appear as it does above in the screenshot, you have a browser configuration we don't support (which means it's probably old).

Here's an example of a game I created using Flash and Actionscript 3.0:
Click here to play a piratey game!

A static hub:
A regular old graphic hub!

A home page with a lot going on including a Rovion character and a sound enabled flash control (Warning: This will kill your browser if you're connection is slow...plus it's pretty loud):
Click here to visit a dealer home page!

If you're wondering about all the pirate stuff, that's the "theme" of my training project to keep things fun and less monotonous.
Well, I hope that helps. As always, I'm happy to address questions in the comments section!

Dr. Me

2008-09-03T16:32:00.009-05:00

Here's me getting ready for my first day of school, just like kindergarten all over again! Honestly I think this was the first time I was actually excited to start school since elementary school, and that was mostly just because of recess! So far I've learned to do a physical exam on a cow and a dog, which are so different you'd think it was between a plant and a rock, and have already taken the first exam in immunology. They don't waste any time throwing you into everything! I have a histology exam tomorrow, anatomy on Friday and physiology on Monday. And for you kids that only took one hour tests that you usually finished in half the time, just imagine an anatomy test for 4 straight hours. And that's just a regular test! Finals can last twice as long as the regular exams!

Our class is 132 students, of which only 36 of them are male and I have yet to really meet more than half of the class. But I've been assured I'll know every one of their voices by the end of the year. We spend every day from 8am - 5pm together in the same classes, which at the most are split into two groups just for the sake of space. We get a few breaks from class during some days of each week to try to give us some extra time, all of which is usually devoted to studying...or sleeping, whichever is more critical at the moment.

Oh and free stuff! They LOVE giving us free stuff! Obviously it's a HUGE financial burden just being in vet school so they actually do a lot for us to try to offset the costs if they can. Most of it is corporations wanting veterinarians to work for them (major drug and dog food companies) but the student organizations are good about it too. They gave everyone a free, really nice backpack that has enough room to hold even more than all our books plus basically all of our school supplies: pens, highlighters, notebooks, spirals, lunch boxes, just about everything! And the best part is the free food, for both me and the dogs! There are several low cost dog food programs, but there's even one where we get one free bag of purina dog food delivered to our door every month! All the organizational meetings are during our lunch break so I get free lunch at least 2-3 times a week, and they don't skimp on those. So it's actually really nice that they try to help with some things to relieve some of the stress.

So far I have loved every second of it (even though I occasionally drift off in physiology) and it is definitely everything I was hoping for! There isn't very much built into the curriculum with exotics (zoo animals, pocket pets, wildlife) because it's such a small percentage that choose that path but as far as the basics for dogs and horses go I think I'll be amply prepared! I'll be back after next week when the first round of exams has subsided...

Bored housewife here....

2008-08-06T23:08:00.007-05:00

So while Simon is working all day trying to bring home the bacon I have nothing to do. The summer was too short and too busy for me to actually seek a job since I'd just have to quit next week for vet school. Class from 8-5 every day, and they expect us to pay for it how in the meantime?? Anyway, so it's just me and the dogs, sleeping, playing video games, and reading, which all and all is not a bad way to spend my summer...except I'm already bored of it! I've worked full time every summer and when I'm in school I work then too, ever since high school so this doing the housework and waiting for the 'hubby' to get home is not exactly my preferred role. So I can't wait to start school next week...

Simon is loving his job so far which is fantastic! Here I figured he'd resent me for having to move to this wee little college town. Good thing Reynolds & Reynolds decided it was a good place to be too!

Oh and it rained today (finally) which brings a whole new joy of cleaning up muddy paw prints everywhere. Yay!

I'm Employed!

2008-07-27T14:16:00.007-05:00

I took time out of my busy schedule "playing house" to "play dress-up" and bring you this important announcement: I got a job!

I start this upcoming Tuesday at Reynolds & Reynolds as a web designer. The company has about 6,000 employees and is headquartered out of Dayton, Ohio. They do support services for car dealerships all over the U.S. - anything from customer service outsourcing, to inventory tracking software, to key tracking, to making websites. That's where I come in. I'll be the 9th person hired to the team that handles around 6k websites for 4k clients! It's a tall order but I'm really excited! It fits in perfectly with my web development and marketing background. Oh, and the benefits are awesome!

The Game Room

2008-07-26T20:34:00.018-05:00

While the rest of the house slowly percolates into a form that is nigh livable, I took the initiative to at least organize the important stuff...you know - the games. The first thought that will pass through your mind as you look on at these pictures will probably be something like "whoa, that kid has a lot of friggin' games." This most likely will be followed by questions like "where the heck do you even get those?" or "why would anyone need so many?" I assure you those questions have good and reasonable answers.

I'll let you know them when I think of them...

Analog (Crokinole board on right):

Digital (Xbox, 360, Wii, DS):

(Not pictured: Guitar Hero controllers (3), Virtual Boy collection, Neo Geo Pocket collection, SNES collection, N64 collection, Dreamcast collection, PS1 collection...which is around 6 consoles and 100 additional video games)

Misadventures in Cooking, Part I

2008-07-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

I was originally thinking of calling this section “The art of preparing edible substrate for human consumption” but it didn’t have the right ring to it. Anyway, this is a running series I have planned where I’ll explore the art of cooking thanks to the host of tools generously donated by the foundation of Mac and my Grandma.

Before I got a literal trunk-load of cooking utensils, I relied on one pan, one knife, and two seasonings (Great American Land & Cattle, and Cavender’s All-Purpose Greek). Which is to say, our food wasn’t bad per se…just a tad - simple. The only dish of mention made before Denise arrived with our gifts was a failure-turned-delectable risotto (thanks to a call to Pop).

Post the one-pan, one-knife era, we went for something a smidge more complicated. The American Test Kitchen Cookbook (also given to us by Mac and Grandma) had a pretty easy and tasty sounding recipe for brined pork with a garlic-hoisin sauce. Everything went mostly to plan, but I cooked the pork a little too long so once I took it off the burner, the residual heat made it cook until it was a bit tougher than I would have liked. I probably should also remember to buy thicker cuts of rib chop next time as well… The sauce could have used some tweaking. Six minced cloves of garlic made it a bit too, well, garlic-ee. The paired sweetness of the hoisin with the pork was a nice combo, but it could be a bit more subtle. As to ideas for an inert ingredient to draw down the punch, I’m all ears.

If anyone wants to post suggestions for my next challenge, I’ll also be happy to field those.

Engagement Picture Day!

2008-07-26T20:30:00.007-05:00

Simon's Aunt Denise was passing through College Station and luckily had the time to stop by with a trunk full of goodies from Grandma and Grandpa Mac. They were nice enough to completely furnish our kitchen with every cooking utensil we could possibly need. I guess we sounded pretty pathetic cooking meals with only one skillet and a set of butter knives! It was like Chistmas in the middle of the summer when she got here! Now if only we knew how to use all of it...

While she was in town Denise took us out for a day of photography. We finally have some professional engagment pictures to share. She did an excellent job despite our laughable efforts to be models. The pictures are beautiful! Check out the full album here.

....still no plans set for the wedding though...

Doggies!

2008-07-25T23:28:00.015-05:00

I thought I would post a few pics of the dogs for those who haven't been graced with their stinky, obnoxious - though undeniably cute - presence.

Here's Bogart the pug (4 years):

And Moki the plott hound mix (1 year):

Moving Day(s)!

2008-07-25T22:33:00.023-05:00

As if we hadn't done enough moving in the last four years between Simon's four houses and my moving back and forth from college, here came the boxes yet again! For the first time in six years we will actually be in the same zip code for more than a few months out of the year! We found a nice little duplex with a yard for the dogs not too far from campus....did I mention little? My dad was nice enough to pay for the U-haul to get all of Simon's stuff the 180 miles to College Station. And now after a month of unpacking and organizing it finally looks like someone lives here!

Here's the living room, kitchen, and back yard pre-move-in:

Here's Simon NOT enjoying the move...

And here's our stuff everywhere after Day 2...

Stay tuned for suitable living conditions...

Simon and I are engaged!!

2008-07-25T22:13:00.010-05:00

We all went down to Port Aransas for Memorial Day with several other families when it happened. May 24th was the 6 year anniversary of our first date and we were going to go walk along the beach at night like we usually do to look for shells under the stars. As we were walking on our way to meet the rest of my family we came upon an arc of lit tiki torches with no one around. Being predictably curious as I am, I went to investigate why someone would light a half circle of torches and just leave them on the beach. As I got closer I noticed roses and blinking lights in the sand. It took me a few good seconds to be able to read what the lights said. They spelled out "Marry Me"!

I spun around and Simon was down on one knee waiting for me, ring in hand. And he proposed to me under the stars by the surf with my family looking on, crying and taking pictures. Obviously I said YES! The ring is absolutely gorgeous! We're in the process of deciding dates and details so keep checking back for plans...

We are Live!

2008-07-24T18:09:00.003-05:00

Alright, things are up and running. We'll be populating the blog with the most important announcements right away and then start adding regular weekly posts as time progresses (probably every Wednesday, but don't hold me to it).

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Please pardon our dust for the next week or so as I wrestle with the template to shoe-in all the content we want added... Hey, I said I was a web designer, but I never said I was an especially good one...