Finally! A break!

I'm off for the next two days! Yay!

Jason goes back to Texas today. Boo! 

That's all. I'll be back with more when I can collect my thoughts and/or get some sleep.

Heartbreak and the nonexistence of moral victories

So this is a crappy picture, but it's the only one I remembered to take because Eric didn't remind me like I told him to :)

This post is going to be scattered and disjointed because I'm about to crash. I worked last night, went to the Iron Bowl, screamed my voice away, jumped until my legs turned to jelly, watched Auburn give it their all, left with a heavy heart, and now I'm working again. I'm exhausted, but I'll never be sorry that I went to that game.

The Iron Bowl was a heatbreaker this year. But I think Auburn was in it more than anyone (except the team itself) expected them to be.

Justin sold me a student ticket at the last minute, so I got to experience the amazing atmosphere of the Auburn student section during an Iron Bowl. I'm so grateful to George, Eric, and company for saving me a seat in their section. I got to sit with Pokey and Stephen who both make me look like a tame fan (I know, right?). They were intense, but that was an intense game. When Auburn jumped out to an early lead, I've never screamed so loud or jumped so high in my life, and I definitely wasn't the only one. And yeah, our voices were almost gone after the first quarter. Jorge had to join Pokey during the 2nd half to fix the voodoo when things started to go south. Those two have to sit together or things end up badly. And it was so great to see Rachel and Madison. I love sitting with this group. There's genuine love for the Auburn Tigers and you can feel it on every play.

We had the nicest Alabama fan in front of us. He was extremely polite and gracious and told us he refused to sing "Rammer Jammer" after such a great game where no one beat the hell out of anyone else (you know my feelings about "Rammer Jammer," so I'll leave it at that). He was an all-around nice guy and a great reminder that there are great fans everywhere, even some that wear crimson.

I rode with Jason and his parents to the game on the shuttle. It was tough being with Alabama fans before the game, but after the game, even they admitted that Auburn played one hell of a game (if you knew Jason's parents you'd know what a big deal that was). As we were waiting in line to catch the shuttle back to Tiger Town, Jason noticed someone he said looked "like she could be Stacey Heath's sister." I looked over in that direction, saw her, and realized after I saw Will that it really was Stacey. We exchanged "Good games" and everyone seemed to enjoy the random encounter. I don't know why Jason seeing Stacey and thinking it was just a girl who looked like her cracked me up so much, but it was really neat to see them after we had been waiting in that line for what seemed like hours. It very well could have been half an hour, but my legs were tired and I was ready to get on a bus. But striking up conversations with random fans wearing both colors (as well as long lost friends across the line) kept us entertained while the line moved. The shuttle system at Auburn is amazingly efficient considering how many buses they coordinate and move through gameday traffic.

As far as the game goes, I couldn't have really asked any more of Auburn. The defense, the undermanned, young, injury-ridden defense played with heart, and through most of the game, whenever we asked them to come up with the big stop, they obliged until they just ran out of gas. Pokey put it best: "We just didn't have enough bullets in the gun." The 4th quarter went the way the 4th quarter has been going for Alabama all year, strong. And our 4th quarter game seemed to fall off somewhere after the Tennessee game. Bama beat us when it mattered: when the game was on the line.

There are no moral victories in football. I will not budge on that point. Auburn lost that game. In the record books, it will show an L, not an "Auburn won most of the time 1/2 L." We made crucial mistakes that ultimately cost us the game, and yeah, I'm disappointed in the outcome, but that team has nothing to hang its head about. The 2009 Iron Bowl was one of my favorites, and that's saying something considering we didn't win. I don't feel completely sick to my stomach about it, and that's a testament to the fight our boys put up.

I'm not gonna lie, though. I got a little emotional. I don't think we've ever lost and Iron Bowl when I didn't tear up just a little. Right after our last ditch effort hit the ground and their players ran on the field, our band struck up "War Eagle," and I lost it. The love that we felt for that team couldn't be tainted by "Rammer Jammer."

Yeah, I just teared up a little writing that [and proofreading it]. I'm a loser, but I love Auburn.

Last time, I said that at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome, one thing would separate us from them: We believe in Auburn and love it. They believe in Alabama, and Alabama is truly a force to be reckoned with. But I wouldn't trade one minute of being an Auburn fan for all of Alabama's glory. There's just something different about sitting in Jordan-Hare and watching Nova fly over the sea of orange and its perfect color wheel complement and tailgating with people you've known forever or even just met and witnessing Tiger Walk and rolling Toomer's Corner and having "War Eagle" moments and singing our fight song to show love for our beloved Tigers, even after a heartbreaking loss. I am a part of Auburn, and Auburn is a part of me. Auburn is my home, and Auburn is my family.

It's great to be an Auburn Tiger and it always will be. Always.

War. Damn. Eagle.

Update: We lost the Iron Bowl and the sun did come up again in Auburn this morning.  In fact, the sun came up in such a way to remind us all that no matter what the outcome of a football game, God is still on our side. WDE. By the way, this picture doesn't nearly do the sunrise justice. The orange was brilliant.

On football and holding my tongue

It's so easy. It's so easy to fall into the trap that they set. My Bama Facebook friends do it on purpose, I've decided. They try to get reactions out of us. Like this one:

A friend of mine from the Crimson White put up a link to the now infamous screen shot where Auburn was identified as being in Georgia with the caption, "Apparently this was some big news scandal or something... I don't get it. AU is in Georgia. Right?" 

And I had the perfect comeback. PERFECT: "And UA is in Birmingham, right? Because that's what a good portion of your fanbase thinks," (because they totally do, I've witnessed this).


But I didn't use it. I have typed it out twice now and decided to erase it before hitting send both times. I can't. I just can't get dragged down into a futile argument. It will only upset me and will do no one any good.

I generally try to keep my negative Alabama comments to a minimum, at least in the public setting. I graduated from the University of Alabama and spent three years there. I know a thing or two about being treated like crap. I wore orange in the student section at the Iron Bowl my freshman year, which was my own choice, but I never expected to be treated the way I was. The spitting and the throwing of minis (which are thankfully plastic now) and the trying to steal my shaker--it was all unreal. And that was just freshman year. I never hid the fact that I was an Auburn fan, again my choice, but I did my best not to start any arguments or cause any trouble about it. Because at the end of the day, I just want to be left alone. Football gets to me. I love Auburn. Love it. I feel the ups and downs of the season in my heart, my gut, and my soul. It runs that deeply. So when Alabama fans with their superiority complex talk trash about the place I love and grew up, it upsets me. When they incessantly scream 36-0 when we aren't even talking about football, I get annoyed. When they call it a cow college, implying that the agricultural contributions Auburn has made to this state are somehow worthless and beneath them, I get angry. And when they think that they are better than us simply by being Alabama fans, I get sad. I willingly admit that Alabama is a great school. It has a beautiful campus, and for what they specialize in, they do extremely well. But Auburn is also a great school, just in different areas. So what does all of this have to do with football? 

You tell me. 

This rivalry has become about much more than football. It's not just about the game anymore. It's about two schools who play separate but integral roles within their state. It's about two polar opposite fanbases who hate each other intensely during football season. It's about bragging rights. It's about whether or not seasons are considered successes. It's about houses divided. 

And it's about loving your team, whichever one that is. Mine is Auburn, and no matter how much I may dislike Alabama, I will never dislike them as much as I love Auburn. People lose sight of that sometimes, I think. I may or may not want Alabama to lose at everything it ever competes at, but I would never tell my Alabama friends (or enemies) that. I hate it when people are rude to me, especially about this subject, and I guess I want to extend that same courtesy to others. 


There is always going to be trash talk, and some say that's what makes it fun, and if you're able to separate yourself from it and not take any of it personally, I'm sure it is. But I can't. I bleed orange and blue. I hate to see awful and unnecessary things written for no purpose other than to be mean and assert supposed superiority. But it's going to happen. So my challenge is not to react. I don't want to say anything I'll regret.

So onto Friday. This gives me comfort: After the game is won or lost, after the players bleed, the tailgates come down, the fans go home, the sportswriters meet their deadlines, and after our hearts break or burst with joy, no matter what the outcome, it's this simple mantra that separates us from them: We believe in Auburn and love it.

Started a slow clap for it being over. I wasn't the only one. That's two and a half hours of my life I'm never getting back.

Oh the melodrama.

Taylor Lautner is hottttttt. This movie is still stupid.

Still laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.

So far: laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame

Preview for Avatar. Don't think so.

Live blogging from New Moon. My friend made me go. I had to have a drink before. True story.

Oops

I almost fell off into blogging oblivion again. Good thing I have a few extra hours this afternoon to catch up.

There's not a lot of news to report. I've been working a good bit, but that's nothing new. My paycheck for this week is going to blow, but the next one should be adequate. Only working half a week is killer in terms of pay, but my new boots aren't too far away.

After I got off of work this morning, I went over to Lauren's to watch the last two episodes of Freaks and Geeks. We've been working on the series for a couple of weeks now, but we really don't have that much to show for it because it only lasted 18 episodes. Have I ever mentioned what a TRAGEDY that was? Freaks and Geeks was an amazing show. The three main burnout guys are all now huge stars in their own right: James Franco, Seth Rogan, and Jason Segel. And the main geeky guy is now Dr. Sweets on Bones, my absolute favorite non-comedy. The show touched on so many great themes of growing up, kind of like Wonder Years, but edgier and funnier. Annnnnd they canceled it after one season. Like I said, tragedy.

After I left Lauren's, I went to Target because seeing Jason Segel in Freaks and Geeks has been making me want to watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall for a while now. So I went in search of it (and almost bought a pair of merlot colored shoes that I most certainly did not need) and found it for a reasonable price at Target. I made Benjamin come watch it with me, and aside from the really awkward scene at the beginning, I think he thought it was decently funny. We still have the last few minutes to finish because he was going to be late for his first day at Office Max, but I'm sure we'll find an excuse to get together and finish it up. We have a script to write, after all.

I'm looking forward to having tonight off. I haven't yet decided whether or not I should go to sleep at a normal time hopefully wake up at a decent time tomorrow or if I should try to stay on my schedule and continue being a night owl. Oh well. We'll see if I can make it through the afternoon without falling asleep.

Things are crappy again with that situation I thought was fixed. I don't know that it can be fixed completely. I've got more praying to do. It'll turn around eventually.

There was a lot of mindless rambling in this one. Maybe it's time for the POTD and me to go to bed:

This one isn't funny, but it is pretty awesome. Ben drew this during senior year using colored pencils on illustration board. Blair, Anais, and I have all used this as a profile picture at some point. Oh, and I think it won some awards, too. <3 him.

And I guess I have to do a timely one:

This is what I want to happen Friday. Just throwing that out there.

And I guess a funny one for good measure:

Pretty much yeah.

Well it seems that my body has made that sleep decision for me. It's definitely time for bed. I'm going to go ahead and post this before I fall asleep typing and there'd be no telling what I might write. Bad plan. 

Desperation

I'm having to start this post a little early tonight. I haven't had much sleep, so blogging might end up being the only thing that keeps me awake until it's time to clean the lobby. Part of me was hoping that tonight would be a little busy so it would keep me from falling asleep, but quiet nights are kind of nice, too. Having a little extra time to clean and, well, blog, is kinda cool.

I had my first douche bag customer tonight. I'll spare you the story, but suffice to say he was a complete and total dick. But I guess out of all the customers I've had in three weeks, one asshat isn't too terrible. It could be much, much worse.

The classical piano concert tonight was amazing. Ji-Yong was phenomenal. I can't believe he's only 18. His technical skill was impressive, but his ability to put so much feeling into a piano piece was really breathtaking. And with no sheet music! I'm so grateful to Benjamin for asking me to go. Having a chance to see this prodigy perform was quite possibly a once in a lifetime experience. And I'm not gonna lie, we both looked pretty classy. Just like future Oscar winners should look (No, I'm not letting that dream go. It's going to happen. Furreal furreal).

I'm running out of good (appropriate) options for POTD. I guess I'll have to go on a picture/macro/comic hunt when I have some free time. For now, this one will have to do:

If the text is too small, it reads: Wonka's Boat Ride: Causing childhood trauma since 1971. This one makes me laugh because I can't watch that scene without getting freaked out.

 I guess I should go do some real work now. I'm all mopey tonight, but I blame that on the serious lack of sleep, the crappy customer, and another unfortunate situation. But they'll all work themselves out and when I get off this morning, I'm going to sleep the heck out of the whole day.

I'm going to go turn the music up to drown out the boys' CONSTANT Call of Duty jabber. I can't take it anymore.

Falling in love at the donut shop

I decided to come up with the lamest, most unrelated title possible for this blog. I think I succeeded.

I'm working currently. "Working" is a relative term, obviously. I'm actually sitting here at the closed-out register on my laptop internetting without much of a real purpose. It's been a slow night, but even though it's been slow, I've seen four Opelika people, whereas before I'd only seen one the entire time I've worked here.  So that's cool.

Tonight is going to be a difficult one, unfortunately. I was able to get to sleep pretty quickly this morning, around 9-ish, but Vickie (one of the owners of Daylight) called around 3 to inform me that I had to work through Thanksgiving. The good news is that I get the week of Christmas off and beyond until after New Years when we reopen. So even though I'll be working the entire time Jason is home for Thanksgiving, at least I get all the time with him at Christmas. That makes me happy :)

I'm in a much better mood than I was a couple of days ago. God can do wonderful things. All you have to do is ask.

Benjamin and I are going to see world-renowned pianist Ji-Yong in concert at the OPAC tomorrow night, or I guess tonight, technically. I heard a commercial for it on the radio on my way home from work this morning (or yesterday morning, stupid night shift) and thought it sounded really awesome and when I woke up this afternoon, there was a message from Ben asking if I wanted to go. It's going to be amazing. He's a senior at Juliard and has been playing piano practically from birth. Can't wait!

This really has been the most self-indulgent entry yet. I don't really have much to say, but I'm really trying to keep myself awake at work. I guess I'll go clean tables and sweep. That way I won't have to do it at morning rush.

If you find yourself bored and looking for something to occupy your time, head on over to George's blog Something to Talk About and click some of his ads. He's hoping for a big paycheck from Google--haha!

Oh, and the POTD:

I am a huge dork. 

God works wonders.

He really does.
That's all.

Just for Justin...

Since someone *cough cough Justin Luangkhot cough cough* told us that he only looks at blogs for pictures and probably wouldn't read text if it was longer than a sentence, I'm going to do an all-pictures one today. Honestly, it saves me from having to think of clever things to say anyway.

Without further adieu, here are today's PsOTD:

The good old days

Tuscaloosa is rough on a man, let me tell ya

 War Eagle!

This may be my favorite cartoon ever.

I just had a discussion about this one. One of the best. The file is actually named lauren.jpg :)

And finally, there's never been a truer statement. I would probably cry. Scratch that, I would DEFINITELY cry.

Today is about relaxation and and getting happy again. I am giving the problem that I keep cryptically referring to over to God in hopes that He will soften one heart or take the burden off the other. Maybe both. I'm not sure I could handle it, but I know He can. So hopefully no more moping :)

I almost forgot!

The POTD:

This made me laugh out loud. 

Dang it.

I fell asleep early last night and woke up early this morning. This was not the plan. I'm supposed to be back on my night shift schedule. Tonight is going to suck. Badly. But I think I'm working with Justin and Troy, so at least there will be good people in the back to keep me awake.

But while I'm up, I might as well make the most of it. My plan for the day is to run, eat a good lunch, put on a boring movie, and hopefully get a good nap before City Council. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen. I keep waffling back and forth as whether or not to quit my Observer job. I really do enjoy reporting on the City Council and the Planning Commission, but with my sleep schedule, I don't have a lot of time. Oh well. It's extra Europe money, at the very least.

Oh, back to work. We had an interesting night a week or so ago. I was ringing up a customer and we heard this really loud crash and saw a flash of light, which turned out to be an SUV running off the road and crashing into our Daylight Donuts sign, sending it about 30 feet across the parking lot. We went outside to see if everyone was okay, and two guys got out of the car, said something to each other, and took off. We called the police and they came and took statements and all of that stuff, but as best as we can tell, the drivers were intoxicated illegals who had borrowed that SUV. They never caught them, as far as we know. Way to go, APD. The way they wrecked the vehicle, though, was priceless:

A wide shot of the carnage. The vehicle is sitting directly on top of the post where the sign used to be.

Another angle, with leaking radiator fluid. These guys did a number on this thing.

The front of the SUV. It loos like one of their heads hit the windshield, but there was no blood on it, so who knows? Anyway, sorry for the crappy quality, but as you have seen, the only camera I ever actually use is on my phone and night time picture-taking is not one of its strong suits.

I guess I should go ahead and start my day. I've been internetting since about 9 this morning. I had to send a message and get some things off my chest and since then I've been talking to Jorge about how much we'd like to punch Paul Finebaum in the face and catching up on emails. I still haven't completely caught up from the Kentucky trip. In an unexpected plot twist, cold weather has become my favorite to run in. I'm looking forward to today's run. The epic hill on Northgate Drive is perfect for working out aggression and emotions. I need that today.

Exhaustion

I slept until 3 this afternoon. I've barely been up for 8 hours and I'm still exhausted. I'm mostly emotionally drained, but I'll save those details for my real diary. Suffice to say, at the end of the day, the only guy a girl can depend on is her daddy.

Benjamin and I were up late last night, first watching some great season 2 episodes of 30 Rock, then comment-bombing © Emmanuel Bello-Ogunu, one of our friends from middle school. Comment-bombing © is one of Ben's and my favorite hobbies. We miscalculated Emmanuel's however, because he was online at the time. The ideal situation is for a person to log into Facebook to find 99 notifications of picture comments. It's basically our way of showing the world how ballin we think that person is. After we comment-bombed © E-man, we set our sights on our future Oscar-winning screenplay, "Godfather of the Night," which is a working title. I can't give away any of the amazing plot, but involves fast cars, drugs, and road rage. We can't take credit for the idea, however. While we were coming back from the crap hole that is Baton Rouge, LA, George told us a story of a drug runner that Benjamin and I fell in love with. It's going to be epic. After we write the real screenplay, then we'll write the spoof, "Fairy Godmother of the Night," and then the porno, which doesn't have a title yet. Lastly, we'll write the children's book. Saving it until last is going to be a challenge because we have a tendency to turn everything we do into a children's book:
Chapter 1: He was a bad bad man.
Chapter 2: Where did he get all of those drugs?
Chapter 3: Why is he so mad?
Chapter 4: He goes so fast in his car.
Chapter 5: That was a big explosion.
(you get the idea)
Anywho, the whole thing is going to be amazing. We'll sweep the Academy Awards for sure.

Thanksgiving is fast-approaching. You'd never know by looking at department stores or other decorations, though. Christmas--the commercialized, non-Jesus-centric, money-driven one--has completely eclipsed Thanksgiving. It seems like it happens sooner and sooner every year. Thanksgiving, a day we are supposed to take the time to appreciate our loved ones and all that God has blessed us with, gets thrown into the shadow of the illusion that the more stuff we buy, the happier we are. Something about that just doesn't add up to me. So before we get bombarded with sale papers and Christmas music, we should take a little time to be thankful for what we have instead of worrying about what we don't. *steps off of soap box* There now. Opinionated moment over.

Since this wouldn't be one of my blogs without a random, unrelated picture, here's today's POTD:

Fight the power. 

Breaking news

Benjamin and I are going to win an Oscar. Maybe several. It'll all make sense in a few years.

That is all.

Instead of crossword puzzles

Instead of tackling my new book of crossword puzzles (Yeah, I'm that much of a dork), I figured that in the interest of keeping this blog current like I promised for the hundredth time, I should probably do some sort of update. Now my only problem is finding something worthwhile to talk about.

I guess I'll start with the obvious. I'm wasting time after just having cleaned my room waiting on Benjamin to come over to watch some 30 Rock. In all likelihood, he'll sketch out, but it was a decent excuse to clean my room. Plus, I may actually get my 30 Rock DVDs back if he decides to come over after all.

I awoke to an interesting notification from Google this morning when I tried to sign in to my Gmail. Apparently someone tried to hack into my account overnight and they made me change my password, which was extremely annoying because I choose passwords that I can remember instead of for security. Until now, I was never worried that anyone would hack into anything of mine. I mean, I'd like to think I don't have any enemies. I live my life the best way I know how and try to be good to people. It's worked pretty well so far, or so I thought. I'm thinking this may be sinister because under one of the previous blogs about Jason's firefighting, an anonymous commenter said "Your boyfriend looks like an unkempt neanderthal," which I immediately took down. The next morning, the hacking alert happens. The two may not be related, but if they are, I have a good idea who is doing it, and trust me, if it's who I think it is, their intentions are far from good. If nothing else, it's a good lesson in controlling anger, bitterness, and resentment because he obviously hasn't been able to.

In other news, I find this comic to be extremely hilarious:

Also this:

So maybe I like making fun of Japanese culture. Or maybe I just wanted to post a picture of a duck and this was the first one I found.  If I were a betting woman, I'd put my money on the latter. It's a much safer bet.

Since this post has devolved into randomness, I guess I better quit while I'm ahead. I had an incredibly awkward dinner where I inadvertently crashed a date without knowing at first. But in my defense, he asked me to come to dinner without mentioning her, so really it was his fault. That didn't make it any less awkward. So before I create any more awkwardness with incoherent rambling, I'll peace out and go watch some 30 Rock with Benjamin. No, he didn't sketch out. Points for Ben :)

My Old Kentucky Home [Away from Home]

Just got back from Lexington--literally. We walked in the door almost 2 hours ago. We left at 11 this morning and through the magic of pit stops, distillery tours, and tourist trap lunch destinations, it took us right at 11 hours to get back. But aside from the monster drive (both ways), the trip was fantastic.

We started out on Wednesday morning and drove all day in the Prius (Don't get me started about how much I hate that vehicle) to finally reach Lexington around 7pm that night. Somewhere there was a time change in there, but your guess is as good as mine as to what time it actually was. The only picture that really turned out from the road was in Huntsville:

As you can see, that one wasn't very good either. Not only did I forget my actual camera and have to rely on my phone for photographic evidence of my travels, but I also happen to really suck at taking pictures, as you can see by my failed attempt at capturing the Corvette Museum for Jason:

Awesome, right? Anyway, once we got to Lexington, we unloaded, ate quite possibly the best tamales in the world (random, I know, but they were so far beyond amazing), and I got to play with my aunt's dog, Molly. Molly is an 8-year-old Yorkie mix with an appetite for life--and anything you happen to be eating at the time. She's a sweet heart, though:

She's a little small (As we all know, I think dogs have to be at least 50 lbs to be considered REAL dogs), but she grows on you.

On Thursday morning, we sat in on the Mayor's Alliance on Substance Abuse meeting (My aunt is the Commissioner of Public Health for Lexington and Fayette County so we got to tag along and pretend to be important), where I got to meet KY Supreme Court Justice Mary Noble. My aunt kept insisting that I meet positive role models of women in law, and to say the least, Justice Noble qualifies. She is a fascinating woman and her work in the drug courts is remarkable. Did I take any pictures with Justice Noble? Of course I didn't. Why would I want to have a record of something like that?

After the meeting, we headed up to Henry County to our favorite winery in Kentucky, the Smith-Berry Winery. The drive up there was gorgeous. We started out on the interstate but most of the trip was a winding highway through the Kentucky countryside. I got a few photos, but they don't do it justice:

 

My problem is that I never think to take pictures when I should take them. I should have gotten a picture of the winery, but I didn't think about it. Take my word for it, though: It's gorgeous. It's a little farm house with a barn that sits on farmland the family converted to a vineyard. We usually buy a case of their Bluegrass Blush (everyone's favorite) but this year they had several new wines and one of them was a blackberry. It was sweet initially but finished tart so you weren't left feeling sick from the sweetness. We were so fond of it that we broke from tradition and split the case between the blush and the blackberry. That may not sound radical, but if you knew my mother, you would know what a great feat it was. The blush might be her favorite thing in the world. 

 Friday was a busy, busy day. The entire purpose of the Lexington trip was so that I could take an official campus tour of the UK Law School but we packed so much more into our last full day in town. We started the day by visiting the Greenebaum Doll & McDonald law office so I could meet Ted Martin, the attorney for the Health Department, and pick his brain. We toured the extensive--but mostly for show--law library the firm boasts and had lunch at a great little place down the street. He made me feel a lot better about law school and practicing in general. I guess that's why my aunt wanted me to meet him. Oh yeah, during lunch, I met a federal judge. He happened to walk by and speak to Ted. Did I have anything clever to say to him when he asked (after he'd been told I was looking at law school) if I ever wanted to earn an honest living? Of course not. All I could say was, "No sir!" Fail. Epic fail, Rossmanith.

On a random note, have you seen this Newsweek cover? It makes me want to puke:

I snapped this picture while waiting in the lobby of the law firm. Just thought I'd share. It's gross.

But I digress. The actual UK Law School visit was pretty cool. The building is kind of old, but not old enough to be historic, just old enough to be old. But the students kind of liked it. The student lounge is called "The Dirty Lounge," not because it's dirty, but because it's worn in. There was one other prospective student on the tour with me who happened to be from Birmingham. We sat in on a torts class where I learned that shared liability in a civil suit is ridiculously convoluted. I'm looking forward to law school, let me tell ya.

Aesthetically, UK has a beautiful campus. Did I think to take a picture of the aforementioned old law school building? Nope. But I did get a picture of one of the more famous structures on campus (other than Rupp Arena):

Memorial Hall is featured on the UK logo and is right next door to the law school. It's no Samford Hall, but at least they tried, right?

So the verdict on going all the way to Lexington for law school? While the campus is GORGEOUS and Lexington is a great city, I just didn't feel at home there.

After I wrapped up my visit (and dealt with the bloody mess that my high heels left my poor feet), we spent the rest of the day shopping. We started out in Lexington and then made our way north. We drove into Cincinnati at rush hour (not our smartest decision of the day) and putted along at 4 mph until we got to whatever open-air mall we ended up at. While getting there was a chore, the shopping center itself was pretty neat. We found a few good sales, spent a little too much money on things that weren't on sale (I can't say no to pretty dresses. When even I whip out the debit card, you know it's serious), and really enjoyed our last night together. And after an entire autumn of searching, I finally found the perfect pair of brown boots. Perfect heel, perfect toe, perfect boots:

Now all I have to do is find a black pair with a higher heel and I'll be set for winter. Did I mention that I'm a shoe addict? Oh, well I am. Everyone has one ridiculous thing that they spend their money on. My ridiculous thing is shoes. On the wonderful Auburn roadtrip to Baton Rouge (I'll get to that trip in a later post), every time the boys would start talking about cars in that really annoying way, Rachel and I would match it with talk about shoes. It's amazing how parallel we could run those conversations.

Leaving this morning was a chore. We didn't get back from Cincinnati until late last night so getting up was the last thing we wanted to do. But eventually we got the car packed and we got on the road. We stopped at the Maker's Mark historic distillery to grab a few Christmas presents and really enjoyed seeing the site. Although "stopped by" is a little misleading because the distillery itself is about 19 of the curviest miles ever away from the Bluegrass Parkway into the middle of nowhere. How many bars did AT&T provide me with out there? I'll let my iPhone answer that for you:

(Yes, I just took that picture. Yes, I forgot to take one at the time. No, I'm not ashamed of it. Yes, the service really is that bad at my house.) And that was before we turned off on the long winding road the distillery was actually on. Then my phone kindly told me I had "No Service" and refused to do anything. According to Verizon, there's a map for that (And seriously, the fact that AT&T is suing Verizon over those ads is ridiculous. I wish they would spend their money expanding their coverage instead of suing competing companies who call them out on it. Just saying). But we made it there and back to the Bluegrass Parkway without incident, even when we thought we heard the banjos.

 

Yes! My awesome photography captures yet another priceless Kentucky moment. Didn't I even remind myself on this blog to bring a real camera?

We stopped at the Whistle Stop Cafe for lunch in Glendale, KY. It was nearly 2 and we were still in Kentucky. This did not bode well for the rest of the trip. But the food was pretty good, despite being an obvious tourist trap. We filled up on fried green tomatoes before our entrees even came out. Needless to say, we took our leftovers with us (We never travel without an unnecessarily large cooler. My family is strange, but sometimes that comes in handy) and they'll make a fine lunch tomorrow.

The rest of the trip was a blur of interstate, terrible drivers, never being in the correct lane in Nashville, worrying about Jason (whose phone and debit card were both stolen while he was in Austin. I hadn't heard from him in 24 hours and I was really worried), and listening to a terribly disappointing Auburn game on the radio.

So now, a couple of hours after I started this travel tale (Hey give me a break. I've been catching up on a ton of email and Facebooking that I missed while my phone was my only source of internet for 4 days. Plus, I had to get the post-game report from George and the boys and those things take time), I've finally come to the end of it. Next time I go somewhere I promise to take better pictures. Maybe. If I remember. And bring a real camera. So yeah probably not.

All the cool kids are doing it...

Perhaps I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. After all, Mr. FansPoll himself recently joined the blogging world and has even been updating regularly (Give him a follow. You'll be glad you did). Maybe I miss the my active Twitter days and sharing every little thought with the world. Maybe I'm bored. In any case, I'm going to attempt to update this blog regularly again. No promises, but I will try.

We are leaving for Kentucky in the morning. We are going to see my aunt and I will be taking an official tour of the UK Law School. I'm excited because this is my first official law school visit (and my first chance to wear the new suit). I'll be having lunch with the attorney for the Health Department (My aunt is the director--that comes in handy), and hopefully I'll be able to pick his brain a little. All in all, it promises to be a great trip. When we're not law school schmoozing, we'll be taking winery tours and generally exploring Lexington. It'll be a nice little break from Opelika. The only downside so far is that I'll be missing the UGA game. Athens is a really great place to visit, and I've never been there on a gameday before. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Speaking of gamedays, I'll have to do a scrapbook post of LSU-trip pictures. They're on facebook, but who cares? It was a great trip, if you don't count the 8 hours we were actually in Baton Rouge. All of the photos are kind of rough because I took them with my iPhone, but they're the only record we actually have of the trip. More on that adventure to come. Trust me, it's a great story.

I'm sure you've heard by now, but our wonderful elected officials in the House passed their version of the health care monstrosity Saturday night. 1900 some odd pages their bill was. And they debated it for less than a day. Congratulations, Speaker Pelosi. You really achieved something. You got one Republican to vote for your hard-fought public option so now you can call it bipartisan. This is really more of an annoyance to me than anything, though. Having to see Pelosi's smug smile and hearing her gloat is the worst of it. The bill should have a much tougher time in the Senate, particularly with Lieberman agreeing to filibuster with the Republicans if the Senate bill includes a public option. If we can keep Snowe and Collins on the correct side of this argument and if Lieberman keeps his word, at the very least, the GOP may be able to pull off the filibuster and kill the thing for now. Unfortunately, herding conservatives is a lot like herding cats. We'll see.

Oddly enough, I've been watching a lot of South Park lately. Sure they're crass and vulgar and sometimes just downright obscene, but honestly, it's probably the best social satire out there right now. Right about the time SNL nosedove into sub-mediocrity (also known as sucking), it seems like South Park was there to step in and take the helm. Margaritaville did a better job of explaining the economic collapse than most news outlets. Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow depicts the "Climate Change" (or whatever they're going to call it next week) crowd perfectly. So maybe some of them aren't sharp, hard-hitting, witty social commentary (admittedly, I skip over quite a few episodes when I go visit SPS), but compared to everything else out there, South Park seems to be running the table at the moment.

So what is there to make of this random, disjointed post? Probably not very much, to be quite honest with you. Part of the reason I never update this thing is that I'm afraid that I won't have anything to say. This post was no exception. But nevertheless, I'll solider on. Tomorrow will be quite a long day with the traveling and whatnot. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures for a post about UK. Again, no promises, but I'll try.