So, About That Boring Thing (Director's Cut)

So, I've been learning life lessons all over the place. Let me begin by saying the weather here is amazing. Sunny, light breeze, upper 70s. Just for the Utah folks out there. Enjoy that cold, gray ick! Anyway, yesterday I locked myself out, plunged into an unheated outdoor pool, and climbed through a window (not in that order). It was quite a thrilling afternoon. Though I don't recommend swimming in an unheated outdoor pool in mid-October. Not at all.

Sorry, what I was trying to get to in the post and forgot about half-way through and then remembered a day later, was that you can't complain about the ordinary and boring and then not take the road less traveled (Cliche of the day! Do a shot.) when you stumble across it. And that is how you wind up swimming in 60-something degree pools or breaking into your own house while swimsuitted or living in Taiwan for a year. If it's all about the journey, then shouldn't it be reasonably interesting and unique?

So, About That Boring Thing....

So, I've been learning life lessons all over the place. Let me begin by saying the weather here is amazing. Sunny, light breeze, upper 70s. Just for the Utah folks out there. Enjoy that cold, gray ick! Anyway, yesterday I locked myself out, plunged into an unheated outdoor pool, and climbed through a window (not in that order). It was quite a thrilling afternoon. Though I don't recommend swimming in an unheated outdoor pool in mid-October. Not at all.

-Jennifer

Just An Ordinary Day

I've been hearing--from little birdies and the wind and the street--that I don't update our blog enough. It's probably true. The problem is I have nothing to say. We live the most ordinary lives. Paul gets up at six, goes to work, and comes home between 5:30 and 6:00 pm. Today we had pizza for dinner, even though I had thawed the chicken out for once, because that's what Paul wanted. I got up at 8:45, did homework until eleven, then got ready and did a little housework, continually put off going to a Japanese meeting and went to school. After school, I came home and kicked it waiting for Paul to get home so we could go swimming. But he was a little later than I expected, so that never happened. See how boring that is?!! I can't even bring myself to finish describing the day. I've got to mix things up a bit by shaving Paul's head or getting a cat or I don't know. I'm a square. If I could think of something excited to do**, I'd be doing it. Sigh.

**Suggestions welcome.

I'm a Grandma

I'm a grandma. Or at least that's what Paul says. He asked me what I wanted to do tonight (Friday night) and I told him I wanted to go to bed early. (Because I'd been staying up until 12:30 doing homework for most of the week.) That's only one facet of my granny-ness though. Apparently, I also am drawn to dressing like one. On occasion, Paul has had to intervene to keep the granny at bay. He could run down the rest of the list, but it's 10:30 pm and I need to go to bed. Though if I was a real grandma, I would have been in bed by 9:30 pm!

Chrome-Plated Birthday

Paul celebrated his 27th birthday on Monday. He was showered in Chinese food, DVDs, attention, and chocolates befitting a birthday boy. Arriving about the same time was his massive new computer. I like to call it "The Beast." It's like two feet long and dramatically shaped for maximum awesomeness (or so I've heard). Apparently, everything about it is maximally awesome. I'll try to post a picture of it--along with the nicely finished and decorated room it's in--someday soon. I actually have lots of pictures to post; I just need to get around to uploading them.

In completely unrelated news, I've been using Chrome (Google's new browser) and it is fabulous. I love it to death. The only problem, well the only two problems, are that is so new that some sites don't support it (like Netflix's video player, which of course claims to only support Explorer anyway) and I can't get Paul to use it. So I can't entirely stop using Explorer (because streaming free video is, you know... free) and whenever Paul uses my laptop, I always have to close Explorer and open Chrome. It's a minor nuisance at worst, but I find his refusal slightly puzzling. I like to claim he's stuck in the past, just to tease him. That's what happens when you're 27, you know. You turn into a geezer and everything becomes automatically better back in the day.

I Go to A New-Age Feelgoodery!

It's true, it's true. I go to a new-age feelgoodery. I am constantly being bombarded with e-mails about sustainability and going green. Ironically, the university even published and distributed (free of charge, of course) a pamphlet on how to save the earth. Most of it was pretty standard (wash full loads, turn up or down the thermostat depending on the season), but they lost me after exhorting me to consider the environmental impact of my cosmetics and to always unplug appliances not in use. (This led Paul to quip, "Your blush is killing elephants in Africa every day. Every day!") I'm sorry, but I am quite sure that the environmental impact of my cosmetics is completely negliable in both the big and small picture. I also refuse to unplug anything. If turning it off or, in the case of the microwave, using a just tiny fraction of electricity isn't enough of a reduction, then there's no reasoning with you. Sometimes I want to point out that people will always consume a certain amount of energy; at some point you can no longer reduce usage without forgoing certain modern conveniences. Personally, I'm not going back to washboard and tub or an ice chest.

Joining the Ranks of the Gainfully Employed

Paul's job search finally paid off. He was formally hired today to do quality control for a local nutriceutical company. ("Nutriceutical" is a made up word that refers to vitamins and those wacky suppliments they sell at health food stores.) It's a bit of a drive (20 mins), but he can get there by bus.

I'm doing better settling into my routine and getting used to life here. It's a different place, but not necessarily a bad one. I've found a place with a worse newspaper than the Daily Universe. "66 Percent of Working during College" might be the best headline I've ever read. It's weird to see the letters to the editor about how the university president is a total sell-out and the joys of binge drinking and atheism instead of the usual outrageous complaints about allegedly offensive media and immodest backpacks.