car problems?

it happens every time, doesnt it? my car has been acting up again, so i figured i should bring it in. today i get a call from the car place and they say 'i dont know what your talking about, it seems fine to us.' arg. why is it that things only go wrong when no one else is watching? i was having some issues with my power stearing and my heater, but of course it was just fine and dandy when they looked at it.
i guess i shouldnt be mad, after all, its better than if it were majorly broken and it costed a ton of money. at least i feel safe for my road trip on thursday.

just a quick heads up

ive recently added another page to the 'poke it with a stick' family. its a place for me to collect odd thoughts, questions, or jokes i like. pretty random stuff really. its right over there -----> along with my other pages under the 'poke it with a stick contents' section. check it out!

spring break!

ah, i love this feeling! its spring break and i get a week off of work! remeber that feeling of sheer joy you always felt when you were in middle school and it was time for spring break? well, i get to have that feeling every year for the rest of my life! this rocks! how do i plan on spending my break? wasting it!!! actually, im going home to michigan this weekend to see family and friends, and then to minneapolis for the second weekend to see robb and tracey and some other old college friends. its going to be a great week, i just know it!

the new kid

today in 7th grade we got a new student. its strange that we would get a new student this time of year as we just finished our third quarter. but on the other hand its really cool. the new student is actually from south korea, which i am really excited about!
back when i lived in salt lake city my school had quite a few students from korea. i really enjoyed these students, they always had a unique perspective to add, and they often had the craziest sense of humor! one of the guys, Juno, could crack me up so hard! (man, i really loved that kid!)
i have an interest in korea in the first place, so i was always curious about what life was like over there. i actually got juno to teach me the korean alphabet and the sounds each of the characters make. its surprisingly easy, much easier than english. i think i still have those sheets somewhere in my house. i should try and find them, maybe brush up on my korean and surprise the new student with some korean!

a new world record

this morning i was quite excited when i woke up. ok, maybe excited is the wrong word. how about pissed. yeh, that sounds better.
i have been having quite a few issues with my heater for a while. ive written about it before, but this morning i achieved a new record: my place was at a whopping 49 degrees last night! that beats the old record by a good two degrees! congratulations to me! (hopefully you note the bitter sarcasm...)
i should get it looked at, but this late in the season, i keep thinking that maybe it will just warm up and it wont be a problem till next year. i dont know, but i am sick of freezing to death every morning while i get ready for work.

the countdown begins...

im quite excited for this week to end. not because i have any sort of beef with this week or anything. its not like if i saw this week walking by i yell over to it 'yah, you better keep walking, or else ima gunna kill you!' you know, i dont wish ill will on this week's mama or anything, but...
next week is spring break!!!

happy st. patricks day

i dont usually give much thought to st patricks day, but this year i am feeling strong emotions about it. the strong emotion im feeling: jelousy. my brother, who lives in europe, took the second half of the week off and is currently in dublin ireland. can you even imagine the kind of craziness going on over there today? i look forward to talking to him later and hearing all his stories. well, the ones he remembers anyway...

checking the inbox

do you ever look back at old emails? today i caught myself doing just that. sometimes its kind of fun to look back at what i was writing to friends about at different times. ive got alot of emails from my brother and from aaron the last few months leading up to our trip to europe, a few 'wow, havent talked to you in a while!' emails from old friends, and a whole lot of filler! its kind of cool to look back. i have a rather old email address, so my emails actually go all the way back to march 1999! its kind of wierd to read some of the stuff i wrote and received back when i was a sophmore in college.
anyway, just feeling a little nastolgic, and felt like sharing...

bad timing

last night i was returning a friends call at just the wrong time. she had called earlier and left a message to call back. about an hour after the message, i did. perhaps i should have waited one more minute...
so i dial, she picks up. 'hey, how are you?' i say. her response: 'um, can i call you back? i just rear ended somebody...' yikes! i hang up and eagerly await her return call. all this time i am fully expecting the worst- i figured that she totalled the front of her car and is going to have to spend a ton of money fixing the car and would get a huge ticket as well. in my mind i imagined that she heard her phone ring and looked down to pick it up to answer my call, and just then the car in front of her slammed on the breaks. all this trouble because i called at just the wrong time! oh the guilt!!!

but then she eventually called back and it turned out to be just a little ding, no dent, no paint, no smudge, no cops; just a plastic bumper tapping another plastic bumper. i was relieved! ...but what i imagined sure would have made a better story.

what does it all mean?!?

on saturday a couple friends spent about 15 minutes discussing and arguing over the exact definition of 'berth'. rex thought it meant like 'a job' or something. jeff thought it was an area in space, specifically relating to a ship. i didnt have an opinion, i was just amazed at the fact that those two could keep talking about it for as lon as they did.
i decided i should check it out at websters online. well, guys, here it is:
Main Entry: berth
Function: noun
Etymology: probably from 2bear + -th
1 a : sufficient distance for maneuvering a ship
b : safe distance -- used especially with wide
2 a : the place where a ship lies when at anchor or at a wharf
b : a space for an automotive vehicle at rest
3 : a place to sit or sleep especially on a ship or vehicle : accomodation
4 a : a billet on a ship b : a job, possition, place

as it turns out, they are both right. go figure...

oscars!!!

the time has come once again! oh, i really do love the oscars. its my version of the super bowl. ever since i was young i have always looked forward to the oscars. it was the one night that my parents would let me stay up super late and watch till the very end (which in michigan's time zone is around 1:30 am!).
im really excited about them this year too, even though i have no reason to be. i havent actually seen a single movie thats nominated for the major awards. but hey, that doesnt matter, i can still have an opinion! i dont really have any real passion about who wins because i have not seen a single one of them, but i would be happy if anything from 'walk the line' won because johnny cash rules!
ps. dont try to call me sunday night, it will distract me from the show, and make me angry...