Adopting in Ashburn

Today I got a late start. Then I sat in the DMV/MAV for ages. However, I did get my license - thank goodness. I came home and did a little laundry, had leftovers, and read the paper. Tonight's class was incredibly good. It was exactly what I had been hoping for, really. It is all about conducting research surveys and polling ... I can't wait. We are going to learn by actually administering some questionnaires and surveys ... this is so exciting. I am a little bummed that my "tailgate" shindig for tomorrow isn't going to happen, but I will still be cheering like crazy for my Gamecocks and hopefully the other alums I know in the area won't all be busy for one of the next games. (If you still can make it though, leave me a comment and I'll get you directions!) For this evening I am off to read a little more of one of the ever growing stack of textbooks in my room (I bought 4 more today to add to the 6 on my desk). I also checked out the syllabus fo...

Classes started today. Of course, after all my hype, they were in the end just classes. Nothing overwhelmingly interesting. Opening day kind of stuff. I am a little afraid the first professor things I am unfocused or not entirely devoted to my communication degree (I will relay this story if next class reveals more proof). But, he is pretty cool nonetheless and I think I may just enjoy taking a writing class with him. He is an awful lot like Professor Bockman, but less animated and pretty strict on the "no food or drink in the lab" rule. My classmates so far are very cool. I got a chance to know Erin today and am doing a mini-biography on Aman for my first assignment. Speaking of assignments, reading liberal arts literature is kind of like reading The Scarlet Letter ; awful. (What punctuation mark is supposed to go before awful? I am sure that is wrong.) I had to read two articles on "research" and "experiments." I have never seen anything so s...

It is like acronym heaven, all these state and local and federal government buildings in and around DC. What I was looking for was a place to get a new driver's license. Though mine is still "valid," it is from an address I have not officially lived at since 2004. Now, because I was in and out of the country and uncertain of my states-manship I did not renew. Now I have a permanent and temporary address combined in one. Super! The DMV is called the MAV in Maryland. I can come up with no reason to do this but to confuse people. However, my determination was much stronger than their tactics ... I prevailed and discovered, in my fist internet try, the name. The location was slightly more difficult, because there are only two places (of eight) in a forty mile radius that can actually give me an exchange license (meaning no new test, etc). So I drive to Gaithersburg, about 20 minutes from here. Besides discovering that 270N has an exit 10 and 270S does NOT, the trip ...

Blackboard was, unintentionally, the bane of my existence as an undergrad - particularly in regard to French classes. All the assignments were online and if the internet went out or my computer was screwy, I was dead meat. Blackboard has resurfaced in my life, and I am actually feeling rather pleased about it. At orientation yesterday they entioned that Blackboard was a system highly favored by AU professors. So this morning I checked it out. I got to read the syllabus for one of my courses and will even be able to do the appropriate reading before classes begin. Yes, this is graduate school, I have homework and I don't start class for three days. But this really made me feel good. One, because I will now be prepared, and two because after spending a year on another continent, I am significantly more at ease with using the internet as my means of communication. For the class that already had its documents posted, I was able to discern that I have exactly four assignments due...

Orientation did everything it was supposed to do. It introduced me to my program, the faculty, aspects of the school, and some fellow students. I got to fill out paperwork, see some of the facilities, listen to speakers, and take notes on a few things I should really be doing before school starts. It did all of this, but that isn't what made it great. Orientation absolutely, positively, rocked my socks! After the mixer at the Press Club, I was nervous that the program was going to be all public relations (exactly what I did NOT want to study), that I was incompetent because I was only going to be working 10-15 hours a week in addition to taking 12 hours of graduate level courses (which is 3 more hours than full time), and that there was the distinct possibility I was one of the least experienced people around. However, when I heard about all the exciting lectures, outside projects, the alumni mentoring program, and available resources; the only thing I could think was: "I...

Here is a figurative language based email I got from my father today: Analogies and Metaphors Every year, English teachers from across the country can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year's winners..... 1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master. 2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free. 3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. 4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room...

I am sitting here contemplating the value of $12. I know that seems silly, but I am wondering if it is worth the aggravation that may ensue if the books I am considering ordering online don't arrive in time for class next week. Now I only have one class a week of each course I am taking, but figuring that, and about 16 weeks in the semester, I have the feeling I'll probably be doing reading from the first night. That being said, the people in the bookstore were pretty snotty today. I know I was rude in return (shouldn't do that) but I seriously started sweetly enough. I HATE lying. This is just about the worst thing you can do to me. I take it as a personal afront that you think I am either too weak or too stupid to handle the truth. Let's clear that up: I'm neither. I am neither over-confident nor idiotic, so please treat me like the adult I am and tell me that you will not give me the ISBN codes because you don't want me to be able to go and get the bo...