Eggs on Parade

Well everybody, today is the fall equinox. Actually, I guess it's the day before the fall equinox. But - as I assume I will be busy tomorrow, I took this opportunity to try the age-old myth of balancing eggs on my counter.

In 2001, when mom and dad were on their cruise with grandma and Mollie, Kyle and I were at home with our house-sitter Spencer Carini, we balanced what I remember to be like 2 dozen eggs on the counter. Now, that may be an exaggeration - it was the first time we had ever heard of doing it, and we were a little excited that we got it to work. Anyways, pretty much nobody believed us when we told them, and if I remember right, Kyle was the only one with a working camera, and I have yet to see those pictures. SO. Since then, I have forgotten when the equinox was, or didn't have any eggs, or didn't have the patience to try it in an apartment full of 5 other girls. But now that I'm in my own apartment, I only have one other person to yell at for walking too heavily. So we got out the eggs, and started balancing. Start to finish, it probably took me 30-45 minutes to get all 10 standing up. One egg took me about 10 seconds. I guess it just really wanted to show off.

Now, my astronomy teacher will tell you that this has nothing to do with the Equinox, but clearly he is wrong. So wrong.

So. Here are some pictures. The spatulas are there to keep them from rolling onto the floor if they should fall over.

Eggs 1 & 2.



Eggs 3 & 4


Eggs 5 & 6


Eggs 7 & 8


Eggs 9 & 10




And a video.


And with that, we start another long week of school. Happy Equinox!

YOOR a nus

It has been a long week!
I am taking 19 credits this semester, including two online classes - Astronomy Lab and Doctrine & Covenants. My other classes are:

Woodwind Methods: I learn how to play each of the woodwind instruments. Right now I am learning the
bassoon.

Music Literature: a more in-depth look at music history I learned in Music 100.

Scoring and Arranging: I learn about arranging music for orchestra and band instruments. I will eventually arrange music for small ensembles, as well as full orchestra. Please note: I do not write the music, I only arrange somebody else's work to be played by the different groups.

Astronomy: I learn about the stars, moon and everything else I thought I knew more about. I liked it better when I could look at the sky, and not understanding anything about astronomy say "ooh pretty!" and be done. Now I look at the sky, and not understanding much about astronomy say "I don't know what the heck I'm looking at/looking for. ... oooh pretty!" It is very interesting stuff though, and I like it. I'm just saying, I'd like it more if I understood it better.

Exceptional Students: I learn how to deal with disabled students in my classroom. I also learn the various state laws (which will be useless when I move out of Idaho - but hopefully some carry over) relating to the education of special education students.

Clarinet Lessons: I learn how to play the clarinet and perform a jury at the end of the semester during which a third of my final grade rests on a single performance. Boo.

In addition, I am in 4 ensembles:
Symphony Band (previously known as Wind Ensemble - this is the group that went on tour in April): I play first chair clarinet.

Symphony Orchestra: I play second chair Bb clarinet as well as the Eb clarinet and A clarinet. This ensemble performs the "Halloween Concert" every year, all 6 performances of it.

Sinfonietta (Chamber Orchestra): I play first chair clarinet on one piece, out of their four piece program.

Chamber Winds: I play clarinet in a quintet consisting of French horn, Oboe, Bassoon and Flute. (Well, and me)
Today was my first day in this class (they meet only on Fridays) and I'm hoping to switch with someone so I don't have to be in it.

This means I am usually at school from 7:30 am to about 5:00pm. On average. This includes 2 hours of practicing a day.

Anyways, my point is, I am GLAD it's the weekend!

Plus, I wanted to tell you an unfortunate story about my Astronomy class. We were divided into six different groups, and were told we were going to be doing a project, including a 25 minute presentation on a planet towards the end of the semester. We were supposed to write on a piece of paper what our first three choices were, and we may or may not get one of them. Apparently everyone, like us, chose Saturn and Jupiter as their first two. Today we were told the results of his randomly assigning our groups. My group, being as lucky as we are, was one of the ones that didn't get any of the planets it wanted. Drum roll please ....... Uranus. The ONE planet that NOBODY wants and WE get it. Now we have to do a 25 minute presentation trying to make sure we pronounce the name right so as not to offend anyone. You can pronounce it that way all you want but everyone still knows the pronunciation you are avoiding. Ugh. I suggested that we just call it planet "U".

' "U" is the seventh planet from the sun, and the third largest in diameter.'

... I like it.

Ode to the Great Erase

Today Chad and I went to the library to find some orchestral scores for a project for one of my classes. I took my favorite pencil in my purse, and we searched through shelf after shelf of books. We stopped at the computer to do a database search and wrote down some call numbers. We finally found what we were looking for, and headed home, after about an hour at the library.

About 2 minutes ago, I was packing up my backpack for school tomorrow - and headed for my purse to retrieve my favorite pencil from it's careful carrying place. But alas - after frantic searching, it was discovered that my favorite Bic #2 Great Erase pencil was nowhere to be found. It's probably sitting all alone, scared, and cold, shivering in the 2nd floor of the library. Or even worse! Somebody kidnapped the poor thing. And they will never take care of it as well as I did.

Now, I know it's "just a pencil" - but it's the best pencil I've ever used - and I've had it for years! It erases like magic! No smudges!! I believe it came out of a bulk pack mom bought at Sam's Club when we were in high school. Simple black color, extendable eraser. Perfection in a number 2.

And after some internet searching, I have found out that Bic no longer makes the beloved Great Erase. It is a sad day for all of us. And every time I pic up another pencil, I will be reminded of that great writing utensil that got me through so many months and classes of school. And I will mourn.

Lock your doors!

Hide your children!

Today is the first day BYU-I students are allowed to move in to their complexes. Our quiet little Rexburg has been invaded. There are people all over the place unloading trucks and carrying boxes. Let me just say, I'm glad I'm not one of them. Remembering what it was like at Wal-Mart the last two years on move-in day, we have made a conscious effort to avoid it.

Last year on this day, Erin and Bryce had followed me (in the Subaru) up to school the night before. We stopped at my Aunt Karen's house and packed up the Subaru with all my school junk that she so graciously let me store at her house over the summer. We drove to Rexburg and stayed the night at the Super 8 and then I was up EARLY to check in to La Jolla only because I needed to be sure to get a parking permit or else having the Subaru would be kind of an inconvenience. I got a parking permit and moved some stuff in. When Erin & Bryce got up, I showed them around campus and then they left to go to Craters of the Moon and make their way home. I returned to my La Jolla apartment and started unpacking stuff, bringing it in from the car one box at a time. About noon, I get a call from one Chad Busath, asking me if I wanted to go to Island Park with him to get the rest of his stuff from the place he worked at over the summer. I remember thinking that was random, but being already bored of unpacking, I went with. This was the first time I spent any significant amount of time with Chad's family. It is during this visit that Chad's dad decided he liked me, and kept asking Chad what was going on between us, at which point we were just friends. Good thing Chad's dad talked some sense into him! ;o)

Anyways, in other news, Chad and I had a successful weekend in CA. We drove down on Friday, getting into Elk Grove at about 8:30pm.
The next day we prepared for and
had our reception from 6-8pm. Sunday we got up and packed the van and drove to Provo where we stayed the night in Erin & Bryce's empty house. Monday we hung around with Mollie and Kyle until Erin & Bryce got home. We left shortly thereafter to make the trip back to Rexburg, leaving Provo a little bit after 6. The past few days since then have been filled with trying to organize our apartment to include the new gifts we got in CA. I have never in my life gotten so many gifts for one occasion. ... We feel kind of spoiled. If any of my readers were included in said gift-giving, we thank you for being so generous.















































The above pictures are from the CA reception. Chad's parents hosted it in their backyard. It was a little breezy at first, but it calmed down into a nice, comfortable evening. Chad and I greeted guests for the most part. They were pretty evenly spaced so we kept busy. Everything was very nice.

Below is a picture of the vacuum we've been waiting for - this will be helpful as you finish reading my post.





So, having a new vacuum, we were excited to finally be able to clean the floor in our apartment. If we don't wear shoes, our feet are literally black within a few hours of walking around on the carpet. We're pretty sure it has never been professionally cleaned and we doubt it was even vacuumed before we moved in. Today I vacuumed. And if you saw the pictures, you know that the square footage of carpet available for vacuuming can't be more than about... 50. And this is what the vacuum collected in that much space.
It was pretty gross. No wonder our feet were black.

Anyways, we also got the mirror put up. I feel much better now that the mirror has made it's way safely from Grandma's wall to ours. Now, in Grandma's house, this mirror always looked nicely matched for the wall it hung on - and it looked moderately sized above the upright piano. But in our tiny little apartment, we found that this mirror is actually HUGE.

We really underestimated its size, having not measured it before we brought it up here. The wall that it hangs on is really the only wall big enough for it. But it makes our bedroom look a lot bigger. And I know that's one of those Trading Spaces cliches, but it really does! And with about 300 sq. ft., we could use all the visual tricks we can find to make this place feel bigger. It's pretty nice, actually. We're happy.

Random endnote:

This picture is from our CT reception, but it's off of Chad's mom's camera so I don't think anyone else has this one, and I like it. Except Sawyer doesn't look too enthused.