something i've been thinking about lately...

How far did Jesus Christ go to make peace? To the death! He did not allow the hostility of the world against Him to justify hostility against those who were mistreating Him.
  --from the Berean Daily Verse and Comment (something i signed up for at bible study tools)

5 hrs ago, my summer finally started. it will last 38 days. i think it's finally time i enjoyed myself.

i've been in school the last 17 yrs. in 10 months, i'll be a graduate...for the last time. unbelievable.

"i don't even butter my bread. i consider that cooking."
  --katherine cebrian

cassie: i'm eating a fried egg sandwhich while talking to you
me: nice
cassie: prolly not too good of an idea
me: :)
cassie: but oh well
me: just don't crumb too much on the laptop...
cassie: toby is pretty resilent
me: that's all i ask :)
me: good deal
cassie: i was more worried about the yolk
me: i feel a bit better now :)
cassie: lol
me: hm...a fried egg...that sounds really good
me: and easy to make :)
cassie: LOL
cassie: yeah whatever
cassie: not on these stoves
cassie: they aren't level
cassie: and they don't heat evenly
cassie: and all kinds of junk
cassie: my first egg fell apart and the yolk went everywhere
cassie: my second one i tried to turn over and burst the yolk
me: but i don't wanna eat too close to hank...i haven't crumbed much on his keyboard and don't want to find out how *un*resistant he might be to crumbs
me: wow...maybe i shouldn't be so confident
me: maybe i'll make scrambled eggs then :)
cassie: although my third one, man that was a good egg
cassie:lol
cassie: i just about did that
me: then the whole idea is to pop the yoke!
cassie: exactly
me: but /i/ will intend to do it
me: LOL
cassie: lol
cassie: oh ok
me: see, i can cook
me: or something...
cassie: :-)
me: i think this conversation would make a good blog entry
cassie: :-)
me: maybe then someone would feel sorry for me and feed me :)
cassie: yeah it'd be good for a laugh
me: wha ha ha ha
cassie: or free food :-)
me: o, i'd pay for someone to cook for me!
me: in a heartbeat
me: well, not that one apparantly :)
me: or this one
me: or this one
cassie: LOL
me: yeah, you get the idea...but i /would/
cassie: Tzipi [another one of my nicknames - the hebrew form of zippy] you make me smile oh so very much
me: success!!!
me: h00t! :)
.......
cassie: [aluding to a possible dinner date...]
me: um...here's a hint
cassie: yes?
me: DON'T MAKE HIM FRIED EGGS
cassie: LOL
cassie: :-P
me: it sounds easy, but i've heard it's very difficult
cassie: but then he'd realize how imperative that he always cooks :-)
me: good pt

"nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else."
  --james m. barrie

the last few days have been consumed with nothing but work and homework (even on friday night :-\ ):

thurs: worked 8.00-5.30, went to campus to take an online test (so i didn't have to rely on flakey dial-up), worked on my paper

friday: worked 6.30-6.00, worked on my paper while eating a bit, went into work to reboot the file server at 8.45, come back to continue my paper at 9.30, went to bed at 10.30

today: worked 6.00-9.30, came home and have been working on my paper ever since and will be until i give up for the night

sooner or later, i will realize that procrastination is no good, but the likely-hood of putting that realization into practice is slim-to-none. anyways...i was cleaning the apt a bit during a break from the paper and came across a few quotes by brianna from our recent drive from nebraska to longview:

~i could cut your sarcasm with a knife...have one handy?

~i went downstairs and those guys were playing with my barbies! (the guys were her brother and a few of my other classmates, this occurred while they were in junior high)

aaaaanyways...back to the paper...

i started listening to five for fighting this week on the way to work.  i'm definitely falling in love with their sound and lyrics......
 
Hey Kid... Your time has come to change
Though I need you more than I've needed anyone in any way tonight
Hey Kid... I know it won't be long
The Captain's calling...come to see you back where we belong

Something inside me is breaking
Something inside says there's somewhere better than this...

Sunset sailing on April skies
Bloodshot fire clouds in her eyes
I can't say what I might believe
But if God made you he's in love with me

Hey Kid...Do wishes count at all
Can you give me a sign...give me anything I won't tell a soul you told
Hey Kid...Will you hold me when I sleep
Will you find me when the tide decides that I got to leave

Something inside me is breaking
Something inside says there's somewhere better than this...

  --five for fighting, if God made you

on my credit card receipt from fazoli's on sunday night: "***DECLINED: No Dial Tone"

silly technology. unfortunately (actually i guess it was a good thing) it worked perfectly the 2nd time the guy tried it...

we've had ants here and there ever since we moved into this apartment in december. mostly they've just been in the bathroom and the bedrooms...until this summer. the exterminator has been here a few times, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. we'll leave crumbs all over the kitchen and no ants will show up, but they're all over my bedroom...does that make any logical sense to anyone?

i suppose it was inevitable...now they're all over the kitchen. on friday we threw out most of the food in the pantry. even unopened food - they had chewed through sealed poptart and cereal packages. so all i have left from the pantry is soup and powdered gatorade. we decided that we'll start keeping the pantry food in the fridge since we have plenty of space there. it's definitley an interesting sight to see a box of cereal in the refridgerator! :)

what a drug caffine is!! if only i wanted to stay awake... i'm going to be wasted (not literally - don't worry) in church tomorrow and while trying to do a bunch of hw. grrrrr.

my stupid body won't even let me sleep in anymore. i thought if i stayed up relatively late last night, i could sleep in, but nooooooooooooooo... so i thought i would write a (really) short blurb here.

check out brianna's version of our adventure on tuesday.

the only thing i wouldn't agree with is that we're both hics. just because i grew up on a farm and she has corn 10 feet from her house, does not make us hics. :)

work was wonderful this week!! the plant is in the middle of a 2-week shutdown, so it has definitely been quieter. most of the workers have the time off or take vacation (because these 2 weeks aren't paid). many of them had the option of helping with the plant-wide inventory, so probably about 75 of the ~800 plant workers are doing that. the maintenance department and IT have a bunch of projects to work on that can only be completed during this "break." it's been a wonderful change of pace. for one, i'm not constantly interrupted by pleas for help with pc issues. and for two, i'm working on alot of projects that can't be worked on while the plant is in production. one afternoon my boss and i replaced a 144-port switch and cleaned up its cabinet. i've learned to take pride in a well-kept wiring cabinet (so has my boss, as his photos suggest). also this week, i helped a dell technician replace the motherboards in two of our dell servers. it always amazes me how compact everything is in those boxes - the sticks of ram lay at a ~30-degree angle and the rows of little processor and hard-drive fans line the front of the case. everytime we open one up, i'm also astounded by the cumulation of fine weld dust. this stuff is everywhere! the server room (where my desk is) is really secluded from the plant floor, but even there the dust is everywhere. someone in the office area downstairs mentioned that one evening she left a syrofoam cup on her desk and the next morning there was a layer of dust on it. i don't want to think about what our lungs look like...

speaking of the air in the plant...i've spent a fair amount of time on the plant floor this week and have been amazed at how clean it is. building frames is a messy business - oils on the steel, weld fumes filling the air, slag scattered on the floor, metal shavings everywhere. but this week, the air is clean and i barely need my earplugs (which are required while on the floor). i don't exactly miss the mess in the plant...kinda like how campus is really earie in summer - it's nice having a break from the craziness of having people everywhere, but i don't mind it when they all come rushing back in august.

< / bunny trail >

back to my projects...i was also put in charge of rebuilding the terminal server, which keeps track of the data received from our time clocks. sometime in the last few months the keyboard and monitor drivers became corrupted. we could reach it using remote desktop, but sometimes it's alot easier to work at the server locally. so on wednesday, i backed up its data, recorded the ip address, etc, and reinstalled win 2k advanced server. i don't think i've rebuilt a server since my novell and win nt 4.0 days before i came to letourneau...i must say that microsoft has come a long way. :) after a few configuration changes, i called up the guy who installs the terminal software (which allows coordinators to log into the system to approve their employees' time, record vacation requests, etc). he completed this after a few hours. on thursday morning, i called the guy who installs the actual time & attendance software. as luck would have it, one of the companies he supports had lightning mess up a bunch of equipment, so he spent most of the day frantically working on that. this morning the 3 of us had a conference call to install this software and work out the kinks in the system that always seem to pop up. the call lasted 2.5 hrs...i don't ever want to spend that long on the phone again.

after a 14.5 trip that normally takes 11.5-12...

i want to thank...
~brianna, for keeping me sane
~phillip, a 20-yr-old black man with a beautiful, pimped out truck
~credit cards
~early mornings - though they stink, it allowed us to get to the mechanic before it closed at 6.00
~chevrons with attached mcdonalds (we needed ice cream after our 2.5 hr adventure)

i do not want to thank...
~the scarey mechanic man without a voicebox
~walmart "mechanics"
~cell phones - even though our 2 phones had full reception, we couldn't get anyone on the other end
~the narrow shoulder on I-35E, north of dallas


hopefully i'll have the energy to type out the story of our adventure tomorrow night...no promises though