Thunder in January

Last night, Alex and I went to a Wichita Thunder Hockey game. Initally we got our tickets for free from our real estate lady but decided to upgrade our tickets for a mere $5. It was SO worth it. Did I mention that it was our first professional hockey experience ever?

There were over 4,000 people at the game, most of which were packed into the upper balcony (i.e. the free seats). The Thunder played against the Laredo, Texas Bucks and totally kicked their butts! Our seats were only 5 rows behind the goal so we got to see tons of action. Of course, there were fights- 2 almost fights and one big one that happened right in front of us. Both the Thunder and the Laredos had to sit in the penalty box for the last 2 minutes of the game for that one. Some of the coolest moments were when the refs actually leaped over the puck to keep the puck in play and when some of the locals decided to show off their colorful art of the spoken language. A "lady" (and I use that term lightly) named Cindy constantly reminded the Laredo goally name Jung that he indeed "SUCKED" the entire game, which he did to our benefit. And how could I forget! We even got to witness a "Hat trick". So you haven't got a clue as to what that is? No problem. Neither did I. It's when the same player makes 3 points in one game. It rarely happens unless you're Wayne Gretsky. In honor of the players accomplishment, fans throw their hats onto the ice as a sign of respect. I'm not sure what they do with the hats afterwards, but it was neat to see. In the end we won 6-3.

School is back in session once again. The break didn't seem nearly as long as I wanted it to be. As always, the first week of class is always the easiest. For the most part the classes are shorter and most of the time you discuss the next 16 weeks of homework assignments. I'm excited that the overall work load this semester doesn't seem to be as heavy as in the past and what makes me the most excited is that there is very little busy work. I hate busy work.

The down side is that I have a 30 page research paper due at the end of the semester on ANY historical topic that I chose. It could be a theme, and event, a time period, a person. So far I'm leaning toward the history of Migrant Workers focusing mainly on the Bracero Movement. My second choice is the inner workings of households in the 1870s. And my third choice is Advertising in the 1940s (pre WW2). I have to have at least 5 primary sources and at least 10 secondary sources. In the end I'll have double that. As overwhelming as it seems at this point, I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm always up for some great ideas as to what to write about. What historical topic would you chose?

Happy New Year!

2011.

That can't be right, can it? It must be a typo.

So since the last time I wrote, I have finished up another semester of school. Here are my final grades:

     EDUC 3003 (Special Ed):                                        A

     EDUC 3152 (Middles School Methods):               A

     PSN 1003 (American Government):                      A

     SOC 3073 (Criminology):                                        B

     HIST 4781 (Portfolio Review):                               A

I made the Dean's List again. I was invited to join another Leadership Honor Society but I declined because of the fee's involved. I'm set to graduate December 2011 which means I have only 2 more semesters to go.

I finished re-transcribing one of my journals for the second time. The dog nibbled on one of the corners and my OCD refuses to allow me to have a tarnished journal sitting on the shelf so I engaged in the tedious task of re-writing each entry word for word for most of the parts a third time. After that, I started to transfer the daily notes  I wrote myself from a day planner way back in 1998. That was painful. My spelling was atrocious and my thought process was in desperate need of a dose of maturity.

I also finished reading two more books: Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen. Strange fantasy-like books about a courtesan who has an incredibly high tolerance for pain and is also a spy. I like them enough to read the third book but not enough to recommend to just anybody. 

I also turned the first year (2008) of this blog into a scrapbook. I finished that project up a few days ago. In the end, 2008 filled 26 pages front and back. I added a sidebar of random facts about us, other pictures, and favorite scriptures. I'm thinking of doing the same for 2009 but this time I will work in chronological order instead of backwards from December to May, or seasonally. I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out.

Christmas was very quiet for us this year. It was the first year that we spent all by ourselves. We did something a tad different for presents. I bought my own presents, Alex bought his own presents, and then we wrapped them up and traded to see what we "bought" for each other. Apparently this year, I felt Alex needed a new belt, a new pair of jeans, and 2 more DVDs. I have to commend Alex for being so observant when he picked out 2 pairs of pajama's that I've been eying for a while, a commentary/bible study on the book of Romans that goes with the series I've been using, a beautiful pad of Christmas card stock, and the fourth book to a series I've been reading.

We didn't do anything for New Years. Alex worked until 1:30 am and I spent the night at home with an eye infection. I spent a good part of the morning on January 1st looking for an eye doctor that was open. The last number I dialed happened to be the home phone number of a doctor. He quickly agreed to see me. I drove down to his office, the visit lasted about 5 minutes, he gave me some antibiotic for free and didn't charge me a single penny for the office visit. I asked him if he was an Angel. He just laughed and asked to see me again on Tuesday.

I usually don't make "resolutions" but I do have a few goals for 2011 (There it is again. I'm still not convinced that's the right date.). First, I'd like to finally learn a second language and since my husband is a horrible language teacher, I think I'm going to buy the Rosetta Stone program and teach myself. Part of me wants to buy Gaelic so when I'm around my in-laws and Alex is being a tushy I can talk to him about it right then and there. But the other part of me wants to be practical and learn something I might actually use on a regular basis, like Spanish. I'd choose Serbo-Croatian but Rosetta Stone doesn't make a program for Serbian. 

The second goal is a simple one: to graduate. I feel like I can pretty much check that one right off the list to begin with. It's almost cheating to put it on the list.

And finally, I would also like to pay off two more bills and be that much closer to being debt free. Alex enrolled in his company's 401K last week so we're starting to put away for the future again. 

Well, here's to a new year! May the next decade be more amazing than the last!