The Hot Shower Epidiemic

I'm here to write about a strange phenomenon I've come across. It seems that every guy I've talked to recently has made a comment about how his significant other takes unbearably hot showers. What is it with you women? Rachel takes showers so hot it turns her skin bright red. She sets off our smoke detectors.....no joke. One time I went into our bedroom, and the steam coming out of the bathroom was at least 8 inches thick all over the bedroom! It was like I walked into a rainforest or something with a low fog.


Now, I can't figure out why women torture themselves like this. I literally cannot stand to be in the shower when Rachel's got it at the temperature she likes. It hurts! Typically, don't women have a higher body fat percentage than men? I know that's definitely not the case in my relationship, but on the whole I think that's true. Wouldn't that mean that women would retain heat better and not need as hot showers? Or are men so much hairier that women that we trap the heat under our chest hair? I'm really confused on this.

In other news, Rachel and I are planning on going to Colorado in late June-early July. Should be a fun time....we're going to go visit the resort I worked at about 7 years ago. I'm excited about that....plus it's a road trip! Haven't done one of those since Rachel and I drove to Anaheim straight through about three years ago. This time we'll be able to take our time and enjoy it a little more.

What to do?

It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm just killing time. Rachel and my aunt went to Kohl's to do a little shopping, and I'm just sitting around waiting for the crab feed to start. It's a fundraiser for the Shriner's, and a good time every year. Plus, it's all you can eat crab!


Two things that aren't so good this Saturday: The Beavers basketball game and my exercising. Both stunk. The Beavs lost by 20, and I'll bet that Jay John says something in the papers tomorrow about how we just don't have the talent to compete, or that the players aren't good enough athletes or blah blah blah. He's been here 5 years. Every player on that team is someone he brought in. If they aren't good enough, why are they here?

My exercising was bad, because I realized that I'm probably going to have to shelve this whole marathon thing. My body just keeps breaking down....in particular my legs. If my knees don't hurt, then it's the arches in my feet. If those aren't hurting, then it's an ankle, or maybe a shin. It's just annoying. Rachel and I are toying with the idea of getting an elliptical, and maybe some non-weight bearing exercise will be what I need to get my endurance up and my conditioning up to the point where I can consider running again, but right now it's just not happening. Playing basketball is about the same. My legs just don't do what I ask them to really. It's not fun, and I don't really appreciate their lack of effort.

Two things that will be great....today is the crab feed, and it's also Joel's birthday! Make sure to wish him a happy one. I think we're hanging out with him later, but I'm not sure what we're doing. Have a good weekend y'all.

Terrorists? In Corvallis?

So yesterday, I walk into my bosses office to ask her a question. And who should be in there but an armed state trooper! Highly unusual. So it turns out some guy wanted to make a donation, so he was getting wire transfer instructions. The guy had been taken around town by our development officers all morning, and had tours of campus and what not. Apparently, somewhere along the line he started to act suspicious, and it turns out this guy is a former student from some asian country who was kicked out of the library about 9 years ago for visiting terrorist websites. He was also recognized at the bank as "someone who likes to start trouble." The best part is that he's a twin, and the people at the library used to call him "evil twin." This story is nuts. So now like half the university is freaked out because this guy has their business cards and wire transfer instructions. Apparently everyone's been alerted, so we have some plan in place. Crazy, crazy stuff.


In other terrorist news....I had a dream I was watching the Major League Playoffs on TV and I was watching a game in New York, when the power went out at the stadium. So I switched to the game being played in St. Louis, but the power was out at that stadium too! So I get online, and it turns out that terrorists have figured out some way to flood the nation. So from coast to coast, the water levels were rising rapidly. It turned out that they got this information by killing 3 NOAA scientists. Because the water was rising from east to west, we had more time to gather our belongings. I remember looking out my window and seeing the water level rising slowly up the side of the house. It was pretty scary, but then I woke up.

I had to pee real bad.

I made my first random DVR recording last night. I'm trying not to record things that I normally wouldn't watch. You know, I don't want to be glued to my TV all weekend trying to watch all the things I recorded during the week. But last night I recorded Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute." Who knew that OPB had an HD channel? I kept seeing previews for this Magic Flute thingy at the movie theater, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Who knows when I'll watch it though. Maybe if it's raining on Sunday.

One of Rachel's patients brought in puppies last night. He breeds beagles, and is trying to sell them. I know that we want a dog, but we're not sure if we're prepared for the responsibility of caring for it. I know that if we're not ready for a puppy, we're not ready for a baby....so maybe we'll end up getting the dog just so we know we're ready to take on children in the future. The puppies won't be ready to come home for another week or so, so I'll keep you posted.

The brilliancy of Rachel

I resumed my battle for HD and a DVR this weekend. I finally thought I had a leg to stand on in this argument after we spent $130 at Target on Thursday night on an armoire and sheets for the bed. I figured "hey, I let her buy whatever she wants, maybe she'll soften a little bit on this HD stance." So Friday night over dinner, I bring up HD again. I tried explaining that the $130 we spent at Target would be the equivalent of 6 months of HD. That's when she pointed out that I had just spent $120 to play basketball at Timberhill. One fell swoop, and my legs are cut out from under me. She's good. Then she says that she doesn't want to give into me because I'm not putting together a good arguement, and she'd feel bad giving in to a weak pitch, even though she knows how bad I want it.


Then the next day we go out to eat with some friends of Rachels. The HD/DVR topic comes up, and they can't stop raving about it. As soon as we say goodnight to them, Rachel's like "Ok, you can get it on Monday."

Let me just tell you how brilliant this move is. I feel great, because I feel that my pitch was going to be successful soon enough, yet she feels like she didn't give into me, rather she was convinced by someone else. Therefore, everyone's happy and Rachel still holds all the power in the relationship. A wise woman I married I tell you.

Why Portland Shuts down for Half an Inch of Snow

Everyone makes fun of Oregonians for cancelling schools everytime even one solitary snowflake hits the ground. Well there's a good reason for it. Here's how we handle snow in the Northwest:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPE8vL5hlFA

Car Sitters

I've noticed a disturbing trend recently.....people who sit in their cars on their lunch break. I understand the need to get away from your desk for a while. But c'mon......like you're really 'trading up' for the front seat of your Camry with a steering wheel jammed in your face? It'd make more sense to sit in the passenger side, but I think this would look so ridiculous that nobody would ever do it. At lunch, there's at least 3 different people that I've seen sitting in their cars. Today it was 33 degrees. And you're in your car? Only way that's comfortable is if you turn the sucker on. Then you're wasting gas AND killing the environment. Not to mention you're in a transportation vehicle and you're STATIONARY. The car was not designed for such use. Why not just stay at your desk? Or go to the break room? If you don't want anyone to bother you, put some headphones on. Doesn't matter if you're actually listening to anything....just put 'em on! I don't understand this at all. If you're a car-sitter, I just want to know the benefits of such action, because I see none.

While you were out

So it seems just about everyone and their mother had the day off today. I however did not. Though it turns out I probably could've. It was a little icy this morning in North Albany, so I delayed my departure for work by about a half an hour. No message had been left on our work hotline saying we were closed, so I went in. Roads weren't that bad at all. I get to work, and it's damn near empty. It didn't fill up much more after that. I work in a department with three people. I was the only one there. Now my boss, she had a legit excuse - She lives on a hill that I swear must be the highest peak in Corvallis. I have never seen this hill, but in my mind it is akin to the mountain the Grinch lives on. (If you remember the name of the mountain that overlooks Whoville, please let me know. It's been bothering me for a while now.)


My coworker on the other hand.....Not sure what her excuse was. She lives in Albany, and I know for a fact that the drive in to Corvallis was do-able today. I'm pretty much the worst winter driver I know, and I made it just fine. Me driving in snow is something like a newborn baby calf taking its first steps. Plus, last week I asked her if she had any problem with the roads that morning, and she said "Nah, I don't have a problem driving in stuff." Apparently she does if that "stuff" is snow and/or ice. I don't even have a problem with her coming in late.....but at least show up.

So now I'm at work by myself trying to hold down the fort. My boss is stuck on Grinch Mountain all day with no chance for a thaw, and my coworker is probably sitting on her couch watching Oprah. I swear if she comes into work and talks about how she drove to the store or even drove her car at all I'm going to flip out.

I know that today was a regularly scheduled work day, just like any other Tuesday, but when you're all by yourself in your department, and other people stayed home even though the roads cleared up by 11...well there's not much motivation to do your job. So I worked, but admittedly not as hard as I could've. I also left about 45 minutes early. Does this make me a bad person? I don't think so. Do you?

In other news, my accounting class is going fantastically. My teacher used the "smarter than the average bear" reference again today to my delight, and I seem to be grasping it better than the guy in the "hash" hat or the row of girls in Ugg boots behind me. Hope you all had a good day.......