For Now

I have been remiss on my blogging efforts - apologies to all. Our Internet reception is patchy up here since we don't have our antenna hooked up yet.

Things are gradually falling into place. We haven't gotten everything figured out yet, and we're still thinking about piracy in Tahiti, but grad school at BYU is looking more and more likely. Penn State has fallen out of the race, but SUNY ESF in Syracuse is back on the radar. BYU still has the clear lead with likely funding sources and two cooperative (though temporarily elusive) professors. Keep on praying for us!

As for the here and now, Aaron is working with his dad's business, North East Well Water. They basically take ultrasounds of the earth to find aquifers before people drill wells so they don't have to (literally) throw thousands of dollars down a dry hole. So if you know of anyone that needs a well east of the Mississippi, drop us a line. Aaron's just working on a per-job basis, so it's a little unpredictable. However, we have been working a little bit behind the scenes to get a little more marketing out on the Internet and things. I'm hoping to get some search engine optimization juju going on soon.

Aaron is also helping Eddie and Dad rebuild the sap house in anticipation of making maple syrup this year. Things are looking promising there. I am looking forward to a lot of pancakes in March...

As for me and myself, I have been attempting to keep Noah out of trouble, which seems to get harder as he gets older. He understands more, but his little hands want to explore more too. He gets into ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! He absolutely loves it here, from the cats on the front porch to his cousins to the snow, he's in hog heaven. He knows the word "hot" very well from our wood stove; thankfully he learned it without having to burn himself. He has also learned "deer" (go figure) and "teeth" and "turtle." I also got him to say "cheese" today. He knows "Jesus" really well too, which melts my heart.

As of Friday, I'll be a working woman again. I'm going to be an office assistant at a search engine optimization company in Schenectady. I'm not thrilled about the job title, but I am thrilled about the prospect of learning that industry. I think it will do great things for my writing and for North East Well Water also. I'm also writing online articles on liposuction, which you can view here. Not my passion in life, but it's a start.

That about sums it up for us, for now. More interesting stories and pictures once we get reliable Internet service for our desktop.

An Epiphany and an Update

I have recently had an epiphany: I really like to cook. I would actually consider it a hobby. In my home growing up cooking was a chore, so it hasn't occurred to me until recently that I might actually like it. The creative muse has to hit me, of course, but I have really enjoyed trying new recipes. As per Aaron, my winners are my quiche, homemade pizza, oatmeal spice pancakes, creamy chicken noodle soup, zucchini bread, and spinach pasta alfredo with cherry tomatoes. Someday I'll get really adventurous and try to perfect some Indian recipes so I don't have to shell out $30 at the India Palace when I want chicken saag.

As for my update on our future plans, we realized that we actually applied for winter semester at the Y and missed the deadline by about 8 months. Oops. We meant to apply for spring semester, so we called up the grad office and a nice guy named Kevin fixed everything for us. So we really are applying for spring semester, which doesn't start until April. This means a few things for us:

1. We will find out whether we're accepted at all three other schools before we find out from BYU, since they don't have to tell us until Feb/March.

2. In the event that we do select BYU for grad school, we will have about 3 months to kill. They will probably be killed in NY.

3. Given the fact of the 3 months to kill, we will probably be moving after Christmas regardless of where we go. So that means goodbye to Crazy Street.

In other BYU news, Aaron is in the process of finding funding for a new, hitherto undiscovered graduate project with mule deer metabolism. He's really excited, as am I. This project, if they can get funding, will give Mississippi State a good run for its money.

Musings on the Election

I spent the afternoon sitting down and trying to figure out whom to vote for. I've seen various email forwards (all false), advertisements (all slanted), and various claims by friends and family of varying credibility. I listened to the final presidential and the vice presidential debate on You Tube. Here are my musings as a result*:

1)I will NOT vote for McCain. Public speaking is not one of his strengths, and I feel uncomfortable with a leader that lacks that quality. I began to feel that even I could debate against him with some proficiency. His plans sounded unconvincing and many of Obama's attacks on him went largely unrefutted. Each of the accusations against Obama had logical, sensible explanations.

2)I'm tired of hearing about Joe the plumber. Let him go back to plumbing, for pete's sake! I wouldn't be surprised if Joe actually voted for Obama because he didn't want to be the poster child for the McCain campaign.

3)I haven't decided whether or not to vote for Obama (I think my mother might have an aneurysm, disown me, write me out of the will, or give away my Christmas presents), but at least he has an articulate plan with what to do with taxes, the economy, healthcare, education, etc. It sounds like many of McCain's plans lack teeth.

4)I don't agree on Obama's stance on abortion, but I don't know whether or not that makes much of a difference. I don't think Roe v. Wade will get reversed regardless of who gets voted in as president.

5)I wish there were one candidate that had all the ideas I agreed with. Too bad Mitt Romney didn't win the nomination. I think he would have fared better against Obama than McCain is.

6)I think that Obama will win the election.

7)I wish the constitution party candidate, Chuck Baldwin, were not so radical so I might have another option.

8)Part of me wishes I could have Obama as president and Sarah Palin as vice president. I think that might be a good balance.

*Note: I am not a political expert, I have not watched all the debates, and I don't know everything about the campaigns. These are just my impressions from what I saw.

Spiking the Punch

(I attribute this brilliant inkling to my angel mother)

So Aaron and I have been wrestling with sleep deprivation for quite some time now, but thanks to Mom, we've achieved a breakthrough. I called Mom to debate the merits of using rice cereal to bog down Noah's digestive system, thus encouraging him to sleep longer. He's only 2 1/2 months old, so I thought it might be a bit much for the little guy. Mom suggested that I just put formula in a bottle of milk so as to up the caloric content, but not the volume or fiber.

We tried it out two nights ago, and eureeka! He slept for 5 hours the first night and 6 1/2 hours the second. Mom, you're brilliant! Thanks for giving me the great idea, and thanks for putting up with me through all hours of the night when I was this small. I love you!