Geocaching

So before law school started, Gabe and I went on a geocaching adventure. Our adventures took us around the surrounding counties in search of camouflaged Tupperware containers filled with little trinkets and log books. In exchange for one of the trinkets out of the geocache, we left behind army men and drug rep pens (can we say Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra?? This is why I worked in Urology for so long!). In order to find the geocaches, we needed to use Thomas, our new handheld GPS (Thomas is not to be confused with TomTom. Thomas is named such because we use the British voice to talk to us, and I think he sounds like a Thomas.). Gabe visits the official geocaching website www.geocaching.com and finds different geocaches for us to find. On this adventure we decided to head into the woods and cemeteries of the surrounding counties. Can I tell you, when you find a geocache, you must keep in mind that it has been exposed to the elements for months, sometimes years. It is always wise to bring gloves and hand sanitizer, and nose plugs if you think of them...geocache's are quite musty! Geocaches can be found on the ground (covered up or camouflaged of course), attached to fences, or even hanging in trees, as we soon found out! Our adventure lasted about five or six hours and ended at Nina's Taqueria in Augusta for some yummy Mexican food. (Homemade chips!!) Erin would be proud:)

So this is how it's going to be...

wow. It's been a long time! School has started, and it's been crazy! All last week we had orientation and it was pretty crazy. Long days in Lansing and in Grand Rapids. I met some really great people, and it looks like things are going to be pretty good. My schedule is crazy though. I work every day and have class four days a week. And then there's all the studying! But it will all pay off in the end, I know it will.

Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

Harrington loves going out in the snow and playing. He digs his little snout in the snow and burrows just like dachshunds are bread to do. Unfortunately for him, this winter is beginning to look a lot like last winter: almost now snow, and warmer than average days. The only snow we have had came at the beginning of December. It began on a Thursday night with an rain which froze and became a lovely (but dangerous!) inch thick sheet of ice. After that came about two inches of snow. The following week we got about eight more inches, but it all melted away in about three days. Since then, we have had a rash of 45 degree days. It even got into the fifties for a while.

I worry about this. Global warming is here, and I know I'm guilty of contributing to the problem, but the whole thing really scares me. During Yom Kippur, Rabbi Aaron spoke a lot about Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth." It finally came on Gabe's Netflix, and we'll be watching it this weekend. I know I'm going to be horrified not only with what I see, but with myself. I only hope that Gabe and I can grow from watching it, and really be inspired to be a part of a solution, and not keep contributing to a problem. If things don't change soon, we're not going to have ice-covered trees glistening in the sun, or snow for the dog to bound through. With that being said, I'm going to end this with the words of Margaret Mead.


"Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Harri and Grandpa

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Dad and Harrington spent all of Christmas together... This, of course, included napping...

...and keeping on eye on mom and her camera.

It's back to work in the morning...

So the weekend was good. Mom and Dad came yesterday to celebrate Christmas. We had fillet mignon and lobster and it was tasty! They let Gabe and I open a present before Gabe left for work. It was a statue/sculpture of a black and tan dachshund rolling on it's back. It looks just like Harrington! Mom and I watched a cheesy Lifetime movie while Dad and Harrington napped, then the three of us watched "Love Actually." They left after that for their hotel, and Harri and I hit the sack around midnight. I wish wish wish we had stayed up till 1:00 a.m. to see the Woot. It was a BAG OF CRAP!! Gabe was on a call and missed it too. We were so upset! They sold out 3000 in 10 minutes! Woot off in a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll get one in there.

Mom and Dad came back this morning about 11ish. I made them watch about an hour and a half of My Super Sweet Sixteen, and that was about all Dad could stomach. He took control of the remote at that point. Gabe woke up about 1:30, and it was time for presents! Mom and Dad got us a very generous gift card to a gas station because of all of the commuting I will be doing. It was really nice of them! I also got another gift card to Express which is perfect! I got a laptop bag, curtains for my study, and a dictionary. Perfect! Gabe got me a new all-in-one printer, a digital voice recorder, a laptop cooler, my spycam from the last woot-off, and a book.

They got Gabe a cordless drill, a bunch of tools, and a new electric shaver. He was excited about that. I got him a new tool box and tape measure to go with the new tools. Maybe he'll build me something! I also got him some shirts, a new winter hat, a book about Roomba, a gift card to EB Games, a gift card to Q'doba, and slippers. Harrington got Gabe new socks. I thought that was very nice of him seeing as Harrington steals half of them out of laundry baskets.

Harrington got two new toys (one of which is almost destroyed!!), two boxes of milkbones, and a sack of pig ears. He was very happy, and is now passed out on the couch.

Mom and Dad really liked the computer we got them. I think they were really shocked! They kept saying that we didn't need to do that. But really, they do so much for us, we really wanted to do it for them. I think we've even got them signed up to DSL and getting rid of AOL. Yay for us! Harrington got them the Dachshund-A-Day calender that he gets them every year. Dad got Mom a thing she can put on her chair and it massages her back. Those people at HoMedics are geniuses! He also got her two books (one was the wrong book), and a book of MSU cross-stitch patterns, which she already had. Oh well, she loved them anyway. Mom got Dad some crazy thing that is supposed to make his golf swing as good as the pros. We'll see how that goes.

After a delicious turkey dinner, my parents headed home. I did some studying and am getting ready for bed because it's back to work in the morning...but only till 11:30;)

Tall double mocha with a shot of vanilla

Today was a pretty quiet day, but I got quite a bit accomplished. Gabe and I had to go to the bank this morning and sign on the refinance of the car loan. Merry Christmas to me with a lower interest rate! The bank manager wasn't there today so we met with the assistant manager. When we walked out the door, I said to Gabe, "After that, I feel like I've known her forever!" In the 25 minutes we were there, we found out about her living situation with her boyfriend, and that although she has to work some Saturdays, he doesn't want her to look for a new job because of the perks. What perks you ask? Well, she gets three weeks of vacation time, 10 sick days, two personal days, and her birthday off. And, it doesn't roll over, so she needs to use it up January 1st so that's why she has so much time off in December. Also, she and her boyfriend are looking for a new place. They're currently living in an apartment, but looking for a condo. This way, they don't have to mow the lawn. SERIOUSLY!!! We were there to sign on a loan, not to become best friends with her!!! Oh well.

Went to Meijer's and got a gift card. The other day when I was there, I got a coupon for $10 off any gift card of $25 or more. So with that, combined with the Christmas bonus Gabe got at work, we'll be going grocery shopping this week on the Meijer family's dime.

After the Meijer run, I headed to Beaner's to study for the afternoon and stayed there for about 4 hours. My good fortune came when I met a gentleman and his wife in Beaner's. He noticed my casebook and stopped to talk. Turns out that he graduated from Cooley in 2000. He lives in the area and has a practice and specializes in what else...wills and trust. I talked with them for about a half an hour. He showed me a book that I should read, and we really got to talking about school and what to expect. I left with his phone number and e-mail address. It was pretty great.

So now it's a quiet evening at home. I just finished wrapping the rest of the presents and have settled in with Harrington for a night of Lifetime movies and Dr. 90210.

Perez Hilton is always right

Wow. Perez was on when he said Heidi Klum couldn't sing! For those of you who don't know this already, Ms. Klum just put out a cd in her native Sweden. I just saw the new Victoria's Secret commercial in which she sings about two lines from "Santa Baby." It was hideous! Now I'm not claiming that I'm the next Mariah or anything, but damn!

On a different note. The studying has begun. It's going well. Time consuming. I should get used to it though! New job is going well. I'm working mornings only in this new part-time gig. I was trained Monday and Tuesday morning, and was on my own starting today. It was pretty easy to catch on, and am enjoying what I'm doing. Plus I get to listen to NPR all morning and go home at 11:30!

Gabe's working a lot, but loving it. The fire academy starts the same day as classes, so he'll be even busier. He got me a "spy camera" (a digital camera shaped like a zippo lighter) for one night of Hanukkah. It's only 1.3 megapixls (yikes!), but it's fun to play with.

Other than that, not much going on. Just studying lots and working. Mom and Dad are coming this weekend and we're going to eat like kings! I can't wait. I know Gabe and Harrington can't either!