Photos, change of major, truck problems

What a week it has been already.  That last weekend was sure a teaser to spring break, being that it was a nice 3.5 day weekend from work.  Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to sit in with another photographer that took family portraits.  It was my first time taking family photos and it is time to get that experience up.  David Arnold, who works for Sweet Action Photography, let me take a couple photos, but he was the main lead in the shots.  I got to sneak in my shots as much as I could.  We originally planned to take the photos at Beluga Point, but it was way too windy and cold.  So, we hopped over to McHugh creek, which was much more comfortable.  Steven Bahner, the owner of SAP, let me borrow two sets of his lenses.  My wish list of lens's are a 50mm lens, a wide angle lens, and a ND filter.  Magnificent.  Here are two shots of the daughters.  It was a family of 5 and they had 3 girls.  The girls were the cutest!  I can't wait to do another photo shoot.

 I also met up with an advisor at UAA to speak about which degree I want to pursue.  He was pretty helpful and when I told him I want to change my major to mathematics, he sent me down to the math department.  The lady at the front desk was super helpful and excited to accommodate me.  She talked my ear off, but was very informative.  So yes, it is official, I am pursuing a bachelors in mathematics.  My goal is to get this bachelors so I can teach math at the secondary level.  Working at Dimond as a teacher assistant has helped me figure out which teaching area I would like to be a part of.  I thought science would be cool at first, but I enjoy teaching and relearning math more.  Something about seeing students get that "aha!" moment in their studies makes it pretty rewarding.  Anyways, I have always excelled in math and I don't know why it has taken me this long to figure it out.  I am very happy with my decision and the math department at UAA seem fabulous.  If all goes well, I should be graduating next summer.  OOh ya!

Cory started his personal training classes at the AK club on Monday.  He is there right now for his second class.  The first day of class, he walked in and everybody but him had their books.  He wasn't informed to pick up any books, but luckily the AK club hooked him up with books the next day.  It is quite a blow that the classes are from 7-9 on Mon and Thurs.  That is the time to wind down from your day, no learning.  It is going to run until April and I hope he does well, so he can obtain his certification.  I am sure he will, because he rocks.

On top of everything, our truck decided to take a crap on us on Monday.  When Cory was coming home from the gym, the car shut off in the round about by our apartment.  Thank goodness no one was around because he was only going straight.  In seconds, the car came back on, but still, it was frightening.  We decided right away to get it looked at.  We took it to Chevrolet and it took them two days to tell us what was wrong.  Well it needs $2300 worth of repairs.  Basically needs the front hub fixed, the rear axel fixed, and a new water hose for the anti coolant tank.  I mean, we have the money to fix it, but dang it Chevy!  I am now less of a fan to Chevy.  We already told the mechanics to fix the big problems, which are the hub and rear axel. The anti coolant will just have to get refilled from time to time.  We have always planned on selling it to get a Toyota, because they are awesome and super reliable.  We just need to get it fixed first, and by tomorrow we should have it back.  We have been driving my mother's mitsubishi montero around town.  It is a piece and it reminds me of going through a safari.  The radio doesn't work and the dual exhaust is so loud, it is obnoxious.  But it cracks me up and it gets us from point A to B.  At least, it has seat warmers.

That is about it.  Today I took a calculus II exam and I hope I did well.  I took the day off today too because I am feeling ill.  I hope I can make it back to work tomorrow.  My nose seems less runny and this time I have Nyquil to get a better nights sleep.

<3 Gly

Lookin' up.

Valentine's Day just passed and I got something from my hubby that I would never expect to get ever.  Last Friday, the 11th, he gave me an early Valentines Day present.  When he came to pick me up from work he presented it to me. The picture on the left holds truth, he got me an iMac desktop!  Yes, it has been something I have always wanted, but never expected to get it.  It made my day and it felt like it was dream because I couldn't believe it.  I am very happy to receive such a gift.  Since Cory had to work this last weekend, I got to play with my new computer all weekend.  I got it "gly friendly".  It is 21.5 inches widescreen and very fast.  It has an amazing screen and optimum graphics.  It will help a lot considering my photography.  I love my Cory!!  He makes my life a little more at ease on top of everything.  On real Valentines Day we celebrated our love by going out to sushi.  Well we celebrate our love all the time, but since it was such a day, we went out anyways.  I have the best husband ever and I am the luckiest woman on the planet.

On Friday night we also went to a concert at UAA.  I was very happy Cory went with me.  I wasn't expecting him to come at all.  I was looking for a girlfriend to join me, but couldn't find one.  The fact he said he was coming with me, was a surprise.  It was free for students and plus it was one of my favorite bands!  They are called Meg & Dia.  They started out as just the two of them, one on guitar and one on vocals.  They are half korean half white sisters and sound awesome!  Now they are a 5 person band with drums, bass, another guitar.  It was so fun to watch them.  They sounded amazing live and now I love that band even more.  Cory said he even digged it.  I can't wait for their new album.

Well classes and work are going pretty good, minus the fact that I break down sometimes... especially mid week.  Glad Cory is there to keep my motiv going.

Great news, Cory declined the job in Texas.  It was originally our last resort, but Cory just said, nope.  He said he will do everything he can to stay here.  Now working on the slope for him (2 weeks on 2 weeks off), is our last resort if he doesn't find a job by summer.  Knowing the both of us, we probably wouldn't like that schedule.  That is like half a month of not seeing your spouse!  Not cool.  Great job to the people that can take that schedule.  Yes, it is great money, but to him, it is not worth that time spent away from home.  We are now hoping the jobs he has applied for call him in.  He actually had two interview opportunities, but he declined both of them because they were temporary positions.  He wants a permanent job.

In the mean time, he starts personal training certification class coming Monday.  It will be on Mondays and Thursdays from 7-9 until mid April, I believe.  He is also starting his proposal for his graduation project.  He plans on getting my photography business going.  I am pretty excited for it.  He plans on managing it and perhaps helping me edit/take photos.  He has been working on a sweet decal/logo for it and I think it is awesome.  I just don't have the time right now to get a business up and running.  For now it just a hobby, and if someone requests me to take their pictures, I am usually down.  Just comes and goes.  He plans on making it a more busy thing, where we can make extra income doing one of my favorite hobbies.

Well, I have a 3.5 day off ahead of me.   Tomorrow at work is an inservice day.  I am only coming in for half the day because I have a meeting with a math department advisor at UAA.  I am highly considering delcaring my major to mathematics.  I really like math and I would love to teach it at the secondary level.  Gosh, I can't wait for my own classroom.  Other than that, I plan on hanging out with friends and family over this mini break.

-Gly

Hoping for a miracle

Well my schedule lately has been working from 7:30AM-2:00PM, then I am at UAA until 7 or 8.  Yucky.  Pretty exhausting, but I have been getting a lot done with college work.  I took a calculus II test last Thursday and I am awaiting my results.  I believe I did a good job, but there is only one way to find out.  After this semester, I plan on changing my major from Chemistry to Mathematics.  That is SO a done deal.  I really like math, a lot.  I love the whole logical thinking of it and it is basically a challenging puzzle to me.  Good thing I like it, because I think that is what I want to teach when I become a secondary teacher.  I enjoy teaching math more than science.  They are both great subjects to teach.

Anyways, on Friday, Cory and I became models for my friends photoshoot.  Her name is Crystal, and she is taking a photography course at the university.  She asked us to be her models, and I thought why not?  It was a lot of fun.  I am usually the one taking the pictures, so it was pretty cool being the subject.  We got our pictures taken at the fine arts studio on campus.  It was just a little room, but had a lot of equipment in it.  During the shoot, it got really hot.  The studio lights not only emitted light, but also radiated heat.  I did find a fan, which made the shoot tolerable.  Crystal's theme for the shoot was focused on how women are working more compared to back in the day.  It is becoming normal now that women are taking jobs that men used to dominate.  So, we had to wear business attire and get in some poses.  I can't wait until Crystal develops the film so I can show you.

Saturday was super busy.  I met up with Sweet Action Photography while Cory ran errands.  It is a little photography business that does portraits and weddings, started by Stephen Bahner.  He is a friend of mine and we used to work the summer camps together.  Now he works for the school district as a health teacher.  His business is surely growing and it started out with him and his buddy David.  He recruited me to his business and I am glad to be part of it.  We met up at Barnes&Noble for some coffee and to discuss future events we will be photographing.  Here is the website Sweet Action Photography.

After that meeting, I went to my friend, Amanda's second baby shower.  Second, as in, her second baby.  We bought her baby a pink soft blanket.  It was a lot of fun.  Cory decided to stay home, even though it was a coed baby shower.  Guys do not do baby showers and I totally understand.  Her first baby, Charlotte, who is now 1.5 years old was so adorable.  She has become very independent now.  Anyways, we played the game where you guess the circumference of Amanda's belly using yarn.  The boys had to chug apple juice out of a bottle as fast as they can.  Then all day there was a game where you can't say the word "baby" or you get beads taken away from your necklace you wear.  The person with the most beads in the allotted time, wins.  Pretty cool ideas, but I didn't win any games.  I was an inch close to winning the 'guess the circumference' one.  Amanda and I have known each other since we were in Kindergarten.  It is pretty crazy where we are in our lives now.  Congrats to both her and her husband, Brian.

Charlotte, Tasha, Christine, Me, Desiree, and Amanda

When I got home, it was just in time to watch the UFC fights.  Cory ordered them on PPV and got some snacks and pizza ready for everyone.  We invited his friend Brandon, who brought his wife and two boys over.  The boys were busy playing the Wii in the bedroom, while us adults got to watch the fights and converse.  There were some good fights, like how this guy Silva, kicked his opponent in the face for a knockout win.  Oh mixed martial arts.  When the fights were over, I was so exhausted, I went to bed.

Today we don't have to play volleyball, which is a nice break.  We didn't do too good last weekend in our tournament.  Kind of disappointed, but oh well.  It was for the fun of it.  I plan on relaxing and having the super bowl just be on TV in the background.  We aren't into football at all, but I guess you gotta watch the big game.
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Other than all of that, Cory got a job acceptance in Fort Worth, Texas for the Air Force.  We asked if we can come down May 1st, but they may him sooner.  We need the extension.  If they don't give us the extension, then we aren't going to take it.  We want the extension because

1:  We are going to try to find a job here, FIRST
2:  Classes and our rent lease ends at the end of April

Basically, we are putting the Texas idea in as our last resort if Cory cannot find a job here.  Another downfall to moving to Texas, is that we have to move ourselves.  No help from the military because Cory is a reservist.  We have saved way to much money to throw it away on moving expenses.  It would easily cost at least $3,000 to move down.  Not worth it to me.  We have a couple options for staying in Alaska.  If the 3 options do not work out and become exhausted, then we have no choice but to leave (sad face).  Moving would ultimately not be the best choice because of everything we have great here.  Family, friends, coaching, teaching, college, PFD, etc. . The choices that need to happen are:

1:  Cory gets a job on base
2:  Cory gets a job as a locomotive technician
3:  Cory becomes a personal trainer

Still awaiting and hoping for a miracle.......