Summer tease

Oh it is a nice Saturday here in town.  Today, Cory and I were invited to play volleyball on base.  When we got there, we got games going.  We played 3 games to 25 points and it was a lot of fun.  In the end, it got tiring for us.  I got to catch up with old friends and met new ones =]  Looks like we will all be seeing each other for sand league this summer.  My former coach, Jim Dooley, organizes the Alaska Outdoor Volleyball Association every summer.  Games are held on weeknights at Springer Park, where there are 4 sand courts.  It is a blast!  I will be playing in the women's 4 v 4 on Tuesday nights starting at the end of the month.  Can't wait!  Other than that, we are waiting for the truck to be done.  We took it in to get fluids switched out, like the oil, transmission, and differential fluids.  The truck was due for such services.  I will now recap what has been going on in order by date:

Cory suited up for jiu jitsu

Tuesday May 3, 2011:
Cory passed his personal training exam.  His certificate should come in the mail soon.  He is officially a qualified personal trainer.  I am so happy he passed.  I knew he would.  I believe he plans on applying to be a personal trainer later.  Probably in the fall, but we will see.  At least, he has it and it can open up a sweet job opportunity that is fun and interesting to him.  I am also proud that Cory found a hobby he likes to do on his own, which is brazilian jiu-jitsu.  His buddy, Caleb, introduced him to the gym.  He went to a couple sessions at the ABJJ gym before his hernia surgery.  He plans on getting a membership in a couple weeks when he is fully healed. We did buy him a gi(jiu-jitsu fighting robe) and got a really good deal on it at Dooley's Athletic.  Maybe one day, he will enter a tournament and I can cheer him on :)


Friday May 6,  2011:

Me, Cory and Caleb

After work, Cory and I decided to go bike riding at Eklutna Lake.  Eklutna, which means "mountain surrounding", is about 40 miles north of Anchorage.  It is the prettiest blue you will ever see, thanks to the glacier water feeding the lake.  Most of the lake was still frozen.  We were invited by Caleb.  He is quite the extremist when it comes to bike riding.  Our plan was to bike as far around the lake, which is 26 miles around.  I didn't expect us to bike all the way around, hence how far that is.  We weren't prepared for such a distance.  The trail was definitely rough with gravel and hills.  It was such a work out.  We got to mile 6 and had to turn around due to snow taking over the trail.  BUT, our buddy Caleb left his glasses back at mile 6 where we took a break for some apples.  He realized he didn't have his glasses at mile 5 after we got over a huge hill.  So yes, we all turned around to find his sun glasses then went over the huge hill again.  So technically, we biked for 13 miles of ruggedness.  I was so energy depleted at the end, but it was so worth it.


Saturday May 7, 2011:
Pacquiao vs Mosley boxing was on this night.  We were pumped to watch this 8 time filipino boxing champion kick some butt!  We ordered the fights on PPV and invited some family over in our little apartment.  My aunt, parents, brothers, and cousin came over.  It is so awesome getting to hang out with family.  It is so difficult to get together because everyone is so busy.  Yes, Pacquiao won in 12 rounds.  He almost had a knock out in round 3, but it looked like Pac-Man didn't want the fight to end either.  He sure gave Mosley a good run of beatings.  Thanks to him for making the filipino-community proud, once again.  After the fights, my family left and we decided to invite other friends over to hang with for the rest of night.

Wayne, Tes, Adrien, Julie, Cory and I

That has to be first time I ever hung out with my cousin in a long time.  Julie and I grew up together.   She's pretty much my little sister.  She is a hard working mother, student, and airline employee.  I still feel sorry about her father passing away, but she seems to be doing very well.  It was also good to see Tes again, and her boyfriend.  Tes and I played volleyball and basketball in high school together.  I love it.  We are all so happy with our significant others in our lives.  We had a good time sharing laughs and drinks.

Sunday May 8, 2011: 

Mother's Day.  We went to Sourdough Mining Company for brunch as a family.  Happy Mother's Day Mom.  You are the best mother ever.  I applaud your hard work and perseverance in life.  Your actions of kindness, love, and optimism inspire me.  Thank you for being so wonderful <3

Monday May 9, 2011:
This was such an exciting day for my little brother because, this is the day he had his graduation ceremony.  At work, it was only a half day, so it was pretty easy.  I went to the Sullivan Arena to finish up my work hours and helped around setting up the staff lounge.  I could have participated at graduation, but instead, I wanted to sit with my parents.  I saved them all pretty good seats, since I was there early.  Some people were taping seats to save them, and I thought that was a great idea.  I decided to do the same.  So I saved 6 seats for Mom, Dad, Cory, Justin, Rovic, and I.  Cory and I bought leis for Nor to put on him.  It is a great tradition from the Samoan culture to put leis(can be made with candy, flowers, money, etc) on graduating students.  Sometimes graduates have so many leis around their neck, they can barely see.  Graduation went really great, probably the best between the 8 high schools here.  It is just so smooth and fast paced.  Our graduation coordinator does such an amazing job every year.  All in all, I am super proud of my little brother.  He has turned into a wonderful man.  The staff at Dimond can only say positive things about him.  He just amazes me and I am very excited for his future.  He plans on going to UAA majoring in Physical Education.  Right now, he is set on being an elementary PE teacher.  Which I think he would rock at!  I am so glad we both think education is important in life.

Friday May 13, 2011:

Heather Golde, our boat and I

Not only was this payday, but it was also my last FULL day at Dimond.  This day was spectacular because, it was the day we had the cardboard boat races.  There were three teachers that were participating in this lab, so the boat races went all day in the pool.  I bet these science teachers live for this day, I know I would. All week the students were building cardboard boats in their classes for the races.  The boats were made of corrugated cardboard and they can only use clear packaging tape with a 2-ply rule.  The boats could also be at max 3.5 x 7 feet.  The students did really well on the races.  Most sank in the beginning of their rowing, while few made it all the way across and back.  

Mr. Russell (the science teacher I work with), suggested Mrs. Golde and I make a boat together.  We were so for the idea!  So yes, we made our own boat in one day. Let me tell you, it rocked!  The deal was, if our boat sank, Mrs. Golde had to dye her hair pink.  No way was I going to let that happen.  I decided to design the boat carefully.

Conclusion:  It floated to the max!  Our boat had two crossbars, 2-ply all the way around, and was 3.5x6 feet.  Awesome!  We were able to paddle the whole length of the pool and back, then decided that Mr. Russell should jump in.  He sure did, and it held him!  We paddled about until Mr. Russell jumped out and wrecked our boat.  Oh well, we had to give the crowd something to cheer for.  What an awesome experience.  I am so proud of our boat!  I have done a cardboard race before at the Goose Lake races.  I made a canoe and that def sank.  It failed because it only had 1 ply and it wasn't wide enough.  Either way, us teachers were so pumped!  Here is the video to follow:

After work, Cory and I went to the AK Rock Gym.  It was our first time going together.  I haven't been there in 5 years.  We got certified to belay through their class and then climbed about.  I plan on going more often now that we are official at belaying.  We did a couple climbs and then bouldered about.  Here are some pictures to share.  The first photo is of me belaying Cory as he descends down the wall.  I am way lighter than him, so I lifted off the ground a little and headed straight towards the wall.  I was trained to plant my feet on the wall to stabilize.  Although, the floor straps help to keep me down and give my climber confidence they won't have a fast fall.  

Well that concludes my long blog entry.  Summer classes start Monday.  This will be my last week of work.  I will be at UAA in the morning and at Dimond(work) in the afternoon.  Oh I can't believe it is almost over.  

Another semester down

It has been too long to ignore this blog.  Not that I haven't ignored it, it is just that we have been THAT busy.  We are officially done with our spring semester.  Woohooo!  We took our last final this afternoon.  I cannot wait to celebrate this weekend.  Just one more day at work and bring on the weekend.  I have friends from high school that are graduating and I am so proud of them.  I will graduate with a mathematics degree next fall, if all goes well.  Cory and I have already signed up for summer classes.  I am taking Calculus III and Probability.  Cory is taking Biology Lab, Computer concepts in Business, Trigonometry, and Microeconomics.  I am so proud of his studious self.

Since Cory and I have been doing a super job saving money, we decided to pay off the truck with some of our savings money.  It feels great to finally pay off that truck!  No more 400 dollar payments a month for that rig, it is officially ours.  Except now, we will save 400 a month to compensate.  At least we are not paying interest.  Using one rig has been working great thus far.  It definitely saves on gas, since gas prices are so nasty now.

Well, Cory's belly button is doing great.  His recovery has been very smooth.  It is now the end of week 4 after surgery and it probably won't be 100% healed for another 3 weeks.  Although, he did get to go back to the gym and he has been taking it real slow.  Doctor said to take the work out intensity gradually.  Even though he may have a scar, he is still so perfect :)  Cory's 27th birthday also passed, on the 14th.  I bought him a sweet NorthFace backpack.  Since, he is going to be a full time accounting student, he needed a nice backpack to lug around those heavy textbooks.  It was between that or Blue Man Group tickets.  I say the backpack is more important.

My adult volleyball league ended also.  We had an end of the season tournament about two weeks ago.  We were kicking butt all day.  The games were tough and we pulled it out as Champions.  We only had 6 people, so no subs.  Cory couldn't play, but he came and took some sweet pictures at the championship match.  Due to Cory's absence, we had to pick up another guy, John, from another team that wasn't participating.  I was so glad to fill that hole.  He was so awesome and he fit perfectly.  I am so proud of my team.  I am also so thankful for Superior Automotive for sponsoring us.  I gave the owner the trophy and I hope it is somewhere in their shop.  We also received sweatshirts for 1st place.  I plan to make this team again for the fall or spring, whatever works for scheduling.

Action shot!

Champs!

In other news, at work, I had the opportunity to escape and help at Senior Fun Day.  It is a day just for the Seniors to basically skip school officially.  It is held at Kincaid Park.  There was a DJ, kickball, softball, soccer, obstacle course, mechanical bull riding, giant boxing, gladiator games, and a BBQ.  I helped hand out free shirts to the seniors.  I had a lot of fun.  My little brother is a senior, so it was great being there with him.  Plus, I know a handful of seniors from coaching them in volleyball.  It was a blast dancing around to the music and just being entertained by people battling in the boxing/jousting pits.  I didn't want to leave, but I had to because of my final.  The seniors were blessed with a sunny, bright day.
 

My brother and I at Senior Fun Day

I am so sad to say that I am quitting my job at Dimond.  It is not that I want to, it is just the choice I needed to make, so I can finish school.  It is the most rewarding job ever, aside the drama from students. It was the best opportunity for me to see if I wanted to be a teacher and I believe education is so important.  I want to be a person that will impact a teenagers life for the better.  Working at Dimond has helped me figure out what I learn and teach best.  It was down to science or math.  Math won that battle.  I will become a full time student in order to pursue my dreams of becoming a high school teacher.  The principle said that I will surely have a spot back when I am ready to become a certified teacher.  Who really knows, but at least I know I have a place to come back to.  It felt awesome coming from her.  She was so proud of me and I am so thankful for the supporting staff at Dimond.  My last day at work will be May 20th, which is the official last day of school.  Even though, I get mistaken for as a student, I will always be the baby of the staff.  I hope they find someone that is awesome to replace me.  I will surely miss working at Dimond.

Until Next time!
Future Events
-Cory will be taking his Personal Training Certification Exam May 3rd
-Gly will be holding Open Gym Volleyball after work starting next week
-Norielle, my brother, will be graduating from high school May 9th, yay!
-Fishing in Yakutat Trip with Banan&Crystal May 27-May 30

Stay strong

A tragedy has happened in my family.  My Uncle Noel, 48, passed away on Wednesday March 30th.  He was in the Philippines on a vacation, when a heart attack struck him.  It was all very unexpected.  He is the husband of my Aunt Edith;  father to my cousin, Julie; and grandfather of Kadyn.  I am doing my best staying strong for them.  My Aunt Edith flew down to the Philippines on Saturday to make funeral arrangements down there.  Julie and Kadyn will follow today.  My uncle will have his funeral and burial in his birth nation.  It is very weird and sad to me that he is gone.  It is like he was just here enjoying his favorite hobby of cooking in his kitchen.  I just think to myself that he is on a very very long vacation in paradise.  Rest in peace Uncle and my condolences to my aunt and cousin.
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On Friday morning, Cory went under the knife to fix his umbilical hernia at the VA Hosipital.  It was pretty minimal, but Cory decided to get surgery now, while he is young and fit, before the hole in his abdominal wall gets bigger.  I took the day off so I could help him.  The nurses and staff were very nice to me.  Apparently, Cory talked a lot about me in the operating room because the staff seemed to know what I do and who I am when they met with me.  I waited in the waiting room for about 2.5 hours until Cory was discharged.  He came out fine, thanks to the Vicodin.  Once we got home, he was very very tired.  The slept on the couch for a couple hours and then needed more pain meds.  Rachel, my friend and covolleyball coach, came over with food for us.  I am very thankful.

Cory is acting really normal, minus him being sore on his belly.  He is able to do everyday tasks, go to class and what not.  The doctor said he couldn't lift anything over a couple pounds for the next couple weeks, so that is where I muscle up.  Laughter also hurts, but it is so good for the soul.  His belly is pretty swollen, but that is a good thing.  Gotta get those blood cells moving to repair his body.  We removed the gauze and giant medical tape on Sunday and now there is flossy tape and glue covering his stitches.  It looks like the incision is about 2.5 inches long, ouch!  This road to recovery will be over before we know it, but right now it seems really slow.  In two weeks, he will have the stitches removed.

Well on the upside, we got Cory an early birthday present on Saturday.  Found a Canon 40D camera at the local photo store for only $595, pretty much brand new.  Only had 2,000 shutter actuations, which means it barely got used.  The 40Ds can go up to 100,000 shutter actuations before it gets beat up.  Shutter actuations on a camera are equivalent to car mileage on a vehicle.  We had to snag it because it was a great deal.  Now hubby has his own camera and we can have photo-adventures together.  He was able to practice with it at the photoshoot for 6 month old Keeley.  My first official shoot with my Epic Photography business. Lynnette, the mother, called us and found us via Yellowpages.com.  Check out the photo blog at epicphotographyak.blogspot.com.  I also purchased a nifty 50mm prime lens.  It is so fun and great for portraits.  The collection of equipment is growing :)

Cory's first dSLR camera

Cory said he had a lot of fun during the shoot.  I guess he sees why I like photography so much.  Today, I plan on giving Lynnette her edited photos.  She seems way excited, because she texted me yesterday about her anticipation.  I hope she likes her photos.  Cory and I got the edits done quickly, which will hopefully look good for our business.

Funny that we bought each other the same camera for each others birthdays, hehe.  He thinks that is it for his birthday gifts, but I have more surprises in store :)  I can't believe he will turn 27 on April 14th.  We met when he was 24 and I was 20.  Time sure flies.

On Saturday Night we went to the Japan Relief concert at Dimond High, which consisted of Taiko Drummers and some singers.  It was pretty cool to watch.  Cory practiced some more on his camera.  The money, when we bought the tickets, proceed to donations for the disasters in Japan.  Here are some photos from the concert:

On Sunday, my parents came over to see how Cory was doing.  Mom was so surprised to see Cory up and about like nothing happened.  They brought us some food and I served everyone my white chili with chicken for lunch.  It turned out great.  Yay for crock pots!

Cory and I were able to sign up for our fall classes on Monday.  I am planning on taking Intro to mathematical proofs, Linear Algebra and Fundamental of cell biology with lab.  Looks like I will be minoring in biology.  Cool.  Cory will be taking more accounting/business courses and calculus.

In closing here is a photo of downtown Anchorage, taken from Earthquake Park at 10pm.  Shows how bright our little downtown city is.

Rain, lens, Super Mario

This weekend was really nice and fun.  We finally got to use our one night stay voucher in Alyeska that I got from the girls I coached.  It was so nice to leave town for a day and just rejuvenate.  On Friday, after work, we checked out of Anchorage and headed to Girdwood.  All day it was foggy in town, so I had no idea what to expect in Girdwood.  Well, just our luck, when we pulled to the base of Alyeska, it was raining.  At first, we were a little bummed, but we evaluated the mountain and it looked like the rain didn't phase the skiers & snowboarders.  So we looked at each other and said, Let's do this!  We checked into our hotel, got our snow gear on, and headed abroad the mountain.  We had fun getting some runs in.  It wasn't even icy.. it was just slushy on the bottom.  All the snow was up top, of course.  Our snow gear was just drenched when we were done.  We only boarded for a couple hours until hunger called our names.  So, we cleaned up after boarding and ate in the Aurora restaurant in the hotel.  We shared a "smoked seafood" pizza, living on the edge.  Never heard of such a thing.  It was surprisingly delicious and you could't even see fish pieces on it to scare you.  Either way, it was good.  Cory says "there wasn't enough meat on it", but of course.  After dinner we decided to rest and then we got in the hot tub and pool.  It was quite nice.  The next morning we decided to get in the pool and hot tub again, then we headed back to Anchorage.

Taken with my zoom lens

On the drive home, for the first time I have ever witnessed, we spotted dall sheep.  It was so exciting for me.  I told Cory to turn around and he surely did.  We weren't the only ones playing tourist, there was plenty traffic stopped just to get a picture of the animals.

There were 5 of them grazing about.  In the fall, the males get brave enough to come down the rocks.  Well, that is the only way they will find any females.  They must risk their lives.  I don't know how their little hoofs give them so much balance!

Cory and I had a pretty busy Saturday.  We did some grocery shopping, I did some homework, and we also purchased a new lens for my camera.  It was very exciting.  We have been waiting for this lens to come in stock at our local photo store.  It has been on back order for about a month now.  Seems to be that this lens just goes flying out their store because it is so popular.  I even looked online at the big photo equipment selling sites and they were also on back order.  I was so happy to hear the photo store had it in stock when I called.  It is a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens.  It is super wide, I love it!  Here is my first photo with it.  Shows how much scene I can consume, and how fun distortion can be.  Can't wait to get some better photos.

Well the night blasted off with us going over to Crystal and Banan's house playing 4 players Super Mario on the Wii.  It was the first time we tried and it was such chaos.  It was a ton of fun hanging out with them.  It made us feel like kids again, but at the same time, it reminded us how horrible we got at video games.  We were SO much better as children playing those games.  Ha ha.

Oh yes, I cannot forget to announce this, but today Cory declared his major to Accounting!! I am so proud of him!  Ah, how amazing.  He amazes me.  What a surprise.  Accounting is a super successful track with careers open left and right.  I see great things in our future.  Well, looks like we are going to be students for a couple of years together, but once we have our degrees, we can finally be professionals.  Not only bring home the bacon, but the whole pig!  It is going to be quite a journey, but at least we are doing this together :)  5 weeks to go for the spring semester!

 <3

Officially a business owner

Yes, we did it.  More thanks to my Cory for getting my photography business started.  Business license, check; business cards, check; business account, check; website, check; camera, check.. Now I just need clients to request me. This is very exciting for me, as I have wanted to do this since I was a senior in high school(6 years ago).  When I started taking portraits in high school, my mother advised me to start my own business.  Too bad, I was too much of a teenager and had no idea how to start a business.  Cory will be helping me out with the photography as well.  I introduced him to photoshop and how to use it.  He has been practicing editing techniques and I see he has a very creative eye for editing.  One day, we will be able to buy another camera for him to use.  Being that this is not my career, I get to do this for fun and make money while doing it.  It is one of favorite hobbies and I enjoy it.  I also love to teach people about photography, so if I could be a secondary photography education teacher, that would be ultimate!

Take a peek at my website if you haven't yet EPICPHOTOGRAPHYAK.COM.

Two Sundays ago, I had the opportunity to help out my friend, David Arnold, at a wedding.  We photographed a wedding together and it was my first one.  I basically subbed in, because the owner of Sweet Action Photography, Stephen Bahner, was not able to.  It was so much fun.  The bride and groom were awesome.  The groom is from England, so hearing his families' accents were like music to my ears.  It was cool.  During the outdoor ceremony, I had the idea to sit on a ladder to get top view shots.  The guest were afraid I was going to fall, but I reassured them I wasn't.  I told them I was an avid rock climber(lies).  The bride and groom were totally OK with me being up on the ladder.  The ladder idea benefitted me greatly.  I am also very happy to have tried out the different kinds of lenses Stephen left us.  It gave me an idea of what other kinds of lenses I may want to purchase.  Here are some photos, click to enlarge..

Well classes have been going smoothly.  This is the blast to the end of the semester for both work and school.  My best friend has been coffee in the mid mornings or in the early afternoons to get my energy ball rolling.  I have finally gotten used to such a busy schedule, but can't wait for summer.  This last weekend, I got to visit my friend Amanda.  She just had a baby two weeks ago.  Now she has two girls and we are the same age.  I am very happy for her.  I love her kids.. they are adorable.  I took some pictures of them too.  Her older daughter, Charlotte is now 1 and a half years old.  She is at the stage where she mimics people.  It is so cute.  She was mimicking me taking photos with her mother's camera. Dani on the other hand, was just adorable, and just starting her life.  The sisters are so opposites of each other in looks, but very stunning babies.  I plan on taking their family photos when Dani gets bigger, I have already been requested :)

We also watched the UFC fights at the Peanut Farm together.  Just the two of us.  It was a good old date and the fights were awesome!  Lots of knockouts.  Those poor mixed martial artists that train their butts off and then get knocked out.  The next fights will have my favorite, Georges St.Pierre, fighting.  I have never watched the UFC until Cory, now I have a favorite fighter, oh no!  So, guess we are up for that in April.  In closing, I will post a picture of the moon that I took right before it was consumed by the dark clouds.  I took it at 6:30AM on Saturday before I dropped Cory off on base for his one weekend a month.  Now I have some calculusII to study, hence I have a test tomorrow!  Wish me luck!

Events coming up:

-A night in Alyeska

-Cory's surgery for his umbilical hernia :(

-Little brother is turning 19

-Hopefully get back in the rock climbing gym

<3

Fur Rondy

Blanket Toss.  Made of of seal skin.  Photo by Crystal Grant

The Fur Rondy is a festival that happens annually at the end of February to the first weekend of March.  It's a festival to welcome spring and celebrate the start of our historic Iditarod races.  There are many events that partake like the outhouse races, running of the reindeer, carnival, blanket toss, snow sculptures, snowball fight, snowshoe softball, art shows, etc etc.  So many Alaskan activities available.  Unfortunately the start of the Fur Rondy was super windy and chilly.  We didn't dare to check out downtown then, but this last weekend, the weather rose and we decided to stroll downtown to check out the Running of the Reindeer.  Hence, I totally ate a reindeer sausage for lunch before the races.

Running of the reindeer is basically like running of the bulls, but less chaotic and bloody.  There are three heats, mens, womens, and groups.  People gear up in costumes, or lack of a costume (ie barely any clothing), and run about 100 meters to safety.  The run is done on 4th avenue and the spectators take up the sidewalks like no other.  We spent our Saturday walking about downtown, grabbing some reindeer sausages to go and coffee, checked out melting ice sculptures, witness teens on trick bikes doing grinds on municipal property, and lastly about froze our bottoms watching Running of the reindeer.  Cory let me sit on his shoulders for a little bit so I can see the races, but then I found a little opening to get front row action, while Cory stayed behind.  I was so excited to use my camera all day.  My friend Crystal, who is taking a photography course at UAA, joined us as well.  Both of us armed with our Canon cameras, we were stoked to capture the Fur Rondy action.  We got a bunch of photos and after being in downtown, we decided to drive to Sears Mall, where the photo contest was held.  Photos were placed and already judged in one of the hall ways at the Mall.  We had our own opinions on the photos and next year, I definitely need to enter the photo contest.

The Squirrel Cage

The cutest girl having a blast

Caught the tricksters

Crystal and I trying to stay warm

Watch out for those reindeer!

Gumby was my favorite costume

Cory's favorite costume

Crystal's favorite costume

She didn't care for costumes, she just wanted to go home.

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