Avatar: a brief review

• CGI: Done surprisingly well.
• Story: Cute. Not awesome, but not bad. Who doesn't love a conflict, resolved to a love story?
• Man factor: Enough fight scenes and explosions to keep the men folk happy. Plus, Sigourney Weaver lends some street cred.

BUT

For those of us who can get motion sickness when the film jumps all over the place (generally in crazy action sequences), beware. If action sequences = some queasiness, then action sequences in 3D = very sick. And this is a long movie, so I missed the last 1/3 of it keeping my eyes closed and my dinner in my stomach.

I suck at this

But hey, I get something posted every once in a while.

I am happy to report that I am officially done with my Masters program and will never go back to school again (as a student). And I mean it this time.

Now Xav and I are headed up to Phoenix for the University of Arizona's 35th anniversary reception, which is held at ICIS this year. We'll be staying through the week while I attend sessions, collaborate on research, and start prepping for my classes at Boise State.

Happy holidays to everyone... I'm pretty sure that between finals, prepping, and moving myself to Boise, I won't get Christmas cards out. ::sigh:: Maybe next year.

Industry v. Academia

Lots of people have asked why I'm going into academia instead of just going to work in industry. There are lots of reasons (and I reserve the right to change my mind), but this summarizes some of the reasons:

Lighter fare

Happy November, everyone.

How pumpkin pie is really made:






















Sorry for my lack of posting lately. I'm in the middle of exams, projects, and post-doc research. I also have an exam coming up that I have to pass to get my masters - comprehensive of five courses. Wish me luck!

Tsk Tsk Tsk

aka I am Supremely Disappointed.

I am a registered Republican, though I always vote for a candidate and not necessarily along party lines. Recently, I received a survey (technically, two surveys, after I didn't complete the first one I received) from the RNC titled "2009 Obama Agenda Survey."

I am absolutely heartbroken and disappointed in the party I have historically identified with.

Throughout my PhD training and continuing into my post-doctoral research, my work has focused on behavioral research (i.e., what people think and do) and specifically on the use of surveys in answering those questions. Whenever one does survey-based research, there are a few issues you always have to keep in mind. Some of these* are:

• Common-method bias (i.e., are the results skewed because I only have data from surveys?),
  
• Response rate bias (i.e., are the responses I received representative of the sample? Do certain people answer surveys while certain other people ignore surveys?), and
  
• Framing bias (i.e., is the question written in such a way that I get the respondent's true opinion?). My biggest concern (and flashing red lights) are about this bias.
  

The RNC's survey is - at best - completely loaded. How? Through the loaded wording of their survey questions. An example of framing bias can be seen in the classical example here of the use of "allow" or "forbid" when writing a survey question:

• Do you think the US should allow public speeches against democracy?
• Do you think the US should forbid public speeches against democracy?

Although these two questions appear to ask the same thing, but in two directions, a study by Rugg in 1941 showed that when people read these questions, they have very different responses. When people read the word allow, 62% of them said speeches against democracy should not be allowed. When people read the word forbid (a word that rubs us wrong and goes against what we hold dear in the First Amendment), only 46% said those speeches shouldn't be allowed. Furthermore, another 20% of people said they would "not allow" speeches against democracy, but would not "forbid" them. In 1981, another study (Schuman and Presser) repeated Rugg's experiment three times - and found the same results.

Blah blah blah... So what? This is background, so any of you still reading can see some of the problems in the survey I received. Basically, the RNC has worded their questions to get the answers they want to get. And it makes me sick to my stomach. Here is the survey in its entirety:

INSTRUCTIONS: Please carefully read each question, then indicate the answer you feel most appropriate by checking the corresponding box, sign this document and return it in the postage-paid envelope provided along with your contribution.

To ensure that this Registered Survey is properly accounted for, we ask that you sign and return this document regardless of whether or not you answer every question. Thank you.

Questionnaire [all questions have options: Yes, No, No opinion]

1. Do you agree with Barack Obama's budget plan that will lead to a $23.1 trillion national debt over the next ten years?
   
2. Do you believe the federal government has gone too far in bailing out failing banks, insurance companies and the auto industry?
3. Do you support amnesty for illegal immigrants?
4. Should English be the official language of the United States?
5. Are you in favor of granting retroactive Social Security eligibility to illegal immigrants who gain US citizenship through an amnesty program?
6. Are you in favor of the expanded welfare benefits and unlimited eligibility (no time, education or work requirements) that Democrats in Congress are pushing ot pass?
7. Do you believe that Barack Obama's nominees for federal courts should be immediately and unquestionably approved for their lifetime appointments by the US Senate?
8. Do you believe that the best way to increase the quality and effectiveness of public education in the US is to rapidly expand federal funding while eliminating performance standards and accountability?
9. Do you support the creation of a national health insurance plan that would be administered by bureaucrats in Washington, DC?
10. Do you believe that the quality and availability of healthcare will increase if the federal government dictates pricing to doctors and hospitals?
11. Are you confident that new medicines and medical treatments will continue to be developed if the federal government controls prescription drug prices adn sets profit margins for research and pharmaceutical companies?
12. Are you in favor of creating a government-funded "Citizen Volunteer Corps" that would pay young people to do work now done by churches and charities, earning Corps members the same pay and benefits given to military veterans?
13. Are you in favor of reinstituting the military draft, as Democrats in Congress have proposed?
14. Do you believe that the federal government should allow the unionization of Department of Homeland Security employees who serve in positions critical to the safety and security of our nation?
15. Do you support Democrats' drive to eliminate workers' right to a private ballot when considering unionization of their place of employment?
    

Ya know... I get a lot of grief when people hear I do survey research. People always say my results can't be reliable because asking people is never a straightforward process, and who knows if they're actually telling the truth, etc. So it really sucks for those of us who follow research guidelines and double- and triple-check our questions (in wording, order, etc) to make sure our surveys are fair - only to have somebody else manipulate a survey. Do you know what would be really interesting? See what people's legitimate answers are - and see if they still line up with what the RNC is hoping they say. I've contacted the RNC, asking to talk to someone about the survey, but I still haven't heard back.

To console myself, I decided all political parties must do the same thing. Until Xavier, a registered Democrat, received a survey from the DNC. I snatched it from his hands all ready to mark it up with my red pen. But it was fair: no leading questions, no loaded words.

I may not be a Democrat, but I sure as hell don't plan on identifying as a Republican if they keep cheating like this.

*There are lots of other issues to deal with, but these are a few examples.
**Examples taken from The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making, by Scott Plous

Visiting Boise

Before I head to Barbie's dream campus, I'll be a Visiting Professor in the Accountancy department at Boise State University. I was able to meet with Dr. Renner during my trip to AAA in New York City and loved all the great things I heard about the department.

I'm originally from the other (and much, much colder) side of the state, and I've always remembered Boise as a cute city with mild winters. I remember going to Boise and running on BSU's track (and their smurf turf) every spring for Boise Relays and the state track championships. After living in Tucson and Hawaii for the last eight years or so, it'll be interesting to see if I still think their winters are mild.

Xav won't be joining me on this little adventure, though I'll probably try to get him to come visit me once or twice to see what he thinks of Boise. I'll be looking for a place to stay while I'm there, so if you know of anything, let me know!

Adventures In Dining: Barrio Grill Ruins My Brother's Birthday Party

Eight of us arrived at Barrio last night to celebrate my brother's birthday. We left nearly two hours later with empty stomachs and an amazing story of incompetence.

It all started with a martini: My aunt ordered a martini from the maitre'd because our waiter hadn't bothered to stop by and take our drink orders after sitting down for almost 10 minutes. She was told that they were out of vodka because the owner had let the liquor license expire last week. They had it back now but hadn't received their order from the distributor yet, and apparently had forgotten where the supermarket was as well. I know times are tough but to let your liquor license expire over the $585 renewal fee just seems silly.

Finally, the waiter showed up and we ordered; four rib-eye specials, and four various pasta dishes. Nicole wanted an airline chicken dish but the waiter said they were out of the airline chicken cut and that she would be happier with an alternative dish. No big deal but still, strange. Even stranger was two minutes later when the waiter came out and said they only had three rib-eye steaks left and asked if someone would change their order. It was only 7:20pm, but apparently they'd been selling like gangbusters! We laughed and started to wonder what the hell was going on back there.

The restaurant was only half full but the staff was completely panicked the whole evening. The bartender and busboy were running food, the maitre'd was bringing us drinks from the bar and our waiter was running around like a mad man. After about 20 minutes, some 2-4 tops that had arrived around the same time we had were starting to get their meals and we hadn't seen anything but bread.

After 30 minutes we started to ask what was going on with our meals. The busboy appeared from the kitchen and told us something amazing: "the food was coming but they were really busy back there and the MANAGER WAS COOKING." ...We looked around at each other and started to joke about going to the place down the street instead. The maitre'd came over and apologized profusely saying he'd provide us with free desert and that our food was really coming like, right away.

After 45 minutes, several tables that had arrived AFTER us were getting their food. We started making calls to other places.

After 50 minutes they brought out two bland dinner salads for the table to share and once again assured us that our food was "coming up any minute now." We were so hungry that we devoured the salads anyway, despite their flavorlessness.

Over a full hour after placing our orders we threw in the napkins, stood up, and walked out.

On the way out the maitre'd and waiter again apologized profusely and expressed their embarrassment that no one in the kitchen could execute eight of the simplest meals on the planet. The maitre'd told us the food was really ready this time and that if we'd like to stay it would, of course, be on the house. However, when Nicole looked him in the eye and told him that there was no way in hell all eight dishes were going to be anywhere near fresh or cooked properly, all he could do was demure and nod, "yes, that's true." As a last ditch effort, he then offered to take down my brother's information and mail him some gift certificates for a later date with the hope that this experience didn't "hurt our opinion of them."

At no point did the "manager" come out from the kitchen to explain or apologize for his colossal screw up. He just left his entire staff pissing in the wind and all of us starving and dumbfounded.

We had all had good experiences there before and were really looking forward to having a great meal but instead it was a waste of almost two hours and no dinner.

What a shame, that steak sure looked pretty good on other people's plates.

Catching up

I'm too lazy to do six or seven separate catch-up posts, and way too lazy to be doing homework, so one catch-up post it is:

1. Pepperdine. Way cool. Other schools I visited: also way cool, which unfortunately made the decision very difficult. And made keeping up with my school work incredibly difficult. I'm very glad to be off of the market and not going to fly-outs every weekend.

2. AMCIS, San Fransicso, August 7-8.
I love going to AMCIS, especially when it's in cities I want to explore. I was able to visit with old friends, get some important info, and watch some good research presentations. Equally exciting, I was able to finally touch base with my best friend Ryan. Back in the day, we were joined at the hip and for the last eight years have been living in different zip codes. He was nice enough to drive into SF and we chatted and had a wonderful dinner at Le Colonial. It was great to see him again and oh so surreal. Eight years. We have to get together more often. While walking around SF, I also got to go to Tom Colicchio's sandwich place 'wichcraft. Yum. Overall, I love San Francisco and need to visit with Xav some day.

3. This is old news by now, but my last semester in school started August 24. 11 more weeks. Not like I'm counting or anything, but senior-itis gets worse the more times you go through it.

4. Boring research alert: My dissertation advisor and I got a paper accepted to CHIMIT, which will be held in Baltimore this November. This is a small, very specialized conference, but it's one of my favorite. And it's held right after LISA, which we all know is way too much fun to really be considered a conference.

5. Nerd alert: Xav and I went to Blizzcon again this year, though I'll admit to mostly tagging along so we can go to Disneyland. I loved it... and randomly decided to skip a day of the festivities to check out Pepperdine's campus.

6. A patent I worked on with some old friends at IBM has been filed. Woohoo! I even have proof:

7. I finished up my summer accounting internship with R&A CPAs, a small accounting firm here in Tucson. It was an interesting experience and I had tons of fun with my coworkers.

8. I finally got my boring/professional webpage updated: www.nicolefv.com. You'll see repeats of a few news items, but just the boring ones. :)

9. I redecorated the guest bath. I've avoided doing it ever since I finished painting the first time, telling myself it wouldn't do any good because we were about to be moving. We've been here almost three years since then. Lo and behold: as soon as I redo the bathroom, I find a job. I should have painted years ago. I forgot to take before pictures, but here are the afters:

Announcement

So, I know I owe you guys tons of blogging updates (at least 7 by my count), but this one is pretty exciting. I am very happy to say that I will be joining the faculty at Pepperdine University in the Fall.

I expect you all to come visit. (And yes, this is actually a picture of campus. The building I will be in isn't shown; it's on the hill to the right, overlooking campus and the ocean.)

I heart New York

I got back from NYC early this morning (2:00 - ouch) and have declared the trip a success. I had seven interviews and now have a few schools on my favorite list. Here's hoping budgets and interviews come through. I had six of the seven interviews on Monday (there goes my plan for sight-seeing on Monday), but was still able to squeeze in some city time on Saturday. I decided to walk around Central Park a bit and then hit Soho and Little Italy. Unfortunately, I forgot just how far it was and my feet were sore after 5 miles in heels. The highlight of the trip was dinner at Bobby Flay's restaurant Bar Americain. Mmmmm.

Just as fun was the flight home. An off-duty JetBlue pilot rescued me from having a stinky neighbor (who had stolen said pilot's seat and refused to let me even see the armrest) and proved to be a hilarious seatmate - with a knack for getting us extra waters and snacks. Thanks to Greg for the conversation those 5 hours in the air - it was almost enough to make me forget about the constant seat kicking. I finally got on the road around 12:30 and got home at 2:00, which made my accounting exam this morning at 11:00 painful. I'll also blame the busy weekend and late flight for a bad test score. Oh well. I think the rest of the class bombed it, too.

Soooo behind

Well, if you haven't noticed, I'm a few weeks behind on my blogging, so you're getting one giant catch-up post.

1. Best. Weekend. Ever. gets better
The day after I got home from the LISA PC meeting in Chicago (Monday), I was giddy and silly all day. And then my mouse pad clicker on my MacBook stopped working. ::sigh:: I love macs and I love my laptop, but the poor thing has been the broken part lottery winner. Then again, my 3 year warranty was set to expire on Thursday, so at least it broke early. I made an appointment to take it to the Apple store, where Keegan was waiting for me. (Yeah. I've been there so much that the head IT guy knows me by name and came to my gradution party. He's awesome.) We chatted for a few minutes about what's been going on and rolled our eyes at my laptop and he took it into the back to fix it. ... 30 minutes later, he comes out and tells me my laptop hit the magic number to be considered a lemon, and he hopes this will fix it, as he hands me the box for a MacBook Pro. Dude gave me a free upgrade. And then asked if I minded waiting another half hour for him to finish transferring my data over. Uh, no. Not at all.

So I introduce to you the newest member of my family. This one's a girl, because I got her a bright pink case to keep her from getting banged up. To the kind folks at Apple, I love you. I have never had such awesome customer service.

2. Nicole gets a tan
The weekend after Chicago, Xav and Rosa (the MIL) and I headed to Lake Powell with my mom and step-dad. After skipping for a few years, my mom finally talked me into going. I'm usually not a fan of the drive, the heat, and the cramped quarters, but going in late June and having room was awesome. I caught up on my sleep, read some books (see 3), and even got a paper written for CHIMIT. Oh, and I got some sun. Sweet!

Here is a picture taken from the houseboat:


3. Shhhhh. I read Twilight.
And I liked it. After being mercilessly harassed, I finally gave in and read Twilight. Colleen brought me a copy and I took it with me to the lake to read. It was really good.. until I realized 30 pages were missing, right when she's meeting Edward at the airport.* Yeah. Not a good time to skip. And it picks back up when she's recovering. Grrr. So as soon as I got home, I borrowed Rosa's copies of the first three books and polished them off. Then read the fourth in a day.

Unfortunately, reading chick lit or watching chick flicks makes me all sappy. And not in a good way. For days, I was asking X why he can't be more romantical. As usual, the guy can't win: he bought me roses and what was the first thing I said? "What'd you do?" Nothing. "What holiday did I miss?" None. "So why are there roses here?" Uh... Thanks, sweetie. Muah!

* The 30 pages were actually "replaced" with the wrong 30 pages, so it went page 405, 406, 407, 346... 376, 377, 438, or something like that. And pages 346 - 377 were the same ones I had just read. When I returned the book to Colleen, I pointed out she gave me a defective copy. She gave me a strange look and asked what I was talking about, because this was the same copy she read. We all had a good laugh when I pointed out the 30 missing pages and she said she thought the book jumped around a lot. LOL

4. I'm back in class
In order to finish my MAcc in December, I have to take one summer class. It started July 13 and will finish August 12. I've had this particular adjunct professor before, and while he's the nicest guy ever, these two hours every day are the most painful waste of time ever. Thankfully, I'm about halfway done.

5. Carbs make me happy
After the 4th of July (thanks to everyone for coming over!), Xav decided we needed to go on a diet. Lucky for me, he decided to handle everything - food shopping, cooking, and even packing lunches. I know. I don't deserve him. I survived two weeks without carbs and didn't kill anyone, so I'm much safer to be around now. As usual, he's lost twice as much weight as I have. Not fair.

6. facebook ftw
After years of laying low, my best friend finally joined facebook, which means I could find him without calling his mom's house. YAY! By happy coincidence, I'll be in his neck of the woods for a conference in a couple weeks (AMCIS) and we'll even get to catch up IRL. Me? Happy? Understatement.

7. I Heart New York
After changing my mind a thousand times and finally deciding I'm not going to an accounting conference next weekend (AAA), I realized today how much I needed to go. So to my friends in NYC, be warned! I'll only be in for a few days (Saturday through Monday) and I'll be busy rubbing shoulders and interviewing during the day, but hopefully I can squeeze in some sight seeing - or at least some time in Soho and Little Italy. I love Manhattan. If I'm really lucky, my Monday will be completely open and I'll hit Hawthorne to see my old peeps at Watson Labs.

Unfortunately, that makes my first week of August a bit crazy. I'll be traveling and/or in NYC Friday night through Monday night, accounting exam on Tuesday (apparently the hardest one), in class Wednesday and Thursday, flying to AMCIS San Francisco Thursday night, and coming home Monday night. Jet lag, anyone?

Best. Weekend. Ever.

This last weekend was spent in Chicago at a PC meeting for the upcoming LISA conference. I expected a short weekend with too much travel and a lot of monotony. What I actually got was the best reunion weekend ever: full of old friends, new friends, and sometimes heated discussions about research. To quote Travis:

It was fun, hilarious, contentious, thought provoking, maddening, and occasionally filled with "WTF?!". This is the second time I've done this. It's definitely interesting to listen to the plethora of opinions that come out from the papers we have to review for this conference.

While this was my first stint on the LISA program committee, I can definitely say that I hope it's not my last. I'm still grinning from the fun... which makes me a huge nerd. This weekend also solidifies that whatever I end up doing when I grow up, it had better be related to this, because I plan on going to LISA for a long time.

Photo courtesy of Travis.

Yardwork fail

The mesquite in our front yard sort of died (still green wood, but no blooms and it looked dead), so we replaced it with an ash. A tall, skinny ash that needed staked or it would blow over in the wind.


Check out our handiwork, which we noticed a week later.
Right through the middle. Awesome.

This is why we're fat

Xav came across a hilarious site yesterday, thisiswhyyourefat.com. After laughing and groaning, he was inspired by one of the posts, the bacon weave roll with cheese. And apparently we had a pound of bacon in the fridge. (?) And so, here is why we are fat:

Step 1: Weave bacon.


Step 2: Put in the oven at 400 until done.


Step 3: Take out of the oven and fill with cheese.


Step 4: Roll and slice.


I did eat one slice and it was soooo good. And then I almost had a heart attack. Luckily, we are out of bacon.

My life...

... is really boring, but some of you have asked for updates, so here goes. In bullets, because I'm lazy.

• Finished my first semester back at school and survived. Even with 10 years between accounting classes, I got A's. Woot. (I mean, uh, 2 years. Yeah. 2 years. I'm not that old. Sheesh.)
  
• Still working on research for my post-doc, though not as quickly as I'd hoped. Darn 15 credits of accounting. Darn doing research that relies on people and not just random data that can be downloaded or computed.
  
• Still working at Banana Republic once in a while. Yay for cute work clothes.
  
• Speaking of work, I'll be doing an internship with a local accounting firm doing auditing and forensic accounting, which sounds way fun.
• This summer I'll also break out of Tucson a bit: Lake Powell with the fam (and some friends) in June, a LISA committee member meeting in Chicago in June, possibly AAA in New York in August for the Accounting job market, and AMCIS in San Francisco for the MIS job market (and hopefully kick out a paper). Of course the NYC and SF conferences are back to back. During summer school. Ugh.
• I'll wrap up my summer with one more class in July and August.
  

My favorite new little nephew

Is finally here, and could really use some prayers. From my sister's blog:

He was born at 5:57pm at St. Mark's hospital on May 18, 2009. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz (Reagan was 8 lbs 4 oz) and he is 20 inches long. While we think we have finalized his full name, we are still unsure what we'll call him, so we'll update you with his name on a later post.

After delivery we spent about 1.5 hours with our sweetest little guy. He really is super cute. He looks a lot like Reagan did when she was born, except with jet black hair about 1/2" long and he is a little smaller than Reagan was.

After being brought to the nursery and being monitored for about an hour our little guy started to have some trouble breathing. He wasn't getting enough oxygen and he was breathing too rapidly. About 9:15 they took him down to the most critical section of the NICU to be watched more closely and to figure out what is going on. After xrays and blood tests, they've determine that he has pneumonia. Yes, apparently a baby can get pneumonia and it is more common in full-term babies than premies. He is currently under sedation, has an IV to feed him since Tiffany can't feed him with his breathing at such a high rate, has a ventalition tube down his throat into his lungs, other lines going in both hands and his umbilical cord, and quite a few monitors on him as well. The newest update is that we can't even touch him except right after an examination by the nurses, which happens every 3 hours, because he is showing signs through his blood pressure that he is getting too stimulated. I'm grateful that last night my brother Mark and I were able to give him a blessing.

We are hopeful that any infection will go away within a few days and that his breathing will start to improve. As of right now the earliest we'll be able to bring him home is the middle of next week. Because Tiffany is recovering well, she will likely be discharged tomorrow.

We would all appreciate any prayers and thoughts on their behalf.

UPDATE: Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Baby brother was released from the NICU and the hospital on Monday and is happy and healthy... except for that whole circumcision thing.

This book

made me want to travel through Europe and kiss boys on top of the Eiffel tower and ride in a gondola and eat all of the yummy food. It makes miss high school crushes and first kisses and makes me happy I didn't "go to Vegas" in high school.

PS I'm sure I'm tempting fate here, but both of my books were awesome. Hopefully my next few will be just as good.

PPS If any of you would love to make someone very, very happy by reading a quick book, click here.

For my mom and grandma.

This is my backyard, and those are gardenias. You (and anyone else) should come visit, sit in my backyard, and smell the pretty flowers.

Happy Birthday Dad

This book

was beautiful and deserves a read by Kerry... after the dissertation is done.

Yay for tweeners

and the [hilarious/trashy/touching] novels they read. Kerry*, a creative writing teacher at BYU, is doing research on young adult novels and decided to expand her sample. Unfortunately, she's a bit under the gun and asked for volunteer helpers.

You mean... I can read random YA lit and get *thanked* for it? And maybe even get sugary goodness in exchange? You better believe I volunteered. And so, once my randomly assigned book gets here through UA's interlibrary loan, I will likely share a mini book report.

If any of you are interested in helping a sista out - and getting lots of love from me - mosey on over to Kerry's site and volunteer. Tell her I sent you. :)

*For those of you confused by my post dedicated to Kerry, browse thru some of her recent history. There sure are some interesting posters around BYU's campus.

For Kerry

... A poster you will never see on BYU's campus.

Spring Break

Now that I'm old and boring, my plans for Spring Break last week were pretty simple:

• Study for my International Tax exam
• Finish my Business Law take-home exam
• Finish (or almost finish) my AIS database project
• Do intermediate accounting homework
• Start on my research papers for accounting classes
• Do work for my post-doc
  

What I actually did:

• Slept in
• Did some last-minute consulting work (still to be finished)
• Caught up on BSG in time for the best frakkin' finale ever (2 seasons)
• Cleaned the house
• Watched Arizona basketball
• Hung out with friends
  

Awesome.

Edit: As Tiffany pointed out, a good Spring Break does require Rice Krispy treats. I went through (and kind of shared) three or four pans over the break, inclusive of both weekends. Yeah, my diet starts next week.

Back in 5

My 25, er 29

My grandma has requested a '25 random things' list from me, and ya'll voted for random memes, so here ya go. Except that I somehow came up with 29. I like prime numbers better.

In no particular order:

1. When I like something, I'll crave it for weeks or months, and be perfectly happy with eating it every single day. Right now, I'm on a huge Rice Krispy Treat kick. Before this, I think it was Whataburger. Before that, Wendy's #6. Back in the day, it was a toss up between Wendy's #6 and Fong's #6. Mmmmmm.
   
2. I have decided that I am not allowed to shop for big ticket items by myself. I always feel sorry for the sweet salesman who is trying so hard and want to buy the item (like a car) to make them feel better.
3. I roll my eyes a lot. At people. And then I hope they didn't notice.
   
4. I looove driving stick shifts. When my dad got me and Tiff our first car (yay Corsica), the first thing I did was look in the window to make sure it was manual. Then I turned around and thanked him and told him good job. This is the primary reason I dislike my current car (4 Runner) and pine away for my old car (Altima SE-R).
5. I have completed a marathon. Just after I finished, I called my mom on the phone and she made me promise to never do it again, but I think about it every month or so.
6. I love me some soda pop. I need something cold and fizzy mutliple times every day, preferably diet.
   
7. I am a cranky mess when I don't get my cold fizzy or food. (So says Xav, who's helping me write this.)
8. I started bicycling again and am considering training for a triathlon. So far, I'm only doing morning walks with Ann, which is seriously saving my sanity.
   
9. I talk to my niece Reagan - or try to talk to Reagan - every day. She's pretty much my favorite ever and I swear, there's gotta be some way she was switched at birth. (Switched with what, I'm not sure.)
   
10. I always approach things in a logical, straightforward manner and get frustrated when people take offense because they think I'm being mean. It's not personal.
11. I get more frustrated when people don't do things logically, regardless of if they take offense.
    
12. I constantly overbook myself with a million things to do.
13. I have zero patience for stupidity.
14. I cannot stand stupid drivers (see #13) and do some serious yelling at cars when I drive. Things will get interesting once we have kids.
    
15. I've been told by more than a few people that I have a doppleganger at a local strip club in Tucson. I can't wait until I run into her at Walmart or Circle K.
16. At the end of a long day, there's nothing better than trash TV (think E! channel, Bravo, etc) to make my brain slow down.
17. I'm turning into my mother. Some days I love it (hopefully cooking and domestic goddess-ness will follow), other days it stinks (funny hearing, bunionettes).
    
18. Over the past few years, I have serious memory problems, so I volunteered for an fMRI study at the University. Apparently I have a very healthy, young brain with no lesions and tight folds. Whatever. It still doesn't work.
    
19. I love to read and don't consider a vacation officially underway until I have finished (or at least started) a book.
    
20. I love good food. Xav and I will plan parts of a vacation around favorite food or good restaurants and budget accordingly.
    
21. I don't like decorating for holidays, but mostly because it seems like such a waste of time. Why spend all that time and energy putting things up when I'll have to take them down in a matter of weeks?
22. I wish I could play more volleyball, but I'm pretty sure that my bad eye - and resulting lack of depth perception - would make things really interesting. And not in a good way.
23. I love reading blogs and have made some friends from across the country that I've never met. Best of all, I've made friends with people I went to HS with and just never got to know.
24. I love sweets and think that every meal needs dessert. (Maybe that's why I can't lose those last 10 pounds.)
25. I have ginormous calves. No, really. During hell week (pre-season training) for volleyball at Ricks, a Samoan football player told me I had the biggest calves he'd ever seen on a white girl. Gee, thanks.
26. I'm way too chicken to ever watch scary movies. Ever.
    
27. I have learned from my in-laws that Mexicans never take pictures and if they do, they never get them developed. Apparently I've been Mexican all these years and never realized it.
28. Half of the time, I know exactly what I'm doing. The other half of the time, I'm completely faking it and flying by the seat of my pants. My goal is to make sure nobody can guess which half I'm working from at any given time.
29. I don't like decorating, but wish I liked it enough to finish decorating my house. Someday I'll get Tiff and Grandma down here to help and we'll probably get it kicked out in a weekend.

And the most important one of all:

1. I hate it when people waste my time. Like, I get irrationally angry. You've been warned.

Yay math

And bigger yay for silly math.

Happy Square Root day, kiddos. What is square root day, you ask? Let me (via Wikipedia) tell you all about it.

Square root day is a humorous holiday celebrated on dates where the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits in the current year.[1] For example, the last square root day was February 2, 2004 (2/2/04), and the next square root day will be April 4, 2016 (4/4/16). The final square root day of the century will occur on September 9, 2081. Square root days fall upon the same nine dates each century. These goofy holidays can also be referred to as "Squared Day," as the date written out is like a mathematical equation. 03 x 03 = 09 (03.03.09)

So go and bask in your knowledge of a trivial holiday. And eat some ice cream to celebrate.

As promised...

... and requested

Just wondering

I realize that I just don't post blog entries as much as I'd like to. The biggest reason for this is because I'm lazy. But the secondary reason is that I just don't know what to post. I don't have adorable children and I don't go on exciting adventures, so that's out.. unless you want me posting creepy entries about how our dogs are like children. I can always write more about my accounting homework and my frustrating job search, but I'm sure that gets old for you. It gets old for me. I can do a few of the million memes out there, but I'm a pretty boring person.

So what do you want to read?

When it rains, it pours

So, the economy is still bad and I still stress about the job search, but this last week was a reversal of fortune. After weeks of nothing, followed by a few interviews cut short because I'm overqualified, I've been contacted by three employers in the last week. I have a fly-out to one interview (one year contract) next Tuesday, an on-site interview with a local firm on Thursday, and am back in the rounds for a clinical position at a great school.

Don't worry. I'll still stress about it all.

The economy must be really bad

... or college students just get their kicks from borrowing things. Yesterday - the first day I've ridden my bike to campus - my front light was stolen. They even went to the trouble of unscrewing it and removing it completely. Riding home at 8:00p in the dark was interesting, especially in a town with city ordinances to protect against light pollution.

I should say that I am thankful they didn't steal my rear light - at least I was legal riding home.

Dear Mother Earth

Dear Mother Earth,

I would like to take this opportunity to say how sorry I am about all of the harm that is being done to you. Coal plants, oil refineries, automobile exhaust, empty Diet Coke bottles tossed into landfills and not recycled... The list goes on. And the effects of all of this injustice are widespread: decreased water quality, smog-filled skies, disrupted weather patterns...

While I am doing all I can for you - riding my bicycle to school when feasible, recycling all that I can - I would like you to do one small favor for me:

Send your freaking global warming my way. I am freezing my butt off. It was 37 when I left my house this morning, and in case you haven't heard, Arizona is supposed to be warm. Thanks.

Love,
Nicole

I like to ride my bicycle

In an attempt to 1) save money on parking and gas, and 2) get in shape, I decided to see if I can start commuting to campus on my bike. (Okay, so actually the nice man, Steve, at Performance Bicycle told me I would be crazy for selling my bike - for spare cash - because it was such a great bike.) Keep in mind the last time I rode this bike was when I lived in Hawaii and was racing. Over five years ago. And I crashed and burned.

So we put fatter tires on it (super skinny time trial tires aren't the best for commuting) and replaced the chain and last Friday, I did a trial run to make sure I could really pull it off. I rode from my house to my building on campus, then turned around and rode right back. 10 miles total. I felt great. I wasn't sore, my legs felt good, and I remembered how much I used to like riding. And the coolest thing was that it only took me 5 minutes longer to ride than to drive because of the traffic.

Today? I'm wiped out. It could have been the 3 miles I walked this morning with Ann (my sanity saver with our twice weekly walks)... but my money is on the 40 pound backpack on my back with books and clothes. I need to get a basket for the back, and Accounting peeps need to write smaller books.

Not sure

I am now almost three weeks into my MAcc program, and I like it. Which makes me wonder: do I actually like Accounting? Do I like income statements and balance sheets and income taxes?

Or did I just drink the Kool-Aid?

Cha ching

X and I just e-filed our taxes, and I know that you should avoid refunds because it's giving Uncle Sam an interest-free loan, and we should be taking that money and putting it into a high-yield savings account, blah blah blah.

Whatever. You gave your winter coat an interest-free loan last spring and I bet you were still excited to find that twenty when you pulled the coat out of storage in the fall. Getting a refund when you're strapped for cash and in school totally rocks.

Even better

As much as I love the new Britney Spears album, I never really jumped on the 'Womanizer' bandwagon. I'm just not a huge fan of that song.

Until now.

In the words of Xavier

... the mutha-effin' Cardinals are going to the mutha-effin' Superbowl. The boy is as giddy as a kid in a candy store. And just as hyper about the whole thing.

Last weekend, we were lucky enough to get tickets to the NFC championship game in Phoenix. Attending, of course, was a non-issue. The fact that we even got tickets when the game sold out in six minutes was divine support. Or something like that. We drove up early that morning to tailgate with Dave and Danny, who prepared the food and brought a grill. We yelled, screamed, celebrated prematurely, cursed our defense, held our breath, and yelled louder than ever as the Cards won.

Let me repeat: the Cardinals won. They're going to the Superbowl. As Xavier was quick to point out (possibly through tears of joy), the Cardinals have been in Arizona for 21 years, and have never been to the Superbowl in that time. And we were there to watch it. And take pictures.

And you better believe we're having a Superbowl viewing shindig at our house. You're invited.

Insanity confirmed

I just survived my first day of class back - again - as a full-time student. Masters of Accounting, here I come.

No, I don't love school. Sometimes life is just crazy.

Happy New Year

For Christmas, X and I drove (ouch) up to Utah to spend time with my family. It was tons of fun seeing my favorite niece, but a bit strange to not have Tim around. Between the quick trip and the snow storms, we didn't get to visit any extended family. We made up for it by eating large amounts of food.

We did go see Temple Square one night - the real reason I've been wanting to get Xav up to Utah over the holidays all these years. Sadly, the lights are not what they once were. Has anyone else noticed there aren't nearly as many lights strung as there used to be? My favorite part of that night was when we walked through the Nativity scene with Reagan. She pointed at the display and exclaimed, "Look! Baby Jesus covered in snow! Hahahaha!" Hilarious.

We made it home in time for my last three days with IBM - and just in time for Xav to share his evil flu/cold with me. I was sacked out New Year's Eve and way too sick to watch the ball drop. Oh, well.

In the coming year, I hope to spontaneously lose 20 pounds while maintaining a diet of Rice Krispy Treats and fast food. I look forward to making a final decision between getting a real job and going back to school full time, and Xav is just looking forward to me making a decision.