Measles

okay. . .so. . .its time for an update.
i traveled to washington dc monday evening. it was a nice trip because i was able to get on an earlier flight out of austin connecting in chicago to washington. even though both of my flights left very late due to fog in the chicago area, i still arrived in washington 2 whole hours earlier than i was supposed to. my flights were empty. . .i guess nobody travels on mondays or something. i made a mental note to self to travel more on mondays. on both of my flights i snagged an entire row of bulkhead seats all for myself, thanks to a most kind aa gate agent in austin. on my first flight, my overpacked carryon just didnt want to go in the overhead bin. with a fellow passenger bending a plastic panel to accomodate my bag, i finally got it in. when we were landing in chicago, i thought we were going to die. the plane touched down, but i guess a crosswind came through and we were lifted back up and blown sideways. it was scary. in chicago, i bought a most delicious grilled chicken caesar salad from McD's. after our flight took off, i busted that thing out and ate it while my fellow empty-handed passengers drooled over the aroma of the chicken as it wafted through the cabin.
the measles partner meeting was hugely inspiring. there arent words in our language to describe it. i can remember only four months ago, i was doubting the initiative for, among other reasons, i believed that it was ending in june. however, i was wrong. there i was, in a room with some of the biggest players of public global health. unicef, the un foundation, the world health organization, the centers for disease control, and if that isnt enough, the man who created the measles vaccine! i thought that i had traveled far for this meeting, but i was wrong again. there were people there from zimbabwe, thailand, norway, sweden and many other places. the 2 representatives from togo arrived a day late because of a government conflict in their country. it was amazing be sitting in a room with so many people that were truly committed to the initiative. one presenter, from the democratic republic of the congo did his entire presentation in french. this truly made me realize how global this entire movement is.
there is a good chance that i will be able to travel to africa sometime this year to observe a campaign. this would truly be an honor and even more inspiring than the meeting.
i am still at a loss of words. . .

UPDATE TIME!

its 3:36 am. . .no packing, laundry, cleaning, or studying has occured
i guess its time to get going. . .

Million things to do

ok quick update. . .im doing a million things at once and i've got a million more to do. . .i leave for washington tomorrow after class. . .ive got to do laundry, clean up the room, give my fish to my fish sitter, go buy a retractable ethernet cord, study for history test, eat, watch some of the superbowl, watch taxi, pack, work the desk for an hour, meet with ted and jeanette, sleep, etc etc. . .you get the point. . .

Ashlee

oooo. . .i forgot to add. . .IM ADDICTED TO ASHLEE SIMPSON. . .i have seen her entire first season on mtv like 80 billion times. it has made me want to watch her second season and the reruns from it and download her music. people think mcdonalds is addicting, hah! move aside, the mtv rerun phenomenon lawsuit is coming to courtroom near you. . .

Crazy Friday

sooooo. . .last night was cuh-razy. . .lets review

rachel, megan t, and bec invited me to go to starbucks with them, so i complied. i got the best beverage ever, the chantico. the three of them tried it and made faces like this . they didnt like it. but bec was nice and tried to explain to them that it was supposed to taste like that. after that we decided to go to taco c because megan t had to work the desk at big b at 9. so i feasted on a delicious three taco combo. the manager dude at taco c was really weird because he asked me how i was doing and i was like fine. then he took my order and asked me how i was doing again. and i was like. . .im still fine. then, he was like. . .here, you get a bigger cup. . .we're upsizing you for free today. thats just what i need. . .a bucket of dr. pepper to go with my tacos, chips, and queso.

after that fun adventure, rachel dropped us off at the garage where we picked up megan t's car and drove back to big b. megan went to work the desk while bec and i "got married" on facebook. we thought that we might as well tell the world already because one day were going to get married. so our anniversary is 2/4/05. . .just fyi. we even took a wedding self-portrait. after that we bummed around and watched something on the travel channel about this really weird family from vermont who makes those wooden trains that spell things. they were all excited about it. then leno came on and it was funny because some guy was at the superbowl asking the players the most random questions. after that, ellen was on the show, so she was entertaining.

megan finally got done working the desk and so we went out. bec stayed behind to entertain her current love interest, eddie. i keep telling her to not waste her time since we going to get married one day, but we'll see what happens. megan and i first went to catherines awesome apartment where there was a rocking party in progress. i refrained from consuming alcohol because of various personal reasons, but it was still all good. megan was booty-dancing so that was funny to watch. after a while, megan, rachel, cassandra, and i piled in the civic. we dropped cassandra at falls because she had an early morning planned out for her. then megan, rachel and i continued on to chris jones' apartment, which, by the way, is HUGE. most of the people had left his party, but it was still productive because he convinced me to be an asg senator. after that, we went to some party where the famous cat reed was located. there were a ton of people there and as soon as you walked in, you could smell and see the smoke from the weed that was being enjoyed. it was kind of gross, but i suppose we'll do anything for cat. it was really funny because we were talking about something and someone said "the masses", and her bf david launched off on one of his philosophical rants about how there is no such thing as the masses but instead something about the common man. it was entertaining and i got my culture for the night.
after that, we left and went back to catherine's place where there was some wild dancing going on. after a little while, we left and i came home to my residents being cuh-razy in the hallway. one of them was drunk and actin' a fool but it was taken care of. i guess the new people that moved in at semester just dont know how we roll here. last night, a resident was busted with a trashbag filled with 50 beercans. and from what i hear, weed was being smoked on the floor earlier in the night. ugh. please no more weed. hopefully they will straighten up because if not, i will have them shipped out.

i stayed up until 7:30 am talking to people online, namely friends from europe. after that, i passed out and slept the entire day. thats pretty much it. tonight, im studying for a history test thats on monday. this is the second time im taking that class, so i have to do well. thats about it. . .have a good night. . .

Yankee or Dixie?

hey everyone. . .i just took the yankee or dixie quiz and you should too. . .

i got a 59%, which is barely a dixie. . .
tell me how you do!!!

It's been eons

hello all. . .it's been eons since i've updated my xanga. . .i know i know. . .
it's just that i've been crazily busy lately and ever since facebook came to my school, life hasn't been the same. this semester is all about school for me. if my life had a marketing campaign for this semester, it would be based around school. this is primarily because last semester, my marketing campaign was all about being a super-duper ra, if you know what i mean. but anywho, this semester, i will be a super-duper ra and a 4.0 student.

i have an interesting mix of classes this semester. my first one is german pop culture. this class had me scared on the first day because in the catalog, it is titled german civilization. i though we would be learning about the kings of germany in the 1600s. thank god, we are not. instead, we are exploring current themes of german pop culture. it's kinda fun. next, we have cis. this is a stupid, required class about ms word, excel, powerpoint, and access. i would have tested out of it, but on the practice test, i didnt do so well on the access and excel sections. so, i am relegated to learning about how to rename folders in windows. its sooooo boring. after that, we have business german. this is a somewhat interesting class. but its harder than german pop culture because my professor means business. i can't bullshit my way through german grammar with her. nevertheless, it's still a good class because we are learning about what is neccessary to work in germany. after that, i have us history part two. this is the class that i failed last semester. i despise this class. however, i must say that my section is traditionally smaller than normal us history classes and there is some interesting biographies to read. we'll see how i do. my last class, if that what you want to call it, is macroeconomics. if any of you know sherwood bishop, you will know why i hesitate to call this a class. this guy is so crazy that he wears these shoes called z-coils that have this massive spring located under the heel. supposedly, they are good for you back. who knows. . .

anywho, as always, the red cross is keeping me mighty busy these days. i think that i may be doing soooo much travel this calendar year that i might have a good shot at making aadvantage gold status. i can't wait! i am flying to dc on 2/7 for the 5th annual measles global partners meeting. for spring break, im going to miami on 3/12 then on to dc for the red cross on 3/17 then back to san marvelous on 3/20. it's gonna be a cuh-razy week. red cross national convention is going to be in san francisco this year and i anticipate spending a good 10-14 days there since i will be attending sandy's graduation at berkeley (with three e's). its gonna be a blast.

well, that about wraps this entry up. i have to do a german resume or "lebenslauf" so i need to get on top of that. in addition, i have a meeting with jim, the director of res life at 8 so im not too excited about being up late.