Februaryish

I need to catch up before Spring Break.  You'll see why, after Spring Break.  (13 days!)  Lots has gone on!  In no particular order...

I went to see The Killers with Jeph.  Naturally, it was amazing.  It was the kind of concert that gets me excited down to my bones.  It's hard to explain the feeling.  It's the closest thing to spiritual that I've ever felt, without it actually being a spiritual thing.  I've been to one other Killers concert right after I moved to DC - that was back when they only had one album, and now they have four!  (Yep, I've been here that long.)  

I just love watching Brandon Flowers. When he talks, he's awkward on the stage, like he just doesn't know what to say.  But when he's singing, he is in his element and you can't take your eyes off him.   (We wanted to make t-shirts that say, "I'm Mormon, just like Brandon Flowers!") 

At one point in the show, some helmet-clad dude jumped up on the stage and started strutting around like he owned the place.  He even gave Brother Flowers a big hug.  It wasn't until he stopped singing and said, "Who is this guy??"  that the security guards came running and hauled him off the stage.  Of course, after the song ended, he made it a point to get a big round of applause for the Fairfax security guards and to say hi to the dude, since they just sent him straight back into the crowd.  (We then changed our minds and wanted to make t-shirts with a drawing of helmet dude and "The Killers" on the front, and "Who is this guy?" on the back.)

My first friend in the DC area and longtime Census/workout buddy, Lauren, moved to North Carolina a few weeks ago.  It's hard knowing she's not here, but it's like with family - I know I'll be seeing her around.  Just not as often.  But I did throw her a big Census dinner party before she departed.

I've started getting back into the Salsa scene lately.  On Valentines weekend, for example, I actually went dancing both weekend nights.  My date was Marcia.  :o)  The skills are coming back to me.  It's bliss.  Kassandra dressed up like she was going to an 80's prom.  Doesn't she look hot?

I've gone to three birthday parties in the last two weeks.  All of them have been on Thursdays.  What's that all about?  During one of them, I won a contest and my prize was that I get to be Shark's BFF for the next year.  As you can see, he's very excited.
At another, I made a contact that could potentially lead to an incredible summer internship - but I'll tell you about that if it actually happens.  This pic has nothing to do with the internship, it's just some fellow birthday partiers.  (If you're curious, the guy on the right won - after about 5 minutes and two breaks.)
The third party was for my dear roommate, Jossy.  
There ended up being two birthday cakes, so we just sang to her twice.

Just a word about school - a few weeks ago we had a case competition, which is really just a big opportunity for all the students to get a little exposure, show off their presenting/analysis skills, and network.  Just like everything in business school.  It's all about the networking.  Basically, they give us a case and we have 3 days to prepare a presentation with all our solutions, then we present it to a panel of judges on day 4.  But this comes in the middle of all the regular classwork, so you can imagine the good times.  It was by far the most intense week I've had in school yet - I was either in class, doing homework, at a church function, or sleeping.  But my group was delightful.  

I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes get to show people around who are considering attending AU, to try to woo them to the program.  I'll take them to class, feed them, give them a tour of the campus, and answer Q's.  It's fun.  Now they're talking about putting us up on the Kogod website so people can contact us directly.  (You can see it here.  Just scroll down a little, you'll be able to see a few more of my attractive classmates.)  As a bonus, we got to take professional photos to go on the website.  So, now you can all see what I'd look like if I were ever a professional.  :o)

I recently learned about a massive service organization in DC called Greater DC Cares.  So, the other night I attended orientation so I could start getting informed about all the service opportunities out there.  I was very impressed with (1) how organized this thing is.  It's very large scale, covering a lot of different areas and types of service, and it's all volunteer, which can get messy.  But they've got it down to a science.  (2) how many other people were attending orientation!  It's just a really happy reminder that there are a lot of people out there who want to do good things, and all they really need is someone to take the lead and give them opportunities.

This weekend we had a big ice skating activity for Institute.  The place was packed.  I was playing tag with some people on the ice, but after awhile it was so full of people that we couldn't play anymore.  

The only downside is that the ice was only zamboni'd at the beginning.  3 hours of 300 people going in circles doth ruts in the ice make.  I actually took a pretty ungraceful spill (when I wasn't goofing around to deserve it) and now my right side is all bruised up.  Totally worth it!

Phew!  Caught up again!  Keep checking back for more birthday and ice skating pictures.  

Oops, I got behind

First off, I'd just like to take this time to say: IT SNOWED!!  And it's about time, too!  I'm enjoying it while I can - it'll probably be gone tomorrow.

See that layer of ice on my car?  This is what winter is like in the East when we actually get some precipitation.  Same as the last picture - note that I'm actually standing on top of a layer of ice that formed on top of the actual snow.

Now, let's see if I can get caught up.

MLK weekend was a whirlwind.  I spent a few days down in Raleigh, NC helping Lauren and Yuriy do some painting.  (You can imagine the wild times.)  But I think they now have the most awesome-looking laundry room I've ever seen.

That same weekend, Marcia shared a birthday with MLK, Jr.  So, of course, we had a party!  An Indie dance party, with Gibby as our DJ.  I was impressed with the indie selection - I'll have to get the playlist.  

We did our best to dress the part, which includes all the crazy eye makeup, some purple tights, and my Music Snob tee.  

The next day was the Inauguration!  I decided to brave the masses and walk into town (7 miles round trip!  Not bad!) so that I could see history made.  I told the story on my family's blog, but suffice it to say, it was the most polite, well-behaved humungous crowd I have ever encountered in DC.  And after all the stories I've heard from my friends who also attended, we definitely chose wisely when we mapped our route into and out of town.  Here is my pictorial documentation.

I will now add to the randomness by bringing you to this past weekend.  

I attended a PostSecret seminar with some friends from my ward.  It was put on by the founder of postsecret.com, Frank Warren.  Just to give you a little background, this guy started a community art project that basically consisted of him walking around town and handing out blank postcards that were addressed to him.  The instructions were: Tell me your secrets!  So they did.  It started as a community art display, then he turned it into a blog, and then he started making books of them.  And then when he stopped the project, the secret postcards just kept coming to his house.  He realized that it can be very therapeutic for people to share something they have never told anyone else.  It can be a sort of release for them, and also for others who see someone else's secret and can relate.  Sometimes they're funny and sometimes they're very serious, but I think it's all very interesting.  

Lastly, I attended a Roller Derby with some classmates.  I had never actually seen one before, so this was new for me.  All I can say is, do not mess with the chicks with the skates.

We spent the first half of the game trying to figure out the rules, and the second half trying to figure out who would want to play if we decided to set up our own league (since we all have so much freetime), and what their names would be.  The players we were watching had names like Carnage Asada and Condoleezza Slice.  Obviously, this is going to require lots of serious brainstorming.

The rest of this week is looking to be equally awesome, with a little bit of The Killers, a little bit of some Census, a little bit of some Salsa...but I'll get to that later.

P.S. Why didn't anybody TELL me how much of a tax refund hookup it is to quit your job mid-year and go back to school?!

Christmas Break extended

I want to be sure to cover my last bit of Christmas break excitement.  School just started up again (it'll be a real interesting semester.  And I mean that in the most sincere, non-loaded sense.)  and I figure I should get all caught up before things really start picking up and I lose my chance.

I took a trip down to Broadway!  And spent some quality time with the Broadway Croshaws.  We had a grand time.  And I finally got my baby fix, thanks to cute little Asher.  You can just tell how good-natured and happy he is.  That little guy is so loved, and he just knows it.  I could see it in the smiles he graced me with.  I know that much of a baby's smiles are just the baby mimicking, but that doesn't make it any less endearing when it happens.  And in my unprofessional opinion, Asher must be getting smiled at a LOT for how quick it comes to him.  

Can't you almost read his thoughts here?  I think he's saying, "Honestly??  I'm stuck with rice cereal while you guys get to dine on this culinary masterpiece?  Man, I can't wait to grow teeth!!"

And what a talker Asher is!  I love talking to babies.  I always wonder what deep and inspiring things I'm being told by these tiny beings that are so close to God.  It wasn't so long ago that they passed through the veil.  I wonder if they're trying to tell me what it was like in the preexistence, if only they could make their mouths work to formulate the words to tell me about it.  If such words even exist in English.

Valerie and I got bonding time over her Wii.  (Sorry, no pictures.  I was too busy defeating galaxies.)  All I can say is...you can get dangerously hooked on that thing.  It's intense!  We were so into our game, she and I didn't get to do any of the stuff I thought we were supposed to do that day.  But in a way, I'm sort of glad.  I heard this theory recently that you can learn a lot about a person by the way they play video games, so I was putting it to the test by watching real close when Valerie would take her turn.  I think it's a valid theory.  I feel like I know her better now.  :o)  And besides, it gives me an excuse to go down again, so we can follow through with our original plans.

And as an aside, I got to see Matt laugh harder than I've ever seen him laugh before.  Seriously.  Ever.  Crystal was tickling him.  It was priceless.  I love her so much more, for making my brother laugh like that.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

Naturally, I spent most of my extra-long Christmas break in Idaho with the fam.  Or should I say, a teeny portion of the fam.  This year it was just me, Leslie and Alex, and the parents.  Definitely a quieter, low-key Christmas.  

Let me paint a picture for you. Christmas Eve: we went to a movie, and when we got out of the theater we realized we didn't know what we were doing for dinner that night. It was after 6:00, so we just drove around to see what was open. Maybe Costco dogs? Nope, closed. Fast food? Good luck. The typical neon lights of Yellowstone were unsprisingly dark. Oh, look, the bar at Mama Inez is open! And Dominos! When all was said and done, our Christmas Eve consisted of cheese crisps, pizza, and Dad winning at Phase 10. (I was happy for him - he's such a trooper when we play Nirtz.)

Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves, with lots of trips to the taco truck (I miss that Mexican food), the movie theater (I never see as many movies as when I'm at home), and Lowe's (naturally, we worked on a few home projects...we repainted the kitchen and it looks AWESOME. And Alex and Dad went to work on installing a cabinet. And I started peeling off the wallpaper of the upstairs bathroom!! Is anyone else really excited that this room is finally getting some attention??).

And I got to take a trip to Pebble Creek and get my skiing fix!
It snowed a LOT! Which I really loved since DC seems to have a definite shortage of the fluffy white stuff. Doesn't Chink's Peak (yes, that's the real name) look like a painting?
Dad and Alex had to snowplow the driveway more than once. The walls of snow on both sides of the driveway were at least a foot and a half tall!
The downside is that it snowed so much that we couldn't go to Spokane to see the SpokanderLouws. The days before we were supposed to go, it snowed about 2 feet (or 3? 4?) in Spokane and PLENTY in Poky. This was a bittersweet tragedy for all. We needed our kid fix. I missed the nieces and nephews. And since none of them were around, I realized how much of my time I usually devote to the kids in exchange for the adults when I'm around my family. Interesting.

I also got to visit Sarah-Dawn in Costa Mesa. Yay, Southern California, warmer weather! Right? Not so much. But we still had a great time. She literally lives minutes away from the ocean, which is basically her dream come true. We went to a couple of beaches...

...had a bonfire (most efficient fire ever made) and made s'mores on one of the beaches while we watched the sun set...

...went hiking through a canyon...

...and watched the fireworks and played with hats in Downtown Disney.



And we ate at In-N-Out and got Boba drinks. Twice!!

The Amazing Race

I got to see Princess for Christmas!!  Aside from just catching up and other awesome activities, we decided to get the ball rolling on getting ourselves into Amazing Race.  Here's what we accomplished during a portion of the time that I was lucky enough to be in her company.

Stupid human tricks

My ward's Christmas party was last night.  We got to do Sub for Santa for five families, YAY!  And we get to deliver everything and go caroling tomorrow!  

The party also doubled as a "variety" show.  Such a talented bunch I get to associate with every week.  I am so lucky.  (Don't even get me started on the Christmas program today at church.  Amazing.  That is all.  Amazing.)  Anyway, last night I couldn't help but throw in a little contribution I discovered I could do a few months ago...

I have nothing else to add.

What? Finals? Meh, I'll get to that later.

It's the middle of finals week.  What should I do?

If you said, "Don't study," I think that's a great idea!!  That's exactly what I did do today!

So here's what happened.

About a week ago, one of my classmates randomly pulls a bag of big white chocolate chips out of her bag and says, "Do you like white chocolate?"  I think my exact words were, "Is there sugar in white chocolate?  ...then YES!"  So she gave me the whole bag.

Fast forward to today.  It's day 3 of finals week and I'm done with all my finals until mid-day Saturday.  So I took the day off.  No school-related anything allowed.  I got some much-needed things done that have been neglected since August.  For example, I stacked all my books on my bookshelf.  (For those of you who don't already know, that's a big deal.)  Now they almost all fit.  See?

I also got all my winter stuff out, which I definitely already needed a few weeks ago.  

And, I made truffles.  Re-enter white chocolate.  It had been staring at me for too long.  It took me awhile, but that's okay!  I was still under my self-imposed school ban!  

They were so pretty, I took pictures.

And the taste?  Divine.  I once read a book where the author said she loved her pizza so much that she believed that it loved her back.  This is how I feel about my truffles.  It's true love.  

At Dana's request, here's the recipe:

1 cup baking chocolate or white chocolate, chopped 

2 tsp butter/margarine

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp shortening

1 cup chocolate or white chocolate chips

1. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Melt baking chocolate in heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat.  Stir in butter until it melts, stir in whipping cream.  Refrigerate 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, just until thick enough to hold a shape.

2. Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet.  Shape into balls (if too sticky, refrigerate more).  Freeze 30 minutes.

3. Heat shortening and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth; remove from heat.  Dip truffles, one at a time, into chocolate.  Place on cookie sheet.  

4. Refrigerate about 10 minutes or until coating is set.  Drizzle some with a mixture of 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon milk (I just melted more white chocolate and some shortening in a Ziploc bag and cut off the corner).  Refrigerate just until set.  Serve at room temperature, store in airtight container.  Makes approx. 25-30 small truffles.

I think I'll take some back to school with me to share the love before this last final.  It's only fair, right?  It's like when you borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor, and then you go and make cookies with it and give them back.  Suddenly I'm feeling very sneaky like that...like I'm the white-chocolate-to-truffles-finals-goodies bandit, bringing sugary joyness to burned-out students everywhere!!  Mwahaha!  I feel like I need an alias.  Any ideas?

U-G-L-Y! You ain't got no alibi, you ugly!

Ah, December.  A time for carols, well-wishing, finals, sledding, Buddy the Elf, Messiah sing-alongs, and ugly sweater parties.  Last night, everyone represented the spirit of December as we all tried to outdo each other in ugliness.  Throughout the evening, you'd hear people remark, "My, you're looking especially ugly tonight!"  And it was a very good thing.

I wish you could see it, but Greg (dude next to me) had flashing Christmas lights duct taped to his sweater. He was connected to the wall for lots of the night.

Not everyone had such ugliness on hand, but Jared was willing to wear a headband instead.  For a minute.

As if the party weren't already awesome enough, they had Elf playing, which is probably the best Christmas movie ever made.  Allow me to share just one of the many favorite quotes:

"So, good news - I saw a dog today.  Have you seen a dog?  You probably have."

XBOX360PS3WII

I'm always talking about out-of-school adventures, so I'll digress for a moment to let you into my campus world.  I guess it's about time, since I'm about to hit finals week and thus finish one quarter of the ride.

Fun thing about business school is that you get to pick topics for projects that are so far out there, but everyone uses business, so it still applies!  (Ironically, I used to say that about Stats...well, I still say that.  Guess I just like things that apply to everyone.)  

To give you a taste, I've been doing a whole lot of industry and competitor analysis on video game consoles. So yes, we could play Wii and call it "research."  (Other semester variations include the pursuing prospect of opening a Ritz in  South Africa and researching the economic-based history of telephony - from telegraph to cell phones to VoIP.  Isn't B-school awesome?)   Now, I feel like a fountain of console knowledge.  Want to know the history?  I'll tell you about the Brown Box.  Where'd PlayStation come from?  I know that, too.  Marketing strategies - Blue Ocean, anyone?  Competitive advantages?  Bring it on.  Maybe that doesn't strike everyone else as such a cool thing, but I guess that's why I'm here.  Here is my dynamic posse who also knows everything console.

I like learning.  My brain is having a grand time being back in academia.  

Thanksgiving Awesomeness

I was lucky enough to spend this year's Thanksgiving at home in Idaho with my parents and the VanderLouws.  If I had to pick a favorite moment, it was probably jumping on the trampoline with all the kids, especially after Maggie joined in.  Alas, I don't have a pic of that.  But I do have lots of other goodies.  As usual, I mostly just captured the kiddies.  Hope you don't mind.

If you want to see the vid of Elliot's mad dancing skills, you can check it out on my family's blog here.

Dinner with the co-workers

Recently I got to meet up with many of my old co-workers for dinner. It was grand! And I got to meet lots of spouses and significant others I'd only heard about before, and I got to catch up with everyone and just enjoy being around them again.

I realized that, of the 8 original Census workers there, only 2 are still manning their original posts in Services.

I also realized something that I think I already knew: I really miss my co-workers.  

Think about it - I used to spend more waking hours with this crowd than anyone else.  These guys really get me, and I'm so fond of all of them.  That was terribly difficult to walk away from, even for something as alluring as getting my MBA.  

Sometimes I get nostalgic, thinking about the lunchtime jogs and workouts, the vacuum breaks, commiserating when we had to work overtime, rearranging/kidnapping my supervisor's beanie baby toys, the parties that always inevitably had that expensive cake that tastes like chemicals, trips to J-ville, and even cranking out top diffs and referrals (which is odd).  Hopefully we can get together again soon.  I sure do like all those guys.