AdGrads...

Throw up them horns!
AdGrad party barge on Lake Travis

yay!

Abby got adopted!!!! When I met her she was a shy girl who wouldn't even come out of her corner, yet alone her cage. However, she always loved when I'd climb in her cage and pet her. Once the main group of cats left I think she started feeling less intimidated- that's when she started coming out of her cage, exploring and playing. At many shelters she would have been euthanized early on, but she will be such a great companion and is the perfect example of an animal who just needed to be given a chance. 

more random

1. Wrote 9 GOOD pages today for my term paper! Score! Total of 13 pages so far, only 7 more to go.

2. A little freaked out by the whole swine flu breakout. Dug up all the bottles of hand sanitizer I could find and distributed them between Mike and I.

3. Had a great trip to Target today. Totally EXPOSED them for trying to rip people off. Ok, I only exposed them to Mike and I. Be weary of their bulk section which claims to sell everything cheaper... it's a lie. I compared prices for two types of cereals and toothpaste and it was actually cheaper to just buy multiples of each item in the regular section. So shady.

4. Only two weeks left in the semester! yay!

5. So excited for San Francisco! We've already booked our Napa/Redwoods tour and have a day set aside for Fisherman's Wharf. Three days with good friends then 4 days with AdGrads. Fun fun!

6. Still waiting with bated breath to hear back about the internship with Sphere. The longer I wait, the more I want it to happen. If it doesn't work out I'm going to be heartbroken. I use this thing they made called "Sphere It!" almost every day and I'd love for them to know that, but I don't want to look like a brown-noser haha.

7. Mercedes found this graph and I LOVE IT! So true...

clearly

in a funk

These past few days I had some things stolen from a place where I knew nearly everyone, read an article about the skin of a very rare leopard being found in a car, volunteered with beautiful, loving, abandoned or abused cats who can't find new homes, watched too much news, thought way too much... Right now I pretty much think people are lame.

I'm just in a funk. I'm trying to channel this energy into getting work done but... ugh.

I would feel so much better if someone would adopt Abby. As of a couple weeks ago she is the only cat left that has been there since I started in January. She is wonderful and sweet and loving but not as pretty as the others. I think she's beautiful, but she has a couple patches of fur missing, half her tail is gone and a few little hairless dots on her ears so someone basically has to give her a chance. She's not the cat someone sees in a window and points out as the one they want. I just want to know someone out there will love an "ugly" cat for how wonderful she is. That would make me feel a lot better.

Oh, Austin

I was really annoyed because the crazy Tea Party people added an extra 20 minutes to my drive home after 10 hours on campus (7 hours of work and the rest a very boring class). Here's a tip: when you're protesting stay on the SIDE of the road... not ON the road. Sheesh- maybe the crazy liberals need to hold a "How to Protest" seminar for the crazy conservatives. Good thing I just took Roxie on a nice long walk/jog. All better :)

Anyways, here's a very positive article and one more reason to love Austin!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 1:28pm CDT 

Austin ranks No. 1 for job growth potential

Texas dominates a new list on job growth potential among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.

Austin ranks No. 1 on the list of big cities for employment potential from NewGeography.com. The Capital City posted modest job growth of just 1 percent in 2008—but that was still better than a lot of other big cities. That growth, coupled with Austin’s long-term potential to continue creating new jobs, garnered it the top spot.

Texas’ major metros round out the top five spots on the big cities list, with Houston coming in 2nd, San Antonio 3rd, Fort Worth-Arlington 4th and Dallas 5th.

The list, based largely on job growth in regions across the nation over the long, middle and short term, has changed over the years, but the reports authors say the employment landscape has never looked like this.

“In past iterations, we saw many fast-growing economies--some adding jobs at annual rates of 3 percent to 5 percent,” said research Joel Kotkin. “Meanwhile, some grew more slowly, and others actually lost jobs. This year, however, you can barely find a fast-growing economy anywhere in this vast, diverse country. In 2008, 2 percent growth made a city a veritable boom town.”

Consequently, Kotkin said, this year’s list might more aptly be called the “least worst.” Still, he said, those least worst economies today largely mirror those that topped last year’s list, even if those regions have recently experienced less growth than in prior years.

In Austin for instance the 1 percent job growth in 2008 was less than a third of its annual average since 2003.

Looking at the complete list of metro areas—including large, medium and small cities—Texas again does well in the top five. Odessa ranks No. 1 on the overall list, followed by Grand Junction, Colo.; Longview; Houma, La.; and Killeen-Temple.

break

I decided to stay on campus for the 3 hours between my last class and a graduate council meeting and have managed to get a lot of work done. I'm really proud of myself this semester- procrastination rate is at an all-time low! And that's saying a lot, because I really don't have a procrastination problem at all. I hate libraries, so sitting in the lobby of the building I have most of my classes in is the perfect substitution.

However, I need a break. This blog entry is my break. I'm not in an interesting mood so this is all I could come up with:

Mom, this falls in the strange cat photo phenomenon we talked about. If you can't read the caption it says, "The media portrays unrealistic body-image ideals for the young felines of today."

23

I just realized I never posted about my birthday. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? It was so fantastic I must have dismissed it as a dream...

I started the day out with a trip to the mall. Fell in love with a $50-something shirt on sale for $20-something. I purchased it as my official 23rd birthday suit.

I came home to find Mike offering flowers, cake, and a beautiful olive green, eco-friendly, made-in-america dress! Awesome!

Everyone was out of town or working, so I went downtown around lunchtime to see my favorite band, Death by Stereo. I had actually seen them the day before also, but couldn't miss the opportunity to see them two days in a row (especially because they're always too busy touring Europe now to stop by!). The previous day I had gone up to the guitarist to say hi and he greeted me with, "I haven't seen you in years!" It was crazy- he remembered me :)

DBS was awesome and after the show I started talking with the singer, Efrem. I told him it was my birthday and he said we should hang out, so I spent a few hours roaming downtown checking out street performers with the singer of my favorite band! I swear! We even stopped back at their hotel where tons of bands were staying. It was so strange when Efrem pointed out, "There's the singer from Ignite," like it was nothing! Then we're just talking about Davey and Jade from AFI and he's telling me what kind of people they are... WHAT? So weird. I was such a teeny bopper. Mike and our friend John Brown met us up there so we had a huge group of the band and their friends and we went and saw some bands play downtown!

Mike, JB and I left the DBS fun to check out a DJ we really like at Speakeasy. Had a great time dancing and hanging out and then finished the night off with a stop at the best taqueria in town. Yummm!

It was truly awesome.