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Happy Sunday all. Today was a fun day with Monique and I spending a lovely, yet cold Sunday afternoon together eating some lunch and shopping at the mall. In the evening, I was invited to a dinner part at the Furtado house, and I had dinner with their family, along with two other familes. Everyone was portuguese, except me, and we all ate traditional Portuguese food. It was all really good with people talking, having a fun time together.

In Class

In Class
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Another day has come and gone. And it has been a few days since I've written anything online. There are plenty of reasons for this, but I'm not going to get into that. Maybe for another day. But for right now, I'd like to write on the blog again just to get into the swing of it again.
The semester is finishing up here at Sonoma State. I've found it both and learning experience, both at the school and out of school. Since my focus is film composition, I've sure been listening to a lot of music. One thing I found is that I start to understand music long after I am exposed to it. Along with learning music, I'm also learning about music history a lot more than I ever did in a classroom. I think a lot of what I'm learning right now, I'll start to understand it years down the road.
For me, Its a struggle to juggle all the "things" that I need to be doing. Things like being able to listen to music, listen to film scores, read through music scores as I listen, read books about music, and composers, and trying to compose myself. Its a very difficult task when I factor in everything else that doesn't have to do with music. My life, family and friends, along with all the other daily activities that enter all of our lives.
So this brings me to today...

Amazon Birthday Wishlist

For those who ask what to get me for my birthday, I've added a nice list to the right of this post on the main page so you can click on my Amazon Wish List and look around. There are books about music, music books, books about film composing along with a cd or two. I might add to the list so check back. Also, a lot of books I added to this list cause they were really kind of cheap and looked cool. Anyway, hope this helps! Only 9 more shopping days!

Amazon Wish List

Construction Photos

IMG_3172.JPG
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

For those who havn't seen, or those who want to see all the work being done, the photos are now online. Enjoy!

Parker

Parker
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

These little guy is the newest part of our family. Everyone, welcome Parker. A cute little guy we picked up at the pound over the weekend. Check out more photos on Flickr by clicking on his picture.

New and Improved SRJC!

Hola all!
Wow it's been a really long time since I updated...Sky is kicking my butt. But here I am. I have finished, luckily, with my homework a little earlier than expected and I figured that before I go over to the bookstore to get myself a new binder, I would update and tell you all how things are. It's funny to say you all, since I never really know who reads this. For all I know it's me and Skyler just reading each other's posts. Anyways, check out all his posts with all the awesome pictures and the video from Lauren's surprise birthday. All that was super fun and the pics, of course, are awesome. Anyway, I am here, at my school, just basking in the newness of our library. Our library is so awesome! Personally, besides Snoopy (the automated retrieval system), I think our library is way nicer than SSUs. And theirs is really nice, too. The thing I like about them both is the natural lighting and the variety of places to be. Our library certainly surpasses SSU in the amount of computers just available to anyone, though. But SSU has a much richer collection of media and books alike. Obviously since they needed a whole new indexing and retrieval system. But wow. The $45 million put into this is totally worth it. Every time I come in here it is truly packed with people doing work. I always though no body did work! Everyone I talk to is like, "Yeah, I haven't got that much homework." But I seriously am slaving over homework at least 2 or 3 hours a day. And that doesn't include the days I work, in which those 2 or 3 hours is transfered to another day totally 4 or 5 hours. But it's alright because I have a really great resource now. I don't know if any of you had been to the old library here, but let me tell you a little bit about it. That library was openned in 1971, meaning it was designed sometime in the 60s and then finally gotten started in 1969-1970. Now, from what I hear from those days, those were not boring or sad times. But from the look of this hellhole of a library, you could safely assume that NOBODY used it in those days. How could they? There was a total of maybe 8 windows. And they weren't even windows, they were doors that were sealed shut except for emergency exit. Now, when you get in there, with the yellow (yes, not happy flourescent or even white) light, you may have become suicidal without even realizing it. Maybe that's why college became about smoking and drinking: libraries were far too dark and boring and depressing that people needed some way to get happy. You know!? It's absurd. I studied there maybe about ten times last semester, usually right before a chemistry test. I did that too the semester before, again for chemistry. I would try to get a seat by the "window" so that I didn't have to worry about dying before everyone else who couldn't get out should the San Andreas fault decide to shift. Ay. Pretty pessimistic sounding, but still, it's the way it was. It was just way too depressing. But moving on to better things: the new library!
***
Things I love about the new library:
1. Four floors of nice, quiet study areas and big spacious tables. (The old library had little partitioned desks that I thought were sorta clausterphobic.)
2. The fantastic lighting and beautiful fixtures. Everything is modern and streamlined. Perfect for the new college student. The freshmen are lucky to not have had only the Plover Library for a year or more.
3. 282 computers! No more, no less. The old library had about 18, if not less. And there were 6 sitting ones and the rest standing. Now they are half and half, and brand new DELLS that don't have shitty monitors with the SRJC Library homepage burnt into the pixels or whatever.
4. Cool architecture. The building inside essentially sprouts out from a central lobby. In each lobby there is a directory telling you where you are and where you can go from there. Even what is on the floor for you. It's ingenious. So, what would you call it, museum-y in an informative and useful way. Not to mention, the outsides still matches the rest of the campus. It's just so nice.
5. Panoramic views of the campus. The windows lining EVERY side of the building give you a birds-eye view of the campus. When you're locked up in one building for the whole semester (like me) you rarely get to see everything. This way I can enjoy the sights and make super good use of my time to get my work done so that I can sleep at night and have a social life.
***
You got it right? It's simply (in an english accent) SPECTACULAR. Alright, enough raving about the library. On to my classes! I am currently taking Math 1B, Philosophy 3, Engineering 6, Engineering 25, and Physics 1. Now, math is no easy feat. Second semester calculus is intimidating to say the least. But I do love my engineering classes. Both classes I am the only girl. That is sorta intimidating as well, but at the same time empowering. It makes me feel as though I was the only girl brave enough to get myself out there and doing these things. I have joined the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) through my teacher, so that should be cool. All that is left to do is contact some peeps at Cal Poly so that I can get on track and be there for fall of 2008! It is going to be so exciting. Well, I think that is about all I have to say about that. My other classes are just other classes. Besides, now I gotta get to my personal life. =D Have a great holiday weekend everyone! I'll update again soon! Leave us some comments, we sure love 'em.
~Monique
vvv...Pretty new Library...vvv

Van Huesen Party

The surprise birthday BBQ!

New Photos

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Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

While I'm gone, check out the photos I've been taking, but have been not getting online till this morning. Have a good week everyone!

After the Workout - Day 3

Sleeping is my topic of choice today. How much sleep do we need and how do you know when your getting enough? I've read dozen of articles over the years and I am never convinenced that someone knows it all when it comes to sleeping. I've heard things that you are supposed to get at least 8 hours of sleep, when your young. I've heard that you enter REM cycles every 90 minutes, so you should set your sleep schedule around that. I did that for a few years in high school and in college. Lately, I've read this great article by Steve Pavlina on Polyphasic sleep. It was were he was awake for 3 hours, then took a 20 minute nap. And he did this for about 5 months. You can read about it on his website. Just incase you don't see, he would be awake 22 hours a "day" and sleep only 2 hours. The guy is much older than me, so it makes me wonder again, how much sleep do we need? I always try to make my sleep time around 6 hours. I saw that, but some nights I sleep in longer. Today is was about 7. Its not because I ever want to get more than 6, but I forget to set my alarm clock and such. Well, just thought I would put that out there. Have a good weekend everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow morning!

After the Workout - Post 2

Welcome back you as well as myself. This morning was the hard morning to get up. But of course, I planned ahead for that. So last night I set 3 different alarms so I was sure that I would get up at the right time. Oh yeah, I get up at 5am. Now that might seem early, but my mom gets up even before that, so I don't think its strange to get up so early. You never feel like a rebel being the second one to do things. Okay, so to the meat of today's subject. Pushing yourself, that's what I wanted to talk about. When I was at the gym I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts when he started to talk about pushing yourself a little. That's when I found that if I kept doing the same thing I was doing, I was going to get anywhere unless I took myself to the next level. Wow, what a concept. Right away, I increased the weight, and went until I failed. Failed as in my muscles wouldn't push the weight anymore and I knew I would start growing. I know that once you push yourself to do something and your body isn't their yet, your body will grow to get to that point. That alone make me feel good knowing that I'll get to where I want to go. As long as I know where I want to go, I'll get there when I get there. It may take me 1 month or 6, but I will get there. Today I have a list of things I need to do, and I'm going to push myself to get them all done today. When I do that, I'll know what my real power is. And from there, I know I can do more and more.

After the Workout - Post 1

Day one of my week long "after the workout" blog posts. This morning, I thought I would talk about things to get people motivated. I talked with Monique yesterday about this, so I thought that other people might be interested in this topic. I like to ask the question, "How much would it take for you to get motivated"? I want to get you to think about that sort of motivation do you think you need to get going doing something. How much money do you need to spent, or how much time to you need to give to get yourself to do something. Since we were talking about exercise, my examples will revolve around that. For you to get motivated about doing a workout or exercise program, ask yourself, what do you really need to get going. Do you need to get a new pair of shoes so that your feet won't hurt, or do you just need a pair a shoes to feel good. Do you need to join a gym so that you feel like you can workout now? Maybe you have other non-material factors that will help you. Does the idea of looking the way you want make you want to get off your butt? For me, I know that the idea of not having to do something again is a bigger motivation than getting something good. As in, I'd rather just do some chore to feel good about not having to do it, as opposed to feeling good about doing it. I use to think this was not the way to think and feel, but I find that as long as I get the thing done, it works. Well, i'll be writing something each morning after I workout. Not that they will be about exercise, but i think exercise is a good metaphor for life. Have a great Thursday everyone!

How is fish's weight that Dora cat can carry?

You don't have to be from a foreign country or understand the language to have a good time. Along with listening to Opeta, I find that other content online and offline is great. Please watching this 10 minute clip from a Japanesse tv program. I was laughing in the library it was so funny. Mostly cause cats are just funny. ;-)

Beach Girl

Beach Girl
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Nohting like a nice day at the beach to take your mind off things.

Pillow Fights!

Clips from the Pillow Fighting Championships in Kenwood California on the 4th of July!

ask me for the link

Greatings from the Gym

Wow, I remember how good it feels to be all ready in the morning again. I got myself to the gym again this morning after having to break though a painful nose cold. I sat down and drank some tea right when I got up, and that gave me enough relief to get me out the door. I started back on my stomach exercises and I must say that it wasn't hard at all. Just like I knew it would be. Oh, when I say it wasn't hard at all, I don't mean it wasn't a workout, it just wasn't hard after I had done it. I jumped on a elliptical machine for my normal 20 minutes and worked my butt off. Okay, I wasn't hurting myself, but I kept increasing the resistance till I got my heart rate nice and high. When I work out like that, it feels normal to me. To me, it just feels good to work my heart a little. I guess I'm just young, or crazy, or both. I also must say, I don't know why I tried working out without music. It makes me work so much harder. I use to listen to lecture stuff like informational programs or inspirational things. I find that I don't listen all the way, and I don't work out as hard. So, its back to Big D and the Kid's Table. If you check out this link to the iTunes music store, you'll hear the music I listened to this morning. Nothing like that first song to get me going. Well, I also want to say happy 4th of July to everyone. Have a safe and fun day.

Skyler

Before and After

Petaluma Fair 2006
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Check out this years and last years photobooth shots that Monique and I took. Have a great Sunday everyone and look for another podcast comming last this week...

Petaluma Fair Bike Show

Looking for a very very very simple place to do video editing online? Make sure you check out eyespot.com. I can't tell you how easy it is to make a video like that one I just did. I did it from my bed in about 1 minute. Sign up is free, go check it out!

LINK

To the Fair Collage

To the Fair
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Well, nothing to do on a Thursday night except watch clips from the daily show and the colbert report. Oh yeah, and make a collage in Comic Life. Hope everyone has been having a good week so far. I'm sure monique will come tell her Abercrombie and Fitch stories...

SkynMoe #004 - Summer

New Podcast up, on its on the right ---->
Just click the "play" button!

Tipping Waiters

I got to thinking about this issue last week. A tip is something people give as a bonus for good service. So, when you don't get good service, are you obligated to give a tip? Monique and I went out the other night to one of our favorite restaurants. I won't mention it here, but if you know us, its a pricier Mexican place. We usually get fine service. It's funny cause, really, what is good service? We all seem to know when its good, but is it always that great? We get to the place, sit down and we already know what we want. Usually, we make it as easy as possible for a waiter to get things right. Even with that, he did a few things wrong. First, I really don't appreciate it when someone takes an order and doesn't even write it down. Maybe it's cool when your one "good relations" with the waiter, but all other times, please take the minute to write down what I'm going to tell you. So, he didn't write down what I wanted and of course, I didn't get what I asked for. Since I've been on weight watchers, I have a habit of ordering everything without cheese. When I get my burrito, suprise, he forgot to tell the cook that I didn't want cheese. Now you might be thinking, wait a minute, is it really the waiters fault, couldn't the cook have messed up? My answer is no, it is the waiters fault. Even if the cook had messed up, it should be the waiters job to make sure we got the right thing, correct? Shouldn' they be taking care of us? Isn't that the whole idea? Cause I'll tip the girl who sits us if we are only supposed to tip on people that talk to us and smile. At this point of being serived, I was like, alright, I'll let this slip. I was able to pick the cheese off the top. Next, we don't get one "come back" to see if we need anything. Both of our waters and salsa levels had run dry, and we needed refills. Our waiter did have the time to chat with his friends at the booth next to us, so I though that was nice of him. I figured, if he wants to chat with his friends, thats fine, but if your not working, don't expect to get paid. This was my logic in not giving this guy more than his fair share of a tip. I guess I had reached a point that night where I said, if you don't want to earn it, you don't have to. For a consumer like me, it makes the whole experiece of going to that place less pleasurable to me. Normally, I give great tips cause I make my living off tips. Sometimes giving up to 17-20% if I feel they really worked well to serve us. But I guess not that night. So, my question is, am I correct to think that if a waiter does not work to earn a tip, he shouldn't get one? It seems to fit best with what I belive anyway...

Colorado!

Skyler 003
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Oh my gosh, Skyler is writting again! Well, I am. And even while I'm on vacation. Like anything, I have my period of on and off time. Anyway, I'm in Colorado now for my cousins graduation. Its friday morning here now, but I got this shot from last night studying. Neve was trying to memorize all the nations capitols, and I was trying to help. Well, I also was making sure my camera hadn't broken from the plane ride.
Speaking of the plane ride, it was very nice. We got to the airport from the Fuhrman shuttle. Its that guy who drives the big green truck. Then We got checked in by some lady who was either new at the system, or just was not good at working a computer. She first printed out three tickets that were all the same. As in, she printed out Trevor's plane ticket three times. Then she canceled out of the program, so she had to re-log in. Then she was able to print out tickets after her co-worker helped her out. With that done, we headed through security screen where I got asked to take off my flip flops. We made it to the terminal an hour before to flight and sat down to wait. Trevor is reading Colbra 2, and I was reading through the score to Don Giovanni. A Mozart opera for those who don't know. I must have been the crazy looking one cause I was reading a huge score of music, and laughing all the time. If you havn't seen the opera, you don't know how funny it is. Anyway, we end up getting on the flight fine.
We were all seated in the front, seat 1A, 1B, 1C. I was hoping this would mean first class, but not really. The whole plane, around 23 rows, was all regular seating. We didn't have anyone in front of us, besides a nice white wall with a small tv in it, but were wern't able to have out bags in the seat in front us cause, cause thier wasn't one. The flight was real smooth and felt short. The plane helper / server lady ( I use this cause I can't spell well ) was interested in us, so she kelp talking to us. We talked about where we were going on the plane and things to that nature. She served us diet coke and granola bars. I thought it was a good trade. On the plane, I got to finish another Opera I had been listening to. Madama Butterfly, writting by Pucinni, was really good. Very sad, but very good. Listening to an opera is no good unless you read through the libretto ( its the book of words) first. I mean, people that speak italian would be able to know what they were singing about, so you should to. It makes the music more powerful. So I finished that one up, and think I might go see it this summer at the San Francisco Opera house. I'm going to see the Marriage of Fiargo there later this month, so I'll tell you about that when the time comes.
The first thing we did when we got here was to get out haircut. My brother and I both went to the barber down the street to get out hair done. As you can tell, I got mine short again. Feels good. I like it. After that, it was off to the lake to get the boat, then to watch Neve's basketball game. They lost, but they come back real close in the second half. Non-the-less, it was fun to watch. After a quick burrito, Allie, our cousin graduate, took us to a pool party at one of her friends houses. It was in a gated community, with one of those pools that everyone might use, but no one seems to want to use cause they have there own pools. When we go to end, a security guy was checking people off the "guest list". It was real funny cause they guy didn't seem to like that Allie was bringing in two males not on the list. But we got in anyway.
At the pool party, it didn't take people long for them to grab Allie and throw her in the pool, clothes and all. All fun to watch, but then it was standing alone by the pool not knowing anyone. Good thing that Allie had talke about Trevor and I a lot, cause her friends come up and started asking us questions. Now, being from California holds some sort of like, respect with every teenager. It seemed like who ever we talked to, and it seems like I meet more than 15 girls in one night, everyone thought it was cool to be from California. As they called it, "Cali". I must say that Allie's friends were very nice and fun to talk to. No one crazy except for this one girl, but I think she might have had too much cake to eat. We left an hour after we got there. Driving around, Allie and Trevor got into a big idea debate about politics and world affairs. They both seem to be very interested in Political Science, so like people of that nature, they always have ideas. I thought it was a cute display, like watching two panda bears play. Throwing ideas around like they could controll the world. Anyway, that was the night and my Thursday. I hope everyone has a good Friday and great weekend, and I'll catch up with you all later. Have a good one!

Playing at Wedding

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Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Yes, I'm still alive, though not blogging much, as you can see. We got finals this week, so don't look for any news untill after Thursday. Then I'd be more than happy to share things with you'll. Have a great weekend!

Waterfall Hike

IMG_2084.JPG
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

It was a wonderful day yesterday. So I decided it was time to take a nice hike. Check out the photos of Monique and I making up Mt. Tam.

Weight Loss Part 1

I hate to tell you this right now, but your the kind of person who ignores that little voice in your head that tells you what you should be doing, you won't like what I have to say. I suggest you read someone else's blog. Well, now that we've gotten that matter out of the way, let me tell you about my story. My story starts about 1 year ago, March 2005, when I took a look at myself in the mirror. I knew I wasn't the person on the outside that I felt on the inside. I knew my weight a personal quality that I did not feel represented me. I was what you call, overweight. I also knew at that time last year that I had to loose the extra weight I had been caring around with me. Not only the fat, but also the emotional weight I had kept with me though my childhood and teenaged years. Looking into the mirror and seeing myself, I could think of countless times when my weight was a limiting factor in what I felt, or what I ended up doing. Times like feeling embarrassed about my big stomach when I was going to 6th grade camp. Times like feeling sad that I wasn't attractive enough to have girls talk to me in high school. Ok, I know this happens to everyone, but you get the idea.
One year ago, I knew that I didn't want to live that lifestyle anymore. So I right then I changed my life with a decision. That's all it took, a simple decision in my brain. And I know that decision one year ago has now changed the rest of my life. I knew I also needed help, which is why I decided to enroll myself in Weight Watchers. I had seen the changes that had happened to my mom, and knew I could achieve the same. While at the meetings and from other sources, I learned the major rule about weight loss. Like, this is the thing which will make you loose weight no matter what. I hope your ready for it. The thing is, it's so simple that people don't think it could be true. Here it is, to loose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume. TADA! That's all there is. Now I'm not talking about being healthy per-say, I'm just talking the basics of loosing weight. You have to use more energy that your body takes in. Now, you might be saying to yourself, this kid is crazy. Well, I might just be, but this is where the little voice I told you about comes in. Does he say I'm crazy? When you ask that little voice, could this be it? What does he say? I'm hoping at least he's saying I might be telling the truth. Well, knowing this fact was one the reasons why I lost 70 pounds over 10 or so months. There were many other things I learned, but this one was the easiest for my to really understand and be certain it was true.
So, now that you have this piece of information, do you find it easy now to loose all the weight you feel you need to loose? I'm also guessing here now that you are not saying yes. If you are, then keep going, but for the rest of us, we still got work to do. Here's the next thing I learned. I learned that we lie all the time. All the time, we lie and deny to ourselves every single day. This is when that little in your head comes back again. Have you even done something, or maybe ate something that you know you shouldn't have? Well, that's the little voice inside your head again. ...(Maybe he is there trying to talk to you, but anyway). I learned that we as humans, or maybe Americans, or whatever, feel good about lying to ourselves. We stuff that little voice in our heads back down till we can only hear a soft mumble of what he had to say. Then we feel guilty free about eating that big pizza, even though we know we'll feel really guilty when that voice comes back in 30 minutes after we've sat down to watch tv for the night. Sound familiar? I hope not, but I know its true for a lot of people out there. People out there feeling guilty about what they eat, or maybe not feeling guilty about food, but feeling down about themselves because they know they aren't being good with there health and/or food choices. Well, I've just told you 2 of the most important ideas that made me loose 70 pounds. That I had to stop lying to myself, and that I had to eat fewer calories than I was burning. Once I was about to start to learn that skill, pounds stated to fly off of me.
Now, I know this first blog post here might sound strange, and you might be wondering why there isn't much writing left, but I ask you not to worry about that right now. I will be back soon enough to talk more about my story, and about my ideas. For right now, I would just like you to think about the two points I've raised in this post. How do these two ideas relate in your life? Do you think I might be telling the truth? Do you really lie to yourself? Are you lying to yourself right now? Could loosing weight be that simple? We'll, I guess you'll just have to find out, or tune in next time. "Same Bat channel, same Bat time" I want to wish you my best for this weekend, and you'll find another post with more information by Tuesday night. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or stuff like that. Until then, eat with reason!

Taking the time

Taking the time to walk around downtown is something I enjoy doing everyday. Mostly this comes when I make my 5 a.m. trek down to the gym, but I also really enjoy walking downtown on Sunday mornings. For the last two weeks I've walked around downtown, heading to Goodwill. Along the way, I take time to notice things. I find that each time I make the trip, I see something new. I focus to see the beauty of being downtown early on a Sunday morning. Doing something like this every week makes me feel just a little bit more satisfied in life, knowing I take the time to acknowledge all the great buildings and people that surround me. After feeling all good just looking around, I make my contribution to the community by donating money to Goodwill. Then I start all over again by walking home. I know this isn't something amazingly entertaining, yet, I find this really adds to my life. What have you done in the last few days that you were really proud of? What have you done in the last few days which makes you feel you've made a difference? What have you done in the last few days which made you appreciate all the amazing things that surround you each and every day? Just thought I'd give you something to think about while your busy "living your life"...

It's all good!

Here is my recent Argus Courier post, hope everyone enjoys!

Well, this is Monique, finally "chiming in." I thought it might be nice to actually voice something on here, especially to show that I do exist and will exist on this blog. Anyway, I wanted to talk about what Skyler and I did yesterday. We headed up to Santa Rosa and went on a "hike" (more like a nature surrounded walk) at Spring Lake park. It was so beautiful! I think Skyler was going to post some pictures of that walk. We took some great ones. This weather has just been so pretty lately, especially after all that rain, we just didn't know what to do with ourselves. We walked probably about 2 miles around Spring Lake and Howarth Lake (I think that's what it's named). It was sort of windy at times, but I was in a spaghetti strap shirt and pants, so it wasn't so bad. We had a great talk as well. Just a nice little discussion about what we want in life and our goals for the future. It's sometimes good to just get in that groove of knowing that you can have anything you want as long as you're willing to take steps towards it. If there's one thing that Skyler has taught me that will stay with me forever, it would be that. He emphasizes everyday that knowing what you want and how to get it is the perfect motivation to take you through a productive and satisfying day. Skyler knows his stuff, obviously. His thoughts just seem to seep into me and I find myself contemplating the meaning of everything I do and how it's going to affect me. For instance, yesterday I had my eyebrows waxed up at Santa Rosa Plaza at the Benefit Brow Bar. Now it sounds really ridiculous and juvenile, but last night I was very unhappy about how it turned out. I was stressing out, but for some reason Skyler came to mind and I thought, "What would he do in a situation like this?" And almost subconsciously I started thinking up ways that it could be worse, or better, and how I have better things to worry about and how I'm going to fix this in the future. Lucky for me I have that brace in my life to help me get back on track and not really worry forever. Worrying certainly doesn't do anything productive but add to stress. Right? So here's my tip: when you think something is horrible you have to learn from it. Think about it for a while, and decide what it is that you can do to avoid that pain later, and deal with it now by turning it into a more positive situation. In the end, the smile on your face at the end of the day is the most important thing. If you can make it through a day with a smile on your face, you'll feel infinitely better just because the edges of your lips are pointing up. It's amazing how something so simple can turn everything around, huh? =)

Beautiful World

Beautiful World
Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Monique and I took a wonderful walk in Santa Rosa today. I think this picture sums it all up for why I love my life.

Argus Courier Post

Sometimes the things that drive us in life are the things that we sit on. In this case, I'm talking about a car. Motivation is one of those emotions that help us in life, either when things are great, or when things are getting worse. Both are great areas to find motivation, but I'll cover motivation in more depth soon. Anyway, the thing I was sitting on, my car, was one of those things that was making my life sink in many ways. I was like a cat in water, fighting to stay afloat, and looking really uncomfortable (this is how my cat is, so if your cat swims great, you still get the point..). I kept ignoring that I was paying more than $35 a week. I ignored the fact that my car kept shaking at stoplights, that it wouldn't start up more than half of the time without me revving the car, and that the engine would randomly die while driving on roads. I was only driving up to Santa Rosa Junior College four times a week, plus once or twice to Rhonert Park to see Monique. Driving in my 1984 BMW 325e was costing me a fortune. I guess I never really thought about it, thinking that getting a new car would be more pain than just toughing it out with what I had.

Well, the thing that motivated me, besides my gas costs, was the idea of passing smog in a few months. Thats when I knew, it's never going to pass, and I really don't want it to pass. The car was in such bad shape, I didn't feel good about driving it around at all. So, what do I do, I got a job. I figure, "Hey, I'll get a job, earn the money to buy a $5000 car, and then it'll be all good". Then I start the actual work part of getting a job. To my prediction, the job is very uncomplicated and easy to do. It feels like this job could be done by anyone with half a brain, though I don't want to be rude to the people who worked with me. Just frankly, I knew I wasn't the right match for my job. Instead of complain, I take action. I work my butt off for the company to impress everyone. Not that I had to make myself get into action, it just came naturally. I found out how much I could do and get ahead. I meet some awesome people at my job, and found out what it's really like to work part-time in college. I'm glad I got the experience.

Back to the car, I get my mom to work the car hunt for me. For those of you who don't know my mom the way I do, you won't find a better car seeker. Although you would never know it by looking at her, she's got major talent in the right areas. The hunt for a car for me started out slow, then come together this last weekend. We tested out a few cars, and I found one that we all linked. An older Honda, it had many miles, but drove so smooth. With two minor problems, I took the car for two grand. I was so happy, I had done it, I had finally gotten a decent car for myself. I was able to pay off part of it right away with money from my job, and planned to make payments to pay the rest off. It was two days after I got my car when the rest of it all hit me.

It was sitting in my Econ class when my teacher was talking about resource allocation. Talking about how everything and everyone should be specialized in a certain trade in order to better themselves and others around them. Right away, I thought of my job. I'm working 21 hours a week, making a dollar or so more than minimum wage. I kept thinking, I'm a very talented guy, and my field is in music. I make %150 more money working only 10 hours a week, compared to working that part time job. It seemed so simple. I looked over my income without my job, and my liabilities, all my expenses, and saw that I could not work my job, and pay off my car in 6 months. I further thought, I have these great plans to be making even more money by working in music, and the only thing that has been holding me up is the number of hours that I work at my part-time job. Later that night, I told one of my managers that I was giving to two weeks notice. Like that, I had made a huge change in my life. I know how productive I am, and I know I can reach my goals with every step I take in the right direction. Yesterday was the first, and probably hardest step I had to take. I didn't seek anyone's opinion, I made my own decision as fast as snapping my two fingers together. Yeah, my expenses will be tight for a while, but the more I work to getting my other goals, the faster I can pay off my car and enjoy the work I do in my life. I see myself being much more than I am today, and everyday I take a step in the direction I want. Cause everyone's going somewhere in life, wether you plan it out or not. I'm lucky enough to be going where I want.

Hey! that's all. Thanks for reading my first post here and be sure to come see me soon. Please leave me comments, I love to hear what you have to say, and maybe we can get a conversation going. In the future, I'm sure I'll talking about my 69 pound weight loss, how things are going, and all my thoughts on life and the community. Have a great day everyone!

P.S. - I added a few of my photos from around Petaluma below. Hope you like them. If anyone wants bigger coppies, let me know.

Trevor's 18 Brithday

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Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Hey, I know its a bit late, but I got the pictures online! Enjoy, and look for more stuff comming soon...

Three Reasons Why I Need A New Car
1) It usally takes me about 4 times to start my car. I have to gun the gas to get my car to stay on.
2) I am probley at 10-15 mpg becuase of above and other factors. This weekend alone, I've gone through $15 worth of gas, driving around town one day, and to Bodega Bay and back.
3) My instruments, such as MPH, don't work.

Hey, thats it so far tonight. Oh yeah, my cover broke off tonight when I was driving around, which meant I had to stop the car and go into the street to pick that up. Then I had to start the car again 4 times. But anyway, I know my mom and dad are making great progress towards getting me a new car, so I'm excited :-D

The Sickness

You know what I hate? I hate not knowing something. I hate it when I don't know and the people you'd think should know don't. It all seems to turn over itself when it comes to the doctor though. I go to the doctor and am assured I'm fine but then suddenly I start having these pains and I call and then there is no way to book appointments, or such, and nobody can tell me what to do. It just makes me feel more uncomfortable about things. I just want to make sure that I am okay and that I'm not going to develop some life-threatening disease over the time in which I have to wait until someone can make me a freakin' appointment! Why is it so hard? I took the time to call, obviously I'm concerned. The sad part is, I know it has nothing to do with the people I talked to on the phone--the stupid thing is that Petaluma Kaiser books their own appointments so you have to call on their terms, meaning in their hours when they're there. Which is stupid, because if you want an appointment you're not going to wake up at 6 am just to be the first to call for the first come first serve appointments. It just doesn't make sense to me. Why is it that they want to make their own appointments. I should seriously just change back to Santa Rosa now that I'll be moving there soon enough. ARgh! It just really irks me about that, because this isn't the first time! Anyhoo, it was another lazy uncomfortable day for me. I just try to rest so that I can get better and go about my normal business but it's just not working for me or something. I feel bad not going to work because I know they need people; I just feel so tired all the time, like I can't do anything, and I have this pain that just drones on. It's scary because I don't know what it is, it's scarier that I can't even talk to a doctor about it. So...that sucks even more for me. Anyways, this five day weekend didn't turn out to be so hot for me. Sky and I hung out on Friday. That was fun, of course. It was Saturday that my discomfort started and Sky spent most of the day with me while I was sickly. I sorta feel like sometimes I waste his time when it comes to me, and I hope I don't; sometimes just having him around me makes me feel instantly more safe and okay. I don't know why, but I really hate being alone and not knowing what is going on. It concerns me, ya know? Anyway, he watched over me for some time on Saturday. Then on Sunday he worked all day and I pretty much slept all day, trying to shake sickness. No luck. Call in sick to work today and try again to just rest and let myself get better. Again no avail. So of course, I start to get concerned. I don't know what to do. I would talk to my parents but I know they know as much as I know. So I just know I need to take charge. So I call the advice nurse people and try to schedule appointments but the above reasons impede such progress. So here I am, unsure of everything. Why am I feeling this way? Will it go away? Will it affect me negatively? I just want to feel better, is that too much to ask?

Life Changes

For those who don't know, I've started a big change in my life. I got to the point where I knew I never ever wanted the feeling of not being productive, and the feeling of not getting things done. You know that sinking feeling of "not getting real things done". Well, no more for me, this instant! Thanks to some new books, some audio lessions, and a lot of motivation from me, I plan to change my life within a month. Already I can see in changing in front of me. I'm getting things done, being productive, and enjoying life more. One my big inspirations for success, or my coach right now is Anthony Robbins. Check out his stuff if your looking for something to really grab you to find what you really want in life. Cause you can have whatever your dreams are. Here are some great quotes that I've written down this week.

"There is no good or bad, only outcomes. The goal is to get the outcome you wanted, and learn from the others." - Something Tony would say
"There is a cost and benifit for each action you do" - taken from my Econ teacher
"You can change anything you want by changing the price" - Econ

003 - Backpacks

"A backpack like that takes up 3 times as much space as a regular backpack"

Direct link download: here
Podcast website: here

The Future

When times seem stressful, I like to write. I have so many things bouncing on the inside of my mind, I know I wouldn't be able to sleep right away. Clearing my head for a bit might help put those idea to sleep. I have written out all my ideas, as to not forgot them. I've been thinking a lot of the future right now. I'm nervous, anxious, and a little excited. I've gotten a job now, and the first thing I want to do is get a raise within 3 months. I have a goal of becoming an assistant manager in 1 year as well.I know that if I set my mind to it, it will happen. In other parts of my life, transferring to SSU is a big part. I've gotten letters from the Music Department, and I plan to go there tomorrow to talk to them. If they are busy, or not available, I'll try on Tuesday. I'm interested in a Liberal Arts Major, and I think I want to do composition. The thing that keeps coming up in my mind is that I might, or have made the wrong decision on what to do in college. I love music no doubt, but I also love using computers. I always wonder if I should have become a computer major instead. I bet I would be saying the same if things were backwards. What scares me most about becoming a music major is getting a good job after college. Yeah, I know its hard to know what will come at me in the future, but I feel so much pressure to "get a job" after college, that I feel that music will not take me anywhere. I think this is more me thinking that I'm just going to be a broke artist on the side of the street when I graduate. I think I need to talk to people like at SSU and the JC in the music department, my teachers and such, to find out what they think I can do. I've always been confused to think that if I get my major in music composition, that I can only get a well paid job in music composition. Then I think, there isn't any music composition work out there, and now I'm screwed. See how I'm thinking? That's why I'm so, okay maybe scared, about getting this music degree. What am I going to do after college? But, I don't think it will be that bad. There are so many cool things I'm interested in. Sound, and recording and just some to name a few. I really just love working with audio. I do love playing, but I haven't had much time it feels like. If I really love playing as much as I think I do, I know I need to give myself more time to play. I know these years are hard, but I try to do my best. I really feel that I'm doing a good job going through this all. And speaking of doing stuff, with all that I have done for myself in this last year, and looking up to certain people, I wonder if I could be a motivational speaker. It's something that I have been playing around with in my head for the last few months. Just an idea I have. I really feel that I connect with people well, and I feel I can use that talent in a way to help people, and to make a good and fulfilling living for myself. Maybe add some music to that, and I'm ready to party. So I leave you with this, write your goals down people!

Book I'm reading:

Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

Mom's New Computer

Here I am, posting from my mom's new computer in the office area downstairs. Usually I post from my laptop, at around 10 at night when I'm supposed to be sleeping. It's been a while, so I have a lot to catch up on; hopefully I can do so effectively while I wait for the rice to be done for dinner (18 mins). Anyhoo...it's been a day. Haven't done much really. Woke up about 8:30 a.m. and ate some breakfast. Cleaned up the house and stuff and then went a returned something at WalMart and headed over to the grocery store. And, man! was that place nuts! We got there and there were two cop cars and an abulance outside...something happened inside! But what, I don't know. They had so many Safeway employees blocking the view that I couldn't get a look. Anyways, when we got there there was obviously no parking because half of Rohnert Park had decided to put off buying their SuperBowl snacks until the day of, so it was throughly nuts! I was driving around looking for a parking spot after dropping my mom off by the entrance, and the drive around was just like looking for a spot at SRJC during peak hours. People are camping out to see if anyone near them will back out sometime. And right then something that someone had said in a speech in my Speech class last week came to mind. It wasn't actually a speech, but it was something he had suggested as an "open with impact" statement. Let me clarify that parking at the JC is a nightmare. And because of the nightmare last semester, pretty much everyday I ended up going to school around an hour and half earlier than my class! Believe it or not. This semester I wisened up and instead I'm taking a class at 7:30 am! Woohoo! Anyway, back to the speech thought. He suggested that a funny/witty way to open a speech about how awful SRJC parking was would be to say: "Trying to find a parking spot at the JC is like trying to drive, wipe your baby, talk on your cell phone, and paint your toenails at the same time!" Not only is that remarkably true, in a certain way of course, it was totally hilarious. Imagine someone trying to do that. Luckily when I get there around 7:15 I don't have any issues, and I pretty much get any pick I want. So that, of course is cool. Moving on...

Remaining on the speech topic: I gave my speech on Wednesday of last week (the 1st) and that same day this guy gave a speech about how he hated those rolly back packs. It was soooo funny. Basically, to me, it seemed that he was doing some improvisation right up there. But he was good! He made it funny and acted out just about most of what he was saying...he put his backpack on a rolling chair and rolled around, acting out reasons why it seems silly to even have such a backpack. Not only did he have half the class rolling on the floor, but he made some good points, too! The funniest, and by far the best "close with impact" of the day was: "So, if you see any of those people walking down the path and you see me coming, you might just want to go up to them, tap them on the shoulder, and say, 'Hey, you might want to keep out of his way.'" So great. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when we get to hear the rest of the class' speeches.

So anyway, yesterday, Saturday, we went up to Ukiah for a scrimmage game with my team. It was muy boring. It was such a long drive, and then we got there and the field was totally shitty. There was horribly long grass, two foot holes at each goal (which they filled with CAT LITTER), and everything was wet and cold. It was weird. We played a scoreless 1st half, and then ended up scoring in the second half. The scored ended at 1-1 because the scored a pretty flukey goal. :( But oh well. Then we came home and chilled. I rented The Legend of Zorro and watched that with my mom and dad (my bro was out), and it turned out to be really good! I liked it a lot. :D And speaking of movies, today I watched Finding Nemo after working on some homework. Such a cute movie. Everytime I watch it, it still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Hehe.

That was about all today. I am looking forward to FAMILY GUY at 8:30 for a full NINETY MINUTES! YES!!! I love Family Guy and I haven't seen a new one is so long (actually last week, but who cares). I am excited. Also, the new OC this Thursday should be sweet. Unfortunately, my working boyfriend won't be here to watch it with me.

Speaking of work, I am still out of it. Van Heusen apparently is undergoing some remodelling and I haven't heard anything about it as of yet. Sadly, of course. I am still getting paid (woot woot!), but it still is sorta depressing that nothing is really happening there. But all will be good once we reopen; I'm sure people are truly missing us. I would, that's for sure. I miss it. 0:-)

Alright, well I've probably written too much to handle as it is. Check out SkynMoe #002, our second podcast. You can find the link to it down below. Enjoy! <3,>

Tennis at the Park

You heard about us being at the park from out Podcast, now check out the pics on Flickr. I got some great pics on monique getting some real air on the swings. I also took some shots of myself before Monique got there. Enjoy!

SkynMoe #002 - Cockroaches

“I scream like a freaking banche. And my Grandma comes in beating the wall.”

listen...

Awesome Movie Posers

Okay, this is an Apple / Steve Jobs thing, but its really cool. There was a contest on this guy's blog for those that didn't get an iPod for christmas. The idea was to make a movie poster with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates in a movie poster. I've added a to the website and my favorite photo below.

CONTEST

New Podcast

Hey, we just did a podcast. Finally, you can hear the words right from the source. Check out the website.

PODCAST WEBSITE

Skyler's Tips for getting along with people

Well now, I thought I might want to give my tips for getting along with people. After applying at 10 or so different jobs, and a few of them asking about getting into arguements / fights with co-works, it made me scratch my head. Are people really that bad? Do we think problems are solved by pure force in the workplace (or homeplace)? Okay, so I'm going to go throught this and add as things come off the top of my head.

1) Don't get into the "snap back" talking stle. Always take time to think about what someone says. Your job when listening to someone give information is to first listen to it, then evuate it, then take your time to respond. Its a three step process. Just like taking your time to eat, really take your time to talk back in a meaningful way. By taking your time to slow down, your benifits outweigh the disadvantages. WHen you take your time, you allow the comversation to slow down as well, and things won't become as heated. Just remember that yelling back is never the answer. And just because someone is yelling at you doesn't mean that you should yell back. Take the time for them and yourself to calm down.

2) Your job is to tell the truth. Sounds simple, well it is. If you didn't do something, or forgot to do something, just tell the person that. Make sure you take your time like I said before, but telling the truth is important. People know honesty. When you are more honest, people will respect you. No one is ever perfect, god knows I'm not, but if I do my best and tell the truth, thats the best thing I can do.

dinner time, back later

Role Model

It's kind of funny how people look up to me. Since I havn't gone to weight wacthers to sit down for the whole meeting in a few weeks, I forgot how my image makes a difference to people there. Terri, our weight watcher leader, always likes to bring me up in front of the class. It seems like she does it every week, but who knows. She likes me to once again to tell the class my success story over and over. Not to say that it isn't bad for me to tell it, and I must admit that I forget it myself sometimes, but she sometimes brings up things that I don't remember. Things that I use to do, but don't anymore. I feel kind of bad when she brings these old things up, and I kind of smile and nod just to make her chance her subject. The best part about being up is that I get my little time to try to make an impression on the class. I get to tell them what I'm really doing each day, or over the last week. Back to what I was talking about in the begining of this post, its kind of weird how I'm a role model for some of these people. Maybe it just sounded wierd on the drive home, but I guess I havn't spend enough time thinking about it. It did make me think how we are each role models for one another in this world. I think I was trying to say is that we can each learn something for one another. Just beacuse I don't consider myself a 100% perfect role model, doesn't make me a role model for someone else. Just had these thoughts that I wanted to share.

MacWorld

Once again, MacWorld has come to us Apple people. For those who don't know, MacWorld is a magazine full of Apple related stuff, and once a year, there is an expo / conference that they put on. Its the time in the begining of the year where Apple announces thier new products. New out this week, new iLife '06, the new Pro level laptop - MacBook Pro, and a new iMac. I'm real excited, and I just orded the new iLife as I speek. It of course looks awesome. Oh yeah, my mom and I made the trip to the city to check it all out at MacWorld. It was really cool, and very Mac Geeky. My Mom and I had a great time. Okay, so enough mac talk, check out the photos by clicking on the Picture of me on the left.



In other news, I've been working with Photoshop and taking lots of pictures. This cute picture of Lilly is one of my favorites at the moment. Yeah, it's not real, I've done some work on it, but that's the point. I think it looks great. We'll I don't have much to say other than that. Have a good Thursday everyone! Catch ya later.

-Skyler

Silence!

Today was a pretty uneventful day. Skyler woke me up bright and early for a joggy-poo outside in the freezing cold at 9 am. Then we played some tennis, which gets us both a dose of endorphens (sp?). Then we went over to my g-ma's for me to get her bills done for her. It was a party. After that we came home and redecorated a little bit. We reorganized my dresser in my room. I was getting sick of the huge stereo I had so I decided that I wanted it gone, since I never use it. So we cleaned it all off and put up some pictures and cute decorations (pics coming soon), so that was pretty exciting. Also, while we did that, Sky convinced me to try something new and the whole time we didn't talk. At all. Sounds crazy but it really made me appreciate the fact that I can talk, because if I couldn't it would make things take longer and longer. We tried to communicate by talking on a notepad page on my laptop, and we did some makeshift sign language. It was great practice for charades (p.s. REMATCH, Torie!!). So then we went up to Best Buy and I bought myself a stereo thingy for my iPod. It's one just like Sky's mom's. AWESOME. It really sounds good, even for the price...plus it takes up about 1/20 of the space. YES!! Hehe, then after that we came home and ate some lunch/dinner stuff...and then off to soccer practice for me, and more tennis for my Skyler. Once we were done there we just came home for some bbq chicken and roasted veggies. Yummmmmmy. Me gusta. Anyway, then we watched Wedding Crashers! I bought the uncorked version; and it had some pretty funny adds. I'm surprised they didn't put them in the movie. But anyway, yeah. After that, during which Skyler fell asleep (I guess he had seen it 3 times), we had to jump Sky's car cuz the battery was dead. But lucky for him, I was right behind my front door waiting for his call. Well, sorta. :-/ Anyhoo...it's prob my bedtime right now...AY 11:42!!! Here I go. Have a good one peeps.

Windows Vista Update

Earlier this week, Bill Gates gave the Keynote Address at CES. In an effort to gear people up for the gadget wizardry they were about to experience on the show floor, Bill touted the revolutionary new features of the upcoming Windows Vista. Baring any further setbacks, Vista is scheduled to be released near the end of 2006.

Short Must See Video

Getting out of the House

Some days, you just need to get out of the house. It might be a condition I have, but if I spend a few days doing generally the same thing over and over, it drives me crazy. Well, today was my lucky day to get out a little. This morning, I took a drive up to the Apple store in the mall in Santa Rosa to take my dad's sick iMac G5 in. It was having some overheating problems, so I took it to the nice genius there. After a 20 minute wait while the genius was helping someone else out, he looked over my computer. I told him what was going on, it was overheating after a while, and we decided to test it out again. Launching every program on the computer, he went away while the computer hummed along. Like I hoping it would, the iMac overheated. Though the genius was in the back fixing something else when it happened, when he came back out and looked at it, he heard the overpowering fans that both my dad and I hear. He said something like, "oh yeah, I know what's going on here". Man, isn't that a releif to hear. The genuis printed out a sheet of paper so they could take it over to spend the night there. They were going to replace the logic board or something. Guess what, FREE! Man, Apple rocks. Where else can you take your computer and get it all looked at and fixed for free? My point exactly. Buy an Apple.

After a quick lunch at Monique (yummy Turkey sandwitches) we headed to Washington Mutual for her to open an account. It look like 10 minutes, and I sat there reading my Photoshop CS2 book I bought on Amazon. After she deposited $1 into her savings account, we headed off to my house. I knew once I got home, that I didn't want to stay. I had wanted to go the coast to take a hike, but Monique couldn't go far. She has to stay "close to here" so that when he work calls, so can go work. Monique's working on call now that they are re-doing the store after the flood. The good news is there is still work, but the bad news is, you don't know when its going to come, so you just have to drop stuff and leave. Kind of sucks when you want to plan stuff, but eh, it happens.

Monique was good enough to notice that I didn't want to stay home at all. She started to drive us Helen Puttnam Park when I suggested that we go where I though would be cool. We ended up on a hill overlooking Petaluma. Just a few blocks from my house, its such a cool place. We hiked around the trees and took photos. We got some great shots! So go check them out. I had such a great time walking around the hill. The fun had to end when Monqiue was of course, called into work around 3.

But oh no, the day wasn't over. Monique got off at 7, and I had an itching to take her out to dinner. After a 10 minute brain storm of every food place in Petaluma, we decided on Hunan Village in Petaluma. A good chineese food place on the east side, near Kmart if you don't know where it is. We ordered some sweet and sour chicken along with an order of Kung Pow chicken. We sat for 7 minutes before the food came out, talking about random things. About the food, you know its good when Monique and I go from chatting to no noise. We were both really hungry and the food was so good, we just sat and ate. It was just really good food, and that's all I can say. We ate it all and got out the door $21.70 less rich. But of course, more rich with memories and satisifaction. Making our way home, we cought the end of Goldeneye with my brother and his friend, and that was about it. Monique left. I've been on ther computer here since then, its 2am now, and I need sleep. Have a good Saturday everyone!

It's Bowling Time

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Originally uploaded by skylerf85.

Wednesday night is bowling night. 'Nuff said.

Happy New Year...and stuff...

Well...it's been a while...actually only like 4 days, but w/e. Anyway, we have been busy. On new years eve, the same day Sky posted the flood stuff, we went to the dance. We should have some of those photos on flickr one of these days...who knows? Anyway, then after that Sky had to work the next day, poor guy, but I went over to Torie's for a bit. It was, if I remember correctly, the fourth year in a row that I've gone over to her house on New Years day. Well, anyway, we watched 40-year-old Virgin and talked. Other than that, I have gone to work where nothing particularly super was happening...it was very 1) muddy, 2) wet, and 3) REALLY REALLY smelly. Luckily on Tuesday while I was in, they had floor cleaners fix that, and now it smells better. The sucky thing is, though, that now they don't need us to come in so I am not gonna get my hours in! :( But oh well, could be worse. I could be at Brooks Bros., but I'm glad I'm not. Anyhoo...today Sky and I just hung out and we went bowling with Torie and Anthony @ Double Decker (photos coming soon also). We played a nice 2 games, and Torie one the first, while Sky dominated the second after finishing last the first game. Talk about the underdog...my baby's a studmuffin! :D Anyway, I hope everyone has a super rest of the week. Check in later for somemore aimless talking!