Calc Midterm, then Party!

Wednesday was the Calculus midterm, and I didn't do all that well, but I'm not alone. Temper my 49% with the fact that the average was 51%, standard deviation 16%. I feel like school is going pretty well, but I'm staying incredibly busy with special events. Like Friday night's Buff Bus driver's party. Dine, the girl I trained with, worked very hard and was actually able to reserve one of the 22-passenger mini buses for a "team-building event." She invited all the drivers to be picked up at their residences, to be taken to a park off of Broadway and Table Mesa for a barbecue. We had a great time, and I got to meet a couple of drivers formally instead of just passing them on the time sheets. I spent a good amount of time talking to Stuart, an Army ROTC cadet and generally good guy, and we arranged to switch our schedules a bit to make both our lives a bit easier. Great time.

Saturday was another football game, this one against #3 Oklahoma. I had the distinction of driving the ADA bus, shuttling those with physical disabilities down to the stadium. Once again, the streets became extremely crowded before the game. So crowded that on the last drop-off before the game, Events Services wouldn't even let me down the street. Most of my passengers decided to walk the short distance left to the stadium, but one gentleman was adamant about being dropped off before the game started, and I was adamant about getting him there. I ended up dropping him off at a different gate, then had a hell of a time trying to get back on route. After the game started, however, the crowds dropped off sharply and I was able to get back to work. The rest of the day was uneventful, except perhaps for the big win!

Sunday was my second party for the weekend, Kristen's baby shower. I spent a little time helping set up decorations, and then the rest of the time enjoying the friends, food, and festivities. I lost my necklace with the plastic safety pin pretty early on for saying the word "baby." (That was one of the games.) However, I did pretty well at pinning a cloth diaper to a balloon. And getting the little plastic baby out of the ice cube was no problem. Normally I guess you have to hold the cube and warm it and it takes a while, but I opted to put it on the deck and smash the cube with my foot. It was dubbed the "emergency C-section" method of playing the game.

Hopefully I can get back to business as usual soon. We have more drivers coming into the company, so work will be letting off a bit. I'm done with midterms for the moment, but there's no end of homework and studying with which to occupy myself. And I may have exciting news soon, since Ashley and my 5-year anniversary of dating is approaching...

Ruidoso

This weekend was our family trip to Ruidoso, and we had a great time! Ashley and I spend Thursday night trying to pack and plan for the airport. Friday after class, I headed strait home to get the last few things ready. Ashley and I got out of the house on perfect time, parked on the off-site lot, went through a quick computer kiosk for check-in, and buzzed through security without a hitch. We had a little bit of time, so I introduced Ashley to the USO at Denver International Airport. The flight was very short, and in no time, we met my mom at the baggage claim in Albuquerque. We spent about 3 hours driving southeast, some of it through twisty mountain roads, and found the condo without too much trouble. We met Dad and Jeannie there, and went to bed promptly thereafter.

Saturday, we picked up some groceries, then mostly just lounged around. Zach showed up mid-afternoon, and everyone took some time to enjoy each other's company. It's not often that we can get the whole family in one place anymore! Sunday was spent in the shopping district, looking at all of the neat little stores. After that, we found a spot with go-carts, which Dad, Zach and I rode around, and mini-golf for everyone.

Monday, Ashley decided that she needed a Western-style photo (and I wasn't opposed, I'm just being ornery), so we had some photos taken of the entire family plus Ashley, then just Ashley and I, and then just Jeannie. It was really fun, we had the prints ready in about 20 minutes, and they even sold us a CD with all of the digital photos that we took! That was just amazing, I didn't think that they would just release the copyright just like that. After a little more shopping, Mom, Jeannie, Ashley and I headed for Albuquerque once more, and that night we were home.

Midterms, Round 1

Well, Tuesday night was my first midterm exam of the semester. It was in my General Physics 2 class, and I already have the score back, a B. I'm pretty happy with that, although I haven't seen what questions I missed. I have an exam in Calculus next week, we'll see how that goes. This weekend is the family trip to Ruidoso, NM, so I'll have to study on vacation. What a gyp.

A Game and A Shower

The week was normal for the status quo. I'm still working a bunch, and not incredibly happy, but at least I'm keeping up with schoolwork. Saturday, I first had a trip up to CU's Mountain Research Station, a very beautiful, scenic drive.

Saturday evening was the football game against Florida State, and I was driving WillVille. Not only was it the first game of the year at Folsom Field, but it was also Florida State's first ever trip to CU, so the student body was hyped up and there were a lot of Floridians in attendance. For some reason, Events Services had not redirected our normal route, so we were expected to keep going through the middle of campus along Colorado Ave. As game time approached, it seemed obvious that it wasn't going to work for long. Colorado Ave. was a sea of people, with vendors and radio stations lined up on the sidewalks and people meandering everywhere. I found that I could inch through the crowd safely, but my horn was only semi-functional. Just as the game started, they decided to redirect the route to Regent Dr. Duh! But after that, the evening went as quiet as any game night, relatively wild but nothing too horrible. Too bad we didn't win the football game.

Sunday evening was Holly and Chris' wedding shower, which Ashley helped to organize and plan. It was a wonderful evening, highlighted by a photo montage on DVD made by Holly's father, several games (including the TP wedding dress contest), and of course, the presents. They made a decent haul. Gosh, their wedding is coming up pretty quick. Ashley and I are in the wedding party, so I should probably go get fitted for the suit I need!

Mini-Reunion

Hey all, just a quick update. This weekend, my dad came up from New Mexico, and my dad's uncle and a couple of his cousins came from California to Colorado for a visit. I followed them all around Saturday and we met with quite a few relatives. However, the person of honor was my great grandma Jean. She's 86 years young and battling cancer, so she's usually quite tired. This time, with my dad and his cousins, and a couple of my aunts and their children and grandchildren, grandma perked up and held out for quite a few hours as everyone talked on her front porch. She still seemed frail and tired, but she was also excited to have so many of her generations in attendance.

School has been going well, but it's certainly picking up pace. A rhythm is slowly starting to form, and I just need to adapt my schedule to it. I'm working quite a bit again this week, but nothing like the first week, thank god. Don't worry, my studies still come first.

Good Long Labor Day

Well, Saturday I looked forward to my last bus run for the week, the CU vs CSU football game. It's traditionally one of the rowdiest games of the year, seeing as CSU is our rival school. Well, sure enough, even at 8:30 in the morning, we had several hundred people lined up on the sidewalk, all vying for a seat on the Buff Bus. We packed all of our buses as full as we could allow, then set off for Mile High Stadium. The entire way, the crowd would start up singing the school song, and a variation on a CSU chant, "It sucks, to be, a CSU Ram!" Once we hit the traffic, the crowd would often see a car loaded with black and gold, and cheer. Or they might see an SUV loaded with green and yellow, and start jeering.

We made it to the stadium in one piece, but after much more traffic on the side streets, we were turned away from the usual bus parking lot. This upset me quite a bit, as I was forced to drive around (at a crawl) and try and find a place to let off the now-rioting mob behind the driver's seat. Eventually, after many pleas to just "Let us off here!" and "I really really have to pee!" I just let them off near a major causeway. The parking arrangement was settled, and I was allowed to enjoy the game. I'm not a huge fan of football, but I know enough that I can enjoy the occasional game. It was an interesting game, first very close, then CSU took off and at one point had an 11 point lead, then CU came back. I had to leave halfway through the 4th quarter, so I didn't get to see the tying field goal or any of the overtime period, during which CU took the lead. I was pleasantly surprised when my passengers back were fairly calm and not a rejoicing bacchanal. However, while I was refueling, I discovered that one of my back windows had been punched and broken, probably on the trip down. All in all, better than I expected.

The rest of the weekend was quiet. I tried to arrange a party on Monday, and cleaned furiously for it, but it didn't happen. The person I was most interested in seeing was Mike, who is rumored to be thinking about moving into Alcott. I haven't talked to him in some time, and I still can't seem to get a hold of him. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

And despite working myself to death last week, I'm mostly keeping up with my studies. Maybe that's because it was the first week, a fairly light study load. It looks as if this next week will be much more reasonable. Knock on wood.