Professors. UGH!

I had an exam in one of my classes today. Not a big deal, this is school after all, there will be exams. What bugs me is that my professor wasn't there. Instead, we had a guest 'speaker' of sorts come in and hand out the exam and watch over us to make sure we didn't cheat. One thing that bugs me is that if we needed clarification, the guest 'speaker' might have interpreted it differently than our professor intended so we would be screwed. 

Several hours after my exam, as I was walking home, I saw my professor. He clearly wasn't sick. I asked him why he wasn't in class today. He claimed that he was guest lecturing a different class. So instead of having our professor, we had a guest 'speaker' and he went to guest speak at some other class. 

Guest speakers are fine if they are contributing to the subject matter, don't get me wrong, but this guy was NOT! We had this particular guest speaker come in last week Tuesday and he started off by telling us that he was recently fired from a police department because of several 'issues' were he was not doing his job correctly. He then went on to say that we all (a criminal justice class of grad and undergrad students) were nuts to go into this field because you can be fired at any moment for something that you do. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but you can be fired at any moment from any job because of going against the rules of that company. 

I can't speak for anyone else in my class, but I'm in school to learn. I actually like learning (never thought I'd say that). I am also paying for my professor to teach me. My professor has not been to three classes already (only the 5th week of the semester). I'm not paying for a guest speaker to come in and tell us that we are all crazy for picking this subject matter. I'm not paying for the same guest speaker to come in and babysit us while we are taking an exam that we can't ask questions about to be clarified. 

All I want to do is learn. Not that hard of a concept.

Good Deed

Last night, after a beautiful snowfall all day which accumulated up to several inches, Mike and I headed down to play pool. When were were almost at our destination, we see this sports car trying to turn right at a stop light but all he kept doing was spinning his tires, going no where. So we decided to be good Samaritans and help him out. After pushing him for a few minutes he finally was able to drive without our help. As we crossed back to our side of the street, he rolled down his window and shouted a quick thank you and drove away. 

After several hours of playing pool, we head out to go home and I decided that because it was such a peaceful night, we'd walk along the beach. Only thing I didn't consider as we made our way down the steps, was that the sidewalk was shoveled and buried in almost a foot of snow due to wind drifts. As it was almost midnight, with no cars around, we decided to walk in the street which was freshly plowed. A few cars came and went, one old guy even honked at us angrily, but we always moved to the side of the road. 

It was a nice night, even with the old guy honking. 

Tricky Grandparents

Yesterday I visited my grandparents. My Opa was still napping so my Oma and I were talking and then we started playing doubles solitaire (ironic, I know). A little while later, my Opa comes into the kitchen where we were playing and starts reading the newspaper and keeps interrupting our solitaire game for me to read bits and pieces of the news including the middle school shooting in New Mexico, the retired cop who shot and killed someone in a movie theater over texting in Florida and about the woman who gambled her millions away in Vegas. During that time, my Oma would keep playing solitaire, possibly cheating! 

Once he finished the newspaper, he brings out a book with famous paintings and their stories and the stories of the artists in them. He shows me the famous picture of Adam and Eve and asks if I can spot the mistake. Again, all the while my Oma is playing solitaire and possibly cheating cause she kept winning!

The mistake of course being that they have belly buttons. 

Next he shows me "The Discovery of Honey" and asks what I think of all of those "funny little people."

My theory is that my Oma and Opa planned this whole charade so that my Oma could win more games against me than I normally let her win. 

To get back at her, I took her smurf figures and hid them all around the house. I think we're about even, but I'm watching them!

Playing God?

According to some website that has different "holiday's" each day, it is Play God Day. Also according to the website, people believe that God is good and therefore it is a day to do something good and extra special. You could do something nice and boring like hold open a door, shovel snow for someone for free or bake cookies for your neighbor...but what if you are not a good God. 

What if you like watching people suffer. What if you like watching them get hurt. Well then I suggest you don't actually do these things in real life (cause the law doesn't care that it's Play God Day and you might get in trouble), so I suggest writing. If you want to watch people suffer, write a scene where a dog dies and the family is in mourning. Feeling more evil then that? Maybe you blow something up. A bomb in a house. A pipe exploding in a factory. A fatal car crash. Want to go bigger? Maybe a plane crash.

Remember to always think big, whether good or evil. Think like Darth Vader if you have to, remember, he blew up a whole planet!

(and yes while Tarkin gave the order, the guy at the control panel actually fired, and Darth Vader who held Princess Leia back)

2013 In Review

Went to several friends weddings.

Completed my second Tough Mudder with my mom.

I got to play in bouncy castles with two Green Bay Packers.

Went deer hunting with my dad.

Completed 2 more semesters of Grad School with a current GPA of 3.62.

Worked on editing and writing my books. 

It was a pretty decent year. 

Here's to 2014!

Pre-Christmas Productivity! (2 recipes!)

I made Russian Tea Balls (cookies)! My grandma always had these on the cookie tray for Christmas and when she passed in 2010, I decided I would keep that tradition alive since it was one of my dads favorite cookies.

Russian Tea Ball Recipe:
1 cup butter softened, 1/2 cup powder sugar, 1t vanilla extract blend that together. Add 2 1/4 cups flour and 1/4t salt and blend. Stir in 3/4 cups chopped walnuts (the finer, the better). Form into 1" round balls and place on baking sheet. Bake at 400* F for 10 minutes. Roll in powder sugar right away. Once cool, roll in powder sugar again. Enjoy!

After cookies (and a round of dishes) we brought in the train set and set it up.

After lunch I made a Chocolate Cheesecake (my first ever cheesecake that I made solo)

Recipe: 1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs, 1/2 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts, 1/3 cup melted butter, 3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese softened, 1 cup sugar, 12 squares (1 ounce each) bittersweet baking chocolate (melted and cooled), 3 eggs (lightly beaten), 1 cup sour cream, 1 1/2 t vanilla extract, 1/2 t almond extract, dash salt
Glaze: 4 squares (1 ounce each) bittersweet baking chocolate, 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 t vanilla extract
Combine chocolate wafer crumbs, hazelnuts and butter, press into the bottom of an ungreased 9-inch springform pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add chocolate (If you don't have 12 ounces of bittersweet baking chocolate like I found out, you can use unsweetened baking chocolate and add 1/4 cup sugar for every 4 ounces unsweetened and it will turn out the same). Add eggs; beat on low until just combined. Add sour cream, extracts and salt; beat just until blended. pour over crust. place pan on baking sheet.
Bake at 350* for 60-65 minutes or until the center is almost set. Cool pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
For glaze, in heavy saucepan or microwave, melt chocolate with cream, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Remove sides of springform pan. Spread gaze over top. Refrigerate overnight. Garnish with whipped cream and hazelnuts.

Instead of chocolate wafer crumbs, I killed these guys...I mean used these.

Fresh from the oven:

The finished product! (really rich and you will need a glass of milk to go with it)

Dear Gym Asshole

Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you, the dude in the red sweatshirt today.

Background: I was at they gym doing squats with the barbell and looking at the mirror to make sure I go down all the way each time. During one of my first few sets, an asshole decides to use a barbell right in front of me (minded other barbells that weren't in front of me were open) and stays there doing squats of his own, really poorly might I add. Not only was he in front of me when he was doing his squats, but he did really annoying grunts and wasn't even lifting that much to justify grunting. 

The moral of the story is, don't be an asshole at the gym. It's simple. When someone is using the mirror and you have other options on where to stand, stand elsewhere!