Hesitant, Hopeful

I was talking to my mom today when I realized that in light of all the recent bad news, I neglected to mention a bit of good news.  I got a letter Wednesday from the Graduate Coordinator informing me that I was accepted into the Graduate Assistant Program.  My initial contract period will be 4.5 months for the Fall 2010 semester and renewal of my contract will depend upon my performance, but I got it!  I'm looking forward to getting started in the Fall, but am doubly glad I took the summer off.  Going to school and working as a GA is a lot of work.  I wrote back accepting the position, so am now waiting to hear about the orientation and all of that, which probably won't happen until late in the summer.

Now that I've imparted my bit of good news to you, much more succinctly than the last post, I'm off.  Hope you've had a good weekend!!

I realized this morning that it's been a while since I've written.  It's been a difficult week, very difficult, but now that it's nearly (thankfully) over I thought I'd write about it.  I said in the last post that we were going to NW Texas this week, which we did on Monday and Tuesday.  We got a bit of a late start on Monday, so we were pulling into Plainview around 7:30pm, a bit later than I had planned but it was a difficult 5.5 hours.  Matt gets terrible road hypnotism and I hate to drive, so we bickered and fought nearly the whole way.  We got into a terrible storm where we were hydroplaning all over the road and we missed the turn-off.  Luckily, the road we were on would get us there, it would just take a little longer, so we decided not to turn around in the storm but to just keep pushing forward. This meant pushing through a tiny little town called Post, where the water was higher than the sidewalks and our car spent a little time drifter here and there.  It was beautiful and frightening, well, except the Post part, that town's a dump!

The time we spent in Plainview was incredibly bittersweet.  It was nice to see my grandparents, parents, and cousins I've not seen in what feels like forever, but the reason we were all there hung heavy in the air.  We got some bad news, which recently turned into slightly better news, but there's really no permanent good news possible right now.  We're all hoping for the best and though my grandmother is bedridden, she looks better than I had expected.  The hardest part of the visit was going with my mom, Aunt Wanda, Candi, and my cousin Penny to choose my grandmother's casket and grave marker.  It was really, really hard, but I was glad to be able to be there for my mom. We left around 8:30pm on Tuesday night which got us home around 2:30am.  It was a less, and more, difficult trip going home than it had been going there.  Matt drove the whole way because I have terrible night blindness.  Other than the one lapse in judgment, where he pulled us onto a frontage road in the middle of no where in the pitch black night to be serial killed, the trip home was okay.

Wednesday I was so tired... so, so tired. I got a late start of the day and didn't get much in the way of work done.  At this point I'd lost nearly 2 full days of work this week, which isn't great but is recoverable.  I did a little work and then went to have a late lunch with my best girlfriend, Melanie.  We had a nice lunch, chatted a bit about my trip and some things that're going on with her, and then I went and hung out at her place until after midnight.  She checked up on Ani and Galileo twice while we were out of town, for which I was really grateful. When I got home Matt was starving so we went out to a very late dinner, even though we probably shouldn't have because of my being behind this week.  All in all, Wednesday was nice but unproductive.

Then came the day from hell: Thursday.

Matt had a test yesterday morning, but hadn't had much sleep.  It would appear that he woke up and our landlord had turned off the water to fix the pipes, so he didn't have even so much as a shower, let alone a pot of coffee.  So, off to his test he went without his needed sustenance (read: without coffee and sleep).  I woke up about 10:20am, about 10 minutes after he left, with the phone ringing off the hook.  Whoever was calling called 4 times by the time I got out of bed and answered the phone.  Under normal circumstances, I'd have ignored it, but with my grandmother being sick and my folks being on the road, I thought it best to get the phone.  It was Matt.  Turns out he locked his keys in the car with the car running.  First thought, what the hell does he expect me to do about it.  So, I got angry and told him I'd try to reach Melanie to take me up there, but she had to be at work shortly after that so I didn't think that was going to work anyway.  I couldn't reach her, so when he called back after his test, when the car had been idling in the parking lot for an hour, I told him to call the campus police to unlock the car.  He did and got home, but by this time I'd discovered that we had no water, so I was pretty unhappy.

I was getting some work done, trying to turn the bad day into something productive, when quite abruptly the internet went off.  This is the point at which I became enraged beyond reason, I nearly exploded into confetti right there.  I texted Matt, who was out getting us lunch, and there were more than a few uses of the word "fuck" thrown in for good measure.  I was so angry, so, so angry. He wasn't happy either, because he had things he needed to do too, but mostly it was my anger at the fact that I had already lost 2 days of work this week and suddenly, thanks to the net, I was going to lose another half day.  I really can't afford it, and here I was, unable to work thanks to the damn internet outage.  I tried to call CenturyLink (our internet company, who I absolutely hate!!) and I couldn't get ahold of them.  I called 800-555-1212 for their number, but couldn't get it.  I called the operator to connect me and they said they could, and then gave me the wrong damn number.  Finally, Matt got ahold of them and it turns out it was an area wide outage, from somewhere in the Metroplex down past us.  It didn't help, I was still angry.  It stayed out from midday to about midnight.

On the upside, I got a book I'd started a while back nearly finished.  I've not read that much for enjoyment in a while, so it was nice.  Matt went to bed, so I was left alone in the quiet (or mostly quiet, thanks to the mice) to read.  Very nice evening, even though I was still pissed about the net being down.  The one upside was being invited to Phoena's for the 4th of July.  I'm really looking forward to going out of town for fun, to see a friend, should be a nice escape, even if we'll be back here Monday July 5th for summer session two classes for Matt.  Okay, I just checked the schedule, and it's not summer 2 classes we have to be here for, it's the last week of Summer session one.  Either way, Matt'll still be in school so we won't be able to stay over night out there, though we were invited.  This means, of course, that we get to see fireworks twice!  The fireworks thing here will be on Saturday, July 3rd, because the 4th of July is a Sunday.  I don't get it, but I'm also not surprised (stupid Bible belt messing with tradition).  It's working to my favor, so I shouldn't complain.

Today, I'm getting a late start but am planning to try to get some work done.  I'll also be working tomorrow and Sunday because I'm behind.  I have writing group Saturday night, which will be a nice reprieve from work.  I'm hoping to get a little bit caught up for all the days I've missed this week.  I have a few pics to share, now that you've gotten through all my yammering in one piece.  Here ya go:

I got my haircut before we left on Monday (the second pic is a good indication of the awesomeness of that drive)...

I took my camera along and am a little bit picture crazy, so here's a few pics from the trip...

Matt made the astute observation that it's nice to see wind turbines on the Texas prairie rather than oil wells.  We did see some oil wells, it is Texas after all, but there were just fields and fields of wind turbines.  It's nice to see, it does the environmentalist in me good.







Saw this awesome retro sign in Lubbock when we stopped so Matt could walk around a minute and kick his road hypnotism.  I have no idea what it is, but it was in front of a broken down building.

This is part of the view from our hotel room.  I loved the sign and couldn't resist taking a picture because when I saw it, my first thought was, "They spelled Endor wrong."  Ha!  I'm such a Star Wars nerd.

I haven't written about this before because it's very personal to me and because I'm not entirely sure how to go about adequately expressing my feelings.  I've eluded to it over the last few months, but never come right out and said what was on my mind.  It's hard, sometimes, to say the things I'm feeling but right now, I need to.  Tomorrow Matt and I head to north-west Texas to see my family.  My parents are out from California to see my grandparents who live in Plainview, which is about 5.5 hours from here.  We'll be gone from Monday afternoon until Tuesday night, and while right now there aren't many things more important than going to visit, there are also few things more difficult.

My last living grandparent, my mom's mother, is dying of cancer.  She has stage 4 ovarian cancer, has had a lot of surgeries over the last few years, has come back from the brink of death on several occasions and has taken her fair share of chemo, but now there's nothing more.  There's just the attempt to make her comfortable, she can't take any more chemo because the chemo was killing her as surely as the cancer.  Just this last week they contacted home hospice, who put her on morphine drops for the pain and installed a gel-insert over her mattress because she's almost completely bed ridden now.

I haven't experienced a lot of loss in my life.  I've been lucky to live nearly 32 years without losing many people that I love.  Though my grandma Wilma is my last living grandparent, I wasn't close enough to the others for their death's to touch me in any significant way.  My father's mother died of breast and brain cancer when he was a teen, some ten years before I was born.  His father died when I was 20 years old, but we weren't close because he'd never loved me and had no compunction about allowing me to understand that fact.  My mom's father was killed when I was 15 years old but we weren't close for a lot of reasons.  In all cases it hurt because my parents were hurting, with the single exception of my father's mother who I never knew, though it hurts to know my father had to endure the loss of a parent when he was only a child.  Still, none of it really affected me beyond the difficulty of seeing people I love hurting.

The first time I felt any real loss at the death of someone important to me was when my ex-husband's great grandmother died.  I was 18 years old and I had loved her, she was an amazing lady and her loss was hard for me.  At that point, I think it was more the lack of experience with death than anything else.  The only other time I've experienced a true loss was when Matt's grandfather died in 2002.  He was the most amazing person, a really warm and giving man who had suffered during his lifetime the loss of not only his wife, but his only child.

Matt's the opposite, he's experienced more than his fair share of loss.  In 1998 he lost his mother, all of grandparents have passed, and he's lost a lot of friends to both violence and sickness.  He knows what it feels like to really grieve, he has the unfortunate experience of feeling deeply the loss, and over the last few months, every time my grandmother comes up, he's given me a look of such sorrow.  He knows loss, he also knows that for the most part I don't, and I can see in his eyes the desire to spare me hurt and the helplessness knowing he can't.

But this, this is not any of those situations where loss has occurred external to me.  This affects me and for one of the very few times in my life I know I won't only have to grieve the pain of others, but my own, as well.  As the first grandchild on my mother's side, my grandmother has always been great with me.  When I was two years old she moved to Texas to be closer to her parents and every year of my childhood my family took a vacation to Texas to see my grandma.  Years later, when I learned to read and write, she and I would write letters back and forth, which is significant because I couldn't even read or write until I was in the 5th grade.  Writing back and forth with my grandma was my first significant writing experience. Regrettably, I don't have any of those letters anymore; when I was a little girl it never occurred to me that someday I would cherish them.

There have been a lot of those experiences over the years, and now that I'm older, I appreciate every one of those moments.  What I regret most of all is that over the last few year I haven't been able to see her as often as I'd have liked.  Though we only live 5.5 hours away the distance has been insurmountable at times.  Finances and school obligations have always stood between us and that 5.5 hour drive.  Now, I wish we'd made more time or found more money because soon, we won't have that opportunity anymore.

It's going to be hard to see her bedridden.  Last time I saw her, only a few months ago, she looked different, but she still looked like my grandma.  She has been through a lot over the last few years, wasn't well even then, but still made time to make me a pumpkin pie because she knows it's my favorite.  She gave me a beautiful quilt she made with her mother from tiles that had been her grandmothers and it's something I will cherish always.  In the last few months her condition has deteriorated and the worse she gets the more my heart hurts at the prospect of losing my grandma.

We'll only be there over night, gone only a day and a half, because again life has cropped up and gotten in the way.  Things don't slow down because we're losing those we love, a regrettable fact of life.  I know when she dies it's going to hurt, I already hurt and she's still here, but for now I'm trying to focus on getting up there to see her again and support my mother because as much as I'm hurting, I know she must be hurting more.  I wish these things weren't so hard, I'm terrible at hurting and seeing those I love hurt. I don't want to lose my grandma, but I don't want her to suffer, either.

I'm sure when I get back I'll have more to say, but for now I have laundry to do before we can leave tomorrow.

I've been meaning to write about this for a while, although if you follow me on Twitter of Facebook you're probably already well aware.  A few weeks ago, while browsing the forums at Suite101, I found an amazing opportunity on a fellow writer's website.  She was writing about writing for Blissfully Domestic, it turns out she's the editor-in-chief for the site.  I enjoy Blissfully Domestic as a reader and after hearing what she had to say about it decided to apply to be a contributing writer.  A few days later, I was accepted, so I'll be writing about, well, writing.  It's a topic I know a little something about, one I enjoy delving into, and I have a ton of thoughts about what I'd like to write.

I mention this now for two reason.  First, if you're anything like me, you probably notice when something new appears on a blog's sidebar.  I installed the beautiful Blissfully Domestic Contributor button a few days back; it links directly to my profile over there.  The second reason is that yesterday my first article went live.  I wrote about starting a writing group and would love for you to give it a read.  Thoughtful comments on the article are both welcome and appreciated!

I also hope you'll check back to Blissfully Domestic in the future, give the site a read, and see what I've been up to over there.  In turn, I'll let you know when something new is posted there to look for.  Enjoy the article!

Today is writing group day!  I'm pretty excited to be getting back to it.  We took a few weeks off during finals and are just now getting back to our regularly scheduled writing, except that instead of Thursdays, we're writing on Saturdays.  I had planned to do some brainstorming and prepare but I've not gotten any done.  Too much else going on... and by that I mean work, gaming, and playing with my new phone!  I still have a little less than four hours before writing group, so I'm going to kick my sounding board into high gear and bounce some ideas off of Matt.  He doesn't like some of the things I'm doing, but I figure it's my story and I can do what I want with it.  That said, he's always good for ideas and to get me back on track, he's a saint!

Anyway, I've been tottering back and forth between Remembering Tomorrow and Love's Daughter, so I'm not sure which one I'll work on today, but it'll be one of them.  I have some other idea, some other stories I want to start and work on, and a novel I want to edit, but I really think I want to keep focused on those two novels until they're done!  Remembering Tomorrow is in better shape than Love's Daughter, so I'm thinking that's the one that'll win.  Also, I'm not entirely sure what to do with Love's Daughter, which is a pretty good reason not to work on it.  The one time I tried to use Matt for a sounding board on that story, my romance novel turned into an action book.  I had to scrap all the brainstorming, it was not working for me.  So yeah, I just need to think that story through by myself and I've not had enough time to do that.

So, I'm hoping that my scribometer will be moving in some significant way tonight!  For now, I'm off to brainstorm up a... er... storm?  Yeah, you get my point.  See y'all later!

Several years ago, I decided to give up on ever trying to be technologically up to date.  It wasn't exactly a conscious decision, but more like something that just happened, which I allowed because it was easier and cheaper than getting up to date.  Tonight, Matt and I changed that... we got ourselves cell phones!  I know what you're thinking, that we have to be the only people on the planet without cell phones before now.  You'd probably be right.  I knew when I saw my 80-something grandfather with a cell phone that it was time.  That's been several months ago now and I'm just not getting around to getting up to date.  Better late then never, right?!

I decided that if I was getting a phone, it was going to be a smart-phone or nothing.  I need to be able to connect, a phone for me is so much more than making phone calls.  I want to text and connect to my social networks!  I want to tweet and Facebook or it's not worth it.  If it were just for making calls it just wouldn't matter, I don't get that many calls and the only person I really talk to on the phone is my mom.  Smartphones are amazing!  I looked at several of them before deciding on what I got, the black myTouch 3G Slide, while Matt tottered back and forth between the Blackberry and the HTC HD2.  Eventually, the badass touch phone won out over the blackberry, so that's what he got.  For me, there was never any question.  When I saw the myTouch 3G Slide I was in love and that was that!  We got them at Wal-Mart and got a really good deal --saved ourselves almost $100 over the internet price.

It wasn't until I tried finding a gel skin for my new phone that I learned that the myTouch 3G Slide is a brand new phone.  Apparently myTouch 3g isn't, but the slide is.  So, I couldn't find a case anywhere.  Wal-Mart didn't have them, so we went to Hastings who also didn't have them, we even checked Radio Shack who had a ton of skins for every phone under the sun except mine!  Matt's phone is also a brand new model and it came with a gel skin, so he wasn't searching high and low for one.  I ended up ordering the one and only case for sale for this phone and it cost me $30 (which I wasn't particularly happy about, either).  Fortunately, it's cute! It's pink and black plaid, which is totally my style!!

The phone itself is awesome!  It has both a touch keyboard and the QWERTY keyboard.  As the name implies, it slides up (I suppose you can see that in the pic, huh?) which is really neat.  The phone came with a bunch of fairly standard ringtones, so I'm going to have to figure out how to get some more.  I could buy them from t-mobile but they'll cost me $2.50 each.  I am not paying $2.50 for a ring tone!  I'd like to get Lady Antebellum's I need you now, but not for that price.  So, if you have any info on where I might get cheaper ringtones, let me know.  I might be willing to pay for them if I didn't think I'd just get tired of them in two seconds and want a new one.  If you read this blog, and you've seen how many themes I've had in the last year, you'd understand what I mean.

Anyway, one of the cooler features, in my humble opinion, is the "Genius" button.  This thing is awesome.  It allows me to make calls with a simple voice command.  I can call anyone in my directory by saying their name clearly.  I haven't tried to call anyone who isn't in my directory with it, so I don't know if that works or not.  It's not just calls, I can do other things too, like send texts, find businesses, and search the web.  I don't know how much use I'll get out of it right now, but I may use it when I get more comfortable.  Oh, also, the phone has "Swype," which is that fastest texting in the world thing you see on commercials.  I sort of hate it, so I don't use it, but it's there if I ever decide I want to try it.  Maybe if it had a stylus it'd be easier, but as it is I find the swype thing to be more trouble than it's worth.

Ultimately, I figured out how the thing works (for the most part) and have enjoyed playing with it.  One of the funnier moments had to be when I sat trying to figure out what the "Barcode Scanner" app was for.  I never did figure it out, so I just let it go.  Then, later, while searching for apps on the Android Marketplace (my phone works on the Android engine) I could not figure out how to download them.  There was no install button, though it said they were free.  Then it hit me... the little bar code on the screen, that's what the barcode scanner is for. I tried it out and it worked... like, duh, right?!  I can be so thick sometimes.

Okay, anyway, enough rambling.  I'm tired, so it's off to bed for me.  It's already 2:30am, which is several hours past my bedtime (ha, bedtime).  I emailed my new number to a lot of my friends, but several of the emails I sent came back (like, Shannons).  So, if you didn't get an email from me with my new number and you want it, email me and I'll send it your way.  Like as not you were supposed to get it anyway, my email address book isn't terribly up to date.

Good night!

Well, what do you think?!  I'm putting the pretty back into "Pretty Pessimist!"  I got this WordPress theme from Teresa over at Splendid Sparrow.  She does such beautiful work, I couldn't resist when I found one I was really in love with!  I ordered it a few days back and here it is, all installed and looking amazing... I'm so very happy with it.  I hope you like it too!  I also changed my Tumblr widget on my sidebar to my "Color Me Pink" tumblr account because seeing all that pink makes me happy and I need good vibes right now.

You see, I should be working and I'm not.  I should have been working all day, but I haven't been.  I managed to get one article edited and another written and that's it.  My pay this week's going to be pathetic for all my inability to focus.  I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but I'm hoping next week will be better, it has to be, I have bills to pay!  That being said, I think part of the problem is the weather, it's hot and muggy and somewhat rainy.  I love the rain, but I hate the heat and humidity.  It makes me feel so blah and blah isn't conducive to working productively.  So, I'm trying to slog through, but I'm procrastinating right now, as you can see.

Then, of course, I have a lot on my mind with worrying about the assistantship thing.  I know I said I wasn't going to worry about it but, well, it would seem I lied.  I tried really hard not to be concerned, to keep a positive outlook, and to remember that I did well, but it looks like my resolve has faltered.  I still feel like I did great, I feel like the answers I gave them were the best possible answers -- with one little exception-- but I can only control how I feel about what was said.  I started thinking they might not feel as good as I do about my answers and that's throwing me off balance.  I hope to hear something soon, one way or the other I'd like to know so I can stop worrying about it!

Then there's my family, which is a whole entry all by itself, but let's just say that I am about this close (imagine me holding my my thumb and forefinger about an inch apart) from ringing Staci's neck!  I might write about it another time, when I'm not still so angry at her, because honestly she deserves to have her neck wrung!  She's behaving like a two year old and upsetting my parents, when there's no reason for that.  Thankfully, I have a perfectly awesome sister, Candi, who's not a pain in the ass.  But, Staci being a pain in the ass, coupled with the fact that my grandmother is sick and my folks are going to have to come out to Texas next week, it's all a bit much.  I wish she would remember that everything's not about her, that others of us have lives that don't revolve around her tantrums, and sometimes those things take precedence.

Okay, enough of that.  I'm going to try to get back to work, although I think I'm going to be done for the day and hope tomorrow is better.  Melanie and I pick up our writing group this Saturday and I'm looking forward to getting back to it.  Maybe what I need is a weekend to re-charge and get back into the right frame of mind.  Maybe I'll spend the rest of the day doing some planning for my novel, that way when Saturday afternoon comes and we get together I can be more productive than I was when last we met.  Thinking maybe she and I can start getting together two days a week, but it'll depend on a lot of things, including how much time we each have since we'll both be working this summer.

On one final note, it's looking like Matt's going to go to summer school after all.  So, as long as I factored it correctly, it looks like he's only got a few more semesters to go.  At this rate, with the classes he's registered for now and in the fall, he should graduate in May 2011!  I am so thrilled, both for him and for our pocket book (ha!).  After he graduates, all we'll be waiting for is me to finish my Master's degree and we'll be on our way home to California.  I simply cannot wait!  I want to go home and I'd be ready to go now if not for graduate school.  Three cheers for getting things done here so we can move onto the next stage of our existence!

Alright, I think I've said enough for now.  Sorry about the brain spill, I'm all over the place today.  I hope everyone's having a great week!

I must tell y'll, today's been a pretty amazing day!!  I was up this morning much earlier than I normally am, and after only 6 hours of sleep, but once I got past the grogginess I felt great.  My interview for the assistantship was today, so naturally I was nervous.  Generally, I felt okay, but sitting there waiting for my interview I started to feel a bit nauseous with only 5 minutes to go before the interview.  I took a couple of deep breathes and tried to will myself to be calm and by the time the interview came, I was feeling much better.

Best of all, I really feel like it went well.  I left the interview feeling like I did the best I possibly could have done.  Two of the three interviewers were people I know, which made things a little easier.  Truly, I walked away feeling like I did the best I could and throughout the day, as I've thought over the interview questions and my answers, I've not once second guessed what I said.  It's never occurred to me that I could have done better; truly, I think I did great!  Normally, I second guess everything, I run things over and over and think of how I could have done it better.  Not this, not today, and I'm proud of it.  I did my absolute best, presented myself in the best possible way, and am hoping to hear something soon, one way or the other.

That said, I have no idea how long it's going to take so I don't know when I'll know.  But, I'll be sure to report back when I do know, one way or the other.  Whatever happens, I'm trying to think positive and remember that it's for the best, one way or the other.  Still, I think I did well and don't see any reason they shouldn't hire me!

After the interview, I went to Melanie's.  She lives around the block from the school, so it's not a far trek.  We sat and chatted for a while, until her household started to wake up and her mother got there.  Her mom lives out of town, but is down this way for her grandchildren's HS graduations.  While she's here, she's staying with Melanie.  After her mom got there, Melanie got around and we went and did some errands together, to Tarleton, to A1-Appliance (which went out of business... BOO!!), out to lunch, to Wal-Mart and finally to the Shoe Dept.  We had a really nice day, got some things done, saw some of our professors, and got new shoes!!

Shoe Dept. wasn't originally on the list, but I had been admiring Melanie's new handbag all day, so she took me over there and got me a new handbag for an early birthday present (though my birthday's not for another month and a half... Thanks, Melanie!  Love ya!!).  I had planned to get one like hers, but they didn't have any, so I chose another one that I really love!!  I also got a pair of shoes while we were there because Shoe Dept. was having a monster sale.  They had a ton of shoes at half-off the lowest marked price, so I got a pair of faux-leather clogs for $5!!

Anyway, I came in tonight around 6pm after being out since 9:30am and I think Matt missed me.  He slept a little --since he actually stayed up all night to make sure I got up in time for my interview (isn't he sweet?!)-- and he did some writing --he's at 70k words on the book he's writing!!-- but he really wanted to hear about my interview and how I thought I did.  We talked about it for a while and then I talked to my mom and dad and heard all about their Memorial Day excitement with my stupid frackin' sister, Staci and her dumbass husband, Mark.  After talking to everyone, I watched the first "Hell's Kitchen" of the season and then I made dinner.  Then, after dinner, Matt and I went out and got a Blizzard!!  Mine's Reeses Peanut Butter Cup... Mmmmmm!!!

Now, I'm back and finishing this entry, which I started before dinner.  It's been a hell of a long day and I'm damn tired!

On another, unrelated note, look for some changes around here soon!  I got a new theme, but it's not here yet.  I think the girl I ordered it from is going to put my blog name on the header, but I'm looking forward to getting it installed.  Also, I don't know why but comments are going to moderation which is really annoying.  I found five comments in moderation and so I approved them.  Fear not, I am getting your comments!! Thanks to everyone who left me one on the last entry, I appreciate it very much!

Now, it's late, so I'm going to go finish my blizzard and go to bed.  Goodnight!