From :    "Amy H." 
Subject : ALU 2002/09/04  
Date :    Wed, 04 Sep 2002 23:27:06 -0400  
 
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	   Incredibly Long Amy Life Update Ahead!

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Hi All!

It's been... oh, well just under a month since the last official ALU.  Things 
are going well here.  Actually, today was pretty darned phenomenal.

I felt pretty motivated this morning, got up early, and in my inbox: a "Happy 
1 month anniversary" e-mail from Scott.  Workwise, got some good work done in 
the AM.  Had a great cappucino with my boss.  About 11:30 I was terribly 
hungry, but on a roll with my project.  Amy suggested Thai food, which sounded 
SO wonderfuly good, so we both abandoned our brought-from-home lunches in 
favor of Siam Square.  Yum! 

The best part of the day, however, happened about 5 minutes after I got in 
from lunch.  I had a special delivery.  A very, very special delivery.  Scott 
sent me a DOZEN RED ROSES!!!  WooHoo!

Yes, if I remember correctly these are the first flowers I've had sent to me 
at work by anyone other than my parents.  Also, they're the first roses 
since... Jordan?  Yep, High School.  

The remainder of the day?  Well, I spent about an hour walking on clouds, and 
calling people over to my cubicle to admire the flowers, and calling people on 
the phone to brag, and e-mailing people to brag, and um, yeah, generally 
feeling great ^_^  I also got a good amount of work done in the afternoon, 
which is surprising.

My webbrowsing for the afternoon focused on "rooting softwood rose cuttings".

Yep.  I'm evil, horrible, terrible.  I got the idea from my Mom.  I caught 
Stacie's bouquet at her wedding (more on that later) and decided to dry it.  
I told my Mom on the phone, and that brought back reminiscings about her own 
wedding, and how her bouquet had ivy, and how she wishes she had rooted it so 
she would have something living from her wedding.  Are you following me here?  
I'm going to take a few of the beautiful roses (taking pictures first, mind 
you) cut the flowers off an attempt to root them so I have living, growing 
rose bushes that will forever make me think of Scott.

Ok, back to Stacie and Sean's wedding: It was wonderful!  Stacie cried while 
she was saying her vows, the Pastor cried while talking about Sean as a kid, 
we all cried as Zanzibar gave his roast/toast to the couple, Stacie cried 
again while thanking the guests for being there.  Far less crying than I 
really thought would happen, we were all troopers and held out for the 
completely-overpoweringly-emotional moments.  

The cake was really, really good.  I had the carrot cake (which was the 
groom's cake) and thought it was phenomenal.  I was sitting with Jeremy and 
Michelle Root, and they had the chocolate raspberry and French vanilla 
respectively, and apparently it was pretty phenomenal.  I was trying to talk 
the happy couple into serving a twinkie cake:

but they're apparently too good for that ;-)  I think they chose wisely.

As mentioned previously, I caught the bouquet.  When I was with Stacie at the 
bridal shop learning to bustle her dress, she had told me that she REALLY 
wanted me to catch her bouquet.  "It would really mean a lot to me," she said, 
"if you caught my bouquet."  So, unlike Ben Lasky's wedding, where Nadia and I 
stood in the far back and effectively RAN AWAY from the bouquet, I was pushed 
to the front and center and it took three throws to get it EXACTLY into my 
hands.  The first hit the ceiling.  The second sailed through my hands & no 
one else caught it.  The third was delivered directly into my hands (ok, not 
delivered, it DID got backwards over Stacie's head, but it was aiming for me).

Scott, of course, was the favored individual for the garter.  He was also 
pushed up to the front of the crowd, but the garter flew wide and was snatched 
up by another lucky man.  No put-the-garter-on-the-girl at this reception, 
however.  We each went back to our seats with no fanfare.

Oh, I almost forgot: I'm settled into my new apartment now!  Everything's 
pretty messy (read: it looks lived in now), but I really like it.  I like 
having my own place.  And Rich (who lives in the other apartment) says I can 
use the hottub whenever I want, I just have to give him a little warning.

I also have a cable modem now.  Yes, I'm sending this out from HOME!  The 
first time in over 2 years!

was the last one in Traverse City.  Only 5 days before I moved to Ann Arbor.

Speaking of which: work is going well.  As I mentioned, today went 
particularly well ;-)  Also, we just got a big contract in California that 
should net us some big $$.  Finally!

Downside: We have tight deadlines and a finite number of developers.  I might 
be spending a lot of time at work.  Between that and having a boyfriend in 
Massachusetts (yeah, I know, I know) I'm really not going to be spending much 
time doing homework. 

Which will be bad for my grades, because I'm taking 6 credits this semester.  
Yes, I am a glutton for punishment, as my mother says.

What am I taking?  I'm so glad you asked!  I'm taking 

Intermediate Conversational Spanish

Web Programming Using Apache, MySQL, and PHP

I had my first Spanish class last night.  Very Scary.  Apparently there's 
supposed to be a class in between my previous class and this one, but THEY 
HAVEN'T MADE IT YET?!?!  So, I can either retake the prior course or attempt 
this one.  I refuse to be scared away, but I am a little frightened.  Our 
first assignment?  20 pages of review over 2 past tenses.  Um, I've never 
even learned the past tense, never mind reviewing it.  Also, in class we 
covered commands (the imperative) - I think we might have spent a half hour 
at the end of the previous class on it, just trying to prepare for this new 
course.  Aiyeeeeeeeeeeee!  So if I don't answer my phone this weekend, you 
know I'm studying ;-)

My first MySql class was tonight.  I think it will be very different from what 
I pictured.  I thought it would be just like what I do now, but done in a 
different manner.  Tonight we set up MySQL (a database program, like Access, 
don't worry about it Mom), and practiced vi, which I don't think I've ever 
used before (it's a word processer, Mom).  Very technical, very 
nuts-and-bolts.  And the attendees were very chodely, it was intimidating. 

Ok, I've rambled on enough.  Time for bed.  Before I go though: any Feng Shui 
experts in the house?  I sleep with my head in the center of the room, with my 
feet facing east.  I was thinking the other day that it probably has some Feng 
Shui meaning, and I was curious if I would like it or no.

Talk at y'all later! ^_^

-Amy