Punk'd

Funniest thing I've heard all week: William Shatner of Star Trek and Priceline.com fame has played a prank on the town of Riverside, Iowa. See the full story in the DSM Register: http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040930/NEWS08/409300444/1001/NEWS. Being from a small town myself, I could see how people got excited about the prospect of a movie being filmed in their town; and I can really imagine how foolish they feel after being punk'd by Shatner. Even funnier, WHOTV was all excited to report the news that Shatner was going to film in Iowa, but can't poke fun at themselves later for being suckered into the scheme just like everyone else.

Denise really cracks me up - from her profile: ok, so now i feel old...i'm in the elevator with a girl in the building and we're chatting and i mentioned that i had heard a paula abdul song on the radio. She says "Oh! American Idol! I love her." How old am I when freshmen don't have a reference for paula abdul before american idol!?

On another note, here's the update on the job front: interview on Friday w/Deloitte & Touche...hopefully they'll refer me out to the Los Angeles area offices! ;) And Monday will be a crazy day...I flight out of DSM @ 6am, get in to DC @ 10:45, interview 12:30-4:30 with the IRS, fly out of DC @ 7pm, get into DSM around 11pm and drive back to Ames...such a long day!! Wish me luck!

Good times this weekend...maybe seeing Shark Tale, painting windows for Homecoming, seeing Ali in Hair, and I think Clinique bonus time starts soon @ Younkers.

Good point by Bush in the debate right now: he recognizes the fact that protection isn't cheap, and there are limitations to funding. But I shouldn't talk politics in polite company...

Hail to the Bus Driver!

So the funniest moments this week came courtesy of the CyRide brown route driver. I'm waiting for the bus outside Wilson on Tuesday morning, and the south brown bus comes rolling down Hayward, and suddenly halts...before the bus stop. The driver comes scuttling off the bus, steps over the half-fence by the cross country course, and proceeds to enter the porta-potty. A minute later, he scuttles back to the bus, proceeds to the actual stop, and goes on his merry way. The funny thing is that he has at least one passenger on the bus...waiting while he pees in the porta-potty. Perhaps even funnier is the fact that I witnessed this event twice this week...not once, but twice. As the guy who is waiting for the bus stop w/me said: "At least he has a schedule."

Votergasm.com

Votergasm.com - withhold sex from non-voters & encourage young individuals to rock the vote... I'm all about coming up with creative ways to encourage people to vote, but if sex is the only thing that motivates people, there might be bigger fish to fry there. So that's my random find of the week, though not so random if it's on the front page of the Daily.

The past few days have been absolutely hectic...wedding crisises to solve, career fair week activities...big nasty advanced acct exam...yeah, not fun... Where to start?

Wedding: the hotel lost our wedding block of rooms, and some reservations the night of the wedding. So Steve was actually able to take care of that for me; he faxed them a copy of the contract that my mom had to scan for me, since I don't have enough space to keep all of that stuff in my little room. Then my deposit check for the cake was cashed...and it's supposed to be held, and then the actual check will be returned to me to destroy once they get the rented decór items back. So my bank account has less money in it than I thought it had...thank god for the Bank of Steve for helping me make up the shortfall!

Career Fair: good night on Tuesday, talked up Deloitte and KPMG @ Beta Alpha Psi's mini-accounting-only career fair. Dinner afterwards...topics at the all-female table ranged from ISU football to wedding planning... :) Wednesday proved not as lucrative, though I was able to visit with an IRS Criminal Agent about the interview process I'm going to go through when I go to DC in a week and a half. And today, I'm not all that sure I'm wanting a job w/LockMart, though I don't oppose the job from the standpoint of what the company does. I was specifically asked if I would have a problem working for a company that makes items that provide our soldiers with "better ways to protect themselves"...and obviously I don't, or I would have a problem with Steve doing the job he does.

And then the exam smack right in the middle of a busy week...cruel & unusual. On a different class-related note, we had an exchange prof for my intl mgmt class this week. He came in to talk about trade policy, because he can talk about it better than my real prof, so those 2 switch classes to talk about things that they specialize in. What he had to say is that we really need to 1) understand trade policy better, because 2) the people who make that policy don't really know what their doing (and not just Bush, it's very historical that trade ramifications are not predicted). His basic point for thinking that we need to know this is that things can go bad quickly, and we have a lot of life ahead of us young-uns, and it wouldn't take much to make it uncomfortable for us. Then pinging off that note, I've really come to the conclusion that the US is getting to the point where most people aren't going to be able to maintain/sustain some of the creature comforts they grown accustomed to. I think there is going to be a more natural progression toward free market policies, which is going to ship some jobs away from this country. Then we, as a society, will have less disposable income and won't be able to maintain the standard of living we are used to. I, for one, plan to be prepared for this - it's a relatively simple matter of living within your means and not racking up a lot of debt.

OK, now way too distracted by the season premier of ER...must stop typing...

Future Chickies-in-Law

Karissa ~ Kristina


My future sisters-in-law before Homecoming...aren't they cute? ;)

Engagement Photo #1

Steven and Michelle

This is probably my favorite engagement picture of Steve & I. Scott, Steve's current roommate is an amateur shutterbug, but is damn good @ what he does - he is our mostly free photographer for all the pictures (we bought him CPK & Coldstone as his payment). You'll notice my pant leg is very wet...a wave came up and bit us before we took the picture - lesson learned is that you never turn your back on the ocean! :)

First Attempt

This is my first attempt at this whole blog phenom stuff...

Obviously, I'm procrastinating and not doing what I really should be doing, which is homework-related.

Yesterday was wonderful, for the most part. I did a presentation for ESC funding of ASK - not sure that the treasurer guy was digging our proposal...hopefully funds will come our way, since we won't be able to fundraise during VEISHEA next spring. But after that Jöelle & I went to Ankeny to Michaels...I stocked up on fake flowers for the wedding (yay for 50% off sales). The logic behind the fake flowers is that they are cheaper, and easier to manage, since I have no idea what kind of weather I'll be facing on December 31, 2004. Then we headed over to Jordan Creek for the first visit for both of us...that was excellent! I vetoed pink patent leather stilletos, the heel was just a bit too high for me to walk in; but the trade-off was a $10 pair of DKNY casual Mary Jane-esque sneakers. Trés cool... I also bought a new suit for interviewing - my black double-breasted jacket just isn't cutting it anymore. The biggest disappointed of the day involved the massive line by Coldstone...I was psyched for ice cream, but we knew that we would've been in line for at least a half hour before we would be servecd...yes, there really were that many people in line, and the workers were moving sloooowwww...

I fell asleep watching Dirty Dancing last night, which sucked - I missed the end, my favorite part. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

On a happy note, Coach Steve won his soccer game yesterday, though one of his players was red-carded and suspended for today's game. Seems a "your mom" comment sent the kid over the edge, and he shoved his antagonizer, and earned the card... Maybe one of these days I will fully appreciate the inner-workings of a soccer game... I do think I would be a good sneaky player...I have these hips & butt that are excellent for knocking people down, at least in my broomball experience... And on that note, I am done for now...