Ben decided we would get to campus at 8, even though my class was at 9.  He wanted to start work early.  This was him at around 7:45.

I got started on my paper.... kind of.

Mom got to meet new baby cousin.  I thought she was going to end up taking the little one home with her:)

Walked around on campus with mom and Ben.  Saw a sign that summer's over.

Ben and I played with the camera thingy on his new computer today.  This was the pop art setting. (and the only picture of us that we took where our heads weren't really creepily twisting or melding together or anything)

I used to take 4 or 5 pictures of something and choose the best one for the blog, but these days I find that I either have a huge photo shoot and take 20-30 pictures or I just take a single picture and leave it at that.  Today was a single picture day.  This was our 3rd week sharing dinner on Thursday night with some of the fabulous people in Ben's graduate program.  Loaded baked potatoes.  Yum.  

So we had most of my cohort over after class today for a French themed dinner (quiche, bread, cheese, french tomato bisque, salade nicoise, fruit with chocolate fondue, wine... oh, and Mario cart) and I told Ben that it was his job to remind me to take a picture while we had guests.  He and I both forgot, and so here are the only signs left that we had company.  In a few minutes, once the clean stuff in the dishwasher has cooled down, this will be gone too.... 

This is/was my camera.  On Sunday, it started acting REALLY wonky.  It wouldn't turn on correctly and was turning off spontaneously.  Yesterday, it started not really turning on, but making the appearance of turning on by extending its lens when I press power.  Not sure that this camera is salvageable.  It wasn't terribly expensive, but it's still quite annoying.  I used Ben's camera for yesterday's post and this one.... and I think my sister mentioned she might have an old camera I could have...  This blog thing is going to be harder without a camera :-\

On a day with lots of exciting comments, a not so exciting post:

This is the area, looking left and then right, where Ben and I did work today in the student center.  We've spent hours there before, trying to identify each of the flags that's hanging.  See how many you get!

Today, I did fewer things than yesterday.  The day started and ended with laundry and the middle was spent helping run logistics for a program at a pond/recreation area that belongs to the university.  The program ended with a canoe race in which 3 people went into a canoe with 1 paddle and had to get around the little island and then switch out so that the 3 other people on their team could do the same.  What you see here is the very beginning.  The first person to get in one of the boats flipped it and ended up soaking wet from the beginning and having to wait until the other groups took off to be able to get the water completely out of the canoe and the team in.  Despite their rough start, this group did really well in the end.  (This picture is much better if you click at it and look at it in full size.)

After facilitating a program for the hockey team in the morning (club hockey, we realized at some point), Ben and I went climbing.  It was nice.  We ran into a couple friends, and we set up one top rope climb.  It happened to be an ideal climb for me after not having climbed for over a year (a 5.8- with a tiny little crack for my fingers and lots of little smeary parts for my feet) and it made for a lovely afternoon.  Afterwards, we went to look at wedding bands for Ben for a couple hours, had dinner at Chipotle, and went home to do work.  I probably did more things on this day than I usually do in a week!

This was a night when I hadn't taken a picture all day and just started taking pictures of myself to try to get one for the blog.  (whoops!)  Anyway, my picture does one of two things when I press the button to tell it to take a picture.  Either it does (right away), or it waits a little while (10 seconds, even?) and then finishes taking the picture.  Unfortunately, there's no real way to predict which it will do, and when it takes 10 seconds, it does whatever cameras do to take the picture really slowly and the picture is a blurry mess.  This was one of those instances where I pressed the button, didn't quite know what it was doing, and about 10 seconds later, we had this freaky picture of Ben.  Enjoy.

Going home from class, we saw some interesting things along the way.  First, we saw a guy who was seriously caressing his girl's butt.  He kept moving his hand back and forth on it while they were walking. It was weird.  Then the motorcycle/scooter-y thing guy in front of us, at a red light, leaned back all the way, like he was going to sleep (or stretching) so his face was upside down looking at us (but I think he was wearing sunglasses, so unclear if his eyes were open or not).  Well, I missed pictures of these remarkable things, but took pictures along the way for the rest of our drive.  None were very exciting, but in this one, you can see me in the mirror, even though I had completely missed the picture I wanted to take or what was going on outside... 

Last Thursday, we ended up taking this bookshelf home because it was offered to a bunch of people and it fit in our car better than theirs.  Ben thought he could put it somewhere in his office or something.  Today's Wednesday, right?  So it will have been in my car for a week soon.... 

I just got back from meeting my new second cousin once removed.  She's a cutie.  Here she is with her parents!

Today was definitely one of my worst days on a ropes course in a long time.  It was just a huge group of kids who had a really hard time caring about each other at all.  It was kind of a bummer, because I was having a streak of AMAZING programs, culminating in a high school choir this weekend who almost made me cry when they sang the Irish Blessing to thank me when they left.  Anyway, this beanie baby imitation pig hung out of my back pocket all day (and ended up being their "talking stick").  I was a little embarrassed to discover that it was still there as I was walking around campus on my way to class, but it made me smile after a long day during which it was a struggle to smile, so.... yea.

Ben wrote on my fist (probably because I had teasingly punched him in the face).  Later, he wrote MBTI SUCKS on my hand.  I didn't take a picture of that because that statement is the opposite of true and I didn't want to spread lies.  

No comment.

We bought bow ties for Ben and our groomsmen and bridesdude.  With them, came instructions, which is nice, and Ben taped them up to the mirror when he tied his the other day.  It looked lovely, but I refrained from taking a picture.  Several days later, when this was still hanging on the mirror, I decided that my readers need to know.  

Please excuse the butt picture, but this is me hoola-hooping on my new Wii Fit that my sister got me!  I played for about an hour and a half today because it was so fun and new.  Then I kept going because I kept unlocking new things.  I hope the neighbors all saw me through the glass doors and thought I was crazy.  

This is me getting ready for class on the day I decided to look pretty.  When Ben's boss saw me, he commented that I looked nice and looked a little shocked that I was "wearing makeup", which of course, I was, but I didn't feel like it was enough to shock someone I've only met a couple times.  Then I felt self-conscious for the rest of the day, which is the point of dress-up days, I guess...  

This is my computer. It's not a happy picture of my computer.  It's quite sad and frustrating.  My computer's hinges decided this morning that they wanted to bend and crack in a funny way.  Now, if I try to close my computer, it doesn't line up and something sticks out the back, like the frame is going to break any second.  So I don't try to close my computer.  It's a problem, really.  I'll be using Ben's old computer until we figure out what to do, and what to do might just have to be using Ben's old computer.  Waaaaaaaah!

Many of my ($600 worth of) textbooks came in today (from half.com, textbooks.com, and I'm still waiting for a few from barnesandnoble.com), so I made some space and put them on the shelf.  It was really nice that they came in, because the reading in at least 5 of them is due on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.  I put them on the shelf next to my thesis, maybe as some kind of reminder that I actually am capable of reading and writing an incredible amount of fairly original stuff.  Or maybe it was just the only emptyish place on the bookshelf.... 

P.S. My professors told me that I won't have a social life for the next 2 years and I should tell loved ones that I'll see them again in December, so yea.... ouch.

I know this is a repeat of a of recent view, but it has changed a bunch.  We went to BJ's and then I had to play tetris in the freezer to put everything away.  We even had to eat the last cup of vanilla ice cream, because the carton didn't fit any more.

I'm not sure why this happened.  Maybe I fell asleep while I was supposed to be reading?  Anyway, Ben did it. Blame him.

Worked a program with really fantastic 7th and 8th graders today.  On our walk back to the high ropes course to take down at the end of the day, I saw this snake slither across the path.  It took me until he was over on the side to get out my camera, but you can still see him in the picture, at least.  I think it's funny that I decided to call the snake "he."  Of course snakes are masculine, right?  

Today: class, then planning for a program of 80 participants and 3 facilitators in 1 giant room, then facilitating that program, then home for a root beer float dinner and some politicians on the tv

I got my engagement ring cleaned the other day (when we bought my wedding band!) and wanted to take a picture of how clean it was.  I found out that my camera has an extremely hard time taking picture of little shiny things.  This is the best of 40 pictures that I took.... 

First day of class (I was so nervous!!!)

Above: Ben saying "see you later!" to his old computer.

Below: Ben enjoying his new computer and ipod touch.