Facebook

Originally, I was a MySpace girl. I became addicted to it when I was going to move back to California when I was almost 21. This was a great way for me to get to know what I had missed out on in my friend's lives in the past 2 years that I lived in Utah. As time went on, I realized that there were many other people that I did not know that would friend request me. Many of these people didn't even live in the area! I am all for making new friends, but I found it kind of creepy that they would want to know about my life when I would probably never meet them! About 2 years ago, I was introduced to the world of facebook. Facebook is better than MySpace because if random people friend request you, they can't view your profile without your permission. Also, there is fun little pictures you can put on people's page (send them a little green plant), know about events that are going on, and most importantly: get in contact with people that you have not encountered in a LONG time! My main example is my experience this week with facebook. I received an email through facebook from someone I thought I didn't know. When she asked if I was "Lonnie's daughter", I thought to myself "wow, the only people who call my dad Lonnie are my cousins". So then I added her. Within 5 hours, I now have my 5 cousins plus one of my aunts as my friend on facebook. It has been at least 10 years since I last talked to any of my cousin's on my dad's side. I hope that now we can all keep in contact. As much as I like Facebook, though, I am making it a goal to never join TWITTER!!!

CLEP exam

Ah Math. I enjoy numbers, but when you start adding Statistics, Geometry, and Algebra, prepare to get the eyes-glossed-over look from me. I understand a lot of it, but I lose interest very quickly. I failed Geometry 3 times (with a D) simply because I lost interest about halfway through. So when it came time to set the remainder of my AA degree schedule, I was told I would have to take two 9-week blocks of college Algebra, back to back (3 credits each). My fantastic academic advisor told me the alternative to 18 weeks of hair pulling and frustration is to take something called the "CLEP". This test stands for "College Learning Enhanced Placement". Taking the college mathametics version of the CLEP means that if I pass it, I would get 6 math credits. I was told that it was either a pass or a fail, and my grade would not be affected by the score. Me being the lazy person I am, I didn't even study until the night before..... 5:30 PM-1 AM was spent studying for the CLEP with some practice tests.

Nick and I woke up at 7 on Saturday morning (3/7) to drive to San Jose so I could take the computer exam at 8:30 AM. I got there 15 minutes early, so I was able to attempt to study. The test was done on a computer. It was 90% multiple choice and the rest were fill in the answer. On a lot of the questions, I actually shrugged my shoulders before choosing the answer (the instructor even called me out on it after the exam was done). After I finished, the teacher took me out of the room with the test results. He told me that in order to pass the test, I had to get over 50 points. (There were 60 questions). My score was (deep intake of breath here).....51!! This was the first time in my college career that I was actually thrilled I got a barely passing grade!! Since I passed the test, this means that I will graduate on July 19 with my AA instead of September 20! I am very excited! I wish I could say that I'm going to be totally finished with school, but I am going to continue on to get my BA.

Napa

Greetings all. Napa was so fun! On Friday, we drove up to Napa to the Napa Old World Inn. This place was amazing. The service was superb, the ambiance was magical, and the company was perfect (yes, I mean Nick). We walked downtown for dinner at Downtown Joe's. The food was good, but not what Nick was looking forward to... aka a big juicy steak. Either way, we filled our bellies then went back to go to bed early (thanks to Chloe waking us up at 3 AM earlier that morning). The bed was incredibly comfortable. The feather pillows were a special treat. On Saturday, we had breakfast in bed. The B&B made a delicious souffle with fruit and OJ on the side. We then took a trip over to the outlet stores. 5 hours later, we came out with new shoes and new clothes. Due to the present economy, the outlet stores were even having sales. Leaving the outlet stores with empty stomachs, we had a gourmet supper of... Safeway Sandwiches!! :) We went back to the room to watch a movie on our 82" flat screen. It was really nice to relax and not have to do homework. We then went to a nice Italian restaurant named "Tuscany". The service was not that great, but the food was really good! After that, we turned in for another early night. Napa really does not have much going on after 8 PM. On Sunday, Nick and I were lucky to go on the wine train. The food was decent, but the train rocking back and forth made me a little quesy. We were able to tour the Grgich winery. It's amazing how they make wine. Such a long process. When we returned back from the wine train, we drove home. What a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I wish we were financially able to do that again! Thanks Sally!