Freakin’ Fantastically Fun Friday!

Or as I like to call it, “FFFF.” Much to the discontent of anybody within range of my spit.

So, my very dear and amazingly awesome friend Erin (visit her blog here) was sweet enough to include me in a post concerning her favorite blogs that she enjoys visiting, so I figured I should probably cook up a nice little post. Had some fun stuff happen in the past couple weeks, so here’s a rapid fire update for you, starting with something incredibly exciting.

I got a haircut.

Okay, okay, I’m sorry.

I grilled a heart-shaped ribeye for Jenn and me on Valentine’s Day.

I used a new seasoning on it that I hadn’t used before, much to the delight of my easily amused palate. Jenn loved it, too. She cooked a mean pot roast that day for lunch. Our V-Day gift to each other was to stay at home and cook for each other. Best V-Day ever, seriously.

It snowed shortly before V-Day.

Just a little.

Some jerk kids knocked over our snowman. Here’s a dramatic reenactment of the discovery from after our second snowman fell over on its own…

Also, here’s Maddie catching a snowball.

Words With Friends is awesome. Here’s a screencap of the most epic opening word I’ve ever started a game with.

You can see my username on there, so feel free to challenge me. It’s a fun little diversion when I have some downtime at work.

I found this really awesome artist who makes some killer poster art based on favorite comic book characters. Here are two of my favorites, Green Lantern and Iron Man.

I especially love that GL poster. I mean, GL’s my favorite in general, but that’s just cool in its simplicity. Wish I had it framed for my nonexistent man cave. Heck, might as well throw in that Iron Man poster, too, if we’re talking nonexistent things. 🙂

Let’s see, what else? School’s going okay, graduation’s getting closer and closer. Work’s going fine, even though I’m beyond ready to move up into the world of teaching.

Jenn and I doing marvelously. We had our first premarital counseling session with our pastor and his wife last Sunday, and we’ll do our second/last one this Sunday. Planning the wedding and the honeymoon have really brought us together as a team more than ever before, and it makes me all the more excited to tackle life together with her.

Speaking of the honeymoon, I’ve been using Yelp and this excellent book to assemble a “bucket list” of sorts of restaurants and other stuff we have to check out while we’re in Kauai. It’s turning into quite a list, and I’m having a blast compiling all this info. There’s so much to do during the week that we’ll be there, and we’re so freakin’ excited about it. 🙂

Guess that’s about it for now. I hope you have a blessed and FFFF.

Excuse me, I need to get a paper towel.

“A Jedi Warrior.”

Oh my gosh. Seriously, you have to go watch this movie trailer right now. This could potentially be one of the funniest movies in the history of cinema. Coming out November 6th:

“The Men Who Stare At Goats.”

It has Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, and Kevin Spacey in it.

Seriously, go watch it now. I’ll wait here.

Does that not have “classic” written all over it? I am all sorts of giddy about it. First thing I did after watching the trailer was call Allen and my dad and tell them all about it, and they’re both excited about seeing it now, too. LOL

And how about that poster? Is that not a riot!? I so want it!

Anyhoo, it’s a nice day today. Lab’s nice and cool, which is just marvelous because I had to go move computers this morning, and I was all sorts of sweaty afterwards. The administrators had to borrow some machines from one of my labs for student registration this week, so I had to go break them all down and move them back to the lab this morning. At some point I sliced my finger open (see below), and I didn’t even realize it until I sat down here at my desk and saw that my hand was covered in blood. Fortunately, my new location is just down the hall from the clinic, so I was able to go clean it up real nice before it got swine flu or something in it.

Oh, and I was able to find a flat panel monitor to switch out with the crusty old CRT on my desk. So I have much nicer monitor now that’s a whole lot easier on my eyes. Yay!

Guess that’s it for now. Jenn and I are gonna take it easy big time this weekend and unwind from the crazy week we both had. We’re going out to eat somewhere tonight, taking Maddie to Petsmart tomorrow, maybe hit a bookstore so I can pick up a book or two for my Pirates class, and that’s pretty much completely it. Looking forward to relaxing and napping. A LOT.

Have a fantastic weekend, friend.

iPSotD:

Owch. Not a good place to slice my finger open.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.

April 2nd has been declared World Autism Awareness Day by the United Nations. For those of you who don’t know, autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

* Approximately 67 million people worldwide are affected by autism.

* Autism is the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the world.

* More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than Diabetes, Cancer, and AIDS combined.

* Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism.

* There is no medical detection or cure for autism, but early diagnosis and intervention improves outcomes.

Speaking as a sibling of a guy with autism, I encourage y’all to be more… aware… on this day. Yeah. 🙂

So, last night, Jenn and I were cleaning house and getting ready for a contractor who’s coming out today to measure some rooms so she can get hardwood floors (YAAAY!). We were folding clothes in the bedroom, and I noted to myself that Maddie (Jenn’s dog) had been in the living room by herself for quite a while. She came back in the bedroom eventually and curled up in her bed, all sweet and innocent-like.

So innocent...

Once she came back in, I dismissed any concerns I had about her getting into something she shouldn’t be playing with in the living room (ie. my computer stuff, etc.).

Then, I go in the living room, and OF COURSE what do I see?

D'oh!

Note the plethora of lovely dog toys in the background (including the Simpsons donut chew toy I gave her for Christmas). All those goodies, and she decided instead to play 52 Card Chewup. Greeeeat.

No biggie, of course. We have another deck to play with, and I’ll just make sure from now on that they’re left somewhere higher up than a coffee table. 🙂

Anyway, WOO-HOO, no Trig tonight. My teacher’s in Boston (Or “Baa-uu-stone,” as he calls it) for some conference. So I’m going to World Civ and then heading straight on over to Laura’s for Game Night tonight. We usually have Bible Study on Thursdays, but our class decided to take a break and have a game night instead. I invited my buddy Drew to hang out with us too, so that should be fun. I’m ready to kick back and spend some time with my love and our friends, so I’m definitely looking forward to it.

Photo Booth Shot of the Day:

I feel like I'm missing something here...