CONGRATULATONS! You have now reached Level 47 Creeper Status!

I like to gawk.
I'm a gawker.
I'm also awkward...purposefully, usually...but that's a whole series of posts itself.

But yeah.
When it's not totally inapprop, I like to stare in awe and amazement.

Which is why I am devoting an entire post to the Greeks.

These houses...nay, these MANSIONS are extreme. Insane. Necessary? Likely not...but beautiful? Most definitely.

I'm a creep (what else is new) and took pictures of these houses and gawked and was gawked at for standing in the middle of the road to get a good shot.

Shameless plug: all photos were taken with a Motorola Droid...happy, Dad?

this is the "Alpha Trident" house

a view of the Alpha Tri's balcony...the building next to their house is the Rectory (where priests live...)

these guys helped me out by having a sign that spells out their name...Phi Upsilon...kind of wish they would've let me figure it out on my own :P

THESE ladies...the Triangle Intra-uterine devices...have floodlights (not pictured) in their front yard! Legit.

The Alpha Ex P's are more modest than most...but I like their nicely manicured shrubbery

now THIS house (which is actually TWO) is my favorite.

I don't know which Greeks live here but as you can see below.....

...."ACACIA" is written on the arch...don't know what that means....but they're cool in my book.

...and my book is VERY exclusive...

THESE ladies have got one of the biggest houses ever. HUUUUGE!

They're Alpha Sigma Deathly Hallows and proud of it!

These guys, Alpha Ex Alpha, have a cool house...kind of hidden back a little...almost like a haunted house....in a good way...

This one's real fancy too....wonder how many people can live there....good job Circle Random Lines!

fancy shmancy

This one's more old school but I like what the Triangle Sigma Deathly Hallows have done with the place

My creeper tank is full. Thanks Greeks :)

***Disclaimer: I have nothing against "Greeks" and in no way mean to make fun of Greek symbols, so forgive me if I offend anyone***

also, I hate disclaimers.

I'm totes popular

Today marks the day when I realized that my little ol' blog has had over 1000 views!

If being excited about that makes me a dork, then so be it.

Buuuuut yeah. #excited

Other than that, my life is pretty normal....oh yeah, other than the fact that I've been walking to work for the past 3 days. Awesome.

Black Betty has bitten le dust for the time being. Obnoxious little bee-yotch (to quote my newly licensed 16 year old sista). Sooooo yeah. I've been forced to exercise. Ugh.

The walk truly isn't all that bad...I Googled it and it's 1.2 miles, with an estimated 24 minute journey time.
I've been being [[super]] adventurous and am taking a new way there each morning...woah. Gettin' crazy up in here.

The basic route stays the same:
Green to misc street to Armory which takes me all the way to Newman

(just nod along and smile like you know what I'm talking about...)

BUT the difference is that I have my choice of which connecting street to take...1st - 6th.

So far, 1st and 4th are my favorite...I go down 6th all the time and it's more populated so I don't enjoy that as much...took 2nd for the first time today...super sketch. Won't be going down that way again.

So I have yet to try 2nd or 5th....maybe tmr morning.

I like walking.

I also like taking my time.

So I should probably modify my departure time to allow for my scenic marvelings.

You see, Armory Street is where Newman is located...but if you start at one end of Armory and work your way to the other end, which is where Newman is, it's what I've fondly dubbed Sorority Row.

These houses are INSANE. I'll post pictures later because you really won't believe it unless if you've seen it.

We had Frats and Sororities at ISU...but not like this. Not mansion-style houses with manicured lawns and pillars and everything. Most of the "Greeks" had houses but I've never seen it like this.

Cray cray.

But it makes for an interesting morning stroll...and I'm learning my Greek Alphabet! 

woopdeedoo

That's all.

Please pray that my bike gets here someday soon...I hate being patient.

Also, whilst in WalMart this evening (thanks to my lovely friend, Mel), I saw a young girl (maybe 17?) buying a pregnancy test with her friend...please pray for her as well that should the test come back positive that the life of her child might be spared.

this is it.

my brain is too fried to post anything other than this today.
and if you don't watch The Office, I pity you.
enjoy.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/381857

oh, and also...happy sweet 16 to my baby sister. yay.

shake down

Since I'm still relatively new around the Newman Center, I have the occasion of shaking someone's hand nearly everyday. And due to being blessed as a Catholic and having the privilege to attend mass nearly everyday, I shake hands at least a couple people during the sign of peace.


Now, the topic of the mass and how much I love the signs and sacrament of our tradition could be 50 posts in and of themselves but today I'll just focus on one thing.
Handshakes.


I can't even tell you how many conversations I've had with people about handshakes. 
What makes a good handshake, what makes a bad handshake, eye contact, etc.
And over the years of gathering this empirical and highly scientific data, I have come to a couple of conclusions:

1. Nearly everyone has the same criteria which makes for a good handshake.
2. While everyone seems to be on the same page in regards to what a handshake should be like, there are STILL people out there who give bad handshakes.

The second point above isn't really a conclusion but more like a strange occurrence that I can't figure out! I (and others) feel that a good handshake is firm (but not too hard), the person should make eye contact, the entire hand should be used in the shake, and the length of the handshake is just long enough, but not too long.

And yet, while everyone agrees on these elements, there are STILL people who give a bad handshake! What's up with that?! And not only is a bad handshake something that almost makes me cringe on the inside, but it makes for a horrible first impression!

A handshake that is limp which only uses a few fingers to grab onto the receivers hand is the worst. Absolute worst. The only thing that makes it worse is if the hand is sweaty. Yuck.

And I almost feel bad saying that because it's not the sweat that makes the handshake bad...in fact, I don't mind a sweaty handshake as long as it was firm and everything else was in order.
Sweat ≠ bad handshake But the combo of limp hand and sweat makes my insides coil.

However. A good handshake, one that is firm, but not bone-crushing; long enough to get out a "very nice to meet you/see you"; is accompanied with eye contact and a smile...now THAT is the best first impression that one can make.

I have had, on occasion, recieved a too-hard handshake...ow. Actually, a few days ago in mass, I shook the hand of a young man whose hand was definitely 2 times the size of my hand...and he squeezed my hand so hard, one of my knuckles popped! It was actually kind of funny, I don't think he noticed...but I would much rather receive a too-strong handshake than a weak, gross one.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone, this is just my opinion and this post isn't directed to anyone in particular, I just find things like this interesting :)

And just in case you're wondering, I have an excellent handshake ;)

and yes, I think that this post title IS rather clever :)

Quick Takes (6) - Things Change edition

ohhhh man.
It has been quite awhile since I posted anything of substance...3 weeks? 4 weeks? I've lost track.
ah well.
Since it is still Friday, I think I'll turn this into a Quick Takes post. Things Change edition.

[1] 

I drink coffee. And I LIKE it.

There was a time when I would drink coffee simply because it had caffeine and I thought I looked cool.

Well, I still think I look cool...

but now, I also like the taste! AND I've gotten to the point where some mornings I don't like it because I made it too sweet.

Honestly never thought that would happen.

And it probably all began when I became housemates with women who make coffee every morning.

Don't think I'll ever switch to decaf with barely a dash of sugar in it like mi madre but it's definitely a start!

And, today when I treated myself to a Cafe Mocha at good ol' Espresso Royale, I put only a small dash of liquid sugar in it and it was delicious!

(yes, I do mean "liquid sugar"...probably should be called syrup, but Espresso has it labeled as such)

[2]

It's hot.

Not really that significant, but when temperatures are consistently over 100 degrees, that's insane.

The significant part about this statement is that I've actually begun to SMELL!

Don't laugh.

All of these years, I thought that I had inherited my father's "deodorant-is-unnecessary-when-your-sweat-doesn't-smell" genes...false.

Good thing that I still have some crusty old deodorant from 6th grade when we had the puberty talk.

Otherwise, I would feel reaaal bad for my coworker (just one, remember?)

[3]

CAUTION: it's about to get personal up in here

I have become increasingly "ok" with being single.

(I have " "-ed ok because what does ok really mean anyway?)

By this I mean that while a more insecure, less independent version of myself (think 2 months ago) would be constantly on the lookout for "Mr. Right", I no longer feel the need to search.

Ok, this is really only half a load of you-know-what.

I'm a girl, what can I say...of course I get lonely and I wish that "he" were here ("he" being my future hubby) but for the first time in my life, I want to just LIVE life instead of constantly looking forward to the future.

I realized that I'm only going to get a certain amount of time to be on my own exploring the world as I please before "he" shows up.

And don't get me wrong, I very anxiously and longingly await that day, but I'm excited - for once - to experience life without the distraction of "him".

Does that make sense?

[4]

I'm (slightly) obsessed with the Bachelorette.

I remember when I would watch it every week with my mom but then Jason Mesnick came along and broke up with Melissa on national television and I swore to never waste my time with that wretched show ever again.

Oh how I was wrong.

I don't really remember when I began the obsession again, but I know that I watched Brad's (2nd) season, Ali's season, then Ashley's season, and Ben's season.

And now here we are.

But the best part is that I'm not the only crazy girl who talks about the people on the show as if I know them personally! One of my friends here in CU is also really into the show and so we try to watch together and if that doesn't work, we definitely talk about it throughout the week.

CAN'T WAIT FOR THE FINALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[5]

I've been actually trying to make my hair look good everyday.

Ok, this should be a no-brainer for most people, but for me, I have a hard time getting motivated to do anything with my hair in the morning. I'm a morning showerer (TMI?) and so I usually style my hair wet...and with this heat, there's no chance of me wanting to blow dry it. Ugh.

But I've tried out a couple different styles and it's kind of fun!

I've also tried showering at night and then styling my hair in the morning which isn't happening every night but it's a nice change once in awhile! 

I'll try to post pictures of the different styles I've tried but in the meantime, here's the website that I've been using for most of my ideas!

http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/p/hair-style-tutorials.html

[6]

Black Betty may have rambalam-ed for the last time.

If you know who Black Betty is, you'll understand.

She's been having issues shifting from P to R and so forth lately and today she wouldn't reverse.

Which was an issue since I was parked with my nose to a wall.

Soooo she's spending the night in Newman's parking lot and I'll be going over there bright and early in the morning to try and coax her out of the spot...manually.

Joy.

[7]

This is nothing new, but I'm tired.

Promise to try to get some sleep and post more often!

I have some ideas of posts and some half-written ones on more than just updates that will be popping up soon so keep an eye out for them, my ever faithful readers! ;)

Love all around! For more Quick Takes check out Jen!

exhaustion

I'm still here...and yes, it's been awhile since I last posted so I'm sorry if anyone's been waiting day and night for me to post...doubtful.

Anyway, I'm still not fully recovered from this past week/weekend so this isn't a complete post but I had a great time in Blo-No seeing my best friends and celebrating a big step in some of my best friends' lives...marriage! Here's a quick pic...stolen from FB.

 see more pics at http://bethsdaycare.shutterfly.com/pictures/6157

Be back later this week...if I survive that long.