All day Monday, practically, will be spent writing, re-reading cases, and doing additional research if needed for my Research & Writing class. While I'm happy there is no final, its not super exciting to have 40% of your grade ride on one paper either.

Still, its better than 100% on the final, which is what a typical law school class seems to be like...

Sunday after class I sort of just hung out. I poked a bit with a few different things until I finally settled on a few levels of Little Big Planet, which Chris picked up the other day.

After thoroughly enjoying LBP for a bit, I started working on making some doughnuts in the deep-fryer Chris picked up as well as some 3-cheese tortellini.

Leki, as usual, was checking out what was going on. He's taken to sitting on one of the chairs and watching the activity on the dining table unfold, if permitted.

After a tasty dinner, and once all the doughnuts were done, Chris and I skyped with Adam and Comfort (TheUniques) for a bit and watched a movie. I'm not terribly comfortable with video chat (even though its been around for ages and I did it when I was much younger) but anytime I talk to Adam and Comfort I have a good time.

Saturday was a slow day. We didn’t do a whole lot, which was fine. There was a nap, there was a movie, and later in the evening - video games. Pretty good Saturday. Chris picked up Little Big Planet for the PS3 and a deep fryer to make some doughnuts tomorrow.

I am not a fan of shopping. In fact, I hate it if it doesn’t involve toys (which I deem to fall into the tech realm of computer parts, video games, hacks/mods, etc). So that includes grocery shopping and clothes shopping. And if you know me, you know I despise shopping for clothes so much I have been wearing some of the same things for nearly a decade. Yes, I'm sure you find this terrible.

I told Chris I had never been out on Black Friday. Precisely because I HATE shopping and crowds. But we needed provisions from Meijer, and we were right next to the mall… We poked around on some deals and Chris thought it would be a good idea in the afternoon to see if we could find any good deals on new business clothes.

So we ventured to Rivertown. And I nearly had a heart attack at how many cars there were. But, finally we parked and ventured into the toasty mall. There were some stores with lines that wrapped around the entire store - and I refused to even look at clothes there. We hit nearly every clothes store and eventually, after an hour or so, we started picking up more and more clothes that I could use. I even managed to snag a replacement winter coat.

So we bounced around to a few targets, Meijer, Woodland and Rivertown Crossings, and I actually feel like my goal was met and satisfied that I now have several possible outfits that do not include something from the early 00's.

So this is a shot of Chris scoping out the Droid display at Rivertown Crossing. Not as cool as the Palm Pre.



Well, today is Thanksgiving. This year it was a much smaller gathering at my parent's house as opposed to my grandmother's.

So Chris and I headed down there with pies and rolls in tow for some turkey festivities.

The food was good and it was discovered, when the pies were brought out, that pecan pie is not a fan of being warm... It quickly turned syrupy and lake-like. Still, people ate that and the pumpkin pie so all was good.

When we got home Chris and I let the ferret out for a bit to run around. Unfortunately Leki was not impressed or interested in her.

Wednesday morning I started on the rolls for Thursday while doing research for a paper due next week.

I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening at school, finishing up some extra credit assignments and doing some additional research.

Afterward I downloaded a USB loadable version of Chromium OS and tried to check it out. Unfortunately, I had some issues with the USB stick's connectivity, so this is as far as I got.


I spent the better part of the day working on a rewrite for extra credit in my Research and Writing class.

In the evening I was finally able to tackle the bigger of my Thanksgiving tasks - pecan and pumpkin pies.

So here is a shot of the pumpkin pies cooling on the racks while the pecan pies bake.

Monday was just frustrating. It seems like a lot of Monday's are becoming that way. Maybe it's because I feel like I should be going to work and I'm not. Maybe it's because I have very little people I can interact with socially during the day while everyone is at work. For whatever reason, it seems like the last several have been obnoxious.


First I had issues with my computer and the internet, which I needed to get a school assignment out of my email box. After that the cat vomited all over the apartment-meaning I had to carpet cleaning (yay Chris's green machine portable carpet cleaner) and laundry.

The day progressed with more annoyances that, in retrospect, really are minor. But when they compound like that it seems to magnify them.

Chris came home and the evening got better as I had someone to remind me its not all that bad. An someone to accidently kill...over and over and over in New Super Mario Bros.

So this is a shot Chris took, because I completely forgot to today, of Leki all chunky and curled up on his new favorite blanket on the bed.

Finally Leki is able to view kitty TV-aka wildlife. I had the dog dishes out filled with corn like I did at my old apartment for about half a week. Thing is, I don't think they knew anything was there. So the other day I hung a birdfeeder with bread in it just as a visual cue to them. It worked.

Later Chris and took a walk over to Staples and Rivertown Crossings Mall in Grandville. We both checked out the HP touch screen display and Chris pointed out some LCD tree ornaments.

We tried out a new recipe-bacon wrapped chicken-which was alright. For dessert I tried a new recipe-chocolate crunch bars. Haven't tried them yet (they're still cooling) but looking forward to crunchy, nutty, chocolatey goodness.

Evening wrapped up with pets snuggling on the couch and some New Super Mario Bros action.

I dreamed of sandwiches and all the variations possible the other night after Chris introduced me to one of his sandwich makers. So Friday we picked up provisions and this morning I tried my hand at stuffed french toast. Filled with creamcheese and strawberry jelly. Not bad, but the next time I think I'll use bananas and nuts in the cream cheese.


I spent nearly another entire day messing around with the wii. I hadn't run the update in ages, so I was several versions behind. So most of that was taken care of Friday. So that left Saturday with trying to figure out how to take better advantage of the USB ports. Still didn't resolve some of the issues, but at least I feel like I'm making progress.

In the late afternoon Chris and I headed down to the laundromat that is literally down the road. Barely a two-minute drive. It was good to get that out of the way-especially since I don't own a lot of clothes. Chris did most of the load shuffling around while I read some homework.

All in all though, Saturday was a good, relaxing (and non-moving) day. Nice to have a weekend that doesn't involve driving back and forth between apartments.


Chris and I spent a big chunk of Friday setting up the PS3 and Wii then tweaking the Wii to play some games.

Really Chris was done quite fast. It was me who took forever....

In the evening we went to go see 2012. The threatre was swamped with teens and other Twilight fans....


So Chris doesn't have a washing machine or dryer in his apartment, both of which I've had available for the last 4 or so years. So its a bit of an adjustment back. Especially since, if you know me, I don't have a lot of clothes and hate shopping for them.

Chris does, however have this cool washing machine contraption. So since I had gotten my last pair of jeans dirty with some butter from a fiasco in the kitchen, I thought I'd try it.

Interesting machine, and it does work. Very very small loads though.


Wednesday has been an obnoxious day. I broke part of Chris's blender, I ruined the first start of cookies and got melted butter all over everything I was wearing..and a few other things.

But the day isn't over ad it could get better. I should take a page from Leki's book and just enjoy the day and all the naps that it brings. His new favorite spot is that grey blanket on the bed.


Tuesday was the first useable day for my desk/office set up. As nice as it is to use a laptop, I much prefer a desktop on a lot of things, especially since I've gotten so used to the dual monitor setup.

So here is just a shot of my desk. Still messy, but at least I can use the desktop.


I used to go over every to Dan and Sherry's every Monday after work for over a year.

But with the move and other things, its been pushed back to less frequently. So today I was able to arrive early and enjoy a regular Monday with the Junes. Complete with visits to bookstores, food, and Daniel's ritual re-organization of his bookshelves.


Around 6 or 7pm Chris and I had the entire apartment cleaned and empty, complete with floor mopping and the whole shebang.

We started on the later side, since I had school in the morning and what not, so spending 6ish hours doing all the last minute packing and cleaning isn't all that bad.

The apartment comples was fantastic, and I will actually miss it (unlike the several other complexes I've lived in).

So today is the day all the heavy, bulky items go into storage. What that means is - all my furniture.

So Chris's friend Dan came out with his truck to help us move my stuff into the storage unit. Chris and Dan did all of the heavy lifting and were very helpful.

I really appreciate all of their help. Dan especially for spending his Saturday morning moving furniture instead of sleeping in.

Thanks!


Chris had the day off today, so we both worked on merging the apartments into one.

After spending a few hours at my apartment I packed up another car load and headed over to the new place with the pets in tow.

As you can see from this pic, I shoved leki in the small carrier. I think being up high helped, as his emo whining was kept to a minimum.

After only a few hours he appeared settled in and ready for a nap...

And in a few more hours its time for girls night.


In the AM I organized the old apartment more. Its getting close to bein done...but it seems to take forever.

My ipod finally died (HDD failure) after four years. Which is a little sad, but since I'm not working I guess I won't be using it much. All that really forced me to do was start using pandora via my laptop while I work. So its not all bad.

In the afternoon I picked up a change of address, tried mcdonalds cookies for the first time, and spent several hours at school working on an outline for my researc paper.

When I finally left a little before 7 I was presented with this traffic jam on 131.

In the morning I created the pile you see here. Its all items set to go to the storage unit...though upon seeing it I'm wondering why I have so much stuff.... One of those massive boxes is just more kitchen stuff, to go along with the boxes and boxes of kitchen stuff I already have shoved in the storage unit. At this point, I'm not even sure why I'm keeping so much stuff.

After moving all that stuff around I headed to Logan's for lunch with an old co-worker. It was great to catch up and enjoy food other than some of the instant junk I've been eating.

Then I headed over to the other apartment to finish up the kitchen in the afternoon. I brought the roomba with me to do some hard work while I finished up the cabinets and what not. The trusty little bot did a decent enough job, though it tried to eat a blanket at one point...

Class ended early since one of the databases was down, so I went back to the old apartment and did some additional organizing and packing. Leki was excited to see me and was sure to say hello everytime I passed him in the hallway...

Monday night had been spent on the preliminary organization of the kitchen. Shortly after starting I realized that integrating two kitchens is infinitely more time consuming than just transplanting your own from one place to the next.

So much of Tuesday afternoon was spent organizing the kitchen further. There was so much overflow that I started making piles in the living room on the furniture to see how much of each item there was.

By the end of the afternoon I still only had about half the kitchen addressed.

So since I'm moving into Chris's apartment and he has all the furnishings you'd need, some of my things are going into storage until we move to a bigger location. Namely couches, tables, the bedroom set from my childhood I refuse to let go, etc.

Of course, in order to move that stuff you need a moving vehicle (or a truck, which I dont own) and more beefiness than I alone possess. So in the interim I've been packing up various other things I'll be storing. There's the futon frame I've been lugging for a few years, some kitchen stuff from my grandparents, and holiday decorations that aren't really needed at the moment.

While I know its smarter to move the large stuff into the storage unit first and then the small stuff, the 8x10 I rented should still allow for enough maneuverability even with this stuff in there.

It could be tighter packed (thought it is from heaviest to lightest), but I'm waiting on a few additional items to make their way over to stack things better. Still, its about two car loads (not completely full) there, complete with crates jammed behind things.

While parking for school today I noticed a bright yellow sticker on the parking meters. Apparently they now offer pay by phone for the downtown Grand Rapids meters. Nice.

After class Chris and I had lunch and he helped me with another few car loads of stuff. Then it was back to packing, sorting, and shifting stuff around that I haven't decided on yet....

Nothing super exciting happening at the moment - moving usually sucks up a lot of time.

I was supposed to spend a chunk of Saturday finishing up packing and organizing and basically making the transition easy. Pick up box, load in car, rise, repeat.

Instead I started up Trigun, kept sitting down to watch it, passed out for a few hours on the couch with the cat, and eventually packed a few extra boxes.

In the evening I loaded up my car as best I could and brought a load over to Chris's to toss into a closet he cleared out for me.

I had a harder time moving stuff this time versus the past....so I really appreciate Chris helping me with the heavier things I kept insisting I could carry even though I couldnt.

Friday night I headed out to The Score to with Sherry to hang out with Melissa, and old co-worker of mine.

It was a good night and great to catch up with Melissa, but I was pretty tired and didn't manage to stay too late.

I did change up the normal food I order at a bar though - from potato skins to cheese wedges. Neither is healthy...

Much of today I spent packing and organizing more stuff in the apartment. The pile of boxes grows...

Class today was held in the library to get official training on LexisNexis and Westlaw.

Class didnt last too long, only an hour and a half (well it was work at your own pace but the tutorials were pretty easy) so I got out early and snapped a quick shot of one of the bookshelves. Its a little empty cause its the end of a series.

After I got home I took a few hard drives out of some old computers I'm going to toss out, and Leki was kind enough to offer his kitteh tech support skills.

This evening, after Chris got out of work we headed out to Wealthy
Theatre in East Grand Rapids to watch 12 Monkeys.
if you haven't seen the film yet (and like sci-fi), you should. Its made of win.

I was pretty lazy all day Monday. I was going to pack, going to work on my research paper, was going to be productive. Instead I sat around sleepy and cuddled with the cat till about 4:30. Then I finally got up and got ready to head over to the June's place.

Sherry and Dan have been home from the hospital for a few days with the new baby, Emilie, so I was curious to see how things were going. As is the case with an older sibling, Natalie is adjusting but grudgingly.

And, it appears, we have apparently fallen into old habits. I sat on the couch and watched Daniel rearrange his bookshelf, as he used to do every Monday.

Sunday marks the last day of Youmacon. The traffic flow was lighter, the lineup of events less intense, and overall the median age of attendees seemed to drop by several years. I even ran into a Naruto that I think was only 5.

Chris and I originally were going to watch the main event Potter Puppet Pals in the morning, but we waited in line for over 45 minutes past when the event was supposed to occur and finally ditched the idea and checked out of our hotel room instead. I dont know that the event ever occurred.

Later we went to watch Otaku Family Feud as it was pretty entertaining last year. But this year it was was a little lackluster and slow.

We did listen to more of The Spoony Bards for a bit, and even saw a random Carmelldansen circle.

Still, it was a good weekend and I look forward to how it pans out with the event being moved to the Renaissance Center next year in Downtown Detroit. Its a bigger venue, for sure. but how much space exactly will they be taking up?