vegas day two

so, day two. i slept in for a while given the lack of sleep from the night before. we got ready and decided to head back to the champagne brunch, because as i realized after some thought...it's sunday! (it's easy to lose track of time when you're tired and in vegas.) though we didn't intend to relive morning one, we sort of did. we checked out of our sahara room, took note of the bread tab thing that was still in the hall, and left our bags with a crabby bell hop so that we could go across the street again to bonanza's. you see, there was this talking stuffed animal parrot that we both fell in love with the day before...mostly because it does a parrot whistle and then says "hey. you. go f--- yourself." (next time you come over i can show you the awesomeness.) we headed back to the sahara and did some gambling on the penny slots, unable to resist the game "dam lumberjack beavers." it's fun. trust me. then after losing money, we retrieved our bags and jumped on the monorail to head to the MGM.


the ride was uneventful, but i think jody and i were grateful to only have to spend $5 to get all the way to the other end of the strip. and luckily it wasn't a long walk to the MGM once we got off the train. (this was good news because our feet were already killing us.) when we got to the registration area, there were long lines every where. we got in line behind the man you see below...i dubbed him "angry man." you see, he was asked by an MGM staff member to inform everyone who got in line behind him that this line would be closing as soon as he was helped. this made him very happy. especially because his line was the shortest, thus the first one everyone who wanted to check-in stepped into first. jody and i moved over to the next line and quickly found ourselves already ahead of our poor, angry friend. it turns out there was some dude (our douche as jody called him) holding up angry man's line looking at pictures of suites and stuff. i put my sunglasses on the back of my neck the like guy holding up the line and said something like "is this the cool thing to do now?" to which jody responded "no, now you look like that douche." this comment cracked up the strangers behind us which is one of the great joys in life. making total strangers laugh. classic.


we eventually got checked in and were happy that our room was really nice. we settled in and then did some walking around. we went to see the MGM lions.
































we checked out the miracle mile shops in planet hollywood, went over to new york new york, walked up to the bellagio to see the botanial gardens and the fountains. (it's hard to tell from that picture of smoky the bear, but the water was dripping through him since he was made entirely of moss and stuff which made it look like he was really sweaty. understandable given the 106+ temps while we were there. we also thought that water orb was really awesome.)















































eventually we headed back to the room and we were both pretty exhausted. we had thought about going to a dueling piano bar, but we were both wiped out and hungry so we decided to order a pizza and watch tv for a while and call it a early night. we called papa john's and i learned of jody's intense hatred of sausage, peppers, and onions. :) about 40 minutes later we headed outside to meet the delivery guy. as we were waiting, we had some fun people watching/mocking. at one point this giant limo pulled up and jody predicted some sort of rock star type or skinny ho-bag would jump out. we were surprised when instead a very large family exited it instead. just goes to show you that you never can accurately predict what is about to happen next in vegas.

i spotted our pizza delivery guy from a distance so trotted off to get our pizza, which we promptly devoured, while sitting on the floor watching sex in the city. (i made the point that sitting on the floor having a pizza picnic would have been unthinkable at the sahara.) so that was the end of day two. we went to sleep happy and full and ready to get some rest to prepare for vega

what happens in vegas ends up on my blog

or at least some of it. :) jody and i had an AWESOME time in las vegas, so i thought i should share some of the fun with you, my beloved reader(s). if you'll bear with me, i'm going to attempt to upload goofy pictures from my iPhone as i go.

i left dubuque at the flat-out ridiculous hour of 2:30 a.m. in order to catch my 6:00 a.m. flight in madison. thankfully, my friend clete gave me a ride to the airport so i wouldn't sleepily crash into a cow or something on my way there. the madison airport was surprisingly bigger than i thought it would be. i debated whether i should bother with having a coffee, having slept exactly not at all, and decided that it probably wouldn't hurt anything. while standing in the line with other travelers who made the same choice as me, an older lady walked past all of us to the counter and asked if she had to stand in line for coffee. the cashier was a bit stunned by the sheer stupidity of this question, given the fact that this wasn't elizabeth taylor or the queen of england or someone, and informed her that indeed, the rest of us were waiting for coffee. i know it was early, but what the hell else would we have been doing in that line. but i digress...

my flights to vegas were thankfully uneventful and i met jody at the airport at 9:30 vegas time. we took the shuttle to the Sahara, which at one time was the scene for such greats as The Beatles and all the Rat Pack dudes. now it's the scene for...people on a budget who needed one night in a hotel before they get to their good hotel. i didn't take a picture of our room, despite it's cool wall paper, but i did get a shot of the their ingenius logo...















the bread tie thing that was in our hallway during the entire stay...




















and the teeny tiny shot glasses that we got with our $1.00 kamikaze shots...(i'll spare you the picture of jody's champagne ice cream float...because...damn. :P)




















and this last picture gives you a sample of the aforementioned wall paper. you'll also note that someone added to it by slapping their levi's size label thing on the wall. can't have nice things at the sahara.


























what we can have though is some classy advertising for some of the high quality food that you can eat in this desert-themed masterpiece of a hotel. here are the two best examples.





what are they getting at? :) needless to say, we didn't eat either of these things...mostly because we stuck with the champagne brunch...and well...you can read.









one of our first ventures out of the sahara was across the street to bonanza's naughty town. we saw it on the shuttle ride and were thrilled to find that it was located so close to our hotel. though naughty town provided a great deal of hilarity, we both agreed that it wasn't all that naughty. i started calling it "moderately inappropriate subdivision."

here is a sample of some of the things we saw but didn't purchase.









damn i love those squirrel underpants. that's funny stuff.

we wrapped up day one by getting a taxi to the in-n-out burger where we had AWESOME food. there was probably some gambling and drinking and debauchery (side note: we had to explained to the guy who checked us into the MGM what that word means...how can you work in vegas and not know?). it's a little hard to remember all the details of day one because of getting exactly one hour of sleep. i think i'm going to have to split this into a few posts, so for now i'll leave you with this.




love ya jody!

eat. pray. love. blog. :)

as the title of this post makes clear, i'm reading the book eat, pray, love by elizabeth gilbert. though the book was published a few years ago, i'm just getting around to reading it now, and i have to say that i think the timing is pretty perfect. a friend of mine recommended it last summer, but i'm not sure i was in a place where i could have really appreciated the message the author is conveying. (plus i might have been downright pissed that i could go on a one-year trip around the world to get over my relationship woes.) as i read it now though, i find some much that resonates with how i've been feeling lately and the complicated path it is to move past a broken heart. maybe i should come up with some sort of 3 part january term course to italy, india, and indonesia? :)

anyway, when bits have been particulary pertinent or inspiring, i've dog-eared the page so i can come back to them. here is one i want to share.

"most of us, even if only for two minutes in our lives, have experienced at some time or another an inexplicable and random sense of complete bliss, unrelated to anything that was happening in the outside world. one instant, you're just a regular joe, schlepping through your mundane life, and then suddenly what is this?--nothing has changed, yet you feel stirred by grace, swollen with wonder, overflowing with bliss. everything for no reason whatsoever--is perfect." (197)

i have had these moments in my life...where the sun is reflecting off the buildings in dubuque in this gorgeous golden light or the moon shines heavy, full, and red in the sky...where despite all the things i find myself worrying about, for that moment all i care about is the beauty of it all and the blessings in my life. lately, beyond those random moments that make my heart pound with a little more life than it does during the mundane times, i find myself feeling happy for specific reasons. students sometimes make me want to punch them in the face, but i love my job. the debts i have sometimes stress me out, but i see a path out of them. my apartment might seem empty without a companion (pet or otherwise), but i love it. i might need to slim down in order to be happier with myself, but i have this renewed sense of self-confidence about kate than i've had in a while. (last summer was rough.) dubuque might be cold in the winter, but it's been lovely in the spring and summer (and we have the best sweet corn in the state.) there are many people that i miss and want to see more, while being blessed with new friendships. at this point in my life, i'm so happy to report, things are going well...and given the year i've had, i feel like this is big news.

this leads me to another part of the book that i really like and thus dog-earred:

"there is so much about my fate that i cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiction. there are certain lottery tickets i can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. i can decide how i spend my time, whom i interact with, who i share my body and life and money and energy with. i can select what i eat and read and study. i can choose how i'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life--whether i will see them as curses or opportunities (and on occasions when i can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because i'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, i can choose to keep trying to change my outlook.) i can choose my words and the tone of voice in which i speak to others. and most of all, i can choose my thoughts." (177)

so this quote could lead you to believe that i'm ignoring the sociology in my life, and trust me, that's impossible. (it might also be a bit corny, but i don't care.) i feel like this quote in particular talks about the agency that we all have in how we deal with the social forces and life events that come to be in our lives. i could choose to let bitterness and frustration rule my mind, and undoubtedly that attitude would then impact all kinds of other things. but instead, i haven't done that. i've been determined to be positive despite all shit this year, and it's nice to know that i'm in a better place than i might have been without my "foolish" optimism. (i also think this quote could be handy to paraphrase on syllabi for the fall.) :)

anyway, this is probably a lot of rambling just to say...kate is happy. :D hope you all are as well.

okay summer break...hurry up and get here

lately the question "how's your break going" has come up a few times and i feel myself edging towards irritation when i hear the query. this is mostly due to the fact that i haven't really felt like i'm on a break yet. i have already started teaching my two summer classes (in week two and three of them actually), i've had to finish up my annual review, attend some meetings, plan for some more meetings, and finish grading. SO it has been a bit of a crazy few weeks and i'm still trying to get used to the idea that things really will eventually slow down.

now, don't get me wrong, i know i should be complaining because people with non-academic type jobs don't get the summer off and i realize that. AND i really do love what i do most of the time. but after this crazy year, i really feel like i need some down time or i'm not going to have a good third year. the thing a lot of people don't know about this prof gig is that to some degree, it can be never-ending. for example, this summer i need to get ready for the fall and my january term course, do some research, register new students at conferences, do some more research, possibly participate in some more meetings, and deal with the two courses that i'm teaching. when the semester starts, it will be back to the grind with more meetings, more grading, more figuring out what i'm doing in classes, and so on and so forth. so though yes, officiallly i'm not on contract this summer....i won't be spending the time lounging on the beach. :) hopefully eventually when i've done this for a while i'll be able to take a real break, but until the tenure clock stops ticking, i have a feeling life will be busy.

in the meantime, i'm going to have a piece of wacky cake, enjoy a cold beer, avoid grading, read some of the current non-academic book i'm working on right now (A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby), and get some sleep. :D

maybe i should stick around for a while

http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=240812

woo!

it's been a while...

and i have a lot to catch up on most likely, but i think i'll proceed with my 2008 year-in-review that will then ultimately bring us up to date.

january 2008

• first year as a doctor
• enjoyed a very long break in between semesters, which included some time in albuquerque to do research and visit.
• spent a weekend in dubuque with my niece amanda
  
• remembered that the sun does exist in winter time (just not often in iowa.)
• stopped working part-time at pier 1
• moved out of my apartment that i loved into a gorgeous house with roommates brad and christine.
  

february 2008

• started my second semester at loras which involved teaching stats for the first time, as well as covering my colleagues stats class as she was out for maternity leave.
• went to ABQ for mike's going away party.
• broke driver's side car window in snow-related incident.
• start the best part-time job ever at the diamond jo
  

march 2o08

• difficult time for students when one of our students sadly passed away from meningitis :(
  
• went to las vegas for a conference with mom and had a great time!
  
• spring break in TX

april 2o08

• got to see sara who was back from hong kong for a conference in chicago! woo!
  
• went to st. louis for yet another conference and got to see my fam.
• teaching of 5th class ends and relief of only having 4 ensues
• two quick/weird trip to TX in one week
• i think it finally stopped snowing sometime this month. it was a record breaking winter.
  

may 2008

• went to may commencement as a faculty member and then realized that it had been 10 years since my own graduation.
  
• moved for the third time this year into my current apartment which i love
• discovered that couches can defy gravity
  
• start of heart-breaking romance end begins.
• family weekend during memorial day to hang out with mom and dad on their 34th anniversary. (we weren't sure if it was 34 or 35 and i had to use some good detective skills.)
• scary F-5 tornado in iowa!
  

june 2008

• first summer class taught at loras.
• visited my friend jody in her new hometown of charlotte, nc. we got to go to the beach and get wicked sunburns.
• crazy iowa floods!
  
• relationship break ends in not the way i had hoped..

july 2008

• july 4th with the doyles!
  
• went to my cousin ashley's wedding and discovered what being a reader really involved.
• found out break-up was even yuckier than expected
  
• took a much needed trip to new orleans to plan january-term class and to do some serious soul-searching. met ray nagin at mass there.
  
• went to texas and las vegas to visit friends and get some closure.
  

august 2008

• realized i should have done more work over the summer
• made some new friends
• started dating again...kinda sorta.
• jack-up knee dancing after an irish hooley
  
• year two as a faculty member begins
• went to erin and brent's wedding and made some new friends in WI.
• started teaching at the community college
  

september 2008

• made a few more new friends including a locally famous dog
• started watching Six Feet Under series because it's awesome
  
• visit my brother and his family in st. louis
• miss the last of six weddings i was invited to over the summer. only was able to go to two and was sad to miss the others. but congrats!
• get some debts consolidated
  

october 2008

• went to a surprise 40th birthday party for my brother
• caught up with some duhawks at homecoming! 10 years?!
  
• job interview at a school i thought i wanted to work at. found out that i didn't and that staying put is a good plan.
• went to see the aggies beat iowa state. whoop!
  

november 2008

• OBAMA IS ELECTED!!! WOO!!!
• slight set-back on the "moving on" front
  
• girl weekend with mom, aunt deb, and cousin kelli
• JUMBIES and mom and dad in the same weekend. woo!
• jocelyn came to visit and gave talks about new orleans and hurricane katrina
• fun Milwaukee weekend
• visited jeremy in rock island and discovered the genious that is Flight of the Conchords
  
• two family thanksgivings! yum!
  

december 2008

• finished a very busy fall semester with the stress of getting ready for january term
• start an earring side business for fun and no-profits yet
  
• had fun at the christmas gala
• new Diamond Jo opens!
• said good-bye to Grandma Parks :(
  

january 2009

• rang in the new year in milwaukee after some fun in chicago. viva the year of kate!
  
• turned 33...what the?
  
• J-term class to New Orleans and back
• took a mini-break to TX

february 2009

• spring semester starts and i'm not at all prepared for two new courses and stats. (lemented 8 a.m. classes)
  
• exhaustion from j-term lingers
• started the match.com thing again
  
• fundraiser for new orleans. the students did a good job though i still have a lot of beads and some coffee for sale if anyone is interested. ;)
• signed up for a gym membership
  

march 2009

• awesome spring break! spend a few days in dubuque with dennis and then the rest of the break in albuquerque catching up with friends i haven't seen in too long. this included some high quality time with my friend haley and baby kate (and dan too of course.)
• discover how cool park farm winery is
  
• happy to get a contract for next year even if it didn't have a raise on it
• finished watching Six Feet Under series. wow!
  

april 2009

• conference in des moines. caught up with old friends, made some new friends, and had a great time connecting with my colleague
• good times with dennis, erin, and brent at the casino on a random monday night
  
• fun easter weekend with mom that involved sushi, wine, shopping, and a champagne easter brunch

okay, so that brings me up to date. this is definitely not an all-inclusive list and there are undoubtedly many things that i forgot. hopefully i will keep things more up to date from now on. 2008 was unforgettable for a lot of reasons. thanks to everyone who made it a great year. 2009 looks to be even better and we're not even halfway through yet. :D

peace friends!

remembering

i find myself reflecting on christmas traditions from my childhood tonight. it might be because i watched A Christmas Story two-and-a-half times tonight. but more likely it is because i always think of those times on christmas and now it seems especially significant to do so. today (or more accurately yesterday) was a sad day, because my grandma parks passed away. she has been ill for a very long time and recently in and out of the hospital frequently. she lived a long life (94 years) and i hope mostly a happy one. though it is sad for us all, it is also good to know that she's not in pain anymore. and we can focus on our great memories of her and celebrating her life. easier said than done in many ways. she was my last living grandparent, so that also makes it difficult. weddings, kids, and just all of that stuff without my grandparents. fortunately, there are so many great memories that i can share with my future family and keep near to my heart, which is a nice segue to the holiday memories.

our christmas would start on christmas eve at my grandma and grandpa reuter's house. my mom has 4 brothers and 1 sister who were all married with kids, so all of us would gather and have dinner. there were usually a few college students from foreign countries there as well, which just added to the uniqueness of the night. the kids would watch in amazement as my uncles would come back from the food table (which was usually the pool table in the basement) with food piled high on their plates! it seemed to be some sort of unofficial eating competition. the kids would be seated around a few card tables and we'd eat. and eat. and eat. occassionally someone (actually only my aunt mary one time) would fall down the basement stairs, resultuing in a trip to the ER for her and apparently a relish tray run for my uncle jon. after dinner, some of us would go to christmas eve mass. i remember sitting in the balcony one year listening to the extended story of the birth of christ. when we got back, we'd find that the dishes had been done by those choosing not to go to church and we'd gather in the living room upstairs for the gift exchange. we'd open presents, eat homemade chocolate covered cherries and peanut brittle and sugar cookies that some of us kids likely helped make with grandma earlier in the week. they also always had ribbon candy and those awesome peppermint nougat things with the evergreen tree in the middle. i LOVED those. after gifts were opened, the kids would usually go play in the basement and the adults would hang out doing grown-up things (like beer drinking i'm assuming) upstairs. eventually it would be time to go home. i recall those rides back across town in the back of the car. we'd always drive by the high school where there was a display of santa and his reindeer (complete with a red-nosed rudolph) on the roof of the roundhouse (the gym.) i would watch out the back window into the night sky looking for santa to fly by.

the next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn to open presents at our house. sometime in the mid-morning, grandma and grandpa reuter would stop by to see our new treasures. then we'd get ready to go to grandma and grandpa parks' house. in some ways it was the same scenario but with less people. my dad has two sisters, so they and their families would gather. we'd eat WAY too much food and there were usually enough of us to be spread around a few tables. some of us would be in the dining room off of the kitchen and others would be in the smaller dining area near the living room. there were be a lot of eating and a classic kate story came out of one of the gatherings at grandma parks' house. when i was young (like 2 or so) i loved to eat (which i realize is not all together different from now.) i was sitting in my high chair, watching everyone pass food to each other around the table, patiently waiting for some of my own. when the corn went by i made it know in my own special way that i was hungry too by saying "i like corn i eat corn." subtle, i know. after dinner was completed and dishes were done, we'd go to the basement usually to open presents. i think there was a tree in the upstairs living room and one downstairs as well. we'd open our gifts, the kids would play, the adults would talk. we'd stay into the evening after eating pies and other desserts. there were always kisses from grandma and grandpa as you left. grandpa's were often scratchy from the subtle on his face. then we'd venture down their relatively steep driveway (at least it seemed that way when i was a kid) and head back home. i remember that drive seemed like it took so long, even though they live about 5 miles from town.

things have obviously changed a great deal over the years as people have grown up, had kids, and started their own traditions, and as our grandparents aged and it became less realistic for them to host us all. but i'm so glad that we had those times and that i can remember them tonight when i should be sleeping. there is something so special and magical about this season. some light in the darkness. some brightness in the cold. it gives me a glimmer of hope even when things seem uncertain and even frustrating at times. i find myself now more excited about the gifts i give than the ones i get. relishing in new traditions that have emerged. watching my nieces and nephew get excited about santa. getting long hugs from my parents and siblings. wishing the best to my friends all around this country (and the world.) christmas gives us pause to really think about what matters the most in our lives. and days like this one highlights that even more.

to wrap up this long post, i want to say thank you to my family and friends who have supported me and loved me and made me laugh during what was at times a really difficult year. i want to thank you for your prayers and thoughts even in the last day. and know that you all help me understand the reason for the season.

happy holidays everyone with much love!