It's so deep, it hurts.

I'm talking about a cardboard cut that I got at work; get your mind out of the gutter if you wanted to say "that's what she said" to the title. Or perhaps, I should get mine out of the gutter. Usually, cardboard cuts are barely worse than paper cuts. They usually sting a little bit more, but are rarely deeper than a paper cut or bleed more than a paper cut. Well, this cardboard cut came from a 10 pound box slipping out of my hand while unloading the truck on Thursday night. It didn't seem too bad, so I ran up to AP and got myself some neosporin and a band-aid to prevent the cut from getting in the way. Later on in the night, the band-aid got too sweaty from working hard and wouldn't stay on, so I took it off. At this point, I was able to fully examine my wound. This cut was DEEP... and it is right down the middle of my thumb on my left hand. Since we don't keep peroxide at work for some reason, I just put a fresh band-aid on it and messed with it when I got home. We probably poured about 3 caps full of peroxide into the cut, and it still felt like it wasn't cleaned out enough! Ouch, it stung. Then, we applied some new skin to it to close her up. Well, I woke up Friday morning and forgot that I had cut my thumb, and found myself playing with a zipper on our body pillow. Bad idea... It hurt for about 5 minutes from that... I decided that a band-aid and neosporin is a better solution than new skin... At least with a band-aid I don't forget about the cut... and it protects the wound a little better from silly things like zippers.

It's not harassment if you like it...

My goodness, this first week without facebook and twitter has been quite a doozy. I seem to be getting just as little done as I did before I went "cold turkey." The detox period was rough, but I have finally quit shaking and vomiting, and can eat three full meals again!

This week has been pretty exciting though! I have been given the wonderful task of revamping the video game section of our store. The first day I couldn't find any of the baskets or fixture pieces that I needed, but I made it work. Apparently I am doing pretty well; my boss took me out to Olive Garden for lunch yesterday for all of my hard work. It is still far from being completed, but I must say it is looking much better than it did before. Gearing up for the holidays in July is definitely a good idea.

I'm down to just one class in school, and my final is coming up on the first of August. It seemed far away until I looked at a calendar... Damn. I have quite a bit of studying to do in order to feel prepared for the final exam. I will be spending the next couple weeks making flash cards and practicing my essay questions. For the midterm, I only got half credit for the essay questions because they weren't "thorough" enough. Please tell me that 45 minutes two write four in depth essays about anatomy and physiology is reasonable? I don't think it is...

Eric and I ended up buying some Harry Potter movies on blu-ray. We started watching the first one on regular DVD and couldn't really make it more than 20 minutes in before realizing how much we needed the HD versions. This week, Best Buy has them on sale for $20, and they're packaged with $5 in concession cash! It was a pretty sweet deal! So, we bought the first four since we already have the 5th. Hopefully we will be able to hit the theater and see the new one in the next couple of weeks. My last experience at the theater, to see Transformers 2, was not really all that I had hoped for. I guess I'm just used to the experience in our home without 15 year olds jabbering the whole time.

I got a new running outfit yesterday as well! Eric says the shorts look a little funny, but I love them! It brings me back to my track days... I decided to step on the scale at the gym the other day, only to find out that I had gained a pound. Hopefully it was just my heavy clothes! I'm looking forward to running a lot more once my class is over. I also am hoping that Sandi and I will be able to do Pat's Run next year!

Hey, Pre-Med!

The title of this post is inspired by a group I recently joined on Facebook. Since I've decided that med school is the track I want to take, I have noticed a lot of things about myself that fall into the characteristics described on this page. My friend are always coming to me, wanting to show me their wounds or asking me to analyze their symptoms. As I study anatomy and physiology, I find that I might have a minor case of hypochondria, as I find the "symptoms" described in the homeostatic imbalance sections to fit mine. One thing this group failed to identify was the fact that almost all pre-med students are perfectionists. I have probably sent Eric about 5 text messages that say "I only got a 96% on my quiz :(" Most people would be elated with an above average grade... But there's a part of me that thinks I won't be successful in medicine unless I can get 100% on everything I do! I know it is unrealistic, but that's just how I feel.

String Quartet Tributes

All I have to say is: The Vitamin String Quartet is my absolute favorite thing to listen to while I study. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that quartet, they basically just take all of your favorite bands and create string quartet versions of their songs. My current collection consists of The Beatles (my newest and most favorite), Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and Death Cab for Cutie. I recently discovered the Vitamin Piano Series as well, and have purchased a piano tribute to Dashboard Confessional. These albums are great to listen to while studying, or if you have a regal event to throw. I LOVE classical music, especially when it resembles some of the great music I love to listen to. 

GET THIS ALBUM! The string quartet tribute to the beatles is a 20 song, 2 disc set of the most amazing classical music you will ever hear. It is worth every penny. In iTunes they only allow you to buy each song individually, or you can get it on bestbuy.com or amazon.com ... AMAZING...  

Spring Cleaning

Eric and I have decided to finally decorate the house, which means we have to clean first. I never thought two people could make such a mess! Our house was a disaster... and still needs work. We have decided to make room for books, and have hidden away all of our DVDs and CDs. Turns out, we have over 300 DVDs and almost as many CDs. It's ridiculous! We put them all in books, and put the cases in boxes. I'm so excited to move my book collection into the living room!! We aren't quite sure how we want to decorate yet, that will probably take a while.

I also signed up for classes starting on the 13th. I'm taking COM110 and BIO160. Eric says a communication class will be good for me... thanks honey. I'm excited for A&P though, I got a nifty coloring book/study guide that I can use for three different A&P classes, which is neat. I'm looking forward to this whole doctor thing... It will be a lot of work but fun! I wish I would have figured out what I wanted to do a long time ago, I could almost be ready for med school by now... Dang me and my laziness. 

We had a game night for work last week that I put together, it went over really well. We had about 40 or so people show up to it and had so much fun! No one wanted to leave, and they all want to do it again soon! I love that I was able to get that many people involved and that they all had so much fun!! This month we are having our annual 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Freestone on Easter Sunday! We already have 9 teams signed up and a bunch of people who want to go. It's going to be awesome. I love my job! 

That's all I have for now. Eric and I are about to head out to photograph Crystal and Steven's wedding!! We have another one next weekend. Busy busy bees!! 

I've got all these thoughts just floatin' through my brain

It has been quite a while since I have posted anything to this thing we call blogspot. Not much has happend. Cali was fantastic, except that I was sick most of the time. I think I was just stressed out about school and family... Strange how I was more stressed on vacation than I am on any other day. But, I still enjoyed it. My psychology class ended, and I got a B. I'm really disappointed because I only missed 4 points on the final... I wish it counted more towards my grade. All through high school our teachers said that finals and midterms would be so important in college... Well, I have yet to see where a final or midterm really affected my grade that much. I have finally decided that I'm going to med school. It has been a long year of nurse vs doctor. I finally decided that I like science more than anything. The whole time I've been debating, I've been leaning more towards the white coat. Becoming a nurse just seems like the easy way to get into medicine... I would rather work hard and go all out. I'm pretty excited. I got some information on the courses I need to take to transfer to ASU. These next few years I will be spending a lot of time finding the med school that's right for me. If you have any suggestions, let me know! Keep it realistic though... I'm probably not going to Johns Hopkins or anywhere like that... 

Work has been pretty interesting lately. Working retail in this economy you would expect to not have many customers to deal with.. But it certainly isn't the case. Since the new store opened up in the mall, we have had a lot more traffic. More people know we exist now that we aren't shoved into a little corner in a practically abandoned shopping center. It's funny how moving across the street can have such a huge impact on business. The mall staff is pretty amazing, especially mall security. This weekend is the big event that the mall is having for the new stores that have opened (Best Buy and Dicks)! It should be interesting. 

Well, that's all I really have for now. I really should get better at this... 

A blog about nothing, and everything

I have not been on my blog in a very long time, and you may be wondering if I am still alive. Well, you probably aren't wondering that because the only people who read this are family, and since we seem to email each other 5 million times a day, you know I'm alive. Anywho, I thought I would jump on here and blog it up.. or something.

There's really not much to report. School is still going. I'm thinking about taking 11 credits starting in March. I am not quite sure that I can handle that much school and work. But, I am working on this great project for my psychology class that is making me think I might be able to work it out. So the project is a self improvement essay. I know what you're thinking... "Valeri is perfect, what could she possibly have to improve??" I have realized lately that my life is very stressful, or rather I feel stress quite often and it is affecting every aspect of my life. In the short amount of time I have been researching stress, I have learned that if I put myself if a schedule and give myself specific goals, I can improve my mental and physical state of being. Procrastination, apparently, is a side effect of stress. I seem to procrastinate a LOT. I always thought that procrastination caused stress, not the other way around. I also learned that I need to eat a well balanced diet, which I definitely don't do. It is difficult to juggle everything, or so I think. I am pretty sure it is just me trying to justify the things I don't do that I should. 

Enough about that... let's talk about work! Work has been amazing lately. I have felt more confident, and I have implemented some new practices that seem to be catching on pretty well. I made these nifty folders to help customers keep information, which helps them remember what we talk about. There's a lot to know about TVs, and people can't always remember everything. Needless to say, the folders make it easy for customers to come back and know exactly what was discussed, and easily decide which solution they want. I love it! The other awesome thing about work is that I only work 1 more day in the old store!!!! We are moving!!! I can't wait!!! Thursday is my last day in the old 260, selling at least. The move has snuck up on us so quickly! The store is such a ghost town when it comes to product. It has helped uncover dust bunnies that have been multiplying under stands and boxes. 

Oh yeah, then there's vacation!!! I can't wait to spend the weekend with my family in sunny california, and celebrate 100 years of life! Not my life though, obviously I am not 100... Although I would look amazing if I were! I am going to purdy myself up for the party! I can't wait. I went out and bought makeup... what?! MAKEUP?! Yeah I know... I'm super weird. And, I bought a new curling iron... AND I already burned my forehead with it. Go me! My hair does not like to curl... even though it is naturally curly. But I won't get into that, I'm not that girly yet....

Well, There's my super boring blog!! Hope you're still awake...