the city chicken

The gist of this long post is that I am testing out a new place to host my blog – http://blninja.tumblr.com/

The rest of this post is a discussion of why and hopefully will get others on the bandwagon to join Tumblr and try it out!!

So for anyone who has checked it out, I tweet way more often than I blog here at WordPress.  Sometimes I just feel like I don’t have enough time to blog and I think that is because blogging suggests thinking about a post, sitting down, writing it out, editing it for errors/length, etc. . . That is a lot of work when you are busy.

Twitter provides a quick place to update but you are limited to 140 words a post which suggests the other extreme:

post: “I’m at the coffee shop”

post 2:”now I’m leaving the coffee shop”

post 3: considering taking a poop . . .

You get my drift.

I have found what might be the perfect in-between – Tumblr

Tumblr is fairly new and has been neglected thus far due to the popularity of Twitter and Facebook. Tumblr also provides updates to my Twitter if I would like but I have the option of whether or not to post to both. I like the idea of being able to update friends and family without forcing my updates on other readers who may have no interest (ala Facebook news feeds/Twitter).

The best part, the posts are clearly intended to be smaller than typical blog posts however I can write as much as I want and I am able to upload movies, pics, even audio files without any hassel.

So I’m going to give it a fair shake and see what Tumblr is all about.  Catch me at my newest place on the net: http://blninja.tumblr.com/

Got news on the job yesterday – essentially deferred. I don’t plan to dwell on it. I am going to study like mad for the bar (because if you don’t pass that, who cares what kind of job you have lined up!) and the MPRE and do my best and look for jobs in whatever spare time I have.

As for today, I have Brian’s future closet, the linen closet, and the bathroom all prepared for his arrival over Memorial Day weekend. Now I just have to finish organizing my closet and the bedroom and pack up the bar and barware. Everything else will be taken care of when he moves in; the bar, bed, tv, trunk, boxes, and maybe some other random items will be moved into storage. Brian’s fabulous bed and television will be moving in here. The only other really large items coming here will probably be his dresser and desk.  It will all be good.

Otherwise, I am working on a case that will likely go to trial in the next two weeks. I will know for sure if it will go on Monday after we see who shows up for our depositions – we aren’t expecting much. 

Well, that is it for now – ciao ya’ll! 

wow, that was quite the closing combo . . . .

I’ve decided to do something I have read about on some other blogs a while back – a pantry challenge. I will only use up the foods that I already have in the house. This is really great timing for such a thing – Brian moves in less than a month from now and I have lots of good food that will go bad unless I take the initiative to eat it up. I figure I will allow myself to purchase one ingredient per meal if I need it but otherwise, nothing else can be bought and brought into the house (besides Diet Coke ). I’ll keep you all updated as I am sure things will get . . . interesting here soon.

In other news, Oliver is feeling better and can now see out of both eyes.
Here is a picture of Oliver on Friday:

versus today:

Feeling much better apparently

This has been miserably long is coming but I have just been way to busy to update . . . and in all honest there isn’t a whole lot to say I suppose. Just school, working, cleaning, planning shit. Nothing special. And now I am off to start another day. Hope all of you are doing well.

Drop me a line – I like mail and phone calls and shit peeps!

I have been very busy lately – sorry  

Blogging just hasn’t been on my mind at all lately. School has been pretty hectic and there are a number of paperwork/planning things I need to get done soon (should have done already) and I’m constantly wondering about what I need to finish up next. I haven’t been getting enough hours at the clinic and although I hardly want to complain about it since I like having whatever free time I can, I had to finally ask the professor today to help me get some more cases and quick.

In some new news, Brian and I have made the decision to move in together. It certainly isn’t going to happen over night – his lease isn’t up for a while but his does come to an end before mine so we will be living in my apartment together for a couple months before my lease ends. We already have a few ideas about where we might move to after we are done at this place . . . I feel pretty excited about it and I got really excited today when I realized how much money we are going to save!

Well, I have a lot of prep for my classes tomorrow so I am going to be getting to that now Ciao.

I was really worried on my way to school today. I just knew there would be danger, yelling, bitching, struggling, and a headache induced around 1pm when I would be leaving the school. Sure enough when I arrived at school I saw what I had been dreading – bad plowing.

I know, how lame a thing to get all worked up about. You just can’t understand until you have seen what the dink who plowed the law school lot has done to us.

I will just have to take a picture tomorrow to get this across but in the mean time, use your imagination.

In the typical parking lot there are lanes to drive down and then parking spots that when two cars pull in facing one another, their bumpers would almost “kiss”. Got the idea? Ok. Now imagine a bank of snow ten foot high in-between those two (no longer kissing) cars. 

Sounds odd but not like a huge problem right? Sure, until you realize that they are trying to fit a snow bank the width of 8 feet onto a painted line that is less than a foot wide! Once parked, you are f*cked! Try to bank up and you find that the car behind you is right on top of you. Two years ago I discovered a suburban behind me. I had to go back into the school and could only leave once that driver did! Today I managed to maneuver out – it only to EIGHT three-point turn attempts! ERRAH.

So anyhow, I decided not to just bitch this time – I wrote the parking services department of the university. I told them that at this point they are likely screwed for the winter – those banks won’t melt until March and will be much to heavy and packed to move. God forbid we get even another couple of inches of snow, there will simply be nowhere to put it! My suggestion to the school was to hire someone who knows how to plow snow! God knows there are a number of those people in the area – I have seen no other lot anywhere else in the city that looks like the one at school. I understand that they are trying to not lose a whole row of parking spaces but instead they are putting everyone’s car at risk and creating dangerous blind spots. 

And that is that.

moo.

You can no longer use recording equipment in class anymore because the school wants to “facilitate open discussion”. I don’t get this. If someone is abusing the use of lecture recordings by putting them on YouTube or making fun of another student because of something said in class, I could understand the school telling us we cannot use these recordings for anything other than personal use. But to ban them altogether?
No, I don’t record lectures but I know a number of people who did or at least did in certain classes in which we had confusing or particularly speedy talking professors.
The school continually is cracking down and I don’t really understand why – I haven’t seen any moral violations or otherwise while I have been here.

Anyhow, there is that rant for the day. Otherwise I have just been reading a lot last night and today and going to class. Whenever I make it home today I plan to workout and then just relax.

Hello – Brian and I returned from Michigan last night. Long ride, long weekend but we had fun. I can’t even begin to mention every gift I got this year – it was a wonderful Christmas – everything I got I really love. Everyone put a lot of thought into their gifts which is always so wonderful. 

And of course I got to see my family which is a Christmas gift in and of itself. I didn’t get to spend much time with any one person but I got to see a lot of people this year that I haven’t seen in a while. I got the opportunity to catch up for a bit with my sisters and brother in law and my grandmother which is a big deal. I don’t see my sisters very often at all and my grandmother is usually so surrounded with people at the family gathering (she had 15 kids!), that it can be damn near impossible to get near her. This year my mom was one of the people helping to organize and clean the hall so we stayed after everyone had left and I got to spend a few minutes talking about the coming year with grandma.  

Perhaps the only disapointment of the trip was a rather trivial irritation – a bunch of the large turbine windmills were set up in Ubly, MI, the town I went to high school in. I had heard all about how wild it was to now drive into Ubly and see them towering in the sky like something out of a sci-fi flick. Well, the afternoon of the 27th after the family gathering, Brian and I headed back to Bad Axe via Atwater Rd. so I could catch a glimpse of the monsters. Well can you believe that the fog was so bad that afternoon that I barley caught a glimpse of the one turbine that was mere feet from the road!!?! We got to my dad’s in Bad Axe, packed up and headed back to Ubly – this time I didn’t see anything at all! In fact, we could barley see the lines on the road directly in front of us! Finally, on the third drive by while following mom and Ron to Detroit I was able to see the multitude of red blinking lights in the sky and I finally got a bit more than a glimpse of a few of the turbines. They really are pretty cool. It was much too windy that night to be able to open the windows and listen to them but I can at least say I . . . kinda . . . saw them.

Oliver stayed home this time – I arrived to find him very hungry since he refuses to eat while I am gone. *sigh*

Oh, and I hooked up the Rosetta Stone system I got last night – woohoo! I did part one of lesson one last night and I hope to be able to put in about an hour each day during the school year. I am very excited about it! 

Today and the next few days will be spent writing my paper. I might need to make a run to the library today or tomorrow – we’ll see. Other than that, I’m on a detox diet for a few days!

It feels like I have been in my evidence class for 4 hours straight —- ERAHHH. Never. Ending. Madness. 

Save us – bring snacks, a tv, and a club.

Yes, I am feeling celebratory. I had to share this article this morning from the NY Times. It is wonderfully written and in the first paragraph, captures the exact feeling I have hoped Barack Obama would instill overseas. 

Written in the Gaza Strip: 

“From far away, this is how it looks: There is a country out there where tens of millions of white Christians, voting freely, select as their leader a black man of modest origin, the son of a Muslim. There is a place on Earth — call it America — where such a thing happens. [T]he “glorious epic of Barack Obama,” . . . makes America — the idea as much as the actual place — stand again, perhaps only fleetingly, for limitless possibility.”

FULL ARTICLE

Well I’ve had more comments just recently on my city chicken recipe page and someone mentioned an idea I have not yet heard of – ground meat vs. cubed.

Sounds like a job for the Ultimate City Chicken Showdown!!! (*do do doo doooooooooo*)!

Yup, I think it is time for another City Chicken Showdown – perhaps later this week I will try out one of the marinated recipes or perhaps the ground version. I’ll be sure to update everyone once I’ve given it the go ahead!

It has been a long weekend! Yesterday I woke up bright and early to finish shopping for my costume for the big halloween party last night. I managed to find a men’s Zeus costume and with some trimmings from Joanne’s home decor department, poster board and gold spray paint, I was lady justice. I was busy all afternoon getting the costume just right. In the evening I headed over to Brian’s and we packed up and went over to his co-worker’s place for their annual bash. This year, Brian’s sister and future bro-in-law were there as well since it turns out they know the host and hostess. Brian was Jesus . . . it was cute. 

We had a good time but I apparently drank a little too much combined with too many odd, spicy food. At around 3am I woke up with heartburn that was practically choking me. I had to stay sitting up for a solid hour before it was tolerable enough to lay back down. And then I managed to wake up in the morning with a pounding headache. It makes me feel old . . . I’ve never had hangovers. Blech.

This afternoon I headed over to Brian’s grandparents place. Their family was celebrating a number of October birthdays. Brian had to work so I went as the representative I had a nice lunch with everyone, had some good laughs over the really funny (but kinda harsh) cards this year, and had some bizarre political conversations. All in all it was a nice way to spend the day and now I am home relaxing before I head to work tomorrow morning and get back to the grind.

Well, that is it for now . . . oh, but maybe I’ll toss in another picture It isn’t anything special – just a crappy picture of me in the car on the way home from the party last night but it turned out kind of interesting in an abstract, artistic kind of way

We will likely have another halloween party to attend right at Brian’s own apartment next weekend – I’ll be sure to update you all on that one as well . . . but I don’t plan to drink hard pear cider or eat spicy food next time

Obama in Indy

Obama motorcade arrives to craziness