Turkey Day was excellent. There is nothing like an entire holiday devoted to eating!

Let's see. David and I spent Wednesday night cooking (boys that cook = good thing). He made salmon cakes for brunch and pumpkin pie for dinner. I made deviled eggs and caviar for brunch and stuffing for dinner. A lot of stuffing.

We woke up way too early to run the 5K. Though once again, I ran the entire distance (which I wasn't able to do until only a few races ago), I was actually slower than my last 5K, and way slower than my goal. I don't know why. But I must not have pushed myself very hard, because usually after a 5K, my legs ache at least a bit, and so far they've barely been stiff. But, congrats to Sarah who finally broke 30 minutes!

At brunch, one of Kennda's friends spotted all my Star Trek books (and trashy fantasy, such Peirs Anthony and Anne McCaffrey) on the bottom rows of my bookshelves. I like to joke that they are the bottom shelf because I like people to look at the middle shelves filled with books that have a bit more literary merit. Yet a total stranger noticed them in about 30 seconds flat. Of course, I think he may have noticed them because his reading interests are similar to mine. I really have a lot of books. I outta do something about that.

Dinner was a little more casual than brunch. I was very impressed at Josh and Paul's preparation of the turkey. Even though I don't eat turkey, I was a bit worried about them when I heard that Sarah told them they should start defrosting their turkey and Paul responded "Don't worry, we have a bag." Yes, a non sequitor. As David pointed out this would only result in a more moist frozen turkey. But, Paul called 1-800-BUTTERBALL and figured every thing out.

After dinner, I was exhausted, but Dave and I ended up talking for several hours before I finally called it a night.

Today, I'm putting in about a half day of work, which is still a little less than I put on my timecard (due to the holiday, we had to fill it out on Monday, very inefficient). I was planning on coming in tomorrow to do some homework, I'll just squeeze in a couple of hours of real work too, in order to make up for it.

Its cold again. It was cold at the beginning of the week (low 30s), then it climbed to the low 80s. When I went to dinner it was still hot and humid. When I left dinner, it was downright chilly. Now, it must be in the 40s out. Houston is so weird.

I had a very surreal morning. I think the haze still hasn't quite lifted.

David Cohen is coming into town tonight. This is where any high school friends reading this blog say "Whaaat?" Or they might think that. Because if they say it out loud, they might get confused looks from the people around them. As it turns out, Dave lives in Austin. AND, Dave's family (who relocated from Boca to Austin after we graduated) have all abandonned him to go other places for the holiday. So I invited him to the lonely-Houstonians Thanksgiving "events." This is where all the single (and some not single) people who decided it wasn't worth paying an arm and a leg for a plane ticket home for a mere 4 days (or people like me, who just don't have the vacation time) throw parties. These are particularly amusing because oftentimes the "cooks" have never actually cooked anything besides Raman noodles before and they just skip all the baby steps and go strait to the turkey and all the fixin's.

So, the agenda is: Turkey Trot (early a.m. 5K run in down town Houston, I will try to break 40 minutes. Don't laugh. I'm damned slow. But this will allow me to burn off whatever calories I can to make room to gorge for the rest of the day.) Kennda's "non-traditional" Thanksgiving brunch (I'm making deviled eggs, and Dave is making is self-described "bad ass" salmon cakes). Then off to a friend's apartment for the more traditional dinner (I'm making "dressing" again -- not stuffing, because it won't actually be stuffed inside the turkey. Too intimidating, I think, for someone who's never cooked a turkey before).

I'll be back at work for about a half-day on Friday. Then this weekend I plan on vegging out, doing some yard work, and decorating for Christmas!

What a difference a good prof makes! After 15 minutes asking questions this morning, I think two weeks of confusion have been nearly completely cleared up. It makes me feel so smart!

Last night I had a good night. I went to the Outpost to talk about Yuri's Night and drink beer. Then, I ran home, changed, and went rock climbing. I actually don't think I pushed myself as much as I did last time (at least, my arms have a light ache this time, compared to the constant pain of last time). However, my fingers are all tingley, because I was having trouble getting a hold of several rocks and I think I pushed my poor little digits too hard.

It is SO cold outside. Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (even though its not even Thanksgiving yet!).

In the oft-repeated words of crew members of a certain rowdy boat sailing around the bays of Maine in June, 1997: "Its freakin' freezin' Mr. Biggles." Of course, after that exclamation, we usually had to jump in to the 50 degree water and do a couple of laps around the boat.

It is freakin' freezin' in Houston. In the last week the highs have topped out at in the upper 80s. There were 13 tornadoes. Flooding. And now, there is a low of 32 degrees.

My weekend went mostly as intended. On Friday I stayed at work way too late (for a Friday) working on homework, vegged out, talked to Karen (who still hasn't updated her journal!). On Saturday morning, I drove up to Huntsville to meet Gavin and Jen who were camping there. We did the 8 mile "loop" hike around the lake in the state park. And then I headed back home. It must've really worn me out, because I basically crashed at 9:30 p.m. (I am such an old lady!). Sunday, I slept in (yeh!), cleaned up some of the house, did some laundry, watched Shawshank Redemption (for the millionth time), and attempted to do my finite elements homework (I totally don't understand what's going on! In my desperation, I finally e-mailed the prof for a meeting before or after class tomorrow).

Brace yourself for another boring entry, because, frankly I am a boring person, At least this week. I keep trying Nick to go back to updating his Page Du Jour, his mostly daily photos from France. But he says that no one would be interested in seeing pictures of his life, now that he sits at a desk all day and reads. This line of logic makes me feel oh-so-wonderful about what I write about.

I am going to use this weekend to catchup on homework, housework, yardwark, and playing with my attention-starved dogs. After this I will probably surf the Internet looking for exotic places to live. ISU's next summer session next year is going to be in Australia (with a field trip to Woomera!). Too bad circumstances (such as not working here for long enough and my mentor's application) prevent me from applying for it.

I had very satisfying experience with my advisor today. He gave me a lot of options to choose from and now I just have to decide. So I went from worrying about having too few options of classes for next semester to having too many. Out of the frying pan...

I've decided I should make it my mission in life to cut the umbilical cord between non-computer saavy people and AOL. It still makes me frustrated when someone tells met they have something stored in "AOL - My Favorites." Just chalk it up into one more rant. Not quite the turducken of yesterday, but close.

Back to work. It seems the little cube that Sarah and I share has become the social center of the universe today. Lot's of visitors. I have made very little progress today to justify my paycheck and I must rectify the situation.

Yesterday, I left work in kind of a haze. Let's just say it wasn't one of my most upbeat days. Then, the haze followed me to the grocery store.

Random acts of...

And then I practiced a random act of kindness. I found a cell phone in the parking lot.

Not knowing what else to do, I scrolled through the phone book, passed "Sally" "Bob" and "Jane" and thought to myself "If I call one of these people, they may have no idea who's phone I'm calling from and probably have lots of friends with cell phones." Anyway, I stopped on "Mom" - perfect!

So I called "Mom" and got a man. I figured the man would be "Dad", and I promptly said "Hi, sorry to bother you, but do you have a child with a cell phone.. I mean, it could be an adult child. Someone who lives in League City? I found a phone on the ground and your number was programmed in it." "Dad" was baffled, and said "I'm in Utah, I don't know what you're talking about" and I started to apologize and hang up. Out of the confusion, he said "Wait wait! Why don't you talk to my wife?" So, he put "Mom" on the phone, who confirmed that she did have a daughter who lived in League City who she talks to on this very cell phone nearly every day. "Mom" thought the whole thing was rather funny as she gave me her daughter's home phone number. I called, and got a very grateful woman. I left her phone at customer service and went home.

I promptly forgot whatever was making me grumpy yesterday and drove the short way home grinning at my anonymous random act of kindness.

What's wrong with tradition?

Irwin commented today on Turducken. For the uninitiated, this is a duck, stuffed in a chicken, stuffed in a turkey. My Mom had also commented on this "invention" recently as an alternative to Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently, people are getting bored with the traditional turkey, leading them to fry their turkeys (absurd!) or stuff them with several additional dead birds (more absurd!). Even my family has jumped on the bandwagon by frying a turkey a couple of years ago. The justification for this strange Thanksgiving behavior is that people are "bored" with the traditional meal. Bored?? Get real. Most American families eat Mac & Cheese several times a month and pizza more often than that. A whole Turkey is cooked (with all the fixings) on ONE DAY a year! This should be an exciting novelty compared to most meals. Consider that you eat 3 meals a day for 365 days a year, that's 3,285 meals a year. A turkey dinner comprises 0.03% of your annual meals. (Ok, maybe 0.06% if you eat it on Christmas too). Consider that you are 50 years old and have had turkey every single Thanksgiving since you sprouted teeth. That means you have had 50 turkey dinners in your life. Only 50. Can you even begin to count how many pizza dinners you've had in your life? Yet, very few people (outside the Technique office) say they are bored of pizza!

So, because I like sounding crotchety occasionally, consider the pilgrims. Those poor souls didn't have fourty gallon vats of oil in which to fry their turkey... Why mess with a good thing?

My brain is officially a french fry. Or maybe fried chicken. Something fried. That's how I feel right now.

My finite elements homework beat the crap out of me last night. I missed rock climbing while plugging away. Disappointment! And then today we got a PROJECT that I didn't even know was coming. Oh, yeah, and the TA who is charge of answering questions said he is not going to answer any after the start of Thanksgiving break, even though its not due until Dec. 2.

Ok, that's my rant. I just feel up to my ears in engineering right now. The "word of the day" on yahoo was esoteric: Intended for or understood by only a particular group: an esoteric cult. Of or relating to that which is known by a restricted number of people. These adjectives mean beyond human power to explain or understand.

Right now, I am feeling my world is wrapped up in a very esoteric field. It gets more obscure, arcane, detailed, annoying... as each day goes by both in my work work and my classwork. And the more I learn, the less I feel like I understand or even care.

I didn't sleep very well last night. I kept thinking about Switzerland. Actually, I kept hearing the train announcements in my head "Winterhur, Gleiz Seiben ding hoot.." (Am I going crazy?) I think Cari and her friends' blogs are bringing up memories. I moved to and from many places for life, school, interships, work -- but I am still emotionally wrapped up in Switzerland. I feel like a scorned lover. It put me on a emotional roller coaster, and then *poof* it is no longer part of my life, nor will it ever be again. Two years. You'd think I'd get over it.

Ok, speaking of "work work", hi ho, hi ho, its off to work we go...

I had a half-lazy, half-productive weekend.

Lazy

On the lazy end - I saw two movies, and enjoyed both of them. On Friday night, it was The Master and The Commander and on Saturday late night it was Love Actually. All I have to say is that I would vote for Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister. I watched every single thing my TiVO recorded. I went out to two resteraunts I have never been to before, and both were good.

Productive

On the productive end - on Saturday morning I trimmed away in my yard. My rear end hurts (I don't really know why I overused that muscle, but it does). Then I got rained on and had to stop. On Sunday I tried to do a bit more yardwork and made significant progress on my molding efforts for my floor.

Mortified

While I was moving the tree trimmings out to the front yard, Apache tore out of the backyard and across the street to my neighbor's very mild mannered (seriously) pit bull who was tied to a tree in their front yard. I'm sure Apache just approached the other dog to play at first, because that's what she always does around another dog. But obviously a dog tied to a tree feels threatened when another dog approaches their territory, and next thing I know, teeth are being bared and growling sounds are heard as I made a mad dash across the street. My neighbor jumped in between the two dogs and started kicking Apache (which I would call a little unnecessary because Apache backed off the minute he came over, not to mention, he knows Apache fairly well, but he was defending his dog, and therefore justified). I was mortified as I dragged Apache away (after I hit her repeatedly and through her back in the house, I went over and apologized and checked on their dog who was unharmed, thankfully). I felt miserable about the whole thing the rest of the afternoon (partially because I constantly feel like I'm under the scrutiny of my neighbors at all times, like living under a microscope, and that they don't "approve" of what they see, and partially cause I feel horrible that I lost control of my dog like that). I don't know what got into her, she's usually a submissive, friendly dog, I don't think I've ever seen her do anything more aggressive than a low growl or a bark at another dog. And to top it all off, this whole scene was witnessed by several of my other neighbors who now probably think Apache is this deadly lethal horrible dog. Sigh. It still makes me sick to think about.

Funny

And if you want to amuse yourself, read Cari's friend Nick's journal. In an astonishing feat of what I could only call sheer stupidity, he and two others rented a car for four days and covered something like 10 countries and 5,500 km. Gosh, I think I may have acquired some arroganance in my background as an "experienced" European traveller, but I can't even imagine the rewards of taking a trip like that. But a good read.

Finally, a weekend at home! Oh, I have grand plans for the things I want to get accomplished this weekend. We'll see on Monday how successful I was.

The most amusing animation of the week is here.

So, that's that.

Yesterday I was in a meteorology class. It was really interesting. I like learning things that are, for the most part, out of my realm of experience. The only parts that were boring were things I already knew (such as how to decode aviation weather reports and the ABC's of radar). But it was cool. It made me wonder what it would be like to be a meteorologist, it must be strange to have a scientific awareness of what the weather is going to do on a daily basis both in your backyard and halfway around the world.

So, this study lists NASA as the best place in the federal government to work. And the Johnson Space Center was listed as the second best federal subagency. The study can be found here.

Class worries

I have no class this morning. But it feels like I'm playing hooky.

So, as it turns out, my astrodynamics professor is going to offer Perturbation Theory in the Spring. By taking this class, I would resolve my current uncertainty about what to take next semester (in addition to my one class at Rice). But, I'm worried that the workload will be just as bad as this current class (though he assures us it will be less repetive and less error prone). And the class is on Wednesday night again, which would kill the first 3 weeks of the sailing season in the spring. Well, I'll have to talk to my advisor. That is if he can arrange to meet with me without requiring me to make a special trip on a day I don't even have class up to Rice during the work day just for that meeting.

Ok, I need to stop being bitter about school and keep chanting 2005 2005 2005 to myself (that's my projected graduation).

Oh, and my favorite rant of the day from Katie, a cool little sister of Sarah's. Anyway, Katie, I'm with you, just because you don't fit into Georgia Tech's very narrow minded leadership "mold" doesn't mean you shouldn't go after the scholarship you want!

Let down...

My TiVo let me down last night. It recorded channel 312 rather than 12 for West Wing. This would be fine, because 312 seems like some sort of NBC mirror station, except I don't actually get that chennel, so instead the TiVO recorded an hour of a black screen that says "This station will be available soon". I checked my Season Pass, and its set (as its highest priority!) to record West Wing on a weekly basis on channel 12. Weird. Even weirder is that it switched back and managed to record Law & Order.

Today is Veteran's Day. One of those lovely legal holidays that is only observed by the great mass of government employees. It always feels weird on one of these holidays to be out and about. Kind of feels like playing hooky. So, I did some household chores, but not as many as I intended, I guess that's what this weekend is for.

Yesterday when I was flying back from D.C. on the early a.m. flight it was completely empty. So I spread out on three seats and pretty much slept the whole way. At one point I dreamt that the plane was tumbling out of control (as I watched us flip end over end out the window). Anyway, I clearly thought to myself "I wonder if its aerodynamically possible for a 737 to end up in an attitude like this? Hm. I guess so, since its happening... So, since I'm probably going to die, it might be a firey crash, so I should take of my nylon panty hose so they don't melt into my skin. Hm. Wow, I wonder why no one is screaming." And then I woke up. But it was a weird enough dream that I keep reliving it. I guess its a testament to my analytical mind. Kind of like when we spun off the road in ice on the way to Erie and I kept reading my book because I figured if I was going to die I wanted to at least finish the page I was on.

I'm back from D.C. It was as expected. Fun. The weather was just about perfect. I really should move there one day.

We had the "traditional" party at Aunt Diane's house (my Aunt Shannon was shocked that I could appear in a random city and find 9 people to have over). I saw Kent, Carter and Christina who I haven't seen in ages. I saw Heather who seems to be doing really well and I really like her new Hubby Henry.

Then the twins and I were planning on going to the spy museum, but got off to a late start and ended up playing Scattegories at the twins' condo. Now, if you think my dogs are annoying, their alien-like hairless cats kept climbing on their table and trying to drink out of my water glass. Megan (Sharon's college roommate who is really cool, I've met her several times before, and we will forgive her transgression of fooling around with Alex H.) is temporarily living with the twins and her comment was anything that walks around in kitty litter doesn't belong walking around on a surface you eat off of. I wholeheartedly agree. It makes me glad that Kennda trained Tang so well.

Afterwards we went to an 80s Prom Party on Dupont Circle. Yes, you heard me correctly, 80s prom. I think the people who threw the party were trying to re-live some experience they lacked. It was funny, because Melissa wore the same dress she wore to our high school prom (which was actually the last time I had seen her in it) and we had nearly the identical bathroom conversation regarding the right type of bra for under that dress. Unfortunately all the extremely attractive men there were also extremely gay. Sigh. I told my Aunt afterward that Sharon must work for one of the largest homosexual law firms in the world. It sucks to turn around to see a cute guy wearing a sash that says "Prom Queen" and giving his boyfriend a peck on the cheek when he says "I'll be right back." Though I admit that one cute guy I had pegged as gay, Sharon later told me was strait and had slept with almost every girl at their firm. I told her she should hit on him, she didn't seem to like the idea, though..

So, Sunday I slept in. Then I got some of the royal treatment with a manicure and pedicure. I keep looking at my nails that are shiny. I rarely get manicures because they don't last long enough.

Afterwards, Aunt Di and I went to the Kennedy Center to see Bounce!, a musical. The music wasn't very good. But the acting was great and there were lots of really amusing one liners and scene changings (like a Church alter rolling out to be a marital bed). Anyway, the musical was about the Mizner brothers - Wilson and Addison. As you may know, in Florida, I lived in a development called "Addison Place" and the address is "Mizner Lane". Addison designed a lot of the old buildings in Palm Beach and Boca Raton before he went bust. Anyway, I'm amused that Addison Mizner was portrayed as an eccentric dolt. Because I think it takes just that kind of personality to introduce "Boca Pink" to the world. Ha ha! Not that I'm saying Boca is an eyesore, but...

Afterwards we went to the closed mall and gorged on sushi. And I made an itinerary for Aunt Di's trip to Germany, I don't know if she was proud of it. Oh, and I found out that there is going to be a family party in Dallas, all of 4 hours away, and I wasn't invited! Ah, dissed again. Actually its for a cousin I don't really know too well and its probably a more adult even, but Aunt Di was rubbing it in all weekend as she was looking for tix to Dallas.

And all too soon the trip was over.

"Dallas, Tex.: If elected President, what are your plans for NASA and the Space Program? Do you think it's time to retire the Shuttle and move on to bigger and better things, such as a human mission to Mars, or returning to the moon?

Howard Dean: I am a strong supporter of NASA and every government program that furthers scientific research. I don't think we should close the shuttle program but I do believe that we should aggressively begin a program to have manned flights to Mars. This of course assumes that we can change Presidents so we can have a balanced budget again."

I like Howard Dean. Though I think I'd prefer Gen. Clark to be the Democratic presidential candidate. I liked that response. So I posted it.

I was very satisfied with Matrix: Revolutions last night. It didn't deserve the terrible reviews its been getting. This just further proves my hypothesis that mainstream critics just don't know good sci-fi when they see it. I am still listening to my Dido CD three days later. It is still making me happy. So is my TiVO, which I love. I'm a convert after only a week. And I am excited about my upcoming trip to D.C. I like going to D.C. I like flying. I like the airport. I like traveling. I like seeing family and old friends. I don't know if I like this idea of an 80's prom themed party though.

Have a happy weekend! I'll be back in work on Monday afternoon, and then Tuesday is a holiday. Yippee for government employment! On that subject, what do you think about the Foreign Service? I'm thinking of signing up for the exam next year, just to see...

I apologize that once again I'm not in love

But it's not as if I mind

It's just a thought, only a thought

I am totally in love with my new Dido CD. I've been listening to it a lot in the last few days and I'm still not sick of it.

Its fun playing hooky from school today. My attendence patterns are a far cry from my usual 50% in my morning classes in college, and this is only the third class this semester I've missed.

Tonight, I'm going to see the Matrix: Revolutions. And eat at Mely's, my favorite tex-mex EVER and they have live PERUVIAN music on Thursday nights (All on the path to get me psyched out for Peru next year - did I mention on our plane flight home from Greece, they played a music video that was shot at Machu Picchu? I'm telling you, its calling to me.) Its going to be a good night.

Tomorrow afternoon, I fly to D.C. for the weekend, and I'll be back on Monday morning. A whirlwind trip. I love visiting D.C. Every time I go, I feel like I should move there. Maybe in a few years. Going to Aunt Di's is the same comfort as going home. And I love seeing my old friends that live in D.C. Old friends are so much fun, because our relationships are so much more carefree and established than new friends (I feel like I should start singing the Girl Scout's song "make new friends but keep the ollld, one is silver and the other's gold..."!).

So, the plan is Saturday lunch party at Aunt Diane's with Melissa and Sharon (the twins, high school friends), maybe Heather (college roommate), Kent, Carter, and Christina (from GT too). Then probably out and about for some rapid D.C. tourism. Then out to dinner (with Heather and her new hubby?). Then off with Sharon to an 80s Prom Party (yes, you heard me correctly, and no, I haven't figured out what to wear yet, but if anyone knows where I can get a pair of stilleto boots from...). Sunday is Aunt Diane-day. This involves pedicures and going to Bounce! at the Kennedy Center and possibly sushi.

I just couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning. My alarm must've gone off three times.

In the continuing saga of my Astrodynamics frustrations, the homework was due at midnight last night. A full 6 hours after it was due (6 a.m.), the professor e-mailed the class saying he was planning on giving an extension on it. He also e-mailed the responses to the questions we sent him last Wednesday. Grumble.

I think Jen and I have probably spent over 30 hours combined on this assignment so far. And we still don't have everything working right. We have three more assignments left in the next 5 weeks of the semester, plus a class project.

On top of that, I have no idea what I'm going to take next semester. Rice has 7 graduate ME classes listed in 4 different time slots. 3 of those time slots are mid-afternoon (impossible). The last one is a perfect time (4-5 p.m.). It an optimal control class, which fits my interests. But I almost took the class last spring, and my advisor strongly recommended I take something else instead. I don't know what he's going to say this semester. I had planned on taking the second astrodynamics class as my other class (at UHCL). However, it looks like it won't be offered, and even if it is, well, I'm not so sure I'm interested anymore after this one. I'm going to check out other distance learning courses to see what other options I have..

Now, I'm off to have an productive afternoon since I had a very unproductive morning.

This makes me happy I don't eat meat.


Roomies

I'm going to say again that I love having roommates. Kennda came home (much to my surprise) late Sunday night. So anyway, Nick, Kennda and I had a very social pow-wow over dinner last night. It was very entertaining. Way better than sitting home in silence every night.

Class worries

Still no word from the frustrating professor. The homework is due midnight tonight. I guess I'm going to do it the hard way. In good news, I got my test back in finite elements and I got an "A", though just barely. I actually would've done even better if I hadn't made a stupid algebra error on the last problem. Sigh.

Ah, switzeeeeeeeeeeland

Two people I know went to Interlaken in the last two weeks. Interlaken is one of the most breathtaking places in all of Switzerland. Read about my last visit here. Two weekends ago my co-worker Rich and his friend Phil went there as part of their European holiday. I believe Phil's precise words were "I can't believe you left Switzerland for Houston!" Then Cari, who went to Interlaken last weekend, e-mails me today with: "By the way, why you left is beyond me. That's the most beautiful place that I've ever seen and now I'm dying to go skiing. I really think that when we open up our shops, you, me, and Sarah will have to do it in Swizterland." And Cari's friend Nick writes in his journal: "I am proud to say that I have been to the most beautiful place on planet Earth."

Ok. So, they have succeeded in making me feel like the stupidest person on Earth for ever leaving Switzerland. I'm am just going to try to remind myself how many times I was forced to curse under my breath "freakin' damned Switzerland, what the *!$@ is wrong with this country?" Of course, it is exceptionally beautiful. The whole darned country just made you feel like yodeling.

Boo!

My Halloween observation is that too many little girls dress up like Disney princesses, divas, and cheerleaders. This is where I get to make my stodgy old person remark "How come kids these days (or their parents) aren't more creative with costumes? In my day..."

After giving out boat loads of candy, Irwin, Gavin, Jen and I went to the Kemah Boardwalk for dinner. The highlight of the evening was watching the children get extremely frightened (and curious) by Jen's Ring Wraith costume.

The reformed procrastinator

Two homework assignments due tomorrow. One is really frustrating me because I sent the professor a question last Wednesday and he still hasn't responded. I knew he was out of town last week for work, but I expected a response today. The thing that's frustrating to me is that now I do homework extremely ahead of time (I usually get started right when its assigned) and I feel like its obnoxious to possibly not get a response to a question I've asked until to the day the homework is do, forcing me into last minute rush-mode even though I've done everything in my power to avoid that.

Look at that, I'm experiencing the plight of the reformed procratinator! I think my on-top-of-things friends like Karen and Heather are probably laughing hysterically at this now.