Ramblings

Yep, I am updating my blog!

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

Some cool pics from my new MacBook Pro, taken at work!

Here is Liz, Cat, and Pete

Here is Pete, Cat, Gina #1, and Bev

Here are my two “angels”, Rosie and Wanda. They are sometimes mean to me.

So, I am loving my new laptop and even learning a thing or two (thanks Pete!). But I haven’t had as much time as I would like as SCHOOL IS VERY CRAZY RIGHT NOW! Here is an excerpt from an email I recently sent:

I will not be having a life for the next several weeks. This Principles of Management class is HEAVY on the workload. Next week I have about 175 pages to read, 10 papers to write, and there is an ongoing group project that needs to already start and which I will need to go to Inglewood on a non-school day…….

And that’s just ONE class! Not to mention the following:

Final for Sociology on Monday
Final for Astronomy next week
Ongoing Romans class
A final essay due this Thursday in Leadership
My next class Org Ethics starts next week and I don’t even know how heavy the workload will be

I am not telling you this to get applause, just to let you know I covet your prayers and I need grace and understanding as I will not have a life and will not have much time for anything but school……

Thanks!

So, that is pathetic me. Sorry if I don’t update this blog as often, or if my updates whine and cry about how I don’t have a life. I will try to be “Peppy Gina” and share some funny stories about Deana, my kids, something stupid I have done like trip while crossing the street, or some such nonsense. BUT, I would be remiss if I didn’t clearly state MY NEW LAPTOP ROCKS!

Love to you all!

The world is changing!!!!!

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

Well, as anyone who REALLY knows me can attest, I am a geek. I LOVE technology very much. I don’t like to shop much (“you’re going to the mall? I think I will stay home……”), TV only has a few good shows…….but tell me you’re going to Best Buy or talk about the latest SmartPhone and I am WAY interested! I chomp at the bit to get the latest and greatest technology and I enjoy learning about all the new bells and whistles.

One thing I should point out, though, is that I’ve been a Windows or PC person my entire life. I know what I am doing when I use PCs – I can set up networks, can troubleshoot, am pretty savvy or know who to call if I can’t figure something out. I am a Nerd with a capital N!

I should also mention I have been loyal to PCs – when others would tell me that Macs were way superior or some such nonsense, I would set them straight. I would point out all the things I knew or did or just ignored them.

Not saying that PCs have changed……but I have!

You see, I did a crazy thing on Friday. I went to the Brea Mall (this kind of ticked off Deana, who usually loves to go there and I never want to go…..), went to the Apple Store, and ended up buying a MacBook Pro (which is a laptop). SHOCK! Yes, you heard me right! It was a little impulsive, much out of character, and might not have happened if I had been able to reach Deana on the cell (as she is often my voice of reason). But I bought it and, well, I think I am now a Mac person!

No, I am not going to hate PCs and I am not going to diss them (well, at least not yet!). But I have to tell you, this Mac is so freaking easy to use, set itself up for most things like my Yahoo! pop mail account, my home network, and such. I also purchased Office for Mac and let me just say…..Entourage – the version of Outlook for Mac – is TOTALLY AWESOME!!! It has things that I would only DREAM about in Outlook, especially the Project Center! Wow.

But best of all, the “cheap” DVD and Movie programs (well, you know, the ones that come with the computer) are SO FREAKING AMAZING! For a DVD I was trying to generate last week, I did in 5 minutes what I was trying to do before and the outcome is so much superior! It is amazing and now I want to go crazy with that stuff!

Okay, I know I am a nerd. I know I am weird. We’ve established that! But this is a very new concept for me and I wanted to share. I remember reading my friend Tony’s blog a year or so ago and he said similar things about his new Mac and I rolled my eyes a bit……but he was right! Oh, and I forgot to mention – this baby boots up so fast because there is NO VIRUS SCANS!!!!

Pete, thanks for convincing me to check this out……I think I love you! 🙂

Shame on WB!

/ Gina Marie / 7 Comments
But I forgave her because she got me a flashlight that looks like a cow and moos. Pic to follow.
But here is why I put her friendship on probation, I received the following email:
I hope this never happens to 9803
I have been tramatized, but remember I forgave her today.

My mundane things of great joy

/ Gina Marie / 8 Comments
Not a great pic, but here is the group of “My Cows” (9803 is in there somewhere!)
Okay, I have been told on several occassions that I am kind of weird – maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not. But, either way, I am confident enough to share with you my life and let YOU decide!

Having said that, I must catch my beloved 2.78 readers up!

Living in the beloved “Inland Empire” of Southern California, I have many ways to drive home from work that avoid the dreaded freeways. As we are surrounded by dairy farms in bordering cities, I usually drive past several farms on a daily basis. (And no, I do NOT smell the cows anymore!) One dairy is located on a corner where there is a stop sign. Over the months I began to “bond” with the cows on this farm, as they would eat their hay right on the corner and, being a smaller farm, it was easy to see the same cows day after day.

So, you ask, how do I know they are the same cows? Well, first of all, cows have personalities! But probably more importantly, they have ear tags……

ANYWAY, each morning I would REALLY stop at this stop sign (no California roll for me there!) and either verbally or mentally say “Hello my cows! How is everyone today?” Further, there was one cow that seems to have an awesome personality, and over the the course of time we bonded. This cow is named “My Cow”, or cow 9803. When I would look at them, she often would lift her head in such a way that it seemed she was saying “‘Sup?”. I love her. I often would find myself scanning the tags so quickly on my way home (when I didn’t have the benefit of the stop sign) to just check on her. Her orange tag would shine for me and all would be good in the world.

Except on day I drove by and there were no orange tags! The cows eating the hay had very small blue tags and, well, were not my cows! I was heartbroken because THESE cows didn’t have a bond with me. And most concerning, where was MY cow?!?!!?! Then I would wonder, would the owner of the farm think I am weird if I asked where 9803 went? Probably, nix that idea.

Frantic thoughts went through my mind – okay, dairy farms don’t sell their cows for meat factories, do they? What happens if the cow gets old and doesn’t produce milk? What if they sold the cows and now they are in Ohio or something and the winters will be so much harder for them? (See, I HAVE seen the commercials about California Cows being much happier!)

All these thoughts swirled in my mind for weeks. With each drive by, my heart became more hardened. I didn’t even LOOK at the new cows! The lack of my big orange tag sent depression through my veins.

Until YESTERDAY!

I was driving home, purposely driving past the corner acting as if I really didn’t care that my cow was gone and that is SO STUPID anyway because seriously, they are just cows and I should just be glad there is milk in my fridge. Then, after I passed the usual location on the corner, I proceeded down the street. This area has a larger field that usually has cows, but they would not often congregate at the gate as they would on the corner. Today, however, there were several cows hanging out at the fence. Suddenly, something caught my eye – a big, orange tag! Slamming on my brakes, I looked and the number was 9803! MY COW!!!!!

I wish I could say that I hung out and conversed with my beloved cow, catching up on her life that I have missed for the last few weeks. However, the car approaching behind me ruined our reunion – sheesh! But my heart is so much better now that I know she is safe and sound on the dairy farm!

So, if you’ve noticed I’ve been a little down, this was the cause and now I am better!

Okay, so maybe I’m a little weird.

Quick Prayer Request

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

Update – Thanks for praying – just wanted to let you know that they had to reschedule the surgery for Deana’s dad to next week because the doctors forgot to tell him to stop taking his blood thinning meds. So he will stop taking them today and his system should be ready in about a week.

Hey Everyone,

If you think of it, please pray for Deana and her family this morning – her dad is going in for open heart surgery at 7am PDT. Obviously his heart needs help, but there are other factors with his health that make this surgery even more risky.

Deana, her sister Stephanie, and the kids are about to leave – yep, it’s pretty early here.

I will update the blog if/when I hear more.

Thanks!

Let’s scream "Calgon, take me away!"

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

I am so happy right now, I want to jump! LOL, well, not that happy, but enough to write a blog I guess! You see, when I got home from work yesterday I checked out the mail. First of all I received a letter from Barstow College where I have completed three online classes. My GPA there is 4.0 so I’ve made the Dean’s list! Woohoo! I could even join their “Greek Letter” club, but it costs $15 so I said forget it. But, it’s good for the ego!

Then, I almost threw out a letter from Calgon, but I saw that it had my name and not “Current Resident”, so I opened it. I am fortunate that I did! I had applied for a scholarship several months ago and apparently I have made the initial cut! So now I have to submit additional information to see if I am one of three winners. Woohoo! I don’t know if I will make it, but I am stoked that I have this opportunity, especially since in about a year my student loans are gonna kick in and then I will be saying, “OUCH!”. So I am pretty happy.

Today I have been very productive – cleaned the house some, straightened my office, did homework, and worked on a video project. I feel as though I deserve a few minutes to eat sunflower seeds, sip some water, and write a blog post! Yes!

Now, my day is complete!

Okay, don’t worry TOO much!

/ Gina Marie / 2 Comments

For the 2.685 readers out there, I was able to figure out the overlap problem with my major class and speech class. I switched my major class to the Inglewood campus and will begin classes on 5/15 (my bro’s birthday!), finishing on 6/12. THEN, my speech class can start on 7/9 no problem.

While Inglewood is a drive for sure, at least I can get this class done and not have to push my graduation out to May 2008! There’s something about graduating and turning 40 that has the word PARTY around it, so December is much better for me! 😉

Please do pray for me though – my crazy schedule, while self-imposed for sure, is going to be tough on me through August!

Love to all (except maybe Deana, she was mean to Steph today so I have to pray about that).

S-C-H-O-O-L!

/ Gina Marie / 1 Comment

This is how I look today after juggling my new school schedule. You see, due to Russia I had to drop two classes; Speech and a major course. I had planned on making up the major course beginning in July, but realized I also needed to take my Speech class in summer so that I can still graduate in December. If you don’t know, summer classes are very condensed, so I will need to go to school for 3 hours a day, four days a week – that doesn’t leave room for my major course!

SO! Today, I switched my major course to take place in Laguna Hills from 6/11-7/9 and will enroll in my Speech class to run from 7/9-8/14. Except JUST NOW I see the overlap of the last and first day of these classes so I am freaking out again! So this post is short because I need to see about another speech class. Sigh.

While my GE classes will all be ending by June, I still have three Bible classes that also need to be done! I am currenly enrolled in Romans, but still need another plus ACTS, the latter of which must be taken at Biola.

I really thought things would be settling down after June, but that is surely not the case! Just gotta get my eyes fixed on December…….

My Beloved Dog

/ Gina Marie / 5 Comments

It is with sadness that I am posting that my beloved dog, Tex, is being given to Deana’s brother Manuel today. Because of my irrational, harrassing neighbors I have to choose between keeping Tex in the kennel all day or giving him away so he can be a dog. You see, my neighbor NEVER wants him to bark and apparently the 3 or 4 times he barks during DAYTIME hours is too much to handle for them. I also am tired of the neighbors yelling at my kids and scaring them.
So, today I no longer have a dog. I am happy that he will now have fun, be able to bark, and be loved. But I am going to miss him for sure.

Delayed update from the Gina

/ Gina Marie / Leave a comment

I tried to post yesterday, but due to technical difficulties, my beautifully written words were lost and the post is in blog heaven! So today, I will try again!

Let’s see, where to begin!

  • Drama – Deana sometimes asks me why I post some of my innermost feelings on a public venue. Well, I guess it’s therapeutic in a way. More so are the prayers that were lifted up in my behalf, which I have felt and appreciated! The “drama” of my heart being broken has been PARTIALLY resolved. I feel much better moving forward and the pain I experienced has diminished significantly.
  • Kenny – On Tuesday night I had an awesome time with my son. We were doing our devotions (called “devos” in my house) and he was getting all excited because he was looking forward to telling some of his friends at school what he had learned (we were finishing up Exodus and apparently the school had been covering some Jewish beliefs recently). Further, he randomly asked, “Hey Mom, if the devil ruled on the earth, you know how that is gonna happen, would you bow to him?” I told him no and said I might be scared of what would happen to me, but that even if I died I would rather die and be with the Lord then never see the Lord and live. He went on to say, “I wouldn’t be scared, because either Jesus would protect me and I wouldn’t be hurt, or I would die and be with Him. So I guess I win either way.” I was so happy at that moment and totally blessed. And, of course, the timing was perfect!
  • Josh – He is a real swimmer now, no jackets or floaties or anything! He even swam all the way across the pool without stopping! I am so proud of him. He even tried diving, which amounted to being more like belly flops, but for being a little hesitant to take chances he has really blossomed (and he STILL loves to read for fun like his MOM!)
  • Zack and Sophia – they are adjusting to their new lives amazingly well. Every day when I come home from work I hear Zack screaming, “Gina, spateneetzia!” (Gina, look!) and he shows me all the things he has done during the day (or flips into the pool, or dances before jumping in the pool or you name it!). Sophia follows me around, calling my name, and otherwise wrestling with me.
  • Deana – is doing well being a mom…..so well, she is even better at bossing ME around! LOL Just kidding. She is very happy.
  • Stephanie – she is a wonderful nanny and I love her.

Okay, that is it for now!