Breaking Dawn

Like the devoted fan I am, I went to the midnight release party for Breaking Dawn, the fourth book in the twilight series. I have already finished reading it, and it is awesome! My roommate, Savannah, and I went to check out a few of the bookstore parties before finally staying at Borders. Barnes and Noble here was hosting a twilight prom, so half the people were dressed in their prom best. It was really interesting. We had the most fun just people watching, especially reading all the crazy t-shirts! Some were very funny (Edward makes me sparkle!) while others were just grammatically incorrect (I run with vampire). I am already looking forward to rereading the series!
I know the picture is blurry, but I was trying to be sneaky and use my camera phone. This was at the Barnes and Noble twilight prom.

Batman

So, I finally went to see the new Batman, on an IMAX screen no less. I have to say that it was totally creepier than I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I really liked it, but it was dark. I am a little sad that they killed two-face so fast, he was one of my favorite villains.

Jury Duty

I can't say that I've ever really been a fan of jury duty, and yesterday did not change my opinion. On the summons, they give directions to the only parking garage that they will validate and then the courthouse is about 5 blocks away. While walking these 5 blocks, in one of the worst areas of downtown Vegas, I had to walk by several people still asleep on the sidewalk, many ladies-of-the-night and several drug dealers. Of course it was also about 100 degrees outside, too. When I finally got to the courthouse, they scanned me in and then everybody just sat around waiting for about 2 hours. When they finally needed jurors, I was one of the lucky 40 chosen to be questioned in the courtroom on the 11th floor. Being up on the 11th floor we had a nice view of the surrounding area, or "cracktown" as the bailiff called it. After about 2 hours of questioning potential jurors, they finally sent the rejected back to wait for another trial. I, of course, was rejected because I am a teacher and the case was a criminal case involving children (Convicted felon in possession of a weapon). After another half hour in the waiting room, again, they finally sent some of us home. I feel bad for those who were never called and just stuck in the waiting room for 5 hours!

Rentals...

I've been having car problems for the last few weeks, which is especially annoying considering I have a nice, new car. After needing 20 minutes to get it to start yesterday, I decided to take it in to the dealership today. I went to the dealership I bought it at, thinking that because it is a bigger dealership, they should have time to look at it today. The people were rude and not helpful at all. They wanted me to just leave it there for a few days until they might have time to look at it. I made an appointment for tomorrow and started to drive home. I then remembered that there is a Nissan dealership near my new house and thought I should give them a try. They were so nice!! They got my car in right away, and even offered to fix the hubcap for free (apparently hubcaps aren't covered in your warranty.) I waited for about half an hour and the guy told me he didn't have the part, but enterprise rent-a-car was on their way over to pick me up and get me into a rental, completely free of charge. My car would be ready tomorrow. It was kind of funny at the rent-a-car place because they were down to their last two vehicles, so I get to drive around town in a truck for now. It's been a while since I drove something this big!!
Today's Fortune: Your present plans are going to succeed.

Adventures in Dining

My friend Summer and I had some great dining experiences today. For lunch, we went to a little Japanese restaurant near our house. We ordered these cute little "Bento boxes." It was a great presentation! I got teriyaki beef, and it came with rice, salad, sushi and tempura veggies.
For dinner, we kept driving around until we found something that sounded interesting. We finally saw a place called Roy's Hawaiian Fusion. We didn't realize how fancy it was until we got inside, but this was the first restaurant I've been to where the hostess puts the napkin in your lap for you! I ordered Uncle Yomi's shrimp Caesar salad and it was one of the top 5 salads of my life!! What you see in the picture is actually a bundle of lettuce and chipotle Caesar dressing, wrapped with an onion ring and some shrimp on the side. So good...

I am a NERD!!

The last 2 weeks I have been involved in a summer science institute with this years topic being nanoscience. It has been a ton of fun to study the the tiniest particles around and how they work. I think the coolest part was studying self-assembly and how some particles that small are able to put themselves together without any human intervention. Here is a link to an animation put together by Harvard that gives a whole different look at a cell (just click the box to play it):
http://www.xvivo.net/press/harvard_university.htm

Also, with things putting themselves together, it sparks a lot of curiosity about evolution vs. intelligent design. There is a great video by NOVA involving a case in Dover, PA. It is really interesting. Here is the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html

So, here's a couple pictures. We are making a carbon nanotube out of balloons, that's how cool we are! (This is actually a very cool thing. They are now making buckyballs that can trap nuclear and radioactive particles inside them - making them buckycages, containing dangerous particles!) I know - I AM A NERD... :-)

Housesitting

This is the first time I have ever house sat, and it has been an experience! My friend went out of town for a week, leaving me to watch her 3 dogs (pugs), 2 cats and 2 fish tanks. For those who don't know, I'm not really much of a pet person, so this was kind of a challenge. For the dogs, one was older and blind, one was big, young and hyper, and the other was kind of small and suspicious, always skittering away and barking. For the cats, one was pretty normal but always on the lookout for a way to escape, and the other was the most geriatric cat I have ever seen, it was painful to watch her climb the stairs! Fish tanks are fish tanks, so not much to say there. I have had quite a few restless nights due to dogs barking at nothing and it feels good to be back in my own bed. I will miss the cable tv in the bedroom, but I will be house sitting again in July!