Stat Blog

If you want to, you can check out my stat blog

Random statistics things I come across...

Refrigerator

We have started looking at fridges here the last couple of days since we know we will need one. So here is what I am thinking, but please put your two cents in before I do something stupid!

I like the french door model - the fridge is on top, and opens like a side by side but there is just one big area fridge (i.e - not two separated) and then there is a pull out freezer on the bottom that has two big compartments and a couple pull out racks on top. B primarily just wants to ensure that we have an ice/water thing on the outside, and they do make these that way, too. Any opinions about this type of fridge?

Finally, our other appliances are black...so do we need to go with black or wood stainless still look okay?

Looking for opinions here! Feel free to tell me what you like/don't like about yours :)

Random thoughts....

1. Why do people think that it is sufficient to clear off only the front windshield of their car and leave the rest covered in snow and ice? (I was behind one of these people yesterday)

2. Why do people think that just because there is snow on the ground that they can take up 2-3 parking spots and not park so that others can park as well?

3. Why is it that as soon as you get your child all bundled up, they suddenly have to go to the bathroom, but they didn't have to three minutes ago?

4. Why do people eat icecream and pizza while the watch "The Biggest Loser?"

5. Why is there handicapped parking at Sonic?

6. Why is abbreviation a long word?

7. Why can my son make me smile at the strangest thing when I have had a crappy day?

8. Why do I smile even as I write this?


Sometimes we don't know why things happen or why people can do what they do. All we know is that we may not be able to control others' actions, but we need to realize that we can control our reactions to them - and that is what is important!

Another snow/ice day

We are ALL stuck at home today. It started with knowing that O's daycare would be closed...then making me hope that classes were cancelled as I didn't know what I would do if they weren't. At about 11:15 last night they decided to cancel all day classes...then a bit earlier today decided to cancel night classes tonight. B's work called the day off this morning as well. There was maybe an additional inch or two of snow, but about half an inch of ice was on top of everything...then about another 2 or 3 inches of snow came down this morning, so I guess we have an ice sandwich.

Now I get to play catch up in my classes...I have time built in for stuff like this, but what it takes away is extra time to work through more examples and slow things down a bit...so it is still unfortunate for them.

So far there are around 60,000 customers in the tri-state area without power, we're lucky we aren't one of them. Had a couple of weird things happen though - the tv looked like B had paused it, but it just froze up. So I unplugged for a minute or so and we atleast have cable, no DVR right or on demand right now, but better than nothing. Then B got a phone call from ?? as it said incoming call from phone number: 000-000-0000??? Sure this weather is playing tricks on us all.

Hopefully, back to work tomorrow.

My first official snow day..

here in Kentucky anyways. It seems as though the cancel school a little bit more easily, thought how would I know- did I leave the house today?? Heck no - why would I take O out in this if I don't have to. However, I had signed up for an alert that calls you about things happening at school, like cancellations- Finally got it at about 6:50 this morning - about when I would have had to leave!!! Good thing I just got on the internet instead - thank goodness we got a computer this weekend!

Though I have always hated snow on days I need to be somewhere, it was kind of nice to get an unscheduled day at home with my sweet cheeks :) We had a pretty good day - made cookies, watched "The Cat in the Hat", colored, and read books. He's getting smarter and cuter (if that is even possible) every day.

With as much I enjoyed being home with my guy today, I really don't want another snow day tomorrow (we're supposed to get a few more inches of snow with sleet on top tonight) as I am already behind in that one class...I can make up today easily!

Computer Part?

Well, we finally got a new computer at Best Buy this weekend. It is a HP. Best Buy had a pretty good deal on it plus they had 18 months no interest on purchases of $499 and up. We also got a nice wireless printer/scanner/copier $75 off since we purchased a lap top. Now just going to get the old one all cleared off so I can give it back for them to deal with!

We bought a house!!!

We have officially contracted to buy a house. Still got to get to get the details ironed out - i.e. we might qualify for 100% financing for Rural Development which would not require mortgage insurance. So ironically, we we have to put our 3.5% down, we will actually be paying about $30 more a month then if we qualify for this and put 0% down!!

It is a new house built by Arlinghaus Builders. It is a 2-story with 4 bedrooms. Nice master bedroom and bath, unfinished but walkout basement with a deck and a nice backyard. It is on a cul-de-sac and already has some landscaping done. Our closing date is February 20th.

Houses

We have narrowed things down to 5 houses - 3 are in the "tops" though. Here are the pros/cons of our top 5:

Bottom 2:
House 1: Brandon doesn't like that it has a formal living room away from everything and that it doesn't have the best hardware and light fixtures. However, nice big kitchen, very close to my work.

House 2: It is only 3 bedrooms (when you put it in comparison with the others that all have 4), is a foreclosure, bad tax rate, not the greatest school district. However, it is on a corner lot, two bedrooms are upstairs in a loft making the house seem a bit bigger than it is.

Top 3:
House 1 - a little pricier, not as big non-master bedrooms. However, brand new, nice backyard with a deck, best school district, good tax rate

House 2 - not as big of a backyard, corner lot close to a busier street, small breakfast bay. However, does have a formal dining room, lowest price for a 4-bedroom, only one with a finished basement, nice cherry cabinets in kitchen

House 3 - steep driveway, worst tax rate, a foreclosure. However, probably our favorite actual house on the inside. Huge master, big open main floor.

We're hoping to put in an offer on one of these this week :)

Computers Suck

We have been having some issues with our computer for a while now. We must have gotten some sort of virus that the virus protection software given to me by my alma mater didn't seem to get rid of. I took it to the IT guys here at my university...the virus is so good that it has enabled the Task Manager that people use to look up the issues involved. Our only hope is to reformat the entire thing which wipes out everything! I have saved all my files that I need onto a flash drive and am working on downloading the drivers for this computer. I don't know if my copy of Windows XP will work since it wasn't for this computer.... :( We'll see what happens.

Now looking at Dell for a new computer...I am going to need one soon anyway. My old university may just get a computer back that has nothing on it :) They can reload all the needed programs anyways....

Beginning of the Semester

Well, the semester began on Monday. Right now I teach on MW from 3:25-4:40 and on TR from 8-9:15, 10:50-12:05 amd 12:15-1:30. So I have late MW and early TR, talk about throwing my schedule out of whack. When I taught on Tuesday the sun wasn't even up yet. Poor Owen didn't want to get out of bed either!

I have about 140 students right now. Some of the classes were more talkative on the first day than others, but most students are scared of statistics so it takes awhile to warm up, if they ever actually do. I'll be energetic enough for all of us!

Still waiting to get my evaluations back from last semester...wouldn't it make sense for me to have them before this semester begins so that I can make some suggested changes if I like any of them? Nah - that would make sense. I have a couple of ratings on ratemyprofessors.com - they are all positive, thank goodness. One says that I am entertaining to watch...what does that mean?

Well, back to work I go...

Houses....again

We went house hunting in a different area last night. I liked the area a bit better - much quicker to the interstate, quite a bit less taxes (9.64 per 1000 vs 13.40) and nicer schools (from what I have heard anyway). Wasn't as blown away with as many houses though. There were 3 that we liked out there. Our realtor had us meet with some very reputable builders to show us a couple of the homes out there. She told them where we were looking to spend and one of the houses (the one we liked) was $20,000 above that. She thinks that means that they believe that they might go down on the price. Of the "lived-in" houses that we saw, there were two we liked, one more than the other. The one we really liked was priced decently (about where we would really like our max to be) has 4 bedrooms, finished basement, pretty kitchen with cherry cabinets, wood floors, an island, a pantry, but it has a really small breakfast area. Good thing it has a formal dining (and formal living) room. It is on a corner lot, but not the biggest backyard. The other one was more of an "ok" house, but ok enough to work. It also has 4 bedrooms, a big kitchen and breakfast area, but no finished basement.

We're going to look some more tomorrow, so hopefully Owen will lay down for an early nap. It will be the first time we have him with us while we are looking. His opinion matter though!!

Poor Daddy though-his only day off for awhile and we are looking at houses. But hey, at least we are getting out of the house!

I'll report again later.

Brandon, Darts, and Come on

I am excited that Brandon met some people to play darts with when he went to the bar the other night. They even had some steel tips darts that he could use so that people could see how he throws. Looks like he is going to be on a team that starts in February on Monday nights. That will work out okay since I will be lucky to be home with Owen by 6:15 on Mondays - it can be our night.

Now, last night's BCS Game was a very poor representation of both teams. I guess the one that sucked the least won? Come on Oklahoma - you were so much better than what you showed last night!

House Hunting

Brandon and I went and looked at 6 houses yesterday - 2 were crossed off rather quickly. One of them had some pretty bad water damage in the kitchen that they were trying to cover up with a rug. The other had some pretty poor craftsmanship in certain areas. There were 3 that we both liked, some more than others. One is a bit cheaper than the rest but was built by a builder with a questionable reputation. Has a nice sized yard, finished basement, nice kitchen... Another is a brand-new home with 4 bedrooms (a huge master with 2 walk-in closets and whirpool tub) a wood-floor in the kitchen, a formal and informal dining and living rooms, a wetbar in the basement! The last was gorgeous - nice backyard. huge master bedroom, beautiful kitchen. Concering is that it is a foreclosure and had some stuff ripped out - no oven, microwave, some light fixtures taken,... but still beautiful.

We are going to look at some more houses in a different area on Friday and then more again on Sunday.

Otherwise we have been pretty boring. Brandon went to a bar with a dart league to get introduced to some people last night. Haven't gotten a chance to talk to him about how it went yet.

Brandon went to the doctor yesterday and they are going to run some blood work, to do an endurance test, and then wear a heart monitor for a couple of weeks. He was told to give up a lot of caffeine, quit smoking (he was given a prescription for Chantix) and that his blood pressure was a bit high - that his weight may be the biggest issue with this.

I am working on notes for the beginning of the semester on Monday. I am also trying to adjust back to Eastern time as I have an 8am class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I am lucky to crawl out of bed by 7:30 lately...got to work on that!

Back in the saddle

Owen and I ended up coming back on Sunday. Things looked pretty busy for all the family that day so it just made sense to come back a day early and get settled back before going back to school on Tuesday.

So far, so good for Owen - he slept well last night with minimal fighting and ate okay last night considering we just got done with a bit over 12 hour total time trip.

It was really great getting to go back and see everyone. I began to cry a bit on Saturday when I said goodbye to Keira and Aden - though I will miss their parents a lot too! I think it was harder since I know I won't be back until either May or July depending on how my teaching schedule for summer is...that is, how much I am prepared for it.

Our little family has a lot of resolutions this year...Brandon has a few: quit smoking, drink a lot less pop, eat better, and to play more with Owen. I have a few typical ones - lose some weight (30 lbs by end of May), save more money. I want to cut back on my soda too! We haven't let Owen have soda yet so we think we should cut back a lot too so that we aren't being too hypocritical. We just don't want him to be as addicted to it as we are. I also want to start working out more, which will be hard to do, but I will just have to make time. A friend and I are going to play racquetball 2 mornings a week as our afternoons are booked on different days. Finally, I want to stress less about the mess of my house and live in the moment with my husband and son.

Going to work on getting everything I brought home with me put away today as well as grocery shopping. Back to school tomorrow...

Christmas Vacation

Sitting here at my Mom's house watching the Husker game while Owen naps. We are currently ahead, so we will see if it stays that way.

I have been in Nebraska since December 26th and am supposed to head back on the 5th. I have really enjoyed being here, but am missing being with the hubby back home. This is a nice vacation, but there are other things I wish I could get done too.

We looked at the one house last week - it was really nice, it just didn't feel right to me. We may be able to afford it now, I just don't think we could afford the upkeep of such a nice house. It did have a very small backyard too!!

Owen wasn't really into opening his gifts at the grandmas' houses. He did back in KY, but that was his first set of presents. I haven't let him play with many yet so that we can get them back home.

About to lose my battery and on gma's laptop...so I'll be back...eventually.