While I know it’s Thursday, I’m postponing this week’s musical post until tomorrow. Until then, I give you Stephen Colbert… the man I’d vote for for president.

I’ve set this blog to post at the exact moment tonight’s festivities are set to begin.  What festivities you might ask… well, you take the opening sounds of Brett Denned and Colbie Caillat and add the fun of three of my best friends (Sarah, Lauren, and Jeff) with a splash of Chad and his wife, an awesome outdoor Phoenix venue where we can chill on the grass and hopefully avoid the teeny-boppers and Moms for Mayer crowd, and mix all of that goodness with a huge helping of John Mayer with the boys, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.  Who needs a concert call??  Bee?  Cory?

In case you haven’t noticed August is quickly approaching and for me that means fall semester hell week move-in week.  There’s nothing like having to hire 20 new student employees and have them trained and ready to face the masses in less than 72 hours.  It truly doesn’t help that the university here is booming like never before, and they’ll be over 600 more freshman living on campus than last.  Three weeks from today my student workers move back into their dorm rooms and will (hopefully) arrive at my desk with eager minds and smiles on their faces.

More than just teaching technology, much of my job is working with personalities, preaching about customer service, and team building.  When I was in Canada last month one of the sessions I attended introduced an enviroment-based personality profiling system (DiSC) that specializes in building teamwork..  Much like other personality profiles, DISC focuses on a four quadrant (dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness) behavioral model used to examine the behavior of individuals in their environment or within a specific situation. It’s composed of 28 questions that unlike many exams are hard to skew or choose your own personality because it asks you to rank your most and least personal characteristic out of four seemingly similar choices.

Growing up as a gifted kid with parents who were educators, I’m no stranger to evaluative tests and profiles.  I know what True Color (green-orange), Winnie The Pooh character (owl), and Myers-Briggs Type (entj) that I am and have even taken the time to observe those around me and categorize them into profiles from these exams.  Not because I need them to be a Tigger or a Blue personality, but because 9 times out of 10, having a clue how people naturally react builds teamwork, reduces tension, and helps me get the most out of my team.  So this fall, I’ll be asking each of my coworkers and student workers to not only take the exam but take a deeper look into how they can use the strengths of their personality to help the team and identify their needs and weaknesses and work on them.  Heck, I even asked my parents, brother, and people not in my department to take it so that I could determine if it was as accurate for others as it was for.  Surprisingly enough, everyone but my dad was spot on, but I blame the ADD.

Just for fun, I figured I’d share my results with you.  Scarily enough, the results are pretty spot on, but for any of you who know me or work with me, you didn’t need me to tell you that.

Chances are great that the following stories I’ll be whispering to you in this post should not be spoken in such a public place.  However, that has never stopped me before, so why should it now?  The parental unit has been in Flagstaff since Thursday (Mom)/Saturday (Dad) after a minor setback on Thursday night where the engine of the Spazteca threw a rod on the drive up the mountain.  I left work early to fly down the mountain with water and ice for Dad as he waited for Zac to get there with a car dolly in 110+ degree weather and to transport Mom back up the mountain with me.  Since their arrival they have been feverishly helping me finish the cleaning and moving out of my old apartment and last minute touches on the new place.  I probably wouldn’t have needed their assistance if a certain unnamed roommate would have contributed more than just a light dusting of her bedroom with a watery sponge carried out by her boy-fling and current boyfriend on two separate occassions.  Drama, much?  At least, our last week together was spicy, and by spicy I mean, thank goodness (for the first time in four years) I was not the one she was blaming her tears on.

Anyway, we’ve been cleaning and organizing and throwing stuff away and taking all of the necessary steps to return a two-bedroom apartment that has survived over two hundred weekly Kid’s Clubs, four Thanksgiving Dinners and Haunted Houses, and more events than I can even count back to the ‘original move-in state’.  If you’re not currently rolling your eyes, you should be at the preposterous notion that there is a shred of a chance of that apartment looking anything like it did in the summer of 2004.  Let’s be honest… they should feel lucky that my unnamed roommate didn’t burn the place down while creating her culinary nightly masterpiece of Pasta Roni and steamed broccoli stems.  You think I’m joking, but ask anyone.  Girl CAN live by Pasta Roni and Vitamin Water alone.  I found four Tupperware containers of proof in my fridge.  Oh, and if you want/need any sugar-free Instant Oatmeal, vanilla cook & serve pudding mix, or fat-free spray on vinaigrette, I’ve got you covered until 2019.

Ok, moving on… literally and figuratively.  With only a few tasks left to finish up at the old place, I headed in to work today after my parents volunteered to finish up for me.  I’m not quite sure how effective they were with five children under the age of eight expecting them to play jump rope with them and fix their bikes, but now they know how my life has been for the past four years and exactly what I’ll be missing.  By the time I got off work today, Zac had arrived from his drive up and was helping to hang my quilts and wall decor in the new apartment.  (Now, I can finally show you pictures!!!) With the sun setting and everyone exhausted, we headed out to procure some nourishment at the local New Frontiers store.  There’s really truly nothing in the world like four country-folk stumbling into a organic hippie store and trying to appear civilized.  It just doesn’t work.

Finally, devoid of our pride and stuffed with everything but steroids and pesticides, we headed back to my place.  With less than two miles left in our return journey, Mom casually asked if I had my housekeys which I did not because I had given them to her on my way out the door to work this morning so they could come and go as they pleased.  Reminding her of this fact, she quietly confessed that she didn’t have them and had forgotten them when we left for dinner.  Now by this time it was almost nine in the evening and there was no trace of sunlight to be found.  Of couse, the office was no longer open, and I had yet to have a spare made.  So in true family fashion we did what any new resident would do and broke into my new house by removing a shutter and giving Zac a ‘butt-boost’ into th living room window while hoping that no one around us would call the cops on the four loud family members who were bickering about the ‘best’ way to break the law.  It wasn’t until a good hour later that I realized the irony in the relief we felt at the lack of effort it took to get into my apartment.  As you can guess, the number one priority for tomorrow is beefing up security in this place and finding my secret defense mechanism… an oar.  I feel safer already.  Don’t you?

It looks like my dad really does like my new furniture.

Hello, intarweb.  I’ve been missing you.  It seems like such a long time since we’ve spent time together back before that thing called moving happened.  ‘Moving’ what a vile word.  A word that has meant countless bruises on my body… long nights of unpacking and rearranging… and friends weary of my requests for assitance. Since we’ve last spoken, Zac and Cory (with the help of a few friends) have taken the great leap to administering their own little place within you, and I’m positive you’ll treat them kindly. I, on the otherhand, have neglected you due in large to a certain company that will go nameless (QWEST) and their complete incompetence.  There is really no way that after confirming my order three times they should have disconnected you from my life instead of transferring you to my new address.  I should not have been forced to live without you for seven days waiting, hoping, and eventually raging at customer service agents so that we could be reunited.

The move is not only going well but almost finished.  Thanks for asking.  My parents are currently enjoying the luxury of my new apartment as my mom sews curtains for the spare bedroom and my dad watches the Sci-Fi channel.  Zac is suppsed to drive up this way in the next few days to spend time in the cool air of Flagstaff and excape the heat of the desert. I think the main reason he’s driving here is so that he can finally see The Dark Knight, but I won’t complain about getting to see it again. Tomorrow we should finish cleaning the old apartment so that I can turn my keys in and start the week off living in once place and not two.  Won’t that be awesome!  As for now, though, I should get back to spending time with dad before he decides that he should retire and move in with me to be my newest roommate.  But, let’s be honest.  There’s probably way too much pink and way too few animals for his taste.  PTL!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  It’s a sad day when this is the greatest thing that happened to me.  Thank you, Safeway, for allowing me to stacking fuel discount coupons and get thirty cents of a gallon for today’s fill-up.

My mom’s in town for the next few days (I’ll tell the longer story tomorrow), and I have a feeling her love of ABBA is going to steer us to seeing this musical sometime this weekend.  I can’t lie… I’m pretty excited to see it AND see it with her.

Notice something wrong with this picture?  Oh, yeah.  The Internet light is off on my DSL modem.  Still.  Qwest somehow didn’t transfer my service but instead disconnected it.  To add insult to injury, the normal time to reconnect a disconnect service is 7-10 days.  Even after raging at four supervisers, I’m still not able to be connected until Thurs or Fri.

So for now I’m blogging and connecting on 52Kbps dial-up.  Thank you free university dial-up.  I remember a time not too long ago when I could only dial-up from my parents house at less than 19.2Kbps.  Yet, somehow that seemed worlds faster than this speed.  I’m definitely learning to appreciate high-speed connections.  At least until I have DSL again, I have Bravo and the new joys of Shear Genius and Project Runway.  Talk about addictive.

Tonight I had the pleasure of hanging out with my favorite munchkins.  I invited them over to see my new place and then took them to a rockin’ dinner at Galaxy Dinner.  After way too much singing, giggling, and ice cream, I took them home without realizing we had left M’s purse at my new apartment.  The conversation went a bit like this…

M: Oh no, Laurel!  I left my purse at your new apartment.

Laurel: That’s ok, sweetie.  I’ll bring it to you tomorrow.

M: NO! Go get it now!  I HAVE to have it. You have to get it and bring it back tonight.

M’s Dad: Why do you need your purse?  What does it have in it?

M: My Hannah Montana phone. What if I miss a call?

M’s Dad: No one’s gonna call you on a fake phone.

M: What if someone important calls?

M’s Dad: What important person is gonna call you, child?

M: We won’t know TIL THEY CALL!

Yeah, that was the point in time where I lost it and left the room giggling.  Needless to say I won’t be driving her purse back to her tonight.

Consider this my official SOS. Day #2 with no internet. Thanks, Qwest. You’re the best. You can pay my hospital bills from the damage caused to my thumbs from posting from my phone.

I’m 99% moved in, but no intarweb = posting from my phone.  Should be back tomorrow and should post pictures soon!

Twelve hours ago I showed up to Harkins Theater prepared to be disappointed.  There was no way possible that this movie that I had waited to see for months would live up to the hype.  Heath couldn’t be as good as they said he was; the action wouldn’t make the grade.  Batman Begins was a fluke, and Christopher Nolan wouldn’t be able to pull it off twice.  This doesn’t happen very often, but let me say this, “I was wrong.”  This film was everything that I secretly hoped for and more.

Sure, sure, I know what you’re thinking, “what does this girl know about comic books?”  Well, more than most.  I grew up reading, among others, the Batman series.  My dad and brother were huge fans and as soon as they were done, I scooped each comic up and poured through it page by page.  The dark imagery, the tales of a conflicted hero, good vs. evil.  Screw Sweet Valley High and the Baby-Sitters Club.  Comic books were more captivating and addictive than any of that painful teen girl angst crap, and as an adult, my love of both comics and the movies based on them has grown.  That’s the brilliance of what Christopher Nolan has done with the Batman series.  Unlike the first few, this Batman captures the essence of those comic book pages without losing the entertainment value of the fictional city of Gotham.

From the opening scene til the closing credits, The Dark Knight had me on the edge of my seat.  The action scenes were phenomenal and unpredictable.  The special effects were killer without being over-the-top.  The acting was… wow.  There really aren’t strong enough words for the job that Heath Ledger did as the Joker.  The true test for me of an actor is the ability to forget who the actor is and only see the character, and Heath accomplished this.  Except for his tell-tale locks, Heath is only the tongue-flicking psychopath.  If he doesn’t win an Oscar for his commitment and performance, it will be a shame.  Christian Bale, beyond his hotness, was Batman and a perfect compliment to Heath’s Joker. Ying and Yang… the completion of each other.  That’s what Batman and Joker have always been, and these two actors nailed it.  Then, just because it was amazing enough, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckart, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman all are incredible as this story unfolds.

To ensure that we don’t spoil anymore of this movie than I already have, I’ll stop gushing now.  All I can really say is go see this movie.  If you love comics, hate comics, have never read a comic, are a boy, are a girl, have skin and a pulse, you need to see this movie.  It’s worth the camping out for hours before the show, and I know personally I’ll see it at least two more times before the summer is out.  Also, if you need someone to see it with you, hit me up.  I’ll make sure you don’t have to face The Joker alone.

Overall: 6 out of 5 (perfection!!!)

My mom sent me this pix message today from the Black Hills where she’s visiting her parents.  Running water… I wonder what that’s like.

The biggest struggle of suffering from musical ADD is the desperate need for new music.  Thumbing through the ‘featured albums’ at my local music store is no longer sufficient.  No, I need to hear the unknown while it’s still unknown.  To quench my musical thirst, I look to multiple sources like fellow bloggers, independent radio stations, and even message boards for ‘need to know, gonna love’ songs, artists, and albums.  Heck, I found the group I wanna share with you today on perezhilton.  (Yeah, I am more than a bit ashamed to admit that.) Originally, I highlighted the sounds of We The Living on my birthday playlist post, but I knew that sometime this summer I’d have to talk in greater depth about this up-and-coming band. Their debut LP Heights of the Heavens strikes a balance reminding me of bands I already love (The Fray, DCFC, and David Gray) and creating a distinct sound and voice of their own.  Because I’ve just realized that my obsessive giggage of music is on my desktop computer waiting to be setup at my new apartment, you’ll have to settle today for a few youtube videos and their myspace page.   At the very least, grab their album, fall in love, and hope they come to your area.  That’s what I plan to do.

We The Living – Best Laid Plans

Cover of Leona Lewis and John Mayer
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