Yes I went skydiving, and am hooked now!

OMG IT WAS AMAZING! I was so scared, I didn't take the class again and we waited around for two hours for our flight to take off which kind of helped me not be scared b/c everyone landed fine. So it was finally our turn to go and Colm and I got separated b/c my instructor had to use the bathroom. I ended up being the last person on the plane besides the 4 professional jumpers that were practicing their formations. So I was right next to this clear plexi glass door that opened like a garage door. The plane was tiny and had no seats. So we were all sitting in two rows in between each others legs (with your tandem instructor behind you although you weren't strapped together yet). I must have had this look of terror on my face b/c the pros were laughing at me and had their fingers crossed saying "I hope the chute opens!" it was funny but I was scared. They also said "this was a better idea when you were in the bar right!?!" It was good b/c they all gave me hi fives before they jumped and said have fun. (my heart is racing just telling you about this). So the pros open the door at 13000 feet and i say really loud "HOLY SHIT" and they all laughed again at me. Two seconds later they were out the door and it was my turn. we waddled up to the door on our knees and the instructor said "ready, set, jump!" You're supposed to arch your back and look straight up but I was too scared to do any of that, all I felt was my instructors hips in my back making me arch. Colm said the my guy basically pushed me out, which is true I totally didn't want to go but all I thought was "I'm blocking the door and if I don't go no one else will be able to jump." My eyes were shut when we left the plane and I remembered that on our way up in the plane my guy told me that after we jump to look up and over my right shoulder to watch the plane float away from us, so after the initial shock all I thought was oh no I have to look at the plane! It was awesome b/c it just looked like it was turning away from us. AMAZING. The free fall lasted about 5-7 seconds, and it was so cold and loud but felt kind of like scuba diving b/c you can move your body like you do when your swimming to move and turn in the air, it really doesn't feel like falling. my guy made us spin right and left and then dove straight down. Right before we got to the clouds (yes we jumped above the clouds) I pulled the chute, at 5500 feet, and we peacefully floated through the clouds. After the Chute is deployed its so peacdfull and quiet. Its like parasailing only really high up. This is where you finally get to talk to the guy your so closely strapped to. He taught me how to steer the parachute and make it spin so fast (it really felt like a roller coaster) you can make yourself go really fast and then almost stop. Then after about 5ish minutes the entire thing is over. If you guys ever get a chance to do it you should, I know it sounds crazy and the entire time leading up to it I just was thinking, lets just get this over with. I never thought I'd like it so much. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Colm was so surprised that I loved it so much. I'm totally an adrenaline junkie now, and can't wait to do it again! Maybe I'll jump on my birthday! Seriously it was the scariest but most amazing thing I've ever done. And I'm really proud of myself for finally being brave enough to do something like that

buy my baby booties

I'm just starting to sell my baby booties so spread the word. You can get them at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6602907

I'm making other stuff too so check back at www.etsy.com for more fun stuff to buy!

5 reasons why I should no longer own a car

So it seams in the past year all the gods up above have been sending me signs, telling me that I should not own a car. Here are the five signs I have been given this year:
1. Brand new BMW being driven by the boyfriend slams into my driver side fender (new fender #1 this year)
2. A doctor in the parking garage at work backs up in to my driver side fender (new fender #2 this year)
3. Random tree falls on my car during a storm last spring, only leaving a dent in the brand new fender #2, only to find the city worker had broken the mirror off while cutting the tree off my car. Then proceeds to yell and scream in my face telling me it was my fault that the tree fell on my car.
4. And the most recent was a minor hit and run that happened to me two weeks ago in the parking lot at a grocery store. The driver backed up in to me crunched my bumper, head light, and driver side fender (new fender #3) then took off. I managed to get his license plate number but he wasn't the registered owner. Such is my luck
5. This morning I woke up to find I had a flat tire. There was a 3x3 inch gouch out of my tire, probably from a pot hole since Chicago streets are ridden with them. Instead of putting on the spare I filled it up with air and took it to the nearest tire shop. The entire time I was embarrassed because my car totally looks like a hoopty with the front end smashed in.

Maybe I should just leave it parked with the keys in it and call it a day. It would be a million times cheaper.

shower

I've had my place for over a year, and I think I've taken apart my second bathroom's shower knob about 10 times trying to figure out how to adjust the water temperature. Having a second bathroom is not as use full as one might think when the shower temperature doesn't get hot enough, leaving guests to shower in my bathroom. I'm not bothered by having people shower in my bathroom but why have a second bathroom if its not fully functioning. Today I was cleaning that bathroom in preparation for my college roommate to come visit and I thought I'd give the shower another try.

Another home owner's mystery is where the main water shut off is, so with each of my ten attempts I've had to endure blasts of ice cold water to my head, and today was no different. My hair is dripping at this very moment. I had a moment of brilliancy (is that a word?) and I tried an allen wrench in the tiniest hole in the handle, which was awkwardly placed and is absolutely impossible to peer in to, and voila it worked! I have a hot shower. For those of you who have showered in that bathroom, I'm sorry it took me 14 months to figure out how to dismantle a shower handle!

favorite quote of the week

I had my monthly weekend shift at the hospital last weekend and am trying to increase my confidence on taking the really sick patients in the CCU. So I took a 46 year old man that had arrested in the cath lab and was getting better but still pretty sick. English is not his primary language and it was hard to assess his mental status because I couldn't tell if it was a language vs. cognitive barrier. WEll half way through my twelve hour shift Mr. Crazy train flew off the handle and started kicking and taking swings at me, thus I had to restrain him. Needless to say it was a VERY long 12 hour shift. It was as if he was a toddler throwing a tantrum.

Since we are able to choose our patients for the day, I have yet to take him again and its seems rightfully so. Now that he is getting stronger it seems as if his "problems" are more of a cultural nature, as he is from a country where women are not viewed as equals to men. So he makes tons of EXTREMELY inappropriate comments, most of them sexual in nature, and demands the nurses to do things left and right. So the quote of the week from him was last night when he told his nurse (who was not me) to "get the doctor right now or else I'll break this bottle over your head!" At least he kept me awake all night with his rediculous demands, and kept me laughing!

GRE practice essay

The argument that luxury retailers should refocus their attention to lower-priced markets due to the high unemployment rate and consumer fears is not entirely logically convincing since it ignores certain crucial assumptions. First, the argument assumes that all socio-economic levels buy luxury items. Second, the argument never states where the the geography of the statistical analysis was sampled. Finally, there are other reasons that could possibly explain the decline of the luxury goods industry.

In order to assume that the high unemployment rate directly influences the decline in luxury retailer's profits, you have to show that their clientele is the population that is affected by the unemployment rise. If this percent of the population has a particularly low unemployment rate, then their expendable income will most likely not be affected. Thus, allowing them to spend the same amount of money on luxury and essential items. Therefore, these retailers do not need to refocus their attention to lower-priced markets.

Also, if the demographic of the economy being hit the most with job lay offs, was the only sample that was taken to determine the unemployment rate your statistics will be skewed. Never letting the reader know sample size and demographic will automatically make for a faulty argument leaving the reader uneasy about the conclusion.

Lastly, there are many reasons for a decline in luxury goods and it doesn't necessarily have to correlate with a high unemployment rate. For instance, the values of the consumer might have change and they find themselves spending more money on other goods. For example recently there has been a huge growth in "green friendly" items which could result in less money being spent on luxury items.

Thus, this argument is not completely sound. It could have been strengthened by including the socio-economic background of the luxury item consumer in comparison to that of the increased unemployment rate to convince the reader that these two groups are representatives of each other. It also needs to include the demographics of their statistical analysis, also allowing the reader to see the correlation between these two groups. Finally, this author of this argument needed to rule out other possibilities for the decline in the luxury goods industry. By touching briefly on these three simple items, the argument would have been exponentially more valid.

I'm obsessed with sewing

This is how I spent my weekend....