Bored..

Well, I left the house at about 8AM this morning.. School was back on today. I drove around Lyons last night, and not a single business or residence had power even the gas stations were closed. I could still hear limbs crashing all night and this morning. I slept in my sleeping bag, which was actually a little bit toastier than expected. It was a little under 60 degrees in the house this morning before I left. Not sure what I'll do to entertain myself today...

No children playing here..

This is looking down my street. I took a walk around the neighborhood, the tree limbs are still crashing down. There were kids out enjoying the ice in the park; knocking icicles off of everything within reach.

Ice Storm

Throwing this together pretty hectic-like the lights keep flickering, and I'll probably turn off my computer so it doesn't catch a surge. It rained all night, and is still raining. I walked outside and tree branches can be seen and heard crashing down all over. They have canceled school today, so no finals for me!
I will get some more photos when it gets lighter and stops raining; this is from my porch. Sorry for the blur its still dark out =)

psst... vote for my photo..

Yes.. go vote for my photo, it will help me get a scholarship! You can even vote for it more than once.
http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?picid=201400_19588634&pid=219669&scid=142

You can have some fun looking at the other photos there too, some are kinda amusing.

Back in Lyons

Today marks the first official day back in Lyons. Not so excited about that of course. There is still some snow on the ground out here so they must have gotten a lot more than we did back home.
We were greeted by our freshly fired sculptures in our 3-D Design class today. For whatever reason I got a B+ on it, which i find strange. (88%) Don't be fooled by the photo this sculpture is a hulk! It's about 15 inches tall, and must weigh about 20lbs. It has a matching fish on the opposite side swimming upwards. I'm not sure how I want to finish it yet, but I'm leaning towards white with some orange on the fish.
This is also the first photo taken using my shiny new black friday special camera tripod. Maybe if I get adventurous I'll get out and do a night photo of some Christmas lights. Sure is cold though..

All for now!

Geek?

Fun little quiz I saw while checking out a Random blog. Not as geeky as I hoped. There were some tough questions in there!
56% Geek

Homer said it best...

No.. I haven't been reading any Greek tragedies lately, I'm talking about Homer Simpson and his "Doh!"
Life has thrown a good number of those my way the last couple weeks: my college dropped my major, I got lost trying to find a friends wedding, and as seen in the photo I most recently washed my flash drive that I use to cart my essays and photos around in.
Fortunately life continues on!
Luckily my flashcard still works, and as a bonus now smells great.

We've come to Thanksgiving break and I am thrilled to get to spend almost 5 days back at home. TG promises to be a treat this year; we are venturing away from the norm and spending it with Ron's family in LS. Other than that I think i'll spend time goofing off with Ron, spending some quality time with my favorite cows, and try to nab a few good deals on "Black Friday".
Not much to say other than that, back to packing!

Busy Weekend!

I will delve into the weekend a bit later, I'm busy trying to catch up on some homework! I couldn't go without posting though, so, here is a photo from the weekend. As always click on it for the full Huge! version. A dinosaur roaming through Powell Gardens...

The End?

Will this be the last header someone could see from the Senior Jaymi? Our Conference tournament ended yesterday with a loss to the dreaded Kansas Wesleyan. Our chance to continue into regionals rests on an unknown points total.
Despite the loss it was a beautiful day for soccer. The sun came out and heated the temperature into the 60's which felt great! Playing on turf field (except the football lines) was fun also. I personally love the turf fields- must be all that indoor soccer.
I again got the privilege to play towards the end of the game. I had one sliding save at the top of the box, and was able to just barely flick a floating shot over the top of the crossbar. The second one was so close someone after the game thought they had scored off of it. Ha!
On a grumpy note I've decided to spend the weekend on crutches. Since Thursday's practice my heel has been really hurting. I actually sat with my shoe off the entire game until I went in to play. If it still hurts Monday I will have a trainer eyeball it for me.

One Week Till I Get To Go Home!!!

end of the road...

The mens soccer team lost in their first conference match up yesterday. They too went into double overtime and penalty kicks for the win decision. The goalie misjudged the direction of several shots, and our last shooter hit the crossbar giving them the advantage and win. They had a great season overall, and every game was great to spectate!

I didn't take any photos of the game, I did homework through most of it. Here is a shot from earlier in the season. A goalie will do whatever it takes to get a ball out of the box. Even if it means climbing over his own player!

A last last last....... minute win!

This was our first post season Conference Match. We started out dominating the first half but by the end of that half we slacked off and let in a goal in the last 10 remaining seconds. We fought like crazy to get an equalizer goal in the second half, and finally pulled one off. Through 2 overtime periods neither team was able to get a shot for the win. It came down to PK's. Even to the final 2 kicks it was even! Above is the final shot from E to win the game! Our goalie blocked the last attempt by the opposing team.
This photo is from immediately after our goalie blocked the last shot. Everyone rushed the field and went crazy celebrating.
Here is a team photo after the game. Our next match will be much tougher than this one. Can we pull it off too? It could be the last game of the Warrior Season, or the start of an impressive journey to the finals! Friday might as well be a month away.

First Frost..

If you were wondering how cold it is out here in the middle of KS. We had our first frost for the fall season.
It is supposed to get up into the upper 60's for our game today. Whew...

What a weekend!

There it is folks! Possibly the only photo of me in a real live soccer game! (not just standing still and enjoying KS wind) I think I'm about to throw the ball out wide to a teammate in this photo.
The Sterling College Warriors defeated Tabor College 5-2. This signals the end of regular season, and we have two KCAC Conference games this week that will determine our post season playtime. We have a game Tues, but the big game will be Friday. We meet again with K-W. This should be the game of all games!! They were the toughest team we played, and I hope we whoop them this time around!

In other news..
It was great to spend time with the parents again. It's like an escape back to reality. I must admit I did not miss Dad's snoring. Luckily these old houses have really great thick doors to block that out.
Of course the best thing about the weekend was getting to spend it all with Ron!! (ew mushy!) I got to take him to my 3-D design class to watch a demonstration for our next project a "penetrated mass" (glob o clay with a hole in it). I am still picking out the clay from under my fingernails today from starting on it myself.

Gee more news...
I'm looking forward to going back home in a couple weeks to watch The g00b get married. I love soccer, but I'm glad the season is wrapping up. I will have more time to focus on all these darn papers these teachers just love to hand out. It's also time to pick out a new set of classes for the new year. I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can avoid math till next fall!

Till next time!

Bring on the Heater!

It was a brisk 40.8 degrees outside this morning when I departed from the warm blankets. Although it obviously wasn't quite as cold inside I determined that it was definitely time to test the heater!

Ahhhhh the joy of standing under a vent spewing warm air.. that smells like a hairdryer about to spontaneously combust...

Lights! Sirens!! . . .Kids???

Today was the first official..."Brrr I can't feel my ears anymore" soccer practice. After that frigid practice I decided to make myself some piping hot mushroom soup. While standing by the kitchen window I heard a firetruck siren coming closer & closer. The couple months that I've been here now it was actually the first time to hear them! My curiosity won over as it came closer, and I could see the lights flashing as it went down the street behind my house. I stepped out the back door like any normal nosey person would to see if I could tell where they stopped, and look for a plume of smoke or any suggestions from sky. Now that I was outside I could hear there was more than just one truck bustling around! Something is going on!! Eventually cold and unable to see the action I retreated back to the kitchen. No sooner than I had grabbed my soup the sirens started up again, and this time the truck stopped right in front of my house!

Being from the city, when something unusual like this happens it's likely to invoke a state of panic among us suburbanites. I ran to the front and cautiously peered out through the screen door. Outside the house was the giant yellow bucket truck from the fire dept. But, there were no suited up firefighters emerging from the truck. ..Kids.. were running from their houses to climb on and catch a ride on the stationary truck. I stood there and watched utterly dumbfounded! When everyone had their places, the firetruck rolled off down the street siren wailing, with kids grinning ear to ear, waving to family, and everyone who had come outside to see. Still in a bit of a stupor I stepped out to check the mailbox, and another truck came rolling down the street with kids waving. It took a couple seconds to snap out of it, but I soon was returning an equally big wave and smile to the kids on the trucks.

I intended to go out and ask what the occasion was when the truck returned, but it didn't. I sat in the living room with the door open listening to sirens moving around town the town until while doing homework until about 9PM when the sirens subsided.
Welcome to small town USA I guess!

A goofy afterthought:
Now I know why you only see old people in small towns like this. The kids are whisked away to never never land, only to return when they are older...

Interesting Evening!

My Turn!

Yesterday I got the privilege of starting in my very first college soccer game! (Playing Goalkeeper for those of you that didn't know.) I wasn't so much nervous about people taking shots at me as I was about distributing the ball back out afterwards. Strange Indeed! Why is this? 1.) We had a constant 20mph wind gusts, so if I punted the ball it would just go on forever. 2.) Our team has trouble winning loose balls. So it was imperative that I get the ball as close to someone's feet as possible, or else, it would come right back to me.
The goal.. =(
I did have one goal scored on me. The defense erroneously sent a ball across the middle of the box, where only the other team was waiting. They placed a perfect shot to the back post out of my reach. The wind made it pretty difficult. It was hard to tell if the ball would make it into the box or not. There were several times I started to come out but it never made it far enough.

I only got to play the first half but I'm not going to complain at all. I'd be happy if I just to play for 5 minutes each game! It was a great relief to finally get to go out there and have some fun. Hopefully I will get another opportunity before the season ends.
(We ended up losing this game 3-0)

Below is a photo from a game a couple of weeks ago. This is "E." She has one of the hardest kicks on the team, and she is winding up to give the goalie a bit of a wake up call!!

Loss...

Both Sterling Warrior teams were defeated again today. As I contemplated earlier, the win would be determined by who showed up to play - which was not the Lady Warriors. We failed to even muster up a decent shot on their goalie. To my own dismay, they were not a team of giants, or contain any spectacular skills. We just didn't play them.
The guys played a great game despite losing. There were some great shots on goal, and very close corner kicks.

Here is Cory Speed making a sliding save for the Warriors.

(Ref's head now removed =)

Muy Importante!

A smidge of Espanol for my learning friends. Today's soccer game will be the determining factor for the rest of the season. If we win, we will be tied for first place in Conf. The team to conquer in this battle royal is Kansas Wesleyan. I've never seen them but have heard the stories. Apparently we're off to wage a war against a team of l33t giants. I have absolutely no guess as to the outcome of our game. I think it will just depend on which one of shows up to play.

Tally Ho!

A Win!

On a murkey, rainy, blah day; we finally pulled off another win. Above is the photo of our winning goal against the opposing team. Right over the keeper's noggin. 1-0 was the final score.
I'm glad I took the camera to the game. I felt a little more productive than just sitting on my bum watching the whole game.

Here is the full size photo.

In "Out there" KS

Coming home from my night class this evening, I got to enjoy one the things interesting about being in the middle of nowhere KS. You can see much more of the sky than you can in Kansas City, and the lack of city lights make things more clear at night.
Looking out my side windows the sky was clear as could be. You could see all the stars in the sky. Ahead of me however was a wild lightning storm. It was still fairly far away, so you couldn't see the individual bolts just these red/orange flashes illuminating a mass of clouds. In this flat land you feel like you are going to drive straight into that storm.
Certainly something that needs to be seen to truly appreciate...

Zzz time!

Cheezy Poofs

For those who have only heard or read about the poofs but have not yet seen them..

Here they are in all their glory!

Welcome

Hola! Thanks for checking into the blog. Hopefully I will have something interesting here in a little while. After I do my homework and stuff like that.

In the meantime check out the poll.
I will try to get a picture posted of the cheezy poofs soon so you can see just how many there are!

Katie!