First paragraph is kind of random...

Google's search page letters are decorated with solar panels and a wind farm today. Interesting. I assume bec we're on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl? After working in TL design for five years, I must note that while wind farms sound like a wonderful alternate energy source to most people, attitudes change when it is discovered how big the farms must be...especially when the sites are too "close to home". Wind farms take up so much space - if a TL tower is an eyesore then a wind farm is a double eye infection that produces blindness. They are a good idea - no doubt - but at the same time the production of energy from them will never be as great as from a coal fired plant...yet their initial construction costs are ridiculously expensive. Now don't get me wrong - I have my little hippie girl moments upon occasion - but having worked at a power company for over 5 years I also am aware of and willing to accept the truth - we Americans love our electricity (especially we Southerners). When I began working we did not continuously break power records (monthly yoy), but we do now. It seems to me that we as consumers are getting more and more lax with our habits; as a result we "need" more power. Thank goodness it's pretty cheap in the Valley.

No, I have not been brain washed. :-)

Onto other things. We've had some really bad April showers this week. The meteorologists say it was very much needed, so that's good. I really like good spring thunderstorms (so long as they don't produce tornadoes). They're relaxing. I'm fortunate enough to get a window seat yet again at work and as a result have had to opportunity to watch the storms this week...I love working to the drumming of the rain (although at one point it sounded like it bordered on hail) and the accompanying bass booms of thunder.

Heather emailed this week and said that Catherine has a job interview back in TN (Oak Ridge, I think?) this weekend and will be in. It's unfortunate that we won't be able to see her, but we wish her well and hope - if the job seems like a good one - that everything works out and she and Rick are able to come "home". Also, Heather forwarded a message from Ben's uncle Keith and he and his wife are coming to the wedding! I was excited to hear that bec when we decided to move the wedding up to September we assumed that it meant Ben's English relatives would be unable to come as they plan their trips (and Heather said they do a countryside walk evey September) for the year pretty far in advance. But looks as if there is a change of plans and they are doing a trip to Yellowstone/Tetons/etc instead and will be in Chattanooga on the 21st! Hooray! Such interesting people - the email also said they were about to go to Jordan next week - how exciting! And several months ago Ben sent me an email saying they had just been to South America. I hope I get to travel that much in my lifetime.

On days like these, being in grad school isn't too much fun. I only have one case and one final left for the semester, and today is "DO CASE" day. :-( So, instead of cleaning/shopping/running errands, we are meeting Daniel to finish up the case. Next weekend will be "STUDY FOR FINAL" weekend. That gets an even bigger frowny face. I have to say that I probably wouldn't mind studying and working on cases so much if I were in a Finance course...but alas this is a Prods/Ops Applications course and well, Prods and Ops is just plain boring.

Also, it could be worse - last year at this time on the first beautiful day for the year, we had to meet at Jess's house to work on two cases due that week at 10:30AM and didn't finish until just before sunset - with the first case. It was pretty disheartening. At least today is overcast - and we have the promise of dinner with good friends and the baseball game to look forward to! Not to mention the August graduation date, as well.

Speaking of, Jess sent out grad announcements and they're quite pretty. I hadn't expected to do that - I'm most definitely not walking - but might possibly consider the announcements now, I guess. I suppose I should get the ribbons/hoods or whatever they have just in case I do pursue my doctorate.

So I finished my first full week in the new job and like it pretty well so far. The people are nice and I'm starting to get to know them a bit more which is good. It's always awkard right at first when you don't know anyone. Must learn intricate details of how fossil and nuke plants work which makes me feel a bit anxious. Thank goodness for Wikipedia! I've been sending Ben and Jess gazillions of emails this week for explanations...they've been very helpful.

I've been very lazy this week and only worked out on Monday. I think it's due to the fact that we stayed out so late on Wed. night - I have only just now recovered after sleeping in today. Tomorrow I must get back on it - especially considering how much cake I've eaten in the last couple of days!

And that concludes this blog.