christmassy movies

I've had plenty of discussion lately about which are the best Christmas movies. Here are my favorites:

• Love Actually
  
• Elf
• Home Alone
• I'll Be Home for Christmas (yes, the JTT movie!)
• A Christmas Story
• The Santa Clause
• It's a Wonderful Life
  
• Babes in Toyland (with Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore)
  
• National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
  

...and a random movie I bought at a dollar store about a squirrel who saved Christmas for a poor family by stealing money from a rich man and throwing it through the ceiling of the poor family's house. It's a great movie.

Have I forgotten any?

I am beginning to embrace the Christmas season. If only I had enough time to watch all of these movies and still finish my reading goal of 25 books. I just finished #23, by the way. I can do this!!

When's the best time to go to a dentist?! Tooth-Hurty!

December!

I can now listen to the Nsync Christmas cd without feeling ridiculous. Sort of.

Being that it is December 1st, I was finally allowed to visit a dentist under my new insurance. (Actually, I was eligible a month ago... but when I looked up my designated "primary dental office", I saw a few online reviews of the doctor. They reported that 3/3 people had unpleasant experiences with him and that 3/3 would not recommend him to a friend. I decided that I would rather switch doctors right away than mess around with that. haha. The result then, was waiting a month to get my chipped front tooth smoothed out. I am happy to report that the problem has been resolved.

However, while I was there, they also decided to take some x-rays. They found 2 "small" cavities. He said that he could fill them right then, if I wanted. So I let him. But this turned out to be a somewhat traumatic event. While he was drilling my tooth, he asked me if my previous dentist let me see the cavity before he filled it. I answered yes (with a grunt and a head nod, as my mouth was incapable of answering), thinking that he was asking me whether or not he showed them to me on the x-rays. But I was wrong. After he drilled the tooth, he held up a mirror, and to my horror I saw one of my back molars with the back part of the tooth drilled out. I am pretty sure I never want to see such a thing in my life. Ever again. I thought it was a small cavity! Why was half of my tooth drilled out?!

In case you never knew it, my recurring nightmare is of my teeth falling out. And when I saw my own mouth with a huge gaping hole in one of my teeth, I kind of wanted leap from the chair and run!

This whole experience made me miss my old dentist! If only he accepted my insurance. I definitely feel like this new guy is just not as good as the old. My freshly filled cavities are all rugged and weird feeling. And the guy was a little bit weird.
I think I have decided that dentists should be changed as infrequently as possible. And I am also pretty sure that I am incapable of building the trust required for a tooth-filling in one office visit. Just when I thought I had overcome my fears of the dentist....... haha.

So depending on how you look at it, the good/bad thing is that I have another appointment on Saturday to get my teeth cleaned. Hopefully that appointment will be less traumatic. And I'll have awesomely clean teeth to boot.

In other news, I filled out the Geneva Psychology Department online survey today. Oh, to think of where I was a year ago. ....And where I'll be a year from now.

bullet points & the blues

Despite the fact that my life is not terribly interesting lately, today feels like a good day to blog. And being a person who is moved by feelings of inspiration, I'm going to do just that. But to make it easier on all of us, I'm going to do it bullet-style.

*I miss the drive to/from Beaver Falls. I think I had a lot of philosophical moments alone in the car during that drive. Not to mention, it's always fun to sing along to a radio that is playing horrible songs at an unreasonable volume.

*I miss having the life of a college student. What I mean by this is that I miss being able to spontaneously hang out with people. The worst part about "growing up" and getting a "real job" is that people lose any sense of spontaneity that they may have once had. Everything has to be planned, the further in advance, the better. At this point in my life, I will no longer randomly run into people on the sidewalk or at awesome coffee shops and then be able to just hang out and have good conversation.

*I miss good conversation. I feel like I have a lot going through my head. Always. (Though this isn't necessarily a new thing.) And currently, I am at a loss for people to share my thoughts with. This is probably more cathartic for me than it is beneficial for any listening party... but nonetheless, I want to talk. For hours. To anybody. Nobody has time to just shoot the breeze.

*Trips to Beaver Falls always make me miss college. (In case you couldn't tell.)

*I know it would never happen, but I think it would be awesome if Geneva put me on a billboard. "God has called Rachael to things of which she knows not." I realize this will never happen because a college isn't going to want to advertise that their graduates don't have definite career plans at the end of their schooling. Maybe I'm just looking at the glass half-full here, but I think it's more exciting to be able to admit that I don't have a specific destination. I think that one of the best thing about traveling is being able to take it one step at a time. If you have loose plans, there is less room to become frustrated. And often times, the best experiences are the ones that you never planned for to begin with. I think I take the same approach to life. I don't have any definite career plans, but no matter what happens, I am sure it will be awesome.

*I am falling horribly behind on my book-reading goal for the year. I don't think I have read a book in about a month. There is only 1.75 months left this year, and I have about 5 books to read. I guess I better get on the ball.

*I bought some picture frames from Capo's today. I have been in a picture-framing frenzy lately. Unfortunately, one of the frames that I bought also has an old photo in it. Is it weird that I feel like I am going to be haunted for paying money for somebody else's personal photo? It's kind of creeping me out. I left it in my trunk. Now he'll just be even more pissed.

*I watched a tv show today called Lock 'N Load. It is about a gun shop and its clientele. It's somewhat frightening really, but kind of amusing. Anyway, there was a pastor on the show, who compared firing a gun to upholding the traditions of the Bible, all while a woman hummed 'Amazing Grace' in the background. It was kind of repulsive.

Upon rereading this post, I'd like to apologize for the pity party that I just invited you to. Lonely days + insomnia + slow music can do that to you. But it's okay... tomorrow will be better.

once a nerd, always a nerd.

So we're nearing the end of October. That means that I have been home and working for almost 3 months. Unbelievable.

Anyway, I have found myself becoming more and more frustrated at work. Obviously, this is not the job that I had in mind when I decided to take on several thousands of dollars in student loans. My job is rather non-challenging, and I think that too many people take it way too seriously. And all of this now has me thinking more seriously about what steps I need to take in order to move on to the next big adventure in my life.

After spending the weekend with Kim and Amanda, I am thinking that grad school sounds awesome. And I am thinking seriously now about taking the GRE by the end of the year, and applying to some schools for next year.

The two options that sound the most appealing to me right now are:
-MA in Spanish, which could provide for an academic year in Spain. Tempting. Or.....
-MA in Sociolinguistics, which would not provide a year in Spain, but it sounds like something that is just so.... me. I am, however, wondering if I am at a disadvantage for only having had one sociology course and zero linguistics courses in undergrad. But seriously... I read through the course lists for these programs, and I seriously want to take every single course they offer. This might be some sort of clue.

I am just in the research phase right now. Researching the GRE, because I'll be honest, I know nothing about it. Researching schools, and programs, and admissions requirements, etc. There's a lot to figure out. And now I feel like I am kind of on my own, without professors to counsel me when I get stuck. haha.

But I have to admit, this is all kind of exciting to think about. Deep down, I know I am just a nerd. But it's nice to be thinking about the future, and to start formulating some general ideas about where I'm headed.

We'll see how this all pans out.

tears in my heart!!!

Right now, there are 4 girls from Geneva at Acento in Sevilla. I look at their pictures every now and then and get a little bit jealous. Ok, a lot jealous.

But this weekend (or last, I'm not sure), they went to Toledo. And when I saw that, I wanted to cry. haha. Seriously, I think I could have. What is wrong with me? haha

Or, better yet.... why does this "place" have such a place in my heart?! I need to get back there. But how?

I am about 95% sure that I am going to go back around Easter time. Just to visit. I miss it so.

It's official. I am a Star.

Ok. I would like to officially add my movie-extra experience to my life's top 10. I am so glad I did it. haha. I hope that I can effectively convey the awesomeness of that day in this blog post.

To start it off, I am going to have to provide a little bit of background.
As I have mentioned before, the movie was being filmed at the jail... my very own place of employment. This in itself is awesome. I mean, coming to work and seeing Russell Crowe smoking a cigarette outside of the lunch room window is kind of crazy. But when I had the opportunity to be in the movie, I couldn't really pass it up! After a few weeks of joking around about it, I decided to actually call.

Originally, the guy had told me that they would need me on Friday, and that they would call Thursday night to let me know when to be there and everything. But I never got the call. So on Friday, instead of hanging out with Russell, I went to work so that I could actually get paid. I was a little disappointed, but I decided that even if I wasn't in the movie, it was still awesome that I randomly saw Russell Crowe walking the halls of the jail.

Fast forward to Sunday evening.
I get a call around 5:00 asking if I want to be an extra on Monday. Absolutely. So I called my boss to get the "go ahead", but in fact, never actually got it. I just got her machine. I decided that either way, I was going to call off to be in this movie. So that's what I did.

On Monday morning, I got to the "set", (aka my usual parking lot) around 8:00am. I filled out my "time card" or whatever, went to wardrobe (haha), and got instruction about what I'd be doing. They wanted me to just take my car to the front of the jail, and sit in it. That was all. Not bad. I was getting paid to sit in my warm car and listen to the radio. However, after a few minutes, one of the PA's knocked on my window. He told me that they called from up on the hill and wanted "the tan car". That was mine!! haha. So they told me to drive up to Duquesne's campus. When I got up there, it was like another world! It was everything I ever imagined when I thought about movie sets. Just tons of people, in little director's chairs, and cameras and headphones and walkie talkies galore. It was exciting.

I talked to a few of the PA's, and they told me that I would be DRIVING through Russell's scene. Oh My Gosh. Instead of merely sitting in the background, I got an action scene! They even gave me my very own walkie talkie! And I had to follow cues! It was awesome. I felt like the whole movie was depending on my ability to drive in a straight line at less than 10 miles per hour. And I am not sure, but I felt like every time they had to do another take it was my fault. haha.... despite the fact that the PA's told me I was "doing great". haha. What a relief.

Anyway, having a walkie talkie was definitely the most exciting part. I heard everything. "What's the status on Russell?" "He's 100%." ..."Russell is on the move!" (YES! JUST LIKE ASLAN!) ... I got really excited when I heard that. I just felt like I was supposed to be excited.

I was sitting in my car, pulled over next to a stop sign. And shortly after hearing that "Russell was on the move", I see an Escalade approach in my rear view mirror. Sure enough, it was him! As his car pulled up next to mine, I was literally less than 3 feet away from him. Except that there were 2 glass windows between us. Oh snap. If we had both decided to roll down our windows, I could have touched him. omg. haha.

Anyway, I was kind of nervous when I had to drive. I was following the direction of this guy who was standing next to my car. And then after that, they started telling me over the walkie talkie when to go. That was better. One of the PA's also told me to turn my car around after the scene, rather than reversing. Except... after the scene, everybody on the walkie talkie was like, "Why doesn't she just reverse?" haha. They were making fun of me. They said "Have you ever seen a Pittsburgher reverse down a street?" At that moment, not only was the quality of the scene and possibly the whole movie resting on my driving abilities.... but the reputation of Pittsburghers' reversing abilities as well! I did end up reversing down the street. It was way easier.. And I had to repeat it about 10 times... I hope they were blown away by my reversing skillz. I was also really nervous because my brakes were/are extremely squeaky. I felt like I was going to ruin the scene by braking!! Or maybe, I would rupture Russell's eardrums with the horrible sound. Luckily, nobody mentioned my horrible brakes.

Anyway, I am pretty sure that this is going to be the best scene of the whole movie. Just wait for it!

So after about 10 takes, they started packing up. I had no idea what to do. So I just sat around for a few minutes, until one of the PA's asked if I could give him a ride back down to "base camp" (yes, they actually call it that! haha). So I did. Not only him, but 2 others as well. They even had the nerve to ask me to open the trunk for their equipment! haha. I found the whole situation slightly hilarious.

So I got back to "base camp" a little after 9. And then we sat there for the rest of the day. Seriously. Until 5:45. We did nothing else! haha. But it was a lot of fun, and I think it definitely made the experience. I went into this thing hoping that at the most, I would only be visible in the movie for 2 milliseconds. I was expecting to be a nobody on set, etc. But wow. I don't think everybody else had the same expectations. haha. The other extras were so serious about it! One lady had "been in" so many movies, and was sharing all of her veteran advice. Another girl was there for her first time, but I am pretty sure she was bound and determined to sleep with any man on set.. I am not sure if she was just that desperate or if she really wanted to be in a movie that badly. haha. There were two slightly creepy guys. One more so than the other. And there was an older lady who was so annoyed by the prototypical "Extras" that she was constantly leaving the tent to smoke. And then there were a few CO's (jail gaurds... correctional officers) there as well. I think they were the coolest people there. Maybe it's because they are legit people with legit jobs. The rest were questionable. haha. But they were really cool, and now I'm excited to see them around the jail. Their scene actually got cut from the movie, so they were there all day with us, and never even got to do anything. What a bummer! haha, They were so excited for it, too.

Anyway, it was just a long day of waiting, and not being allowed to eat lunch until everybody else had eaten... even the actors' dogs ate before we did. haha. And the whole time we were thinking that we could make our own movie, tv show, or snl sketch about being an extra. It is definitely it's own interesting world. And I am so glad I had a chance to see it. haha.

Would I do it again? hmmm. Not sure. Probably, just because it was so hilarious. But I don't think I am cut out for that world. I am far too laid back and uninterested in "drama" to care. haha. I definitely don't want to become the "veteran" who gives advice to the newcomers, but I would probably do it one or two more times. haha. I am now receiving emails from the "veteran" offering tips on open casting calls and how to be an extra in other films. haha. This of her own accord, of course.

Hilarious. All of it.

I kind of want to go so over the top when this movie comes out. Like, rent a theater and have everybody I know come watch it together. haha. I think it would be hilarious. And awesome.

p.s. I hope that others can tell I am being a little facetious about this whole experience. I mean... sure, it's awesome... but the best part is making a huge deal about non-significant events. I think this is the key difference between myself and real "extras". haha. I am just doing it for some good stories, not to be discovered!

And now, for a post from atop my soapbox.

Being that I am only 22 years old, and have only had my own health insurance for less than 2 full months, I sometimes question the legitimacy of my own arguments here... But nonetheless, what good is a college-trained mind, if not for making arguments without all the proper background knowledge? And what is a blog good for, if not to throw your opinions into the world for all to read (even though nobody might read it...)?

This argument is about health care. And I warn you, it may be long.

I am not sure why, but this topic has really been interesting to me lately. Amid all of the talks of health care reform and "socialized medicine", I couldn't help but feel the need to form my own opinion about the topic. I recently read a book called "The Healing of America: A Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care". The book was great. Somewhat dry at times, but mostly intriguing. The premise of the book is that the author (T.R. Reid) travels to various countries around the world to look at their health care systems... and in the process, tries to get help with his "bum shoulder". In each country, he talks to various doctors and other health care professionals, and tries to find out what does and does not work about their system. I don't feel like the book pushed for any particular model. It was kind of just "here's how it is!".. But nonetheless, I have thought a lot about what changes I would make to the American health care system.... That is, if Barack Obama should ask for my opinion. This is a little difficult to articulate, but here goes:

First off, I am pretty sure that morally, we have the responsibility to provide health care to EVERYBODY. The fact that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and that some 65 million people (the numbers are debatable, and that's not my point anyway) can't afford to get basic health care is just ridiculous. We already have programs to provide health care to the poorest people, and to the elderly, and to children, and geeze Louise, even to inmates. And yet it's the middle class, those who make "too much", and at the same time, not quite enough, who get screwed. It's the minimum wage workers whose employers don't offer benefits, and yet their salary is far too low to pay for the outrageous premiums. And even if they can pay for the premiums, coverage isn't guaranteed, because the insurance companies can still turn them down on account of a preexisting condition! This is ludacris! And it brings me to my next point.

I think that it is totally immoral that insurance companies in the United States are FOR PROFIT companies! Every other country with a modern health care system has decided to make it illegal for a company to make a profit. When you think about it, these companies are weighing finances against human life. In order for their balances to increase, lives may have to be lost, and for some reason, that's ok! It's no secret that Americans love money. But it's totally disgusting that we love money more than we love each other.

Also, I am pretty sure it should be illegal for insurance companies to turn people down for coverage and deny claims. How can we be worried about government "death panels" when we let insurance companies play this role every day? Oh, now I see. It's because the insurance companies are doing it for profit while the government does it as yet another way to control our lives. Clearly.

I think that these are the most pertinent issues that we have to solve. The rest can be debated forever, but we need to agree that the business of health care shouldn't really be a business. Unfortunately, I know that economics tends to weigh more in this debate than our social responsibility to take care of each other.

I guess, in my opinion, what it comes down to is the power to choose.

• Are the premiums of private insurance companies too expensive? Then we should have the choice of a public option, which offers basic care for a more affordable price. I think this would definitely encourage competition. A public option is not saying that the government will completely takeover the system. It's just adding another option. It's allowing the government to act as another insurance company, to offer more basic services for a cheaper price (at least this is my interpretation of it). I believe that private insurance companies should still exist, to allow people to have more choices when it comes to coverage. In the true capitalist spirit, if you have more money, you can pay for more coverage. But we have to at least be responsible and make sure that nobody dies on as a result of limited access to coverage.
  
• I also think that our employers should give us more of an option of what health care provider we want to use. This would encourage people to stick with their insurance companies for longer periods of time (despite job changes and layoffs), thus encouraging the insurance companies to be more proactive with preventative health care... which, we all know does help to keep people healthy, and also lowers long-term costs. If people get laid off, the current premiums should be covered by unemployment benefits. I pretty much think that all people should be insured at all times. (Mandated, I suppose.. Kind of like car insurance? In order to enforce this, there should be a tax incentive..aka, no insurance = higher taxes.(I suppose this does not support my claim of "power to choose". ;) haha))
• We should be able to choose our level of care as well. I think there should be a mandatory, basic level of coverage for everybody, which of course would be the lowest premium available. The higher level of care that you want covered, the more you would pay for premiums. But I think I already stated this in my first point.
  
• Everybody should have the right to choose which doctors and hospitals they want to use, with no exceptions and limitations placed by the insurance companies. Even now, under this current system that we have, my choice of doctors is limited to my "network".
  

Other improvements/maintence to the system:

• Electronic Medical Records. I do realize that this would eliminate my current job (Which may be a good thing. I don't want to become complacent!). Anyway, this would be so much more cost efficient, aside from being a much more efficient system to begin with. And trust me, I know about the inefficiencies of the medical records world. I deal with this conundrum daily.
  
• Co-pays. I am still in favor of co-pays. Unlike the British, who believe that nobody should ever have to pay for health care, ever, I think it is still a good practice to have co-pays. This would help to keep premiums lower for everybody, especially for those who use the system less. There should, however, be a co-pay cap. As in, if you have a serious problem, and have to return to the doctor's several times in a month, you shouldn't have to pay more than a certain maximum amount in a given span of time.

I am not sure if this rant made any sense. It's kind of scattered, I guess. But there are a lot of ideas to cover, and I don't even think I covered everything I wanted to. If something us unclear, I'd be glad to try to rephrase it. I think I'm up for debating this topic with anybody.

Nonetheless, it's definitely going to take some serious work to fix the system we have. We always hear about how the United States has great doctors, superior medical technology, and innovative research, and I definitely agree with that. But unfortunately, we are very bad at allocating those resources. We have more uninsured people than any other wealthy nation, and we also pay more for health care than any other nation. It seems that with all of the resources we have, we should be able to figure out a better system. I'm not sure if Barack will be calling me for my input any time soon. But I hope that somebody out there is able to articulate a better plan. Because we definitely need a "change".

celebrity.

This post will be dedicated to my recent brushes with fame.

Last night, I was peacefully eating dinner at PF Changs with family and friends when Kate Gosselin, of Jon and Kate plus 8, and her two oldest daughters walked in. This threw everyone at our table into quite a stir, considering Betty and I, one of the ladies who was with us, talk about the show all the time. haha. Betty was really upset because she had forgotten her camera at a different restaraunt earlier that day, and was sad she couldn't take a picture. When I went to the restroom, I ran into them, but was kind of intimidated/didn't know what to say except "hi". And, bathrooms make everything more awkward anyway. But how exciting? Maybe. haha
(Speaking of Jon and Kate plus 8... last week, prior to the name change of the tv show, I suggested to Betty that they should change the name to "Jon; Kate plus 8", in order for the grammar of the title to better reflect the situation. Considering TLC just cut Jon completely out of the picture (making it just "Kate plus 8"), I am beginning to wonder if they have me bugged. Now would be a really awkward time to find out that I'm the star of my own reality tv show. ...Truman show, anyone?)

My second recent brush with fame hasn't actually happened yet. It will happen next week, when the movie "The Next Three Days" is filmed at the jail. More specifically, it will happen on Friday, when I am an extra in a "visitors scene". Oh man. This has potential to be hilarious. I have to take the day off of work, technically. But I will be getting paid minimum wage for the day. It's a fair trade off, right? The experience is definitely worth it. haha.

In other exciting news: I am going to the Steelers game on Sunday!! It's only my second ever!! I am pumped!

How I survived the G-20...

After months and months of preparations, and several work meetings detailing the special procedures that would be in place for the G-20 summit, I am happy to report that nothing happened. Nothing.

Working at the jail, there was tons of hype about how many arrests they were expecting.. with some estimates well above 1,000 or 2. They released a bunch of inmates with non-violent crimes and had extra beds put into the gymnasiums, thinking they would have to clear out the pods for new arrestees. Some people were talking about them renting out airplane hangers from the local county airport. No lie. And in the end, there were less than 200 arrests. haha.

We were prepped for heightened security around the jail. We had CERT and SRT guards posted every 50 feet or so around the building... and they had guns. Razor wire was put up around the fences, and the National Guard parked their hummers on the street corners, . I have to admit that having the National Guard protecting us is a pretty romantic idea. haha. But it didn't quite turn out the way I was imagining. The guards were just standing on street corners with guns, which made it feel more like Iraq than anything else. I could not imagine living somewhere where armed military personnel constantly stood on the street corners-- that's definitely not a romantic idea.

We were told that we would need to provide extra identification to get into the parking lot/building, and that the National Guard had a list of who was to be permitted to enter. But the first morning went something like this:
I pull up to the parking lot, and roll down my window.
I look at the parking attendant, and he looks at me, both of us waiting for the other to say something.
I hold up my badge and say, "I'm going to the garage?"
He makes a huge, cheesy smile, and says, "OK!"
The gate is lifted, I drive along, and nobody checks my ID. I walk past the guards, and into the building as if nothing is out of the ordinary. And pretty much, nothing was. Except that there was absolutely no traffic on my way into town, and I didn't have to pay for parking!

I think that the funniest part of this whole ordeal is that Pittsburghers just weren't putting up with anything. You're going to close down every road into downtown? Ok then, we won't go to work. The city administrators were sending such mixed messages about the whole thing. For so long they were talking about how difficult it would be to get around town, so everybody planned to avoid the city like the plague for two days. Then when people starting boarding up their windows downtown, and planning to be gone, the city got worried and started telling people that they should come into town. haha, Sorry, but bringing in an insane amount of police officers in riot gear doesn't really send a welcoming message. Luke Ravenstahl, the mayor, went on the radio Thursday morning to encourage people to come into town, assuring them that it would be safe. But in the end, Pittsburgh was just a ghost town for two days.

Despite everybody's complaints, saying that this summit was going to destroy our city, and that we would take an economic hit for it, I don't think it was such a bad thing. I'm definitely proud of my city, and I think it's awesome that Obama chose it as a "model city".. whatever that means. Yeah, it's true that 12 other cities turned down the offer to host this thing, which I assume makes Pittsburgh the 13th place model city. But whatever. I still think it's kind of a huge deal that all of the world leaders came here. Even Zapatero was here... the Prime Minister of Spain!

Oh, and, just an example of what happens when protests break out in Pittsburgh... they all eventually end in supportive chants of the Steelers or Penguins.





























Man, do I love this city.

Wanna be a Star?!

So, I walk into work today to see a brand new poster hanging on the bulletin board. "Wanna be a Star?" ... Turns out, they are going to be filming a movie, called "The Next Three Days" at the jail in October. And they need people to be extras. haha.

Well, I looked up this movie on google, and it turns out that Russell Crowe will be in it! What?! haha. I might just have to volunteer myself. I mean, this is going to be a real movie. Like, in theaters real. And just how hilarious would it be if I was actually in it?!

haha, I have to think about this. But this just might provide my life with a little bit of excitement and adventure. These days I have to take it where I can get it..

2009 Book List ... so far.

For the last few years, my new year's resolution has been to read 25 books in a year. Each year I have failed, but at least I have kept the motivation to try again. I know it's an easily attainable goal. Especially now so that I have graduated.

Being that I have just finished my 17th book, (and am in the middle of numbers 18 and 19), I thought I would recap my year's reads here. I have included some school books, but only ones that I read all the way through, and that I somewhat enjoyed reading, as well. Here goes:

1. Magical Thinking, Augusten Burroughs
   
2. Brothers and Keepers, John Edgar Wideman
3. Searching for God Knows What, Donald Miller
4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
5. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
6. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
7. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls
8. Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
9. House on the Lagoon, Rosario Ferre
10. Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
11. Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller
12. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
13. The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon
14. Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell
15. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
16. El Principito, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
17. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

Currently Reading:

• Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne
• The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care, T.R. Reid

Books that I am currently anxious to read (and are currently sitting on my bookshelf):

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
• Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
• The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

That leaves me with one more to choose for my 25. And of course, there may be substitutions in there. And who knows, what if, for the first time in my life, I read more than 25 books in one year? Woah, that's just a little toocrazy to think about!

It's Football Season!

Well, today marks the official beginning of the football season. I am so pumped. There is nothing like Pittsburgh during football season. And, I have a good feeling about this year. :)

Honestly, today was like a holiday in Pittsburgh. Everybody at work was in a good mood. The ONLY topic of conversation on the radio was the Steelers. There was so much talk about the free Tim McGraw/Black Eyed Peas concert. Traffic around town seemed to be ridiculous today, with everybody headed into town for the game/concert. Everyone has plans for the game. And most importantly, tomorrow morning's radio shows will be full of Steeler talk and game recaps.

Really, I haven't done anything too special tonight. I'm just sitting here at home, enjoying the game by myself (and reading Harry Potter during commercial breaks). And I'm getting really excited that this will be my routine for the next 17 weeks.

Favorite quote of the game so far:
"That was amazing! --Then again, it's Troy Polamalu" --announcers after Troy's interception.

Also, The Office comes back next Thursday!
This fall is looking up to be a good season.

Name That Duggar!

After hearing the news that the Duggar Family will be having another child, (this is 19?), Betty and I have decided to help the family out by running a contest in order to come up with a few name suggestions. After all, just how many names are there that begin with the letter 'J'?? Unfortunately, being that we both work at the jail, many of the names that we come across seem to be ill-suited to the family's image.

Nevertheless, all suggestions welcome!

here we go again

So, I gave in and decided to make a new blog. Yeah, I had to make a new one, because unfortunately, the title "Rachael in Spain" no longer applies. I'm sure it will apply again some day in the future, but for now I had to pick something a little more generic.

Currently, my life consists of working, and occasionally hanging out with friends....But mostly working. I am embracing my American life here. Money-garnering is one of my short term goals...also included in this goal is making and sticking to a budget, paying of credit card debt, and starting a decent savings. Other goals include taking a community college class (photography, sewing?), reading a ton of books, watching a ton of movies, riding my bike, etc. I am hoping that my transition period (because I am considering this a transition period!) is productive and beneficial.

So I don't really know what this blog is going to be all about yet. It might be kind of random. But it should be fun.