Top 10 Things I've Learned in the Last Four Hours

(It's 7:30 am and I'm at work early today, having been woke up at 3:30 am by smoke detectors going off in my house.)

Top 10 Things I've Learned in the Last Three Hours

1. Smoke detectors will go off even when there is no smoke being detected.
2. When smoke detectors go off in my house, it's very difficult to get them to stop.
3. Smoke detectors that are hard wired to a house make it hard to determine which one of the eight is actually malfunctioning.
4. My dog does NOT like smoke detectors.
5. It takes several minutes of incessant and loud beeping from eight smoke detectors to wake Seeger up at 3:30 am.
6. Smoke detectors that hard wired to an electrical system can't be turned off by the circuit.
7. When Nicklas is awoken at 3:30 am, he thinks it's time to drive to Florida for a vacation.
8. Smoke detectors can be very annoying.
9. According to Google, smoke detectors can be activated by bugs, dust, or humidity.
10. When I'm awoken by smoke detectors at 3:30 am and I spend 30 minutes trying to deactivate them, it's nearly impossible for me to fall back asleep.

Good morning, everyone. Happy Tuesday!

I'm registered to vote...

Too bad the voter registration folks don't know how to proofread their
emails. The online site said that over 14,000 Indiana residents have
registered online. I wonder of they all received the same email?

Furry things are living in my front yard

While moving (almost) the rest of our stuff out of the Lafayette house last weekend, I saw some dead weeds in our yard. Wondering who pulled weeds and threw them in the middle of my yard, I went to check them out. As I reached down and pulled back the weeds, I saw something moving underneath. I'm not sure if I screamed or yelped or what but I soon realized I had come across a rabbit nest.

I tried to put everything back the way I found it. Hopefully mama is taking good care of her babies.

New 'do

I've got bangs now.



I'm not really liking them.

Changing my hair is the only time I ever feel regret about something.

You mean I can't make up my own words?

So I totally wanted to use this word in my current game of Scrabble against curlygirl75...



It's an adjective to describe an annoying person a la Dwight Schrute. As in, "Man, I can't stand that guy. He's so shrutey."

This plan had two problems. #1 - it's not really word. #2 - if it were a word, it should have a C in it. Details, details...

And some of my favorite Dwuight Schrute quotes:

"Security in this office park is a joke. Last year I came to work with my spud-gun in a duffle bag. I sat at my desk all day with a rifle that shoots potatoes at 60 pounds per square inch. Can you imagine if I was deranged?"

"Reject a woman, and she will never let it go. One of the many defects of their kind. Also, weak arms."

"And I did not become a Lackawanna County volunteer sheriff’s deputy to make friends. And by the way, I haven’t."

"Once I’m officially Regional Manager, my first order of business will be to demote Jim Halpert. So I will need a new number two. My ideal choice? Jack Bauer. But he is unavailable. Fictional. And overqualified."

"When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins. When they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered, that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No, I believe his tissue has made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby."

"I don’t care what Jim says, that is not Benjamin Franklin. I am 99% sure."

Sleep Cycle

I'm obsessed with my new Sleep Cycle app. You put it on your bed, next to your pillow at night and it monitors your sleep cycle. It then wakes you up - up to a half hour before your alarm - during your lightest sleep cycle. So the idea is that you're more refreshed and ready to get up instead of waking at a scheduled time when your body might be in that precious deep sleep. I love that it graphs out your sleep cycle from the night. As you can see from the photo, yep, I was pretty much awake at 5:45. I kept wondering when the alarm was going to go off so I stayed awake for a bit before finally going back to sleep.

I'm very entertained by the fact that almost all my charts show instant deep sleep. I'm the type of person who falls asleep the minute my head hits the pillow. My mom is SO jealous.

Just for kicks and because this is app is SO AWESOME, here are a few more screen shots. You can identify one problem in looking at these. In both cases, I was in deep sleep the entire 30 minutes before my alarm when off. So I didn't get to wake up feeling "refreshed" as promised. No worries though, I still love that I get the cool charts!

Well look-ie there....

There is a new leader for the Prediction League and it's yours truly. I predict (get it, predict, ha!) that my lead will last about five days. I'm doing terrible in the Olympics!

new iPhone - take three

So I've done it again.... I've shattered another iPhone. This is the second time in six months, just in case you're keeping track. We can't forget the roller coaster incident of 2009.

No roller coasters this time. Instead, I left it on top of the car and took off for work. I remembered the phone about halfway through my 40 minute drive. It was long gone. Uncle Bill found it about four miles away from the house. It was in the middle of the road, still in its case (which also contained my license and credit card.) Unfortunately, it had been run over so this is all that was left.

So I'm on iPhone number 3 and fear it's my last shot. Three strikes and I'm out and back to the blackberry. This one comes armed with the Otterbox. Let's hope it does the trick...

I am alive....

I promise I'm alive and I haven't given up on blogging. I have tons of excuses, none that really matter but I promise I'll be back in full force soon. Well maybe not full force... the new job and new living arrangements might make it difficult for me to blog on the regularity I've grown accustomed to. But I'm not giving up! In fact, I'd spit out a bunch of blog posts right now because so much has happened in the past two weeks (Christmas, New Year's, trip to New York, blah blah blah). But unfortunately, I'm currently without a camera cord so I don't have any accompanying photos.

Oh yeah, for those that don't know.... I have a new job and the family and I are in the process of relocating from old town to new town that is two hours away. The Polack, Mia, and the boys are staying in our current house in old town and finishing out the school year. Once Mia leaves this summer, we'll all move to new town. For now, I'm living in new town during the week and old town on the weekends. While I'm in new town, I'm staying with my uncle, the forest ranger. He lives in the middle of the forest. With no internet or cell service. AT ALL. I will survive but it will be interesting to see how well I do with no technology.

I'll try to get back to RTT and hopefully do some real posts this weekend!

Little People

My kids are very fortunate. They have nearly everything they could want or need. (With the exception of a DS, we won't let them have one of those. Yet.) But every so often, while browsing through the toy aisles at Target, I catch sight of the Fisher Price Little People toys. And it makes me a little sad. Because the Little People of today are nothing like the Little People of my era.

Growing up, my neighborhood friends and I would spend HOURS playing Little People. It's pretty much all we did unless we were outside playing. (Until that blasted Atari came around, anyway.) Forget dolls or games or coloring. Nope, we only wanted our Little People. We would lay everything out in the middle of the room and one by one, we'd take turns picking which sets we wanted, which people we wanted. Then we'd each set up our own area, eventually creating a whole neighborhood. We'd beg our mom's to let us keep everything out so we could continue playing the next day.

When did Fisher-Price change the Little People? Now they're bigger, fatter and aren't interchangeable between sets - the fireman can only go in the fire truck, the farmer won't fit in the bus. You get the picture. I miss my vintage toys. I eventually outgrew them and they were sold in a garage sale. Such a travesty.

I had all of these, with the exception of the house of the house in the first picture.

A nice suprise

Today I was at work when a student I know popped in to say hi. I hadn't seen him in about 2 years so it was a nice surprise. As a freshmen, he came to the University after living in Finland for most of his high school career. A family member introduced him to my supervisor and my supervisor brought him to my office and asked our team if we wanted to hire him to work for us. He worked for me for almost 2 years (until I changed jobs).

When he stopped in, it was to say goodbye. He graduated in May (WHAT? Already??) and is preparing to attend graduate school in Florida. He wanted to thank me for the support I gave him during his first years at the University. He even had the sweetest thank you card for me.

I have to say, I was a bit surprised. For the most part, he was a pretty good worker although there were a few issues. One time I had to suspend him for repeatedly oversleeping and coming to work late. I also had to have a conversation with him about personal hygiene. I saw this is as a part of the "growing up and being an adult" process. But I didn't know how he felt - I had the impression that he thought I was too hard on him. It's nice to know he appreciated the relationship we had. AND he even made the effort to tell me.

Awwww....

P.S. The note read: Thanks so much for giving me my first job at the university. It was a pleasure working for you and learning from you. I truly appreciate how patient you were and the opportunities you gave me. I am going to graduate school for my PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida this upcoming year, and it is due in no small part to you and the rest of the office that I got through my first few years of undergrad. Thanks for everything and best of luck.

The Brightside Tour

Remember when I talked about the Compliment Guys? Well they're taking their show on the road. What a great story to brighten the day.

iLove

I'm in love. With my new iPhone, that is. After numerous sighs of desire over iPhone commercials and not so subtle hints to the Polack, my wish has come true. After learning I could get an iPhone for $99, the Polack proposed his master plan. I buy the iPhone, he would take my Blackberry (and add internet to his phone line), and we'd use his phone to replace our little LG for our third phone line. (That LG has been with us almost as long as Nicklas has. It can only hold about half a days charge but it's still kicking it with the big boys.)

I liked the idea of the plan but I was worried about the implementation. I love my Blackberry. It's been my trusty sidekick for nearly five years. And the key pad. I LOVE having a key pad. Plus everything is set up just the way I want it on it. But ultimately the call of the features of the iPhone triumphed. The iPod, the camera and internet (both better than the Blackberry's version), and of course, the apps seduced me into giving up my Blackberry.

Now if I could only get used to the keyboard....

Update on Thomas the Turtle

Thomas the Turtle is still hanging around the yard. The boys and I spent an hour on Sunday watching him. He moved several feet around the yard but finally returned to he usually spot just under our big tree in the front of the house.

I've been doing some research and it turns out he's an Eastern Box Turtle. Here's what I've learned:

• They're not aquatic (so he didn't come from the creek behind our neighborhood).
• They eats insects, mushrooms, berries, and other vegetation.
• Box turtles are some of the longest lived and slowest reproducing species in the world.
• They have natural homing instincts that causes them to return to the place of their birth (within 200 meters) if they're ever moved.
• It's fairly rare to find them in the Great Lakes region.

In talking to the neighbors, it sounds as though a few have hosted Thomas in their yards in the past. One neighbor said he's been around for years. Due to the threat of their species, we're aren't supposed to keep him in captivity. I guess we'll have to pass on having him as a pet. We'll leave him be and hope that he helps with reproduction of more turtles.

Speaking of reproduction, I'm pretty sure Thomas is a girl. Apparently female box turtles have "boxier" shells and orangish eyes while the male turtle has a flatter shell and red eyes. I looked at Thomas's eyes and they look reddish orange to me. But the shape of the shell seems to indicate female. Hopefully Thomas is laying lots of eggs this summer and we'll see some baby turtles in the fall.

Finally!

The big bad IRS has finally figured out that Ms. Natalie has been right all along. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

After sending me multiple threatening letters (some which came via certified mail) and stealing (yes, I call it STEALING) this year's Kubatski tax return, I finally received notice that they've made an error. Only they don't actually admit that they were wrong. And of course they aren't paying me interest and late fees even though they were threatening to charge them to me.

Sigh.

But at least it's all taken care of.

Finally!

I fought the IRS and won. It's a big day in Kubaskiland.

Another meme...

Here's another one going around Facebook. I posted there but thought I should share via blog so my kids forever have documentation on their mother's musical tastes...

My 15 Influential Albums...

1. John Cougar Mellencamp - Uh-Huh
This was the first album I ever purchased. I think I wanted to buy Michael Jackson's Thriller but my dad talked me into this since "Johnny is a Hoosier". I was easily influenced and since I'd seen him on American Bandstand I bought it. I still have memories of listening to it with my dad who loved the lyric "I remember when you could stop a clock" from Pink Houses. He said it reminded him of my mom. That's a little depressing...

2. Michael Jackson - Thriller
Again, my dad tried to talk me out of this. I think he wanted me to buy Don Henley or something. But I held my ground and I'm so glad I did.

3. Prince - Purple Rain
I bought this album after hearing it at a friends house. At the time, I didn't understand the lyrics to Darling Nikki. I was so naive growing up!

4. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell, Side 2
This was my dad's album and he used to listen to it all the time. I knew every lyric on side two by the time I was 6.

5. R.E.M. - Green
R.E.M. was the first concert I ever went to. My best friends brother took us and I think I was in eighth or ninth grade. Most of my friends hadn't heard of R.E.M. so I felt like listening to their music made me feel grown up and part of an elite club of progressive rockers.

6. The Cure's Greatest Hits
I'm still a big fan of The Cure although I don't listen to them nearly as much as I'd like to. In high school, I was always looking for alternative music that shied away from the pop I listened to in middle school (think Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, and New Kids on the Block). I definitely got this with The Cure.

7. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Love, love, love this CD. My dad used to get upset when he heard Add It Up so I'd have to skip that song when he was around. I'm not sure Add It Up is worse than Paradise by the Dashboard Light but I suppose it's more sexually obvious. I copied this CD multiple times for a friend who's mom would take it away everytime she found it. I still listen to it and my kids love it. (Of course I skip track 4.)

8. Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
I heard Galileo driving home one night after working late at Wendy's when I was 17. I was listening to some alternative music show on a random radio station. I fell in love with the song but unfortunately didn't know the artist or title. A few months later, I was at Shipshewana and was browsing through the cassettes. (Remember when you could buy Shipshewana cassettes for $2.50??) I saw the song titled Galileo and hoped it was the same one I remembered from the radio. It was and I wore that tape out. Later that summer, I had an exchange student from France live with me for a month. We would drive down 427 belting out the lyrics to Chicken Man.

9. Nirvana - Nevermind
This CD epitomizes the lost of innocence in my life. (For no particular reason, it's just that I did a lot of growing up during it's popularity.)

10. INXS - Kick
Every single song on this CD is outstanding.

11. Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said
This CD taught me about falling in and out of love.

12. Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill
To me, this CD seemed so raw, so truthful. I appreciated that.

13. Indigo Girls - 1200 Curfews
This would be the one CD I'd choose if I was stranded on a deserted island.

14. Mighty Blue Kings - Meet Me At the Uptown
This is the CD and type of music (swing) I was in to when I fell in love with my husband. He and I will always have a special place in our lives for the Mighty Blue Kings.

15. The Fratellis - Costello Music
I've been listening to a lot of pop music lately. (Think Fergie, Katy Perry, Britney, etc.) I'm embarrassed by this because I used to be so INTO music. But as I grow older, I'm less likely to explore what's out there. When I get interested in a musician or album, I really invest myself. And with a life consumed with my family, my career, and everything else, I just don't have the energy to really develop and expand my musical horizons. Instead, I opt for easy. The Fratellis are anything but easy and they signify that I can still rock it out when I'm so inspired.

Honorable mentions: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Against the Wind; Willie Nelson, Always on My Mind; Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Greatest Hits; They Might Be Giants, Apollo 18; Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces; No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom; Steve Miller Band, Greatest Hits 1974-1978; Rave Til Dawn.

Free Compliments

Several months ago, I was walking across campus to a meeting when I saw a random student standing outside a building, shouting things out to people walking by. I didn't pay much attention but as I passed him, he shouted "nice purse" to me. I had just bought the purse and loved it so I was excited someone noticed. "Thanks," I said and noticed he was a holding a sign that said Free Compliments. What I great idea, I thought and I always smile when I think back to that memory.

It turns out this wasn't a one time thing. This student and his friend have been giving out compliments on a regular basis. And tomorrow they're being featured on Oprah.

Super. Cool. Check it out.

25 random things about me

The 25 list has been running rampant around facebook and the blogosphere. I'm both annoyed and fascinated by these lists which means I've gone back and forth between doing one of my own.

Since I'm away from my family for the next few days, I decided to do my own list. (I also have nothing blog worthy to write so I figured, what the heck?)

1. As the only daughter with three brothers, I love the attention I received growing up.

2. In kindergarten, my best friends father affectionately called me "Fat Nat" once. To this day, I hate it when people call me Nat. (Side note: there are three people that get away with this, George, Bethy, and Jules.)

3. As painful as it was, sometimes I miss high school. I was involved in lots of fun activities and hung out with some really great friends.

4. In high school, I worked at Wendy's and loved my job. Really. I loved it. I would probably still be working there if there wasn't such a stigma about working in fast food.

5. I regret not being more motivated in college. There are so many on campus opportunities that I didn't take advantage of. (Unless you count taste testing all varieties of the flavored long island iced teas at Kilroy's.)

6. The best concert I ever went to was the Violent Femmes. The worst concert I ever went to was the Violent Femmes. (These were two different concerts.)

7. I worked as a shot girl in a bar during college.

8. One of the best experiences I've ever had was backpacking around Europe for a month. I hope my kids will do the same. Maybe they'll even invite me to come with them?

9. I once had my tongue pierced. That was 12 years ago and I still miss it.

10. I don't understand why people get tattoos.

11. I was a social worker for four years. I am so glad I had this job but I would never do it again.

12. As I get older, my taste in music grows progressively worse. In high school, I listened to R.E.M. and The Cure. Now I listen to Ashlee Simpson and Katy Perry. I am extremely embarrassed by this.

13. I would never want to be a stay-at-home mom yet I'm very envious of them. (Sometimes I take a random a vacation day while my husband goes to work and my kids go to school just so I can pretend I'm a stay-at-home mom.)

14. Sometimes I like to practice my America's Next Top Model Walk and the smile with my eyes look.

15. My husband knows me better than I know myself. Often, I'm still trying to sort through my emotions regarding an incident and he already knows what my reaction will be. Usually, I think this is pretty cool but every once in awhile it really annoys me.

16. I have very high expectations of the people in my life. This usually leads to significant disappointment in relationships which is extremely unfair to those who are a part of my life.

17. I hate Jimmy Buffet. (Not him personally but his music, definitely.)

18. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

19. I'm pretty frugal. I have trouble paying full price for clothes, vacations, etc. I also will spend money on something I don't necessarily need just because I know it's a good deal.

20. When I see pregnant women, babies, or toddlers, I get sad because I'm past the baby stage of my life.

21. I don't like to watch sports on television. I've tried, for my husband's benefit, but I just can't do it.

22. My favorite movie of all time is The American President. It's so cheesy yet I feel a surge of patriotism whenever I watch it.

23. I doubt I'll ever live outside the state of Indiana.

24. I like to shovel snow.

25. I know way too much celebrity gossip.

I know you're supposed to tag people for this but it doesn't seem fair to choose 25 people over others. Therefore, I'm choosing not to tag which means probably no one will read this.

Me and my god

I just read an excellent post by Brandy over at It's like I'm... mmmagic! about her view regarding religion. I generally shy away from talking religion but so much of what she says hit home with me. I could have written her post (except for the part about carrying Sarah's hair around the playground. Oh and farting in public. I keep my farts to the bathroom.)

It's always nice to know you're not alone with your thoughts.

The things I do for a little cash...

I've been incredibly busy this week at work. My projects are catching up with me and deadlines all seem to be hitting at once. I'm finding there aren't enough hours in the work day to get everything done.

But this is my fault. I contributed to my busy schedule by signing up to participate in some research studies. One of the benefits of working at a University is the opportunity to earn cash being a human subject in a research project. (You know the cereal commercial that boasts you loss weight by eating one bowl of cereal for breakfast, one bowl of cereal for lunch, and a light dinner? Yeah, that study was done at my University.)

I once spent 84 days in row ingesting eight servings of grape juice. That's 5,376 ounces in 12 weeks. (Needless to say, I can no longer drink grape juice.) Sure I gained 10 pounds but I made $100 in the process.

This week, I'm doing a speech perception study. Four days in a row, I've been going to the speech lab to listen to Alice, Beth, Claire, Dave, Earl, and George on the computer. (Yes, George. This has been puzzling me. Why the A, B, C, D, E names and no F? Instead of something easy like Fred, they skipped the F and went straight to G for George.) I get to hear them say sentences like, The tip of the knife is sharp and The queen likes to wear silk socks, only their voices sound unnatural because they've been altered to mimic the sound that people with hearing loss may hear through their cochlear implants.

Although the sessions only last an hour, they are painstakingly boring. I hear a sentence and I'm supposed to click on the picture of the person who said it. I can barely tell the different between the men and women, much less which one actually said it. It's hard to stay awake. Unless I'm doing the sentence transcription part. That's my favorite. I listen to a voice who says 60 different sentences. I'm supposed to type what I hear or what I think they say. As with the voice identification testing, the voice is altered. Its very deep and muffled and sort of reminds me of a voice from a scary movie. This makes me think it's saying very dreary, dark things so I end up typing things like The dog likes to go to the cemetery and She is very afraid to die. I can picture the researchers laughing their asses off at my translations.

For the four sessions, I'll earn $40. I'm also starting another study and had to do the preliminary testing this week. Its looking at the relationship between Vitamin D and strength training. I have to lift weights with a trainer three days per week while taking Vitamin D (or a placebo). The study lasts 12 weeks. I'm still going through the initial testing (I met with a trainer so he could record how strong I was. Yeah, I'm below average. That's right, I'm a wuss.) Next I have to lie in some sort of weird machine while it scans my body for a half an hour. And then I have to do a three hour glucose/blood test. Sweet. All this for $250.