Down with the President....!

Of PepsiCo! I know, I said I'd talk about the conference. Our presentation went brilliantly and any day now I expect for both of us to have the notoriety of Freud. However, I have more important matters to write about first.

THEY CHANGED THE TASTE OF DIET MOUNTAIN DEW! GASP! I am a dedicated Diet Dew drinker. Other people drink coffee. I drink a concoction of brominated vegetable oil, orange juice, and artificial sweeteners that is probably rotting me from the inside. But it is my nectar. Diet Mountain Dew has gotten me through undergrad, insane shift schedules at a psych hospital, and three years of graduate school. But, PepsiCo decided to change to a new "tuned up taste." Bah on your tuned up taste PepsiCo. I feel like you replaced my spark plugs but now the car is making a weird noise you tell me isn't there.

I feel pretty passionate about this. I tend to feel passionate about most things, though. It took me a few cans to catch on. Hubby bought me one of my bimonthly 24 packs on his latest grocery run (apples, dew, and lean pockets...healthy, we are). The first one I tried was warm, it was late, I was tired. I just thought it was me. Then, yesterday on the way to work I popped open a can to get my sweet caffeine. I again was assaulted with this disgusting taste that is not my Diet Dew. And that's when I noticed on the can "Tuned Up Taste." Yeah, so now my Dew tastes similar to the Ass Water known as American Domestic Beer.

I called PespiCo today. I complained about the new Diet Dew and I told them that I was switching to Diet Cherry Coke. Yeah, I'l ltake your free coupon. But I'm burning it in effigagy, assholes!

Here's a picture of the pornographing of my favorite drink:

I'm a Professional...

In two hours, I leave for my first professional conference where I, me, Ms. GoingApe, is a presenter. And I'm not presenting some professor's research where he or she was kind enough to let me write a couple of paragraphs. Nope, I wrote most of the paper, collaborating with another student colleague of mine. Yip. And it's good stuff...I hope that I can give it the forum that this material deserves.

It's not even submitted as a student paper. Nope, we're presenting with the big guns. Big guns. Can you tell I'm anxious? So, say a little prayer for me (are there any little prayers?), my colleagues, and my husband who will be along to watch. Once this thing is done, I'll post some more about the theoretical approach we're formulating about adolescents and spirituality. I think that anyone who has children or hopes to have children would find it intersting. Until then...

I've reached a new low.

Boobies!

You can go home again...

Hubby and I just got back from 5 refreshing/exhausting/beautiful/stressful/tiring etc. etc. days back home in Tennessee. The trip, although tiring, was pretty wonderful. My brother and I pulled off a suprise party with more than 40 guests for my parents' 30th Wedding Anniversary. Our parents were married at the tender age of 18. My family has its problems, but I have to say that my parents did something right. At 48 years old, they have two kids with post graduate degrees (they have high school diplomas), a house and two cars they own outright, and a church and civic community of which they are an integral part.

At said anniversary party, my brother announced that he and his girlfriend are getting married this summer! My brother has a legacy kinda like Seinfeld. He dates women for awhile but it doesn't work out because she has man hands, or is a low talker, or he finds fungus cream in her medicine cabinet. At 28, he's been a serial long-term dater-- one year here, a three year there, a two year back then. Although many of these women would have given their right hand to marry my brother, he always decided the lady in question wasn't the one. BUT, I think the lady he is marrying was worth waiting for. She's brilliant, cute, funny, and she fits in with our CAH-RHAZY family. Plus, she's going to be a vet. She's in her second year of vet school. Isn't that special?

Wow, let's get my family together. You'd have a psychologist (me, duh), an environmental engineer (my brother), a vet (his fiancee), and the mysterious profession that my husband has forbidden me to reveal (my husband). Add my parents and you also get a UPS driver and a youth minister. With enough time and funding, we just might be able to save the world, one soul and kitten at a time.

There were a few negative developments, however. Hubby caught the horrendous head/chest bug that has been going around. He had to fly today despite a 102 fever. :( My brother's wedding is one THE ONE WEEKEND THAT SUCKS FOR ME. Yeah, I am supposed to be taking a class that is offerred once every three years that week. Gotta work that out somehow.

Okay, I'm exhausted. Off to bed.

I'm doing a meme...

Just when I was thinking, "Gee, I'm such a lazy no good blogger that has been focused on having a life in the real world that everyone online has forgotten about me," Jim over at Serotonin Rain goes and tags me. Thanks for the love, man.

Four jobs I’ve had:

1. White Water Rafting Guide (Boy, did I suck at that!)
2. NAMB Summer Missionary (Gasp! Yes, the SBC...)
3. Program Counselor in a Psych Hospital (Yes, I have put someone in a straight jacket...)
4. Psychotherapist (Note how the last part spells, "the rapist")

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. The Family Man
2. I Heart Huckabees
3. Garden State
4. Crash
5. It's a Wonderful Life (I couldn't resist doing an extra one.)

Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Nip/Tuck
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. ER
4. Prison Break

Gee, I seem to like medical shows and psychopathic deviates. It's all good.

Four places I’ve been on vacation:

1. Europe (Sopron, Vienna, Venice, Munich, Prague, Krakow, London)
2. Denver/Colorado Springs/ Rocky Mountain National Park
3. Vast portions of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Like, every other
weekend of my life until we moved to Chicago).
4. Yellowstone/Grand Teton/Rocky Mountain Nat'l Parks


Four favorite dishes

1. My Granny's Banana Pudding
2. My Granny's Potato Salad
3. My Aunt Susan's Broccoli and Cheese Casserole
4. My Aunt Sandra's Sweet Potato Casserole


Four Web sites I visit daily:

1. BBC News
2. Yahoo Mail
3. Five Gazillion Blogs
4. Knoxnews.com


Four places I’d rather be:

1. The Clifftops at LeConte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains at Sunrise.
2. Munich, with a huge Radler beer and some bread dumplings following a hike in Fussen, Germany to Neuschwanstein Castle
3. Prague, Czech Republic
4. At the graduation for my Doctor of Psychology degree.


Four bloggers I am tagging..um,I'll just tag 2 people.

1. Kevin
2. Stephanie
3. Whoever else wants to do this!