Mouse With A Mission

I'm generally a pretty nosy person, so every now and then I like to google people's names. The other day I googled my maiden name, and ran across this article where I had been interviewed for the school newspaper. I thought it was funny, and it brought back good memories, so I thought I would share it. It was done when I was attending Boise State University, and my friend Kate Hoffman did the interview. It was probably done in later months of 2000, just after I started attending school. I am "JB", and Kate is "KH".

All I can say about this is that my fascination with poodle skirts has thankfully passed, however I still like the idea of twirling, and taking over the world. :) Oh, and I'm still looking for an agent.

by Kate Hoffman

the Arbiter

KH: Who are you?

JB: I’m a mouse. I’m in an elaborate scheme to take over the world.

KH: And your name is?

JB: Jodi…Burwell.

KH: What do you think about this weather, Jodi…Burwell?

JB: I think it’s OK…as long as it stays warm but not too warm and you get a little chilly in the morning. But weather’s cool.

KH: So what’s your idea of perfect weather, a perfect day?

JB: Perfect weather? About 85 degrees, with a tiny breeze, a nice cool breeze. As long as you’re wearing your hair up.

KH: Why do you have to have your hair up?

JB: Because it makes it hot if you don’t, and it gets in your face because of the wind and you end up eating it, and that’s just not cool.

KH: You don’t like eating your hair?

JB: No.

KH: Why not?

JB: Cause it tastes kind of funny. (Laughs.) Especially if it has hair spray in it.

KH: You look really excited to be here.

JB: I do? (Laughs incredulously.)

KH: OK, well, if you could be anywhere right now, doing anything, where would you be doing what?

JB: I would be in New York, watching a Broadway show.

KH: Which one?

JB: “Les Miserables.”

KH: Can I ask you a personal question?

JB: I won’t guarantee an answer.

KH: What’s your favorite color?

JB: Blue.

KH: Discerning readers want to know: Why blue?

JB: Because…OK, when I was little me and my sister watched “Sleeping Beauty,” and at the end they have the changing dress. My sister liked pink and I hated my sister so I liked blue. And its been my favorite color ever since.

KH: Would you dye your hair blue?

JB: For the Jazz, yeah.

KH: As long as we’re on the topic of fashion, what fashion trend do you wish would come back into style?

JB: I like poodle skirts and ponytails.

KH: Why?

JB: Why?

KH: Why.

JB: Because when you spin they twirl out.

KH: I’ve always wished everyone wore hats again. Nice hats, not baseball caps.

JB: Uh-huh. Really.

KH: Do you like hats?

JB: Yeah, except that my ears stick out, so I can’t wear baseball caps.

KH: Has anyone ever called you Dumbo?

JB: (Laughs hysterically.) Yes! That’s why I don’t like my ears, because people called me Dumbo.

KH: So where are you from?

JB: Heaven. (Smirks.) Blackfoot.

KH: (Laughing.) Where is that?

JB: Over between Pocatello and Idaho Falls.

KH: Which do you like better, Blackfoot or Boise?

JB: Blackfoot, because all my friends are there, and Boise has weird people.

KH: Like…?

JB: Like…I don’t know.

KH: Who’s weird?

JB: I’d say, except that he’s showing his fist to me now. (Glances meaningfully at the other person at the table, who is shaking his fist at her.) He might throw me in some bushes.

KH: Are you going to be in Idaho 10 years from now?

KH: Where would you rather be?

JB: I want to be back East. In Pennsylvania.

KH: Doing what?

JB: Uh…music education. Teaching in a high school. I want to take my band to the Midwest Conference in Chicago.

KH: So what year are you?

JB: Freshman.

KH: Let me get this straight. This is only your first semester and you’re already a BSU celebrity?

JB: Yes. I guess it just sort of goes with the popularity.

KH: How does that feel?

JB: Very…conspicuous.

KH: Do you have an agent?

JB: Not yet. I’m currently looking.

KH: You’re off to a good start.

JB: Thank you!

He Must Be The Worst Player On The Team

My dad and Lindamom came to visit back in the middle of August. I was so excited to have them here! In fact, I quit my job a month earlier than I really needed to just so I could be sure and spend as much time with them as possible!

They arrived late Thursday. They were originally supposed to arrive "not so late" on Thursday, but apparently they took a wrong turn at Albuquerque, and by Albuquerque I mean somewhere in Idaho I think. It ended up taking them a LONG time to get here because they came through Spokane. It also just took me a long time to write this paragraph because Albuquerque is frickin' hard to spell!! For the record, it is not spelled "Albuguerque", nor "Albaqueque".

Anyway, Friday we had plans to go the Mariner game. They were playing the Yankees. I'm not usually a fan of baseball, but I like to go with my dad because he knows EVERYTHING. No joke here Faithfuls. You can ask him any trivia question about sports and he will know the answer. It's crazy.

The game didn't start until 7pm, so we had the whole morning and afternoon to chilax. I decided to show them our cute little park by the lake, and we had some yummy chowder from Ivars.

This is Lake Washington near our condo.



After Kress got home from work, it was time to go to the game! Because parking in downtown Seattle is such a pain, I made the executive decision to take the train into town. This was totally the right move! First of all, I love riding on public transportation. It's a little weird, but I dig it. Don't judge me. Second, it was cheaper than parking would have been, and we didn't have to stress out about driving. We just enjoyed a nice ride where we got to take in the view of the city. Very cool.

Here we are on the train!



Our seats were in the family section, and were pretty good! Very close to the snacks, which is muy importante. We all got hats as our souvenir, except for Lindamom. Her hair was perfectly styled. No hat needed for someone who always looks so beautiful! I believe she has magical curlers. Kress of course decided on a hat that had the old school Mariner logo on it because it looked cooler. I told him to be careful because someone might suspect him of liking sports!

Us at Safeco field with our new gorros!



Unfortunately, our Mariners lost. We got to see a home run, but it was hit by a Yankee of course. My ignorance was glaringly obvious when I asked my dad about the players and their positions. I asked if the right fielder was out there because he was the worst one on the team. He said no and explained that they are usually the best players, including hitting. I later learned that the horrible right fielder I had pointed out was not only there because he was a good player, but also that he was the highest paid player on the team. Ichiro Suzuki apparently gets paid 18 million to stand "way in the back and suck" as I put it. *shrug* I guess I'll stick with what I'm good at. The 7th inning stretch.

All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go?

It has been a few weeks since Kress and I have been to church because we have been traveling recently. (I know...I need to blog about those travels...but stay the course Faithfuls. It will come eventually.)Our church starts at 9 in the morning, and Kress and I are NOT morning people. It's a challenge for us to get up and go in the first place, so we were very proud of ourselves for getting up yesterday and making it to church on time. The only problem was when we got there, the parking lot was empty.

Much to our chagrin, it was Stake Conference this week, so church was being held at the Stake Center rather than our regular ward building. I'm not sure how I missed it because I'm the Secretary for the Young Women's Program, so it's my job to know everything going on, but alas, I had overlooked this change in schedule.

It wasn't a big deal, because Stake Conference doesn't start until 10, so we headed over to the Stake Center and made it in plenty of time. The reason this event is blog-worthy is because of Kress' reaction to our discovery.

Kress has not been feeling well the last few days. He has had a cough and a sore throat, so having to go to Primary and sing with the children for 2 hours was going to be rough for him. Although he was ready and willing to fulfill his calling, he made this exclamation as we drove away from the barren parking lot:

"I was willing to sacrifice my son and the Lord Hath provided a Lamb!"

Needless to say he was ecstatic to get a reprieve from leading the Primary. What a crack-up! Little things like these are what make me love my man so much.

Sims 3 Movie

I have created a Sims 3 movie that I thought I would share with you. This represents about 20 hours of work. Seriously. It took me forever. But it's my first one, and I thought it was pretty funny. Enjoy! Comments always welcome of course. :)

A Rant

I am now 27 years old, and still working on a college degree. I have been in this process ever since I graduated high school. The idea behind getting a degree is that it is supposed to help you get a better paying job yada yada yada, however, I am convinced that the only reason some organizations want you to have a college degree is because they know if you have managed to navigate through the administrative labrynth that state universities have created, then you must be able to handle complex workplace bull****.

I have attended a couple of different colleges now, including Boise State University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, College of Southern Nevada, and Bellevue College. Today, I had another not so great experience with UNLV, which takes home the prize for "Most Ridonculous Administration EVAR".

I am currently attempting to transfer to the University of Washington, and of course, part of that process is getting transcripts from all the colleges I previously attended. No problem! All it takes now is a quick jaunt online to pay the fee (which funny enough, ranged from $2.00 to $10.00, depending on the school). I took care of this 3 or so weeks ago, and was under the impression I was right on track to get my application submitted.

Well, as luck would have it, I just happen to be in Las Vegas this week, and just happened to need to stop by UNLV to pick up some paperwork because their computers were down. Well lo and behold, my transcripts had not been sent to UofW because unbeknownst to me I owed some partial tuition from a summer class I took last year. Of course UNLV gladly accepted my transcript request along with my $5.00 in the first place, but failed to tell me they would not be mailing them out, just as they failed to tell me I still owed some tuition from over a year ago! And of course, because it's been a year, the account has already been sent to collections, so I can't even pay UNLV there on the spot. Not that I could have anyway, because their Cashier's Office was in the process of moving to a new building, so they couldn't accept payments. Why they chose the first week of school to MOVE the cashier's office is still beyond my logic at this point....

Anyway, long story short, because of UNLV's inefficiency, I may have QUIT MY JOB for absolutely no reason at all. The deadline to apply to UofW is in 14 days. It takes 7-14 days for the collection agency to notify UNLV that I've brought my account current. So unless I can find someone that is nice enough to pull a string and send my transcripts out....well, you get the picture. I am potentially screwed. And that's not the kind of potential I enjoy having.

The most frustrating part is that all of this could have been avoided if UNLV could pull their heads out and run things like they actually cared! It's no wonder college tuition is sky rocketing. It's common sense that inefficiency costs money. And with the amount of inefficiency that is the entity they call a University, it's no wonder they have to raise tuition to simply keep the books in the black. And while I'm at it, what the heck is up with out of state tuition? We are one country, it shouldn't matter what state I was born in, or live in. I should be able to go to school where I choose. Kress of course, being the economist that he is, would call it price discrimination, but it's simply not fair to discriminate based on criteria I have little control over.

Anyway, rant is done. No pictures, because they would be very violent, and my blog is, for the most part, rated G. Hopefully tomorrow I can bat my eyes pretty enough to get things handled, but if not, FML.

/rant

Tim Gunn Whodunnit

I know I have other things I should be blogging about, but this is my latest project, and I think it turned out pretty cool! Basically, Marvel Comics has come out with a comic for Tim Gunn, one of the hosts of Project Runway. I decided a comic would be lots of fun, so I decided to make one with my Sims! This is just the first little bit, but basically it's going to be a whodunnit, and Tim (who has a superhero identity as well) will be fighting crimes against fashion in order to discover the culprit! Here is the first bit I have done.

It’s Not Like You Can Go Outside And Make Sun Angels

One of the main reasons Kress and I moved away from Vegas was because we didn’t exactly care for the heat. The northwest is beautiful, and supposedly the temperature is fairly moderate. We got our first taste of “moderate” Seattle weather back in December when we got hammered with snow for two weeks. (This of course, is not normal, and just a freak act of nature.) We rolled with it, I blogged about it, and it is in the past.

Summers in Seattle are also supposed to be fairly moderate. They say it only hits 90 degrees once or twice a summer, and never for more than 1 day in a row. There’s no need for air conditioning because it never gets hot. Perfect!

But then of course, el niño, or global warming, or whatever you want to call it strikes again! Seattle hit a heat wave, and temperatures rose to 20 degrees or so above average for about a week straight! We were definitely above 90 for more than 1 day at a time. In fact, I think we were above 90 for 5-7 days straight! It even got all the way up to 103 degrees one day! Of course all of this is being endured without air conditioning, which means if it is 103 outside, it gets much hotter inside the hot oven we call our condo! Ick ick ick!

There was no way we could stay inside our house on the day it was 103. Fortunately, it was a Wednesday, so mutual gave me an excuse to hang out at the air conditioned church, and Kress went and hung out at his air conditioned office. Afterwards, it was still too hot to be in the condo, so we decided it was a great time to catch a movie! We headed over to the mall, and along with a theatre full of other roasting refuge seekers, sat down to enjoy two hours of air conditioned bliss. This would have been a great idea had it not been so hot that it actually broke the computers that run the movie!! The sound kept going out, and after 3 attempts, Kress and I decided to call it a fail and get our money back.

There’s really only so much one can do in the War On Rising Temperatures. We pulled out all the stops, and assembled our army of fans.


Now I know you’re all expecting me to tell you their names, but I didn’t name them this time because I don’t want to wash them. (Inside joke for you Wade!! Thanks for reading! *wink*) Although I didn’t name them, I did give them ranks. The big one in the middle is our portable air conditioner. He’s the general leading the charge. The two on the outside are sergeants, and the three down in front are our front-line soldiers. Thanks to these guys, we were able to sleep rather comfortably. I guess you could call Kress the colonel, because he was the one strategically placing them throughout the condo.

I’m sorry to say that there was one casualty in the War On Rising Temperatures.

PLANTASAURUS NOOOOOO!!!!!

Plantasaurus didn’t make it. We tried our best, but no matter how much water we gave her, she just shriveled and gave up the ghost. I’m not sure if it was the bugs or the heat, but I am sorry either way. We are glad the heat wave is over, and are back to enjoying our temperatures in the low 70’s. Now that we have experienced both extremes, Kress and I have decided that we liked the snow much better than the heat. Like Kress said, at least the snow is fun! It’s not like you can go outside and make sun angels…