I Need to Get Out of Nevada!

I love the sunlight. I love the warmth. But oh dear god, I need to get out of this state!!! Lately, school has been stressing me out big time. I have a lot of responsibilities, which I agreed to take on, but it's turning out to be a lot of stuff. I don't like to be a bitter and down person, but I need to vent. So here goes:

• People here do not know how to drive! I've complained about this many times, but it never ceases to tick me off. Today Erik and I decided to avoid an exit that is always backed up at a certain time of day. Instead, we end up at a light that says "No turn on red," so logically we stopped to wait for the green light in order to make our right turn. Three, that's right three! cars pulled around us on the shoulder of the road to turn right through the red!! Ugh... so much for taking the less frustrating route home!

• I suspect NV Energy is trying to steal our money. Two months ago we got an electricity bill that was $50 more than the highest bill we'd ever had. We were shocked by it, but figured that it was possible that we used the air conditioning a bit too much that month. So, we took efforts to cut back the following month, and the next bill was back to the normal range. We have not changed those habits. Today I opened our bill to find out that it had skyrocketed again! There's no way we used that much electricity (we even had days without air conditioning because it was cooler outside!).
• Nevada is brown. And dry.
  
• Nevada/Las Vegas makes a bunch of the "This is the worst place to live/Places with the worst water/Most dangerous neighborhoods/Dumbest people" lists. At the same time I see the other sides of those lists with Minnesota near the top for "Best places to live/Cleanest tap water/Smartest people" lists...
• My best friends aren't here. Erik's best friends aren't here.
• There are giant cockroaches. Enough said on that topic.
• I get more headaches here because it's arid and I suck at drinking water.
• Our neighbors have sketchy friends who like to publicly urinate on the tree outside. I am thankful that I realized what was going on, and looked away in time to avoid that image.
• We only get one channel that works all the time here, and it's FOX. Enough said.
• I'm sick of hearing/seeing Sharron Angle and Harry Reid advertisements. Harry Reid, your state is screwed and I don't really think you can fix it. Sharron Angle, you are an extreme moron and should be nowhere near public office.

Oiy... if you made your way through that mess, I apologize for the bitterness and the giant unloading. I'm hoping that things will start shaping up soon, and my outlook on stuff will improve along with it.

Photo: http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Nevada_Test_Site/

5 Ways I Procrastinate Online

I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but get this... I was busy not procrastinating and working on my Geological Society of America annual meeting abstract that was due yesterday!! But now, I am back to procrastinating. Though, in all fairness, if I hadn't have woken up this morning with a giant headache, I would be at school working on my thesis.

There are many ways to procrastinate online, and I would like to share with you my 5 favorite ways to do so. In no particular order:

1) Lolcats at icanhascheezburger . The kitties are just so cute!!

2) PhD Comics (Piled High & Deeper). Anyone in grad school should appreciate the humor of these comics. There's even an "emergency button" in case your advisor walks in.


3) Various blogs. See my blogs I follow on the sidebar :)


4) Yahoo news stories. If it weren't for FOX (we only get one TV channel) and Yahoo, I would probably never know what is going on.


5) Facebook. Because, well, yeah... I'm a student who got sucked into the trend.

Images:
1) icanhascheezburger.com
2) phdcomics.com
3) blog.ning.com/2008/04/augmenting_your_blog_or_websit.html
4) yahoo homepage screenshot
5) brainz.org/completely-unscientific-yet-accurate-look-social-sites/