Just because I live in Wal-Mart Land, doesn't mean I like the store...

"In its claims for trademark infringement against an online parodist, Wal-Mart claimed that it had trademark rights in the ubiquitous yellow smiley face. Not only did Wal-Mart lose its case, the judge held it had no rights in the smiley face mark. The smiley face has been liberated!"
This ruling shows that even the biggest company in America is subject to parody, and that trademark rights must yield to the right of free speech. This is a resounding victory for First Amendment rights and sends a clear message to big corporations that would try to use their deep pockets to intimidate and silence their critics."
- Cory Doctorow

Tagged!

So since I've been Tagged 10+ times, I finally decided to do the one I find the least obnoxious. Enjoy, for I doubt this will happen again.

5 years ago:
Doing my student rotations at Portnuef Hospital, trying to marry the WRONG guy, and had just landed my first x-ray job at an Urgent Care Center. I bought a new pair of pants from American Eagle and a bottle of perfume to celebrate (the tradition of buying myself a "new job gift" has never died since).

5 Snacks I enjoy (remember I'm pregnant):
1. Nilla Wafers with Swiss Miss Banana Cream Pie pudding
2. Prunes (truly. Love 'em)
3. Rooibus Herbal Tea with lemon
4. Oreos and icecream
5. V8 (the original)

5 things on my "to do today" list (tomorrow, since it's late tonight):
1. Go to work
2. Buy milk, butter and olive oil
3. pick up library books during lunch break
4. Take the dog for a walk
5. Call apartment offices and raise Cain about my missing packages

5 Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
1. Pay off ALL DEBT
2. Move out of apartment and into a REAL house!!!
3. Buy Rob a car with A/C
4. Travel travel travel travel travel travel travel travel
5. Quit my job and go back to school

3 bad habits:
1. Neglecting to put the clean dishes away for days at a time
2. Rob says I "drive like a maniac"
3. Hitting the snooze button (since being pregnant, this has gotten worse than ever. I used to hit it once, maybe twice; now it's on the order of four times).

5 places I've lived:
1. Rexburg, ID
2. Henry's Lake, ID
3. Pocatello, ID
4. Arlington, VA
5. Little Rock, AR

5 jobs I've had:
1. Janitorial service, Ricks College
2. Waitress, Frontier Pies
3. Truck driver, United States Postal Service
4. X-Ray tech
5. Mammographer and Stereotactician

Things people don't know about me:
1. I'm crazy about history, especially European history, especially the Tudor period
2. I'm a "health Nazi" (quoth the husband). Yes, I do count calories. Always.
3. Rob proposed to me on top of the tallest pyramid of the Monte Alban ruins, overlooking Oaxaca, and we started dating in Peru on the Inca Trail. I've backpacked through five Latin American countries, and five European countries, and stayed in a $3 hostel where I couldn't find the light switch for all the cockroaches on the wall.
4. Growing up I ALWAYS planned on being an Art major and spending the rest of my life covered in paints and charcoals. I still LOVE art and music, but I decided that if a passion were to become a job, it would shortly cease to be a passion and become a chore, and I love art too much for that.
5. I lived with my grandma off and on all throughout high school, and she taught me how to quilt. I still love to make pieced quilts.

5 people to Tag:
NO ONE!!! Let's break the cycle!

All the Wealth of the Kingdom

I'm reading the biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the greatest heriones of the Middle Ages. She was the wife of two kings--King Louis VII of France, and King Henry II of England--and the mother of three: King Henry, King Richard I, and King John, all of England. There are limited original documents about her that survive (she was born in 1122 AD), but one of the few is a Pipe Roll accounting which lists all of her belongings as she ascended the English throne: "Forty-two gowns of silk, linen, and wool, many richly embroidered: fourteen pairs of shoes, six of them embroidered with gold thread; five mantles of various colours furred with ermine; a great quantity of veils; and ten warm undershirts (spelling modernized)".

What good is it to be the Queen if you can only have fourteen pairs of shoes?

Ultrasound

So these pictures are a week old, but no less cool for that (we have no scanner, and so have to very cleverly find a chance to use the ones at Rob's hospital-- that type of conniving can take time). We got see the baby kicking his/her legs and sucking on his/her thumb. Too cool.

Chasqui and a Snow Day

We woke up this morning to snow. In Arkansas. In March. It was really quite beautiful. Being from Idaho, I thought little to it and went off to work, as usual. The streets were strangely deserted. As was the office building. I had to unlock the doors myself (I have never before needed to use my key), and went to work. No one else showed up. A little strange. Apparently, when the Little Rock School District sees fit to cancel school, local businesses follow suit. I was informed of this about 10AM, and off I went home. I had a great day off, taking the opportunity to make soup with the left over turkey, scrubbing my bathroom from top-to-bottom (I've virtually given up all housecleaning since getting pregnant- if the smells of the cleaner don't make me puke, the motion will-- but the morning sickness finally seems to be receeding, a little), and playing in the snow with Chasqui. He loves the snow, and is so funny in it. He leaps through it, eats it, rolls in it, and attacks it, snorting snow up his nose, and then sneezing and choking on it. We had a fun time. And Rob even got home early! What a day! Hooray for snow!

Turkey, Take Two

Sorry for the utter lack of new posts. Part of the problem is that we just haven't DONE much of anything lately. Rob has been so busy with studying and trying to get a couple of abstracts submitted to Academny. I've been busy with work, and being sick. This whole pregnancy business is an all-consuming project!
This weekend, we decided to FINALLY get the turkey out of our freezer. We bought two at Thanksgiving time-- can you blame me? It's good, and they're so cheap at that time of year. Anyways, we had planned on having a grand feast on Saturday, but Rob was on call, and the pager had other plans. The poor guy. He was tormented all Friday and Saturday. I finally saw him at about 7pm, long after I had given up, carved the turkey myself, and put it in the fridge. So on Sunday we finally made the potatoes, gravy, etc, and THEN had our grand feast. It nearly killed Chasqui to have to smell a turkey being roasted. He stood at the entrance to the kitchen and salivated ALL DAY LONG. It was pretty funny.