XD means interaction designer, CISCO is a fish, and MOSTLY STRAIGHT is a sexual orientation

breathing deeply...

so here's how our study table looks like...

Carl sits on the yellow chair, and those papers under the table are mine

carl and i sit on opposite ends on of the table... i do my thing and he does his, and sometimes...we sometimes take our deep breaths together without doing it on purpose... he usually says... its like being in the middle of deep water - we stop and get some air from above the surface, and then we dive again...

and tonight is one of those very rare weeknights when i get to stay above the surface for a little longer, because:

1. i have no class tomorrow and i have no homework due on a friday, and

2. i decided that i'll be spending my friday in the middle of deep water - so i can appreciate our WEEKEND (yup, rather be knee deep on homework and readings on a friday than drag myself through the weekend thinking about how to catch up on a sunday afternoon).

so anyway... its been 3 weeks since Graduate School Day 1 (at least for me)... for Carl, its been almost 7 weeks. here's a glimpse of how my USUAL WEEK looks like... I'm not including Carl's version of this calendar because I don't want to traumatize anyone, because his planner has actually lost its lines and boxes already...

yup, and that's just the first couple of weeks

It's been a pretty interesting couple of weeks though, and Carl and I are both slowly getting the new routine. We're enjoying our own little apartment here in Provo, and our new ward (family student ward, that is) is full of little kids. Our laundrymat is open 24 hours except on sundays, we have a huge "christmas tree" (as carl refers to it) in front of our balcony, Carl carpools to Riverton everyday, and I walk about 3 miles to and from school each day (about 1.5 miles each way). I am reunited with Food Network and life is a lot better after a long day in school and you come home and you GULP super cold water while you watch Giada de Laurentiis cook a frittata.

We are both enjoying graduate school. We've been borrowing books from the campus library, and I think its pretty cool that I can loan a book for 3 months. Here's a couple of interesting things we've been learning from each other lately through our individual classes:

1. The amount of money Lowe's make annually is equal to the amount of money Walmart makes in 3 months.

2.Walmart's supplier's delivery trucks have a 10 minute interval... no two trucks can unload at the same time.

3. XD means interaction designer

4. Read a book, interpret what was written, then cite the authors - NO EXCEPTIONS

5. On IT management processes: You can solve problems as many times as you want, but you might miss an opportunity to capitalize

6. CISCO is actually a kind of FISH.

7. Research methods is not as intimidating as it sounds... and a patient mentor makes a lot of difference.

8. Structural functionalism has been considered a dead theory, but its ghost is ever so present in the current social theory paradigms.

9. Families are so complex - so deal with it.

10. Research suggests that its better for couples to confront each other's issues than to keep their mouths shut - because in so doing they learn how to deal with confrontations with their teenagers' issues later... that is if their relationship is strong enough to last despite of the confrontations until their kids become teenagers. WE FIGHT, WE LEARN, WE MOVE ON.

11. On Filipino's being Asians: Some institutions actually debate whether Filipinos should be categorized as Asians on grounds of language and cultural processes. (Example, on one of my classes, our professor said..."this is the first time I've taught this class with no Asians {then looking at me], oh wait, do you consider yourself Asian? [and I said yes]... Oh well, don't you speak like what languages? and then the Spanish...and, anyway... [moving on].

12. A sexual orientation called "mostly straight" actually exist. Sexuality is fluid, whether you accept this or not is your own free will and choice.

so there you go...

and oh, we bought a scrabble and Carl's been winning because he keeps getting seven tiles that he can use at one time which gives him 50 bonus points...

until i find time to write again :)