I managed to survive the semester, finals are over, and it's time for a break! I'm leaving at 3:00 pm this afternoon with a group of 9 friends from First Baptist Church here in Starkville. We are driving 23 hours to Colorado, where we will be doing some work at the Sky Corral Ranch, which is being turned into a Christian retreat center in the mountains. We're really excited to get going! I know I'll take a ton of pictures, and I might be able to put some on here while we are gone, so keep an eye out!
If you come here to this site at any point between May 20, 2009 and August something, 2009, then you are out of luck and should redirect yourself to my West Virginia blog. That is all!
My poor blogsites. I just can't make up my mind between this one and that one. And they don't even get used all that much anyway. That means they are both neglected and I play favorites. It's a good thing I don't have any kids, the poor things would be so messed up they wouldn't know what to do with themselves. Anyway, loyalty+more traditional features (i.e., comments)+easily customizable layout has brought me back here for the time being. Maybe I'll just use the other one for kicks and giggles type things, because it definitely lends itself to that. And then this once can be for posts with lots of words. Tumblr can be the children's book, Blogger can be the "young adult nonfiction" section. See?
Dear Blogger,
I want to be upfront and honest with you right from the start. The truth is, while you are truly a great blogging site (I do love Google!), I just haven't been able to really give you the commitment you deserve. I don't want to say that it's your fault, but, well, the truth is, it's your fault. You just don't have what I have been looking for in a blog site. Before now, I didn't know that I could do better for the same price (free!), so I was content to settle half-heartedly here with you. Again, you're a great blog. But tonight I was introduced to someone else. Someone better. Someone with everything I never even knew I was looking for. The blogging world lit up for me tonight, and I am, at the very least, infatuated. Now, I don't want you to think this is the end. It's not. Yet. Right now I'd like to sort of test the waters, without burning the bridge. I hope you don't mind. You're a great blog, and I think you understand. So I won't be coming around as much in the next few weeks (I've always been kind of absent anyway, so this shouldn't be too big of a change, right?), and I'll be spending more time with this new part of my life. I'll decide later if things are going to work longterm between you and I. In the meantime, I hope you will keep an open mind to this whole situation. Thanks for being such a great site. If you need me, I'll be at http://abbyeggers.tumblr.com.
Best Regards,
Abby
Do those two skies look the same? They should, because they are. The sky in the top picture used to be completely washed out and boring looking, and it was very sad because it was actually a beautiful day. But today I learned how to cheat a little when you end up with tragedies like that! I'm sure this is a very basic skill in the Photoshop world, but I just learned it and I think it's pretty cool. I guess I should go take some pictures of the sky so I can start stocking up for when I get more pictures with misleadingly boring, washed out skies.
I spent the weekend getting crafty! It was very fun. I made a grand total of 5 cards and 2 little heart things. I know it doesn't sound like much, but for me it is. Between classes, homework, cleaning my room, and having a social life I don't often find time to whip out the paper and glue and make pretty things. But this weekend I did, and as a result my room is kind of a mess. Also it's Monday, so back to classes and homework. The cycle has restarted... Oh well. See you in another couple of months, pretty papers!
I don't know if any of y'all out there use Windows Live Messenger much. Timothy and I use it to talk online because it is set up well for video chats. I pretty much only use it to talk to him, but between the two of us there's a lot of talking going on, so I think it's safe to say that I am an avid user of Windows Live. And yesterday I made a really great discovery: I can save the world (or atleast help out here and there) just by talking to Tim online! And here's the even cooler part: You can too! And you don't even have to talk to Tim, although you'd be missing out. You just have to use Windows Live Messenger v8.1 (and up). A little under 2 years ago, Microsoft started something called the i'm initiative. Basically, they have 10 charities you can choose from. You get the code for whichever one you want to support and open the options menu in Windows Live, where you'll find a place to edit your display name. After your name you just type the code in. It changes into a little i'm icon and is displayed next to your name, and after that every time you use Windows Live or Hotmail to send an IM or email, Microsoft gives part of the program's ad revenue to the organization you entered the code for. There isn't any set value on how much they'll give, or at what point they'll stop giving. The more you talk, the more they give! Each organization is guaranteed atleast $100,000 their first year of participating. I think it's pretty cool.
On the website, you can look at profiles for each organization, but I was having trouble finding the actual codes, so I had to Google it and then I found a list elsewhere. So, for your convenience, here it is:
American Red Cross - *red+u
Boys and Girls Club of America - *bgca
National AIDS Fund - *naf
Humane Society of the United States - *hsus
ninemillion.org - *9mil
National Multiple Sclerosis Society - *mssoc
Sierra Club - *sierra
UNICEF - *unicef
StopGlobalWarming.org - *help
Susan G. Komen for the Cure - *komen
The asterisk and the part after is what you type into your display name box. I went with the Boys and Girls Club of America because I have seen up close in West Virginia what a difference a role model and an uplifting environment makes. So. There you have it, folks! You, too, can help save the world just by sitting at home talking online. And if you don't have anyone to talk to on Windows Live, just talk to me!
Finally, finally, finally.
Let me read to you a list of Starkville's temperatures for the last week or month or so.
Ok, actually, I can't find anything, but let me tell you what it is you need to know: It has been COLD. COLD. COLD! Below freezing? Not unusual at all for the last week. And that's just here in Starkville. The temperatures in Atlanta have been the coldest in 6 years. I hate cold weather, I really do. It's depressing, and down here it doesn't even snow when it gets cold enough, so really all you can do is sit inside and dream of spring.
But guess what?? This morning, I woke up. The temperature was 46 degrees. The sun was shining. I went to church, and then to the cafeteria, where I sat by a bright window and read for an hour. Then I hopped on one of the campus bikes, rode to the post office to check my mail, and then enjoyed a leisurely bike ride back to my dorm. At this point the temperature is about 60. I am now sitting in a nicely lit, sunshiney room, with the window open, and my friends, I don't know that it can get any better right now. I love warm weather!!! Now it just has to stay this way.