B: when i go to africa, i’m just gonna get a disposable camera to take pictures with.

W: that works…

B: yea… the only thing is, after i get them developed, i’m gonna have to scan them all and upload them to get them onto my computer

W: no, brett. no. they give them to you on these things called CDs now. they used to give them to you in just prints, or on floppy disks if you were really lucky. but now they have CDs, and they’re awesome. technology is awesome!

B: really? oh, ok. i didn’t know they did that now.

this made my day on saturday. i guess if you haven’t used anything other than a digital camera in the last 10 years, you wouldn’t know that they can put the pictures on CDs for you. i love the fact that he thought they still made obtaining digital copies of your photos so difficult after all this time. i don’t even know if my scanner works anymore.

i filled up my digital camera while i was in australia back in 2000, and was forced to use disposable cameras after the first few days. my memory card, which was like 5 times the size of an SD card (with less than 1/8 of the space) only held so many photos, and i had no way to offload them. i still have the film from all of the cameras. does film even last that long, or could i potentially take it to a CVS and get reprints? back then, i got them all put on floppy disks (which i still have), and you can imagine the quality of 30 photos that had to be made to fit in 1.44MB of space. they look pretty awful. and they’re SO SMALL.

i was 15 (and stupid) and didn’t get reprints, so when i used ALL the pictures i took and butchered them to put in my scrapbook, i had no WHOLE photos left afterward.

i wonder if the photo technician is going to look at me like i’m nuts when i bring in 12 strips of film from 10 years ago. most of which are blurry or unfocused. and may or may not contain a camel.

brett and i are heading up to NC this weekend. seven devils, to be specific. we both miss the high country, and would like to get the hell out of charleston (the low country) for another weekend before he goes to africa. yes, i said africa. i wanted to go, too, but evidently they (our project managers) frown upon small females going to marine corps bases in third world countries to test computer systems. HUGE BUMMER. i’d really like to play with the hyenas.

anyway, this cabin is, HANDS DOWN, one of my favorite places on earth. brett’s parents own it and rent it out online. i will provide the link to it (with their permission, of course) AFTER this weekend. when we’re already back in south carolina. for obvious reasons.

i love it because it’s in the mountains. that is where i belong. in the mountains. why? let me show you.

this is why.

THIS is why.

this gives me goosebumps.

i even miss this. somehow, by the grace of god, charleston got snow this winter, but nothing close to this.

when i get sick of doing information security, which will hopefully be a long way off, i want to retreat back to the mountains. i want to live in a cabin. with blankets, hot chocolate, loki, thor, steak, an abundance of sweatpants, my handsome best friend, and a mountain of coors light. and my laptop, assuming web development is even necessary in 40 years. and assuming we even have laptops in 40 years. i really don’t even want to think about what earth will be like in 40 years.

i’m getting way off topic and i’m almost scaring myself, so i just want to say… i’m super excited about this weekend. we’re bringing food and beer with us so we don’t have to spend much money while we’re up there. he drives an escalade, which isn’t exactly wallet-friendly. the only other thing i will be willing to spend money on is macado’s, which is ALWAYS acceptable. always.

all photos (except the cabin pictures) are by my friend, leander. you can find more of his photography here. hi, leander!

after a nice dinner at bushido last night, brett and i decided to catch a movie. we went to see edge of darkness, which turned out to be the worst decision we could’ve made for the evening.

not because it was valentine’s day and the movie theater was jam packed. no. it was jam packed, but i only waited in line for 2 minutes–the amount of time it took him to find a parking spot and meet me at the door.

the reason it was the worst decision we could’ve made was the couple sitting behind us in the theater. i have NEVER been so ticked off during a movie in my life. i’ve had some rude pieces of trash sitting near me before–the ones who talk through the entire movie, like it’s meant to be discussed out loud and there aren’t 50 other people trying to pay attention. i think everyone has had that experience at least once. eventually, they get tired of being shushed and they shut up.

this couple behind us, however–not the case. it was a young black couple. in my experience, black people tend to be louder in the theater. i’m not racist. there are stereotypes for a reason. the woman was running her mouth a mile a minute, he was running his mouth a mile a minute, and the movie had just gotten to the point where if you don’t pay attention, you are going to miss the entire point of the movie.

i did not pay $18 to miss the entire point of the movie. after about a half hour of this crap, i got up and walked over to them.

me: “can you please stop talking? you’ve already ruined half of the movie.”
him: “do what? man, fuck you.”
me: “IT’S A MOVIE. SHUT UP.”
him: “yo, FUCK YOU!”

clearly, he didn’t have much of an argument. brett got ticked off because the guy was slinging words at me. i told him to stay seated and refrain from punching him in the face.

normally, people would have a little respect for the rest of the audience and they would shut up, or at least be kind of quiet. them? they got louder. obviously, that was their intention. seriously, who does that? my blood was boiling. brett was about to have a meltdown. we got up and left for the bar with about 30-40 minutes left to go in the movie.

if anyone else has seen edge of darkness, don’t tell me how it ends. one good thing did come from it all, though, and that is this picture. he calls it my “family photo”.

my new pet came in the mail yesterday. FINALLY. he does absolutely nothing, and is so not worth the $20 i paid, but i couldn’t resist. i believe i’ve made it quite obvious that i’m addicted to twitter (and every other form of social networking). and now i will tote him all over the globe. wherever i go, he will be there. and i will snap a photo.

except for at work, because if i bring my iPhone in here they might kill my first born. well, probably not. but i would most likely lose my badge. perhaps a limb. definitely my iPhone.

i did actually bring him to work, though. i must stay prepared for a potential adventure.

so i will take pictures of him everywhere except for work. all his adventures can be seen here. i am contemplating naming him something other than ollie, but it says that on the box he came in, so i might be stuck with it.

if you have a request for a specific stupid-plastic-bird adventure, tell me! this is assuming it does not involve boobs. or nudity of any kind.

if you’ve never heard of them, athenaeum is a 90s alternative rock band from greensboro. their songs have been on the radio since i was old enough to care about it. i never really fiddled with the radio until i was like 11. but they’ve been one of my favorite bands ever since then. i think it’s partly because their music reminds me of the 90s and being little, hanging out with my best friends all day every day without a care in the world. i put them in the same category as matchbox 20, wallflowers, semisonic, third eye blind, etc. you get the idea.

this was my 6th (i think?) time seeing them. it was the first time, however, i’ve been able to see them since being of a legal drinking age. beer makes concerts so much more fun.

i also love them because their music is flipping awesome and it just makes you feel good. i usually can’t listen to certain music when i’m in a certain mood. like sometimes i can only stand to listen to metal (rob zombie and i are close friends), or sometimes i only want to listen to country, and other times when i’m feeling gangster, i put “baby by me” on repeat. like i did yesterday for nearly half the drive to charlotte.

but athenaeum is that band that you can just pop in the CD player/iWhatever anytime and it won’t matter if you’re angry, sad, depressed, or ready to go clubbing. because after that you’ll just want to start singing. it’s like a curse. i tried so hard last night to just listen for once… and not chime in. i’m sure mark kano does not need me screaming the lyrics back in his face (i was right smack in front, like a foot from him, i know he heard me), but no such luck. the words just have to come out.

i took a few pictures with my phone. they look like crap, but, it is, after all, still a phone.

my buddy richard met me at amos’ southend where they played. i wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to make it or not and was pretty sure i was going to the show by myself last night, but he came through! and it was a lot of fun. concerts are way more fun with other people, although by the end of the night, i was in my own little world, anyway.

i also ran into rachel, a looong time friend of mine. she and i went to middle school and high school together, and girl scouts, and have been avid athenaeum fans together. i had a feeling she might be there last night, and i was right. i looked in front of me and there she was with her boyfriend, so, awesome surprise! the four of us had fun. until she got hot and nauseous and had to go sit elsewhere. that was not so fun.

and for my retard moment of the night–the girls at the tanning bed i go to make jewelry and sell it at the counter. i think they’re in high school but they raise it for some soccer thing and i was like, hmm, it’s really pretty, i will buy something. so last week i bought a reeeally cute black necklace for $8. i love it. seriously. it matches these earrings i have perfectly.

anyway, i was standing there last night, watching, listening to mark kano and mike garrigan serenade me, when i felt what seemed to be 3583297 bugs crawling down my shirt. it was not bugs–it was beads. the necklace randomly just broke. and started falling everywhere. little tiny beads were falling down my shirt, my bra, my jacket, and almost my pants. thank god the music was loud or it would’ve been an obnoxious 20 seconds listening to 52980532 beads rolling all over a cement floor.

so, goodbye, cute necklace. i only got to wear you twice. well, one and a half times. didn’t quite make it through last night. maybe i can convince the girls at the tanning bed to make me another one.

i finally broke away from my mom’s cell phone plan. i am a brand spanking new iPhone owner, and i love it. this is the first apple product i’ve ever owned and i could not be happier with my purchase.

first of all, i bought the 3G because it dropped $99 in price. i was able to get it for $99 flat by making my contract a family plan. this means i have 2 phone numbers, 550 anytime minutes on each line, and unlimited data/text messaging on my main line for $110.00/month. because i got the family plan, i got $400 off of the iPhone because technically i added it to the second line. except my second line will just sit in my room and never be touched unless i somehow go over my 550 anytime minutes. since i can’t use my phone at work or even have it turned on, this leaves me with a 4 hour window to screw that up. if i go over 550 minutes (20 hours per week, 4 weeks per month), it means i have somehow mastered time travel and i must be a freaking magician.

i don’t think i’ve put the damn thing down since buying it. which is a good and a bad thing. on the good side, i’m never bored. on the bad side, i have a hard time paying attention to anything or anyone else and i get nothing done.

i took screenshots of the apps i got so far. if i’m missing anything, someone inform me. they’re like crack.

i finally took pictures of my apartment. click here to view them.

i’m all moved into my new apartment. well, almost. my bedroom set and washer/dryer comes tomorrow and i really hope they come earlier rather than later. update: home depot just called me and said they would be here between 1 and 5 tomorrow when originally i was told between 10 and 2. that pisses me off because i won’t get them until friday or next week now.

i told adam i’d go to the military ball with him and it’s tomorrow night at 5 and it takes 3 and a half hours to get to fort bragg from charleston. i have this feeling i’m going to be late after the movers put my bedroom set together, but i’m already planning on wearing my dress in the car on the way there so that should save me a little bit of time.

this is the bedroom set i got…

except it’s in an espresso finish so it’s more this color. i freaking love it.

this is the view of my living room/kitchen if you’re standing in the middle of my living room. i need to get better pictures because i’ve cleaned up a bit and put pictures and paintings up since the day this picture was taken. i’m going to wait until my bed gets here so i can take pictures of the whole apartment. that’s my dad and my stepmom in the picture.

the kitchen is my favorite so far. i picked out all red, stainless steel appliances, a red clock, red cookware, and red plates and bowls. my mom bought me a set of 8 wine glasses that will look really nice. and i can’t forget my collection of jack daniel’s bottles on top of the fridge.

the living room will look better once i get something to put in the corner you can’t see in the photo. right now it’s holding all my extra computer crap and it’s a mess. i don’t really have anywhere to store anything yet since i’m waiting to unpack the rest of the mess when my dresser gets here. you walk into the apartment and everything looks somewhat established and then you hit the hallway and peek in the bedroom and i look like a crazy pack rat. there are still boxes and trash bags full of clothes everywhere.

i found wal-mart FINALLY (it’s hidden in the damn woods) and got a great deal on a TV. i bought this yesterday and this morning at 9 AM, the cable guy finally came. i am now being serenaded by 42 inches of keith anderson.

my new neighbors are awesome. the guy across the hall is a big navy dude from queens, new york and i know exactly where i’ll be running should anything scary happen to me. i met about 12 other kids that live around here last night because they invited me to a party in one of the other buildings. i learned a new drinking game and i also learned that new neighbors are very generous with their whiskey. and everything, actually. they already took me out on their bikes and they’re taking me fishing sometime this week assuming it stops being nasty and cold outside.

so things are starting to feel a bit more normal. my face has slowly stopped breaking out (stress ruined it the last 2 weeks) and i’m getting in somewhat of a routine. i’ve also been eating better. i cooked spaghetti with meat sauce last night and i’ve been eating mangoes and cereal for breakfast. oh! and i made beer brats and red beans and rice and salad the day before yesterday. i just have to keep this up.

one of the neighbors (the one who took me out on his bike yesterday) works from 3-8 AM and works other really weird hours. because of the party at his place last night, he wasn’t going to get any sleep before he went to work. he asked if he could sleep on my couch so i said of course. evidently, he took that as an open invitation to plant his butt on my couch anytime. so he got off work at 8 AM, came BACK to my apartment, and sat on my couch and read cosmo and complained about me not being awake. i rolled around in my blanket and complained about how he was sitting on my couch jabbering while i was trying to sleep. and then the cable guy showed up and… i still didn’t get to sleep. now that my new TV is set up and i finally have internet, i don’t think i’ll ever sleep again.

i’m sitting at our gate at the airport in OKC waiting to board the plane. i almost missed boarding the plane due to blogging so i had to finish writing this post on campus.

our trip to oklahoma city was… eventful. to say the least. the first night was spent partying in the hotel with everyone. the other half of the group missed their connection flight so they did not get to oklahoma city until around 11PM. while they were driving from the tulsa airport, the rest of the guys and i did some exploring and ate dinner at the bricktown brewery and wandered around downtown. they are very proud of their heritage in oklahoma. metal buffaloes are everywhere. literally.

the first and most important thing i learned about oklahoma city–the wind never stops blowing. it can be sunny and warm, but when that wind sweeps in, your body temperature drops about 15 degrees instantly. not really, but it feels that way. i’m the genius who forgot to pack a coat.

on friday, kim, anna, and i took a cab to the mall. i will never take a cab again for as long as i can go without getting one. they are so expensive–it was $17 and $15 back. the whole purpose of going to the mall was to get a suit jacket since i left mine at adam’s by mistake. his roommate mailed my jacket and skirt but i think they got lost in the mail. they never arrived at my apartment. so i spent $35 on a jacket to go with the pants i brought. i ended up liking my new jacket more than my other one, which was nice. i’m glad i didn’t end up wasting $35 on part of a suit i’d only wear for 2 nights of a conference.

that night was spent partying in the hotel with everyone. i’m starting to notice a trend. the guys and anna made a trip to the liquor store. they had trouble getting a cab back so a 5 minute trip ended up taking about 2 hours. we hung out at the hotel for a while and then got prettied up to go out to dinner. we ate at the spaghetti warehouse which was a damn good dinner for a damn good price. that’s one thing we all noticed about OKC. everyplace we went to eat had fantastic service. our waiters and waitresses were all been incredibly nice and nothing we ordered got screwed up. even at IHOP! that’s almost unheard of for a group of 13 people.

we were planning on going out after dinner but everyplace we wanted to go had a pretty steep cover and not everyone wanted to pay that much to go out. we ended up hanging out downstairs at the hotel bar and i met a group of guys from texas that bought me a few drinks. we all sat and talked until the bar closed. i thought the rest of my group had gone to bed but it turns out they were all upstairs in the other room laughing hysterically at pretty much nothing. i went up and joined them just in time to get a ton of ridiculous pictures before the night was over.

on the last day of the conference, we all woke up bright and early. i had my paper presentation at 8:30AM so it was rough running on 4 hours of sleep. that was my fault–oh well. my presentation went really well and everyone complimented me afterward which was nice. AITP held another luncheon for us and gave us cheesecake for dessert. i ate more of the cheesecake than i did of the main meal. too many vegetables.

my friend chris lined up a brewery tour that afternoon of a local brewery that just opened up–COOP Ale Works. it’s a small brewery but it was very impressive. they planned it for 3 years before opening it up and they are 100% green. i tried samples of 3 different beers. my favorite was their DNR Belgian Style Golden Ale. not because it was 10%, but because it was 10% and unbelievably delicious. i can honestly say it’s the first and only beer i’ve drank that i truly enjoyed drinking. maybe it’s the cinnamon, but it is amazing. you can follow them on Twitter!

after the brewery tour, we went back to the hotel and got back in our suits to go to the AITP banquet that night. the dinner was the best food they’d provided the entire conference. so good that i ate my plate and denny’s plate. they had the awards ceremony and lots and lots and LOTS of talking about… not a whole lot. it was a nice banquet, but everyone could have stood for it to be a lot shorter. at one point, one of the wireless mics in another room was turned on and caused this horrible, teeth-clenching screeching sound for about 10 minutes at which point a lot of people decided that was enough for them for the night.

the banquet ended around 9 and everyone headed back to the hotel. i have to wait until everyone else empties their cameras that i, due to the chaos that night, completely filled up. i have so much video (3 cameras worth) that i can’t really do anything with but it will be fun to look back on. there are also a lot more pictures that i am looking forward to seeing–specifically ones of me posing with various metal animals/objects in bricktown. giant buffaloes, penguins, guitars… i can’t wait. the only thing that i can say disappointed me about this trip was not being able to spend more time in texas.

my buddy santangelo finally gave me a couple pictures from halloween. this is my lame, last-minute costume. i wish he had a full-length picture so you could see my tail and sweet pants.

the funny part is, the ears and tail were white when i bought them and the ears had a little tiara on them. i cut the tiara off with a knife and took one of those magnum sharpie markers and colored everything black. the entire night, i could hear random people who came within 3 feet of me saying something along the lines of, “what the **** reeks of permanent marker?!”

i asked jessica to take some pictures of me at work the other day and this is what she came up with! i friggin’ love it. i just have to figure out what to do with it. her work can be found here and she will be getting a new website in the near future. show her some love.

saturday adam and i went to one of the frequent BBQ/drunkfests with the rest of his platoon & friends. we picked up a couple tubs of potato salad, a case of budweiser, and got there right as everyone started showing up. there was a pretty big turnout and i got to see everyone again (finally). it seems like everyone is leaving soon. well, they pretty much are. 2 couples we were close with just moved back home and now 3 of the guys in adam’s platoon that are pretty much his best friends here are getting stationed on the other side of the country. it’s sad because now there really won’t be anyone left from the old crowd that we all started out with. as much as i’ve wanted to strangle some of his buddies at one time or another, i can’t help but love ‘em to death. they feel like family.

so needless to say, it was nice to have another big get together yesterday with everyone that’s still here. i’m glad everyone made it. enough with the mushiness, i know.

anyway, it was a lot of fun. there was no drama. there was a TON of food (10 lbs of hamburger meat, brats, hotdogs, CRAWDADS!!, enough potato salad to feed the whole battalion) and even more beer. kristine and her husband brought their 2 little hellions ( i mean that in the nicest way possible) and another guy brought his daughter. and since our friend carly has been gone, it seems they’ve taken a liking to me for the time being. i learned chasing 6 year olds is not for wussies. also, i’m glad i remembered my inhaler. i made adam run in the house and get it for me because i thought i was going to pass out. they do the whole “you can’t catch me!” scheme and who can turn down a challenge to a 6 year old? then i really would be a wimp. that and they kept slapping me with weeds and that crap hurts after a while. i’ve got all these little cuts.

adam and one other guy thought it would be a good idea to barbecue a frog at some point during the night and one of the kids happened to witness it. i think he’s scarred for life. he actually likes animals, and prefers them alive.

we stuffed our faces up until the point when jennings said we should go to the bar. so we did.

i’d never been to this bar before and it turns out it’s right across the street from where i work. i had no idea it was there until i passed it walking to lunch this week. and i don’t think i’ll be going there ever again for a few reasons…

reason #1: it’s super freaking expensive. domestic beers were cheap so i bought adam and i a couple beers when we first got there. there was a $5 cover charge for everyone. i went to buy a shot of jack and asked the bartender how much it costs–$6. whiskey sours were even more. i was like are you kidding me? last time i bought a whiskey sour or even a shot of jack in this town it was not more than $4.

reason #2: drinking gives me a lot of guts, evidently. at one point in the night i had wandered off and was next to the stage singing “sweet caroline” at the top of my lungs. oh, and charlie daniel’s band. then adam said he remembered thinking “where did whitney go??” and he looked up and there i was. on stage. PLAYING THE DRUMS WITH THE DRUMMER. the one point during the night i wish like hell someone i knew had a camera on them, no one did. i would never imagine myself getting the guts to do that but i did and i just wish i knew how goofy i looked standing up there flailing drumsticks around. rock band on medium does not equal real drum skills. i don’t even remember what song i “played”.

reason #3: after my debut, i proceeded to snag his sweet cowboy hat and told adam we needed to get out the door as quick as possible. and that was that. i hope i never cross paths with them again. i mean, it is a pretty sweet hat.

so that was this weekend. sunday was spent recovering and going to see the 8:30 showing of the dark knight. if you haven’t seen it, go!! i am not exaggerating when i say it’s the best movie we’ve seen all year. it was hard to watch heath ledger play such a sinister role when he died right after it, but damn he’s funny. awesome movie.

i’m going to go finish cleaning. adam’s feet are all blistered and swollen because of their ridiculous amount of road marches in the last 2 weeks so i’ve been taking care of him and as a result, i’ve been taking less care of the apartment. between the animals and the military, it seriously needs cleaning up. oh and i cooked a freaking sweet dinner tonight–baked tilapia with balsamic vinaigrette dressing and bread crumbs, spicy red beans and rice, and salads. so good. i was proud. ok, ok! i’m done.

a few co-workers and i were walking to pick up lunch last friday and saw this sketchy guy walking past our office flinging something around in his hand. we got a little closer and realized it wasn’t a thing. it was a freaking cat. it was a little kitten that couldn’t have been more than about 7 weeks old and he was slinging it around like it was a briefcase.

we all thought it was the kitten our boss had rescued the week before and nursed back to health. this one was bony and starving and looked exactly like the other one, only we couldn’t figure out how it could have gotten out of the office. regardless, we told the guy it was ours and i grabbed it and took off running back to the office to give it a bath and feed it and basically spoil the shit out of it. the little guy scarfed down half of the chicken from my panini and i have been attached to it ever since. too bad we have to give it away. adam and i already have our hands full with our own pets.

jessica said that once she moves in a few weeks, she’ll be able to adopt it. until then, i agreed to take care of it. we already had all the cat stuff so it works out well. rampage and thor (that’s what we named it) play constantly (meaning until the sun came up this morning) and loki and jack just like to sniff its butt a lot. it’s one big happy family. even if i didn’t have TV or a laptop, i’m pretty sure i’d never get bored. watching all the animals play together is more than enough entertainment for a full day. i really need to get some of it on video.

i’ve been bringing thor to work every day since my boss brings the kitten she saved to work. they have play dates. :lol: they’re so cute and i want to take all of them home, but i think adam would drop kick me. he makes his rounds all over the office and visits with everyone. i think he slept in everyone’s lap at least once yesterday.

how could you not love him? i mean just look at how cuddly he is.

after talking to my dad on the phone a month or so ago, we came up with an idea for a website that i finally put together and got up and running. it isn’t 100% right now because there are a couple aesthetic things that need to be fixed and so forth, but it’s there.

Postcard to Heaven is now live. i hope to keep changing things and making it nicer and more creative in the long run, but i really wanted to put something on the website since it’s already being paid for. comments and suggestions and ideas are more than welcomed and i really hope to make something out of this. i think it’s pretty cute… and i normally hate the designs i come up with. anywho, there it is. i will go hold my breath while i take on the constructive criticism.

also, pictures from AppalachLAN IX can be found here, here, and here.