UCLA Study

Most of you have seen this by email but I wanted to post it anyway...

UCLA STUDY -
A study conducted by UCLA's Department of Psychiatry has revealed that the kind of face a woman finds attractive on a man can differ depending on where she is in her menstrual cycle. For example: If she is ovulating, she is attracted to men with rugged and masculine features. However, if she is menstruating, or menopausal, she tends to be more attracted to a man with duct tape over his mouth and a spear lodged in his chest while he is on fire.

No further studies are expected.

Which would you rather?

Would you rather have a car without a working heater in the winter...

OR

a car without a working air conditioner in the summer?

Why?

Life is like... Poker!

Those who know me know I love playing poker. It really isn't about the money; it's about the game. Over the past few years, I have gotten a little better and have learned a few things it takes to be a decent poker player.

One of the biggest keys to being a good poker player is patience. You most likely are not going to take everyone out early in the game. As the game progresses, you have to wait for your "all in" moment. And when you see it, you need to seize it; and when you seize it, you need to do it with confidence. Until that moment happens, you still need to play smart and be ready for something big to happen.

I think life is like that. We need to be very patient sometimes, waiting for those moments or things that we really want. Until that happens, though, it is important to make good decisions along the way so we are prepared to make big, "all in" decisions when they come up. And when we make those big decisions, we need to go for it with confidence. Another reason patience is important is because sometimes, those big decisions are out of our control and we have to wait on another person's leading (or God's leading).

This all made more sense in my head when I was thinking about it earlier today =)

I "Heart" Naps

Funny Pictures

Some of these pics may embarass my parents a little, but for the rest of us, they are pretty darn funny! In addition to their entertainment value, these pictures can also serve as a reminder that we should always dress/compose ourselves in such a way that if someone takes a picture, it won't end up on blog in cyberspace entitled "funny pictures"!

(picture captions brought to you EXCLUSIVELY by Charlie Clark)

The question isn't about the tykes underwear, its about who has the sweeter pants.

"Does this shirt match my beard?"

The odd couple that could.

Look, a giant carrot is digging through our cupboards.

That hideous thing could only mean two things:

It was Christmas and mom was helping Santa, or she was a victim of the 70s.

Old Car... New Problems

I love my little, blue 1991 Honda. Recently, though, I have had to put over half of what I paid for it, back into it for repairs. Well, tonight another little thing went wrong, but I can still drive it, so it is going to have to stay "broken."

I caused some sort of electrical problem in my car tonight. While I was idling in a parking lot waiting for my friends to finish pumping gas, I was trying to plug in my car charger for my cell phone. It wasn't working so I took my cell charger out of the cigarette lighter and this little piece of metal fell out. I tried to put it back (although I wasn't sure where it belonged) and I saw sparks (no worries, little sparks). Suddenly, my radio turned off and the lights on the radio started flickering. Also, the "door ajar" warning light on my dashboard came on.

Later on, after I had gone somewhere and got back in my car, I notice my interior light was not working so I flipped the switch to "off" so that just in case it came on, it wouldn't drain the battery (at this point, the radio still flickered and the "door ajar" were still having issues). When I turned the interior light to "off", the radio stopped flickering and the "door ajar" light turned off. HAHA

Also the clock in my car only works when my car is on. When I turn my car off, the clock turns off but when I turn my car on, the clock picks up where it left off rather than starting back at 12:00 like most clocks do when the power gets cut off =)

I am grateful this little electrical episode did not cause my headlights to stop working! I hope my car doesn't randomly catch fire because of these electrical problems. Although, I would probably laugh if it did because it's not everyday your car catches fire!

Jury Duty - Woo Hoo!!!

For the first time ever, I have been summoned for Jury Duty. Some people do not get happy when they get this notice in the mail; I am excited!

I suspect that I am a very unlikely candidate to be selected though. Based on my stats: never been in trouble with the law, Criminal Justice major, and working in claims for an insurance company - it is not likely I will be selected. I am sure the prosecution will like my stats, but the defense won't (mostly because of the "Criminal Justice" part).

I hope they ask enough questions to figure out that even though I am studying Criminal Justice, I actually think I would make a very fair decision (on both guilt and sentencing) when presented with the facts.

If the case is a 1st degree murder case where the death penalty would be a potential sentence, I would not be able to serve since I am opposed to the death penalty - not for the reasons most people are opposed to it, but still, I am opposed... if you want to know why, feel free to ask (side note: I am NOT opposed for religious reasons).

Obviously, this is all speculation since I still have yet to go through the process of being considered, but these are all thoughts I have had when I have imagined the day I might get to sit on a jury!

Oh yeah, State Farm gives their employees paid days off when they are serving the government (jury duty, military, working an election polling place, etc), so no "financial burden" here! Just an excited college student who hopes she gets selected! =)

A few pics from Christmas 2007

For some reason, I had a hard time getting these Christmas 2007 pics on here, but I figured it out! So here are a few pics that I liked from my trip to John and Tiffs for Christmas...

Taylor and her toothy grin :)

Taylor enjoying her peanut butter sandwich.

Opening Christmas presents.

My favorite part was "bath time"

She LOVES baths so it was so cute to watch her play in it!

The family at the airport as they were dropping me off.

Flowers!

My dad sent me flowers yesterday "just because" -

well, the details are for me.

But here are a few pictures of the flowers! They are very pretty!

My favorite ones are the yellow and orange ones! =)

"Thanks, Dad!!!" - I love you SOOOOO much!

Patty Cake

I had to post this video of Taylor doing "Patty cake" because it is my favorite thing in the world!!!

Not quite 50 years ago...

In the beginning God created the heavens, the earth and my parents.... haha, j/k they aren't that old. Although they both are/will be 50 years "wise" this year!

Mom and her styling knee-highs.

Mom and a friend.

Mom on Christmas.

Mom's yellow, polka-dotted shirt and yellow ribbons. I think her outfit is really cute =)

Dad in 1958.

Dad, Lori, and Judi (Pup).

Dad and a dog (can't remember what dog this is... do you remember, aunt pup??? )

Once a Chargers Fan... always a Chargers fan!

If any of these pics spark any memories, they would be fun to hear!

More pics to come =)

Blast from the past...

For my parent's 50th birthdays, we gave them a book with lots of pics from when they were kids until now. I have lots of old pics saved to a USB now so I thought over the next few days (or as I think of it) I will post some old pics.

This is John and I - probably in 1983

Me and My dad (back in his mustache years)

John and I

(Not sure what the look on my face is for...

...John still has that purple pony. haha j/k)

This is my favorite picture of John.

This could have been used as an advertisement photo for the Landscaping company!

Greg (L) and Charlie (R) - cute as ever!

Mom and Dad... young and in love!

Dad and John

I will add more pics later (maybe even later today, if my class is boring enough)!

Head Rush

Head Rushes... We've all head one... You stand up too quick and suddenly the world blacks out on you. It happens fast, but slow enough to where you can see the blackness setting in until you can't see anything. Then, you start to lose your balance and have to concentrate really hard on not falling over until the light returns and you don't feel so dizzy anymore.

I think life is like that sometimes. The craziness and temptations of life start to black out your vision of what is important. It happens faster than you think, but looking back, you can see each place you started to lose sight of what is important. You find yourself holding on for dear life, trying so hard to stay focused so you don't crash down. If you are hold out long enough, you re-gain your sight and you can see the Light again.

As of lately...

At the request of my Aunt Lori, I am posting a mini-update on my life to date. I promised her that if my night class was boring, I would post it tonight. So, as expected, my class is a little boring, so here is my post (as I type, it looks like I am taking notes, though)!

I just recently got back from a family vacation to the Virgin Islands! It was beautiful there, as always, and most of all, it was great to see my family! All was going well until one by one we started getting sick with the flu. Taylor got sick first and that was on Wednesday, John got sick in the middle of the night between Wednesday and Thursday, and Tiff got sick Thursday evening.

All of us "kids" were scheduled to fly home on Friday. My parents are there until this weekend.

Well, in the middle of the night between Thursday and Friday, myself, Charlie, mom and dad were all up in the middle of the night with the flu (thank God for 3 bathrooms)!!! Greg (who never got sick), John, Tiff, Taylor were able to fly home Friday, but Charlie and I were not able to fly home until Saturday. The best flight schedule we could get for Saturday took us from St. Thomas to New York City, then from NYC to Dallas (where we stayed overnight with our cousin Tommy) and then Sunday Charlie flew to Minneapolis and I flew to Sacramento.

It was a crazy end to the trip, but the flu aside, it was fun!

(John, you forgot to take off your sweater!)

-------

Besides this trip, I am just plugging along in life. I am in my last semester at Sac State - One requirement to graduate is that you have to take a "Writing Intensive" class which requires about 20 pages of writing throughout the semester. My senior Criminal Justice class (that I am taking now) fulfills this requirement, which is nice, but I accidently took a second Writing Intensive (WI) class. It is a class I need that meets 2 other requirements so there was no way to switch if for a non-WI class. Consequently, by the end of the semester, I will have written approx. 40 pages of papers. Luckily, besides these 2 WI classes, my only other class is American Sign Language, which requires little outside-the-class study time =) This semester also only requires me to be at school 3 nights a week and 2 of those nights, I am home by 730 so I have a little extra time for myself.

As far as my new job position goes: I am still trying to learn all the in's and out's of the position, but I am sure one of these days, everything will just click.

I am currently in the process of trying to find a new church to attend, too. There is a plethra of seeker-sensitive churches around here, but I prefer a little more substance, and that is harder to find. I want to find a good college/career group to get involved in, too, so I can expand my social circle =) I have great friends, now, don't get me wrong, but new friends are nice. And, our Saturday night poker group is growing thin and we need new people to win money from!

I don't know if I have ever mentioned that here before (and I don't feel like going back and looking), but I really enjoy playing poker, especially Texas hold 'em. A few weekends ago, my friends and I went to a tournament at a Casino and I took 5th place (out of about 40 people or so). Unfortunately, I was what they call the "bubble" or the last person to lose before the places start to win money! The 4th place winner took home over $150 and 1st was to take home over $350! Oh well, maybe next time. I still had a blast and that is what matters (although I will never forget the hand or the man who took me out)!

(A recent picture of Charlie with all his poker chips when he was visiting our family in CA for Christmas; he ended up taking home over half the pot that night!)

Well, that's it for now =)