sprunged spring

I helped Kelsey out with a horticulture project.  Here are some of my favorites, taken at an arboretum near NCSU.  I uploaded the full-sized files so if you click on them you can really see the details.  Taken with my baby, my Olympus E-450.  Shoutout to Photoshop CS for letting me make them perfect.  PRETTY!

Little known fact about me...

So visiting my parents this weekend, I got a rare, special treat: the newspaper puzzles!  In high school and college that page was my coffee in the mornings.  I ask them to save them for me but it's hard to remember, so it just makes me appreciate it that much more when I get the opportunity.

Why, you ask?  A secret passion: the cryptoquote.  I can solve them about 90% of the time.  I've tried to explain my strategy to many people but no one really gets it.  It's basically just being able to see patterns.

Anyway, it made me think about a project I had in middle school.  It was a science class, and whoever broke the code first got a 100% (in the entire class of over 100 people).  If you weren't the first to solve it, the highest grade you could get was a 93.  And you had to write a paper about your strategy (to make sure you didn't cheat).

So of course, I was determined to solve it first.  While I can't find the actual assignment, it basically looked something like this:

192874729019287372820918234871923847198701987239875312712219827349817234987128471294871928741726487126438734983279482739847187263672187361872398174981376481364783478236478326872346781327217327318719981732471678621872387162384761874618726412837198273198273918238716276537816238984798432176

Anyway, turns out that each 3 numbers represented a letter, space, or punctuation mark.  Took me a few hours but I did it!  The code turned out to be something like "DNA is the message, RNA is the...." (yes I solved it first..even CALLED my teacher over a weekend to read it to her..and inform her of a typo).  So after that victory, for about a year, I considered aiming for a job at the NSA doing code-breaking.

While that didn't pan out, I still LOVE doing crosswords and cryptoquotes on the rare occasion I'm able to do them.  Thanks Kelsey for all those books you got me!  Stuck on some of the pop culture ones though :).

wanted: (good grammar) and (common sense)

I'm really hoping this was just a joke, as in I hope this woman doesn't really exist or at least doesn't believe this....ok, well, it is Canada and all:

well I met my man on this dating site. And yes I was talking with other men from the site. But no connection with them. Until I came across his profile one day and I was like this is the the one, my friend/lover/husband. I knew this from day one. well I have then started talking on the phone, internet, video calling, yahoo messesenger, skype and sending pictures and so the communcation is strong and there is no doubt in mind that I want to meet this man and go for it. The wedding and all. what caught my attention is that he wanted the samething as me which was marriage. And he ask me online to marry him and I was so excited and that from there my answer was yes from the start (laughing) and (smiling). He then ask me to come to canada to be his wife and he then wants to come back to live with me in the states. He sent me the money for the passport book and he has helped me as well with school, bills, and my children. My issue is that I never travel on a plane before and I scared of the unknow and the distance and the fact that this is my first time seeing my fiance and I just need some advice. How should I this?

call 911!

walked out the door, smelled smoke, didn't see firetrucks. NEVER good!
so what does the ex-medic do? grabs the camera, leaves the phone.

Best med school paraphernalia