Goblin King

Goblin King
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My friend Derek decided to be the Goblin King for Halloween this year. I don't know how many of you have seen the movie the Labyrinth with David Bowie and Academy Award Winner Jennifer Connelly, but it was quite the hit in the 80s. In fact, they may still run it on TBS Sunday mornings :)

The scariest part about this costume (besides the protective cup Derek wore to make the costume more authentic) was the fact that he borrowed my boots!

Halloween Party

Halloween05 - 02
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My roommates and I threw another fabulous party over Halloween weekend. Here's a picture of me, Miss Somerville, kissing a "naughty husband."

I'm been really busy with school, but was able to relax a bit and have a great time at the party.

Erik & I in Denver

Erik & I in Denver
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

My brother met us all out for food in drinks @ a brewery in Denver... I don't think he knew that he'd be having dinner with 5 women... lucky guy!

My mom thinks he looks older than me in this picure.

student conclave

student conclave
Originally uploaded by jessriggs.

I headed out to Denver in order to attend a conference for students in the APTA (American Physical Therapy Association). They had a ton of different seminars on aspects of the profession, along with talks on financial aid and on how to get the most out of your clinical experience. I went to the hour long talks on Pediatrics, Neurology & hand theraphy. All very interesting.

I came back to Boston more charged up about my classes. Once you see the differnet paths you can take after graduation, you begin to see a flicker of light at the end of what appears on most days as a really long tunnel.

Here are all the other gals fromt eh program who went with me (left to right: Melanie, Jae, Kelly, me, and Joanne). Kelly is a first year with me and the other 3 are all 2nd years in the program. It was great to chat with them, and find out that they were all as stressed as we are once and they loived through it!

It hurts so good

I finally was able to attend another yoga class at Baptiste in Porter Sq. Gregor was the instructor and he gladly showed me what muscles I haven't been using for the past 3-6 months. Yeah, I'm still sore today, but it was such a good workout! I'm so glad Vivian dragged me out to a class. It's been way too long, and I forgot how great it was to sweat out all your stress.

After the past few months, that was exactly what I needed!

Davis Sq. bike seat thief!

Someone decided to steal my bike saddle and seat post last night. Even though my light(which I left on accidentally) was loosely attached to my handle bars and could have been removed effortlessly, this person decided to loosen the bolt of my bike rack and yank out my bike seat. I even think the light was worth more! The seat being missing this morning meant I had to make a mad dash for the T @ 6:30am to try and get to my computer lab job at school by 7. As fate would have it, I caught both trains quickly and even the shuttle over to school from North Station. I was only 5 minutes late, which was a miracle! This morning commute usually takes 25 min. on bike, and 45 min. on the T.

I now get to spend a nice chunk of tomorrow hunting down a new bike seat post & saddle for as little $$ as possible. I don't believe there is a hot market in Boston for bike seats, and am guessing that the Davis Sq. bike seat thief is a 15 year old punk with nothing better to do last night that make my morning awful. Perhaps he has a closet full of his many conquests....

A new obsession

So, I started doing these Sudoku puzzles. I was first introduced to them by the Boston Globe when Brian and I decided to go read the paper and hang at Diesel one night over the summer. Then I saw them in the NJ paper while visiting my grandparents, and then they were in the Metro... you know that something is completely mainstream to the point of being played out if it makes it into the Metro. I can finish the Metro Sudoku puzzle in 4 red line stops, but this one online can keep me entertained for a good while. I even have some classmates addicted to this now.

Forget crossowords (which I never really got good at), it's all about the numbers 1 thru 9!

No longer an overachiever :(

I got my first test of the semester back, and I got a 90 which I should be happy with right? wrong. The class mean was 89.5 with a standard deviation of 5.8. I'm used to being a little ahead of the curve, and being average is something that isn't sitting well with me. I am struggling to get the hands-on techniques down because I am not a tactile person, but I had hoped to do better on the exams.

I know I need to just relax and be happy that I wasn't one of the people who got below hte standard deviation and need to chat with the professor.

I'm still learning how to manage my time and get my work done while still remaining sane.....

Missing old co-workers

Brian and I decided to spend the afternoon walking to Harvard to pick up some more chai tea (I have him addicted), and I ran into an old work colleague, Pat. I was great to chat with her and hear all the Sun gossip. Apparently my horrid old manager actually got promoted. Just to give you an idea of how bad he is: I was one of 4 to quit his group within a year. According to Pat, another guy just quit and they actually hired a couple of people. I guess the group must be thriving if they managed to miss the last round of layoffs and were even able to hire someone. That's great to hear, since I'd hate to think about any of them losing their jobs. Pat also told me that my officemate finally bought a house and 2 people are becoming parents in the very near future. I guess a lot has happened since I left in May.

I definitely miss everyone, although I don't think I'd want to still be working there. I really like where I'm at right now. I enjoy getting up in the morning these days, which was not the case 6 months ago. I hope I am able to keep in touch with Pat and others at Sun, because it was great to hear what they were all up to. :)

Highschool wedding

I went with a couple of other Tafties to Matty Fisher's wedding in South Boston. I'll admit that intially I wasn't too thrilled to be going to yet another wedding this year (I'm up to 3 and have another in 2 weeks). I guess I find that I spend most of the night chatting with people I don't know about what I do for a living, where I live, how I know the bride and groom, etc. and I never really get to talk with the bride or groom. I have to say that Matt and Dana made sure to spend a ton of time with all their friends and I had a blast.

I can't believe another highschool friend is married! I guess I am of the age that all my friends are making their way down the aisle. I don't see myself taking that plunge anytime soon, although Brian and have talked about moving in together. His roommate is moving to DC to be with his girlfriend, and we have starting thinking about me moving in to his place... I don't think that would happen for a while, but it's a thought..