It's getting closer!

  I bought my cap, gown, sash, and tassel today.  I'm $65 poorer and that much closer to graduation!

Bulletin from the Couch #2

  Just a quick couch bulletin before I start on my capstone powerpoint.

  People are constantly asking me what I did to my foot.  I use the story Jason suggested: "I got in a fight with a squirrel."  Sunday, little Owen Beuhler asked me and I told him the squirrel story.  He didn't fall for it.  We shared a laugh and then I started to tell him the truth.  "They took my ligaments out and gave me some ligaments from a dead person.  They screwed the new ligaments into my bone with a screw that will slowly dissolve."  Owen looked at me for two seconds, said, "Uh-uh.  I don't believe you."  Then, being the distractible eight year old that he is, ran off.  I laughed about that all afternoon.

  School is avalanching down upon me.  Please pray that I get it all done and done well.  Pray hard.

  Chera's going to come see us about a month after graduation!  We haven't set a solid date, but I'm already majorly  excited!

A bulletin from the couch

where I have pretty much taken up permanent residence. :)

Everyone but Dad and BonnieJean went down to the Bowie tournament over the weekend.  Samuel placed third in black belt weapons after deciding on the spur of the moment to compete.  Dillian Ramey and Crista Bailey took first and second, respectively, so he's hanging with the big dogs, for sure.  He also placed third in the super fight, coming in behind Greg Partridge and Luke Rosebure.  Ethan didn't fight because it was only a week from his black belt test, but he placed first in adult underbelt weapons and adult brown kata.  He got a nine from Mr. Holzbauer on his weapons kata!  Naomi came to help coach and decided suddenly to compete in kata!  She didn't place, but I'm so proud of her!  And after we all saw the flying pigs, she decided to do fight a 13 year old who didn't have anyone else in her division to fight.  Naomi won!  Joshua placed third in kata and second in fighting.  Isaac placed second in kata.  He lost his first fight by one point to the boy who went on to win the whole division.  Irony.  At the last tournament, Caleb forgot his kata and had to make it up.  This time he remembered it perfectly!

  Before the tournament, Scott and Theresa tested for fourth degree and passed.  I'm so excited for them!  I'm kinda disappointed they didn't do any board breaking, but that's just because I so enjoy watching them do it so well!  I can't believe they managed to test and run a tournament in the same day.

  After the tournament, little Alexis hit my right foot while I was standing in the hallway.  When I unwrapped my foot to take a shower Sunday night it was swollen really bad and black all down the right side and top of it with pooled blood under the skin.  It totally freaked me out.  Dad prayed over it right then and we called Orjala first thing Monday morning.  I didn't go to work or karate.  We unwrapped it Monday afternoon out of pure curiousity and it looked tons better.  I don't think a bruise on a normal, active person would go down that quickly.  It was just an answer to prayer!

  While I was home resting Monday night, Caleb passed his yellow belt test, Dad passed his orange belt test, and Isaac did all of his blue belt test with the exception of fighting and board breaking.  He'll do those Monday night.  I'm so excited for all of them!

  In other fantastic-answers-to-prayer news, I found out today that I passed the Comp II test out!  This means I get to graduate this May!  I am so wildly excited!

  And the saga of Anna's life continues...

  Tuesday was my first day back at school and it went great!  My foot swelled some from being up and around that much, but that's to be expected.  Mama graciously drove me around all day.  We're going to have to do some creative thinking to figure out painting class.  It's not a handicap accessible room.  I'm sure we'll figure something out, though.

  Wednesday was my first day back at work.  I got pretty tired around 2, but still got stuff done.  My bosses are so flexible--bless them!  The foot did fine.

  Wednesday night I unwrapped my foot all the way for the first time to take a shower.  The shower really helped, but having to mess with it that much really hurt.  I went straight to bed afterwards, just exhausted from the shower.  I slept through the night, but the pain has kept up today.  Anytime I put my foot down to crutch anywhere it starts hurting, in extreme waves or throbs.  So, I've skipped my two morning classes to keep it elevated.  I wonder if we didn't wrap it well enough after the shower.  I also wonder (Mama's idea here) if there was still some of that local anesthestic from the nerve block still in my foot.  When I unwrapped it and massauged it in the hot shower, did it increase the circulation enough to get rid of that last bit so now I'm just finally feeling what it's been like all along?

  It's thundering and raining right now, but it's cold.  By tomorrow they say it's going to turn to snow.  Weird March weather.

  I'm gonna catch a few winks before my 2:30 class.  Thanks for praying everybody!

In the middle of the night...

I have turned into an almost completely nocturnal studyer.  I don't think it's the noise in my house--I work around that all the time.  It's like my brain doesn't get settled into studying mode until at least 10 p.m.  It's not like I'm doing nothing before that, though, it's just not schoolwork stuff.

  I got to work on chintoe a good bit tonight, got some good pointers from Samuel.  I also worked on suji no kun, but it still feels way too sloppy to me.  Of course, it didn't help that I was doing it with a bo twelve inches too long for me.

  OK, I'm throwing myself in bed like a good girl.  I'll still probably need a nap tomorrow, though.

Please pray!

  I'm taking the Comp II testout tomorrow morning.  I need this to graduate.  Please pray.

  I am still alive.

  The capstone proposal is submitted.

  I feel like my life is a runaway freight train with me running behind it holding onto the caboose railing.  But I'm pretty sure God is the engineer, so we should be ok.

  I won first in brown belt kata at the Oklahoma City tournament.  This is a landmark event of my life.  I have been competing with Wansai Ni for 5 years.  This is my first time to win first in anything!

  Should I go visit Erica and do her spring cleaning over spring break or should I go on the BCM mission trip to Shreveport?

  I got a cricket cellphone, free texting and calls.  I don't get the best reception sometimes, but I'm happy with it.  918-933-2303.

  Winterjam was incredible!  My favorites were "Arise My Love" by Newsong, Brandon Heath, and Toby Mac.  Toby Mac was the most incredible performance I have ever seen live, with the possible exception of the laser light show at the Grand Coulee Dam.

  RSU's men basketball team is doing extremely well.  They are ranked number one in the nation for schools their size, have had only one loss the entire season to a team they later beat, and are already in the semifinal round at the conference tournament in Lubbock.  I seriously think they might go to nationals this year!

  I have discovered a good, free puzzle site.  www.jigzone.com  All the fun of puzzles without having to take over the kitchen table!

  Good night all!

Full-bore panic!

Capstone proposal is due in just eight days!  Panic, panic!

Awesome!

So, I succumbed and went listened to the music and somehow ended up with the fiddle.  Guess what?  It's a five-string fiddle.  The guy did it himself.  He drilled a hole in the chin piece for the base of the C string which goes in between the G and D string fine tuners and on up the fingerboard.  It's peg sticks up vertically between the D and A tuners so the tuner is actually on the back of the scroll.  I don't know if that makes any sense or if anyone besides BonnieJean would care, but I was absolutely fascinated by it.  It's not a very good instrument, doesn't have a good ring to it, but I had never seen anything like it before.  Oh, and it turns out the fiddle player is actually one of the guitar players who's taking poetry with me this semester.

Irony

 This is just cruel.  I left my house to study at Cappuccino Corner so I wouldn't be distracted.  Guess what's at Cappuccino corner?  Two guitar players and a fiddler, jamming.  Must study, must ignore...

College Students

Kendra: "I can't figure out if I'm stressed or sick or both.  Probably both."

Ricky: "So, you're stricked?"

One down

fifteen to go.  Yep, I survived my first week back.  Alas for my readers, my topics will probably be severaly tilted towards school news for these next fifteen weeks.  The good news is that my classes look very interesting, so y'all shouldn't be too bored with school posts.

I'm eating some very luscious potato soup and annabread.  Yum!  Mama is an amazing cook!

I heard "Starlings", one of the new songs by Brave Saint Saturn, the other day.  It's about the tragedy of senseless death, even those of starlings.  I think I'll play it for people when I tell them that what I look forward most to in the new earth is the people that will be there and the lack of road kill.  To me, road kill is a perfect picture of how bad we've broken our world.

Exciting baby news!  Number one, Sandy Gilliland is pregnant!  She's just ten weeks along, due in August.  She and Jamey will make excellent parents.  Number two, Erica went in for a routine check-up today and came up as preeclampsic.  Eek!  So, they induced labor and we're waiting on pins and needles for a phone call.  This is 24 days early, which isn't too bad compared to eclampsia.   I'm barely sitting still!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, Mama and I are going to go buy all my painting supplies.  I can't wait to start fiddling around with the stuff.  I want to get really familiar with my paints before we do our first canvas piece in a couple of weeks.

We wrote a pantoum today in Poetry class.  I think I really like that form and I was relatively pleased with what I wrote, but not pleased enough to post it here.

I have been really good about working out this week.  I have been really sore, but I can tell it makes me feel better generally.

Tomorrow is our first day of BonnieJean's Bible study with us and the Teagues.  I'm excited about it!

I'm going to bed now.  Love y'all!

Another late night post

  Why are most of my blog posts written late at night?  I do tend to be more contemplative in the evenings.  I think that's a good thing.

  Punyou had two seizures this evening.  The first one was about a mintue and a half and the second was a little less than a minute.  They were about thirty minutes apart.  His whole head would shake, back and forth not up and down, and his eyes wouldn't blink.  We'll call the vet in the morning.

  I think I'll go take the computer and U.S. history II CLEPs tomorrow.  Yeah for CLEP tests!  Everybody pray for me.

  Mama found my old violin shoulder rest--hallelujah!  I haven't been too happy with my new one.  It pops off whenever I really start hugging the violin to me.

  Hillcat basketball is having a great season!  The men are 6-0 in conference play, 12-0 overall.  The ladies just won their 6th game in a row last night and are 4-2 in conference play, 10-4 overall.  They both play St. Gregory's tomorrow.  I'll have to leave right in the middle to go to band practice at church, but I'm hoping to catch most of it.  I sat with Ethan, Mae, and her boyfriend Aaron at the last home game.  Mae played basketball in high school, so she was able to explain all the ref's calls, which was awesome because they're totally incomprehensible to me.

  I had a very productive day today.  I applied for 6 different jobs, filed the quarterly report for the Rogers County Republicans with the State Ethics Commission, renewed the club's registration (with the $52.50 fee) with said Commission, took the sample U.S. history CLEP, cleaned my room (some), worked out, and stretched.  I should have cleaned my desk, but I didn't.  Oh, well, tomorrow.

  I now have three of my textbooks in: Orientalism and Comparative Politics for my Comparative Politics class, and an Anthology of 20th Century Native American Poetry for my Poetry Writing class.

  I'm really enjoying a book Julie lent me called Stealing Elections by John Fund.  It's challenging my some of my views on absentee ballots and extremely interesting.

  I try to remember to ask this something-resembling-annually: who all reads my blog?

Oops

  Samuel pointed out all kinds of mistakes in the paper I posted.  I went back to see what I actually submitted to my teacher and the mistakes weren't there.  I must have posted it on here before I fixed everything.  Oh, well, it's the version submitted to the teacher that counts and it's too late to fix anything on it.

Campaign Analysis

  Here's the campaign analysis I wrote for Dr. Taylor's election class.  I totally understand if y'all don't want to read nine double spaced pages by a political junkie, but I was so tickled with it that I had to share.

Anna Bavido

Campaigns, Elections, and Voting

Dr. Carolyn Taylor

December 10^th, 2008

Campaign Analysis: Cole Butler for Rogers County Sheriff

In 1996 former Claremore police captain and Democratic candidate Jerry Prather was elected to the office of Rogers County Sheriff.  Prather gained reelection by a comfortable margin twice, but didn’t run again in 2008.  This made 2008 the first open sheriff’s race in twelve years.  Scott Walton, the only Democratic candidate, announced his candidacy in July, 2007 and was endorsed by Jerry Prather.  The Republicans had a large primary for a local race of three candidates: Barry Lamb, Rob Mallory, and Cole Butler.  Cole Butler won by a large margin with 61.1% of the vote.

This is the setting for my analysis of Cole Butler’s general campaign for Rogers County Sheriff.  I will provide a profile of Butler, Walton, and Rogers County, discuss the funding and spending associated with Butler’s campaign, analyze the rhetoric and campaign strategy used, and, finally, the results of the election.

Profile: Rogers County

In the summer of 2007, Rogers County’s population was 83,105 breaking down into 43% urban and 57% rural, according to City Data.  I was unable to find any precise population estimates for 2008.  Rogers County has been multiplying its population and number of businesses for several years in a row.  The towns of Verdigris and Claremore, and the areas between Claremore and Owasso and between Claremore and Tulsa (which includes Verdigris) have added most of the residential growth.

Rogers County traditionally is registered as Democrat and elects Democrats to local and state offices, but votes strongly Republican in Congressional and Presidential races.  In recent years however, Rogers County has slowly been shifting more towards the Republican Party.  In 1998 Republican Tad Jones was elected as State Representative for the first time and has been reelected every two years since.  In 2004 and 2008 Republican County Commissioners Mike Helm and Kirt Thacker, respectively, were elected.  In the fall of 2008, for the first time in Oklahoma’s history, the number of registered Republicans actually outnumbered registered Democrats in Rogers County.  On November 4^th, the numbers stood ~22,724 Democrats to 22,824 Republicans with 5,627 Independents (check with election board).

I have only lived in Rogers County for seven years, which isn’t really long enough to know something as deep as a region’s political culture.  Take this with a grain of salt as it’s based off of my limited experience only.  I divide the political culture into two halves: voters and nonvoters.  Rogers County voters are traditionally conservative, but still passionately partisan.  They value traditions and have a strong sense of belonging.  They have strong, long-standing social networks.  People tend not to change churches, schools, or political parties.  They will remain in a network just because of how long they or their family have been a part of that network.  This combines to make local races very stressful, because it forces an individual to be at odds with some of the social networks in her life in order to follow the tradition of her party.  Most voters deal with this strain by simply being quiet.  They don’t get involved in politics anymore than is necessary to vote.  They will not attend events, put out a sign, or even talk about politics outside their partisan network.  Nonvoters are typically very suspicious of government, politics, and especially of politicians.  I’m not sure if they abstain from politics from dislike or because they’re afraid of getting burned, but since they don’t vote they don’t factor much into this campaign analysis.

Profile: Cole Butler

Cole Butler is a twenty-seven year veteran of the Tulsa Police Deparment, fifteen years on patrol and twelve years as a detective.  Overlapping through those are sixteen years and counting as the top negotiator for the Special Operations team, sixteen years and counting as an instructor at the Police Academy, and eight years and counting as an instructor at the Citizen’s Academy.  Butler has lived in Rogers county for twenty-five years.  He and his wife Debbie live out towards Foyil.  They have four children, one granddaughter, and a dog, Benson.  They attend Bethel Baptist in Owasso where Butler teaches a young married couples’ Sunday school class.

Profile: Scott Walton

Butler’s opponent, Scott Walton, is a life-time resident of Rogers County and currently lives in Verdigris.  He is also a twenty-seven year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department.  Walton has served in every assignment available except for motorcycle and helicopter patrols.  Most recently he has been head of Tulsa Crime Stoppers Program.  He and his wife, Roseanne, have two boys.

Campaign Strategies and Activities

Butler ran a grassroots campaign, but that’s not saying much as a grassroots campaign is pretty much the only feasible cost/benefit option for such a small race.  Butler did have a surprisingly large number of volunteers for a local race, especially compared to the number of volunteers for the other races.  Unfortunately, the campaign didn’t keep hard and fast records of their average numbers of volunteers.  From my own person memory, I would estimate a core group of fifteen that showed up for almost every everything and would do anything and a peripheral group of up to sixty people that showed up for some events that were more fun like fundraisers, parades, and the watch party.  Butler had XX donors, another way of estimating number of supporters.  What exactly these supporters did can be broken down into purposes/activities of door knocking, name recognition, events, and community connections.

Door knocking is the most basic grassroots campaign activity.  Butler went door knocking most every evening of the week.  Several of the core group of volunteers also door knocked on their own a weekly basis.  Usually volunteers would door knock in groups on the weekend.  Most volunteers door knocked in their own communities.  The door knocking done by groups and by the Butlers were targeted at specific neighborhoods, however.  A large portion of this door knocking was done in the area between Claremore and Owasso.

Name recognition is a sad fact of our apathetic citizens.  People will vote for someone based solely on whether or not they recognize the name from.  As reprehensible a truth this is, it’s still true and it would be foolish to ignore this effective technique.  Campaign signs are a form of name recognition used throughout the campaign.  Butler had signs left over from the primary, but less money to spend on signs than Walton.  Sign waving was used mostly within seven days of the election as name recognition and to remind people to vote.  Parades provided some chance to hand out literature, but they’re mostly name recognition events.  Butler usually had a good showing of volunteers at parades, which can influence people to vote for a candidate.  Volunteers wearing campaign shirts is also a form of name recognition.  For example, several of Butler’s supporters volunteered during Claremore’s Bluegrass and Chili Festival to sell drinks, tickets, and parking.  They were not allowed to actively advocate for Butler, but just seeing a smiling and helpful face on top of a “Wanted: Cole Butler for Rogers County Sheriff” t-shirt is enough to at least favorably influence a voter towards Butler.  The results of name recognition pretty much sink or swim on what kind of image the volunteer presents. 

Another campaign strategy was connecting with voters at community events.  For example, the 4-H Steak Dinner and Round Up for Jesus were attended by Butler and volunteers (who are living in red t-shirts by this point) partially as a chance to have fun and partially as a chance to talk to people about the campaign.  Although this might overlap somewhat with name recognition it’s different in that a significant amount of dialogue took place between supporters, candidates, and voters.  It isn’t efficient to do polling in such a small race, so this was the substitute.  This is how the campaign found out what people were concerned about, what they thought about Butler and Walton, and what was and wasn’t working.  Some volunteer recruitment would take place at community events, but it wasn’t exactly frequent.

The campaign did not put on very many events of their own during the general race.  There were two fundraiser events (a pancake breakfast and a spaghetti dinner) and a prayer meeting the Sunday before the election.  The prayer meeting was promoted just by word of mouth, and obviously the fundraisers are for supporters.

The majority of events that Butler got to speak at were hosted by other organizations and were open to Walton as well.  Examples of this would be the Rogers County Ministerial Alliance’s meeting, monthly Fire Department meetings, and American Bikers Association of Teaching and Education elections meeting.  People attending these events were usually already involved at least in the community and quite possibly in politics and generally a more sophisticated audience than the average group of voters.  The questions and answer section of these meetings were always animated and interesting.

Platform and Rhetoric

When speaking Butler used the acronym S.E.R.V.E. for what he would bring to the office of Sheriff.  Service, Equal treatment under the law, Responsibility, Visibility, and Everyone’s the same.  Under service he would talk about the nature of law enforcement being that of a servant.  Equal treatment had to do with everyone being under the law.  Here Butler would say that, if elected, his supporters couldn’t count on any favors.  He would also talk about a zero tolerance for drunk driving.  He said that any deputy under his administration would be immediately suspended for not arresting a drunk driver.  He reasoned that this would negate any pressure the offender might try to put on the arresting deputy.  Responsibility was fairly straight forward.  Visibility had to do with the accountability and transparency of the Sheriff’s office.  Butler said that if elected he would never ask the Commissioners for money without himself or a representative present to explain what it would be used for.  Under Everyone Butler would talk about the Sheriff being available to anyone and still active in patrol.

Other talking points that also appeared on a lot of Butler’s printed materials were professionalism, integrity, and experience.  A slogan used was “Prepared by the past for service in the future”, usually with some kind of image meant to remind of the Tulsa Police Department and Rogers County.

As October started, there was a subtle shift in the campaign’s rhetoric from how Butler’s experience and qualifications would make him a good sheriff to how Butler’s experience and qualifications would make him a better sheriff than his “opponent” (Butler purposely avoided using Walton’s name).  The same talking points were used but added to them were longevity of assignment and independence.  Butler would preface these two by saying that he and his opponent were very different and that “this race is very clear, it’s black and white.”  Longevity of assignment had to do with how long Butler served in each assignment he’s had, showing that he is committed and responsible on the long stretch.  Suggested, but not stated, in this is a statement about how many different assignments Walton has had with the Tulsa Police Department.  Independence was “I have no ties with or allegiance to the current sheriff’s administration.”

In many ways, this was the biggest difference (and perhaps the deciding factor?) between Butler and Walton.  Walton made campaign promises of continuing the good work done by Prather.  Prather endorsed Walton.  Walton praised the Sheriff’s department for the fact that Rogers County has the fourth lowest crime rate of counties in Oklahoma.  When he talked about what he would do if elected he talked about efficiency and said he was against any rapid changes or expansions.  He said he would be happy with a 100% retention rate of current county employees.

Butler, on the other hand, was very outspoken in his criticisms of Jerry Prather and the current quality of law enforcement in the Sheriff’s department.  Except for brief statements about his independence from Prather, Butler was never critical in campaign material or during speeches.  Most of his feelings about Prather would come out in informal conversations or the Q&A sections of events.  He was critical of the lack of accountability in finances, Prather’s apathy about the Reserve Officer Corps, how few deputies Prather employs, the lack of set districts and patrols for the deputies, the absence of regular enforcement of the traffic laws, the lack of continued training for the deputies, the lack of a central dispatch in Rogers County, the lack of random drug testing in the Sheriff department (Prather added this shortly before the election, which Butler would point out thereafter), and the presence of a “good ‘ol boy system” in the County’s law enforcement.  These strong feelings culminated in a rather unique campaign promise: to raise the crime rate.  Crime rates are based off of crime reported by law enforcement agencies.  Butler felt that such a poor job was being done by Sheriff Prather that crimes were being committed and never investigated or reported.

Conclusion

In the end, Scott Walton won by seven percentage points, 53% to 46%.  What follows are purely my speculations as to why we saw this outcome and what it tells us about Rogers County.

Based off of this race, recent county commissioner races, and the State House race, I think a strong line of difference is developing in Rogers County between the area between Claremore and Owasso.  This is not a very big area geographically, but it’s heavy populated.  People in this area are much more likely to be new to the County, to do business outside of Rogers County, and to be Republican.  This area is a small picture of the changes happening or about to happen throughout Rogers County: rapid suburbanization and lots more interdependency between Tulsa, Owasso, Tulsa County, Rogers County, and Claremore.  I think this is fast becoming the new Republican base.

A simplistic explanation would be the cynical one of money.  Scott Walton raised and spent the most money and he won.  However, I think it’s a little more complicated than that.

It was assumed that this was an open race because neither Walton nor Butler was from the incumbent’s department.  However, I think Prather’s endorsement and Walton’s close alignment with Prather and other Democratic officials in county government had the same effect as if someone from Prather’s department had run.  It was a closed race in all but name.  In many ways Walton’s election is a confirmation of Prather.  The majority of Rogers County voters weren’t as concerned about Prather’s job performance as Butler was.

Based on the idea that active volunteers are only a small percentage of actual voting supporters, I predicted Butler to win this race.  I think the difference between the two campaigns was clearly encapsulated in the two semi-trailers in the Will Rogers’ Days parade.  After a pitiful showing at the Claremore homecoming parade, Walton rounded up his supporter for this parade.  This was the last parade before the election, the very weekend of the election actually, so Butler had a larger than average showing of volunteers, as well.  Both candidates had been lent a flat-bed semi trailer for the parade.  Walton covered his in large, glossy signs.  Butler’s was covered up in people.  However, Butler’s large group of supporters obviously wasn’t enough to win him the election.

I think Scott Walton won because the political culture of Rogers County favors those candidates who have the most connections in the social networks discussed earlier.  This usually translates into the candidate who’s lived here the longest and/or is the most well-known.  Personally, I underestimated the power of these connections.  I assumed that twenty-five years of residency would stand up just fine to a life-long residency, but I was wrong.  Some of these social connections were rather tenuous, but strong enough to influence people’s vote.  One lady told me that she had voted for Walton because his name was so similar to Sam Walton and she worked for Wal-Mart.  Another lady told me she voted for Walton because she’s the daughter of the Democratic County Assessor so she always voted for Democrats.  A student here at RSU, a Republican, told me that she voted for Walton because a relative worked with him and she liked the church Walton goes to.

Unless things change drastically, Walton is likely to be reelected as many times as he runs.  Despite the large changes that have taken place since Prather was first elected, not enough has changed or the change hasn’t been of the correct kind to convince voters that any change in the Sheriff’s office is needed.  I wouldn’t dare to venture a prediction as to whether Walton will or will not keep the status quo.

Race to the finish line!

  OK, I know I did good on my Literay Traditions final (Dr. Dial-Driver writes good tests) and feel fairly confident about my Public Policy final (thank you, study group!).  I got my Research Methods papers done and turned in.  I've never done any kind of assignments like those two so I have no clue how I did.  I like what I wrote, though.  Tomorrow is Soc. Syst. & Prob. final and I need to turn in the two papers for Campaigns.  Just think, by tomorrow night, it'll all be over!  That's both thrilling and terrifying.

  And then we shall party!  Friday is Chloe's birthday party (it will be incredibly sappy and I shall have to try really hard not to tease her and David the whole time, but there will be dancing-fun!)  Saturday, some conglomerate of us will drive to Arlington for Erica's shower.  I can't wait to see everybody!  I know I saw them in August, but that's a good four months ago!  Tuesday is Twilight Prayer and Praise--I'm going to be so confused by it not being on a Friday.  Like I said, party, party, party!

  Because I'm sure going to need it by the end of tomorrow!

In the next 72 hours

I  need to...

Write 5 journals for Social Systems and Problems

Write 2 papers for Campaigns, Elections and Voting

Take 3 finals in Literay Traditions, Public Policy, and Social Systems and Problems, in that order,

and finish the 2 almost completed papers for Research Methods II.

Right now, I'm going to take a power nap.

News

  In case anyone was wondering, the score for the ongoing Hillcats versus Wayland Baptist (men) basketball game is 91-63.  Ladies already beat the female Waylands earlier this evening.  We rock!

  I have been thinking a lot about my employment situation. Next semester I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  My first thought was I wouldn't have to work weekend nights anymore!  However, knowing what Christine and Renae are like and the fact that Brenda has been trying to get off nights for a year now I concluded that I would have to quit to get off nights.  I would really like to get a part-time job within the social science field in order to have my foot already in the door when I graduate in May.  However, a well-paying part time job, like a bank teller, wouldn't be so bad.  So, I was thinking at this point that I would quit in January.  However, I knew that as soon as school is out Renae is going to be pressuring me to work more nights.  In fact, she already has me scheduled an evening and a night next week just as soon as my finals are done.  Nights on the weekend are ok, but I really hate them during the week.  Add to the mix the fact that over Christmas break I need to write my Capstone proposal and get together my Rothberg application, I decided that it would be really nice not to work the month of December at all.  So, I gave my two weeks notice last night.  I feel very relieved, but still very nervious about finding another job.  Pray for me, please.

  Mama bought me 2007 office!  Yeah for no more writing in Notepad!

  OK, I'm almost done with writing my Research Methods II final, but it won't finish itself.  Pray for my finals, too!  Love y'all!

 P.S. Final score was 104-76.  Hillcats rule!

Back to the salt mines

  I'm feeling much better, but not quite 100%.

  Happy Birthday, Naomi!  17 and insane, baby!

  We celebrated Mama and Naomi's birthdays today.  The carrot cake with cream cheese icing was so luscious.

  I don't know if it's on youtube, but y'all should try to get a hold of the UFC fight between Chuck Liddel and Rashid Evans.  Awesome knockout.

  I need to write a paper for Campaigns class tomorrow.  I think I'll move into my room, find some headphones for my really loud rock music, and git 'er done!

  I had a wonderful time this evening visiting with Haley and Chloe!  They so totally rock.  And apox upon Emily, Jesse, and Isaiah.

  I've finally come down with the flu bug that almost everyone else has had.  I thought I was going to escape, but guess not.  I don't think I have it as bad as everyone else.  I'm already feeling much better, but I still ache all over.  And I'm hungry but I don't dare actually eat anything that would fill me up.

  I'm reading Mort by Terry Pratchett right now.  It's highly amusing and original, like all of his stuff.

  Samuel got a text from a coworker, Jason, this evening.  Jason has expressed interest in Christianity and we've been praying for him.  So anyway, the text said "I need what you have.  What time is church tomorrow?"  Isn't that awesome?!  Please be praying for him.

  Being sick has really set me back on my homework.  Bleh.  Which means that I'm missing church, again, tomorrow.  I'm starting to miss church.

  OK, I need to get ready to go to work.  Love y'all!