in my opinion:

• strawberry is the best kind of fruit roll-up
• rock music can be conducive to the spirit
• my family is the best
• an apology with an explanation is not an apology, and forgiveness with conditions is not forgiveness
• winter is just a bit too long
• making the bed is overrated
• service is the best way to overcome your own problems
• the gmat is hard, but not unconquerable
• cookies almost always trump cake, and ice cream beats them all
• it is better to love and lose than to never love
• yoga is magic
• midwinter travel is what every person needs
• brunettes have more fun
• costco and home depot are fun places to hang out
• new shoes will do the trick
• earrings: the bigger the better
• printing pictures is a lost art
• not all lemons can be made into lemonade, and that's ok
• prioritization is more important than pride
• it's okay to be a midnight cowboy
• being too sensitive is a curse
• following your heart is not a bad idea
• wishing to be a part of the action is not enough
• saving money is a skill
• a last minute road trip can be the best kind of trip
• men are attractive
• having low standards for movies equals less disappointment
• taco stands beat out most nice restaurants
• caring about people is as hard as it is easy
• kids and old people are equally valuable to society, and i miss them
• having direction in life is a blessing

midnight confession

i adore my family.

and i have proof

in familial news today, my brother is a mean dad. see?

big baby

the night commenced just like any other night; fine dining at the cheesecake factory, followed by a trip to the garden to watch some of our friends play ball, and concluding with drinks at the local 7-11. no wait, a normal night consists of a long T and bus ride home followed by a bowl of cold cereal eaten over the kitchen sink. this was a CELTICS NIGHT!!!

here's nat on her first real venture out of the house since "taking flight" as she likes to put it. dinner was great, but i don't think they could have put us at a more awkward table if had they tried.

being crippled ain't so bad (says the girl who gets all the benefit of someone else's suffering)! thanks to nat, we got to sit in the upper ring--ooh, aah. never mind crutching for .8 miles to get there, the free nachos more than made up for it!

i was going to try to make you all believe that you were seeing me on the jumbo tron in this one, but turns out i'm not asian.
look! there i am! on the jumbo tron!
post game-- it cleared out pretty quick after the C's um...cough, cough...lost, and nat and i began our journey to the sev for post game refreshment. we met some cackling witches on the way, and were nearly offered a ride home in the company limo with some corporate boozers.

people like you when you have a broken leg. i wish i had a broken leg. just kidding universe! just kidding!

computer speak

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blaaaaaahhhhhhhhggggggg

i can't think of anything good to blog about.

today i was told that i look like a high school student with my hair in a ponytail. i guess that's a...compliment...?

a girl at lunch said she liked my earrings. then she offered to buy them from me. she asked how much i wanted for them. whaaa?

i'm feeling nostalgic today from looking at pictures from the last three years. it's funny how quickly life can change. my life is pretty different today than it was when i first moved to boston a year and a half ago.

said pictures made me crave summer nights, my nephews and niece, and 4-wheeling in the country. too bad it's the dead of winter, i'm at least 2000 miles away, and i don't own any quads.

i wasn't crying over the pictures. my co-worker claims he heard sniffling. i wasn't crying. it was allergies.

i'm going to vermont this weekend. i like cheese.

vitamin water is good.

ok, i'm done now.

new name mcnamerson

for the past few nights i've started to again feel the luxury of having my nights free. the gmat is over, it didn't go as well as i'd have liked, but at least it's done and my after-work hours are no longer spent agonizing over why i can't remember how to find sin and cosine, or how to appropriately apply the pythagorean theorem. indeed, little parts of my soul are beginning to reappear.

to further boost the enjoyment of my evenings, mother nature decided to be kind and grant us some 60 degree days. accordingly, i've bypassed the first two stops on my redline commute home and have opted for walking all the way to charles mgh for the past few nights. it's not terribly far and it affords me a walk through the boston common and then down historic charles street- which is quickly becoming my favorite spot in boston. this thoroughfare spans only a few blocks but contains some of the most interesting shops, restaurants, and markets i've ever seen and perfectly embodies the quaintness of boston. every time i walk down the cobblestone street i can't help but feel like i've entered a different world. it's the perfect post-work mini vacation. anyway, check is out if you get a chance.

not much else going on in my world these days. 2008 has gotten off to a bit of a rough start with some health problems and subsequent useless medical advice, but i figure that means there's no where to go but up at this point. how could that not be the case when i'm going to ireland in a month?!?!

and now, since this post was so boring, i'll finish it with a random mix of pictures from 2007 that didn't get blogged, but should have.

next time, trust your instinct

last night i thought i was going to die. literally. i laid (lied, lay?) in bed with a distinct feeling that it would be my last night on earth. i thought about my friends and family, and actually felt really bad that someone would have to clean my room. at one point i was pretty sure i saw a light.

until my not-so-near death experience i had spent most of the weekend in bed with a raging headache and shooting pains down both my legs. nothing, save sleep, brought any kind of relief. today, after much coaxing from roommates and friends i finally decided to go to the doctor. i've never been to a doctor in boston, so i set out on the first task of finding one. luckily, harvard pilgrim health care has a handy dandy website in which you can locate doctors near you. the site even tells you if they are currently accepting patients or not. neat, right? wrong. after i had been rejected by the 7th doctor i called i started to get quite frustrated. the pounding in my head got worse, my vision became blurred. then i realized it was time to eat.

back from lunch and one last attempt. i finally, FINALLY got someone who was willing to take patients. however, the earliest appointment i could get with this doctor was in march. great. oh, but wait! they can put me in with dr. mcdoctor later on today. hooray!

at 3:30 i sojourned down to the medical plaza for my first ever experience of being a responsible and healthy adult in boston. the following is an almost minute by minute or word for word account of my adventure. note, there is no exaggeration:

3:35 fill out paperwork, pay co-pay, venture upstairs to the waiting room
3:55 receptionist: "who are you waiting for?" me: "dr. mcdoctor."
4:20 nurse: "julie hullllllet" me: "me." we go back to tiny and dingy exam room.
4:22 nurse: "hang up your coat and purse and sit on the exam table. i'll take your blood pressure and temperature. ok done. here's a gown- if we can have you remover your pants." nurse types away on computer for 35 seconds then exits without another comment.
4:55 nurse re-enters room. "doctor mcdoctor will be with you in a few minutes"
4:58 doctor: "hi, i'm blah blah blah. what can i do for you today?"
me: "well, i have had a headache for about 6 days and severe leg pains for about 2."
dr: "ok, what is the main reason for you coming in today?"
me: "um, i've had a headache for about 6 days and severe leg pains for about 2."
dr: "ok, well, which is worse?"
me: "i...don't know...they're both pretty bad."
dr: "well, choose one, we've only got 20 minutes."
...
...
...
(did he just say that?)
...
...
...
me: "uh, i guess my legs."

the doctor proceeds to rub my legs and asks, "does that hurt?" to which i reply, "no, it feels better when you rub them. that's the problem..."
dr: cutting me off "well, i don't know what to tell you. have you taken any pain meds?"
me: "yes-but nothing has worked."
dr: "ok, i want you to try to take 800mg of ibuprofen. if the pain gets worse, come back in a few days."
me: "no way in hell."*

5:05 the doctor is out the door.
5:06 i'm out the door.

and that, kids, is why i don't ever visit the doctor.

*of course i didn't actually say that, but i wish i had.

she's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

they're beginning to look a lot like...santa's secret service?

*note: i did not add the moustaches.

oh yeah, and he's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

*don't smoke, it's bad for you.

snow shovel revelation

last night i was shoveling the driveway (reader: "wait, you were shoveling the driveway? you're the one without a car." me: "yes, i know.") anyway, i was shoveling the driveway and a thought occurred to me. the thought was this:

maybe my pancakes aren't actually that good.

i know i have a tendency to project my opinion onto others. i know this because i once had a cruel boyfriend use this character flaw against me. i try not to be this way, but i think sometimes i can't help it- especially where my pancakes are concerned. so, if you're a person whose ever had my pancakes, and they're actually not that good- will you just tell me? and really, anything else for that matter. i'm not afraid to be wrong.

and now that you all feel awkward from that part where i revealed too much about a bad relationship, i'll leave you with this: does anyone else see an eerie resemblance between franco zeffirelli's romeo and zac effron?

this weekend looked a lot like Christmas

click here

they're beginning to look a lot like Christmas

he's beginning to look a lot like christmas

we're beginning to look a lot like christmas

off with her head

or just her hair.

gee (i hate this) matt

Answer the following question* using the data:

What was the maximum temperature in city A on Saturday, May 14?

(1) The average (arithmetic mean) of the maximum daily temperatures in City A from Sunday May 8 to Saturday, May 14 was 72 degrees, which was two degrees less than the average (arithmetic mean) of the maximum daily temperatures in City A from Monday, May 9 to Friday May 13.

(2) The maximum temperature on Saturday, May 14 was 5 degrees greater than the maximum temperature in City A on Sunday, May 8.

this is how my nights are spent. how about you?


*a prize to the first person to answer correctly!

well, it has been one helluva...

today is my birthday. my 25th birthday. i'm a quarter of a century old. 9,125 days old. 219,000 hours old. 13,140,000 minutes old. 7.9 billion seconds old (i think, but my calculator gave that wierd E in the corner, so i don't know what that means. shouldn't i know at least that by now?)

anyway, here's a look back at some of the momentous, um, moments of my 24th year...

as a 24 year old i:

• became a boston temple worker
• spent new years eve in the hospital and then at the movies
• saw holsts "the planets" performed by the b.s.o. and joshua bell
• took 5 trips to salt lake city,
• 4 trips to columbus
• waited in line to see guster
• sang a duet
• saw jewel for free at south station
• attended a live taping of "this american life" with ira glass
• sold the cheat
• became a youtube star
• went to the bahamas
• attended the marriage of my favorite peeps
• went to phoenix for my first time
• saw a fist fight at the boston pops
• quit my job
• started a new job
• dated a great guy
• went to seattle for my first time
• travelled to anchorage for the first time
• saw bears and porcupines in the wild
• stood on a glacier
• saw ben folds perform with the boston pops
• had a basement flood in my house
• saw muse by myself
• went to 3 red sox games
• saw owen plant live
• saw brian webb live
• participated in the great boston adventure, the great connecticut adventure, the great vermont adventure, and the great maine adventure
• joined a book club
• attended the the hill cummorah pageant
• went to sharon, vermont, palmyra, ny, and kirtland, ohio and all church history sites associated with each
• saw niagara falls
• watched the boston pops on the 4th of july
• went to the circus
• prepared a 72-hour kit
• shook hands with an apostle
• watched the red sox win the world series and celebrated in the streets of boston
• purchased a trip to europe
• became a celtics season ticket holder
• witnessed a family sealing
• got one new niece and one new nephew
• swam in walden
• got a speeding ticket
• threw a halloween party
• got rid of that shirt i've had since 7th grade
• read through an entire issue of the economist
• wrote a grad school essay*
• and many more...at 24...la la la la...

so it's been a pretty good year and based solely off the fact that the staff at bertucci's sang the entire happy birthday song to me (grossly off key) today, i can already tell that 25 is going to be even better!

*note: i did not watch goonies. i was sufficiently talked out of doing so by a true friend. friends don't let friends watch bad 80's movies.

and barbeque's on the roof

dear utah friends,

remember when we knew each other? that was cool. today i spent a few hours stalking you all on myspace. i'm glad to see that you're all still in each others top 8's and that not too much has changed except some of you have longer hair. i miss you guys. who's up for bacon and eggs at the corner?

love,

me