Didn't I have this conversation yesterday?

Serious survey takers only, please...

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Always check your kid's homework!!

I'm not keen on reposting things from other blogs, but this made me giggle the whole drive to school this morning:

(Here's the reply the teacher received the following day) 

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer.

I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.

From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Smith

Women Drivers!

Just a disclaimer: I am very offended by the sexist nature of this video. However, it still cracks me up, and I just thought I'd share anyway.

Anti-Classical Conditioning?

My momma sent me some pictures of a new restaurant in Taiwan. The name of the restaurant is "Modern Toilet." As a Psychologist, it's an interesting concept to me in light of what we know about classical conditioning!

And my favorite (especially since I live with an only semi-housetrained dog):

On another note, I received a sweet email from one of my yoga students over the weekend. He said: "I've attended your vinyasa yoga classes at the rec center these past couple of weeks and I must say that I have a new found love for yoga."

What great encouragement during a much-needed time!

SPSP 2009

So last week I went to Tampa for a Social Psychology conference. The first one I went to back in 2006, I decided Psychology was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Last year, I returned for the first time as a grad student and got completely freaked out. I developed a BAAAAAD case of imposter syndrome and carried that with me all last year. This year was... much more encouraging.
Tampa was an interesting place. I went there thinking there was absolutely nothing to do outside of the conference. I was wrong. The city followed up a weekend of Superbowl craziness with their annual Gasparilla festival. Apparently, a Spanish pirate named Jose Gaspar used to pillage and raid southwest Florida, including Tampa Bay. Finally, the villagers of Tampa revolted and killed the pirate. Since then, every year they would celebrate the demise of Gaspar by sailing "pirate ships" into the bay and shooting water balloons, beads, and coins at the ship.

It made for a fun weekend. The convention center was downtown, so I got to watch the parade on my way from the hotel. I also got to ride a real, authentic trolley on my way to Ybar to celebrate our last night in Tampa. The only complaint I had was that it was below freezing half the time I was in Tampa, and I had brought nothing warmer than a light jacket!

As much as I love to travel, I realize that I don't always travel well. I shared a double room with 3 other people (yes, 2 per bed) and went a bit stir crazy by Saturday. I had no alone time between the conference, socializing/schmoozing, and having 3 hotel roommates, no quiet time, and no time or space for yoga. 

I guess I'm learning how to set up bounderies. On one hand, we're suppose to live missionally, and be willing to thrive under all sorts of conditions. On the other hand, there is something to be said about retreating and taking care of yourself so that you have something to give. I wish I said I was a most gracious, loving person the entire trip, but perhaps the only way for me to be that way is to set up an hour or two of alone time each day on the trip. Perhaps I need my own bed (that did make the trip a lot easier last year!). 

Regardless, it feels soooo nice to be back in Austin. Looking forward to staying put in one place until spring break =)

I wish every trip to the dentist ended like this...

Packing Tips

Not only did I overpack, I overpacked for a 5 day trip to Tampa, FL in 30 minutes. Needless to say, everything was thrown haphazardly into my suitcase and I had to sit on it to zip it up. Not having learned my lesson the first time around, I repeated the same process on the trip back.

Each way of the trip, I opened my suitcase to find a note that my bag was "randomly" searched. Underneath the note, the airline had neatly organized and repacked my luggage.

Lesson learned: a messy packer saves time - and apparently you'll get your luggage repacked for free.