Jessa's mom is a huge hockey fan so, fortunately for her, Jessa and I are completely addicted to sites like Groupon and LivingSocial (where you get coupons of 50% off or better for products and services in and around your area.) Our obsession with checking these sites everyday paid off again! We got an awesome deal on some Panthers tickets from LivingSocial. Eighteen dollars for lower bowl seats, plus on that day when you used your Visa card you got a free ticket for a friend! So between Jessa and I we ended up with four, ninety dollar Panthers tickets for thirty-six dollars or a measly nine dollars per ticket. We drive out to Ft. Lauderdale and pickup Jessa's mom for the game. Even though we weren't really sure how the seats would be we were all REALLY EXCITED (especially Jessa's mom).  We figured it was still a great deal, even if the seats were crazy nosebleed awfuls. Turns out, there was no need to worry... We proceed to the counter and get our mandatory peanuts, Jessa's mom insists. We get our drinks and peanuts and efforts were also made to procure a pretzel w/ cheese, but the first attempt failed. So we head to our seats, we look up at the score and what do you know, the Panthers are leading 3-nil after the first period. After the second period, Panthers are winning 3-1 and I take this time to go find myself a pretzel w/ cheeze after the people sitting next to us walked by showing theirs off. I stumble upon The Brooklyn Bagel Co. They have salted pretzels, cheeze, mustard, and Jessa talks me in to unlawfully acquiring some whole milk that is intended for coffee. We head back to our seats and watch the slow degradation of the Panthers as the Hurricanes start to beat their ass all up and down the ice. No amount of yelling and shouting could help at this point and the Panthers lose the game 4-3. We head home hanging our heads that our local sports team lost. Once we get back to Jessa's moms we have a glass of wine and snack on some cheese and grapes before heading home, ending the night on a good note and lifting our spirits! :)

[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="The Glorious (and ridiculously easy) Pistachio Cake"][/caption]

On Christmas Eve this year Wayne and I had a few things to finish up - like baking two Pistachio Cakes for my divorced family's separate dinners, making Brown Sugar Body Scrubs and cookies as gifts and enjoying each other's company. :)  I finally got into the kitchen, which is a feat considering how Wayne OWNS every kitchen in the world, to make the pistachio cakes that everyone in my family has learned to expect at holiday meals!

Below is my grandmother's recipe for Pistachio Cake.  It's rated VERY EASY because it involves combining box mixes and then getting complimented on it. :)  My Meme was famous for that!

I would also recommend that while you bake you try Wayne and I's new tradition.... Christmas Eve Pina Coladas!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box white cake mix
• 2 boxes instant pistachio pudding
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup sprite
• 1 tsp almond extract (OR 1/4 cup amaretto and cut down on the sprite)

Icing

• Powdered Sugar
• Water

METHOD

• Mix the dry ingredients (cake mix, pudding mix)
• Mix together all wet ingredients except the sprite (eggs, oil, extract)
• Combine together, mixing thoroughly
• Slowly add in 1 cup sprite and mix in
• Grease bundt pan
• Pour mix into bundt pan
• Bake at 350 degrees for approx 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
• Once cake cools mix icing - powdered sugar and small (VERY SMALL) amounts of water until you achieve desired consistency)
• Take a fork and let icing drip onto cake, moving fork inward and outward.

Optional : Dust with coconut flakes for a snowy look. The cake will be light brown on the outside and light green on the inside! Very festive!

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It is the first Monday after Christmas. The plans for the day include sleeping in, eating left over turkey, finding a dog park, and heading over to City Boy Tattoo to have Kristyn Bat finish the planning on my right sleeve. We managed to sleep in, we managed to eat left over turkey, we made no attempt to find a dog park, and then we decided we would head over to the tattoo shop around 6PM.

I wasn't sure if I was going to be getting tattooed today or not, but hoping that I was I took a leap of faith and prepared my right arm for getting tattooed. I crossed my fingers that I didn't just shave my arm for nothing. That ish is tedious!

At the shop, Kristyn had some of the elements of the tattoo already drawn up and made into stencils.  We made a few changes and added some elements, specifically a compass rose with a fleur-de-lis indicating north. I had her change up one of the skull elements in the piece and we added some traditional birds to the mix. Kristyn did the redrawing in a hot minute and hand traced all the stencils, and we were ready to get going on the tattoo.

The piece itself will need three or four more sessions, but the initial outline is fantastic. Solid line work really makes or breaks a piece, and you can tell already that this will be really good long lasting work. All in all it was a fantastic 4-hour session with a total of 10 individual "tattoos". I want to thank Kristyn and everyone at CBT for staying late at the shop. Check back for part 2 in the next couple weeks.

Below is the paper that the University of Florida asked to be submitted with their application to their Student Affairs Masters Program.  Any comments or criticisms are greatly appreciated! In particular - is the village reference way too cheesy?  And is it inappropriate to underline the points I want within a quote?  Should I just paraphrase?  And would it be appropriate to add this paper to all of my other applications as a supplement? Thank you in advance for your help and for not stealing my paper and submitting it yourself. :) :) :) Topic : "What role should Student Affairs Professionals play in the undergraduate experience?"  Max 3 pages.

"Problems facing the contemporary university: One is the improvement of undergraduate instruction in the university. It will require the solution of many sub-problems: how to give adequate recognition to the teaching skill as well as to the research performance of the faculty; how to create a curriculum that serves the needs of the student as well as the research interests of the teacher; how to prepare the generalist as well as the specialist in an age of specialization looking for better generalizations; how to treat the individual student as a unique human being in the mass student body; how to make the university seem smaller even as it grows larger; how to establish a range of contact between faculty and students broader than the one-way route across the lectern or through the television screen; how to raise educational policy again to the forefront of faculty concerns. Increasingly, also, the better institutions will need to keep in mind that many of their undergraduate students will be going on to graduate school, and therefore that they need individual attention as pre-graduate students."

This statement rings startlingly true considering that Clark Kerr wrote this in 1964 in his book “Uses of the University.” It seems that not much has changed in the core needs of a postgraduate institution.  What has changed, however, is the continual development of Student Affairs professionals who are becoming more and more equipped to handle these issues for the 21^st century student population.  The role that Student Affairs Professionals should play in the undergraduate experience is the same as it was in 1963; “to program curriculum that serves the needs of the student”, “to treat the individual student as a unique human being in the mass student body”, and “to establish a range of contact between faculty and students.” A true University education requires academic, intellectual, and social development.  Students Affairs Professionals create programming that is designed to enrich the experience of the student and to complement the academic curriculum provided by professors and individual colleges.  University staff members in multiple disciplines interact with students on a daily basis and are expected to have the knowledge and capacity to meet the changing needs of a student population.  The time, energy and effort that students devote to the learning process is most often correlated to their participation in co-curricular activities and their involvement in the University experience as a whole.  It is the job of a Student Affairs professional to enhance the academic programs on a campus with experiential learning opportunities and peer interaction.  It is highly important that these professionals facilitate the bridging of the gap between classroom and non-classroom experiences so that each students feel engaged as part of a community. As Universities expand an individual student can easily get lost in the mix.  Young people who came from a high school graduating class of 100 are now taking Bio 101 classes with 600 students.  It’s unnervingly easy to intimidate a student into discomfort and, eventually, academic failure.  This is why a Student Affairs professional must endeavor to make each student feel like not only a part of this amazing intellectual community, but an individual with unique ideas and learning styles.  Only with this individuality intact can a student feel comfortable enough to travel the critical path from childhood to adulthood, a path laden with necessary pitfalls and quicksand. Therefore, in order to be effective in supporting the individual progress of each student, the Student Affairs professional must find the tenuous balance between protecting a student from harm and allowing the student the opportunity to learn from each mistake.  This balance is as individual as the person, because each student has different core needs in terms of mentoring, advising, and development. It takes a village to raise a child, and that village is the most important developmental tool in a Student Affairs Professional’s toolbox.  The third role a Student Affairs Professional must play in the undergraduate experience is as a resource.  Intimate knowledge of each habitant, storefront, and service in the village is necessary so that appropriate recommendations and connections can be made, connections that could prove to be the most useful associations that the student makes in their entire life.  Even the village idiot is a valued contributing community member and stakeholder that could have a lasting impact on a student.  With the map to the village also comes the responsibility to bridge any communication gaps that exist within the infrastructure.  The Student Affairs Professional must be able to facilitate genuine relationships and collaborations across departments, without alienating any one piece of the complex matrix that creates a University.  This includes fostering a climate where students and faculty feel comfortable expressing themselves to each other as dialogue partners and sounding boards. Ultimately, the role that a Student Affairs Professional should play in the Undergraduate Experience is that of a facilitator.  One should be able to take advantage of the multitude of resources on a college campus and determine which resources will be most advantageous for each student, then to open avenues of ongoing interaction and involvement.  Inherent in this responsibility is the capability to access the individual needs of a student instead of the student body and to communicate effectively with diverse populations, integrating the distinct segments of a student’s experience.  The position is instrumental in providing the type of environment where students feel comfortable enough to take risks, ask questions, try new things and pursue their dreams.  Without these facilitators students would have to navigate through a complex system with variable expectations, opportunities and access on their own.

I'm ridiculously stressed out about my grad school applications, and obviously the best way to cope with that stress is to completely ignore all of the things I need to do and just find random hilarity on the intrawebs. :)  Enjoy the bounty. Math Teacher Makes Citizen's Arrest on Student for Permanent Marker [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="Deadly Weapons"][/caption] An Oklahoma City math teacher saved the day by arresting her 13 year old student.  According to Oklahoma law, when on private property you must have the property owner's permission to carry spray paint or permanent markers.  Obviously this hooligan had malicious intent - because his permanent marker BLED through his paper and onto a desk!!!  UNHEARD OF! The student was detained and transferred to a home for juvenile delinquents.  I for one am relieved that this terror is off the streets.  Who knows what he and his MARKER could have done?  The last thing we need in this world are teenagers running around with those crazy thoughts in their head and the ability to WRITE IT ON THE FURNITURE! Happy Toilet Education Program in Singapore This is a story that's really stinks. (ahaha - see what I did there?)  Apparently, Singapore has been working on this fantastic marketing campaign that is designed to prove to US that they are a first world country - capable of not only attracting tourist but also of providing safe and sanitary conditions for them.  But their toilets are not keeping up. Now, I've always wished that there was some sort of toilet cleanliness ranking program.  I used to sit up at night and dream about one day ranking the condition of bathrooms.  What a glorious job.  Turns out THERE IS!   A 3 star toilet works, lacks litter and odor, and provides basic amenities like hand towels and soap.  Yep, that's pretty much the checklist of what i expect out of a toilet.  But Singapore isn't up to par yet.  They did, however, recently open up one 5 star commode; which includes a baby changing area and water saving flush features.  FANCY. Greatest Prostitution Scheme Ever What do you do when you need to pay your rent and don't feel like putting forth the effort that it takes to roll on your thigh high fishnets and prance around on the boulevard?  Find a saucy little teenager who loves her some chicken nuggets to do it for you! ....Chicken Nuggets? Yes... I said Chicken Nuggets. A 27 year old man and his 16 year old girlfriend paid their rent by pimping out a teenaged girl to middle aged men in Australia.  They made $4500 off of her in one month, and all she got were a few boxes of chicken nuggets. I can't be too sure here but I'm gonna guess that that girl looked like this stock photo of a teenaged schoolgirl in handcuffs after she found out she was duped. (I wonder why the 27 year old couldn't just make his girlfriend do it?  Maybe her pay rate was too high... she wanted RIBS)