Disliking people is not a very Christian thing to do. You know what is Christian, though? Church. So to make up for my unchristianness, here are some churches in Madison that sound like nice places to me, based on important information such as location and service times. If they do not sound acceptable to you, do not fear. There are many more. It's Wisconsin. You can't spit without hitting a Lutheran church. Not that I plan on spitting on any Lutheran churches. Or churches of any kind. Really, I don't plan on spitting at all. So, without further ado:

1. Midvale Lutheran

2. Mt. Olive Lutheran

3. West Middleton Lutheran

4. St. James Lutheran, Verona

I have also been noting the temperature in Madison, through my homepage, which I have also set to tell me the weather in St. Louis and Indianapolis. On the whole, it hasn't been too terribly bad. In fact, it's usually very similar to the temperature in Indianapolis. In contrast, I have noticed over the past few years that the listed temperature in St. Louis tends to be a few degrees warmer than in Indianapolis, though I have never really noticed this difference when actually outside. The one thing that the weather in Madison doesn't seem to do, which the weather does do in St. Louis and Indianapolis, is wildly swing 30 degrees over the space of a few hours. That can be good and bad. Bad because there have been no random, lovely days of springtime in Madison yet this year. Good because it makes sense, and also, don't wild swings in temperature have something to do with tornadoes? Cold fronts meeting warm fronts, or something like that?

Also, on second thought, I do plan to spit toothpaste. It's something I've been doing for a while now, and I think I'll continue.
- posted by Darcey @ 1:38 PM

 
I dislike people, most all of them, in general. In return, most all people in general tend to not really have any opinion of me whatsoever, seeing as I don't usually say much and when I do, they usually completely ignore it. But I much, much prefer the idea of people ignoring me to the idea of people being angry at me, which is why I will never, ever actually yell at the people who I dislike and who deserve to be yelled at, and will instead only write passive-aggressive blog entries and feel much better for it. That's all.
- posted by Darcey @ 1:50 PM

 
I will only be in St. Louis at Wash U for three more months! I must use this time carefully to enjoy all that this place has to offer. At Wash U I must: 1. go to an a cappella concert. I haven't been to one of those in a long time. I don't even know when one is happening. Long ago, when I lived on the 40, I knew these things. It was hard not to. 2. I must also ... go to the Assembly Series? I've looked this up, and most of the remaining speakers look really boring, except maybe the Family Guy guy. And then there's St. Louis as a whole. In St. Louis, I really need to ... um, well ... I still have no desire to go up that arch ... but there's museums and stuff, or the zoo, and there's lots of little areas and places where I've never been that probably have fun things to do or at least good places to eat. I rarely get too far past the Loop. Lately, I've realized that I haven't even been to the Galleria or that general area in a pretty long time, and I have a strange desire to go there, though no real reason. Maybe to see a movie or to get something to eat? Yes, that sounds good. I'm glad I've worked out these exciting plans with myself. The idea of wasting these last few months would be very distressing.
- posted by Darcey @ 2:07 PM

 
I have been emailing apartments in Wisconsin with a few questions about availability, parking, etc., in order to pick the best ones in hopes of visiting them over spring break. The following are three separate responses that I have received over a span of a week, all in response to the same email to the same apartment:

1.
The apartments were built between 1990 and 1993. Rent is between $675 and
$715. Underground parking is included in the rent. They are not wired for
high speed internet.
Sauk Creek Apartments

2.
Dear Darcey,

Yes, we do have a one bedroom available for that time. Underground parking
is included in the rent and we have cable jacks in all our rooms for
internet. The buildings were built in 1993 and they are like new. Please
call me for an appointement.

3.
Dear Darcey,

The answer to your questions is YES! Please call so I can tell you more.


The last two are signed by the same man. Do you think he will continue to email me until I call? Or maybe he is simply arguing with himself over the availability of high speed Internet? Or the reason he is confused on this point is that he himself is not really familiar with how to use the Internet and its various functions, such as email? Or maybe he's just desperate for residents?

P.S. I apologize if this post appears more than once or with irregularities in the font. Blogger and I are having a disagreement.
- posted by Darcey @ 11:54 AM

 
Good Group: We have a case due Thursday, have it written by Tuesday, put it together on Tuesday and proofread it, and send it to the professor for feedback.

Bad Group: Oh God, where to begin? We have a case due Wednesday at 2:30, and well, I guess if the writing is finished by 1:00, I can put it together in between classes, that is, if my group members can be troubled to send what they've done to other people. Because clearly when you say you're going to email someone something they need for something due tomorrow, you have no intention of doing it before 10 pm, and when you do check your email at 10 pm and see that I've written my part without you, you can only be troubled to send an email saying you'll send what you have so far if I want it, but not right now, because you're "going out." At 10:00 on a Tuesday when you've said you'd put together a paper due tomorrow. Not that there's anything you could be doing if you weren't going out, because of course your other group members haven't given you anything to do anything with. First there's the guy whose email is "acting up" who doesn't know when we're meeting and says he needs help with calculations but won't really tell us what those calculations are, and then the one who thinks he should contribute a paragraph to an 8 page paper - though in his defense did offer to do the calculations in place of email acting up guy.

Do you ever get really paranoid that whenever you talk about someone in public they're secretly sitting behind you, or they will just happen to stumble across your blog through some crazy web of linked Wash U blogs?

You know what would be nice? If a magical fairy wrote all of my group cases tomorrow and then the next day took me to the grocery store, and bought me food, floss, and other non-food items. Because the world would be a better place if I could just floss. I get cross when I can't floss.
- posted by Darcey @ 10:54 PM

 
Things That Are Sure to Kill Me

1. Instant Iced Tea
According to the most recent front page of Stud Life, my long-term affinity for and consumption of instant iced tea is going to give me brittle bones and pain, due to its high fluoride content. This sounds bad, until you actually read the article and find out that no study has actually been done to prove this. In fact, it is all based on one woman who claimed to drink one to two gallons of double strength iced tea per day. People are idiots. By people, I do not mean this woman but the professor at the Washington University School of Medicine who thought that this one woman's behavior constituted the need for a study of the fluoride content of iced tea. So I will continue to consume instant iced tea until the older generations from the long line of instant iced tea consumers from whom I come begin to show signs of brittle bones and debilitating pain. Incidentally, the Stud Life article ends by claiming tea helps prevent several types of cancer.

2. My Headphones
My headphones will kill me by:
a) Brain tumor, followed by tongue cancer: Recently, while listening to headphones, I have been experiencing strange waves of pain that sort of travel from my ear to my jaw to my tongue. Since then, I seem to have sustained an injury to my tongue, similar to a burn, but it won't go away. Clearly, this is due to the headphones giving me a tumor. You know, just like cell phones do.
b) Electrocution: Also, recently, while listening to the headphones plugged into my computer, I have twice received a shock in my ear. Then, today, while listening to the headphones plugged into my nice, battery operated Walkman, there was some sort of power surge or something and the lights dimmed. At that same moment, my Walkman suddenly shut off. Isn't that weird? Clearly, I'm dying.

- posted by Darcey @ 9:27 PM

 
The Joys of One Last Semester of Group Projects

So I emailed the members of my pricing group last Wednesday about the possibility of meeting Sunday to write a paper due Wednesday. As of today, only one out of three people had emailed me back. So I send another email. Still nothing. Have I stumbled across the laziest group in the whole b-school? The only other things I can think of is that somebody along the way got their "reply" and "reply to all" buttons mixed up, and there's been emailing going on that hasn't been getting to me. So what am I supposed to do? I can see them in class on Monday, should they show up, but I'm told by my other marketing group that Valentine's Day is an inconvenient day to have group meetings. It seems very difficult to me to split up the paper, write it, and put it together all on Tuesday, and besides, I, of course, have another group meeting scheduled on Tuesday. Grr.
- posted by Darcey @ 7:48 PM

 
I actually have homework to be doing this weekend - a four page paper due Tuesday. Three years ago, I would have had this paper written and would spend the next few days carefully editing it. As of yesterday, I have 3 sentences written. Nothing but 3 sentences, despite the fact that I spent all of yesterday afternoon, and several hours thus far today, sitting in front of the computer doing nothing of any consequence (other than my weekly inspection of the things that have decided to download themselves onto my computer, followed by my weekly panic that my inspection has led me to accidentally delete something I shouldn't have). My thinking now is that motivation for the paper will surely strike me by Monday night. And anyway, I've already, you know, thought about it and stuff.

Also, by popular demand, this is a Toyota Corolla:



- posted by Darcey @ 2:21 PM

 
Yay! First comment from random stranger (unoptimistic though it may be)! Horray for the Next Blog button!

- posted by Darcey @ 6:33 PM

 
Additional Internet Research About My Future (Unillustrated)

Banks:
After a good ten minutes of informed research, I am definitely in favor of moving to U.S. Bank in Wisconsin. I have heard of them (Bank One being the only other Madison bank to fall under this category), and they will give you free everything, and if you were to have $2000, they would give you interest for it ($2000 being a realistic amount of money when compared to $10,000 elsewhere). I am also opposed to a bank called Anchor, who I think want to charge you for a debit card, which seems contrary to the purpose of a debit card. Also, in the more immediate future of banks, I hope at some point to travel to my present financial institution, deposit a check therein, and receive cash in return.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation:
Upon moving to Wisconsin, a resident has 30 days to apply for a WI driver's license, but TWO days to apply for WI license plates. This seems a tad excessive to me, as I plan to have better things to do on my second day of living in Wisconsin than sitting at the DMV. But I suppose I don't want to have a run in with the law on my third day of living in Wisconsin, either. (Third day license plate cops are the worst kind.)

That's all. It's the weekend AGAIN! Already!


- posted by Darcey @ 4:42 PM

 
With all of my free time, I have much time to spend researching my future on the Internet, such as places I would like to live and cars I would like to drive. Here is what I have learned: 1) There are a lot of cars out there. 2) I don't know much about them, andI keep changing my mind about them. 3) This is a Hyundai Elantra:



At first, I thought Hyundais were silly. But currently they are my favorite. However, I think I would prefer the sedan to the hatchback shown here, despite the fact that my careful research has shown that important car-knowledgeable people consider the hatchback to have a bolder and sleeker design. But I like the color in the picture. Do you like the color in the picture? Anyway, the cheap model of the Elantra comes with many standard features. To please my family, who seem overly concerned that it might occasionally snow in Wisconsin and who kept trying to convince me I needed some sort of obnoxious SUV, I would like to add Option Package 4, which includes antilock brakes, traction control (which does not seem to be available in many similar cars), and a CD player (which everyone knows is a key safety feature for winter driving). Also, one random reviewer on a website containing hundreds of reviews from random reviewers claimed that the Elantra was excellent in the snow.

Moving on to apartments. These are the Lincoln Ridge apartments:



They are one of my current apartment favorites. I recently discovered a website where actual apartment residents rate apartments, and there were several comments about Lincoln Ridge. On the whole, it seemed to receive slightly above average reviews. However, I also learned about several of the resident's complaints. Apparently it is drafty, and it is not well sound proofed but is located close to the Interstate (which I have also gathered is referred to by the natives as the "Beltline"). Also, the underground parking involves a $40 a month fee and a waiting list, and apparently, even in innocent little Madison, cars left outside overnight in big, dark parking lots are frequently broken into. And, in the aforementioned unlikely event of winter weather, these outdoor cars may also be subject to snow.

Unfortunately, most of Lincoln Ridge's competitors for my affections were not rated on the apartment rating website. But they do have their own websites. This is Wexford Place:



Don't you find these pictures illustrative? (But beware: acquiring these graven images required much witchcraft, and one day my spell may falter and the images vanish.) At Wexford Place, whose rent is similar to Lincoln Ridge, underground parking is included, but an individual washer/dryer is not. Wexford Place has many similar-looking friends who are owned by the same company, and they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, I may not be able to fully appreciate all of these from the comfort of my bedroom and may have to actually visit some of these places or even communicate with actual people before making any sort of meaningful decision. I'll keep you posted.

- posted by Darcey @ 11:42 PM