Yesterday was Jami's birthday and today she invited us out to dinner with her to celebrate! 

Ray left for his conference in San Francisco last Thursday, so he wasn't able to join us.  But forgotten, he was not.  Ray had a little case of pink eye last week, which had cleared up by the time he left.  But being the generous fella that he is, he didn't want to be selfish, so he thoughtfully left some pink eye at home for me.  I came down with the eye-goobs (in just the right eye) on Sunday night and by the time I got to the doctor's on Monday it was pretty bad.  The doctor gave me some ointment (which was different than the drops Ray had) to fix the problem and told me to stay home for 24 hours.  Well, on Monday afternoon didn't it spread to the other eye?  Lucky me, I couldn't go near other people for fear of sharing.  The ointment made my vision extremely blurry (like the worst Barbara Walters special you've ever seen), so I couldn't do much but lay on the sofa and listen to the TV.  I did have one fan of my condition: Sam.  I was a captive cat-petter for about 48 hours and he took full advantage!

But, fortunately by the time dinne rolled around on Tuesday I was considered no longer contagious, so Danielle thoughtfully offered to pick me up (since I couldn't see to drive) and we headed to VPB for dinner.  Actually, the plan was to go to Madera's Mexican Cantina.  Jami figured it was a Tuesday, so we shouldn't have a problem fitting 8-10 people in.  Thoughtful Jami decided to call ahead and discovered some sort of freak occurence - Madera's had a party of 20 AND another party of 10 at around the same time we were planning to arrive!  So unfortunately they couldn't fit us in, so we headed to the pub for burgers and beers.

A few of Jami's friends from work were there, as well as Tonya, Danielle, me, Scully and Will.  Dinner was yummy, but the company was better!  Jami was even understanding that I had forgotten her birthday gift at home! 

Happy Birthday Jami!  We love you!

So as it turns out Pizza Putt and Karaoke at JP's weren't the only birthday surprises I had planned for Ray!  There were folks who couldn't make the Saturday gig, so I also planned a surprise dinner for Ray on his actual birthday at his favorite restaurant, Silver Palace.  But my husband is a complicated man.  He can't make anything simple.  So what does he do?  He goes and schedules a tour at RPI campus to explore their MFA and PhD programs on his actual birthday!  So with a quick reshuffle of the plans, dinner was moved to today. 

But as I said, Ray is a complicated man, so what does he go and do?  Well, he contracted pink eye.    So we sent him to the doctor first thing in the morning, and then sent him home to rest.  He even required some serious prodding to get him to dinner.  I even had to spill some of the beans (well, we have a reservation).  He perked up at that, but then asked if it would be OK if we invited his parents (so I had to tell him they were already coming).  Never easy, I did not have to tell him that his friends would be there too (or that his Dad would have to miss it due to the stomach flu!  Feel better!).  So ultimately he was surprised and our large party enjoyed a veritable Chinese feast!

We were joined by Nate, Jina, Vanessa, Sarah, Jay, Jami, Danielle, Tonya, Kevin and Emily (who were picture-shy) for a wonderful meal!

The pink-eye ridden birthday boy was a bit camera shy, but he was certainly proud to show off his gift from the Jergers - IT'S BUSINESS TIME!  (complete with business socks and all!)

I am super greatful to everyone who helped keep the secret, and for being so flexible with the date change!  We had a great meal, super company and an awesome time sending some love to an amazing man!

Weekend Part 1: 

So Saturday ended up being an interesting day.  At 7pm, I was expected to drive with Corinn to pick up Tonya's cousin, Andrew, to bring him to Pizza Put so he could visit his friends there.  Meanwhile, the cogs in my brain turn and ask, "Why can't Andrew's friends pick him up and drive him there?  Why us?" None-the-less, we did it and come to find out, there were a group of great friends who decided to throw me a surprise birthday party!  I was embarrased, but excited and we had a lot of fun playing laser tag, video games and eventually we drove out to JP's after Pizza Put kicked us out around 11pm.

JP's kicked us out at 2am, but we were able to get a couple Karaoke songs in prior to this happening.

(Heather preaches to the choir... Notice the lime goes well with her outfit!)

(Heather and I sang intensely... I think Heather set the stage on fire with her "Welcome to the Jungle"!)

(Corinn and Danielle talk Politics...)

(Sarah, Jay and Ken totally digging the Karaoke scene!)

All in all, it just reminded me how lucky I am to have a great bunch of friends and coworkers! 

Weekend Part 2:

So waking up Sunday morning was not good at all.  I had bad vision and pain in my head.  After being in the walk-in clinic, it turned out to be a sinus infection and some weird eye thing.  What sucked about this was I could not obtain the prescription that I needed so I gotta deal with the pain in my eyes and the blurry vision for another day.  Not a great way to end a weekend that was turing out to be killer!  I think I'm coming down with a cold to which really stinks as I have to travel over the next week... 

Weekend Part 3:

So in the midst of all this excitement and drama, Corinn and I launched a gallery, YAY!  So if you want to see a bunch of photos of us, friends and other wild and crazy goodness, feel free to find the link at the top of the page that says "Gallery"!  We'll be updating it as soon as we can to get photos up of all the things we'd love to share with everyone, so be patient! 

For now, follow these links to see the party photos of this weekend:

• Ray's 28th at Pizza Put
• Ray's 28th at JP's

I have 4-letter explicitives to describe the past week and a half, but I feel there's a following to this website that does not need to see that.  Basically our hosting provider hosed our website and my vacation... But after many, many hours and days trying to resolve the issue, we are not longer hosed.

Houston... We're back online.

So since I have a week of vacation (Yay!), I'm now in the process of searching for a M.F.A. or Ph.D. program.

Why do I want to do this?

Well, it's a pretty easy answer... I want to 1-up Corinn. 

In all seriousness (or as much as I can deal with), it's been one of the many lifelong goals of mine since I was in high school.  One of my friends asked me back then if I wanted to pursue anything after a 4-year degree.  I answered, "Yeah, I want to get 7 Ph.D.'s!"  I think he about died laughing.

Obtaining a Ph.D. is ultimately my goal, but to find one in the arts or creative side of computing is fairly scarce and difficult.  I'd like to obtain a doctorate through a reputable university/college... So far the only one that I think encompasses everything I can want in a degree is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.  The Doctorate is in Electronic Arts which sounds pretty cool already.  I just wish somehow that a degree like this would allow me to continue working at the EMC as I'm really into the work we're doing.  I also wish it wouldn't potentially set me back $50,000 a year!  Lastly wishing, this particular program requires that I already have a Masters level degree before participating in the Ph.D. program.  I wonder if I could wiggle myself out of this requirement…?

In any case, RPI seems like the only college at this point to offer a degree in the field I'm interested in.  Ann DeMarle, my boss and infamous wonder, told me at one point in time to look for a program that will allow me to research my thesis.  I remember when she gave me this advice, I thought to myself, "I need to come up with a thesis prior to applying?!" If this be the case, while it probably is, I guess I should start jotting down what exactly I want to do research in; maybe that'll help me explore the concept for my thesis.

The next question for me to figure out, probably even before searching for a degree program, is to understand what I want to do after I obtain the degree.  A slightly big concern is that I might be unemployable...?  Then again, many people with a Ph.D. at IBM and Pixar have done research on future proponents of computing.  Teaching is another function I’d like to fulfill when I feel like I have had enough experience to do so.  This is why I'd prefer to get a Ph.D. or an M.F.A. as both are currently considered terminal degress... And terminal doesn't mean that it'll kill you thought spending 2-8 more years on this type of program might kill me!

Talking about teaching, for those interested, here are some useful links I’ve discovered in my search:

• A good application timeline to plan by for Graduate School Searching
• How you can plan for financing Graduate School
• Another set of ideas to pay for Graduate School through Fellowships and Assistantships
• Search a huge database(Petersons) for Graduate Schools
• Here's another international database(GradSchool.com)
• Ask not what your education can do for you - ask what you can do for your education (or something like that):  The interview process
• Common Graduate School Lingo

Here are other programs I'm considering:

• Digital Media Ph.D. - Georgia Institue of Technology
• Fine Art Ph.D. - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• Fine Art D.F.A. - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• Creative Media Ph.D. - Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
• Studio Arts M.F.A. - Purdue University
• Computer Science Ph.D. - Purdue University
• Design and Technology M.F.A. - Parsons The New School for Design
• Animation M.F.A. - Savannah College of Art and Design

If anyone viewing this blog has any suggestions or recommendations, let me know!!!