Apparently, we needed a bath.

BAH! bahbahbahbahbahbahBAH!

OK, now that that is out of my system, I will now tell you why I am saying it repetitively. So we got home from church yesterday to find that nature decided to not follow its normal actions of staying outside. IT WAS FREAKIN' RAINING IN OUR APARTMENT! Apparently while the complex was all at church a pipe broke in the apartment above ours and completely leaked through down to our apartment, and then through ours down to the lounge in the basement. I was the last person home because I delegated myself to putting away all of the hymn books after church, and I get home to buckets and pots everywhere and my roommates trying to save all of their stuff by putting it in the lower bunks of the bunk beds. First thing I did was check my computer (which was positioned just right where nothing would get to it, so it was fine. And then I got to work.

The main 'rain' was coming down in the front halves of both bedrooms and in the bathroom/vanity area. Along with that, because there was so much water, it was seeping through the carpet to other areas and flowing out into the kitchen. I realized that the majority of the water was coming through these visible seams in the ceiling. So in order to get rid of the majority of pots and bowls that were tripping everyone (I actually stepped on a pot and totally bent it in a weird way that no one can figure out how it happened :-), I started taping large towels over these seams so that the majority of the water would be caught by the towel and the only dripping would occur from the middle of the towels. That helped us out so that we could at least walk around and get dressed in working clothes without being splattered (we were still in our church clothes). After that it was just a general mopping up effect trying to get the water off the floor so that it wouldn't seek through the lounge or spread to the rest of the apartment.

It was a horrible thing to happen, but it was actually rather nice how everyone tried to help. Once the girls in our ward found out what was going on everyone brought over their rags and towels to help out. When we had too many people in the apartment the rest decided to go around and get donations from each apartment for laundry money cause a lot of clothes got wet as well as for all of the towels/rags. Another apartment realized that we hadn't eaten lunch or dinner (it was 5:30 by this time) so they cooked us dinner. It was cool how everyone helped out.

Finally, a guy who helps maintain the complex arrived with a wet vacuum and took it upstairs to the apartment above us to get rid of the water there (They had long since turned off the water so that the pipe wasn't flushing out water anymore). That stopped the flow down to our apartment, which helped, and then after they finished up there they came down to ours and did the same. So, now we have an apartment that reeks of wet moldy carpet, drying clothes hanging everywhere (my roommates' clothes can't go in the dryer) and people's towels, mops, buckets, bowls, pots, and everything else all over the place. By this time it was about 9:00 pm and we did not get the restful Sunday that we deserved. So we set up fans all over the place, did as much laundry that would be needed to sleep and go to school the next day, and then folded towels that we washed that were everyone else's so that we can eventually return them when we find out who they belong to. It's nice how everyone pulled together to help (I am just hoping they come back to get their towels, otherwise we will be swamped with them.)
Around 12:00 we were about to all head to bed, when a roommate went into the computer closet to write in her journal. We had completely forgot about that closet. Inside we saw the weirdest thing. There was no water on the ceiling or the first two shelves, but the 3rd shelf (which had her computer on it) had a puddle of water all over it which flowed off and got the carpet right below the edge wet too. There was no possible way that only that shelf could be wet and nothing else. So, considering I am more comfortable around electronics than the rest of my roomies, I unhooked the whole computer and brought out all of the equipment out onto the table to inspect the damage. The CPU box was above the water a little and upon opening it I only saw dust and cobwebs and no water so that was safe. The keyboard and mouse were drenched. The monitor was fine (it was on top of the CPU). the printer was sitting in water so we don't know how bad it is. I cleaned up in there, set a fan up for the carpet and left the computer stuff out to air out.

By this point, we were all tired and grouchy and the apartment smelled and just felt really humid (which I am used to, but the other roommates are from desert areas so they really hated the muggy feeling). I unfortunately am kind of annoyed with clutter in general (kind of is putting it lightly) and earlier in the evening I said something to a roommate who wasn't working and had her stuff everywhere and she just blew up at me. I should have realized that she was just trying to relax. Oops. So now I have to tide that over sometime today.

Well, that was our adventure. I was supposed to get up this morning to finish my homework, but I was so tired I slept in and had to apologize to the teacher who is giving me an extra day to do it. Here is the extent of our damage:

Oldest roommate : clothes all wet, text books damp, shoes wet, generally ticked.
Her younger sister : clothes all wet, palm pilot wet, shoes wet, book bag and books wet.
J1 : bed and bedding wet, computer.
Me : bed and bedding wet, shoes wet, notes from one of my classes wet, checkbook soaked.
J2 + A : just fine.

My roommates are going to talk to management today about it, so I will find out later what their plan is. Considering the age of the carpet, the grossness of the water, and the fact that it reeks in there, they might have to just replace the carpet which would be nice. But at the same time, they would have to move us out to do it which I don't particularly like. Oh, well. I'll find out later.

stupid test questions

Ok, you can't just do something like that. I took a test today for my history class and one of the questions was "To which area was nomadic people important" and then it lists some areas. But for one area they were important because they were the only people living in that area. To another they were important because they caused that area to be destroyed. To another they were important cause they did trade with them, and to the last one they generally just fought them occasionally thus putting hiccups in their history. So my question is, important in what way. You can't just same important cause everything is important to everything else (like the loss of the shoe story where for the loss of the horse shoe, the war was lost). BAH! I hate tests like that, and this entire test was like that. a bunch of really vague answers and questions. What's even worse was that that question was on there twice, word for word. BAH!

I know that teachers look over their tests before they give them to us, and sometimes they even have the TA's look over them, but still, they typically put in things that make perfect sense to them cause they have been teaching it and the TA's have taken the class before so they have heard it all before, not just the part on the test and they have taken the teacher's tests so they have a sense of what the teacher is wanting. Teacher's need to realize this and somehow we need to find a way where they can tell if questions are ambiguous or not. Maybe give out extra credit to people who take it a day early and tell you how fair it is, just SOMETHING. Anyways, I need to go get the rest of my homework done.

my roommates will pay

Well, my roommates tried to be amusing this weekend. Here is the story.

Considering this is BYU, there are always those people who get in a new ward and automatically try to get to know everyone. Normally they are really old, premies, or just off of their mission (and I guess we could include the social people and the girls who think their life isn't complete unless they know everyone). Well, we happened to get a few new people in our ward after Christmas break and most of them fit into these three categories. Unfortunately, one of these individuals chose to get to know our apartment as of late. For starters, he tried visiting us on Saturday, only to find me completely engrossed in a TV show (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ;-) and my roommate getting ready for a date. I answered the door (more like, I yelled "Come in") ,and he immediately said "Hi, . How's it going?" Apparently this guy actually tried memorizing people from the ward directory before visiting them. I didn't know this and I tend to have a rough time remembering people's names so I flat out said that I didn't know him. Well, after clearing that up, I attempted to chit-chat with him. I think my roommate got the hint that I was too engrossed in the show to communicate (true) and so came out, chit-chatted, and then he finally left. Considering he called her by her older sister's name (she wasn't to amused) and I was so engrossed in the show, we believed that that was the end of his getting to know our apartment. Boy, were we wrong.
So the next morning we had church, and because I am the Sacrament pianist I had to go early. Well, I got kicked of the piano very rudely by the special music number person (who had no right to treat me like that) and so I went to sit in the normal side row that me and my roommates take up. Well, that one guy from the previous day shows up, and upon seeing me immediately comes up to that row and asks if he could sit with me and my roommates. I really didn't care so I said "sure whatever" thinking that my two freshman roommates would probably sit next to him so that I wouldn't have to deal with him (they told me the previous day that they thought he was cute, ) Anyways, I finally commandeered my piano and stayed down at the piano till after the sacrament. Upon returning to the row of seats after the sacrament I found out that my roommates, after realizing the extra pair of scriptures in our row belonged to a guy, decided to be mean and so they all went somewhere else so that when I came up from the piano and he came up from passing the sacrament, our stuff was the only stuff in the row. There was no way of getting out of this stupid situation without being extremely rude, and so I had to sit next to this boy the entire meeting. BAH!
So, of course, because this is a BYU single's ward, EVERYONE noticed, but because it was me, nobody said anything to me (probably cause I have a reputation for glaring meanly at people I don't like). So, I am hoping that this guy will take a hint from someone and leave our apartment (or at least me) alone.
Anyways, I just wanted to BAH! For a bit. I can’t believe how “stupid” the people in single’s wards are. Add that to my brother’s ward which is doing a date box , I pity them. You would think that getting a bunch of intelligent people together would produce intelligent thoughts and actions. But no, that just doesn’t work when it’s a singles ward. Oh, well. Any suggestions on how to get back at my roommates?

computer problems

BAH!

I see the importance of having different operating systems and file types and what not, but at the same time I wish that everything would be consolidated so I won't have the problems that I have everytime a holiday occurs. When a holiday occurs everything on campus shuts down except for the library and the computer lab there. Unfortunately the only computers in that computer lab are Windows operated and you can't add new programs to them because they are owned and setup by the university. So, even though I have 3 projects due on Friday and today is my only free day, I can't check to see if my code creates what I want it too because 1) two of my programs actually create a GUI program which with the simple FTP program the computers have, you can't veiw the GUI. and 2) for the other project I have to read in and write out files that are in .pgm and .ppm formats. I have done that, but unfortunately I can't make sure I got it right because none of the Windows programs on these computers support those file extensions for images. BAH! I have a ton of work, and I can't do it because they stinking close all of the usable computer labs. BAH!

You would think that a typical computer lab would at least have 1 or 2 Linux machines, but no they don't comsider that a wise investment cuase not many no how to operate it and thus they are worried that some poor soul who doesn't know how to operate (or someone who is very good at operating it) will cause problems and delete everything.

Anyways, back to my homework. I guess I can at least get my other assignments done so I have more time later this week.

Yea! What divine joy.

Yes, I have finally joined the family in doing the blog thing (mainly so I could comment on my brother's). This blog for myself will probably just be ventings for me, cause I normally don't have time with school and whatnot to actually think of anything insightful. But if I don't vent often enough, then I tend to rip my roommates to shreds, which is not necessarily a good thing for the sanity of our apartment. Anyways, I have class in a an hour and haven't done the homework, so i need to vamoosh.