Finito Bandito

Ahh, you cannot imagine how relaxed I am.  I took my last final yesterday evening.  And boy does it feel amazing.  I feel like I have the entire week ahead of me – free to fill however I’d like.  Of course I still have work, which takes up a large chunk of the day, but when I get home I am done.  No more studying, no more books, no more papers to write or muscles to memorize.  I can read, cook, shop, go to the movies, WHATEVER, without feeling guilty. 

Ok, so school starts again in February, but it’s a few weeks off.  And I’m thrilled. 

No more of this:

That’s me on the airplane studying for my brain test.  I had these very useful flashcards and I would circle the parts I needed to know and then test myself.  I had to spell correctly which is difficult when you’re trying to spell weird brain parts.

After too much studying I inevitably go a bit loco, as you can see here:

I started playing with my airplane graham crackers (courtesy of Southwest) on my paper napkin.  Fun times but I think the people next to me thought I had a few screws loose.  First I had pictures of brains all over the place, then I started flying my planes across napkins.  Oh well – how else can you entertain yourself on long cross-country flights?

And because I never showed you (because I got WAY busy), here are some more photos from my trip to Albuquerque:

This was my hotel room.  I stayed at Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town.  It was nice but not amazing.  The hotel location was great for seeing Old Town and the people were nice and helpful, but the room was a little old.  You can’t see it in the picture – because this part was just fine.  However, the bathroom was a tad bit gross.  Take a look at this bathtub:

Can you see how scratched up that is?  I mean, what was happening in that bathtub?  I’ve had bathtubs for years and they’ve never looked like that.  And I scrub them and keep them clean – but nothing like this has ever occurred.  It did NOT make me want to take a bath.  Or even a shower.  I did though, but I wished I had brought my shower shoes.  It’s been a month and I haven’t noticed anything growing on my feet, so that’s good anyway.

But seriously, think about replacing your bathtubs.

Other than that, the hotel was great.  It even had a balcony with beautiful views of the mountains.  That was definitely a highlight.

Although my schedule was jam-packed with conference stuff, I did get out once and went here:

That’s as far as I got.  The entrance.  As you can tell it was DARK.  By the time I got out of the conference and we made it all the way there, there was nothing to see.  I saw a little hiking trail and really, really, really wanted to go hiking.  But alas, it’s not a good idea to go hiking in the dark in cheap Sketchers, a light jacket, and no flashlight.  Boo.  I haven’t been hiking in forever and miss it so much.

The views were great though.

What we were really doing up there was looking for the Sandia Peak Tram.  But it just so happens to be closed two weeks of the year – one week in April and one week in November.  The week in November that I was there.  Talk about unlucky.  So we only go to the parking lot.  We, as in me and my conference friend.  The view was still nice though.

And to wrap up this random post.  One of my favorite things about Albuquerque?

The food.  Yum-a-licious.  I love tacos.  Especially authentic Mexican tacos.  And the chilies in New Mexico are wonderful.  This food was great.  Tasty as can be.  Although I think we have some Mexican restaurants that are just as authentic as this.  But I enjoyed so many New Mexican restaurants at my fingertips. 

Ok, so that’s about it.  Sorry I haven’t posted in 100 years.  It’s pathetic.  I love this blog though so I’m not ready to give it up.  I still want to post – even if I can’t do it every day.  If you want to read about my Twelve Dates of Christmas – head over to Maple and Mud.  Ivan and I are having a blast!