So for those of you who don't know, my almost 18 year old sister is living in Germany for the year. She was here in August and then I shipped her off to DC and then on to Germany.

The story is a long one, but for the hightlights.

- She was with her permanent host family for a little over 1 month and now they have kicked her out.

- They said she was coming home at all hours smelling like smoke and drunk. They also said she was stealing their food.

-And for the piece de resistance the mother and father looked through Arielle's garbage and determined that her periods were not heavy enough so now they are saying she is pregnant.

I realize that Arielle is a teenage and kind of a pain sometimes, but in no way do I think that anything this crazy family says is true.

She is pretty upset over the whole thing. Not because she liked the family, but because she has no idea why they would say all of these things and jeopordize her chances with another family. No one is listening to her side, which makes things that much harder. The fact is that this program should not be allowing students who do not speak the language to go to Germany. If they want to encourage Americans to speak the language, then it should be a process that starts Freshman year in High School.Who knew Arielle would be going to Germany a semi-normal girl and come out a crazy/drunk/preganant/smoker who steals food. Basically the program is crazy and apparently her host family is also.

Because we really don't know anyone in the area who's had jewelry work done, we decided it may be best to send the ring home to Devon's mother so she could take it to the 'family' jeweler. Of course, we shipped it overnight and with $1,000 in insurance. Shipping cost $97 (ouch).

So, now comes the good news: Roni took it to the jeweler today. Apparently, it's a *much* more valuable ring than we had ever imagined. The jeweler says it was made in Sri Lanka between 50-75 years ago (I had always expected it came from the 1920s, given the style) and it's worth between $3k and $5k!

Now the bad news: It's going to cost $900+ to fix. That's what we thought the ring was worth in the first place. Including shipping, this may be an expensive repair. :(

Roni is taking the ring to get more estimates. We'll keep you posted. The image above links to a more detailed picture of the ring. I've always loved the ring, but never thought it was worth anything serious. Maybe the jeweler is just bumping the price to screw us...

Update: Thought I'd offer a bit of an update on the ring issue. Seems the first jeweler was trying to screw us. Roni took the ring to their 'family guy', who's going to repair, clean, and even give us an official appraisal for ~$200. A much more reasonable price. I'm a bit skeptical on the informal appraisal given to her earlier. We'll see what the official one comes out to.

Update 2: Thought I'd offer an update on this little saga. As it turns out, we really did have a 'Roadshow' moment - but not of the type that we first anticipated. It was more like one of those show segments where some overly-tanned, hair-extensioned, 50-something, fake-fingernailed, suburban soccer mom (think Jersey) walks proudly up to the appraisal booth, spouting, "Look what I got when grannie died. Ain't it just gorgeous! I bet it's worth a fortune." As the appraisal begins, you immediately know from the apparaiser's expression that the lamp the lady brought in is actually not a Tiffany, but is instead some knock-off, probably purchased in Florida sometime in the 50s (the stained-glass poodles on the lamp shade probably gave it away). This is when the camera will shift back to the lady, who's doing her best not to give up her smug little smile, even as the appraiser begins listing each and every little detail that proves the lamp is a piece of crap.

This is, generally speaking, how our little ordeal has turned out. One ass gave an outrageous estimate, just so we'd spend the ring's worth in repairs at his shop. We (Roni, actually) take it to another guy to find out that the ring is worth less than what we've spent on it (the original + the wedding band addition). That's the estimate of the gold and stones, without considering the 'craftsmanship' - least that's what the jeweler said. Well, we have the ring back now and, besides a slight error in the repair (which we intend on getting fixed), it looks great. Now we just have to find someone to etch poodles on the stone.

* No, Celeste doesn't actually have dreadlocks (yet) but she is obsessed with MySpace.

Today, Jason is officially 30 years old. I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. So far, we have been together on all the milestone birthdays. First, it was my 18th birthday (our first date) - pretty sure he would have prefered a non-birthday date, but what are you going to do? Then it was Jason's 25th when he was offically able to rent cars without paying a ton extra - oh and getting into all those cool 25 and up clubs. Then it was my 21st birthday (alcohol alcohol alcohol); need I say more? Then came my 25th birthday (I can do the car rental thing, but Jason prefers his driving to mine). And now it's Jason's 30th birthday. I think he would prefer to forget about it, but it's here and now we must get through the day. Jason asked that I not write something cheesy. Because it's his birthday, I will certainly try.

We will have been married for 5 years in July. We have lived in 4 states and traveled through most others on our drive across the U.S. (Jason drove most of the way). We went to Cali for Jason, which ended up being the wrong place for both of us. Then it was on to Rhode Island where Jason supported me 200% on my pursuit for my culinary degree. And now we have moved up to Mass so that Jason can pursue his long time goal of getting his Ph.D (best of luck although I now you don't need it).

Jason, these years together have been filled with fun, laughter, good eats (Hugo's, Yum), great Beer (Rogue) or girly drinks for me (Vodka and Cranberry juice). Lets not forget awesome pizza (pizza pier, Hope Street Pizza) and a few bickers thrown in for good balance. But, most importantly, we've had each other through all the good and the bad. So, on this important birthday, I want to wish you the very best in this coming year as you head to Boston College and I hope know that I am behind you with all my support. I love you and thanks for being my partner in crime!!!!

Well, just we we thought things were beginning to get easier, they - well - don't.

This morning, while Devon and I were rushing around trying to fulfill a potential landlord's requests (a seperate entry will detail our struggle to find a decent place in Boston), I received an email from Boston University. They have offered me a Teaching Fellowship if I enroll there next year. The fellowship includes a stipend (er, paycheck), health insurance, and full tuition remission. On the surface, this would seem like a really good deal; however, I told myself at the beginning of this grad app process that I wouldn't make my decision based solely on financial considerations.

As of yesterday, I had pretty much made up my mind that I would enroll at BC and then attempt to get into a 'better' school once I had earned my MA. While this would probably mean an extra year of school and quite a bit in loans, I never really expected to get anything from BU (they aren't known for offering much money). First earning my MA may have - hopefully - opened some doors at 'better' schools, which could help make getting a job easier after grad school. This offer from BU has really thrown a wrench into my decision making.

• Closer to our apartment (assuming we'll get it).
• Closer to downtown and Devon's work.
• Larger school, which offers the potential to work with a wider range of professors.
• And, of course, money.

• Working as a TA will mean a lot of extra work.
• The undergrads at BC didn't seem as annoying when we walked around the campus.
• See edits below.

Now that I feel like I have a choice, my stress level has once again hit 'max.' Yes, I am actually complaining about having better choices.

Edit: I just received word back from BU regarding the amount of work involved in being a TA. In short, it's insane. I would need to read all of the material for the undergrad course I was TAing for, go to all of the classes, lead 3 1-hour discussion groups a week, *and* grade all of the papers for 80-90 students. This is on top of the standard graduate workload. I'm not sure if I can handle that.

Accepted! err, Rejected!

Yeah, you heard it right. I was accepted and rejected; accepted by George Washington (GWU) and rejected by The Fletcher School (Tufts). So, what does this mean? Well, basically, I have two real options - it's either GWU or Boston University. While I certainly wish I had more/better options, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I didn't get into more programs. I have a few theories on that (complete speculation). First, and foremost, I believe it had to do with my recommendations. Unlike when I applied to econ programs several years ago, I only had one academic recommendation this time around (out of a total of 3). That's because I had been out of school for more than 5 years. Most programs don't want to see recommendations older than that. For that reason, I decided to get recommendations from employers instead. Unfortunately, I don't think academic admissions committees give as much credit to such recommendation.

Second, I think the fact that I have previously withdrawn from a grad program (an econ at UC Riverside) had a significant influence on the committees. I'm sure they saw me as more of a risk than other candidates.

Finally, I think I should have put more work into my essay. Even though I don't think it was poorly written, I probably should have done more work on tailoring it to the specific programs I was applying. Some more specific research into the different professors' work couldn't have hurt, either.

And what about the other factors that impact admissions decisions? Well, my grades are quite good and by GRE scores were much higher than they were 5 years ago. My writing sample was a paper I wrote for a Brown grad course last year. I did well on the paper and I was personally happy with the work; however, it was a 'research review,' not original research, so that could have been a slight negative. Other than that, I can't think of anything else I could have done better. As I said previously, c'est la vie.

What comes next? Well, the first step is to wait to hear about any financial assistance from the two programs. Hopefully, one of them will offer something attractive - Devon and I can't exactly write a check for 4-5 years of school. Then, after comparing the offers, we'll have to consider the costs of living/moving, the programs themselves, Devon's employment situation, as well as a thousand other factors. At this point, it's still very much up in the air.

We'll be sure to keep everyone up to date in the coming weeks.

Rejected, Again!

Well, while I didn't care so much about not getting into MIT, my most recent rejection kinda sucks. I just got my letter from Brown and it's a no-go. It's not that big of a shock given their large pool of 'highly-qualified' applicants this year and the fact that they were only admitting 6 people, but it still bites - especially since I've been going there for 4 semesters and have done well. But, what can I do?

c'est la vie

Rejection!

I just got a rejection letter from the polysci program at MIT. This was hardly unexpected. They have one of the best programs and, really, I applied just for the hell of it. These admissions processes seem pretty arbitrary, so you never know when you'll get a sympathy acceptance. :)

Anyway, I'm now 1.5 for 3.0 and waiting on 3 more letters.

Well, as many of you know, I have recently completed the process of applying to graduate school. I applied to 6 programs in Political Science/International Affairs w/ most of the universities being in or around the Boston area. Yesterday, I got the first reply back - it wasn't completely good news, but it was better than nothing. Boston College has denied me admission to the Ph.D. program; however, they have accepted me to the masters program (consolation prize). While it wasn't what I wanted, it's certainly better than not getting into any of the programs. And I still have 5 schools I'm waiting on (one, I know, will be an outright denial).

One thing that makes me feel a bit better is the fact that Boston College denied me completely when I was applying to economics programs several years ago. Of course, most university graduate admissions decisions are made at the departmental level, so not being admitted to the econ program and then being (partially) admitted to the political science program doesn't mean too much.

We'll just have to see how the rest of the applications go. On the bright side, I definitely will be going back to school full-time next year.

Congratulations to Katie and Michael on their new baby girl! Just two days ago (12/28), Miranda Winder was born to two happy and loving parents, Katie and Michael.

Baby pics at their blog: Winderland

I've known Katie long enough to recognize that "shit, glad that's over with" expression. (I think Michael's expression is more along the lines of "whew...yep, that's mine".)

Devon and I wish the new little family all the best. Our thoughts are with you.

Well, Devon and I are back from a very hectic week in Portland and we're happy to announce that Tim & Joan's wedding went off without a hitch. Err... or is that 'with a hitch?' Anyway, the rehearsal, wedding, and party went very well and, even with the amount of work that was involved, it was a lot of fun. Arielle and I took more than 100 photos with Devon's and my digital camera but, unfortunately, I messed up the settings and they all turned out horribly. It's really too bad given that Devon did a wonderful job on the cake - we would have liked to at least get some of those photos up on the site as well as some good photos of the wedding. Hopefully, Tim and Joan can send us some images so we can put them up in the gallery.