We’re engaged!!!

Jeff and I got engaged last week, right before Thanksgiving. He totally surprised me with a beautiful ring…

I can’t stop staring at it…

We’re thinking about getting hitched in June of 09 so I have plenty of time to plan after I finally graduate. I’ve already tried on some wedding gowns, of course. I instantly fell in love with this gorgeous Reem Acra dress, but it was ridiculously expensive.  But don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of fun looking over the next six months. 

Our first STEM meeting of the semester is tomorrow. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. We will be having an informal meeting to plan out our activities and goals for the semester, as well as choosing some exciting guest speakers.

When: Monday, September 10th, 4:30 – 5:30

Where: Clark Hall, Academic Success Center, Room 116 (Conference Room)

STEM, Jessica Drnek, San Jose State University

The 50th Anniversary of the  Radio-Television Journalism Program at San Jose State is this year, and to mark the occasion we are planning a huge reunion.  The festivities will take place from October 8th through October 12th.

As President of RTNDA at SJSU, I am pleased to have a very active role in the planning of this exciting event.  We are thrilled to announce that Sam Donaldson will be the keynote speaker at the Friday evening gala.  SJSU’s newspaper, The Spartan Daily, published a very detailed article about the reunion and Donaldson here.  Please note the “super exciting” quotes.  I was just so eloquent the day of the interview. 

I ‘ll be talking about this a lot during the coming weeks, since the planning is keeping me very busy.  For more information about the reunion, visit our website here.

Time to brush off the cobwebs and start blogging again: school is back in session. This semester is going to be crazy busy for me (which you’ll be hearing all about), but I just wanted to tell everyone what I was up to over the summer. 

First off, the summer started off really well: Dad leased me a brand new Mazda 3. 

I cannot even describe how awesome it is to be able to drive a car with a working radio, arctic AC, and no risk of overheating. 

Thanks Dad and Stacey!!!!

A big chunk of my summer was dedicated to my internship.  While continuing my work at Pulver Labs as Office Manager, I also interned at NBC11 as a community journalist.  I worked on this really exciting website called HomeTown. 

 I suggest everyone check it out.  This is a really good example of a network getting involved in community journalism.  While at NBC I was able to not only publish my writing online, but also participate in live chats that coincided with the 5pm evening news, publish to NBC’s main website, and help with the San Jose Grand Prix.  NBC has asked me to continue on as part of their team, and work on community outreach. 

In August right before school started I went to the Monterey Historics, as I do every year.

As usual, I had an absolute blast.  One thing I miss about working for VP: the track.  

Apparently the photographers missed me too.  These silly guys aren’t used to seeing girls paint brake rotors. 

Me and my honey.  Stacey aptly named this photo “Too Cool”.  I promise we weren’t posing.  Below is a pic of the car we were resting on, right before it went on the track. 

This is a Lola 310 CanAm, driven by John Morton.  This is also the car I was working on above.  Thanks to Stace for all these pics; without her my blog would be pretty boring!   

Now, I’m in school, and deep in the throes of Update News, planning the RTVJ 50th Anniversary Reunion at SJSU, taking a full load of classes, working two jobs, acting as President for two separate clubs, and taking ballet class 5 times a week.  Sound busy enough?   

More on the RTVJ Reunion to come very soon.   I hope everyone else had a great summer!  Mine was busy, but still great. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was in San Diego last weekend.  Jeff and I joined Mom and Sam for the annual No Dig Conference.  Here we are on the plane.  I keep telling Jeff if he’s not careful his face will stay that way…perhaps I can shame him into behaving for pictures by posting this one.  : )

Since Sam was the chairman, we got to stay in the Penthouse Suite, which was really nice.

We went to the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, which was the best zoo I have ever been to in my life!  I highly recommend it.  Our fave exhibit was the polar bears…

I have never seen such active animals!  Words can’t even describe how awesome it was to see these powerful and huge bears cavorting in the water.  Super cool.

The Pandas were really neat, too.  We were really close to this one.

Here’s our family portrait…

On Sunday we just hung out at the hotel, went swimming, and relaxed, which was nice.  Thanks to Mom and Sam for the weekend getaway…we had a great time!

Jessica Drnek , San Diego Zoo , No-Dig Show , The World According to Jess

To the people of Blacksburg: your loss is unfathomable.  Not only have you been robbed of 32 lives, but your security, your happiness, and your privacy as well.  In the face of unendurable violence, grief, and invasion, the people at Virginia Tech and those around them have demonstrated enviable solidarity and strength.  It will be these two things that will see the town of Blacksburg through this tragedy.   

Though it is probably of little comfort, your heartbreak is not falling on deaf ears. 

Our thoughts at San Jose State University, and around the country, will be with you as struggle to find a way to cope not only in the next few weeks, but in the years to come: the scars this terrible man left will be deep, but hopefully they will heal.  Part of this healing process seems to be trying to understand why this happened, and working to make sure it never, ever, happens again. 

No student should ever have to fear for their life in the sanctity of their school, whether they are in grade school or grad school.  How then do we address this issue?  Right now everyone is scrambling for someone to blame.  Obviously the murderer is at fault, but he’s dead.  Not much use in blaming him, right?  His parents must take their own share of the blame, but they seem to be just as horrified as the rest of the country by Cho’s tragic rampage. 

Will the scapegoat be the administration at Virginia Tech, for not notifying the student body in time?  Or maybe the police in Blacksburg, for not taking the matter in hand?  Or how about the dozens of teachers and classmates who knew there was something wrong with this guy, but just figured it was someone else’s problem?  Perhaps we could make this into a political issue, and blame gun control laws?

This is not a blame game for politicians and media commentators to manipulate for their own agenda and ratings.  The massacre at Virginia Tech will be a blight on American history forever.  There is no “silver lining” or “bright side” so I won’t try to conclude with such an insulting idea.  

However, this is a wake-up call for schools around the nation and around the world.  We must plan for disasters of every kind, whether they be natural or man-made.  Our school is sorely lacking in any sort of notification system or disaster recovery plan.  I’m sure many schools are in the same boat.  I urge administrators, faculty, and students to honor the memory of these victims and their families by ensuring that no one can take advantage of schools across the nation, which now seem like desecrated sanctuaries instead of the safe haven they were intended to be. Don’t wait for someone else to say something: blog, write letters, talk to your teachers and deans.  As a community we need to protect one another, and devise a system capable of warning an entire campus, while also drilling students and teachers about what to do if something like this should happen again, God forbid. 

Once again, I would like to personally express my condolences to the people of Blacksburg, the students, staff and faculty of Virginia Tech, and their families. 

Virginia Tech , Blacksburg , Jessica Drnek , The World According to Jess , San Jose State University

Today I was planning on blogging about my trip to San Diego last weekend, but I just can’t get the tragedy at Virginia Tech out of my mind.  It seems tacky to not address it before nattering on about my inconsequential, but fun, vacay. 

Bear with me…

Easter was awesome. I went to Scottsdale for the weekend to visit my Mom and stepdad, Sam. Apparently, much of the free world also had the desire to see their relatives for the all-too-brief holiday weekend.

San Jose Airport was super crowded, as you can see above. Of course, my Southwest flight was delayed, and almost completely full.

After Mom and Sam picked me up at Phoenix International, I was totally ready for bed. The next morning we went and worked out, got ready, and did some seriously hardcore aka fun shopping. But not before I took advantage of a photo op with the ruler of their roost.

This is the Princely Oliver, and he is King of his domain.

On Saturday we did some more shopping (Yaay!). Mom and I got some super hot swimsuits, which we’re going to wear on our trip to San Diego this weekend (more on this later).

On Sunday, we were total sinners and did not go to church (don’t tell my Grandma). Instead we went to one of my favorite places in the whole world, Lon’s, for brunch. I gorged myself on not ony the excellent food, but also the beautiful flowers.

Here’s a picture of me and my Mommy. Don’t we rival the flowers? : )

After that we ran to the last Phoenix Coyotes game of the season, where they beat the higher ranked Vancouver Canucks. It was pretty exciting.

Here’s a pic of the three of us in my parents seats.

After the game was over it was time for me to go the airport. I would have cried like a baby while saying goodbye like I normally do, if it weren’t for our family outing to San Diego this weekend, which Jeff will be coming along for, the adventurous boy.

Jessica Drnek Lon’s At The Hermosa Vancouver Canucks Phoenix Coyotes Scottsdale Arizona

So, Edgar is way better, and has not been affected by the cat food recall. I figured I would include the adventures of giving Edgar an enema, which the vet recommended after he didn’t have a bowel movement for three days in a row. I know, I know, we could’ve just taken him to the vet, but they would’ve charged us $55 for this relatively simple procedure. When I say relatively simple, it means we didn’t have to perform major surgery, because it was anything but fun or simple for all of us. Before I embarked on this venture, I looked online for instructions, which were sorely lacking. A couple of people had blogged about it, so I figured I would throw my hat into the ring.

The vet said that the most important thing was not to use a Fleet enema, since they contain mineral oil and are bad for kitties. She also recommended an infant enema, since we would have to squeeze this stupid plastic tube into his tiny hinie. Of course the only infant enema at three different stores was Fleet. We stocked up on the six pack, and a tube of KY Jelly. We filled up a big bowl with warm, but not hot, water. Then we squeezed out all the fluid from the baby enemas and cleaned them out as much as we could. The next step was to wrangle Edgar into an enclosed space, and put a towel down on the floor. Thank God Shelly, Jeff’s mom, a critical care nurse came over to help us, because things were not going well before she got there.

She laid Edgar on his side, lubed up the end of the tube, and gently inserted into the target zone until the nozzle was all the way inside (important, because otherwise all the water will just leak out, and not do anything). Then she rolled him from side to side for about 3 minutes, to try and get the fluid to travel up and moisten things up. After doing this about three times, which took about 20 mins, poor Edgar was not happy. We let him go, and he ran around the house for about half an hour before we were finally rewarded with a poop. I have never been so happy to see kitty poo in my life, let me tell you.

Anyway, this wasn’t my most pleasant post, but hopefully it helps someone! : )

Thank you to everyone who has emailed, phoned and asked about Edgar. Aside from a little stress-induced cold, he is doing much better. We do not think the recent cat food recall had anything to do with his illness, since we don’t feed him wet food.

Tonight he is starting to get back to his old mischievous self (see below as he eyes a prospective toy while I force him to pose).

We hope he will be back to normal soon, or as close is possible for him.

: )

This is Edgar, my munchkin.

And he is my baby. Unfortunately he has been very sick, with a mystery sickness that means mass quantities of vomit, and a very unhappy kitty. The folks at Adobe Animal Hospital in Los Altos were so amazing at nursing him back to health, and I am eternally grateful for the care they gave him, as well as how nice they were to the bawling basketcase who brought him in (me).

On the other hand, the vet I took him to first, Dr. Ghumman at Alta View Animal Hospital, is a crook, who tried to cheat me out of money, and risked Edgar’s health by not performing tests he was suppossed to. He also mistreated Edgar and myself, and his ignorant staff was completely unhelpful. I will be pursuing this issue by filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and tearing up the web with more info about this dangerous situation.

Edgar is at home now, and is feeling better. These other two crazy monsters were very happy when he came back from the ICU.

For those of you don’t know, this is Hobbes, the orange fluffball, who is holding the white fluffball, Cosworth, for ransom.

We all hope Edgar recovers.

STEM is my new source of far-reaching, and all-consuming power! Mwa, ha, ha (that was my evil laugh, but it doesn’t come across well in print.

Anyway, STEM stands for San Jose State University Technology and Emerging Media Club. Those acronyms, they’re so fun. The other founding members of the club decided, in their ultimate wisdom, to appoint me as the President. I modestly accepted and have been quietly and demurely manning my post (all of you who know me are no doubt rolling your eyes, I’m sure). Here’s a pic of my first run as the Pres, courtesy of Steve Sloan.

For more info, check out the VP’s post on our groundbreaking club here.

In fact, here is our righteous VP, Andrew Venegas, who is incidentally Dick Cheney to my George W. Bush.

The rest of the officers are Kyle Hansen (Secretary), Sean Gilpin (Treasurer), and Steve Sloan (Faculty Advisor). Our first “real” meeting, meaning more people attended than just us, was Wednesday evening at 4:30. We will continue to meet every Wednesday in the Academic Success Center at the same time for about an hour. I had a lot of fun, I hope the people who attended did, and I think it will be a great learning experience for everyone.

I think we had a pretty good turnout, don’t you?

SJSU

There are several sure-fire signs that school is in full swing:

-I am impatiently waiting for my first exam to be graded and returned (geez, a week is plenty of time, don’t you think?)

-I am impatiently waiting for my first paper to be graded and returned (see whiny comment above),

-I’ve developed the beginnings of an intense dislike for one of my professors. I find this is pretty typical of a new semester, and sooner or later it resolves itself into calm indifference, or seething rage. I’m hoping for the former.

-Lastly, I have once again fallen sadly behind on my now cobwebby blog, despite earlier promises to crawl back into the geeky fold. I think I discovered the reason Drew et al made me president of STEM (this actually means something, more details coming): my crushing guilt about extolling the virtues of blogging while not actually doing so is forcing me to slink back to my laptop, shamefaced.

Who knows how long the guilt will force me to remain chained to my self-obsessed corner of the Internet, but here’s hoping it lasts. : )

To be fair, I am constantly distracted by the need to cuddle with these guys…

I know, I know, I’m a crazy cat lady.

“This time I swear, things will be different…”

How many times have people uttered that ill-fated phrase, I wonder.  Well, my New Year’s Resolution, aside from the usual work out, eat better, and encourage world peace nonsense, will be to blog every day…perhaps even twice a day, by golly.  Well, let’s not get carried away. : )

More to come soon, including my scintillating comments on being back at SJSU (2 semesters to go, Yaaay!), and the world at large. 

So a few weeks ago I went to the CSRG Charity Challenge at Sears Point Raceway.

My dad had a few clients there, and of course Jeff was working. Here are some pics…

This is our paddack set-up, with the rig behind the awnings, and the hospitality area on the left (when I say “our”, I mean Virtuoso Performance).

A couple of the guy’s getting the customers ready for the grid.

Notice Jeff with “Frankenstein”, the battery that could start a semi.

Awwww…me and my Jeffrey. It was so chilly up at Sear’s point I had to layer up, but all in all, a great day at the track.

So next on my recap of the last few weeks was our crushing loss at Campus Movie Fest.

I went to the premier on Friday the 13th (bad omen or what) with my fellow cast / crew from “Roger”, the movie we made together.

Although our movie wasn’t chosen, it was still an awesome experience. I learned a ton, thanks mostly to Andrew Venegas (who also wrote the script), and I had a blast.

Here’s an image of the movie on the CampusMovieFest Website.

Here is the link to check out the actual movie: http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/1/wo/NXUvnTjBtzvVxYoDEzQtRM/0.0.3.3

Click on the title of the movie, “Roger”, and the movie will load.

Watch it, only 3 minutes for goodness sake, and let me know what you think.

No, I didn’t misspell the famous Le Mans race. I’m talking about the soon-to-be-equally-famous 24 Hours of LeMons race out at Altamont Raceway in Tracy, California. By the way it’s LeMons, as in lemons, as in citrus fruit, as in crappy car.

On October 7th, Jeff coerced me into going down to Tracy for the First Annual 24 Hours of Lemons. You guys have to check out the website for this race/derby/endurance weekend – absolutely hilarious, and good, clean(but greasy) fun.

http://24hoursoflemons.com/

Basically, a team of guys buy a crappy car for $500, slam it together, and have to drive it for 24 hours on the track at Altamont for the glory of winning all important bragging rights.

The turnout was pretty good, good being a pretty arbitrary term in this case. Basically they had a good amount of entrants, a decent number of spectators, a fair number of drivers finished the race, and nobody died. All in all, a pretty successful weekend at the track. Out of all the races I’ve been to over the years, this was the most consistently entertaining : these guys were driving their buckets to the hairy edge. Some blew past the hairy edge, which made for some good old-fashioned carnage (always a hit with the crowd).
Here’s what the organizers have to say about it on their homepage:

“The crowd. The spectacle. The pall of blue smoke and roasted clutch discs. In all motorsport, no event captures the universal human need to whale on old crapcans and hoover down greasy barbecue like the 24 Hours of LeMons.

This endurance race is for cars purchased, fixed up, and track-prepped for a total of 500 bucks or less–and before reaching the grid, you’ll have to survive the Old-Lady Mannequin Slalom, the Baby-Carriage Braking Test, the Brick On the Gas Pedal Challenge, and similar qualifying rounds. Twelve hours into the race, the car voted People’s Choice (for best concept and prep) is called in and awarded a cash prize. Simultaneously, the car voted People’s Curse (for being driven by the biggest jerks) is called in and summarily destroyed. At the end of 24 hours, a gala awards ceremony plies the survivors with trophies, plaques, and four-figure purses paid with canvas bags full of nickels.

I mean, seriously–what’s not to like?”

Jeff is wanting to participate next year, if his team can get together a couple of sponsers. I’m trying to rope my dad into sponsering them through his company Virtuoso Performance.

Since the weekend would mostly involve me hanging out in the paddock, sleepng in the motor home, and drinking, I didn’t have any objections. Well, not too many anyway.

If you are a car enthusiast, or you know someone who is, this is definately worth checking out. I go to my fair share of races, and most of the cars are too precious to really be driven hard. Since these cars are all literally ready to be trash-canned, you get to drive your heart out. Keep in mind though, your fellow drivers can vote your car to be demolished if you drive like an ass.

Too bad that rule doesn’t apply everywhere.

So, things have been a little crazy in the land of Jess…

Let me try and bring the world up to speed, since I’m sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear all about my fascinating life over the past few weeks.

: )

More to come soon.

On Saturday my boyfriend, Jeff, and I went to the San Francisco Giants vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball game.

A disapointing loss, made even worse by the epitome of bad sportsmanship:Dodgers fans.

I know, I know, the rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers is intense. I’m not really a sports fan, so I don’t get the obsession, but I just will never comprehend such crazy behavior.

The Dodgers fans were aggresivly triumphant, which is fine, but it’s not okay when they’re screaming in your face with ripe breath: garlic fries and too much beer are not a nice combo.

Jeff and I bore it with a grimace that may have passed for a smile, and we thoroughly enjoyed our stinky garlic fries, but it would’ve been nice if the Gigantes could’ve pulled out a win for us.

Jessica Drnek san francisco giants Baseball SF Giants

Blogging.  Should be … interesting…