It's official - it's spring, and now my front lawn says that it's officially official. Monday was the first day of spring and also the first day my crocuses started appearing.

A couple of years ago I planted 200 pickwick crocus bulbs all over in the front yard. They call it naturalizing. Every year they start coming up right before spring break, and every year they are in full bloom while I am gone for spring break. That will be the case this year too, but maybe they will still be around when I get back from the Canyonlands.
Here is how to transform your internet browsing. The internet is four times better without the ads. Pages load faster and aren't nearly as annoying.

First, download and install the latest version of Firefox. Click that big green button. Save the file and run it to install Firefox.

Once you have the latest Firefox installed, get the AdBlock extension. Just click "Install Now", it's down the page a little.

Now get the latest list of sites to block. Several files will be listed on this site. Right-click the most recent adblock list (e.g. 2006-03-08a.txt) and select "Save Link As"
Save it to My Documents or anywhere else.

Now, to load this list into Firefox just follow these steps:
In Firefox, on the menu, select Tools|Extensions
Click Adblock, then click the Options button
Click Adblock Options, then Import Filters
Select the file you just downloaded and saved, and click Open
Click the Append button
Click Done

Enjoy ad-free browsing! If you do by chance run across an add, you can block it by right-clicking it and selecting "Block Images from ..."
On Sunday, I was hanging out over at the guys' house playing the coolest game for the PS2 - Katamari Damacy. No really, it's cool. Basically your goal is to roll around a ball (your "katamari"), while you roll it around things that are smaller than it stick to it and it grows. As it grows larger it can pick up larger things. You start with tacks, memory cards, etc., and work you way up to cats and dogs and children and people and cows and cars and buildings and cities. Seriously, it's cool, but you don't have to take my word for it, check out the reviews on Amazon.

Well, while I was over there fending off the urge to do my homework, and I got a call from my dear little sister. She was on her way to Missoula! As is almost tradition, we went out for sushi. It's addicting. Then she took off for my parent's house. My dad was going to help her change her oil before she left for Portland. She's off to do some spring break snowboarding at Mount Hood. Fun, fun! I told her that she should check out Powell's bookstore while she's there. Not that I've been there, but everyone raves about it.

Yep, she's already on spring break, and we don't have it for another week and a half here at the 'ol U of M. But when we do, I've decided to go to the Canyonlands.
I thought I wouldn’t have the pleasure of shoveling anymore snow this year, and I’m not saying that sarcastically. I really like shoveling the walk. Before you ask me to shovel yours though, know that one is enough. Snow is one thing that is guaranteed to bring a smile to my face. Today was beautiful – it snowed all morning. I may just have to skip church tomorrow and spend the day up at Snowbowl.

Yesterday I did some shopping or let me say e-shopping. I didn’t really go out to a "brick and mortar" as they call them. I bought a new camera (Canon SD450) from Dell and a memory card (2GB) and reader from newegg. It pays to watch bensbargins. Girls, I’ll let you in on a little secret: guys like to shop too. It’s just that they don’t like to shop for the same things you do. Think of all the fun you have in a hardware store or the video game section of Wal-Mart. So the next time you want to get your boyfriend to go shopping with you it might help to stop by Home Depot or something. I think there are more similarities than that though too. Some guys will go shopping when they are feeling down, but instead of buying a new outfit they’ll come home with a new tool or gadget. I guess it does cheer you up some.

Well, my parents are back from their month-long RV vacation to the south, so I think I’ll head out to Frenchtown and pay them and their RV dog a visit. Look forward to my photo stream exploding next weekend with 5 megapixel photos.
I think I'm losing my self discipline. I remember the days I used to get up early and run. I remember the more recent days when I used to get up at 6:00 every morning regardless of how late I was up doing homework the night before. That wasn't fun, but I did it anyway. Two weeks ago I decided to start getting up at 5:00 every morning and cut back on caffene. I got up at 5:00 the first three mornings and once or twice since then. Today I got up at 7:30 depspite going to sleep at 8:00 last night, and I'm drinking an Americano as I write this. Seven thirty is pretty good considering there has often been 10:00 mornings.

It might be that I don't regard these things as important enough to warrant change, or perhaps I've had too much else on my mind to focus. I'm falling behind in my Russian class too.

I've also have been lacking in writing, and I'm losing readers. Thanks to the three of you who still stop by.