Friday Smiles

It has been another crazy week, but I figured I would share the things that are making me happy today.

• So Matt was in a minor car accident Wednesday (someone ran into his bumper at a stoplight) but I'm so happy no one was hurt and the only injury to his car was some cosmetic damage. Definitely thankful for that!
• I had my last class of the semester yesterday!
• I don't have to drive to campus today and instead get to work from home!
• It's May, which means our 1 year anniversary is coming up. Time really goes by fast, y'all!
• It's date night tonight and Matt has promised me a relaxing evening. Sounds about perfect.
• I'm finally getting time to clean the apartment this weekend and I'm honestly looking forward to it. It needs it...
• I will be done with my first year of graduate school in about a week. I cannot believe it's already been a year. 1 year done, 4 years or so to go between me and my Ph.D.!

What about you? Anything on your mind today making you happy?

The Trip to Huntsville

**Disclaimer: this is not intended to be a post with any type of political/ideological leanings. If I receive any offensive/negative comments, I will delete them. I don't want to block the comment feature on this post as if someone wants to reflect/comment on the experience in a thoughtful/polite/rational manner, I want to allow them to do so. It is an interesting experience I had, one that I don't think a lot of people do have, so I thought I would share it.**


So not sure if you caught it in my previous post, but on Friday Matt and I traveled down to Huntsville, TX, to go on a field trip of the Walls Unit.

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Because I couldn't resist, here's a little bit of background on this prison for you. It is the oldest prison in Texas and though it is a maximum security prison, it houses lower custody offenders, meaning they are not as volatile as higher custody offenders. They are all males and are typically older. It is also where prisoners are released when they are released on probation or when they have served their entire sentence.

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You are probably aware that this is also where death row is. To be clear, this is NOT where the death row inmates are housed in the years between their conviction and their execution. Males on death row are housed in the Polunsky unit and females are housed in the Mountain View unit. The offender arrives at the Walls unit on the day of the execution.


The assistant warden was our tour guide that day, and he showed us the original cells that were used (sorry, couldn't bring a camera and I couldn't find pictures online), the yard, the chapel, and of course death row. 


I've been to the Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, so I'm not a stranger to visiting places known for death. Visiting that camp is something I'll never forget, nor will I forget this trip. 


That evening prior to our visit, the state of Texas executed Beunka Adams. I was not aware of this until we had arrived at the prison. Going into a room where less than 24 hours before someone had been put to death... honestly there are no words to describe it. Our tour guide walked us through the entire process, minute-by-minute, including his role, all while we are standing in the room. 

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And that was only part of the tour. It is of course the most solemn, the most serious, the most intense. The room looks precisely the way it does in that picture. The reason why the walls are painted that color? The color paint was the cheapest. At first the warden tried to pull our leg and say that the green/blue color was found to be the most relaxing in studies (which it has), but then he saw my gullible expression and told us the truth.


Other random facts about the prison, not related to death row:

• The church service every Sunday is filled to capacity
• They have a turtle inside the yard. He lives in his little habitat called Jurassic Park and even has a TDCJ number. Some offenders are given the responsibility of caring for him.
• It's like a zoo being in there as the visitors are staring at the prisoners and they are staring right back.
• Apparently the old cell block is haunted. Prisoners and guards alike tell of several ghost stories; some say they refuse to ever go in there again.
• This is one of only 2 units in Texas where prisoners are allowed TVs in their cells. The prisoners for this reason prefer the Walls unit and they are generally better behaved than other units.

And there you have it- a first-hand encounter with the infamous Walls unit in Huntsville. If you get a chance to go to Huntsville, there is a really good prison museum that you should check out. Of course you can go on a driving tour of various other units in the area and go see the cemetery where prisoners who died but did not families to claim their bodies are buried. 


I will again remind everyone that this is not meant to start any kind of political debate about the death penalty. As I said above, if I receive any offensive/negative comments, I will delete them. I don't want to block the comment feature on this post as if someone wants to reflect/comment on the experience in a thoughtful/polite/rational manner, I want to allow them to do so. It is an interesting experience I had, one that I don't think a lot of people do have, so I thought I would share it.

What's to come

So we had a very interesting weekend, way more so than normal. I wish this week would be easy so we could relax a little, but unfortunately finals start this week! In two weeks I'll be done, but until then, I have a lot of studying, some papers to finish, and a lot of grading to do.


I will be telling you about this three-day weekend though. It included things like:

• Visiting the Walls Unit in Huntsville and seeing death row. Yes, that includes the death chamber.
• Visiting College Station to see our newly renovated Memorial Student Center (MSC), the equivalent to colleges' student unions, just 10X cooler
• Attending a dear friend's bridal shower
• Studying at two different college libraries (I know, thrilling)
• Watching one of the worst/most ridiculous movies ever made
• And eating amazing food, like our normal weekends

So yeah, that will be some of the things you'll be seeing soon. Until then, I hope you have a great beginning of your week! Here's a preview of part of the new MSC:

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What I'm Loving Wednesday

I am linking up over here for this week's edition of what I'm loving because I need to be reminded of the good things today. It has been a long week and it's only 7 AM on Wednesday. 

• I'm loving that I'm done with classes for the week. Just have office hours tomorrow and that's it!
• I'm loving this amazing weather we've been having! Beautiful blue skies, warm (but not hot) temperatures... so nice!
• I love that I got to have some amazing Thai food and delicious gelato with a friend last night. Yeah, we like our hodgepodge of international food!
• I'm loving that my presentation yesterday went well. I presented a research design proposal for class, and it will make up the bulk of my master's thesis, so it was good to get positive feedback on it.
• I'm loving what we have planned for the weekend. Road trip to Huntsville and College Station on Friday, bridal shower on Saturday, and movie-dinner date on Sunday sounds fantastic to me!
• I'm loving that the end of the semester is near. One more week of classes, two take-home finals, two papers, and one problem set stand between me and summer. 
• I love that I am quite happy with where I am. I like my graduate program, I'm happy with the opportunities it has given me, and my fellow grad students are quite a fun bunch. 
• I love that our one year wedding anniversary is coming up next month, including a fun anniversary trip. Wow... where did the past year go???

What about you? What is happy in your life today?

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An Interesting Week Ahead

This week will definitely be different. What is the old proverb- "May you live in interesting times"? Yup... that definitely appears so!


Matt has some stuff going on at his workplace that could prove to be interesting. We shall see how that goes. It could possibly mean a lot of overtime, a lot of stress, and a huge lack of sleep. Crossing my fingers we're OK!


I'm getting to the point in the semester filled with final papers and exams, so I really need to kick it into gear and get on that. It's just so hard to motivate myself right now.


On Friday we will be going down to Huntsville to visit the state prison. We will be visiting the Walls Unit, better known as the place where Texas holds its executions. That will definitely be an interesting trip!


And because we got up 10 minutes earlier this morning (PS, 5:20 AM is way worse than 5:30 AM) and I don't drink caffeine, I need pictures of happy things to wake me up.

Ah Schloss Neuschwanstein... such a happy amazing place!

:)

Have a great Monday! :)

5 Randoms

Today is a hodge-podge kind of day for me--it's been a rough week. A lot of late nights, early mornings and overall lack of quality time with my husband have made me very relieved it is Friday.


Due to those aforementioned factors, my brain is not capable of forming a coherent idea for an entire blog post, so this Friday you get to be privy to some random thoughts.


1) I registered for my classes this week for next fall. While there one was course I wanted to take but won't be able to due to my degree plan, I am excited about next semester. Two electives + starting my Master's thesis! Should be fun.


2) It's OK that I don't have this evening's date planned. Matt and I want nothing more than to grab a quick bite to eat somewhere, chill at home, and get a good bed time. That sounds just perfect.


3) I can't believe the semester will be finished in less than 1 month! First year of my Ph.D. program is almost complete and I'm kind of ashamed at how much I like it. Seriously- this will probably get a whole blog post on its own eventually, but I am very happy where I'm at. It's hard, yes, but it's worth it.


4) Our dishwasher is running and it's quite loud. Just thought you should know.


5) On a whim, we grabbed some Sonic milkshakes last night after dinner. I know this speaks to my apparently low-fat diet, but I don't think I can drink a whole milkshake on my own anymore- made my stomach hurt something crazy.


So, what about you? Any random thoughts you would like to share this Friday? Any fun plans for the weekend? Can you believe we're getting so close to summer??

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Oh World Market...

Over the weekend Matt and I stopped in World Market to take a look around and I wanted to share some of the... special things we found there. 


First we ran into this game. I imagine it's geared towards parents whose own birth dates were in the 19th century. But to be fair, it does look like a fun game!

"Let your children share in your favourite childhood memories
with this magical old favourite from the late 1800's!"

Our second thing was this delectable piece of chocolate. I like seafood and I like chocolate, but I'm not so sure these should be combined.

And of course, you can't leave out the bacon syrup. I think Matt wants this added to his morning cereal, don't you?