News flash.

Cumulative finals are for the birds.

I have two finals tomorrow, one Tuesday, and one Wednesday. After that I only have packing and vacation-getting-readiness. Woo!

I developed a monster sore throat last night. I think the sick people from my work are trying to bring me down with their germs, but I'm fighting back with truckloads of vitamin C, zinc, fluids, and fresh fruits and veggies. I will not get sick - not if I can help it.

A few days ago it snowed, and now all of the mountains around town look as though someone dusted them with powdered sugar. It got pretty chilly again there for a few days, but we're supposed to be hanging out in the 60's to 70's this next week.

A week from today Luis and I will be hitting the highway for a cross-country road trip. (We're trying to ignore the fact that gas is now well over $3.00/gallon nationwide.) Once we reach Boston, we'll catch our flight to Madrid. But - I mustn't think about vacation now, not for a couple more days. Focus, Mandi.

My two finals tomorrow are in classes where I have a borderline A/B, and they both have extra credit assignments available, also due tomorrow. I hadn't planned on doing the extra work, but I feel like I really should make an effort for the better grade.
I'm one of those people who, while studying for finals, takes little breaks to do the points math and figure out exactly what I need to get on the final to get such-and-such grade. For example, in med/surg I have an A- right now, so on the final (which is 35% of our course grade), if I get an 85% to a 96.4% I will hold my A-. If I can somehow eek out a 96.5% or above, I'll have an A. For the record, I think plus/minus grading systems are lame. But mostly that's because I've always put in just enough work to make sure I stay above 90 and called it good. They've challenged my slacker ways, and I must fight back.

Okay, off to get ready for work. Hopefully the beautiful weather will keep the sickies away so I can get some studying done.