July 16:

Today began as an ordinary day. Dr. Miller will be lecturing us this week, and he started off discussing quantitative cellular biology. After lecture, we were shown by Leanna how to use Maple. Then, we went to lunch before coming back to the computer lab for Dr. Helfgott's weekly mathematics lecture. After supper was when things got out of the ordinary. Last Saturday Amanda figured out that today is Joe's 18th birthday, and she started talking to everyone about throwing him a surprise party; we just didn't know it would be such a complex process:
The Plan--All the girls met in front of the Culp Center "to go shopping at the mall." We really rode to Leanna's house in Laura's van (it was the funniest ride I've ever taken!) to decorate Leanna's house while Jeremy, Wes, and Stephan distracted Joe at the ropes course/CPA/playing cards.
The Party--After spending over an hour decorating the house, Leanna called Jeremy to tell him to bring Joe "to move furniture." Thirty minutes after the call, the guys arrived at Leanna's. We all yelled "surprise" as soon as the door was opened, but our surprise was received by Jeremy and then Stephan. Finally, Joe walked through the door carrying a pizza, completely missing his "surprise"! We all stayed at Leanna's until around 9:30. It was a lot of fun, and Joe's presents were hilarious--only the little dryer Danna made for him and put on the cake was funnier (inside joke)!