We are Alone

First off, Happy Birthday to Katie, my best friend and roomie. May her “older than dirt” year be as nice as mine has so far. I raise my glass to you, amiga! We had peeps over to celebrate last night, but that is a story for the Katie to tell.

Hm, my computer has taken to randomly assigning headings to my documents. Interesting. That is on a different note though, and only applicable because I’ve taken to typing my blog entries in word first so I don’t loose them to the vastness of space that is the WWW.

Also on a note not related to what I started writing this entry for – my title has put a song in my head. One I often hear at a certain club in town. The lyrics there are “I stand alone” rather than “we are alone”, but…damn. Now that song will be in my head all night.

The real reason for stating that we are alone is that Katie and I are now alone in the Green and Yellow House. Two’s tenants moved out this weekend, and One has been empty for quite a while. It’s odd, there are only two cars in the parking lot, and no one to say hi at when one enters the building. On the positive side, now Katie and I can play our music loud and dance around like idiots and not bother anyone.

We still haven’t made a 100% decision on moving to the second floor. If only the gas bill wasn’t so high. If he’s willing to wait, even a month or so, perhaps, but this place is cute and so no worries on losing out on two. The biggest advantage would be knowing who our neighbors are (if Katie were to move back up to 3 w/ me and Jenny in 2) but if we don’t know who our neighbors will be, I’d just as soon be on the top floor.

I’m not procrastinating nearly as bad so far this semester as I did last. Oh, I’m not necessarily finishing things the day after their given out, but at least I’m not (yet) into the habit of starting something the day it’s due, or the night before at 11PM. Go me! Here’s to hoping it lasts.
Well, I’d best be off. Katie and I have to put the recycling out and I have to floss my teeth and journal a bit before bed.

OUCH!!!

This weekend was really quite painful. I love snow, and it finally came, but something about it just makes me lose some of my common sense I guess. This past Friday we finally got snow in more than a 'trace' amount. (About bloody time, too.) Totals were around 7 inches. Katie and I shoveled it all on Friday night. Ok, most of it as the snow was still falling at about 1 in/hr during the time we were shovelling. Saturday, the wind had 'helped' us out, and brought all the snow back to where we had made clean sidewalks, so we had to shovel again. Only on Saturday, the snow was packy. Ugh, but still in that novelty of fun stage.

Sunday I went skiing with Jenny A. and Lance. Yay. I've been trying to get out skiing with Jenny for quite a while. Hmm, I ended the night skiing anyway. I started by snowboarding. Last year was my first attempt at anything remotely sideways and I remembered two things about it. One-it was MUCH different from skiing, and two-it's painful when one falls at high velocities. (The second lesson I've learned on waterskies, regular skies, and rollerblades more than once in the last two years, but I seem to have to keep relearning it.) I also remembered catching on rather quickly...at least to the basics. So, off I went onto Lance's old snowboard with rented boots. I tried, and fell a LOT. Then I had lance adjust the bindings from a slightly carving stance to a 'regular' stance, and I was doing a lot better. I made it off the bunny hill and onto the regular greens. But after two hours I had fallen more than 50 times (or at least it felt that way) and I felt I had abused my muscles enough. Plus, I had forgotten my wristguards and I don't have a skiing helmet, and I refuse to go any faster without both for protection. So I switched to skies. Great fun, though after starting my skiing year with a board strapped to both feet and going sideways, it took a few runs to figure out two seperate ski-velocity-making instruments and forward momentum. Still, it wasn't crowded, and I had forgotten how much fun skiing is. Now I crave going West. Anyone game?

Below are pics from last years firt snowboard adventure. I don't have any from this year...Yet.

Here is the end result of said first snowboarding trip...one very wet pair of jeans. I guess waterproof snowpants are only SO waterproof.
Posted by Hello

This is last year's first ever snowboard attempt. Rather early in the evening. Note I look happy?
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School isn't so bad...

...at least not yet. The school week is over and I’ve had three of my five classes. I’ll start the fourth next Monday and the fifth after spring break. So far so good but then, I’ve only had one class for each. It looks as though I’ll be spending much of my class time on field trips. I should have expected it in a class that has “field problems” in its name. That is one of my three hour classes. I am relieved that I will not be spending three hours a week every week in lecture for that one. My two hour IH applications class is similar to the class I had last semester by the same teacher. Part of the class is lecture, part is group work or work time. Again, even though long, it shouldn’t be too bad. My four hour lab class instructor has assured us that we shall not go the entire time for ‘most’ of the classes. I certainly hope so. Lab or not, four hours is rather a long time for me to concentrate. My Monday class, which I have not yet had, is a three hour lecture on control of exposure to physical and chemical hazards. I’m not really sure what to expect from this one, other than: 1. night class, 2. three hours, 3. all lecture (I think). It will probably be quite a bit like Air Borne Contaminants last semester. I expect to not be good at sitting still, and be rather loopy by the time class ends each evening. My ethics class starts after Spring Break, and lasts for the rest of the semester. Accelerated and on a subject people can argue about for days at a time. I’ve also heard the tests are icky and the teacher grades hard. Hopefully all will go well.

Today, in preparation for the field problems class, I went to the footwear store to buy my first pair of steel toed boots. I found out that the State pays for up to 100 dollars of said boots because they are required for safety reasons. So, out I marched to the nice safety shoes store and informed the nice salesman of what I wanted. A boot (not shoe), steel-toed, acid-resistant sole, and something that is comfortable enough to wear for an entire day. Tall order, but I think he managed to find me something. What is more, he managed to price it for 100 dollars, so nothing will be coming out of my pocket on these. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not just for school I need them. If I ever go along to an industrial spill site, I’ll need my steel-toe boots too. The boots of purchase are black, doc-martens, and have the necessary elements. They are a bit tight right now, but I was assured they would ‘stretch’ them for me.

Tonight, in preparation for the rest of my classes, I’m going to the bookstore to purchase my books. So far the only one I know that is required is a Ventilation book for my Monday night class. It will hit me for 112 dollars, so I really hope the rest of my books aren’t required. I know that three other classes “highly recommend” you purchase X or Y, but I’d like to see just how useful they are from borrowing the books on reserve at the library before hitting my pocketbook for over 100/book. Katie will be going along – if she is feeling not so under the weather as she did yesterday. She has one class at the U this semester, also a night class, also on Monday nights (but they don’t end at the same time).

All in all, I’m really happy to be back into the school/work routine. I like the money I receive when I work full time, but I was finding myself highly sick of filing. At least with part-time work, there are more varied jobs. (In full time, I’d finish the varied jobs too quickly and be stuck back with the filing.) Now, if I could only figure out what I’m doing about my summer field experience and my thesis topic, and find out if I have to do May classes, I’d be one happy little student. After all, I have a trip to New Zealand to plan, and I can’t start that until I know what I’m doing for work.

Float On
Whee! I did one of these silly tests and it actually came up with a song that I like and actually heard of.

Float On by Modest Mouse

"Bad news comes don't you worry even when it landsGood news will work its way to all them plans" Laid back and real, people appreciated you for you are in 2004.

What 2004 Hit Song are you?

Winter Comes to the Green and Yellow House

As my tale continues, it may be almost quiet inside the Green and Yellow house. The construction of One is past the noisy stages, and Two and Three’s tenants are at work for the day. The cars and busses provide a humming background, and the wind doesn’t make too much of a stir. Within Three, there live still two female tenants, and an uncounted number of small, four-legged squatters. The squatters have been unseen and unheard recently. Perhaps they know the end is near? The Owner of the Building hasn’t informed the tenants when the pest control person will come…perhaps the little squeaking ingrates understand their time is near, and are rallying for some final stand? Probably not. The tenants on Two inherited a cat from a boyfriend. Short term only, but they are hoping to scare the little squatters into submission. No report to Three has been made by Two’s tenants as to the successfulness of the cat, however. The feline is friendly (to humans) and does have its claws, and Two hopes that it prefers to chase small rodents rather than sharpen said claws on the woodwork. Three’s tenants hope that all the rodent poison (used as a first attack) by Two’s tenants has been thrown out, and that the little squeakers didn’t actually eat any (if indeed the cat does catch them).

Outside of the Green and Yellow House, the sky turns grey and imposing. It looks like winter may come to the City afterall. Just this morning, a tenant of Three had to shovel the path. The weather service predicts that another 4-6 in of the ‘white stuff’ along with a ‘wintery mix’ (read ice) shall fall between this hour and the end of Wednesday. This makes a certain tenant of Three pretty happy. It should be white outside in winter, and each time the tenants of Three shovel the path, they get to reduce the lodging fee due the Owner of the Building at the end of the month. After the snow though, things may get ugly outside the Green and Yellow House. Arctic temperatures are to blow down from the poles and the little lines on the weatherman’s chart showed a wind of >40mph. The regular temperatures are supposed to fall to <0F with a high temp on Friday of -8F. Still, the Green and Yellow house is built sturdily, and the little stove heater in Three can be set higher to anticipate the chill of the blowing wind. The tenants of Three think that this will be a lovely time to enjoy hot cocoa, or wine, and watch long anticipated movies.

The Writing of a Dissertation

Today I was talking to a coworker about the probable topic of my Masters Dissertation. As this isn’t even remotely decided yet, I’ll not announce that topic. That one all depends on if funding goes through and if the research I’d do is ‘good enough’ to be considered the Original Research I need for said Thesis. But that got me to thinking of my other Dissertation, the one that some of you may remember reading almost 2 years ago. It started in 2002, with parts being added to it in 2003. The subject of this dissertation had nothing to do with Industrial Hygiene, or even the Engineering I was doing at the time. Nope, this dissertation was on a more…universal topic. This week I was reading a friend's journal, and the comments on that journal, and it inspired me to bring up a few points from said dissertation, and then to post it again.

I have a Live Journal, mostly so I can read other peoples “friends only” Live Journals, but I figured that was as good as any a place to post it. Then it occurred to me that only the people from Live Journal know that I have one, since I’ve never actually done anything with it. There are readers of this blog that didn’t read my other blog, which has since been archived and stopped. This dissertation was originally posted there. So, here is the link to my Live Journal and the first three parts, or chapters if you will, of my original dissertation, “Boys are Dumb: A Dissertation”

To the males that read this blog, please don’t be mad at me. I report the truth as I see it, and I welcome any and all comments, opinions, and proof that this dissertation reports falsehoods!

A tale of two stories

My tale is of two stories, not the type you sit in a circle around a campfire and listen to, but rather the type that populate a house. The first is a quaint third story, the second a more vacuous second story. I suppose one could also call them floors, but they are so much more than the linoleum or carpet that covers them. They are the walls, the ceilings (my goodness, the ceilings), the adornments, the bathroom fixtures, the kitchen appliances. To some, they are home. Both of these stories are situated in a Green and Yellow Building located on a somewhat-active street near a park, a lake, and a zoo in a medium-ish suburb of a large city. Two below Three, following numerological law. Two and Three became populated about 17 months ago, almost at the same time. Two’s residents were female and both gainfully employed in the health field. Three’s tenants were also both female and both students at the local University. The tenants of both came to know each other quite well. 12 months after first tenanting Three, one of Three’s residents moved to a new story that would be by far warmer and more aqueous. Three gained a new resident. Not too long after that, both Two and Three gained even more residents…but they were not the type of tenant most buildings (or stories) would admire. These tenants were small, furry, scavengers and rabble rousers, mess-makers, and were not bathroom-trained. Further, they didn’t understand the concept of walls, doors, or furniture. Two and Three were heartsick, as were their tenants, that these interlopers would dare to move in without permission. The tenants set out to persuade the new furry home wreckers to leave the premises immediately. No such luck. The four legged squatters were comfortable, and intelligent. They ignored bribes left on little wooden planks, conveniently located on the floor where they could reach them. They ignored little blue pellets that taste good, but may cause indigestion. They ignored attempts to lock other entrances that had been found behind appliances. And having found a convenient shelter and source of food and water, they multiplied.

Here is where my tale takes a sad turn. It seems that the squatters have convinced Two’s tenants to vacate the premises, and find a new, less occupied, story to live in. They have given notice to the Owner of the Building, and in 30 days, will say goodbye forever to Two, and the Green and Yellow Building Two resides in. As the residents of One also moved on to a bigger story, soon Three’s two tenants will be all alone in the Building meant for at least 6.

Three’s tenants, after learning the plans of Two’s, thought about the larger space available within Two. While there is a smaller kitchen, Two sports both a dining and living room. There are two bedrooms, same as Three, but in Two they are more of equal proportions, and both have closable doors. The bathroom of Two is not a bane-to-the-existence-of-all-menfolk as in Three, and there is more room to move about. Whereas Three has slanted ceiling and a feeling of unfinished-ness to her, Two has straight walls and ceilings and woodwork. (Three’s slanted ceilings give her character and charm however.) There is a front and back porch available with Two (although the front porch is shared with Three’s tenants). The living room in Two has a fireplace, although the jury is out on whether or not it is a usable fireplace, or just for decoration. The squatter infestation, reported by Two’s tenants, is much worse than on Three, however. The Owner of the Building charges more for Two than Three as well. Three’s tenants haven’t decided what to do. They like their little hobbit-hole, and have become quite cozy. To move one story down would require effort (although since the Building wouldn’t change, frigid weather is not involved.) My tale has mentioned that ceilings were different, and they become an issue in the decision. Three’s ceiling/walls have born the stress of time, hanging always at a 45-degree angle to the horizontal. This past summer some of these ceiling/walls came crashing down, much to the dismay of Three’s tenants. There are still Cracks…sometime next summer more ceiling/walls will come crashing down, or will have to be removed and replaced before said event occurs. This annoys Three’s tenants as they have no wish to deal with the dust and interruption that occurs during these events.

Still, from adversity comes ingenuity. What if Three’s tenants did move to Two? That would eliminate the ceiling crisis completely. (Who knows what new crisis could occur, but that is for another tale.) What if The Owner of the Building then came into the now vacated Three and fixed the rest of the ceilings and repainted? Then there would be an empty, quaint story above Two where perhaps new-tenants-of-Two’s friends might wish to move in?!

As you can see, my tale is far from complete. A new chapter will be written in the morrow, when the tenants of Three go to the Owner of the Building with the monthly boarding fees and the above propositions. Stay tuned to see what, if anything changes in the Green and Yellow Building.