Now that I’ve shown you the plan, I’m going to go…
And show the plan to somebody else. Well, I did it. Wednesday of this week I booked my airfare on Air New Zealand for 2 weeks. I will be headed to Anaheim on the 21st, and then late the 25th (11:30 pm!!!) I’ll leave LAX for New Zealand. I’ll get to NZ at 7:15 AM NZT on the 27th (Friday). Then, let the fun begin. I went out and borrowed a Lonely Planet travel guide from the library for both Auckland and New Zealand. I will be perusing them this weekend in between homework assignments to decide what exactly I want to do. I can not wait to get there and to see Rachel. It’s been far too long. I will be there till June 8th, then back to Minneapolis.
I still don’t have a summer internship, I have a job, but not an internship…go figure. I’m waiting to hear on some prospects, and will call next week to find out how those are going. In the mean time I have to finish this semester. It’s down to the wire. I have 4 more discussion postings for ethics, one more lab report for lab, a book report and a rewrite for my Applications class, a homework and design project for Ventilation, and then a smattering of presentations to do between now and next Wednesday. I plan on doing a good portion of it today and tomorrow. I have to have the book report done by Sunday at 5 because the library would like their book back. I had to beg to get one more week out of them. Picky picky, it’s not like any one has reserved the stupid thing. Who ever heard of writing a book report in grad school anyway?.
So, I plan on working my buns off between now and next Wednesday, and then celebrating the end of my first year of grad school by going out for a pint at Kieran’s Irish Pub.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Am I really doing this?
Yes, I do believe I am. I looked up airfare to New Zealand today, to Auckland. 684 roundtrip from LAX. I can't find it cheaper from here. When I call next week to set my airfare for the trip to Aneheim, I'll check to make sure I can fly out a week and a half later and from LA for my return trip. Then, From the 25th to the 6th, I'll be in New Zealand. Whee!!! There are still a lot of kinks to be worked out of this plan, but I can't help but be excited. Now I just have to focus really hard on the here and now and not on then. When will then be now? When I have finished all the shite I have left to do this semester. It is winding down, but I still do have a lot to do. And here I am blogging instead of working on said homework. I need to make a to-do list I think. Otherwise I'm not going to get it all done. Hm, and a "I need from my parent's house list" too. Ok, that is a good place to start - here I go!
Yes, I do believe I am. I looked up airfare to New Zealand today, to Auckland. 684 roundtrip from LAX. I can't find it cheaper from here. When I call next week to set my airfare for the trip to Aneheim, I'll check to make sure I can fly out a week and a half later and from LA for my return trip. Then, From the 25th to the 6th, I'll be in New Zealand. Whee!!! There are still a lot of kinks to be worked out of this plan, but I can't help but be excited. Now I just have to focus really hard on the here and now and not on then. When will then be now? When I have finished all the shite I have left to do this semester. It is winding down, but I still do have a lot to do. And here I am blogging instead of working on said homework. I need to make a to-do list I think. Otherwise I'm not going to get it all done. Hm, and a "I need from my parent's house list" too. Ok, that is a good place to start - here I go!
Friday, April 22, 2005
Sunny CA here I come
I don’t post for a while and a whole bunch of stuff happens. I went home last weekend to pick up some things I need when Katie moves up to three. Dad was feeling kinda in the dumps all weekend and on Sunday decided to visit urgent care. He’s all better now, but they admitted him to the hospital for a few days because he was having a reaction to an antibiotic he was on. I’m just happy I was home so that I could help Mom out.
Monday I got an email about the internship I had applied for, and I didn’t get it. I was rather grumpy as I felt that I was deserving of it, but another classmate – also deserving – got it instead. No worries there, but I do have to find something ASAP. I decided to apply for a full time job, just to see if I’ll get it. It could make things difficult if I get it soon though, because I have about 3 weeks of time where I want to be traveling.
Thursday I got wonderful good news. I found out that I won the scholarship I had applied to. I haven’t been holding my breath because 1. it is not smart to hold your breath for that long, and 2. Only 5 people from the US (and one from outside the US) win this scholarship every year. Them’s long odds, as they say. Yesterday I got the call that I had been awarded the scholarship, and now I’m all giddy. There’s money for school of course, but there is also the opportunity to go to Anaheim, CA, for the national conference held by the American Industrial Hygiene Association. They pay for the flight, the hotel, the conference, and give me money for food. Yippee! Sunny California, here I come! I am not sure what I will be doing out there yet. I have the conference to go to, it’s a week long May 21-25, but I’m sure I’m not going to listen to every person speak about everything. I plan on going to Disneyland, since I’ve never been, and maybe doing some other sight seeing too. I’m not sure what else there is out there. I’ll have to do research.
I’ve also been meaning to visit Rachel in NZ about that time. Now I’m thinking, it would be convenient to link the two together. I could fly to Anaheim, do the conference, get to LA somehow (haven’t figured that part out yet), fly out of LA to NZ, spend a week and a half or so in NZ chillin w/ Rachel, and then fly back to LA and catch a connecting flight back to MN. That would mean being gone for 2.5 or so weeks, but that doesn’t bother me. I like to travel. I have to see if that is ok with the travel agent-y people that I get the airfare from for the scholarship. It is substantially cheaper to fly to NZ from LA than from MN though, so this works out quite well. I really do hope I can pull it off; I want to visit NZ before Rachel gets back to the states in July.
Oh, and I have some tickets to go to Hawaii between May 31 this year and the 31 May next year. I have to book them by them soon though, so I have to determine when I can go. So, the bad and the good were intermingled this week, but I think the good won out. Big time. Now all I have to do is get serious about my exercise so I don’t feel like a dunce should I wear a swimming suit a month earlier than I thought I would be, figure out what the temp is in CA this time of year, and figure out what I want to pack. Oh, and finish this semester…yeah, not to forget that.
I don’t post for a while and a whole bunch of stuff happens. I went home last weekend to pick up some things I need when Katie moves up to three. Dad was feeling kinda in the dumps all weekend and on Sunday decided to visit urgent care. He’s all better now, but they admitted him to the hospital for a few days because he was having a reaction to an antibiotic he was on. I’m just happy I was home so that I could help Mom out.
Monday I got an email about the internship I had applied for, and I didn’t get it. I was rather grumpy as I felt that I was deserving of it, but another classmate – also deserving – got it instead. No worries there, but I do have to find something ASAP. I decided to apply for a full time job, just to see if I’ll get it. It could make things difficult if I get it soon though, because I have about 3 weeks of time where I want to be traveling.
Thursday I got wonderful good news. I found out that I won the scholarship I had applied to. I haven’t been holding my breath because 1. it is not smart to hold your breath for that long, and 2. Only 5 people from the US (and one from outside the US) win this scholarship every year. Them’s long odds, as they say. Yesterday I got the call that I had been awarded the scholarship, and now I’m all giddy. There’s money for school of course, but there is also the opportunity to go to Anaheim, CA, for the national conference held by the American Industrial Hygiene Association. They pay for the flight, the hotel, the conference, and give me money for food. Yippee! Sunny California, here I come! I am not sure what I will be doing out there yet. I have the conference to go to, it’s a week long May 21-25, but I’m sure I’m not going to listen to every person speak about everything. I plan on going to Disneyland, since I’ve never been, and maybe doing some other sight seeing too. I’m not sure what else there is out there. I’ll have to do research.
I’ve also been meaning to visit Rachel in NZ about that time. Now I’m thinking, it would be convenient to link the two together. I could fly to Anaheim, do the conference, get to LA somehow (haven’t figured that part out yet), fly out of LA to NZ, spend a week and a half or so in NZ chillin w/ Rachel, and then fly back to LA and catch a connecting flight back to MN. That would mean being gone for 2.5 or so weeks, but that doesn’t bother me. I like to travel. I have to see if that is ok with the travel agent-y people that I get the airfare from for the scholarship. It is substantially cheaper to fly to NZ from LA than from MN though, so this works out quite well. I really do hope I can pull it off; I want to visit NZ before Rachel gets back to the states in July.
Oh, and I have some tickets to go to Hawaii between May 31 this year and the 31 May next year. I have to book them by them soon though, so I have to determine when I can go. So, the bad and the good were intermingled this week, but I think the good won out. Big time. Now all I have to do is get serious about my exercise so I don’t feel like a dunce should I wear a swimming suit a month earlier than I thought I would be, figure out what the temp is in CA this time of year, and figure out what I want to pack. Oh, and finish this semester…yeah, not to forget that.
Friday, April 08, 2005
I went running last night with Katie. It actually felt good! I can't believe it. We ran down the road and to the lake, then all the way around the lake. It's about one mile to the lake, and 1.6 around. So we did a total of probably 2.5 miles or running last night. I started out saying, let's get in one mile and see how we feel. We were both in the groove, so we kept going, and going, and going. We were very much like the energizer bunny, passing people, rocking out to our music. I'm not even stiff today thanks to a excellent post-run stretching session. I am pretty tired today though. I have to decide if I want to chase my coworkers around the lake on my rollerblades, go to the Public Health film festival (showing sex ed films tonight), take a nap, or read my book out on the porch. I will have to see what people are up to. If I can't wake up soon the nap or exercise will win though, or I'll be worth nothing all night.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
What a series of glorious days!!
I think that Minnesota forgot spring this year. Yes, we are having the grass change from brown to green, and the flowers are starting to bloom, and the bugs are unfortunately coming back, but the 35-50 degree days never happened. Usually in spring there is a series of days between those temperatures with either a chill to the air or a long day of rain. This spring, not so much. I swear we went form 35 to the 58-70s weather without a transition. Suddenly, I went from heavy jacket to short sleeves and capris. I don’t think I’m the only one who has noticed it either. After the strangest winter in my memory (with only one ‘snowstorm of 6+ inches in our area) I’m beginning to believe that there is a definite weather change going on. I can’t say for certain if it’s El Niño or La Niña, or if it’s global warming or global climate change, or just some X number of year pattern the weather in these parts sees. Or maybe it’s that we’re on the end of an ice age (well, we are) or going into another one. Who knows; I have lived on this earth for less than a quarter century, who am I to dictate patterns. The earth is billions of years old, and we’ve only been keeping weather data for 200-300 years. Oh, I know we have some information about what the climate was like from fossil evidence and tree rings and the like, but no one was really there recording it. There’s no oral tradition talking about the winter of 850 and how the snows were so bad that year that…
Still, after all that blathering, I like what I feel. It’s nice to have 70 degree days sans mosquitoes and other annoying little creepy crawlies. (I guess they will show up earlier this year though, since we are having the nice weather.) I’ve decided that I’m absurdly out of shape, and need to get into shape again soon. (Don’t ask what type of shape I’ve turned into, I’m not sure I have a creative enough name.) The weather is perfect right now for running (which I dislike but find very good exercise), walking, etc. I would add rollerblading, but the sticks-and-sands-of-death haven’t been removed from the road yet. Katie and I have taken to trying to exercise three times a week together, and I’m sure once Jenny moves in, she’ll be joining us. I really think that 5 days a week is better, so I’m going to aim for that. I’ll be running three days a week, and then ‘other cardio’ such as fast walks or blading or biking for two more. I still have to fit climbing in there somewhere, and I think I may take up softball. I really don’t know where the time will come from; maybe I’ll have to alternate my activities. I basically have 2 months until normal swimsuit season to magically return to normal woman shape (thought that time could be shortened with the current weather unpatterns). At least it’s much easier to eat healthy in summertime with the farmer’s market and such.
I think that Minnesota forgot spring this year. Yes, we are having the grass change from brown to green, and the flowers are starting to bloom, and the bugs are unfortunately coming back, but the 35-50 degree days never happened. Usually in spring there is a series of days between those temperatures with either a chill to the air or a long day of rain. This spring, not so much. I swear we went form 35 to the 58-70s weather without a transition. Suddenly, I went from heavy jacket to short sleeves and capris. I don’t think I’m the only one who has noticed it either. After the strangest winter in my memory (with only one ‘snowstorm of 6+ inches in our area) I’m beginning to believe that there is a definite weather change going on. I can’t say for certain if it’s El Niño or La Niña, or if it’s global warming or global climate change, or just some X number of year pattern the weather in these parts sees. Or maybe it’s that we’re on the end of an ice age (well, we are) or going into another one. Who knows; I have lived on this earth for less than a quarter century, who am I to dictate patterns. The earth is billions of years old, and we’ve only been keeping weather data for 200-300 years. Oh, I know we have some information about what the climate was like from fossil evidence and tree rings and the like, but no one was really there recording it. There’s no oral tradition talking about the winter of 850 and how the snows were so bad that year that…
Still, after all that blathering, I like what I feel. It’s nice to have 70 degree days sans mosquitoes and other annoying little creepy crawlies. (I guess they will show up earlier this year though, since we are having the nice weather.) I’ve decided that I’m absurdly out of shape, and need to get into shape again soon. (Don’t ask what type of shape I’ve turned into, I’m not sure I have a creative enough name.) The weather is perfect right now for running (which I dislike but find very good exercise), walking, etc. I would add rollerblading, but the sticks-and-sands-of-death haven’t been removed from the road yet. Katie and I have taken to trying to exercise three times a week together, and I’m sure once Jenny moves in, she’ll be joining us. I really think that 5 days a week is better, so I’m going to aim for that. I’ll be running three days a week, and then ‘other cardio’ such as fast walks or blading or biking for two more. I still have to fit climbing in there somewhere, and I think I may take up softball. I really don’t know where the time will come from; maybe I’ll have to alternate my activities. I basically have 2 months until normal swimsuit season to magically return to normal woman shape (thought that time could be shortened with the current weather unpatterns). At least it’s much easier to eat healthy in summertime with the farmer’s market and such.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Because I'm tired, but wanted to post something, and it makes me laugh.
My pirate name is:
Iron Grace Bonney
A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!
Get your own pirate name from fidius.org. 