Parting is such sweet sorrow
This Friday is my last day at work. I can't really believe that almost 3 years have passed since I began this job. I am sad to go, because I will miss the people. The work - well, it's "student work" and as such rather boring 90% of the time. Still, the time has come to pursue a different avenue of thought, and a new adventure.
That adventure will be named "Master's Thesis". Many such endeavors have been undertaken by Master's students throughout time. Peruse your local University Library thesis section if you should like some examples of the Works That Have Gone Before. My Work will be done on the crucial topic of decontamination of methamphetamine in HVAC systems in meth labs, and the air sampling that goes along with it. No, that is not its current title. The current working title (on the Work Plan anyway) is: Sampling for Methamphetamine Contamination in Air and HVAC Systems in Former Meth Labs. It’s just about as long and bulky as the description listed above. As I really detest long trumped up academic titles, I am currently in the market for a nickname for my project. Should you have any ideas, please contact me. I fully intend to use the winning nickname as the title of my Master’s Oral Defense. The Oral is the Final Exam of All Final Exams that I will need to pass in order to gain my degree. I am determined that it will be a fun and low key affair, as the topic is already weighty. I intend to bring powdered sugar covered donuts, and maybe even rock candy, and soda as a snack, and name it after the nick name, and have a great time with it.
School begins September 6th, as does my Thesis Work. I will be working mostly from home, with some time at school and some time in the ‘field’ (read: busted meth labs). I hope to finish the data collection by December and the writing of the thesis by March. I think I’ll be making a poster for the AIHce conference in May. It’s in Chicago this year. Anyone want to go to Chicago w/ me?
On a side note – pun intended – I have added a few new blog links to my Friend’s Blogs links in the sidebar. My friend Chris’s Blog, Canyons of the Deep, and my friend Lee’s Blog, Dinosaur in Trouble; my apologies Chris and Lee for taking so bloody long to link you. I am not so good at remembering to make template changes.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
::Sniff, sniff:: “A-choo!”
Bloody allergies. Seriously. They are terrible right now. I finished my house/dog sitting and thought perhaps it would get better. After all, even though there are still house allergies and outside allergies, there are no more pet allergies. Still, no luck. Katie has it worse than me though. She never really had allergies until she moved to MN. I’m so used to them; I can’t remember a time without them.
I’m in the home stretch for my ‘day job’. Soon (sometime next week) I’ll leave the office in favor of a research assistantship with the U. It will count as my field experience, my project, and my job for the next one or two semesters. I have a whole bunch of stuff to finish at work before I can leave for good though. I didn’t quite realize everything I did here. I have my hand in many proverbial cookie jars, and need to write out what I do for each. Then there’s the mundane cleaning of the desk, and packing of personal shite. Oh, and training the new worker. I think he’ll work out good for my Unit. Oh yeah, I also have to make sure my files are complete when I leave and take some info with me. It’s rather bittersweet. Heh.
Jenni and Chad have most wonderfully found out that Chad got the job he wanted. They are working on moving this weekend and I’m thinking I may go up and baby sit during the festivities. Other friends are going to the Renaissance Festival during the day. I also need to clean and organize my room sometime before Labor Day so that I can fit my new desk (when I buy one) in there and buy a bookshelf so that I have room for all my books and plants. I also want a flat screen monitor.
School starts just after Labor Day, and the Fair ends then. Today marks the beginning of that Get-together. Luckily the weather was threatening rain so traffic wasn’t so bad this morning when I left home. As Fair progresses, though, it will only get worse. Still, I love where I live. The two weeks of the Fair are the only downside.
::sniffle, cough:: Right now the plan is to find someone who won’t mind my stealing a bag of tea, as I forgot mine. Tea helps allergies, I’m convinced. If not, at least it will sooth my scratchy throat.
Bloody allergies. Seriously. They are terrible right now. I finished my house/dog sitting and thought perhaps it would get better. After all, even though there are still house allergies and outside allergies, there are no more pet allergies. Still, no luck. Katie has it worse than me though. She never really had allergies until she moved to MN. I’m so used to them; I can’t remember a time without them.
I’m in the home stretch for my ‘day job’. Soon (sometime next week) I’ll leave the office in favor of a research assistantship with the U. It will count as my field experience, my project, and my job for the next one or two semesters. I have a whole bunch of stuff to finish at work before I can leave for good though. I didn’t quite realize everything I did here. I have my hand in many proverbial cookie jars, and need to write out what I do for each. Then there’s the mundane cleaning of the desk, and packing of personal shite. Oh, and training the new worker. I think he’ll work out good for my Unit. Oh yeah, I also have to make sure my files are complete when I leave and take some info with me. It’s rather bittersweet. Heh.
Jenni and Chad have most wonderfully found out that Chad got the job he wanted. They are working on moving this weekend and I’m thinking I may go up and baby sit during the festivities. Other friends are going to the Renaissance Festival during the day. I also need to clean and organize my room sometime before Labor Day so that I can fit my new desk (when I buy one) in there and buy a bookshelf so that I have room for all my books and plants. I also want a flat screen monitor.
School starts just after Labor Day, and the Fair ends then. Today marks the beginning of that Get-together. Luckily the weather was threatening rain so traffic wasn’t so bad this morning when I left home. As Fair progresses, though, it will only get worse. Still, I love where I live. The two weeks of the Fair are the only downside.
::sniffle, cough:: Right now the plan is to find someone who won’t mind my stealing a bag of tea, as I forgot mine. Tea helps allergies, I’m convinced. If not, at least it will sooth my scratchy throat.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Busy Busy
It has been one busy week. Last Thursday Rachel came to town to pick up the plants I’d been watching (they have a tendency to run away without careful supervision) and to visit people here in the Twin Cities. We have had great fun; playing chess, going to the zoo, watching movies, going canoeing, and playing Frisbee. We went to the farmer’s market Saturday morning and found some chocolate raspberry sauce that is so very nice. We decided that it would make a good topping for some nice, thick brownies. We were right. The brownies are gone now (sadness abounds, and I’m thinking that only another bake-fest will alleviate the problem) but there is still some sauce left. I started house- and dog-sitting for a coworker yesterday. Rachel got the joys of spending the night up there, since I can’t just leave them alone all night.
Puppies have the energy of 50 two-year-olds combined. I feel like I’m being run ragged, and it’s only been one day. I should be there through the weekend, though the exact end date is undetermined right now. Addy, the older dog, I’ve ‘sat’ before; she’s the sweetest, calmest, dog anyone could ask for. If they both had the energy of Dylan, the puppy, I’d be done for.
I’ve almost finished my online classes. Management is completely done, and I’m one quiz and one final away from finishing my Epidemiology class. With those completed, I’ll have two weeks off before fall semester. Fall semester I’m taking Environmental Chemistry, Social and Behavioral Science and Biostatical Methods I. I’ll also take my field experience credits then. I’m taking biostats online, so I’ll only have to go to class T/Th from 11:15-2:40. Not a bad schedule at all.
Those two weeks off coincide with the State Fair. Yes, those two weeks that are the “great Minnesota get-together” are also my two weeks of “get off my lawn! Stop blowing off fireworks when I’m trying to sleep! Could it get any dustier? Why are there so many people ALWAYS? Traffic Sucks!” The fiar is a great idea, I’m sure…it just blows that I live a block or so away from the fairgrounds. It means a free fireworks show every night, which is nice…but it’s also people and cars and dust and noise and tempers. I plan to go to WI for Labor Day to avoid the last, very chaotic, weekend of it. The rest of the time I’ll just have to deal. I went two years ago, and missed last year, so I may go this year. It depends on how much money I want to spend on entrance, food, and stuff. I may just go to the fair by association. I don’t need ________-on-a-stick anyway.
It has been one busy week. Last Thursday Rachel came to town to pick up the plants I’d been watching (they have a tendency to run away without careful supervision) and to visit people here in the Twin Cities. We have had great fun; playing chess, going to the zoo, watching movies, going canoeing, and playing Frisbee. We went to the farmer’s market Saturday morning and found some chocolate raspberry sauce that is so very nice. We decided that it would make a good topping for some nice, thick brownies. We were right. The brownies are gone now (sadness abounds, and I’m thinking that only another bake-fest will alleviate the problem) but there is still some sauce left. I started house- and dog-sitting for a coworker yesterday. Rachel got the joys of spending the night up there, since I can’t just leave them alone all night.
Puppies have the energy of 50 two-year-olds combined. I feel like I’m being run ragged, and it’s only been one day. I should be there through the weekend, though the exact end date is undetermined right now. Addy, the older dog, I’ve ‘sat’ before; she’s the sweetest, calmest, dog anyone could ask for. If they both had the energy of Dylan, the puppy, I’d be done for.
I’ve almost finished my online classes. Management is completely done, and I’m one quiz and one final away from finishing my Epidemiology class. With those completed, I’ll have two weeks off before fall semester. Fall semester I’m taking Environmental Chemistry, Social and Behavioral Science and Biostatical Methods I. I’ll also take my field experience credits then. I’m taking biostats online, so I’ll only have to go to class T/Th from 11:15-2:40. Not a bad schedule at all.
Those two weeks off coincide with the State Fair. Yes, those two weeks that are the “great Minnesota get-together” are also my two weeks of “get off my lawn! Stop blowing off fireworks when I’m trying to sleep! Could it get any dustier? Why are there so many people ALWAYS? Traffic Sucks!” The fiar is a great idea, I’m sure…it just blows that I live a block or so away from the fairgrounds. It means a free fireworks show every night, which is nice…but it’s also people and cars and dust and noise and tempers. I plan to go to WI for Labor Day to avoid the last, very chaotic, weekend of it. The rest of the time I’ll just have to deal. I went two years ago, and missed last year, so I may go this year. It depends on how much money I want to spend on entrance, food, and stuff. I may just go to the fair by association. I don’t need ________-on-a-stick anyway.
