Where'd I go?

I've been to Chicago for a conference. I presented the poster-of-many-a-bitching-blog. It went well. I met fun people, learned a bunch, and gave blood. You may wonder why this rates so high on the list of things I did.

Until just Wednesday, when said blood was donated, I did not know if I could. Every time, in the past, that I tried I would pass out. I decided after giving it a go three times, that my body only makes enough blood for itself and had not learned to share. Now, a few years later, my body has learned that age-old kindergarden lesson, and I gave a pint of the ole b-positive to the Red Cross.

After which I decided that I'd earned a pint...or 5. (oops...I believe the nice Red Cross volunteers gave me a sheet in which I was supposed to avoid alcohol and drink water for a while after. I think I ignored it. Really I think it was the nice people buying me alcohol in the first place that ignored it. I just played along. Yup.)

But anyway, back to the conference. The poster went over well, and I have many people interested in my poster and potential manuscript. I have to email them tomorrow. I went to some entertaining and informative sessions, and ignored the ones I felt wouldn't be. Actually, I didn't get to go to all the ones I wanted, but I tried. I missed a good portion of a committee meeting because I had a dinner meeting, but caught the end of it, and then went out after (said 5 pints, mentioned above) with the people from the meeting.

Thursday I relaxed, went to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the impressionist paintings, and did some shopping. Chocolate and smelly body stuff, very girly I know. Then I flew back to the TCs. Now I'm in the process of cleaning my room and deciding what clothes to put on to go dancing. I should really go dry my hairs before they end up in the 'poof' style.

Festivites?

Last week was the Festival of Nations. I ate great food from all over the world (too much of it), watched great dancing from all over the world, went shopping all over the world, and learned about world bazaars. Then we discovered the cutouts, you know, the boards where you stick your head in and become someone else. We had the damnedest time taking the picture below. Mary and I had NO idea what face the other one was making...honest. Barbara was laughing so hard at us, that we couldn't hold the faces we were making, so this picture took a while to take. We'd step out, giggle, pinch ourselves, get ourselves back into 'photo mode' and pose again. Barbara would get the camera lined up, and start giggling again. If she could have held it, we could have... Finally, on take about...15, (ok, it was probably 5, but it felt like forever), she got the picture in just before the giggling began again. Mary and I calmed down, went to look at it, and all three of us cracked up again. It was a great time. There are other pictures. Perhaps I'll post them later.

Lilacs

I woke up today when I was supposed to, but I had left the window open to the breeze last night and a lovely cool breeze scented with lilacs was floating into my room. I thought to myself, I'll just relax a bit longer, and I floated away into lilac scented dreams. This morning I could have related them to you, but now they are just a distant memory.

I went to MDH to get my equipment to do some field work tomorrow, and then came back home. As I stepped out of my car to go back into my home, I again scented lilacs. I wanted to cut some and bring them into the house to fill the inside with the wonderful smell of spring. Lilacs are my favorite flower, but they last so very short a time once cut from the bush. They are all in perfect bloom here, we're almost done with the season, but back home I bet it's just beginning. So at least when I go to GB for a week I'll get to smell the lilacs again. I wonder if there is a lilac-type bush out there that blooms longer, or multiple times? I'd buy it. When I own my own house, I'm going to create a property line of lilac bushes (and keep them trimmed so I can always reach the flowers to smell them).

Right now, my house smells like lunch, and looking around it I can smell the hint of cleaning fluids. Not that I've used them yet, but I have to. I think my senses are reminding me of the work I really should be getting done. First the lunch, then the work. At least I'll get to play outside this afternoon!

Finally, Finally!

Finally! Did I say that enough? I don't know. Maybe. Ok, one more time - FINALLY!

I finished my poster, sent it off to the printer, and he's made some tweaks. I'm waiting for his file to OK and then it will be done, printed, poof!

I took care of a whole bunch of other misc. graduation stuff today too. I now have a bit of free time (should be cleaning but don't wanna) until my supper is cooked (red potatoes w/ red peppers, onions, and green peppers - yum) and then it's off to my softball game. I may have to pitch tonight, but hopefully not...I've only thrown the ball a few times this year! And hitting, bah. I have no idea how that will go :P Still, if they need me to pitch, I will. It's like riding a bike, right? Once you learn you don't have to relearn? (Shhh, I know I have to practice, I am just pretending I won't suck so much.)

Wish us luck!

A better picture

I like this picture better.

New Hair

Ok, it's my old hair, but it has a new trick. It is many colored. I tried to capture the colors on camera, but I think I didn't do the greatest job. It's close, but...:)
Oh, and I had it straightened too!

Adventures in Poster Making

I have to make a poster for our national conference this year about my research. You know the type of poster I'm talking about, the 44 inches by 72 inches professionally printed looks cool kind? Yeah. That's what I've been working on for the last week. Last night, or this morning rather, at 1AM I sent off the verbage to my prof. to be edited and went to bed. My plan was to send all my graphics, tables, etc, my poster template (colors and style, etc), and my verbage to a professsional and have him put it together.

This morning I awoke with different plans. Last night in my sleep I drempt industrious dreams. In one I knitted an entire sweater (sans arms because I didn't know how to attach them), and in another I climbed a really hard climb with no rope because I had to get something from the top - don't remember what now. I awoke feeling tired, but motivated. I checked email, and found a few emails on said poster from a classmate who happens to be presenting a poster at the same conference. She had sent along some info she had gotten from the conference people on the poster, and what she had done so far. I thought, hey...maybe I can do that too! So I sat down and in the last few hours, pounded out a poster. it's not perfect, but the gentleman who is printing my poster will do 'make pretty' edits for free, and I'm waiting on content edits from my prof.

I honestly don't think I would have done so well making my poster had it not been for the email from a classmate with some directions, the 'how to' sent from the man who is printing my poster, and some good luck thrown in. I know the second I go to change ANYTHING - be it font size, or figure order...EVERYTHING will unformat, so I think I'll leave those changes up to the professional.

Hm, I think I'll eat some lunch, and do some cleaning...or maybe just reward myself with a good book.

Locked Up

Today, sometime between the 10:48 when I arrived at work and the 12:09 when I left, someone implemented a new policy regarding the visitor badges (which I wear) limiting the are in which they will open doors. Great idea, not giving visitors access to all parts of the building. Note to whomever did such a thing in the middle of the bloody day: "next time please turn off access when there aren't visitors in the building in areas where they can be locked in."

Yup, I got locked in the Scientific Corridor (area of building where the labs are). I had already been able to access the area, like I've done for the last three months, and was working just fine when I realized I'd forgotton something upstairs. When one leaves the bottom floor to go to the top floor (or vice versa) one must rescan one's keycard to get either back into the corridor or out into the office space. This is so delivery people can't go walking amuck in the labs or offices. This also serves to lock poor, unsuspecting student workers such as myself into the scientific elevator area when the badges were switched. I had to wait to be rescued. I thought perhaps the badge had been turned off (it's happened before), so I went to retrieve a new badge. I tested that one first. No dice.

Now I have to somehow find a way to do my research with either 1. a shadow employee who has a working badge, or 2. a different type of badge that will let me into my areas.

If it isn't one thing it's another. Poo. (On the upside, I'm finished with classes now until I decide to either take a refesher course or go for my PhD.)

Foot-candles

Yes. Foot-candles. It's my new favorite unit of measurement.

I've finished my interview, and I've finished one class worth of papers and presentations. I feel ready for my presentation tomorrow night. I'm excited to be done! Whee. I feel I can think straigh forwards again. Tomorrow I will work on my poster. I have emailed a person who puts these things together and hope he can help me. I have no idea how one does these things. I have to find the letter they sent me with the details (first order of business) and then I'll know what formats I need to use.

Hm, I wonder how many foot-candles are in my room right now? I think I'll ponder that while sipping my wine and finding the letter, and then I'll find myself a nice book to read.

A day off?

Everyone needs a day off now and again. Was today mine? I'm not certain. How do I not know? Well, I know it shouldn't have been. I should have been working on my poster, or practicing my presentation for tomorrow. Instead, I watched movies. I should be sticking to my new practice of eating right. Instead I had some ice cream and some potato chips. I should be prepping for my interview tomorrow. Instead I'm dinking around online.

Still, it doesn't feel like a day off. I'm slightly crabby, I have a slight headache, and I feel like going to bed. Hm. Why dont' I? Why dont' I go to bed 'early'? There's no good reason not too. I have some things to do but there is no reason I can't do them tomorrow. It's like I feel guily if I don't stay up until at least 11 or 11:30 working on 'stuff'. If I'm not productive at least 10-15 hours a day I dont' feel like I've accomplished enough or something. Or is that just the burn-out talking? I have no idea. Right now I can't even thing sideways, let alone straight. I think a low pressure system settled in my eardrums...or that could just be the allergies.

You know, screw this. I'm going to bed. I'm almost done with my tea, I'll clear off my bed - the right way - by putting things away rather than storing them on the floor, put on my pjs, brush my teeth and go bed. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning. ( I was going to write about the weekend but that will have to wait until tomorrow I think.)

DONE!

Done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, done, DONE!
(at least with the paper that is due tomorrow, I still have two presentations to do and some edits to a final fact sheet, but I can't do the presentations until their scheduled days, Monday and Tuesday, and the fact sheet isn't due for a whole nother WEEK.)

OK, sorry, I just had to, somewhere, post that. Screaming it would be more helpful, but it's 11:10PM, my roommate is sleeping, and I think maybe some of my neighbors as well. So screaming my DONE state to the entirety of the hearing area would be a BAD THING right now. Instead, I scream at you blog readers. I scream in a happy, excited, jumping, turning circles, happy dance sort of way. The arms thrown up and head thrown back at doneness kind of scream.

Ok, yeah, I'm loopy. I've been working on this paper since 10Am this morning...with time off for lunch, and mentoring, and supper, and chatting with my roommate, and chatting online. But still, I bet I put 6 or so hours in on it today. So whee. I actually think it may have turned out to be what was required too, instead of the 'not required it was earlier'. Hmm, upon reread, that sentence doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, even. I'll leave it there though, as a testiment to my crazy-mind-euphoria-doneness-state. Or it could be the tea.

In any case, it's now time for some serious sleeping. Tomorrow I have The Raptor Center in the AM, and then a meeting for one of the above mentioned presentations and the fact sheet, and then letting the pups out because I'm house sitting again, and then some confection eating with the roommate, and also Casanova. Then Jenni is coming for the weekend and I'm very excited! So, sleep now is required for there will be long days this weekend.

Countdown

Tomorrow is Friday. That means today is busy, otherwise known as Thursday. I have a 5-8 page single spaced (yes, single spacing is stupid to require because it's impossible to correct and no, I have no idea why it's required) paper due tomorrow that I started about an hour and 20 minutes ago. I technically already have 5 pages, though I'm almost certain the title page and reference page don't count. I have 2.25 pages of actual finished type, and another .25 pages of things I'll probably say, headings, etc. I'm thinking I won't have a problem reaching the 5 pages, but I'm not sure it will be what the assigment required. I have so far 2 pages of explaination, not critique. I figure I'll write it all and then go back and add some critique? Hm.

Yesterday I should have been working on said paper, but instead I cleaned up a bunch of loose ends, and then went rollerblading around the lake with Lee and Karin. What was going to be a "quick introduction back to outside skating" turned into 15 miles. After all that excecise and the loose bits out of the way I feel I can concentrate on the paper, and when it's done, finish up a few one other project. Tomorrow I will turn in said paper and go over a paper/presentation due Monday with a classmate. Then Tuesday I have to present another project and then POOF. Done. Whee!

I still have yet to start my Poster...eep. Oh, and Monday I have a job interview too. Can't forget that. I need lunch. Break time for me. Then it's back to the lovely computer in the corner of my room.

The home stretch

Or is it the seventh inning stretch? I don't' know. I can't, not yet. I have only two weeks left to finish all classwork and my poster for the conference. So in that way it is indeed the home stretch. I have a limited amount of time to finish things, things are coming down to the wire, etc. Still, I have to write my thesis before the end of the summer (sooner is preferable) and give my oral defense before I am awarded my degree. I also have to find a job. So in that way it is the seventh inning stretch. I'm close, oh so close to done, but the last two innings of my graduate school career may very well take 3 months. (Sounds more like a quiddich game than a baseball game.) I have only to climb small mountains, leap buildings in a single bound, fly around the world on the back of a flying pig in 80 days or less, and not catch any form of plague and I just might make it. Burn out, anyone? I'm close to the point that you could cook marshmallows off of my burnout.

Still, some small part of me is elated to be at this point. Soon I'll have finished all my schooling for the foreseeable future. Soon I'll be in the real world. Soon I'll have a job that is the direct result of my hard work and determination. Soon. But not yet. Right now I have to find the kind of discipline my school-workings have never had before. I have to not procrastinate. I have to find my thesisical muse (I do believe there is no muse for scholarly works, Clio coming closest to what I desire, but perhaps there needs to be a 10th muse? 10 is such a nice round number.) and not have writer's block. Yes, writer's block can happen to those writing scientific type papers. Especially when one is stressed. Even if one has all of ones methods, results, and discussion figured out.

In other news, tomorrow I'm going to go visit a Nutritionist. I am grumpy about the weight I've put on in the last year. I have decided to do something about it. I have been trying to "eat right" or "eat better" and "excercise more" but those vague concepts are not going to get me anywhere. I've started this week out so well, and I want to to continue. I skated the half marathon on saturday, yesterday I did some cleaning and took the day off, and today I went running. I want to lose weight in an approved fashion. I know about counting calories and the food pyramid, but I need some help. I'm not motivated enough to count calories I don't think. My hope is that there will be some things the nutritionist can suggest to help me. I want to be comforatble in a swimsuit by the middle of june. I want to feel good while running my 5K in July. I want to do a few more marathons on my skates. I want to be healthy. So, the nutritionist it is. Plus with my current insurance, trips to visit her are free. Preventative medicine is a good thing.

Today's Amusement:

They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!

I felt the need to share.

Around the Dome Quickly

Today's the day of the Rollerdome Inline Marathon. As Karin and I decided we didn't want to go cheerfully insane going in circles, we are only going to do the half marathon. That should only provide us with moderate loopiness. Our goal is to do it in 4 minute miles or less, putting us under 52 minutes. I have to finish getting ready for said race, then head to the library to pick up another book I had on reserve. (I know I don't have time for it this weekend...but I don't care :P )

Our start time is somewhere after 3:30 but before 3:35. If you want to cheer us on, parking is free and there will be a spectator area. Just remember to cheer for "Team Fall Down" as we go flying past. Our colors are black and blue.

**Update: Karin and I finished in about 53:46 sec and :48 seconds. You can click here to see the full results if you are interested. We thought there was this mixup with the lapcounter (IE we felt we did an extra lap or two) but I think it was us going moderately loopy. It's all right now. We finished 4th and 5th of the women in the half marathon. Too bad we couldn't make the top three. Oh well, next race. It was fun, and today (Sunday) my bottom is the muscles sore. I'll have to see if I can fit in a run or a walk later today to help with the soreness.

Ba ba ba baaa BAAAA bababa BAAAA baaa...

You know, without the music, you may not recognize that as the beginning of the theme to Star Wars, but take my word for it, that's how it would be written. Last night Katie, Karin, Lee, Barbara, and I went to see the One Man Star Wars Trilogy. I haven't laughed so hard in a LONG time! One man does all three episodes of the ORIGINAL Star Wars Trilogy in one hour, all the charecters. He uses no props or costumes, just hand gestures, body language, and voices. He's good too! He gets Luke's whining, Han's overconfidence, and Leia's smugness across to the audience so nicely. There is comedy thrown in; sometimes very subtle, sometimes very obvious. It was a good thing all of us knew Star Wars as well as we did, though. He jumped back and fourth from one role to another so fast that if one didn't know the plot of the movies, one would be really confused. Afterwards, since the show only did last one hour, we went to O'Donnovans pub for pints and chips.

Tonight I am going to see Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie at Northrup on campus. I'm quite excited. Before I get to go though, I have to finish up my research (last day of sampling for my Thesis if all goes well...please, all go well!) Then I have to go home and clean up my place a bit, go mentoring, and do a few other things. The week is slightly less hectic today. Tomorrow I go to the Raptor Center in the morning and then I'm going go back to work to finish up my analytical stuff for today's samples. Over the weekend I have to write a 5-10 page paper...actually make that two, make a power point presentation, and edit some pictures for another power point presentation. Oh, and do all the reseach that goes with writing said papers. I haven't even begun the work involved yet. Bleah. Saturday I'm racing 13 miles in circles around the metrodome with Karin. Sunday I think I plan on sleeping in.

Today my key got stuck in the lock of the apartment door. I went to turn the key, and it would only turn a bit, then stuck. I tried to turn it back, and it worked a bit, then stuck some more. Then nothing. No turning to the right or left. I couldn't get the damned thing back out either. Since leaving my key in the door with the door unlocked seemed a bit too much like handing an open invitation to someone to come in and steal, I walked over to the landlord's business and asked for some silcone spray (becaue wd40 has water in it and can rust one's locks) and some help. A few minutes later I had successfully removed the key and lubricated my lock, and was finally ready to head to work. On the way to work, I blew threw the damned meters (why were they running at 10:00 AM anyway??!? ) with some city official type person watching me do it. Hopefully he can't call my license into the cops. My excuse, 1. the damned things are never on at that time of day. 2. his truck was parked not completely off the on ramp, so I was attempting to avoid that. And 3. it has ALMOST turned green. Plus, I felt very much like the white rabbit; I was late. So, just as I'm contemplating my bad self (And the car behind me whom I'm sure had not nearly the number of good excuses as I did for blowing through the meters in the same fashion as me), a large semi throws a boulder at my car. Maybe not a boulder, but a Very Large Rock. So large I could see it coming. So large I knew it would be bad. I heard the CRACK! as it hit my windshield, and i now have a quarter sized chuck/spiderweb/thing right in the middle of my two wiper blades when they are at rest. It's too big to be patched. I'm going to have to replace the whole damned windshield. Not just yet though. Right now it's just spiderwebbed, not cracked. I'm going to wait til it cracks to replace it. Ugh. Badish day. But it will get better tonight I hope.

Day 1 of Crazy Week

It's Monday at 3:15. I've been up since 6, had breakfast with some old family friends, driven 4.5ish hours from home 1 to home 2, finished an assignment for class that is due tonight (yeah, I procrastinated but my parents have little computer functionality), applied for 2 jobs, had lunch, packed my backpack, made a packed supper, put my rollerblading gear in order, and am now typing this. I have yet to: go to class, eat supper, go rollerblading at least 13 miles or until the dome closes (note to self, bring cash), come home, work on other class major presentation for tomorrow (just a draft thank goodness), finish other classes major paper, have a small snack or glass of wine, go to bed exhausted.

Tomorrow is more of the same. Gotta love the end of the semester. The weather isn't helping either, it's too damned nice to be stuck inside. It's days like this when I wish I had a laptop.

Favorite Seasons

It has been so unseasonably warm here lately, and I don't want it to end. I am loving the 70something days we have been having with their crisp clean nights. I love spring and fall. Summer is great with its sultry heat but there are bugs. Winter is wonderful with it's snowfalls and icicles but one has to always bundle, always take care not to get the frostbite. It's a tie between spring and fall as my favorites I think. I was born in fall, so that gives that season an advantage over spring perhaps. Do we imprint on our first season? I don't know, but I've always have a special place in my heart for the shortening days, the billowing clouds, the colorful leaves, and yes, even the death of plant life. It represents a cycle to me, and usually by the time my birth month, September, rolls around I'm ready to be done with bugs and hot, sticky, sweaty weather. I enjoy the first frost of the season (especially since it indicates an end of outdoor allergy season). I love to see the long V's of geese heading south for the winter.

Still, now it is spring, and spring at last. The snow has melted (but as it's Minnesota, we may still get one or two small snowstorms before it gives up til fall), and the tulips and daffodils are growing. I saw little purple flowers on the protected side of a campus building the other day and it made me smile. I was walking to class, grumpy about having to be inside on such a nice day, and I turned and saw them. I actually stopped on the path for a minute to admire them before continuing on to the basement torture chamber they call a classroom (no windows, the heat still on, bad ventilation, and cramped quarters). The grass is already green and there is no more ice on the lakes. Ice Out (that point in which all lakes in the TC area have no more ice) happened one week earlier than the average this year. This past week the weather has been 15 degrees above average. Instead of a chilly 50 to 55, we have a balmy 65-70...and even 80 on one day (though 80 was too hot for this time of year, my body needs time to adjust to that). The longer days, and flowers, and birds, and plants, and warmth have me smiling at nothing, and doing little skippy dances at work. My coworkers have labeled me 'eccentric' or just plain weird, but my skppy dances make them smile, and I think everyone has a better day for it. Oh, and the wee house finches have build a nest in our awning again, so soon I'll have baby finches to watch grow big and fly away. Yesterday I caught myself humming the 'raindrops keep falling on my head' song.

Don't get me wrong, my world isn't completely rose colored glasses. I was sick (I admit it) last week, and that was no fun at all. If I think too long about how much schoolwork I have to do from now until May 12th I will slide right back into stress. I still have to find a real job for when I finish my Master's and figure out how to live as an 'out of school adult'. Just now, as I type this though, life is good. It's 77 degrees outside, the sun is shining, and the mosquitos aren't yet hatched. I fully intend to finish this post and then go play outside for awhile before sunset. I have some errands to run in my car with the windows rolled down, and then I'm going to take a blanket out onto the lawn and do my reading for class where it's nice.

This weekend I'm going to GB for Easter, and then it's back here for a CRAZY week of next. Have a great weekend everyone. If it's not looking like it'll be great, call me and I'll try to infect you with some of my energy. Lord knows I don't need quite all of it.

Warmth

The sun is out, the ground is warm, I wore a tank top today, and sandles, and all is well. I believe that is a fragment. Oh well. Thursday was Chris's B-day, and though I still had only half a voice, some friends and he went to the circus. We had a great time dashing under raindrops all the way to the door. It was raining so hard that no matter if you sprinted or walked you were still going to be soaked. I compromised and splashed in puddles while running.

Friday I hung out with Lance and Erin at their new place, and Saturday I hung out w/ Cliff. I didn't get to the cleaning I'd planned to do until today, and still haven't organized or done homework. That's the plan for this evening. That, and picking up Katie from the airport as she returns from Ireland. It has been a nice relaxing weekend - I needed it after the week. I have to finish reading a rather lengthy document for my Monday class, and working on some things for my Tuesday class, and then it's off to bed. No worries, should be a rather relaxing week.

Voice, where did you go?

I woke and you had left. When will you return. I'm working o backup voice rightnow, but I'm running a bit low on that too.

But I'm not sick. Nope. Just took the day off for rest. Yes, that's it.

Wonderful

I am remaining determined to not get sick. So I decided that exercise makes me stronger and rollerbladed 10 miles with Karin on Monday. Today is so nice outside that I couldn't just go from work to class to home all inside and so I'm going to be late to school because I went for a 3 mile walk/run. Oh, and I'll be late because I'm blogging, but poo...I have to wait for the next bus anyway. Not late to class, though, just to the meeting before hand. So I'll hand over my 'it's too nice' excuse and smile, and hand over all the work I've done and hope it's enough.

Tomorrow is supposed to be 60. I was going to go swimming at the rec, but I think I'll have to see if the Rollerblading over by the lakes is free of dust, or go running/walking again outside. It's supposed to rain all day Thursday, I'll go swimming then (inside, not in the puddles...though I plan on splashing through every available puddle on the way there).

Rachel, where are you when I need you? We will have to play in our respective rainstorms and think of the other. I'll splash in the biggest puddle I can find just for you. (This is, of course, assuming that the weather people have it correct that we will get the nice rainstorm they are predicting...)

I refuse to get sick

They say it's mind over matter. They say that one's attitude can affect one's health. Well, they, I'm putting that to the test. I say I won't be sick for two more months. I say that I'm going to remain positive and upbeat about finishing my degree, my project, my poster for the conference, and my thesis. I say I'm going to find a job. All of this requires me to NOT BE SICK. So I'm not getting sick. I am no longer going to have chills, or a sore throat, or a dizzy head. I will not be mastered by fatigue. There will be no ear aches and no head aches. Note to self.

I had a great weekend, I went to see A Whisper in the Noise and Arab Strap play a beautiful and gratifyingly long show on Friday night. Saturday I accomplished most of my errands and went dancing until Daylight-Spring-Ahead-Time. I had such a great time out that I didn't return home until 5:30AM. Was up again by 10:30 or 11 because I couldn't sleep (why can't I sleep when I have the time, and want to sleep more when I don't???). I spent today cleaning and sort of studying and chillin w/ my roommate. Unfortunately the great weekend meant a minimum of sleep and I'm starting this week in a deficit.

Still, remain positive, eat my vitamins, drink plenty of tea, and chill. I'll not be sick. I can do this. I've done it before. Not become sick because I said so. I'm a fast healer too. Unless this is one hell of a bug (or allergies, I haven't found a successful way to completely beat THOSE. Nope, allergies kick my bum every year, all year...) I won't be taken down. This is me, standing with my back to the proverbial wall, in attack stance ready to fight.

Chicago Pictures...some of them anyway

The face artwork in the Millenium Park, real people from Chiago's faces on these big screen things.
Sears tower etc view from the stairs of the Field Museum.

The back of the face artwork and the other face artwork (face all glowy white because I managed to snap this while it was changing - crazy) Plus some buildings and such.

The MASS EXTINCTION wall bit which was just to the left and above the...

MASS EXTINCTION bit on the floor. Unfortunately, the massive amounds of red light around these didn't show up so much. But you still get the idea.

Picture Error and Skiing

I tried to post some pictures of the Chicago trip, but blogger's photo hoster is not playing well with others right now. I'll have to try again later.

I am very sore right now. I went skiing this weekend - Saturday, and ouch. Yes...I did go skiing at the end of March in Minnesota. I can't really believe it either. When I was younger I would not have thought twice about the skiing season extending this long, but the last few winters have been so piddly that I wasn't sure we'd see this much of a ski season. Still, for 3 canned goods and 5 dollars, one could obtain a lift ticket at Afton Alps on Saturday, so off we went. It was 40 degrees, the snow was more slush than anything else, but it was still fun. I skied from about 10 until about 6. Eight hours of skiing when you haven't gone since January is hard on the calf muscles. I'm not sore when I'm walking around, but earlier today I had 5 hours of class and had a hard time walking to the bus afterwards. I decided to take the day off today from working out, mostly because I had a lot of homework to finish. I'll workout some tomorrow hopefully, and then Wednesday I'll skate and perhaps climb on Thursday.

It was nice to get out on the snow one last time...now I'm ready for spring and Thunder-storms!

Spring Break

What a week. Last week was spring break. I spent Monday snowed in the house, and Tuesday doing homework and then going to Hamlet at the Guthrie Theater. Wednesday through Friday was a trip to Chicago with Karin, Friday night a party at Katie and Chris’s place, and then it was the weekend already.

Chicago was great! We drove down Wednesday morning, stopping in the Dells for lunch at the Moosejaw, and I bought some beer bread mix there. I just finished the last piece (made yesterday and consumed) and it was major yummy. After lunch we decided to drive to the Wollersheim Winery. We took the tour and sampled all the yummy wines (but not enough that we couldn’t keep driving, heh). So, after a much delayed – in a good way – start to the trip, we drove the rest of the way to Chicago. We paid the toll people with nickels, dimes and (once or twice) pennies, and made our way to our hotel downtown. We settled in, freshened up, and went hunting for cider. Let me tell you, cider hunting is not very fruitful that time of year. One would have though, being just about St. Patrick’s Day, that the Irish Hard Cider would be a bountiful drink. But, just like deer at deer hunting season, there was none to be found. We settled for finding fish and chips and having other drinks. By the time we finished walking around, eating, and unsuccessfully hunting, it was almost 11 and we were exhausted from driving and our other adventures, so we went to bed.

Thursday we woke up early so we could get to the Field Museum of Natural History to see the Pompeii exhibit and the just-opened Evolving Planet exhibit. We spent over 1.5 hours in each, and after those too, and of course Sue the T-rex, we were mentally spent. I was very impressed with the Pompeii exhibit. They did a really great job blending the history, tragedy, hope, lessons learned, etc together. The history of what happened was very interesting to read, we all hear of Pompeii, but there were other cities affected in the area. The tragedy of that many deaths, I can’t even imagine. And, it could happen again on an even larger scale. There are over three million people in the area directly below Vesuvius, and from what I gathered, no true evacuation plan other than the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude. There was hope in that exhibit too. People had grabbed their wealth. We know they were hoping for rescue; they expected to be able to start a new life with what they brought with them. They also grabbed art, things of sentimental value. This shows me the people then are like the people now, basically kind, and interesting in art and beauty. Nice to know we’re not so different. They also looked to their families, and we can hope, neighbors in the crisis. People were found huddled together in places of (they hoped) safety. It was all for naught with the gas clouds, but they were gaining hope from each other. The lesson learned is that it can happen again, will happen again, and that people must be ready. Unfortunately, even with all the monitoring of the mountain, it could just go. Then nothing people plan will help. Hopefully though, that will not be the case, and little earthquakes will tip people into moving out of the area for a while. The Evolving Planet exhibit is great if you are a science geek like me. I have some pictures I’ll post later on it. I have none of Vesuvius b/c cameras were not allowed, but the Field Museum’s website has some if you are interested. The evolving planet takes you through a fossil history of the planet from earliest known fossil to today. It shows the 6 MASS EXTINCTIONS (really, it needs to be capitalized. I’ll explain more when I post the pictures), including what caused them. And it includes things you can touch. Touching is good. Some of the touching had weird textures though. Eep.

After going to the museum we took the bus up Michigan to Marshall Field’s looking for the Lush Store. We went to the wrong Field’s so we walked up Michigan to the Water Tower one. On the way we passed a handbag store with a sale. I found a new purse, as did Karin, for a nice deal. Then we headed to the mall area where Field’s was, and found a Teavana store. Anyone who is as in love with tea as me needs to visit this store! I fell in love with the teapots, but the larger size was $160 or so. Cast iron or great quality, but unfortunately for me I can’t afford that right now. Some day. I bought a bunch of loose tea instead, and some little tea bags for making my own on the go tea. After that we went to Lush, and got wonderful bath products. Karin did most of the buying, but shared her goody bag with me because she rocks! It was getting time for dinner so we decided to walk back to the hotel, even though it was 1.5 to 2 miles.

On the way home, we passed the Disney Store and went in, yet another stop in my quest for a new Eeyore. (My old Eeyore had been with me for years, and slept with me faithfully every night, even going to GB with me for trips, or (depending) on longer trips too. Eeyore was not keen on airplanes, so generally didn’t fly, but most road trips he came along. Then one day this past summer, being older and not so stiff at the joints, he split open and dumped his stuffing onto my bed. It was a traumatic experience, and left me without a cuddle friend for bedtime. I have been hunting for a suitable new friend ever since. Not exactly the same, because that would have been painful, but something like.) Inside, we headed directly to the plush section, and to my delight I found the perfect Eeyore for me. Just the right size, squishiness, and softness. Plus, he was available for not so much dinero. I adopted him then and there, and he’s slept with me from that night till now, and from now to the foreseeable future!

Having procured an Eeyore, I was in great spirits and Karin too, for she had helped to end my quest. We were now on the quest for the holy sake cup. Actually, it was the quest for dinner. Dinner was procured at the Park Grill, and it was WONDERFUL. Yup, capital wonderful. I had lamb, Karin had Tuna and Fennel, and all three were superb. We also had a starter, and an appetizer, and a side and dessert, and wine and coffee. It all added up, but the prices were good for what we got, and we were quite content. We complemented our chef through our waiter, who went to get the chef so we could compliment him in person. We talked for 15 or so minutes about one thing or another, and then he gave us his card so we can get a table anytime we want…score! I know that place gets really busy in summer.

Friday it was back on the road. We drove to Madison to have lunch with my cousins, then back to the Winery to pick up the wine we liked (not wanting it to sit in the car over the last few days…) and finally got back on the road. We got back to the Cities about 7, had supper at Panera Bread, and then unpacked. Katie and Chris had a bit of a St. Patrick’s Day get together, so I stopped up there for a bit, and then I went to bed. Long post with lots of links...whee, I’ll post pictures soonish!

On Space, and time, and snowstorms

I am not sure what happened. I believe it could have been a hole in the space-time continuum, centered around the geographically important Minnesota State Fairgrounds, and radiating out in a galaxy-like whirlpool at 25 degrees diagonal to the x-axis (that being 794 feet above sea-level). Suddenly it is March the thirteenth, at 9:25 PM, and I feel as though I’ve just woken from a somewhat foggy dream happening in fast forward. Or I just could have been insanely busy.

In either case, I have taken the time to sit down at my desk in the corner of my blue bedroom, with my sun-light on and the wind howling mournfully outside, to write this post. March has, in typical fashion, gifted us with our ‘spring’ snowstorm. This occurs every year around this time. My mother has a friend, who for as long as she has been alive, states there has been a snowstorm within 7 days of her birthday. My mother shared this fact with me a few years back…I believe I was in high school…and I’ve half-heartedly kept track since that time. Going on 8 years now and I believe that we’ve always had a storm wherever I’ve been at this time of year. Today was no exception.

Last week it was in the 50’s, shirt sleeves weather. Today and this week will be in the 30’s. There is also a rather astounding amount of snow on the ground. I believe the weatherperson stated that this was our largest snowstorm of the season. (This, by the way, is rather disappointing being that I live in Minnesota, and the upper-Midwest should have snowstorms of more than a foot.) Really, I expected more out of winter when I moved here for school. I desired enough snow to have snow-days from school, and build snowmen, and go tobogganing, but the last 7 winters have been rather disappointing. It snowed all through the night and I woke to a few inches on the ground. I slept an hour or two more, and there were quite a few more inches on the ground. I shoveled the snow this late-morning, and lifted anywhere from 1 to 18 inches – depending on drifting. It wasn’t a fun type of snow, either. It was water/slush on the bottom, followed by packy snow, followed by powdery stuff. The bottom stuff insisted on sticking to my shovel and trying to shovel me with the snow, and the top stuff blew everywhere - into my eyes, down my jacket and caked into my hair.

The last week was spent house and dog sitting for some friends. I do enjoy doing it, because the dogs are wonderful, and the house has a hot tub for my use while I’m there. They also have cable TV – a luxury I’ve never had in my home. I discovered something wonderful this time, I am no longer allergic to their dogs. This doesn’t mean that I’m not allergic to any dogs, but it’s a step in the right direction. I hope it means I’m starting to ‘grow’ out of my myriad allergies, everything from pets, to plants, to molds and dusts, but I’m not going to hold my breath. One, because holding one’s breath is an exercise in futility, and two, because I really will have to wait until allergy season hits full-on to determine if they are worse or better than previous years.

My project moves towards its completion, slowly, lumberously, perilously? I’m not sure about the lumbering or the perilous part, but like Sir Galahad, I believe I can handle a little peril. I am on the last edit of my Abstract for the poster session at the national conference in May, and hope to send that off tomorrow morning. Then it’s off to Chicago Wednesday – Friday for some spring break action. I plan on seeing the Pompeii exhibit at the field museum, perhaps doing a cruise of the river, and maybe going to the Aquarium as well. Karin will be accompanying me and I’m sure we’ll find something entertaining to do.

So, hopefully any and all space-time warps have been minimized and I’ll be able to find more time to post to this wonderful web space, but as space in generally (as well as time) can be tricksy.

New Toys

I was a very bad girl this weekend. I bought manyt new toys. I can't help it. Sometimes, my penny-pinching ways go right out the window. It happens for many reasons, but this weekend was plain old stubbornness. I wanted a new toy. So there. Not that I was immature un uneducated about purchasing said new toys. The first I've been thinking about for at least 3 months...ever since I got my new phone. I decided that rather than buy an expensive MP3 player, I'd buy a card for my phone. It acts as an MP3 player of decent quality, plus I can then answer then phone when I want to. So that was toy number 1. Toy number 2. was new running shoes as I've worn out my old ones. Toy 3. was supposed to be superfeet for my new running shoes...

Toy number 3 ended up being a set of skate-style cross country skies, bindings, boots, and poles, with toy #4. being the superfeet insoles for my running shoes. Oh, and I got more socks. I'm such a sock snob.

Today I went out and played with my new skies. I skied only 3 miles on them, but it was enough for the first time out. Enough to realize that I may return the poles and get different ones if the other REI has the poles I need. I'm going to call them either Monday or Tuesday to find out. The ones I have are a bit too big in the basket for my hands, especially if I get different gloves for them. Still, I'm loving skiing - now if only we had some snow...

A slight change to the formula


So, I did it, the hairs have been cut. I meant to post this earlier, but the bloody website didn't want to load the pictures. It's not all that short, more the length it was in New Zealand, but I have stopped Getting it stuck beneath me when I sleep, or in my backpack straps, or behind me in the chair during class. Also, it doesn't snarl as much. Whee.


The day I had it cut, I had her straighten it. It turned out way better than when I straightened it myself. It looked like I really did have straight hairs. I look so different, but it was fun and I think I'll probably buy myself a straightening iron. That night we had our anti-valentine's day party, so many of our friends got to see me with straight hairs. Many people didn't recognize me.



Here is the cake from said party. I love the ice-cream cake. Yum. We stabbed the hearts (you know you watch too much Buffy when...) And managed to make the cake into small enough sections to feed the 25 or more people at our house. We had anti-love music playing in the background. It was great.

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to pay the money to get metalic highlights in my hair. I was thinking copper, bronze and gold...and maybe silver if they have them :) Not a whole lot of them, just a few streaks. I thikn it would be fun. Highlights are expensive though, so I think I'll hold off a few months (or at least through the job interviews that are (hopefully) just around the corner.

Variations on Hair in C

I'm getting my hairs cut tomorrow and trying to decide how drastic to be....any suggestions?? The appointment is at 2:15, so let me know before that

Short Hair:

Bad lighting and bad color job, but you get the idea...longerish on top and really short on the sides
hard to tell, but this is short in back but long enough on top to pull into a clip. sorta short sides

The origional short hair cut. Just past the ears

Mid length:

No, not the sheep. Just to the shoulder. This picture is from May/June 2005

Long Hair:

The past the shoulders look from September 05. Man my hair grew a lot in 4 months.

You've seen the picture of how long it is now...at least the ones from CO and the one with it straight (and no...straight all the time is not an option!) Ideas?

On Rejection

There are many forms of rejection in this world. You can be rejected as a person – by someone you’re crushing on. You can be rejected from a school you are interested in going to. You can be rejected from a role you tried out for, be it stage or screen. You can have self rejection, which is a cocktail of self pity and self denial and self loathing. Three is also job rejection.

Let’s focus on the last for a while, shall we? Within the category, there are subsets of rejection. There is the no call, no letter. This is the time honored “maybe if we don’t talk to her again, she’ll go away and not ask about the job again” method. It’s favored by many large ‘application only’ type jobs. There is the rejection letter. A nice (usually condescending) impersonal letter telling you that you aren’t good enough. There is the ‘smack down’ method. In this method, the interviewer (or company) does everything in their power to make you feel like the lowest and most unworthy type of person. There is the “we’re really sorry, but…” type. Here they tell you that, no surprise, they are really sorry, but the position is filled, you don’t qualify completely, they aren’t hiring at this time…etc. And then there is the most positive side of rejection, which is what I heard today.

The company called back and told me I interviewed really well, and it was a really hard decision because ‘for once’ all the candidates were supremely qualified and it was an extremely had decision but they do not have a position open for me at this time. They went on further to tell me that they are working on trying to find me something and will keep my information close at hand. They really hoped it would have worked out, but no such luck.

I felt like they were telling me that they wanted to ‘just be friends’. It was the same type of speech. A necessary evil that no matter how you spin it, just sounds shitty. And really, would they really have interviewed (at that stage) non-supremely qualified candidates? I guess what was meant by that was that everyone’s personality was a good fit for the company. They are really into that these days. They interview in the ‘behavioral style’ ie. “Give an example when you had a conflict of interest with someone, be it a classmate, coworker, etc. and how you resolved it.”

A friend and I were discussing just such an interview style on the bus yesterday and decided that if you get along with most people, and have never really had major confrontation/conflicts in your life, you are just not going to get a job. I had to struggle to find times where there was conflict or something….those types of stories aren’t on the tip of my mind. We came to the conclusion that we should go out and stage a very public fight between ourselves so we could answer, “There was this time where a classmate and I had an extreme difference of opinion over which sports team should advance. There were harsh words and a few blows exchanged, but in the end we decided that our friendship mattered more than a sports team, bought each other a pint, and decided on a compromise team we both liked in a different sport.” Or something like that. So…..anyone want to fight???

Grrr. Call me back already. I hate not knowing. It's driving me batty! Have I been rejected? What is the purpose of your call? Why do you leave me a voicemail with no hints.

Please..call.

Oh Dear

This weekend was great. Nice and relaxing, which is what I needed. Went to see Underworld on Friday w/ Katie and Karin. Great flick. Have to go again sometime. Saturday went dancing. Had a great time and I straightened my hair!! Whee. See? Don't I look different? Even though straight wasn't perfectly straight, it was close enough... I also decided my hairs are too long so next Saturday I'm going to cut them. My only question is do I go back to REALLY short, or just medium short, or medium long? Maybe I'll put up some pics and have a poll.



Sunday I went swimming and watched part of the Superbowl. Monday in I learned that I probably didn't have the job I interviewed for, because I learned that one of three positions was filled. I hadn't heard yay or nay though, but resigned myself towards nay. Today I got a call from the person in the company while in class. I have to call tomorrow AM to find out which way it goes.

I'm really not sure which way I want it to be. I was excited, and had gotten myself used to the moving idea and then I heard the news on Monday. Now I'm not certain I'm ready to psych myself up again. I've decided that I'm going to assume it's a no until I talk on the phone tomorrow. Even having decided that, I still have butterflies. SUCK. I'll keep you posted.

Weekend Bliss

Wow, I feel like it's been ages since I had a weekend home and mostly free. I get to do as I wish this weekend, as long as I get homework done and do the few things for school/work I need to do. I can sleep in, go dancing, do nothing...whee.

I went to see Underworld Evolution tonight. I quite enjoyed it. I now have a major urge to kick butt and wear vinyl or leather. I'll have to remedy that tomorrow night and go dancing or something. I think now I'm going to go to bed and enjoy whatever dreams I create. With all the fodder for dream making of the last week, it may be an interesting night. Oh, and I can sleep in tomorrow until whenever I wake up.

The only question is, what do I do with my 'free' time tomorrow before dancing?

Kinks

I'm working out the kinks of my new computer. As in, deleting all crap software on here that I'll never, ever use. I'm going to play tomorrow and install a second CD-RW write drive and maybe my floppy or zip, and check to see if my old ram is compatible with the new ram. This think is half again as memory full as my old one, though three times the processing speed. Hard to process what you dont' have in memory though. Harumph. Then, it's going to be time to play with other programs...like, Macromedia if I can find it, and also this blog. It may just be time for a change. We'll see though :) I may just nap and read and knit.

I like the weekends.

F-ing bus system, F-ing criminals, Reah!

Today started out well. I woke up fron another of my crazy dreams, remembering most of it and being totally confused. It's gone now though, I really need to get out my dream journal again. I had showered last night after my great workout, so I just had to clean up, get in my contacts, eat, and catch the bus.

Catching busses today seems to be as hard as finding needles in a haystack the size of Kansas. I looked at the schedule last night and wrote down when I had to catch the bus (there and back) to get to the Minnesota Department of Health Public Health lab (MDH PH lab) where I am working on my Master's project. I looked at the schedule, I wrote it down - wrong apparently - and that is where my troubles began. I missed the bus by about 1 minute because I wrote down 8:49 instead of 8:46. I had to wait for the next one. I got to the place where I changed busses and had to run to catch my connection. I made it though and went downtown. On the way I got to listen to the bus drive tell a senior citizen that unless he showed picture ID she would not give him senior fare. This guy was OBVIOUSLY over 65. Over 75 too probably. It wasn't hard to tell he'd get the rate, but she made him find his ID. I think he suffered from some form of disability, because he had trouble digging it out for her, or understanding what she wanted from him. Mean woman. The gentleman in front of me and the lady by him started LOUDLY discussing how obvious it was he was a senior, and how they were taught to respect their elders. The mean bus-lady just gave evil glares at them in the rear-view.

At the lab, we worked through the last of the pitfalls and false starts that are new scientific experiments. We had to find new connectors, or this or that, and there were many trips between the upstairs lab and my lab. Finally we were set, we calibrated, we attached, I transfered the first of my samples into the sample chamber, and then...Put Put Arrrg. No more pump. Again, start up, and die. We detached a part of the system to see if that helped, and it did but we need that part or it's not the experiment, so we reattached it after the pump found it's hood-legs (or something). We're working in a fume hood. It dies again. Finally we gave up and reduced the flow rate so that it didn't have to work so hard. Finished that, and labeled my samples for tomorrow and then left. I'll discuss more about what my experiment is and how sweet my setup is later, after I can be sure this first set of samples worked. For now, it's too much in the middle of things, and I'm in the middle of a rant at the bus system.

Back to the rant...So, I get to the bus stop to go home. I think I'm early, but I'm not...I'm a few minutes late, because I had misread the schedule - agian. So, I'm standing there waiting (I think I have 6 or so minutes to wait) when the bus goes by me. Right past. Ignores me completely. I wonder if I magically turned myself invisible in my experiment...but decide that my compounds don't work that way. (Ingested or inhaled in large enough quantities, they may cause the user to believe they are invisible, or more likely invincible, but we have nowhere near those quantities in my lab...and the stuff is scary.) So, I am really really getting grumpy at myself for my inability to read bus schedules, at the bus, for seeing me but NOT stopping, and at the day in generaly because I realized I had read the inside the bus shelter schedule wrong too when I got there (5 minutes before) and I still have 9 minutes to wait. I think to my self: I must have bad bus karma from something...it's just not my day. A different bus goes by. I know it goes to Campus, but am unsure if it goes to my transfer location. (I could have looked this up, I realized afterwards, I had the bus schedule in my bag. But again, bad bus karma and I'm grumpy and not thinking right at this point.) So I wait for the number bus I had planned to take. Get on, sit down, and prepare to be bored and avoid unpleasant situations and smells for the next 17-20 minutes while getting to my transfer. That bus route is rather...lively. About 5 minutes later, we turn onto the main drag of this bus route and see the other bus, the one that ignored me, pulled over by 3 cop cars. Everyone is off the bus, and some people are in handcuffs. I think to myself, "perhaps it's good I was ignored, or maybe that was the reason." So on we go, come to the next stop sign, and see a man run through traffic pursued by another man. Turns out, the second man was a cop and the first trying to escape him. The cop caught him though.

By the time our bus had picked up all the people missed by the first, and all of those for our bus, plus...the bus was late, it was at least 10 min late. We got to my transfer stop and I got off, and waited at the light while watching the bus I need drive off. I had to wait another 10-15 minutes for the next one and in that time I realized that I didn't have my housekeys. That was it. I called to say I wasn't going to be able to make my appointment for the afternoon, called to find out if anyone was home at my landlord's business w/ keys, and then hoped. I FINALLY got back, got keys, and got in the house. I decided to bake cookies to relieve some of the tension.

The cookies helped, as did shoveling the walk, and then eating curry for dinner. Yum. Now I'm cold and tired, and ready for bed. It's only 6:45. Hm. Nap?

Maintenance Issues:

I was in Phoenix, AZ for a job interview from Thursday to Saturday of last week. It was…nice. The weather was great, all warm and able to play outside-like, but the air quality there stinks. Almost literally. The traffic isn’t very nice either. And it’s so BROWN. But the job part was cool. I think I interviewed well, which is a very important skill when one is trying to find a job.

On the way back, our plane had maintenance issues, we had a find another plane. I guess they kicked some other people off a plane to make one for us. Sucks to be them, and I felt kinda bad, but I just wanted to get home…and NOT on the maintenance issued plane. When I got back, I had another surprise. The “blue screen of death” had reared it’s ugly head again on my computer…(my old computer now)…and the problem was not recoverable. I got into Munchenstein long enough to recover important files, and then…I shut it off for the last time…possibly. Yes, Munchenstein is dead unless I ‘stein’ it even more. I may just, so that I have two working computers, but I’m not certain. I went to Circuit City on Sunday to purchase a new computer, and that has to be the fastest I’ve even bought anything electronic. In and out in less than 20 minutes. The new computer, who has not told me its name yet, isn’t so bad…it’s just not the same, you know?

So, I’ll post some pics of the Desert Botanical Gardens when I get the chance to load my camera software and upload my pics, and I’ll fill you in more on maintenance issues when I return from my adventure on our metro transit system.

Snowmass Skiing

Well, I'm making good on my promise of more pictures. These are just a few of the many I took, but they capture some of the key moments.

This is the four of us at my cousin Michelle's favorite picture taking location. You can see Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak in the background. I think this one turned out quite nice. This is on the way up to Snowmass.

So, you walked out the door our our condo and this is what you found. Ski in, ski out access. Nice green run here to start and end the day. Look at that nice sunny weather!

At the top of the blue section, you found this view. Those are the Maroon Bells in the background. Aren't they lovely? Again, lovely sunny day. It was about 45 degrees when I took this picture. So nice.

Last run of the day Michelle, Amanda and I decided to do a hike-to blue run called Long Shot. You got to it by hiking up higher from the top of the chairlift that provided the view in the picture above. The hike was labeled "short, but strenuous". No lie. So after hiking, and then sucking air for a bit, and then taking pictures, we started down. Itw as 3.4 miles of tree skiing, powder, or packed powder (no grooming back here folks), and bumps. Even moguls. Here I am, happy to have made it 1/2 way down. (It got harder from this sign on...the smile turned into an 'oh shit' look for a while).

So, I lied above. Long shot wasn't technically last run of the day, because we were way on the other side of the mountain and had to ski back. We couldn't make it back to our ski in/out access point in one run, so we had to go halfway up the Village Express lift and come down one last time. We decided to pretend that one of us was a child so we could go through the family and kids zone and along the way we found these reindeer hanging out. My guess was they are vastly amused by the two legged, funny looking human beings throwing themselves down the hill on sticks. They were very curious, and if you came up to their fence, they came to say hi. We snapped a photo and then finished the little run down the the condo to take off our skies one last time.

It was a great trip, I can't wait to get skiing out in the mountains again. After that, anything around the midwest is going to be disappointing in its brevity.

Garden of the Gods:
On New Years Day Amanda, Michelle, and I went to Garden of the Gods with my cousins Scott and Michelle and their little one, Griffin.

As you drive in and park and begin to walk you will see the 'kissing camels'.


We walked a little farther and I decided to climb some rocks. Griffin got some help up and wasn't sure he enjoyed being that high off the ground without a proper rope and harness situation.

It didn't take long for the climbing bug to bite him thought. He just found more 'Griffin sized' rocks to boulder on.


Myself, Michelle, and Amanda pose for the camera.

Atlas's smaller cousin holds up this balancing rock normally, but wished a small break. I kindly took over.

So there you have it, a pictoral history of some of Garden of the Gods. I'll try to load up the skiing pictures in the next day or so.

Here I am

I know, I suck. It’s been ages since I’ve updated. Where have I been? Well, for starters, I’ve been in Aspen. Aspen was great fun, even if I did catch a cold. We spent New Years Eve in Colorado Springs, listening to some cover band at an Irish Pub that was in love with Green Day and the like. Still, they were really fun to watch. We also played pool and went to Old Chicago for Nachos. Busy night. The next day Troy went skiing at Loveland (the ski area, not the town…he drove to the town first though, a bit out of his way. The town has good shopping though). The girls and I along with Michelle, Scott and Griffin went to Garden of the Gods. So gorgeous and the weather was perfect. A balmy 55, though the wind was a bit strong.

We had four days of skiing. The first run my brother takes me on is this black, powdery, bumpy monstrosity. I haven’t skied much but groomed black out west, and have little experience with powder (plus my skies are NOT powder skies), and I dislike bumps. Still, I made it down alive and then yelled at him. He’s just lucky I can’t keep up with him on skies (unless it’s groomed, and then I beat him in a fair race). He didn’t spend much time on groomed, so he was free from any pummeling I could have wished to inflict. Still, by the third day I was seeking the black runs, as long as they were shorter and within the realm of my abilities. No broken bones were created, and none were desired. Amanda, Michelle and I did a hike-to blue run as our last run out there. There are not many hike-to blues in my experience, but this one rocked. It was 3.5 miles of backcountry tree and bump and powder skiing at steepnesses that I was comfy with. Great bump practice too. Grant it; around here that same run would have been labeled double black. Hehe.

The drive out and back were mostly without hitches, Troy’s car was hit – bumped – in the bank parking lot before we left, but the damage was all cosmetic. It was right by the gas tank, so a near thing, but we could still drive it out there. We would have been in a tight spot if it was not drivable. There was a small hiccup when it was realized that a small ‘necessities’ bag was forgotten in my apartment, but shampoo is easier to replace than ski boots.

The week between that and this was spent getting ready for school, going to meetings and relaxing and getting over my cold. This week was the first week of classes. I have only had one, because I have the majority of my classes on Monday, and Monday was a holiday. Next week is going to be painful as far as classes go. Eep.

Later next week I will be going to Arizona to interview for a job with Intel. I have made it through the phone interview stage, and now move on to the ‘in your face’ stage. So Thursday and Friday of next week I’ll be in Phoenix, interviewing, seeing the town, and trying to decide if I like the southwest enough to relocate. The other option is the Northwest, Oregon, of which I am far more keen to go – simply because I have been there before and loved it. Even the rain (which it didn’t do much of while we where there.)

So I’ll try to post more often again, now that I’ve started, it should be easy. Right?

The Three Hundredth Post!!!

Can you believe it, I've been posting to this blog for three hundred posts. Whee.

I had great aspirations on what I was going to do with this post. Then today got long and drawn out and I had all sorts of other errands to run, and packing for the Aspen trip, and...

I'm super tired, but Troy and Amanda and Michelle are on there way tonight to try to beat the storm...it's already snowing out, so they didn't, but they will be here sometime between now and 4AM. I am going to get zero sleep tonight.

On top of that, I haven't finished packing. Par for the course, hey Rachel? I'm mostly done. I think I'm over packing, but I can't tell. Eh. Now, to figure out shoes, brush teeth, contacts out, and bed.

Good night all, and I'll blog about my super nice Christmas and such when I get back.

It's Over

My second to last semester in grad school is over. Whew. For a while, I wasn't sure how I was going to get everything done. Still...here I am, it's 1 am on Thursday, December 22nd, and I'm just about to go to bed. I finished up on Tuesday morning actually, but then my computer crashed again so I haven't had a chance to blog. Plus, I've been knitting.

I started packing for going home at midnight...typical Tricia Style. I can't pack before midnight, right Rachel? It would be completely going against tradition. I'm mostly packed, but I think I'll think about the rest of the stuff in the morning.

Happy Christmas and all the rest to all, and I'm sure I'll have an update for you when I return from GB. May it snow for you on Christmas/holiday of your choice morning, and may you travel safetly to any destination you choose to travel to...even if it's just from the kitchen to your own dining room.

Knit Knit

From now on, and especially when I'm procrastinating, you may here the distinctive click-click of knitting needles eminating from my abode. Why, you ask? Because Wednesday night Katie and I took a knitting class at Michaels. In two hours they taught us to cast on, knit, perl, and bind (or cast) off. Now I just have to remember each of the steps, and get good at them. For awhile I forgot how to perl and was gettting pretty frustrated (this was yesterday...day 1.5 of knitting experience) Last night I got Katie's extra needles...I have to go buy some...and retaught myself so I could do a good job on my current project. I have no idea what said project will turn out to be. If I get sick of it, it'll be a odd shaped pot holder. Otherwise, I'm voting for scarf. Tee hee. I'll do a couple of scarves and then I'll move on to something harder, like hats and mittens and maybe even sweaters.

In fact, I think I hear my needles calling me now...

SNOW!!!!

Whee! Yay!!! **Happy dance**

I love snow, I do! Even when it makes driving a nightmare and gives me a sore back from the shoveling I do, because shoveling = money off rent, and snow is wonderful! There are a plethora of exclaimation points in this post. Oh well. I just shovel anywhere between 3 and 5 inches of the white stuff, depending on what the total is and where it had drifted. Some drifts were over a foot high. Luckily for me, the snow is mostly fluffy currently, or that would have been much harder work.

It's still snowing, I'll have to shovel again tomorrow and probably friday **rubs hands with glee**

Happy Snowy morning all!

They're Back!

Remember our furry four-footed little friends from last winter? No? Perhaps this will help you to refresh a year-old memory...




Yeah, that's them. Maybe not an exact portrait. Still. It's winter, there's snow outside so the mice came inside. We have no idea how many there are...only that it's a relatively (as in the last day or two) problem. We intend to be very proactive about this situation. Traps will be placed tonight. We're going to start with snap-traps. I hate the sticky ones because I feel like the poor little rodents suffer too much with them, but I'll break them out if I have to. Absolutely no poison...all it does is draw more of the wee beasties into the house with the promise of accessable food. Oh, and then they go and die in unaccessable walls and stink.

Day one of the battle: Mice - 3 items of food. Humans - 0

The home stretch

It really must be getting close to end of semeseter time. I'm sitting here blogging after a long day of homework/tests/etc, eating ice cream (peanut butter cup) at my compute, and making lists.

For instance, today I:

1. Did laundry
2. Paid rent
3. Finished my last biostatistics homework set
4. Started and finished Environmental Chemistry HW #6
5. Started and almost finished EC HW#7
6. Started EC final exam (really a doozy, worked for 1.5 hrs and still not even done with #1 part a.
7. Went to the bank
8. Went to the grocery and bought food
9. Did some mentoring (and reviewed my geometry)
   
10. Worked on my part of the EC paper
11. Worked a bit on my Policy paper (mostly rereading the assignment and brainstorming, but that counts!!)
12. Reorganized the fridge, food cabinet, cupboard above the stove, and tea/cereal cupboard.
    
13. Ate (very important)
14. Did dishes

Pretty long list, huh? See, if I list out exactly what I did, then even though I'm nowhere near done I still get a mini sense of accomplishment. #12 is something that happens around finals time for me. I get into organization in a big way. Something about organizing helps me focus. Maybe it's that "I'm done and it looks good" feeling I get at the end. Or perhaps it's just a leftover from my procrastination past? Or maybe ANYTHING is better than the work required in the last week(s) of class? I don't know. I do know the kitchen looks lovely and I'm not going to be able to find anything in the morning.

Snow.*.*..**

It's been snowing for almost a week straight. If I heard someone say that, I would begin to picture the blizzards of yore, with their 30 inches of snow dropped, near white-out conditions, and traffic nightmares. Or perhaps of being trapped in the house for so long you are left with only ramen to eat, or your left shoe, and you are seriously considering how boiled left shoe would taste, perhaps with salt or lemon-pepper seasoning. The 30 inches of snow is not the case here. We've had snow off and on since Monday late-night, and have seen maybe 3 inches of the white stuff fall onto our porches, yards, or cars. All of said snow has been either the fluffy white flakes that resemble small cottonballs floating towards earth, or the really itty-bitty shiney crystals that make everything sparkle in the light of the street lampposts.

It has been a long time since we've had appreciable snow before Christmas, it seems. I seem to recall only one or two truely "White Christmas" situations in the last ten years or so. Should I blame global warming? Perhaps there is a global shift of jet streams? El Niño? La Niña? I have no idea. I do know I'm thrilled to look out my window and see the white stuff silently falling from the sky. The world outside my window is grey, it's about sunset now and we've almost entered that surreal time where light and almost light combine to create a bit of a dream world. I almost don't mind having to sit at my computer all night working on my homework.

I can only hope and pray that the current pattern of snow holds all winter. Maybe not snow every day, because I really like the cold sunny days of winter too, but nothing like last winter where we had a few ice storms, one major (6 inches) storm of snow, and a bunch of piddly little half inch falls in between intense, bitter cold. I want at least 4 to 10 big snowstorms this winter, including one where over 2 feet of snow falls in one stretch. I want fluffy snow, and small glitter-snows, and heavy, wet, snowball snows. I want to have to shovel a bunch (this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm paid to shovel :P ) I want a real midwest winter with lots of snow and stories that I can pass along to future generations. Sorry if I'm waxing maudlin on everyone, but I remember when I was 6 it snowed so much (and lots of blowing too) in 'ole GB that the snow drifted right up to our roof in the back of our house. My dad went outside and packed down the snow into a suitable sledding run off the roof and through the yard. My little brother and I played quite happily back there. We built a snow-dragon we could ride and had many an adventure on him. He was quite happy to carry us wherever our imaginations could take us. In the front yard, there was so much snow built up at the end of the driveway from both our shoveling and the street plows, and compacted in such a manor, that we had two snow forts. One by the mailbox, and one on the other side of the driveway. Sometimes they were castles and sometimes they were battlements, where our snow missles could be hurled with enthusiasm if not percision.

I'm not too old to play those games again! I want to build a snowman in the front yard even bigger than the last one Katie and I made in GB where we needed to devise a leverage system to place his torso and head upon his lower section. I want to put on boots and snowpants and go to como park and build snowforts with friends, complete with snowmissles. Maybe we could even coax the snow dragon to return amongst us. I want to put same snowpants and boots (and jacket and hat and mittens and scarf, of course) on and go sledding down a hill on a 2 dollar generic sled. I want to be able to USE my skis this year. I realize that all this wishing and hoping is going to cause royal traffic problems, so I hope that all people out there realize that snow means slow (see the resemblance of words there? I don't believe it's a coincidence.) That way everyone can enjoy the snow and we won't have to worry about accidents. Mostly, I'd like to go home for Winter holidays, and wake up to celebrate with my family to snow falling in an already white yard. Maybe this is the year.