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...