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.

Car Update:

My car had a bad battery cables and corrosion of the battery. The nice Saturn doctors...er...mechanics have made her better and she's staying with my parents for a few weeks. I have Mom's car, which is nice because it has magical door-opening buttons. Still, no offence to the Century, but it's a boat (that has a better turning radius than the Super Saturn).

Thanksgiving was great. I went home Wednesday morning and then up to DC wed. evening. We (mom, dad and I) spent Wed/Thursday at the condo w/ my Aunt and did turkey dinner there. We played in the pool and hot tub, went down the water slide, and even all played volleyball in the water. Mom and Dad played too, and dad stubbed his toe and probably broke it :(

Friday Mom and I braved the malls to get a few deals, and then made cookies all afternoon. That will probably become tradition (the cookies, not the shopping -eep!)

Saturday we had my mom's family over for dinner - ham and cheesy potatoes because we were all tired of turkey. Saturday evening I went over to visit Jenni and Chad and tried my hand at that guitar game they like to play. I wasn't overly bad for one try and I see how it could be addicting and tiring.

Sunday I went to church and had dinner with my parents and then drove back in the rain and fog in a different car. By the time I was back to MN the Century and I had figured eachother out.

Hm, now my tummy is crying for leftovers, I had better answer it's call.

VROOOOM....putt putter....click hiss...cough arrrggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

Just when I thought my problems had ceased, it being Thanksgiving Holiday and all, I get a nasty wake up. My lovely Super Saturn is at it again. She loves a good practical joke, but this one is going to cost me. Last year about the middle of winter, she started playing the ‘lets turn off all the gages and then turn them back on while Tricia is driving’ game.** Not so amusing, but as she only did it occasionally I learned to live with it. At the beginning of this winter she decided to begin the game again, but like a two year old with a new toy (or the box from said toy) she will not give it up. It’s exasperating I tell you! Yesterday she played the game 10 times in the time it took me to get from my house to the highway (roughly 5 minutes) and then a few times on the highway just for good measure. During one of the highway times, she actually shut off the radio along with the gages. It only shut off for a moment, coming back on with the rest of the stuff, and the time was short enough that I didn’t lose my programming. Still, we are getting progressively more extensive in the game.

**Explanation of game: Super Saturn takes the gas gage, the odometer, speedometer, and tachometer and turns them off, they all go to zero as though the car was not on (we are usually driving while she does this, but she will do it in the parking lot while warming up just to practice). Then the brake like comes on and a second or so later (after they have slowly floated from wherever they are to zero) they will go back to normal. The car clicks and all is normal until the next instance of the game. Occasionally if she is feeling really fiesty, she will turn off the cruise control when you turn on your blinker. She's only tried that version of the game twice though, and we hope it doesn't catch on. It would be damned pesky trying to change lanes if you constantly had to adjust the cruise...

I called Saturn today to find out just what the game might be called. After all, I have to drive to Green Bay tomorrow for the Holiday and don’t want the game to progress to “sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck”. The nice mechanic told me it’s probably not a fuse or short (like I thought) but rather loose or corroded battery wires. Hmm, now this I can probably deal with, yes? I didn’t get a chance tonight to go look at the cables, and it’s dark now. I will take the car into the Saturn Mechanic in GB to have them fix it permanently, but tomorrow before I leave on my journey I will check the oil and the cables. I just hope if they are lose they don’t require a metric socket to fix. I have English ones, but the Super Saturn is eclectic and cannot decide if she prefers the English or metric system of measure. Consequently, as I recall there are both types of bolts under her hood.

Oh, and before you yell at me for looking under her hood, I had her permission, and she had her Serpentine Belt on!

A girl sits at a desk, sneezes, and looks around. “Where has the last hour gone? Have I really been checking email, writing email and going though various paperwork for that long?” she asks herself? The clock doesn’t lie, and neither does her empty tea cup. Sighing, she gets up to go start more water in the cheap coffee maker that serves as her quickie version of a tea kettle. It’s fast and easy, but it doesn’t whistle when it’s done. Disappointing, that. So is drinking tea out of a cup that isn’t the normal ‘tea mug’. That’s what happens when one leaves one’s mug in an inaccessible location. Resourcefulness, that’s the ticket. Back at the computer, the girl looks over those things in front of her. A stack of CD’s recently ripped to her computer for her listening pleasure sits in one corner while a pile of scrap paper for taking notes on, including one full of notes from this afternoon’s environmental chemistry exam, has exploded over the writing surfaces. “It was good of me to leave them on the desk this morning, where they’d really help me study.” She thinks sarcastically at herself. “Not that they would have done any good. They were wrong material all together. Good thing most people in the class thought the same thing. Not that the professor curves or anything, but maybe she’ll realize it wasn’t the best of tests and take that into consideration while assigning final grades.”

She sighs again. The stapler, stack of post-it notes, random pens, and various receipts taking up the back of the desk don’t respond. The phone to her right remains silent as well. “There’s nothing for it, I guess. I’ll have to do my biostats homework. Though what’s the world coming to when you have nothing left to procrastinate with and have to do your homework?” The biostatistics texts, wisely, remain silent as well. The rest of the room beckons. A stack of papers in the corner practically screams for organization and the state of the dresser surface doesn’t even bear mentioning. A random pile of clothes on the bed needs to be sorted into the ‘laundry’, ‘clean’ and ‘wearable around the house’ categories, and then sent on to their appropriate destinations. The floor could use vacuuming and the surfaces dusting. All this she sees and dismisses with a quick glance around the room. She gets up again to see if the coffee maker has finished producing hot water for her third? cup of tea. Is it really three when it was one cup, half drank, reheated, sipped, forgotten, reheated with more water and another teabag for reconstitution, forgotten again, and reheated a last time before consumption? Who knows? All that is a travesty to the marvel that is hot tea with honey. Ah. The faithful little coffee maker has done its job and a green tea has been selected and left seeping in the kitchen. The biostats books are looking faintly miffed about their continued state of neglect. How can one student be so cruel? They were created for that single purpose, to educate and inform, and they sit dejected on the corner of the desk. They hold down the stack of scrap paper (should it be in the mind to wander), and gather dust.

Hoping to procrastinate just a little more before tackling her homework, the girl goes onto the internet to check the weather. Her favorite weather site states that tomorrow will be warmer than today was. Enough that the miniscule amount of snow that fell on Tuesday night will turn to slush, melt, puddle, churn with mud, and eventually just become a sloppy quagmire of filth. No surprise there. Fall has not yet given over completely to winter. The warm breezes vie with the icy wind and one is as likely to be hit in the nose with a snowflake as a raindrop. One dresses in layers, Alaska for the morning and Florida for the afternoon. Ok, maybe not Florida, but at least a balmy mid-to-lower Illinois. “Sheesh” The girl is now exasperated. She has plenty of good books to read, just on the shelf behind her. But her conscience states that she just finished a book and if she wants to start another, she must first at least review her biostats lesson online. She tells her conscience to get stuffed and leaves the computer yet again to go get her green tea, add honey, stir until ‘just right’ and then return to the computer.

Nothing seems right to her. She’s been doing various levels of procrastination – all useful things – for the last hour and a half, but she’s just too restless to sit down and begin work. That she is already sitting down, at the very same computer she will need to use for her homework, is irrelavant. No, it’s not so much the sitting on her back pockets that is important as the state of mental being required to begin such a dry topic as this set of biostatistics homework problems. If she didn’t want to do that, she reasons with herself, there is always the economics paper, the other biostats homework (rather un-doable until the first is completed, but it's really the thought that counts), or even more research for her Master’s project. There are many avenues open to her; she has but to choose one, set her feet upon the path, and begin. If it were that easy, noone would procrastinate, there would be no world hunger, war, or disease, and the question needed that results in an answer of 42 to the life, the world, and everything would have been determined. Another gargantuan sigh is the result of this current line of thinking, and the tea begins to be consumed; it’s a bit heavy on the honey side, but still good.

Finally, she makes up her mind. Biostats just isn’t worth doing at this juncture. The tea is hot, her mind is fairly aware and alert – though not in the mood for scholarly thought, and the bookshelf beckons. She gets up, walks over to the bookshelf to find a suitable title for her mood, and goes back to the futon, overstuffed pillows, and blanket that were her companions earlier in the evening. Sometimes, one just needs a night off.

Goin Skiing!

My bro called the other day to ask if I want to go skiing w/ him and his girlfriend and his girlfriend's sister this winter. Sure. Why not? Send me the info. Aparently my bro got the hookup for a trip through LifeStylez who hosts winter and spring break college trips. So, for a total of 348 (including all applicable taxes and fees, but not including food or transportation) I will be headed to Aspen to spend 6 nights/ 5 days at the Aspen Hotel and skiing for 4 days at Aspen/Ajax, Snowmass, Highlands, and Buttermilk. Dude, usually 4 days skiing at Aspen would be close to that. Sounds like fun to me. With driving our own car, and splitting gas 4 ways, that shouldn't be more than 50-60 bucks a person for gas, plus food for 6 days and I can pack lots of snacks and PBJ. Sweetness. Loads of fun and some QT w/ the bro and such.

Now, I just have to lose 20 to 30 pounds, get into better shape, go skiing a few times before then so I remember what to do with said long sticks attached to my legs, and find the money to pay for said trip. No worries, right?!?

I would have extended the deal out to my other skier buddies, but as it is, I have to mail this by Friday to make mine count. Next year, we'll do it again, and get all the peeps involved.

Note to self: Learn how to ski moguls.

Emotions...

I just recalled that I used to have an imood indicator on this page. It's back. Woot

Oh, and Happy Day-of-going-door-to-door-to-hunt-for-sweets.

Rustle, Rustle? Boo!

I am sitting here listing to the sound of my computer humming, the coffee maker puttering out my tea-water, and silence. The sound of silence really is deafening. Noone else in the house is home right now…

I had just started typing this entry, had a whole bunch of things to say, and was contemplating the emptiness of house and discombobulation of my thoughts when my phone rang. I just changed my ring-tone too. My phone now plays the Super Mario Brothers theme song. Bu bu bu, bu-bu BUH bu….do do do, du do do do…Well, you get the idea. Off goes the phone and I sat here and sort of imaginary-bopped my way though the beginning of board one until I decided I really should answer my phone instead of letting the board play through to Voicemail. Not only am I a geek, but I’m now in a totally different mindset that when I started this post. It was Katie on the phone, and we were discussing this evening’s entertainment. I believe it will involve some tea or hot cocoa (it’s a hard call, but if we’re baking cookies and/or eating cake, it may have to be tea to cut the sweatness). There will also be the watching of that wonderful Halloween tale - Hocus Pocus. I just love that movie. One of these days Katie, me, and one other female will have to be those three sisters for Halloween. I want to be the one who bounces around sing/saying ‘amuck amuck amuck…” Good fun.

That will have to be some other Halloween though. This year we were characters from InuYasha. I was Kagome, and Katie was Kikyo. I will add a nice picture of the two of us in all our splendid glory. We had two Halloween parties. Friday night was to go to, and Saturday night was here. Both successful I think. Katie and I took live bows as part of our costumes, and many people were impressed. I think, though, that the bows helped to confuse people as to who I was. Katie looked her part in her Hakama and Kimono, and so not many people confused her even if they didn’t know what she was supposed to be. I, however, was called Xena, Legolas, Robin Hood, and Zelda before the night was over. Only a few people recognized me as Kagome, or as someone from an Anime. I was also called Sailor Moon once, so at least that person had the right genre. Still, everyone applauded our costumes. Saturday night at our house we were joined by Miroku (aka Lance). All we needed was an InuYasha, a Sango, and a Shippo and we would have been set. I think we did just fine on our own though.

I’ll have to write more about our Halloween party here and such later. I just realized that I’m quite hungry. I am going to go get a bowl of cereal before Katie and Chris get back and then change my laundry.

Kikyo and Kagome get ready to shoot demons. In the house? Working together? Something is obviously not right here...

Here's Miroku making a play for Kikyo (don't let InuYasha see you trying that!) Kagome is holding onto Kirara for Sango, who's off finding a very big rock to hit Miroku over the head with. She's a bit jealous, you know. 

I went outside just now and it was snowing. SNOW!

I'm going to bed.

I walked outside just now, and it was snowing. SNOW!

I'm going to bed.

This past week I have been absent from classes at the U. The reason? My training as an Emergency Responder-technician level. It's a 40 hour class that covers everything from PPE (personal protective equipment) to Air monitoring, to the rules governing hazmat in general industry - namely one 20 CFR 1910.120, to the laws passed in our illustrious country such as CERCLA, SARA, RCRA, etc. No, I will not spell out said acronyms, look them up. Monday was all lecture, and as it was 95% review of what I've learned in the last year during my IH classes it was quite a challenge to stay alert to catch that nugget of information I may not have gleaned. Tuesday we got to move around some, and wednesday even more. Wednesday we practiced "Decon", or the process of un-messifying a person before they get out of their protective gear, so as not to re-messify their much more sensitive skin and lung bits once out of the 'hot zone'. So off we went to don our PPE, some in fully encapsulated level A - full hazmat suit, SCBA (read SCUBA for those of us needing to breath clean air on terra firma), and nonslip, chemical resistant boots; some in level B - tyvek (cool material, except that it doesn't breath, so you get really hot) suit, double gloves, same type of boots, full face respirator and that wonderful SCBA -and duct tape which plays the vital role of shutting up seams in the suit; there were level Cs - same as B but with an air purifying respirator instead of a cumbersome air tank on their back; and then some level Ds - those in normal work attire. We set up our scene, including make believe spill out of 5 gallon bucket. The scenario was those in level A went out to survey the scene, but were unable to fix said spill by themselves (our bucket was really a metaphor for something much bigger) so they call for help. Our backup team in B (who should have been in A but were playing in B for varieties (and material scarsity's sake) went in with tools to help. They contain said spill, and then head to decon, where those in C clean them with water and scrub brushes, and then get out of said suits.

Let me say, being scrubbed on whilst in (I was in B) clothes by others is an odd feeling, and makes you laugh. Getting out of your suit is also fun. Today there was a much smaller group of us, so we played in level A suits in the afternoon after spending the morning doing air monitoring labs. We had great fun. We played with an actual drum full of chemical (H2O) and patched a hole and then put it into a much bigger drum. The drum weighs about 200 lbs, and I think my partner and I were maybe 260 together, 300 if you add the tanks of air and suits which really only hinder...so maybe that is 220 as a negative effect? Anyway, we had trouble just tipping our leaking drum on it's side to get it into the nice bigger drum. But, we are stubborn, and we figured a way. After which, we all (mostly) had some air left, so we played catch in our level A's to get used to moving and trying to communicate. We did this til our warning bell went off indicating low air. Let me tell you, if you have never gone SCUBA diving or been in an SCBA, you probably won't be able to appreciate the anxiety of hearing that bell, feeling the vibration saying 'you have maybe 5 min of air left'. Recall than in a level A we are fully encapsulated, and the only way out is if someone else lets you out. Talk about trust. You put your arms up like you are under arrest, then grab your buddy and go to decon, hoping to have enough air left to make it though decon so you don't die of chemical exposure instead of lack of air. It's good to go through that warning bell situation in practice though...it can get the heart going, and it is good to know if you can handle that stress before there are chemicals added to the mixture.

Tomorrow is the last day of that class, and then I'm going to head back to GB with Katie and Chris for the weekend. I'm exhausted. I just finished my biostats online exam, I'm going to pack, read a bit, and go to bed. I'll probably sleep all the way home if I don't end up driving.