Foxx Tracks

2 years, 1 year, and 6 months to go.

2008-11-03T12:51:00.002-05:00

November 2nd has marked some fairly notable milestones:

2 years since the bonfire in which Rock and I really became friends

1 year since I moved into our house with Rocky

and 6 months to go till our wedding.

I was sitting on the couch last night, all cozied up in our king size super soft blanket, with our rustic twiggy lights all dimmed, just looking around and recalling what that living room looked like a year ago. The floors were unfinished plywood, the walls were in bad need of a coat of paint (or cherry boards, like they ended up getting), and there wasn't a decent lamp or light to be found in the house (just the one that fried bugs and made the house smell). Over the last year, our house has changed a lot, just as it had the year before that. And although there are some days where we feel like we're getting nothing done, when we look back and see how far we've come, its just a really good feeling. Today our house is truly a cozy little home, complete with fuzzy (and one not so fuzzy) critters and lots and lots of love and happiness. Yeah yeah, i know you're thinking *gag*.

Even with Rock on the high road to recovery after his back surgery, we're still managing to make some progress. We got our new furnace all installed and its keeping the place nice and warm when we don't have the fire place burning. We got our new outside doors hung, so not only do we have a lot more light coming in, but a lot less cool air coming in as well. We also managed to get a couple good loads of firewood this weekend. Or rather I loaded while Rock moved the truck around. So..it looks like we might make it through the winter after all.

So....6 months to the wedding. Yikes. I think I'm doing okay though. We have the locations all taken care of, my dress is in progress, I have a lead on bridesmaid dresses, and I have a few small things ordered and in hand (my ring, toasting goblets, unity candle, head piece, tapestry for behind the wedding party table) . I have to verify with the music group to make sure they are available, contact the photographer, and florist. I know what kind of flowers and decorations I want, and most of already all planned out in my head or my mom's head. I've been slowly working on the playlists for the reception. I Still have to go talk to our preacher, and the lady for the reception hall/food/cake. I think we have a good start. We need to book our honeymoon soon. Yay Caribbean cruise!!

sighs

2008-10-01T08:36:00.002-05:00

Well, after 2 months of Rock going through hell after hurting his back again, on top of about 10 years of back pain, the doctors have finally decided he needs back surgery. And they're not waiting around for it now either - he's scheduled for Tuesday morning. Its stressful, but its the best of the 3 evils that could have come from the appointment: 1) We can't do anything, 2) we can cover the problem up by giving you more drugs, or 3) we can try to actually let you live your life and fix the problem. So....although its extremely stressful and causing us both a fair deal of anxiety (although each one of us is trying not to let the other in on that), its the best thing that can be done in the situation, especially in the long run. I just really really really hope it helps him out a lot so that he can actually enjoy something again. I've been joking around with him, saying that at least now if he has to drink a bottle of bacardi to marry me, it won't be because of his back. :-P

So, the plan is to go up there Monday evening, surgery Tuesday, stay over Tuesday night, and they'll let him come home early Wednesday. And then Thursday, I have to leave to go home for Jamie's wedding. Which I'm excited about, but feel terrible for leaving my baby. His parents are coming up, so his mom will take care of him...but still...I feel bad. :-(

But, here's hoping everything goes great and we'll be wishing he had done this long ago.

Renaissance Festival

2008-09-25T11:10:00.002-05:00

Gas contribution to Holly, Michigan: $10.00

Admission to RenFest: $18.50

1 Barbarian Burger + Pepsi: $8.00

Getting winked at by a guy in full leather armor and chainmail: Priceless

UT Med Center Sucks

2008-09-22T10:40:00.002-05:00

Okay....for nearly a year now, I've been trying to get the med center to recommend me to a chiropractor for my poor little screwed up neck. But no...they'd rather just give me large amounts of Ibuprofen and muscle relaxers (none of which I can take) or send me to get X-rays hoping to shut me up, which 1) no one looks at, 2) don't show anything anyway and 3) cost me $300. Well, guess what. My neck is still screwed up and I'm still getting massive headaches that can last up to 3 days at time. Thanks. Needless to say, at this point, I'm ready to rip someone's head off. And then maybe they'll complain about their neck hurting, and I'll tell them to just take some ibuprofen and muscle relaxers and they'll make everything okay. Bastards. *huff*

Back in High School again.....

2008-09-18T11:37:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had one of those damn dreams where you're back in High School? Yes? Well, I'm currently living that dream, although, thankfully, as a teacher, and not a student.

My job this year, and next for that matter, is to help teach a High School Biology class, in lieu of a college level ecology lab. Judging from my own high school experiences, I didn't think it would be bad. I way over estimated Toledo public school. These kids are terrible! The scary thing is that I'm at one of the top TPS schools -- the kids actually have to apply to get it, AND they can take college level class, earning up to 60 college credits before they even go to college. Half of them are failing classes, they don't listen, they don't care. I have students listening to iPods during class. Now, when I was in high school, we talked and goofed off before class started, but when that teacher was ready to get started, we sat down, shut up and payed attention. And if I remember - we cared and wanted to do well. At least most of us.

On top of all that - I'm teaching a biology class, right? Which usually entails going outside and doing labs and stuff, right? Well....these kids are afraid of dirt. Yes...you read right...dirt. Dry, sandy, maybe-at-the most-an-ant-in-it dirt. And they whined and moaned and complained about how gross and ..... well, dirty, the dirt was. One of the kids found a cicada. You would have thought Godzilla was on the loose. And, oh yeah, they think their drinking water comes from the sewers. Close...but not quite.

Needless to say, Its going to make my job of teaching them and giving them hands on experience in ecology a bit tricky.

Some things can be amusing though. Like listening and seeing all the drama that high schoolers have in their lives. It makes you realize just how naive they are, and how naive you were. I definitely do not miss high school. We had some good times, but you could not pay me enough to relive that time. I remember people always telling us - high school will be the best days of your life. Well, they certainly weren't for me. And if they were for you, then I am truly sorry, because your life must really suck.

Anyway, its time to get back to work, so I can get my PhD and never EVER have to teach high school kids for a career.

HUGE update

2008-08-15T09:00:00.002-05:00

Alright - for everyone who really believes I'm dead this time - I'm not.

A lot has happened since I last posted, and to all of my friends who I've pretty much been ignoring lately - I really am sorry and I still love you all.

So - the biggest update of all is that Rock and I are now engaged!!! *huge grin* It happened on April 16, on the beach of Lake Erie across from our house. My ring is beautiful and perfect. We set a date for May 2, 2009, and its going to be a beautiful warm sunny spring day - because I say so.

The second biggest thing is probably our new addition to the family - Griffin - our mostly yellow lab puppy. We found him at just 6 weeks old under the our other cottage. The mother and father, each belonging to different neighbors. He was given to us to find him a good home, and well, we found him one. He's already spoiled rotten. He's a good boy though, full of spirit, and a bit of piss and vinegar too. Definitely a stubborn streak. He's also going to be huge - probably 80-100 lbs by the time he's all done growing. But thats cool - I like big puppies.

Anyway, on top of wedding planning and watching the puppy - who is every bit as much work as having a real baby - I've been spending all other time working, keeping up on the typical house chores, remodeling the house, and other such stuff. So, i've been busy.

Rock and I went to Canada with my parents and had a great time. Very relaxing and a much MUCH needed vacation. We're ready to go back.

Last Friday, my parents came up to visit and stayed till Saturday evening. On Saturday morning, Rock's parents, sister, brother-in-law and 2 nieces, and their dog came up. Yes....thats right, that makes 10 people and 5 dogs in my tiny house Saturday. It was INSANE. Or at least I was. Rock's Sister's family left Sunday evening, and Rock's parents have yet to leave. *laughs* not that thats a bad thing, their fairly unobtrusive as far as in-laws go - but I think Rock and I are ready for a little peace and quiet. I think they're planning on leaving sometime Sunday. I've had a bit of a stressful week and a half to say the least.

Other news - a Bass Pro shop opened up about 25 minutes from our house. Only one word can describe that - DANGEROUS! It's awesome, but we've already spent a fair deal of money there.....we need to start staying away......

Anyway, I should get to work. I know I say this every time, but I'll really try this time, i swear - to post more often.

Till then....cheers.

Yes, I am still alive (and very much so)

2008-01-21T11:47:00.000-05:00

So once again, its been a short ice age since I've posted. But I have some pretty good reasons for that. Mainly just the fact that my life is full and happy and I'm constantly busy doing things I like to be doing, that I don't feel the need to spend hours on the computer doing nothing. In fact, I'm really only posting right now because I have to show off my new baby - Wilbur, the sweet and oh so adorable hedgehog (see picture - adorable, huh? *cheeky grin*). I just got him Saturday, from a hedgehog breeder about 2 hours from where I live. It was so awesome though, having 8 little baby hedgehogs crawling all over the place - so much better than going to a pet store to make a pick out of 1 or 2. Plus, I know that he's healthy and genetically sound and all of that stuff. And, he's still just a baby yet, having just been weened from his momma last weekend. He was born Dec. 7. But yes, I am quite happy. And, as I find to be the usual, he picked me.

So, just to give an update on what's been going on in my life....Lets see.....I successfully defended my Masters degree in August, and 'graduated' in December with my MS. Now, I'm working on getting my paper out for publication and writing the proposal for my PhD. So, that has kept me pretty busy. Enough about work now. I have officially moved in with Rock as of November. I couldn't be happier. I can't believe how easy living with him has been. In fact, I can't think of a single bad thing. And to make things even easier, my parents are actually really cool with it. In fact, I think they're actually quite happy with it too. The kids (Radar and Deizel) are also quite happy, although they do get into trouble a bit. But they're just like two siblings. Its quite funny.

Anyway, I suppose thats the big general bits. Till next time, keep in touch.

That's Doctor to you....

2007-05-18T13:36:00.000-05:00

Alright, so again, I know its been forever. But my life has been a little crazy lately. Great, but crazy.

I obviously can't remember everything thats gone on since my last post, but I have finally decided on what to do with the next four years of my life. Thats right. While doing the whole job search thing, I eventually decided to stick around here and get my PhD. Now, I know I've always said that I'm not going to do the whole doctorate thing, but for the last four years, thats mainly been because it didn't fit well with my last relationship. Really, I didn't fit well with my last relationship. In anycase, the PhD has always been something thats been of interest to me. I love the research, and by doing a PhD, I can get paid to do what I love. Additionally, while everyone has always said that I don't need a PhD unless I'd choose to stay in academia, but as I was looking for jobs, I realized that all of the good research agencies( such as USGS, NOAA, or The Nature Conservacy) are starting to look for PhDs to fill their research positions. And since thats the sort of thing I want to end up doing, I figured why not. Besides, I'm kind of settled in here: I like the people I work with, I have awesome friends here, not to mention an awesome boyfriend (I'll talk more about him in a bit), and the lab itself is a pretty awesome place to work. So, with that, I figured I have a lot of reasons to stay, and only 1 (a larger paycheck) not to. And I do get a nice pay raise when I go into the PhD program, so, here I am--finishing up my Masters and on my way to a PhD. Scary, eh?

Now, I can't honestly say that Rock had nothing to do with my decision to stay here and get my PhD. He was certainly a factor. I had a lot of other factors too, of course. But I feel that what we have is way too good to just walk away or jump into another long distance relationship. I don't think I could do that at all. Not to say that we couldn't make it, it just would completely suck, and therefore I don't want to. So I'm not. What we have is so much different than any relationship I've ever been in. Its absolutely incredible. And really, I haven't been this happy in a very very long time. He's perfect for me in every possible way. Alright, I'm gushing, and I'll stop before I make anyone sick. The point is I'm pretty damned happy about where my life is and where its heading right now. Things are finally starting to come together the way I had always hoped they would.

Life is Good.

Are you sitting down for this?

2007-03-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

Alright, its been forever, I know. But life has been extremely crazy lately. Here's the very abbreviated update:

Steven and I broke up. This may seem rather sudden to everyone, but we have been having issues for quite a while. Essentially, I just decided that I wasn't happy, and that this really wasn't what I wanted out of life, and that I deserved better. It was heartbreaking, much like putting your dog to sleep. I have no ill feelings towards Steven at all. He's a great guy. I just don't think it was meant to be. I'd love for us to be friends someday, when and if he is capable of that. In essense, thats what we were all along - great friends.

Despite all of my plans to stay single for a good long while, Rock and I have started dating. So far, thats been going very well. We have so much in common its a little scary. He is basically the male version of me. I told you it was scary. In any case, we have a great time together, and he's crazy about me. All in all he's an awesome guy and I'm happy.

As far as school goes, I'm currently writting my thesis/manuscript. Its going fairly well. Slowly, but well enough. I'm trying to decide if I want to stay on for my PhD. I don't have much time to decide, and I still have no idea if I want to stay in school, or get a real job. Its driving me crazy. I took the civil service test for a water pollution biologist position and scored really high (thats right, I'm awesome). There was only one other person in the state that scored higher than me. So, there might be a job opportunity there, but I'd have to spend a year or two in Harriburg, and I really don't want to do that.

In any case, I have to say I'm pretty happy with my life right now, despite the recent hardships and stress. Things seem to be working out, like they always do.

The New Year

2007-01-01T12:14:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to the few that read this and the many who dont!

2006 was a good year, despite the fact that I lived in Toledo for the duration of it and didn't really get to go anywhere. But I did make significant progress on my thesis, doing all of the field work and data analysis. I also made it to two conferences in Windsor where Kristen and I had some good adventures. Hmm...I don't know. Looking back at it, it seems a little sad. I guess Steven and I did make it out to Ricket's Glen, although that wasn't exactly a great trip. We did a lot of little things, like go to the fairs and things like that. And I did have a lot of fun out in the field this summer. So, it really was a good year. Its just that there weren't any really big events, like vacations and what not. But, it was just one of those years. Its hard to do things when 1) you live 250 miles from your partner in crime, and 2) you're constantly busy all the time.

2007 is going to be a crazy year. Its going to be extremly busy, but hopefully, in a very good way. Here are some of the things to do/look forward to:

- IALE Conference in Tuson, AZ
- Graduate from Grad School with a Masters in Ecology
- 2 week trip to Costa Rica
- Get a Job
- Move out of Toledo, hopefully back to NW PA!
- Definate Adventures with Steven - Smokies? Mammoth Caves? Maybe Maine?
- Perhaps Canada again?
- Pirates III and Spiderman III (haha)

I'm very much looking forward to this new year. Its a big time of transition for me. Hopefully things will go smoothly, and the way I want. As far as resolutions go, I suppose to just continue my efforts to get back into shape. And also, now, to learn photography. I'd also like to get back into drawing and do more of that. But that probably won't happen till after graduation. Its going to be a crazy semester, taking 3 classes, writting a thesis and looking for a job. I'm going to be super busy, which is going to make it go super fast, which is exciting and scary all at the same time. I know one thing is for sure. I can't wait to get back NW Pennsylvania.

Visiting Jamie

2006-12-30T11:49:00.000-05:00

I ventured down to Pittsburgh to visit Jamie. It was fairly easy to find, despite the fact that I missed one of the last streets due to a lack of a visible sign and had to call her for some last minute guidance. But eventually, I got there. She has a very cute little appartment. I'm not sure I could live in such a tiny space with someone else, but its very cozy. And she even has a bit of a yard, which makes me very jealous. Anyway, I got there and got the "grand tour." After the 5-second tour, she made me her homework and gave me a full body massage. It was spendid. Someday when I'm actually making money, I will definatly pay $50 a month to get one of those. I felt so good and so happy. Its funny how something like making your muscles physically happy can make you emotionall happy. But its true. I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear as we walked down the street to the Thai resturant, where we went for lunch.

The Thai was very good, and then had the most incredible tea. As Jamie put it, it was like "drinking flowers." I couldn't agree more. It was Jasmine Green Tea. I'm going to have to find me some of that.

After lunch, we went back to her apartment where we watched the extended version of Narnia. I wanted to see if it was worth buying, since I have the theater version already. Its not. *laughs* I really couldn't tell which parts were new. All they did was add a few more seconds of walking here, and a couple more unneccessary words there. Not like LOTR, where entirely new scenes are added in. Naturally, its still an incredible movie, but if have the normal version already, its not worth your money to go buy the extended.

In any case, Paul came home during the movie and watched the second half with us. We ate some pizza for dinner and then Jamie and Paul tried to geekify me further by convincing me to give roll playing a shot. I did. I can see how it would be fun. But I found it mostly frustrating since none of my die casts let me succeed at anything. After that, it was begining to get late, and I had to find by way back through Pittsburgh in the dark, which ended up being an adventure. Pittsburgh is so terrible with signs its unbelievable. I passed 279 twice before I finally was able to get on it, and finding my way back to it each time was no easy task either. Luckily for me, I have a fairly good sense of direction and was able to find my back through the maze of curvy one-way streets.

In any case, it was a great day. It will be nice when we live closer together again and are able to hang out more together.

Christmas

2006-12-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

A bit to my surprise, Christmas 2006 turned out to be a very good one indeed. On Christmas Eve, I went up to Steven's. After suffering through a very bad Steelers game, we exchanged presents. Now, all along, Steven had been saying things to the effect that he hadn't done very well this year present wise - that he just couldn't find any good gifts for me. To me, this was no big deal, especially since I was feeling a bit down due to my sudden lack in Christmas funding a week or so earlier. I enjoy giving, getting them in return is just a bonus. But all that really mattered to me was that I got to be home with the people I love for the holidays. In any case, the first gift he gave me was this little sea turtle puppet. It really is incredibly cute. In fact, I keep having to confiscate it from my mother. The second gift was The Muppets Christmas Carol. Apparently he got sick of me wishing for it play on TV. Now, by now I had given him all of my gifts, but there were still 2 under the tree for me. The hands me the larger one and says "Now...this was a risk. I don't know if you're going to like it or not." Okay.....so I unwrap it and suddenly freeze - questions racing through my mind that centered around the general idea of Is the item ON the box IN the box?? - that classic gift faux-pa where you make a big deal over whats in the box only to find out its a pair of socks. But I was assured that the box was indeed accurate and that their truly was a Canon Rebel xTi digital camera inside that box. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. The last gift was a photography book, which I knew immediately, from the shape as well as just knowing my boyfriend, who, by the way, did a very good job this year.

After our gift exchange and the excitement, we headed over to his mom and dad's house for the traditional Christmas Eve feasting and gift exchanges with them. (I got a very nice 'leather' jacket and 2 very pretty sweaters) The food, as always, was outstanding, and Steven's aunts and uncles, Tom and Linda, and Rick and Debbie stopped by. I was rather surprised that they remembered from me from Steven's cousins wedding which was a few years ago. They were fun to talk to. Uncle Tom immediately began seeking my scientific opinions on his well water, which I found to be rather amusing. It was a good time. Eventually I had to get back home, so we wished everyone a Merry Christmas and headed out.

Christmas day, was the usual. Gifts with my Mom and Dad and then animals at home, breakfast, then over the river (French Creek) and through the woods to Grandma's for the whole family gathering. Christmas morning and home couldn't quite cancel out the fact that it was still, after all, a Monday morning. Since the animals were immediately interested in their packages, we decided to give them all a gift first. Radar got his catnip dogfish and was quite happy rolling around on the floor in the middle of everyone. Then Riley got his talking Parrot and the beagles were unwrapping their toy rabbits. Well, Suzy decided she should have both of them and started a tiff with Annie, stepping on poor Radar in the process. Each parents grabbed a dog, and Radar took up, hitting my coffee mug and sending coffee everywhere. Suzy got timed-out in the bathroom for the rest of Christmas morning (bad time to get a time out) and I went off in search of Radar after cleaning up most of the coffee. I found him sitting the in the hallway looking very disgruntled. I reached down to pick him up and his whole underside was soaked with coffee. Well, we got him cleaned up, along with the house, and eventually Christmas morning went on without any more incidents. Everyone made out pretty darn well. My parents got me an Ipod Shuffle, the Limnology text book I wanted (I know, I'm a huge geek), a tree field guide, an old Betty Crocker cook book like my mom's, treasure boxes, a couple dragon fly things, my mom made me some awesome pottery pieces, and some shirts.

Grandma's was the typical deal. A huge delicious dinner, lots of talking, and more presents, followed by more eating and talking and everyone trying to fight off the desire to lay down and sleep. I truly love my family get togethers. My family is awesome and quite funny. I got even more cool presents, like a super soft blanket, hat and scarf set knitted by my grandma, a goose down throw, candle warmer, and some other small things.

Before we knew it, another Christmas had come and past. I never did get my Christmas snow, but despite that, I really have nothing to complain about. It was a very nice, cozy Christmas. I hope everyone had a Christmas that was equally wonderful.

When a girl misses you....(I thought this was cute)

2006-12-11T21:44:00.000-05:00

WHEN A GUY:
When a guy calls you, he wants to be with you.
When a guy is quiet, He's listening to you.
When a guy is not arguing, He realizes he's wrong.
When a guy says, "I'm fine, " after a few minutes, he means it.
When a guy stares at you, he wishes you would care about him and wonders if you do.
When you're laying your head on a guy's chest, he has the world.
When a guy calls you everyday, he is in love.
When a (good) guy tells you he loves you, he means it.
When a guy says he can't live without you, he's with you till your done.
When a guy says, "I miss you," he misses you more than you could have ever missed him or anything else.

WHEN A GIRL:
When a girl bumps into your arm while walking she wants you to hold her hand.
When she wants a hug she will just stand there.
When you break a girls heart, she still feels it when you run into each other 3 years later
When a girl is quiet, millions of things are running through her mind.
When a girl is not arguing, she is thinking deeply.
When a girl looks at you with eyes full of questions, she is wondering how long you will be around.
When a girl answers, "I'm fine, " after a few seconds, she is not at all fine.
When a girl stares at you, she is wondering why you are so wonderful.
When a girl lays her head on your chest, she is wishing for you to be hers forever.
When a girl says that she can't live without you, she has made up her mind that you are her future.
When a girl says, "I miss you," no one in this world can miss you more than that.

Yay! Snow!

2006-12-04T19:03:00.000-05:00

Today was the first real snow of 2006 - for me at least. We actually had some accumulation. Those big fluffy pancake flakes that explode when you step in them. I love snow, so the snow today made me happy.

I guess I have posted for a while. I'm way behind, I suppose, but really, but not a whole lot has really happened. There was Thanksgiving, which was very nice. My Uncle Paul, Aunt Deb, Grandma, and my dad's stepdad all came down to my parents house and we had a nice feast. My uncle is a laugh a minute, so it was a pretty good time. And while I was home, I got to spend some time with my sweetheart. We did our typical Black Friday trip to Sharon and went to Kranaks and Pat Catan's. We ooed and awed over the cool christmas trees and got lots of ideas for our future trees. We also put up 'our' tree at his place and decorated it while watching Christmas Story and Charlie Brown's Christmas. It was cozy. We also went to see 007: Casino Royal - which was completely awesome. Probably one of the best Bond movies I've seen. And yes, Bond was hot, which always helps a bit. :-P

As far as my thesis goes, I think I'm nearly done with the analysis part, which means I start writing soon, which is exciting. Its starting to get to the point here further analysis is like trying to squeeze water from a rock. No matter how much I want that water, i.e. reasons, they're just not going to come from what I have. Its frustrating in a way, but my advisors seem okay with the few answers I have, I guess I can me okay with them too.

Kristen defended her thesis last week, and passed of course. It was exciting. Although, she's going on for her pHd, so its not a huge change for her, but its still exciting none the less. We went out and celebrated on Friday, and it was a good time.

This last weekend, I didn't do a whole lot. I slept in, cleaned, watched 8 hours of LOTR (which still rocks), played the piano, ran errands, and other such things around the apartment. I really miss having big movies, like LOTR to look forward to around Christmas time. Spiderman III and Pirates OTC III both look incredible, but other than that, there isn't anything big coming out that I can't wait to see. It would be cool if they came out with another Narnia movie or another Dirk Pitt (Sahara) movie.

Anyway, time to do other things. I can't wait for Christmas break!!!!

So True....

2006-12-04T18:59:00.001-05:00

Uppdatera

2006-11-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

Hmm...so its been awhile once again. This past week has been rather crazy, in a very very busy way. My Steven came up -- not the weekend that just was, but the one before that. That was wonderful. We did a lot of movie watching and cuddling and such. We went to see The Departed, which turned out to be an awesome movie. I highly recommend it, assuming you're not offended by a lot of graphic violence and swearing. I actually liked DiCaprio in this movie. Very impressive, I know. We bought Scarface and V for Vendetta, and also watched those (V in honor of Guy Fawkes Day :-P). We also had brunch on Sunday morning with Amanda and Mike, confirming the Existance of Steve to someone of my Toledo crowd.

As for school, I've been busy trying to swim through my data and get an abstract written and submitted for the Landscape Ecology conference in April. I got that done, but my data is still giving me some headaches. I'm making some progress at least. I'll get done eventually. Hopefully within the next 6 months. But its keeping me busy.

This last Saturday, Amanda, Sarah, Diana and I spent the day shopping. We had to go to tbe mall for a bit so Diana could do some project for school. But after that, we went to Ikea, which was great, although a bit overwhelming. We were there for an hour and a half and still never made it up stairs. I got a step stool. My friends said I needed one because of the whole chair incident. So I have a nice step stool now. Sunday was spend doing laundry and other such stuff around the apartment. But I did get to actually watch the Steelers game, and they actually won too, so that made me happy.

And I think that pretty much brings us up to date. Today I finally got my windows wrapped with that shrink wrap, so hopefully my room won't be so cold anymore. I really wish I had better windows here. When I have to fight the draft coming in the window to get the stuff up, you know its bad. Stupid shitty windows making me cold.

Anyway, its time to relax and watch some tv or read my new book. And oh...I finished Life of Pi. It has me kind of confused. I don't know which way to think. Anyway....thats all.

By the way...'Upperdata' is Swedish for Update...Swedish...Ikea...see the connection? Nevermind.

Bonfire Bliss

2006-11-01T23:47:00.000-05:00

So after a days activities of working out, freezing my butt off on Lake Erie to no avail, and data analysis, Rock invited me out to a bonfire at his place. A Bonfire! Finally! And it was exactly what I needed. Rock is currently in the process of buying a house, however it hasn't all gone through yet, and his other home is in southern Ohio, so he's currently living in a camper in a rural, empty marina. Its such an awesome little set up, much like a cozy gypsy camp. I'm sure he'd love me for calling it that, but I mean it in the best way. I'm actually a bit jealous. He has a little place off by himself, on the waters edge, away from the lights and sounds of the city. He can see the stars and enjoy the silence and do things outside without all the neighbors gawking, like have bonfires. There was a good handful of us there to enjoy some incredibly good smoked venison, fresh grilled beef, and corn on the cob. I got to laugh a lot, especially since Jim was there. Funny funny man. But by around 8:00, everyone except me had left. Reluctant to leave the peacefulness, the bonfire, and Diesel (Rock's awesome dog), I stuck around. Rock and I wound up having some pretty deep conversations, causing me to reveal a little bit more about myself than I had intended. He probably knows me better than anyone else at the LEC now. But its all good. He's just about as weird as I am and have a lot of the same views, so his opinion of me hasn't lessened any. I finally left around 10:00. It wasn't until I left that I realized just how good I felt, or rather how unhappy I had been feeling. Living here, I tend to slowly get buried within myself, but the bonfire, venison, crisp fall air, and good conversation seemed to just dig it all back up, freeing who I truly am again. And I have to say, I haven't felt this good in a long time. I should be trying to sleep right now, but I just really feel like dancing around my apartment. I just don't fare well in the city.

Anyway, I have a busy day tomorrow, so I should probably at least try to sleep. I really hope this feeling isn't gone in the morning.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T20:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween or Samhain or All Souls Night...Whichever you prefer to call it.

I pulled the last of my substrates yesterday, so the field aspect of my field work is officially 100% complete. It was kind of sad really. I came to know these places quite well over the summer. They were country. They were an escape for me, an escape from the dreaded, natureless city. When it came time to leave, I realized that it didn't seem right to just turn my back and walk away, never to return. It felt as if I needed to say goodbye or something. Dave felt the same way, I believe. We stood there for a while, looking out over the swamp, soaking it all in in a sort of melancholy silence. The warm sun, cool fall air, and the breeze passing through the dried poofy cattails -- I miss it even now. Even the few remaining dragonflies came to bid us farewell. It was the end of another subchapter in my life. I'll miss that swamp.

In any case, today was all unpacking and cleaning. And now that I have all of my data, I'll be analyzing the next couple of weeks away. Hopefully I can find something significant. Statistics are so overrated.

Some Good Advice

2006-10-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

Found this in a catalog. I couldn't help but think that it was some pretty damned good advice. So, I decided to share.

Advice from a Moose:
Think Big.
Spend time in the woods.
Eat plenty of greens.
Hold your head up high.
Stay on track.,
Keep your nose clean.
~but remember~
Its okay to be a little wild!

Welcome to my Nightmare....

2006-10-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

Last night, I had one of the worst dreams I think I have ever had. And keep in mind, this is coming from a girl who usually dreams about people trying to kill her.

I suddenly found myself back in Highschool as if I had been transported in time. In my mind, I still remembered everything that had happened from graduation to college to Toledo, but yet I was standing back in my Highschool getting berated by Mr. Wilson for not making my way to class. I had no idea where I was supposed to be, or even where my locker was. I was just in a bit of shock. I started walking, just to make it look like I was going somewhere. I kept thinking No no, this can't be happening. I ran into a few of my old Highschool friends and tried to tell them, but at first they thought I was joking, and then that I was loosing my mind. It simply couldn't be happening. I tried calling Steven, but he had no idea who I was. Of course. We hadn't met yet. That was the worst part of the whole thing. In a panic I tried calling friends from Allegheny and Toledo. Cell phone numbers either didn't exist or belonged to someone else. Nobody remembered....or prememebered..anything. I was stuck back in Highschool - my junior year - with my asshole ex and a group of friends, only a couple of which I knew would take my side and stick by it. The last thing I would ever want to do would be relive HighSchool. And as great as college was, I still wouldn't want to relive all the hard work, rough times, and all the stress that went with it. What if I didn't do things exactly the same? There were mistakes I could never bring myself to make a second time. Would that change things in the future...would I never meet Steven or get into school in Toledo? The thought of never meeting Steven or some of my dear friends, or Radar....and yet still remember them was horrifying.

I woke up frantically grasping at reality. My heart was pounding, but I was in my bed...in my apartment...in Toledo...and my cell phone was beeping with a text message from Steven. I melted back into bed, hugged Radar close and fell back to sleep.

Even though I tend to complain about things, I suppose I wouldn't change anything, even Toledo. For as little as I like the actual city, and hate being far away from Steven and my family, I have made some incredible friends here, and being on my own has been good for me in many different ways. Everything happens for a reason. I'm just really glad Steven knows who I am. = P

And I Quote....

2006-10-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

"I never had problems with my fellow scientists. Scientists are a friendly , atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science."
~Life of Pi

laughing

2006-10-22T20:17:00.000-05:00

Your Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled With Coal

You haven't been *that* naughty this year. Santa is just screwing with you

http://www.blogthings.com/whatwillbeinyourchristmasstockingquiz/

sniffle snuff cough

2006-10-22T10:48:00.000-05:00

Not much has really happened lately, asside from the usual day to day things. I have 3 of my 5 sites pulled, and awaiting a non-miserable day to get the remaining two. After that, the field component of my research will be officially over. I've started dappling in data analysis. So far, things don't look too promising, which really is disappointing. But I'll continue playing with graphs and statistics and see what I can get.

I went home last weekend for Fall break. Steven and I had our 4th annual pumpkin carving event. We carved 3 pumpkins. A big one, a medium one, and a little one. They are quite cute. My family had a get together to celebrate my cousin, Doug, being done with school. It was good to see everyone. We watched the steelers kick ass with my uncles and cousins. It was a pretty good time. Then Monday, Steven and I met up and saw Open Season. It was pretty good and had some really funny moments. But its still not something I feel the need to rush out and see again.

I also seemed to catch a cold over the weekend. I've felt pretty lousy over the last few days, spending most of my time on the couch, watching tv/movies and talking with friends online. In doing so, I've discovered that my english friend is still in love with me and convinced that we belong together. Its much easier to tell someone to bug off when you don't care about them. Unforntuantly Nick is a good friend, and I actually care about his feelings. *Shakes head* Anyway, I've also done a few stupid surveys, which I may or may not post. I'll see.

My passport came!! I'm excited. Now I can just buy a ticket and skip the country. *mischevious grin* Now I can't wait to go somewhere. I want stamps!!! Travel! Yay!

Anyway, its after noon and I still haven't showered yet today, so I should probably go do that. Then I'll be back here on the couch for more tv and nose blowing.

A Tip for Your Well Being

2006-10-06T22:00:00.000-05:00

Don't stand on 30 year old chairs with dry rot. Oww.

I don't think I need to go into details here.
I'm sure you all can put two and two together.

Damn UPS

2006-10-02T21:08:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting for a package to be delivered by UPS, but as usual, UPS is insisting I sign for it in person. Since, like a normal person, I have a 'job' and am not usually home between 9 and 5, I missed the first two delivery attempts. In efforts to avoid having to drive all the way down to Maumee to pick up the package myself, I left work at 12:30 today to make it home in time to catch the UPS guy when he dropped off my package between 2 and 5, like the memo said he would. However, when I got home shortly before 1, there was yet another memo, signifying that he had been and gone. Obviously, a 3 hour window was too hard to hit. It had to be missed by an hour and a half. So, now I have to find the time, not to mention gas money, to drive down, find the UPS place, and pick up my stupid $15 package. Why they can't just leave stuff at the door when I say its okay, I"ll never know. But I do know its a major pain in the ass. If they want people to sign, they should deliver outside of nomal business hours when most people also WORK. Grr!!!

September

2006-09-27T21:22:00.000-05:00

Well, I've been quite busy lately, which would explain why I haven't posted for a good while. Between school/work, company, typical house work, the gym, and going home, there just hasn't been the time. Despite being on-the-go constantly, things have been going rather well. With any luck, I'll have all of my samples counted by the end of next week. I'm very much looking forward to not having to spend my days staring through a microscope. (Perhaps then I won't see zebra mussel veligers everytime I close my eyes.) After that, I just have to pull my substrates, and then analyze data and write write write. I took a quick look at some of my numbers today, and it looks like I might actually have some substantial results, which is exciting, especially since Jon wants me to go to a conference in Tucson, AZ in April. I'm kind of excited about it, seeing the desert and actually flying. Although, taking my first flight with Jon seems a little strange. Oh well.

Jaime and her boyfriend, Paul, came to the Toledo area to visit Ian and me. We went to the zoo, cooked ourselves dinner, and just generally hung out and had a good time, as times with Jamie always are.

I got home again for Steven's birthday. It wasn't the best weekend weather wise, so there was a lot of cuddling on the couch. Of course, I'm certainly not complaining. It was a very good weekend. I can't wait for fall break. Even more so, I can't wait till May when I can move back to northwest Pennsylvania and be close to all the people and things I love, especially my sweetie.

As for other things, there's really not a whole lot. I'm excited about it being Fall -- my favorite season. Too bad I can't be somewhere that actually has trees and that country fall feel. *snners* I'm trying to get back into shape by Christmas. I've started poking around for job opportunities. My lab is going well. I have a pretty fun group of kids which makes it quite a bit more enjoyable.

That pretty much sums up my life right now. Exciting, I know.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

2006-09-07T19:20:00.000-05:00

The Good: Labor Day weekend:
1) Steven Time
2) Hoss's and Beerfest with Steven, Jamie and Paul. Good friends, good food, and a good movie. What more can you ask for?
3) Annual Family Corn Roast -- family, food, and throwing corn cobs out the front door for the pig. I love the country.
4) The Great Stoneboro Fair with my honey -- speaks for itself
5) Seeing Joey (but not nearly long enough)
6) More Steven time
7) Saw Invincible with Steven

The Bad: This week:
1) Wiped out on the roller blades for the first time all season -- scraped all the skin off my knee and hurt my shoulder.
2) Spilled alcohol, a commonly used scientific perservative, on my polarizer, apparently ruining it. Now I can't get any work done until I get a new one. Very VERY poor design on the manufactures part. *grrr* Bastards.
3) Wiped out a second time on the blades, injuring myself even further. Now I have a skinless elbow and wrist to match my knee, and managed to hurt my other shoulder and a few fingers. I generally just really really hurt right now. I really hate sticks. Love Trees. Hate sticks.

The Ugly: My knee, elbow, wrist, and hands.

hehe....I win

2006-08-23T20:12:00.000-05:00

I got my lab moved to Thursdays. *grins* And its smaller too, since they did end up spliting it up. I love it when things work out the way I want.

Anyway, there's not a whole lot of news. I went home for the weekend, saw Steven *grins*, and went to the Crawford Co. fair. Unfortuantly it rained, but we still had a pretty good time. Lots of horses were petted, fair food, all that good stuff. And my sweetie got Best of Show for the Photography contest. To think the silly boy didn't think he was going to get anything. But I knew better, because he's awesome. *proud look*

Well, thats all I've got. Till next time.

TA ranting

2006-08-17T11:52:00.000-05:00

So my TA (teaching assistantship, i.e. what I get paid for) assignment for the semester is to TA the Ecology lab. I didn't take this as a big deal since I TAed an ecology class at Allegheny. I figured I'd be doing what I did there: set up, help out, answer questions, and grade lab reports while the prof ran the show. Not so much. Apparently now, I am THE teacher for this lab. Just me and 23 undergrads. This morning I was handed a lab workbook and told "have fun." I've been thrown to the wolves, except I'd rather deal with a pack of wolves at this point. I have never done anything remotely like this before and I'm experiencing that "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" panicked feeling in my chest. I don't like being forced out of my low profile. The worst part is going to be the first class, er....lab, because I have to give a 3 hour introductory lecture. *shudders* I have till Tuesday to prepare, and I'm going home this weekend. That leaves the rest of today and Monday. And I don't even want to be a freak'n teacher. If I can just make it through this Tuesday, everything else should be easier since those days are all actual labs where we do field work and experiments and such. I can handle that. Its more on my level. We'll see how things go.

To make matters even worse, I realized that this TA business is even worse than having a class. If I want to go on a trip or something, I can't simply take off and skip the class. I'm the freak'n teacher. This has really put a huge damper on my "free" semester.

*Scowls*

What a morning.....

2006-08-15T17:28:00.000-05:00

This morning may have been the epitome of a bad morning. I was snoozing soundly, having some neutral dream that I can't really recall when I heard a huge crash. I was laying in bed, on the edge of consciousness trying to decipher whether the crash came from my dream or real life when Radar came tearing into the bedroom, jumped up on the bed and sat down beside me in a panicked "oh shit oh shit...I didn't do it" sort of way. I groaned and asked, "What did you do?" as I lazily rolled out of bed. I half tip-toed, half stumbled out of the bedroom, peering around for the source of the crash while trying to think of what could possibly make such a sound. And then I saw it. I had previously had a large wine bottle filled with polished pebbles holding a bouquet of dried rushes sitting on the entryway "key stand." Well...No longer. Shattered glass and pebbles were EVERYWHERE. "You've got to be *BLEEP* ing kidding me." The addition of the pebbles seemed to cause the bottle to simply explode on impact. I was not happy. Waking me up at 4 am is bad enough, waking me up at 4 am to clean up shattered glass that used to be something I really liked really does not bode well for anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same household as me. Radar was smart enough to stay well out of my way during this time. I cleaned up the glass and pebbles as best I could with a broom and dustpan. Running the vacuum during the wee hours of the morning surely wouldn't make my neighbors happy. I'm sure they all heard the crash. Eventually I said good enough, I'll finish in the morning and returned to bed.

For some reason probably relating to my previous dream, when I went back to bed and rolled over to the other side, I thought I was in France, and I believe I spoke a little French to Radar. Don't ask. I really don't know.

Anyway, after the alarm went off (and I pressed snooze a few dozen times) I decided to first shower, then deal with the mess waiting for me in the kitchen. The shower was going all fine and well until I ran out of conditioner. Well, I had a new bottle, but it was in the closet outside the bathroom. Well, I wasn't going to jump out and drip water everywhere, so I figured I'd just use a little spray in conditioner when I got out. So, I rinsed off and turned off the water. I"m towel drying my hair and I reach over and grab my bottle of spray-in conditioner and proceed to spray myself directly in the eye. Not ONLY did I spray myself in the eye, but it wasn't conditioner at all, but hairspray. For anyone who has ever sprayed hairspray directly into your eye -- you know it hurts. I cursed, I ranted, and I rinsed my eye with cold water. My temper was already wearing thin.

I dressed and went to tackle the glass ordeal in the kitchen. Sporting my trusty flip-flops to protect my feet from glass, I picked all the pebbles out of the shattered glass from the dustpan, got all the glass off the kitchen counter, vacuumed ground zero and then some, and swiffer wet-mopped the kitchen floor. Things were starting to come back together. But I forgot one thing. Wet floors and my worn flip flops stick together in about the same way 2 magnets don't, and I found myself on my ass. I laid there for a while considering going crazy, but opted for a few deep breaths and then got up. Then I discovered that my flip flops were dirty and I had left me-tracks all over my just-mopped floor.

Eventually I got everything cleaned and under control, but I was ready to crawl back into bed and stay there for the rest of the day. I was worried that the morning was going to set the pace for the rest of my day, but after that, everything went pretty smoothly. I even got a good deal done at work. I figured out that if I can count 2 groups of samples per day (A group being all samples for one lake from one day), I can have all of my samples thus far done in 13 days. That's actually a lot better than I thought. So that made me fairly happy.

Anyway, I'm going for a bike ride. Till next time, Cheers.

Gett'n my Groove back

2006-08-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

So I finally seem to be getting my groove back, and its wonderful. Since I moved here, my desire to do anything musical, artistic, or creative in any way simply went away. Basically, the right side of my brain went on a vacation or hid under a desk or something. I can't really say. Although, I can't exactly blame it since Toledo is hardly inspiring. Although just this week, for the first time in....well...just about a year, I actually felt like doing these things again. And not just in the "I should use it or loose it" sort of way. I want to do these things. Need to from the very center of my being. In the last 2 days I've probably spent 5 hours at the piano and it felt great. I did some story writting over the weekend. And those art supplies are grabbing my attention again. I don't know if its the time of year, the hints of country I've been noticing around here (mainly the cicadas chirp'n away in the evenings), or other ...uh... good things *grins*. Perhaps its just one of those "in due time" sort of things, or a combination, or even something I'm completely missing. All I know is I'm back! Screw you Toledo. I win. Woohoo!

August 4th

2006-08-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

They say time heals all wounds. In many cases, this holds true, but there are some situations in which time never seems to pass, the pain in your heart never fading. I learned the hard way that when something horrible happens, never ever look at the calander. Don't even think about the date, because if you do, that date will haunt you for the rest of your life, as if you needed a reminder of that terrible day. You're probably wondering what it is that has launched me into such depressing talk. Well, you see, nine years ago today, at the age of forteen, I spent the better part of the day watching my best friend die.

I awoke early in the morning, probably a bit before eight. It was August, and I had no real reason to crawl out of bed so early, but something about that morning struck me as wrong. I can't recall if I ate breakfast or not, but it was soon after rising that I walked up to the barn to give Judy her morning grain and hay. It was summer, so she enjoyed spending the nights out in the pasture. She had shelter - a three sided shed which was mostly open, and she always seemed to be recluctant to return to the barn during those beautiful summer nights. With a coffee can full of grain and a slab of hay under my arm, I walked out to bid goodmorning to my best friend, eager for one of her velvety pony-nosed kisses. But when I arrived at the fence, she wasn't standing there waiting for me, nickering impatiently for her breakfast. Instead, she was laying up on the hill and showing no signs of getting up. My heart froze with dread. I dropped the grain and hay at the gate and sprinted to her side. She was laying fawn-like, and something was terribly wrong. A huge lump formed in my throat as I wiped the foam from her mouth and chin. I petted her, kissed her, promising I'd be right back, and sprinted to the house. I burst in the front door yelling for my mom to call the vet. With a few more abreviated breathless explainations, I flew back up to Judy's side.

I'll save you all, and myself for that matter, the heart wrenching details. They are simply too horrible to relate, nor do I wish to ruin my keyboard -- I assure you will be already be wet enough. I will simply say that I spent the day with my one of my truest loves: petting her, soothing her, trying to make her as comfortable as possible. I talked to her about anything that came to my mind. I told her of places outside our home that she never saw. We reminised about all the adventures we had. And I told her how much I loved her and that I would miss her. She said she'd miss me back, in that way that a horse and rider simply seem to understand eachother without ever saying a word. And she told me that we'd be apart, but everything would be okay, because we would be together again.

It wasn't until evening when it all came to an end and I was forced to say my final goodbyes to my little indian pony. The vet never showed, never even called. Although, we made it a point to call them -- for the last time. But on this day, not only did my best friend die, but a piece of my heart passed on with her. I can only hope that she carried it on with her. If thats the case, then the never-fading heartache is worthwhile, no matter how much the pain.

Judy, Jujubee, my little indian paint pony -- I miss you dearly.

So that is the story of August 4th, and why it haunts my calendar. I try my best to remember all the great things of our time together instead of the events of this day, but they boil to the surface none the less. I believe that is enough for today. Besides, I am in dire need of a kleenex. But I will leave you with one final poem -- one that I find to be perfect for this story and brings tears to my eyes and lumps to my throat each and every time.

Somewhere...Somewhere in time's Own Space

There must be some sweet pastured place

Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow

Some Paradise where horses go,

For by the love that guides my pen

I know great horses live again.
-Stanley Harrison

August Already?

2006-08-03T20:13:00.001-05:00

The fall semester starts up in just a few weeks. Its hard to believe really. Summer has whizzed by like a bat in the night. My summer has certainly gone to the swamps. Not that that's a terrible thing. I've gotten a lot of work done, but haven't taken a whole lot of time for summer fun, which is rather depressing.

The REU program has ended and Jenna has gone home, leaving Dave and I to our own crazy devices in the field. If we don't tip the canoe before the season ends it will be a miracle. This field season has gone suprisingly smoothly. There is generally at least one moment where you're forced to stop and say "Oh #$&@!", but that has yet to happen with this project. Hopefully that luck continues.

Steven was here over the weekend and we checked out a couple of the "local" fairs. It was a good time, and we got to pet a few horse noses, but it was just a bit to warm to be enjoyed fully in my opinion. I can't wait till the end of this month when "our" fairs take place. I very much miss him and home.

I've finally started looking through my samples. Unfortuantly it seems that the counting bit is going to take much longer than I originally anticipated thanks to a native species with a similar larval stage. They're different shapes, which makes it easy, however when they insist on laying on their hinges, looking at their shape is far from easy, let alone speedy. Grr....

Yesterday I decided to play hookey and went swimming at a local quarry with Sarah. Its spring fed, so it was very cool and felt wonderful in the 95+ degree heat. We had a lot of fun and swam a lot, since the quarry is 20 feet deep you either swim, tread water, or drown. So we were quite tired by evening. And after some french bread pizza, we went to Bed Bath & Beyond, which is always a great time. I had no idea they made such a thing as a "pickle pricker." I was very much amused. After that, I finished up the day with a good Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie, which was, of course, hilarious.

Today wasn't nearly as good. I was tired to begin with, and then Dave tried to kill us both. We discovered the hard way that our forced air faucet is actually the natural gas. Having your lab bay fill up with gas tends to give you one hell of a headache and leaves you feeling pretty lousy for the rest of the day.

Hopefully tomorrow is better. At least it is Friday and a payday at that, even if i do have to pay rent, which mostly kills my check. Oh well. Hopefully the awefulness of August 4th doesn't show through too much tomorrow. I'll elaborate more on that later for any of you who have no idea what I'm refering to.

But for now, I'm off to bed.

Sweet water and light laughter till then.

"Nothing is more sacred as the bond between a horse and a rider.... When a horse dies, the memory lives on, because an enormous part of his owner's heart, soul, and their very existence dies also."

- Stephanie M Thorn

Just a few notes to the idiots of the world....

2006-07-11T20:54:00.000-05:00

1) Keep your dirty hands off my field experiment substrates. I put them there because thats where I want them. You know they're there for something, its obvious they're not litter, and they have no value to you. Leave them the hell alone.

2) Spoilers do not belong on pick up trucks. Thats just stupid. It puts you on the same level as Hummer owners. And that is a very very low level.

3) Your turn signal doesn't automatically clear the lane next to you.

4) If you started to merge when you saw the first "lane closed ahead" sign, bottlenecks would be greatly diminished and we would not have to stop. Speeding a few cars ahead isn't going to get you there any quicker.

5) Fish have feelings too. Not to mention rolls in the ecosystem. Just because they're of no interest to you doesn't give you the right to throw them on the ground, step on them, and/or throw them up on the bank to die. Thats just assinine.

6) You basically just suck.

Mid-summer update

2006-07-09T21:08:00.000-05:00

Its been a long time, I know. Not that it really matters. I've been keeping busy with my field work, which all-in-all has been a pretty good time. Last week we woung up getting caught in a good storm. Well, we didn't EXACTLY get caught. It went more like this:

*storm cloud rumbles a little ways off*
Dave: Think we can beat it?
Me: Nope. But that doesn't mean we can't try. *grin*
Dave and Jenna: *grin*
All: *pile into canoe*

So, just went we get as far back into the swamp that we have to go, all hell broke loose -- sky to ground lightning all around, hard rain, and then the best of all -- the hail. As crazy as it was, we were having a great time. We hurried out of there a bit, but took the time to stop for some pictures. Field work is so great. *crazy grin*

I took a week off and went home for the holiday week. It was really good to get back to the country for a while. I get so restless in the city. And of course, it was great to spend some time with Steven and my family. Steven and I saw Superman and Pirates of the Caribbean. Both were quite enjoyable. I also met Milt (my advisore from Allegheny) for lunch, and then went up to see some people at Presque Isle. Of course, while in Erie on Wednesday, my car decided it didn't like break lights anymore, so my car was then in the shop until Friday. Becasue of that, I didn't get to go down to Pittsburgh and see Jamie, which really sucks and I feel quite bad about. I just got back to Toledo today. Its always so hard to come back, but it is nice being back in my apartment, in my own space. Toledo sucks, but my apartment kicks ass. :-P

Anyway, I have to get things ready to go out to the field tomorrow.

Field Work Frustrations

2006-06-07T20:47:00.000-05:00

So, again, its been forever since I posted. Not that it really matters, since no one reads this anyway. In any case, today was just crap. The field season has already begun, and I only had 5 good sites to begin with, and one of those I ended up scratching because it was wasn't possible to get in there and do what I have to do -- too shallow for a canoe, but you sink up to your belly button in muck if you try to wade in. Not exactly the safest situation. So then its down to 4 sites, which really isn't great from a scientific standpoint. So we went out today to try to find more sights. We got nothing. NOTHING. We looked at at least 6 new "looks good on the map" sites. Damn maps. And damn Michigan. Some of those lakes might have been perfect, but I'll never know because there are no public access point anywhere. Its quite frustring. I thought we should just start running across people's lawns with the canoe, but for some reason, Dave didn't think that would be a good idea, especially with the Univerity's logo all over the truck. *Shrugs* So basically we drove all over the place and got rained on today for absoluetly nothing. Finding sites was supposed to be the least of my problems. Grr. This science stuff is hard. And Michigan can kiss my ass. Stingy with lakes....whoever heard of such a thing. Its not like they don't have enough of them. Arrrg....

Anyway, there are still a couple more lakes to check out tomorrow, but I'm certainly not holding my breath. After those, i pretty much just have to work with what I have. I'm really starting to run out of time. Is it too late to change my thesis????

We did see a tiny baby raccon today though. It was incredibly cute. Unfortunatly, i'm not exactly sure it was okay considering it was too young to be out by itself, espeically in the middle of the day. If I was still living at home, I would have brought him home in a heart beat, but living in my apartment, I can't take that risk, especially with Radar. I'm not willing to take the risk of getting him sick. Still, it was really hard to drive away from that tiny little masked face. It was just kitten sized. Absolutely adorable. I'm hoping he just strayed off and momma found him eventually. At least, thats what i'm going to tell myself.

As for other news....I don't even know. Everything lately has mostly been field work and field related work. Really, its nothing you want to hear about. A couple weeks ago, memorial day I guess it was, Steven and I ventured down to Ohiopyle State Park and messed around there all day. It was a fun time, and I got a cool new t-shirt.

Joey and I went to see X-men III. I really enjoyed it, however it wasn't really as good as I thought it could have been. But still, Wolverine is awesome, and there were a lot of shockers. Steven and I saw 3 movies: Over the Hedge -- cute, but again, not as good as I thought it would be; The DaVince Code -- I thought it was great, however I haven't read the book; and Posiden -- which I also thought was really good (much better than the original).

Anyway, thats the news. I'll try my best to keep you updated thoughout this crazy field season.

By the way.....if anyone wants to do anything fun like to go Cedar Point or Put in Bay or go to a Mudhun's game, let me know.

Nothing screams "you've grown up" more than the lack of a summer vacation

2006-05-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

Where has May gone....or even April for that matter. Time is flying by like it actually has someplace to be. I long for the days when a summer day felt like you had all the time in the world, and summer vacation seemed an eternity. But now I have tasks and responsibilites and goals, and all the work that goes with those things, clogging up my so called summer break. Its an odd feeling -- not having a summer vacation. I don't like it much. I never asked for this grown up stuff to begin with.

Steven and I have managed to get in one adventure already. We took a weekend and went out to the Endless Mountains in Eastern Pennsylvania. His goal was to get some photos of waterfalls (which were everywhere, and quite impressive). My goal was to just get outside and get some hiking in. We wound up doing a lot of trail blazing, which is always a good time, and managed to get a bit lost thanks to a book with worthless directions and maps that don't even know what "scale" is. The result was us scaling up some mountains on our bellies. Which really wasn't all that bad. Except that I topped my boots, was wet up past my knees, and starting to get a bit chilled. Its one of those trips that evoke a ton of misery, but its the kind of misery that makes you feel good. You're wet, muddy, cold, tired as hell, you're feet hurt, and you're starving and thirsty, but as you stand at the top and gaze down into the gorge you were in but moments before, you say "Yep....I own this mountain." And then you go find a Pizza Hut. (Which is really hard to find on I-80.)

So after a change of clothes, a hot pizza hut pan pizza, and stinking everyone out of Pizza Hut, we were on our way home. Little did we know that the "roughing it" wasn't quite over. Apparently, a good storm had hit back home, and was kind enough to take out our water pump. That pump ran without a hiccup for 16 years and it got blown to bits by lightening on the night in which we probably needed showers the most. Dirty, sweaty, and all the way around stinky, not to mention very thirsty, and there's not a drop of running water in the house. Luckily we have the pool and were able to warm some pool water up on the stove to take sponge baths. Drinking water had been aquired from the spring itself and was stored in the fridge. Thank heavens.

As far as school goes, the week was spent gathering things, making things, and generally getting ready for the field season which commences next Tuesday. Tomorrow morning, the Lab is off to Windsor for the IAGLR conference. (Thats Internatilnal Association of Great Lakes Research, for any of you who care.) We'll be there till Friday, and then I'm off for home for the weekend. So thats about all thats been going on lately.

Till next time. Cheers.

Catching whiffs of summer time....

2006-05-09T19:25:00.000-05:00

Summer is officially upon us, and the sunshine feels great. The sememester is over, and I'm finally done with multivariate statistics (which I got a B+ in. Go me.) I have to say though, I'm REALLY missing having a summer vacation. The fact that its summer and I have so much to do is just depressing. I have my committee meeting next wednesday, for which I need to edit my proposal and put together a powerpoint presentation. And then the IAGLR conference is the week after that. I still need to finish my poster for that, too. Arrrrg. Busyness. After that though, its all field work. I'm looking forward to that. Mor e sunshine.

Today, and for the next 2 days, is the Stream Restoration Workshop. Its been pretty interesting so far, and I'm learning stuff, which is always good. It helps that one of the main guys lecturing is hilarious. Today it was beautiful out, so we spent some of "class" outside. We also went down to the river, so at least we got outside. Its supposed to be rainy and stormy tomorrow, so it won't be so painful to be inside.

Last week, Jon, Dave and I went up to Michigan to scout out my study sites. Some of the area I'm working is looks like its right out of Pennsylvania, which is very nice. Minus the ~2 hour drive to the general area, its going to be great, I think/hope. I'd still like to find a couple more sites, but we'll see. There's so much to do.

So thats my life right now. With any luck, it will get a little more interesting.

Caged....

2006-04-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

All I want to do right now is go for a walk by the lake. Just to escape the people, the constant glare of street lights, and the sounds of traffic and sirens--its what I really need right now. I feel liked I'm trapped in a place I don't belong, somewhere that lacks some of the essential things I need to survive. I feel like I'm suffocating and loosing touch with many of the things that make me feel alive. God, I hate cities.

And then I thought of something else today while reading the National Geographic News. There are exciting, exotic ecological hot spots all over the place -- Madagascar, New Zealand, Costa Rica, hell, even Hawaii....the list goes on and on -- an yet I chose to do my graduate research in Ohio?? Seriously, what the hell was I thinking? Sure, there was the I want to stay close to my family and friends and Steven....but seriously, OHIO???? And I won't even get into how depressing the environmental news is and how we have completely screwed up our planet. Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that the majority of the people don't have the slightest idea, and then some that do just don't really care. My career is so futile.

What I wouldn't give to live the simple life a few hundred years ago (and be free of my dependance on medical technology).

Ugh....I hate society.

1 down, 1 to go.

2006-04-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

Fine fine, i'll post. Jeez. :-P

Well, once again, nothing really exciting has happened. Suprise surpise. The biggest news I suppose is that Steven and I had our 3 year anniversay. Of course, we couldn't actually spend it together, so that sucked. I guess 3 years is a long time, but I suppose it really isn't. I feel like I've known him forever. He's a huge part of my life, and I can't imagine being without him. I love him more than anything, and I can't wait to get out of here so we can actually be together again, and not 200 miles apart.

On that note, my first year of graduate school is pretty much over. Its kind of crazy. Its gone fast, but yet taken forever. College graduation seems like a long time ago, not just last year. I feel so detached out here. I can't wait to get home. After this summer, i'll have all of the course/credit requirments done for my degree. So, if I can just get all my field work done this summer and get my thesis written next fall, then I can defend in the spring and get out of here. Thats my goal. I just hope it works out.

As for other bits of news....

One of my GIS maps turned out looking like the naughty region of a guy. Everyone I showed it to had the same reaction--"oh my....hahahahaha." So thats been a huge joke lately.

umm....I've been riding my bike a lot, mainly to the lab. Which is good.

Thats really all i've got. I'm just scrounging now. So, now I get to spend my entire weekend doing work. If i survive/don't kill myself, I'll try to blog again soon.

Fire

2006-04-22T22:07:00.000-05:00

I guess its been a while since I've posted, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on. I got home for Easter weekend, which was great. On Saturday, Steven and I went out to the Game Lands and colored eggs (at home, not at the game lands), and then he came along to Easter dinner at my Grandma's on Sunday. It was good to see my family and have Steven there too.

As far as this last week, its just been a whole lot of work. Its the typical end-of-the-year pile up. I just can't wait for the semester to be over. The end is coming soon, but I have a lot of work to do before then.

The weather has been beautiful though. Perhaps a little too warm for spring, but I won't complain. I've been riding my bike to the lab, and roller blading quite a bit. It feels good to get out and do something again, not to mention get some sunshine and fresh air. Today, after blading, I just laid in the grass out in the sun for a while. I like to play lizard. *sticks out tongue* I may have actually gotten a hint of a tan.

Right now my apartment smells like smoke. Around 6:00, one of the nearby buildings behind mine (but in the other complex) caught on fire and burned for a good long time. It was so smokey here that I couldn't see the circle outside my window. (For those of you who have never been here, its about 50 feet away.) It was unbelievable. Apparently, the cause was a couple of idiots arguing out on one of the top story balconies with a flaming trash can. The wind caught the flame and caught the roof on fire. Everyone got out in time, but 3 cats did not. :-( I feel really bad for those who lost their pets/belongings/apartments. According to the news, 12 families have been displaced due to the fire. That would just be aweful. I worry about that sort of thing every day. That's probably the worst thing about living in an apartment building--you have no control over what your neighbors do.

But it was smokey here this evening to say the least. My apartment was filled with smoke for a while. My eyes were watering and my throat was burning. And poor little Radar was really sticking close by, and giving me lots of kitty kisses. He seemed really worried. I closed my bedroom window (which was where all the smoke was coming in) and set up fans to blow air out my front windows. I also burned some oil scents, so its finally starting to air out and not smell like smoke anymore. But it was a pretty crazy evening around here.

They keep having all these severe thunderstorm warnings on tv, but I'm not seeing any sign of any storm. If all the storms miss us tonight, I'm going to be very upset. All the storms have missed us so far this spring and I really want a good storm. Is that so much to ask? It just makes Toledo suck even more. *huffs* A nice storm would really help to air out my apartment too.

Anyway, it is getting late. I'm going to go settle down with a glass of wine and encourage the storms.

First field day of the season

2006-04-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

Today was great. Sure, it started out with some pretty slow and boring computer work, but since I have the luxury of having a lap top, I was able to move from our windowless gradstudent office to the multi-windowed lobby. Then, around 2:00, we (Amanda, Josh, Jhonathan, Doug, and me) decided to go out and seign for shiners so the larger fish in the tank could have some more substantial meals. Okay, so the main reason was just to get us out of the lab and into some waders. But the fish (well, not the shiners) will appreciate it none-the-less.

It was so good to get outside in the sunshine and play in the water. There were two teams seigning--Amanda and me and then Doug and Josh. Jhonathan got the task of running between us with the bucket to get the shiners we caught. I think Amanda and I outdid the boys, but thats just because we rock so much. Then Jhonathan fell in face first. We thought all the fish we caught were gone, but he's such a good ecologist that he managed to save the catch. We were catching Shad and Shiners, but we only wanted the shiners, so the shad were all throwbacks. However, Amanda and I discovered that if you flung the seign just right, the shad would FLY. It was so much fun. Then Jhonathan started to try to catch the flying fish that had the misfortune to find themselves in our seign. And then I fell in. It was grrrreat, and I mean that with all seriousness. I was soaked, but it was warm enough that I wasn't cold. It was just so much fun to be out in the field again. And Amanda's waders had a nicely placed leak so that when she took them off, it appeared that she had taken a massive leak herself. Needless to say, the day produced a lot of laughs, and when combined with the warm sunshine, we were left in very high spirits.

Then I came home and fixed an awesome Mom-quality dinner. I was quite pleased with myself. I think I'm actually starting to get the hang of this cooking thing.

Anyway, I'm off to kick back for the evening. The windows are open, MASH is on, and Killian's is at hand. Its spring and the field season is upon us. Yep, life is good.

Procrastination: Part II

2006-04-09T16:18:00.000-05:00

So, in efforts to procrastinate even further, I decided to go out for walk on this fine sunny, but mildly chilly, day. Everytime I venture out this way, I am reminded of just how much I hate living here. If I were home, I could have had a nice peaceful walk through the woods, and seen relatively few people. There would have been some nice hills to give my legs a bit of a workout and probably would have seen a bunch of critters. Well, here, it is quite different. Here, I walk down the edge of the road either in the grass (they don't believe in sidewalks here) or on the bike path, which is really just another lane in the road. Cars are constantly zipping past, drivers gawking like they've never seen a pedestrian before. And then of course, you have the 2 mature guys in the moving van than insist on yelling out some sort of indistinquishable, but most likely sexual, waahhooo as they drive past. All of this, to say the least, is far from your relaxing stroll through a woodland path. I'm not sure if my heart was thumping more from the walk or from the adrenaline of being near death.

I eventually made it safely to the Metropark. I walked down the dirt path a ways, relieved to get off the road (which isn't even a main one). A ways down, I discovered a nice log which was being blessed with sun rays. I decided at once to play lizard. I laid there for a while, watching the naked tree crowns sway in the breeze, but the sounds of traffic and sirens, and the constant string of joggers and walkers still prohibited any sort of relaxation, let alone some much needed meditation. So back I went to dodging cars and headed for home.

I went to the store for milk, and also got some Iced Green Tea mix, which I made up and is quite yummy. And now I supposed I should actually try to make some progress on this paper. *sighs*

Procrastinating with the help of the internet

2006-04-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

So I'm trying to write a reasearch proposal for a project that I have no intention of actually doing. Its just a requirement for my Landscape Ecology class. So because its just a random proposal, I have no ambition to do it. There are a thousand other things that I'd rather be doing. So, naturally, I'm procrastinating.

Its been a rather uneventful week. The only really interesting thing that happened is that I got back in touch with my friend Jolene. Being back in contact with her is wonderful. I missed her tons.

Okay, so I went to http://www.thedeathpsychic.com and found out that I'm going to be stung several dozen times by a swarm of bees. The large amount of venom in my blood will cause my throat to swell shut. Unable to breathe, I'll suffocate to death.
Perhaps the creepiest thing about that it sounds rather probabe for someone with an outdoors oriented career.

Buzzzzzzzzz......

*Random Questions.*
What time do you go to bed?:	11:00-midnightish
Do you drink coffee?:	Occasionally
What was the last song you listened to?:	Rob Thomas- Ever the same
How old were you when you got/gave your first kiss?:	15
What kind of ice cream is your favorite?:	Cookies and cream
Have you ever met an internet friend in real life?:	yes
Have you/are you anorexic?:	haha, no
Do you know which US states don't use Daylight Saving Time?:	Indiana was one.....not sure of the others
What size shoe do you wear?:	10 womans, 8 mens
Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?:	my mom
Which is more important in your life, TV or Internet?:	Internet
Do you have an iPod?:	No
Have you ever been fired from a job?:	No
Have you ever taken something you knew belonged to someone else?:	No
Do you overuse smileys?:	Probably
Which is better, Madonna or Blondie?:	eh....
Name three website you visit every day::	yahoo, weather.com, and my bank
Do you know the song Total Eclipse Of The Heart?:	Pat Benetar, of course
When was the last time you ate something?:	breakfast, about 2 hours ago
Ever had a pet fish?:	Yes
Have you seen all of the Jaws movies?:	yeah, but the first is the only good one
Do you have an obsession with Anime?:	used to, that passed
Do you have an obsession with vampires/fantasy?:	I have a mild interest in fantasy
Have you ever worn black eyeliner?:	Yes
Have you ever worn blue mascara?:	No
Ever spiked your hair?:	No...too much work
How long have you had a computer?:	umm.....5 years
Have you ever written something, and published it on the internet?:	My blog....
Do you have a crush on anyone at the moment?:	Crush...no
Do you like Starbucks?:	Yes
Have you ever owned a kitten?:	He's laying at my feet right now
Is it raining where you are?:	Nope, sunny
When was the last time you played cards? (not on the computer):	July, i think
Can you play chess?:	Yes
Ever owned a pair of the original Nikes? (white, with only a single swoosh):	No
Ever worn leg warmers?:	No
When was the last time you read a book over 700 pages long?:	Don't think I ever have
How many people are on your IM friends list?:	More than i want to count right now
How many hours of sleep do you usually get?:	7-8
Have you ever drank cherry coke?:	Yes
Do you prefer using pens or pencils?:	Pens
Have you ever skipped for a long distance?:	Not for a long time
Have you ever had a black eye?:	Yes

Miserable Colds

2006-04-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

So Thursday was a beautiful sunny 64 degree day, and there was no way I was going to spend it sitting in front of a computer in a windowless room. So instead I headed to the zoo. I simply wandered around for hours, watching the critters and soaking up all the sunlight I could. After the zoo, I threw the rollerblandes in the trunk and headed to the metropark, where I skated for the better part of an hour. Unfortuantly, by that time, it was time for me to grab some dinner and head to class. After class, I even went to the gym. By the end of the day, I felt very productive. Unfortuanly, I was also begining to feel a bit sick.

By Friday morning, it was obvious I had contracted a head cold, but I was still happy because Steven was coming over after work. When he did eventually arrive, we headed to the mall to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. I highly recommend it. We laughed the entire way though, and was possibly even better than the first one. And there was a lot of Scrat, which was awesome.

On Saturday, we headed to Detroit to visit the zoo and go to the IMAX. The Detroit Zoo has a butterfly garden, which was awesome. We spent a lot of time there. But as for the rest of the zoo, it wasn't anything spectacular. Certainly not nearly as nice as the Toledo zoo. It probably didn't help any that I was completely miserable and was ready to crawl under a rock and die. But I tried not to whine and sucked it up as much as possible so that I wouldn't ruin Steven's time. Eventually though, he realized that I was pretty sick, and we left (after checking out the International Wildlife Photography Contest Gallery). We wound up checking out 2 IMAX movies to cut down on the amount of time spent waiting in the car. So we saw Walking On the Moon 3D, narrated by Tom Hanks, and Deep Sea 3D, narrated by Johny Depp and Kate Winslet. They were both really good, and the 3D thing is just crazy. It was like the fish were right there infront of you. Of course, the Deep Sea one was better than the Moon one, but they were still worth seeing.

Soon after that, we were home and showered and I had some cold medicine in me. I couldn't wait to go to bed. We spent Sunday morning lounging around, and then Steven had to go. Thats always the worst. So I spent the rest of the day feeling lousy and depressed in an ameoba form on the couch staring at the tv. Monday wasn't spent much differently. I definately felt the most miersable on Monday, so hopefully, that was the worst of it and I'm now on the road to recovery.

Anyway, that was my weekend. I'll be home for Easter, so I can't wait for that. I'm also looking forward to getting my new bike from my sweetie. I gave him his waders this weekend too, which he seemed really happy about. So that made me happy too. Anyway, I need to go find my Kleenexes.

Bored

2006-03-28T20:30:00.000-05:00

There really hasn't been anything exciting going on at all lately. I'm really just bored with this whole situation. School has been all but exciting. The weather looks like its thinking about warming up soon, but who knows what will really happen. The field season can't get here soon enough. Then I'll actually have work to do that I somewhat care about. Although, at this point, I just want to do it to get done and get home. I could complain and ramble about everything, but I really wouldn't be saying anything new, so I'll spare all 2 of you that actually read this, especially since you hear about it on a near daily basis anyway.

As far as any news. Some guy moved in next door over the weekend. I haven't met him yet though. I was also very productive this weekend. I finally got a coat rack/shelf up, so now I don't have to hang my coats on the peephole/doorbell box thing anymore. It also adds a very nice touch to the appartment. I also got Steven's watefall picture framed and hung above the piano. So, I finally have something on that wall. Besides, Its a very nice photograph, and I did a super job at matching the frame with the piano.

I've also started dancing again. Kind of. I'm not practicing for any competition or anything, but just dancing for the exercise and because I miss it, and hoping the lady downstairs doesn't start complaining. I figure that if i want that dancers body of mine back, dancing is certainly a good way to get it. In addition, as soon as it warms up (Which is hopefully soon) I'll ride my bike to the LEC. 14 miles a day should do something.

That's really all I have for now. Steven is coming up this weekend, so I should have something to write about after that, if not before.

And does anyone know why my paw print icon started loading as a negative? Grrrrrr.

Spring Break

2006-03-13T15:51:00.000-05:00

The begining bits of Spring Break really weren't anything specatular. I was generally in a bad mood, the weather was crappy, and I was without transportation. But my car did finally get fixed, and Riley and I went for a lot of walks down at the lake. Mom and I went up to see my Grandma, which was a good time. I always find it kind of neat when the 3 of us get together - 3 generations. We're all so much a like it can be a little scary. We visited a little pottery shop in downtown Titusville. It was a cute little shop. The little guy that owns was quite the character as well. We bought a couple of things, and left with a lot of ideas.

Friday was just a bad day, as March 10th has been for the last 5 years. Whether it was coincidence or not, my Mom and I saw a Bald Eagle perched on a nearby snag at Geneva Marsh on our way to Meadville. There was just something comforting, warm, and heart wrenching about the whole thing. I truely miss that man.

On the the weekend, I finally got to spend some time with Steven. Steven’s newfound love for waterfalls was cause for the first adventure of the year. Our destination was McConnell’s Mill State Park, however we took a small detour to Leesburg (Springfield) Falls on the way. Leesburg falls turned out to be much more spectacular then Steven had anticipated. I had been there before, so it was no real surprise for me. (Of course, despite my several suggestions to go there, we never went until it was his wonderful Idea.) We clambered down into the gorge and ate our lunch. Then Steven began shooting, while I just took in the surroundings. All of a sudden I caught a glimpse of something brown swimming around in the plunge pool--Muskrat. I smacked Steven on the back a few times and pointed. The little critter was either obvious to us (Which seemed more and more unlikely as time went on), or he just simply didn’t care that we were there. He swam around a bit and then clambered up onto the base stone, which the falling water ripples over before ending its tumble in the pool. He trotted around for a bit there in the shallower rapids, and then, feeling brave decided to cross to the bank. As it turned out, the rapids were a bit more than he could handle, and we saw the poor thing get swept over the edge, paws flailing the whole way down. It was truly the funniest wildlife moment either of us had even seen. We simply couldn’t stifle our amusement, and burst into laughter. Within a matter of seconds, a little brown head popped back up, and he seemed no worse for the wear. We watched him for a good long time after this, Steven taking full advantage of this opportunity. He swam about, messing around and eating what he found fit, and even braved the waterfall a few more times. He simply had no fear of us or even cared that we were standing there laughing at him. I almost think he was showing off. At one point, he perched himself a mere 3 feet from me and washed up a bit.

After a couple of hours, we figured we should get a move on if we wanted to find our waterfalls at McConnell’s Mill. So we said adieu to our little friend and continued south. We ventured to Alpha falls, Hell’s Hollow, Kildoo falls, and failed horribly in finding Breakneck falls. We got lost, fell down too many times to count, slide down ravines, rocks, and streams on our backsides, got scraped and bruised, and I was pretty much soaked. We loved it. We trail-blazed a “scenic” route to Alpha falls, only to discover a nice easy path upon arrival. Hell’s Hollow and Kildoo falls were a breeze to get to, with the single exception of the vertical decent at Kildoo. To add to the challenge, I decided to forget my trusty, sturdy hiking boots in Ohio and hiked all this is worn out, tread-less tennis shoes, causing me to spend a great deal of time on my ass.

But all in all, it was a fun time. Steven got some great photos. We spent the remaining hours of the day lazing around with that ‘I-got-the-shit-beat-out-of-me-today-and-I-feel-great’ feeling, a couple of our favorite movies, and homegrown popcorn. Life was good.

On sunday, we ventured to Erie. We went to the zoo and got rained on. Ate lunch at the Outback, and browsed Dick's and Borders. It was definatly good to be trudging around together again.

But now its back to Toledo. Anyway, I'm off to mess about like a muskrat in a plunge pool.

Conference week

2006-03-03T22:01:00.000-05:00

Very early Tuesday morning, Kristen and I headed to Windsor, Ontario for the Lake Erie Millenium Network Conference. So, all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning we spent listening to various presentations while sitting in the most uncomfortable chairs ever made. Some of the presentations were fairly interesting, but some were also very boring. Basically conferences just make you fat. You sit around all day while they feed you to keep you happy.

Our experiences with Canadian takeout weren't so great. We had the worst chinese ever. It was as if they soaked the noodles and vegitables in oil and dumped into the box. It was horrible. It had no taste what so ever, and we felt so gross after just eating a couple of bites. Needless to say, we didn't eat much. The night after that, we tried ordering a pizza. It took longer than ordering a pizza ever should. The first number didn't work. The 2nd didn't deliver to us. The third, that number didn't work either. Finally, we got a place that delivered to our hotel. And even that took a couple of call backs to get everything figured out. It was ridiculous. But at least the pizza was good.

Anyway, now I'm house/dog sitting for Tom. The dog, Randi, is a cutie, and the house is nice. But really, I really miss my Radar, and am generally just kind of homesick. I really miss Steven, and I just really need a hug. Especially after today, which wan't that great. Its amazing how lonely I feel without Radar around. I generally just feel aweful, and I can't wait to get home again to be with my family and friends.

Anyway, I think its time for bed. One more day. Just one more.

Cabin Fever

2006-02-20T14:50:00.000-05:00

There hasn't been much excitement in my life lately, but someone demanded that I update, so I'll fill you all in with everything that may be of any interest to you.

I saw the Bowfin eat a fish. That was quite exciting. I was delighted really. He really is an awesome fish. That was the whole highlight of one of my weeks earlier this month.

I had a good weekend at least. Steven came over (with a dozen roses *Grin*). We didn't do anything especially exciting. Relaxed mainly, but it was much needed relaxation. We went to the movies/mall on Saturday. We saw Firewall, which was a good movie, but not incredible. I'm glad to have seen it, but could care less if I ever see it again, really. Afterwards, we wandered around the mall. I soon found myself feeling quite sick, as usual everytime I find myself in a shopping situation. I always go to the mall, get sick, then not go for a long enough period of time that I actually forgot how miserble I was the last time I went and think that it would be fun to go again. You won't be finding me in a mall again anytime soon. I am quite grateful for internet shopping. If i could grocery shop that way as well, I certainly would. Anyway, we ate Chinese, which was tasty, and made Borders our last stop. Steven bought Bill Brysons "A Walk in the Woods" audio cd set (whch is now on my computer....Arrrrr, matey!!). This offered us a few moments of entertainment, and will be quite nice to have on long drives, and trips.

Speaking of long trips....*Grins*....Steven and I have been planning a vacation to Maine/Nova Scotia. I am incredibly excited. We're planning on camping in Baxter State park and near Acadia. Our trip will entail boat rides, WHALES, PUFFINS, hiking up or around or in the vacinity of Mt. Katahdin, more spontaneous hiking, seals, and other spontaneous things, and camping, and oh.....it will be a great adventure indeed. Had you not guessed, I am particularly excited about the whales and puffins. To sum it all up....I can't wait.

With all of this trip planning and Bill Bryson listening/reading, I have come down with a rather serious case of Cabin Fever. We got one of our field equipment orders in today too, which really did not help matters at all. I'm chomping at the bit to get outside (without freezing my tail off). Biking, hiking, kayaking, camping, field work. It all awaits. But I'm tired of waiting. Ohio winters, I have found, are definatly lacking. The misery of bitter cold and wind without the fun of snow. Without snow, what fun is winter really? None at all. (with the exception of spending an entire cold, miserable, winter day in your pjs) I can only hope that spring comes early here.

I have been watching the winter Olympics. Quite a lot. Probably more than I should, but I really just love the olympics. Of course, watching everyone outside playing in the snow really hasn't helped my cabin fever at all. I've mostly been watching Canadian coverage, since it is much better than NBC. I'm always delighted by beaver commercials. But I've found myself rooting for Canada more any other country, including the US. heh heh. Canada Rocks.

And that's really all I have to say.

That one for the Thumb!!!

2006-02-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight the Pittsburgh Steelers are Superbowl Champions!!!!! You've made us proud boys. We love you! And thanks for the good ride, Bus. We'll miss you.

I only wished I could have been home with my sweetie to celebrate. *pouts* Bloody weather.

People suck....

2006-02-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

So, I've pretty much been hating the world lately. Human's have really managed to screw it up. I've always wished I had the ability to 'poof' people out of existance. The other day, I was thinking of the groups of people i would 'poof' to make the world a better place. I really think it would work. Here's what I have so far:

1. Murders and Rapists
2. People who torture animals
3. People who don't like dogs, or animals in general for that matter.
4. People who think nature is "gross"
5. Anyone who has ever decided, or aided in the decision, to cut clear cut a bit of forest, or any other nice little ecosystem, to build another plaza, mall, Walmart/Target, bank, ....well, you get the idea.
6. People who litter
7. Crooked bastards in general (like, uh, all the gas companies)
8. People who sit around bored all the time because they're too dull to get a hobby.
9. People who own a hummer (Unless you're in the army and drive a real one). And if you own one and live in the city....you're poofed twice.
10. The Genius who wrote the book "Sex for Dummes." If people can't figure that out, they don't deserve to procreate. And that person is aiding in the degradation of the gene pool.

That's all that I can think of for now. I'm sure more will come to me. I'll keep ya posted.

Reasons why I should always lock my door

2006-01-29T12:01:00.000-05:00

The last week has been pretty busy. These faculty position interview seminars have been really time consuming. I'll very very glad when they're all over. This week really didn't have much of anything noteworthy.

I did discover something rather odd on Monday. I stepped outside my appartment building to head off to the lab, when i noticed a puddle of something red on the sidewalk--blood. Without a doubt. And i'm not simply talking a few drops, I'm saying this was a puddle--a large pancake sized puddle of blood. There weren't any feathers or tufts of fur to show that something had simple gotten a bird or a rabbit. Nor were there any traces of a trail or droplets leading off somewhere else. It was very strange.

Yesterday was Amanda's birthday. A large group of us went out for Mexican food and margaritas. It turned out to be a rather good time, even if i was the only one ther without a date. After a short while, I actually forgot that this was the case. After dinner, we went back to Amanda and Mike's and played Catch Phrase, which was also a ton of fun.

I got home around midnight, talked to my sweetie for a bit, then showered and crawled into bed. I was just about to drift off to sleep when I heard yelling and running outside. Even for being 1 am, this wouldn't have concerned me so much if I hadn't heard the phrase, "He's going around back!!!" This definaly peaked my curiosity, so i got up to peek out the window. I couldn't look out my bedroom window, where all the commotion was happening, so I went out and looked out my living room windows. What I saw raised a bit of concern: 3 police cars parked haphazardly in the lot, one with the doors left open, and another cop car coming up the drive. At this point, I double checked to make sure all 3 locks on my door were indeed locked, and greatly wished I had a baseball bat. Another concerning observation was that my landlord was also here. She is hard enough to hunt down during regular business hours. To see her car here at 1 am on a Saturday night could not have been a good sign.

Superbowl, Baby!!!

2006-01-22T18:23:00.000-05:00

The 2006 AFC Championship game: 34 - 17 - the Pittsburgh Steelers maimed the Denver Broncos. Woohoo!!! Pittburgh's going to the Superbowl!! It's just awesome!!!

Its just a shame we can't afford tickets, since Detroit, home of superbowl XL, is only an hour away. Wouldn't that be an experience. Oh well. I'll be going home to join my 'team' for the game, so i'll be quite content.

As far as other happenings since i've returned to Ohio: Not a whole lot. School has kept be busy. I spent my birthday putting together my night stands, with Radar's help of course (meaning, he kept running off with my screws and sprawled across the directions). But that weekend, I did go out with Sarah, Amanda, and Amanda's Mike. We went out to Chili's for food and margaritas, so that was no doubt a good time. Afterwards, we went to see Walk the Line, the Johny Cash movie. I was quite pleased with the movie. Joaquin Phoenix did a very good job. (Of course, I'm a fan to begin with.) All in all, that was a good night.

My parents also came up that weekend to deliver my piano. So, I have my piano back now. *Cheeky grin*

After that, I was sick for a while, which was not fun at all. But all is better now.

Steven came over this weekend. *big grin* Its always so great when he's here. We rented movies, ate Tony Packo's, went to Cabela's, and went to the mall/movies. It was a very good time despite the fact that the movie was HORRIBLE. We went to see Munich. It got good ratings, but I simply don't see how. I found it to be very boring with periodic bouts of rather graphic violence. Its not the violence that bothers me as much as the boringness. I found it very anticlimatic, and much longer than it should have been. But all in all, we had a very good time. I miss him tons already. *sighs*

Anyway, I think that brings me up to the curren moment, where I am sitting here basking in the glory of the AFC championship with a Woodchuck Draft Cider in hand. GO STEELERS!!

Back to the Grind....

2006-01-08T21:04:00.000-05:00

I got back to Ohio yesterday. The trip is a long one, but its nice in the sense I get in a lot of thinking time. This time i dreamed up the stables that I'll have next to my cabin someday, and all the critters that will live there. I also decided that I will have ducks, because I like ducks, and maybe they'll have little ducklings, which are just adorable.

I'm back to my own place now, which is nice. Radar, I think, is rather bored without the dogs around and a basement to explore. I have all my christmas loot put away. I miss my piano though, my parents will be bring that next weekend.

I miss my sweetie. He took me out to Red Lobster on Friday for an early birthday present. He also got me Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything" Special Illustrated edition, which is super awesome. He is such a sweetheart. I'm so lucky to have him.

I can't believe this weather either. It was late-March weather here today, not early January. It was ridiculous. Well over 40*, sunny, birds were singing this morning. Sweatshirt weather. *shakes head* Crazy weather.

Narnia

2006-01-05T10:42:00.000-05:00

Let me begin by wishing you all a happy and healthy 2006. I have some high hopes for this year, and I think overall, it should be a pretty good one.

New Years eve was spent with Steven and his parents for the usuall shrimp and crackers and dip and all sorts of excellent finger food, sitting around eating and waiting for the ball to drop. Yay and Happy New Year and all that stuff.

Sunday, we slept late, got up and watched the Steelers game. Then we came down to my parents house for the traditional saurkraut and pork New Year's Day dinner.

Since then, not a whole lot has happened. Monday, I sat around the house and read a bunch of Calvin and Hobbes (Not a bad way to spend a day *grins*). On Tuesday, Angie stopped by in the morning, and it was great to see her. I finally have a phone number now, so hopefully we will be able to stay in touch a bit better. Then I was off to Erie to have lunch with Karla and Leslie, whom I worked with over the summer at PISP. It was good to see them again, and odd not to see eachother sweaty and dirty and in our crumby DCNR shirts. And of course, you can't go wrong with Panera. After lunch, I ran some errands and then got comfortable at Barnes and Noble with a good book and a Mocha. The mocha wound up being a bad idea, and I was up half the night, but the book was good and so I bought it. Steven met me there after work and we were off to the theater to see Narnia.

Narnia.........To say I was pleased with the movie would be an understatment. For the majority of the movie, I belive I was grinning from ear to ear just because it was so incredible. It was just great. I hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot when I wanted to watch it again. This movie will definatly be in my dvd collection. Talking animals and magical lands.....its like my childhood imagination brought to the big screen.

As for yesterday and today, a lot of Calvin and Hobbes, a lot of piano, and the dreaded doing laundry and getting things ready to go back to Ohio. In one way, i'm glad to be going back. I miss my appartment, and living with my parents again for the last 3 weeks has been trying. It will be good to get back to my own space, if only that space were in Erie, and not so damned far away from hills, friends, family, and most of all, Steven. Considering Erie will likely be the next town I call home, here's to hoping the next 4 semesters (summer included) go smoothly and quickly.

Christmas time

2005-12-29T13:08:00.000-05:00

So I've been home for the last couple weeks on break. And let me say, it has been wonderful. Back in my parent's cozy house, with my sweetheart only a short drive away. I've been keeping very busy, hence the reason for me not posting lately. I'm not even sure where to start....

Steven and I went to see King Kong. It was awesome. I highly recommend seeing that movie. I cried through the last half hour because I'm such a sap when it comes to animals. But it was very well done. Kong was very realistic. I will definately be owning that on dvd when it comes out.

Christmas eve was fun. I went up to Steven's and him, his uncle Boomer, and I all went out to the bar to watch the Steelers game against Cleveland. It was a complete blow out!! 41 to 0!! It was awesome. Steven and I both had a bit to drink too. We were a little goofey. After we sobered up a bit, we went to his mom's for hot sausage sandwiches and other christmas eve festivites. After that, Steve and I went back to his place to exchange our presents, which was all cozy and very nice. Christmas eve is probably my favorite day of the year. Its all magical and cozy. He got me the complete Calvin and Hobbes (*huge grin*) and March of the Penguins, a bunch of other stuff. He's such a sweetheart. I love him so much.

Then is was Christmas morning at my parent's house. It was quite an exciting one too. Both my mom and I got big, expensive toys. She got a potter's wheel and I got a Yamaha Digital Piano. So now I can't have a piano in my apppartment! Its really awesome. It plays and sounds just a like a real piano, but its much lighter and can therefore be moved much easier. Plus, it has some other fun features too. For instance, I can record myself.

Then is was over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house. The whole Foley family was there and all were drinking wine. Even gram got a bit tipsy. Uncle Paul has his smart ass meter turned all the way up. So, over all, it was a very good time.

All in all, I made out like a Bandit this Christmas. I got my piano, a bunch of stuff for the appartment (lamps, crockpot, coffee pot, stemware, a nice wooden fruit bowl, etc), some nice sweaters, books and some other small things. I didn't get anything that I can't use/don't want. So I'm very happy. Most importantly, I got to spend it with the people that I love. I can't imagin not being home for Christmas.

Since Christmas, I've been seeing people and hanging out here at home. I had lunch with Milt on Monday. Then i went to Steven's and back to his parent's place. Tuesday, Steven and I went to see Fun with Dick and Jane. It was mildly amusing. And yesterday, mom and I played with some clay. I made a little fox sculpture. I'm pretty pleased with it. I need to take it to get fired.

As for today, its just a lousy, dreary, damp and cold day. The perfect day for sleeping and curling up in front of the fire with Calvin and Hobbes. So, I think I'm off to do that now.

1 down, 3 to go....

2005-12-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

I'm done with my first semester of Grad School. Woohoo!!

And, oh yeah, I'm the Twister Champ at the LEC. tehehe.

Snow

2005-12-08T22:10:00.000-05:00

I like snow. I really do. Many people think I'm crazy for this, but if you think about it, snow is beautiful. From each individual, unique snow flake, to the deep white blankets across the landscape. Its covers up all the dirtyness and ugliness, and even has the ability to make Toledo appear to be pretty. I love how christmas lights reflect off from it and give everything a cozy, Christmasy glow. I love being outside when its snowing, epecially the really big fluffy flakes. Being in the woods during a snow is like being in a different world. Everything is so hushed and peaceful. I love snowball fights and snowmen, making snow angels, and snowshoeing and sledding.

The one thing I really really don't like? The fact that its keeping me and my love apart this weekend.

What do I wish for? Getting snowed in--just me and him. ;-)

X-fish

2005-12-06T20:02:00.000-05:00

There was a tragic death at the LEC today. The white bass has passed on, leaving most of us in deep sorrow. He was a good fish, spending most of his day swimming laps close behind the quill backs. It is said that he was playing dead, but then stopped playing. He will be missed, not only by us ecologists at the lab, but by his fellow fish (however, not so much by the small perch). It is reassuring to know that his DNA will live on in the pages of ecological research, and that he did not part from this world without leaving an important contribution.

Cabela's, chololate, and alcohol.....

2005-12-06T15:21:00.000-05:00

So its been a few days, I know. My friend, Andrea, was here Sunday through this morning, taking a break from her drive from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania. It had been well over a year since I had seen her, so it was very good to see her again and catch up. She showed me all sorts of pictures from her year in Germany and side trips to Ireland, Scotland, and well, all over the place.

When she arrived on Sunday, I cooked up a nice dinner (which I was quite proud of). We stayed in, eating and talking, and wrapped up the day with Red Dwarf -- just like in the good old days at Allegheny.

On Monday, I took her out to the LEC to show her the lab, meet people, and help me feed my fish. Afterwards, we headed off to Cabela's, otherwise known to outdoor enthusiasts as Heaven. I discovered that it is only a 30 minute drive or so to get there. Quite dangerous for my bank account. I also found it interesting that as soon as I crossed the state line into Michigan, all felt right with the world again. I was no longer in Ohio. Andrea and I were quite thrilled to be in Michigan, and we were quite silly about it. As for Cabela's, it was....well, Cabela's. No words can do it justice. We spent a good time there, surrounded by all sorts of things we'd love to spend our money on. I was good however, and only bought christmas presents (except for my rabbit fur mad bomber hat which is oh so warm and fuzzy).

After Cabela's, we went to Russell Stoffers, so Andrea could buy lots of chocolate to give away as christmas presents. And after that, we discovered a winery, where, naturally, we had to go wine tasting. It was quite good, and Andrea bought lots of alcohol to give away for christmas presents as well. I must say, she has some very lucky family members.

Dundee Michigan: Cabela's, chocolate, and alcohol....what a great place.

As for the rest of her visit, we listened to christmas music and put together a puzzle. Quite a wild time, I know. We need to learn to tone it down a bit. Anyway, the puzzle was rather difficult, with some very odd shaped pieces. We got it done, however were quite dismayed to find a piece missing. Considering it was a newly opened puzzle, I think it may have never existed. I really like the puzzle though, so I may have to make that piece myself and give the squirrel the top of his head. Poor thing.

New Pictures

2005-12-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

I have the pictures of me in the aquarium posted. If you want to see them, go to http://foxxshots.blogspot.com/.

Life is Good

2005-12-02T21:01:00.000-05:00

Today was one of those days where I just felt like I was on top of the world. No particular reason, I was just happy. I'm very content with where I am in my life, and where my life is going. I have the best boyfriend ever, a great family and wonderful friends. I really am enjoying gradschool and this whole being an adult thing. I really have no complaints, other than living in Toledo, farther away from my sweetheart than I'd like. But over all, I have to say, my life is pretty damned good.

Snow Advisory

2005-11-30T18:31:00.000-05:00

It was 6:30, and my alarm clock was buzzing in the annoying manner it does. I hit snooze. I repeated this action five times. At 6:50 I finally emerged from my very toasty flannel and down nest. My head was pounding. I got ready for class and was out the door by 7:30 feeling particular pleased with myself because I wouldn't be late for class. So, i'm buzzing through Oregon - over the river....it looked dirty as ever. The Maumee is so disgusting. The annoying detour around the construction zone is always a tour of the early to rise bums of East Toledo. I exit I-280 to I-75 and am greeted by stopped traffic. It took me an hour to go the 4 miles to the I-475 exit. Not only was that frustrating enough, but I arrive at the exit only to find it blocked. This all resulted in me getting lost in Toledo (again) and finally arriving on campus at 9:15. A few more minutes and class would be over. What was the point? I went to the gym and worked out just to spite my pounding head.

The thing that amazes me the most is that the reason for all this trouble was that Toledo recieved a grand total of 12 snowflakes over the course of last night. The people of Toledo found it necessary to then rush out and crash their vehicles first thing this morning. While waiting in traffic, I heard on the radio that we were under a secondary snow advisory. I looked out the windshield. A snowflake fluttered down and landed in front of me. Half a minute later, a second snowflake, probably a friend of the one on my car, fluttered down and landed on the VW 6 cars up. This heavy snowfall has remained steady throughout the entire day. Roads are nearly impassable. If it keeps this up much longer I fear all of Toledo may perish. If not from deadly car crashes, then at least from starvation after their pantries run dry and they are all too snowed in to retrieve sustenance.

*blink*

The human species amazes me. Not for their wonders in technology and architecture, but for their complete inability to adapt. I mean, Ohioians can't drive to begin with, but to have so many accidents as the result of such mild winter conditions. Its unbelivable. Its not like its even a southern state. North Carolina gets an inch of snow and the whole state shuts down. Pitiful, but slightly more understandable that one of the Great Lakes States! It sure makes me glad I learned to drive in northwest PA winters. Now, if only I can avoid getting hit.

Thoughts of the Trail

2005-11-29T02:00:00.000-05:00

"To make a long story short, Don't tell it."

I was driving back to Ohio yesterday after a few days at home. I had the Two Towers soundtrack playing, and Radar was snoozing soundly beside me. A few raindrops were speckling my windshield, just enough to put my wipers on low. This was the perfect environment for thinking, reflecting on my weekend. Naturally, the number one thing on my mind at this time was Steven. Driving back to Ohio is always so hard. It feels as if I might as well be driving to the other side of the world. It is times like these that I realize how incredibly lucky I truely am. For even though he does the occasional thing to anger me or make me grit my teeth, he is everything I could ever ask for. He is sweet and caring, smart and funny, and so passionate about the things he cares about. I could not be more proud of him for his talent in photography. He's finally getting around to doing something with his ability and submitting prints to magazines. I can't even begin to describe how I feel about him other than I love him with all of my heart. He is my best friend, and he is Home. I realized this over 2 years ago, and with each day, this feeling has only grown stronger. Sure, home is still the rolling hills and forests of Pennsylvania, but if he were no longer there, it would loose much of what makes it truely feel like home. I said this two and a half years ago, and I will say it again: Home is where your sweetheart is. And I'm finding myself to be extremely homesick.

I miss you, babe.

Dine in style -- Dine at EAT!!

2005-11-24T01:00:00.000-05:00

I had a doctors appointment today in Portersville, a middle of nowhere town located right between two major state parks. Needless to say, there isn't a whole lot there. Jamie, being the dear that she is, agreed to ride along with me for the company. We arrived in this nowhere town super early, so we decided to grab some lunch at one of the 2 local resturants. We chose the EAT resturant. This lovely diner style resturant was fully decorated in a hunting theme. Deer, ducks, and pheasant lined the inner walls and overhead lamps. The crate paper turkeys and pumpkins created a festive atmosphere. The scary locals added even more charm. Upon enterance, were were warmly welcomed by all dinners by the silent turn and stare. Just when we were feeling extremely out of place, a group of mexicans came and sat at the next table and rattled on in spanish. *shrugs* At least the food was decent.

I was a random rebel today as well. I made an illegal Left hand turn. I really didn't see any reason for the restriction, and I wanted to go left. So I did. Ha! I continued this rebelious streak after my appointment (which involved an untolerable amount of waiting) by making an illegal U-turn on I-79. Again....Ha!!

While on I-79, we got nodded at my a couple of creepy guys in a truck. And then later, I got hit on my a 17 year old kid. Jamie found this quite amusing.

Thats about it for the really interesting happenings of today.

Check out Jamie's blog for her rendition of the day.

Home Depot

2005-11-18T16:37:00.000-05:00

I just got back from Home Depot. I love that store. It has all sorts of fun toys. The thing that really rubs my fur the wrong way though is how I get bombarded by every male employee of the place. I can be looking at something, and one will come over and ask, "Can I help you?" Okay, not a crime, right? Thats fine. What bugs me is the look I get when I say No. Its like they're completely dumbfounded and thrown off gaurd. And half the time I get the "Are you sure??" Yes, I'm sure.....Dick. I was able to walk in the door and find what I wanted without your masculine assistance. I may be female, and I may be blonde, but damnit, I'm a very handy person. I mean, seriously. I carry my own leatherman tool. That, by the way, definatly impressed some of the guys out at the lab the other day. *smug look*

Anyway, I got the shrink wrap stuff to put over my very drafty bedroom windows. When I woke up this morning, there was actually a layer of ice on the INSIDE of the window. At that point I decided I needed to do something about that. So the shrinkwrap shall be installed this evening. All by myself, I might add.

Flannel sheets are the best things ever. Despite my shitty windows, with my flannel sheets and down comforter, I was super toasty. I would have slept wonderfully had Radar not continued to wake me up throughout the night by pulling my hair. I'm not sure if he was playing with it or just trying to groom me. He's so werid sometimes.

Its Friday. That is happy. Only one more week until I get to see my sweetie again. *glee*

Swim'n with the Fishes

2005-11-17T21:16:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was actually kind of interesting and fun. I got into the aquarium to clean and put in some more drift wood and the plants. It seemed like the whole lab knew I was going to do it. All morning I heard, "So, when ya go'n in?" And, to everyone's amusment, I eventually did. All gathered around to laugh and take pictures of me in the tank with the fish. So, eventually those will surface and if not too horrible, I might even share them with you. Maybe.

We put the bowfin into the tank. He looks so awesome in there!! He immediately started prowling around on the bottom like a little Tiger. All the little perch were pretty freaked out and had thier spiky dorsal "do not eat me" fins up. I'm sure a couple of them are gone by now.

The crayfish in the tank finally showed himself yesterday too. He is huge!!!! Definetly much bigger than when we put him in. We couldn't believe it. He's a monster!

Last night was a meeting/seminar about the study done on the e.coli at Maumee Bay beach and where its coming from. Public meetings are always so much fun. Stupid people who don't have a clue about what they're talking about just talking to hear themselves say something. All we can do is just sit back, laugh, and shake our heads. Its very frustrating in a way, seeing the stupidy and closed-mindedness of the general public. One guy wanted to point out that one of the source ditches wasn't actually in Oregon. My question is: What difference does that make? *Shakes head* I can't stand people.

It started snowing here yesterday too. Not enough to stick, but bitter cold. It wouldn't be so bad if not for the wind.

Today was just a typical thursday. Not much to talk about there. I'm just glad tomorrow is friday.

Tornado Watch

2005-11-16T00:38:00.000-05:00

There is nothing more uplifting then a cold, windy, rainy November day. Well, there's always that shitty rain/snow mix, but thats for tomorrow.

Tornado watch until Midnight here. Weeee..... Twisters are cool. Really....i mean that. But would be slighty more so if I had a basement.

Quote of the day: "There's an alcohol for every climate" ~Ecology Prof. Daryl Moorhead

Hoping I'm not getting sick.

Mmm...yeah...that's all i got.

Bowfin bliss

2005-11-14T22:11:00.000-05:00

Another morning spent out at the lab getting things ready for the President's reception. Thought, most of todays tasks called for some shopping. So Josh and I, with the LEC's van and credit card, set out to buy all sorts of interesting things: chain and S-hooks, an electrical timer, some aquarium glue, lots of high-density drift wood, and some slates. So that was fun. I saw that the aquarium store has freshwater stingrays. I've decided that when I have my freshwater aquarium, I must have one. I love rays, they're right up there with Sea dragons. Anyway, Wednesday holds some serious aquarium work. And by serious I mean actually getting in there. I have to remember to take shorts to work.

Josh caught us a little Bowfin fish to put in the tank. He's so awesome and pretty. (The fish, not Josh.) I think i'll name him Bo. Pretty original, eh?

I got a brand new Dell computer today. Well, technically, its not mine, but my professors, but its for me to use, and i'll be the only one using it for the next 2 years. So its as good as mine, right? But now my lab finally has something in it other than dead bugs and dust (most of which i swept out today.) Its exciting.

Now its time it cozy into my couch with a mug of tea, get into some school work, and wait for my Sweetie to get online.

I can't wait to go home.

Nothing to write home about.....

2005-11-14T02:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it wasn't a very exciting weekend. My parents decided not to visit. Between Dad not feeling great since the surgery and leaving the dogs in the house all day, they just decided to wait to see me when I came home for Thanksgiving. So, instead I cleaned my appartment and did some laundry, got a lot of sleep (11 hours last night), got some reading done, and watched a few movies. I woke up this morning (after having a really stupid, shitty dream about that one aweful person I do all I can to pretend doesn't really exist) with a pounding headache. I took a bunch of Advil, but to no avail. Hopefully it'll be gone by tomorrow. Over all, not feeling too hot tonight.

But on a positive note, the Steelers are currently kicking the hell out of the Browns. So...thats happy. Keep it up guys! Show Ohio what PA is all about!!

Jell-O

2005-11-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. Even though I'm finally going to a school that is closed on federal holidays, I still went into the lab to do some work. (After sleeping in of course.) Josh and I scrubbed down one of the living streams (basically, an aquarium with water flowing through it) and got it all set up. We put in sand and gravel for a patchy environment substrate, and even added some driftwood. It looks nice. So it has water going through it so its all ready for the fishes. They will probably go in Monday.

That only took us until about 2:00. After that I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few needed things, got gas, and went to rent videos. I've discovered a very nice video rental store near where I lived that has really cheap rentals. All rentals are $1 and $2 for new releases. And a lot of times they have good deals. For instance, i rented a new release and a regular video for only $0.53. Yes...that is 53 cents. I couldn't believe it either. But I was quite happy. I rented Kingdom of Heaven and Master and Commander. So those shall be watched this weekend.

I have a "date" tonight with Steven. We're disgustingly cute, I know. But ..... *big grins* This "date" is just meeting up on AIM to chat and watch the same video and drink tea together. Its very cozy, really. Not nearly as good as the real thing, but I'll take it. Tonight we're watching the Peanuts Valentine cartoon. Gotta love Snoopy!

Oh, and I made strawberry jello today too.

Another day at the office.....

2005-11-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

So today wasn't anything special. Biostats class, where i had to hold my eyelids open through some very boring student presentations. But then Dr. Moorehead came in to talk to us about a new statistical method. He's hilarious though. He threatened to take his shirt off after overhearing a conversation on body hair. It was quite a frightening moment, but the shirt stayed on and no hairy parts of Uncle Daryl were revealed. He then proceeded to inform us that statistics are bullshit imposed upon us by "sadistic assholes". I really couldn't agree more. (Too bad i'm taking 2 statistics classes next semester.)

After class and working out, I headed out to the lab for a full afternoon of fish maintence. It is what I get paid for afterall. I'm in charge of the 1000 gal. aquarium at the facility--water changes, fish feeding, adding new fish species, making sure everything is nice and asthetically pleasing as well as educational. So i scrubed algae off the sides and did a 1/3 water change and fed the fishes. They seem to recognize me as their keeper/feeder. Whenever I come around the school around expecting to be fed. They're kind of cute in their own little fishy ways. I suppose you could say I enjoy this job. There are certainly worse things I could be doing for my measly stipend, including dealing with undergrads.

"My" aquarium: http://lakeerie.utoledo.edu/html/rotank.htm

So, thats about my day. One thing is for certain: This week is going much too slowly.

Here goes nothing.....literally

2005-11-09T02:01:00.000-05:00

Alright ...well.....with a little nudging from a friend, I have decided to start a blog. Considering the depressing lack of excitment in my life in recent months, I can't see how anyone would be interested in my daily events. You see, in August, I picked up and moved to Toledo -- a city located 4 hours from friends, family, and my beloved partner in crime , all in order to obtain a special sheet of paper often refered to as a Masters of Science Degree. This particular one in the field of Ecology.

So, here I am, just me and my cat, Radar (who i'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about in future postings). My time is mostly spent reading, or doing some other sort of school related work. I suppose the upside to all this studying is that I've been doing really well. The downside, well, I don't have a whole lot else going on.

But i suppose, things do happen. And I suppose thats what this blog is for -- to document all these little interesting things, and perhaps even some of the thoughts that go through this brain of mine.

So, if you're interested because you know me, I'll try to keep this updated. If you're reading this because you're life is boring enough to read about my boring life, then I would have to suggest a hobby -- perhaps learn a musical instrument or pick up a pencil to write or draw. Seriously.