Create a Vacuum Day

Vacuum desiccator

According to holidayinsights.com, last Friday (February 4) was Create a Vaccuum Day.  Man, if only I had known that sooner!  I would have celebrated on time.  Instead, I guess I celebrated a week late.

Today I vacuum-impregnated my rock core samples from the Klamath Mountains.  You might be thinking, "Huh??"  One of my office buddies (a PhD student) showed me how to set my samples in epoxy and then put them in a vacuum chamber so that all of the tiny little air bubbles get sucked out.  Thus, I'm left with a nice (and bubble-free!) sample to look at under the Scanning Electron Microscope.

Yep, I think this is my nerdiest post to date.  And, by the way, I had no idea that Create a Vacuum Day existed until I stumbled upon it this evening. :)

My Refrigerator is Happy Now

I'm back in Vegas after having been in MN for about a month.  Last night, I ordered pizza for dinner, because the apartment had basically no food in it.


Pre-shopping refrigerator:  :(

• water
• butter
• various condiments
• sweet and sour mix
• pop
• lemon juice

Post-shopping (and cleaned!) refrigerator:  :)

• all of the above
• milk 
• creamer
• brie cheese
• parmesan cheese
• greek yogurt
• broccoli
• carrots
• tomatoes
• peppers
• onions
• a pomegranate 
• orange juice

Om nom nom nommm...

I Need to Get Out of Nevada!

I love the sunlight. I love the warmth. But oh dear god, I need to get out of this state!!! Lately, school has been stressing me out big time. I have a lot of responsibilities, which I agreed to take on, but it's turning out to be a lot of stuff. I don't like to be a bitter and down person, but I need to vent. So here goes:

• People here do not know how to drive! I've complained about this many times, but it never ceases to tick me off. Today Erik and I decided to avoid an exit that is always backed up at a certain time of day. Instead, we end up at a light that says "No turn on red," so logically we stopped to wait for the green light in order to make our right turn. Three, that's right three! cars pulled around us on the shoulder of the road to turn right through the red!! Ugh... so much for taking the less frustrating route home!

• I suspect NV Energy is trying to steal our money. Two months ago we got an electricity bill that was $50 more than the highest bill we'd ever had. We were shocked by it, but figured that it was possible that we used the air conditioning a bit too much that month. So, we took efforts to cut back the following month, and the next bill was back to the normal range. We have not changed those habits. Today I opened our bill to find out that it had skyrocketed again! There's no way we used that much electricity (we even had days without air conditioning because it was cooler outside!).
• Nevada is brown. And dry.
  
• Nevada/Las Vegas makes a bunch of the "This is the worst place to live/Places with the worst water/Most dangerous neighborhoods/Dumbest people" lists. At the same time I see the other sides of those lists with Minnesota near the top for "Best places to live/Cleanest tap water/Smartest people" lists...
• My best friends aren't here. Erik's best friends aren't here.
• There are giant cockroaches. Enough said on that topic.
• I get more headaches here because it's arid and I suck at drinking water.
• Our neighbors have sketchy friends who like to publicly urinate on the tree outside. I am thankful that I realized what was going on, and looked away in time to avoid that image.
• We only get one channel that works all the time here, and it's FOX. Enough said.
• I'm sick of hearing/seeing Sharron Angle and Harry Reid advertisements. Harry Reid, your state is screwed and I don't really think you can fix it. Sharron Angle, you are an extreme moron and should be nowhere near public office.

Oiy... if you made your way through that mess, I apologize for the bitterness and the giant unloading. I'm hoping that things will start shaping up soon, and my outlook on stuff will improve along with it.

Photo: http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Nevada_Test_Site/

5 Ways I Procrastinate Online

I've been meaning to do this post for a while, but get this... I was busy not procrastinating and working on my Geological Society of America annual meeting abstract that was due yesterday!! But now, I am back to procrastinating. Though, in all fairness, if I hadn't have woken up this morning with a giant headache, I would be at school working on my thesis.

There are many ways to procrastinate online, and I would like to share with you my 5 favorite ways to do so. In no particular order:

1) Lolcats at icanhascheezburger . The kitties are just so cute!!

2) PhD Comics (Piled High & Deeper). Anyone in grad school should appreciate the humor of these comics. There's even an "emergency button" in case your advisor walks in.


3) Various blogs. See my blogs I follow on the sidebar :)


4) Yahoo news stories. If it weren't for FOX (we only get one TV channel) and Yahoo, I would probably never know what is going on.


5) Facebook. Because, well, yeah... I'm a student who got sucked into the trend.

Images:
1) icanhascheezburger.com
2) phdcomics.com
3) blog.ning.com/2008/04/augmenting_your_blog_or_websit.html
4) yahoo homepage screenshot
5) brainz.org/completely-unscientific-yet-accurate-look-social-sites/

How am I supposed to make cookies with a brick?

That's right, a brick. I'm talking about a brick of brown sugar, because it's so ridiculously dry here. Erik and I decided to make chocolate chip cookies this last weekend, and it was a bit difficult to get started.

Brown sugar is supposed to be delightful and fluffy. Here in Las Vegas, however, brown sugar has the tendency to dry out. We've encountered this problem at home by not keeping it in an airtight container before, but this time we ended up with a brick straight from the store.

Here is the initial brick:


The white marks are from Erik trying to bust it apart with a spoon:


We read that microwaving the brown sugar with a bowl of water next to it might help. Not so much...


This is where we gave up, went to a different store, and bought brown sugar of the proper consistency.

Road Trip: Part 3

On the return trip from Minnesota to Nevada, we decided to play the license plate game. First, Erik sang the "States Song" so I could make the list of all 50 states. Then we began crossing off states as we saw the corresponding license plates. When you've got three days of driving to do, one needs something to keep entertained and awake.

By the end of the trip, we had crossed off 36 of the 50 states! The biggest excitement of this game was when we saw two (that's right, two!) Alaska license plates. Erik only wanted to count the conterminous 48 states, but I had a feeling we'd see a Hawaii plate (there are lots of Hawaiians in Las Vegas). In the end, I was wrong, but I'm glad we counted all 50 because we saw Alaska!

What did we miss, you ask? Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio (we saw 2 Ohio plates the day after we got back in Las Vegas...), North Carolina, Rhode Island (we basically had no hope for this one), South Carolina, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Photo: childrensfurniture.guidestobuy.com

La Cucaracha Maraca

I was awoken around 4:00 this morning by an unfamiliar noise.

*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*

I sat up to listen to the noise better. The same sound kept coming from the hallway. Having no idea what it was, and being a little concerned, I woke Erik up.

"Erik, do you hear that? What's that sound?" I asked.

"Huh... [insert really confused just-woke-up-words here] Oh... it's just the water heater," he replied.

*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*
*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*

"See, Julie, it's repeating; it's the water heater," reasoned Erik.

"But, I've never heard it make that noise before," I replied. "Oh well, I have to go to the bathroom anyway, but I'm turning the bedroom light on so I can see what's making that noise."

I got up, and as I was about to enter the bathroom I saw a huge cockroach belly-up on the bathroom floor. Ewwww. But, that wasn't the source of the noise.

Then I heard the now slightly more familiar *tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap* coming from behind me. So I turned around.

On top of our 3-foot tall pile of recycling, in a plastic cupcake container I saw a (smaller) cockroach scurrying around.

*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*

"Erik, I found what's making the noise! It's a cockroach in the recycling!!! Ewwwwww! And there's a big one in the bathroom too!" I complained.

Knowing that the cockroach in the bathroom could be dealt with easily, I focused on the one (very much alive) in the recycling. The cupcake container is one of those take-out containers that you can snap shut. I snapped it shut, worried that any other course of action could result in the cockroach's escape and subsequently I'd be more grossed out than before.

*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*
*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*
*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*
*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*
*tap tap tap scratch scratch tap tap*

It just kept making the noise inside of the container! So in a slightly cruel, but desperate attempt, I began to shake the container. I hoped that it might end the bug, and it could all be over. Erik eventually had to come to my rescue and finish the job.

After all was taken care of, I crawled back into bed.

"Ewwwww, ewwww, ugh, I hate cockroaches! They're so gross!" I exclaimed. "We need to have the bug spray people come again this week, it didn't accomplish anything the last time they were here!"

At this point I began to get a little loopy (I mean, I was tired and had just lived through a semi-traumatizing bug experience. Remember, it's 4 a.m.).

"Ugh... cockroaches... La cucaracha! Ewww..." I paused.

Then I giggled a bit.

"La cucaracha maraca!!"


Image: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id307768700?mt=8

End of the Semester Craziness!

There are 23 days left until the semester is over, and it feels like I'm swimming towards a shore but I'm not getting anywhere. Each week, more gets crossed off the To Do List, but there's always so much more to do!

Here's what I'm dealing with. (Not trying to complain, just need to get it off my chest. The person I generally vent to is out in the field somewhere camping and digging soil pits)

[x] Practice poster for Geosymposium
[x] Contaminant Hydro paper on Acid Mine Drainage
[x] Revise students' policy letter rough drafts
[x] Form my thesis committee
[x] Get committee to sign paperwork
[x] Schedule my Thesis Proposal Presentation for my committee
[x] Final poster for Geosymposium
[x] Presentation on Acid Mine Drainage
[x] GPSA Fall Grant Application
[x] Geosymposium
[x] Aqueous Geochemistry homework
[x] Revise and complete Thesis Proposal
[x] Get the completed Thesis Proposal to my committee
[x] Grade students' final drafts and normal homework
[x] Figure out students' final grades
[x] Run olivine dissolution models for Aqueous Geochemistry
[x] Write paper on olivine dissolution model
[x] Prepare presentation on olivine dissolution model
[x] Finalize dates and other info for summer field work
[x] Survive my Thesis Proposal Presentation
[ ] Get all thesis proposal-related paperwork turned in

Holy buckets. I needed to get that out, but... that's a lot!

To end things on a positive note, here are some SEM images that I took in the lab last week (of my olivine samples) that reminded me of a doggy and a frog. Does anyone else see a resemblance?


Note: I may occasionally cross more things off my list as they happen. Might not keep up though. We'll see.

Milk... doesn't always do a body good.

Last night I realized that we still had a lot of milk left to drink. Not wanting to drink it just for the sake of drinking milk, I thought that milk and oreos would be a tasty treat for dessert.

It's a good thing that I looked at the expiration date on the milk first (2/02/10). Being very disappointed that I could no longer have oreos and milk, I dumped out the expired milk. Erik noticed my mopey-ness about not getting to have oreos and very sweetly offered to go to the gas station across the street and buy me some more milk.

He got back, gave me the milk and I was very excited to have my dessert treat. But, the milk tasted a bit funny. Not having had milk out of a cardboard carton in a while, I thought that perhaps this was why it tasted different. Besides, I couldn't even taste the weirdness all that much when I just dunked the oreo in it.

This morning: I awoke much, much earlier than normal with a very upset stomach.

Morals of the story:

1. Don't trust gas station milk.
2. Don't continue to drink said milk after you decide it tastes funny.
3. Do go to a real grocery store to buy new milk when you realize yours is expired.
4. Give up on the idea of oreos and milk when you realize your milk is expired, because fate has already decided that for some reason you are meant to drink funky milk and get sick.

The end.

Photo: http://thedesouzafamily.blogspot.com/2008/01/oreos.html

Not quite an ugly sweater, but close enough.

A few years back my residence hall had an ugly sweater holiday party. I could have easily found an ugly sweater at the "Salvo" (what UMMers call the local Salvation Army Thrift Store), but while shopping there I found this lovely piece of work. Since I was the Residence Hall Director, I figured I could get away with a hostess dress instead of a sweater (as well as those lovely red velvet pants to wear underneath!).


This year we don't have any ugly sweater parties to attend. Perhaps I'll have to organize one for next year. But I'm looking forward to the ugly-sweater-free festivities nevertheless.

I wish you all a very happy holiday season and safe travels!!

Pocket full of sunshine...

It's the weekend!! (I don't have class on Fridays, so my weekend starts early. It gets interrupted by having to teach on Saturday, but oh well) I would say that I'm probably about half-way through the list I posted last time. I have a ton to get done this weekend, but tonight I am enjoying an evening of relaxation (we bought a Christmas tree! but it won't be put up until the day after Thanksgiving).

Here's a goofy picture of myself that I took while playing with the webcam function on my new laptop.


P.S. Sorry if the post title gets that song stuck in your head. It was playing on the radio in the car and is in my head.

Pesty Things

My apartment doesn't really seem to have a big pest problem, but I'm thinking I may have to buy some indoor pest killing devices. Two cockroaches so far, a few spiders, and then today I tried to get two spiders (one of which was kinda big, at least compared to most you'd find back in MN), but they both got away. The big one managed to hide behind the TV, but only after I wounded it slightly. I'm hoping the spider is not one for revenge... because it might know where I sleep... And seeing that my next task for the night was going to be organizing my DVDs, which are next to the TV behind which the spider is hiding... I will not be accomplishing that task tonight. I feel like such a wimpy girl right now. Every little itch I feel is making me jump because I think it might be the spider coming to get me... or some other annoying little fly thing that I've been finding. When I lived with other girls, I tended to be the bug killer, but now that I'm alone (and have carpet, which is much harder to squish bugs on than a tile floor) I am much more jumpy!

Anywho... the battery is about to die. Hopefully soon I will be settled in enough to post a few pictures. But other than my squeamish bug issue (which really isn't even that big of an issue, I'm just a bit jumpy about it now), things have been going well so far. I plan on going to campus tomorrow to sign my TA contract, get a student ID, and maybe pick up a book. We shall see.


**Update: I'm on a different computer now, which solves the battery issue I mentioned before. As soon as I got off the other computer, beasty spider made another appearance near the couch, which was where I had been sitting when I originally made an attack. It knew where to find me... so I put forth another offensive, this time with kleenex in hopes of squishing the thing more successfully than using the kleenex box earlier (stupid carpet... too soft to kill bugs with hard objects...). Beasty spider must have known I was about to strike because it moved with great speed. I took up higher ground standing on the coffee table (thank goodness it's sturdy!) waiting for spidey to make its next move.

It seemed to want a momentary retreat and headed for the cover of the blinds by the sliding glass door. It was then that I remembered a weapon that I had used years ago on a bug that was too fast for me... something that slows down the agile pests... febreze! (PETA and anyone that harbors sympathies for the spider community... I apologize, but desparate times call for desparate measures... I was hiding on top of the coffee table for goodness sake in my own apartment!) So I ran over to the tubberware bins full of toiletries and cleaning supplies and dug out my trusty trigger bottle of Clean Linen Febreze and took up my post waiting for the spider to show it's ugly large self again. To protect the spider's honor, it put up a valiant fight against my weapon, but eventually my efforts won out and I gave the spider a two-flush burial (and because I'm in the desert I will make sure to conserve more water than usual tomorrow to make up for that excess).

Well, the movie is coming to a close fairly soon. Hopefully I will have calmed down a bit by the end and will be able to get to sleep. I'm definitely glad that I chose to watch the first Harry Potter movie tonight rather than the second... there's no way I'd be able to make it through the giant spider scenes tonight after this ordeal!

Photo: icanhascheezburger.com