Some of the Products of My "Extended Weekend"

A card for my best friend and her husband who got married this summer. (Congrats to the newlyweds, Mr. & Mrs. Baker!) This one was made in July, but the other three cards are from a few weekends ago.

For my cousin who just bought her first house.

This one was for my aunt's birthday.

And this one was for my parent's wedding anniversary (the photo is from an old desk calendar I keep around for craft purposes).

Tip-Toe Through the Tulips

Tulips are my favorite flower. One of my favorite things from last spring was walking through town and seeing all of the tulips as they popped out of the ground and began to bloom in various colors. My cousin, future artist/graphic artist extraordinaire, made an amazing painting of my favorite flower (in one of my favorite color schemes!) to grace the very empty and very white wall in my living room. Thanks so much, Tess! Shortly after the painting graced the wall my mom sent tulips to me. What a perfect coincidence!

Painting: Tess F., 2009

Extended Weekend

I ended up with a bit of an extended weekend over the last few days, but only because I was sick and did not go to school yesterday or today. I started to feel a little sluggish on Friday but didn't really admit to actually being sick until I got to my lab section on Saturday where I had trouble talking. On Sunday I woke up and felt downright terrible. I felt so crummy that I scrapped my original plan of waiting until Monday where I could have gone to the school doctor for free, and looked up the nearest clinic.

From what I had heard of this string of clinics, I expected that we would be waiting in the sitting area for hours before getting to see a doctor. I guess Sunday mornings are a slow time for them, thankfully, because I was seen after a reasonable amount of time. Then the doctor told me that my horribly sore throat was probably just due to a virus... but thank goodness she also wrote me two prescriptions. 1) Typical cough syrup. 2) "Magic" Mouthwash to numb my throat.

At first, I thought the idea of mouthwash that would numb my throat was awesome. I continued to think that until I tried it out. It was then that I realized that it also would numb my tongue and lips. I absolutely hate coming home from the dentist and having that numb feeling all over, so I struggled a lot with this stuff.

But anywho... I didn't go to school the last two days because I didn't want to get other sick, and I needed the rest. Luckily, I didn't miss a lot. One of my classes and a meeting for Monday were canceled, and new homework sets weren't assigned in my other classes. Score!


I slept a lot this weekend, but I did accomplish something else: Halloween decorating!! I don't have a lot of Halloween decorations, but now the apartment is a little more festive. :)

My Life as a New Grad Student

It's already the third week of school! I can't believe it! (And I still don't have a good routine set up...).

The Office: This is where I place the blame for not having a good routine so far. I didn't have a key to my office until the end of last week. When I had down time between classes, I would "office crash" with my fellow students who had keys (I'm in the new building, hence the lack of key), or I would find a random couch in the hallway and try to get some reading done. Not the best for being productive... But now I have a key, so I can get my office set up and hopefully I'll start getting things done in a more efficient manner.

The Classes: They're going alright so far. The fact that our program considers a B- failing is kind of intimidating though. I think if we get two B-'s we're put on probation from the program. I'm hoping that won't be an issue, but it's definitely motivation to study, study, study.

The "Teaching:" So I don't really teach, I mostly just say "Today we're doing Lab 3, it's in the lab manual. Ask me if you have questions." And then I end up explaining certain things over and over again to different groups of students. My students seem like they're doing fairly well so far, and I think I've been able to help them understand concepts that they've asked me about.

The Research: I'm going to be studying the weathering of ultramafic minerals, particularly olivine. I have a list of papers and dissertations to read and look through to gain some understanding of the subject and what people have done in similar experiments. My adviser told me today that we've got the sampling permit we need to go obtain samples at one of our field sites, so we'll probably be doing that in early October. This isn't really what I envisioned studying when I applied to grad school (but really, I didn't have a good idea of what I wanted to do anyway). Yet, I know that I'll be learning a lot because this is all new to me.

Alrighty, now I must get going. I've got oreos and a paper about geology and the scientific method waiting for me.

Life in Vegas Thus Far

Things have been going pretty well so far in Vegas. I got settled into the apartment in a week. Well, mostly. I have a few pictures to hang up and some files to organize, but other than that, I'm pretty much done.
Orientation started today. It wasn't very exciting actually. I thought there was going to be more to it, but we basically just got talked at for a few hours in a banquet hall sized room with 600ish new students in it. It was nice to be able to put names to faces of people I'd possibly need to contact if I had certain issues (where to get paperwork, who to talk to about funding, how to change the people on your committee, etc...). Yet, I would have been fine with just getting a big ol' packet of information and not wasting gas money to do the 20-minute drive to campus. (I took a quicker route this time. Last time it took 30 minutes. Tomorrow we'll see how long the same route takes but with morning traffic...)

Tomorrow morning I'm going to a teaching workshop. Some renowned speaker/teacher/professor is going to be teaching us about different methods to get students involved, I guess. I hope that it's helpful, because I don't see myself as a teacher at all (don't really want to be a teacher at all... but it's how I'm getting paid, and it will be a worthwhile experience). I'm more of a one-on-one person, not a lecture to a big group of people person. I'm actually ridiculously boring to listen to when I'm "lecturing." At least that's the impression that I got during my stint as a Sunday school teacher or during RA training sessions. But oh well, even if the workshop is a bust, I am going to the grocery store (a.k.a. Walmart Supercenter... I don't have to like them, but they're cheap and conveniently located) to get some stuff. I like grocery shopping.

And then Thursday, oh Thursday. I can't wait until Thursday. Here's the first reason. Thursday is the Geoscience Department orientation. So, I'll actually be meeting people that I'll see on a regular basis, and find out what the heck I'm supposed to be doing rather than getting talked at in a crowded auditorium hearing stuff that could have been sent out in a packet. And, there's a potluck, which should be fun.

The other reason I'm excited is that Erik gets back to Minnesota from his European adventure on Thursday. At that point, our long-distance relationship gets upgraded from Gmail chats and emails to phone calls. Yay!!

An Old Bookmark

While I was unpacking the other day, a folded-up piece of paper fell out of a book. I usually just use random scraps of paper as bookmarks. Those cute and/or fancy bookmarks that you can buy at the store are nice, but I'm always afraid that I'll lose them or that they'll get damaged. For this reason, I generally just use scratch paper.

On the outside of this piece of paper was this quote, which I must have found important while I was reading the book from which it came.

"Sometimes at our most discouraged, we can also forget that the past is a resource, not a destiny."
~Jill Fredston, from her book "Snowstruck"

I enjoyed re-reading the quote, and then tossed the bookmark into a pile to be dealt with later. As I was tidying up a few moments ago, I unfolded the piece of paper to see what, if anything, was written inside. There is a doodle of a daisy and directions to my boyfriend's house. The funny thing is, I have the route memorized now but I still don't know the street names for a lot of the turns. And a few of the roads, according to these directions, have an actual name and then a county road name. Three of the roads have the same county road name, which doesn't make sense to me. Maybe that's why Kyla and I almost got lost the first time we drove there!

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

The Next Time I Post, I'll Be in Nevada!

The moving process begins tomorrow!!!! My dad's going to pick up the moving truck around 8:00 (which is approximately when I'll be waking up). Then Grandma B. is stopping over at some point with cookies and banana bread. Yummy! And then as soon as everything is loaded up, we'll be on the road!

The goal is to get to Las Vegas around 10-11 in the morning on Saturday. Then the whole paperwork process and signing of the lease happens. Then I can move in!!!!! But I most likely won't be posting for a while because the internet isn't getting hooked up until Monday.

And then it's going to be busy, busy, busy with unpacking, finding out where everything is, and then orientation starts the next week!! Man oh man!

What's Up?

I have a cold. It's not that bad, really, but it's a bit annoying when I should be putting my energy into packing because I move in a week! Crazy, I can't believe it's already down to just one week. Today I'm going through my CD collection trying to find CDs that I can maybe sell for a little bit of money. I'm also making back-up copies of some of my CDs because I'm not actually bringing the real ones with me to Vegas. But I'm only making some, like Christmas music, because I don't keep that on my computer. I like the shuffle function, so I keep the Christmas music off the computer so I don't have to listen to holiday tunes that randomly pop up during August.

The only problem is that I'm running into the problem of finding blank CDs that my computer isn't recognizing as anything, so I can't burn anything to it. Luckily, I bought a new spindle of CDs the other day (Target is having a great deal on them right now!) so I have the new ones, which my computer does recognize. I'm just not happy about the prospect of possibly having to throw away 10 CDs that aren't working. I thought it was my computer's CD drive that might be the problem, but then the new ones worked... oh wells.

And then I'm going to re-alphabetize my CD collection in the CD shelf that's staying home. (Have I mentioned I'm a huge nerd? Who can also be a bit OCD sometimes...? Yeah.)

In other news, my best friend Kelsey got married last weekend. The ceremony and everything, especially her, were just beautiful and everything went really well! I hope to make another post about it when I can get my hands on some pictures. My mom was the wedding photographer, so I could just sneak them off of the home computer, but Kelsey and her husband have not seen the pictures yet. I guess I'll be a good girl and wait.

Both are true, I think

"Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will." ~ Unknown

"I miss you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow." ~ Unknown