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Moving on... [27 Mar 2011|07:35pm] [ mood | excited ] In three months I'll trade my 40-hour weekly-repeat work week in to start the life of a graduate student. I'm pretty happy to know that I'm moving on, and I'm super, super excited to start something with some degree of permanency. I never thought I'd be excited about the prospect of being able to buy matching furniture, or dishes that aren't just from the clearance aisle of Salvation Army. I am So-Excited to get to move somewhere and know that for the next four or five years I'm just going to stay put. I get to be a real adult. I'll get to feel grounded for the-first-time-ever. It's also great to know my days doing rat surgeries are numbered. I hope I NEVER GET SPLATTERED WITH A RAT BLOOD FOUNTAIN AGAIN IN MY LIFE... Oh, and I picked Colorado. 3 petty crimes| tip a cow

27 inches to boom [11 May 2010|09:51pm] Who would have known a lab job has so many risks... My coworker Morgan and I really aren't on the same page, pretty much we've just dropped communication down to zero in the past few months. She's really competitive, and we're both pretty stubborn. She's really good at her job though, and I felt pretty bad for her anxiety today. When we do surgeries we anesthetize them with an oxygen and isoflurane inhalant. She was doing surgery on one that was bleeding though, so wanted to cauterize it to prevent internal bleeding post-op. We work on the carotid artery though, so his neck was open, and when she pressed the cauterizer in there, her whole table was pretty instantaneously engulfed with flames. I guess the gases ignited, and the lines to the oxygen tank and isoflurane reservoirs started on fire too! Even if I don't get along with Morgan, I do recognize she's good at what she does, and had the instinct to pretty much cut every tube coming out from her station. She cut one line just a few feet from where it would have gone into the oxygen tank. Our little rodent buddy was pretty much instantly incinerated, which is really terrible (at least he was asleep!). Oh man, that could have been really bad though. We lost the rat, a consomic worth surly a few hundred, and the $2500 transmitter that measures his blood pressure was melted into him, her table's a little charred, but that could have been like the biggest disaster ever. I don't know how I would have handled that. I didn't even process what was going on until the 3 or 8 second window had passed, and only then did I learn where the fire extinguisher was. I don't know if I would have thought to cut the gases off though, and I don't know how she did so quick; I kind of think I might have just run and duck for cover. 1 petty crime| tip a cow

[30 Mar 2010|09:59pm] Filing taxes is like playing a lottery game with the political gods, I think. It's a pain every year, but this year I am especially appreciating having to file in multiple states. I'm pretty excited to get a return though. It's going to be approximately 1500X what I got last year, thanks Beloit... I've been trying to figure out where all my money's been going. After I paid off my student loans my account shrank down to nothing, and between car repairs and health insurance it seems pretty tricky to get a foot grounded. I guess that's what being an adult is like. 1 petty crime| tip a cow

[21 Nov 2009|07:35pm] Oh man, I just figured out that I can make the font size bigger on the internet by holding Apple and +... I know it's something I shouldn't be learning just now, post-degree, but it probably improved my life by like... ten fold just now. tip a cow

[23 May 2009|06:55pm] [ mood | sick ] I'm driving to Idaho and driving to Idaho is absolutly terrible when you're sick. I am so sick, it's gross. I don't know which is worse though, feeling so awful, or having to interact with the few people I come in contact with, people who probably just assume I have swine flu. Driving isn't so bad, because at least it's not strenuous work, and I've only been going 500 miles a day, so it's not really that long of days. I seem to be leaking fluids from every part of me. At first it was just my nose, but recently my eyes have started leaking. The past few mornings I've woken up to find my eyes completely crusted together. It's so gross. Traveling while sick is so gross. 1 petty crime| tip a cow

[21 Feb 2007|06:03pm] [ mood | excited ] Dear Sarah, I am the Director of the Integrated Biological Sciences Summer Research Program (IBS-SRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and am writing to let you know that you have made it through the first round of our application review process... I feel like I'm making progress with life! Even if it's just the first round of a single program, I am really excited that my applications aren't just being tossed in the recycle bin. Plus, it would be kind of cool if I wound up in Madison doing real exciting work this summer. Madison is a good city afterall! I just wish that I would get words of encouragement from the other programs. 3 petty crimes| tip a cow

[08 Feb 2007|09:30pm] [ mood | amused ] I volunteered to help tutor at the CCOC (Beloit's community outreach center). It was pretty cool. I'm tutoring this ten year old girl named Caira every week. I'm helping her with science and math. Today she was learning about stars and comets, and got to color in the comet names that she might get to see in her lifetime. It was really amusing to watch her get really excited about things. She was really curious about what everything on my keyring was for (and made a gasping look when I told her to be careful with my ID card, because if it breaks I can't eat dinner). She was really amazed when she asked "what grade" I'm in, couldn't understand that I didn't live with my family, and looked astonished by my physics textbook (at least she saw a page with a lightning bolt). 2 petty crimes| tip a cow

a hundred miles is a long time inside a car [17 Jan 2007|11:41pm] [ mood | tired ] For Cell we have to have PowerPoint presentations on whichever microorganism we were looking at today in class. John didn't give us any real instructions on what we had to put on there, but after an evening's learning, I have grown strangely attached to my tiny green algae. No wonder people who study tiny little things for years and years (the same tiny little things) seem so crazy. I think I'm going to like this semester, even though it might kill me. Well, just Cell might kill me, and I need to find the balance between everything else fun and busy. Especially on Wednesdays. (I'm taking Cell and Developmental Bio, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Physics 102, International Politics, and Chemistry Tools...) Uhm... for everyone who doesn't know, New Mexico was fun. I saw my first mountains (the Guatalupe Mountains) and went hiking up them. I played in all the caverns at Carlsbad while Stella and Laura worked, and one day Stella, Shawn, his roomate, and I went caving in this forest service cave. It was layered in clay and for about 500 feet there were hundreds of tiny little clay figurines, it was so cool! Shawn had tried to get us to rapell down the vertical stuff, but luckily Stella and I opted out to make dinosaurs and cities. I also skillfully evaded all of the 18-inch desert centipedes that they have out there. I had a really fun time out there, plus it was warm. I actully got sunburned. Also, Stella bought some more exotic wines to try, and Shawn's brewing his own ales now, so that was fun. I truly like people who don't crazy-drink. tip a cow

[04 Jan 2007|09:27pm] [ mood | cheerful ] Tomorrow morning I'll be on my way to New Mexico! I'm pretty excited, except for that getting up really really early part of it. I'm sort of nervous about maneuvering O'Hare by myself, but I guess people have done it before. This time tomorrow I'll be hanging out with Stella, Shawn, and Laura though, and that's awesome! I was talking to Stella today and she sounded pretty worked up. I guess she went all out and bought me Nutella, fancy groceries, and exotic wine. Heh, sometimes I wonder if Shawn ever gets jealous. I'm so glad I'm going on  big adventure though, I don't think I could spend another week just sitting around. I've one on a few mildly exciting adventures lately though. I've decided to stop being a lazy ass, and walk places during the day. Yesterday I just walked to ABC to get some coffee, and read some interesting books at the library. Today I walked into Middleton (it takes an hour, by the way) and had a whole range of adventures. I played with the ducks in the pond by Gammon, walked on the railroad tracks, played on the computers in the library, got a fancy coffee, walked over to Walgreens, and maneuvered myself back. Actually, I didn't feel like walking up the big hill so I called my brother and made him get me. At least I felt like I was doing things. That little escapade was probably 6 miles of walking. 2 petty crimes| tip a cow

I'm pretty excited about traveling! [20 Dec 2006|08:48pm] [ mood | jubilant ] When I fly into El Paso I'll be pretty close on the corner between Texas-Mexico-New Mexico. Stella or Shawn or Laura, or maybe some combination of the three are going to rescue me, and we're going to drive through the desert to get to Carlsbad. I'm really excited about seeing mountains. Carlsbad is stuck between three small ountain ranges: Delaware, Brokeoff, and Guatalupe. In between those before we get to the National Park is a National Forest... I'm so excited! Not to mention, in that corner of New Mexico I'll get to see UFO's! Yippie! Well... I'm hoping Stella will let me go to Roswell, and I'm thinking the vortexes are going to pull us there anyways. It'll be sort of like the Cosmos Mystery Area in South Dakota. You know, there's a train that goes from Chicago to LA, my National Geographic book from the library tells me. Not that I want to take a train from Chicago to LA, but I sort of forgot that you can take trains places. Maybe that will be my next mission... take a train trip. I'll bet that would be a lot of fun, especially if you had a train buddy. Plus, I like buses, and a train would no doubt be MUCH more exciting. Maybe I can take a train trip the first week of summer or so, depending on what sort of summer work I get lined up (or TO my summer work!). Stella told me she's going to get me hooked up with big caving. It shouldn't be that big of a problem to do (for free, key point) since all three of them are guiding, but yay! And Carlsbad, the cool thing about it is that there are thousands of bats that fly out at night. Only, as I recently learned, New Mexico is not necessarily warm, so I guess they might be hibernating. It'd be awesome to get to see a CLOUD of bats. Oh man, this is going to be awesome. Too bad they all have to work. I'm not sure how much adventuring I will get to do by myself on foot. With my luck sometimes, I'd probably be bitten by a snake or something. 1 petty crime| tip a cow

[17 Dec 2006|10:02pm] [ mood | drained ] I think there's something wrong with me. Almost instantaneously after finals were done, and ever since, I've been completely exhausted.  I feel asleep early last night, slept a good 11 hours, didn't do anything except go to the choir concert, and I'm still so tired. I made the silly mistake of drinking a cappuccino while at the food-festival thing in Commons, but I don't think it'll make a difference. I'm sort of thinking about curling up in bed right now... I'm so glad finals are done with now. They were SO stressful. Holy crap. I hope I never take another math class in my life. I'm going to work on some internship forms over the next few days, and track down a few professors to help me. I sort of like being on campus while things have started to die down. It's so laid back (at least for those of us who don't have to do anymore work). For now, I prefer that to the growing business and stress of being back in town. I should figure out my travel plans tomorrow too. I'm excited about the idea of visiting Stella and Co. in New Mexico... I think it'd be a good use of time. Plus, I really want to see snow covered cacti. tip a cow

oh man [09 Dec 2006|10:14pm] [ mood | sad ] This is the most disappointing day of my life in recent history: my honey just solidified. I'm sitting here with my bag of tea and cup of water, trying to figure out how to chisel a little cube of solidified honey from the very bottom of the honey-bear. All I wanted was a nice warm cup of sweetened tea. Why did it do that??! It was okay yesterday! 3 petty crimes| tip a cow

Comment, Comment. [03 Dec 2006|01:29am] [ mood | shocked ] For those of you who haven't figured out, I've switched more-or-less to friends only. Comment if you want to be added. 3 petty crimes| tip a cow

[26 Nov 2006|10:43pm] [ mood | relieved ] It's good to be back on campus. Who would have thought 4 days would feel so long?! On the bus a large lady who smelled really bad sat next to me, but the experience was amusing enough. Alex rescued me from the bus station so I didn't have to wait an extra hour, I hate waiting a extra hour. It's such a huge relief to be back in my own space. I feel like I can concentrate, and relax. Plus, I have a large supply of tea here. 1 petty crime| tip a cow

Calculus II [10 Nov 2006|07:35pm] [ mood | drained ] Worst exam ever. If I didn't fail, it's probably only because you need to score less than like a 45% to fail. It's taken these past three hours to make my head stop spinning. tip a cow

no one wants to study [30 Oct 2006|04:29am] [ mood | questionable ] I was switching it up between physics and calculus at the library, so since it was nice out I decided to play some hack outside when I finished. I think it's almost as interesting watching people watch me play hack as it is to actully play. I know I play very well, it's the only thing I can think of that I can do better than most anyone. Usually when I play a few folks might join me (or at least one of a small number of folks), but I think at the library on Sunday night people realize they need to stop procrastinating by now; but I was still amused to watch folks light up their cigarettes and look amazed or envious. I wonder why the ones who watched me for five or ten minutes didn't join. Hack circles are usually pretty open, even if it's a circle of one, but I hardly think I'm an intimidating person. I should be less passive about making new friends sometimes, especially when I'm in the mood to meet somebody different. I think it's hard to do that at Beloit, or maybe I'm just crazy. tip a cow

[22 Oct 2006|09:54pm] [ mood | amused ] I went to visit Erin, but she wasn't there. Only she left her door open, so I went in. :) I found her watch and her ID and many other belongings (because it is her room, probably), and then heard the shower, so my theory is that she'll be back. Meinwhile, I'm lounging in her room, waiting to surprise her! tip a cow

It's snowing, but it doesn't count [12 Oct 2006|04:37am] [ mood | contemplative ] Snow is still cold, although this appears to be some crazy hybrid between snow and hail. I sent Lee-Gray a note today, that was fun, I like notes. I told him he was going to be jealous of my "underground tour" so to speak. I'm excited to go caving! I'm excited about many things, just not the cold weather, or my physics homework. Although today in class I sat next to someone who smelled really good. And today in class we got to blast giant rubber stoppers across the room with a very large air cannon. And crap, 8am classes are early! tip a cow

[07 Oct 2006|04:21am] [ mood | apathetic ] The week from hell is over, and I hardly know what to do with myself. Part of me (a lot of me) just wanted to fall over exausted after work, but because I was hungry I decided to go eat dinner and have a fun night. I really don't know what I want to do now though. One day I'll actually plan a Friday night, because usually I enjoy just bumming around and finding something creative on my own, but tonight I've been rather unsuccessful... everyone I visit is out, benefiting from the success of a plan. I've also decided I really, really don't lie meeting strangers in groups... just being thrown into a group of people who stare at you and ask "WHO ARE YOU" (if only in their minds, but you know they ask it) and you can only say "I DONT KNOW". J'ai connu un autre ami secret aujourdhui. Tomorrow Erin and I are going into Madison for some fun and excitement! Hopefully it'll be warm for us. tip a cow

[01 Oct 2006|11:31am] [ mood | shocked ] Oh, my secret life. 3 petty crimes| tip a cow

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