26 June 2008

Wish List

So, every year when people ask what I want for my birthday and or Christmas, I draw a blank. While working in the pot-washing room on Wednesday I actually came up with some ideas! It's a ways off, but I actually have ideas, so I need to write them down before they are gone from my mind...

Leatherman
Munsell/GLOBE soil color guide
folding shovel and pick axe

Anything for backpacking!
Camel Pack

Books by Darwin, Thoreau, London or Steinbeck.

mp3 player

Clothes! or gift certificates for places like banana republic, victoria's secret, j crew, or the like

Polarized sunglasses for driving (since I have discovered my cheapos have horrible glare issues)


There we go, a start to the 2008 wish list!

08 June 2008

Things that make me HAPPY Part deux.

So, a month or two ago I began a blog about things that make me happy, and said a part two would follow. I highly value promises being kept, so here is the part two:
I love:
  • The ranch and all the ranch-hands :)
  • Summer! It is finally [kind of] here.
  • Photography, especially of lakes and rivers and woods. I am saving up for a nice Nikon or Canon so I can expand my skills.
  • Cooking. I have been on a role lately with yummy new recipes.
  • Our new landlords! I never realized just how difficult our old ones were until Duerksen took over.
  • Trail riding. Okay, so I used to be a much more competitive, training oriented rider, but taking the polo ponies out on the trails has opened my eyes to the fun of trail riding, especially if you have a friend or two who will go along :)
  • Driving I5 at night, when there is NO traffic.
  • Having groceries in the apartment. Especially fresh fruit.
  • Concerts.
  • Lemonade, Limeade, and Iced Tea
  • Bouquets of wild flowers and grasses
  • Friends coming back from overseas!
  • Decor with an international/traveler feel, think Down to Earth or Greater Goods in Eugene
  • Cleaning, especially when I should be studying.
  • Feeling like everything is exactly how it should be :)

05 June 2008

Oh boy...I just feel like writing a random blog of all the things going through my noggin'. So here goes:
Why do colleges (or OSU, at least) call the week before finals week "dead week"? Supposedly there used to be no classes, and proffessors are not supposed to present any new material. HA! What a joke! This term has been crazy beyond belief, and this past week has been triple the insanity. Fourteen large assignments due this week alone. I'm not talking reading quizes or homework sets (which for my physics take about five or six hours at least), but full blown research, synthesis, or laboratory reports. And I'm only in four classes! But those four classes add up to eighteen credit hours.
Speaking of credit hours...I am on track to graduate next spring! It's ridiculous, exciting, and kind of frightening. I actually have to start deciding if I want to go to grad school, or look for a job, and where and SOON! Oh my gosh! I can't even think about not being in school! I haven't been not in school since I was four...almost seventeen years ago!
But, I do have a way of working, going to grad school AND staying in my beloved Corvallis! OSU's masters program in Soil Science is amazing, and is a really good choice of grad school, the EPA office is a five minute walk from campus, and they are always willing to take in undergrads and grads for internships and eventually jobs. As much as i piss and moan about the government, working for the EPA could be very fulfilling, and stable! I toured their site today and learned about their asymmetrical warming studies that are amazing and ground-breaking. I would love to be part of that team!
First thing's first, though, finals next week. I only have three, so that's not too bad, although on Wednesday I have one at 7am and one at 8pm. It'll be a very long day. But then after finals I am going to be spending a week with some soil professors and grad students (turns out I am the only undergrad going) in the channeled scablands! It is like the grand canyon of the northwest, yet almost no one has heard of them! They were carved out by multiple cataclismic floods from the breakdown of the glacial lake Missoula. It is amazing and completely unique.
This summer should be fun. I'm staying in Corvallis with my room-mate, and our soon-to-be additional room-mate from high school. She just got back from nearly two years at a bible school in Costa Rica. That will be fun. I'm also going to be working full time at the greenhouse, which is fine with me! It really is a wonderful job, it gets a litle tedious and methodical, but it's a great job, and since Prof. Carrington was just awarded a national recognition, I feel proud to be on his team!

That's all the jabbing i can do for now! Take care all!

PS, I'm not sure what happened to the font on my last post, it's all messed up, sorry.