14 December 2009

Who be Hatein'?

Most people who know me know what kinds of things I like, but I do have some random dislikes:

Heart shaped anything, unless it is anatomically correct
Guys wearing their pants so low that they have to walk like they've been shot just to keep them on.
Patchouli
When pant are an inch or so too short, and show too much ankle when you sit down
Mismatched underwear and bra
People who stop in the middle of a store aisle, especially with a cart
Rain gear that "swishes" loudly
Roses
Misuse or lack of use of the blinker
Nervous passengers
Backseat drivers
Small cars with big mufflers (can you say compensation?), unless they are legit muscle cars
People wearing Uggs, especially with shorts or miniskirts or with sweatpants tucked in them
Overly protective guys
People who talk shit
Wannabe trucks that can't pull or haul anything

02 December 2009

Back to O-town I will go.

Literally the day after I moved out of my hell-hole of an apartment in Ontario I got an email. "Okay, great, an email..." you are thinking. But this email will define my life for the next two years. I got a permanent position with NRCS in none-other than......ONTARIO!

Dang it! But I shouldn't complain, it is a great job, in my field, with benefits! I really am quite lucky. And I won't be living above a lottery/pool/bar place. I won't even call this place a bar, bars are classier than this sh*t hole was. So, for the first time in years I will know where I will be for two whole years! Stability!

10 November 2009

BENEFITS!

It's sinking in...I have benefits. This means four things to me:

  1. I'm growing up
  2. I have a REAL job...scratch that, a CAREER
  3. College is almost over
  4. I have life insurance and someone could marry me, off me, and take that money.
Number four scares me.
That's all.

02 October 2009

Ontario: 1 week down, 5 to go.

I can't explain this town...it smells like a mix of factory smog and potatoes...ugh. All I can say is I miss Enterprise. The mountains, the people I met, not smelling cigarette smoke in my apartment, the Eagle Caps, Hells Canyon, MOUNTAINS, trees, water!
But, this job is my dream come true. I'm out in the field all day, analyzing and classifying soils, creating map units and correlating ecological sites. It's like a giant, 600 acre puzzle every day (yeah, we map about 600+ acres per day). Wednesday I got to analyze soil in the snow and 35 mph winds by Ironside mountain! HELL YEAH!

10 July 2009

One month in...two to go.

I have been in this amazing valley for a month now, and have discovered two important things:
  1. Things get lonely when you don't know a soul around you.
  2. Things are brand new and SO refreshing when you don't let loneliness get to you too much.
Refreshing enough I have gotten out and visited many taverns and met quite a few people. It has been interesting on one hand, and truly fun on the other. I've met some really weird people, but some awesome ones as well. One, a bartender of course, gave me the number of a tattoo artist over here (as well as his number...). So today I took advantage of the local artistry:

01 July 2009

That was cold...

UPDATE time, since someone, I won't name names, is whining about a lack of blogging from me.

Last weekend I hiked some trail along Hurricane Creek. I thought I was headed to Echo lake, but ended up (I think) at Douglas Lake. I thought I would just go for an easy training hike, with my pack fully loaded and weighted a bit extra for conditioning. Easy hike ended up being an elevation gain of nearly 1,000 feet in four miles...all switch backs, but still mighty steep!
I got to a Lake and decided to call it good, my legs were aching, and I knew I still had to get back down without falling over the edge! The heat must have really gotten to my head, though, cause I thought the lake would be a good way to cool off...it was...it was FREEZING! I should have known, since it is a high mountain lake and all! But the little skinny dip was refreshing, albeit numbing!

18 June 2009

Week One: Complete!

I have lived in Enterprise for exactly one week today! AND I LIKE IT. I have great neighbors (even if the next youngest one is over twice my age) and wonderful co-workers. The clients I will get to work most closely with this summer are great. I have already had to get over some of my fears:
  • driving a stick shift. My assigned work truck is a manual. I learned to use the clutch, and have since driven to nearby cities. Soon I will be taking her to Baker City, La Grande, Ontario, Jordan Valley, and beyond. I like stick shift!
  • making phone calls. Pretty much what I get to do for most of the day. I'm having to get over my phone phobia
  • asking questions. I have to do it, and it's getting easier.
I also get to do things that I really enjoy:
  • I've already gone on a couple hikes in some awesome country.
  • I've gotten to trail ride around Wallowa lake
  • I will get to drive cattle this weekend!!!!
  • Terminal Gravity Brewing has some of the nicest bar-staff and brewmeisters around
  • cowboys...enough said

05 June 2009

A week from now...


So in six days I will be moving almost 500 miles to Enterprise. I think it is really starting to sink in now. I have found a nice little place to rent--an apartment overlooking an old mill pond with the Eagle Cap wilderness as a back drop, Ruby Peak front and center. It is also minutes away from trail heads to one of the most inspirational landforms I have laid eyes on; Hell's Canyon.

Last time I went to Hell's Canyon was about this time last year, with a couple professors and some fellow grad and undergrad students to follow the path of the Missoula floods. (If you don't know what these are...check out the documentary Ice Age Floods from NOVA, it's worth it!) Even surrounded by people I don't know very well, I was amazingly at ease the moment I set foot into the area. I think I am meant to be out East. My personal favorite piece of poetry came from that moment:

Warped
Time bends
Unthinkable angles obtained
By an intangible yet innate force
Angles not real, not imagined either
Time makes shapes unrecognizable
Straining to understand
Efforts are futile for minds
To grasp alone
But unfocus from the issue
And like a mirage
A flitter in the perripheral
It becomes all too clear
Brief, fleeting, blindingly true
You catch time warping.

25 May 2009

Great last minute meal

I just had to share the recipe I came up with tonight. First of all, I have spent about 12 hours each day for the last three days writing papers (what a great weekend to look longingly out the windows), so today I just HAD to make a good meal.

"Honey, you're a jerk" chicken sandwich:
  • Chicken Breast
  • Lime
  • Pyramid Curve Ball summer seasonal blonde ale with Lemon
  • Jamaican Jerk sauce
  • Red leaf lettuce
  • Honey mustard yogurt dressing
  • Pita
Put lemon slices in beer, drink 1/2, forget about it until it is slightly warm.
"Flash Fry" chicken breast in lemon-infused warm beer on high heat.
Bring heat down once all liquid is gone. Add Jerk sauce and a few slices of lime.
Grill until done, squeezing lime over it and basting with jerk sauce occasionally.
Serve in pita with honey mustard yogurt dressing and red leaf lettuce....and a cold beer :)

14 May 2009

27 days...worry, worry!

I have been neglecting my blog, I am sorry. But I have an excuse: trying to find somewhere to live in Enterprise for the summer. This has been a task and a half on its own! But anywho, I am heading over there this weekend to try and secure a living arrangement, or to pick out a nice campground (joking, hopefully).
Honestly, I'm not too sure why I am writing this blog post right now. I should be cleaning up my room, or doing some work on my field project, but I just need to write out my thoughts. Purge it onto you, my readers (even though I doubt you exist...anyone out there?).
  1. How am I going to make friends? I know literally NO ONE out there. This will be the first time I am going to be out there without a wingman by my side, no friends to go meet others with. I am flying solo. Yeah, I'm excited, but I am scared witless! Many of you know how much of a social retard I am when I get nervous. As soon as I meet someone, I'll open up pretty quickly and all, but I suck arse at that first, "hey!"
  2. This will be my first time living alone, no roommates, nada. No internet, either. I'm not too worried about that, just wondering how I'll waste my free time.
  3. Will I be ready for my job? I know that I am being hired as a student employee, so I am not going to be expected to know it ALL just yet, but I can't help but feel like I am going to mess it up. All I can do is give it my all, be receptive, and take criticism I suppose.
  4. Related to number one, what if everyone I meet turns out to be creepers. I am a creeper magnet, no joke. We will see, plus I am pretty good at giving the cold shoulder and standing my ground...so don't try me, creeper McCreeperston.
  5. Of course, what if I get lost? I do a pretty good job getting myself turned around in Eugene and Corvallis, which I have lived in a combined total of 21 years. No one in my contacts list will know how to help me get from point A to point B 400 miles away in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully I can find a really good map, or a really nice young cowboy.
Sorry, didn't mean to have a spew-session, but...hmm, yeah, I did mean to.

10 May 2009

College

Yeah, this is how college is....

30 April 2009

A day for reflection

As I sit here, trying to finish my homework for the week, I made a realization:
I AM ALMOST DONE!
How can that be? It feels like I have just started getting the hang of this "college thing" and now I am practically done? What am I supposed to do now...grow up!? But I am SOOOOO ready to be out of here. Here's a little break down of all I have learned:

Fall '06
ENSC 101--Environmental seminar
PHL 251--Knowers, Knowing and the Known
CSS 205--Sustainable Ecosystems via Soil
ALS 114--Career decision making (aka a joke)
NFM 324--Human Nutrition

Winter '07
BI 202--Biology II
ATS 210--Atmospheric Science
ST 351--Statistics I
HHS 231--Health
HHS 248--Yoga
AREC 250--Agriculture Resource Economics
AREC 299--Case Study

Spring '07
BI 213--Biology III
WR 121--Writing
ANTH 110--Cultural Anthropology
ST 352--Statistics II

Fall '07
BI 211--Biology I
CH 221--Chemistry I
PH 201--Physics I
GEO 105--Geography of the NonWestern World

Winter '08
CH 222--Chemistry II
PH 202--Physics II
COMM 111--Public Speaking
AG 301--Ecosystems of Pacific Northwest Indian Tribes

Spring '08
CH 223--Chemistry III
BOT 341--Plant Ecology
PH 203--Physics III
PH 313--Alternative Energy

Fall '08
CSS 306--Soils Recitation
CSS 305--Soils Lecture and Lab
FOR 462--Environmental Law and Policy
PHL 443--Environmental Ethics
WR 327--Technical Writing

Winter '09
BI 370--Ecology
CSS 455--Biology of Soil Ecosystems
BI 301--Human Impacts on Ecosystems
ENG 362--American Women Writers

Spring '09
CSS 466--Soil Morphology and Classification
CSS 325--Agricultural and Environmental Predicaments
FW 456--Limnology
GEO 221--Environmental Geology

28 April 2009

Tuesday ( T minus 43 days )


In 43 days I will no longer be residing in the Willamette Valley. This will be the first time in my 21 years that I will be outside of this valley for more than a week at a time. I am heading over to the Wallowas to work with the NRCS...that is a division of the USDA which deals with soil and water conservation. This sizable county is home to about 7,000 residents and has nothing of luxury in excess! I am thrilled, but a little nervous, too. So for the next few weeks before I go, Tuesdays will be my T minus day, where I will share with you a piece of the county I am moving to!

One of Oregon's best breweries is located in Enterprise: Terminal Gravity, which brews my all time favorite IPA (except for Presitental Pale, by my own Ranch Brew, of course!). Their public house looks fun, and I have heard from some locals and visitors that they have the best food in town. I will have to check it out, and try to get some secrets from the brewmeisters.

27 April 2009

Motif Monday

Maybe if I actually make myself do a theme two or three times per week, my blog will actually get some attention from me! So here we go....

MOTIF MONDAY!!! Today's motif of the week: Trees

First up are a set of awesome bar towels from branchhandmade on etsy.

(I also liked the lemons, which remind me of my sister's AMAZING business, lemondrop studio...check her out!)


Next I stumbled across some beauts for wine lovers such as myself:
These gorgeous pieces of functional artwork come from marywibis, again on etsy. She has tons of awesome tree-themed items, but I was particularly drawn to these stemless glasses.


Who likes lap-top decals???? I DO! And I just love this one...

Whimsical, modern, but staying true to a tree-hugger's heart! From michellechristina's store on etsy.



As a lover of fine-art photography, and nature photography, this one was an immediate attention grabber:From the etsy shop of louneal, I was speechless and blown away by some of the images he captured. And this one especially, the simplicity of it is astounding.





Hope you Pacific Northwesterners are enjoying the rain (liquid sunshine)...Cheers!
Bring in some ideas of what motif you would like to see next week!

14 March 2009

I am.....


AN OLD MAN!!!

It has come to my realization that I am an old man at heart. Why, you ask?

1. I enjoy the occasional cigar or pipe.
2. I like to play poker.
3. I enjoy darts.
4. My favorite drinks are not the trendy, 'girly' drinks--I prefer good beer, or whiskey on the rocks.
5. My favorite bars so far have almost no one under the age of thirty years old. They mainly have old people talking about hunting and golf.
6. My dream car: 1950's pickup truck, either Ford or International.

08 March 2009

My friend, confidant, and father

There are a lot of people who I admire: Grace Kelly, JFK, Ghandi, Sidhartha, MLK Jr.
But towards the very top of that list is someone closer to me personally: my Dad. He is not perfect, but that is why I look up to him so much. He is a constant reminder to me to live with my flaws, to respect myself, and to always know that everything WILL work out. He has always been there to listen to me bitch, to hear my good news, and to make fun of me when I blow things out of proportion. He always makes me laugh, and look at things in the long run.

Perseverance
Pride in your work
Genuine effort
Not caring what others think
Loving physical activity

These are the things my Dad has taught me.

I LOVE YOU DAD!!!

15 February 2009

Sorry for my dishonesty

I don't really hate Valentine's day. I do think it is an overrated holiday, sexist, and sets up a dichotomous situation in relationships, but it's not all bad.
Sometimes unexpected things happen..... Ah, such is life.

12 February 2009

I hate Valentine's Day

Period. I think it is a lame holiday, not just for singles, but in general.

02 January 2009

RESOLUTION TIME!!!!!

New Year's....I guess that means I should make some resolutions. And I plan to make some, three, in fact.
1. I am resolved to be nicer to myself this year. I have always been my own worst enemy, and I think it's high time to change that.
2. I am going to try to be less passive aggressive. I see how annoying it is when other people act that way, and I don't want to be like that.
3. Get a steady work-out routine going again. I had a great system going over the summer, then it kind of faded as school started up again...but this term, I WILL work out, and maybe tighten my tummy back up to how it was during my riding days.