georion23

hello from new jersey!

em and i got here safely last monday. we drove houston to mobile, alabama and stayed in a surprisingly nice la quinta. the next day we headed to atlanta and went to the botanical gardens, where i got some good pictures of the orchids (just about the only thing blooming), and the aquarium, where i finally got to see whale sharks! they're huge! and they have a program where you can dive in the tank with them, so we are so going back so i can do that! some people were diving with them while we were there so we could see how big the whale sharks were with something we knew the size of for reference. and they are BIG. and so very cool. stayed in a four-star hotel and feasted on steak and seafood and felt quite fancy.

the next day, we drove to richmond, virginia, and stayed in an AMAZING hotel. it was gorgeous. hotwire.com, people. four-star hotels for $50. and, we got there about 12 hours after the giant snow had stopped, so it was a winter wonderland. it looked like something out of a postcard. i'm still going through the ones out of my real camera, but i took these with my phone.









the following day, we headed up to new jersey. we drove through baltimore and i got a couple of fun pictures.

( lots )

tonight em and i decorated our christmas tree. then we made hot apple cider and watched a year without santa claus. it's quite nice not having anything hanging over my head so i can enjoy nights like tonight. iphone photo below.



goodnight, all.

i bought these new teva sandals for the canoeing part of the new grad trip this weekend. they were half price since it's apparently not sandal season anymore, even though it's still above 80 degrees outside. i also got a new long sleeved texas longhorns tshirt and a new pair of cargo pants, also on sale. go me.



i set up the tent we bought awhile back but haven't used yet last night in the bedroom, which was interesting as it took up all the available floor space and was still a little too big. so i think it'll be fine when i'm out in the open and can have room to walk around it. it's really quite spacious. i'm excited for christmas. if the temperatures are still reasonable, em and i are going camping west of austin, near where the new grad trip is this weekend. she's got the whole week around christmas off, so that's exciting. even if the camping doesn't work out, it'll be nice to have some time to relax.

i got a new betta fishie, pollux. he got a fancy new bowl and some colorful rocks and plants. seems to be a lot happier than he was in the little plastic tupperware-container-like bowl at the pet store.



a month from today we'll get the keys to the new apartment! i'm excited! we'll be moving over the course of about a month, but i can't wait to get out of here so i think we'll be getting as much moved as soon as possible. then we'll be all settled before christmas.

this made me chuckle.


i think i'm done making a giant table summarizing all of the trace element data for all of the phases in my meteorite. it's huge. i'm proud of it. i need to next figure out how to break it up in a logical manner so it'll fit on actual pages. and i have a couple plots i'm making out of it. i'm actually making progress on my paper, which feels good.

going to run out to target and get a headlamp for my trip and then work some more. weeee!

weee! todd told me there was an apple store in the chandler mall so i went down there today with my busted ipod and they replaced it! for free! i have a new pod! woohoo! in celebration i am drinking one of those cute little 12oz bottles of REGULAR dr pepper. i am out of control. excellent...

the list of all the college bowl games is posted.

( been having a lot of fun the last few days )

tomorrow is my geology of mars final. i studied while waiting for my appt at the apple store, and i'll go over to casa de zack et al. to study with jorge later. and then tomorrow night from 5 till 8 liz and i are holding the review for our students' final, which is on tuesday. john's really nice: he knows i'm not a morning person so rather than me having to be there at 7:30am when their final starts, he said i could show up around 8:30.

this weekend should be fun. the meeting about the student-led instrument is on saturday. jorge is principal investigator and i am project manager so the two of us will also be meeting sunday. i think sarah and i are going to try to see pride and prejudice this weekend. and i'll start on my shopping. i got my brother one of his presents today. i don't even know what to get most of the people i'm buying something for. guess i'll figure out something.

( to do this weekend/next week )

time to go clean kep's litterbox, register for classes, put songs on my new pod, and study for mars. woo.

recap: i finally have a new pod, yay football, been having lots of fun, tomorrow is the mars final, lots to do, time to get at it. weee...

longhorns won! 40-29. crazy game. i was afraid we'd lose for awhile there. the aggies gave us quite a run, especially considering they're unranked and the 'horns are #2 in the country. still undefeated though and on our way to the rose bowl.

sfa did not do so well in football this year. they ended the season last in the conference with only 1 conference win and a 5-6 record overall. sigh.

arizona state is tied with arizona 20-20 in the 4th quarter. i do enjoy asu football. it's fun because i'm so close to the stadium i can hear the fireworks they shoot off when asu scores. just heard more fireworks. looks like it's 23-20 asu with 6 seconds left. LOTS more fireworks. shaking my apt. i guess we won. yay! woo sun devils.

my kitchen is clean now. i think i used half the dishes and utensils i own making food for thanksgiving and made all of my appliances dirty. everything's clean and put away now. much better.

i decided it was christmas time now so i went to get out some decorations. found a little tree that has lights on it and some candles but chris had told me he had a box of my decorations at his apt. turns out it's the box that has all my ornaments and another tree and lights and stuff in it. damnit. i wonder how much it would cost for him to send it to me. my little naked tree is looking a little pathetic. i found (okay, kepler found) a little toy mousie in a closet when i was getting out my decorations and he's been chasing it around the house all afternoon. so cute.

sweet!! james just called and i'm going to get paid for helping him out at a stargazing event tomorrow night. it's going to be the two of us with his 8" and 11" telescopes and 69 PEOPLE. insane. should be fun though! and it's money! woohoo!

okay, going back to making nighttime ir themis mosaic. weee...

recap: longhorns won, i love football, kitchen's clean, it's christmas, need my decorations, get money for showing people stars tomorrow, time for more fun with work. woo.

i am so. exhausted.

playing football for a couple hours yesterday is i think what did it. there was a lot more running involved than previous games and we played pretty hard for about two hours straight. so now i'm tired.

the good news is my pie is looking a hell of a lot better than last time. crust is the way it's supposed to be, chocolate part is thicker, and it's all cooling nicely together. i'll put on the cool whip tomorrow and it'll be done. tomorrow i'll be making mashed potatoes and corn too. weeee.

today was very productive. went to ta at 8:40. talked to tracy for a little while afterwards. that was fun. she's super. then ran to the post office and mailed sarah's mail and erin's birthday present. they should arrive on saturday. went to the bank and deposited money in chris' account. got some lunch from sack's and ate it. then back to school for faculty seminar at 12. i didn't think we had it today and when i found out i almost skipped but it was ron greeley and jack farmer talking about planetary stuff, so i went. gave amy my digital camera to use for her agu poster. came home and ruined one pie crust and made one that's very pretty. went to kristen's and got my recipe book i had left over there and a mixer to use for my potatoes tomorrow. came back home and made chocolate portion of my pie. and now, i am finally getting to sit down. so nice. ahhh.

i also sat on the phone with various people from apple and best buy for awhile today. turns out they need a copy of my freaking receipt from my ipod and protection plan before they'll believe i bought it, not just the bar code from the box. as it was a year and a half ago and i've moved twice since then, i have no clue where that receipt is, if i even still have it. i thought i bought it at best buy so i called them asking for a copy of my receipt, got disconnected, called back, found out i bought the case for the ipod there but not the actual ipod. so i'm trying to remember my shopping trips from a year and a half ago. i think i might have bought the ipod at compusa. and i'm hoping i gave them my cell phone number because i really don't remember my phone number i had in my apartment while i was at nasa for a summer in houston. after being on the phone with various people and machines for an hour or so, and after doing the same for an hour yesterday, i've decided to put the whole thing on hold and not mess with calling compusa until friday. i need a break from this mess before i go completely insane.

it's cloudy in tempe so there will be no stargazing tonight. though i'm sad because i love stargazing and teaching people about the sky, it'll be nice to just sit tonight. tomorrow will be busy and i could use some down time. i also need to work on my planetary geology project. but for now i am going to park myself on my couch next to kepler and watch some mindless entertainment on tv. apollo 13 is on. yay! i'm such a geek.

wonder what i will have for dinner tonight. hmmm.

i get to see a lot of people over christmas. going to the hill country with cate, going to lunch with ex-emt teacher terri, going to try to go see christi in houston, and spending lots of time with sara and todd. i can't wait to see them. i saw terri i think in july or august and cate maybe last christmas? not sure. i believe lpsc in march was the last time i saw christi. i haven't seen sara since august and todd since his leave in february. he should be back in the us in north carolina by now! so exciting. i'm glad to have him away from iraq. it'll be good to see my friends. they're what's been keeping me sane.

going to help erin set up the pictures on her new lj now.

recap: football was fun but i am tired, i was productive, ipod people are making me crazy, no stargazing tonight, sitting is good, i like geeky shows and movies, don't know what to eat, looking forward to seeing all my friends over christmas. woo.