georion23

i talked to todd for a long time tonight. it was nice to have a decently-sized conversation. our schedules haven't matched up in quite awhile. he played me a few songs that he had learned on his guitar. so i pulled out mine and i actually remember a few chords. my callouses are gone and my fingers are back to being delicate like flowers. maybe if i'm in austin over the summer i can work on getting them back. after my fingers got too sore to continue, i took some pictures.

( a few more )
i redid my experiment that screwed up my whole plot and it looks like this one contains crystals, as it should. so the 16 hour day in the lab i put in yesterday appears to be worth it. i'll be microprobing tomorrow to find out what kind of crystals i have. very exciting. it's nice when everything comes together.

cate and i got to talk for a bit this evening, too. she's thrilled about my acceptance to rice. we're going to get together when i'm back in texas. i can't wait. she's awesome.

beck gave me some fudge from canada. oh man. those canadians know how to make fudge. it was amazing.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: south park

i decided to take the day today just for me. i slept in, chatted with zack for awhile, cleaned up the kitchen because it was bugging me, and spent some quality time with kepler. i made chocolate chunk and peanut butter insanity cookies. my house smells really good now.

i got to talk to sara for awhile, which was great. she's doing well and is so happy to be done with chemo. she was telling me how excited she was to know that next weekend, she won't have to be sick. she can plan something to do. she can do anything. it's wonderful. we talked about todd a bit and how a girl named heather asked him out. i don't know what it is about heathers and saras being attracted to wegner boys. and i told her about him being promoted to sergeant, and we're both very proud of him. sergeant todd! he's going to be in uniform at my graduation. so fun. i also made plans to meet up with jamie and christi when i'm in houston for lpsc. woo!

my entire torso is sore from spending so much time at the batting cages with todd and kirsten last night. it was a blast, and i really needed the practice since i haven't been able to play the last few weeks because of my sprained finger. we've got a game on sunday night. guess i'll have to tape the oscars. i'm sure ellen will make it hilarious.

i painted my toenails a fun shade of green called "big money frost" (yes, i'm laughing, too.) and took some more pictures of the sky after it got dark. no wispy clouds tonight. it was perfectly clear.

startled kepler

looking up at kep

my green-toed feet

orion

the moon and the pleiades cluster

so, tomorrow i'll finish grading and write up my annual report and program of study. and make teriyaki pork loin. yum. but for now, it's time for ranch chicken and some tv-watching. it's been nice to have a day to relax.

Current Mood: refreshed
Current Music: matrix revolutions

the stargazing event went well last night. i got out there a bit early so i caught a nice sunset. i only had one problem person out of 50. she was drunk and couldn't see anything in the telescope and kept telling me i didn't have it on anything and i was bullshitting her, even when other people told her there was indeed something in the eyepiece. she was just so drunk she couldn't get her head at the right angle to see anything so she was viewing the side of the eyepiece. but the rest of the crowd was very impressed. i showed them jupiter (and all four of the galilean satellites were visible), the hercules globular cluster, the ring nebula, and the andromeda galaxy. pointed out some stars and constellations and you could even see the milky way a little bit. the only problem was the people putting on the thing (it was a huge ordeal with hummer tours of the desert and a cookout.) had giant bright lights so it was really hard to see things (see the telescope to the left? that was AFTER they turned some of them off.). the guests had to put their hands up to their eyes to shield them from the lights. ugh. they come all the way out to the desert (some from england, some from holland, some from the northeast, some from texas!) because of the dark, clear skies. and then they can't see them because of the bloody lights. frustrating. oh well. they still seemed to enjoy it.

i was feeling like shit after i got home because it had been such a long and stressful day, so i ate some food, did NOT set an alarm, and went to bed. slept pretty soundly until 5am when my lovely aunt dana called me. actually, my 7(? 8?)-year-old cousin katy called me. so i had this nice high-pitched voice in my ear after being awakened from a dead sleep telling me about seeing the international space station fly over. uh huh, that's good katy. is your mom around? then dana gets on and says, "that was the most amazing thing i've ever seen!" good...it's 5am, dana. "right, but it was so awesome!" uh huh. then she realizes i'm REALLY not awake and will not be coherent for a conversation at the moment so she tells me to call her later and we hang up. i had given her the website where you can look up when it will be flying over your location. it's especially bright now since the latest shuttle mission deployed more solar panels. so it's quite impressive and they were so excited they had to call me at 5am to tell me all about it. at least i was able to go back to sleep.

think i got my mom to get off the "you don't have enough money to fly home for thanksgiving" thing because i'll be getting a check in the next couple weeks for $250 for the last two stargazing events i've run so that will cover the cost of a plane ticket and then some. so that's good.

going to put my run up soon. then happy hour at four peaks and then the grey's anatomy season premiere. woo!

it's 82 degrees outside. check this out. 60s at night and high 80s to low 90s in the day. hell yes. it feels wonderful outside. about damn time, too. i love weather like this. makes me happy.

kepler decided last night to make himself comfortable in my bed. had to kick him out so i could go to sleep. silly cat.

sent sara and todd their birthday presents earlier this week so they should get there in the next day or two. maybe even today. fun. they're going to like them.

need to fill out the form so i can vote by absentee ballot for the texas elections in november. i like their directions: "You may open this form (PDF, 38kb), print the application, fill in the information, sign and date it. You will then put it in an envelope, add postage, and mail to the Early Voting Clerk in your county." you know, in case you've never used the mail system before. and you WILL put it in an envelope, etc. you have no choice. do it. do it now.

time to go put my run in. yay!

Current Mood: energetic
Current Location: in my office
Current Music: whatever jeremy's listening to over there

todd and i got to talk for a long time this evening after he got back from two weeks of army training in california.

heather: did you go to that bbq thing with the army people yesterday?
todd: no! i had just spent two weeks with those people! i didn't want to hang out with them and their stupid families!
heather: aren't you awol if you don't go?
todd: well yeah...
heather: you could tell them you were sick. tell them you had food poisoning and describe to them the colors of what was coming out of both ends.
todd: ugh, you're going to make me sick just by talking about it.
heather: i thought army people were supposed to have strong stomachs so when they see people getting their heads blown off, they don't puke.
todd: well yeah, that's true. but we try to avoid that.
heather: what, puking or getting your head blown off?
todd: um...both, actually.

todd: what are you doing?
heather: eating.
todd: i'm sitting on the roof not wearing any pants.
< later >
todd: what are you doing?
heather: eating.
todd: no! you're not playing the game. make up something outrageous!
heather: okay, i'm driving around topless with the windows down. in the rain.
todd: oh yeah? i'm eating macaroni and cheese off my bare chest.

talking about ways to freak out his new freshman roommate:
todd: i can wake up screaming in the middle of the night that someone is trying to kill me and keep a big knife under my pillow so i can whip it out like if i was in iraq. what would scare you?
heather: you sitting on the roof not wearing any pants.
todd: no, really, what would scare you if you were a freshman?
heather: you eating macaroni and cheese off your bare chest.
todd: wait, me eating it off my chest or you eating it off of yours?
heather: you eating it off yours. me eating it off of myself would be hot.
todd: i agree.

todd: i could take my big knife with me everywhere. and use it to do everything! like turning on lights and stuff!
heather: like homer on the simpsons when he was in the gun club and he used his gun to do everything, even turning on the tv?
todd: yes!! and if he tells anyone and tries to get me committed to a mental hospital i'd threaten him with the big knife.
heather: yeah, you're going to get yourself expelled.
todd: i could play the race card.
heather: but you're white...
todd: exactly! so i should be able to do whatever i want!
heather: yeah, i don't think it works that way...sorry.

todd: i think i want to be a professional solitaire player...
heather: oh yeah, that's the way to impress the ladies.
todd: well, i don't have to tell them what i do; i'll just say i'm a professional.
heather: and they'll be like, "a professional what?"
todd: damnit, this game sucks. i'm quitting.
heather: now, that's no way to be a professional.

trying out chris' online game:
todd: this is really hard
heather: is your head going to explode?
todd: yes, and someone's going to see it and throw up.
< later >
todd: i'm actually doing another puzzle. they're actually not that hard.
heather: cool.
todd: i guess you just have to be a genius to do them.
heather: your modesty is overwhelming.
todd: i know it is.

hehe. good times

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: friends, emily on the phone

because we have very little, not exactly in the form i need, it's damn expensive, it sucks up iron if that's in your starting composition (of course mine is really iron-rich), and when it sucks up the iron, it becomes really brittle. ugh! stupid platinum! why can't you just behave?! this is going to be a very work-heavy entry, so beware.

met john at school and the two of us searched for two hours for a damn platinum crucible for me to do my furnace experiments in today. we found two that were too big and one that was the right size but looked like it had been through a nuclear blast and was full of holes (= no good for holding liquid). asked everyone we could find. nope, no one has one. and they're crazy expensive. like $1000 each. which i'm sure tom doesn't want to spend but he's at field camp so i can't ask him. finally michelle came down to do some work and it dawned on me that she might have one. and she does. so it might work out, but i might kill it with all the iron and then i'd have to buy her a new one (enter tom and his money again). of course, this was at 4:30, which is way too late to start on everything. and so once again we are pushed back a day. and we added another step so i'm actually pushed back two days. grumble. and i have to have platinum tubing in my assemblies once i start doing runs and apparently whomever we buy from has gone out of business so i have a little piece 3 inches long and that's all there is in the world of asu. which is definitely not enough for a thesis. have to find a new place to buy platinum tubing. in all its expensive glory. yes, i'm griping. do i care? no.

i did get my starting material made, which is nice because i am now done with that whole set of calculations and i don't have to look at them anymore. finally. weighed everything out and got to grind it up. that was a good stress reliever from the grand platinum search of 2006. i ground it in alcohol so it would be homogeneous (and not splash out of the container) and you'd think it would dry quickly, but no. after an hour and a half of waiting, i got impatient and put it in an oven. it's almost dry and it's only been 15 minutes. much better. means i can go home soon.

ooh! and! i tried my hand at electric arc welding! so fun! makes a loud crackling noise and blue sparks and everything! hehe! my new toy. i likey. seem to be decent at it too, which is super since i'll be doing it quite a bit.

i haven't seen todd or kirsten since saturday. maybe i'll see if they want to do something tonight.

it appears i am obsessed with austin todd and sara. of the 22 pictures i have hanging in my office, 10 are either of them or pictures taken when we were out doing something. i can't help it that we take such good pictures together...

tomorrow's busy. physical therapy at 10am. home by noon, shower and food. then up to school. session with adrienne at 2. need to put my nicely mixed (almost dry! couple more minutes!) starting material in the box furnace and crank it up to 1000°C over the course of two hours. let it sit for another hour. regrind it. put it in a glass container till thursday.

so i made mars dust today. started out as mars soup. then to mars pudding. then mars clay. now it's mars dust in a bottle. fun stuff. i'm such a dork.

starting material should be dry. time to pack it up and go home! woo!

EDIT: i was overwhelmed by the smell of rain as i emerged from the basement. got up to the ground floor and it was plenty cloudy and windy but it wasn't raining. no no, we got a crazy duststorm. and i got to walk the 15 minutes to my car in it. the drive home was lovely too. ugh. hope it stops soon. the sky is brown.

Current Mood: nerdy
Current Music: stravinsky - firebird suite

i submitted it at 4:59 cst when it was due at 5, but i got it in. and phil christensen (mars god) is second author. so cool. abstract can be read and admired by all here (pdf file). whew. i can breathe now. amy apparently was feeling the same way:
[16:16] amy: I have decided that grad school definitely takes at least 10 years off your life
[16:16] heather: haha
[16:16] heather: me too
[16:16] heather: i even told kepler (yes i talk to my cat, what of it), "no wonder people in this business get ulcers."

todd and i saw pride and prejudice last night. it was decent. my favorite line was when elizabeth accepted mr darcy's request for a dance and she couldn't believe she actually said yes. "it would be most inconvenient since i swore to loathe him for all eternity." hehe. excellent.

jorge comes back tomorrow and i'm picking him up from the airport and he's buying me dinner. free food woo!

had lunch with advisor tom today. that was fun. we had a nice talk. he's super.

so one of my favorite authors, dava sobel, is speaking at u of a on jan 23. i am so there. galileo's daughter is one of my all-time favorite books. it's going to be great. she'll be signing her newest book, the planets, which i bought last semester and am half-way through. it's okay, nothing near as good as galileo's daughter though.

we (sara, todd, and myself) are now the proud owners of a cruise! they took money out of my account and everything, so we are all set. we've got a nice room too. so exciting! todd starts college tomorrow (well, he had a month of school but they took him out to send him to iraq) so i wish him good luck! yay toddy woo!

went with sarah to scottsdale tonight to listen to a holocaust survivor give a talk. it was very interesting. the lady who gave the talk was so happy. i wish my parents could have gone and listened. she spoke of her experiences but also talked about her life afterwards and of love and respect of everyone, no matter their beliefs or race or anything else, and that the world would be a better place if there wasn't so much hate and judgment of everyone. hearing that from someone who has been through so much and could so easily be a hateful, bitter person but isn't at all was very powerful. i'm glad i went.

so after busting my ass doing my lpsc abstract, i am taking tonight and tomorrow off. going to put on my raging purple sfa sweatpants, park it on my couch, and watch movies with my cat for the rest of the night. tomorrow i've got to drop by the post office to mail christi's package and a cd of christmas pictures to my mom, but that's really all i absolutely have to do. so nice.

summary: lpsc abstract is in, jorge is coming back, tom is awesome, going to go see dava sobel, going on a cruise, todd starts college tomorrow, interesting talk tonight, people should be more open-minded and accepting of things that are different, time to lay on my couch and relax with mi gato. 'night all.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: johnny cash - ring of fire

today was good, but not so productive. tomorrow will be busy getting everything done i wanted to this weekend, but that's okay. slept really late because i stayed up till 3:30ish (after 5 hours of sleep the night before) watching a thing on egypt and finding king tut's tomb on discovery channel. i am a discovery channel junkie. fell asleep sometime around 3:30. woke up at 10 to the cat mewing and the tv still on. turned it off and slept till 1:30. nice.

went and saw 'walk the line' with sarah. awesome. everyone should go see this movie. i finally got new shoes! the blue is actually quite a bit darker than it shows up in that picture. now i can play football and do the elliptical machine and not get blisters from my shoes with the insides completely gone! woo! this town apparently cares nothing about ut winning the national championship. tshirts are NOWHERE. so i must now either bribe someone in texas (with sexual favors of course) to get me one, or order one online. sigh. if anyone who reads this wants to send me one, i wear a small. it probably won't happen but hey, it's worth a shot. texas won the NATIONAL championship, and last i checked, arizona was part of the NATION, so they should have shirts too. but no one asked me. check out the longhorn traveling gnome hehe. and a funny picture i sadly didn't make.

i'm trying to decide if i want to print a picture from the florida keys in black and white or color. what do you think?

todd is moving to college tomorrow. my baby's all grown up! sam houston state seems to think it's a good plan to start school on the 11th. sucks to be him. i'm glad i don't absolutely have to be anywhere till the 17th. i've got a ton of work to keep me busy till then but it's nice to not have class.

garfield comic for the day:

time to watch a movie, un-decorate and take down my little christmas tree, eat some german chocolate sara got me for christmas, and work on shrinking down my figure so it's lpsc-abstract-friendly but still shows everything i want it to. woo.

recap: today was fun, walk the line is awesome, got new shoes finally, need a texas national championship tshirt or ten, my toddy's going to college tomorrow, going to go get busy now. weee...

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music: johnny cash - hurt

i had the best day. kristen called and woke me up shortly before 11am, which was good as ut was playing colorado in the big 12 championship game starting at 11. ut kicked some major ass. it was 42-3 going into halftime. that included 23 seconds in which we scored 14 points. three plays: ut touchdown, ut interception, ut touchdown. incredible. then zack called and we decided to go to chili's to watch the rest of the game. it turned into a major ordeal getting there because of an art fair taking up all the streets of downtown tempe, but we got to see the 4th quarter, up until the usc/ucla game started. ut won 70-3 and are now the big 12 champions. it was awesome. the next game they play will be against usc in the rose bowl. trojans are going down! hook 'em horns!

zack and i were walking back to my house and we passed a yard sale and they were selling a pretty decent propane grill for $25. so we walked to my apt and got my car and went back and i bought it. we had an interesting time getting it into my car and zack had to sit in the back and hang onto it while i drove with the back open. good times. hehe i bought a grill. so exciting. been wanting one for awhile.

then zack and i sat at my house grading papers for awhile and i got all mine done except for one student who just emailed me his an hour ago. sarah called and said she had a surprise and was going to abduct zack and me for awhile. the surprise was a place in guadalupe that advertised 'texas bbq' but they were closed by the time we got there. she was hungry so we walked back downtown and over to island's so she could get a burger. then over to margarita rocks for a bit to say hi to everyone. then to border's (yay books woo) and finally over to the movie theater where we saw aeon flux. it was actually pretty decent. much better than i was expecting. after the movie, zack, sarah, and i came back to my house and watched some squirrel songs and foamy's rants online and twister on tv. they just left so i'll head off to bed in a few.

tomorrow will be busy working on my geology of mars project. i'm glad i finished grading today so i can concentrate on my project and not worry about anything else. zack and sarah are coming over tomorrow evening and we're going to make chili, so i'll have to go to the store tomorrow sometime to get meat. yum. maybe i'll make brownies too.

last night was good. i gathered all my data for my mars project, pretty much got the introduction done, and finished my references list. decided i was hungry and would call todd when i went to go get food. that turned into me driving around talking to him for two hours before i actually got some taco bell (all that was open by then). it was so nice to talk to him. i haven't seen him since february and hadn't talked to him since he called me on the 4th of july. i'd really missed talking to him. can't wait to see him. he's wonderful. yay todd.

i need to be productive tomorrow so i'm going to sleep now.

recap: longhorns are awesome, had lots of fun with zack and sarah today, i bought a grill, got my papers graded, need to work on my project tomorrow, had a good night last night, i love todd, going to bed. woo. 'night all.

Current Mood: happy and sleepy
Current Music: twister

yay! todd's back at his mom's house outside of san antonio! his mom's already annoying him but he says he's really happy to be back. yay!! i'm so glad he's home now. can't wait to see him over christmas.

football yesterday was fun though i'm pretty worn out now. ended up emailing back and forth with jorge till 2am or some such nonesense. wrote in my paper journal quite a bit last night. i hadn't written in it since i was in los angeles for mepag. a few things have changed and quite a few things have happened and i wanted to get it all down before i forgot any details. still didn't get everything in there i wanted to but i wrote for two and a half hours solid and my hand was cramping up so i went to bed. maybe i'll finish today.

it seems that i may have a chance to be involved in a student-led instrument on either a mars scout mission or a mission to europa or titan. that would be awesome. it would be instant publications because we'd get the data first. and it would help whoever is leading said mission (probably ron greeley) because education/public outreach is a big part of the proposal and having a student-led instrument would be very attractive to reviewers. and how cool would it be to be on an instrument team on a mission being put together while i'm still in college?! i'm excited. we've been emailing people we think might be interested and are having a brain-storming session next saturday. weee!

i'm going to this school of earth and space exploration brown-bag thing at 11. should be interesting. and then i'm attending a masters thesis defense entitled, "spirit's traverse to the columbia hills: systematic variations in clast morphology of pebble to cobble sized clasts, with implications for geological processes and history." and then discussing how we attacked our project for team x last semester with jorge. then i will be busting my ass tonight and this weekend getting my geology of mars project done. woo.

time to go get ready to go.

recap: todd's back!!! i'm tired, got some journal-writing in, might get to be on a team for a student-led instrument, lots of fun stuff today, much work to be done. bye.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: steriogram - tsunami

Hey! Happy Thanksgiving to you too. Well, I made it to the States and I'm now in North Carolina. It's pretty cold here, mostly in the 30's but it is so good to be back. I just got word today that we will get our official leave date on thursday of next week but for right now I will probably be home on Saturday. Well, anyway, I hope you had a good thanksgiving. Talk to ya later.

----------

yay! todd will probably be back in texas on saturday!! woohoo!!

Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: gorillaz - feel good inc

Hi all,

We are thrilled beyond words - Todd has arrived back on US soil. He got back into the states at about 3:30 a.m. this morning. He is again at Ft. Bragg, NC, and will be there out-processing until Nov. 27. On Nov. 27 they will have their "dismissal" ceremony (don't know the "military" term). He will be able to come home after that date, and should be no later than Dec. 3rd.

Obviously, we have so much more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. My heart aches for those whose sons and daughters will not be - those who gave their lives. Our heartfelt prayers go out to those families, as we hope your's do. And we keep our prayers going, as Scott is still there, along with so many other Americans, and we will keep them going until all are home.

We spoke to Todd last night (their plane landed in Shannon, Ireland to refuel) and again this morning from Ft. Bragg. He sounds great - is so anxious to get back home.

Again, we thank you all for upholding all those in Iraq in your prayers, but especially for remembering our boys. Our prayers have been answered for Todd, and for that, we have very grateful hearts.

I know that, once he is back and rested, he would probably like to thank each one of you on his own.

Take care, all, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving day with all your loved ones. (We plan to celebrate again when Todd is home!!!)

Blessings,
Sherrie & Bob

---------

yay!!! todd's back in the us! i'm so happy he's back and safe and happy. i can't wait to see him over christmas.

Current Mood: ecstatic

feeling some better today. had weird dreams but i don't really remember much about them except that one was taking place in the surf of santa monica beach.

i ate lunch and had some blue bell ice cream. yum yum.

one of the people i've kept in contact with is one of my science teachers from middle school. i talked to her for an hour and a half this afternoon. it was a really good talk. she's amazing. we talked about everything that's been going on and how i'm dealing, and what i should do/focus on for the rest of the semester. she's going snorkling in hawaii for thanksgiving. i'm jealous. anyway, over christmas, the two of us are going to take a little road trip out to the texas hill country (around llano) and go hiking and rock-hunting. she wants me to teach her about all the rocks and that's a really great area with a lot of geologic diversity. it'll be good to go hiking and be outside and just get away from everything. it's really pretty there too.

got to talk to todd in iraq today too. he's leaving in two weeks to come home. he should be back in texas by the beginning of december! i can't wait to see him at christmas. the bad news is he will probably have to go back to iraq. hopefully it'll be after july. i'd like him to get through a semester of college and go on a cruise with sara and me after she graduates from ut and go to the dock with us on the 4th of july.

i'm going to the batting cages tonight. i can't wait.

think i'll talk to james and see if he'll be around thanksgiving weekend. i'd like to come up to his house and look at the stars and such with his telescope. it's nice there. very clear with little light pollution.

okay. dishes, shower, grading. woo.

recap: feeling some better, food and ice cream are good, i love my friend, hill country rocks are fun, todd's coming home soon, woo batting cages, i like stars, stuff to do now. bye

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: flogging molly - another bag of bricks

guitar and things

a day just for me

the stars at night are big and bright....except when you can't see them because of blinding lights

conversations with todd

platinum is now my least favorite metal

abstract is in!

i walk the line too

hook 'em horns!!!

todd!!!

from todd

from todd's mom and stepdad

texas hill country rocks are cool

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July 2010

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