Shuffle

Apparently you can randomly shuffle the colors on your blog, so I did that. Well, I did it a couple times and stuck with the first one where the font color wasn't the same as the background color.

Will be traveling a good deal in the next few months. Angie and I are taking a road trip beginning next Saturday. We're driving to Portland on Saturday, staying the night there. Hanging about a bit in the morning. Then up to Vancouver for a bit. Then back down to Seattle. It's going to be a lot of fun. We'll return home on Wednesday, the fourth of July.

I leave for Rome on the 6th. Will be in Rome from the 7th to 10th, Sienna for the 11th and part of the 12th, Florence the 13th and 14th, and Venice the 15th, 16th, and part of the 17th. Then off to Urbino for my summer course. The 3rd of August I'm taking the train to Paris, where I will stay until the 8th. Yay for traveling.

Oh, and the 31st of August I'm leaving for Shanghai. Will return on the 10th of September. A busy couple of months!!

Done!!

Well... almost. I just have to write my final paper for my climate system class and then I will be officially done with classes.

Yay for me!

Why Study?

Sitting here, getting ready to go to bed. Have a final tomorrow at 8. Have been studying the past couple of days as I tried to work on different things and deal with my students and grading and all that. Spent basically all of today studying, but hey... you know, I'm easily distracted. Especially since it's almost the end of the quarter and summer is about to begin. I find myself battling that part of my brain that says... why study?

Apparently I did much better in my battle than a couple of the History of Life students... There's a graduating senior (who shall not be named) that won't be as much of a graduate as she thought. I guess she took the midterms and the finals, but never actually came to section (which counts for 20% of the grade in the class). And something tells me that if she wasn't coming to section she wasn't going to lecture. Turns out she's not going to pass. Which means... she may not be graduating. Sucks to be her. And she's not the only one. What stupid kids. There was another student who didn't even take the second midterm, never came to section, and thought that Kena and Paul (the profs) would accept her excuse - I'm in a different place in my life, I've already moved on. Turns out she's not getting as far as she thought, not with a degree anyway. Senioritis to the extreme!

Anyway... off to bed. A final tomorrow! I think it will be okay...

But why turn it on?

This morning was interesting. The plan was to wake up at 6, get ready, be in the lab by 7... Last night I set my alarm for 6... But forgot to turn it on. Which I realized at 7 this morning when I woke up. I looked around and thought... wow, it's pretty bright for before 6... oh shit, it's not before six is it?! Well, needless to say, I didn't make it to the lab at the time I wanted to. Turned out okay though. The run is started, only a bit later than normal. And nobody is running tomorrow, so it's alright.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty great. Got up, studied, did laundry, got some lab work done, and then I drove to Berkeley. Angie and I got gelato (which was yummy), exchanged stories of frustrations with stupid/bizarre people we live with, then we saw Paprika. That was one trippy, but pretty awesome movie. It would have been better if I had understood what was happening for more of it. Maybe if I see it again (once it comes out on DVD) I'll enjoy it more. Not to say that I didn't. Bizarre, but I'd recommend it. :) We then had dinner at Pyramid, yummy turkey burger. So good... And then Target... b/c I never pass up the chance to go to Target...

All in all, a really excellent day.

Alrighty, I need to get some studying done.

A New Post... Finally

I am totally jazzed about my trip to Italy. It's quickly approaching, and while there is a lot to do in the meantime, both in preparation for the trip and work I need to get done before I go, it has put me in a much better mood than I otherwise might be. Susie and I have figured out our schedule and have started booking hostels. I've also got my passport (look out world, here I come!), traveller's cheques, and a brand new, amazing digital camera.

As for everything else - things are going pretty well. Am basically done with my TA class - just need to proctor their exam on Monday and then meet with Paul, Kena, and Sora on Tuesday to discuss grades for the students. My classes are almost done as well - a final on Wednesday and a paper to turn in sometime next week (even the profs didn't know when it was due...). And then all that's left is to do as many mass spec runs as I can before my trip. Speaking of which, I've done 4 so far, including the one I did yesterday. I have one scheduled for Monday, and might schedule one for Tuesday and one for Thursday. Haven't quite decided yet.

Tomorrow is also exciting because I'm going to visit Angie in Berkeley. I haven't seen her in quite a while and still owe her for her birthday. We're going to dinner and seeing Paprika (which looks really cool, even though I'm not sure what it's even about).

Oh, and yesterday I went to the EPS Picnic and Susie came with me. It was pretty hilarious, it seemed like everytime I pointed out somebody that she'd heard about but never met, she would say - Oh, that's definitely not how I pictured them... Well, now she's seen pretty much every0ne, so there won't be any surprises. I had a pretty good time, but true to my personality was not as social as I could have been. Basically talked to a few people, clung to Susie, and played with Ike (Paul's german shepard).

Also... have been baking a pretty insane amount lately. Made gingersnaps and chocolate chip cookies on Monday (about five or six dozen cookies) and then made more gingersnaps and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on Thursday. People seemed to enjoy them - I hope so. :)

Anyway... back to studying.