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25 March 2005 10:40

Trying something new (and lazy). Find me here now.

16 March 2007 7:51

Only 4 months later.... Sorry! Life is great and busy; I just never really think to write all of life's shit down on this thing anymore. Plus, I'm still not engaged, married, or with child. Those topics seem to cover a majority of the updates I get these days!

Anyway, I'm well into the semester that should be the last of my M.S. studies. In reality, I think a few kinks in the data might require a summer graduation but I can't imagine that'll be the end of the world. And I can still get started on some pilot projects for my PhD research (summer wouldn't be complete without a few solid weeks in the Tetons anymore!). Teaching is going well and my students (the bright ones that they are) are slowly figuring out that my name matches the author of their lab manual. Gotta love Wyoming undergrads! My classes are seminar-style and pretty chill: Aquatic Toxicology and Biological Invasions. There’s quite a bit of reading but not a lot of extra work beyond that. I'm starting to write my thesis and still wading through the boxes of invert samples that I collected over the summer. That aspect of the project seems like it'll never end (and it doesn't help that it's my least favorite part).

Even though I'm super-stressed about finishing things up for my M.S. this spring, I did allow a short Spring Break trip out to New England this past week. We visited Nick and Daria in Boston, Robin's parents and extended family in Rhode Island, and ran off to the White Mountains (New Hampshire) for a couple of days of hiking and snow time. We weren't able to stay long enough to head down to New York but at least I got to visit Kile, Drew and Frank while I was in NY for my Ecosystems course in January. It was a very busy trip but I really enjoyed getting to see new parts of the country and just being away from Wyoming in general. Laramie is great but you need a break every once in awhile!

It seems like life in Laramie is finally settling into a routine that feels like home. I didn't think it would take over a year for that to happen, but I guess I was a little impatient and having Robin around made me a bit more antisocial than I should have been. But we've developed a solid group of friends who have been great distractions over several beers, good dinners, the occasional film, or drunken snowshoe outings! My labmate didn't do well on her oral preliminary examination so she's scheduled for "round two" in the fall. Certainly makes me pretty nervous about how my orals will go but I do have a year or two before I really need to worry about that whole process. Robin is enjoying baking/roasting/barista-ing/supervising at Coal Creek and still has time for the occasional trip out to the Snowies or Rocky Mountain NP through the outdoor program on campus. He's looking into EMT/Firefighting as the current interest. Hopefully this one will hold for a little while. I honestly don't care what he ends up doing just as long as he finds something that he can do for himself that will make him happy. Unfortunately, Laramie is a hard place to do that. Ah well, hopefully something will work out!

Ok, enough for now. I need to get back to those Excel sheets full of data...they're giving me nightmares! Plus, I need to get enough work done to have a good, solid excuse to go out for St. Patrick's Day!

All the Other Kids Are Doing it...

Nina
Jesse
Holly
Keiran
Chuck
Jessica
Adam
Rhys
Cara
Matt
Joy
Claire
Spo
Mike H
Mike S

Email: alateinertia@hotmail.com