New camera fun

I just got a Nikon D90, so I am working on the transition from point-and-shoot digital to dSLR.  It’s amazing what this camera can do.  I plan on jumping into a photography course ideally next week.  The header is a picture I took today at the Farmer’s Market. And yes, those really are massive zucchini.  I bought a foot and a half long parsnip today.  MASSIVE!!  It’s like a mini-scepter. It will find itself in some mashed potatoes soon enough.

In other news, Percy now goes outside as she was talking too much at night and we couldn’t sleep.  It was a cheaper and saner alternative to getting a second cat. She now cuddles A LOT more and zonks out at night.  It’s wonderful.  She did pick up some bacterial infection out there, but I can handle that.  It stinks like crazy and she gets a bit bloated, but after a few days of meds she is acting normal if not shredding my hands any time I try to put a pill down her throat.  I’ve learned a few tricks, so thankfully my hands are healing. At first it was NOT good.

Grant is trail running like crazy.  I’ve tried it, and need to shove myself out the door WAY more often.  It’s not so warm, so I need to actually purchase some tights and then shove myself out the door some more.  I merely jog, but it’s still for at least 45 minutes.

On the note of running, Grant ran the Portland Marathon the first weekend of October and he did REALLY well for himself.  Nowhere near the top of his age class, but better than he thought he would.  Street pounding is not his idea of fun, trails are the good stuff.  I can only agree.  Watched a guy running today and thought it looked like he was ramming his feet into the asphalt, not good.

Not much has changed since July.  I’m still digitizing and losing my mind.  I’m hoping to get to do more data analyses and possibly field work once summer hits, but who knows.  We shall see. . . *thunk*  I would love to get to do more than just mapping, but it seems to come and go for everyone.  Being the quiet and not super social one at work means I spend a lot of time with my radio and hearing other people talk to other people while I sit in my invisible corner.  Not too bad, but sometimes I feel a tad left out.  It happens.  I do not have the social graces of a lot of people, and that’s been apparent since I was VERY young.  Quite content as a wallflower because I have no conversation topics in my head.  Photography does work well with me in that instance.

Until later, when the snow is back for more than a day.  Haha!

Owie, I’m sore

Yesterday I attempted a Step Aerobics/Sprint class.  I nearly didn’t finish.  Today my calves are DYING.  I had this great Frankenstein lurch going on.  I was all keyed up to do the Ab Blasts class, but dinner came first.  FOOOOOOD!!!!   So I passed on that. .  and the Infusion Circuit.  Instead I went to Pilates.

I’ve never done pilates before and I now have a happy “between hell days” class to go to.  It’s at 7:15 pm, so that’s a bit later than I would like, but at least it’s only for about 30 minutes.  It was just 2 others in the class, even though it says a max of 14.  Boooo  we need more people.
Anyways, the class was pretty great.  I have to work on my leg flexibility and well, just general flexibility.  I’m going to get there though.  Right now my goal is endurance and toning.  I have crap endurance, so this is really going to push me.  Hopefully by the time field work season comes around (i.e. in 2 months) I’ll be doing reasonably okay.  I have to work on strength too, so I need to work at mixing it up and basing my days around the classes I want to take.

KICKBOXING?!!? Am I nuts?  Should I just take the Yoga at 7:15 instead?  Sweat-relax-sweat-relax right?  *whimper*

Anyways, off to bed and I will hopefully be alive after tomorrow’s workout.  Maybe my lovely raspy voice will come back.

On another note: my cousins are coming to visit this weekend.  It will be fun figuring out where they can sleep. I hope Percy doesn’t go too spastic.  Mwahahahahaha crazy kitten can be played with while Grant and I get some shut-eye.

*ZONK*

Valentines Day

Last year Grant and I exchanged PlayDoh and he gave me a bear.  This year he went to the bakery next to where we had lunch and bought cookies while I waited in the car to see what he’d get. . . minimum surprise.

Yesterday was our Merlin Day #eleventybillion, and we went to Macaroni Grill.  It was way better than eating at Mediterranian Grill today for lunch. Land-locked state that loves Buffalo and BBQ is not a place to get Turkish food.  Sorry Montana, you FAIL!!

The rest of today will be spent geekifying and then I am off to the contra dance.  I love me some contra dancing and I haven’t been in SOOOOO long!!!  It’s only here once a month so I need to go when it’s available.  Apparently Bozeman is a bit bigger on the contra dance scene.

Hope everyone else’s day is going well, whether it’s Valentine’s Day or Singles Awareness Day.

Also, it is snowing.  I LOVE the snow.  This morning it was all light and fluffy.  I cleared off my car by blowing on the snow.  AWESOME.

Memories from the beginning

I remember days when servers were down and I wanted to waste my day doing nothing but watching pixels run around in purple hued environments.  I remember the notices saying that due to a day of no-login we got “free days” between billing cycles.  I recall the rants and raves that people had.  I remember how our guild just sucked it up and dealt with it.  It’s an online game that millions subscribe to.  Servers have to be updated, problems happen, and yet the paying population demand 110% play-time.  Sleep is not an option, breaks don’t exist, and HOW DARE THEY KEEP ME FROM MY GAME!!!

I feel pity for the people that can’t go on with their lives because they are deprived of their game.  You know, there’s a reason I like playing, it’s called the people I get to play with.  If you’ve played any other online game don’t you think you’d be aware the servers require down time for repairs and touch ups from all the work they get.  If anything a few hours of relaxation is probably just what they need.  A nice mother board massage and facial.  Every…thing deserves a good massage!!

——–

I’ve spent the day reading and having a cat curl up with me.  I even went out the grocery store.  I dislike not being employed, but I can’t quite bring myself to go to the one place I’m pretty sure would take me on: Pestmart.  I could see if places are taking on seaonsal workers, I could go find a temp job.  I’m sorely tempted after Thanksgiving to do just that.

Speaking of the cat. . er. .kitten, she’s getting fixed on Friday.  We pick her up Saturday morning and head back to VA.  We’re taking her up to Baltimore since it costs $500 + $60 initial consultation fee to get her spayed in Northern VA.  The SPCA does this weird partner program that gives a whopping discount on spaying so you only pay $260.  Uh…. no.  The SPCA in Baltimore will spay her for $30.  She has the sneezles too so we’re taking her to the vet so they can kill 2 birds with one stone.  Cutest darn sneezes ever, but if I were her I’d be miserable.  Poor Percy.

Anyways, I’m off to go do real things that don’t involve trying to hit 70 before WotLK comes out.  Why can’t people focus on the happy thought: REST XP.  Oh wait. . . they all have 70s with Orange T-eleventybillion and have daily heroics to do so they can get those Achievements squared away.

WHO THE &#$* CARES?!?!?!

And that sums up that.

Game fun

The world of games is available to me again.  WHOOOHOOOO.  Today I’m going to install Age of Conan. Grant went off and bought it and has a second key, so I’m going to give it a whirl.  After that I might see about returning to the world of WoW.  I know I know, I shouldn’t. I should just move on and leave that game behind me.

I’m hoping this will be a fun time.  We’re going to severly limit ourselves in what we play and for how long.  I still have desires to play with Baldur’s Gate.  Bwahahahaha

Mmmmmm  Minsk and Boo.  I haven’t played it since March.  Sad.

On another note, I HAVE A KITTEN!!! Her name is Percy and she’s currently at home in Baltimore getting over her roundworms.  She is one bloated-belly kitten.  Poor thing.  She’s almost 4 months old.  Around December I think is when we get her spayed.  Not sure.  I need to talk to the vet about that.  I also need to find a vet down here in VA since she’ll be living at Grant’s parent’s house with us. . . . until we find jobs and move out and then she’ll go wherever we go.  She’s awesome. . .  I just hope these wormies leave her because she can stink up a whole room.

No time

There’s so much going on, there’s so much to do, and I really feel like the world has just slowed and rushed everything at the same time.  I’m just too worried and freaked out to think.  I’m trying to get work done and it takes me hours upon hours longer than it should.  I should have half of this stupid dissertation written and I hardly even know where to begin.

I need to get back out to several sites for more pictures.  I think. I’m not sure how.  I can’t figure out buses.  Maybe I’ll just go tomorrow.  It’s noon and I have highlighted about 3 paragraphs in one article.  I’m not sleeping well. I don’t have a nice waking up, instead I wake up feeling overheated and claustrophobic.

But I suppose a shower is calling to me, and showers make the world a better place right?

On another note: I saw The Dark Knight, and I didn’t care for it.  Just not a solid enough MOVING plot line.  It was a lot like the new Hulk movie: had some nice parts but overall it just didn’t develop a plot.  These are comics that have been around since my parents were kids. You’d think they could develop a plot that actually DID something instead of what they did.

Maybe Batman would have been better if it had Lou Ferrigno in it.  Haha

I came out from TDK pale, shaky and a total mess.  I really wasn’t sure how I walked out.  Sunlight didn’t do much for me.  It took me 2 hours to regain some semblance of color.  To make things happier in life Grant and I bought some movies: Get Smart, Again! (1989), The Incredible Hulk Returns (with THOR!) and The Incredible Hulk Goes to Trial (or something like that).  Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, that duo can make anyone start to feel happy again.

Awesome people. Yessiree. And a Hulk that isn’t impervious to everything.  He’s strong as hell, but he can be hurt.  I like that.  It makes more sense.

Paper over keyboards

I had a very disturbing dream last night (technically this morning as I woke up to see the time was 8:45 am) and I tried to write it down.  My handwriting is almost illegible because I felt tensed and self concious about writing it out.  I wrote in cursive, and rather rushed.  For me, that’s not a good thing.  My cursive turns illegible very fast.

I wanted to share it but I had to go through the steps of writing it out first and then telling it to a person.  Sort out my thoughts, get things right in my head, talk to someone about it.

I’m appreciating having a paper journal with me here.  Admittedly I don’t write in it nearly enough, I feel better writing stuff down.  I also don’t have much to say, “Today I sat at my computer and typed.  I also did that day before and the day before that and the day before that.  I did go outside though. . . to get a few groceries.”  Really, that doesn’t make a very good read.  Or a very nice thing to write.

A journal is a place I like to feel safe writing it.  I’ve started to lose that.  I’m working at getting it back.

This blog on the other hand, I don’t feel safe putting anything down in.  The same was with my LiveJournal.  I’ll start getting back into blogs and all that fun when I find my writing passion again.  For now my writing is all about woodlands and bats (not together though) and vicious emails to my parents where I rant about how disgruntled I am at not having my project sorted out yet.  DISSERTATION HELLLLLLLL

*ahem*

All better.

Journals are fun.  And I’m a big believer in finding the right kind of journal for your purpose.  Moleskines aren’t for everyone, and lined journals are also not for everyone.   It’s weird to see what you will and will not use for a journal.  They have a feel to them.  The same for the pen that writes in those journals.  Usually it’s due to the quality of the paper and how gel/ballpoint/rollerball/fountain/etc actually works with that paper.

Make way for ducklings

Every so often I find a weird article in my google reader feed, this time it’s about a Mrs. Mallard and her trek to retrieve her babies from underground in Newcastle Upon Tyne (where I am currently studying). Apparently the ducklings fell through a grate and were swept away in a sewer.  Mom followed them approximately 2 miles and stood near a manhole quacking her brains out until someone stopped and got the manhole over off and the 6 ducklings out.

Robert McCloskey would be proud of those people.

Is Finland part of Scandinavia?

Recently there was “discussion” between me and several coursemates as to whether Finland was part of Scandinavia.  I used to think it was, but I was told differently and convinced.  This was not by a fellow American, but by a Swede while I was at Boston University.   I looked it up online and ignoring what Wikipedia says (we all know how trustworthy they are) I found several sites that give a mixed view.

Business Region Göteborg states that:

The collective label “Scandinavia” primarily reflects the linguistic similarity, but also the strong historical and social ties between these countries despite their current political independence.

The usage and meaning of the term ‘Scandinavia’ is somewhat ambiguous: Finland, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland are still sometimes counted as parts of Scandinavia, as they share strong social and historical ties to Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

In a British mindset, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are usually included, often with the addition of Iceland, Finland, and sometimes even Greenland. The term the Nordic Countries is used unambiguously for the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the republics of Finland and Iceland.

From a british site, one sees another opinion

Geographically speaking, the Scandinavian peninsula is a territory shared by Norway, Sweden and northern Finland. The Scandinavian countries would therefore only be Norway and Sweden.Linguistically, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish have a common word called “Skandinavien” which refers to the ancient territories of the Norsemen, and for most people in these three countries “Scandinavia” consists only of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This one is considered to be the most commonly accepted definition of “Scandinavia”. However, Iceland was also a Norse territory and Icelandic belongs to the same linguistic family as Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And so does the Faroe islands. Therefore, you will find some people for which Scandinavia is Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. And finally, Swedish language is also spoken in Finland and reciprocally, Finnish and Sami languages are spoken in Sweden and Norway. Again, we have a new definition of Scandinavia, which would include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

Culturaly and historically, the north of Europe has been the political playground of the kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Finland was a part of the kingdom of Sweden and Iceland belonged to Norway and Denmark. Besides a common history, politically and economically these five countries have followed a similar model known as the Nordic welfare state since the 20th century. One more time, these five countries are perceived as an unity by some and therefore called by the same name: “Scandinavia”.

What are the “Nordic countries”? In such a state of linguistic and geographical confusion, the French came to help us all and invented the term “Pays Nordiques” or “Nordic Countries”, which has become the most standard term to bring together Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland under the same umbrella.

Indopedia comments that:

Scandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label “Scandinavia” reflects the cultural similarity between these countries despite their political independence. The terms Fennoscandia and Fenno-Scandinavia are sometimes used for an extended region.

The usage and meaning of the term outside Scandinavia is somewhat ambiguous:

• Finland and Iceland are many times counted as parts of Scandinavia.
• In a German mindset, Norway, Sweden and Finland are usually included, but Denmark is not.
• In a British mindset, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark are usually included, often with the addition of Iceland and Finland.

These alternative meanings are considered incorrect in the local languages, and occasionally some people may take offense by such usage in English.

The term the Nordic countries is used unambiguously for the Scandinavian kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the republics of Finland and Iceland.

Therefore dear Brits, between the Scandic speaking countries Finland does not belong under the title of Scandinavia. And in your own dear country I would like to say that Finland is not agreed upon to be part of Scandinavia, but it is not frowned upon either.  Brits also seem to thing that Iceland could be a part of Scandinavia.  Geographically Iceland is not, and linguistically Finland is not.

I rest my case.  Neither of us wins.  To quote a professor from last term, “It depends.”

Grandpa update

I had a chat with my mom last night to see how she was holding up (she’s a mess).  Apparently Grandpa Aubrey is not doing well at all.  His brain is very weak, and he has meningitis.  They think it got in through the drain.  He is on enough drugs to cut steel, so says my mom.  I’m not sure what to do or say with any of this.  There is a real chance that he won’t pull through.  There is a real chance he will pull through.  They’re making something of a decision on Wednesday.

I slept poorly last night because I couldn’t stop thinking about this, and I couldn’t stop thinking about all the work I have to do and how it never seems to end.  I’m really really really scared that I’m losing my Grandfather.  It’s an awful feeling and I’m not sure how I’m taking it.  My mind is all in a knot at the moment and I’m hoping things stay knotted up until Wednesday at some point.  I have to get this paper in and I can’t have this awful thing bearing down on me making me distracted.

Here’s hoping things look up in the next few days so I can get through them.

I really think this is the worst year to be at school for me. All these awful things keep happening.  I’m just very lucky to have Grant with me.  He’s the one of the good things that has happened this year.  And he gives wonderful hugs.   It’s been a gruelling training process, but the hugs are now superb