| My roommate got a cat! |
[Мар. 12, 2006|09:40 pm] |
So after my so exciting Spring Break in Greenville (and with my boyfriend now on his way to Key West with a couple of friends to spend his break scuba diving) I return home to find that my roommate Toni (that's "The Elusive One" to Khara) has adopted a cat! She's actually a very sweet cat, with kind of long, soft fur. I say "kinda long" because I dont think it will keep growing longer than it is now, about 1 1/2 -2 inches long. I dont know if that makes her a long-haired cat or not, since I don't know much about them.
But anyways, her name is gracie, though Toni says she mostly calls her "kitty" or "diabetes kitty". The last is because she apparently has a form of diabetes where she doesn't make enough ADH (anti-diuretic hormone), so she is constantly thirsty and constantly peeing. At least as far as I know, she always makes it to the litter box! But Toni says she has been scraping out all the litter every day because this cat pees so much. There are pills for it, but the pills are over $100 a month, and apparently it doesn't hurt her to not have them as long as there is water around for her to drink.
The only downside to this is I hope this doesn't put a crimp in my plans to adopt a dog! I'd really like to have a dog, though as my mom says, I need a dog like I need a hole in my head. Which is probably about right! :) But Emma, my other roommate, and I went looking at dogs around town a couple weeks ago, and we both would really like to have a doggie around. But we will see if we can find one that we fall in love with and is small enough (there were a couple of labs we saw that I really loved, but I know our apartment cannot handle a large dog, especially now that we have a cat!)
We'll see what happens. Worst case I don't get a dog (yet). |
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| End of Semester randomness |
[Дек. 13, 2005|10:21 am] |
So its been a fun couple of weeks. I've been done with finals since last Sat , 12/3, so have had lots of time to kill. :) On Tuesday, a week ago, I drove up to Greenville to see Adam. He was still busy with finals and papers, but his department had a formal on Wednesday. The formal was fun, but as it was called a 'Formal', I expected it to be dressier than it really was, so was a bit overdressed in a beautiful black dress I'd bought over Thanksgiving. It just means that Adam will have to take me out some place very fancy to make up for it!
Since Adam was busy the rest of the week with final stuff, I went shopping. I ended up spending a couple hours in Barnes and Noble. I managed to keep myself from buying anything except a Sudoku book. Those puzzles are great!! I really enjoy them, and have spent most my free time working on one. I think they are even better than crossword puzzles because they are pure logic- no outside knowledge needed.
Friday afternoon we drove to Chapel Hill, picking up his cousin from the airport on the way. We were all in town to go to Stagville on Saturday, the State Historic site Adam's sister is in charge of. We dressed up in 1815 costumes and interpreted a Christmas. My dress was sooo pretty! Adam's mom made it for me, which is absolutely amazing. I'll post pictures when I get copies from his parents. It was great!
Then Sat. night we drove back to Greenville for a dinner one of Adam's professors was having. Good food and good people in his program. We left a little early though, because we were exhausted!
Sunday and Monday were pretty boring for me because Adam had one more takehome to finish. But I just worked on the Sudoku puzzles. They are very addictive! Now we are getting ready to drive back to CH (Adam's cleaning first hehe). So Denny I'll give you a call tomorrow (I know you've been asking me for a while about it )
I think thats about it, will be in CH soon! |
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| Teaching First Graders! |
[Окт. 28, 2005|12:45 pm] |
| [ | Настроение |
| |  giddy | ] |
Today I got to teach 1st graders for the first time ever! The first thing I thought when I walked into the classroom was "Man they are little!" I really do forget how big kids of different ages are
So, I was asked to do a presentation on fossils/dinosaurs. Since I remember so little about dinosaurs, I focused more on fossils and what they can tell us and how they form. When I saw the kids I was afraid my plan was a bit ambitious, but fortunately I had made it interactive so at least they were paying attention. However, it turned out amazingly well! The first thing I asked them about was for some examples of fossils. I was going for "bones" but got "Triceratops and Stegasaurus", but it was close enough. They also mentioned plants (I thought I'd have to tell them that) and I was even able to get "footprint" out of them as well. Then I had a student make a footprint by stepping in clay. I used this to jump into how fossils form: they need to be buried quickly or else they get washed away (ie making a footprint in the beach gets washed away).
I was very proud of myself for coming up with a way to explain why fossils are more likely to be found in sand rather than gravel: I had 2 containers, one with sand and one with gravel. I put a leave and a sea urchin test in each and had the kids shake it up. The leaf in the gravel got a little banged up. Nothing actually happened to the sea urchin, so I broke the gravel one a little to make my point (1st graders cant shake the container as well as I can! Oops).
The other thing I was proud of was using distance between footsteps to determine speed: I had a girl walk, then stop in midstride, and I used a piece of tape to illustrate her stride length. Then I had her walk quickly and stop. Her stride length was longer! The kids thought that was pretty cool.
Then there is the showing of fossils. Dr. Kelley had lent me a hadrosaur knucklebone (duckbilled dinosaur), an ammonite, 2 whale vertebrae, and a part of a wooly mammoth tusk. The kids weren't sure what a wooly mammoth was until my drawing attempt, which they recognized as the mammoth in Ice Age! I also had some replica trilobites, some Mississippian (~300Ma) plants, and 30 Ma sharks teeth.
It went very well, and I am quite proud of myself :) |
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| Quiz moment |
[Окт. 25, 2005|11:14 pm] |
How did they know I went back to Houston??? |
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| Parents :) |
[Окт. 16, 2005|11:46 pm] |
My parents came into town from Wednesday til today, because Mom happened to have those days off of work thanks to their Fall Break, and it was great!! They flew in late Wednesday into RDU, so I didnt actually see them until Thursday, when they drove here to Wilmington. After my class was over, we went sightseeing around Wilmington. First I gave them a tour of campus, even though the only place I really know is right by the Geology building. Then we went down to the beach to see how they looked a month after Ophelia. In a way it was actually sad to see them replinishing the beaches. Sure, it keeps the beaches around, but if there weren't buildings right near the water, then the beach would simply migrate inland anyways. But instead workers were dumping sand, starting from the dunes. Right after the hurricane there was a 4 foot scarp right at the dunes. The scarp had been moved several feet forward. But we were there as the tide was coming in, and the waves were just about to start licking at the bottom of the scarp. You could tell there had already been erosion of some of the sands they had added on. It seems like such a big money sink that I question whether it's worth it. But of course I dont have property right on the beach. Mother Nature will win soon.
After walking the beach for an hour, we finally we went to lunch at Sticky Fingers! I love that place! I remember the first time I went there, with the COUP beach trip, I think after sophomore year. :)
Then we wandered downtown Wilmington. We even went on a Ghost Tour, which was really interesting because it incorporated a lot of the history of the area. I didnt' see any ghosts though.
Friday was relaxed as well: more walking around downtown, then to an Oktoberfest to listen to a German band and drink German beer :) Afterwards we headed over to the movie theater across the parking lot to go see Wallace and Gromit, which was great!
Saturday we went to Fort Fisher for a couple hours before heading up to Chapel Hill for dinner with the Friedmans. We went to the restaurant formerly known as Red Hot and Blue, the same place we went to for the first time the Parents met. Still good memories associated with that place! We spent the night there, then this morning hung out for a bit, went for a walk around the neighborhood, and then my mom and dad headed off for the airport.
It was soo good to see them. I saw them in May at graduation and all, but that was 5 months ago! By the time I'm back in Houston I'll have been away from home for 8 months, a new record for me.
I miss home. :( |
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| Fall Break! |
[Окт. 10, 2005|08:47 am] |
As weird as it was to have Fall break this past Thursday and Friday (it seemed so early!), it was perfect timing: it coincided exactly with the time that Rachey and Troy would be in SC to see her little sister graduate from boot camp at Fort Jackson! So Wednesday I made the 'long' 3 1/2 hour drive out there to meet up with them. They drove up with Rachey's father and 2 little brothers, ages 12 and 13 I think. Poor Rachel- stuck in a car for 18 hours with all those guys! And I should mention that just because they are male does NOT mean they had directional sense or map reading abilities- the way back only took 15 hours because Rachel took over the navigational duties!
Wednesday night was fun, getting to see Rachey and her family again. Though I hadn't seen Rachel and Troy since March, it'd been over a year since I'd seen her mom and her sister! 12 people, from grandparents to an Uncle to siblings, had come up to see Sarah's graduation! However, we all went to bed pretty early because it'd been a long day, esp. for those who drove since they'd been up going 3 AM!
Thursday was Family Day, and our first chance to see Sarah (Rachey's sister). She looked great! It's amazing what 2 months in the army can do for getting you in shape and give you confidence. I hope this really will turn around Sarah's life. Since Sarah couldnt go off base, we just hung out in Rachel's mom's hotel room on base, and went to an on-post bowling alley for a couple hours. It was fun :)
Friday was the actual graduation. Amazingly, it was short and sweet- only 1/2 hour! We could then take Sarah off base for a few hours. We went to such exciting places as Shoe Carnival and Walmart and Golden Coral :) I was gonna let Sarah drive my car, since she used to have a stick shift, but there was always witnesses around (she wasn't technically allowed to drive for whatever military reason). Rachel and the crew headed out at 5 pm Friday night, so that's when I left too. They weren't in SC for 2 days yet were traveling for almost 40 hours! Crazy people. :) But it was sooo great to see them. Now I'm even more excited about Thanksgiving, when I'll probably get to see them again, this time with Adam! :) |
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| grammar in science be poor. |
[Сент. 22, 2005|08:47 pm] |
I am currently reading a scientific article that that was presumably read by qualified reviewers and editors, and possibly revised a time or two by the author. And yet there is still a statement that reads "...be sure that the residual calcium is removed as good as possible."
I am not one of those 'grammar nazis' who corrects people when they say "I'm good" or a lot of the other colloquiallisms (not sure how to spell that!) that we hear in everyday life. However, I expect formal prose to be grammatically correct! Is that too much to ask?
Now I understand why UNC required those stupid english classes (though I luckily 'only' took Comm 9). At least 3 or 4 highly intelligent (presumably, if they are reviewing for a journal) people must have read that paper and not caught the glaring grammar error! |
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| Hurricanes |
[Сент. 21, 2005|09:22 pm] |
How ironic: Wilmington gets hit by Ophelia, a mere Category 1 hurricane, that is moving so slowly that the biggest fear is all the rain it will dump. And now, Houston and the whole Texas coast is being threatened by a Category 5 storm w/ winds at or above 165 mph! And its on a track that will probably take it just south of Houston (according to what they are showing my parents), so Houston will get the wet eastern side. Though Weather Channel says it is likely to weaken a bit before hitting to "only" a Cat. 4, this is a major hurricane! The last actual hurricane to hit Houston was Alesha ... in 1983, just a few days after I was born! Poor mom was sent home early from the hospital. Though ironically all the pictures my parents have from '83 of people canoeing in the streets weren't actually from the hurricane but rather from the tropical depression a couple weeks later!
It makes me very nervous for all my family and friends I have in and around Houston! |
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| Ophelia |
[Сент. 14, 2005|12:13 am] |
I'm sitting here waiting for the storm. I've been expecting it to hit (according to news sources) for most of the day but the timing keeps getting pushed back. And back. And a little farther back. Stupid ADD storm! I want to go through a hurricane, even if it is likely to dump a ton of rain because it's moving sooooo slowly and cause flooding. Now its thought that the eye will hit sometime Wednesday, I guess late morning according to weather.com. But, at 11 pm, the storm was more than 100 miles south of Wilmington and , well, stationary. As my roommate Toni pointed out, if the storm was moving at 4 mph, about the max its gone recently, it would take it 25 hours to get here (assuming, of course, it heads straight north to here!)
Oh well. If it seems like its going to continue to be slow, and thus classes are likely to be cancelled Thurs. with a good chance of Friday as well, I think I'll just head to Greenville to see Adam a little early. That is, if the roads aren't flooded! :) |
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| No School! |
[Сент. 13, 2005|08:49 am] |
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No school for today! It's been cancelled due to Tropical Storm Ophelia. I woke up to pouring down rains and pretty decent winds, but it's calm now- just the outer bands were hitting. Landfall isnt expected until tomorrow morning. I'm excited about it. It's only a tropical storm, though with the possibility of turning into a category 1 hurricane. No hurricane parties for me though- I really dont think getting drunk when a major natural disaster is possible is the best idea! Especially since none of my roommates can drive my car to get me out of here if need be! (I dont want to leave my car behind if I go!) |
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| Weird Dream |
[Сент. 1, 2005|12:09 pm] |
I had a really weird dream last night. To cut out all the random and not completely logical details involving Labor Day, the beach, and the Woodlands swimteam moving to NC, I ran into James and Georgia, and my dream-roommate Katrina, in an attempt to "fix" all problems, invites them to a get-together we were having that night. In the dream I got as far as them showing up, and then the alarm went off.
Though I dont know what happens, I have a feeling it was a terrible disaster!
The joys of my subconscious combining a bunch of random details! |
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| And a new topic ... GAS PRICES! |
[Авг. 31, 2005|02:07 pm] |
Today, around 12:30 pm, Emma and I went to pick up her friend at the bus station. We passed my favorite (read: cheapest around) gas station, which on Sunday was $2.49. It was $2.89 today. We get back from picking up Stephanie and lunch around 2 pm. Gas is $3.09. WOW.
Bus system here I come! |
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| Update on Katrina |
[Авг. 31, 2005|09:09 am] |
This article has quotes from a lot of the previous articles (as I keep reading so many I notice a lot of "cut and pasted" paragraphs), as well as a recent damage report (8 minutes before I read it!).
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050831/ap_on_re_us/hurricane_katrina
I am not religious, but I'll definately be praying for those who are trapped in New Orleans. It will be at least 2 months before people can begin returning, there is no power or electricity, and dead bodies floating in the water. |
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| Hurricane Katrina |
[Авг. 30, 2005|10:02 pm] |
| [ | Настроение |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | Музыка |
| | Shrek 2 Soundtrack | ] |
Wow, the amazing destructive force of a hurricane!
Though I'm sure everyone knows that Katrina slammed into Louisiana and Mississippi Sunday, and it killed a few people, flooded some areas, ripped parts of the roof off the Superdome where there were over 8000 refugees .... the worst was yet to come!!!
Apparently this morning one of the levees broke on the 17th St. canal that runs through New Orleans between lake Ponchantrain (I know I'm misspelling that) and the Mississippi. Now over 80% of New Orleans is under water, in some places 20 ft deep! People who thought they'd ridden out the worst of the storm had to scramble to hopefully get to the roof before they were swept away! Rescue crews are forced to ignore dead bodies in their attempts to rescue those who are alive. In Mississippi I've seen that over 100 people are dead; New Orleans doesn't have any real numbers yet, but I'm sure it will be high!
It is absolutely incredible and horrifying. It is estimated taht there is over $25billion dollars worth of damage. WOW. The loss of life and property astounds me.
What on earth am I doing in Wilmington???
If a category 1 hurricane heads towards here, I am on my way to Chapel Hill, and possibly beyond. At least Wilmington is at or above sea level, not below it like most of New Orleans! |
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| Movie Theater of SUCK |
[Авг. 28, 2005|11:23 pm] |
So in case you are ever in Greenville, NEVER go to Carmike Theaters. Wow was it a horrible movie theater. On Sat. Adam, Jerrod, Erin and I went to buy our tickets. There is noone in line in front of us, and the ticket sellers are turned around talking to 2 policemen and a manager looking guy. Now, the way Blondie was speaking (and, well, giggling) it was definately a social conversation. I go up to the window and say "Excuse me" 3 times before she even turns around!!! Finally she does, and I ask for "One for Wedding Crashers" and hand her my card. They dont take credit, but they do take debit, so I pull out my debit card. In the meantime she turns back around and makes a couple more comments to her buddies. I give her my card, she swipes it while putting hand lotion on. I didnt notice until later, but the theater charged me an extra dollar for using a debit card, which is complete crap.
Then, we go inside and the chick who takes tickets ... well, she's either stoned or is a bit slow. Jerrod goes up to her, and as he's about to give her the ticket, she looks down and proceeds to put arrows on the sheet in front of her. Eventually she looks up and, well, does her job.
We then pass 2 more cops standing around the theater, but obviously on duty. Who knows why a movie theater needs 4 cops (at least!) in it! In the theater itself, the radio is playing, though we have 5 minutes until the movie starts. After 20 minutes of commercials we get to teh previews (unfortunately that is becoming standard). The last half of the movie has these random skinny black lines in it!
At least Wedding Crashers was amusing, but I am NEVER going to spend money at that theater again!!!! |
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| Cool roomates! |
[Авг. 26, 2005|05:17 pm] |
Another reason I like my roommates: yesterday, before class, I ran the dishwasher. By the time I got back from class (2 hrs later) it had been unloaded and put away (I find out later it was Toni). Then last night I made dinner for me and Emma, though I start before she gets home. After dinner she insists on doing all the dishes! Happiness for the little things :)
Ok, now I'm off to Greenville to see Adam for the weekend! It's a 2 hr drive but it goes quickly because I'm usually talking to Khara or Rachey. (Yes I hate drivers with cell phones to their ears. However I use the handsfree set, which is really really helpful, esp. since I have a stick and I need that extra hand! It's a lot more like talking to someone else in the car.) |
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| hmmm |
[Авг. 25, 2005|08:44 am] |
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So I just realized that somehow I turned the comments off in my previous entry, and I cant figure out how to turn them back on because I have my LJ account in Russian, which I really cannot read well (just the basics so I can find Friends and Write ... more complicated than that is beyond me!) So if you're wondering why there is no way to comment, that's why! |
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| Life and roommates in Wilmington |
[Авг. 25, 2005|08:33 am] |
| [ | Настроение |
| |  awake | ] |
School's been in for a week, and so far its been, well, easy. I feel like I'm missing something. I'm not overloaded with homework or reading or projects that are due in a week. As a matter of fact, I have almost zilch of all of those (with the exception of a little reading)! Maybe it will all hit at once; that's what usually happens. I mean, I could be doing lots of background research for my project, but it just doesn't seem pressing. I need a goal to work for rather than just "hmm, I should read this it might be useful when I write my thesis 2 years from now". Oh well.
In other news, my roommates and I all get along well. Emma is also a Geology grad student. We have 2 of our three classes together, though one is required for all new grad students. We have been making dinner together too, which is really cool because I am actually COOKING a bit rather than simply boiling water and adding pasta or pasta roni. Toni, my other roommate ... well, we dont see her too much. She's been keeping crazy hours. In the morning when I leave she's still asleep. Then she has her classes (she's a Clinical Socialogy grad student), goes to work from 5-10 pm, may or may not come by home after work, then is often out with friends until I dont know when! But recently she has had multiple nights with less than 3 hours of sleep, in part because she sounds like she's about to hack up a lung. Staying out late when sick seems like a recipe for disaster with school starting! |
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| Excitement , boredom and creepiness |
[Май. 13, 2005|04:24 pm] |
My parents are coming! My parents are coming!
With my CAR! I will finally have some wheels around here! :) It's gonna be a Mazda 6. The were originally planning on getting me the M3, but the dealer didnt have any and gave them an awesome deal on the M6, basically the base asking price of the M3 (after dad finished all his bargaining). SWEET!
So since I'm bored but jittery, I'm gonna make a post. If it stops at a random place its because my parents showed up. So I'll just share the wonderful story of "Creepy Guy at Work".
So Creepy Guy doesnt actually work in Lineberger, fortunately. HOwever, he does seem to be around fairly regularly. He's a guy who just exudes creepiness, and you try to avoid eye contact if at all possible. If he notices a woman walking behind him, he will turn around to look about every 4 feet he walks forward. Once when he shook Janera's hand (the lab manager) he made a comment about her "strong handshake" and how that might be put to other uses. *cringe*
In the last 2 days, I've had the joy of running into creepy guy twice! I was taking out the recycling yesterday, and he opened the door for me to take everything outside. He then followed me out and asked if I have change for a dollar so he can get a coke, but I told him I only have a few pennies. He tells me he will forgive me "because you're pretty" *cringe*. He then follows me back inside and continues talking to me while I wait for the elevator. The whole time we are standing there, he has his hands in his pockets and is definately adjusting himself. I cannot explain how disturbing and not subtle this process was. I've seen guys scratch themselves, or maybe tug at their pants, or whatever little things that you just have to do but with the hopes that noone notices. But this guy, you could see the bulge of his hands (dear god please be his hands!) moving around. Not only that, but he would shift his hips from side to side while doing this digging process. Thank goodness the elevator came before I went crazy, and I was saved. I dont know what I would have done if he got on the elevator too!
Then today I went to pick up my paystub, and he was there too. Oh joy. I had to say my name in front of him, hopefully he didnt catch it. While I was getting my check, he waited by the door to the office for me to come out, pretending to look at things posted on the wall. The first thing he says to me is "you're looking pretty today" I give a slight nod of acknowledgement, more out of habit because someone was talking to me, and beat it towards the exit. I think he said more, but my mind was focused on getting outside!
Next time I see him and he says anything more than just "Hi" I'm gonna tell him he's creepy and to go away. I almost did yesterday, today I didnt want to talk to him that long. Hopefully that will be a long time from now! But its sad when I can tell a story beginning with "that creepy guy" and every woman in the lab is like "Oh the bioinformatics guy with curly hair"
Ok so my parents arent here yet. Since this post is plenty long enough, I think I'm gonna go a little crazy right now. :) |
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