Jag söker job

This is not a style blog

2011-08-20T10:57:00.004-06:00

Yet. As you may or may not know, I am in deep love with Tsubo shoes. They are amazing--not super expensive, but expensive enough I shouldn't really buy every pair I like in each color (which I sometimes do). My newest infatuation is this hot sandal, which retails at $110. Not bad. I bought them in this color combination, which pretty much rules (don't copy me).

But run, don't walk to Amazon, because they have them for $44 right now. You're welcome.

Winning

2011-06-08T16:20:00.004-06:00

I've never been a great thrifter or deal-finder. I guess I lack the patience and commitment to going to the discount and second-hand shops regularly enough to find the hidden gems. Also, I live in Laramie and have fewer shopping options (shoptions?). Also-also, most of the good vintage stuff is a lot smaller than I am, and wearing a size 10 shoe also limits the selection a ton. Still, I aspire to be that great shopper, even though I never will.

So now I'm going to brag about a find, of course. Back over spring break when I was in Seattle, SJ and I set out for a day of discount shopping. We hit the Rack, TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshalls. As usual, I didn't have too much luck finding what I was looking for (dresses) and thought the day would be a bust. At Marshalls, I happened to try on a pair of kind of weird sandals I'd seen at a department store for $125. I wasn't even sure if I liked them or not, but something about them made happy and I decided to buy them for the $30 asking price.

Of course, they sat around for a few months and I thought several times about wearing them with bright tights while the weather was cold, but just never did. Every time I spied them in my closet, I sighed and thought I'd wasted money. But now that it's warmed up and I'm all pedicured and wanting to wear sandals, I keep wearing them, and now I love them. Every time I wear them I get compliments, so at least some people in this town have the same bad taste as I do. I just looked online to see how much they're selling for, and the cheapest I can find them in this color in a store is $75. Win-win-win.

Westward ho!

2010-12-20T13:02:00.002-07:00

In late July/early August, Melanie and I took a road trip that largely followed the Oregon Trail. In fact, Mel was on the road all the way from the east coast, so she started the OT in Missouri and saw the whole thing. She picked me up in Laramie, and we had a great adventure.

Wyoming landscapes are gorgeous, but I've posted so many pictures of it I'll try to restrain myself this time. Please enjoy the Sinclair refinery interrupting the scenery.

I love roadside oddities. Mel is nearly indistinguishable from these stoic westerners in either Kemmerer or Diamondville, WY. I can't remember exactly.

It is seriously so pretty out here.

Straddling Wydaho.

On the trail!

We stopped at the Oregon Trail interpretive center for just a minute, and met a trail celebrity (although we didn't know that until later).

On the way to a wedding near Sun Valley, we took a big detour to go to Craters of the Moon National Park. It was very odd, but cool to see all that black lava rock.

Of course we had to make another stop out of the way to visit Ketchum, the last home of Hemingway. Finding his grave was super easy.

It cracked me up to watch Mel post to Facebook from the gravesite.

The Sun Valley Lodge has a really pretty monument to Papa.

We drove back down to Twin Falls for the night. Can you believe we're finally at Day 2? In the morning, we visited Shoshone Falls before hitting the road again.

From Twin Falls, we drove to McCall for Elizabeth and Jasper's wedding. I took a little break from photos for a day and just enjoyed hanging out with friends. The wedding was gorgeous and small, and the ceremony took place at a cute little inn on a patio that overlooked the lake. It was so fun to be at the wedding of two awesome people who've been together for 17 years!

This one is probably in Idaho, but could be in Oregon.

Of course we stopped in Baker City, OR at the end of the trail. The interpretive center there is really neat, and the wagon ruts are quite impressive.

The rest of the day was spent hauling ass to Portland (Lewis & Clark trail, now!). We followed the Columbia (gorgeous) and stopped for the night at the White Eagle. Bunk rooms are cute and cheap, if you need a fun place to stay.

We had breakfast at Tiny's, a cute coffee shop in the neighborhood, and made plans to meet up with our friend Shel for lunch.

For a true Portland experience, we ate at some food carts. It was Monday, so lots of neighborhood pods were closed and we had to go downtown. That was okay with me! It was hard to choose what to eat, but Mel ended up with Thai, and I had a beet and apple juice smoothie.

Then it was time to haul ass toward Seattle. After a brief stop in Seaside at the end of the Lewis & Clark trail (we're all about the detours), we took the bridge in Astoria over to Ilwaco, Wa.

We made a stop again to see the North Head and Cape Disappointment lighthouses and to see the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. We had to hike up a short trail, but the views were so amazing. This is North Head.

The Pacific Ocean.

Cape Disappointment.

We wanted to get to I-5 before dark, so we only stopped in Long Beach for a quick dinner and drove up the Coast Highway for a while but then had to cut over after Willapa Bay to start making good time.

It was an amazing trip, and we got to see a lot of the west we love so much in just a few days.

travelin'

2010-12-13T16:40:00.004-07:00

You know what? I have gone several places in the past few months. I'm not going in order here. In August, I went to Sweden! This time it was Gothenburg, on the west coast, so now I've been to both sides of the country. The visit was for a library conference, but it was a lot of fun, too. I saw so many cool things.

An ABBA cover band opened the conference. You have not lived until you've seen 5000 librarians get up and dance with glee.

On our first night, we met up with some fun Danish and Finish librarians and stayed out all night barhopping. I think this photo was taken at about 3am in the "shittiest bar in Gothenburg!"

I ate a lot of good food and drank a lot of free wine. This table represents maybe 1/3 of the wine consumed by two people at one reception. Oops.

We visited several libraries. I won't bore you with the dozens of photos I took, but at one, I found a printer named for me.

We saw Jose Gonzales with the Gothenburg String Theory for free in the street because the city cultural festival was happening.

Cass and I rode hotel bicycles around town one day (yes, I was in a dress).

With two friends, I ate at a Michelin rated restaurant. My lamb was AMAZING.

Cass and I went to a two-day music festival and it kicked ass. Let's just say I've never been to a better festival in all my years. The lineup was fantastic and there were club shows for three nights. Crazy.

LCD Soundsystem was great, and we were way up front.

On our last day, we went to the archipelago for a rainy ferry ride. It was gorgeous.

department of complaints department

2010-11-15T21:13:00.003-07:00

Have you seen that commercial for Disneyland that has parents surprising their kids, who are "so excited!" about going to the big D? It kind of makes me laugh because my parents also pulled a Disney surprise on my brother and me back in the day, and let's just say it did not go well. Picture two children, aged 9 and 12, bursting into tears at the airport and asking why they can't just go home. Poor Mom and Dad. We were so ungrateful.

Speaking of commercials, though, I am in HATE with the new one for the (disgusting) McRib. In addition to the gross-out factor of McRib sauce dripping off people's lips, the music is an insanely schmaltzy love song that I can't get out of my head thanks to Hulu. It seems to only want to show me the McDonalds and Disney ads.

And speaking of things that make me crazy, what up TSA? I have three plane tickets for the next two months and will soon be booking a fourth for March, and I'm mentally preparing to refuse to go through the peep-show machine if directed and just submit to getting groped instead. My bra almost always sets off the metal detector in Denver (but not other airports), so I've gotten used to the pat down and wanding. But last month when I flew to Baltimore, I got the new and decidedly unimproved touching. The woman who aggressively felt me up was so into invading my private areas that she totally forgot to wand me.

The just-for-show non-security bullshit is making flying not feel worth it. I'm considering only using air travel for conferences and driving home when I want to visit family, even though it is a 2 12-hour days, multiple mountain pass crossing project that's kind of treacherous for the first day several months out of the year. Still, it might be worth it to just take my money out of a terrible system.

sing me to sleep

2010-07-27T01:09:00.003-06:00

My brain often refuses to power down at night, leaving me physically exhausted but mentally preoccupied. Usually, I'm just scrolling through everything I need to get done and coming up with new ideas to torture myself with overwork. People, I need new project and/or research ideas like a hole in the head.

Sometimes, though, I can't stop thinking about my day and all the bits I wish I could rewind and rerecord: missed opportunities to tweak a piece of writing before sending it off, something I should have said in a conversation, a moment I should have stopped to enjoy for bit before rushing off, a lecture I didn't attend, an invitation I didn't accept, a photograph I didn't take. I'm secretly a perfectionist, I guess--just too lazy to realize perfection.

But every once in a while, the odds and ends floating through my fatigued mind are just random memories. Tonight's sample:

1. During my first year of community college, I took trigonometry from a teacher who pronounced the letter W as dub-ah-yuh. And W was often a variable in our problems.

2. A fairly irrational paranoia that I'll lose all my teeth.

3. Where is my passport? Oh, right. Don't forget to pack the passport!

4. Can I justify the cost of a ticket to Way Out West? Can I really go to Göteborg during the festival and NOT get a ticket?

5. There's a book on the hold shelf for me at work.

6. Whatever happened to my white jeans?

Insomnia is not new to me. When I was about fourteen, I used to listen to my cassette tape of Louder Than Bombs every night to put myself to sleep. Man, I was obsessed with the Smiths. My first bedtime album was their debut, but I always had to listen to it about three times through before I'd drift off. LTB is way longer, with the bonus of ending in the track "Asleep." Think it would work for me again, a couple of decades later?

fugged

2010-07-26T18:14:00.002-06:00

Today's Go Fug Yourself installments featured Angelina Jolie. Now, I'm not either a big fan or a strong hater when it comes to Angie here, but on first glance I thought this photo was pretty cute. Then I realized I like her hair here. Then I realize she has the exact same bangs I just got (similarities end there). Finally, I realized the Fug Girls dissed the bangs.

By extension, I think I got fugged, too.

RIP Alex Chilton

2010-03-18T16:04:00.002-06:00

You probably heard that Alex Chilton died yesterday.

I learned about Alex Chilton backward, through other bands who loved Big Star, especially the Posies. Once I started paying attention, I realized how many of Alex's songs I already knew, some through covers. "Thirteen" is probably one of the prettiest songs ever recorded, and I loved it when Elliott Smith covered it because it sounds like something he could have written himself.

I won't pretend to be the biggest Big Star superfan, or anything, but they're important. The Posies did several Big Star covers when they'd play live, and as you probably know, Ken and Jon played with the band when they'd reunite. Because I wasn't alive yet when the Box Tops were around, and I was so little when Big Star was recording albums, the Posies are really mixed into my understanding of Big Star as a band.

When a musician I love dies, I always feel selfish for mostly mourning for the songs I'll never get to hear. But you might know what that's like. I probably felt that most keenly for Elliott and for Kurt Cobain, but Alex Chilton ranks pretty high up there, too. Maybe because I'm getting older it seems like this happens more and more often now and that I should start getting used to it. But it still feels like there's something missing in the world when an artist dies.

Like a lot of people, I went home and listened to Big Star. And Cheap Trick. And R.E.M. And the Posies. And a bunch of other bands that were influenced by Alex Chilton and his bands. It made me feel better somehow, which is something. And I love that Chilton was memorialized for Congress.

doppelsonger

2010-03-03T16:44:00.002-07:00

So, appropos of nothing, do you think Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" sounds like it could have been recorded by America? It has such a 70s sister golden hair vibe to it, in my opinion.

Just checking.

random

2010-02-24T23:17:00.003-07:00

To try to get back into updating, I decided to totally copy Jess and do a ten things post. Well, we'll see how many things I end up with.

1. I went to prom. It was a fundraiser for the local dance studio's performing troupe, and it was pretty fun. Some girlfriends and I took advantage of the opportunity to get dressed up, drink champagne, and dance our asses off. As you can see, we mostly stuck to regular, cute dresses and left the 80s period costumes to others.

2. The weather has been really cold, work has been crazy busy, and I've had a cold, so I've been slacking on exercise. This means that every time I do go to yoga class, my muscles ache a ton afterward. In a good way. Then I think I should go every day to get in better shape, but days go by before I do. Lather, rinse, repeat.

3. On Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year, my friend Nina had a really awesome brunch. We ate quiche and drank mimosas and coffee, and it was totally fun. Then I had to bail out a little early to pick up Rick and drive down to Denver to the conference we presented at. We talked about finding a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but then lamed out and just got food downtown where we were staying. The elk burger was good but not great, so I had minor regrets. The conference went well, though.

4. The Olympics are wearing me out. Part of the problem is that I like all the winter sports and therefore will watch any and all of it, even the dorky athlete profiles and pandering interviews. The winter games has more value added elements than summer. By that I mean crazy Russian ice dancing costumes (faces painted all over, ropes, and random bits of tulle!) and hot Norwegian curlers in plaid pants.

5. For the first time ever, I did the Poker Run out at Centennial. It was a long slog though snow, dodging five hundred drunk people on skis, snowshoes, and various other modes of transport. Here I am with Nina and Kerry, excited to get started.

As you can see, the "shuttles" that took us up the mountain were totally offical and safe.

After the event, we hiked up to our friend Laura's mom's place outside of town, where we spent the night. It was gorgeous.

After a hearty breakfast and some coffee in my gnome jammies...

...we hiked back out and went back to real life.

And...I'm out.

dance dance dance

2010-02-03T22:07:00.004-07:00

photo by Jurvetson (flickr)

Last week Pilobolus Dance Theater came to campus. I had beard of them, but hadn't seen them live before. I had a vague notion of them as a modern dance company, but they actually don't use established dance vocabularies--at least not that I could recognize. The program said they use a lot of improvisation in their choreography, which made sense based on what I saw. I particularly liked the way they partner dance, supporting one another's weight in really unusual and beautiful ways. Less interesting to me were the extended sequences on the floor. I like seeing people dance, and it's kind of boring to watch them writhe on the floor, although I was impressed that one of the most floor-centric pieces incorporated music by Primus.

I found their YouTube channel, but they don't allow embedding. I think that's lame, personally, but what are you going to do? For an idea of some of what I saw, check out Lanterna Magica. The other pieces I saw weren't there. I always wish photos were allowed at dance performances because some of the poses the dancers strike would make amazing stills. Luckily, I found some creative commons licensed stuff on flickr.

I'd recommend going to see Pilobolus, even if you aren't as crazy into dance as I am. It's kind of a spectacle that anybody can enjoy. There were tons of kids at the show, and during one piece called Walkelyn (which I didn't really care for), all you could hear were the full belly laughs of children. how much better than that can you get?

straight outta the PNW: 12 Days of Twin Peaks Christmas

2009-12-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

k3, k2 tog, repeat from

2009-12-20T01:38:00.002-07:00

This weekend, I dug into my various knitting bags and sorted out what I have. I finished a couple of hats that for some reason were partially done and abandoned and knitted another hat from the ground up. There was no salvaging a handwarmer that had a few mistakes and then had fallen off the DPNs, so I frogged it. It was only about 2.5 inches of ribbing, so I don't feel too bad about it.

So, if my calculations are correct and there are no more stashes of work somewhere, I only have one project going on now, and it's one I've been dawdling on. It's baby alpaca, and super soft and wonderful, but tiny. I'm more into worsted or bulky weight yarns because I like the way they feel in my hands. And I'm kind of impatient--shocking, I know.

All of this knitting has been fun, but I fear it's kind of an excuse for me not to be cleaning up the house and getting packed for my trip on Monday. I'm the worst packing procrastinator for no apparent reason. The last time I flew somewhere, I literally took ten minutes and threw random clothes in a bag right before I left for the airport, and just dealt with the odd matches later.

So if you're in Seattle next week and you see a woman wearing yoga pants, a sparkly tank top and a down vest, well it's probably me. Say hello.

music box

2009-12-08T22:40:00.005-07:00

On a cold, cold night like this, I figure some music will warm us all up a bit, so here's one of my rare mp3 posts.

Music is my real first love, I think. We all have a soundtrack to our lives and certain songs bring back crystal-clear memories of specific times and places. Sometimes it's unexpected, like when I heard Great White's "Wasted Rock Ranger," and suddenly flashed back to the summer of 1989 in Birch Bay, listening to the tape over and over again with Jamie, trying to decipher the lyrics. I'm not sure what the fascination was, to be honest, but we were in a rock phase that year for sure. We even went to our first big concert that year: Def Leppard!

Def Leppard-Pour Some Sugar On Me

Other songs and artists are always associated with certain people. SJ's music is Dub Narcotic Soundsystem, 50 Cent, Cake, and Justin Timberlake. Sorry, friend, but it's true. This stuff reminds me of driving around in the Jetta, hooch from a paper sack, storming out, grad school in general, writing papers, and cutting up 15 lbs of cheese.

Dub Narcotic Soundsystem-Monkey Hips and Rice
Jay-Z-99 Problems

I will always associate Ken Stringfellow's first full-length solo album and Cat Power's Covers Record with an ex-boyfriend. I gave him the former and he gave me the latter, and I don't know if we ever listened to anything else when we were together.

Ken Stringfellow-Reveal Love
Cat Power-Sea of Love

Other songs are wonderful because they remind me of home. Some are named for Seattle personalities, others make local references that make me smile, and all are from artists I love for one reason or another. This little selection reminds me of different periods of my life: high school, the U-District years, the Capitol Hill Years, and lastly, the late 90s when I went back to finish college.

Flop-Julie Francavilla
Ondine-Yesterday
Heather Duby-You Loved Me
United State of Electronica-Emerald City

in dreams

2009-12-05T00:43:00.002-07:00

One of my goals is to improve my sleeping habits, and tonight aside, I've been doing better. I need to get to bed earlier so I feel better in the mornings, and the last couple of weeks have shown me it works pretty well.

A possible side effect of this move is that I've been remembering my dreams lately, which is sort of unusal for me. I've never been one to have vivid dreams regularly, and I kind of like not knowing what's going on in my brain while I'm snoozing. But for a while now, my dreams have been technicolor fantasies, complete with so much detail I feel like I actually lived them. It's a complete sensory experience, but I won't be sad if they go away soon.

mysteries of life

2009-11-11T00:07:00.003-07:00

I have all sorts of questions lately. Well, if I'm being honest, this is not a new phenomenon. Probably every hour or so I have a WTF moment, and it could be that I have more stress and less sleep in my life than is ideal.

Why do so many people comma splice all over the place? How hard is it to seperate independent clauses with a semicolon, coordinating conjunction, or even better, just stick in a period and make two perfectly nice sentences? This is one of my grammar peeves and I can't overlook it.

Relatedly, is there a comma shortage? I keep seeing egregious displays of comma neglect. Granted, I can go overboard sometimes, and I do acknowledge a very small number of cases where a technically correct sentence might be more elegant if a comma was omitted, but in many cases, commas are essential to meaning.

Why do the coffee shops on campus offer up stir sticks that are far shorter than the coffee cups? I can't reach the sugar crystals that settle to the bottom of my cup without literally sticking my fingers into the coffee. My solution is to pour the coffee about a third of the way up, throw in sugar and milk and stir, then top up with more coffee. This is far more fussing than is ideal.

this just in

2009-11-09T21:48:00.002-07:00

Laramie has Indian food! Well, we've had it for about a month now. I've been to the lunch buffet twice and dinner twice, and I'm happy to admit they passed the paneer masala test. It's my favorite dish of all time, and Passage to India does a nice job. It's no Chutney's or Taste of India, and I didn't like the chai, but it's good and a welcome addition to this town.

buffet lunch from my first visit

Also, they're open on Sunday!

September: farmville, only real.

2009-11-09T20:22:00.010-07:00

At the end of September, I went to a consumer issues conference centering on food production and safety. It included tours of local facilities. First up was Grant Family Farms, a local organic farm. This is where we get our CSA. Check out these carrots.

In addition to veggie shares, like the one I split with Rick, GFF does fruit, egg, meat, and flower shares. These flowers were in the cooler, all ready to be sent out for shareholders. I love all the gladioli!

We spent most of our time at the processing and packing facility, but we also go to see the livestock. They had pigs, chickens, ponies, sheep, and these cute goats. The goats resisted most of my efforts to photograph or otherwise interact with them. The sheep were not so shy. They'd been in a huge flock a ways away, but spotted me stalking them to take a photo and nearly charged me. Those suckers are aggressive and big talkers. Baaa!

These eggs were being cleaned by hand and packed into cartons for sale.

The next day, we toured the university student farm and the university meat lab. The student farm is really small, but they manage to produce quite a bit of food. During summer, I try to buy their stuff at the farmer's market, but sometimes they sell out before I make it down. There wasn't much still growing, but it was interesting to see how they work, and the student volunteers were really great tourguides.

One thing they do year round is compost. These bins are full of finished compost that's ready for use. I need to remember to start collecting compostable scraps, because they let anybody drop stuff off there. I don't garden, so I haven't bothered, but I'd like to reduce my garbage even more than I am through recycling and buying less packaging.

Tools in the corner of the hoop house.

There were lots of things still growing in the hoophouse: tomatoes, tomatillos, swiss chard, edible nasturiums, salad, etc. I liked the perspective from the far end of the house; another group is touring at the other end.

My favorite tour was last. The meat lab was fascinating, and seeing it convinced me to sign up to buy meat from the college of agriculture. Their facility is amazingly clean and efficient. If you've read Fast Food Nation or the recent New York Times article about ground beef, you might have been turned off from eating meat, but not me. Living closer to the production of my food has made me appreciate and feel more comfortable with local, humane meat production, including hunting.

One of the Animal Science professors toured us through the facility, and we spent a lot of time on the slaughter floor learning about the process of killing and butchering cattle, sheep, and pigs. They use these animals as teaching tools, and I checked the course catalog to see what kinds of classes they offer. It's interesting to see titles like Carcass Fabrication, Livestock Slaughter, Meat Processing, and Livestock Judging. Here, our guide is showing us the cooler where meat is hanging and aging.

Students were processing meat while we were there. In another room, other students were preparing ribs to go into the smoker for the Ag Day barbeque the next day. They keep everything pristine in the meat lab. There are separate rooms for butchering and food preperation, and even separate walk-in fridges for raw and cooked meats.

You know, I geek out on any kind of tour, especially food production. I can't count the number of times I've toured breweries or candy factories. But the farm and meat tours were more interesting to me, maybe because they're local and I feel personally connected to it. It makes me think back to high school, where we had a working farm I never even saw. I wasn't in any of the agriculture classes, and wasn't interested. But I bet the kids raising animals back then are a lot like the students I meet at the university now, and I'm kind of sad I totally overlooked it. Back then, I didn't have a clue you could compete in meat judging competitions or how much work that is.

personas

2009-10-21T15:13:00.004-06:00

Leslie posted a link to personas on her FB page, and I tried it. It's interesting, but you can't capture the prettiness of it all, and I didn't see a way to save the result--I grabbed a screenshot of it. I wish it was bigger, but I didn't want to try to save it as a TIFF. Interesting.

favorites

2009-10-14T10:03:00.002-06:00

I'm always surprised when other flickr users "favorite" my photos, especially when they're kind of real-deal talented photographers. I'm a semi-obsessive photographer, but I use a five year old point-and-shoot digital camera that I love mostly because it's tiny and I can carry it with me always, and I know basically nothing about composition, lighting, or any of the fancy settings that are technically possible. I just aim the camera in the general direction of pretty/weird/interesting stuff and hit the button. So it's a happy surprise when something turns out well and when it doesn't, I just delete.

Anyway, here are some of my pictures that people have added to their favorites.

discomfit

2009-09-19T01:26:00.001-06:00

Often, a word comes to me at the most appropriate time. Today, I was feeling discomfited, and thought to myself, "hey, why don't we use discomfit more often." And then I felt better.

three wishes

2009-09-13T14:46:00.002-06:00

1. I wish Laramie had a coffee shop that doesn't suck. Coal Creek's coffee is decent, and so is the atmosphere, but the service is incompetent. My odds of actually having them remember to make my order after taking my money should be better than 1-in-4.

2. I wish there was a way to get a hold of some nice pants without leaving town. There's no way around the fact I can't turn a pair of chinos, three pairs of jeans, and some yoga pants into a work wardrobe. Shopping must be done, whether I want to or not.

3. I wish I spent more time in the moment and less worrying about what's coming next.

Holy Hail

2009-08-30T17:55:00.003-06:00

The photo above is from yesterday evening's big old storm. After getting knocked on the noggin by marble-sized hail as I skittered from my front door to my car, I drove on rivers of hailstones to the grocery store, then wisely tried to wait out the little bastards before going in to fetch my tortilla chips. This is my blurry documentary photography; the rain and hail were coming down way too hard to open the window. Freaky.

Completely unrelatedly, have you heard the NY band Holy Hail? They're pretty good--I discovered them on Hype Machine the other day. Listen to Minute Man (mp3). You can hear more on their MySpace.

Thinking about missing Bumbershoot again has me longing for more live music. It's too bad Denver's so far away and that most of the shows I'd like to see fall mid-week. A friend and I are pondering going to Monolith--the Saturday lineup looks most promising.

I did catch the Jalan Crossland Band set on campus the other day. I enjoyed it, and the students seemed really into it, singing along and getting really crazy during "Trailer Park Fire." I was too tired to stay for the headliners, Head for the Hills, so I'm officially old.

last weekend of summer, part 2

2009-08-24T09:19:00.002-06:00

Sunday brought more hot weather, but also storms. I headed up to Vedauwoo with Chad in the afternoon for the last vertical dance performance. Right as we arrived, the storm broke and pounded freezing cold water down on us. We waited it out in the car before hiking up to the site, and consequently missed the first ten minutes or so of the performance. I wonder if I missed the best part, because I remember some much cooler moves from the show two summers ago.

You can't really see the dancers in the photo above, but I wanted to show the scale of the rock. It's impressive, to be sure, though you need a better vantage point than I had to really see everything. The first time I went, we got there early and staked out a much better spot.

After the show, we drove across the valley to Centennial and hung out at the Bear Tree in the back yard. There was live music, and we had some green chili pizza. It was a nice way to end the day before the semester started.

last weekend of summer

2009-08-23T12:48:00.002-06:00

After the read-in we had in the library for freshman orientation, I headed to Denver with some friends. We had dinner at the Cheeky Monk, where I enjoyed mussels with bacon and blue cheese. So good. Then we saw the Avett Brothers at the Ogden. It was a good show, but sweltering in there. It reminded me of last summer's Old 97's show at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland. I was so sweaty that my jeans felt like they were shrinking as I wore them.

A taste:

is this turning into a food blog?

2009-08-17T21:10:00.004-06:00

Tonight, I took a look in the cupboard and fridge and decided to make chili, which morphed into a chicken chili tortilla soup, based on what I had on hand. You guys, it's so good!

I spiced it with a ton of chili powder, basil, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and garlic powder. It has two cans of stewed tomatoes and a big can of kidney beans, chopped up chicken breasts, and some water. The contributions from the farm share are two white onions and corn. I like to add the tortillas to each serving individually, so they don't get too soggy and floppy, and I top it with a bit of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. This will keep me happy for a few days.

Last night, I baked up some muffins using that zucchini. There was just enough for a batch, and I added in raisins, dried cranberries, and chopped walnuts. I made both regular and mini muffins (I have an aversion to the jumbo muffins).

They're a good breakfast and are so tasty warmed up with butter!

confession

2009-08-16T14:36:00.002-06:00

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned. It's been more than two weeks since my last entry. In that time I've been busy and little of what I've been doing is blog-worthy. School is starting soon, and I'm involved with planning too many upcoming events. My workdays have been long and filled with dozens of small tasks, double checking the timelines for various projects so I'm on track, and being constantly interrupted by urgent email.

But I did start playing softball on a friends' coed team. I'm pretty much terrible, though I usually manage to hit the ball and get on base. They have me playing right field, aka the position least likely to see action, which is okay by me. I wish we had a batting cage in town, because I really need to practice. A friend pointed out that I don't know how to swing the bat without moving my whole body along with it, which is probably why I don't hit the ball very hard or far.

I haven't been at yoga much, mainly because I'm too tired to make the morning classes, and there's enough going on at work that it's hard to get away at noon or early evening. This needs to change, because I need the mental health break. It's worth it.

The vegetable bounty in my farm share seems to be improving. It never seems like that much food, but it's really hard to get through it in a week. Especially the greens. I'm a salad lover, but I'm at capacity. I've been loving the yellow squash and zucchini because it's so fast and easy to saute and eat with whatever protein I have on hand. I still have a pretty big zucchini from last week, so I think I'm going to shred it for bread or muffins. This week, I got a couple baby artichokes, some onions, beets, and sweet corn. The beets will get roasted and thrown in a salad with some grapefruit and a citrus vinaigrette. It's fun to try to figure out ways to use this stuff with whatever else I have laying around.

Cooking up trouble

2009-07-29T11:49:00.002-06:00

You know how when you know you're going out of town soon, you kind of stop buying groceries a little too early and justify eating a burrito on campus for lunch and make grilled cheese for dinner every night? And then after you get back to town, you come home to a house with hardly any food, but you're pretty broke from vacation and conferencing and don't want to go to the store until you can really make a plan and a list and do it right? Just me?

So I've been putting together meals out of whatever I have lying around. Just when I think there aren't any ingredients left that go together, I come up with something pretty decent. Last night's dinner was better than decent, actually. Inspiration struck when I saw the tub of couscous in the back of my cupboard. Now that I'm back, I'm able to actually use the CSA share I'm splitting with Rick. Last week's bin included a couple of zucchini, which I love. Inspiration part two. Recipe below.

Desperation Couscous (10-15 minutes)

Heat cast iron skillet to medium heat and add some olive oil. Put kettle on to boil.
Throw 1 c. couscous in a bowl with about 1/3 c. slivered almonds.
To the now-hot skillet, add around 1 c. zucchini chunks and 1/2 a red onion, chopped. Add some course sea salt and some herbs de provence. Stir regularly to evenly carmelize the veggies. Add in some jarred roasted red pepper when you realize you have it.
When water boils, pour 1 c. into the bowl of couscous. Cover with an inverted plate and let sit until the veggies are cooked to your liking.
Chop up a few (I used three) slices of cooked bacon*. Take the veggies off the heat.
Uncover the couscous and fluff with a fork. Throw the veggies in and mix. Add the bacon and mix again.
Serve and eat. There should be enough for lunch tomorrow.

As I sit eating leftovers in my office today, I realize I should have thrown in some raisins or dried cranberries. If I'd had more patience, I would have sauteed some chicken and thrown it in, too. Normally I would have added some kind of cheese (most likely feta, chevre, or parmesan), but I didn't have anything but chedder.

*When I cook bacon, I always bake up the whole pound and then freeze what I don't need in little packets of 2-4 slices each. This way I buy the cheaper, larger package and only make my house smell like bacon a few times a year.

"When Blogs Collide" or "There's a Whole Lotta Fishnet Up in This Bitch"

2009-07-16T12:30:00.003-06:00

I was in Seattle for two weeks! And while I was there, I met up with Jess and we schemed up an interblogsection that I'm only just now getting around to posting. Hers is up and it's here. As she mentioned, the title of the posts comes from Ryan's observation of the bar. He said it so seriously, too.

Jess captured the night pretty well, truth be told. We met up at King's Hardware, which I keep reading about on the Slog. I expected it to be all hipster and annoying, but we were there early enough on a weeknight that we might have missed that crowd. My billy burger was devine. Can you beat grass-fed beef with goat cheese, roasted garlic, and onions? No, I don't think you can.

It is always fun to hang out with Jess and reminisce about our days in the 'Ville. One part of the customer shitting story she left out was that we had called the police on that gal because she'd forged/altered a prescription for vicodin. Oh, yes. The shoplifting was merely an added bonus. When the MPD arrived to nab her, she ran into the bathroom claiming her period had started (wtf?). But really, she shit herself in fear. I recall there being two women involved, but only the younger one lost control of her bowels. Good times.

I seriously covet Jess's t-shirt here, by the way. It seems like we took tons of pictures that night, but I really only have a few. Damn it! After much hemming and hawing, we left for the belgian pub, but the highlight was the Baranof. In addition to the peek-a-boo toilet stalls, the 'Nof has Poseidon to watch over you while you pee.

Never fear, the god of the sea is here! But of course, the best part of the whole experience was the karaoke. I conducted a video interview of Jess, for your enjoyment.

Spring fever

2009-06-07T12:24:00.002-06:00

The weather has been cool and stormy this past week. I don't mind this, as it reminds me of home. It really affects me in various ways: my hair reverts to its naturally curly state because the humidity is above zero; I start drinking a lot more coffee throughout the day; my sleep paradoxically improves, possibly because of the afforementioned humidity; I drop into dreamy reverie often, prompted by the scent of wet lilac, the sound of rain, or watching the clouds over the mountains to the west.

I also get a bit dippy, judging from the paragraph above.

I'm updating from the coffee shop on my iPod, so I can't add any photos. Recent fun things I've done include going to the Neko Case show in Denver, laying around reading novels, and buying my ticket to Seattle for my TWO-WEEK visit!

I know I've been M.I.A.

2009-05-14T11:36:00.000-06:00

There's stuff going on, and even stuff worth writing about. But instead of talking about me, I'll post a video of Ken Stringfellow and his gorgeous voice.

neglected

2009-04-12T11:05:00.003-06:00

I've been remiss in not updating the world on my fabulous life. Heh. You know I'm kidding, right. Since my Seattle/Phoenix adventures, I've been totally wrapped up in life and not really taking the time to reflect on it.

Not long after coming back home, I left again for Wichita to go to the Kansas Library Association/Mountain Plains Library Association conference. Highlights of the trip include eating paella, drinking whiskey with Josh Neff, and barely restraining myself from buying shoes I can't afford at a very cute boutique in Old Town. I also enjoyed this sign on the front door of the Hyatt where we stayed.

After getting back to Laramie, I got caught up in work business and the impending move to the new offices in the addition to the Library. It's beautiful in there. I haven't take any photos in the office suite yet, but here's a sneaky peep through my old office into the new building.

And then it was my birthday! I kind of celebrated all weekend. I ate a cupcake at my desk on Thursday.

I had drinks out and then watched Point Break with Chad on my actual birthday. I'm glad I have friends who like cheesy movies as much as I do sometimes. No pictures from friday, strangely. On Saturday, a couple of other April babies and I had a party, where we danced, drank, and ate fun foods. I took some pictures, but was more into partying than photography. And here I am after the party, all sweaty and messed up from dancing.

Today's all about lazing around and reveling in not having to be anywhere. Happy Easter!

the big trip

2009-03-23T02:23:00.003-06:00

I've been through several states in the past couple of weeks. First up was Seattle, for the ACRL conference. The first thing I did when we checked into the Paramount was look out the window of our room and take in the lovely city view.

Then, we skipped the opening keynote in favor of a little shopping (needed top and cute shoes for the presentation, of course) before heading to the College Inn for drinks with the ipeeps and some assorted non-librarian friends. After that, Mel took Rick and me to the Little Red Hen, where I two-stepped badly with some guy and drank some Rainier beer from a can. The place was packed and the music was good.

Friday was kind of a blur of poster session committee work, but I do remember Sherman Alexie's keynote. As always, I loved him.

After that, we headed to the Space Needle for a reception. There was a DJ who gamely played "Jump on It" at my request. Sadly, my booty shaking did not inspire other librarians to follow suit. I drank too many glasses of wine from the open bar, then snapped this shaky picture from the observation deck.

There was more to Friday night, but some of it involved me becoming belligerant at being charged $17.50 for a drink, and therefore does not bear repeating. Saturday was the big day of the presentation. I was supposed to meet up with family downtown for breakfast, but the St. Patrick's Day parade and I-5 construction scared them off. I think Rick and I handled the session well, though being assigned a huge ballroom that could hold at least 500 people made our crowd of about 100 seem kind of sparse. You can see the cute top here, but the rad shoes are sadly out of sight.

Other highlights of Saturday included dinner at Etta's, where I ate oysters, mussels, and a giant crab salad. Then we went to the all-conference reception at EMP. Once I walked in and saw the DJ, I danced and danced and didn't get around to any of the exhibits. After the party ended, my friend Patrick and his friend Ryan took me dancing at the Baltic Room. It was Indian dance night, and was so much fun. Alas, no photos of this evening were taken because I was living it up too much to get out the camera.

Sunday was the last day of conference, and we woke up to snow. I thought Rick was kidding when he said it was snowing, but here's the proof.

The final event was Ira Glass's keynote. He spoke sitting down at a mixing board and basically ran his talk like a radio show. It was really fascinating, especially when he talked about the process of putting shows together, choosing stories, and craftily tugging at heartstrings. Very cool.

After a quick Indian lunch at Westlake, we headed to the airport and flew back to Denver. From there, we drove as far as Pueblo, Colorado and stayed the night at a motel where we deemed it appropriate to sleep in our sleeping bags on top of the bed. Again, I regret the lack of photographic evidence. Monday was all-driving, all the time. We made it to Phoenix at about 10:00pm and managed to hang out with Peter for about an hour before we all crashed.

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day. In case you can't remember a week ago, that was a handy reminder. Peter went off to work, and Rick and I went downtown to check out the Phoenix Public Library. I am a good librarian nerd tourist, after all. It was pretty snazzy.

Then we had lunch with Peter, followed by an A's vs. Diamondbacks game. Oakland demolished the D-backs, I got a sunburn, and we decided to bail after seven innings of sitting on what felt like the surface of the sun. It was a good time, though. I think this is Nomar coming up to bat, but it's hard to see.

We met up with Peter again for some St. Pat's Day drinks on Mill Avenue. After a while of that, we decided to grab some food and came upon an Ethiopian place. Here we are after feasting on delicious, delicious food. Note that the guys both have the red devil-eyes, while I am obviously demon-free.

Getting tired yet? On Wednesday, after kind of a late start and general clulessness about where to eat breakfast, Rick and I went to Taliesin West. It was really beautiful and I'd be into going back. Our tour guide was pretty interesting, and though 90 minutes is a long time to listen to somebody talk, we agreed that it's worth it to get to go into the residence, which you can't do on the hour long tour.

After Taliesin, we had lunch with Rick's grandparents. He took off to hang out with them at their place, and I met back up with Peter and his family for a relaxing evening sitting outside in the yard. It felt amazing to be outside in a tank top well into the evening in March. I was acutely aware that I would not be able to to the same when I got home. After P and I drove out to collect R, we all grabbed some late dinner on our last evening together.

The three of us had breakfast together on Thursday, where Rick finally got his bagel sandwich and I finally got my Jamba Juice. This is why god invented strip malls, yo. Then R and I took off for Wyoming. We drove through Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and finally, finally, finally made it to Laramie at 3:00am. It was fifteen or so hours of driving, eating snacks we'd grabbed at Trader Joe's, bickering, singing along to music, and just wanting to get home already. But it was a wonderful trip, and I'm glad we did it. Besides, we got to drive though 1000 miles of our beautiful country on the return trip alone. This final picture is from Monument Valley.

"I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates..."

2009-03-05T14:03:00.003-07:00

photo by Marshall Astor (used under Creative Commons license)

I don't actually have my own skates yet, but I did go to my very first roller derby practice on Wednesday night! It's something I've been interested in trying for a while, but with the nearest team about an hour away in Ft. Collins, I knew the likelihood of making practices was slim. But recently, the Naughty Pines started up here in Laramie and now that I'm over the flu, I'm ready!

It took me about five minutes into practice to realize I really like it. I'm sore from the holds in skating position, but look forward to more. It's a great workout, and I think it will be a nice counterbalance to the yoga (which I really need to start up again). Stay tuned, and send vibes for no broken bones or teeth!

9 thoughts in my head

2009-02-23T18:05:00.005-07:00

1. I am wearing new cowboy boots today. It's very satisfying.
2. My to-do list is terrifying. Remind me to never get sick and miss 4 days of work the week before taking a few vacation days.
3. Should I be concerned that I still have little to no appetite? Can I live on tacos, coffee, and yogurt (1 serving of each per day) indefinitely?
4. Statistical significance is freaking me out.
5. Is a western-wear shirt, a pencil skirt, and heels appropriate for a national conference presentation?
6. I'm really hoping to love the new Neko Case album. Mark also reminded me to pick up the new Morrissey, which he thinks is amazing.
7. My mom gave me a great new clutch. It's navy patent with gold hardware, and is oversized. Women stop me to compliment it and men generally think it's horrible.
8. I'm reading The Perfect Scent, by Chandler Burr and it inspired me to start wearing perfume again. Today I'm wearing Fendi, which reminds me of Melanie. (My other favorites are Chanel's Egoiste for men, Jil Sander No.4, and YSL's Paris.)
9. If I don't get outside for some exercise, I will go crazy. But will I die if I try to go snowshoeing while still wheezy from bronchitus?

what's the frequency, Kenneth?

2009-02-22T22:12:00.003-07:00

Update! Denver's Fox station now comes in badly. Denver's ABC station comes in pretty well. I got the latter to a barely-snowy setting, but then when I tried moving away from the antenna, the reception got worse. When I sat between the dipoles, it got better. When I leaned in toward the tv and raised my arm up, it got even better. My mom said I was required to stay there so she can watch the news. Her laughing comment, "You're going to get cancer! Stay there and block the radiation!" Nice mother I have, huh? (By the way, neither of us really thinks cancer is funny. At all.)

Needless to say, I'm not still sitting three inches from the teevee, but I am watching the insipid network news and it's surprisingly satisfying. Once we go digital, I should be in pretty great shape. Yes, I realize I'm posting a lot about my tv antenna, but it's on my mind these days. I think it was spring training starting that really spurred me on to get hooked back up on television. If I can watch some baseball this season, that would be nice. I'm also determined not to pay the cable company any money, ever. You might remember my fight with them a couple of years ago, when they wanted to charge me for cable that wasn't even working properly (I got sound or a picture, but never both on the same station). Well, they will be on my list forever.

In more entertainment news, I went to the MFA Creative Writing reading tonight. It was a nice way to end the weekend. I especially liked Julie's fiction piece, but I enjoyed all of it. The coming week has lots going on, and I need to balance out all of it with getting actual work done. Being sick for almost a week, then taking a few vacation days for Mom's visit means I have a lot to do in the next couple of weeks. But there are some good shows in Denver, and it looks like I have company for both Andrew Bird's show on Thursday and the Railbenders on Friday. Fun times.

adventures in television

2009-02-21T21:52:00.002-07:00

I finally picked up a digital converter and an antenna. So far, I can't get any analog stations, probably because I live too far from the transmitters. I'm picking up two digital channels, clear as a bell. So I have Wyoming PBS and Denver PBS. Not terrible, but I still don't have any local news. I can almost get the sound of the Cheyenne Fox station, but no picture. Bah. Guess I'll have to wait until June and see which digital stations will reach me. This is annoying.

new music Monday

2009-02-16T23:42:00.002-07:00

Tonight I bought three new CDs. When I was still in the 206, I used to go to Sonic Boom and buy a stack of new stuff at least once a month. They always have the smokin' deals on new releases and they have everything I would want. Since I've moved here, I never buy music in stores. Actually, I get a lot of music from the library and by occasionally ordering from S.B. online.

But tonight, I was in Hastings and wandered to the music section. A sign proclaiming "Hot and New" caught my eye. I guess I thought the selection would be pretty middle of the road, but I was surprised to see some stuff I've been meaning to check out and all of it was on sale for $8.99 or $10.99. Nice. My haul: Ben Kweller, Changing Horses; Andrew Bird, Noble Beast; and Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavillion. I will report back when I've had a chance to give them more attention.

One thing I will note is that all of these albums are in those now-ubiquitous all-paper cases. I like the idea behind these and I rightfully hate fragile plastic jewel cases, but the paper ones are so freaking annoying. Either the CD falls out constantly or is ridiculously hard to remove at all. Why, in this age of packaging and marketing, can we not have a useful holder for compact disks?

Andrew Bird is playing the Bluebird in Denver at the end of the month, and if I fall in love with this record, I'm going to want to go. I'm already planning to go to the Railbenders show the next day, so it could get tiring and crazy for me. A tiny bit of sadness: Junior Boys are coming this weekend and I can't go. My mom's coming to town and it would totally not be nice to bail on her to go to Denver for a show. But hey, my mom's coming for a visit, which should be really nice.

XOXO

2009-02-14T11:25:00.003-07:00

I'm neither a huge fan of nor a huge hater of Valentine's Day. I think it's a little weird to have one sanctioned day for really commercialized and cliched gestures of love, and I do really despise all the sexist advertising that accompanies the date. Men, the only way you can show a woman you love her is to buy her diamonds, red roses (better plan ahead), or tacky stuffed animals? Women, if you don't get one of these approved gifts, you better act like a child and pout because that's what women do. Gross. But there's something sweet and lovely about couples doing something little and nice for each other on Valentine's Day, like making a nice card, going to dinner, and spending time together. Who could hate that, really?

Once, I went on a first date on Valentine's Day. Weird, yes. Planned, no. The guy in question and I had been sort of working up to it for a while. It was obvious we liked each other, but he seemed shy and I was preoccupied waiting to hear back on grad school applications, so nothing had happened. Finally, he asked me to go see The Royal Tenenbaums with him the next night and I agreed, so the date was set. The next morning, I got an email from him--I probably still have it, hang on. Yes, my email is like a junk drawer.

Friday, February 14, 2001 2:45 a.m.
Subject: VD
From: Anonymous ex-boyfriend (spoiler alert!)
To: Kaijsa

I'm going to bed, but Jon Auer is on the radio singing "Baby Bitch." Happy V.D.?!

It literally took me an hour to realize what he was talking about. When it finally dawned on me, I proceeded to feel weird about the date all day long. And what was up with the question mark and exclamation points?

Before the movie, we went to Starbucks for some coffee. It was all going fine, we were having a conversation about something, and then at the same time, we both looked around and noticed that literally every table had a snuggling couple in it. My date kind of smiled, shrugged, and grabbed my hand. It was funny. And then we held hands for the next five hours. So it was a good date. We were together for about six months, and then I started my master's program. I still wouldn't necessarily advise a first date on VD, but in my case it was pretty fun.

flu

2009-02-12T09:31:00.003-07:00

I haven't been sick for a long time, like late 2007. There were times I felt like something was coming on, but upping my fluids and vitamin C and taking naps always worked to head it off. So I was feeling pretty invincible, especially after seeing my coworkers get sick over and over this fall and winter and never having more than a sneeze or two myself.

Well, I guess I'm mortal after all. I got a huge smackdown this week, in the form of the real-deal flu: headache, body aches, chills, fever, head and chest congestion, wracking cough, dizziness. The first day also featured major nausea and vomiting. That seems to have gone away, but I still don't feel like eating much. I had some ice cream last night, but lost interest when it was clear I couldn't really taste it. I'm trying to drink some orange juice right now, but my throat is so raw it hurts going down.

Not that there's a good time to get sick, but this week was particularly bad. I have classes scheduled every day and we're in the middle of both website usability study and interviews for a faculty position. A colleague covered two of my classes, but I decided to come in this morning for today's session. I figured I'd come in, teach the class, and go home--no problem. Uh, wrong. I managed a shower okay, but it took me 45 minutes to get dressed, then by the time I got to campus I was almost too dizzy to walk. I got through the class--barely--but was a sweaty mess by the end.

Now I'm back home on the couch, wondering if I'll ever feel better. It's only been two days, but I feel the same as I did on Tuesday, minus the vomiting, so I wonder how long this crap takes to heal. I'm scheduled to work this weekend, but I think I'm going to have to get coverage. Spending hours on the reference desk in this condition is not a good plan.

shiny shiny

2009-02-09T20:17:00.005-07:00

I love television, and I'm not afraid to say so. Even though I haven't subscribed to cable tv for a couple of years, I keep up with several shows by watching online. At first, I went to various network websites and streamed shows there. Then almost two years ago already (!), Hulu (owned by NBC) came along and made life so much easier because they have content from more than just NBC shows. I really like the interface and the way the subscriptions work and automatically queue up your shows for you, but not everything I'd watch is available on the site.

Sometime last fall, I discovered Fancast (owned by Comcast), which includes some shows from networks that don't partner with Hulu. The subscriptions aren't as slick, and I don't like the interface quite as much, especially the way not all the content is fully embedded in the site. To watch WB and ABC shows, you get kicked out into the network site, and a new window spawns. I don't much care for this arrangement, frankly. Hulu links out to other sites, too, but they make it more clear that the content isn't actually on their site. However, it's easier to watch HIMYM there than on CBS's horrid site, so I continue to patronize Fancast.

Just the other day, I learned about the latest entry in the streaming tv portal race. It's Sling, which is still in beta. So far, I like it. For one, it's a little more social than Fancast, which isn't at all, or Hulu, which allows comments on show and individual episode pages. Sling also has a blog, which is written byTara Ariano, whose own blog I linked to a couple of sentences ago. Ariano was a founder of TWOP, and other sites I've enjoyed through the years, and she both writes well and knows television well. The quality of the video is really good, and you can subscribe to shows and have them added to your profile automagically, which I love.

All of this brings me to another weakness I have: technolust. Another interesting thing about Sling is the Slingbox ($179.99 and up) they have available. It's basically the same idea as the Netflix Roku ($99 and up)--it allows you to stream television shows/movies on your tv. Now I'm torn. Eventually, I'm sure there will be some miraculous and cheap invention that combines a Tivo/DVR and a box that will stream anything from any site. You can stream Netflix (not sure about other web content) on a Tivo HD, but they're $399 and I already own and no longer use two Tivos that are in perfect working order. Apple is hawking its Apple TV ($229 and up) which could do all of this, sans DVR option. I know people who use a Mac mini ($599 and up) or a Windows box for this very thing. These options add in the amazing Roku SoundBridge features, letting you stream internet radio and your iTunes, too. Bliss.

I'm definitely too cheap to invest much in anything like this right now. I'm also not shelling out for an HD tv or cable, but I am thinking of getting an HD converter and a digital antenna to see if I can get some over-the-air channels. If that works, I'll reconnect the Tivo and see if there's a way to hook up my Windows box, too. There aren't many connectors on the tv, so this may not work. Of course, I'm still focused on getting my Ubuntu laptop to work with wireless (ethernet is a go, though), so my skillz might not be quite as sharp as they need to be. It makes me think, though, about how to use what I have and sort of jury-rig together a solution that works without buying a ton of new electronics.

happy hour

2009-02-07T00:23:00.002-07:00

I had planned to work late again tonight, but when 5:00pm rolled around, I was burned out and was glad to go downtown to meet some people for happy hour. I still have to do a bunch of stuff this weekend, but there's plenty of time to do it.

What I'm really looking forward to this weekend is sleeping until I wake up with no alarm tomorrow. I've already stayed up too late again tonight, but that's okay.

Have you seen any good movies? I watched The Duchess last night, and was pleasantly surprised by it. Sometimes I'm really in the mood for a soapy costume drama. A friend told me today that he just watched and enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl. Looks like I'm not alone in my tastes. Speaking of movies, I keep trying to force myself to go to a new one in the theater, but I just can't. Maybe it's that I'm not ready to sit still at 7:00pm, but the thought of a 9:30pm show makes me weep from exhaustion. I haven't made it to either of the spring film movies, either. What's wrong with me?

But I'm not just full of complaints. I've also enjoyed several things this week, namely the music I borrowed from the libraries: Hayes Carll, Neko Case, Bill Frisell, and Drive-by Truckers. I've spent so much time at my desk, banging out reports, handouts, lesson plans, and answering emails that I've had more chance to sit still and listen to music. All I want to hear right now is country.

Also, the most delightful bit of dialogue appeared on FNL week before last, courtesy of the always delightful Tim Riggins.
Lila: Where are your pants?
Riggins: They're over there, by the refrigerator. It was hot
The logic is unassailable. Damn, I love that show.

transform into new variable

2009-02-05T23:27:00.002-07:00

The other day, a friend asked why I haven't been blogging much lately. It's true, though I have started posts and abandoned them several times over the past couple of weeks. What's happened since Midwinter?

I replaced XP with Ubuntu on my virus-infested laptop. Then I found out my wireless drivers don't work, so I can't connect to the internet. FFS! I swear something broke in my head when that happened. I have set this total clusterfuck aside until I have the time and mental stability to deal with it. Until then, I use ye olde craptop with the burned out battery and slow-ass processing.

Peter moved away. I had been in denial until I saw him walking toward me to say goodbye and I just burst into tears. It's not all sadness, though. He'll always be my friend and I can't wait to hear about his new adventures.

My mom's coming to visit me in two weeks. I'm really looking forward to it.

I watched a hockey game, in person. And the Superbowl, on tv. And a basketball game, on tv. I saw some mediocre sketch comedy last night. And read a pretty YA novel.

I got a haircut, with bangs. Now I'm thinking I need to get more of it cut off.

I've been spending even more time in my office lately. There's a lot to do right now, and it's easier to concentrate after 5:00, when my phone doesn't ring and email tapers way off. Sometimes I come home and just stress out over stuff I could be working on if I'd stayed at work longer.

Rick and I presented our research to the library faculty yesterday. I think it went well and it was fun to talk about it. I'm always so impressed with him when he talks about this stuff. I'm lucky to have him as my research partner.

Thinking about the research often makes me tired or anxious. There's always so much more to think about, cross-tabulate data, group results differently to show relationships. And it's nerve-wracking to think that our article is going to be reviewed by people who know so much more than we do about social science research. But then when I talk about it and answer questions, I get so excited and think that this is actually what I'm meant to be doing.

post-Midwinter

2009-01-26T22:12:00.002-07:00

This weekend was the most fun in Denver I've ever had. My schedule was pretty tight, and it got cold, cold, cold, but I managed to wedge in lots of friend time. Strangely for me, I didn't really take photos--just a few with my phone on a tour of Denver Open Media, and a couple of my friend Mark and me when we were sippin' on some whiskey here last night. We had a half-baked plan to see Meat Puppets at the Bluebird on Saturday, but that didn't pan out. It was probably a better use of my time to spend it at the LSW meet up and the Facebook librarians meet up. The latter was really two different groups at the same bar, but that was cool. It would have been hard to talk to a bigger group. I got to catch up with Linda and talk to Joe again, so that was fun. I only had a total of twelve hours of sleep in three nights, but it was worth it.

2009-01-23T00:38:00.003-07:00

Blue Scholars' Sabzi spins

This has been kind of a crazy short week. Between Monday off for MLK Day and leaving in the morning for Midwinter, I only had three days to get stuff done at work. In the best of situations, there's always more work to do than time to do it, but I managed to be fairly productive.

There was also some fun mixed in here and there. On Tuesday, we had the inauguration, of course. I watched the swearing-in ceremony on one of the tvs in the student union. That evening, I saw Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra at the Cultural Programs series on campus. It was great--they played for two hours straight with no intermission. I almost always like the artists this series brings to town, but jazz was a nice change from the mostly-classical lineup. Next month, it's modern dance!

Then on Wednesday, Blue Scholars played on campus. How could I miss a free show--in Laramie, no less--from a Seattle band who I know is good. There were at least 100 kids there, and they were all way into the music. I was pleased BS played my favorite of their songs, "North by Northwest." I did my share of dancing, too.

Tonight was more mellow, but still great. Dinner was at the Thai place, where we had summer rolls, a spicy beef and veggie dish, and a special, softshell crab in green curry. Tasty. After that loveliness, I got to watch The Office and 30 Rock before coming home to procrastinate packing by playing around online. So, I've had a pretty good week, even though I am a bit worn out.

hypochondriac

2009-01-21T23:27:00.002-07:00

So, my eyeballs hurt today. After a while, my whole head ached, down to my teeth. It made me very unhappy to look at a computer screen. Slight nausea also accompanied the headache. Still, I went about my business and managed to work, come home and cook dinner for me and T, and then go back to campus for the hip-hop show. But after I got back home and in my jammies, I got a bloody nose. For a few minutes, I was convinced I had a brain tumor. I'm sure it's just a stress headache and the bloody nose is from the 29% humidity we're currently enjoying. But still, it's disconcerting.

Nebraska

2009-01-19T19:14:00.004-07:00

Heading out on I-80 eastbound

Even though it's one of my six (!) bordering states, I'd never been to Nebraska before today. I've seen Montana, Idaho, Utah, and Colorado, but South Dakota and Nebraska were unknown. Actually, I'm sort of clueless about most of the middle of this country, sad to say. But Rick was heading to Sidney, and I took the opportunity to tag along and experience NE for the first time. Peter came, too.

Our shadows on the playground

We stopped a few times along the way, first at a rest stop near Pine Bluffs, WY. We wasted a few minutes on the playground. It was very windy, like crazy. I thought we might fly off the top of this dome.

Flags

See, it's very windy.

jackpot!

Just at the state line, we stopped at a weird little junk store (closed) that had dozens of gas pumps outside. There were also old vacuum cleaners, farm equipment, and a million other things.

Kaijsa and Peter find the good life

Just up the road, Rick was nice enough to stop and take my picture at the Nebraska sign. I wish I could have done that for him this summer in Washington and Oregon, but we were on I-90 heading into WA and then(obviously) crossed into OR in the middle of the Columbia, which means we couldn't stop on a bridge. Sad. Back to Nebraska, I never would have guessed it was the home of Arbor Day, because there are like twelve whole trees there.

The next dust bowl

Remember how I said it was windy? Well, that kicked up an amazing amount of dust. It was mid-morning here, but it looks like dusk. We also saw a million tumbleweeds as they crashed into us. I felt bad for Rick having to drive with such a strong crosswind, but I was happy to be the passenger, even though I was riding on the hump--we sat three across in the pick-up.

One of these things is not like the other

Another fun roadside attraction was this shrine. Seriously. There was a sign that said "Shrine" with an arrow. Sweet. In addition to the giant virgin, there were fourteen statues for the stations of the cross, plus bonus postscripts. And there were several madonna and child statues in front of Mary, but I didn't look to closely. Maybe some of them were various saints.

The weary travelers and a moose

Of course, the reason we went to Sidney was to go to Cabela's. I'd also never been to one, and this is the mothership. I asked a nice man to take our picture in front of the moose, because it's Rick's favorite and he seems to have bad luck finding them in the wild. I personally enjoyed the big horn sheep, posed in mid-frolic, as well as the wolverine. We also ate lunch; I had a tasty buffalo burger.

The big pants

None of us bought anything, but we had some fun poking around. Finally, we headed back home. On the way, we stopped in Cheyenne and I experienced another first--bought 50 cent ice cream cones at Little America, home of the fanciest restrooms in Wyoming.

couch potato

2009-01-13T23:22:00.004-07:00

In an effort to avoid working on an article that's close to deadline, I pretended to tidy up my tv stand area. I have a heap of old videotapes and popped one into the machine. It was a few episodes of Gilmore Girls from during winter of 2000-2001. Richard just had his heart attack during Christmas dinner, FYI. I used to record them on my Tivo (remind me to one day tell the story of how I won my first Tivo in a writing contest) and then for some reason, archive them on video. Weird.

The show is great and stands the test of time pretty well. But what I can't believe are the ads. The WB showed teasers for shows I had completely forgot about or didn't even know existed in the first place. And there were ads for products and services for things that don't exist anymore. Jamie Lee Curtis was in a spot for VoiceStream, which I understand to be a wireless phone service. And do they make Herbal Essences shampoo anymore? Those commercials were terrible. But GG is amazing. The music alone is crazy: XTC, Claudine Longet, Wilco, The Cure, Big Star, Beck, Grant Lee Phillips, Granddaddy, Elvis Costello, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Brian Jonestown Massacre...clearly the show was made for me.

Oh, I almost forgot: Rory has a pager in season one.

Unrelated randomness, in linky format:
I hate Dora's new hairdo.
Karl Rove claims Bush is a big old bookworm.
Celebrities continue giving their kids stupid names.
Seattle might lose its best newspaper, and that sucks.

resolved

2009-01-13T20:47:00.003-07:00

So, you know how I said I didn't make any New Year's resolutions? I guess I lied. I also lied about starting cross-country ski lessons, too. I meant to, but when I realized how many of the classes I'd have to miss due to work/conference/visitors plus the lack of full-season ski rentals available in town, I bagged it. I'll snowshoe this year and maybe try snowboarding once or twice with Tawnya. She doesn't know what she's in for.

Anyway, where was I? Oh! I did make a couple of small resolutions, and I think I can keep them. First, I'm determined to stop paying for disposable coffee cups. I go through spurts of bringing mugs to work, but one-by-one, they pile up festering in my office until I run out and can't face taking them all home to wash them. Then I fall into the disposable cup habit again. These days, I force myself to rinse out the cup and remember to take it home at night. Today I even forced myself to go back to my office to retrieve said cup when I was halfway to the union already and realized I'd forgot it. Aren't I virtuous?

The other resolution is also a cost-saving, waste-reducing measure. I need to pack my lunch and snacks every day and not buy food at work more than a couple of times a month. Again, falling into the habit of eating out is too easy. I work late, come home tired, either grab something on the way home, go out with friends, or eat something quick (grilled cheese, soup) for dinner. Then I don't have any leftovers for lunch. My morning routine only recently bent to include breakfast, so I don't know that I can force myself to design lunches in the mornings, too.

Wow, wasn't that interesting? I've found that it takes me a long time to make changes in my habits. First, I cut down from a latte a day to mostly drip coffees. Then I cut down to just a couple of coffees a week. Maybe one of these days, I'll make bigger steps, but I'm not counting on it.

boxing up

2009-01-12T23:41:00.005-07:00

I finally put away my Christmas stuff, what little I have. This year, I actually put up a tree and bought some multicolored balls and lights to put on it. The only things I already had were some lights I didn't realize I had before going shopping, literally three (3) random ornaments (an icicle, a glittery ball, and a tiny Bert from Sesame Street), and a beautiful tree skirt my mother made--it's strip quilted in a spiral pattern. I also have the ornaments pictured above.

They're Margaret Furlongs. Back in high school and for a few years afterwords, I really loved these. My mom would buy them for me for birthdays, Christmas, and other occasions, and my best friend and I gave them to each other, too. I still really like them, even though I've never really been into angels. It's the shell theme and the all-white porcelain, I think. They're pretty, and though the themes are religious, I never really think of them that way. The last two I remember getting are both from 2000: the Millennium Angel and the National Celebration Angel. I think the latter was to commemorate the G.W. Bush inauguration, but I chose to ignore that fact. So, it's been a while since I bought or received any of these. Maybe I'll pick up a couple more if I see them around and do an all-white tree next year. Who knows?

home for the holidays

2009-01-01T23:17:00.002-07:00

forest kelpie, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

I got back to Laramie yesterday just before noon, and I'm still so tired. The trip to Seattle was hectic and filled with hassles, but turned out well in the end.

Highlights include spending time with my nephew and the rest of the family, pinochle, Vietnamese lunch with SJ, day of fun with Melanie and Ed, drinks on Capitol Hill, finally getting my luggage, walking to breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, pouring rain replacing snow, and sleeping in late.

By the way, the photo above is my favorite of Ed's kelpies. It's creepy awesome.

year end

2009-01-01T21:41:00.003-07:00

Found this end of the year meme at the Pop Culture Librarian. Here's my take.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?

I feel like most of what I did this year was different. I guess I'd never gone ice skating, done a headstand, gone snowshoeing, presented solo at a conference, or watched The Wire until this year.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did I make any resolutions last year? I don't think so, but I did manage to continue being more active and spending more time outdoors. Resolutions seem like a lot of pressure, but I have plenty of plans. I'm going to start cross-country skiing in next week!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Holly had twin girls! We aren't in close touch these days, but I'm so happy for her.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, and I feel grateful for that.

5. What countries did you visit?
I'm such a globetrotter that I visited Canada and saw some more of the US.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
There are all kinds of things to want, but I have most of what I need. There are two things I would really like, but I'm keeping them to myself.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory?
January 20th was Rick's 30th birthday party and the day I met Peter. I can't believe it's only been a year and he's one of my best friends. Craig and Shannon got married on June 14th. August 2nd was the day of Rick's and my amazing road trip vacation. I spent a magical day at Aspen Alley with friends on September 27th. On November 4th, we elected our next president, one with promise. December 19th was special.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I made some amazing friends.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Maybe I'm lucky, but I don't think I had one.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was only sick once in 2008, and it wasn't too bad.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
For myself, a new showerhead. I also managed to buy some pretty kick-ass gifts, too.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Behavior? I think there was plenty of good behavior, but I don't know what merits celebrating. I guess all my people were pretty awesome this year and deserve a party.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
So many people, but luckily for me, nobody among my friends or family.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Ugh, what a terrible question. Obviously most of my money went to bills, but I most of my discretionary income went to eating out too often.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The presidential election.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Wagon Wheel.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Mostly the same. Maybe a tiny bit happier, tempered by the realization three of my friends are moving away.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner.
c) richer or poorer? The same.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Everything great in my life.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Blaming myself for things.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with my family, back home in the 206.

21 is missing. Time to take a breather...

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I fell down and broke myself in 2007 and keep doing it over and over.

23. How many one-night stands?
None.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
All my tv comes from the internet and DVDs. I enjoyed Gossip Girl, The Wire, and How I met Your Mother.

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.

26. What was the best book you read?
As Librarian Girl said, this question is too hard for a librarian. I read several books, but really loved Bridge of Sighs and Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
These were in short supply this year because I kept listening to old stuff. I got into Cloud Cult and Les Savy Fav.

28. What did you want and get?
An enameled cast-iron dutch oven.

29. What did you want and not get?
Ugh, let's not go into it.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Films! I need to write a whole post just on films. So, I can't pick one. Some goodies: Mongol, Tell No One, and Juno (yes, I liked it). I'm forgetting good stuff.

31. What did you do on your birthday?
I had a dinner party at Rick's. We cooked Thai food and he made me a tasty chocolate zucchini cake. Everybody drank wine and Peter hilariously demonstrated yoga poses. It was also pouring down snow! Photos!

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
It's always about people. It would have been great to spend more time with the friends and family I love.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
I basically just bought the cheapest stuff that fit, then did the same thing the next month when I was a different size.

34. What kept you sane?
Not a what, a who. Or plural who. Peter, specifically, but friends in general.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
You know, I really don't care that much about celebrities. I adore certain musicians, but for their music, not as people.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
It's hard to top Prop 8.

37. Who did you miss?
My friends. My family.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
I can't call one person the best. I met several lovely people this year.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008:
I'm still learning it.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

It comes apart
The way it does in bad films
Except in parts
When the moral kicks in

If you do this, let me know because I'd love to hear what you have to say.

god yule

2008-12-26T00:13:00.002-07:00

I made it to the PNW, after a bit of hassle caused by the weird snow storm in Seattle. My flight was canceled, along with several others, but I somehow made it off the huge standby list and onto the first plane that got out. It was a long, exhausting day, but it could have been much worse. I got to see my family and spend Christmas eve (Yule day!) with them.

My uncle finally convinced us to try out double deck pinochle, after years of us only playing the classic game. It was fun, but kind of a mind bender. My cousin Nick and I were partners, and managed to hit 500 first, though we didn't go out because it wasn't our bid that hand. Nick thought that rule was lame, and I told him it was like winning the popular vote but not the electoral college, so we should resign ourselves to being the Al Gores of card games.

I haven't managed to have any glögg yet this holiday, but will try to remedy this before leaving town. At least I'd like to get some to bring back to Laramie. My long-awaited luggage is due to be delivered tomorrow, so I'll finally have something to wear other than the clothes I flew in and the few things I bought the other day. We scrapped the plan to go to the Cascades, so I'll be in town for nearly another week. The whole point was to go play in the snow, and we seem to have plenty of that around here anyway.

Happy Christmas, everybody!

must read?

2008-12-19T22:45:00.002-07:00

I agree everybody should read. Reading is good. But lists of stuff everybody simply must read kind of leave me cold, though the lists I just encountered kind of ticked me off. Esquire magazine has a list of the 75 books every woman must read and the 75 books every man must read. I don't know why we need different lists, if we needs lists at all. Here's what I've read from each list.

Women

The Lottery (and Other Stories), Shirley Jackson
Excellent Women, Barbara Pym
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith
The Secret History, Donna Tartt
Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi
The Diary of Anne Frank, Anne Frank
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Possession, A.S. Byatt

Men

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Raymond Carver
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Dubliners, by James Joyce
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, by George Saunders
Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie
Labyrinths, by Jorge Luis Borges
Native Son, by Richard Wright
The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

What's insulting about these is not how predictable they are, but how evidently men need to read books by men only, and women need to read books by women or books by men about messed-up women. Also? I like the dudes list better. Hmph!

hunting party

2008-12-06T22:15:00.002-07:00

I cut down the tree, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Rick, Peter, and Elsa came with me to kill a tree to display in my home, as a trophy. I can't believe it only costs $10 to cut a tree in the national forest. What a bargain. We also got in a little snowshoeing, the first of the season. Rick got to test out his brand-new shoes, and I got to take my new-to-me shoes out for a spin. We didn't stay out long, but it was a nice time.

In other news, homemade french dips and a corny Christmas movie (that wasn't at all about Christmas) with friends is a pretty damn nice way to spend an evening.

homesick

2008-12-02T11:39:00.003-07:00

When I look at my little weather thingy on my homepage, It makes me sad to see what I'm missing in the land of my birth. Watching the Twilight movie this weekend made me feel this really acutely. All that rain and the lush, green landscapes and muddy yards made me physically crave home. The film wasn't a masterpiece, but I think the setting made me love it. I didn't want it to end because I so miss the sound of rain falling.

Returning to this image, check out the humidity in each city. At 92%, my hair would be curly instead of full of static electricity, I wouldn't wake up with a sore throat and a bloody nose, and my skin wouldn't be itchy and sore less than an hour after moisturizing. Best of all, I probably wouldn't feel like my contacts were sticking to my eyeballs by noon. Suffice it to say that I need some moisture in my life.

You'd think that almost three years into living here I wouldn't miss the gray skies and mist so much. But I really need the water, maybe more than ever. I need to see green grass and trees all year long and smell fresh, wet dirt. I need lakes and rivers and the sound. And most of all, I need to feel some rain.

home improvement

2008-11-30T00:21:00.003-07:00

In the past several months, like many people, I've been trying to buy less stuff. In fact, shopping has become a hassle, and I've begun to dread it. As I've gotten smaller, I've had to constantly replace clothing. This is expensive and frustrating, and I wish I could just press pause. It's one thing to drop a couple hundred bucks a month toward building a wardrobe, but it's quite another to do the same to maintain the bare minimum amount of clothing that won't fall off and will look sort of presentable at work. Lather, rinse, repeat. And then I have to remember not to fall in love with anything, because I'm just going to have to get rid of it shortly.

But purchases for the home are different. I finally replaced my dead vacuum cleaner. I'd been holding out for no good reason, so when I was due to host Thanksgiving I realized I actually couldn't have people over to a house cleaned only with dustbuster. So I finally broke down and got one, and my life has improved.

The second purchase I made was a cast iron skillet. I've fallen in love with my enameled cast iron dutch oven, and cook everything in it, even though it's too big for most stuff. So I just went ahead and bought one. The thing cost $17, so it's not like I was needing to save up for it. For some reason it's been on my mental wish list for a year and I hadn't done anything about it. Tonight, I used it to cook up some leftover turkey and gravy.

Finally, I bought a new shower head. The one I had was terrible--it leaked and was clogged and rusted and barely allowed a trickle of water through. For months I've hated every shower I've taken, shivering because the warm water didn't come close to covering all of me at once, and more than once realizing too late that I didn't get all the shampoo out of my hair. Again, there was no good reason I couldn't get a new one, but I didn't until tonight. And you know what? I took an amazing, warm, comforting shower and can't wait to do it again in the morning.

Maybe one of these days I'll replace my folding chairs with real dining room furniture.

thankful

2008-11-28T01:43:00.002-07:00

Rick's plate, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

This Thanksgiving I hosted dinner. My four wonderful guests made the day really nice. This year I have a lot to be thankful for:
*a good job that shouldn't be affected by recent economic events
*amazing friends
*strong, functional family and an upcoming visit to see them
*signs that change--the good kind--is coming to our country

money

2008-11-25T14:15:00.003-07:00

Money Grab, originally uploaded by Steve Wampler.
Used under a Creative Commons license

My credit union called me today about some suspicious activity on my debit card. Evidently somebody got a hold of my debit card number, so I have to wait a week for a new one. The same exact charge appeared on my friend's account, so it looks like there's some business in Laramie that had its data compromised. I don't know how to narrow it down, since we frequent so many of the same places--it could be the grocery store, the coffee shop, any number of restaurants, or even someplace on campus.

I think what has me so angry is the timing of this. I need to buy groceries and other stuff for Thanksgiving, and I had plans to drive down to Ft. Collins for some shopping this weekend. Now I have to write checks where they're still accepted and withdraw enough cash to get me through the next week. I hate carrying lots of cash, especially after somehow dropping $40 within minutes of getting it this past Sunday evening. Grr.

random

2008-11-24T23:06:00.002-07:00

I'm watching a Daily Show from last week and right after John Stewart made fun of the American auto industry and its ads, Hulu showed a commercial for a big pickup. Funny.

Some friends and I drove out to Saratoga on Saturday evening and soaked in the hot springs. It temporarily made my knotted back feel better, but I think my broken-down mattress undid all the benefits.

I've been reading some brainless novels between more serious fiction, something for a book discussion group, and my lit review. Twilight was marginally worth the time; a recent Jonathan Kellerman mystery was not.

Thanksgiving's at my house this year. It's going to be a small gathering, but I'm still cooking all the standards. Cape cods will be the evening's cocktail. Rick's making pumpkin cheesecake, too!

Tawnya's dance party was really fun. Will spun all the 80s faves like Joy Division and Depeche Mode. On Saturday morning I had achy knees and hips that reminded me of the old days of the Oz and later, Neighbours.

I heard a nasty rumor that Flowers is gone. I'm sad that the best vegetarian buffet and stiff drinks emporium no longer resides on the Ave. Seattle continues to break my heart while I'm away--first the Roasteria, now this.

There are evidently no horrifying clothing options in stores these days. Why are all the dresses shaped like potato sacks? Why are pants showing up with pleats? And will the maternity top craze please die already? I need something to wear and I'd prefer not to look three sizes bigger than I really am.

cultured lady

2008-11-21T01:21:00.003-07:00

After yoga tonight I went to A Midsummer Night's Dream, the ballet on campus. It was okay, but I admit I'm overly critical due to my background. Sloppy feet and arms make me cranky. I did mostly enjoy the modern dance performance afterward, though. I can't be sure, but I might have seen a filmed version of Ride the Culture Loop before. It seemed awfully familiar, but I could be mistaken. It was good.

One thing I didn't do was eat enough today. Why I think I can survive on coffee and vegetables is a mystery. By the time I got home tonight at 11:30pm I was ravenous, so I enjoyed an old favorite--toasted whole wheat bagel with goat cheese, avacado, cracked pepper, and sea salt. Now I'm still up because I ate too late.

Tomorrow night is jam-packed, too. After yoga, I'm going to hit the art department's open studio night before the cultural programs event, which is a violinist this time. Then I head downtown to my friend Tawnya's birthday dance party!

So maybe I should be sleeping in anticipation of doing all this stuff instead of rootling around the internet and watching various antics on the YouTubes.

busy bee

2008-11-19T17:56:00.004-07:00

Life has been crazy lately, but much of that is my own making. I'm still doing yoga just about every day, though I gave myself this morning off because I was too exhausted and it's my late evening on the reference desk. There's been other fun, some of which I remembered to document.

Cass and I had a successful presentation at CAL, which was due in large part to our awesome audience. I'm totally sold on interactive presentations after trying it out at both WLA and CAL. And it was fun to hang out with Colorado librarians again. That said, I'm pleased to be done with conferences until January and presenting at them until March. This fall was a little over the top, though I can't really complain about getting my proposals accepted!

It's hard to believe it's midway through November already, especially when we've had some nice days mixed in between snow flurries. On Saturday, Amy and I went for a walk after yoga and it was gorgeous out. That evening, I hooked up with some friends for a Thai dinner party. It's the second time we've done one, but this time we had a few more people and more dishes to try. Jamie started us off with cosmos, which were tasty.

There was much chopping, cooking, and assembling

I didn't get any photos of our yummy appetizers, which were Mary Ann's pork spare ribs, Rick's fresh chicken spring rolls with some really yummy dipping sauce, and Jamie's cucumber pickles. I was more successful with the second course; here's the spicy shrimp and lemongrass soup Jennifer and Peter made.

Main dishes were my Swimming Rama (peanut sauce made by Rick) and Jamie and Tim's beef curry with noodles. I tried to photograph my dish, but I turned my back for a moment and this is what I saw.

Only a few sad spinach leaves and a trace of sauce left! I sort of gave up at that point, so you can't see how beautiful the curry was with the crunchy noodles, onions, and cilantro on top. Also, that beer (Tawnya and Will brought Thai and Indonesian beers) closest to the rice was my second one of the evening, so I was kind of looped.

To top off all of that awesomeness, Mary Ann made coconut ice cream for dessert, which we enjoyed with decaf coffee and more conversation.

Seriously, I can't remember a longer and more awesome meal. It took us a few hours to make it all the way through the food, so it was almost midnight before I went home and happily snoozed the night away.

don't stop believing

2008-11-05T23:10:00.001-07:00

dancing in the streets, Capitol Hill, Seattle, election night

I had a nice time watching returns with friends here in town, but it was a super emotional event for me and I so wished I could have been home, in a city, surrounded by thousands of people doing stuff like this. It's amazing.

Friday, Saturday (too much weekend for one post)

2008-11-03T22:10:00.004-07:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to think about what's happening in my life. I even stopped taking pictures obsessively, which everybody knows isn't like me. But on the 25th, I was on my way in the house after yoga and I realized how gorgeous the sky was and snapped a couple of shots.

Sunset over trailers, West Laramie

Days have started to blur into one another and I'm starting to work to the next two deadlines, always feeling like I can't stop or I'll get behind. The weekends are packed, too, though it sounds jerky to complain about having fun with my friends. On Halloween, a few of us went to the hockey game. The Cowboys won in a landslide, and it was a good time, even though the rink was filled with the stench of dirty uniforms and it was really, really cold in there.

Wyoming vs. Colorado School of Mines

Val was the first to notice that Wyoming is apparently now in Canada.

Oh, Canada; The Equality State

Because I needed pants that don't fall down all the time, I took a drive to Ft. Collins on Saturday for some shopping. The first stop was the New Belgium Brewing Company for a tour. Rick and I commenced drinking beer at 11:15am.

`````````````````Kaijsa tastes Abbey and rates it a 6

Then it was time for lunch. We ate at a Middle Eastern place that was just okay. I had misremembered there being an Ethiopian restaurant down there. Maybe there is, but not in that strip mall. By the time we got to the cheap pants outlet, I had a full stomach and the day was almost over. I managed to squeeze my falafal-stuffed self into cords and skirts a size smaller than I've been wearing. The pants fit today without crushing any major organs, so I guess I'm set for the time being.

By the time we got back to town, I was late to get ready for the art museum gala. It's weird that I've had a floor-length gown languishing in the closet for almost three years and within the space of a month have finally had two occasions to wear it. It was fun to get all dressed up and go hang out with girlfriends and sell raffle tickets for a diamond necklace. For our trouble we got free food, booze, chocolates, and priceless people-watching opportunities. It's not often you get to see black tie in Laramie. I missed some prime photo ops, for sure, and my intention to take some snaps of my friends for the fashion blog never panned out.

Can you believe the day didn't end there? After we were released from our duties, we headed downtown, where I got my drink on again. Shortly after that, we all convened to Peter's for a dance party complete with Jamison and pizza.

There's so much awesome in this photo

Finally, I crashed on my friend's couch and slept blissfully. The end.

2008-10-20T21:59:00.005-06:00

I just started watching the fifth season of MI-5, a show I've loved for a long time. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a super-slick British spy drama, and it's very, very good. But the first two episodes almost did me in, and I don't know if I can continue watching it.

You see, the bad guys are mostly evil government officials using terrorism or the threat of terrorism to maneuver themselves into power and suspend civil liberties so they can basically rule the land without any pesky laws getting in their way. It's so much more terrifying than most television shows or movies because this could really happen. I'm not too worried about alien invasions or crafty thieves out to steal stuff. But people plotting to take over the government from the inside and killing/destroying anybody who gets in their way? My blood pressure rose significantly while watching.

I'm not sure if I'll drop the other discs out of my Netflix cue, but I am glad the next thing due to come to me is a comedy. If I can find time to watch it, it will be just what I need. Maybe I'm extra sensitive because of all the election drama, but I know that I can't remember the last time I reacted so strongly to a tv show.

In not-very-related news, my Nikki McClure "Vote" posters came from Buy Olympia, so I need to deploy them. I love her stuff, and still have a nice set of her posters that need to be framed, but I haven't found the right frames. In any case, I figured the free posters urging voting might make a good library display.

seasons change

2008-10-19T14:50:00.002-06:00

about 9:45am today at Vedauwoo

Working the weekend throws my schedule off and I can't make it to yoga classes. Luckily for me, Meggie was game to be my walking partner yesterday afternoon and again this morning, when we went up to Vedauwoo for a short hike. It was a beautiful fall morning, and it was really nice to get out of town for a little while.

I know I've griped lately about the changing seasons, but I'm actually feeling pretty good about it now. Autum has always been my favorite season, but I think it's been hard for me the past couple of years because Wyoming's is so much shorter than Western Washington's. Maybe we're having an amazing year, or maybe I'm just getting used to living here, but the days have been really lovely and I've had a great time walking outside and just enjoying the cooler air.

Another great thing about fall is sweaters. I'd almost forgotten how addicted to cashmere I am and how nice it is to drag it all out again. Most of my clothes are too big for me, and I'm trying to weed through things and get rid of them so I can see what I have and what I need. It feels like a fall thing to do.

lolz

2008-10-14T10:51:00.003-06:00

I don't normally post this stuff here, but I thought it was appropriate, considering my weirdly satisfying yoga obsession. I think I'll keep going to classes every day for the time being, but probably will settle into a more reasonable routine at some point. I guess I just need this right now.

Reasons? It's something I'm choosing just for myself and don't have to take anybody else into consideration. It fills time, something that's become more important lately than ever before. It's also a time I can be completely silent, which is not my normal state of being. And it's a fairly healthy choice to make, considering many of my other hobbies (knitting, reading, watching films) are mostly sedentary.

But speaking of healthy, I'm finally getting excited about this horrible cold weather because I remembered this weekend that I have snowshoes! Who wants to go out this weekend?

football

2008-10-13T22:50:00.003-06:00

check out the pathetic turnout by Wyoming fans

Those who know me won't be surprised that I'm not a huge football fan. Baseball is much more my thing, though not having television and living outside Seattle's radio market made it harder to follow the last couple of seasons. I also like basketball, though again, no television. But football is fun to watch, especially in person, and I decided to go to the Wyoming homecoming game against Utah this past weekend.

Wow, that was terrible. Peter and I only lasted until after the third quarter because it was so cold and windy. We probably would have stayed anyway if Wyoming was actually performing. I was kind of joking when I said we'd lose by 40 points, but I was almost right (40-7). In retrospect, we should have spent the $28 each on drinks and skipped the whole thing, but I wanted to go to a game. Foolish.

Still, it made me remember that back in high school, I actually did go to games and pay attention to them, and I didn't even go to a Friday Night Lights kind of high school. UW is playing Oregon State for homecoming this weekend, so that should be pretty exciting. I have to work this weekend, but Saturdays on the reference desk tend to be crazy slow, so I'll probably be catching the play-by-play online. Of course, Washington is 0-5 (0-3 in Pac-10), so this game could be as bad as the one I saw last weekend. I hear my old high school team is doing okay, though.

brrr

2008-10-12T23:11:00.002-06:00

It snowed today! I slept in a bit, so the light dusting we got in Laramie was mostly melted by the time I peeked outside. I didn't have much planned--just yoga class in the afternoon--but all of a sudden my amazing friends called and the whole rest of the day was scheduled.

First, Addie, Peter, and I drove up to the snowies. We thought we might take a short walk the Lakes Trail, but it was so cold we cut things short as soon as we got up high enough to see the lakes. The snow was a few feet deep in spots, and the frigid air and freezing wind made it clear winter is here. After snapping a few photos, we headed back to the car and drove back to Centennial for lunch at the Bear Tree. Green chili pizza, yum!

We got back in time for me to get to yoga class. Sundays are yin yoga, which is good for me, but a challenge for me to concentrate. Holding the poses so long makes me feel really vulnerable and my mind totally starts to wander. I do have to say that for maybe the first time ever, I totally relaxed during shavasana. Maybe it's because I used a blanket to stay warm.

After class, the plan was to work on human subjects training modules, but it turns out I was a couple of units ahead of my research partner. He caught up, though, so next time we'll be able to work through them together.

Then I rushed back downtown to meet up with Tawnya for some soup and a hot beverage before the Sunday evening movie. It was Mongol, which I knew nothing about and totally enjoyed. I'm sure Ghengis Khan was a bit less endearing in real life, but because I'm no scholar of Mongolian history, I could totally suspend my disbelief. Also, the Wyo actually had the heat on for the first time I can remember. Win.

new tag cloud

2008-10-04T11:49:00.006-06:00

I read that wordle does blogs now, so you don't have to cut and paste text. Here's a new one for this space.

feeling autumnal

2008-09-28T15:38:00.003-06:00

I love fall, but this year I've been sad to feel the temperature getting cooler. Maybe it's because I had such a lovely summer and I don't want it to end.

On Saturday, some friends and I drove out to Aspen Alley to see the fall colors. It was even more beautiful than I thought it would be. We sat in a meadow surrounded by aspens.

It was a gorgeous day with bright blue skies. The aspens were big in some places and small in others. Most leaves had started to turn yellow, but some were still green and others were already bright orange and red.

The light inside the aspen groves made everything and everybody look magical. I found myself finally excited for fall and energized by being with friends and spending time in the woods.

meme me!

2008-09-23T00:07:00.001-06:00

I don't put much stock in these memes, but sometimes they hit pretty much on the nose.

Your Autumn Test Results

You are a dynamic, vibrant person. You aren't afraid to pursue your passions.

When you're happiest, you are outgoing and expressive . You love celebrations, and you enjoy showing off a little.

You tend to be afraid of change. You are never ready for things to be different.

You find abundance to be the most comforting thing in the world. You love shopping and having nice things.

Your ideal day is spent in contemplation. You enjoy a quiet day where you can take time to think and day dream.

You are very impatient. You spend more time waiting for something than actually enjoying it.

The Autumn Test

love/no love

2008-09-22T20:54:00.002-06:00

You know what I love? Putting on warm jammies straight from the dryer.
You know what I don't love? Realizing I used the wrong homonym in a previous post and now people think I don't know the difference between who's and whose.
Love? Having fun, interesting people show up to a book discussion.
No love? Coming home and being hungry again even though I ate dinner.
Love? My friends and family.
No love? Realizing I've been so busy I haven't talked to any of them in too long.

If I've neglected you, I'm sorry. I do think of you and want to call, but usually it's the middle of the night, or I'm in the middle of a meeting. It's crazy around here, but being this busy is an anomaly, and I'm sure it will get better soon.

what I'm up to

2008-09-22T15:48:00.004-06:00

My friend and colleague Laura Crossett posted about her upcoming travels and I was inspired to do the same. This should probably go on my much-neglected IL blog, but I am too ashamed to face that thing right now.

This week is crazy. I'll be at ReVisioning the (W)hole II: Curious Intersections, on campus here at the University of Wyoming. On Thursday, September 25, I co-present "Interdisciplinary or Inextricable? Considering Research and Writing Within and Without the Disciplines" with Rick Fisher; we're paired with Lisa Hunt, whose program is "The Parchment Project: Engaging Experimental Archaeology through Independent Study ." I think our programs work really well together and the whole conference looks amazing.

Speaking of amazing, there are too many fun things happening on campus this week, including a visit by Salman Rushdie, Religious Studies speakers, a New York Times reporter speaker, and oh, yeah, my actual job to attend to. I'm co-facilitating a second book discussion of The Satanic Verses tonight, which should be pretty fun.

Next up is the Wyoming Library Association annual conference. As Laura said, she and I will co-present "2.0 Toolkit for Libraries Large and Small" on Thursday, October 2nd. Turns out we get to offer our program twice during the conference. It's always fun to see the librarians from around Wyoming, too.

Then I get to go to Denver on Friday, October 10 for Library Camp of the West! I'm really excited about this meeting, because it's all about starting conversations with other librarians in my region. Also, I'm not presenting at this one, because it's not that kind of event. It will be my second change in as many weeks to see Laura, too. I'm looking forward to seeing people I know and like from Colorado (like Steve), as well as meeting new people, too.

Soon after that, Cass Kvenild and I will present at the Colorado Association of Libraries annual conference, on Friday, November 7. Our workshop is called "Embedded Librarians: Moving Beyond One-shot Library Instruction."

I get a much-needed break from conferences and presentations for a while after that, but I will attend ALA Midwinter in Denver, though I'm not presenting anything there. I'll be working on the ACRL conference poster session committee work, as well as whatever we having going in my other committees by then. I'm kind of thankful that Cass and I didn't get our ACRL roundtable proposal accepted for Midwinter, because I ended up with lots on my plate as it is.

I am happy that Rick and I got our program accepted at ACRL 2009, though! The schedule's not available yet, but I can report that our program is called ""Widening the Net: A Research-based Collaboration to Foster Success Among At-risk Learners," and it's based on survey research we're doing on first-year college students' reading habits, attitudes, and experiences.

So, that's where I'll be. I try to keep my upcoming calendar (in my sidebar) updated, but it's kind of interesting to write out what I have going on from time to time. It makes me alternately excited and tired to see my schedule in print.

magic formula

2008-09-08T15:21:00.002-06:00

Over the past 14 months or so, I've lost 50-odd pounds. People often stop and ask me how I'm doing it and, without fail, look really disappointed with my answer. That answer is exercise and portion control. Truthfully, I didn't cut anything completely out, though I don't eat fried foods or drink soda very often. I think people expect and want to hear that I'm on some kind of program or drug or that a special combination of foods is working.

It's when I say "exercise" that I see a pained expression. I get it, totally. Nobody wants to hear that the answer is basic math. Exercise means I burn more calories than I'm taking in, so I'm burning fat. Yay! But there's another benefit, too. Exercise boosted my metabolism, so I can actually eat more now and still lose weight. And honestly, it doesn't take a ton of exercise to make a difference, especially to start. I try to do something every day, because tiny things add up.

I started by going for walks several times a week. Then, I stopped using the elevator almost entirely and started riding my bike a little. Then I started going on hikes, and tried to get out once a week. Once it snows, that will turn into snowshoeing. But seriously, I'm not really putting that much time and effort into it and it's still paying off.

This is not a lecture. Losing weight is simple--burn more calories than you consume--but it's not easy. It's really difficult to change habits and make them stick, and I don't blame anybody for wishing it was easier. I wish it was easier, too. If I were more dedicated, I could be stricter with what I eat and exercise more. Everybody has to decide how to balance all that for themselves, and for me, that means making time for fun, too. It's all good, right?

weekend highlight

2008-09-07T20:37:00.001-06:00

my car, ready to ford the river, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Addie and I drove to the Sierra Madres today, and it was a lovely time. I'd never been before and can recommend it as a beautiful drive. We didn't stop to hike, thinking we'd just enjoy the drive. It didn't work out to visit old ghost towns because, as you can see in the photo above, water was over the 4WD-only road we needed to use to get there. I forded the river the first time, since it was only a few inches deep, but then came to a bigger stretch and decided not to try to be a hero. Still, it was a really nice time.

road trip, day 10

2008-09-07T20:23:00.000-06:00

giant ice cream and Rick, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

We hit the road pretty early on Tuesday because we had to drive from Seattle to Twin Falls, and hoped to make it before dark. First, we said goodbye to Melanie and handed over our keys. It was so sad to leave her after only seeing her for two days and knowing it will probably be Christmas before I see her again. We had such a great time together and it was so amazing for me to be able to introduce her to Rick--seeing two of my favorite people hit it off so well was way cool. I'd had a similar experience the day before with SJ and another sad goodbye.

We decided to wait to grab a coffee until we'd been on the road a while. We had planned a completely different route for the trip home, and I was excited. It was surprisingly easy to get through downtown traffic to I-90 during weekday rush hour, and we were all the way to Snoqualmie Falls before I knew it. The water level was moderately high, so the falls were pretty impressive, which made me happy. I don't get over to Snoqualmie very often, and when I do, I invariably think of Twin Peaks. Another reason to feel happy. Anyway, I discovered that the Salish Lodge doesn't have a coffee bar, which I think is a wasted opportunity. Somebody needs to serve coffee and pie at the falls.

We drove on, getting on I-82 and winding through the Yakima Valley. I had planned to stop for a few boxes of fruit, but indecision and the urge to keep driving won out. We had a pretty full car already, but I wish I would have grabbed a couple of boxes of apples and some peaches to put up. Regrets! Anyway, we did stop in Sunnyside at the Dairygold factory because we were taken in by the giant sign proclaiming "Cheese Tours." Turns out the tour was a self-guided one, and the factory store/diner was kind of disappointing. We did buy giant ice cream cones for like $2 each, so that was a winner. It was so hot out that I ate my ice cream faster than I probably ever have before. It was delicious.

After we passed the Tri-Cities (home of the Dust Devils), we took I-84 and dropped into eastern Oregon. We kept debating the best place to stop for some lunch and decided to try to make it to Baker City. When we got there, we decided we could wait until La Grande. I can't remember exactly where we stopped, but I know we picnicked in the grass outside an elementary school and sandwiches have never tasted so good. At this point, I'd done all but 100 miles of driving the whole road trip, so I had Rick take over. It felt great to sit back and relax for a while.

Everything between there and Boise was a blur of farms and blue skies. The change in landscape between Washington, Oregon, and Idaho wasn't as dramatic as it had been on the way west, when we were driving further north. All of 82 and 84 kind of looks the same--lovely, but the same. When we got to Boise, dusk was coming. We ended up eating at the McDonald's express at a gas station out of sheer tiredness and laziness. Their iced coffes are pretty good, though.

It was dark when we got to Twin Falls. On the way into town, we stopped at a bridge that's supposed to have spectacular views, but it was almost too dark to see and definitely too dark for pictures to turn out. I could tell it was pretty cool, though.

We finally got to Rick's friends' place after 9:00pm. Jeff and Natalie and their daughter are really nice, fun people, and it was fun to meet them after hearing about them for over a year. We all spent some time chatting and looking at some of my trip photos while watching some Olympics. It got late pretty quickly, and I promptly fell asleep in one of the most comfortable guest beds I've ever experienced.

One more day to go!

Labor Day weekend

2008-09-05T23:47:00.008-06:00

making foil packet dinner, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Hey, I went camping last weekend. Overall, much fun was had by all. However, there was one stressful segment shortly after we arrived and pitched tents. I think I wanted to forget about it because it was so upsetting, so I'm only getting around to writing about it now. Three of us were laying around in the tent, and we heard some shotgun blasts pretty close to us. We yelled to let the people know we were there. Then, three bullets whizzed by in rapid succession. It sounded like a semi-automatic. After yelling again, we ran up to where our other friends were and told them what we observed. As we were all talking, more bullets whizzed by us, and we all hit the deck, yelling.

I heard the sound of two vehicle doors slamming and a car driving off really fast. Three of our group run up to the road to see what was up, but only got a glimpse of the white SUV (which was probably a Land Cruiser). It was too far away for them to see the people or the plates. Anyway, we reported the situation to the sherriff's department, but the deputies weren't able to locate the shooters. It was really infuriating, because these people were so reckless as to shoot blindly into the woods and then run away without knowing whether or not they hit anybody. And there will be no consequences for them.

Shooting can be really fun. I like target shooting, and I have friends who hunt. I think responsible gun ownership is a good thing. But idiots like the ones who shot near us shouldn't have weapons. It's legal and safe to shoot out there in the national forest where we were, as long as you have a proper backstop and can see where you're aiming. Standing at the side of the road, where you can see vehicles indicating other people are around, and shooting downhill into trees is the very definition of irresponsibility. End of story.

But the rest of the trip was great. We went to the hot springs and stayed until we were pruny and tired. Of course, we ended up back at camp way after dark, so we cooked and ate dinner by flashlight. I have to say that the foil dinners were really good, and would have been excellent if I'd been able to find the potatoes to include them. But we had some mac 'n cheese as a first course and had bread with the sausage and veggies, so we were in no danger of dying of carbohydrate deficiency. Heh.

The next day, after eating breakfast and lazing around for a while, we all walked the road up to the top of the mountain. It was really pretty. Instead of walking back down the road, we hiked straight down the side, through the brush. That was fun, and though I got pretty wet, not as difficult as I thought it would be. By the time we got back to our campsite, the rain was really starting to come down, so we packed up and went to Steamboat Springs for lunch and a bit of shopping before hitting the road to get back to Laramie. I managed not to buy anything, though I was tempted by several pairs of cute shoes, some of which were on sale.

On Monday, Rick and I went for a morning hike, which was pretty nice. I kind of wished I would have gone out longer. It was nice to get away from town again and there really weren't that many people out. It was definitely cooler, and made me realize how little time is left for running around outdoors. That makes me sad, but I have to remind myself that soon I'll be able to go out snowshoeing. And I'm thinking about taking the cross country skiing class this year. So, I guess I'll be able to stay busy.

road trip, day 9

2008-09-02T22:38:00.003-06:00

abandoned sign in the underground, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Monday was our last full day in Seattle. Rick and I started out by taking the bus downtown and exploring Pioneer Square. After wandering a bit to check out the ferry terminal and walk under the viaduct, we met up with SJ. We decided to go to the first restaurant we saw for some lunch, and it turned out to be really good sushi with the weirdest service ever. After that, we took the Underground Tour, which was not at all what I expected. I thought I had taken the tour as a kid, but I might be misremembering.

The historical anecdotes were pretty interesting, but we basically had to sit through a lecture for a half hour before actually touring. The underground portion was kind of interesting, but got old fast. I think I was expecting to see more existing stuff left from the place being sealed up, but the guide explained that people have renovated and are using that space again. Makes sense.

Once we finished the tour and SJ dropped us back at Ed's, Rick and I drove up to Everett to see Jamie. I should have left R. to explore more on his own instead of dragging him to listen to me catch up with an old friend. Noted. Anyway, after a while, we drove back to Seattle to meet up with Melanie.

After a brief debate of the best choice for Indian food (I supported Taste of India because the chai is better and it's cheaper; Melanie is an unwavering Chutney's supporter because the food is admittedly better), the three of us headed to Wallingford. We feasted on Chutney's amazing food: the naan basket, mutter paneer tikka masala, chicken cashew masala, and saag with chickpees. So good! I wish there was a good Indian restaurant around here.

That was pretty much the end of our day. We had a big driving day ahead of us on Tuesday.

road trip, day 8

2008-09-02T22:33:00.002-06:00

R and K, spoiling the view, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Sunday was our second day exploring Seattle. First, we met up with Melanie to get settled at Ed's place for the remainder of our stay. Then, we headed downtown. I tried to drive to the end of the SLUT line, but got all turned around because A. I haven't been here during the construction, and B. the roads were torn up and I kept having to turn around. So, basically, I gave up that plan. Instead, we parked for free in Belltown and set out on foot.

The first stop for us was to be Seattle Public Library Central. Of course, it being Sunday, the place wasn't open for another hour. Also, a pidgeon pooped on my head on our walk down there, which was not cool. Rick was a champ and helped me clean up at Hotel Monaco, which has some nice bathrooms, FYI. I remembered that from when I was at Midwinter last year (I usually don't spend much time in Seattle hotels).

Once I was presentable again, we went back to Pike Place and looked around for a while. It was lousy with tourists because it was a weekend, and our enthusiasm waned fairly quickly. I did buy some honey to take back with me, but not much shopping was on the agenda. Once we'd hung out in Steinbrueck park a little and watched some cheesemaking at Beecher's, we were ready for some food. In this case, crepes--yum!

Bellies full, we walked back to the library and spent over an hour exploring. I'd been there a couple times before, but it was cool to experience it with Rick. The highest viewpoint still makes my stomach flutter, and probably will every time I visit. Once we'd taken pictures of every nook and cranny and I'd shopped in the Friend Shop, we were off for the next sight.

I decided to grab the car and drive up to Kerry Park, because there's no sense in bringing somebody to Seattle and not giving them the best views of the city. Even though it was overcast, the skyline looked really great. After snapping a few photos and talking to a nice couple from Ferndale, we were off to yet another park.

It took me far too long to point myself to the Olympic Sculpture Park, another feature new to the city since I moved away. I was really irritated with all the "don't touch the art" signage everywhere. In my opinion, you can't have it both ways--either hide your sculptures in a museum, or put them outdoors and let the weather and the people touch them. Way to put art behind a barrier, Seattle Art Museum.

Anyway, I touched whatever I felt like touching. There's actually so much to see in the sculpture park that we didn't end up walking to everything. Next time, I guess. Again, the views were lovely, as you could see up Alaskan Way to the piers, which we didn't ever get around to visiting. The art was a mix of stuff I liked and stuff I don't, but that's a good thing. I do really like the Ellsworth Kelly mounted on the pavilion, which we neglected to go into before it closed. Doh!

Anyway, by the time we burned out on looking at art, it was time to meet up with Melanie! We had planned to go see the X-files movie, but none of us were as jazzed at the prospect of sitting in a movie theater as we were to just hang out together. Instead, we headed to the International District for dinner at Saigon Bistro, one of my all-time favorite places in town. Stuffed to the gills, we rolled over to Uwajimaya, where Rick and I bought things that are more expensive or hard to find in Laramie, like masaman curry, tamarind paste, and Men's Pocky. Hee.

Our final destination for the evening was Capitol Hill, where we stopped for a drink at Chapel. It's one of my favorite spots in town, and their drinks are tasty. I had a hibiscus martini, my old standby, and Rick had one called Ruby Cowboy or something like that. Melanie's drink was also fruity and delicious, but I can't remember what it was. We also shared a big old slab of chocolate cake, which I think finished me off for the night. It was a big day!

bonus rainbow

2008-08-28T21:37:00.001-06:00

closer rainbow, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

road trip, day 8

2008-08-28T21:34:00.002-06:00

Kaijsa with skyline, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

We packed a lot into this Saturday. We started off by eating at Dick's, because I can't visit Seattle without doing so. Then, I took Rick to Fremont and we checked out Archie McPhee. The pictures of us trying on wigs still makes me laugh. It was kind of a drizzly day, perfect for visiting the water, so we drove down to Ballard and hit the locks.

It's been a while since I visited the locks. There wasn't much boat traffic, so it wasn't as exciting as it could have been. Still cool, though. We also checked out the fish ladder, and there were tons of salmon going through. There were also tons of people crammed into the viewing area, and I uncharacteristically told of a kid for having no manners as he pushed past us on the stairs.

We looked around the botanical garden a little, but it soon started pouring. It as kind of warmish out, so I liked it. We met up with an old friend of mine for some fish & chips and beer at the Lockspot after that. I'd only ever had fish from the walk-up counter before and remember it tasting better than it did that day. Oh, well.

After we said goodbye to Chris, I drove Rick up to Gasworks Park in Fremont. The sky had gotten really pretty, and the water on Lake Union was kind of rough. We climbed up to the sundial and then went down to the bulkhead, as you can see in the picture above. I really like the views of the city from Gasworks. We didn't stay there very long, but it was nice. Does anybody know what the concrete arch thingies are there? I've always wondered.

After Gasworks, we drove back up to the U-District, where we saw a gorgeous full rainbow. I stopped on Roosevelt in front of the yarn store and took some pictures. Speaking of pictures, I look at mine from this trip and laugh about what I focused on and what I totally neglected to snap. I'm so weird sometimes.

by request

2008-08-28T15:50:00.001-06:00

new haircut, slightly messy, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

It's far from perfect, but here's the new, shorter hair. Maybe one of these days I'll remember to take a picture when it's freshly combed. Hee.

road trip, day 7

2008-08-27T22:49:00.001-06:00

countdown to the Winter Olympics, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

We went to Canada on our seventh day, which was a Friday. It was an easy, quick drive up to Vancouver. We stopped on the way in Skagit County for a coffee, and I was surprised and happy to see Scott, best friend of my brother and sister-in-law at Starbucks. I knew he managed a store up there, but had forgotten and didn't know which one. It was nice to see him.

As we got back on the road, I realized that I'd accidentally pulled the hood release when I got out of the car at Starbucks. I knew my shoelace had caught on something, but didn't really think about it. Oops. Luckily, the hood just bounced a little as I got on the freeway, and we were able to pull off and fix it before it could fly open. Sometimes I astound myself with my brilliance. Let's just say this wasn't the only driving/car related snafu on the trip that can be credited to me.

We got across the border into Canada pretty quickly, for a weekend morning, and made it to Vancouver and parked off Robson with no real hassle. Then, we basically spent the day walking all over town.

Robson wasn't that interesting to Rick, with all it's shopping and stuff. Both of us were hungry, so we pretty much immediately went into Tsunami for sushi! I dug in immediately, grabbing my first plate from the boats before my ass was completely in my seat. Rick noticed that as people were seated at the bar, they all did the same thing as I had. I'd never really thought about it because who wouldn't grab sushi as fast as the could? And we did put away our most expensive meal of the trip in about 15 minutes, so I guess I'm right.

Then we decided to go into a couple of stores, like Roots, the custom t-shirt store, and the salmon place. Retail fatigue set in pretty quickly, though. Rick was interested in going to Gastown, and I'd never made it there before (Robson and Granville streets always suck me in for my entire visits). So we hoofed it up to the waterfront, looked at some big ships, and then found Gastown. It's smaller than I had expected, and not as nice (in my opinion) as Pioneer Square in Seattle. But we did have the pleasure of seeing a flotilla of junkies on a very stinky street.

After Gastown, we thought about walking to English Bay, but then decided to get the car and drive to Stanley Park, another place I'd always meant to see. After some navigational issues stemming from incorrectly guessing which streets terminate in a turn-only lane, we made it into the park. We basically just drove almost all the way around it, pausing for Rick to take a few pictures here and there, and finally parked at Beach Number Two. That's a pretty creative name, there.

I think I was getting tired at this point, and we ended up just walking up to English Bay and getting gelato and sitting near the beach for a little while. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of people hanging out, but I was pretty much mentally done. I think I cut Rick's Vancouver experience a little short, which kind of sucks.

After collecting the car, we drove through nasty weekend traffic to the border, where we sat for over an hour waiting to get through the US side. Why is it so much easier to get into Canada than the US? I sort of forced Rick to take the wheel while we waited to cross, and he ended up driving all the way to Marysville.

After I took the wheel again, I drove him across the flats and stopped at Langus Park, so he could see the boathouse and the river where I rowed in high school. It was just dark, and it reminded me of being there after hours for high school shenanigans.

By then, we were pretty hungry and we wanted Burgermaster. I thought I'd be wise and hit the one in Silver Lake/Mill Creek because I thought it would be closer to my parents' place. I had forgotten how far east that place really is! It took forever to wind through the suburbs to get there. I should have just gone to the one in North Seattle and then turned around. But we made it with a half hour to spare before closing, and I had the tastiest cheeseburger I'd had in a long time and a root beer shake. So good.

When we finally got home, my mom had a replay of Olympics opening ceremony on, which we'd missed. So we watched that for a while before hitting the sack. I crashed so hard that night.

road trip, day 6

2008-08-24T15:23:00.003-06:00

Aquasox pitcher., originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

i wonder if I'm going to make it through the whole vacation before I've been home a whole month.

Rick finally got a break from me for a while on Thursday, when Mom and I went to the spa. I finally got my haircut, and now that it's eight inches shorter and has more layers, I actually wish I'd cut more off. I really like my new hair guy, and think I'll see him again at Christmas. Gail did my pedicure, and it was amazing, as always.

After that, we visited my grandma, who seemed to be having a good day. The respite caregiver is nice, and I'm glad my parents have found good people to help take care of Grandma.

That evening, we had dinner out with my folks and my brother and his family before going to the Aquasox game. Unlike the Mariners, the 'sox seem to be having a decent season. The game was fun, and our team won. Weirdly, the online schedule said Everett was playing Vancouver, but when we got to the game, the opponent was the Tri Cities Dust Devils. Still cool and all, but we were hoping for some international rivalry.

You know what I like about baseball? It's a sport that's exciting to watch, but games happen at a pace that allows for lots of conversation. My nephew didn't seem too interested in the game, but he did want to explore the floor of the stadium. That kid is really patient for 18 months. He doesn't even really need toys to entertain himself--an empty water bottle will do. And plenty of attention. He definitely likes an audience for his jabbering. I liked playing with him, and seeing for myself how much he's learned and changed since I saw him in May. It's disconcerting that I'm missing so much of him growing up, but luckily for me, his parents are great about taking pictures and letting me know about his latest tricks.

Next: Canada!

road trip, day 5

2008-08-24T15:19:00.001-06:00

Rick on Red Hook brewery tour, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Wednesday was packed with stuff. We started off the day earlier and went to northeast King County. The original plan was to take bikes and ride the Burke-Gilman trail to Woodinville to see the brewery and wineries, but I neglected to get the keys from my dad before he left for work. So I drove us over to Bothell, where we checked out the UWB campus. This was where we visited the first of four libraries I dragged Rick to.

From there, we went to the Red Hook brewery and took the tour. I'd never done it before, and found it to be less a tour than a lecture with plenty of beer drinking. I approve. Having five different beers I probably never would have selected for myself made me realize what I like. I've had samplers at McMenamins and Widmer before, but this time I paid more attention. For those keeping track, I liked the Blackhook porter and the Summer Blonde the best. After the tour, we proceeded to eat way too much food and drink more beer at the Forecaster Pub.

After that, we went down to the UW Seattle campus. We knocked around a little, going into both the Odegaard Undergraduate Library and Suzzallo, bringing the library count to three. Then we met up with Chelle for eats at the Thaiger Room and then walked over to the College Inn for librarian pub night, which was fun. I got to see grad school friends, Washington librarian friends, current colleagues from Wyoming, and a new friend from UNLV all at the same time.

From there, SJ joined us for some additional fun. Because we hadn't eaten enough all day, we went to Pies & Pints, where we had some good food covered in beer cheese sauce and terrible service from a cute, but distracted waitress/bartender. As always, it was great to hang out with SJ, and I think Rick had fun, too.

bonus photo

2008-08-21T01:37:00.001-06:00

Kaijsa in a tree, originally uploaded by Single Drop of Rain.

I like this one that Rick took of me up on Pilchuck. Unsurprisingly, lots of my pictures from the trip are of him, so I'll steal some of the shots he took of me.

road trip, day 4

2008-08-21T01:28:00.002-06:00

Rick in the woods, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

On Tuesday, our first full day in the Seattle area, we got off to a slow start. Once we got some errands out of the way, we drove up to Granite Falls and hiked Mt. Pilchuck. Despite growing up a stone's throw away and even going to a high school with Pilchuck in its name, I'd never hiked there before.

It was a warm, slightly muggy day, but the tree canopy kept us shaded at least half the time. Hiking at much lower altitude was nice, as we breathing was so much easier. I wasn't a total superhero, though; I was pretty tired from three days in the car and was a little draggy and very sweaty from the humidity. We didn't summit, but it was a really nice hike.

Afterwords, we stopped at the fish ladder at the falls. Here, I did feel pretty awesome after walking up 88 steps without getting at all winded. The fish ladder here is kind of disappointing, as you can't see the fish. The falls were pretty, though.

On the way back to my parents' place, I jumped of Highway 9 in Marysville. I wanted to drive by my childhood house, but all the new construction in the area confused me and I drove right past the neighborhood at first. Weird. It's strange to feel completely disconnected from the place I lived for 18 years of my life.

On the way home, we picked up some pork chops and other stuff for a barbecue with my parents. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over, too. I think Rick had a nice time, but after two nights with my family, I think he was ready to get out and do something more interesting for his vacation. We'd been in town 24 hours and hadn't really gotten near Seattle.

Up next: beer, libraries, more beer, and pies and beer.

lovely weekend

2008-08-18T00:21:00.001-06:00

In the scenery, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

This weekend was great, kind of an extension of vacation. After getting home at midnight on Wednesday, I spend a little time in the office getting myself organized, but mostly I just hung out with friends. On Thursday, I had wonderful dinner with Addie and then met up with some more people for drinks. Then on Friday, I braved the rain to buy some veggies at the farmer's market before they closed up due to weather. Then there was a second night of drinks out, this time with a larger group.

On Saturday morning, Elsa, Rick, and I went up to the Snowies for some hiking on the Lakes Trail. The weather was cool, which was nice. It was still pretty wet from the rain the night before, so we got pretty soaked from the brush, but it wasn't too muddy. I'd never been on that trail before and I really liked it. There were tons of gorgeous views, even with all the fog and grey clouds everywhere. All the lakes made the mountains look even more amazing.

That evening, Addie had a dinner party, which was really fun. I can't remember the last time I met that many interesting, fun people in one night. She made Malian food, and it was delicious. Everything was awesome, actually.

Today, I met up with Addie and then Rick downtown for a bluegrass festival. Eventually, almost everybody I know was there. I had heard of some of the bands, but had never heard any of them until today. All of them were great, and I even danced to Jalan Crossland. Fun times.

I can't believe I have to go to work for real tomorrow. Maybe two weeks of vacation was a bad idea, because I don't want to go back.

road trip, day 3

2008-08-18T00:11:00.001-06:00

road trip 2008 175, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

So, we entered Washington. I made the stupid mistake of driving through Spokane instead of avoiding it like the plague. We were on Highway 2, also known as my favorite road in the land, but I didn't realize I should have taken I-90 to get past the Spoke. Anyway, that burned up about an hour we didn't need to waste. This was a theme for the whole day.

I know I'm totally biased, but Washington state is gorgeous. I think Rick liked it too, especially how the landscape kept changing as we traveled west. A friend camping in Chelan invited us to stay there and play in the lake, but we didn't feel like we had the time to spend. I would have liked to just stay the night there and continue on in the morning, and in retrospect, it would have been a great idea. Instead, after some unnecessary driving around in Wenatchee, we stopped at Lake Wenatchee for a very brief swim, which was a nice break from the car. I also drove through Leavenworth, so Rick could see the weirdness of a fake Bavarian village packed with tourists.

The drive through the North Cascades was stunning, as always. Stevens Pass is such a pretty one, and it was fun to show it off to somebody who had never been to the area. We jumped off 2 in Monroe and hit 405 to get to my parents' place. Again, a good plan in theory, but I should have gone all the way to the end of the highway in Everett and taken surface streets down to Lynwood. Rush hour in the PNW is much more annoying than the fifteen minutes of tiny congestion we get here in Laramie. We got in to my folks' place just before 8pm.

My parents had dinner ready for us, and we ate outside in their newly arranged outdoor dining room, which I love. I really miss eating all my meals outside all summer and fall. Rick and my parents got along well, and the dogs even mostly behaved themselves. It's always difficult to predict how they'll react to my friends. Abbie's really jealous, and she's been known to whine and moan if anybody sits next to me. She did stick pretty close to me. Nala immediately adopted Rick as her new best friend, sitting at his feet at dinner and then sleeping outside his bedroom every night. I wasn't a blip on her radar.

We were pretty tired after all that driving, so pretty much the only things we did after dinner were bring in our stuff from the car and figure out our plan for the next day.

road trip, day 2 plus

2008-08-15T23:57:00.002-06:00

lookout tower, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

We got up and ate breakfast with Mary Ann before hitting the road for our longest driving day of the trip. From the research station, we drove through Yellowstone. We didn't stop in the park, but we did get to go slowly enough to gawk at the scenery. If we'd seen any big animals, I'm sure we'd have stopped. Strangely, we didn't see much either in Teton or Yellowstone. Last year, I saw a bear, deer, bison, and more.

Because we were headed for Montana, we exited in West Yellowstone, where we bought the most expensive gas of the trip. We called it "tourist gas." Then we headed out on I-90. We'd both heard that Butte is a cool town, so we decided to wait to eat until we got there. It was a very cute little town, but it took us a while to find a park. Finally, we found one with a gazebo and had our picnic lunch. We sort of lollygagged a bit, but finally had to get going in order to make it to our destination before dark.

The drive through Montana was beautiful. We were driving alongside water almost the entire time. I'd been on the I-90 stretch once before, but this time, we headed up north to an area I'd never visited before. We reserved a U.S. Forest Service fire lookout in northwestern Montana, on the top of Yaak Mountain. It's pretty close to the Canadian border, so it was way up there. The scenery was gorgeous, but we were both nervous about driving up the mountain and packing into the tower in the dark and we were getting tired of being in the car.

We finally arrived at the mountain around 8pm. It took a little time to find the FS road, then we had a slow, steep drive up on gravel. The road was in great shape, though, and we managed to get there and our stuff inside before dark. We even had time to take a little walk before it got totally black out. We saw some grouse and a deer, as well as some tiny little rodents that moved very, very quickly. We also saw some scat that let me to believe something large was around. Freaky!

I had been worried about climbing a ladder to the tower. Actually, I was more nervous about climbing down four stories in the dark to get to the outhouse, truth be told. But we had stairs, so no biggie. The sunset was pretty, but my pictures didn't turn out very well, I'm afraid.

Dinner was sandwiches, fruit, and beer and was fun. We didn't stay up super late because we didn't think to bring cards or anything to keep us entertained in a cabin with no electricity. Being a lookout, the place was all window, from knee high to the ceilings, so I expected the sunrise to wake me. I actually woke up before dawn and got some pics of the sunrise, but Rick refused to leave his sleeping bag to join me.

After our yummy breakfast of greek yogurt (a new favorite thing) and granola, we had to get going. We both wished we had more time to hike and stay another night. We realized what a cool retreat that place could be. Imagine getting away and just writing up there. In any case, we left and headed toward Sandpoint, Idaho, about 30 miles away once we got to the highway.

Once on the road and coffee-ed up in Bonner's Ferry (great name), we were off. We ended up stopping for second breakfast in some small town in Idaho, not too far from the Washington border. What was it called? Priest something? Rick, help me out. I ate my weight in hashbrowns and biscuits and gravy for about $5. Not bad. It was about this time when we turned our clocks back an hour to Pacific time, so we experienced 9am for the second time that day.

This is really part of day 3, which I'll get to next.

road trip, day 1

2008-08-15T12:15:00.002-06:00

waiting for sunset, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

This will take a while and likely be filled with more detail than strictly necessary for anybody but me. I'm doing it anyway.

We started out early on Saturday, at my insistence. We'd spent much of Friday shopping and other last-minute errands and mostly packed the car, so we were able to get on the road before 7am. I've made that drive before, but it's one of the prettiest I've seen in Wyoming. I especially like the mountains as you approach Lander.

We took a break for a picnic in Dubois, but managed to make it to the research station by 1:30pm. When I pointed out how much of the day we had to spend in the park and asked Rick if he was glad I made him leave so early, he said, "No!" I don't believe it, though. We went for a walk up over a hill with a great view of Jackson Lake and the Tetons, and sat on the dock drinking beer and eating chips with our hostess, Mary Ann. It was great.

Then Mary Ann took us to Two Ocean Lakes for a walk on the trail. There were tons of wildflowers, and Mary Ann knew what they all were, which was really cool. On the way back, we stopped at a lookout and saw a huge herd of elk. We also saw some herons that day. It was really nice. Rick and I headed to the dock to catch the sunset before dinner. It got dark pretty quickly, and I was amazed, once again, at how bright the stars were.

We had a late dinner with Mary Ann and her sons and their girlfriends. We had great company and before long, a few hours had passed. We were really tired, and opted not to have drinks on the dock. Once we settled in our bunk beds, I fell asleep immediately and slept really well up there in the quiet mountain air.

the big trip, in numbers

2008-08-15T12:14:00.002-06:00

the big trip, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

13: number of amazing days
600: number of dollars spent on gas
4.06: average price in dollars, per gallon of gas
6: number of U.S. states visited
1: number of Canadian provinces visited
15: national forests visted/drove through (Medicine Bow, Bridger-Teton, Flathead, Gallatin, Helena, Kootenai, Coeur d'Alene, Targhee, Colville, Okanogan-Wenatchee, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Wasatch-Cache, Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman, Boise)
2: national parks visited (Grand Teton, Yellowstone)
4: beers consumed by me
12: cups of coffee consumed by me
1: hikes taken
1: city bus taken (Metro #70)
1: rainy days
3: days above 90 degree
1: meltdown by me
1: times swimming
36: dollars spent on most expensive meal for two (Tsunami sushi)
3: dollars spent on least expensive meal for two (Dick's Drive-in)

*NOTE: I just realized I messed up this map. We really took US-2 from Montana and across Idaho and Washington, not I-90.

sunrise

2008-08-05T10:53:00.001-06:00

road trip 2008 064, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

This was a view at dawn on Sunday. Waking up on top of a mountain in a fire lookout with 360 degree views is definitely a cool thing to experience.

The road trip is well underway. Day one was amazing, and the two that followed were good, too. I think the driving time was pretty long, but I don't regret planning it that way because I wouldn't take back anything we saw and did along the way. Well, maybe driving through Spokane. That was pretty unnecessary.

More to come!

Westward ho!

2008-08-01T10:39:00.001-06:00

roadtrip, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Here's the plan, stalkers. I'm so excited I can't even explain it to you. I've been trying to scheme out how to see everybody I know and love without totally hijacking the trip--after all, it's Rick's vacation, too. If you're one of my PNW friends, I can't wait to see you! Everybody else, expect tons of pictures.

play ball

2008-07-29T13:19:00.002-06:00

game in action, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Last night was the final regular season Colts game. I went over after work, so I missed the first couple of innings. When I got there, the scoreboard wasn't working and I didn't know where things were. So basically, I very quickly lost interest in following the action. There were some good plays, and the Colts won, but we saw just as many foul balls fly into/over the crowd as hits into fair territory. It was kind of scary there toward the end. A bashed in head isn't a fun souvenir of the game.

Maybe we'll have a better time at the Aquasox game next week. Yes, the big road trip is nigh and the plan is to go to the game on Thursday, August 7. Everett will face off against Vancouver, and Rick's hoping he'll be able to buy a Canadians hat. Their gear is certainly cooler, but I will of course be rooting for the 'sox, since they're part of the Mariners organization (and are also in last place). Any PNWers interested in coming with us to the game are welcome!

Monday music

2008-07-28T14:20:00.002-06:00

Start your week with some Posies

I found this linked on Jon's wife's blog.

sunsets

2008-07-27T00:14:00.002-06:00

Laramie at sunset, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

The sunsets in this town are beautiful. Last night when I was at Coal Creek with Meggie and Addie, it started raining really hard, and then the sun came back. Sunset was a little while later and it was gorgeous as usual. My pictures never really do it justice.

A week from today, I'll be up in the Tetons. Last year, the sunsets up there were unbelievable. I'm sure I'll be speechless again this time around. It's not like I haven't seen sunsets all my life, but I think I've only really started paying attention recently. It's worth taking the time to stop and just look.

stormy weather

2008-07-23T22:47:00.002-06:00

I almost thought the day would be a wash. I was tired and crabby, and had a pretty wicked headache. My extended lunchtime nap didn't work out so well because a thunderstorm broke. It was loud, but I probably could have had a really nice sleep if I wasn't so preoccupied with getting back to campus for evening reference.

When the lightning stopped, I drove back to campus. I had to stop at Engineering, so I wandered the wet campus and took some pictures on the way back to the library. The sculpture installations are moving on and I was able to snap the latest.

Patrick Dougherty's sapling sculpture smelled wonderful after the rain. I spent some time just walking through and around it. It's pretty cool--reminds me of the haystack structures outside the Museum of Glass.

I like the new sculpture a lot, too. I don't know which artist did it, but it's cool. Very amoeba-like. Walking around in the fresh, wet air made me feel so much better. It was too bad I had to go inside.

The reference desk didn't do my headache any favors, and I started getting more naseated the longer I sat inside. Finally, I realized there was no way I could go to the student dance showcase, which made me sad. I like to take advantage of every opportunity to see dance in this town, but I know I would have felt crappy the whole time. It sucked to flake on the friend I was going with, also.

Once I'd been home, ate some soup, and rested in front of a fan, Peter called. He wanted to come over and borrow some music. We baked some cookies, too. Yum. So the day ended on a good note after all.

hot in here

2008-07-21T23:51:00.002-06:00

view from the monument, originally uploaded by Kaijsa.

Tonight the house is hot and I don't feel like I can sleep yet. I suppose I could go downstairs where it's always cooler, but I've sort of banned computers from my bedroom. It's all part of the master plan to improve my sleeping habits. Although, I suppose actually going to bed at 10 or 11 would be a good move in that direction, too.

I'm wishing I'd gone out and taken some pictures during the thunderstorm this afternoon. I even had my camera on me, but just ended up sitting on the porch of the library, texting back and forth with a couple of people until the power came back on.

After work, I just came home and had a totally lazy evening. The only productive thing I did was a couple of loads of laundry. It felt good for a while, but then I got restless and bored and wished I'd had something better to do. I have to report that I'm a few more episodes into Mad Men, and it's more interesting now. I think I'm just resistant to all those jerky characters.

Jag söker job

This is not a style blog

Winning

Westward ho!

travelin'

department of complaints department

sing me to sleep

fugged

RIP Alex Chilton

doppelsonger

random

dance dance dance

straight outta the PNW: 12 Days of Twin Peaks Christmas

*k3, k2 tog, repeat from *

music box

in dreams

mysteries of life

this just in

September: farmville, only real.

personas

favorites

discomfit

three wishes

Holy Hail

last weekend of summer, part 2

last weekend of summer

is this turning into a food blog?

confession

Cooking up trouble

"When Blogs Collide" or "There's a Whole Lotta Fishnet Up in This Bitch"

Spring fever

I know I've been M.I.A.

neglected

the big trip

"I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates..."

9 thoughts in my head

what's the frequency, Kenneth?

adventures in television

new music Monday

XOXO

flu

shiny shiny

happy hour

transform into new variable

post-Midwinter

hypochondriac

Nebraska

couch potato

resolved

boxing up

home for the holidays

year end

god yule

must read?

hunting party

homesick

home improvement

thankful

money

random

cultured lady

busy bee

don't stop believing

Friday, Saturday (too much weekend for one post)

seasons change

lolz

football

brrr

new tag cloud

feeling autumnal

meme me!

love/no love

what I'm up to

magic formula

weekend highlight

road trip, day 10

Labor Day weekend

road trip, day 9

road trip, day 8

bonus rainbow

k3, k2 tog, repeat from