Eeeegads it's 2011

Thanks for getting the ball rolling on the updates, Katie! It's so great to hear about what's going on in your life! Umm let's see... my update (beyond the fact that I have some pretty views of clouds as noted earlier):

I'm still really liking my job at the Marine Science Center (I'm here for my second year, with the term ending for good at the end of Augusy 2011). These coming month are going to be super busy with our long-awaited "Orca project" finally getting under way officially. This means that the skeleton, which has been undergoing an intensive cleaning process for years is finally going to be put together, or as the experts say, "articulated". We have this fantastic guy coming down from Homer, Alaska to help with the process for about a month (spanning from mid-January to mid-February). Sadly, the building intended to house this magnificent whale skeleton isn't constructed yet since funding is still trickling in... but the hope is that the construction of the skeleton will jump-start the donations. We'll also be teaching a lot more "Free Science Classes" this winter, of which I'm in charge of scheduling for the second year. I also teach and am involved in other classes that happen during the school year (covering all sorts of topics like marine birds and inter-tidal ecology).

My big excitement for the winter (besides going home for Christmas and getting to help a bit with the skeleton articulation here) is a trip to HAWAII! I'm taking off for 8 days in March and going to Kaua'i. I'm really flippin' excited about it. We're planning to camp, backpack and snorkel a ton.... My boss just came back from there and saw the most insane marine life.. including humpback whales and sea turtles!!! Needless to say, I'm prepared to pee my pants in glee. Oh and the "we": I'm going with my boyfriend, Rick. We've been dating for 5 1/2 months and it's going really, really well. I think you guys would really like him. Miriam met him early on and gave him her stamp of approval... which of course, was absolutely mandatory.

Gotta go climb under the pier and scrub the intake pipes! Just another day in the life of the PTMSC AmeriCorps! :)

love you all!

-jess

Gearing up for a new year...

...literally. I hit REI today in a big way, and am the proud owner of new gortex boots, a non-leaky therma-rest, and a bunch of new smartwool socks. Christmas present to myself!

So I had a very busy semester between TA stuff and research. My qualifying exam is this spring, so I'm starting to get seriously worried that I won't have a solid research plan in time. Guess what I'm doing for the next few weeks. Yep, writing a research proposal. I'm working with David Mohrig now, studying the effects of hurricanes on Gulf Coast barrier islands. A little different than last year, but a lot more fun for me. I was in San Francisco for the week before Christmas, at the big geology conference that happens there every year. I presented my work, drank some free beer, and enjoyed all the delicious Thai and Japanese restaurants near Union Square. After the conference, I took a little roadtrip with a couple friends up to Redwoods National Park, where we hiked and camped for a couple days. We then crossed the Coastal range to visit Lassen volcano (snowshoeing and skiing!!!) and spend a night at my friend Lauren's house (with 4 dogs, 3 cats, 6 sheep, and a lonely goose!) Then I flew back to Chicago for the family solstice celebration (we're kinda over christmas these days). I'm back in Austin now, and so happy to be hanging out with Jasper again (my miniature poodle, adopted him three months ago!)

There's the update on what I've been doing the last couple months or so. Happy new year ladies!!!!!!

~katie

Doncha just love clouds?

Hey lovelies. Just thought I'd share a few photos I took over the past few days. I've just been feeling really grateful for the natural beauty around here. The first photo is the Marine Science Center this morning at sunrise. The second photo is from Hurricane Ridge just before Sunset and the bottom one is a few hours earlier. Both are gloriously up above the clouds.

Love you all and would really love to hear about your lives.

-Jess

Hey Buddies!

HI!

Sorry about that thing that I did where I didn't post for a while. Like three months.

...

Would you like to know what I'm going to do today? I am going to spend 10 dollars seeing what I can only presume is the worst reviewed movie of the year: Sex and the City 2. And you know what? I don't really care what anyone thinks about that because I love that show and I bet I'm going to like the movie, too. Especially because Cynthia Nixon is now a queer who is engaged to a woman who she describes as "a short man with boobs." Ho boy. THAT's hot.

Ironically, having to write that you don't care what people think about something means that you probably do care what people think. Sort of like when the POTUS has to tell the public that he's in charge of an oil spill. HAHahah. haha. ha.

So, work is okay. I sort of had a nervous breakdown about it and then miraculously felt okay about it again once I had cried a river of tears in my boss' office. Anyway, I want to quit and find a new job but, hey, who knew, the job market sucks so for now, I'm stuck here. Actually, though, I'm okay with it. I'll hang out here for another year, take some classes at WashU, party hardy with my friends and cook and walk and drink lots of good coffee and...just enjoy being young and cute and employed. I go back and forth about that. Like, when I was at EC over graduation and everyone had these lofty plans and I thought, "my God. I'm not only plan-less. I don't even have a plan to find a direction." I got all neurotic about it and then I remembered that I did have a pretty lofty plan and a direction to boot and look how well THAT turned out. (Not good).

Let's see...the dating scene is okay. I met a cute girl who I like a lot (for now) so we'll see if we can manage to make it past the first hurdles. I doubt it, if past experiences are any indication. Whatever. Dating. I'm bored of it.

I was at Earlham which was awesome. I stayed with Abby and Joanna at Janna's cute little place above the Aveda salon. We had a really good time; such a good time that we neglected to go to either Commencement or Baccalaureate. We're hoping to meet up in Bloomington over July 4th and live at the farmer's market for a few days and hopefully also blow some stuff up :) God Bless America, my home sweet home.

I also went to Nashville for 24 hours to see my dear cousin get married. It was a beautiful wedding and it was great to see the family in all their bigotry. Nashville is the ugliest city in the nation. My uncle and I went for a walk in the evening after the reception and it was completely indescribably surreal with six year olds playing electric bass guitar on street corners, crazy old hippies playing the spoons... stinky street urchins trying to come up with innovative ways to play the fiddle. I mean, it was weird as hell.

I don't have too, too many exciting plans for the summer except to spend as much time as possible in the park, grilling with friends, playing in the dusk, swimming in my friend's rooftop pool and eating gelato. Summer!!!! Sigh. We have a family reunion in August in Madison and yeah, the Bloomington trip and...maybe a trip to see an old friend at Yale and maybe a trip to Chicago? Who knows.

Oh, and Chuckles is grand. Right now he's alternating between chewing up my pillow and licking the salt off my knees.

I miss you guys. I hope that your lives are really, really happy.

All my love,

Mimsy

come on y'all! dish about your lives!

ok so I'll begin. This is what a blog post looks like. maybe we all can try to create one once in a while. I hear they're FUN!

No seriously, I miss y'all! Life is going really well out here. I continue to LOVE the Pacific Northwest, my job is excellent, my friends/co-workers are wonderful and it's all going along swimmingly (aside from the minor stress of having no clue what I'll be doing next year)

Miriam visited and we went snow shoeing at Mt. Rainier! It was basically the highlight of my whole life... we even had yummy pie at the end of the day.. and since I'm such a bore we stayed inside our little bunkhouse hotel room and chatted all night. So this is my proposal: ALL of you guys should come and we can ALL stay up late chatting at the base of Mt. Rainier. We can even snack on snow.

ok? sweet. let me know when you book your tickets.

Dudes. write. on. the. BLOG!

Holla! (anybody watch that kid on American Idol???)

Hello lovely ladies!
Thanks Em for urging us to write more often! However, you have to tell US more about your life too, otherwise it just ain't a fair deal.

So here's my update: life is going swimmingly. I still love my job and my co-workers (2 of which are also my roomies). The Pacific Northwest is insanely wonderful- I'm actually thinking that I may move to Seattle next year and take classes at the University of Washington to prepare for grad school/ vet school. It's just a matter of figuring out finances- AmeriCorps makes it all so easy right now!! I'm realizing how much I hate money- loans, loans, loans and if I do end up going to vet school (which is my current plan) it'll mean adding a LOT more money to that pile of loans. *sigh* However, if it means doing something that make me feel alive and happy, then it's worth it.

Ummm some things I've learned in the past few months:

1. Natural hot springs are totally awesome if not a wee bit stinky. We went to some in Olympic National Park and they instantly tarnished Valerie's rings!!! (She's one of my co-worker/roomies). Sooo weird but awesome!! We hiked in 2.5 miles.
2. Hooded nudibranchs smell like watermelons. No really. They do. We went night-seining and knew we'd caught them first by their scent!
http://ptmarinesciencecenter.blogspot.com/2009/11/hooded-nudibrachs-and-their-dance.html
3. Dead Orcas are exceptionally stanky. Ok- I can only vouch for a flipper (with flesh still on it) and a mostly clean skull.. but EW. Blubber is also very, very stubbornly oily.

The pectoral flipper looking gnarly (aka AWESOME):

Most of us from the Marine Science Center, holding catscans and x-rays of the flipper (so when they articulate the skeleton they'll know exactly where all the teeny tiny bones go!). From left to right: Heather (AmeriCorps), ME, Sue (volunteer), Julia (AmeriCorps), Valerie (AmeriCorps), Chrissy (Marine Program Coordinator):

4. Salamanders are equally as cute in the NW as in the Midwest.
5. It is indeed still possible at 23 to get a butchered haircut (NO "please give me a 1 inch trim" will never, ever, ever mean "please lop off 4 inches). I'm grieving.
6. How wonderful it is to have friends that are spread all over the country and world! You guys are great!

I miss you all tons and tons and tons and want to hear all about your lives!!!
-Jess