alyssamina

Busy

Thu, 03 May 2007 04:58:04 GMT

Ok, so its been a while since I've posted.

It turns out this quarter is very busy. I have alot of work all week, which puts stress on my usual weekends off to ski. Ah the skiing. The mountain is closed now (tear) so I will be using my extra time...to rock climb? Maybe I'll try mountain biking...or maybe I'll use it to do my thesis..who knows!

I am currently waiting for the SEM to take a picture for me...to get a good picture you have to let it scan very slowly...which takes forever. And there is nothing to do while it does it, except try and not move. So I have my computer here, and a few seconds ago I was actually attempting to photoshop some of the pictures I had taken. I took a few really awesome ones, even though I'm still not sure how all the things work on this machine. In fact, I'm having issues with the most simple things...like how to focus on an image.

After this picture is done I get to go home. I'm feeling a bit peckish, and tired, so going home is a wonderful idea.

11:00

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 06:25:35 GMT

It is a little after 11 pm, and I have officially Started my experiment. Yes, you read that right, started. I will be here for god knows how long...and I only hope I won't be in anyone's way tomorrow. I have spent the entire day trying to figure out how to make it so I didn't have to stay up all night tonight...and I was completely unsuccessful. So here I am.

A special note about the night, I was all set for this to be enjoyable (to some extent) when the wall started making a very large vibrating sound. Sort of like a bad heater makes, only louder. And not coming from a heater as far as I can tell. It seems to be coming from a post in the window. I was planning on listening to This American Life podcasts (a past time I learned from Julie at Bamfield) while I analyzed my dvd data and waited for my starfish to breath (a respirometry experiment, the one I'm actually running right now). It seems I can still do that, but I have to wear headphones because the loud vibrating sound makes it so I can't hear the computer. Lovely. Also, I only seem to be able to download about 30 seconds of This American Life, even though it claims that I should be able to get the whole podcast.

Ok, I'll check in later.

Tele and video

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:40:29 GMT

I tele skied over the weekend, and it was awesome. I can proudly say that I dropped the Chute on tele (and yes, I did cheat it a bit). I had a nuts weekend. yay weekend ski bum.

Then on monday I went to Spmc, not to return until today around 3. I didn't shower, I barely had time to eat (well, I ate on monday). My starfish babies have become full blown juveniles, and are booking it around their small little habitats. As a result, I have to take care of them, and sit in a cold room for 8 hours taking Dvd recordings of them. Sweet. While its questionable whether I will be able to use my data for what I collected it for, I will be able to use it for something at least. And now I have a better idea of what I will do, and can do it easily. Soo excited. I love being productive. So much more fun then the planning stage.

Umm...thats all for now. I should be productive in the more tedious way now (lots of grant stuff due).

strange

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:28:01 GMT

Today I completed my last final and thought...I AM DONE!!! And then I contemplated what I wanted to do with my newly acquired free time. The first thing I did was pop open a guinness. The second thing I did...was my taxes. And then I cleaned my room. And did three loads of laundry.

The sad thing about this was that I sort of enjoyed doing all these things. I love that you can now not only see my floor, but I even vacuumed it. And all my cloths will be clean (soon...there still washing away). And my taxes are essentially done.

Tonight I have gymnastics, a date, and then we are going to 80's night. All in all this should be a good day.

Then tomorrow I get to go to shannon Point and catch up on all the work I have not been doing on my thesis recently.

I'm off!!

I found fake rocks!!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:55:10 GMT

I need uniform rocks, with the same grain size and texture and the same general size as well. This is for putting in my cages that my starfish will be in, so that they can hind under them if they are scared, and sit on top of them if the water is stressing them out. I went to Fred Meyers in search of bricks, since that seemed to be the easiest way to get that. Instead I found something better, clay pot feet!!! Its awesome. They are the perfect size, and have a little spot under them that will give the little scared starfish a place to hide. And, they are three for 2 dollars...now thats my kind of price.

Anyways, I am very excited :)

Update

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:56:34 GMT

A quick note to say that I have things a little more under control now. At least I feel like I do. Its nice to feel a bit like I know what I"m doing and why.

Nothing all that interesting to report...I've been doing random work things for most of my time lately, not much actual "off" time. I just got really excited that I have decided I'm going to be reading a book for fun for my spring break...yeah. Thats all I have planned. And going to Seattle to see my visiting aunt and my grandpapa's 80 birthday. Oh, and I'm going to go skiing on a weekday, at least one.

Now I must get back to stuff.

wierd

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 21:32:17 GMT

So I had given up on my non-brooding starfish...their eggs were continuing to sit on the bottom of the dish totally uncared for. All the literature says that they will not develop if they are not brooded. I was one step away from just dumping them all down the drain (the eggs, not the starfish). I was taking one last look at them when I noticed...wait...those eggs look a little bobbly. So I thought I'd check 'em out on the dissecting scope, and low and behold, they are elongating and developing little tube feet.
On the one had this is excellent, because potentially I could still use them. On the other hand it sucks, because it means that the natural population is most likely at this stage as well...which means I need to have collected all of my starfish from San Juan at the last low tide. Oh, and of course now its March and there isnt' another semi-decent low tide for another two weeks.
I don't really know what I'm going to do about this...I guess I will start Monday to actually set up my research...which I hadn't planned on needing to do for at least another month.

For now I'm going to try and get my homework for both classes very close to done this weekend, so that they won't be getting in my way later. Or thats the plan at least.

gymnastics again

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 04:55:06 GMT

I went to gymnastics again today, and as usual it has been the highlight of my week (although skiing last sunday wasn't to shabby either). I did a back handspring back layout on the ski floor, which I have never done, and I did a back handspring back layout half twist (what are those called again?) on the tramp...which again, I've never done. The thursday night experiences have just been phenomenal.

blah

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:07:04 GMT

As is apparently pretty normal in science land...my experiments have not been working out that well so far.

Or really, my experimental animals have not been working out so far.

Its amazing how bad a mood this puts me in

quiz

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 03:23:05 GMT

1.last beverage: water

2. last phone call: my sister

3. last instant message: Bibbi

4. last CD played: An alternative mix of Erin's

5. Last bubble bath: ummmm....god knows

6. Last time you cried: few minutes ago (grey's anatomy)

7. last text message: yesterday maybe?

8. last hug: yesterday

SIX THINGS YOU DID TODAY.

1. Skiied on my new ski's
2. Dropped off a cornis I didn't see coming
3. Landed the drop
4. Taught some kids how to ski
5. Laughed at a 4 year old who had landed in the powder
6. Procrastinated because my thesis freaks me out

LIST FIVE FAVORITE COLORS:

1. blue
2. Dark green
3. Kelly green
4. Maroon
5. Red

THIS MONTH HAVE YOU

1. made a new friend? I made quite a few new... at conferences, the mountain, school

2. Fallen out of love? no

3. Laughed until you cried? yep

4. Met someone who changed your life? I hope so

5. Found out who your true friends were? I think I know

RANdOMS

1. Bush? is an ass

2. Gay Marriages? yes

3. Lowering the drinking age? yes

4. Gay, Straight, or Bi? who cares?

5. Who is the best hugger that you know? I've met some good huggers over the years....not sure I can pick one

6. Got shot? no

7. Is there something you want to tell someone? Nah, normally I tell people pretty quickly if something is bothering me

8. Brand of shirt you are wearing? Dont' know, but its a Bamfield Sweatshirt

10. How many people on your top friends do you know in real life? all of them

11. How many kids do you want to have? two

12. Do you have any pets? 40 starfish..soon to be more

13. Do you wanna change your name? no

14. Is there anyone you hate? not so much right now

15. What time did you wake up today? 6 am

16.What were you doing at midnight last night? Cleaning the salt water out of my school bag (whoever thought it was a good idea to put 20 ziplock bags full of seawater and starfish in it was not so bright)

17. Name something you CANNOT wait to do: Feel comfortable with my research...and a 360 on my ski's. Oh, and a backhandspring back layout on the floor.

18. Last time you saw your father? President's Day

19. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life?
No...although sometimes I wish someone else would do my Bio Oceanography problem sets.

21. Are you single? it seems so

22. Have you ever talked to Tom? no

23. Have you ever donated money to a good cause?: yep

24. Have you ever talked about someone behind their back? yeah, sometimes I tell them later though

25. What's the last piece of clothing you borrowed from anyone? Amanda's shirt (I'm wearing it in my photo)

26. Who's gettin on your nerves right now? That kid in my class who will not stop talking, even while we are skiing and no one is listening

27. Most visited webpage?: gmail...and recently steepandcheap.com

28.Advertisment on the side of this page? Monster

29. Coke or Pepsi? neither

30. Do you have a crush?: I just figured out that my last one was still 20...that was bad

skiing

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 05:38:04 GMT

the skiing was awesome. my sister is here, and that is more awesome

and i hate grey's anatomy now...it has moved into the realm of stupid. If they don't fix the bullshit soon I'm gonna be pissed.

yes, this is the only show i watch.

Vault

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 07:04:49 GMT

I vaulted today. It was amazing. I haven't done vault at all since I was 15 years old...and then to top it off they have in fact changed the vault since I last did it. Although I think I like the new one better. It has a material more like a basketball. Anyways, I balked at least 4 times (maybe more) but I actually did vault at least 4 or 5 times as well. Which in my mind in amazing, because this is something that scared me when I was a gymnast, so its a big deal that I can still do it. It was fascinating to have a very similar panic feeling when I ran at the vault, which of course causes me to balk. But I worked my way through it. I do think i managed to screw up my big toe balking though (another thing I've done before). Can't tell if I just jammed it, or if its broken maybe. hmmm....
Oh, and I bought new ski bindings.

And I'm studying for a test (can't you tell?).

Oh, and i had my thesis proposal approved earlier this week. Committee meetings scare the hell out of me before they happen, but once they are happening they aren't so bad. Or, at least I don't shake to much while I'm trying to talk to my committee. And I manage to mostly understand what they are saying.

Ok, now i'm going to participate in the real form of studying.

gymnastics

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 05:51:45 GMT

Gymnastics (tumbling to be specific) rocks my world. There is nothing else that makes me feel so damn alive. I love it. Love. It.
I love how muscle memory stays, and how I can not do it for years and just pick up where I left off (again, this is pretty much just in tumbling). I love the power that tumbling creates, and just the feeling of concentrating only on where your body is going. I love having control over my movements. I love being able to fix one small part of something and getting instant results (for example, lengthen my round-off and find myself at least a foot higher off the ground).

And I just love bouncing, and flying, and flipping.

I even love doing ridiculous pre-workout conditioning. And how coaches are so demanding and won't let you get away with anything.

Now I must come off of my high, and work on my thesis....I hope I will be able to walk tomorrow :)

grants

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 04:23:50 GMT

grants.gov applications are so convoluted and annoying. Its amazing. While there isn't actually all that much writing I have to do for this application (I don't even have to give them a draft of my proposal) there is no end to the confusion on the application.

also, I miss snow and good skiing (and I've been skiing every week). The season has turned lame. I want the powder back.

Ummm...but on the bright side, Ali is coming to visit this weekend. Then Kenan and Sarah will be in town for Pema's defense next week. And then Edan will be in town that weekend. It is gonna be a kick as week for visiting me!!

procrastination

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:56:23 GMT

so...while I was writing my paper I remembered that I've been meaning to look up adult classes for gymnastics. I started by searching for gym's in Bellingham. I was shocked (although I shouldn't have been) to find a gym whose name I not only remembered from my days of competing, but in fact I competed at back in the day. I mean, I actually recognized the gym from the little picture on the web. And, even more creepily, its only about a mile from where I live right now.

I'll let you know what their adult classes look like...because I have so much free time that I think I'll sign up for some other activity.

hectic

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:20:18 GMT

Well, life has picked up to the promised hectic pace I thought it might. I sort of am enjoying being busy, but I am rather tired all the time. I still feel the need to sleep more then necessary, but that is how it goes.

I went to San Juan to visit Kenan and Sarah, as well as to check out my beaches. All in all it was a wonderful trip, although quite brief. I was convinced to sign up for a conference that will be happening in February though, so I won't be away from the island for long.

I walked from Shannon Point to the ferry both on the way there and back. It was a beautiful and simple walk on the way there (the tide was out). The way back was an entirely different matter. It was high tide (as well as being 7am) and I had quite the adventure attempting to get back to spmc. I spent the first 10 minutes on the beach, which wasn't so bad (I was wearing my boots) but at one point I decided to try out a "path" through the woods. This ended up with me in the middle of a devils club patch...at which point I thrashed my way back to the beach. Water is much less of an evil then devils club.

Ok...I am procrastinating on a paper I need to be writing, so I suppose I should get back to that. ugh.

fhl app

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:59:38 GMT

I finished my FHL application! I hopefully will be able to spend another 5 weeks of fun out on the island...this time learning about larvae! It would be nice.

In other news, I think I'm on the verge of getting sick. My throat is beginning to hurt, and I am coughing. This is not good, but I'm working on heading the cold off by drinking orange juice, water, and taking vitamins.

In Baker news...(haha, lots of different categories)...I think one of the older instructors might be hitting on me. Or at least I'm worried that he is. I wouldn't be worried about it (because he is so much older) but this happened to me last year at Alpental as well. Apparently being willing to go skiing with them indicates to them that I am interested. I mean, in normal life I'm still allowed to be friendly with older guys and they don't get ideas...we are talking older, like he has a teenage kid older.

Oh well, I'm sure its not as big a deal as I think it is. I am off to bed.

pay back

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:19:23 GMT

so...the university double paid me last pay period...and now they are insisting I pay them back (in the form of not recieving a pay check next pay period). I had a sinking feeling they were going to do something like this, and I am thanking god I didn't go crazy and start spending all my money, but this sucks. I had just gotten used to the idea that I would me be making a bunch more money then I had thought I was going to be making. Or, really I just was excited that I had won the grad student loto, and was being paid double for one month. But no...

An Inconvenient Truth

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:27:57 GMT

I finally saw An Inconvenient Truth. I've been meaning to see it, ever since I ridiculed the idea of my driving an hour and a half in a truck by myself to go watch a movie about reducing carbon emissions. True to the low impact aim I watched the movie from my computer at home, relieving myself of the instant guilt of having to drive home from a movie like that. As always with global warming talk (and I've been to many) I am left with a sense of wonder that we are all still here, living like we do. It amazes me what we have. Its mind boggling to imagine what might happen.

What I found most interesting, and impressive from this movie was that it ends in a semi-positive note. Most of the global warming talks I've gone to are done by scientists, and they rarely end on a positive note. We're not in charge of motivating the public to do something about global warming, and for the most part talks I've been to aren't about convincing people that it will happen. The talks I see are speculations about how the world is going to react to these changes (the biological world that is), and what we can do to monitor and understand the reactions. Ironically I came away from the movie more uplifted then I had imagined I would, because it was heartening to see someone who is still convinced that we can do something about this.

(It was also fascinating to have a brief trip down imaginary lane...Al Gore was almost our president...imagine how the world would be different).

Time to Kill

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:37:05 GMT

So I have some time to kill right now, and I was sitting at this computer trying to think of what I wanted to do. And this very frightening thought popped into my head:

"Hmm..I guess its been a while since I searched web of knowledge for papers..I wonder if anyone has published papers on Leptasterias recently".

I just had to share that. In case you are on the edge of your seat wondering, the answer to that question is no.

In other news, I have selected (preliminarily) two beaches on San Juan to collect at. I will be collecting at Lonesome Cove and at Deadman's Bay. The last two nights I have been out checking out beaches at the low with Kenan. I went despite the weather forecasts of gale force winds, and ended up with two completely clear nights, with a full moon. It was amazingly bright, to the point that we didn't even need to turn on a flashlight to walk around. I could not have asked for better weather.

Ok, now I'm going to pretend to do work.

Crash

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 02:22:04 GMT

So today...around the 2nd or 3rd to last run of the day I decided that I would attempt a steep run directly under chair 6. For some reason I decided that it wouldn't be to tracked out yet (dumb). I dropped in, and about mid way down my ski popped off (don't really know why) and I started rolling. The first ski stayed where it was, while I tumbled down to pretty much the bottom of the run. Remember that this is directly under the lift. Also remember that at this point I was wearing an instructor jacket. It was more then a little embarrassing. As soon as I stopped falling down the hill someone from the lift yelled "hey, your ski's way up there". It was incredibly helpful. Anyways, I took my jacket off (its embarrassing enough without looking like I should be better) and hiked my ass up the hill. Its funny how steep the hill suddenly was when I wasn't wearing my ski's. I did get my ski, going up turned out to be the least of my problems, I had a hard time figuring out how I was going to get down the hill with at least a resemblance of control. I did not manage this..but at least I only saw one person I knew, and only a few people actually saw me with my jacket on. Oh well...all in all it was rather hilarious.

Another note on the day, I had the best lesson I've taught so far in the morning. I had two 10 year olds who had never skied. One was from Arizona, and the other had just moved to Montana from India. By the end of an hour and a half they were both doing wedge turns and I got them on the lift. It was awesome. I saw both of them later that day skiing up a storm. I was so proud.

Oh, and I saw a cloud rainbow around mid day..it was gorgeous.

Random thoughts

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:35:53 GMT

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.
I hope you all had a good christmas, mine was excellent. I spent most of my time hanging out with my momma on the recovery couch. Lots of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. I am now back up in Bellingham for two days of skiing. I hope I get to free ski at least a bit of it...its peak holiday season though, so that might be wishful thinking.

I found a link to an article about my high school, and for my own records I'm gonna put it here:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003040152_garfield05m.html

As a side note, I ran into a father of some GHS kids I knew at Mt. Baker. We rode the lift up and after he found out I went to GHS he offered to show me some powder pockets he had found for the day "as long as I didn't tell anyone else". It was hilarious, and excellent.

I am currently listening to an excellent mix made by the one and only chuck...its wonderful.

jingle bells variation

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:14:50 GMT

I found this on the National Weather and Avalanche Center website:

WEATHER SYNOPSIS FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY

Jingle Bell Snow

Dashing through the trees,
In an avalanche of snow?
Plummeting over cliffs and rocks,
Screaming as you go.

Beacon on transmit,
Shovel at your side?
Probe poles in your pack,
Are all having quite a ride.

Tumbling through a chute,
With a jumbled mass of snow—
Is never any fun,
No matter what you know.

So be cautious on your trip,
And take a look around?
Don’t be afraid to stop,
And dig down to the ground.

The snow pack’s full of layers,
Some are weak and some are strong?
Shear tests and shear quality,
Can guide you right along.

Think about the snow pack,
And analyze terrain?
Reflect upon the routes you choose
And if snow will change to rain.

Remember don’t be swayed,
But that little mind inside?
Who’d lure you on a slope,
And take you for a ride.

Oh, Jingle bells, beacons on,
Probe and shovel in your pack?
A mind aware as you stare,
At the slope you’d like to track.

Ho, Jingle bells, all is well,
Your action’s data driven?
And best of all you’ve checked it out,
And life is what you’re livin’.

In short, forecast models indicate that the time leading
toward Christmas appear to be filled with an abundance of
rather variable weather including fronts, troughs, brief
ridging, snowfall, rainfall, local freezing rain, wind,
cooling and warming. Such weather should produce a great
variation in snowpack stability over time and space, and
travelers are urged to remain very aware of snow and weather
conditions, update their information regularly and test the
snowpack often.

Done Grading

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:06:33 GMT

I am done grading!! and I don't have to grade anything next quarter!! Halelujah!!

I'm off to Mt. Baker tomorrow (anyone see a theme?)

Crazy wind storm

Fri, 15 Dec 2006 07:46:21 GMT

The crazy wind storm has killed all my hopes of going skiing tomorrow. Instead I get to go to school and grade finals...woohoo...

On a positive note, thanks to my friend Andrew I am newly obsessed with the NOAA weather website. Its amazing. You can get the current wind speeds every single hour. An hour ago the wind gusts were at 52 mph. So cool. And its only supposed to get more exciting. I was about to put the recycling out (because they are going to collect it tomorrow...theoretically) but then I decided it would be better not to litter the neighborhood. Oh...you can also use the NOAA website to get detailed forecasts for the mountains...which is equally brilliant.

Having exhausted my patience for grading for the evening, I am off to bed