Outtakes from Karina's Life

Meaningful Quote

2011-07-22T13:47:00.000-07:00

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face"

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Deer in the Headlights

2010-09-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, its ok to laugh at me...

Date Night(s) With The Cabinet

2010-08-09T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have had a date scheduled for many years with the multiple boxes that contain nearly all the music I acquired while I was in school (the first time) as well as copies of some of the more technical symphonies I've played over the years. The boxes themselves started yelling at me from the inside of my closet declaring that they were cashing in my rainchecks about. Who am I to argue with the boxes that live in the same room as my underwear. They could have a field day if they ever decided to get even...

I made a trip to Target to buy a file cabinet and set to work. At first I was naive enough to think it would take only a couple evenings. I was wrong. It has been over a week and I'm still sorting. I would go so far as to say that I am only a little over half of the way through. And my living room is a mess of stacked piles.

The tough part is that most of the music is actually photocopies from my professor's files and therefore are just 8.5" X 11" sheets of paper with no titles. There are random sheets all over! Sorting them requires a quiet room so I can sing the tune to myself and then rack my brain as to the composer, piece and movement. (Having background music playing makes the process longer.) For example, I need to be able to look at a sheet and determing that its the 2nd page of Beethoven's 9 Symphony 4th movement unlabeled. Needless to say, its pretty time consuming.

The good news is that I will never have to do this again. And I'll be able to find everything quickly rather than searching through 3 boxes to find the last page of the last movement of that concerto I learned 7 years ago. It'll be great!

Unexpected Adventures

2010-07-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

The other night I left my headlights on when I went into the gym. Two hours later when I came out, my car battery was completely dead. It was already an old battery prior to moving to AZ but it had also been baked in the Arizona sun for a year. It was so dead that jumping it didn't even work. That started the evening on a very long adventure. Let me explain...

My friend came to give me a jump start: it didn’t work. Neither of us had tools on hand so we figured we would go to the car parts store and pick up a battery. Then we would go to the church building where the singles were playing volleyball until all hours of the night. We went to the car parts store and they had NO idea which battery to get since I didn’t bring in my old one. So we went to another car parts store and successfully purchased one 5 minutes before closing (10pm). And then it was off to volleyball! We thought for sure that out of 35+ people someone would have tools on them. Not so! A girl said that she lived around the corner and that her dad had lots of tools which seemed like our best option. In the process of asking around for tools we had gathered quite a crowd that wanted to help/hang out. The total came to 7 people. We all tramped over to the house where her whole family came out to see who was there. 20-30 minutes later and after 2 or 3 family stories about dad and his tools we finally left to go back to the gym for my car. There, the boys seemed to think they could do a better job of replacing the battery then the engineer. Silly boys… tools are for girls! Once I took over, things went pretty smooth. But I didn’t get home until way after midnight. And on a night I was planning on going to the gym and going to bed early, that was significantly later then I wanted. Everything worked out in the end.

Except for the fact that the money I was planning on using for trapeze was eaten by a car battery.

Trapeze Show!

2010-07-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to catch both my tricks at the show. I've got some great stuff in store for the next one but it might not be for a long while since my sister is coming home (to Colorado) from her mission on the date of the next show. Maybe if you're lucky you'll see some videos of practice instead.

Just as a side note, I had been Scuba diving all day out at the lake. So you can only imagine how exhausted I was. I slept well afterwards. :)

Enjoy!

Whip Catch - 26 June 2010

Split Catch - 26 June 2010

My New Hobby - Flying Trapeze!

2010-04-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine from work has been taking a flying trapeze class for the last two months and has since convinced me to give it a try. And I sure am glad she did. I'm hooked! I went in for an intro course last Monday and have since decided to take the 8 week course myself.

Here is the rig on my first day. For scale, you can see one of the employees climbing up the ladder to get everything set for us. I have to admit that when I pulled up in the parking lot the first day I was a little disappointed. I had pictured it being a lot bigger. But once I got up to the platform I realized that it was plenty big enough.

The first 3/4 of the night they have you swing by yourself in a trick called the knee-hang then dismount in a backflip. At first I thought, "I won't even do a back flip on a trampoline! How am I supposed to do one off a swinging bar?!?!" I asked all sorts of stupid questions. And after I did it for the first time I realized that all my worry was completely unprecedented. In any case, here is a video of my first time. Unfortunately, my camera gal didn't quite catch the takeoff due to technical difficulties.

Hmmm. That didn't work. Looks like it won't let me upload more than one video and the one below is way cooler than my first attempt so we'll stick with it...

Technically, you are supposed to start with one hand on the bar and then simultaneously jump off the platform while reaching your second hand from the platform cable to the bar. I had some problems with that. Freud would probably have some interesting things to say about not trusting one's self or some jargon like that. But my argument back is, how can you trust yourself to do something you've never done before? Anyway, my inability to trust myself to get my other hand to the bar midflight is why they had me start with two hands on the bar for the video below. When you do a catch, you have to have the timing right in order to successfully intercept eachother so if you hesitate you screw the whole trick up.
Below is my final swing of the night. I was able to complete the catch but couldn't quite get back to the bar.

When I get better I'll put more videos up. :)

Have a great day!

doh!

2010-03-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

This morning was a typical morning. I rolled out of bed and wearily walked into my kitchen. I quickly finished the dishes that I had left to soak over night and started the dishwasher. Once that was underway, I turned around to gather the necessary components for my typical breakfast of champions: bowl, spoon, milk, cereal. The first two were no problem. But when I opened the fridge, my milk wasn't there. I was completely confused! I knew I wasn't out, for I had just had some the previous day and it was still half full. I looked around on the counter tops looking to see if I had accidentally left it out. I looked on my dining table, my desk, my coffee table... it was nowhere! I even wondered if I had had a neighbor come in and take my milk and nothing else.

Until I looked up.

That's right ladies and gentleman. I had put the cereal in the fridge and the milk on the shelf. Such is my life.

An Evening of Fun

2010-01-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

'nuf said.

Experimenting in the Kitchen

2010-01-19T16:40:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I've never been much of a cook or home-maker. The latter is something that I, frankly, won't care about until I have someone to share my home with. However, the former is something I'd like to get better at. On the other hand, I'm an awesome baker! Which happens to be a byproduct of having a sweet tooth. But actual healthy food has been limited to chicken casseroles and scrambled eggs.

Lucky for me, I have recently bought a couple AWESOME books full of recipes that serve one person! I especially recommend "Serves One" by Toni Lydecker. Most of the recipes serve 1-2 people and are designed to be prepared in under 30 minutes. Its perfect for those of us that live on our own.

(Side note.... Its raining outside! It NEVER rains in Arizona!)

With this newly formed goal in mind, I have combined the kitchen essentials from all of the books I've purchased and my own limited experience and come up with a list of things that I think would be helpful to have laying around the kitchen for my cooking pleasure. I have X'ed the things that I already have in my kitchen. As you can see, I've got a long ways to go. Feel free to use it as you see fit. Or even suggest things you couldn't live without in your kitchen! (Keep in mind, these should be things that keep well.)

I look forward to sharing my kitchen adventures with you in the future.

Asian seasonings

Miso

X Soy sauce

Teriyaki sauce

Instant hon dashi

Condiments

X Mayonnaise

X Dijon

Mango chutney

X Salsa

Fruits

X Lemon/Lime

Cranberries, raisins (dried)

X Seasonal

Grains

X Rice (2 varieties)

Couscous

X Oatmeal

X Cornmeal

Herbs and Spices

Dried Oregano

X Parsley

Thyme

X Rosemary

X Sage

Italian Seasoning

X Basil, dill (fresh if possible)

X Salt (sea)

X Black peppercorns

Bay leaves

X Cinnamon

Cumin

Ground and crushed red pepper

Sesame seeds

X Seasoning blends

Hot Stuff

Dried chiles

Asian chili paste

X Tabasco sauce

Ginger root (frozen)

Misc.

Anchovies (canned in olive oil)

X Bacon

Beans and legumes

X Mushrooms (fresh or dried and frozen)

Pine nuts, Almonds, Cashews

X Onion family

X Pasta (one long, one short)

X Potatoes (red-skinned, Yukon)

X Olive oil

X Veggie oil

Balsamic Vinegar

Toasted sesame oil

X Tuna

X Salad Makings

X Corn (frozen)

X Honey

X Chocolate Syrup

X Breads

X Cheese (Parmigiano-reggiano and 2 other types)

X Eggs

WoT's that?

2009-10-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Wheel of Time resumes today! Yeppee!

Keepin' Busy

2009-09-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

Since I moved to Arizona I have suffered through a completely new environment, lifestyle, climate, job, friends, no family etc. I have kept myself extremely busy to keep my mind off being homesick. To my surprise, it has worked rather well. I am now participating in a plethora of activities. These include: training for a marathon, ballet class, institute, institute choir, ward choir, Chandler Symphony, rock climbing, pool (billiards) and jigsaw puzzles. Since I've moved here I have put together 4 big puzzles. I had help on 2.3 of them from my good friend Rachel (visiting from Omaha) but I still think its an amazing feat. Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures of the first 2. I have, however, taken pictures of their boxes just so you can see what I've been up to.

This was the first one I put together and probably the hardest.

This one was done with the assistance of my friend Rachel (750 pieces)

Rachel helped sort the pieces. There were 1500 total.

This one was the same brand as 2nd one up above. It was 750 pieces.

And you know a puzzle has satisfied your puzzle crave when you can pick them up!

(Photo courtesy of George)

Hey! At least I don't have a gizzilion cats! Perhaps I'll make another trip to Wal-mart this coming weekend...

Saving the Planet

2009-08-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

In Boulder, alternate energy sources are abundant and you will VERY rarely see someone actually throw anything away that can be recycled. Cardboard, newpaper, aluminum cans, glass bottles, junk mail, milk cartons, juice containers, and even the cardboard box tampons come in! You name it, they recycle it! It not just about recycling. Its about water and fuel and pollution and open space and so on. Here in AZ, it seems that the standard thought process is about a decade behind when it comes to preserving our natural resources. Don't get me wrong; people still think of it. Just not nearly to the degree they do in Boulder.

I have decided not to let the fact that I live in AZ deter me from my Boulderite sense of energy awareness. So yes, I still recycle. And yes, as soon as its not 110 when I get off of work, I'll be commuting on bike. But the most recent decision I have come to, is that I am going to line-dry all my clothes. I first thought of it when I noticed that you cannot turn on the light in my laundry room without a fan turning on. I cleverly deducted that the reason behind such mandatory air circulation was because a dryer heats the air you are paying $$$ to cool with A/C. Hence, the fan to draw out the hot air before it seeps into the rest of the apartment simply to get cooled back down. My conclusion? Skip the dryer all together and hang your laundry. I found a convenient rack that can hold almost a full load (I don't want my personals hanging off my balcony, anyway) and it collapses nicely to be stored when not in use. (The one I have is similar to this: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11072972) So yes I'm saving energy, but that's not even the best part! My clothes dry QUICKER in the AZ summer sun then they do in the dark confines of man-made dryer. Ironic, eh?

I guess I should mention one thing to AZ's credit. I noticed that my water heater is located outside in the storage closet off my deck. It makes a perverse sort of sense... I already miss the snow.

Pushing Through The Pain

2009-08-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be privy to this, but others may not be.

I am training for a marathon.

Why on Earth would I ever do such a thing? Well, its simple really. I'm doing it for cancer research. I found a program called Team in Training that trains aspiring athletes while raising money for all types of Blood related cancers.

Check out my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/pfchangs10/kogilvi0a1

I can honestly say, its not a lot of fun to actually get up at 5:30 AM almost every morning to run just so I can get my mileage in before 1) it gets "hot" (typically its about 80 deg in the mornings) and 2) so I'll have time to cool down so people don't ask me why my face is so red. When I work out, my skin goes from almost translucent white to bright red!

Although, its not fun, I am already starting to see the benefits of running on a consistent basis. My legs are solid muscle and I seem to sleep 9 times better than I ever have in the past.

I am now on my 4th week of training and therefore have worked up to about 4 miles on my long runs. I can only imagine how I'm going to feel once I'm up to 10 or 15 miles. The first mile always sucks, but as my coach says, it does not suck as much as a round of chemo. As long as that holds true, I'll keep running toward the finish line!

p.s. Feel free to contribute to TNT on my website! (Link is above)

Like buttah'

2009-08-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

I recently started using my counter-top butter container again. For those of you unaware, a butter container is the second best invention in the history of the world. (The first being the wheel.) It is a porcelain container that keeps your butter fresh at room temperature. You put 1/2 inch of water in the container but the lid is a large enough to mash a stick of butter inside of it. Thus, when you place the lid on the container, the butter is sealed from the air, protecting it from spoiling quickly. Butter at room temperature ALWAYS!!! Its genius! No more cutting little tiny pieces and taking so much time spreading the butter that your toast goes cold before you eat it. S'wonderful!!!

The reason why I said "recently started using, again" is because there is a delicate balance that must be upheld when one lives on their own. You see, although the container offers air-tight protection, nothing can maintain butter indefinately; even the freezer. When I first got my porcelain chassis, I would put an entire stick of butter in the lid. Unfortunately, (and fortunately for my heart) I do not eat a whole stick of butter very quickly. I learned relatively quickly that rotten butter smells almost as bad as rotten fish. Seeing how this is not a scent Victoria's Secret would pick up in its next round of perfumes, I decided to quit using it until a future date when I had a family to help me dispose of the butter in a manner more pleasing to the senses.

When I moved into my new apartment and ran across my porcelain container as I was unpacking boxes, I decided to give it one more shot. This time, I only put in about 1/3 of a stick each time I refilled. It works! I can now get through my butter without the rancid disposal process.

Saved by the Dogs

2009-07-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Moving to a new location means that one has to endure weeks of constant name/face recognition exercises. I don't really mind it. And I'm relatively good at it. (Relative to the majority of the population.) But today as I got home from work I ran into one of my neighbors in my apartment complex. I could remember her dogs' names but I could not remember hers! Krista? Kristina? Kristen? I have no idea. But for some reason I could remember that her little brown chihuahua was Hollywood and her big black Saint Bernard was RockStar. The worst part? She remembered mine! The best part? I think she didn't notice that I didn't know her name since I called out to her dogs. I guess you could say I was saved by the dogs.

First Impressions

2009-07-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

I am officially relocated. I will move into my permanent apartment on the 18th. It'll be my very first personally funded apartment.

At work, I've finished the two day corporate training orientation that all new hires are required to take. Now I have a mountain of procedures and documents to read and tons of acronyms to learn. Yeehaa. (Notice my lack of optimism.) One important thing to mention is that the job I was hired for is not the job they put me in. To make a long story short, the program they hired me to work on was called KEI and I was going to be doing work in their Design, Integration and Testing (DI&T) group. Turns out that the KEI program was a defense contract that got canceled a few months back. Unfortunatly, when the contract was canceled, so did my original job position. So rather then resending their offer, I was then moved from DI&T to the Electronics Components group. I'm not complaining since I know some people who don't even have a job yet. It just would have been nice BEFORE arriving.

My new ward is huge! The Relief Society is so big that they can't fit us all in the RS room. We have to meet in the chapel. After the small size of the ward in Colorado and the small branches all around the Denver area, it was kind of a shock. But the biggest difference I've noticed is that the people here aren't as focused on education. Most of the people I've met are either working in a "non-degree required" job or are slowly working toward something indistinguishable at the local community college. There are exceptions of course but its difinitely something that stands out as a difference between a student ward and a singles ward. (That and the "m" and "w" words gets thrown around a lot more here). That being said, I hope I get a calling (soon).

All and all, AZ looks like its going to work out; as long as the summers don't diminish me into a smelly pile of goo.

Love to you all.

I get an "F" in Making Decisions

2009-06-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

How come every time I go to the fabric store to make an article of clothing I come out empty handed? I mean EVERY TIME!

I haven't been able to choose out any fabric and a pattern to accompany it for at least the last 5 times I've decided I wanted to make something. There are too many choices! (Ok, I admit, I can pick out patterns...) My philosophy has been that if I'm going to go to the trouble of making something, it has to end up being one of my top 3 favorite things in my closet. Its too much pressure!!!!!

Picture Time!

2009-06-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures I promised. The video will be compiled once I have the DVD NASA promised us!

The team as Kristian presented our Test Readiness Review.

Boarding the flight!
I was extremely excited!

Kristian, myself and our experiment as we were climbing to altitude.

I believe this was on the second parabola.
I honestly don't remember looking at the camera.

This is my favorite shot.
At least, when it comes to my facial expressions.

Getting down to business.

Another shot of the experiment in
the early parabolas...my hair is still up.

I was fascinated with Kristian's inability to keep his feet down.
(He got yelled at for it a lot!)

The crazy mermaid hair!

I'm not sure what the face was all about but its kinda funny.
The girl in the corner was our NASA mentor.

Me having fun floating after checking that cameras were still rolling.

Another experiment pic.

It was fun to just let your arms float!

Kristian with his feet up... AGAIN!

Kristian with his feet down.
ITS A MIRACLE!

No words needed...

This is a shot of another girl on another team
but you can see me in the background having a good time!

I'm having a good time!

Here's a camera shot that gives an idea of the overall cabin size.

Near the end of the flight.
I know this because people are looking out the windows.

A special hello to all my family and friends!

All of the individuals that were on our flight.

Who Said Gravity Never Faileth?

2009-06-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wow!

Microgravity is awesome!

My first words as I floated toward the top of the cabin for the very first time was "Whoa! Oh, my goodness!"

There is so much to tell and words are not sufficient. I guess I'll start by saying that I don't have any awesome zero G pictures to share with you yet. Why? Because I simply was having so much fun during the zero G segments I forgot. And the only pictures I did remember to take looked like this:

The good news is that NASA had 5-6 people on board whose sole purpose was to take video and still shots of us in zero G. They came by several times and I remember posing for multiple shots. Also, we had Heather from Marshall Space Center taking pictures AND our NASA mentor, Ashley, taking video of just us. I think between all those people, I'm pretty well covered. We'll have access to those pics in the near future at which point I'll post them here. In the mean time, I want to document everything I remember.

We loaded the experiment onto the aircraft yesterday and got everything ready so that all we had to do is climb on board and take off in the morning. I'm reminded of that primary song that goes "Saturday is a special day, its the day we get ready for Sunday..." Although, it was technically a Monday going into Tuesday the premise still holds. So much preparation goes into the flight in the days that lead up to it that everything just can't be done without careful planning! We also were issued our fight suits (with our very own name tags!) and watched (quite possibly) the most cheesy video on avoiding motion sickness. In addition to all that, we had to go through Physiological training last week involving lots of lectures, a Pressure Chamber experience to become acquainted to our own personal symptoms of Hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and pass an exam of that knowledge. The quote I gave Heather to put on the NASA website is:

“The chamber experience was nothing like I've ever experienced before! I could feel my brain become less effective as time went by. Processing information became unimportant to me as I progressed in my symptoms. I was aware that I knew the information that was being asked of me on the worksheet; however, I was unable to make myself focus and retrieve that information. As time continued, I began to care less and less and eventually gave up and stared blankly into space before being told to put my O2 mask back on. My symptoms mostly consisted of dizziness, blue fingernail beds, apathetic attitude and tunnel vision.” - Me

The morning of the flight we got to Ellington Field and attended a few preflight briefings instructing us on aircraft safety, the correct method to vomit into a bag while in zero G and given our motion sickness meds. The meds are so strong that they document who you say your Designated Driver will be for the remainder of the day.

The aircraft itself is the Boeing 727 configured specifically for zero G flight. The rear of the aircraft has about 6-8 rows of regular seating but then the rest of the craft is outfitted with nothing but padded walls, ceilings and floors. There were very few windows. In fact, the only windows were the windows on the emergency exits. The flight crew actually closed the blinds on the windows in the early part of the flight so that we wouldn't look out the window, see the horizon at a 45 deg angle from what we thought was down and become sick. Near the end of the flight during a 2G stretch I took a gander and was amazed. My body was being pressed directly into the bottom of the aircraft but the horizon was not in the same direction. It was cool!

(The aircraft we flew in - a Boeing 727)

Once on board the aircraft, we took off and started climbing to altitude. Once in the air we were immediately instructed to set-up our experiments. We then were asked if we were a GO/NO-GO for parabolic flight. Once all teams checked in, the pilot took us into a steep climb that created an acceleration of about 1.8 Gs. That means that our bodies felt like they weighed 1.8 times what they weigh on the surface of Earth. I remember being overwhelmed with the anticipation of what was about to happen. And then…

Gravity Stopped!

All of a sudden, I started drifting upwards. It was so unlike anything I've ever experienced before! I was expecting the stomach knot that you experience at the top of a roller coaster but that didn't happen at all! One second I weighed twice as heavy as usual and the next I was drifting toward the ceiling with only the slightest push off. I remember feeling slightly dizzy for a few seconds the first time but the brain learns quick! I remember thinking to myself not to make any sudden movements and to stay calm. After the first parabola I found myself on the opposite side of the cabin after hitting the floor and the ceiling multiple times. I still don't know how it happened!

(The display of the current number of g's the aircraft is under and the parabola number)
*Photo Courtesy of NASA*

The hyper gravity segments were maybe not as exciting as the zero G segments, but they had their own appeal. You could just lay on the floor and relax. Most people laid down to avoid sickness but I found I didn’t have to. I just had to sit still. It was its own kind of fun. On one of the 2G segments I decided I’d like to stay standing just to see what would happen (the flight crew remained standing so I wanted to too!) but I was promptly tapped on the shoulder and told to sit down. They know best and I didn’t want to get sent to the back so I obeyed. I did find out that I was more prone to disorientation when looking around in 2Gs then when we were weightless.

After about 3 parabolas (we experienced 32 total- 30 Zeros, 1 Lunar and 1 Martian) I had a pretty good idea of how to move around. We were able to brace ourselves and begin work on our experiment. The first trials of our experiment went pretty well. We were able to get our systems started with relative ease. We noticed right away that our 2-mass system was not functioning as we had hoped. It was not entering into the second mode rotational mode at all. However, the 1-mass system that was fixed on one end functioned perfectly. Upon inspection of the apparatus on the ground, we found a blob of brass that had been sticking out and interfering with the rotation. We filed it down, however, the following flight showed no improvement.

Initially, I had my hair tied back in a bun with a clip securing it. I decided about the 5th parabola to let loose! I thought I would get a few pics and then put it back because it would get in the way. But once it was down, it was such a surreal feeling of having it float around my head I decided to let it be for the remainder of the flight. Heather told me after the flight that I looked like a mermaid in water. My hair was fluffy and light even compared to the other girls up there. I guess it’s a good thing I got up extra early to wash and blow-dry it!

We also were able to do some pretty awesome demonstrations for our Outreach video. One of the coolest ones I did was letting go of a water bottle and it just staying exactly where I left it. I know it sounds cliché but I really think that was one of my favorite parts of the flight. Inside the water bottle, the liquid stuck to the interior walls. We wanted it to ball up, but I left too much water in it for that to happen. The surface tension was too strong. Also a girl from one of the other teams wore a Supergirl outfit under her flight suit. During the flight she unzipped her flight suit pulled out the cape and did a flying pose. I can’t wait to get a view of that on the photos in a few weeks!

I quickly learned that if I reached up at the beginning of each zero G segment I would save myself from bumping my head on the ceiling. It became second nature such that even if I had strapped myself down in preparation for the zero G I would reach up when gravity disappeared. It must have looked rather funny because here I was, strapped to the ground with my hands reaching for the sky for no reason!

I always had about half a second in the beginning of each parabola of disorientation that was borderline dizziness. It always cleared up quick and I NEVER felt sick. Every time we topped the parabola I thought to myself, “The enemy gate is down!” from Ender’s Game and things came back into focus. I do remember thinking about the 24th parabola that my stomach was there. But it wasn't a nauseous feeling or even a queasy feeling. I can't really describe it. It was just an awareness that my stomach existed. Perhaps it was the wonderful drugs they gave us. As our flight surgeon said, "Better living through chemistry." I heard that 4 people got sick on the flight. I never saw any of them because I was having too much fun. I do remember seeing the flight doctor (Dr. Fitzpatrick) rush by with blue medical gloves on. I can only assume he was on his way to help someone.

I mentioned earlier the benefits of the motion sickness meds. But here are some disadvantages. You crash, and you crash hard after the first few hours. I had to take a quick nap in the afternoon! Also, I've had a VERY dry mouth all day. Which means I'm probably the most hydrated I've been in ages since I'm guzzling water to trick my brain into thinking my mouth is just fine. They warned us that this was a common side effect and as such, they provided hard candies for the flight. I grabbed a bunch of Wintergreen Lifesavers and had one in my mouth almost the entire flight.

The flight crew was very helpful. There were a couple times where I lost control and couldn't get my feet down. The flight crew just very calmly guided my feet back down and made sure that we were all safe. Kudos to them! They did a great job!

As we were flying back to the field, I was very sad. I know that the flight could've been twice as long and it still would have been too short. I would venture to say that the flight crew has the 2nd best job in the world.

(Heather, Kristian and I after our flight)

In general, it was the most fun thing I have ever done. It was WAY worth the effort I put into getting into the program. I'd do it all over again if I were still in school. In fact, maybe I'll go back and get another undergrad degree just so I do it again! I'm sure my dad would appreciate that. :)

As I write this, its been over 12 hours since I got back on the ground. I'm sad that I probably won't ever get to experience that again in my lifetime. There are moments in life that our life altering events: kindergarten, HS Graduation, the first kiss, marriage. I truly believe this fits nicely into that category.

*Photo Courtesy of NASA*

Turnin' Over the Dirty Work

2009-06-04T20:26:00.001-07:00

To follow my happenings this week in Houston, follow this blog...

http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/freefalling

Giant Post

2009-05-31T07:23:00.000-07:00

I recently sent an email to my sister who is serving a mission in Korea. It was specifically design to catch her up on all the happenings of my life the last month or so. I figured it would take very little effort to modify that letter to make it appropriate for the blog. If it sounds disjointed in places, its probably because I modified it in order to be appropriate for public posting. :) I've deleted some paragraphs and added others.

I guess the biggest news is that I graduated (again) a few weeks back. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like I’m done yet because every spare moment I’ve had between then and now I’ve been at school working on my Microgravity Experiment that we are flying with down in Houston NEXT WEEK! ☺ I’m so excited! I’ll be in Houston taking tours of Johnson Space Center and flying in the “weightless wonder” from June 3rd – 14th. Its been really busy but I'm sure the whole experience will be worth it.

(My friend Sabrena and I making fun of the fact they wouldn't let us shake hands with the Dean people for fear of the Swiine flu. They told us to give the Vulcan hand shake instead...)

(Me in front of the stage prior to the precession - which included Pomp and Circumstance but also melodies from Star Wars, The Legend of Zelda, and other misc. nerdy movies.)

Along the same lines as graduation, I won a few awards associated with my Senior Design Project. The first one was at a paper conference in Minnesota for the AIAA - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Our team took second in the team category. The remaining awards were given by the Aerospace Department. The first one was given to the entire team for the "Most Complex Build." The second award was an individual award for the "Best Mechanical Technical Lead." Its actually hilarious since I wasn't even the Mechanical Lead on my project. :)

(Joe Tanner - former astronaut - and I at the Aerospace Recognition Assembly. Joe was one of the advisers for my senior design team)

I got really sick the week before finals and finally went to see the doctor 2 weeks after my initial symptoms appeared. Turns out that it was a precursor to pneumonia. So once I graduated I had to stay-put in my bed for about a week and a half while writing technical documents and communicating with my microgravity team via internet. It didn’t help that my team leader went off to Europe and basically left us to do the entire project without him. I therefore had to step up to the plate and delegate things to people in order to get everything done. Its been a stressful month.

I get back from Houston on June 14th and the movers come to move my stuff to Phoenix on June 16th. I’ll then be living with relatives in Colorado Springs until I go down to Arizona sometime in early July. The whole “moving to another state” thing hasn’t really settled in yet. I have a feeling it won’t become real until I’ve been in the stinking heat for a good month or two.

I just got back Colorado Springs where I attended my sister's baby shower. I honestly don’t think I had ever been to a baby shower for a girl before. And since I’ve been so busy with school and then the microgravity project, I wasn't able to hand-make anything for her. I feel a little guilty because my other sister was able to complete an entire quilt for her before she left for her mission.

Its looking like my littlest sister will drive down with me to AZ. It’ll be interesting to spend time with her. I haven’t really spent a good chunk of time with her since WAY before she graduated from high school. Which means she’s probably a whole different person now. I’m excited. Though most of the driving will be done at night since my car (currently) has no AC. We’ll live, contrary to my mother's belief.

I ran the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. Its 10 km (6.2 miles). My time was 1:14:01.95. Considering I had "almost" pneumonia a few weeks ago, I consider that a pretty good time! I hadn't run in almost 3.5 weeks when I arrived at the start line on Monday the 25th. I was sore, but not so sore that it would deter me from doing it again!

(This picture is of me crossing the finish line at the Bolder Boulder. I'm not sure if its legal to post it but I figured the copyright is written right there so I would do it anyway.)

I switched cars with my dad a few weeks ago so he could get my muffler and clutch fixed before I drove it cross-country to AZ. I told him not to do more than that since I will only be getting a new car in a shortly now that I have a real job. But the next thing I know, he’s replaced the radiator, replaced the axle boot, repaired some damage on the fender, fixed some plates under the car that had apparently come loose, and is currently tinkering with the AC to try and see if he can get it running. Who knows what else!!! ~sigh~ As my sister says, sometimes you just have to let Dad be a dad.

I performed in MahlerFest 2009 where we played Mahler's 8th Symphony in early May. In case you didn't know, Mahler's 8th is probably one of the top largest 5 works ever scored. It calls for a 115 piece orchestra including an organ and a mandolin, two full size choirs and a full size children's choir, an off-stage brass ensemble and 8 vocal soloists. It's so big the string actually had to sit on the floor in front of the stage so we could fit everyone. Its official title is "Symphony of a Thousand"! It was my last gig in Boulder and quite a lot of fun. I missed half of the rehearsals because I was sick but they let me play anyway. :) I guess I also have an informal performance coming up on June 27th but its in a Barn so I'm not sure it can officially be called a gig. :)

(At the Dress Rehearsal)

(All of us. Well, most of us. The children's choir, 8th soloist and extra brasse ensemble are in the balcony out of this shot.)

Oh! I almost forgot to mention! I performed in a recital at the end of April with a dear friend. We played 4 bass quartets. Two pieces were from Metallica arranged by Apocalyptica and the others were "Prayer" by Bloch and "Adagio for Strings" by Barber. We've decided we are going to record the two latter pieces. We are also going to be performing them in the barn concert I told you about earlier. One of the bass players in the quartet has a friend that holds a concert in his barn every year. I guess he breeds race horses so its a rather large barn. He invites his musician friends over once a year to perform small ensemble pieces. It'll be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it. I'm glad I was able to arrange to stay in Colorado long enough to participate.

(My friend Jen and I after her recital)

Well my friends, I'm ready to sign off. I hope you feel a little less neglected. I'm sure with the move coming up, it'll be a few weeks before I will feel the urge to write again. Stay safe!

Quiz About Everything

2009-05-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

I just spent an hour posting pictures on facebook. So rather than repeating that process twice in a row I'm going to do this. Don't worry, I'll put my pics up here too soon. Just not right now.

Quiz About Everything!

Rule #1:
If you open this you take it. (feel free to ignore this one if you feel like)

Rule # 2:
You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages you and asks

Q&A:
Only answer TRUE or FALSE

Q: Kissed someone on your friends list? True
Q: Been arrested? False
Q: Do you like someone? True
Q: Held a snake? True
Q: Been suspended from school? False
Q: Been fired from a job? False
Q: Sang karaoke in public? False
Q: Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? True
Q: Laughed until you started crying? True
Q: Caught a snowflake on your tongue? True
Q: Kissed in the rain? True
Q: Sang in the shower? True
Q: Sat on a roof top? True
Q: Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? False
Q: Broken a bone? False
Q: Shaved your head? False
Q: Played a prank on someone? True
Q: Shot a gun? True
Q: Donated Blood? True
Q: Had your heart broken? True

"Who was your last?"
just be 100% truthful
THE LAST PERSON THAT:

1. You hung out with? Family for Mother's Day
2. You texted? Bill
3. You were in a car with? Family
4. Went to the movies with? Nathan and his family
5. You went shopping with? Nicole and company
6. You talked on the phone? Nathan
7. Made you laugh? Bill
8. You hugged? My dad
9. You cried with? Don't know. I cry alone.

WOULD YOU RATHER

1. Pierce your nose or tongue? Tongue
2. Die in a fire or get shot? Shot

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY...

1. Sun or moon? Sun
2. Winter or Fall? Fall
3. Left or Right? Right
4. Sunny or rainy? Sunny
5. Where do you live? A Condo
6. Club or pub? Pub
7. Are there 1 or 2 people who you can always trust? Yep
8. Do you want to get married? yes
9. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl
10. What time is it? 12:06 pm
11. Are you afraid of commitment? Not generally
12. Do you cook? occasionaly
13. Current mood? patient

IN THE LAST 48 HOURS HAVE YOU...

1. Kissed someone? no, I'm sick
2. Sang? no
3. Listened to music? Yes
4. Seen someone you cared a lot about? No
5. Danced Crazy? No
6. Cried? No
7. Like someone you can't have? Nope

Is there anybody you just wish would fall off the planet? Not seriously
How do you flush the toilet in public? normally, then I wash my hands
Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Always
Do you have a crush on someone? always
Name one thing you worry about running out of? Time!
What famous person do you (or other people) think you resemble? that chick on "That 70's Show"
What is your favorite pizza topping? pepporoni and mushrooms
Do you crack your knuckles? no. But I crack my toes...
What song do you hate the most? "The wheels on the buss go round and round"
Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head? somewhat
What are your super powers? I have RED HAIR, it gives me super powers
Peppermint or spearmint? spearmint
Where are your car keys? good question...
Whose answers to this questionnaire do you want to hear? Whoever's
What's your most annoying habit? breathing loudly
Where did you last go on vacation? Disney World, FL
What is your best physical feature? Errr.. all of them
What CD is closest to you right now? my senior recital and Celtic Woman
3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? milk, cheddar cheese, and bread
What superstition do you believe/practice? knock on wood
Would you rather be a fish or a bird? Bird
Do you talk on your cell phone when you drive? Occasionally
What are your favorite sayings? "Hey kids"
What song(s) do you sing most often in the shower? jazz
If you could go back or forward in time, where would you go? I'd like to see what my kids will look like
What is your favorite Harrison Ford movie? Star Wars
What CD is in your stereo? Piazolla and Amelie
In the car? Rent
What CD will be in your stereo in a few minutes? Probably the same one, I'm too lazy to get up
How many kids do you plan on having? 4-6
What do you do when no one is watching? read, blog, crafts, tv
If they made a movie about your life, what actor/actress would be you? probably that up and coming teenage girl on the new show Castle
Would you rather die in a blaze of glory or peacefully in your sleep? glory
Coffee or Tea? Occasionally I'll have herbal tea, mostly just when I'm not feeling well though
Favorite musician(s)/bands you've seen in concert? none
Favorite bands? molly johnson
Have you ever been in love? Most definitely
Do you talk to yourself? yes. Ususally when no one else is around though

The Last Busy Days of College

2009-05-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the last few weeks. For those of you who like the condensed version of events, here is a list:

~ Experienced my first "Taste of Downtown Boulder" on a snow/rainy Saturday afternoon in April with my friend Brittany
~ Went to Minnesota for the AIAA Regional Paper/Presentation Conference and took 2nd place in the Team category
~ Went to the Mall of America while in MN... its big
~ Participated in CU's Design Expo for my Senior Project
~ Played in a recital for my dear friend and colleague Jenn
~ Started manufacturing on my Microgravity project
~ Admired the beauty of Spring in Colorado
~ Graduated from College (again) along with all the prescribed celebrations
~ Started rehearsals for this year's MahlerFest (Symphony 8)
~ Got extremely sick and am now currently bed-ridden. It sucks.

Over the next few days I hope to expand on these events and even post some pictures! :) Something that is generally lacking in my posts...

Stay tuned!

Mismatch

2009-05-12T10:44:00.000-07:00

Something doesn't quite fit in here....

Bolder Boulder

2009-04-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have decided to run the Bolder Boulder this year. I just couldn't live with myself if I lived in boulder for 8 years and never did it. Thus, I decided to get my feet slapping against the dirt again so that I can actually make it through all 6.2 miles (10km) without stopping. I went online to find a novice training schedule that would bring me up to a level that would be sufficient. Seeing as how there are only 6 weeks til Memorial Day I figured I would have plenty of time. Unfortunately, all I found was an 8 week schedule. So I thought, "No big deal" I'll cut the first two weeks off and jump right in.

Bad idea!

I've haven't been running religiously since last summer. In fact, I've only been doing 1 - 1.5 mile run every other week. When I added in the strength I have from Ballet and I figured I'd be fine. The training recipe called for a 3.5 mile run my first day (which should have been the beginning of the 3rd week). I knew it was going to be tough but I figured I could do it. I was wrong. I only made it 2.5 miles (with a couple of minutes of walking in the middle) before my back and my knees were screaming at me to stop. I went back to the schedule and it turns out that if I had started two weeks ago, the first run I would have had to do is a 2.5 mile run. So I'm just going to have to accept being two weeks behind and hopefully gain a little ground as I progress through the next couple weeks.

Bittersweet News

2009-04-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

Tor has official announced the release date for the next Wheel of Time book.

http://us.macmillan.com/NewsDetails.aspx?id=12669&publisher=torforge

On one hand, I'm realy excited to see more of those beloved characters. On the other,I'm bummed they are splitting it into 3 novels. It'd be nice to finally read the end. I'm also not very happy about the idea of a movie. Especially after seeing what they did to "The Sword of Truth."

Unique Names

2009-04-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

I am a big advocate of unique names.

I have a certain pity for individuals who are so accustomed to hearing their name when they aren't the one being addressed that they don't even look up. I, on the other hand, look up whenever I think I might have heard anything remotely like my name. For example, I have a sister named Malea. Our names don't exactly rhyme but they sound similar enough that sometimes I respond under the assumption that I was the one addressed.

(There are also the (frequent) occasions when a family member (i.e. mom) uses the wrong name and it saves time just to respond.)

Another example of times when its fun to have a unique name is when you go to google and search for yourself. For me, the first 2 complete pages are entries that are directly connected to events in my life. (Even though you would think they were two different people! Engineering and music?!?!) But there are those of you out there that can do a google search for yourself and not find anything that is connected to you until the atleast the 5th page of results.

I ran a little experiment. I inserted the name "Julie Smith" through the search engine just for kicks and giggles. Its a name I pulled out of a hat. The top few hits were a website for an author. But the results quickly begin to vary from a state farm agent to a jewelry maker to a travel photographer. Obviously, they are not the same person.

The only downfall of having a unique name is not being able to find your name in the keyring selection at a miscellaneous gift shop while vacationing in some location where the local population is dominated by tourists. Actually, on second thought, that's not a downfall...

I guess the point of the story is that I like my name. I like having my own identity in a world of almost 7 billion people. I'm grateful for the time my parents took to figure out a name that fit me and that isn't common or redundant. I plan on doing the same for my children.

Catch Up Thoughts

2009-03-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

Although, I enjoy writing my blog, I fear that I have less readers than I could count on one hand. Regardless, its the closest thing I have to actually writing a journal so don't fear that I will quit.

As previously announced, I have landed a job in Chandler, Arizona. Assuming my background check and whatnot is up to par, I will be starting on July 6. My official job title is an Associate Mechanical Engineer in the Design, Integration and Test (DI&T) group of the Mechanical Department at Orbital Sciences Corp. That's a fancy way of saying that I get to design and test mechanisms used on rockets. :)

I will have most of May and June to sit back and detox from 8 years of school. Ideally, I would spend a week or two after graduation in Florida for the Shuttle launch currently scheduled for 12 May. Then spend a couple weeks preparing for Houston, going to Houston for microgravity, then heading off to visit friends either in Germany or Chicago or San Francisco, then packing up my stuff and moving it to Phoenix. Of course, in the real world one must think of how to fund such dreams. Come July, I'll have the funds to make such glorious plans (and not the time), but until then I am still a poor student wishing for more money.

GEEK ALERT!!!

Some of you can sense the irony of me moving to Phoenix from my role-playing days. For those of you out of the loop, my defining character's name was Faile "Phoenix" Zarine: a Commander in the Empire, highly trained in the art of spying.(Those of you who know the Wheel of Time and are snickering...the name is not my fault!) Somehow she ended up being a double-agent for the Rebellion against Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. (Yes, this was a Star Wars game.) Not because she believed the Empire was the epitome of evil but because she believed that the leaders of that great government were corrupt. Which put her end-goals very close to the goals of the Rebellion: assassinate the leaders of the Empire.

Phoenix had a very special gift. She used what was called a "Force Artifact" to command fire. How was this accomplished? Like all good stories, she was in the center of a forbidden romance. His name was Lan Therin; crowned-prince and jedi-knight of the planet Thera destined to marry for political gains. (Now you Wheel-of-Timers are groaning...sorry!)

Her Majesty the Queen insisted he marry Senator Ianya Araughtnivallia Adeti. (Sorry for butchering the spelling Amy!) When she declined it was then thought he would marry Princess Elaina from a planet whose name I can't remember. (Even though its the planet Faile eventually died on...) All the while, Lan's heart belonged only to Faile.

The "Force Artifact" Faile used was a Ruby Ring (her once-engagement ring) that converted love into fire...literally. It was her love for Lan that allowed her to control fire. She used this power to help free Thera and the Rebellion from the evil wrath of the Empire Leaders.

Wow, I kinda got side-tracked...back to the topic.

END GEEK ALERT!!!

I'm moving to Phoenix. And Faile was such an important part of my social life for over a year. It was a time where I had great friends and I was surrounded by kind and generous people. Life is not the same with out them. Although, I personally am not a fan of hot climates, the Faile side of me will help me adapt. I've been doing a little research on the Phoenix area to figure out the best place to live. I was thinking I'd like to find something near the Phoenix South Mountain Park. If anyone of you knows something I don't, let me know!

Now, from hot to cold, yesterday we had a typical late-March snow storm. According to 9 News we received, from Mother Earth, a total of 18 inches of snow yesterday. It's glorious! All winter its been in the 50s, 60s and 70s and we finally got some decent snow. I'll miss these March storms in the future. Perhaps I'll take some pictures later on today when I trek out to go get my car. (Which I abandoned about a mile away.) Of course, as per usual, the storm came during Spring Break. So there was no official time off of school. Bummer.

Speaking of school, there are precisely 41 days until I graduate. When I think of all the things I need to accomplish in those 41 days, I start to get a headache.

The Wait is Over

2009-03-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

I found out today! Ladies and gentlemen, I got the job!!! And I'm worth more than I thought!

Its decision making time...

Waiting

2009-03-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I contacted a company that I interviewed with two weeks prior. I asked them where they were in their hiring process. (Though my wording was substantially less clever due to nerves). They said that they were finishing up the final round of interviews that day and that they would get back to me "early next week." Well, its early next week already and the waiting is killing me. I don't have cell service in the shop (where I spend all of my time when I'm not in class) and therefore will most definitely miss the phone call. So I've been making hourly trips out to the court yard to check my voice mail. Nothing yet. I'm beginning to second guess putting a high number as my salary preference and keep playing over in my mind the things I said in the interview that were not so brilliant. glub.

I actually thought about not posting this entry simply because if I didn't get the job it would make it even worse. But because this is the foremost thought on my brain I could not not write anything. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that I would write a blog about it and if I didn't get the job I would simply delete the entry and hope that no one had read it. So please save your comments til I post a "yah" or "nah" to preserve my bubble of reality. Thanks!

Success

2009-03-01T21:45:00.000-08:00

After 6+ months I finally took the time to figure out how to properly change my background. Yea, for procrastination!

Sparkles

2009-03-01T18:22:00.000-08:00

It took me a whole Sunday to get my room clean. Usually, I just throw my clothes in the washer and my room somehow comes out clean. But its been gradually growing stacks of random paper in every available space. And when I mean "every", that includes the floor. So I finally decided to take the day and go through 98% of the miscellaneous stacks and throw/file stuff away accordingly. I even went through my closet!

I can now breathe!

Jinx

2009-02-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

I checked the news this morning and it turns out that one of Orbital's rockets crashed this morning a few minutes into launch.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/02/24/nasa.launch/index.html

Although things like this are never funny, I do have to mention the irony of the situation. As many of you know, I was in Arizona last week interviewing with their Launch Systems Group. One of the questions I asked them during my interview was if they personally worked on a mission that had had a major a failure. Every one of the people that I asked commented on how they had never been on anything that had failed during mission and that the track record at Orbital was extremely good.

I think I jinxed them...

Just Another Day

2009-02-14T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've decided to share with you a typical day in my life. On Friday the 13th of February, I carried my camera around all day with the intention of sharing those precious moments that make up my life right now. I wont be Offended if you find it boring and decide to walk skim over this post. But Since I have no charming stories about my fictitious children and no stories to share about my non-existent "newly wed" status (hehe), I figured I'd show you that having a life outside of those things is not necessarily all bad - well, at least for me.

I begin each morning waking up to my roommate turning on the shower a few minutes before 8am. And its not until much later that she emerges from the bathroom with dried hair and makeup. On this particular morning, nothing was different. That means that I waited for her to finish so I could use the toilet. (which can sometimes comes close to an act of torture). Because I'm a peacemaker, I'm keep my mouth shut and just wait.

Because this was a Friday, I had no classes to attend. Lucky me. Except that means that I'd be busy all day in the machine shop. I needed to be prepared so I made myself a hearty breakfast. (Unfortunately, this blog idea didn't occur to me until after I ate it, hence the pic.) I had a Belgium waffle with blueberry sauce, orange juice and strawberries on the side.

After getting ready, I caught the bus to campus which is about 1.5 miles away...

...and arrived at the Aerospace Machine shop where I would spend the next 8.5 hours of my life.

I started working by cutting a stock piece of HDPE down to the size for the mold I was going to create. If you look carefully, you'll notice that its actually two pieces bonded together by 3 pieces of tape. This will become a problem later. Problematic - but not unforeseen.

As you can see, as soon as I started machining it, the two pieces came apart. This happened numerous times, creating many frustrated sighs and some not-so-happy thoughts. Maybe it was the fact that it was Friday the 13th.

We finally ended up using double-sided masking tape and bolting the center together with two 1/4-20 bolts so that it wouldn't happen again. Shortly after lunch time, we ran into another problem. We didn't have a tool that could create the shape we wanted without A) the tool breaking or B) the holder of the tool colliding with another piece of the mold. To solve this problem we raided the tool cabinet for something that would work. Here is the tool we lovingly called "Bigboy" and "Bigboy" hard at work. (No camera tricks here boys and girls!)

Once that was under way, I was finally able to pop over to the B-School (Engineering code for Business School... get it?... B-school...hehe) to get some lunch. Notice I didn't say that I went to lunch... I said "get". I brought it back and continued working in the shop. Corn chowder and Boulder Sea Salt and Pepper chips (the best chips ever!)

Over the next couple hours we got the mold finished, but of course, like a true engineer, I had to document the day in my notebook before I could officially call it done. The time was already fast approaching 5pm. (Notice the safety glasses. Safety First!)

Ok, now I can call it finished.

I made my way to the composites lab with my newly made funnel mold to hand-off to my Project Manager. When I got there, I found him finishing up a lay-up and I figured I'd help out. What I thought would take 10 minutes turned into a 1.5 hour endeavor to solve a problem with the bag not wanting to stay sealed under vacuum. After several attempts, we were able to fashion a two layered bag. One inside and one outside the cylinder sealed with putty tape. Here's the finished product. (Well, technically it won't be complete 'til Saturday or Sunday...but you get the idea.)

Once that was done, I left my PM to clean up the mess and went to catch the bus. The time was already around 6pm and I had completely missed the sunshine for the day. :(

After being on my feet for most of the day, my feet were swollen and I needed to re-introduce that blood supply to the rest of my body. So after eating left-over pizza, I put my feet up and watched an episode of "The Simpson's."

Once I felt as though I were a little re-energized I headed over to the Institute (even though it was snowing) for some Friday Fun: indoor four-square and Settlers of Cataan. Actually, I ended up doing neither and sand Broadway hits with a friend at the piano for most of the night.

Afterward, I went home and collapsed into a deep slumber just to be woken up this morning to the sound of the shower turning on. Life sure has a weird sense of symmetry.

I hope you enjoyed my day. It was as typical as they come these days. So I hope I didn't bore you too much. I left most of the mundane happenings out. I know I could have done better on the photography side, but you get the idea. My life isn't very artistic these days. Maybe I'll do this again sometime but on a day with classes. That is, if I don't get to many people telling me they fell asleep while reading.

Keep in touch!

More Good News!

2009-02-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna be an aunt of my first niece in June!

Woo hoo!

2009-02-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

I got an interview with Orbital!!!!

Ok...just had to share.

Family Ties

2009-01-21T11:53:00.001-08:00

Last weekend my family figured out that it would be a long while until we were all able to be together for another couple years. Rachel will be leaving us in February to serve her mission in Korea (Bustan) and Malea was headed up to school (Mesa State) the next morning. Therefore, at 9:30 pm on a Friday night we took a family photo. Can you name everyone?

50 Things I Tolerate

2009-01-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

My first homework assignment for my "Spacecraft Design" class was to come up with 50 things that I tolerated. I spent so much time brainstorming I thought I'd share. (By the way, 50 is a LOT!)

1. I tolerate long winters (I’m primarily a summer girl!)
2. I tolerate having an old car (1987)
3. I tolerate living with a roommate
4. I tolerate guests wearing shoes in my house
5. I tolerate living far from my family
6. I tolerate having short nails because I’m a musician
7. I tolerate people singing off key at church
8. I tolerate wearing high heels occasionally (they make me a giant!)
9. I tolerate having a messy desk (since I can’t seem to keep it clean)
10. I tolerate my leaky refrigerator
11. I tolerate having an old computer that won’t run new software because they don’t make it compatible with Windows 2000 anymore
12. I tolerate being so busy I have to say no to my friends when they want to hang out
13. I tolerate my mom’s dog (who replaced my childhood dog when he died)
14. I tolerate people who talk loudly on their cell phones in the computer labs
15. I tolerate long waits at restaurants (most of the time)
16. I tolerate when my sister talks to other people when I’m on the phone with her
17. I tolerate those who think they have a hard major when its really chump change next to Aerospace
18. I tolerate classes that I have no interest in (such as Aircraft Dynamics) in order to take the cool classes like Spacecraft Design
19. I tolerate people who inefficiently merge onto the freeway
20. I tolerate drivers of SUV’s who think they are 4 times better than me just because their vehicle is 4 times the size of mine
21. I tolerate bicyclists who are stupid enough to not wear a helmet (Seriously, these people should be taken out of the human gene pool)
22. I tolerate keeping my heat at 67 degrees (F) in the winter to save money
23. I tolerate having to fight my neighbors for parking in order to have the master bedroom in my apartment
24. I tolerate the girls on the other side of campus that have less mass in their brains then they do in their clothing
25. I tolerate people who listen to iPods any time they think they don’t have to communicate with others
26. I tolerate people who call me Katrina instead of Karina
27. I tolerate Pepsi but strongly prefer Coke
28. I tolerate traffic
29. I tolerate sharing a bathroom
30. I tolerate obesity in others
31. I tolerate the fact that my roommate does not clean her hair out of the drain in the shower
32. I tolerate loud drunk people I run into on the street
33. I tolerate people who talk on their cell phones while ordering food at a restaurant
34. I tolerate people who talk on their cell phone while riding the bus
35. I tolerate my mom’s “elephant walking” around the house at 6am when I go home for the holidays
36. I tolerate the pop up window that appears when you plug a thumb drive into a computer
37. I tolerate pop music
38. I tolerate the stained carpet in my apartment
39. I tolerate politicians
40. I tolerate people who sing a song loudly even though its obvious that they don’t know all the lyrics
41. I tolerate the fact that going into Aerospace Engineering limits the jobs I can have mostly to the United States
42. I tolerate the fact that I have books in boxes because I do not have enough bookcases to house them
43. I tolerate outdoor smokers (but not indoor smokers)
44. I tolerate people who dress their pets up in clothes
45. I tolerate any type of solicitors
46. I tolerate having to answer the same medical questions 3-4 times every time I go to the doctor’s office
47. I tolerate when the toilet paper is placed with the unwinding end coming out the bottom instead of the top when I’m visiting someone else’s home
48. I tolerate having to switch computers any time I need to use Office 2007
49. I tolerate not having a soundcard on my most “up-to-date” computer
50. I tolerate ice in my water at restaurants even when I specifically asked for none

Break a Waste?

2009-01-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day before I have to re-admit myself to my final semester as an undergraduate student. Looking back over the last 3 weeks I'm curious as to where my time went. I had plans to apply for jobs and finish quilting projects and finish unpacking my apartment and write a bunch of software for senior design and visit family and go hiking and catch up with friends. And yet, only a small percentage of that list was actually completed.

I can sit around wishing I had gotten all that stuff done and pretending that I don't know where the time went or I can fess up and let you all know exactly what I did with it. I wasted it. Utterly and completely.

But here's whats strange. A part of me claims that I wasn't wasting time. I was re-charging my batteries. It was a waste in the sense that I could've had all sorts of stuff done. But it wasn't a waste because I can now recognize that it was a waste. Ugh, I'm so confused. Was it wasted, or wasn't it?

Opinions?

WE'RE IN!!!

2009-01-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

I just thought I'd take a moment and share some good news! My team and I got selected to fly ourselves and our scientific experiment on NASA's KC-135 or better known as the "Vomit Comet." This aircraft is capable of flying 30-40 parabolas that simulate 20-30 second intervals of a zero-g environment (i.e. weightlessness). Every year NASA has a competition for Undergraduate students to submit a proposal for a weightless scientific experiment. Yesterday we found out that we have been selected for flight! We will build and test our test apparatus this semester and then fly sometime in the Spring or early Summer out of Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Here is a link to a video that explains the competition better that I ever could.

http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/theProgram/video/video.cfm

For those of you interested, our experiment is to conduct a study of the coupled mode oscillations of a Wilberforce Pendulum. Basically its just a spring-mass system that oscillates between linear and rotational motion. Here is a link to a video on youtube.com of this pendulum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42lLTlnfZc

For our experiment we are trying to constrain the bending moment so that the second mode can occur in a zero-g environment. If you want more info you can ask. I think I've said enough to satisfy most people's curiosity. :)

And just to clarify, YES, I get to ride on the vomit comit!

My 3 Picture Vacation

2009-01-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

For being out of town for two weeks I only took a measly total of 3 pictures. I guess its because I was hanging out with family and I usually don't think to take pictures. To give you a brief overview I spent about a week with my folks in Colorado Springs and then went to Utah for a few days to visit my grandparents. While in Utah I did the touristy Temple Square routine with my aunt. But I forgot my camera (of course). We saw all the big attractions; the Tabernacle, the Conference Center (the stage was still decorated for the Christmas Season), the Relief Society Building, the Assembly Hall, the Church History Museum, etc. It was fun!

Here are the three photos of my two week vacation. Two of them are of my second nephew who is two cute for his own good and one is of me and my Grandparents. My grandma just turned 92 yesterday and my grandpa is 95?. (I'm not sure if that's right.)

In addition, here are some other random pics I keep meaning to post. This one is of my Christmas Tree that I got to enjoy for the two days before I went home for Christmas.

Here is a picture of the Flat Irons from Farrand Field after our first major snow storm of the year and another of all the deserted bikes the storm caused.

Fantasy

2008-12-26T10:26:00.000-08:00

As most of my friend's know, I am seriously into reading fantasy novels. Among my favorites are "Wizard's First Rule" by Terry Goodkind, "The Wheel of Time Series" by Robert Jordan, and most recently the "Mistborn Trilogy" by Brandon Sanderson. Why mention this? Simply put, I want to share some random thoughts about the a fore mentioned books. If you're not a fan of these books you might want to skip to the next post to avoid being bored.

"Wizard's First Rule" is actually the first book in a long series called "The Sword of Truth". Unfortunately, the series as a whole gets relatively repetitive with the author's themes being so closely related between books. He gets on his soap box and never dismounts leaving us to have to skip several pages (sometimes chapters) in numerous places in each book simply to avoid having to read the same thing over and over again. However, if your looking for a good book that stands on its own, "Wizard's First Rule" does exactly that. The rest of the series is good, but not worth wading through the muddy swamp of opinion the author lays out for you.

I mention this because they have recently turned the first book in to a TV series called "Legend of the Seeker". I always have reservations when it comes to putting the written word of fantasy into a movie/TV form. Sometimes it can be done mostly right ("Lord of the Rings") and sometimes can be done not so well ("The Golden Compass"). So far they have only aired 7 episodes. Of course since I don't watch TV anymore because of the commercials I watched them at www.hulu.com (I think all 7 episodes are still up). My first impression is that they made a terrible mistake in casting the character of Zedd. For one thing he is way too tall. For another, he doesn't speak with the same inflection in his voice as he does in the books. And his accent doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, Kahlan is a perfect match! She is poised and confident and lonely as in the books. I only wish her hair were a little longer. I'm a little distressed that they did away with the cultural reference of the length of your hair being a symbol of your the level of your station in the Midlands. It was one of the many details that made the world so unique. As far as Richard is concerned, I'm on the fence. At times I am convinced but then the actor makes some bad choices and shows you how truly green he is as an actor proving he is a little too inexperienced to handle such an important role. Who knows, if the series is allowed to hang on for a little longer he might grow into the role. Although, I'm not hooked on the show, I am curious to see if they get a large enough fan base to keep it going. http://www.legendoftheseeker.com/

"The Wheel of Time" series has been and probably always will be my favorite series of books. They are the books that I discovered the joy of reading and the joy of exploring a new world. I hope no one EVER puts these books onto any kind of screen. It belongs in the imagination of the reader. Since Robert Jordan passed away in September of 2007, the completion of the series has been passed on to the little known writer Brandon Sanderson. Seeing how he was chosen to complete my favorite series ever, I decided to try out his books. "Elantris" and the "Mistborn" series are the most well know of his bare handful of published books. I won't talk about them individually but I thought it might be prudent to mention a few things about his last released novel the final volume of the Mistborn series "Hero of Ages." There are two things I'd like to say. The first is that when I finished the book, initially I was a little upset by the ending. That is, until I realized it couldn't really end in any other way. It was the right ending for the story. The other thing I wanted to mention was how impressed I was by the linear thought patterns of the characters. Each character figures out what they need to figure without it needing to be a stretch or a too obvious. One epiphany led to the next in a very logical manner. This is not easy to do folks! I certainly have read my fair share of books that did not have believable thought processes in its characters. (The most obvious of which was Grand Admiral Thrawn in the only Star Wars Trilogy worth reading by Timothy Zahn.) I can't wait until the last Wheel of Time book is published next year. I have a feeling I will be taking two days off of work to read it. :)

School and the Christmas Season

2008-12-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

I don't even want to know when the last "real" post is dated. I've actually secretly been avoiding writing anything because of the massive amounts of things that I've thought about putting up but haven't done. With school now a week behind me, I guess my batteries have recharged enough to make some mention as to what has been happening in my everyday events. That being said, I will separate the topics into different posts since if I did every thing in one post you all would get bored.

Every year I hear people around me complain when people put up their Christmas decorations mid-way through November. People claim that it is too early and that Thanksgiving gets buried in the enormous corporate puppet show we call Christmas. But for me, Christmas is a week long activity that seems to go by way too fast. Why do I say this? Because I am so busy from mid-November to the end of finals doing semester projects (and Senior Design) and studying for finals and trying not to make "To-Do" lists to keep myself sane and responsible at the same time that I completely loose track of what time of year it is. It could be mid-July outside with beautiful weather and a tropical breeze in Colorado and I still wouldn't notice! So when school ends abruptly every semester I can't go even one day without becoming incredibly bored since every minute of my life for the last two months has been planned and active. The sudden existence of free-time is more than my brain can handle and it compensates by sleeping for 10 hours a day fro the next week. But back to my point, I'm so busy with school that purposely forget that its Christmas until the end of my last final in order to keep focused. This year my last final happened to be exactly one week before Christmas. Therefore, my Christmas season only lasted one week. I only got to enjoy my mini Christmas tree for two days before I left to travel home for Christmas. (I'll post pictures when I get back to Boulder since I forgot my cord to plug in my camera) All of my shopping had to be done in one week and I had to soak in the "Christmas Spirit" in no time. I guess you could call it Christmas on steroids. So when I hear people around me complain that the Christmas season is too long, I'm a little jealous that they have the time to notice.

Speaking of semester projects, one of my professors insisted on creating a webpage as the method of turning in our project. The address for this project if your bored (and since you're taking the time to read my blog thats a given :) )is:
http://ccar.colorado.edu/asen5050/projects/projects_2008/ogilvie_project/index.htm

As stated before, I'm participating in a Senior Design project this year. Our website is:
http://arcticproject.org/default.aspx

Crazy Eights

2008-12-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

Crazy Eights

RULES:
1. Post rules on your Blog.
2. Answer the six "8" items.
3. Tag 8 other people. (this one I'm ignoring, as always.. feel free to participate if your it's your little heart's desire) :)

8 FAVORITE SHOWS: (in no particular order)
1. Journeyman
2. SG1
3. Firefly
4. Farscape
6. Heroes
7. House
8. Tru Calling

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY
1. Rode the bus
2. Did a presentation on the Trident Missile in Naval Weapons
3. Finished a composite lay-up for Senior Design
4. Practiced our CDR presentation with ARCTIC for our presentation on Tuesday
5. Sat through a bunch of presentations in Materials class
6. Finished reading "Mistborn 3: The Hero of Ages"
7. Went to Target for some Khaki's
8. Watched the movie "Hancock" (and almost cried)

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
1. Sleeping
2. Graduating
3. Getting a job
4. Meeting my new nephew/niece to-be
5. Seeing the Savior
6. Winter Break
7. Summer
8. Getting married (someday)

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS
1. Chipotle
2. Panda Express
3. Daphne's
4. Einstein's Bagels
5. Noodles and Company
6. Sol Azteca
7. Il Vicino
8. La Baguette

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST
1. More time to do all the stuff I want to do!
2. A laptop with Finale Allegro, MATLAB, Solidworks, and Mathematica
3. A job
4. A Waffle Iron
5. A better wardrobe (goes hand-and-hand with a job)
6. My own apartment
7. Milk (I need to go to the store)
8. A new(ish) car

8 THINGS ON MY DESK THAT DON'T BELONG (only 8?)
1. My deodorant
2. My face lotion
3. My bike chain lubricant
4. A bicycle lock
5. 3-lbs weights
6. A pile of blank thank you cards
7. My netflix movie
8. Sunscreen

Adjusting to Roommates

2008-11-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

For the last 3 months I have been living on my own in a two bedroom apartment. It wasn't really planned. The original plan was to move-in and find a roommate within a month. Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way you plan. After much tribulation and prayer, I was finally able to find a roommate only to have her move- out two weeks later without telling me when I was gone for 1.5 hours one Saturday morning. You might ask me if she signed the lease and the short answer is, no, because the landlord happened to be out of town those two weeks. There was no reason to suspect she would do this. She passed a credit check, moved all her stuff in and even painted her room!

I have since found another roommate and she has now moved-in and been here almost a week. She is warm and friendly and I find myself enjoying her company. She a hard worker and seems to have goals for her life's accomplishments. However,I find myself having difficulties adjusting to having someone else being around.

Here is a list of things that I have noticed since she has been here.
1) we wanna shower about the same time in the morning, forcing one of us have a cold shower...
2) she used my favorite bowl fresh out of the dishwasher when I usually wait to use it til its the last clean bowl left
3) she likes to sleep with the heat at 72 when I'm accustomed to turning it down to 65 to prevent my night outbreaks of sweat
4) she locks the front door knob when I usually just lock the dead-bolt (mostly because they unlock with two different keys and I'm lazy)
5) she enjoys watching TV... a lot

Ok, I admit it. I'm being neurotic. And a control freak. And overly observant. But you gotta cut me some slack. By living by myself for 3 months I have developed a sort of OCD. I've come to expect things to stay where I put them and know that all the lights are turned out when they are not being used and know exactly how much trash is in the kitchen trash-can, and so on. What's surprising, is that when I was first living by myself I didn't like it. It was too quiet and lonely. In fact, I would purposely hang out longer than usual at activities just so I didn't have to go home to a quiet house. I'm not sure when that changed.

Like I said, I do enjoy the company when I'm home. And I'm sure there are some things about me that she finds unusual. That being said, I'm just going to have to adapt back to roommate mode. And I can do it, but that doesn't mean I can't look forward to the day when I can afford to live by myself again.

NOAA Tower

2008-11-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

I try and keep this blog more focused on my personal thoughts on life and what I've been doing with my spare time. However, I was able to do something so fun associated with school that I felt like it deserved a little blurb.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration happens to have one of their central offices here in Boulder. As part of that, they have a 300 meter tall instrumentation tower located about 30-40 minutes from here. (For those of you stuck in English units its about 1000 ft.) Part of my senior design project has to do with dropping deployable sensor packages from an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Arctic. Needless to say, we have to test said sensor packages (sondes) before sending them off to the most pristine environment on Earth. So, we got to drop things off a 300 m tower. :) If you're interested in seeing the footage you can check out one of the videos on youtube.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eleNomImeWw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpysHKlkKI

It was a little intimidating at first. The first day we wen't it was freezing and so windy we couldn't go to the top! And the second day we went it was 75-80 outside and one of the most beatiful days you could have asked for. I guess that's Colorado for you.

Ryan and I at the top of the tower. There's not much room to move around.

A look down the center of the tower from the very top. Seriously, it disappears into nowhere!

A view of the upper half of the tower from the parking lot. It was impossible to get the whole thing in one shot.

Ahhh... much better

2008-11-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

Although it is white and boring, I can now enter into my room and feel at home. Plus this saves me from having to paint it back when I move out next summer. And this white is so white I feel like its not a normal color.

Unfortunately, I have no Halloween pics to share. Meaning, I did not dress up even though I had a great idea. I was kinda bummed about it but I'll just be sure to share it next year.

This morning I went running. I have decided to try and improve my run time. And since running regularly isn't doing it for me, I decided to try some some sprints. I don't think I've run sprints since I was a kid!! I forgot how incredibly draining they are.

Just a quick note before I sign off. My friend who was in Iraq is now safely back in Germany where she is stationed. Many prayers of gratitude are in order.

Paint colors

2008-10-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

So I stayed up really late last night painting two walls in my room blue. The intention was to get rid of the ugly salmon color that my room has been since I moved in last September. Both colors can be seen in the photo. Unfortunately, I don't like the blue...

So now I have a room that I don't like at all and I'm out the $25 that I spent for the new paint. Maybe I should just paint the whole room white to avoid another color I don't like...

Graduate School or "Real World"???

2008-10-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Life decisions are tough. Is it already almost 2009? Where did the time go???

Graduate School - Pros
- I know school and its an easy "next step"
- Increases my chances of getting a job at JPL (if the degree is in Aerospace)
- Will ensure job security in the future (assuming government stability)
- Would have more $$$ in the future than would be available now with a BS
- Stay in Colorado next to my mountains :)
- Learn more stuff
- Get to teach and TA classes
- Live the schedule of a student instead of a 9-5 job

"Real World" - Pros
- $$$$$ now!
- Change of lifestyle with new life experiences
- Possibly move across the country
- Meet new people!
- I would be able to get a dog!
- Be financially independent
- Help my siblings through college
- Have more free time to pursue hobbies
- Don't have to take the GRE

Any suggestions, anyone?

Career Fairs

2008-10-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a moment to vent...

You get up in early in the morning to dress all fancy. You put make-up on, you walk around all day in heels and you take 30 minutes away from you study time to check and recheck your resume. You then decide skip your favorite class (in my case, ballet) so that you have enough time to make it to all the company booths that you are interested in. Then when you get there, you say the same 30 sec intro of yourself a gazillion times and start to hand them your resume only to have them say "We don't want your resume. Please go online and submit it into our system." Grrrrrrr....

What a waste of time!!! Not only our time but theirs as well! There should be some kind of law that prevents people from wasting others time. All that time I spent preparing my speeches, looking nice, and taking twice as long to get places because of the the dumb heels would have been better spentin front of my computer online in my p.j.'s submitting resume after resume with the same end result.

I'm done.

As predicted...

2008-09-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

As predicted, school life has left me no choice but to become incredibly lax in updating my blog. In lieu of this, I will update a little of what has been happening in recent days.

I am now on a senior project called ARCTIC (Arctic Region Climate Tracking and Intrumentation Cargo). It is a mission to collect climate data in the arctic at Earth-fixed locations using an UAV for climate modelers trying to better understand the role the Arctic Climate has in global climate changes. Our website is located at: http://arcticproject.org/default.aspx

I also have joined a team that is writing a proposal to NASA to allow us flight on the "vomit comit" to do an experiment with a wilberforce pendulum. Wish us luck.

I am playing in the Boulder Chamber Orchestra and the Longmont Symphony this season. The first concert of the season is this weekend!

By the way, it is now my opinion that God made the days too short. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done. But I guess he knows what he's doing...

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-08-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

This is a show/musical that Joss Whedon produced during the writer's strike just to prove that it was still possible to create good entertainment without the big name companies. Enjoy! (Run time is 42 min and 26 sec)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/28343/dr-horribles-sing-along-blog

As a side note, Joss Whedon's new TV Series "Dollhouse" begins to air in January 2009 with Eliza Dushku (Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as the main character, Echo. It will show Mondays at 8PM on FOX (believe it or not, Joss forgave them for Firefly)

The Joys of House Sitting

2008-08-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

Isn't it incredible that the tiniest particles that are contained within a cats fur can cause such discomfort in some of us? It seems so unfair that some people are completely immune to the ways the feline species have evolved simply to torture our poor bi-ped species. I'm inside and sick as a ...well, a dog... and then I step outside and everything is fine. Amazing! I've lived with cats in the past but it seems that I have to develop an immunity them over the course of a few months before I can breathe easily. But if I house-sit for only a few days, I have to resign myself to the fact that I'm going to miserable with itchy eyes and a stuffy nose for however long I have to be there.

Ah! The joys of being homeless.

Passing the time

2008-08-21T10:12:00.001-07:00

I was bored so I filled this out...

Four places I've lived
1. Colorado Springs, CO
2. Boulder, CO
3. Hancock, Maine
4. Glenwood Springs, CO

Four favorite books
1. Wheel of Time Series - Robert Jordan
2. Mistborn (the first book only)- Brandon Sanderson
3. Enchantment - OSC
4. Ender's Game - OSC

Four Favorite Movies
(these are just some that popped into my mind... I don't really have "favorite" movies)
1. Princess Bride - You really can’t argue with the classics
2. Serenity
3. Mr. and Mrs. Smith (I know, its tacky but, hey!, I won't judge yours if you don't judge mine)
4. Return of the Jedi

Four embarrassing facts about me
1. I can't do arithmetic without a calculator but I can do vector calculus.
2. I can't focus on a conversation in a group setting so I always end up embarrassing myself when I say something completely unrelated to the topic on hand. Of course, in my mind it was right on cue with everything around me. :) Mostly it's just cause I can't focus for any length of time.
3. I tend to be lazy if someone doesn't give me anything to do. My self-motivation starts lacking when I think no one is watching.
4. I feel like I've fallen behind in life. So much so that I've been lapped several times by my friends. Of course, going back to school didn't really help with that...

Four dreams of mine
1. Be part of an interplanetary mission of some sort to advance mankind's understanding of the universe.
2. I want to be a great mother. Not OK, or sufficient, but great! Fantastic! Outstanding! I want my kids to be strong and independent and able to make the world a better place for everyone around them.
3. I want to make my Heavenly Father proud.
4. Finding a husband who is my best friend, is motivated, loves to travel, likes the outdoors, is practical, loves to laugh and who embraces my weird sci-fi/fantasy side.

Four pet Peeves
1. The dumb buttons on the front of a device such as a DVD player that require more force to push then than it does to push the whole device across the table. Seriously! Its a simple calculation that gets ignored by those dumb mechanical/electrical engineers.
2. People who don't even try to become self-sufficient and who think that the world owes them something. Whether they leech off their families, or their friends, or the government, these people should be locked up in a community of their own for some kind of social experiment and never let out again.
3. The crazy drivers that own the fancy cars that go from 0 to 60 mph in some unspeakable time and think that they have more of a right to be on the roads than me and my car that will get to 60 in about 2 minutes. The worst is when you're driving over mountain passes and they honk at you to go faster when you're just praying to reach the top.
4. Obesity. Seriously! How hard is it to not take seconds at dessert, eat veggies and run around the block everyday! Have a little respect for yourself, please!

Four things that make me really happy
1. A productive day. Sure its nice to kick back once in a while, but its also very fulfilling to come home and know that the world just got a little better because of me.
2. Playing in a symphony. Never in my whole life have I found something that requires more team work and coordination than creating music with 50 other musicians. Its an unbelievable feeling.
3. People who are naturally witty. They make me smile. :)
4. If I had a dog, he/she would be listed here. There's nothing sweeter than the pure love of a pet. I saw a bumper sticker once that said "I long to be the person my dog thinks I am." I second that quote. When I graduate I will get a dog and I will love it unconditionally.

Catchin' up!

2008-08-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh! The idea of trying to catch up with all that's happened is daunting. I'll try to keep it in a chronological order but no promises! As I sit here and type I can only hope that Elgar's Cello Concerto outlasts my typing...

I headed down to Boulder a few weeks ago and behold! Skeeter (my car) flipped over to over 200,000.0 miles. Pretty cool, eh?

While I was in Boulder, I found an apartment!! (Feel free to cheer here!) It's in the same area as I've been living in for the last two years but its a different building and its a two bedroom instead of a three. I'm currently on the hunt for a roommate. Its considerably less stressful then trying to find a place to live. The only drawback is that the lease doesn't start 'til the First so I'm going to be homeless for the first week of school.

(Speaking of school, it starts in less than a week. I can't wait simply because I can't wait to be done and graduated. Wish me luck!)

I was also lucky enough on my trip down to say goodbye to a dear friend, Angela, who has now moved to Houston to get a doctorate degree in Environmental Engineering. I hope she's doing well. Which reminds me, (and only I know how :) ) that I got contacts for the first time in late July.

One other note about my trip to Boulder. Lindy and I went to lunch at this restaurant called Bimbamboo on Pearl and it was fantastic! You make an effort to go if your in the area.

On the 9th of August, I went to the Glenwood Caverns (Fairy caves) with my roommate Ope. While we were taking timed photos with the sites as our background, my camera decided to commit suicide off of the table I placed it on. Therefore, I will be saving my money to buy a new one (assuming I can't fix it with some nitrogen and IPA). So the pictures you see here might be the last ones for a while.

As far as the actual caverns go, I was not terribly impressed with the caves UNTIL the very end. Of course they would save the best for last in interest of good tourist business, but nevertheless, I was impressed. Some of the pictures below were taken with Ope's camera phone...

At my house in Glenwood Springs there was an apricot tree full of fruit. So I decided that I'd try my hand at canning and see if I was any good at it. I picked enough fruit to fill 7 quart-sized jars. As I was canning, I ran out of syrup so I had to take the time to make more. Of course this was just enough time to let two of the jars cool down enough so that when I put them in the boiling water, they broke. So I ended up with 5 jars of apricots and an experimental apricot pie I threw together with no recipe. The pie was actually quite good! Even though I think I could have put a little more sugar in it.

So of course with the end of the summer comes the end of my experience at Fiberforge. I had a good experience and I'm glad I did it. However, I'm just as happy to be going back to school and finishing it up. I'll miss some of the people but not some of the things they had me doing.

I have now moved out of my $700,000 mansion in the mountains but not a day too late! The ceiling in the living room collapsed during my last night there. All of the insulation everywhere made quite a mess and at that particular time, I was glad that I didn't own the place. On the other hand, it was nice because I got to spend some time with the landlords, whom are quite nice, and share my apricot pie. I wish them all the best!

Something I'm looking forward to this year is being a seasonal sub in the Longmont Symphony. They've got a great season lined up and I'm excited.
http://longmontsymphony.org/FramesHtml/SeasonSchedulepg1.html

I will also be playing in the Boulder Chamber orchestra again this year. The season isn't quite as exciting but its string music which has its own level of class. I rather enjoy not having the brass and the percussion threatening to deafen me further.
http://boulderchamberorchestra.com/concerts.html

Anyway, I'm pretty sure this catches me up. Hope all is well and happy with all of you!

The Nightmare Before School Starts

2008-08-02T12:22:00.000-07:00

I need an apartment.

And there's no easy fix to that. All the places I have found are either A) girl households who are lesbians or 420 friendly (marijuana for you non-Boulderites) or B) guy households with no problems except they are guys or C) too far from campus.

So here are my options.
1) Live a cheap life in a good place with guy roommates (that I know and trust from school)
2) Get a one bedroom apt which would be twice as expensive when you factor in utility costs
3) Commute to school and spend time and money every day to get to and from school.
3) Live under a bridge (which I don't fancy in the winter time)
4) Live at school (since I spend most of my time there already...and there are showers)
5) Forget school altogether

It just so happens that I will not be taking George (long story). I thought that it would make finding a place more simple. But that's not the case. I still am homeless. And time refuses to obey my commands to stop until I've found something.

So if you hear of anything in Boulder. Please let me know.

Birthdays

2008-07-26T15:16:00.001-07:00

My birthday isn't for another 2 days but I've been telling people my new age almost a month now. It seems my mind thinks it turned 25 as soon as the Forth of July has passed. Or maybe its just that July is my birthday month and therefore I turn 25 as soon as we enter into its paradisical haven every year. After all, native americans and whomever else who didn't have advanced Astronomy throughout history labeled themselved by seasons. So I could say I'm 25 winters old (or summers since I like them better). Afterall, what do a couple dozen days really account for, right?

Finding an apartment is turning out to be a nightmare. I'll be adopting George this year--an old roommates dog-- in order to prevent him from disappearing in a pound. So the challenge lies in trying to find a place that welcomes both of us. The idea of being homeless in a little over 2 weeks is not a pleasant thought. It adds incentive.

NOTE: 285 days until graduation...

lions and tigers and BEARS...

2008-07-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

I hiked Red Mountain yesterday which is the mountain right behind my house. When I got to the top a couple things happened. I found a bunch of people jumping off the mountain... with parachutes of course. I stood around wishing I had lots of money but of course I don't so I had to walk down the mountain on my own two feet.

But before I did, I decided to explore the nearby road and see where it would lead. As I was walking I came across a cell phone tower, so I decided it would be a good time to call my dad and check in and see how the 'fam' was doing. After I had walked and talked for about a half mile I turned a corner and there on the side of the road was a mother bear and her two cubs not 150 ft in front of me!!!! I was stunned and blurted out to my dad, "Oh my gosh! There's a bear!" Thankfully, as soon as she saw me and I saw her she turned ran the other way with her cute little bear cubs hopping after her. I suddenly decided that it was the perfect time to turn around. Now the kicker... I had been carrying my camera in my hand the whole way up. But when I decided to call my dad, I put it in my pack. Therefore, I have no pictures to share with you. I'm bummed, but I'm still really happy that I saw them. :)

I also had family visit me on their way from Blanding to Colorado Springs. My brother-in-law Kelly, his parents, his niece and my two little nephews stopped by. It was fun to see them.

Yesterday's adventure

2008-07-06T12:38:00.001-07:00

I went up to Hanging Lake yesterday. It is one of the steepest mile hikes I've ever done. It was well worth it though. It was quite gorgeous. I never knew there was crystal green water in Colorado. I thought that it existed only on tropical beaches. But sure enough, you can see every pebble and fish in the lake -- pond. The lake (or surrounding area) produces travertine. I guess its made when calcite deposits from limestone formations dissolve in water. Its a common building material. You can learn more about it on Wikipedia.

While I was there, a few crazy people who cliff dove off the waterfalls. I would've done it myself but the thought of walking back in wet clothes deterred me. If anyone ever feels like coming to visit, this would be a great morning activity.

Here are some pictures of the hike...

As promised...

2008-07-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

In this post I have included pictures from my trips through Glenwood Canyon, my rafting trip and my quick trip to Aspen. Read on for more!

Behold! Pics from the rafting trip I went on my first weekend here in Glenwood Springs. It can't really be called rafting because it was really a morning of floating down a river with maybe one or two decent rapids. However, the trip was totally fun because the wildlife was incredible! We had a bald eagle and a blue swallow and so deer and elk all showing off for us. The pictures didn't turn out due to there being water on the lens but I've included some good ones.

The first pic is of Mt. Sopris that stands at 12,965 ft. Although, its not a "Fourteener" it has its own
claim to fame. It rises 6,000 ft in under 3 miles making it one of the most impressive vertical climbs in the country. It is also a double peak where each summit is at exactly the same elevation. Also, although unconfirmed, it is the most dense mountain in Colorado.

The second picture is a group photo of the crew, I can't remember all of their names anymore, however, my co-worker is the second one on the right. Her husband is behind the camera.

This pic is of the minor rapids we went through. One thing I will say is that the water was FREEZING!!!!! Straight from snow and/or glaciers it was at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

The last photo is a shot f the bald eagle that showed off for us. 'nough said.

Here I have included pictures from my bike "trip" through Glenwood Canyon. Unfortunately, they closed the bike path half way through the canyon (at Shoshone) because the Colorado River was running too high. I was really bummed cause I had been looking forward to it all week and I also had gotten up early on a Saturday morning to beat the heat. Oh well, as you can see the 9 miles I got in (round trip) were worth it. Most of these pics are just pretty and no explanation is needed

This pic is of the entrance to the canyon. However, by this point I as all ready a good 3-5 miles out of Glenwood Springs.

I also decided last Tuesday to take a trip down to Aspen to attend the Double Bass Master Class at the Aspen Music festival. It brought out this incredible desire to play my bass. Unfortunately, I left my Henri at my sister's house for safe-keeping during the summer since I had no idea what my living situation would be... and I had no room in my car.

Half way through the class I was completely surprised to see Edgar Meyer walk into the room. I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but everyone was taking it as an everyday occurance. So, not wanting to stick out, I covered my shock. Turns out he teaches there. Once I got past the initial shock I remembered hearing somewhere that he spent his summers in Aspen... It makes sense. Anyway, here is a pic of him (candidly taken, I might add) . He's the one closest to the door. For those of you who done know he is, he's the world's greatest (at least most famous) bass player.

These other pics I just took of some of the students who played. I liked the "uniqueness" of this guy's bass. But it sounded too much like a cello for my taste.

This guy was incredible. I wish I could play like him...

I'd like to go more often (they have a class every Tuesday) but the hour drive both ways kinda makes me hesitant. Plus, it'll just make me miss my bass all that much more.

Thanks for reading!

Car Insurance

2008-06-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Is there some kind of magical wisdom that is bestowed upon drivers when they reach 25 years of age? Why else would my car insurance be reduced by over 50%? One must be given some kind of sixth sense as that internal clock ticks closer to the title of "old maid."

Though the timing might just be extremely lucky. Perhaps its actually some kind of compensation for gas being $4.38. The insurance companies might be thinking that we Americans will stop to use our cars if insurance goes up too. (yea right!) But just to be clear...I'm not complaining. Less money in their pocket is more money in mine, right?

In any case, if there is some kind of almighty knowledge given to those of the ripe age of a quarter century, then by all means, bring it on! I can't wait to see what else 25 will bring!

~ 314 days until I graduate!~

Take a moment...

2008-06-24T21:31:00.001-07:00

Could I ask a favor?

Please pray for our soldiers in Iraq and their families.

Thank you!

Pictures...as promised!

2008-06-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

You know the saying "A Picture is worth a thousand words?" Well, get ready for a novel...

Water World - 21 June 2008

A fun trip with (back) Evan, me, Heather, Kyle, (front) Shannon, Bill Tandy, Abbey, Alayne, and Lindy.

House in Glenwood Springs
Here's a couple pics of my mansion in Glenwood Springs (rent free!! Thanks to the company I'm working for) It's a $699,000 house! Plus a pic of Mt. Sopris that watches over Glenwood Springs... and some hiking pics where you can see all the way from Aspen Snowmass to Mt. Sopris.

(please forgive me not stitching this together)

Estes Park
Some neat photos I took in mid-May in RMNP. Farin invited me to her boyfriend's sister's husband's family reunion. ( I'm a little amazed I still remember that brain twister!) And yes, I was hiking in my pj's. I missed judged the weather and brought only shorts.

Rafting Photos ...
...will be coming. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to pull them off my computer at work. My co-worker was the one who took them. But that trip was incredible not for the rapids (which were rather dull) but for the wild life we saw. A bald eagle decided to give us one heck of a show. There were others that showed off too but I don't reacll they're names... Blue sparrow...swallow??? It was too big for a sparrow.... Oh well, I guess someone will tell me what is is when I post the pics.

And one more thing!
I just wanna add a quick CONGRATULATIONS to my friend and avid reader misskate211 who recently got a big rock attached to her ring finger!!!!!!!

Thoughts

2008-06-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hmmm.... What to talk about?

Thought #1
I'm wishing that I could be done with school and continue forward with life.

Thought#2
I went back to Boulder last weekend. Here's why... It was stake conference for the Glenwood Springs ward. But the stake center is 2.5 hours away in Craig. So it was either 2.75 hours back to Boulder to visit with friends and be in a friendly familar environment or 2.5 hours to a conference where I would know no one and the chances of me meeting anyone I would actually see again were slim. So I chose the easy and safe solution. I'm glad I did cause I went mini-golfing and went to breakfast (at 1pm!) with a friend and had an overall good time. It gave me a little bit of homesickness. The homesickness is a result of me having trouble meeting new people to hang with. This ward has an FHE activity for the YSA every Tuesday. I went last week and I brought my roommate. My roommate and I were the only ones there for almost an hour before anyone else showed up. And that was just because the lady who hosts FHE called her grandson to have him come. I felt really bad for her because she made a really fancy ham dinner with all the trimmings. Oh well, hopefully it'll be better tomorrow...

Thought #3
I love summer.

Fascination with TV?

2008-06-09T00:35:00.000-07:00

Having new roommates, I have to become accustomed to new habits of life. But I will never truly understand the fascination with television. Here we are in beautiful Glenwood Springs and all my roommates do all weekend is sit and watch the big HDTV or mess around on the computer. Me?? I went river rafting and hiking and biking and shopping and went to church. It was a fun! Though if I had people to do it with, it would make it all that more enjoyable. I guess I have to cut them a little slack. After all, one of them just came from sea level and has to acclimate before doing anything too crazy.

The Beautful Land of Glenwood Springs

2008-06-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have now officially moved to Glenwood Springs after over a week of preparation. And I have to day that as of today, I couldn't be happier with my decision. The house is great, my job has promise, Glenwood is beautiful and find myself excited to explore a new town. Although, I'm going to have to adapt to working 8 hours every day before I'll have enough energy to do more than find the grocery store and other necessary places.

This morning on my run I discovered that there is a bike/run trail that runs all along the river just like the Boulder Creek Path. Its like a little piece of home away from home. :) I can' t wait til the weekend so I can explore the trails a little more. Plus, I'll be able to go to church and meet my new ward family. Part of me just wants to show up at the building to see if there are any activities going on. But then I remember, that I'm exhausted and probably wouldn't be very social.

Did I mention just how gorgeous our house is. I've never lived in such a nice place. Making the transition back to boulder will be quite difficult. I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Thats it for now. I wish all my readers a wonderful week!

Beginning the Journey / ER visit

2008-05-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've always been intrigued by blogs and have been a lurker on my friends blogs for years. The excuse of "I don't have enough time" has worn pretty thin and I've decided to step up and test it out. Besides, I'm moving on Monday and its a time of new beginnings.

This week has definitely been memorable. I took my first trip to the Emergency Room last Wednesday. Much to my chagrin, I was kinda pressured into going and it turned out to be only a minor problem. It all started when I told my friend I was having a pain on the right side of my abdomen and that it had kept me up all night the previous night. I pointed to the location and he said, "Go to the doctor! That could be appendicitis!" I tried to ignore the comment but as we all know, some comments like that stick in your subconscious and make you think, "Is it really that serious?" So after a little more prodding from several different people including my parents I decided to at least go the urgent care place. I was quite promptly told by the doctor that I should go to the ER to get blood work done and an ultra-sound. Again, I didn't think it was all that serious and I tried to ignore it. But those same friends and the all too familiar family peer-pressured me into going to the ER to endure unpleasant tests and needles just so they could tell me. "Go home, take some ibuprofen and go to the doc in 3-5 days if it doesn't get better." So, to sum up, I spent 3 hours of my time lying in a bed wishing I had listened to my gut (no pun intended!).

They just made it that much more difficult to get me to the ER next time. :)