Hat

I knitted myself a hat, and Mom wanted to see what it looks like, so here you go:

Its a waffle knit! WAFFLE!

Basically I knitted it in a week. Here are the responses I got from various people:
Sarah: How old are you? 90?
Michael: Are you really knitting in the car?
Abby: Finally, someone else who knits in the car!
Mom: Cool.

Abby learned me, and she said I was the fastest knitting learner ever. I think she really underestimates the power of my OCD.

Houston or Why Cori Shouldn't be Sent Places By Herself

I was in Houston the first part of last week training on some software that some of our customers use to access data. I was told I was going less than a week prior, and while that isn’t a big deal for me, it means I needed to hurredly find somewhere to stay and transportation and such. My boss suggested a place to stay a couple of blocks from the office, since I didn’t get a rental car or anything. “You’ll be fine on the Super Shuttle”, they said.

So I made reservations all around, and Monday evening found me on a plane to Houston. I got in around 8:30 local time, and was on the super shuttle by 9. This is where it starts getting sketchy.

Pause. You need to know something about me. I spend most of my free-brain time thinking about how to react in social situations and what to do if something crazy happens, like if aliens invade with long pointy sticks and a lot of green goo.

Moving on. I waited for a while for the super shuttle. Thoughts going through my head: What if they find out I am single and by myself here? Also I'm not that old or strong. No one is expecting me until the next morning, and even then they will probably assume that I just decided not to come if something happened to me. So I had a whole series of stories so that if the strange man driving the super shuttle asked me questions, he wouldn't find out any of this. "I was visiting my sister and my brother in law (who is, coincidentally, a body builder), and they are expecting me to call as soon as I get in. Yeah, Billy is the all Texas champ for squats, you should see their kids, they are beasts". "I am meeting several friends, all of whom are actually karate champions, and we are going out as soon as I get in". Even though it was monday. The stories continue.

After one of THE most terrifying rides of my life, in which we hurtled through downtown Houston in a giant blue van. Somehow, I made it alive to my hotel, where I checked in and went to my room. Which was really sketchy. As in, these are not my pubes on the bathroom floor sketchy. As in, I had to clean the coffee pot out before using it.

Fact About Cori #2: When we went on road trips with my dad and stayed in hotels, he always jokingly told us to check for bodies under the beds and in the closets. We always went along with it.

This hotel was soooo sketchy that I refused to look for bodies, because I was legitimately scared of what I might find.

So, I got ready for bed and fell asleep to the sound of the neighbors above me "stomping" around (here is where I covered my ears and went LALALALALALA). Then I woke up the the upstairs neighbor "stomping" again... they sure were awake early for how late they were up.

I walked to my meeting, had a decent day, and had dinner with one of my coworkers, Art. He dropped me off at my, as he sarcastically called it, "Swanky, uptown resort and spa".

I should note now that there was no shampoo provided at my swanky locale. So the first morning, I washed my hair with facewash. Note: This doesn't work. Also it is weird when you find little orange scrubby things in your hair during software training.

After dinner I went to the front desk to ask for some shampoo. They didn't have any. The following is the discussion I had with the sweet young woman at the front desk.

Me: Is there anywhere nearby I could walk to to get shampoo?

Her: Uhhhhh..... you want to walk?

Me: yes.

Her: You can't drive?

Me: no.

Her: Are you ssure you want to walk?

Me: yes.

Her: Well, alright then.....

She gave me directions to the nearest walgreens, and it took my about half an hour to walk there, get shampoo and conditioner, and walk back. Good grief, people.

I spent the rest of the evening lying on the bed with sheets I refused to inspect and watched tv, listened for people trying to break in, and making escape plans in case they did. I didn't sleep well.

Thankfully, the rest of the meeting went well and I had a very nice cab driver to the airport. I made it home alive and safe.

Next time, I am taking someone burly with me, or I am insisting on a rental car and a hotel where I can stay and not be afraid for my life.

Living the dream

Well, I haven't had time to write about my Houston trip yet, what with battlestar galactica on the tv all the time, but I just needed to share this wonderful little gem.

Story: I got home today after a particularly craptastic day at work and there was nowhere to park on the street, and the evil parking monsters throw a giant hissy fit if we park in one of the 8 open spots in front of the house, so I parked temporarily in front of the mailboxes. This was loooong after the mail had been delivered and I am gone for work looong before it gets delivered tomorrow. After we decided that Michael is driving to work tomorrow, I went out to move the car out of the way of the mailboxes so that I wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning. I found this little packet of pleasantness tucked under my windshield wipers:

Please note that I was not blocking the delivery of the mail, I was merely blocking those who choose to come in the cauldesack ( or however you spell that), park backwards right in front of the mailbox, grab their mail, and pull into their driveways so they don't have to walk their lazy rears across the street to get the mail.

Also note the creative use of the caps lock, bolding, and underlining. And the fantastic use of the word irate in a passive aggressive note. Michael jokingly says he is proud of whoever wrote this because they overcame the fact that their caps lock was obviously glued down, as well as the underliner, and managed to print this landscape-style.

Just the fact that someone took the time to go in their house, make this sign, print it, and then walk down the street to put it on my windshield makes me laugh, especially because they really objected to walking that far to the mailbox in the first place.

Morals of the story:
1. I really don't like living in Boulder
2. HOAs suck
3. It is time for me to move
4. One could really make a profit in the pulling-stick-out-of-ass business around here
5. I really don't like living in Boulder

Forget this, I'm moving to the equator

Why the endless winter? My toes are so permanently cold, and I have nearly fallen on my face many a time while walking down the icy hill to my car. Speaking of which, new car! She is very cute, and is much quieter and smoother running than the Jeepy. I will always have a place in my heart for the Jeepy, but there doesn't also have to be a place in my driveway. The new car is a little 2008 Nissan Sentra, with twice the gas mileage as the jeep. Pictures:

This is what it looks like most of the time recently:

I really don't have much to say. I am about 94.769 percent sure I will be moving to Oklahoma in July, I just need to find a job. I have a couple of prospects maybe possibly, or maybe I will just move there and become the weirdo who lurks in my mother's attic :)

Watching the Olympics has become a roommate tradition these past couple of weeks. Aside from the skin tight uniforms that we girls simultaneously cringe and stare, I really like watching. Especially curling. The summer Olympics inspired me to learn how to swim, these ones have inspired me to learn how to chuck rocks down an icy sheet. Not that I don't do that already.

Tonight, we watch many episode of Battlestar Galactica. Some day I will leave this house.

Further Adventures into the Mind of Cori

So, last night I woke up at some obscure hour because it was lightinging and raining and thundering and making little tappy noises on my skylight. Not the lightning, the rain, duh.

The reason I was awake at 2 in the morning was not because of the lightning. Or the thunder. Or the tapping. I was awake because of the smell. Yes. I smelled the rain and could. not. sleep. It kind of smelled like the desert during the one time in 10 years it rained, kind of like dirt. Wet dirt. I would half fall asleep and then sit straight up in bed and think, "WHAT is that smell?!?!" Then I would spend about 30 seconds looking around with half closed eyes for puddles or ceiling drips. Then I would give up and lie back down, only to repeat this a few minutes later.

I then dreamed of wandering around the Grand's house with Aunt Cari, except for it wasn't their real house, it was the house that they always have in my dreams. I never dream of their house as how it really is in real life, but the Grand's house is always the same in Cori-dream-land. It's like that with McGuckins hardware store also. I always dream-know I'm at McGuckins or the Grand's house, it just doesn't look like I awake-know it does.

Hmmm.

Tomatoes

One of my few vivid memories of my great grandfather Metz, from whom I inherited the Metz Nose, is of him showing us his tomatoes in his and Grandma's backyard in Olathe, Kansas. As a kid, I remember thinking "cool..... tomatoes....", knowing there was ice cream on the table inside waiting for us, wanting to get on with it. He showed us those tomatoes every single time we went there.

Now I am growing tomatoes on my back porch, and I snag innocent passers-by and say "come look at my tomatoes!" Of all the plants I tried growing this summer, the tomatoes are really the only ones who survived from seed to fruit. I planted the seeds in early May and they are finally growing things!





I have two varieties of cherry tomatoes, on three different plants. The tallest one stands at a lanky 5 feet tall, and they have pretty little yellow flowers until they turn into tomatoes. Hey Grandpa, come look at my tomatoes!

And the world spins madly on

My life has settled very comfortably down into a pleasant existence with work that I like doing, a house I love coming home to, and the awesomest friends ever to hang out with. I'm a pretty happy kid.

Since I have so much time in the car during the week (I drive about 2 hrs a day for work), I tend to think a lot. Also sing. Loudly. And not always well. The last 9 months of single-dom has been some serious growing time for me. The place I am now emotionally and socially is so much different, and I think better. I am happy! I often find myself places by myself and wonder how I got there, me, the girl who has never been able to do ANYTHING by herself. I sing to myself in grocery stores as I wander down the aisles. I signed up for a Salsa class, which I tried to convince other friends to do, but no one had time. So I went to the class by myself, and after the first half hour or so of numbed terror and threatening nausea, I had a lot of fun. In a place where I knew no one. So weird.

Speaking of salsa, I am taking a class specifically for women, which is fun, but interesting. I am by far the tallest and most uncoordinated person there, so I generally feel like I'm flailing. I also have to be careful not to get my fingers chopped off by the ceiling fans. Its quite dangerous.

I have a comic for you, sort of related to what I do at work. I have been starting to do more of the actual support for the software I work with, so I talk to customers a lot. And I love this particular comic from XKCD, http://xkcd.com/627/:
Anyway, on a more serious note, thank you to my awesome friends and family who have giving me your support and prayers. The last year or so has been... interesting... to say the least, and I'm pretty grateful to have the best family and friends ever!

Sentence structure is overrated.

As I walked out the door this morning, I realized that the crazy lego / old dude's walker /tree / inefficient thief/ tree noise was actually the cages over my tomato plants getting overly friendly. I wandered around my house in the dark because of tomatoes. And created elaborate escape plans because of tomatoes. Wow. I feel stupid.

I am exhausted from the lack of sleep, and combined with the fact that my eye is freaking out for some reason, I didn't get much done today. It was actually kinda fun, I had to take my right contact out so I couldn't see out of that eye unless my face was right near the computer screen. I amused myself by alternating open eyes and trying to readjust the focus. Driving home was also fun, because I only had one eye, which I left in for the sole purpose of driving home. So to see behind me, I had to turn completely around because my good eye is on the left. Yeah, yeah, I could use my mirror, but it is currently bent at some odd angle that is not helpful at all. And, the depth perception sucks. Basically, it was what I imagine being high would look like, but with fine motor skills and inhibition. I'll let you know if I ever get into a situation in which I could know what being high looks like for sure, but I don't think that will ever happen. I'll ask around for comparisons, half the population of Boulder is high all the time anyway.

My other eye has this non-stop twitching thing going on, so combined with the swollen, red right eye, I'm lookin pretty crazy. Combine that with the weird noises and I'll be scarin' people away left and right. I love my oddities :)

Hmm. Dinner time. I'm thinking Spongebob Mac-n-Cheese is in order.

I'm hungry

Warning: This post includes careless use of homophones. Use your imagination.

It is four in the morning.... and I am awake, but not on purpose. My body seems to be having a difficult time adjusting to a working schedule. After all, I did spend the last 4 years sleeping at really odd hours of the day and night. Tuesday I was so tired that I kept almost nodding off onto my keyboard, so Wednesday I took my meds for the attention and the focus and the deficit. Which meant that I was twitchy all day. It sure didn't help that I had a giant cup-o-coffee and 2 cherry pepsis, what with all the caffeine, so I was like, super twitchy, dude.

Kinsey passed her board exams today to be a CNA, so we celebrated with pita pizzas and rum-n-cokes, and although I had the smallest glass, I still was asleep by 10:30. But then I woke up about 2, and I was AWAKE!!!!!!!! ! ! So here I am, I have slept off the rum induced drowsiness and am now running purely on focused, attentive energy. I am also incredibly hungry.

And, at about 3 am, the tree right outside my window started making strange noises, almost exactly the sound of the legos moving as you build with them in the Lego Indiana Jones video games. You know what I am talking about, the clickclickclickclick, with some creaking in between. I might have to get a wii just for that game, but that's a different story. But when it started making this noise, I didn't know it was the tree. So I tried peering out my window, thinking maybe it was some old person walking down the sidewalk with their incredibly creaky walker, but hey, its 3 in the morning, I'm the only one on my block awake right now. Also, I can't see. So I wander downstairs to find my glasses and look out the back door, but I don't turn any lights on just in case this noise is coming from someone trying to break into our house by slowly scratching away the glass door. I wouldn't want to give myself away, you know. I managed to somehow find my glasses and look out the door, but don't see anything. At this point, I am making plans for an escape route in case i DO find someone on my back porch stealing plants, should I run for my room and lock the door or do I run downstairs and wake up michael to come beat away the attackers? Its a tough decision. Finally, I am creeped out enough to go back upstairs where I turn my computer/security-blanket on and start catching up on blogs again. But there is the noise again.... So I close my computer so that the mystery-scratcher won't know I'm awake from the light of the screen. As I'm looking out the window, I notice the the wind is blowing the tree around and it happens to be moving at about the same frequency as the noise. *place palm to forehead*. Duh.

Sigh. I'm pretty sure I should never be allowed to live by myself, I would go crazy. Er than I already am. And my roomates always wonder why I lock the doors all. the. time. Its because of the crazy people who try to get in my house by eroding the doors. Eek.

In other news, my Jeepy has been feeling quite healthy, I drive about 100 miles a day to and from work and she seems happy enough. Just the usual list of complaints, you know, the shaking at 70 mph, the AC that mostly just blows (ha...ha...), the blinker that freaks out when the brake is on at the same time. It adds character. I love it.

Oh, and Europe photos are slowly being uploaded at holmescd.smugmug.com. So far just Barcelona and Madrid are up, but that will be soon changed. Let me know what you think.

Ugh, I am going to try to sleep before I have to get up and ready for work in 1.5 hours. Gnight!

Cordelia and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (But then it turned out pretty sweet)

Today was an incredible emotional roller coaster.

I was asked to return to my job at Transform, the one I worked at last summer. Totally beats out making sandwiches, and its more interesting. I get to test more software.

Anyhow, I had a sort of interview at 10 this morning. I made it out the door not only not late, but get this, I was early!! The first half of the drive was fine, but then I stopped in Golden to get gas, since apparently vehicles need that to run. Then I tried to start up my car, aaaaand, it didn't happen. So, I called Dad, who told me some things to try to get it started. After lots of attempts and several futile tries at jump starting it (I really couldn't get it going fast enough to help any, that Jeepy is freaking heavy) I managed to push it into a (handicapped) parking spot, since that was what was straight ahead. I'm pretty sure I looked like a goof, trying to singlehandedly push my dead vehicle across a parking lot in my interviewing clothes. At least I was wearing flats, not heels. Flats are totally from Jesus.

Sooooooo, I called the nice AAA kids, who sent someone to try shocking my car, which didn't work, so they brought the tow truck on over. Oh yeah, and as soon as I got out of my car to let them load it, it started pouring rain. But, it stopped as soon as they were done.

I then rode in the truck to the nearby Jeepy dealer, while the driver told me about all the things he was planning to do to fix up his truck. The people at the Jeep dealer were really cool about it and fixed it up real fast. It really does help to be cute and nicely dressed. There was something wrong with something in the steering column, so the Car-fixin dude said they might have to replace the steering column, which would be freaking expensive and require me to rent a car for several days. But then he found an used part that would work, which they didn't charge me for. So what was looking like an incredibly pricey four hour jaunt turned into an only sort of pricey four hour jaunt, since they only charged for the labor. I'm tellin ya girls, next time you need your car fixed, get all dressed up and stuff.

In the end, I got my baby Jeepy back and drove down to the interview. Aaaand, they gave me a full time job with much better pay than sandwich making. So, for the next few months at least, I will be working as a software tester for an oil-and-gas-industry-software-developing-company. Also as a "here, could you do this? I don't have time" person. I am SOOO excited. I have been super bored sitting around at home, although I'm sure my roommates would prefer that since I bake when I am bored, which resulted in a cake yesterday. I also sewed a reusable grocery bag on Monday.

Now I am going to go to bed, so that I can begin my life as a working woman in the morning.

And, just for fun, a photo of my poor baby Jeepy during a happier time in life. Isn't she so cute??

Not yet

I have so many photos from our trip that my poor little computer can't handle it, so I am still working on getting those together. I took nearly 1300 photos on almost 12 gigs of memory, and I have to sort through all of them.

Since this has been an incredibly busy summer, I can start with the beginning. First, I graduated. Yay. Then, I spent some time at parental-home. Then, I spent some time in Boulder-home. Then, we went to Portland. Then, Abby-and-David's wedding and all the preparation leading up to it, then Europe, and now I am embarking yet again to visit family members. Since finals week, I have not spent more than about 10 consecutive days in my own house, sleeping in my own bed. I don't have food at home that is not either frozen or non-perishable. Except for some milk (Hey wonderful roommates of mine, feel free to drink that milk. Or at least chuck it when it smells).

To make up for my spectacular failure in keeping up to date with the Europe trip, I will just start from the beginning with some archive photos. In case you want to see more photos, either check out Dad's website, which has both Alli's and my graduation pics along with a detailed account of a certain snowplow accident. Use our middle names to get into the locked folders for Alli's and my photos. Website: www.frozenkinetics.com. My photos also have a home finally: http://holmescd.smugmug.com/, and I will have all my photos up there soon, hopefully.

The Fam at the rose gardens:


Hiking along the Coast:

Awesome-sauce with a cherry on top. I'm actually not a big fan of cherries, so lets put hot fudge on top instead. Who thought of that saying anyhow?

Watching the dragon boat races from the Grand's balcony

The creepy house we stayed in, complete with spooky basement and several dirty shovels.

There are plenty more photos, but the internet is too slow for me to sit here and wait for more to upload. I need my nightly nap now. Hehe, that was sorta an alliteration.

In other news, we took Alli-Walli to orientation at CSU today. They taught the incoming freshman the CSU fight song, which I silently protested by staying in my chair. (If you didn't know already, CSU and CU are rivals) I politely refrained from cheering anti-Rams songs, so as not to traumatize the freshman. Still, it sucks to be a CSU Ram. But Alli, since I love you so much I will support your choice even though it is traitorous.

Cori go sleepy now. Cori very tired. Cori did not have siesta today.

Sorry

Yeah, Yeah, I know, I was supposed to post a blog whenever something cool happened. However, apparently when one doesn´t have a computer, it is hard to connect to the internet, and it becomes required that I spend lots of time in internet cafes, which is hard to convince Diana to do because she is not nearly as addicted to computer- use as I am. Also, I read the Hobbit while waiting to log in to this site, and will most likely finish the entire Lord of the Rings series while this uploads, its that slow. Its like I was transported back in time. Oh, how I am excited to get home and reattach my favorite appendage- my computer.

We are in Barcelona this morning, on the way to Madrid and then home. I promise I will post more details when I get home and sort through my 8 gigs and counting of photos. Right now I am getting evil glares from people waiting to use the compy, so I´m off to find some coffee.

Love and miss y'all,


C

Neeeext!

Achtung: I wrote this a couple of days ago but the internet wouldnt let me load it. Also I cant spell, in any language, or find the apostrophe on the German keyboard.

Hello all, I apologize greatly because I have not posted recently. Since my last post, we have been in Sweden and Germany, and have been too busy to actually sit down and write a blog post. I promise (pinky promise!!!) that I will go over the lovely details of our trip when I get home, as I will have many unemployed hours to sit and write and go through my photos. In the meantime, I can tell you a bit. Sweden was wonderful and relaxing, and Diana's relatives, Mats and Ingrid, were very hospitable. We saw a glass blowing factory, with lotsa beautiful artsy glassware. We didn't do much in terms of sightseeing, but got to talk at length with Mats and Ingrid about life in Sweden and such. We also go to talk to their daughter, Nina, who is our age, and she was quite fun. We also watched a lot of soccer, because their family is really into it: their oldest daughter is on the Swedish national team. They also fed us very well, haha, deliciousness. Sarah, the Swedish do indeed eat hot dogs, and they also have mustard and ketchup with them. They eat many things that are pretty much the same as we eat in the States, with a few differences. We have discovered that there is no water better than Colorado tap water, but I have developed an addiction to European Coke, which tastes much better than American Coke. I have also gained a taste for light beers, the ones I have had so far have been delicious. We took a night train to Mannheim, Germany, and then went to Heidelberg to spend a couple of days. The night trains are interesting, we met a guy and his daughter who we talked to for a while, that was nice. It is a good way to meet people. Basically, they stuff 6 people into a little cabin with couches that fold down into 6 beds, 3 on each side, like 3 story bunk beds. So you are forced to talk to people, because otherwise you would be stuck in a corner somewhere and unable to get out. We stayed in this wonderful little hostel in Heidelberg, Steffi's Heidelberg Hostel. We were treated very nicely and the room was clean and comfortable. The first day there, we spent shopping and wandering. In the states, I have a hard time finding clothes that fit because I am so tall, but it was easy shopping in a country full of tall people. They actually make clothes that fit me. Heidelberg is beautiful, it was one of the few towns unaffected by bombing in WWII, so it still has its old castle and church and old town. The second day we spent exploring the local Castle, which was cool. Just in case you care, the local rocks which made up the castle and sidewalks and stuff like that are very similar to those found in Boulder, more specifically the Fountain and Lyons formation. They have the same pinkish color, and plenty of crossbedding. MMmmm. After the castle, we went back to the Hostel for a nap, and met our new friend Sammy (hi!), who we spent the rest of the evening with, wandering Heidelberg, eating delicious German food, and talking. I also had ice cream a total of three times that day. Oh, how I love ice cream. Yesterday, we took the train to and explored the Neuschwanstein Castle in Füssen, Germany, and then splurged and stayed in a real hotel, with our own bathroom. We were exhausted, and it was wonderful not to be bothered by other kids wandering in at all hours of the night. It also came with breakfast, very delicious breakfast in fact, which included bacon. In about an hour, we are on our way to Shaffhausen, Switzerland, where we will base our exploration of the European Nazarene College in Büsingen. From there, Interlaken Switzerland, and then to Rome. We are at about halftime at this point. We have both decided that our first meal back in the US will be at Qdoba. Anyhow, I am almost out of internet time, and we need to go catch our train to Schaffhausen. We will spend most of the day riding through the swiss alps. I am soooo excited. Adieu!! Cori

Oh boy!

We are in Cologne, Germany, just arriving from Paris. We have an overnight train this evening to Sweden, where we will meet Diana's family.

Paris:

We stayed in a nice little hotel owned by a family who lived there. They had a couple of little girls, who ran around shouting "MOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!" I guess that is universal in any language.

I figured out why French women are so skinny: they have to fit into tiny places. The food is delicious, and they seem to live for food and drink, but if you can't fit into one of the tiny table areas in the crammed restaurant, you can't eat.

Our first day in Paris included:
- a looong walk through the gardens at the Champs de Elysees, and the Louvre
- A church service at Notre Dame. The acoustics in that building are unbelievable.
- Wandering around the Arc du Triomph. Its big.
- Blisters the size of my face
- Arriving at the Trocadero at nearly sunset, and climbing the 680 steps to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower, where we took the elevator the rest of the way up.
- Forgetting to eat dinner until 1 in the morning because we were so distracted

Despite what I have heard about Parisians being rude, we found that most of them are actually quite nice. They laughed at our pathetic attempts at speaking French, although Diana picked it up pretty quickly

I also introduced Diana to my love of public transportation systems, maps of any sort, and metro maps as an art form. Those things are the abstract art of cartography. I love riding the metro, but for some reason Diana didn't want to spend the day riding in circles....

Our second day in Paris was both the most stressful and the most relaxing. We spent 3 hours in the train station figuring out how to get to Sweden, but then we went and toured the Chateau at Versailles. Chateau is an understatement, it really is a palace. The gardens were extensive and beautiful.

Well, I need to go look for more plan things, and somewhere to stay in Germany.

Next stop: Vajxo, Sweden!

Gone

Today at 7 a.m., Diana and I are off to see the world. I am already tired.

My backpack is ready to go, my passport is in my purse, and I have tomorrow's clothes all set out.

I need to go to bed now, but keep a lookout for travel updates. I will post as often as I can.

First stop: Paris via London

I am really, really enjoying being unemployed. Last weekend, I went to the Great Sand Dunes National preserve, down in southern Colorado. They formed between a complex system of constant easterly winds, westerly rivers, and lots and lots of sand. The sand dunes here are the largest in the US, and the tallest one is about 750 feet tall. Walking around on them is like walking on a giant beach, except for at a steep incline.

This photo is of some pretty mountains on the way down there.

There is a large creek at the base of the sand dunes, that is basically the closest thing to a beach CO has. It was a beautiful day for wandering through the creek. I messed with the colors a bit in this one.


Again without the people, and less color change
This is on top of the highest dune we climbed, you can see across the dune field that goes for several miles.
A tippy-top of one of the dunes.

Kite flying. We had to run back to our campsite shortly after this to escape the lightning.

Anyway, its been a good month. I am hoping to have a place for my photos to live soon, for your veiwing pleasure. Woo. I will let you all know what that is when it gets there.

love,

Cori

Much Less Extreme Gardener

I like spring. I like that my buckets of dirt are now buckets of dirt with sticks in them. Green sticks. Green, wonderful, living sticks. That will eventually bloom into pretty things to admire and delicious things to eat. Unless I kill them.

This is my test tube baby- a bit of mint from a friend's plant that will eventually grow roots so I can plant it. No one in my house believes that this will happen. I pinky promise. I love that the leaves are so soft and semi-translucent. Very distracting when I am supposed to be reading the FY 2009 NASA Budget Request Summary.


This is my sunstar, Chloe. The photos don't do the color justice. I also don't know how to use Picnik very well yet. I talk to Chloe quite often.
I am very excited about the prospect of weather warm enough to spend hours outside in.

The kid down the street, who I can see through the sliding glass door, seems to be enjoying the outside. He first brought out the broom, I am assuming to sweep the driveway, but instead held the handle and spun in circles, making the broom part airborne. I am amused. Where did my imagination go? Was it shamed out of me because of the social-awkwardness of creativity? Too many people looked at me funny when I said something? I don't know. Oh well.

Six more days until I complete my college career!!

I am undergoing decompression melting in my brain.

Decompression melting: magma in the mantle under the oceanic crust rises towards the surface, decreasing pressure. Since the melting point of basalt is lower with less pressure, it melts when pressure decreases.

In short, my brain is mushy goo.

Yeeeeppp, that about all I can do right now.

Halleluiah I'm Free!

My senior thesis is complete. The culmination of 4 years of work... All presented today.

I feel light... free... fluffy....

I haven't gotten any exercise recently. I have been too busy spending time hunched over my computer with a Glorious spring of Dr. Pepper and Endless music by the Weepies.

I also gained an addiction to coffee. There's no turning back now.

Anyhow, not much else has been going on in my life. But I have some pictures from camping and of the day we got snowed in....

The incoming storm over the mountains

Owen and Noah, they made dinner. I didn't do anything. It was awesome.

Sarah, Noah, and Brandon. It was cold.

Our back porch at the beginning of the blizzard... Look at those straight lines! MMMmmmMMM!!!

View down the road

Our little tree, it just started growing some leaves

I like how this one is taken over with tree-ness

Just so you could see my beautiful (and very cold) face

Yay!

Basic Facts

Today during my tutoring shift, I encountered someone who seemed to be lacking what I think are essentials to any college student, especially one taking science classes. I was just curious to know if other people know these things, so I am going to give you a little test. Just leave your answers in the comments, and I will give you the answers and results in the next post.

Please answer these questions with no help, so I will have accurate results - Closed notes, closed book, closed search engine (Don't use google). I suppose you can use a calculator.

1. What is the acceleration of gravity on Earth, also called g?

2. Solve for x:
12 = 0.5x + 4

3. If you have an equation in which one side has the square root of x, what must you do to the equation to find x? example:
5 = sqrt(x) (Imagine the sqrt is the little number house thing)

4. If you are driving to your Auntie's house in Bethany (or Piedmont), how long will it take to get there if you are driving 35 mph (The roads are icy, and she has your supply of chocolate)? At the beginning of your one-way trip, the odometer reads 153,243 miles, and at the end it reads 153,267 miles. Assume you don't have to stop or change speeds. Please report your time in minutes and hours.

5. You and your family are soaking up the sun on a beach in Mexico, and you get to wondering... You know if you went out into the water, you would be on the continental shelf and that the water is about 180m deep. If an ocean wave is a deep wave if the water depth is greater than 1/2 the wavelength, and it is a shallow wave if the water depth is less than 1/20 the wavelength, is a wind wave with a wavelength of 20 m a deep or shallow wave? What about a tsunami wave with a wavelength of 300m?