Recap of the Weekend

Well, I'm about a third of the way through the semester. This weekend proved to be fun as well as fairly productive.

Friday evening was the Biology Graduate Student Association's fall mixer. Matt and I went, and I tried to not just talk to people I already knew. We met a guy named Patrick who actually knew some of the paleobotany folks at Penn State, including our former office-neighbor Stephan. Patrick studies the evolution of wood, and it was good to meet another person who works with "paleo-type" stuff. We also met a few of the Witt Lab members, who study birds, and Matt got to talk to them about birding and what their lab group does. Matt emailed Dr. Witt this morning, I hope he'll have something interesting for Matt to do, either paid or just research.

Saturday we went to the New Mexico State Fair. There was a lot of agricultural stuff (farm animals, plants). We watched part of a horse show, and we saw some younger horses work on a lead. It was pretty interesting, the idea was to evaluate how they would eventually do with a rider. I also talked to a guy about cacti, and he had some good tips for getting them to bloom. I think I need to re-pot my catci (I'll need gloves), and once I do that I'll try out some of what he said.

New Mexicans will put chilies on anything. While at the fair, we got some ice cream that has dried powdered green chili on top. It was surprisingly delightful, and I'm going to try it on my own at home. The ice cream kills a lot of the heat, and you're left with a really interesting flavor. That's not to say that it wasn't spicy, it just wasn't a punch in the face. Very yummy.

Sunday was sort of my work day. I slept in, but got right to work when I got up putting together an application for travel money for my trip to Pittsburgh in October. As of yesterday evening I have 2 out of the 3 applications I want to fill out completed. I don't feel super confident about the first one, but I think I did a pretty decent job on the second. The second one provided better instructions and a more detailed rubric for what they were looking for.

We went to church again for the second time at the Newman center on campus. On the one hand, I know some people there and there is free dinner after mass, both of which are nice. On the other hand, the music isn't to my liking, and that's kind of a big deal to me and Matt. We'll see how it goes for the next couple weeks. Matt and I are just never going to replace Good Shepherd, at least not in Albuquerque. The free dinner last night was upside-down pizza. It was more of a casserole style thing, with sauce and toppings in a dish, baked with the crust on top.

Today, another long day of teaching. I'm feeling good about today though. The lab activity sounds like it won't be a pain, and there is only one thing they really need to do.

Also, I've seen more praying mantises in the past few weeks than I've seen in my whole life. One of the cats in my complex was sitting in a swarm of ants that were devouring a dead mantis. Fun times. April, the kitten, is so adorable and cute, and if it wasn't for the fact that she is filthy half the time and that I have a rodent for a pet, I would invite her to visit in my apartment. The other day she was acting all cute, then flopped around in a pile of dirt. Hilarious. I have a picture of her eating Matt's car antenna, I'll post it later when I'm back home (I'm at school, waiting to teach).

I can't believe I need to start planning my trip home for Christmas. I'm not a fan of Christmas, but it'll be good to be home.