Back to Reality

I fully intended to blog about my vacation with my mom, but a lack of reliable internet sort of put a damper on that plan. It is also completely non-academic, and although I have posted about things other than graduate school on this blog, I don't want to make that too much of a habit.

I will say though, vacations are important for maintaining the sanity of a graduate student. We all need breaks, and anyone who tells you any different is a dirty filthy liar. Our trip to Arizona was one of the better vacations I've taken in a long time, and it was nice to finally see the Grand Canyon. It wouldn't be the kind of thing I'd want to do every year; but, sometimes just staring over something so vast and outside of yourself is what you need to bring everything else in reality back into perspective. It's the main reason I miss being close to an ocean, and why I want to see the Pacific some day.

Hance Rapids. Taken with my mobile, so forgive the lousy quality.

But now I'm back to reality. First, I'm going to do the cliche thing and comment on how I can't believe that it is June already. I'm completely unapologetic about this. Summer intercession is almost over, and come Monday there will once again be college students wandering about. This won't change my working environment much, though. Working in my office over the past few weeks has been incredibly boring. No one is around, and by that I mean I sit in my office for 8 hours by myself, only seeing other human beings when I leave to go to the bathroom or get food/coffee. The PiBBS space is a different world when classes aren't in session. Furthermore, I think a lot of other people are traveling, so it is extra dead.

Another dose of reality came recently when I finally got my rejection letter for a big grant I had applied for back in the fall. The big yellow envelope of depression showed up right before I was going to Arizona, so I put off reading its contents until I got back. I finally went over the reviewer comments the other day. I had myself mentally prepared to get ripped to shreds, but it actually wasn't that bad. I agreed with pretty much everything the reviewers had to say, and they will help me write a stronger proposal for the next go around. Three years of support is just too good to not try again. I didn't really expect to get it this time around, they only funded something like 80 proposals with this particular award.

The reviews I got were also mixed. One reviewer rated my entire application as "fair" and provided the most detailed comments and criticisms. The other two rated it as "good" and "excellent". Even I know that my application wasn't "excellent", so I'm going to just go ahead and average everything out and say that I did "good" on my first attempt. Which isn't too shabby. All three reviewers commented that the whole proposal was really well written. The primary complaints were that I didn't elaborate more on my methods and statistics and that I was vague about the broader impacts. It was only a 5 page proposal, so I'm going to have to really try to fit some of these details in and trim up other areas. I'll also have some publications by the time I try again, so that will also boost my application.

The complaints about my broader impacts section kind of threw me, however. Almost all funding agencies now require applicants to explain how they are going to make the world a better place with their research. Kind of like a Miss America pageant for scientists. I thought I had included enough in this section, but clearly not. Apparently they wanted to know how the specific project I was proposing would be relevant to my community (aka NM). I was more broad about how my activities as a scientist were beneficial to my community. Wrong! Looking back on it, I can easily make my project applicable to NM because it is on the role of large carnivores in communities. NM has a lot of issues with wolf populations and managing their larger carnivores, so this should have been a no brainer. But I wasn't sure what they wanted from me and I gave them the "wrong" thing. Next time I'll know better. These sections are becoming more important and less of a kiss-off, and now I know to put more into it.

The next month is going to be all about me tying up loose ends with projects, and thinking about my comprehensive exams. I'm thinking those will happen in the fall, but I'm kind of on the fence about it. We'll see.

Duck Sex

For those who don't know, mallards are pretty aggressive this time of the year. They're kind of mean jerks most of the time, but late winter/early spring they are particularly bad. The reason for this increase in obnoxiousness is, obviously, because it's time for the ducks to start pairing up and mating.

I've been attending college for the better part of a decade. All of those campuses I've been at have duck ponds, with a ton of mallards, yet somehow I've never seen "the deed" being done. I'm not a wildlife voyeur mind you, but as someone who is interested in nature and spends a lot of time outside I just think it's kind of weird this has never happened. All that changed yesterday.

I went out for tea yesterday morning and wandered down to the bridge at the duck pond. I was pondering the mysteries of life enjoying my London Fog, and as I was standing there my friend Lee walked by and we chatted for a bit about ducks and Pleistocene fauna. As we were standing there I noticed something weird; I thought I had been observing two ducks, but for some reason I now only saw one duck sort of struggling in the water. It turns out that there WERE two ducks, but one was under water, beneath the other duck. It was a strange moment, one where it probably took me longer to figure out what was going on than it should have. Awkward.

The whole incident probably took all of 5 seconds, so the female wasn't in any real danger of drowning. But the most ridiculous part came at the end, when the male bit the female in the head and then did a victory lap around her.

I told you mallards were jerks.

Festival of the Cranes

If you've spent time in New Mexico during the fall, you're probably familiar with the odd trumpeting call of sandhill cranes. Every year sandhill cranes and many other birds migrate south for the winter, and many stop in New Mexico. This past weekend Matt and I volunteered with the Albuquerque Audubon Society for the Annual Festival of the Cranes, at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. During the fall, the refuge floods its fields to provide important habitat and food for migrants.

While stationed on the swamp deck, we helped visitors view various types of birds. In addition to the cranes there were several interesting species hanging around the refuge, making this years festival another one to remember. We had birding scopes positioned to view a bald eagle perched on a snag, as well as a surf scoter that was an unusual sighting. Despite the weather being a little chilly and windy, there were a good number of people enjoying the wildlife of the refuge.

For pictures and the full story of our visit to the refuge, check out Matt's blog.

Also, if you decide to make the trip down to Bosque del Apache, stop in San Antonio for the green chile cheeseburger that whipped Bobby Flays butt on "Throwdown With Bobby Flay".

Valles Caldera Weekend

It's Monday, so I thought I'd get my writing juices flowing by giving a recap of my weekend.

I've been taking a Quaternary Paleoclimate Seminar all semester, and this weekend we had a field trip up to the Valles Caldera. The caldera formed as a result of two eruptions: one at 1.6 million years ago, and another at 1.2 million years ago. The graduate students in my class went on this trip to help out and act as mentors to a freshman class in the "Freshman Learning Community". They have been taking a first year writing class that is split between Earth and Planetary Science and English departments. Peter, the instructor for my class, has been spending the semester teaching them about some of the geology and past climate in areas of New Mexico.

The Valles Caldera is beautiful this time of the year, all the aspens and cottonwoods are changing to a brilliant yellow color. I saw some of the prettiest foliage this weekend on this trip. We checked out some of the areas that had burned severely this summer. The caldera is also just really cool in general. I collected some pumice samples from an outcrop, and we also collected some sediment samples which we later looked at under a microscope. Right after the caldera formed it filled up with water and formed a very large lake that persisted for several thousand years. The sediments preserve evidence for how climate changed, which is why Peter is interested in them. We saw some really cool stuff in the samples we collected, bits of charcoal and also diatoms. I was very excited to look at the microfossils, I hadn't done this kind of work in years. I'm happy to report that my field group collected a sample that had about 5 different diatom species, and we got some good pictures of them for Peter with the microscope camera.

The place we were staying was also really cool. It's a retreat center that used to be where they sent wayward priests for rehabilitation. Now it's used for a variety of purposes. Mary, our host, fed us very well and the accommodations were some of the most comfortable I've experienced for field work. We had a spectacular view of beautiful scenery from the dining area, and we did some star gazing Saturday evening. It was also really nice getting to spend extended time with the other graduate students in my class. They seemed like fun people from the little I see them in seminar. I had a really good time hanging out with them.

I don't have my pictures from the weekend downloaded off my camera yet. Check back later for picture updates in this post.

Mom's Visit to New Mexico: Days 1 & 2

What a fantastic week! Mom got in in the late evening last Friday for her 8-day vacation in New Mexico. The visit was timed with the balloon fiesta; after seeing my pictures from last year, my mom decided immediately that she must make it here for that week, specifically.

Saturday morning we were up and on the road by 5:30am, which by Fiesta weekend standards is late. We were on our way to one of the mass ascensions, where they inflate a launch literally hundreds of hot air balloons.

Balloons being inflated before lift off.

The Darth Vader balloon was back again this year from Belgium.

Two new shape balloons: Spider Pig and a huge butterfly (it's left antenna was having a  little trouble here).

Took this one for my Mom's friend Al who, like this balloon, is from Jordan.

"Stay inflated my friends"

The Bees

Just like last year, I took dozens more photos than will actually end up on this blog. I'll need to do something with them this time around, I certainly have enough for Fiesta themed photo presents for birthday's and holidays.

On Sunday we went to the Taos Wool Festival.
I always get an interesting reaction from people when I say I'm going to a wool festival. First of all, you get to see cute/funny animals. Secondly, the drive is beautiful. Third, there are lots of pretty things to look at and buy. So don't knock the wool festival until you've tried it.

An alpaca that is cute/silly.

Disapproving Llama, disapproves of me taking its picture.

I ended up buying some very nice yarn to make knitted gifts for Matt and my Mom. They picked the yarn, but the surprise will still be there when I finish the projects. I also left with a warm and fuzzy fleece headband and a drop spindle to make my own yarn. It isn't enough that I spend money and time on knitting and crocheting and materials, I now feel the need to make yarn too. Overachiever.

On the drive back from Taos, we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge for a view over the bridge.

Rio Grande

My Mom, with the wind in her hair.

Taos Wool Festival Gang

Me and Matteo

Second tarantula I've seen in this area of NM. This guy was crawling around the ladies bathroom at the rest stop.

Inflated Sense of Self Importance

This has been a crazy week for my friends and family back East. On Tuesday (8/23/11) there was a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Virginia that was felt widely throughout the Eastern part of the country. Friends in Connecticut and State College, PA felt it, and I even heard that people in Boston felt it too. In addition to the earthquake, the whole East coast is bracing itself for hurricane Irene, which should be going through my home state of CT over the weekend.

I don't like natural disasters, but as a geologist I have a weird sense of disappointment that I have never been through an earthquake. I'm not trivializing it, I have an idea of how dangerous and scary they can be. That's not the point. Earthquakes and other major events are demonstrations of the amazing power of natural forces, and I'm fascinated by any event that show that the Earth isn't just a static piece of rock floating through space. By the end of the weekend, people back East will have experienced two powerful forces in a one-week span: a fairly large earthquake and a pretty serious hurricane.

The only thing that is kind of getting under my skin about all of this is the reaction that people are having, specifically "Why is this happening?", or "What did we do to deserve this?" As if there is some reason these things happen beyond chance and the physical sciences. I'm hearing things like "this is because New York legalized gay marriage", or "this is because of Obama". Seriously?? That's not how the Earth works. There are reasons for all of the events that happen, that's for sure. But they have nothing to do with petty human social affairs. When I hear these kinds of things, I feel like we've stepped back into the Dark Ages.

Maybe it's because people feel like bad things need some kind of moral reason for happening. But bad stuff happens all the time, to all kinds of people. We're so absorbed with ourselves, that when something like this happens it feels special because it's "happening to us." But these kinds of things have been happening for as long as the Earth has existed, and they'll keep happening once we're long gone.

My suggestion is that if you want to know why stuff happens, spend some time reading about the physical causes and the science behind it. I know blaming it on "divine retribution" might be easier and make you feel better, but it's total and complete crap. Knowing the real how and why behind things like earthquakes is fascinating. But it sure as hell isn't all about you.

American Society of Mammalogists Meeting June 24-28, 2011 or My Trip to Portland, OR

I recently attended the annual meeting for the American Society of Mammalogists in Portland, OR. Despite its reputation, the weather held up for most of the time I was there, and we only got some drizzle on the last day.


I really liked Portland, and it's a place I would definitely go back for another non-work related visit. I really liked how easy it was to get around, how relatively clean it was, and all there was to do. I went to the Saturday Market (which actually goes on all weekend), which was really neat to see. It's basically a huge craft fair/flea market and you can find a lot of unique hand made items. I got a nifty bronze and copper barrette.
Portland State University was also really nice, it's right in the middle of the city but it doesn't feel overly city-like when you're actually on the main part of the campus. During the first day of the meeting there was a huge farmer's market going on right in the plaza area of campus, which made for a really convenient place to get lunch. The growing season there is several weeks behind NM, so it was a treat to see all the late spring veggies and berries.

I stayed with a friend while at the meeting. Fred's mother lives in Gresham, OR, which is really close to Portland. Fred, Matt, and I camped out in her mom's living room, and we enjoyed the added company of Jack the dog and Darwin the cat. We took the light rail in to get to and from the meeting, which was about an hour long trip, but it was convenient none-the-less. I can always appreciate cities where you don't really need a car. I could live in a place like Gresham, or any of the other cities near Portland. They're all just really convenient, and you can get just about anywhere between the light rail, a bus, and some walking. Portland is actually pretty eco-friendly, as far as cities go. They recycle everything, and it's one of the few cities I've seen that composts.

The meeting itself was very enjoyable. I personally prefer smaller meetings to the supersized meetings I sometimes go to. This was my first mammal meeting, and it's the first meeting where I was in the minority as a paleoecologist. Unfortunately, there was a mix up with my abstract and I ended up presenting in a session that wasn't ideal. But, the show must go on, and it went alright. Not my best talk, but certainly not my worst. I did have a couple of people approach me about my work with some interest, which goes to show that I am, in fact, my own toughest critic.

The final day of the meeting was really good because I saw some really interesting posters, got some really good deals on reference books, and the keynote talk was also fantastic. Liz Hadley from Stanford gave the talk, and it was on Pleistocene paleoecology and really highlighted how paleontology is relevant to modern ecology. The whole talk was basically about all the things that keep me up at night, so I really enjoyed it. Liz is also just really cool and a really great speaker. She's definitely on my list of amazing female scientist role models.

Here are a few non-meeting related highlights from my trip. I know it starts to sound a bit like a travel guide, but honestly, if a good time can't be had at a conference (or during field work for that matter), then you're doing it wrong:

Multnomah Falls - a really good afternoon hike, beautiful scenery, and I saw TWO pikas. Very appropriate for my first mammal meeting! If for some reason you don't know what a pika is...

South Park Seafood Grill & Wine Bar - I was disappointed with the mussel & sausage appetizer, but everything else I tried was delicious. Kind of pricey, I recommend the butternut squash ravioli, and Fred enjoyed the smoked salmon salad. The wine was also very nice, and I had a Sparkling Elderflower cocktail which was fabulous.

Saturday Market - Lots of hand made goodies! North Waterfront Park and Ankeny Plaza. The portion near the waterfront has the most hand made stuff.

The Seafood Groto - This place is tiny but good! Matt and I broke a cardinal rule by going to a restaurant on a Monday, but we still got a nice (but again, pricey) dinner. The crab stuffed mushroom caps and hazelnut crusted halibut are really great.

Saturday Farmer's Market at PSU - Located right in the middle of Portland State University is a really nice farmer's market. An excellent place to get a bargain lunch that is delicious. You can also buy really fresh fish, and the berries in June are just beautiful.

Powell's Books - The world's largest book store that takes up over a city block. I got some good deals on books, and they have just about everything.

Voodoo Donuts - They're going through a remodel right now, so the hours can be kind of iffy, and if you try to go during the day on the weekend, be prepared to wait in line for at least an hour or more, no exageration. We went at 11pm on a Tuesday, but were still able to get a decent selection considering they were out of a lot of things. They also have a really large selection of vegan donuts, and I've heard their maple bacon donut (so not vegan) is really good. I'll definitely go back to try and get it.

Hotlips Pizza - Definitely a good place for a delicious slice and good drink, right near PSU. They offer up a variety of guest microbrews and they make their own fruit sodas. I got the raspberry soda which was on tap, and two slices of veggie/vegan pizza. You can get a large slice of pizza and a (good) beer for $6. Did I mention they have HUGE fresh cookies? The service is also really quick and they have both indoor and outdoor seating.

Rogue Brewery - There are a lot of breweries in Portland, and I want to go back and try them all (wishful thinking, haha), but this is arguably the most famous. I went to the Rogue Hall on campus, it's under a dorm for Pete's sake. They have all their beers you can find nationwide in stores, plus a bunch of others which you can only get at the brewery. I was very happy with their Mocha Porter. Also, there was free Rogue beer at all the social events for the meeting, and the Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ale is really really good.

McCormick & Schmick's Pilsner Room - Another good place to get a beer, not to mention the best place I did my networking at the conference. They have an extensive selection of guest brews on rotation, and they do their own on the premises. Most of their beers can be had for about $5 a pint, or they have a sampler of 6 varieties for $9. Plus it's down by the marina which has a nice view.

Natural Things

I've been trying to get outside more and enjoy the nice weather, especially after a semester of being cooped up most of the time because of teaching and classes.

It's been so dry, I've never seen a place go so long without any significant rainfall. That's to be expected I guess, but as a New Englander, I'm just not used to it yet. We got some light (very light) precipitation earlier in the week, but nothing that amounted to much. New Mexico has been in a really bad drought for several years now, and in the mountains and campgrounds you see evidence all over. Campfires and grills are forbidden, and designated areas have been blocked off by the forest service. Matt's gotten some updates on areas that will likely be closed off if it stays dry for much longer. Fire danger signs all point to either orange or red.

Still, I've always loved being in the desert and woods in dry heat. The air is wonderful, you can smell all the plants. It reminds me of the last time I was in the Black Hills, the heat drawing out the smell of the ponderosas. I get the same aroma up in the Sandias, but down in the foothills all the other plans smell amazing too. I need to get a plant guide, because I have no clue what most things are around here.

I'm happy to report some wonderful news. A couple months ago we had a roadrunner nest that failed near our apartment. The other week we noticed they were back on the nest for a second attempt and there are FOUR little babies currently hanging out. We've been able to get a good look at them, the parents are gone more often now that the eggs are hatched and the babies are getting bigger. I can't wait till they start running around, they're already adorable.

Picture taken by Matt's birding/butterfly-ing friend Joe

The Good Things in Life

Wow, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I'm happy to say that the semester is officially over, and I have no more teaching or class obligations for the next 3 months. One of the things that I always loved about college was that summer break starts so early, and now that I'm in New Mexico, I have hot weather to accompany that break so it actually feels like vacation.

Of course, I'm going to be working quite a bit between now and Aug 22, I just don't have to be up early to get to school to do anything on a hard and fast schedule. This week I'm also giving myself some lazy time, I was so stressed out for the past month or so that I'm taking it easy, at least for a couple days, to decompress. I had an absolutely fabulous weekend. On Friday afternoon I met up with some of my lady friends for happy hour at Opa!, then continued the fun times at Meghan's apartment late into the night. There's nothing like kicking back, having some drinks, playing games, and getting a little silly.

Saturday was absolutely beautiful, Matt and I went for a late morning walk in the bosque down by the nature center to enjoy the good weather. In the afternoon I did some serious shopping with Meghan and Clare. Clare has three weddings to go to this summer, so she needed to look at shoes and dresses. I picked up a few nice things for myself, enjoyed a delicious blended Boba Tea, and perused Sephora. In total, I think we spent about 5 hours shopping, which for me is highly unusual. I typically hate malls, and Saturday the place was completely packed. But, I had a great time, good company makes all the difference.

Saturday evening the cohort got together at Marble Brewery. That place is just too loud. They have good beer, but I can't even hear myself think when I'm there. They had their outdoor area open, but that still didn't alleviate any of the loudness. I think next time I'll suggest somewhere a little quieter.

On Sunday evening Clare's room mate had a cookout, because he recently got his master's degree and is now working on applying to medical school. Matt and I made a very large pitcher of lavender lemonade, which I will DEFINITELY make again. It was so refreshing and delicious. The food at the cookout was your standard hamburgers and hot dogs, but someone made some killer cupcakes that were way better than anything I've bought in recent history. There also seemed to be endless amounts of watermelon, and some deliciously hot salsa that gave me hiccups.

The weekend overflowed a bit into Monday, and I spent yesterday with Matt in the Sandia Mountains looking for birds and butterflies. We are having a horrible drought at the moment, I heard it's the worst since 1953. The state is starting to close off wilderness areas because of the fire danger. On the one hand, this is very bad because I have plans for camping and hiking, and outdoor activities are a major thing around here. On the other hand, it is getting pretty dangerous, to the point where one careless cigarette could probably result in a huge wildfire. All it would take is one stupid person to create a huge problem, so closing areas off is probably the only solution until we finally get some rain.

I am going to go in to work for a few hours this afternoon. I need to establish my summer work routine, and once again I'm going to initiate my writing schedule. I'll be traveling a lot over the next few months, so I need to get things done when I have the opportunity.

Death Valley Trip

This past weekend our lab group jam packed two SUVs full of gear and people and headed out to Death Valley to clean up the field site and do some additional data collecting.

I've never been driving through California, Nevada, or Arizona before, so it was cool to get that far out west. I've officially stayed in California now, so I should really update the list of states I've been to as a result of this trip.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the US that forms as a result of the damming of the Colorado River by the Hoover Dam

I drove past the Grand Canyon two times during this trip, but yet I have still not seen it. This is unacceptable.

Our main purpose for this trip was to try to retrieve as much field equipment as possible. That included animal traps, wire, and lost i-buttons. Ian, equipped with a map and metal detector, found a good number of traps, but none of the i-buttons. i-buttons are data recorders that are attached to tagged animals, and you get the data back when you trap the animal again. The obvious flaw with this technique is that animals die or get eaten and you just never see them again. The hope was that we would find some lying on the surface, get some additional data, and also save $20 a pop on each data logger. Sadly, that didn't happen. For some reason, a lot of the rocks in the area were setting off the metal detector, so it was a waste of time using that particular piece of equipment. We checked any coyote scat we saw on the surface for i-buttons, but this also turned up nothing.

A panorama of the field site.

Another shot of the field site, the big bush-like things are mesquites.

The other data we collected were branches and thorns and leaves from mesquite bushes. The project was on how the woodrats in Death Valley survive, and they make their middens in these horrific mesquite bushes that will stab you even if you look at them. I've never held so many thorny branches in my life. The idea was to bring back samples to see how much water the woodrats are getting from these plants. This involved carefully stripping leaves off of the branches, and placing the branches and leaves in separate collection bags. We'll weigh and dry the leaves and branches to see how much water they have back in the lab. I think I still have mesquite spines stuck in my fingers.

An adorable young (and healthy) woodrat that was trapped in our campsite!

The whole trip was enjoyable over all. I got to bond some more with my lab mates, and I find camping to be fun in general anyway. However, Friday evening the wind really picked up and it didn't subside for the rest of the weekend. This made every task much harder, and I'm glad I brought ear plugs. Otherwise, I doubt I would have gotten much sleep with the flapping of our tent. In addition to the wind, there was this raven on our camp site that was awake at the crack of dawn making this horrible "warking" noise. It sounded funny but was annoying Fred.

The view from our campsite.

We (as in the Smith Lab girls) proved ourselves to be giggly and upbeat throughout the weekend. Meghan, Fred, and I crammed ourselves into a tent that was really only intended for two people, and hilarity ensued. The first night Fred and I were in the vehicle that arrived early to set up camp, and we had an early dinner with Ian and Summer before calling it a fairly early night. I had gotten a little sleep when the second car finally arrived, and Meghan had her sleeping pad and bag to get into the tent with us. The sleeping pad was more like a raft, and it was a ridiculous effort at first to try and get it in the tent over me and Fred. We had a pretty good laugh about it. Meghan is officially the happiest most excitable person I know, regardless of what time of day it is.

The afternoon of our last full day was spent in Titus Canyon, scoping out midden locations. It was full of amazing geology and I did a lot of climbing around on rock faces looking for little caves.

A fairly large cave on a rock face in Titus Canyon. There was a huge midden inside, and some bones from something that was roughly sheep sized.

View from the exit of Titus canyon. All that tan stuff is dust being blown around by the wind. The wind didn't let up for a full 48 hours.

I took more pictures, but there are more than I want to put up here. I'll probably put them in an online album to share, where the beauty of Death Valley can be done justice.

It's Raining!

I woke up this morning to a surprise: it was sprinkling out as I was walking to the bus! This continued for much of the morning. After lunch it was full blown rain. I got tricked by the weather as I was heading out to get some caffeine with Matt, as soon as I got away from cover it started to pick up, and once I was back in classes it was coming down pretty heavy. You could tell who had to come to class from another building, no one was prepared for this much rain, and some people were soaked. And, I had definitely not brought an umbrella.

This is all very weird for me, because 1) this is the dessert and 2) it isn't monsoon season anymore. The only time I saw it rain this heavy in the past couple months was in the middle of the night, when I was awoken by thunder. This is the first time I've see it rain consistenly all day long. This is about as humid as I've experienced Albuquerque. It was gray and overcast, just like Pennsylvania.

The rain had an unforeseen benefit, the bus was empty on the way home, and I made it back in record time. We didn't even stop at the other bus stop on the route, and my walk from the bus stop to my apartment was quick, I seemed to time the crossing signals perfectly. So, at least I wasn't outside for terribly long.

I received annoying news this evening: my student loan company thinks I missed a payment. 1) They didn't send me a bill for August because 2) I'm supposed to have a deferment for being back in school. Guess who'll be on the phone with American Education Services during breakfast tomorrow morning? Me! Hopefully this will be easy, and they won't claim that I owe them all sorts of money. I'm a grad student, I don't have any money!

So, despite the fact that I had a good day, the rain kind of foreshadowed what was awaiting me when I got home, at least as far as annoying bill issues go. On the bright side, Matt had dinner waiting for me as I was walking through the door. So I'm going to end on that positive note. Broccoli pesto, yum!