Accountable Infinity However (Letters to Myself)
31 mar 2005
small fish, big tank, inaccuracies on topographic maps, confusion and a Discourse on Graduation Requirements;
i am seventeen types of excited! My advisor just agreed to me not re-taking Calc II. i don't think i can express just how exciting this is via type-set. It is exciting. If you think i can whine about hating Physics, don't get me started on Calculus. However, the joy is somewhat tampered by the fact that Geophysics is highly reccommended instead, which is unfortunately at the same time as Environmental Studies 126, a class that i was [AGAIN] really, really looking forward to taking. At the rate that Spanish classes & IES classes keep getting postponed for me each year, i'll be an undergrad till i'm thirty. But that's okay, 'cause i never have to take Calc again!
And in other fun news, i've been telling everyone i know about getting that REU this summer, and i get more and more flustered when trying to explain it each time. i clearly don't know what i'm doing. One of my grad-school friends got accepted to a PhD program in Ontario, we had excitement together. His news was a bit more-actually-exciting, but we both had this whole 'i applied for it 'cause i'm crazy and knew i was underqualified but it seems like just what i'd like to do were i actually prepared ever' thang going on, which prompted me to spit out my dad's favorite inspirational-poster quote:
"A Goldfish Grows to the Size of its Fishtank!"
which usually makes me think about mercury poisoning, but that's not the point today.
snowmobile suits and dante's inferno! disco! ¶ 13:09 0 comments
i am seventeen types of excited! My advisor just agreed to me not re-taking Calc II. i don't think i can express just how exciting this is via type-set. It is exciting. If you think i can whine about hating Physics, don't get me started on Calculus. However, the joy is somewhat tampered by the fact that Geophysics is highly reccommended instead, which is unfortunately at the same time as Environmental Studies 126, a class that i was [AGAIN] really, really looking forward to taking. At the rate that Spanish classes & IES classes keep getting postponed for me each year, i'll be an undergrad till i'm thirty. But that's okay, 'cause i never have to take Calc again!
And in other fun news, i've been telling everyone i know about getting that REU this summer, and i get more and more flustered when trying to explain it each time. i clearly don't know what i'm doing. One of my grad-school friends got accepted to a PhD program in Ontario, we had excitement together. His news was a bit more-actually-exciting, but we both had this whole 'i applied for it 'cause i'm crazy and knew i was underqualified but it seems like just what i'd like to do were i actually prepared ever' thang going on, which prompted me to spit out my dad's favorite inspirational-poster quote:
"A Goldfish Grows to the Size of its Fishtank!"
which usually makes me think about mercury poisoning, but that's not the point today.
snowmobile suits and dante's inferno! disco! ¶ 13:09 0 comments
29 mar 2005
spanish songs!
The Clash Song this morning was appropriate.
0. My life is so much chaos i don't know what to do with it.
1. Wonderful News: i got an internship/REU this summer at Rutgers. I applied 'cause it looked like fun, excitement, and good resume stuff, with no thought to the possibility of actually getting it. i'm barely qualifed, and it was competitive. i also doubted i would get it when i ran into my advisor [one of the two people who were writing reccommendations for me] a week after the app was due and he said, 'Sarah, when is that recommendation due again?' The other prof who wrote for me wrote amazing-ly flattering things, as i've already reported but still haven't gotten over, and i'm guessing that letter did the trick. So. i have until Thursday to write more letters to important people and decide exactly what i'm doing all summer.
1b. therefore;
i'll be in New Jersey May 23rd-July 29th. [so hopefully either the Canadian Blast or another road trip can pick me up in NJ on the 30th?]
2. i still haven't officially heard back about studying abroad next fall, and my dad got fired last week. RGE & dad were going to take a lil' trip this summer, and now they're not, so i think it'd be unfair of me to demand more money from dad so i can galavant about Europe. My registration date, if i am here in Madison for the fall, is Tuesday, and i'm sure i can find enough classes. I think for now i'm going to pretend like i'm magically doing both; i.e., register in both places until i hear otherwise on finances from dad. That's a bunch of chaos, but... zere you go.
2b. therefore;
my new favorite joke is:
Q: How many unemployed parents does it take to pay sarah's tuition?
A: All of them!
3. i'm skipping class right now. It's the second class i've skipped all semestre, so i think i'm okay.
4. i need to memorize a Spanish poem.
5. Bekah: may i be employed for August?
6. that ternary was too small to read. whoops.
7. i lost all of my coffee cups. life is pain.
8. i reviewed my transfer credits from UWEC to Madison. i magically got stuff i need, and thus if i don't go to Bilbao, can easily graduate with both the Geology degree & the Environmental Studies Certificate in two more semestres.
9. i need to buy tortillas today.
10. i'm really excited about that internship. it's crazy.
11. Dad decided last week i should be a hydrologist. He also decided not to do his half o' the fafsa. [shit!] [hey RGE, you could annoy him on this point for me also, and if it works, i'll make new dice so you have a future.]
12. i hate Physics. ¶ 07:25 0 comments
The Clash Song this morning was appropriate.
0. My life is so much chaos i don't know what to do with it.
1. Wonderful News: i got an internship/REU this summer at Rutgers. I applied 'cause it looked like fun, excitement, and good resume stuff, with no thought to the possibility of actually getting it. i'm barely qualifed, and it was competitive. i also doubted i would get it when i ran into my advisor [one of the two people who were writing reccommendations for me] a week after the app was due and he said, 'Sarah, when is that recommendation due again?' The other prof who wrote for me wrote amazing-ly flattering things, as i've already reported but still haven't gotten over, and i'm guessing that letter did the trick. So. i have until Thursday to write more letters to important people and decide exactly what i'm doing all summer.
1b. therefore;
i'll be in New Jersey May 23rd-July 29th. [so hopefully either the Canadian Blast or another road trip can pick me up in NJ on the 30th?]
2. i still haven't officially heard back about studying abroad next fall, and my dad got fired last week. RGE & dad were going to take a lil' trip this summer, and now they're not, so i think it'd be unfair of me to demand more money from dad so i can galavant about Europe. My registration date, if i am here in Madison for the fall, is Tuesday, and i'm sure i can find enough classes. I think for now i'm going to pretend like i'm magically doing both; i.e., register in both places until i hear otherwise on finances from dad. That's a bunch of chaos, but... zere you go.
2b. therefore;
my new favorite joke is:
Q: How many unemployed parents does it take to pay sarah's tuition?
A: All of them!
3. i'm skipping class right now. It's the second class i've skipped all semestre, so i think i'm okay.
4. i need to memorize a Spanish poem.
5. Bekah: may i be employed for August?
6. that ternary was too small to read. whoops.
7. i lost all of my coffee cups. life is pain.
8. i reviewed my transfer credits from UWEC to Madison. i magically got stuff i need, and thus if i don't go to Bilbao, can easily graduate with both the Geology degree & the Environmental Studies Certificate in two more semestres.
9. i need to buy tortillas today.
10. i'm really excited about that internship. it's crazy.
11. Dad decided last week i should be a hydrologist. He also decided not to do his half o' the fafsa. [shit!] [hey RGE, you could annoy him on this point for me also, and if it works, i'll make new dice so you have a future.]
12. i hate Physics. ¶ 07:25 0 comments
28 mar 2005
27 mar 2005
Spring Break 2005: an entirely random sampling:
Saturday: Lava flats of New Mexico. I slept in a lava tube, saw a shooting star, and stole Tyler's sleeping bag. I had just met him that day. It was cold out.
Frank at White Sands, Photo by the other Sarah. The photos at places other than Petrified Wood National Monument & Gail's Ranch are mostly by Frank.
Sunday: Kilbourne Hole/Maar [volcanic pipe/collapse]
Getting there involved driving to El Paso, getting lost a bunch, Justin talking to the neighbor's uncle in spanish, and driving more than an hour on unmarked unpaved roads. All with a bucket ofchili raw meat goo in the back of the van. (poor Jon, poor Joe... lucky duct tape.)
famous bomb at Kilbourne hole [photo by Frank]
View from van, heading towards El Paso.
Ans' birthday flower, view from Van.
This is Phil, fighting the train repair crew so that we could drive back towards El Paso.
Tuesday: Petroglyphs, Petrified wood,
and other illegal things! [Frank, Ans, Angie, Tibbets on petrified wood, which by federal law should not be tampered with]
Phil
Ans
Dave
Joe
me and Angie
Justin and Al
Frank, Ans, Angie
Dan, Dave, Joe
Me, Angie & Ans, attempted self-portrait of
Tyler's wood knife
Tyler stabbing Lexi
Joe
Stump
Some petroglyphs & me
Wendesday: SP Crater [volcanic thang]
and then: Packer Fan's house/Latter-Day Saints/Food Pantry
[no photos of SP yet, because i was too lazy to carry my camera up 800 feet of rubble, but descending SP crater was the funnest event of my life.]
Four years ago, when Phil took a Geology trip to Arizonia, they were hiking around the Grand Canyon & they ran into a guy named Tad who loves the Packers. That conversation led to that trip being invited to Tad's & Gail's house for supper, and this time around we got the complete tour, and well as the more than complete meal. I have never seen that much food. (Elk, rabbit, tortillas, pudding, vegetables, rice, corn bread, garlic bread, homemade butter, lasagna... that's just what i can remember from the top of my head. Gail fed 22 geologists and had leftovers. Everybody's new favorite word is 'gaylord,' as in extreme measurement.) The place was awesome, and the conversation for days afterword revolved around the things Gail said. She was awesome, if verbose.
up, tires are glamourous; down, the ranch's headquarters
Scene: Limestone Creekbed, sans petroglyphs
Gail: "This is my favorite place. Listen to how silent it is."
Geology Students: *listen to silence*
Gail: "It's silent here because there are no spirits."
Gail & me
most of Gail's Skull Collection
Ans & a puppy
the Professor and a bomb.
Gail had a petrified tree worth $5000 and weighing in at... lots. It filled both passenger vans, and now Phil has to find a buyer for the thing in Wisconsin.
Joe in front of the barn.
The house's generator went out, so Craig, Lexi & Dan had to do car repairs. This situation makes about as much sense as everything else that happened at Apocalypse Ranch.
Lexi & Dan
Ryan & Ans
Ryan
Joe in front of the Vans we all lived in for a week
Ans and the puppy! again!
Thursday: Chinle Ruins
See how small they are? That's 'cause the Indians were only three feet tall!
[the trip's other running joke was short Indians]
Friday:
Our last campsite
later that day
roadside shot
a view of the ruins ¶ 11:59 0 comments
Saturday: Lava flats of New Mexico. I slept in a lava tube, saw a shooting star, and stole Tyler's sleeping bag. I had just met him that day. It was cold out.
Frank at White Sands, Photo by the other Sarah. The photos at places other than Petrified Wood National Monument & Gail's Ranch are mostly by Frank.
Sunday: Kilbourne Hole/Maar [volcanic pipe/collapse]
Getting there involved driving to El Paso, getting lost a bunch, Justin talking to the neighbor's uncle in spanish, and driving more than an hour on unmarked unpaved roads. All with a bucket of
famous bomb at Kilbourne hole [photo by Frank]
View from van, heading towards El Paso.
Ans' birthday flower, view from Van.
This is Phil, fighting the train repair crew so that we could drive back towards El Paso.
Tuesday: Petroglyphs, Petrified wood,
and other illegal things! [Frank, Ans, Angie, Tibbets on petrified wood, which by federal law should not be tampered with]
Phil
Ans
Dave
Joe
me and Angie
Justin and Al
Frank, Ans, Angie
Dan, Dave, Joe
Me, Angie & Ans, attempted self-portrait of
Tyler's wood knife
Tyler stabbing Lexi
Joe
Stump
Some petroglyphs & me
Wendesday: SP Crater [volcanic thang]
and then: Packer Fan's house/Latter-Day Saints/Food Pantry
[no photos of SP yet, because i was too lazy to carry my camera up 800 feet of rubble, but descending SP crater was the funnest event of my life.]
Four years ago, when Phil took a Geology trip to Arizonia, they were hiking around the Grand Canyon & they ran into a guy named Tad who loves the Packers. That conversation led to that trip being invited to Tad's & Gail's house for supper, and this time around we got the complete tour, and well as the more than complete meal. I have never seen that much food. (Elk, rabbit, tortillas, pudding, vegetables, rice, corn bread, garlic bread, homemade butter, lasagna... that's just what i can remember from the top of my head. Gail fed 22 geologists and had leftovers. Everybody's new favorite word is 'gaylord,' as in extreme measurement.) The place was awesome, and the conversation for days afterword revolved around the things Gail said. She was awesome, if verbose.
up, tires are glamourous; down, the ranch's headquarters
Scene: Limestone Creekbed, sans petroglyphs
Gail: "This is my favorite place. Listen to how silent it is."
Geology Students: *listen to silence*
Gail: "It's silent here because there are no spirits."
Gail & me
most of Gail's Skull Collection
Ans & a puppy
the Professor and a bomb.
Gail had a petrified tree worth $5000 and weighing in at... lots. It filled both passenger vans, and now Phil has to find a buyer for the thing in Wisconsin.
Joe in front of the barn.
The house's generator went out, so Craig, Lexi & Dan had to do car repairs. This situation makes about as much sense as everything else that happened at Apocalypse Ranch.
Lexi & Dan
Ryan & Ans
Ryan
Joe in front of the Vans we all lived in for a week
Ans and the puppy! again!
Thursday: Chinle Ruins
See how small they are? That's 'cause the Indians were only three feet tall!
[the trip's other running joke was short Indians]
Friday:
Our last campsite
later that day
roadside shot
a view of the ruins ¶ 11:59 0 comments
26 mar 2005
Oh my god.
¶ 15:35 0 comments
These animals are cleaner than i was.
Until an hour ago, that is. After a week of camping sans showers, i had one rasta-lock and a sunburned nose. i still have the sunburned nose.
My mom sent me the animal pictures... why, i don't know. i have 92 messages to read, and i'm sure the rest of them deal with 'do your homework or FAIL!' i'm going to continue to complain about Physics for the rest of the semestre, because now it's a running joke. It's a joke i run with. i should call RR back. My mom also sent me some guilt-mail about the Memorial, and you'll never guess what i was doing on Nissan Fourteenth instead. Never in a million years. That's right, i was sleeping in a van in a snowstorm in a remote valley in northern New Mexico with more Fat Tire in my system than i'd ever had before.
and i was watching Ans burn tumbleweeds and MinuteRice boxes. But that was before it started to snow.
i can't believe it snowed that much in New Mexico. i also can't believe i walked/climbed miles in it to see the Chinle ruins. i'm afraid of heights, and hailed-on mud ladders don't help.
And speaking of sleeping in a van in a snowstorm, some of my fellow undergrad geologists are quite fond of Chris Farley, "You'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river, when you're living in a van down by the river!"
Anyway...
¶ 15:18 0 comments
18 mar 2005
"Mmmmmmmmm, trinimints!"--Felix, an actual Anarchist--
I think that i should have done something for St. Patrick's Day, as i'm a bunch of Irish. But i did not.
The 'Twenty Underage Geologists & One Really Old Keg of Green Beer-fest' must have scarred my soul last year. I'm not elaborating.
A world of snow was dumped on Madison today, suddenly i am quite excited to be leaving.
We're loading up three department vehicles with 22 Geologists (most of whom are of-age now) and heading south. Destination: Every Famous Outcrop in New Mexico [Kilbourn Hole, some abondoned mine, SP Crater, Meteor Crater, et cetera]. Due to my new-found digital camera skills, i'm sure you blog-folk will hear/see more about this lil' adventure when the time comes.
I hope everyone back North is having a good break/will have a good break! Regale me with stories! ¶ 08:33 0 comments
I think that i should have done something for St. Patrick's Day, as i'm a bunch of Irish. But i did not.
The 'Twenty Underage Geologists & One Really Old Keg of Green Beer-fest' must have scarred my soul last year. I'm not elaborating.
A world of snow was dumped on Madison today, suddenly i am quite excited to be leaving.
We're loading up three department vehicles with 22 Geologists (most of whom are of-age now) and heading south. Destination: Every Famous Outcrop in New Mexico [Kilbourn Hole, some abondoned mine, SP Crater, Meteor Crater, et cetera]. Due to my new-found digital camera skills, i'm sure you blog-folk will hear/see more about this lil' adventure when the time comes.
I hope everyone back North is having a good break/will have a good break! Regale me with stories! ¶ 08:33 0 comments
17 mar 2005
fun, excitement, situational irony and interstate highways:
Three Weekends ago: Milwaukee
Two Weekends ago: Wausau, Eau Claire, St. Paul, and areas in between
Last Weekend: Rockford, Illinois
This Weekend: New Mexico
Next Weekend: Arizonia
The Weekend After That: St. Paul (family wedding)
The Weekend After That: Camping Trip, probably within Wisconsin
The Weekend After That: Other Random City in Illinois (i forgot where exactly...)
The Weekend After That: No Plans! Amazing!
My life is four days a week of hating Physics, one day a week of doing Physics, and two days a week of leaving Madison behind.
Actually, the cycle is somewhat broken today, as ELC is in town, and other than my Physics midterm (which i've amazingly already studied for) i have not much else to do. ¶ 09:32 0 comments
Three Weekends ago: Milwaukee
Two Weekends ago: Wausau, Eau Claire, St. Paul, and areas in between
Last Weekend: Rockford, Illinois
This Weekend: New Mexico
Next Weekend: Arizonia
The Weekend After That: St. Paul (family wedding)
The Weekend After That: Camping Trip, probably within Wisconsin
The Weekend After That: Other Random City in Illinois (i forgot where exactly...)
The Weekend After That: No Plans! Amazing!
My life is four days a week of hating Physics, one day a week of doing Physics, and two days a week of leaving Madison behind.
Actually, the cycle is somewhat broken today, as ELC is in town, and other than my Physics midterm (which i've amazingly already studied for) i have not much else to do. ¶ 09:32 0 comments
16 mar 2005
RockConFord Photos: a sampling.
This is Tim.
This is Nathan and Andrew.
This is the mess we certainly did not make.
These are good for you.
This is furthur proof that no one i know was involved with the lable-rearrangements.
As you may have gathered from the yellow 'do not eat unless you're vegan' sign, we had some issues with non-vegans eating vegan goods. Thus, a trip to Woodman's was arranged to buy more vegan things. While i was not actually on this trip, nor did i actually talk to Alex (pictured) much, i thought everyone would appreciate his molestache.
Photo credits to Hunter, in St. Louis. ¶ 19:58 0 comments
