it's 7:15am on sunday, and i am all packed and ready to head out to my conference. eek. dana's mom is going to bring me to the train station, and i'll be in atlantic city by 5 this evening. then i get to sit in my hotel room and freak the hell out because tomorrow i give my presentation to a room full of wetland scientists. but i'm not hyperventilating. noooo. (hmmm...probably ought to pack my inhaler now that i'm thinking about it). four days of conference fun, then on thursday night i pick up my rental car and drive back from atlantic city, and friday morning i hop on a plane out of hartford to go see dana for a few days. i have a very interesting suitcase packed (clothes for both temperature extremes, and a halloween costume!).

oh, and dear atlantic city airport: maybe it would behoove you to have more than, oh, i don't know, two flights out of your lousy airport so that it didn't cost a bajillion and two dollars to fly anywhere from there, causing me to have to drive back to CT just to get on a plane. i'm just sayin'.

dana, i love you and i will see you in FIVE DAYS!! :) everyone else, i'll be back in a week...wish me luck!

first, a great big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to the American Cancer Society. the Relay went well last weekend, the rain stopped, the sun came out, all was well. big round of applause for my dad, who walked roughly 7 hours, which is way more than he thought he'd be able to do. my mom, dad, and i walked throughout the day; jim showed up and walked with me from about 7pm saturday to about 6 am sunday, and april and mark walked with us from ~12:30 am sunday to ~ 6 am. i set out to do the whole 24, but my body said a big Hell No after hour 18. but, i did manage 11 am saturday to ~6 am sunday.

for my efforts, i got a big ol' nasty case of SICK. to be fair, i was already tossing my cookies the night before the Relay, but it's now wednesday night and i'm still not 100%. and that's sucky. especially since i leave for my conference on sunday (!!!!!). god, am i getting nervous about that. yikes. think of me on monday afternoon; that's when i present my data. and on monday night, i consume copious amounts of beer. well, maybe not copious amounts. maybe 3. whatever.

one week and one day until i get to see dana... :)

from helloflamingo:
go to google, type in "(your name) needs", and post 10 results.

1. Krista needs to practice her wise-girl accent with someone, we'll bring the pizza.
2. Krista Needs Help With Her Sunscreen
3. Krista needs to have someone tell her to straighten her act out or she'll be 30 and replaced by the 8,000 other, younger, better boob jobs in town. (hahahahahahaha!)
4. Krista needs a place, too!
5. Krista needs to give up tv (i elected to leave out the second part of this...)
6. Krista needs to know *everything* that goes on in Corey's life (it's true, i do.)
7. Krista needs to speak with potential speakers, facility options and determine a reasonable date based on others availability
8. Krista needs mainly to polish up her leaps and aim for greater amplitude on her straddle jumps to maximize scoring potential. (good to know)
9. Krista needs a POSITIVE banner.
10. Krista needs your fax number, or your name and phone number so that she can contact you.

and what have i learned from this exercise? that my name is apparently quite popular in a particular industry which shall remain nameless. yikes.

my inner former FFA member cries at this. the rest of me is laughing my ass off.

hey all! just wanted to put out one more reminder about the American Cancer Society Relay for Life that i'm participating in oct 15th-16th. thank you to everyone who donated money...every single dollar helps, and your donations mean a lot. last year i managed 17 hours of the total 24; this year i'm going to skip on the running and attempt to do the entire 24 at a walk.

i have to hand in all cash and check donations by this coming tuesday (the 11th), but i'm pretty sure online donations can be made right up until the relay. if anyone would like make an online donation, you can do so here.

thanks again to everyone for their support--it is hugely appreciated.

happy birthday erika!!

busy busy busy! the semester is humming along full-tilt, as always seems to happen. i've got my conference coming up in a few weeks which i'm working on my presentation for (eek! presenting my data!), then i get to spend a weekend with dana, then it's november, then it's thanksgiving (and i get to see dana again!! hi dana! i love you!), and once thanksgiving break is over, there's only 2 weeks left in the semester. and that means that, hopefully, i am DONE WITH CLASSES. i cannot convey to you how happy that prospect makes me. and, i stop collecting my data in december and start working on my thesis...which means i am almost done with school. good grief.

i got in the mail yesterday my copy of dan's book, and i'm *loving* it. i would highly highly recommend it. i think at the rate i'm going i'll be done with it by friday, so i'll post a better review then, but for now, i can say that it's very well written and engaging and creative. so be a cool kid and buy it. :D

alrighty...back to work. just wanted to get an update in here.