last. exam. EVER.

kureyon

hello, my name is krista, and i'm addicted to yarn.

it started out innocently enough. buy a few inexpensive skeins of acrylic Red Heart to practice with here and there...then it progressed to wool yarn, and there were just so many colors...*sigh*. i've got two large baskets full of skeins of yarn in my living room, plus two other decent size metal tubs. it's a disease; a disease, i tell you. i can't stop. and i don't want to. because now i've found this. noro kureyon wool yarn. i've been picking up skeins in yarn stores and putting them back down for months because at nearly $9 a skein, it's hard for me to justify buying just to play with. but i found three skeins for $20 on ebay and snapped them up, and i just started working with them tonight. i LOVE this yarn. it crochets so nicely, and the colors are beautiful (the skeins i have are color 128 on that link, but i love 088 and 147, too). unfortunately, i think the project i'm working on right now (a christmas present for someone) is going to use up all three skeins, putting me back in the original predicament.

i blame april for this.

well, now we know...

as of the end of today, i will have three aquatic plant biology presentations down, and one aquatic plant biology paper, one aquatic plant lab exam, one aquatic plant lecture final, and one advanced fluvial geomorphology paper to go until the work for this semester is done.

i just have to keep telling myself: it's almost over. it's almost over.

i hope their neighbors aren't epileptic...

yay hooray! the computer, she is fixed! after a few late nights and lots of grumbling and file transfering and blue screens of death and registry errors and drivers not wanting to load, i am finally up and running again. and i am a very happy camper. all i need now is ms office so i can write my darn papers...so i'll be spending a large chunk of my weekend in my office @ school, it looks like. oh well. the end is in sight.

in other news, i almost lit myself on fire today after trying to fix a home-made propane heater. because, you know, doing research means you have to be part electrician, part carpenter, part handyman, part landscaper, part whatever needs to be done. and today, getting the propane heater to not leak propane was what needed to be done. 'cept it was apparently still leaking propane when i was done 'fixing' it, because whoosh!, big scary flames! i am happy to report, however, that my eyebrows are still intact. thank god for small favors.

dear computer:

you suck. rot in hell.

not your friend,
krista

me and my honey :)

kd2
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

i'm baa-aack :)

back from a wonderful wonderful wonderful 10 days with my honey in arizona. and now i'm sitting on my couch typing on a borrowed laptop because my el stupido computer has a corrupted operating system (boo! hiss!).
good things:
-i set up my christmas tree, and even though it's fake (cringe), it's looking pretty cute all loaded up with ornaments.
-next week is the last week of classes.
-there are only about five and a half months until i'm done with school.
not so good things:
-i'm missing dana big time.
-i have a LOT OF WORK to do before next week. a lot. i won't even go into how much, b/c you'll say "you'll never get all that done!", and i'll get depressed and freak out, b/c i have to get it done.
-there are five and a half horrible stressful months until i'm done with school.

blargh. off to get some work done.

burgerking

the burger king kinda freaks me out. but in a humerous way. well played, burger king. well played.

28 days...and 10 of those days will be in AZ with my honey for thanksgiving. sixteen semesters of coursework, and it's done (god willing) on december 9th. then...i write.

a lot.

weekends go by so fast...

friday = wretched. i won't go into it b/c it's wetland research/chemical analysis related and will bore you all to tears (and for good reason), but suffice it to say that i ran around like a crazy person all day and i have to do it all over again on monday b/c my nutrient analyzer HATES ME.

saturday = very good. woke up early, did laundry, had a lovely breakfast bagel. dan came over and we had lunch and watched fight club. then i went to the stand show in hartford with erika and jim, and erika spent the night.

sunday(today) = also good. erika and i went out for lunch, rich came up to get her and we hung out for a bit, and my show is on tonight. *sigh*--it's come to this. i'm one of those people that doesn't want to go out on a given night because "their show" is on. oh well.

aquatic plant bio exam this week (again) and lots and lots of reading and paper writing. so don't expect another update until the weekend, unless something super duper exciting happens. which in my life, is not all that often. blah. it's okay, though. i have plenty of time for excitment...right now, i just need to graduate...

i'm back! the conference went really well; i presented my data without passing out or falling flat on my face (hooray!), and i met a lot of reall cool people. *and*, surprisingly enough, i was able to make a few arizona-related connections regarding constructed wetlands projects, whcih i really wasn't expecting considering the conference participants were largely from eastern seaboard states. and i got to spend a waaaay too short few days with dana, which is always wonderful. here are some pictures from the halloween party he had on saturday. i'm the fairy, and dana's indiana jones (sexy!). now i'm at home, trying to catch up on some reading for my fluvial geomorphology class, baking pumpkin pie, and spending quality time with my cat who missed me more than i was aware that a cat could miss someone. cutie patootie.

so...what was everyone for halloween?

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.