my defense is in THREE DAYS. really, more like two, because it's sunday evening now, and my defense is wednesday morning. i'm so excited and nervous. i'm thrilled to finally be done, but to be honest, i mostly just feel ill over the thought of being closed off in a room with my committee and questioned for two hours after i give my presentation. i've worked so hard for this, and i know it'll all be alright in the end (though i certainly expect that i'll have some revisions to make)...but i can't help but be nervous.

i got rid of my couch yesterday, and i've packed a few boxes. this whole moving thing is suddenly becoming very real. we're not sure where we'll be living yet, but we're looking...and i have a pretty good job prospect, which i'll go into more detail on in the next few days hopefully. three weeks. that's crazy. time is flying by so incredibly quickly...

okay. enough of that. i need to practice my presentation, and study for the question session. off to make those open channel flow hydraulics equations nice and fresh in my brain...

i've started up a flickr photo set of lukin pictures. because i am becoming That Dog Owner. well, not quite...i'm not going to dress him up in sweaters or anything. and he's got a tough act to follow (chester, my supremely well behaved kitty cat). but i'm pretty sure he might be the cutest puppy ever.

:)

lukin2

lukin2
Originally uploaded by kristaleigh.

meet my new puppy :)

his name is lukin, and he's a 6 (almost 7) month old welsh pembroke corgi. he's so incredibly sweet and adorable and smart, and when i call him he comes running and his big corgi ears flop all over the place. seriously, you could pass out from that much cute.

i can't have a puppy in my apartment, so he's going to be living at the breeder's until i leave. luckily, that's only a few minutes away, and i can go and pick him up whenever. my plan is to have him days and bring him back in the evenings, but i might try keeping him here overnight. he's not much of a barker, so i might be able to get away with it. we shall see.

i feel like maybe this wasn't worth the effort...

i got a CALL about a JOB!!!!

and it's a really interesting-sounding job!!!

okay, no more. i don't want to jinx anything. nothing's definite yet...

...but i got a CALL about a JOB!!!

things i learned this weekend:
~cd's look really neat when you heat them up in the microwave
~lightbulbs look even cooler. then they explode.
~it is possible to kill a microwave by cooking a lot of things inside of it that, according to generally accepted protocols, should not be cooked in a microwave.
~it is possible to drive a jeep on top of a microwave and have said microwave support its weight.
~rhode island's highest elevation is its landfill
~you can fit four people, two twelve packs, a saws-all, and various other miscellaneous tools in a mini cooper, all at the same time.
~a "coney island dog" has beef and onions on it, but no cheese.

...that's all i can think of right now. it was an interesting weekend :).

three reasons today is good:

the second draft of my thesis is done!

i bought my cap and gown yesterday and got my graduation tickets (and i only had to pay for half of the total regalia price, b/c i had a $25 gift certificate from speaking at a career services event)!

hanging out with dan and eating yummy indian food*

*not until next weekend...i lost my wallet and couldn't drive down to new haven. but i've got it back now.

my advisor left me a voicemail this evening telling me that he's bringing me a pigeon feces-covered piece of linoleum tomorrow.

i just thought that might make someone laugh out of context...

i woke up to snow this morning. what the heck? look, weather, if you know what's good for you... *shakes fist threateningly*.

i think they put crack in diet coke. for real. i don't even *like* soda.

i find out in a week and a half or so if i'm getting my dog!

i got my first issue of "southwest hydrology" in the mail the other day. i'm excited. you're probably not.

thesis is coming along...what with the new pigeon related data, it's going to be changing condsiderably (because hey, why not tack on extra analysis with three weeks to go?), but i'm doing what i can with what i've got right now.

i am going to need SO MUCH BEER when this is over. and a really good backrub. and a pony. and maybe a cookie.

check him out! i made this little octopus for a friend's baby. he took about half a skein of lion brand thick and quick (a little less maybe). i stitched on the eyes and mouth with some wool ease scraps. he was inspired by an octopus that april was making a while ago, but i didn't have a pattern, so i just made him up as i went along. it was a nice, fairly quick "i-can't-stand-my-thesis-anymore" project.
fairly low-key weekend...went out and saw stand play for jim's birthday, got to meet his girlfriend (finally!), and found out that they're playing three more times before i leave (i thought it was going to be my last show). spent yesterday in the office, last night had dinner with the family then stayed over erika and rich's, and i'm back in the office today. hoping to get the first round of thesis edits all tidied up by wednesday...so i probably ought to get back to that. later gators...

i went running in the park this afternoon. i love running, but between years and years of horseback riding, several occasions of over-abuse, and probably genetics, i have cranky knees and a really hard time running on pavement. subsequently, i'm always looking for new places to run that won't wreak havok on my joints. i was looking at a trail map of a park by my apartment and noticed that there was a nice 3.5 mile loop, most of which is on the blue-blazed hiking trail system and, blessedly, unpaved.
so anyway...i'm running through the woods, enjoying the gorgeous spring weather and listening to my ipod, and i notice a very persistant buzzing/humming sound over my music. so i took my earbuds out, and realized that it was frogs...spring peepers and bullfrogs. a lot of them. so off the path i go, pushing through the underbrush, trying to get closer. the closer i got, the louder it got, until i finally came across a large vernal pool FULL of frogs. i could see their shiny little heads poking out of the water, and they were all peeping and croaking and making an enormous commotion. it was awesome. it's one of my favorite sounds in the world, and i'm going to miss it when i move...growing up near water, it's a sound i've always associated with home.
on the rest of my run, i spent a lot of time thinking about the little things like that that i'll miss. but then i started thinking about all of the new sounds and sights and little things that i'll notice when i get to arizona, and how they'll be associated with new memories. how now i associate spring peepers with the coming of warmer weather, but in arizona, there will a new sight or sound or smell that i'll associate with spring...maybe geckos running around on the side of the house, or a certain type of flower. i don't know what those signs will be yet, but i'm excited to find out. it's part of taking a new place and turning it into a new home...

(click to enlarge)

how many bands can you find represented in this picture? leave the ones you find in the comments. I'll start off:
1. scissor sisters

new bangs! well, they're actually a few weeks old; i just got around to taking a picture of them. is it a "dramatic" haircut? well, no. but the last haircut i got that wasn't abbie trimming my hair in my kitchen with my fabric scissors (which, btw, she does a WONDERFUL job of) was roughly 3 years ago. so, baby steps. you can't see it in that picture, but my t-shirt says "Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers!". It's marvelous.

my jeep is leaking coolant. this makes me cranky. i can see where it's leaking from, but i can't get at it (believe me, i was under there trying). grrr. and, i sliced my knuckle on a tin can. it's a pretty deep cut...i can't bend my finger all the way, and when i try, it starts bleeding again. no fun. okay, i'm done complaining now.

take the gun, leave the canolis. oh, and don't forget to arrange the pillows when you make the bed...

i just looked at a calendar.

see, i knew that time was flying by. i really did. and i knew that i was going to be graduating soon. but i just looked at the calendar, and my defense date is in six weeks, people. six weeks. the good news is, i handed in my first draft of my thesis on friday. this week, i'm preparing for a presentation i'm giving on friday, doing some job hunting, getting graduation paperwork done...i just sent out some quote requests for movers, and i want to start weeding through my clothes this weekend and set aside bags for donation. and mark my words, there will be bagS.

now if i can just fend off all the vultures who want my couches... ;)

because i needed to do something that didn't require me to think very much...
i tag april!

A - Available: nope.
A - Age: 25
A - Annoyance: people who always have to one-up you, slow drivers, being crowded by people.

B - Best Friends: brooke, lisa, abbie, april
B - Bar: bidwell, the half door, willimantic brew pub
B - Birthday: september 8th

C - Crush: haven't got one
C - Car: jeep wrangler
C - Cat: chester

D - Dead Pets Name: pippa mouse, oscar, nicodemus, archimedes
D - Dads Name: robert, but he goes by bob
D - Dog: soon, i hope!

E - Easiest person to talk to: april
E - Eggs: scrambled with cheese
E - Email: gmail, yahoo, school/work, website

F - Favorite color? blue. no, green. bluish green.
F - Food: depends on my mood. i like food a lot, it’s hard to pick a favorite.
F - Foreign Slang: schiesse, shite

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: worms. but really, gummy anything.
G - God: …
G - Good Time: being outside, exploring, hanging out with friends and loved ones

H - Hair Color: dark blonde
H - Height: 5'7”
H - Happy: when my thesis is done

I - Ice Cream: ben and jerry’s dublin mudslide
I - Instrument: kazoo
I - Idol: “a representation or symbol of an object of worship”

J - Jewelry: ears: diamond studs, silver hoops with little blue beads, my cartilage ring. and the ring dana gave me.
J - Job: looking for a real one…
J - Joke: how many ears did davy crockett have?

K - Kids: someday
K - Karate: i took a semester of jukido, but i only remember a few moves now
K - Kite: never was good at flying them…

L - Longest Car Ride: to montana and back with ray and matt
L - Longest Relationship: just shy of four years
L - Last Person you spoke to on the Phone: ray

M - Milk Flavor: i like milk flavored milk. ooh, and chocolate soy milk.
M - Mothers Name: lisa
M - Movie Last Watched: harry potter 4 (bought it last week)

N - Number of Siblings: 2
N - Northern or Southern: northern. but southwestern soon!
N - Name: krista

O - ONE Wish: less stress
O - One Phobia: not being good enough
O - One Goal: master of science!

P - Parents, are they married or divorced: married
P - Part of your appearance you like best: i like my toes; i don’t care if they’re short :P
P - Part of your personality you like best: if it needs to be done, i’ll find a way to do it

Q - Quote: ‘those who dance are called insane by those who don’t hear the music’
Q - What is your quest? i seek the holy grail.
Q - Quick or Slow?: depends on what the adjective is modifying

R - Reason to smile: my cat thinks i’m the greatest thing, like, ever.
R - Reality TV Show: ugh.
R - Right or Left: right

S - Song Last Heard: ‘happily ever after’ – the gufs
S - Season: all of them. i love the transition between seasons.
S - Sex: female. dirty birds, what did you think i was going to say?

T - Time you woke up: which time? 1:25 am, 3:30 am, 4:07am, etc…
T - Time Now: 8:54pm
T - Time for bed: it varies. always too late, though.

U - Unknown Facts about me: if i told you, they wouldn’t be unknown.
U - Unicorns?: make me think of a girl i knew in middle school who used to say she could see invisible unicorns in her yard. crazy loon.
U - U are a......?: person who hates when people spell words with one letter. u know who u r.

V - Vegetable you hate: olives. are those vegetables?
V - Vegetable you love: spinach
V - View on politics: i work in the environmental sciences. draw your own conclusions.

W- Worst Habits: putting things off, setting unrealistic expectations for myself, being insecure.
W- What do you wanna be when you grow up: happy
W- Where are you traveling to next?: arizona!

X - X-Rays: taken a billion, never had one.
X - X-Rated Porn: isn’t all porn x-rated? isn’t that why it’s porn?
X - X-Marks your spot: right now, that would be on my couch.

Y - Year you were born: 1980
Y - Year it is now: 2006
Y - Yellow: the color of my yarn bag

Z - Zoo Animal: i want a hippopotamus for christmas…
Z - Zodiac: virgo
Z - Zest:fully clean.

i'm starting to actually feel like this thesis is going to get written after all. the end of my college career and my impending move keep becoming more and more official. i've got two people interested in moving into my apartment when i leave, which makes leaving seem all the more real suddenly. i just realized that the next time i go see my favorite local band play at the end of march is the last time i'm going to get to see them play (hopefully not ever, but definitely for a long time). it's suddenly the middle of march, and i've only got a month and a half to tie up pretty much all of my loose ends. that's nothing, especially when time flies as quickly as it has been...

yikes. okay. back to the thesis.

you thought i fell off the face of the earth, didn't you?

well, i may as well have. it's crunch time, people. that thesis isn't going to write itself, after all. i took advantage of this past weekend as being the last weekend that i could feasibly devote to something other than thesis writing, and spent it up in saranac lake with lisa and chad. now it's back to the tables and figures and data and pages and pages and pages of notes and calculations and semi-formed thoughts that need to be turned into a cohesive and intelligent sounding masters thesis. egad. the next two weeks are going to be HELL. really, the next two and a half months are going to be hell, but i need to have my draft completed within the next two weeks, so they win the short term competition of abject suckiness. suckitude. sucktasticness. whathaveyou.

fyi:

you can now download a free (free!) mp3 of pearl jam's next single, "world wide suicide", from tenclub.net.

you can download lots of free (free!) live music from archive.org. i recommend this recording of a concert by the weepies.

my cat is friggin' adorable.

there are 72 days until i leave for arizona. holy crap.

okay, back to the thesis. later gators.

the second coming of christ...

apparently, a hardware store in manchester (right down the street from my old apartment, actually) has become a mecca for those interested in seeing the image of jesus in a piece of sheet metal. and if you're feeling particularly inspired by the whole thing, you can even make a bid for it on ebay (but you might want to hurry up; bidding is already over $500).

i don't even know what to say, aside from the observation that if jesus has time to be sending signs in the form of sheet metal to a connecticut hardware store, then perhaps he's got his priorities a bit mixed up.

i was a guest speaker at a wetlands-related meeting today, and presented my research to a room full of people who i was certain would immediately recognize me as a fraud and run me out onto the streets, possibly lashing me with phragmites stalks on the way out the door.

instead, i got two job offers. muahahaha, i've fooled them all!

in other news...

this is brilliant. who wants to share a pint?

clean water and flood retention: unconstitutional. who knew?

the supreme court is hearing a case by a michigan developer who claims that the clean water act is unconstitutional. you need to click the "listen" button to get the real meat of the story (my favorite part is where he tries to make the environmental consultant rip up the report stating that he needs to apply for permitting). at first i was surprised that the supreme court even agreed to hear the case; however, the more i think about it, the more i'm betting that it's based on the nebulous terms that define the clean water act itself. the wording of the act states that it applies to "navigable waters of the united states." traditionally, this is interpreted as all waters of the united states, which extends the coverage to wetlands. intuitively, this makes sense: though many wetlands are not 'navigable', if you dump chemical waste into a wetland, you can't act all surprised when it shows up in the nearest river. so wetlands are covered by the clean water act, and based on that, our friend the developer was told that he had to apply for permitting before he could bulldoze his (at least partially) wetland-classified parcel of land. truth be told, the vast majority of wetland-related permit applications are granted either entirely or conditionally. but did this guy bother to apply? nope, he just started bulldozing. brilliant.

my worry here is that somehow, someway, the supreme court will rule in this guy's favor. if that happens, wetland protection is going to be in big, big trouble. ugh.

look at that...weeks without a substantial entry, and then i go and get all political and topical on you. i wonder if this will be a hot topic at the meeting i'm speaking at on thursday...