Road Trip Chronicles

I've spent the last half an hour pulling music off my ancient and venerable iPod in preparation for the four day drive back to KW next month. This may seem counterproductive - it's four days of driving eight hours a day, so I should probably be putting MORE music on the iPod.

Except I'm probably doing this drive on my own again. And when I'm driving on my own, there's a point I hit where I'm so overcaffeinated that coffee's not going to do anymore good, and I need something to keep me sufficiently entertained that I focus on the road.

Yeah, I have a terrible lack of focus if I can't pay 100% attention when I drive. So I sing along with whatever happens to be playing. The louder and more upbeat the better.

And I'm sorry, but Pink Floyd and the Lord of the Rings soundtrack just don't fit the bill.

An exciting weekend, to be sure

• Frosh week emails (big, student teams, other huges... I think that's it)
  
• Credit card account stuff
• Find and mail RSVP card to wedding in August
• Make room less of disaster zone
• Remove former taco salad from fridge
• Take out garbage
• Find more appropriate place to put bag of grapes. They are currently in an empty pizza pops box.
• Washcloths. I have .75 of one done. I need at least two. For next weekend. I also need a rubber duck.
• Emails about birthday.

I think that's it.

Catch-22

I'm a redhead.
I burn like nobody's business.
I also have a terrible short term memory when it comes to stuff like putting on sunscreen. Or, more often, remembering where I left the sunscreen.
I've also discovered that I tend to burn my face and ears the most.

Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time dreaming about the perfect hat.

Ball caps are useless. Bucket hats leave my chin exposed to BURN. Tilley hats? Never considered one, I had a beige uniform hat for awhile. It's no longer beige, more of a variegated grey. Yuck. Apart from that, awesome awesome hat.

But.

I have found the perfect hat in the latest MEC catalogue.

Wide-brimmed, in solid dark colours, it's gorgeous. I think I'm in love. Now, before you call the funny farm and have them pick me up, bear in mind that I once burnt the part in my hair. I have probably burnt more surface area on my body than any (20+x) year old should.

It's 32 dollars. Bit steep. But to have a hat!

I know what I'm getting myself for my birthday.

Heh

You know it's going to be an interesting afternoon when your supervisor says you're going on site, and by the way? Can't take food, water, cellphone, anything combustible because there's explosives on site. LOTS of explosives. The no-food-or-water rule also includes coffee, and smoking is of course verboten.

This site also happens to be a royal pain the the arse with regards to what we are actually doing out there.

I foresee much cursing if/when anything actually gets going there.

Because I'm so awesome at updating...

The term has ended, I'm still waiting on that blasted 321 mark, and the summer has begun.

Oh yeah, and I'm working in southern Alberta this summer. On a military base. My landlady took me on a tour last night when I got into town and my entire reaction was "OMGTANKS".

It's going to be an interesting summer.

Even more interesting if I don't go get groceries now.

Hang on

Three more weeks of classes. Then 11 days of finals.

In between, a design project and presentation, a lab, a minor materials selection project, and countless other problem sets.

Oh, and co-op interviews.

Siiiiiiiigh. Someday I will be able to maintain a regular sleep schedule.

These boots were made for walking

I have horribly messed up feet. They're oddly proportioned, ten years of ballet did a number on my toes, and I have genetics working against me, since I seem to have inherited the foot problems my mother has. So I don't buy shoes very often, and I usually have to look pretty hard to find footwear that fits properly.

I've been wearing the pair of hiking boots in question since December 2003. They've survived two back country trips, Ontario road salt, and walking what probably a few hundred kilometers around campus and various cities across Canada. They're probably my favourite pair of shoes, EVER.

They're not pining, they've passed on. That masking tape is covering the Vasque logo, which popped off sometime Monday afternoon, leaving a gaping hole in the heel. Now that I look at them, the soles are worn in my peculiar pattern of walking, the leather is stained with salt and swamp, and they need to be resealed and waterproofed if they're going to last much longer.

But even taped up, unsealed, not waterproofed since Toronto, they're still my boots. And wading through ice water this morning, they still kept my feet dry and warm. The sole is worn but not gone yet.

So tomorrow when I get home from karate, I'll find an old sock that's too holey to wear any longer, dig out the sealant and the waterproofing agent and give my boots a good going-over. Glue the logo back in place. Maybe I'll find a new pair of laces.

Because I can't give up a pair of damn good boots that easily.

Teh stupid, it burnz

Another day spent entirely on campus. I'm staying home tomorrow.

I'm mildly cranky at the moment; I have a tendency to get a nasty rash on the back of my hands in the winter and it's gotten particularly bad tonight. This explains why I'm still up, since I want to get as much medicated stuff absorbed as possible before bed.

In retrospect though, I should have gone straight for the medicated stuff instead of using the bottle of scented hand lotion I'm slowly trying to use up. At least the medicated stuff seems to be working. I should probably just pitch the scented stuff anyways, it's pretty old.

*Sigh*

At almost 0200, it's kind of counterproductive to be listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack while trying to finish my work report. It really tends to bring about a sense of impending doom.

One appendix done, one started, and one still to go.