Christmas and day after Christmas hell

Christmas was wonderful. I had a great couple days spending time at Grandmas and at mom and dads. Got to see some relatives and cute little cousins. On Christmas morning at Mom and Dads was fun. We all sat around in our pj's and opened presents. I got want I wanted, a new suitcase that could be carry on luggage, and some other fun things. Justin had to fly out the next morning at 6am and I also had to work at that time so we had to leave Christmas evening. Justin got to the airport on time and I got to work on time...always good. Now I knew that the day after Christmas thing was big for bargain shoppers but I was not prepared for what I was about to see. The store opened up at 7am, at 6:30 people started gathering around the door. By 7, there was a crowd so large that it stretched into the parking lot. When the door opened, people ran into the store, grabbed a cart and either ran to the back seasonal area or the mini seasonal area up front. People were so frantic to get to their precious 50% off items that they wouldn't look where they were going, some guy almost mowed me over with his cart. They all had this crazed look in their eyes. When I walked to the back of the store there was this huge wall of people were seasonal should have been. People were just grabbing and throwing stuff into the carts, some people had two carts. After about two hours, I started finding piles of stuff that people had put in their carts then decided not to take, so they just either layed it on the floor or on some shelf. Since this day was a Sunday, all Fargo business's can't open until noon, so not only were we getting the regular crazies, we were getting the Fargo one's also.
Ugh, that was a horrid day. By the end of the day I was totally wiped out and I had a huge headache. I'm just glad I didn't close and have to pick up after everybody.

Merry Christmas

Well to everyone out there Merry Christmas, I know it is still a few days away but I will be at Mom and Dads and the have dail up and I hate waiting on that slow connection. Justin and I are giving eachother our presents tomarow morning, then leaving to go to Grandmas and Grandpas for the rest of the day as that is where most of mom's side of the fam will be. Then we'll go to mom and dads and stay the night, have a fun Christmas then go home late after noon/early evening because Justin's flight to Chicago leaves at 6am the next morn so he'll have to be at the airport at 5, then I work at 6am. I think Justin comes home the 2nd or 3rd, I leave for Seattle on the 29th and will be back on the 9th.
In other news, today I took my GRE's. I'm afraid to say what I got on the two sections that are recorded right away because I don't remember what the highest score is. One the two writing components I think I did allright. I dont think I did so hot on the analytical one but I did well (I think at least) on the other.
Well must run to the grocery store before Justin gets home, we're having hamburgers..yum.
Take care, be safe and have a wonderful Christmas!

Updates

Well now, I haven't been ableto post for quite some time due to finals/stress. So here is what has been going on.
Last sunday was Justin holiday party at the Home Depot. These parties are always held in the recieving area because that is were the most open space is, however it was freezing cold in there so everyone was bundled up in thier jackets. They had food, which was awsome. Every employee that was at the party also got a gift, we got a family size griddle, which is awsome except we already had two from our wedding..I just didn't think we'd need 3 griddles. Thankfully all the gifts came with gift reciepts so I returned it today and I bought the extended edition of LORT Return of the King.
I finally got my personallized plates in the mail yesterday after months of waiting. Man that was a hassle, so tomarrow after work I'll slap them on and she'll look beautiful.
Today was my last final, Hurray! Tomarrow we're turning in our field papers. It's so awsome being done for the semester. Just one left and I'll have a degree in Geosciences, pretty sweet.

Almost done

Whew, December 1st already! This semester is just flying by, only a week and a half left of regular classes for me, hurray! Then a nice winter break, can't wait. It's nice to know that there is and actual light to the end of the tunnel. I can see it finally.

I finally signed up for the GRE's, Dec 23 at 9am, this way school will be out so i will have time to actually study the book we bought for the test. I heard it's really hard and pretty much impossible to study for, the books basically prepare you for the layout of the test and the general types of questions.

Can anyone tell me how to post links on the side of my blog? I see lots of people have that, and I would like have some links, so any help would be fantastic.

Let it snow, let it snow....

Well now for the last two days it has been snowing. Thankfully, it is just below freezing, 30 degrees, so nothing is really sticking which is awsome because I do not like snow. Well I kinda like snow, but if I want to see it, I will go to it, it does not need to come to me.
I had a great Thanksgiving at Mom and Dads, ate some great food, watched movies and did absolutly no homework. It was great.
This morning, I actually went out shopping and got acouple people done. I spent too much money and I think Jusitin was going to blow a socket when I told him how much I spent but I did get two and a half people all finished.
Well I must get back to my Field paper, but just wanted to drop a line and tell everybody how things are going with me.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well I will be gone the next two days at my parents, eating lots and getting spoiled. Of course it will not be all fun, Justin and I unfortunatly have to bring our homework with. But it should be a relaxing time anyways. So I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Bye!

There are messed up people in this world

You may have heard of this story already, I know it's been on the internet news but since it's pretty local to me I thought I'd post the story. Not everyone in Minnesota is like this:

Autumn Tradition Turns Deadly in Wisconsin

By JOSHUA FREED and ROBERT IMRIE, Associated Press Writer

BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - As several deer hunters made their way through the woods of northern Wisconsin, they were startled to come upon a stranger in their tree stand. But what happened next was even more astonishing.

Asked to leave, the trespasser, wearing blaze-orange and carrying a semiautomatic assault rifle, opened fire on the hunters and didn't stop until his 20-round clip was empty, leaving five people dead and three wounded, authorities said.

The shooter was eventually captured.

The killings baffled authorities and stunned residents in a state where deer hunting is a rite of autumn — a sport practiced by thousands of people who scour the woods for nine days each November with hopes of bagging a trophy buck.

"This is an incredible tragedy, one in which a great family tradition like a deer hunt has turned into such a great loss," Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday.

Police identified the shooter as Chai Vang, 36, a hunter from St. Paul, Minn., who is a member of the Twin Cities' Hmong community. While authorities do not know why he allegedly opened fire, there have been previous clashes between Southeast Asian and white hunters in the region.

Locals have complained that the Hmong, refugees from Laos, do not understand the concept of private property and hunt wherever they see fit. In Minnesota, a fistfight once broke out after Hmong hunters crossed onto private land, said Ilean Her, director of the St. Paul-based Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans.

The suspect was described by acquaintenaces and family members as an avid hunter who has never been prone to blowing up. "He is a reasonable person," his younger brother, Sang Vang, said. "I still don't believe it. He is one of the nicest persons. I don't believe he could do that. We are so devastated right now."

The five killed and three wounded were part of a group of 14 or 15 who made their opening-weekend trip to Robert Crotteau's 400-acre property an annual tradition.

The visit was like any other until around noon Sunday. When two or three hunters spotted a man in their hunting platform in a tree on Crotteau's land, they radioed back to the rest of the party at a cabin nearby, and asked who should be there.

"The answer was nobody should be in the deer stand," Sheriff James Meier said.

One of the men approached the intruder and asked him to leave, as Crotteau and the others in the cabin hopped on their all-terrain vehicles and headed to the scene.

"The suspect got down from the deer stand, walked 40 yards, fiddled with his rifle. He took the scope off his rifle, he turned and he opened fire on the group," Meier said.

One of the men who was shot called for help on his radio, but it was too late. The gunman fired again, hitting the people who had just arrived on ATVs.

The gunman was "chasing after them and killing them," Deputy Tim Zeigle said. "He hunted them down."

It is unclear whether anyone returned fire. The members of the hunting party had only one gun among them.

The scene Meier described was one of carnage, the bodies strewn around 100 feet apart. Rescuers from the cabin piled the living onto their vehicles and headed out of the thick woods.

"They grabbed who they could grab and got out of there because they were still under fire," Meier said.

Someone in the group wrote the suspect's hunting license number, which hunters wear on their clothing, by tracing it on a dirty vehicle, Meier said.

The shooter took off into the woods and eventually came upon two other hunters who had not heard about the shootings. Vang told them he was lost, and they offered him a ride to a warden's truck, Meier said. He was then arrested; authorities plan to bring charges against him later this week. Investigators said Vang was cooperating.

Vang was carrying an SKS 7.62-mm caliber rifle, a cheap but powerful semiautomatic weapon, authorities said.

Mike Bartz, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource's regional warden supervisor for the area, said the SKS is legal for hunting in the state and has no restrictions. He said it is not uncommon to see hunters with the guns.

"We see more and more of them being used. They're a fairly cheap weapon. They fire a cartridge very similar to a .30-30, which is a very common weapon used for deer hunting," Bartz said.

Killed were Crotteau, 42; his son Joey, 20; Al Laski, 43; Mark Roidt, 28; and Jessica Willers, 27.

Meier said Vang was on the wrong tree stand because he had become lost and wandered unknowingly onto private property. The county has thousands of acres of public hunting land.

The arrest has left some Hmong citizens in his hometown fearful of a backlash. About 24,000 Hmong (pronounced "mung") live in St. Paul, the highest concentration of any U.S. city.

Michael Yang, a Hmong activist, said various Hmong groups held an emergency meeting Monday to talk about how to respond. Those at the meeting heard stories from some Hmong hunters about friction with white hunters.

The shooting has already provoked tension in an area of Wisconsin where deer hunting is steeped in tradition.

"It's pathetic. They let all these foreigners in here, and they walk all over everybody's property," said Jim Arneberg, owner of the Haugen Inn in nearby Haugen.

The SVP After Party

All right, hopefully I'll finish up my SVP stories with this blog so I dont have to keep reminding my self to do it.
So, on the last evening of SVP there is the big awards dinner followed by the after party. While we were all crowding around the doors waiting to get in to the dinner hall, we noticed a lady from the U.K that was carrying a rather large bottle of gin, we assumed she was sharing with friends, I will get back to her later. The dinner was boring, I didn't know anyone who won the award but it was a free steak dinner, and wine so I wasn't complaining. The real entertainment came with the after party. There was a DJ (not very good I might add) some tables and two minibars set up. The drinking of course started right away, I hardly drank because the mini bars were insanly expensive. Justin went to bed early because we were leaving the next morning around 6am and we had to drive all the way to Kansas City.
So that left myself, Peggy, Alyssa and Nick to enjoy the party. The best part of this party is people watching. I tell you what, I think for some reason scientists lack the ability to dance, there was some serious white man disease going on. There was not one person in the room, and trust me I was looking, who I could say could decently dance. There was a serious lack of rhythem, and people were just flayling about, arms and legs going every where. It was the funniest thing to see. I do give these people credit and just going out and having fun.
We did dance to a few select songs, The Time Warp, Love Shack, and I Will Survive. I tell you, i dont think we were anybetter than the rest dancing but thats ok at least we were all on the same level.
Oh yes I must finish with the gin lady. So it was getting close to midnight and it was starting to thin a bit so it was easier to look about. Just a few tables away, was the gin lady and another man. Apparently that bottle was all for herself because she was beyond drunk, and we had a good show for the next few mineuts. Her friend tries to pick her up off her seat and she uncerimonly flops to the ground. This poor guy then has to lift her up by her armpits and drags her away towards the elevator. This lady is from england, and boy, I hope she wasn't flying home the next day because that would not be a pleasant experience.

Celebrity sighting #1

Well I'm proud to say that I have seen my first celebrity. Well Ok not here in Fargo, this is left over SVP stuff that I just remembered. On the last night of the meeting we have the awards dinner and the after party (I will talk about this later as it will require its on posting). Justin, myself and Nick went up the escalator to the lobby to meet Alyssa for the dinner. We were looking around for her, and in this particular lobby there's this round, green seat thing. Well there was a cluster of teens around one part of the seat and they were all surrounding a person who was seated. Well this seated person ended up being Frankie Munez (sp?) of Malcolm in the Middle and Agent Cody Banks. I was not impressed. He was dressed like a preppy bad-ass if you can imagine that. And he was continuously complaining about how horrible the limo services where around there, because the limo was not there yet. If only my first celebrity would have been someone cool....

Justin and I at the Adams Mark hotel for the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Denver, CO. Note the nerdy nametags that we had to wear everyday. 

Justin and I at Dinosaur Ridge. The shiny brown object I am touching is a dinosaur bone. The rock that contains it is so hard that it's not practical to take it out. In our dino group when one is touching a fossil, you are "fondling the fossil."  

This is a Sauropod bulge at Dinosaur Ridge near Denver. Sauropods are the giant, long necks plant eaters..like Littlefoot from Land Before Time. Anyways, these critters were so large that when they stepped in soft sediment, it would compress the ground downward and these bulges were created and the structure somehow survived all these millions of years. Neat huh? 

Peggy in the front, with then Justin, Alyssa, me and Nick. We're at Dinosaur Ridge near Denver. We are sitting on the remains of a mangrove swamp, don't remember the date on the swamp but the rock is covered in tree limbs, beautiful plant preservation. 

From left to right: Peggy, Alyssa, Justin and I at Dinosaur Ridge near Denver. Behind us are beautiful dinosaur tracks that have been painted black for better viewing. The large tracks are from Iguanodon a large plant eater that could walk on either two or four legs and the small bird like track are from a small meat eating dinosaur. 

Networking and a creepy Hitler lookalike

Well SVP (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) meetings have been going on now since Tuesday, and I am having a blast. Justin and I have meet professors at grad schools that we are interested in and all have responded positively. So this is incredibly encouraging. Not only did we meet lots of people we get to see our paleo-hero's. Paul Sereno, Bob Bakker, Phil Currie are all here and its great to hear them speak on their current research on the cutting edge of paleontology. The highlights of the talks have been, one on an pterodactyl embryo, that was so well preserved that on the inspection of the wings it is believed that they could fly within days or perhaps hours of being hatched. There were some great T.rex talks, one of which boldly stated that dinosaurs were warm blooded.
People watching is aways a great source of entertainment at these meetings. I think one girls t-shirt summed it up nicely, "Talk Nerdy to Me." It's so interesting to see 900+ dino nerds get together. There's the "normal" looking people, hopefully I fall into that category. Then there's the "field" group, they are always dressed like they just walked out of their summer research. they are the ones sporting the large rimmed hats, shorts, then either a flannel shirt or a t-shirt with a vest with their school or research logo on it. Then there is the "nerd" group. I don't think I really need to describe this group. But as I think, I think there are two groups of nerds, there are the academic nerds. They are skinny, so skinny that it looks like their pants will fall off, neat button up shirt, short neat hair, glasses, and a tie that displays what they are interested in (dinos, fish, mammals ect.) Then there are the nerds that look like they belong in a science fiction/fantasy convention. Usually on the larger spectrum body type with messy, long and greasy hair and totally unkempt/dirty clothing.
Then there was one person that totally creeped my friend Alyssa and I out, the Hitler lookalike. He looks like Hitler because he has that mustache that just is below the nose. Anyways, Alyssa and I were walking about and we both saw him staring at us. Not like checking us out staring, but Staring. Ugh, so we quickly walked past him and we have tried to avoid him with all measures.
Denver itself is a fantastic city. I have not gotten around much in the city, only as far as the Natural History Museum which is 3 miles away. But the vicinity right around the hotel is absolutely beautiful. Right next to our hotel is the "mall" which is a pedestrian street a mile long or so that is full of awesome restaurants, shops fun touristy places. There is a free bus that runs the length of the mall, so it's very easy to get from one end to the other quickly and it runs from early in the morn to about midnight. On my birthday we ate at a brewery called the Rockbottom. It was amazing and the beer was really good. We've also been to the Hard Rock Cafe, this one is two stories and upstairs they have a wall full of autographed guitars. I swear you could spend at least an hour just looking at all the neat stuff in those places. Well must get going, the auction is starting in half hour and must wake Justin up.

Thanks everybody

Well here I am in the beautiful city of Denver. Our Hotel the Adams Mark is absolutly amazing..i'd rather live here than in our apartment lol. We're on the 17th floor with a great view of the city.
Anyway, I'd like to say thanks for the great support for whats been going on with Justin and I. Tonight we're picking up another banned member at the airport so at dinner we'll talk about whats happened and what we should do. So I will try to blog tomarrow which is also the first day of the meeting so i'm sure I'll have lots of fun stuff to talk about also.

Just when I thought things could not get any more stressfull

This week I have been extremly stressed out with a multitude of things, getting into grad school, signing up for GRE's, passing classes and others. So on Tuesday, I felt as though nothing else could be possibly worse than how I was feeling. Then while I was TAing the intro Geo lab, Justin walks in and said " I need to talk to you in the hall." Oh boy what could this be? There in the hall Justin tells me that him, I and three other people have been permenantly banned from dino camp. Yes, Banned.
So here is the events that lead up to this banishment. Last school year, Justin, I and some fellow dino staffers had decided to kick-start our paleontologist's research by starting it up ourselfs. We decided to submit a poster for the SVP meeting that we are leaving for shortly. It was a simple poster on the general ecology of the area in the time of our dinos that we study, nothing big, or terribly exciting becaue everyone knows it was tropical. So we submitted it and got accepted. We went to dino camp last summer and told her what we did, and she got really mad. We are not really sure why but we think it's because we actually did something that she could have done for years. So we told her that we would retract the poster, everyone made up and everything was hunky-dory when we left...or so we thought.
Justin contacted SVP several times to make sure that the poster was retracted and finally they replied saying that it was. But, when the abstract book came out for this coming meeting...our poster was in it. So, we were not very happy about that but justin had emailed her earlier and told her that the poster was retracted so there was nothing to worry about...or so we thought.
Well, now about two months later, on tuesday she sent out a vicious email, not only to the people that were involved with the poster but all the staff memebers and a few other regulars to the camp, proclaiming that we were all banned from camp and it basically told everyone what horrible people we were for having a poster submitted to SVP without her permission, even though she well knows that it was retracted but failed to mention that point. She embellished several points to make us sound like we were intentionally trying to hurt her. She just generally made us sound like people with no morals at all.
Well this caused a huge uproar from those involved, several phone called among us and a short and cold reply was made, not by us, but another bannished one who told our version of the events.
This just makes me very sad, because this is the place that I met Justin at, and where he proposed to me and i'll never get to see it again.

Early Birthday present and upcoming trips

When it comes to Justin in giving or receiving presents, patience is not his best virtue. My Birthday is not for another 15 days(but who's counting right?) Anyways last night we were at a study group for Structural Geology and for whatever reason, he mentions that he already has my birthday present. My ears perked up, What! You have my present already?! Then he said yeah and you can have it when ever you want. Oh, the pressure, excitement and wonder filled my head. Do I wait until my birthday (I'll be in Denver at the time, I'll talk about that in a bit) or do I cave in and want it right now? So on the way home from the homework session. He told me if I wanted my present that night he'd have to stop at the store and get the rest of it. Oh there's more! I exclaim in delight, of course I want my present tonight. Justin and his parents had gone intogether and got me a PINK iPod Mini!! I had adored those tiny mp3 players since they had come out and I love their fun commercials, so at this time I was basically doing my happy dance in the car which was probably quite a site to see. So we stopped at Target and picked up the Dock that charges/transfers music then we went home and I got to play with my new toy. So ever since last night I've been downloading CD's into iTunes and putting them onto my new mini. It's so sweet.
This fall and winter I'm going on two fun trips. In about I think it's 12 days now, Justin and I are going to Denver for the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting. This is where dino geeks from all over the country get together for three days, we listen to talks all day till 5 on the newest findings on all things paleo. When the clock strikes 5, it's time to hit the bar. I think what happens is that all these researchers and professors spend all year on their research and are totally immersed into their work, but once they get to the meetings they just totally let go and party. Last year on the last night, there is a big reward dinner followed by a party. I guess it got so rowdy after we finally left that the cops were called because there were people were playing Frisbee in the street. So, on the way to Denver we first have to drive down to MO. pick up our friend Alyssa and we're also taking a freshman, new to the department. He really likes dinos so we thought it be a good idea to introduce him to the meetings so he can see what he's getting himself into. =) So I'm sure when I get back I'll have some good stories/pictures to share.
Now finally, this Christmas break I'm taking Amtrak out to Seattle to visit my friend Jeni and her 6 month old Emma. I just bought the tickets today and they are less than half of what a plane ticket would be, but then I'm traveling a lot longer to, but the price was to good to pass up and now that i have my iPod, which has a 30 hour battery life, I will be entertained for the trip. So Rayna, if you're going to be in Renton for Christmas let me know..I'll be there from Dec 30-Jan 6.

End of week review

I have been so busy this last week, that I now finally have time for a breather and to write in my blog. Everyone of my classes are stressin me out. I don't have enough time for homework and I'm alway tired from working the early morning shifts which then free up the afternoon and evening for homework.
Yesterday, something dreadful happened. It snowed. Yes, it has already begun. Thankfully they were the tiny flakes and the melted right away but this is still worrysome. We had a really mild summer out here in the great plains so the general idea is this winter is going to be very cold.
Tonight, Justin and I are actually going out, we are going with our friend Sarah and her b/f Ryan. We have not been out enjoying the night life in ages. Usually one of us has to work early in the morning. I've been up since 4am, but i'm surprisingly awake. I think it's because I know I'll be doing something other than homework or Sims 2.
Well I popped in Legally Blonde so I better go watch it now and wait for Justin to get home from work and for Sarah & Ryan to come over. Later!

Raynas Question

Rayna sent me this dinosaur article and she asked me a question about the feathers it had so I'll try my best to explain it.
Fossil remains have been found in China of the oldest and smallest ancestor to the T.rex, he was given the name Dilong paradoxus, meaning "surprising dragon", i'm just going to call him Dilong. Both specimens that were found, have what seem to be proto feathers that covered the body.
So Rayna asked how can this t.rex line start with feathers and end with the non-feathered T.rex while the new idea is that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
Ok, what the Diong has is called Proto feathers. They are the early stages of feathers, all they would be used for is insulation. Since the Dilong that were found ranged in the 5 foot region, smaller bodies could have used these proto feathers for a sourse of warmth. As time went on, dinosaurs got bigger along with our t.rex line. Proto feathers were no longer used because by the time they had gotten to T.rex size they actually wanted to get rid of heat so they evolved the scaley skin. Some people thing that T.rexs young may have had a feather coating to keep warm.
Now there were other dinosaurs that are thought to have had feathers, a new idea is that some of the raptors had feathers on thier bodies if you watch any of the Walking with Dinosaur specials on Discovery Channel, you will see the little guys running around with feathers. Justin told me that it is believed that some of the smaller therapods (meat eaters) may have evolved to birds but that is a huge controversial debate.
So while T.rex evolved away from feathers by growing larger, many others develped feathers which may have lead to the present day bird.
I hope this helped Rayna!

Here is a beautiful lower jaw that another student found. Right now it is thought to be Rhino, and if it is, it will be the first found in the Golden Valley formation. It's been preped a bit and it's in pretty good shape. The pointy looking object just below the jaws is one of it's canine teeth. 

Here is our friend Dan, he's a bit of a goof so when he found this shallow pipe he thought he'd have some fun. This was taken on the hottest day out there, and a good laugh was definetly needed. 

Here is my poor foot on the first day of field. We were climbing down and very steep and narrow gully, when I stepped on what I thought was an almost dry mud puddle, my foot dropped in this mud pit and this resulted. My shoe never did quite recover after that, I'm still picking mud off them. 

My week so far and cool geology

Well, last night I had a great long blog all ready to go. I clicked on spell check and my window closes..no more blog. Argh, that was really annoying.
Anyways, I just finished with a Structural Geology test and unfortunately I missed a few things. The answers were posted on the bulletin board outside the class, so we all right away got to see how we did. I missed a few easy points on not remembering some vocabulary, bummer. Well I didn't count up my points so hopefully I did ok.
That was the only major thing planned this week, test or quiz wise so now I have to start writing my Field paper. Dr.Ashworth wants the stratigraphy of all the formations written up by Monday. So it will be interesting to see how I can accomplish this task.
Cool geology in the news is of course that Mount St. Helens has been blowing some steam and ash quite regulaly. Supposedly, lava is on its way up so it would be really neat to see that baby go. If there is an explosion, it is doubted that it will be anywhere near the size of explosion from the 1980 catastrophe. The current dome inside the crater is no-where the size of the dome was in 1980, the closest structures to the mountain are 5 miles which are visitor centers and I think a few houses.
Well thats it for now!

Rain rolling into the Little Badlands, Golden Valley is the formation seen in the picture. 

Unfortunatly, one of the perils of working in the field is getting dirty. Poor Mark, he slipped on the wet bentonite and recieved a dirty, and probably wet rear. 

Justin and I: This is a pic from field, our group had ran out of water so we had to hike back to the vans to refill. I know I was on the verge of heat exhaustion because all I could think about was water and everyone at the vans said I did not look very good. So this picture was taken after I had drank awhole bunch of water and was rejuvinated. 

I'm back

Got back last Tuesday night, and glad of it. Our field class was 5 very long days. We have a bunch of pictures, but they are still on Justin's camera I will try to post some soon. The first couple days went pretty well, the weather was great in the 90's. Our group got lots done and did alot of walking. The third day is when all hell broke loose.
So on the third day we knew it was going to rain we all had our rainjackets and such. There was five of us in the group, Justin, I, Mike, Beckie and Dan. We had been using the rented Mini van because we could all fit into it and everyone else were using thier own vehicles. So we had been out and about mapping starting at 8am, started raining at 10 and by 11:30 we had finally made it back to the van, all soaking wet, including my shoes, and miserable and we talked about what to do.
You see, it's not that we were afriad of the rain and getting wet but a large part of what we were mapping is called Bentonite, which is weathered volcanic ash, and in it's weathered form it is clay. Now clay when it's wet, is a horrible substance. It becomes super slippery and very dangerous to walk on.
So walking around in the rain on slippery shit, did not sound to fun to us. So we took off in search of our professor. We found him and he told us to wait out the rain. So from then to about 1pm we ate our packed lunch, got gas for the van and worked on our notes and exchanged info to each other.
At 1pm we went to another location and started hiking. The next four hours were miserable. We were all still fairly wet, and it was windy. Walking was difficult, and it was impossible to get up to the top of the buttes to see what was going on geologically in the area. So we did our thing for the four hours and when it started getting to 5pm we headed back to the van. This is where the fun starts. (Please note sarcasim)
On the van notes were written in the dirt. One said "How was driving in the rain all morning? =)" Then something was written below it then crossed out. Also on the side of the van was written "Dangerous 5" We knew instantly who did this, 1. because of the smilly face, and 2. because her truck was parked not far from ours when we first got there and now it was parked even farther away. So these malicious notes really made us mad, I still don't know how she knew that we were driving about in the morning unless she talked to other people who saw us, but she made it sound like we were joy riding around doing nothing. I have no idea also what makes us so dangerous, we all know that she does not like Mike because those two are the top students and he's been winning the department awards and not her. So after we fummed about that for a few mineuts, we decided just to get into the van and get back to camp. The van would not start. We sat there dumb-founded wondering why it was completly dead. So we popped the hood and sure enough, she had unplugged the battery and left and note tucked in the engine. Now I dont remember what the note said, but it was mean. So the battery was plugged back in and we drove back fumming even more. Well lets say that the rest of the evening was not pleasant, apparently she feels bad but I have yet to get an appology. If someone in our group had gotten hurt, her little stunt would have cost us alot of time.

Think dry thoughts...

I will not be posting for the next week. I will be in Dickenson, ND for my Field Expeirence class, walking around in an 8 square mile area mapping and collecting fossils (yay!) We'll be taking pictures, so I'll try to get some fun ones that i'll post when i get home. The weather is lookin sketchy so please think dry and warm thoughts!!

New blog name?

Lately, I have become quite unsatisfied with the name of my blog and i've been thinking of new ones. When I made this blog, I didn't care for my current title too much, but it was the only thing I could think of. The only other name I can think of is, "On the Rocks." I think it's funny, and semi-clever. So let me know what you think..
P.S Anne, if you are reading this "Hello!"

Whew 3 months already!

Well, today being the 12th is our 3rd month-versary hurray for us! I swear one of these days I'll try to stop counting the months, but I suppose that won't happen until our 1st anniversary.
Yesterday (Saturday) was my cousin Tammi's bridal shower and also bachlorette party. The shower went well, it was held in a tiny church, in a tiny town that Tammi and I used to go to when we were little. Anyways, I'm the Matron of Honor in her wedding, and mom helped organize the shower. So we get to the church and the chruch ladies are already in the kitchen getting the food ready. Boy were those ladies bossy. They all have this routine that has to be followed precisely, they ordered us around continuously. Man was I glad when Tammi arrived and I had to go be with her. So the shower was a success, Tammi and her financee Marty received lots of neat stuff and for some reason a lot of doilies, but I think that's because a lot of the elderly church ladies were there.
The bachlorette party was really laid back, all Tammi wanted to do was to chill in my apartment, drink, and watch movies. We did go out to Chinese, which was fun. I got to go to a place I hadn't been to yet, it was actually a sit down place which was nice because all the Chinese places around here that I know of are buffets. So after that yummy dinner, we went back to my place and drank Appletinis and Wild Cherry Cabana Boy with Coke. After a couple of each we were feeling good. Tammi's friend, Megan also came along, she is under 21 so she agreed to drive Tammi home. We only got through two movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Ice Age (Tammi hadn't seen it yet.) After those two, we were all tired so Megan drove Tammi home.

Here I sit

Well here I am at school, bored and waiting for my 5pm class and it's 3:20. Sigh..long wait ahead. I'm in the main computer cluster on campus, and am using a Mac. These little beauties are always free even during the most busiest times, I think most PC users are afriad of them, I myself would like having one but everything is made for a PC. I usually don't like using school comps just because who knows what are on this keyboard and mouse. I'm not a germ nut, I dont freak out about door knobs or bath room sinks, but for some reason these keyboards give me the willies. I guess everyone has thier strange thing that they worry about.
Does everyone have wierd phobias? I sure hope so because I know I do. Like when i go into a bathroom, say at a convience store or fast food place where it's just the one toilet inside, no stalls. Well anyways I always have this little nagging fear that i'm going to get locked into that room. I guess I just dont like the fact that I have to lock myself into that room. However i have no problems with the bathroom stalls, probably because I know that I can crawl underneath if i get locked in. I think this phobia is from a memory I have from when I was little, and still living in MN so that would make me 5 or younger. I was at a restaraunt with mom and dad, and I went to the bathroom by my self. When I went to leave the restroom, I wasn't able to open the door, not the stall door but the one that leaves the restroom and if I remember right it was even the kind of door that you just pull open but I just wasn't strong enough to open it. I just remember being so freaked out that i was pounding on the door, and trying to tug on it to get out. Ugh, yeah so locking bathrooms freak me out.

A good day

Well today was a historic day in my life. Today I made my last car payment. Yes, my Jetta is finally mine. I received my financial aid distribution today and it went straight to my car, with some money left over to go the the eye Dr and get my computer upgraded. It will be so nice having that extra $200 every month, this way we can pay off our credit cards that much faster. Hurray for me!!!

Finally!!

I'm so happy, yesterday Justin and I drove out and picked up my car. It was strange to drive it again, I've been driving Justins car for like the last 3 months, it's like I have to learn how to drive it all over again.
Right now I'm watching Fellowship of the Ring, Legolas just came on...mmm Legolas LOL. Is it sad that I have a crush on an elf?
Well, this Labor Day weekend I will not be doing much. Probably just homework. So many things to do and here I am watching a movie. You ever feel like you have so much stuff to do that you don't know even where to start so you do nothing? That's what I'm doing right now. Well, I better get back to my movie. Take care.

It's about frickin time!!

Well, after waiting forever to see if I'd actually receive my title in the mail I once again called Wells Fargo. Justin was able to get the fax number from his work, and they let us use it. So in a few short hours, I had the fax in hand. Hurrah! I said, I can finally go to the DMV. That is what Justin and I did today during a long break between classes. I now have my plates ordered, they just have to wait to receive the title from Wells Fargo before they can be sent to me. I decided to do something fun and I got personalized plates. I named my car a cartoon character, lets see..Ok I'll give a quote from this character and lets see if you can figure out who it is..
"My daddy says that three-horns don't play with long-necks!"

2nd Try

Well, I had a nice blog all written and ready to go. Other than spell checker not working for some reason, everything was hunky-doory. So I hit the lovely "Publish Post" button and it sits for awhile then tells me there has been an error and as a consequence, my finished and ready to go blog is gone.
So now I have no real motivation for writing everything I had already written so I think I will give a shortened version.
1. No car title yet
2. School started yesterday
3. I have a quiz tomorrow in Structural Geology already
4. I'm working early mornings, 5am, and it's kicking my ass
5. I'm finally a Senior
6. I can not wait to leave this horridly flat state

Well that about wraps it up. Don't blame me for the lame blog...Blame blogger. This one better work, cause I'm not writing it again.

Cool science in the news

Whew! Today I found a bonanza of sweet science news in the Yahoo Science section. So warning, if you do not like science or archeology do not read any further for I do not want to bore you to tears.
Cool Article 1: This is about how scientists have made a dye that is put in to anhydrous ammonium, which makes fertilizer and is constantly stolen from farms by people who make meth. This article interests me because meth is a huge problem out here in ND. Anyways, the dye turn a flouesent pink on skin. If the user manages to get the dye off, it is ultraviolet for about 72 hours. An unexpected bonus for the dye is that it turns the meth a light pink, which users will not like, and it makes drying the meth difficult. It is also very cheap, only $9 for every ton of anhydrous ammonium which is in the $200 range.
Cool Article 2: In Brazil, there is a isolated, tiny tribe that has no concept for counting. The tribe, called the Piraha, only have words for "one or a few" and "many." Researchers who have visited the tribe for the last 20 years, have tired several matching exercises or games, the peoples can only get comfortably up to about 3 and really struggle to get to 8-10. Another surprise was that these people have no concept for drawing, when asked to draw a straight line, many had to concentrate, and had to put great effort into the task. These are the only "defiencies" if you want to call them that, that these people have. The Piraha, is a tribe of about 200 that live in small groups of 10-20 and they have rejected modern Brazilian culture.
Cool Article 3: archaeologists have high hopes in finding a wrecked slave ship of the reefs of the Turks and Caicos Islands that sank in 1841. What is interesting about this wreck is that all 193 slaves made it off the ship and on the the island alive. The ship was enroute from Africa to Cuba, but probably crashed onto the reefs. British authorities found the slaves, jailed them for a time and provided food and clothing. By 1841, slavery was abolished by the British so the most of the newly freed slaves stayed on the island, those that stayed were contracted to work in the salt ponds for a year. It is believed that all current inhabitants of these islands are related to these freed slaved either through marriage or blood.
Cool Article 4: archaeologists have found wrecked ships off the island of Capri which is off the coast of Italy. Two ships are from the 1st century, they both contained amphorae, which are slender terra cotta containers that were used to transport goods. A third ship is from the 4th century also contained amphorea, which probably contained a popular fish sauce. (How they know that is beyond me.) Also found were medieval aged ships as well at WWII ships.

Well I was going to do one more but I'm tired of typing.

Last days of Freedom

Well today is Sunday, on Wensday school begins again. Actually school starts on Tuesday, but I don't have classed on Tuesdays or Thursdays, hurray! So on both those days I will be working freight in the morning, 5AM to about 12, then I can go home sleep for an hour then get up and do whatever needs to be done.
The month of September will be insane for me. From the 16th to the 21st, I will be near Bismark, ND for my field experience class. Then on the 22nd is my cousin Tammi's wedding, and I am the Matron of Honor. Oh and back up a little the 11th is Tammi's Bridal Shower and that night is her Bachlorette party (Britta is that date good for you?) I think the weekend after we get back from field and Tammi's wedding is another geology field trip that I signed up for, I needed one more credit to be full time. That should be it for the craziness, then of course add in any tests/quizzes that could take place during that time period. Lets see, the rest of the semester..Well in November, Justin and I will be driving out to Denver for the yearly meeting of Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. We'll meet up with some our Dino friends again, so it will be a big party. AHH I laugh just thinking about it, last year some days we were in the bar by 4:45, it takes a lot of brain energy to listen and then understand some of the presentations, so when we can take no more a drink is desperately needed. Thankfully, this year we're all sharing rooms in the hotel that the convention is at so we don't have to worry about driving back to our hotel like we did last year.
Well those are the major events going on this semester with me, hopefully I'll beable to keep my sanity.

The car drama continues

Well yesterday, I still hadn't recieved the copy of my title from Wells Fargo so it was time to call them again. This time I actually talked to someone who didn't blow me off, with a "it'll be there in a day or two." This person actually wanted to help me! It was found out that for some reason, that my title wasn't sent to my address it was sent to my old address. Why would that address even be in the system? I called them and updated my address when i moved into my present place, so shouldn't they have erased the old address? So that piece of mail is probably lost in the big mail room in the sky...where does lost mail go anyways? Well, so the nice man on the phone said he would mail me a new one...sigh..have to wait longer now.

In Memorium

For those of you who went to Hazen High School, here is some news. Last Sunday, I think it was the 8th, Lauren Moye's mother, Sarah died. My family went to church with the Moye's so I guess we probably know them better, but Dustin is good friends with the twins, Marvin and Mallory. Dustin today(Saturday the 14th) flew out to Seattle for the funeral, he will be gone until Wensday. She died while running a marathon in Canada, Dustin told me that she had a massive heartattack, she died in her husbands arms.
I'm not sure what else so say, other than rest in peace.

Woo hoo, goal reached!

Well I did it folks, I had set my goal for 20 thank you notes and they are now accomplished. Just the notes are written, I have not done the envelopes..too lazy to look them up right now, but thats still pretty good right? Oh and sorry Britta, didn't mean to confuse you but today the paperback to The Order of the Phoenix came out, the hardcover came out a year ago. And yes, you will get you "darn thank you note." lol

Wanted: Motivation

Oh today was a happy day when I watched Brian stock the shelves with the new paperback Harry Potter book. I got it really cheap too, Target sells all their book for I think 30% lower than the suggested retail price, plus then I got the additional 10% off employee discount. Life is sweet. But I have decided not to start reading my new book until I finish all the wedding thank you notes. Cruel I know, but I need motivation, they have been sitting on my floor for two months now and I really need to get working on them. So Harry Potter will be my reward for getting all the evil notes done. I think I need to set up a goal for everyday. Maybe that would make it easier for me. I am not doing this all myself however, I am making sure that Justin will help me and write some of the notes. Ugh I can't wait to have them done.

Here is Simon our cat. He is inside my sleeping bag which is called the "Cat's Meow."  

Why are days off so short?

Well today I had my must anticipated day off. To make it even better, Justin had it off as well. So we started our day at about 10:30 with making some yummy breakfast on our new skillet. It was a wedding present, that we hadn't had time to use it yet. We were in the process of making hashbrowns and bacon, and watching Harry Potter 2, when we heard a strange noise. Justin said, "is that the fire alarm?" Sure enough, I opened our door and was deafened by the blaring siren of the fire alarm. I was slightly disturbed that we couldn't hear it very well with the door closed, what if there was a fire at night? I sleep very soundly, I'm not sure if i would wake up. So anyways we turned off and unplugged out skillet quickly and i grabbed out cat carrier and we threw Simon in, which he protested greatly. We hurried out of the building, and i was also disturbed with the fact that no one else was outside. While heading out of the building we could not smell anything, so I was sure it was a false alarm. True enough, there were carpenters on the 2nd floor working inside an apt and somehow set the alarm off. Why weren't there anyone else outside? It was a Monday, so i suppose most people at work, but we couldn't have been the only people at home? I think it's very dangerous to assume it's just a false alarm and just stay in because it's cold.
Well other news, today Justin and I bought our own car insurance. Another big step in married life accomplished. We also got renters insurance because if we purchased some other insurance along with our cars' we would get a 10% discount on the car insurance. So now I do feel better knowing that if something happened to our apt, most of it can be repaid.
I also finally got some coffee for my espresso machine, we went to Cash wise and got some organic coffee that i had tried at Britta's. So I was excited to get home and finally try out my espresso machine, it was really good, so I'm thinking of making some before I go to work tomorrow and drink it on my way. Lord knows I could use an energy boost at 5am.
Last night we had quite a surprise. We were watching TV and we heard some booming noises outside. We at first thought it was thunder because storms were suppose to go through the area. Justin went out onto the balcony, and told me to come out and see something. Somewhere out in West Fargo a professional fireworks show was going on. It was absolutely beautiful to watch, it lasted maybe 20 min. I don't know what it was for, but it was a nice treat.

Not much going on here

Well it's been a few days since my last post so I just thought I'd write a bit to catch up with what is up with me.
Well I STILL do not have my car. I had to call Wells Fargo and asked them to mail me a copy of my title. So now I am waiting impatiently for that because I miss my car so very much.
The other day at work I was looking at next weeks ad, and I noticed that the latest Harry Potter book is finally coming out on paperback! Woo hoo, I said, not only is it going to be on sale but I will use my discount.
I recieved an email from my friend Alyssa, she is a dino camp friend, any ways she is coming through Fargo around the 15th. So that will be exciting, we always have fun ganging up on Jusitin and making fun of him. Poor boy.
Well not much else is happening, i'm extremely tired, I had a long day atwork today. Take care.

Why does this happen to me?

Today I worked from 7am to 1pm. That part was ok, I survived. The crappy part was that I got harassed at the very end of my shift. This guy walks up to me probably late 20's and wants to know where the walkmans are. That's right, walkmans. So I show him and he gets cranky that we only have two different kinds. He says he likes tapes because they don't scratch. Anyways, suddenly he says, " Now don't slap me when I say this, but you have a really nice ass. They look really good in your khakis." I'm sure all I did was just look at him with a strange expression on my face, and I think i said "ok." So I'm trying to get away from him, but he keeps asking more questions. Finally he starts to walk away, but quickly turns around and whispers to me.."Oh you see that girl?" (Points to my co-worker Kari) "Now she doesn't' have a nice ass like you do." I'm totally floored at this point, so he starts walking away again and walks past the electronics counter and loudly says "I wonder if someone can check me out here?" Sigh..Since no one else is around, that would have to be me. So of course he stands at the counter opposite that of the register so my back is too him while im ringing his stuff up. While I'm doing this I'm super paranoid and self conscious so i was trying to find some way to twist my self so my back wasn't facing him. When I'm done checking him, I'm basically done with my shift and race up front. There I found out I wasn't the only one being bothered. I guess when he first walked into the store, he went to the customer service counter and pulled two beers out of some bag he had and asked if Matt (the dude at the service counter) could hold them for him. Strange. So I got the hell out of there, and on the way home at stopped at the Home Depot (Justin works there) and told him. That's when Justin said "well did you tell your manager?" Umm well, totally forgot about that part. It would have been quite satisfying to get him get escorted out.

Dino Dig

I have posted some of my favorite pictures from our Dino Dig this summer. Hope you like them!

Ok, so every week we have hat night. On hat night certain people are highlighted and given hats for things like best find, safty concious, person who found squat. This year everybody recieved at hat for something. I dont remember any of our "rewards" but i have a moose hat, Justin has a female viking hat, Steggy has a bear hat and Leah has an Apatasaurus that roars on her head. 

Alyssa "Steggy and Leah at Egg Roll site. These are my two buddies, camp would sure be less entertaing at night..and less blurry haha 

This was a really hot day, so we grabbed a plastic tub, filled it with ice and dunked our feet in occasionally. The shock of the ice was so cold that we could only have out feet in there for seconds at a time but man did it cool us down. 

Austin and "Wiz" 

Justin & I on top the butte next to camp. 

I hate the DMV

Argh, well as you can probably tell from my title..I've had a extremely stressed day.  I have been trying for the last week to get new plates for my car.  I received my drivers license with ease, in North Dakota, no tests are needed to switch woo hoo!! Strangely, the drivers license place and the plates place are in totally separate buildings in different parts of town. Does this make any sense?  No of course not.  So anyways, after I had so easily gotten my license I was in high spirits of getting my plates no problem.  See I can't drive my car until i get my plates because my tabs are way expired by now.  So my poor car is sitting at my parents place, because Dad fixed some things on her.  Well I get to the plates place and the lady tells me that all I need to switch over is proof of insurance, cause that'll have my car info on it and the address and phone number to the bank that has my title.  Ok i say and I have dad mail me my insurance info that was in my car.  So I received it in the mail, and today Jusitn and I went there to get this finished up so we could drive to mom and dads so we could do laundry and get my car.  So I bring the stuff with me to the DMV, and what happens?  The lady tells me I have the wrong stuff.  I need my title... how that can be since I'm still paying my car off...i don't know.  So I guess I was suppose to receive it from Minnesota, so they sent me to the Minnesota DMV.  At the MN DMV, they had no idea why we were sent there.  I went home and called the ND DMV, and just said I"m moving in from another state, what do i need? This person said, registration and you're banks address and phone number.  ARGH!! This better be correct, because if I go and it's not, someone's getting a piece of my mind.  I have been without my wonderful car for way to long.  I hope this goes well......

Oh the butchering of my new last name begins!!

Well it's official, I just had to deal with somebody on the phone that could not say Costa Rica properly.  Like it's that hard, I mean it's a friggin country for cryin' out loud.  But no, see Justin's car has a cracked windshield so i'm waiting around for the guy to show up to replace the glass.  So the phone rings and I answer and I hear, "hello? Mrs...Mrs Costa?"  It sounded like phonetically..cost-a insead of coast-a.  Sigh..I'm going to have to put up with this for the rest of my life.

All hail the cleaning queen!

Whew! I'm tired!  I had to work this morning from 5am-10am..yes you are reading this right.  Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are days that our stores gets our freight so there is a special team that comes in on these days to just put away the freight onto the shelves.  I decided to do it because of two reasons 1)It pays more than working the floor and 2) I'm done super early, I go home take a nap for an hour and I'm ready to go.  So when I got home today I chilled for a bit on the couch, made some lunch, wrote the previous blog and surfed the web.  For some reason, Justin saying "I'm going to the garage to clean it up a bit," got me into this crazy cleaning mode.  I cleaned the bathroom, some of the kitchen and the living room.  When I get into this cleaning frenzy, Justin usually avoids me because nothing he does will appease me.  He'll always be in the way, his junk's all over the place and for some reason he always starts to get affectionate and tries to hug and kiss me and I'm like "get off, I'm trying to clean here." I even balanced our joint account checkbook, geeze I'm good.
So I think for the rest of the evening I'm going to work on putting more wedding pics in my Yahoo on-line photo album, and probably watch a movie or two. 

Week 2 of dino camp

Ok so for week two I was nicely medicated, i went to the doctor on my day off...Not a fun thing to do.  But I got on some meds to help my ear infection go away.  We waited around the science center again at school for the new peoples to show up.  Again there were a couple returnees but this week we had a larger group of new people.  All the new people were great and most were very enthusiastic and had no problem putting up with daily changes of what we were going to do/go.  We only worked on the main egg site one day, just to see what was going on there and what was coming out.  A really cool crushed egg was found, the rock was split through the middle of it so you could follow the egg all the way around.  Most eggs we find are not like that..Just lines of broken egg, which is fun to find also but not as exciting as a whole one. 
what's interesting about working with dino eggs, is that it's the crushed eggs that you want to find, not the nice round eggs that you see in museums.  It has been found that embryo bones are found in the crushed eggs and not the whole round ones.  What the thinking there is that if the egg is not crushed then inside the egg is a very acidic micro-environment which would then probably eat away at the bones.  But when the egg is crushed, all that fluid leaves, which then improves the chances of the embryonic bones to be preserved.  Pretty neat huh?
The rest of the week was spent traveling to various sites and surface collecting to see what had eroded out during the winter and to see what sites needed collecting/excavating permits for next summer. 
Camp life was a lot more fun this week because everyone was not doped up on cold/allergy meds like they were the previous week.  So we all stayed up later, had terrific bonfires and drank awhole bunch.  unfortunately the rattlesnakes also refused to leave us along.  We had two in camp that week.  One was while we were eating dinner, it was right next to one of the picnic tables (thankfully not the one i was sitting at), and the second was right next to the showers, both were being occupied at the moment so it was a very tense few minutes there while they were freaking out in the showers waiting for someone to come down and kill the snake. 
Oh and yes Rayna, we sleep on the ground.  Not like in the open air..Just you and the stars but in tents.  What was kinda frightening though was that many tents come with a vestibule which is a part of the rain fly that extends over the door, making a little entry way into the tent.  That would have been a perfect place for a snake to be hanging out in, so when ever I approached my tent i would kick the rain fly all around to make sure there were no surprises inside.
Of course on the last research day, we were scouting around a site when one of the staff members, Austin, found a turtle sticking out of a butte wall.  So we didn't have an excavation permit for that site, so we sadly had to leave it there.  Vickie was going to go back and plaster up the  side of it, to prevent any more deteriation so hopefully we'll beable to get back to it next summer with a permit.
The last two night for our "Herd" (Justin, I, Leah, Alyssa and new member Austin) was pretty big drinking nights.  We just had to finish up everything we bought before the end of camp, so we all sat around the fire and drank until either the bugs or the cold got to us. 
In the end, this was a fabulous vacation..no one was totally obnoxious, the weather was actually descent for once, and we found some pretty cool stuff. 
I only have a few pics left in my last point-and-shoot camera, I'll get it on CD and get a few of them on here that best illustrate life at dino camp.

Back safe and sound

So I'm back in wonderful Fargo, ND....sound sarcastic? Yeah just kinda.  I had a great time in Montana so I'll try to fill you all in.
Week 1:
Justin and I arrived to Havre, MT three days early to help with the set up of camp.  Our friend Alyssa or "Steggy" was already there.  So for three days the three of us helped Vickie and her husband Greg get ready for and set up camp.  Our other friend Leah arrived on Thursday, the day before camp started.  Camp started Friday, with the four of us waiting at the school, waiting for all the campers to arrive.  Everyone were returnees except two.  The two new people Elaine and Glen were cool, they both came by themselves and like everyone else were fasinated with dinosaurs.  Elaine had been on other digs, mostly archeology digs including a ten day tour of the Egyptian pyramids. 
Well there is also another new person, Stephen, Vickies cousin, brought his niece Tristany or Wiz along.  Wiz is 11 and her nickname is dead on.  Not like a braty know it all, but a very wise little girl.  It was amazing just to listen to her talk.  If only i could describe her better.  And she was dynamite at finding fossils, not big ones, but tiny teeth and bones.  Her family owns a ranch in southern Montana, and it's on the Hell Creek formation which is known for its fabulous dinosaurs like T.rex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus.  So lets just say that she's had lots of practice.
The first day of camp was just setting up tents and getting everyone adjusted to camp life.  The second day was getting people to understand the local geology of the area, and getting them adjusted to looking for fossils.  We took them on a mini-hike around the buttes right around camp and set them loose in the fossiliferous areas.  What was really cool about this was that we found some plant fossils.  For some reason this area did not preserve plants well.  What we found was a metasequoia branch.  Pretty cool stuff.
While on our way back into camp, Leah, Alyssa and I were walking though some tents and someone shouted out "Rattle Snake!"  We had all walked right by it.  Very scary and very dangerous.  Camp policy is that if there is a snake in camp we have to kill it.  Rattlesnakes are very territorial and so if we just shoed it out then it would just come back.  So Stephen took off it's head with a shovel, and I think Glen got the rattle. 
The rest of the week flew by, with the exception of me getting sick.  Yes in the middle of summer, while camping I get a cold and an ear infection.  Ugh those last couple days of camp were pretty hazy, I was so out of it I could barely concentrate on fossil collecting.  So the last half of the 1st week was pretty crappy, but everyone had a good time, not too many good finds.  We were at one site just seeing what was coming out of ground, we think found a piece of skull of something but it was pretty fragmented so we just covered it up and hoped it will be back there next year when Vickie can get an excavation permit. 
We got one night off inbetween the two weeks.  So the four of us shared a room at the best western, which was where I posted last time.
Well I'm tired of typing already so perhaps tomorrow I'll continue on. 

One week down..one to go!

Well hello, I am at Best Western right now in Havre, Montana.  We wrapped up week one today and are starting week two tomarow so today we're enjoying modern devices that we usually take for granted like flushing toilets, air conditioning and soft beds.  Much has happened this week and I am looking forward to telling all about it when i'm back home.  Take care, and hope for no more rattlesnakes for week 2!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!! Well what's left of it at least, it's 11:30pm and I'm still up. I got home from a tiring 8 hours at work (time and a half baby!) at 3:30, layed down at 5:30 and got up at 7 so now I'm basically wired. Justin has to work at 5am so he's fast asleep. I watched fireworks from my 3rd floor balcony, so i got to watch peoples fireworks and I also watched New Yorks fireworks show on TV, loved the show but could have done without the music, i like watching fireworks in silence. Kinda bummed though because we were suppose to go home today to my parents house, but justin switched shifts to the 5am so there went that idea. On mom and dads property they have a pretty good sized hill that when at the top, it over looks Lake Lida. So from the hill top you can see all the rich people at their lake cabins shooting their expensive fireworks off.
This may be my last blog for at least two weeks. On Tuesday morning, Justin and I are leaving for our yearly dinosaur dig in Havre, Mt. This link goes to our dino dig site, unfortunately the pics are old so Justin or I are not in any of them but it will give you a good idea of what we do. This will be our 6th year going, and probably our 4th year as staff. The actual camp doesn't start until next weekend i think but, there's always a lot of set up work to be done and we're the closest staffers and we drive so we can get out there a lot quicker than our California and new york friends/staffers. When we get back I'll definitely have to post a few pics so you can see just how beautiful the badlands are.
For wedding presents, we received a new sweet tent and two new sleeping bags, so it will be fun to try all this new stuff out. In the middle of the week sessions we will be back in town and have internet access so hopefully i will try to post a quick word on how things are going but no promises. I hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July.

Update on Utah post

Well this is just great. I just read a follow up article on the Fremont Indian settlement site in Utah. Hikers have already made it into the sites and have already started taking things. Yeah sure maybe now it's just an arrowhead, but they'll talk and tell people and show pictures which will get more people who don't care about science and will just "take one thing" pretty soon the whole damn place will be destroyed before any more work can be done. Argh...Ok i feel much better now, just had to vent for a moment.

Ahhh Midwest summers!

Oh how I love the Midwest in the summer time! Right now as I'm typing this blog I am sitting on my balcony, making use of our wireless card. It is almost 8pm and it's still perfectly light out, still nice and warm with a gentle breeze. The rest of the year I'm not a big fan of the Midwest, especially winter. It's probably best I did not know of blogs then, because every day would have been blogs loaded with four letter naughty words about the cold and wind. But lets not talk about such unpleasentries.
I just finished watching the Princess Bride, oh I love that movie. I even have the "special edition" so it has pretty recent interviews of most of the original cast. They had a whole part of that interview dedicated to Andre the Giant, I don't think anyone else could have played the part of Fessik(sp?) Ah, watching that movie gets me in a happy romantic kinda mood, it almost gets me to want to put my wedding dress back on and feel like a princess again....almost. Today I've also been watching the 4th season of South Park, which was released yesterday. That's got to be one of the funniest cartoons around. Yes it's foul, but those are the funniest dang 4th graders, its just too bad that we don't have cable, I miss the cable channel so badly!
The quest of changing my name continues. I'm waiting for my new social security card to come in the mail, so I can finish changing the name at work and at school. I also found out that I never had a real birthcertificate also, so I had to pay $7 to get a new one shipped to me, so that'll take forever. I just wish that like at the signing of the papers at the wedding *poof* all the name stuff would be changed. OH well.
Well I just got off the phone with my friend jenny, to those of you who knew me in high school, you may have known Jeni. She was a grade up from me, and we lived next to eachother. Anyways she is 9 months pregnant and due on Friday. Good luck Jeni!
Well I'm rambling now, so it's time to end this. Later!

Awesome discovery in Utah

I read a great article on Yahoo news about an ancient Indian settlement found in Utah. The rancher who owns the land has been keeping the settlement protected by placing gates at both ends of the canyon that the settlement lies in and has kept this site virtually unheard of. Here in this canyon is a settlement from the group named Fremont, there were standing structures, items like arrowheads and pottery all over the ground and perfectly preseved mummies. I think that it is absolutely amazing that 1) that he was able to keep people out of the area so well 2) was able to keep the place quite to keep the looters out and 3) didn't sell out, by letting some collector come in and destroy the place. He sold his ranch to the San Francisco Trust for Public Land. Now hopefully that basically the whole world knows about this site, that it will still beable to be kept intact. I'm just worried that looters will find a way in. Archaeologists have barely started working on the site yet, they said that there is so much stuff/buildings on the surface that it will take them quite some time to document all of that before they even start excavating.
While on the same subject here is something I forgot to bring up while I was talking about my Honeymoon. We were walking around in the Luxor, and we walked into a store that had replicas of egyptian statues and other such stuff. Well They had about three glass cases full of stuff so I started looking and here these were real ancient egyptian artifacts! One was full of coinage, then the other two were full of small statues, necklaces, braclets and some other small things. Now there were signs in each case saying that these were all purchased legally and that both the U.S and Egypt allowed these artifacts to be put up for sale. But it just seemed wrong, sure maybe these are common items found but there are probably some smaller museums around the world that would love to incorperate some egyption atifacts into thier collection.

Britta, Tammi (in more comfortable clothing) and I. 

Kris and I jammin' to the music. 

Justin & I on our wedding day, June 12th, 2004 

The Wedding day

Hey, so I said that I would talk about "The big day" so here we go.
The wedding day was Saturday, June 12th but everything started on Friday. I checked into the hotel room that the girls and I would be staying in for the night, then mom and I headed for Herbergers where we met Britta for a makeup consultation. After the makeup lady made us look fabulous we went to the park and did a quick test run of how the wedding would go. That went great and then we headed to a restaurant for the grooms dinner. We had pizza, and drinks and had lots of fun. My fams old neighbor Jim from WA was there and he made two embarrassing posters of pictures of me and pictures that I had made him.
Us girls, me, michelle, tammi, and Britta headed back to the hotel not long after the boys left. We headed to AppleBee's which was right next to the hotel and I preceded to have too many Long Island Ice Teas. Our friends from the dino dig, Brad and Peggy showed up, Leah, another dino dig friend, had shown up earlier that day. The guys left at midnight and we left soon after. Tammi ended up staying in Martys room, and Britta conked out right away. So that left Michelle and I, we both couldn't sleep so we ended up staying up till about 3. The alarm went off at 7am, and we were up and out the door. We ate at the yummy continental breakfast, mom picked us up and we got purtied up at the makeup counter and at the hair salon.
We were almost late for pictures, YIKES! But we made it it, pictures were fun but I don't remember awhole lot. The day was absolutely gorgeous, fluffy clouds, bright sun. There was a slight wind that occasionally turned into gusts, but that's ok, it kept the bugs away. Right before the ceremony all these dragonfly just seemed to come out of no where and were flying about. After the wedding someone told me that dragon flys are considered a sign of happiness, hurray! The wedding was so emotional for me. I was trying not to look at my cousin Tammi, cause when ever I did I would almost start to cry. I finally did cry when we were reading eachother our vows, even Justin cried! That I was amazed with, I don't think I've ever seen him cry before.
Justin & I ushered everyone out of their seats, so we were able to say hello to everyone then everyone lined up and we ran through the group as they through little hearts at us. (Don't worry, I made sure that they were environmentally friendly) There was a limo waiting for us in the parking lot, the groomsmen and bridesmaids all piled in first then we got the back seat. By then it was about 3, and we didn't' have to be at the reception until about 5, so we had a gorgeous ride around lakes country. Not everyone had their ID's on them so we couldn't stop anywhere for a drink, but we were really hot so we stopped at Dairy Queen instead, Michel bought cones for all the girls and someone bought for the boys. I loved the limo ride, but I'll tell ya my dress was not made to be sat in. The top of my dress was very fitted and tight, plus I had a body bra thing underneath that, holy buckets, I could barely breath cause the side of the dress we bunched in. Yikes did that hurt. So after the fun limo ride, we arrived at the Eagles Club in Fergus Falls where the reception was going to be held.
The dinner didn't start for another half hour so some of the fam was just milling around making sure everything was set up and ready to go. Dinner was really yummy....Well at least the small portion that I was able to fit into my stomach. Lets see we had porkchops and stuff, mashed potatoes, corn, salad and the yum cake my aunt Beckie made. There were a lot of good toasts given, especially by Britta and Michelle who did the "Costa Rica" dance in front of everybody.
The dance was absolutely fabulous, the DJ's were amazing. Justin and I danced too KC and Jojos (I probably spelled that wrong) "all my life" oh it was so fun, but that song was way longer than I remember. I suppose it's that justin and I never got any dance lessons, so we were basically slow dancing like how we did at high school dances. Just hold eachother and kinda rock back and forth LOL. We played lots of fun games, the DJ had Jason (bestman) and Tammi (maid of honor) spill change all over the floor. This game was to see what justins cleaning abilities were like. He was then given a broom, and I got to sit in the middle of the floor holding a hat to throw the change in. I think justin had about 3 min. and boy was it funny to watch him scramble about trying to sweep up the change. We also did the dollar dance, which I had a longer line than Justin hehe. The garter game was absolutely hilarious, it was played in a way I was not familiar with and it's too complicated to explain, all I can say is that my 2 year old ring bearer Kyle ended up winning the garter. Since he was too young to take the garter himself, Justin ended up doing it...With his teeth. I have to give Justin major props because I was wearing major clunky shoes and I never thought he would get it around my heel! I have some great pics of that from Britta, so I will have to post a bunch.
The night ended around 11pm when the DJ was done, but by then I was so tired and my feet hurt that I was looking forward to bed. That was the most wonderful night, I was surrounded by people who loved me and that was just the best feeling ever.

Honeymoon Adventures part 2

The flights from Vegas to Lake Tahoe went pretty well. I had window seats so Justin leaned over me and we looked at the geology of the area. Unfortunately, most of the Sierra Mtns were covered by clouds, but we did get to see some of it and it was absolutely gorgeous. It was really bizarre though cause on the Vegas side the mountains had hardly and vegetation on them. I am used to looking at the Rockies and seeing tall pine trees, but here it was totally dry and barren. Once we got to the other side there was more vegetation but still not a lot.
Renting a car was quite the adventure. Apparently since we're not 25 we are not responsible so it took a few trys to find a car rental place to take us. Our car is a 2004 Dodge Stratus, very nice and lots of kick which we needed to get up to the house. There are a lot of sharp corners and steep inclines, all at night unfortunately so we had quite the time trying to find the house.
Once found, we settled into this gorgeous house and fell asleep. Today we explored Stateline (yes that is the name of the town) Not surprisingly we are right next to the California border. Stateline has lots of fun casinos, but just being in Vegas, I'm kinda casinoed out. So we explored a lot of the strip malls today, taking in the local feel. We found the rock shop of the area and got some cool stuff, plus a thank you present for Brad and Peggy whose house we are staying in.
Well I think we're off to see a movie..Harry Potter 3. I think next time I'll try to write about the actual wedding.

Honeymoon Adventures

So here I am in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. We got in last night around midnight. But before i get talking about Tahoe, i'll start with Las Vegas.
We arrived in Las Vegas on monday evening. We took a cab(my first cab ride ever) and we're pretty sure he took us the long way to the Luxor. Checking in was a hastle because even though there were like 10 check in lines there were still many people waiting in line. Our room was pretty cool. Since we were in the pyramid, instead of the tower we had a sloping wall and sloping windows. But unfortunatly no cool view, all we had was a wall and the Manalay Bay towers, but thats ok cause we were hardly in our room. We had only gotten about 6 hours sleep total the last two days, so we passed out around 6:30 and didn't wake up again until 6am! It was much needed rest, and i felt so energized I wish i could sleep that well all the time! So on tuesday, we ate breakfast at the Paroh's (i know thats spelled wrong) Pheast buffet, way yummy. Then we walked "The Strip" for about the next 5 hours. We hit almost all the major hotels/casinos. My favorite was of course the Bellagio, which is where the stars and majorly rich people stay. They had an amazing botanical garden, and a sweet wave pool and a ride kinda like the river ride at Wild Waves in Washington. The Strip was cool, but it was really dirty, there were cards everywhere on the side walks. In Las Vegas, prostitution apparently is legal as long as they are registered at get regular STD checkups, so at night these guys stand on the strip and hand out these trading card size cards with a picture of one of their girls and a phone number. Ugh it was really disgusting. They were not our during the day when we were walking about, but there were guys trying to get you to pay $500 for some kind of tour and dinner. The weather was absolutly gorgeous, 100 degrees everyday and very dry. At night we saw the Blue Man Group at the Luxor. We were way in the back, but could still see perfectly which is a must since the tixs were $100 per seat. The show was too amazing for words, afterwards justin and I got to take a picture with one of the blue men. If i can figure out how to do pics, i'll try to post it later. Wensday we just bummed around the Luxor, Excaliber, and Mandaly Bay since all three were connected by trams. We had caricatures done of us, dressed as egyptions. We left via taxi around 3, he went a much shorter route and we only paid half of what we paid on the way there.
Well i'm getting anxious to get outside and enjoy the mountains, so maybe tonight i will continue my story!

So it begins

Oh so the real stress begins. I have been home since yesterday and i've been doing so much stuff, that i'm allready worn out at 10pm. Well Dad is watching Return of the King, so hopefully i'll time to write tomarow.

This site makes me sick

Well I just found this site, just a minute ago and it just makes my sad. I discovered the site on a banner for my blog. So i clicked to see what it was all about. This is a site devoted to selling museum quality dinosaur eggs and fossils. I'm going to quote the awsome Indiana Jones, "This belongs in a MUSEUM!" I go on a dinosaur dig every summer, and we dig hadrosaur eggs so to see these beautiful specimins on SALE, where they will be put into a private collectors collection is Disgusting. Yes I bet they are quite the conversation piece, but scientifically they are so important! But now that they are out of the ground, probably poached no less, they are worth zilch. Yeah this site lists where they are found, but only a broad region. In the ground, these eggs could have revealed so much information, distances between nests, the numbers of eggs in a clutch, paleoecology, how large the nesting area was, how many nesting horizons there are, oh a paleontologists dream! It looks like all these come from China, which is not much of a surpise. The finds that have come out of that area are amazing. But it is also thought to be a forgery factory. Remember awhile ago National Geographic has on its cover the missing link fossil from reptile to bird. This fossil had come from China. Soon after the publication, it was discovered to be fake. It was two different fossils stuck together.
This is not an uncommon practice. Our geology club every year has a rock sale right before christmas break. The trilobites we get are usually a joke. Eyes will be added on, or this shiny mother of pearl stuff will be added, but people still buy it. My fiancee and I were at the Science Museum in Saint Paul for Society of Vertebrate Paleontolgy last fall and we were in the gift shop looking at their amazing specimins of trilobites for sale (which i'm not a fan of either)And next to us we found out was a man who studied trilobites for a living, he said that more than half of the trilobites in the case had been altered in some way to make them more appealing to buy.
I'm not saying its wrong to own fossils, or I would be the biggest hypocrite out there. The dig that my fiancee and I go on every year allows for some collecting. At the end of the dig we all go to places called micro-sites, these places were once rivers. In the cutbanks the water would slow and things that were too heavy for the water to support fell. Some of the things collected at micro-sites are fish scales (especially in our area, Gar scales), bone fragements, shark teeth, fish bones, some carnivore teeth, and hadrosaur teeth, and more. So we have quite the collection, but none of these things are very important. Important stuff, like hadrosaur eggs stay with the Vickie, the paleontologist.
Well i'm still angry but i feel better. I may continue this later, depending on how much more i think about it.

5 days and counting

So the wedding nears. Geeze I hope i'm ready. All day my mind runs with lists, people to call, honeymoon packing, stuff that i need for the wedding, things that need to be picked up still, on and on. OH why didn't we do a destination wedding? I wouldn't mind getting married by Elvis or on a beach with flowers in my hair. No i had to take the long and painful way, to please the family and to get more presents (horrible isn't it?) I hope this is all worth it..Iknow marrying Justin is worth it, but all the extra stuff that goes along with it is sufficating. Only 5 days....then i'll be on a plane headed to Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. I can make it..only 5 days.

Alive and well

I survived the feared Bachlorette party! I barely even have a hangover..just a upset stomach. I had a really good time last night. Got to Brittas around 7:30, ate, drank and played an evil game that i was no good at so i ended up consuming many shots. We left for the bars at 10, I was adorned in a creative veil. By creative I mean, a viel made out of dino print fabric with condoms and suckers attached to it. Also attached to me was a sign on my back that said "Help Me" then listed prices for various things, $1 hug $1 sucker I think $3 condom and $3 kiss. I only made four dollars, 1 sucker and three hugs. OH well. So we went to various bars and ended up at the O.B to dance for the last hour. thankfully i didn't have to wear the veil while i was dancing. But i felt quite stupid with the sign on my back. OH i also had a little bouquet that was very cute that my cousin made for me.
In other news, my brother has just moved in down the hall from me. It's interesting knowing that he's so close. At least I'm not living with him....we would end up killing eachother. So he's living with his friend Stephanie, whos boyfriend is in basic training right now and will probably be sent to Iraq. So it makes things kinda interesting\confusing. Here at this apartment is Stefanie & Justin down the hall is Stephanie & Dustin. Dustin and Stefanie are brother and sister, and Dustin just told me that we're distantly related to Stephanie! Whew! did you get all that.

Should I be scared?

Well tonight is my bachlorette party. I am worried. What will my bridesmaids do to me? My maid of honor, is getting married in September and i'm her Maid of Honor, so she knows that whatever happens to me tonight, can come back to her doubled. But the other two dont have that worrry, so they have no fear. I am suppose to arrive at Brittas around 7 tonight, we're gonna eat, start drinking then do a bar crawl around downtown fargo. Plus tomarow my brother is moving across the hall from me and my parents are coming over. So i'm just going to have to grin and bear the hangover i will probably have and take whatever jokes i get about how horrible i look. I will try to report tomarow on how things went. Let the party begin!

Laundry at Mom's

Well yesterday I went home and took all three heaping baskets of laundry with me. Mom and I finished up alot of wedding planning, which is good considering it's in a week and a half. I took a walk around the yard today, we have a huge 45 acre property with rolling hill and small ponds or sloughs, so i went walking around and when i got back i found like 20 ticks on me! Yuck, ticks are the nastiest little things. Thankfully none of them were stuck in me yet they were still crawling around.
News in the Paleontology world, acouple footprints were found in Sweden, the first ever there, pretty neat!
Well i need to wake up in 6 hours for work, so i better go. Good night.

Hard workin' girl

Well I just finished my whopping 2 1/2 hour shift. A friend from work called and asked i'd take the first part for her. I figured it was a few extra bucks so why not? So now here I am on a Friday night with nothing to do, I would have something to do if i didn't have to work at 5am tomarrow. Yuck. It's nice starting early so i get off early but it seriously cuts into the social time.