Oops

It's been way too long since I've written on this blog. Sorry.

Tomorrow I have the last two classes of the semester and then on Monday and Wednesday, I have finals. I'm in really good shape and could afford to blow off the finals a bit, but I won't (and I'm not sure that I'm even capable of that, anyway).

I had my first mineral identification test, so now I feel like a real geologist. I did well - though I'm not entirely sure that that means I know my minerals. We were given eight thin sections and had 15 minutes to identify and describe 4 minerals in each. So, for example, even if I described olivine, and there was olivine in the thin section, it may not have actually been olivine that I was looking at.

I leave for Florida in a week and three days. I bought myself a new camera to take with me. I've been wanting a digital SLR for a long time and last Saturday I went to the local awesome camera shop and tested out a couple of cameras. In the end, I left with a used Nikon D70, a 28-300mm Tamron lens (no image stabilization, though), a monopod, a camera bag and a memory card for under $700. I don't know if it was a good deal or not, and I'm wondering if it would have made more sense to get a package from Best Buy (Nikon D80 with a kit lens and extra lens for $700), but I think it'll do for now, considering I barely know how to use the thing.

I'm probably going to annoy everyone because I want to photograph everything. Last night, J and I took a walk and I ended up taking a couple of nice shots of him.

I'm planning on taking a class so that I can really get the most out of the camera.

Stuff from the last week...

I had to register for classes this morning, so the last week I've been in a panic, trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my education. Last Monday, I declared a double major in biology and geology, which has me fairly stressed out, but also sort of excited. I will have to take something like 4 lab courses a semester for a couple of semesters, but I think I can do it. Right now, I'm taking 2 lab courses a semester, working 40 hours a week and still maintaining a 4.0, so maybe my GPA will suffer a little, but it doesn't seem impossible.

Also, last week I was told I won an award in the geology department (yay!) for having the "highest grade point average in the Introductory Geology class." I will receive a set of geology field gear (hammer, compass, hand lens, field notebook) and my name will be engraved on a plaque that hangs in the Department Seminar room. So that is cool...because I've gotten awards for things I've not worked hard for, but never for something I have worked hard for.

I also set some new goals with my personal trainer. I have to do 10 "perfect" push-ups and at least one "perfect" dip within the next 6 weeks. And I have to keep working on the pull-ups. I reached my goal of 5, but now I have to do 10 by August.

So this morning, I enrolled in two courses for the fall: Organic Chemistry and Ecology and Evolution. Then, if it works out next spring, I'll take the second half of Organic Chemistry and Earth, Environments and Life Through Time, which is a lab course taken through the geology department.

Overheard in my biology class...

"Dude, we've been reading these books in my French class and I haven't been reading, so, like, I haven't really had anything to contribute to the class. So, I think I'm going to just skip French class today, since I didn't do the reading."

Apparently, Obama likes BSG, too...

A lot.

New Paleo Blog

Anthony Maltese, Curator for the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource center is starting a blog! You can find it here. Check it out!