Well, I was being a bit optimistic about spring last time. It snowed again yesterday, then turned into a whole lot of rain. I decided to go for my first outdoor ride of the season yesterday. It was raining when I was headed out the door, but my mind was made up and I'd gotten all dressed up for it. Took the XC bike out on a road ride. The rain quickly turned to snow, and I got quite cold and wet. My glasses fogged up, the wasted bearing in my rear wheel started making noise, and my legs felt like shit. Oh well. I only rode for about 45 minutes. I think the route I did was 12 miles or so, so pretty damn slow. But hey, it was cold and I'm out of shape...
Anywho, headed down to Kentucky on Thursday to go to my TWIN brother's wedding on Saturday. It's strange to me that I'm of marrying age now. I'm in no hurry to get married though. Kristen and I are having lots of fun together, so I don't think it needs to be complicated by marriage right now. I'll try to take a bunch of pictures while I'm down there.
I'm all set to go to geology field camp (how boring does that sound?) this summer. Now, all I have to do is pay. The hardest part. Not sure where the money is going to come from, but it's essential, since I don't get a degree without this field camp thing.
Still no news on grad schools yet. Well, nothing exciting. I've been accepted to 3 out of 4 so far, but none of those have decided about money yet. Except University of Montana, they say they have no money for little ol' me. Screw 'em. Mississippi State (where I grew up) seems the most likely. I'll keep y'all posted.
Not that anyone reads this yet.
I'm loving my car. Tried to go out in the snow yesterday and get a feel for the AWD, but I couldn't find a big open space to practice high speed turning and such. One thing I noticed though, if you start to oversteer (back end slides out), it's better to give it more gas than to let off the throttle. I'm dying to find some seldom-traveled roads so I can pretend like I'm a rally racer. Speaking of that, Petter Solberg is kicking ass this year, Loeb is having bad luck, Gronholm is grumpy and hating the Puegot 307 as usual. Rallying would be so much fun to get into, but it's way too expensive for me right now. Probably never will be able to build up a rally car... oh well. I'll probably lose interest eventually anyway. Though, I still haven't lost interest in bikes.
And speaking of bikes, my trials bike sucks, I need a new one. I'm too damn big for it. Speaking of too damn big, according to the BMI in my nutrition book (for class), I am considerably obese. I know I've got a big belly, but I'm not obese. Argh. Aparently, someone 6'5" like me is supposed to weigh no more than 202lbs to be at healthy weight. Maybe if you live in Africa. I call bullshit. Regardless, I'm heavier than I'd like to be, and I'm working on it. Lack of places to ride is really getting to me.
Anywho, time for Geophysics. Yahoo.

random...

Well, it's official now, it's finally spring. Not just because the equinox has passed... the snow has finally begun to melt. Granted, there's still more than a foot in most places, but in other places you can see the luscious green grass. Actually, all you can see if soggy, smelly mud. Spring in Maine tends to be more about mud and bugs than about flowers and sunshine. But still, I'm very excited that it's warming up. Winter just gets me down after a while. I love snow, but you can get too much of a good thing...
Supposed to go bowling tonight. Geology students vs. faculty. Should be pretty stupid. Can't wait. I think this will be the fourth time ever to go bowling. I'm no good at it at all.
I've decided that I need to quit spending money before I have any. Not that I have credit card bills or debt (other than school loans), it's just that I think of all these wonderful toys I could buy if I just had the money. A touring bike, a new trials bike, a snow bike, stuff for my car, a sailboat, backpacking gear, bike tools, etc... there are so many fun things out there that I'd like to have. I need to stop dreaming and get in touch with reality. That reality probably involves starving my ass through grad school, hopefully followed by a well paying job, during which I'll continue to starve as I pay off my loans. The future looks bright.
Sometimes I wish I could just run away to a desserted island and live out my days eating mangoes and coconuts, living in my small bamboo shack. It's a difficult decision for me. Would I be happy living in isolation? Will I be happy working a regular job, with regular bills and responsibilities? I think the opportunity to choose came after highschool. I started off with the isolation (hiking the Appalachian Trail), but wound up going to college. Now I've got debt. So, I'm probably stuck going this direction with my life. Will it make me happy? Who knows. Once you choose one way or another, there's no turning back. Sucks you only get one go at life.

Class

I have class two days a week, Tuesday and Thursday. That might seem pretty slack, but I'm still taking 4 classes (2 online). The worst part of it is that I have an 8am class. That wouldn't be so bad if I were on campus, but since I commute from Waterville, getting up at 5 (in case it snows) sucks big time. Believe it or not though, I actually enjoy the class. It is Advanced Sedimentology, which is a more in depth look at the processes of erosion, sediment transport, geomorphology, mass wasting, etc. Probably sounds really exciting to you non-geology people out there (everyone), but it's what I enjoy most in geology. I couldn't care less about crystal structures of minerals, or direct/refracted seismic wave crossover points. Ah well, I guess it's what I need to be a well-rounded geologist.
Speaking of well rounded, I need to get some exercise. I've been riding my bike on a trainer in the basement all winter, but I'm really getting sick of sitting around going nowhere while my ass and dangley bits slowly get numb. It's almost spring, and I do detect a bit of it in the air, so maybe I'll be riding outside soon. I hope. I hopped around on the trials bike a bit yesterday. Everything is still covered up by snow of course, but trying to bunny hop into a vertical snowbank can be challenging too. I did that for so long my hands are still shaking, 12 hours later.
Bruce Schwab is speaking in Portland this weekend. I'd really like to go see that but I doubt I will. For those of you who don't know, Bruce became the first American to finish the Vendee Globe race. The Vendee is a nonstop, single-handed, around the world sailboat race. Bruce finished in 9th after 109 days or so. Pretty big accomplishment if you ask me.
Well, I've gotta go to class.

Hi

Here goes...
So, this "journal" is just going to be whatever I feel like sharing. If there's more you want to know, just ask. I'm going to just start from today.