Whop-Bang-Boom!

I suppose you all have heard by now... but...
Kristen and I have decided that it's best for both of us to not really be in a relationship together anymore. We've been together for nearly 3 years (in October) and since she was 17 and I was 21. We've decided it would do us both good to be on our own (sorta) for a bit to do some growing (hopefully not growing apart) up. We came together when I was miserable, and needed a friend very badly. She has become my best friend and more, and that hasn't changed. Now, we're going to try it out as being best friends without the relationship stuff. Truthfully, it's going to be hard to separate that out, since we'll still be living together for another year, besides the other obvious difficulties.
So, that's how things are for now. We're still living together, just not as a "couple". I don't think either of us will dating other people any time soon though. So instead of the original plan of me staying down here an extra year (since Kristen has 2 more to go), I guess I'll be looking for a job and entering the "real world" after this year is up.
This definitely changes a lot of things... my whole future plans I guess. Right now things are suprisingly alright. I'm pretty sure we'll always be friends, and who knows, maybe we'll end up together again in a couple years...
So don't worry about me, I'm doing fine, we're doing fine. I'll be alright. It could be much worse.

Zephyr a mutt no more?

Well, it appears we finally found out what kind of dog Zehpyr is, we think.
A friend sent some links about a breed called a Vizsla (pronounced "veesh-la"), which is a hungarian bird hunting dog. Aparently, it's the oldest pointing breed in existence. The descriptions of their behavior sure does seem to match hers. They usually crop their tails a bit, and I guess whoever had Zephyr before us didn't, thankfully.
What do you think?
Zephyr herself...


A Vizsla...


The only real difference seems to be that Zephyr's nose is darker than most of them. The color of her coat depends a lot on the lighting... not quite as red as the dog above, but darker than she looks in the pictures. Otherwise that dog above could be her...
Here's some info about the breed:
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/vizsla.htm
http://clubs.akc.org/vizsla/
http://www.vizsladogs.com/

Some cave pictures...

Finally, here's a couple pictures of some sea caves from San Salvador. There's lots more like this. Not bad eh?

Looking out onto the gorgeous grotto beach area...

Sea cave with a skylight. Found that hat in the garbage by the way... love it.

Surveying in action. We really got tossed around in some of these...

On another note, why are relationships so hard?

Long time...

It's been a while, so here's what's been going on...
- the bahamas were fun, lots of surveying, lots of caving (mostly sea caves), lots of rock sampling.
- it's ridiculously hot here this summer (100 as I write this), and we're something like 12" or so behind in rainfall
- yesterday was Kristen and I's 33-month anniversary. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (one of our first dates was seeing the first one), and ate at a Japanese restaurant. It takes a long time to eat a plate of rice with chopsticks.
- the new mountain bike is up and running. I like it a lot so far.
- the new apartment is about one-meelion-beelion times better than the old one.
- zephyr is a great doggy
- Kristen and I have been running together in the mornings, doing about a 3 mile loop. I really notice how my right leg is longer than the other... Kristen is fast too.
- The bike shop is the same as ever.
- I've got lots of school work to do
- It's really hot (did I mention that?)
- Can't seem to find any neat turtles anymore. I blame the construction.
- Oh, broke my wonderful camera whilst cave surveying, hopefully will be warrantied...
- Kristen is wonderful. :)