New beginnings

Monday I'm moving into my new apartment. I'm so excited! I went there today to sign the lease and take a look at everything again.

The apartment is actually the 3rd floor of a private residence. My landlord, his wife, and their two teenage daughters live downstairs from me. They have a golden retriever named Buddy (he's really nice) and they live in a great neighborhood. I'm really looking forward to having my own place again and to getting to know these people better.

I've been having a tough time at work lately, but I think it's because of the stress involved with the break-up, house-selling, moving, and finances (paying mortgage + security deposit = not fun). Hopefully once I get settled in I'll feel better.

Today I'm going to Marquette to visit my brother Joe and his fiance, Mary. My parents (and Chico) are coming up, too, so it'll be fun to see everybody. And I'll finally get to meet Hay Zeus, the little cat. Meow!

Today's Lunch:
Subway - turkey and ham on wheat with provolone, heavy tomatoes, heavy green pepper, banana peppers and onion. Yum!

Ewww...

Wisconsin is in the news today.

Yes, the home of

• Ed Gein, the man from La Crosse whose erratic behavior inspired movie characters Hannibal Lector, Buffalo Bill, and Norman Bates
  
• Jeffrey Dahmer, the Milwaukee serial killer who kept his victims' body parts
  

has a new weirdo:

Bryan James Hathaway, necrozoophiliac from Superior

Here's the story (from yahoo):

SUPERIOR, Wis. - A 20-year-old man received probation after he was convicted of having sexual contact with a dead deer. The sentence also requires Bryan James Hathaway to be evaluated as a sex offender and treated at the Institute for Psychological and Sexual Health in Duluth, Minn.

The state believes that particular place is the best to provide treatment for the individual," Assistant District Attorney Jim Boughner said.

Hathaway's probation will be served at the same time as a nine-month jail sentence he received in February for violating his extended supervision.

He was found guilty in April 2005 of felony mistreatment of an animal after he killed a horse with the intention of having sex with it. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and two years of extended supervision on that charge as well as six years of probation for taking and driving a vehicle without the owner's consent.

Hathaway pleaded no contest earlier this month to misdemeanor mistreatment of an animal for the incident involving the deer. He was sentenced Tuesday in Douglas County Circuit Court.

"The type of behavior is disturbing," Judge Michael Lucci said. "It's disturbing to the public. It's disturbing to the court."

Scary!

Today's Lunch:
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with yellow mustard
Banana
Apple

Hair

On St. Patty's Day I treated myself to a good time. I went to see the musical Hair. Here is the description found in The Isthmus:

A ragtag bunch of hippies in New York protest the Vietnam War, freely love each other, get naked and take a multitude of drugs.

And yes, there were naked people. I was stunned. And I also realized that the female body is much more beautiful than the male body. Men's bodies all have the same shape, but women's bodies . . . they have more variety. No wonder people worship them!

There was a lot of simulated sex and drug-taking (including herbal cigarettes). There's a song titled "Sodomy." And there was a lot of singing and wonderful choreography. I really enjoyed the show.

Angry animals

Today is my last day of house-sitting for my coworker Janet. I fed her cat, Missy, right when I got up, then took a shower and got ready for the day. When I returned downstairs, she was meowing for more food. I wouldn't give her any more wet food, and she started to get mad and even hissed at me a couple of times. She was acting so different from the docile kitty I knew last night, who begged me to pet her and drooled all over my hand.

Then I needed to change the paper lining in the rabbit's cage. Fortunately, the rabbit doesn't make any sounds. First I needed him to go in his loft so I could change the paper without scaring him (rabbits are really nervous). So I put some of his favorite treats in the loft (stale bread, parsley, and celery greens), hoping he would go up there to eat them. After about 5 minutes he still hadn't gone up in his loft, but instead went into his little "bunny hideout," which is like a doghouse for rabbits. So I went ahead and changed his litter, then laid down some fresh newspaper in his cage. He just sat in his little bunny hideout watching me the whole time. Cool, right?

Well, not really. When I was finished, I turned my back for a minute, only to hear a ripping sound. He had grabbed the newspaper with his teeth and tore a big chunk out of it. I hurredly grabbed some fresh hay and placed it over the newspaper, and he retreated to his bunny hideout. He also tried to bite me a few times, not that it hurt or anything. To make up for scaring him, I fed him some parsley and celery leaves.

Today's Lunch:
Stair-walking with coworker at UW Hospital (288 steps!), then eating lunch there. Will probably eat beans and rice and a salad.

Palm reading

Dear Crystal,

Here is your personal palm reading! This will be a general reading of your palm, and what it says about you and your personality. Enjoy.

First let's take a look at your Life Line. You have the best kind of Life Line, long and clearly marked. This shows that you will possess good health, vitality and a very nice life expectancy. The wide swooping motion of your Life Line indicates strength, enthusiasm and an improved love life. The little lines you see extending upward from your Life Line are representative of your ability to recuperate. The little lines you see extending downward from your Life Line are indicators of your tendency to waste your energy. The island in your Life Line could indicate a period of hospitalization or some other kind of recuperation.

Now let's see what your Head Line had to say. Your Head Line is deep, long and straight, stretching across the palm. This indicates a logical and direct way of thinking. The straighter the line, the more realistic the thinking, and the deeper the line, the better the memory. Having your Head Line and Heart Line separated shows a love for adventure and an enthusiasm for life.

The last line we'll look at is your Heart Line. A slight disregard to the true meaning of love and its responsibilities are indicated by a Heart Line like yours that starts between the middle and index finger. You tend to easily give your heart away. Those little lines you see running downward from your Heart Line indicate disappointments in love.

You have a conical hand. This is often the type of hand shared by people who are more interested in theory than practice. This is the hand of the imaginative and creative spirit. Professions of people who share this type of hand usually include teacher, lawyer or artist.

We hope that gives you a little more insight into your personality, and your palm. Thanks for visiting us.

Your friend,
The OFE Palm Reader

Today's Lunch:
Peanut butter (natural) sandwich on whole wheat
Banana

Workplace diversity

The entire Forest Service is trying to improve its level of workplace diversity, so they're implementing some kind of policy. Our laboratory in particular has lost more than a few employees who were minorities, and from what I understand, it's because of how the laboratory operates. So now the lab's trying to find ways to keep minority employees around, and that includes people like me who are planning to leave.

I've been talked to by a couple of "important" people at our lab, and they're twisting my arm to stay. One of them said, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to convince you to stay here." The other thought I was "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" by leaving such a nice job. I don't feel that the work I do is of enough importance to be the main reason for keeping me around, but I get the idea they want me to stay so they'll look good on paper.

I'm offended by this. I don't like the idea of being "used" to make our lab and the Forest Service look diverse. Perhaps the laboratory could be more accepting of minorities, and then maybe they'd like to stay there.

Today's Lunch:
Atlanta Bread Company - turkey sandwich on wheat with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and mustard
Bag of chips
Pickle

Weekend in St. Louis

Last weekend I was in St. Louis, MO with Joe and Mary. They were going to attend a Team conference and I tagged along to hang out with them.

I went to The Team conference with them for about half the day, and then I couldn't take it any longer and had to leave. I respect Joe and Mary's decision to join, but it's not for me. The thing that really upset me was the emphasis placed on men to succeed, while their female partners just stood by for support.

While they were at their meeting, I did some exploring in St. Louis. I was looking for a place to kind of hang out and read a magazine, and I came across this gelato shop that had a cafe feel to it with magazines strewn about the windowsill. After I ordered my chocolate-hazelnut gelato, I chatted with the young man working behind the counter. He suggested I check out the City Museum, because they have a huge play area that's really fun. I was skeptical, but gave it a try. And I am so glad I did!

There were structures, inside and out, that were made with recycled materials like banisters, columns, and fences. You could crawl through tunnels, go down slides, climb around in an airplane (that was suspended in the air), and explore a castle. I remember climbing down a gigantic slinky, just going in a tight spiral for about twelve feet. I went down tubular slides, crawled into dark cubby holes, squished my body into a fetal position to get through little passageways. There were rooms displaying renovated architecture, aquariums, old bottles, pianos that people were randomly playing, ropes to swing on, and I could just go on and on. I think every town could use a park like this. It would certainly help with our country's obesity problem!






When we came back to Evansville, I had to pack up everything again because I am house-sitting for my co-worker, Janet, until thursday. Her house, which is in Madison, is amazing. She has collected so many neat pieces of furniture and pottery and trinkets, it seems like everywhere I look I see something new.

She also has a cat, Missy, who has the same croaky meow as Kitty. And she's taking care of her sister's rabbit, Rex. Rex is really cute when he eats because his little bunny nose moves up and down.

My dirty little secret

Not quite as juicy as my ANTM addiction, but still worthy of mentioning.

I'm a member of three professional societies, the Forest Products Society, ASHRAE, and the Society of Wood Science and Technology, a couple of which I've been a member for over 3 years. The main benefits of joining these societies is networking, which I never do, attending conferences, which we can't afford, and publishing articles in their journals, which I don't have the means nor motivation to do. Every month I receive copies of these journals, and that brings me to my secret:

I have never read a single one of them.

I've skimmed them before, or looked at the cover, but never actually paid attention to the articles. And today I finally threw all my back copies in the recycle bin. I figured I'd never read them anyway, and if I did, there are at least 5 copies of each floating around this building so I could easily access them.

(I pay membership fees to these societies with my own money, in case you were wondering.)

Today's Lunch:
Peanut butter sandwich (natural PB on whole wheat bread)
Fritos
Banana
Pear

Teamwork

I'm involved in the activities of various groups at work, such as the civil rights committee and Toastmasters. However, I've become frustrated with the utter lack of teamwork present in these organizations. For example, our Toastmasters group needs some more members, pronto. Today we spent about 15 minutes brainstorming, finding ways to get more members, and we came up with some really great ideas. However, nobody wants to actually follow through on anything. I mean, sure, we could hang up fliers at various businesses and drop off used Toastmaster magazines in doctor's offices. But is anyone actually going to do that? Highly doubtful. This is just a presumption, but I think the older members feel they've already done their time running around town and making phone calls and sending out letters, so they expect the younger people to do it. The younger people are in such short supply that there's way too much work for one or two people to do. It would probably take me 4 hours to hang up signs and posters just in the neighborhood, and frankly, I have better things to do.

The same goes for the civil rights group. I really enjoy being on the committee, but we only have five members and there's a total lack of support from 3 of them. The chairperson and I usually get things together, but it takes serious stalking to get help from the others. I think this would be taken care of if we sorted out who would do what beforehand, like at our meetings, but nobody showed up to our last meeting.

And last but not least, Forestettes. It's a social club that was originally limited to women (to counter the Forest Products Club, which was only for men), and now I'm the president. That was a huge mistake. We have about 6 committees, but no one wants to be a committee chair or member. My job last spring was to collect all the dues - isn't that the treasurer's job? When the holidays came around, I sent a message out asking if people wanted to organize the holiday party, but received no response. So we didn't have a holiday party. I sometimes feel that if I didn't do the work, it wouldn't ever get done. Grr.

I'm not saying this is anyone's fault or that I'm a martyr or anything. I realize that our employment numbers have dropped dramatically over the years, and there are less people to fill just as many shoes. But still - I can complain, can't I? :)

Today's Lunch:
Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with yellow mustard
Fritos

Africa, here I come!

I had a call with my recruiter today, and she mentioned a few Peace Corps forestry programs available in Africa. She didn't know any specifics; the list just said "forestry" and the month of departure. I'd be able to leave in November, December, or January. Africa? Forestry? This fall? Sounds perfect! I can't wait!

Now I just have to get one reference letter in, and then I can get nominated.

In case you're wondering what a nomination is, here's a summary of the Peace Corps process:

• Application, including 3 references and two essays (done)
  
• Interview with local recruiter (done)
  
• Recruiter thinks you are worthy of joining, so you get nominated to go to a general area at a general time and your application is sent on to Washington D.C.
  
• Medical and legal clearance (physicals, dental x-rays, vision exam, background check, etc.)
• Invitation - this is where the D.C. Peace Corps office sends you a letter inviting you to volunteer - it includes a specific location, date of departure, and description of the work you'll be doing
  

I'm pretty pumped. At this time next year, I could be living in Africa.

Today's Lunch:
Go to UW Hospital with coworker to walk the stairs and eat lunch.

Only 87??

I took this quiz at www.livingto100.com, where you can determine your life expectancy by answering some questions.

According to the website, I'll only make it to 87 years of age.

All right, on second thought, considering the age of my grandparents when they passed away, 87 isn't too bad. But still - I could increase my life expectancy by doing the following:

• decrease stress
• take aspirin every day (I thought that was for people who already have problems with blood pressure)
• wear sunscreen more often
• eat healthier foods
• eat less red meat (but it's cheap!)
• stop taking iron supplements (they're in my multi-vitamin) because iron is supposedly an "age accelerator"
• exercise more often
• get screened for skin cancer and breast cancer (okay - I understand the importance of a self breast exam, but an actual mammogram? I thought that was for ages 30+)

Today's Lunch:
Leftover curried beef and parsnip stew over basmati rice
2 chocolate chip cookies
(that's right - I'm going to eat my red meat and sweets and I'm gonna like it. So there.)

Obsession

I am obsessed with penal colonies and disease quarantine. I would love to read every book I can find on those topics.

The fact that people were isolated to one area because they were suspected of having a disease that could be harmful... it just rattles me. I've been listening to The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai, by John Tayman. Wow, is it amazing. I don't normally do well with non-fiction listening material, but am making an effort with this book. Here's an excerpt:

I looked up "quarantine" on wikipedia, and found that people with other diseases have been quarantined/exiled:

• syphilis
• yellow fever
• cholera
• bubonic plague

I understand why this had to be done - if the disease is going to kill thousands (or even millions) of people, and the doctors don't understand how it works, they would want to control its spread as much as possible. Fortunately, we can manage the diseases listed above, thanks to antibiotics and a better understanding of how these diseases work. But I think it's really interesting how these isolation colonies existed.

I once heard that the Florida Everglades were the site of a penal colony. I called the park and asked them about it, and the closest thing they'd heard about that was the Dry Tortugas National Park, which had been the site of a prison. That must've been what I'd heard.

Cool stuff.

It's official

Zach and I had a serious talk last night, and it's official - we've broken up.

I had just assumed we were on a break this whole time, but last night we made it official. I'm single. I don't feel the sense of freedom that I used to feel whenever I left a relationship in college. I'm not out meeting people like I would have done before. I'm not daydreaming about finding Mr. Right. And these are good things. I think it just goes to show how I've matured these past few years, and how I can live my life on my own. I also think it shows how serious I took my relationship with Zach, as I am no where near beginning something new. I'm happy I've had a serious relationship experience under my belt, and I think I'll be more prepared when the right person comes along. And having this experience now is better than later, when I'm a Peace Corps volunteer alone in a country, trying to adjust to a new life.

This weekend I'm volunteering at the shelter and I might start packing for the inevitable move-out.

Today's Lunch:
Going to the Blue Moon with my friend Liz. Possibly a blue moon chicken sandwich - chicken with bleu cheese and raw onion. Mmmm.

One of those "about me" thingys...

50 Things You May Not Have Known About Me...

1. What is the last alcoholic beverage you drank?
Last night I had a glass of Shiraz

2. Do you follow college football?
No

3. Do you think you will be married in five years?
Maybe

4. Who was the last person to send you a text message?
I don't even carry a cell phone, much less do text messages!

5. Last time you went swimming in a pool?
Ugh, I prefer lakes. I don't remember.

6. Are you happy?
Hey, as long as I'm moving forward, I'm happy

7. Where was the last place you went shopping?
Cub Foods

8. How do you feel about your hair?
I like it because it's wavy

9. Where do you live?
South-central Wisconsin

10. Last thing you ate?
Lunch - ham sandwich on whole wheat with yellow mustard and a banana

11. Do you wish you were someplace else right now?
I really need to go to the post office before it closes

12. Last time you were kissed?
Monday, Zach and I experienced our last kiss.

13. Do you have any expensive jewelry?
I have a silver Tiffany bracelet and some jewelry with semi-precious stones

14. If you're alone in a room with two beds, which one do you sleep on?
The one furthest from the door

15. What are you afraid of?
Looking in the mirror in the dark, living a boring life

16. Best thing to eat for breakfast?
Waffles with peanut butter and syrup

17. Ever used a gun?
Yes, but only the hunting kind

18. Ever won a contest?
I won a jelly bean contest in the 3rd grade

19. Do you watch the Olympics?
No

20. Last restaurant you went to?
It was this tiny bar in Middleton.. "Paul's Neighborhood Bar"

21. Who was the last person to call you?
Zach

22. What's your sign?
Libra

23. Do you have a favorite number?
I prefer odds

24. If you could go anywhere where would you go?
I want to go to Fiji, Africa, the UK, China, and the list goes on...

25. What do you spend the majority of your money on?
Other than the typical bills, I spend money on my house

26. Where does most of your family live?
Mostly in MI

27. Are you an only child or do you have siblings?
A sister and 2 bros

28. Ever been called a hoe/$lut?
Not to my face!

29. Ever been called a female dog?
Yes, probably

30. Got any guilty pleasures?
America's Next Top Model and other reality TV shows, Fritos, cross stitching

31. Favorite kind of beer?
I like New Glarus Spotted Cow. And I miss Bell's Oberon. I also like Blue Moon.

32. Have you ever experienced true love?
I'm not sure.

33. Did you ever collect Beanie Babies?
No

34. Which are better, black or green olives?
I like green olives. And kalamata olives.

35. Favorite season?
I like them all, but summer is my favorite because I can do so many things

36. What kind of car do you drive?
Chevy S-10 truck

37. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
Learning if I'll be accepted into the Peace Corps and when and where I'll be going

38. Do you sometimes wish you were someone else?
No, but I realize there are ways I could improve myself

39. Do you usually fall for the "bad guys"?
No, but I don't fall for the nerdy ones, either

40. Were you an outcast in high school?
I'm not sure. I do remember that I didn't have many friends.

41. Last time you saw your parents?
Holidays

42. Do you have any talents?
Sure! I cook, bake, sew, do crafts.. I can turn my belly button into an outie, I can make conversation with just about anyone

43. Ever been in a wedding?
No

44. Do you have any children?
No

45. Last movie you watched?
Ray

46. Are you missing anyone at the moment?
I miss my family. And I always miss Kitty, even though I'll see her in a few hours.

47. Did you take a nap today?
No, I don't nap any more

48. What motivates you?
Fulfilling my goals and dreams

49. Ever been on a cruise?
No, and don't plan to

50. List five things you want to do in your lifetime (in no particular order)
Well, I have a list of over 30 things in my journal, but here are 5:
1. Join the Peace Corps
2. Go to culinary school
3. Make every recipe in "The Joy of Cooking"
4. Raise a sheep and weave its wool into yarn and use it to make a piece of clothing
5. Live off the land