Blog Response

I find it an unfortunate representation of our national ideals that by far the most comments I have ever received on a blog were elicited by talk of half-naked men. Not nearly so many responses to pressing issues such as the war on terror and environmentalism. Even when I ask for assistance with life choices, no one replies. What is so alluring about a white trash poll?

On other notes, I am still unemployed and looking for a job. I am toying with the idea of trying to make it part-time at least as a freelance writer, or running away to start a business venture. Or at least running away to do research. As always, I am open to suggestions. I will now contemplate how to develop a poll that includes both half-naked men and my life choices in order to increase responses, but my preliminary ideas are less than savory.

Cheers!

Is It or Isn't It?

I am taking a poll and would very much appreciate your response:

Is it stereotypically white trash for a man to be shirtless in his house for several hours in the middle of a weekday?

I'm just asking, ya'll.

To Round Out Today's Blogging

My husband's chosen graduate school, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (better known as New Mexico Tech) made Newsweek's list of the 25 Hottest Schools in the August 27th issue. Now you might be thinking that it is hot in terms of temperature (true in the summer) or hot in terms of chili spice (true but variable year-round), but it actually won the stigma of being "Hottest in the War on Terror." I knew there was a reason I didn't like that place! Newsweek calls Socorro a "friendly desert town" (not terribly true), Tech "the Los Alamos of a new age," (I sure hope that's not true), and mentions that the school has "reduced admissions red tape while quietly building one of the prime research centers for fighting the War on Terrah" (emphasis added, veracity unknown). What are they doing with the hydrologists?

New Blog

I added a new blog to my links: Peace, Love and Understanding. This is by a girl who was on fellowship at the LAT with me, and she is both hilarious and insightful. Enjoy!

Albuquerque

When Matt first told me that he was taking classes this semester, his round-a-bout way of telling me he had decided to stay in grad school (oh hey by the way, we're staying here), I was fairly upset. I had spent many hours applying to jobs out-of-state, mostly because I was excited about pursuing science communication and writing, and there just aren't any jobs in that arena here in the Burque. Plus we will probably be here for at least 3 more years, not just the 2 that had been originally promised to me.

Anyway, last night we went for a walk around the neighborhood. We live about 5 blocks from Old Town, where there is a nice park, lots of museums, and of course the Plaza with food and shopping (although a bit out of our price range.) And we live in a cute little adobe where it is 1:20 pm and I haven't turned the swamp cooler on yet. And the science center is hiring, so if I am lucky maybe I can get a job there. At any rate, I have calmed down a lot. This really might be a nice place to live. However, I think the job prospects mean fewer (if any) vacations and fewer extraneous purchases (including food and drink). After last year, we will have to adjust to the life of grad students - and I will have to stop worrying so much about saving money for the future. I have to go back to not worrying about responsibility. It's not like we have kids yet. We are still young and care free. No future security is necessary just yet. (Okay well I'm just giving myself a pep talk.) Anybody got any job ideas for me?

Marriage

I have been married for a touch over 6 months. During this period, I have noticed that not much has changed between me and my husband, but things seem to change with other people. Marriage is an over-hyped, myth-shrouded tradition, but to me it just legalizes our relationship. That's really it. (And by the way, I don't think this should be necessary, and I do think this should apply to relationships of every kind. Other people's marriages do not threaten the sanctity of my own.)

However, to other people it seems to imply a major life decision that changes the way they act toward me. For instance, before if I told family or friends about arguments or decisions that Matt and I were struggling with, they might say, "Oh, don't worry, I'm sure it will work out." Now this same discussion elicits an, "Are you going to get a divorce?" This really makes me not want to talk about it to anyone and bottle it all up inside me, which as you know, used to be my favorite method of coping, and is probably not very healthy. I really do appreciate the girls that listen and commiserate with me. Thanks!

Then there are the people that seem to think that me being married changes our friendship. I had been living with Matt for a year and a half before we got married; I lived in another state for 8 months. I don't think that adding a marriage certificate caused me to act differently, but maybe I am wrong. I am still the same person. I still have the same problems. My life isn't instantly perfect because I am married. I still like to have friends. If anything life is harder - those of you not married yet should keep this in mind. I am certainly glad I am married and I love my husband, but it is not easy. The life-long commitment didn't suddenly eliminate all worries. But I am off track. I simply mean to say that I hope I haven't changed or become less exciting or a worse friend because I am married.

I'm sure it is naive to think that you can get married and your life will stay the same, but I am surprised at the things I have noticed. Marriage makes life different in ways I did not expect. Go figure.

Target misses CA and Mesa Bridge is Falling Down

Apparently when you bring your own bag to Target, you are by default required to bag your own items. Now I realize that it is slightly difficult to fit a bag on the handy little bag holder for easy dumping, but it really isn't that hard just to bag items on the counter either. Nevertheless, the cashier just set everything on the counter while I tried to bag and run my credit card at the same time. This despite the fact that Target (at least in California) now sells reusable, fold-up bags that fit inside your purse. I know because my landlady bought me one. Trader Joe's and Wild Oats cashiers don't seem to have trouble bagging with canvas bags. Alas.

The cashier then proceeded to question whether the items on the registry were the only gift items or if I had others. I did indeed have others - could she print a gift receipt? She seemed to imply that I needed to identify exactly which items were gifts, but this was not the case after all. Meanwhile I noticed that she'd forgotten one of my items on the conveyor belt. I asked her to put it on. She did something. I then asked if the price on the little machine included that item and she told me that I had to press OK first - it was the only way she could find out. I had not asked for cash back because I had $10 in my wallet. However, as it turned out the forgotten item was not on my bill, so she asked me if I wanted to pay for it separately. NO, I don't want it anymore. Whatever. Why would I bring it to the checkout if I didn't want it (I know this happens, but not with me). Anyway, I then had to spend half my cash buying this item that she forgot to ring up because she couldn't possibly have added it to my credit card purchase which had not yet been processed before I hit OK. HOW HARD CAN THIS BE? (I realize that this probably makes no sense, but it didn't in person either.)

Anyways, the other interesting tidbit of my return to Mesa has been seeing part of the Loop 202 bridge lying over the canal in pieces. Yes folks, last week sometime part of the bridge they are building over Power Road and the canal fell right down into the canal. Apparently they haven't cleaned it up yet, because you can see it both from Power and from the other side of Thomas. How hard can it be to build a bridge that doesn't fall down? I've taken a statics class and properties of materials. I know about center of gravity and stress and strain. There are fairly simple principles at work. At least the bridge in Minneapolis was 50 years old or so. This one was brand new! Some things never change I guess. Anyone remember the Zilwaukee?

Farewell to the City of Angels

I came to the city very skeptical and even a little apprehensive. Everything I had heard was about how unsafe and polluted it is. But I love it. It has so much to offer - people of every make and model, everybody maybe a bit unhinged, some more so than others. Also mountains and the beach and a vast array of places in between. You could find pretty much anything or anyone you wanted in this city. And the public transportation isn't nearly as bad as it's made out to be either. So this one's for you LA. I'm sorry I doubted you.

I will remember:

• Echo Mountain
• Inspiration Point
• Debs Park
• Millard Canyon Falls
• Broad Beach
• Santa Monica Beach at the Pier
• 3rd St Promenade
• Old Town Pasadena
• Bus 81
• Cinnamon's
• Edison
• Redwood
  
• Menage
• The Dresden
• Los Angeles Times
• The Getty
• La Brea Tar Pits
• Dodger Stadium
• Sunshine
• Beauty
• Sasha
• Gabriella
  
• CRU
• Little Tokyo
• Chinatown
• Griffith Park
• In N Out Burger
• Trader Joe's
  
• 80 degrees and sunny
• Palisades Park
• Ocean Avenue
• Malibu
• Highland Park
  

Wrapping up LA

3 more days of work. I think I am going to miss it. This job keeps me busy and entertained with constantly new topics, sudden assignments and deadlines, and adjusting to numerous editing styles. My beach report story, done today in a few hours, received the least editing of probably all my stories so far. Which is good because I don't even know this guy and I was worried he wouldn't realize I was an intern and would think I was really bad. Why can't the Times just hire me?

Anyways, soon I will be trekking back through AZ. If I have any blog readers out there, let me know when you are available. (Hello? Bueller? Bueller?)

Well I think it's about time, don't you?

Sometimes I worry that I will alienate my ever-dwindling blog-reading audience by not posting for 12 days. After all, I could probably just talk to Matt and Karen and catch everybody up on my life (that is if my lovely sister would ever get on Skype).

But I like to write. Sometimes I am just too tired from staring at a computer all day and then coming home and staring at a computer to try to apply for jobs, and I think maybe I should just stop blogging, but I am not ready for that yet. (I have to blog so I can write really long sentences and use parentheses - both of which I cannot do at the paper - although I can use dashes.)

My time in LA and at the paper is nearly up. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm certainly not excited. I'm also not really sad. I have no idea what I should do with my life. How can I be content at some water-related consulting job (which has not yet been offered to me) when there are so many great opportunities for environmental and science communication out there? How is it possible for people to have two-career families? I know they do it all the time, but it is just so difficult. I feel like if I don't get into the writing and communication field right now, it will never happen. I feel like I have momentum now. What will happen in 2 or 3 years? Maybe I will want to do something completely different anyway - that has always been the case until now.

Anyways I am currently jobless and aimless and heading toward penniless if things don't change in the near future. But I am glad I got to have this experience. I am glad I got some me-time (in a good way, not in a sitting home alone in Socorro and feeling sorry for myself kind of way). Hopefully the future will fall into place as it always has for me before.

I also want to bring 2 dogs home with me. Of course I can't do that since we don't know what we are doing with our lives, but I would like to. I will try to remember to take pictures of them another day. One is an elderly dalmation who needs more attention and an owner who believes in vets. The other is new to the doggie hostel, a young shepherd who got hit by a car and broke her leg. She loves playing ball and would be excited for people to play with her more often and take her out walking and running. And maybe train her. And she doesn't bark - big bonus. However, she's not even fixed so that's a problem. I can just see all the vet bills piling up. But they're so cute. Matt thinks maybe we should try having an animal before we decide to have kids to see how that goes.

What have I been up to for the past 11 days? Not much. Mom came to visit two weekends ago.
We checked out the Getty

UCLA

Marina del Rey (boring)
and Santa Monica

During the week I went out to Borrego Springs with a photographer and got drenched in a monsoon - in a place that has recorded about 1/2 inch of rain in the last 12 months.

Matt showed up Friday afternoon.
We went hiking

visited CityWalk
drove through Santa Monica Mountain NRA and Malibu
tried to go for a walk on the beach but instead I got stung by a bee on the bottom of my foot (and I'm not yet fully recovered - thanks for asking)

went to a pathetic Tigers game.


This week I am writing for science and health since my editor is now gone. These stories are much shorter and faster - I wrote 3 in 2 days. Not quite as stimulating, but still good experience.

7 more days left of work. I have to apply for jobs, finish my fellowship reports, pack up my room, and have a little fun before I leave. Looks like I'll be a busy bee.