Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Day one...stuff I forgot

I tried desperately to remain organized but just had too much crap. The last 15 minutes before I had to leave I ended up throwing stuff into bags. Today, I realized what I forgot: all my mapping pens and tools, calculator, whiskey flasks and funnel, and colored pencils. The suckie part is I had all the stuff lined up on my desk. Hmmm...I wonder if I can get my daughter to send me the stuff. Luckily we can receive UPS and regular mail here.

Tip #1 Pack a week ahead of time and use a check list.

What did we do today? Lots of milling about waiting to get here. Once here we had an orientation and a small assignment: map the field camp area and wrte up an environmental assessment. Pretty cool stuff.

I am so damn tired...woke up at 4am this morning.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

So much to do (AAK!)

On my list of priority crap to to is: 1) get packed 2) get grad school application crap sent out. On my other list is mow lawn, wash dog, attend Paul's BBQ (looking forward to that), do one last load of laundry, wash bedsheets, finish drip system, fix sprinkler head, show wifie the stuff I do with Quicken and the checking account and where her hard-earned dollars are going (she's putting me through school...she's a saint...I'm a guilt-ridden f/t student)...I think that may be it.

The question is do I take my Cherokee or drive with the ISU vehicles...do I take all the fixings for Manhattan's or just bring Scotch. Bringing my own vehical would be dumb...bringing the fixings for Manhattan's would be cool.

Manhattan: 2 shots Scotch, 1 shot sweet vermouth, 2 shakes bitters on the rocks (with a lemon twist). Seriously that is my favorite drink. I just had one and I am buzzed (weeee)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Setting up camp and checking stuff out

Today's a work day for Field Camp. We're headed up there noon today and should be back in Poky around dinner time tomorrow. Allegedly we're setting up our hard sided tents and getting stuff ready. This will be great, it gives us local ISU students a heads-up on what we are getting ourselves into before it's too late. The non-ISU students won;t see the place until Tuesday.

I think I'm totally over packed but this IS for 5-weeks and I still haven't quite figured how exactly to pack a backpack.

For today, toothbrush, clean underwear, work gloves, and most importantly a full flask of Scotch.

As far as Scotch goes, I enjoy the good stuff but I'm way too cheap to ever actually buy it. My budget brand of choice is Clan MacGregor. It's blended, aged 36 months and inexpensive. It burns a bit, doesn't taste like you're sucking charcoal, and it's fun to say Clan MacGregor in a thick Scottish brogue like Sean Connery. OK, I saw that last part on someone else's website and I thought it was funny (BUT TRUE!) http://www.pusateri.org/cruft/docs/clanmacgregor.html

Cheers