a rather long but boring update

no new news, so you will have to make do with somewhat boring news from the many facets of my life....oh, yes, sit down for this.

i have been knitting a semi-boring stripped scarf for the last few weeks. yes, weeks. i don't know why scarfs take me so much longer than any other item. it was an attempt to use some last bits of yarn that i wouldn't normally have any use for color-wise. what i am mostly proud of is that i have succeeded in making the stripes totally random. this required a pep talk from aaron, and i found myself opening (and closing) microsoft exel, in an attempt to create a pattern. once it is finished i have one or two other ideas in mind for using up some spare skeins...then maybe i'll have earned some sparkly new yarn (actually, decidedly un-sparkly).

last week i had two separate people get in touch with me concerning genealogy. i have four separate genealogy blogs, one for each grandparent line. i post on these sporadically, when the mood hits. occasionally someone will contact me on the blogs, which leads to several emails. this is a great way to meet distant relation. it was exciting to share information with both people. i discovered my great-great-great grandfather was a drunkard that committed suicide by drinking rat poisoning after a night of drinking and beating his wife. less than charming. but validated by the August 21, 1884 edition of the st. paul daily globe.

my sweet parents bought me another subscription to a food magazine. in addition to the everyday with rachael ray mag, i am now the proud subscriber to the foodnetwork magazine. i really like my monthly fill of food porn, however, they are starting to pile up. i've noticed that i keep every issue because i might some-day-in-the-future i might want to this syndrome. i now have a binder and i'm methodically going through every past issue and tearing out anything i might want to make someday and then filing it in the appropriate filed section (breakfast, pasta, vegetarian, poutry, etc.) and recycling the rest. hopefully this will clear up a bit of space and lead to me actually making the recipes.

life has been going exceedingly my way lately. i hope it is for you as well :)

bob the cat

our upstairs neighbors have a lovely cat named bob. he isn't really "ours", but he is the best kind of pet. we let him in and feed him/play with him/love him when we want, and then let him out when we all have our fill of each other. it is perfect, much like what i envision being a grandparent is like. i hadn't seen bob in a long time, so in inquired to my neighbors as to his whereabouts...he died. he had died a few weeks ago. how sad.

r.i.p. bob, i will miss you.

in other, more light-hearted news...saturday the weather was beautiful, so aaron and i finally discovered the greenlake pitch & putt course. it is a lovely 9 hole golf course, but miniature. the furthest hole is 115 yards, perfect for those of us who haven't golfed since that one time in 9th grade p.e class. this spring weather has been terrific lately, mid-50's to 60's.  i'm already starting to fantasize about all of the spring/summer things we get to start doing soon. bbq at golden gardens, anyone? soon.

how big of a dork are you?

nbc debuted a new show on march 5th (last friday), that i'm pretty excited about, who do you think you are? basically the show documents seven celebrities as they trek across the globe discovering their ancestry. as a twenty-something who has been doing genealogy for the last 15 years (see genealogy blogs on right), i'm thrilled that this has the potential to expose genealogy to a much younger generation. i loved watching the joy on sarah jessica parker's face as she learned about her ancestors. it's too hard to describe this emotion, but it was clearly written all over her face. the only downfall of the show is that all of the research has been done before hand. all sjp had to do was walk into the library, and a professional genealogist happened to have all of the answers for her. part of the fun of genealogy, for me anyway, is the hunt of finding the documents that answer your questions. realistically though, it probably doesn't make for good tv. i'll continue to tune in each week.

in other exciting genealogy news, do you know the 2010 census is coming up? my inner dork is doing a happy dance. i fantasize about my ancestors seeing me on the census (in 72 years), just as i have done with my ancestors. i'm well aware of how delusional this makes me sound.

ess grad student retreat

every year the ess grad students (earth and space science), get together at friday harbor in the san juan islands for a healthy dose of island living, beer, and camaraderie. it's usually in february and it is usually pouring rain with 25 mph wind. this year it was sunny, gorgeous, and 55 degrees. in short, it was perfect.

aaron and i brought our bikes to the island and went on a short bike ride (about 12 miles) to the winery on the island. the sun was on our backs and the views were incredible (you'll have to take my word, because we forgot the camera). about 9 miles into our ride, we were a bit sleepy, so we pulled off the road at egg lake and took a nap on the dock. we woke up a short time later and continued our journey to the san juan vineyards. we pulled up some chairs on the porch and had a few leisurely glasses of wine in the bright sunshine.

  (green dot = dorms, blue dot = egg lake, red dot = winery)

that night was a late night involving lots of hard cider, games, a cozy fire, and lots of conversation and laughs. scientists are a fun group.

sunday we left the island and headed to bellevue, where we said goodbye to our friends wes and jenni thelen. wes has received his phd in ess and accepted a job in vancouver, wa. it is time to face facts...our friends are quickly earning their phds and leaving for new adventures. soon it will be our turn. this will be bittersweet. i adore seattle and all of our friends here, but it will be exciting to start anew somewhere else. it's fun to think about where we will be and what our life will be like in a few years.