Phone Sorrows

Hello, lovelies!

Well, first I must inform all of you that my cell phone has gone on the fritz. Therefore, if you have texted me at all today...I cannot open your messages. Lame, I know. I will be visiting AT&T tomorrow to see what they say. {**new phone?!** I can dream...}

Today was...an interesting day.

SW and I had scheduled a meeting for this morning at 9. I'm thinking, sweet, I can test the bus out and not have to worry about if I'll make it to class or something. Well, it's a good thing I did! The stop for the bus I catch to campus is about a 10min walk {and that's at a brisk pace} from my apartment. Not awful, just wish it was a touch closer {I'm thinking about the windy winters...}. So, I get to the corner where the transit site said my bus would pick up {and I'm even a minute or two early} to see my bus zooming past. I'm not entirely sure it even stopped at all. "Crap. Now what do I do??" There was another bus pulling up across the street, so I ran over and asked the driver if his bus could get me to campus, even with a connection or something. What did I get in response? A blank stare followed by, "Yeah, I don't know..." Neat. Next mode of action: call dad! "Dad, when is the next time that bus 61 comes through this area?" "Not for another 45min..." So, then, all I had left to do was to run back to the apartment {OK, so I walked even more briskly...it was already warming up for the day} grab the car, and pray that I can find some public/pay parking somewhere within a 10min walk or so.

Finally found a pay lot, conveniently right behind my building (!), and made it up the insect museum where I was to meet SW, and I was only 2-3min late. I was impressed, I'm not gonna lie. I was not, however, impressed $7 I had to pay to get out of the lot...weak sauce. SW ended up being about 30min late, so, as it turns out, I could have waited for the second bus and made it in time...cest la vie. She and I ended up having a nice visit, none-the-less. Got some specifics loosely laid out for what my course work will look like this fall and in the spring.

SW and I also got to chat about my actual research and some of the things it will entail. I'll be honest, I'm in a bit over my head right now...I know nothing about leps {Lepidopteran = moths & butterflies}...nothing. Give me my parasitoid wasps any day of the week and I can hold my own, but leps?! Now they are something I'm only familiar in hating {when they are dead, at least}. Every hymenopterist {Hymenoptera = wasps, ants, bees} hates dead leps...they get in our traps and their wing scales muck everything up so we can't see our wasps. Very frustrating. But now I get to look at them not in my etoh traps :) I am rather excited about learning all about a new organism, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified out of my mind to start something so new and foreign to me.

But! SW is awesome and lent me some of her "moth bibles" so I can start familiarizing myself with them - particularly the arctiids and even more particularly, Eucaetes. I'm way excited to start paging through these books

SW helped write both of these!!

So that was productive. I then made my way over to Rainbow Foods...which, may I just go on a little bunny trail with you for a moment? K, good. Rainbow Foods just might help to make the next three years survivable. I walked through those sparkling automatic doors Sunday afternoon into what I thought was Heaven. Beautiful produce, beautifully displayed. CLEAN floors...they were practically gleaming! CLEAN smell. Marvelously organized. I was home. There will, most likely, be no more Cub Foods runs...unless it's an emergency or something. But, I digress. Today, I made my way over to Rainbow {p.s. - I can't help but hear the, "double rainbow allll the way" guy in my head every time I go/think of Rainbow...makes me chuckle every time...I don't think it will ever get old} and picked up a little pre-paid bus pass to get my by over the next few days 'til my student ID gets issued. {However, I spoke to non-profit guy about the buses today and he had some less than comforting things to say and suggested that I stay away from the buses...sigh.}

I rearranged some of my living room furniture into a position I think I am pleased with for the moment...still have lots to do...sorry this whole setting my home thing is taking me so long...I've had to stop and do other things here and there, which makes for slow progress.

Oh! Big news, though: I got my interwebs today!!! Guy was super nice and we had a nice chat. He lives in Chicago, but is here for a few weeks helping out the Twin Cities crew with their increased work load. Cool.

Mmm, I made some of those frozen-allow to rise-then bake rolls with my dinner tonight...SO worth waiting for them to rise. They are delish. It's like I made them myself...only with 1/4 of the effort! WIN!

Well, I think that's all for now. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my "things I love about my apartment" post. It's in the works :)

Shalom!
~MW