yarr!

Wanted:

2006-12-13T13:04:00.000-05:00

So while in New Mexico I somehow injured my knee. I didn't think it was bad at the time, but apparently I have patellar-femoral syndrome, a.k.a. runner's knee. It seems to be caused by crooked knee caps (which was confirmed by x-ray and which I blame entirely on Mom and Dad : )) and weak thigh muscles (which I maintain that I don't actually have). It's getting better and I'm going to physical therapy twice a week and wearing this crazy brace that is supposed to make my knee cap more normal and less crooked.

On the other hand, I just got these new slippers that are totally cute. Also, I just noticed that they match my brace!

More Chaco

2006-11-13T20:42:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to show you our little tent village. From our campsite, we could see Fajada Butte, which was important for sun- and moon-tracking. Sunsets were always very pretty, although you might not be able to tell from the picture. Also, I thought that the rain drain thing was cute. It was painted by the park people to blend in with the masonry of the ruins. The big rock thing is part of the mesa that is trying to fall off. It was kinda scary, since we walked right by it . . .

Chaco part 1

2006-11-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

So I got back from New Mexico about three weeks ago (I'm running a little behind, the story of my life). I suppose I'll post a few new pictures everyday, and there are lots of pictures, so I'll try to stick to it so you can see them all. This one is a view of the biggest Anasazi ruins we saw called Pueblo Bonito. In its heyday, it had at least three stories and maybe four in some places (you can see what's left of the floors sticking out of the wall). It also has some crazy T-shaped doors. We found some pottery shards there, but it's a sacred place, so you can't take them with you.

Also check out the new links at the top. One goes to Melissa's Rome blog, for those of you who are keeping up with her shenanigans, and the other goes to an awesome game I like to play when I get bored with the internet. Have fun!

2006-11-10T03:07:00.000-05:00

Back by popular demand: pictures! Since something picture-worthy happened not too long ago, I'll be putting up more stuff here. Here's a preview.

2006-08-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Whoa. So it's been about a month since I put anything here. The last few weeks of work were pretty busy and I'm glad I made it through them alive. Anyhow, I need to put up pictures from when Mom came to visit three weeks ago. We went to the Pennsylvania state capitol at Harrisburg, Hershey, Chadds Ford, the ancestors' burial site (maybe, we never found their stones) at Mercersburg, and Falling Water.

2006-07-05T17:20:00.001-05:00

So Adam and I went to Niagara Falls for the 4th. The falls themselves were really cool (even though Canada has the better view). We spent all day at Niagara State Park and saw both falls and walked around looking at people. I was surprised at the amount of mist that the falls created. I didn't expect it to be blown back out of the canyon and onto the observing deck! There also used to be a hydropower plant where Nikola Tesla worked, and the remains of the buildings are still there (Tesla is there in the picture with me, along with some random kid). The city of Niagara, though, was not what I expected. We stayed in this hostel I found online, which turned out to be kind of stressful but not a complete disaster and also cheaper than any hotel we could've found that weekend. We looked for restaurants to eat in, but only found Indian restaurants everywhere we looked. It's fortunate that we both like Indian food, otherwise we would've been out of luck. We decided to come back to State College early, where I spent the remainder of the holiday recovering from sunburn.

[Edit: I have added more pictures at the request of my adoring fans.]

2006-06-24T15:54:00.000-05:00

Also, I thought this made for a cool picture. It's just the sidewalk outside of a brick office building.

2006-06-24T15:44:00.000-05:00

So this is my "lab." Other people's labs are actually labs, with tools and experiments and fun toys and dangerous chemicals. In my lab, however, are cubicals, and they all look like mine. Note all the papers spread out on the desk to make me look busy. Also, that is a Mac. I still don't know how to use it, yet, and I haven't figured out what the hype is all about. And, the monitor has a sticker on it with a monkey saying, "oh, poop!" Yeah, I know how he feels.

2006-06-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

State College is a college town in the middle of farm country. There is not much to do here unless you like beer or are Amish. So in our endless search for something to do, one of my roommates and I got a hamster. Our original plan was to get a TV and a Game Cube, but the pet store was in the same neighborhood as Best Buy, so we went in and came out with a Fancy Dwarf Hamster. According to the guy, they're natural habitat is Siberia, but I don't know if I believe it. Anyway, turned out to be a good idea since we came back home and watched her root around in her wood shavings for about three hours. We named her Penny Lane, and she has a little exercise ball in which she travels around the apartment and entertains us.

2006-06-12T21:34:00.000-05:00

These are for you!