Happy Halloween!

I have to admit, I'm not much of a Halloween person. As a kid I certainly got dressed up and marched around in freezing cold weather, often with snow gathering on my witches hat or expertly crafted dragon's head (thanks Mom, that was a great costume). But I definitely don't have the energy for this holiday that I used to, and that my sister and mom still have:) I think this year Caley and I will either stay at home and hand out candy (like last year) or head to see a movie or something. We've been too poor to go out for awhile, but I got paid today, yay!! It is fun to see people dressed up on campus though, I saw Rainbow Brite this morning, plus some elf dude, I'm sure a character in some fantasy book since I saw him going into Clark C (liberal arts land...)
Anyway, Happy Halloween, try not to get diabetes!
ciao,
Megan
What we did for Halloween below...

Sunday seems kind of like a dream. I've never seen a longer line in my entire life! I heard roughly 50,000 people showed up to the Oval to see Senator Obama, and 100,000 showed up in Denver that morning, Obama's largest crowd yet!!!! Wow, makes me proud to live in Colorado, we are SO going blue this year!!!! Speaking of which, I turned in my ballot yesterday, and it felt great!
Anyway, I showed up around 11am to get in line, luckily I had some friends already waiting, so by the time we finally go in at 2:30, we were pretty close to the front, I could see his head through the forest of shoulders:) Basically he covered most of the stuff we've heard on t.v. and radio and such, but I really felt like he was speaking to the students and the young people. I have to admit, when he started talking about how we are the future of the country and we all have to work together to get through the tough times we have ahead of us, I started to tear up (and spill over...) just a little bit. I was talking with a coworker of mine yesterday about the experience and how, to me, it's not what Obama might actually accomplish as far as policies go (which I actually believe he will accomplish a lot) it's more the fact that he has united and energized so much of the country and especially those in my demographic. It can't be up to the government and the president alone to change this country for the better, we all need to do something about it, and I truly believe Barack Obama is the man to lead us in that direction. He is the only politician that has ever made me care about the issues and politics in general, and that started at the DNC in 2004! I saw him speak on a big screen at our local independent film theater, and I couldn't believe the impact this unknown senator from Illinois had on me. So, needless to say, if he loses by some unGodly disaster, I will move to Europe, I swear.
ciao,
Megan

Obama is here today!!!! I might just die of excitement!!! I'll give a full report later tonight!!!

Pics from Parasitology and Vector Biology Lab

The first day we did an external dissection of a grasshopper, go to pull off all it's legs and head and mouth parts etc...they were huge grasshoppers!
The second day we did an internal dissection of a cockroach, I had a really fat female! All the gross white stuff is fat, and you can see some of the digestive tract and trachea. Fun fun! I felt like I was back in high school biology:)

aowepiawonvawoi!!!!!!

OBAMA IS COMING TO FORT COLLINS ON SUNDAY HE'LL BE AT THE OVAL

OH MY GOODNESS I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!

I'm cold

It's thirty degrees outside, and I think they still have the AC on in my office...brr!!!! What a crazy windy, cold day we had today. I'm not used to dressing for the cold yet, and I'm in denial about having to wear hats and gloves and socks and wind proof/water proof jackets! Bah, so much clothing to take off and put on every time you want to go outside, or come back in to the classroom.
Currently, I'm working on those DNA isolations...so many to do, and they take sooo long! Anyway, during some of the incubation times, I'm in the process of writing an essay for Parasitology. I think it's actually going to be hard to keep it to a two page minimum. I just finished the intro, and it's almost half the page single spaced...hmm
Seriously! It's freezing in here!!

And, I can't wait for Thanksgiving, it will be so wonderful to hang out with the fam:)

ciao,
Megan

Monday Again...

Well, today was cozy and cold and rainy. I like this kind of weather, but as Caley points out, if you didn't see the sun for all of November, it might get old:) A few days of this weather however, definitely puts me in the fall time kind of mood. I crave pumpkin spice lattes and hot apple cider.
Currently I'm at work, finally starting my DNA isolations! I have a lot to do and might be here kind of late. I'm kind of excited to start living the life of a real grad student...40+hrs of work plus homework...don't know why that would excite me, actually it sounds kind of crazy. This next week is going to be very busy, and I'm glad because Caley is out of town for mountain bike nationals! They left this afternoon and will be joined by a few team members who are flying out later this week. Here is the link to the Lees McCrae website for nationals

http://www.ncca.lmc.edu/

I'm excited to see how they all do! And I'm super jealous I don't get to go:(
Anyway, this week I'm going to go salsa dancing on Tuesday night, and on Saturday night. I have two pumpkin carving parties, I might just go to one...tonight I might go to a bluegrass concert, or just go grab a beer or something with Emily...we shall see. Oh, and homework and school:)
Oops, gotta go remove the DNA from the heat bath!!!
ciao,
Megan

Beautiful Fall Ride

Caley and I went on a most glorious Fall bike ride today! We started out with the intention of doing the whole carter Lake look, but made it to the ranger station before the big climb up to the actual lake...I'm a little out of shape and slow:) It was so hot, we were sweating in short sleeves and no knee warmers!
ps. Caley got a sweet new bike! I'm jealous:)
ciao,
Megan

Finally Friday

Well, the week from hell is over. I think I managed to pull of B's in both my exams...not true of the stats homework, but what can ya do?
Caley and I are headed to the coffee shop tonight for a "ballot date":) We are going to fill out our mail-in ballots, and hang out and just relax from this crazy week. I'm still feeling discouraged about my program and school and all that...but I think it's going to get better starting next week. I am meeting with one of the guys in the lab to go over how to do DNA isolations again, and hopefully I can just crank through them. I will eventually have around 500 or so adult mosquitoes to get DNA from, and then I'll have around 10-15 SSCP gels to run. The gels won't take too long...but I don't know how to develope them yet, hopefully Scott can help me out with that.
I'd also like to listen to This American Life tonight...and clean the house a little....ALSO, this weekend is the WILD GOOSE MASQUERADE BALL. I'm debating whether or not to go. Caley refuses, which actually makes me sad. Waltzing is so easy, and it would make me so happy...but I can't force him to go...I hate going dancing by myself these days. I always used to go by myself and it wasn't a big deal, but that was before I had a built in partner! Gah! Oh well, someday he'll go, and have so much fun he'll be hooked:)
Have a great weekend everyone, and Happy Birthday again to Caitlin!!
ciao,
Megan

Some Pics from the Last Bike Weekend

Monday Blah-ness

I officially have some sort of cold...not sure if it's Caleys cold or not, but it's something. Unfortunately I have two exams this week that I have to stay on top of it for. And, today is a gorgeous, cold, fall day, perfect for bike rides:( Maybe I'll have to take a study break, I've actually been dreaming about parasites YUCK!
Anyway, I'll give you all the update on the exams of truth...this is where we see if I can pull off a B in this class or not.
ciao,
Megan

I Lost a Race

It actually wasn't my fault....they started the race 12 minutes early! So, I missed the start, I was early by 7 minutes...but they'd already been going for 5:( Anne kindly gave me the "last place" finish, which I guess gets points, but still! I rode the rest of the race in the hellacious(sp?) wind, and only shed a few tears. Whatever, it's not like this season has been anything but a giant slack off for me. Figures that the last race would be such a let down. Currently, I'm sitting in a coffee shop somewhere in Grand Junction, obviously procrastinating on studying, but at least making an effort to study. I have two giant exams next week in one class...yes, two exams in one class...RIDICULOUS!!! Basically, I have an 80% going in to these two exams, if I can pull off an 80% on both of them, I'll be in good shape for the second half of the semester, but if not...I'm screwed, which is a sad sad state of affairs, and I won't even go in to how statistics is going... I think from now on, I'm forcing Caley to go to the library with me every night, no matter how much he doesn't want to, it'll be good for both of us!:)
I'm looking forward to winter as a chance for me to get back in shape. I'll be doing all the New Belgium cyclocross races, and I really really really want to make an effort to do some long rides on M,W, F's because my schedule really does allow for it...I just have to motivate.
Anyway, I should go, just thought I'd share the incredibly anti-climactic end to my mtn bike season.
ciao,
Megan

I WON A RACE!!!

And we forgot the camera....but, I got a $20.00 gift certificate to La Luz!!! Yay! It was just a fun little local cyclecross race, and Amanda raced up with the A men, but still, I'm psyched about it. Just the kind of thing I need to get me motivated about training and riding again. I think I'm going on a ride this evening with a friend, so that's good, and I'll have a little bit of time on Thursday, and maybe Friday morning I could ride as well depending on how long it takes me to do my stats homework. I've decided to go to Grand Junction, but I might take my own car so I can head to a coffee shop to study. It's the last weekend, and I'm not planning on doing any big trips soon, so I suppose I can swing the gas. Maybe I can take a bunch of bikes and get the team to pay for it:)
I'M FINALLY GETTING PAID BACK!!!! Yay, I just got an email saying I'd be paid back in three days, so that means Friday I guess. Whoopppee! I can finally have money again:) I'm thinking I'll be able to save most of it though, minus what I've "spent" on a plane ticket, and what I've spent from the parents...In any case, as long as I don't go over what my salary is on the credit card, I can save at least half of what I'm getting paid back from Mexico...SWEET! Gotta start now if we want to go on this bike trip in 2.5 years:)
ciao,
Megan

Pics from Colorado Trail Ride

Already October...Crazy!

What a lovely weekend in Durango! It really hit me this trip, I love Durango, and I would really love to spend some more quality time there doing all the things I love to do! Durango has it all (except for a nightlife...not like we ever really go out or do anything downtown anyway....).
The race on Saturday went well, I didn't get lapped, and didn't get pulled! Totally accomplished my goals:) After the race, we all hung around to watch the rest of the short track, and Amanda, Fuzzy and I pre-road the xc course. It was a beautiful partly cloudy day, and you get an incredible view of town going around the rim trail. I did decide not to race the xc the following day, I'm sooooo out of shape, it's frustrating, but I don't mind too much at the moment. I'm looking forward to nordic season, Caley and I have committed to doing one race, and I'm just excited about skiing a lot more than I have the past couple of years.
Saturday afternoon was the downhill competition, and the dual slalom. We watched some of both, the dual slalom was lame, and the downhill looked like a lot of fun, but totally out of my league in some spots. It started to rain during the dual slalom and didn't really stop until morning; lots of mud meant we didn't even have the option of racing the cross country the next day. We got an early start home and stopped on Kenosha Pass to ride on the Colorado trail. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! The aspens were at their peak, and in some places the leaves coated the trail like a beautiful golden carpet. I'm hoping Mike posts some of his pictures soon so I can put some of them up here.
Oh, forgot to mention, it snowed on Wolf Creek!!! Probably about 4-5 inches, enough that they had plowed...just wet when we went through, but some kids were already out building a jump at the top. Wow, I am sooo excited for winter!!!!
Well, better go, I have to go to the store and buy some fajita makings...yum:)
ciao,
Megan

Two down, one to go...

Presentation on Tuesday, parasitology exam today, and statistics exam tomorrow. Thankfully I'm feeling prepared for the stats exam...I kind of sucked it up in the parasitology exam. Hopefully I can pull through with a B for the semester. It's going to take an A on my next two exams...and she grades sooooo hard!
I went to office hours today for stats...for the first time, I only asked one question, but it was so helpful!!! I'm really glad I went, and now feel completely ready for my exam, let's see what I say after tomorrow....
Anyway, tomorrow is my Friday, all I have to do after the exam is pick some pupae, and go for a ride, and watch the debate!!!! Oh my goodness I'm so excited to see Palin's ass get stomped on!!!!!!!! Plus, we're having a party:) Or rather, just a dinner, and I want to bring wine:)
For dinner tonight we finally sucked it up and went to the grocery store, I haven't been food shopping almost literally since my parents were here at the end of August. Salmon cooked on a bed of baby spinach, and some rosemary bread with brie to start off the meal. Mmmmmmmmm, real food is amazing!!!! I can't wait to go home to Durango this weekend!