Oh! Oh! I almost forgot!

I signed up for another new toy! Twitter. It's down there on the right-hand side. Now I can sort of post without really posting and wash away the guilt! Here's hoping I keep up with it and don't tire of its novelty. At the very least it allows me to further cyber-stalk some celebrities.

Red squirrels, tree frogs and family, oh my!

I had fun this last weekend camping with my extended family on the Willow Flowage in northern WI. It felt like fall, but I’m happy to say that I actually packed enough layers and didn’t freeze off my tukus. I ate lots of yummy food cooked over fire, propane and charcoal (they packed several pontoon boats’ worth of gear). I argued with red squirrels (mean little sons of bitches) and caught neon green tree frogs (they peed on me!). I also got in my pet fix with adorable dogs. I schooled my uncle in bocce ball. It was an awesome time.

I snuck in a shower and lunch with the ‘rents before hitting the road back to MN. It rained the whole drive back to Rochester, and I actually didn’t mind that. It kept the setting sun out of my face, which can be a bitch when you’re too short for the sun visor to be of any use.

In other news, my old boss is still rearing his ugly head. Seems he has extremely selective memory – most annoyingly he blocks out his micromanaging ways. He forgets that he told you to do something and berates you for doing it the way that he told you to. “I’d never say that.” Um, yeah, you would. And you did. Did I mention I hate you? I do.

Work is going well. I had some fungus in my tissue culture today. Meh. I need some time to catch up on some samples languishing in the freezer and update my lab notebook.

The Great Roommate Escape of 2007 has been planned for early September and I’m really looking forward to that. My stepmom’s Hootenanny is in mid-September and that should be, for lack of a better word, a hoot.

You can see why there has been a lack of posts – there’s just not that much going on with me right now. No one is being particularly entertaining, aggravating or annoying. Good for me. Boring for you.

Maybe next time I’ll just make something up.

Hello Kittens

Summer is going by so quickly. I can hardly believe that it’s freaking August already. As of today I have officially logged 7 months at the new job and it’s a good thing. I’m happy there. Science is fun again.

Let’s see. I took a trip back to WI last weekend to see the ‘Rents, a step-grand’rent, and other g’rents. I also got to play with the NEW PUPPY!!! He’s all paws and teeth and I could eat him with a spoon. At 13 weeks he’s still not entirely trained, and I fear that he may start to think that his name is Little Shit… but that’s not my problem. I did manage to get him to play fetch with me for a little while – but I forget how little his legs are and how tired he can get. He’s adorable when he sleeps – which is often.

This has been the last week for my summer student. He did a good job on his presentation and after seeing his contemporaries, I know I can push harder the next time I get one. But, either way, he had a great time and demonstrated as much by lavishing us with gifts and funny cards today. I am now the proud owner of both Wedding Crashers and Hot Fuzz – two movies I still have to actually see, but now I can do so at my leisure.

I’ve read Girl with a Pearl Earring and found it hard to put down. It grabbed me much like The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries simply because you want to reach through the pages and shake people who are ridiculous asshats. [I know I have a target audience].

I’ve also taken in a couple episodes of Why is Scott Baio 45 and Single? And I think the answer is quite obvious: because he’s an absurd man-child. He has not matured past the age range of 18-21. I believe that he regrets agreeing to do this show about every 15 seconds. This is mainly because it takes away from his time hanging out with his similarly absurd friends and “chasing tail.” That, my friends, is a direct quote. His life coach is making him take a close look at himself and he’s not enjoying it in the least. I hate to be the one to break it to Scott, but he is no Hugh Hefner. He will not continue to have a line of 20-somethings at his door, just waiting for the chance to be his girlfriend – wait, I mean - source of “tail.” And those that do will be in love with him for his roles as Chachi and Charles. Seeing as how he can’t stand even hearing the utterance of “Chachi” (or Charles) he’s alienated a significant portion of his potential dating pool. But it sure makes for good reality TV!

Visitors coming this weekend and my house needs some serious attention. Now where did I put that vacuum…..