Reality

So I had something written about the end of my summer in NY but I have since then had some issues with blogspot and trying to post it. So now I get to write it all over again. It's coming, I promise!

Hmmm...Something

The end of the world is near.

Odd Places

I made a friend in a transexual today. There's this girl who works in another field office who most people in the agency don't get along with very well because they're not sure about how to act around her. I was the same way at first. Today I went to our Soil Science training day with the idea that I wouldn't get along with this girl because of who she is - that's the reaction that had been instilled in my brain over the course of the summer. I couldn't have been more wrong.

This girl was AWESOME! She's so much like me, except for the fact that I have no plans in changing my gender. It was really neat to hang out with her and get to know her. Remember what you see isn't always what you get.

Other random thing - on the way to the training today I saw a sign for a place that combines two of my interests. Archery and Quilting. Rather odd combination, huh?

Some Reflecting

I've been meaning to write for some time now. Unfortunately I've been either too busy or too tired but now I have some time (although I should probably get my dishes done sometime in the near future). This past week I went to a conference about Warm Season Grasses (anyone know what I'm talking about? free beer to the person who can tell me three facts about WSGs) and although I learned quite a bit I also had some time during some presentations that I let my mind just wander.

There are a few things I will miss about NY but homesickness and carsickness certainly aren't included. I like seeing the mountains, being in the mountains and being able to see miles and miles, to Lake Ontario and if it's clear on to Canada, especially when I'm out and about in rural NY on my way to or from a construction site of a manure storage lagoon. There are, however, some upsides to going to some of the constructions sites - like the main one I've been going to the last couple weeks has been working on pouring a concrete lagoon that measures 100 ft X 75 ft X 12 ft (it's massive) and there have luckily been some good sites to see if you know what I mean. ;) . So even though there have been times I have absolutely hated my job and have wanted nothing more than to go home I think I will miss my job.

Although I don't exactly want to apply everything I've learned this summer to possible future careers it'll be good information to have as a background and will hopefully give me a boost when it comes to getting hired somewhere.

Outside of work, I've learned that rural Iowa still has a lot to offer and that's where I always want to call home. I miss seeing green when I look out my window, what's practically a junkyard along with lots of concrete just isn't the same. Concrete just doesn't do it for me - Give me a corn field.

One thing I think is interesting about the Buffalo area is how poorly it seems to be shifting from a big booming port city to a city of today's technology. There are some incredible old buildings that would look absolutely amazing and would perhaps draw people to them if only they were given a little attention. There are so many places that are incredibly trashy or abandoned entirely. I know there are places like that in Iowa too but there are just so many of them here.

There's No Place Like Home

If only it were as easy as tapping my red sparkly heels together. I love my home. This weekend I went through a really rough bout of homesickness. I don't know exactly what caused it. I just keep telling myself that I'll be home soon enough. That I still have things to learn at work and that there are still fun things to do and look forward to here.

Tree Killer

I am a tree killer. It makes me sad, very sad. I waste paper.

Catching Up

It's been a while. So how abouts a run-down of the last week and a half or so.

Aaron came to visit! He arrived Sunday afternoon and we went to see Wicked that evening. Wicked was awesome! I totally recommend seeing it if you get the chance. The only bad thing was that the fire alarms in the theater went off four times in the second act. :(

I had to work several days last week. If I remember right I was stuck in the office by myself for the most of them. Although there was one extremely pointless day I had. I drove an hour (one way) to pick up a load of wooden stakes. Then that afternoon I basically sat around doing nothing because the computer program I was trying to use was soooo slow (I'm sure you've figured out by now that I don't like this program).

Tuesday Aaron and I went to Niagara Falls, Ca. We rode the Maid of the Mist - I enjoy that. We spent most of the day walking around the town, using our coupons so we could get free samples at Hershey's, had lunch at Hardrock Cafe. We walked some more trying to find the car so we could move it closer to the imax theater that we were going to go to, instead we got lost farther away from the car. So we had to turn around and go back to where we had been, get on a bus and go get the car. We ended up going to two casinos that night instead of the imax. Unfortunately neither of us did very well at the casinos.

I took off Wednesday morning. I was able to sleep in after having a late night out. It was also nice that when I did get into the office my boss was gone so I basically stared at a computer screen for four hours and left. For dinner and a little fun Aaron and I went to Dave and Busters. I hadn't been to one in two years.

Thursday and Friday nights we went to a couple baseball games. The Buffalo Bisons were on Thursday night - our seats were on the first baseline in foul ball territory. I had a blast with Aaron trying to teach me how to keep score. Perhaps someday I'll be able to do it. Buffalo kicked butt by the way. Friday night's game we went to Rochester to see the Red Wings. I was a little more bored at this game. Some reason I just didn't find it as interesting and it didn't help that to me the guys behind us were basically being jerks, although it turned out that one of them had spent quite a bit of time in Iowa. I guess Aaron talked to them for a bit so I couldn't be rude to them.

Saturday was beach day. It was so nice to lay out in the sun and play in the water and splash Aaron. The bad part of the day is that Aaron and I both fried. I can still feel the burn.

Last night I went back up to Niagara Falls, this time I didn't even have to show my license to get into Canada. I met up with my friend emily and the PhD student in her lab for dinner and some time on the town. It's so good to see people I know. I'm ready to come home.

Making a Difference

Do you ever wonder if you're making a difference? At work or otherwise? Sometimes it feels as if my job doesn't really even matter. That I'm just going through the motions of something just to do it. Is someone ever going to know that I spent my afternoon making sure some fields were labeled in a program specific to one agency? Most likely not. No one will ever know and I will have wasted my summer just going through motions. I want my work to mean something, to have a purpose and a reason. I'm just not feeling that with this job.

A Better Week

So far this week seems pretty good overall. Yesterday I spent most of the day in the office and except for a slight issue with one of the volunteers (he decided he needed to stand right behind me as I waited for some files to upload on the computer - such an exciting thing, right?) it went pretty well. I mostly worked on mapping once again but I also sat in on the ECSWCD board meeting. I found it to be kind of interesting to know what's been going on with the district, especially since it seems to be more of what I like than the NRCS.

I spent today out in the field with Shanna. They actually let me take one of our government trucks all by myself. I'm quite sore now but it was great to be out today even though it was raining and I got completely soaked, oh well. That was fun any way. We visited two shrubland sites that are both applying for WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program). It was so much better than visiting horrible dairy farms.

On a completely different side note - I've never wanted my bicycle more than I do now.

One of Those Days

Today was one of those days that seemed like everything was annoying. I'm am so sick of my boss thinking I don't know how to use a computer. Just because the older lady can't catch on to things very quickly doesn't mean that I can't. I would think that by know he would have some idea that I'm pretty good with technology, maybe he wont ever realize that I know more than he does but whatever. I just want respect and I don't want to be told the same things over and over and over. I'm running out of patience.

On the good side - Aaron comes in 6 days and I only have 4 and a half weeks left of work!

Yay Weekend! Boo Weekdays!

I went to the "country" this weekend. It was such a nice change from the city - there was actually quiet, I could see the stars and there were no neighbors to speak of. I think that's the way it should be. If you can't tell I like it a lot better than staying in Buffalo all weekend.

I did enjoy fireworks on Friday night but I enjoyed the company of friends much better on Saturday night. Chilled with some people from other regional NRCS offices, some adult beverages, and a pool. Unfortunately there were 3 labradors in the pool most of the time as well. I wasn't too fond of that at all. I really disliked being covered in dog hair every time I emerged from the water. We ended the night with a bonfire and smores, I of course did not partake in the smores. I could've spent this afternoon, after our hike at Irroquoi(spelling?) Wildlife Refuge, in their pool but due to the dogs I decided on coming back home to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing on my own. What should've been a 40 minute drive home turned into closer to an hour and a half - I sat in line at the toll booths for what seemed like forever.

Have you ever heard of a 4 year old racing 4-wheelers and dirt bikes? I'm not one who wants to be the ever overbearing mother but I think it's crazy to let your kid race those things so young. The only kid at the party this weekend was the son of the brother of one of my friends and he was drinking alcohol and coffee and running all over the place, I thought that was absolutely crazy. I was allowed sips of alcohol from my mother when I was younger but never was I allowed to finish off half a bottle of smirnoff when I was 4. That kid is going to end up very messed up if he doesn't die. Actually his father reminds me of my uncle, always calling his kid names when the boy backs out of something "manly." I think that's horrible.

I spent the night on my friend's couch. My sleep was interrupted numerous times by dogs, cats, and people coming and going at all hours of the night. It was crazy.

They cooked a great breakfast and then we went hiking. They were so great to have me for the weekend. I had a good time for once and actually had the opportunity to enjoy being out of the city.

A 4th of July I WILL Remember

This year's 4th of July has been quite different from last year's, however each had their own pros and cons. The major pro of last year was being able to spend the evening with some of my wonderful friends, even if the night didn't end up being very pretty - Thanks Amy, Emily, Maegen, Mark, and everyone else who was there. If you can't guess, I spent this year by myself, the major con of this year being that I couldn't spend the day with Aaron, although even though he hasn't been here I couldn't ask for more from him. The major pro of this year was that I was able to sit down with a glass (or two) of some cheap champaign and watch three different fireworks displays out the windows of my apartment, two one direction and the other in another direction from my place. It's been nice to just relax, especially after work yesterday.

And then there's tomorrow - Party Time!

Long Day

I love clean laundry but I don't enjoy folding it and putting it away.

Today was a LONG day. Got to the office and started working on a mapping project, however ArcGIS was not cooperating. Ever since we got an update for the program installed on our computers the program has become incredibly slow - almost like using a computer from the early 90's as compared to computers now. It took me 45 minutes to draw 2 lines.

Then there was the teleconference. Today's teleconference required mandatory attendance of all NRCS employees, doesn't matter if you're only working with them for another month and a half. It was about how to use the program GovTrip - it's used for scheduling flights, cars, lodging, etc. for going on trips paid for by the government. I will never be using it unless I decide not to go to grad school and work for the NRCS or any other government agency in the future. That took 2 and a half hours and for much of it people were trying to figure out who's phone was causing the static that was heard by everyone and people had a hard time following directions. I got nothing out of it, it just kept me from getting things accomplished.

I did get one thing done today. I finally was able to get the mapping for the WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program) application finished. I then talked with the state biologist (Shana) about what was going on with the mapping and she helped me establish the ranking for this particular site. I enjoyed that much better than when I went out to check on a manure storage site at a horrible dairy farm.

This afternoon I took a long lunch - whoops, oh well, I deserved a break after this morning. Then I went to a meeting of the Cattaragus Watershed Committee. It was oooooh so boring - I sat there doodling in my notebook pretending to take notes. I really think that nothing was accomplished at the meeting either. It was stupid. Sometimes I just don't understand how this country gets anything done

Party Time

So I am starting to make some friends, sort of. I got invited to a 4th of July party at the house the regional biologist - Shana. She's pretty cool, we get along pretty well. And the one other person close to my age in the East Aurora office who works for the SWCD, Craig, and his fiancee are most likely going to be coming to the party as well. I've heard so much about Craig's fiancee and all of their wedding planning but I've never actually met her. It'll be nice to do something with people I know this weekend.

Thanks

I really appreciate all my friends at home who keep reminding me that they're still there for me. It really means a lot, especially since I feel like I'm starting to complain a lot. Hopefully things will pick up and get a bit better. But thanks guys! I miss you all!

My Love for NY

Love for NY? There can be such a thing? The Buffalo New York area completely sucks. I NEVER want to come back here again and I advise anyone thinking of moving here to rethink what they are doing because they are completely nuts.

If anyone can help me find out what the laws concerning apartments in the Buffalo area are that would be fantastic. I'm pretty sure my landlord has broken the law in at least one way. Back home landlords are required to give you a 24 hour notice that someone is going to be entering your apartment. Multiple times I've gotten phone calls saying "Hey we're going to be at your apartment in an hour to show it." This morning I got a phone call saying "We're going to be inspecting your apartment in half an hour or so. We know your bed's by the entrance to the attic, can you please move your bed so they can get to the attic?" Of course I can't move my bed - I work lady. I'd been at work for over an hour and I wouldn't have even been able to drive home and move my bed in time for them to inspect the attic. So I get home and there's crap all over. They didn't even have the decency to clean up after they left.

I'm just so sick of this place. I miss my friends. I miss doing things with people. It's hard to want to get out and do a whole lot of things when you're all by yourself.

Party when I get home?

Going Downhill

Things are getting worse at home. As of yesterday the doctors thought my grandma would be able to make it another 6 weeks or so. She would've been able to move to the nursing home and then stop medications there. That's what the doctors said just this morning when my mom was at the hospital. She just had a cat scan and the news is not good. She can't even say my mom's name now and she probably wont make it much longer, especially if she were to go off of her meds.

Alright

This week work wasn't so terrible. I still don't like my boss but this week he wasn't around much so I didn't have to deal with him too much. And I found out that listening to my ipod when I'm on the computer makes my boss much more tolerable. I spent a LOT of time working on GIS maps while agonizing over how slow the program I was using was and how much it made me want to hit my head against the wall. Unfortunately I still can't do anything by myself on the computer that actually concerns our customers - meaning I have to have someone else log onto my computer and then log in to the program that we're using for mapping. I can't even access my own time sheet yet. If you ask me the NRCS is going overboard with security.

On the opposite side - my family could really use me at home. Last week my grandmother broke her hip and had surgery to fix it, so she was in the hospital for a bit and then take to the sister nursing home of her independent living. A couple days ago grandma had some more bad luck and had a stroke. She couldn't move her right side and wasn't really coherent. Fortunately they gave her some medication just in the nick of time for it actually being able to work, which may or may not be why she's doing a little better now - she can move her right side again and she's somewhat coherent. Unfortunately she can only remember who my mom and I are and I'm not even there. To my mom's dismay the rest of my family doesn't think grandma should be moving back to her assisted living apartment if she gets better. Grandma needs to have someone watching her.

Repeated News

I want to come home - I hate New York. I've been made to feel bad because I haven't gotten out to do much. I want to be able to do things but I want to be able to feel safe doing them. I hate large groups of people when I'm by myself. I just can't take this right now. I miss my friends, I miss my home, my parents, normalcy. I just want to come home.

Vie-ah or Vee-yah

My boss is quite annoying. How would you pronounce "via"? Supposedly my boss is the best district conservationist (DC) in New York and I'm incredibly lucky to be working under him this summer. I've definitely learned more from another person in the office who unfortunately is going to be transferring to another office in two weeks (good for him though).

But back to my boss..... You know the people who always have to make a joke, even about little stupid things? My boss is one of them. He makes all of these stupid jokes that aren't even relatively funny. He also makes me feel like I'm not good enough. He goes on and on and on about how great his sons are. How perfect his sons are in everything - I swear they could do no wrong. My mom met him once or twice and when I talked to her yesterday about my boss she completely agreed with me.

At least tomorrow I'm getting out of our office. I'm going to go see two other western NY NRCS offices. The first is in Warsaw (?) - the DC there is awesome. And then most of the day will be spent in Batavia - that's where the guy who hired me works (he's the state conservationist and the team leader for our watershed team). I'd much rather be working in the Batavia office.



On a completely different note -
I think I have a list of grad schools I want to apply to narrowed down: University of Colorado @ Denver, University of Iowa, Arizona State University, and Iowa State University [in that order]. What do you think?

Busy Weekend at Home

This is one weekend that I REALLY want to be at home. Yesterday was my dad's birthday and my parents anniversary. Tomorrow is fathers day. I wish I was there to celebrate it all with my family. If only Iowa had any money...

A Good Day

I spent the majority of the day NOT in the office. Yay! Even when I was in the office this morning, the work I was doing was pretty much meaningless and didn't require much thought at all - great for a Monday morning. This afternoon I learned a few things, the most interesting was about how Toronto, Canada has a bunch of incentives in their cities for things like green roofs. I really wish that more places would implement green roofs, they are so cool.

This afternoon I went to The Buffalo River Summit - a conference up actually in Buffalo. It was held to publicize to all of the Buffalo River stakeholders what has been going on to remediate the river. My boss thought this would be a good way for me to get to know the area some more and there was free lunch, so of course I agreed to go. So there was lunch, which was pretty good even though it was almost exactly the same thing that we had for lunch at the conference I went to last week, there were some speakers - some of which were very interesting and a couple that made me feel like I was right back in my global change class (they said the same thing over and over and over again and they even have graphs of different models), and to finish the afternoon we went on a boat ride on the Buffalo River (www.buffalorivercruises.com).

The boat ride was really cool. While the tour guide pointed out all of the river remediation points of interest, my boss pointed out to me all the random things along the river. I saw the General Mills factory where all of the Cheerios for the entire Northeast are made - the air smelled like Cheerios and was somewhat filled with dust from the factory, it was kind of like inhaling the bottom of a box of Cheerios although not quite as thick. I saw the world's (maybe it was just the country's but I really think it's the world's) largest grain elevator - It's called Cement Central and it's not even in use any more, it's 170 feet tall and 1/4 long. The last thing my boss pointed out was the oldest fireboat in the US - I find those things interesting. I do not however find my boss's jokes very funny.

So today was a good day, hopefully the rest of the week will be good too and I wont always want to be coming home.

What a Week

It has been an exhausting week, although full of lots of interesting things. I'm trying to remember what exactly it was that I spent Monday doing but I can't just off the top of my head. I think perhaps I went out into the field for a while - did a few construction checks.

I went to a really interesting conference about an hour and a half away from the office on Tuesday in Olean. I learned a lot about watersheds and Resource Conservation and Development groups. This conference and a site check on Friday, not to mention being bored nearly to tears on Thursday (more on that in a little bit) have definitely helped to confirm my conclusion that I don't want to work specifically with farms for the rest of my life. The flood at home last week also helped direct me towards wanting to work more with communities, perhaps as an environmental consultant (then I would be allowed to run for a political office).

I spent a majority of this week out in the field, primarily visiting dairy farms. Don't you just love the smell of dairy manure? One of the coolest things from this week out in the field was that I saw a brand new baby alpaca - they are the cutest things ever! If I could afford one I'd want to have an alpaca (do you have any idea how expensive they are? A baby is $3000+).

Thursday I learned just about everything there is to know about dairy grazing systems. I really hope that when I get back to Iowa that I never have to work with dairy farms or Prescribed Grazing Management programs ever again. When they first told us that we were going to have this training day it was planned to be for all the regional offices, unfortunately the region cancelled the day and it ended up being just our office that took this day to learn all this wonderfully interesting stuff. It was also meant to be a hands on day and learn how to build fencing for grazing management - that did not happen. This man, the top grazing specialist for the region, talked and talked and talked all day long. I was bored. It also didn't help that I got sunburnt and started out the morning feeling sick to my stomach (yay! for the wonderful roads of western NY).

I did get homesick this week. There was at least one night this week that I was overcome by depression. I still don't enjoy the roads of western NY nor have I found the people outside of work to be all that great.

Today I took myself to a movie, after having scurried to quickly organize my apartment and do my dishes. This morning I got a call saying that the realtor was going to be bringing someone over to look at my apt. She said they'd be here at 3 but they got here a bit earlier than that and it ended up that someone else was also going to be looking at my place a little later in the afternoon. So like I said I took myself to a movie (sad right?). I finally went and saw the Sex and the City movie - I loved it! There was almost a cat fight in the theater during the movie - one lady got mad at another because the one lady's cell phone went off several times throughout the movie. I guess you should expect something like that when you have a theater full of women - there was only one man in our theater and it turned out that he was with the lady who started the cat fight.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll play my nerdy side and go hiking and play with my gps after church. I just hope that it doesn't turn out to be too hot or that there aren't any thunder storms while I'm out and about. There have been both this week. I have experienced a change in 50 degrees since I arrived in NY. So overall this last week was long but I'm loving my weekend.

One More Thing for Today

I was in my car, on the way to work. I turned on the radio and started flipping through the stations trying to find something to listen to. I finally found a channel just as it was starting to fade out. But while I still had the channel they announced what the temperature was and what the expected high was - in CELCIUS. I picked up a Canadian radio station.

Perhaps

I think I may have found something, as far as working goes, that I enjoy doing. I like soil determinations and just about anything that has to do with working with topography maps and the like. That's what I did today, at least for part of today.

I started out the morning working on soil determinations again like I had started to yesterday morning. The difference today was that I was actually the one running the programs on the computer and was able to help make decisions on what things were. Yay!

This morning I was also able to go out in the field, twice. The first time I went with Charlie and Rose to go to a "Site Showing." Site showings are when it's advertised to contractors that work with environmental projects that an area is going to be coming up for some kind of project. Potential plans for the project are drawn up and each contractor that shows up gets a copy. Then when everyone is on site, a member of the Soil and Water Conservation District, in our case Jim, gives an overview of the site and what is planned to be done. The site we were ate is going to be a bank restoration project so that the stream will not cut into the field anymore than it has. With this particular project the contractors were given a week to submit sealed bids to the SWCD and next week they'll be opened.

The second trip into the field today was with Charlie and Jon. We went to check on how the construction is coming on a diversion ditch next to a farmer's field. This meant that I was taught how to use the surveying equipment. Once we had walked the site we then needed to take some "shots" of the site - meaning we had to find out the elevation of different points in the ditch that was being worked on. It was kind of fun actually. It was even fun when later at the office we had to use the notes we took from surveying to plot the progress of the ditch as compared to what it was planned to be and what the land was like before. Unfortunately the project didn't quite fit the original plans.

I then spent the rest of the day in the office. I worked on more HEL determinations and tried to stand the smell of one of our new volunteers - she's a smoker who must take a break every few minutes, I don't see how she can work any where and get anything done.

Overall, today was a very good day.

My First Day

Today I started work in my new position as a soil conservation student trainee working for the federal government. So of course because it is the federal government I spent the first four hours of my day filling out paper work that allows me to work for the government and get paid with your tax dollars. That was quite boring, especially because I've already been through all of this paper work, at least most of it, with the job I have back at home in the lab. Although now I will actually have a need to drive government vehicles. Another new piece of paperwork I had to complete was that for New York state taxes. Tax forms can be confusing.

I was introduced to everyone and everything in my office. Being introduced to the people = normal, being introduced (like "Kelsi this is the fax machine, fax machine this is Kelsi") = strange boss. I think my boss can be overly nice and a bit weird. My co-workers are cool though. And eventually this summer I'm going to meet the other interns.

My day after paper work goes something like the follows. Took my lunch break - ate lunch at my desk and read some of "Midnight Assassin." Finished more wonderful paper work. And then I actually did something! I worked with a couple of my co-workers determining HEL - Highly Erodable Land. I guess I'll be working with that a lot this summer, as long as I don't get it all done and run out of things to do.

One thing that I don't think my boss has quite caught onto yet is that I catch on to things usually very quickly and that I've had quite a bit of experience with slopes, soils, the web soil survey, and the county soil surveys. I realize that not every intern has had the experience that I've had but I don't want to be treated like an idiot either.

Once we were done working on that I basically sat around. Read some more of my book, cruised around the NRCS website because I'm not really allowed to look at much else. Every move I make on my computer at work is tracked by the man. On that note, I do have my own desk and computer. I did also do some geometry like practice problems that dealt with things that I'll potentially be working with - like sizes and depths of ponds, cliff faces etc. To me it's interesting stuff, at least the potential idea that I'll be working with that stuff, not so much the geometry.

One last thing about today. With my job, like I did at the lab, I earn vacation hours with every time period. Unfortunately I can't transfer the hours I earn this summer back to my job at home. They are forcing me to use up my hours before the end of tour of duty. At least that makes it a lot easier to go get my man at the airport than it would have been otherwise.

And I'm In

Today I moved in. I am completely moved into my apartment, including having inflated my bed (I'm sleeping on an air mattress this summer. My apartment is INTERESTING. I currently have neighbors but they're all going to be moving out in the next few weeks, some of them, the ones I have met, are pretty nice. One thing about my apartment though is that the parking places are all messed up and someone's in my spot. I have three doors to lock when I go in and out of the building - the door to the building, the door to the stairs, and the door to my apartment. Right now there's supposed to be a light outside the building near my outside door, but I think it's burnt out, and there's supposed to be a light in the stairwell between my second and third doors but I believe my property manager said the electrician had to come and fix something with it.

My tv, lamps, cable, internet, chairs, etc., are all set up. Although, I certainly did not plan on having a tv. It just turned out that the property manager of my apartment had an extra tv and a couple extra lamps sitting around her place so she let me borrow them. She's a really nice lady, although she seems to run 1000 miles a minute, always forgetting something.

Home

I almost want to come home. Sometimes I think I made a huge mistake by coming out here. Who would've thought it could be so bad? Maybe it's just because I haven't settled into anywhere really yet, I've constantly been with my mom for the last 7 days and I haven't started my job yet.

Apartment Hunting

I am exhausted. It has been such a long day and it doesn't help that I need to get away from my mother. I am fed up with riding in the car, especially with her. When I'm driving my mother can be much more of a hazard than other drivers. Whenever we're behind someone who's stopping or turning mom tries to stop the car by freaking out and pushing her hands against the dashboard. What is that going to do? Absolutely nothing. It's no help what so ever, it's a hazard. No matter how much my dad and I try to get her to stop it doesn't work, it just becomes worse.

I tried to find a place in East Aurora so that I could ride my bike to work and no have to drive to work because the gas prices are outrageous. Gas here is right around $4/gallon. Unfortunately that was a no go. So I tried to find a place within 10 minutes drive time of my office - nadda. Last night I found a place on craigslist and called the number listed with it. It ended up that mom and I quickly changed out of our pj's and drove about 20 minutes to Holland to look at the place. It was cheap but didn't have a stove or fridge and i would've needed to pay electric, gas, water, garbage and I think there was something else. It was also in a building with 5 other apartments that mostly all had older men in them. So I decided I didn't really want to live there, besides it also smelled really bad and I didn't like the town in was in at all.

I lucked out this morning though. I picked up the Buffalo News and immediately looked in the classifieds. There were about 7 different listing for places somewhat close to work. I called a few and like most of the other people I've talked to about apartments they weren't very nice. Most places wont rent to a college student or a college aged student first off and then if you mention that you're looking for a short term lease your chances of finding a place become even worse. My stipulations for an apartment were the following: I'm college aged, I'm from a completely different state and only know one person in East Aurora, and to top it off I needed a place for only three months.

I then called this number for a place in West Seneca. The lady who answered was incredibly nice. That was amazing to hear someone as nice as she was as compared to just about everyone else. I asked if the 1 bedroom apartment would be available for a three month lease, to which she responded "Of course." So mom and I got in the car and headed on up to West Seneca. The apartment was great. There's lots of light, it has a feeling of safety, there's plenty around it, the minor downside is that it's about a 20 minute drive from my office. But like I said the lady, Stacy, now my landlord was great. After looking at the apartment and deciding to take it we went to her house to fill out all the paper work and then she let me use her phone to make all the phone calls I needed to in order to hook everything up - gas, electric, and internet/cable.

So this afternoon is what really sent me to being driven nuts. I understand directions pretty well, especially when I'm looking at a map. My mother on the other hand has no clue. She doesn't catch on very quickly. So she asks the same questions repeatedly and again and again and again. I think she expects different answers but what I know doesn't change, at least not unless I find out something new between when the questions were asked. This afternoon we figured out 5 different ways I can get from my office to my apartment and they are all about the same distance and amount of time, except when the school buses are taking the crazy little children home. I also bought my bed this afternoon - I'll be sleeping on a queen size air mattress this summer, yay big bed!

Upcoming plans:
- Tomorrow Niagara Falls with my grandma
- Saturday moving into my apartment and sending mom back home
- Sunday and Monday figuring out this place on my own
- Tuesday work

Heads Up!

Later today there will be a much longer posting about the griefs of apartment hunting.

Leaving

In the morning I'll be off on my way to New York, all though there's still that inkling that says it's not real. What is it that's not letting me completely accept, or perhaps comprehend, the fact that I'm going to be spending the summer away from my family, best friends, and the wonderful town of Ames? I've said goodbye to my close friends, cried my way through leaving my wonderful boyfriend, and have my car almost completely packed to the brim. (There's no way I'm going to be able to bring much home with me that I don't take out to NY)

I guess it's only a few short hours now before I'm headed east. I couldn't find my passport tonight, I'll have to settle for only be able to drive into Canada and not flying, I have my birth certificate. I have so much stuff between my parents and the stuff that used to be in my apartment that it's nearly impossible to find anything.I don't have a clue.

That's another thing, my apartment. I spent nearly two years in the same building, primarily in my last apartment. I had to move out today. It's going to be strange coming back to Ames and not going to my apartment. I mean, I'll have another apartment but it just wont be the same.

Things to Do

As of a couple of days ago I started to make of list of all the things I need to do prior to leaving Ames, things to take with me to Buffalo, and things to do once I get to Buffalo. So far the number one thing to do is to move out of my apartment - it's taking a LONG time, mostly because it's a hard thing to want to do. It's always harder to move out of a place when you've lived there longer. As of this August I would've been in my current apartment for over a year and a half, this building alone would be two years. I love this building (most of the time). I like the location I'm in, although I am looking forward to moving someplace that will be a bit quieter = summerset. Also before I go to Buffalo I have to make sure I'm ready to go to Texas and to Arkansas. But before I should really be thinking of any of that I need to get through finals.

Soil chemistry is going to kick my butt! I may study for days worth and it may or may not make a difference. I'm hoping that it does make a difference. Although all I really need is to pass, I would really like it if I can do better than that in this class. I would really like for it not to drag down my GPA. I want to go to grad school. In fact that's what I spent a lot of my time doing this morning - looking at grad schools, again. Right now my top three schools are Montana State, Kansas, and Iowa State. University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee and University of Colorado - Denver are also possibilities.

Mostly to take to Buffalo is a list of books. I want to be on my A game this summer with my knowledge of all things soil. And so far it seems as if my office is excited for me to come, I don't want to let them down - especially because they're taking a risk with someone who only really knows about corn and soybeans.

I am going to take my guitar instead of my TV. People are saying that I'm going to be out of the loop not being able to watch the news but I'm one for newspapers though. If there's really anything I want to watch on TV I can most likely watch it on my computer when I get a chance to use the internet.

Can you think of anything I should be taking with me?

As far as things to do in Buffalo - eat Buffalo wings. You can look forward to a post devoted to buffalo wings. The first thing I need to do when I get there is make sure I have an apartment. My supervisor has been amazing with helping me. He's even called some places and taken pictures of places that are very close to my office. I really hope I can afford them. There's an apartment that I like from the outside and am hoping that it looks as nice on the inside and is affordable. I'm putting up a picture of it with this post.

I also want to start taking TaeKwondo classes this summer. I'm scheduled to take taekwondo as a class this fall but I want to be ahead of the game on this as well. Back about 10 years ago I was a green belt. I'd really like to be a black belt someday. I think it would be good to know, and would be a good workout. Perhaps even a good way to get to know people. Along the lines of getting to know people I think I want to check out the Unitarian Universalist Church of East Aurora.

I will take a trip to see Niagra Falls - not like that's a very long trip at all. I'm almost thinking I'll be there twice, once towards the beginning of the summer and once towards the end. I'm also thinking of taking a trip to NYC but I don't really want to go by myself and it's a bit longer trip.

Anything else?

Housing

So far, besides the wonderful multitude of papers I get to fill out for the government (which I've before for the job that I currently love), the hardest part of my internship is finding housing. Anyone know of a decently cheap apartment in or near East Aurora New York?

Some of the places I was looking at on the net were listed as being near $600, but there's a catch. All the places I ended up talking to on the phone said that there would be an extra $200/month charge for a three month lease. That's do-able but I don't really want to spend 3/4 of my income on rent.

I talked to my supervisor today (the guy who I'll actually be working with, seems he's pretty awesome in the chain of soil cons in NY). He said that he's going to try to help me find a place. So hopefully I'll be able to find an affordable place. I think I've said before how I don't really even care how big it is or even if it's furnished because I really don't care. I just want to be able to afford rent and traveling around NY a little bit. At some point I think I want to go to NYC.

Things I want to take with me:

Guitar
Soils books
Urban Planning Book
Knitting
Journal


Any suggestions? Know anyone in the Buffalo area?

Sad and Scary

Thanks to my friends I'm starting to think more and more about how much I'll be missing out on this summer, although I realize that my internship is going to be a good resume builder and a once in a lifetime experience.

My Own Self, At My Very Best, All the Time

I believe I am a blogging thief. I stole a phrase from a good friend, but it's a good phrase. I completely understand why he has chose to take the phrase to heart and make it his life plan(or something along that line).

I have always been the healthiest and happiest in the summer. In the past I have typically spent as much time as I have been able to outside - either at camp with the friends I've had for years and the new friends I've made each summer or even while I've just been on campus working and taking classes I would take the time to get the most out of everyday as I could. I'm worried that I'm not going to have that option - primarily because I'm going to be in a much bigger city. A much bigger city that doesn't consist of fifty percent college students. What am I going to do? Where am I going to run outside that I'm going to be safe? Or even just feel like I'm safe even if I'm really not?

Everybody takes big steps in their journey through life. I guess it's time for my first big step on my own. Sure, college was a step, but mom and dad were within minutes. Mom may be driving out to New York with me but I don't think that really counts as holding my hand throughout the summer.

Random topic: This will be the first summer I have missed the WoHa council fire in 8 years. I will miss the opportunity to reunite certain friends I only see on a rare occasion but I will still love you all and miss you. Camp is always in my heart and will always be my home away from home.

I'm sad I'll be missing out on the last summer that several of my friends will be in town but I guess I have to think about what's going to be good for all of us in the long run.

Here's to a summer of life changes, big steps, hope, happiness, and health.

Excitement

It's official! I am going to Buffalo, New York for the summer. As of this time last week I was 98% sure I was going to be an intern with the NRCS (for those of you that don't know that stands for the National Resource Conservation Service). Then today I found out that I am 100% for sure going. More specifically I am going to be a soil conservationist in the Student Trainee Education Program. I'm going to learn everything there is about working with farmers, ranchers, developers, etc., about what government programs there are that will help them keep the land healthy or make it healthier.

I'll be living in or near Buffalo - I'm really unsure of where exactly. I probably wont have a real place to live until my mom and I move me out there in the middle of May. Hopefully I'll be able to find a furnished apartment - even if it is just a studio- that is somewhat cheap, although I don't think I would mind just having an air mattress and a folding table if I really need to, as long as I have my computer.

I'm hoping to not take my tv and take my guitar instead. This will be the first summer in 10 or so years (at least it seems that way) that I haven't taken classes or gone to or worked at Camp Hantesa. I'm not even going to make it to the Woha campfire - it's just too far of a distance for me to go when I'm almost done with my internship.

Although I'm scared, worried, faced with the fact that it doesn't still seem real and I wont be near my friends or wonderful boyfriend and family for the summer I'm sure this is going to be a great experience. Hopefully I'll figure out if I'm headed down the right path or not.