Well, I'm off and running with the wedding plans. It sounds a little crazy to be planning now, but once school starts, I'll be really busy with my classes. This fall I will be taking:
Biomedical Materials
Introduction to Biomolecular Engineering (a lab and lecture)
Tissue Engineering
Applied Mathematics
BME seminar
That's quite a full course-load, but I'm going to finish ASAP. None of this 6 year Ph.D. nonsense.
So Keegan and I will be getting married June 20, 2009 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Raleigh. This is the church his family belongs to, and I think it's really pretty. We'll be having a simple ceremony, since I'm not Catholic and no one in my family is Catholic, I'm not having a wedding that excludes my family. Before the wedding, we have a Marriage Prep Forum we need to attend; it's an all-day event, but it's supposed to help us prepare for marriage (as the name implies) and I hope it is useful. We will also be meeting with his priest a few times, and I might require extra meetings with him because I'm not Catholic and I'm not going to convert. I've also done some investigation into their hall to rent for the reception, but the woman in charge of scheduling those is on vacation until Monday, so I'll call back then. Now that we've got a date set, I guess I need to start tackling all the other things that go into a wedding... eep!
Right now I'm in the process of packing everything I own to prepare for my move to Durham. My brother and I are preparing to trade bedrooms while my sister is away at band camp. It's sneaky, but she'll throw a fit when she doesn't get my room. My room is the biggest of the non-master bedrooms, and my sister is older than my brother; however, my brother's bedroom has two doors that connect it to the bonus room and the hallway and bathroom where the rest of the bedrooms are, so everyone walks through it at all hours of the day. It's sort of like another hallway, and I think he deserves a room with one door. Plus if Kristin takes my room, then Hunter moves to hers and I move to his and that seems like one more move than is necessary. And she's going to college in 2 years anyway.
That's all for now; I've got more packing to do before I go to work! (Still working at Target until next Wednesday... gotta earn all the money I can before I move and start school!)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The BIG question
Hey everyone!
Well, in case you didn't know, Keegan and I are getting married! Someday in the future at least, but we're engaged now. We haven't really worked out the wedding day details, but when we've figured them all out, I'll be sure to post more info and I'll probably be making one of those "theknot" websites. It's so exciting! A little daunting too... the prospect of planning and paying for a wedding is a little stressful and I haven't even started yet! I suppose the whole Ph.D. thing is lingering there too... but at least for the first year I shouldn't have too much research going on yet- more planning time! We're thinking possibly some time next summer for a wedding; that sounds really soon, but seeing as how I will have a possibly rigid research project schedule in my later years at school, it might be best to get married before all that kicks in.
That's about all for now, as if there could be any more exciting news! I think that's enough big news for me for one day.
:o)
Well, in case you didn't know, Keegan and I are getting married! Someday in the future at least, but we're engaged now. We haven't really worked out the wedding day details, but when we've figured them all out, I'll be sure to post more info and I'll probably be making one of those "theknot" websites. It's so exciting! A little daunting too... the prospect of planning and paying for a wedding is a little stressful and I haven't even started yet! I suppose the whole Ph.D. thing is lingering there too... but at least for the first year I shouldn't have too much research going on yet- more planning time! We're thinking possibly some time next summer for a wedding; that sounds really soon, but seeing as how I will have a possibly rigid research project schedule in my later years at school, it might be best to get married before all that kicks in.
That's about all for now, as if there could be any more exciting news! I think that's enough big news for me for one day.
:o)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Brochufest 2008
I'm back from up north and settled into where I'm house sitting until July 15. I also have a townhouse lined up for the next year- I move in on August 9, yipee! I'm really looking forward to having a place of my own that is not shared with my family, as much as I love them. This house sitting gig is a test run for living on my own I suppose.
The trip up north was really fun and I enjoyed meeting more of Keegan's relatives- they're hilarious and when you get a big group together, it's a lot of fun. Keegan, his dad, and I all went up to the reunion in Vermont while the rest of his family stayed with relatives on his mom's side of the family. At the picnic I met about 100 people (at least! look for pictures on Facebook soon!) from Mr. Brochu's side of the family and the reunion was held up on a mountain farm, so the views were really amazing.
I got to check Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont off of my "states to visit" list; that gives me a total of 9 new states for 2008 (so far!).
I'm meeting with Monty (my Ph.D. adviser) next week so I'll be signing up for my classes soon after that! I'll let everyone know how intimidating they sound once I'm enrolled. He also sent me a paper to review so we can discuss it at our meeting- goody, goody, homework! Nah, it's not too bad :-) Gotta get used to how my life is going to be from now on!
The trip up north was really fun and I enjoyed meeting more of Keegan's relatives- they're hilarious and when you get a big group together, it's a lot of fun. Keegan, his dad, and I all went up to the reunion in Vermont while the rest of his family stayed with relatives on his mom's side of the family. At the picnic I met about 100 people (at least! look for pictures on Facebook soon!) from Mr. Brochu's side of the family and the reunion was held up on a mountain farm, so the views were really amazing.
I got to check Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont off of my "states to visit" list; that gives me a total of 9 new states for 2008 (so far!).
I'm meeting with Monty (my Ph.D. adviser) next week so I'll be signing up for my classes soon after that! I'll let everyone know how intimidating they sound once I'm enrolled. He also sent me a paper to review so we can discuss it at our meeting- goody, goody, homework! Nah, it's not too bad :-) Gotta get used to how my life is going to be from now on!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Happy hunting
The all-out hunt for the perfect (or mostly perfect) apartment has begun! Except now it's morphed into the hunt for the perfect townhouse. I've found a few that I like, but I'm still working on narrowing them down by reading online reviews, comparing distances to school, grocery stores, etc. Nothing major :o) But in the next two weeks or so I should have one all picked out so I can move in during August.
I've started that summer reading I was rambling on about in the last post. I've read Lord of the Flies, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and the Odyssey in the past week. I'm thinking I'll go with my sister and mom the next time they go to the library so I can scout out some more books to read. I haven't decided what I want to read next, so the library should help me pick something out.
One week from tomorrow I leave for the Brochu family reunion! Too bad that I work every day until then... but I'll only be working there another 5 weeks or so. It's not bad, it gives me something to do, but standing up and walking around restocking shelves and putting back things that are returned to the store or left in the wrong place for 8 hours is tiring.
I was thinking about all the traveling I've done this year. It's not as exciting as Caitlin's trips to Guatemala and Ethiopia (she leaves on the 29th- I'm so excited for her but jealous at the same time!), but I will have been to a fair number of places during 2008 by the end of the summer.
I've started that summer reading I was rambling on about in the last post. I've read Lord of the Flies, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and the Odyssey in the past week. I'm thinking I'll go with my sister and mom the next time they go to the library so I can scout out some more books to read. I haven't decided what I want to read next, so the library should help me pick something out.
One week from tomorrow I leave for the Brochu family reunion! Too bad that I work every day until then... but I'll only be working there another 5 weeks or so. It's not bad, it gives me something to do, but standing up and walking around restocking shelves and putting back things that are returned to the store or left in the wrong place for 8 hours is tiring.
I was thinking about all the traveling I've done this year. It's not as exciting as Caitlin's trips to Guatemala and Ethiopia (she leaves on the 29th- I'm so excited for her but jealous at the same time!), but I will have been to a fair number of places during 2008 by the end of the summer.
- Ecuador
- Florida
- Georgia
- North Carolina
- Virginia
- Nevada
- California
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Utah
- Maryland
- Delaware
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- New York
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- Vermont
Monday, June 16, 2008
"Light" summer reading
I've decided that as much as I love my Harry Potter books, I should probably branch out and read more of the "classics" that I wasn't forced to read in high school. And I should probably continue rereading most of the books I read back then, assuming they will mean more to me now than they did then.
I've looked up several of the "Best 100 Novels" lists to try to determine which books I should start with. One list I found has a board's list of the best 100 books as well as a reader's list; four of the top ten books (including #1 and #2) on the reader's list are Ayn Rand books! I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged to all who read this blog- that's definitely one I need to reread. And I should start on The Fountainhead too. I have some books that I really want to read, not because they are or aren't on the list, but just because I want to have read them. Like the Lord of the Rings books, more F. Scott Fitzgerald books, any Hemingway books (would you believe I'm 22 and I've never read anything by Ernest Hemingway?), more Jane Austen novels, Ender's Game, and many of the books with depressing names written by Russian authors with complicated last names that I can sort of pronounce but I certainly can't spell.
On an unrelated note, I've posted pictures from my southwest adventure on Facebook, so you should definitely check them out :o) In a few more weeks I'll have pictures from the Northeast to post also; I'm going from one corner of the country to the other!
It's just starting to hit me how much I need to accomplish in the next few weeks; some furniture went on sale at Target that I really like (it's not too fancy, but I like it anyway), so I'm thinking of ordering it this week, since it's 25% off for the sales price, so that'll be a total of 35% savings for me using my team member discount. I need to buy a lot of furniture, determine what project I want to adopt for my Ph.D work so I can go ahead and register for my fall classes, buy a parking permit (eww), and most importantly, actually FIND somewhere to live. I've got to fit that in around the 35 hours I work each week, so it'll be an exciting challenge, I'm sure.
Well, it's late, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is waiting to be finished (for the 15th time...). Wish me luck with my endeavors for the next few weeks!
I've looked up several of the "Best 100 Novels" lists to try to determine which books I should start with. One list I found has a board's list of the best 100 books as well as a reader's list; four of the top ten books (including #1 and #2) on the reader's list are Ayn Rand books! I highly recommend Atlas Shrugged to all who read this blog- that's definitely one I need to reread. And I should start on The Fountainhead too. I have some books that I really want to read, not because they are or aren't on the list, but just because I want to have read them. Like the Lord of the Rings books, more F. Scott Fitzgerald books, any Hemingway books (would you believe I'm 22 and I've never read anything by Ernest Hemingway?), more Jane Austen novels, Ender's Game, and many of the books with depressing names written by Russian authors with complicated last names that I can sort of pronounce but I certainly can't spell.
On an unrelated note, I've posted pictures from my southwest adventure on Facebook, so you should definitely check them out :o) In a few more weeks I'll have pictures from the Northeast to post also; I'm going from one corner of the country to the other!
It's just starting to hit me how much I need to accomplish in the next few weeks; some furniture went on sale at Target that I really like (it's not too fancy, but I like it anyway), so I'm thinking of ordering it this week, since it's 25% off for the sales price, so that'll be a total of 35% savings for me using my team member discount. I need to buy a lot of furniture, determine what project I want to adopt for my Ph.D work so I can go ahead and register for my fall classes, buy a parking permit (eww), and most importantly, actually FIND somewhere to live. I've got to fit that in around the 35 hours I work each week, so it'll be an exciting challenge, I'm sure.
Well, it's late, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is waiting to be finished (for the 15th time...). Wish me luck with my endeavors for the next few weeks!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Southwest adventures!
I'm back from my fantastic trip! Well, I've been back since Thursday morning, but I've worked 9-hour days at Target on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so I haven't had a lot of time to relax. I saw so many things on the trip, I'm not exactly sure where to begin.... Las Vegas is HUGE. Well, the strip is HUGE; hotels there are several blocks long, and not Raleigh-sized blocks. We're talking hotels that are a mile long, so even though you want to go "right next door" to visit the Bellagio or Caesar's Palace, it will take you 30 minutes to get there. The city was filled with people, especially since the first weekend we were there, the World Series of Poker was being held and it was Memorial Day weekend, so all those Californians had taken over the city. I was able to visit the Mirage and see their mini zoo; they have Siegfried and Roy's white lions and tigers and other assorted large cats and the hotel also has a dolphin exhibit, so that was neat :o) We visited Hoover Dam, which was much bigger than I thought it would be (for some reason). There was a tour that went down into the dam so you could see the power generators and things, so that was pretty cool also. I would post pictures, but there are so many that I'm just going to put them on Facebook (once I pick out which ones of the ~700 pictures are worthy to be posted).
We left Las Vegas after 2 nights and drove through the southern tip of California through a town called Needles just so I could say I'd been to California. Our final destination was Flagstaff, Arizona, where we stayed for 4 nights. From there we visited the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, the Meteor Crater, and the city of Sedona. We also made a side trip to New Mexico when we were in the Painted Desert ("We're only 40 miles away, what the hell?" said my Poppop). Even though I'm going to post pictures of all those places, I could never actually describe to someone how beautiful they were. There's nothing like standing at the edge of a canyon that's a mile deep and 18 miles wide (at least for some of the canyon) and trying to explain what it feels like; you'll just have to see it for yourself!
After leaving Flagstaff, we drove to Page, Arizona which is where Lake Powell is. The lake is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, which is also on the Colorado River, north of the Grand Canyon; the lake is on the Arizona/Utah border. On the way to Page, we stopped in Tuba City to do some looking around in the trading posts. A huge portion of Arizona is Indian Reservations, so there were loooots of tiny stands by the side of the road where the natives were selling all of their crafts and jewelry. We also stopped at this little place where there were dinosaur tracks visible on the surface of the desert rocks, so that was pretty neat also (since they weren't in a museum!). Once in Page, we spent two nights there and went on a boat tour of the lake. It was beautiful, and the only place on the trip my grandparents hadn't already visited at one point or another, so I'm really glad they were able to see something new. Of course, we drove different routes than the ones they had taken on their other trips, and the scenery was always beautiful and breath-taking, I still felt a little bad that most of the things that amazed me had already amazed them 20 years ago. But my Poppop said that the best part of the trip for him was seeing how everything was exciting for me :o)
After Page, we drove up to Mount Carmel, Utah to spend the night; we toured Bryce Canyon National Park on that day also. I think Bryce had the most unusual features I've ever seen and the most unique on the trip. They're called hoodoos and they look like pillars of rock that used to be great plateaus where everything else eroded around them... I have to wonder what sorts of winds and other forces could create such things on the Earth's surface and if just one other minor thing had been different, there wouldn't have been anything to look at except some flat desert. We visited Zion National Park on the way to Las Vegas (for the second time).
Our last two nights were spent in Vegas at the Flamingo hotel, which is one of the older and more famous hotels. It was shaped like a giant U and on the inside part of the hotel was a huge courtyard filled with waterfalls and tropical birds including flocks of flamingos. Luckily for me, our room was on the 12th floor (of 28) and faced the courtyard, so I could look at it all the time in the evenings to see the lights of the strip also. And during the day I had views of the mountains that surround the city. We went to Fremont Street, which is where all the original casinos are and I got to gamble some ;-) I played roulette with my Poppop and I managed to win about $40 (but I was playing with his money, so I guess it didn't matter). But I must have been his good luck charm because he won $90. That's not a lot or anything, but it's a fair amount when you're playing with $.50 chips. We mainly just toured the city for the rest of the time. Poppop and I went in the Effiel Tower replica at the Paris hotel (my grandmom is afraid of heights) to see the city from above, and we ate a lot of nice food. One morning for breakfast I got this "standard" fruit bowl that had cantaloupe, honeydew, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, AND grapes in it. In the middle of the desert! One night we went to a nice buffet place with all sorts of seafood (which I don't like) so I ate off the dessert menu- I love trips with grandparents, because regular parents wouldn't allow that sort of thing :-P
Well, I guess keep your eyes peeled for pictures to be posted on Facebook... I'm going to hit the treadmill :o)
We left Las Vegas after 2 nights and drove through the southern tip of California through a town called Needles just so I could say I'd been to California. Our final destination was Flagstaff, Arizona, where we stayed for 4 nights. From there we visited the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, the Meteor Crater, and the city of Sedona. We also made a side trip to New Mexico when we were in the Painted Desert ("We're only 40 miles away, what the hell?" said my Poppop). Even though I'm going to post pictures of all those places, I could never actually describe to someone how beautiful they were. There's nothing like standing at the edge of a canyon that's a mile deep and 18 miles wide (at least for some of the canyon) and trying to explain what it feels like; you'll just have to see it for yourself!
After leaving Flagstaff, we drove to Page, Arizona which is where Lake Powell is. The lake is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam, which is also on the Colorado River, north of the Grand Canyon; the lake is on the Arizona/Utah border. On the way to Page, we stopped in Tuba City to do some looking around in the trading posts. A huge portion of Arizona is Indian Reservations, so there were loooots of tiny stands by the side of the road where the natives were selling all of their crafts and jewelry. We also stopped at this little place where there were dinosaur tracks visible on the surface of the desert rocks, so that was pretty neat also (since they weren't in a museum!). Once in Page, we spent two nights there and went on a boat tour of the lake. It was beautiful, and the only place on the trip my grandparents hadn't already visited at one point or another, so I'm really glad they were able to see something new. Of course, we drove different routes than the ones they had taken on their other trips, and the scenery was always beautiful and breath-taking, I still felt a little bad that most of the things that amazed me had already amazed them 20 years ago. But my Poppop said that the best part of the trip for him was seeing how everything was exciting for me :o)
After Page, we drove up to Mount Carmel, Utah to spend the night; we toured Bryce Canyon National Park on that day also. I think Bryce had the most unusual features I've ever seen and the most unique on the trip. They're called hoodoos and they look like pillars of rock that used to be great plateaus where everything else eroded around them... I have to wonder what sorts of winds and other forces could create such things on the Earth's surface and if just one other minor thing had been different, there wouldn't have been anything to look at except some flat desert. We visited Zion National Park on the way to Las Vegas (for the second time).
Our last two nights were spent in Vegas at the Flamingo hotel, which is one of the older and more famous hotels. It was shaped like a giant U and on the inside part of the hotel was a huge courtyard filled with waterfalls and tropical birds including flocks of flamingos. Luckily for me, our room was on the 12th floor (of 28) and faced the courtyard, so I could look at it all the time in the evenings to see the lights of the strip also. And during the day I had views of the mountains that surround the city. We went to Fremont Street, which is where all the original casinos are and I got to gamble some ;-) I played roulette with my Poppop and I managed to win about $40 (but I was playing with his money, so I guess it didn't matter). But I must have been his good luck charm because he won $90. That's not a lot or anything, but it's a fair amount when you're playing with $.50 chips. We mainly just toured the city for the rest of the time. Poppop and I went in the Effiel Tower replica at the Paris hotel (my grandmom is afraid of heights) to see the city from above, and we ate a lot of nice food. One morning for breakfast I got this "standard" fruit bowl that had cantaloupe, honeydew, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, AND grapes in it. In the middle of the desert! One night we went to a nice buffet place with all sorts of seafood (which I don't like) so I ate off the dessert menu- I love trips with grandparents, because regular parents wouldn't allow that sort of thing :-P
Well, I guess keep your eyes peeled for pictures to be posted on Facebook... I'm going to hit the treadmill :o)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Sweet summertime
Summer is off to a great start :o) I'm not too busy because I'm still training at Target, but I'm sure I'll be working more hours once I'm fully trained. Right now I know how to work as a cashier and in "softlines", which are items like clothes and shoes. On Friday I'll be trained in "hardlines" which is everything else essentially; then I'll be prepared to work more than 15 hours a week.
On Saturday I'm leaving for my vacation with my grandparents to the southwest part of the country- I'm so excited!! I want to visit all the states, so on this trip I'll get to add 4 more states to the list of states I've been to. Right now I've been to 13 states, so I've got quite a ways to go! During my trip, I'll be visiting Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah; I won't be doing anything in California really except driving through the bottom corner of it, and I won't be near the coast, so it sort of doesn't count as visiting the state, but I'll go back someday to really enjoy it.
We're starting our trip out in Las Vegas, where we're going to rent a car and tour several national parks. The trip will start out by driving to Flagstaff, Arizona; we'll also tour Sedona and its area attractions. Then... off to the Grand Canyon!! (Can you tell I'm excited!?) We're also going to see the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Next we head to Utah to visit Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park; the pictures on these websites are pretty amazing and I'm sure I'll never see anything like these parks anywhere else :-) We'll end the trip by spending a few days in Las Vegas to see the city (but my Poppop says he won't let me gamble... darn). So that will keep me busy until June 5; if you'd like a postcard, let me know and I'll send you one! I even bought the nice postcard stamps (because now that actual stamps are 42 cents, it was worth it to buy the postcard stamps that are only 27 cents instead of just using the stamps I already had).
Later in the summer, I might also be joining Keegan's family at what I affectionately refer to as "Brochufest", which is their huuuuuge family reunion in Vermont each summer. Seeing as how Keegan's dad has 27 biological aunts and uncles, that makes for an absolutely gigantic family once they all marry, have kids, who marry and have more kids... If I go on this trip with them, I'll be adding Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont to my list of states visited. Combined with the 4 states from my southwest trip, that will get me up to 21 states visited. That's almost 50% of the states! I'll get to all of them someday :-) I'd like to get to all the continents some day too; right now I've got North and South America checked off that list, and I'm not sure how I feel about Antarctica... but I'd like to go to all the other continents. There's so much to see! I sure hope this Ph.D. work will earn me a hefty salary so I can afford all these trips I'd like to take... or maybe I'll invent and patent some amazing method or device, then just live off the royalties. That would be nice too ;-)
On a totally unrelated note, I'm preparing to buy myself a laptop tomorrow. I really, really HATE Vista, so I'm buying my laptop now when I can still buy one with XP Professional. Other than the car I bought last summer, I think this is the most money I've spent on anything in my whole life. Computers are expensive! Luckily I already bought Office Enterprise 2007 from NCSU with my student discount; seriously, I get Access, Communicator, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word (half of those things I don't even know what they are used for) but it was only $89 at the bookstore. If you buy that preinstalled on a computer, it's like $400 extra. I'm not sure what all programs I might need at Duke with my research, but it was only $15 more than the basic Office 2007 package, so I splurged to save myself potential grief down the line.
Well, I'm going to start getting some things organized for my trip to see if there are any last-minute travel things I need to buy :-)
On Saturday I'm leaving for my vacation with my grandparents to the southwest part of the country- I'm so excited!! I want to visit all the states, so on this trip I'll get to add 4 more states to the list of states I've been to. Right now I've been to 13 states, so I've got quite a ways to go! During my trip, I'll be visiting Nevada, California, Arizona, and Utah; I won't be doing anything in California really except driving through the bottom corner of it, and I won't be near the coast, so it sort of doesn't count as visiting the state, but I'll go back someday to really enjoy it.
We're starting our trip out in Las Vegas, where we're going to rent a car and tour several national parks. The trip will start out by driving to Flagstaff, Arizona; we'll also tour Sedona and its area attractions. Then... off to the Grand Canyon!! (Can you tell I'm excited!?) We're also going to see the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, and the Meteor Crater in Arizona. Next we head to Utah to visit Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park; the pictures on these websites are pretty amazing and I'm sure I'll never see anything like these parks anywhere else :-) We'll end the trip by spending a few days in Las Vegas to see the city (but my Poppop says he won't let me gamble... darn). So that will keep me busy until June 5; if you'd like a postcard, let me know and I'll send you one! I even bought the nice postcard stamps (because now that actual stamps are 42 cents, it was worth it to buy the postcard stamps that are only 27 cents instead of just using the stamps I already had).
Later in the summer, I might also be joining Keegan's family at what I affectionately refer to as "Brochufest", which is their huuuuuge family reunion in Vermont each summer. Seeing as how Keegan's dad has 27 biological aunts and uncles, that makes for an absolutely gigantic family once they all marry, have kids, who marry and have more kids... If I go on this trip with them, I'll be adding Delaware, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont to my list of states visited. Combined with the 4 states from my southwest trip, that will get me up to 21 states visited. That's almost 50% of the states! I'll get to all of them someday :-) I'd like to get to all the continents some day too; right now I've got North and South America checked off that list, and I'm not sure how I feel about Antarctica... but I'd like to go to all the other continents. There's so much to see! I sure hope this Ph.D. work will earn me a hefty salary so I can afford all these trips I'd like to take... or maybe I'll invent and patent some amazing method or device, then just live off the royalties. That would be nice too ;-)
On a totally unrelated note, I'm preparing to buy myself a laptop tomorrow. I really, really HATE Vista, so I'm buying my laptop now when I can still buy one with XP Professional. Other than the car I bought last summer, I think this is the most money I've spent on anything in my whole life. Computers are expensive! Luckily I already bought Office Enterprise 2007 from NCSU with my student discount; seriously, I get Access, Communicator, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word (half of those things I don't even know what they are used for) but it was only $89 at the bookstore. If you buy that preinstalled on a computer, it's like $400 extra. I'm not sure what all programs I might need at Duke with my research, but it was only $15 more than the basic Office 2007 package, so I splurged to save myself potential grief down the line.
Well, I'm going to start getting some things organized for my trip to see if there are any last-minute travel things I need to buy :-)
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