Its been a long, long week...

The moon over Lowes

As the title suggests, its been a long week for Jenee and I. The week before IAB usually is because everyone at work is going crazy trying to get final results, make presentations, organize things an so on so that they are ready for the two day sponsors meeting.

I have had some extra curricular fun because I have had to get two new undergraduate researchers started on projects, co-organise a Young Researchers Forum, host a representative for my project from the Army and finish building a new apparatus. So needless to say, I have been a little frustrated this week. Jenee has been vary busy too, and to add insult to the fact that she hasn't recieved a long promised raise, she had to fill out and submitt an application for her boss, which in her bosses words, "so that someone would read what she has done and she could use it as leverage to get a raise". Behavior like that makes me very annoyed.

Sable and Marble sleeping yesterday.

Anyway, we have spent this weekend at home pretty much. Jenee has been cleaning in preparation for her cousin's arrival next week and I spent my time working on my presentation and catching up on my Bible study homework. Just a few more days of crazy and I can take a breather...

Both the cats sleep like this...?

Fantastic Soccer Pics!

On Wednesday night Jenee and I went to cheer on some of our friends play in their intermural soccer match. They did a great job especially considering they had no substitutes and were also one man down. I took the camera along and took a few pictures. Because of the lighting I put the flash on. Now I know that my flash is pretty bright up close, but apparently it's pretty annoying far off because Jay, who was playing goalie, got a little annoyed and yelled at me to stop using it. LOL, I felt pretty bad, I had no idea that it was so bright. Maybe I could use this as reason to invest in some highend, low light optics Jenee? Anywho, here are some of the pics!

Krista. Enjoying the cheering from "her people".

Jay fending off the ball!

Brandon. Breaking out in his Riverdance routine mid-game to distract the opposing team.

We've Been Busy

Hi you fantastic people. Have you been wondering why you haven't had a new post for a while? Well if you have, it is because everything has gone into overdrive for the last week and it will stay that way for about another week. Why? Well, next week is my work's 2 day Industry Advisory Board Meeting (IAB) and we take it pretty seriously.

I have been flat out trying to finish off a large 2 week experiment that has actually taken 3 weeks, co-organizing a Young Researchers Forum, one of the IAB activities, making my presentation, writing abstracts, working on a journal article to be published, starting two new undergraduate researchers working for me, building two supercritical dryers and cleaning up my projects samples because we apparently are having an EPA lab inspection and the fine is $10,000 for every mis-labeled sample!

Jenee is in a similar boat, she is busy fighting to get her work done. She has taken all the required training courses associated with her position but the powers that be wont grant her the appropriate permissions so that she can actually do what she needs to. It's very frustrating for her and as a result the duties she can't do get placed on an already over burdened worker. It makes no sense, all "they" have to do is grant Jenee permission via computer and Jenee can do what she needs to but instead, the administration in question procrastinates and plays tough and in doing so, makes things harder on itself. Talk about nonsensical.

What we are going through is insignificant compared to what our friends Brandon and Krista are going through right now. Though I can't reveal much right now, Krista is having an extremely tough time with her PhD supervisor yet she continues on with a godly attitude and gets things done. A real trooper.

Well, its time for me to wash my breakfast bowl and head to work. I hope everyone is doing well and things should be back to normal in a week or so.

Nate

Painting Adventures

Just a cool photo.

Our lounge room has been looking a little lifeless for a while now. It goes hand in hand with the yellow-tinted depressing wall paint that all apartment complexes seem to think is a pleasurable color, marks that we have put on the wall from putting up pictures, clocks and even bikes. Jenee and I decided that the best plan of action was to paint the walls a cleaner shade of white and paint an accent wall with some kind of weaved texture.

Well, lets just say that the weaved texture wasn't working so we opted for a texture effect done with plastic bags. Pleased with our efforts we stepped back to discover that the wall hadn't been properly sealed where one should do the "cutting in" and the paint was adsorbing by different amounts into the wall. This resulted in a rather special border due to different paint thickness on the wall, as well as random markings and general ugliness. We thought we would solve this by cutting in with the white paint we had, then re-painting and re-texturing the edges. You can see our efforts below...

Wrong:Ugly wall color that induces feelings of nausea.

Lets just say 5 minutes after we had finished there was a unanimous vote that the wall looked like it belonged to a very low quality 70's hotel and it had to go. However we had friends coming over so we would have to bear the ugliness for at least one night.

Right: Autumn Breeze walls and nice curtains induce feelings of happiness.

The pain the wall caused to my eyes was so great that before church I got up early to re-paint it in a nice, more tasteful "Autumn Breeze" to match the rest of the room. Instead of paint we have decided that our color is going to come from some nice colorful curtains and potentially some matching new pillows on a possibly new sleeper / couch.

It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arrr!

It be national 'Talk like a Pirate Day'. T' celebrate I be talkin' like a pirate for t' whole day, be it t' me professor, me undergrads or t' silly sales rep who didn't send me lab supplies.

It be a rainy day here and I really feel that it be addin' t' t' whole pirate theme. Tonight we be goin' t' have a pirate celebration, and me and me first mate Sable be goin' t' make our sea dog prisoners Jenee and Marble walk t' plank. Ha Ha Ha!

(Can you tell I don't want to work on my presentation?)

Fun With Nate in the Lab

Well this morning we woke to gray skies and a gentle drizzle of rain. Rainy weather is the norm here in Florida so needless to say it doesn't phase us, unless I am wearing my well worn work shoes which after 2.5 years of wear, now have some sizable holes in them. Therefore by the time Jenee and I had reached work my feet were rather damp.

Now I am not one to suffer such inconveniences, especially with a whole building of equipment at my disposal. So what did I do? Well I replaced my shoes with cleanroom boots and put my shoes and socks in one of our stainless steel drying ovens at 65ºC for 45 minutes.

Ahh, the fruits of my efforts, I had toasty feet for a good hour after all that. Meanwhile poor Jenee is sitting upstairs in her office with my jacket on because the air conditioning up there is so stinking cold.

Scalloping in the Gulf of Mexico

How are all my favorite people? That's you I am talking to, how are you? Good!

This weekend Jenee and I were invited by Brandon and Krista to do something that neither of us had done before. What could that possibly be? Well what else could it be but scalloping! Yup, Jenee and I, along with Brandon and Krista, Brandon's dad and sister and two of their friends went to the Gulf and hit the water for some intense action snorkeling and duck diving. You can see the high action slideshow below.



There are so many story's to tell like how I missed taking a picture of an Osprey holding a fish in its talons twice, how I got bitten by a dragonfly after slicing my finger on a fishing knife. Yep, got bitten by a dragonfly. Krista caught about 36 fish each of which was 30 inches ( 76 cm) long (small exaggeration), Brandon showed me what a real hair style looks like and Jenee found two scallops on her very own but decided to retire her from scalloping days after one scallop moved around too much in her hand, lol.

Thats just the beginning. On the way home we got caught in a thunderstorm (once on the boat, once in the car) and then when we got home we showered and went to B&K's to clean and trim about 150 of the little muscles. That was a fun experience, made me reminisce of all the fishing I used to do as a kid.

More pics can be found here: http://www.bkwgator.blogspot.com/

As a reward for the hard work Krista, Brandon and myself all have sore throats, we are so lucky :p

Climbing the Ranks at Work

Yes it is true, I have climbed another rung of the ladder here at work, I received a promotion of kinds if you will, but not in the usual way. You see, here at PERC we don't judge rank by salary or recognition of research, rather we judge rank by the type of keys you have been issued.

When I started here in 05, I was already off to a good start because I was issued a key to "The Cage" which is where we keep our lab supplies, along with the standard lab and office keys. That little beauty earned me some respect.

A few months after that I managed to talk my way into being issued the highly coveted "001" key. The 001 is a sub master that first and foremost gets you access to the workshop. This is a big deal on its own, but as an added bonus all of a sudden you can open certain office doors and gain access to chocolate and soda supplies after hours or even to the tech office where all sorts of wonders are kept.

Well last night I stepped up another rung. Upon me was bestowed the often rumored but never seen "Building Key". With knee's shaking, hands trembling I received the key in an official ceremony last night where Gary held his hand out and said, "Here you go." Apparently the rumor is if you lose it or it gets stolen you have to pay for the building to be re-keyed, wonderful. Remember who lost his wedding ring for 2 months?

Anyway, Jenee and I are doing well. We are still tired from the trip to Tennessee, or at least I am. Last night we went to the Hammersma's home for dinner and socialized with them for the evening. Apparently Jenee and Sarah are going to watch the 5 hour version of Pride and Prejudice. Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition Marathon anyone?

Early Morning Roadtrip

Between the two of us, apparently neither Jenee or I really slept last night. Apparently we were both having nightmares about things that could possibly go wrong. Why I hear you ask? Well at 5 am this morning I got up, hopped in the car and drove 2 hours to Jacksonville to get my finger prints taken as a part of the immigration process.

The drive was fairly quiet for the most part, I just sat quietly, thinking in the dark, while Jenee slept on at home. Everything was going well, that is, until I reached I-95 and my irritable bowel syndrome kicked in. I got that special feeling, that feeling that tells me that I should find a bathroom at my soonest convenience or else I will suffer the consequences. Praise the Lord that there was an exit to a petrol station with in sight. Now, when I was younger this kind of thing was the norm, but I still suffer when my diet is poor or I am stressed. As a bonus for being a grown-up now, my adult symptoms are much better (being only mild to strong stomach pains) than what I went through as a child. 5 minutes back on the road I got the special feeling again...

It turned out to be nerves. Once I was where I needed to be, everything calmed down. The finger printing experience turned out to be quite pleasant. I only had to wait for about 15 minutes, and once I was in the printing room, I realized something quite funny, the two ladies who were taking my prints were of Mexican origin, speaking Spanish, in a US Immigration Office.

So all in all, there was nothing to worry about, God had already taken care of everything for me, both little and large. It's a constant struggle for me to day-by-day TRUST the Lord, I think some of it is from my Melancholic personality which hopes for the best but prepares (and worries) for the worst. Me and my stupid worrying nature, when will I learn? (My two favorite passages that the Lord has given me in times of stress are Matthew 6:30-34 and Isaiah 43:1-6)

Now I am at work and it feels like its about home time. My clock says its 12:34... I wonder if I can change the time on the University Server?

Rain, Rain Come Agian

Well its Labor Day weekend in the US. I did a little homework, and what do you know, once again the world should be gratefull to Australian's leading the way. On the 21st of April, 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

This weekend we have been recuperating from a busy week and travelling to Tennessee. On Saturday we rode onto campus to so I could show Jenee what tailgating during football season is all about. After her eyes were awed be all that is the crazyness of Gator School Spirit, we went home and had lunch be the pool. I could tell how worn out we both were and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and lounging around the apartment. For the evenings entertainment, we watched Pride and Prejudice, which wasn't nearly as sappy as I was expecting, in fact, one might go as far as to say that I enjoyed the movie.

With the weather changing down a gear, which means that it is still hot, just not as hot as July/August, I was welcomed to a beautiful still and "cool" morning. Actually, I was welcomed by Sable's head poping over the horizon of the bed as she reached up to wake me up, then I saw how nice it was outside. On the way home from Church I was thinking how nice it would be to put the top down and enjoy the sun for the drive home. For some reason I didn't follow through, and 2 minutes later I was rather happy about the whole deal. You see, even though the sun was out and there were only a few clouds to be seen, it started to rain. And not the wussy light rain, I am talking about big heavy drops that can render a man unconscious. Ok, so thats a slight exaggeration, but the drops are pretty large on my scale.

Well it kept on raining, raining after lunch, raining on the way to the mall, in the mall, in the car park, on the way home and finally finished about 4 pm. We went to the mall because our fancy can opener didn't open cans anymore so Jenee threw it out and we went out to get a new one. I also bought a cast iron frying pan with tall, sharpish ridges that we can use to "BBQ", as we cant have a BBQ on the second floor.

Sunday evening we took Brandon, Krista and Jay out to see the Bourne Supremacy. If you liked the first two you will love this one. Its just as good, if not better. I found myself literally on the edge of my seat much of the movie and enjoyed all the little plot twists and moments of "wow" along the way. I won't say anymore, other than it was fantastic!

Tomorrow is a new day, and since its a holiday, I don't know what we're going to do. Sleep in is definitely on the check list. More apartment painting is a possibility as well as a trip to the butterfly museum. Who knows what tomorrow may hold

N