Ben, Bay of Fundy, Chemistry, and New Canadian friends. In no particular order.

Ben at the studio with miller highlife bottlecap pseudo eyepatch. I love him. Note: this pic is not related to post at all, but I threw it in here because he is wonderful.

Drove to the New Brunswick this past weekend to present research at an inorganic conference. (Me, professor, and 7 other students.) My research group recently created a cation that has never been created before. Not a huge deal, but still pretty fucking exciting. Presentation went well. We then proceeded to drink our faces off with fellow students and chemists from all over Canada. Also visited the Bay of Fundy which has the largest tidal range in the world...a difference of 30+ feet between high and low tides. Note the trees growing on top of the rock formations...the rocks are completely submerged during high tide. Amazing.

Man these kids can drink! I can't remember this guys name, but apparently we are best friends.

Bay of Fundy...

More of Bay...

This is Arther. Crazy smart chemistry student. Also complete stoner. We were fast friends.

The bay once again.

Love Kat!

Help a girl get to vegas?

Hey dudes.
So, I was wondering if anyone wants to share hotel room? or bed? I am seriously poor at moment, and trying to coordinate trip to vegas. I WILL BE THERE WITH BELLS ON. am buying plane ticket as soon as tax return arrives. Seems like everyone has already coordinated their travel, and wondering if anyone wants to split cost of room and/or share bed? i don't even snore. Ten, I will be there even if it means sleeping in casino while pretending to play slots. Can't wait!
Love Kat

So I was driving home from Ben's this morning enjoying sunshine and a nice mango smoothie. I don't know how it happened, but I threw entire smoothie into air. Just THREW IT! (You know how sometimes you jump in your sleep? It was like that but I was awake) Plastered windshield, steering wheel, seat, bag, and entire self with said smoothie. even got inside of coat pockets. I swear it tripled in volume when it left the cup. WAs running late as usual, so had to drive 40 minutes in that condition, then go to class. What a mess. Looked like i puked all over car and self. Great start to my day.

In other news, I was approved for the new ecology research project. I will be living in the white mountains for most of July, collecting spiders & spiderwebs which I will then sample for mercury isotopes. That is my study, which is part of a much larger ongoing study with a group of scientists from around the country.

My roomates are moving to NYC in April. Chels isn't selling the house, which means I can still live here. Wohooo! And I think my friend Annie is moving in. Wohooo!! (you know her emiloo). And maybe this other guy that i am friends with, who is also great.

I am prob repeating myself here...I didn't scan past posts to see. A time saving measure on my part. Am super busy with school. Holy paper writing!!! Holy lab work! I have 3 conferences to present at in March alone. One of them is in New Brunswick Canada near the Bay of Fundy. I have been meaning to go there, but it's a 10 hour drive.
Okay, i really have to get some work done. Love to all you wonderful ladies.
LOVE KAT!

Flu.

This hasn't happened in years. Totally kicked my ass. Too tired to type this actually. Have never seen an illness travel to fast among people i know. be well.
love kat

Winter break is over and i am totally in school mode again. Whoa. These are my classes:
Solving Environmental Problems: super cool. mostly policy based.
Environment Policy: also policy based.
Physical Geography: feel's like i am back in middle school. "did you know water has a really high heat capacity?" jeeeesum. (it' a prereq for another class.)
Genetics: fun bio class, but really challenging. lots of problem solving etc.
Chemistry Independent Study: continued research and trying to synthesize new germylene products containing transition metals. then get published in sweet peer reviewed journal. hopefully. need to hone my skills from Texas lab.
Ecology Independent Study: this one is new!! collecting data in the field. ground cover, salamander tails (they grow back) and looking at stable isotopes of mercury to quantify the health of an ecosystem. I will spend the semester writing proposals to fund this study. Then spend most of July in the White Mountains collecting samples. Sounds pretty rad.

Going to see some music tonight with friend. Will be good to catch up with her. There has been a ton of great music in Keene lately. I had to choose from 3 different shows tonight! Going with Low Anthem cuz it's cheap and I know they are great. And the venue is BYOB. Meeting up with boyfriend (!!!) later for more music. He is sound engineer at the show I decided to skip. And he is amazing over all. A real 10. Not to be confused with Teneisha who is also known as 10, and is a 10. Maybe even an 11. Haha.
Okay dudes, I hope you're all well.
Meg: I hope you're selling the shit outta some tea right now. And rolling in the dough. naked with a boy and covered in honey.
Robbie: You are the best mom ever. I love reading about your fam. makes me want one!
Loo: please post some more videos of you playing music. so beautiful.
Ten: like I said, you're an 11.

LOVE KAT!

Holy Moly. Thank you recession, I can't afford free range eggs this week.

I am home. It's freezing cold with lots of snow. I can't pay my phone bill at moment so my service is "suspended". School starts on Tuesday, and I don't have enough $$ to buy even ONE textbook. I miss free samples at whole foods. Eating lots of weird things out of freezer. Scary. You'd think I'd be kind of down and out about it, but I don't have time for feeling sad when I am feeling SOOOO good! I should really pay more attention to the details though. It's not all my fault for getting behind. I just need my grant checks and I will be back on track. Also need to get more hours at both jobs. And pick up some more tutoring hours as well.
Things with the boy are wonderful. We've been doing this "thing" for over a month now, and it's really turning into something awesome. It feels right. We'll see where it goes, I mean we just started hanging out right? We both said we wanted to take it slow, but it's kind of taking off at rocket speed at this point, if you ask me. It's funny that I had decided to not date for a while, and just concentrate on school. Then he walked into my life. Well, actually he walked into the antique store where i work. Then left. Then came back for my phone number. Thank god I paid the phone bill that month.

LOVE KAT!!!!!

So i was standing outside of whole foods last nite (big surprise) feeling pretty happy about my purchases. Giant bottle of cheap wine, avacados, tomato, and bread...yay dinner and lunch tomorrow! Boooo lack of grant money to eat properly and on a regular basis. Then dapper young guy walks by and giant wad of cash falls out of his back pocket. A roll of $20's! So I grabbed it. Then chased him down (he was quick) and gave it back to him. He must have been pretty psyched, even if he didn't show it. Part of me was a little sad that he didn't say "Wow, thanks, here is enough money for bus fare for going to the trouble of running 1/2 a block to catch me. And here is another $100 for being awesome. Nice shoes by the way. My band is playing at blah blah later. There is a cover charge, but I'll put you on the guest list. Free drinks and limo service back to your apartment building. Oh, and take this pizza, I'm not hungry."
Oh well, such is life.

LOVE KAT!

Holy new years

Hightlights of trip so far. And I just got here.

• Working in lab is pretty cool. Lots of great equipment and all the chemicals we need to make new germylene ligands. The campus is beautiful.
• Apartment is a total dump, but is centrally located. Bus stop across street. Campus 2 blocks away. Am on 26th floor which= awesome view of city.
• Don't have any money, so have been going to Whole foods every day to eat free samples. You can actually fill up quite nicely on said samples. I love you Whole Foods.
• Love the downtown. Many cool bars and such. Have seen lots of music already.
• Lots of cool kids. Met group of punks last nite to ring the new year in with. One kept talking about his pierced cock. He finally dropped his pants to show us. He had giant rooster tattoo with spear through its neck. Hhahhaa. pierced cock.
• Excellent bus system. Except for last nite. Took 3 hours to get home cuz we took wrong bus. Our fault. Were drunk. Ended up in very sketchy area for a very long time not knowing there wasn't another bus coming. A nice man finally rescued us. Took us to a different stop, gave us bus fare (we spent all money on drinks), waited with us until bus came (over an hour later) and told driver to take care of us. Which he did. I now have ticket that is good through 3am tonight. (or tomorrow if you're gonna get all technical.)

Okay, I am going to go take nap. Hope the boy calls later. I def drunk dialed him, and he prob is thinking i am total wingnut for ending up the situation i was in. Oh well. It was new years. Hope you all had a good one as well.

Love KAT!

Yeah so....

I am heading to Austin, Texas in the morning. Looking forward to 70 degree weather and excellent music. Oh, and working in lab will be fun too. Turns out I do not have to got to said lab until the week after new years. So I would like to send out props to Keene State College for my mini vacation via grant money. Thanks! Will be great to bring in the new year in a new city!
In other news, I have been hanging out with an amazing boy (emiloo knows him and will agree that he is, in fact, quite amazing) so that is pretty freaking stellar. Only bummer is that he is busy all weekend recording, mixing, mastering music so I won't see him till I get back. Damn it. I think I may be on to something though. He is wonderful. Brings out the Kat in me. Wow.

So, I was at my local watering hole last nite, and a bunch of people from my past showed up. Turns out there was a high school reunion (which I knew nothing about) happening. But I saw some folks that i have been dying to see for ages! Most noteable: Dan Pascucci. So great. He lives in Alaska and teaches kids about the importance of wildlife conservation. It was sooooo fucking awesome to catch up with him. We met up for brunch today, walked around town, had tea and then came back to my house where he proceeded to play songs on guitar and sing about the mexican undergroud. Not drug lords....things that live under the ground like worms. We have the same sense of humor obviously. Total biology nerds. I love it.

Anyway, I should really finish packing. Hope you all are well and can't wait to see you in VEGAS!

Love KAT!!!!!!

December 19th, 2008

Hey,
I don't have a lot to say. Except that I am super happy and have a friend!

Iron and Wine was amazing. Sam showed up at bar i was at AFTER i left, but my friend talked to him about show and he sent me birthday wish via ticket stub. then had party next day, drank a LOT of whiskey, woke up still drunk, missed statistics, late for organic chem, drove to school hoping to avoid DWI. blah blah. I am now 30 years young.

Such a nice weekend already. Saw some music last nite with friend. And ran into bunch of other friends, which was nice, as I just thought i was going to rent movie not go to bar at all.

Just got back from brunch. Having a beer to wash down bloody marys and such. Then small nap before I head to Iron and Wine.

This pic has nothing to do with post. Just think it's funny. The guy is not my boyfriend or even my friend. But he is a nobel prize winner for creating the Grubbs catalyst. As you can see, Beth and I were very excited to meet him.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Kat

Dirt, boys, NH, and 30.

I just spent all day driving around collecting soil samples from the sides of highways and dirt roads. I am testing the soil for the presence/levels of hydrocarbons so I can compare them between the different classes of roads tested. This is not for my own amusement, although it is interesting. It's for school obviously.

In other news, the boy did not work out. Which is okay as I really don't have the energy to make a proper go of it. Which reminds me of he last boy i dated. He told me i study too much. Well, no shit Einstein! I have 2 science majors I am working on. Hahahaa!

I am thoroughly enjoying all things New Hampshire right now. I spent last Saturday going to orchards and farmstands north of Keene, and into Vermont. We now have a good supply of root vegetables, assorted squash, apples, eggs, and cheese. All locally grown/made. The leaves are off the trees, which means I can see farther into the woods. Can't afford to fill oil tank more than once this winter so we are seeing how long we can go without turning on the heat. We have a woodstove which is awesome. I feel like a pioneer when I am making a fire, or stacking wood!

Next weekend is my 30th birthday. Actually it's on monday the 17th, but we are celebrating early. On Saturday I am going to Northhampton to see Iron and Wine & Blitzen Trapper with friends. I am so excited! On Sunday there is going to be a private party at Tony C's bar for me and the bartender who turns 40. Pretty excited for that too. I love it there. It's like Cheers. My friends are always there.Everyone knows my name, and they are always glad I came. It's that kind of place.

LOVE,
Kat

somehow i managed to sign in...

I have so much to share!
1. met boy
2. actually really like boy
3. just got home from TV on the Radio which was amazing show at small theatre. you know, felt all old school and such being at theatre vs. crappy giant venue. i had chills throughout entire show. wow.
4. back to boy: i don't want to share too much/get hopes up cuz i haven't felt this way in a LONG time. please send "it's totally gonna work out" vibes my way.

Meg, looks like your tea is really taking off! So awesome!

Am cutting this short cuz i need sleep. have much more to say but am fading after excitement of finally being able to log on etc.
Will post something more coherant and meaningful tomorrow.

LOVE KAT!

Doesn't everyone wear short skirts while stacking wood?

It's been so long that i forgot my password and had to reset it! Been super busy trying to finish project etc. Our germaline compound did not bind with the venadium which = garbage. So we had to come up with something else really fast since we're leaving on Saturday for Philly. I will post something more interesting later. I swear.

Hey Dudes! Small update is in order. Also, did you hear that TENNIS is getting married??!!! Haha, I just read that yesterday, so I am a little behind the times. WAHOO Ten and Chris!

In other news, I have been working on chem research experiment, that hasn't been done before. I barely understand what is going on, but we will most likely get published for doing this. Don't worry, I will save you all a copy of whatever Chemical journal it goes in, cuz you know how they fly off the shelf.

Hey, what do you guys think of Austin, Texas? I am going there over xmas break to do chem lab work at University of TX. And will prob end up there for grad school. So I hope I like it.

Okay, time for farmers market. Later dudes.

Love, Kat

$$$$$$$

Am bankin doing this free-lance thing until my project starts. This is me, working hard. (At a borrowed office space...those pics in background are not my children.)

Love Kat

snapshot into the life of kat. today.

50cent...

50 cents at yard sale...

reading this...again

and this too...

smelling lilacs....

painting toenails...

guarding....

my garden...

climbing mountains...

and arches in the woods...

with adrienne.

chillin with my pup...

sideview....

and front...

LOVE,

Kat!

BEES!!!!!

So, I should have been studying my academic ass off this weekend...but I helped my friend set up her bee hives instead. Check it out. There are aprox. 10,000 bees per hive. Meliss now has 4 hives. I am kind of learning the ropes so I can have a hive next year. Bees are amazing creatures.

• Thing I am totally excited about still with a few more details for you all cuz I know you are all super excited to hear about it:

Independent chemi$try project thi$ $ummer = 40 hour$ per week PAID. and then at the end of project I will go to Philly w/ my professors while they present their research. I don't present anything at this point....but I will at the next conferance in San Francisco.

Chem prof. wants we to set me up with similar project next summer, but at a bigger university. Most likely will be in Austin, Texas. No shit. I have heard Austin is pretty rad.

Funny that I don't even major in chem. or minor in it. But this is totally helping me get into grad school. And it's just a lot of fun to be in a lab all day making stuff happen. aside from the safety glasses that never feel like they fit quite right or look super awesome.