Thank goodness for my chinese food cravings...

OK fortune cookie...duly noted.

Just one question...how quick is quickly?

I know I know...patience...gah! Isn't 5 1/2 months enough??

Ouch! Alright, I'll wait.

Career Planning

So lately, my boss has been trying to drag me into his office (HEAD OUT OF THE GUTTER PEOPLE!) to plan my career. Not just, what's Samantha going to be doing for the next couple of months...we're talking years. They're planning me into YEARS of projects here. It's weird...I've gone into EVERY job I've ever had thinking,"This will do for now." Even this one, because I still need my Ph. D dammit! But shit...they're planning me so far ahead...it's freaking me out.

So today, we picked my path. I was pretty clear on where I want this supposed "career" of mine to go:

• I like field work and want to do LOTS of it; not quite a rarity, but apparently the enthusiasm I bring to learning how to sample and just getting out in the field is really appealing to project managers, so I shouldn't have problems getting out there...especially since I'm so low in the cost-structure, I'm cheap labor...clients love that!
• I love biostats and experimental design; SUPER RARE. I tell ya what...I never knew how strange that was until I began telling people I like it. I've said it once, and I'll say it again I LOVE BIOSTATS! He was telling me any training I request for this will likely get approved immediately because they're desperate for statisticians...can we say job security?
• The last thing I brought up was that my one true love has always been and will always be marine and estuarine environments and that I would love to focus on those projects...and river/lake projects would be alright as well. He's going to keep his eye out for projects where I can get water sampling (by water sampling I mean getting critters outta there!) experience. It all ties back to me being cheap to bill to the client. I also want to get re-SCUBA certified and figure out what training and experience I need so I can start helping with dive sampling...not only would that be friggin fun...but it would look fantastic on my resume for grad school (what? I still want to go, I should make sure I don't waste my time on crap that's not applicable...I mean hell, I've got a job where I can get PRACTICAL experience to help me get in...I'm using it dammit!)

So yeah, it's amazing to have a boss who not only asks what I want to do at work, but is going to help me make it happen. It's also terrifying to be planning 6 months ahead in my job, let alone years...but it's kinda cool too. Who knows if I'll actually stay with my company for that long...but it's nice to know that if I do, we've got a plan.

This is all just more evidence that I'm actually a grown-up...shit...am I...wait...I take that back...more evidence that I'm BECOMING a grown-up. Ahhh...much better.

FTMB

That's the acronym for mine and Jen's new band,"Fast Twitch Muscle Butter."

Jen will be on xylophone and back-up vocals and I will be playing oboe and lead vocals. We are currently accepting applications for all other instruments.

Would you like to join?

Perhaps first, you shall need to know the origin of our band's name. While Jen and I were watching the Biathalon in the winter Olympics, it came to us...rather, it was delivered to us by one of the announcers. For those of you who are not avid Olympics watchers, the Biathalon is an event where they cross-country ski, then shoot laying down, then cross-country ski, then shoot standing up, then repeat for 12.5 km. So it was the end of the men's race, and there were two men rallying for the gold. It was going to come down to who was better at sprinting and as we all know, sprinting requires fast twitch muscles.

I can't begin to describe just how excited the two announcers were. The man holding the lead was a Norwegian going for his 6th biathalon gold medal and the man in 2nd was French and I believe would win the first men's French gold in biathalon if he could pull it off. As the two were coming around the corner, the Frenchman stumbled and fell around the corner, but popped back up. The announcers were so friggin excited, one of them said,"It's really going to come down to which man can use the fast twitch muscle butter to sprint to win the sprint at the end." Jen and I looked at each other and realized what they had just said and busted up laughing and decided that needed to be the name of our new band.

There it is...please apply at will.

Bumper Stumper!

So it's been a really long couple of weeks at work...so this is all you get for right now...my appologies.










So...what do you guys think? Was the man driving this car thanking his wife, Dora for the car or thanking Dora the Explorer for teaching him spanish?

Discuss amongst yourselves...

Things I’ve learned so far from this season’s “Dancing With the Stars”

• The Paso Doble is still my favorite ballroom dance to watch.
• Matador’s are really sexy…
• You can Paso Doble to Micahel Jackson’s Thriller
• You can be on ABC wearing next to nothing, gyrating, shaking your booty and boobies, and it’s allowed.
• Fringe is highly encouraged.
• Master P really just doesn’t give a fuck…and it’s pissing me off because I really like his partner (she rocked last season). **SPOILER ALERT** They scored 8 out of 30 on the Paso Doble and got voted out last week.
• Lisa Rinna (Formerly “Billie Reed” from Days of Our Lives and Logan’s mom from Veronica Mars) has a beautiful body and it makes me sick…SICK I tell you. If I could have any body in the world, it might be her’s…she’s all toned and muscular and tall…her abs are so beautiful (though the boobs look a bit fake…I’ll keep mine).
• Ballroom dancing costumes look like they’re a lot of fun to wear…but a some may require double sided tape.
• The Pussycat Dolls can’t sing live (I know shocking!), but they’re still fun to watch dance. Also…“Dontcha” isn’t as fun w/out Snoop Dogg rapping in the middle (sorry Allison, didn’t mean to scare you….go to your happy place!)
• George Hamilton’s tan is scary (OK, I already knew that…but they just remind me of it every week)
• Jerry Rice looks REALLY funny doing ballet (again, something we all would’ve already thought…but the visual was just friggin priceless!)
• Russians are incredibly sexy
• This show is really good if you’re trying to lose “baby weight”… Tia Carrere looks AMAZING! Tia from the first week, Tia from this week.
• Reality show hosts are really annoying (alright, we all knew this already too…sorry)
• I must learn how to salsa, cha cha and tango! But I just cannot do the funny faces…
• Not only are my legs really friggin short…but Stacy Keibler's may be longer than my entire body!

**Note: There are better images from the video of the show to illustrate my points, but alas, they're not available online and I'm working with a photo gallery with one full round (one that bettert illustrates Lisa Rinna's abs and Stacy's legs) missing! I held of 1 1/2 weeks posting this in hopes they'd fix the link...but they didn't...so here it is**