photos.

yay! it's finally working. :]

this was the view out our hotel room window.















this is us outside the bright eyes show.









and this is a fun photo of the sign at the venue.








this is conor at the show.










and this is conor about a year ago in reno. i just posted this so you can see how he grew out his hair. [i'm not going to lie... i like the short hair better.]
this is a fun photo from inside the venue. random, but i like it.






and another random one from the ocean.









my sandy feet at the ocean.










and james and me at the ocean.










yep. so that was the trip. glad the photo upload feature is working again. :] hope you all had a good day.

gahhh.

well. i finally uploaded my photos to my computer, but now blogger won't let me upload them onto here. grrr. kind of frustrating.

well anyway, my test this morning was ok. i'm trying not to think about it too much. i didn't feel horrible when i left though, so hopefully it's not going to be too bad when i get it back.

james went snowboarding after the test and i hung out with the puppy and worked on my lab notebook. :]

not a whole lot else going on. i am just excited that spring break will be here in two days. maybe i'll go look into booking a room in the city. i have to go there to work on my final project for photography.

spring.

yeah. everyone's been talking about spring, and we finally have it around here. :]

today's high temperature was a history maker, i believe. i wore a new tank top that i got in the city and brought along a little hoodie, but never needed to wear it. i would even say i was hot at some points. [i have no doubt that we will get more snow sooner or later, though.]

when james and i were walking to photography tonight, it was still sunny outside. it dawned on me that daylight savings time makes it feel like summer to me. not even spring, just summer. those longer nights and all. i guess i actually like them. i never realized it until tonight on the way to photography. i kind of feel like daylight savings time is a little bit ridiculous, but tonight i was granted with a new appreciation for it. maybe it's just the fact that james loves summer so much that it's rubbing off on me. or maybe it's the fact that i'm excited for the classes i will take in summer school. or maybe i am actually excited to start my thesis. in any case, this summer is sure to be better than the last. [it's pretty easy to top last summer. ha.]

i caught up on some printing in photography tonight. i made all my contact sheets and got three prints done. i was pretty happy with how much i got done. james got a lot done too and he got some really nice prints made from his negatives from the trip.

oh and i just looked at my cell bio exam grade. grr. i'm glad i get to drop one test. :] i don't really care though, i was so busy stressing about my other classes, and i did pretty well for not really studying. [i mean, i didn't even read over my notes. i just realized that today. ha.] i'm just in a good mood right now. optimistic i would say. [and not really thinking about my other impending midterm.]

oh yeah. and i decided that over spring break, i am going to make a page or two with some older photos. older like from high school. so stay tuned girls. i don't have any real ideas yet, but i have a photo in mind and maybe one more. :]

sigh.

it's a sigh of relief, in part. :] i still have a lot to study for my other midterm though. :[

well i think my midterm today went really well. i am worried though because everyone else thought it was awful. no one had enough time to finish it, which is pretty standard in our classes now. but still... i didn't think it was that bad. there was a restriction map question on there that a lot of people had trouble working out, but i'm almost certain that i got it, so i am happy about that.

also, the fall schedule was posted today. i am such a nerd about that stuff. my friend nicole and i stalk the website when we feel it's time for it to be posted. ha. she told me that she is getting a minor... it's a big debate amongst the biochemers about whether or not to get a minor. slowly but surely it seems that all my friends are picking a minor though. so i might get one in photography. it's going to depend a lot on the course availability, but i might try. i find it ridiculous for biochemers to get a minor in biology or chemistry. it's really easy because you only need one or two more classes, but to me it just sounds retarded to say, "i have a biochem major with a chem minor." so yeah. i think you should pick something to show you are more well-rounded. james is doing business, which will come in handy if he decides to work in the pharmaceutical industry. nicole is doing psychology. deepa is thinking about doing criminal justice. everyone else is doing the bio or chem thing. i wish there was some way to get a minor in secondary education, but there isn't. i was thinking about taking another year and getting a double major in biochem and secondary ed, but i don't really know if i want to do that.

well james just got here from the gym. ha. he makes me feel so lazy sometimes. so i'm going to work on photography stuff with him.
have a good day everyone. :]

city.

well. i shouldn't even be writing, but i've been a bad blogger lately, so i thought i should post a little fill in.

what's coming:
-one midterm tomorrow. still need to study and work out a few plasmid/restriction enzyme maps.
-one paper due tomorrow. still need to figure out what i am going to say.
-one midterm wednesday. need to study so much for that.
-then comes spring break!
-plus no tutoring this week because the kids are on spring break. exciting.

what's happened:
last week:
-my cell bio test was pretty bad. we had 33 multiple choice questions and 3 essays. i had to completely make up stuff for the last essay. i'm just glad i didn't have to leave it blank like some people.
-my mid-term lab report took forever, but it was so nice when i finally turned it in. plus writing it helped my study for the test because i had to justify every single thing we did... like "temperature sensitive alkaline phosphatase (TSAP) was added to the pBluescript DNA vector previously digested with Xho I. TSAP was used to remove the 5’ phosphate from the vector. the TSAP prevented the vector from ligating with itself or another vector..." blah. blah. blah. it was annoying.

this weekend:
-james and i had such a good trip to the city.
-we had a good dinner in north beach.
-everything worked out with the tickets, so james, erin, joe and i all got to enjoy the show with josh and laura. fun. i got some good photos of conor that i will post, and a video that i probably won't post because i don't want to sign up for youtube. ha.
-we didn't get to sleep until 4am because after the show we went to eat at this funny little diner.
-oh our hotel room was really cool. we were on the 41st floor and we had a good view of the golden gate bridge and a really pretty view of the sunset. last time we were on the 43rd floor and on the opposite side, so we had more of a view of downtown. i think james liked that view better, but i liked this one better. haha.
-i did some shopping.
-we ate at the cheesecake factory.
-we both got to shoot some film. he shot way more than me, and actually got some exposures that he might use for his final.
-we played at the ocean.
-i didn't want to leave.
-we saw 300 today with a couple of the other biochemers. it was really good. :]

yeah. i think that's about it. i am so ready for spring break. i am just ready to be able to scrapbook and sleep in. plus we actually might try to do a little something. yenh and i have been cooking up this plan to go on a double-date type thing. so we're thinking maybe a little trip somewhere over break would be fun. but if not, i'll still be happy to just be worry free for a whole week.

thesis.

i am so indecisive. it took me way too long to figure out where i want to do my senior thesis, but i finally realized that all the good professors and labs are getting full, and i better just make the decision. so i decided to ask my molecular biology professor. he is the same professor who i mentored for last semester, and i know him pretty well. he is approachable and not too strict or intimidating. he really knows his stuff and will expect a lot from me, but that is kind of good because it will keep me on my toes, and i know that i will learn a lot.

this page [http://www.ag.unr.edu/biochemistry/Directory_Details.aspx?hIj7_GDp0x45=37] tells about the research in his lab. i'm not going to start until the summer, so he said that when summer is approaching he will give me a bunch of literature and i can read it and decide what i want to work on.

i'm just glad to finally have this settled. it was just another thing that was stressing me out.

otherwise. i'm still thinking about my trip to the city to get me through this week. [and i should admit that i am also in denial somewhat about how much i have to get done.] james and i decided that we want to eat dinner in north beach again, maybe at the same little spot we picked last time. mmm. i am already in the mood for some real italian food. not that i don't totally love olive garden, but there is just something about eating the real thing. other than that, both of us just want to take a ton of photos, and i want to visit the ocean of course. :]

break.

i just started crying while working on my paper.
so i decided it is time to take a break.
[this thing is a pain. my professor gave us a 4 page research article and we have to write a 4-7 page critique. basically these people tried to find the gene for the PPOX enzyme in arabidopsis thaliana and then cloned it into pGEM and transformed it into e. coli and then did a yeast complementation assay. grr. i'm just sick of writing about it. i'm out of words.]

so i did a little bit of wandering and i found this: http://caardvarks.blogspot.com/
it looks like a fun challenge. i don't make a whole lot of cards, but i do think they are an awesome way to use up scraps, and i wish i made more of them. so maybe i will try. [although i shouldn't even think about scrapbooking until my spring break comes in two weeks.] that mother's day card on there... oh. my. goodness. it's so cute.

anyway. san francisco this friday. i am so happy about that. i keep thinking about it to get me through the paper. i'll be needing it again tomorrow to get me through the next paper. then i'll be needing it after that to study for my cell bio exam. it's always good to have a "light at the end of the tunnel" right?

so.

i so need a sewing maching.

this month is national crafting month, and fiskars is making this calendar [http://fiskarscrafts.com/projects/] of daily craft projects. i looked at the idea for today, and i really want to make some of those. super easy, but so fun and cute. too bad i don't have a sewing maching. maybe over spring break i will go pick one out and spend some time with it. that would be fun, since it doesn't look like i'm going anywhere fun this year. my friend and his girlfriend are going to the bahamas. i can't believe that! they got this package deal to stay at the atlantis resort [which i hear is amazing] and it includes the flight for $900 a person. luckies.

i have a busy next two weeks ahead. i have a paper due monday, big lab report due tuesday, cell bio exam thursday, written lab exam on the following monday, and a molecular exam on wedneday. plus i am a head judge for the science fair on the 8th, which is also my mom's birthday. and on the 9th james and i are going to san francisco for the much awaited bright eyes concert. oh and there are a few more photography assignments i will have to work on in that time as well. spring break will be a much needed time of "nothingness".

ok. well i am off to get some things done. there is a new scrapjack up today. i might try to work on it, but i'm not sure yet. :]