Happy Thanksgiving!

Daydreaming

Well, I am going to break my rule of not blogging at work. I am debugging code that is being run on multiple processors and it is a pain and very slow. Basically, I do some work and then have to wait for the code to run to see if what I did worked. It takes a while but not long enough for me to start another project while I wait.

So ... life has been pretty good. Chris is working late and I'm glad he has a lot to do, we are both just a little anxious that the work will continue - maybe at a slightly less frenzied pace. But I don't want to talk about work.

I want to talk about the Haute Route!! This is something I've been wanting to do for years, and I really think that next summer is THE time to do it. This is a 180 km trail that goes from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland (through the Alps!). It sounds amazing! To hike it, most people take almost 2 weeks. A plus is that you stay in huts along the way that have beds and food, so you carry very little gear and can just cruise along and enjoy the scenery. Yesterday I killed some time looking at some websites about it and wow!! It would be ideal to spend three weeks in France/Switzerland, so that we could do some other sight-seeing activities before/after the hike. My grandfather (Pops) left each of his grandkids with some money, he did not have a lot, but it would be enough to cover the airfare plus a little more. (We already spent some of that money when we went to Hawaii - thanks Pops!!!). So it is definitely feasible - the biggest hurdle will be Chris getting that much time off. He should start talking about it now, though ... I want to go soooo bad! It is good timing for me because I will be transitioning between Masters and PhD, so taking a lot of time off wouldn't kill me.



Above is the Haute Route in winter. That would be amazing - you can ski it in about a week, but we are not quite at that level of snowboarding/avalanche awareness yet. Maybe one day!

Chris and I just have so much that we want to do. Even within the state of Colorado there is an infinite number of fun things. We still haven't been to the San Juan mountains, I definitely want to go there. Also I hear the Flat Tops are cool, and there is great mountain biking on the western slope. Those are some things I'd still like to do. Then there's lots of fun stuff close by - Rocky Mountain, the Rawahs and Mt Zirkel wilderness. We also need to go to Yellowstone ... and the Wind River Range up that way is phenomenal. And, we both really want to return to Moab. OH, Utah, that brings up a whole bunch more things we'd like to see. Then there's New Mexico ... it is too much! :) But what a wonderful 'problem' to have!

Yum .... beer!!!!!!!!!! Drink up

Code is running slowly today ...

What Kind of Drink Are You?
	You are a Pint of Beer. You're happy with who you are. Sure, you may not be the 'sophisticated' and 'refined' type, but at least you're real. You don't let the little things get to you, and you have a good time no matter what life throws at you. Keep it up.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Killing Time

Well, it is late, but I need to unwind a little before I go to bed. Working on homework at night has become a necessity, but it is pretty much impossible to fall asleep after thinking about finite difference schemes for three hours. Last night I actually had a dream about solving one of the homework problems ... it is sad! My dream solution wasn't even right - I tried it almost first thing this morning, so it was in no way a useful dream.
Anywho, I am getting close to one month to go until this hellacious semester is over. I honestly do not think I've ever worked this hard before ... and I really don't care to ever again (at least not at this salary!!). I feel slightly encouraged that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is too bad that I am still quite a ways from defending my thesis. Even though I will need to work on research over winter break, I am excited about December because of the holidays and because I am going to San Francisco for the AGU meeting - and Chris is coming out there for 2-1/2 days and we are going to Napa Valley - yay! :)
The weather has been really nice here in the Fort but it is too bad that the mountains aren't getting much snow. I would love to go snowboarding sometime soon, but it's not worth the drive to ride in 20 inches of packed, man-made snow. I could do that in Georgia! Haha. I wish I could enjoy the nice weather more, I haven't ridden my road bike in well over a month!! I rode my mountain bike home on some of the foothills trails last week and had a lot of fun, but now it is dark by 5:00 so I can't really do that and get in a decent day's work. I am itching to do something outside though - one of these next weekends I will have to take some time off. Chris and I hiked at a new park outside of fort collins last Sunday and it was really nice. It's called Bobcat Ridge - we hiked a 4.5 mile trail that just winds along a valley in the foothills and it was very pretty. We hiked slow because I have been a little sick, but it was wonderful to be outside for a few hours. They have even more trails so maybe we can go back and mountain bike there before the snow starts to fall.
Well, I might try to post a picture or two from my life recently, but then I am off to bed! Goodnight. :)