I graduated from Virginia Tech with my BSc in Animal and Poultry Sciences. They gave me this neat little (ok, it's pretty large) piece of paper with fancy letters and a bunch of unnecessary words. I guess I'm pretty excited about that. I should scan it and put a copy online or something, but I don't have a scanner that large handy.

What with being graduated, I couldn't keep working at the college. My job was funded by federal work study money, and they don't give that to graduates. I am currently in the employ of a major retail chain (no, I won't tell you which one) until I can find something that is at least remotely related to my training. Ideally I'd get a vet tech job and they would help me get more training or maybe get into vet school. For now I'm just worried about paying bills.

There is someone new in my life. I'm not going to say much about that right now. We'll see where things go before I say too much more. Yes, he's cute (or at least I think so). No, I'm not going to answer any other questions right now. Perhaps I'll take the example of a fellow blogger (Hi Scott!) and refer to him here by a nickname.

My cancer is still in remission. There's not much to say there, I guess. No news is good news. I'll see my oncologist again in January, unless something else comes up before then.

I've moved into my new apartment, where I'll be living for the next year at least. I've moved in with friends of mine, a couple, one of whom cooks and insists that I at least provide notice if I will not be home for dinner. This situation is quite acceptable to me, as it results in my diet being much healthier and less expensive than it might otherwise be.

For now, life is smooth sailing. One day I'll want more than this, but for now I am content.

For a week in the middle of December, Steven and I were on vacation in the Dominican Republic in a town called Sosua. We stayed at the Tropix Hotel and dove with Northern Coast Diving. We didn't really have internet access, so posting regular updates really wasn't an option. I wrote at the end of the day as if I would be posting that day. Then I got home, visited a lot of people, slept, and eventually forgot that I had written this. Each day is on it's own page, so read on. You should also take a peek at the pictures.

17 December, 21:26 local

Today was our first full day in the DR. We arrived yesterday in the morning, but after the overnight flight and travel we were pretty exhausted and spent a good chunk of time sleeping. My first impression of the town made me a bit uneasy, and to a certain degree I still am. It's strange being in a place where you don't speak the language or know the customs. It's comparable to being in a strange part of New York City, except there you could always walk to someplace more familiar. Here, come hell or high water, I'm stuck until Sunday.

That said, paying attention and keeping our wits about us (along with a rudimentary understanding of Spanish) has somewhat alleviated the need to feel fearful about our safety. There are unsavory types and those who prey on tourists, but they are the same as anywhere you go. We have also met some neat people, none of Dominican origin though. Deann (the proprietress of our hotel) told us that real Dominicans are really caring and open people, which I believe. Unfortunately, she added, a lot of those in Sosua aren't real Dominicans.

We've had an interesting variety of food over the past day and a half. The first place we ate was French, followed by American, British, Dominican, and American again. The American place was called Rocky's and has the best ribs I have ever eaten. I picked one up and tried to eat it, and the meat literally feel off the bone. Normally we wouldn't allow ourselves to eat at the same place more than once while vacationing, especially American fare, but it was that good.

Steve's first two check-out dives for his SCUBA certification were today. I walked him down to the shop and checked things out. By all accounts diving in Sosua should be done with Northern Coast. The diving staff are from various European countries. I'm surprised to see the number of businesses that are owned by non-Dominicans. I'll withhold judgment until I dive with them on Tuesday, but Steven appears to be satisfied. They are organized and professional, without being uptight.

While Steve is training I am reading poolside at the hotel. Hopefully by the time I come back I will be less ghostly pale. I certainly won't have been overly enriched by reading Heinlein, but it keeps me from being bored since I don't have any internet connection. I am not looking forward to catching up on blogs.

I acquired an ipod over break, and have subsequently become addicted to podcasts. They're nice for passing the massive gaps in my schedule. I have replaced those awful white earbuds though. They don't stay in, I don't particularly like the look of them, and I don't feel like looking like an ad for Apple. I have replaced them with a pair that stays in, have a black cord so as not to look like a silhouette advertisement, but are still reasonably ugly. Two out of three ain't bad.

I'm moving to a different host. They offer a better product for the same price. I'm hoping the transition will be pretty seamless, but we will see. In any case, that's why I've been reluctant to post new content.

Unfortunately, my content just isn't very Web 2.0, nor is the site in general. That's why I was forced to create my very own starbursts that didn't have any new-fangled technological references.

They were created using PS CS2, and a couple of Web 2.0 button Photoshop tutorials.

As an aside, I do believe this is the most categories any one post has ever belonged to.

I spent the summer with Steve in Bloomington. On Monday he'll take his first class towards a PhD in folklore at Indiana University. While I was there, I interned with a vet clinic in a neighboring town, and at a wildlife rehabilitation clinic called WildCare Inc. Steve meanwhile worked with wonderful people doing the terrible job of telemarketing. Please remember that if a telemarketer calls you on behalf of a large company, you consented to being called and gave them the appropriate information to do so. You may not remember it, but it's illegal for them to call you if you didn't agree, and they probably have the documentation. File suit if you like, but don't kill the messenger.

I worked four days a week at the vet clinic, doing just about anything they'd let me. I did a lot of drawing up vaccines and holding animals for blood draws. I picked up a lot of poop. It was really a great experience. I loved the staff, and I learned so much. Anyone who is considering vet school should do at least a little bit of work in a clinic. It doesn't make any sense not to!

WildCare was an adventure. Almost every day when I left I was exhausted. I worked with a wide variety of naitive Indiana wildlife, including raccoons, oppossums, rabbits, squirrels, deer, and a variety of birds. I was even bitten by a racoon! Luckily it wasn't rabid. The experience didn't inspire me to go into wildlife medicine, but it didn't scare me away either. I think it's a great organization and I'll help out again if I have a chance.

Other than working, Steve and i played a lot of Guild Wars. We like it because you don't have to pay a subscription fee. We also watched Charmed and Naruto in unhealthy quantities (which raises the question of whether there is a healthy quantity of Charmed.) Now that I'm back to school I'll hopefully be more regular in my updates. No promises though.

I spent June and July in Bloomington, IN with my Steven, volunteering at a vet clinic and a wildlife rehabilitation shelter. I have a number of experiences to relate regarding my time there.

I am currently in Blacksburg, VA, attending Virginia Tech. I'll be here for at least two years.

I really need to update this website.

goodnight.

I wasn't able to find an internship with a vet in my area, and not for lack of trying. I sent résumés all over, called everyone, and the one place that offered any hope filled the spot while I was in the middle of trying to set it up. GAH! I did find a place in Indiana which does wildlife rehabilitation, so I'm going out there. Steven has an apartment there starting in June, so I'll stay the summer with him, get a part-time job, and get some animal work experience.

I haven't gotten any letters from colleges yet, so I don't know what my new school colors will be. Anything would be better than black and orange The only way it could get worse is if I go to Virginia Tech (my top choice) and end up with maroon and orange. I'm not worried, but I am a bit annoyed. I do have preparations to make.

I installed Gallery last night, which means it will be much simpler to post photos here, and save me a lot of hassle compared to using flickr. That means once I figure out how I want to style things, I'll be posting more pictures, and more in general.

1. a blender
2. a slug
3. salt
4. a fork
5. chocolate
6. your mom
7. speakers
8. a horse
9. my left ear
10. an island
11. the color black
12. work
13. grape juice
14. dizziness
15. kitties!
16. genitals
17. a phone
18. a candle
19. a knee
20. a battery
21. horsey sauce
22. a blog
23. paper
24. fire
25. a headache
26. a happy ending (to a story)
27. a happy ending (sundae)
28. a happy ending (massage)
29. this ego-masturbatory website
30. certain strictly-masturbatory sites
31. unwholesome downloads (of the bad variety)
32. unwholesome downloads (of the good variety)
33. music
34. paint
35. mud
36. a drag queen
37. textbooks
38. midterms
39. air pumps
40. skeletons
41. corn
42. hot cocoa
43. oreos
44. diabetic shock
45. avoidant behavior
46. an angel
47. a special someone
48. someone else
49. an arctic fox
50. a red fox
51. a dragon
52. toast
53. bandwidth
54. a list
55. fast food
56. a bed
57. a fight
58. a phone
59. a friend
60. extreme toothpaste
61. a cellphone battery
62. the USS Enterprise
63. beef jerky
64. my uncle
65. a rockin' guitar riff
66. a free bird
67. a baby
68. the number eight
69. illumination
70. oil lamps
71. CAT-5e cable
72. a wallet
73. cable crimpers
74. a tail
75. a hole
76. a large rooster
77. sandals
78. a gourd
79. a sack of pebbles
80. a false beard
81. irony
82. an iron "e"
83. jeans
84. warming personal lubricant
85. the anime smiley (^_^)
86. socks
87. numbers larger than infinity
88. blue glowing fans
89. sales associates
90. sidewalks
91. salt
92. milk
93. jalepeño peppers
94. fluffernutter sandwiches
95. needles
96. a ceiling fan
97. the sky
98. hazardous chemicals
99. toes
100. a list of 100 things

I've just realized that I'm doing quite a bit towards preserving my previous visual style. You'll just have to take my word for the fact that stuff is changing in the backend. In light of such, you should poke around. Leave a comment here if you find anything broken.

Now all these little link posts with no new content can live over in the sidebar. It may turn into a pure linklog, with no actual commentary at all. We'll see how I feel. I like the idea of taking empty posts out of the regular flow though.

I've also installed a plugin that I wrote myself, modified from someone else's XML parsing function. That's the WhatPulse thing living in the sidebar. I'll make it available once I clean it up, and the WhatPulse admin said he'd put it on their downloads page too. That'd be neat.

On Friday night, after much undue trouble with transportation, I arrived in the city, promptly to be whisked off to the financial district with no explaination whatsoever. Steve was entirely bubbly, but he wouldn't tell me anything. We ended up taking the PATH to Hoboken, for pizza. This wasn't just pizza, though. This was a foot of the most perfectly baked pizza ever. If you're ever in Hoboken and get the chance, pick up a slice from Benny Tudino's. After pizza we stopped at Panera. It was pretty good, but would've been better fresh. I suppose that's what you get for going just before closing. Next we went out on the pier and talked and looked at the Manhattan skyline. I spend so much time there, but I really don't get to appreciate how pretty it is from a distance.

On Saturday we went to Central Park to see The Gates. It was opening day, so the place was packed. I don't believe I've ever seen Central Park so full before. It's not as though the place is ever empty, but this was simply ridiculous. I will say that it was absolutely beautiful. I took the opportunity to take obscene amounts of photos, but only a few got posted.

Sunday was the not-too-much day. We did a lot of napping and cuddling. It gave me happies. This was like our valentines day. [insert long mushy section here about how great Steve is.]

I updated the pictures section with the pictures I took. Mom just arrived. Time to get started on the next Weekend Report.