A good week

After I got home from Kansas, I spent a day resting. Then I let good intentions carry me away and I picked up a kitten out side of Wal-mart. My cat, Babs, doesn't like her and has been really poutty with me, growling at the kitten and ignoring me. One of my friends came over, and fell in love with her, gave the kitten a nick-name, and now has her over at her house. My friend has two little girls who can give the kitten much more love and attention than I could. I was going to be gone for two days straight and didn't want to deprive the poor thing with no interaction. So I got some good kitten time, and the kitten has a good home.

The next day, I spent the evening with one of my friends from college, Karen. We cooked together making zucchini and mushroom spaghetti, and salad. We went shopping at a hole-in-the-wall fruit store in STL that got us mouth watering watermelon, honey dew, nectarines, blue berries and plums. We made the most amazing fruit salad there ever was! Ripe, lushous, yummyness!

Next, I hung out at one of my co-workers house for the evening. She had a ginormous pool, and we spent the evening eating chocolate, drinking beer/wine and for me smoking cigars. It was finally very cool outside, and a clear night. Watching the stars, shooting the breeze, while swimming around once and awhile was very peacefull and relaxing. We we up til one.

Last night I sold food for the Saint Louis fireworks display. Hawking Ice Tea, Lemonade, Nachos, and roasted corn was fun. When I was driving home, there were fireworks to the south of me and cloud lightening to the north of me. When I got home, I went to the river and watched the lightening. The river was absorbing light, so inky black while the sky would light up randomly with spackles of brightness. It was very cool to see.

All in all it has been a great week!

UMKC

Went to a Materials Science Class at UMKC. Metals, Cermaics, Polymers, Composites I know them all now. I am also offically dormed out. Tired of uncomfortable beds and creazy science teachers. We are a weird lot. I'm normal compared to most of them.

Went home to Kansas to surprise Dad for fathers day. We went to the Cosmosphere on Saturday. It was very fun! Saw an Imax movies, went to the Planetarium, and Dr. Goddard's Laboratory-talking about rocket science. It was very cool.

It was very good to see church friends too.

So tired

So this teachers camp was so exhausting.
Subatomic particle Physics, the Engineering of a Nuclear power plant, radiation calculations on log-based formats.

Yucca Mountain bad info denounced (debaters-we were wrong-oops!)

I now have my own Gieger-Mueller counter though, as well as my own costume of radiation protection gear. (including dosimeters)

It was also a good introduction back into the academic community, both good an bad. First, I was one of the few science teachers who could handle the cold fusion lecture (it's real! and it's exciting!)
But I went to a wine and cheese party and had a conversation with the typical arrogant professor. Wrapped up in his own smartness, he has difficultly accepting others well reasoned opinions. He also told me (knowing that I was from Truman) that he suggests sending his weaker students to Truman because they need that one on one attention more to be successful, and that Mizzou was full of "go getters". Please. Every profession has their assholes and he is a prime example. Oh well. I think I gave him a few things to think about if he so chooses. Turd Muffin.

Trip high lights:
I got to see Cerenkoff radiation- the blue glow that reactors give off
I got to see inside Calloway nuclear power plant
I ate ate a few good places in Colombia-- (not near enough free time though)
Science teachers can handle their alcohol surprisingly well ;)
TONS more information in my brain about THE most important power source in the 21st century

This all resulted in me going to bed at 12:00am and getting up at 6:30am each day.
And I have two evenings at home before I go to Kansas city and do the whole thing over again...

Tiger Territory

So this week I'm a Mizzou Tiger. Grrrr....
I'm taking a week long residency class at University of Missouri Columbia called "Science Teachers and Nuclear Engineering". I'm pretty excited about it, we will be touring the only nuclear power plant in MO and going to the teaching reactor, I'm not sure if it is here or in Rolla. I'm looking forward to taking college class and being surrounded by slightly younger than me eye candy.

Mizzou's campus is huge... I totally have been a lost and scared little freshman. I wonder what my life would have been like if I had gone here. I probably wouldn't have hooked up with the debate team here, or at the other colleges like it, K-State or KU. Would I have found my place/ scence of self earlier or later? Would I have found the love of my life here? Would going through the Masters degree program here been as painful as going through the one at Truman, who knows?

I hated leaving my pets...I had to leave them already for a few days, and they had just gotten used to my smell and now I'm leaving again for a week, home the weekend and then in KC for a week. I travel around.

I also have a rockin' I-pod nano. It is orange and I have named it Klaus. It is good, now everyone give me free indie songs. Being a teacher doesn't pay a whole lot, but I earn enough money to pay off my student loans, and I've been able to afford a chinchilla cage, a laptop, and a nano. Not big purchases, but they certainly make the day more fun!

It seems that every one in my nuclear family besides me (5 people total). Have something major and life changing going on in their lives. Lots of prayers are needed for them. I'm hoping that my crisis's are done for a few years.