I'm Glad I Don't Eat Pork

Or any other kind of meat.

Swine flu, eh? Seems like every few years, there's a new type of animal-related flu to scare the food out of us.

I never was a fan of ham; pork chops I can take or leave. I used to like bacon and sausage quite a bit, but they make fake versions of those that taste damn close to the real thing.

Bring on the soy protein!

What to Wear?

All I can think about these days seems to be finally, finally graduating.

I got my regalia in the mail yesterday and was modeling it for D. The robe I have to wear looks kind of silly. He said those weird extensions on the sleeves are for holding scrolls. I understand it's a tradition thing, but it just looks plain strange.

I also couldn't figure out how to get the hood to sit properly. At least the hat is easy to fathom (I get a black tassel this time around). I think the hood will be easier to manage once I get the special little cords and medals with which I can adorn it. This isn't something I tell everybody -- although if you hang around the husband long enough, he'll eventually tell you, he loves to brag about me -- but I'm kind of in the mood to boast about it myself right now: When it comes to my school, which is among the top schools in the country for my field, I'm kind of a big deal. To wit: I finished my graduate courses and research in one year, two semesters, instead of in two years, four semesters. And I did it with a 4.0 GPA.

Of course, I didn't have a life during that year.

So what that means is this: I got invited to join a national honor society (aka academic fraternity) in my field; this particular chapter was the very first chapter in the society. It also means I have another ceremony to attend for the induction, bringing the grand total of graduation/commencement places-I-need-to-be-at-a-certain-time to three, spanning two days. It also makes one person's suggestion (that I wear nothing under my regalia) somewhat impractical, although I'm sure I'll be wishing that were the case when I'm hanging out in the midwestern heat and humidity in a black robe.

I do still have friends in town whose showers I can use, however, so I won't be completely dirty-hippied out while attending these ceremonies, despite the campsite accommodations.

And because my mother will not be there, I find myself being able to pretty much pick exactly what I want to wear without getting any grief about it from picture-taking family members.

I'm thinking for the graduate-school ceremony (the first of the three), I might dress a bit more professionally: black top, red-and-black skirt, round-toed black kitten-heeled shoes.

But for the following day, which will include the honor-society ceremony and the undergraduate/graduate ceremony for my school, I think I might break out the dress I got married in. It's a sage-green spaghetti-strap number with pink and white flowers embroidered all over it. It's supposed to look kind of wrinkled, so I won't have to worry about messing it up, and I can wear my awesome white espadrilles with it (which means that at some point I'm going to have to paint my toenails, for the first time since December).

I have, unfortunately, gotten a teeny bit fatter since I wore that dress. So it's going to mean hot yoga classes and good-for-me food until I have to squeeze back into it. But I've been looking for another excuse to wear it, and this seems like the perfect reason. It's not a super-nice dress by any means -- it cost me $35 brand-new -- but I do love it.

I'm going to have to stash some flip-flops, though, because I'm not wearing those espadrilles all day. They're super cute, but not all that comfortable. Maybe I can put the flip-flops in my robe where the scrolls are supposed to go?

Rules to Live By

I am not a big rules person. I question almost every rule I come across, but I recently realized there are some rules I always follow, and it's kind of funny which ones they are: rules to protect the natural world.

In other words, if I go hiking with you, and you decide to saunter into an "area closed for restoration," it's going to bother me. A lot. There's a reason that area is closed for restoration; it's because too much traffic is messing up the land.

And littering? Don't even THINK about it when I'm around!

I really should apply this sort of thinking to the speed limit, however.

Nature Hike!

Now that the craziness surrounding my degree is (more or less) finished, I've been taking time to enjoy the great outdoors almost every day. Today D and I hiked in the Lair O' the Bear park just up the canyon from us and had a bit of a nature class outside, which was really fun.

First we started noticing some of the tracks on the ground. There were tracks from shoes and bicycles, but there were also some very large deer-like tracks on the ground, along with what I believe the outdoorsy types call "scat," which led us to conclude that there were probably some elk wandering around the park.

I was also looking at all the broken tree limbs around the park in what might best be described as puzzlement. I couldn't figure out what was going on until D reminded me that we had a super heavy snow last week, which must have broken quite a few trees. Because we normally get the light, powdery variety in Colorado, and because we don't get ice storms, I guess I forgot that precipitation can weigh on branches and cause them to break.

We got confirmation of the elk when we ran into a herd on the back loop of the trail. There were four or five of them, complete with velvety antlers.

Camping Out

I'm working on coordinating my graduation commencement blah blah doodad.

My regalia is being sent in the mail ... but, more important, I booked the campsite for the weekend.

Yes, we're going to be camping out for graduation, for which I'm truly excited. I love Finger Lakes (where we're going to camp), and I love camping, and it's been far too long since I had the opportunity to camp there.

It's going to be a blast!

I'm BAAAACK!!

Oh yes, dear readers, I'm going to make a conscious effort to give you some new blood daily.

In related news: Finally got my degree stuffage (mostly) finished. I have some minor changes to make in my paper, but deadlines are quickly approaching. So, for example, today I:

* Ordered my cap, gown and hood

and

* Booked our campsite so we don't have to stay in an icky hotel.

And tomorrow will come the re-enrollment fun and games.