Life in Blacksburg has been great so far. Devin and I both got into grad school at sister departments here and even get paid to go to school. It turns out that we are still poor, but at least we have enough to go camping and treat each other to dinner out at least once a week. Hey, it's better than temping in DC. My commute here is about 15 minutes to anywhere - and somehow I manage to complain - but it's so much better than 1 hour each way on the metro.
I love living in the mountains, too -- it's just prettier here. Our professors and advisors have some pretty amazing digs - 100 acre plots by a national forest complete w/a stocked pond, to name one. Country activities are much more encouraged, which is fun - and funny. I learned to fish and we go out fairly often to see what we can catch; but people on campus also walk around w/their hunting gear like they're heading off just after class lets out. Pig roasts are common and corn hole (like bean bag toss) is the highlight of many a weekend, aside from the obvious -- drinking.
Work/school also keeps us super busy. Every Monday I have a meeting with my advisor where I suddenly realize I'm behind on the goals I set for myself the week before. The next three days are taken up by homework, researching and struggling through journal articles, dragging my self and up to two computers all over campus in hot pursuit of answers, and some lab experiments too. Then Friday comes and we are usually shopping online or planning a weekend camping trip. It's the simple joys -- I discovered down jackets and sleeping bags around the same time as I got some amazing $130 shoes, so our modest salaries aren't going too terribly far yet. Then there's laundry and grocery shopping - and Sunday night arrives and it's time to do it all again.
The other 12 hours a week (where do I find the time??) I'm a Teaching Assistant for an experimental lab class that involves lots of electric circuits and misbehaving MATLAB programs. It's truly a black hole -- there's no limit to the energy I could put into it; in fact the more I do, the more I get frustrated and feel obligated to put MORE time in so the experiments will go more smoothly. But that's a pointless viscious cycle. I'm not solely responsible for the class, so when things go poorly, it really isn't my fault -- so why should I get frustrated like it is? The other fun part of my TA-ship is grading lab reports on a borrowed dinosaur-ific tablet computer. Somehow some students manage to write 20 pages of C minus-worthy blather. I am investigating the staircase distribution method of grading, however. I love being a hard-ass when grading, but if the undergrads continue to ignore my sagely advice, then f--- it.
Hobbies: I got super excited and dug my knitting needles and a pretty purple ball of manos de uruguay yarn out of my craft bag when a friend introduced me to ravelry.com and their bonanza of knitting patterns and projects. The purple yarn is on its way to becoming a cabled cap - for me - and after that, Devin wants a hat so I'm going to do a fancy one with fleece lining so his ears will be warm and itch-free. I will probably work my way up to a sweater at some point, but I'm not quite ready to invest in a giant pile of $$$ yarn. We also came into a bunch of reading and fishing equipment recently, so there are plenty of activities to take up our extremely rare free time.
Thanksgiving is coming up and we're going to go spend a week in sunny CA. Neither town there will be particularly warm -- San Luis Obispo, where Devin is from, nor Chico, where the fam holds the holiday meal and celebration. But it'll be pretty and a happy visit back to the loving and politically active folks that raised Devin, as well as a return to solar power, Jack in the Box, year round farmers markets, and agricultural fields as far as the eye can see.
The other excitement on my horizon is chickens - helping with a friend's experiment by counting/weighing them; as well as designing my own experiments on chicken manure. That brings me back to the microbes and ammonia I mentioned up top - so maybe it's time to get back to work.
Catch you all next time!
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