Ode to the choice...

Having reached the place where I have almost completed my psychology and philosophy degrees, I have begun looking to the future, and right now I'm not incredibly happy with what I see as my current options. (Curse my high expectations for life!) So where can I go from here? 'Here' being next May when I am slated for graduation of course.
Well, I could take some time off from school and look for a full time job. Not too hip with that plan. I've always intended on grad school and with the current economy looking for a new job and allowing loans to come due doesn't sound like the smartest choice I could make.
I could push down any misgivings I have and go ahead and apply to psych grad schools, cross my fingers and hope for the best. But hoping for the best isn't really a strategy that I like to rely on that heavily.
And thirdly, I could stay at Purdue and go for yet another undergrad degree! If I did that then I would probably get either just a BS in physics or a BS in applied physics with a specialty in astrophysics. If I were to go with that second option it would open another door because after you get that degree you can apply to Purdue's one year master's program in ApplPhys if you want to.
I think, having looked over the numbers, I could get a physics degree in about 2 years. Maybe a bit less. The applied physics would take longer because of the extra "applied electives" (astronomy in my case.) That would probably take 3 years. Am I willing to do that? More importantly, am I able to do that? I don't know. And there's the problem. I'm a little lost. Well more than a little.
Can anyone sell me a map?

An introduction...

...to Jiff.

On Tuesday I saw Jiff in the little adoption center that they have at Petsmart when I was picking up parakeet food, and on Thursday I went back and brought him home.
I'll like just about any animal that I meet and will get attached to most of them very quickly given the chance, but there have been a few that I've loved almost immediately and Jiffy is one of them. He's a total sweetheart and a very good boy. He's also absolutely adorable. According to his paperwork he got the name of Jiff because when he was brought into the clinic he had a peanut butter jar stuck on his head.

I've noticed that he is very careful with his claws. He hasn't scratched me yet, even when I've played with him with my hand. He'll bat at it, but keep his claws in. I appreciate that in cats. And people.

Kitty isn't quite happy with him yet, but she's getting there. Once she's used to him I know she'll like having someone to play with again, and he definitely likes to play. The vet thinks that he's about a year old, and he still very much acts like a kitten in a lot ways. He loves to play in between the chair legs underneath the kitchen table. Jiff is a tubkitty; he thinks the (dry) bath is a great place to take a nap.

I'm absolutely sure I made the right choice when I decided to go back for him. I love my Jiffy so much, and I'm pretty sure that he's very happy too.

Hoorah for freeviewing...

Being a pretty big fan of stereo photographs, I've been thinking for a while about trying to take some myself. Last night I took a few snap shots of things on our coffee table to try and get a feel for what would be the correct angle and distance between the two shots in order to make a stereo. Another trick is to size and level the two shots beside one another just right. To my surprise and delight, after one or two tries I got a couple of good ones!
Today I was looking at some of the pictures I took while on a garden tour with my grandfather, and I came across three pictures of a purple iris that I took, two of which were very similar, with just a tiny bit of angle difference, so I tried aligning them, and voila, three dimensions! I am pretty delighted with the way this turned out.




If you'd like some pointers on freeviewing a stereo or how to take a stereo picture, I suggest reading: http://www.brianmay.com/brian/brianssb/stereo_freeview.html (where I got my information for trying this.) I also find it a little easier to freeview when the photo is a bit larger, so clicking on the picture to blow it up might help. If you'd like to see more stereo pictures, I would suggest going to http://www.brianmay.com/ and browsing back through his Soapbox archives to see some of the ones he's posted. They're pretty awesome.

Reviewin' stuff is painless...

I just recently purchased Journey's newly released album and finally put it on today to give it a good listen while I was straightening up. I was definitely fully prepared to be obnoxiously critical and overtly dissatisfied with the entire project, either because I felt the band was ruined by some strange new sound, or that Arnel Pineda was at best a rough imitator of Steve Perry. So what's the verdict on 'Revelation'?
I love it. I have not been so completely pleased with an album for a very long time. I'm blown away with the songwriting, instrumental work, and not least of all, Mr. Pineda's singing. Yes, you could probably convince someone who didn't know any better that it is Steve Perry singing; his timber and range are extremely similar, but I think that there is enough subtle difference there that he definitely has his own voice. Regardless, he his a very strong vocalist.
Being a person that has not heard any of Schon's guitar work that is younger than a couple of decades, I was pleased no end with the caliber of sound that he brings to this album. Really great, complex solos and backing, not to mention that he is at least a contributor, if not the primary writer on just about all of the new material. I feel like he brought new talent and technique to these songs without completely changing his old playing style. Just excellent all around. Fantastic work as well from Cain, Castronova, and Valory on keyboard, drums, and bass respectively.
In short, this album is pure gold. And that's just the first disk. Also included is a concert DVD and a second CD with the current band playing some of the old Journey classics. If I had to choose favorites I might say that "Never Walk Away", "Wildest Dream", and "Where Did I Lose Your Love" are at the top of the list, but that's a hard call to make.
To sum up: Yes, yes, yes.
This makes me that much more excited to be seeing them in concert in August. And I was already set to rock.
Again, delighted with this album. Way to go Journey.

Saturday

A gasp in the night
Never claustrophobic before
Pressing darkness
Try to hold it back
Mind against an army of feeling
Thought to distract
Not very good at it
Replay the day
Analyze the moment
Make it stop
Will sleep never come

Things of note...

As some of you may be aware, I flew to Washington, DC for part of my spring break. A trip that was facilitated mightily by the generosity of my friend Paul. Thanks Paul. How did the bird spikes work out? (On the Monday or Tuesday of my trip there may or may not have been a "fire" in one of the "bunkers" in the "complex" where "Paul" works. It was all very exciting.)
One of the high points for me was giving a lady directions in the subway. She wanted to know how to get to the Red Line, and by gosh, I could tell her. Even though I like fitting in almost as much as the next guy, I still think that I couldn't have looked more like a tourist if I'd worn an Hawaiian shirt and a fanny pack that said "I Heart New York" on it. But maybe I'm wrong.
I went to all kinds of places, learned interesting things, and silently observed several instances of misinformation. It was great. My favorite places, if I had to put them in some sort of order, would probably be: Arlington Cemetery, US Botanic Garden, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Castle, Smithsonian Air ampersand Space Museum, and the National Mall, to name a few. Favorite monument: Most likely a tie between the Vietnam and WWII memorials.
Near as I can figure, the only problem with DC is the high ratio of 7th and 8th graders that harried teacher chaperones are valiantly and vainly trying to mind bash a sense of significance into. "This is historic, damn it!"
Thanks to Paul I experienced bonafide Maryland crab cake. But they're just plain crab cakes there. I didn't see the President, but I did see the door to the Speaker o' the House's office. I didn't expect to enjoy my tour of the Capitol as much as I did, and the "water feature" outside of the Native American Museum was amazing. I was just wondering to myself the other night why I didn't take pictures of it, and I think perhaps my camera was dead by then. Either that or I forgot I had a camera strapped to my side.
I like the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou'.
The semester is over now and I guess that I am satisfied with my grades overall. They were pretty much what I expected I suppose. No big surprises, which is good. Right now I am faced with some huge academic decisions, but I'll save that for another post, as this one is already edging towards the cliffs of Quite Long Enough.
Shiloh and I went to see 'Monsters vs. Aliens' and we thought it was pretty dang good. We laughed and ate nachos. I'm expecting great things out of 'Up'; I can't wait until that comes out. If it's as good as the previews I'll be delighted. If it's not as good as the previews then what the deuce Pixar?

This is new...

Well this morning I showed up for my PSY 484 final, but as it got close to 10:20 there was no professor, so we waited. And then the TA came along and told us to hang in there and she'd see what was going on. After another ten minutes she came back.
"The good news is," she said. "You don't have to take a 484 final. You're grade will be caculated using your papers, presentation, and other exams."
So yeah, first time that's happened to me.

Music thingies...

Art Garfunkel's voice has what I'd call, at the risk of sounding far too poetic, a kind of luminosity. A capacity to draw a person in and encompass them completely. Combine that with the fact that even on the high notes he can maintain an impressive vocal strength and you've got a winner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv0gU197IKk&feature=related

I also have to say that he has what may be some of the kindest looking eyes in the business (I really do believe that he is on my side when times get rough and friends just can't be found.) And that's saying something because I have a gigantic music-crush on Brian May, and he has beautiful eyes. For serious.

In other news, Journey is going to be playing at both the Indiana and Kentucky State Fairs in August. Might have to see if I can be there for one or both of those concerts. I'm sure it wouldn't be quite the same as the Journey I know, aka with Steve Perry, but as I understand it the new kid sounds freakishly similar to him and Neal Schon is still there. I think we all know by now that I tend to favor the guitar players anyway. What can I say? Music is sexy.



"What up, my home slices!?"
~ Rabon

I has a camera...

Series A: The Opiate of the Masses

Above the influence? Not me! That's right, 25 friggin' random things...

One of the latest things going around The Phasebook. Figured I'd at least get double duty out of it.

*Sigh*

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose at least 25 people to be tagged. When you've done that, make me a sandwich. Do what The Facebook orders. Resistance is futile. You will be Face-imilated.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I love water. The look, the sound, the feel, the smell. Lakes and ponds and streams and rivers and pools and fountains and bathtubs and showers and rain. Combine any of those things and the fondness just increases.

2. I can smell that milk is going bad days before the expiration date.

3. I've had a horse *jump* on my foot. Twice.

4. A blue ribbon was always a letdown to me in 4-H.

5. I never got anything better than a blue ribbon in 4-H.

6. I own enough seasons of Stargate SG-1 to classify me as a pretty hardcore fan. I draw the line at fan fiction.

7. I buy things for my little brother's dog. There are few things as rewarding as the look on her face when I tell her that I have something for her.

8. Of the sciences, physics and astronomy are my great loves. Sometimes I miss being in physics so much that it hurts a little. That's when I go "What the deuce am I doing with my life?"

9. I've worked four jobs in my life, and only been interviewed twice.

10. I've rarely met an animal that I didn't like. I've met a fair number of people that I didn't like.

11. I cannot stand the smell of alcohol.

12. I'm not the World's Greatest Speller, but it irks me when people abuse one word multiple times. Makes me think that they believe that they have it right or they just don't care. I've had A Person Who Shall Remain Nameless tell me that I am "versitul" several times in one IM session.

13. I would stab someone to fly in a really fast jet. I'm not sure how or when it's going to happen, but it is going to happen. Flying a jet that is, not stabbing someone. But you know, if need be...

14. Sometimes I am much more competitive than I should be.

15. I have seen three total lunar eclipses and each one was a completely unique experience.

16. I am infinitely more willing to clean a barn than my own room. I'd clean a barn for funzies.

17. When I worked in a learning and memory research lab I got a little attached to one rat. Seventeen was always sweet and curious and maybe I should have tried to smuggle him out...

18. I don't see myself as a woman. I see myself as a person.

19. I have been afraid of the dark (more appropriately, what might be *in* the dark) inside. Not outside. I *love* the darkness outside.

20. Since I was a tiny, tiny child I wanted a horse more than anything. After having had my horse(s) for over 7 years now, to this day I still occasionally go "Oh my gosh. I have a horse!!"

21. When confronted by large, angry people, my immediate response is not to run, but to get angry back and take an offensive strategy. Oh, I get all up in their grillz with The Righteous Indignation.

22. I get so excited about new phones, automatic carwashes, mail, pretty rocks, and holidays.

23. I love fire. Playing with it. Nurturing it. Just watching it. Fire and me, we're pretty cool with each other in general.

24. This year we did not celebrate my birthday until several days after the actual date. I did not feel that I was any older until I had had my presents and cake.

25. I rode an elephant when I was a kid one time and he threw his ball over a fence. Then he had to lean over the fence to get it back.

******

You know what annoys me? The fact that when any woman is involved with horses, for some reason people like to equate that somehow with sexuality. It's ridiculous. If you say that you like dogs or salt water fish or stamp collecting nothing at all is made of it. There is no reason that it should be any different with horses.
For instance, just the other day a friend (and I won't say who) was saying something to the group over dinner about a girlfriend that he had. To quote: "She did a lot of horseback riding. And she liked to "gallop". It could be very painful for me."
My response to this type of thing is usually overdone feigned naivete and continued innocent questioning until the sexually repressed and misguided person finally gives up their ridiculous attempt at a metaphor and is forced to use language that actually applies.
Sometimes the person involved is dense enough to not even get that. In which case I give up the act and tell them coldly that they should try to search around and see if they can't come up with the balls to just admit that their former girlfriend enjoyed rougher sex than they did, and to quit trying to somehow connect that with a totally unrelated hobby. If you're too embarrassed to say it in plain language then maybe you shouldn't be saying it.
Grow a backbone and quit throwing my passion to your Freudian jackals.

*Sigh*

I loves me some water...

Whilst in Hammond this past weekend for our annual awesomeness show(s), we went up to see Lake Michigan, just for funzies. And boy, was it fun! ...zies...
Being winter and all there was incredible shelf ice off of the shores and it was downright magical. Slick as well. Angel hair found three "ice thrones" and also a Pride (Ice) Rock. After poking around on the beach near Hammond some we traveled back East and through Gary (Murder Capitol of Indiana!!) to visit the Indiana Dunes, which I for one had never seen before. Again, awesome. There were several inches of snow on the ground, and that had drifted along with the sand, so you never really could tell when you took a step if you were going to sink an inch or a couple of feet. Some sand had blown across the surface of the snow, forming waves and patterns.
At the Dunes the shelf ice extended out many, many yards and when you climbed one of the dunes off of the beach you could just see the water as an indigo strip on the horizon. Pretty amazing.
I do so love me some water.

Confusion and amusement...

So I am at work right now, and oh my gosh I still have two hours to go. I'm training a young man on the intricacies of working nights and closing. I'm working on my laptop Schloozy, and he is using the student assistants' work computer to edit some code. All well and good except for occasionally he mutters something not quite under is breath such as:
"Dang..."
"Gosh dang it..."
"What the fu..."
And most recently:
"Oh my gosh, you are so stupid..."
Not sure if he was talking to himself or the computer on that one. I say things like that to Schloozypoo all the time, but I've also been known to say things like that to myself as well. Regardless it could be uncomfortable for me to continue listening to this. Or it could be highly amusing.

Today I took apart a fish tank pump and observed with my own two eyes exactly how it worked. It was all part of a class that I'm in called How Stuff Works. My friend Stu is teaching it. Can you think of a better class? Maybe Cookies, Puppies, and Yahtzee Night With David Duchovny 101. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. And then I had lunch with Jaime. The End.

PS The Fools are going to Hammond this weekend. Stoked.

Perhaps you'll remember...

The continuation of a story that began here. It is not a direct transcript of, but is still almost completely taken from a dream that I had.

~ It has been a full two days now since our engines died and according to the mechanics there is nothing to be done for them. Our engineers, some of the best it should be said, have been ordered by the captain to keep at it, but having looked over the damage myself, I am doubtful that there is any hope of resuscitating the behemoths.

Our ship was blown so far off course in the storm that I believe we are quite distant from the usual currents. We do not seem to be drifting anywhere fast, and as of yet not one other sign of life has been spotted. Allow me to correct myself, there has been one sign of life. A fisherman in a dinghy. Apparently his skiff took damage in the storm. He stayed with her until it was obvious that she was going down, at which time he retired to his lifeboat, taking with him only the barest essentials, aka what he could lay his hand to on his way out.

Just barely riding out the storm in the small dinghy (over which fact I am still at a loss, as I would have sworn that nothing short of a miracle would allow a boat like that to stay afloat in a storm of that magnitude) he spotted us as a speck on the horizon around dawn and rowed his way towards us. He finally reached our ship the following morning (aka, this AM), looking near dead from exhaustion and cold. The captain lowered pulleys and brought his entire dinghy on deck, pulling the poor man out with his own hands and wrapping him in warm blankets.

The man is in the sick bay now, under the care of our ship's doctor and nursing staff. I am pleased to be able to help the poor fellow, and sorry for his own troubles of losing his skiff, which is also his mode of livelihood; but having been put in charge of rationing both food and water for all of the passengers and crew of the Lillianna, I must say that I am more than slightly concerned. The individuals who stocked this ship certainly did not have an emergency such as this one in mind when they did it.

We were meant to be landing in Port Calveston in only slightly more than a week, less than a fortnight to be sure. I have been quite stringent in my rationing as I have no idea how long it will be before we are rescued, and as a result I believe that I am at the brunt end of some hard feelings. The crew and lower classes seem to understand the restrictions and accept them without complaint, but it is the higher class citizenry that may prove to be a problem. I refuse to give them special consideration in this matter.

I have no patience for arrogance in a situation like this. I expect the same treatment for every life aboard this ship; we will all suffer together, and we will die together if it comes to that. The one and only consideration that I have made was to urge the galley staff to reserve whatever canned milk that they have for the young children that are with us, regardless of class. As of yet the kitchen crew has been able to do an incredible job, even with my restrictions, and for that I am grateful. Their prowess is certainly helping me to stretch the supplies that we do have on hand.

I am to bed now, and pray God that some good news will greet us with the morning. ~

Sailing...

Drifting along
Through mist and mirage
Wonder where you're going
A stab of pain
Right through the heart
But don't worry
It passes quickly
Soon you'll forget
Making sure that the next time
Will hurt all the more

Check it...

The good news is that I've been published on 365 Tomorrows again. The great news is that this one is actually good! Worlds better than the last. So much happier with this one.
Here it is in the archives: http://www.365tomorrows.com/12/06/shades-of-gray/
Hope you like it.

As some of you...

...no doubt already know, I did not complete NaNoWriMo. According to the marker board on my door, I am awesome (thank you, T. Rex), but apparently that does not extend to the ability write a novel called Property of: Abby in a month. Paul completed his though! Congratulations Paul, you inhuman, novel-writing machine, you.

I have most of my Christmas shopping done for the year. Not sure how that happened, but I'm proud of myself.

Edit: If you'd like to go right to Paul's table of contents for Appendix A, go here: http://www.kuliniewicz.org/blog/appendix-a/

I'll tell you what I want...

...What I really, really want.
Those of you who know me well may also know that I generally cannot answer the question"What do you want for Christmas and/or your birthday?" easily, nor usually before the second week of December. This year I'm ready! Enter the 2008 Wishlist! Ta-daa!

In no particular order:

*Planet Earth ( ~ $21.00 used from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000MR9D5E/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used , or $35.00 used with The Blue Planet: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000TEUSQ8/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used )

*Down pillow

Printer (cheapest, most basic kind that is made)

*Guitar Theory 4 poster ( ~ $20.00 for large size: http://www.zazzle.com/guitar_theory_4_print-228202254543937048 )

Second Hand Out - Jeff Spanke

*Any kinetic art (aka perpetual motion toys) ( http://search.store.yahoo.net/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=opg&query=perpetual%20motion&.autodone=http://www.officeplayground.com/nsearch.html )

WALL-E DVD (and possibly even Iron Man? I should think about that...)

*Another World - Brian May (~ $6.00 used from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00000DC7L/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227156327&sr=1-1 )

*The Cosmos Rocks - Queen + Paul Rodgers (~ $24.00 new from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001JGOKPU/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_pg_new?ie=UTF8&coliid=&startIndex=0&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=new )

*Pre Ordained - Queen (or pre-Queen really) (~ $6.00 used from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00004SOPK/ref=sr_1_olp_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1227156751&sr=1-1 )

Journey music (but not Greatest Hits, I've got that.)

Brian May or Queen t-shirts, posters, etc.

Thinkgeek.com gift certificate


Oh gosh, it's a thing of beauty. Just look at that. Look at all those options. Didn't I say I was prepared, Moms? An asterisk means that I want that more than the non-asterisk items. None of this stuff is necessary.


"Please don't choke on your podcast."
~ Jenny

I think...

...that V for Vendetta is a great movie.

As some of you may know, I fully intend at this point to go forward with NaNoWriMo. I have an idea and everything, so batten down the hatches. Here's the site it will be on: http://www.propertyofabby.blogspot.com/ (There's also a link in the sidebar.)
We'll see how that goes for me. I might fail miserably. It will be exciting.

Report o' movements...

Well I had a fantastic October break, and at long last you are going to be forced to hear a little about it. It was productive, but relaxing. Some barn organization was done, some cleaning of tack, some laying around in a hammock, some nailing of boards. Hay and feed were purchased, loaded, and put up for the winter, and stalls were stripped down and re-bedded. Weeds were cut, hooves were trimmed, pizza was eaten.

My farrier (who happens to ride English and knows quite a lot about the discipline) thought that my new saddle was great. He seemed to think that I practically stole it. Later that day mom and I saddled up Sage (and I thought she looked very pretty in English tack) and then I coerced my mom into going first to "show me how it's done". She didn't take a ton of convincing. She thought the saddle was awesome as well and after a short while riding around, she dismounted for me to take my turn.

First time riding English and it went pretty great. No problems to speak of, the saddle was comfortable and I felt comfortable in it. Sage had a few bouts of stubbornness, but considering that she hasn't been ridden in a very, very long time, that was nothing. Since Sage is a pacer, posting on her is either impossible or well beyond my capabilities, so we didn't do a lot of trotting, but that was ok.

All in all, for me it was a pretty fantastic experience. Totally do not regret that purchase.

It's here...

Guess what I got! Ok, I'll just tell you. An English saddle! Something that I've wanted for quite a while now. Thus far all the riding I've done has been either western or bareback, so riding English is going to be new to me, and that is what I'm so excited about! Can I overstate how excited I am? No, no I don't think so.
My saddle is awesome! It's a worn, used no-name, but it's great. Hopefully it will be a good fit for either Tiger or Sage, or maybe even both. At any rate it fits the arm of the couch well! Apartment smells like leather now, which is fantastic.
I expect this to be awesome. I can't wait!

So exciting!