The Whopper with Cheese
I have a feeling this is going to be a big one. If I come close to talking about all the things I should/would/can talk about then this is going to be massive. It's hard to know where to even begin.
Work has become the most horrible thing I can do for 9 days. Okay it's not quite that bad but we are all starting to feel tired of it all and Lauren and I are not getting along as well as we used to. She's really messy and I'm not. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but because of the way the situation is it's like we are married. We spend all day (10-12 hours) working together and then we come back to the camp site and...then we are stuck around each other still. I think even if you are a good match this doesn't create the best situation. As Cory pointed out to me- it's like Survivor. So all the little things that Lauren does are starting to add up to make me crazy and we are both ready to just be done. This situation is made even worse by the fact that Alexandra quit 2 trips ago. She went on a vacation and didn't come back (oh my that just reminded me of another story- goodness it's been a long time!) and so now her partner, Matt, works with us and it creates one of those weird 3 person dynamics that never seems to work out well. Last trip Matt decided he was mad at Spencer. Here's the deal. At the very beginning of the season Spencer said to everyone "When you work over time, which does happen, you get comp time but we can't afford to pay you a weeks worth of comp time when the field season is over because we only have enough money to pay everyone for the time that we have set up. So if you get a bunch of comp time during the season then you will need to use it before the season is over." He was very clear about this (and that's why I came home a few days early on this past trip). So last trip Spencer told Matt that he was going to have to send him home midway through the week to use up his comp time. Well Matt, who doesn't have a new job lined up, was planning on having that comp time paid out even though Spencer was explicit about that not happening. After that Matt was pissed off at Spencer and felt like he was trying to screw him over and wanted to claim hours that we hadn't worked. Lauren didn't want to work. It was a mess.
Lauren actually had the first few days of the trip off last time and drove my car to the field site so that I could leave a few days early and it was closer to Denver to leave from the camp site than from Lander where my car stays. I was kind of worried about Lauren using my car because she doesn't take care of things which is one of the things that bothers me about her. Then I was really worried the night that she was supposed to get to camp because she didn't end up making it until 11 pm (it's not easy to find your way around in BFE Wyoming in the pitch black of night) and we were having these crazy storms move through camp one after another that night. Turns out she got lost which is easy to do out there but she made it. However, the storms that night were _wicked_. The first storm to come in had fierce wind with it and it was basically blowing the rain sideways. It was blowing so hard that all the tents were bent over under the force of it. My tent just barely made it through that round but it was only the beginning. We watched one cell move just northwest of us which was so black it looked like the night sky and it must have had hail associated with it but the real crazy part was the lightning and thunder. So we watched that one go by and hoped that none would make it over to us. Futile hope. Around the time I was getting ready to go to bed one storm moved in and there was a bolt of lightning that couldn't have been more than 200 yards away. The flash and sound were right on top of each other and the thunder was so loud I freaked out and pulled my sleeping bag over my head. Not sure what that would have done but it made me feel better. One of my co-workers had her headlamp on and she said it flickered. Craziness. And it went on like that all night long. A couple hours of peace and quiet followed by 20 minutes of deafening thunder and rain. Fortunately none of the other storms had much wind associated with them so my tent held up really well but all of us were so tired in the morning and there were several places nearby that had magically turned into a lake.
The trip before that we had a fun encounter. Spencer sent us out to do some transects in the Fossil Butte National Monument area. The first set of transects we did were right off the road and leading into the monument. That was cool and we got to see an albino prairie dog. So the next day we go back to do a pair of transects that are further into the monument. On our maps (we use GPS's that are hooked up to a computer with GIS) there is a two-track that leads to our transects. In fact the transects started at the two-track. It took us awhile to find the two-track but eventually we located it and head down. I was driving at the time but the two-track was pretty overgrown and Matt is better at driving in those kind of conditions so I had him take over. We make it to where we are trying to go. The transects head straight up two mountains basically. It was a nice hike and a really pretty view once we got to the top. Even saw a golden eagle and a few deer. Hike back down and start to prepare for the second transect. It was at that time that a Park Ranger comes hiking over to us and lets us know that we have to leave immediately. We are not authorized to drive on this road and it hasn't been driven on in over 10 years and we were not authorized to collect data in the monument. The superintendent and the BLM law enforcement had been called and we were to report to visitors' center immediately. Fuck. Once he leaves (I thought about offering him a ride back since he was walking but then that would have been a really awkward car ride) we start freaking out. Spencer sent us out there and there was no sign at the beginning of the two-track that said Road Closed or anything. We had driven on several two-tracks in similar states and not had any issues with it. We talk about it and decide that we are not going to give them our names because we don't want to be blacklisted for something that wasn't our fault. Well the officer had other ideas and told us he would take us to jail immediately if we didn't give our names, SSN and birth dates immediately. In the end the Principal Investigator of our project talked to the Superintendent and got everything cleared away (or so I hope) but I have pictures of the road just in case anything comes about because of this.
In between those two trips I had an amazing 5 day vacation with Cory. It was supposed to be Eric, Mike and Cory that were coming up to WY to go camping but in the end it was just Cory and I think that worked out better. After asking a bunch of my coworkers where the best place to camp would be, I decided that we would go to Louis Lake. We had originally talked about staying near Thermopolis but Louis Lake was closer to Lander and had more of the mountain vibe I was looking for. Thermopolis has the reservoir which would have been good too but I think we chose the right place. Cory was really stressed out before he left because he's a bit of a procrastinator and didn't leave enough time to finish everything before he left. Well and also won't just take a few days off outright and so had to do 5 days worth of work in 2. But he made it safe and sound Wednesday evening. I was worried about the weather because it had been raining all day. One of those low hanging clouds drizzle all day kind of things. I had to put the tent up when it was raining which was a pain but the rain had started to taper off when Cory arrived. Everything about the trip was awesome. It got a bit crowded over the weekend but we pretty much had the place to ourselves otherwise. We went on a few hikes. Hung out around camp. Sat around the fire. The usual camp stuff. We also took a day trip to Thermopolis so I could see the hot springs and we dropped in on Cory's uncle so I got to meet him. I like Thermopolis. It's a beautiful place and the hot springs are amazing. I was a little (actually more than a little) hungover that day so I didn't love the suspension bridge. The dogs didn't love it either but overall it was great to see it. I want to go back sometime when I can go in the warming pool and enjoy the feel of the hot spring.
The last day we went for a 10 mile hike to Cristina Lake. When we got to the lake that's when Cory asked me to marry him and it was perfect. I knew it was coming because he had told me he wanted to ask me but didn't have time to get the ring fixed (I have my great grandmother's engagement ring that my grandmother gave me and I LOVE it but it had been cut at some point so that needed to be fixed and it needed to be cleaned up). He wasn't sure if I would take a placeholder ring so I said sure I would. We went to Pamida (drug store) and picked out a gaudy costume jewelry ring that I would never wear in real life :-) All in all it was perfect and the hike was lots of fun. I was worried that Cory wouldn't enjoy it much or that 10 miles would be too much but we both loved it. Even Leopold who sometimes can't go for a walk longer than a couple miles, was able to hike the whole thing. We have to fjord a couple streams and the dogs mostly did well with that too. I tried to get them to walk across one of the logs but they were having none of that so into the water they went. I think they liked it more than they thought they would.
It was such a great vacation that I really didn't want to go back to work. Cory left on Monday and I didn't have to work until Tuesday so I got a motel room for the night. I get to the motel pretty early and the kid behind the desk puts me in room 23. The motel was a little ramshackle but the room was nice. Hung out in there for a bit and then I went to meet Spencer to go on a hike to the Popo Agie Falls (really beautiful if you ever get a chance to go hiking in Lander). As I'm leaving I meet the true manager of the motel who tells me that I have to move. "Whenever I leave the kids in charge they always mess it up. I'm sorry but you have to move because I already reserved that room. Blah blah blah." She wasn't actually apologetic and at first I was like whatever. I didn't realize that I was being downgraded. Room 23 has a brand new air conditioner, mini fridge and was just a nice room. The room I get has an air conditioner where the knob just spins around and around. I should have been more forceful about getting something in return for being downgraded but whatever. I just won't ever go back there.
I did something crazy to my arm. I have no idea what's wrong with it but if I move it in a certain way or sometimes if I try to pick something up I get a stabbing pain in my arm/shoulder. I think I must have caused some sort of muscle strain or even a tear. The pain is very irregular but when it does happen it's like a punch to a stomach. It's very intense and takes me breath away. Cory wanted me to go to the doctor but I don't think there is much they can do for me. Just tell me ice it and rest it. Don't know how either of those things are going to happen since I have work next week. Oh well. That will be over with soon enough (Aug 26th to be exact) and then I have no idea what I'm going to do. I contacted the people I used to work with in the Benefits Department with the State of Colorado and they just shrugged their shoulders. I guess Colorado came into the recession later than other states and so things are just starting to get really bad for the state. Joy. That should make finding a temp job super easy right??? I have already started applying to government jobs like crazy. I am applying to anywhere I find a job so we'll see what happens. Maybe that one in West Virginia will be the one! No sense worrying about where it will be if I haven't even been offered a job. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it but at this point I think that applying to as many places as possible is definitely the way to go.
I have been having some very fun car trouble lately. When I opened my trunk to pack my stuff in there to leave the camp site last week, 4 mice when scurrying in all directions. They had made a nice little nest for themselves from the padding in the trunk. Fortunately I had a small mammal trap and I was able to trap them all in the span of 30 minutes. I moved my car so they wouldn't find it that day and I haven't seen any more sign of them. But the fan in my car started to make a crazy rumbling noise so I took it to the mechanic. I thought something was stuck in it and it turns out a rodent of some kind decided that would be a great place to build a nest. So $100 later that's fixed. While we were camping I also noticed that my tags were expired...in June! It's mid August before I can get back to Colorado which means that the grace period is gone and Cory can't renew them for me because you can only do that online during the grace period. I got home on a Sunday night. As soon as I could on Monday I went to go renew them but in that very short amount of time a lovely parking enforcement officer gave me a $30 ticket. So now I have the $30 ticket and the $25 late fee. Awesome! This is all made the better because I fucking sent in a change of address to the DMV. I even got a letter from the voter registration office saying they had my new address. But because Colorado is fucking completely idiotic and even though the driver's license and the license plate divisions are both part of the DMV they have completely separate systems and you have to change your address with BOTH. Absolutely maddening.
Then last night I had a lovely dinner with Anne from the Benefits department (got to keep those connections in tact- you never know when they will come in for you) and on the way home I t-boned someone. I have no idea how it happened. Well he was driving and I was driving but the whole thing makes no sense. Fortunately the upside to living in the ghetto is that no one has nice cars (or probably insurance even). No one was hurt. I wasn't going that fast because I had stopped at the stop sign and then moved into the intersection as he was coming through it. It tore the license plate off the front of my car and scraped it up pretty good but that's all the damage that was done. We settled it by my giving him $30 for an oil change. Worked for me. I got off easy. I can't believe I did something that stupid. But I feel like this is beginning of the end for my car. It's just seems like more and more of these types of things are happening.
Whew. Told you it would be a long one.
Work has become the most horrible thing I can do for 9 days. Okay it's not quite that bad but we are all starting to feel tired of it all and Lauren and I are not getting along as well as we used to. She's really messy and I'm not. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but because of the way the situation is it's like we are married. We spend all day (10-12 hours) working together and then we come back to the camp site and...then we are stuck around each other still. I think even if you are a good match this doesn't create the best situation. As Cory pointed out to me- it's like Survivor. So all the little things that Lauren does are starting to add up to make me crazy and we are both ready to just be done. This situation is made even worse by the fact that Alexandra quit 2 trips ago. She went on a vacation and didn't come back (oh my that just reminded me of another story- goodness it's been a long time!) and so now her partner, Matt, works with us and it creates one of those weird 3 person dynamics that never seems to work out well. Last trip Matt decided he was mad at Spencer. Here's the deal. At the very beginning of the season Spencer said to everyone "When you work over time, which does happen, you get comp time but we can't afford to pay you a weeks worth of comp time when the field season is over because we only have enough money to pay everyone for the time that we have set up. So if you get a bunch of comp time during the season then you will need to use it before the season is over." He was very clear about this (and that's why I came home a few days early on this past trip). So last trip Spencer told Matt that he was going to have to send him home midway through the week to use up his comp time. Well Matt, who doesn't have a new job lined up, was planning on having that comp time paid out even though Spencer was explicit about that not happening. After that Matt was pissed off at Spencer and felt like he was trying to screw him over and wanted to claim hours that we hadn't worked. Lauren didn't want to work. It was a mess.
Lauren actually had the first few days of the trip off last time and drove my car to the field site so that I could leave a few days early and it was closer to Denver to leave from the camp site than from Lander where my car stays. I was kind of worried about Lauren using my car because she doesn't take care of things which is one of the things that bothers me about her. Then I was really worried the night that she was supposed to get to camp because she didn't end up making it until 11 pm (it's not easy to find your way around in BFE Wyoming in the pitch black of night) and we were having these crazy storms move through camp one after another that night. Turns out she got lost which is easy to do out there but she made it. However, the storms that night were _wicked_. The first storm to come in had fierce wind with it and it was basically blowing the rain sideways. It was blowing so hard that all the tents were bent over under the force of it. My tent just barely made it through that round but it was only the beginning. We watched one cell move just northwest of us which was so black it looked like the night sky and it must have had hail associated with it but the real crazy part was the lightning and thunder. So we watched that one go by and hoped that none would make it over to us. Futile hope. Around the time I was getting ready to go to bed one storm moved in and there was a bolt of lightning that couldn't have been more than 200 yards away. The flash and sound were right on top of each other and the thunder was so loud I freaked out and pulled my sleeping bag over my head. Not sure what that would have done but it made me feel better. One of my co-workers had her headlamp on and she said it flickered. Craziness. And it went on like that all night long. A couple hours of peace and quiet followed by 20 minutes of deafening thunder and rain. Fortunately none of the other storms had much wind associated with them so my tent held up really well but all of us were so tired in the morning and there were several places nearby that had magically turned into a lake.
The trip before that we had a fun encounter. Spencer sent us out to do some transects in the Fossil Butte National Monument area. The first set of transects we did were right off the road and leading into the monument. That was cool and we got to see an albino prairie dog. So the next day we go back to do a pair of transects that are further into the monument. On our maps (we use GPS's that are hooked up to a computer with GIS) there is a two-track that leads to our transects. In fact the transects started at the two-track. It took us awhile to find the two-track but eventually we located it and head down. I was driving at the time but the two-track was pretty overgrown and Matt is better at driving in those kind of conditions so I had him take over. We make it to where we are trying to go. The transects head straight up two mountains basically. It was a nice hike and a really pretty view once we got to the top. Even saw a golden eagle and a few deer. Hike back down and start to prepare for the second transect. It was at that time that a Park Ranger comes hiking over to us and lets us know that we have to leave immediately. We are not authorized to drive on this road and it hasn't been driven on in over 10 years and we were not authorized to collect data in the monument. The superintendent and the BLM law enforcement had been called and we were to report to visitors' center immediately. Fuck. Once he leaves (I thought about offering him a ride back since he was walking but then that would have been a really awkward car ride) we start freaking out. Spencer sent us out there and there was no sign at the beginning of the two-track that said Road Closed or anything. We had driven on several two-tracks in similar states and not had any issues with it. We talk about it and decide that we are not going to give them our names because we don't want to be blacklisted for something that wasn't our fault. Well the officer had other ideas and told us he would take us to jail immediately if we didn't give our names, SSN and birth dates immediately. In the end the Principal Investigator of our project talked to the Superintendent and got everything cleared away (or so I hope) but I have pictures of the road just in case anything comes about because of this.
In between those two trips I had an amazing 5 day vacation with Cory. It was supposed to be Eric, Mike and Cory that were coming up to WY to go camping but in the end it was just Cory and I think that worked out better. After asking a bunch of my coworkers where the best place to camp would be, I decided that we would go to Louis Lake. We had originally talked about staying near Thermopolis but Louis Lake was closer to Lander and had more of the mountain vibe I was looking for. Thermopolis has the reservoir which would have been good too but I think we chose the right place. Cory was really stressed out before he left because he's a bit of a procrastinator and didn't leave enough time to finish everything before he left. Well and also won't just take a few days off outright and so had to do 5 days worth of work in 2. But he made it safe and sound Wednesday evening. I was worried about the weather because it had been raining all day. One of those low hanging clouds drizzle all day kind of things. I had to put the tent up when it was raining which was a pain but the rain had started to taper off when Cory arrived. Everything about the trip was awesome. It got a bit crowded over the weekend but we pretty much had the place to ourselves otherwise. We went on a few hikes. Hung out around camp. Sat around the fire. The usual camp stuff. We also took a day trip to Thermopolis so I could see the hot springs and we dropped in on Cory's uncle so I got to meet him. I like Thermopolis. It's a beautiful place and the hot springs are amazing. I was a little (actually more than a little) hungover that day so I didn't love the suspension bridge. The dogs didn't love it either but overall it was great to see it. I want to go back sometime when I can go in the warming pool and enjoy the feel of the hot spring.
The last day we went for a 10 mile hike to Cristina Lake. When we got to the lake that's when Cory asked me to marry him and it was perfect. I knew it was coming because he had told me he wanted to ask me but didn't have time to get the ring fixed (I have my great grandmother's engagement ring that my grandmother gave me and I LOVE it but it had been cut at some point so that needed to be fixed and it needed to be cleaned up). He wasn't sure if I would take a placeholder ring so I said sure I would. We went to Pamida (drug store) and picked out a gaudy costume jewelry ring that I would never wear in real life :-) All in all it was perfect and the hike was lots of fun. I was worried that Cory wouldn't enjoy it much or that 10 miles would be too much but we both loved it. Even Leopold who sometimes can't go for a walk longer than a couple miles, was able to hike the whole thing. We have to fjord a couple streams and the dogs mostly did well with that too. I tried to get them to walk across one of the logs but they were having none of that so into the water they went. I think they liked it more than they thought they would.
It was such a great vacation that I really didn't want to go back to work. Cory left on Monday and I didn't have to work until Tuesday so I got a motel room for the night. I get to the motel pretty early and the kid behind the desk puts me in room 23. The motel was a little ramshackle but the room was nice. Hung out in there for a bit and then I went to meet Spencer to go on a hike to the Popo Agie Falls (really beautiful if you ever get a chance to go hiking in Lander). As I'm leaving I meet the true manager of the motel who tells me that I have to move. "Whenever I leave the kids in charge they always mess it up. I'm sorry but you have to move because I already reserved that room. Blah blah blah." She wasn't actually apologetic and at first I was like whatever. I didn't realize that I was being downgraded. Room 23 has a brand new air conditioner, mini fridge and was just a nice room. The room I get has an air conditioner where the knob just spins around and around. I should have been more forceful about getting something in return for being downgraded but whatever. I just won't ever go back there.
I did something crazy to my arm. I have no idea what's wrong with it but if I move it in a certain way or sometimes if I try to pick something up I get a stabbing pain in my arm/shoulder. I think I must have caused some sort of muscle strain or even a tear. The pain is very irregular but when it does happen it's like a punch to a stomach. It's very intense and takes me breath away. Cory wanted me to go to the doctor but I don't think there is much they can do for me. Just tell me ice it and rest it. Don't know how either of those things are going to happen since I have work next week. Oh well. That will be over with soon enough (Aug 26th to be exact) and then I have no idea what I'm going to do. I contacted the people I used to work with in the Benefits Department with the State of Colorado and they just shrugged their shoulders. I guess Colorado came into the recession later than other states and so things are just starting to get really bad for the state. Joy. That should make finding a temp job super easy right??? I have already started applying to government jobs like crazy. I am applying to anywhere I find a job so we'll see what happens. Maybe that one in West Virginia will be the one! No sense worrying about where it will be if I haven't even been offered a job. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it but at this point I think that applying to as many places as possible is definitely the way to go.
I have been having some very fun car trouble lately. When I opened my trunk to pack my stuff in there to leave the camp site last week, 4 mice when scurrying in all directions. They had made a nice little nest for themselves from the padding in the trunk. Fortunately I had a small mammal trap and I was able to trap them all in the span of 30 minutes. I moved my car so they wouldn't find it that day and I haven't seen any more sign of them. But the fan in my car started to make a crazy rumbling noise so I took it to the mechanic. I thought something was stuck in it and it turns out a rodent of some kind decided that would be a great place to build a nest. So $100 later that's fixed. While we were camping I also noticed that my tags were expired...in June! It's mid August before I can get back to Colorado which means that the grace period is gone and Cory can't renew them for me because you can only do that online during the grace period. I got home on a Sunday night. As soon as I could on Monday I went to go renew them but in that very short amount of time a lovely parking enforcement officer gave me a $30 ticket. So now I have the $30 ticket and the $25 late fee. Awesome! This is all made the better because I fucking sent in a change of address to the DMV. I even got a letter from the voter registration office saying they had my new address. But because Colorado is fucking completely idiotic and even though the driver's license and the license plate divisions are both part of the DMV they have completely separate systems and you have to change your address with BOTH. Absolutely maddening.
Then last night I had a lovely dinner with Anne from the Benefits department (got to keep those connections in tact- you never know when they will come in for you) and on the way home I t-boned someone. I have no idea how it happened. Well he was driving and I was driving but the whole thing makes no sense. Fortunately the upside to living in the ghetto is that no one has nice cars (or probably insurance even). No one was hurt. I wasn't going that fast because I had stopped at the stop sign and then moved into the intersection as he was coming through it. It tore the license plate off the front of my car and scraped it up pretty good but that's all the damage that was done. We settled it by my giving him $30 for an oil change. Worked for me. I got off easy. I can't believe I did something that stupid. But I feel like this is beginning of the end for my car. It's just seems like more and more of these types of things are happening.
Whew. Told you it would be a long one.