Black Friday

The day was stressful, but it went smoothly. The line was organized, the shelves were well stocked, and the managers were cool as cucumbers. I screwed up a few orders, usually because people try to use 5 different coupons on their purchase and if they aren't entered into the computer in the correct order then the computer freaks out. I also learned the hard way that if you have to go back to change an item, it automatically takes off all the discounts and they have to be reentered. I didn't notice until Ms. Irate Customer went into a tizzy of accusations that I was cheating her.

The good news is the store made its quota for the day and the aggies beat ut! I almost pissed my pants in disbelief. Then Billy saved the day and fixed a broken link on my blog. Now all is right with the world.

I'm reading a mystery called "A Great Deliverance" by Elizabeth George. The story itself isn't too bad although the author likes to drop in pretentious literary references. She does throw in some great vocabulary words like miasmal, rebarbative, pavane, and maelstrom, much to my delight.

Right now I'm listening to an old Nirvana album and thinking about decorating my apartment for christmas. Alas, such fun will have to wait until later because I have to work all day today.

Really, very tired

and really, very broke at the moment. It's been a tough week. I've started a second part time job, and I had a difficult time of juggling my classes and assignments with my part time job in the lab and this new job at bath and body works. But school will be out in a couple of weeks so my life should get more simplified then. I think this picture captures how I'm feeling right now.



The look on my face is saying "I'm concentrating really hard, while staying as far away from the biting, scaley creature as possible, and trying not to fall over from exhaustion." I'm so overcaffinated all the time that I've lost all memory of how life felt before my caffeine addiction started. I just hover between falling asleep at my desk and twitching like a leaf on crack.

I'm not sure how the new job is going to work out, especially since it combines several of my least favorite things: talking to strangers, math, and large crowds. I'm hoping that I'll get some good experience out of it, and at the very least I'll get a paycheck.

Tomorrow is the avian wet lab at school. I'm going to try to remember my camera so I'll hopefully have some pics to post.

Right now I'm listening to Josh Rouse, and I have a kt tunstall cd riding in my car. She keeps telling me that everything will be allright.

Surveying on the Coast

I spent last weekend at Mad Island wildlife management area doing a survey for waterfowl viruses. Basically I swabbed the cloacas of the waterfowl downed by hunters all morning. I learned a lot about the various species of ducks and how to tell the drakes apart from the hens and juveniles from adults. I also did a little bit of birdwatching before the hunters came in from the field. The peacefullness of the early morning was somewhat ruined by the sounds of shotguns and fleeing flocks of birds in the distance, but I did see a few new species to add to my list.

-Vermillion Flycatcher
-Eastern Meadowlark
-Blue-winged Teal
-Green-winged Teal
-Lesser Scop
-Shoveler
-Gadwall
-Pintail
-Widgeon
-Redhead

Right now I'm listening to Emily Haines and The Ramones, and wishing it was Christmas.