Another post done on my computer (I won’t have internet
until Friday). Nothing very funny has happened to me lately.
Let’s sum this up quickly. I have stayed pretty busy since
my move out here. First, my brother was with me. Then, my friend Josh came to
visit. It was great to have the company, but it’s nice to have a few days to
myself now to wind down and prep for school; after orientation today, I’m not
quite sure what to make of it. But anywho, let’s catch up with what I’ve been
doing. I’ll do the same thing as last time with the bolding of the topics so
you can pick and choose what you’d like to read.
The Chuckwagon. So,
there’s this restaurant in Laramie called The
Chuckwagon. Jord and I decided to go there during one of his last nights
here. When we went inside it look very Western.
Like, dark wood dividers, longhorns all over, paintings of mountains and
waterfalls with wild horses gallivanting in front of them, cowboy hats and spurs
hung haphazardly from the walls and ceiling, you get the picture. So we go and sit down. Looking at the menu, everything
was so cheap! Like, seriously. I ordered the barbecue rib dinner ($9!) and JJ
got the barbecue chicken sandwich dinner ($7!) The first course was soup or
salad. We both chose salad after we found out the soup was clam chowder (growing
up on the lakes, I don’t trust any seafood this far inland). The salad bar was
fine enough. There was broccoli, which I was thrilled about, and some carrots
and such. Our waitress would drop by intermittently (meaning, every five
minutes or so) to see if we needed anything. She was the most attentive
waitress I have ever had the experience of being waited on by; this may be due
in part to us being the only patrons in the restaurant until fifteen minutes
before we were done. Anyways, I digress (like usual). So, the waitress brings
us our food after about ten minutes. I was pleased with how quickly my ribs and
his chicken were delivered—I should have been more logical. Our waitress
painted an exuberant smile on her face and bounded away. First, I reached for my
bread. I could make a meal out of bread. This bread, however, was rock hard. I’m
not saying it was old, but you know when you try and reheat a sandwich in the
microwave and the bread turns into some crumbly rock type of thing? That’s what
this was. I tried to break it apart in hopes that there would be some soft
bread inside, but it was just a quarter-sized portion of raw dough. What was
this? I give up and look to the “vegetable” on my plate. Peas. SERIOUSLY!? Who even eats peas anymore?? I don’t mean
yummyfreshstillinthepod peas, I mean
blackenedmicrowaveduntiltheyhavecavedinonthemselves peas. After this I try a
piece of my ribs (which is only two ribs, so now I know why it was so cheap)
and they are cold. I guess 1/3 of it was warm enough to eat, but they were
legitimately cold. Jordy said his chicken was fine, but he was also in the same
boat as me with the nuclear peas and granite sweet roll. Our baked potatoes
were the only thing good on the plate and they were scalding. I burnt my tongue,
but inhaled it anyways. I love me a good potato. This entire time the waitress
kept coming up to us. The service was so prompt and friendly there that Jord
and I didn’t have the heart to send any of the food back or tell her about it.
So, the moral of the story here is that good service really can outweigh a
lack-luster product. I’m going to give The
Chuckwagon the benefit of the doubt.
Denver 2.0. So on
Sunday morning I had to drive Jord to Denver, CO for his series of flights home
that day. His flight was at 8:30ish, so I was instructed by one of my
professors to make sure I was at least two
hours early bringing him there because apparently their security is crazy. That puts his arrival at roughly
6:30 am. I was also told that I needed to make sure I allowed for traffic, so
to add on an extra half hour—6:00 am. I live in Laramie, which is either two
hours or two hours and fifteen minutes, so that put us leaving at 4:00 am. The
prior evening, Jord and I walked around downtown and looked at some of the
local shops: boots, hats, university apparel, etc. That night, we ate at a
Chinese buffet. We were up til about 1:30 am watching movies. So let’s review:
walking around, Chinese food, two hours of sleep = exhausted. So I woke up and
drove to Denver that morning. DIA was under construction, so I ended up taking
the loop to the drop-off lane rather than the short-term parking structure
accidentally, and had to look back around the entire airport. Thanks heavens we left some time to spare. Once
inside, it was pretty smooth sailing. We got Jord’s tickets at a Kiosk and I
made sure he made it through security. Then, I was on my way back to Laramie.
On the way home I got a text from Josh saying he’d be there around the time I
was getting back. I thought about taking a nap, and then decided not to. Josh arrives
and we hmm and ha about what we should do while he is here. The only thing we
know for sure is that he wants to go to Colorado. We decide to go to the
Anheuser-Busch factory in Fort Collins for a free tour and tasting. Then, we
figure that because Josh wants to see Denver, we might as well just go down
there while we’re already in Colorado. Two Denvers, one day. So we get to
Denver, and no one can decide what they want to do once we are there. I take
the opportunity to go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Ikea; my apartment needs to
be a bit more homey. These were successful trips. Josh finally decides he wants
to go to a brewery, so we check out the “Great Divide Brewery” in downtown
Denver. It was awesome. For anyone in Marquette, it had the look/feel of the
Ore Dock, but the beer of Blackrocks. It was a good experience. I especially
liked the yeti artwork all over the brewery. Driving back, we had the sun
setting to our left over the Rocky Mountains; I am convinced the most beautiful
sunsets in the world are out here. I don’t know if it is being this high up in
the sky or what, but it’s seriously dangerous to drive during one. It’s
incredible.
Vedauwoo (Vee-dah-voo).
I am still getting used to the change in
atmosphere out here. My professor keeps reiterating that we who are not from
the area (me, Wisconsin, and Illinois) need to make sure we keep hydrated and
not hike too strenuosly. She wasn’t kidding. Earlier last week she suggested that
I check out Vedauwoo National Park while I still have time before classes
start; aparently, we won’t have much free time until May 5. Josh and I decided
to go. The moutain range and rock formations were breathtaking. Josh must be a
bit of an adventurer (which I am not most of the time. Being diabetic, going
too far off of trails where I’m not comfortable scares me). He wandered off
once, but was nice enough to get back on the trail that we had been travelling,
after I refused to take the other trail that is. I’m such a baby. Anywho,
Vedauwoo was incredible, but the altitude was
not. My professor asked me today at orientation if I did the hike. I said
yes, but I wouldn’t recommend it for people that weren’t used to being at this
elevation. I finished the hike, and I felt good once we were on level groung
again, but the high points of the trail were definitely difficult. We were
probably up to 8500 ft or so. The air was so dry and the elevation so high,
your muscles just get tired. It’s nuts. My professor made a good comment today
in saying, “picture where you’re from. Do you like beaches? Picture yourself on
a beach at home. You’re what? 500 ft above sea level? Now look up into the sky,
7300 ft up directly into the sky. Passed where the airplanes are flying, passed
most of the clouds; that’s where you are. All the time. You live up there now.”
It made me not feel so bad about being one of the winded people after climbing
five stories to our orientation room. On the even brighter side, I posted some
pics of Vedauwoo on my FB if you’re interested.
Desert. YOU
GUYS. It is so dry out here. I am
pretty much living with a bottle of water, bottle of lotion, and chapstick
permanently glued to me. Until today, I thought I was the only one experiencing
this, but aparently all of us Midwesterners are having this issue. There is
less oxygen in the air up here, so your body works harder. I’m not feeling the
effects of it too much (only when hiking mountains and stairs), but I am ALWAYS
thirsty. That might be a good thing; I never did drink enough water before.
Orientation. So today was the orientation for my program (I have my Graduate Assistant
orientation on Friday). It was long, but informative. People keep saying how
hard grad school is and everything, but it seemed like the scheduling was much
like my last semester last year just without working on the side. I know the
coursework will be much more difficult, but still. I am anxious to see how it
all is. We were given our clinic assignments today. YAY! As of right now I have three clients. SO EXCITED. After all of today’s information
and overload and such, these are the things I memorized from my professor:
Three things not to do while in grad school:
1. Get
a puppy (kitties are okay).
2. Get
married. Do it before, or do it after. You’ll either do terrible in a class, or
forget to order your wedding cake (they had it happen).
3. Get
pregnant. (They’ve also had that happen).
All I could think about during the last one was, “Don’t have
sex, because you will get Chlamydia, and you will die. Don’t have sex in the
missionary position, just….don’t do it. K, everybody grab a rubber.” I didn’t
know if anyone would know what I was talking about, though. Oh, how applicable Mean Girls is in everyday life. I’m
convinced it’s the most quotable movie for related situations.
Okay, well that’s definitely enough for now. Hopefully I
have more exciting things to share soon. If not, I guess you will have to
decide whether or not keeping up with my life is worth the mundane entries I’m
providing. For the record, here is the roll addressed in the “Chuckwagon”
paragraph. I’m truly impressed with its stand-alone ability.
Love y’all (also for the record—they do say that here.)
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