Monday, June 27, 2011

Recent Happenings

Oy, I have fallen very behind in this blog challenge, and quite frankly, I don't know if I have it in me to finish the last few topics.  I feel like I've been writing about a lot of the same things over and over, so today I will just update everyone on the happenings in my wonderful life.

Spring term ended on a better note than I was anticipating.  General Chemistry at a University is not my cup of tea.  I had to take the last term in a three term sequence here at OSU after having taken the other two at a community college, which was so much easier and I got such better grades there.  Luckily, OSU's chem department curves their grades!  It didn't effect my GPA too much, especially since I got an A in my psychology class and in case you didn't know, I have added a second major.  I will now be getting my BS in Dietetics AND Psychology.  I've toyed with many ideas as far as grad school in the future.  My most recent idea is that I complete my dietetics internship while completing my grad degree in health psychology.  I would then have my masters in health psychology and be a registered dietitian, woot woot!

So, since Spring term has ended I have moved into a new apartment (which I love, by the way) and read 2 3/4 books by Silas House (I have about 40 pages of the third to finish!).  I LOVE these books (The Coal Tattoo, Parchment of Leaves, and Clay's Quilt) and am really sad that they are the only three of his at our public library. 

Last week I started summer session.  I am taking two terms of Organic Chemistry, which is normally a total of 20 weeks, in 8 weeks.  I had my first exam today (and have 5 more in the next 6 weeks) which went ok, but I'd like to do better. It's those darn enantiomers and diastereomers that have me all confused!  It'll sink in eventually, I have my handy dandy molecular model kit to help me get them straight.

So, my old roommate, James, got a bike at this auction at the end of Spring term and is letting me use it this summer since he's in Costa Rica.  I LOVE having a bike.  First off, I live about 1.25 miles from campus and while that is an easy walk, it is not very convenient if you are running late, so I get there in like 4-5 minutes on my bike.  Second, I do not have to drive AROUND campus like you do with a car.  So, it takes me 6 minutes to get to the gym rather than 10.  Third, I hate driving now.  I find it annoying and a waste of my money.  I would so much rather ride my bike everywhere and I do as often as possible. The only thing is I'm dreading when fall comes and the rain starts again.  It rains nearly every day from like October through May and sometimes into June over here, boo.  I will have to get some good rain gear.  I learned a lesson on my bike today, watch out for car doors.  This guy was parked right around the corner where I live, so when I turned said corner I could see his door was cracked, but I didn't know if he was opening or closing it.  Well as soon as I was next to him I found out.  Luckily, only my foot hit the door, which only tore off a minor piece of toenail and has left me with a purple bruise on my big toe.  The guy felt terrible and at least wasn't one of those jerks who blames everything on cyclists.

I'm still working on the gardening research project.  I've recently started analyzing diet and physical activity records.  I am also still doing the cooking for the project.  We just had a meeting this past Saturday and we were able to have lunch out at the picnic tables in the middle of the garden; it was a gorgeous day and we made a giant salad from our produce.  We're harvesting a TON of produce.  My roommate (who is one of the garden coordinators on the project) and I have been eating VERY healthy lately (minus the baked goods).  I go a few times a week and get lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, peas, red and green broccoli, beets, onions, and the potatoes should be ready in a few days.  My sister and brother in law came to visit yesterday and we went to the garden and had some raspberries and I had eaten our one and only full size, ripe strawberry.  Tom, my tomato plant who lives on my patio, has been growing like an inch a day, it's time for me to get a cage for him since he has the potential to grow 5-6 feet tall!  I also need a bigger planter for his roots to grow.
Tomato cages. (Tom is way bigger than these guys right now).

Me harvesting some lettuce.

Note to all: don't plant an entire bed of radishes all at once; plant one row per week so you don't end up with 100 radishes ready to harvest at the same time.  We donated them to the Latino gardeners next door :o)

Pretty good view of the lower half of the garden.  I have more pictures at home that are more recent because everything is much larger and greener these days than in these pictures.
Well that about wraps up this edition of Rebecca's Life.  Time to go aloe my awesome sunburn that itches like crazy, eat some ice cream, and watch Breaking Bad because we get free On Demand and I have an entire season to catch up on before the new one starts!