The following week, Danielle took Matt and I hiking up Madonna Mountain in San Luis Obispo. It was a nice, short hike right in the city. More plant information and a tasty lunch at the top with a hiking dog. And of course, Matt is a goof with the pretty cacti.

The next week, Matt and I took a nice hike by ourselves in Los Padres National Forest from Red Rocks up to Gibralter Dam. We hung out with a friendly snake, took more plant photos, attempted to cross the river and I fell in, and hope to return soon.

Danielle and I hung out a few more times. We went back up to SLO to go camping-supply shopping, to meet some of her plant-nerd friends, and to watch the movie Miss Potter. I heard this movie wasn't well-received, but I really enjoyed it. We went to the Lompoc Fine Arts Festival where we fell in love with so many cute, knitted, animal finger puppets. We met up with her friend who was doing some plant research in Los Osos and walked around a lovely grove of oaks, where she believes we contracted some icky poison oak. I think it was from a later adventure on base.

I took a last-minute trip out to Colorado to see Mama for Mother's Day. Matt didn't come, but it was only less than 5 days away from home. I just recently went on active duty status at my guard unit and will be working full-time for quite a while, so I saw it as my last opportunity for quite some time to just pick up and take a trip. And it's Mother's Day and I wanted to see her new puppies. It was a relaxing few days gabbing with Mama and spending a lot of time at the dog parks. I cooked a little bit for her and Ron every night, which I feel very privileged to be able to do. After all, before I moved out I had been permanently banned from the kitchen for my incompetency. It's nice to prove myself! I made desserts, of course, including the scrumptious baked pear pastries that turned out fabulously! We did a bit of gardening, which was wonderful, and I took plenty more flower photos. I'm obviously getting fond of taking pictures of plants — thanks, Danielle! Since Delilah, the dog I received for my 11th birthday, passed away in the winter, Mama had her cremated and held on to the ashes until I could return. We played the Grateful Dead's "Samson and Delilah", said a few words, and scattered her from the balcony, her favorite lounging spot.

Little Melissa and I are still spending time together as well. Next week she'll finish her first year of high school! All ready! This month is our 3-year anniversary and things just keep getting more fun! We went to a BBBSA bowling day, ate a lot of pizza, (re)met another great match of girls, and took home certificates for our most amazing bowling forms (under the legs, backwards, lying down, etc. etc!) We also visited the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival, where we spent too much on sugar and dizziness. I also bribed Little Mel into getting on a ride that goes upside-down for the first time. Ohh, it was a blast! We have done a little hiking of our own, as well. We planned on taking this loop trail in Gaviota State Park. I guess we missed something very early on in our hike because we traveled far from the loop. It was still a nice, 2-hour hike through tall weeds, drenched in sun.

During the May guard weekend, I got to talking to an ex-I-Labber who had extensively explored the abandoned missile sites all around base. He drew me a crude map marking all the great spots to crawl through tunnels and down silo ladders. Matt, Danielle and I set out one day to find all these amazing sites. We all ready knew about the Titan site that exploded in the 70's. I learned the real story of how that happened, dispelling all the more interesting rumors I had been told over the years. I think we hit every road and dead end on this huge base, but we didn't find any of these great old missile sites. I blame the map, of course. So we went back to the Titan site to crawl around it a bit more and see if there's anything interesting we'd missed. We saw a badger, a wonderful spiky lizard of some sort, lots of pretty bees on ice-plant blooms, and I think this may be where we got our case of poison oak. Just like last time, but not as bad. I got medicated early on. I learn.

Since then I've been at work filling in for a bunch of people. I was almost on my own, but it went pretty well. I like my unit and I think the work is interesting. It's fairly quiet and not too stressful. They're unsure exactly how long I'll be on orders, but I'm told they're hoping until at least the end of September. The paycheck really will be nice. It's been too long since I've really contributed financially! Danielle and I go to the gym whenever we work at the same time and get a little exercising in. I'm starting to stress out about that a little more, as my annual fitness test is this Thursday. I'm not as lazy as I had been last year, but I think I'm still not up to where I'd like to be for this test. We'll see how it goes on Thursday, I guess. Friday Danielle and I went to a great Total Body Conditioning class on base with her friend, Stephanie. Boy, did that surprise us! The instructor had absolutely no mercy! It was a great time, but hard work. Stephanie seems like such a great gal and she and her husband live here in town (and he is a World of Warcraft junkie … I'm sure the men will get along fabulously once they meet!) The there of us and Matt went out that evening to see the local grandpas pickin' country tunes on their guitars upstairs in the Lilly building. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was a good time! We didn't know too many of the songs and I think the old men got a kick out of us. I took some horrible videos of Danielle and Stephanie singing along to some songs. It inspired Matt and I to actually pick up the guitar we bought last year. Hopefully we'll be strumming out something soon. Danielle had told me this get-together would be bluegrassy, but it wasn't exactly. What I love most about bluegrass music is the mandolin. I struggle with forming chords on a guitar, which I know is my own fault which I can overcome, but I've convinced myself that I'd have a much better time with a cute little mandolin. I'm watching eBay for them this week. Danielle has a fiddle, though wants to learn the upright bass. Maybe someday we'll have a little band of our own!

That's all for tonight. Matt will be on nights this week, so he will be coming home from work right as I wake up, then I'll take the car and get home just in time for him to leave for work. It will be a long week, but that's just what we have to do. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to myself to blab to this blog. Be expecting it!

Well, here’s my weekly update. Last weekend Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went to Atlanta. We showed up Saturday morning, grabbed some brunch at the Original Pancake House, checked into our rooms, then they guys, sleepy from an apparently sleepless Friday night, crashed for a few hours. I finished Neil Gaiman‘s Anansi Boys, somewhat of a sequel to American Gods (though I enjoyed Anansi Boys a bit more). They’re both quite good. We went out for dinner at an amazing Barbecue Kitchen, where the portions were humongous and absolutely delectable, and for the most reasonable prices I’ve ever seen. It was heaven on a plate. We changed and went out to explore Atlanta’s nightlife. It was an opportunity for me to dress up, which I don’t do often enough. We found a club called Tongue & Groove, where they hang unusually large Easter egg-type decorations from the ceiling. I was also amused by the slide shows of random images being projected over top the artwork adorning the walls. It was a good time. A little drinking, a lot of standing around. I feel a little odd going out with three guys. There were a few bridal parties and groups of girlfriends dancing in a circle, which made wish I had some girlfriends with whom I could go out on the town. It was a nice time nevertheless. Sunday morning we went to Six Flags. It was fairly overcast, and a Sunday during the school year, so there weren’t that many people there at all. We hardly ever had to wait in line for coasters, except for two. We rode a few water rides and half a dozen roller coasters, listened to some live music, and had some lunch during the six hours we were there. I was really pleased with the park and had a better experience at the Georgia Six Flags than I had at California’s Magic Mountain. I absolutely loved Deja Vu (exhilarating!), the Super Man was pretty neat (we did the whole ride in a horizontal, flying position), and Goliath was a blast as well (CA has Goliath, but it’s a little different). It was an exhausting day, but I had a blast. We returned to the Barbecue Kitchen on our way out of Atlanta for another meal and some of their famous (absolutely amazing) banana pudding. It was quite a nice last TDY weekend.

Not much has been going on really. Class has been short this week. Monday we finished up our troubleshooting block, Tuesday we were tested on it, and today we went in early to clean the floors and get our certificates. We had our last day at the Y and our last dinner out at Tbonz. I have been slacking on my crocheting and owe two overdue squares to partners. One I’m nearly finished with, and one is more than I think I can handle and I’ve restarted it way too many times. I’ve also been trying to work on my math class, but find it difficult without study partners, a solutions manual, instructor office hours, or lectures. Whenever I get stuck on a problem, I get a little frustrated and lose a little more motivation. I go to my first class on Wednesday, so I’m going to have to knock out as much as I can before then and try to get in some instructor visits.

Well, my next post will be from home. I can’t wait! Ta ta …

Yup, I started my Linear Algebra / Differential Equations class last week. I’m on my own with it, but the book seems pretty good and it’s not troublesome yet. My instructor is good about sending me information and being there if I need any help. And I get to attend the actual class in another week and a half, so it can’t be too bad before then.

The weekend was really, really boring. Saturday morning Lance, Rick, Jesse and I went horseback riding on post, which was fun. We didn’t have to use a trail guide (because “we’re experienced horseback riders”), which is nice. I was a tad uncertain, seeing as I’ve only ever been near a horse once before. They’re pretty trained, though, and are used to just following each other around, so it wasn’t really a problem. Anytime I wanted the horse (“Ruby”) to do anything though, she wouldn’t listen to me. We were supposed to be out there for 2 hours, but they guys were bored of it after 1. We didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day, so I got dropped off at the mall to pick up a dress for next weekend (clubbing in Atlanta + Six Flags). I treated myself to a pedicure and a haircut and did some clothes shopping. The guys were all exhausted from little sleep the night before (to what was I not invited?) so they slept all Saturday. Jesse, Rick and I went out to see The Descent Saturday night. It’s the bloodiest movie I think I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t really all that scary, just startling and gory. It was nice to not be sitting around in the hotel room. Sunday we were supposed to go the Y (Rick was supposed to call …) I got a call Sunday afternoon from Lance while they were all ready at the Y (“oh, I figured you wouldn’t want to come …”) Hrmph. We got some dinner afterward at a sports bar and studied for the next day’s test. That was pretty much everything that happened this past weekend.

I’ve been downloading a lot of music, since I’ve gotten bored with the small selection I brought. I’ve been a slave to Last.fm‘s charts and forums lately. I’ve been enjoying some Medeski, Marin and Wood and Matisyahu for the first time this week. I’ve also been talked into the Loose Change hype. I know it’s old news, but I talk to many people who are adament about the whole 9/11 conspiracy. So I’m in the process of watching the Loose Change video, as well as the counter-arguments Screw Loose Change. So far so interesting …

Anyhow, now it’s time to get ready for school. More later.