He once was lost and now is found.

GUS IS HOME!!! It turns out that he was found in the middle of the road on Friday and was picked up by a very nice lady. She took him to her house, she has a kennel, contacted her vet for some reason, and then gave him a bath and kept him at home. Dad was calling vet clinics and on the 3rd try the person at the vet told Dad where Gus was. He was a little hungry, he doesn’t like changing food, but he is fine. I am so thankful that he is ok. I got to see him on the web cam so that was good.

I leave tomorrow for vacation so I'm getting ready for that now. I've got a train ticket to Munich and a hotel and a map so I'm set. I have packed up a lot of stuff but still have more to go tonight and then the last minute stuff on Thursday after work. Exciting!

Gus

As most people know, I am a little bit attached to our dog, Gus. We got him 1 week before I graduated high school and I spent that summer working and playing with the dog. I got a little bit found of the dog (and he got a little bit spoiled). The bad news is that Gus is missing. We think he went after a bear that hanging around our place and he hasn’t come home in 36 hours. Dad went looking for him but couldn’t find any trace of him. He has a few more placed to look tomorrow but it isn’t looking good.

Only a few more days until my next trip. I am excited about that, in fact, I am ready to leave now. Well, give me a few minutes to pack and then I can go.

I need to go check on a reaction in the lab.

Wow, life is exciting, isn't it?

So I was going to start this post by listing all the exciting things that are happening but there really isn't anything going on. Most people are getting ready to leave on summer vacation or have already left, I am with the former group. I leave in 8 days for a 3 part trip, none of the parts are very long. I am spending next weekend in Munich, Germany and I am excited about that. I really want to change my ticket and leave early but I'm not going to do that. It wouldn't be honest and I don't have it in the budget for this month. Europe isn't cheap to visit.

I have a new toy. It is a Sony eReader for ebooks and I love it. I figured that since I got the stimulus money I should help some economy so I spent most of it on the new toy. It is very handy and nice to have. I have probably spent about 10 hours on it so far and the battery holds the charge nicely. The screen doesn't hurt my eyes either. The interface for buying books is similar to iTunes, dangerous but Continent. (New books are only a click away!)

I am watching my neighbor's dog for about 2 weeks, until I leave next week. It is nice having a dog, but she isn't my Gus. Before my friends left I asked if Rosie, the dog, needed to be let out in the middle of the day. The owner said that I could try but she probably won't go out. One day he went to let her out and she stuck her nose out, sniffed, and would leave the air conditioning. She is lonely but ok.

Anyway, that is all that is exciting for now. Take care!

Devil Snow!

The picture above is from Wednesday morning on the way to work. Visibility was, as you can see, almost nothing where normally you can see a couple kilometers at least. We are all hoping that the dust will settle down but it does have some benefits. For example, my skin gets exfoliated just walking to the car, ok, not really. It has been less hot that it normally is this time of year so that is good.

Have a good weekend!

The in between times.

So it is the middle of June and not a whole lot is happening. I was sick last week (trust me, you don’t want to know) but am feeling better now. Work is going fine, I finally got a reaction to work that took about 3 weeks to figure out, now I’ll start working on a different system, the desired (but more expensive) system.

I am currently in between trips right now. I have been back from Finland for over 3 weeks but have another 3.5 weeks until I leave for the US. I am excited about going to the States, but it is a mixed blessing. The good things are that I get to see Dad, attend a teacher training, see extended family, and be in the US for about 2 weeks. The bad thing is that because I am going to the US in July I can’t come back in the US until the 14th of December. This is also a mixed blessing because I think I am going to go to Spain before I go home for Christmas. So, good and bad, but I can’t wait to fly business class again. Economy on British Airways isn’t bad, but business class is so much better when someone else is paying!

The weather has been hot and dusty lately. Before you paint a house you can sand blast it to get dirt and any other particles off the sides, I now know how the house feels. The sand has been blowing like crazy for the last couple of days.

Oh, so I should tell everyone about the communication mix up that happened yesterday. A TAMUQ library worker and I went to a restaurant called Turkey Central last night. This is probably my favorite place in Doha to eat out and it is pretty cheap. So when we went there I ordered a kilogram of chicken kofta (like a chicken sausage without the casing) so I could have a bunch to take home for leftovers. Well, when our food came there was a regular order (I get leftovers on this too but I wanted more) so I asked the waiter. He was confused and then told me that a kilogram of chicken kofta is 40 pieces of meat! I had no idea it was that much, so I asked for a regular order (4 pieces). We paid, got our leftovers and headed to the car. I realized that the bag was a little heavy and somehow I came home with 20 pieces, or ½ kilogram, of meat! This is a lot, 2 pieces with bread and fruit is a decent sized meal. Anyway, today when I get home from work I need to separate it out into single serving sized and then freeze it. The good news is, when I am craving Turkey Central, all I have to do is go to the freezer!

Nothing else exciting has been happening really. I finished a baby quilt for one of my coworkers, I like the way it turned out. I am crocheting away on a few things, but I am almost done with another crochet project. Anyway, I should go look up flights for more trips (just kidding Mom!). I hope all of you have a wonderful day!

Tourism

I have worked a variety of jobs in tourism. In fact, I can still fold shirts just like I did in the t-shirt shops. But, for all of my folding and dusting and answering stupid questions, THANK GOD I didn't have to dress up in period costume! I guess folding shirts weren't that bad now that I think about it!

My Ode to the Commode

While I was at the Sea Fortress, Suomenlinna, in Helsinki I found myself rushing to find the closest bathroom available (there weren't a lot of places to hide in the bushes). I found this water closet and stepped inside. I tried to turn around but with my camera bag on I couldn't move without hitting the sides of the stall. So with some quick and very motivated thinking I had to place the camera bage outside the stall with the strap wrapped around my leg. It is the smallest bathroom I have every been in in my life! The tiles that you see in the picture are maybe 6 inches to give you an estmate on size.
This is a picture of the King's Commode at the Turku Castle. (It wasn't on the regular tour.) It doesn't look so bad, in fact, if you put some of the blue foam stuff around the seat it could be one of the best outhouse in Fairbanks!

A little piece of Alaska in Tallinn, Estonia. I think I was the only person who took a picture of the row of outhouses, but how could I resist! I honestly didn't know that the blue was a universal color for an outhouse. I would also like to point out that there is a well worn path to and from the outhouse so somebody is using it.

Actually, this makes me very thankful for the large bathroom that my parents have and the one that I have. Although a well placed bathroom, or water closet, in a time of need is enough to make anyone thankful!