Sunday, September 17, 2006
Woot! Spent a week in Banff, and loved it. Almost-cool-enough-for-me temperatures, mountains, forests, glaciers. I walked on a glacier without a jacket (as two friends have replied to that story, "might as well do it before they're gone"). Also honed game skills with Settlers of Catan, Killer Bunnies, Chess, and Trivial Pursuit against the No Quarter Asked, No Quarter Given Jones Family.
One of the cool things was the ancient feeling of the forests. Texas has very little history. One of the things I enjoyed about Europe was Oxford and so much of London and Paris being over 500, or even 1000, years old. But there was a stand of trees near the glacier (in the Columbia Icefields) estimated to be 700 years old. And even where the trees aren't as long-lived, you still get the feeling of this forest having been here long before Canada was even a colonial concept, and possibly before any people walked through there. And the mountains jutting up, still displaying the history of the earth's layers from millions of years ago. Even if my natural history is inexact, it's still a cool feeling. :-)
Sadly I got no Better-Refreshed bump in facing work. Maybe because American Airlines messed up our flights and baggage so I didn't get home until 1AM Monday, but I was out of it all week. But lots of R&R this weekend (and football!), so hopefully I'll feel a little more revived.
Last week was also the annual dinner for the scholarship program that funded my degree, and for which I now read applications. It's always fun to see the excited kids in the program, both to check my accomplishments against theirs (ego satisfied) and just to get inspired by their enthusiasm. I did so much in college - kept up a good GPA, was involved in so many projects and organizations, and still had time to just hang out. It's really easy to lose that now, especially when work seems to be a moral and emotional drag rather than a place for accomplishment. I think that latter factor is something I can work on myself regardless of the organization, so we'll see what positive thinking can do.
That's all from my end - I'm still open for any application questions if anyone has suggestions.
posted by Unknown 12:43 PM |
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